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 https://archive.org/details/studentsgreecehiOOsmit 
 

 
 
Hill in front Acropolis, behind it the Museum. 
 
The Students Greece. 
 
 A 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 J 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 
 
 WITH SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS ON THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LITERATURE AND ART. 
 
 By SIB, WILLIAM SMITH, D.C.L., LL.D., 
 
 Editor of the Dictionaries of “Greek and Roman Antiquities," “Biography and Mythology,” 
 
 and “ Geography.” 
 
 WITH COLOURED MAPS AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1898 . 
 
MURRAY’S 
 
 STUDENTS’ MANUALS. 
 
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 THE STUDENT’S HUME: A History of England from the Earliest 
 Times to the Revolution’ in 1688. Based on the History of David Hume. 
 Revised Edition , continued to the Treaty of Berlin, 1878. By J. S. 
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 (830 pp.). 
 
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 Part II. —From the Accession of Henry VII. to the 
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 Part III. —From the Revolution of 1688 to the Treaty 
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 STUDENTS’ MODERN EUROPE. From the fall of Constantinople to the 
 Treaty of Berlin. By R. Lodge 
 
 STUDENTS' HISTORY OF EUROPE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. By 
 Henry Hallam. 
 
 STUDENTS’ CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Henry VII.- 
 George II. By Henry Hallam. 
 
 STUDENTS’ OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. By Philip Smith. With Maps 
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 STUDENTS’ NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. By Philip Smith. With Maps 
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 STUDENTS’ HISTORY OF ROME. To the Establishment of the Empire. 
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 By Dr. George Smith. AVith Maps. 
 
 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Its Origin and Growth. By George 
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 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LITERATURE. With Biographical Notices of 
 the Authors. By T. B. Shaw. 
 
 STUDENTS’ SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. By T. B. Shaw. 5s. 
 STUDENTS’ MORAL PHILOSOPHY. By Dr. Fleming. 
 
 LONDON \ PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
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P ft E P A c a. 
 
 The following work is 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, 
 m 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. 1 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 gained 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 
 
VI 
 
 PRKFACE 
 
 fche nation. It is only in this way that a school history :ai 
 be made instructive and interesting, since a brief and ted.ous 
 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 Peloponnesian 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 1 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 obligations 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 ol 
 the history of Home, 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 his 
 views respecting the legendary history of Greece, the legis¬ 
 lation of Lycurgus, the object of ostracism, the general 
 
i’ktiFACfc 
 
 VI1 
 
 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 w r ork 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 genera] 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 
 
 'Jc.ourei 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 . 
 
 
 9 
 
 U 
 
 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 . 
 
 
 176 
 
 Plan of Thermopylae . 
 
 
 193 
 
 Plan of the battle of Salamis . 
 
 
 210 
 
 Plan of the battle of Platsea . 
 
 
 221 
 
 Bay of Pylus . 
 
 
 309 
 
 Plan of the neighbourhood of Amphipolis 
 
 
 317 
 
 Plan of Syracuse . 
 
 
 337 
 
 Plan of Athens . 
 
 
 383 
 
 Athens and its Port Towns . 
 
 
 385 
 
 Plan of the Acropolis . 
 
 
 393 
 
 Route of the Ten Thousand .... 
 
 
 421 
 
 Plan of Corinth. 
 
 
 448 
 
Greek and Persian Combatants. From the Frieze of the Temple of Nik6 Apteros. 
 
 (Seo pp. 216, 391, 392.) 
 
 CONTEN 1’ ft, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Outlines of Grecian Geography 
 
 Pagh 
 
 1 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 THE MYTHICAL AGE. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 I. The earliest Inhabitants of Greece. 11 
 
 II. The Grecian Heroes. 17 
 
 III. State of Society of the Heroic Age.. 25 
 
 IV. Return of the Heraclidae into Peloponnesus, and foundation of the 
 
 earliest Greek Colonies .. 
 
 V. The Poems of Homer . 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE GRECIAN STATES, ^b.c. 776—500.) 
 
 B.C. Chap. 
 
 _ VI. General survey of the Greek people. 47 
 
 _ VII. Early history of Peloponnesus and legislation of Lycur- 
 
 gus . 
 
 56 
 
XII CONTENTS. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Chap. 
 
 
 Pao* 
 
 336-323. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Alexander the Great . 
 
 525 
 
 323-301. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 From the death of Alexander the Great to the 
 battle of Ipsus. 
 
 552 
 
 301-146 
 
 XL VI. 
 
 From the hat tie of Ipsus to the Conquest of Greece 
 Lv the Rom in?.. . 
 
 y 
 
 564 
 
 — 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 History of Grecian Art from the end of the Pelo¬ 
 ponnesian War to its decline . 
 
 579 
 
 " 
 
 XL VIII. 
 
 Grecian Literature from the end of the PelcDon- 
 nesian War to the latest period. 
 
 587 
 
 Ohkonolooioal Table . 
 
 604 
 
 OJDKX 
 
 
 
 617 
 
 ’oin of Syracuse 
 
The Benia of the Pnyx at Athens, 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 View of Athens. 
 
 Theatre of Dionysus at Athens 
 
 Fag:x 
 
 Greek and Persian combatants. 
 From the Frieze of the Temple 
 
 of Nikd Apteros . ix 
 
 Coin of Syracuse . xii 
 
 The Bema of the Pnyx at Athens xiii 
 
 Coin of Acarnania. xiv 
 
 Vale of Tempe in Thessaly .. 1 
 
 Arch of Tiryns. 10 
 
 Head of Olympian Jove .. .. 11 
 
 Paris from the /Eg i lie tan Sculp¬ 
 tures . 16 
 
 Ajax, from the /Eginetan Sculp¬ 
 tures . 17 
 
 Gate of Mycenae . 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-bullets and Arrow¬ 
 heads, found at Athens, Mara¬ 
 thon, and Leontini .. .. 79 
 
 Coin of Corinth. 86 
 
 Croesus on the Funeral P.le .. 87 
 
 Rums of the Temple of ths Olym¬ 
 pian Jove at Athens .. .. 102 
 
 Coin of Athena.113 
 
 Gb. 
 
 ..Frontispi ece; 
 
 . Title Page. 
 
 Pagb 
 
 Ancient Sculptures from Selimis 114 
 Coin of Cyrene, representing ou 
 the lcverse the Silphium .. 125 
 Alcaeus and Sappho. From a 
 Painting on a vase .. .. 126 
 
 Temple at iEgina, 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 . it. 
 
 Corinthian Architecture .. .. 146 
 
 Cyrus.151 
 
 Behistun rock on which are in¬ 
 scribed the exploits of Darius 163 
 Ruins of an Ionic Temple in 
 
 Lycia.170 
 
 The Plain and tumulus of M a ra¬ 
 
 tllOD at « « •• •• 
 
 .. 171 
 
 Bust of Miltiades 
 
 .. 184 
 
 View of Thermopylie 
 
 .. 185 
 
 A Greek Warrior 
 
 .. 201 
 
 Temple of Nike Apteros, on 
 
 the 
 
 Acropolis at Athens 
 
 .. 216 
 
 Bust of Pindar. 
 
 .. 229 
 
 Bust of Herodotus 
 
 .. 238 
 
 The Theseum at Athena 
 
 .. 239 
 
 Pericles and Aspasia .. 
 
 .. 251 
 
 The Acropolis restoret 
 
 26f 
 
 ti 
 
XIV 
 
 LIS'I OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 Bust of the poet Sophocles 272 
 
 The Propylaea of the Acropolis 273 
 Bust of the historian Thucydides 284 
 
 The Parthenon.285 
 
 Statue ofTheseus, from the Pedi¬ 
 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 
 
 V.ewofPhyle .369 
 
 Clio, the Muse of History .. .. 380 
 
 fhe Erechtheum restored, viewed 
 from the S.W. angle .. .. 381 
 
 Coin showing the Parthenon, 
 Athena Promaehus, 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 .. . . .. 41 £ 
 
 The Pactolus at Sardis .. .. 419 
 
 Choragic Monument of Lysicrates 43-J 
 
 View of Corinth and the Acro- 
 
 corinthus .44 c 
 
 Adventures of Dionysus, from 
 the Choragic Monument of 
 
 Lysicrates .45c 
 
 Ditto, ditto .456 
 
 The Wind Boreas, from the 
 Horologium of Andronicus 
 
 Cyrrhestes .468 
 
 Ithome, from the Stadium of 
 
 Messene.469 
 
 Bust of Plato .487 
 
 View of Delphi and Mount Par¬ 
 nassus .499 
 
 The Plain of Chseronea .. 514 
 
 Bust of Demosthenes .. .. 524 
 
 Battle of Issus.525 
 
 Apollo Citharcedus .. .. 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 .. 616 
 
 £V>fn of Acamania. 
 
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. Northern Greece* 
 Thessaly and Epirus. § 6. Central Greece: its principal divisions and 
 mountains. § 7. Eastern half of Central Greece: Doris, Phocis, Locris, 
 Boeotia, Attica, Megaris. § 8. Western half of Central Greece: Ozolian 
 Locris, 7E folia, 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 
 Gr. 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 ol 
 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 
 Aegean 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 ccrmmences at the fortieth degree of lati¬ 
 tude, does not extend farther than the thirty-sixth. Its greatest 
 length from Mount Olympus to Cape Tsenarum 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 Hellas , and themselves Hel¬ 
 lenes. It is from the Romans that we have derived the name of 
 Greece ; though why the Romans gave it a different appellation 
 from that used by the natives cannot be determined. It is however 
 a well known fact that foreigners frequently call a people by a name 
 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 Rasena. 
 
 The word Hellas signified at first only a small district in Thes¬ 
 saly, 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 3 
 
 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 aa 
 much parts of Hellas as Athens, Sparta, and Corinth 
 
 1. Thwealy. 
 
 7. Bceotia. 
 
 13. Arcadia. 
 
 i. Epirus. 
 
 8. Attica. 
 
 14. Acbaia. 
 
 8. Doris. 
 
 9. Megaris. 
 
 13. Argolis. 
 
 4. Pboois. 
 
 10. Locri Ozolae. 
 
 10- Laconia. 
 
 1 . Locri Epicuemidii 
 
 11. jEtolia. 
 
 * 7 - Messenia. 
 
 Locn Opuntv 
 
 • Acamanlti. 
 
 
 18 . Elis. 
 
 19. Eubroa. 
 £0. Salamis, 
 81. /Kgina. 
 22. Cyther*. 
 
4 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Introd. 
 
 § 5. Midway between the Ionian and vEgean seas the chain of 
 mountains forming the northern boundary of Greece is intersected 
 at right angles by the long and lofty range of Pmdus, 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 Thessaly , 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 Thessaly is enclosed 
 between four natural ramparts, which are only broken at the 
 uorth-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 Thessaly and Epirus. 
 The latter country contains no enclosed plain like that of Thes¬ 
 saly, 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 Am- 
 bracian on the west and the Malian on the east. This isthmus 
 separates the peninsula of central Greece from the mainland of 
 Thessaly and Epirus. 
 
 Central Greece again may be divided into two unequal halves 
 the eastern half containing the countries of Doris, Pliocis, Locris 
 Boeotia, Attica, and Megaris, the western comprising Ozoliau 
 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 (Eta, has a south-easterly direction, and forms the 
 northern barrier of central Greece. The only entrance into cen¬ 
 tra) Greece from the north is through the narrow opening left 
 between Mount (Eta and the sea, immortalized in history under 
 the name of Thermopylae. 
 
 South of Tymphrestus the chain of Pindus divides into two grtat 
 
Intro r> 
 
 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, Cithaeron, 
 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 8000 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 Locrians , called respectively Epicnemidian , from 
 Mount Cnemis, and Opuntian , from the town of Opus. Paotia 
 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 i/, 
 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 Cithaeron 
 and Parnes, which separate it from Attica. Boeotia 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 Copais, 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 Cithaeron and Parnes, which forms its northern boundary, 
 shuts off this peninsula from the rest of Greece. Cithaeron 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 Cithaeron. 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 fsthraus is comnaraGvely level, but im- 
 
6 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 INTROU 
 
 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 Ozolian 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 
 TEtolian Corax. AEtolia 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 the 
 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 the 
 height of 7788 feet above the level of the sea, a grand and 
 majestic object as seen from the isthmus and the Corinthian 
 gulf. 
 
 § 10. The other chief divisions of Peloponnesus were Achaia, 
 Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, 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 
 before reaching the shore. The plains thus left on the coast, 
 and the valleys between the mountains, are for' the most paid 
 very fertile. 
 
iNTROD. 
 
 OUTLINES OB' 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 Taenarum (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. 
 
 Elis was the region between the western barrier of Arcadia and 
 the Ionian sea. It is covered to a groat 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 Boeotia 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 
 Euboea 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 Bhodes. In the Saronic gulf between Attica and 
 Argolis were the celebrated islands of Salamis and JEgina , 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 Ellis 
 in Peloponnesus. Cythera was separated by a narrow channel 
 from the southern extremity of Laconia. 
 
 § 12. The physical features of the country exercised an im- 
 portart 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 is one of 
 the most striking phenomena 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, could 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 acce 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, biokeu 
 
Introd. 
 
 OUTLINES OF GRECIAN GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 9 
 
 forms and rich silvery 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 almost 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 neai 
 the southern extremity of Attica yielded a considerable quantity 
 of silver, but otherwise Greece was poor in the precious metals, 
 
 * ael 8ia A a^irpoTaroc 
 
 fialvovres afipuis alOepos. —Eurip. Med. 829. 
 
 f “ Eat prop e purpureos colics florentis Ilymetti 
 Eons sacer.”—Ovid Art. Amat. 3. 687. 
 
10 HISTORY OF GREECE Introd. 
 
 Iron was found in the range of Taygetus in Juaconia, and copper 
 as well as iron near Chalcis in Euboea. 
 
 § 15. The climate of Greece appears to have beei 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. 
 
 Arab 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 776 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 iEolus gave their names to the 
 Dorians and iEolians ; and Xuthus, through his two sons, Ion 
 and Achoeus, became the forefather of the Ionians and Achajans. 
 In this way the four great divisions of the Greek race, the 
 Dorians, iEolians, Ionians, and Achseans, were supposed to be 
 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 fmm the south of Thessaly, and their settlements 
 in the different parts of Greece, represent the current belie! 
 
 * Hence called an Autochthon (Aur6y6wv). 
 
THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 13 
 
 respecting the early history of the four great divisions of the 
 race. 
 
 iEolus succeeded his father Hellen 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 AEolians were the most 
 widely diffused of all the descendants of Hellen. Zvlany 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 Achoeans 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 Mycenae, Argos, and Sparta, in the 
 Peloponnesus. The most distinguished of the Grecian heroes in 
 the Trojan war were Achseans; 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 Aistory, they issued from then 
 
14 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. 1. 
 
 primeval seats, and spread over a considerable portion both ol 
 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 
 as 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. Hence 
 Homer gives to the Dodonsean 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, Leleges, 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 Dodonsean god. 
 
 § 6. The civilization of the Greeks and the development of 
 their language bear all the marks of home growth, and probably 
 
 * A fortified I,own was called L<••>'£*&a by the Pel&sgianS, 
 
Uhap. 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 Egyptian 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 ol 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. 1 
 
 § 8. Another colony, not less celebrated and not more credible 
 than the two just mentioned, is the one led from Asia by Pelopa, 
 from whom the southern peninsula of Greece derived its name 
 of Peloponnesus. Pelops is usually represented as a native 
 of Sipylus in Phrygia, and the son of the wealthy king Tantalus. 
 By means of his riches, which he brought with him into Greece, 
 he became king of Mycence and the founder of a powerful 
 dynasty, one of tho 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 tho 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 tho mainland. 
 Whether there was such a person as tho Phoenician Cadmus, 
 and whether he built the town called Cadmea, which afterwards 
 became tho citadel of Thebes, as tho 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, uncontaminated by any foreign eloments. 
 
 Pin*, from t_he Sculptures. 
 
Ajax, from the TEginetan Sculptures. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GRECIAN HEROES. 
 
 § 1. Mythical character of the Heroic Age. § 2. Hercules. § 3. Theseus. 
 § 4. 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—- 
 
 c 
 
 U 
 
 Gb 
 
 “ Presenting Thebes or Pelops’ line, 
 Or the tule of Troy divine.” 
 
18 
 
 HISTORY OP GREECE. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 According to mythical chronology tne 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 Hon and Lernean hydra, 
 carries off the girdle of Ares 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 Iol6, the daughter of the same 
 Eurytus whose son he had slain, incites his wife Deianlra to send 
 Mm the fatal shirt, poisoned with the blood of the centaur 
 Nbssus. 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. As 
 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 HCgeus, king of Athens, and of 
 iEthra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Trcezen. On his return to 
 Athens iEgeus left zEthra 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 iEgeus, 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 hawing 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, he instituted the festivals of the Panathensea and 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Ciiap II. 
 
 Synoikia in honour of Athena (Minerva), the patron goddess of 
 the city. He then divided the citizens into three classes, namely, 
 EujpatridcBy or nobles, Geomori, or husbandmen, and Demiuryi, 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 
 ad\ „*itures 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 Lycomedes. 
 
 § 4. Minos, king of Crete, whose story 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 are 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 flEson, 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 AEa,* a region in the farthest east, ruled 
 Dy iEetes, 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 J ason, 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- 
 
 Idimtified by the Greeks of a later age with Colchis 
 
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 iEa, 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 JSetes, 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. zEetes 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. 
 
 La'ius, 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 (Edipus 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, (Edipus 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 puilty man revealed the fatal truth 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. I). 
 
 Jocasta hangs herself; CEdipus, 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 anothei 
 expedition against Thebes in order to avenge their fathers’ fate, 
 hence called the war of the Epvjoni , or the Descendants. If 
 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 carrying 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 Mycenee, leader of the expedi¬ 
 tion, and sail across the iEgean 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¬ 
 salian 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 Diomedes, king of Argos, son of Tydcus, slain at 
 Thebes, and one of the Epigoni; the Telamonian Ajax of Sa- 
 lainis, who, though somewhat heavy and unwieldy, is next to 
 Achilles in person and fighting power; and lastly, Tdomeneus 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. 11. 
 
 THE GRECIAN HEROES 
 
 23 
 
 to his handsome, but effeminate brother Paris. Next to Hector 
 in valour stands iEneas, son of Anchises and 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 Patroclus, 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 Mycenae, by his wife 
 Clytaemnestra, 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. 
 
M8T0RI OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. JI. 
 
 Si 
 
 § 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 the 
 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, a 
 grammarian 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 our knowledge of the Greek 
 people commences. 
 
Gate of Mycenaa. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 STATE OF SOCIETY OF THE HEROIC AGE. 
 
 § 1. Political condition of Greece—the Kings. § 2. The Boultf, 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. Ill 
 
 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 Olympus, 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 were then allowed to address the people. But no 
 one else had the right to speak ; no vote was taken ; the people 
 simply listened 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 genera] 
 feeling of his time in the memorable lines—“ The rule of mauj 
 is not a good thing : let us have only one ruler, one king—hin 
 
 • 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.]; The nobles 
 were raised far above the rest of the community in honour 
 power, and 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 and dark features. Among the Greeks, 
 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 libert) 
 tnan they possessed in republican Greece ; and to Penelope, 
 Andromache, and other women of the Heroic age there is 
 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 whicl 
 
 * Iliad, ii. 203-206 f Sri/ubos, A aol. 
 
 t Siuits. 5 Called et&t-cu or cjva. 
 
28 
 
 HfSTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. Ill 
 
 prevailed among the ancient Jews and the barbarous nations 
 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 spoil 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. The enjoyment of the banquet was 
 heightened by the song and the dance, and the chiefs took more 
 
Chap. Ill 
 
 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 
 deem 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 hke 
 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 simphcity 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 were 
 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 
 grandeur. 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¬ 
 cenae, 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. Ill 
 
 much esteemed. It was deemed 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 tho 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 Mycenae, 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 phenomena 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 /Egean 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 
 
Hercules and Bull. (From a bas-relief in the Vatican.) 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 SETURN OF THE HERACLID2E INTO PELOPONNESUS, AND FOUNDATION 
 OF THE EARLIEST GREEK COLONIES. 
 
 § 1. The mythical character of the narrative of these events. § 2. Migra¬ 
 tion of the Boeotians from Thessaly into Bceotia. § 3. Conquest of Pelo¬ 
 ponnesus by the Dorians. § 4. The legendary account of this event. 
 The invasion. § 5. The legendary account continued. The division of 
 Peloponnesus among the conquerors. § 6. Remarks upon the legendary 
 account. §7. Foundation of the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. §8. The 
 iEolic colonies. § 9. The Ionic colonies. § 10. The Doric colonies. 
 § 11. Colonization of Crete by the Dorians. § 12. Conclusion of the 
 Mythical age. 
 
 § 1. At the commencement of Grecian history in the first 
 Olympiad we find the greater part of Peloponnesus occupied by 
 tribes of Dorian conquerors, and the western shores of Asia Minor 
 covered by Greek colonies. The time at which these settlements 
 were made is quite uncertain. They belong to a period long ante¬ 
 cedent to all historical records, and were known to the Greeks of a 
 later age by tradition alone. The accounts given of them are evi¬ 
 dently fabulous, but at the same time these stories are founded 
 upon a basis of historical truth. That Peloponnesus was at 
 some early period conquered by the Dorians, and that Greek 
 colonies were planted in Asia, are facts which admit of no dis- 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 pute ; but whether the conquest of Peloponnesus and the colo¬ 
 nization of Asia Minor took place in the manner and at the 
 time described by the ancient legends, is a very different ques¬ 
 tion. These legends are not entitled to more credit than those 
 of Hercules and Theseus, although they are proved in these 
 particular cases to have been fashioned out of real events ; for, 
 as we have already said, it is impossible to separate the historical 
 facts from the subsequent embellishments. 
 
 § 2. Before relating the conquest of Peloponnesus by the 
 Dorians, we must say a few words respecting an earlier, though 
 less celebrated migration, namely, that of the Boeotians from 
 Thessaly into Boeotia. The Thessalians were a rude and unci¬ 
 vilized race, who originally dwelt in the district of Epirus called 
 Thesprotia, from which they migrated into the country named 
 after them, Thessaly. These Thessalian conquerors either sub¬ 
 dued or expelled the original inhabitants of the country. The 
 Boeotians, who inhabited the fertile district of iEolis, in the 
 centre of Thessaly, wandered southwards into the country called 
 after them Boeotia, where they drove out in their turn the ancient 
 inhabitants of the land. According to mythical chronology this 
 event happened in 1124 b.c., or sixty years after the fall of Troy. 
 
 § 3. The conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians is said to 
 have taken place twenty years after the expulsion of the Boeo¬ 
 tians from Thessaly, and was accordingly placed in 1104 b.o. 
 We have already seen that these dates are of no historical value; 
 and the Dorian conquest of Peloponnesus probably took place 
 after the time of Homer, since neither in the Iliad nor in the 
 Odyssey do we find any traces of Dorians in Peloponnesus. The 
 Dorians were a warlike tribe in northern Greece, who had fre¬ 
 quently clianged their homes, and who at length settled in a 
 mountainous district between Thessaly, Locris, and 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 Pelo¬ 
 ponnesus, destroyed the ancient Achaean monarchies, and 
 expelled or reduced to subjection the original inhabitants of the 
 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 
 the Heraclidee, or lescendants of the mighty hero Hercules, 
 
urap. rv. 
 
 RETURN OF THE HERACLIDJE. 
 
 3S 
 
 Hence this migration is called the Return of the Heraclidso. The 
 children of Hercules had long been fugitives upon the earth. 
 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 Heraclidse 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, iEgimius, when the 
 latter was hard pressed in a contest with the Lapithee. The 
 invaders were warned by an oracle not to enter Pekponnesus 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 iEtolians, 
 became their guide ; and the Ozolian Locrians granted them a 
 port for building tlieir fleet, from which memorable circumstance 
 the harbour was soon afterwards called Naupactus.* Here Aris¬ 
 todemus was struck with lightning and died, leaving twin sons, 
 Eurysthenes and Procles; but his remaining brothers crossed ovei 
 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 Achieans, 
 and to be called after them. The Ionians withdrew to Attica, 
 and the greater part of them afterwards emigrated to Asia Minor. 
 
 § 5. The Heraclidas 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 Messema. 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 Elis, submitted to Oxylus and his JEto- 
 
 * From vavs, “a snip,” an.l tin- root 110,7, wnich occurs in rrhyrv , 
 * fasten,” “ build.’* 
 
 Gu- 
 
 i) 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 UHAJr, 17, 
 
 lians 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 iEtolian 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 Amyclte. 
 '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 Heraclidse. 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. 
 
 85 
 
 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 Acha3an 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 iEgean 
 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, lonians, and Dorians, — the iEolians occupying the 
 northern portion of the coast, together with the islands of 
 Lesbos and Tenedos, the lonians the central part, with the 
 islands of Chios, Samos, and the Cyclades, and the Dorians the 
 south-western corner, with the islands of Rhodes and Cos. 
 
 § 8. The iEolic colonies are said to have been the earliest. 
 Achaeans, 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 
 and of their Boeotian conquerors. From the latter, who were 
 d£oiians, 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 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 OHAP. IV 
 
 36 
 
 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 iEolic 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 population; and accordingly 
 these strangers resolved to follow the example of the iEolians 
 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 Asia Minor they took possession of the fertile country 
 from the Hermus to the Mseander, 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.f 
 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 Alolic cities were—Cyme, Temnos, Larissa, 
 Neon-Tlchos, Alga, Myrina, Grynium, Cilia, Notium, iEgiroessa, Pitane. 
 
 + The names of the twelve Ionic cities, enumerated from south to north, 
 were Miletus, Mvus, Priene, Samos, EphCsus, ColSphon, Lebgdus, Te»5, 
 Erylhrce, Chios, Clazomgnaj. Phocsea. To these twelve bmyrna was after¬ 
 wards added. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 COLONIES IN ASIA MINOR. 
 
 37 
 
 Achseans to Asia. The most celt brated of the Doric migrations 
 was that conducted by the Argive Althaemenes, a descendant 
 of Temenus, who, after leaving some of his followers at Cretq 
 proceeded with the remainder to the island of Rhodes, 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. 
 
 O CIJALCEDON 
 
 O ILIUM 
 
 crme 
 
 PHOC/EA. 
 
 O SMYRNA 
 
 
 0 
 
 EltYTHR^E, 
 
 O CLAZOMEN-'E. 
 
 teos. 
 
 0 
 
 \ 0 COLOPHON 
 
 c EPHESUS. 
 
 Map of tlie 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 ol 
 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 are 
 expressly mentioned, one conducted under the auspices of Sparta, 
 and the other by the Argive Althsemenes. Of the latter we have 
 already spoken ; the former consisted chiefly of Minyaus, who 
 had been settled at Amyclae by the Acbman 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 Lacedaemon, 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 their 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 Heraclidse and the foundation of the 
 above-mentioned colonies form the conclusion of the Mvthical 
 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 scaroely 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 tc 
 affix dates to the chief events in legendary Greece. 
 
OIK0YMEWH XP0NQSIA1AZ QAYZZE1A OMI1PQE MYGOI 
 
 Homer enthroned. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE POEMS OF HOMER. 
 
 § 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. Ho 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 The Toet. The Iliad and 
 the Odyssey were the Greek Bible. They were the ultimate 
 standard of appeal on all matters of religious doctrine and early 
 
10 
 
 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 long 
 after the Greek people had lost their independence the Iliad 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. 
 W e 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 poems 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 noblei 
 sense, is probably to be attributed to the genius of Homer. 
 
 & 3. There was a large number of these epic poems extant in 
 antiquity. We know the titles of more than thirty of them. 
 Their 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 Tliad and the Odyssey were comprised in the Cycle 
 aud corsequently the name of Cyclic poet did not originally 
 
(Jhap. 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 ol 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,J 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 
 
 * “ Nec sic incipies, ut scriptor cychcus olim.”—Hor. Ars Poet. 137. 
 
 + The grammarians, who maintained the separate origin of the Iliad anc 
 Odyssey, were called Chorizontes (xooptCovTti) or Separatists. 
 
 J Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Saiaims, Rhodos, Argos, Athenac, 
 
 Orbis de patru vertat, Homere, vua. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 *2 
 
 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 we 
 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. We 
 must endeavour to realize the difference between ancient Greece 
 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 produce-d 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 ( paxpcpSos ) is uncertain; some 
 deriving it from the staff or wand of office (£dj85os, or pan'is), and other, 
 from fidiTTfiv aoiB^v to denote the coupling together of verses without any 
 considerable pauses,—the even, unbroken flow of the epic poem as contrasted 
 with 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 obtaining 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 lines 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 
 
 * De Ora tore, ui. 34. 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 year L795, when the 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 Odyssey 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. The 
 substance of it had been already propounded by Vico, a Neapo¬ 
 litan writer of great originality, 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 the 
 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 the 
 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 a 
 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 until 500 years alter.” 
 
Chap. V 
 
 POEMS OF HOMER. 
 
 45 
 
 (b.c. 620). in the Homeric poems themse.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, but 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 soids. 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 o-fyuara \vypd are supposed by Wolf and others 
 to signify pictorial and not alphabetical characters. 
 
 +■ H' 1 is <p6prov /j.vf]u.wy. Odyss. viii. 164. 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. V 
 
 Odyssey themselves. He 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 of 
 interpolations, more or less extensive, in both poems, the general 
 result has been to establish their poetical unity, a,nd to vindecate 
 their claim to be the greatest models of the epic art. 
 
 Bust of Homer 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 B.C. 776—500. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 GENERAL SURVEY OF THE GREEK PEOPLE. 
 
 §1. Nature of the subject. § 2. The chief ties which 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. § 6. The Pythian, Nemean, 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 v/ill contain the History of Greece from 
 the first Olympiad, or the year 776 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 
 
 Chat 1 . VI 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 that causes great, difficulties to the historian. Unlike the history 
 of Home, 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 way 
 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 Barbarian. 
 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. 
 
 AMPIIICTYONIC COUNCIL. 
 
 •i b 
 
 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 Amjphictyony 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 
 .ndependent cities or states. The deputies were composed of 
 two classes of representatives from each tribe ; a chief called 
 Hieromnemon, and subordinates named Pylagdrae. The names 
 of these twelve tribes are not the same in all accounts, but they 
 were probably as follows: — Thessalians, Boeotians, Dorians, 
 fonians, Perrhsebians, Magnetes, Locrians, CEtaeans, Achaeans, 
 Phocians, Dolopes, and Malians. These names are of themselves 
 sufficient to prove the great antiquity of the Council. Several 
 of the tribes here mentioned scarcely ever occur in the historical 
 
 * The original form of the name seems to have been ’A /u^iKriov(a t not 
 hfAcptKTVov'ia. The word aiu<t>ih:TLOue r signifies those that dwell .round oi 
 aeai. f O.' *h.a<piKrvoves. 
 
 Ga. 
 
 E 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Ciiap. Vi. 
 
 50 
 
 period ; and the fact of the Dorians standing on an equality with 
 the Dolopes and the Mahans, shows that the Council must have 
 existed before the Dorian conquest of Peloponnesus. The tribos 
 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 us 
 a better idea than the oath taken by its members. It ran thus— 
 “ 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 will 
 march against him and destroy his city. If any one shall plun¬ 
 der the property of the god, or shall be cognizant thereof, or shall 
 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 Rome. 
 
 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 
 
Qhap. VI. 
 
 national festivals. 
 
 L ; 
 
 Cirrhgeans; and after waging war against them for ten yeart 
 (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 Cirrhaean 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 allies 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 all 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 Elis, 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 Hellanodicse.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 (irevraeT-npls), 
 b**cause it was celebrated every 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 wn tailed 
 % Triateris ' Tpitriripis). t F,\?apo8lK!ti. 
 
 E 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 
 ->live ; 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 
 £ames, 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 Cirrhsean 
 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 
 
 * (lulled Thcuri (Qetoftol)' 
 
Chap. 
 
 NATIONAL FESTIVALS 
 
 53 
 
 bliey 80 c.ii acquired celebrity, and became second onjy to the 
 groat Olympic festival 
 
 The Nemean and Isthmian games occurred more frequentlj 
 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 
 Cleomeans 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 commerce 
 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 Amynfas. 
 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 th 
 
54 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. 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 tr 
 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 
 wa3 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 Romans ; 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 Pytliia , 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 polished 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. 
 
 *5 10. The elements of union of which we have 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. The} 7 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 one city ovei 
 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 ail forms of government, whether oligarchical or 
 democratical. Hence the dominion exercised by Thebes over 
 the cities of Boeotia, 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, 
 Boeotia, 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 cr hal 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 political 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 of 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 political 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 stale, the right of intermarriage and of acquiring landed property 
 The former of these ’ights was called i^Lya/xta. the latter tyiCTTjais . 
 
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. Perioeci. § 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 
 Achaean monarchies. Mycenae was the residence of Agamemnon, 
 king of men, Sparta of his brother Menelaus, 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 awaj r , and their subjects either driven out of the 
 land or compelled to submit to the 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 
 
Jhap. 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 tc 
 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 iD 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 buve 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 Achceans, and 
 Hras called after them Achaia. This territory extended from 
 t he mouth of the river Larissus on the one side to th'' confines of 
 Sicyonia on the othor, and was divided among twelve Achaean 
 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 
 
HISTORY OK GREECE. 
 
 Chap. Vll 
 
 cities, whose territory stretched across the Isthmus from sea 
 to sea. 
 
 But if we g) back to the first Olympiad, we 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 little 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 district 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 Cleonse, I hlius, Sicyon, Epidaurus, Trcezen, 
 and iEglna. They formed a league, the patron god of which 
 was Apollo Pythaeus, 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 
 Heraclid 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. He 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 great 
 ’n the Pelc ponnesus that the Pisatans, who had been accustomed 
 
B.O. 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 Olympia, 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 oi 
 the Eleans, and the contest ended in the defeat of Phidon. In 
 the following Olympiad the Eleans again obtained the manag*e- 
 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 uot 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 Euboea. 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 HCginetan 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 place 
 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 b ' shown that the institutions of Sparta were 
 peculiar to heuself, 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, arid 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. VII 
 
 *0 
 
 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 details 
 of his life can be proved to be historically true; and we arc- 
 obliged to choose out of several accounts the one which appears 
 the most probable. 
 
 § 5. There are very great discrepancies respecting the date ol 
 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 lather 
 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. He now set himself to work to 
 
B C. 77<j 
 
 LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. 
 
 61 
 
 carry his long projected reforms into effect; but before he com¬ 
 menced his arduous task, he consulted the 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 carried 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 the com¬ 
 munity to his 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 prosperit} 
 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 stem 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 o* 
 liie vountry, and also of the nature of the government. 
 
62 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 ChAP. VII 
 
 § 7. The population of Laconia was divided into the three 
 classes of Spartans, Periceci, and Helots. 
 
 The Spartans were the descendants of the leading Doriari 
 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 Laconia, which were cultivated for them by the Helc ts, 
 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 
 was 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.! 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 Periceci% 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 Laconia. 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- 
 
 * O l "O /ioioi. f Oi 'Titogloves. 
 
 + The name Trspioinot signifies literally ** dwellers around the city,” and is 
 used generally by the Greeks to signify the inhabitants in the country districts, 
 'vdio possessed inferior ohtical 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 full 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 villanage of the middle ages. They lived in 
 the rural villages, as the Perioeci 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-armed 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, 
 ana 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 (E7A&>res) from the 
 to.vn of Helos ( w EAos) in the south of Laconia, the inhabitants of which had 
 rebelled and been reduced to slavery. Others connect their name with eA7j, 
 marshes , as if it signified inhabitants of the lowlands. Others, again, wit! 
 more probability explain E7 Awt«s' as meaning prisoners , from the root of t Ac/ 
 to taks 
 
6*1 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. VII 
 
 similar taies, 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 Gryptia ,* 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 Neodamodes. + 
 
 § 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 
 Epliors. 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 t<? 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 the 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 
 supreme command of the military force on foreign expeditions 
 But even in this privilege their authority was restricted at a 
 
 “ K pvTrrela, a secret commission, from KpvnTw, hide, conceal. 
 
 "*■ NfoSauwSeu : that is, newly enfranchised. t See above, p. 33. 
 
B.C. 776. 
 
 LEGISLATION OF LYCUEGUS. 
 
 66 
 
 later 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 Gerusia * or the Council of Elders , consisted 
 of thirty members, among whom the two kings weie 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 
 
 _ * r (oovala. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 ercised it witnout 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 martial 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 o£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 elders. 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 Pcedonornna (noudov6uos). 
 
B.C. 776. 
 
 LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. 
 
 67 
 
 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 Tyrtseus 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 he 
 slept at night in the public barracks. It was not till he had 
 reached his sixtieth year that he was released from the public 
 discipline and from military service. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. YIl 
 
 The public, mess—called Syssitia ,*—is said to have been insti¬ 
 tuted by Lycurgus to prevent all indulgence of the appetite, 
 Public 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 buy fiesh and fish. No distinction of any kind was allowed at 
 these frugal meals. Meat was only eaten occasionally ; and one 
 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, wrestling, and boxing. The 
 youths were present at these exercises, and the maidens were 
 allowed in like 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 consequences, 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 public 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 
 
 * Uvaariria, that is, eating, or messing together or in common. The public 
 0 ,-css was also called Phiditia (r'a ifjiTia), or frugal meals. 
 
3.0. 776 
 
 LEGISLATION OF iYCUKGUS. 
 
 69 
 
 it,” was their exhortation to their sons, when going to battle ; 
 tnd 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 Demseneta 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 Pericecus 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 sterns 
 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 Polyglotta , edited by Dr. Wellesley, pp. 191, 202. 
 
70 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Agis to 700 ; and in the reign of this king 100 jdone possessed 
 nearly the whole of the landed property in Hie 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 hence 
 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 Periceci. 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¬ 
 nesian 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 
 
LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. 
 
 B.C. 776 
 
 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 
 h.lt. 1 to meditate the conquest of that fertile country. 
 
Early Greek Armour, from Vase-paintings. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HISTORY OF SPARTA. THE MESSENIAN, ARCADIAN, AND ARGIVE 
 
 WARS. 
 
 § 1. Authorities for the history of the Messenian wars. § 2. The first 
 Messenian war, B.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 Mes- 
 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, 
 and are attested by the contemporary poet Tyrtseus. But of the 
 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 first 
 
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 
 native 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 Taygetus, 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. Polychares, 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, Polychares took the revenge into his own hands, 
 and killed all the Lacedaemonians that came in his way. The 
 Spartans demanded the surrender of Polychares, 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 Arnphea, and put the inhabitants to the 
 sword. 
 
 Thus commenced the first Messenian war Euphiies, who wa. v 
 
74 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 then king of Messenia, 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 
 d£pytus * 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 life 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. Euphaes fell 
 in the action ; and Aristodemus, who was chosen king in his 
 place, prosecuted the war with vigour and ability. In the fifth 
 year of his reign a third great battle was fought, in which the 
 Corinthians fought on the side of the Spartans, and tae Arca¬ 
 dians and Sicyonians on the side of the Messenians. This time 
 ihe Messenians gained a decisive victory, and the LacedEemonians 
 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 Lacedaemonians 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. Those 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 Tyrtaeus, who 
 says, “Like asses worn down by heavy burthens they were com- 
 
 * The royal family Messenia was descended from .Epyius, who was a 
 son of Cresphontes. 
 
E.C. 685. 
 
 SECOND MESSENIAN WAR. 
 
 75 
 
 pelled to make over to their masters an entire half of the produce ol 
 tlieir fields, and to come in the garb of woe to Sparta, themselves 
 and their wives, as mourners at the decease af 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 Tyrtaeus of Aphidnae, 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, 
 vVorthy sons, like your sires, of our warlike land ! 
 
 _^et each arm be prepared for its part in the fight, 
 
 Fix the shield on 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 Tyrtoous, the Spartans aguin 
 
 * “ Tyrtasusque 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- 
 menus. 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 memory long lived in the hearts of hir 
 
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. During 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 Scirltis, Beleminatis, Maleatis, and Caryatis, 
 originally belonged to Arcadia, and was conquered by the Lace¬ 
 daemonians at an early period. 
 
 The Lacedaemonians, however, did not meet with equal success 
 n 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 Lacedaemonians 
 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 fie find the remains of the hero at Tegea : and by a 
 
78 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. VIII 
 
 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 Lacedte- 
 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 
 547 b. c. led to one of the most celebrated combats in early 
 Grecian history. It was agreed between the Lacedaemonians 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 have anticipated at 
 this 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 of Cynuria. 
 

 Leaden Sling-bullets and Arrow-heads, found at Athens, Marathon, and Leontini. 
 
 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 th.e smallness 
 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 belief 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.f In all 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 for the manner in which they discharged 
 the duties of their ofnce. 
 
 § 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. 
 
 The nobles possessed the greater part of the land of the state, 
 and were hence frequently distinguished by the name of Geo- 
 mori or Gamori.^) 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 
 
 * f UpvTavi*. 
 
 I r(w/x6c'(u (Ionic), r ap.6001 (Doric), landowners 
 
3.C. 650. 
 
 THE GRECIAN DESPOTS. 
 
 SI 
 
 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 declined in numbers and in we.ilth ; 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 
 Tyrints.* 
 
 § 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 Despots 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. 0. 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 
 they 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 
 his dignity permanently, in spite of his brother nobles. There 
 was another class of irresponsible rulers to whom the name of 
 dZsymnetes ,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 
 cruel. 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 prc tect himself he called in thr 
 
 Gr. 
 
 f AlavuvQTus- 
 
 G 
 
 * Tiocu/voi. 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF GREEUE. 
 
 Chap. IX . 
 
 aid of foreign troops, and took up his residence in the acropolis, 
 surrounded by his mercenaries. The most illustrious citizens 
 were now exiled or put to death, and the government became in 
 reality a tyranny in the modern sense of the word. Some ol 
 these despots erected magnificent public works, either to gratify 
 their own love of splendour and display, or with the express view 
 of impoverishing their subjects. Others were patrons of litera¬ 
 ture and art, and sought to gain popularity by inviting literary 
 men to their court. But even those who exercised their sove¬ 
 reignty with moderation were never able to retain their popu¬ 
 larity. The assumption of irresponsible power by one man had 
 become abhorrent to the Greek mind. A person thus raising 
 himself above the law was considered to have forfeited all title 
 to the protection of the law. He was regarded as the greatest 
 of criminals, and his assassination was viewed as a righteous and 
 holy act. Hence few despots grew old in their government; 
 still fewer bequeathed their power to their sons ; and very 
 rarely did the dynasty continue as long as the third generation. 
 
 § 4. Many of the despots in Greece were put down by the 
 Lacedaemonians. The Spartan government, as we have already 
 seen, was essentially an oligarchy; and the Spartans were always 
 ready to lend their powerful aid to the support or the establish¬ 
 ment of the government of the Few. Hence they took an active 
 part in the overthrow of the despots, with the intention of estab¬ 
 lishing the ancient oligarchy in their place. But this rarely 
 happened ; and they thus became unintentional instruments in 
 promoting the principles of the popular party. The rule of the 
 despot had broken down the distinction between the nobles and 
 the general body of freemen ; and upon the removal of the des¬ 
 pot it was found impossible in most cases to reinstate the former 
 body of nobles in their ancient privileges. The latter, it is true, 
 attempted to regain them, and were supported in their attempts 
 by Sparta. Hence arose a new struggle. The first contest after 
 the abolition of royalty was between oligarchy and the des¬ 
 pot ; the next which now ensued was between oligarchy ana 
 democracy. 
 
 The history of Athens will afford the most striking illustration 
 of the different revolutions of which we have been speaking ; but 
 there are some examples in the other Greek states which must 
 not be passed over entirely. 
 
 § 5. The city of Sicyon, situated to the west of the Corinthian 
 isthmus, was governed by a race of despots for a longer period 
 than any other Greek state. Their dynasty lasted for a hundred 
 years, and is said to havs been founded' by Orthagoras, about 
 b. c. 676. This revolution is worthy of notice, because Ortha- 
 
B.C. 625. 
 
 DESPOTS OF SICYON AND CORINTH. 
 
 83 
 
 gorae did net belong to the oligarchy. The latter consisted of a 
 portion of the Dorian conquerors ; and Orthagoras, who belonged 
 to the old inhabitants of the country, obtained the power by the 
 overthrow of the Dorian oligarchy. He and his successors were 
 doubtless supported by the old population, and this was one 
 reason of the long continuance of their power. The last of the 
 dynasty was Clisthenes, who was celebrated for tiis wealth and 
 magnificence, and who gained the victory in the chariot race m 
 the Pythian and Olympic games. He aided the Amphictyons in 
 the sacred war against Cirrha (b. c. 595), and he was also engaged 
 in hostilities against Argos. But the chief point in his history 
 which claims our attention was his systematic endeavour to de¬ 
 press and dishonour the Dorian tribes. It has been already 
 remarked * that the Dorians in all their settlements were di¬ 
 vided into the three tribes of Hylleis, Pamphyli, and Dymanes. 
 These ancient and venerable names he changed into new ones, 
 derived from the sow, the ass, and the pig,f while he declared 
 the superiority of his own tribe by giving it the designation of 
 Archelai , or lords of the people. Clisthenes appears to have 
 continued despot till his death, which may be placed about b. c. 
 560. The dynasty perished with him. He left no son ; but his 
 daughter Agarista, whom so many suitors wooed, was married 
 to the Athenian Megacles, of the great family of the Alcmae- 
 onidae, and became the mother of Clisthenes, the founder of the 
 Athenian democracy after the expulsion of the Pisistratidse. 
 
 § 6. The despots of Corinth were still more celebrated. Their 
 dynasty lasted 74 years. It was founded by Cypselus, who over¬ 
 threw the oligarchy called the Bacchiadae in b.c. 655. His mother 
 belonged to the Bacchiadse ; but as none of the race would marry 
 her on account of her lameness, she espoused a man who did not 
 belong to the ruling class. The Bacchiadae having learnt that an 
 cracle had declared that the issue of this marriage would prove 
 their ruin, endeavoured to murder the child; but his mother 
 preserved him in a chest, from which he derived his name.] 
 When he had grown up to manhood he came forward as the 
 champion of the people against the nobles, and with their aid 
 expelled the Bacchiadae, and established himself as despot. He 
 held his power for thirty years (b.c. 655-625), and transmitted it 
 on his death to his son Periander. His government is said to 
 have bean mild and popular. 
 
 The sway of Periander, on the other hand, is universally repro 
 
 * Above, c. 7. § 7. 
 
 f Hyata: ('Tarat), Oneatae (Oi-earai), Cbcerf'ai.a (Xoioea~tu) 
 
 J Cypselus from cypsel? (/iuvtAT}) t a chet>t. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 HISTORY OK GREECE 
 
 Chap. IX, 
 
 sented as oppressive and cruel. Many of the tales related of him 
 may be regarded as the calumnies of his enemies ; but there is 
 good reason for believing that he ruled with a rod of iron. The 
 way in which he treated the nobles is illustrated by a well-known 
 tale, which has been transferred to the early history of Home. 
 Soon after his accession Periander is said to have sent to Thra- 
 sybulus, despot of Miletus, to ask him for advice as to the best 
 mode of maintaining his power. Without giving an answer in 
 writing, Thrasybulus led the messenger through a corn-field, 
 cutting off, as he went, the tallest ears of corn. He then dis¬ 
 missed the messenger, telling him to inform his master how he 
 had found him employed. The action was rightly interpreted 
 by Periander, who proceeded to rid himself of the powerful 
 nobles of the state. The anecdote, whether true or not, is an 
 indication of the common opinion entertained of the govern¬ 
 ment of Periander. We are further told that he protected his 
 person by a body-guard of mercenaries, and kept all rebellion in 
 check by his rigorous measures. It is admitted on all hands 
 that he possessed great ability and military skill; and, however 
 oppressive his government may have been to the citizens of 
 Corinth, he raised the city to a state of great prosperity and 
 power, and made it respected alike by friends and foes. Under 
 his sway Corinth was the wealthiest and the most powerful of all 
 the commercial communities of Greece ; and at no other period 
 in its history does it appear in so flourishing a condition. 
 In his reign many important colonies were founded by Corinth 
 on the coast of Acarnania and the surrounding islands and coasts, 
 and his sovereignty extended over Corcyra, Ambracia, Leucas, 
 and Anactorium, all of which were independent states in the 
 next generation. Corinth possessed harbours on either side of 
 the isthmus, and the customs and port-dues were so consider¬ 
 able that Periander required no other source of revenue. 
 
 Periander was also a warm patron of literature and art. He 
 welcomed the poet Arion and the philosopher Anacharsis to his 
 court, and was numbered by some among the Seven Sages of 
 Greece. 
 
 The private life of Periander was marked by great misfortunes, 
 which embittered his latter days. He is said to have killed his 
 wife Melissa in a fit of anger ; whereupon his son Lycophron left 
 Corinth and withdrew to Corcyra. The youth continued so 
 incensed against his father that he refused to return to Corinth, 
 when Periander in his old age begged him to come back and 
 assume the government. Finding him inexorable, Poriander. 
 who was anxious to insure the continuance of his dynasty, then 
 
B.C. 600 . 
 
 DESPOTS OF CORINTH AND MEGARA. 
 
 85 
 
 offered to go to Corcyra, if Lycophron would take his place at 
 Corinth. To this his son assented ; but the Corcyrseans, fearing 
 the stern rule of the old man, put Lycophron to death. 
 
 Periander reigned forty years (b.c. 625-585). He was suc¬ 
 ceeded by a relative, Psammetichus, son of Gorgias, who only 
 reigned between three and four years, and is said to have been 
 put down by the Lacedaemonians. 
 
 § 7. During the reign of Periander at Corinth, Theagenes made 
 himself despot in the neighbouring city of Megara, probably 
 about b.c. 630. He overthrew the oligarchy by espousing the 
 popular cause; but he did not maintain his power till his 
 death, and was driven from the government about b.c. 600. A 
 struggle now ensued between the oligarchy and the democracy, 
 which was conducted with more than usual violence. The 
 popular party obtained the upper hand, and abused their vic¬ 
 tory. The poor entered the houses of the rich, and forced 
 them to provide costly banquets. They confiscated the property 
 of the nobles, and drove most of them into exile. They not 
 only cancelled their debts, but also forced the aristocratic cre¬ 
 ditors to refund all the interest which had been paid. But the 
 expatriated nobles returned in arms and restored the oligarchy. 
 They were, however, again expelled, and it was not till after long 
 struggles and convulsions that an oligarchical government was 
 permanently established at Megara. 
 
 These Megarian revolutions are interesting as a specimen of 
 the struggles between the oligarchical and democratical parties, 
 which seem to have taken place in many other Grecian states 
 about the same time. Some account of them is given by the 
 contemporary poet Theognis, who himself belonged to the oligar¬ 
 chical party at Megara. He was born and spent his life in the 
 midst of these convulsions, and most of his poetry was composed 
 at the time when the oligarchioal party was oppressed and in 
 exile. In his poems the nobles are the godd, and the commons 
 the bad, terms which at that period were regularly used in this 
 political signification, and not in their later ethical meaning.* 
 We find in his poems some interesting descriptions of the 
 social changes which the popular revolution had effected. It 
 had rescued the country population from a condition of abject 
 poverty and serfdom, and had given them a share in the govern¬ 
 ment. 
 
 * It should be recollected that the terms oi ayafiol, w0\o!, (ithnirrot, &c. 
 are frequently used by the Greek writers to signify the n>bles, and 
 
 &e., to signify the commons. The Latin writers employ in like 
 manner boni, nptimates, and mali. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 yHAP. IX 
 
 
 “ Our commonwealth preserves its former fame 
 Our common people are no more the same. 
 
 They that in skins and hides were rudely dress'd, 
 
 Nor dreamt of law, nor sought to be redress’d 
 By rules of right, but in the days of old 
 hiv’d on the land, like cattle in the fold, 
 
 Are now the Brave and Good; and we, the rest, 
 
 Are now the Mean and Bad,* though once the best. * 
 
 An aristocracy of wealth had also begun to spring up in place 
 of an aristocracy of birth, and intermarriages had taken place 
 between the two parties in the state. 
 
 “ But in the daily matches that we make 
 The price is everything ; for money’s sake 
 Men marry—Women are in marriage given; 
 
 The Bad or Coward ,* that in wealth has thriven, 
 
 May match his offspring with the proudest race: 
 
 Thus everything is mixed, noble and base.” 
 
 Theognis lost his property in the revolution, and had been 
 driven into exile ; and the following lines show the ferocious 
 spirit which sometimes animated the Greeks in their party 
 struggles. 
 
 “ Yet my full wish, to drink their very blood, 
 
 Some power divine, that watches for my good, 
 
 May yet accomplish. Soon may he fulfil 
 My righteous hope—my just and hearty will.”f 
 
 These Sicyonian, Corinthian, and Megarian despots were some 
 of the most celebrated ; and their history will serve as samples 
 of what took place in most of the Grecian states in the seventh 
 and sixth centuries before the Christian era. 
 
 * All these terms are used in their political signification, 
 f The preceding extracts from Theognis are taken from the translation of 
 Lhe poet published by Mr. Frcre at Malta in 1842. 
 
 Coil of Corinth. 
 
Croesus on the Funeral Pile. (See p. 100.)—From an ancient Vase. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS DOWN TO THE USURPATION OF 
 
 PISISTRATUS. 
 
 § 1. Early division of Attica into twelve independent states, said to have 
 been united by Theseus. § 2. Abolition of royalty. Life archons. 
 
 Decennial archons. Annual archons. § 3. Twofold division of the 
 Athenians. (1.) Eupatridae, Geomori, Demiurgi. (2.) Four tribes: 
 Geleontes, Hopletes, JEgicores, Argades. § 4. Division of the four tribes 
 into Trittyes and Naucrarise, and into Phratriae and Gentes. § 5. The 
 government exclusively in the hands of the Eupatridas. The nine archons 
 and their functions. The senate of Areopagus. § 6. The legislation of 
 Draco. § 7. The conspiracy of Cylon. His failure, and massacre of his 
 partisans by Megacles, the Alcmseonid. Expulsion of the Alcmaeonidago 
 § 8. Visit of Epimenides to Athens. His purification of the city. 
 § 9. Life of Solon. § 10. State of Attica at the time of Solon’s legislation. 
 §11. Solon elected archon, B.C. 594, w : th legislative powers. § 12. His 
 Seisachtheia or disburdening ordinance. § 13. His constitutional changes 0 
 Division of the people into four classes, acoording to their property 
 
88 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. X. 
 
 § 14. Institution of the Senate of Fear Hundred, Enlargement of the 
 powers of the Areopagus. The Athenian government continues an oligarchy 
 after the time of Solon. § 15. The special laws af Solon. § 16. The 
 travels of Solon. § 17. Usurpation of Pisistratus. Return and death ot 
 Solon. 
 
 § 1. The history of Athens before the age of Solon is almost a 
 blank. Its legendary tales are few, its historical facts still fewer. 
 Cecrops, the first ruler of Attica,* is said to have divided the 
 country into twelve districts, which are represented as inde¬ 
 pendent communities, each governed by a separate king. They 
 were afterwards united into a single state, having Athens as its 
 capital and the seat of government. At what time this im¬ 
 portant union was effected cannot be determined. It took place 
 at a period long antecedent to all historical records, and is 
 ascribed to Theseus, as the national hero of the Athenian people.f 
 The poets and orators of a later age loved to represent him as 
 the parent of the Athenian democracy. It would be a loss of 
 time to point out the folly and absurdity of such a notion. 
 Theseus belongs to legend, and not to history ; and in the age 
 in which he is placed a democratical form of government was a 
 thing quite unknown. 
 
 § 2. A few generations after Theseus, the Dorians are said to 
 have invaded Attica. An oracle declared that they would be vic¬ 
 torious if they spared the life of the Athenian king ; whereupon 
 Codrus, who then reigned at Athens, resolved to sacrifice himself 
 for the welfare of his country. Accordingly he went into the 
 invader’s camp in disguise, provoked a quarrel with one of the 
 Dorian soldiers, and was killed by the latter. Upon learning the 
 death of the Athenian king, the Dorians retired from Attica 
 without striking a blow ; and the Athenians, from respect to the 
 memory of Codrus, abolished the title of king, and substituted 
 for it that of Archon J or Ruler. The office, however, was held 
 for life, and was confined to the family of Codrus. His son, 
 Medon, was the first archon, and he was followed in the dignity by 
 eleven members of the family in succession. But soon after the 
 accession of Alcmseon, the thirteenth, in descent from Medon, 
 another change was introduced, and the duration of the archon- 
 ship was limited to ten years (b. c. 752). The dignity was still 
 confined to the descendants of Medon ; but in the time of Hippo- 
 menes (b. c. 714) this restriction was removed, and the office was 
 thrown open to all the nobles in the state? In b. c. 683 a still more 
 important change took place. The archonship was now made 
 annual, and its duties were distributed among nine persons, all ol 
 whom bore the title, although one was called the. archon pre-emi- 
 
 * Seep. 15. + For details see p 20. I "A e%ui». 
 
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 government 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 Eupatridce. Their name 
 is ascribed to Theseus, who is said to have divided the Athenian 
 people into three classes, called Eupatridce, Oeomori or husband¬ 
 men, and Demiurgi * or artisans. The Eupatridse were the solo 
 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 all 
 laws, sacred and profane. They corresponded to the Roman 
 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, EEgi- 
 cores, and Argtides,% 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 from 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 
 Dot 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. 
 
 * E vToirpHeu, ViuLLopot, A fifjjiovpyol. 
 
 f •fvAov, pi. EvXa,. 
 
 t TiAfavrif, or T*Ai«vrif, "OrAwrtf, Aiymoaif, A pyaluf. 
 
90 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. X 
 
 For political purposes each tribe was divided into three Trit- 
 tyes, and each Trittys into four Naucrariae.* 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 Pliratry thirty Gentes, and each Gens thirty 
 heads of families.! Accordingly there would have been 12 
 Phratriae, 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 phratriae 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 were 
 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-Basileus,§ 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 
 
 * T pirrvg, Nauxpapiei. 
 
 f N KUKoxgo; seems to be connected with va'nu, dwell , and is only another 
 form for vctuxXetgo; or vxux\n(>os. 
 
 1 -Pgarglx, i.e. brotherhood: the word is etymologically connected with 
 frater and brother. The word rivo;, or Gens, answers nearly in meaning tc 
 our clan. The members of a ylvog were called yivvvrou or opoya,\uxris. 
 
 § •kukopiatril ivs. 
 
B.C. 683. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF ATTICA. 
 
 91 
 
 remarked, was called The Archon * by way of pre-eminence, and 
 sometimes the Archon Eponymus ,+ 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 nation4 All cases respecting religion and homicide were 
 brought before him. The third archon bore the title of The 
 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 Thesmotlietce, || 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. 
 
 * ° f ivcivu/uo;. 
 
 + 'O fiutnXius. In the same manner the title of Rex Sacrificulus or Rex 
 Sacrorum was retained at Rome after the abolition of royalty. 
 
 § 'O Y[oXifjttx,^os. 
 
 || eurpoforcu. The word for pot was the ancient term for laws , and was 
 afterwards supplanted by v«(au. The later expression for making laws is 
 
 Hafou \3ft3u;. 
 
 ’0 * 
 
92 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. X 
 
 The consequence was great discontent, which at length became 
 so serious, that Draco was appointed in 624 b. c. to draw up a 
 written code of laws. He did not change the political constitu¬ 
 tion of Athens, and the most remarkable characteristic of his 
 laws was their extreme severity. He affixed the penalty of death 
 to all crimes alike;—to petty thefts, for instance, as well as to 
 sacrilege and murder. Hence they were said to have been 
 written notin ink, but in blood; and we are told that he justified 
 this extreme harshness by saying, that small offences deserved 
 death, and that he knew no severer punishment for great ones. 
 This severity, however, must be attributed rather to the spirit 
 of the times, than to any peculiar harshness in Draco himself; 
 for he probably did little more than reduce to writing the ordi¬ 
 nances which had previously regulated his brother Eupatrids in 
 their decision of cases. His laws would of course appear exces¬ 
 sively severe to a later age, long accustomed to a milder system 
 of jurisprudence; but there is reason for believing that their 
 severity has been somewhat exaggerated. In one instance, 
 indeed, Draco softened the ancient rigour of the law. Before his 
 time all homicides were tried by the senate of Areopagus, and 
 if found guilty, were condemned to suffer the full penalty of the 
 law,—either death, or perpetual banishment with confiscation of 
 property. The senate had no power to take account of any exte¬ 
 nuating or justifying circumstances. Draco left to this ancient 
 body the trial of all cases of wilful murder ; but he appointed 
 fifty-one new judges, called Ephetce ,* who were to try all cases of 
 homicide in which accident or any other justification could be 
 pleaded. His regulations with respect to homicide continued 
 in use after his other ordinances had been repealed by Solon. 
 
 § 7. The legislation of Draco failed to calm the prevailing dis¬ 
 content. The people gained nothing by the written code, except 
 a more perfect knowledge of its severity ; and civil dissensions 
 prevailed as extensively as before. The general dissatisfaction 
 with the government was favourable to revolutionary projects ; 
 and accordingly, twelve years after Draco’s legislation (b. c. 612), 
 one of the nobles conceived the design of depriving his brother 
 Eupatrids of their power, and making himself despot of Athens. 
 This noble was Cylon, one of the most distinguished members 
 of the order. He had gained a victory at the Olympic games, 
 and had married the daughter of Theagenes, of Megara, who 
 had made himself despot of his native city. Encouraged by 
 the success of his father-in-law, and excited by his own cele¬ 
 brity and position in the state, he consulted the Delphic oracle 
 on the subjt^t, and was advised to seize the Acropolis at “the 
 
 * 'Etfirai. 
 
B.C. 612 . 
 
 CONSPIRACY OF CYLON. 
 
 93 
 
 greatest festival of Jove.” Cylon naturally supposed that the 
 god referred to the Olympic games, in which he had gained so 
 much distinction, forgetting that the Diasia was the greatest 
 festival of Jove at Athens. Accordingly, during the celebration 
 of the next Olympic games, he took possession of the Acropolis 
 with a considerable force, composed partly of his own partisans, 
 and partly of troops furnished by Theagenes. But he did not 
 meet with any support from the great mass of the people, and 
 he soon found himself closely blockaded by the forces which the 
 government was able to summon to its assistance. Cylon and 
 his brother made their escape : but the remainder of his asso¬ 
 ciates, hard pressed by hunger, abandoned the defence of the 
 walls, and took refuge at the altar of Athena (Minerva). Here 
 they were found by the archon Megacles, one of the illustrious 
 family of the Alcmseonidae ; who, fearing lest their death should 
 pollute the sanctuary of the goddess, promised that their lives 
 should be spared on their quitting the place. But directly they 
 had quitted the temple, they were put to death; and some who 
 had taken refuge at the altar of the Eumenides were murdered 
 even at that sacred spot. According to another account, Cylon 
 himself was among the victims. 
 
 The conspiracy thus failed ; but its suppression was attended 
 with a long train of melancholy consequences. The whole family 
 of the Alcmoeonida3 were believed to have become tainted by the 
 daring act of sacrilege committed by Megacles ; and the friends 
 and partisans of the murdered conspirators were not slow in de¬ 
 manding vengeance upon the accursed race. Thus a new ele¬ 
 ment of discord was introduced into the state. The power and 
 influence of the Alcmaaonidm enabled them long to resist the 
 attempts of their opponents to bring them to a public trial; and 
 it was not till many years after these events that Solon per¬ 
 suaded them to submit their case to the judgment of a special 
 court composed of three hundred Eupatridse. By this court they 
 were adjudged guilty of sacrilege, and were expelled from Attica ; 
 but their punishment was not considered to expiate their im¬ 
 piety, and we shall find in the later times of Athenian history 
 that this powerful family was still considered an accursed race, 
 which by the sacrilegious act of its ancestor brought upon their 
 native land the anger of the gods. The expulsion of the Alc- 
 ma)onida3 appears to have taken place about the year 597 b. c. 
 
 § 8. The banishment of the guilty race did not, however, de¬ 
 liver the Athenians from their religious fears. They imagined 
 that their state had incurred the anger of the gods : and the 
 pestilential disease with which they were visited was regarded 
 as an unerring sign of the divine wrath Upon the advice of 
 
94 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. A 
 
 the Delphic oracle, they invited the celebrated Cretan prophet 
 and sage Epimenides to visit Athens, and purify their city from 
 pollution and sacrilege. 
 
 Epimenides was one of the most renowned prophets of the 
 age. In his youth he was said to have been overtaken by a sleep 
 which lasted for fifty-seven years. During this miraculous trance 
 he had been favoured with frequent intercourse with the gods, 
 and had learnt the means of propitiating them and gaining their 
 favour. This venerable seer was received with the greatest re¬ 
 verence at Athens. By performing certain sacrifices and expi¬ 
 atory rites, he succeeded in staying the plague, and in purifying 
 the city from its guilt. The religious despondency of the Athe¬ 
 nians now ceased, and the grateful people offered their bene¬ 
 factor a talent of gold ; but he refused the money, and con¬ 
 tented himself with a branch from the sacred olive tree, which. 
 grew on the Acropolis. The visit of Epimenides to Athens oc¬ 
 curred about the year 596 b. c. 
 
 Epimenides had been assisted in his undertaking by the advice 
 of Solon, who now enjoyed a distinguished reputation at Athens, 
 and to whom his fellow-citizens looked up as the only person in 
 the state who could deliver them from their political and social 
 dissensions, and secure them from such misfortunes for the 
 future. 
 
 § 9. We have now come to an important period in Athenian 
 and in Grecian history. The legislation of Solon laid the found¬ 
 ations of the greatness of Athens. Solon himself was one of the 
 most remarkable men in the early history of Greece. He pos¬ 
 sessed a deep knowledge of human nature, and was animated in 
 his public conduct by a lofty spirit of patriotism. It is, there¬ 
 fore, the more to be regretted that we are acquainted with only 
 a few facts in his life. His birth may be placed about the yeai 
 638 b. c. He was the son of Execestides, who traced his descent 
 from the heroic Codrus ; and his mother was first cousin to the 
 mother of Pisistratus. His father possessed only a moderate 
 fortune, which he had still further diminished by prodigality ; 
 and Solon in consequence was obliged to have recourse to trade. 
 He visited many parts of Greece and Asia as a merchant, and 
 formed acquaintance with many of the most eminent men of his 
 time. At an early age he distinguished himself by his poetical 
 abilities ; and so widely did his reputation extend, that he w£k 
 reckoned one of the Seven Sages. 
 
 The first occasion which induced Solon to take an active part 
 in political affairs, was the contest between Athens and Megara 
 for the possession of Salamis. That island had revolted to Me¬ 
 gara ; and the Athenians had so repeatedly failed in their at 
 
B.C. 600 . 
 
 LIFE OF SOLON. 
 
 95 
 
 tempts to recover it, that they forbade any citizen, under 
 penalty of death, to make any proposition for the renewal of the 
 enterprise. Indignant at such pusillanimous conduct, Solon 
 caused a report to be spread through the city that he was mad, 
 and then in a state of frenzied excitement he rushed into the 
 market-place, and recited to a crowd of bystanders a poem 
 which he had previously composed on the loss of Salamis. Ho 
 upbraided the Athenians with their disgrace, and called upon 
 them to reconquer “ the lovely island.” “ Rather (he exclaimed) 
 would I be a denizen of the most contemptible community in 
 Greece than a citizen of Athens, to be pointed at as one of those 
 Attic dastards who had so basely relinquished their right to 
 Salamis.” His stratagem was completely successful. His friends 
 seconded his proposal: and the people unanimously rescinded 
 the law, and resolved once more to try the fortune of war. Solon 
 was appointed to the command of the expedition, in which he 
 was accompanied by his young kinsman Pisistratus. In a single 
 campaign (about b. c. 600) Solon drove the Megarians out of the 
 island ; but a tedious war ensued, and at last both parties agreed 
 to refer the matter in dispute to the arbitration of Sparta. So¬ 
 lon pleaded the cause of his countrymen, and is said on this 
 occasion to have forged the line in the Iliad,* which represents 
 Ajax ranging his ships with those of the Athenians. The Lace¬ 
 daemonians decided in favour of the Athenians, in whose hands 
 the island remained henceforward down to the latest times. 
 
 Soon after the conquest of Salamis, Solon’s reputation was 
 further increased by espousing the cause of the Delphian temple 
 against Cirrha. He is said to have moved the decree of the Am- 
 phictyons, by which war was declared against the guilty city 
 (b. c. 595). f 
 
 § 10. The state of Attica at the time of Solon’s legislation de¬ 
 mands a more particular account than we have hitherto given. 
 Its population was divided into three factions, who were now in 
 a state of violent hostility against each other. These parties 
 consisted of the Pedieis£ or wealthy Eupatrid inhabitants of the 
 plains ; of the Diacrii,§ or poor inhabitants of the hilly districts 
 in the north and east of Attica ; and of the Parali, || or mercantile 
 mhabitants of the coasts, who held an intermediate position be¬ 
 tween the other two. 
 
 The cause of the dissensions between these parties is not 
 particularly mentioned ; but the difficulties attending these dis¬ 
 putes had become aggravated by the miserable conditicn of the 
 poorer population of Attica. The latter were in i state ol 
 
 * ii. 558. t See p. 51. t HtSur? or n iltcuni. 
 
 |j llctpaki. 
 
96 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. X 
 
 abject poverty. They had borrowed money from the wealthy 
 at exorbitant rates of interest upon the security of their pro¬ 
 perty and their persons. If the principal and interest of the 
 debt were not paid, the creditor had the power of seizing the 
 person as well as the land of his debtor, and of using him as a 
 slave. Many had thus been torn from their homes and sold to 
 barbarian masters : while others were cultivating as slaves the 
 lands of their wealthy creditors in Attica. The rapacity of the 
 rich and the degradation of the poor are recorded by Solon in 
 the existing fragments of his poetry; and matters had now come 
 to such a crisis, that the existing laws could no longer be en¬ 
 forced, and the poor were ready to rise in open insurrection 
 against the rich. 
 
 § 11. In these alarming circumstances, the ruling oligarchy 
 were obliged to have recourse to Solon. They were aware of the 
 vigorous protest he had made against their injustice ; but they 
 trusted that his connexion with their party would help them over 
 their present difficulties ; and they therefore chose him Archon 
 in B. c. 594, investing him under that title with unlimited powers 
 to effect any changes he might consider beneficial to the state, 
 His appointment was hailed with satisfaction by the poor; 
 and all parties were willing to accept his mediation and re¬ 
 forms. 
 
 Many of Solon’s friends urged him to take advantage of his 
 position and make himself despot of Athens. There is no doubt 
 he would have succeeded if he had made the attempt, but he 
 had the wisdom and the virtue to resist the temptation, teiling 
 his friends that “ despotism might be a fine country, but there 
 was no way out of it.” Dismissing, therefore, all thoughts of 
 personal aggrandisement, he devoted all his energies to the diffi¬ 
 cult task he had undertaken. 
 
 § 12, He commenced his undertaking by relieving the poorer 
 class of debtors from their existing distress. This he effected 
 by a celebrated ordinance called Seisachtheia, or a shaking off of 
 burthens.* This measure cancelled all contracts by which the 
 land or person of a debtor had been given as security : it thus 
 relieved the land from all encumbrances and claims, and set at 
 liberty all persons who had been reduced to slavery on account 
 of their debts. Solon also provided means of restoring to their 
 homes those citizens who had been sold into foreign countries 
 He forbad for the future all loans in which the person of the 
 debtor was pledged as security. This extensive measure entirely 
 released the poorer classes from their difficulties, but it must 
 have left many of their creditors unable to discharge their obli 
 
 * Vucrtt^dux, 
 
B.C. 594 
 
 LEGISLATION OF SOLON. 
 
 97 
 
 gations. To givo the latter some relief, he lowered the standard 
 of the coinage, so that the debtor saved rather more than a 
 fourth in every payment.* * * § 
 
 Some of his friends having obtained a hint of his intention 
 borrowed large sums of money, with which they purchased 
 estates ; and Solon himself would have suffered in public esti¬ 
 mation, if it had not been found that he was a loser bv his own 
 measure, having lent as much as five talents. 
 
 § 13. The success attending these measures was so great, that 
 Solon was now called upon by his fellow-citizens to draw up a 
 new constitution and a new code of laws. As a preliminary step 
 he repealed all the laws of Draco, except those relating to murder, 
 lie then proceeded to make a new classification of the citizens, 
 according to the amount of their property, thus changing the 
 government from an Oligarchy to a Timocracy, f 
 
 The title of the citizens to the honours and offices of the state 
 was henceforward regulated by their wealth, and not by their 
 birth. This was the distinguishing feature of Solon’s constitu¬ 
 tion, and produced eventually most important consequences ; 
 though the change was probably not great at first, since there 
 were then few wealthy persons in Attica, except the Eupatrids 
 Solon then distributed all the citizens into four classes, accord¬ 
 ing to their property, which he caused to be assessed. The first 
 class consisted of those whose annual income was equal to 50C 
 medimni of corn and upwards, and were called Pentacosiome - 
 dimni.% The second class consisted of those whose incomes 
 ranged between 300 and 500 medimni, and were called Knights ,§ 
 from their being able to furnish a war-horse. The third class 
 consisted of those who received between 200 and 300 medimni, 
 and were called Zeugitce, || from their being able to keep a yoke 
 of oxen for the plough. The fourth class, called Thetes included 
 all whose property fell short of 200 medimni. The members of 
 the first three classes had to pay an income-tax according to the 
 amount of their property ; but the fourth class were exempt 
 from direct taxation altogether. The first class were alone 
 eligible to the archonship and the higher offices of the state. 
 Tho second and third classes filled inferior posts, and were liable 
 
 * Solon is said to have made the mina contain 100 drachmas instead o' 
 73; that is, 73 old drachmas contained the same quantity of silver as 100 of 
 the new standard. 
 
 f T 1 /u.oKoxrtcc from ripri assessment , and x^itrlu rule. 
 
 1 nivrxxomo/u,i}ifjcvoi. The medimnus contained nearly 12 imperial gallons, 
 ir 1^ bushel: it was reckoned equal to a drachma. 
 
 § 'I wris or 'Isrcr«7j. 
 
 jl ZtuyTrn, from uyos, a yoke of beasts. ^ ftrrts. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 H 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Ch-ap. X 
 
 98 
 
 ro military service, the former as horsemen, and the latter at 
 heavy-armed soldiers on foot. The fourth class were excluded 
 from all public offices, and served in the army only as light¬ 
 armed troops. Solon, however, admitted them to a share in the 
 political power by allowing them to vote in the public assem¬ 
 bly,* where they must have constituted by far the largest num¬ 
 ber. He gave the assembly the right of electing the archons and 
 the other officers of the state ; and he also made the archons 
 accountable to the assembly at the expiration of their year of 
 office. Solon thus greatly enlarged the functions of the public 
 assembly, which, under the government of the Eupatrids, proba¬ 
 bly possessed little more power than the agora, described in the 
 poems of Homer. 
 
 § 14. This extension of the duties of the public assembly led 
 to the institution of a new body. Solon created the Senate, or 
 Council of Four Hundred, with the special object of preparing 
 all matters for the discussion of the public assembly, of presiding 
 at its meetings, and of carrying its resolutions into effect. No 
 subject could be introduced before the people, except by a pre¬ 
 vious resolution of the Senate.f The members of the Senate 
 were elected by the public assembly, one hundred from each of 
 the four ancient tribes, which were left untouched by Solon 
 They held their office for a year, and were accountable at its ex 
 piration to the public assembly for the manner in which they had 
 discharged their duties. 
 
 Solon, however, did not deprive the ancient Senate of the Are¬ 
 opagus of any of its functions.f On the contrary, he enlarged 
 its powers, and entrusted it with the general supervision of the 
 institutions and laws of the state, and imposed upon it the duty 
 of inspecting the lives and occupations of the citizens. 
 
 These are the only political institutions which can be safely 
 ascribed to Solon. At a later period it became the fashion among 
 the Athenians to regard Solon as the author of all their demo- 
 cratical institutions, just as some of the orators referred them 
 even to Theseus. Thus the creation of jury-courts and of the 
 periodical revision of the laws by the Nomothetic belongs to a 
 .ater age, although frequently attributed to Solon. This legis¬ 
 lator only laid the foundation of the Athenian democracy by 
 giving the poorer classes a vote in the popular assembly, and 
 by enlarging the power of the latter ; but he left the govern¬ 
 ment exclusively in the hands of the wealthy. For many years 
 after his time the government continued to bo an oligarchy, but 
 
 * Called Ileliaea ('II \laix) in the time of Solon, but subsequently Ecclwio 
 ix\hwota). 
 
 + Called Probouleuma (^pd(ievXi-Ju.a.). 
 
 i bee p. 91. 
 
B.C. 594. 
 
 LEGISLATION OF SOLON. 
 
 9'.' 
 
 was exercised with more moderation and justice than formerly 
 The establishment of the Athenian democracy was the work of 
 Olisthenes, and not of Solon. 
 
 § 15. The laws of Solon were inscribed on wooden rollers and 
 triangular tablets,* and were preserved first in the Acropolis, and 
 afterwards in the Prytaneum or Town-hall. They were very 
 numerous, and contained regulations on almost all subjects con¬ 
 nected with the public and private life of the citizens. But they 
 do not seem to have been arranged in any systematic manner; 
 and such small fragments have come down to us, that it is im¬ 
 possible to give any general view of them. 
 
 The most important of all these laws were those relating to 
 debtor and creditor, of which we have already spoken. Several 
 of Solon’s enactments had foi their object the encouragement of 
 trade and manufactures. He invited foreigners to settle in 
 Athens by the promise of protection and valuable privileges. 
 The Council of the Areopagus was, as we have seen, intrusted by 
 him with the duty of examining into every man’s mode of life, 
 and of punishing the idle and profligate. To discourage idleness 
 a son was not obliged to support his father in old age, if the lat¬ 
 ter had neglected to teach him some trade or occupation. 
 
 Solon punished theft by compelling the guilty party to restore 
 double the value of the property stolen. He forbade speaking 
 evil either of the dead or of the living. He either established or 
 regulated the public dinners in the Prytaneum, of which the 
 archons and a few others partook. 
 
 The rewards which he bestowed upon the victors in the Olym¬ 
 pic and Isthmian games were very large for that age : to the 
 former he gave 500 drachmas, and to the latter 100. 
 
 One of the most singular of Solon’s regulations was that which 
 declared a man dishonoured and disfranchised who, in a civil 
 sedition, stood aloof and took part with neither side. The 
 object of this celebrated law was to create a public spirit in the 
 citizens, and a lively interest in the affairs of the state. The 
 undent governments, unlike those of modern times, could not 
 summon to their assistance any regular police or military force ; 
 And unless individual citizens came forward in civil commotions, 
 any ambitious man, supported by a powerful party, might easily 
 □lake himself master of the state. 
 
 § 16. Solon is said to have been aware that he had left many 
 Imperfections in his laws. He described them not as the bcsi 
 'laws which he could devise, but as the best which the Athe¬ 
 nians could receive. He bound the government and peopk 
 
 h 2 
 
 * Called and Kupp>ut. 
 
100 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap X, 
 
 of Athens by a solemn oath to observe his institutions foi 
 at least ten years. Cut as soon as they came into operation he 
 was constantly besieged by a number of applicants, who came 
 to ask his advice respecting the meaning of his enactments, or 
 to suggest improvements and alterations in them. Seeing that 
 if he remained in Athens, he should be obliged to introduce 
 changes into his code, he resolved to leave his native city for the 
 period of ten years, during which the Athenians were bound to 
 maintain his laws inviolate. He first visited Egypt, and then 
 proceeded to Cyprus, where he was received with great dis¬ 
 tinction by Philocyprus, king of the small town of iEpia. He 
 persuaded this prince to remove his city from the old site, and 
 found a new one on the plain, which Philocyprus called Soli, in 
 honour of his illustrious visitor. 
 
 Solon is also related to have remained some time at Sardis, 
 the capital of Lydia. His interview with Croesus, the Lydian 
 king, is one of the most celebrated events in his life. The Ly¬ 
 dian monarchy was then at the height of its prosperity and glory. 
 Croesus, after exhibiting to the Grecian sage all his treasures, 
 asked him who was the happiest man he had ever known, 
 nothing doubting of the reply. But Solon, without flattering 
 his royal guest, named two obscure Greeks ; and when the king 
 expressed his surprise and mortification that his visitor took no 
 account of nis great glory and wealth, Solon replied that he es¬ 
 teemed no man happy till he knew how he ended his life, since 
 the highest prosperity was frequently followed by the darkest 
 adversity. Croesus at the time treated the admonition of the 
 sage with contempt ; but when the Lydian monarchy was after¬ 
 wards overthrown by Cyrus, and Croesus was condemned by his 
 savage conqueror to be burnt to death, the warnings of the Greek 
 philosopher came to his mind, and he called in a loud voice upon 
 the name of Solon. Cyrus inquired the cause of this strange in¬ 
 vocation, and upon learning it, was struck with the vicissitudes 
 of fortune, set the Lydian monarch free, and made him his con¬ 
 fidential friend. 
 
 It is impossible not to regret that the stern laws of chronology 
 compel us to reject this beautiful talc. Croesus did not ascend 
 the throne till B. c. 560, and Solon had returned to Athens before 
 that date. The story has been evidently invented to convey an 
 important moral lesson, and to draw a striking contrast between 
 Grecian republican simplicity and Oriental splendour aud pomp. 
 
 § 17. During the absence of Solon, the old dissensions between 
 the Plain, the Shore, and the Mountain had broken out afresh 
 with more violence than ever. The first was headed by Lycurgus, 
 the second by Mevades, the Alcmaeonid and the grandson of the 
 
8.0. 560 
 
 USURPATION OF PISISTRATUS. 
 
 101 
 
 archon who had suppressed the conspiracy of Cylon, and the 
 third by Pisistratus, the cousin of Solon. Of these leaders, Pisis- 
 fcratus was the ablest and the most dangerous. He had gained re 
 nown in war ; he possessed remarkable fluency of speech ; and 
 he had espoused the cause of the Mountain, which was the poor¬ 
 est of the three classes, in order to gain popularity with the great 
 mass of the people. Of these advantages he resolved to avail 
 himself in order to become master of Athens. 
 
 Solon returned to Athens about b. c. 562, when these dissen¬ 
 sions were rapidly approaching a crisis. He soon detected the 
 ambitious designs of his kinsman, and attempted to dissuade 
 him from them. Finding his remonstrances fruitless, he next 
 denounced his projects in verses addressed to the people. Few, 
 however, gave any heed to his warnings ; and Fisistratus, at 
 length finding his schemes ripe for action, had recourse to a 
 memorable stratagem to secure his object. One day he appeared 
 in the market-place in a chariot, his mules and his own person 
 bleeding with wounds inflicted with his own hands. These he 
 exhibited to the people, telling them that he had been nearly 
 murdered in consequence of defending their rights. The popu¬ 
 lar indignation was excited ; an assembly was forthwith called, 
 and one of his friends proposed that a guard of fifty club-men 
 should be granted him for his future security. It was in vain 
 that Solon used all his authority to oppose so dangerous a 
 request; his resistance was overborne; and the guard was 
 voted. 
 
 Pisistratus thus gained the first and most important step. He 
 gradually increased the number of his guard, and soon found 
 himself strong enough to throw off the mask and seize the Acro¬ 
 polis, b. c. 560. Megacles and the Alcmceonidse left the city. 
 Solon alone had the courage to oppose the usurpation, and up¬ 
 braided the people with their cowardice and their treachery. 
 “You might,” said he, “ with ease have crushed the tyrant in the 
 bud ; but nothing now remains but to pluck him up by the 
 roots.” But no one responded to his appeal, lie refused to fly ; 
 and when his friends asked him on what he relied for protection, 
 “ On my old age,” was his reply. It is creditable to Pisistratus 
 that he left his aged relative unmolested, and even asked his ad¬ 
 vice in the administration of the government. 
 
 Solon did not long survive the overthrow of the constitution 
 He died a year or two afterwards at the advanced age cf eighty 
 His ashes are said to have been scattered, by his own diiection 
 round the island of Salamis, which he had won for the Athenian 
 peoj'e 
 

 Ruins of the Temple of the Olympian Jove at Athens. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HISTORY OF ATHENS FROM THE USURPATION OF PISISTRATUS TO THE 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY BY CLISTHENES. 
 
 § 1. Despotism of Pisistratus. His first expulsion and restoration. §2. His 
 second expulsion and restoration. § 3. Government of Pisistratus after 
 his final restoration to his death, B.C. 527. § 4. Government of Hippias 
 
 and Hipparchus. Conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogiton, and assassi¬ 
 nation of Hipparchus, B.C. 514. § 5. Sole government of Hippias. His 
 
 expulsion by the Alcmaeonidae and the Lacedaemonians, B.C. 510. § 6. Ho¬ 
 
 nours paid to Harmodius and Aristogiton. § 7. Party struggles at Athens 
 between Clisthenes and Isadoras. Establishment of the Athenian demo- 
 cracy. § 8. Reforms of Clisthenes. Institution of ten new tribes and of 
 the domes. § 9. Increase of the number of the Senate to Five Hundred. 
 § 10. Enlargement of the functions and authority of the Senate and the 
 Ecclesia. §11. Introduction of the judicial functions of the people. Insti¬ 
 tution of the Ten Strategi or Generals. § 12. Ostracism. § 13. First 
 attempt of the Lacedaemonians to overthrow the Athenian democracy. 
 Invasion of Attica by Cleomenes, followed by his expulsion with that of 
 
B.C. 560 
 
 USURPATION OF PISISTRATUS. 
 
 103 
 
 Isadoras. § 14. Second attempt of the Lacedaemonians to jverthrow the 
 Athenian democracy. The Lacedaemonians, Thebans and Chalcidians 
 attack Attica. The Lacedaemonians deserted by their allies and com¬ 
 pelled to retire. Victories of the Athenians over the Thebans and Chalci¬ 
 dians, followed by the planting of 4000 Athenian colonists on the lands oi 
 the Chalcidians. § 15. Third attempt of the Lacedaemonians to overthrow 
 the Athenian democracy, again frustrated by the refusal of the allies to 
 take part in the enterprise. § 16. Grow th of Athenian patriotism, a con¬ 
 sequence of the reforms of Clisthenes. 
 
 § 1. Pisistratus became despot of Athens, as already stated, 
 in the year 560 b. c. He did not however retain his power long. 
 The two leaders of the other factions, Megacles of the Shore, 
 and Lycurgus of the Plain, now combined, and Pisistratus was 
 driven into exile. But the two rivals afterwards quarrelled, and 
 Megacles invited Pisistratus to return to Athens, offering him bis 
 daughter in marriage, and promising to assist him in regaining 
 the sovereignty. These conditions being accepted, the following 
 stratagem was devised for carrying the plan into effect. A tall 
 stately woman, named Phya, was clothed in the armour and cos¬ 
 tume of Athena (Minerva), and placed in a chariot with Pisistratus 
 at her side. In this guise the exiled despot approached the city, 
 preceded by heralds, who announced that the goddess was bring¬ 
 ing back Pisistratus to her own acropolis. The people believed 
 the announcement, worshipped the woman as their tutelary 
 goddess, and quietly submitted to the sway of their former ruler. 
 
 § 2. Pisistratus married the daughter of Megacles accoiding to 
 the compact; but as he had already grown up children by a 
 former marriage, and did not choose to connect his blood with a 
 family which was considered accursed on account of Cylon’s 
 sacrilege, he did not treat her as his wife. Incensed at this 
 affront, Megacles again made common cause with Lycurgus, and 
 Pisistratus was compelled a second time to quit Athens. He retired 
 to Eretria in Euboea, where he remained no fewer than ten years. 
 He did not however spend his time in inactivity. He possessed 
 considerable influence in various parts of Greece, and many 
 cities furnished him with large sums of money. He was thus 
 able to procure mercenaries from Argos ; and Lygdamis, a pow¬ 
 erful citizen of Naxos, came himself both with money and with 
 troops. With these Pisistratus sailed from Eretria, and landed at 
 Marathon. Here he was speedily joined by his friends and parti¬ 
 sans, who flocked to his camp in large numbers. His antagonists 
 allowed him to remain undisturbed at Marathon ; and it was not 
 till he began his march towards the city that they hastily col¬ 
 lected their forces and went out to meet him. But their conduct 
 was extremely negligent or corrupt; for Pisistratus fell suddenly 
 
104 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XL 
 
 upon their forces at noon, when the men were unprepared for 
 oat tie, and put them to flight almost without resistance. Instead 
 )f following up his victory by slaughtering the fugitives, he pro¬ 
 claimed a general pardon on condition of their returning quietly 
 bo their homes. His orders were generally obeyed ; and the 
 leaders of the opposite factions, finding themselves abandoned 
 by their partisans, quitted the country. In this manner Pisis- 
 tratus became undisputed master of Athens for the third time. 
 
 § 3. Pisistratus now adopted vigorous measures to secure his 
 power and render it permanent. He took into his pay a body oi 
 Thracian mercenaries, and seized as hostages the children oi 
 those citizens whom he suspected, placing them in Naxos under 
 the care of Lygdamis. But as soon as he was firmly established 
 in the government, his administration was marked by mildness 
 and equity. An income-tax of five per cent, was all that he 
 levied from the people. He maintained the institutions of Solon, 
 taking care, however, that the highest offices should always be 
 held by some members of his own family. He not only enforced 
 strict obedience to the laws, but himself set the example of sub¬ 
 mitting to them. Being accused of murder, he disdained to 
 take advantage of his authority, and went in person to plead 
 his cause before the Areopagus, where his accuser did not ven¬ 
 ture to appear. He courted popularity by largesses to the 
 citizens, and by throwing open his gardens to the poor. He 
 adorned Athens with many public buildings, thus giving em¬ 
 ployment to the poorer citizens, and at the same time gratifying 
 his own taste. He commenced on a stupendous scale a temple 
 to the Olympian Jove, which remained unfinished for centuries, 
 and was at length completed by the emperor Hadrian. He 
 covered with a building the fountain Callirrhoe, which supplied 
 the greater part of Athens with water, and conducted the water 
 through nine pipes, whence the fountain was called Ennea- 
 crunus.* Moreover, Pisistratus was a patron of literature, as 
 well as of the arts. He is said to have been the first person in 
 Greece who collected a library, which he threw open to the 
 public; and to him posterity is indebted for the collection oi 
 the Homeric poems.f On the whole, it cannot be denied that 
 he made a wise and noble use of his power ; and it was for this 
 reason that Julius Ccesar was called the Pisistratus of Rome. 
 
 § 4. Pisistratus died at an advanced age in 527 b. c., thirty- 
 three years after his first usurpation. He transmitted the so¬ 
 vereign power to his sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, who con 
 iucted the government on the same principles as their father 
 
 4 ’KmcUtifft-vs* fioru swAi nine, &ii*1 . pipe. 
 
 t See p. 43. 
 
B.u. r»u 
 
 ASSASSINATION OF MlPPAKCHUto. 
 
 JOS 
 
 Hipparchus inherited his father’s literary tastes. He invited 
 several distinguished poets, such as Anacreon and Simonides, to 
 his court, and he set up along the highways statues of Hermes 
 (Mercury), with moral sentences written upon them. Thucydides 
 states that the sons of Pisistratus cultivated virtue and wisdom ; 
 the people appear to have been contented with their rule ; and it 
 was only an accidental circumstance which led to their overthrow 
 and to a change in the government. 
 
 Their fall was occasioned by the memorable conspiracy of 
 Harmodius and Aristogiton. These citizens belonged to an 
 ancient family of Athens, and were attached to each other by a 
 most intimate friendship. Harmodius having given offence to 
 Hippias, the despot revenged himself by putting a public affront 
 upon his sister. This indignity excited the resentment of the 
 two friends, and they now resolved to slay the despots, or perish 
 in the attempt. They communicated the plot to a few asso¬ 
 ciates, and determined to carry it into execution on the festival of 
 the Great Panathensea, when all the citizens w T ere required to 
 attend in arms, and to march in procession from the Ceramicus, a 
 suburb of the city, to the temple of Athena (Minerva) on the 
 Acropolis. When the appointed time arrived, the conspirators 
 appeared armed like the rest of the citizens, but carrying con¬ 
 cealed daggers besides. Harmodius and Aristogiton had planned 
 to kill Hippias first, as he was arranging the order of the procession 
 in the Ceramicus ; but upon approaching the spot where he was 
 standing, they were thunderstruck at beholding one of the conspi¬ 
 rators in close conversation with the despot. Believing that 
 they were betrayed, and resolving before they died to wreak 
 their vengeance upon Hipparchus, they rushed back into the 
 city with their daggers hid in the myrtle boughs which they 
 were to have carried in the procession. They found him near 
 the chapel called Leocorium, and killed him on the spot. Har¬ 
 modius was immediate ly cut down by the guards. Aristogiton 
 escaped for the time, but was afterwards taken, and died under 
 the tortures to which he was subjected in order to compel him 
 to disclose his accomplices. The news of his brother’s death 
 reached Hippias before it became generally known. With extra¬ 
 ordinary presence of mind he called upon the citizens to drop 
 their arms, and meet him in an adjoining ground. They obeyed 
 without suspicion. He then apprehended those on whose per¬ 
 sons daggers were discovered, and all besides whom he had any 
 reason to suspect. 
 
 § 5. Hipparchus was assassinated in b. c. 514, the four¬ 
 teenth year after the death of Pisistratus. From this time the 
 character of the government became entirely changed. His bro- 
 
106 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 ClIAl*. XI 
 
 ther’s murdei converted Hippias into a cruel and suspicious 
 tyrant. He put to death numbers of the citizens, and raised 
 large sums of money by extraordinary taxes. Feeling himseli 
 unsafe at home, he began to look abroad for some place of re¬ 
 treat, in case he should be expelled from Athens. With this 
 view, he gave his daughter in marriage to ACantides, son of Hip- 
 poclus, despot of Lampsacus, because the latter was in great 
 favour with Darius, king of Persia. 
 
 Meantime the growing unpopularity of Hippias raised the 
 hopes of the powerful family of the Alcmseonidse, 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 Alcmseonidse 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 
 (Jlisthenes, 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. Cleomenes, 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 Sigeum in thb Troad, 
 which his father had wrested from the Mytilenseans in war. 
 
 § 6. Hippias was expelled in b. o. 510, four years after the 
 assassination of Hipparchus. These four years had been a time 
 )f suffering and oppression for the Athenians, and had effaced 
 
B.C. 510. 
 
 EXPITLS10JM OF HIPP1AS. 
 
 107 
 
 from their minds all recollection of the formei mild rule 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 translate i :— 
 
 “ 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 death. ; 
 
 The heroes' happy isles shall be 
 The bright abode allotted thee. 
 
 u 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 good ; 
 
 You daivd to set your country free, 
 
 And gave her laws equality.” * 
 
 > 7 . The Lacedsemonians quitted Athens soon after liippias 
 liad 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 ai 
 
 * Wellesley’# Aathologia Polygiotta, p. 445. 
 
108 
 
 history o 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, 
 who 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 ol 
 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 gentee 
 and phratrise.* 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 
 ones 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.| 
 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 deme. 
 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 'hr.u.at. 
 
3.0. SIo 
 
 REFORMS OK CEISTHENES 
 
 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, + 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- 
 clesia 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 36 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 
 called Proedri .§ Moreover, out of these proedri a chairman, 
 called Epistates, || 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 acropolis 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- 
 oi' i duties by the extension of the powers of the popular courts 
 of justice. 
 
 * ^riuup^ef. t VlpvTtt,vu<*.i. ^ llguTavl’* 
 
 § lipeti''' l! ' V ri,7TUTne. 
 
no 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 .HAP. X 1 
 
 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 Cksthenes 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 Heliaea 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 Strategics ,f 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. DowL to the time of Clisthenes, the command ol 
 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 
 ill the political rights and privileges which he had previousl) 
 enjoyed. It must be recollected that the force which a GreeV 
 
 *' H Xtottet, FD 
 
IK). 510. 
 
 REFORMS OF CLISTHENES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 government had at its disposal was very small; and tnat it war 
 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 Clisthenes 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 C000 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 Lacedaemonians. This 
 was readily promised, and heralds were sent from Sparta to 
 Athens, demanding the expulsion of Clisthenes and the rest of 
 the Alcmoeonidoe, as the accursed family on whom rested the 
 pollution of Cylon’s murder. Clisthenes, not daring to disobey 
 the Lacedaemonian government, retired voluntarily ; and thus 
 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 
 ‘'rrmusted, and they were obliged to capitulate. Cleomenes and 
 
 ♦ 
 
 Ostracon ^affroanov), whence the name of strciciim {lor^n-xion'o^. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XI 
 
 i 12 
 
 the Lacedaemonian troops, as well as Isagoras, were allowed tc 
 retire in safety ; but all their adherents who were 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 ; 
 out 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 Euboea 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 of 
 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 Greek 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 Boeotia, they defeated the Thebans, and then crossed over 
 into Euboea, where they gained a decisive victory over the Chal¬ 
 cidians. In order to secure their dominion in Euboea, and at the 
 same time to provide for their poorer citizens, the Athenians 
 distributed the estates of the wealthy Chalcidian landowneiv 
 among 4000 of their citizens, who settled in the country undfv 
 the name of Cleruchi* 
 
 '%oi, that is, “ beholders.” 
 
B.C. 508. 
 
 SUCCESSES OF THE ATHENIANS. 
 
 113 
 
 § 15. The successes of Athens had excited the jealousy cf the 
 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 then 
 state. 
 
 Coin ol Athens 
 
 Gk 
 
 X 
 
Ancient Sculptures from Selinus. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HISTORY OF T1IE GREEK COLONIES. 
 
 § 1. Connexion of the subject with the general history of Greece. § 2 Ori¬ 
 gin of the Greek colonies and their relation to the mother-country 
 § 3. Characteristics common to most of the Greek colonies. § 4. The 
 vEolic, Ionic, and Doric colonies in Asia. Miletus the most important, and 
 the parent of numerous colonies. Ephesus. Phocaea. § 5. Colonies in 
 the south of Italy and Sicily. History of Cumae. § 6. Colonies in Sicily. 
 Syracuse and Agrigen turn the most important. Phalaris, despot of Agri- 
 gentum. § 7. Colonies in Magna Graecia (the south of Italy). Sybari6 and 
 Croton. War between these cities, and destruction of Sybaris. §8. Epi- 
 zephyrian Locri : its lawgiver, Zaleucus. Rhegium. § 9. Tarentum. 
 Decline of the cities in Magna Graecia. § 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 accoun c 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 be settled. Thus, the inhabitants 
 of Trapezus on the farthest shores of the Black Sea, of Cyrene 
 in Africa, and of Massalia m the south of Gaul, were as essentially 
 members of Hellas as the citizens of Athens and Sparta. They 
 ail gloried in the name of Hellenes; they all boasted of'their 
 descent from the common ancostor Ilellen ; and they all pos- 
 
Cn&p. XII. 
 
 THE GREEK COLONIES. 
 
 I 15 
 
 sessed 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. 1 ' 
 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 imder 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 a-Teixia ; a colonist, a. the mother city, fiv t Tp6~ 
 reXs . and the leader of a colony dxwTih. 
 
 I 3 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap XII. 
 
 § 3. The Greek colonies, unlike most which have been founded 
 in modem 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 care 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 life of 
 a Greek. Hence it was quickly adorned with temples for the 
 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 earlier 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. 
 
 The Grecian colonies may be arranged in four groups : 1 Tlmso 
 
Ohap. XII 
 
 COLONIES IN ASIA MINOR. 
 
 117 
 
 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 iEolio cities covered the 
 northern part of this coast; the lonians 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 Phocscans deserve 
 to be particularly mentioned, in which they not only visited the 
 coasts of Gaul and Spam, but even planted in these countries 
 several colonies, of which Massalia became the most prosperous 
 and celebrated. 
 
 § 5 The colonies ol whose origin we have an historical ao 
 
 * Sec p. 36. 
 
118 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XII 
 
 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 Achseans 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 
 Cunne, 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. Cumoe 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 Grecian 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, Syracus 0 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. Hyblajan 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 Cumaeans 
 
 and Chalcidians : its date is uncertain. 7. A era;, founded by Syracuse, B.C 
 564. 8. Casmenae, founded by Syracuse, B.C. 644. 9. Selinus, founded b) 
 
 Hyblaean Megara, B.c. 630. 10. Camarina, founded by Syracuse, B.C. 509 
 
 11. Acragas, better known by the Roman name of Agrigentum, founded b; 
 Gela, 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. 485. 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 celebrity 
 as a cruel and inhuman tyrant. His exact date is uncertain ; 
 but he was a contemporary of Pisistratus and Croesus ; 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.* 
 
 * There ere 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 ol 
 Oxford ; but Bentley, in his masterly “ Dissertation upon the Epistles ol 
 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 Cumae 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 •?. 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 Qrsecia. It arose 
 
B.C 664. 
 
 COLONIES tN ITALY. 
 
 121 
 
 trom the civil dissensions of Sybaris. The oligarchical govern¬ 
 ment was ovei thrown by a popular insurrection, headed by a 
 citizen of the name of Telys, who succeeded in making himseli 
 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- 
 baris 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 armios met on 
 the banks of the river Traeis or Trionto, and a bloody 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 all 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 
 Zephyrium, 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 tlieii 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 
 earlier 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 Sybaih 
 
\22 
 
 HISTORY 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 are 
 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 the 
 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, lie replied that be 
 would vindicate the law, and straightway fell upon his sword. 
 
 ,0 POSIOONIA 
 
 B / P/ESTUM) 
 
 .O TARENTUm 
 
 METAPONTUW O, 
 
 SYO^RISO 
 
 /thurii) 
 
 CROTON 
 
 c\ Loom 
 
 RHECIUM 
 
 Map of the chief Greek Colonies in Southern Italy. 
 
B.C. 600. 
 
 CObONJES IN GAUL AND SPAIN. 
 
 123 
 
 Rhegium, situated on the straits of Messina, opposite Sicily, 
 was colonized by the Chalcidians, 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 Messenian 
 war, an illegitimate race of citizens had been born, to whom the 
 name of Partlienise (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 Sj'baris, 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 habits ; and its citizens were noted at a later time for their 
 love of luxury and pleasure. 
 
 The cities of Magna Graecia rapidly declined in pow r er 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 population, 
 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. Cumae 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 Phocaeans 
 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 navy 
 sufficiently powerful to repel the aggressions of Carthage. They 
 possessed considerable influence over the Celtic tribes in theii 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XII. 
 
 neighbourhood, among whom they diffused the arts of civilized 
 life, and 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 
 Carian 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. 630. 
 It was a colony from the island of Thera in the AEgean, 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 climate 
 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 the names of Arcesilaiis and Battus. 
 On the death of Arcesilaiis IV., which must have happened aftei 
 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 
 side 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, they joined ir 
 planting four Grecian colonies upon the same l.'ne of coast— 
 
B.O. 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 Euboea ; 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 woe the chief article 
 
 In the export trade of oitv 
 
Alcaeus and Sappho From a Painting on a Vase. 
 
 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 
 <^in of Greek lyric poetry. §5. Archilochus. §6. Simonides of Amorgos. 
 § 7. Tyrtaeus and Aleman. § 8. Arion and Stesichorus. § 9. Alcaeus 
 ami Sappho. § 10. Anacreon. §11. The Seven Sages of Greece. § 12. 
 The Ionic school of philosophy. Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. 
 § 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 political 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 ol 
 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 becamo 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 poetry had reached its culminating point at the 
 commencement of this epoch, and throughout the whole period 
 the 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 
 /Eolic 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 ol 
 Mount Helicon in Boeotia, 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 ol 
 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 himseli 
 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 
 uh 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. 
 
 righteous decision of judges who had been bribed by his orothei 
 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 flourished 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 iEolic 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 ol 
 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 neginning 
 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 festh e occasions, either public or private, with the 
 accompanirr.ei t 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. 
 
 Tt 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 
 
ti 0 . 700 
 
 AKCH1LOCHUS. 
 
 129 
 
 jr 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 Pariaiis and Naxians. 
 The following fines 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 ol rest, 
 
 Arise I and front the foe with dauntless breast; 
 
 Take thy firm stand amidst his fierce alarms ; 
 
 Secure, with inborn valour meet Ins arms, 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Awsbilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo.”—ilou. Ars Poet. 
 
 K 
 
 0 . 
 
130 
 
 HISTORY" OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XIII 
 
 Nor, conquering, mount vain-glory’s glittering steep, 
 
 Nor, conquer’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 ol 
 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 the 
 =;wine, and so on. The following is a specimen of the poem :— 
 
 “ Next 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 washings her fair skin deface, 
 
 Her own ablutions are her chief solace. 
 
 Three baths a day, with balms and perfumes rar e, 
 
 Refresh her tender limbs: her long rich hair 
 
 Each time she combs, and decks with blooming 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 rain can provide.” f 
 
 § 7. Tyrteeus and Aleman were the two great lyric poets ol 
 Sparta, though neither of them was a native of Lacedaemon. 
 The personal history of Tyrtseus, and his warlike songs, which 
 roused the fainting courage of tho Spartans during the second 
 Messenian war, have already occupied our attention, f Aleman 
 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 the conclusion of the second Messenian war. They par- 
 
 * Translated by the Marquis Wellesley, 
 t Translated by Colonel Mure. } See above, p 75. 
 
b.C. t325. 
 
 SIMONIDES. aLOMAN 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 eating 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 subdueu, 
 
 Roost in the glade, and hang their drooping wings.” * 
 
 § 8. Although choral poetry was successfully cultivated by 
 Aleman, it received its chief improvements from Arion and 
 Stesichorus. Both of these poets composed for a trained body 
 of men; while the poems of Aleman 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 n.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 life, he obtained permission 
 to play for the last time on his beloved lyre. In festal attire he 
 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 carried him to 
 Tienarum, 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 Anon, 
 who replied that he had remained behind at Tarentum; but 
 when Arion, at the bidding of Periander, came forward, the 
 sailors owned their guilt, and were punished according to then 
 
 * Translated by C/ionel Mure. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 HISTORY OK GREECE. 
 
 Chap. Xlll 
 
 desert. In later times there existed at Tsenarum 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. He is said to 
 have been bom in B. 0. 632, to have flourished about b. c. 608, 
 and to have died in b. c. 560. He 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 Stropli6, the Antistrophe, and the Epodus—the turn, 
 the return, and the rest. 
 
 § 9. Alcseus and Sappho wer«d both natives of Mytilene, in tho 
 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 iEolians at 
 its highest point. 
 
 Of the fife of Alcseus we have several interesting particulars. He 
 fought in the war between the Athenians and Mytilenseans 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 house 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 aristocratical 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 and 
 its leaders. In order to oppose the attempts of the exiled nobles 
 Pittacus was unanimously chosen by the people as iEsymnete? 
 or Dictator. He held his office for ten years (b. c. 589—57° ‘ 
 
fl.O. 600. 
 
 STESICHORUS. ALCAEUS. SAPPHO. 
 
 13a 
 
 and during that time he defeated all the efforts of the exiles, 
 and established the constitution on a popular basis. When 
 Alcseus 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 oi 
 wine. 
 
 Sappho, the contemporary of Alcseus, 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 of 
 later times. AtMytilene Sappho was the centre of a female lite' 
 
 * “Alcaji minaces Camenae.”—Holt. Carm. iv. 9, 7. 
 
 j Translated by Colonel Mure. 
 
 J; “ Et to sonantem plenius aureo, 
 
 Alcaee, plectro dura navis, 
 
 Dura fuga: mala, dura —Hou. farm. ii. 13, 
 
134 
 
 H1ST0KY OF GllEECE 
 
 (Jhap. Xlli 
 
 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 
 could 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 line imitated by Byron*— 
 
 “ 0 Hesperus! thou bringest ail good things. 7 
 
 § 10. Anacreon is the last Lyric poet of this period who claims 
 our attention. He was a native of the Ionian city of Teos. He 
 spent part of his life 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 fife, 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 before 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, Ohilo, and Bias. Most of these per¬ 
 sonages were actively engaged in the affairs of public life, and 
 
 * “ spirat adhuc amor 
 
 Vivuntque commissi calores 
 
 d?oliae fidibus puellse.”—H or. Carm. tv 9. 10 
 
B.C. 60U 
 
 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 oi 
 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 
 Alcaeus, 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 
 u 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 
 u pardon was often a more effectual check on crime than punish¬ 
 ment.” 
 
 Cleobulus was despot of Lindus, in the island of Rhodes, 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 he had 
 done and that “ it was folly in a husband either to fondle or 
 reprove his wife in company.” 
 
 Chilo, of Sparta, had filled 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 be 
 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 Ik 
 silent, lest the gods should discover that they were at sea.” 
 
136 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XIIL 
 
 § 12. The history of Greek philosophy begins with Thales of 
 Miletus, who was born about b. c. 640, and died in 550, at the 
 age of 90. He was the founder of the Ionic 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. o. 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 Anaximander. 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 life. 
 In like manner, Heraclitus of Ephesus, who flourished 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 Clazomenoe, the 
 most illustrious of the Ionic philosophers. Anaxagoras was born 
 in b.c. 499, and consequently his fife, 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 himeell 
 entirely to philosophy. He continued to teach at Athens for 
 thirty years, and numbered amoDg his hearers Pericles, Socrates, 
 and Euripides. He abandoned the system of his predecessors, 
 and instead of regarding some elementary form of matter 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 
 
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 that 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 writers ; 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 travelled 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, 
 laying—“ 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 
 Wuphorbus, 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 
 
 * “ habeutque 
 
 Tartara Panthoiden, iterum Oreo 
 Demissum, quaravis elipeo Trojana refixo 
 Tempora testatus, nihil ultra 
 Nervos atque cutoin morti couceeserat atra:.’ 
 
 IiOtt. Carm. i. 2B. 10. 
 
138 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chaf. Xlll 
 
 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 Graecia, and clubs of a similar character werf 
 
139 
 
 B.C. 530. PYTHAGORAS. 
 
 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. Tho influence, however, 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 Grsecia, in which Pytha¬ 
 gorean clubs had been formed ; and civil dissensions ensued 
 which, after lasting many years, were at length pacified by tha 
 friendly mediation of the Achsoans 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 
 genorally stated to have died at Metapontum, where his tomb 
 was shown in the time of Cicero. 
 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 HISTORY OP ART 
 
 §1. Perfection of Grecian art. §2. Origin of architecture. § 3. Cyclopean 
 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 Jo re at Athens. Remains of temples at Posidonia (Psestum), 
 Selinus, and Angina. § 7. Origin of sculpture. Wooden images of the 
 gods Sculptured figures on architectural monuments. Lions over the 
 gate at Mycense. § 8. Improvements in sculpture in the sixth and fifth 
 centuries B.C. § 9. Extant specimens of Grecian sculpture. The Selinun- 
 tine, ASginetan, and Lycian 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 ; hut 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 formr 
 
Chap XIV. 
 
 AftCHITECTU RE. 
 
 14) 
 
 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 excellence 
 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 o± the Greeks. 
 
 § 3. The oldest worts 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. 
 
 Wall ai Tiryua. 
 
 In other cases the stones, though they are still of irregular 
 polygonal shapes, are skilfully hewn and fitted to one another, 
 ind their faces are cut so to give the whole wall a smootl 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. Xi\ 
 
 appearance A specimen of this kind is seen in the walls ol 
 Ijarissa, the citadel of Argos. In the third species the stones 
 
 are more or less regular, and are laid in horizontal courses. 
 The walls of Mycence 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 “ Mycense, 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 kind 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 ODe 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 reality 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 th<= 
 Daiis of which are still visible in horizontal rows. 
 
Chap. XIV. 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 )4£ 
 
 § 4. The temples of the gods were originally small in size and 
 mean in appearance. The most ancient were nothing bnt hollow 
 trees, in which the images of the gods were placed, since the 
 temple in early times w T as 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 Greoks 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 
 
 The wooden habitation of the god gave way in turn to a temple 
 of stone. In the erection of ttese 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 hypcethral,* 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 
 
 Traipgc*. 
 
 t iyp6vaos 
 
 I also called rnxo(. 
 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XIY. 
 
 a later age, this object was always kept in view. Hence we find 
 the column supporting a horizontal mass, technically called the 
 
 Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian Columns. 
 
 entablature. Both tho column and the entablature are again 
 divided into three distinct parts. The former consists of the 
 base, the shaft, and the capital; the latter of the architrave, the 
 frieze, and the cornice. The architrave is the chief beam,* rest¬ 
 ing on the summit of the row of columns ; the frieze rises above 
 the architrave, and is frequently adorned by figures in relief, 
 whence its Greek name ;+ and above the frieze projects the cor¬ 
 nice, X forming a handsome finish to the entablature. According 
 to certain differences in the proportions and embellishments of 
 the columns and entablature Grecian architecture was divided 
 into three orders, called respectively the Doric, Ionic, and Corin¬ 
 thian. 
 
 § 5. The Doric order is the most ancient, and is marked by 
 the characteristics of the people from whom it derives its name. 
 It is simple, massive, and majestic. The column is characterised 
 by the absence of a base, by the thickness and rapid diminution 
 of the shaft, and by the simplicity and massiveness of the 
 capital. In the entablature, the architrave is in one surface and 
 quite plain. The frieze is ornamented by triglyphs, so called 
 from the three flat bands into which they are divided by the 
 intervening channels; while the metopes, or the vacant spaces 
 between the triglyphs, are also adorned with sculptures in high 
 
 * Called by the Greeks ’F, vurrvkiov, epistylium. t Zco<p \pos, zophot'u ■? 
 
 KoqmvIs, coronis, 
 
Chap XIV 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 145 
 
 relief. The cornice projects far, and on its under sido are cut 
 several sets of drops, called mutules. 
 
 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. 
 
 VTH f Y 
 
 jjyj 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 Doric Architecture. 
 From Temple at Phigalia 
 
 
 M O'l/L 'Uii'Jh-' 'U 
 
 4 1 cU/ i i uji non ic a/ lv j; u u>e i J t 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 wi XOTcaOlOIG 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i till mi tiiYuir nrrim ,wev - 
 
 
 Ionic Architecture. 
 From the Erect theum 
 
 T he 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 been placed. The earliest known example of its use through* 
 Gr. l 
 
146 
 
 HISTORT OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XI\ 
 
 out a building is in the monument of Lysicrates, commonly called 
 the Lantern of Demosthenes, which was built in b. o. 335. 
 
 § 0. Passing over the earlier Greek temples, we find at the be¬ 
 ginning of the sisth 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 Chersiphron and his son Metagenes, ofCnossus 
 in Crete, but it occupied many years in building. Tim material 
 employed was white marble, and the order of architecture 
 adopted was the Tonic. Its length was 425 feet, its breadth 
 
Chap. XIV. 
 
 TEMPLES. 
 
 141 
 
 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 b x - 
 the Alcmceonklse, 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 onlj 
 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 Poestum, the colony of Sy- 
 I >aris 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 tern [lies 
 at Selinus in Sicily, built in the Doric style. The temple of Jove 
 Panhellenius, in the island of HCgina, of which many columns 
 are still 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 norlh-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 
 1 the engraving at. the head of this chapter. 
 
 l 2 
 
148 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XTY. 
 
 § 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 in 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 statuary, 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 Rhcecus and 
 Theodoras of Samos, 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 obtai? ed renown for 
 toeir statues in marble. They founded a school of art in Sicyon, 
 
 * A wooden statue was called £/«»«», from gs&>, “ polish o r “ carve.’* 
 t tnoripou Herod, i. 25. 
 
Chap. XTY. 
 
 STATUARY. 
 
 149 
 
 which long enjoyed great celebrity. The other most distin¬ 
 guished schools of art were at Samos, Chios, JEgina, 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 JEgina, 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 Mycense. 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 Actseon 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 
 ^Plgina 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 fftlacids or iEginetan 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 bronzt 
 armour was fixed to the statues by means of nails. There h 
 ?reat animation in the figures, but their gestures are too violent 
 md abrupt; and one may still perceive evident traces of thr 
 u chaic style. The close imitation of nature is very striking. 
 
 The reliefs on the monument at Xanthus in Lycia were evi* 
 
150 
 
 HISTOEY OF GliEECE. 
 
 Chap Xl^ 
 
 dently executed by Greek artists, and probably about the sarus 
 time as the iEginetan 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 off 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 Phocssa are mentioned 
 on the capture of that city by Harpagus in b.c. 544 ; and a few 
 years afterwards (b.c. 508) Mandrocles, who 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 has 
 been preserved, is Cimon of Cleonse, whose 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 the 
 perfection in which it appears at the beginning of the following 
 period. His works probably held the same place in the history 
 of painting which the /kginctan marbles occupy in the history 
 of sculpture, forming a transition from the archaic stiffness of 
 the old school to the ideal beauty of the paintings of Polygnotus 
 of Thasos. 
 
Cyrus, from a bas-relief at i'asurgad*.. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS. 
 
 b.c. 500—478. 
 
 ■ — — — 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE RISE 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- 
 oysee and of the false Smerdis. § 11. History of Polycrates, despot of 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XV 
 
 Sainos. § 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 
 orilliant 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 entemb 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 Aida, 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 
 
 1 58 
 
 user 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 
 oonfines 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 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 Trnolus. 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 reigned B.C. 710-657 ; 2. Phraories, B.c 
 557-635; 5 Oyaxares, B.c. 635-5954. Astyages, B.c. 595-559. 
 
154 
 
 HI STORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XV. 
 
 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 
 state 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 oi 
 gold and silver; and of the former metal they obtained large 
 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, Phocaea, 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. He next 
 turned his arms towards the east, and subdued all the nations 
 in Asia Minor west of the 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. 678-629; 3. Sadyattes, B.C. 629-617; 
 
 4. Alvattes. B.c. 617-560 ; 5. Croesus, B.c. 560-546. 
 
Ohap. XV. THE BABYLONIAN AND LYDIAN EMPIBES. 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 fame ol 
 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 stern 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, overruns 
 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 the 
 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 TEgean to the 
 Indus, and from the Caspian and the Oxus, to the Persian Gull 
 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. X\ 
 
 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 mountains their simple and warlike habits. They were 
 divided into several tribes, partly agricultural and partly no¬ 
 madic ; but they were all brave, 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 enterprize 
 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 Crce 
 sus were inferior in number to those of the Persian king, he 
 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 fot 
 lowed him into Cappadocia. 
 
 Cyrus anticipated his enemy’s plan ; he waited till the Lydiar. 
 king had re-entered his capital and dismissed his troops : and 
 
B.C. S59. 
 
 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 Croesus. 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 notice ?” 
 Having received an answer to his question, he said to the Spar 
 tail, “I was never yet afraid of men, who have a place set apart 
 
158 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XY 
 
 m the middle of their city, where they meet to cheat one anothei 
 and forswear themselves. If I live, they shall have troubles of 
 their own to talk about apart from the Ionians.” This taunt of 
 Cyrus was levelled at Grecian habits generally ; for to the rude 
 barbarian, buying and selling seemed contemptible and dis¬ 
 graceful. 
 
 Cyrus 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 Phocoea and Teos preferred expatriation to 
 slavery ; they abandoned their homes to the conqueror ; and 
 sailed away in search of new settlements. The Phocseans, 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 Massagetse, a people dwelling beyond the Araxes. He 
 perished in b.c. 529, after a reign of thirty years, leaving his vast 
 empire to his son, Cambyses. 
 
 § 10. The love of conquest and of aggrandizement, which had 
 teen fed by the repeated victories of Cyrus, still fired the Per¬ 
 sians. Of the four great monarchies, which Cyrus had found in 
 all their glory when he descended with his shepherds fr‘'m the 
 
(3.0. 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 person 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 
 idolatry 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 Greek cities of Asia 
 remained obedient to their Persian governors. The subjection 
 of the other cities had increased the power and influence of 
 Samos, which, as we have already seen, had maintained its inde 
 
160 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XY 
 
 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. He 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 iEgean. The Lacedaemo¬ 
 nians, who had invaded the island at the invitation of the Sa¬ 
 mian 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. Oroetes, 
 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 Oroetes, of the Medes, 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 Cyrils the father, Cambyses the master. 
 
GREECE & ADJOINING COASTS 
 
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 DARIUS. 
 
 161 
 
 And Darius the retail-trader, — an epithet Implying that he 
 was the first to introduce some order into the administration 
 and finances of the empire. He divided his vast dominions into 
 twenty provinces, and appointed the tribute which each was to 
 pay to the royal treasury. These provinces were called satrapies, 
 fi om the satrap or governor, to whom the administration of each 
 was entrusted. Darius was also the first Persian king who coined 
 money; and the principal gold and silver coin of the Persian 
 mint was called after him the Daric. He also connected Susa 
 and Ecbatana with the most distant parts of the empire by a 
 series of high roads, along which were placed, at suitable inter¬ 
 vals, buildings for the accommodation of all who travelled in the 
 king’s name, and relays of couriers to convey royal messages. 
 
 § 13. Although Darius devoted his chief attention to the con¬ 
 solidation and organization of his empire, he was impelled by his 
 own ambition, or by the aggressive spirit of the Persians, to seek 
 to enlarge still further his vast dominions. For that purpose 
 he resolved to attack Scythia, or the great plain between the 
 Danube and the Don, which was then inhabited by numerous 
 nomad and savage tribes. His army was collected from all parts 
 of the empire ; his fleet of 600 ships was furnished exclusively 
 by the Asiatic Greeks. To the latter he gave orders to sail up the 
 Danube, and throw a bridge of boats across the river, near the 
 point where the channel begins to divide. With his land forces 
 •he king himself marched through Tnrace, crossed the Danube by 
 the bridge, which he found finished, and then ordered the Greeks 
 to break it down and follow him into Scythia. His plan seems 
 to have been to have marched back into Asia round the north¬ 
 ern shore of the Flack Sea, and across the Caucasus. But being 
 reminded by one of the Grecian generals that he was embarking 
 upon a perilous enterprize, and might possibly be compelled tc 
 retreat, he thought it more prudent to leave the bridge standing 
 under the care of the Greeks who had constructed it, but told 
 them that if he did not return within sixty days, they might 
 break down the bridge, and sail home. The king then left them, 
 and penetrated into the Scythian territory. The sixty days had 
 already passed away, and there was yet no sign of the Persian 
 army. But shortly afterwards the Ionians, who still continued 
 to guard the bridge, were astonished by the appearance of a 
 body of Scythians, who informed them that Darius was in full 
 retreat, pursued by the whole Scythian nation, and that his only 
 hope of safety depended upon that bridge. They urged the 
 Greeks to seize this opportunity of destroying the whole Persian 
 army, and of recovering their own liberty -by breaking down the 
 bridge. Their exhortations were warmly seconded by the Athe 
 
 M 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XV. 
 
 162 
 
 nian Miltiades, the despot of the Thracian Chersonesus, and the 
 future conqueror of Marathon. The other rulers of the Ionian 
 cities were at first disposed to follow his suggestion ; but as soon 
 as Histioous of Miletus reminded them that their sovereignty 
 depended upon the support of the Persian king, and that his 
 ruin would involve their own, they changed their minds and 
 resolved to preserve the bridge. After enduring great priva¬ 
 tions and sufferings, Darius and his army at length reached the 
 Danube, and crossed the bridge in safety. Thus the selfishness 
 of these Grecian despots threw away the most favourable oppor¬ 
 tunity that ever presented itself, of delivering their native cities 
 from the Persian yoke. 
 
 § 14. Notwithstanding the failure of his expedition against 
 the Scythians, Darius did not abandon his plans of conquest. 
 Returning himself to Sardis, he left Megabazus with an army of 
 80,000 men to complete the subjugation of Thrace, and of the 
 Greek cities upon the Hellespont. He gave to Histioeus the 
 town of Myrcinus, near the Strymon, which the Ionian prince 
 lad asked as a reward for his important service m the Scythian 
 campaign. Megabazus experienced little difficulty in executing 
 ;he orders of his master. He not only subdued the Thracian 
 tribes, but crossed the Strymon, conquered the Pseonians, and 
 penetrated as far as the frontiers of Macedonia. He then sent 
 neralds into the latter country to demand earth and water, as 
 the customary symbols of submission. These were immediately 
 granted by Amyntas, the reigning monarch, b.c. 510; and thus 
 blie Persian dominions were extended to the borders of Thessaly. 
 
 While Megabazus was engaged in the conquest of the Pax>- 
 nians, he had noticed that Histioeus was collecting the elements 
 of a power, which might hereafter prove formidable to the Per¬ 
 sian sovereignty. Myrcinus commanded the navigation of the 
 Strymon, and consequently the commerce with the interior of 
 Thrace ; and the importance of this site is shown by the rapid 
 growth of the town of Amphipolis, which the Athenians founded 
 at a later time in the same locality. On his return to Sardis, 
 Megabazus communicated his suspicions to Darius. The Persian 
 king, perceiving that the apprehensions of his general were not 
 without foundation, summoned Histioeus to his presence, ah-J, 
 under the pretext that he could not bear to be deprived of the 
 company of his friend, proposed that he should accompany him 
 bo Susa. Histoeus had no alternative but compliance, and with 
 unwilling steps followed the monarch to his capital. This appa¬ 
 rently trivial circumstance was attended with important conse 
 quenees, as we shall presently see, to the Persian empire and tr 
 bhe whole Hellenic race. 
 
Behistun rock on which are inscribed the exploits of Darius, 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE IONIC REVOLT. 
 
 4 t. Introduction. § 2. Naxian exiles apply for aid to Aristagoras. § 3. fix 
 pedition of Aristagoras and the Persians against Naxos. Its failure 
 § 4. Revolt of Miletus and the other Greek cities of Asia. § 5. Arista¬ 
 goras solicits assistance from Sparta and Athens, which is granted by the 
 latter. §6. Burning of Sardis by the Athenians and Ionians. §7. Death 
 of Aristagoras and Histiceus. § 8. Defeat of the Ionian fleet at Lade. 
 § 9. Capture of Miletus and termination of the revolt. 
 
 § 1. Before setting out for Susa, Darius had appointed his bro¬ 
 ther Artaphernes satrap of the western provinces of Asia Minor, 
 of which Sardis continued to be the capital, as in the time of the 
 Lydian monarchy. The Grecian cities on the coast were nomi¬ 
 nally allowed to manage their own affairs ; but they were go¬ 
 verned for the most part by despots, who were in reality the 
 instruments of the Persian satrap, and were maintained in their 
 power by his authority. Miletus, which was now the most flou¬ 
 rishing city of Ionia, was ruled by Aristagoras, the son-in-law of 
 Histiaous, since Darius had allowed the latter to entrust the 
 ; sovereignty to his son-in-law during his absence. For a few 
 years after the return of the king to Upper Asia, the Persian 
 empire enjoyed the profound calm which often precedes a storm 
 It was the civil dissensions of one of the islands of the Aegean 
 which first disturbed this universal repose, and lighted up a con 
 ftagration which soon enveloped both Greece and Asia. 
 
 m 2 
 
 
164 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Ciiap. XVI, 
 
 § 2. About the year B.c. 502, the oligarchical party in Naxos 
 one of the largest and moot flourishing of the Cyclades, were 
 driven out of the island by a rising of the people. The exiles 
 applied for aid to Aristagoras, who lent a ready ear to their re- 
 quest; knowing that if they were restored by his means, he should 
 become master of the island. But his own forces were not equal 
 to the conquest of the Naxians, since they possessed a large 
 navy, and could bring 8000 heavy-armed infantry into the field. 
 Accordingly, he went to Sardis to secure the co-operation of 
 Artapliernes, holding out to the satrap the prospect of annexing 
 not only Naxos and the rest of the Cyclades, but even the large 
 and valuable island of Euboea, to the dominions of the Great 
 King. lie represented the enterprize as one certain of success, 
 if a hundred ships were granted to him, and offered at the same 
 time to defray the expense of the armament. Artapliernes gave 
 his cordial approval to the scheme ; and as soon as the king’s 
 consent was obtained, a fleet of 200 ships was equipped and 
 placed at the disposal of Aristagoras. The forces were under 
 the command of Megabates, a Persian noble of high rank. 
 
 § 3. Taking the Naxian exiles on board, Aristagoras sailed from 
 Siletus towards the Hellespont (b.c. 501). To divert the suspi¬ 
 cions of the Naxians, a report was spread that the armament 
 was destined for a different quarter ; but upon reaching Chios, 
 Megabates cast anchor off the western coast, 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 nersonal inspection of the fleet, 
 and discovered one of the vessels left without a single man on 
 board. Incensed at this neglect, lie 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 
 eompclicd to abandon the enterprize and return to Miletus. 
 
 § 4 Aristagoras was now threatened with utter ruin, liav- 
 
B.C. 50G 
 
 THE IONIC .REVOLT. 
 
 165 
 
 lag 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, Histiseus. 
 urging him to this very step. Afraid of trusting any one with 
 so dangerous a message, Ilistiseus 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 Histimus 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 Hecataeus, 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 other 
 Greek cities in Asia to join them in their perilous enterprize. 
 Ms the most effectual means to this end, it was resolved to seize 
 the persons of the Grecian despots, many of whom had not yet 
 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 w r as followed by an open declaration of 
 revolt from Persia (b.c. 500). 
 
 s S 5. The insurrection had now assumed a formidable aspect; 
 and before the Persians could collect sufficient forces to cope 
 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 
 I ablet, 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. 2Vi 
 
 wan 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 accomplish by money what 
 he had failed to do by eloquence. He 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 the 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 
 Euboea, 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 rapidly 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 be superior to those of the 
 enemy, they resolved to attack them. Meantime reinforcements 
 •rame pouring in from all quarters ; and the Ionians and Athe 
 
B.O. 500. 
 
 THE IONIC REVOLT. 
 
 Ib7 
 
 mans, seeing that their position was becoming more danger¬ 
 ous every hour, abandoned the city and began to retrace theii 
 steps. But before they could reach the walls of Ephesus, they 
 were overtaken by the Persian forces and defeated with great 
 slaughter. The Ioni&ns 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 they V 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 wa3 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 ho had laid siege. 
 
 Soon after his departure, his father-in-law, Histkeus, 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. But 
 Artaphernes was not so easily deceived as his master, and plainly 
 accused Histiceus of treachery when the latter arrived at Sardis. 
 “ I will tell you how the facts stand,” said Artaphernes to His- 
 tiseus ; u it was you who made this shoe, and Aristagoras has put 
 it on.” Finding himself unsafe at Sardis, he escaped to the 
 island of Chios ; but he was regarded with suspicion by all 
 
168 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XVi 
 
 parties. The Milesians refused to admit their former despot 
 into their town ; and the Ionians in general would not receive 
 him as their leader. At length he obtained eight galleys from 
 Lesbos, with which he sailed towards Byzantium, and carried on 
 piracies as well against the Grecian as the barbarian vessels. 
 This unprincipled adventurer met with a traitor’s death. Having 
 landed on the coast of Mysia to reap the standing corn round 
 Atarneus, he was surprized by a Persian force and made prisoner. 
 Being carried to Sardis, Artaphernes at once caused him to be 
 crucified, and sent his head to Darius, who ordered it to be ho¬ 
 nourably buried, condemning the ignominious execution of the 
 man who had once saved the life of the Great King. 
 
 § 8. The death of Histheus happened after the subjection of 
 the Ionians; and their fall now claims our attention. In the 
 sixth year of the revolt (b.c. 495), when several Grecian cities 
 had already been taken by the Persians, Artaphernes resolved to 
 besiege Miletus by sea and by land, since the capture of this city 
 was sure to be followed by the submission of all the others. 
 For this purpose he concentrated near Miletus all his land-forces, 
 and ordered the Phoenician fleet to sail towards the city. While 
 he was making these preparations, the Pan-Ionic council assem¬ 
 bled to deliberate upon the best means of meeting the threaten¬ 
 ing danger. As they had not sufficient strength to meet the 
 Persian army in the field, it was resolved to leave Miletus to its 
 own defences on the land side, and to embark all their forces on 
 board their ships. The fleet was ordered to assemble at Lad6, 
 then a small island near Miletus, but now joined to the coast 
 by the alluvial deposits of the Mseander. It consisted of 353 
 ships, while the Phoenician fleet numbered 600 sail. But not¬ 
 withstanding their numerical superiority, the Persian generals 
 were afraid to risk an engagement with the combined fleet of the 
 Ionians, whose nautical skill was well known to them. They 
 therefore ordered the despots, who had been driven out of the 
 Grecian cities at the commencement of the revolt, and were now 
 serving in the Persian fleet, to endeavour to persuade their coun¬ 
 trymen to desert the common cause. Each of them accordingly 
 made secret overtures to his fellow-citizens, promising them 
 pardon if they submitted, and threatening them with the ssveresf 
 punishment in case of refusal. But these proposals were all una 
 nimously rejected. 
 
 Meantime great want of discipline prevailed in the Ioniar 
 fleet. There was no general commander of the whole arma 
 ment; the mon, though eager for liberty, were impatient cf re 
 straint, and spent the greater part of the day in unprofitable 
 talk under the tents they had erected on the shore. In a council 
 
R.C. 495. 
 
 SUBJUGATION OF IONIA. 
 
 1£S 
 
 of the commanders, Dionysius of Phocsea, a man of energy and 
 ability, pointed out the perils which they ran, and promised 
 them certain victory if they would place themselves under his 
 guidance. Being intrusted with the supreme command, Diony¬ 
 sius ordered the men on board the ships, and kept them con¬ 
 stantly engaged in practising all kinds of nautical manoeuvres. 
 For seven days in succession they endured this unwonted work 
 beneath the burning heat of a summer’s sun ; but on the eighth 
 they broke out into open mutiny, and asked, “ why they should 
 any longer obey a Phocaean braggart, who had brought only three 
 ships to the common cause ?” Leaving their ships, they again 
 dispersed over the island and sought the shade of their pleasant 
 tents. There was now less order and discipline than before. 
 The Samian leaders became alarmed at the prospect before 
 them ; and repenting that they had rejected the proposals made 
 to them by their exiled despot, they re-opened communications 
 with him, and agreed to desert during the battle. 
 
 The Persian commanders, confident of victory, no longer hesi¬ 
 tated to attack the Ionian fleet. The Greeks, not suspecting 
 treachery, drew up their ships in order of battle ; but just as the 
 two fleets were ready to engage, the Samian ships sailed away. 
 Their example was followed by the Lesbians, and as the panic 
 spread, by the greater part of the fleet. There was, however, 
 one brilliant exception. The hundred ships of the Chians, though 
 left almost alone, refused to fly, and fought with distinguished 
 bravery against the enemy, tiil they were overpowered by su¬ 
 perior numbers. 
 
 § 9. The defeat of the Ionian fleet at Lade decided the fate of 
 the war. The city of Miletus was soon afterwards taken by 
 storm, and was treated with signal severity. Most of the males 
 were slain ; and the few who escaped the sword were carried 
 with the women and children into captivity, and were finally 
 settled at Ampo, a town near the mouth of the Tigris. The fall 
 of this great Ionic city excited the liveliest sympathy at Athens. 
 In the following year the poet Phrynichus, who had made the 
 capture of Miletus the subject of a tragedy, and brought it upon 
 the stage, was sentenced by the Athenians to pay a fine of a 
 thousand drachmae “ for having recalled to them their own mis¬ 
 fortunes.” 
 
 The other Greek cities in Asia and the neighbouring islands, 
 which had not yet fallen into the hands of the Persians, were 
 treated with equal severity. The islands of Chios, Lesbos and 
 Tenedos were swept of their inhabitants ; and the Persian fleet 
 sailed up to the Hellespont and Propontis, carrying with it 
 tire and sword. The inhabitants of Byzantium and Cbalcedon 
 
170 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XV 1. 
 
 did not await its arrival, hut sailed away to Mesembria ; and the 
 Athenian Miltiades only escaped falling into the power of the 
 Persians by a rapid flight to Athens. 
 
 The subjugation of Ionia was now complete. This was the 
 third time that the Asiatic Greeks had been conquered by a 
 foreign power; first, by tl*e Lydian Croesus; secondly, by the 
 generals of Cyrus ; and lastly, by those of Darius. It was from the 
 last that they suffered most; and they never fully recovered their 
 former prosperity. As soon as the Persians had satiated their 
 vengeance, Artaphernes introduced various regulations for the 
 government of their country. Thus he caused a new survey of 
 the country to be made, and fixed the amount of tribute which 
 each district was to pay to the Persian government; and his 
 other measures were calculated to heal the wounds which had 
 been lately inflicted with such barbarity upon the Crocks. 
 
 Hyiiis A in Ijuk in Hoytas. 
 
The Plain and Tumulus of Marathon. 
 
 CHAPTER, XVII. 
 
 TIIE BATTLE OF MARATHON. 
 
 j 1. Expedition of Mardonius into Greece. § 2. Preparations of Darius for 
 a second invasion of Greece. Heralds sent to the leading Grecian States to 
 demand earth and water. § 3. Invasion of Greece by the Persians under 
 Datis and Artaphernes. Conquest of the Cyclades and Eretria. § 4. Pre¬ 
 parations at Athens to resist the Persians. History of Miltiades. § 5. De¬ 
 bate among the ten Athenian Generals. Resolution to give battle to the 
 Persians. § G. Battle of Marathon. §7. Movements of the Persians after 
 
 the battle. § 8. Effect of the battle of Marathon upon the Athenians. 
 § 9. Glory of Miltiades. § 10. Ilis unsuccessful expedition to Paros. 
 § 11. His trial, condemnation, and death. § 12. History of TEgina. 
 § 13. War between Athens and TEgina. § 14. Athens becomes a mari¬ 
 time power. § 15. Rivalry of Themistocles and Aristides. Ostracism of 
 the latter 
 
 § 1. Darius nad not forgotten his 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 TEgean. 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. XVU 
 
 which had cot yet submitted to the Persian power. Mean whip, 
 ho ordered the fleet to double the promontory of Mount Atlio^ 
 and join the land forces at the head of the Gulf of Therma. 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 portior 
 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 
 l'ius. 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 ol 
 Athens and Eretria, and to carry away the inhabitants as slaves 
 They wore furnished with fetters for binding the Grecian pri¬ 
 soners ; and before the end of the year Darius fully expected 
 to sec at his feet the men who had dared to burn the city ol 
 Sardis. 
 
B.C. 490. 
 
 SECOND PERSIAN INVASION. 
 
 17b 
 
 Having taken their men on board, Datis and Artapliernes first 
 sailed to Samos ; and, warned by the recent disaster of Mardo 
 nius in doubling the promontory of Mount Athos, they resolved 
 to sail straight across the Aegean to Euboea, 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 Euboea 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 Aegean, 
 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 l-ooommended 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 possession of Lemnos and Imbros, expelled the Persian gar¬ 
 risons and Pelasgian inhabitants, and handed over these islands to 
 the Atheniaus. He had thus committed two great offences against 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY OK GREECE. 
 
 Ohaf XVTT 
 
 the Persian lxiouarcii; and accordingly when the Piueuician 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 Metiochus, 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 
 oirne, 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 could save them from the treacherous attempts 
 of the friends of Hippias within the city. The arguments ol 
 Miltiades were warmly seconded by Themistocles and Aristides. 
 Callimachus felt their force, and gave his vote for the battle. 
 The ten generals commanded 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 
 liceotia. Grateful to the Athenians for the assistance which they 
 had rendered them against the Thebans, the whole force of 
 Platcea, 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, al 
 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 
 m 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 
 ihoua , flows through its centre into the sea. 
 
 Note upon the accompanying Mop of Marathon .—The modern village of Fraud 
 ig 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 
 
 * >*i**wVf* 70 * if/tn vto. — AUCS, A-4- 
 
176 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XVII. 
 
 plain. On 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 in 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 leading 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. 
 
3.C» *90. 
 
 BATTLE OF M A RAT II ON. 
 
 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 Polemarcli Callimachus ; 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 
 PiatDeans. 
 
 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 engulpliing 
 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- 
 Gli. & 
 
178 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap XVII 
 
 isliment 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 line. 
 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 Rersians and Sacians, and 
 compelled to take to flight. Miltiades thereupon recalled his 
 wings from pursuit, and rallying his centre, charged the Persians 
 and 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 
 i out now became general along the whole Persian line : and they 
 tied 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 iEscliylus and his brother Cynoegirus ; the 
 latter of whom, while seizing one of the vessels, had his hand cut 
 oil' by an axe, and died of the wound. 
 
 § 7. The Persians had no sooner embarked than they sailed 
 towards Cape Sunium. 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- 
 min only just in time. The Persian fleet was already in sight; 
 a few hours more would have made the victory of Marathon of 
 u«> 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 .uianimous burst of heart-felt joy. Whatever traitors there 
 
B.U. 4y0. 
 
 RETREAT OF THE PERSIANS 
 
 179 
 
 may Lave been in the city, they did not dare to express then 
 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 1 gilded power they brought.” * 
 
 § 9. Miltiades, the hero of Marathon, was received at Athens 
 with expressions of the warmest admiration and gratitude. Ills 
 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, oi 
 Painted Porch, of Athens ; and the poet gave expression to the 
 : 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 Sterlin 
 
 
 Anfhnloijia, p. 2<id 
 
 1 WlU.l.KSI I 1 
 
 s 
 
180 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chav. XYIL 
 
 It would have been fortunate for his glory if he 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 
 Athenians 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 he 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 does 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 hie 
 offence, and ought not to lead us to charge the Athenian people 
 
B.C. 489. WAR BETWEEN ATHENS AND iEGINA. 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 /Egina, 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 Abacus, 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 enterprising 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 500 b. c. the Thebans, who had been defeated by the 
 Athenians, f applied for aid to iEgina. This was immediately 
 granted ; and the rEgiuetans forthwith attacKeci tne Athenian 
 territory, without making any formal declaration of war. Of 
 the details of this contest we have no information ; and we lose 
 sight of rEgina for the next few years. 
 
 In the year before the battle of Marathon dEgina 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, see p, 59. 
 
 f See p. 112. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XVI t 
 
 i82 
 
 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 ASgina. He was pro¬ 
 ceeding to arrest and carry away some of the leading citizens, 
 when Demaratus, the other Spartan king, privately encouraged 
 the /Eginetans 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 
 ind still more formidable attack upon Greece ; and he had the 
 
B.C. +85. 
 
 THEM ISTOCLES AND ARISTIDES. 
 
 18S 
 
 l 
 
 
 sagacity to perceive that a large and efficient tieet would be the 
 beat 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 
 .vant 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 
 .Eginetan war saved Greece by compelling 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 ho never at a loss for an expedient, but 
 lie 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 
 
IR4 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap XVII 
 
 of party ties aucl of personal friendships. His uprightness arid 
 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¬ 
 came jealous 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 vith the 
 ; f>rmer much better than with the latter. 
 
 Bu^tof Miltiades 
 
Y iew of Thermopylae. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE BATTLES OF THERMOPYLAE AND ARTEMISIUM. 
 
 § 1. Death of Darias 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. § G. 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 Tcmpe, 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 
 ami 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. Retreat 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. 
 
 Ohak 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 Greece, 
 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 country 
 as a satrapy for himself. The powerful family of the Thessalian 
 Aleuadse 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 kinc 
 was anxious to make a still more imposing display of his power. 
 He was net satisfied with collecting a military power sufficient fn- 
 
B.C. 485. 
 
 ACCESSION OF XERXES. 
 
 1*7 
 
 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 foui 
 years more the din of preparation sounded throughout Asia. 
 Troops were collected from every 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, ol 
 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 hall 
 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 
 j 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 
 i 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. XVIIL 
 
 tape that Xeixes 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 Nisa)an plain of Media; 
 next the sacred car of Jove, drawn by eight white horses ; and 
 then Xerxes himself in a chariot, drawn by Niscean 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; 
 while 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 su;h a 
 
 * Juvenal speaks of it as a specimen of Greek mendacity :— 
 
 “creditur olim 
 
 Velificatus Athos, et qu dquid Graccia mendax 
 
 Au<!et m historia.” 
 
B,C. 480. 
 
 MARCH OF XERXES 
 
 189 
 
 vast assemblage of human beings ; but his 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 Thermopylae, 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 Thermopylae 
 the land and sea forces amounted to 2,641,610 fighting men. 
 
 * Whips made of the hide of the hippopotamus were used by Ibrahim 
 Pasha to flog the Arabs iuio battle during the Egyptian invasion of Greece 
 in 1827. 
 
190 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XVII] 
 
 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 wore 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. 
 
 § 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 purpose had made preparations many 
 months beforehand. The cost of feeding such a multitude 
 brought many cities to the brink of ruin. The 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 100,0007. 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 he had hitherto marched, had been already conquered by 
 Megabazus and Mardonius, and yielded implicit obedience to the 
 
 * The figure of a lion seizing a hull 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 isthmus 
 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 Platsea and Thespke. The other people 
 in northern Greece were either partizans of the Persians, like 
 the Thebans, or were unwilling to make any great sacrifices foi 
 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 Aclia3ans likewise took no part in the contest, probably from 
 hatred to the Dorians, who had driven their ancestors from then 
 homes. 
 
 Prom 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 Corcyrseaus pro¬ 
 mised their aid, and despatched a fleet of sixty vessels, but with 
 strict eiders not to double Cape Mali-a. till the result of the 
 
192 
 
 HISTORY 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 
 and 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 iEgi- 
 netans, and thus gained for 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 Aleuadoe 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 Eusenetus and 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 mountaii s 
 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 
 there 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 ol 
 Thessaly to Xerxes. 
 
 § 10. After Tempe, the next spot in Greece most convenient 
 
B.C. 480. 
 
 BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE. 
 
 I9d 
 
 for defence against »n invading anny is the pass of Thermo¬ 
 pylae. This celebrated pass lies between the lofty and preci¬ 
 pitous mountains of CEta, 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 car¬ 
 riage. These narrow entrances were called Pylae, 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 Euboea 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. 
 
 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 
 Euboean strait. The whole allied fleet, under the command of 
 the Spartan Eurybiades, sailed to the north of Euboea, and took 
 up its station off that portion of the noithern coast of the 
 island, which faces Magnesia and the entrance to the Thessalian 
 gulf, and which was called Artemisium, from a neighbouring 
 Gr. o 
 
194 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE, 
 
 Chap. XVII1 
 
 temp ]3 of Artemis (Diana). It was, however, only a small 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 ol 
 the Carnean Apollo, which was observed with great solemnity at 
 Sparta and in the other Doric states. The Peloponnesians 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 woidd be able to march against 
 Xerxes with all tlieir 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 Boeotfa 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 CEta, 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 Anopsea, along the 
 torrent of the Asopus, crossed one of the ridges of Mount (Eta, 
 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 Thermopylse. 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 thp 
 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 smallness of their numbers, when the multi¬ 
 tudinous forces of Xerxes began to draw near, that the Pelopon¬ 
 nesians were anxious to abandon their present position and 
 make the isthmus of Corinth their point of iefence. It was onlj 
 
B.C. 48U. 
 
 BATTLE OF TIIEliM OP YLA3. 
 
 195 
 
 the personal influence of Leonidas, seconded by the indignant 
 remonstrances of the Pliocians and Locrians, which prevailed 
 upon them to continue faithful to their post. At the same time 
 he despatched messengers to the various cities, urging them to 
 send him immediate reinforcements. 
 
 § 12. Meanwhile Xerxes had arrived within sight of Thermo¬ 
 pylae. He had hoard that a handful cf desperate men, com¬ 
 manded by a Spartan, had determined to dispute his passage, 
 but he refused to believe the news. 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 
 hb way through the pass, when a Malian, of the name of Ephi- 
 aites, betrayed to the Persian king the secret of the path across 
 tho ’unu.otains. Overjoyed at this discovery, a strong detach- 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XVIII 
 
 ment 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 Thesjuans 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 lives 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. Numbers 
 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 lush, 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 
 
8.0. 480. 
 
 RATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE. 
 
 197 
 
 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 lives were spared ; and thA. 
 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.” * 
 
 Roth 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 Thermopylae 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 fieet had also been engaged with the Persians at Artemi- 
 sium. The Greek ships assembled off the northern coast ol 
 i Euboea were 271 in number, commanded, as has been mentioned 
 above, by the Spartan Eurybiades. The Athenian souadron 
 
 | * J il £s?/, dyytkXtiv Aa,xs^xiy.ovloi{ > 7*r< rwSs 
 
 xit/u.i0et y ro7f kuvuv -riiQiuivcn . 
 
 t Translated by Sterling. 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XVIII 
 
 <vas 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 manner 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 Euboea 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 line the water’s 
 edge ; but there is an open beach for a short distance between 
 the town of Casthanoea 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, 
 stores, and treasures. The remainder of the fleet doubled the 
 southern promontory of Magnesia, and cast anchor at Aphetse at 
 the entrance to the Pagascean 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 ARTEMI SIUM. 
 
 199 
 
 is opposite Aphetai, ^ the distance of only a few miles. Bui 
 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 Euboeans sent one of then citi¬ 
 zens to Themistoclcs, 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 Themistoclcs 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 Euboeans. 
 In all periods of their history the Greeks seldom had sufficient 
 principle to resist a bribe ; and Themistoclcs 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 
 Euboea and cut off the retreat of the Greeks. Tliemistocles 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 tr 
 Artemisium, and the Persians to Aphetie. 
 
 § 19. This auspicious commencement raised the courage of 
 tho 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 thier side. For, although it was the middle of summer, at 
 which season rain rarely falls in Greece, another terrific storm 
 'lurst upon the Persians. All night long t blew upon the coast 
 
200 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XVIli 
 
 at Aphetse, 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 Ciliciau 
 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. lie did this in 
 the hopes either 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 Eubceai] 
 strait, the fleet doubled the promontory of Sunium. -md did not 
 stop till jt reached the island )f Salamis, 
 
A Greek Warrior. From an Ancient Vase 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 
 
 i !. 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 Atheus and arrival of the Persian fleet. § 5. Dissensions and 
 debates of the Greeks. § G. Stratagem of Themistocles. Arrival of Aris¬ 
 tides. § 7. Position of the hostile fleets. Preparations for the combat 
 §8. Battle of Salamis. §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 provida 
 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 crcasion. The forcing of the pasf 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XIX 
 
 202 
 
 annihilated the chief defence of southern Greece. Many of the 
 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 Bocotia 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 Thermopylae, 
 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 Boeotia, 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 Trcezen, 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 iEgina, 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 ThemistocleF 
 
B.C, 480. THE ATHENIANS ABANDON THEIIl 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 surprised 
 
204 
 
 HTSTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap ,K1X 
 
 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 Thessalians, the Persian army poured into 
 Phocis, but found only deserted towns ; several of which, how¬ 
 ever, they plundered and destroyed. The same fate attended 
 Thespise and Plataea, 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 Proncea, 
 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 Persiaus ; 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, bad the disparity of force 
 been 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 
 
tf.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 Oi 
 the Acropolis, 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 climb 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 theii 
 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 
 
 * Aocordmg tu HeroJotus ; but .Esehy luu reckons them at 310 only 
 
206 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XIX 
 
 the unanimity of the meeting. Artemisia, queen of Halicar¬ 
 nassus, in Oaria, deprecated the policy of fighting in the narrow 
 strait of Salamis, where the numerous force of Xerxes would be 
 an incumbrance rather than a help. She urged 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 taking 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¬ 
 biades to convoke another assembly. He also used all his efforts 
 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 
 fcocles, “ 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 GKEEftS. 
 
 201 
 
 Plutarch. It is related by this writer that Eurybiadee, incensed 
 by the language of Themistocles, lifted up his stick to strike him, 
 whereupon the Athenian exclaimed, “Strike, but hear me P’* 
 
 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, percei ving 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 tnomuiable story, however, is not in accordance with the narrative 
 of Herodotus, in which it is Adimantus, and not Eurybiades, to whom The- 
 inistocles had given otleice, and who opposes the Athenian with so touch 
 • “hemerice. 
 
208 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XIX 
 
 despatched this man 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 both 
 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 tc 
 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 wa c 
 that their ancient rivalry should for the future fie exerted only 
 
BO. 480. 
 
 BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 
 
 20b 
 
 m 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 throne to be erected upon one of the project¬ 
 ing declivities of Mount TEgaleos, 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 
 
 u 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 ! 
 lie 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 yEginetans and Eubceana 
 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. Juot at this juncture a favourable omen seemed to pro 
 Gk. i> 
 
210 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XIX 
 
 miso them success. When Eurybiades gave the order for the fleet 
 to remain and fight at Salamis, a trireme had been despatched to 
 iEgina to invoke the assistance of iEacus, and the iEacid heroes 
 Telamon and Ajax. As the Greeks were on the point of embark¬ 
 ing, the trireme returned from the mission just in time to takf. 
 her place in the line of battle. 
 
 
 
 
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 Rattle of Salamis. 
 
d.C. 480. 
 
 BATTI K OF SALAMIS. 
 
 211 
 
 § 8. Ah the trumpets sounded, the Greeks rowed forward to 
 the attack, hurling into the still morning air the loud war Paean 
 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. Re-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 tho enemy have not been left 
 unrecorded. The Athenian captains, Aminias and Lycomedes, 
 the former a brother of the poet /Eschylus, 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 
 une 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 Halicarnassian 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, Aristides succeeded in inflicting on th ■ 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 ‘'hap XIX 
 
 Persians another on land. It has been already stated that some 
 chosen Persian troops had been landed 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 dangei 
 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 persona] 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 honour, and even with glory ; and that for the rest 
 he (Mardonius) would undertake to complete the conquest ol 
 Greece with 300,000 men. Xerxes readily listened to this advice. 
 
8.0. 480. 
 
 RETREAT OP XERXES. 
 
 218 
 
 which accorded so well with his own inclinations, aud 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 his own personal interest in view. 
 He was well aware that the Persian cause was 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 
 Pceotia into Thessaly. In the latter country Mardonius selected 
 the forces with which he proposed to couelude the war, consist¬ 
 ing chiefly of Persians, Medes, Sacrn, 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 force greatly diminished by 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XI A 
 
 il 4 
 
 famine and pestilence. The sufferings of his army were exag¬ 
 gerated by /Eschylus, 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 iEginetans 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 Aminias, 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 groat majority preponderated in 
 favour of Themistocles. But since the first prize thus remained 
 undecided, and as the second could not, consequently, be adju¬ 
 dicated, the Athenian leader reaped no benefit frem these votes. 
 From the Spartans, however, whom he shortly afterwards visited, 
 ho received the honours due to his merit. A crown of olive, 
 similar to that which rewarded their own commander, Eury- 
 biiidis, was conferred upon him, together with :aie of the most 
 
B.C. 480. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE CAKTHAGLNlANS. 
 
 216 
 
 splendid chariots which the city could produce ; and oji his de¬ 
 parture tlie 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 
 Themistoeles by the haughty Spartans were so extraordinary, 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 Agrigentum, 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 party, 
 applied to the Carthaginians to restore him. The Carthaginians 
 complied with the invitation ; and in the year 480 b.c., Hamilcar 
 landed at Panonnu-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 Himerseans, 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 
 S 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 Agrigeutum, rcse by the labour of the captive Carthagi 
 ; Qians. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BATTLES OF PLAT^EA ANI) MYCALE. 
 
 1. Position of the Persian and Greek fleets. § 2. Preparations of JVlai 
 donius for tlie campaign. § 3. He solicits the Athenians to join him 
 Faithlessness of the Spartans. §4. Mardonius occupies Athens. Atheniai 
 embassy to Sparta. March of the Spartan army. § 5. Mardonius retires 
 into Bo?otia: 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 ol 
 I hebes, and execution of the Theban leaders. §11. Death of Aristcdemus, 
 § 12. League of Platfea. 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 
 fs par tan king Leotyehides, assembled in the spring at /Egina 
 from this station it advanced as far east wards as Delos ; but 
 
B.G. 47f). 
 
 PREPAKATIOTSS OF MAEDONIUS, 
 
 217 
 
 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 Loo- 
 tychides to venture an attack upon the Persians. 
 
 § 2. The disastrous retreat of Xerxes had not much shaken 
 the fidelity of his Grecian allies. Potidsea, 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 Boeotia 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, should 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 Lacedsemonians 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 e\en wit) 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XX. 
 
 21$ 
 
 something like a threat of personal violence in case he should 
 again be the bearer of such proposals ; whilst to the Lacedaemo¬ 
 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 frontiera 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 Lacedaemonians 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 Mardonius 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 them, 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 advicf 
 
B.C. 47 y. 
 
 MARL)O 1 NIUS RETIRES 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 
 irj case the Athenians allied themselves to the Persians, and 
 thus, by means of their fleet, opened a way into the heart of 
 Polopounesus. 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 followed 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 Decelca, 
 across Mount Parnes into Bceotia, 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 Boeotia, and marching a day or two along the Asopus, 
 he finally took up a position on the left bank of that river, and 
 uot 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 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XI 
 
 2‘10 
 
 ponnosus. On its march through Megara it was joined by 
 3000 Megarians ; and at Eleusis received its final accession ol 
 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 Cithseron. 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 Erythrse, 
 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 Hysise, 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 Lacedae¬ 
 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 his 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.O. 479 
 
 BATTLE OF PLATAlA. 
 
 221 
 
 a. Persians. 
 
 b. Athenians. 
 
 c. Lacedaemonians. 
 
 d. Various Greek allies 
 
 Battle of Platapa. (From Grote’s Greece.) 
 
 1. First position occupied bv j 
 the opposing armies, 
 
 [I. Second position. 
 
 I 111. Third position. 
 
 A. Road from Plata n to Thebes. 
 15. Road from Megarn to Thebes 
 
 C. Persian camp. 
 
 D. Ery throe. 
 
 E. 11 ysiic. 
 
 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, Sacse, 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¬ 
 sented them from watering at the Asopus. On the eighth day 
 
222 
 
 HISTORY OF GREKOV, 
 
 Chap. W. 
 
 Mardonius, at tho .suggestion of the Theban leader Timageuidas, 
 employed his cavalry in cutting oh 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 
 Cithseron. 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 wiiat actually 
 occurred among the Athenians. Several of the wealthier Hop- 
 lites serving in their ranks entered into a conspiracy to establish 
 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 o, 
 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 
 the 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 ret real 
 
R.C 47a 
 
 BATTLE OF PLATASA. 
 
 during 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 Plateea. 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 Cithceron, and running for 
 some space nearly parallel with one another, at length unite, and 
 tiow 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 Plataea, where they formed in front 
 of the Herreum 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 Lacedaemonians, 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 ot 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 vest 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 Lacedemonian columns as they slowly ascended 
 the hills which separated them from the Island. The Athenians, 
 posted more towards the east, and who wero to arrive at the 
 appointed spot by turning the hills, began their march at the 
 'lime time Amompharetus was not so madly obstinate as to 
 
224 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 ClIAT JTX. 
 
 a,wait alone the approach of the Persians. Finding that his com¬ 
 rades 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 spot 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 yerrha, 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 Plataea. 
 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 Lacedemonians. 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 Platma rests 
 therefore, with the Lacedcemonians ; 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 coming 
 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 repulsed with considerable loss. Though compelled to 
 give, way, they retreated in goad order V> Thebes being covered 
 
B C. 47?. 
 
 DEATH OF MARDON1US. 
 
 225 
 
 hv their cavalry from the pursuit of the AthemaiLs. None of 
 the other Greeks in the Persian service took any share in the 
 tight, 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 Lacedaemonians 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 
 held 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 camp 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 s.ene 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- 
 t 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- 
 sauias 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 vest* 
 and carpets ; ornamented arms ; horses, camels ; in a word, ai] 
 the magnificence of eastern luxury, were collected together in 
 jrder t:> be divided among the conquerors. A tithe was first 
 selected for the Delphian Apollo, together with ample offerings 
 i for the Olympic Jove, and the Isthmian Poseidon : then, after a 
 'ar^e share had been appropriated to Pau^anias, the remainder 
 
22b 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. 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 Plataea, 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 Plateea, 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- 
 rios, or the liberator, in which the gods and heroes of the 
 Platsean territory were made partakers. The Plataeans 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 oi 
 celebrating it every fifth year with gymnastic games, in a grand 
 
B.C. 479 
 
 BATTLE OF MYCALE. 
 
 227 
 
 public festival to be called the Eleutheria. For these services 
 the large sum of eighty talents was allotted to them out of the 
 spoil, part of which was employed in erecting a temple to Athena 
 At the same time the independence of Platsea, and the inviola¬ 
 bility of her territory, were guarantee*d 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 Plataea. 
 
 $ 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 Aegean, 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 surround 1 *d 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 zEgean 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 
 tonians, 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 lives, was 
 principally due to the Athenians, as the Lacedaemonians did not 
 arrive till the battle was nearly decided. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XX 
 
 § 14. The remnant of the Persian arm}' retreated to Sardis 
 where Xerxes had lingered ever since his Right 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, CEobazus and Artayctes, 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 
 Greeks, 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 Atnenians returned home, carrying with 
 them the cables of the bridge across the Hellespont, which werf 
 Afterwards preserved in the Acropolis as a trophy. 
 
m NAAPOC 
 
 Bust of Pinda.r 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 HISTORY OF LITERATURE 
 
 j L General characteristics. § 2. Simonides. § 3. Pindar. § 4. Ibycus 
 and Bacchylides. § 5. Rise of history and of composition iu prose. § 6. 
 Hecataeus, Charon of Lampsacus, Hellanicus. § 7. Herodotus. § 8. 
 Character of his work. Analysis. § 9. Predilection of Herodotus foi 
 Athene. § 10. St) le 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. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXl 
 
 280 
 
 <Eschylus, to gather laurels in a new and unexplored field. With 
 Pindar ends the ancient school of lyric poetry ; with HCschylus 
 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 the 
 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 i is 
 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 
 hastened to the door, but looked in 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 see in it the tribute 
 which a lively and ingenious people paid to merit, as in the tales 
 of An on saved by the dolphin, and of Ibycus avenged by the 
 cranes. 
 
 But a nobler subject than the praises of despots awaited 
 the muse of Simonides—the struggles of Greece for her indo 
 
Ohai\ XXL 
 
 SIMONIDES. 
 
 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 dEschylus 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 
 Plataea. 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 he 
 bad carried off. Shortly after this event he repaired to Syracuse 
 at the invitation of Hiero. Here he spent the remaining ten 
 years of his life, 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, pseans, 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 Boeotia, 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- 
 s ceived instruction there from Myrtis and Corinna, two poet- 
 i esses who then enjoyed great celebrity in Boeotia. Corinna 
 ippears to have exorcised considerable influence upon the youth- 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY OF *jREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXI 
 
 ful 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, “ Wt 
 ought to sow with the hand, and not with the whole sack. 5 ’ 
 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 us 
 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, dithjTambs, 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 deos (hymns and pecans) regesve (encomia) camt, deomtr 
 Sanguinem: 
 
 Sive quos Elea domum reducit 
 Palma ccelestes (the Epinicia ). 
 
 Elebili sponsae juvenemve raptuir 
 Plorat” (the Dirges ).—On. i7. 2. 
 
Ohap. XXI 
 
 PINDAR. 
 
 238 
 
 The style of Pindar is marked by daring Eights 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 lines 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 ol 
 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 Poly crates 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 ol 
 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; and 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 rEolic. 
 
 Bacchylides was a native of Iulis in the island of Ceos, and 
 the nephew and fellow-townsman of Simonides. 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 drizzled and fascinated with 
 
HISTORY" OF GREECE. 
 
 Chai>. XXI 
 
 9 34 
 
 the glories of the heroic ages, and to have taken but little in¬ 
 terest in the events which were 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. 
 
 § 6. 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- 
 catceus 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, Hecatseus 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 
 tiating 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 c.c. 464. 
 
 The only other prose writer previous to Herodotus, whom it 
 is necessary to ment’on, is Holanicus of Mytilend. Bellanicus 
 
Ghat. X.XL 
 
 EARLY PROSE WRITERS 
 
 235 
 
 vas alive at the commer cement of the Peloponnesian 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 ol 
 considerable size. Many others were ascribed to him which in 
 all probability were spurious. Like; his predecessors, a large 
 portiou 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 w T ere 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 ave 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. XXI 
 
 as far south as Elephantine ; and that in Asia he had visited the 
 cities of Babylon, Ecbatana, 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 Pella 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 ttiis 
 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 ol 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 thf 
 
HERODOTUS 
 
 237 
 
 CJiiai*. XXI. 
 
 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 Croesus 
 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 Massagetse, 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 psephtsma , 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’s name, to charge him with 
 partiality, an l 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- 
 
2 38 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 0'iiap. XX1 
 
 posed history. On the other hand a certain want of skill il 
 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 simplicity, 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 o( 
 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 oolouring which mark the founder of a new literary epoch. 
 
 Itust of ilei'odnius 
 
BOOK IY. 
 
 THE ATHENIAN SUPREMACY AND THE 
 PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 
 
 B.C. 477—404. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 FROM THE EXPULSION OF THE PERSIANS TO THE DEATH OF 
 
 THEMISTOCLES. 
 
 5 ?. 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 Cimon. § 6. 
 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 aL' 
 tear of the Persian yoke ; but the Persians still held some posts 
 
24C 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXII 
 
 from which it concerned both the interests and the honour oi 
 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 Strymon, Doriscus, and several other 
 places in Thrace. A fleet was therefore fitted out (b. c. 478) the 
 year after the battle of Plateea, 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 l> latsea, 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 wai I am minded, if 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 replj 
 
B.C. 478 
 
 MARITIME SUPREMACY OF ATHENS. 
 
 1-41 
 
 in which he urged Pausanias to pursue his project night and day 
 and promised to supply him with all the money and troops that 
 might be needful 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 battle 
 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 Dorcis 
 arrived with a few ships, he found himself in no condition to assert 
 his 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- 
 uot be doubted that this confederacy formed her first step toward* 
 Gr. r 
 
242 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXII. 
 
 it. Aristides took the lead in this matter, for which his pro¬ 
 verbial justice and probity, and his conciliatory manners, emi¬ 
 nently qualified him. The league obtained the name of “ th*j 
 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/. sterling); 
 that certain officers called Hellenotamise were appointed by the 
 Athenians to collect and administer the contributions; that 
 Delos was the treasury ; and that the tax was called plioros; 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 have 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 be 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 Theseum, 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 firs 4 
 
B.C. 47Y. 
 
 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 o*f 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¬ 
 macy. 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 Plataea, whilst the glory of 
 Marathon, and Salamis, and Mycal6 was almost entirely her own. 
 Above all, the sufferings which she had voluntarily undergone 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 ol 
 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 Trtezen, Angina, and 
 Salamis. When this had been accomplished, they began tc 
 
 r 2 
 
244 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 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 
 zEginetans, to whom it was more particularly foimidable, beheld 
 her rising fortifications with dismay. In order to prevent the 
 completion of these fortifications, they endeavoured to inspire 
 the Lacedemonians with their own fears, and urged them to 
 arrest the work. But, though Sparta shared the jealousy of the 
 AEginetans 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 yet, 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 finger 
 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 iEginetans respecting the progress of the 
 walls. 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 
 the 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 
 
8.C. 478. 
 
 FORTIFLCATION 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 ol 
 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 Pirmus and Muny- 
 ehia. The works had been interrupted and perhaps ruined by 
 the Persians ; but he now resumed his scheme on a still more 
 magnificent scale. Pirmus 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 undisputed 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 ol 
 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 population 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 Athens and the Pirajus, st*. 
 
 Chap. XXXIV. 
 
246 
 
 HISTORY OF OREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXU. 
 
 uot only the archonship, but consequently the Council of Areo 
 pagus, was thrown open to them ; and, strange to say, this reform 
 was proposed by Aristides himself. 
 
 Nevertheless, party spirit still ran high at Athens. C'imoo 
 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 and the more liberal spirit which he exhibited, but 
 also to his great services in establishing the Confederacy o» 
 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, iu 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 Creek 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 he 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 Themis¬ 
 tocles himself they were personally hostile, on account of the 
 deception which he had lately practised upon them. Hence when 
 Pausanias became suspected of Medism , they urged the political 
 opponents of Themistocles to accuse him of being implicated 
 m 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 bt 
 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. 0. 
 171). He retired to Argos, and had been residing in that city for a 
 space of about five years when indubitable proofs were discovered 
 
B.C. 471. 
 
 TREASON AND FALL OF PAUSANIAS. 
 
 247 
 
 ;.>f his being implicated in the treasonable correspondence oi 
 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 ol 
 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 serving 
 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 Oolona-, 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 a + 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 nearei 
 acme. 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 had 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. 
 
 Chap. XXII 
 
 ears. For this purpose they directed him to plant himself as a 
 suppliant in the grove of Poseidon, near Cape Tsenarus, 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 hi3 slave, hastened to the spot to question him 
 about it. The conversation which ensued between them, and 
 which was overheard by the Ephors, rendered it impossible for 
 them any longer to doubt the guilt of Pausanias. Tliej now 
 determined to arrest him on his return to Sparta. They met 
 him in the street near the temple of Athena Chalcicecus (of the 
 Brazen House) ; when Pausanias, either alarmed by his guilty 
 conscience, or put on his guard by a secret signal from one ot 
 the Ephors, turned and fled to the temple, where lie 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 Plata^a. After his 
 death proofs were discovered among his correspondence that 
 Themistocles was implicated in his guilt. The Lacedaemonians 
 now again called upon the 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 Corcyra. 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 
 c-o 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- 
 naaie gulf, whire, under an assumed name, he took a passage in 
 a merchant vessel bound for the coasts of Asia Minor. The stop 
 was driven by stress of weather to the island of Naxos, wliicf 
 
B.C. 449. 
 
 DEATH OF THEIM 1STOCLES. 
 
 249 
 
 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 living there some time, was 
 carried off by disease at the age of sixty-five, without having 
 realized, or apparently attempted, any of those plans with which 
 lie 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 land 
 
250 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 In the time of the Roman empire his tomb was shown upon tht 
 promontory at the right hand of the entrance of the great har¬ 
 bour of Piraeus. This was doubtless the invention of a later 
 age ; but the imagination could not have chosen a titter 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 mice 
 all the greatness and all the meanness of human nature. Acute¬ 
 ness 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 ejtonijmus 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 unlawful means ; and not 
 even calumny has ventured to assail his well earned title of the 
 Just. 
 
Pericles and Aspas.ii 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 HISE AND GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE.—FROM THE BATTU. 
 
 OF EURYMEDON TO THE THIRTY YEARS’ TRUCE WITH SPARTA. 
 
 § l. Cimon leader of the aristocratical party at Athens. §2. Revolt ol 
 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 iEgina. 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 fEnophyta, and conquest of Boeotia. Conquest 
 of .Egina. § 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 Euboea,. Thirty 
 years’ truce with Sparta. 
 
 § 1. On the death of Aristides, Cimon became the undisputed 
 loader of tho aristocratical or conservative party at Athens. Cimon 
 
252 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIII 
 
 was generous aftab.e, magnificent; and, notwithstanding Ins 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 demos 
 (the Laciadee) 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. Naxos, one of the 
 confederate islands, and the largest of the Cyclades, revolted in 
 b.c. 466, 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- 
 luced 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 
 Caria and Lycia. Meanwhile the Persians had assembled a large 
 fleet and army at the mouth of the river Eurymedon in Pam- 
 phylia. Their fleet already consisted of 200 vessels, chiefly Phce- 
 nician ; and as a reinforcement of 80 more was expected, Cimon 
 resolved to lose no time in making 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 whioh 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 was 
 
B.C. 466 
 
 BATTLES AT THE EURYMEDON. 
 
 258 
 
 commemorated on the tripod dedicated to Apollo &s 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 principally occupied by Edonian Thracians, and was distin¬ 
 guished not only by the fertility of its soil, but also by its gold 
 mines on Mount Pangaeus. 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 Scaptd 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 b.c. 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. 
 This 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 Hodoi, 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- 
 damionians 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. 
 Ln the year b.c. 464, their capital was visited by an earthquake 
 which laid it in ruins and killed 20,000 of 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 revolf 
 
254 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XX1U. 
 
 >f 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 Taenarus, 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 Periceci, 
 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 j eined 
 by the Messenians, fortified themselves in Mount Ithom6 in 
 Alessenia. 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 obliged 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 Leotychides, another 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 Boeotia, whose affairs had been so thoroughly shaken 
 by the Persian invasion. Thebes, convicted of Medium, 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 Boeotia 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 Elis. And now all these causes of weakness were aggra¬ 
 vated by the earthquake, and consequent revolt of the lleiutb. 
 
 § 7. It was with great difficulty that Cimon persuaded hi? 
 countrymen to assist tin.' Lacedaemonians in quelling this revolt 
 
tf.C. 464. 
 
 REVOLT OF THE MESSEN IANS. 
 
 255 
 
 Mis power was now somewhat waning before the rising influence 
 of Pericles. Notwithstanding what he had accomplished at 
 Tliasos, it is even said that more had been expected by the Athe¬ 
 nians, and that Pericles actually accused him, though witlioiu 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 Xanthippus, 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 of Sicyon and the Alcmoeonidm, 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 c^duct which, when he did come 
 forward, enhanced the effect of his dignified bearing and impres¬ 
 sive eloquence. His military 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, 
 Fr >tagoras, Zeno, and other eminent philosophers. To oratory 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XX1I1. 
 
 25b 
 
 in particular he had devoted much attention, 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 ; 
 hut 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 dicasteries or jury-courts, and the almost 
 entire abrogation of the judicial power of the Senate of Five 
 Hundred. As the seal and symbol of these momentous innova¬ 
 tions, Ephialtes, the friend of Pericles, caused the tablets con¬ 
 taining the laws 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 , HSschylus 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 institution, 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 Boeotian, 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 Laconizers. 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 Mycenae, Tiryns, and some other 
 neighbouring towns. With Argos thus strengthened Athens 
 now formed a defensive alliance against Sparta, which the Thes¬ 
 salians were also induced to join. Soon afterwards Athens still 
 further 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 
 Crisssean gulf, but also by giving them the key to the passes oi 
 Mount Geraneia, 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 hill, 
 Gr. s 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Cuai*. XXUL 
 
 25H 
 
 at the distance of nearly a mile from its port, Nisma. To prevent 
 the communication between the port and city from being cut of£ 
 the Athenians caused them to be connected together by two 
 parallel lines of wall, and placed a permanent garrison of theii 
 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 Inaras (s.c. 460) gave them 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 to 200 triremes, 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 Megabyzus, who compelled the Athenians 
 to raise the siege and to retire to an island in the Nile, called 
 Prosopitis, as the Persians had prevented their further retreat 
 by obstructing the lower paid 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 Gyrene, 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 ail but annihilated, and the Persians regained pos¬ 
 session of the greater part of Egypt (n.c. 455). 
 
 § 13. It may well excite our astonishment that while Athens 
 was employing so large an armament against the Persians, she 
 was still able to maintain and extend her power in Greece by 
 force of arms. Corinth, Epidaurus, and yEgina, were watching 
 her progress with jealousy and awe. At the time of the Mega- 
 dan id'ianee no actual blow had yet been struck ; but that 
 
LOSS vTALLS OF ATHENS 
 
 05b 
 
 B.C 45 
 
 import ant accession to the Atheman poorer was speedily folio wee 
 
 by 
 
 tin: 
 
 rU war. 
 
 ■—■—-- ——- . 
 
 'll n 'TTT! v’TTOTI 
 
 00 _ 
 
 with the Co¬ 
 
 mo r _rtr1. 
 
 Zrliiurians. ana ether Peloponnesians* fitted or.: i 
 
 in which 
 
 A buttle ensued near the island of Jf.gina 
 :_e Athenians gained a decisive victory, and entirely ruined the 
 n . ' h row^r :: the Hdgtmtans. The Athenians captured seventy 
 :: their shoes, nth landing a large force noon the island. laid si go 
 to the capital. 
 
 The gr. arth o: the Atheni.ni power was greatly promoted by 
 the continuance of the revolt of the Helots, which was not put 
 down till the year s.c. 4oo. This circumstance prevented the 
 
 Lice cLem: mans f_a eyre sing id: Athenians as they wot: hi 
 
 otherwise t rh abb* have done. Ah the assistance .afforded bv 
 
 a « * 
 
 the ahies to the JEginet&ns consisted of a miserable detachment 
 ' me forint - to d rt ? A 
 
 ■ Hereupon } 
 
 marched from Athens a: the head of the beys md old mem and 
 the enemy near Tue 
 
 ■ ■ . ' . - g their advers 
 
 masters of the held. On their rcro.ro. home, however, the taunt* 
 moo n o a.It so ui ar 
 
 • w « 
 
 i force incited them to try their fortune once more. The Athc- 
 • mohed out to the - mi this . 
 
 : ■ I is - • ls to the Corir.t 
 
 - : by mis >u 
 
 -nil used y too. whe:c ti ey were cut try to a man iy the At; enians 
 s huts e (B.C. 4 5 8 1 57 that h ; r 
 
 rcug advice F - cons 
 
 mug v $ which cted Firtvus and Phcde rum ■ 
 Athens. They were doubtless suggested by the approhensior. 
 
 ms ; ? ogaged v lomestte 
 
 sooner or I • : art in the oc - don 
 
 ; id ag t s A metis b s g let: be g 
 
 if Ti; stodes for rendering 
 
 % 4 • 
 
 the maritime cower of Athens vhehv u: asm Able . but even the 
 
 A « 
 
 re ag eas ha: sta s.m si ■ i r . sued 
 
 the work chimerical arc. extravagant. The wall from Phalerum 
 ... „ : • < • •. : is g. omd tl r 6 Dm h 1 : os 
 
 \ miles erg:a p’.an of these alls 
 
 y ebubh time. f vro. those already erected at Megara, which 
 
 m.d perhaps 1 E> be of good SC.- 
 
 o : ■ ; \/hvh \;h taken place 'Imre " :e measure wns vio- 
 
 hr'iy opposevi b- the a: stocratio party, but without success. 
 
 $ lo The progress of Athens had now awakened the serious 
 ; ea' ttsy of >iv,r:a. era though she was stih engaged to the siege 
 
260 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIII 
 
 of Ithornb, she resolved on taking some steps against the Athe¬ 
 nians. Under pretence of assisting the Dorians, whose territory 
 had been invaded by the Phocians, 1500 Spartan hopiites, sup 
 ported by 10,000 allies, were despatched 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 iEgina, together with a thousand Argeians, and some 
 Thessalonian horse, they marched out to oppose the Lacedae¬ 
 monians at Tanagra. Here a bloody battle ensued (b.c. 457), 
 in which the Lacedaemonians gamed 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 
 place himself in the ranks of the hopiites. His request being 
 
B.C.456. 
 
 BATTLE OF (ENOPHYTA 
 
 261 
 
 refused, he left liis armour with some friends, conjuring them to 
 cvipe 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 himself. 
 
 § 17. The healing of domestic faction gave a new impulse to 
 public spirit at Athens. At the beginning of the year b.c. 456, 
 and only about two months after their defeat at Tanagra, the 
 Athenians again marched into Bceotia. The Boeotians went out 
 to meet them with a numerous army ; but in the battle of (Eno- 
 phyta, which 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 CEnopliyta (b.c. 455), the Athenians finished the build¬ 
 ing of the long walls and completed the reduction of hEgina, 
 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 Toimides, sailed round 
 Peloponnesus, and insulted the Lacedaemonians by burning then 
 ports of Methone and Gythium. Naupactus, a town of the Qzo- 
 lian Locrians near the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth, was cap¬ 
 tured ; and in the latter place Toimides established the Helots 
 and Messenians, who in the course of this year had been subdued 
 
262 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 CiiAi xmi 
 
 by the Lacedaemonians, and compelled to evacuate Ithomi, 
 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 Lacedsemonians made no 
 attempts to oppose the progress of the Athenians, and quietly 
 beheld the occupation of Bceotia and Phocis. Even after the 
 surrender of Ithome they still remained inactive ; and three 
 years after that event (b.c. 452), concluded 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 him 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 triremes belonging to the confede¬ 
 racy ; whence he despatched 60 vessels to Egypt, to assist the 
 rebel prince Amyrtseus, 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 Samos, had gradually become, instead of the .active allies of 
 
B.C. 447. 
 
 DECLINE OF THE ATHENIAN POWEE. 
 
 26 b 
 
 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 wo 
 have seen, had likewise been extended in continental Greece, 
 where they embraced Megara, Bceotia, Phocis, Locris ; together 
 with Troezen 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 year 448 b.c., the 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 Bceotia 
 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 established in the Boeotian towns after 
 the battle of (Enophyta. 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, Chaoronea, and a few more unimportant towns of Bceotia. 
 With an overweening contempt of their enemies, a small band of 
 1000 Athenian 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 Ckoeronea and garrisoning it with an 
 Athenian force ; but whilst his small array 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 
 hoplites, whilst a still larger number were taken prisoners. This 
 
2b 4 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIil. 
 
 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¬ 
 blishment of the aristocracies which she had formerly overthrown. 
 Tims all Bceotia, with the exception of Platcea, once more stood 
 opposed, and indeed doubly hostile, to Athens. 
 
 But the Athenian reverses did not end here. The ex¬ 
 pulsion of the partizans of Athens from the government of 
 Phocis and Locris, and the revolt of Euboea 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 
 Lacedoemonians 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 w T as 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 reconquest of Eu¬ 
 boea, and which he resumed as soon as the Spartans had departed 
 from Attica. With an overwhelming force of 50 triremes and 
 5000 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 cleruclis or colonists. But 
 this 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 of 
 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 b.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 
 'ncluded among the Peloponnesian allies of Sparta. 
 
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. Cleruchhe. 
 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 
 
2GG 
 
 HISTORY OF GREEOK. 
 
 Chap. XXIV 
 
 temper of Cimon, 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 ol 
 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 Few . 
 
 § 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 
 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.O. 445. 
 
 PEBiCLES ADOllNS ATHENS. 
 
 267 
 
 of the strongest, and, if valid in this case, might at any time be 
 applied to justify the grossest abuses of power. The best that 
 wo 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 Thucydides, 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 tho 
 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 beau 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 v T el 
 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 Odeum, was erected at the south-eastern foot of the 
 Acropolis. Both these structures appear to have been finished 
 
 * See below, Chap. XXXIV., XXX V. 
 
268 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIV. 
 
 by 437 B. c. Somewhat later were erected the Propylsea, or 
 magnificent entrance to the Acropolis, on the western side. Be¬ 
 sides these vast works, others were commenced which were 
 interrupted by the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war, as 
 the reconstruction of the Erectheum, or ancient temple of 
 Athena Polias ; the building of a great temple of Demeter, at 
 Eleusis, for the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries ; another 
 of Athena at Sunium, and one of Nemesis at Rliamnus. Be¬ 
 sides these ornamental works, Pericles undertook others of a 
 more useful kind. In order to render the communication be¬ 
 tween Athens and Piraeus still more secure, lie 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 of 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, Clcruchies * and regular colonies. The former mode was 
 (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. c. 506, 
 when four thousand Athenians entered upon the domains of the 
 Chalcidian knights. But it was under Pericles that this system 
 
 * K X'/i^ovx,iki. 
 
B.C. 443. 
 
 ATHENIAN COLONIES. 
 
 269 
 
 was most extensively adopted. During liis 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 
 Scy ros, as well as a large tract in the north of Euboea, were also 
 completely occupied by Athenian proprietors. 
 
 The most important colonies settled by Pericles were those of 
 Thurii and Amphipolis. 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 
 applied 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 Amphipolis was founded some 
 years later (b. c. 437), under the conduct of Agnon. But here 
 also the proportion of Athenian settlers was small. Amphipolis 
 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 Amphipolis became 
 an important Athenian dependency with reference to Thrace and 
 Macedonia. 
 
 § 5. Such were the schemes of Tericles for promoting the em¬ 
 pire of Athens. That empire, since the conclusion of the Thirty 
 Years’ 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. In the time of Aristides and Cimon, 
 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 the ostensible purposes of the eon- 
 
 
270 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIV. 
 
 federacy was a fleet of sixty triremes, which cruised in the 
 /Egcean, the tribute had nevertheless increased to the annual 
 sum of GOO 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 injustice 
 to Pericles be admitted, a large sum had been laid by, amounting, 
 when the Peloponnesian war broke out, to 6000 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 lie 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- 
 tamioe 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. 
 
 DEDUCTION 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 excu-se 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 Prien6, 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 
 Pissuthnes, 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 
 s trategi or generals in command of the expedition, and among his 
 
372 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIV 
 
 colleagues was Sophocles, 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 of 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 influence 
 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 Coroyra, which will be Jetailed in 
 the following chapter. 
 
 Bust of the poet Sophocles. 
 
The Propylaja of the Acropolis. 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 CAUSES OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 
 
 I t« Quarrel between Corinth and Corcyra. § 2. Corcyrtean embassy to 
 Athens. Decision of the Athenians. § 3. They send a fleet to Corcyra. 
 Naval engagements. Defeat of the Corinthians. § 4. Revolt of Potidtea. 
 § 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 I ericles, Aspasia, and Anaxagoras. Imprisonment and death of 
 Phidias. § 9. Further requisitions of the Lacedaemonians. Rejected by 
 the Athenians. § 10. The Thebans surprise Plataea. § 11. The Athe¬ 
 nians prepaie for war. Portents. § 12. Forces of the Lacedaemonians 
 and Athenians. § 13. dhe Peloponnesian army assembles at the isthmus 
 of Corinth. 
 
 5 On coast of Illyria, near the site of the modern Du- 
 razzo, the Corcyrseans had founded the city of Epidammis. 
 Corcyra (now Corfu) was itjelf 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 tbeii 
 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. XX Y 
 
 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 
 partly of a military force. The Corcyraeans highly resented this 
 interference, proceeded to restore the Epidamnian oligarchs, and 
 with a licet 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 th° same day Epidamnus surrendered to their 
 blockading squadron (b.c. 435). 
 
 § 2. Deeply humbled by this defeat, 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 Corcyraeans, 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 
 Corcyreean 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 bo 
 at last driven to undertake the war at a comparative disadvantage. 
 To avoid, however, an open infringement of the Thirty Years 
 Truce, a midtile cours? was adopted. It was resolved to con- 
 
B.C, 4-3S. 
 
 CORINTH AND CORGTRA. 
 
 275 
 
 dLude 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- 
 cynean 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 Corcyrreans. 
 The Corinthian fleet of 150 sail took up its station at Cape Chei- 
 merium on the coast of Epirus; where the Corinthians established 
 a naval camp, and summoned to their assistance the friendly 
 JEpirot tribes. The Corcynean fleet of 110 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 Lacedremonius, in accordance with his instructions, took no 
 part in the battle, though he afforded all the assistance he could 
 to the Coreyrfeans 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- 
 raans 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 Corqra. The Corcyraans 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 all the assistance in their 
 power. The war pfean 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 appearance of 20 Athenian vessels in the distance, which the 
 -Corinthians believed to be 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 Epirus, the}' sent 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 800 of their pri¬ 
 soners were sold as slaves ; but the remaining 250, many of whom 
 oelonged 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 Perdiccas towards the 
 Athenians. Offended with the Athenians for having received 
 into their alliance his two brothers Philip and Dei das, with whom 
 he was at open variance, Perdiccas exerted all his efforts to injure 
 Athens. He incited her tributaries among the Chalcidians and 
 Botticeans to revolt, including Potidcea, a town seated on the 
 isthmus of Pallene. Potidcea, 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 Potidcea, 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 Potidceans 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 Potidceans openly raised the 
 standard of revolt, in the summer apparently of b.c. 432. In¬ 
 stead of immediately blockading Potidsea the Athenian fleet 
 wasted six weeks in the siege of Thcrma, during which interval 
 the Corinthians were enabled to throw a reinforcement of 2000 
 troops into Potidcea. 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 Potidcea seemed pressing, an accommo¬ 
 dation was patched up with Perdiccas, and the whole Athenian 
 
B.C. 432. 
 
 MEETING OF THE PELOPONNESIAN ALLIES. 27'/ 
 
 force marched overland against Potidsea. Aristeus, the Corinthian 
 general, was waiting to receive them near Olynthus, and a battle 
 ensued in which the Athenians were victorious. The Corinthians 
 ultimately succeeded in effecting their retreat to Potid/ea; and 
 the Athenians, after receiving a further reinforcement, com¬ 
 pletely blockaded the town both by sea and land. 
 
 § L Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians, 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 land 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. AEgina was another 
 though not an open, accuser. No deputy from that island actually 
 appeared at the congress ; but the iEginetans 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 it 
 ihey 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 
 
 H1ST011Y OF GItEECE. 
 
 Chap. 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, ire 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 
 t d the 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 pause 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 fimo, 
 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 Sthenelaidas, 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, Sthenelaidas, 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¬ 
 demonians, 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 congross 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. Previous^ to an open declaraticn of war, the Lacedaemo¬ 
 nians sent several requisitions to Athens, intended apparently 
 
B.C. 432. 
 
 ATTACKS UPON PERi cues 
 
 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- 
 maionidse ; 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 Kumenides, whither 
 they had lied 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 bis tonderest 
 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 him jelf 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. 
 
 Asp-asia, 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 at Athens, still the majority of the Athenians 
 were in his favour, and were not prepared to sacrifice him on 
 account of the absurd 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 required them to clear themselves from 
 having violated the sanctuary of Poseidon at Cape Taenarus by 
 dragging away and slaying the Helots who had taken refuge 
 there, as well as from their impiety in starving to death the 
 regent Pausanias in the temple of Athena Chalcicecus. 
 
 § 9. Having failed in this requisition the Lacedaemonians 
 brought forward others more pertinent to the matter in hand. 
 They demanded that the Athenians should withdraw their 
 troops from Potidaea, restore the independence of zEgina, and 
 repeal their decree against the Megarians. On the last of these 
 demands they laid particular stress, and intimated that war 
 might be avoided by a compliance with it. But this was rejected 
 as well as the others. The Lacedaemonians then sent their ulti¬ 
 matum. They declared that they wished for peace, and that it 
 would not be interrupted if the Athenians consented to recogpisr 
 the independence of the other Grecian states 
 
43) . 
 
 THE TIIEBANS SURPRISE EEATJEA. 
 
 28) 
 
 This last requisition, so different from, and so much more 
 general than the preceding demands, showed clearly enough that 
 the Lacedcemomans were resolved upon war. The character of 
 this requisition seems 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 
 pai'ties stood in suspense, hostilities were begun in the spring of 
 b.c. 431 by a treacherous attack of the Thebans upon Platcea. 
 Though Boeotians by descent, the Plataiaiis did not belong to 
 the Boeotian league ; but, as we have seen, had long been in alli¬ 
 ance with the Athenians, and enjoyed in some degree a commu¬ 
 nion of their civil rights. Hence they were regarded with hatred 
 and jealousy by the Thebans, which sentiments were also shared 
 by a small oligarchical faction in Plataia itself. The state oJ 
 affairs in Greece seemed favourable for striking a secret and 
 unexpected blow. Nauclides, the head of the oligarchical faction 
 at Plataea, entered into a correspondence with the Thebans, and 
 it was agreed to surprise the town at a time when the citizens 
 were off their guard. During a religious festival and in a rainy 
 night, a body of more than 300 Thebans presented themselves 
 before one of the gates of Plataia, and were admitted by Nau¬ 
 clides and his partisans. The latter wished to conduct the 
 Thebans at once to the houses of their chief political opponents, 
 in order that they might be secured or made away with. The 
 Thebans, however, hesitated 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 bo able to dictate 
 Jieir own terms without having recourse to the invidious act 
 
282 
 
 IIISTOKY OF GREECE 
 
 Ciiap. 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 wh$se political views coin¬ 
 cided with their own, to come and join their ranks. The first 
 feeling of the Plateans 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 were 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 the 
 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 the 
 restoration of the prisoners. Hereupon the Plateaus 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 bo im¬ 
 mediately put to death. The Thebans withdrew on this under¬ 
 standing. But no sooner were they gone than the Plateaus, 
 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 Platea 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 Plateans to take no steps without their 
 concurrence ; but he arrived too late, and the prisoners were 
 already skin. 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 AND ATHENS. 
 
 1:83 
 
 and removed thence ail 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 w T ere heard on ah 
 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 Bceotia, 
 Phocis, and Locris also supplied some excellent 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, Corcyneans, 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, 1G00 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 1,400,000/. sterling, in coined silver. 
 This reserve liad 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 Potideea. The plate and 
 votive offerings m 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 Plataea, the Lacede¬ 
 monians issued orders to their allies to send two-thirds of their 
 disposable troops at once to the isthmus of Corinth, where they 
 were to assemble by a day named, for the purpose of invading 
 Attica. At the appointed time, the Spartan king Arcliidamus, 
 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. Arcliidamus 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 
 Grades” 
 
CHAPTER XXYI. 
 
 PBLOPf CINESIAN WAR. — FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE WAR TO 
 THE CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF PLAT2EA. 
 
 § 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 Potidaca. § 9. The Lacedaemonians besiege 
 Plataea. §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 CEnoe, and not having received, as he expected, any 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE.- 
 
 Chap. XXVX 
 
 •286 
 
 message from the Athenians, he proceeded towards Eleusis 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 Euboea, 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 Pelasgicov , 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 Acharnge, 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 state of the public mind to call an assembly of ibet 
 
6.0. 431. 
 
 INVASION OF ATTtCA. 
 
 28*7 
 
 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¬ 
 salian cavalry to make sallies for the purpose of harassing the 
 plundering parties of the enemy and of j rotecting 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 Corcyrsean 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 Sollium and the town of Astacus were taken, 
 whilst the island of Cepliallenia, 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 
 iEginetans from their island. The situation of yEgina 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 Bocotia ; 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¬ 
 cians, whose assistance promised to be of use to them in reducing 
 Potidoca and the revolted Chaleidian towns. 
 
 Such were the results of the first campaign. From the me¬ 
 thod in which the war was conducted it had hfvjome pretty 
 
HTSTOKY OF GItEFUE. 
 
 Chap. X%V\ 
 
 288 
 
 evident that it would prove of long duration ; and the Athenian* 
 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 thoreby the 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 Peloponnesians, under Archidamus, 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 Piraeus ; 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 th? 
 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 .sicknesr, as well as from administering the sacied dtes 
 
B.C. 430. 
 
 BLAGUE OF ATHENS. 
 
 *28fi 
 
 of sepulture to their remains after death. These pious offices ol 
 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 
 oven 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 pers ading them to prosecute the 
 war with vigour, they 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 sta.te of the 
 public mind to bring against him a charge of peculation. The 
 main object of this accusation was to incapacitate him for tin 
 Gr. v 
 
290 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap XXVi 
 
 office of strategus, or general. He was brought before the clicas¬ 
 te ry 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 
 he had ever possessed. 
 
 § G. 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 cl 
 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 that 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¬ 
 ticed—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 like 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 (Jimon, 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 i Doubtless, in the first place, to his extraordinary eloquence. 
 Uicero regards him as the first example of an almost perfect 
 orator, at once delighting the Athenians with his copiousuesa 
 
B.U. 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 cliarac- 
 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 be enjoyed in 
 spite of them may probably bo 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 shall 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 kept within their walls 
 i and the Lacedaemonians, after remaining forty days in their ter 
 ritory, again evacuated it as before. This year, however, tin 
 operations of the latter by sea formed a new feature in the wai 
 Their fleet of 100 triremes, under the command of Cnemus, aV- 
 d tacked and devastated the island of Zacynthus. but did not 
 
 u 2 
 
292 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chai*. 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 Nisaea, 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 six 
 triremes, under Melesauder. A revolting feature in this pre¬ 
 datory warfare was the cruelty with which the Lacedaemonians 
 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 Sitalces, in order ir 
 possible to detach him from the Athenian alliance. But this 
 was a fatal miscalculation. Not only was Sitalces firmly attached 
 to the Athenians, but his son Sadocus had been admitted as a 
 citizen of Athens ; and the Athenian residents at the court of 
 Sitalces 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¬ 
 cedaemonians. 
 
 § 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 
 suffered 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 Potidaeans 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 putting the intrepid garrison to death. Potidaea and its 
 territory was now occupied by a body of 1000 colonists from 
 Athens. 
 
 § 9. The third year of the war (b. c. 429) was now opening 
 and nothing decisive had been performed on either side. After 
 
B.C. 429 
 
 SIEGE OF PLATiEA 
 
 293 
 
 two invasions, but littls 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 m 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- 
 taians 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 wfith 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 
 Platpeans might retire whithersoever they chose, and receive an 
 allowance sufficient for their support. 
 
 The offer seemed fair and tempting, and the majority of the 
 Platceans 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 
 Plataeans, 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 Platseans 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 the Thebans against Platrea. 
 
 The sieg i that ensued is one of the most memorable in the 
 annals of Grecian warfare. Piataea was but a small city, and its 
 garrison consisted only of 400 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¬ 
 nesians. The first operation of Archidamus was to surround the 
 
294 
 
 111 ST Dili UP GliBLen. 
 
 Uhak XAVi. 
 
 town with a strong palisade formed of the fruit trees which had 
 been cut down, and thus t'o deprive the Plataeans 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 their 
 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 three 
 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 circumvallation, 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 Plataeans 
 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 Plahcan 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 the space be¬ 
 tween two towers occupied by the guard, and the first company 
 having mounted, slew, without creating alarm, the sentinels on 
 duty. Already a great part of the Plateeans 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 whithei 
 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 PLATilA. 
 
 295 
 
 of those Plabeuns 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 Laceda3monian 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 ease 
 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. 0. 427, after the blockade had lasted two years. 
 
 The whole garrison, consisting of 200 Plabeans 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 ? ” 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 Ola Lea 
 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 PlaLcans were mercilessly sacrificed foi 
 reasons of state policy. Each man, including the 25 Athenians, 
 was called up separately before the judgment seat, and the same 
 question having been put to him, and of course answered in the 
 negative, he was immediately led away to execution. The town 
 of Platoea, together with its territory, was transferred to the 
 Thebans, who, a few mouths afterwards, levelled all the private 
 houses to the ground, and with the materials erected a sort of * 
 vast barrack aroun 1 the Herreum, or temple of Iiera, both for the 
 accommodation of visitors, and to serve as an abode for these to 
 whom they let out the land Thus 'vas I’laLea blotted out froir 
 the map of Greece 
 
Statue of Theseus, from the Pediment of the Parthenon. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 PELOPONNESIAN WAIt CONTINUED—FROM THE SIEGE OF TLAT2EA 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 Piraeus. § 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 Plataea, 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 were 
 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 Plata3a, 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 Chalcidici? 
 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 Chalcidice, 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- 
 tiaeans. 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 to 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 Lacedaemonians had planned an expedition 
 against Axarnania, 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¬ 
 nian 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 thest 
 overpowering numbers, and though this victory was not so 
 decisive as the previous oae, the Peloponnesians relinquished 
 
29 B 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chai\ XXVII 
 
 ill further operations and sailed back to Corinth. TTie 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 Nisaea, 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 courage 
 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. 128) was marked by the 
 usual invasion of Attica on the pari of the Peloponnesians. Jt 
 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 Cleippides, who 
 was on the point of sailing to the Peloponnesus with a fleet of 
 40 triremes, was ordered to proceed directly to Mytilene. 
 
 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 iiri- 
 mediate assistance. The embassy which the Mytileneans had 
 sent to Athens with the ostensible purpose of negotiating, 
 having, as might he expected, failed, Cleippides, who had been 
 reinforced by several vessels from the allied islands, as well ar 
 by \0‘)0 Athei : u hoplites under Baches, commenced hostilities. 
 
B.O. 4*28. 
 
 REVOLT OP MYT1LENE. 
 
 299 
 
 and 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 ISaronic 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 supp 1 )' the deficiencies thus created. A higher 
 class both of c tizens 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 llippeis, 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 Lacedaemonians 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 
 ‘he 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, coidd not be got ready till the 
 spring of the following year (b.c. 427). Meanwhile Salaethus, a 
 Lacedaemonian 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 Pe¬ 
 loponnesian fleet, consisting of 42 triremes under Alcidas, 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 Salsethus 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 result from 
 what Salsethus 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 ky 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 Paches 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 Peloponnesian fleet appeared off 
 tne 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 Peloponnesus, without attempt¬ 
 ing any thing further. 
 
D.C. 427. 
 
 CLEON. 
 
 30 i 
 
 $ h. 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 Eucrates, 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 
 'icence and exaggeration, but also for party feeling and persona 1 
 
302 
 
 HTSTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXVU 
 
 pique. Aristophanes was on the aristocratic side in politics, and 
 was moreover engaged in a private quarrel with Cleon, caused 
 by the latter having complained to the senate of his comedy of 
 the Babylonians. Thucydides, indeed, in his account of Cleon, 
 goes very fill' to confirm the description of Aristophanes. But 
 here too we must be somewhat on 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 an 
 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 may 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 are 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 and 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 Lacedtemonians as 
 exercising those laws with the most revolting severity in the 
 case of the garrison of Platsea ;—an event, however, which took 
 place a little after the time of which we are now speaking. The 
 conduct of the Lacedemonians on that occasion admits of no 
 excuse. But this decree of the Athenians was infinitely worse, 
 not only on account 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. One 
 
B.C. 427. DECREE AGAINST THE MYTILENEANS 
 
 night’s reflection convinced the better part of the Athenians oi 
 the enormity which they had sanctioned. Ordinary experience 
 shows tiiat bodies of men will perpetrate acts which the indivi¬ 
 duals composing them would shrink from with horror: and 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 lie 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 Mytilend, 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 slowness 
 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 ol more than a thou¬ 
 sand. The fortifications of Mytilend were razed, and her fleet 
 delivered up to the Athenians. The whole island, with the ex- 
 
304 
 
 RiSTOKY OF OREECE. 
 
 Ciiai*. XX VU 
 
 ception of Methymna, which had remained faithful, was divided 
 into 3000 lots, 300 of which were sot apart for the gous, and the 
 remainder assigned to Athenian cleruchs. 
 
 The fate of Paches, the Athenian commander at Mytilene, 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 Plataeans and Mytileneans affords a fearful 
 illustration 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 carried 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, 
 they 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 Nicostratus, 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 53 gal¬ 
 leys under the command of Alcidas. Nicostratus succeeded, try 
 skilful manoeuvres, in keeping the enemy at bay with his smaLi 
 deet. but was obliged at last to retreat, which he did m good 
 
6.0. 427. 
 
 DEVOLUTIONS AT COllCYRA. 
 
 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 Corcyraean 
 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 Iston6, 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 aids 
 1 to the destruction of his nearest, and therefore unsuspecting 
 ! friends and relatives. 
 
 * 
 
 Gr * 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 PELOFONNKSIAN WAR CONTINUED.—FROM THE SEDITION AT CORCYfiA 
 
 TO THE PEACE OF N1CIAS. 
 
 § i. Sixth year of the war. Return of the plague. Purification of Delos. 
 § 2. Seventh year. Fortification of Pylus. § 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. Capture of Cythera. 
 § 12. Invasion of the Megarid and Bccotia by the Athenians. Capture of 
 Nisaea, 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 ai 
 these portents, abstained from their intended invasion of Attica. 
 The military operations of the Athenians were unimportant. 
 
B.C. 425. 
 
 THE ATHENIANS SEIZE PYLUS. 
 
 307 
 
 The plague, which had reappeared at Athens towards the dost 
 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. All the bodies interred 
 there were exhumed and reburied in the neighbouring island of 
 Ilhenea ; 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 ; aud 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 Ilelot 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 accom iish- 
 rnent. 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, aud 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- 
 uian privateers, he appears altogether to have possessed a force 
 if about 1000 men. 
 
308 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXV111 
 
 § 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 ships. 
 
 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 lioplites. 
 
 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, 
 
 START A SUES FOR PEACE, 
 
 309 
 
 sian ships were captured; the rest were saved only by running 
 them ashore, where they were protected by the Lacediemonian 
 army. 
 
 The Athenians, thus masters of the sea, were enabled to 
 olockade 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 theii 
 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; 
 vhilst the Laeedaimonians were to be allowed to supply the 
 
310 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Ciiap. XXV111 
 
 besieged with provisions enough for their subsistence during th c . 
 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 
 'nsist 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, Nisaea, Pegoe, 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 Lacediemonians 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 
 stormy 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 he 
 collected reinforcements from Zacynthus and Naupactus, and 
 also sent a message to Athens to explain the unfavourable 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 theu one of those officers, a man of quiet 
 
a.a 425. 
 
 CLEON ELECTED GENERAL. 
 
 311 
 
 disposition and moderate abilities, but—a peculiar destine! ion m 
 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, lie was saluted 
 with cries of “ Why don’t you go, then ? ’’ 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 Lacedemonians upon 
 it, or bring them prisoners to Athens. 
 
 § S. 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 already resolved on 
 attacking the island. Cleon procured that general to bo named 
 his second in command, and thus stepped in, with a nominal 
 authority, to intercept the honours which were in reality duo to 
 another. On the other hand, Nicias is not free from blame on 
 this occasion. Pie 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 
 Lacedemonians 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 S00 Athe¬ 
 nian hoplites, although the Lacedemonian force consisted o! 
 only about 420 men. Their commander, Epitadas, was posted 
 
312 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXV111 
 
 with the main body in the centre of the island. 4n outpost o i 
 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, o.bout 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¬ 
 trymen 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. Tii 3 
 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 
 now 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 PYUTS. 
 
 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 Naupactus, to create a 
 stronghold whence Laconia might be overrun and ravaged at 
 pleasure. The Lacedoemonians 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 Corcyrseans to all the 
 fury of civil discord, assented to these conditions, and caused 
 the prisoners to be secured in the small adjoining island of 
 Ptychia. But he took not the slightest pains to carry out the 
 agreement; nay, he even connived at the artifices of the Cor¬ 
 ey rcean democracy to entrap 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—Eurymedon, with his 
 Athenians—looked on in cold blood, and saw these atrocities 
 
 * Niebuhr, * Lectures on Ancient History/ vol. ii. n *9. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXV111 
 
 3M 
 
 perpetrated without making the slightest attempt to prevent 
 tbem. 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, till, 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 Dclium and the loss of their empire 
 in Thrace more than counterbalanced all the advantages they 
 had previously gained. At first, however, success still attended 
 their arms. Nicias reduced the important island of G'ythera, 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 Lacedai- 
 rnonians had allowed the /Eginetans to settle after their expul¬ 
 sion from their own island. Thyrea was destroyed, and tne sur¬ 
 viving iEginetans carried to Athens and put to death. Among 
 the horrors which the great historian of the Peloponnesian war 
 has noted as characterizing the times, the murder of 2000 Helots 
 by the Lacedaemonians 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 
 wmon they had held before the Thirty Years’ truce. For this 
 purpose they planned two important expeditions, one agamrt 
 
fl.C. 424. 
 
 BATTLE OF DELIUM 
 
 3 If 
 
 Megara and the other against Boeotia. In the former they were 
 partially successful. They seized Nisaea, 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 Bceotia was attended with the most 
 disastrous results. Some Boeotian exiles, and other malcontent 
 citizens, had formed a plan to betray Siphae, on the gulf of Co¬ 
 rinth, and Chreronea, on the borders of Phocis, into the hands of 
 the Athenians, who were on the same day to invade Bceotia 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 Siphte 
 and Chreronea, 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 Atnemans 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 dangei 
 >f suffering this insult to their territory to pass unpunished ami 
 
316 
 
 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 angei 
 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 tlie 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 line of eight deep, having the light 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 
 serried 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 Delium, 
 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 be 
 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 the 
 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 his bravery, and was one of those who, instead of throw 
 
kc. * r u. 
 
 BKASIDAS 1JS THRACE. 
 
 317 
 
 mg down their arms, kept 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 ol 
 Athens in that quarter ; whose defection was likewise promoted 
 by the news of the Athenian reverses. Acanthus and StagTrus 
 hastened to open their gates to him; and early in the ensuing 
 winter, by means of forced marches, he suddenly and unex 
 
 SAe ot Amphipolis 6. Lake Cercimti* 
 
 Srtt? of Kion. 7 Mount erdylioii 
 
 lodge ouanectiug Amplupoite with 8 Mount Pangmus. 
 
 llount Pansrrus. 
 
3i8 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXV'IIl. 
 
 pecteclly appeared before the important Athenian colony ol 
 Amphipolis on the Strymon. In that town the Athenian party 
 was the stronger, and sent a message for assistance to Thucy¬ 
 dides, the historian, who, in conjunction with Encles, was then 
 general in those parts. Thucydides hastened with seven ships 
 from Thasos, and succeeded in securing Eion at the month 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 Chalcidic6, 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 Dehum, 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 solicitous about their prisoners 
 still in custody at Athens. Early in b.c. 423, the ninth year ol 
 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 Scion6 had revolted to Brasidas This 
 revolt appears to have taken place two days after the conclusion 
 of the truce ; and as one of the conditions 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 Scione, with orders 
 that every man in the place should be put to death. 
 
 lhe 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 Torone 
 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 Mende, which had also 
 revolted. The town was surrendered by a party among the 
 citizens: the Lacedaemonian garrison contrived to escape to 
 Soion6, which town the Athenians proceeded to invest; and 
 then Nicias had completely blockaded it, h * returned in Athens. 
 
6.C. 422. 
 
 DEATH OF BJRASlDAE AND CLEON. 
 
 319 
 
 $ 15. T hings 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 
 iscione, 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 anti Galepsus, but 
 failed in an attempt upon Staglrus. 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 an army of 2000 hoplites, 300 Greek 
 cavalry, and a large body of light armed Thracians. He encamped 
 on the heights of Cerdylium on the western bank of the river, 
 whence he could survey all the movements of the enemy ; but, 
 on the approach of 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 Ids 
 skill was equal to his valour. He had no conception that he 
 could 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, lie re¬ 
 ceived a mortal wound and was carried 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 into 
 Amphipolis, and lived long enough to receive the tidings of his 
 
62 0 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXVIII 
 
 victory. Me was interred within the walls with great military 
 pomp in the centre of what thenceforth became the chief agora ; 
 ne was pi oclaimed oecist, or founder of 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 Platsea 
 on the plea that it had been voluntarily surrendered, and on the 
 same grounds Athens was allowed to hold Nissea, Anactorium, 
 and Sollium. 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 
 subjects. 
 
 U'in of Amphipolis. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 PELOPONNESIAN WAR CONTINUED. FROM THE PEACE OF NICIAS TC 
 THE EXPEDITION OF THE ATHENIANS TO SICILY. 
 
 § I. 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. § II. Embassy of the Egestaxins. 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 Sparta 
 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 Oj 
 'S parta and Athens. The movement was begun by the (Vmn 
 Oh, v 
 
3.22 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Cfiap. XXIX. 
 
 fhians, who felt themselves aggrieved because the Lacedemonians 
 had allowed Athens to retain Sollium and Anactorium. The 
 league was soon joined by the Eleans, the Mantiueans, and the 
 Ohalcidians. 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 the command of 
 Amphipolis ; 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 
 reduce Scione, when the bloody decree of Cleon was carried 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 Alcmoeonidse, 
 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 delighted 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 cn 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- 
 
BC. 421. 
 
 GHAltACTER OF ALClBIADES. 
 
 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 How 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 V s, must have been a serious drawback to his 
 oratory. 
 
 § 4. Such was the man who now opposed the application 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 Pisistratidae. 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 
 session of Pylus. Their reception was so favourable, that Alci 
 
324 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Oxiap. XXIX 
 
 biades, alarmed at the prospect of their success, lesorted to a 
 trick iu order to defeat it. He called upon the Lacedcemonian 
 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, w r as 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 b. c. Thus 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, peace 
 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 forms to invite their attendance. Curiosity was ex- 
 
H.C. 418. 
 
 WAR IN PELOPONNESUS. 
 
 32£ 
 
 cited throughout Greece to see what figure Athens would make 
 at this great Pan-IIellenic 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 his 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. Alcibiades 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 ol 
 Peloponnesus, without, however, openly violating the peace. Foi 
 the first time an Athenian general was beheld traversing the 
 peninsula, and busying himself with the domestic affairs o. 
 several of its states. He persuaded the citizens of Patrce 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 Lacedae¬ 
 monians sent 300 men by sea to the assistance of that city ; but 
 nothing decisive took place. 
 
 § 7. The Lacedaemonians 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 1000 hoplites and 400 cavalry. 
 They were accompanied by Alcibiades, who seems, however, tc 
 have come in a civil capacity, lie now persuaded the Argives 
 
326 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIX 
 
 to march with these troops and other allies against the town ol 
 Orchomenos in Arcadia. Having reduced Oicliomenos, they 
 proceeded against Tegea, hoping to become masters of it through 
 the treachery of a party among the citizens. These proceedings, 
 however, roused the Lacedaemonians, who entered the territory 
 of Mantinea with a large force. Agis, who had incurred the jusi 
 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 Heracleum, or temple of Hercules, whence he laid 
 waute the surrounding country. The Argives and their allies 
 marched forth from Mantinea, and, posting themselves on very 
 rugged and advantageous ground, offered the Lacedemonians 
 battle. Anxious to retrieve his honour, Agis was hastening tc 
 attack them even at this disadvantage, and had already arrived 
 within javelin-throw, when an aged warrior exclaimed that he 
 was now about “to heal one mischief by another.” Struck by 
 this remark Agis drew off his men, and, w r ith 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 ou 
 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 
 Argive hoplites, formed of the flower and aristocracy of the city, 
 and maintained and drilled at the public expense. On this side 
 
ii.O. 416. 
 
 BATTLE OL MAiNTLNEA. 
 
 32< 
 
 die Lacedaemonians were routed ; but Agis nevertheless pushed 
 uii with his centre and right, and gained a complete victory, 
 i'he loss of the allies was computed at 1100, among whom were 
 200 Athenians and both their generals, Laches and Nicostratus 
 Of the Lacedaemonians about 300 were slain. This battle, called 
 the battle of Man tinea, which was fought in June, 418 B.c., had 
 great effect in restoring the somewhat tarnished lustre of 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 demo- 
 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 of Bryas, 
 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 Lacedsemonians being engaged in the 
 festival of the Gymnopsedia, rose against the aristocrats, ob¬ 
 tained possession of 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 Lacedse¬ 
 monians ; but in the spring of b.c. 410 Alcibiades arrived to 
 support the Argive democracy with an Athenian armament, 
 and 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 
 Lacedsemonians, 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 Aegean 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- 
 
328 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXIX. 
 
 posn!, as it appears, of Alcibiades, all tlie adult males were put to 
 death, the women and children sold into slavery, and the island 
 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 decline. 
 
 § 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 Camarina), to¬ 
 gether with the Locrians of Italy, had, under the headship of 
 Syracuse, joined the Peloponnesian confederacy, and declared 
 war against Leontini, Camarina, 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 application. 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 Eurymedon 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. Eurymodon was sen¬ 
 tenced to pay a fine, and his fellow commanders were banished. 
 
 § 11. In the year 422 b.c., another application for assistance 
 was made to the Athenians by the Leontine democracy, who 
 hid been expelled by the aristocrats ; but the Athenians, then 
 
 * See above, p. 50?, 
 
B.C. 416. 
 
 AFFAIRS OF THE SICILIAN GREEKS. 
 
 829 
 
 smarting undei 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., 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 
 Egestaeans. 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¬ 
 ful 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 establishing 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 
 
 HISTOHY 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 nof 
 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 these 
 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 nieces, 
 stood Henna), 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 rigure. When the Athenians 
 rose one morning towards the end of May, 415 b.c., it was found 
 that all these figures had been mutilated during the night, ar.d 
 reduced by unknown hands to a shapeless mass. We may partly 
 realize the feelings excited by this occurrence, by picturing w 
 ourselves some Roman Catholic town, in which all the statues of 
 the Virgin should have been suddenly defaced. But the act n- 
 spired political, as well as religious, alarm. It seemed to indicate 
 a wide spread conspiracy, for so sudden and general a mutilation 
 must have been the work of many hands. Athens, like other 
 
B.C. 415. 
 
 .S3) 
 
 MUTILATION OF THE HERMJE. 
 
 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 appointed 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 oi 
 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 Iiermae, 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 Piraeus, 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 paean, 
 whilst 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 Piraeus, 
 each crew striving as in a nautical contest to arrive first at the 
 island of TEgina. 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. 
 
i 
 
 AAKl B/' v 
 
 •) 
 
 Bust of Aicibiades 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 PELOPONN ESI AN WAR CONTINUED. THE 6ICIL1AN EXPEDITION. 
 
 § I. Armament mustered at Corcyra. § 2. Its reception in Italy. Proceed¬ 
 ings at Syracuse. § 3. Plans of the Athenian generals. § 4. The advice 
 of Aicibiades adopted. He gains over Naxos and Catana. § 5. Proceed¬ 
 ings at Athens respecting the mutilation of the Hermse, and the profanatior 
 of the mysteries. § 6. Aicibiades accused, and ordered to return to Athens 
 § 7. Proceedings of Nicias in Sicily. § 8. Preparations of the Sicilians fo; 
 defence. § 9. Nicias lays siege to Syracuse. § 10. He seizes Epipoloe 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. 
 'I'heir characters. 
 
 § 1. The Athenian fleet destined for Sicily was joined at Cur* 
 cyra by the other allies in the month of July, 415 b.c. The 
 whole armament when mustered consisted of 134 triremes and 
 two Rhodian penteconters, and had on board 5100 hoplites, 480 
 bowmen, of whom 80 wore Cretans, 700 Rhodian slingers, and 
 
B.(J. -J15, 
 
 THE ATHENIANS IN SICILY. 
 
 333 
 
 i.20 Megarian exiles, who served a3 light-armed troops. The 
 deet 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 Egestaeaus the approach of assistance. 
 The fleet then made for the Iapygian promontory, in three divi¬ 
 sions, commanded by Nicias, 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 all the assistance 
 that could be hoped for from that quarter. A council of war 
 was now held. It appears that tho Athenian generals had pro¬ 
 ceeded thus far without having formed any definite p.an, and 
 each now proposed a different one. Nicias was of opinion that, 
 since no effectual help could be expected from the Egestaeaus, 
 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 GItEECE. 
 
 Ohai*. 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 Cataua, 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 Hermoe, and the offer of large 
 rewards brought forward additional evidence. The public agita¬ 
 tion and anxiety were kept alive by the demagogues Pisander 
 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 slaves, 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 Hermap ; 
 but the nrofanation of' the F.leusinian mysteries, a rite regarded 
 
B.C. 415 
 
 THE ATHE1NJ4ES IE SICILY. 
 
 33£ 
 
 with the deepest reverence at Athens, still remained unexpiaied. 
 The Eumoipidse, 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 Lacedemonian 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 tc 
 make an attempt upon Syracuse. By a false message that the 
 Catanseans 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 intc 
 the Cheat 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. 
 
HISTOKY OF GEEECE. 
 
 Chap. XXX 
 
 33b 
 
 § 8. The Syracusans employed the winter in preparations foi 
 defence. They built a new wall, covering botn their inner and 
 outer town to the westward (See Plan, G, H, I), and rendering 
 any attempt at circumvallation more difficult. They fortified 
 and garrisoned the temple and grove of the Olympian Jove, in 
 the neighbourhood of the city. They despatched envoys to 
 Corinth and Sparta to solicit assistance, in the latter of which 
 towns they found an unexpected advocate. Alcibiades, hawing 
 crossed from Thurii to Cyllene in Peloponnesus, received a 
 special invitation to proceed to Sparta. Here he revealed all the 
 pians of Athens, and exhorted the LacedEemonians to frustrate 
 them. For this purpose he advised them to send an army into 
 Sicily, under the command of a Spartan general, and by way of 
 causing a diversion, to establish a fortified post at Decelea in 
 the Attic territories. The Spartans fell in with these views, and 
 resolved to send a force to the assistance of Syracuse in the 
 spring, under the command of Gylippus. 
 
 § 9. Nicias, having received a reinforcement of cavalry from 
 Athens, as well as 300 talents in money, recommenced hostilities 
 as soon as the season allowed of it, and resolved on besieging 
 Syracuse. That town consisted of two parts—the inner and the 
 outer city. The former of these—the original settlement—was 
 comprised in the island of Ortygia ; the latter, afterwards known 
 by the name of Achradina, covered the high ground of the pen¬ 
 insula north of Ortygia, and was completely separate from the 
 inner city. The island of Ortygia, to which the modern city is 
 now confined, is of an oblong shape, about two miles in circum¬ 
 ference, lying between the Great Harbour on the west, and the 
 Little Harbour on the east, and separated from the mainland by 
 a narrow channel. The Great Harbour is a splendid bay, about 
 five miles in circumference, the entrance of which is protected 
 on the left hand by the promontory Plemmyrium, and on the 
 right hand by a projecting cape of the island of Ortygia. The 
 little port, also called Laccius, which lay between Ortygia and the 
 outer city, was spacious enough to receive a large fleet of ships of 
 war. The outer city was surrounded on the north and east by the 
 sea, and by sea-walls which rendered an assault on that side almost 
 impracticable. On the land side it was defended by a wall 
 and partly also by the nature of the ground, which in some parts 
 was very steep. The low ground between the outer city and 
 Ortygia seems not to have been included in the fortifications of 
 either, but was employed partly as a burial ground, partly for 
 games and religious processions. West and north-west of the 
 wall of the outer city stood two unfortified suburbs, which were 
 at a later time included within the walls of Syracuse under the 
 

 BAY OF 
 
 
 ' ; 4\^f\ 
 
 GREAT P0RT1 
 
 B.O. 411. DESCRIPTION OF SYRACUSE. 837 
 
 names of Tyche and Neapolis. At the time of which V ve art 
 speaking, the latter was called Temenites, from having within it 
 the statue and consecrated ground of Apollo Temenites. Be¬ 
 tween these two suburbs the ground rose in a gentle acclivity to 
 the summit of the ranges of hills called Epipoke. 
 
 § 10. It was from the high ground of Epipoke that Syracuse 
 was most exposed to attack. The Syracusan generals had 
 hitherto neglected this important position, and were on the 
 point of occupying it, when they were anticipated by Nicias 
 Landing at Leon, a place upon the bay of Thapsus, at the dis 
 tance of only six or seven stadia from Epipoke, the Athenian 
 
 Plan of Syracuse. (From G role's Greece.) 
 
 A, B, C, P Wall of the Outer City of Syracute at time of the arrival of Mela* Sjcny 
 
 E, F. Wall of Ortvgia, or the Inner City of Syrac use, at the same t.Tae 
 
 G, H, I Additional fortification built by the Sy»n< UMtus in the winter of 413—414 a.c 
 K Athenian fortifiiation at Svk£ 
 
 A, L, M Southern portion of the Athenian eircumvallation from Syite to tin Great Hatbou? 
 N, O. Firs, counter-work erected by the Syracusans 
 P, Q. Second counter-work constructed by the Syracusans. 
 
 F. R. Intended, but unfinished, circutnvaDatum of the Athenians from the i:o*th in salt 
 
 of Sykd to the outer sen at Trogilus 
 ■?, T, riiird Syracusan counter-.vail 
 
 V. <later fort eonslrueteil in Gylippus 
 
 V, W, T all ' jaction between this ouwr fort ant the thiro ijvracusan counter-work. 
 
838 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 On \i\ XX X 
 
 troops reached the summit just as the Syracusans were march¬ 
 ing towards the heights. They made, however, an attempt to 
 dislodge the Athenians, which was repulsed ; and on the follow 
 ing morning, Nicias and Lamachus marched their troops down 
 the ridge and offered battle, which was declined by the Syra¬ 
 cusans. On the summit of Epipoise Nicias constructed a fort 
 called Labdalum ; and then coming farther down the hill towards 
 Syracuse, he built another fort of a circular form and of con¬ 
 siderable size at a place called Syk6. From the latter point he 
 commenced his line of circumvallation, one wall extending 
 southwards from Syke to the Great Harbour, and the other wall 
 running northwards from the same fortress to the outer sea at 
 Trogilus (See Plan, K, L, M). While the Athenians were busy 
 upon their lines towards the north, the Syracusans ran a counter 
 wall from their own lines up the slope of the Epipolse (See Plan, 
 N, 0), but after a sharp conflict it was taken by the Athenians 
 and destroyed. Not disheartened by this failure, the Syracusans 
 commenced a second counter-work, and succeeded in constructing 
 a ditch and stockade, which extended again from their own lines 
 across the marsh to the Anapus (See Plan, P, Q). From this 
 uew position they were also dislodged by the Athenians ; but in 
 the assault, which was led by Lamachus, this gallant officer was 
 slain. At the same time the Athenian fleet entered the Great 
 Harbour, where it was henceforth permanently established. 
 
 The Syracusans offered no further opposition to the progress 
 of the circumvallation, which was at length completed towards 
 the South. It consisted of two distinct walls, with a space 
 between them, which was perhaps partly roofed over, in order to 
 afford shelter for the troops. The northern wall towards Trogilus 
 was never completed, and through the passage thus left open the 
 besieged continued to obtain provisions. 
 
 Nicias, who, by the death of Lamachus, had become sole com¬ 
 mander, seemed now on the point of succeeding. The Syracusans 
 were so sensible of their inferiority in the field that they no 
 longer ventured to show themselves outside the walls. They 
 began to contemplate surrender, and even sent messages to 
 Nicias to treat of the terms. This caused the Athenian com¬ 
 mander to indulge in a false confidence of success, and conse¬ 
 quent apathy ; and the army having iost the active and energetic 
 Lamachus, operations were no longer carried on with the requi¬ 
 site activity. 
 
 §11. It was in this state of affairs that the Spartan commander 
 Gylippus passed over into Italy with a little squadron of four 
 ships —two Lacedaemonian and two Corinthian—with the view 
 merely o preserving the Greek cities in that country, supposing 
 
B.C. 414. ARRIVAL OF GYLIPPUS. 339 
 
 that Syracuse, and, with her, the other Greek cities in Sicily 
 were irretrievably lost. As he proceeded southwards along the 
 Italian coast, a violent storm drove him into Tarentum. Nicias, 
 though informed of his arrival, regarded his little squadron with 
 contempt, and took no measures to interrupt his progress. From 
 the Epizephyrian Locrians Gylippus learned to his great sur¬ 
 prise and satisfaction that the Athenian wall of circumvallation 
 at Syracuse had not yet been completed on the northern side. 
 He now sailed through the straits of Messana, which were left 
 completely unguarded, and arrived safely at Himera on the north 
 coast of Sicilv. Here he announced himself as the forerunner of 
 
 V 
 
 larger succours, and began to levy an army, which the magic of 
 the Spartan name soon enabled him to effect; and in a few days 
 he was in a condition to march towards Syracuse with about 
 3000 men. His approach had been already announced by Gon- 
 gylus, a Corinthian, who had been sent forwards from the 
 Corinthian fleet then assembled at Leucas. The Syracusans now 
 dismissed all thoughts of surrender, and went out boldly to meet 
 Gylippus, who marched into Syracuse over the heights of Epi- 
 polao, which the supineness of Nicias had left unguarded. Upon 
 arriving in the city, Gylippus sent a message to the Athenians 
 allowing them a five days’ truce to collect their effects and 
 evacuate the island. Nicias returned no answer to this insulting 
 proposal; but the operations of Gylippus soon showed that the 
 tide of affairs was really turned. His first exploit was to cap¬ 
 ture the Athenian fort at Labdalum, which made him master of 
 Epipolse. He next commenced constructing a counter-wall to 
 intersect the Athenian lines on the northern side. This third 
 counter-work of the Syracusans extended from their city-wall to 
 the northern cliff of Epipoloc, and was brought to a successful 
 completion. (See Plan, S, U.) Gylippus subsequently built a 
 fort (V) upon Epipoise ; and from this fort carried another wall 
 which joined at right angles the counter-work already erected 
 (See Plan, V, W, U). This turn of affairs induced those Sicilian 
 cities, which had hitherto hesitated, to embrace the side of Syra¬ 
 cuse. Gylippus was also reinforced by the arrival of thirty tri¬ 
 remes from Corinth, Leucas, and Ambracia. Nicias now felt 
 that the attempt to blockade Syracuse with his present force 
 was hopeless. ITe therefore resolved to occupy the headland ol 
 Plemmyrium, the southernmost point of the entrance to the 
 Great Harbour, which would be a convenient station for watch¬ 
 ing the enemy, as well as for facilitating the introduction of 
 supplies. Here he accordingly erected three forts and formed a 
 □aval station. Some slight affairs occurred in which the balance 
 advantage was in favour of the Syracusans. By their change 
 
 •7 O 
 
 ft L. 
 
340 
 
 HISTORY OR GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXX, 
 
 of station the Athenians were now a besieged rather than a he 
 sieging force. Their triremes were becoming leaky, and theii 
 soldiers and sailors were constantly deserting. Nicias hiraseli 
 had fallen into a bad state of health ; and in this discouraging 
 posture of affairs he wrote to Athens requesting to be recalled, 
 and insisting strongly on the necessity of sending reinforce¬ 
 ments. 
 
 § 12. The Athenians refused to recall Nicias, but they determined 
 on sending a large reinforcement to Sicily, under the joint com¬ 
 mand of Demosthenes and Eurymedon. The news of these fresh 
 and extensive preparations incited the Lacedaimonians to more 
 vigorous action. The peace, if such it can be called, had been 
 violated in the year 414 b.c., when the Lacedaemonians invaded 
 and ravaged the Argive territories, whilst the Athenians assisted 
 the Argives with a fleet of thirty triremes, and laid waste Epi- 
 daurus, and some neighbouring places. But in the spring of 
 413 b.c., the Lacedaemonians, under king Agis, invaded Attica 
 itself, and following the advice of Alcibiades, established them¬ 
 selves permanently at Decelea, a place situated on the ridge of 
 Mouut Parnes, about 14 miles north of Athens, and commanding 
 the Athenian plain. The city was thus placed in a state of siege. 
 Scarcity began to be felt within the walls ; the revenues were 
 falling off, whilst on the other hand expenses were increasing. 
 Yet even under these circumstances the Athenians had no 
 thoughts of abandoning their ambitious enterprises. It was 
 resolved not only to send reinforcements to Sicily, but also to 
 insult the coasts of Laconia. For this purpose Charicles was 
 sent thither with a fleet of thirty triremes ; and being assisted 
 oy Demosthenes with the armament which he was conducting 
 to Sicily, Charicles succeeded in establishing himself on the coast 
 of Laconia, at a spot opposite to the island of Cythera, in a 
 manner somewhat similar to the Athenian fort at Pylus. 
 
 § 13. Meanwhile in Sicily the Syracusans had gained such 
 confidence that they even ventured on a naval engagement with 
 the Athenians. A battle was fought at the mouth of the Great 
 Harbour, in which the Athenians were, indeed, victorious ; but 
 when they sailed back to their station at Plemmyrium, they 
 found that Gylippus had taken advantage of this diversion to 
 ittack and take their forts there, and that a great quantity of 
 stores and provisions had fallen into his hands. Moreover, the 
 Syracusans were not discouraged by their defeat from venturing 
 on another naval engagement. They had greatly improved the 
 construction of their vessels by strengthening their bows, and 
 had learnt how to meet or evade the nautical manoeuvres of the 
 Athenians, which were also considerably impeded by the narrow 
 
tf.B. 413. 
 
 THE ATHENIAN FLEET DEFEATED. 
 
 34] 
 
 limits of the Great Harbour, now the scene of conflict The 
 second battle lasted two days, and ended in the defeat of the 
 Athenians, who were now obliged to haul up their ships in the 
 innermost part of the Great Harbour, under the lines of their 
 fortified camp. A still more serious disaster than the loss of 
 the battle was the loss of their naval reputation. It was evident 
 that the Athenians had ceased to be invincible on the sea ; and 
 the Syracusans no longer despaired of overcoming them on their 
 own element. 
 
 § 14. Such was the state of affairs when, to the astonishment 
 of the Syracusans, a fresh Athenian fleet of 75 triremes, under 
 Demosthenes and Eurymedon, entered the Great Harbour with 
 all the pomp and circumstance of war. It had on board a force 
 of 5000 hoplites, of whom about a quarter were Athenians, and 
 a great number of light armed troops. The active and enter¬ 
 prising character of Demosthenes led him to adopt more vigor¬ 
 ous measures than those which had been hitherto pursued. He 
 saw at once that whilst Epipolm remained in the possession of 
 the Syracusans there was no hope of taking their city, and he 
 tnerefore directed all his efforts to the recapture of that position. 
 But all his attempts were unavailing. He was defeated not only 
 in an open assault upon the Syracusan wall, but in a nocturnal 
 attempt to carry it by surprise. These reverses were aggra¬ 
 vated by the breaking out of sickness among the troops. De¬ 
 mosthenes now proposed to return home and assist in expelling 
 the Lacedaemonians from Attica, instead of pursuing an enter¬ 
 prise which seemed to be hopeless. But Nicias, who feared to 
 return to Athens with the stigma of failure, refused to give his 
 consent to this step. Demosthenes then urged Nicias at least 
 to sail immediately out of the Great Harbour, and take up their 
 position either at Thapsus or Catana, where they could obtain 
 abundant supplies of provisions, and would have an open sea for 
 the manoeuvres of their fleet. But even to this proposal Nicias 
 would not consent; and the army and navy remained in their 
 former position. Soon afterwards, however, Gylippus received 
 such large reinforcements, that Nicias found it necessary to 
 adopt the advice of his colleague. Preparations were secretly 
 made for their departure, the enemy appear to have had no sus¬ 
 picion of their intention, and they were on the point of quitting 
 their ill-fated quarters on the following morning, when on the 
 very night before (27 Aug. 413 b.c.) an eclipse of the moon took 
 place. The soothsayers who were consulted, said that the arm}’ 
 must wait thrice nine days, a full circle of the moon, before it 
 could quit its present position ; and the devout and supersti¬ 
 tious Nicias forthwith resolved to abide by this decision. 
 
84 2 
 
 HiSTOltY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXA 
 
 Meanwhile the intention of the Athenians became known to 
 the Syracusans, who determined to strike a blow before their 
 enemy escaped. They accordingly attacked the Athenian station 
 both by sea and land. On land the attack of Gylippus was re¬ 
 pulsed ; but at sea the Athenian fleet was completely defeated, 
 and Eurymedon, who commanded the right division, was slain. 
 
 The spirits of the Syracusans rose with their victories, and 
 though they would formerly have been content with the mere 
 retreat of the Athenians, they now resolved on effecting their 
 utter destruction. With this view they blocked up the entrance 
 of the Great Harbour with a line of vessels moored across it. 
 All hope seemed now to be cut off from the Athenians, unless 
 they could succeed in forcing this line and thus effecting their 
 escape. The Athenian fleet still numbered 110 triremes, which 
 Nicias furnished with grappling-irons, in order to bring the 
 enemy to close quarters, and then caused a large proportion of 
 ins land-force to embark. Before they set off, Nicias addressed 
 the most earnest and touching appeals both to the crews and to 
 the individual commanders to fight with bravery, since not only 
 their own fate, but that of Athens itself, depended on the issue 
 of that day’s combat. He himself remained on shore, where the 
 army was drawn up to witness the conflict. 
 
 § 15. Never perhaps was a battle fought under circumstances 
 of such intense interest, or witnessed by so many spectators 
 vitally concerned in the result. The basin of the Great Harbour, 
 about 5 miles in circumference, in which nearly 200 ships, each 
 with crews of more than 200 men, were about to engage, was 
 lined with spectators ; whilst the walls of Ortygia, overhanging 
 the water, were crowded with old men, women, and children, 
 anxious to behold a conflict which was to decide the fate of their 
 enemies, if not their own. The surface of the water swarmed 
 with Syracusan small craft, many of them manned by youthful 
 volunteers of the best families, ready to direct their services 
 wherever they might be wanted. The whole scene, except in its 
 terrible reality, and the momentous interests depending on it, 
 resembled on a large scale the naumachiie exhibited by the Bo- 
 man emperors for the amusement of their subjects. The Syra¬ 
 cusan fleet, consisting of 76 triremes, was the first to leave the 
 shore. A considerable portion was detached to guard the barrier 
 at the mouth of the harbour. Hither the first and most impe¬ 
 tuous attack of the Athenians was directed, who sought to break 
 through the narrow opening which had been left for the passage 
 of merchant vessels. Their onset was repulsed, and the battle 
 then became general. The shouts of the combatants, and the 
 crash of the iron heads of the vessels as they were driven to- 
 
£.0. 413. 
 
 FIGHT IN THE GltEAT HAEBOUK. 
 
 B43 
 
 gether, resounded over the water, and were answeied on shore 
 by the cheers or wailings of the spectators as their friends were 
 victorious or vanquished. For a long time the battle was main- 
 tnined with heroic courage and dubious result. At length as 
 the Athenian vessels began to yield and make back towards the 
 shore, a universal shriek of horror and despair arose from the 
 Athenian army, whilst shouts of joy and victory were raised from 
 the pursuing vessels, and were echoed back from the Syracusans 
 on land. As the Athenian vessels neared the shore their crews 
 leaped out, and made for the camp, whilst the boldest of the 
 land army rushed forward to protect the ships from being seized 
 by the enemy. The Athenians succeeded in saving only 60 
 ships, or about half their fleet. The Syracusan fleet, however, 
 had been reduced to 50 ships ; and on the same afternoon, Nicias 
 and Demosthenes, as a last hope of escape, exhorted their men 
 to make another attempt to break the enemy’s line, and force 
 their way out of the harbour. But the courage of the crews 
 was so completely damped that they positively refused to re¬ 
 embark. 
 
 § 16. The Athenian army still numbered 40,000 men ; and as 
 all chance of escape by sea was now hopeless, it was resolved to 
 retreat by land to some friendly city, and there defend them¬ 
 selves against the attacks of the Syracusans. This Hermocrates 
 was determined to prevent. The day on which the battle was 
 fought happened to be sacred to Hercules, and a festival among 
 the Syracusans. This circumstance, in addition to the joy and 
 elation naturally resulting from so great a victory, had thrown 
 the city into a state of feasting and intoxication ; and had 
 the Athenians taken their departure that night, nobody would 
 have been found to oppose them. Hermocrates, therefore, when 
 darkness had set in, sent down some men to the Athenian wall, 
 who, pretending to come from the secret correspondents of 
 Nicias in Syracuse, warned him not to decamp that night, as all 
 the roads were beset by the Syracusans. Nicias fell into the 
 snare, and thus, by another fatal mistake, really afforded the 
 Syracusans an opportunity for obstructing his retreat. 
 
 It was not till the next day but one after the battle that the 
 Athenian army began to move. Never were men in so complete 
 a state of prostration. Their vessels were abandoned to the 
 enemy without an attempt to save them. As the soldiers turned 
 to quit that fatal encampment, the sense of their own woes was 
 for a moment suspended by the sight of their unburied com¬ 
 rades, who seemed to reproach them with the neglect oi a sacred 
 duty; but still more by the wailings and entreaties of the 
 wounded, who clung around their knees, and implored nol 
 
H[STORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chat. XXX. 
 
 [4 
 
 to be abandoned to certain, destruction. Amid this scene of 
 universal woe and dejection, a fresh and unwonted spirit of 
 energy and heroism seemed to be infused into Nicias. Though 
 suffering under an incurable complaint, he was everywhere seen 
 marshalling his troops, and encouraging them by his exhorta¬ 
 tions. The march was directed towards the territory of the 
 Sicels in the interior of the island. The army was formed into 
 a hollow square with the baggage in the middle; Nicias leading 
 the van, and Demosthenes bringing up the rear. Having forced 
 the passage of the river Anapus, they marched on the first day 
 about five miles to the westward, on the second day about half 
 that distance, and encamped on a cultivated plain. From this 
 place the road ascended by a sort of ravine over a steep hill 
 called the Acraean cliff, on which the Syracusans had fortified 
 themselves. After spending two days in vain attempts to force 
 this position, Nicias and Demosthenes resolved during the night 
 to strike off to the left towards the sea. Nicias, with the 
 van, succeeded in reaching the coast; but Demosthenes, who 
 had lost liis way, was overtaken by the Syracusans at noon 
 on the following day, and surrounded in a narrow pass. Many 
 of his troops had disbanded during the night march, and many 
 fell in the conflict which now ensued, till, being reduced to the 
 number of 6000, they surrendered, on condition of their lives 
 being spared. 
 
 § 17. Meanwhile Nicias, with the van, had pursued his march, 
 and crossed the river Erineus. On the following day, however, 
 Gylippus overtook him, and, having informed him of the fate of 
 his colleague, summonei him to surrender. But Nicias was in¬ 
 credulous, and pursued his march amidst the harassing attacks 
 of the Syracusans. The attempt to cross the river Asinarus 
 decided the fate of his army. The men rushed into the water 
 in the greatest disorder, partly to escape the enemy, but chiefly 
 from a desire to quench the burning thirst with which they were 
 tormented. Hundreds were pressed forwards down the steep 
 banks of the river, and were either trodden under foot, or im¬ 
 paled on the spears of those below, or carried away by the 
 stream. Yet others from behind still kept pressing on, anxious 
 to partake of the now turbid and bloody water. The troops 
 thus became so completely disorganised that all further resist¬ 
 ance was hopeless, and Nicias surrendered at discretion. 
 
 Out of the 40,000 who started from the camp only 10,000 at 
 the utmost were left at the end of the sixth day’s march, the 
 rest had either deserted or been slain. The prisoners were sent 
 to work in the stone-quarries of Achradina aud E pi poke. Here 
 they were crowded together without any shelter, and w»tb scarcely 
 
B.O. 413. DEATH OF NICIAS AND DEMOSTHENES. 
 
 34 1 
 
 provisions enough to sustain life. The numerous bodies of those 
 who died were left to putrify where they had fallen, till at length 
 the place became such an intolerable centre of stench and in¬ 
 fection that, at the end of seventy days, the Syracusans, for theii 
 own comfort and safety, were obliged to remove the survivors. 
 All but the Athenians and the Italian and Sicilian Greeks were 
 sold into slavery. What became of the Athenians we are not 
 informed, but they were probably employed as slaves by the 
 richer Syracusans, since the story runs that many succeeded in 
 winning the affection and pity of their masters by reciting por¬ 
 tions of the dramas of Euripides. Nicias and Demosthenes were 
 condemned to death in spite of all the efforts of Gylippus and 
 Hermocrates to save them. The latter contrived to spare them 
 the humiliation of a public execution by providing them with 
 the means of committing suicide. 
 
 § 18. Such was the end of two of the largest and best appointed 
 armaments that had ever gone forth from Athens. Nicias, as 
 we have seen, was from the first opposed to the expedition in 
 which they were employed, as pregnant with the most dangerous 
 consequences to Athens ; and, though it must be admitted that 
 in this respect his views were sound, it cannot at the same time 
 le concealed that his own want of energy, and his incompetence 
 as a general, were the chief causes of the failure of the under¬ 
 taking. Possessing much fortitude but little enterprise, respect¬ 
 able in private life, punctual in the performance of his religious 
 duties, not deficient in a certain kind of political wisdom, which, 
 however, derived its colour rather from timidity and over-caution 
 than from that happy mixture of boldness and prudence which 
 characterises the true statesman, Nicias had by these qualities 
 obtained far more than his just share of political reputation and 
 influence, and had thus been named to the command of an expe¬ 
 dition for which he was qualified neither by military skill nor 
 by that enthusiasm and confidence of success which it so pecu¬ 
 liarly demanded. 11 is mistakes involved the fall of Demosthenes, 
 an officer of far greater resolution and ability than himself, and 
 who, had his counsels been followed, would in all probability 
 have conducted the enterprise to a safe termination, though 
 there was no longer room to hope for success. The career of 
 Demosthenes marks him as one of the first generals of the age, 
 but unfortunately he held only a subordinate rank in Sicily. 
 The Athenians became sensible when too late of the difference 
 between the two commanders. On the pillar erected to the me¬ 
 mory of the warriors who fell in Sicily the name of Demosthenes 
 found a place, whilst that of Nicias \\a» omitted. 
 
Street of the Tripods at Athens, from a has relief. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 FROM THE END OF THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION TO THE OVERTHROW OF 
 THE FOUR HUNDRED AT ATHENS. 
 
 j 1. Consternation and hardships at Athens. § 2. Measures for defence. 
 § 3. Revolt of Chios, Erythrae, and Clazomeme. § 4. Spread of the re¬ 
 volt. Defection of Teos, Lesbos, and Miletus. Revolution at Samos, which 
 becomes the head-quarters of the Athenian fleet. § 5. Recovery of Lesbos 
 by the Athenians. Dissatisfaction of the Lacedaemonians with Tissaphemes. 
 § 6. Schemes of Alcibiades. § 7. He proposes a league between the Athe¬ 
 nians and Persians, and the establishment of an oligarchy at Athens. § 8. 
 Agitation for an oligarchy at Athens. § 9. Conference of Pisauder with 
 Alcibiades. Artifices of the latter. Fresh treaty between Tissapherne 
 and the Lacedaemonians. § 10. Progress of the oligarchical conspiracy at 
 Athens and Samos. §11. Establishment of the Four Hundred. § 12. 
 Their proceedings. §13. Proceedings at Samos. Alcibiades joins the de¬ 
 mocracy there. § 14. The Athenian envoys at Samos. § 15. Dissensions 
 among the Four Hundred. They negotiate with Sparta. § 16. Counter 
 revolution at Athens. Defeat of the Athenian fleet and capture of Eubcea 
 by the Lacedaemonians. § 17. The Four Hundred deposed and democracy 
 re-established at Athens. 
 
 § 1. The first intelligence of the destruction of the Sicilian arma¬ 
 ment is said to have been communicated by a stranger, in a 
 barber’s shop in the Pirseus. Big with the eventful news, the 
 unfortunate barber hastened up to Athens to communicate it to 
 the archons and the public ; but he was treated as a tale-bearer 
 and impostor ; and being unable to corroborate his story, in 
 consequence of the disappearance of his informant, he was put 
 to the torture. The tidings were, however, soon confirmed by 
 the arrival of fugitives who had managed to escape from the 
 
ii.L’. 41 
 
 DISMAY OF THE ATHENIANS. 
 
 347 
 
 disastrous scene. Athens was now tilled with affliction and dis¬ 
 may. To piiivate grief for the loss of friends was added despair 
 of the public safety. There seemed to be no means of prevent¬ 
 ing the city from falling into the hands of the Lacedaemonians. 
 The popular fury vented itself in abusing the orators who had 
 recommended the expedition, and the soothsayers who had fore¬ 
 told its success. 
 
 The affairs of the Athenians wore indeed a most threatening 
 aspect. The Lacedaemonian post at Decelea was a constant 
 source of annoyance. No part of Attica escaped the forays 
 which were made from thence. All the cattle were destroyed, 
 and the most valuable slaves began to desert in great numbers 
 to the enemy. Athens was almost in a state of siege. The 
 fatigue of guarding the large extent of wall became very onerous 
 on the reduced number of citizens. The knights or horsemen 
 were on constant duty in order to repress the enemy’s ma¬ 
 rauders ; but their horses were soon lamed and rendered ineffi¬ 
 cient by the hard and stony nature of the soil. But what chielly 
 excited the despondency of the Athenians was the visible decline 
 of their naval superiority. An engagement with the Corinthian 
 fleet near Naupactus, in the summer of 413 b.c., had ended with 
 neither side gaining the advantage, though the forces were 
 nearly equal; but to the Athenians the moral effects were equi¬ 
 valent to a defeat. 
 
 § 2. Yet that cheerfulness and energy under misfortune which 
 form such striking and excellent traits in the character of the 
 Athenians, did not long desert them. After the first movements 
 of rage and despair, they began to contemplate their condition 
 more calmly, and to take the necessary measures for defence. 
 A board of elders was appointed, under the name of Probuli,* 
 to watch over the public safety. The splendour of the public 
 ceremonies was curtailed in order to raise funds for the neces¬ 
 sities of the state ; the garrison recently established on the 
 coast of Laconia was recalled ; the building of a new fleet was 
 commenced ; and Cape Sunium was fortified in order to ensure 
 an uninterrupted communication between Piraeus and Eubcea, 
 from which island the Athenians principally drew their pro¬ 
 visions. 
 
 § 3. Whilst the imperial city was thus driven to consult for 
 her very existence, it seemed a chimerical hope that she could 
 retain her widely scattered dependencies. Her situation in¬ 
 spired her enemies with new vigour ; states hitherto neutral de¬ 
 clared against her ; her subject-allies prepared to throw off the 
 
 ri* 
 
34H 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXaI 
 
 yoke; even the Persian satraps and the court cf Susa bestirred 
 themselves against her. The first blow to the Athenian empire 
 was struck by the wealthy and populous island of Chios. This 
 again was the work of Alcibiades, the implacable enemy of his 
 native land. In the winter following the overthrow of the Athe¬ 
 nian armament in Sicily, several of the most powerful allies ol 
 Athens, among whom were the Euboeans, Chians, and Lesbians, 
 had solicited Sparta to assist them in throwing off' the Athenian 
 yoke. At the same time envoys appeared at Sparta from Tissa- 
 phernes, the Persian satrap of Ionia, Caria, and the adjacent 
 coasts, and from Pharnabazus, whose satrapy extended from the 
 Euxine to the gulf of Elsea, inviting the Lacedaemonians to co¬ 
 operate with them in destroying the Athenian empire in Asia, 
 and promising to provide the necessary funds. 
 
 By the advice of Alcibiades, the Lacedaemonians resolved that 
 the Chians should have the preference, and that a fleet should 
 be sent to their assistance. Impatient of delay, Alcibiades 
 shortly afterwards crossed over to Chios with a Lacedaemonian 
 squadron of five ships, under the command of Chalcideus. The 
 oligarchical party at Chios had matured all their plans for the 
 revolt, and the arrival of Alcibiades caused them to be put into 
 execution. The people were taken by surprise, and were re¬ 
 luctantly induced to renounce their alliance with Athens. Their 
 example was almost immediately followed by Erythrae and Cla- 
 zomenae. 
 
 § 4. The reserve of 1000 talents, set apart by Pericles to meet 
 the contingency of an actual invasion, still remained untouched 
 bur now by a unanimous vote the penalty of death, which forbad 
 its appropriation to any other purpose, was abolished, and the 
 fund applied in fitting out a fleet against Chios. Meantime, 
 Alcibiades was indefatigable in fanning the flames of revolt, 
 which now spread rapidly through the Athenian allies. Teos, 
 Lesbos, and Miletus proclaimed their independence of Athens. 
 At Miletus, Chalcideus, on the part of Sparta, concluded an in¬ 
 famous treaty with Tissaphernes, stipulating that the Greek cities 
 and territory formerly belonging to Persia should be restored to 
 her ; that the Athenians should not be permitted to derive any 
 revenue from them ; and that Persia and the Lacedeemonians 
 should jointly carry on the war against Athens. To conclude 
 the bargain, Miletus was handed over to Tissaphernes. 
 
 Samos still remained faithful to the Athenians, and amidst 
 the general defection of their Asiatic allies had become of the 
 last importance to them. This island, like Chios, was governed 
 by an oligarchy ; but warned by the revolution in that island, 
 the Samians rose against the oligarchs, slew 200 of them, and 
 
8 C. 412. 
 
 REVOLUTION AT SAMOS. 
 
 .349 
 
 banished 490 more. The Athenians at once recognized the 
 newly established democracy, and secured the adhesion of the 
 Samians by putting them on the footing of equal and independent 
 allies. Samos became the head-quarters of the Athenian fleet, 
 and the base of their operations during the remainder of the 
 war. 
 
 § 5. The tide of success at length began to turn in favour of 
 the Athenians. They had succeeded in collecting a considerable 
 fleet at Samos, with which they recovered Lesbos and Clazoinenae, 
 defeated the Chians, and laid waste their territory. They also 
 gained a victory over the Peloponnesians at Miletus, but this 
 powerful city still remained in the hands of Tissapherues and 
 the Peloponnesians. 
 
 Towards the close of the year, Astyochus, the Lacedaemonian 
 commander, received large reinforcements from Peloponnesus, 
 and was now at the head of so imposing an armament that he 
 was enabled to modify the former treaty with Tissaphernes, ol 
 which the Lacedaemonians were heartily ashamed. The new 
 treaty, however, differed from the previous one rather in terms 
 than substance, and appears to have been far from giving satis¬ 
 faction at Sparta. The conduct of Tissaphernes afforded another 
 reason for discontent. He had given notice that he could no 
 longer continue the high rate of payment of a drachma per day 
 for the seamen’s w T ages, the sum agreed upon in the first treaty, 
 w'ithout express instructions from the court of Susa ; and though 
 he had reduced that sum by one half, it was very irregularly 
 paid ; whilst his whole behaviour displayed a great want of 
 hearty co-operation "with the Lacedaemonians. Another Pelo¬ 
 ponnesian squadron was therefore despatched to the coast of 
 Asia having on board Lichas and ten other Spartans, for the 
 purpose of remonstrating with Tissaphernes and opening fresh 
 negotiations. Having obtained an interview with Tissaphernes 
 at Cnidus, Lichas took exceptions to the two former treaties ; of 
 which the first expressly, the second by implication, recognized 
 the claims of Persia not only to the islands of the /Egean, but 
 even to Thessaly and Bceotia. Lichas, therefore, proposed a new 
 treaty ; but Tissaphernes was so indignant at the proposition 
 that he immediately broke ofl the negotiation. 
 
 § 6. The conduct of Tissaphernes towards tne Lacedaemo¬ 
 nians was the result of the counsels of Alcibiades, who was 
 scheming to effect his return to Athens by means of his in¬ 
 trigues with the Persian satrap. In the course of a few months 
 Alcibiades had completely forfeited the confidence of the Lace¬ 
 daemonians. His ultra-Athenian temperament and manners 
 
 x 
 
 must have been as unwelcome to them as their own slowness 
 
350 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXI. 
 
 and gravity were to him. The Spartan King Agis, whose wife he 
 had seduced, was his personal enemy ; and the Ephor Endius, his 
 chief protector, went out of office in 412 b. c. To the preceding 
 causes for private dislike was now added the want of that rapid 
 success which he had promised to the Lacedaemonians in the 
 East. In a man whose character for deceit was notorious it is 
 not surprising that this failure should excite a suspicion of 
 treachery. After the defeat of the Peloponnesians at Miletus, 
 King Agis denounced Alcibiades as a traitor, and persuaded the 
 new Ephors to send out instructions to put him to death. Of 
 this, however, he was informed time enough to make his escape 
 to Tissaphernes at Magnesia. Here he began to play an anti- 
 Hellenic, instead of his former anti-Athenian game. He ingra¬ 
 tiated himself into the confidence of the satrap, and persuaded 
 him that it was not for the interest of Persia that either of tho 
 Grecian parties should be successful, but rather that they should 
 wear each other out in their mutual struggles, when Persia 
 would in the end succeed in expelling both. This advice was 
 adopted by the satrap ; and in order to carry it into execution, 
 steps were taken to secure the inactivity of the Peloponnesian 
 armament, which, if vigorously employed, was powerful enough 
 to put a speedy end to the war. With this view the Lacedae¬ 
 monian commanders were first persuaded to await the arrival of 
 the Phoenician fleet, which, however, was never intended to ap¬ 
 pear. But as this was a pretext which could not be made 
 available for any length of time, the next argument was in the 
 more solid shape of pecuniary bribes administered to Astyochus 
 and the other Spartan leaders. Spartan virtue, which exists 
 rather in imagination than reality, was not proof against this se¬ 
 duction. The Syracusan, Ilermocrates—for a Sicilian squadron 
 was co-operating with the Peloponnesian fleet—was alone found 
 to be incorruptible. 
 
 § 7. Alcibiades, having thus in some degree detached Tissa¬ 
 phernes from the Lacedaemonians, now endeavoured to persuade 
 him that it was more for the Persian interest to conclude a 
 league with Athens than with Sparta ; since the former state 
 sought only to retain her maritime dependencies, whilst Sparta 
 had held out promises of liberty to every Grecian city, from 
 which she could not consistently recede. The only part cf his 
 advice, however, which the satrap seems to have sincerely 
 adopted was that of playing off one party against the other. 
 But about this Alcibiades did not at all concern himself. It 
 was enough for his views, which had merely the selfish aim of 
 his own restoration to Athens, if he could make it appear 
 that he possessed sufficient influence with Tissapherr.es to 
 
»J.C. 412 
 
 SCHEMES OF ALCIBIADES. 
 
 351 
 
 procure nis assistance for the Athenians ; and for this the 
 intimate terms on which he lived with the sa>rap seemed a 
 sufficient guarantee. He therefore began to communicate with 
 the Athenian generals at Samos, and held out the hopo of a 
 Persian alliance as the price of his restoration to his country. 
 But as he both hated and feared the Athenian democracy, he 
 coupled his offer with the condition that a revolution should be 
 effected at Athens, and an oligarchy established. The Athenian 
 generals greedily caught at the proposal; and though the great 
 mass of the soldiery were violently opposed to it, they were 
 silenced, if not satisfied, when told that Athens could be saved 
 only by means of Persia. The oligarchical conspirators formed 
 themselves into a confederacy, and Pisander was sent to Athens 
 to organize the clubs in the city. But the conspirators over¬ 
 looked the fact that the word of Alcibiades was their only se¬ 
 curity for the co-operation of Persia. Phrynichus alone among 
 the Athenian generals opposed the scheme ; not that he dis¬ 
 liked oligarchy, but that he hated Alcibiades, and saw through 
 Ins designs. 
 
 § 8. The proposition for an oligarchy which Pisander made in 
 the Athenian assembly met with the most determined oppo¬ 
 sition ; whilst the personal enemies of Alcibiades, especially the 
 sacred families of the Eumolpida} and Ceryces, violently opposed 
 the return of the man who had profaned the mysteries. The 
 single but unanswerable reply of Pisander was, the necessities 
 of the republic. A reluctant vote for a change of constitution 
 was at length extorted from the people. Pisander and ten others 
 were despatched to treat with Alcibiades and Tissaphernes. At 
 the same time Phrynichus and his colleague Scironides were de¬ 
 posed from their command at Samos, and their places supplied 
 by Diomedon and Leon. Before his departure Pisander had 
 brought all the oligarchical clubs in Athens into full activity. 
 During his absence the same task was undertaken by Antiphon, 
 the rhetorician. He was assisted by Tlieramenes, and subse¬ 
 quently by Phrynichus, who, after his arrival at Athens, had be¬ 
 come a violent partisan of the oligarchy. 
 
 § 9. When Pisander and his colleagues arrived in Ionia, they 
 informed Alcibiades that measures had been taken for establish¬ 
 ing an oligarchical form of government at Athens, and required 
 him to fulfil his part of the engagement by procuring the aid 
 and alliance of Persia. But Alcibiades knew that lie had under 
 taken what he could not perform, and now resolved to escape 
 from the dilemma by one of his habitual artifices. He received 
 the Athenian deputation in the presence of Tissaphernes him¬ 
 self, and made such extravagant demands on behalf of the satruy 
 
352 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXI 
 
 that Pisander and his colleagues indignantly broke off the con¬ 
 ference. They attributed, however, the duplicity of Alcibiades 
 to his want of will, and not to his want of power, to serve them ; 
 and they now began to suspect that his oligarchical scheme was 
 a mere trick, and that in reality he desired the democracy to 
 remain, and to procure his restoration to its bosom. 
 
 Tissaphernes, who did not wish absolutely to breai? with the 
 Lacedaemonians, now began to fear that he was pushing matters 
 too far ; and, as they already felt the pinch of want, he furnished 
 them with some pay, and concluded a new treaty with them, by 
 which they agreed to abandon all the continent of Asia, and 
 consequently the Greek cities in that quarter. To this treaty 
 Pharnabazus was also a party. Persia did not waive her claim 
 to the islands, but nothing was stipulated respecting them. On 
 these conditions the aid of a Phoenician fleet was promised to 
 the Peloponnesians. 
 
 § 10. Notwithstanding the conduct of Alcibiades the oligarchi¬ 
 cal conspirators proceeded with the revolution at Athens, in 
 which they had gone too far to recede. Pisander, with five of 
 the envoys, returned to Athens to complete the work they had 
 begun ; the rest were sent to establish oligarchies among the 
 allies. The leaders of the army at Samos began a similar move¬ 
 ment in that island. Their first step was the gratuitous murder 
 of Hyperbolus, an Athenian demagogue who had been ostracised 
 some years before, and who was now residing at bamos, though 
 apparently without possessing any influence there. But the new 
 commanders, Diomedon and Leon, were favourable to the de¬ 
 mocracy, and they found by personal inquiry that the great 
 majority of the crews, and especially that of the public trireme 
 called the Paralus, were ready to support the ancient constitu¬ 
 tion. Accordingly, when the oligarchs rose they were over¬ 
 powered by superior numbers ; thirty of them were killed in the 
 contest, and three were subsequently indicted and banished. 
 
 Meanwhile at Athens, after the departure of Pisander, the 
 council of Probuli, as well as many leading citizens, had joined 
 the oligarchs. Their attacks upon the democracy were not open, 
 but were conducted by means of depreciating speeches respect¬ 
 ing its costliness, through the pay given to the dicasts and others 
 discharging civil offices, which, it was represented, the state could 
 no longer afford. They did not venture to propose the entire 
 abolition of the democracy, but merely a modification of it, by 
 restricting the number of those entitled to the franchise to 5000 
 But even this proposition was never intended to be carried into 
 execution. Those who stood forward to oppose the scheme wore 
 privately assassinated. A reign of terror now commenced. (Jiti 
 
B.C. 411. 
 
 THE FOUR HUNDRED AT ATHENS. 
 
 35k 
 
 zens were continually falling; yet no man could tell whose hand 
 struck the blow, or whose turn might come next. 
 
 § 11. The return of Pisander was the signal for consummating 
 the revolution. He proposed in the assembly, and carried a 
 resolution, that a committee of ten should be appointed to pre¬ 
 pare a new constitution, which was to be submitted to the ap¬ 
 probation of the people. But when the day appointed for that 
 purpose arrived, the assembly was not convened in the Pnyx, but 
 in the temple of Poseidon at Colonus, a village upwards of a mile 
 from Athens. Here the conspirators could plant their own par¬ 
 tisans, and were less liable to be overawed by superior numbers. 
 The Graphe Paranomon , or action against those who proposed 
 any unconstitutional measure, having first been repealed, Pisander 
 obtained the assent of the meeting to the following revolutionary 
 changes:—1. The abolition of all the existing magistracies; 
 2. The cessation of all payments for the discharge of civil func¬ 
 tions ; 3. The appointment of a committee of five persons, who 
 were to name ninety-five more; each of the hundred thus con¬ 
 stituted to choose three persons ; the body of Pour Hundred thus 
 formed to be an irresponsible government, holding its sittings in 
 the senate house. The four hundred were to convene the select 
 body of five thousand citizens whenever they thought proper. 
 Nobody knew who these five thousand were, but they answered 
 two purposes, namely, to give an air of greater popularity to the 
 government, as well as to overawe the people by an exaggerated 
 notion of its strength. 
 
 § 12. The government thus constituted proceeded to establish 
 itself by force. A body of hoplites having been posted in the 
 neighbourhood of the Senate House, the Four Hundred entered 
 it, each with a dagger concealed under his garment, and followed 
 by their body-guard of 120 youths, the instruments of the secret 
 assassinations already mentioned. The ancient Senate was dis¬ 
 missed, but the pay due to the members was offered, and basely 
 accepted. Thus perished the Athenian democracy, after an 
 existence of nearly a century since its establishment by Clis- 
 thenes. The revolution was begun from despair of the foreign 
 relations of Athens, and from the hope of assistance from Persia ; 
 but it was carried out through the machinations of Antiphon and 
 his accomplices after that delusion had ceased. 
 
 Having divided themselves into Prytanies or sections, and in¬ 
 stalled themselves with sacrifice and prayer, the Four Hundred 
 proceeded to put to death or imprison the most formidable of 
 their political enemies. Their next step was to make overtures 
 for peace to Agis. The Spartan king, however, believed that 
 the revolution was not safely established, and preferred at 
 Hr. 2 a 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XXAL 
 
 354 
 
 attempt to capture the city during the dissensions by which he 
 supposed it to be torn. But on marching up to the walls he 
 found them carefully guarded, and his troops were repulsed by a 
 sally of the besieged. A second application of the Four Hun¬ 
 dred met with a better reception, and they were encouraged to 
 send to Sparta. 
 
 § 13. The failure of the revolution at Samos was highly unfa¬ 
 vourable to the success of the revolution at Athens ; but the 
 Four Hundred despatched envoys to that island, with instruc¬ 
 tions to make the matter as palatable as possible. These, how¬ 
 ever, had been forestalled by Chsereas. Under the impression 
 that the democracy still existed at Athens, Chsereas had been 
 sent to the city from Samos in the Paralus with the news of the 
 counter-revolution in the island. But when the Paralus arrived, 
 the Four Hundred had already been installed ; whereupon some 
 of her democratic crew were imprisoned, and the rest transferred 
 to an ordinary trireme. Chsereas himself found means to escape, 
 and returned to Samos, where he aggravated the proceedings at 
 Athens by additions of his own, and filled the army with uncon¬ 
 trollable wrath. At the instance of Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus, 
 a meeting was called in which the soldiers pledged themselves to 
 maintain the democracy, to continue the war against Pelopon¬ 
 nesus, and to put down the usurpers at Athens. The whole 
 army, even those who had taken part in the oligarchical move¬ 
 ments, were sworn to uphold these principles; and to every 
 male Samian of military age a similar oath was administered. 
 Thus the Athenian democracy continued to exist at Samos alone. 
 The soldiers, laying aside for awhile their military character 
 constituted themselves into an assembly of the people, deposed 
 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 30 m- 
 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 the 
 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 
 
 Tissaphernes into the minds of the Peloponnesians. 
 
a.c. 411. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT SAMOS. 
 
 355 
 
 § J4. Such was the state of affairs at Samos whtn the envoys 
 from the Four Hundred arrived. They were invited by the 
 generals to make their communication to the assembled troops , 
 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. 
 
 § 1G. 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 
 ;he old forms, which adjourned to the Anaceum, or temple of 
 
 2 a 2 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXX J 
 
 the Dioscuri, immediately under the Acropolis. Here the Four 
 Hundred sent deputies to negotiate with them, and another 
 assembly was appointed to be held in the theatre of Dio¬ 
 nysus ; but just as they were meeting the news arrived that the 
 Lacedeemonian fleet was approaching the Piraeus. The Athe¬ 
 nians were immediately on the alert, and the Lacedaemonian 
 admiral, perceiving no signs of assistance from within, doubled 
 (Jape Sunium and proceeded to Oropus. It was now plain that 
 their object was to excite a revolt in Euboea. In all haste the 
 Athenians launched an inadequate fleet of 36 triremes, manned 
 by inexperienced crews. At Eretria in Euboea 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 Euboea 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 late 
 they were again 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 ol 
 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 excited 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 port in of the Brechtheum. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 FROM THE FALL OF THE FOUR HUNDRED AT ATHENS TO THE RATTLE 
 
 OF iEGOSPOT AM I. 
 
 § 1. State of the belligerents. § 2. Defeat of the Peloponnesians at Cynos- 
 sema. § 3. Capture of Cyzicus by the Athenians, and second defeat of the 
 Peloponnesians at Abydus. § 4. Arrest of Alcibiades by Tissaphernes, 
 and his subsequent escape. Signal defeat of the Peloponnesians at Cyzicus. 
 § 5. The Athenians masters Df 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 Athei s. § 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 Samos. IXfeat 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 Arginus®, 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXX11 
 
 35S 
 
 Defeat and death of Callicratidas. § 18. Arraignment and condemnation ol 
 tue Athenian generals. § 19. Reappointment of Lysander as Navarchus, 
 § 20. Siege of Lampsacus, ana battle of iEgospotami. 
 
 § 1. It is necessary now to revert to the war, and the state ol 
 the contending parties. The struggle had become wholly mari¬ 
 time. Although the Lacedaemonians occupied at Decelea a 
 strong post within sight of Athens, yet their want 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 
 carrying 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 ACgeau 
 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 be 
 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; 
 1. 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 the 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 Thrasyllua. 
 In a few days an engagement ensued (in August, 411 b.c.), in the 
 ? amous straits between Sestos and Abydos, in which the Athtf 
 
 * N ayap^ia : N acvcig%o$. 
 
B.C. 411. 
 
 NAVAL VICTORY AT CYNOSSEMA. 
 
 359 
 
 nians, though with a smaller force, gained the victory, and erected 
 a trophy on the promontory of Cynossema, near the tcmb and 
 chapel of the Trojan queen, Hecuba. After this defeat Mindarus 
 sent for the Peloponnesian fleet at Euboea, which, however, was 
 overtaken by a violent storm near the headland of Mount Athos, 
 and 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 Euboea. 
 The Euboeans, 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 Euboea 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 appears 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, telling 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 
 
Hi ST011Y OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXI 1 
 
 ■160 
 
 Thrasyllus, being favoured by hazy weather, stole between Min- 
 dams and the harbour, and cut off his retreat. In these circum¬ 
 stances the Spartan commander ran his vessels ashore, whore, 
 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 Lacedaemonians and Persians routed, and the whole Pelopon¬ 
 nesian fleet captured, with the exception of the Syracusan ships* 
 which Hermocrates caused to be burnt. The severity of this 
 blow wa 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 
 passing 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 ability ; 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 the trade of the Euxine. From his lofty fortress at 
 Decelea the Spartan king, Agis, could descry the corn-ships 
 
 * Called Epistoleus (’E rurroXiit) or “ 'secretary ” >i the Laceda'inonuu) 
 8eet. 
 
B.C. 407 
 
 ALCIBTADES RETURNS TO ATHENS. 
 
 361 
 
 from the Euxine sailing into the harbour of the Pirseus, 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 Pireeus 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- 
 molpidae 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 bad 
 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 
 fielded 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, lit 
 j delayed its sailing till after the celebration of the Eleusinian 
 mysteries at the beginning of September. For seven years the 
 
362 
 
 HISTORY OT GRKKCK 
 
 Chap. XXXIl 
 
 customary procession across the Thriasian plain had been sus* 
 pended, owing to the occupation of Deoelea 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 Eumolpidae. 
 
 § 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 Navarchus, 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 mothax , 
 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, 
 he wa3 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 
 be could gratify. Lysander immediately requested an additior 
 
B.C. 407 
 
 ARRIVAL OF CYRUS ON THE COAST. 
 
 of au obolus to the daily pay of the seamen. Cyrus was sur¬ 
 prised at so disinterested a demand, and from that day conceived 
 i 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. 
 
 § 12. 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, lie 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, au 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 Cym6, 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 
 ucceeded 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, 
 arith Conon at their head. 
 
 § 14. The year of Lysander’s command expired about the same 
 time as the appointment of Conon to the Athenian command. 
 Through the intrigues of Lysander, his successor Callicratidas 
 -vas received with dissatisfaction both by the Lacedaemonian sea- 
 
3(S4 
 
 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 
 he 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 ol 
 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 
 nis 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- 
 tilen6 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 his 
 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 
 blockade of Mytilend, vast efforts were made for its relief; and 
 ve learn with surprise that in thirt» days a fleet of 110 trireme* 
 
B.C. 406. 
 
 BATTLE OF ARG1MJSJ3, 
 
 366 
 
 was equipped and despatched from Piraeus. The armament 
 assembled at Samos, where it was reinforced by scattered Athe¬ 
 nian ships, and by contingents from the allies, to the extent of 40 
 vessels. The whole fleet of 150 sail then proceeded to the 
 small islands of Arginusae, 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 drawing up the 
 Athenian fleet. The main strength was thrown into the wings, 
 each of which consisted of 60 Athenian ships, divided into foui 
 squadrons of 15 each, ranged in a double line. The Pelopon¬ 
 nesian 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 of 
 these contests, Callicratidas, who stood cm 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 
 Phocaea. 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 liastil} 
 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 
 lias for ever sullied the pages of Athenian history. At least a 
 
366 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXli. 
 
 dozen Athenian vessels were left floating about in a disabled 
 condition after the battle ; but, owing to a violent storm that 
 ensued, no attempt was made to rescue the survivors, or ti 
 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 inclines 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 Arginusce 
 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 appealing 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- 
 nonus. 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 Graph6 Paranomo% 
 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 tc 
 withdraw his protest Rut his opposition was disregarded, and 
 
B.C. 406. 
 
 EXECUTION OE THE GENERALS. 
 
 367 
 
 the proposal of Callixenus was carried. The generals 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 Arginusae 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 HLgos- 
 potami, or the “ Goat’s Rivera 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, sc 
 that all the supplies 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 Lysandei 
 to an engagement. But the Spartan commander, who was in a 
 
 % 
 
 Lysander received the title of Epistoleus. See on j>. 360 
 
368 
 
 BISTORT OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIi 
 
 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 combat. This cowardice, 
 as they deemed it, on the part of the Lacedaemonians, 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 nearly 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 8 
 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 Lj^sander, 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 Qr >other chapter. 
 
 Bust ol the Poet Euripidet. 
 
View of i’liyle. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 FROM THE BATTLE OF -&3GOSPOTAMI TO THE OVERTHROW OF THE 
 THIRTY TYRANTS AND THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMOCRACY 
 AT ATHENS. 
 
 § 1. Alarm at Athens. § 2. 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 Theiamenes. § 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 Pi rams in the night, by the 
 Gr. 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 auth n- 
 tic as it was vast and irretrievable. The proceedings of the de¬ 
 jected assembly which met on the following day at once slio ved 
 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 decarcliy, under a Spartan harmost. Chalcedon, Byzan¬ 
 tium, Mytilen6, 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 junctuie 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 criminal* 
 and homicides. The citizens were then assembled in the Acro¬ 
 polis, and swore a solemn oath of mutual forgiveness and har¬ 
 mony. 
 
 About November Lysandir made hrs appearance at iEgina 
 with an overwhelming fleet of 150 triremes, and proceeded tc 
 ievastatc Salamis and blockade Piraeus. At the same time the 
 
B.C 404. 
 
 CAPITULATION OF ATHENS. 
 
 37 i 
 
 whole Peloponnesian army was marched into Attica, and en- 
 camped in the precincts of the Aeademus, at the very gates ol 
 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 walls 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 walls 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 ; tha + 
 they should surrender all their ships of war ; that they should 
 readmit all their exiles ; and that they should become allies ol 
 t pari a. As Theramenes re-entered Athens, bearing in his hand 
 
 2 n 2 
 
372 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Ciiai-. XXXI11 
 
 the roll, or scytale, 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 Piraeus, and took formal possession of 
 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. 
 
 § 6. 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 Critias, a man of wealth and family, thf 
 
fc.O. 4-04. 
 
 THE THIRTY TYRANTS. 
 
 373 
 
 ancle 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 Tkeramenes 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 
 hare 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. He 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 the 
 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 Callibius, 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 Saiamis, 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. 
 
 § 9. Thus the reign of terror was completely established. In 
 the bosom of the Thirty, however, there was a party, headed by 
 Theramenes, who disapproved of these proceedings. Thera- 
 menes was 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 
 ihe adherents of the Thirty were permitted to insert in b 
 
B.C. 404. 
 
 DEATH OF THEKAMENES. 
 
 875 
 
 whatever names they pleased. So little was the proscription 
 of a political character, that it extended to metics (resident 
 aliens) as well as to citizens; and under the metics 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 Lacedajmonians, or perhaps from 
 the personal hatred of Agis. After the battle of iEgospotami 
 
31 b 
 
 HlSTOftY OF GKEECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIII 
 
 Alcibiades felt himself insecure on the Thracian Chersonese, and 
 tied to Pharnabazus in Phrygia, not, however, without the loss o i 
 much of his wealth. lie 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 put 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 assassins, and set it on 
 fire. Alcibiades rushed out with drawn sword upon his assail¬ 
 ants, who shrank from his attack, but who slew him from 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 signa. 
 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, 
 and 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 zEgospotami, Lysander had not only caused his owd 
 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, 
 
 Tit RASY B ULUS 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 Hersea 
 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, a-s 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 ot the Athenian exiles had found refuge m Bceotia 
 and one of them, Thrasybulus, with the aid of Tsmenias 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 Odeun. 
 
3T8 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIII. 
 
 which he had partly tilled with LaceJremonian 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 
 lioplites in files of ten deep, posting behind them his slingers 
 and dartmen, whose missiles, owing to the rising ground, could 
 be hurled over the heads of the foremost ranks. Against them 
 Oritias 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 Oritias 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 Oritias 
 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 Libys 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 elicited 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, 
 
tf.C. 403. 
 
 THE THIRTY DEPOSED 
 
 379 
 
 and sent a herald to require them to disband and return to theii 
 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 appears to have taken place in the spring of 403 b. c. 
 The archons, the senate of 500, the public assembly, and the 
 dieasteries seem to have been reconstituted in the same form as 
 before the capture of the city. All 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 Pcecil6 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 theii’ rule 
 was not named after the archon, but was termed “ the year o! 
 
38C 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XXXlll 
 
 anarchy.” The first archon drawn after their fall was Euclidea 
 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 Tlirasybulus and 
 his party were wreaths of olive, and 1000 drachmae 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 XXXIY. 
 
 ATHENS AND ATHENIAN AND GRECIAN ART DURING THE PERIOD 
 
 OF HER EMPIRE. 
 
 § 1. Situation of Athena. § 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 Poecile' 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 
 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXI\ 
 
 SH2 
 
 peaceful but not less glorious pursuits of art, and to behold hoi 
 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 all, 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 
 Ihssus, 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 into 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 iEgean shore a city stands, 
 
 Built nobly ; pure the air, and light the soil: 
 
 Atncrs, the eye of Greece, mother of art i 
 And eicuuen.e, native to famous wit#;. 
 
Chap. XXXIV. 
 
 CITY OF ATHENS. 
 
 ?>8?> 
 
 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 Hymettus, 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. Pnvx Ecclesia. 4. Odeum of Pericles. 
 
 2. Thoseum. 5. Temple of the Olympian 
 
 3. Theatre of Dionysus. 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 Cecropidae. 
 from Cecrops, 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. XXXFV 
 
 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. 
 Idle new walk 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 Asty ,* 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 ol 
 Phalerum 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 44 miles from Athens, and contains three 
 natural harbours,—a large one on the western side, called simply 
 Pirceus 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 inclosed 
 vas toe vast to be easily defended ; and as the port of Phalerun 
 
 * Ta "A irru. 
 
iWa!\ XXXIV. ITS GENERAL APPEARANCE 
 
 385 
 
 was small and insignificant in comparison with the Piraeus, ana 
 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 
 •1 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 the 
 
 Gu 
 
 2 C 
 
 Athens and its Port-towns. 
 
386 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXI^ 
 
 magnificence of the public buildings. None of the houses werc- 
 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 of 
 citizens — native males above the age of twenty, enjoying the 
 franchise — w T as 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 the first has been already traced, and it is to the last 
 two subjects that we are now to devote our attention. The 
 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, the 
 age was probably excelled by the succeeding one of Sco y** 
 
Chap. XXXI \. 
 
 BEST PERIOD OE 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 Aeschylus 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 still 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. Pie 
 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 he was em¬ 
 ployed, in conjunction with Polygnotus, to decorate with paintings 
 a temple at Platsea. 
 
 Contemporary with these elder masters of the best period of 
 Greek 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 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXlV 
 
 Mb 
 
 as, foi instance, by Praxias and Androsthenes, who executed some 
 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 400, 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 were 
 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 sublimest 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 more 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 absolutely 
 nothing. The art of Poljcletus 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 temple 
 between Argos and Mycenae which always remained the ideal 
 
•Chap. XXXIV. SCULPTURE ANL 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 Eleutlieroe, a town on the borders of Attica and 
 Bceotia. He seems to have been younger than Phidias, and 
 was probably longer in attaining excellence, since he flourished 
 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 Pome. This, as well as most of his other works, was 
 in bronze. He excelled in representing youthful athlete ; 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 ol 
 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 watei 
 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 Poecile 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 
 
490 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIV 
 
 excelled in representing female beauty and corr plexion, 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 Lesche (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 in 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 Grsecia, 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 character 
 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¬ 
 tain which concealed his pi ;ture But the painting of Rarrhasiufc 
 
Chap. XXXIV. 
 
 MONUMENTS OF C1MON. 
 
 891 
 
 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. Plis 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. Having 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 Oimon, who was, like Pericles, 
 a lover and patron of the arts. The principal of these were the 
 small Ionic temple of Nik6 Apteros (Wingless Victory), tho 
 Tlieseum, or temple of Theseus, and the Poecilo Stoa. The 
 temple of Nike Apteros was only 27 feet in length by 18 in 
 
39 2 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chai\ XXXIV 
 
 breadth, and was erected on the Acropolis in commemoration 
 of (Jimon’s victory at the Eurymedoh. 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 view of it is 
 given on p. 216, and its position on the Acropolis, on one side 
 of the Propylsea, 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 ol 
 ancient Athens. (See drawing on p. 239.) It was at once & 
 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 iEginetan marbles, 
 and forms a connecting link between them and the sculptures 
 of the Parthenon. The Poecile Stoa, which ran along one side ol 
 the Agora, or market-place, was a long colonnade formed by 
 columns on one side and a wall on the other, against which were 
 placed the paintings, which were on panels.* 
 
 § 12. But it was the Acropolis which was the chief centre of 
 the architectural splendour of Athens. After the Persian wars 
 the Acropolis had ceased to be inhabited, and was appropriated 
 to the worship of Atliena, 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 qf PceciR {uroixixv. variegated nr p tintc<{ !, 
 
THE PR0PYL7EA. 
 
 393 
 
 lJiiaiv XXXIV. 
 
 Plan of the Acropolis. 
 
 1. Parthenon. 3. Propyleea. 
 
 2. ErechthBum. 4. Temple of Nlkri Apterog. 
 
 ft. Statue of Atnena Promachus. 
 
 in which the whiteness of the marble was relieved by brilliant 
 colours, and rendered still more dazzling by the transparent 
 clearness of the Athenian atmosphere. It was surrounded with 
 walls, 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 Propylaia,* 
 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, 4^ 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 froid 
 
 
394 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIV 
 
 ■stood the little temple of Nike Apteros already mentioned. (See 
 drawing on p. 273.) 
 
 § 13. On passing through the Propylsea 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 Parthenosj 
 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 u.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 
 stylobate, 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 (/'. e. 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 ( i . e. 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 south side related to the battle of the Athenians with thi* 
 
 * 
 
 House of the Virgin. 
 
 t A (ivc*. 
 
ulIAP. XXXtV. 
 
 THE PARTHENON. 
 
 39a 
 
 Centaurs. One of the metopes is figured on p. 321. 3. The 
 
 frieze which ran along outside the wall of the cello, and within 
 the externa, 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 *-s, 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 eight. She was girded with the 
 aegis, and had a helmet on her 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 Propyloea, 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 eonse 
 quently towered above the roof of the Parthenon, so that the 
 '♦oint of its spear and the crest of its helmet were visible oil’ 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.c. t of gold and ivory, from %(>v<rovs, golden , and iAs<pavT/vsj, of ivory. 
 
 f the Defender. 
 
396 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIV. 
 
 standing in a.d. 395, and is said to have scared away Alaric when 
 he came to sack the Acropolis. In the annexed coin the statue 
 of Athena Promachus and the Parthenon are represented on the 
 summit of the Acropolis : below is the cave of Pan, with a Right 
 of steps leading up to the top of the Acropolis. 
 
 Coin showing the Parthenon, Athena Promachus, and the Cave of Pan. 
 
 § 15. The only other monument on the summit of the Acro¬ 
 polis which it is necessary to describe is the Erechtheum, or 
 temple of Erechtheus. The Ereclitheum was the most revered oi 
 all the sanctuaries of Athens, and was closely connected with the 
 earliest legends of Attica. The traditions respecting Erechtheus 
 vary, but according to one set of them he was identical with 
 the god Poseidon. He was worshipped in his temple under the 
 name of Poseidon Erechtheus, and from the earliest times was 
 associated with Athena as one of the two protecting deities of 
 A thens. The original Erechtheum was burnt by the Persians, but 
 the new temple was erected on the ancient site. This could not 
 have been otherwise ; for on this spot was the sacred olive-tree 
 which Athena evoked from the earth in her contest with Posei¬ 
 don, and also the well of salt-water which Poseidon produced by 
 a stroke of his trident, the impression of which was seen upon 
 the rock. The building was also called the temple of Athena 
 Polias, because it contained a separate sanctuary of the goddess, 
 as well as her most ancient statue. The building of the new 
 Erechtheum was not commenced till the Parthenon and Propylca 
 were finished, and probably not before the year preceding the 
 breaking out of the Peloponnesian war. Its progress was no 
 doubt delayed by that event, and it was probably not completed 
 before 393 b.c. When finished it presented one of the finest 
 models of the Ionic order, as the Parthenon was of tne Doric. 
 It stood to the north of the latter building, and close to tht 
 northern wall of the Acropolis. The form of the Erechtheuin 
 differs from every known example of a Grecian temple. Usually 
 
Chap. XXXIV ERECHTIlElJM. DIONYSIAO THEATRE. 
 
 a Grecian temple was an oblong figure with a portico at each 
 extremity. The Erechtheum, on the contrary, though oblong in 
 shape, and having a portico at the eastern or principal front, had 
 i one at its western end, where, however, a portico projected 
 north and south from either side, thus forming a kind of tran¬ 
 sept This irregularity seems to have been chiefly owing to the 
 necessity of preserving the different sanctuaries and religious 
 objects belonging to the ancient temple. A view of it from the 
 north-west angle is given on p. 381. The roof of the southern 
 portico, as shown in the view, was supported by six Caryatides, 
 or figures of young maidens in long draperies, one of which is 
 figured on p. 357. 
 
 Such were the principal objects which adorned the Acropolis 
 at the time of which we are new speaking. Their general ap¬ 
 pearance will be best gathered from the engraving on p. 265. 
 
 § 16. Before quitting the city of Athens, there are two or 
 three other objects of interest which must be briefly described. 
 First, the Dionysiac theatre, which, as already stated, occupied 
 the slope at the south-eastern extremity of the Acropolis. The 
 middle of it was excavated out of the rock, and the rows of seats 
 ascended in curves one above anotner, the diameter increasing 
 with the height. It was no dcubt sufficiently large to accom¬ 
 modate the whole body of Athenian citizens, as well as the 
 strangers who flocked to Athens during the Dionysiac festival, 
 but its dimensions cannot now be accurately ascertained. It 
 had no roof, but the spectators were probably protected from 
 the sun by an awning, and from their elevated seats they had a 
 distinct view of the sea, and of the peaked hills of Salamis in 
 the horizon. A representation of this theatre viewed from 
 below is given on a brass coin of Athens. The seats for the 
 spectators are distinctly seen ; and on the top, the Parthenon in 
 the centre, with tte Propylma on the left. 
 
 Theatre of Dionysus, from coin. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIV. 
 
 *98 
 
 Close to the Dionysiac theatre on the east was the Odeum o 1 
 Pericles, a smaller kind of theatre, which seems t<> have been 
 chiefly designed for the rehearsal of musical performances. It 
 was covered with a conical roof, like a tent, in order to retain the 
 sound, and in its original state was perhaps actually covered with 
 the tent of Xerxes. It served as a refuge for the audience when 
 driven out of the theatre by rain, and as a place for training the 
 chorus. 
 
 The Areopagus * was a rocky height opposite the western end 
 of the Acropolis, from which it was separated only by some 
 hollow ground. It derived its name from the tradition that 
 Ares was brought to trial here before the assembled gods, by 
 Poseidon, for murdering Halirrhothius, the son of the latter. 
 It was here that the Council of Areopagus met, frequently called 
 the Upper Council, to distinguish it from the Council of Five 
 Hundred, which assembled in the valley below. The Areopagites 
 sat as judges in the open air, and two blocks of stone are still 
 to be seen, probably those which, according to the description of 
 Euripides,f were occupied respectively by the accuser and the 
 accused. The Areopagus was the spot where the Apostle Paul 
 preached to the men of Athens. At the south-eastern corner of 
 the rock is a wide chasm leading to a gloomy recess, containing 
 a fountain of very dark water. This was the sanctuary of the 
 Eumenides, called by the Athenians the Semn(e,% or Venerable 
 Goddesses. 
 
 The Pnyx, or place for holding the public assemblies of the 
 Athenians, stood on the side of a low rocky hill, at the distance 
 of about a quarter of a mile from the Areopagus. 
 
 Between the Pnyx on the west, the Areopagus oil the north, 
 and the Acropolis on the east, and closely adjoining the base of 
 these hills, stood the Agora (or market-place). Its exact bound¬ 
 aries cannot be determined. The Stoa Pcecile, already described, 
 ran along the western side of it, and consequently between it and 
 the Pnvx. In a direction from north-west to south-east a street 
 
 V 
 
 called the Cerainlcus ran diagonally through the Agora, entering 
 it through the valley between the Pnyx and the Areopagus. 
 The street was named after a district of the city, which was 
 divided into two parts, the Inner and Outer Ceramicus. The 
 former lay within the city walls, and included the Agora. The 
 Outer Ceramicus, which formed a handsome suburb on the 
 north-west of the city, was the burial-place of all persons ho¬ 
 noured with a public funeral. Through it ran the road to th' 
 
 * > x&yoi. or Hill of Ares (Mars) 
 
 t a.1 li/xya-t. 
 
 f Iphig. Taur. 961. 
 
Chap. XXXIY. STAlUE OF THE OLYMPIAN .10VE. 
 
 399 
 
 gymnasium and gardens of the Academy, which were situated 
 about a mile from the walls. The Academy was the place where 
 Plato and his disciples taught. On each side of this road were 
 monuments to illustrious Athenians, especially those who had 
 fallen in battle. 
 
 East of the city, and outside the walls, was the Lyceum, a 
 gymnasium dedicated to Apollo Lyceus, and celebrated as the 
 place in which Aristotle taught. 
 
 § 17. Space will allow us to advert only very briefly to two of 
 the most distinguished monuments of the art of this period out 
 of Attica. These are the temple of Jove at Olympia, and the 
 temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae, near Phigalia in Arcadia. 
 The former, built with the spoils of Pisa, was finished about the 
 year 435, It was of the Doric order, 230 feet long by 95 broad. 
 There are still a few remains of it. We have already adverted to 
 the circumstance of Phidias being engaged by the Eleans to exe¬ 
 cute some of the works here. His statue of the Olympian Jove 
 was reckoned his masterpiece, and one of the wonders of the 
 world. The idea which he essayed to embody in this work was 
 that of the supreme deity of the Hellenic nation, enthroned as a 
 conqueror, in perfect majesty and repose, and ruling with a nod 
 the subject world. The statue was about 40 feet high, on a 
 pedestal of 12 feet. The throne was of cedar-wood, adorned with 
 gold, ivory, ebony, pvecious stones, and colours. The god held 
 in his right hand an ivory and gold statue of Victory, and in his 
 left a sceptre, ornamented with all sorts of metals, and sur¬ 
 mounted by an eagle. The robe which covered the lower part 
 of the figure, as well as the sandals, was of gold. After the com¬ 
 pletion of the statue, Jove is related to have struck the pavement 
 in front of it with lightning in token of approbation. 
 
 § 18. The Doric temple of Apollo near Phigalia was built by 
 Ictinus, and finished about 430 b.c. It was 125 feet long by 
 47 broad. The frieze of this temple, which is preserved in the 
 British Museum, represents in alto-rilievo the combat of the 
 Centaurs and Amazons, with Apollo and Artemis hastening 
 to the scene in a chariot, drawn by stags. The sculpture 
 by no means equals that of the Parthenon, or even of the 
 rheseum. The figures are short and fleshy. Some of the 
 groups evidently indicate the influence of Attic art, and espe¬ 
 cially an imitation of the sculptures of the Theseum ; but in 
 general they may be regarded as affording a standard of the 
 difference between Athenian and Peloponnesian art at thia 
 period. 
 
CHAPTER XXXY. 
 
 
 HISTORY OF ATHENIAN LITERATURE DOWN TO THE END OF THR 
 
 PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 
 
 j 1. Characteristics of the early literature of Athens. § 2. Origin of the 
 drama. § 3. Introduction of the drama at Athens. Susarion, Thespis, 
 Phrynichus, Pratinas. § 4. /Eschylus. § 5. Sophocles. § 6. Euripides. 
 § 7. Athenian comedy. Cratinus, Eupolis, Aristophanes. § 8. Prose 
 writers of the period. Thucydides. § 9. Xenophon. § 10. Athenian 
 education. § 11. Rhetors and sophists. § 12. Life of Socrates. § 13. 
 How he differed from the sophists. § 14. Enmity against him. § 15. 
 His impeachment, trial, and death. 
 
 § 1. Although the lonians were one of the most intellectual of 
 the Grecian races, we have had as yet little occasion to mention 
 the Athenians in the literary history of Greece. In this path they 
 were at first outstripped by their colonists in Asia Minor. The 
 Asiatic Greeks, settled in a fertile and luxurious country, amongst 
 a race wealthier but far inferior to themselves, soon found those 
 means of ease and leisure which, to a certain degree at least, 
 seem necessary to the development of intellectual culture; 
 whilst at the same time their kinsmen in Attica were struggling 
 tor a bare existence, and were often hard pressed by the sur 
 
Chap. XXXV. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE DRAMA. 
 
 401 
 
 /ounding tribes. It was not till the time of Pisistratus and his 
 sons that we behold, the first dawn of literature at Athens. But 
 this literature was of an exotic growth ; the poets assembled at 
 the court of the Pisistratids were mostly foreigners ; and it was 
 only after the fall of that dynasty, and the establishment of more 
 liberal institutions at Athens, that we find the native genius 
 shooting forth with vigour. 
 
 It was probably the democratic nature of their new consti¬ 
 tution. combined with the natural vivacity of the people, which 
 caused Athenian literature to take that dramatic form which 
 pre-eminently distinguishes it. The democracy demanded a 
 literature of a popular kind, the vivacity of the people a litera¬ 
 ture that made a lively impression ; and both these conditions 
 were fulfilled by the drama. 
 
 § 2. Though the drama was brought to perfection among the 
 Athenians, it did not originate with them. Both tragedy and 
 comedy, in their rude and early origin, were Dorian inventions. 
 Both arose out of the worship of Dionysus. There was at first 
 but little distinction between these two species of the drama, 
 except that comedy belonged more to the rural celebration of the 
 Dionysiac festivals, and tragedy to that in cities. The name of 
 tragedy* was far from signifying any thing mournful, being de¬ 
 rived from the goat-like appearance of those who, disguised ae 
 satyrs, performed the old Dionysiac songs and dances. In like 
 manner, comedy f was called after the song of the band of revel¬ 
 lers,^; who celebrated the vintage festivals of Dionysus, and 
 rented the rude merriment inspired by the occasion in jibes and 
 extempore witticisms levelled at the spectators. It was among 
 the Mcgarians, both those in Greece and those in Sicily, whose 
 political institutions were democratieal, and who had a turn for 
 rough humour, that comedy seems first to have arisen. It was 
 long, however, before it assumed anything like a regular shape. 
 Epicharmus appears to have been the first who moulded the 
 wild and irregular Bacchic songs and dances into anything ap¬ 
 proaching a connected fable, or plot. He was born at Cos, 
 about b.c. 540, but spent the better part of his life at Syracuse. 
 He wrote his comedies some years before the Persian war, and 
 from the titles of them still extant it would appear that the 
 greater part of them were travesties of heroic myths. They 
 ; seem, however, to have contained an odd mixture of sententious 
 wisdom and broad buffoonery, for Epicharmus was a Pythago¬ 
 rean philosopher as well as a comic poet. 
 
 rjAynZia .—literally “ the goat-jsong/’ 
 
 I » UtfJ.CS. 
 
 Ok. ' 2d 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chai*. XXXV 
 
 402 
 
 § 3. Comedy, in its rude and early state, was introduced into 
 Attica long before the time of Epicharmus by Susarion, a native 
 of Tripodiscus, in Megara. It was at Icaria, an Attic village 
 noted for the worship of Dionysus, where Susarion had taken up 
 his residence, that he first represented comedy, such as it then 
 existed among the Megarians, in the year 578 b.c. The per¬ 
 formances of Susarion took no root; and we hear nothing more 
 of comedy in Attica for nearly a hundred years. 
 
 It was during this interval that tragedy was introduced into 
 Attica, and continued to be successfully cultivated. We have 
 already observed that tragedy, like comedy, arose out of the 
 worship of Dionysus ; but tragedy, in its more perfect form, 
 was the offspring of the dithyrambic odes with which that wor¬ 
 ship was celebrated. These were not always of a joyous cast. 
 Some of them expressed the sufferings of Dionysus ; and it was 
 from this more mournful species of dithyramb that tragedy, 
 properly so called, arose. Arion introduced great improvements 
 into the Dithyrambic odes.* 1 They formed a kind of lyrical 
 tragedy, and were sung by a chorus of fifty men, dancing round 
 the altar of Dionysus. The improvements in the Dithyramb 
 were introduced by Arion at Corinth ; and it was chiefly among 
 the Dorian states of the Peloponnesus that these choral dithy¬ 
 rambic songs prevailed. Hence, even in Attic tragedy, the chorus, 
 which was the foundation of the drama, was written in the Doric 
 dialect, thus clearly betraying the source from which the Athe¬ 
 nians derived it. 
 
 In Attica an important alteration was made in the old tragedy 
 in the time of Pisistratus, in consequence of which it obtained 
 a new and dramatic character. This innovation is ascribed to 
 Thespis, a native of the Attic village of Icaria. It consisted in 
 the introduction of an actor, for the purpose, it is said, of giving 
 rest to the chorus. He probably appeared in that capacity him¬ 
 self, taking various parts in the same piece by means of dis¬ 
 guises effected by linen masks. Thus by his successive appear¬ 
 ance in different characters, and by the dialogue which he main¬ 
 tained with the chorus, or rather with its leader, a dramatic fable 
 of tolerable complexity might be represented. The first repre¬ 
 sentation given by Thespis was in 535 b.c. He was succeeded 
 by Chcerilus and Phrynichus, the latter of whom gained his first 
 prize in the dramatic contests in 511 b.c. He deviated from the 
 hitherto established custom in making a contemporary event 
 the subject of one of his dramas. His tragedy on the capture of 
 »liletus was so pathetic that the audience were melted into 
 
 * Sw p. 132. 
 
Chai*. XXXV. 
 
 iESCHYLUS. 
 
 ♦ 403 
 
 tears ; but the subject was considered so ill-chosen that he was 
 fined a thousand drachmae.* The only other dramatist whom 
 we need mention before iEschylus is the Dorian Pratinas, a 
 native of Phlius, but who exhibited his tragedies at Athens. 
 Pratinas was one of the improvers of tragedy by separating 
 the satyric from the tragic drama. As neither the popular 
 taste nor the ancient religious associations connected with 
 the festivals of Dionysus would have permitted the chorus of 
 Satyrs to be entirely banished from the tragic representations, 
 Pratinas avoided this by the invention of whr.c is called the 
 Satyric drama ; that is, a species of play in which the ordinary 
 subjects of tragedy were treated in a lively ai d farcical man¬ 
 ner, and in which the chorus consisted of a band of Satyrs in 
 appropriate dresses and masks. After this period it became 
 customary to exhibit dramas in tetralogies , or sets of four; 
 namely, a tragic trilogy , or series of three tragedies, followed by 
 a Satyric play. These were often on connected subjects ; and 
 the Satyric drama at the end served like a merry after-piece to 
 relieve the minds of the spectators. 
 
 The subjects of Greek tragedy were taken, with few exceptions, 
 from the national mythology. Hence the plot and story were 
 of necessity known to the spectators, a circumstance which 
 strongly distinguishes the ancient tragedy from the modern. It 
 must also be recollected that the representation of tragedies 
 did not take place every day, but only, after certain fixed inter¬ 
 vals, at the festivals of Dionysus, of which they formed one of 
 the greatest attractions. During the whole day the Athenian 
 public sat in the theatre witnessing tragedy after tragedy ; and 
 a prize was awarded by judges appointed for the purpose to the 
 pcet who produced the best set of dramas. 
 
 § 4. Such was Attic tragedy when it came into the hands of 
 .Eschylus, who, from the great improvements which he intro¬ 
 duced, was regarded by the Athenians as its father or founder 
 just as Homer was of Epic poetry, and Herodotus of History. 
 Eschylus was born at Eleusis in Attica in b.c. 525, and was thus 
 contemporary with Simonides and Pindar. His father, Eupho- 
 riou, may possibly have been connected with the worship of 
 Demeter at Eleusis ; and hence, perhaps, were imbibed those 
 religious impressions which characterized the poet through 
 life. His first play was exhibited in b.c. 500, when he was 21 
 years of age. He fought with his brother Cynsegirus at the 
 battle of Marathon,f and also at those of Artemisium, Salamis, 
 and Flatcea. In b.c. 484 he gained his first tragic prize. The 
 
 * See p. 169. t See p. 178. 
 
 2 d 2 
 
404 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXV 
 
 » 
 
 first of his extant dramas, the Person was not brought out till 
 b.c. 472, when he gained the prize with the trilogy of which it 
 formed one of the pieces. In 468 he was defeated in a tragic 
 contest by his younger rival Sophocles ; shortly afterwards he 
 retired to the court of king Hiero, at Syracuse. In 467 Hiero 
 died ; and in 458 Aeschylus must have returned to Athens, 
 since he produced his trilogy of the Oresteia in that year. This 
 trilogy, which was composed of the tragedies of the Agamemnon. 
 the Choephorce , and the Eumenides , is remarkable as the only one 
 that has come down to us in anything like a perfect shape. His 
 defence of the Areopagus, however, contained in the last of these 
 three dramas, proved unpalatable to the new and more demo¬ 
 cratic generation which had now sprung up at Athens; and 
 either from disappointment or fear of the consequences Aeschy¬ 
 lus again quitted Athens and retired once more to Sicily. On 
 this occasion he repaired to Gela, where he died in b.c. 456, in 
 the 69th year of his age. It is unanimously related that an eagle, 
 mistaking the poet’s bald head for a stone, let a tortoise fall 
 upon it in order to break the shell, thus fulfilling an oracle pre¬ 
 dicting that he was to die by a blow from heaven. After his 
 death, his memory was held in high reverence at Athens. A 
 decree was passed that a chorus should be provided at the public 
 expense for any one who might wish to revive his tragedies ; and 
 hence it happened that they were frequently reproduced upon 
 the stage. 
 
 The improvements introduced into tragedy by Aeschylus 
 concerned both its form and composition and its manner ol 
 representation. In the former his principal innovation was the 
 introduction of a second actor ; whence arose the dialogue, pro¬ 
 perly so called, and the limitation of the choral parts, which 
 now became subsidiary. His improvements in the manner ol 
 representing tragedy consisted in the introduction of painted 
 scenes, drawn according to the rules of perspective, for which he 
 availed himself of the pictorial skill of Agatharchus. He fur¬ 
 nished the actors with more appropriate and more magnificent 
 dresses, invented for them more various and expressive masks, 
 and raised their stature to the heroic size by providing them 
 with thick soled cothurni or buskins. He paid great attention 
 to the choral dances, and invented several new figures.* 
 
 The genius of ACschylus inclined rather to the awful and sub 
 
 *-“ pu'sonaj palHque repertor honest# 
 
 iEschylus, et. mod ids instravit pulpita tignis, 
 
 Ft docuit inagnumqi.e loqui, nitique cothumn.” 
 
 Hor., Ar. Poet. 278 
 
(friAP. XXXV. 
 
 SOPHOCLES 
 
 406 
 
 time than to the tender and pathetic. He excels in representing 
 the superhuman, in depicting demigods and heroes, and in tracing 
 the irresistible march of fate. His style resembles the ideas 
 which it clothes. It is bold, sublime, and full of gorgeous 
 imagery, but sometimes borders on the turgid.* 
 
 § 5. Sophocles, the younger rival and immediate successor of 
 JEschylus in the tragic art, was born’at Colonus, a village about 
 a mile from Athens, in b.c. 495. We know little of his family, 
 except that his father’s name was Sopliilus ; but that he was 
 carefully trained in music and gymnastics appears from the fact 
 that in his sixteenth year he was chosen to lead, naked, and with 
 lyre in hand, the chorus which danced round the trophy, and 
 sang the hymns of triumph, on the occasion of the victory oi 
 Salamis (b.c. 480). We have already adverted to his wresting 
 the tragic prize from Aeschylus in 468, which seems to have 
 been his first appearance as a dramatist. This event was ren¬ 
 dered very striking by the circumstances under which it occurred. 
 The Archon Eponymus had not yet appointed the judges of the 
 approaching contest, respecting which public expectation and 
 party feeling ran very high, when Cimon and his nine colleagues 
 in command entered the theatre, having just returned from 
 Scyros. After they had made the customary libations to Dio¬ 
 nysus, the archon detained them at the altar and administered 
 to them the oath appointed for the judges in the dramatic con¬ 
 tests. Their decision, as we have said, was in favour of Sopho¬ 
 cles. From this time forwards he seems to have retained the 
 almost undisputed possession of the Athenian stage, until a 
 young but formidable rival arose in the person of Euripides. 
 In 440 we find Sophocles elected one of the 10 Strategi, of whom 
 Pericles was the chief, to conduct the expedition against Samos ; 
 an honour which he is said to have owed to his play of the 
 Antigone , which was brought out in the spring of that year, and 
 which is the earliest of his extant dramas. He was now 55 
 years of age, yet his poetical life seemed only beginning. From 
 this time to his death was the period of his greatest literary 
 activity ; but of his personal history we have few details. He 
 was one of the ten elders, or Probouli , a sort of committee ol 
 public safety appointed by the Athenians after the failure of the 
 Sicilian expedition, unless indeed the Sophocles mentioned on 
 that occasion by Thucydides be some other person. The close 
 
 /Eschylus is said to have written seventy tragedies ; but only seven art 
 extant, which were probably represented in the following order : the Persian?. 
 B.c. 472; the Seven against Thebes , B.c. 471 ; the Suppliants ; the Pro¬ 
 metheus ; the Agamemnon, Choephorae , and Eumcnides, B.c. 458. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XX X\. 
 
 106 
 
 of his lifs was troubled with family dissensions. Iophon, his 
 son by an Athenian wife, and therefore his legitimate heir, was 
 jealous of the affection manifested by his father for his grandson 
 Sophocles, the offspring of another son, Ariston, whom he had 
 had by a Sicyonian woman. Fearing lest his father should 
 bestow a great part of his property upon his favourite, Iophon 
 summoned him before the Phratores, or tribesmen, on the ground 
 that his mind was affected. The old man’s only reply was—“ If 
 I am Sophocles I am not beside myself; and if I am beside 
 myself I am not Sophocles.” Then taking up his Edipus at Co- 
 lonuSy which he had lately written, but had not yet brought out, 
 he read from it the beautiful passage beginning— 
 
 Ev'iwwou, |m, raohi — 
 
 with which the judges were so struck that they at once dis¬ 
 missed the case. He died shortly afterwards in b.c. 406, in his 
 90th vear. 
 
 v 
 
 As a poet Sophocles is universally allowed to have brought 
 the drama to the greatest perfection of which it is susceptible. 
 His plays stand in the just medium between the sublime but 
 unregulated flights of iEschylus, and the too familiar scenes and 
 rhetorical declamations of Euripides. His plots are worked up 
 with more skill and care than th-3 plots of either of his great 
 rivals : that of the Edipus Tyrannus in particular is remarkable 
 for its skilful development, and for the manner in which the in¬ 
 terest of the piece increases through each succeeding act. So¬ 
 phocles added the last improvement to the form of the drama 
 by the introduction of a third actor ; a change which greatly 
 enlarged the scope of the action. The improvement was so 
 obvious that it was adopted by iEschylus in his later plays; but 
 the number of three actors seems to have been seldom or never 
 exceeded. Sophocles also made considerable alterations in the 
 choral parts, by curtailing the length of the songs, and by giving 
 the chorus itself the character of an impartial spectator and 
 judge, rather than that of a deeply interested party which it 
 often assumes in the plays of HCschylus.* 
 
 § 6. Euripides was born in the island of Salamis, in b.c. 480, 
 his parents having been among those who fled thither at the 
 time of the invasion of Attica by Xerxes. In early life he prac¬ 
 tised painting with some success, but he devoted himself with 
 
 5)1 Sophocles is said to hare written 117 tragedies, hut of these only seven 
 are extant, which are to be ranked, probably, in the following chronological 
 order: the Antigone, B.c. 440; Electra ; Trachiniec; (Ediprus Tyrannus; 
 Ajax; Philoctetcs, n.C- 409 ; (Edipus at Colonus , brought out by the younger 
 ‘Sophocles B.C. 401. 
 
Ciiap. XXXV. 
 
 EUKIPIDEi 
 
 407 
 
 still more earnestness to philosophy and literature. He studied 
 rhetoric under Prodicu3, and physics under Anaxagoras, and also 
 lived on intimate terms with Socrates. He is said to have written 
 a tragedy at the age of 18 ; but the first play brought out in his 
 own name was acted in b. c. 455, when he was 25 years of age 
 It was not, however, till 441 that he gained his first prize, and 
 from this time he continued to exhibit plays until b.c. 408, the 
 date of his Orestes. Soon after this he repaired to the court of 
 Macedonia, at the invitation of King Archelaiis, where he died 
 two years afterwards at the age of 74 (b.c. 406). Common report 
 relates that he was torn to pieces by the king’s dogs, which, 
 according to some accounts, were set upon him by two rival 
 poets out of envy. 
 
 Euripides received tragedy perfect from the hands of his pre¬ 
 decessors, and we do not find that he made any changes in its 
 outward form. But he varied from them considerably in the 
 poetical mode of handling it, and his innovations in this respect 
 were decidedly for the worse. He converted the prologue into a 
 vehicle for the exposition of the whole plot, in which he not 
 only informs the spectator of what has happened up to that 
 moment, but frequently also of what the result or catastrophe 
 will be. In his hands too the chorus grew feebler, and its odes 
 less connected with the subject of the drama, so that they might 
 frequently belong to any other piece just as well as to the one in 
 which they were inserted. In treating his characters and subjects 
 he often arbitrarily departed from the received legends, and dimi¬ 
 nished the dignity of tragedy by depriving it of its ideal cha¬ 
 racter, and by bringing it down to the level of every day life. His 
 dialogue was garrulous and colloquial, wanting in heroic dignity, 
 and frequently frigid through misplaced philosophical disquisi¬ 
 tions. Yet in spite of all these faults Euripides has many 
 beauties, and is particularly remarkable for pathos, so that Aris¬ 
 totle calls him “the most tragic of poets." Eighteen of the tra¬ 
 gedies of Euripides are still extant, omitting the Rhesus , the ge¬ 
 nuineness of which there are good reasons for doubting. One 
 of them, the Cyclops, is particularly interesting as the only extant 
 specimen of the Greek satyric drama.* 
 
 § 7. Comedy was revived at Athens by Chionides and his con¬ 
 temporaries, about b.c. 488 ; but it received its full development 
 
 * The following is a list of his extant plays: the Alcestis, B.C. 438, 
 Medea, 431 ; Hippolytus, 438; Hecuba, about 424 ; Heraclklce, about 421 ; 
 Supplices, Ton, Hercules Furens, Andromache; Troadcs, 415; Elcctra; 
 Helena, 425; Iphigsnia in Tauris; Orestes, 408; Phocnissce, Bacchoe, and 
 Iphigcnia in Anlis were brought out after the death of Euripides by his son. 
 ‘he younger Euripides. The date of the Cyclops is quite uncertain. 
 
408 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Oh a i*. XXXV 
 
 from Cratinus, who lived in the age of Pericles. Cratinus, and 
 his younger contemporaries, Eupolis and Aristophanes, were 
 the three great poets of what is called the Old Attic Comedy* 
 The comedies of Cratinus and Eupolis are lost ; but of Aristo¬ 
 phanes, who was the greatest of the three, we have eleven dramas 
 extant. Aristophanes was born about 444 b.c. Of his private 
 life we know positively nothing. He exhibited his first comedy 
 in 427, and from that time till near his death, which probably 
 happened about 380, he was a frequent contributor to the Attic 
 stage.! 
 
 The old Attic comedy was a powerful vehicle for the expres¬ 
 sion of opinion ; and most of the comedies of Aristophanes, and 
 those ofliis contemporaries likewise, turned either upon politica. 
 occurrences, or upon some subject which excited the interest of 
 the Athenian public. Their chief object was to excite laughter 
 by the boldest and most ludicrous caricature ; and provided that 
 end was attained the poet seems to have cared but little about 
 the justice of the picture. A living historian has well remarked, 
 “ Never probably will the full and unshackled force of comedy 
 be so exhibited again. Without having Aristophanes actually 
 before us it would have been impossible to imagine the un¬ 
 measured and unsparing licence of attack assumed by the old 
 comedy upon the gods, the institutions, the politicians, philo¬ 
 sophers, poets, private citizens, specially named—and even the 
 women, whose life was entirely domestic—of Athens. With thi3 
 universal liberty in respect of subject there is combined a 
 poignancy of derision and satire, a fecundity of imagination and 
 variety of turns, and a richness of poetical expression such as 
 cannot be surpassed, and such as fully explains the admiration 
 expressed for him by the philosopher Plato, who in other respects 
 must have regarded him with unquestionable disapprobation. 
 His comedies are popular in the largest sense of the word, ad¬ 
 dressed to the entire body of male citizens on a day consecrated 
 to festivity, and providing for their amusement or derision with 
 a sort of drunken abundance, out of all persons or things stand¬ 
 ing in any way prominent before the public eye.”! In illustration 
 of the preceding remarks we may refer to the Knights of Aris¬ 
 tophanes, as an example of the boldness of his attacks on one 
 
 * Eupolis atque Cratinus Aristophanesque poctae, 
 
 Atque alii quorum comccdia prisca virorum est. 
 
 Hon. Sat. i. 4. 
 
 f The eleven extant dramas are : the Acharnians, B.C. 425; Knights , 424 ; 
 Clouds, 423; Wasps, 422 ; Peace, 419; Birds, 414; Lysistrata, 411; The s- 
 ’vophoriazmec , 411 ; Plntus, 408; Frogs, 405; Ecclesiaznsce, 392. 
 
 I Grote's [list . of Greece , vol. viii. p. 450. 
 
Chap XXXW 
 
 ARISTOPHANES. 
 
 409 
 
 of the leading political characters of the iay—the demagogue 
 Cleon ; whilst the Clouds, in which Socrates is held up to ridicule, 
 and the Thesmophoriazusce and Frogs, containing slashing on¬ 
 slaughts on Euripides, show that neither the greatest philo¬ 
 sophers nor the most popular poets were secure. Even Pericles 
 himself is now and then bespattered with ridicule, and the aver¬ 
 sion of the poet for the Peloponnesian war is shown in many of 
 his dramas. From the nature of his plays it would be absurd, 
 as some have done, to quote them gravely as historical autho¬ 
 rity ; though, with due allowance for comic exaggeration, they no 
 doubt afford a valuable comment on the politics, literature, and 
 manners of the time. Nor can it be doubted that, under all his 
 bantering, Aristophanes often strove to serve the views of the 
 old aristocratical party, of which he was an adherent. The more 
 serious political remarks were commonly introduced into that 
 part of the chorus called the parabasis, when, the actors having 
 left the stage, the choreutee turned round, and, advancing towards 
 the spectators, addressed them in the name of the poet. Towards 
 the end of the career of Aristophanes the unrestricted licence 
 and libellous personality of comedy began gradually to disappear 
 The chorus was first curtailed and then entirely suppressed, and 
 thus made way for what is called the Middle Comedy, which had 
 no chorus at all. The Flutus of Aristophanes, which contains no 
 political allusions, exhibits an approach to this phase. 
 
 An extract from the Knights of Aristophanes will give some 
 idea of the unmeasured invective in which the poet indulged. 
 The chorus come upon the stage, and thus commence their attack 
 upon Cleon 
 
 Ciose around him, and confound him, the confounder of us all, 
 
 Pelt him, pummel him, and maul him ; rummage, ransack, overhaul him 
 Overbear him and outbawl him; bear him down, and bring him under 
 Bellow like a burst of thunder, Robber ! harpy ! sink of plunder! 
 
 Rogue and villain! rogue and cheat! rogue and villain, 1 repeat! 
 
 Oftener than I can repeat it, has the rogue and villain cheated. 
 
 Close around him, left and right; spit upon him, spurn and smite: 
 
 Spit upon him as you see; spurn and spit at him like me. 
 
 But beware, or he’ll evade ye, for he knows the private track 
 Where Eucrates was seen escaping with his mill-dust on his back. 
 
 Cleon. 
 
 Worthy veterans of the jury, you that, either right or wrong. 
 
 With my threepenny provision, I’ve maintained and cherished long, 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Rightly served ! we serve you rightly, for your hungry love of pelf 
 For youi gross and greedy rapine, gormandizing by yourselt; 
 
410 
 
 HISTORY OF GREPICE. 
 
 Chap. XXXV. 
 
 Von that, ere the figs are gathered, pilfer with a privy twitch 
 Fat delinquents and defaulters, pulpy, luscious, plump, and rich ; 
 
 Pinching, fingering, and pulling—tampering, selecting, culling, 
 
 With a nice survey discerning which are green and which are turning 
 Which are ripe for accusation, forfeiture, and confiscation. 
 
 Him, besides, the wealthy man, retir’d upon an easy rent, 
 
 Hating and avoiding party, noble-minded, indolent, 
 
 Fearful of official snares, intrigues, and intricate affairs; 
 
 Him you mark ; you fix and hook him, whilst he’s gaping unawares, 
 
 At a fling, at once you bring him hither from the Chersonese, 
 
 Down you cast him, roast and baste him, and devour him at your ease. 
 
 Cleon. 
 
 Yes 1 assault, insult, abuse me! this is the return I find 
 For the noble testimony, the memorial I designed : 
 
 Meaning to propose proposals for a monument of stone, 
 
 On the which your late achievements should be carved and neatly done. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Out, away with him ! the slave ! the pompous, empty, fawning knave 
 Does he think with idle speeches to delude and cheat us all ? 
 
 As he does the doting elders that attend his daily call. 
 
 Pelt him here, and bang him there ; and here and there and eveiywfie •e. 
 
 Cleon. 
 
 Save me, neighbours ! 0 the monsters ! 0 my side, my back, my breast i 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 What, you’re forced to call for help ? you brutal, overbearing pest.* 
 
 § 8. Of the prose writers of this period, Thucydides is by far 
 tne greatest. Herodotus, who belongs to the same period, and 
 who was only a few years older than Thucydides, has been no¬ 
 ticed in a previous chapter. 
 
 Thucydides was an Athenian, and was born in the year 471 
 b.c. His father was named Olorus, and his mother '.’egesipyl6, 
 and his family was connected with that of Miltiades and Cimon. 
 Thucydides appears to have been a man of wealth ; and we know 
 from his own account that he possessed gold mines in Thrace, 
 and enjoyed great influence in that country. We also learn 
 from himself that he was one of the sufferers from the great 
 plague at Athens, and among the few who recovered. He com¬ 
 manded an Athenian squadron of seven ships at Thasos, in 424 
 b.c., at the time when Brasidas was besieging Amphipolis; and, 
 having failed to relieve that city in time, he went into a volun¬ 
 tary exile, in order probably to avoid the punishment of death. 
 Ho appears to have spent 20 years in banishment principally ir 
 
 * Translated by Mr. Frare 
 
Uhai\ XXXV. 
 
 THUCYDIDES. XENOPHOX. 
 
 4 L1 
 
 the Peloponnesus, or in places under the dominion or influence 
 of Sparta. He perhaps returned to Athens in b. c. 403, the date 
 of its liberation by Thrasybulus. According to the unanimous 
 testimony of antiquity he met with a violent end, and it seems 
 probable that he was assassinated at Athens, since it cannot be 
 doubted that his tomb existed there ; but some authorities place 
 the scene of his death in Thrace. From the beginning of the 
 Peloponnesian war he had designed to write its history, and he 
 employed himself in collecting materials for that purpose during 
 its continuance ; but it is most likely that the work was not 
 actually composed till after the conclusion of the war, and that 
 he was engaged upon it at the time of his death. Some critics 
 are even of opinion that the 8th and concluding book is not from 
 his hand ; but there seems to be little ground for this assump¬ 
 tion, though he may not have revised it with the same care as 
 the former books. 
 
 Such are all the authentic particulars that can be stated re¬ 
 specting the greatest of the Athenian historians. It is only 
 necessary to add a short account of his work. The first book is 
 introductory, and contains a rapid sketch of Grecian history 
 from the remotest times to the breaking out of the war, accom¬ 
 panied with an explanation of the events and causes which led 
 to it, and a digression on the rise and progress of the Athenian 
 power. The remaining seven books are filled with the details 
 of the war, related according to the division into summers and 
 winters, into which all campaigns naturally fall; and the work 
 breaks off abruptly in the middle of the 21st year of the war 
 (b.c. 411). It is probable that the division of his history into 
 books was the work of the Alexandrine critics, and that as it 
 came from the hands of the author it formed a continuous nar¬ 
 rative. The materials of Thucydides were collected with the 
 most scrupulous care ; the events are related with the strictest 
 impartiality ; and the work probably offers a more exact account 
 of a long and eventful period than any other contemporary his¬ 
 tory, whether ancient or modern, of an equally long and import¬ 
 ant sera. The style of Thucydides is brief and sententious, and 
 whether in moral or political reasoning, or in description, gains 
 wonderful force from its condensation. It is this brevity and 
 simplicity that renders his account of the plague of Athens so 
 striking and tragic. But this characteristic is sometimes carried 
 to a faulty extent, so as to render his style harsh, and his mean¬ 
 ing obscure. 
 
 § 9. Xenophon properly belongs to the next period of Grecian 
 history, but the subject of the earlier portion of his History is 
 so intimately connected with the work of Thucydides, that it 
 
412 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXV 
 
 Vv-ill be more convenient to speak of him in the present place. 
 Xenophon was the son of Gryllus, an Athenian, and was pro¬ 
 bably bora about b. c. 444. Socrates is said to have saved his 
 life in the battle of Delium, which was fought in b. c. 424, and 
 as we know that he lived to a much later period, he could hardly 
 have been more than 20 at the time of this battle. Xenophon 
 was a pupil of Socrates, and we are also told that he received 
 instructions from Prodicus of Ceos, and from Isocrates. His 
 accompanying Cyrus the younger in his expedition against his 
 brother Artaxerxes, king of Persia, formed a striking episode in 
 his life, and has been recorded by himself in his Anabasis; but 
 as we shall have occasion to relate this event in our next book, 
 we need not touch upon it here. He seems to have been still 
 in Asia at the time of the death of Socrates in 399 b. c., and was 
 probably banished from Athens soon after that period, in conse¬ 
 quence of his close connexion with the Lacedmmonian autho¬ 
 rities in Asia. He accompanied Agesilaus, the Spartan king, on 
 the return of the latter from Asia to Greece ; and he fought 
 along with the Lacedaemonians against his own countrymen at 
 the battle of Coronea in 394 b. c. A fter this battle he went with 
 Agesilaus to Sparta, and soon afterwards settled at Scillus in 
 Elis, near Olympia, where he was joined by his wife and children. 
 His time seems to have been agreeably spent at this residence 
 in hunting, and other rural diversions, as well as in literary pur¬ 
 suits ; and he is said to have composed here his Anabasis , and a 
 part, if not the whole of the Iiellenica. 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¬ 
 bable 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 conveys 
 much curious and striking information. The HellenXca 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 Mantinea 
 
Crap. XXXV. 
 
 SOPHISTS. 
 
 413 
 
 in 362. The subject is treated in a very dry and uninteresting 
 style ; and his evident partiality to Sparta, and dislike of Athens, 
 have frequently warped his judgment, and 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 
 the work are derived from his own philosophical notions and the 
 asages 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 pedagogue, 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 kEsop 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 ccmprised 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 son* 
 
414 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXV 
 
 of tlie more wealthy citizens attended the classes of the rhetors; 
 tnd 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 aud 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 
 luring the fifth century before the Christian sera, and which 
 often obliged a public man to confute an adversary, to defend 
 iimself from an attack, or to persuade a public assembly, ren¬ 
 dered it necessary for him to obtain some knowledge of rhetoric 
 and 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 
 .he 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. 
 d lius 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 ot 
 “Sophist” begai: 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 
 shown by a brief account of his life. 
 
 Socrates was born in the year 468 b.c. in the deme of Alcpece, 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of Athens. His father, So- 
 phroniscus, was a sculptor, and Socrates was brought up to, and 
 for 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, Phmnaretb, 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 
 scold. 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 Potidma, 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 Potidaea (b.c. 432), Delium (b.c. 424), and Amphipolis 
 (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 m 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 manner 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 little 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 : 1. 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 Megaric 
 
Chap. XXXV. 
 
 SOCRATES. 
 
 
 school, Aiistippus, the founder ol the (Jyrenaic school 5 and man^y 
 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 j hut in his case this feeling was increased by 
 the manner in which he fulfilled his mission. The oracle ol 
 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 
 B. 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 
 * wa,s 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 allow of submission it is probable that the sentence 
 Gr. 2 E 
 
418 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXV. 
 
 would have l)3en mitigated. Hut his 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 public 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 
 one 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- 
 oellished, 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 :— 
 H 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. 
 
 * lu allusion to the sacrifice usually offered by sick persons to that dcitj 
 m their recovery. 
 
 Bust of Socrates 
 
The Pactolus at Sardis. 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES. 
 
 B.C. 403—371. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYI. 
 
 THE EXPEDITION OF THE GREEKS UNDER CYRUS, AND RETREAT OF 
 
 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 Euphrates, 
 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 Trapezes on tl.e 
 Euxine. § 13. March along the coast of the Euxine to Chrysopolis 
 
 2 e 2 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XXXV; 
 
 l‘2( 
 
 Passage to Byzantium. § 14. Proceedings at Byzantium. § 15. Tin 
 
 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 Lacedaemonian, 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 b.c. 401, that 
 the enterprise of Cyrus was ripe for execution. The Greek levies 
 were then withdrawn from the various towns in which they were 
 listribnted. and concentrated in Sardis, to the number of 7700 
 

 Route of the T<jn Thousand 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXV L. 
 
 hoplites, and 500 light-armed troops ; and in March or April ol 
 this year Cyrus marched from Sardis with them, and with au 
 army of 100,000 Asiatics. The object of the expedition was pro 
 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 
 Xenophon, 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 Colossas ho arrived at Celaense, 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 Peltse, Ceramon Agora, the Plain 
 of Cayster, 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 
 enough 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. 
 
 From 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. He 
 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. But, when Cyrus arrived at Tarsus, Syennesis, 
 rt the first invitation of his wife, repaired thither, and furnished 
 
B.C. 401- 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE EUPHRATES. 
 
 42j 
 
 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 the 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 mise 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 Myriandrus, 
 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 formally 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 
 
 ow. scarcely reaching to the breast; and Abrocomas made nr 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXVi. 
 
 attempt to dispute the passage. The army now 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 toil¬ 
 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 tak« 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 army 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 afher passing the trench, on arriving at a place called 
 Gunaxa, 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 consequently 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. In front 
 
fl.C. 401. 
 
 BATTLE OF CUNAXA. 
 
 425 
 
 was a line of charic ts, 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 Cyrus 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-precaution 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 heariug 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 
 ?mne and take them.” But they were in a difficult position 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXVi 
 
 42f> 
 
 They were desirous that Ariteus, who now commanded the arm) 
 of Cyrus, should lay claim to the Persian crown, and offered tc 
 support his pretensions ; but Ariteus 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 Ariseus, 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 false 
 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 
 ■:om« parade stated that he had with great difficulty obtained 
 
8.C. 401. 
 
 RETREAT 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 oi 
 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 Ariaeus received from Artaxerxes, with pro¬ 
 mises of oblivion and forgiveness of his past conduct. At length, 
 however, Tissaphernes returned, and undertook the direction oi 
 the homeward march. 
 
 § 8. The troops of Ariaeus 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 Caense, 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 locliages, or captains, 
 and 200 soldiers, entered the Persian camp, according to appoint¬ 
 ment, the captains and soldiers were immediately cut down j 
 whilst the five generals were seized, put into irons, and sent to 
 
428 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXV1 
 
 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 Ariseus 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 rmlighted 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 partly 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 the Greater Zab, 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 bodj 
 
R.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 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXVI 
 
 430 
 
 of the river, which was 200 feet broad, up to the neck in depth 
 with a rapid current and slippery bottom. All the efforts x 
 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 the 
 stream, oy 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 Teleboas. Here 
 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 deep 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 day they pro¬ 
 ceeded on their way, ascending the banks of the Phasis, not the 
 celebrated river of that name, but probably the one usually 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. 
 The chief of this place having engaged to conduct them within 
 sight of the Euxine, they proceeded for five days under his 
 guidance ; when, after ascending a mountain, the sea suddenly 
 burst on the view of the vanguard The men proclaimed their 
 
BC. 401 . ARRIVE AT TRAPEZUS, ON THE ETJX1NE. 
 
 -.-31 
 
 joy by loud shouts of “ The sea ! the sea ! ” The rest of the 
 army hurried to the summit, and 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 spct ; 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 Colcliian 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 part 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 or that element. 
 “ Comrades,” exclaimed a Thurian soldier, “ 1 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 1 
 should fixe 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, like 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, 
 olfered 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 
 
 [ifSTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXVI. 
 
 m base Chirisophus should fail in obtaining the requisite supply 
 That officer delayed to return ; provisions grew scarce, and the 
 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 which 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 Mosynseci 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 Sinope 
 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 Sinopd. A 
 passage of 24 hours brought them to that town, where they were 
 hospitably received and lodged in the neighbouring sea-port of 
 ArmenA Here they were joined by Chirisophus, who, however, 
 brought with him only a single trireme. From Sinopd the army 
 proceeded to Heraclea, and from thence to Calpe, where Chiri¬ 
 sophus died. From Calpe 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 Lacedaemonian 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 the Lacedaunonian 
 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 the gates from being closed, and 
 rushed in infuriated masses back into the city, uttering loud 
 
8.0. 400. 
 
 RETURN TO EUROPE. 
 
 48? 
 
 threats and bent 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 mind, and 
 under colour of aiding their designs, he caused the soldiers to 
 form in an 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 executron 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.* 
 
 * See p. 412. 
 
 i .K. 
 
 V 
 
 o 
 
__j 
 
 Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYII. 
 
 FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SPARTAN EMPIRE TO TUB 
 
 BATTLE OF CNIDUS. 
 
 j 1. Invasion and reduction of Elis by King Agis. § 2. Ambitious projects 
 of Lysander. § 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. Mortifies Lysander. § 9. 
 Campaigns of Agesilaus against Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. § 10- 
 Execution of Tissaphernes. § 11. Proceedings of Conon. Rhodes revolts 
 from Spaita. § 12, Agesilaus ravages the satrapy of Pharnabazus. 
 Interview between them. § 13. Recall of Agesilaus. § 14. Battle of 
 Cnidus. 
 
fi.O. 401. 
 
 ELIS REDUCED BY KING AGIS. 
 
 **3/i 
 
 § 1. Resuming the thread of the narrative, we shah now briefly 
 trace the history of the Spartan supremacy, which resulted from 
 the battle of rtfgospotami, and the consequent capture of Athens, 
 related in the preceding book. This supremacy lasted altogether 
 34 years, from the victory of TEgospotami 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 Olympia 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 Elis. 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 w T hich 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 Lysanaer 
 made him ill satisfied to remain in the condition of a private 
 Ttizen. Stimulated by the flattery which he received free 
 
 2 f 2 
 
136 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXVII 
 
 every quarter, he began to contemplate setting aside the twn 
 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 be 
 regarded in quite the same light as in any other monarchy. 
 Although the two chief magistrates there enjoyed the title of 
 Basileus , 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 na c of another to be in reality king himself. 
 
B.C. 398. 
 
 ACCESSION OF AGESILAUS. 
 
 431 
 
 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- 
 dor, 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 
 JIarmost f or governor. The Decarcliies, 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 thai 
 they contrived to gratify it even under the old system. But 
 
 * Ai*a-eX‘*- t 'Souoarvis, literally “one who fits or arrange* " 
 
438 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. >; XX\ 11 
 
 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 be 
 difficult to show that in grasping the splendid prize of empire, 
 she lost those homely virtues which previously formed her chief 
 distinction, and 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, iu 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 Lacedtemonian force under 
 Thimbron was despatched to their assistance, and wdiich, as 
 related in the preceding ohapter, 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 399 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 Sisyphus. 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 Bitliynia. 
 Early in the ensuing spring he proceeded into Thrace, where he 
 built a wall across the Chersonese, to protect the Grecian eolo 
 
 * See p. 63. 
 
3.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 
 Tissaphernes in Caria, whilst the Lacedaemonian fleet under 
 Pharax 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 Tissaphernes, who was afraid to venture 
 upon an action. LJnder 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 the Grecian cities in Asia : the Persians on their side required 
 the Lacedaemonians to withdraw their army from Asia 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 Cilicia. 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 
 zEgospotami. After that disastrous battle, Conon fled with 9 
 triremes to Cyprus, w r here he was now living under the protec¬ 
 tion of Evagoras, prince of Salamis. 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 his 
 services against the Persians. He proposed to take with him 
 only 30 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 o. 
 Agamemnon; and to render the parallel more complete, Age¬ 
 silaus proceeded with a division of his fleet to Aulis, intending 
 there to imitate the memorable sacrifice of the Homeric hero. 
 But as lie 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 offended, and 
 expelled him by armed force: — an insult which he never 
 forgave. 
 
 § 8. It was in 396 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 he 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 Dascyhum, 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. He 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 Moeander. But this 
 time Agesilaus marched as he had announced, and in three days 
 arrived unopposed on the banks of the Pactolus, before the Persian 
 savalry 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 hoplite3, soon succeeded in 
 putting them to flight. Many of the Persians were drowned in 
 the Pactolus, and their camp, containing much booty and several 
 camels, was taken. 
 
B.CJ, 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 
 iEgospotami the naval supremacy of Sparta was threatened. 
 Conon, with a fleet of 40 triremes, occupied the port of Caunus, 
 on the confines of Caria 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 Lacedaemoniar 
 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 Dascylium, 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. 
 
*42 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XXXVll 
 
 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 oui 
 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 Elceus ; 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 iuactive since the 
 revolt of Rhodes, proceeded in persoi to Babylon, and succeeded 
 in obtaining a considerable sum of money from Artaxerxes. He 
 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 numbers, 
 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. 394. 
 
View of Corinth and the Acrocorinthua 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE CORINTHIAN WAR, FROM THE BATTLE OF CNIDUS TO THE PEACE 
 
 OF ANTALCIDAS. 
 
 § 1. Mission cf Timocrates to the Grecian cities. § 2. Hostilities between 
 Sparta and r J hebes. § 3. The Athenians join the Thebans. Defeat and 
 death of Lysander. Retreat of Pausanias. § 4. League against Sparta. 
 Battle oi Corinth. § 5. Homeward march of Agesilaus. § G. 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 of 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 fEgina. Teleutias surprises 
 the Piraeus. § 15. Peace of Antalcidas. § 16. Its character. 
 
 § 1. The jealousy and ill-will with which the newly acquire;' 
 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 Sparte in the 
 heart of Greece itself. With this view he despatched one Timo¬ 
 crates, a IthodG 1 ' fr, the leading Grecian cities which appeared 
 
444 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXVIIl 
 
 fa os ;ile to Sparta, carrying with him a sum of 50 talents to be 
 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 Locrians and the 
 Phocians 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 listened 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 o-f 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 HAiartus, 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, be 
 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— 
 Df requesting a truce in order to bury the dead who had fallen 
 
B.C. 394. 
 
 BATTLE OF COEINTH. 
 
 443 
 
 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 duly interring the bodies of L} t - 
 sander and his fallen comrades, the Lacedaemonians 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 Lacedaemonians, 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 Lacedaemonians, 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 Lacedaemonians 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 time as 
 teat of Cnidus, in July 394 b.c. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 .hap. XXXVIII 
 
 446 
 
 § 5. Agesilaus, who had 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 Amphipolis 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 Greeks 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, whicn 
 had 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 pecan, and charged 
 at a running pace. They succeeded in driving in the Orehomo 
 mans, 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 line 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 
 
B.C. d'H. 
 
 BATTLE OF CORONEA. 
 
 447 
 
 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 Lacedaemonians had 
 fought two battles on land, and one at sea ; namely 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 bis 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 long walls of Athens. Pharnabazus also granted a large sum 
 foi the same purpose ; and Conon had thus the glory of appea r- 
 
448 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XXXVIII. 
 
 ing, like a second Themistocles, tlie 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 deptlis 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 of 
 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 tc 
 Lechgeum, the port of the city upon the Corinthian gulf. Corinth 
 
 Plan of Corinth. 
 
 A. Acrocorinthus. C. Lechwum. 
 
 H Corinth. I. I Loou Wu’Je 
 
B.O. 392 
 
 THE (JOitiiN TH1AJM WaK. 44 l J 
 
 and the passes of the Onean 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 Lacedaemonian commauder 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 tho 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 Bceotia. Accordingly the Athenians 
 moved in great force to Corinth, with carpenters and other ne¬ 
 cessary workmen ; and with this assistance the Corinthians soon 
 j 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, Piraeum 
 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 
 Gc. 2 g 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXVIIl 
 
 I5(> 
 
 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 IIera, 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 aud 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 ' r ears 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 arms and 
 f.actics 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 light-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 Amyclsean 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 the 
 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 
 arms rendered them quite unequal to such a mode of fighting; 
 nor did the Lacedaemonian cavalry, which now came up, tut 
 
 * 
 
 Sc called from the pelta, or kind of shield winch they carr el. 
 
li.C. 391. 
 
 VICTOiiY O* iPHUJKATES. 
 
 451 
 
 l 
 
 
 which acted with very little vigour and courage, produce any 
 better effect. At length the Lacedemonians succeeded in reach¬ 
 ing an eminence, where they endeavoured to make a stand ; but 
 at this moment Caiiias arrived with some Athenian hoplites 
 from Corinth, whereupon the already disheartened Lacedaemo¬ 
 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. 1 hey did not 
 say another word about peace, but merely asked permission tc 
 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 likely to show their satisfaction at the disgrace of the Spar¬ 
 tan arms. No sooner was he departed than Iphicrat.es sallied 
 forth from Corinth and retook Sidus, Crommyon, Piraeum, and 
 GEnoe, 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 the 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 die 
 purposes of their fleet, and, by a gross breach of public faith, 
 caused Conon to be seized and detained, under the pretence that 
 he v vas acting contrary to the interests of the 11 ‘’eat King. This 
 
 2 g 2 
 
4 62 
 
 HISTORY OF UKEECE. 
 
 Chaj\ XXXVIll 
 
 event proved the end of Conon'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 Evagcras 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. Thimbron 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 
 a tenth on all vessels passing from the Euxine. After this, Thra¬ 
 sybulus sailed to Lesbos, where he defeated the Lacedaemonian 
 harraost, and next visited several places on the mainland, with 
 the view of raising funds for his meditated expedition to Rhodes. 
 But 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 hii 
 command by Agvrrhius. 
 
B.C. 389. 
 
 TELEUTIAS SURPRISES PIKfEL'S 
 
 453 
 
 The success of Thrasybulus in the Hellespont created sue. 
 mxiety at Sparta that the Epliors were induced to supersede 
 Dercyllidas, and appoint Anaxibius to the government of Aby- 
 dus. Anaxibius took with him a force that rendered him mastei 
 of the straits, and enabled him to intercept the merchantmen 
 bound to Athens and other ports belonging to the allies. The 
 Athenians now despatched Ipliicrates 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 fEgina. 
 After the battle of fEgospotami, 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, fEgina 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 fEgina, 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 fEgina 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 wore towed 
 
454 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXX VII1 
 
 off with their whole cargoes ; and even three or four triremes 
 met the same fate. All this booty Teleutias succeeded in carry¬ 
 ing safely into rEgina, 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 fleet 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 /Egospotami, rendered all resistance 
 hopeless. The supplies of corn from the Euxine no longer 
 found their way to Athens ; the ^Egiuetan 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 Clazomenae 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, Imbros, 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, ail of which at once accepted the peace with the exception 
 of the Thebans, who claimed to take the oath not ui th*ir cwr 
 
B.C. 387. 
 
 F’hACE OK 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 Medizingl ” “ Say rather.” replied Agesilaus, 
 “that the Medes are Lciconizing.” 
 
 Adventures of Oionysn-, f oin the Ohoragic Mo lument ot Lyt'crates. 
 
•Adventures of Dionysus, from the Cboragic Monument of Lysicrates. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 FROM THE PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS TO THE PEACE OF CALLIA8. 
 
 § 1. Aggressions of Sparta in Boeotia. Rebuilding of Plataea. § 2. Reduc¬ 
 tion of Mantinea. § 3. Olynthian confederation. Sparta interferes. § 4, 
 Seizure of the Cadmea at Thebes by the Lacedajmonians. § 5. Reduction 
 of Olynthus. § 6. Unpopularity of Sparta. § 7. Revolution at Thebes. 
 § 8. The Lacedaemonians 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 
 Epaminondas. § 13. Spartan invasions of Ba-otia. § 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- 
 nus and Thespise, preferred it to that of Thebes ; and in these 
 the Lacedaemonians placed garrisons, and made them their main 
 stations in Boeotia. 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 
 Lacedaemonians, was an evident work of supererogation, under¬ 
 taken only to annoy and weaken Thebes, and to form a place 
 for another Lacedaemonian garrison. Since the destruction of 
 
B 0. 385. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF MANTINEA. 
 
 4,57 
 
 Plata^a, roost 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 river 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. Olyntlius, 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 Potidsea, 
 on the isthmus of PallenA Acanthus and Apollonia, the largest 
 cities after Olynthus, in the Chalcidic peninsula, had refused to 
 ioin 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 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIX. 
 
 458 
 
 the adoption of their views, and an army of 10,000 men war- 
 voted. The emergency, however, was so pressing that End? 1 
 midas was despatched at once with a force of 2000 hoplites. 
 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 Potidsea to revolt from the league. But, 
 though joined by A myntas with his forces, he was not strong 
 3 nough 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 
 into 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. Phcebidas, 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 Plicebidas 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 bis 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 to 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 (ireece. Sparta 
 herself could not venture to justify it openly, and Phcebidas was 
 made the scape-goat of her affected displeasure. The Epnors, 
 though they had secretly authorised the proceeding, now dis- 
 
3.U. 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 Laconian piece of hypocrisy. As a sort of atonement to 
 the violated feeling of Greece, Phcebidas 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 Lacedaemonians 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 i'heban government—for the war which 
 Sparta was prosecuting with redoubled vigour against Olynt.hus. 
 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 cn 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 signal injustice. 
 
 § 7. That city had been for three years in the hands of 
 
460 
 
 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 indigent fellow-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, he 
 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 polemarclis, and Charon. Epaminon¬ 
 das was solicited to take a part in the conspiracy ; but, though 
 he 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 1/iOO Lace¬ 
 daemonians. 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 
 Arehias and Philippus, the two polemarclis, 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 polemarclis. On the day before the banquet, 
 Pelopidas, with six other exiles, arrived at Thebes from Athens, 
 and, 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¬ 
 lon as the first restored Bceotarchs. 
 
 $ S Meanwhile the remainder of toe Theban exiles, acoo.m 
 
462 
 
 HiS'lORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XXX LX 
 
 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 Thespise and Platroa for reinforce¬ 
 ments ; but these were dispersed by the Theban cavalry before 
 they could approach the gates. The Thebans, under their new 
 Boeotarchs, were already mounting to the assault of the Cadmea. 
 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¬ 
 daemonian 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 an 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 Bceotia as Cynoscephalse ; but, after re¬ 
 maining there sixteen days, he returned to Sparta without having 
 effected anything, leaving, however, a third of his army at Thes- 
 pine, 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 Thespiae 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 
 Lacedaemonian 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. His escape 
 was denounced by the unanimous voice of Greece At Athem 
 
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 tera 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 dEgeun, inviting tnem 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 plioros* but syntasis ,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 deal 
 and intimate friend. Its special luty was the defence of the 
 Cadmea. 
 
 * $r,0, 
 
 + 
 
 ffv*<ro 
 
 f iieQopa 
 
464 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap XXXlX 
 
 § 12. The Thebans had always been excellent soldiers; but theii 
 good fortune now gave them the greatest general that Greece had 
 hitherto seen. Epaminondas, 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 
 Epaminondas 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, Epaminondas 
 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 and 
 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. 
 Pelopidas, as w T e have already said, was his bosom friend. It 
 was natural, therefore, that when Pelopidas was named Bceotarch. 
 Epaminondas 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 breaking 
 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 Bceotiau territory without 
 
B.C. 376. 
 
 BATTLE OF NAXOS. 
 
 465 
 
 striking a decisive blow, Agesilaus returned to Sparta with 
 the bulk of Lis 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 TEgean. 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 
 fallowed 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 Cepliallenia 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 PEgina caused the 
 Irain 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 TEgean. 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 nea’ 
 r,n. 2 ii 
 
 
466 
 
 HISTORY OR GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXX IX 
 
 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 Laceda3monians 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 
 him, 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 Chocronea, 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 Phene 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 country, coupled with the 
 anger excited by the refusal of the Thebans to pay the required 
 tribute, 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 Zacynthian government; which being refused, war 
 was again declared. The Lacedaemonians now sent a large force 
 under the cotninarfl of Mnasippus to subdue the important island 
 
B.C. 371. 
 
 PEACE BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA. 
 
 407 
 
 of Corcyra, which has not appeared in Grecian history since the 
 time of the fearful dissensions by which it was torn asunder in 
 the Peloponnesian war. Mnassipus having effected a landing 
 and blockaded the capital, the Coreyra3ans invoked the aid of the 
 Athenians, who appointed Timotheus to conduct a fleet to their 
 relief; and whilst this was preparing despatched Stesicles with 
 GOO peltasts overland through Thessaly and Epirus. These 
 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 Corcyrasans an opportunity 
 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 th< nee 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-establishment of the Bceotian confederation. 
 But even Athens had become anxious for pjeace, in consequence 
 of the increasing jealousy of Thebes, which had recently de¬ 
 stroyed the restored city of Platiea, 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 Thebans, who were 
 also invited to send deputies to Sparta. 
 
 § 18. A congress was accordingly opened in that city in the 
 spring of 371 b.c. The Athenians were represented by Callias, 
 Autocles, and Callistratus; and the Thebans by Epaminondas, then 
 
 2 H 2 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XXXIX 
 
 4b 8 
 
 one of the polemarchs. The terms of a peace were agreed upon 
 by which the independence of the various Grecian cities was to he 
 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 when 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 Bceotian city independent ?” 
 Epaminondas replied by another question : “ Will you leave each 
 of the Laconian towns independent?” 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. The peace concluded between 
 Sparta, Athens, and their respective allies, was called the peace 
 of Callias. The result with regard to Thebes and Sparta will 
 xppear in the following chapter. 
 
 The Wind Boreas, from the Horologium of Andronicus Cyrrhestes a'. Atheys 
 
ILkome, from the Stadium of Messer.e. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 THE SUPREMACY OF THEBES. 
 
 § 1. Invasion of Bceotia by Cleombrotus. § 2. Battle of Leuctra. § 3. Its 
 elfect throughout Greece. § 4. Jason of Phene joins the Thebans. § 5. 
 Progress of Thebes. § 6. Assassination of Jason. § 7. Establishment of 
 the Arcadian league. § 8. First invasion of Peloponnesus by Epaminondas. 
 Alarm at Sparta. Vigorous measures of Agesilaus. § 9. Epaminondas founds 
 Megalopolis, and restores the Messenians. § 10. Alliance between Athens and 
 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 
 
 iphierates 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 
 Boeotia without delay. The Thebans, on their side, were equally 
 determined on resistance. In order to prevent Cleombrotus 
 from penetrating into Boeotia, Epaminondas 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 Creusis in the 
 Crisssean 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 Thespise, 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 Boeotia 
 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. Bat 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 Thebans 
 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.O. 371 
 
 BATTLE OF LEUCTRA 
 
 471 
 
 the Theban commanders, seizing the omen, crowned the tomb* 
 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 was 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 
 onset, and with difficulty carried off by his comrades. Numbers 
 of his officers, as well as of his men, were slain, and the whole wing 
 was broken and driven back to their camp. On no other part ol 
 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 army 
 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 Laceda)monians themselves, that very few were 
 found bold enough to propose a renewal of the combat, m 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 thf 
 
472 
 
 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 
 vdth 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 them 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 Cithaeron, he decamped in the night to Creusis, and from 
 thence proceeded by a difficult road along the side of the rock? 
 upon the coast to zEgosthena 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 disnanded. 
 
8.C. 3?j. 
 
 JASON OF PHER2E. 
 
 478 
 
 § 5. According to Spartan custom, the survivors of a defeai 
 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 t»o enforce 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 once, and 
 was divided between Jason of Pherso 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 Eubceans, the 
 Locrians, the Malians, and the Heracleots. In this flood-tide 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 d i verted 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 Boeotia, 
 and their territory annexed to Thebes. They took refuge, like 
 the I'lataeans, at Athens. 
 
 § 6. At the same time Jason of Phene 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 Chalcidicd, 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 
 
*74 
 
 HISTORY OF OREEtR 
 
 Chap. XL 
 
 by Tliebes. He was succeeded by his two brothers Polyphrou 
 ind 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 
 either 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 Epaminondas 
 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 
 tneir name. The idea of uniting them into a federal state arose 
 with Lycomedes, one of the leading men of the restored Man- 
 unea. 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 pow r er to spring up at their very 
 doors ; and, accordingly, Agesilaus marched with a Lacedaemo¬ 
 nian army against Mantinea (b. c. 370). But the Mantineans 
 were too prudent to venture on an engagement till reinforced b} 
 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, Epaminondas had beer! 
 vatching an opportunity for interfering in the affairs cf Pelopon 
 
8.C. o » 0. 
 
 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 Lacedaemonians, 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 Boeotarchs, 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 the 
 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 Amyclae, 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,” locked with anger 
 on the wealth and political power of the “ Peers.”* But the 
 emergency was pressing, and called for decisive measures. The 
 dphors ventured on the step of offering freedom to such Ho 
 
 * See p. 438. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chai*. XL 
 
 lots as would enlist as lioplites 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 Periocci 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 Epaminondas 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 Ilelos 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 distiuct 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 
 md the other Bceotarehs were arraigned on his return to Thebes. 
 But they were honourably acquitted, Epaminondas having ex 
 
 * 
 
 Mi ttiot. 
 
 t ' Ecrxfijre/. 
 
S.C. 370. 
 
 FOUNDATION OF MEGALOPOLIS. 
 
 477 
 
 pressed Ills 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 
 en 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 succe.ed.ed 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 Phlius 
 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 
 Lechaeum 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 n 
 
478 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XL 
 
 body ol Athenians and Corinthians under Chabrias. He then 
 marched into the south-western portion of Messenia, where he 
 penetrated as far as Asine, 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 3G8 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 Plierae 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 Achaeans into the 
 Theban alliance. Until the battle of Leuctra the cities of Achaia 
 had 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 be en¬ 
 rolled among the allies of Thebes. That commander, with his 
 usual moderation, did not insist upon any change in their go¬ 
 vernments. But 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 firs! 
 opportunity. These accusations, being supported by the enemies 
 
BO 36. 
 
 THE TEARLESS BATTLE. 
 
 47& 
 
 
 of Epaminondas, prevailed : his proceedings in Achaia were re¬ 
 versed ; democratic governments were established in the various 
 Achaian cities ; and in the ensuing year Epaminondas himself 
 was not re-elected as Bceotarch. But the consequence was that 
 the exiles thus driven from the various Achaean 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 lsmenias 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 
 Amphipolis ; 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, 
 lie 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 tco small to afford shade 
 for a single grasshopper. The Thebans, on the contrary, made 
 the most of their success. Ihqmties 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 eonvenea 
 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 were 
 the Thebans more successful in an attempt to get the rescript 
 recognized by sending it round to the various cities separately. 
 
 § 15. It was, in 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 Pherae. 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 Pherae. Such value 
 was attached to the person of Pelopidas that his imprisonment 
 induced several of the Thessalian partizans 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 over, 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 his 
 treachery 
 
B.(J. 306. ALLIANCE BETWEEN ARCADIA AND ATHENS. 48J 
 
 § 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 Peloponnesian 
 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 Cenchreae ; 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 
 Uk 2 I 
 
482 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap XL 
 
 .udivictual 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 Messen6 
 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 
 Timotlieus, who succeeded in conquering Samos, and in ob¬ 
 taining possession of Potidma, Pydna, Methone, 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 Cacl- 
 mea the Propylaea 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 the 
 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 Pherse. 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 Cynosccphalee; 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 ol 
 his duties as a general, he rushed impetuously forwards and chal¬ 
 lenged him to single combat. Alexander shrunk back withiD 
 the ranks of bis guards, followed impetuously by Pelopidas, whf 
 
B.C. 364, 
 
 DEATH OF PELOPIDAS. 
 
 483 
 
 was soon slain, lighting 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- 
 Iites into Thessaly ; with which they compelled Alexander to 
 relinquish all liis dependencies in that country, to coniine him¬ 
 self to the actual limits of Pherse, 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 Alplieus, 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 had called in the 
 assistance of the Lacedaemonians, 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 their 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 Achaeans, were observed approaching the 
 sacred ground. The Arcadians immediately rushed to arms, and 
 formed on the bank of the little river Gladeus, 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 with 
 calm dignity upon those who were contending for the honour cf 
 celebrating his festival. The Eleans subsequently avenged them¬ 
 selves by striking the I04th Olympiad out of the list of the 
 festivals. 
 
 £ 21. No!, content with this insult to the Eleans, the Arcadian* 
 
 2 i 2 
 
 I 
 
484 
 
 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 were 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 
 fiarmost and a garrison of 300 Boeotians. The Thebans viewed 
 tiie success of the Mantineans and Spartan party with suspicion; 
 and when the peace, recently concluded, was sworn to at Tegea, 
 the} 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 ambassador’s to 
 request the assistance of the Lacedaemonians. 
 
 § 22. These events occurred in 3G2 n.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 lie 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 themselzes at 
 
I3.C. 3614. 
 
 BATTLE OF MANTINKa. 
 
 485 
 
 Mantinea, 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 
 ^acedsemonians 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 Msenalus, which bounds the 
 plain on the west. On arriving in sight of the hostile lines, Epa¬ 
 minondas ordered his troops to halt and ground arms. Hence 
 the Lacedcemonians inferred that he did not mean to offer battle 
 that day ; and so strong was this persuasion, that they left their 
 ranks, 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 Lacedoc- 
 inonians 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 
 
Chap. XL. 
 
 486 ill STORY OF GREECE. 
 
 3UC h consternation among his troops, that althcugh 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 Lacedaemonians who sent a herald to request the bodies of 
 the slain. 
 
 Epaminondas was carried off 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 Daiphantus, 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 ho 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 Peloponnesus. 
 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 Messene. 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 Spartan 
 power might still be resuscitated. At the age of 80 the indo¬ 
 mitable old man proceeded with a force of 1000 hoplites to assist 
 Tachos, king of Egypt, in his revolt against Persia. The age and 
 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 Gyrene, where he had intended to embarlc 
 for Greece. His body was embalmed in wax, and splendidly 
 buried in Sparta. Ho was succeeded by his son Archidamus III 
 
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, Ilermo- 
 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 
 
IILSTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XL1 
 
 4HH 
 
 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- 
 mocrat.es. 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 of 
 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 Achmlina. The situation of 
 Dionysius now seemed desperate. It is even said that he wab 
 on the uoint of giving up all for lost and making his esacpe ; from 
 
B.C. 393. 
 
 DIONYSIUS THE ELDER. 
 
 m 
 
 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 Graecia. 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 
 beoame 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 auxiliary 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 (J1U5ECE. 
 
 (-11 \p. XJ L 
 
 oven, it seems, through the machinations of Dionysius, seized, 
 bound, and sold for a slave in the island of ASgina. Ids was, 
 however, repurchased by Anniceris of Cyren6, and sent Dack to 
 Athens. 
 
 § 4. Dionysius died in n.c. 3b7, 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 filled 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 Sicula; dapes 
 Dulcem elaborabunt saporem; 
 
 Non avium citharaqae cantus 
 Somnmn minceim”—Hoit. Carm iii. 1, i7. 
 
B.C. 387. 
 
 DIONYSIUS THE YOUNGER. 
 
 401 
 
 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- 
 rnache was long childless, much to the chagrin 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 soil 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 Siceliot 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 purpose of effecting a revolution and placing his 
 own nephews on the throne. These accusations had the desire-* 
 affect vn the mind of Dionysius ; and an intercepted letter from 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLl 
 
 49 'A 
 
 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, lie 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 Dion 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 Arete, 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 those 
 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. 358. 
 
 DION CONQUERS SYRACUSE. 
 
 495 
 
 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 niglit-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 aud 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 
 Svracusans, 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 mo- 
 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, lie even caused Heraelides, who had proposed the 
 
494 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chai\ XL1 
 
 destruction ot 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 
 Callippus—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. Callippus contrived to retain the sovereign power about 
 a twelvemonth. He was ultimately driven out by Hipparirms, 
 the nephew of Dion (son of the elder Dionysius by Aristomache), 
 who reigned but two years. Nysacus, 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-city. 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 feeling 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 Timophanes, 
 availing himself of his situation as commander of the garrison 
 in the A crocorinthus, 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 U 
 
B.(J. 344, 
 
 TIMOLEON INVADES SICILY 
 
 496 
 
 destroy the liberties of his country ; but when Tirnophanes 
 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 liis 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. Roused 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 
 
 &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 lie showed in the choice oi 
 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 ol 
 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 and 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 
 and to become a second time the founder of Syracuse. Two 
 
 * See plan of Syracuse, p. 337. 
 
B.C. ?43, 
 
 TTMOIiEON 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 Diodes.* 
 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 
 m 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 Lilybieum. 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 nut them to the rout. The same cause occasioned 
 
 jl 
 
 the death of thousands in their retreat, for the river Crimesus, 
 swollen by the sudden rain, carried 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 
 
 Gr. 
 
 2 K 
 
 * 
 
 See p. 487. 
 
498 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 UHAl*. XLI: 
 
 made prisoners. The remainder tied without stopping to Lily* 
 bseum, 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 n.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, the 
 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 customary to send for 
 Timoleon, who was drawn in a car into the middle of the theatre 
 amid the shouts and affectionate greetings off 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 ratilied 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 tears of the 
 vliole Syracusan population followed him to the grave. 
 
View of Delphi and Mount Fumussus. 
 
 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 Pseonians and Illyrians. 
 § 6. 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 ot 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 
 subject of the two preceding boohs, are now about to produce 
 
 their natural fruits ; and in the present book wo shall have to 
 
 2 k 2 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chav. XLII 
 
 5(H) 
 
 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. The 
 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 iEgospotami 
 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 we 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 Illyria 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 Moesia 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 Haliacinon; each of which has its 
 separate valley, formed by two mountain ranges running south 
 eastwards from the mountains that divide Illyria and Macedonia 
 
B.(J. 359. 
 
 H1ST0R\ OF MACEDONIA. 
 
 60 i 
 
 All these rivers discharge themselves into the r l hermaic gulf. 
 The origin of the people who inhabited this tract of country ha& 
 been much disputed. The Greeks themselves looked upon them 
 is 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 Illyrians, 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 1., his fifth successor, who was contem¬ 
 porary with the Pisistratidoe at Athens. Under Amyntas, who 
 submitted to the satrap Megabyzus, Macedonia became subject 
 to Persia, and remained so till after the battle of Platsea. The 
 reigns of the succeeding sovereigns down to Philip II. present 
 little 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 
 d£gae to Pella, which thus became the capital, and he employed 
 Zeuxis to adorn 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 Illyrians ; 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 
 the art of war, with all the improved tactics introduced by Epa- 
 minondas. At the time of Philip’s residence, moreover, Thebt> 
 
502 
 
 HISTORY OP GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLll 
 
 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 acuteness 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 expo 
 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 was 
 supported by the king of Thrace ; and Arga3us, 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 Argoeus had done. 
 T'he two pretenders being thus deprived of their supporters, 
 were easily got rid of, and Philip was left at liberty to turn his 
 arms against the Pseonians and Illyrians, who were threatening 
 Macedonia with invasion. The former people were easily sub- 
 lued, 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- 
 
 * “ diffidit urbium 
 
 Portns vir Macedo ct submit jrmulos 
 Reges muneribus.”- lion. Cirm. iif. 16. 13. 
 
B.C. 359. 
 
 ACCESSION OF PHILIP. 
 
 503 
 
 minondas, and, like that commander, gained the victory by con¬ 
 centrating his forces on one point oi 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¬ 
 tier's 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. XLU. 
 
 give him 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 Ins 
 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 policy 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 PotkUea, 
 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 
 Potidaia 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 Strymou, on the left bank of which 
 lay Pangams, a range of mountains abounding in gold mines. 
 Pangams 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. 
 Phihp conquered the district, and founded there a new town 
 called Philippi, 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 gene¬ 
 rals, and the re-establishment of the system of clerucliies, which 
 the Athenians had formally renounced when they were beginning 
 to reconstruct their empire. However this may be, a coalition 
 
B.C. 357. 
 
 THE SACRED WAR. 
 
 505 
 
 was formed against Athens, of which either Byzantium or Rhodes 
 was the head, and which was soon joined by Chios, Cos, and 
 other [daces. The insurgents were also assisted by the Carian 
 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.o. 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 (i>.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 c f 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 tin 
 
 * See pp. 5u, 51. 
 
50b 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chau. XL1L 
 
 payment of the fii .3 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 Messene, they could expect but 
 little aid. I 11 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. With these he again invaded Locris, and defeatod. the 
 
 * Iliad, ii. 517. 
 
B.C. 3.W 
 
 INTERFERENCE OF PHILIP. 
 
 507 
 
 Thebans and Thessalians. Subsequently, however, the Thebans 
 obtained large reinforcements, and having become manifestly the 
 strongest, put to death all Phocian prisoners, as being guilty ol 
 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 struggle 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 Boeotia, captured Orehome- 
 nus, and laid siege to Chacronea , 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 Philip first 
 began to interfere in it. It was only, hoAvever, through his pre¬ 
 vious conquests in Thessaly that he was enabled to do so. Ever, 
 before he could enter that country he had to reduce the town oi 
 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 
 arrow. After the capture of Methone, his road lay open into 
 Thessaly ; and at the invitation of the Aleuadce of Larissa, who 
 were disgusted with the tyranny exercised by the successors ol 
 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 pre¬ 
 decessor. Plierse, 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. Thilip 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 Temp6. Onomarchus was at the 
 head of about an equal number of men ; but in the encountor 
 which ensued, apparently near the gulf of Pagasae, he was slain 
 
508 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLI1 
 
 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 PLocians; 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 view's w r ere 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 w r as indispensable to a 
 public man. Hitherto, however, the leading men of Athens had, 
 like Cimon and Pericles, been statesmen and warriors, as w r ell as 
 orators. But the great progress made in the art of rhetoric, as 
 well as in the art of w r ar since 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 I3.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, how 7 ever, 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. 
 He placed himself under the tuition of Isseus, wdio then enjoyed 
 a high reputation as an advocate ; and wdien 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 
 nis 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 bootings and laughter of the citizens 
 The more judicious and candid among his auditors perceived 
 
B.C. 852. 
 
 DEMOSTHENES. FIRST PHILIPPIC. 
 
 509 
 
 nowever 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 Piraeus 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. Pie 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 speakei 
 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 Heroeum 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. XL1L 
 
 Induced the Athenians to prosecute the war with a little more 
 energy. 
 
 In 350 b.c., Philip having captured a town in Chalcidic6, Olyn- 
 thus began to tremh .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 
 ho 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 1 
 like nothing that you dev” 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 I” 
 inquired a friend, who perceived him wrapt 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. Pie was the only statesman 
 of whom Demosthenes stood in awe ; who was accustomed to 
 say when Phocion roso, “ 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 c perations of the Athenians for the aid of the Olyn* 
 
R.C. 347. 
 
 FLUT.ll 1 TAKES OLYNTHUS. 
 
 511 
 
 liiiana 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 Green 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 Naryce. But in the course of the year Phayllus 
 died, and was succeeded in the conduct of the war by Mnaseas, 
 guardian of Phalsecus, the youthful son of Onomarchus. Mnaseas, 
 however, was soon slain, and Phalsecus 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. XLll 
 
 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 
 ls 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 Euboea ; but instead of following \he 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 weekr 
 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, he delayed the final ratification of the treaty, and per¬ 
 suaded the ambassadors to accompany him on his march to 
 Pherse 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. 
 
 § lfi. Scarcely had the Athenian ambassadors returned homr 
 
B.C. 346. 
 
 END OF THE SACKED WAR. 
 
 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 
 /Eschines 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 
 iEschiries 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 Thermopyke, 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 
 Aboe, should be destroyed, and their inhabitants scattered into 
 villages containing 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 the 
 affairs of Greece. Thebes recovered the places which she bad 
 lost in Bceotia. Such was the termination of the Sacred 
 War (b.c. 316) 
 
The Plain of Cha'ronea, 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 FROM THE END OE THE SACRED WAR TO THE DEATH OF PHILIP. 
 
 § 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. § 6. Declaration of war between Athens and Macedon. Phocion 
 compels Philip to evacuate the Chersonese. § 7. Charge ot sacrilege 
 against the Amphissians. § 8. Philip appointed general by the Amphictyons 
 to conduct the war against Amphissa. § 9. fie seizes Elatea. League 
 between Athens and Thebes. § 10. Battle of Chaeronea. § 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. 
 
i3.C. 344 
 
 SECOND PHILIPPIC. 
 
 615 
 
 It was either this omission, or the unwillingness of the Athe 
 nians to acknowledge Philip as a member of the Amphictyonu 
 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 uow 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 
 deadlines 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 
 Die 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 /Kschines 'jrapu'rgt.fffcuait, 
 
 2 l 2 
 
516 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 ohaf. XLiir, 
 
 342 b.c. he sot out on an expedition against Thrace. His pro¬ 
 gress soon appeared to menace the Chersonese and the Athenian 
 possessions in that quarter ; and at length the Athenian troops 
 under Diopithes came into actual collision with the Macedonians, 
 whilst the former were engaged in defending theii allies from 
 the encroachments of the Cardians, who were under the protec¬ 
 tion of Philip. Diopithes likewise invaded that part of Thrace 
 which had submitted to Philip, and, besides committing several 
 acts of violence, seized a Macedonian envoy, who had come to 
 treat for the release of some prisoners, and refused to dismiss 
 him without a considerable ransom. 
 
 § 4. Philip despatched a letter of complaint and remonstrance 
 to the Athenians on the subject of these attacks, which gave 
 occasion to the speech of Demosthenes On the Chersonese (b.c. 341), 
 in which he directed the attention of the people from the more 
 immediate subject of the character and proceedings of Diopithes 
 to the more general question of the best means of resisting 
 Philip. This oration was soon followed by the Third Philippic , 
 a still more vigorous call to action. Our accounts of Philip’s 
 movements at this time are scanty aDd uncertain. Diopithes 
 was retained in the command of the Athenian troops; and 
 Philip must have continued gradually to push his conquests, 
 since in this year (341) we find him beginning to attack the 
 Greek cities north of the Hellespont. He first besieged and 
 captured Selymbria on the Propontis, and then turned his arms 
 against Perinthus. The latter city was not only strong by na¬ 
 ture, being seated on a lofty promontory surrounded on two 
 sides by the sea, but also well fortified. It was built on a series 
 of terraces rising one above another; so that when Philip, by 
 means of the improved artillery which he employed on this oc¬ 
 casion, had succeeded in battering down the outer wall, he found 
 himself in front of a fresh rampart, formed by houses standing 
 on higher ground, and connected together by a wall carried 
 across the streets. In this siege Philip was assisted by his 
 fleet, which had previously intercepted and captured twenty Athe¬ 
 nian vessels laden with corn. But all his efforts to capture 
 Perinthus proved unavailing, as both the Byzantines and the 
 Persians—the latter probably at the instigation of the Athenians 
 —continually found means to supply it with arms and provi¬ 
 sions. Finding his progress thus checked, Philip left half of 
 his army to prosecute the siege, and with the remainder pro¬ 
 ceeded to the attack of Byzantium itself, which he hoped to 
 find unprepared. 
 
 $ 5. Meanwhile, the arms of Athens, under the conduct of 
 Phocion, had been successful in Euboea, whither Demosthenes 
 
fl.O. 341. 
 
 P HOC ION’S SUCCESS IN EUBOEA 
 
 511 
 
 had roused his countrymen to send an expedition m the autumn 
 of 341 B.C., for the purpose of counteracting the influence of 
 Macedon in that quarter, and thus erecting another barrier 
 against the encroachments of Philip. Oreus and Eretria, two of 
 the principal cities in the island, were in the hands of despots 
 supported by Philip ; but Callias of Chalcis having formed a plan 
 to reduce all Euboea under his own dominion, Demosthenes 
 seized the opportunity to unite the Athenian arms with his ; ana 
 Phocion, with the assistance of Callias, expelled the despots 
 Clitarchus and Philistides from Eretria and Oreus. For his 
 advice on this occasion the Athenians honoured Demosthenes 
 with a golden crown. The same Callias, or perhaps an Athenian 
 commander of that name, also did good service at this time by 
 a naval expedition into the gulf of Pagasse, when he took the 
 towns on the coast, and made prize of a considerable quantity of 
 Macedonian merchantmen. 
 
 § G. Although Athens and Macedon were still nominally at 
 peace, it is evident that the state of things just described was 
 incompatible with its further maintenance. Philip addressed a 
 long letter, or rather manifesto, to the Athenians (which has 
 come down to us) in which he complained of the acts by 
 which they had violated the existing treaty, recapitulated the 
 legitimate grounds which he had for hostility, and concluded 
 with a sort of declaration of war. Demosthenes was not behind 
 hand in accepting this challenge, tie excited his countrymen to 
 pass a decree for war, to take down the column on which the 
 treaty had been inscribed, and to equip a fleet for the imme¬ 
 diate relief of Byzantium, then besieged by Philip. The expe¬ 
 dition was intrusted to Chares, in whose hands it proved a 
 miserable failure ; though he perfectly succeeded in making 
 both himself and the Athenian name odious and suspected 
 among the allies, by his oppressions and by the large sums 
 which he extorted under the name of benevolences. The 
 orators of the Macedonian party took occasion from the ill 
 success of Chares to disgust the Athenians with the war, 
 who began to repent of having sent any succours to By¬ 
 zantium. But Phocion, who did not act with those orators 
 on this occasion, stood up and told the people—“That they 
 should not be angry at the distrust of their allies, but rather at 
 their own generals, who were altogether unworthy of confidence. 
 It is they, said he, who cause you to be suspected by the very 
 people who cannot be saved without your help.” The Athenians 
 were so struck with these representations, that they immediately 
 superseded Chares, and appointed Phocion in his place. PhocioD 
 nailed with one hundred and twenty triremes • and n's higt 
 
o-18 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 On a i’. XLIli 
 
 reputation for probity and honour caused him to be imme 
 diately admitted with his forces within the walls of Byzantium 
 Philip was now forced to raise the siege not only of that town, 
 but of Perinthus also, and finally to evacuate the Chersonesus 
 altogether. For these acceptable services the grateful Byzan- 
 tians erected a colossal statue in honour of Athens. 
 
 After his repulse from the Chersonesus, Philip marched to the 
 aid of Atheas, king of the Scythians, who had invoked his assist¬ 
 ance against the tribes on the banks of the Danube. Before he 
 arrived, however, the danger had ceased, and Atheas dismissed 
 him with an insulting message. Hereupon Philip crossed the 
 Danube, defeated the Scythians, and returned with an immense 
 booty. But as he was passing through the country of the Tri- 
 balli they demanded a share of the spoil ; and upon being 
 refused, gave battle to the Macedonians, in which Philip was so 
 severely wounded that he was reported to be dead. Probably 
 Philip’s chief object in undertaking this expedition was to with¬ 
 draw the attention of the Greeks from his ambitious projects, 
 and to delude them into the belief that other affairs were now 
 engaging his attention. But meanwhile, his partizans were not 
 idle, and events soon occurred which again summoned him mb, 
 the heart of Greece. 
 
 § 7. In the spring of 339 n.c. zEschines was appointed with 
 three others to represent Athens in the Amphictyonic Council. 
 In this assembly the deputies of the Locrians of Amphissa, 
 stimulated, it is said, by the Thebans, charged the Athenians 
 with sacrilege for having, in commemoration of their victory 
 over the Persians and Thebans, dedicated some golden shields in 
 a chapel at Delphi before it had been regularly consecrated. 
 The Locrians themselves, however, were, it seems, amenable to 
 a similar charge, for having cultivated and used for their own 
 benefit the very land which had been the subject of the Sacred 
 War against the Phocians ; and /Fschines, irritated by the lan¬ 
 guage of the deputies from Amphissa, denounced them as guilty 
 of sacrilege. A proclamation was in consequence issued requir¬ 
 ing all the Delphians, as well as the members of the Amphi¬ 
 ctyonic Council, to assemble and vindicate the honour of the 
 god ; and on the following day they marched down to Cirrlia 
 with spades and pickaxes, and destroyed some buildings which 
 the Amphissians had erected there. But as they returned, the 
 Amphissians lay in wait for them, and they narrowly escaped 
 with their lives. Hereupon, the Amphictyons issued a decree, 
 naming a certain day on which the Council was to assemble 
 at Thermopylae, for the purpose of bringing the Amphissiauf t r 
 justice 
 
ftC. 388. PHILIP GENERAL OF THE AMPHlCTYONS. 
 
 519 
 
 § 8. iEschines was strongly suspected of having adopted the 
 conduct which he pursued on this occasion in order to play 
 into tils hands of Philip. Demosthenes procured a decree, pre¬ 
 venting any Athenians from attending the council at Thermo¬ 
 pylae ; and the Thebans, who were friendly to the Amphissians, 
 also absented themselves. But, with these exceptions, the 
 meeting was attended by deputies from the other Grecian 
 states ; war was declared against the Amphissians ; and Cotty- 
 phus was appointed to lead an army against them. Demosthenes 
 asserts that this expedition failed; but according to other 
 accounts it was successful, and a fine was laid upon the Am¬ 
 phissians, which, however, they refused to pay. Accordingly, at 
 the next ordinary meeting of the Amphictyons, either in the 
 autumn of 339 or spring of 338, Philip, who had now returned 
 from Thrace, was elected their general for the purpose of carry¬ 
 ing out the decree against Amphissa. 
 
 § 9. Early in 338 Philip marched southwards ; but instead of 
 proceeding in the direction of Amphissa, he suddenly seized 
 Elatea, the chief town in the eastern part of Phocis, and began 
 to restore its fortifications ; thus showing clearly enough that 
 his real design was against Boeotia and Attica. Intelligence of 
 this event reached Athens at night, and caused extraordinary 
 alarm. The market was cleared of the retail dealers, who com¬ 
 monly occupied it; their wicker booths were burned ; and the 
 whole city prepared as if for an immediate siege. At daybieak, 
 on the following morning, the Five Hundred met in the senate 
 house, and the people assembled in the Pnyx, where the news was 
 formally repeated. The herald then gave the usual invitation to 
 speak, but nobody was inclined to come forwards. At length 
 Demosthenes ascended the bema, and calmed the fears of the 
 people by pointing out that Philip was evidently not acting in 
 concert with the Thebans, as appeared from the fact of his 
 having thought it necessary to secure Elatea. He then pressed 
 upon the assembly the necessity for making the most vigorous 
 preparations for defence, and especially recommended them to 
 send an embassy to Thebes, in order to persuade the Thebans 
 to unite with them against the common enemy. This advice 
 was adopted, and ten envoys were appointed to proceed to 
 Thebes, amongst whom was Demosthenes himself. A counter¬ 
 embassy had already arrived in that city from Macedonia and 
 Thessaly, and it was with great difficulty that the Athenian 
 envoys at length succeeded in persuading the Thebans to shut 
 their gates against Philip. Athens had made vigorous prepara¬ 
 tions, and had 10,000 mercenaries in her service. Philip, on tht 
 other hand, was at the head of 30,000 men ; but after the con- 
 
520 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLHI 
 
 elusion of the alliance between Thebes and Athens he did not 
 deem it prudent to march directly against the latter city, and 
 therefore proceeded towards Amphissa, as if in prosecution ol 
 the avowed object of the war. He sent a manifesto to his 
 allies in Peloponnesus requiring their assistance in what he re¬ 
 presented as a purely religious object; but his application was 
 coldly received. 
 
 § 10. The details of the war that followed are exceedingly ob¬ 
 scure. Philip appears to have again opened negotiations with 
 the Thebans, which failed ; and we then find the combined 
 Theban and Athenian armies marching out to meet the Mace¬ 
 donians. The former gained some advantage in two engage¬ 
 ments ; but the decisive battle was fought on the 7th of August, 
 in the plain of Chseronea in Bceotia, near the frontier of Phocis. 
 In the Macedonian army was Philip’s son, the youthful Alex¬ 
 ander, who was intrusted with the command of one of the wings; 
 and it was a charge made by him on the Theban sacred band, 
 that decided the fortune of the day. The sacred band was cut 
 to pieces, without flinching from the ground which it occupied, 
 and the remainder of the combined army was completely 
 routed. Demosthenes, who was serving as a foot-soldier in the 
 Athenian ranks, has been absurdly reproached with cowardice 
 because he participated in the general flight. An interest¬ 
 ing memorial of this battle still remains. The Thebans, who 
 fell in the engagement, were buried on the spot, and their 
 sepulchre was surmounted by a lion in stone, as an emblem 
 of their courageous spirit. This lion was still seen by Pau- 
 sanias, when he visited Chseronea in the second century of 
 the Christian era. It afterwards disappeared, though the site 
 of the sepulchre continued to be marked by a large mound 
 of earth ; but a few years ago this tumulus was excavated, 
 and a colossal lion discovered, deeply embedded in its in¬ 
 terior. 
 
 The battle of Chaeronea crushed the liberties of Greece, and 
 made it in reality a province of the Macedonian monarchy. 
 
 To Athens herself the blow was almost as fatal as that of 
 iBgospotami. Such was the consternation it created in that 
 city that many of the wealthier citizens prepared for immediate 
 flight; and it was found necessary to arrest emigration by a 
 decree which made it a capital offence. Demosthenes roused 
 his fellow-citizens by his energy and eloquence to adopt the 
 most vigorous measures for defending the city, and contributed 
 three talents out of his own private fortune towards the repair 
 of the walls. He was appointed to pronounce the funereal ora¬ 
 tion over those slain at Cha 3 i'one» a proof that the Athenians 
 
B.C. 338. 
 
 BATTLE OF CHASRONEA. 
 
 521 
 
 did not consider him guilty of any dereliction ol duty in that en 
 gagement; but Lysides, the Athenian general, was brought to 
 trial, and condemned to death. 
 
 § 11 The exultation of Philip at his victory knew no bounds. 
 He celebrated his triumph with drunken orgies ; and reeling from 
 the banquet to the field of battle, he danced over the dead, at 
 the same time singing and beating time to the opening words of 
 the decree of Demosthenes, which happened to have the rhythm 
 of a comic Iambic verse.* It is said that the orator Demades 
 put an end to this ridiculous and unroyal exhibition by remind¬ 
 ing Philip, “ That though fortune had placed him in the position 
 of Agamemnon, he preferred playing the part of Tliersites.” 
 But when Philip had returned to his sober senses, the manner 
 in which he used his victory excited universal surprise. He dis¬ 
 missed the Athenian prisoners not only without ransom, but 
 with all their baggage, and some of them he even provided with 
 new apparel. He then voluntarily offered a peace on terms more 
 advantageous than the Athenians themselves would have ven¬ 
 tured to propose. They were, indeed, required to relinquish a 
 part of their foreign dependencies ; but they were in some de¬ 
 gree compensated for this by being put in possession of Oropus, 
 of which the Thebans were now deprived. Philip, indeed, seems 
 to have regarded Athens with a sort of love and respect, as the 
 centre of art and refinement, for his treatment of the Thebans 
 was very different, and marked by great harshness and severity. 
 They were compelled to recall their exiles, in whose hands the 
 government was placed, whilst a Macedonian garrison was esta¬ 
 blished in the Cadmea. They were also deprived of their 
 sovereignty over the Boeotian towns, and Plata3a and Orcho- 
 rnenus were restored, and again filled with a population hostile 
 to Thebes 
 
 § 12. But the mildness of Philip’s conduct towards Athens, 
 though it bore the appearance of magnanimity, and afforded 
 matter for triumph to the orators of the peace party, was, after 
 all, perhaps in no small degree the result of policy. It was 
 by no means certain that, if Philip laid siege to Athens, he 
 would be able to take the city ; at all events, the siege would 
 be a protracted one ; the exasperated Thebans lay in hi* rear ; 
 and the attempt would certainly delay the more brilliant enter- 
 pr ise which he had long meditated against Persia. For this latter 
 purpose he now convened a congress of the Grecian states at 
 Corinth, though its ostensible object was the settlement of the 
 affairs of Greece. Sparta was the only state unrepresented ir 
 
 * \r t uo«‘'Sivv\i iXtjfAOO0ti/ouf lla.tuv.iv. rctb ttartv 
 
HISTORY OP GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XI 111 
 
 this assembly. War was declared against Persia, Philip wa- a]>- 
 pointed generalissimo of the expedition, and each state was 
 assessed in a certain contingent of men or ships. But before he 
 returned to the north of Greece, he determined to chastise 
 Sparta for her ill-disguised hostility. His march througn Pelo¬ 
 ponnesus, and back by the western coast, though he here and 
 there met with resistance, resembled rather a royal progress 
 than an expedition into a hostile country. The western states 
 north of the isthmus now submited to his authority, and a Ma¬ 
 cedonian garrison was placed in Ambracia. Byzantium also 
 executed a treaty with Philip, which was virtually an act of 
 subjection. Having thus established his authority throughout 
 Greece, he returned to Macedonia in the autumn of b.c. 338, in 
 order to prepare for his Persian expedition. 
 
 § 13. But the fortune of Philip, which had triumphed over all 
 his foreign enemies, was destined to be arrested by the feuds 
 which arose in the bosom of his own family. Soon after his 
 return to Macedonia, and probably in the spring of 337, he cele¬ 
 brated his nuptials with Cleopatra, the beautiful niece of Attains, 
 one of his generals. He had already several wives, for he had 
 adopted the eastern custom of polygamy ; but it was Olympias, 
 daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, by whom Philip had 
 become the father of Alexander, who regarded herself as his 
 legitimate queen ; a violent and imperious woman, who prided 
 herself on the ancient nobility of her family, which traced its 
 descent from Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. The banquet which fol¬ 
 lowed the wedding was marked by an extraordinary scene. 
 When the cup had freely circulated, and wine had begun to 
 unlock the hearts of the guests, Attalus uncautiously disclosed 
 the ambitious views with which his daughter’s marriage had 
 inspired him, by calling upon the company to invoke the gods to 
 bless the union they were celebrating with a legitimate heir to 
 the throne. Fired at this expression, which seemed to convey a 
 reflection on his birth, the young prince Alexander hurled his 
 goblet at Attalus, exclaiming, “ Am I then called a bastard ?” 
 Philip at these words started from his couch, and seizing his 
 sword, rushed towards Alexander, whom he would probably have 
 slain, had not his foot slipped and caused him to fall. Alexander 
 rose and left the banqueting-hall; but as he withdrew levelled a 
 taunt at his prostrate parent. “ Behold the man,” he exclaimed, 
 u who was about to pass from Europe to Asia, but who has been 
 overthrown in going from one couch to another!” 
 
 Alexander and his mother Olympias now hastened to quit 
 Macedonia. The latter found refuge at the court of her brother 
 Alexander, king of Epirus, whilst the former took up his abodr 
 
B.C. 3 36. 
 
 ASSASSINATION ON PHILIP. 
 
 52b 
 
 in Illyria. The fugitives appear to have stirred up both these 
 countries to wage war against Philip, who however at length 
 contrived to effect a show of reconciliation. Through the me¬ 
 diation of a friend, he induced Alexander to return to Pella ; and 
 he averted the hostility of his brother-in-law, the king of Epirus, 
 by offering him the hand of his daughter, Cleopatra. Olympias 
 was now compelled to return to Philip’s court; but both she 
 and Alexander harboured an implacable resentment against him. 
 
 § 14. These domestic disturbances delayed Philip’s expedition 
 during the year 337 ; but in the following spring he appears to 
 have sent some forces into Asia, under the command of Attalus, 
 Parmenio, and Amyntas. These were designed to engage the 
 Greek cities of Asia in the expedition, and to support the dis¬ 
 affected subjects of Persia. But before quitting Macedonia, 
 Philip determined to pro ride for the safety of his dominions by 
 celebrating the marriage of his daughter with Alexander ol 
 Epirus. It was solemnized at Mgse, the ancient capital of Mace¬ 
 donia, with much pomp, including banquets, and musical and 
 theatrical entertainments. Most of the Grecian towns sent their 
 deputies to the festival, bringing crowns of gold and other 
 presents to the king. But a terrible catastrophe was impend¬ 
 ing, which several omens are said to have predicted. The oracle 
 of Delphi, when consulted by Philip, as head of the Arnphi- 
 ctyons, respecting the issue of his eastern expedition, responded 
 with its usual happy ambiguity—“The bull is crowned, every¬ 
 thing is ready, and the sacrilicer is at hand.” And the playei 
 Neoptolemus, who had been engaged to recite some verses during 
 the nuptial banquet, chose an ode which spoke of power, pride, 
 and luxury, and of the rapid and stealthy approach of death, 
 which terminates in a moment the most ambitious expectations. 
 
 § 15. The day after the nuptials was dedicated to theatrical 
 entertainments. The festival was opened with a procession ol 
 the images of the twelve Olympian deities, with which was asso¬ 
 ciated that of Philip himself. The monarch took part in the 
 procession, dressed in white robes, and crowned with a chaplet. 
 A little behind him walked his son and his new son-in-law, 
 whilst his body-guards followed at some distance, in order that 
 the person of the sovereign might be seen by all his subjects. 
 Whilst thus proceeding through the city, a youth suddenly 
 rushed out of the crowd, and drawing a long sword which he 
 had concealed under his clothes, plunged it into Philip’s side, 
 who fell dead upon the spot. The assassin was pursued by some 
 of the royal guards, and having stumbled in his bight, was de¬ 
 spatched before he could reach the place where horses had been 
 provided for his escape. His name was Pausanias. He was a 
 
524 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLlli 
 
 youth of noble birth, and we are told that his motive for taking 
 Philip’s life was that the king had refused to punish an outrage 
 which Attains had committed against him. Both Olympias and 
 her son Alexander were suspected of being concerned in the 
 murder. Olympias is said to have prepared the horses for the 
 escape of the assassin ; and it is certain that she manifested an 
 extravagant satisfaction at Philip’s death. The suspicion that 
 Olympias was privy to her husband’s assassination is consider¬ 
 ably strengthened by the improbability that Pausanias, without 
 incitement from some other quarter, should have avenged him¬ 
 self on Philip rather than on Attalus, the actual perpetrator of 
 the injury which he had received. With regard to Alexander, 
 however, there is no evidence worth a moment’s attention to 
 inculpate him ; and though an eminent historian * has not 
 scrupled to condemn him as a parricide, yet we should hesitate 
 to brand him, on such slender suspicions, with a crime which 
 seems foreign to his character 
 
 Thus fell Philip of Macedon in the twenty-fourth year of his 
 reign and forty-seventh of his age (b.c. 336). When we reflect 
 upon his achievements, and how, partly by policy and partly by 
 arms, he converted his originally poor and distracted kingdom 
 into the mistress of Greece, we must acknowledge him to have 
 been an extraordinary, if not a great man, in the better sense ol 
 that term. His views and his ambition were certainly as large 
 as those of his son Alexander, but he was prevented by a pre¬ 
 mature death from carrying them out; nor would Alexander 
 himself have been able to perform his great achievements had 
 not Philip handed down to him all the means and instruments 
 which they required. 
 
 * Niebuhr. 
 
 Bust of DemostheueB. 
 
Battle of Isbus. From a Mosaic at Pompeii 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 
 
 | 1, Education of Alexander. § 2. Rejoicings at Athens for Philip's death. 
 Movements in Greece. § 3. Alexander overawes the malcontents, and is 
 appointed generalissimo for the Persian war. § 4. Alexander subdues the 
 Triballians, Getae, Illyrians, and Taulantians. § 5, Revolt and destruction 
 of Thebes. § 6. Alexander prepares to invade Persia. Nature of that 
 empire. § 7. Alexander crosses the Hellespont. § 8. Battle of the 
 
 Granicus. § 9. Alexander overruns Asia Minor. The Gordian knot. 
 *5 10. March through Cilicia. Battle of Issus Victory. § 11. Con¬ 
 quest of Phoenicia. Siege of Tyre. § 12. Alexander marches into Egypt. 
 Foundation of Alexandria. Oracle of Ammon. § 13. Battle of Arbela, 
 § 14. Alexander takes possession of Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. § 15 
 March to Ecbatana, and pursuit of Darius. Death of Darius. § 16. 
 March through Hyrcania, Asia, and Drangiana. Conspiracy of Philotas, 
 § 17. Alexander crosses the Oxus. Death of Bessus. Reduction of Sog- 
 diana. Alexander marries Roxana. § 18. Murder of Clitus. § 19. Plot 
 of the pages. Alexander invades the Penjab, and defeats Porus. Marches 
 as far as the Hyphasis. § 20. Descent of the Hydaspes and Indus. § 21. 
 March through Gedrosia. Voyage of Nearchus. § 22. Arrival at Susa. 
 Intermarriages of the Greeks and Persians. Mutiny of the army. § 23, 
 Death of Hephaestion. Alexander takes up his residence at Babylon. His 
 death. § 24. Character. 
 
 § 1. Notwithstanding the suspicions of Olympias and Alex¬ 
 ander, it does not appear that Philip had ever really entertained 
 the design of depriving Alexar der of the throne. At the time 
 of his father’s death he was in his twentieth year, having been 
 born in b.O. 356. At a very tender age he displayed a spirit 
 
526 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. XLIV 
 
 which endeared him to his father. His early education was en¬ 
 trusted to Leonidas, a kinsman of his mother, a man of severe 
 and parsimonious character, who trained him with Spartan sim¬ 
 plicity and hardihood ; whilst Lysimachus, a sort of under¬ 
 governor, early inspired the young prince with ambitious notions 
 by teaching him to love and emulate the heroes of the Iliad. 
 According to the traditions of his family, the blood of Achilles 
 actually ran in the veins of Alexander ; and Lysimachus nou 
 rished the feeling which that circumstance was calculated to 
 awaken by giving him the name of that hero, whilst he called 
 Philip Peleus, and himself Phoenix. But the most striking fea¬ 
 ture in Alexander’s education was, that he had Aristotle foi 
 his teacher, and that thus the greatest conqueror of the mate¬ 
 rial world received the instructions of him who has exercised 
 the most extensive empire over the human intellect. It was 
 probably at about the age of thirteen that he first received the 
 lessons of Aristotle, and they can hardly have continued more 
 than three years, for Alexander soon left the schools for the 
 employments of active life. At the age of sixteen we find him 
 regent of Macedonia during Philip’s absence ; and at eighteen we 
 have seen him filling a prominent military post at the battle of 
 Chceronea. 
 
 § 2. On succeeding to the throne, Alexander announced his in¬ 
 tention of prosecuting his father’s expedition into Asia ; but it 
 was first necessary for him to settle the affairs of Greece, where 
 the news of Philip’s assassination, and the accession of so young 
 a prince, had excited in several states a hope of shaking off the 
 Macedonian yoke. Athens was the centre of these movements. 
 Demosthenes, who was informed of Philip’s death by a special 
 messenger, resolved to avail himself of the superstition of hi:? 
 fellow citizens by a pious fraud. He went to the senate-house 
 and declared to the Five Hundred that Jove and Athena had 
 forewarned him in a dream of some great blessing that was in 
 store for the commonwealth. Shortly afterwards public couriers 
 arrived with the news of Philip’s death. Demosthenes, although 
 in mourning for the recent loss of an only daughter, now came 
 abroad dressed in white, and crowned with a chaplet, in which 
 attire he was seen sacrificing at one of the public altars. He 
 also moved a decree that Philip’s death should be celebrated by 
 a public thanksgiving, and that religious honours should be paid 
 to the memory of Pausanias. Phocion certainly showed a more 
 generous spirit in disapproving of these proceedings. “ Nothing,” 
 lie observed, “ betrays a more dastardly turn of mind than ex¬ 
 pressions of joy for the death of an enemy. And truly you have 
 tine reason to rejoice, when the army you fought with at Chin 
 
B.O. 336. 
 
 ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER. 
 
 527 
 
 ronea is only reduced by one man !” In 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. Pie 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 Thessalians 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 Sinop6, who was then living in one c f 
 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 'I 
 u By standing out of my sunshine,” replied the churlish philo¬ 
 sopher. Alexander was struck with surprise at a behaviour tc 
 
528 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XL1Y. 
 
 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 Hsemua 
 (the Balkan) and marched into the territory of the Triballians, 
 defeated their forces, and pursued them 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 the 
 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 troop: 
 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 
 
D^WT 1 Smith's Students History of Greece* _ ALEXANDERS CAMPAIGNS To face page 
 
 Loudon:■ Jolm. MuAlbemarle Street. 
 
b.C. 335. 
 
 ALEXANDER DESTROYS THEBES. 
 
 529 
 
 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 Plateea, 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 to 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 1” “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 <?u a saf isfactorj 
 Gii. 2 m 
 
530 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chai>. XLIV 
 
 footing Alexander marched for the Hellespont in the spring oi 
 H.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 oi' 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 
 fcrce 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 Achsoans 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. lie 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 const he made it his first 
 business to visit the plain of Troy. A temple of Athena still 
 existed thero, and the very altar was pointed out to him at which 
 Neoptolemus was said to have slain Priam. Alexander then 
 proceeded to Sige»:m, where he crowned with a garland the pillar 
 "ahi to man the tumulus of his mythical ancestor Achilles and 
 
RC. 334 
 
 BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS. 
 
 531 
 
 according to custom, ran round it naked with his friends, whilst 
 Hepheestion paid similar honours to the tomb of Patroclus. 
 
 § 8. Alexander then rejoined his army at Arisb6, near Abydos, 
 and marched northwards along the coast of the Propontis. The 
 satraps of Lydia and Ionia, together with other Persian generals, 
 were encamped near Zelea, a town on the Granicus, 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 fell 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, a*.d leaving a small force to reduce the garrison, which 
 
 2m? 
 
532 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap XLi\ 
 
 had taken refuge m the citadels and forts, pursued his march 
 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 had 
 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- 
 memo to rejoin him in Phrygia in the spring, with the main 
 body. After he had crossed the Xantlnis, 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 intc 
 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 Perg6 he advanced against 
 Aspendus and Side, 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 jwents, had entered 
 the town, and in conformity with an oracle had been elevated to 
 t he 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 
 Paplilagonians. He then advanced through Cappadocia without 
 resistance ; and forcing his way through the passes of Mount 
 Taurus 'the Pylce Cilicia ), he descended into the plains of Cilicia 
 
R.C 333 
 
 BATTLE OF ISSUS. 
 
 533 
 
 Hence he pushed ou 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 runs 
 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 th< 
 same time Alexander received a letter informing him that Phili] 
 had been bribed by Darius, the Persian king, to poison him. Ht 
 had, however, too much confidence in the trusty Philip to believe 
 the accusation, and handed him the letter whilst lie 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 line 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 ORKECK 
 
 Chat XLP? 
 
 30,00u Greek mercenaries, who formed the ccntiu, 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 lie 
 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 Persians, 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¬ 
 lion, 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. 
 
333. 
 
 SIEGE OF TY11E. 
 
 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 he 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 still 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 become 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 ever 
 hailed him as their deliverer. Tyre, also, sent to tender hei 
 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 
 an 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 an 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 the channel was shallow near the coast, fl 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 •JiiA- X LI V 
 
 53fi 
 
 deepened to tmee fathoms near the island. The shores of tht 
 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 the 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 for which were collected 
 from the forests of Libanus 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 bead 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 opportunity 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 driven 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 little 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 the 
 jity became one wide scene of indiscriminate carnage and plun 
 ler- The sS?ge 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 tleet proceeded along the coast. Gaza 
 a strong 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 Alexandei 
 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 ol 
 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 love Ammon, which 
 
538 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Ghai*. XL1V 
 
 lay in the bosom of the Libyan wilderness, and which wat 
 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 Cyrend, 
 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 
 veil-watered and richly-wooded valley, containing the renowned 
 and ancient temple of Ammon. 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- 
 rnela (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, whore 
 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 ne 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, os usual, occupied 
 the centre, surrounded by his body-guard and chosen troops. 
 In front of the royal position were ranged the war-chariot* 
 
B.C. 331 
 
 BATTLE OF ARBELA 
 
 53 ( > 
 
 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 line 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 cn 
 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 Bel us had been destroyed and still 
 lay in ruins ; and both priests and people consequently rejoiced 
 ?X the downfall of a dynasty from which they had suffered so 
 
540 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 On a i*. XLIY. 
 
 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 Mazams, 
 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 
 the 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 Aristogiton, 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 delile 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 it 
 
B,U. 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 30,000,000Z. sterling. It was here that 
 Alexander is related to have committed an act 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 Pasargadoe. 
 
 § 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, Alexander 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 Rhagae, 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 Rhagae 
 he heard that Darius had already passed the defile called the 
 “ Caspian Cates,” 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 XIIV. 
 
 ing himself in Bactria as an independent sovereign. This intel- 
 ligence stimulated Alexander to make still further haste with 
 part 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 direc 
 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, m the 
 treatment of his captive family, preferred to fall into his hands, 
 whereupon the conspirators mortally wounded him in the 
 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 be 
 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 quitfed 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 BESSES 
 
 543 
 
 on being put to the torture he not only confessed his own 
 guilt m ins agenies, 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. Hephoestion, 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- 
 plnestiou and the other to Clitus. 
 
 § 17. Late in the year 330, Alexander directed his march 
 southwards, to the banks of the Etymandrus (the Ilelmund), 
 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 Canclahar. He then crossed 
 the lofty mountains of Paropamisus, called Caucasus by the 
 Greeks (now Hindoo-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 followed 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 inac- 
 
544 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. &LIV 
 
 cessible, and so well supplied with provisions as to defy u 
 blockade. The summons to surrender was treated with derision 
 by the commander, who inquired whether the Macedonians had 
 wings I But a small body of Macedonians having succeeded in 
 scaling some 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 
 uacred to Dionysus. The banquet was attended by several 
 parasites and literary flatterers, who magnified the praises of 
 A lexander 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 
 (lushed 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 Sogdiaua 
 Alexander returned into Bactria in 327, and began to prepare 
 toi his projected expedition into India. Whilst he was thuf 
 
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 
 Attock , 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-ab (or the Five Rivers). Taxiles, the 
 sovereign of the district, at once surrendered Taxila, his capi¬ 
 tal, and joined the Macedonian force with 5000 men. Ilenco 
 Alexander proceeded with little resistance to the river Hydaspes 
 (Rehut or Jelum). On the opposite bank, Porus,* a powerfu. 
 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, wdio 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 cf the Sanscrit word “ Paurusha," which 
 signifies a “ hero.” 
 
 Gb 2 N 
 
54t> HISTORY OF GREECE. Chap. XLIY 
 
 naniruity, Alexander not only restored him to his dominions, 
 but also considerably enlarged them ; seeking by these means to 
 retain liim 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 Nicasa, and the other 
 BucephMa, in honour of his gallant charger Bucephalus, wkjch is 
 said to have died here. He then overran the whole cf the 
 Penj-ab, as far as the Hyphasis ( Gharra ), its southern boundary. 
 The only resolute resistance he experienced was from the war¬ 
 like tribe of the Cathaei, 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 Nicsea and Bucephala on the Hydaspes, he divided his 
 army into three detachments. Two of these, under the com¬ 
 mand of Hephsestion and Cratcrus, 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 ol 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 ol 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 maD 
 could mount, the ladder broke, and Alexander was left exposed 
 on the wall to the missiles of the enemy. From this situation 
 
3.0. 326. 
 
 RETURN TO PERSIA. 
 
 547 
 
 there 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 
 hio 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 {Rave) 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 communicatior 
 between India and Persia. We have hitherto beheld Alexandei 
 only as a conqueror; but these cares exhibit him in the more 
 pleasing fight of a geographical discoverer, and of a sovereign 
 solicitous for the substantial benefit of his subjects. 
 
 § 21. From this point AJexander proceeded with his army, k 
 the autumn of 326, through the burning deserts of Gedrosia 
 towards Persepofis; marching himself on foot, and sharing the 
 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 emerged 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. XLEY 
 
 Gulf. The main body of the army under Hephsestion was directed 
 to march along the shores of the Gulf; whilst Alexander kimseif, 
 with his horse-guards and light infantry, took a shorter route 
 through Pasargadoe and Persepol-is. 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 Statlra, 
 the eldest daughter of Darius, and bestowed the hand of her 
 sister, Drypetis, on Hephacstion. 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 
 large 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 
 proposed to dismiss such Macedonians as were wounded or 
 otherwise disabled; but though they had clamoured for inei»' 
 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 Ammon would fight his 
 battles.” But the mutiny was quelled by the decisive conducf 
 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 the masters of Greece and the lords of Asia; 
 and that whilst he had abandoned to them the richest and most 
 
B.C. 324 . 
 
 ALEXANDER ENTERS BABYLON. 
 
 540 
 
 valuable fruits of liis 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, w T ho was ordered to repair to Asia with 
 fresh reinforcements. 
 
 § 23. Soon after these occurrences, Alexander proceeded to 
 Ecbatana, 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 w T as to them a 
 novel spectacle. But Alexander’s enjoyment was suddenly con¬ 
 verted into bitterness by the death of his friend Hephsestion, 
 who was earned off by a fever. This event threw Alexander 
 into a deep raelancholjq from which he never entirely recovered. 
 The memory of Hephoestion was honoured by extravagant marks 
 of public mourning, and his body w T as 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 construct ion. 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 Hephsestion, which was con¬ 
 structed with such unparalleled splendour, that it is said tc 
 nave 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 the whole known world. He 
 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 then' 
 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 he met 
 with 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 the 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. 
 
 * 
 
 Nirbuhr 
 
3.0. 323. DEATH OF ALEXANDER 5.51 
 
 His motives, it must be allowed, seem rather to have sprung 
 from the love of personal glory and the excitement of conquest, 
 chan from any wish to benefit his suojects. The attention whicn 
 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 washed 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 listlessness 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, which 
 continued to exist for many generations. 
 
 Vpolio CKicrodus. Frcra the collection in tho Vatican 
 
The Group of Niobe. From the Collection at Florence. 
 
 CHAPTER XLY. 
 
 FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE 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 de Corona. § 3. 
 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 Leonnatus. Battle of Crannon. End of the Lamian war. 
 § G. 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 his throne, though his wife Roxana 
 was pregnant. In the discussions which ensued in the council, 
 
6 C. 323. 
 
 PARTITION OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 55h 
 
 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 Arrhidieus, 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 connected 
 with the royal family, should preside over Egypt and the adjacent 
 countries : that Antigonus should have Phrygia Proper, Lycia, 
 and Pamphylia: 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- 
 phnestion, in virtue of which he became the guardian of Philip 
 Arrhidteus, 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 Roxana 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 were joined by most of the Peloponne¬ 
 sian states, but the Athenians kept aloof. In 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 aEscliines 
 trumped up an old charge against him which had lain dormant 
 
554 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chat. XLV 
 
 tor several years. Soon after the battle of Chaeronea, 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 zEschines indicted Ctesiphon ; but 
 though the latter was the nominal defendant, 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 zEschines “ Against Ctesiphon,” and of 
 Demosthenes “ On the Crown.” zEschines, who did not obtain 
 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 he 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 
 Anti pater 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 was 
 
B.C. 323. 
 
 LAMIA.N WAK. 
 
 655 
 
 put into confinement, but sue* eeded in making his escape from 
 prison. Demosthenes was among the orators who were brought 
 to trial for corruption. He was aeclared 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 iEgina or Troezen, 
 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 people 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 ?” “ Do you reckon it 
 
 nothing,” answered Phocion, “that the Athenians are buried in 
 the sepulchres of their forefathers ?” 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. strong fortress on the Malian gulf. Leos- 
 
656 
 
 HISTOKY OF GEEECE. 
 
 Chap. XL\. 
 
 fchenes, desirous to finish the war at a blow, pressed the siege 
 with the utmost vigour ; but his assaults were repulsed, and he 
 was compelled tc 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 
 fie 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 T 
 The Athenians were so elated with their good fortune, that they 
 would listen to no terms but the unconditional surrender oi 
 Antipater. Meantime Demosthenes, though still an exile, ex¬ 
 erted himself in various parts of the Peloponnesus in counter¬ 
 acting the envoys of Anti pater, 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 Pirceus, where he was received 
 with extraordinary honours. 
 
 Meanwhile Leounatus, governor of the Hellespontine Phrygia, 
 had appeared on 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 the 
 allied army devolved, hastened to offer battle to Leonnatus 
 before he could arrive at Lamia. The hostile armies met in ono 
 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 w T ith 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, b.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 lesult answered 
 his expectations. One by one, the various states submitted, till 
 at length all had laid down their arms. Athens, the original insti 
 
fcj.c. 322. 
 
 DEATH OE 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 Larnian war. 
 
 § 6. After the return of the envoys bringing the ultimatum of 
 Antipater, the sycophant Demades procured a decree for the 
 death of the denounced orators. Demosthenes, and the other 
 persons compromised, made their escape from Athens before 
 the Macedonian garrison arrived. Hlgina was their first place 
 of refuge, but they soon parted in different directions. Hype 
 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 Troezen. 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 his 
 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 on. “ You 
 may now,” said he, “ enact the part of Creon, and cast me out 
 unburied ; but at least, (J gracious Poseidon, I have Pot polluted 
 thy temple by my death, which Antipater and his Macedonians 
 
HLSTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLV 
 
 558 
 
 would not have scrupled at.” Bui 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 more pcwer 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, aud the weak Philip Arrhidaeus was a puppet in his hands. 
 Perdiccas had at first courted the alliance of Antipater, and had 
 even married his daughter Nicaca. But when Olympias offered 
 him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra, if he would assist her 
 against Antipater, Perdiccas resolved to divorce Nicaea 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 his 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 tha 
 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 TRIPARADISUS. 
 
 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 whicn had been set 
 up by Antipater. In order to enforce these measi res, 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 Nica- 
 aor 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 oi 
 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 ?” 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¬ 
 sufficient 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 large 
 
560 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 (Jha v, XLY. 
 
 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 Eurydice, the active and intriguing wife of 
 Philip Arrhidseus, conceived the project of throwing off the yoke 
 of the regent, and concluded an alliance with Cassander, while 
 she herself assembled an army with which she obtained for i 
 time the complete possession of Macedonia. But in the spring 
 of 317 Polysperchon, having united his forces with those of 
 zEacides, 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 ; and after a blockade of same 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 had 
 conquered Eumenes, who had long defied his arms, and he nov* 
 
B.O. 315. 
 
 COALITION AGAINST ANTIGONUS 
 
 50 ) 
 
 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 foui 
 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 successors. 
 Alexander, who had now attained the age of sixteen, was still 
 shut up with his mother Koxana in Amphipolis ; and his parti¬ 
 sans, with injudicious zeal, loudly expressed their wish that he 
 should be released and placed upon the throne. In order to 
 avert this event Cassander contrived the secret murder both of 
 the mother and the son. 
 
 5 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 Piranis, he immediately pro¬ 
 claimed the object of his expedition to be the liberation of 
 Athens and the expulsion of the Macedonian garrison. 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 
 
662 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chap. AGV 
 
 to Oassander and the Macedonians. He cultivated many branches 
 of literature, and was at once an historian, a philosopher, and 
 & 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 a 
 disastrous failure. By way of revonge, 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 in 
 309 B.O., the year of his archonahip, gave 21,000 freemen, 10,000 metica, oi 
 resident aliens, 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 IPS US. 
 
 563 
 
 After in vain attempting to take the town from the sea-side, by 
 means of floating batteries, from which stones of enormous 
 weight were hurled from engines with incredible force against 
 the walls, he determined to alter his plan and invest it on the 
 land-siae. With the assistance of Epimachus, an Athenian ei> 
 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, Oassander 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- 
 leucus 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 XLYI. 
 
 FROM THE BATTLE OF IPSUS TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY 
 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 § 1. Proceedings of Demetrius Poliorcetes. He captures Athens. § 2. Ob¬ 
 tains the Macedonian crown. His flight and death. § 3. Lysimachus 
 reigns over Macedonia. He is defeated and slain 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. § 6. The 
 Achaean League. § 7. State of Sparta. Reforms of Agis and Cleomenes. 
 The Cleomenic war. § 8. The TEtolian League. § 9. The Social War. 
 § 10. War between Philip and the Romans. § 11. Philopoemen. § 12. 
 Second war between Philip and the Romans. Battle of Cynoscephalae. 
 § 13. Defeat of Antiochus, and subjugation of the TEtolians 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. § 10. 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 c 
 Roman province. 
 
 § i. After his repulse from Athens, Demetrius proceeded 
 towards Peloponnesus, but found that- his allies in that quarter 
 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 tiie territory of Lysimachus. Whilst en¬ 
 gaged in this expedition he was agreeably surprised by receiving 
 an embassy from Seleucus, by which that monarch solicited his 
 daughter Stratonice 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 ol 
 their distresses, made them a present of a large quantity of corn. 
 
 § 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 iu the aid of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, as 
 well as of Demetrius, who was in the Peloponnesus with hie 
 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 
 m Asia ; but before he was ready to take the field, his adver¬ 
 saries, alarmed at his preparations, determined to forestall 
 
 "> Philip Arru iseus is lulled Philip T -' 
 
566 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLV1. 
 
 him. In the spring of b.c. 287, Ptolemy sent a powerful deet 
 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, ana 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 285 in favour of his son by Berenice, afterward;'! 
 known as Ptolemy Philadelphus, and to the exclusion of his eldest 
 son, Ptolemy Ceraunus, by Ins wife Eurydice. Ptolemy Ceraunus 
 quitted Egypt in disgust, and fled to the court of Lysimachus; 
 and although Arsinod, the wife of Lysimachus, was own sister to 
 his rival, Ptolemy Philadelphus, he succeeded in gaining her entire 
 confidence. Arsinoe, 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, where Ptolemy Ceraunus 
 despatched him with his own hand. Lysandra, the mother of 
 
B.C. 280. 
 
 INVASION OF THE CELTS. 
 
 56, 
 
 Agathocles, tied with the rest of tier family to Seleucus, 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 oi 
 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 
 Hellespont 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 Asia, and gave their name to the 
 country called Galatia. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLY1 
 
 568 
 
 § o. After the death of Ptolemy Ceraunus, Macedonia fell foi 
 some time into a state of anarchy and confusion, and the crown 
 was disputed by several pretenders. At length, in 278, Anti- 
 jronus Gonatas, 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 t.c 
 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 
 my 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 established 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 in 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 politica* 
 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 Achaia, a narrow slip of country upon the shores ol 
 the Corinthian gulf, a league, chiefly for religious purposes, ban 
 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 
 
 ACHiEAN LEAGUE. 
 
 569 
 
 Antigonus Gonatas was in possession of all the cities formerly 
 belonging to the league, either by means of his garrisons or ol 
 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 of ten demiurgi. 
 The sovereignty, however, resided in the general assembly, which 
 met twice a year in a sacred grove near xEgium. It was com¬ 
 posed of every Achtean 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 Strategus 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- 
 ieracy now spread with wonderful rapidity. It was soon joined 
 by Trcezen, Epidaurus, Hermiond, and other cities ; and ulti¬ 
 mately embraced Athens, Megara, fEgina, Salamis, and the whole 
 Peloponnesus, with the exception of Sparta, Elis, and some cl 
 the Arcadian towns. 
 
 § 7. Sparta, it is true, still continued to retain her independ¬ 
 ence, but without a shadow of her former greatness and power. 
 The primitive simplicity of Spartan maimers had been com¬ 
 pletely destroyed by the collection of wealth into a few hanus, 
 and by ths consequent progress of luxury. The number of 
 
570 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLV1 
 
 Spartan citizens had been reduced to 700 ; 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 theii 
 country. Like the condottieri 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 Achsean 
 confederacy, attempted to seize the Arcadian towns of Orcho- 
 menus, Tegea, and Mantinea, which the iEtolians had ceded 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 became 
 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, was the grandscr 
 
8.0. 220. 
 
 iETOLIAN LEAGUE 
 
 571 
 
 of Demetrius Poliorcetes, and the nephew of Antigonus Donat as 
 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 lier ; 
 yet Philip succeeded him on his death. It was to Antigonus 
 Doson that Aratus applied for assistance ; and in 228 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 6000 
 Helots tc 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 ol 
 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 not live long 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 iEtolians 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 Achseans, in a confederacy or 
 league. The iEtolian League was a confederation of tribes in¬ 
 stead of cities, like the Achoean. Its history is involved in ob¬ 
 scurity ; but it must at all events have had a fixed constitution 
 even in the time of Philip and Alexander the Great, since Aris¬ 
 totle wrote a treatise on it; and after the death of Alexander we 
 find the League taking a prominent part in the Lamian war. 
 The diet or council of the league, called the Pansetolicum, 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 Apocleti , who seem to have formed a sort 
 of permanent council. The iEtolians had availed themselves of 
 the disorganised state of Greece consequent upon 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 Arnphic- 
 tyonic Council and thr -uacle of Delphi were in their power 
 
572 
 
 HISTORY OP GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLV1. 
 
 They had early wrested Naupactus from the Achaeans, and had 
 subsequently acquired several Peloponnesian cities. 
 
 § 9. Such was the condition of the zEtolians at the time of 
 Philip’s accession. Soon after that event we find them, under 
 the leadership of Dorimachus, 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 Caphyse. 
 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 zEtolians 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 BStolians, 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 Rome 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 Laovinus, 
 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 uiauner in the 
 
B.C. 208 . 
 
 PHILOPCEMEN. 
 
 6TS 
 
 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 AEtolians, who 
 were nov weary of peace, and declared war against Philip. Be¬ 
 fore the end of the year, the Romans made themselves masters 
 of Zacyntlius, with the exception of the capital; and having also 
 wrested (Eniadce 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 Achceans, being hard pressed by the 
 Hltolians, were again induced to call in the aid of Philip. The 
 spirit of the Achceans 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 thesp 
 posts Philopcemen made great alterations and improvements in 
 the arms and disciphne 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 w T ere 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 tlio 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 /Egean sea, and in Attica, 
 had also caused many complaints to be lodged against him at 
 
674 
 
 (Jhap. XLVl. 
 
 HISTORY OR (xREECE. 
 
 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 
 Flaminmus succeeded in gaining over the Achaean league to the 
 Roman alliance ; and as the Hitolians 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 Cynoscephalse, 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, Flaminmus 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 dEtolians, 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 peaoe, 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 
 the 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 
 /Ftolian league was thus for over crushed, though it seems 
 to have existed, in naiw at least, till a much later period. 
 
B.C. 197. 
 
 BATTLE OF CYNOSOEPHALvE. 
 
 575 
 
 § 14. The Achssan 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, Philopcemen 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 Achaeans. 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, Philopcemen, 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 following year, Lycortas, now Strategus, 
 captured Messen6, and having compelled those, who had been 
 concerned in the death of Philopoemen 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. Perseus 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 Romans 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 168 the arrival of the consul, L. vEmilius 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 Amphipolis, 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 their 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 different Grecian cities, and especially by 
 Callicrates, a man of great influence among the Achseans, and 
 vho for many years lent himself as the base tool of the Romans 
 
B.C. 168. 
 
 CONQUEST OF MACEDONIA 
 
 57 i 
 
 to effect the enslavement of his country. After the fall of Ma¬ 
 cedonia, Callicrates 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 Rome 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 Callicrates to procure the intervention of the league. 
 Menalcidas having subsequently defrauded Callicrates of the sum 
 which he had promised him, the latter accused him of having 
 advised the Romans during his administration to effect the 
 detachment of Sparta from the league. Menalcidas escaped 
 condemnation by bribing Diaeus, his successor in the office of 
 Strategus. But such was the obloqu incurred by Diseus througl 
 
 Gr. 2 p 
 
578 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLV1 
 
 this transaction, that in order to divert public attention from 
 himself, ha incited the Achceans 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 Metelhis from Macedonia 
 he did not even venture to make a stand at Thermopylae ; 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 cn the isth¬ 
 mus, Dieeus 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. Or. 
 entering it Mummius put the few males who remained to the 
 sword ; sold the women and children as slaves ; and having ear¬ 
 ned 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, 
 t hat 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 Laocooa. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 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 5 chool of the preceding 
 age. The excitement and misfortunes' jhich 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 feeling. 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- 
 lects than those which had been selected by their predecessors ; 
 md Jove, Hera, and Athena gave place to gods, characterized by 
 
 2 p 2 
 
580 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 CiiAr. XLVI1 
 
 mora violent feelings and passions, such as Dionysus, Apbroditfc, 
 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-elejjhantine 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 Aphrodite (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 later period it was preserved in the temple of 
 Apollo 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 
 vas the statue of the Pythian Apollo playing on the lyre, whicl 
 
 * 
 
 See below, p. 584. 
 
 + See drawir, b . u p. 552. 
 
Chap XIVII. 
 
 SCOPAS. PRAXITELES. 
 
 581 
 
 Augustus place! in the temple which he built tc Apollo cn 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 Athens, 
 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 avow r edly modelled from the courtesan Phrynd. 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 master] >iece. It is related that in his fond¬ 
 ness for Phryn6 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 
 
682 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 CiiAP. XLVII. 
 
 executed figures in bronze and marble of all .sizes, from a drink¬ 
 ing-cup to a colossal statue. One of his 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, 
 hcwever, 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. XLVII. 
 
 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 have 
 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. The 
 
58 i 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLVII 
 
 price paid for this picture was twenty talents. But the most 
 admired of all his paintings was the “ Aphrodite (Venus) Ana- 
 dyomene ” * or Aphrodit6 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 
 Aesculapius at Cos, and was afterwards placed by Augustus in 
 the temple which he dedicated to Julius 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 
 
 * 
 
 Y) d.VO.'hvaiAiVn ’ A(f>pollT*l' 
 
Chap. XLV1I. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 586 
 
 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 greaf 
 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, 
 
b86 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLVil 
 
 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 onp. 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 dEtolians, and others, but, above all, ths 
 capture of Corinth, and, subsequently, the victories over Mithr 
 dates and Cleopatra, tilled 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 
 crowded with statues and paintings. 
 
 * Nero alone is said V ti&ve brought f>0o statues from Delphi, merely t< 
 adorn his afolden hom-e. 
 
AP IZ.T O. 
 
 Bust of Aristotle. 
 
 CHAPTER XLYIII. 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE FROM THE END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TC 
 
 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, fEschines, 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 davs of Aristophanes it took, indeed, a 
 
588 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Oiu p. XLV1I1. 
 
 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 Aristophanes 
 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 upon 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 3G0 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 neglect, 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 \ general notion of the New Comedy of the Greeks, from 
 
 * IIs^l r&>v » X» £<ro\)Yi<T!f> 
 
Chap. XLVIII. 
 
 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 literary 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 
 4cademicians, 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 public man to possess some oratorical skill. All public 
 business, both political and judicial, was transacted by the citi¬ 
 zens themselves in their courts and public 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 lega» 
 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 susceptive 
 
 * Rhetoric i 15, 5. 
 
690 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLVItl 
 
 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 Leontiui ; 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 oratoi’s was Antiphon (bora 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 establish 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, Isams, TFschines, Ly- 
 curgus, Demosthenes Hyperides, and Dinarchus. Andocides, 
 who has been already mentioned as concerned with Alcibiades in 
 the affair of the Herrnoe,* was born at Athens in b.c. 467, and died 
 probably about 391. We have at least three genuine oraHons of 
 
 * See p. M34 
 
Chap. XLVII1. 
 
 ATHENIAN ORATORY. 
 
 591 
 
 his, which, however, are not distinguished by any particulai 
 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 Chseronea, 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. 
 
 Isaeus, 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 Aeschines, 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 Aeschines himself tells a dif¬ 
 ferent story. Ho 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 Tamynse encouraged him to come forward as a public 
 
592 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLVIIl. 
 
 speaker. As a politician he was at first a violent anti-Mace¬ 
 donian ; but after his embassy along with Demosthenes and 
 others to Philip’s court, he was the constant advocate of peace. 
 Demosthenes and iEschines now became the leading speakers on 
 their respective sides, and the heat of political animosity soon 
 degenerated into personal hatred. In 343, Demosthenes charged 
 HCschines 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 ACschines. The result of this 
 charge is unknown, but it seems to have detracted from the 
 popularity of iEschines. We have already adverted to his impeach¬ 
 ment of Ctesiphon, and the celebrated reply of Demosthenes in 
 his speech de Corona .+ After the banishment of iEschines 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 be 
 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 iEschineSi 
 when he read at Rhodes his speech against Ctesiphon. Hi? 
 
 * 
 
 Hs£. Tiot.(sa.'7r()icrZiixi. 
 
 f See pp. 554, 554. 
 
Ohap XLVII1. 
 
 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 Grsecia. 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 
 'vere gratuitous, and his method, like that of his master 
 
 * See pp. 554, 555. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 
 See p. 489 
 
 2 Q 
 
594 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 Chak XLVIll 
 
 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 (Jhabrias, Iphicrates, Timotheus, 
 Phocion, and others. Whether Demosthenes attended his 
 lectures is doubtful. In these pursuits the remainder of his 
 long life was spent, relieved, however, by two voyages to Sicily.* 1 
 He died in 347, at the age of 81 or 82, and bequeathed his gar¬ 
 den to his school. 
 
 § G. 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 Timceus 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;+ 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, no 
 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 signs to 
 express our modes of thinking, but denoted real existences, in 
 fact the only true existences, as being the expressions of the 
 
 * See pj>. 491, 492. t r'a ov rcii ov. [ ra. y.y*' uivol. § . 
 
J'HAI*. XLVI11. 
 
 PLATO. 
 
 596 
 
 eternally pre-existent idea. In this matteT he seems to have 
 departed from Socrates ; and, indeed, the reader who should 
 seek 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 wore 
 ■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, he 
 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 Jmws, 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 cf the Socratic school were the Cyrenaics and Cynics. 
 The former of these sects was founded by Aristippus of Cyren6 
 in Africa, the latter by Antistlienes. Aristippus, though a hearer 
 if Socratrs, wandered far from the precepts of his great master 
 
 2 q 2 
 
59* 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XL'VIII. 
 
 He was fond of luxurious living and sensual gratilications, 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 
 taughtinthe Cynosarges,agymnasium 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.f 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 Epicureans , 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 appears to have directed his 
 inquiries almost exclusively to an investigation of the grounds ol 
 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- 
 
 And again 
 
 * “ Nunc in Aristippi furtim praecepta relabcr 
 Et mihi res non me rebus subjungere conor.” 
 
 Hor. Kp. i. !. *8 
 
 “ Omnis Aristippum decuit color et status et res.” 
 
 U. 17. 29 
 
 t See p. 5*27. 
 
Chap. XLYIII ACADEMICIANS. PERIPATETICS. 691 
 
 demy. Carneades flourished towards the middle of the 2nd 
 century 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- 
 maehus, 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 
 Chalcidice, 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 Herachdes 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 Nymphamm, 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 
 
598 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLVIII 
 
 was called the peripatetic * In the morning he lectured only 
 a select class of pupils, called esoteric ;f and these lectures were 
 called acroamotic,% 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 
 which 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 t,o 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 the 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, and 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 the island of Cyprus. The exact date of Zeno’s birth 
 is uncertain ; but he seems to have gone to Athens about the 
 
 * From mprra.ri~v,to walk about. Others, however, perhaps more correctly 
 deiive it from the place itself being called o moWa.ro;, or the promenade. 
 f iaunotKt;, inner , intimate. } ax^ootfxMrixo (, commnniatecl or city 
 
 ^ i ■'wmoiKOi, ** eternal. 
 
Chap. XLVIII. 
 
 STOICS, epicureans. 
 
 599 
 
 beginning of the 3rd century (b.c. 299) ; a visit which, according 
 to some accounts, was owiug 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 Pcecile Stoa, or painted porch, whence the name 
 of his sect. The speculative doctrines of Zeno w r ere 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 Rerum 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 nave 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 age-s though not in its 
 
600 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 Chap. XLVII1 
 
 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 raee 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 Callimachus, the author of many hymns, elegies, 
 and other poems, which were rnuc'h 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 
 aames; and we therefore content ourselves with selecting for 
 notice a few of the most eminent. 
 
UH4P. XLYIII. LATER GREEK WRITERS. 
 
 601 
 
 The historian Polybius (b.o. 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 Romans 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 Roman 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 and 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 Nicomediain 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 Chaeronea in Bocotia. 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 ago 
 and nation. Besides his Lives , Plutarch was the author of a 
 great number of treatises on mora. 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 import an 4 
 
602 HISTORY OR GREECE. Chap. XLV1U 
 
 historical facts, still exists pretty nearly entire, though the toxf 
 is often corrupt. 
 
 Pausanias, author of the Description of Oreece f 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 Nicoea in Bithynia, 
 a.d. 155. His history of Rome in 80 books extended from the 
 earliest times to a.d. 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 life 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 
 oi men for the reception of a. purer doctrine. Among the Greek 
 
Chap. XLVIJI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 608 
 
 Fathers of the Church were many men of distinguished talent, as 
 Justin Martyr, one of the earliest of the Christian writers, Clemens 
 of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, and many others ; 
 especially J oannes, surnamed Chrysostomus, 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. Maximus 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 in the same cen¬ 
 tury, the chief masterpieces of Grecian literature have been 
 handed down and made intelligible to us. 
 
 Jn J, of the poet Menas*! c 
 
( 604 J 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 Book 1.—MYTHICAL AGE. 
 
 P. 0. 
 
 L184. Capture of Troy. 
 
 LI2-1. Emigration of the Boeotians from Thessaly into Boeotia. 
 
 1104. Return of the Hcraclidae. Conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. 
 
 1050. Cum® founded. 
 
 1350. Probable age of Iloiner. 
 
 Book 11.—GROWTH OF THE GRECIAN STATES. 
 
 7 70. 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 Ach®ans. 
 
 710. Croton, in Italy, founded by the Ach®ans. 
 
 708. Tarcntum founded by the Laced®monian Parthenii, under Phalanthus. 
 
 700. Archilochus of Paros, the iambic poet, flourished. 
 
 693. Simonides of Amorgos, the lyric poet, flourished. 
 
 690. Foundation of Gela in Sicily. 
 
 685. The beginning of the second Messenian war. 
 
 683. First annual Archon at Athens. Tyrt®us, the Athenian poet, camo to 
 Sparta after the first success of the Messenians, and by his martial songs 
 roused the fainting courage of the Laced®monians. 
 
 570. Aleman, a native of Sardis in Lydia, and the chief lyric poet of Sparta, 
 flourished. 
 
 S68. End of the second Messenian war. 
 
 664. A sea-fight between the Corinthians and Corcyrmans, the most ancient sea 
 fight recorded. Zaleucus, the lawgiver in Locri Epizephyrii, flourished. 
 657. Byzantium founded by the Megarians. 
 
 655 The Bacchiad® expelled from Corinth. Cypselus begins to reign. 
 
 644. Pantaleon, king of Pisa, celebrates the Olympic games. 
 
 630. Cyrene in Libya founded by Battus of Thera. 
 
 625. Periander succeeds Cypselus at Corinth. Arion flourished in the reign oi 
 Periander. 
 
 624. Legislation of Dracon at Athens. 
 
 612. Attempt of Cylon to make himself master of Athens. 
 
 610. Sappho, Alc®us, and Stesichorus flourished. 
 
 800. Massilia in Gaul founded by the Phoc®ans. 
 
 596. Epimenides, the Cretan, came to Athens. 
 
 595. Commencement of the Cirrh®an or Sacred War, which lasted 10 years. 
 
 594. Legislation of Solon, who was Athenian archon in this year. 
 
 591. Cirrha taken by the Amphietyons. 
 
 589. Commencement of the government of Pittacus at Mytilene. 
 
 586. The conquest of the Cirrhmans completed and the Pythian games celebrated. 
 
 The Seven Wise Men flourished. 
 
 585. Death of Periander. 
 
 582. Aprigentum founded. 
 
chronological table. 
 
 605 
 
 B.C. 
 
 581. The dynasty of the Cypselidm ended. 
 
 560. Pisistratus usurps the government of Athens. Ibycus ol Rhcgium, the lyric 
 poet, flourished. 
 
 Book III.—THE PERSIAN WARS. 
 
 459. Cyrus begins to reign in Persia. 
 
 556. Simonides of Ceos, the lyric poet, born. 
 
 548. The temple at Delphi burnt. Anaximenes flourished. 
 
 54C. Sardis taken by Cyrus and the Lydian monarchy overthrown. 
 
 544. Pherecydes of Syros, the philosopher, and Theognis of Megara, the poet 
 flourished. 
 
 539. Ihycus of Rhegium, the lyric poet, flourished. 
 
 538. Babylon taken by Cyrus. 
 
 535. Thespis the Athenian first exhibits tragedy. 
 
 532. Polycrates becomes tyrant of Samos. 
 
 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 .Egypt in the fifth year of his reign. Birth of Eschylu*. 
 
 523. Chccrilus 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. 
 Heeataeus, the historian, flourished. 
 
 514. Hipparchus, tyrant of Athens, slain by Harmodius and Aristogiton. 
 
 511. Phrynic'nus, 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 thit 
 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. Eschylus, aged 25, first exhibit- 
 tragedy. 
 
 499. Second year of the Ionian revolt. 
 
 498. Third year of the Ionian revolt. Aristagoras slain in Thrace. Death ol 
 Pythagoras. 
 
 497. Fourth year of the Ionian revolt. Histiaeus comes down to the coast. Birth 
 of Hellanicus of Mytilene, the historian. 
 
 49G. Fifth year of the Ionian revolt. Birth of Sophocles. 
 
 495. Sixth and last year of the Ionian revolt. The Ionian; defeated in a naval 
 battle near Miletus, and Miletus taken. 
 
 493. The Persians take the is.ands of Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos. Miltiadee 
 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 Artaphernes, 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 Miltiade3. Eschylus fought 
 at the battle of Marathon, set. 35. War between A Liens and Egina. 
 
 489. Miltiades attempts to conquer Paros, but is repulsed. He is accused, and, 
 unable to pay the fine in which be was condemned, is thrown into prison, 
 where he died. 
 
 48 6 Revolt of Egypt from the Persians in the fourth year after the bat 11 ** 
 Marathon. 
 
506 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 B.C 
 
 485. Xerxes, king cf Persia, succeeds Darius. Gelon becomes master of Syra. 
 cuse. 
 
 494. Egypt reconquered by the Persians. Herodotus born. iEschy'.us gains the 
 prize in tragedy. 
 
 48S. Ostracism of Aristides. 
 
 *81. Theinistocles the leading man at Athens. 
 
 4^0. Xerxes invades Greece. He set out from Sardis at the beginning of the 
 spring. The battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium were fought at the 
 time of the Olympic games. The Athenians deserted their city, which 
 was taken by Xerxes. The battle of Salamis, in which the fleet ol 
 Xerxes was destroyed, was fought in the autumn. 
 
 Birth of Euripides. 
 
 17 9. After the return of Xerxes to Asia, Mardonius, who was left in the com¬ 
 mand of the Persian army, passed the winter in Thessaly. In the spring 
 he marches southward and occupies Athens ten months after its occu¬ 
 pation by Xerxes. At the battle of Plataea, 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 aud surrendered in the follow ing 
 spring. 
 
 08. Sestos taken by the Greeks. The history of Herodotus terminates at the 
 siege of Sestos. 
 
 Book IV.—THE ATHENIAN SUPREMACY AND THE PELOPONNESIAN 
 
 WAR. 
 
 4 78. 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. 
 
 ♦ 76. Cimon, commanding the forces of the Athenians and of the allies, expels 
 the Persians from Ei'on on the Strymon, and then takes the island o. 
 Scyros, where the bones of Theseus are discovered. 
 
 Simonides, act. 80, gains the prize in the dithyrambic 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 liis death. 
 
 468. Mycenae destroyed by the Argives. Death of Aristides. Socrates born. 
 Sophocles gained his first tragic victory. 
 
 i67. Simonides, set. 90, died. 
 
 466. Naxos revolted and subdued. Great victory of Cimon over the Persians at 
 the river Eurymedon, in Pamphylia. Themistocles fives to Persia. 
 
 465. Revolt of Thasos. Death of Xerxes, king of Persia, and accession of 
 Artaxerxes I. 
 
 164. Earthquake at Sparta, and revolt of the Helots and Messenians. Cimon 
 marches to the assistance of the Lacedaemonians. Zeno of Elea 
 flourished. 
 
 !63. Thasos subdued by Cimon, 
 
 4 G1 C’.mon 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. 
 
 (60. Revolt of Inaros, and first year of the Egyptian war, which lasted 6 years. 
 The Athenians sent assistance to the Egyptians. 
 
 158. The Oresteia of vEschylus performed. 
 
 ,57. 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 Tanagra, but thf 
 latter are defeated. The Athenians commence building ♦heir long walls 
 which 'vere completed in the following year. 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 607 
 
 B.O. 
 
 45e The Athenians, commanded by Myronldes, defeat the Thebans at CEnophyta 
 Reca’ of Cimon from exile. Death of JEschylus, set. 69. 
 
 16 5. The Messenians conquered by the Lacedaemonians in the tenth year of th( 
 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. 
 
 154. Campaign of Pericles at Sicyon and in Acarnania. 
 
 Cratinus, the comic writer, flourished. 
 
 ♦ 52. Five years’ truce between the Athenians and Peloponnesians, made through 
 
 the intervention of Cimon. 
 
 Anaxagoras rnt. 50 withdraws from Athens, after residing there 30 years. 
 
 ♦ 49. 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 Lacedaemonians assisted the Delphians, and the 
 Athenians the Phocians. 
 
 4 47. The Athenians defeated at Chaeronea 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 Lacedaemonians had retired, Pericles recovers Euboea 
 The 30 years’ truce between Athens and Sparta. 
 
 144. 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 set. 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 set. 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 Epklamnus. 
 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 Corcyrseans. 
 
 432. The Corcyrseans, assisted by the Athenians, defeat the Corinthians in the 
 spring. In the same year Potidsea revolts from Athens. Congress oi 
 the Peloponnesians in the autumn to decide upon war with Athens. 
 
 Anaxagoras, prosecuted for impiety at Athens, withdraws to Lampsacus, 
 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 
 
 * 31. First year of the Peloponnesian war. The Thebans make an attempt upon 
 Plataea two months before midsummer. Eighty days afterwards Attics 
 is invaded by the Peloponnesians. Alliance between the Athenians and 
 Sitalces, king of Thrace. 
 
 Hellanicus »♦.. 65, Herodotus set. 53, Thucydides set. 40, at the oomn eno* 
 inent of the Peloponnesian war. 
 
 The Medea of Euripides exhibited. 
 
 'HO. Second yiar of the Peloponnesian war. Second invasion of Attica. The 
 nlague races a* Athens. 
 
HISTORY OF GREECE, 
 
 HOft 
 
 a.c. 
 
 129. Third year of the Peloponnesian war. Potidaea surrenders to the Athenians 
 after a siege cf more than two years. Naval actions of Phormio in the 
 Corinthian gulph. Commencement of the siege of Plataea. 
 
 Death of Pericles in the autumn. 
 
 Birth of Plato, the philosopher. 
 
 Eupolis and Phrynichus, the comic poets, exhibit. 
 
 428. Fourth year oi the Peloponnesian war. Third invasion of Attica. Revolt 
 of all Lesbos except Methymna. Mytilene besieged towards the autumn. 
 
 Death of Anaxagoras, cet. 72. 
 
 427. 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. Platsea 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 Sphae- 
 teria surrendered to Cleon 72 days afterwards. 
 
 Accession of Darius Nothus. 
 
 The Acharnians of Aristophanes. 
 
 424. Eighth year of the Peloponnesian war. Nicias ravages the coast of Laconit 
 and captures the island of Cythera. March of Brasidas into Thrace, wac 
 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 Aristophanes 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 Lacedaemonians. Though this truce was not formalh 
 declared to be at an end till b.c. 414, there were notwithstanding fre¬ 
 quent hostilities meantime. 
 
 420. Twelfth year of the Peloponnesian war. Treaty between the Athenians and 
 Argives 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. 
 
 116. Sixteenth year of the Peloponnesian war. The Athenians conquer Melos. 
 
 415. Seventeenth year of the Peloponnesian war. The Athenian expedition 
 against Sicily. It sailed after midsummer, commanded by Nicias, Alci¬ 
 biades, and Lamac'nus. Mutilation of the Herman at Athens before thr 
 fleet sailed. The Athenians take Catana. Alcibiades is recalled horct • 
 he makes his escape, and takes refuge with the Lacedaemonians. 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 bOi^ 
 
 b.C. 
 
 Andocides, the orator, imprisoned on the mutilation of the Uermae. lie 
 escapes by turning informer. 
 
 114. 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. Nicias 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 froa 
 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 be remained abroad for the next four years at the head of the 
 Athenian forces. Mindarus, the Lacedaemonian admiral, defeated at 
 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 Lysistrata 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. 
 
 409. 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 Plutus 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 
 Notium 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 Arginussae 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. 
 
 405 Twenty-seventh year of the Peloponnesian war. Lysander defeats the 
 Athenians off iEgospotami, and takes or destroys all their fleet with the 
 exception 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. 
 
 Gr. 2 R 
 
610 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 The Thirty Tyrants held their power for eight months, till Thrasybulus 
 occupied l’hyle and advanced to the Piraeus. 
 
 Death of Alcihiades during the tyranny of the Thirty. 
 
 Book V.—THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES. 
 
 103. 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 dually concluded till September. 
 
 Thucydides, ret. 68, returns to Athens. 
 
 401. Expedition of Cyrus against his brother Artaxerxes. He falls in the battle 
 of Cunaxa, which was fought in the autumn. His Greek auxiliaries 
 commence their return to Greece, usually called the retreat of the 
 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 Colonus 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. 
 
 3S9. 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 Dercyllidas. 
 
 Third and last year of the war of Lacedaemon and Elis. 
 
 Death of Socrates, aet. 70. 
 
 Plato withdraws to Megara. 
 
 398. Dercyllidas continues the war in Asia with success. 
 
 397. Dercyllidas still continues the war in Asia. 
 
 396. Agesilaus supersedes Dercyllidas. First campaign of Agesilaus in Asia. He 
 winters at Ephesus. 
 
 895. Second campaign of Agesilaus in Asia. He defeats Tissaphernes, and be¬ 
 comes master of Western Asia. Tissaphernes superseded by Tithraustes, 
 who sends envoys into Greece to induce the Greek states to declare war 
 against Lacedsmon. Commencement of the war of the Greek states 
 against Lacedaemon. Lysander slain at Haliartus. 
 
 Plato, act. 34, returns to Athens. 
 
 394. 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 Boeotia on the 14th of August. He 
 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 Pisander, the Spartan admiral, off Cnidus. 
 
 Xenophon accompanied Agesilaus from Asia and fought against hie country 
 at Coronea. lie was in consequence banished from Athens. He retired 
 under Lacedaemonian protection to Scillus, where he composed his works. 
 
 393. Sedition at Corinth and victory of the Lacedaemonians at Lechaeum. Phar¬ 
 nabazus and Conon ravage the coasts of Peloponnesus. Conon beginB to 
 restore the long walls of Athens and the fortifications of the Piraeus. 
 
 391. The Lacedaemonians under Agesilaus ravage the Corinthian territory, but a 
 Sp artan mora is cut to pieces by Iphicrates. 
 
 The Ecclesiazusce of Ai istophanes. 
 
 Expedition of Agesilaus into Acarnania. 
 
 Bpeech of Andocides “ On the reace.” He is banished 
 
 3»<0. Expedition of Agesipolis into Argolis. The Persians again espouse the 
 cause of the Lacedaemonians, and Conon is thrown into prison. Tb 
 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 61i 
 
 s.c. 
 
 Athenians assist E'mgoras of Cyprus against the Persians. Thrasybnlo, 
 the Athenian commander, is defeated and slain by the Lacedaemonian 
 Teleutias at Aspendus. 
 
 389. Agyrrhius sent as the successor of Thrasybulus to Aspendus and Iphicratet 
 to the Hellespont. 
 
 Plato, act. 40, goes to Sicily : the first of the three voyages. 
 
 388. Antalcidas, the Lacedaemonian commander on the Asiatic coast, opposed * ; 
 Iphicrates and Chabrias. 
 
 The second edition of the Plutus of Aristophanes. 
 
 337. The peace of Antalcidas. 
 
 SSG. Restoration of Flataea, and independence of the towns of Bmotia. 
 
 385. Destruction of Mantinea by the Lacedaemonians under Agesipolis. 
 
 384. Birth of Aristotle. 
 
 382, First year of the Olynthian war. 
 
 Phoebidas 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 Pnnegyricus 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 Boeotia. 
 
 376. Cleombrotus marches into Boeotia, and sustains a slight repulse at the 
 passes of Citkaeron. 
 
 The Lacedaemonian fleet conquered by Chabrias off Naxos, and the Athe* 
 nians recover the dominion of the sea. 
 
 375. 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 Lacedaemon. 
 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 Lacedaemon. 
 
 Second destruction of Plataea, 
 
 Jason elected Tagus of Thessaly. 
 
 373. 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. 
 
 371. 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. 
 
 Foundation of "Megalopolis. 
 
 370. Expedition of Agesilaus into Arcadia. 
 
 Jason of Pherae slain. After the interval of a year, Alexander of Phcis 
 succeeds to his power in Thessaly. 
 
 First invasion of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. They remain in Pelopon¬ 
 nesus four months, and found Messene. 
 
 Jo7. Embassy of Pelopidas to Persia. „ 0 
 
612 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 B.0 
 
 b6 7. Second invasion of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. 
 
 Expedition of Felopidas to Thessaly. He is imprisoned bj Alexander 
 Pherae, but Epaminondas obtains his release. 
 
 Archidamus gains a victory over the Arcadians. 
 
 Death of the elder Dionysius of Syracuse, after a reign of 38 years. 
 
 866. Third invasion of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. 
 
 The Archidamus of Isocrates. 
 
 365. War between Arcadia and Elis. 
 
 364. Second campaign of the war between Arcadia and Elis, Battle of Olympic 
 at the time of the games. 
 
 302. Fourth invasion of Peloponnesus by the Thebans. Battle of Mantinea, ir 
 June, in which Epaminondas is killed. 
 
 Xenophon brought down his Greek history to the battle of Mantinea. 
 
 861. A general peace between all the belligerents, with the exception of the 
 Lacedfemonians, 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. 
 
 b80. War between the Athenians and Olynthians for the possession of Am phi- 
 polis. 
 
 Timotheus, the Athenian general, repulsed at Amphipolis. 
 
 Book VI.—THE MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY. 
 
 35<J. Accession of Philip, king of Macedonia, set. 23. He defeats Argaeus, who 
 laid claim to the throne, declares Amphipolis a free city, and makes 
 peace with the Athenians. He then defeats the Paeonians and Illy - 
 rians. 
 
 358. Amphipolis taken by Philip. Expedition of the Athenians into Euboea. 
 
 357. 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. 
 
 Potidaea taken by Fhilip, who gives it to Olynthus. 
 
 Dionysius the younger expelled from Syracuse by Dion, after a reign of 
 12 years. 
 
 355. Third and last year of the Social War. Peace concluded between Athens 
 and her former allies. 
 
 3 £4. Trial and condemnation of Timotheus. 
 
 Demosthenes begins to speak in A.e assemblies of the people. 
 
 853. Philip seizes upon Pagasae, and oegins to besiege Methone. 
 
 Death of Dion. 
 
 8 52. Philip takes Methone and enters Thessaly. He defeats and slays Onomar 
 chus, the Phocian general, expels the tyrants from Pherae, and becomes 
 master of Thessaly. He attempts to pass Thermopylae, but is prevented 
 by the Athenians. 
 
 War between Lacedaemon and Megalopolis. 
 
 The first Philippic of Demosthenes. 
 
 H'l. The Olynthians, attacked by Philip, ask succour from Athene. 
 
 The Olynthiac orations of Demosthenes. 
 
 848. Olynthian war continued. 
 
 84 7. Olynthus taken and destroyed by Philip. 
 
 Death of Plato, mt. 82. Rpeusippus succeeds Plato. AristotiP, upon th 
 death of Plato, went to Atarneus. 
 
 346. Peace between Philip and the Athenians. 
 
OHK GEOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 613 
 
 S.O, 
 
 Philip overrun.. Phocis and brings the Sacred War to an end, after it had 
 lasted 10 years. All the Phocian cities, except Abue, were destroyed. 
 
 Oration of Demosthenes on the Peace. 
 
 345. Speech of Aischines against Timarchus. 
 
 344. 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 Aeschines Hepi Ilapan-pecT^eia?. 
 
 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, aet. 94, began to compose the Panathenaic oration. 
 
 Birth of Epicurus. 
 
 841. Philip is still in Thrace, where he wintered. 
 
 The oration of Demosthenes on the Chersonesus, and the third and fourtl 
 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 Spcusippus at the Academy. 
 
 388. Philip is chosen general of the Amphictyons to carry on the war agiinst 
 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 Chaeronea, 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. 
 
 885. 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. 
 
 388. Alexander subdues Lycia in the winter, collects his forces at Gordium in 
 the spring, and defeats Darius at Issus late in the autumn. 
 
 382. 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. 
 
 381. 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 Arbcla or Gaugamela on the 1st of 
 October. He wintered at Perscpolis. 
 
 In Greece Agis is defeated and slain by Antipater. 
 
 980. Alexander marches into Media, and takes Ecbatana. From thence he soti- 
 out in pursuit of Darius, who is slain by Bessus. After the death of 
 Darius Alexander conquers Hyrcania, and marches in pursuit of Bessu.- 
 through Drangiana and Arachosia, towards Bactria. 
 
 The speech of Aischines against Ctceiphon, and the speech of Demosthene s 
 on the Crown. Aeschines, after his failure, withdrew to Asia. 
 
 Philemon began to exhibit comedy during the reign of Alexander, a little 
 earlier than Menander. 
 
 589. Alexander marches across the Paropamisus In the winter, passes the Oxus. 
 
614 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 B.C. 
 
 takes Bessus, and reaches tne Jaxartes, where he founds a city, «les. 
 andria Eschate. lie subsequently crosses the Jaxartes and defeats the 
 Scythians. He winters at Bactra. 
 
 328. Alexander is employed during the whole of this campaign in the conquest 
 of Sogdiana. 
 
 He 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 Gedrosia. He 
 sends Nearchus with the fleet to sail from the mouths of the Indus to 
 the Persian gulpk. Nearchus 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 Hephaestion dies. Harpalus oomes 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 Trcezen and ASgina. 
 
 323. 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 besieger 
 Lamia, in which Antipater had taken refuge. Death of Leosthenes. 
 
 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 7 th of August. End of the Lamian war. 
 Munychia occupied by the Macedonians. 
 
 Death of Demosthenes on the 14th of October. 
 
 Death of Aristotle, eet. G3, at Chalcis, whither he had withdrawn from 
 Athens a few months before. 
 
 321. Perdiccas invades Egypt, where he is slain by his own troops. Partitior 
 of the provinces at Triparadisus. 
 
 Menander, aet. 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 
 l’hocion to death. Athens is conquered by Cassander, who places it 
 under the government of Demetrius Phalereus. 
 
 317. Death of Philip Arrhidaeus and Eurydice. 
 
 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 Xenocrates at the Academy. 
 
 314. Second year of the war against Antigonus. 
 
 Death of the orator A£schines, get. 75. 
 
 313. Third year of the war against Antigonus. 
 
 312. Fourth year of the war against Antigonus. 
 
 Sll. General peace. Murder of Itoxaua and Alexander IV. by Cassander. 
 
 310. Ptolemy appears as liberator of the Greeks. Renewal of hostilities between 
 him and Antigonus. 
 
 308. Ptolemy’s expedition to Greece. 
 
 SO7. Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, becomes master of Athene. Demotrius 
 Phalereus leaves the city. 
 
CliiiONOLOGiCAL TAlil^l 
 
 615 
 
 3 . 0 . 
 
 506. Demetrius recalled from Athens. lie defeats Ptolemy in a great sea-fight 
 off Salarris in Cyprus. After that battle Antigonus assumes the title of 
 king, and his example is followed by Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and 
 Cassander. 
 
 Epicurus settles a; Athens, where he teaches about 3G years. 
 
 305. Rhodes besieged by Demetrius. 
 
 301. Demetrius makes peace with the Rhodians, and returns to Athens. 
 
 303. Demetrius carries on the war in Greece with success against Cassander. 
 
 302. War continued in Greece between Demetrius and Cassander. 
 
 301. Demetrius crosses O' er to Asia. 
 
 Battle of lpsus in Phrygia, about the month of August, in which Lyai- 
 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 Antipater. 
 
 Demetrius takes Athens. 
 
 Civil war in Macedonia between the two brothers, Antipater and Alexander. 
 
 Demetrius becomes king of Macedonia. 
 
 291. Death of Menander, mt. 52. 
 
 290. Demetrius takes Thebes a second time. lie 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, rnt. 54, dies in captivity at Apamea in Syria. 
 
 Death of Ptolemy Soter, cet. 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, Ptoiemy Ceraunus 
 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, set. 97. 
 
 251. Aratus delivers Sicyon, and unites it to the Achsean 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. Clecanerves III. becomes king of Sparta. 
 
 229. Death of Demetrius II., and accession of Antigonus Doson, who was left by 
 Demetrius guardian of his son Philip. 
 
 22 7. Cleomenes commences war against the Achaean League. 
 
 226. Cleomenes carries on the war with success against Aratus, who is again the 
 general of the Achaean League. 
 
 225. Reforms of Cleomenes at Sparta. 
 
 124. The Achaean* call ir. the assistance of Antigonus Doson against Cleomenes 
 
616 
 
 HISTORY OF GREECE 
 
 B.C. 
 
 221. Antigonus defeats Cleomenes at Sellasia, and obtains possession of Sparta. 
 Cleomenes sails to Egypt, where he dies. Extinction of the royal line 
 of the Heraclidae at Sparta. 
 
 220. Death of Antigonus Doson, and accession of Philip V., set. 17. 
 
 The Achaeans and Aratus are defeated by the AJtolians. The Achaeans 
 apply for assistance to Philip, who espouses their cause. Commeneemen> 
 of the Social War. 
 
 217. Third and last year of the Social War. Peace concluded. 
 
 216. Philip concludes a treaty with Hannibal. 
 
 213. Philip removes Aratus by poison. 
 
 211. Treaty between Rome and the Aitolians against Philip. 
 
 208. Philip marches into Peloponnesus to assist the Achaeans. 
 
 Philopcemen is elected general of the Achaean League, and effects important 
 reforms in the army. 
 
 207. Philopcemen defeats and slays Machanidas, tyrant of LacedSBinon, at th. 
 battle of Mantinea. 
 
 205. The JEtolians make peace with Philip. Philip’s treaty with P*.ome. 
 
 200. War between Philip and Rome. 
 
 197. Philip defeated at the battle of CynoscephalaB. 
 
 196. Greece declared free by Flamininus at the Isthmian games. 
 
 192. Lacedaemon is added by Philopcemen to the Achaean League. 
 
 Antiochus comes into Greece to assist the ALtolians against the Romans. 
 He winters at Chalcis. 
 
 191. Antiochus and the AStolians defeated by the Romans at the battle of Ther¬ 
 mopylae. 
 
 189. The Romans besiege Ambracia, and grant peace to tlie Aitolians. 
 
 188. Philopcemen, again general of the Achaean League, subjugates Sparta, and 
 abrogates the laws of Lycurgus. 
 
 183. The Messenians revolt from the Achaean League. They capture and put to 
 death Philopcemen. 
 
 179. Death of Philip and accession of Perseus. 
 
 171. War between Perseus and Rome. 
 
 168. Defeat and capture of Perseus by ASmilius Paulus. 
 
 Division of Macedonia. 
 
 167. One thousand of the principal Achaeans are sent to Rome. Polybius is 
 among the Achaean exiles. \ 
 
 151. Embassy of the three philosophers to Rome. Return of the Achaean exiles 
 
 147. War between Rome and the Achaeans. 
 
 146. Destruction of Corinth by Mummius. Greece becomes a Roman province. 
 
 Colonial Coin of Corinth. On the obverse the head of Antoninus Pius: on the reverse 
 of Cenchreie. The letters C. L. 1. Cor. stand for Colonia Laus Julia Coriutlius 
 given to the city when Julius Ca'sar founded a colony there in b.<: 4« 
 
< 617 
 
 ABDERA. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abdera, 158 . 
 
 Abrocomas, 42 3 . 
 
 Abydus, battle of, 42 }. 
 
 Academy, the, 299 , 596 . 
 
 Acamania, 6 
 
 Achasans, 12 , sq. 
 
 Achaean league, 568 , sq. 
 
 Achaeus, 12 . 
 
 Achaia, 6 , 5 * 7 . 
 
 -, a Roman province, 
 
 578 . 
 
 Achamae, 286 . 
 
 Achelous, 4 , 9 . 
 
 Achilles, 22 . 
 
 Achradina, 244 . 
 
 Acrisius, 18 . 
 
 Acropolis, Athenian, 282 , 292 . 
 
 Acusilaus of Argos, 224 . 
 
 Adimantus, 200 . 
 
 Admetus, 248 . 
 
 Adrastus, 22 . 
 
 Aeetes, 20 . 
 
 Egae, 52 J, 
 
 Egaleos, Mt., Xerxes at, 209 . 
 
 Egeus, 19 . 
 
 Egina, 7 ; described, 181 ; 
 taken by the Athenians, 
 287 . 
 
 Eginetan scale, 59 ; sculp¬ 
 ture, 149 . 
 
 Eginetans submit to the 
 Spartans, 172 . 
 
 Egospotami, battle of, j 68 . 
 
 Egyptus, 15 . 
 
 Eolians, 1 j. 
 
 Eolic migration, 25- 
 
 Eolus, 12 . 
 
 Eschines, 512 ; Amphicty- 
 onic deputy, 5 x 8 ; accuses 
 Demosthenes, 552 ; retires 
 to Rhodes, 554 ; account of 
 his life, 591 . 
 
 Eschylus, 178 ; account of, 
 4 °2, sq. 
 
 Esymnetes, 8 . 
 
 Etolia, 6 . 
 
 Etolian league, 571 . 
 
 Etolians reduced, 574 . 
 
 Agamemnon, 16 , 22 . 
 
 Agathon, 587 . 
 
 Ageladas, 287 . 
 
 Agesilaus becomes king of 
 Sparta, 426 ; character, ib .; 
 his expedition against the 
 Persians, 429 ; attacks 
 Phamabazus, 440 ; routs 
 the Persians on the Pacto- 
 lus, ib.; his interview with 
 Phamabazus. 44 !; recalled. 
 
 \ 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ALEXANDER. 
 
 442 ; homeward march, 
 446 ; offering at Delphi, 
 447 ; takes Lechseum, 449 ; 
 invades Boeotia, 464 ; at¬ 
 tacks Mantinea, 474 ; saves 
 Sparta, 476 , 485 ; expedition 
 to Egypt, 486 ; death, ib. 
 
 Agesipolis, 445 ; death, 429 
 
 Agis, 207 , 226 , 425 . 
 
 -IV., 570 - 
 
 Agnon, 269 . 
 
 Agora, 26 . 
 
 -, Athenian, 298 . 
 
 Agrigentum, 118 , 488 . 
 
 Agyrrhius, 452 . 
 
 Aimnestuo, 224 . 
 
 Ajax, 22 . 
 
 Alaric, 29 b. 
 
 Alcaeus, 122 . 
 
 Alcibiades, character of, 222 ; 
 deceives the Spartan Am¬ 
 bassadors, 224 ; at Olympia, 
 22 ; ; attacks Epidaurus, ib.; 
 in Sicily, 229 ; accused of 
 mutilating the Hermre, 
 221 ; arrest and escape of, 
 225 ; condemned, ib.; goes 
 to Sparta, 336 - excites a 
 revolt of the Chians, 248 ; 
 dismissed by the Spartans, 
 249 ; flies to Tissaphernes, 
 250 ; intrigues of, 251 ; pro¬ 
 ceedings at Samos, 254; 
 arrested by Tissaphernes, 
 259 ; defeats the Pelopon¬ 
 nesians at Cyzicus, 360 ; 
 returns to Athens, 261 ; 
 dismissed from the com¬ 
 mand of the Athenian fleet, 
 262 ; flies to Phamabazus, 
 276 ; murdered, ib. 
 
 Alcidas, 200 , 204 . 
 
 Alcmaeon, 88 . 
 
 Alcmaaonidae banished, 9 3 . 
 
 Aleman, 120 . 
 
 Alcmena, 15 . 
 
 Aleuadae, 507 . 
 
 Alexander, King of Macedon, 
 217 . 
 
 Alexander of Pherte, 480 
 defeated by Pelopidas, 
 482 ; subdued, 482 . 
 
 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.; demand* 
 the Athenian orators, 529 ; 
 crosses to Asia, 5 50 ; forces 
 the passage of the Grani- 
 cus, 521 ; progress through 
 Asia Minor, ib.; cuts the 
 Gordian knot, 5 32 ; danger¬ 
 ous illness, 522; defeats 
 the Persians at Issus, ib.; 
 march through Phoenicia, 
 525 5 besieges Tyre, 526 ; 
 answer to Parmenio, 527 ; 
 proceeds to Egypt, ib.; 
 visits the temple of Am¬ 
 mon, 528 ; defeats Darius 
 in the battle of Arbela, 
 529; enters Babylon, ib.; 
 seizes Susa, 540 ; marches 
 to Persepolis, ib. ; pursues 
 Darius, 541 ; invades Hyr- 
 cania, 542 ; enters Bactria, 
 542 ; defeats the Scythians, 
 ib. ; marries Roxana, 544 ; 
 kills Clitus, ib.; plot of 
 the pages against his life, 
 545 ; crosses the Indus, ib.; 
 vanquishes Poms, 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, ib.; character, 
 ib.; estimate of his ex¬ 
 ploits, 551 ; funeral, 552; 
 portraits and statues of. 
 582 . 
 
 Alexander, son of Alexander 
 the Great, 552 , 561 . 
 
 Alexandria in Arachosia, 542 . 
 
 Alexandria Arioruin, 542 . 
 
 Alexandria ad Caucasum, 54 2 
 
 Alexandria in Egypt, founded 
 527 ; description of, 584 ; 
 literature at, 600 . 
 
 Alexandria Eschate, 542 . 
 
 Alphabet, Ionic, introduced 
 179- 
 
 Alpheus, 6 , 7 . 
 
 Altis, the, 52 . 
 
 Ambracian Gulf, 4 . 
 
 Aminias, 211 . 
 
 Ammon, Jove, 528 . 
 
 Amompharetus, 22 ? 
 
 Amphipolis, 269 , 502 
 
 Amphissians, 518 
 
 Amphitryon, i< 
 
518 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 AMPiliCl VO.NiO. 
 
 Amphictyonic council. Its 
 origin and constitution, 49. 
 
 Amphictyons decree of the, 
 at the end of the second 
 sacred war, 513. 
 
 Amyntas, 457. 
 
 Anacharsis, 84. 
 
 Anacreon, 1 *4. 
 
 Anactorium, 125. 
 
 Anaxagoras, 136; charged 
 with impiety, 279. 
 
 Auaxibius, 432; slain, 453. 
 
 Anaxicrates, 262. 
 
 Anaximander, 136. 
 
 Anaximenes, 136. 
 
 Andocides, 334, 590. 
 
 Androsthenes, 388. 
 
 Anniceris, 490. 
 
 Antalcidas, peace of, 454; 
 mission to Persia, 457. 
 
 Antigonias, Athenian tribe, 
 
 562. 
 
 Antigonus, 553, 558; coali¬ 
 tion against, 561 ; assumes 
 the title of king, 562 ; slain, 
 
 563. 
 
 Antigonus Doson, 570. 
 
 Antigonus Gonatas, 568. 
 
 Antioch, founded by Seleu- 
 cus, 563. 
 
 Antiochus, 363, 479. 
 
 Antiochus So ter, 567. 
 
 Antiochus III., 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, ib. 
 
 Antiphon, 351, 355; exe¬ 
 cuted, 356; character as an 
 orator, 590. 
 
 Antisthenes, 596. 
 
 Anytus, 417. 
 
 Apaturia. festival of, 366. 
 
 Apelles, 582. 
 
 Apollo Pythams, 58; Tem- 
 nites, 337; Epicurius, tem¬ 
 ple of, 199. 
 
 Apollodorus, 390. 
 
 Apollonia, 125. 
 
 Appian, 601. 
 
 Arachosia, 54?. 
 
 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. 
 
 Archelaus, 501. 
 
 Archias, 460, 557. 
 
 Archidamus, 278, 284, 28;, 
 287, 288; kfsieges Plataa, 
 2 Q 3 . 
 
 Archilochus, 129. 
 
 Architecture rai, 584 
 
 ATHENIANS. 
 
 Archon, 80; Athenian, 88; 
 eponymus and basileus, 91 
 
 Areopagus, court of, 91; re¬ 
 formed by Pericles, 256; 
 hill of, 382, 398. 
 
 Arginusaa, battle of, 3 ^ 5 - 
 
 Argives and Spartans, strug¬ 
 gles between, 78. 
 
 Argolis, 7. 
 
 Argonauts, 20. 
 
 Argos, 7, 13, 15. 57 5 progress 
 of, 257; head of a new con¬ 
 federacy, 321. 
 
 Ariadne, 19. 
 
 Ariams, 426. 
 
 Ariobarzanes, 540. 
 
 Arion, 131, 402. 
 
 Aristagoras, 163, sq. 
 
 Aristarchus, 600. 
 
 Aristides, character of, 183; 
 recalled from exile, 203 ; 
 defeats the Persians, 212 ; 
 organizes the confederacy 
 of Delos, 242; change in 
 his views, 245 ; death, 250. 
 
 Aristippus, 595. 
 
 Aristocrates, 76. 
 
 Aristodemus of Messenia, 74. 
 
 Aristodemus of Sparta, 226. 
 
 Aristogeiton (v. Harmodius). 
 
 Aristophanes, his politics, 
 302 ; account of, 408, sq. 
 
 Aristophanes of Byzantium, 
 600. 
 
 Aristomenes of Messenia, 75. 
 
 Aristotle, 526; account of, 
 597; method and philoso¬ 
 phy, 598. 
 
 Arrian, 601. 
 
 Arsinoe, 566. 
 
 Art, Greek, 30, 140 sq.; 
 
 Athenian, 380 sq .; Greek, 
 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. 
 
 Asty, the, 384. 
 
 Astyochus, 349. 
 
 Atheas, 518. 
 
 Athena, 20; statue of, 395. 
 
 Athenian navy, 299. 
 
 Athenians, divided into four 
 classes, 97; assist the Ioni- 
 ans, 166; war with Angina, 
 181; abandon Athens, 202; 
 reject the Persian alliance, 
 217 ; constitution more de¬ 
 mocratic, 245; form an 
 alliance with Argos, 257; 
 assist Inaras, 258; defeat 
 the Aiginetans. 259: con- 
 
 ATIIENS. 
 
 quer Boootia, 261; reduce 
 Algina, 261; lose theii 
 power iu Bceotia, 263 • des¬ 
 potic power of, 27 1; make 
 peace with Persia, 262' 
 conclude a thirty years 
 truce with Sparta, 264; 
 subjugate Samos, 271; form 
 an alliance with Corcyra, 
 275; their allies and re¬ 
 sources in the Peloponne¬ 
 sian war, 283; their fleet 
 annoys the Peloponnesus, 
 287; ravage the Megarid, 
 ib. ; their decree against 
 the Mytileneans, 302; take 
 Pylus, 307; expedition 
 against Bceotia, 315; con¬ 
 clude a truce with Sparta, 
 318; peace of Nicias, 320; 
 refuse to evacuate Pylus, 
 322; treaty with Argos, 
 324; conquer Melos, 327; 
 massacre the inhabitants, 
 328; interfere in Sicilian 
 affairs, ib.; expedition to 
 Sicily, 329; progress of, 
 333 ; insult the coasts oi 
 Laconia, 340; send a fresh 
 fleet to Sicily, 341; defeated 
 at sea by the Syracusans, 
 342; retreat from Syracuse, 
 343 ; defeated by the Lace- 
 dasmonians off Eretria, 356; 
 gain a naval victory at 
 Cynossema, 358; at Aby- 
 dus, 359; at Cyzicus, 360; 
 regain possession of the 
 Bosporus, 360; totally 
 defeated at Aigospotami, 
 368; ally themselves with 
 Thebes, 444; form a league 
 with Corinth and Argos 
 against Sparta, 445; lose 
 the command of the Helles¬ 
 pont, 454; head of a new 
 confederacy, 463; declare 
 w T ar against Sparta, 463; 
 peace with Sparta, 468; 
 form an alliance with the 
 Peloponnesian States, 474; 
 send an embassy to Persia, 
 support Alexander ol 
 Phera;, 480; their desire to 
 seize Corinth, 481; reviving 
 maritime power of, 482 
 deceived by Philip, 504; 
 coalition against, 505; send 
 an embassy to him, 512; 
 court Philip, 513; send a 
 fleet to relieve Byzantium 
 517; their alarm at tin 
 approach of Philip, 519; 
 prostrated by the battle ol 
 Chseronea, 520; their pi¬ 
 ratical expedition to Oro- 
 pus, 577; condemned in 
 500 talents by the Romans, 
 ib. 
 
 Athens, its origin, 15, 39 
 
INDEX. 
 
 
 ATIIOB. 
 
 Parly constitution of, 90 ; 
 taken by the Persians, 
 205; second occupation oi 
 by the Persians, 218; re¬ 
 building of, 244; long walls 
 of, 259; incipient decline 
 of, 264; crowded state of 
 during the Peloponnesian 
 war, 286; plague at, 288 ; 
 dismay at, 347; oligarchy 
 established at, 353; in¬ 
 vested by the Peloponne¬ 
 sians, 371; famine at, ib.; 
 surrender of, 372 ; Spartan 
 garrison at, 374; democracy 
 restored at, 379; descrip¬ 
 tion of the city, 382 sq.; 
 origin of its name, 383 ,- 
 rebuilt, 384; walls, ib. ; 
 harbours, ib.; streets, &c., 
 385 ; 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. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babylon, 153 ; taken by Cy¬ 
 rus, 158 ; submits to Alex¬ 
 ander, 539. 
 
 Babylonians, the, 153; Aris¬ 
 tophanes, comedy of, 302. 
 
 Bacchiadte, oligarchy of the, 
 
 383. 
 
 Bacchylides, 233. 
 
 Bad, the, 85. 
 
 Barbarian, meaning of the 
 term, 48. 
 
 Barca, 124. 
 
 ^ards, ancient, 30. 
 
 Bardylis, 502. 
 
 Basileus, what, 26. 
 
 Belus, temple of, 539. 
 
 Bessus, 541; put to death, 
 541 - 
 
 Bias, 135. 
 
 Blon, 600, 
 
 Boar’s grave, battle at the, 76. 
 
 Boeotarchs, restored, 461. 
 
 Boeotia, 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; his expedition 
 into Thrace, 317; death, 
 319; honours paid to his 
 memory, 320. 
 
 Brennus, 567. 
 
 Bribery among the Greeks, 
 199 - 
 
 Bryas, 327. 
 
 CHARIOTS. 
 
 Bucephala founded by Alex¬ 
 ander, 546. 
 
 Byzantines erect a statue in 
 honour of Athens, 518. 
 
 Byzantium, 125; taken by 
 the Athenians, 240; second 
 capture of, 272; third cap¬ 
 ture of, 361; besieged by 
 Philip, 5(6; relieved by 
 the Athenians, 518. 
 
 a 
 
 Cadmea, or Theban citadel, 
 seized by the Spartans, 
 478; 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. 
 
 Cambunian 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 
 Koxana and her son, 561. 
 
 Casting, art of, 148. 
 
 Catana, surprised by the 
 Athenians, 3 ? 4 - 
 
 Cathfei, 546. 
 
 Caucones, 14. 
 
 Cecropidne, 383. 
 
 Cecrops, 15. 
 
 Celts invade Macedonia, 567. 
 
 Cephallema, 7, 287. 
 
 Cepbissus, the, 382. 
 
 Ceramicus, the, 392. 
 
 Ceryces, the, 351. 
 
 Cliabrias, 431, 463 ; defeats 
 the Lacedaemonian fleet at 
 Naxos, 465; slain, 505. 
 
 Obtereas, 354. 
 
 Chajrephon, 417. 
 
 Chaerilus, 402. 
 
 Choeronea, first battle of, 263; 
 second battle, 520. 
 
 Chalcedon, 361. 
 
 Chalybes, the, 430. 
 
 Chares, 481, 505, 517. 
 
 Chares, (sculptor), 585. 
 
 Charicles, 340. 
 
 Chaiidemus, 509. 
 
 Cbarilaus, 61, 77. 
 
 Chariots of war, 30. 
 
 CONOR, 
 
 Charon of Lampsacua, 234. 
 
 Charon of Thebes, 460. 
 
 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 
 195 - 
 
 Cimon of Cleons;, 150. 
 
 Cimon, son of Miltiades, 242; 
 his character, 252 ; assists 
 the Lacedajmonians, 255; 
 banished, 257 ; his sentence 
 revoked, 261 ; expedition to 
 Cyprus and death, 26*2; his 
 patronage of art, 391. 
 
 Clnadon, conspiracy of, 437. 
 
 Cirrhtean plain, 51, 505. 
 
 Citliaaron 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, in sq„ 182. 
 
 Cleomenic war, 571. 
 
 Cleon, 286; character of, 301. 
 his violence, 310; his ex¬ 
 pedition against Sphacteria, 
 311 ; to Thrace, 319 •- flight 
 and death, ib. 
 
 Cleopatra, Philip’s wile, - 2. 
 
 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 
 531; killed by Alexander 
 544 - 
 
 Cnemus, 291. 
 
 Cnidus, battle of, 442. 
 
 Codrus, death of, 88. 
 
 Colchians, the, 431. 
 
 Colonies, Greek, 1 15, sq. ; re¬ 
 lation to the mother coun¬ 
 try, ib.; how founded, 11 f>; 
 mostly democratic, ib.; lu 
 Asia Minor, 117 ; in Sicily, 
 118 ; in Italy, 120; in Gaul 
 and Spain, 123; in Africa, 
 124; in the Ionian Sea, ib., 
 in Macedonia and Thrace, 
 
 1 25 ; progress of, 268. 
 
 Comedy, old Attic, 408 ; new 
 
 ? 88 . 
 
 Conon supersedes Alcibiadest 
 ?6 ]; defeated by Caldera 
 
520 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 COP A IS. 
 
 tidas, 364; 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, ib.; rebuilds 
 the long walls of Athens, 
 448; seized by Tiribazus, 
 45 i. 
 
 Copais, lake, 5. 
 
 Corax, 5. 
 
 Coreyra, 7, 124; troubles in, 
 304; massacre at, 313; de¬ 
 fended by an Athenian 
 fleet, 467. 
 
 Corcyrseans, quarrel with Co¬ 
 rinth, 273; send an em¬ 
 bassy to Athens, 274. 
 
 Corinna, 231. 
 
 Corinth, 57; despots of, 8j; 
 battle of, 445; massacre at, 
 449; congress at, 521; 
 another congress at, 527; 
 destroyed by Mummius, 
 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, 5-56. 
 
 Crantor, 596. 
 
 Craterus, It¬ 
 erates, 596. 
 
 Cratinus, 408. 
 
 Crete, 7, 3 8. 
 
 Creusis, 470. 
 
 Crimesus, battle of, 497. 
 
 Crissa, 50. 
 
 Critias, 372; seizes Salamis 
 and Eleusis, 377; slain, 
 378. 
 
 Crito, 418. 
 
 Critolaus, 578. 
 
 Croesus, 150, 154; fall of, 157. 
 
 Croton, 120. 
 
 Cryptia, 64. 
 
 Cumae, 118. 
 
 Cunaxa, battle of, 424. 
 
 Cyclades, 7. 
 
 Cyclic poets, 40. 
 
 Cyclopean walls, 142. 
 
 Cyllene, Mount, 6. 
 
 Cylon, conspiracy of, 9 2. 
 
 Cynics, the, 596. 
 
 Cynosarges, the, 596. 
 
 Cynoscephalae, battle of, 482. 
 
 Cynuria, 78. 
 
 Cypselus, 83. 
 
 CyT*saaic sect, 595. 
 
 DEMOSTHENES. 
 
 ETON. 
 
 Cyrene, 124. 
 
 Cyrus, empire of, 155; cap¬ 
 tures Sardis, 156; takes 
 Babylon, 158; death, ib. 
 
 Cyrus the younger, arrives 
 on the coast, 362; his ex¬ 
 pedition against his brother 
 Artaxerxes, 420; march, 
 422, sq.; slain, 425. 
 
 Cythera, 7. 
 
 Cyzicus, nr, 359; recovered 
 by the Athenians, 360. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dasdalus, 48. 
 
 Damocles story of, 490. 
 
 Danae, 15. 
 
 Danai, 15. 
 
 Danaus, 15, 18. 
 
 Darius, 159; his administra¬ 
 tion, 161; Thracian expedi¬ 
 tion of, ib.; extorts the 
 submission of the Mace¬ 
 donians, 162 ; death, 186. 
 
 Darius Codomanus, defeated 
 by Alexander at Issus, 533 ; 
 overthrown by Alexander 
 at Arbela, 539; murdered, 
 543 - 
 
 Datis, 173. 
 
 Decarchies, Spartan, 370,437. 
 
 Decelea, 340. 
 
 Delium, Athenian expedition 
 against, 315; battle of, 316. 
 
 Delos, confederacy of, 241 ; 
 tribute, 269; synod re¬ 
 moved to Athens, 270; lus¬ 
 tration of, 307. 
 
 Delphi, temple of, 50; oracle, 
 54; taken by the Phocians, 
 506; 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, ib. ; takes 
 Athens, 565; king of Mace- 
 don, 565; death, 566. 
 
 Demetrius of Pharos, 572. 
 
 Demiurgi, 20. 
 
 Democracy, 80; Athenian, 
 progress of, 321. 
 
 Demosthenes (general), 307, 
 3 II- 
 
 Demosthenes (orator), ac¬ 
 count of, 508; Philippics, 
 ib.; first, 509; Olynthiacs, 
 510; embassy, 512; second 
 Philippic, 515; oration on 
 the Peace, ib.; mission into 
 Peloponnesus, ib. ; third 
 Philippic, 516; oration on 
 
 the Chersonese, ib.; pre 
 sented with a golden crown 
 517 ; goes envoy to Thebes, 
 519; tights at Choeronea, 
 520; his conduct after 
 Philip's death, 526; pro¬ 
 poses religious honours foi 
 Philip’s assassin, ib.; bis 
 opinion of Alexander, 527 , 
 exertions to rouse Grcec*, 
 ib.; embassy to Alexander, 
 ib.; accused by ACschines 
 —speech on the Croum, 
 554 ; condemned of corrup¬ 
 tion, 555; recalled from 
 exile, 556; demanded by 
 Antipater, 557 ; escapes to 
 Calaurea, ib; death, ib. 
 character as an orator, 592 
 
 Dercyllidas, 438, 447. 
 
 Diacria, 95. 
 
 Diaeus, 577. 
 
 Diasia, 93. 
 
 Dicastenes, 256. 
 
 Dinarchus, 593. 
 
 Diodes, 487. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, 601. 
 
 Diodotus, 303. 
 
 Diogenes, his interview with 
 Alexander, 527. 
 
 Dion, 489; patriotic projects 
 of, 491; exiled, 492 ; takes 
 Syracuse, 493; 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 Halicarnassus, 
 601. 
 
 Dionysus, theatre of, at 
 Athens, 397. 
 
 Diopithes, 516. 
 
 Dithyramb, invention of the, 
 132; the source of trageay 
 402. 
 
 Dodona, oracle of, 14. 
 
 Dorcis, 241. 
 
 Dorians, 12, 13; in Pelopon¬ 
 nesus, 32; migrations oi 
 the, 37 ; three tribes of, 62. 
 
 Doric Hexapolis, 37; order, 
 
 144. 
 
 Doris, 5. 
 
 Doras, 12. 
 
 Draco, laws of, 92. 
 
 E. 
 
 Ecclesia, the, 109. 
 
 Education, Spartan, 66 
 Athenian, 413. 
 
 Egestaeans, the, deceive th< 
 Athenians, 329. 
 
 Egypt, its influence on Greece 
 * 5 - 
 
 Eion, Athenian colony at, if 3 
 
INDEX. 
 
 621 
 
 EI 8 PH 0 RA. 
 
 GREEKS. 
 
 HOMERIC. 
 
 Eisphora, the, 463. 
 
 Elea, founded, 158. 
 
 Eleans, 34; attack the. Arca¬ 
 dians at Olympia, 483. 
 
 Eleusini<ans condemned to 
 death by the 3000 at 
 Athens, 378. 
 
 Eleutheria, festival of, 227. 
 
 Elis, 7, 57; reduced by the 
 
 ^ Spartans, 415. 
 
 Embassy of the three philoso¬ 
 phers to Rome, 577. 
 
 Embroidery, 30. 
 
 Ennea Hodoi, 25 3. 
 
 Epaminondas, 460; named 
 Bceotarch, 461; his cha¬ 
 racter, 464; embassy to 
 Sparta, 468; military 
 genius of; defeats the 
 Spartans at Leuctra, 47 r; 
 invades Laconia, 475; es¬ 
 tablishes the Arcadian con¬ 
 federation, and restores the 
 Messenians, 476; again in¬ 
 vades Peloponnesus, 478; 
 saves 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. 
 
 Ephetfe, 92. 
 
 Ephialtes, 195. 
 
 Ephialtes f 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 3. 
 
 Epidaurus, 7. 
 
 Epigoni, 22. 
 
 Epimenides, 94. 
 
 Epipohe, JJ7- 
 
 Epirus, 4. 
 
 Epitadas, 311. 
 
 Epyaxa, 422. 
 
 Equals, Spartan, 438. 
 
 Erectbeum, 268. 
 
 Eretria, capture of, 174. 
 
 Eteocles, 22. 
 
 Euaephnus, 71. 
 
 Euboea, 7; revolt from 
 Athens, 264; second revolt 
 of, 356. 
 
 Euboic scale, 59. 
 
 Euclides, archon, 380. 
 
 Euclides of Megara, 595. 
 
 Euclides of Alexandria, 600. 
 
 Eudamidas, 458. 
 
 Euroenes, 553. 
 
 Eumenes, King of Tergamus, 
 576. 
 
 Eumenides of /Eschylus, 256. 
 
 Enmenides, cave of the, 198. 
 
 Eumolpidae, 335, 351. 
 
 Eupa'ridce, 20; nature of 
 their government, 91. 
 
 Euphaes, 73. 
 
 Euphranor, 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. 
 
 Burybiades, 193. 
 
 Eurydice, 560. 
 
 Eurymedon, battle of the, 252. 
 
 Eurymedon, 107, 313; ban¬ 
 ished, 328. 
 
 Eurystheus, 18. 
 
 Evagoras, 439. 
 
 F. 
 
 Farnesian bull, 586. 
 
 Fathers, Greek, 603. 
 
 Few, the, 266. 
 
 “ Five Thousand," the, 353, 
 355 - 
 
 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, 380. 
 
 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, 5. 
 
 Gerusia, Spartan, 65. 
 
 Good, the, 85. 
 
 Gordion knot, the, 542. 
 
 Gorgias, 328, 414, 590. 
 
 Government, in the heroic 
 age, 25. 
 
 Granlcus, battle of the, 531. 
 
 Graphe parantimon, repealed, 
 353 - 
 
 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- 
 
 mis, 214; expedition of the 
 Ten Thousand, 422; retreat 
 of, 426, sqq. ; arrive at the 
 Euxine, 430; at Byzan¬ 
 tium, 432. 
 
 Gyges, 153. 
 
 Gylippus, arrives in Sicily, 
 339; captures the fort oi 
 Labdalum, ib. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hamilcar, 215. 
 
 Hannibal, 572. 
 
 Harmodius and Aristcgiton, 
 conspiracy of, 105. 
 
 Harmosts, Spartan, 370, 437. 
 
 Harpagus, 158. 
 
 Harpalus, 554. 
 
 Hecataeus, 165, 234. 
 
 Hegias, 387. 
 
 Helen, 22. 
 
 Heliaea, no. 
 
 Helicon, 5. 
 
 Hellanicus, 234. 
 
 Hellanodicje, 51. 
 
 Hellas, 2. 
 
 Hellen, 12. 
 
 Hellenes, 2. 
 
 Hellenotamife, 242. 
 
 Hellespont, bridge over the, 
 187. 
 
 Helots, origin of, 34; condi¬ 
 tion, 63; revolt of, 254; 
 massacre of, 314. 
 
 Hephasstion, 546; marries 
 Drypetis, 548; death, 549. 
 
 Heraclidas, return of the, 3*2. 
 
 Heraclitus, 136. 
 
 Hercules, 18. 
 
 Hernue, mutilated, 330. 
 
 Hermione, 7. 
 
 Hermippus, 279. 
 
 Hermocrates, 328, 487. 
 
 Hermolaus, 545. 
 
 Herodotus, 235; account 0! 
 his work, 236, sq.; at Thu- 
 rii, 269. 
 
 Heroes, 17. 
 
 Heroic age, 18; manners of 
 27, sq. 
 
 Hesiod, 127. 
 
 Hetsene, 279. 
 
 Hicetas, 494, 496. 
 
 Hiero of Syracuse, 231, 232. 
 
 Hieromnemon, 49. 
 
 Hipparchus, 104; assassin¬ 
 ated, 105. 
 
 Hipparinus, 494. 
 
 Hippias, 104: expelled from 
 Athens, 100. 
 
 Hippocrates, 315. 
 
 Hippodamus of Miletus, 384 
 
 Histiseus of Miletus, 162 • 
 crucified, 168. 
 
 History, rise of, 2 33. 
 
 Homer, 39; his identity, 41 
 date, ib. 
 
 Homeric poems, their value, 
 24; preservation K 41 
 
622 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 HOROLOGIUM, 
 arranged by Pisistratus, 
 4J; poetical uoity of, 46. 
 
 Horologium, the, 585. 
 
 Hyperbolus murdered, 451. 
 
 Hyperides, 555 . 59 *- 
 
 Hyphasis, the, 546 
 
 I. 
 
 lambic verse, 129. 
 
 lbycus, 244. 
 
 Ictinus, 261, 494. 
 
 llissus, 482. 
 
 Ilium, or Troy, 24. 
 
 Tnaros, revolt of, 558. 
 
 (on, 12. 
 
 Ionia subjugated by the Per¬ 
 sians, 170. 
 
 fonians 12, 14; four tribes 
 of, 89; revolt of the, 165 ; 
 defection from Sparta, 241. 
 
 Ionic migration, 46. 
 
 Ionic order, 145. 
 
 lophon, 587. 
 
 Iphltus, 51. 
 
 Iphicrates, tactics of, 450; 
 successes of, 451 ; recalled, 
 ib .; defeats the Lacedae¬ 
 monians near Abydus, 45}; 
 indicted, 505. 
 
 Ipsus, battle of, 564. 
 
 Ira, fortress of, 76. 
 
 Isams, 591. 
 
 Isagoras, 107, in. 
 
 Ismenias, 479, 480. 
 
 Isocrates, 591. 
 
 Issus, battle of, 59 h 
 
 Isthmian games, 50, 51, 5}. 
 
 Ithaca, 7. 
 
 ithome becomes subject tc 
 Sparta, 74; Mount, 476. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jason, 20. 
 
 Jason of Pherse, 472; assas¬ 
 sinated, 474. 
 
 Jerusalem, Alexander's re¬ 
 ported visit to, 547. 
 
 Jocasta, 21. 
 
 Josephus, 601. 
 
 Jove, temple of, at Olympia, 
 J 99 - 
 
 K. 
 
 Kings, Grecian, 25. 
 
 Knights, Athenian, 97. 
 
 Knights of Aristophanes, ex¬ 
 tract from, 409. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lacedaemonians (v. Sparta). 
 
 Lacedaemonius, 275. 
 
 Lachares, 565. 
 
 Laconia, 7; reduced by the 
 Spartans, 71; northern fron¬ 
 tier of, 77. 
 
 Laconizers, what, 257. 
 
 Lade, battle of, 168. 
 
 Lasvinus, M. Val., 572. 
 
 Lalus, 2r. 
 
 LY8ANDER. 
 
 Lamachus, 429 ; advises an 
 nttack on Syracuse, 444; 
 slain, {48 
 
 Lam i an war, 556. 
 
 Lampsacus, 467. 
 
 LaocoOn, 586. 
 
 Larissa, 429. 
 
 I.asus of HermV/ne, 240. 
 
 Laurium, 9; silver-mines at, 
 184. 
 
 Legends, heroic, their value, 
 24. 
 
 Leleges, 14. 
 
 Leonidas, 194; his death, 196. 
 
 Leonnatus, 554. 
 
 Leontiades, 458. 
 
 Leon tines, 428. 
 
 Leotychides, 182, 227 ; treach¬ 
 ery of, 254. 
 
 Leosthenes, 555. 
 
 Lesbos, confiscation of, 40j ; 
 revolt of, 448. 
 
 hesche, at Delphi, 490. 
 
 Leucas, 125. 
 
 Leuctra, battle of, 471. 
 
 Llchas, 449. 
 
 literature, Greek, history of, 
 126, 229, 400, 587; revival, 
 of, in the West, 604. 
 
 Locrians, 5; Epizepbyrian, 
 121. 
 
 Locris, 6. 
 
 Long walls, Athenian, 484; 
 rebuilt, 448. 
 
 Lucian, 602. 
 
 Lyeabettus, 482. 
 
 Lycambes, 129. 
 
 Lyceum, 499 - 597 - 
 
 Lycians, destruction of the, 
 158. 
 
 Lycomedes, king, 20. 
 
 Lycomedes of Mantinea, 474, 
 477 ; defeats the Spartans, 
 478, 480. 
 
 Lycon, 417. 
 
 Lycophron, 84. 
 
 Lycortas, 575. 
 
 Lycurgus (legislator), 6a 
 
 Lycurgus (orator), 594. 
 
 Lydian monarchy, 15?. 
 
 Lygdamis, 104, 245. 
 
 Lyric poetry, 128; occasions 
 of, 129; development of, 
 229. 
 
 Lysander, appointed Xavar- 
 chus, 462 ; Kpistoleus, 467 ; 
 intrusted by Cyrus with his 
 satrapy, ib.; his proceed¬ 
 ings after the victory of 
 /Egospotami, 470; block¬ 
 ades Piraeus, ib.; takes 
 possession of Athens, 472 ; 
 establishes the Thirty Ty¬ 
 rants, 474; triumph, ib ., 
 honours, 477 ; re-enters 
 Athens, 478; his ambitious 
 schemes, 446; despatched 
 to the Hellespont, 440; 
 expedition into Boeotia, 
 (J4; slain, ib. 
 
 MELOS. 
 
 Lysias, 269, 591. 
 
 Lysides, 521. 
 
 Lysicrates, choragic mono 
 ment of, 584. 
 
 Lysimachus, 554, 5 66 ; slain 
 567. 
 
 Lysippus, 582. 
 
 M. 
 
 Macedonia, description of 
 
 500. 
 
 Macedonian empire, partition 
 of, 554 ; overthrow, 576. 
 
 Macedonians, their origin, 
 
 501. 
 
 Machanidas, 574. 
 
 Macrones, the, 441. 
 
 Magi, 154. 
 
 Magna Graecia, 120; causes 
 of the decline of its cities, 
 I2L 
 
 Magon, 496. 
 
 Malian Gulf, 4. 
 
 Malli, the, 546. 
 
 Mantinea, 57 ; battle of, 426; 
 taken by the Spartans, 485 ; 
 rebuilt, 474; battle of, 485 ; 
 third battle of, 574. 
 
 Manttneans invoke the aid 
 of Sparta against the The¬ 
 bans, 484. 
 
 Marathon, battle of, 176. 
 
 Mardians subdued by Alex¬ 
 ander, 542. 
 
 Mardontes, 227. 
 
 Mardonius, 171 ; adroit flat¬ 
 tery of, 212; negociations 
 with the Athenians, 217; 
 marches against Athens, 
 218; retreats, 219; death 
 224. 
 
 Masistius, 220. 
 
 Massage tee, 158. 
 
 Massalia, 124. 
 
 Mausoleum, the, 580, 584 
 
 Mausolus, 505. 
 
 Mazteus, 540. 
 
 Medea, 21. 
 
 Medes, the, 152. 
 
 Media, wall of, 427. 
 
 Medon, first Athenian archon, 
 
 88 . 
 
 Megabazus, 162, 
 
 Megabyzus, 258. 
 
 Megacles, 84, 94, 101, 104. 
 
 Megalopolis founded, 476 
 battle of. 554. 
 
 Megara, 57; revolutions of, 
 85; long walls at, 257; 
 revolts from Athens, 264; 
 complains of Athens, 277 ; 
 Athenian expedition a- 
 gainst, 414. 
 
 Megaric sect, 595. 
 
 Megaris, 5. 
 
 Melcart, 549. 
 
 Melcsander, 292. 
 
 Meletus, 417. 
 
 Melos, ji’J. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 623 
 
 MENALCIDAS. 
 
 PAM 1 SUS. I PERICLES, 
 
 Monalcidas, 577. 
 
 Menander, 588. 
 
 Mende, 318. 
 
 Menelaus, 22. 
 
 Menon, 428. 
 
 Messene, 58. 
 
 Messene founded,476} taken 
 by Lycortas, 575. 
 
 Messenia, 7. 
 
 Messenian war, first, 71; 
 second, 7; ; third, 254. 
 
 Messenians conquered by the 
 Sparatans, 74; subjugated, 
 
 77 - 
 
 Mespila, 429. 
 
 Methone, 507. 
 
 Metellus, 578. 
 
 Meton, 330. 
 
 Miletus, 117; fall of, 169; 
 revolt of, 348. 
 
 Milo the Crotoniate, 121. 
 
 Miltiades, 174; accusation 
 and death of, 180. 
 
 Mindarus, 35 3 . 
 
 Minos, 18, 20. 
 
 Minotaur, 19. 
 
 Minyans, 38. 
 
 Mnaseas, 511. 
 
 Mnasippus, 467. 
 
 Morea, 6. 
 
 Moschus, 600. 
 
 Mosynseci, 432. 
 
 Mummius, 578 ; his Ignorance 
 of art, ib. 
 
 Munychia, 384. 
 
 Museum, 382. 
 
 Mycale, battle of, 227. 
 
 Mycenae, 13, 16; ruins of, 29, 
 ‘141. 
 
 Myron, 389. 
 
 Myronides, 259. 
 
 Mytilcne, naval engagement 
 at, 364. 
 
 Mytileneans, revolt of the, 
 298; embassy to Sparta, 
 299 ; capitulate, 300. 
 
 H. 
 
 Naudidcs, 281. 
 
 Naucrary, 90. 
 
 Naupactus, 33; taken by the 
 Athenians, 261. 
 
 Navarchia, Spartan, 358. 
 
 Naxos, Spartan expedition 
 against, 164; revolt of, 
 252; battle of, 465. 
 
 Neapolis, 337 - 
 
 Nearchus, voyage of, 547. 
 
 Nemean games, 51, 53. 
 
 Neodamodes, 64. 
 
 Nictea founded by Alexander, 
 546. 
 
 h'icias, 310; reduces (Jythera, 
 314; concludes a peace with 
 Sparta, 320; appointed com¬ 
 mander in Sicily, 329; his 
 dilatory proceedings there, 
 335 1 iesponding situation 
 340; indecision, 341 ; 
 
 surrender, 344; death, 345 ; 
 character, ib. 
 
 Nicostratus, 304, 
 
 Nike Apteros, temple of 391. 
 
 Nimroud, 429. 
 
 Nineveh, 429. 
 
 Nisams, 494. 
 
 Nobilior, M. Fulv., 574. 
 
 Nobles, 27, 8c. 
 
 0 , 
 
 Ocean us, 30. 
 
 Odeum, 267, 399. 
 
 (Edipus, 21. 
 
 (Enophytn, battle of, 261. 
 
 fEta, 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. 
 
 Olynthiac orations of Ocmos- 
 thenes, 510. 
 
 Olynthian confederacy dis¬ 
 solved, 457; its extent, 510. 
 
 Olynthus, 457 ; taken by the 
 Spartans, 459. 
 
 Onatas, 387. 
 
 Onomarclms, 507. 
 
 Opuntian 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- 
 theues, no. 
 
 Othryades, 78. 
 
 Othrys, Mount, 4. 
 
 Oxyartes, 544. 
 
 Ozolian mountains, 5. 
 
 P. 
 
 Paches, 300, 304. 
 
 Pactolus, the, 154 
 
 Pteonians, 502. 
 
 Pffistum, 120. 
 
 Painting, origin and progress 
 of, 150; development of, 
 389; Sicyonian school of, 
 582. 
 
 P&misus, river, 7 
 
 Pamphilus, 582. 
 
 I’anathena?a, 19. 
 
 Pancratium, 52. 
 
 Pangaeus, Mount, 253, 504. 
 
 Pan-Ionic festival, 36. 
 
 Parabasis, comic, 409. 
 
 Parali, 95. 
 
 Paris, 22, 
 
 Parmenio, 537 ; put to dealt 
 by Alexander, 543. 
 
 Parnassus, Mount, 5. 
 
 Par nee, Mount, 5. 
 
 Parnon, Mount, 7. 
 
 Paropamieus, 543. 
 
 Parrhasius, 391. 
 
 Parthenias, 123. 
 
 Parthenon, 267, 394. 
 
 Parysatis, queen, 427. 441. 
 
 Pasargadre, 541. 
 
 l’aulus, 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 Boeotia, 444; 
 condemned to death, 583. 
 
 Pausanias assassinates Philip. 
 
 523. 
 
 Pausanias (historian), 602. 
 
 Pedieis, 95. 
 
 Peers, Spartan, 438. 
 
 Pelasgians, 14. 
 
 Pelasgicon, the, 286. 
 
 Pelion, 4. 
 
 Pelopidas, character of, 460; 
 gains a victory at Tegyra, 
 466; subdues Alexander of 
 Phene, 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; Thucydides'charactei 
 of the war, 305. 
 
 Peloponnesians attempt to 
 surprise Pirams, 298. 
 
 Peloponnesus, 6. 
 
 Pelops, 16. 
 
 Peneus, 4. 
 
 Penj-ab, the, 543. 
 
 Pentacosiomedimni, 97. 
 
 Peutatblum, 32. 
 
 Perdiccas, 276. 
 
 Perdiccas (Alexander’s gene¬ 
 ral), 552 ; marches against 
 Ptolemy, 538; assassinated, 
 ib. 
 
 Periander, 833 his cruelty, 
 84; abilities and power, 
 ib .; and Arion, 131. 
 
 Pericle' character of, 255; 
 innovations of, 256; his 
 administration, 257; re¬ 
 duces Euboea, 2(14; piarj 
 for adorning Atlens *6n 
 
6544 
 
 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, 386. 
 
 Perintbus, siege of, 516. 
 
 Perioeci, 62. 
 
 Peripatetics, 596. 
 
 Persepolis taken and burnt 
 by Alexander, 541. 
 
 Perseus, 18. 
 
 Perseus, 575; defeated by the 
 Romans, 576. 
 
 Persian Gates, 540. 
 
 Persians, 15; ; their cruelties 
 towards the ionic Greeks, 
 169; invade Greece, 171; 
 demand earth and water 
 from the Grecian States, 
 172; second invasion of 
 Greece, 173 ; land at Mara¬ 
 thon, 174; third invasion 
 of Greece, 188; their num¬ 
 ber under Xerxes, 189; de¬ 
 struction of their fleet by 
 a storm, 198; their pro¬ 
 gress, 203; attack Delphi, 
 204; take Athens, ib.; re¬ 
 treat of, 214; their fleet 
 reassembles at Samos, 216. 
 
 Phcedo, Plato's, 418. 
 
 Phalanx, Macedonian, 503. 
 
 Phalaris of Agrigentum, 119. 
 
 Phalerum, 384. 
 
 Phamabazus assists the La¬ 
 cedaemonians, 360; mag¬ 
 nanimity of, 442. 
 
 Phayllus, 507, 511. 
 
 Pherecydes of Syros, 234. 
 
 Phidias, 267; accused of 
 peculation, 280; his style, 
 188; his statue of the 
 Olympian Jove, 399. 
 
 Phidon, 58. 
 
 Phigalian marbles, 399. 
 
 PhiUmon, 588. 
 
 Philip of Macedon carried to 
 Thebes as a hostage, 478; 
 education of, 501; cha¬ 
 racter, 502; defeats the 
 Illyrians, 503 ; assumes the 
 crown, ib.; takes Amphi- 
 polis and Pydna, 504; takes 
 part in the sacred war, 
 507; loses an eye, ib.; re¬ 
 duces Thessaly, 508; ex¬ 
 pedition into Thrace, ib.; 
 takes Olynthus, 511; oc¬ 
 cupies Delphi, 513 ; over¬ 
 runs Illyria, 515; second 
 expedition into Thrace, 
 516; manifesto to the Athe¬ 
 nians, 517; compelled to 
 evacuate the Chersonese, 
 Sl8; expedition into Scy¬ 
 thia. ib.; elected general 
 
 PISISTRATUS. 
 
 in the war against Am- 
 phissa, 519; seizes Elatea, 
 ib.; defeats the Thebans 
 and Athenians at Chcero- 
 nea, 520; his conduct after 
 the battle, 521; clemency 
 towards Athens, ib.; ap¬ 
 pointed generalissimo a- 
 gainst Persia, 522; chas¬ 
 tises the Spartans, ib.; 
 family feuds, ib.; omens 
 of his death, 523 ; assassin¬ 
 ated, ib.; character, 524. 
 Philip IV., 565. 
 
 Philip V., 571; assists the 
 Achfeans, 572; forms an 
 alliance with Hannibal, 
 572; defeated by the Ro¬ 
 mans, 574. 
 
 Philip Arrhkkeus, 553. 
 Philippi founded, 504. 
 Philippics of Demosthenes, 
 508; first, 509; second, 
 515; third, 516. 
 
 Philocrates, 452. 
 
 Philomelus, 506; slain, 507 
 Philopcemen, 573; takes 
 Sparta, 575; taken and put 
 to death, ib. 
 
 Philosophy, Greek, origin of, 
 136; Ionic school of, ib.; 
 Eleatic school, 137 ; Pytha¬ 
 gorean school, ib.; various 
 schools, 596. 
 
 Phocseans, 158. 
 
 Phocians, 505; defeated by 
 the Thebans, 507; reduced 
 by Philip, 513. 
 
 Phocion, 465; character of, 
 510; his expedition to Eu¬ 
 boea, 516; to Byzantium, 
 517; his rebuke of Demos¬ 
 thenes, 526; refuses Alex¬ 
 ander’s presents, 529; ac¬ 
 cusation and death, 559. 
 Phocis, 5. 
 
 Phcebidas, 465. 
 
 Phoenicians, 16. 
 
 Phormio, victories of, 297. 
 Plioros, the, 242. 
 
 Phratriae, 90. 
 
 Phryne, 581. 
 
 Phrynichus, 351, 355. 
 Phrynichus (dramatist), his 
 Fall of Micetus, 169; ac¬ 
 count of, 402. 
 
 Phyllidas, 460. 
 
 Phylo-basileus, 90. 
 
 Pinacotheca, 393. 
 
 Pindar, 231; his style, 233 ; 
 his house spared by Alex¬ 
 ander, 529. 
 
 Pindus, Mount, 4. 
 
 Pirajus fortified, 245, 268; 
 re-fortified, 447; surprised 
 by Teleutias, 453. 
 
 Pirithous, 20. 
 
 Pisa, 7. 
 
 Pisander, 442. 
 
 Pisistratus, usurpation of. 
 
 PYTH1A. 
 
 101; his stratagem, 103 
 death and character of, 104 
 Pissuthnes, 271. 
 
 Pittacus, 135. 
 
 Plague at Athens, 288. 
 Platsea, battle of, 221; sm- 
 prised, 282; besieged by 
 the Peloponnesians, 293 ; 
 surrenders. 295; destroyed, 
 ib.; restored by the La- 
 cedaemonians, 456; again 
 destroyed by the Thebans, 
 4 6 7 - 
 
 Platasans join the Athenians, 
 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, the, 382, 398. 
 
 Poecile Stoa, the, 392, 599. 
 Poetry, Greek, 40. 
 
 Polemarch, 91 
 Polemon, 596. 
 
 Pol us of Agrigentum, 414. 
 Polybius, 577, 601. 
 
 Polybus, 2i. 
 
 Poly chares, 73. 
 
 Polycletus, 388. 
 
 Polycrates of Samos, 160. 
 Polygnotus, 389. 
 
 Polynices, 22. 
 
 Polysperchon, 558; expect! 
 
 tion to Peloponnesus, 56a 
 Porus, 545. 
 
 Potidsea, 276, 292, 457, 504. 
 Pratinas, 402. 
 
 Praxias, 388. 
 
 Praxitas defeats the Corin¬ 
 thians, 449. 
 
 Probuli, 347 . 152 - 
 Prodicus, 590. 
 
 Prodicus of Ceos, 414. 
 
 Prose composition, origin oi 
 23 L 
 
 Propylsea, 268, 303. 
 
 Protagoras of Abdera, 414, 
 590 - 
 
 Pry taneum, 99. 
 
 Prytanies, 109. 
 
 Prytanis, 80. 
 
 Psammetichus of Corinth, 85, 
 Psyttaleia, 209. 
 
 Ptolemies patronise learning, 
 boo. 
 
 Ptolemy, 558; defeated at 
 Salamis, 562. 
 
 Ptolemy Ceraunus, 566, 567. 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, 566. 
 Pydna, 560; battle of, 576. 
 Pylagorae, 49. 
 
 Pylus, 307. 
 
 Pyrrhus, 565; becomes kluf 
 of Macedonia, 566. 
 Pythagoras, 121, 137. 
 Pythagorean clubs stir 
 pressed, 139. 
 
 Pythia, 44. 
 
INDEX 
 
 625 
 
 PYTHIAN. 
 
 Pythian games, 51. 
 
 Pythodorus, J28, 
 
 Pythonicus, 331. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rhapsodists, 42. 
 
 Khegium 121. 
 
 Khetra of Lycurgus, 61. 
 
 Rhodes, 7; siege of, 562; 
 colossus at, 585. 
 
 Rhoecus, 148. 
 
 Romans direct their atten¬ 
 tion towards Greece, 571; 
 declare war against Philip 
 V., 574; proclaim the free¬ 
 dom af Greece, ib. ; declare 
 war against Perseus, 576; 
 spoliation of Greek works 
 by, 586. 
 
 Royalty abolished in Greece, 
 79; cause of its abolition, 
 80. 
 
 Roxana married by Alex¬ 
 ander, 544; murdered, 561. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sacred Baud, Theban, 465. 
 
 Sacred war, first, 51; second, 
 505; barbarity of, 507; 
 progress of, 511; termina¬ 
 tion, 51 j ; results, 514. 
 
 Sages, the seven, 134. 
 
 Salsethus, 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 ; revolutions 
 at, 354; subdued by Ly- 
 sander, 373. 
 
 Sappho, 133. 
 
 Sardis, 153 ; burnt, 166. 
 
 Saronic gulf, 5. 
 
 Scarphea, battle of, 578 
 
 Scione, 318. 
 
 Scopas, 220. 
 
 Scopas (sculptor), 580. 
 
 Scyros, reduction of, 242. 
 
 Scythini, the, 430. 
 
 Sedition, Solon’s law respect¬ 
 ing, 99. 
 
 Reisactheia. the, 96. 
 
 Seleucus, 558; founds An¬ 
 tioch, 563 ; succeeds to the 
 greater part of the Mace¬ 
 donian empire, 567; assas¬ 
 sinated, ib. 
 
 Selinuntine sculptures, 149 
 
 Sellasia, battle of, 571. 
 
 Selymbria, 125. 
 
 Sestos reduced by the Athe¬ 
 nians, 228. 
 
 Seuthes, 433. 
 
 Sicilian expedition, 332 ; ter¬ 
 mination of, 344. 
 
 SPARTANS. 
 
 icily, dissensions in, 328. 
 
 Sicyon, 7 ; despots iu, 82. 
 
 Silver-mines, 9. 
 
 Simoni les of Amorgos, r 30. 
 
 Simonides of Ceos, 230. 
 
 Sinope, 117. 
 
 Sisygambis, 534 
 
 Sitalces, 287, 292, 297. 
 
 Slaves, 27. 
 
 Smerdis, 159. 
 
 Smilis, 148. 
 
 Smyrna, 36. 
 
 Social war, 504; ill effects oi 
 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 
 Croesus, 100; laws of, 
 brought down into the 
 Agora, 256. 
 
 Sophists prohibited from 
 teaching, 375; description 
 of the, 413. 
 
 Sophocles at Samos, 272; 
 account of, .105; character 
 as a poet, 400. 
 
 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, 43 7; 
 league against, 445; con¬ 
 gress at, 467 ; rapid fall of, 
 474; entered by Epami- 
 nondas, 485 ; taken by An- 
 tigonus Doson, 571; taken 
 by Philopoemen, 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, 
 1 ; selfish conduct of. 
 
 SYSfililA. 
 
 202; their apathy, 218 
 dismiss the Athenians, 255 , 
 oppose the Athenians iu 
 Bceotia, 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 Thespiar, 
 ib.; assist Amyntas against 
 the Olynthians, 457; height 
 of their power, 459; ex¬ 
 pelled from Bceotia, 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 ofi 
 the Macedonian yoke, 553 
 their decline and degrada¬ 
 tion, 569; call in the Ro¬ 
 mans, 578. 
 
 Speusippus, 596. 
 
 Sphacteria blockaded, ?oo, 
 captured, 312. 
 
 Sphodrias, 462. 
 
 Sporades, 7. 
 
 Statira, 534, 548; murdered 
 by Roxana, 553. 
 
 Statuary, 30; progress of, 
 148; schools of, 149, 387, 
 579 - 
 
 Stesichorus, 132. 
 
 Sthenelaidas, 278. 
 
 Stoics, 596. 
 
 Strabo, 001. 
 
 Strategi, Athenian, no. 
 
 Stratonice, 565. 
 
 Sunium fortified, 347. 
 
 Susa, treasures at, 540. 
 
 Susarion, 402. 
 
 Sybaris, its luxury, 120: dt> 
 stroyed, 121. 
 
 Sybarites, 269. 
 
 Sybota, naval battle off, 275 
 
 Syennesis, 422. 
 
 Syntaxis, the, 463. 
 
 Syracusans, their vigorous 
 defence, 336. 
 
 Syracuse, 118 ; description cf 
 336; naval battle at, 340; 
 engagement in the Great 
 Harbour of, 342 ; constitu¬ 
 tion of, 487. 
 
 •S ’yssitia, 68, 438. 
 
 2 s 
 
528 
 
 INDEX 
 
 TABLE. 
 
 T. 
 
 'Table Companions," the, 425. 
 ramarum, 7. 
 
 Tanagra, battle of, 260. 
 Taocbi, the, 430. 
 
 Tarentam, 123. 
 
 Faygetus, Mount., 7 
 Tearless battle, the, 478. 
 Tegea, 57; reduced by the 
 Spartans, 78, 
 
 Teleclus, 73. 
 
 Teleutias, 452, 45? 
 
 Temenus, 58. 
 
 L’empe, 4; pass of, 192. 
 Temples, Greek, description 
 of, 14?; of Diana at 
 Ephesus, 146; of Juno at 
 Samos, 147 ; of Delphi, ?'b .; 
 of the Olympian Jove, ib.; 
 at Paestum, ib.; at Selinus, 
 ib. ; in vEgina, ib. 
 
 Ten Thousand,” expedition 
 and retreat of the, 419, sqq. 
 "Ten Thousand,” the Arca¬ 
 dian, 476. 
 
 Teos, revolt of, 34R 
 Terillus, 215, 
 
 Terpander, 128. 
 
 Tetralogies, 404. 
 l'bais, 541. 
 
 Thales of Miletus, 136, 
 Thasos, reduced, 25?. 
 Fheagenes of Megara, 85, 
 i hebans surprise Platasa, 
 281 ; expel king Agis from 
 Aulis, 440 j invade Phocis, 
 444 ; form an alliance with 
 Athens, ib. ; forced into 
 the Lacedaemonian alliance, 
 459; rise of their ascend¬ 
 ency, 473; defeated by 
 Alexander of Phene, 480 ; 
 tit 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, Seven against, 22. 
 Thebes, 16 ; reduced byPau- 
 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 fleet, 
 182; his character, 185; 
 his advice to fight at Sala- 
 mis, 206; his stratagem to 
 bring on an engagement, 
 207 ; his message to Xer¬ 
 xes, 213 ; his rapacity, ib. ; 
 rewarded by the Spartans, 
 214 ; his views, 24? sq. ; 
 goes ambassador to Sp^-ta, 
 244; corruption of, 246; 
 
 TIS3APHERNES. 
 
 ostracised, ib. , flight, 248; 
 reception in Persia, 249; 
 death, ib.; tomb, 250. 
 
 Theocritus, 600. 
 
 Theodoras of Samos, 148. 
 
 Tbeognis, 85. 
 
 Theopompus, 74. 
 
 Theramenes, 355, J71, {7} ; 
 his death, 375, 
 
 Thermopylae, 4; pass of, 19 7; 
 battle of, 195 
 
 Theron of Agrigentum, 215. 
 
 Thespis, 229, 402. 
 
 Theseum, the, 492. 
 
 Theseus, 18, 19, 88 ; bones of, 
 brought to Athens, 242. 
 
 Thessalians, 32. 
 
 Thessaly, 4; submits to Xer¬ 
 xes, 192. 
 
 Thesmothetm, 91. 
 
 Thessalus, 335. 
 
 Thetes, 27, 97, 245. 
 
 Thimbron, 433. 448; defeat 
 and death, 452. 
 
 Thirty years’ truce, 264. 
 
 Thirty Tyrants at Athens, 
 j7j; proscription of the, 
 374, defeated by Thrasy- 
 bulus, 377 ; deposed by the 
 Spartans, 379. 
 
 Thrasybulus of Miletus, 84. 
 
 Thrasybulus, 354; takes 
 Phyle, 377 ; seizes Piraeus, 
 378; defeats the Thirty, 
 ib. ; defeated by Pausanias, 
 379; marches into Athens, 
 ib.; commands an Athe¬ 
 nian fleet, 452 ; restores the 
 Athenian power in the 
 Hellespont, ib.; 6lain ib. 
 
 Thrasyllus, 354. 
 
 Thrasymelidas, 308. 
 
 Thucydides (statesman), 265; 
 ostracised, 267. 
 
 Thucydides (the historian), 
 in Thrace 318 ; banished, 
 ib.; accost of, 410; bis 
 Risvciy, 411. 
 
 Thurii, 236, 269, 
 
 Thyrea, reduced, 314. 
 
 Tigranes, 227. 
 
 Timocrates, 443. 
 
 Timogenidas, 226. 
 
 Timolaus, 445. 
 
 ’Fimoleon, character of, 494; 
 expedition to Sicily, 495 ; 
 defeats the Carthaginians, 
 497 ; becomes a Syracusan, 
 citizen, 498. 
 
 Timotheus, 463 ; his success 
 on the western coasts of 
 Thrace, 465; attacks Za- 
 cyntbus,466; successful na¬ 
 val expedition of, 482.; in¬ 
 dicted and condemned, 505. 
 
 Tinnazus, 429, 451. 
 
 Tiiyns, remains of, 29. 141 
 
 Tissaphemes, 348 tq., 3 >Q -t >• 
 
 ZOROASTER. 
 
 428; attacks the loni&i 
 cities, 438 ; beheaded, 441 
 Tithraustes, 441, 443. 
 Tolmidcs, 261, 263. 
 
 Torone, jiB. 
 
 Tragedy, Greek, origin of, 402 
 Trapezus, 431. 
 
 “ Treasury” of Atre is, 142 
 Trlparadisus, treaty of, 558 
 Trilogies, 403. 
 
 Tryphilian cities, 474, 479 
 Trittys, 9c, 
 
 Trcezen, 7. 
 
 Trojan expedition, 22. 
 
 Troy captured, 24. 
 
 Tyche, 337 - 
 
 Tyrant, value of the term, 81 
 Tyre, besieged by Alexander. 
 576 . 
 
 Tyrtaeus, 75, 130. 
 
 U. 
 
 Ulysses, 22. 
 
 Uxians, the, 540. 
 
 V. 
 
 Venus de Medecis, 586. 
 
 w. 
 
 Wolf, Homeric theory of, 44 
 Writing, use of, 44. 
 
 X. 
 
 Xanthian marbles, 149. 
 Xanthippus, 180; recovers 
 the Thracian Chersonese, 
 228. 
 
 Xenocrates, 596. 
 
 Xenophanes, 137. 
 
 Xenophon, account of, 412; 
 his works, ib.; accompanies 
 Cyr^s, 422; his dream, 428 ; 
 saluted General of the Ter 
 Thousand, ib.; 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, 
 ib.; crosses the Hellespont. 
 189; number of his host, 
 ib.; takes Athens, 209; 
 his alarm and retreat, 212 
 Xuthus, 12. 
 
 z 
 
 Zacynthue, 7. 
 
 Zaleucus, laws of. r 21 ; sui¬ 
 cide, 122. 
 
 Zoa, 384. 
 
 Zeno, 598. 
 
 Zeugitcp, 97. 
 
 Zeus Kleutherios 12b. 
 
 Zeuxis, 290. 
 
 Acrnnster, 153, 
 
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 - : - ♦ - 
 
 Geography and Geology. 
 
 STUDENT’S MANUAL OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 By Canon BEVAN, M.A. 150 Woodcuts. (710 pp.) 7 s. 6 d. 
 
 STUDENT’S MANUAL OF MODERN GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Mathematicai , Physical, and Descriptive. By Canon 
 EEVAN, M.A. With 120 Woodcuts. (684 pp.) Post 8vo. 7 s. td. 
 
 STUDENT’S GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH INDIA, 
 
 Political and Physical. By GEORGE SMITH, LL.D. With 
 Maps. Post 8vo. 7 s. 6 d. 
 
 STUDENT’S ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY. By Sir 
 
 CHARLES LYELL. A New Edition, thoroughly revised by 
 Prof. J. W. JUDD. With 600 Woodcuts. 9 s. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. By MARY SOMERVILLE. 
 
 7th Edition, corrected and revised. Post 8vo. 9 s. 
 
 A DICTIONARY OF PLACE NAMES. Giving their 
 Derivations. By C. BLACKIE. With an Introduction by JOHN 
 STUART BLACKIE. Crown 8vo. -js . 
 
4 MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. 
 
 Law and Philosophy. 
 
 STUDENT’S MANUAL OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 With Quotations and References. By WILLIAM FLEMING, 
 
 I).D. (440 pp.) Post 8vo. 7 s. 6 d. 
 
 STUDENT’S EDITION OF AUSTIN’S JURISPRU¬ 
 DENCE. Compiled from the larger work. By ROBERT CAMP¬ 
 BELL. (544 pp.) Post 8vo. 12 s. 
 
 AN ANALYSIS OF AUSTIN’S JURISPRUDENCE, 
 
 By GORDON CAMPBELL. (214 pp.) Post 8vo. 6 s. 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith's Smaller Manuals. 
 
 These Works have been drawn up for the Lower Forms, at the request of 
 several teachers, who require more elementary books than the STUDENT’S 
 HISTORICAL MANUALS. 
 
 SMALLER SCRIPTURE HISTORY OF THE OLD 
 
 AND THE NEW TESTAMENT. In Three Divisions I. Old 
 Testament History. II. Connection of Old and New Testaments. 
 III. New Testament History to a.d. 70. Edited by Sir WM. SMITH. 
 With Coloured Maps and 40 Illustrations. (370 pp.) i6mo. 3J. 6 . 1 . 
 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.”— People's Magazine. 
 
 SMALLER ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST. 
 
 From the Earliest Times to the Conquest ok Alexander 
 the Great. By PHILIP SMITH, B.A. With 70 Woodcuts. 
 (310 pp.) i6mo. 3J. 6 d. , 
 
 “ This book is designed to aid the study of the Scriptures, by placing in 
 their true historical relations those allusions to Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, 
 1’hoenicia, and the Medo-Persian Empire, which form the background of the 
 history of Israel from Abraham to Nehemiah. The present work is an in¬ 
 dispensable adjunct of the ‘ Smaller Scripture History;’ and the two have 
 been written expressly to be used together.” 
 
 SMALLER HISTORY OF GREECE. From the 
 
 Earliest Times to the Roman Conquest. BySiRWM. SMITH. 
 With Coloured Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. (282 pp.) C r. 8vo. 35. 6 d. 
 New Edition, thoroughly revised by G. E. Marindin, M.A. 
 
 This history has been drawn up at the request of several teachers, for the 
 use ol lower torms' elementary pupils. The table of contents presents a lull 
 analysis of the work, and has been so arranged, that the teacher can frame 
 from it questions for the examination of his class, the answers to 
 w hich will be iound in the corresponding pages ol the volume. 
 
 SMALLER HISTORY OF ROME. From the 
 
 Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Empire. By 
 Sir WM. SMITH, D.C.L. With Coloured Map, Plans, and 
 Illustrations. (378 pp.) Crown 8vo. 3 s. 6 d. 
 
 New' Edition, thoroughly revised by A. H. J. Greenidge, M.A. 
 
 T he “ Smaller History of Rome” has been w ritten and arranged on the same 
 plan, and with the same object, as the “Smaller History of Oreece.” Like 
 that work it comprises separate chapters on the institutions and liieratuie' 
 of the countries with which it deals. 
 
MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS . 5 
 
 SMALLER CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY. With Trans¬ 
 lations from the Ancient Poets, and Questions on the Work. By H. 
 R. LOCKWOOD. With 90 Woodcuts. (300 pp.) i6mo. 3$. 6 d. 
 
 This work has been prepared by a lady for the use of schools and young 
 persons of both sexes. In common with many other teachers, she has long 
 ielt the want of a consecutive account of the heathen deities, which might 
 safely be placed in the hands of the voung, 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 of art. 
 
 A carefully prepared set of questions is appended, the answers to which 
 will be found in the corresponding pages of the volume. 
 
 SMALLER MANUAL OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 By Canon BEVAN, M.A. (240pp.) With Woodcuts. i6ino. y. 6 d. 
 
 "This work has been drawn up chiefly for the lower forms in schools, at 
 the request of several teachers who require for their 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 supply the place of a dictionary for occasional reference.” 
 
 SMALLER HISTORY OF ENGLAND. From the 
 
 Earliest Times to the Year 1887. 28th Edition, Revised and 
 Enlarged. By RICHARD LODGE, M.A. With Coloured Maps 
 and 68 Woodcuts. (400 pp.) Crown 8vo. y. 6 a. 
 
 " 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 13 
 chiefly intended."— Preface. 
 
 “ 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 Papers in the Indian Civil Service Examina¬ 
 tions. ’’— Reader. 
 
 SMALLER HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE: 
 
 Giving a Sketch of the Lives of our Chief Writers. By JAMES 
 ROWLEY. (276 pp.) i6mo. 35. 6.4 
 
 The important position which the study of English literature is now 
 taking in education has led to the publication ol this work, and of the 
 accompanying volume of specimens. Both books have been undertaken at 
 the request of many eminent teacheis. 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. 6 ci. 
 
 While the “ Smaller History of English Literature” supplies a rapid b it 
 trustworthy sketch of the lives of our chief writers, and of the successive 
 influences which imparted to their writings their peculiar character, the 
 present work supplies choice examples ol the works themselves, accom¬ 
 panied by all the explanations required for their perfect explanation. Ihe 
 two works are thus especially designed to be used together. 
 
6 MR. MURRA Y’S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOK’S. 
 
 Sir Win. Smithes Biblical Dictionaries. 
 
 DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE : comprising its 
 
 Ant qi'itirs, Biography, Geography, and Nati ral History. 
 By Various Writers. With Illustrations. 3 vols. Enlarged and Re¬ 
 vised Edition. Medium 8vo. £4 4*. 
 
 “ The most complete, learned, and trustworthy work of the kind hitherto 
 produced."— A thenaum. 
 
 CONCISE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. Con¬ 
 densed from the larger Work. For Families and Students. With 
 Maps and 300 Illustrations. (1039 pp.) Svo. 21 s. 
 
 A Dictionary of the Bible, 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, ai d to that numerous class of persons who 
 desire to arrive at results simply, this Concise Dictionary will, it is 
 believed, supply all that is necessary for the elucidation and explanation of 
 the Bible. 
 
 SMALLER DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 Abridged from the larger Work. For Schools and Young Persons. 
 With Maps and Illustrations. (620 pp.) Crown 8vo. js. 6 d. 
 
 “ An invaluable service has been rendered to students in the condensation 
 of Dr. M in. Smith's Bible Dictionary. The work has been done as only a 
 careful and intelligent scholar could do it. which preserves to us the essential 
 scholarship and value of each article."— British Quarterly Review. 
 
 The two following Works are intended to furnish a complete account 
 of the leading personages, the Institutions, Art , Social Life, 
 Writings, and Contrcroersies of the Christian Church from the 
 time of the Apostles to the Age 0! Charlemagne. They commence 
 at the period at which the “ Dictionary of the Bible" leaves off, 
 and form a continuation of it. 
 
 DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 The History, Institutions, and Antiquities of the Christian Church. 
 Edited by Sir WM. SMITH, D.C.E., and Archdeacon CHEET- 
 HAM, D.D. With Illustrations. 2 v> Is. Medium tvo. .£3 13J. 6d. 
 
 “ The work before us is unusua'ly well done. A more acceptable present 
 for a candidate lor h y orders, or a more valuable book for any library, than 
 the ‘Dictionary ol Christian Antiquities’ could not easily be found.”— 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY, LITE¬ 
 RATURE, SECTS, AND DOCTRINES. Edited by Sir WM. 
 SMITH, D.C.L., and HENRY WACE, D.D. 4 Vols. Medium 
 Svo. £6 16$. 6d. 
 
 “ The value of the worV arises, in the first pi ice, from the fact that the 
 contributors to these volumes have diligently eschewed mere compilation. 
 In these volumes we welcome the mosi impuitant addition tha has been 
 made lor a century to the historical library of the English theological 
 student.”— Times. 
 
MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS . 7 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith’s Classical Dictionaries . 
 
 AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY. 
 
 Ey Various Writers. Edited by Sir WM. SMITH, D.C.L. 
 and LL.D. 
 
 “ It is an honour to this College to have presented to the world so dis¬ 
 tinguished a sch ilar as Dr. Win. 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. Grate at the London University. 
 
 L DICTIONARY OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. 
 
 Including the Laws, Institutions, Domestic Usages, Painting, Sculpture, Music, 
 the Drama, Ac. 3rd Edition, Revised and Enlarged. With 900 Illustrations, 
 a Vols. Medium 8vo. ,£3 35. 
 
 II. DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY AND MYTHOLOGY. 
 
 Containing a History of the Ancient World, Civil, Literary, and Ecclesiastical. 
 t37oopp.) W ith 560 Illustrations. 3 vols. Medium 8vo. 84V. 
 
 III. DICTIONARY OF 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 8vo. 56 j. 
 
 FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 
 
 CLASSICAL DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY, MY¬ 
 THOLOGY, AND GEOGRAPHY. For the Higher Forms 
 in Schools. Condensed from the larger Dictionaries. New and 
 Revised Edition, by G. E. MARINDIN. With over 800 Woodcuts. 
 8vo. 184. 
 
 SMALLER CLASSICAL DICTIONARY. For Junior 
 Classes. Abridged from the above Work. With 200 Woodcuts. 
 Crown 8vo. ys. 6 d. 
 
 SMALLER DICTIONARY OF ANTIQUITIES. For 
 
 Junior Classes. Abridged from the larger Work. With 200 Wood- 
 cuts. Crown 8vo. 7 s. 6d. 
 
 - + - 
 
 Sir 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 Sir 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 Atlas constructed on the same scale of precise and 
 minute information with the article they were reading. This want has at 
 length been supplied by the superb work before 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 praise 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. 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith's Latin Dictionaries. 
 
 "I consider Dr. Wm. Smith’s Dictionaries to have conferred a great and lasting 
 Eervice on the cause of classical learning in this country.”—Dean LIDDELL. 
 
 ‘‘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 he 
 has inserted.”—Dr. SCOTT. 
 
 A COMPLETE LATIN-ENGLISH DICTIONARY. Based 
 
 on the Works of Forcellini and Freund. With Tables of the 
 Roman Calendar, Measures, Weights, Money, and a Dictionary of 
 Proper Names. By Sir WM. SMITH, D.C.L. and LL.D. 
 (1200 pp.) Medium 8vo. 22nd Edition. i6r. 
 
 This work aims at performing the same service for the Latin language as 
 Liddell and Scott’s Lexicon has done for 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. 
 
 A SMALLER LATIN-ENGLISH DICTIONARY. With 
 
 a Separate Dictionary of Proper Names, Tables of Roman 
 Moneys, &c. 33rd Edition. Thoroughly revised and in great part 
 re-written. Edited by Sir WM. SMITH and T. D. HALL, M.A. 
 The Etymological portion by JOHN K. INGRAM, LL.D. Square 
 i2mo. 7-r. 6 d. 
 
 This edition of Dr. Smith’s ‘Smaller Latin-English Dictionary’ is to a 
 great extent a new and original Work. Every article has been carefully 
 revised. 
 
 A COPIOUS AND CRITICAL ENGLISH-LATIN DIC¬ 
 TIONARY. Compiled from Original Sources. By Sir WM. SMITH, 
 D.C.L. and T. D. HALL, M.A. (970 pp.) Medium 8vo. 5th 
 Edition. 1 6s. 
 
 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. 
 
 Each meaning is illustrated by examples from 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, by Sir WM. SMITH and T. D. HALL, M.A., 
 for the use of Junior Classes. 17th Edition. (730 pp.) Square nmo. 
 7 s. 6d. 
 
 “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 Dictionary as long as either tongue endures. Even a general exami¬ 
 nation of 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. 
 
 A 1 SIEW GRADUS AD PARNASSUM. 
 
 AN ENGLISH-LATIN GRADUS, OR VERSE DIC¬ 
 TIONARY, on a new plan, with carefully selected Epithets and 
 > Synonyms, intended to Simplify the Composition of Latin Verses. By 
 A. C. AINGER, M.A., Trinity Coll., Cambridge, and H. G. 
 WINTLE, M.A., Christ Church, Oxford. (450 pp.) Crown 8 yq. 9*. 
 
MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. 9 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith's Educational Series. 
 
 Latin Course. 
 
 THE YOUNG BEGINNER'S COURSE. 
 
 2s. each. 
 
 L FIRST LATIN BOOK.— Gram¬ 
 mar, Easy Questions, Exercises, 
 and Vocabularies. 
 
 H. SECOND LATIN BOOK —An 
 
 easy Latin Reading Book with 
 Analysis of Sentences. 
 
 III. THIRD LATIN BOOK.—Ex¬ 
 ercises on the Syntax, with 
 Vocabularies. 
 
 IV. FOURTH LATIN BOOK—A 
 
 Latin Vocabulary for Beginners, 
 arranged according to Subjects 
 and Etymologies. 
 
 PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part I. First Latin Course. 
 
 Grammar, Delectus, Exercises, and Vocabularies. (218pp.) i2mo. 3s.6d. 
 
 APPENDIX TO PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part I. Containing 
 
 Additional Exercises, with Examination Papers. (125pp.) i2mo. 2 s. 6a. 
 
 PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part II. Reading Book. An 
 
 Introduction to Ancient Mythology, Geography, Roman Antiquities, 
 and History. With Notes and a Dictionary. (268 pp.) i2mo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part III. Poetry, i. Easy 
 Hexameters and Pentameters. 2. Eclogse Ovidianse. 3. Prosody and 
 Metre. 4. First Latin Verse Book. (160 pp.) i2mo. 3 s.6d.^ 
 
 PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part IV. Prose Composition. 
 
 Rules of Syntax, with Examples, Explanations of Synonyms, and 
 Exercises on the Syntax. (194 pp.) i2mo. 3s. 6d. 
 
 PRINCIPIA LATINA, Part V. Short Tales and 
 Anecdotes from Ancient History, for Translation into 
 Latin Prose. With an English-Latin Vocabulary. By Sir WM. 
 SMITH, LL.D. 10th Edition. Revised and considerably En¬ 
 larged. By T. D. HALL, M.A. (182 pp.) 3.?. 6d. 
 
 THE STUDENT’S LATIN GRAMMAR. For THE 
 
 Use of Colleges and the Higher Forms in Schools. By 
 Sir WM. SMITH, LL.D. and T. D. HALL. Thirteenth Edition , 
 thoroughly revised and partly re-written. (450 pp.) Post 8vo. dr. 
 
 SMALLER LATIN GRAMMAR. For the Middle and 
 Lower Forms. New and thoroughly revised Edition. (260 pp.) 
 i2mo. 3s. 6d. _ 
 
 TRANSLATION AT SIGHT; or, Aids to Facility 
 
 in the Translation of Latin. Passages of Graduated Difficulty, 
 carefully Selected from Latin Authors, with Explanations, Notes, &c. 
 A n entirely New and Original IVork. By Professor T. D. HALL, 
 M.A. Crown 8vo. as. 
 
 A CHILD’S FIRST LATIN BOOK. Comprising 
 
 Nouns, Pronouns, and Adjectives, with the Verbs. With 
 ample and varied Practice of the easiest kind. Both old and new 
 order of Cases given. By T. D. HALL, M.A. (124 pp.) New 
 and Enlarged Edition, including tha Passive Verb. i6mo. 2s. 
 
 v Keys may be had by AuthenticatOD Teachers on application. 
 
io MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith’s Greek Course. 
 
 INITIA GRSCA, Part I. A First Greek Course, 
 
 containing Grammar, Delectus, Exercise Book, and Vocabularies. 
 (284 pp.) i2mo. 35. 6 d. 
 
 *,* The {resent Edition has been very thoroughly revised, and many additions 
 and improvements have been introduced. 
 
 The great object of this work, as of the “ Principia Latina,” is to make 
 the study of the language as easy and simple as possible, by giving the 
 grammatical forms only as they are wanted, and by enabling the pupil to 
 translate from Greek into English and from English into Greek as soon as 
 he has learnt the Greek characters and the First Declension. For the con¬ 
 venience of teachers the cases of the nouns, &c., are given according to the 
 ordinary grammars as well as according to the arrangement of the Public 
 Schools Latin Primer. 
 
 APPENDIX TO INITIA GRH3CA, Part I. Containing 
 
 Additional Exercises, with Examination Papers and Easy Reading 
 Lessons with the Sentences Analysed, serving as an Introduction to 
 Initia GitiBCA, Part 11. (no pp.) i2mo. as . 6d . 
 
 INITIA GR^CA, Part II. A READING BOOK. Con¬ 
 taining short Tales, Anecdotes, Fables, Mythology, and Grecian 
 History. With a Lexicon. (220 pp.) i2mo. 3s . 6d . 
 
 INITIA GRiECA, Part III. Prose Composition. 
 
 Containing the Rules of Syntax, with Copious Examples and Exer¬ 
 cises. (202 pp.) i2mo. 3-y. 6d . 
 
 THE STUDENT’S GREEK GRAMMAR. For THE 
 
 Hioher Forms. By Professor CURTIUS. Edited by Sir WM. 
 SMITH, D.C.L. (3S6 pp.) Post 8vo. Cs. 
 
 The Greek Grammar of Dr. Curtius is acknowledged by the most com¬ 
 petent scholars to be the best representative of the present advanced state 
 of Greek scholarship. It is, indeed, almost the only Grammar which 
 exhibits the inflexions of the language in a really scientific form; while its 
 extensive use in schools, and the high commendations it has received from 
 practical teachers, are a sufficient proof of its excellence as a school-book. 
 
 A SMALLER GREEK GRAMMAR. For THE Middle 
 and Lower Forms. Abridged from the above Work. (220 pp.) 
 i2mo. 3$. 6d . 
 
 THE GREEK ACCIDENCE. Extracted from the above 
 
 Work. (125 pp.) i2mo. as. 6 d. 
 
 HALL’S INTRODUCTION TO THE GREEK TESTA¬ 
 MENT. A work designed for students possessing no previous 
 knowledge of Greek. (210 pp.) Crown 8vo. 3 s . 6d . 
 
 LEATHES’ HEBREW GRAMMAR. With the Hebrew 
 Text of Genesis i.—vi., and Psalms i.—vi. Grammatical Analysis and 
 Vocabulary. (252 pp.) Post 8vo. 7 s. 6d. 
 
 V Keys may be had by Authenticated Teachers on application. 
 
MR. MURRAYS LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. u 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith’s French Course . 
 
 FRENCH PRINCIPIA, Part I. A First French 
 
 Course, containing Grammar, Delectus and Exercises, with Vocabu- 
 lariesand Materials lor French Conversation. (202 pp.) nmo. 3$. 6<A 
 
 This work has been compiled at the repeated request of numerous teachers 
 who, finding the “ l'rincipia Latina ” and “ Initia Grmca ” the easiest books for 
 learning Latin and. Greek, are anxious to obtain equally elementary French 
 books on the same plan. There is an obvious gain in studying a new 
 language on the plan with which the learner is already familiar. The main 
 object is to enable a beginner to acquire an accurate knowledge of the chief 
 grammatical forms, to learn their usage by constructing simple sentences as 
 soon as he commences the study of the language, and to accumulate 
 gradually a stock of words useful in conversation as well as in reading. 
 
 APPENDIX TO FRENCH PRINCIPIA, Part I. Con¬ 
 taining Additional Exercises and Examination Papers, (no pp.) 
 i2mo. 2 s. 6 d. 
 
 FRENCH PRINCIPIA, Part II. A Reading Rook. 
 
 Containing Fables, Stories, aid Anecdotes, Natural History, and 
 Scenes from the History of France. With Grammatical Questions, 
 Notes, and copious Etymological Dictionary. (376 pp.) 121110. 4s. 6J. 
 
 FRENCH PRINCIPIA, Part III. Prose Composition. 
 
 Containing a Systematic Course of Exercises on the Syntax, with the 
 Principal Rules of Syntax. i2ino. 45. 6 d. 
 
 THE STUDENT’S FRENCH GRAMMAR: Practical 
 and Historical. For the Higher Forms. T.y C. HERON-WALL, 
 with Introduction by M. Littr£. (490 pp.) Post 8vo. 6.y. 
 
 This Grammar is the work of a practical teacher of twenty j-ears’ experi¬ 
 ence in teaching English boys. It has been his special aim to produce a 
 book which would work well in schools where Latin and Greek form the 
 principal subjects of study. 
 
 A SMALLER FRENCH GRAMMAR. For the 
 
 Middle and Lower Forms. Abridged from the above Work. 
 (23° pp.) i2mo. 3 j. 6 d. 
 
 An entirely New Book on a New Plan. 
 
 FRENCH STUMBLING BLOCKS AND ENGLISH 
 
 STEPPING STONES. Py Fra ncis Tarver, M.A., late 
 Senior French Master at Eton College. Fcap. 8vo. 2 s. 6 <4 
 
 Mr. Francis Tarver’s skill as a teacher of French to Englishmen is well 
 known. Ilis thorough knowledge 01 both languages, and his thirty years’ 
 experience as a master at Eton, have afforded him exceptional opportunities 
 of judging what arc the difficulties pitfalls, and stumbling-blocks which 
 beset the path of an Englishman in his study of French. 
 
 *»* Keys may be had by Authenticated Teachers on application . 
 
12 MR. MURRAYS LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith’s German Course. 
 
 GERMAN PRINCIPIA, Pa-t I. A First German 
 
 Course. Containing Grammar, Delectus, Exercises, Vocabularies and 
 materials for German Conversation. (244 pp.) 12mo. 3$. 6</. 
 
 *,* The present edition has undergone a very careful revision, and various 
 improvements and additions have been introduced. 
 
 This work is on the same plan as the “ French Principia,” 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 old German characters. The Roman letters are used by many modern 
 German writers, and also in Grimm’s great Dictionary and Grammar; and it is 
 believed that this alteration will facilitate, more than at first might be sup¬ 
 posed, the acquisition of the language. But at the same time, as many 
 German books continue to be printed in the German characters, the exer¬ 
 cises are printed in both German and Roman letters. 
 
 GERMAN PRINCIPIA, Part II. A Reading Book. 
 
 Containing Fables, Stories, and Anecdotes, Natural History, and 
 Scenes from the History of Germany. With Grammatical Questions, 
 Notes, and Dictionary. (272 pp.) i2mo. 3J. 6 d. 
 
 PRACTICAL GERMAN GRAMMAR. With a Sketch 
 of the Historical Development of the Language and its Principal 
 Dialects. (240 pp.) Post 8vo. 3$. 6 d. 
 
 Keys may be had by Authenticated Teachers on application. 
 
 Sir Wm. Smith’s Italian Course. 
 
 ITALIAN PRINCIPIA, Part I. A First Italian 
 
 Course. Containing a Grammar, Delectus, Exercise Book, with 
 Vocabularies, &c. By Signor RICCI, Professor of Italian at the 
 City of London School. (288 pp.) i2mo. 35.6 d. 
 
 ITALIAN PRINCIPIA, Part II. A First Italian 
 
 Reading-Book, containing Fables, Anecdotes, History, and Passages 
 from the best Italian Authors, with Questions, Notes, and an Etymo¬ 
 logical Dictionary. By Signor RICCI. i2mo. 3$. 6 d. 
 
 •** Keys may be had by Authenticated Teachers on application. 
 
 English Course. 
 
 A READABLE ENGLISH DICTIONARY. Etymologi¬ 
 cally arranged. By DAVID MILNE, M.A. Crown 8 vo. ys. 6 d. 
 
 “An excellent book. . . . We gladly allow that its contents justify the 
 title. . . . It is sound matter very skilfully arranged."— Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 “Mr. Milne has, we think, in his new Readable English Dictionary, hit 
 the right nail on the head. . . . We have no hesitation in pronouncing his 
 Dictionary to be one of the most entertaining and instructive and readable 
 books of the seasoa"— Bookseller. 
 
MR. MURRAY'S LIST OF SCHOOL BOOKS. 13 
 
 English Course—continued. 
 
 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. 
 
 SCHOOL MANUAL OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR. With 
 
 194 Exercises. By Sir WM. SMITH, D.C.L., and T. D. HALL, 
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