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THE AGE OF PERICLES
VOL.
I.
THE AGE OF PERICLES
A HISTORY OF THE
AND ARTS OF GREECE
POLITICS
FROM THE
PERSIAN TO THE PELOPONNESIAN
WAR
WILLIAM WATKISS LLOYD
'E<cXi7r«f
tovto
rjv
t6 \copiov.
VOL.
— THUCYD.
I.
97.
I
MACMILLAN AND
CO.
1875
[All rights reserved]
•
\j
"\l ORD:
IV
E.
PICKARD HALL AND
PI!
J.
H.
INTERS TO TTTB UNIVERSITY.
W
E
%\t %uh\i
ai giUttanti
(ANN. SOC. CENT. QUAD. SEC.)
AND
TO THEIR TREASURER AND SECRETARY
THE EIGHT
HON".
SIB,
EDWAED RYAN
THIS HISTORY
OF THE MOST FLOURISHING PERIOD OF
THE ARTS OF GREECE
IS
(IN
INSCRIBED
THE TWENTY-FIRST YEAR OF HIS OWN MEMBERSHIP)
BY
WILLIAM WATKISS LLOYD
VOL.
I.
PEEFACE,
The
story of the period that intervened between the Persian
and the Peloponnesian wars had been
so far neglected
Thucydides commenced his history of the
an observation that the records of
its
latter, as to
when
elicit
and the
incidents
determination of their sequence were alike incomplete.
He
supplied in consequence a connecting" summary, the section
known
taetia,
to the ancients as the Pentecontaeteris or Pentecon-
from the number of years embraced, such
present rational requirements,
it
The
jejune and unsatisfactory.
for us
as appeared
own purpose; compared however with
sufficient for his
is,
as
our
might be expected,
which
histor}r of the arts,
is
one of the main interests of the period, escapes his
notice entirely;
and yet at
work of
this particular time a
art
was apt
its
purport and vicissitudes had no unfrequent bearing on
to have the significance of a political incident, as
The
political feeling.
of the people during this happier
life
and more tranquil period, was as much engrossed by poetry
and the
distinct,
and
arts as
each
it is
by
is
politics
;
of the two interests, at present so
found among Greeks reacting on the other,
often difficult to determine
which
is
predominant.
Notices dispersed and incidental doubtless, are fortunately
recoverable from other sources, that go some
what did not
fall
way
within the plan of the historian
to supply
;
it is
in
the belief that these have not hitherto had full justice done to
them
as illustrations of the progressive Hellenic story, that
ba
PREFACE.
viii
attention
tlif
invited
is
to
ye\
another English presentation of
history of Hellas.
ran Thncydides
mary, brief as
it
Is,
somewhat deviates
his
in
sum-
From his (Ireland intention to adhere to
part
chronological sequence, the moderns have for the most
deal with what
carried the deviation further, and declining to
hints of order of time are salient, to say nothing of others
thai if obscure are discoverable
and are ever the more valu-
able as m«. re scanty, have been content to supplement political
narrative a
little
random by chapters that group and
at
olassify rather than arrange historically the characteristics of
the age.
My own
hut
endeavours have been directed
t
<
>
make the most,
ever under control of sober consideration, of every help
available
determine the order of incidents, and to dis-
to
entangle confusion that was indifferent to biographers intent
exclusively on the illustration of character, to compilers
wire more concerned to be comprehensive than
theorists
who
more
cared
for
who
critical, to
general philosophy than
particular development, to say nothing of writers only
look-out for opportunities to be smart in the
first
its
on the
place
and
That the very varied evidence that
in the next picturesque.
comes under consideration renders necessary an occasional
and even a frequent shifting of point of view,
venience which must be accepted if
is
an incon-
we would survey with an
approach to comprehensiveness the contrasted yet ever importantly connected
movements of human
activity, as
they
proceed contemporaneously over a very extended field; nor
it
is
amiss that the student should be thrown upon some expe-
rience
trasted
which
will only be
observations
;
irksome at
first,
only so indeed
instructive apprehension of the
fariousness of interests that
life
in
combining con-
may we
acquire the
Hellenic, in all the multi-
was consistent with
its
unrivalled
history conjecture
enters of
concentration of power.
Into every history
and
all
PREFACE.
necessity very largely indeed,
is
and even when testimonies and
materials are most abundant, the writer
has a sufficient burden of responsibility
it
will only
sions
and
condemn him
who
to overload his pages with discus-
nothing and vex his readers
rejoinders, to conclude
—
by leaving them the very work happy
fused
which they justly look to him to
—
Even
however,
this,
is
them
deals with
an attempt to evade
;
if
not further con-
set well in advance.
perhaps more tolerable than the tyranny
of a quiet dogmatism, which silently tightens every knot
while assuming to untie
or the facile scepticism that cuts
it,
web
indiscriminately and destroys the
all
allowing
the
character
historical
'
which the record can by any
of
'
at
once,
every
possibility,
by
incident
dis-
of
however remote,
involve an element of error.
It
would be strange indeed
history could be relied on
justified
if
the materials of ancient
more positively than has been
such cases as the Waterloo campaign and the
in
diplomatic and military incidents of the Crimean war
an admission of not mere
liability to error,
uncertainty in history, must be taken once for
in lieu of constantly intercalated hesitations.
;
and
but of general
all as
standing
The utmost
positiveness of the writer's expressions will then be under-
stood to
mark
in
any
and any
probability,
relatively to
this
case only his appreciation of highest
positive tones
less
primary intimation.
must be estimated
If appropriate gra-
duations of conviction have been marked as recognisably as
it is
hoped, the writer
may
claim to be credited conditionally
with having regulated them with reference to comparisons
and enquiries which he often spares
detail,
—whether
or not he
is
to set
happy
so
further for a portion of that sagacity which
great aim of one
faculties
and
who
is
bound
;
in tedious
to estimate
it
should be the
human
motives,
dispositions, to acquire.
Here, as elsewhere, the reader
judgment
down
as to gain confidence
to the
same that he
is
is
entitled to full liberty of
driven upon perforce
when
PREFAi
be has
arbitrate betweeen the representation! of
t.»
and
irlyle
of
bj
Pope, nol to saj
Cromwell
Hutchinson and Ludlow;
Henrj VIII, as reported by Fronde, or by Cavendish and
Shakespeare; of the character and designs of J alius Caesar,
oero, or as conceived by Afommsenj the utmost
i
the author can claim of
he
him
To return
to Thucydides
and repudiated of a
Less
that in questioning
:i
decision
the same liability that he
:
historj
of the past
to
knew
be written with
consideration for either past or future than for a bearing
politics, has
on present
Greek history
still;
in
must be admitted, for
the
is
credulous of his own.
will no! be too hastily
strongest
us
for
reflected
modem
light
historian
which
a certain
a besetting- liability of
qualified sense the liability
Some
cannot be escaped from.
it
that
from
is
tails
modern
on ancient
contemporary
of
is
ever
politics,
and
history,
eyes are of necessity attracted to these most highly
illuminated spots.
worse
been and
if
if
he
may
It
is
however the opprobrium of the
he regards such
is
accidental
lights
alone,
and
so misled as to accept as realities the colours
be thrown by them, but are only due to the
passions and the prejudices of the day.
—
:
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface
.
.
vii
Introductory.
—The interval of years between those
—Preliminary survey of earlier history
Greece. —The Homeric epos as an
monument. —Antiquity
and development of Hellenic language.—Change from Homeric to
Hellas. — Contrasts of Achaian and Hellenic periods. — B.C. 1066
Epoch of migrations and revolutions. — Return of the Heracleids. —Centuries of colonisation East and West. —Grouping
Aeolian, Ionian,
and Dorian
— Soo-700. The century of cyclic poets and
poetry. —
Olympiad
significance. —
776. Epoch of
775.
Arctinus author of Aethiopis. —
708. Archilochus of Paros.
Limits of the present history.
of
fifty
Herodotus and Thucydides.
of
historical
his-
toric
(?).
of
tribes.
B.C.
first
B.C.
:
B.C.
its
B.C.
B.C.
700-600. Century of elegiac and lost lyric poetry
tyrants.
Hellas.
—
B.C.
594.
The
Development of
legislation
plastic
Solon
of
:
:
the Athenians burn Sardis.
the Persians
:
battle of
battle of Salamis
Marathon.
—
—
the age of the
and architecture.
arts
Extension of Persian empire over Asia Minor.
revolt
:
republics throughout
B.C. 490.
—
B.C.
—
540.
Ionian
Invasion of Attica by
.....
B.C. 480.
B.C.
499.
Second invasion of Attica
.
1
—Disappearance of Persian
Themistocles. — Dedications and division
the
Policy and stratagem
—Dissensions of Mardonius and Artabazus. —Xerxes Thessaly
19
.
.
.
CHAPTER
The
results of Salamis.
B.C.
I.
— The stratagem of Themistocles.
4S0; 01.
75. 1.
Council of Xerxes after the battle.
fleet.
of
of
in
spoils.
CHAPTER
The
.
retreat of Xerxes.
II.
—Artabazus in Thrace. — Themistocles at Sparta.
B.C.
480; 01.
75.
1.
—Distress of escort Thrace.
Return
Artabazus. — His capture of Olynthus. — Repulse at Potidaea.
—Rivalry Athens and Aegina. —Themistocles slighted by the
— Extraordinary honours to Themistocles at Sparta
Retreat of Xerxes to the Hellespont.
in
his
of
allies.
of
.
.
.
.
30
—
CONTENTS
CHAPTEB
III
Mardonius in Boeotia and Attica -Spirit and temper of Athoniann
and Spartans.
479, Spring
[onion
•
nvoya
Bfardoniaa for a land
?.
',
fleet at
Samos.— Plans
\ttica.
idardonius
—Athenian pressure on the
Lycides
motion. — Death
twtiona with Athenians.
•
.
.
.
•
•
CHAPTER
The
patriotic
army
in
•
•
•
— Renews
Spartans.
tumult at
in
of
Their force at last put in
Sihiiuis
of
mpted w gotiattona with Athens.
camp
Macedonian,
the
index
01. 75-
;
Sparta and the fleet.—Penian
to
•
•
•
4
1
IV.
Boeotia.— The death of Masistius.
— Persian
preparations for final conquest.
September; 01.
B.C. 479,
75.
2.
—
Halt of Greeks at the isthmus.—Mardonina retires to Boeotia. Encamps
on the Asopus. Episode of Medising Phocians. The entertainment of
Greek army appears on slopes of
Persians bj Attaginna at Thebes.
—
Cithaeron.
—
—
— Athenian
ofMasiatraa.
—Station
—
bowmen opposed to Persian cavalry. Death
They move towards Plataea.
of the Greeks.
—
and estimated numbers. — Relative advantagi
—The seer Tisamenus. —Impatience of Mardonius
and jealousy of Artabazus. — Preparations for battle on both sides
Their order
of battle
Greeks and Persians.
.
CHAPTER V
The
decisive battle of Plataea.
B.C. 479,
59
(VI).
— The death of Mardonius.
September
01. 75.
;
2.
—
—Obsti—
—
Mardonius at
supposed
—Disorderly Persian attack. —Conflict
with the Lacedaemonians. — Deatli
Mardonius. — Conflict of Athenians
and Thebana. — Retirement of Artabazus with large
without
engaging. — Capture of the Persian camp. — Immense slaughter and
Embarrassment of the Greek forces. Proposed change of ground.
nacy of Amompharetus. The Greek army separated. Elation
their
of
flight.
of
force
spoil
84
CHAPTER
The
spoils of
B.C. 479,
Distribution of spoils
sanias
..f
Autumn
and honours.
on Persian luxury.
Delphi.
VII.
Plataea— The glory
—
;
— Wealth
Sacrifices for
of Pausanias.
01. 75.
2.
and Sparta.
— Irony of
deliverance with
fire
Paufrom
—Neutralisation of Plataea. —Surrender of Thebes.—Institution
commemorative
festival at
Plataea
100
——
cu X TENTS.
CHAPTER
The
battle of Mycale.
B.C.
xiii
VIII.
— The final retirement of Xerxes.
479
;
01. 75.
1
and
2.
decisive
of the battle
renews
Plataea. — Greek
—Envoys from Samos urge assistance revolt of Ionia.—Leotychides
—Debarkation Greeks at Mycale. —Decisive Greek
General liberation of Greeks of Asian coast and the
—Dissensions among defeated commanders. — Xerxes
from Sardis
The
results
of
activity.
fleet
to
assents.
victory.
of
islands.
finally retires
to Susa.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
CHAPTER
The oapture of
Sestos.
B.C.
.
.
.
.114
.
IX.
—Xanthippus and Artayctes.
479; 01.
75. 2.
—Discouraging views Lacedaemonians.— Zeal of the Athenians.— Greek
the Hellespont.
Leotychides
with the Peloponnesian
—Siege of
Local legend of Protesilaus. —Sestos surrenders
Xanthippus. —Cruel
Prospects of Ionians as to future defence.
of
fleet to
retires
Sestos.
allies.
to
treatment of Artayctes
.
.
.
.
CHAPTER
Athens rewalled.
B.C.
—the
.
X.
478; 01. 75.
Pentecontaeteris
2
and
—Authorities
3.
for the interval of fifty
— before the commencement of Thucydides.
plans
—Athens reoccupied Themistocles resumes
the
cation and enlargement of Piraeus. — Dorian jealousy
of Athens. — Representations of Sparta. — Astute diplomacy
—The Lacedaemonians
;
foiled
tocles.
Leotychides in Thessaly.
B.C.
his earlier
for fortifi-
of
fortification
.
.
CHAPTER
.
.
of Themis-
.
Pagasaean
gulf.
.
.
139
XI.
— The conditions of kingship at Sparta.
478
;
01. 75. 2
and
3.
—The Athenian
—Leoty—Precaand never
Leotychides acts against the Aleuadae in Thessaly.
in the
.128
.
— The conceptions and conduct of Themistocles.
Conclusion of history of Herodotus.
years
.
.
—Uncertain
chides exiled on charge of accepting bribes,
rious position of Spartan kings
fleet
results of the expedition.
recalled.
I5
:
—
CONTENTS.
II
I
Ml.
ATI BE
— Athenian
Byzantium.
Pausanias and Aristides at
acceptance of the
aotivo leadership of Hellas.
177
iiH
(',. iiil.il;
01. 75- 3
!
and Athenian
.lii.-iii
oaptni
il
...
i
His intrigui
disgusts the allies.
hostilities
i
I
— Its
<
nespondence with
•
Samians and Chians
Aristides.
recalled through complaints of allies.
ia
.........
hegemony
the
of
Byzantium.
before
— Arrogance of Pausanias
P nia.
demeanour
break with Pansaniaa.—He
» l1 4-
fleei
aia
committed
of Hellas as
CHAPTER
to continued
160
XIII.
Dorian and Ionian genius and genealogyCharacteristics of Sparta
moulded by circumstances and
institutions.
— In
and of the earlier stock.
distinctions.
Language as clue
contrast to those of commercial Dorians
—
— Dorism a qualified Aeolism, as Attic
Dorian, Aeolian, and Ionian tribal
earlier relations.
fied Ionic.
— Meaning of the
to
dialect a quali-
assertion of Herodotus that the Athenians
were a Pelasgic race as contrasted with the Hellenic Lacedaemonians.
—PelaSgism
the basis of both Ionian and Aeolian antiquity.
lenism expresses the predominant influence of a
section.
in the
— By varied receptiveness of
this influence, other sections
phrase of Herodotus, Hellenised.
—Hel-
peculiarly gifted
became,
—Contingencies which favoured
the distinguished development of the Athenians
CHAPTER
.
.
.
.171
.
XIV.
—
The confederation under leadership of Athens. The assessment of
Aristides. The final recall and disgrace of Pausanias.
—
B.C.
The
early rivalry of Aristides
Characteristics of Cimon.
allies
476
;
01. 75. 4,
and
and Themistocles.
—Institution
under presidency of Athens.
76.
—Subsequent
common
of a
—Contributions assessed by Aristides
—Restlessness of Pausanias. —Reappears
summarily recalled to Sparta. — Is charged and
with general approval.
fleet.
—
Is
again
alliance.
treasure for the
at the
......
quitted, hut deprived of public influence
ac-
184
CHAPTER XV.
Athenian prosecution of the war.
B.C.
Operations of Cimon
in
476
Thrace.
claims in this quarter.
—
;
01. 75. 4,
— Cimon in Thrace.
and
76.
1.
— Capture of Eion. — Traditional Athenian
........
Thracian connections of
and the historian Thucydides
Peisistratus, Miltiades,
197
CONTESTS.
CHAPTER
The development
xv
XVI.
of Athenian democracy.
—The
—Coninterests gave opportunity for the tyranny of Peisistratus.
fundamental reform of the democracy by Cleisthenes. — The
Authority and services of the Areopagus during the Persian war.
elements of democratical constitution in the legislation of Solon.
tests of class
More
Persian war rendered extension of the
franchise to every freeman
full
inevitable.—
A
ineradicable.
—Claims of Eupatrids to heroic ancestry
....
germ of oligarchical aud even tyrannous reaction always
CHAPTER
XVII.
Poetry, lyric and dramatic, in the age of Themistocles
niehus, Aeschylus.
B.C.
First recurrence of
cuse and Themistocles.
principle of liturgies
—The
Phormis, Thespis.
acme
—The
:
Pindar, Phry-
76. 1.
of Pindar
—
Hiero of Syraand Simonides. The
after the Persian war.
and corrective taxation
Themistocles a choragus.
Phrynichus.
476; 01.
Olympic games
207
—
in reference to the arts.
—Earlier progress of the drama.—Epicharmus,
—The Phoenissae of
drama,
and
......
satyric.
tragic
—Innovations
of
Aeschylus
CHAPTER
220
XYIII.
Architecture and sculpture in the age of Themistocles.
The
first
— distribution
—Temple architecture. —Earlier Doric
properly constructed Greek theatre, B.C. 499.
relation to the represented drama.
in
Its
—Characteristics of Doric architecture.
—Analogies and contrasts of Doric and
Ionic
—Early appreciation of the value and principles of
tectural proportion. — Coloured architectural members. — Archaic schools
of sculpture. — Colossal
—Sculptural
—Portrait statues of
compositions of the Aeginetan pediments. — Innovations of Pythagoras
of Ehegium and Myron. — Importance of Ageladas of Argos
style of
Aegina and Corinth.
Hellenic obligations to Aegypt.
archi-
orders.
statues.
athletes.
.
CHAPTER
A
•
239
XIX.
decade of political and party developments.
B.C.
476-466.
Dearth of records of particular incidents during
to be
.
interpreted by
Athenian authority.
its
sequel.
—Hellenic
— Gradual
this period.
—The period
subordination of
passion for civic autonomy.
allies to
—The
trea-
—Cordial alliance
with Sparta promoted by Cimon. —The previsions of Themistocles. — His
sury of the confederacy removed from Delos to Athens.
policy inherited
and administered by Pericles
'.-,
—
cosrr.
svi
OHAPTEB
The
\\.
and poetical scope of the Persoe of Aeschylus.
political
473-47 a
Tli'-
relation of the
PerSM
to the
-
Phoenisaae of PhrynichuH.
toclee.-
-Revival
c.r
—The Phineus, the
— Inevitable
name
DC6 of the play to the glory though not to the
interest by recent defeat of Carthaginians
first
'
of Tlierais-
by Hiero.
play of the tetralogy, involved a reference to
the victory at Artemisium.
— Recognised obligations
-ion to the Boreads, the rescuers of
of
Athens on that
Phinein (Herod,
vii.
189).
(lluucus of Potniae, the third play, had reference to the final battle of
Plataea, in
field.
its
purport and in
— The satyric
renewal of pure
play,
site
of Potniae, covered by the battle-
Prometheus, the fire-bringer.
—Its reference to
—The warnings
after the defeat of the Persians.
fire
269
of the poet
CHAPTER XXI.
Ostracism of Themistocles.
B.C.
— Cimon at Scyros.
471-470.
Influence of Cimon and his party becomes preponderant at Athens.
ThemiBtoclea
is
ostracised.
pendence of Themistocles.
—Ostracism
—Popular
and
its
abuse.
—Pride
arts of his rival.
and inde-
— Cimon
occupies
— Modern appreciation of the statesmanship applicable to annexations. — Recovery of the relics of Theseus. — The Theseuni and
08.
its
artistic
—The Triptolemus of Sophocles and purport.
activity of
—Death of
— Interpretation
enrichments.
First public
its
Pericles.
of an allusion in the
Ari.stides.
'Seven against Thebes' of Aeschylus
.
.
.276
CHAPTER XXII.
Painting, rudimentary and advanced.
— Polygnotus.
B.C. 467.
—Traces
— Independent development of art
by the Greeks. — Traditional commencement of painting as illustrated
by the vases. — Painting proper begins with Polygnotus. — His style
simple, severe and refined. — His great compositions at Delphi, their
Subordinate position of painting in Hellas relatively to sculpture.
of coloured design in
ordination
and
Homeric
significance.
poetry.
— Micon,
Panaenus
CHAPTER
293
XXIII.
Themistocles in Peloponnesus.
—Theinistocles at
—His probable connection with opposition Sparta developed
Peloponnesus. — The recovery of Argos. — Subversion of Mycenae
Uneasiness at Sparta from restlessness of Pausania*.
Argos.
in
to
.
308
—
CONTENTS.
1
xvii
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Seven against Thebes
467
The
tetralogy
Satyric
— Lalus, Oedipus,
drama.— The
of Aeschylus.
B.C.
the Seven against Thebes, the Sphinx a
principle of continuous hereditary disposition in
—
—
Greek tragedy. Its interpretation as fate. The warlike drama an echo
The spirit of Theban
of recommencing intestine dissensions in Hellas.
—
mythology
31;
CHAPTER XXV.
The catastrophe
of Pausanias
B.C.
467-466;
and
flight of
Themistocles.
01. 78. 2.
Sparta regains control of Peloponnesus. — Intrigues of Pausanias among
—Ephors
helots and with Persia. —Themistocles declines
implicate Themistocles.
detect and destroy Pausanias. — Endeavour
He
the
to Corcyra. —The grounds
participation.
to
of his interest in
flies
island
.
.
3
2
CHAPTER XXVI.
Themistocles the Prometheus Desmotes of Aeschylus.
1
The Prometheus Bound,' the most
—
characteristic of the plays of Aeschylus.
of the services and
—Presumable
quital of Themistocles. — Contrasted with Faust. — The theology
Aeschylus. — The more comprehensive scope of the Prometheus
Its date unrecorded.
reflection
.
re-
of
.
329
CHAPTER XXVH.
The
first
contumacy of Athenian
B.C.
The
465
;
allies.
—Administration of Cimon.
01. 78. 3-4-
story of the flight of Themistocles.
—Takes refuge at Epirus.—Pur— Simultaneous revolt
sued by Lacedaemonians, again disappears.
of
—Athenian colony to Nine-ways on the Strymon.
Earlier story of Naxos. — Probability that the revolt had been concerted
autonomy. — Cimon before
with Pausanias. — Naxos captured
Phaselis
Lycia. — Great victory over the Persians on the Eurymedon.
Thasos and Naxos.
forfeits
in
The Strymonian colony destroyed by conflict with the Thracians at
Drabescus. Cimon establishes the siege of Thasos after destruction of
—
its fleet
339
—
CONTENTS
.
HAPTEB
WVlll.
Themistocles in Persia.
His death
464.
He n killed by
murdered'- Authority ol Artabanus aa regenl
Arrival of Themistoclea ;it Bum.—Story of hk escape
\n:ixerxeH.
-
—
from BpiruB.
— Hi-
reoeption and cordial entertainment by Artaxi
Hia characteristics according
t<
>
Thuoydides.—
1
M
is established at
...
Probable adviser of the Persian policy on Greek frontier.—
rd for bia
memory at Athene
353
CHAPTEB XXIX.
The seventy-ninth Olympiad.- Corinthian and Rhodian
B.C.
victors.
464.
—
Characteristics of
Odes written by Pindar for a Corinthian victor.
Corinth, as wealthy commercial port and as seat of an oligarchy.
Diagoras of Rhodes, and victors of his family.
Aristocratic athleticism.
Their statues at Olympia. Change of opinion supervening relatively
—
—
—
to exaggerated athleticism
365
CHAPTER XXX.
The
rise of Pericles.
— Revolt of the Helots. — Surrender of Thasos.
B.O.
r
4 >4-3-
—
—
tion of the theoricon. — Spartans promise aid
—Thasos
earthquake and revolt of the
Pericles
Continued development of
becomes conspicuous in politics.
The ambiguous attitude of Cimon. The institu-
Athenian democracy.
—
— Prevented by
surrenders. — Cimon ac-
to Thasos.
helots.
cused on account of his conduct in the war
......
371
CHAPTER XXXI.
Ephialtes and the
democracy.
—Athenians
before
Ithome.
— Cimon
ostracised.
B.C. 461.
Acquittal of Cimon.
altes.
— Succeeds
—
Is
unable to countervail democratic policy of Ephi-
in proposal to assist Sparta with auxiliary force.
Jealousy of the force conceived by Lacedaemonians
Indignation at Athens.
—Cimon returns and
is
who
ostracised
dismiss
.
.
it.
.
381
1
The Age of Pericles.
B.C.
480-461
INTRODUCTORY.
The
in
of the ensuing history
subject-matter
the
fifty
years that
the invasion of Greece
Peloponnesian
War
either
comprised
by Xerxes and the outbreak of the
— the
interval
between
therefore
the
the history of Herodotus and the opening
closing- events of
A
of Thucydides.
of that
is
between the repulse of
intervene
overlap
certain
end fpr the sake of more
admitted at
is
marking the
distinctly
connection with the two great continuous histories.
The
events that
political
occupied these
anything but unimportant, were
not made the
momentous
any
of
subject
and
struggles
yet,
curred
within
though
all
connected
whole,
an
;
this
under
and
oasis
a
it
even
wars
of
may
conflicts
drifting influence, short
in
the
periods
quarrels that
therefore be considered
of peace
more
the
adjacent
the
The
period and led to open
main
antiquity,
in
special narrative,
withdrawing attention from them.
though
years,
midst
of
and
as,
oc-
were,
dis-
on the
surrounding
devastation and disorder.
But
it
was within
this
period that
all
the germs were
deposited which sprang into such rank vitality afterwards.
The predominance of Athens was then advancing
to con-
solidation, and already giving signs of that vigour which
was to be shown in conflict with the animosities and dis-
contents
among which
it
was growing
B
up,
and the growth
—
INTRODUCTORY
however
which,
of
portanl
was an
latent,
manifestation
as their
event
historical
virulent
in
im-
as
activity,
or even
more
The
ni"~!
ever within
unrivalled
of
manifestation
salienl
thai
period was
of the
perfection
civilised
generally
life,
— the
intellectual
ditions of continued
how-
activity
marvellous attainment
most
arts
and
refined
progress to
and
poetic,
securing
the
of
the abstract
to
and culture
plastic,
the
of
acini-
arts,
human
<>f'
the
the
con-
and
sciences
speculative philosophy.
A
material exponent of this
man
of
the
full
Parthenon j the description of this and
together
with
the
remains,
actual
and architecture then reached
been rivalled
respect
since,
of touching
best faculties
a
Athene
(if
its
all
Pheidias
above
adjuncts,
sculpture
that
attest
that has never
perfection
even singly, not to say conjointly, in
utmost point of which either
the
all
other
and
sculptors,
palm
sufficient
frag-
ments of his works are preserved to happily
truth and value of such an assignment.
If
is
the
The consent of antiquity adjudged
susceptible.
to
bloom of the
the single building of the temple
is
all
attest
the
evidence of
the characteristics of the age were lost hut these memorials,
they would be sufficient to indicate a pitch of civilised re-
finement that has never since been surpassed
have been more or
to have been
democracy,
ties
reached at
sufficient
all,
;
which may
and exclusive, but which
especially in
the midst of a
to preclude despair for the capabili-
and progressive hopes of humanity.
And, as
no
is
partial
less
if
grouped around this central symbol, we have
insufficient portraitures of the statesmen
and perfected such achievements
Ephialtes, Cimon, Pericles;
the Athenians themselves
—of
we have
—the
who prepared
for
Aristides, Themistocles,
demus
lively delineations
—
so highly
of
and ener-
getically endowed, whatever the defects, the miserable follies,
the shameful faults with which the
entire' people, as
if
repre-
ATIIEXS THE CENTRE OF HISTORIC HELLAS.
many an
sentative of the character of so
genius,
was
at the
3
man
individual
of
same time chargeable.
"We have then, preserved most happily, a body of literature
—invaluable,
however
relatively
wreck of incomparable abundance
small
a
salvage
—which gives
from
us the
a
still
living words that rung in the ears of those generations, to
or to elevate, for encouragement or rebuke.
amuse
Eupolis
and
Cratinus are lost, but Aristophanes remains to tell us,
and
to exemplify to us also, the best
The
times.
last
and the worst of the
echoes of lyric poetry, dying out in the
remoter odes of Pindar, are renewed in the choruses of the
theatre
in
;
and, while other inferior dramatists
renown,
still
live only
though not inconsiderable renown, the
triad of tragic dramatists
—Aeschylus,
pides—are not unworthily, however
great
Sophocles, and Euri-
scantily, represented in
their extant tragedies.
To Athens
that
in this age, as to a centre,
profound
Hellas,
reflection
and her claim
had
was attracted
all
maturing throughout
been
to be the host of the best foreign
wits
was approved by her constant production among her
own
citizens
of
crowning
the
found their correction
here
The
intelligence.
inaccurate, or sophisticated speculations
crude,
of Ionia and Italy
and already the genius of
;
Socrates was abroad, which was to
mould
for all time the
human thought.
with which human faculties at
acutest and noblest exercise of
The
rapidity
pushed forward into bloom
which they attained.
as remarkable as the perfection
is
Accordingly, as
is
usual in such cases,
the characteristics of the anterior time are
We
utterly obliterated in the new.
to regard the sculptures of
by no means
must accustom
ourselves
Aegina and of the Parthenon
possibly contemporary works
— even
scarcely so great as between
as
as Perugino not merely
preceded and taught but survived Kafael
is
this period
—
for the contrast
the almost childlike playfulness
and devoutness of Herodotus, and the tone of his contemporary,
B 2
—
INTRODUCTORY
i
Bedate
the
many
fondness
hi>
more near
for
the
bo
ii
in
the people than Thucydides,
in
which disinclines
picturesque,
fabulous story
a
reject
Herodotni
and statesmanlike Thucydides.
respects
expressive of
too
him
to
purpose to be
his
put very Btrictly to the test, and in his willingness to wander
somewhat
far
but
to obtain it;
afield
he
is
at the
same
time distinguished by a larger and more general geographical
and chronological scope, and seems to belong
period
when Greece was
still
1"
only in course of assuming
absolute and separate individuality.
His history
when
scattered rays of historic interest which,
B
its
collects the
it
concludes,
are for a period to be restricted within Hellenic limits, and
ultimately brought to a focus at Athens.
If
we
we must
by the
periods
aid of histories equally detailed for the antecedent
but
;
take a somewhat wider
first
This could only be done with complete-
preliminary survey.
ness
which we are about to
are to understand the period
consider in detail,
it
may, as indeed
must, suffice here to give
it
an introductory sketch of the more remotely anterior
dents,
for
—
so far as these will not offer themselves
recapitulation
afterwards,
— and
those
inci-
more readily
from which our
narrative actually starts.
Even more
necessary
is
it
to adduce
some notice of the
previous developments of Greek genius, as demonstrating the
native endowments of the race
;
of
what had been
already-
achieved and long in familiar possession, and of what early
promise the achievements of this period were the maturity.
Surprising and brilliant as our period
succession
to
several
others
surprising; and conspicuous as
is,
it
is
but one in
many respects still more
Athens now appears, the city
in
does but come forward as continuing a line of glories to which
she had heretofore scarcely contributed, and during the course
of which she was lost in a ci*owd, or
The Homeric epos
stands
at
the
— the
Iliad
all
but nameless.
and Odyssey conjoined
very commencement
of
Greek monumental
;
THE HOMERIC EPOS AN HISTORIC MONUMENT.
and
records,
must be
not only the greatest of
is
the
said,
greatest of
Greek, but,
all
and both
it,
back in indefinite centuries, beyond the commence-
far
ment of even
the poetry
The question of the date of
plausible history.
and that of the time when the
one,
is
most
Greece
given
it
works of art whatever.
all
There are two questions of date concerned with
lie
5
corresponded
nearly
by the poems,
correspondence
more or
confederacies
and
exist,
state of
general
aspect
That such a general
another.
is
once
did
the
to
even
in
respect
of
comprehensive warring against
less
the north-eastern districts of Asia Minor, I do not doubt,
though I cannot pause to argue
was reduced
genius of one
scarcely a
remains
form
to the
man
—a
multitude
still
as to
or less extensive,
single
—I
what
may
in
it
that the
;
Homer being
doubt as
it
poem
by the
conceivable, but
but the question
little;
stores of scattered materials,
more
not have been prepared to his hand
nay, whether the latest poet
may
same obligations, or something
Dryden owed
at length
which we now have
not have been under the
them, that Berni or
like
to Boiardo or Chaucer, or that
Goethe owed to
the epic fable of the middle ages.
As
is
the
work has been
so happily
handed down to
us, it
unrivalled in expressiveness of language and rhythm, and
in beauty of versification;
a perfect model of construction;
unsurpassed in natural description by sea and land
;
while in
personal portraiture, in variety and distinctness of characterisation, in the definition of
colours of moral
good and
sentiment and
evil,
the shades and
Homer may have
Shakespear, but in Shakespear alone.
all
all
a rival in
In this poem we have
the conditions anticipated in epithet or description, of the
perfection
of plastic
and imaginative
mastery of the problem of raising
characteristic
human endowments
all
art
;
and
finally,
a
natural incidents and
to a height of
more than
experienced idealisation, without ever withdrawing the action
from our
closest
and
liveliest
sympathies.
INTRODUCTORY.
The mere language by which
has yei
anything thai
:
of
characteristics
fche
:
I
a
consummate
of
remote.
influence arrogated
If
t<>
art.
may
Homer
conbe as
to
any others, though doubt-
near the origin of language as
wry
has
preserved
been discovered, we
proximate roots of the Greek of
sider the
liil
u
this
all
work
we were
to give in to the exclusive
so-called phonetic corruption
and decay
in elianuing and modelling" language as applicable to ancienl
Greek, we Bhould indeed forfeit the most valuable lesson of
elvmology.
express
Originally the urgent need of language was to
— to express
expression that
feeling as well as
thought
Between the
ever struggling.
it is
— and
is for
it
varieties
due to the eagerness of those muscular sensations which are
incident to the production of sounds, and the visible facial
movements by which they
and with which
are accompanied,
they are connected in the mind of the listener, there
is
large
opportunity for indirect intimation, and direct mimesis by
sound, of physical
accidents,
Man
and actions.
changes,
possesses organs formed as specifically for speech, as others
and there
are for grasping or locomotion,
is
no mystery in
the multiplication and appropriation of these signs for the
sake of convenience
;
while analogy and metaphor insensibly
transfer
these material
riences
thus, in time,
;
signs
'
to
mental and moral expe-
understanding
'
is
lect' as readily as to the leg of a chair;
common
'
intel-
sweet' becomes a
epithet for a ripe fruit, a feminine smile, and the
disposition
change
applied to
'
which
inspires
influenced
is
by
the
special
No
smile.
doubt dialectic
powers of producing certain
combinations of sound, but phonetic change can only be properly called corruption or decay
tively disagreeable,
the most
direction
or
'
like
or destroys
when
it
clings to the posi-
expressiveness.
Even with
uncultured, the struggle to express governs
the
and degree of change; and such forms as 'squirrel'
queer
'
are no casual results of
mere disintegration, but,
'thunder' and other words of the same nature, have
GREEK LANGUAGE
A XI) CHARACTERISTICS.
been gradually modified and fixed at
and influence
aim
constant
long ago
if
The degree
it
expired
of elegance with
this expressiveness is finally attained
of the natural refinemeut and taste
whom
have
language had not chiefly grown out of and
by mimetic expressiveness.
which
last in virtue of this
poetry would
;
7
The same
has grown up.
is
of the
the measure
among
people
influence
may
be traced
in the rejection of various forms for the sake of avoiding
discords in combinations of frequent recurrence, or in coarse
and
that
careless
is,
of them.
disregard
Extrusion of clumsiness,
the rejection of unnecessary syllables and cumbrous
combinations,
is
above
all,
and in the
Beyond
of the Greek language.
first place,
what
this,
characteristic
grace, elegance,
and euphony were attained, as the language proceeded, not
through corruption and decay, but through healthy and
vigorous growth, must be studied in other pages;
is
but
it
important to bear the fact in mind here.
With regard
to the political condition of Greece as exhibited
in the poems, its relations to
the same as
we
find
grand exterior empires
dawn
at the
it
of history.
is
It
much
is
in
contact occasionally, and no more, with Phoenicia, Egypt,
and northern
tribes
;
enough
make the
so to
transfer of arts
and the course of mercantile exchange familiar
but not to induce important hostile
limits of
collisions.
European Greece, the divisions of
probabilities,
Within the
states are
Xerxes,
—
lines
almost
war with
identical with the lines of boundaries during the
determined by the physical character of the
mountain-traversed land, and further by the susceptibility of
the people for tribal influences and attachment to distinct
local centres.
and sympathy
Still
there
is
the same sense of unity of race,
in language, customs,
maxims,
religion,
these independent communities, as in later times
are exhibited, also,
as having
under one predominant
a
among
and they
;
capacity for joint action
state, just as
when they adhered
the hegemony, or leadership of Sparta or Athens
;
to
and the
INTRODUCTORY.
B
of the whole
moral
\\
ruined,
thai
is,
if
ever Greece was to be
would be by her incapacity 1" take
it
by the poet's lesson of necessity
:
heart
to
concord
for
in
and
con-
of national safety.
federation as a condition
Bui there are two greal differences between the Greece of
Homer and
history.
of the opening of regular and
thai
The Homeric
republican,
states are
not
authentic
a single instance
in
whatever the indications of a vigorous public
opinion which has to be managed, cajoled, or even sometime-
cowed; they are
kings
who
part
.
by divine descent, a
of man.
under the sway of kings, and
all
claim by divine right, and indeed, for the most
The germ
cially of that
which dates beyond the memory
title
of the later development
is
there
— espe-
republican condition which admitted the pre-
dominant influence of the Eupatrid
— but
at present
it
gives
only feeble and occasional signs of vitality.
Another great distinction
now
is
that the leading tribe which
gives general title to the nation
is
Achaian, whereas,
history opens in full light, Achaian has sunk or receded
when
into the title of a very secondary district, or even into a third
rank
;
the nation at large calls itself Hellenic, and
its
leading
subdivisions, comprising groups of states not especially associated in
Homeric times, are Aeolians, Ionians, and Dorians.
Dorian Sparta
is
now the most
powerful, and asserts some-
w hat of the comprehensive control of the regal
though in every respect the most
distinct
Agamemnon,
and abnormal in
habits and institutions, and in rudest contrast to the luxurious
race
home
at
of Menelaus and Helen.
large,
however,
is
than by the continuance of
certified
The
all earlier characteristics
by land and sea; admiration of beauty in
cially
in
what
is
susceptible of
form and character
often
;
exercises;
the
all
;
energy
things, espe-
most beauty, the human
enthusiasm for lofty
unrealised in practice;
athletic
identity of the
not less by language
ideals,
however
the love of poetry, of art, of
assertion
of
free
action
and
free
CHANGE FROM HOMERIC TO HISTORIC HELLAS.
9
a sense of the dignity and power of the race, espe-
speech
;
cially
as contrasted with the
enervated or slavish tribes to
the east of the Aegean.
The
between the
social contrast, therefore, is as great as
sculpture of the gate of
pediments
that of the Aeginetan
and as certainly marking an
great,
as
;
Mycenae and
inter-
mediate period of active revolutions, with movements and
collisions of tribes
And
and populations.
if
such changes took place after the Homeric epoch,
surely
we
are entitled to ask, whether the like, and even yet
more
violent,
not probably take
did
poetry, for good poetic reasons,
forcible origin of the
traditions, the
other,
told
the
name
Achaian power in Southern Greece
;
but
the Achaians had descended from Thessaly
Phthiotis which continued to retain
seats at
Thus
of Achaia.
is
explained
the chief hero of the Achaian epic
to these original seats,
non of the
The
before?
more trustworthy because independent of each
how
and original
place
makes no mention of any
later seats,
how
Achilles,
is
it
was that
who belongs
and not the more powerful Agamem-
and who, moreover, was
traditionally of
foreign lineage.
Tradition, borne out again
to extenuate, told further
by corroborations which
it is idle
how, after the period of Achaian
domination in Southern Greece, and the
collision
with Asia in
movement of tribes was urged southward
upon Peloponnesus, which displaced or subdued the former
the Troad, a great
occupants, and gradually established
the
A
distribution as represented in history.
in the Iliad, of the subversion of
system of
significant threat
Mycenae, Argos, and Sparta,
has been fairly held to intimate that the poet lived
during the course
of,
tribal
these revolutions
;
after, or
the conjecture
may
be confirmed by a similar hint to a future reign of descendants of Aeneas in the Troad.
It
must have been
of these convulsions
in the course
— whose evidence
and as
is
a
consequence
absolute; however ob-
;
TNTRODUi TORI
10
Boure their dates and details
— thai
and [onians took definite form.
hereafter;
main
;i
we have
present
;it
feature
in
a
the distinction of Dorians
more must be said
Ol' this
to note
thai
farther
constitutes
it
between
contrast
this
later
epoch and the earlier Homeric.
The epos
rre< ks,
exhibits the coast
except for
but
we now
ful,
populous, and grouped in
tionship.
find
There
The Aeolian
it
is
of Asia Minor as oncolonised
some occasional connection,
fringed with Greek
—
earliest
power-
cities, active,
marked agreement with
an Asiatic Aeolis, Ionia,
cities
as in Lycia;
and oldest
rela-
and Dori-.
—
are settled about
the islands and districts that were the reputed seats of the
The
Achaian warfare of Homer.
for territory,
poetic war
is
not waged
but for plunder; not for established settlement,
but in retaliation for something- like piracy: but here nevertheless it
must be observed, that the poet seems to carry back
to the earlier period of his subject the conditions of his
time
made
;
own
the Achaians, from their mountainous peninsula, are
to fight habitually in chariots, a
suitable for the extensive plains of
mode
of warfare only
Lydia or about the coast
and that women arc among the most valued
spoil,
seems a
glaring transference from the later time, when, according
to
other notices, the immigrants systematically arrived as
warriors alone, and trusted to their arms to gain the wives
with
whom
they commenced a new race in a new country.
Tradition, then,
is
borne out by manifest facts
in establish-
ing that the Achaian domination was superseded by violent
changes in the seats of Greek
tribes,
due to the so-called
return of the Heracleid dynasty to assert ancestral claims in
Peloponnesus, and that thereafter ensued a long period of
active colonisation both east
and west.
Particular chronology here
it
must always be disputable
;
let
be enough to state a conviction, founded on the tenacious
adherence of the Greeks to certain ceremonious forms in
founding colonies and their heroic estimate of the honour of
THE FIRST OLYMPIADS— CYCLIC POETRY.
leading such enterprises, that there
traditional names,
all
no reason to
is
and even dates, as
c
11
down
The
set
unhistorie.'
return of the Heracleids was currently dated in a year 1066
B.C., precisely at
Norman
the distance anterior to our epoch that the
Conquest, to which
occurred after
the epoch of the
first
of
whom,
is
equally unknown.
it is true,
reckoning was
generally,
itself
many
in
respects a parallel,
between
it and 776 B.C.,
Olympiad, when Coroebus was a victor;
lie
we know nothing else, in a period that
And yet the commencement of that
an important historical
fact.
It
marks
and must mark, the attachment to celebrations
which became
sciousness
it is
Three centuries
it.
expressive
so
Hellenic
of the
sympathetic self-con-
of the
The Olympic
race.
of meetings
an occasion of suspended enmities,
truce
was
in joyful
amity; the olive .crown, the coveted prize, was taken from
the tree which can only arrive at profitable fruit-bearing
through
years
exempt
from devastation, and hence
the accepted symbol of peace, as
that gave vigour in noble
to this date as
it
games ; and
also
provided the
was
oil
comparisons point
all
one from which the settlement of Hellas
became recognised
as permanent.
In these intervening centuries lay the plantation of the
numerous
colonies,
which attained to such prosperity, that
they themselves became mother-cities and planted colonies
far
and wide again, at
probably in
many
cited dates posterior to
776
B.C.,
and
instances authentic.
To the century 800-700
B.C. is referred,
with every assur-
ance of correctness, the origin of a vast mass of heroic poetry,
the work of what wr ere
was extant through the
known
as the Cyclic poets,
classic ages.
It
was
which
in the style of
the Homeric epos, and some long poems were even ascribed
very currently to the same poet.
Others of the poems were
some were anonymous.
a whole, they gained their title of Cyclic from
attached to names of other poets;
Regarded as
completing,
when taken
together, with
more
or less inter-
INTRODUCTORY.
12
ferenoe of subjects
or even
creation,
At
tins
:i
down
it,
of
account
poetical
before
events from the
all
the death
to
of
1
1\
mythological story closed, and the blank thai
point
then intervenes before a more simply pragmatical story
commences with
of
evidence
thought
new
a
at
of the
return
the
;
its
subject very near to the time of
is
shy of an immediate attachment
History
to a series of events with which its
is
re-
strong
period that followed this crowning revolution.
a
the mythologist
break
is
having supervened on national
spirit
Alythology does not take
a
Heracleids,
own
are incongruous,
and
inevitable.
1
Dionysius of
Halicarnassus fixes the date of Arctinus, the
author of the Aethiopis, one of these poems, and the most
ancient poet, as he believed, of whose historical existence distinct trace could
period alone
fied
of consequence, and
is
But
be recognised, as 775 B.C.
by the unquestionable
it
is
the general
limited and certi-
fact that this poetry
was the pro-
duction of a period anterior to that of the Iambic poets,
who
can be far more accurately dated.
Distinct authentic history,
we have
said,
only begins two
centuries after the assigned date of Arctinus, with the usurpation of Peisistratus, or at
most the
legislation of Solon,
594 B.C.;
but the preceding century, wdiich followed the age of the
Cyclic poetry,
was most
brilliant
and
fertile
of Greek genius,
and bequeathed productions that were the admiration and
delight of the best ages of antiquity, and
down
to the very
establishment of Christianity.
The poems
were
sponsive
personal
hints,
succession.
The consent
that of
of this
of
full
period,
lyric,
iambic, elegiac, melic,
and passionate
that would
certify
at
allusions,
their
least
and
order
re-
of
Archilochus of Paros dates as early as 708 B.C.
of antiquity adjudged
Homer
;
with exhaustless
him
a fame only second to
the earliest of the lyric poets, he
invention of
fertility in
1
i.
68.
new
is
credited
metrical com-
THE CENTURY OF LOST LYRIC POETRY.
binations
this style of poetry,
:
the moment, so
had thus a
much
was
salient
as
Jonson
all
;
his
historic as well as poetic value
and
to say
in
imbued with the passions of
from the genius of epic poetry,
different
definite
not too
that
his
;
it
is
the personality of Archilochus
works as that of Horace or Ben
was the same with
in various degrees the case
successors
13
—with
Simonides
of
Amorgos, Tyrtaeus
Anacreon, Alcman, Arion, Alcaeus and Sappho,
especially,
Erinna and
Stesichorus,
until
Mimnernius,
lastly,
comes
into direct relation with Solon.
The
was pursued not
cultivation of music
cally during this age,
but here we are of necessity at greater
judgment, though we cannot
disadvantage in forming a
hesitate
accept
to
and do homage
less enthusiasti-
the ancient
renown
as
well
deserved,
to the antecedents of the odes of Pindar
and the choruses of the dramatic
poets,
both comic and
tragic.
Thus
it
Plerodotus
as
it
that beyond the limits of the broad light of
is
a sort of historical twilight extends, and even
settles
into darkness
we
see reflected in the
splendours of works that unhappily have
we gather
faint echoes of
sion.
and
but perished
;
music and song from a succession
of singers as gifted as those
age of Pericles,
all
sky the
still
who made
more numerous
Pushed back certainly by
this
the glory of the
in
their
unbroken
succes-
series to the
very commencement of the Olympiads, was the age which
had transmitted the vast mass of Cyclic poetry, afterwards
to be subjected to the criticism of Aristotle, but only to be
found wanting as compared with the unequalled art of the
Homeric
obscurer
hensive
epos,
descending
from a
still
more remote and
Beyond. Even in a summary so largely comprewe omit the important class of hymns both poetic
and properly sacred, and the peculiar compositions of the
Hesiodic cycle.
Such was the wealthy heritage of
literary art
and beauty
INTRODUCTORY.
ii
which Hellas had long enjoyed before
centurj
barely a
ur can
[stratus,
tl
from the historic
follow with confidence a s'l-io of
the actions of identifiable characters.
plastic arte
when
Herodotus,
of
birth
obscurity clears away
the
Last
the
before
al
and
field,
connected events and
It is certain that the
and architecture had already made advances scarcely
technical
processes had
been mastered, the
of constant and
ever-renewed
reference
important j
principle
nature
to
had been combined with the aspiration to correct the individual
model by 'an idea within the mind,' by study per-
and yet
severing"
moment
It
so
sensitive
to resign itself to
that
it
must remain doubtful whether any
this
period could hold
caught exactly the
the free guidance of imagination.
its
of the
of
statuary
ground in comparison with the
Pheidian period in the same sense in which works of Archi-
Sappho took equal rank with Sophocles, but
lochus or
least the preliminary conditions of the later
The
mastered.
the vast
was certainly the same
case
in architecture;
had
temple of Samos, and the earlier Parthenon,
already decided
the leading
all
at
development were
members of the
and the
style,
remains, archaic as the}' are, of the temple at Corinth, evince
that the application of proportion to building, the counter-
point of architecture, had already become matter of theoretic
study,
of which
the marvellous results were to
be fully
manifest later on.
Government
in
also,
Force
conciliation of
its
best
sense,
had made corresponding advances, when
human
preparations for
as
the
systematic
and Order with individual freedom,
all
the accumulated
culture were threatened
by Asiatic
despotism.
The age of divinely-descended and authorised
kings had
been
convulsion,
by
most
but
cases,
succeeded,
after
years of compromise
or
constitutional order, oligarchical doubtless in
still
tempered, destined to yield in
however, to an age of Tyrants;
but with the
its
fall
turn,
of the
sons of Peisistratus at Athens the last traces of this latter
—
MONARCHY—TYRANNY.
SUCCESSION OF
had retained
Sparta
of
outward
but
under
oligarchs
had
taken care
severe
throughout the
fellows
their
Hellas,
by suppressing
other.
The
all
last of their
constitution
form of royalty with much
the
ceremony,
dominant
of
The vigorous
had passed away.
period also
control
to
Persia,
in
one
native
after
by
The
Sparta.
alike
and
a
by
aided
genius,
at
exerted
only
himself,
too
force
and
to
however, was only
scarcely
less
tyrant
remarkable
a
Athens,
repugnant
but
to
democracy, native here, was inimical
democracy with
of
place,
an-
who took
and
;
with hands
manifestation
with
Oriental
Hellenic,
and
free,
individual
of
made the next great chapter of Hellenic
it
conflict
first
there
another
spirit of
oligarch
to
of
achievements in this way was the
Tyranny
land.
superseded
:
bring the scourge of Oriental invasion upon
effectually, to
his
and
power
the
and breadth
length
tyrannies
the
and the
;
secure
expulsion from Athens of the son of Peisistratus,
refuge
15
story
despotism
in
the
Spartan,
especially
oligarchy immediately and constantly thereafter.
The same date marks the power
of Peisistratus at
and the accession of the Median Cyrus
;
development of Persian power absorbed, in
westward,
the
together with
all
centuries
after
to Lydia
master,
maeval
consolidated
recently
its
Lydian
movement
kingdom,
the Hellenic cities on the sea-board, which
of
independence had only just succumbed
when they were
— and
Athens
and the extraordinary
transferred to a
still
more powerful
under his son Cambyses subjugated the
civilisation
of Egypt.
power proceeded even
wielded by the
still
The growth
great
of this
more formidably when
pri-
it
was
Darius
Hystaspes,
about thirty years after the conquest of Lydia.
Darius in
organising
energy of
Europe as far as the Danube, his
Mardonius and Megabazus secured permanent
hold on many parts of Macedonia and Thrace, and an
person
led armies into
lieutenants
1
Herod,
v. 92.
—
INTRODUCTORY.
L6
made
was
attempl
as
b.c.
(501
far
the west, and
to
Athens and Sparta, as the island
near to
The tunc
DOW
\v:is
mettle
comparative
la>t
at
Eastern tribes,
which had mel
Homeric
was
epos,
to
oner more
band when the
at
and Oriental,
Greek
<>f
in
as
ol
Western
such anequal conflict
and
the
in
be tried in mortal combat for
<>r
life
death to liberty, and to civilised and progressive culture.
Ionia rose in revolt against the Persian, Sparta withheld
the
aid,
solicited
cities
but Athens was roused
by the
of
peril
which owned her as their metropolis; even her
effort,
however, was but single and spasmodic, and she withdrew
giving mortal affront by assisting the
after
entirely,
in-
surgents in the burning of Sardis.
Within ten years she found herself exposed
attack
upon her own ground.
to a retaliatory
The valour of the
unassisted
Athenians, and the conduct of their general Miltiades, inflicted
on the host of Datis and Artaphernes on the
of Mara-
field
thon a defeat which brought that expedition to a disgraceful
The Spartans
end.
arrived
too
with characteristic
afterwards,
late
for
the
sluggishness,
and
battle,
left
more
the
acute and alert Athenians to anticipate and prepare for a
renewal of the
For three years Asia was
conflict.
from end to end by a single
for
subjugation
the
of
this
resistless
mandate
group
little
of
stirred
prepare
to
independent
communities, while Xerxes, in the pride of youthful sway,
and heir
his father's animosity,
to
prepared to
make
the
progress of triumph and revenge in person.
At Athens
prepared for
chiefly
to
;
at least the
though that
impending danger was not unit
was not
so
even here was due
the foresight and energetic genius of one
Themistocles.
He
read
the lesson of the
past,
man
that
the
salvation of the Athenians, if not of Athens, must, under a
renewed attack, depend on their possession of
ships,
and that
the severest stroke which could be dealt against an invader,
however he arrived, would be the annihilation of his
fleet.
7
DESPOTIC PERSIA AND DEMOCRA TIC A Til EX S.
On
occasion
this
at
Spartans
the
least
which was probably due to the personal
of
king Leonidas.
their
by
only
embarrassed
wound round through
own encumbering
their
numbers, to encounter opposition at the
the circumstances
stances
of the
no need to recount the circum-
is
conflict
but
;
whatever
may
of the strategic insight of the Spartan, there
condemn the
to
the result of
committing
of honour
of the
;
exploit
her
fortunes
be
is
thought
no reason
heroism thrown away
as
may have
Sparta
it
under
spot
first
even moderately defensible, the pass of
There
Thermopylae.
spirit
The embattled nations of the
Persians crossed the Hellespont and
Thessaly,
grand
one
set
example,
1
entire
to
;
from
learnt to be cautious in
sacrifice
on
a
point
but the approval at home of the steadfastness
gave
hundred, the proof they
three
were destroyed
before
they
of the efficiency of Hellenic against Persian
arms, and the moral impression created upon the Persians
themselves,
upon the
were
without
not
most
important
influence
later conflicts.
In the meantime Themistocles was labouring to keep the
Greek
ships
of the
them
in well-concerted action,
various
He
to unite
self-control,
hostile
navy
was
happily seconded
but of Athens
islands
vigilant
inflicted severe losses
by the elements.
the general
resolution for
the
by
together, and
persuasion,
they advanced towards the shores of Attica, and
and bribery.
as
states
itself,
and
He
then carried the
evacuation, not only of Attica,
transported the entire population to
opposite
anxiety for
on the
the
peninsulas,
and watched
opportunity to strike
his
with
long-
expected blow.
The confederate
fleet
was mustered
in the Saronic
Gulf
about the island of Salamis, as the Persians rendezvoused in
the roadstead of Phaleron
;
while Xerxes had already occupied
Athens and Attica, and might at any time
upon the Peloponnesus.
move forward
In such a confined position the
INTRODUCTORY.
18
Bmaller
luit
fleet
bad
everything
to
hope from an
tnent,
commanders of the Peloponneeian
the Ghreek
neither the oonfidenee of Themistoclee, nor
blockade of the
Isthmus
— did
statee
— trusting
in
had
the
they conceive that their stake
was equally emperilled.
The
rest
is,
and
for our present purpose, soon
briefly told.
Themistocles sent a private message to the Persian
was too
which
Greek
like
commence the attack
were
many
another
traitors to be suspected,
still
at once.
communication
from
and which determined him to
While the
allied
commanders
proposing immediate departure and separation,
they found that retreat was already cut
off,
were advancing, and that the only alternative
for the
king-,
most part with unhesitating courage
that the
enemy
— accepted then
—was to fight at
once.
Such were the circumstances that brought on the
and, with the battle, the victory, of Salamis.
battle,
CHAPTER
THE EESULTS OF SALAMIS.
480
When
night
the
Salaniis,
closed
victorious
I.
THE STRATAGEM OF THEMISTOCLES.
B.C.
Olyni. 75.
;
upon
the
1.
scene
the
of
battle
Greeks were unaware of the
extent and value of their success
;
detachment cut
loss of a trifling
Psyttaleia,
and of some leading
in the sea-fight
been
to
and even at
engaged at
the
allied
;
station
all,
or
by the
by Aristides on the
islet
who had taken
part
officers
sea the ships that
had escaped with
fully anticipated a
had never
damage
little
numerous that the
were so
Phalerum,
at
commanders
off
full
army
the enormous laud
of Xerxes was, they knew, entirely uninjured, except
of
The
renewed attack.
moral victory, however, proved to have been more decisive
than the
so
much
were
material
that
seriously
—
the
not unimportant.
itself
troops
demoralised,
and mariners
that
as
Xerxes
looked on in surprise and agitation at
of the conflict.
Even
if
the
loss
of his
was
It
of
all
not
invader
the
himself had
the
incidents
brother and the
slaughter of his personal friends before his eyes might not
have affected the nerves of the Great King to the degree
described by Aeschylus (Pers. 474), he could not but observe at
what disadvantage
numbers,
—fighting
bravely
his forces, for all their superior
as
they might
sciousness of his immediate presence,
in
—
of their op-
the patriotic
enthusiasm, the order and
ponents.
might indeed seem that with power
It
c 2
con-
the
had contended with
skill
at
his
HISTORY OF
command which was
afford
strike another blow even
to
which must have
smaller
be
trusted
whom
he
valour
in
turn
:i
form
a
of
the
battle;
the
Ionians could
of
fortune,
and
the
contest
The
thrown away.
own element was
unknown
superiority
too
might
by one more such
safety;
not
troops
better
their
for
were
them,
to
of the
and too
manifest
the repetition of a venture that
persona]
of his
was thoroughly discredited
forces
had embarked, having no opportunity
in
simply
their
al
well
blow
a
cost,
But the Btanchnees
Greeks.
Phoenician and Cilician
by their behaviour
oonld
be
equal
a<
with decisive disastroueneef on the
fallen
of the
force
bap.
[<
preponderant,
bo
-till
'.7,7.7
Greeks on
serious
jeopardize his
battle his fleet
for
own
might
be utterly disorganised and dispersed, and then the enemy,
established
in
command
full
his
Ionian insurrection.
was not
return
It
was not because his private resolve
fixed at once, that his
immediate commands implied
;
commenced
the
before
the
'
without
enterprise
made
preparation was to be
and a project that
fight,
straits,
by inciting a general
beyond,
a purpose to remain and prosecute
intermission
and the
sea
from Europe, and even interpose
could cut off his retreat
an obstacle to
of the
for another sea-
had been mooted and perhaps
battle,
a
familiar
and
favourite
Oriental expedient, was again spoken of; Phoenician transport vessels were to be fastened together to form a bulwark
and floating
and a causeway was to be completed from
pier,
the mainland to the island of Salamis, the refuge of the
Atheniau families and the storeplace of their property.
A
show of consultation was then made with Mardonius,
son of Gobryas, the most eager instigator of the expedition,
and separately with the Carian Queen Artemisia, who had
already
commanded the
confidence of the
independence of her counsel no
1
less
Ctesias; and Strabo.
is.
King by
than by
573.
its
the frank
wisdom.
THE RESULTS OF SALAMIS.
i.]
Both were forward
donius
had
especially
what he might
minister the desired
to
motives
home
his policy
—a
failure
advice.
own
of his
for
Mar-
pressing
was the only recommendation
easily divine
that would be listened to;
responsible at
21
he had
inclination to
little
and disastrous
for the entire
which in truth
it
failure
be
of
was as yet premature
The prospect of being left with a brilliant independent command, in the conduct of which he was not
to admit.
unnaturally or unfairly
still
sanguine of success, was tempt-
ing; the more speedy and alarmed the flight of Xerxes the
larger the proportion of the
army that he would be both
disposed and obliged to leave behind as an obstacle between
As for Arhad distinguished herself by remarkable bravery
himself and the possible pursuit of the Greeks.
temisia, she
in the battle;
liability to
and even without insisting on the feminine
excessive reaction
after
displays of unfeminine
vigour, we need not hesitate to infer that she was well
content to be
now
The Great Kino-
dismissed in honour.
consigned to her charge some of his illegitimate offspring,
and she loosed at once
that primaeval
for
Ephesus, where
it
was said
Amazons had founded the great temple
the goddess from
whom
this
for
modern Amazon derived her
name.
The speeches which Herodotus assigns
sellors are excellent
two coun-
to the
examples of his apt dramatic invention,
and curiously display how thoroughly a republican Greek of
his time could enter into the spirit of an absolute
Xerxes
is
flattered
and capable of being
flattered
monarchy.
by the sug-
gestion of an option, although the necessity for his flight
is
a foregone conclusion, since both to his
own
conviction,
and to that of his advisers, an alternative of any kind
out of the question.
To
the losses that have been incurred are
set against the glorious
of the expedition
;
is
soothe or seem to soothe his pride,
and
literal
made
light of
when
fulfilment of the purpose
Athenian insolence and sacrilege at Sardis
HISTORY OF
had
Pound
threatened
its
Q7.7.7.
retribution
Athens and the smoking ruins of
.
avenging army,
are treated as
sycophancy, in
destruction
little
all
in
King;
comArteof
in
from
different
with
the
adverts
royalty,
Mardonius and
of
the
t<-
the sympathetic candour of royalty
conference
secluded
of
ensue
consequence
little
of
temples;
abasement
something
with
oapture
Baered
might
that
<>l'
the
in
mosl
its
with the all-important safety of the
parison
misia,
magnitude,
whatever
of
:
[chap.
host
his
the
to
possible
comparatively
as
consequence.
Among- the
reasons
ostensible
the departure of the
for
King- were some which told with ecpual cogency against the
further prosecution of the war;
most
especially
of,
opposed
it
and these were made the
by Artabazus son of Pharnaces, who had
from the very beginning.
carried his purpose
by
Mardonius however
skilfully connecting it
with conditions
of self-complacent comfort for the disheartened Xerxes, and
with the propriety and security of his speedy return.
Accordingly, at daybreak of apparently the day but one
after
the
the Persian
'battle,
army indeed was
still
seen
across the gulf in its place on land, but the Greeks discovered
that the hostile
fleet
had vanished from the harbour and
roadstead of Phalerum.
cance of the
Its destination
move were
started during the night,
off
at
— were
—
so it
full signifi-
had
It
and though dispersed
Cape Zoster, where jutting rocks
believed
and the
once divined.
in fact
for a time
was afterwards
mistaken in the darkness for Greek ships,
had reassembled and was already in
to secure the Hellespont.
The Greek
full
fleet
course northwards
put
off in pursuit
with the utmost alacrity, and proceeded as far as the island
of Andros, where the sea-line was open noi'thwards, but as
the chase was
still
not in sight, the commanders paused to
consider their further movements.
1
Herod,
viii.
107.
THE RESULTS OF SALAMIS.
I.]
The Athenian crews
in
23
the elation of success were
all
exasperated at the escape, and eager to go on, even against
the opinion of the
was not
tocles
to
make
and even by themselves.
allies,
likely
be
to
confident,
less
the most of the superiority of the
had himself created
;
and, as
he
all his
less
eager
which, he
fleet
something more than their
same
was urgent in the
mouthpiece,
pressed with
Themis-
or
He
direction.
influence for continuing the pursuit of
the fugitive navy, the annihilation of which was certainly
important, and in
ralisation
its
present state of dispersion and demo-
presumably easy
and he held out the prospect of
;
and the land army by
intercepting the retreat of Xerxes
breaking the much-talked-of bridge across the Hellespont,
and
so
rently
remaining in command of the channel.
more astute policy of declining to
to the flight of a formidable
enemy
is
offer
The appa-
an impediment
assigned to the Sjmrtan
Eurybiades, though Plutarch, writing with Herodotus before
him, prefers some other authority in ascribing
To a Spartan
expedition,
at that time the
and that by
objection, even
sea,
would
to Aristides.
in itself be a sufficient
though not reinforced by the national maxim
which discouraged prolonged pursuit
more
it
mere remoteness of such an
in easily with the resolution to
evacuation of Europe by an
flattered themselves,
been, but which,
if
was
allies fell
give no hindrance to the
army which,
as they prematurely
as ready to retire as the fleet
obliged to remain, must
be driven,
still sufficient
force in reserve to
of the sea lost,
him
retire
and
overawe or subdue
the cities and tribes of Hellas one after another.
command
had
by the
necessity of obtaining subsistence, to perilous activity,
had
by
after a victory, or
The majority of the
refined considerations.
he must, and
'
it
With
all
the
were best
and continue the contest afterPlausible
wards on his ground instead of on our own.
might
sound,
Europe
as the project of crushing Asia in
to allow
the
King
to do so now,
at the head
of such
an army would,
if
driven
HISTORY OF GRBBi
lm
vt!vimt\
would
and
himself,
[chap.
not
be
content
8ecoml time merely to look on, sitting in state under
a
a
umbrella.'
Themistoclee,
ample of
Loyal
his reluctant
constrained
not convinced, gave an
if
deference to the alliance by bringing
He
countrymen.
quoted to them the proverbial
danger of provoking" desperate men, hinted that as the
of Xerxes
well for the Athenians
— and he touched
sensitive of their superstitions
and presumptuous
also
secured
be
resettled,
— the
here one of the most
to avoid
by assuming
giving like perilous
to be invincible
;
it
the ground,
and
the harvest of next year at least to
—by
being
present
getting seed into
lost
would come round, and then
after all spring
would be the time
But
affront
—
would be
it
urgent to attend to families, houses were to be
and
rebuilt
dis-
was a manifestation of the angry grudge
of the gods at his impious over-confidence, so
was
ex-
over
to deal with the Hellespont
and Ionia.
army was not yet
that Attica might not con-
in fact the retreat of the Persian
declared
;
and
it
was not certain
tinue to be occupied as a base of further operations.
not
many days however
this
immediate apprehension found
after the
It
was
battle of Salamis before
relief
;
the confined and
closed-in Attica was not a district for such a host to remain
in
now
that failure of supplies and support
further advance out of the question
the same route that
;
and
by
its
sea
departure by
came, in the direction of
it
had put
J
Boeotia,
revived in the Greeks the illusive hope of speedy and final
deliverance.
Xerxes himself,
had
he
even been
inclined
linger,
to
might have been hastened away by a secret message that
reached him from the Athenian commander. Themistocles,
overruled in his plan to cut off the retreat,
next best policy to hasten
-
it.
With some
fell
back on the
reliance
it
would
seem od the simplicity of the barbarian, he sent to him again
1
Heroil.
viii.
1
13.
THE STRATAGEM OF THEMISTOCLES.
i.]
the same Sicinnus
who had
25
before carried the treacherous
warning that precipitated a naval engagement just in time
1
for the salvation of the Greeks.
The instrument was no doubt
well chosen, as
service
dexterous
his
when Themistocles made
afterwards,
was richly rewarded
the former pedagogue
children a well-endowed citizen of the resettled and
of his
The
repeopled Thespiae.
liberation
moreover at the same
time of a captured royal eunuch, Arnaces, was a personal
favour to the King, and supplied an independent witness
of the sincerity of the message
with which
A
boat's
he had
crew of
and the
faithful
reality of the peril
sedulously impressed.
doubtless been
adherents,
who might be
fully
relied on to keep the secret of the mission, even under
torture,
The
conveyed the agent to the shore of Attica.
communication which he bore was to the
mistocles,
the
serviceable to
effect
commander, out of
Athenian
the King, had succeeded in
Greeks from their eagerness to pursue his
We may
assurance was qualified
desire
to
be
restraining the
and cut the
fleet
bridge of the Hellespont, and that he could
perfect security.
that The-
now draw
off in
assume that this trauquillizing
by some intimation
of the precarious
nature of the restraint which Themistocles could exercise,
and would thus be calculated rather to enhance the apprehension of the King.
tomed
The Persian was only
to receive very valuable aid
had not learnt to suspect
So
far therefore,
still
from Greek treachery, but
further treachery beneath.
Athenians and
sians, believed alike that
too well accus-
allies,
Spartans and Per-
they had reason to applaud The-
mistocles, who, himself a serviceable friend,
had too
lively
a sense of the advantages which he and his country might
derive
from
to provide
maturely.
enthusiastic
and powerful
them beforehand,
friends,
or to use or abuse
to
neglect
them
pre-
That he may have designed to confirm the previous
confidence of the Great
King
well as present use, a*
it
in his
sympathy,
for future as
did indeed afterwards stand
him
—
HISTORY OF GRE1
26
probable enough;
is
I.
dering bis country
how
countrymen,
bis
misunderstand
of
a
if
came
it
misrepresent
or
but
to
it
his caution
knew
knowledge, might
their
establishment
the
that
;
ren-
in
he
implies thai
only
service
this
(cum-.
personal claim was bis sole or hi> main object,
were
it
absurd to suppose.
In a cruise with
victorious fleet among- the
his
now commenced
Themistoeles
islands,
system of requisitions,
a
in-
dependent, not merely of the participation, but even of the
knowledge of the commanders of the
allies,
and, as Herodo-
tus implies, very considerably also for his private advantage.
No
time was
lost
therefore in giving
pretensions of maritime Athens
in
name
the
his
;
and Athens alone
of Athens,
of the lofty
notice
demands were made
and whether
;
simply on the ground of fitting contribution to the
cause, or as penalty for aid rendered to the
or
by individual
by almost
all,
citizens,
and
Mede by
for the delivery at his
common
the cities
summons,
of earth and water, as tokens of submission
those demands were backed by threats which his authority
and the
force at his
command made
The Andrians were
diately effectual.
in
most
cases
imme-
curtly informed by his
messenger, that the Athenians had with them two potent
divinities, Persuasion
and Compulsion, and that on the terms
however,
to
would
themselves secure enough within their walls
felt
that
retort
avail
The Andrians,
must needs pay.
of one or the other they
these
goddesses,
serviceable
nothing against a pair not
as
less
not.
The
as
sisters
was beset by the
island
stration at least brought
quarters,
a
in
fleet,
considerable
were,
unserviceable,
— impersonations already
— and that pay
of Alcaeus
Poverty and Inability
the poetry
they
coupled in
they would
and the demon-
sums from other
from Paros and Euboea certainly, and, as
HeThe Parians thus bought
rodotus believed, from elsewhere.
themselves
off.
but
1
the
Carvstians
Stobaeus, xcvii. 17
;
of Euboea
Bergk, ^o.
were
less
;
THE STRATAGEM OF TEEMISTOCLE
i.]
by what niisarrangem^it does not appear,
fortunate, and,
incurred devastation of their territory
the
its
27
when
the same,
all
relinquishing- the attempt against Andros,
fleet,
was on
return to Salamis.
It
own
of these exactions
;
that no larger
what
consistent with
perfectly
is
mistocles that his
it
known
is
of The-
fortune was increased by the proceeds
would be
share of the
than justice
less
to
assume
benefit accrued to the service
of the state, of which the necessities consequent on cost of
war, on devastation and expatriation, must have been most
urgent.
It
was quite in his way, as he had shown before
the battle of
1
Artemisium, to take bribes with the
left
hand
for patriotic services with the right.
Re-assembled
Salamis, the
at
first
care of the Greeks
was
to select three of the captured Phoenician vessels for dedication to the gods, to
whom by
vicinity or special appeal their
One was
victory was peculiarly ascribed.
Isthmus,
—
Herodotus
presumably to Poseidon,
;
— and
dedicated at the
was seen there by
another to Athene, on the promontory of Sunium
and a third to Ajax,
— but
this not at Aegina,
Aeacid had been summoned to
to the scene of victory,
aid,
— but
whence the
at Salamis, closer
and the town from which the hero
had led twelve ships against Troy, and there
'
stationed them,'
according to the line suspected of being interpolated for
a political intent,
The
alongside the Athenians.'
divine share of the spoil was then distributed
the prime of
2
c
it
Apollo, twelve
;
from
the Greeks dedicated at Delphi a statue of
cubits
high, holding the prow of a ship.
It stands, says Herodotus, with a particularity that
marks
the already crowded state of the precinct, near the golden
Alexander of Macedon.
This Delphic statue was probably
of bronze, like the Zeus at Olympia, which Pausanias
tions in the
shall hear
1
same passage as another dedication
more
— of which we
— from the Medica.
Herod,
s
viii. 4.
Pausan.
men-
x. 14
3.
HISTORY OF
28
The
t
h.-
<•/:/:
which Xerxes had watched
silver-footed throne from
on
battle
among the
the
[chap.
J.
height above
was catalogued
Bhore
the
treasures of the Athenian acropolis under 'Pericles,
but probably was spoil of a later conflict.
Meanwhile,
whatever sanguine
hopes
might have been
formed that the retirement of the invaders implied their
final
departure, were speedily undeceived, and the news of the halt
of the main body was promptly followed by that of renewed
preparations to complete the subjugation of the Greek-.
There
is
no appearance that the Persian hold even on
Boeotia was relaxed, and a pause which was
in
made by the King
Thessaly, and his departure northwards shortly afterwards
with a strong- escort, would not be known much sooner than
was
the sure signs that the principal danger
over Hellas, Mike the stone of
It
I
was during
this halt, if
2
still
impending
Tantalus.'
we
are to believe Herodotus, as
doubt not that we may, that an application was made to
Xerxes which, strange as
have been recorded had
of the time; and that
it
it
is
sounds to
seemed
modem
ears,
would not
so extravagant to a
Greek
many
of the
not more strange than
old world notions that are perfectly authenticated as then
lingering, especially at
Sparta.
A
still
herald of the Spartans
presented himself at Larissa, and formally
demanded of the
Great King satisfaction for the slaughter of their King
Leonidas,
'
slain
by Medes while defending
not unnaturally laughed, and at
first
Hellas.'
made no
reply
Xerxes
;
then
who was standing by him,
man, Mardonius, who shall render them
presently, pointing to Mardonius,
he
said,
'
Here
is
the
satisfaction of such kind as is fitting.'
the answer, and returned to report
in haste in
The herald accepted
He had been
it.
despatched
obedience to a Delphic oracle, which was afterwards
believed to have enjoined acquiescence in whatever reply the
application provoked, and was credited with anticipating an
1
Schol. Time.
ii.
13.
-'
Pindar, hth.
vii.
11.
THE STRATAGEM OF THEMISTOCLES.
i.]
29
involuntary and significant presage of the defeat and death of
Mardonius at Plataea.
The ample powers committed
ably
make him
prise
of which,
to
confident of ultimate success in the enterin the face
of ardent
originally been the chief adviser.
all
Mardonius might reason-
opposition,
He was
he had
allowed to retain
the best troops, consisting for the most part of Persians
and Medes in equal numbers
account
;
he retained
both horse and
foot,
all
—the
and picked men from
at
nician
x
all
the other tribes,
whom
including Aethiopians and Egyptians
drawn
however, of inferior
latter,
the Sakae, Bactrians, and Indians,
he had with-
Phalerum from the fighting armament of the Phoe-
The Persian Immortals
galleys.
remained with
all
him, though their commander Hydarnes declined to quit the
King.
Of
the retained
and then
army
as
many
accompany Xerxes
to be detached to
men were
as 60.000
until he
was
safe in Asia,
This important body was under
rejoin.
named
of Artabazus son of Pharnaces, previously
of the Parthians and Chorasmians,
who would
fain
command
as a leader
have made
the withdrawal from Southern Hellas definitive and total, and
was now submitting only perforce and most reluctantly to
the superior influence of Mardonius.
The
later consequences
of this disagreement, combined with his military influence,
which would of necessity be confirmed by so important an
independent command, were momentous.
The resumption
of operations southwards
was necessarily
deferred until the ensuing spring; by that time the troops
that conducted Xerxes could return, and Thessaly meanwhile,
where the Aleuad Thorax of Larissa was
expedition that he
nearer district of
quarters,
for a
2
had done
so
much
still
to
zealous for the
invite,
and the
Macedonia, afforded undisturbed winter
and the best opportunity of providing subsistence
renewed campaign.
1
Herod,
ix. 31.
'
M
viil 126.
BETEEAT
llll.
CHAPTER
OF XERXES. —
II.
AJBTABAZUfi
in
TIIUaCI..
—
THEMI8TOCLE8 AT SPART\.
480
Xerxes, we are
days,
and
as the
B.C.
;
01. 75.
1.
reached the Hellespont in five and forty
told,
term
is
manifestly mentioned to emphasise
seems that we must reckon
his precipitate haste, it
The date of
Attica and the day of Salamis.
it
from
this can only
be fixed generally as in the autumn, but the retreat appears
to have been late
enough
in the year for at least
fugitives to suffer considerably
by the
some of the
incipient, perhaps pre-
mature, inclemency of the Thracian winter.
On
sacred
arriving at Siris in Paeonia, Xerxes found that the
chariot,
which he had deposited there on his way
south, was not again forthcoming.
as usual with him, a
it
Greek name
the chariot of Zeus
historian, finding,
for a foreign divinity, calls
he notes
;
The
1
elsewhere that the Zeus
of the Persians was the general circle of the heavens.
never ascended by man, but in the
drawn vacant
King by
before the
and preceded by ten
others.
its
it is
and
this
;
was
army was
of the
eight white Nisaean horses
Doubtless
properly the chariot of the sun
explains
pomp
It
to be regarded as
sacred
character
disappearance in this particular locality as due to
something beyond common sacrilegious rapine.
The
traces
of a native solar and planetary worship are peculiarly persistent in this region,
and among them
chariot with white horses
1
is
at home.
Herod,
i.
131.
this very
symbol of a
—
THE RETREAT OF XERXES.
31
In Homer the Paeouians, of a somewhat more western seat
on the Axius, appear under the leadership of Asteropaeus and
Pyraechmes, significant names when we read in independent
authorities that the Paeonians worshipped the sun, of which
their
symbol was a small disk on a high
any doubt
If there could be
Rhesus, son of Eion,
it
as
rod.
as to the original source of
legend of the chariot and
the
1
white
—
of the Strymon,
should be dispelled by Nestor's comparison of the steeds,
Diomed and Ulysses
2
night, to the solar
by
tion of Xerxes,
are bringing
them
of the expedi-
sacrificing white horses to the Strynion,
The Thracian s gave the sun the name
ippus,
and
it is
as
'
lovers of horses
Tereus of Sophocles invoke the
now
Thracians were
'
about
the
The
that the Thracians of the
'
any case in surreptitious possession
in
illustrated
white horses, stolen from
its
of
Strymon, but purposely
of the
local
by the remoter
to the belief of Herodotus.
characteristics
seems curiously
by an anecdote of barbarism that the
next details
—the
mere
are checked in an inclination to disallow
reflection
from the mythical
Phineus, by remembering
type repeats
how
atrocities of
Thracian
unnatural cruelty of the like
itself afterwards, as if
region, in the
historian
blinding by a Thracian king of his dis-
We
obedient sons.
as a
sources
them according
persistence
locality.
or the epithet Zeux-
their custody, as the Paeonians professed,
transferred to
3
holy radiance of the sun/
of the Persian sacred chariot and
tribes
through the
in
The Magians
beams.
had recognised the genius and traditions of the
it
of Thracian
horses
mouth
E'ion at the
ineradicably native to the
chambers of Byzantine emperors.
Xerxes, then, reached the Straits with extraordinary speed,
and
may
it
rative
be, as regards his
immunity
;
of the stragglers and the sick,
1
Max. Tyr.
immediate
escort,
with compa-
but the route was marked by the falling-out
Diss.
whom
Herod,
was a mere formality
'
viii. c. 8.
3
it
vii.
113.
TUad,
x.
547.
EIST0R1 OF 0RE1
32
command
to
crowds
exhausted
fche
and nourish.
fared
It
bad
thai
cities
on the line of march to tend
necessarily
originally
barbaric display of power, and thai
retain
to
nor to provide
for
worse with the
still
mustered
been
[chap.
in
— the
K-ast
The
could only remain as an encumbrance.
effective,
the least
camp
followers
sufferings of these
The
had commenced even before Thessaly was attained.
culty of feeding the effective force and of filling
campaign was
its
diffi-
magazines
by abandoning the
relieved
what chances they had of providing
ineffective to
of
spirit
a
Mardonius neither cared
health v. with whatever supernumeraries and
for the prospective
vasl
for
themand
selves unaided against such competitors for failing food
forage.
Herodotus
tells
how, when
were exhausted, the
stores
all
growing crops were snatched from the ground, and the
hordes
famished
were at length
and the hark and leaves of
vated or wild,
'
and they
trees
in
to
devour
grass
without distinction, culti-
nothing
left
being followed up, as ever
driven
;
'
the
work of famine
such cases, by dysentery and
pestilence.
Not poetry
can
heighten the horrors of such
Imagination indeed, drawing
retreat.
sources,
itself
from
ow n
7
its
a
re-
even more likely to match the truth than are
is
the prosaic details gathered by an historian.
Aeschylus,
scarcity
According to
of water was already fatal in Boeotia,
and even insufficiency of clothing during inclement and unsheltered nights, no doubt especially with the tribes
coming
from such climates as that of India, and even others.
more
fatal
were the combined
effects of
hunger and
Thessaly, and even more deadly pestilence as they
By
Still
thirst in
went
on.
the time Thrace was reached, at least by some lagging
wretched
portion
of the
enough
to cover the
eastward of
1
fugitives,
the
nights were cold
Strymon, or possibly some other river
Pangaeus, with
1
ice
strong enough to bear
Aesch. Persae.
— an
THE RETREA T OF XERXES.
ii.]
moment
assistance for the
locality
the
way
Those who passed early
so treacherously shortened.
hut, as
;
day advanced,
sun, ablaze with beams,
in the midst
Of
but the very sun-god of the
seemed in league against the unhappy train upon
were saved
it
;
33
warmed
— happiest
'
the bright circle of the
the ford with
fire,
and
split
who was first to perish.'
and who had to make a long circuit
those left behind,
then he
through Thrace, few ever reached their native land.
Hasty
and uncontrolled indulgence in more abundant food as soon
as it
was obtainable, and
—
it
is
especially noticed
— substitu-
tion of other drink for water, caused large fatality even after
Asia was regained.
Another
story, in itself improbable
enough, was current,
that Xerxes embarked for Asia in a Phoenician ship at Ei'on
on the Strymon
illustration,
;
it
was
told apparently for the sake of
irrational punctilios of the court of
ship, so
as it
an
one out of several of the kind, of the cruel and
went the
The
an Asiatic despot.
was endangered by a storm, overladen
tale,
The ship-master,
was with Persians of high rank.
appealed to by the alarmed Xerxes, declared that the only
hope of escape was to lighten
sians were at once advertised
nity for their services, and at once
making
prostrations, they one after another, as
upon landing
master for saving the royal
head struck
Persians.
off
The
for
was
in safety
life,
causing
their parting
if still
ance of due precedence, leaped into the
of Xerxes
The Per-
of passengers.
it
by the King of the opportu-
to
with observ-
The
sea.
first
and the next to have
the
act
reward the ship-
destruction
of so
his
many
conditions of giving wise advice to a tyrant
here are essentially the same as are illustrated in the subject
of the Council of Darius on the Naples vase.
The
counsellor
there stands on the golden plinth which he will receive as
reward for his advice
— with,
presumption in offering
1
J
it.
however, a scourging
for
his
Herodotus discredits the story,
Aelian ami
n
< !ti
3
HISTORY OF GREECE.
J
on the ground thai
hap.
the Phoenician rowers would have been
preference; and bo Leaves
sacrificed in
i
debate whether
to
lie
he could have overlooked the enhanced peril ofa storm-ti
when
galley
from
it ft
A more
it.
of oarsmen, or what escape he could imagine
reasonable objection, provided in his refer-
ence to the local tradition of the AJbderites, that Xerxes pa
through their city on
his return,
The
of his port of embarkation.
that
only invalidates the statement
further tradition of A.bdera,
was there that the King
it
quitting Athens,
may
or
needed
reached the Hellespont, where
as the bridge
fleel
the state
which had
from Salamis and the Saronjc
rather escaped,
Gulf, duly
least
at
The
of discomposure in which he arrived.
retired,
loosened zone alter
first
he taken as expressing
was the more
it
had already been carried away by storms,
and there aided the transit of the King and some inconsiderable bodies of troops
and stragglers.
the winter to the coast of Asia
Cumac, the
Minor
It then retired for
— most
of the ships to
harbour of Samos, where the Samian
rest to the
Thcomestor, son of Androdamas, in requital of good service
done
at
rity of
Salamis, was established by the Persian in the autho-
Tyrant
— that
under such circumstances, of Satrap.
is,
Artabazus, having so far accomplished his task and seen
the
King
in
safety,
turned his
face,
however unwillingly,
again westward, along with his large force, to rejoin Mardonius and the main army.
On
his
way he
halted at the
Chalcidic peninsula, on the eastern side of the Thermaic gulf.
From thence he could move south
spring, and could meanwhile
sistence for his forces; he
which he
best
to Ibrbode the
spread,
knew the
coming
time for operations in
more conveniently obtain sub-
had there also the opportunity to
some examples of defection which,
repress in the interval
neglected, might
in
if
and compromise communications of
precariousness,
and was well disposed
need.
Potidaea, on the isthmus of the fertile peninsula of Pallene,
was already
in declared,
and Olynthus. in
less secure position,
ARTABAZUS LX THRACE.
n.]
The
suspected as on the verge of revolt.
occupied by Bottiaeans,
who had been
35
town was
latter
driven eastward from
the Thermaic gulf by Macedonian encroachment, and
lately Hellenised, or at best semi-Hellenic
*
tribe,
as a
and perhaps
from the circumstances of their settlement, seem to have
sympathy with
been out of
immediate neighbours.
their
Olynthus was in consequence attacked by Artabazus, and on
capture the inhabitants were carried out into an adjacent
its
marsh and there massacred,
delivery of the
as a
measure preparatory to the
town into the keeping- of Critobulus of Torone,
on the adjacent Sithonian peninsula, and to the introduction
In
of a Chalcidic population.
—
—became,
Olynthus
history
manner, says Herodotus,
this
which was destined to a conspicuous place in later
like its neighbours, Chalcidic.
"With Potidaea the Persians had far different fortune.
city
— which
also
we
shall soon hear of again
T
rinthian colony, and
named from
the god Poseidon, who, in
down from
colony as in metropolis, could look
upon
on either hand.
a sea
—
But the
munity.
while
it
his
temple
The towns within the peninsula
contributed to the defence of Potidaea, which, by
was the bulwark of
as a bar to the Isthmus,
This
was a Co-
severity of the
its
their
position
own im-
treatment of Olynthus,
nerved resistance generally, was calculated to make
some timid
traitors.
In the course of the siege a
citizen
struck in the shoulder by an arrow, and the bystanders
was
who
hastened to his assistance found that the shaft was laden
with a missive, which had been intended for traitorous hands.
It
was
their
at once taken to the generals,
who were thus put on
guard against a clandestine correspondence carried on
their Scionaean allies, which
by Timoxeinus, commander of
might otherwise have had
had
its value,
though, for some unexplained
to Scione, the matter
1
serious consequences.
was hushed up.
Plut. TJutcH*, 6;
Graee. Q. 35
L>
2
:
politic tenderness
At
Strabo,
The warning
vi.
last,
/,
;
ii
after three
6.
HISTORY OF GRE1
months of argent bal
the Bea appeared
an unusually
vaii
furnish
to
[chap.
1<>\\
ebb of
Artabazus with an opportunity
of turning the defences and penetrating into Pallene by land.
Two
oul of five divisions intended for the Bervice had passed
through the shoal water, and the others were on their way,
when the
Bea returned in
Hood of a volume which native-
swim perished
who
iged,
at
once, the remainder
upon them
sallied
said
Those who were unable
was of the very rarest occurrence.
to
by the hands of the
fell
The Potadaeans
in boats.
naturally recognised a special interposition of their
god
to
avenge the desecration of his temple and statue by the Persians in the suburbs; 'and so saving.' adds
my
mind they say
off,
and marched
in
Mardonius
to join
Upon
well.'
Herodotus,
'
to
Artabazus drew
this failure
due time with the survivors of his forces
in Thessaly.
-Meanwhile the confederate Greeks had been occupied in
the partition of the
spoils,
and, which was a far more delicate
matter, the honours, of their victory.
the
spoil
were assigned
Aristeia
nation, tin
to
In the division of the
the
Aeginetans as a
Athenians obtaining only the second place
1
Aeginetan individuals, Polvcritus was placed
Eumenes and Ameinias
nians.
ing
to
whom
'
Herodotus,
of
(of the
Decelea
Diodorus affirms to have
The poet
ehvlus.
the
in
2
deme Pallene
according
been
Persae
a
;
of
of Athe-
first,
accord-
Plutarch),
to
brother
of Aes-
marks the exploit of
Ameinias in commencing the battle with noteworthy emphasis
;
his suppression of the
argument
either way.
For
name cannot be taken
this
as
an
pre-eminence of Aegina the
Delphic oracle afterwards demanded a special acknowledg-
ment, which was rendered by the island in the form of a
dedicated
bronze mast with three golden
symbolical
stars,
perhaps of Apollo, Artemis, and Latona, though with equal
probability of Dionysus, Apollo,
1
Herod,
viii. 8-j.
and Artemis.
-
The animus
[.15-417.
ARTABAZUS IN
ii.]
of the inspirers of the oracle
a questionable adjudication
illustration of
own
— to
—
is
37
confer divine sanction on
equivocal.
less
A
further
Delphic partisanship occurred in the rejection
Median
of a dedication of
his
Till; ACE.
by Themistocles on
spoils offered
account.
The precedence assigned in such a manner to Aegina
its ancient rival, and of late threatening and en-
above
croaching enemy, Athens, could not but tend to strengthen
and revive the acerbity of a party feeling
which the Athe-
to
nians afterwards take credit to themselves for being Superior.
The Spartans, whose
influence
might naturally be
inclined towards Aeginetans as
was
also
predominant at Delphi,
Dorians, rather than to Ionian Athens
feelings
;
fellow-
but to indulge such
now, and under such relative circumstances, was to
take sides in a quarrel that had been nobly set aside in a
moment
common
of
peril,
and which
it
earnest before the
a decided naval
war in urging
his
would have been well
Themistocles had been
to consider as extinguished for ever.
countrymen to
that were not less alarming because undefined
made the most
establish
predominance over Aegina, with ulterior views
;
and he had
of every pretext, and some fair ones
had not
been wanting, to impute to the commercial islanders a disposition to
Medism
;
Aeginetan
citizens
had
certainly struggled
nobly to purge their country of the charge, but, as there was
a serious slight implied to Athens in subordinating her services to those of Aegina, so the selection for the personal prize
who
of valour of precisely that Aeginetan
fight
had upbraided Themistocles
likely to
soften
the
in the midst of the
as a false
2
accuser,
was not
sentiments of the powerful Athenian
towards his country.
Themistocles was to experience another rebuff, when the
Greeks, after the division of the
spoil, sailed to the
solemnly to adjudge the prize to
him who had
1
Tliuc.
2
i.
74.
Her-xl.
viii.
Isthmus
deserved best,
92.
;
HISTORY OF
38
m
in
.t
the
recent
battle,
but
CUE!.'
[char
the war
in
at
There
large.
on the altar of Poseidon the assembled generals of the eonstates deposited
federate
vol
the
for
-
and second
first
had received one presumably his own,
3
none had the requisite majority, the
and with
the
for
prize; as
first
was
ballot for this
the congress separated.
on
its
void,
apparently as a consequence, that for the second,
it,
And
which by a large majority was due to Themistoclee.
a
in
Examination of the ballots showed that each voter
t.
so
Themistocles, however, immediately
breaking up, proceeded direct to Sparta, and there, by
strangely sudden revulsion, of which
an explanation, received compensation
we
look in vain for
for the slight
inflicted
by the general congress, in honours such as Sparta had never
before conferred
ona
1
foreigner.
The most indulgent conclusion
to
draw from
this
vehement
demonstration would seem to be, either that the sentiments
of Sparta, however declared, had not told upon votes
by
delivered
secret ballot, or that
arranged on account of the
the result of
difficult}-
it
was
when
in fact
of bringing into
com-
parison the claims of Themistocles and Eurybiades, and in
At Sparta
home and among
order to avoid preferring either before the other.
the same difficulty did not exist
his
;
there, at
own countrymen, Eurybiades had
the
first
claim to the olive crown which he was the
from them
and
so
;
was then assigned
a like crown
first
to receive
to Themistocles
exceptional was such an honour from Sparta to a
stranger, that no derogation
after their
own countryman.
in recognition of sagacity
enhance
and rightful
its
was implied
That
it
was
in his receiving it
distinctly assigned
and dexterous management might
value to him, and would carry no offence to the
Spartan.
But, making
all
allowance for a truly enthusiastic and
generous recognition of the services of Themistocles, some1
Thuc.
i.
74.
THEMISTOCLES AT SPARTA.
ii.]
thing
still
remains to be accounted
for
39
by the ordinary
laws of unusual and extravagant gratitude, when we read
that he received
at
his departure
handsomest chariot
the
Sparta could provide, and, after abundant eulogiums, was
conducted to the frontiers
cedent
—by
Spartans.
chosen
the
— an
honour entirely without pre-
troop
It had, in fact,
of
hundred mounted
three
become apparent by
this time that
the liberation of Greece was not completed by the victory
The
of Salamis.
of which had
of Athens, not to say the talent of
fleet
her general, could
ill
be spared
the conflict, the gravity
if
now been brought home, was
to
go on
the influence of Themistocles with his countrymen,
his sympathies, irritated
theirs
like
and
— unless
by the invidious pre-
cedence voted to Aegina, were soothed and
Greece by the glory he loved,
;
conciliated to
— might be diverted to a project
which, already significantly mooted, had probably found some
serious reception, namely, the entire withdrawal of the fleet,
and the transference of the population of Attica, dispossessed
and insulted as
At a
curred
it
now
less critical
among
was, to
new
seats in Italy.
time serious danger might have been in-
jealous fellow-citizens
by Athenians, who could
harbour permanent resentment against the appearance of very
As
moderate assumption even in Miltiades.
that was one day to ruin
quarter,
was, the cavil
it
him came from an
insignificant
and was lightly thrown aside with his ever prompt
Timodemus, of the deme Aphidnae,
sharp retort.
facility of
gained
little
by
his carping sneer,
—that
it
was on account of
Athens, and not of himself, that he had been so honoured in
Lacedaemon.
longed to the
'
Exactly
so,'
Belbinis I
islet
was the reply e and had I beshould have had as little respect
;
from the Spartans as you and men
nian though you
1
like
you command, Athe-
Certain however
are.'
it is
that the
name
of Themistocles does for a time somewhat unexpectedly lapse
1
Herod,
viii.
125.
HJSOTRY OF ORBEi
10
from the story; though the
Pericles, next appears in
due
in
to
fact
command
thai
Xanthippus, father of
of the fled
the Athenian rule of Succession in
itself
may
be simply
Command, and
lot
be any confirmation of the statement of Diodorus,
which may only express an inference,
superseded
glories.
B
through
popular
that Themistocles
discontent
at
these
was
personal
CHAPTER
III.
MARDONIUS IN BOEOTIA AND ATTICA.
AND TEMPER
SPIRIT
OF ATHENIANS AND SPARTANS.
B.C.
The approach
of Mardonius
activity.
time; but
479, Spring; 01. 75.
of spring, says Herodotus, and the presence
in
the Spartan
of their land force
was a matter of
ships were assembled early at
Aegina under
Com-
Heraeleid king Leotychides, as General
mander and Admiral
Commander
the Greeks to renewed
Thessaly, roused
The mustering
no
1.
— Xanthippus,
of the Athenians.
son of Ariphron, being
The
first
incident here was
imme-
the arrival of envoys from Ionia, eager to concert an
diate attempt for its liberation.
The envoys themselves were
men who had planned to revolutionize Chios by
ation of Strattis, who had been established there
the assassinas tyrant
by
the Persians since the time of the expedition of Darius to the
1
Danube.
Foiled
spirators escaped
on
by the treachery of an
and made straight
to the fleet to
who
and now came
urge an instant movement on Ionia.
of their number, says the historian,
of Basilei'des,
associate, the con-
for Sparta,
is
evidently distinguished in this
the rest for some particular reason.
It
is
way from
plausibly conjectured
that he was a relative of the writer, his namesake;
be said, perhaps as plausibly, that from him
direct the pettish complaint
may
and sarcasm that
great difficulty they could induce the
1
Herod,
iv.
138.
One
was Herodotus, the son
fleet
to
it
it
may
have come
was with
advance even
1
HISTORY OF GRE1
12
as far as
Delos,
'
[chaw
for everything beyond
was alarming
to the
Hellenes, who, unacquainted with the localities, fancied thai
were crowded
all
will)
station of the Persian
lie. (.
conceived
So that
Pillars of Hercules.
Sj
to
.-ail
the
interval
than
between them.'
Samos, the
as to
as the
;.t
1
the barbarians
to this:
further westward than
and the Hellenes would not move
of the Chians further eastward
pied
to
it
came
it
were too much out of heari
Sa
and
lure.;-;
hostile
at the
solicitation
Delos. and
fear
occu-
In every word we catch
The im-
the tones of the desperate and disappointed exile.
putation attaches principally to the Spartan as Admiral, and.
thus read, glances fairly at the home-keeping habits of the
Lacedaemonians, and their systematic aversion
the maritime Ionians
— to
enterprises
wild projects of Aristagoras
— so strange
beyond the
sea.
might not unreasonably be
to
The
dis-
missed by Spartans upon mere statement of their geographical
1
scope, but even the Mitylenians,
more moderate in their
their aid, for the remoteness of
This
is
though much
later,
and
have to apologise, in soliciting
recpiest,
2
Lesbos.
one of the occasions when Herodotus seems to speak
of the Dorians as
the Hellenes distinctively, and so far in
consistency with his explicit theory, that that term as com-
monly applied comprised
a
number
which had only
of tribes,
become secondarily hellenised by constant intercourse or subjugation, and included even the Athenians
principally a contrasted Pelasgian stock,
— who w
r
ere in truth
and others
far less
cognate than they.
There was now, however,
reason
sufficient
why
both the
Athenian and Spartan commanders should be content not to
proceed beyond an intermediate position of guard and observation,
No
and to consider a movement upon Ionia premature.
success in this quarter could affect the
between the land
1
Herod,
forces,
v. 50.
impending
conflict
which must needs be decided on
'
Thuc.
iii.
13.
MARDONIUS IN BOEOTIA AND AT Tic A
in.]
Grecian
The mere weakening
soil.
successful conflict,
would be
13
of the fleet, even in a
disastrous,
and might leave the
The Persian
coasts of Peloponnesus exposed to a descent.
seemed inclined to keep quiet at present, and nothing
fleet
The enemy were,
better could be desired.
trated at
Samos with 300
in fact, concen-
some Ionians; the
ships, including
fighting crews of most were Persians and Medes, and
judge by their names, were the commanders also
so, to
— Mardontes
son of Bagaius, Artayntes son of Artachaeus, and his relative
Ithamitres.
On
their part they were chiefly concerned to
overawe Ionia, were quite indisposed to risk another
collision
by moving westward, having indeed received neither summons
command
nor
to
do
so,
and only discussed plans and pro-
jects while they waited with impatience for
news of the more
hopeful action of Mardonius.
In
the
council
of
Mardonius there was a mixture of
native Greek and Persian elements less divided in interests
than in opinions and predilections, as to the policy that
would best promote them.
Mardonius himself,
as
we have
was perfectly out of
seen,
sympathy with Artabazus, the next most important Persian
in the expedition, and leaned in preference on the Theban or
Thessalian oligarchs, who, however they might differ as to
mode of prosecuting the
the
war, were at least as eager for
success as himself, and had a
knowledge of the country and
of the characteristics of his opponents, to which, since he had
learned to distinguish and respect them, he found himself
under obligation to
impatience
defer.
But he did
and some wavering.
instant, dashing, brilliant action.
confidence in masses,
—he was
so
still
His own
He had
all
with some
desire
was
for
the barbarian
proud of his position at the
head of an army splendidly equipped, which, numerous as
it
'
was,
and
recently
increased
'
Diod.
xi. 38.
by
levies
from Thrace,
a
1
ill.-*
1
mi,) OF GREEi
Macedonia, and the Medising
[chap.
comprised selections of
cities,
He
all
arms from an
yet
witnessed no fair defeat of the veterans of hit
and bad sincerely
Xerxes
assured
mob
The
thai
on
Thebans,
Salamis was
own
own
conviction
lost
by
when he
landsmen b
and by the cowardice
sailors,
the
other
had
hand,
of the Orientals as
best
had seen enough
and
hoplite,
his
ha
of Phoenicians, Egyptians, Syrians, and Cilicians.
of even the
of
represented
cope on the sea with
set to
of a
immensely larger Dumber.
which each was made.
to
serious
opposed
the Greek
to
judge well
mistrust
the material
Preponderant as the numbers of
the Persians therefore might be in any case, they
the fewer their opponents the better;
knew
that
they would deem no
delay tedious that might serve to divide them, and had their
own
how
opinions
Mardonius
this
was
done
to be
:
to be lavish in bribes to the
several states
;
he would
in this
they especially urged
men
in
power
in possession of all their counsels without trouble,
subdue the obstinate by aid of the
of councillors
we may
in the
way break Hellas asunder, be
factious.
To
and
easily
this party
also trace the politic skill with
which
the machinery of oracles and prophecies was set in motion to
upon the general Greek mind, and indeed with a
act
degree of effect to
control and hamper Mardonius
the Pisistratids had, in the
first
instance,
made
certain
himself.
So
use of the
prophetic reputation of the soothsayer Onomacritus to decide
Xerxes
fit
for the expedition,
for their
pelled
and had found the man not the
less
purposes because in earlier days he had been ex-
by Hipparchus from Athens
as a detected forger,
—
fraudulent interpolator of the oracles of Musaeus, which he
was professing to arrange.
The Athenians were of
all
the
Greeks peculiarly apt to be worked upon by superstition presented in this form,
— their orators continued
gravity to the prejudice, even while
upon the comic
the
first
stage,
— and
it
it
to appeal in all
was a standing joke
was upon the Athenians that
attempts were to be made towards breaking up the
MARDONIUS IN BOEOTIA AND ATTICA.
in]
The Theban
confederation.
oracles of
Amphiaraus were consulted, the
Ismenian Apollo and of
by the medium of
first
45
priests,
by
interpreters of sacrifices, the latter through dreams invited
upon skins of victims within the sacred
sleep
At
precincts.
the temple of Ptoau Apollo, on lake Copais, three citizens were
chosen to accompany the Carian agent of the Persian into the
fane and write
down the
response;
it
was a
The-
tale of the
ban s which proves at any rate a sense of mystification in the
was delivered
transactions., that the oracle
language un-
them, and that the Carian, snatching the tablet
intelligible to
from their hands, wrote
to Thessaly.
in a
down, and carried
hastily
it
off
it
Trophonius was consulted in his cave, even as
he was by the traveller Pausanias long after the Christian
aera,
—and
nothing
in
place
this
or
and he says
responses,
an application to Delphi
of
a fitting time Mardonius had
at
Herodotus never
the Phocian oracle at Abae.
heard the particular enquiries
but
;
a Delphic oracle also to
propound, couched in terms which, but that the instincts
of impostors have ever the same source of inspiration, might
have been imitated by an astrologer of Louis the Eleventh.
The reception of
from such sources was followed
oracles
naturally by the initiation of intrigues in the spirit of the
Medising Greeks.
in
power
so
but there
credited with
much
causes.
is
is
way
difficulty later, but
much
into the
it
2
Pe-
was
any of the dilatoriness which caused
might be due
Against the Argives alone, who had
Sparta on
hands of men
no positive evidence that
to give aid to Hellas against the
—
for the
in the various cities, found its
loponnesus;
to be
Money, destined
Mede,
to other familiar
all
along refused
—being jealous
of
the same grounds as the Thebans of Athens,
there any charge of directly abetting the later attempt of
the invader.
Even they only send information of but
little
value, although certainly in terms which imply that they had
1
Diotl. xi. 28.
HISTORY OF GRE1
16
and
•_;\<1,
much
[chap.
bad been paid
no doubf
for
The temptations which were held out
men who were
to the
threatened
ami honour, might well Beem
the
to
promise
l>ut
again exposed to
attack of overwhelming forces, and might expect to
remain the cross-road
'
and
;
any case
of a second, probably in
loss
scanty, harvest, and the country was no*
the
to
Attica had been ravaged once, and renewed invasion
a result.
first
Athenians
incapable of understanding the enthu
of free nationality
the
do
to
more substantial and important
desert the cause were
to
engaging,
more.
armies.
d intermediate fighting-ground of all
ai
The heartburnings caused by the votes
at Salamis
and the Isthmus could not be unknown northwards, any more
than the high hand and ambitious pretensions of the
which were not only unchecked, but even
cited,
Some
by recent events.
more
—
with Persia;
if
even
x-
may have helped to make
And a good price might
— though that might be optional
Athens could be drawn
foi",
i
practicable.
well be offered and even paid,
afterwards,
city,
further
hints of covert intimations to
Xerxes from Greek commanders
the project seem
still
if
to
make common
the Isthmus could be forced,
it
cause
would
manifestly be perilous to occupy Peloponnesus with no com-
mand
route.
of the sea to secure supplies or retreat by any other
It
was indeed too
of Demaratus
late to revert to the rejected counsel
and threaten Sparta from the sea with
detachment of the Persian
would restore the
lost
Communication was
opportunity.
therefore opened through Alexander,
was known
to be recognised
King of Macedon, who
by the Athenians
as their prox-
enus, or national host and guest,
lie
donius from
connections,
his
intimate
like the presage of
some
Gygaia had married
Persian
later
He luil.
was trusted by Marwhich read
Macedonian history;
a Persian noble
1
viii.
a
but an Athenian alliance
fleet,
his sister
named Bonbares, and her
140.
MARDOXIUS IN BOEOTIA AN D ATTICA.
in.]
son
in
Amyntas was
Phrygia
established
47
by the King as lord of Alabanda
but true to the policy of double-dealing- which
;
was the enduring
characteristic of his dynasty,
was by his
it
warning of Persian movements that Themistocles had been
enabled to withdraw in time from the too advanced position
that he had taken up at the opening of the war, on the
northern frontier of Thessaly.
The message was delivered to the Athenians, probably by
way of flattery, as coming direct from Xerxes. Mardonius
had been commanded to pass over
former
all
rankling Sardis no less than Salamis,
injuries,
— and, on
an alliance with him, was commissioned to restore their
tory,
with any addition they might
pendence
and, furthermore, to
;
The
that he had burnt.
deception
'
offer
re- erect
'
and
desire,
all
—the
condition of
terri-
their inde-
sacred structures
of freedom with no fraud or
was of course backed by formidable statements of
Persian power, and, with rather less judgment, by emphasis
on the distinction of the Athenians being selected by the
Great King from the rest of the Greeks, for condonation of
offences
The news
and a proposal of friendship.
of this
com-
munication caused the greatest alarm at Sparta, especially
in connection with the currency of a prophecy, which Hero-
dotus says they called to
was probably
mind, but which
promulgated for the nonce, to the
effect
that
Medes and
Athenians in alliance were destined to expel the Spartans
and
all
other
The Athenians
Dorians from Peloponnesus.
could not be unwilling to foster the panic by a temporary
suspense, if only to stimulate the Lacedaemonians to
decided
to
more
engagements than they had yet seemed disposed
commit themselves
suppose that
the
to or to entertain.
true
scope
of
the
appreciated by the most influential
their national
from their
reticence,
maxim,
frontiers,
It
crisis
is
difficult to
was not now
men among them, but
to decline sustained efforts at a distance
was notorious
;
and
their
inveterate
which could not but favour Apprehensions of infirmity
HIST0R1 OF GRBEi
48
of purpose,
— even
give
lu'i-
exasperating to
had they no reason to suspect that there
ami an anwillingnesfi
existed a jealousy of Athens,
still
mod
not of faithlessness, was
if
the Athenians,
[chip.
/
premature] or ton hearty, support.
the urgency of the situation
made
t"
But, for once,
the Spartan appeal distinct
enough, and even oblivious for a moment, of the narrower
affectations of Laconie brevity.
Hellas,' they
action aud
'Desertion of the cause of
who
represented, 'by those
for
had, by their
own
own, provoked the invasion,
ends of their
would neither be just nor decorous; that servitude should
be brought upon Hellas by
bad from the
earliest
contest was lamented
down
delivered
to
degree
last
by the Lacedaemonians and
war should continue.
in the
their allies,
:
Alexander was himself
accomplice of a tyrant, had
the message of Mardonius, whose terms as
others
were
imperious
but the Athenians,
— Alexander had
— would know
mad
senses,
? "
so
who
days been champions of liberty, was
tyrant, and, as the natural
softened
all others,
gladly contribute to the support of their families
so long as the
a
Athenians of
That they suffered by peculiar exposure
intolerable.
who would
(lie
if
and insulting
in
the
indeed in their right
begun with
"
how can you be
that neither faith
nor truth are
to be found in the barbarians, and would accede to no such
proposals.'
Thus
far
the
Spartans,
who
did
characteristically
spend a word upon the ultimate chances of success
noble resistance they recommended, though they
given
for
offence
not
in the
may have
by assuming the attraction of Persian gold
Athens under the pinch of her present
destitution.
In
the same spirit the Athenians replied to Alexander that the
numerical superiority of the Persian
them
before,
forces
was known
to
and in any case had nothing whatever to do
with the matter in question,
— their
defence of their liberty to the very
which glanced not only
at the
resolution
last.
to
fight
in
With an image
sun-worship of Persia, but
at
—
MARD0N1US IN BOEOTIA AXD
in.]
ATTICA.
the tradition of the kingly rise of Alexander's
he was commissioned to reply to
Mardonius —
sun travels by the same path in which
Athenians will never come
to accord
'
own
J
49
family,
So long
as the
now moving,
it is
the
with Xerxes, but will
perseveringly resist him, putting trust for allies in the gods
and the
2
heroes,
whose temples and images he has irreverently
burnt.
Alexander himself was warned, friend and well-wisher as
the Athenians would willingly retain him, to come no more
on such an unworthy and ignoble errand.
were handsome
It
and the example
at least to think that such an expostulation,
of a resolution so contrasted with that of the Thessalians,
who had
frankly announced that unless supported in bearing
the brunt of the Persian approach, they should as a matter of
make terms with him
course
3
done
so,
— may
for themselves,
possibly have
and had actually
roused or strengthened the
more generous though latent sympathies of the Macedonian,
who claimed
Hellenic
and even Heracleidan descent, and
have had influence on the circumstances under which he
reappears in history.
To the
decree which embodied this reply, and which was
framed by Aristides, there was appended an instruction to
the priests
—most
probably the Eleusinian, reputed descen-
dants of Kerux and Eumolpus
—
to
denounce curses against
whosoever should make truce with the Medes or desert the
Hellenic confederacy.
The reply
It
Lacedaemonians was in
as lofty a tone.
was excusable in the enemy, who knew no
better, to believe
to the
that everything was purchaseable by
monians were justly
money
;
to be quarrelled with for
but Lacedae-
being capable
of assuming, at sight of the present penury of the Athenians,
that their resolution
was
1
Herod,
viii.
137.
by a promise of
likely to be decided
aid towards subsistence, rather than
2
lb.
1
viii.
143.
by
their sense of
3
lb. vii. 172.
duty
HISTORY OF GREECE.
50
[chap.
towards the gods of their profaned sanctuaries, and by their
common
Hellenic sympathies of
institutions
'Know
and
conformity in moral principles.
sacrifices, of
then now.
has been
it
it'
that never, so long- as one
We
terms with Xerxes.
blood and language, of sacred
unknown
you
to
Athenian survives,
hitherto,
we come
will
to
acknowledge your good intentions
towards ns with respect to maintaining our families in the
event of our homes being destroyed
ness has
its full
we may, and
urgent now is
;
and so
For ourselves, we
effect.
get on as best
That which
burden you.
will not
your kind-
far
will
really
is
yon should send forward your army with
that
The barbarian, upon learning the
the utmost promptitude.
he upon
failure of his envoy, will forthwith
Now
us.
there-
fore is the time, before he enters Attica, to advance with
aid,
and oppose him in Boeotia.'
engaged
to
your
This the Lacedaemonians
do with a readiness that proved
how
great had
been their anxiety.
The terms of these Athenian
replies
might
well,
under
we
the circumstances, seem to savour of extravagance, did
know how well
when the storm again
the
not
brave words
broke.
And
if
were
we
the ensuing history of liberated Athens,
acted
up
to
consider what was
we
shall recognise
from how worthy and profound a self-consciousness her enunAttica was
proceeded.
ciations
abundant population
who had conquered
of those who were
all
at
now
flourishing,
with
population that contained the
Marathon and Salamis, and the
an
men
fathers
to realise the best glories of the age of
Past achievements and future resources were poten-
Pericles.
tially
—a
concentrated at a
the results and
of humanity in
of Greece.
A
all
its last
crisis
when barbarism was threatening
the germs of the noblest development
refuge in the southernmost peninsulas
single generation
had seen the
glories of Ionia
brought to a bloody and stupefying catastrophe, and the
homes of the best Arts and the
glorious
!
— which
best Literature
— both
how
Hellas had up to this time originated on
MARDONIUS IN BOEOTlA AND ATTICA.
in.]
and amidst her
her coasts
men
in assembly
ravaged by a vulgar,
islands,
The
tawdry, brutalised military power.
51
free speech of free
and agora was proscribed, and
for the inde-
pendent bearings of equals, who only admitted reverence for
legal authority, for honourable age, or for moral excellence,
was substituted
companionship
degrading
in
prostrations
The Greeks, then, were not reoverwhelming power out of a blind obstinacy which
before the satraps of a king.
sisting
but for the turn of a chance or two would have been
fatal,
and which no trust in such unhopeful chance could make
wise
they were not the unconscious guardians of a deposit
;
whose
full
value they did not appreciate.
The
of saving Hellas was in their hands, and
it
last possibility
w as no mere
T
egotism on their part that made them regard this as identified
with the saving of mankind, and therefore to be vin-
dicated at any cost, at any risk,
— vindicated
in trust
on the
gods even when no possibility of success was discernible,
was not death under any circumstances preferable
to
— for
any
life
that could continue after the obliteration from the world of
all
the distinctive excellences of the
The tone
in
life
Hellenic
?
which the Athenians had responded to the
envoys from Sparta intimated no disposition on their part to
withdraw from those pretensions
to influence
which had already
excited jealousy, and were in consequence scarcely calculated
to assist the endeavours of
might be anxious
any partisans of Athens there who
to hurry forward assistance.
The
positive
terms, again, of the defiance which was returned to Mardonius
by Alexander, had
of their
Under
so far
committed them, that apprehension
making terms was
in a great degree
these circumstances a
easily reconciled to the re-occupation of Attica,
all
there was not
nians, as he
much
left to
save
;
would think, might be a
general disadvantage
;
to the cause as ever,
set at rest.
Spartan politician might be
their fleet
where
after
the pride of the Athelittle
reduced with no
would remain as serviceable
and secure the coasts of Peloponnesus,
E 2
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
52
while
more favourable conditions could be desired
n<>
conflict
with
Persian, than
ilif
resistance
to
and the entanglemenl
to
—among
the
of his cavalry
the passes ami
1
—
for
numbers
:i
at
fortified,
most formidable
his
of the
declivities
The entrenchment and
south.
bis
was now
the narrow neck of the [sthmus, which
arm
[chap.
mountains
fortification
of the
Isthmus had been commenced, upon the news of the death
and defeat of Lconidas, immediately after the Olympic and
Carneian
festivals
were 'over.
Every state of Peloponni
then lent aid to the work, except the Argives and Achaean-,
of
whom
Herodotus says that they
'
kept neutral,
ronian road, which was always
stones, bricks, timber,
effectually
difficult,
and across the Isthmus
obstructed,
a
to
or,
The
speak frankly, by their very neutrality Medised.'
Sci-
was destroyed or
wall was completed of
and gabions, combined more or
less
and regularly, and by labour that went on without
intermission night and day.
Nothing but the stratagem of
Themistocles, by which he succeeded in bringing on the seafight against the intentions of the Peloponnesians,
had pre-
vented them, when they heard that this safeguard was so near
completion and the Persian land-force advancing upon
it,
from breaking up from the Saronic gulf and leaving Aegina,
Megara, and the refugees at Salamis
or rather to
victory,
what seemed
and
still
more
to their
their certain fate.
own
resources
After the naval
after the retirement of the Persians
from Athens, the work had slackened, and the Spartan regent
Cleombrotus,
who
superintended
it,
found sufficient cause for
alarm in an eclipse of the sun, that occurred as he was
sacri-
make him withdraw home with his forces and leave
The work had therefore to be renewed
it at last unfinished.
in the spring, and was still in progress when the envoys to
ficing, to
Athens were labouring
ander, and to
its
to countervail the proposals of Alex-
state of incompleteness
1
Herod,
viii.
71
at that time the
MARDONIUS IN BOEOTIA AND ATTICA.
in.]
53
historian ascribes the
great anxiety as
But
suppose, as he intimates, that
the
it
is
to
difficult
Spartan
blindest
think
could
Athens to Persia would be of
to
that
their reception.
the
consequence
little
the fortification of the Isthmus were complete.
The
of
once
if
trans-
power and command of the sea would
of naval
fer
even
defection
still
have been as damaging as ever to the defenders of the
Peloponnesus
;
if
they were
eager to keep, or even to
less
make, promises of sending their forces forward into Attica,
it
was
the promises already
sufficient that
made had had
and that they regarded the breach of the
their desired effect,
negotiations with Persia as irreparable.
Subsequent events
give us no right to suppose that Sparta was neglecting in the
meantime the equipment of her own military power,
than Athens to
was
less resolved
own
part and on her
The
had
report
its
set in
own ground
on her
at least, to the last
man.
which the Macedonian carried back to Thessaly
anticipated
effect,
and the Persian army was at once
motion upon Attica.
mence operations
of July
or that she
resist the invader,
Mardonius had proposed
in the spring, but it
when he reached Athens,
pation by Xerxes.
was
ten
l
com-
to
about the middle
months
after its occu-
Considerable time had been consumed in
the negotiations, and even afterwards,
when he
arrived at
Thebes, the temporising policy of that state embarrassed
more than
The
ever.
power were with the Persians heart and
even to
sacrifice the
satraps,
as
it
to
faithful
— though
was
to
tributary princes,
knew
they
their
soul,
and prepared
independence of their country in order
to secure themselves in that irresponsible
by Persia
him
leaders of the oligarchical party there in
—
supremacy allowed
whether tyrants or
that such a position, obnoxious
fellow-citizens,
was
still
more
so
to
their Athenian and Lacedaemonian neighbours, who would
The sincerity
therefore be always ready to subvert it.
1
01. 75.
2
= b.c.
479.
HISTORY OF GRS1
,i
was
could
counsel
their
of
still
and
corrupl
to
divide
to
firmly united were invincible
vance as
of
as Boeotia,
fur
;
and
doubted,
be
nol
bap.
Greeks,
the
their
\
who when
and, in the meantime, to ad-
most suited
places
all
an army, and
for
the
encampment
Their arguthat would come about without even a battle.
ments told in some degree, but could not in the end restrain
of such
moving on
the Persian from
Sardis,
and he could not
Xerxes was
into Attica.
and Mardonius was impatient
news that he was again
there await a victory
to despatch to
in possession of the hated
rest until a
still
him
at
the
Athens
.
system of pre-arranged beacons
had transmitted, from island to island across the Aegean,
the announcement which was to vindicate the assurance of
complete success which he had given to the Great King.
There
is
little
doubt
that
Aeschylus had this train of
beacons in mind, and purposely recalled
in his
grand description of such a
memnon.'
The circumstances
reasonable
enough
in
of time
historical
this
it
to the Athenians,
flight of fire in the
'
Aga-
and space, which are
instance,
have to be
strained not a little for the ten years' expectancy of Clytemnestra,
and the provision of a
from Troy by
the line of
series of telegraphic stations
Athos.
The Athenians had only quitted their city and country
at the last moment, trusting that in spite of deferments
and delays the Peloponnesian army would yet arrive according to engagements, and spare them a second migration but
the enemy was presently as near as Boeotia, and no more
time was to be lost without further delay they again moved
;
;
their families, with
transferred,
to
all
their property that could be hastily
Salamis and Troezene
;
and in pursuance
Cimon Xanthippus and Myroby representatives of 1 Megara and
of a psephism of Aristides,
nides,
accompanied also
Plataea,
were
despatched
1
to
Herod,
Sparta,
ix. 10.
with
fresh
protest-
MARDONIVS IN BOEOTIA AND ATTICA.
in.]
ations and
J
commander
of the
mission,
That Xanthippus, who was now
complaints.
not
is
should have been spared for this
fleet,
much
so
improbable
it
tination
of
that
turned.
The immediate excuse
fleet
suggestive
as
was on the movements and
the consideration that
this
55
the
interest
of the
of
des-
Spartans
given to the com-
for delay
missioners was the sacred obligation to attend to the cele-
bration of the Hyacinthia
;
the customs of the nation, rigid
and narrow, and adapted only
for
a limited range of rela-
would in ordinary cases have caused
tions,
this to be received
But the Lace-
as a consistent if not reasonable apology.
daemonians,
who had
was just and becoming, were now reminded of
promises
what
appealed, so glibly for them, to
their broken
they were reproached with the same insincerity
;
which they had imputed to the barbarian bidder
in having only promised
in
order
to
for alliance,
gain time for com-
pleting the wall at the Isthmus, which was just fitted with
battlements.
its
However,
on their army, and,
if
in the Thriasian
least
let
them now, though
plain,
otherwise the Athenians
their part too
would have
to look out for a
an
enigmatical
allusion
a\€(j>pi]v)
;
to
the
'
shelter
Mardonius
had
reached Athens,
within a march or two of the
it
difficult
on
{jiva
'
Isthmian wall,
made somewhat in their own laconic way, and
terpreted by them in their own fashion.
When
send
late,
not in Boeotia, fight the enemy at
to be in-
and was again
Isthmus, he thought
worth while to make one more attempt to detach the
We cannot wonder that the persistency prohis
by them should appear to him inconceivable
agents of corruption had made some reports, true or false,
Athenians.
fessed
;
of success,
out
a
— another
harvest
permanent
was
hostile
and that a third year of
prospect
in
for
occupation of the
1
Plut. Aristid. 10.
fields
with-
—perhaps
country, — and
them,
the
lastly,
HISTORY OF 0RB1
56
the
which
rapport
their
had
had certainly counted on, had
them without confidence
left
had notoriously pro-
allies
from the circumstances of their return,
mised, and which,
tlu-y
selfish
[chap
he ostentatiously refrained from
them, and
failed
Accordingly,
thereafter.
damage
further
doing-
failing,
to
the country, and re-opened, or endeavoured to re-open, nego-
with Athens by despatching to the Council of the
tiations
Athenians
the
at
through
a
Salami's
new envoy, one Murychides of
This was news
Hellespont.
the Peloponnesus
like
that
of
itself
and
wildfire,
w ere
reason to suppose that the Athenians
would
there
no
now
less averse
r
fly
is
than before to the policy of holding over an audience or
a decision until the contingencies of the incident had told
with
full
effect
wrought
it
had been put
the
till
off,
to the height of impatience.
the fortification in
and
For ten successive days
Sparta.
at
Athenian envoys there
the
they were
was known that
It
meantime was being strengthened,
was natural to apprehend that the ephors would, at
a convenient moment, put forward some pretext for break-
ing
off their
engagement.
now demanded by
home the failure
A
audience was therefore
final
the envoys before quitting to report at
of
the
mission
;
they were, in
fact,
possession of the renewed proposals of the Persian to
and were prepared
to declare, as a final
in
treat,
argument, that further
delay must lead inevitably to their acceptance, and thence
to joint action against Sparta.
The ephors
listened calmly
to the taunt that they were occupied with the Hyacinthia,
and
was
not to say amusing themselves, while their ally
trilling,
in
extremity, and
then announced,
means superfluous guarantee of an
was already despatched against the
by that time
beyond the
—
so
it
oath,
'
frontiers.
The news
—had
by no
their
force
and must
already well forward
of the reopened negotiation
wrought
If a certain Chileus of Tegea,
that
strangers,'
— in the early morning—be
was believed
with the
this
who was
change over-night.
credited with having*
MARDONIUS IN BOEOTIA AND ATTICA.
in.]
had most influence
after Themistoeles in
Mede, and was, of
1
Hellas against the
57
originally uniting
foreigners, in the
all
highest credit with the Lacedaemonians, really contributed to
now,
their decision
must have been by the expression of
it
his belief that there
was imminent danger of the negotiation
That the consequence of this must
resulting in an alliance.
be
'
to
throw open wide portals into Peloponnesus, however
strongly the Isthmus might be barred,' the ephors did not
require to be told.
The large
which was despatched
force
suddenly must
so
necessarily have been under preparation for emergencies
secrecy that was
along, with the
Spartan policy
;
and
this
is
adverted to by Pericles later
Athenian
as a contrast to the fearless publicity of
It
consisted
Helots
died
of 5,000
(5,000
soon
the splendid
torical
Spartiats,
+ 35,000=40,000
after
attended
each
command
Isthmus,
the
his
son Pausanias,
as
regent in
the place of his cousin Pleistarchus, son of Leonidas,
was
He
a minor.
still
and
devolved, with most important his-
on
consequences,
politics.
by seven
Cleombrotus had
men).
withdrawal from
his
all
an established maxim of
chose as his
own
who
second in com-
mand, Euryanax son of Dorieus, of the same royal house.
—by
This army
the
far
by Sparta
sent forth
largest
— was
that
we
ever
read
of as
complemented by 5,000 more
heavy-armed Lacedaemonians, or perioeci
(citizens of other
Lacedaemonian towns than Sparta), and with them started
the well-satisfied envoys from Salamis, in
take
the
first
quence of the reserve,
lateness
in
the
An
columns.
field
if
of
all
haste to over-
untoward but natural conse-
not hesitation, of Sparta, was the
some of the other Peloponnesian
contingents.
The negotiations
further
Salamis,
at
motive or even
1
which there was now no
means
for
Plut. Them.
6.
protracting,
concluded
BISTORT OF GRE1
with a tragic incident.
The HeUespontian Afurychidec
unharmed
Council, l>ut when Lycides,
dismissed
or
by
nol
delivering
after
Persian
a
gold,
member
of
his
it.
proposed that
message
to
the
whether influenced
the
offer
of
the
Persian Bhould be submitted to the popular assembly, indig-
nation rose instantly to
its
height
among
his assessors,
out of doors also as soon as the occasion was known.
was
set
and
Lycides
upon and stoned to death; the tumult presently
roused the Athenian women, and in contagious excitement
they rushed to his dwelling and stoned to death
also
—both
It
is
origin,
within
probable thai
this
fury
had
in
part
and that Lycides had brought himself and
the
his family
wife and children.
bitter
and
a
religious
bis family
comprehensive terms of the curse
that had been solemnly denounced against favourers of the
Mede.
—
CHAPTER
THE PATRIOTIC ARMY IN BOEOTIA.
—
IV.
— THE DEATH
OF MASISTTUS.
PERSIAN PREPARATIONS FOR FINAL CONQUEST.
479, September; 01. 75.
B.C.
The Lacedaemonians made
halt
1.
where
the Isthmus,
at
they were joined by forces from other states of Pelopon-
Here terms and
nesus.
resolutions were adopted in a Hel-
lenic congress, as well for the concentration of troops
and
supplies from various quarters both without and within the
Isthmus, as for the purpose of encouraging
giving expression to
say,
—a
spirit
—
or, let
us rather
common enthusiasm
of
The usual promises were made
to the
gods in the event and expectation of victory; their
assist-
and mutual
reliance.
ance was claimed with confidence against the profaners of
their desolated sanctuaries
—
which should be
assistance
fitly
acknowledged and recompensed, though the ruins were to
remain
ashes
in
present
life
all
time as memorials
of an oath that
and future unity ran thus
as of
was
f
:
any value in comparison with
desert
my
burial
for
when
for
The terms
sacrilege.
leaders
either
living
whoever of the
the barbarian
is
vert any city that has
allies
or
barbarian
bond of
I will not regard
liberty
dead
may
of
to be a
;
fall
I
in
;
I will not
will
procure
battle
;
and
overcome I will not afterwards subtaken part in the struggle against
him/
The
last
clause
is
significant of the apprehensions that
were haunting some of the weaker and more exposed members
HISTORY OP GREEi
60
<>!'
m
community
the Hellenic
beld entirely aloof, avowedly
this guarantee,
am-
presence of the growing
The ArgiveSj anoo&oQiated by
of stronger powers.
bition
[en
/..
the ground
<>n
that their population had been too seriously reduced by their
them
recent conflict with Sparta for
in a
defeal
loss of
more blood
j
a further
unavowed motive
the lint that the Btrength of Sparta was the
would
whom
only leave them at the mercy of the protagonist
were invited to strengthen
the
to risk
at present, especially as such loss
they
lay in
main obstacle
to
That the Athenians
certain ambitious projects of their own.
had very distinct views of encroachment was notorious, and
notoriety had been ominously emphasised
this
of
Mardonius to help them
wished
they
to
acquire.
by the
Thus the threatened
states
Mycenae and Aegina had forebodings that were
of
too well
the event, and naturally claimed and clung to
in
justified
offer
to whatever additional territory
the guarantee of a solemn sanction, the concession of which
at this crisis
high-wrought
was probably due
to
the prevailing spirit of
patriotic enthusiasm, as
much
any sug-
as to
gestion of policy.
As
soon as the omens were favourable, and the requisite
arrangements and musters complete, the Peloponnesian force
was
motion to cross the Isthmus and
at last really set in
By
the Megarid.
this time
Mardonius had determined
to
evacuate Attica, after being kept in suspense by the Athenians
till
the very last
the Argives
earlier
l
A
moment.
now brought him
swift messenger from
the advice, perhaps not
than the bootless return of Murychides,
Lacedaemonians would
the Isthmus
that they
on their
;
certainly
appear forthwith
any wild hopes of
had to be renounced, and
own
measures.
1
Herod,
is. 13.
beyond
effective obstruction
might have encouraged the barbarian
part,
to take his
so that
much
that the
it
to expect
remained for him
.
THE PATRIOTIC ARMY IN BOEOTIA.
iv.]
The
unfitness of Attica for the action
cavalry, and, ravaged as
it
had been,
a reverse,
and evolutions of
for furnishing supplies,
by a large
as well as the difficulties of a retreat
61
force, in case
of
through the northern passes, determined him to with-
draw at once
more open plains and
to the
accessible resources
of Boeotia and the neighbourhood of the strong and friendly
His
city of Thebes.
days in Attica were spent in de-
last
stroying whatever could be destroyed and had hitherto been
politicly spared,
whatever
still
the city.
and
in
throwing down, so
time allowed,
far as
remained standing of the walls and temples of
The Boeotarchs,
his zealous quartermasters, fur-
nished him with guides for the eastern route by Decelea and
Sphendale, across Parnes to Tanagra
—a
considerable circuit,
but affording more easy passes, and avoiding any risk of
molestation from the Isthmus to which the western might be
He was
exposed.
already on the road,
when
a report that a
body of not more than 1000 Lacedaemonians had advanced
to
Megara tempted him
to check his
attempt to snatch a victory, however
Turning back
his
march and make an
trifling, before
he retired
army, he despatched a cavalry force in
advance, which rapidly overran the Megarid without encountering opposition
;
and this was the furthest point of Europe
towards the setting-sun that a Persian invader ever reached.
One
of his detachments, however,
1
the mountains and was cut
receipt of
off;
became entangled among
and upon
this check,
and
more formidable accounts of the muster at the
Isthmus, he turned once more, and finally resumed the route
to Decelea.
The dedication of a bronze
in later
this
statue to Artemis Soteira
was
days ascribed by the Megarians to the occasion of
incident, which, as it
mythic embellishment.
came
It
was,
to be related,
they
said,
wanted not
by device of
Artemis that night overtook the retiring Persians, who
1
Paua.
i.
40.
§ 2.
first
BISTORT OF GREECE.
62
way among the mountains, and then, when they
their
lost
discharged arrows to
far
[ohap.
test
the proximity of an enemy, were bo
beguiled by the echoes of the rock, which they mil
they exhausted their quivers and
for groans, that
an
fell
prey at daybreak to the Megarian hoplites,
Mardoniue remained
Tanagra only
at
a night,
and the next
day turned westward and reached Scolus on Theban territory,
about forty stadia
— four
miles and a half
on the road between Thebes and
monians on their part advanced
and then made
lleusiS;
be scanned
Isthmus they had waited
'affected the better
the Asopus
The Lacedae-
to the Thriasian plain as far
The
halt.
sacrifices
suggestion to proceed
a
for
— down
Plataca.
'
were again to
and, as
at
the
for the other Peloponnesians,
who
make an
things/ to
;
in
effort,
spite
of
the shortness of the notice, not to be behindhand in the
field,
so here also
paration,
and
time was to be allowed for further pre-
for a junction
with an important reinforce-
ment of the Athenians, who were
under
-
command
of Aristides,
to cross
Mount
elected
and thus independent of the association of
autocrator,
leagues which had hampered Miltiades.
combined
from Salamis,
son of Lysimachus,
army
started
direct
Then
Boeotia.
for
col-
at last the
It
crossed
Cithaeron by the western passes and emerged above
The Persian host was
Erythrae.
on the plain between the
eastward
and
parallel
to
line of
the
full
in
view, encamped
the Asopus, here flowing
main ridge
Cithaeron,
of
and Erythrae and Hysiae on the higher ground opposite
to the verge of the Plataean territory.
position and
In the rear of this
beyond the Asopus a vast enclosure had been
formed and strengthened by a timber palisade,
within reach were felled indiscriminately
all trees
for
—
which
necessity,
says Herodotus, compelling disregard of the friendliness of
the country.
1
Paus.
The
enclosure,
ix. 4. § 3.
though over a mile square (ten
a
Plut. Aristid. II.
TUE PATRIOTIC ARMY
iv.]
stadia),
was not intended
in the event of
battle
;
in the
for
IX BOEOTI A.
63
occupation by the army unless
aught falling out untowardly in the expected
meantime
was a repository of the vast neces-
it
sary stores, as well as of the general baggage and appliances
that were always recjuired by Persian luxury even in the
midst of a campaign.
In
this position the Persian
army
received a lagging re-
command of
The Medism
inforcement of iooo Phocian hoplites, under
Harmocydes, a
citizen of
marked reputation.
of the Phocians was most reluctant, but less so, Herodotus
thought, from Hellenic sympathy than out of hatred to the
Thessalians
;
and
it
was only under compulsion of
their neigh-
bourhood to Thessaly and Thebes that this dilatory aid was
rendered at
They had not joined
all.
early
enough
to take
part in the invasion of Attica, and were the more mistrusted
from the direct
hostility of a part of their population.
These
had taken refuge in considerable numbers on Mount Parnassus, and found a place of security for themselves
and their
property at Tithora, a steeply-scarped rocky position from
whence they had seriously harassed the Persians and
1
their
confederates.
Mardonius sent orders to the new
to take
arrival
position on the open plain, and then a scene ensued of
up a
which
Herodotus did not pretend to know the exact explanation.
A
sudden suspicion
impression
— ran
—a
(f)i]ixr)
through
all
or unaccountable sympathetic
the Greek
allies,
including the
Phocians themselves, that mischief was intended towards them.
Harmocydes apprehended the
much
to
ill
show
their mettle
by
of the Thessalians as
offices
as the anger of the Persian,
and
called
on his company
selling their lives dearly.
His appeal
was scarcely made when a cloud of horsemen were upon them,
charged close up to them, now wheeled round and now surrounded them, ever with threatening weapons, though only
1
Herod,
viii.
32
;
Pint. Vit. Bullae, 14
;
Pans.
x. 32.
HISTORY OF 0RE1
64
one or two darts may have been, as
The intention probably was
as to cause alarm,
not
ami then, when
accidentally, dischai
if
so
[chap.
mnch
tin-
provol
to
expected di>per.-ion ami
The Phocians how-
flight began, to slaughter the fugitives.
ever coolly stood to their arms, closed their ranks to
utmost, and faced to every threatened attack
was
to turn the matter
fain
oil'
tin;
and Mardonius
;
with a compliment to the
courage which he said had heen impugned, but which, so
commanded
tested,
his absolute confidence.
was during these days that an incident occurred which,
It
eorded by Herodotus, has
graphical notice
was
in
:
the interest of an autobio-
home
brings
it
all
to us
how
near he himself
time to the events his history had reached, and to
authentic information respecting
them
;
and by
implica-
its
tions adds great value to his general testimony as to the
j)
resent
crisis
the
of
Persian
A
expedition.
magnificent
entertainment was provided in Thebes for the Persians and
their
Hellenic
allies
by Attaginus son of Phrynon, who
together with Timegenidas was in control of the whole power
and policy of the
Mardonius and
state.
distinguished Persians were
at dinner,
single
—a
Thebans
fifty
between
couch
Theban and a Persian sharing
them.
circulated according to universal
Persian manners
;
and
it
he was associated.
The dinner
over,
Greek rather than
wine
earlier
was then that a Persian who con-
versed in Greek opened his
much
meet
of the most
where the two nations were not only arranged
alternately but in pairs
a
invited to
fifty
mind
to the
guest with
This was a certain Thersander, a
whom
man
of
note at Orchomenus, and Herodotus received the par-
ticulars
from Thersander himself, who assured him that he
had given the same account to others at the time, before
the catastrophe that was so painfully apprehended arrived.
Having assured himself by an enquiry that his companion
was not an actual Theban, and possibly of something more,
'"With you, now,' said the Persian, 'as my partner at meat
;
THE PATRIOTIC ARMY IN BOEOTIA.
iv.]
and in
my
libation, I
would fain leave remembrance of what
may
that you
conviction;
by the
river
men you
see these Persians
encamped down
left
a short time have gone by and of
let
;
You
you saw the army that we
;
will behold
grounds were indicated
case
was incumbent
it
for his conviction) that surely in this
to
communicate with Mardonius and
who were in credit with him.
what God has determined shall
'
was the
be,
'
incompetent to avert
;
for
Of
by necessity; and the
bitterest
that I
all
abundance of our Persians are conscious
man
Stranger,'
man
is
none will give attention to any,
however credible their statements.
fettered
The
that some
those of the Persians
reply,
these
tears.
we must assume
in surprise suggested (and
all
The words were
but some few survivors.'
spoken with the sincerity attested by abundant
Greek
is
own
be forewarned on your
account, and take counsel for the best.
feasting here
65
tell
you
but we go on
;
pang of
all it is for
and know what circumstances demand and yet
to see
to be destitute of power.'
These are words of which the
recognised by one
who
full
import will only be
has been near enough to head-ruiarters
to see interests of great importance with
which
own
his
are
inextricably involved, going to rack and ruin through the
obstinate self-conceit and blind jealousy of managers alike
by
unassailable
their position
and insensible
to truth
dejected Persian
was an adherent of the unhopeful and disor dreaded how Mardonius might
Artabazus,
contented
be hampered by his half-hearted support,
it
more
the
probably
he had
and order requisite
for
discovered
so
vast
that
be
advisers,
precipitated
the
excitement
at
of
any moment
a
moment,
modify a judgment once announced, or
ation,
much
less
a conclusion,
matters
little
organisation
an army were wanting,
and that the supreme direction lay where
might
whether
Whether the
bluntly demonstrated, or adroitly suggested.
decisive action
by
blind
to
the
worst
refusal
to
accept inform-
from a subordinate though
HISTORY OF 0RE1
66
sagacious associate
within
side
seem
:t««
so
lay in
<
of the
-n nt
rife
final
on the other
Hellenic councils, thai we can scarcely con-
tla'
case to have been worse in the
tin-
ference
we read the
the elements of danger
conflict,
ceive
\-
[chap.
the fact that
there was a
The
Persian.
germ
dif-
of healthy
vigour underneath the dissensions ami heart-burnings of the
Greeks, which counteracted great
mischiefs,
ami
assured
:i
survival of their cause through embarrassments that would be
fatal to their enemies.
The Persian commander had made no attempt
to dispute
or harass the passage of the mountains; his expectation
and
hope was, to be attacked, or to have opportunity of attacking,
in the position
he had taken up in the plain, where his ex-
Greeks were entirely destitute
effect
;
the rugged and contracted passes being trusted to com-
plete the confusion
As
—an arm of which the
—would operate with most
and Thessalian
cellent cavalry, Persian
when the
troops were flying in disorder.
the Greek forces emerged from the passes and took up
their position along the higher slopes of Cithaeron, in the
direction of Erythrae, eastward of the roads that ran direct
to Thebes, they were out of reach of the enemy's cavalry.
But
there was scarcity of water from the
as the rendezvous
for room,
ments
first,
was completed, they were
and afterwards,
so far
cramped
from the proximity of the enemy, that some detach-
— the Megarians
especially
was considerably exposed.
— had to occupy ground that
Upon
the Megarians accordingly
Mardonius, after waiting in vain for the descent of the general
army,
gave orders
cavalry, of
for
an attack by the entire division of
which a large proportion at
least
were bowmen,
under the command of Masistius, one of the most important
of the Persians.
sive squadrons
long
after,
and
had. so
This was executed by the wheeling of succes-
on the same system that was to be employed
with historic
much
effect,
results,
on the plains of Parthia
that the Megarians, while
still
;
main-
taining their ground courageously, sent word to the generals
—
THE DEATH OF M A SIS Tl US.
iv.]
G7
that unless relieved they must break line and retire.
An
epigram collected among those of Simonides celebrates
this
That the authority of
resistance without the qualification.
the general-in-chief of the allied Greeks was limited, appears
from the
fact
that Pausanias
left
among them should undertake
puts
it
to their
it
duty
this
;
option
unreservedly to the credit of the Athenians that they
were the
had in
But the Athenians
Marathon to
to volunteer to the front.
first
profited
fact
by
their
adjust their equipments in
experience at
some degree to the
special re-
At Mara-
quirements of conflict with the Median archers.
thon they had been forced to rush to the attack
armed
either
who
and Herodotus
as they were
bowmen
— with
no protection from skirmishers,
we now
or cavalry, whereas
with a force of
bowmen whose
with hoplites
*
;
—heavy-
find
them provided
duty was to co-operate
special
Ctesias even states that they had been pro-
cured by Aristides and Themistocles from Crete.
In the
present case they accompanied three hundred select hoplites
under the command of Olympiodorus, son of Lampon.
contest
still
The
continued for some time after their arrival, the
Persian horsemen constantly careering past, and as they dis-
charged their weapons adding taunts of womanishness, to
provoke,
if
an advance.
possible,
At
last,
in
the return
of one charge, the Nisaean horse of Masistius was pierced
in the flank
shook
by a happy arrow, and rearing
off its splendidly-accoutred rider.
upon him
in frantic pain,
The Athenians were
the horse, golden-bitted and superbly
instantly,
was captured, and Masistius himself, though
a time by the accurate completeness of his armour
caparisoned,
saved for
a mailed shirt of golden scales hid below his purple vest
which disappointed
the strokes
length
killed
pierced
him through
as
he
lay
his eye.
of the wheeling horsemen this
1
of
ap. Phot.
F 2
his
assailants,
was at
by a weapon which
In the speed and confusion
catastrophe was unobserved
prostrate,
—
HIST0R1 OF GREECE.
G8
until
the
drawing
troop,
found themselves without
known
came
1.
tHe
;it
;i
distance
Leader.
once
the body.
was now the turn of the Athenians,
to send for assistance, and,
lulled to retire
to be secured
they saw
as
till
had to sustain, and did sustain, a desperate
(•'in
the Loss was
force at
Longer in detachments but in mass, resolved at
on, ao
coming shock,
it
re-form,
to
m
As goon
word was given, and the entire
asl to rescue
It
up
;i
[chap.
it
t
In-
arrived, they
Though
conflict.
from the dead body, they did not allow
by the enemy, before the
arrival of the rein-
forcements obliged the latter to retire in their turn and leave
it
with more of their numbers
At
hands of the Greeks.
in the
the distance of two stadia they again drew up, but were soon
seen, after a short consultation, returning to their
The
It
Greeks at this success was boundless.
elation of the
was much
to
have sustained unflinchingly the detached
onsets of this redoubted cavalry, but
repulsed
when
it
in a
camp.
body
how much more
The enthusiasm
!
to have
rose to its height
the corpse of Masistius was placed upon a cart and
where
carried through the army,
their ranks to behold
Herodotus,
and gazed at
it,
of Greeks.
gratification
so
large
a clamour from the
It
it
with the peculiar
was well worth seeing, says
was and
it
as it passed quitted
all
so
And soon
how severe a
a man second
beautiful.
Persian camps revealed
blow was admitted in the death of Masistius,
only to Mardonius in the estimation of the Persians themselves as well as of the Great
King.
The
barbarians, in a
frenzy of grief, were cutting off not only their
own
but even that of horses and beasts of burden, while
echo of
their lamentations
'
—
faintly
represented to us
the prolonged wailings of the Persians of Aeschylus
all
x
cliffs
Boeotia.'
The
cries
as they
hair
'
l
the
by
rilled
were re-echoed from the
of Cithaeron confirmed the courage and enhanced the
confidence of the defenders of their native land.
1
Herod,
ix. 24.
;
•
iv.]
The
now
THE DEATH OF MASISTIUS.
own army and
elation of their
69
the dismay of the
enemy
enabled the Greek generals to effect a change of position,
which had indeed become urgent
and a descent of their
;
entire force was at once made without molestation from the
Erythraean to the Plataic
line of
march
and access to water.
The
inclined to the north-west, across the spurs of
Cithaeron, past Hysiae
and the army, in
;
plain and low hillocks, extending
in the phrase of
divisions of
its
ultimately occupied a line of intermixed
tribes or nations,
river
the lower level of which
district,
afforded freer space for encamping,
*
Herodotus
— as
— from
is
distinctly implied
another branch of the
on the west to a copious fountain called Gargaphia,
eastward.
The formal order of array was not assumed without
inter-
ruption from a tribal claim to precedence, which was asserted
and
set aside in a
manner premonitory of the dying out
some other more important
traditions.
Greek army was the post of honour
The right wing
of
in the
—possibly from mere sym-
bolical dignity as right, or because, as exposing the unshielded
side of the hoplites to a flank attack, it
peculiar danger than the left
extremity.
was a post of more
and otherwise equally uncovered
This was conceded as a matter of course to the
Lacedaemonians, but the Tegeans contested the
the Athenians, to
whom
it
had been
assigned.
left
wing with
With
a certain
Arcadian hebetude they pleaded before the Lacedaemonians a
title
based on the slaying of Hyllus, a Heracleid ancestor of
their kings in mythical times,
and many not unsuccessful con-
tests against the present arbiters later on.
replied that they
but for themselves,
say that
if
The Athenians
had come out to fight and not to argue
if
antiquity
is
to be considered, they
might
the Tegeans killed Heracleids, their ancestors took
arms victoriously in defence of them, besides other exploits
which they mentioned, but did not
cowardice in one age
is
1
insist on.
'
Courage or
no warrant for the next
Herod,
ix. 31.
;
what
is
—
HIST0R7 OF GREECE.
70
more
to the purpose in approving our
later
achievements,
against this
Ie
tit If,
No
on our part at such a time
difficulty
shall
do our very best
he at once obeyed.'
monian ranks
camp
A
;
give the
shall ari-i-
us where you pleaee,
place
;
general
in favour of the
of the vote
Marathon
however
Lacedaemonians, and opposed to whomsoever
we
from these
ai>arl
our single-handed victory at
same enemy.
HAP.
|<
;
any post
in
command and you
shout from
Athenians
—a
by acclamation customary
will
Lacedae-
the
transference to
at Sparta
— was
accepted as a decision, and so this question was decided in
accordance with the
first
In com-
intentions of Pausanias.
pleting his general dispositions, he placed the Lacedaemonian
force
which was under
right,
his direct
command
at the extreme
and consoled the Tegeans by giving them the position
immediately next in succession.
The
original
order of array of heavy- and
light-armed
together then follows according to this enumeration
:
LightHoplites.
Lacedaemonians 10,000, of
attended by 7 helots
whom
5,000 were Spartiats, each
Total from Sparta
Tegeans
armed.
5,000
5,000
5.000
35-000
10,000
40,000
1,500
1,500
5.300
3.600
5.300
3,600
1,800
1,800
Corinthians 5,000, with whom, by special permission of
Pausanias, were 300 Potidaeans from their colony at
Pallene
Arcadians of Orchomenus, 600 Sicyonians, 3,000
Epidaurians, 800 Troezenians, 1,000
Lepreans, 200 Mycenians and Tirynthians, 400
Phliasians, 1,000
Hermionians, 300
;
;
;
•.
;
Total Peloponnesians
—Eretrians
From Euboea
and Styrians, 600
;
600
600
1,300
1,300
24,100
54,100
Chalcidians,
400
Ambracians, 500 Leucadians and Anactorians, 800
Palians from Cephallene, 200 Aeginetans, 500
1,000
1,000
1,300
1,300
700
700
Megaraeans
3,000
3,000
;
;
Plataeans
Athenians
Totals.
600
600
8,000
S,ooo
38,700
68,700
PERSIANS PREPARE FOR FINAL CONQUEST.
iv.]
This catalogue of names
71
by that copied by Pau-
is verified
sanias the traveller from the base of a dedicated statue at
Olympia, which contains them
names of
Tenos, Naxos, Cythnos
except the
all
*
group of Cyclades
of the
islands
— included at Olympia
The
Palians.
— Ceos,
Melos,
may have been
omitted in the history solely from the trifling numbers they
The
could contribute.
omission, in the inscription, of
Andros
and Paros, the only other important islands of the group,
them
agrees with the pressure applied to
Medism.
for
Of
the force of hoplites,
—the
the
in
in
history,
defensive
full
armour, the best
Athenians and Plataeans 8,600, and
Lacedaemonians 10,000
—do
but their entire
half,
not together amount to a
heavy and
forces,
the vast proportion of helots,
full
including
light,
make up more than
half the
army.
The
entire
array as given by
heavy-armed men, 38,700, to
69,500,
made up
of
Herodotus comprised of
whom
35,000
he adds the light-armed,
helots
(7
each
to
Spartiat),
and 34,500 for the rest of the Lacedaemonians and Greeks
(' about one to each man ')
giving a total number of com;
batants 108,200.
The light-armed,
as given in his
grand
total,
are
800 in
excess of the reckoning of one to each hoplite, but the differ-
ence
—
as
indeed the
dicates a variation
expression of the
historian
number of 110,000
1,800 Thespian
'
As soon
as
is
A
who were
equipped irregularly.
is,
the ceremonial mourning for the death
Masistius was concluded, Mardonius
moved
branch of the Asopus
the stream at this season
1
now
— late
separated
in
Pausanias,
summer
v. 23.
of
his forces west-
new
position.
the two
armies;
ward, so as to confront the Greeks in their
A
muster of
completed by reckoning in
refugees from their burnt city,
without arms,' that
in-
from a general proportion, which must
have occurred in one direction or the other.
the round
— only
—must have
been
EI8T0R1 OF
72
fordable
along
all
course, as
its
it
0RJS1
[chap.
not
taken into consider-
is
ation as a serious military obstacle
swollen by sudden heavy
even
;
Bpring
in
could
it
when
Plataea and Thebes, unless
be easily crossed between
'
His own
rain.
like those
forces,
now disposed with referenoe to an imThe Persians, whom he accounted his best
of the Greeks, were
pending
conflict.
soldiers,
he opposed to the Greek
them
again,
monians
;
by
to overlap,
Assuming that the
in
though drawn up in deep ranks.
and light-armed
helots
soldiers
throughout
proximity to their respective nations, the Persians would
be opposed to
or
best of
the others to the Tegeans, whose array they were
numerous enough
were
and the
left wing",
instruction of the Thebans, to the Lacedae-
little
50,000 Lacedaemonians and 3,000 Tegeans,
under one half the numerical Greek
force,
though
The Medes were
to less than a third of the heavy-armed.
next, opposed to 17,800 Corinthians, Arcadians, and Sicyonians
;
the Bactrians were opposed to Epidaurians, Troezenians,
Lepreans, Tirynthians, Mycenians, and Phliasians; the Indians
to the
Hermionians, who from their Dryopian relationship
were ranged, not with their neighbours of Troezene, but with
Eretrians, Styrians, and Chalcidians from
Euboea
;
the Sakae
opposed the Ambracians, Anactorians, Leucadians, Palians,
.
— the
most part a miserably armed and undisciplined mob — had thus
and Aeginetans.
to
The
Bactrians, Indians, and Sakae
match 13,400 men.
for
Lastly, the strong force and approved
quality of the Athenians, together with the Plataeans and
garaeans
—
23,000 of
all
arms
— were
to be encountered
Medising Greeks, the Boeotians, Locrians, Melians,
Me-
by the
The.--a-
Hans, and neighbouring tribes, and the 1000 Phocians; and
Other troops, whose places
here also were the Macedonians.
are not noted, were Phrygians, Thracians, Mysians, Paeonians
and
others, besides the Aethiopians
been withdrawn from the
fleet.
and Egyptians, who had
The
Mardonius, at least at their original
1
Thucyd.
ii.
1-5.
2
total barbarian forces of
2
Herod,
muster, are numbered
ix.
32
;
cf. viii.
113.
—
iv.]
PERSIANS PREPARE FOR FINAL CONQUEST.
at 300,000 horse
and
foot.
Of
his Hellenic allies the
73
number
had never been taken, and was not known
—
might be 50,000, exclusive of horsemen
for these figures
Herodotus
;
and
at a guess
it
responsible.
is
The most formidable
superiority of the
Persians however
lay not in their numbers at large, but in the numbers and
excellence of their cavalry, both of their zealous Thessalian
supporters and of the Sakae and their
—
{hippotoxalae)
— in many respects
own mounted bowmen
the equivalents of
modern
The Greeks, on the other hand, had the ad-
field-artillery.
vantage of armoured as opposed to unarmoured men, with
that corresponding superiority in
weapons which
offensive
Aristagoras had urged on Cleomenes as an encouragement
Greeks to strike
to the
for the
conquest of Susa
J
itself,
in terms as ominously significant as the conviction put into
the mouth of Xerxes, that the quarrel between Greece and
Persia was to the death, and would only be concluded
by
the entire subjugation of Greece by Persia or of the Persian
by
empire
2
The
Greece.
short
spear
and bow of the
Persian foot-soldier prevented his carrying a shield of any
strength and magnitude, and the want of such defence was
poorly supplied by gerrha, a kind of wicker hurdles covered
with hides, and fixed into the ground by spikes as a fence
the
before
for
the
Greek,
panoply
of the
yet
not
hoplite,
stouter and longer spear.
might hope
for
and exercised
strengthened
encumbered by the shield and
and
Any
still
equal
to
wielding
a
advantage that the Persian
and even be encouraged in by his Theban
from the unity of a despotic command as opposed to
allies,
a confederacy
reason
now
whatever, nor
he was but a poor match at close quarters
of sedulously
protected
frame,
With no body armour
line.
effective helmet,
jealous
of commanders,
and
distrustful
materially counteracted
1
Herod,
v. 49.
mutually and
of
each
not without
other,
was just
by the withdrawal of Xerxes,
2
lb.
vii.
11.
HISTORY OF GRE1
71
and
at
is
power of military
irresponsible
would
that
spirit
always depended
beal
As
maratus warned
]
with
eo-eoristenoe
or
on
at
the
least
of
a
the
as
lash
energy.
it
was most
true, as
Xerxes, that freemen as they were,
Law (u
sense they were not free, for
who
genius,
regards the Lacedaemonians,
2
the
reliance
repudiate
leading motive of concerted
on
[chap.
v6[j.os)
was
to
them
1
>e-
one
in
a master
exacted obedience more implicit than was ever rendered
to the Great
spects,
King
himself; obedient to this master in
they were especially so in
all re-
that they were under
this,
when battle once was joined never to fly before
any number of enemies, but standing their ground either to
obligation
For the
prevail or perish.
ness
rest, a still
was animating the Athenians,
nobler self-conscious-
—the
rivals of the
Lace-
daemonians by their achievements at Marathon, and especially
With them
at Salamis.
individual genius was of
than rigour of technical discipline
minor
went
;
more
avail
and even among the
states a spirit of enthusiastic emulation in patriotism
far to obliterate for
the time the jealousies that were
being nobly set aside by their leaders.
The two armies were now within
and yet the
collision
reinforcements and
receiving
easier reach of each other,
The Greeks were still
and had taken up
was delayed.
supplies,
ground where they were content to await an attack, but
which they could not quit without seriously exposing themselves to the formidable flights of horsemen, especially about
the banks
to
cross
and channel of the
it.
The
conclusions
river
of
reflected in the entrails of the sacrifices,
were
interpreted so as to
should they attempt
the generals were
which on either
duly
side
promise success in repelling attack,
Such was the report
failure in case of commencing it.
made to the Hellenic generals on the second day after the
army had taken up its new position. Their soothsayer was
but
Tisamenus, son of Antiochus, an Iamid of Elis, and as such
1
Herod,
vii.
103.
2
lb.
vii.
102.
—
;
iv.]
a
PERSIANS PREPARE FOR FINAL CONQUEST.
member
75
of a highly-reputed family of hereditary diviners
the origin of their ancestor and his art furnishes the mythical
adornment of an ode of Pindar
Olympia gained by a
Spartans for this war under circumstances calculated
—we
him
mule-car victory at
Tisamenus had been engaged by
after the present date.
the
for a
of the clan some ten years
relative
may
probably say literally so
—
to
raise confidence
in
They had made a concession
to the highest degree.
unparalleled since the mythical instance of Melampus, which
it
mimicked
latter
—
of adopting
on raised terms
citizen
;
for it
him and
— the
his brother also
after their first hesitation
—
as a Spartan
had been promised to him by the Delphic
oracle
that he should preside as diviner at five first-class victories,
and of these not one was as yet accomplished.
so
much
first
Tisamenus
for the consciousness of the prophetic faculty
— had
interpreted the oracle as promising a victory in the pen-
tathlon, but missed it
through
wrestling-match
failure in the
against Hieronymus the Andrian at Olympia.
Pausanias saw
The
the statue of the victor athlete there centuries after.
credit of the oracle
to that of the
was saved, apparently without damage
merely instrumental diviner, by the alter-
Herodotus catalogues
native reference to military victories.
its
fulfilments
in
this
with
sense,
a
of faith
simplicity
that vindicates the prudence of the politicians who, what-
ever their
own
faith,
—and the
—could
inconsistent with mistrust,
survival
of dread
is
not
not prudently forgo any
influence either for encouragement or restraint.
Aristides,
according to Plutarch, had obtained a Pythian response which
was inconveniently
— or
conveniently
— equivocal.
It
might
even have sanctioned a present retreat or renewed contest
in Attica.
As matters
for reconciling it
stood,
with a station
Eleusinian goddesses, which,
was
means were afterwards found
at least unavoidable.
if
near an
Near such a
Herodotus, the battle raged at
ancient
fane
of
not the best strategically,
last, so
fane,
we
learn from
that Plutarch appears
-
HISTORY OF 0RE1
76
m
be
to
earlier
error
placing
in
Athenian
'
in
ii
[cum
proximity to
Hj
iae,
the
station.
Like ceremonies with
like
were proceeding
result
in
th<
camp, where Mardonins chafed impatiently under
Persian
His soothsayer, Hege-
the restraint they imposed upon him.
sistratus,
was
and of the Telliad branch of the
also of Elis
Iamid clan; but
to
him no good fortune
had once escaped death
is
ascribed.
where he had slipped bond by mutilating
he was
now by
own
his foot;
hatred and a heavy price engaged
against the Spartans on the side of the Mode, but to
purpose, as he was
them at
last,
doomed
when
1
hands by breaking from
at Spartiat
prison,
his
«
1
and put
to be caught
little
to death
by
again as vainly exercising his function
at Zacynthus.
The Medising Greeks had
who
a Leucadian,
tus,
and
still
Hippomachus,
naturally told the same tale as Hegesistra-
and as day drew on tediously
battle,
who
also their diviner,
after day, forbade joining
so aided the temporising policy of the Thebans,
urged upon the fretting Persian that corruption,
if
but sufficiently unsparing, and combined with delay, must
infallibly
break
xip
the Greek confederacy.
Herodotus, though assuming throughout that in the Greek
cities
without distinction there were
tions so susceptible of bribery as to
men
in influential posi-
make such
a policy by far
the most natural and promising, yet warns us not to disallow
the
existence
of
with enthusiasm
a
—in
healthy patriotism
weakened and disabled by the
It
— which
he asserts
the very communities most liable to be
was not without some
selfish
special
treachery of a class.
encouragement that the
Medising Greeks beyond the Asopus promised speedy
from such intrigues.
fruits
Treachery had obtained some footing
even in the Athenian camp, and, however serious in
itself,
would certainly be magnified by agents with the treasures
of Persia at
command.
The head-quarters
1
Arist. 12.
of the inchoate
;
PERSIANS PREPARE FOR FINAL CONQUEST.
iv.]
conspiracy were in a house at Plataea,
— the
haunt of
77
dis-
contented men, whose importance was originally based on
family and
and was now
wealth,
impoverishing' ravages of the
new men
of
service of
reduced both by the
and by the emergence
requirement of the country for the
the
at
war,
Even the
more genuine personal endowments.
democratic innovations of Cleisthenes were not likely to be
held irreversible,
by land and
when
sea
the tone of the embattled combatants
already threatened their
attempt at oligarchical
ready to arise amidst the
it
An
difficulties of
a Greek democracy
was only by promptitude that Athens had been saved from
such a
when
crisis,
Marathon.
Miltiades was afield with her citizens at
The leaven was
Athenian politician knew
of
was never
it
against
Demus by
dissolution of the
and
Persians,
it
within the lump,
still
it
soon likely to be con-
was being made a stock
it
Aristophanes.
demus was
'
The
first
jest
step towards the
hands of the
to play into the
would be no matter of surprise
which seemed to counsel retreat to
oracle,
— and every
and the apprehension
be there,
so justifiable, or so
firmed by events, as while
'
extension.
not tyrannous reaction was always
if
if
the Delphic
Eleusis,
and which
Aristides could only with difficulty strain into an equivocation compatible with strategic requirements, were procured
by the bribes of Medising Athenians. The ears of statesmen
worthy of the name, like the eyes of physicians, are quick
for
symptoms that ought
the
alert,
to be expected.
Aristides
was on
but took measures rather to disperse the germs
of mischief than to attempt to extirpate radically
what he
was well aware could never be absolutely destroyed
at
the
present
conjuncture
especially
it
;
and
was better tho-
roughly to overawe the discontented than to reveal to them
own
their
strength and thus
drive
them
into
plete intercommunication, or to risk a panic
the
existence
eight
only
in
of treachery at such a
the
camp,
brought
moment.
two of
more com-
by publishing
He
these
seized
as
the
HISTORY OF GRE1
78
most
compromised
and
perhaps
being,
pretext
for
cessories
—
not be
— Aeschinefl
purposely,
known
and
had
Jli^lit,
To
rest.
the
on
a
ac-
uncertainty whether they might or might
— he
coming
indicated the field of the
which
as the true court in
themselves of
Lampriae,
trial,
by
these
moderate treatment of the
left in
of
immediate
of
rid
dome
the
of
— to
Acharaian
an
Ageeias
[cum-.
was open
it
The
imputations.
all
them
to
secret
battle
to clear
of this
policy
same as that of the teuderness of the
appears to be the
Potidaeans to the traitors of Scione.
For eight days the two armies were thus confronted
inaction,
when Timegenidas son
in
of Herpys, the colleague of
Attaginus at Thebes, suggested to Mardonius a stroke which
inflicted serious loss
and embarrassment on the Greeks.
movement westward the
their
road that led direct from
Mount
Cithaeron
had
latter
left
By
unguarded a
Thebes to the same pass over
by which
reached
chief supplies
their
Plataea, along a branch road from the Pass of Three
Heads
as the Boeotians, or of Oak-heads as the Athenians called
A
it.
body of horse despatched at night swooped upon
a train of five hundred beasts of burden laden with provisions
for
the Greek camp;
in
number of the animals
and carried
off the
a fierce
onslaught they killed a
as well as the
was the Greek army in the position
to
secure
the
men
conducting them,
remainder beyond the Asopus.
passage for the
it
future,
now
and
Nor
occupied able
their
supplies
were in consequence blocked up in the 'mountains.
Tw o
r
days more were marked by no further
hostilities
than
harassing annoyance to the Greeks from the enemy's horse,
which, constantly incited but not
much
aided by the Thebans,
skirmished to the right of their line in the direction of the
pass.
The barbarians
also
came down
and there annoyed the Greeks with
crossed the channel.
1
Herod,
ix.
39-50.
as far as the Asopus,
missiles
;
but neither
;
iv.]
PERSIANS PREPARE FOR FINAL CONQUEST.
By
79
the eleventh day the impatience of Mardonius under
the restraint to which he had subjected himself by deference
to the diviners of his
bazus,
Greek
who was among
allies,
and in a degree to Arta-
the few Persians whose authority was
by a personal hold on the Great King, became no
longer endurable. Remonstrance served but to precipitate
conferred
The only effect of their delay had been that
army had been growing stronger and stronger,
and would continue to do so. The Persian army must act
his resolution.
the Greek
which now assured
at once, before their vast superiority,
them the
was further impaired;
victory,
force Hegesistratus
and
his victims
to
they must not
by continued
pertinacity,
but just leave them alone, and join battle, employing simply
His resolution had only been confirmed
the old Persian forms.
by the plain-spoken
but be offensive, and intentionally so to a
that could not
sanguine chief
entire
who saw
army should
fortifications,
objections of Artabazus, who, in terms
fall
victory before him, urged that the
back at once and, relying on Theban
remain on the defensive
reach of abundant
be within easy
exhaustion of which in their
;
they would there
and
stores
forage,
the
advanced position must no
doubt have weighed with Mardonius
;
intrigue and bribery, as recommended
they could resort to
by the Thebans, and
wait tranquilly for a result that must come about without
any battle of importance.
But against the absolute determination of the appointed
head of the expedition
to Xerxes, as
also at once son-in-law
riage, of
2
— who
was not only brother-in-law
having married his
Darius
sister
l
Artazostres, but
and nephew, both by blood and mar-
—nothing
was
be said
to
;
a very short
leading question silenced the patrons of the diviners.
Persian officers
to the
The
and Hellenic commanders were assembled
demand, Were they aware of any oracle predicting
the destruction of the Persians in Greece, they could only
1
Herod,
vi.
43.
2
lb. vii. 2
;
vii. 5.
HISTOJRI OF GREECE,
80
say No,
or be
yon
tell
such
that
catastrophe
silent.
Well
'
there
oracle
atn
then,
1
he
[chap.
resumed,
hut
is;
'
declares
it
he contingent on our sacking Delphi.
t<>
will
1
tin;
This,
forewarned, we have neither done nor attempted, ami thenfore
who
let all
are friends to the Persians
victory over the Greeks
Herodotus takes upon himself
Mardonius had
oracle
applied by
him
know
to say that he
in mind, but that
it
was
knew what
entirely mis-
—not an unusual accident with prophecies,
himself knew prophecies, both of Bacis and Mnsaens,
to the purpose, and quotes one
as could be desired
The
that our
certain.'
is
— whenever
which
it
lb'
much more
certainly as explicit
is
may have
council, if it can be so called, broke
been composed.
up with a
command
to have all in readiness for action the next morning.
In the depth of that night a horseman from the Median
camp
rode over secretly to the Athenian outposts, and, obtain-
ing an interview with the commanders,
what was
to be expected
He
be taken unawares.
that the sacrifices were
gave warning of
on the morrow, that they might not
added the encouraging information
still
adverse to the Persians, and that
Mardonius, who had been long ago eager for
done
all
going to
day
;
battle,
and had
he could to get more favourable omens, was now
tight,
notwithstanding their adverseness, at break of
he counselled them to stand their ground even should
the onset be deferred, as their enemies would run short of supplies
within a few days at farthest.
have the event that you
me and
of
my
desire, let
liberation,
who
—a
'
And
should this war
some thought be taken of
Greek by descent
run this risk from sympathy with general Greece
;
—have
I
am
Alexander of Macedon.'
This news was immediately communicated by the Athenian
commanders
and
to Pausanias at the other extremity of the line,
elicited a proposal to
which the Athenians at once
as-
sented, professing indeed that only delicacy prevented their
own
suggestion of
it
at first as the
most reasonable plan.
1
rERSIA NS PRE PA RE FOR FIXA L CONQ UEST.
IT.]
8
was that the Athenians should change places with the
It
Lacedaemonians
— from the
left
wing* to the right
— so as to be
opposed to the Persians, of whose mode of fighting" they had
had experience at Marathon, while the Lacedaemonians would
be opposed to familiar enemies
The
readiness with
the traditional post of honour
if
in truth the
—Boeotians
and Thessalians.
which Pausanias, Spartan as he
resigns
is,
is to his credit as a general,
The
change had a sound military motive.
explanation of this, though passed in silence by Herodotus,
no doubt in the fact already noticed, of the large propor-
lies
tion of
bowmen
in the
Athenian armament, adapting
it
pecu-
with
liarly for resisting troops, especially cavalry, ecpiipped
the same weapon.
The surmounting
or uptearing of such
a fence as the Persians were wont to place before
them was
again manifestly a feat more easy for Athenians than for
Lacedaemonians, whose
them always
them
to
however perfect in
drill,
at a loss before a fortification
— the
Boeotian
hoplites
especially
—whom
took in exchange as opponents were in any degree
is
not to be thought
and indeed,
of,
left
which compelled
break line and rely on individual activity.
the Greeks
able
itself,
if
less
That
they
formid-
they had been,
the consideration would certainly not have been entertained.
A
greater difficulty
lies
in the
relative
numbers of the
The Athenians and Plataeans numbered only
interchanged.
8,600 against 10,000 Lacedaemonian hoplites; and,
still
more
important, their light-armed were again only 8,600, while
those of the Lacedaemonians were 40,000
they moved at
all,
therefore involved
extremities
of
it,
;
they moved in a body.
much more than an
;
and no doubt,
if
The interchange
alteration of
mere
the extremities of the array constituted the bulk
and the Lacedaemonians by
movement
far the larger proportion.
would throw the Corinthians,
Sicyonians, and Troezenians and their associates much more
Their
to
the right,
therefore
as well as the Athenians into
and bring them
contact with the Persians.
c
HISTORY OF GREECE.
82
The change agreed
Boeotians
the
recognised
prised Mardonius,
Persians
daybreak,
at
bronghl round the
finding
Pausanias,
carried back the Spartiats
Mardonius on
Ins
— Aristides
to
as they said, like helots j
countermanding the
Bide
the
that
overcoming some relnctance among- the Athenians
marched and countermarched,
bul
new antagonists and ap-
his Bide again
them.
movement was observed,
made
was
their
who on
confront
to
upon
[chap.
be
and,
the
Persians,
original positions were maintained unaltered.
That there
enemy
is
no hint in Herodotus of an attempt of the
to use their
numbers
to outflank the
Greeks
in
is
by Diodorus, that the
battle
high ground
;
favour
of the
of the fact stated in the otherwise wretched account
wing was protected by
left
the deep formation of the Persians noticed by
Herodotus may, however, have been according to customary
taeties,
Otherwise, as at Mara-
and not from any necessity.
thon, the chief Greek strength was stationed on the wings.
The
pride of Mardonius interpreted this attempted change
as due to fear on the part of the Spartans to encounter his
vaunted Persians; he was at least surprised at movements
apparently so inconsistent with notorious Spartan tenacity
of
on the
position
which Leonidas had
so lately
took the opportunity
maxim, from
fain
of battle
field
point of honour to
approved his loyalty
taunt
to
— the
them
with
their unreasoning reverence for
have profited
He
is
amongst themselves had not the wit
when they
settle
to appoint
cisely
disputes
fought, were
opportunities or
a
position,
meeting
and he
renouncing a
which he would
represented as having promised
Xerxes an easy victory over tribes who
language to
;
too
to
in
employ
their
quarrels
their
common
without fighting
stupid to
and who,
;
take advantage
but had no other thought
in a fair field
and fight
it
of
than
out pre-
where the vanquished had no chance of escape and the
victors
must needs purchase victory
at the very dearest price.
Taunts had been before employed without
effect to
overcome
PERSIANS PREPARE FOR FINAL CONQUEST.
iv.]
83
the disappointing- appreciation by the Greeks of the comparative value of positions; and he
now despatched
a herald
with a formal challenge in terms that might well wound
the feelings of Spartans of the ancient rigid school, already
bewildered by the frank manoeuvring of their general.
A
dead silence however was the only greeting which the Persian
when he taunted
herald received
the Lacedaemonians with
being- false to their principles in deserting their post, with
flying-
from
whom
Persians,
they
Athenians
the
set
to
encounter while they went themselves to combat the Persians'
slaves
;
they
if
would vindicate their
them come down, Spartans alone opposed
numbers,
equal
in
whether the victory as
armies were to be decided by the result,
or the rest
still left
renown
let
to Persians alone,
between
if so
the
they pleased,
to fight it out afterwards.
Between marchings, countermarchings, and messages the
day had already worn on; but when the herald returned with
the report that he had been
left
unnoticed after waiting a
considerable time, Mardonius was more than ever confirmed
Greek valour had been over-estimated, and
in his belief that
elated at the prospect of a
his
most
'
cool victory/
He
at once delivered
mounted archery against the two
effective force of
advanced wings of the Greeks, and then in flying clouds
The Athenians on the
against the intermediate bodies.
left
had been constantly harassed from the opposite side of the
Asopus, and were
now
driven back and excluded from further
The supply for the entire
army thus became dependent on the fount Gargaphia, near
access to the water of the river.
the Lacedaemonian position
;
and
this also
was cut
off in the
who
succeeded
progress of the contest by the enemy's horse,
in
choking
which we
it
and rendering
see the
rendered by the
it
unavailable
— an
occasion on
important service that mig-ht have been
bowmen
of the Athenians.
G 2
CHAPTER
DECISIVE BATTLE 01 PLATAEA.
nil
B.C. 479,
V.
— THE
September;
DEATH OF MARDONI1
B.
01. 75. 2.
Tjie position of the Greeks, already embarrassed by the
blockade of their supplies in the defiles of the mountains,
was thus made
The generals assembled
finally untenable.
in council with Pausanias at the
determined that
if
right wing, and
it
was
the Persians, as was likely and as proved
to be the case, deferred their general attack over the day,
the entire line
should be drawn back under cover of the
night to the so-called Island, some ten
stadia, or less
than a
mile and a half, distant from the fount Gargaphia, in front
of the
city
of Plataea;
this
was ground lying between
streams that flowed from Cithaeron for some distance about
three stadia apart,
till
they united in one channel forming
the Oeroe, that flowed westward to an inlet of the Corinthian
On
gulf.
still
the usual principle of geographical personification,
too spontaneous to be distinguished from matter of fact,
Oeroe was said by the natives not merely obliquely to
have been, but to be the daughter of the more important
eastward- flowing
water
;
Asopus.
and some degree of protection from the horse
during the day had
afforded
Here there was abundance of
inflicted
by interposed marshy
steepness of approach
1
:
— which
unceasing loss and worry
'
—was
ground, and roughness or
moreover from such a station a
SirWm.
Cell,
Itin. Or.
full
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATAEa.
85
half of the force could be spared to effect the reopening of
the communications through the passes.
Night
and
fell,
hour the numerous bodies
at the appointed
of troops, from the Corinthians to the Megarians inclusive,
who had been drawn up under
their
own
leaders
commenced
In the loose coherence of the army,
their march.
however, their destination was as much a matter of
ment
the
in
between the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians,
interval
command, and with
as of imperative
amounted
to
from the
flight
dreaded
Gargaphia.
they
horse
— from
two miles and a half
Here they took up
probable that
was
it
homogeneous and proved
a regular station.
portion of the
this
which
retired
till
they
under the walls of Plataea,
reached the temple of Here,
—some
agree-
a hurry
almost double the appointed distance, not stopping
twenty stadia
1
—that
army
was intended
the fount
It is
— the
to
most
least
march
to
but in any case the commanders,
the relief of the passes;
whether acting on their own discretion or carried away by
their troops in spite of
it,
by
retiring to such a distance
ceased to be available as a reserve, and were disabled from
supporting either one or the other of the wings in ease of
an attack during their convergence to a new position.
The centre having
the ground
first,
monians to follow
be shorter and
move
thus, according to agreement,
;
off
while the Athenians, whose route would
easier,
awaited notice of their progress to
in concert with them.
This notice was, however, both
strangely and alarmingly delayed.
all
moved
Pausanias gave the word for the Lacedae-
The
fact was, that
when
the taxiarchs of Pausanias were prepared to march, there
—Amompharetus, son
was one
of Poliathes, the lochagus of a
troop (the troop of Pitana according to Herodotus, though
Thucydides, with an emphasis not cmite explained, denies that
there
was such a troop)
1
Sir
—who
Wm.
Cell,
positively refused to budge.
It'oi.
Gr. ix. 32.
HISTORY OF GRE1
He had executed
making
[chap.
the countermarches parallel to the enemy,
without
open
;in
though
difficulty,
without
not
but Ins old Spartan rigour had since been galled
scruples;
by the insults of the Persian challenge, and he now declared
that he
was 'not one
to fly
disgrace
Sparta.'
the
to
of
themselves
hausted
convince him
man
dreadful.
To
leave
behind with his troop was to leave them to anni-
Such a
hilation.
motive
of his
and commands were alike vain.
The dilemma was perplexing, and even
the
and Euryanax ex-
Pausanias
endeavours to
In
but arguments
absurdity,
from the foreigners or be a party
loss in itself
was
and moreover
serious,
appealed and
sympathies.
might hereafter appeal
It
seriously to
Spartan
was the great merit of Pausanias that he
had learned a lesson from the splendid but wasteful
of
sacrifice
his
such inopportune wrong-headedness was one that
for
and was
Leonidas,
capable
self-
subordinating
of
Spartan scrupulousness to the urgencies of new conditions.
But
in
the Asopus was the sole survivor
this host beside
of the three hundred of Leonidas,
still
fretting under the
ignominy with which he was marked only because he had
not,
like
an
associate
who had
the
and
equal
excuse of ophthalmia for absence, thrown his
The achievements
away.
life
sufficient
uselessly
of Aristodemus in the battle that
then ensued would have entitled him to the prize of pre-
eminent valour, had they not been the frenzied deeds of a
man who was
quitted
best
his
part
only
place
of a
in
night
desirous
the
to
ranks
might
and
moreover
perform
them.
die,
to
well
be consumed
in
had
The
con-
tending with feelings that could on such grounds exclude
Aristodemus from posthumous honours as a
f
recreant. '
In
the meantime the Athenians, hearing nothing of any com-
mencement of movement by the Laconian camp, and bearing
in
mind former disappointments
in the execution of
Laconian
engagements, became not only uneasy but seriously distrustful,
and despatched a mounted messenger
for instructions
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATAEA.
v.]
The
and information.
quarrel had reached
he arrived, and as he stood by.
its height when
Amompharetus was ex-
pressing- his reply to the abuse of the generals
a
great rock with both hands, and
at their feet,
it
'
87
Thus I
my
cast in
by
lifting
declaring as he threw
vote not to fly before
the foreigners.'
Pausanias bade the messenger report the difficulty thus
madman, and
interposed by the obstinacy of a
Athenian generals to incline
so
loft,
as
absolutely imperative to
men
—
— Lacedaemonians
to
some distance
therefore
take
to
set
them
all
the
move
—directing
hills
before
least
motion
in
of
declivities
cavalry.
It
and
Cithaeron
was only
Amompharetus and
of
him
as
follow
if
across
higher ground
the
the
an intermediate position,
march meantime
the
Pausanias
obstinacy of
possible
at
help
still
daybreak.
but even then, unwilling
;
the
of
risk
towards
was
since it
and Tegeans, light and heavy armed
at
from which he could
not,
pressing,
a body of fifty-three thousand
lochagus, he resolved to halt
low
their
with the delayed
directly
Time indeed was
Lacedaemonians.
desired the
march towards
their
more
co-operate
to
in
a
beyond,
inaccessible
to
he would
series
of
under the
the
hostile
morning broke that the appearance
march to conThe movement of the entire
convinced him that he was not to have
his lochus enabled the
tinue as originally proposed.
force
his
—
had at
last
—
own way, and had brought him still at deliberate pace
move his men. But daybreak also revealed the Persian
to
cavalry on the alert, and shewed that an immediate attack
was to be expected while the ranks were
exposed to their onset.
the
march in the best available
horseman to the
to
come up
still
still
on ground
Pausanias disposed his troops on
order,
and despatched
distant Athenian force to urge
a
them
to his support as speedily as possible, or if this
could not be done to send
him
their
detachment of archers
to oppose the cavalry, the entire force of
which was coming
HISTORY OF GRBBi
88
down upon him.
detachments, and
in
overtaken
fart
absence
the
in
considerably before
a
mu
11<
[a
of the
the nearer
l>y
bowmen,
Buffered
could reach a favourable position near
li<'
lane of the EHeusinian Demeter, at a place called Argiopis,
on the stream Moloeis, ten stadia, or abont a mile, from his
This
starting-point.
and of
the distance assigned fur the Island,
is
therefore, allowing
this
verge
the
so
at
had
least
still
for
some indirectness
was probably one boundary, and
in the march, the Moloeis
been
attained
That the Demetrion was intended
position.
of the
to be included
may be taken
enemy's camp was by
this the oracle already quoted
in
The excitement
intense
the course of the Athenians from the
;
by the Asopus
altogether
to prove.
time
this
ground
flat
a ridge of low hillo<iks,
from
invisible
the
Persian
The vaunted and immoveable Spartans had
head-quarters.
also
them behind
led
they were
where
the
in
desired
evacuated their position, and were already descried at
a distance in
full
retreat for the passes, while the forces of
the Greek centre were remoter
confidence that
now
The
still.
exultation and
hurried Mardonius into precipitate action
cannot be better expressed than in the short speech assigned
to
brothers
his
Asopus.
now
'
Ye
pointed
to
the Lacedaemonians,
fled
warriors ?
with
from
who
battle,
Ye beheld
all
the
sons of Aleuas,' he said,
at sight of this deserted station,
never
persisted
'
—
scene
beyond
what have ye
the
to say
ye, the neighbours of
in declaring that they
and that they were the
first
of
all
how they shifted post, and now
how they have run away under
before
the rest of us
cover of night.
of Larissa
Eurypylus and Thrasydeius, and in the
of Artabazus
presence
see
He summoned Thorax
him by Herodotus.
and
As soon
as the time
came
for
them
to be
put to proof in battle against those who are really and truly
the bravest of men, they have exposed themselves as manifestly of
no account, even when compared
themselves of no account.
to
Greeks who are
For you, who praise them
for
—
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATAEA.
v.]
what you know them
89
have done, and are quite without
to
make
experience of the Persians, I
considerable excuse; but
with respect to Artabazus, that he should have been frightened by the Lacedaemonians, and yielded from fear to the
craven opinion that
we ought
to break
up our encampment
and go to be besieged in Thebes, has indeed astonished me.
The King
shall
hear of
it
me
from
yet
;
—though
this
is
a
matter that will have to be discussed at another time and
elsewhere.
What we
design of theirs and
and exact penalty
have now in hand
make
pursuit until
is
to frustrate this
we overtake them,
they have done to the injury
for all that
of the Persians/
This threat against a haughty rival in the favour of the
King, who, opposing the expedition from the
first,
had co-
operated unwillingly, and, chafing at subordination, had taken
every opportunity to thwart his chief, might not have been
uttered had not Mardonius believed that no more
before
him than
tives,
or
soldiers
work was
a triumphant slaughter of disorganised fugi-
had he known how
under Artabazus
entirely the 40,000 seasoned
— remains
of the escort of 60,00c
were by personal attachment at the disposal of their leader,
and withdrawn from his own command.
In wild excitement the Persian division of the army was
Asopus
at once despatched across the
the track of the Greeks,
flight
;
to follow at a run
who were supposed
on
to be in hasty
Mardonius himself on a white Nisaean charger led on
the mounted division of the Immortals
the ten thousand,
who were
— one thousand out
of
picked men; a corps distin-
all
guished by extravagantly rich accoutrements, supplied by a
privileged commissariat and
trains
of camels,
panied in camp by the harems of the various
all
the luxuries of
l
peace.
the rest of the camp.
1
The
The
Herod,
and accom-
officers,
and by
sally of the Persians roused
leaders of all nations, without
ix.
g8
;
vii.
83.
.
—
HISTORY OF GREECE,
90
waiting
were
definite
for
1
possibly
rushed on
mob, the
which under the circumstances
orders,
sent,
nol
only
fastest
of ranks
— with
first,
Greeks were co be had
for
multitudes,
their
Loose
lei
entire neglect
in
[chap.
array,
<>r
—
The Athenians had wheeled
still
\\li<>
shouting
no thought but
the
that
the snatching.
at
summons
the
of Pausanias,
but were now threatened themselves, and ind
engaged, while
:i
1
presently
by the Medising Greel
detached,
the Persian right wing; and the battle was thus divided in
the beginning into two independent conflicts.
The Lacedaemonians were overtaken
hoplites, light-armed,
beside them.
and helots
drawn up
first,
— with the Arcadian Tegeans
Strong- in his post,
— where,
from the nature
of the ground, attacks of cavalry, though present in more
force,
would have been of
and awaiting the suc-
less avail,
cour of the Athenians, or even the central forces of which
the remoteness could not be known,
his
men
arrows,
in
commanded them
unfavourable to action
knee,
The
— Pausanias
again held
hand; and, galled as they were by the Persian
and protected
hostile
— while
— to
as
still
remain
as
far
arrows began to
the
quiet,
possible
thick,
fall
sacrifices
were
crouching on the
by
their
shields.
and some horse
men were falling in
unmoved Greek ranks. It was now that Callicrates,
very stateliest and most beautiful man in the entire
approached near enough to engage;
the
the
When
army, was fatally struck.
complaint on his
of Greece,
—
it
lips,
was
he died
it
was with the
not at meeting death in the cause
for that
he
should perish without having
left his
lifted
home,
— but
that he
a hand, without
given proof of the qualities apart from which pride
having
the
in
possession of bodily beauty was admitted by the Greek to
be unauthorised and incomplete.
army
their
as
tranquil
;
confident
not a
man
Still
assailants
the attitude of the
came on was
started up, not a
weapon
perfectly
stirred
from one moment to another they expected the signal
;
as
for
v.]
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATA EA.
91
God and
He
opportune
from
action
meantime stood
commander.
their
distressed beside the discouraging" sacrifices,
even when the Persian foot were coming within the distance
where they planted in the ground the gerrha or wicker
shields that were to protect their formidable
archery, but where the closing
and systematic
up of their thickening ranks
would impede their orderly retirement and even their action,
and where the shock of
conflict, if
once successful, must be
decisive.
It
was just when opportunity and omens had,
trial,
renewed
after
been recognised by the Spartan general as
coincident, that the Tegeans,
and rushed to the attack
at last,
not
enduring of such stern
whether with or without command,
control, broke the line,
omen appeared
less
still
;
and now forthwith the expected
and with a suddenness that was
after-
wards ascribed to a momentary prayer addressed by Pausanias
in his trouble to the
At
gods.
its
(a
his signal the whole
quietude,
dangerous,
2
formation
'
T
Here and the other Plataean
Lacedaemonian host rose from
like a single wild beast roused
horrent.'
known
and where,
from
its lair,
In steady order, and shield to shield
as the synaspism), they closed
which the Persians prepared
line of gerrha,
lutely,
Cithaeronian
their
quarters, they fought as
bows being
upon the
to defend reso-
useless at such
close
from behind a breastwork, with a
much of the confidence of MarWith naked hands they grasped the Doric spears
bravery sufficient to vindicate
donius.
which were thrusting at their chests and
effect,
broke
when
this
off
faces with desperate
abundance of them across the
gave way resisted as furiously
:
fence,
and even
a sustained and
stubborn conflict raged by the very fane of Demeter as they
resorted to their knives
and scimitars
(acinaces),
tugging
at
the wall of shields, and hanging upon them to obtain an
opening for a stroke.
1
Thucyd.
ii.
This sustained valour,
75; Plut. Aria. 18.
2
if
taken alone,
Plut. Arist. 18.
HISTORY OF GREEi
02
[chap.
/.
would
have
bodily
Btrength they were on a pax with the Greeks; hut
such
in
since,
made them no unequal
a
compared
fought at
they
conflict
with
foes,
the
seeing
serious
in
disadvanti
they were
hoplites,
thai
naked
of
defensive armour, while they were far inferior in dexterity
their weapons,
in wielding-
and
upon a
attacks
their
line
as solid
and continuous as a wall were made in spasmodic
onsets;
singly even or in tens, or in hands
more and sometimes
less,
they started
Spartans only to meet their death.
of sometimes
forward
upon the
Yet as long as Mardo-
nius survived, and the Thousand under his immediate
mand were supporting
the
Median
'
com-
by pressing with
battle
on the Lacedaemonians, there was no sign of
serious effect
But even the Thousand were gradually reduced
by death and wounds
and when the leader disappeared,
giving way.
;
dismay and
A
flight at once took possession of the entire
army.
stone aimed by the hand of a Spartiat, Aeimnestus, struck
Mardonius on the head
charger, and
as he rode conspicuous
broke his
skull
;
on his white
and then, says Herodotus,
the compensation was discharged which, as the oracle had
found means of intimating, was to be paid to the Spartans
by Mardonius
for the slaughter of their
The
king Leonidas.
historian omits a moral to the miserable fact
which he
re-
who was now so
well serving the cause of united Greece, was to meet his own
death afterwards in an intestine quarrel among the Greeks
cords on the same page, that Aeimnestus,
2
He
themselves.
pauses yet again before proceeding with
the incidents of the flight to note
how
observable
that in the course of this battle, raging as
it
it
was,
did about the
grove and fane of Demeter, not a single Persian died or
even penetrated within the temenos, though large numbers
fell
in the unconsecrated
my
opinion,' he adds,
1
Herod,
vii.
'
if
40.
ground without the precinct.
one
is
'
In
to have an opinion about
2
lb. ix. 64.
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATAEA.
v.]
divine matters at
the goddess herself refused to admit
all,
them because they had
And
^leusis.'
set fire to the sacred Anactorion at
Greek mind
so the
set
is
at rest from
who might have taken
apprehension that Persians
in a
93
by
sacred precinct encircled
might
battle
an
refuge
either have
escaped, or not have been spared even there.
The Athenian
had only arrived within hearing of the
force
clamour of this battle when they had themselves to stand on
their
own
As
defence.
their Hellenic antagonists approached
(Plutarch, taking his figures from the collective
tural
muster-roll
Herodotus,
of
Aristides advanced in front
of their
and appealed
and conjec-
them
quotes
to
as
them
50,000),
in the
name
common gods to abstain from battle and offer no
men who were on their way to the rescue of
In effect it was only the Boeotians who fought
hindrance to
Greeks.
with zeal and resolution on the side of Persia against Greece
;
they held the Athenians in check for a considerable time,
while the rest kept
entirely or weje
off
slack,
and when
signs were visible of the discomfiture of the Persians, with-
drew
entirely.
The Thebans however, conscious that they
were fighting for
or death, had been too deeply
life
mitted to give up so
com-
Plutarch, as a Boeotian, naturally
easily.
pleads that only an oligarchical faction then in power was
traitor to
their
of this
Three hundred of
Greece, and not the nation.
and
first
faction
2
—
best
—
fell
before
Thebans turned and
their
aristocracy,
the Athenians,
to
fled
scene of confusion that was
now
valley and across the Asopus.
Persians in flight, but
which had come on
all
very sinews
and then the
gain the protection of their
The contagion of
city walls.
the
terror
had spread from the
visible all down the eastern
Not only were the remoter
the mingled nations of the centre
in disorder
were crowding back in double
confusion without having delivered a blow, to seek the refuge
1
Herod,
ix.
66.
2
lb. ix. 67.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
in
The
of the entrenched and palisaded camp.
received
considerable
from
protection
flying
Thebans
own and
their
the
unable to rally them
which, though
Thessalian cavalry,
[chap.
make any independent stand of their own, interposed
tween them and the Athenians and brought them off with
-
as tn
comparative
had
freer
But the
Loss.
play,
i
beless
victors of the subjects of Xerxes
and followed slaughtering the helpless and
bewildered fugitives.
If any Persian bethought
him
in his terror of the help that
might come from the 40,000 men of Artabazus, he looked
him
in vain.
Artabazus had anticipated the catastrophe with
man who
the cynical sagacity of a
has both the will and the
He
power to promote the conclusion that he prophesies.
own command
had carefully preserved his
and- his
battle,
for
them
accurately, he led
them
own
Mar-
adherents from the impulsive onset of Mardonius.
shalling'
for
forth as if for the
giving them a warning which would prepare them
some sudden turn
(well
his general discontent, and
acquainted as they were with
even
apart from more explicit
confidence as to his purpose), instructing
them
to be w-atchful
of his personal movements, and so soon as he was seen to
make
a
direct
might be without
hesitation.
on his way towards the
of defeat were
follow
to
start,
in
He was
battle-field,
apparent
;
whatever direction
still
it
only sluggishly
when unequivocal
signs
he instantly wheeled about, the
entire force following implicitly, neither to the Persian fort
nor the Theban citadel, but to the well-known and welltravelled
road
to Phocis that
marked a destination
for the
Hellespont.
The Greeks had
also
section of their forces,
for
fought without aid from one large
and these were now to be accounted
with varied fortune, some 37,000 out of 107,000.
the din of battle, the flight of stragglers
might
suffice,
If not
perhaps
even without messengers, to apprise the camp at the Heraeum
of
what was going on
;
but the endeavour to repair the error
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATAEA.
v.]
of their distant retirement was,
made
news of victory
before the
those next to
them
95
from whatever cause, not
arrived.
The Corinthians and
— counted up from the muster as 22,600,
— hastened, in no proper
over three-fifths of the whole
along' the hills
and undercliff
order,
direct to the
Demetrium; the
remaining two-fifths, from the Phliasians to the Megarians,
about 14,600, took the lower ground towards the scene of
conflict of the Athenians,
order.
and equally without precautionary
Here however they were caught sight of
defenceless disarray
their
in
by the unbroken Theban horse under
Asopodorus son of Timander, who charged them and pursued them into the mountains, with the loss of 600
slain,
without reason or result in any way.
The defeated Persians and the panic-stricken mob were
already in large numbers within the palisaded
been
left
and, not-
were employed in manning
withstanding their confusion,
the towers and strengthening
fort,
openings (which must have
its
of considerable amplitude to admit of so speedy
a reception under such circumstances) before
battle at the walls (teichomachia)
the Spartans,
little
or behind them,
could
it
A
reached by the heavy-armed Lacedaemonians.
now commenced,
be
stubborn
in
which
practised in fighting either against walls
They were soon
had decidedly the worst.
joined by the more expert Athenians, who, apprised by a mes-
senger of the state of things before the
their Hellenic enemies, covered as they
make
still
their
way
to Thebes.
A
fort,
willingly left
were in
retreat, to
stout contest from the wall
continued for some time, but at last the Athenians, by
combined valour and pertinacity, established themselves on
and
effected
an opening through which the Greeks
Tegeans again leading
— poured
in a flood.
The
down, there was an end among the defenders
tribes
barrier once
alike of orderly
array and of any further exhibition of valour.
crowding of intermingled
it,
— the
The mere
and arms was enough to
extinguish discipline and to disable
its
operation
if it existed,
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
96
while disaster upon disaster and the
demoralised
of chiefs
carnage
a
entertainments presided over
and disappearance
loss
The
even the best.
and
slaughter-house,
[chap.
with
became a
fort
even
which
ensued
tin-
by modern
satisfaction
princes and generals after centuries of improvement in the
means of human destruction can
The
vengeance
spirit of
by a sense of the danger
hope to
scarcely
was
for past sufferings
to be incurred
rival.
reinforced
by sparing any con-
siderable proportion of such a multitude of enemies
;
Pausanias
forbade taking prisoners, and neither supplications nor pro-
mises of ransom stayed the hands of Athenians and Lace-
who emulated
daemonians,
each
other
in
laborious work of massacre.
Penned up
which they had
a refuge
toiled at as
now merely
the
within
and
all
without option
continent to subserve
the
protection,
wretched tribes of men, swept together from
a vast
the lines
parts
of
the imperial
greed of a despot and the military pride of his satraps, were
killed in heaps like cattle,
and piled in blood amongst the
splendid tents, costly fittings, and the other apparatus of the
pomp and luxury
Out
of their leaders.
of the enormous Persian army, which he sets
down
in
round numbers at 300,000, Herodotus avers that besides the
40,000 who
On
fled
with Artabazus, only 3,000 were
Spartiat Lacedaemonians
The
left alive.
the side of the Greeks he only enumerates as killed
:
91 out of 5,000
Tegeans
16
„
1,500
Athenians
52
,,
8,000.
are said to have all belonged to the single tribe
last
Aiantis.
The
losses of the
perioeci
the
compendious
600, are
the
may
left
total
be
heavy-armed Lacedaemonians
who were engaged,
a
term
unless
Spartiats,
unspecified here,
Greek
loss,
given
possibly
— and
—the 5,000
comprised
of the
and perhaps went
by Plutarch at
question whether even
this
in
Plataean
to swell
1,360.
It
reckoning includes
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATA E A.
vi.]
The
the helots.
Spartiats,
and the Tegeans who fought
much more
with them, are thus seen to have suffered
in proportion than the Athenians.
mind that the
unenumerated
wounded
for
slain.
Any
while
;
of
the most part, and
when barbarians were
it
rela-
must be borne
had always a large number of
victors
wounded
heavily
In comparing- the
tive losses of opponents in ancient battles
in
97
even
often
in question,
vanquished,
the
the
the captives
were counted among the
reservation of prisoners was quite exceptional,
and made only with a view to ransom, hostages, or
sale as
slaves.
The entrenchment had been encumbered,
non-combatant followers
unnecessarily, with
and women of
supplies, attendant slaves,
favourites
of the
luxurious
nobles
all
necessarily
—purveyors
degrees,
downwards
of mingled
tions,
of
from the
and these
;
probably constituted the majority of the spared.
describes one scene,
and
Herodotus
which may serve to represent the aspect
horrors and
the rescues,
splendours,
recogni-
and coincident adventures that are implied by such
occasions.
While Pausanias was in the midst of urging and
direct-
ing the slaughter, a woman, in the richest Persian ornaments
and
attire,
threw herself at his
feet
and clasped
his knees,
She
claiming rescue, as a Greek, from Persian servitude.
declared that she was by birth a Coan, daughter of
torides son of Antagoras,
and had been
by the Persian Pharandates son
of Teaspis
a very extensive
miseries
barbarian
class
of
the
Hege-
forcibly carried off
;
an example of
inflicted
by the
domination on the Greeks of Asia Minor and
the islands, from which this victory alone had rescued the
Greeks
of Europe.
now addressing a
In the Spartan commander she was
host of her father's
;
he committed her at
once to the care of some of the ephors, and dismissed her
afterwards at her desire to Aegina, in possession of
dignified appointments and ornaments.
The
all
her
deliberate state
HISTORY OF GREECE.
98
in
which
Herodotus represents bet as arriving
covered
or
a iitia in ti.rd,
seems inconsistenl
to be
[chap.
preserved,
with
chariot,
with
moment, and
the
a
in
if
the picture
when
Precisely at this time,
all
barbarian
was at an end, came in the lagging supports,
resistance
of the Mantinaeans, and then of the Eleians.
and
regret,
still
more
their reproaches
knew no bounds
manders,
it
upon them
and on
in both cases
by
Their
their
com-
ascribed
their
return
home
against
them they
to
;
non-participation in the battle,
visited
is
must rather be transferred to the occasion
of her departure.
first
d
gaudy attendants,
ht-r
their
The Mantinaeans
exile.
have obtained yet one chance of service by pur-
would
fain
suing-
Artabazus on
road to Thessaly, but even this was
his
refused
them by Pausanias.
division,
— Diodorus
The Corinthian and Sicyonian
l
says the Phliasians
also,
—too
late
for
the battle, were sent forward, without further result than
ascertaining
that
the
retreat
was
and
remote
probably
final.
Artabazus was indeed pushing on rapidly, to keep ahead,
if
possible,
He
even of the never-resting tongue of Rumour.
told the Thessalians that he
matters
of
importance
necessitating
that Mardonius and his
a
great
by the indicated road
coast
attentions
roads,
by hunger, by
of the native tribes
speed,
to Thrace
assured
close behind,
by
them
and made
r
it
Here he avoided the
for Thrace.
and took the inland
as he passed
is
army were
called
w ould be prudent to
He then passed on through Macedonia
point of the
prepare for him.
was
numbers dwindling
his
fatigue,
who hung about
and by the
his march.
silent as to hostilities against the fugitives
hostility
Herodotus
from Plataea
on the part of the king- of Macedonia, of which we have
mention by
2
Demosthenes.
Even
so he
was driven to make,
not for the nearer Hellespont, but for the Thracian Bosphorus,
1
Diod.
xi.
32.
a
In Aristoc. 687
;
Epist. Phil. 164.
vi.]
THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF PLATAEA.
which, from
its
99
greater remoteness from Greece by sea, and
the strength of the Persian post at Byzantium, was more
likely to yield
a secure passage.
He
will reappear in the
story in unimpaired credit with Xerxes, and, for the Greeks,
in ill-omened
communication with Pausanias.
II
2
CHAPTER
VII.
—THE
GLORY
THE SPOILS OF PLATAEA.
B.C. 479,
At
Autumn.
01
1'USWIAS.
01. 75. 2.
Plataea the Greeks were occupied with the usual sequel
of victory, the collection and solemn interment of their dead,
and the distribution of honours and
By jiroclamation
and men.
spoil
was forbidden, and the large
tion of spoil
among both gods
of Pausanias all private appropriaforce of helots
was
employed to gather the whole together from the camp and
The worth of
field of battle.
(darics),
camp
precious metals in coined
money
personal ornaments, and enrichments of weapons and
and table-services that were
furniture, in the vessels
carried about in
such an expedition by the Persians, was
enormous; among the baggage-waggons gold and
was found in
x
sackfuls, so that of the
silver plate
abundance of merely
embroidered vestments which would at any other time have
been highly valued, no account whatever was taken.
An
imputation upon the Aeginetans here occurs, which, though
heightened by the historian's prejudice,
possibly
dicates a general feeling that the tone of Hellenic
still
in-
thought
had become vulgarised among- these more purely commercial
islanders.
helots
the
for
He
accuses
treasure
common
fund,
them
that
of dealing illicitly
should
have
and even ascribes
to
been
this
with the
brought
to
source, if
we
adopt the most moderate interpretation of his language, the
1
Herod,
ix. 80.
THE SPOILS OF PLATAEA.
origin of the largest Aeginetan
ioi
The
fortunes.
district
of
Plataea gave up long after to fortunate finders deposits of
and valuables that had been hidden away by those who
plate
never had a chance of recovering them, and the Aeginetans
bought from the helots sometimes the
secret of such stores,
sometimes the purloined objects themselves,
or torques,
and
—armlets, chains
and golden- hilted scimetars that were found upon
the bodies of the slain
enemy
all
over the
fresh from their secluded servitude at
field.
The
helots,
Lacedaemon, were as
ignorant of the precious metals as the Swiss
when they
rifled
and stripped the bodies of the Burgundians at
the tents
Granson, and were glad to get the price of brass for objects
of gold which in any case they would have been unable to
conceal or employ to any purpose.
A
more shameful fraud on the part of the Aeginetans
still
against the victors in a battle in which they themselves had
scarcely taken
sanias
a
any
part,
was the suggestion made
by Lampon son of Pytheus, one of
member
to
Pau-
their leading
men,
of a family distinguished for hereditary prowess in
the public games, and a participator in the glory of
He
mis.
exacted in
the
Sala-
represented that the predicted penalty to be re-
covered from Mardonius
if
1
full
head
still
lacked completion
;
it
would be
and the glory of Pausanias immensely enhanced
of Mardonius
were cut
off
and exposed, as
Mardonius and Xerxes had done with the remains of Leonidas.
Pausanias repudiated the suggestion with contemptuous dignity
;
it
was barbarian, not Hellenic, in
to Lacedaemonians, whatever
Lampon was bidden
it
to bring no
more
and repugnant
spirit,
might be
to
advice,
Aeginetans.
and might be
thankful that even this time he got away with only a rebuke.
By
drawn
next day the body of Mardonius was missing
for burial, it
was assumed
;
—with-
and more than one man
afterwards claimed and received large rewards from his son
1
Pind. Isthrn.
iv.
HISTORY OF GRE1
102
Artontes for the service: there was
really
ment
;i
[chap.
report thai
had been
it
A
performed by Dionyeophanee, an Ephesian.
—
barrow
probably a
— on
the right of the
monufrom
road
Eleutherae to Plataea, immediately after ihe junction of the
road
to
was pointed out long
Ilysiae,
'
after
as
that
<»f
Mardonius.
And now
again, as after Salamis, questions arose as to
among
the assignment of chief honours
the nations engaged.
Some
of the Athenian leaders, Leocrates and Myronides espe-
cially,
were indisposed to concede any exclusive distinction to
the Spartans for
all their exploits
them
could only prevail on
and leadership, and Aristides
to remit the apportionments to the
In the end, Athenians and Lacedaemo-
assembled Greeks.
nians each erected a separate trophy, and each nation honoured
its
own most
sons.
2
deserving champions without drawing compari-
Pausanias speaks of the trophy as a single one, and
situated about fifteen stadia (a mile and a half) beyond the
city,
towards Thebes.
Here, as after Salamis, further heart-
burnings were said to have been evaded by the chief
rivals
renouncing their claims, at the suggestion of Megarians or
Corinthians, in favour of an inferior power.
The gods and
heroes of Plataea had been specially invoked, and in con-
sequence eighty talents (about £2,000) were set aside for
the Plataeans, a
to
Athene Areia,
adorned
it,
to be seen
sum which
— tbe
defrayed the cost of a temple
Martial,
— and
of the paintings which
and which remained in preservation long enough
by Plutarch and described by Pausanias.
dotus however, giving voice to the
common
biassed Greeks, after the generous confession that
enemies the
first
Hero-
opinion of un-
among
their
honours were due to the Persian foot (the
horse of the Sakae), and
among
declares that of the Greeks, brave
individuals to Mardonius,
men
as the
Tegeans and
Athenians had approved themselves, the palm of valour belonged
to the Lacedaemonians,
1
Paus.
ix. 2.
— belonged by this token, that though
2
lb. ix.
2. 4.
THE SPOILS OF PLATAEA.
vil]
all alike
103
had conquered their opponents, the Lacedaemonians
had assaulted and conquered by
most
far the
He had
valiant.
before stated his opinion that the one seat of strength in the
army
of Mardonius lay in the ranks of the native Persians of
whom
he was so proud.
In place of Aristodemus, whose claims
he thought were wrongly set aside, Poseidonius, Philocyon,
and the rigid Spartiat Amompharetus were preferred; and
of these again Poseidonius was chiefly honoured,
—honoured,
while Aristodemus was set aside, inasmuch as in his case daring
had not been urged .by contempt of the
It
is
he put in
life
peril.
highly characteristic of the Greek mind that Herodotus
returns to Callicrates, and his premature death, as explaining
how
was that a man
it
so beautiful
is
absent from the
list
that signalises the most brave.
Among
the Athenians, renown distinguished Sophanes son
of Eutychides, of the
came
to be told
to
liable
—a
deme
of Decelea
the
;
valuable example of
man
how
wander away through metaphor
of
fact
into
whom
was
myth
it
still
— that
he wore in battle an iron anchor or grappling-iron attached
with which he moored himself to his
to a bronze chain,
station
till
again and carried
there
were in
his enemies
it
on in the pursuit.
another which conflicts with
is
when he took
it
So the story goes
;
flight,
it,
'
namely that the anchor
he carried was not formed of iron and hanging
but a painted symbol on his ever restless
tunity
how
is
and Greeks, now
killed the
'
shield.'
Oppor-
Aegina by the Athenians, when Greeks
were in
allies,
Argive Eurybates, a
— another
'
it
ix.
he challenged and
victor in the
x
pent-
as the
deme
of Sophanes,
is
introduces an allusion to a later incident, the
invasion of Attica by
Herod,
conflict,
Nemean
brilliant exploit.'
The mention of the Decelea,
fortunate, as
1
to his corselet,
taken to record of this champion of Greek liberty,
at the sieg-e of
athlon,'
up
but
2
75; Paus.
Archidamus, and so informs us that
i.
29. § 4.
2
01. 88. 2
= B.C.
431.
—
104
history OF GREEi
•
[chap.
Herodotus was finishing his history after that date; that be
w;is
in
genius
faol
—a
— anachronism
as
seems
it
and with Euripides when author of the Medea
gether in Greece was
From
god
comparative
his
for
contemporary with Thucydides at the age of 40,
all
;
— so near
the collected spoil a tithe was then reserved
at Delphi;
and from
this a golden tripod
and placed on a three-headed serpent near the
nias found that Phocian sacrilege had taken
was
tripod, but the bronze support
altar.
its
new
the
Concity,
stands to this day
it
inscribed with a list of patriotic cities.
the
Pausa-
way with
in its place.
still
and there by rare clemency of fortune
f<>r
was dedicated,
stantino transferred this to the hippodrome of his
tion
to-
that was archaic and most modern.
It bore the inscrip-
:
'EAAdSos tvpvxopov
oarrfjpes tuvo' dvtOrjKai',
SovXoavvrjs arvytpas pvaa.pi.tvoi iruXias. 1
Further reservation was made
for a
bronze statue of Poseidon,
seven cubits high, at the Isthmus, and for another of Zeus,
twelve cubits high, at Olympia.
Pausanias the traveller
notes of the latter, apparently merely to guide the curious,
that
was turned towards the
it
east,
and he copied from
base the catalogue of the dedicating
its
cities
already re-
ferred to.
Of
assignment of special trophies we are told that
the
the Tegeans,
among
who
first
entirely of bronze,
in their ancient temple of
of
2
entrenched camp, had
other things from the quarters of Mai'donius an elabo-
manger formed
rate
entered the
which
it
probably
3
which they dedicated
Athene Alea,
in the conflagration
perished.
In the temple of Athene Polias at Athens was long
shown
prize,
the
— and
identity
1
Diod.
of
corselet of Masistius
— an
after
appropriate Athenian
a scimitar asserted to be that of Mardonius, the
which, however,
S. xi. 33.
2
is
01. 96.
reasonably questioned
3
Pans.
viii.
45. § 3.
by
—
THE SPOILS OF PLATAEA.
vil]
Pausanias,
a trophy
A
who
105
refuses to believe in the resignation of such
by the
l
Lacedaemonians.
metrical inscription
by
2
Simonides
for a
bow and arrows
dedicated at Athens, recalls the specific services rendered
that weapon at Plataea
Tu£a raSe
vr)<£>
by
:
TrroXf/xoto Tr(iravn4va SatcpvuevTOS
'ABrjvairjs tceiTai
viropp6<pia,
noWdfci 5^ arovoivra Kara k\uvov tv
(parrcw
5ai'
Tiepawv lrriro/Mx aiv ai/tart Xovoa/xiva.
The general
distribution concerned a miscellaneous assem-
blage of booty, such as
silver,
'
concubines of the Persians, gold and
Whether the
and other valuables and animals.'
principle of apportionment with reference to
mined by the numbers of
4
3
precise
merit was deter-
contingents must remain uncertain,
but in any case the share of the Lacedaemonians could not
have been
than enormous.
less
Again, we are
as to the disposal of this share,
treasure, in a polity of
whether
left in
the dark
as public or private
which a professed fundamental maxim
was to discourage and ignore accumulated wealth and the
luxuries to which
it
Apart however from the
could minister.
laxities that creep into all organisations
founded on the basis
of asceticism, a populous state, of the influence and power of
Sparta, could never dispense with the
command
of some consi-
derable treasure or of stored wealth in some form.
ascetic disciplinarians, especially
when
And
even
at the head of a system,
can always find opportunities of expensive self-indulgence,
which by some means are brought within the
stern
wealth
code.
;
We
read at this time
and others
before us whose
will speedily,
of Spartans of great
and not unfrequently, come
common weakness
is
greed for that gold of
which their laws forbade almost the mention
we
letter of the
look back to the reign of Darius,
we
;
and even when
find that if Cleo-
menes repudiated the invitations of Aristagoras
1
Paus.
3
Herod,
i.
27. §
ix.
81.
to aid
2
Sim. 200.
'
Diotl. S. xi. .33.
i.
an
HISTORY OF GREECE.
106
Ionian revolt,
was shocked
capture
was
it
at
having
Susa
of
for
na-ons, ami not
oilier
because he
held out as a temptation that the
it
was quite
within
kino-,
treasure-house of the Greal
might confidently
rival
Aristagoras might
now seem
possibility,
by
1
Ionia in
— Susa,
the
which he
acquiring
The promise of
riches.
Spartans to have come
to the
and
to pass; general, ephors
[chap.
Spartiats, perioeci
and
helots,
might
all
them
and men of the stuhhorn antique stamp of a Leonidas
or
;
look round as
if
a
new world had opened upon
an Amompharetus were blind
they had not some mis-
if
of the working of this sight upon all classes of visitors
trust
from the Eurotas, from the helots who had loyally contributed
to the capture,
and by
and yet were only to share
For him
also, as if
gods, the several classes of spoil—'
all
it
dangerously
Regent himself on whom they were
stealth, to the
lavished so abundantly.
camels, and
in
women,
next after the
horses, talents,
the other wealth of whatever kind
'
—
were
not tithed exactly, but put under contributions expressed by
tens,
and with him rested of necessity the disposal of whatever
was most
princely.
Mardonius, though himself only a deputy,
or lieutenant, had remained in possession of
the splen-
all
didly appointed establishment of the fugitive King, and while
Pausanias gazed on the vessels and furniture of gold and
silver,
the luxuriously covered couches and embroidered cur-
tains, a
thought occurred to him of a contrast that should
give zest to his elation in victory.
generals
to
a
feast
the
in
He summoned
royal
tent
itself,
the Greek
which they
found set out and prepared in every detail by the Persian's
own
train of confectioners
still
alive
;
and beside
and cooks, as
if
Mardonius were
he pointed with laughter to a spare
it
Laconian dinner that had been prepared in the usual order by
own servants for himself, exclaiming with derisive scorn,
Ye men of Hellas, I have brought you together for precisely
his
'
1
Herod,
v. 49.
;
THE SPOILS OF PLATAEA.
vii.]
this,
—
who
to
enjoyment of
moral
is
wretched as
Roman
Caractacus by a
Philip de Comines
The turn
ours.'
put into the mouth of
is
and of the hardy Swiss by
writer,
but in this case
;
general,
came here
splendour,
this
the same that
Median
of the
folly
all
plunder an existence so
of the
1
you the
exhibit to
to
having-
107
strikes
it
upon the
an appreciation of the more luxurious
ear as involving
fare,
when obtainable, that has scarcely the true Laconian ring.
The traveller Pausanias mentions finding the tombs of the
Greeks very near the entrance to the city of Plataea
came
in
as
he
from Attica, inscribed with the epitaphs of Simonides
the Athenians and Lacedaemonians having each their burial-
and the
place,
monians made a
companies
rest
—among
The Lacedae-
of the Greeks a third.
triple division of their
whom
Philocyon, and Callicrates
dead
;
commanders of
were Poseidonius, Amompharetus,
—occupied one
of the Spartiats another, the helots a
-
depository, the rest
But
third.
besides
these veritable tombs, Herodotus avers that certain fictitious
fraudulent cenotaphs, had
ones,
been afterwards raised by
other cities anxious to assert their participation in the victory.
One mound
raised
for
— in
disgrace again
afterwards by a friendly Plataean
is
whom
said of the burial of the enemies
;
— some
he names.
to
modern physiology
It
left
still
doing so
above
3
— a case not unmany
at least
ground through autumn and winter.
remained to deal with Thebes.
it
years
Nothing
—when they gathered the bones
together into one place, appears to imply that
were
ten
and indeed a notice that
the Plataeans found one skull without sutures
known
having been
especially he charges with
Aeginetans
was incumbent to
But even before
offer appropriate sacrifices for
the great deliverance, and on this point guidance was solicited
from the god at Pytho.
The
oracle enjoined the
immediate
erection of an altar to Zeus Eleutherius (the Liberator), but
/cm.
v. i.
*
Herod,
ix. 85.
3
lb. ix. 83.
—
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
108
forbade them to offer
:t
sacrifice
been quenched throughout the
upon
until
it
Plataean
all
|.
bai.
fire
had
as having
district,
been polluted by the sacrilegious barbarians, and re-lighted
common
pure from the
to be
extinguished,
engaging to
possible speed.
visitation,
fire
fire
all
fire
the city,
left
from the god with the utmost
Arrived and forthwith purified at
and duly besprinkled and crowned with the sacred
took
officials
and caused
and a certain Euchidas
back
bring-
The Greet
hearth at Delphi.
immediately made a general
Delphi,
he
laurel,
from the altar there, started again to race homeward
to Plataea,
and came in before sunset, having accomplished
the double journey, so the story goes, within the day.
greeted the expectant citizens, delivered over the
fire,
He
and at
down exhausted, and died on the spot. The Plahim up and buried him in the sacred precinct of
Artemis Eucleia, inscribing on the tomb the following tetraonce sank
taeans took
meter
Eux'2as TivQwZi 6pe£as $X6e rad'
'
avOrjfitpuv.
Euchidas running hence to Pytho here returned the
The
full
distance of one thousand stadia
self -same day.'
— 115 miles — obliges
us to assign a very large interpretation to the
'
single day' of
the tale and the inscription.
The enthusiasm of the confederates
readily extended to
something more than the present occasional
resolved,
sacrifice.
It
was
on the proposal of Aristides, that the celebration
should be annual, and that every fourth year
—a pentaeteris
there should be a celebration of Eleutherian games, in the
presence of such sacred missions from general Hellas as the
various cities were
great
common
wont
festivals,
political deliberation.
to despatch to represent
and perhaps of envoys
To the Plataeans was
them
at the
(itpo^ovkoC) for
to be
committed
the function of offering sacrifices on the part and for the
safety of Hellas, as well as performing the annual rites at the
graves of the dead
institutions,
;
and
in return,
and as security for these
they were to be declared inviolable and conse-
—
THE SPOILS OF PLATAEA.
YK.j
The Plataeans thus obtained
crated to the god.
nominal guarantee from Greece at large
their territory to the limits of Hysiae
had been wrested
1
B.C.
The
519.
109
for
at least a
for the extension of
and the Asopus, which
them from Thebes by the Athenians
in
between the arrangements which the
parallel
Greeks attempted to establish here and the sacred immunity of
Elis and the participation of all Hellas in its
games
is
yet the suggesting influences are so natural that
fest
;
less
reasonably conclude that the correspondence
rivalry or mimicry, than carry back the analogy,
is
mani-
we may
due to mere
and
infer that
the elevation of the Olympic games and territory to their
was originally due
distinction
to like combinations of events
some great conquest
to the enthusiasm of a confederacy at
which was connected with the seat of the
festival in origin,
conduct, or conclusion.
These generous resolutions, made in the
first
heat of sym-
pathy, proved of but insignificant or evanescent advantage for
The
Plataea.
site
was unfavourable, to say nothing of the
Greek calendar being already well covered by
games which could not be superseded
on, the
growth
to be checked
as
early
either;
and value of
war.
It
institution
was
liable
by the very intimate attachment of Plataea
of Lacedaemonians
will to
new
and
Plataea had placed itself under the protection
to Athens.
of Athens
in popularity of the
festivals
and, as time went
;
—
as
B.C.
519,
at
the recommendation
Herodotus thought, out of no good
as
and the loyal city had approved the
at
its alliance
Marathon
spirit
as well as in this later
might even seem surprising that privileges should
now be conceded
so readily
which could scarcely but redound
to the advantage of the protecting state,
were so well known
:
but Athens was not then in a con-
dition to excite alarm at a spirit of
enthusiasm was
whose aspirations
blinding
special type to the still
all
living
1
Herod,
encroachment ; patriotic
but politicians of the
germs of
vi.
108.
most
internal dissensions
;
no
and
rivalries;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
[chap.
common
animosity of the
and; above
the
Greek army against the
patriotic
Medising Thebans,
the
all,
especial enemies of Plataea,
contumacious within the walls
still
which had served the Mede
as the fortified base of his
mosi
dangerous and hardly frustrated enterprise, would cause
a
proposition so appropriately honouring the patriotic rival to
he carried
A
by acclamation.
further resolution, also
Aristides,
prosecution of the war
as
is
'
said
on the motion of
we must
for the
the numbers to be raised are given
;
io,oco shields (that
least,
it
had reference to a future Hellenic muster
hoplites),
is
light-armed
infer, of
with a
number
like
men; 1,000
at
horses, to
supply the want so grievously experienced in the late battle,
and 100
It
ships.
probable that these forces are to be
is
considered exclusive of the power of the Spartans, to
as directors of the
whole
application of their
own
contingents of the
allies.
On
the eleventh
day
r
— the
faction,
leaders
to decide on the
left
resources, as well as to dispose of the
Thebans w ere summoned
Medising
would be
it
whom
after
the victoiy
Plataea
at
members
to surrender the
the
of the
and especially Timegenidas and Attaginus,
of the
leaders,
army w ould not remove from
T
mand was complied
— with
the notice that the
before the city
till
the de-
Refusal was followed up by the
with.
usual measures taken to reduce a fortified city in Greece
attacks w ere
T
made upon the
walls, but the
main
reliance
was
placed on the exclusion of supplies by investment, and on the
openly expressed intention to damage the territory to such an
extent that surrender would involve a less
sacrifice.
On
the
twentieth day a herald announced to Pausanias that the Thebans
were prepared to give up the
2
Pausanias in
Roman
times
Plutarch that the crime of
1
Plut.
Arid
21.
men demanded.
is
The
as positive as the
Medism
traveller
Boeotian
lay exclusively with an
-
Paus.
x. 6. § 1.
m
THE SPOILS OF FLA TAEA.
vii.]
Had Xerxes
oligarchy.
Peisistratids ruled, the
invaded Greece,
There
open to the same charge.
in this
— certainly some
faction
was sure to be born,
of the earlier policy.
lie
when the
says,
Athenians themselves would have been
is
aud at any
;
much
probably
truth
an anti-Medising
rate,
not to revive, on the failure
if
The oligarchs had made the
best terms
they could, weakened as were their ranks by the slaughter of
so
many
of their class by the Athenians in the battle
and
;
Timegenidas made a patriotic virtue of the necessity of saving
A
Boeotia from further ravage, and the city from capture.
futile
attempt to induce the captors of Persian treasures to
be put
with a money ransom having
off
the utmost
failed,
that could be done was to appeal for such subventions from
the funds of the public
— that
—
public which had in truth
'
gone along with their policy
bribery
their defence.
as
would when applied in
what they proposed
help
shi*ewdly
'
urge
to
in
Everything was done to give the surrender
the air of being the voluntary act of Timegenidas and the
rest,
and they were not without confidence that between
argument and corruption they might come
Attaginus, less sanguine or more fortunate,
in time.
His children were given up in
Lampon, that Medism was not a
'
the calculations of the
them than he cut
rest,
off all
death by his
but sent
spirit of his reply
child's fault.'
Divining
opportunity of intrigues by imme-
carrying the prisoners off with
all to
his escape
he was no sooner in possession of
diately dismissing the confederate forces
them
made
his place,
back by Pausanias with the remark, in the
to
through.
safe
own
him
home
;
and then,
to the Isthmus, he put
authority.
common triumph
Fifty-two years after this
of
Greece
the city of the Plataeans was besieged and subverted by
Greeks
—by
Lacedaemonians, at the commencement of that
intestine quarrel
was best
in
which was to be the ruin of
Hellas (427
B.C.).
they were again expelled (374
so
much
Restored again (386
B.C.), to
await a
that
B.C.),
final restoration
—
HISTORY OF GRE1
112
two generations
B.C.)
(315
tenacity of tradition and
no insignificant
intended
field
later;
and
institutions which
traces of the
Hellenic interest and hope.
tin-
had been
lor
one
Plutarch of Chaeronea,
probably an eye-witness, thus describes the ceremony
the
1
fulfilled
tombs of the
of their ancestors at the
On
all
inaugurate a period of Hellenic unity, from the
to
with which the Plataeans of his day
slain
the engagements
:
6th of the month Maimacterion,
of the Boeotians,
A
through
yet,
ha,
of race, this brave people carried over
where the blood of many tribes had been shed
common
who was
'
|.
trumpeter
—the procession
is
—Alalcomeneis
marshalled at break of day.
sounding notes of war
precedes
cars follow
;
laden with branches of myrtle and crowns, and with them
a black bull
and young men of free condition carry amphorae
;
of wine and milk for the libations, and vessels of
perfumed ointments
no slave
;
which
assistance in the service
Last of
for freedom.
is
being paid to
to touch iron, is
to
He
men who
died
now
wear any colour but white
arrayed in purple chiton and
girt with a sword, as, holding a hydria taken
record
and
comes the archon of the Plataeans,
all
who, forbidden at other times
and even
oil
permitted to give any
is
from the public
he traverses the city on his way to the tombs.
office,
then takes water from the fountain and washes the monu-
ments, and anoints them
;
and
after sacrificing the bull
on the
pyre and praying to Zeus and Hermes Chthonios, he invites
men who
the brave
blood
died for Greece to the bancmet and the
and mixing wine
;
in a crater, pours it
exclaiming, " I drink to the
of the
2
1
Greeks."
and
altar
fillets
;
'
on the ground,
died for the liberty
'
Thucydides adds,
with robes
men who
'
honouring the tombs
—
Zadijixaaiv
—
the ecmivalents probably of the black scarves
which we
see attached to
tombs on
vases.
The
and statue of Zeus Eleutherius, both of white marble,
1
Plut. Aristides, 21.
-
Thucyd.
iii.
58.
THE SPOILS OF PLATA E A.
vii.]
113
were erected just without the city of Plataea. near the bronze
monument
as late as
over the slain of various tribes.
1
In
Roman
Pausanias the Eleutherian games w ere
r
still
times
held
here on the anniversary of the battle, the fourth day of the
Attic
for it
month Boedromion. The chief
was an
2
ayav ore^aytTr/s
prize
—was
—a crown
or chaplet,
given for the race in
armour, for which the altar was the starting-point.
1
Paus.
ix. 2. § 4.
2
Strabo, 412.
CHAPTER
THE BATTLE OF MYCALE.
THE FINAL RETIREMENT OF XERXES.
479 B.C.;
The
battle of Plataea
of the world
that
it left
;
01. 75.
and
1.
a.
was truly one of the
decisive battles
the victory was not only decisive in the sense
the worsted
all possibility
VIII.
army
disorganised and ruined beyond
of rally, but that
it
precluded for
all
time any
renewed attempt by Persia to subjugate continental Greece.
Upon
this field
was jeopardied and saved,
if
not the last and
single chance of the survival of progressive civilisation,
at least of the
much
prompt development of all its best characteristics;
the ripened display, within the next
fifty
years of Hellenic
independence, of that healthy and hopeful manhood of the
had been maturing through
race that
centuries, to be staked
at last on the turn of one day of conflict.
to infer that the
have been
germ
lost to the world,
;
would be rash
though Oriental domination had
oppressed or even exterminated
Sparta
It.
of Hellenic genius would necessarily
but to the happier result
Hellenism at Athens and
it
is
at least due that the
world inherits a history, a literature, and art through which
Hellenic genius remains so prime an influence for instruction
and dignity in
and manners,
and
delight, for refinement
for
guidance in administration of the intellectual powers,
for elevation of purpose,
theory of humanity.
is
not free from
hopes
are
A
many
indeed
art
to noblest patriotism,
and largest
story opens before us which assuredly
a
discouraging incident;
disappointed
at
every
turn
our best
;
but
the
;
THE RESULTS OF PLATA E A.
warning's, if
the moral.
115
we fairly read them, take an important place in
The vices and errors of the Greek communities
keep our eyes open to the imperfections which may intrude
among virtues, that most approve themselves to be virtues
when found strong enough to encourage humanity, for all its
shortcomings and
difficulties,
not to despair.
All the importance of the victory could not however be
To many a Greek the power and
moment.
seen at the
wealth of the Great King could never have been realised
so formidably
as in
sight
magnificent
of the ruin of his
Here, in the resources which he had forfeited,
armament.
was apparent evidence of what he might
still
have in reserve
the magnitude of the danger that had been escaped, but only
just
was brought home to the senses amid the
escaped,
blood-stained spoil of the vast camp, with a liveliness that
could not
while
it
but have some
effect
on future apprehensions,
strengthened resolution for the future.
dence rose in more than equal proportion
had shattered
the aggressive power
;
and
Self-confi-
the victory that
of
spirit
Persia
animated the Greeks to prepare themselves against a revival
of aggression, and strengthened a decision which had before
been halting, to take securities against
it
with
all
the power
of settled concord and alliance.
For although the host that, whether as ally or enemy, had
devoured the plains of Thessaly, Boeotia, and Attica, might
be assumed as accounted
for,
yet the hold of the Persians on
their established concpuests in
Thrace
;
their
command
of the
Hellespont, whether for reinforcements or interruption of the
Euxine trade
with
all
;
and the strength and designs of their
Ionia and Phoenicia to recruit from, were considera-
tions of sufficient
council
fleet,
weight
to give spirit to those in the
who advocated continued
Plataean
exertions and hearty adhe-
rence to the new-found value of confederation.
The
failure of
Darius at Marathon had not deterred Xerxes from a second
expedition, but had rather
prompted more formidable preparai
i
HISTORY OF GRE1
16
1
tion
and the defeat at Salamis had only induced the enemy
;
change the quarter of attack with
t<>
1"'
no!
still
hap.
On some
exhausted.
a pertinacity thai
mighf
of these points of apprehen-
sion the victors of Plataea were soon to be happily relieved,
for
on the very same
clay,
the afternoon of the day which
had been ushered in by the frantic onset of Mardonius, the
Persian
fleet
was
and a not unimportant
finally destroyed,
blow delivered even upon their army in Asia.
The commanders of the Greek
more than reciprocated the
fleet
had of necessity
that
anxieties
Pausanias and
might have had time to feel on their account.
was still in Thessaly they had not
moved beyond the advanced station of Delos, from whence
Aristides
While
Mardonius
they could more readily obtain information about the enemy's
fleet
and act upon
it
with greater promptitude.
Of
their
movements when the re-occupation of Attica drove the
Athenians again to Salamis, we know nothing more than that
the mission of the Athenian admiral Xanthippus to Sparta
that the Athenian division, as might be expected,
implies
was not
far
The evacuation of
from the shores of Attica.
the latter country, however, soon set
The Persian
fleet
it free.
might now have been expected
back to the Hellespont, or
support or supplies to
more probably
still
Mardonius
;
move
to
afford
to
but in point of
fact,
besides the necessity of overawing the rising agitations in
Ionia and
the
islands,
mariners
the Phoenician
had
not
only been foiled by the weather on the
unknown western
by
their behaviour at
coasts,
but had forfeited
Salamis
;
their
all
commanders
confidence
consequently discouraged
wei'e
from attempting even short voyages, and a renewal of the
conflict
seemed more hazardous
could not
be
tion against
still.
Of
immediately aware, and to
this the
them
Greeks
prepara-
any movement on the part of the Persian
was rightly a matter of most anxious
interest.
fleet
Western
Greece could only be secured from the transport of aid to
;
THE AGITATION IN
viil]
Mardonias, or diversions
command
was
IONIA.
117
other directions, by
in
of the sea, and the time was at
complete
hand when
this
The year was already far adhad received its last accession; the
to be actively asserted.
vanced, and the Greek force
fleet
no
of
ships
all
told,
which we read of in the spring as
now
assembled at Aegina, was
increased to
these the largest portion were Athenian
;
250 triremes.
'
Of
of the rest, besides
Lacedaemonians, there were contingents from Corinth, Sicyon,
and Troezene. The Corinthians brought
in addition the highly
esteemed contribution of the soothsayer Deiphonus from Apollonia, their
It
colony on the Ionian gulf.
was already autumn, and expectation was at
news of the
for
conflict in
Europe, which
its
height
was certain could
it
when Leotychides and the generals gave
Delos to three envoys who had left Samos un-
not long be deferred,
audience at
known
to Theomestor son of
had established there
whom
reward
as tyrant in
the Persians
for his services at
The spokesman was Hegesistratus son
Salamis.
goras,
Androdamas,
who
set forth the case in
of Arista-
every variety of aspect and
with an Ionian fluency which might perhaps have damaged
had he in truth been the
his cause
Ken i;avToid).
common
rescue
Greeks and
the Ionians at the
sight of
might be pounced on
be another such chance
in
assist
first
and the barbarians would
not,
them
gods, he supplicated
of
informant (eAeye iroWa
sole
Appealing to their sympathies as venerators of
:
Greeks
as
expelling
to
come
the
them would
to the
barbarian
rise in revolt,
as instantly retire, or, if they did
as a prey.
And
never would there
for the ships of the
enemy were
ill-
found, wretched sea-boats, perfectly ineffective to cope with
those of the Greeks.
or
more
Never could an
certain of success.
He
The Spartan
more easy
added, as guarantee of the
sincerity of the advice, that the envoys
pany the expedition
exploit be
were ready to accom-
as hostages.
to
listened
1
the long-drawn
DioJ.
xi. 34.
pleadings and
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
is
i
beseechings without any indication thai
[chap
he accepted the
in-
formation as correct, or that he sympathised with the orator,
and then interposed abruptly,
is
your name?'
'
And
what, Samian stranger
I
Catching up the reply before the flow of
words could re-commence, 'I accept, Hegesistratus,' said he,
'
the appellation
only,
'
(i. e.
conductor or leader of armies)
and these who are with you, take order
you
faith before
The
allies.'
sail
away that the Samians
decision thus curtly
'
do you
your
to pledge
will be our zealous
announced with true Spartan
of suddenness and contempt for words, was as
affectation
promptly put in action.
(lie
;
The Samians, says Herodotus, took
oath and engagement of alliance with the Hellenes
that
with the
is
Dorians,
whom
the historian seems
here
again to distinguish as specifically Hellenic, in contrast to
The other two envoys,
the Pelasgie Athenians and Ionians.
Lampon
tides,
son of Thrasycles and Athenagoras son of Archestra-
were dismissed the same day; and on the very next, the
seer Deiphonus, son, or reputed
J
son, of the prophetic Euenius,
having' announced that the victims were favourable, the fleet
put to sea
;
Leotychides, notwithstanding his rejection of the
proposal of hostages, keeping
by him Hegesistratus, the man
with the name of good omen, a hostage in reality
2
They moored
name.
there
made
certain
;
at Calamei
The exact
preparations for battle.
it is
spot as being
in that place,'
indicated
'
by Herodotus
to those
by the Heraeum, or temple
—terms
if
not in
on the coast of Samos, and
locality is
un-
who know
the
of Here, that
is
apparently intended to distinguish the
temple from the more celebrated Heraeum in or close to the
city of
Samos.
A
more remote
station, perhaps the
petty
Ipnus, where Stephanus Byzantinus notes a temple of Here
Ipnuntis, seems to be implied by the unperceived and un-
molested retirement of the Persian
fleet
through the narrow
channel between Samos and the continent.
1
Herod,
ix.
95.
2
lb. ix. 92.
ADVANCE OF THE GREEK FLEET.
viii.]
119
The Persian commanders indeed were no sooner aware
of
the advance of the Greeks than, as the envoys had predicted,
they gave up
all
thought of contending at
sea,
dismissed the
Phoenician vessels with their crews, and carried the others
from Samos to the opposite
where they could draw
coast,
them ashore and have the protection of
numerous army.
They
fortifications
passed, says Herodotus,
and a
by the fane
of the Potniae of Mycale on to Gaeson and Scolopoeis, where
there
is.
a fane of Eleusinian Demeter, founded by Philistus
son of Pasicles, when he accompanied Neileus son of Codrus
in the settlement
The spot was on the
of Miletus.
coast
south of the mountainous promontory of Mycale, just before
trends south-east to the embouchure of the Maeander and
it
Gaeson, which
the Latmian gulf.
rently the
name
discharged
1
of a town,
is
Ephorus spoke of the Gaeson and
and another
2
The ancient
line of coast,
author places
now
but the Gaeson
is
also of a river that
the lake Gaesonis and so into the sea.
itself into
of the Maeander,
with Herodotus appa-
was the name
it
lake as near Priene,
between Priene and
owing
lies,
its
to the
3
Miletus.
accumulated deposits
like the site of Priene, far inland
;
represented by a stream which flows
still
from the mountains under the heights that are occupied by
Pliny, immediately before
the ruins of Priene.
coming
to
name Naulochus, which
Priene from the south, inserts the
indicates an ancient favourable station for ships.
The
plain
was here in communication with Ephesus and Sardis by the
road across the mountains, and again more circuitously by
the valley of the Maeander, past Magnesia.
stationed, or rapidly concentrated,
force originally left
set
behind by Xerxes to watch Ionia
down by Herodotus
3
Cf.
'
supereminent
Athenaeum, vii. p. 311.
Mela also, i. 1 7 Ionia cingit urbem Prienen
Pliny, H.N.v.2,1.
ap.
—
'
:
it is
as 60,000 (Diodorus gives 100,000)
men, under Tigranes, a commander
1
Here, previously
was the main body of the
among
2
the
Ibid.
et Gaesi fluminis ostium.'
HISTORY OF GREECE.
120
Persians, like
Xerxes and Mardonius,
[chap.
and beauty.
for stature
1
The Persian admirals drew their vessels on shore and hastened
to enclose them by a vast fort, of sufficient circuit to shelter
the army in case of a reverse.
Trees were cut down indiscriminately, and a wall or bulwark was formed of mixed stones
and timber, and strengthened by
—
projecting" stakes or palisades
by a trench
according- to Diodorus
The
also.
probability
of an Ionian insurrection had been a source of anxiety ever
since the reverses in Greece,
in the collection of stores
and preparations
What no
been in a state of forwardness.
sight could
for a
campaign
and provisions had in consequence
now supply was
vigilance or fore-
that spirit which
required to
is
give vivacity even to unbroken resolution, and to remedy
when under
army which, how-
the despondency which comes over a multitude
misfortune, and foredooms to destruction an
ever bravely, has
suffered defeat after defeat,
And
which has never enjoyed one success.
proportion of the muster
quoted numbers as we
— enormous
—were Ionians,
doubtless,
may
objects of increasing mistrust.
all
and a cause
then too a large
From
reduce the
who were
justly
the Samians especially
confidence had been withdrawn since the discovery that
some 500
by the army
captives, taken
of Xerxes from Attica,
had been purchased by them only to be sent home
free
and
restored to his enemies.
The aspect of the
enterprise
the Greeks, who, with
all
was now
entirely
changed
for
their rapidity, at last found that
they had moved just too late to find the ineffective navy
the easy prey which they had expected.
of the reticent Spartan was
The tardy
probably due
to
alacrity
some
secret
notice of the preparations for the Persian retreat, in case
the signs of an approaching attack, which they were hopeless
to
resist,
should oblige them to forego their hold on the
now uneasy Samos
;
— information
1
Diod,
si.
34.
evidently passed over as
THE PERSIANS AT MTCALE.
viii.]
A
rapidly in one direction as the other.
was made upon
at Delos,
its
hold
on
their
was
comparison
hostile fleet.
and the project that
;
the imagination
still
the
of
more
with
the
importance
of
striking
The Samians and Ionians would
more urgent than
retained
Greeks as
making for the Hellespont and the
to recommend it now than before,
of
reason,
bridge, had scarcely
in
suggestion which
this disappointment, to return to inactivity
set aside
much on
as
121
ever,
more
and with
the
at
of course be
from
effect
the
manifest justification of their former confident assurances.
It
was resolved therefore, but only
caused more 'delay, to follow up the chase
provided
with ladders
discussions
after
;
had
the ships were
and every possible preparation, to
enable the forces, in case they should be disappointed of a seafight, to effect a rapid
Not a
a battle on land.
when they
disembarkation and try the fortune of
arrived
;
all
tection of the wall, while a
array on land.
was
vessel
oppose them
afloat to
were seen drawn ashore under pro-
numerous army of
foot
was in
Leotychides, in imitation of the policy of
Themistocles at Artemisium, passed along as near inshore
as possible,
and by the voice of
mind
the Ionians to bear in
first
place
his loudest herald invited
in the
coming
Liberty and then the password
apparently as the
name
battle,
Hebe
in the
—selected
of the spouse of his ancestor Hercules,
Samian Heraeum
who heard were urged to inform those who did not. The
proclamation was made not without expectation of the effect
herself a daughter of the goddess of the
:
those
it
invited, but also
with the indirect intention of rousing
mistrust in the Persians towards the Ionians, to
whom
the
herald affected to believe that his language would be alone
intelligible.
The Spartan seems
rowed stratagem but clumsily,
much
fairer
to
for
have applied his borin
this case
hope of considerable desertions than
1
Herod,
ix.
98.
there was
in that
<>\'
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
122
Artemisium; and an immediate
the Persians instant
lv
[chap.
result of the
warning was that
disarmed the Samians, and assigned the
Milesians a post too distant to allow them, in case of defection, to interfere in the
expected battle.
The Greek debarkation,
as
entrenched camp and army
was
it
must have been made
sition,
by mid-day or
but
;
effected without oppo-
some distance from the
at
later
—the
troops were marshalled
and moving forward to the attack.
The Athenians, who
Diodorus says the day ensuing
were to sustain the main burden of the
manded by
eponymus of the
the archon
son of Ariphron and father of Pericles
were com-
battle,
— Xanthippus,
year-
and together with
:
associated troops of other cities, Corinth, Sicyon, Troezene,
they made up a
full
half of the entire force.
advanced direct upon the enemy over the
level
These now
ground by
the sea-shore, while the Lacedaemonians and the other half
of the
way
came
army made a
a
circuit,
and having
on their
to traverse
the rough ravines of torrents and spurs of the mountain,
into action later, as if intentionally,
view to an
The
effective flank attack.
spirit of emulation,
of which the Greek was so susceptible in
was now at
its
height
among
the
recently had just cause to feel that
ments they had already placed
Sparta, hitherto the
by
and only with the
its
noblest forms,
Athenians,
who had
their warlike achieve-
their country
recognised leading
on a
line
with
power in Greece
while in breadth and boldness of political views and
patriotic self-sacrifice alike they were far ahead.
was an opportunity
that on land
The present
winning yet another advance, and
for
— the very prerogative
word passed from mouth
and speedy work with
;
in
to
of the Spartans
mouth
to
;
and the
make such thorough
their already despised opponents as
should give them at least the largest share in the victory.
It
was afterwards believed that another
influence,
not in-
dependent of the supernatural powers, was at work to heighten
1
Herod,
ix.
102.
MENS OF
vin.]
VICTORY.
123
A
the general confidence and enthusiasm of the host.
and instantaneous rumour,
ranks,
the
to
was said
it
was happily at an end
—a
cause
that all
effect
<$>r}ixr}
for
sudden
—pervaded the
anxiety
home
at
that battle had at last been joined
;
with Mardonius in Boeotia, and that the Greeks were complete
What may have been
victors.
the loud-voiced herald to the
1
bold
assertion
of
Ionians became a belief
all
a
the more exciting- from the uncertainty of
its
was indeed afterwards
marched along
said tliat, as the troops
the shore, a herald's staff
;
it
— confirmation unquestionable — was
seen floating inland on a vast wave
;
apparently a mythical
The boldness
version of the incident of the coasting herald.
of the present attack,
origin
by only half the men that could have
been brought over by the Greek squadron, upon such a host
and
entrenchments, might well seem to demand some
its
unusual explanation.
mention of a
Phocians
— has
soldiers ?
and
affairs' to
no
is
difficulty
It
his recent
on the point
;
and why then the
not the interposition of the Divinity in
'
human
the battle was fought close to a temenos of the
Eleusinian Demeter?
name
—notwithstanding
the anecdote of the Medising
be seen in the coincidence that at Mycale again, as
at Plataea,
may have
Herodotus
falsified (pi^r/ in
That the recognition of
this locality
been to Athenians as encouraging an omen as the
Hegesistratus was to the Spartan,
we need not
doubt.
was believed that during the battle of Salamis the mystic
cry had been heard from clouds of dust along the Thriasian
plain,
avouching that the
divinities of Eleusis
ing to protect their worshippers
;
were proceed-
and intimate indeed was
the connection with Athens of a fane of their
own goddess
founded by a comrade of a son of Codrus, their own patriotic
king.
The
incidents of the battle in the afternoon correspond
very closely with those of the same morning at Plataea
Persians were
first
:
the
attacked behind their fence of gerrAa, and
1
Diod.
xi. 34. § 4.
HIST0R7 OF GREECE.
124
[<
war; when
so long as it stood, maintained a not unequal
fell
they
still
fought bravely for a considerable time, hut
at last for refuge into the fortified
\\
as nearer at
hand
camp
to the Asiatic battle-field,
pursuers swifter than the Lacedaemonians
Corinthians, Sicyonians, and
along with the fugitives.
within,
the
:
;
lap.
it
fled
camp however
and the Athenian
so that Athenians,
Troezenians entered pell-mell
Resistance was
continued
still
Of the other troops,
who had been left in the
though by the Persians alone.
some took
to flight
;
the Samians,
camp, though disarmed, found means to
assist the
Greeks so
soon as they were encouraged by prospect of success, while
the other Ionians, incited by their example, and forgetting at
once the faith of oaths and the fate of hostages, went over in
The
a body, and turned their weapons on the barbarians.
contest
fresh
was
still
upon the
undecided w hen the Lacedaemonians arrived
7
spot,
but the numbers of the Persians were
already fast diminishing, and they fought only in knots, in
uncombined
onsets, at points
the entrance of the Greeks.
where they could
the land forces, died fighting, and with
in the
oppose
still
Tigranes himself, the general of
him Mardontes, who
European expedition had led the islanders from the
—the
Persian gulf
Erythraean
sea.
The
admirals, Artayntes
and Ithamitres, with Masistes, a son of Darius, who had been
present at the action, were
who
escaped.
among
They succeeded
the few
men
of distinction
in gaining on the heights of
Mycale a better refuge than the mountain afforded
to
many
The mistrusted Milesians, who had
been posted among the defiles and declivities at the rear of
of their flying troops.
the army, to act ostensibly as guards of the passes, but in
reality in order
to
prevent their deserting to the
Greeks
during the battle, now found themselves precisely upon the
line of
communication and retreat of the routed army.
As
treacherous guides they led the hurrying fugitives into false
tracks,
and either deserted them
in their bewilderment, or
brought them upon the very enemy they shunned; at
last
THE BATTLE OF MYOALE.
viii.]
125
turned openly upon them, in the spot which their knowledge
of the localities pointed out as most advantageous, and, re-
membering' the severities of Darius, were the most vindictive
To
of their slaughterers.
this place,, if it is to
anywhere, we must transfer the
*
have place
incident that the Greeks
were for a moment checked by an alarm that Xerxes was
arriving from Sardis with reinforcements
by the road through
the defiles of Mycale, but only to be presently reassured by
finding that the apprehended enemies were Ionians in revolt.
The
battle, thus at last
won, had been strenuously contested
;
Greeks and barbarians, says Herodotus, were animated to
exertion
were
—a
When
last
by the
feeling that the islands
Greek figure
true
—
set out as prizes for the victors.
the slaughter of both the fighting and the flying at
came
an end, the Greeks stripped the ships and camp
to
of the booty, comprising the military
stores of coined
made
and the Hellespont
money,
collected it
chest
with several
on the shore, and then
a general conflagration of the palisaded
camp and
of
the ships, which for some unstated reason they did not relaunch.
The Greek
losses
were considerable, but,
muster, are unenumerated
having
The
lost,
many
along with
like their original
the Sicyonians are specified as
;
others, their general Perilaus.
chief honours of the battle were adjudged to be the right
of the Athenians
;
thians, Troezenians,
with them
;
named in order the Corinand Sicyonians, who fought in company
them
after
are
while the Lacedaemonians and their associates are
unmentioned.
Among
the
Athenians
themselves,
Hermolycus
Euthunus, a pancratiast, was pre-eminent
to perish later in
and Carystus
in
an
;
inter- Hellenic quarrel
Euboea
;
son
of
though destined
between Athens
he was buried, apparently in recog-
nition of his fame, on Geraestus, the extreme promontory of
the island.
1
Diocl. xi. 36. § 3.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
126
'
And
says Herodotus,
so,'
'
[chap.
Ionia revolted from the Persians
for the second time.'
In
expression
this
we have
Xerxes
Persia,
by a process of which
notice or particulars.
had
lingered
if in
expectation of couriei's
Europe, as
the full
understand the defection
and the emancipation of Samos, Chios,
of the islands also,
and Leshos from the yoke of
we have no
to
success
at
Sardis
since
return
his
from
who should announce
promised by Mardonius.
Since the an-
nouncement by the train of beacons of the reoccupation of
he
Athens,
have received
could
renewals of too hopeful promises.
consolation
little
The European
beyond
intelligence
by a disaster nearer home, as
by the scanty and disheartened survivors
of Myeale. Salamis had cost him one brother, and he made the
was
at last to be anticipated
Sardis was reached
most of the escape of another, Masistes, from
perils that
not at an end when he had eluded the Milesians.
in his flight
had taxed
were
Masistes
his fellow-fugitive Artayntes with
having, by his miserable generalship, caused the entire disaster
and the disgrace of the royal house, to which he now added
the abusive charge of cowardice worse than a woman's
this, the
most poignant insult to a Persian, the
way
of Artayntes gave
;
drawing
his scimitar,
spot, if
at
self-restraint
he rushed upon
the brother of the Great King, and would have killed
on the
:
him
he had not been seized round the body just in
time, even before the guards of Masistes could interpose, lifted
from his horse, and flung upon the ground. It was a Halicarnassian, Xeinagoras son of Praxilaus,
and Xerxes rewarded him
whole of Cilicia.
It
for it
who
had been more fortunate
and Xerxes had the rescue miscarried.
of Plataea, which
or
rendered this service,
with the government of the
for
both Masistes
Even the catastrophe
must have been announced within a day
two, was less fraught with misery and disgrace
events,
than
not on a distant continent, but within the royal
palace, not
wrought by foreign
hostile hands,
but due directly
FINAL RETIREMENT OF XERXES.
viii.]
to the cruel passions
and
lust
127
of Xerxes himself.
With
a
narrative of these, which need not be repeated, Herodotus
him from
dismisses
does not phrase
it
his history;
clearly feeling',
though he
in a formal moral, that public violences
and impieties were thus visited with retribution within the
home, and within the tortured,
or,
even more severely, the
With such an
seared and callous conscience of the man.
logue
may
the race
!
—an
Frederic, a Napoleon, to take
On
an
the
epi-
many a selfish scourge of
Augustus Caesar, a Norman William, a Prussian
be closed the story of too
1
names almost
at random.
6th of February in the ensuing spring occurred
eclipse of the sun,
which the superstition of the time may
naturally have connected with
the final disappointment of
Xerxes and his retirement from Sardis ;
it
was equally natural
that by the time the tradition reached Herodotus the
should have been carried back, as he records
it,
omen
to the days
of the King's inauspicious departure from Sardis for Greece.
CHAPTER
THE CAPTURE OF SESTOS.
It
was
—XANTHIPPUS
479; 01.
B.C.
IX.
difficult to realise
AND
75. 2.
that this check bo the power of
ground might prove more
Persia on Asian
still
still
fresh of the
on Ionia
vengeance which Persia had before
for resistance or revolt
since the tragedian
;
it
was not
so
inflicted
many
Phryniehus was fined at Athens
of
all
That
Ionia,
disaster,
years
for bring-
ing into too painful prominence the horrors of the
Miletus.
than
decisive
Memories were
severer blow inflicted in Europe.
the
AltTAYCTES.
fall
of
and indeed the ruin and desolation
had followed upon provocation which present
events seemed to repeat too exactly not to introduce like
consequences.
Athens had then interposed
to encourage
and
abet a rising to which in the end she failed to give any
effective
support
while the transitory triumph of the burn-
;
ing of Sardis and the fanes of Cybele had infused into the
quarrel the
venom
of religious vindictiveness.
It is not sur-
prising therefore that the policy of general migration before
vengeance should
arrive,
which had been partially acted on by
the Teians and Phocacans at the original subjugation of Ionia,
and the wisdom of which, as urged by Bias of Priene, was
then recognised too
serious
late,
consideration.
should again be brought forward for
The
victorious
Greeks returned to
Samos, and there the Ionians of the islands and the continent
had
to face the question
how they were
to protect themselves
with better fortune than before against the too probable con-
THE PROSPECTS OF THE ION IANS.
129
sequences of the revolt to which they were again committed.
Their elation at the victory of Mycale and their
cipation in
own
parti-
might well have been tempered with appre-
it
hensions from which both Athenians and Spartans beyond
But the Athenians
the Aegean were naturally exempt.
themselves were at this
city,
a country or a
without walls or temples, relying for re-establishment
on their
their
moment without
ships,
population
intention under
The
tant seats.
transportable wealth, and, above
their
;
all,
and were known to have professed an
some contingencies of seeking new and
project of
abandoning the Ionian
dis-
cities
on
the mainland, and apparently on the three great islands also,
and of transferring their property and population
removed from such desperate
liabilities,
with serious and even sanguine advocacy.
story of the
to a region
was therefore mooted
It
was the Homeric
happy resettlement of the harassed Phaeacians,
or that of the later Phocaeans, over again.
Leotychides, the
Spartan leader, gave the proposal hearty support, and even
assume that
affected to
it
was decided conformably
authority, and that the next point to be discussed
was the
•
The Ionians could have no hope
particular destination.
posing of Persian enmity without
aid,
and
it
his
to
of dis-
was out of the
question that their defence should be undertaken by the Euro-
pean Greeks under the conditions of maintaining a force on
the spot for
all
time.
If they were to be protected they
be within easier reach
;
and
this
must
might be compassed by
putting them in possession of the trading ports (emporia) of
who had Medised, and who should now be expelled
make room for them. Boeotia, Locris, and Thessaly, where
the Greeks
to
the Aleuad families were
indicated
;
still
to be punished, are
most
directly
but Achaia, and more especially Argos, which had
acted so equivocally, might also be considered as included, and
some respects affording a more tempting prospect.
This diplomacy on the part of Lacedaemon was perfectly
natural and characteristic for a state still at the comin
HISTORY OF GREECE.
130
mencement
of its experience in remote and sustained enter-
The
prises.
maxim,
traditional
and
respect both of time
when
necessity
[chap.
to limit external action
was
distance,
in
in fact a constitutional
the predominant class at
home was constantly
an attitude of over-strained watchfulness and jealous de-
in
Leotychides in truth only discouraged present reliance
fence.
upon support the
failure of which, as far as his
was concerned, he was quite right
in assuming.
own country
The strength
of Sparta could not long be spared from repression of the
helots,
and was moreover dependent on a
ordinarily within
bounds, however
striking
out
suddenly at well
forcible,
and
decisive blows.
which could
discipline
only be enforced and sustained by keeping
its
employment
might be capable of
it
chosen times with
The
single,
difficulty experienced
by
the Chians in drawing out the Spartans even as far as Delos,
and by the Samians in inducing them to attack the Persian
fleet
before
it
had time
to escape, are but moderate
of that fixed habit that could satisfy
symptoms
them with limiting
their
efforts
against Mardonius to defence of the peninsula, cut off
at the
Isthmus by
fortifications which, after years of notice,
were only completed at the
An
latest
moment.
proposals, however, soon gained
opposition to these
head; and was the
1
revelation of that declared rivalry
first
to the supremacy of Sparta in thought and action, which was
destined to maintain itself with enduring effects on Greece
for
the next half century,
Short as was the period
and on
—not
Darius;
rapidly dying
nay,
out;
men
the
and
it
history
twenty years
Ionian revolt was quenched in blood
not
all
of
— since
the
494), Xerxes
(b.c.
the
thereafter.
first
was
age of Darius were
was apparent
to
Ionians that
the genius of the Persian empire had undergone a degeneracy, while the confidence
and resolution of the Athenians
were what they had never before been.
command
It
was the Persian
of the sea that had been fatal to Miletus
1
Tlmcyd.
i.
68.
;
but
THE CAPTURE OF
ix.]
the
from them altered
islands
and
cities
backward to
foster, or
finally
was
their
crisis
;
for the
rising" protests,
and
came
for-
distinctly joined, they
own
wrested
The Athenians were not
even foment, these
issue
ward with one of
131
the conditions of the
all
on the sea-hoard.
when the
at last,
now been
prospect that this had
fair
SESTOS.
they disallowed the necessity
of leaving Ionia to desolation, and in any case repudiated
the
title
Peloponnesians to take
the
of
colonies of
respecting
order
which Athens was the metropolis
:
it
was from
the prytaneum of Athens that the Nelid and Codrid leaders
started to found these cities,
and Athens was prepared to
defend her proper relatives, as she claimed to have the sole
right to do.
The
it
arrival
of the
news of the
battle
of Plataea, while
added immensely to the glory and prestige of Sparta,
insured the restoration of the Athenians to their city and
country,
and promised a revival of power corresponding
with the energies her citizens had so uniformly displayed.
The
accession of strength to be gained for operations against
Persia
by attaching the
suffice
to decide Xanthippus in
islands
pendent course, whether
and Ionia as
allies,
might
the assertion of an inde-
politic jealousy of
Spartan designs
against Argos came into consideration or no.
To the
opposition thus developed the Spartans yielded with
a good grace
islanders
;
and the Samians, Chians, Lesbians, and other
who took
part in the expedition, were admitted into
confederacy under an oath of steadfast
And now
to
make
1
adherence.
at last the original passion of the
Athenian
for the Hellespont could be satisfied.
fleet
The bridge
had indeed been broken by storms a year ago, before Xerxes
recrossed the strait
any
case
it
was
;
but
it
might be capable of
control over the channel.
1
repair,
and
in
desirable, if not indispensable, to establish
Herod,
ix.
106-120; Thucyd.
K 2
HISTORY OF GREECE.
132
The
moved northwards,
allied fleet
Chios and Aeolian Lesbos.
[chap.
past the
Detained
now
liberated
off the sheltering pro-
montory of Lectos, the westernmost prolongation of the
range of Ida, by the
north winds that prevail through
late
Here they
the Hellespont, they proceeded at last to Abydos.
found that the bridge which had extended from this point to
Sestos was fairly gone; while the Persians remained in possession of the Chersonesus opposite,
free navigation
and annoy the opposite
the transit either of Persian
troops.
and in a position to threaten
The Athenians were
coast, or
familiar from of old with the
Chersonesus, where some of their citizens
family of Miltiades
—had
even to assist
reinforcements or retreating
— among
them the
property and rights, and for them
the liberation of the Hellespont was only an opening for
enterprise.
But Leotychides,
now
of the expedition,
to the zeal
He
hitherto the recognised head
declined to
and urgency of
new
make
his allies,
further concession
and would do no more.
withdrew homewards, and with him went the ships of
the other Peloponnesian states
breaking
— thus
marking the future
He
line of the great confederation.
probably could
not act otherwise under the strict limitations imposed upon
a Spartan king
but already, and especially after recent
;
differences, the course
he took was equivalent to a temporary
abdication of Spartan headship, and a qualified resignation of
it to
Athenians, who, elate in self-reliance,
of the opportunity, and were secretly,
to avail themselves of
The words
x
of
all
the value
not openly, eager
it.
of Herodotus are very significant as to
conditions under which a Greek
member
if
knew
a
confederacy
command, submitted
the
of the time, whether as
of states
or under
his actions to authority.
a separate
'
It
was de-
termined by the Peloponnesians attached to Leotychides to
sail
away
to Hellas,
— but by the Athenians
and by Xanthip-
pus their commander to remain where they were and make
1
Herod,
ix.
114; Thucyd.
i.
89.
:
THE CAPTURE OF
ix.]
SESTOS.
an attempt upon the Chersonesus.'
Interpreted to the
As a matter of
much than that
commanders
—
are
in
fact
as these do of each other.
no more
is
implied— though
liable to
soluteness of a
this is
the superior can only enforce orders which
accordance with public feeling
sometimes
letter,
much independence
Pelopomiesians and Athenians assert as
of their respective
133
the feeling being
;
be swayed, not to say forced, by the re-
commander,
as the
commander's resoluteness
sometimes by his sense of the inefficiency of obedience
is
when not rendered with
The hostile occupants
surprise,
good-will.
of the Chersonesus were taken
and hurried at the
first
by
alarm to take refuge in
Sestos, the only place within reach of such strength as to
be
defensible,,
and which soon became over-crowded
:
to the
native Aeolians and refugees from places around were added
the Persians and their
allies,
and
there,
with no
sion for enduring or repelling a siege, they were
by the Athenian investing
Persian Oiobazus,
who was
materials for the bridge,
force
by
sea
in eharge of
and land.
all
provi-
shut up
The
the tackle and
had come in from Cardia on the
northern coast, but the chief authority, both of the city and
the
district,
was Artayctes, who had obtained his appoint-
ment from Xerxes, and afterwards abused it, under circumstances that made him the object of most vindictive rancour
a
man, says Herodotus, both able and impiously unscrupulous
(bewbs Kal ardaOaXos)
At
— epithets which
he
justifies as follows.
Elaeus on the southern point of the peninsula, within
a temenos
or
consecrated precinct,
was the tomb of the
hero Protesilaus, the sacredness of which was avouched by
a
large
accumulation
of
costly robes or dressings
so forth.
offerings,
{kcrOrj^,
—
gold,
silver,
brass,
as at Plataean tombs), and
—apparently
in form a naos, or at least a
menacingly enough, a memorial and emblem
collision between Asia and Europe in that war of
The tomb
nai'dion
—stood
of the
first
Troy which Herodotus recognises as the prototype of
all their
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
134
subsequent
[chap.
Protesilmis was a leader of Thessalians
hostilities.
from Phylake, and Homer relates how he was the
from shipboard to land, and the
leap
first also to die,
to
first
and that
on the spot, by a Dardan weapon; so he perished, a youthful
—a house
representation, — Here
bridegroom, leaving a bride 'in frantic
finished.'
temenos from Xerxes by the
house of a Greek
territory;
who met
give his house to
me
that so there
He
them
valuables and transported
its
is
'
the
when invading your
his deserts
to others to keep off your ground.'
of
half
grief,
Artayctes, the story ran, begged and obtained the
may
be a lesson
despoiled the fane
to
Sestos,
and gave
up the temenos, apparently of some extent, to culture, and
worse to grazing, and worst of
still
insulted wantonly
all,
the most sacred associations of the place.
story
of
exemplar of conjugal affection
Protesilaus was a traditional
most tenderly expressed, and
with the equally
The
its details
Thessalian
of Alcestis, which vindicates
tradition
it
of the
self-sacrifice
truly national, and not
as
a mere late poetic development.
point to an analogy
By
supplications to the
gods, Laodameia obtained the return of her husband to earth
a three hours' colloquy, and then died with him as he
for
died
1
This colloquy seems to have been a subject
again.
of mystic
representation like the groups of Aphrodite and
Adonis described
by Theocritus
In
we read
later accounts
of her husband, kissed
alive
and
it,
it.
embraced
of antiquity.
it,
talked
some sacred
to
rites,
it
as
and at
if
last
The tender sentiment clung
the locality, and gave to late
Hero
Piet&
that she formed a lifelike image
in connection with
was burnt along with
— the
to
Greek poetry the grief of
of Sestos over the corpse of her Leander.
This
is
not
the place to develop further the process by which a type of
conjugal self-devotion
— as
given again in the story of Or-
pheus and Eurydice, and on the vase-paintings
1
Ovid, Trial,
Iliad,
ii.
i.
5.
20; Hygin. 103-4; Propert.
695; Ovid, Heroides,
xiii.
150.
i.
in a series of
19. 7; Eurip. fray. Prot.
THE CAPTURE OF
ix.]
interesting illustrations
that
for the
135
Greek a type
for all
most solemn with reference to either the commence-
is
ment of
life
and apprehended sequel of
or the circumstances
conclusion.
its
— became
SESTOS.
It
enough
is
to note that the barbarian could
only read such symbolism coarsely, and find a suggestion
for desecrating the
!
adytum by choosing
the scene of
it for
wantonness and gross debauchery.
Unprovided as the
city was, the Persian garrison forced
to hold out to the last extremity
it
for
the besiegers, the
even
with
Athenians,
the
dragged on
so time
;
autumn was upon them, and
late
many
so
motives
to
return
home, began to despair of success from seeing no sign of
and urged the commanders
progress,
Xanthippus
—
to give
up and
the commanders prevailed
In
not the single
this case the will of
they would persevere, although
;
the winter was close upon
—again
retire.
2
them, until either the city was
taken or an order of recall arrived from the Athenian com-
munity
(to
negotiations
when
That we hear nothing of
koivov).
''Adrjvaicov
the besieged had really no hope but in
out their besiegers, was possibly due to the know-
tiring
ledge which
was the
had of the
Artayctes
object,
though
it
may
feelings
of which
he
just as easily be due to his
resolution.
At
subsistence
last
failed
entirely,
the couches had been cooked and
garrison,
who would
be the
—
to the only chance left
one
last
the very thongs of
eaten,
to
and the Persian
were reduced
suffer,
to break out and escape.
Early
morning the besiegers observed signalling from the
and speedily received intimation from the native
town during
towers,
inhabitants that the Persians had vacated the
the
lines
night,
at
descending
an unwatched
opened, and
diately
1
Herod,
the
from
the
interval.
city
116.
the
The gates were imme-
occupied by
2
ix.
passing
and
wall
a
Thucyd.
detachment,
i.
89.
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
130
while the
main
fugitives.
They were
once
started at
force
two
in
the
of
pursuit
in
who was
Oiohazus,
parties.
advance, succeeded in getting clear off to Thrace, but
in
only
to
he could reach a Persian post, into
before
fall,
the hands of the Apsinthian Thracians,
to their native
god
Pleistoros
f
has been traced elsewhere
those
slaughtered
Artayctes and his
a
[chap.
little
—a deity
who were with him
party, who had less
some were
:
who
no mention
in another
and
start,
were overtaken
time main-
for a short
and the
killed,
fashion.'
rest,
among
were Artayctes and his son, were captured and led
back bound to Sestos.
We are
further told
how
by the miraculous
conscience was touched
the captive's
antics of
fish,
torian's
comment, which implies that the body,
an effigy, of Protesilaus had been in some
offers of
some
a fact not worth alluding to but for the his-
pickled
His
him
sacrificed
of whom
in their peculiar fashion,
beyond Aegos-potami, and
tained a defence
whom
'
(
ransom were declined
200 to the Athenians.
way
— ioo talents
The Elaeuntians pressed
or at least
1
preserved.
to the god,
for his well-
merited execution, as vengeance due to their hero Protesilaus,
whose sanctuary he had
disposition
of Xanthippus
defiled
inclined
and desecrated,
in
'
and the
the same direction.'
Elsewhere the historian, mentioning the offence by anticipation, attaches the
the impression
tise
is
name
of Xanthippus to the
2
deed
;
and
conveyed that he was willing to stigma-
him, from repugnance either to cruelty unworthy of a
Greek, or to the general character of the persecutor of Miitiades.
Artayctes was carried to the headland from which the
bridge of Xerxes had been constructed, or as some said to the
hill
and
above the city Madytus, and there nailed alive to a plank
raised aloft,
—
crucified in fact,
to death before his eyes.
'
—while
his son
was stoned
This refinement in cruelty would
1
Herod, ix. 1 20. The relics, too valuable to be
Sunt Protesilai ossa, consecrata delubro.' ii. 2.
2
Herod, vii. 33.
lost,
were known to P. Mela.
;
THE CAPTURE OF
ix.]
have been
alone
sufficient
SESTOS.
indicate
to
lay the motive of the hateful deed.
in
It
137
what
direction
would scarcely be
same
religious rancour,
and not to the cold policy of stimulating"
superstition, that
was
a relief to think that it
this
«to
three of his sons by Sandace sister of Xerxes had already
fallen
victims, having" been sacrificed on the
galley of Themistocles
concession to the clamours of a crowd, led on
Plutarch gives this
tides the diviner.
prow of the
at Salamis to Dionysus Omestes, in
x
by Euphran-
story on the authority
of Phanias, a pupil of Aristotle.
The tomb
might be expected,
of Protesilaus was, as
and re-consecrated
;
re-erected
and the mythical prototype of Hellenic
aggression on Asia was destined to be visited and invoked by
a more fortunate successor.
When
retrod the steps of Xerxes on his
Alexander of Macedon
way
to determine in
what
sense the Great King's dictum as to the ultimate relations of
Europe and 2 Asia was to be
fulfilled,
he sacrificed to Prote-
silaus
on his tomb at Elaeus, to obtain a happier landing
then,
after
offerings
Poseidon
to
and the Nereids while
passing the channel, which Xerxes was at least believed to
have scourged and chained, he reversed the omen for his army
by leaping on shore
scatheless.
was
It
first
of
all,
and in arms, and alighting
probably not without the
design
of
counteracting a similar superstition, that at the end of his
first
campaign he sent back from Caria
newly married
soldier
to
Macedonia every
—every Protesilaus—
army, under
in his
who were themselves bridegrooms, who were charged
make the best of the good omen by bringing back with
them in spring the most numerous reinforcement possible of
generals
to
both horse and
3
foot.
Sestos captured and Artayctes the sacrilegious punished,
the Athenians were at
voyage homewards.
1
Plut. Themist. 13.
last
free
to
make
the longed-for
Byzantium, upon the route by which
2
Herod,
vii.
II.
8
Ar.ian. Hist.
I.
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
138
Artabazus had escaped,
this
was of necessity
the spoils carried
the ingenious
a
still
work
home were
remained to be dealt with
Conspicuous
left over.
;
but
among
the cables of the Persian bridge,
workmanship of Phoenicians and Egyptians
as dedications to the gods.
1
to their newly-liberated
The Ionian
And
cities.
ended this eventful year.
1
Thucyd.
i.
89
allies also
so,
returned
with the winter,
CHAPTER
ATHENS RB-WALLED.
—THE
X.
CONCEPTIONS AND CONDUCT
OE THEMTSTOCLES.
B.C.
We
have
now
478; 01. 75.
2
and
3.
reached a point in the story where, but for a
few anticipatory hints, we are deserted by Herodotus, and
through the years that intervene between the
fall
of Sestos
and the Peloponnesian war have to make out a way
selves
if it
through
were
possible,
parted with.
most valuable of
we have
our appreciation of the guide
Some
and in certain respects the
assistance,
given by the few pages in which
is
all,
for our-
and contradictions which enhance,
difficulties
Thucydides summarizes the history of this very interval of
fifty
years
— the Pentecontaeteris
called in antiquity.
But though the sequence
observed in due order, there
fixed
dates
and
or Pentecontaetia as
precise
is
notes
intermediate
Other most important and interesting
from
and
Plutarch's
Pericles,
lives
of
was
of events
is
want of
unfortunately a
of
it
intervals.
details are obtainable
Themistocles,
Aristides,
Cimon,
and even some notes of dates, though not
uniformly trustworthy;
his
narratives
are sadly tainted with errors
of incidents,
again,
and contradictions too
easily
detected not to oblige us to hesitate frequently over even
an unchallenged statement
if
it
lacks corroboration.
chronologised history of Diodorus Siculus
great value, but, as usual, has
many
is
The
likewise of very
drawbacks.
It is
even
HISTORY OF GREEK
140
more than usually unsatisfactory
concerned with.
Other confusions
blank;
entirely
left
for
[chap.
/:.
we
apart,
find
are
some years
another a complete
while in
we
the years that
seri-
of events which must have extended over several
inserted
many
or even
and we are
years,
determine as we
left to
may
whether in the assigned year they commenced, or culminated,
or
came
sources
to
an end.
Such are the limitations of our main
but cross-lights occasionally
;
visit us, reflected
some-
times from the most brilliant, sometimes the most
trifling",
remains of Hellenic literature, poetry and prose, of
its
period or
its
most debased.
Help
also that is
be neglected in our dearth and distress
able from
monuments, from
is
best
by no means to
incidentally obtain-
inscriptions, and, still
more im-
portantly for the history of that noblest progress in which
resides so
much
of the interest of our period, from works of
art.
Immediately upon the retirement of the barbarians from
and
with
of the
army
Attica,
tion
complete
confidence
at Plataea, the Athenians
time returned to a devastated
bringing back the
after
women and
country and
the
destruc-
for a
ruined
second
city,
children from their refuge
Salamis or Troezene, together with whatever moveable
in
property had been preserved.
heap of ruins
:
Athens
itself
was found a
except some of the better houses that had
served up to the last as quarters for Persian nobles, very few
were
left
entire,
and of the
circuit of the walls only short
interrupted portions remained.
The emergency was however
met by the labour of the whole population, slave
while Persian spoil, and fines exacted severely from
energetically
and
free
;
Medising
islanders,
came
to the aid of the property
which
had been rescued, in procuring means and materials.
Themistocles was the presiding genius of these operations,
and in prosecuting them with
zeal
and forethought
he did but resume a career of which his conduct of the
Persian war had been only an episode
;
the dangers and
ATHEttS RE-WALLED.
x.]
difficulties
of
ill
which he there overcame were indeed only a portion
what he had been preparing
design for the aggrandisement of
in furtherance of a settled
According
his country.
to encounter, if not to provoke,
to
Herodotus, Themistocles in the
year of the invasion of Xerxes had but recently attained to
eminence, and the scholiast of Thucydides
arehonship was in the previous year,
But
nor
is
this
and there
of
interpretation
about 460-459
in
waen
satisfactory,
of Herodotus
give a large
to
and he would
B.C.,
not great,
is
words very
his
interpreta-
The death of Themistocles
as recorded at the age of sixty-five
must
fall,
as will appear,
in consequence be thirty-
a Themistocles
was archon eponymus of
year, thirty-five in the year of
Marathon, and forty-two
in
2
in the lists for
are considerations in the narrative
tion to the limits of the phrase.
the
name
the authority of the scholiast
and elsewhere that oblige us
two
notes that his
— an assertion apparently
corroborated by the absence of any other
that year.
i
483
493
B.C.,
B.C.,
three years before Salamis,
when
it
was
as the
him of considerable duration that
The removal of such an opponent
conclusion of a rivalry with
Aristides
is
was
Ostracised.
quite sufficient to explain the expression of Herodotus as
applying to his acquirement of predominant influence, and
there therefore appears to be no sufficient reason for question-
ing the earlier date of his arehonship.
It was as early, then, as his holding of this office that, ac-
cording to Thucydides, Themistocles had mooted the policy,
and even made a commencement of the plan,
the promontory of the Piraeus, which he was
on an enormous
scale.
The stunning blow
Greece in the previous year by the
fall
for fortifying
now
Chios, Lesbos, Tenedos,
1
Thucyd.
93.
upon
fleet,
and
and the Chersonesus had succumbed
disasters might well second the
Such
2
i.
resume
of Miletus bad been
due to the command of the sea by the Persian
in rapid succession.
to
inflicted
Dion. Hal.
6.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
142
arguments of Themistocles, who
[chap.
them the moral,
easily read in
must ultimately depend
happy appreciation of the
that the freedom of Western Hellas
on maritime superiority; and
position
and resources of
fellow-citizens enabled
in wise counsel
is
and the genius of his
his country
him
to discern that public confidence
was alone recmired
There
Athens.
his
to secure that superiority to
every reason to ascribe to him at this early
period the large conception which he was
now
to declare fully
and urge on to execution; but in the meantime, as a
still
rising
man, he had only been able to make gradual and cautious
1
The circumstances
advances.
and
of the invasion of Datis
Artaphernes, while they confirmed the justness of his views,
interfered prematurely with their realization
victory of
Marathon was
most disposed to thwart him.
to the party
a severe struggle that he succeeded,
and the splendid
It
was only
after
in opposition to the
and supporters of Miltiades, in diverting the exclu-
influence
sive attention
and resources of the
force of hoplites, to ships,
felt
;
certain to give temporary strength
on both
sides that
and
this
ports,
citizens
and
from the land
arsenals.
proprietors and cultivators of land to classes of
habits and slighter local attachment, and
His
was
change could not but involve
some transference of power and ascendency from the
cordingly.
It
success, such as
adroitly stimulating the jealousy
it
settled
restless
was contested
ac-
was, was mainly due to his
and animosity of the popular
assembly against Aegina, while he
which had prospective reference
it
more
laid the basis of a
system
to a struggle with Persia in
case of need, and in any case to the assumption of a prime
influence over Hellas.
It
was thus that he obtained from the
people their patriotic renunciation of the surplus profit from
the Laurium silver mines, which had previously been distributed, and its devotion to the construction and maintenance
of a
fleet
;
and with such
1
success, that the city, after
Plut. Themist.
having
ATHENS RE WALLED.
x.J
been beholden to Corinth
an armament
for
143
twenty triremes
Aegina
of seventy against
to complete
in the year before
Marathon, could within ten years of that event place two
hundred of her own in
Herodotus himself
line at Salamis.
which
ascribes the creation of this fleet,
of Greece,' to Themistocles
;
'
was the salvation
a fact quite inconsistent with
his influence being of recent date, even
though the statement,
number
that he gained a vote for the entire
of ships at once,
cannot be received against other evidence.
was only in respect of the
It
and
fleet
equipment that
its
these preparations were sufficient!}' advanced to be fully available against the invasion of Xerxes
plan, with all that it promised
and
all
;
be resumed, and Themistocles exerted
now
but
that
all
it
the original
threatened, could
his authority
and
influence to hasten its fulfilment.
In former days the city had availed
itself of
the harbour
of Phalerum, which although exposed was at least spacious,
and had the advantage of
of the
x
city
;
being* within the shortest distance
but on the representation of Themistocles
it
was
resolved to abandon this in favour of the three natural har-
One
bours formed by the rocky promontory of Piraeus.
of
these, of smaller dimensions, appears to have been situated
eastward, at the foot of the steeply-scarped hill of
Munychia
;
the larger and more important lay to the westward, thoroughly
sheltered,
inlet.
and accessible only by a narrow and
The
position
of
earlier times as liable
held
by an enemy
—
to be
most dangerous
as indeed it
once long afterwards;
easily protected
Munychia had been recognised
was
Athens
for
to prove
in
if
more than
but the plans of Themistocles
now
extended to the inclusion of this in a general circuit of
impregnable walls, defending the entire peninsula, and of
for the population
sufficient extent to afford refuge
city
itself.
He
urged upon the Athenians that
it
of the
was from
a Persian naval force that they would have most to apprehend
1
Pausanias,
I.
i.
2.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
144
in future
at sea
that their safety depended on their
;
and that should the time ever come
;
to be again invaded, their true policy
before to rely on
as
own supremacy
for their
would be
country
decline
to
of the upper city, and
the defences
back on those of the Piraeus as a
fall
[chap.
citadel,
where they
would have a refuge which would spare them the
sufferings
of their late migrations, and be easily maintained by a few
of the least serviceable of the population, and give
them the
opportunity to throw their whole able-bodied strength on
ship-board.
The
locality
Thucydides
to
provided
the
stone
walls
as
in
still
abundance,
existing
for
which Themistocles proposed to give them
solidity
were
itself
refers
sufficiently
:
and
the
they
broad for two of the wagons that brought
materials to pass each other;
they were not formed with
a core of rubble, nor was mortar employed, but they were
regularly constructed
with lead.
to
of great
squared stones, the upper
of which were fastened with clamps of iron run
surfaces
was said that the height they were carried
It
w as not more than half of that
T
even at that height they were
Thus
ciple
was that Themistocles
it
originally intended, but
fully defensible.
first
gave shape to the prin-
on which the maritime empire of Athens was to
and of which the
parallel
application, until at last the metropolis itself
might be con-
sidered as within the impregnable circuit of the ports
town
rest,
long walls were but a further
and
of the Piraeus.
In the meantime however the city was too sacred to be
neglected
instance,
:
it
had indeed to be attended to in the
though the subject of the
troduced at a time
a motive force in
when
it
fortified ports is
was already a
political action.
It
first
duly in-
settled design
and
was in accordance with
these ulterior views that the walls of the city itself were
recommenced on a
and
restoration,
scale
greatly in excess of mere repair
and rather commensurable with the pre-
ATHENS RE-WALLED.
x.]
115
tensions of a state which had before been self-confident in
energy and genius, and was now resolved to maintain pre-
eminence as the due of
patriotic devotion
its
the course of the recent, and
still
new
area to be enclosed within the
and services
walls
in
The
existing, struggle.
was extended
in
every direction, so as to include the suburbs and to admit
of future expansion.
The scope
preparations was
of these
misinterpreted by jealous eyes
were
unmarked
not
or
the apprehensions of Aegina
The
and with good reason.
once re-awakened,
at
;
predominance of the Athenian marine was already absolute,
partly from the
number
of
triremes,
its
the efficiency with which they were
whom
and
still
the exigencies of the time had transformed into trained
and dexterous oarsmen, whose daring and
been heightened by success.
from attack by land
would be
lost.
the last check upon her ambition
also,
complained later of the
Corinth
Megara the
share with
from Lacedaemon
—
jealousies
deed of the entire confederacy
—that
states
;
but
if
easily
it
was
not in-
a protest first arrived
The present
the mouths of special envoys.
though
of Aegina
in-
fatal
might
head of the Dorian section,
as
had
self-reliance
If Athens were to be secured
dulgence allowed to these preparations, and
two
more from
manned by a population
by
relations of the
and their mutual necessities caused the objections,
serious,
to
be
couched in terms of advice rather
than expostulation, Spartans, wdio on principle repudiated the
protection of walls for their
consistency from their
own
own
city,
might with
a
show of
point of view urge the same
mag-
nanimous policy on others; but some other plea was necessary
for
them
who had
as representatives of alarmed Peloponnesian allies,
fortifications of their
to renounce.
They urged
own which they were
therefore that to fortify
not likely
Athens would
be but to provide the Persian, in the very probable event of a
renewed invasion in
still
greater force, with one more such
dangerous basis as he had already used
L
to
advantage
in
HISTORY OF GREECE.
146
Thebes
for
all,
;
[chap.
the Peloponnesus would be a place of refuge sufficient
and the best basis for defence or action
it
;
would be
better indeed that the Athenians, instead of adding to the
extra-Peloponnesian fortresses, should co-operate with
razing the walls of
Representations
all
so
them
in
the others.
moderately
might be
expressed
as
moderately entertained, and meanwhile the progress of the
But the
walls was not interrupted in the slightest degree.
real
strength of the feelings in reserve was presently manifested
by the growing impatience of the Spartan envoys, who even
workmen by com-
took upon themselves to interfere with the
mands and
for
threats.
Themistocles was equal to the occasion
an opposition manifestly
serious respect,
and stopped the works
advice the envoys were dismissed
:
he intimated his
serious
so
at once
home without
;
and by
his
delay, satisfied
with this compliance, and with the engagement that the
Athenians would on their part send envoys to Sparta to deliberate further
He
on the suggestion that had been put forward.
himself in fact followed them forthwith, but for some time
after his arrival
made no
sign of bringing the business under
When
the consideration of the Spartan authorities.
by some of the leading men
questioned
as to the cause of the delay, he
replied that he waited for his colleagues
he was surprised
:
that they had not arrived long ago, as promptly as him-
some hindrance must have intervened to detain them;
self;
he had no doubt they would make their appearance in
;
on.
Theopompus
states
the
that
is
the
;
and such a sus-
often found to attach as naturally to Spartan cor-
ruptibility
in
were bribed by
ephors
Themistocles to connive at his dilatoriness
picion
all
and so with one excuse or another he made time draw
haste
as to
Athenian
plausible
craft
negotiator
;
but the confidence placed
needs no
other
explanation,
and possibly admitted of none, than the very frankness
of his plausibility, the unscrupulous positiveness of his assurances,
and the
reception
that was
appropriate
to
the
DIPLOMACY OF THEMISTOCLES.
x.]
147
comrade and colleague of Eurybiades at Artemisium and
Salamis
;
he had before been welcomed
at
Sparta with honours
that were almost extravagant, and Hellas was even yet not so
secure against Persia that his friendliness could be dispensed
with or prudently jeopardised by unhandsome imputations.
But
to delay thus gained there
Rumours that the
must
necessarily be a term.
walls of Athens were rising all the while
received the positive confirmation of a message despatched
from the watchful Aegina by Polemarchus.
In point of
fact,
Themistocles had arranged with the Council (Boule) that the
work should be recommenced
as soon as he
had
and
started,
the departure of his colleagues delayed until the wall had
reached such a height that in an extreme case
All
defensible.
hands
men, women,
work,
dent and stranger
;
accordingly
and
and
children,
it
would be
promptly to
slave
and
the
resi-
free,
materials, whether of
all available
private or public buildings,
indiscriminately.
fell
were seized and made use of
Thucydides adverts to the appearance and
miscellaneous materials of the lower part of the walls in his
own
time, as evidence of the hasty energy with
The
work had been executed.
which the
were not properly
stones
squared or fitted in courses, but laid together as they best
might be
and
;
chral steles and
amongst them were
even
visible
sepul-
sculptured stones, which showed that not
even works of art or monuments of the dead had been
spared.
To the
just
possibility
he represented
;
should not be taken
prejudiced
to
of the
direct assertion
fact
by Polemarchus, as
mentioned, Themistocles opposed a
if
that
so
credit,
and
it
of
a
its
tale
on trust from a source which was
not hostile
;
let
men
be sent from
Athens of such character and dignity as
mand
denial
flat
extraordinary
Sparta
really to
com-
would appear how grossly Athens was
calumniated.
The challenge made
so boldly
l %
was accepted
;
and Spartan
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
148
envoys of the distinction demanded
[chap.
arrived
at
Athens to
open their astonished eyes on an effectually walled city
;
but
the reception that awaited them was governed by a message
from Themistocles
to the Council,
which had passed them on
Abronichus son of Lysicles and Aristides son of
the road.
Lysimachus, his colleagues, had before this joined Themiswith news that the requisite height of the wall had
tocles
been accomplished
might
be
there was
;
but
dissimulation,
for
dangerous
;
no
further
use or
motive
Spartans
the
indignation
of
his
instructions
accordingly
the
were
to detain the envoys, with as little appearance of coercion
as possible, but effectually, until he
and his colleagues were
released.
The Spartans expressed themselves with great violence at
and it was not easy to conceal from them the
fact that they were under detention
but in the meanAthens,
;
time,
hostages
the
the
that
fairly
and frankest explanation at Sparta was
shortest
His character
the best.
dealing
in
it
of
after lapse
with
He
time;
own
a politician
for
:
the
rest,
with the
price
he was not
for
'
satis-
that the w alls of Athens were now7 so
T
completed as to afford perfect shelter to
in case the
to address
less
to the Athenians,
as capable of
knowing
for
them
to
allies
their
was proof enough and notorious
was expedient
inhabitants
had any
they would please
than that of the general community.
city there
it
them
its
Lacedaemonians or the
communication to make
that
ill
which he parted
therefore presented himself to the Spartans, vnt\\ the
and that
no
had neither candour nor
it.
plain announcement,
far
he might alwr ays dispense with
with those who
scruples of their
fied as
candour could in no case be
for
unless indeed with the most credulous
of use there again,
and
hand, Themistocles believed
in
;
own interest
Of such capatheir decision
abandon their city and
take to the ships was a bold resolution adopted independently
x.]
DIPLOMACY OF TIIEMIST0CLE8.
of foreign
counsel
while on the other hand
;
known, and had been
better for
business their
They were now
their
city
and
inasmuch as
;
and
deliberate fairly
states
to
unless
upon an equal
basis.
it
judgment had been
of opinion, that
advantage of the
for the
was quite impossible
equally
On
common
on
this ground,
must be acquiesced
existing state of things
was
it
both for the sake of
be walled,
to
their citizens independently,
alliance at large
was well
it
distinctly admitted at Sparta, that in
common
on
deliberating'
inferior to none.
149
otherwise walls must be dispensed with by
for
objects
the
either
in as just, or
members
all
of
the confederacy indifferently, whether within or without the
The Lacedaemonians suppressed their anger and
they had interfered with no purpose of
Isthmus/
vexation perforce,
—
'
communica-
obstruction, but had acted as public agents in
moved indeed by a particular sense of
sympathy with the known zeal of the Athenians against
tion of an opinion,
And
the Medes.'
spective
so the
two embassies returned
homes without further
]
difficulty or
to their re-
But
challenge.
the displeasure rankled at Sparta, and was to rankle, and
the time came one day for Themistocles personally to feel
its effect.
To
this occasion, if
we
are to accept
them
dorus, are inconsistent with themselves,
by
2
at
we must
all,
some proceedings which, as obviously misplaced by Dio-
refer
and
as transformed
Plutarch, only reappear to be further involved in conflict
with most assured history.
We
have seen Themistocles acting throughout with
the freedom of absolute
invested with
crisis
when
tation
at
jealousies
1
any leading
political
office
;
and
the people must have been in the
their
of
unprotected
condition
the Peloponnesians.
Cf. Suhol. Aristoph.
Equ.
8n.
all
though apparently un-
authority,
On
this
at a
liveliest
agi-
relatively
no
s
occasion
the
to
could
Plut. Arislidc-s.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
150
[chap.
he have appealed with more reason to the people in public
assembly
the
of
business
a
in
action
be allowed an interval of uncontrolled
{ecclesia) to
utmost
importance
the
to
but which in the interests of the state might not be
state,
divulged.
It
also
is
perfectly consistent with the jealousy
of the demus, that he should be called upon to confide his
plan to Aristides and Xanthippus, the latter of
have reached Athens
commanded
— men
who
public confidence not only from their general
character, but
such a contingency from their being at
in
his rivals,
least
whom would
in the course of the winter,
if
The
not his declared opponents.
report
however which was thus obtained, that the scheme was both
advantageous and
feasible,
man
mistrust of a
who, already well
of unrivalled ingenuity,
They
vancement.
continues
— that
of his policy
same
effect,
finally
known
an intriguer
as
enlisted his very
compe-
;
therefore insisted further
with
—
so the story
he should admit the Council into the secret
and that
after this, if the report
were to the
the liberty of action which be demanded should
conceded
practicability of the
last
had now
on his side and in favour of his most marked ad-
titors
be
again only excited the popular
difficulty,
to
The great advantage and
him.
plans were
and with
now
affirmed;
curiosity
and
stimulated
so
to
at
the
highest pitch, Council and ecclesia gave up the control of
the state to a single man,
who was
without check or supervision
:
tained a success which, whether
to exercise it for a time
and thus the stratagem obit
might
or
might not have
been gained by a more direct method, was at any rate held
to justify the
demand
of the administrator, and
fidence, so cautiously bestowed, of the
The
city once walledj
we
the con-
Athenian demus.
hear of no further opposition or
protest at present from either the Lacedaemonians or their
immediate
allies
;
but the jealousy they had already displayed
could not but be enhanced and their animosity envenomed
by the consciousness of the contemptuous way
in
which
DIPLOMACY OF THEMISTOCLES.
x.]
151
such clumsy schemes of interference had been seen through
and
set aside.
of these
to
second
To the Athenians, who were
sentiments,
the
perfectly aware
they could only act
urgency
of
Themistocles
defensive works at the Piraeus.
to
as
incitements
complete the
CHAPTER XL
THE CONDITIONS OF KINGSHIP
LEOTYCHIDES IN THESSALY.
AT SPARTA.
B.C.
The Athenian
till
fleet,
478;
as
01. 75. 2
we have
and
3.
seen,
was detained at
least
the near approach of winter by the siege of Sestos, after
the Peloponnesians had retired, and only then at last
made
the wished-for return to Athens, where the restoration of the
city
and the resettlement of society and domestic
On
all available assistance.
Aristides,
who
is
this account,
command
next named in
awaited
life
and inasmuch
of the
fleet,
as
was
occupied with the prolonged negotiations about the walls of
Athens,
we cannot
safely reckon
upon
action so early as the ensuing spring of
The most pressing
it
as having resumed
478
B.C.
services required of it were,
first
follow in the track of the Persian-Phoenician fleet,
had escaped before the
reach
to
it,
take
disaster
at
to provide occupation for
Byzantium, which
still
Mycale, and
it
elsewhere;
insured
to
the
if
to
which
not to
and then
Persians
a ready transit by the route of Artabazus from Asia to
Europe, either on some
new
expedition or to
support the
garrisons in Thrace, and the power of interfering with the
trade to
But the strong northern
summer always set down the
mark out the early part of the
and from the Euxine.
winds which through the
Propontis and Hellespont,
year for the important expedition to Byzantium, and, under
LEOTYCHIDES IS THESSALY.
all
the circumstances,
been deferred to
seems to have
it
This inference
the spring- of the next year, 477 B.C.
harmony with Diodorus, who
153
is
in
assigns
it
to the archonship
would be inconsistent, however,
to
suppose that the
of Adeimantus.
It
was
intermediate year
though
for a
may
it
entirely
unemployed
the war,
in
have been mainly occupied with preparations
more vigorous renewal,
To
had been repaired.
as soon as
some past ravages
we must
this year accordingly
an expedition of great importance in
which, in consequence of
its
assign
purpose, but of
its failure to realise
any important
we have but the most cursory notice.
land force, we are told, was despatched by
results,
A
the Lacedae-
monians, under the king Leotychides, to act in Thessaly
against the Aleuad princes, who, replaced in authority by
the Persian, had rendered zealous aid against Hellas to the
very
as
There was the best hope of native assistance,
last.
a strong party of Thessalians had originally displayed
hearty Hellenic
J
sympathy, and promoted, as long as there
was reasonable chance of
On
of Olympus.
success, the defence of the passes
the occasion referred to a combined Athe-
nian and Spartan force had been carried by the Euripus past
Thermopylae to disembark
at Halos,
on the western Achaian
The same route was probably
the present instance, when Larissa was the object
shore of the Pagasaean gulf.
adopted in
of attack.
It
is
at least in
harmony with
this view that,
according to a proposed correction of a text of
it
was
in
the fourth year after the
2
Pausanias,
death of Leonidas (a
period sufficiently covered by the duration of this expedition)
that his remains were brought back from Thermopylae to
Sparta by Pausanias,
nephew and regent
year in
command
1
Herod,
who
for his son,
of the
vii.
thus acted appropriately as his
172.
and who
is
found the next
fleet.
J
Paus.
iii.
14.
1.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
154
Whenever
this occurred,
[chap.
we cannot doubt
though none
in obedience to an oracle,
is
that
was done
it
The
on record.
unaltered text of the Periegesis, however, gives an interval
of forty years, which carries on the incident to the time of
the grandson and namesake of Pausanias.
is
unusually weak here, when he finds
Arnold Schaefer
a
motive for the
transfer at this time in the possibility of danger
Athenians to the sacred
It
that
is,
relics as at first
!
from the
deposited.
again, as connected with this expedition to Thessaly,
we
obtain an available explanation of the notice that
the combined fleets of Athens and Sparta were present, some
time after the retirement of the Persians, in the bay of
Pagasae, as they well might be now, for co-operating with
How
or transporting the land force.
private
the
project
required
how
;
the plan to
advantageous
destroying
treacherously
for
of Athens
allies
Aristides, to
be divulged,
but dishonourable
new
divined of the part
colour
reported
and
—
walls,
fleet
details
that
was
it
it
which
what we have
to
played by Aristides in
in
of
demus
the
this is a tale in
privately the views of Themistocles
on the
the
whom
and how, thereupon,
;
was refused further entertainment,
Plutarch gives
Themistocles had a
learning
first
staying the works
and then in not denouncing, but very
effectively
furthering, the stratagem against Lacedaemon.
To the present
failed
to
take
part against
the
all cities
Medes.
hended the preponderance that would accrue
influence,
refer
a Spartan proposal for
Amphictyonic rights of
forfeiting the ancient
had
we may probably
occasion, however,
the opposition of Themistocles to
He
to
that
appre-
Spartan
but argued broadly against excommunicating
Greece, except some thirty-one
cities,
all
of which the majority
were so small that the assembly would virtually be in the
control of
two or three of the
the Pylagorae gave
1
Am.
largest
;
and
to this reasoning
in.
Schaefer
De rerum
p. hell. Pers. p. 8.
LEOTYCIIIDES IN EXILE.
xi.]
A
few
2
copied by
had
J
lines of
Herodotus, which are confirmed as well as
Pausanias,
apprise us further, that Leotychides
which
a course of military success
he only
failed
was believed that
it
push to completeness because he allowed
to
himself to be corrupted by those
He had however
chastise.
153
whom
it
was
been mistrusted by the oligar-
king as he was,
chical ephors as likely to be too eager,
the Aleuad princes of Larissa to extremities.
It
their instrument for putting
camp, and at
at
seat.
On
for his
own purposes
to
Leotychides was watched in
least declared to be detected in the
possession of a large bribe
very
so
an end to the tyranny of the
had attempted
install Isagoras in their place.
his very
to drive
was not
who had been
long ago as to be forgotten that king Cleomenes,
Peisistratids at Athens,
his office to
his return to
—a
gloveful of
Lacedaemon
the end of the campaign, the
—
money under
his
at latest, therefore,
winter of 478
b.c.
—the
charge was pressed, and, rather than abide the result of a
he retired to Tegea in Arcadia, his house was razed
trial,
to the ground,
He
and he never was
recalled.
died at Tegea, and Diodorus, in agreement with better
authorities, says after a reign of
twenty-two years, which was
succeeded by that of Archidamus of forty-two years
assigns his death to the archonship of Phaedon
and, so far consistently, the death of
3
Archidamus
His own subsequent record, however, of the
damus
both
4
is
at variance with this date,
Plutarch and Thucydides,
who
but he
;
= 476-56.0.),
(
to
434
B.C.
acts of Archi-
and in accordance with
enable us to fix the term
Archidamus decisively in 427-6 B.C., and the
commencement of his reign in 469 B.C. Diodorus therefore
antedates the commencement of either reign by seven years.
The chronology of the succession is thus satisfactorily cor-
of the life of
rected
was
but
;
it is
not an unimportant question
how Diodorus
led into the error that he carried forward so persistently.
1
Herod,
3
Diod.
vi.
xii.
72.
45.
2
Paus.
*
Plut. Cimon, 16.
iii.
7. 9.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
156
By
[chap.
one explanation he merely transferred an event to the
archonship of Phaedon from that of Apsephion by mistake
the name, which in
its
Another and more satisfactory view
date for the death
which no date
477
B.C.,
of 469
The
given either for one year or another, but
is
if
undertaken to punish Medism in
though not
B.C.
easily accommodated to the circumstances
The expression of Herodotus, that he did not
on to old age in Sparta, conveys with
live
Phaion.
that his erroneous
is,
the interchanged date of exile.
quite in its place
is
in
immediately upon the Thessalian expedition, of
exile followed
which
is
1
place he certainly mis-copies
ness that his
sufficient distinct-
was considerably prolonged
life
ment,— that he was
According" to
to at.tain to old age,
this
supposition,
after his retire-
but elsewhere.
therefore,
the
exile,
or
rather flight, of Leotychides was not reckoned as formal deposition,
and
it
was only from
his death that
Archidamus,
whatever authority was allowed him in the interim, was
A
recorded as king.
parallel to a certain extent occurs in
the case of Pleistoanax, son of the regent Pausanias
was charged with military remissness
also
a
bribe,
was
in
his son, a minor,
and has
his fifty years of
alluded to as
term of
at last his
3
;
he
sake of
eighteen years, during which time
exile
is
for the
king
;
was then
recalled,
exile included in the full tale of
The
reign.
2
tale of his son's regnal years
only commences from this term, his previous dignities not-
withstanding.
It is quite possible that
the
at
time
of
his
Archidamus likewise was a minor
grandfather's
some considerations unlikely.
It
disgrace,
was before
though from
his
exile that
Leotychides, in consequence of the death of his son Zeuxi-
damus, married a second wife;
it
is
implied that a son by
second marriage would have superseded Archidamus,
this
the heir of his deceased son Zeuxidamus, perhaps in accord-
1
01. 74. 4.
2
Thuc.
iii.
26.
3
Diod.
xiii.
75.
CO XBIT IONS OF
xi.]
ROYALTY AT SPA RTA.
157
ance with precedent, as the eldest born during- his father's
The only
king-ship.
of this later marriage, however,
issue
was a daughter, Lampito,
whom
the presumptive heir Archidamus
his
own
his heir
all
;
and
of her half-brother,
would seem more probably, though
this
than after
have taken place before his
certainly, to
at
Sparta about this time
many
of the contingencies and
be taken as representing
consequences of
after
it.
The circumstances of royalty
may
— son
grandson, and, in default of his further male issue,
by no means
exile
he gave in marriage to
its
hard conditions generally.
Leotychides
who had
only followed into exile his predecessor Demaratus,
been supplanted by an intrigue to which he himself had
been a party, and which involved corruption of a Delphic
priestess;
and the authority of the representative of the
Proclid line of Heracleids, his grandson Archidamus, could
scarcely be confirmed so long as his
As
bility.
the elder
regards the
own
brother and predecessor
return was a possi-
Agid
the
other,
Cleomenes,
line,
of Leonidas,
had been
a party to the extrusion of Demaratus, and a feeling which
arose
from
some
upon
discoveries
the
subject
so
far
alarmed him that he retired to Thessaly, was then suspiciously busy in Arcadia,
was at
last
and perhaps in conse-
quence recalled, but soon died a maniac.
Pleistarchus,
son of Leonidas, was
still
The present king
a minor; to what
stringent control his cousin and guardian, the regent Pausanias,
was amenable we
the accession
shall presently see,
of Pleistoanax,
the
son
and how soon
of the
regent,
was
superseded by an exile that was to last for some twenty
years.
The
position
and
authority
of
the
kings would
thus
appear at this time to be about the least stable thing at
Sparta.
The
relation
indeed of the ephors to the kings
was such, that kings and regents could scarcely but chafe
under interference and control, and be uneasy as to con-
HISTORY OF GREECE.
158
one trumped-up charge or another
stant peril from
the
on
ephors
knowledge of
[chap.
their
side
very
this
had
uneasiness,
and
;
by
their
always to exert
their
cause,
only
if
great power of self-protection early enough and vigorously
enough.
not easy to read
It is
all
the stories that are told to
account for the setting aside, and no
less for
the reinstate-
ment, of Spartan kings, without concluding that
them can but represent pretexts
many
of
for political or private ob-
of which the true particulars are hidden far beyond
jects,
In a
detection.
state so
bound
to the observance of rigid
laws and constitution, changes of policy either requisite or
desired, precautions against
ambition or excessive influence,
or even the substitution of another for the hereditary military
commander, seem to have been
by
effected as systematically
a charge of bribery or by a procured oracle, as they were at
Athens more frankly, without any
charge at
definite
all,
by
the process of ostracism.
The Athenian demus could not be more
independence of
its
was
in
garchy.
It
contagion
the
to
the
always
not
zealous
aversion
example,
jealous of the
Spartan
oli-
tyrannies,
and
the
to
that
the
hands of their own
by
ephors,
kings,
from Athens and other
had
cities
of
and now the example of Athens in rebuking Mil-
;
seeming to claim the entire credit of l Marathon,
tiades for
was followed
Sparta by a severe check administered to
at
display of arrogance by the victor of Plataea.
the
first
the
basis
of the tripod at Delphi, which
Greek dedication
scription
self alone,
The
genuine
of their
out the tyrants
rooted
Hellas
command than was
this victory,
for
To
was a common
he had attached an in-
which Thucydides preserves, and which named himboth as victor and dedicator.
ephors
had
it
1
instantly
erased,
Plutarch, V. Ariat.
and
substituted
xi.]
THE REBUKE TO PA USA N IAS.
another
reciting
federate
cities;
only the names
his
present undisturbed.
position
The
was,
of the dedicating'
however,
159
con-
otherwise
at
signs of the erasure have been
recognised beside the inscription upon the bronze basis as
it still exists at
Constantinople.
CHAPTER
XII.
PAUSANIAS AND AMSTIDES AT BYZANTIUM.
—ATHENIAN
ACCEPT-
ANCE OF THE ACTIVE LEADERSHIP OF HELLAS.
B
By
c.
477
;
01. 75. 3
and
4.
the early spring of the next year, 477
naval armament was afloat.
B.C.,
Laeedaemon
says Thucydides, was despatched from
of the Hellenes, with twenty Peloponnesian ships
them
allies
as general
;
and with
Athenians in thirty ships, and a considerable
sailed the
number
a lai'ge
Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus,
of other
Diodorus seems to include the other
allies.
in the proper squadron of Pausanias,
at fifty ships in
all.
which he gives
They probably mustered on the
of Asia Minor, and their
first
coast
attempts were made on Cyprus,
where the Persian garrisons were expelled from most of the
The complete
cities.
liberation of the entire island,
how ever,
could not be effected, at least within the time available
attempt was renounced, and the
trary
summer winds, made
tium, to find
it
probably
fleet,
city
and reached Byzan-
hostilities elsewhere.
was not taken without some fighting; but we hear
1
of no considerable difficulty or prolongation of the siege.
certain
the
the more unprepared for defence,
from reports received of the direction of
The
;
anticipating the con-
for the north,
all
r
number
of the defenders escaped
;
A
but on the capture,
Pausanias found himself not only a second time in possession
1
Diod.
xi.
44.
PA USA N IAS CAPTOR OF BYZANTIUM.
161
of the wealthy spoil of the chief refuge of the Persians in
Europe, but also of a number of important prisoners
and even
relatives of the
won by him
at the
Hellas, as he
Great King.
officers,
This second success,
head of the confederated naval force of
had won Plataea in command of the united
land forces, seems to have
regent with dreams
filled
mind
the
—the galling
Spartan
of the
of emancipation from
his national constitution
—
—
the control of
interference of ephors
of which the peril of Leotychides was a recent and perhaps
an intentionally warning example, and which had but lately
exposed himself to so public a humiliation.
We
miss throughout the story of his treason any intima-
tion of a really profound
and promising scheme
sive connection of adherents
among
the
allies is
;
no exten-
hinted
at,
no
apparent opportunity of turning the discontents of a powerful
class,
the madness of
many
or of few, to the elevation of
self to
the position of a tyrant
project
of Pausanias
— of
—
nothing
for
universal
less
him-
was the
Absolute
Hellas.
self-
contained arrogance, recalling the frequent relationship of
pride to madness, brings to
end of the wild
life
mind
mania was the
also that
of his uncle Cleomenes
I.
Pausanias
not merely disgusted the Ionians by injurious treatment in
their intercourse with the Spartans, but even the Athenians
and Peloponnesian
allies
by his superciliousness, and at
took to courses that put him in the wrong as
own countrymen
as with the other Greeks,
much with
his
and threw him
into desperate intrigues with the Persians which, for
we can
last
aught
discern, were alike hopeless and senseless from the
very beginning.
The discontent of the Ionian
some time.
contrast
allies
had been growing
with those of Attica, even to an Athenian like
Aeschylus, they were doubtless held
all
cheaper in respect of
still
strength and discipline by the Spartans
under
for
Unfavourably as the Ionians of Asia Minor
;
but they were
now
the excitement of being consciously committed to a
if
HISTORT OF GREECE.
162
by the sense of newly-recovered
perilous quarrel, were inspired
and by emulation with the marvellous energy of
liberty,
relations,
or
whom
Athenians,
the
1
whether accepted as such with entire cordiality
To the Ionians
not.
be
proud to claim as their
were
the}'
recent enfranchisement
to
[chap.
still
treated
—
it
like
— the
more
so
slaves
watering and foraging parties,
to
;
be interfered with in
the Lacedaemonians gave
till
leave after taking precedence
;
punishments such as
or picketing
stripes,
to be subjected to arbitrary
much
mand, up
smaller share of such treatment would
Expostulation was vain, and
be intolerable.
anchors,
to iron
To Dorians from
and even to blows from subordinates.
Peloponnesus a
because of their
was galling beyond endurance
to Aristides himself,
who
men
com-
in
here as at Plataea might
claim the privilege of an associate in generalship, were refused
audience, and put off with studied airs of preoccupation or
more insulting
and
shameful
An
disregard.
interest,
independent incident, of tragic
on a
brouglit
crisis.
Cleonice,
a
daughter of a noble Byzantine family, was so unfortunate as
to attract the notice of Pausanias,
by
and he forced her parents
He had
threats to surrender her to his desires.
asleep
when
she was introduced into his apartment
by the sudden noise of a
aroused
;
falling lamp, he seized the
that was beside him, and, under the
fallen
sword
momentary impression
of
an enemy being near, struck out in the unexpected darkness,
to find that he
had
proaching his bed
slain
in
the unhappy
shame and
girl,
It
terror.
afterwards that her eidolon constantly haunted
repeating a warning and
distress
for
and to
was believed
him
summoning hexameter
and excitement, he resorted
purification,
who was ap-
to every
its
at night,
that, in
form of atoning
mj^stical rites at Heraclea
evoking her soul and deprecating
;
and Phigaleia,
anger ; but only to
obtain a response which sent him back once more to Sparta
with promise of speedy conclusion to his miseries
1
Herod,
i.
143.
—a
con-
TREASON OF PAUSANIAS.
xii.]
163
elusion that did speedily arrive, but only in a miserable death.
The
l
says
tale,
told after
Plutarch, has been told by
him again by
many;
it
was to be
who had
the traveller Pausanias,
it,
he seems to suppose, as an unrecorded anecdote, from the lips
of a
2
Byzantine.
was on
It
3
this that
up and returned home,
many
of the Peloponnesian allies gave
to report
how Sparta was being
dis-
graced and the harmony of the Hellenic confederation endangered.
Mistrust
still
more
serious soon arose, to
add alarm
to the
The satrapy
indignation of the recently emancipated Ionians.
of Dascylitis, adjacent to the eastern coast of the Hellespont,
was held by the Achaemenid Megabates, who under Darius
had been appointed
subjugation of the
4
to co-operate with Aristagoras
gave treacherous information
ciate,
the Naxians, and so
to
From whatever
the enterprise.
frustrated
for the
Cyclades, but, quarrelling with his asso-
suspicious
cir-
cumstances, the report got about that Pausanias was negotiating for
an
alliance
with his daughter, in combination
with a treasonable scheme against Hellas.
his designs
is
by Herodotus
referred to
This version of
as
merely a re-
port; but Thucydides could quote documents that came to
— not
— which
light at a later date
was writing
dotus
later
however than when Hero-
proved
that Pausanias aimed
higher, and indeed was on his guard against the treacherous
nature which had once before been fatal to another Hellenic
He
traitor.
of
took an opportunity of committing the charge
Byzantium
to a certain
Gongylus, an Eretrian, together
with the custody of the prisoners, including some connections
and
relatives of the
liberate
Great King, and arranged that he should
them without communication with the
allies,
and
proceed in person to the court of Xerxes, bearing a letter
in terms thus literally translated:
1
Plut. Cimon,
3
Plut. ibid.
—
(
Pausanias, general of
z
Paus.
*
Herod,
6.
M
2
iii.
17. 8.
v. 32.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
164
[chap.
Sparta, out of a desire to gratify thee, sends to thee these
men,
whom
minded,
am
he took captive in war; and I
if it
also agreeable
is
to yourself, to
moreover
marry your
daughter, and to bring* into subjection to you both Sparta
and the
If then you are at
rest of Hellas.
down
to this, send
whom
through
man who way
to the sea a
may communicate
I
The treachery of Gongylus
cognised by Xerxes
;
all
favourable
he relied on,
hereafter.'
Hellas was gratefully re-
to
such a service was least of
to be
all
expected from an Eretrian, whose country had been so merci-
by Datis and Artaphernes. He w as rewarded by
T
lessly treated
the lordship
—
in effect hereditary
— of four
towns in Aeolis,
near those which had been consigned to the equally unpatriotic
Demaratus, and where Xenophon knew of the de-
scendants of both as
The proposal
by Xerxes ;
upon him
still
confirmed
it
established.
to negotiate
all
was
warmly embraced
at once
that Artabazus had ever impressed
as to the true policy for subjecting Greece, the
policy which he
had advocated
all
donius had overruled with such fatal consequences.
haste he sent
bates,
down Artabazus himself
with authority to forward a
Mar-
along, and which
In
letter sealed
with the royal
signet to Pausanias, and instructions to co-operate with
whatever he might propose to the best
effect
all
Mega-
to supersede
and in
him
all
—
in
good
The reply so transmitted was in these terms
Thus
says King Xerxes to Pausanias.
The act of kindness towards
the men whom you have preserved for me from Byzantium
faith.
:
beyond the
for all
tions.
time
sea,
;
and
is
I
laid
am
for
gratified
you in record in our house
by your further communica-
Let neither night nor day interfere to cause you to
relax in setting about
for
forces in
and deal in
I
what you promise me; and be not
any expenditure
hindered
abundant
whom
up
'
full
of
gold
or
silver,
may be
Artabazus, a man
whatever direction they
confidence with
have sent to you, in what
is
both
my
nor for
required
;
of worth,
business and
ALARM OF THE
xii.]
IONIANS.
165
your own, as will be best and most honourable
The custom here alluded
king's friends,
The
have
is
x
frequently
receipt of this letter
treasure convejed to
He
corruption.
from the Great King seems
less,
assumed the
to
not
employment
for
state
He had
trary airs of a Persian satrap.
if
from the earnest of a large
him by Artabazus
at once
us.'
mentioned.
turned the head of the Spartan regent ; and
fairly
the more, certainly none the
2
both of
for
of the formal registry of the
to,
and the
in
arbi-
already abused the
dignity which the Greeks could not but willingly concede to
the head of Sparta in any case, and
of Plataea
but he
;
more
still
now assumed
the
to the victor
ensigns of Persian
rank in dress and attendance, and adopted in serious infatuation the display which in the Boeotian
contrasted
sarcastically
Byzantium
were
to
make
camp he had
He
with Spartan simplicity.
left
a round through Thrace, where there
considerable Persian garrisons, even as near as in
still
the Chersonesus,
w ith which the
T
royal signet
enable him to open communications.
On
would probably
his return he ap-
peared with a body-guard of Medes and Egyptians, had his
table served with all the
pomp and apparatus
of Persia,
and
could not restrain himself from giving hints, or rather notice,
in trivial matters, of the designs that he
their
3
scale.
unsettled
state
in
which he
left
abroad, and general alarm at
into a
common
tion,
Suspicions were
them.
common danger had
ripened
understanding as to the means by which
might be averted.
it
was harbouring on
But he returned to find the confederates and
commanders by no means in the merely irritated and
a larger
Alike in demeanour and administra-
Athenian commander Aristides was in absolute
the
contrast to Pausanias
— as
the
steadfast to the
fitful,
the
deliberate to the capricious, the just to the arbitrary, the
Herod,
1
ii.
23, vi.
3
Diod.
iii.
140,
viii.
85; Diod. S.
xvii.
14; Joseph. Antiq.
xi.
6; Esther,
1.
3
xi.
44.
Thuc.
i.
130.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
166
truly dignified to
[chap.
that was supercilious, offensive, and arro-
all
The Ionians had had warning before the
gant.
battle
of
Mycale, and also at the siege of Sestos, that Sparta was
be relied on than Athens for rendering such aid as
less to
they required to maintain their newly-recovered independence
and the temper of the Athenian commander
;
and of Cimon
such
as
if,
is
possible from the tenor of
some
was already associated with him, gave assurance
accounts, he
that
also
Aristides,
aid
would be rendered with a good faith and
Hellenic loyalty, which plainly could no longer be counted
on from Pausanias.
The
self
must have seemed dangerous
crisis
and there was every reason
;
to Aristides
him-
for his readily entertaining
the advances of the insular and Asian
who w ere now
T
allies,
prepared definitely to transfer their recognition of leadership
from Sparta to Athens.
cession
to
the
tions rooted in
It
predilections
was only from
the
of
immemorial tradition
—
— that Athens
ceded the leadership to Sparta at sea
still
more
predilec-
had con-
where her own
also,
preponderant naval power gave her a
eminence.
patriotic con-
confederacy
fair
claim
to
pre-
This preponderance had been gradually becoming
decided, and no one
knew
better than Aristides
the future which Themistocles was at this very time pre-
paring for
by
it,
Peloponnesian
the peculiar adherents of Sparta, not
sorry perhaps (as at
have again an excuse
Sestos) to
giving up, had already retired in disgust
mained were the Ionians,
tected
against
metropolitan
relied
now
on.
Spartan
whom Athens
interference,
and whose
claims,
The same
willingly urged
had already pro-
by
assertion
continued
may have
under Asian
tribal
character
for
those that re-
zeal
by the Ionians themselves; and
foreign admixture and
original
;
of
could
tradition of colonial dependence
whatever change of character
enough of
The
improvements at the Piraeus.
his
allies,
skies,
her
be
was
in truth,
supervened from
there
was
still
remaining to account
1
PAUSANIAS AND ARISTIDES.
xii.]
very lively sympathy of relationship,
a
for
compared with Spartan Dorians.
these
and
cities,
mind that
fire
;
The
especially
as
heroic traditions of
monuments, kept ever in
their conspicuous
their reputed founders were of the old royal race
of Athens, or had carried from
1
167
ever most powerful
prytaneum
its
and the motives involved
sacred
their
in these associations
were
the Greeks at periods of excited
with,
enthusiasm.
The
signs
of
still,
a
of relaxation
tendency
most powerful
a
treachery
or
her
in
were thus declaring themselves at
leader,
time when Athenian
was
Spartan energy, and worse
in
corruption
to
energy,
so
from
far
exhaustion,
sanguine resolution.
in the first flush of
It
is
beside
the question at such a point to consider whether Aristides
was most influenced in his policy by ambition
for the
could only be the same in either case
;
much
power
His course
of Athens, or concern for the defence of Hellas.
indeed remained
be done to secure the result of past victories for the
to
benefit
of Hellas
large,
at
and only by Athens coming
frankly and boldly to the front could this security be taken.
It
was on the occasion of a distinct insult being offered
to
by Pausanias, that an opportunity seemed afforded
the Ionian malcontents for gaining him over to a policy
Aristides
to
which he had resolved not
On
to invite.
expostulations,
siveness
off;
the
of
and with intent
his
scarcely look at
his
conduct,
mimic
him
;
the
he
direct
proposal
(hegemonla),
and
1
Herod,
of the offen-
superciliously
listen
to
leisure.
him,
put
would
Counting on
allies,
and Aeolian Lesbians, made
assume the
he should
attach
him
and generals of the
captains
that
thus
had been
he was not at
chiefly of the Chians, Samians,
a
to inform
would not
satrap
indignation,
even to appear
to precipitate, nor
seeking a hearing from Pausanias for
his
to
i.
himself
146.
the
leadership
allies,
who
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
168
had
long-
[chap.
been anxious to give up the Spartans and would
They
at once range themselves with the Athenians.
quitted
the interview however without having- elicited either pledge
from Aristides to undertake what was suggested
or proposal
to
him
and yet every word he had said was confirmatory
;
something should be done,
of the pressing necessity that
of their complaints, of the zeal
of the justice
and good-
and even of the principles of the
He was
the event of such a change.
expressions, when he might have been
of the Athenians,
will
best settlement in
only cool in his
expected to declare his reliance on the resolution of the
malcontents
to
There were
some
demand which
among them who
this attitude conveyed,
and Antagoras of Chios
Lesbos
is
the
interpret
noteworthy that Aeolian
is
it
could
and Ouliades of Samos
—resolved
to
commit them-
an irreparable breach, in confidence that the
would follow them, and that Aristides might be
between them and the Spartans
to interpose
1
—
not even yet included
selves boldly to
rest
consequences of a quarrel.
encounter the
relied
if violence
on
were
attempted, and so give permanence to an alliance already
As
approved in principle.
in advance
so
they are called
wantonly into
ships.
moving
the general's trireme was
on the waters of Byzantium, the conspirators
— on
collision
a sudden brought their
with
it,
catching
it
own
vessels
violently amid-
Pausanias came forward in a rage, and seeing
who
were the offenders, vented a threat that the time would
not be long before he would show them that
his
countries.
for
him
had
that they
ship
damaged, but
They bluntly
to be
gone
;
retorted
'
that
their
it
it
was not
own
native
was high time
and he might be thankful that the
recollection of his connection
with the Greeks in the Pla-
taean victory restrained them from inflicting the punishment
he merited.'
There
1
and then
Thucyd.
i.
they moved off to
96; Plut. Aria*.
23.
range
—
ATIIES I AX LEADERSHIP OF HELLAS.
xii.]
once by
Such was the
w hich,
r
tion
all
the
which marked the
decisive rupture
first
Peloponnesians.
hut the
allies
line
such important consequences, whether in emula-
for
or
the Athenians, and were
station with
squadrons in
their
joined at
169
was
collision,
Ionian and Dorian
the
separate
to
confederations.
was precisely
It
tions were relieved,
that further complica-
this juncture
at
by the
recall of
Pausanias to Lacedaemon,
there to reply to charges of wrongs against individuals, which
in various instances
charges he obtained acquittal
but
;
how he had comported
rious of
of general, as
if it
On more
were established.
too
still
serious public
much was
noto-
himself in his appointment
were a tyranny, and too much was suspected
of his inclination to Medism,
being again
to allow of his
command.
entrusted with
was apparently at the approach of winter 477 B.C.
home, and his fleet with him it would
It
that he returned
then be,
the
at
;
earliest,
in
spring of 476 B.C.
the
that
Dorcis was sent out in his stead, associated with others,
and with only an inconsiderable
his arrival, as
Dorcis found on
force.
under these circumstances was probably anti-
cipated, that the resolution of the seceding allies to acquiesce
no longer in Spai'tan leadership was
stay he returned home,
'
fixed
;
and
after a short
nor did the Lacedaemonians after-
wards send out other commanders.' The example of Pausanias,
following so closely on that of Leotychides, alarmed
as to the corrupting effect of prolonged
discipline of
to
be rid
taken
to
the
at
the
Athenians,
conduct
it,
to remain
Plutarch
the
and they were in truth well content
;
Median war,
of the
part
leave
home
them
absence from
all
when
distant
it
in
prosecution
of
who were not only
but were disposed
—
which they had only
approached
it
fully
especially
their
in
as
when
on good terms with themselves.
they were
the
better
satisfied
the
doors,
and
hands of
competent to
so
engaged
According to
with this course
HISTORY OF GREECE.
170
from the conciliatory assurances, and
from the growing
political
dates this revolution
in
if so,
influence, of
the
we must
Cimon.
infer
Diodorus
archonship of Adeimantus
477-6
Such was the commencement of the hegemonyj
=
B.C.
ship of Hellas, by the Athenians.
or leader-
CHAPTER
XIII.
DORIAN AND IONIAN GENIUS AND GENEALOGY.
The
and
sternness
of Sparta
had
character
so
distinctive,
might seem
to
that
almost
stand in
statesmen
her
and
citizens
strong a contrast, in
as
maxims and manners, and even language,
of
respect
of the peculiar institutions
stability
in the course of years produced a national
to
other Dorians, as the Dorians at large did to the Ionians.
The Dorian
colonists of the shores of the Euxine, of
Rhodes
and Cos and the borders of the archipelago, of Sicily and
Italy,
were drawn of necessity into habits of general inter-
course and free communication with foreigners and aliens,
quite
unknown
to the Spartans, secluded as they were from
even the stimulant proximity of an Ionian
was fostered
at
Dorian Corinth, with
Commerce
frontier.
all
its
consecpuences
of foreign haunt and intercourse, and luxury in the coarser
forms affected by commercial wealth
invention
were promoted there
repressed at
1
Lacedaemon.
colonies, the plastic
vivacity that
genius
such
At
and innovation and
they were
eagerly as
as
Corinth, as in her western
and the graphic
communicated no
;
arts nourished with a
trifling reaction
to
Ionian
and Dorian Megara, besides being the home of
of elegiac poetry as Theognis, was the
;
master
a
1
Pindar, 01.
xiii.
15;
Thucyd.
i.
13,
69; Herod,
ii.
168.
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
172
[chap.
very birth-place of imaginative Comedy, of which Dorian
Syracuse was the nursing-mother.
tion that
lines,
by the
of helotry and
institution
prowess,
detail of domestic
Lacedaemon
in the
luxury
requirements of
interest of military
every
discipline into
life.
anterior to the Dorian conquest
Homeric legend
is
presented
as a centre of refinement, or indeed of
and the picture
;
police
in the
is
by no means extravagantly out
harmony with such intimations
of
every presump-
special legislation of
more than military
carried
is
respect of its strongest
contrast, at least in
iliis
was superinduced mainly by the
Sparta, which, overstrained
its
There
as reach us of
its
earlier
Doric times, in no sparse notices of archaic Spartan monu-
ments
and
art
— of
Spartan
sculpture,
and
and
poetry,
music.
Bathycles, Terpander, Thaletas, Alcman, Tyrtaeus, if they
were not Spartans, are so associated in fame with Sparta,
as to prove that appreciation for art lived on with considerable pertinacity even after the
creation
In
later
germs of the native faculty
had been ruthlessly trodden down and stamped
days
these
proper
Hellenic
characteristics
for
out.
only
appear in a lively devotion to certain religious and athletic
festivals
left to
and
their
accompaniments
predominating
;
beyond
this
it
seems
power alone to constitute a
political
bond between Sparta and the general Hellenic community,
and
to preserve
it
from forfeiting in
its isolation all
with the busy related tribes beyond
barrier.
This predominance,
its
sympathy
jealously-guarded
however, was during a long
period sustained and decisive, uncontested and unquestioned
it
was asserted intermittently, but
promptitude and
force, as to
for
all
its
on occasion with such
give the impression of jealous
watchfulness as well as power.
in consequence,
still
The
larger Dorian Hellas
varied qualifications and diver-
gences, never renounced a traditional regard for Sparta as
chief of the Dorian race,
and peculiarly as chief and leader
;
AEOLISM AS PRIMAEVAL.
xiii.]
on
173
occasions of rivalry and complication with the other
all
great Hellenic section
The deepest
who
people
line
—the
Ionian.
of division that
we know among- the
in historical times were designated collectively
as Hellenes, runs between these Doric and Ionic sections
much
another line divides the Aeolians from both, but
decisively,
for
of Aeolian
less
among- the varied and widely-spread tribes
descent and
dialect
those on the west of the
and
characteristics,
while
Aegean approximated very nearly
to the
most
islands
and colonies eastward that exhibited many signs of
distinctive
Ionian sympathy.
Ionians
tions
is
go
primitive
This approach, however, of Aeolians to
ambiguous and
far
;
Dorians, there were others in the
that
accidental,
show that
to
their
and
historical indica-
was
distinction
all
but
Dorism developed independently from an
Aeolism with which Ionism was already in marked contrast,
at
some point of
than that Ionism
earlier departure, rather
and Dorism together were
collateral shoots
from an original
main Aeolic stem.
Strabo, who, late as he
is,
merits even on these points
especial attention, remarks, with his usual
the earlier divisions of the
have followed, and
tions of dialect,
left
aside.
may
tribes
good
of Hellas
sense, that
must needs
be tracked by the broader distinc-
the innumerable minor subdivisions being
Under
this guidance four families are obtained,
which however, by the derivation that he points
again be reduced to a primitive
pair,
out,
may
the Ionian dialect
being virtually the same as the old Attic, and the Dorian
not to be distinguished from the old Aeolic.
The
specialties
of Attic speech of the fully-developed period were thus deviations from primitive Ionian,
and those of Sparta from primi-
tive Aeolian.
According- to this view, the Ionian and Aeolian dialects
were in contrast from the beginning, and were continued
among
certain sections of the race with less change in their
HISTORY OF GREECE.
174
though
forms,
tions,
still
[chap.
by no means exempt from slighter varia-
than when they came to be spoken in the predominant
Modern
and Sparta.
states of Attica
criticism has eluci-
dated in detail the diversities of Attic and
Ionic, as well
as of Lesbian Boeotian and Thessalian Aeolic, and the purer
1
Doric.
The geographer supports
by the remark that
his analysis
the inhabitants of Attica at an early period were recognised
as Ionians,
and that the colonies in Asia who used the Ionic
Even up
dialect were notoriously of Attic origin.
own
except the Athenians, Megarians, and
Mount
tricts
to his
time, he proceeds, all the Hellenes without the Isthmus,
Parnassus, were
called
still
the Dorians about
Aeolians, and the
dis-
within the Isthmus were also previously in complete
Aeolian occupation, the Homeric Achaeans having been an
Aeolian tribe.
Then two
lation from Attica,
interferences took place
a popu-
;
who, according to his own account, were
already
known
district
along the Corinthian gulf, that was afterwards the
as
Ionians,
themselves in the
established
best-known Achaia, but only to be driven back again to
Attica by Achaians,
their
more
Dorians.
when
the latter
were expelled from
easterly seats in Peloponnesus
The Aeolic
dialect,
retained after this revolution
continues
by the
Strabo,
defied
them
was
still
by the Eleians, who had sided
with the invaders, and by the Arcadians, who,
their mountains,
intrusive
;
safe
though even among
despite their political independence, there
among
these,
was a sympathetic
tendency for the dialect of the dominant tribe to prevail.
In the case of subjection, as might be expected, the
modification was decisive
Ionians
who were
;
isolated
left
dialectic
even as Herodotus witnesses, that
in Cynouria
and
subjection to Argos became ultimately Dorised.
fell
into
Allowing
for these influences, it is less surprising that in Strabo's time
1
Grote,
ii.
p.
452.
IONISM AND DORISM DERIVATIVE.
xiii.]
175
every town in Peloponnesus Dorised, than that most of them
should
still
retain
The Dorians
some
own.
dialectic peculiarities of their
then, according to the view of Strabo, had
already acquired their characteristic dialect, as well as certain
peculiarities of
manners
qualifying- their primitive Aeolism,
before this invasion, and he ascribes these changes to the
special
climatic and social influences that affect a tribe in
secluded
and crowded occupation of a bleak and rugged
Upon
territory.
view no distinctive Dorism
this
is
recog-
nised prior to the residence of a teeming population in the
rough and limited Doris.
But Doris about Parnassus was
only the late seat of a tribe that had previously had
migrations.
Herodotus,
tation that carries
much
who speaks with an
authority, from its apparent
with uncontested traditions, knows of
first as
it
many
absence of hesi-
harmony
occupying
Phthiotis, to the south of the Pagasaean gulf, at that time
conterminal with the Thessalian
Hellas proper of
Homer;
l
and including the
Pelasgi,
and, in fact, in close proximity to
the original, or at least the primaeval Achaia.
Here
it
would
be in possession of a sea-board, and hence might perhaps have
extended the early Dorian influence, that
so powerfully, to
Rhodes and
is
Herodotus bounds by Ossa and Olympus,
seat of the tribe
;
migrating from Thebes
and
title
Hestiaeotis,
is
which
given as the next
expelled hence by Cadmeians,
be represented in mythus by the
the
afterwards declared
to Crete.
who seem
to
eponymn Cadmus, and
to Illyria, they
occupy Pindus under
of Macedonians, thence pass southward to Dryopis,
so at last
move
across the Crissaean gulf to their final
Such a story
is
by no means
too wild for a period of general unsettlement,
and implies
establishment in Peloponnesus.
a series of warlike enterprises and
collisions,
tribe under a succession of vigorous leaders,
by a vigorous
and
tribal
co-
hesion of a fibre that, in view of numerous parallels in later
1
Herod,
i.
57.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
17G
history,
[chap.
would be presumptuous to disallow
it
;
but we can
no more circumscribe the regions successively taken possession
than we can limit times of occupation, or the possible
of,
and reaction of other
association
tribes as such events
went
on.
This broad implication of Strabo, that the grand distinction
between Dorians and Ionians was but inherited from a
prior,
and equally marked, distinction between Ionian and Aeolian
Spartans being- to primitive Aeolians what the
(the Doric
Athenians were to primitive Ionians),
and at
is
matched by
as broad,
sight a more surprising, assertion of Herodotus,
first
that the Athenians as a Pelasgic race were contrasted in origin
with the Lacedaemonians as a Hellenic one.
strictly
and
literally, this
nians and Ionians generally from the
far
would agree with
specifically Hellenes
Interpreted
statement would exclude the Atheof Hellenes, and so
list
his habit of speaking of Dorians as
these Aeolo- Hellenic populations would
;
confront Pelasgico-Ionic in the ultimate bifurcation of the
race;
but
it
is
manifest that he would have admitted no
such extreme interpretation of his statement, and we must
compare other evidence before we pretend to extract from
what he here seems
to say,
what he can only
in reasonable
consistency mean.
Pelasgic
is
as widely distributed
as Aeolian in history,
an appellative in legend
and though we are not
justified
in
pronouncing that they are convertible with only a difference
of epoch, the geographical range and the incidents ascribed
to both are curiously similar.
gic,
is
Pelasgiotis,
legends that
it
as
all
Thessaly northwards
on the
Peloponnesus
x
is
Pelas-
south, in
were vain to set aside as nugatory, and so
are the islands and the eastern coast of the Aegean.
views in consecpience are open to us
superseded alien Pelasgi,
or,
;
either that the Aeolians
more probably, that they were
—
a vigorous overgrowth from their midst
1
Two
Eurip., Ipliiy. Aid. 1473.
a
section
taking
ATHENS PELASGIC OR HELLENIC.
xiii.]
177
such a start as the Dorians afterwards took from amongst
themselves;
and then, that the Ionians were another, and
possibly a later, that
different congenial
soil
The
influences.
social
made a
separate leading shoot
of these
first
tribes
behind
left
as
to consider the differences of the races
little
worth regard.
Pelasgic,' says Herodotus,
as Cranai Pelasgi
by the
Ionians
titles
;'
'
'
"When
Hellas
was
the Athenians were distinguished
he marks other epochs in their history
Cecropidae,
of
that rose to
and superior power
a self- consciousness of independence
might well be apt
upon a
and under contrasted climatic and
Athenians,
and,
still
later,
each change being attached to a change of king
;
or leader
— Cecrops, Erechtheus, Ion — in
no case to an expul-
from the country of the tribe already in possession.
sion
With
perfect consistency so far, he again affirms that the
Ionians of Asia were a Pelasgic race, that so also were the
Ionians of the Cyclades, and that the Ionian colonies were
founded by a population which had been expelled by the
Achaians from Peloponnesus, where they were called Aegial
lian
Pelasgi.
we have
Strabo,
seen, asserts that it
was from
Attica that they had originally passed to Aegialea, and calls
them even then
Ionians,
which agrees with the story of
the settlement of Ionians at Cynouria, where they remained
to be subject to the Dorian Argives.
But these statements appear
that
if
to involve the consequence
the Athenian race was Pelasgic, the Pelasgic
have been Hellenic; which would contradict
of
the
distinction
drawn by Herodotus
the
must
principle
himself.
He
is
indeed in the difficulty that the Pelasgi appeared to have
spoken a barbarous tongue, whereas the Athenians spoke
the Hellenic; but he still does not doubt that they 'broke
off'
from the main Pelasgic stem, and
is
therefore driven to
conclude that they changed their language on
!
Herod,
vii.
N
94, 95.
becoming
HISTORY OF GREECE.
178
Hellenised.
very
little
[chap.
In any case the opinion of Herodotus goes
for
a question as to fundamental difference of
in
language, and cannot be taken to establish a positive diversity of race between tribes that proved themselves so happily
susceptible of reciprocal influence.
It
mind throughout that the name
Aeolian afterwards, in all probability com-
must be borne
Pelasgian, like
in
prised a diversity of sub-tribes which, even
level
of civilisation
and
relationship,
upon a general
differ
easily
themselves as widely at least as Celts, Gaels, and
among
Cymri, in tendencies, dispositions,
bilities of influence,
There
is
good or
and
capacities,
suscepti-
evil.
temptation to infer that Herodotus, being possessed
by the Athenian claim
immigrated into
expelled
if
might
—and
to be autochthonous
their
at the
country and
—
never
to
to
have never
have been
same time by the persistent tradition
merely adopted as a
of the range of the Pelasgic period,
must
necessary conclusion that the Athenians so unremoved
be Pelasgians, and
quences.
shut
eyes
his
But how evanescent an
to
conse-
inconsistent
ethnological
distinction
he was prepared to accept as involved in Pelasgic origin
appears in the fact of his noticing, without serious demur,
that the
Hellenes charged such an origin even upon the
Aeolians of the
x
archipelago
;
whence
it
seems clear that,
according to his conception, Pelasgism might well
down
Such a charge could mean no more than that
of purer
race
deep
settlers
and more imbued with the nobler culture
that was recognised as characteristic
coalesced
lie
and Ionian antiquity.
at the basis of both Aeolian
with
a comparatively,
but
of a
only
new epoch had
comparatively,
The growth and assumption of national
character by the nations of modern Europe after the break
up of the Roman empire furnish many examples of disalien population.
1
Herod,
vii.
94, 95.
—
ATHENS PELASGIC AND HELLENIC.
xin.]
179
proportion between the numbers and the influence of com-
mingling
As time went
conquering or conquered.
tribes,
on, and according to the capacity of the secondary race,
it
might well be that though contributing at first most largely
to the numbers of the population, it perpetuated but
little
of
Only
primitive unculture.
its
and
Ionians
Aeolians
be
a non-Hellenic Pelasgic
conceived
in one sense could
of
and that
race,
members
as
of
that a large,
is,
perhaps the largest proportion of the population of either
was of a non-Hellenic stock which had become absorbed
by the superior
transformed
smaller Hellenic portion, of Aeolic
Ionian in the other.
the
of
depressed
tribe
connected
it
of
the
of
genius in one case, of
own Pelasgic Athenians, of a
Pelasgi.
One version of this quarrel
his
with molestation of free maidens drawing water
This water, we learn from
from the well Enneakrounoi.
Thucydides,
genius
Herodotus himself gives an account
by
expulsion,
and
energy
was
used
sacred
for
purposes,
occasions of marriage, and the story
ancient analogue
—reads
much
—which
like a
especially
has
on
many an
mythic translation of
a dispute as to a privilege of intermarriage, a constant source
of disagreement between tribes and cities of antiquity.
What
is
most surprising
in the result thus obtained
from
analysis of the reports, is the extremely limited area, even if
we
include Aegialia and Cynouria with Attica, which
for the primitive Ionians,
and a
difficulty arises
how
grand figure that
consist with the conditions of the
in historic times
by the Ionian
is
when the Hellenic
by far the weakest
race generally
of
Athens there was no other Ionian
1
is
can
made
and in
But Hero-
Herod,
N
2
'
was weak, the Ionian was
least account;
and of
all
this
how comparatively insignificant
At a time,' he says,
a witness
were the commencements of Ionia.
1
allowed
race as correlative
competition with Dorian and Aeolian conjoined.
dotus himself
is
city of
i.
143.
'
for except
importance.'
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
180
It
[chap.
characteristic of a vigorous stock that
is
time to time
throw out a fresh shoot that
is
than any that have gone before; and not only
thus suddenly
manifests
prolific
new
a population
is
and suddenly prosperous, but
it
presently
assumes new energies, and,
characteristics,
respect of civilisation,
from
will
it
more productive
in
a true birth of an original species.
is
commencement
of
new
epochs of history, that a particular tribe, sometimes
it
may
It
likewise characteristic of the
is
be said a particular family, makes
discriminate
ment
of
crowd and
numbers and
way out
its
energy moulds
characteristic
an ultimate
some secondary obligations
to
fact
it
;
may
but no
competent
been
yet
ever
has
trace
happiness
circumstances, to
of geographical position or political surroundings;
combination of these
the
History must usually accept
entire course of after history.
genius of this value as
of the in-
and by conjoint develop-
cluster,
to
account for the genesis of the chief motive characteristics
of the
genius
much,
—
is
with
Still,
itself.
while
individually,
nations
as
men
with
power to mould circumstances
the
energy in any case and
for greatest results the circumstances
capable of being moulded
;
may
be
genius,
must be
is
—yet
.such as are
and moral and physical endow-
ments within and happy combinations and opportunity without, nay, even
must
that
spire,
may
what we
conspire,
the
and at
are driven to call accident or luck,
periods occasionally do con-
critical
very greatest
success
that
is
conceivable
actually occur.
The
situation of Attica
and even the poverty of
had doubtless many advantages
its
soil,
which rendered
tempting prey to invaders, would help
maritime adventure,
for
which
its
it
a less
to divert industry to
spacious and well-protected
harbours gave aid and encouragement.
Accordingly,
when
the time arrived that moral conditions were in happy coinci-
dence with material opportunities, Attica became a centre of
most active
colonisation,
and the colonies she planted again
—
;
GENESIS OF IONIAN NATIONALITY.
xiii.]
181
proved secondary centres of most active colonisation.
was
up and occupied a period
filled
marvellous development and
prosperity that makes
mark by
its
few associated families into u
modern
We
still
or
marked
sections
much
poor
as
under the
district
is
name
dealt
though the period that
Still
tribe.
legends he
was destined
to
he
?
The
Hellenic,
the
to supersede, it
him not
to be
own
when the
movement; and
that this was
possibly not
the
poet
which he was carried back by the
with,
circumstances of his
the
Pelasgic
not yet even by
poems which
was
at the
influenced
time.
is
own work
his
same time impos-
by the
There
which were
of
characteristics
familiar in the early scattered
active
*
includes Hellas proper already indicates with
depicts was that
for
most solemn
entire poem,
in the
was to be associated the hearth of the ultimately
dominant
sible
possibly
of
not implied of the
in the
Dodonaean,
titles
Hero-
fact that his chief hero Achilles belongs to the
that
seat
is
name when
Achaian nation of Homer
though the
inheritors
"What indeed
of the
for
dwarfed, and unprogres-
and ceremonious adjuration of Zeus
invoked
coherence
them
obscurity as shrouds
—dwindling,
once great name.
original greatness
of no
and seeming to have already receded
behind,
left
Pelasgians are noted
;
tribes or hordes, but
as
distinction,
into almost as
what
familiar in the stories
so
the Homeric poems
in
existing",
dotus or Thucydides
is
a tribe into a nation
have no direct and explicit trace of this vast Ionic
as
a
the
;
and their mother countries.
colonies
development
sive
is
but unrecorded of
and prosperity
the speedy growth of a
tribe, of
growth with which the world
of
all
activity
So
interests
much
and
appearance
Ionic development was already in
a hint has even
been detected in
unintentional disparagement of Athens
sometimes direct and sometimes by neglect
1
Iliad, xvi. 233.
—that
the pre-
HISTORY OF GREECE.
182
were engaged
dilections of the poet
energy than for the elder
A
them
less
[chap.
for
the intrusive
races.
mention of Ionians (Iaones) in the Iliad brings
single
curiously into equivocal connexion with the
and with the characteristic
much can
epithet
*
Athenians,
— eX/ce^a^es—but
be made of the passage.
The flowing
not
draperies
of the older Athenians were in contrast to Doric costume,
and together with their peculiar seclusion of women seem
which were perhaps
to argue Asiatic affinities or reactions,
contracted in the course of the great Ionian colonisations.
It
was the great pride of the Athenians that they were
autochthonous, a boast which was founded on the principle
that neither their history nor their legends, which would
have been accepted as equal
their nation
in a
in
having ever been,
body from their
could
authority,
like so
many
tell
of
others, ejected
Something may have been
territory.
due to the defensibleness of the country on
northern
its
moun-
tainous frontier, something to its occupying a position aside
from the route of armies, or
Thucydides
is
—to
— which
is
the explanation of
the uncovetable poverty of
its soil.
be driven into as a last refuge in violent times
or
Attica
just such an angle of a continent as populations are apt to
Biscay,
Wales
Scotland.
or
Such
—
like
Cornwall
refugees, if able or
allowed to maintain themselves in independence, sometimes
and
only perpetuate a dull
they
may
tive,
but the most resolved to
ineffective
race,
even though
not have been merely the most ready to be fugi-
submit to conquerors.
It
resist to the last rather
may
be otherwise
if
than
they accept
the influence of immigrant populations, or even of leaders
and dynasties from without;
the original population
is
so
and great
results ensue
when
endowed as not only to respond
to happiest stimulus, but, while accepting an influence,
stamp an influence
in return.
1
Horn.
to
In the circumstances of Attica
11. xiii.
685-689.
ATHENS IONIAN AND AUTOCHTHONOUS.
xin.]
183
we may
recognise the same process, though resulting in a
different
form of character, that produced in England what
f
Shakespeare has called a
happy breed of men,' from the
mingling of Roman, Dane, Belgian, Saxon, Norman, Fleming,
Frenchman, with the by no means homogeneous original
Celtic tribes.
Only
in later
times did Attica become irreLegislators even as
concileably jealous of aliens.
and Cleisthenes consolidated
as Solon
porating strangers with
that each
full
franchise;
change of dynasty
the reception of a
nate, population.
in
its
modern
power by
and
it
incor-
seems clear
mythical story expresses
new wave of foreign, and possibly cogTo these contingencies, always reserving
the chief value of the truly native, autochthonous genius,
we may
fairly ascribe
versatility of
among
no
mind which
little
of that restless activity and
distinguished the Athenians even
the generally so restless and mobile Hellenes.
CHAPTER
XIV.
THE CONFEDERATION UNDER LEADERSHIP OF ATHENS.
ASSESSMENT OF ARISTIDES.
B.C.
As
476
;
— THE
—THE
DISGRACE OF PAUSANIAS.
01. 75. 4.
and
76.
490 B.C., fourteen years before the present
Aristides had taken a position of eminence at Athens.
early as
date,
He was
one of the generals
who were
associated with Milti-
ades at Marathon, where by setting* the example of deference
to his single authority, he contributed
still
more
tory than even by his services in the battle
He was
he was Archon Eponymus.
richest
accounted, for his position at least, a poor
immediate connexion was not
as the aristocratical party,
less
than with the
who
for giving
had
much with
Callias,
man
;
though
and
his
the oligarchical
and with the party perhaps even
He had
been
an associate of
the Alcmaeonid, a very personification of that
Cleisthenes
class,
class.
so
to the vic-
the next year
related to one of the
Athens represented by
in
families
;
yet had discerned the necessity and the occasion
more decision
this
effected
by
original
to be celebrated as even
of Athenian
l
to the institutions of Solon,
and
measures which caused him
more truly than Solon the founder
democracy.
The Cleisthenean
constitution
owed
recognition of the requirements of
1
Isoc.
ir.
avriS. 232
;
its
birth to a sagacious*
new circumstances
Herod,
vi.
131.
in a
ARISTIDES AND THEMISTOGLES.
new
By
time.
a liberal admission of
new
185
citizens,
and
new
subdividing the tribes and redistributing them on a
and thus breaking up many inveterate
principle,
narrow influences,
much
did as
it
by-
local
and
violence to sectional pre-
had been done to the rights of property by the
judices as
seisachtheia
of Solon, to which measure the innovations of
The ex-
Cleisthenes acted as an appropriate complement.
ample so confirmed was destined to be followed again, and
have the further support of Aristides, though he had
first
to overcome the general inclination in Athens to think that
a change which had cost so great an
final,
and could be
so maintained.
It
was
effort
necessarily
was in the interval
between Marathon and Salamis that Themistocles entered
public
He
life.
was younger than Aristides, and yet we are
not on that account obliged to set aside as impossible the
tradition
that their rivalry began in a Greek competition
youth Stesilaus, to which
for the regards of a beautiful Ceian
Solon himself at an earlier
x
date might have been a party.
Themistocles, son of Neocles, was destitute of the advantages
both of fortune and family, at least of more than just
cient to give
in
him an opening
to a public career.
suffi-
Confident
energy and resource, ready and incisive of speech, he
measured the scope of
tingencies of a
coming
his genius against the foreseen con-
period,
and dared to
set his
ambition
on a glory that should match even the trophy of Miltiades,
by which he was haunted sleeping and awake.
Politicians of this stamp,
who
disadvantages, are apt, whatever
labour under such initial
may
be their ultimate or
fundamental patriotism, not to be over-scrupulous
as. to
the
persons or things which they attack in their resolve to let
the world
will
know
early
what men
have to find employment
for.
it
has to reckon with and
It
was
in the face of the
opposition of Miltiades himself that Themistocles carried his
1
Frag. 13 and 15. Bergk.
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
186
great measure, the
first
[chap.
appropriation of the annual state
revenue from the Laurian silver mines to the increase of the
fleet
;
and this appears to have been only one out of many of
He
named
among those who turned
and adventurous propositions.
his novel
Xanthippus has that bad distinction
—
is
not
the failure at Paros into a capital charge; but he was the
main cause
(in
483
b.c.)
of the ostracism of Aristides,
who
had supported Miltiades in more partial attention to a landforce.
It
was thus
at
any
rate that he secured the direction
of the next three years, invaluable for the timely furtherance
of the naval preparations which were to be effective at Salamis.
The opponent
triumph
of his policy was honestly converted
Themistocles
;
himself moved for his
by
recall,
its
and
thenceforward the two acted in concert to an extent truly
wonderful, considering the contrast of their natures.
is
said to have been conscious, even in
Aristides
days, that,
earlier
in his apprehension of the general prejudicial influence of
Themistocles, he had opposed
fortunate effect;
it
him sometimes with
too un-
once he had even candidly admitted that
was high time,
such contests were to go on, Tor the
if
Athenians to throw one or other of them into the pit
ostracism intervened in fact as a solution of the
This, however,
had now gone by; he appeared
;
and
difficulty.
to recognise
that the occasion had arrived for him to follow in the steps of
his master Cleisthenes,
though as a master himself, and that
he could not do better service to the
state
than by giving
aid to inevitable changes with a frank cordiality which
at least enable
his own,
him
them with some
character of
and to regulate violence into ordered energy.
Another
contemporary of Aristides
Themistocles was
come before
He
to impress
would
us
still
younger
Cimon, son of Miltiades, who
in
command
of
the
fleet
at
will
than
soon
Byzantium.
possessed a large share of the best qualities of both his
elders,
without attaining to the heroic disinterestedness of
Aristides,
and certainly
falling short of Themistocles at the
CIMON SON OF MILTIADES.
xiv.]
point where nature
set the
lias
eternal
187
limit
between en-
dowments however distinguished and unquestionable genius.
He
began
liancy.
life
He
under mingled conditions of hardship and
inherited the
not but be a power as time went on with the
fought there.
jealous of
it
bril-
renown of Marathon, which could
They were however
for a
men who had
time ungratefully
and resented some
as too great a power,
self-
assertion of Miltiades by seizing the opportunity of inflicting
on him a monstrous
fine
of fifty talents, which, remaining
unpaid at his death, carried on the obligation and the stigma
to his son.
The son had the buoyancy both of youth and
of temperament
;
he was disinclined to the more finished
intellectual or musical culture that already distinguished the
Athenians above other Greeks, as
barbarians.
it
did the Greeks from
In speech and manners he was more in harmony
with the Dorian type, and proved himself always naturally
more in sympathy with Sparta than even
up
Aristides,
model the severity of Lycurgus.
as his legislative
in early life at least,
Cimon was
not.
He was
who
set
Severe,
free of life
and
of love, and contemporary poets told of his weakness for the
Salaminian Asteria, and again for a certain Mnestra; told
also,
however, of his affection for a legitimate wife Isodice,
daughter of Euryptolemus,
written to console
him
a son of Megacles,
in
elegies
in his desolation at her death.
these characteristics, combined with
a generous
By
and open
nature and energy in public lofty aims, he was recognised
as bearing resemblance to the Euripidean type of Hercules
:
tyavhov, aKoppov, ra /xiyiar' dyaOuv.
A
wealthy marriage of his half-sister Elpinice was the
means,
and
it is
said, of relieving
his military services at
him from the
inherited
fine,
Salamis and onwards commenced
a popularity which was confirmed by an unaffected manner
which transmuted a blunt bearing into gentleness
Cimon we
recognise an antique type of what in
itself.
In
modern times
HISTORY OF GREECE.
188
we designate with admiration
quite a youth
ns
as truly 'sailor-like.'
wa-
life
carrying
to
In the midst of the dismay produced by the resolution
out.
abandon Athens
style
—Ion
for the ships,
him
described
abundant
of
It
maritime policy of
that he adopted the
Themistocles, which he was to devote his
to
[chap.
and
close
Cimon was
as of noble
curly
hair
seen in cheerful
stature,
—leading
with a head
a
troop
of
companions through the Cerameicus to the Acropolis, and
holding in his hand a bridle, which he was on his way to
dedicate to the goddess in token that the class of knights
with
whom
exchanged
was then perhaps only
his fortune
rank him, were
bit
his father's
and bridle
spoils
sufficient to
He
time renouncing land service.
for the
for
one of the shields
from Marathon
— which
—
probably
were suspended
about the temple, and then, after a prayer to the goddess,
descended to embark, communicating to no few the spirit of
his enthusiasm.
In the actual
conflict
he acquitted himself
with such brilliant manfulness as to mark him at once
unworthy of
a career not
his
name appears afterwards
his
by
is
1
origin.
The
first
Byzantium
fleet at
:
time that
as the colleague of Aristides,
anticipation possibly of his successorship, in
the
for
that Cornelius Nepos,
command
of
by confusion
with a later exploit, puts him in the place of Xanthippus at
Mycale,
may
name having
Nothing
is
said to
be due
— and that
is all
that can be said
really occurred there in a secondary
is
—
to his
command.
more comprehensible than the attraction which
have been
tively youthful
felt
by Aristides towards the compara-
Cimon, and to none could he resign more
warfare whieh he
hopefully
the
now seems
to have relinquished for organic statesmanship.
responsibilities
of
active
The Ionians did not adopt Athenian
of Spartan unspurred
by a
of aid, and of their
most
1
leadership in place
lively sense of their requirement
likely
Plut. Cimon,
chance for obtaining
5.
it.
ATHENS AND CONFEDERATE
xiv.]
IONIA.
189
Neither the seaports of the Asian coast nor the islands could
reasonably
themselves
feel
safe
from
remember Persian pertinacity and
J
and
attack
further
much
cruel reprisals, sooner or later; too
cause had they to
To
vindictiveness.
secure
themselves against such renewals of violence by weakening
1
common enemy was now
or overawing the
common
genuine
the
new arrangement, with
much
as
fervour as
wards believed to be a mere pretext
part
of
strength
of
all
was
losses
is
by conquest
arrangements which were not only agreed to with
A
but realised and sustained.
formed
and the protection
against Persia.
colonies
serious
alacrity,
permanent confederation was
for the prosecution of hostilities
of Hellas and her
motives;
by the
proved
the
Revenge
also not uninfluential
combined
after-
exaction on
for
and the hope of recouping
and plunder, were no doubt
the
it
and with more reason.
the Athenians,
for sufferings
recognised as a
object in the interest of both the parties to
To Athens,
as
decidedly the preponderant power, both morally and materially,
was of necessity, and
signed the
headship
conduct of the
also with free
good- will, con-
and chief control of the
alliance;
a
position
that
affairs
carried
and
with
it
the responsibility of the collection and administration of a
common
gates.
fund, and the presidency of the assemblies of dele-
As time went on and circumstances
altered, the
of confederation were modified in various instances
first
the general
money
or
ships,
rule
was the
contribution,
;
terms
but at
not only of
but of actual personal service.
The im-
portant insular communities of Lesbos, Chios, and Samos
occupied from the very
first
that position
of exceptional
independence as compared with the smaller islands and the
separate cities of the coasts which they long retained.
were able and willing to yield their
the main ohject in
manned and
1
full
They
share of assistance to
disciplined war-ships, and did
Diotl. xi. 48.
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
190
make themselves
not
as time
liable for a
money
[chap.
assessment, for which,
went on, both the supply of ships and service of men
We
was elsewhere willingly commuted.
enumeration of the
have no precise
of Athens at this early time, but
allies
the course of the history brings up the mention of
and on two occasions
and Syracusan wars
though
prehensive,
was never
islands
be
to
were the
gives
lists
which are com-
in disappointingly general terms.
left
by these
aside
Aegean
the
of
Aegina, and
as
the outbreak of the Peloponnesian
— Thucydides
directly affected
soon
also
— at
Cy thera
many;
events,
northwards
— were
—
and Cyprus was
the
Greek
except Melos,
Thera,
but otherwise
;
Crete
all
contributory, including Euboea;
on the coasts of Thrace and the Chalcidic
cities
peninsula from the Macedonian boundary to the Hellespont
Byzantium and various
and
less
cities
cities
certainly of the
on the coasts of the Propontis,
Euxine
the important series of
;
on the western coast of Asia Minor
with considerable exceptions
Caunus
Carian, as far as
—Aeolian,
The
common
treasure
Apart from
fensibleness as an island,
which had been
if
isles.
and the place of meeting of the
its
and the sanctity of the temple,
respected,
who even burnt
the Aegean.
and de-
central convenience
and more than respected, by
lavish
incense
there,
—
traditional centre for solemn reunions of Ionians
side
and
sacred island of Delos was chosen as the depository
contributors.
Datis,
Ionian, Dorian,
on the borders of Lycia,
at least
not even round to the Chelidonian
of the
—though apparently
Thucydides quotes the
as proving that these festivals
it
was a
from either
Homeric hymn
in very early times
were of
the same character as those which in his day collected the
and sex at the Ephesian
Both Polycrates of Samos and Peisistratus as
tyrant of Athens had displayed a pious regard for the
entire Ionian population of every age
celebrations.
seat
of
of the
much
the
nativity
of
Apollo
and
Artemis,
same value and significance
no doubt
as the jealousy
THE ASSESSMENT OF ARISTTDES.
xiv.]
which has involved modern
politicians in
191
war ostensibly upon
a quarrel about the keys and custody of holy places.
annual theoria of the Athenians to Delos
The
memorised in the
is
story of the death of Socrates.
At
the distinct request of the allies the Athenians ap-
pointed
Aristides
superintend
to
assessing the
various
This implies
that
his
fairness
have gained general approval
it
was
the
difficult
process
of
forms and amounts of contribution.
;
and probity must already
though
it
is
possible that
his strict observance of justice in the performance of
the task that obtained for
which he
is
him
that universal character under
recognised by Herodotus,
who
declares
him
to
have been to his mind the very best of the Athenians and
We
the most just.
may
are
fain,
however,
have merited and obtained that
were pity to
earlier
date,
sacrifice
previously, for
it
the story that he had, necessarily at an
written his
who
a clown,
admit that he
to
title
could
own name on
the oyster-shell for
give no better reason for his vote of
ostracism than that he was utterly tired of hearing about
Aristides the Just
The
sum
sive
total
of
460
— the
Just.
annual amount of the assessment was the large
talents (^112,125),
and
but only supplementary
of,
this perhaps not inclu-
to,
the costly supply
equipped ships furnished by some of the
money payment, and
exclusive
again of any payment by
Athens, whose navy was most important of
little
as
of
any basis on which the required
we do
of the proportions in which
are only assured
by the
— perhaps heightened
—that the
changes
of
cities in lieu of a
it
all.
total
was
We know
as
was calculated
distributed.
We
satisfaction expressed in the settlement
in its echoes from experience of later
total, like the distribution,
was held to be
perfectly justified.
According to
'
Plutarch, the Greeks had
1
Plut. Arid. 24.
made payments
HISTORY OF GREECE.
192
ihe war even
towards
[chap.
under the leadership of the Lace-
daemonians, but not on the principle of such a distinct
survey and estimate of their respective resources as was
now
carried
from the
The
through by Aristides.
a poorer
trial
man
assessor
came
forth
—
to the
than he entered upon
it
great astonishment of Athens, and somewhat to the amuse-
ment
who
of Themistocles,
professed to recognise that as but
poor praise for a politician which was not too extravagant
a merit for a money-bag.
The prospect
of peace and security
industrious
these
amount the
who
traps,
of
cases
The tax
who had
states
first called
the <p6po$
;
all
by auto-
joint votes in its expenditure
it
is
sa-
the recklessness
willingly paid
so
in
which in
had been levied by tyrants or
could enrich themselves with
arbitrary power.
nomous
reconcile
exceeding
formerly exacted by Persia,
tribute
most important
might well
payments, even
to
cities
was
not quite clear whether an in-
heritance of the former title of tribute, or a euphemistic modification of it
it
on occasion of the change.
Thucydides thinks
necessary to explain the term as an equivalent of
later days the
odious,
Athenians found, even the term
and substituted
for it avvragis, as
In
(popa for a tax
implying a burden
The immediate
not imposed but agreed upon.
<f)6pa.
officials
who,
according to Thucydides, were intrusted with the receipt of
the fund, and according to their
also,
title,
were the Hellenotamiae, whose
the Athenians.
This
title,
by
its
with the dispensing of
very parallelism with the
Hellenodicae of Olympia, and indeed of Sparta
with
it
an implied responsibility for the
of Hellas, and
supposed to be
of
audit
and
we must assume
exercised
control
by
under
the
it
appointment rested with
x
also, carries
common
interests
that their functions were
certain
agreed conditions
periodical
congress.
The
whole arrangement was based on the model of the ancient
1
Xen. Rep. Lac.
xiii.
n.
—
ASSESSMENT OF ARISTIDES.
77//;
xiv.]
193
amphictyonies, but vastly dilated both in scope and scale.
may have had no hand
Themistocles
in
organisation,
its
but he who had urged elsewhere so cogently, that the more
insignificant cities, whatever the theoretical equality of their
vote in such assemblies, would always be controlled by one
or
other of the few
more powerful, must have been well
with the prospect for the power of Athens in such
satisfied
a combination, where she stood in her preponderance unrivalled
and
When
alone.
assessment,
and distribution
collection,
were exclusively and immediately
Athenian hands, no
in
check of general supervision, at whatever seat of the treasury,
who knew
could long be counted upon, by those
Greece, to
prevent distribution being mainly biased towards Athenian
We
nothing directly of
any
Sparta with reference to this fund
and
and purposes.
policy
negotiations with
hear
the further prosecution of the purpose to which
be applied
;
so
to be the
common
to itself the
task of
and yet a confederacy that was
bulwark of Hellas, and that proposed
dealing with
Persian
power as to render her hitherto
periodical aggressions impossible for the future,
claim upon
that had hardly roused itself before to
the
Isthmus until alarmed
could
coasts,
efficiency
rely
diil
for
of the
its
but
scarcely
be
its
arms beyond
its
hereafter.
it
might again have to
Spartans however
The
not at this time naturally look very far ahead;
enough
there
for
them and
satisfied
now appear
it
was
their traditions to see that
was no danger immediately pressing
they could not
own
urged now to further the
on which
fleet
immunity
move
immunity of
the
for
had surely a
The peninsula
Peloponnesians generally.
the
was to
it
;
in
any case
as allies subordinate to Athens,
where they had lately been superiors; their own power and
that of their immediate dependents and allies
Arcadians, and the rest
would always be
who had
in reserve;
sallied
— Corinthians,
with them to Plataea
the conduct of Leotychides and
Pausanias abroad had moreover not only put them more than
o
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
194
[chap.
ever out of conceit with detached enterprises, but to some
extent had disarranged their political and military system.
All such difficulties and objections only operated to enhance
we may with
the value of the opportunity to Athens, and
much
confidence assign to this time an embassy that arrived
move
at Sparta from the Athenians to
Hellenic synedrion, which was
still
—perhaps
common
in the
considered to meet there
the further consideration of the relations of Hellas to Persia.
Its
announcements and proposals were not received without
They included
producing- considerable agitation.
vindication,
which we
than in the
first
may
at least a
suppose was rather challenged
instance volunteered, of the scale on which
the harbour of the Piraeus was being extended as necessary
for the security
now
and reception of the combined Hellenic
numerous from the accession of the
so very
fleet
colonies
and on which the security of Hellas would henceforward de-
The strong argument
pend.
commanded
of an oracle that
the Spartans to beware of admitting a halting leadership was
urged,
against their renunciation
said,
is
it
hegemony, the natural complement
by
retained
Lacedaemon
was not without
sober.
among
;
on minds by
many
The passions however that were now
elders
was
and their turn
supreme,
to take their
is
assigned
sounded
could,
it
point
of
view from
the
and as in
ingenuity
sufficient for
own way
they intended to take
the younger
it
so born
had
power of
any
which
case.
the
effect it did,
To a Heracleid
of
propounding
leaving the
undisturbed, as
in
degrees more
at Sparta the
;
the sexagenarian predecessors in possession.
reasons that
they
and the aspiration of the new
generation had to survive if
Hetaemeridas
which
the excitement that crazed Pausanias
its effect
to wait their time
the
maritime
of
Athens by glory and success could scarcely
but spring up under like influences
spirits of
that
The ambition moreover that had been
land.
so fostered at
of
it
Such
certainly
was
Athenians
clear
at least
is
perplexed
that
the
and
—
THE DISGRACE OF PAUSANIAS,
xiv.]
disarranged
notices
He
coherence.
into
of
J
seem to
Diodorus
concludes
the
that
195
naturally
fall
Athenians,
being
entirely relieved from apprehension of a breach with Sparta,
were at undisturbed leisure to apply themselves to the ad-
vancement of their own
city
;
and from his
archonship of Dromoclides, 476-5
an interval of several Olympiads
a
—the
date (the
last
there certainly en?ues
onaiyjxia of
enough, and yet how long
short
period
B.C.)
2
Thucydides,
Greece
for
!
within which the two great powers of land and sea, of
Dorian and Ionian stock, are
One
at least not in hostile collision.
transitory difficulty only
was
to occur, or
had already
occurred, that bore such a semblance, and this again was due
to
what must be
He
called another extravagance of Pausanias.
reappeared at Byzantium in a ship of Hermione, pro-
fessedly to take part in the war,
though without any public
authorisation from Sparta, and in reality with intention to
Between
with his criminal intrigues.
proceed
authority with those
who
and his connections with the party which
in
Athens
itself,
personal
his
could not suspect him of treason,
at
Byzantium, as
would through rivalry or in consideration
of bribes concur in such designs, he
managed
to
when
himself in the city in such a position, that
establish
the allies
under the conduct of Cimon took the alarm, their ejection of
him
is
expressed by phrases implying either direct violence
or starving out.
dides,
Plutarch,
but only to
fix
himself at
easy reach of Artabazus,
also.
who
does not here copy Thuey-
employs the same expression.
if
He went
off
southwards,
Colonae in the Troad, within
not of Demaratus and Gongylus
Information of his practices however went past him to
Sparta, with no favourable account of his doings; and the
ephors forthwith despatched the formal
summons
of a scytale,
bidding him return in company with the herald who bore
it,
and never quit him on pain of being accounted a national
enemy.
Unwilling to excite further suspicion, and in
1
Dicxl. xi.
43 ami
Thuc.
~o.
O 2
i.
10.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
196
confidence that
from
escape
existing
On
second time.
command
with the treasure at his
charges
arrival
by
could
returned
he
bribes,
lie
a
he was placed in confinement,
and retained there some time by the ephors, in the exercise
of their independent
say a regent; and
he
that
obtained
it
a
authority even
over
king, not to
a
was only by treating and management
formal
an
at
trial
bringing the accusations against him to
Nothing was established against him,
opportunity for
a favourable issue.
either
by
his enemies
or the state, with such positiveness as to warrant severity
towards one, who, himself of the royal blood, was also the
governor and representative of the minority of his
official
King
cousin,
however
left
His acquittal
Plistarchus, son of Leonidas.
him not the
less
under grave suspicions, on
account of his infringements of Spartan discipline and his
manifest leaning to the ways of the barbarians
years unemployed,
therefore for
impatience was again to
to a
;
he remained
and not unwatched,
until
overmaster him and hurry him
wretched catastrophe.
It
must have been about
this
time that intrigue with
Persian gold from the satrapy of Artabazus, and possibly with
some reference to the invitations of Pausanias, was brought
home
This was Arthmius,
to an agent in Peloponnesus.
son of Pythonax of Zeleia, a town rather of Phrygia than
the Troad
:
he was a proxenus of Athens, and at Athens in-
dignation was vehement accordingly.
x
Demosthenes quotes
textually a decree, alluded to in like terms
schines
bonze
and
3
by both
2
Ae-
Deinarchus, which remained inscribed on a
stele in the Acropolis,
and by which, on the motion
of Thucydides, Arthmius was declared
'
degraded and
hostile,'
and warned under penalty of death, not only from Athens
but from every territory under Athenian control
itself,
the exclusion extended to his family and his
1
Demosth. Phil.
*
Deinar.
c.
iii.
p. 122.
Arist. 25, 26.
4
2
Aescli.
*
Plut. Them. 6.
c.
;
descendants.
Ctes.
sub
fin.
and
CHAPTEE
XV.
ATHENIAN PROSECUTION OF THE WAR.
B.C.
The command
476; 01. 75. 4 and
CIMON IN- THRACE.
76. 1.
of the combined fleet had in the
been taken over at
meantime
Byzantium by Cimon, who, arriving
from Athens with a small squadron of only four
ships,
had
nevertheless found an opportunity for a brilliant achievement
by the way.
In the absence of the chief Greek force at
Byzantium, the Persians, who were not quite cleared out
of Chersonesus, and some garrisons further west, were giving
signs of renewed activity and intriguing for the co-operation
of Thracian allies from the north.
With
his four triremes,
which
no doubt were provided with the improvements introduced
by
1
Themistocles, he successfully attacked
thirteen vessels,
and then followed up
their flotilla of
his victory on
land
by beating and driving out both Persians and auxiliaries,
with such
free
for
effect
as
to
this exploit as related
and
it
is
set
the
fertile
We
Athenian re-occupation.
peninsula
entirely
can scarcely refuse
by Plutarch a place in the
history,
not easy to find a better, or indeed another, for
we must demur
to
accepting
it
as
introductory to the re-
duction of the important rebellion of Thasos some years
when the
fleet
later,
employed was necessarily much more numerous
and powerful.
1
Plut. Cini.
1
2.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
198
The
full force
[chap.
now
of the Byzantine fleet being
required,
was directed by Cimon, energetically and without
unfasten
to
from the
hold which
the
straits,
Thasos likewise,
the
infer,
retained upon
still
though ousted
Persians,
we may
and, as
1
from
Lemnos and
Their oppor-
Thrace.
now
tunity for receiving reinforcements from Asia was
cut
and the time had come to deal with them
off,
delay,
finally
in detail.
Far and wide over Thrace, as well as along the Hellespont,
the officers of the Great
King had
held posts ever since the
European expedition of Mardonius under
2
Darius.
It
was
then that the island of Thasos had been reduced by them, and
compelled to demolish
the
mines on the mainland
and surrender
walls
its
formation of which
had devoted the
it
—an
stronghold was at Eion, at the
of
mouth
commanding the
Mount Pangaeus,
One
access to the gold regions
which, as worked by the Thasians, had
however yielded
occupied partly by the
and the
sea,
chief Persian
of the Strymon, over
own
rivalled in productiveness those of their
district,
of the
anticipation of the policy that
was to have better fortune at Athens.
against Thasos,
navy, to
its
profits
between
The
island.
well as gold,
silver as
Pierians,
3
4
and was
mountains
the
partly by the Odomanti, and most especially
by the Satrian Thracians,
all
most warlike
tribes,
whose
among thickly- wooded or snowand who never had been to the know-
seats extended northwards,
covered mountains,
On
ledge of the historian otherwise than independent.
their
loftiest
mountains they had an oracle of Dionysus, which
implies
the culture of the vine
on the lower
slopes,
and
corresponds with what might be inferred from the mythological aspects of the region
;
it
has even been conjectured,
not unplausibly, that the Dionysiac Satyrs were in origin
no
other
than these
wild
Satrae.
The
limits
of
Mace-
donian sway were already advanced very close up towards
1
Xen. HeUen.v.
3
Herod,
vi. 46.
I.
31.
2
Herod,
vii. 106.
4
Id.
112.
vii.
—
ATHENIAN PROSECUTION OF THE WAR.
xv.]
the
Strymon, between which and Mount Dj'sorus lay other
l
most productive mines.
mines at
the
mining, even
;
they had not, which
if
The
Phoenician associates.
were
on the mainland
;
the
probable enough,
resources which were appreciated
the Persians levied rates upon
down
to
the
power.
military
extinction
The
liberation
of Thasos from Persia, after the destruction of the
by the Persians themselves,
cations
of course
is
fortifi-
passed over as a matter
but the reduction of Ei'on was attended by some
;
and remarkable circumstances.
difficult
of
who drew from them
autonomies by the kings,
very sinews of their
least
them during
Thasians, and
Thracians, Athenians,
Macedonians fight over them
Hellenic
knowledge of
their
is
and long after unexhausted, at
still
occupation, and
their
Phoe-
Greeks possibly in direct intercourse with
who had brought thence
Phoenicia,
early,
Herodotus had visited with marvel
which he ascribes to early
Thasos,
nician colonists
so
199
mand was
Boges, a
out to the
last.
man
He
The Persian
of desperate resolution,
in
com-
who
held
and was in
relied on his fortifications,
correspondence for supplies with friendly Thracians of the
upper Strymon, in the
gated and cleared of
district of Siris,
its earlier
which had been subju-
Paeonian inhabitants by Mega-
and in which Xerxes had de-
bazus, lieutenant of Darius,
posited his sacred chariot.
It is
an illustration of how
far the successes of
Leotychides
in Thessaly, incomplete as they were considered at
transferred power to the Hellenic party, that
salus
aided
and
talents,
2
charge.
the Athenians
a squadron of
There
is
only a
here with
a
Menon
mand
of Phar-
subsidy of twelve
300 Penestae mounted at his own
question whether his great recom-
pense was citizenship or somewhat short of this
the time the
home, had
armament of the
allies arrived,
aieleia.
By
under the com-
of Cimon, such a force had been concentrated by Boges,
1
Herod,
v. 17.
2
Demosth. Arutoc
p.
687.
HISTORY OF GREEi E
200
[chap.
either from allies and stations inland or from the garrisons
which controlled the numerous
cidic peninsula, that he
to stand a conflict in
where his numbers only gave the besieged additional
Cimon's force was
embarrassment.
and the hoped-for
city,
was encouraged
he was worsted, however, and driven within the
(.pen field;
walls,
Chal-
of the adjacent
cities
relief
Athenian general had cut
never
its
chance of
off all
force against the Thraeians
sufficient
made
to
invest the
appearance; the
it,
by detaching a
and driving" them before
Famine was now imminent, but the place
directions.
in all
it
held
still
out; and the offer of conditions of Burrander, including safe-
conduct to Asia, which was made readily by the besiegers
lor
—the very
province, — was
the sake of speedier possession of their prize,
citadel,
and
also the treasury of the
The
rejected.
wealthy
of holding out, however, was not
difficulty
dependent alone on pressure of famine, however urgent
was a danger more urgent
The
still.
there
;
walls of the city were
of unburnt brick, that would yield readily to the action of
water; and Cimon, by a stratagem that was long a favourite
subject of celebration, and w as one day to be imitated against
r
the walls of
x
Mantinea, so
dammed and
diverted the Strymon,
that under its action the speedy formation of a breach was
The catastrophe that ensued has many
unavoidable.
espeeia ly
Eastern
in
history
Butes, or
;
parallels,
Boges, slew his
and concubines, on an enormous pyre,
children, wife,
dis-
appointed the besiegers by scattering from the wall before
their sight into the
Strymon
silver out of the citadel,
at once,
the treasure of gold and
fired
the city and the pyre
and entered himself and his friends with him into
the flames.
praised
then
all
'
On
by the
this account
he
is still
Persians,' says Herodotus,
to the present time
:
and rightly
2
too.'
It wou'd be rash, however, to conclude that this immolation
was so complete that no
1
Paus.
viii. 8.
spoil whatever,
-'
5.
Herod,
nor Persian prisoners
vii.
107
;
Plut. Cim.
7-
ATHENIAN PROSECUTION OF THE WAR.
.w.]
201
The
of birth available for ransom, were left over for the victors.
terms of Thucvdides imply a selling into slavery as consequent
1
on the Capture, and an anecdote relates
sion, at least,
Cimon enriched himself by
how on
such an occa-
sagaciously taking Lis
share rather in naked prisoners than their rich accoutrements.
This conquest at once freed the Greek
board
them
distinctly
enumerated
Argilus,
Thucy elides names the capture of
Ei'on as the first of the
by which Athens advanced
exploits
tinguishing
empire, and so distin-
to.
above others unnamed must, I think, be held
it
imply that the Athenians from the
own
in their
Acan-
Stageirus,
and others come in by implication.
thus, Scolus, Olynthus,
to
the sea-
as contributors to the Aristidean assessment; as such
find
\ve
cities of
westward gulfs from annoyance, and added
of the
It thus
possession.
held the place
first
became their basis
for ad-
vancing some years later to a position higher up the
Old traditions
and of most admirable natural advantages.
gave the Athenian, what he accepted as a
He was
himself no stranger in this region.
the tale that the sons of Theseus,
river,
title,
to
feel
accustomed to
Demophon and Acamas,
had, one or the other, or perhaps both, touched here after the
taking of Troy, and close at hand was the scene of the loves
—
—
Demophon orof 3 Acamas and Phyllis. Phyllis is the
eponymous nymph or heroine of the district Phyllis, that lies
between the northern slopes of Mount Pangaeus and the river
of
2
Angites, that flows parallel to
4
lake Prasias above Ei'on.
— how
Acamas
ancient, as well as, at
his
to join the
Strymon
in the
Demophon) had received
dowry as being notoriously
(his Scholiast says
the site of Amphipolis in
and
it
Aeschines appeals to this mythus
any
way
of
—
rate to the satisfaction of his hearers
argument, authentic
;
and
it
implies an inaccurate
and modern apprehension of the characteristics of a period
given to limited variations of mythus,
1
Thuc.
3
Lucian. <k Sail.
i.
2
98.
;
Serv. in Virg.
Ed.
Schol. Aesch. de Fal. Leg.
if
v.
one should imagine
10; Ovid, Epist. Her.
'
2.
Aesch. ch Fal. Leg.
BISTORT OF GREECE.
202
th.it
the story had
We may
its
origin after this
[chap.
campaign of Cimon.
more probably assume that
far
a genuine,
is
it
though of course mythical, record of some primitive transactions between Athens
no
it
real
less
and
region
this
;
a consequence of
than that hankering- after
power
in
this
quarter by the Athenians, a passion which returns again and
again, like an ineradicable impression of early youth, which
owed much of
its force
quite as probably to unconscious in-
The story of this love, as
Acamas was no more constant
heritance as to any later influence.
fully told,
was not encouraging
;
Ever expected to return
as a lover than his father Theseus.
according to his promise, he was looked for in vain, and
Phyllis destroyed herself.
Poetry, of whatever date, told of
her transformation into an almond-tree, of which the premature blossoms await the dallying leaves
;
they burst forth
when
the belated lover arrived to throw his arms around the yet
warm and
not yet quite unconscious stem.
In the same year as the capture of
the archonship of
1
Phaedon),
is
Ei'on (476 B.C.,
during
given in an isolated notice,
and very unsatisfactory terms, the
force under Lysistratus, Lycurgus,
disaster of an
Athenian
and Cratinus, said to have
been destroyed by the Thracians after their conquest of
If
we accept
this at
all, it
must be
as a corrupt record of
serious mishap, after the reduction of the place
the
land force which had at
Ei'on.
first
some
by Cimon, to
operated successfully to
check Thracian attempts to raise the siege.
More
disasters
were to follow thereafter through a
years, until the Scholiast of Aeschines could tell
because
Demophon had broken
several appointments
in the
name
series of
how
it
was,
tryst with Phyllis in nine
— there seems
a hint of suggestion here
of the important locality,
Nine ways
— that
the
nymph in bitterness had doomed the Athenians to expiation
by as many defeats; the Scholiast accurately reckons them up,
1
Schol. Aesch. de Fed. Leg.
ATHENIAN PROSECUTION OF THE WAR.
xv.]
and
no doubt would the ascribed denunciation
so accurately
of the
203
nymph keep
with Athenian misfortunes.
level pace
Besides the general commercial advantages of such a posi-
metals of the adjacent mines were to prove
tion, the precious
too tempting- not to determine the Athenians to assume, as
time went on, the position and rights rather of conquerors of
the Persians, than mere liberators of their oppressed subjects,
who had
Hellenic or other, the Thasians or Thracians
pre-
viously shared these productive sources of revenue between
2
them.
It
was not long
before,
between claims
for restitution
and resentment at encroachment, they became very seriously
embroiled with both.
Herodotus makes mention of another hold of Persians on
Europe, respecting the fate of which there
considerable
is
This was Doriscus, at the mouth of the Hebrus
difficulty.
eastward, opposite Samothrace, on the border of the vast plain
where Xerxes reviewed his army.
fortress since the
It
had remained a Persian
Darius, Xerxes substituted Mascames,
governor appointed by
son of Megadostes, and by
him the post was
maintained,
the
that
For the
Scythian expedition of Darius.
after
all
other
so stubbornly
Persian
officers
had
been rooted out from Thrace and the Hellespont, he alone
the numerous attempts to
defied all
the only notice
we
find of the defence
perhaps presumable that
Mascames,
for
eject
it
came
to
him.
This
of Doriscus;
it
is
is
an end at the death of
though the honours that Xerxes accorded him
were continued by Artaxerxes to his sons,
that they succeeded to his
again,
2
command.
it
The
does not follow
city of Ainos,
a very short distance to the east of Doriscus, was
certainly associated with "Athens.
who animated
the
It
was Mascames probably
movement that Cimon had countervailed
in the Chersonesus.
The
1
future political position and influence of
Herod,
ix. 75.
2
Id.
vii.
107.
3
Thuc.
Cimon were
iv.
28;
vii.
57.
UISTORY OF GRE1
204
[chap.
not only advanced by his success as a commander
these
in
northern wars, bul also by the brilliant retrieval they induced
of his private
inherited
fortune,
km
so
time when
the
at
the liability to a crushing
enrichment legitimate enough, from share of
wore doubtless open
brought
only
spoil
and
so forth,
but these operations had moreover
;
Athenian
under
lie
Opportunity
fine.
Chersonesus,
ihe
control
where
under other circumstances Cimon might have succeeded his
father Miltiades as tyrant,
and where the present would no
doubt reinstate him at least in an extensive proprietorship.
It
is
thus that, the embarrassment of the
we read
as
of
him
ungrudged display
of hereditary
title to
jecture that he
man,
in a
if
It
may have had some
relationships to each other
demand
even inviting to con-
is
proprietary rights in the
the notion
;
hints, so significant as to
notwithstanding,
which was accepted
not of hereditary wealth, yet
be wealthy.
neighbourhood of Ei'on
families
fine
as indulging in lavishness
is
suggested by curious
collating, of relations
and
and to this part of Thrace, of the
of the tyrants Miltiades
and Peisistratus and the
historian Thucydides.
Miltiades I colonised or obtained possession of the Cherso-
when he
nesus,
Peisistratus
;
quitted Athens out of disgust at the rule of
and
there, after death, received the recognised
heroic honours of a 'founder'
— an
As belonging
oIki<jti]s.
to
the Philaid gens he claimed descent from Ajax, as the Aeacid
Philaeus had obtained Athenian citizenship and settled at
x
Attic
same
2
Melite.
hero,
The demus Philaeus was connected with the
and to
this Peisistratus belonged.
The gens, not
the demus of Miltiades, and the demus, not the gens of Peisistratus,
who was a
Philaeus; and this
Nelid, have thus a
is
the
first
common
inconclusive, of their connection with each other.
may
relation to
of several hints, individually
Peisistratus
indeed have claimed to rank as a Philaid also, through
1
Herod,
vi.
35
;
Etym. M.
2
Plut. Solon, 10.
—
ATHENIAN PROSECUTION OF THE WAR.
xv.]
some maternal
1
connections, as Pericles was attacked as an
Alcmaeonid, though only so by the mother's
brother of Miltiades
whom
Of
205
I,
by the mother's
side,
side.
A
half-
was Cimon, to
the nickname Koalemus imputed dulness of intellect.
his father
Stesagoras
we have no
particulars
tiades of
Marathon, have no claim
Miltiades the
to the
His wealth at
first.
by causing him
so gained recall
stratidae of like
sinated in
2
;
any-
for
Aeacid descent of
least is
winning three Olympic chariot-races
;
among them Mil-
thing that appears then, his descendants,
avouched by his
he gratified Peisistratus
and
to be proclaimed as victor for the second,
from banishment
he disappointed the Peisi-
;
honour on the third occasion, and was assas-
consequence.
3
Miltiades I at the
Stesagoras IT succeeded his uncle
Chersonesus, and was himself succeeded by
his brother Miltiades II (515 B.C.), in
whom
the Peisistratids
Of
took such interest as to despatch him thither in a Hrireme.
the concern of the Peisistratidae with any other part of Thrace
we hear nothing
;
but Herodotus furnishes the curious and
any notice of conquest, that
isolated fact, independently of
Peisistratus
drew considerable revenues from the
Miltiades II, by a
chus.
first
and Athenian
whose fortunes were remarkable
the Persians
when they drove out
wife,
:
5
Strymon.
had a son Metio-
he was captured by
his father,
493
to give
him.
him a Persian wife and
An own
brother
sister of
Cimon was
the
family,
far as
so denationalise
Eut
Metiochus was Elpinice.
their
son of a second wife, Hegesipyle,
6
daughter of a king of Thracians
As
and
and
B.C.,
Darius either restrained or gave loose to resentment, so
Olorus.
regards Thucydides the historian, he too, by his
statement, was son of an Olorus; by that of
7
own
Marcellinus,
of a Hegesipyle also; and according to the same authority
and Plutarch, he was buried
1
the
2
Plato, Hipparch, p. 288.
Ael. V. II.
i.
in
121.
ix. 32.
6
3
Id. vi. 39.
Herod,
In
Cimonia,' the family
Tint. Cim. 4;
4
vi. 38.
7
'
i/7.
Herod,
Id. vi. 39.
vi.
103;
6
Id.
206
Ifl
story OF GREECE.
cemetery of Cimon by the Melite Gate, close to the tomb of
Elpinice.
own
Thuoydides, on his
stratus before him, property on the
showing*, had, like
Strymon
;
and
l
Pri.-i-
Hermippus
explained, not unplausibly, his intimation of peculiar
know-
ledge and his rather anxious tendency concerning the Peisistratidae,
by
his asserted relationship to the
tarch, at variance
2
family.
3
Plu-
with other authorities who put the cata-
strophe at Athens, says that
it
was at Scapte-hyle that he was
assassinated.
1
Ap. Marcell. 18; Schol. Thuc.
i.
;o.
2
Thuc.
vi. 35.
3
Cimon,
6.
CHAPTER
XVI.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY.
After the
of the
restoration
speedy resettlement
of Athens
walls
of domestic
life
and
and the
the
order,
civil
ancient local influences led to a resumption of ancient habits
;
much that reappeared unaltered from of
came up much that was surprisingly novel, and
but along with
old,
there
not more
in the material,
than in the moral and
equipments of strenuous
tual,
civilisation in the capacities
aspirations of various competing classes.
nised
It
must be admitted
tion of political power, conformably to
of political
invite
to
in the distribu-
new
manifestations
The exceptional powers of the
energy.
and
was soon recog-
by some, who were by no means forward
innovation, that changes
intellec-
crisis
something more than mere return
involved in their lapse
to previous arrangements.
In the
difficulties of
the conflict,
necessity had reconciled the citizens to entrusting unusual
discretion to a restricted body,
and the vigorous tone which
was in consequence communicated to the action of the
had
for a
state
time confirmed the authority, perhaps enhanced the
pretensions, of a Council
general terms
;
we
learn
which
is
referred to constantly in
by a casual notice of Aristotle
l
alone,
that this was not the Council of 500 to which Miltiades had
1
Axist. Potit. v. 3, p.
683
a.
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
208
[chap.
responsible during the earlier invasion, bui
been
the more
The time had
limited Council or Court of the Areopagus.
not ye1
arrived
assailed,
but otherwise
seriously
weakened during the
spirit of
proud and even arrogant self-reliance spread among
venerable authority to be directly
for this
later prosecution of the
when
the mass of the population,
zeal as
was becoming
traditional respect
all
eaeli
war
man, fighting with
the event depended on himself, was almost per-
if
suaded that not even the general had contributed more to
its
The urgency of the limes gave opportunity and pro-
result.
minence to men who never before had a chance of
when
a
;
were as worthy as the
so put to the proof,
urgency of the strain might
the many,
who were
relax, hut not so the
ill-content to
places below those with
either, hut,
whom
fall
back in
best.
The
ambition of
civil life into
they had ranked in the face of
danger as equals or superiors and who now had only a privilege to plead
principle
sufficient reason.
It
T
chise should
and now
and no
was a familiar
and experience w ith the Greek, that
political fran-
and would be co-extensive with military service
for the first
time a victory at sea had been so im-
portant and so glorious, that the familiar
maxim
carried
its
application to the entire nautical multitude.
The
it
the enthusiasm, of democratical encroachment at
spirit,
Athens was
far
from originating in these events, however
might be revived and reinforced by them
far earlier origin,
and
movement was not
to its
;
the
germ was
of
had made good several stages of progress,
inconsiderably due the vigour of
the Athenian patriotic exertions at this time as on some earlier
occasions
with
tical
;
so
manifestly
is
concentrated energy
associated
Athenian poets were fond of dating democrainstitutions as far back as mythical times, extravagant] v
1
freedom.
enough, though more plausibly than when they imputed
Spartan characteristics to the subjects of Menelaus.
1
Herod,
v. 78.
But
—
THE CONSTITUTION OF SOLON.
xvi.]
enough of Solon's
just
within the
institutions
scope
— which,
of true
only
within, are
if
ken
historic
209
— survived
the
lapse to the tyranny of Peisistratus, to attest a very positive
democratic tendency, and indeed intention, and, for
deficiencies, to explain
how he came
their
all
to be regarded in time
and author of the Athenian
as the universal legislator
free
constitution.
According to
the
conception
of
Aristotle,
founded was indeed worthy of the high
polity,
—a
constitution,'
effected, a
which
politeia,
—inasmuch
harmony
as
it
aimed
its
and manners and guardianship of
Council,
rj
at,
avu> fiov\r\
— as
and
He
of diverse powers.
council of the Areopagus with
title
of a proper
modern phraseology, a
in
is,
what Solon
found and
legality; this
left
ciple
was
the
was the Upper
distinguished from a second, the
members held
its
free
general supervision of morals
Probouleutic or Preconsidering Council, which was
annually, and as
'
to a large extent
strictly oligarchical.
office for life,
elected
its
prin-
Again, the Preconsidering
Council, which was also of a time before Solon and of
which
a main function was to determine and prepare what business
should be submitted to the popular
Aristotle,
1
and even in virtue of being
annually, as an aristocratic institution.
democratical
that
offices
of
ancient
societies
cations,
it
denned by
elective,
In
fact, in
and that
the most
was well understood
which were obtainable through election must
needs be gained by those
command
ecclesia, is
even
deference
must
of wealth.
to
fall
It
who
could intimidate or bribe or
independently of special qualifi-
an aristocracy whether of birth or
was only a change therefore in favour of
aristocracy as contrasted with oligarchy, that the privilege
of birth was
now
superseded by the limit of a high pro-
perty qualification.
for consideration of
The democratic element, however, but
which
1
'
the demus would be too nearly
Plut. Solon, 19.
p
HISTORY OF OREECE.
210
enslaved
with
admitted
tranquillity
no
little
be
t<>
Of
decision.
four
the
classes of
graduated income-tax, the lowest and most numerous,
in his
although
still
remaining- incapable of magistracy, was for the
time allowed to participate in the
was
It
was then
'expected/
Solon successively imposed an advance
upon which
citizens
first
any
for
[chap.
to his innovation
this
at
full elective '"'franchise.
and
point,
its
conse-
quences that Solon chiefly, and with a degree of justice that
would perhaps have surprised himself, owed his democratic
By
fame.
the demus, thus largely interpreted, magistrates
and functionaries, archons and
and
instance,
first
were elected in the
council,
demus they were
this
to
required, at
conclusion
of their term, to render account and apply for
certificate,
undergoing at
As some check on
the
same time
the
close
scrutiny.
recognised aristocratical
tendency
of the accepted conditions of election, and (so far in the
interests
possible
and
of democracy
against the
associated
special
to
cliques,
its
take security as
3
How
lot.
committees
or
dicasteria,
vast
as
far
undue influence by clubs
purposes, were taken from the general
chance of
the
again)
exercise of
for
number by
was the power that such
hands under able
privileges delivered over into democratical
guidance we shall see hereafter.
In the meantime, the
hampered by the
ovei'looked
ments.
seus,
it,
to
and
left
if
be
to
was
still
unprovided against by these arrange-
A pre-historic
and due,
liability of public interests
factious conflicts of class interests,
settlement which was ascribed to The-
Theseus never existed or had no concern
some great organising genius, had
for the strength if not
laid
in
deep foundations
predominance of Attica in Hellas, by
associating the freemen
of its
scattered
pendence on the legislature and courts of
townships in def
Athens.
This
is
the policy by which Thales of Miletus afterwards urged that
1
Arist. 66 1 a.
3
Arist. Polit.
2.
*
Plut. Solon, 18.
*
Thuc.
ii.
15.
—
THE LEGISLATION OF CLEISTIIENES.
xvi.]
one chance remained
still
1
reinvigorating
for
211
Ionia
even suppression of the narrow rivalry of townships
;
left
but
un-
eradicated that of wider districts, a feeling- which was perhaps
only more likely to burst forth
The
stituencies of Solon.
amongst the enlarged con-
political subdivisions that followed
the natural limits of highland, lowland, and seaboard districts,
were too conformable to the groups
conflicting
wealthier
especially
interests,
citizens,
for
of real
between
supposed
or
the
poorer
disagreements not to
local
and
be
re-
produced in compact parties in the assembly and there to
break out into political contentions.
It
was immediately
through the opportunities which these provided, that tyranny
demagogy
a transformed pernicious
after the opportunity
never long relaxed
its
cult not to believe,
though there
fact,
—found an
entrance, and
had been seized by the able
grasp during thirty years
is
Peisistratus,
;
it is diffi-
no direct evidence of the
by discontents on the part
that aid was rendered
large class of residents in Athens and Attica for
of the
whom,
as
not being members by birth of any of the Ionic tribes,
there was no protection
When
relief
by
political franchise.
was at length obtained and the
Peisistratids
were expelled, an heir to their opportunities and an aspirant
to
up before long in Isagoras, son of
their succession rose
Tisandros, but only to
be as
promptly confronted by the
Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes.
It
was the
Athens that Cleisthenes, during the
belief at
time that he was at
Delphi in
exile,
had contributed im-
portantly to their former liberation from the son of Peisistratus
to
was
by inducing the Pythia
Lacedaemon,
effective
at
public
last,
or
to
to attach to
private,
an
every response
injunction,
which
suppress the tyranny at Athens.
Himself a grandson of Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon, he learnt
a lesson from his policy, but only so to apply
tyranny of
its last
chance at Athens.
1
Herod,
i.
P 2
t;o.
He
it
as to deprive
got the better of
—
HISTORY OF GRE1
212
Lis rival
(sagoras by 'taking the
ami
lit-
well
requited
demus
assistance,
tin-
[chap.
'partnership/
into
lit-
gave a
Bafei
and
a
broader basis to the democratical element of the constitution
by
is
admission to citizenship of foreign
liberal
by naturalising
numerous
and
resident foreigners,
though not
slaves,
may
in
for hire, like
who often, like many
known as of foreign
Besides thus
who,
even foreigners
be trusted,
By
were servants.
the
understand foreigners, artisans and others,
worked
metics, that
— residents no doubt
cases of long- standing or through generations,
the record
if
-
many an Athenian
we may
latter
who were
free
but
of old stock, and
metics of superior station, might only be
descent by absence from tribal registry.
swamping
the faction-infected
constituency
by an extension
of privilege
made independent
of scrutiny of ancient pedigree, Cleisthenes
that for
the
was
time
first
furthered his purpose of giving steadiness to the state, by
redistribution
of electoral
groups and
For the
districts.
four Ionic tribes into which traditions of worship
impossible to foist the
new unrelated
citizens,
made
he substituted
gave new
ten, to which, following a Sicyonian precedent, he
Each
names, entitling thena, after Attic heroes, as eponymi.
tribe comprised a certain
number
by no means adjoining each
rule
the electoral unit that sent
it
of demes or parishes, but as a
other,
its several
and as the
tribe
was
representatives to the
Council, this altered arrangement naturally tended to a dis-
ruption of ancient partizanships and to elections on a better
principle
What
precise
not
are
than the representation of narrow
told,
of ancient
local
cabals.
scheme of grouping was employed further we
nor
how
associations
acquiescence in such a disturbance
and
recent
was secured.
alliances
Traditional family and religious ties were beyond legislative
reach,
it
and would and did inevitably remain in force; but
appears
1
Herod,
that
v.
66-69.
some
simplified
2
religious
/jl(toikoi,
sanctions
Arist. Polit.
iii.
1, p.
662.
and
DEMOCRACY AFTER SALAMIS.
xvi.]
213
probably to the mythic associations
celebrations, attaching
of the heroic eponymns, were appropriated to the
both severally and in
1
common.
new
tribes,
This hint assures us that
the policy of Sicyonian Cleisthenes in the same direction had,
like that of his
grandson, some motives which Herodotus,
he suspected, has at least not cared to
if
tell.
The democratic concession that was now further demanded
by what Aristotle calls the
nautical multitude,' or, to
'
translate
more honestly,
'rabble/
the
in
pride
of
their
achievements and eager for tangible advantage from the
won by
splendid ascendency that Athens had
and perseverance, was the
their valour
eligibility to office of eveiy class
of citizens, even the hitherto excluded Thetic or very poorest.
The
limit of this
and to
(if
only as oarsmen,
superior to every other
—long
and disciplined
—to
all
after
Comedy had made a
— as a claim to
political
would seem, w as the natural vindicator
T
who were the main strength
navy that was his own
his peculiar policy aboard the
creation,
ments
and with whose glory in their greatest achieve-
hitherto
his
own was
immediately associated.
so
That the truly revolutionary measure that gave
effect
we
should expect, but of Aristides,
not of
Themistocles as
implies
most naturally that
concession
after
of interests and
more
a
parties.
1
to
name,
their pretensions is connected immediately with the
a
power
others together.
of the pretensions of the crews
of
of war service afloat
Salamis could be cited, and was cited
;
stock-joke of the common-place
it
with
either as hoplite
the lowest class a technical right to
unsparingly and for ever
Themistocles,
war
as highly-trained
still
now given
equal participation
service in
new importance
or light-armed, but the
oarsmen) had
privilege originally ruled
political
liability to taxation
it
or
was
less
The world
Arist. Polit. vi.
2.
obtained
at
considerable
is
last
as
struggle
familiar with the
21
HISTORY OF GRE1
i
party does not at once relinquish
experience that a political
power because
the reins of
no longer
utterly lost as
Then the
alternatives.
descent
though
may
new
little
veriest Eupatrid partizan,
so
whether by
anticipate sagaciously
at
last,
be only after prolonged resistance has proved
may
made
he
to tell but little less effectively in the
Aristides, there can be
state of things than in the old.
doubt, was superior to
whom
party with
is
between repugnant
from the vantage-ground he holds the influence
useless, that
of class
independent guidance
all
to Leave choice
or predilection, can
it
[chap.
this concession
many
not most of the Eupatrid
if
who were brought
he acted and
otherwise a Eupatrid
;
is
not
over to
unfrequently
developed into something very like a revolutionist by well-
grounded confidence that
fare as it
may
—
his personal genius
will secure his
own
—
let his class
leadership all the
more
certainly from the exaggerated violence that he volunteers
to hold under restraint
politician
who can
and then there
;
foresee
the thing must be,
the case of the
fact
that
accepts the risk with the resolution to
may when
deal with consequences as best he
some one must deal with them
mere
appreciates the
is
and dares to face the
they arrive
— and in the meantime
exercise of
—
as
keenly
power in carrying through
by him, and
knows that popular gratitude does not look back beyond the
hand from which it actually takes its benefit at last.
a great measure however inconsistently adopted
In the case of Themistocles,
ascribe
some of the persistency
notwithstanding
his advance in
tinues to give proof of
his
origin.
competitors
He was
a
still
connected
families
to
which,
fame and fortune, he conto the circumstances of
later,
comparatively
new man
descent
probably not unfair to
is
it
in democratical purpose which,
with
;
to
his
most powerful
and neither by marriage
any of
the
notwithstanding
historical
their
servative tendencies, all political parties were
and best content to look in the
first
Eupatrid
notorious
still
nor
con-
accustomed
instance for leaders
OLIGARCHY UNDER DEMOCRACY.
xvi.]
He was
and statesmen.
215
of an old Attic race of Lycomidae,
but no brilliance accrued to him thence that would compensate for some defect in Attic purity on the side of his
mother, whether of Thracian or Carian blood, or for the
which originally did not exceed
limitation of his fortune,
These disadvantages had come home to him
three talents.
very early in
down by
life,
but only to exercise him early in breaking
force of resolution
and genius some
social barriers
that divided even the palaestra.
As
regards the elements of the less eagerly innovating and
the conservative parties,
it
must always be understood and
borne in mind that at this period at Athens, as in other
important states of Hellas, there ever lived on the germ of
more than
oligarchical
tion, confined to
—
a few
—
even dangerous and tyrannous reacit
may
be, discouraged, discredited,
vehemently disclaimed of course by many who amongst
latent,
themselves were consciously sympathetic, and disallowed by
the superficial as having any real existence; but
indestructible vitality nevertheless,
it
was of
and moreover instinctively
and nervously dreaded by the new inheritors of power, even
while they were laughing with the comedian
The intrigues
an obsolete absurdity.
as
who
ridiculed it
at Plataea were of
memory but even the earlier sting of the Peisistratid
tyranny, so we are assured by 1 Thucydides, lingered in the
wound that shuddered at a touch, and an oligarchical tyranny
recent
;
came round
in time to justify the popular resolve that,
with
an assignable reason or without, the experience should never
be forgot.
Any
seeds of such desperate hope
only be
to
a
entertained
more powerful
furtively,
section,
as
among Eupatrids
in
absolute
could
opposition
which was represented now
by
Aristides,
Cimon, and Ephialtes, who honestly aimed
to
make
oligarchical
the
and
aristocrat] cal
conditions
of
the government work harmoniously with the democratical,
1
Time.
vi.
53.
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
216
which they strove
not
rule.
little
j
Of Ephialtes son of Sophonides we know
poverty and highmindedness he
in his
to his
associate
ten
the
l
his
the
Xanthippus, who
too
parallel
have protected
own
party by refusing
which they
would
have
increased
who
Aristides,
Alcmaeonid
great
;i
to
Alcmaeon, but a name
is
with
is
said
Another colleague of
means.
connection
is
against his
with
talents
but a name,
us
He
Aristides.
independence even
his
when they mighl
restrain or regulate
to
[chap.
that
family,
is
to
intimates
of
which
not heard of in these transactions, was
is
at present the protagonist, and Pericles after a few years
was destined to
noble
pedigree
With
be.
of
this family
Cimon, who had a
was connected by marriage.
own,
his
These were times of scrupulous records of relationships by
the phratries, of formal and religious celebrations of births,
and of commemorations of deaths in worship of remoter
and immediate ancestries;
so
preserved
to
as
and records
seem
to
so
long back were
the claims
authenticate
by
which they were attached to primeval
ages
A
was claimed and
descent from Ajax or from
Hercules
conceded in such cases with perfect faith
to the claimant
it
is
real
for granted in every strophe, the
Such recognised descent
power in
politics
;
it
imparted special grace to
the most democratical
well-assumed popular manners, and
accorded
to
some indulgence
it
licence,
forgave
readily
than
And
so
affection
it
in
instances
1
extravagance and even
of
for
it
xi.
9;
had a certain
the guidance and leadership
birth.
Aelian,
more and more
merely equal desert.
elsewhere, democracy
— a very weakness —for
by
in
more and forgot
other
in Athens, as
of an aristocrat
sides
seen in the numerous great names that
round these associations.
cluster
was a
which
on both
gave an ideal to emulate, an obligation
which Pindar's odes take
influence of
and heroes.
V. Max.
iii.
8 ex. 4.
ARISTOCRACY JN DEMOCRACY.
xvi.]
The
217
one mig-ht almost say the sense, of the con-
faith,
was
tinuity of mythological with historical and current times,
all
but universally prevalent, and few politicians
Themistocles
before
himself was
be
of power
his
the
Codrid
that
families
Alcmaeonids
also
king's
carried
up
family
Ionian
Alcmaeon, the guest of Croesus
;
The
colonies.
in the background.
still
Megacles,
furnishes
to
with
genealogy to Neleus,
their
with Nestor, not to say Poseidon,
This
also
and then
Athens
at
the
to
Solon
it.
said
connected
both thus
had reigned
first
and
leaders
of
Peisistratus,
;
was a Nelid;
relative,
given
independent
are found
reputed a
the
of
slayer
Cylon;
Megacles, the son-in-law
of Cleisthenes tyrant of S icy on, in a line that had ruled
there, not undeservedly, for
one hundred years
the founder of Athenian democracy;
but
Peisistratus,
wife
only
to
of
increase
discord
Xanthippus and mother of Pericles;
of
Cleisthenes,
;
his sister married to
wife of Cleinias and mother of Alcibiades
;
Agariste,
;
Deinomache,
and
Isodice, wife
of Cimon.
The
was the
father of Cleinias
earlier Alcibiades,
who was
the colleague of Cleisthenes, and on his part claimed descent
from Eurysaces, son of Ajax.
Ajax and
first
side
Miltiades
at
Another traditional son of
fellow-settler in Attica
claimed
as
was Philaeus,
ancestor,
—
as,
whom
the
by the mother's
did the second also, his successor in tyranny
least,
of the Chersonesus, the victor at Marathon, and father of
Cimon by a daughter of a Thracian prince.
Cf the remoter ancestry of Aristides we hear nothing,
but he was at least related to the wealthy
there
can
colleague
no
be
of
the
doubt
as
to
the
order
to
Callias,
which
reforming Alcmaeonid Cleisthenes
and
the
must
have belonged.
We
now
learn from Plutareh that
1
Plut. Cim. 10.
1
Cimon, who had acted
:
HISTORY OF GREECE.
218
in
harmony with
him
cause with
Hellespont,
Ajistides at the
home
at
to
[ohap.
resist
made common
the extreme democratic
measures which Themistocles was urging forward, and so
commenced a new
rivalry that
portant consecmcnces.
Themistocles
was
;
At
was destined to have im-
present
command
and no other public man was found
ablaze,
any importance to countervail
it
lay with
to lend aid of
His views
but Ephialtes.
and at the present time, as
in this direction
and Cimon, were probably
Aristides
the
the passion for the development of democracy
partizan of
a
as perfectly in
harmony
with those of the Alcmaeonids, as when at a later date he
was
Cimon and promoted an
in opposition to
the time-honoured privileges of
assault
the Areopagus
upon
in concert
with Pericles.
To what extent the policy of Themistocles may have been
checked by such an opposition, what other concessions may
have been made to it besides the opening of the elections to
magistracy, or indeed whether any,
But the
any
to
direction in
rate certain
and
it
impossible to say.
is
which progress was being made was at
is
known
to us, and led, sooner or later,
such further changes as the application of
cratic lot
the elections of Archons and even
to
the
demo-
members of
the Council (Boule), and important reductions of the powers
and privileges of both.
The progress of
cipation of which
import of
'
When
its
constitutional change at Athens, the anti-
is
necessary for a clear apprehension of the
present condition,
is
thus sketched by Aristotle
the power of the popular dicasteiy came to be fully
recognised, the
demus received
all
the court that
is
payable to
a tyrant, and so the polity (the duly regulated Constitution)
was turned into the democracy that we are witnesses
demagogue
after another helped a little
;
One
of.'
but the decisive
blow was struck when Pericles and Ephialtes
'
docked
'
the
powers of the Areopagitic Council, and habitual participation
DEMOCRACY ESTABLISHED.
xvi.]
in the dica story
1
was opened
to the very poorest
219
by
carrying- a
payment.
At
present, however, the step in legislation
which
if
not
promoted by Themistocles, was certainly carried by Aristides
in the
introduced a period of tran-
direction of his policy,
quillity,
and Athens
for a
from
sensions, as well as
time had leisure from internal dis-
conflicts
with Persia.
Questions of policy in abundance, that would open serious
struggles for supremacy of thought and action, were certain
to arise full soon, with respect to the prosecution of aggressive
war with
states, the
Persia, the treatment of the lately
management
Medising
of the Delian confederacy, the atti-
tude to be maintained relatively to Sparta and her special
allies,
and
so forth
free breath after
but in the meantime Hellas took a long
;
her unwonted
effort,
and, while her strength
and population were being insensibly restored, found vent for
the enthusiasm of her triumph in an outburst of energy
applied to Arts which, after long maturing,
now suddenly
leapt to perfection, within the limits of a single lifetime.
1
Arist. Polit.
ii.
9, p.
661
a.
CHAPTER
AND DRAMATIC,
POETRY, LYRIC
XVII.
IN THE AGE OF THEMISTO<
PINDAR, PIIRYN1CHLS, AESCHYLUS.
476
At
the
summer
B.C.
solstice of
01. 76.
;
476
1.
B.C.,
under the commencing
archonship at Athens of Phaedon, came round the
bration of the
Olympic games
first cele-
since the great victories of
Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale, since the time
when Xerxes
at
Thermopylae enquired how the Greeks were occupied, and
the reply had elicited a foreboding- as to the dangerous quali-
opponents
ties of
who
could strain energies to the utmost, not
for the sake of a prize in
simple olive
*
money, but
to gain the
Again recurred the
crown.
festival
the most expressive pledge of Hellenic unity;
was
from intestine
free
glow of
all,
cles
and pride
self-gratulation
enemy.
at
conflicts, and,
which was
when Greece
moreover, in the
at delivery
first
from a foreign
If jealousies between her states could ever be lulled
surely
it
might be now
;
and, in fact,
when Themisto-
appeared at the stadium, the contests that were proceeding
were disregarded
applause,
—he was
hailed with a general outburst of
and throughout the day was followed and proudly
pointed out to admiring strangers.
susceptible of pleasure from such
his friends that Hellas
all
honour of a
his labours.
He
His nature was peculiarly
homage, and he professed
had herein
fully
was, however,
1
Herod,
viii.
for
man
to
by no means
26.
to
compensated him
a
;
POETRY IX THE AGE OF THEMISTOCLES.
221
and the very rapid
di&regard more material compensations;
progress of his fortune showed conclusively that he
knew
t
how
well
A
to opportunely help himself.
him remains which
attack upon
attests
both his passion for
display, in spite perhaps of the inadequate
could
command
for
it,
of providing these
fragment of an
means he once
and by what dealings he was accused
means
an extent that had certainly
to
enabled him by this time to undertake the most chargeable
public
offices.
Timocreon, the melojjoios of Rhodes, complains in bitter
verses,
which apparently date before the disgraces of Pausanias
and Leotychides, of the falsehood,
Themistocles
—
injustice,
of Themistocles who,
when
and treachery of
propitiated
by only
a moderate sum, did not care to restore him, his friend and
host, to his native Ialysus, but for the sake of three talents
that he sailed
others,
'
away
with, recalled some from exile, banished
and put others to death, without regard to
Praise Pausanias, or Xanthippus, or Leotychides
he, for his part, applauds Aristides as the singly
lent
is
man
of
all
who came from
the detestation of x Latona.'
sacred Athens.
He
justice.
who
will
most excel-
Themistocles
further ridicules the shabby
entertainment that Themistocles had given at the Isthmus,
when
the guests prayed that
it
migh>: not be an apt
omen
for
the coming harvest.
Meagreness on this occasion, however, may have been but
who does not care to be
when ostentation will not have the reward he chiefly
covets.
At Olympia, but probably four years later than our
present date, he made such a show of magnificence as to be
provocative at home of dangerous dissatisfaction.
On the other hand, I think we must assign to this present
Olympiad his own encouragement of popular indignation
the parsimony of an ostentatious man,
lavish
against Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse.
1
Plut. Them. 21.
It
is
precisely this date
HISTORY OF GREECE.
222
that
given
is
Catana
;
by
for the subversion
[en w.
Iliero of the Ionic <it\ of
he had transferred the inhabitants in a
body to
Leontini, and was proceeding to settle in their stead a new-
colony of Dorians in a city with a
should enjoy for
all
custom were accorded
furnished half the
to a
new
from Peloponnesus. It
coui'ses at
new name, Aetna, where he
time the heroic honours whieh by ancient
founder
— an
oikistes.
Syracuse
population, the other half he invited
is
quite intelligible that such arbitrary
such a time should have encouraged a denunciation
of his ostentatious magnificence, as the offensive intrusion of a
tyrant
among
Hellenic freemen, to the ruin of his tent and
exclusion of his horses
The
from the * contest.
victory of Theron, tyrant of Acragas, with the four-
horse chariot,
— that triumph that
still
remained to be coveted
by Hiero when he was victor with the single horse in the
next
2
Olympiad,
—
is
usually assigned to this occasion, though
an argument may be combined that would transfer
next,
it
and
is
it
to the
perhaps worth stating, though I have disregarded
The testimony of
elsewhere.
the scholiast halts between
the two dates, and cannot be adduced as deciding for either;
that Diodorus dates the death of Theron in the very year
of the next
sistent
Olympic
might doubtless seem incon-
festival
with the elaborate poetic celebration of the victory by
Pindar, though not necessarily with the victory
the year, as reckoned by archons,
season as the games, and
commenced
itself.
But
at the
same
the terms of the ode are quite
susceptible of being interpreted to imply that
at the time declining in health,
Theron was
was not remote from the same
anticipated migration to those rewards of the just that Pindar
here so beautifully indicates, and that he did not
inappropriate to promise afterwards
more pointedly,
fatal
1
3
to Hiero,
when he
still
deem
too was touching on the
term.
Plut. Them.
2
Find. 01.
I,
sub
it
more, and yet scarcely
fin.
'
Pind. Pgth.
iii.
—
THE ACME OF PINDAR.
xvii.]
One
short but very beautiful
us that
in
1
ode of Pindar remains to
certified as written for a victory
is
223
gained this year
stadium of boys by Asopichus, of Orchomenus in
the
Boeotia.
now touched
Lyric poetry had
at the age of forty-five
was
genius.
Theban by
as poets
had ever been up
and tyrants,
cracies
birth,
—
its
very acme in Pindar,
and from early years the
—there
is
his
associate,
to this time in Greece, of aristo-
of Aleuads in Thessaly, of Alexander in
Macedon, of Hiero and Theron in
Cyrene,
who
might and glory of
in the full
Sicily,
of Arcesilaus in
not a line in his preserved works that can
be strictly challenged as unnational, unpatriotic, unworthy of
who has
a spokesman
at heart the best interests of general
Tradition retains at least a rumour that
Hellas.
offended party feeling at
was at
all, it
if
he ever
his native Thebes,
by
expression of sympathy with the Hellenic services of hostile
He
Athens.
to shed the
contemporary
exalt
recognised
it
life
that was worthy of a noble interest, to
and purify the feelings
it
excited, to dignify motive
and
and represent humanity as then only verging
aspiration,
towards
as the function of the lyric poet
glow of poetry over every occasion and incident of
its
natural perfection,
when
it
tended to
the best conception
itself as far as possible
it
realise in
could form of
the divine.
The extant remains of the poet are almost exclusively odes
on occasion of victories in the games hymns, paeans, dithy;
rambs
in
honour of gods, and hymenaeals congratulatory of
men, and threnes
or dirges that were consolatory, not without
promise of a better
life,
are lost to us but for fragments
fragments that enhance our regret for what has been in part
engulfed by the
wnlfully
In
common
injuries of time,
but partly destroyed
by fanaticism.
prolific variety of metrical
1
arrangement and mastery of
Pind. Olym. xiv.
HISTORY OF GRE1
224
rhythm, Pindar was and
of
liis
still
is
[chap.
without a rival;
must be considered
art in this direction
the labour and learning- bestowed upon
The key
explained.
to
it
is
it,
as
the *
still,
after all
very Imperfectly
probably lost with the secret
which originally accompanied the poetry, and
of the music
was indeed a very important part of the composition of the
was
also the poet's part to train the choruses
poet.
It
whom
his odes were sung-,
rehearsals; and
and
them
to instruct
by
in sedulous
what we miss now of the 'immortal man/
with only the written words before
degree to the enhancement,
us, is
comparable in a
which Shakespear
lost for ever,
superadded to his dramas by direct communication to the
original actors of the effects he
of
how they were
That the music did not
of the words
is
aimed
and
at,
his conceptions
to be produced.
most
interfere with the perfect hearing
certain, so delicate are the transitions, so
uncompromising
are the suspensions of the
of divergence, to
what
theme
for the sake
are in truth indispensable
and height-
ening, although to the unintelligent unintelligibly irrelevant
episodes.
Simonides,
who was
held worthy to be a rival of Pindar, and
even to have surpassed him in pathos,
'Danae' approves the tradition,
life;
at the
that
we
—
themselves
possess
— and however
The
of his
end of a long
but even as late as 476B.C, at the age of eighty,
as victor with a dithyrambic chorus.
him
—the fragment
— was now
is
recorded
chief remains of
brief, at least
complete in
are the elegiac inscriptions or epigraphs,
applying* to the incidents of the Persian war, in
many
which his
combined ingenuity, propriety, and terseness were unrivalled.
Simonides, like Pindar, was familiar with the courts of the
Sicilian tyrants, as he
had previously been with those of Hip-
parchus at Athens and of the Thessalian dynasts.
It
was
only at a centre where wealth was abundant and willingly
lavished
upon
refined superfluities, that lyrical art, at
degree of elaboration
it
had now attained
to,
the
could be fur-
POETRY UNDER THE TYRANTS.
xvn.]
225
nished with means and opportunities for its fullest display.
A
composition of Simonides might require a chorus of
performers,
who were
to be carefully
and expensively
fifty
trained,
and the requirement would be vain unless such productions
were frequent and habitual
refined sensibilities
and
;
it
required also an audience of
culture, such as in
any
must be exceptional, and which during- the
state of society
earlier period,
when
popular aspirations were under strong- repression, was found
in highest perfection
among
those who, few or many, were
elevated above the general mass as an aristocracy,
and en-
grossed participation in active government.
The almost
this
universal sentiment for artistic beauty which at
time prevailed
among
was naturally most
the Greeks of
amongst the
lively
races
all
classes
families of hereditary
same from which,
culture and wealth, the
and
if
not by virtue,
not slightly by the aid of their sympathy with popular
tendencies in the like
men who
gained
was preceded in
direction,
command
had ever come forth the
of their states as tyrants.
and patronage of
his love
art
Hiero
by such men
as Peisistratus at Athens, Cleisthenes at Sicyon, Polycrates at
Samos, Periander at Corinth, to mention no more men, who,
by
their furtherance of
what Greeks had
so
much
at heart,
The continuance
seemed almost to vindicate their position.
of such rule would no doubt have been presently fatal to
much
for
which the best
and the better
art
art affords only poor
was imperilled
itself
compensation
seriously.
;
Under
such circumstances, when, in a second generation, nobler
impulses
—which can only
associated with usurpation
for a
time and under a deception be
—are flagging or
extinct,
it
cannot
but decline to a purely personal and parasitical application.
Hiero and Theron are to be credited with personal qualities
and
patriotic services that
go very
vindicate the enthusiasm of Pindar;
was not committed
to celebrate their
far to excuse, if not to
but
it is
well that he
immediate successors.
"When tyranny was abolished throughout Greece, from end
Q
HISTORY OF GREECE.
226
in end, the fortunes of art in its
[chap.
most elaborate and expensive
developments were rescued primarily from wreck by the care
and appreciation of the same
sprung
— by such
class
from which the tyrants had
who were even
families as the Alcmaeonids,
them, whose wealth had enabled them to contend
allied to
the chariot-races at Olympia, and even
when they were
promote gratuitously the enhancement of the archi-
exile to
tectural splendour of Delphi.
A
democracy that such men
founded or fostered was not likely to miss them as
and administrators
ship,
'
in
in
and they "took the people into partner-
;
extend the words of Herodotus,
to
in
social respects
be aristocratical, might
still
their artistic
The
projects now, as before in their revolutionary.
minds might
leaders
its
still
guiding-
be in
many
an exclusive few; but not only was the sanc-
tion of the people asked
and obtained, but their sympathies
too were regarded, were appealed
to,
and the
result left little
discontent at what in effect was equivalent to a delegation of
popular control
and
;
fund disbursed was
this
less
was especially the ease when the
immediately from the public treasury
than from private fortunes.
The system
which
this
It
'
liturgies,' or services for the public,
was brought about, seems to have been at
old as Solon,
tions.
of the
and may have been one of his
was the principle of
by
least as
political inven-
this institution that citizens
of exceptional wealth were liable to be called on, out of the
tribes in rotation, to
make
exceptional contributions to the
public service; for the equipment of a
sionally,
but
spectacles
in usual
and
war
vessel only occa-
and regular order to furnish forth public
festivals
and amusements.
Such a demand
is
manifestly an extension of Solon's graduated property-tax,
and
At Athens
in principle challenges a like justification.
least the institution
success,
ciple as
and there
is
at
seems to have had the justification of
no slight case to be made
demanding even
g-eneral application.
It
for the prinis
too usually
the opprobrium of civilised communities that, by whose fault
LITURGIES AND CORRECTIVE TAXATION.
xvii.]
or
unwisdom
227
mass of the population, which
soever, a large
subserves the social requirements not unimportantly, though
in the lowest functions, receives
imposing result than
no more advantage from the
if civilisation
did not exist
to this large section at least, civilisation
is
;
with regard
Count
a failure.
up the numbers, and they are a vast nation that lags behind
in squalor
and hopelessness
shall it
;
be
said, as
a necessary
condition of the grace and glory of the superior ranks, any
more than
are their
merely self-indulgent
own
crapulence and gaudiness or the
listlessness
sorely missed elsewhere?
What
which misuses a superflux so
the narrower political
economy
on as the natural laws of the distribution of wealth, are
insists
no more to be trusted to bring out spontaneously, without any
adjustment of
human
sirable result,
than are any other natural laws.
so
many
lative
intelligence, the fairest or the
In
most de-
this, as in
other cases, the opportunity and the faculty of regu-
power that
account, and
'
is
confided to us
the art itself
is
demands
nature/
to be taken into
It
is
in perfect ac-
cordance with natural laws for the water-shed which
is
in-
dispensable to the fertility of a district, to form, if left to
itself,
pestiferous marshes or desolating inundations.
nothing of disgrace, society
serious,
may
To say
be threatened by dangers as
through the aggregation of wealth by one accident or
another in a single or a few extravagant masses, or even by
such an unchecked irrational apportionment of the results of
labour
among
the labourers as constantly ensues even
competition seems most
under
all
The
free.
division even then,
the forms of peace and legality,
when
though
sometimes of the
is
nature of a promiscuous scramble and sometimes of a lottery, and
the shares prove at last to be only coarsely proportionate to
the values of the co-operating labour, either mental or manual.
It is not
however the sense of very palpable
injustice that
has usually induced a legislative interference; sufferers and spectators alike are rather apt to acquiesce in this as a hardship
inherent in the inevitable course of the world
(•
2
;
but the extreme
—
HISTORY OF GREEi E
228
[chap.
of social contrast engenders blind discontents and violences
which cannot be disregarded, and the prudent dealing with
which at once postulates the main principle of corrective taxCorrective self-taxation
ation.
—the dispensing of alms — has
always been applied, however unecmally, rudely, wastefully
in
modern times we are most
;
and
familiar with attempts to redeem
wild nature by the application of funds raised by taxation to
the
relief,
somewhat indiscriminately
it
must be
destitute victims of misfortune or of vice.
tions of the principle
commerce
come
when
in
said, of the
Further applica-
the gathered gains of
are mulcted in a poor subsidy to a genius or his
descendants, or the well-to-do and wealthy are taxed not only
adornment
to support but to educate the poor, or for the
of parks and establishment of public galleries to afford recrea-
much too poor to be in any
So does the prudence at least, if not the
tion chiefly to classes that are
sense contributory.
obligation quite so readily, become in some degree recognised,
of g'iving
more unity
diffusion of
to the system of society
enjoyment as well as comfort, than
is
by a better
the outcome
of the vaunted, of the so often misstated and misunderstood,
law of supply and demand.
On
the other hand, there
the danger of adjustment de-
is
generating in ungoverned hands into confiscation
historical outcry
itself
panem
et circenses
had need be very wise
to be relaxed
The
if
—
is
the sinews of industry are not
and the remedy of
civil discord
was an ancient contrivance
leiturgia
and the
;
warning that justice
some degree the advantages of
not fordo
itself.
for ecmalising in
civil society, at least for dis-
tributing some of the best of them, and went far to reconcile
free poverty,
if
not penury, to co-existence with a class of
accpuired or hereditary opulence.
Opulence on
its
own
part
had a pride which was compensated by the opportunity of
public display
— a pride which was not ignoble when
its gratifi-
cation depended on addressing successfully the acute sense
and
fastidious taste of such a public as the Athenians.
These
;
THEMISTOCLES A CIIORAGUS.
xvii.]
229
functions were no doubt often burdensome enough,
only through ambitious competition ruinous
some to complain, there were more to
for the distinction,
damage
rejoice,
if
;
though
there were
who were eager
and prepared with hearty good-will even to
their fortunes seriously.
The
was certainly not
prize
always bare renown, and sometimes the influence that ensued
upon
a great success
the outlay
;
was counted on
but even
more than
to
reinstate
the renown was the basis of the
so,
influence.
In England the costly entertainments of a mayoralty but
weakly represent, or rather parody, the Athenian
tribal liturgy
and modern instances of noble employment of immense wealth
are not so frequent as to have ceased to be matters of surprise.
"We have otherwise, in substitution of the ancient system, only
the precarious enforcement by public opinion of aids to charities that spare
an intermediate
amusement of a
The
class still
Italian opera lives
class,
or of contributing to the
narrower by
by exceptionally
'
hunting a county.'
liberal subscriptions
of the wealthy, but not out of public spirit or to the relief of
very extended public participation
guishes, or rather
is
;
the higher
drama
lan-
unmercenary sup-
extinct, in default of
port and subvention.
The most chargeable of
was the dramatic
the
occurs in
all
the ordinary Athenian liturgies
— the Choragia — of which
year 476
B.C.,
just
the
first
mention
preceding
the
present
Olympia, and associated with the name of Themistocles as
The inscription which was read on a commemora-
Choragus.
tive tablet that
he dedicated, ran thus
:
—
'
Themistocles of
the Phrearian tribe was Choragus, Phrynichus was Master
(i. e.
the
teacher of the chorus or poet), Adeimantus
was
Archon.'
The name of Phrynichus dates an epoch
the
drama,
particularly
of tragedy,
Aeschylus, his immediate successor
in the history of
standing
between
and younger
contem-
as
porary, and Thespis, contemporary of Solon.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
230
It
the peculiar glory of Alliens
is
perfected
though
tragedy,
comedy had already taken
developed form
certainly,
and
liave originated
fco
the drama
hirth elsewhere,
Sicily
in
not
[chap.
generally,
for
—taken very highly
not previously at
if
Megara.
The
drama may be
essential characteristic of the
be the representation of
human
by assumed
In this
characters.
barest
as
sense
it
language;
recognised as independent of spoken
said to
by impersonations,
action
mere dumb show of even an individual, not
may
be
inasmuch
to
say of
several conjointly, suffices to tell a very complicated story.
Whether
as
mimicry of individuals or general pantomime,
impersonation of this kind has been in vogue everywhere
and always, and
peculiarly apt
its
purest form
has sometimes
endowments
it is
raised
by men of
dignity of an art.
In
independent even of mimicry of costume.
Such an exhibition
music;
been
to the
is
then capable of being enhanced by
predominance as between music and acting being
variously adjusted, accordingly as music
acting or acting to music.
In either
is
accompaniment to
case,
whether as telling
a story or merely expressing a train of sentiment, there
is
intervention of the dramatic principle.
A further
for still
modification arrives, and
more
it
would seem a demand
distinct acting, in such a performance as
we
read of in the Odyssey, where the bard sings the adventure
of
Mars and Venns, including the dialogue
Apollo,
Poseidon and Vulcan, and
dancing of a chorus of youths.
is
of
Hermes and
accompanied by the
In other instances a pair
of performers, gesticulators apparently rather than dancers,
are associated with a chorus and the
1
bard.
singing and playing
In such exhibitions the dancing,
as
a visible ex-
pression of general sentiment, seems to have had the
relation to
more
1
definite
Hymn.
same
pantomime, as the accompaniment
Jpoll. Pyth. 15; Iliad, xviii. 590.
ORIGIN AND INFANCY OF THE DRAMA.
xvn.]
The genius and the
of pipe or lyre to the audible words.
passion
gesture
expressive
for
231
manifestly conduct to
the
completest possible development in dramatic impersonation.
Hellenic comedy and tragedy proper are accordingly both
by
traced
may
Aristotle
be content
of Dionysus
;
— to
were
still
whose amount of knowledge we
developments from choral celebrations
tragedy from the enthusiastic dithyramb, and
comedy from the
phallic extravagances, such as in his time
in vogue in
Each form
form.
— with
many
cities in their rudest naturalistic
drama seems
of the
to have advanced with
considerable independence of the other, and even severally
at several centres,
though
it is
impossible not to infer from
the great start which was taken so early by
comedy
in Sicily
that her more dignified sister at Athens might well have
some considerable obligations
When
history
first
to
own
to.
took note of comedy
1
record.
who
It
was Epicharmus however and Phormis in
first
and dramatised
therefore
this
first
fables
(
= stories) — and
comedy had
rustic
capacity for
Theocritus.
all
Sicily
its
and
unceremonious
humour
But comedy
is
from
was admitted that
it
commencement among
primitive
from
'
Epicharmus was
came.'
Megara, Phormis from Arcadia, and
the
introduced
of dramatists on
advanced beyond simple dialogue or insignificant
incidents,
Sicily
many names
nor were
words spoken
whom
not sung, and of plurality of actors, by
was not known:
was already
it
familiar with the use of masks, of speeches, of
Dorian
the ruder,
whose
populations,
recorded and exemplified for us in
at this Sicilian epoch
apparatus and capabilities
blown
full
;
is
drama with
Phormis attended
to the draping both of his actors
and of the stage, and
appears
of Epicharmus,
2
certain
that
the
plays
to
so it
which
Plautus owed obligations, had more resemblance, as plays of
general character and with proper
1
Arietot. Poet.
plots,,
2
to the
Hor.
Ejrist.
new comedy
ii.
i.
58.
—
;
UlsTollY OF GREECE.
232
An
of Athens than to the old.
450
B.c, to
establish
comedy
[chap.
attempt of Crates as
late as
of general character at Athens
seems even then to have been premature, and could
compete with the stimulant
not
of Aristophanes
personalities
and Cratinus.
Epicharmus was
writing- in
477
towards the end of a very long
life
still
Phrynichus was exhibiting- what
as
a
is
but apparently
B.C.,
and at
;
very early form of tragedy, a form which
characteristic
of
still
play
a
time
this
most authentically recorded
of
Aeschylus
— the
indeed
is
Persae
represented four years later.
Every manifestation of
may
character
religion,
however
be, has necessarily a serious
and there are abundant proofs of
elsewhere also, as for instance at
Attica,
where
1
—a
solemn side
in the
Dionysiac
Argos, but especially in
religious sentiments were peculiar in in-
all
The god who became
tensity.
this
festive its general
associated,
and not on
inferior
terms, with Apollo at Delphi, was an assessor no less with
the awful goddesses of Eleusis, and shared with them in the
respect
which
is
ever inspired
by concern with the gravest
responsibilities of another world
— of
2
a future
life.
It
was
therefore quite as natural and spontaneous a process for the
severest
form
of dramatic poetry to
dithyramb of the god, as
for
be engrafted on the
the most cheerful, the most
extravagantly vivacious on the turbulent excitement of his
coarser celebrations.
To Thespis
in the time of
of the choral performers
Solon was ascribed the
by introduction of
but as yet with no mention of dialogue.
appears, the chorus
relief
recited speeches,
For anything that
was uniformly composed of representatives
of Satyrs, the mythical train of Dionysus, a
modification
superinduced on the ancient dithyramb by Arion at Corinth,
and already involving the principle of impersonation.
1
Paus.
ii.
37. 5.
2
Herod,
ii.
123.
How
THESPIS, EPICHARMUS, PHORMIS.
xyii.]
same
rapidly the
extended to the
principle
233
the
exarclton,
leader of the chorus, to the variation of the characters that
he might assume, to the substitution or addition of other
characters besides Satyrs for the chorus,
it
may
be to the
incorporation of an independently developed system at once,
these
matters unrecorded;
are
opened
for innovation, the
nations at a period of high
allow
it
when the door was once
emulative spirit of gifted imagiintellectual excitement did not
to prematurely close.
To Aeschylus
tragedy at
say into
least,
—
equivalent to the
ascribes
the
—
of
second
a
commencement
into
introduction,
we may not with Epicharmus
if
drama,
the
further the
Aristotle
actor,
an
mind
in
innovation
of dialogue, and then
still
curtailment of the choral sections of the piece
extended dialogue
in favour of
then remains intermediately
was abundant opportunity
;
and
may
it
be asked, what
But there
Phryniehus?
for
for variety of' artistic elaboration
and novelty, even within the limits of composition restricted
to lyrical chorus
which these
affection
and narrative speeches.
now
latter
with
attained that
It
to the value
is
we must
which they were retained
in
ascribe the
Greek
later
tragedy, whether delivered by messengers or in the prologues
that Euripides peculiarly affects, but that were not rejected
by
1
Aeschylus or
ditions,
2
Sophocles.
of the time
element in
fact,
the choruses,
were the
nor whether
transitions, to
sole
it
tra-
relics,
narrative speeches, an epic
interruptions or
reliefs
but their reduction to such an extent
have been but gradual.
effected,
In these we have
when such
So we cannot say by
whom
it
of
may
was
was by one of the many gradual
which Aristotle alludes as unrecorded, or by a
bold stroke, that the chorus of Satyrs was extruded from inter-
course with the more severe action, and relegated
tradition of hereditary claim to all
1
Eumenides.
it
—
as from
could not be denied a
2
Trachiniae.
HISTORY OF GREECE
234
residue-— to
less
Still
tetralogic
a
can
and
separate
we
final
combinations of dramas
origin long before the
first
entrance or
satyric
that the
certify
[chap.
play.
system of trilogic and
may
not have
had
its
recorded example that comprised
the Persae of Aeschylus.
It
is
characteristic of early art to rely on repetitions in the
very simplest form as at once the great resource of variety and
composition ; to proceed from more absolute parallels to such
contrasts of type and antetype as Gothic art delights in, the
New,
coupled subjects of the Old Testament and
by degrees towards
profane, and so to climb
of sacred and
truly aesthetic
principles of composition.
From the scattered notices that
we must conclude that his
chus
are obtainable of Phrvni-
merits
were
A
distinctly poetical than specifically dramatic.
Aeschylus in Aristophanes
qualifications
— ascribes
—
at
rather
still
caviller at
who combined both
Aeschylus
the effect which he produced to his
luck in having to take over the simple-minded auditors of
who were
Phrynichus,
easily
But the
astonished.
poetical
merit of Phrynichus, in addition to his very considerable
1
originality,
must have been very
ness of his versification
great,
and the melodious-
The
particularly celebrated.
is
may
of Phrynichus and of Aeschylus overlap, and each
borrowed from the other,
as
probably as
necessity.
the
—the
younger
elder from the
Phrynichus was said to have
after the innovation of
before
.
or
have
younger quite
from the elder
characters on the stage, and this was
careers
of
natural
first
brought female
more
likely to occur
Aeschylus respecting dialogue than
it.
The acted drama ever involves the union of
draws on the resources of several;
concentration of
all,
most nearly achieve
1
and
its
as it
it
several arts,
may
even be a
would appear, should then
proper triumph, when
Aristoph. Ban. 910, 1299; Av. 749; Vesp. 220.
it
is
most
THE DRAMA, TRAGIC AND SATYRIC.
xvii.]
comprehensive and when the various elements that
235
unites
it
are united to the best effect, are so subordinated as to give
Every variety of poetry
best prominence to the worthiest.
may
the melic
every
the
— the
argumentative
declamatory,
persuasive,
—
here find place
variety of rhetoric
and gesture are
;
and scenery, costume, groupon the same conditions as
effective
admit architecture, painting, sculpture.
timate for an artist
;
;
chorus and song bring in music
ing, mien,
lyrical,
epic,
who
is
It is perfectly legi-
to be justified
by
his results, to
exclude from his accompaniments of impersonation either one
or
more of the
arts,
to dispense with music, with scenery,
with lyric or with narrative poetry
and no
;
less so for
him
to
determine, from considerations of his capacity and his theme,
to
which art and to which
The aim
of
class
But the
assign the predominance.
its
resources he will
best attaches to the best.
to give the fullest expression
f
to high actions
high passions' conducted the Attic tragedian
but subordinate, the
lyrical
to,
and
not exclude,
and musical elements of his
composition, as absolutely as he retained the
musical and
dancing accompaniments in subjection to the lyric words
and
their
intelligible effect;
as absolutely as he repressed
any tendency of scenic pomp and surprise of machinery to
distract attention
from the main purport of the play.
In what manner another
with
is
it
less
class of
combinations were dealt
The drama has
determine.
easy to
general subject the entire range of
phase in every age and
class,
hatred, of admiration or
amusement
however
or
by
of hope
;
and
lapse
to
the
mean
by very moderate
or the
may
for its
feelings,
every
fear, of love
and there
dignified, that has not its relations
irretrievably comic that
severe
human
is
no
and
feeling,
by over-tension
ridiculous,
and none so
not glide into the serious and
variation of a circumstance.
The very
grandest tone of sentiment and thought can therefore scarcely
receive its full illustration unless its divergences
are defined
by indication
and limits
at least of its controlling contrasts.
——
HISTORY OF GREECE.
23G
It
as
is
its
hap.
open to the poet to make one tone or another pre-
among
dominant, as to make election
be
[<
vehicle
;
and thus
arises the
the arts that arc to
grand distinction between
tragedy and comedy, when most unchallengeable \ and thus
the various graduations of either,
in certain phases
till
as a corollary of one of his
and
But Socrates assumed,
proportions they meet and coalesce.
most favourite general
principles
that perfect apprehension of one thing implied as perfect of
—that the
opposite
its
effect
best appreciation of tragic and of comic
must necessarily go together
of
realisation
tragic
and
;
seems
effect
presentation of at least an adumbration of
Abundant
;
its
perfect
concurrent
comic phase.
may
be gathered from
we need go no
further than the
illustration of this principle
the plays of Shakespear
the
so
require
to
clownish conundrums of the gravedigger, which are introductory to the over-curious considerings, as they seem to Horatio,
of Prince Hamlet over the skull.
satisfied,
how was
it satisfied,
by the medium of the
chorus of Satyrs
drama
satyric
we have
the three tragedies
as
we
shall see,
pertinence, but
scarcely say
;
of
a
—the
we can
the
title
Persae
attach
tragic
of another and One of
— that
its
tragic
we have but
and of that we know not the
play,
;
drama with a
complement
More we can
accompaniments
— the
in the time of Aeschylus, and
presumably of Phrynichus, the
one
is this recuiirernent
drama ? Apparently
in the Attic
satyric
—which was
representation.
How
it
followed, to which,
subject as having a certain
beyond the confirmation of a general pre-
sumption we can deduce nothing more.
The Persae of Aeschylus
is
the only later example even
on record of tragic treatment of a contemporary subject,
and was said
to be copied in a degree
(the Phoenician women) of Phrynichus.
the
second
The Phoenissae was
such attempt of Phrynichus
indeed the only other on record at
was
from the Phoenissae
as painful for the
all,
Athenians as his
;
a previous, and
was on a theme which
later
was exultant
—a
PHRYNICHUS AND AESCHYLUS.
xvii.]
237
the Capture of Miletus by the Persians, the catastrophe of Ionia
(b.c.
most glorious of their
wreck of the
that
at
So profound was the sympathy of the Athenians
494).
manifested in other ways frequently
brought
before
it
them on the
— that
stage,
colonies
when Phrynichus
though doubtless with
no lack of sympathy, the whole theatre burst into a passion
of tears, and the people resented the
afflictions
which they counted
as their
public exhibition of
own by
inflicting
upon
the poet a fine of 1000 drachmas.
The
the
of his later play
title
argument of the
learn from the
the
same authority
imitation
no donbt true indication that
is
consisted of Phoenician
chorus
of
Persae,
— Glaucus—
that
it,
the
eunuch to arrange the
girls
to
be
which was
in
We
women.
or
by
said
some degree an
opened by entrance of a
scene
seats for the royal councillors;
for
such an assembly of dignities in due order therefore, as
1
Xerxes,
is
by Herodotus on the occasion of a council of
described
and
as
Neapolitan vase,
eunuch prologised
precipitate
we
see
depicted
— a recognised
around Darius on
display of Persian state.
by relating the defeat of
discover}*
that
more
is
artfully
The poet would thus appear
Aeschylus.
to
the
The
Salamis—
reserved
by
have written
the play, upon a flattering theme, in compensation of his
previous offence, no less than as a gratification, a glorification of the victor of Salamis
The acceptance
without
its
of
such
— his choragus.
personal
glorification
was not
dangers at Athens, but dangers that Themistocles
seems to have made a point of carelessly provoking ; possibly
from simple want of self-control in this direction, possibly, on
the other hand, from
a
notion that
definite
provocation
of enviousness
could shame
it
of a
by persistent
somewhat mean type he
to silence or blunt its faculty of offence.
Earlier in time, and
by the
1
Herod,
elder
viii.
67.
and
earlier poet,
the
HISTORY OF GREECE.
238
Phoenissae
of
characterised
implied
be
certainly
by more than the archaism
assume as recognisable
are
may
Phrynichus
in the
by regular
we
as
usually
Whatever innovations
Persae.
dialogue,
that
assumed
feminine interlocutor,
a
chorus of senators, extensive adoption of the tragic senarian,
are found in the Persae
residues, are
but along with these, as archaic
;
not unfrequent adoption, for speeches, of the
tetrameter that Aristotle
measure
fitted
tells
dancing-
for
us was relinquished
was of
less
when a
consequence
than
one which, like the trimeter, had a natural harmony with
the
measure of discourse
lyrical
place where
itself
.ieved
it is
general excess of proportion of
afterwards missed, as in the long prologue,
an archaism
by
and the protraction, though not unre-
;
interruptions, of the messenger's narrative.
Phrynichus therefore
at the
;
element, its encroachment on or rather retention of
is
an apt representative of the drama
epoch of this Olympiad, as advanced to the formal
condition which
is
precisely anterior to that last effort of
genius which carries
it
to perfection, a condition
shares with several other arts.
which
it
CHAPTER
XVIII.
ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE IN THE AGE OF
THEJIISTOCLES.
A
was
it
notice
first
is
preserved by
1
Vitruvius, that a proper theatre
constructed at Athens by Agatharcus,
in a treatise.
place of a
From 2 Suidas we
learn that
it
who
described
was erected
in
wooden structure that gave way with the spectators
on an occasion when Aeschylus was exhibiting in competition
with Pratinas, the reputed inventor of the satyric drama, as
early as the 70th
closer information,
bility that here at
Olympiad (499 b. a). In the absence of
we are left to entertain the high proba-
Athens, and in this way was originated that
type of the Greek uncovered theatre which was repeated with
only secondary variations
all
over Hellenic ground
capacity usually, and, in Asia
The general
scale.
Minor
especially,
characteristics that agree with
origin are, the solidity that was secured
— of vast
on colossal
such an
by basing the con-
centric lines of seats, as they rose one behind the other,
diately on the hollowed slope
and then the
liberal extent
of, if
possible, a
which was allowed
rocky
imme-
hill-side
;
for the orchestra,
the dancing-place of the chorus, a level semicircular space
embraced by the arc of the lowest range of
cession of so large
1
Praefat.
and central a position
2
7.
seats.
The con-
in accordance with
is
s. v.
Aeschylus.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
240
[chap.
Hie relative importance of the chorus in the earlier drama
compared with the proper dialogue, and
as
the traditional regard for
honour of the
and
its
god— of Dionysus, to whom
At
purposes were sacred.
all its
the area reserved for the chorus has
not the
is
less certain
in
the entire structure
the same time, although
its
name from dancing, W
that in the execution to music of the
and elaborately-constructed choruses of the drama-
beautiful
of the
tists, as
more with
still
performance as a celebration
Odes of Pindar, the dancing was but a secondary
adjunct, that, so far from superseding or even interfering with
the interest and distinctness of the poetry, was only valued
for
heightening
The long
its effect.
transverse slip of elevated stage for the dialogue
of the actors was more
circle
;
remote, on the chord of the semi-
the difficulty of giving effect to the voice in theatres
and under the open sky,
so large
which depended
for interest
was resolved with
expression,
for
due delivery of speeches
and charm on refined poetical
as
much ingenuity
Besides certain acoustical adjustments that are
perfectly
understood,
but were
evidently
as daring.
still
directed
but imless
to
countervailing echoes than enhancing resonance, a contrivance
was employed
for
adding loudness to the issuing
The
voice.
deformity which this involved was relieved by, and perhaps
originally suggested, the adoption of a
covered both face and head.
mask that completely
Threatened disproportion was
again evaded by what was considered only a further proprietj7
,
the
artificial
exaggeration of the entire height and
bulk of the actors, sometimes representatives of gods, or in
any case of heroes who, by the convention of ancient
which was allowed on the
shield of
1
frieze of the
art,
Parthenon as on the
Achilles, ever claimed superior magnitude.
There
was thus a readily accepted contrast between the personages
on the bema, and the natural forms and proportions of the
1
II. xviii.
519.
ARCHITECTURE AND THE DRAMA.
xviii.]
241
chorus, which in the days of purer dramatic art all but in-
variably represented the weaker and vacillating, in fact, the
generally meaner
thick-
and the masks were
inventions of Aeschylus, and are in striking
style,
The
minds of ordinary mortals.
soled cothurnus, the majestic costumes,
harmony with
his
with the boldness of his metaphors, the unhesitating
originality of his expressions
;
and we need not doubt were on
the whole equally justified, equally admirable in result, though
in like
manner not seldom
startling,
even sometimes to the
The number and variety of characteristic
masks that were required by such a fertile dramatist as
Aeschylus alone, must have given a marvellous stimulus to
extent of a shock.
inventive design, and
it
is
impossible to say
personal influence and suggestions
may
his
and heroic physiog-
to the decision of those types of divine
nomy
how much
not have contributed
His own de-
that were elaborated by the sculptors.
how
forcibly
regards the temple architecture of the Greeks,
we have
scription of the aspect of his
Furies evinces
characteristic were the types that he accepted.
As
the
names of four
the great
architects of
Olympieium under
fragment of their work, as
Athens who were employed on
Peisistratus,
little
of the
—names
work
of
only, not a
Rhoecus
in the
Heraeum of Samos, or of the Corinthian Spintharus at
But for our immediate epoch we happily possess remains which when closely examined discover how much careful
vast
Delphi.
theoretical study
was devoted to the original design, and even
throw back light upon certain more archaic fragments of un-
The temple that was measured and published
with great completeness by Mr. Cockerell, under the title of
The Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius at Aegina, illustrates the
assignable date.
architecture of this period
and
its
sculpture also, and fur-
nishes an intermediate example between
some scanty remains
of an earlier Parthenon and a temple at Corinth, and the
perfected Doric temples of the age of Pericles.
The Doric may be
said to
have been the
R
common
style of
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
242
Hellenic architecture at the date
when
[chap
building
first
attained
with the Hellenes to the dignity of a style, a point that
is
found already attained in no imperfect sense even in the very
examples of which fragments are preserved.
earliest
that
we
The
first
possess betray most clearly in their details derivation
from timber originals, but not more distinetly and scarcely
more crudely than the
latest
and the moderateness of subse-
;
quent change in this respect warns us how remote the
may
be from the epoch of original adaptation.
archaism, they exhibit the
members, and with
racteristic
beauty
complete in
style
all
its
essential
more than the rudiments of
far
most important
;
fact of
all,
earlier
For
their
its
cha-
they betray a
consciousness of the principles on which character and expression in architecture are dependent.
The
obligations of Doric to Egyptian architecture have been
recognised with a circumstantiality that
said, in the details
which
offer for
is
not easily gain-
comparison in the so-called
Proto-Donc of Beni- Hassan and Philae
;
among them
the most
plausible, for they are in truth too specific to be ascribed to
common
suggestion of natural
fitness, are
and rudimentary annulets of the
the abacus, echinus,
capital of the column,
the facetted shaft that prepares for the all-important
But
the most important lessons that the Greek
learnt
and
flutes.
might have
and probably did learn among the primeval monuments
of Egypt, were the capabilities of beauty that reside in the
column
as a structural
in contrasts of
portions,
or anta,
member, and
and of the
cylindrical
—the value of
— the dignity
elevation,
in extended colonnades,
columns of subordinated dimensions and pro-
column with rectangular pier
equalities of spacing
of close
and of symmetry
in
and massive proportions and of
consistent adherence to trabeative construction in the span of
To Egypt, with
voids by the horizontal beam.
limitations and sophistications
mass that did but dwarf the
and
artist,
all its
barbaric
affection for extravagant
must
still
be allowed the
achievement both in sculpture and architecture of a very high
xvm.]
EGYPTTAX AND DORIC ARCHITECTURE.
243
grade of dignity and expression, which merits recognition
relatively to
may — was
Greek
art
in
style, and that at a time which
no slight degree as a grand
—carry
it
back as
far as
we reasonably
remote antiquity indeed.
But whatever the Greek borrowed was first selected as the
most suitable, and then very speedily became his own by
a process equivalent to the changes of transmuting nature.
It
was by his steady reliance on nature and recurrence to
nature that he had shaken himself free from
tion that clung to
him
for a certain
many
a sophistica-
time from earlier forms
of Aryan language or mythology; at the utmost he retained
them as wild stocks on which to graft expression and poetiy
of a perfection that goes far to reduce enquiry respecting their
more than vulgar antiquarianism.
ulterior origin to little
superseded forms
may
leave a certain impress, but
vestiges of forms that have departed
;
adopted forms
it
may
The
is
as
still
upon scrutiny betray their prototype, but ever concurrently
with the
final
renunciation of allegiance to such an origin.
So the stone architecture of the Greeks, while manifestly
derived
numerous
in
timber, as
details
manifestly does
from
studiously imitate them, and in
adjusts itself to
for
new
models constructed in
not minutely mimic, does not
conditions.
all
most important points
The
substitution of stone
timber had early enforced contracted bearings between
open supports, the span from column to column being controlled
tion,
by
available scantling of materials
then the composi-
;
which so was of necessity closed up, betrayed of
itself
an
elementary principle of dignity that the sensibility of the
Greek was quick
to recognise
and eager and able to develope.
w as most affected by the
architecture of Egypt
but out of the
presented to him he selected and made chief
It was here that his imagination
exclusively
various types
use
T
stone
;
of that which harmonised best
with past associations
from constructions that were already in possession of hia
sympathies.
R 2
HISTORY OF GREECE.
244
The
climatic difference of a stormy as contrasted with a
was recognised and allowed prerogative
rainless region
mouldings and
fluence over
to
[chap.
fend the interior,
profiles
throughout
responsively
;
sloping roof, adapted
consideration, a
this
now descended on
the cornice
in-
to
weather-
and
;
to the
cornice was given a bolder horizontal projection that sheltered
the exterior also, and delivered rainfall clear of the
Even
below.
crowning
the
to
members
column, in
of the
capital
deference to the same idea, was assigned a spread that
is
quite
independent of reference to the bearing and breadth of the
beam which
architrave, the
it
carried
;
but
is
s}7 mpathetic
with the expression of ample cover to the shaft and foot
below.
A
and spreading basement, the
solid
line of regularly inter-
spaced columns, the bracing architrave and covering and
repeated triglyphs of the bonding frieze, completed the ele-
ments of the composition, and gave occasions
and
contrasts of void
But
and enclosed.
solid,
was by
it
Greek attempered these
knew how
struction to the
telling
his mastery of the harmonising
and characteristic proportion that the
influence of consistent
unity
for
of vertical and horizontal, of open
contrasts,
to elevate
charm of
and by blending them in
propriety in purpose and con-
stateliness
and beauty
in highest
perfection.
The Aeginetan temple
plan,
with columns of
of larger
structures
to inconvenience
in design
but small
feet
It
in
by colonnades
;
but
it is
— ioo
feet
diameter against
period.
Doric style
it
As
is
to be
the
that,
in the interior even
upon such a reduced
in other respects elaborate
and refined in execution and ornament,
that certifies
by 50 on
represents the distribution
by being divided
passage
scale, obstruct
details,
3^-
of the Corinthian.
5f- feet
its
is
to a degree
an example of the best advancement of
regards the architecture of the temple,
the same that, complete in
all
its
members and
and even in characteristic treatment and the general
EASTERN AND IONIC ARCHITECTURE.
xviii.]
245
proportions of the whole, had been already transported to
Italy and Sicily;
scale,
was there to be embodied on
it
colossal
but scarcely to receive any modifications that, as com-
pared with the primary scheme, are beyond the value of
The
provincialisms.
architecture of
gentum, and other
Sicilian
Paestum and of Agri-
even of
cities
later
date,
has
marked analogy with Aeginetan Doric in the specimen before
us,
and separated too early from the parent stock to
cipate in the exactness of refinement that
still
parti-
remained to
be conferred by Attic genius.
In almost
all
forms at
its
times Doric architecture
all
is
distinguished for breadth, boldness, simplicity, majesty, and
merits in these respects are already pronounced in the
its
age of Themistocles with considerable dignity; but archaism
even at
its
best never quite compasses perfect consistency,
and
purity of style awaits the sensitiveness of a more refined and
Severity
fully practised age.
is
usually the characteristic of
archaic art, and the remains of the Doric temple at Corinth,
of an earlier age than the Aeginetan, are in respect of some
forms more heavy,
correction of a
may
it
profile of the capital
be said more majestic
they demand
still
;
but in the
more stringently that
common weakness which was
afterwards to be
administered by the Athenian.
Ionic architecture, or rather the Ionic style of Greek architecture, can scarcely be traced quite
tocles,
ment, and
by
up to the age of Themis-
but must have been already in progress of develope-
may
be referred to in anticipation as illustrating
contrast the developement to which
it
supervened.
stands in the same relation to Persia, from whence
many
base,
It
derived
suggestions for treatment of column in capital and
and to Assyria
style occupies to
he appropriated.
fusion
it
for
Egypt.
ornamental
details, that
the Doric
Again, the Greek gave more than
Egyptian
architecture
was Dorised by
with inventions drawn from systematic timber con-
struction; and then this developed Doric supplied the funda-
HISTORY OF GREECE.
246
[chap.
mental tbrms which received enrichments of Eastern origin,
but which
it
remained
for Hellenic
genius to render refined,
and to distribute with unimpeachable propriety and grace.
In leading divisions and even certain subdivisions of styloentablature, pediment, the Ionic style in the
bate, column,
majority of instances adheres accurately to the lines and pre-
The main
cedents of the Doric.
column as Ionic assumes
differences
for the first
that
are
the
time a proper moulded
base and interpolates the peculiar Eastern form of volutes
below the abacus of the
capital,
and that the
frieze
becomes
continuous by dispensing with the intermittent series of
What
glyphs.
are
tri-
more important distinctions are
really
found in the uniform adoption of slenderer proportions, in
harmony with the
lated
lightness of decoration,
on the same general
though
and above
principles,
regu-
still
all
in the
characteristic profile of the order.
down
Pass the eye
that every angle
is
the Ionic profile and
will be observed
it
tempered by an adjacent curved moulding
precisely at the points
at meeting of cornice
—as
in architrave-band
and bed-moulding, of
—where the angularity of the Doric
is
and abacus, and
shaft
and stylobate
most unqualified
;
and
curves of contrary flexure are admitted as frankly as the more
In the Doric
simple.
column
apart, it
is
profile,
the imperceptible entasis of the
only in the cymatium or gutter-rim of the
pediment, in the echinus or the bowl-like
and the mere
mitted at
all
;
lip
all
member
of the capital
of a drip-moulding that curvature
at right angles, or at angles very acute or very obtuse.
cymatium
at
Aegina
this indulgence
is
ad-
The
a curve of contrary flexure, but even
was destined
for a simple curve stopped
to be corrected in the Parthenon,
by a right
line
;
the echinus of the capital was also to be
severely upright
is
other projections are bounded by right lines
and the curve of
set
there more
and returned upon the abacus with greater
approximation to the vertical than in the Aeginetan and in
the
still
more abnormal Corinthian example.
So the sinking
—
PROPORTION IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE.
xviii.]
247
of the Aeginetan flute as a segment of a circle was afterwards
rendered more severe by the substitution of the flatter ellipse
that gives a sharper and steeper arris.
At Aegina
the tendency to contrary flexure in a
curve as continued
from the echinus to the shaft of the column,
already,
qualified
is
by the deep sinkings and bold angularity of the annulets
and necking
but even here the Athenian was not
;
without rendering the break
As
regards general proportion, not only
acknowledged and valuably
satisfied
more pronounced.
still
Doric majesty
is
Aegina, but
realised at
it
was
moreover already effected by studied adjustment of exact
and much progress had been made
numerical proportion;
towards discoveiy of the appropriate terms and appropriate
directions for the application of the principle.
Appendix
trated this point in detail in an
to
I
have
illus-
Mr. Cockerell's
work.
The Doric column,
as
compared with the Ionic,
relatively to its diameter, thicker relatively to
and consecpuently lower relatively to
spacing
its
;
its
is
shorter
interval,
but varies in
different examples in a sequence that tends directly to Ionic
proportion.
A
comparison of Doric examples
among them-
selves in the last respect gives the following progressive con-
traction of arrangement on plan,
the place for more
— one
architectural proportion
At Corinth— Height
At Aegina
The Theseum at
and
illustrates
—
this is
not
application of the Greek theory of
:
of
Column =
„
=
2
Intercolumns + i| diameters of the column.
„
+
"
+2 2
„
+
2
,,
"1
Athens
/
The Parthenon
"
„
=
j_
„'
3
In both the Aeginetan and Corinthian Doric columns the
upper and lower diameters of the shaft and that of the abacus
have the same relative proportions of low numbers,
a
sequence
that occurs in
like
application
in
3:4:5;
some Attic
examples, but in others, and especially the Parthenon, was
superseded by
further
refinements.
The retention of
like
HISTORY OF GREECE.
248
[.hap.
proportions between corresponding diameters in columns that
differed considerably in height introduced effects of delicate
variety.
Lastly, the architect of the temple at Aegina had as yet no
more than the school that
carried on the art in the West,
appreciated the value of giving preponderance of height to
member, the column,
the vertical
height of the horizontals
was a discovery
vindication of
still
— of
relatively to
the joint
the rest of the facade.
reserved
for Attica,
This
and the rational
goes far into the principles that govern
it
architectural design of every style and age to the extent that
it
approaches
chiefly, that
full perfection.
It
was at Athens
first,
at
Athens
the principles of the appropriate application of
proportion to architecture were discovered and exemplified
;
principles that even so far as already recovered await intel-
ligent recognition.
Authentic evidence
fails for
instituting a comparison of the
Parthenon
entire coloured enrichment with that of the
little
more can be advanced without
risk of controversy
;
for
than
that there also the stringcourses and mouldings that framed in
the pediment and frieze were painted with patterns.
there
more
is
At Aegina
sufficient proof of the colour applied to
plain broad surfaces, with manifest crudity
and
some
as lingering
traditions from primitive usage of timber constructions.
The
sculpture of the Aeginetan temple
mony with
its
is
so far in har-
architecture, that in hardness of forms
and
expressions, as distinguished from unskilfulness or rudeness,
it
retains
much
of traditional archaism, together with very
high merits that evince capacities and promise of advance
to
any height of
that
attest
ment.
are
found
excellence.
among
The various degrees of merit
the figures
an already established and
We
cannot do them
consequence of
many
of these
still
proceeding improve-
full justice as
figures being lost
compositions,
compositions, in
from each, but
for-
tunately enough remain to illustrate the principles of com-
—
ARCHAIC SCHOOLS OF SCULPTURE.
xvin.]
249
position that were adopted, as well as to display the feeling
that had been acquired for truthfulness to beauty in nature
The
and technical mastery.
restored
original marbles are at
by Thorwaldsen, and
Munich,
with a misdirected in-
so far
genuity that designedly obscures the distinction of new parts
and
old.
The
chief seats of sculpture in Greece at this time
long before, as
for
but their
school,
long afterwards
Each
Argos, Sicyon.
it
for
may
city
have had peculiarities of
follow, exercising lively reaction in
Synnoon and
and interchanging instruction.
chus of Aegina are pupils of a Sicyonian
works together with Dionysius of
x
Simon
;
Argos
for scholars
as Polycletus,
The
logy
Myron and
an Argive
early notices of
style
his son Ptoli-
of
Aegina
as Ageladas of
Argos works with the Sicyonians Canachus and
and has
—and
Aegina, Athens,
found working in concert, and
artists are
would seem to
— were
Aristocles,
Pheidias, Athenians, as well
like himself.
Greek sculpture defy
definite chrono-
allusions to particular artists are scant, confused, or
;
contradictory; notices of their comparative styles are incon-
So many of the most distinguished Greeks, again,
clusive.
lived
many
well have been the case with
it
;
how long
style
may
this
—
style,
and
after art generally has passed into a totally
new
an individual
certain epochs
also
artists
a commonplace in the history of arts
is
may
and we know
how rapidly at
and were active to very advanced age, that
artist
one of the earlier innovators
in a style at a date
may
advance in
continue, persevering
when, but for biography,
it
would be
unhesitatingly declared to have been long superseded.
Pausanias refers to Callon of Aegina as representative of
the
same archaic
Latin authors, as
style of art as
3
Quintilian and
of both the same terms
1
Paus. v
Quint,
27.
xii.
i.
10.
'
hard
'
Canachus of
4
and
2
Sicyon
Cicero, apply to the
'
rigid.'
>
*
Ik
vii.
Brut,
18. 6.
xviii. 70.
;
and
works
HISTORY OF GREECE.
250
Cf
[chap.
we may form a
the style of Canachus
certain notion,
from comparison of these terms with recognised copies of
his celebrated Apollo,
which was carried
1
from Miletus by
oft
There
the Persians, to be restored long after by Seleucus.
can be
doubt that
little
more or
is
it
accurately repre-
less
sented on coins, and then by the small Payne Knight bronze
now
the
in
British
Museum.
work has been somewhat
others
as
than 479
later
Pausanias and
But
it
surely
Xerxes the
1
clear
that
it
of the
original
assumed by Brunn and
on the assertion of both
B.C.,
Strabo that
is
The date
hastily
was carried
by Xerxes.
off
these authorities transfer to
all
who by testimony
earlier outrages of Darius,
of
Herodotus plundered and burnt the temple at Didyma,
and transferred captives
fuses Ionians
in
2
Ampe on
the
also con-
with Aeolians and Miletus with Miletopolis
Mysia.
This statue was colossal
of
Miletus to
from
Brunn, in his History of Greek Artists,
Tigris.
it
chus
in both
is
;
another at Thebes, a repetition
To Cana-
magnitude and design, was of cedar.
temple statue of Aphrodite of
also ascribed a seated
ivory and gold
— chryselephantine — at
Corinth
a valuable
;
notice of the early date of this sumptuous form of art.
The Aeginetan
artist Callon,
who ranked with
this master,
could not have been unimportant.
Another Aeginetan, of whose very important works we
have abundant notices in Pausanias, though strangely enough
not a single mention of him occurs elsewhere, was Onatas
and here we obtain a
tation
01.
78. 3
= 496
certified date
B.C.,
of his works was dedicated
Olympia.
He
1
Herod,
full
;
repu-
not long after which date one
by Deinomenes, son of Hiero, at
wrought, at least principally, in bronze, gods
and heroes and
isation of his
he was in
;
victors in the
games
;
and in the character-
works by Pausanias, we
vi. 19.
find the
2
Brunn,
p.
Aeginetans
76.
—
EARLY AEGINETAN
xviii.]
ARTISTS.
251
indicated as usually more archaic, for all their merit, than
the archaic school of Attica.
A
contemporary of Onatas was Glaucias of Aegina
;
we
only read of his statues of Olympic victors; of Gelon with
his
chariot
of Theagenes the renowned athlete of Thasos,
;
victor in boxing-, 01. 75
= 480
B.C.,
as Pancratiast in the following
whom
of Carystus,
attitude
of that
the year of Salamis, and
Olympiad
1
and of Glaucus
;
he represented characteristically, in the
sciamachy
— sparring — in
which he pecu-
liarly excelled.
The material of
all
have literary record
the Aeginetan sculpture of which
is
metal, chiefly bronze
;
it
we
was perhaps
with a certain symbolical intention that the colossal Zeus
ten cubits high, erected at Plataea by the Hellenes collectively,
known
and work of an Aeginetan, Anaxagoras, not otherwise
— was
]
formed of
The recovered
iron.
sculptures of
the Aeginetan pediments, although of marble, seem to follow
a precedent or conform to a taste established by familiar use
of bronze.
Each
figure stands
freely
on
its legs,
with no
stump or attached drapery, or other
obligation for support to
of the usual contrivances in marble sculpture for securing
against collapse by proper weight.
The comparatively small
scale of the figures of course renders this
the feat
is
remarkable
more
easy, but
each figure rested upon
;
still
its plinth,
that was let into the cornice and run with lead, and except
for
some ornamental adjuncts
to helmets,
a single piece of marble, even
to the
was formed from
shield that in
some
parts did not exceed three-quarters of an inch in thickness.
The
parts of the figures that, as turned towards the
num, must have been always
with
all
The
invisible
tympa-
from below, are finished
the scrupulous care that was bestowed on the fronts.
subject of one composition certainly, and probably of
both, was a combat for possession of a slain warrior.
'
Paus.
v. 23.
1.
Athene
HISTORY OF GREECE.
252
[ciiai\
stands upright in the centre, represented with only a qualification of the formality that
statue,
but
might pertain
to her archaic
with so much as to vindicate her
still
indeed protective interference, in the fight.
what obscured by misarrangement of the grouped
British
Museum
;
interest,
This point
some-
is
casts in the
the feet of the goddess ought to protrude
below the knees of the prostrate warrior who lay further to
The angles
her right.
by extended wounded
are occupied
of which the correspondence
figures,
heightened into a
is
blunt and over-formal antithesis; the remoter arm
in one case, extended in the other
;
is
bent
the remoter leg crosses
behind.
Then
—a kneeling
archer
over the nearer in one case, in the other
follows on either side a triplet of figures,
is
group behind an advancing protagonist and with
in each
Here contrast
a kneeling spearman behind him.
is
chiefly
entrusted to some difference of costume in the archers, and
then to the variety that
necessarily next to the
arm on the
other.
is
given by the shield arms being
tympanum on one
side,
and the spear
The most marked contrast of
between the figures that answer indeed as figure
on either
side of the goddess,
prostrate in death from the
seize
ensues
all
for figure
but are as different as the
enemy who crouches forward
to
and drag him away.
In such arrangement there
appropriate
strictly
sculpture
for
is
recognition of the
that
symmetrical architecture
to
is
be
symmetry
associated
but at best there
;
is
with
only
a commencing break into that bolder rhythmical distribution that can balance group
elements
beyond
by group, of which both the
and arrangement are contrasted,
all
exemplified
as
rivalry in the pediments of the Parthenon.
The drapery
of the
Athene
is
appears elsewhere to relieve the nude
say that there
is
and formal, and none
stiff
;
it is
much
a poor substitution attempted
on either side the more
accoutred archers.
entirely,
and
if
we may
by interposing
closely
covered and
—
;
THE SCULPTURES OF AEGINA.
xvm.]
Archaic formality
retained in the
is
stiffly
253
curled hair and
smile of the combatants, even of the dying-, even of the
set
spectatress goddess.
One
fashion however does but preserve
the Doric custom of a toilette of battle, as exemplified by
the Spartans preparing for battle at Thermopylae
ascribes such a smile to
of combat
and Homer
;
Aeginetan Ajax at the very
crisis
:
Tofo* dp
Mas wpro
neXd/pws tpnos 'Axaiaiv
M(i8i6wv fiXoovpoioi upoauiitaav vepde 8t nocralv
"Hit ixaKpd.
If colour
KpaSdaiv SoXtxuCKiov
/3i/3ds,
tyx os1
was crude on the architecture,
it
'
was
still
more
on the sculpture, where armour and eyes and lips and
so
wounds were
on the
The
doubt,
certainly painted, as well as probably
emblems
shields.
subject of the best preserved pediment
the contest over the
body, not
of
is,
I do not
Patroclus,
but
of Achilles himself, the rescue of which was the great glory
of the Aeacid Ajax.
Hector with Paris as an archer and a
characteristic figure, are then recognised
and
his constant
The kneeling Hercules
the other.
archer as he
ance that
its
is
side, as
Ajax
of the other pediment, an
described in the Odyssey, gives sufficient assur-
subject
which Telamon,
was that
earlier contest
with Trojans in
as ally of Alcides, gained his bride Hesione
a second glorification of heroes of
Aegina
whom
Pindar lauds
Aeginetan ode, and in victorious con-
as unfailingly in every
flict
on one
comrade Teucer, and perhaps Ulysses, on
in the wars against Asia, of
which Herodotus himself
regards that with Xerxes as a continuation.
The
may
contrast of these
works to the Pheidian pediments
not be greater than was that of a drama of Phrynichus
with one of Sophocles
;
any case
certain in
decisive archaism clung obstinately to the art.
how
it
could defend
at Eleusis,
ground
its
is
it
is
An
that very
example of
seen in a bas-relief found
where on the veiy same slab one figure of a group
1
Iliad,
vii.
an.
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
254
is
in
[char
the later, another, for no discoverable reason, in the
was
style thai
but obsolete.
all
The notice which has been already quoted of the
of Glaucus in
may
Aegina,
the attitude of
sparring-,'
'
statue
by Glaucias of
be regarded as a link in history which connects
Aeginetan art with that of Pythagoras of Rhegium and
Myron
who
of Attica,
are
both
through ancient rigour more or
same time venturing boldly upon
attitudes
The
and gestures.
characteristic
was held
at
own
its
in a figure of a Paneratiast at
brated was his statue
was ascribed
to
to
J
Polynices, dying
Myron was
at the
— dramatic
Syracuse
;
was
with
have surpassed Myron
Delphi.
—a Philoctetes
him
breaking
and
in competition
Particularly cele-
of a
limping from the suffering caused by an
elsewhere inferred,
as
art of the Italian colony
at this time capable of holding
Attic, for Pythagoras
celebrated
less completely,
figure
ulcer,
—
painfully
have
as I
a group of great interest
of the Theban brothers, Eteocles and
by mutual blows.
of Eleutherae in Attica, a
town on the road
to Boeotia, a hint that criticism has sometimes too eagerly
seized on to
impute to his art Boeotian characteristics that
would not otherwise be suspected.
A
vast
number
of his
works are on record, from single and associated figures of
animals as well as of
colossal, to
he
is
men and
gods, in bronze, and some
modelling and chasings in
one of the artists
who
Like his
rival,
by innovations
in art
silver.
are signalised
together with retention of considerable archaism.
By
rare
good fortune we have certain representations of some of his
works, which are sufficient to avouch that, like Pythagoras,
he was studious of
when sculpture
The daring
is
'
rhythm and symmetry,'
in question, of proportion
attitude of his Discobolus,
in other words,
and composition.
who bends down and
forwards and sideways preparatory to the delivery of his cast,
1
Plin.
H. N. xxxiv. 59.
PYTHAGORAS AXD MYRON.
xviii.]
is
255
described with admiration by the ancients, and
for as in various copies
Museum,
and
— which however
for us to
repetitions,
differ too
any one
accept
as
— one
is
reflected
the British
is in
much among-
themselves
His
an exact reproduction.
exhausted foot-racer, Ladas, represented as just winning", but
winning only at the expense of
A
equally celebrated.
been
with
recognised
great
was almost
his last breath,
Museum
Lateran
figure in the
plausibility
has
representing
as
Marsvas, from his group of the Satyr in an attitude of
astonishment at Athene as she flung away the pipes that
he was to take up to be his bane.
an impression, on regarding this
It
difficult to
is
statue,
resist
that Pheidias was
under the same obligation to the original
for the
Poseidon
of his west pediment of the Parthenon, that Michael Angelo
not disdain to owe to the Christ of Orcagna for the
did
central figure in his Last
How
far
Judgment.
and in what manner Ageladas of Argos showed
way by his own productions to the marvellous advances
that were made by those who are assigned to him as scholars,
we cannot say. Not a few of his works are recorded, but
the
unfortunately in no instance with a characterisation of style.
It
is
significant
scholar
Myron
however that
that so
not to himself but to his
it is
much merit
is
assigned for a decisive
break with archaism, from which Pheidias and Polycletus
How
were entirely emancipated.
defective are the materials
we have not
for a history of early art appears in the fact that
a sing-le notice of that grand transition in the treatment of
drapery which was equivalent in
Apart from
this the glory
his competitors of
the
itself to
a revolution in art.
must be assigned
to
Myron and
occupying in ancient art the position of
Masaccios and Mantegnas in the history of modern
painting.
Two Athenian
Critios
artists,
1
and Nesiotes,
Mann. Par.
in
1
480
B.C.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
256
made
statues of
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
of those which were carried off by
viously.
coins
By
skill
and
Some
1
in substitution
Xerxes three years pre-
records of this group have been traced on
vases, and, it is believed,
comparison of these
it is still
even copies in sculpture.
possible to appreciate the
with which the figures of the two youths rushing forward
together to an attack were so composed as to display the
action of both
in effective combination from whichever side
they were regarded.
1
Paus.
i.
8. 5
;
Lucian, Philops.
1
8.
CHAPTER
/
XIX.
A DECADE OP POLITICAL AND PARTY DEVELOPMENTS.
From 476 down to 466 b. c. the page of Greek historywhat may seem to be a happy blank. No collisions
with Persia are set down within this period, and not even
presents
any considerable dissensions among* the Greeks themselves.
It
might be supposed that they were now enjoying the un-
mixed rewards of
patriotic exertions
and
co-operation,
free
devoting themselves entirely to the reconstruction of their
industries, the
celebration of their festivals,
the production
and dedication of the numerous and elaborate works of art by
which they commemorated their deliverance and acknowledged their gratitude to the gods for glory, for safety, and
for wealth.
Political feelings however,
we may be
sure,
were
not in suspended animation during this interval, nor could
significant political events,
unobtrusive, be wanting
;
however comparatively sparse and
but historians neglected the tame-
ness of the time to dissert in preference on the broader and
more
startling effects of Persian or Peloponnesian
were diverted
opportunely
to
fill
livelier
war,
or
up what seemed a gap by annals of
events in the colonial West.
Sicily
lower Italy supplied some highly exciting incidents,
—
and
tales of
the courts of Hiero and Theron, the important naval victory
gained by Hiero over Etruscans in the
Bay
of
Cumae
in
474 B.C., and the crushing defeat of the Dorians of Tarentum
by the Iapygians 473 B.C., with its consequent supplanting of
Tarcntine oligarchy by a democracy.
Deserted thus by the detailed guidance that we could wish
s
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
258
for in central
notices as
we arc
we may, and
Greece,
best
[ohap.
left to interprei
so
a
few general
explanation of what
elicit
contrasts are discoverable between the situation of affairs at
the opening of the period and at
Important changes,
is
it
its
conclusion.
were gradually super-
certain,
vening throughout this period in the relations of Athens, not
only to Sparta and the Peloponnesian states, but also to her
own
confederates in the alliance assumed as
still
subsisting for
And
active prosecution of hostilities against the Persian.
was impossible that
by
dictated
such,
changes or inducing them, should not be
very decided at Athens
on this extended
affairs
The
where the control of public
itself,
tempting a prize to
scale offered so
-
the ambitious.
it
differences of opinion as to the policy
value of party combination for the com-
passing of political power was no
new
discovery at Athens,
and the leaders of party, now that Aristides, probably through
age, had
enough
comparatively retired, were recognised
in Themistoeles
By
and Cimon.
distinctly
the circumstances of
the time a large measure of popular support was enjoyed by
either.
Themistoeles, as creator of the
arsenal
at
the
Piraeus,
fleet
and leader in
with
its
Salamis, was the proper representative of the
its fortified
prime glory at
new democracy;
while Cimon, though more immediately allied with the aristocracy,
had no slight popular hold,
memory
of his
father
Miltiades,
considerable achievements,
and
also
some degree from the
in
still
more from
his
from the open and
own
liberal
manners that are never so appreciated, even in the most
resolute
democracy, as from a born aristocrat.
members again of the Eupatrids
scent which comprised some
— of
Influential
that aristocracy of de-
who were devoted
to all tha£ was
desperately oligarchical, not to say tyrannical in aspiration
were the Alcmaeonids,
who knew
well
how
selves of the connection for the sake of aid
flexible principles
effectuate a
to avail
them-
from those of
less
than themselves, but had ever in view to
compromise at a favourable time, and so to
GRADUAL SUBORDINATION OF ALLIES.
xix.]
by management might become
acquire the guidance which
mastery of the democracy.
the
equivalent to
section
Cimon would
until
produced from
it
On
little
Of such
a
naturally receive the support, but only
itself a rival
and a competitor.
the great question of the treatment of the
can be
259
there
allies,
doubt that Themistocles was disposed to carry
matters with a high hand, and to forego no opportunity of
making the
of Athens
leadership
Whether the synod
stringently
of representatives
much
debated and voted at Delos or not, would not
case
;
imperative.
met regularly and
alter the
the preponderance of Athens would enable her easily to
rule every discussion, every decision.
It
was therefore a
con-""
sequence in the nature of things that however, as time went
on, alarm at the
urgency of danger from Persia might decline,
there was decided indisposition to admit of
any question
as to
reduction in the assessed contributions or of the rigour with
which they were
was
still
levied.
Already even while apprehension
same
subsisting, the
difference in respect of
and organisation that had appeared
by Ionia and by Athens when they were
had begun to
pretensions.
in a
tell
energy
in the resistances offered
tried independently,
manner that encouraged Athenian
Already before any thought came into ques-
tion on the part of the allied cities of repudiating continued
assessment, there was a declared preference
them
to
compound
for
among many
exemption from personal
furnish ships rather than their quota of men, or with
more
alacrity to substitute both for
bution
in
ships a contri-
—to public
service afloat that
remote voyages and renunciation or suspense of
private occupation, and the policy of its leaders gave
every encouragement in this direction.
money compositions
pay
to
still
The Athenian population, on the other
money.
hand, had fairly taken to the sea
involved
men and
of
service, to
therefore,
Athenian crews and to
readily accepted.
The
which went
fit
Z
to supply
for
liberal
out Athenian vessels, were
efficiency of a
S
them
Arrangements
war trireme depended,
HISTORY OF GREECE.
260
from the
tactics that
[chap.
were applicable, on discipline and train-
ing that were not speedily acquired, and so by degrees Athens
became, by the habits of her population as well as the numbers
of her ships, not so
much
power of the Aegean.
Chios, and
the preponderant as the sole naval
Only the
Samos remained
perly autonomous
allies,
larger islands of Let
in the distinct condition of pro-
and
kept up war
still
fleets,
though
comparatively inconsiderable.
The
however
affection
autonomy
for positive
much
small Greek cities was so
in even very
a part of Greek nature, that
the sense of subordination which qualified the relief obtained by
such compositions could not before very long be otherwise
than
Nor were
galling*.
the Athenians disposed either to
indulgence or tenderness in administration;
they had the
consciousness, and did not
of possessing
qualities
themselves that were
governing race
;
subjects.
it,
proper to a
superior
and
they assumed the tone and independence of
command, and took
nominal
care to conceal
mask the
slight care to
fact that their
were rapidly declining into the condition of
allies
It is only at the conclusion of the period
now concerned with
that
we have
are
notice of hostile collisions
induced by these growing discontents
Thucydides seem to authorise the
we
*
;
but the expressions of
inference that outbursts of
contumacy were early as well as frequent, and had been
followed up by Athens, in instances that have escaped particular record, with a severity that left the offenders thereafter
in a perfectly different relative position.
All this implies the constant exercise and cruising of the
Athenian
fleet,
quite apart from special expeditions.
In such
home and the notice occurs,
among examples of his ostentation of ability and distinction,
how on one occasion of assuming command he put off the
operations Themistocles was at
settlement of
all
;
his matters of business, private as well as
1
Thuc.
i.
99.
AUTONOMY
xix.]
IN RELATION TO EMPIRE.
261
public, for the sake of the display of his multifarious concerns
and
on the very day of
facility of despatch,
1
embarcation.
The ambitious views which he entertained for the city that he
had re-created were without limit; and his faculty of poliby Thucydides, gave him
tical insight, so celebrated
perceptions of the openings that would conduct
its
clearest
present
largely extended power most directly to the limitless beyond.
The
position that Persia seemed to be rapidly forfeiting, of a
vigorously organised and overwhelming empire,
for a successor
who
But
the examples of her glory and her decline.
state
to
her
be
of Hellas
states
left
a vacancy
could profit by the opportunity and by
successor
or
rival,
the
The
could not be unchanged.
way
culty and the last in the
Greek
for a
relations
the
of
first
diffi-
was
of the largest organisation,
the inveterate Hellenic tendency to mere municipal, or
best
at
cantonal independencies, asserting for themselves the
right of war and peace, of exclusive treaties and legislation.
To the
disorders that ensued
due that even Herodotus
it is
by the Persians with a
refers to the conquests of Ionia
tain sense of relief as pacifications
—
pacifications, that
the very internal feuds and quarrels that had disabled
from uniting
for
but for the
self-protection.
effective
could not have been what
it
;
but
its difficulties,
becoming inconsistent with the
and the true problem of
best of
its
advantages
which
it
had done,
this tendency
was
was how
changed times,
to carry over the
the Athenian could discern that the
;
option lay between succeeding to empire or succumbing to
For such a succession the
irresistible
power was a condition, and thus
threat of
minor
it, its
allies,
of
them
always great, were rapidly
necessities of
politics
is,
Hellas no doubt
was, have done what
spirit of individuality of
an outgrowth
cer-
equivalent,
predominance of a central
direct
constraint or
was applied without remorse
who might show impatience
1
Plut. Themist.
it.
at
the
to the
demands upon
HISTORY OF GREECE.
262
payments
their active services or even
[chap.
Imamong
in composition.
patience could not but spring" up under such conditions
communities of which the restricted limits admitted of no
interests so important as local distinction, local festivals
festivities,
and the pursuit of wealth
;
and
while they fostered
narrow-mindedness that would require danger to be very
them indeed
close to
confederate republics
— such
to continue very close to
long united and
in all ages is the story of small
—before
it
them
roused
if
them thoroughly, and
they were to remain for
alert.
In the more important communities, such as Thebes or
Samos, the hold of Athens upon loyalty to alliance was
by her
largely or chiefly dependent on the security given
alliance to the possession of power by the democratical party.
A firmly-planted
democracy constituted an Athenian garrison,
an Athenian outpost.
Against what an opposition such a party had to strengthen
itself
Samos, where aristocrat ical traditions maintained
at
themselves, as at Athens, by certain traditions of the
and indulgences of a tyranny
— of the court of Polycrates —
evidenced by the convulsions that ultimately led to
throw and a very serious
pomps
revolt.
There
its
is
over-
then nothing that
is
should surprise us in the fullest sympathy and co-operation of
democratic Samians in power with the Athenian policy, and
even to the extent of being the proposers of the removal of
the treasury of the confederation, and with
synod, from Delos to
after a
x
it,
as of course, the
The accumulation of the fund
seem to demand that a protec-
Athens.
few years might well
tion of the strongest walls should be superadded to that of
sanctity
could
;
Athens,
make
as
as
many
collector
difficulties
and disburser of the fund,
and
inflict
venience as she chose, while appearing,
if
as
much
incon-
she cared to
be
at the trouble, to be quite satisfied with the first arrange-
ment, which was
now
finally superseded.
1
Plut. Aristidea, 25.
THE TREASURY REMOVED TO ATHENS.
xix.]
Some more ancient
when he dates
Justin
authority
1
this
263
no doubt represented by
is
transference several years later,
after the
dangerous sympathy of Sparta with the revolt of
Thasos.
But
it
is
and designs of
certain that the depth
sympathy remained
secret for a year or
two at
least
this
the
;
meditated invasion of Attica on that occasion by the Lacedaemonians, avouched by Thucydides, was secret at the time,
and not notorious enough to prevent the friendly aid of
Cimon's expedition to Ithome soon
must needs be
Plutarch
;
there
is
after.
Where one
authority
adopt in preference the record of
sacrificed, I
a confirmatory sentence in Deinarchus that
Aristides in this case, as in the extension of the democracy,
assented to and even promoted a measure which in itself bears
a certain resemblance to the less scrupulous policy of Themis-
The
tocles.
and manifest
slightly
justification
by the
a facility that
in
Aristides
may
transference however
;
;
and that
it
easily
have had
full
was passed over
so
historians, rather implies its adoption with
in accordance
is
its
with the universal confidence
consequence however could not but have
been even more important morally than materially, as conclusively expressing the sanctioned
right of Athens to ex-
tended metropolitan control.
It
all
is
impossible not to be struck with the abstention during
these years from
any
offensive operations against Persia,
of sufficient importance to enforce an historical allusion
may
hand
well have been due on the one
the Persians from collisions which had so
to the comparative insignificance,
;
this
to the retirement of
little
prospered, and
whatever their number, of
those that might have taken place in restoring the independ-
ence of minor
wanting that
cities
it
was
and
territories;
but indications are not
chiefly because
Athens was now more
immediately concerned in extending, or preparing to extend,
her influence within the limits of Hellas.
1
Just.
iii.
6.
There
is
a tale in
HISTORY OF GREECE.
264
[ohap.
Plutarch to which we have already adverted, inadmissible as
literally told,
but which cannot but be noticed once again, as
involving elements which, however disarranged, are very distinctly in general
it is
harmony with
conceived a scheme for assuring the supremacy of
said,
the Athenians by burning the Hellenic
stationed
for
1
or
Xerxes,
Themistocles,
the situation.
Pagasae after the
the winter at
generally to burn the
That the story w as current
r
when
fleet
by a version of the project quoted by Cicero
was
retreat
of
2
station.
is
proved
Greek naval
more forms than one
in
it
as referring to
Gythium, the port of the Lacedaemonians, and which was
destined to be burnt by Tolmides at later date
;
agree that the opposition of Aristides was fatal to
tainment.
Through
this haze
and confusion we at
be justified in discerning that Themistocles,
the walls of Athens
Spartans,
so
was prepared
as to
to
defy the
accounts
all
its
enter-
least
who had
may
laid out
land force of the
put aside every scruple, should
opportunity occur, to render the formation of a rival Hellenic
fleet,
especially
by Sparta, an
impossibility.
the infallible faculty of divination that
tocles,
would apprise him that rivalry
necessarily
is
Even
less
than
ascribed to Themis-
alone, still
more when
compounded with jealous apprehension, must sooner
which of the two powers,
or later bring on a conflict to prove
Athenian or Spartan, Dorian or Ionian, was not merely to
have superior control in Greece, but to positively check and
overbear the other.
issue at once, in his
That he was even prepared
own time and
to take the
the earlier the better,
may
not be too much to infer when we have followed his career to
its catastrophe.
This conflict then, for better or worse, was deferred
;
but in
the meantime the influence of Athens might assert a
still
wider range, and with Themistocles again are connected some
hints that her views were already directed westward across
1
riut. Thanid. 20.
2
lb Arislid. 22.
DORIAN ALLIANCE PRECARIOUS.
xix.]
the Ionian sea, to Italy at
When
least.
265
Cimon, his
political
opponent^ expressed the contrasted direction of his sympathies
by naming his sons Thessalus, Elens, and Lacedaemonius,
it
cannot have been without meaning that Themistocles, after
adopting
such
names
self-asserting
other
for
Archeptolis, Cleophantus, and Nicomache,
daughters Italia and Sybaris;
named by him
afterwards was
as
daughter of his exile
as the
The colony
Asia.
children
named two other
which dates under the administration of
Pericles,
to
Thurium,
would thus
be a fulfilment of his earlier abortive but definite project.
We
are without information as to the precise relation to
Athens of those
having a certain dependence
states which,
upon her rather than on Sparta, were yet not members of the
In
Delian confederation.
this
democracy had been installed
was Thebes, where
position
after the suppression of
Medism;
and the other Boeotian towns, which the same change had
leased from
Theban
control,
however much of Athenian, on
may have taken
whatever terms,
its place.
applies to Phocis in a qualified degree,
Locris, the
amount of
Medism
The same remark
and more positively to
of which would afford pretext for any
interference.
command was
re-
It
is
highly probable that a certain
obtained by Athens, through her present posi-
tion in relation to these regions, over the northern ports on
the Corinthian gulf, the ancient outlet of colonising Ionians
to Sicily, Italy,
and the intermediate
Achaia on the opposite
under Athenian control,
or,
which
is
were either
much
accepted the Athenian alliance at a later date
like the interference
The Ionians of
islands.
side of the gulf
brought
the same thing,
;
but this event,
with the Spartan control of Delphi, seems
only to have given form and reality to foregone projects for
broadening the basis of Athenian power, which in their mere
existence as projects
when they came
had a
reality of their
to be surmised
by the
own, and which,
rival or the
enemy,
had certain very serious consequences forthwith.
The
policy of Themistoeles to found the influence of
Athens
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
266
above
formal
on a predominant navy, and to divert to
thing's
all
i<m,
and
to the ports
and arsenals which
chief resources of the State,
as
we have
[ciiai-.
was carried
in the
first
seen, against the opposition of a party
its
required, the
it
instance,
which urged
A
the advantage and necessity of reliance on a land force.
union of the two might indeed well seem indispensable for
the support of the vast project which was
avowedly and which,
It
or less
was by co-operation of an army and a navy that Persia
had subjugated Ionia,
by
now more
was consciously, entertained.
it is certain,
its
coast cities and the islands;
like concurrent action alone that the liberation
in the
it
was
commenced
Saronic gulf had been completed on the slopes of
Cithaeron.
It
was
for
want of a powerfully co-operating
land-force that the liberation of the Greeks of Asia could not
penetrate beyond
and
the very fring'e of the sea-coast;
Athens in the pursuit of her designs had
with the possibility of a
collision
if
to lay her account
with Sparta, the want of a
countervailing heavy-armed force involved the surrender of
the open country of Attica to plunder and devastation.
A
remnant of the old party, ever ready to take a chance
reviving
its fixed idea,
might proudly vindicate the
for
ability of
the Athenian hoplites to cope with the redoubted Spartans in
open
field
;
the
less
audacious might
still
be sanguine that the
support of a cavalry force would at least
When we
even.
tation
and achievements of the Dorian
quite intelligible that a politician like
cally
and in
bound
make
the balance
weigh the impression however of the repu-
all sincerity
hold at
last,
to do her best to maintain
a force as efficient
as
possible
it
becomes
Cimon should
patrioti-
that while Athens was
an
—her
hoplites,
efficient land-force
great necessity
still,
whether as operating against Persia or as hoping to continue
undisturbed at home, was to persevere in a frank and cordial
alliance with Sparta.
Thus would the power
of Hellas be a
truly perfect organism, and 'limp neither on one leg nor the
other.'
So might the action against Persia go on with
fullest
xix.]
CONDITIONS OF THE DEMOCRATIC EMPIRE.
both lucrative and glorious, for which
effect in expeditions
there were
267
abundant opportunities; while at home the
still
recognised obligation to retain the sympathies of Sparta by
deference to her principles, could not but operate to check the
constant encroachments of democracy.
There
is
much
common good
in
this of
'
honest general thought and
Hellenic family; but there was
of all' the
that Themistocles would not denounce as obsolete, or
little
Athens was committed by circumstances
deride as a dream.
and then by
first,
new
revenue, to a
all
the inducements of honour and of
and must make the most of
career,
it
must
;
do her best no doubt to maintain power by land, but would
assuredly have to rely at last upon the navy,
do
so,
if this
and might
safely
were only so maintained as to be crushingly
preponderant.
It
is difficult
course that
to say that this
was now open
majr not have been the only
to Athens, albeit
necessity a primary defect that was liable to
more
perilous as events
lation of
moved
on.
As
involving of
become more and
the wealth and popu-
Athens and Attica increased, the theory of Themis-
tocles, that
the Athenians must look to their fortified port as
their refuge as well as the basis of their power, could only be
held to in virtue of a capital modification, the connection of
the city with the Piraeus by the long walls which in a few
years were to unite the earlier and later city into a single vast
By whomsoever
stronghold upon the
sea.
the original plan was
first
as
we
shall see,
with
all its
proposed,
it
this extension of
was cordially adopted,
implications by Pericles
;
upon
this
he based his confidence that when Lacedaemonian opposition
broke out into the violence which no
politician
believed
could be postponed indefinitely, Athenian activity and power
would make short work
his
hopes were
falsified
in rendering
in result,
an account of
it;
how
and mainly through the
catastrophe of the pestilence that decimated the over-crowded
city, is the
moral of the story that we read
in
Thucydides.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
208
The
all
policy therefore
its
which the Athenian demus accepted with
sacrifices for the
maintenance of empire, in deference
to the arguments and eloquence of Pericles, was the ulti-
mate and most resolute application of the conceptions of
Themistocles.
CHAPTEE
XX.
THE POLITICAL AXD POETICAL SCOPE OF THE PEESAE OF
AESCHYLUS.
It was in the archonship of Menon, 473-472
these contrasted policies were hardening- into form
it
was
at least the
some correspondence in
chus,
detail,
same, and
only four years
The
earlier.
ao-ain telling- to the
same
it
was
said to have
with the Phoenissae of Phryni-
which had subserved the
be presented again with
is
when
that Aeschylus produced his play of the Persae.
ing- for conflict,
In subject
B.C.,
and ripen-
glorification of Themistocles
stoiy of Salamis could scarcely
enhanced dramatic force without
effect, albeit
the
name of Themistocles
suppressed throughout, and no lines can be detected as in-
troduced to give occasion for a spontaneous outburst of recognition, as little as
cavil.
A
more
Psyttaleia
of the
;
direct allusion is
the
Aristides in
any that tend
description
to extenuate his merits
sometimes said to be made to
of the
exploit
but this was only an episode
commander
is
by a
;
at
the island
even so the name
suppressed, and the poet
is
deferential
throughout to the jealousies of a sovereign people, who could
not endure that the victory of Marathon should be especially
connected with the
scriptions,
by which
name
as
of Miltiades, or that the very in-
an unusual honour they commemorated
the highly valued successes and concmests of
Cimon
in Thrace,
should include his name.
The notion
though not
is
at the
same time too absurd
to controvert,
to have been stated or adopted, that Aeschylus
in dramatising the story of Salamis,
and insisting expressly
HISTORY OF GREECE.
270
[chap.
on the happy stratagem that determined Xerxes to engage,
had
in
view to derogate from the merits of the Athenian
commander, who was notoriously the author of the stratagem,
and in favour of Cimon, whose name never positively occurs
in connection with the battle at
The Persae was one play
three others, of which
we
only scantiest fragments
all.
associated in a tetralogy with
fortunately have the
titles,
though
and I have now to show that
;
it is
possible to recover such a drift pervading the four, as vindicates
for
Aeschylus the merit, which Aristophanes asserts as proper
to the tragic poets, of being as
monitors of their
*
much
countrymen.
the political as the moral
A
who
poet
addressed
serious play to such an audience as the Athenian, that
and suspended
to the theatre thrilling with all the agitated
interests of the politics of the time, could scarcely
retain attention unless he so chose his
as to affect
hope to
theme and treated
however covertly whatever sympathies were
at the time to be
most
alert
and sensitive
a
came
it,
likely
he walked amongst
;
the hot embers of political passion, and his gait and deviations
were of necessity not
uninfluenced.
It
was not only that
he was concerned to touch their very deepest
sensibilities,
but
that these could not be approached at random or with unconsidered directness
;
according to circumstances they might for
the time be utterly callous to one stimulus, while susceptible,
as Phrynichus
had found,
to exasperation in another.
tinct allusions to current or even recent politics
appear henceforward resigned to the
less dignified
Dis-
no doubt
handling
of the comic poets, but even so the sense of a present or
impending
crisis
can be recognised in
many
cases as con-
trolling the treatment of a tragic theme.
At
the present time, to the stimulus of
home
politics
was
added an especial revival of self-consciousness of achievements
against the barbarian, from the fame of another naval victory
1
Aristoph. Ran.
THE TETRALOGY OF THE rERSAE.
xx.]
over other barbarians at the western
achieved by Hiero of Syracuse.
extremity of
His aid had been
271
Hellas,
solicited
by
envoys from Cumae, which was threatened by the Etruscans.
He
appears to have embarked himself, though suffering- at the
time from a painful
disorder,,
engaged the
noble bay within sight of the Phlegraean
An
a total defeat.
Olympia from the
hostile fleet in the
fields,
and
inflicted
iron helmet inscribed as his dedication at
now
spoils is
in the British
Museum.
In
the same year he gained a chariot victory in the Pythian
games
and the ode
;
celebrates
1
of his noblest
— in
which Pindar
celebrates proudly the warlike achievement
this,
reverts
also,
— one
to
his
earlier
victory
Himera over the
at
Phoenician, the Carthaginian barbarian, and associates the
rescue
here from
of Hellas
Athenian claim
impending
slavery, with
Hellenic gratitude at
to
victory at Plataea, the conquest of the
the
Salamis and the
Dorian spear, below
Cithaeron.
The
so
many
day.
Athens the
occasion was most apt for reviving at
memories that Athens most delighted
and events that had
bearings on the actually impending problems of the
The complete
reference to these
analysis of the play,
;
;
but the results of the enquiry
has convinced
it
and of the tetralogy, in
the subject of a special dissertation, which
is
cannot be inserted here
be given
in,
me that
may
the poet wrote in no party
temper, but as directing enthusiasm in the purest spirit of
patriotism to the maintenance of Ionian and Dorian alliance
[homaichmia), at the same time that he furthered domestic
harmony by bringing to mind the
by whom this alliance might seem
services of the politician
to be in
most danger of
being jeopardised.
The play of the Persae, then, with the account
introduced by the
and preliminary
1
trial of
Pi/th.
of Salamis, was
Phineus,' and this referred to the previous
'
I
;
cf.
Athenian strength with the Persian
Pyth.
3,
and Hyporch. frag.
i.
3.
——
HISTORY OF GREECE.
272
at Artemisium, and
a
was followed by the
it
Glaucua of Potniae/
'
mythical subject again, but so treated as to bear immediately
on the decisive victory of Plataea, that
by the shade of Darius.
'
[cum-.
Phineus
'
is
is
foretold in the Fersae
This assertion with respect to the
proved by comparison of the tenor of his mythus
with the story of Artemisium as told by Herodotus.
the blind king of Salmydessus in Thrace,
Boreas,
—the
Oreithyia,
wind,
north
whom
—and
of
is
Phineus,
the son-in-law of
nymph
Athenian
the
Boreas- carried off from the
scene so cele-
brated from Plato's description and comments in the Phaedrus.
Victim of the
and violent harpies, he
foul
winged sons of Boreas, Zetes and
Calais,
tormentors, pursuing" them through the
same agencies
the
— to
is
who
air.
rescued by the
away
drive
Now
it
his
was to
the happy interferences of Boreas,
the north wind, and on the same ground of relationship
that the Athenians
of the Persian
owned
the coast of Magnesia and the headThey averred that they had been bidden
fleet off
land of Artemisium.
by an
their obligation for the discomfiture
oracle to invoke the aid of their son-in-law Boreas,
responded with such vehement
exactly
together by the poet
it
and having now recovered
fail,
stories
may
more
might be brought
were easy to conjecture
import of the drama, we
How
effect accordingly.
and pointedly the two
who
for the first
;
but records
time the leading
be better contented to remain
in inevitable ignorance of the rest.
It
is
much
the same with the
German critics,
to
whom we owe
so
'
Glaucus of Potniae.'
The
much, have hitherto essayed
to help themselves in their difficulties here
by
substituting,
with perfect arbitrariness, another recorded play of Aeschylus,
the Glaucus Pontieus,' and so have contrived an argument that
'
after all is
anything but conspicuously plausible.
of Glaucus of Potniae
is
The story
very variously told indeed.
pears sometimes as himself a daemon, Taraxippus, a
'
He
ap-
causer of
horse -shying,' sometimes as a hero overthrown by such accident
in a chariot race,
and
—
for
what impious
offence
is
doubtful
CONNECTION OF THE PLAYS.
xx.]
273
torn to pieces by his horses maddened by having been watered
at a spring at
may
Now
Potniae.
the Potniae of this
be said to be on the very battle-field of Plataea
parsed by the jieriegetes Pausanias on his
at about ten stadia
from Thebes,
way from
mythus
;
it
was
that city
—the actual ground occupied
by the Persian army and passed over by the pursuing Greeks.
The great services of the Athenians in these encounters were
against the Persian cavalry, which previous to the battle had
choked and ruined the
Gargaphia; and
it
—we
is
may
safely
assume
at least easy to
see
— sacred fount
how
the fate of
Masistius and Mardonius on their Nisaean chargers and the
rout and carnage of the
mounted Immortals may have been
brought into connection with interference or desecration at
the maddening waters of Potniae close to their encampment.
These combinations are clinched by the peculiar pertinence
of the concluding Satyric play
all
specific
renewal of pure
and preparatory
When we
preserved in
restoration of Hellas
the dark barbarian
appropriateness
fire
Prometheus, the Fireis
gladness, and purity, and health,
might happily symbolise the
dispersion of
'
The advent of the element which
lighter or Fire-b ringer.'
the type as the cause of
—the
from
cloud.
the formal
It
after
the
had a further
and ceremonious
from Delphi, after the Persian evacuation
to the sacrifice to
Zeus Eleutherius.
look over the single play of the trilogy that
its entirety,
we
is
find very distinct characterisation
of the Asiatic Ionians and the European Greeks, especially the
Dorians, and the Persians.
trast effected
There
then a very marked con-
is
between Xerxes as the youthful, over-confident,
too-widely grasping inheritor of power, and the more wise
and sober Darius.
The contrast
is
indeed rather strangely
heightened by the ascription to Darius of a moderation in
conquest that belies the record of the Scythian and Thracian
expeditions which he conducted in person, to say nothing of
that which he
despatched
under
Datis
and was only prevented by death from
T
and
Artaphernes,
following up more
;
274
111
STORY OF GREL
The suppression indeed
vigorously.
[chap.
<>f
every
allusion
to
Marathon by Aeschylus, who himself was a Marathonomachus,
might so far be understood if he also had equal part at
Salamis, hut has certainly some appearance of a declining 'to
an opportunity to glorify the house of Cimon.
seize
It
would
be in accordance with such a feeling of the poet that tradition
ascribed his final departure from Athens to pique at an award
of victory given by
Cimon
in favour of Sophocles.
The fundamental moral however that
and comes forward into most
play,
over again,
is
mind
is
definite expression over
The catastrophe of such
a frame
represented as induced by the agency of a delusive
daemon despatched by
the gods, as if in envious grudge, to
tempt the overweening to their downfall.
less,
and
the perilousness of excessive prosperity as pro-
vocative to fatal insolence.
of
underlies the entire
Prosperity doubt-
even though most innocently or most honourably at-
may
tained,
prove
scarcely
corrupting, scarcely
less
less
deluding, than the achievement of a course of violence and
downfall came thus to be as naturally ascribed
guile,
and
to the
same grudge of Nemesis
its
Now
in one case as the other.
of great prosperit}' was a
it is
the warning being as useful
;
this sense of
awe
at the peril
commonplace of popular philosophy
the leading moral that
is
constantly insisted on in the
history of Herodotus, and meets us again in that of Thucydides
in the
mouth of the
who
pietist Nicias,
a last hope from the exhaustion of the
on the one hand,
it
and, on the other,
in deepest disaster has
(f>66vos
of the gods.
furnishes the prime motive of the drama,
embodied
it is
in
much
later times in the
paintings on the large Darius vase of Naples.
no doubt the moral
this
of
Athens,
it
in its application to the consciences
present spectators
the
In the play
pointed against national enemies, but
is
would not blunt
the
So,
extension of
revenues, had reached
of
the
play.
The
elevation
her sway, the swelling
such pitch
so suddenly,
could the moral of moderation be more
fitly
that
of
of her
never
brought forward.
WARNINGS OF THE POET.
xx.]
275
That the example was taken in the case of a conquered enemy
served to secure a hearing for the homily, but
Athens
quite as unmistakeable.
of numerous
allies,
ness and loyalty,
fate of Xerxes,
bility,
at
derision of
left its
purport
head of a confederacy
that varied in every degree of interested-
might take warning-
if
she could from the
induced by blindfold elation to assume invinci-
only to witness his
wrecked
at the
collision
men and
with
motley armament shattered and
the
very
first
obstacle,
—the
gods.
In this manner the tragedian, while he gratifies to the
utmost the national pride of the Athenians, appeals even more
distinctly to the
the
common
Hellenic feeling in memories of
all
most glorious Hellenic achievements, rewards of the
united efforts of Dorian and Ionian by land and by sea
;
nor
could this be done without reviving a sense of the merits of
the commanders, however their names were passed over in
silence,
— of Themistoeles
as well as Aristides, for they
had
been colleagues in the war, and colleagues afterwards, or
certainly not rancorous rivals, in the politics of peace
could
nor
some sense of sympathy have been unrevived with
Pausanias
— his
errors notwithstanding
the last decisive battle,
so
;
who was
long to linger, and to
fret,
restraint.
T 2
still
— with
the victor in
lingering,
and doomed
in obscurity, inaction,
and
—
CHAPTER
OSTRACISM OF THEMISTOCLES.
Sincere and wise a
have been
in this
own
1
political
for the Athenians, he
character
XXI.
— CIMON
AT SCYROS.
monitor as Aeschylus
may
was not popular with them
at best they left him, according to his
;
profession, to dedicate his tragedies to
2
Chronos
— Time
;
they were quite capable of divorcing appreciation of the
beauty and force of his poetry from acceptance of
So
moral.
was certainly on a
it
appears to have been on
a high-principled and a
and
nature,
self-reliant
was
We
risking administration of a shock.
so
if
within
gloriously
less
—the
victory,
his
it
con-
sufficient to secure
him from
must not be
memory
sur-
of Salamis, the
whom
they chiefly
and Themistocles was driven from the
city that he
so
than two years after he had
for all the
Athenians were in a mood to forget to
owed the
and
later occasion,
attention and engage interest, but did not prevent
revived
obvious
His was a rugged, because
this.
sideration for the feeling of the day
prised therefore,
its
city,
had saved, and more than resuscitated,
an ostracised refugee.
The
reverse
leaders of the opposed party to
were Cimon and Alcmaeon
among many
;
while Aristides,
himself honourably
aloof,
Aristoph. Han. 820.
he owed this
most important
now advanced
whether
generosity of Themistocles in his
1
whom
— the
out
own
of
in age, held
regard
to
the
recall, or to his later
2
Athen.
p.
348 E.
THEMISTOCLES OSTRACISED.
co-operation with
him
tution as ostracism
for years
cany
by
as a colleague in reform.
Such an
insti-
the extrusion of a citizen
from the
state
upon no
secret ballot
own
its
apology,
—
277
definite
charge
— does not
According to the most plausible
justification.
provided a safeguard available at short notice,
it
when the overgrown
influence of an individual threatened re-
publican institutions, and yet might countervail
all
ordinary
legal procedure, or only give a hold for charging treasonable
when
intent
By
the time had ripened for treason's fatal triumph.
such a process a vague panic, that might or might not be
more certainty and
truly prescient, could take security with
more innocently than by
In a
active policy
of parties.
for
fictitious
from the dead-lock of a nearly even balance
These however were more likely to be pretexts
ostracism
offered too
than
the
principles
tempting a chance
not to encourage faction
serious remedies.
A polity
manner ought
of
its
application.
It
"supremacy of faction
for the
and the need of such a contrivance
;
was warning of constitutional
in this
charges for the occasion.
severe contingency the State could so relieve its
less
to
defects that
demanded more
strong enough to expel a mischief
be strong enough to control
it,
strong enough to keep a troublesome citizen in subjection,
and
who were so anxious for his
when exempt from check, become
also in reserve in case those
expulsion might themselves,
still
more troublesome.
Athens, that had been glad to re-
cover the ostracised Aristides just in time, was destined at
a later
day
to reverse another sentence,
after a serious disaster to the counsels
and be eager to revert
and
and at the present time the prolonged
services of
Cimon
;
exile of Themistocles
did not enable his opponents to ward off a crisis which his
foresight
had anticipated, and which he of
all
others was most
competent to grapple with.
As
regards the application of ostracism in this instance,
nothing more
weariness
that
may
will
be required to account for
supervene in free
it
than the
communities of the
HISTORY OF a I:
278
[ci
I: I
prolonged Leadership of even the most able and most
This ensues no doubt in part from the
man.
cessful single
prejudice caused by ever-accumulating- secondary lapses and
errors,
by insolences and favouritisms, and then by misfortunes
merely unavoidable
but
;
usually due not a
it is also
little to
the volatility that would have change of tone and topics
to curiosity, especially on the part of a
proof of untried
men
own
of their
new
;
generation, as to
generation
to the con-
;
current impact of class cabals overbearing, each in their own,
common
the
Full force
interest.
by the eagerness
is
lent to these influences
growing and excluded
of
and naturally claims an opening and
which
talent
fairly
an opportunity, but
of talent also, new or old, which would mount to power by
any means, and can parade the contrast between a purity
that has never had a chance of going wrong, and sagacity
that
must needs be sometimes right
denunciation
in a course of general
comes in that jealousy, the weakness
lastly
;
of every sovereign power, which ever looks askance at the
exceeding prosperity of those to
resents as
an
affront
with
all
the
whom
it
venom
owes
own, and
its
of vindictiveness the
slightest hint of independence.
In the latter respect chiefly Themistocles was
to escape scot-free in the state
by
either respect or gratitude for Miltiades
notwithstanding the extension of
in favour of his
crisis,
there
is
its
how
and
Aristides,
democratical element
most natural supporters.
information as to
little likely
which had not been restrained
In the absence of
party opposition came at last to a
significance
in
the notice
of the
different
temper in which were regarded the displays of wealth that
made by Cimon
were
the
Olympic games.
and
Themistocles
This must have
respectively
been at the
at
77th
Olympiad (472-71
B.C.),
Medica ;
not have been in the year of the Medica,
and
it
tocles
for it could
was
the
second recurrence after
in the immediately ensuing festival that
had been
so universally popular.
If
we were
the
Themisheld to
xxi.]
INDEPENDENCE OF TIIEMISTOCLES.
279
Cimon
at that
Plutarch's literal words as to the youth of
we
time,
should be thrown back on another impossibility,
the 74th Olympiad, too early in the
of Cimon, too near
life
the death of his father Miltiades in indigence.
of Themistocles
in
tents,
and
hospitalities,
was carped at as the ostentation of
were too
many
as ill-acquired
to denounce,
riches, riches that there
and with too much probability,
belonging moreover to a new
;
The splendour
and apparatus,
man
while in-
:
dulgence was accorded to Cimon, comparatively young and
of noble descent, and lavish of wealth unimpeachable in
origin, as a recovered inheritance derived
its
from an ancestry
renowned through Hellas.
It
was not of the nature, and probably not of the
of Themistocles
merits
to
dissimulate
his
policy,
conception of his
own
and services out of hope to deaden the impact of
On
enviousness.
the
contrary, a
tone of almost perverse
bravado seems to have characterised both his private and his
public
At
expressions.
very time that the Athenians
the
were fretting uneasily with the sense of obligations exceeding their power of requital, he did not hesitate to twit them
with their inconsistency in finding benefits burdensome only
because they happened to be
He
all
conferred
by the same man.
likened a grumbler at the large share of advantage that
he had secured for himself to the
should discontentedly contrast
with the
full
clay
its fare
after a feast,
that
of orts and leavings
provision of the day of the feast
itself,
that day
but for which the day after would have no provender of any
kind, no existence at
to
He
all.
likened himself to a plane-tree
which the Athenians were eager to run
for shelter
in
a storm, but, without gratitude or forethought, despoiled of
its
is
branehes at the
more
likely to
change to favourable weather.
It
own
son
first
have been his observation
Neocles than, as we read
himself, that one of his
on
the
shore,
was
a
it.
own
fail-
to his
that of his father Neocles to
galleys, open-ribbed
type
of the
ultimate
and rotting
regard
of
HISTORY OF GREECE.
280
Athenians
for
his policy
was
Lastly, in
their best servants.
being- vigorously
[chap.
sion to his claim to unerring political insight,
close to his house a fane that
stoboule,
— Artemis
days when
impugned, he gave expres-
by erecting
he dedicated to Artemis Ari-
most excellent counsel,
of the
—perhaps
even by setting up therein that statue of himself which Plutarch saw there, in
company with one
of his descendants, and
recognised as presenting lineaments justly expressive of his
heroic nature.
—
The storm that he provoked as probably
conviction that come it must, and the sooner
his chance of dealing with it
consequence that
we know.
—broke
as not in the
the better for
heavily and with the
His ostracism apparently dates
under the archonship of Praxiergus, '471-703.0.
the means by which
of deference
to
it
was brought about, we must
who
Plutarch,
favourites, be induced to
is
given to idealising his
overlook the natural tendency of
Cimon and Themis-
Cimon's employment of his wealth.
toeles
are both associated
with Pericles as principal con-
tributors to the decoration of the city
of
Cimon do we hear
Among
not, out
;
but only in the case
of devotion of private fortune to such
public works, the devotion apparently of spoils of war and
presents of allies
by which he might without
versation have added to his
that he spent funds of his
positive mal-
own riches. Fame at least told
own on the fortifications of the
Acropolis, and that he directed, on the erection of porticos,
the planting of shady trees about the agora, and the reclaiming
of the
Academia from drought and
sterility
by
laying-
it
as a well-watered grove, with cleared places of exercise
shady walks.
still
more
out
and
Others of his generosities wooed popularity
directly
;
he scattered coin
paraders of poverty in the
2
agora,
freely
among
the
and on occasion would
bid a well-clothed attendant exchange cloaks with a citizen
1
Diod.
xi. 54.
2
Plut. Cim. 10.
POPULAR ARTS OF CIMON.
xxi.]
encountered
We
franehi.se.
of his
garb unworthy of his elder years and
a
in
281
cannot he told that he flung
down
the fences
gardens and orchards in order that the indigent,
whether native or strangers, might help themselves to the
grapes and olives, kept open house daily where the poorer
not others, might daily find a
citizens, of his tribe at least if
modest but welcome meal, and so be able
labour for public concerns,
how
bethink ourselves
especially
who
when
—
time from
to spare
we cannot ponder and not
this
such largesse would influence votes;
contrasted with the disposition of Themistocles,
was never extravagant
insatiate in getting,
irrepressible geniality,
from
as if
but rather out of the ostentation that
By
might astonish but conciliated no man.
art then or
by
argument, by concerted intrigue or as the result of conflict on
a positive question of policy, Themistocles was ousted from
his position at
Athens within about eight years
battle of Salamis, and
and perhaps
would be
also
in best
position to hasten the
which he surely counted on
reaction,
march
independent
events
of
when not only would
his recall
for
already
be epiickened by influences that he
in train,
the
after
had to consider where he would await
knew how
the
;
might
threatening
well
set
to
his foresight be vindicated,
He
but his promptitude of resource be again indispensable.
retired to
Argos, a state not in immediate alliance
either Sparta or
relations of
Athens
the
of
Medism under which
resistance
to
it
sympathy of Athens.
it
had been
while the
;
laboured was a present bar to
Here therefore he might seem
to be resident in a neutral state
;
he was heard of however,
in various directions in
The absence
of Themistocles
conspicuous activity on
the
1
such
grave suspicion
and necessarily with interest or apprehension,
moving about
in
pretext for taking no part
its
Xerxes
in
the
with Sparta
;
enmity as were
with
Thuc.
i.
as occasionally
Peloponnesus.
naturally signalised
is
part
l
of Cimon.
135.
It
is
by
within
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
282
year— tin- archonship
the next
thai
Byzantium
from
a certificate in positive terms,
We
the actions of this year.'
many
logy on
thus
actions
command
points
place
doubt that some special
the year after the exile of
earlier
of the
assumption of
the
;
and the capture of
fleet
E'ion,
Nevertheless there can be
Cimon
Themistocles left him
activity of
must have given Diodorus the hint
sive action against Persia
That
it
incidents
power
was not aggres-
pursuant to such
But here Plutarch comes
was
in full
seems manifest from the following*
unmarked by any
a present policy.
little
at this time
to insert such an assem-
blage of his doings under the year.
states that it
part
authorities:
and the battle of Eurymedon as certainly
;
occurred four years later.
years being
'Such were
are able to correct this chrono-
better
Byzantine
of the
we have seen
by
their
find
u.c.)
naval achievements
liis
Eurymedon and Cyprus, and adds
to the
to his inaccuracy
as
of Demotion (470-469
Diodorus includes a series of
'
[chap.
to our aid,
who
in the very next year, the archonship of
Apsephion or Aphepsion, that Cimon brought back to Athens
from Scyros the
relics of
2
Theseus
;
and of
this
we shall find very interesting confirmation.
The island of Scyros lies somewhat by itself
coast of
Euboea
;
pians along with some Pelasg-ic
been of inferior Hellenisation
in the
4
;
3
The
outskirts.
admixture, appear to have
now dry and naked
not so marked in antiquity, but
and
had good and
it
hereditarily
more disposed
to apply to agriculture,
1
still
Diod.
4
xi.
ii.
68J
;
x.
4S0.
5
its
remotest
Cyclades was doubtits
northern portion
susceptible
of cultiva-
The
inhabitants,
safe harbours.
to abuse the latter advantages than
made the neighbouring
'-'
63.
Iliad,
only at
contrast that the verdant island presents
must always have been peculiarly
tion,
off the eastern
are specified as Dolo-
even as Dolopians are included
Homeric realm of Achilles, but
in our days to the
less
who
the inhabitants,
assignment
Plut. Cim. 8.
5
3
seas unsafe
Diod.
Leake, N. Greece,
iii.
xi. 60.
3.
OCCUPATION OF SCYROS.
xxi.]
by piracy, and at
Homeric days
shores
last
—an
283
enormity beyond the licence of
— did not even spare those who resorted to their
and among- others plundered and detained some Thes-
;
The captives escaped and brought
salian traders.
their re-
clamation before the Amphictyonic council which met alternately at Thermopylae and
Delphi, and in which both the
Thessalians and Dolopians were represented.
posed,
A
fine
was im-
and contention waxed warm in the island when the
authors of the violence tried to shift the mulct from themselves
this
on to the community at large
scheme,
Cimon, and
;
foreseeing failure in
they preferred to invite the intervention of
their
fulfilled
engagement
him by
to
betrayal
of the city.
The
hood
;
Cimon was probably
already in the neighbour-
fleet
of
the
suppression of piracy was naturally
duties of
which Athens had assumed the
might be prepared
among
the
responsibility,
and
to prosecute quite independently of
Amphictyonic sentence, however the occasion of
have brought matters to a
from the
this
The acceptance
crisis.
traitor pirates is quite consistent
an
might
of help
with the general
piracy being the pretext or occasion of the severe measures
of the Athenian commander.
He
took entire possession of
the island, and disposed of the inhabitants as
'
slaves
;
un-
fortunately not in itself a proof that they were the barbarians
they are called by Plutarch, though the tribe had evidently
little
hold upon public sympathies either by habits or re-
lationship.
The clearance
of the island
tion of the hitherto
citizens
was preparatory
ill-cultivated'
lands
— cleruehs or holders of allotments
tarch, this
to
c
was the second
Cimon, the
first
;
to a distribu-
among Athenian
according to Plu-
benefit of the kind that they
owed
having been connected with the capture
of Eion, which agrees with the interpretation that his been
Tb
HISTORY OF GREECE.
284
At the same time
given to the brief notice of Thucydides.
a
solemn search
\\;is
made
[chat.
through the island for the remains
of Theseus, who, according- to tradition, had been treacherously
As Plutarch
murdered at Scyros by King* Lycomedes.
l
in his life of
Theseus,
Phaedon (476-5
Athenians
the
b.c.)
to
honourably in their
quest
was
that the Delphic oracle had enjoined
recover these
city, a notice
and deposit them
relics
which has
quoted to the same
falsely
though following on a paragiaph
lanicus for inaccuracy
but his statement,
effect,
in
led to the con-
Thucydides has
being frequently ante-dated.
itself
been
it
relates
as early as the archonship of
which he blames Hel-
and negligence
chronology, only
in
mentions the capture of Scyros as subsequent to that of Eion,
and does not define the interval either as long or
may
We
short.
be satisfied however with the date given by Diodorus
(470-69
B.C.),
we
it
find
mands
in
it is
with whatever blunders, when
confirmed by Plutarch's account that the com-
of the
fulfilled
469-8
associated as
oracle,
the
whenever asked
for
given,
or
were
ensuing year (archonship of Apsephion =
B.C.).
Pausanias rather awkwardly makes the possession of the
remains the condition, not the consequence, of the
but he
may
in telling
be credited
how
it
for his
2
conquest;
agreement with the biographer
was due to malignant concealment that the
discovery was a matter of difficulty and there was need of a
certain inspired sagacity.
have never
own
Such
and such assistance
obstacles
failed the resolute pietist
from that time to our
to embellish the unhoped-for recovery of sacred relics.
The mighty remains were found, of course
cognised by their heroic magnitude
:
beside
;
they were
them lay a
re-
spear-
head and sword, authenticated by the bronze material as of
the heroic ages.
Transferred by
Cimon
to a trireme magnifi-
cently decorated, they were brought to Athens, with
1
Plut. Thes. 36.
2
Paus.
iii.
3. 5.
pomp
—
RELICS OF THESEUS RECOVERED.
xxi.]
and popular
285
rejoicing, as if for the return of the very
himself, 'after eight hundred years;' a
to point the moral,
satire,
if
hero
any cared
on the popular ingratitude that was even
yet not obsolete.
Among- the various comments that have been made on
transactions,
it
though
extract,
these
seems worth while to signalise the following'
it is
probably more accurately illustrative of
the genius of some unpleasant passages of contemporary history,
than of the career and character of Cimon.
'
The whole undertaking which was
by Cimon,' says a German
plished
so successfully
f
historian,
accom-
and which
so
firmly established his fame, was in every respect most oppor-
tune for him.
Hence a conjecture naturally suggests
that the opportune occurrence of
its
two
Delphic oracle and the complaint
of
the
occasioned by a mutual agreement
:
in
itself,
viz.
the
Thessalians,
was
causes,
which case we should
have to admire in Cimon not only the successful general, but
also the
of sagacious forethought, and
statesman possessed
capable of exerting a far-reaching influence
by means
of the
combinations at his 'command.'
The
sacred remains found a resting-place in the midst of
the city, close to what, in Plutarch's time at least, was the site
of the
gymnasium.
That the temple which
wonderfully preserved
is
justly called the
still
Theseum has never
been questioned on reasonable grounds, though
but uncertain only, whether
The precinct attached
its
to it
remains so
it is
uncertain,
erection dates quite so early.
was constituted an asylum
for
household slaves and other meaner victims of oppression,
recognition of an heroic career of protection extended to the
weakest.
Pausanias indicates the locality in the same terms as
Plutarch, — the hieron
'
agora
;'
and the
of Theseus near the
collocation
gymnasium
of the
was probably not uninfluenced by
the national tradition that to Theseus was due the application
1
(urtius, History of Greece, 1869
sub fin.
;
and compare Goethe, Eeineke Fuchs,
—
OF GREECE.
lllSTniiY
of
to wrestling,
.-kill
— the
proper exercise of the palaestra,
which had previously been
The
Theseum
title
the agreement of the
notice of
2
is
[chap.
;i
contest of
mere brute
]
strength.
un
fully vindicated for the struct
still
existing external sculpture with the
Plutarch, that at Athens
the Theseia and the
The metopes of the
Heracleia were interchangeable.
eastern
by the labours of Hercules, and those of
front are occupied
the western with such parallel
exploits of Theseus as
his
Minotaur, punishment of Skiron, capture
slaughter of the
of the Maratbonian bull, and so forth.
The
frieze of the
posticum
is
sculptured in high, relief with
the battle against the Centaurs, in which Theseus
protagonist
;
the subject on the pronaos
is
a battle against rock-hurling antagonists
it
may
ever the
more obscure, but
recognisable, and
is
would seem must represent a gigantomachia
case
is
;
and in that
probably be the contest of Hercules against the
grants of the isthmus of
Pallene,
and not without allusion
Athens and Cirnon in the
to the exploits of
region after the
3
liberation of that
of E'ion.
fall
Pausanias mentions three paintings of Micon in the interior
;
two of the subjects would be appropriate pendants on the
One was
opposite lateral walls.
battle
the ever- varied, ever-repeated
which Theseus had
of Theseus with the Centaurs, in
already killed his Centaur, while between the other combatants
victory was
in
still
suspense
;
the other, the battle of the
Athenians and Amazons, doubtless included again an exploit
4
of the hero as antagonist of Antiopa or
Hippolyta.
The
third subject, which would be the principal, as occupying the
end wall opposite the entrance, was partly unfinished by the
painter,
and partly obliterated beyond recognition.
ject of it
— so I
read
my
author
— appears
The sub-
to have been the
adventure by which Theseus vindicated his descent from the
sea-god
Poseidon from
^Paus.
3
i.
39. 3.
Apollod.
i.
6. 1.
the aspersions
of
Minos, and ap-
2
Plut. Tlits. 35.
4
Plut. The*.
;
DECORATIONS OF THE THESEUM.
xxi.]
whom
parently in the presence of the youths and maidens
had
He
led to Crete.
brought back from the depths
that the Cretan had thrown
It
was
fully in the
to test him, and
in
crowned with a coral wreath, the
manner
he
ring
a
returned
gift of Amphitrite.
of the Greeks to assume that
King Lycom<
the mythical death of Theseus at the hands of
des
of ScyTOS was a quite available indictment against successors,
their
own
for piracy
contemporaries, even apart from the late convictions
;
but Cimon had no indirect personal interest in
this ceremonial re-establishment of
Theseus in his
To
city.
Theseus was ascribed a most important part in his father's
victory of
Marathon
mastered
and bound
in origin probably
the torrent that
;
it is
still
the
destructive
it is
same have
he had
Marathon
of
bull
a physical legend of the regulation of
breaks
its
accepted type of a rushing torrent
so far as
how
the legend of the hero told
at present carried
reflected at another
'
bonds
—a
— and
being
bull
The legend may
on.
the
damages agriculture
all
the
time the conclusion of a contest
between Attica and the Marathonian
tetrapolis.
In the
2
Poecile
Stoa, in a great picture of the battle of Marathon, Theseus
was shown rising out of the earth
traditional exploit
to
take
part
in the very scene of his
in
the fight
along
with
Hercules, whose fane was on the battle-field, Athena herself,
and the eponymus hero Marathon.
In virtue of such familiar associations
dedication and
of the earlier
pompous
was that
it
this
translation of relies revived the glory
and more peculiar triumph of the Athenians over
the barbarians, almost as
if
in rejoinder to the trilogy of the
Persaej and yet the son of Miltiades, well warned, and with
something more than the affected modesty of Shakespear's
Henry V, evaded the grudge that attached
to
the
self-
asserting inscription of his father.
It
can only be thrown out as a vague conjecture that
1
Leake, Top.
Att.
2
Pans.
i.
i=. 3.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
288
[chap.
Lycomedes of Seyms may have been connected,
with
Lycomedae, to
whom
They were a
Themistoeles
who
priestly race
of the Great goddesses,
tions
Protogone,
traditionally
of Athenian Lycomidaej or
the gens
or invidiously,
claimed to
be
related.
administered peculiar initia-
—of
Ge
Koure
or Earth, of
— and sung at their celebrations hymns of Pamphns
and Orpheus
the latter few and short, and
;
if
we were
dis-
posed to take the word of Pausanias, only inferior as poems to
Homer's, in sanctity far
telesterion of the
been burnt
'
Themistoeles rebuilt the
above.
Lycomidae
demus Phlya which had
at the
by the Medes, and adorned
We learn from a fragment of Plutarch
it
with paintings.
preserved by Hippolytus
on Heresies, that the mysteries of the Great goddesses at
Phlya were at
of the
In
least claimed as
even more ancient than those
2
same goddesses under other names at
Eleusis.
this year the Parian marble, in accordance
dates the
first
though he grossly antedates the
says over Aeschylus,
ment
with Plutarch,
by Sophocles, and Plutarch
tragic victory gained
retire-
of the latter to Sicily in final disgust with Athens as
The audience we
taking place upon this occasion.
are told
were balanced in preference, and the archon Aphepsion, with
whom
it
determine judges by
rested to
decision instead to
Cimon and
lot,
remitted the
his fellow generals,
who, by
coincidence or otherwise, were present in the theatre to
the formal libations to the gods
'
;
and
so
make
the custom ori-
ginated of judges of tragedies being ten in number, one from
each tribe like the generals, and so the decision passed in
The generals seem to have entered
their judgment must in this case
favour of Sophocles.'
when
the plays were over
;
therefore have applied to an estimate of
Without committing ourselves
story in
full,
associated in
voices.
to accept the details of this
we need not doubt that the name of Cimon was
some remarkable manner with this tragic victory
1
Paus.
2
Welcker, Gotterlehre,
i.
22. 7
;
i.
31. 4; iv.
i.
322.
1.
8
;
ix. 27. 2
;
ix. 30. 12.
THE TRIPTOLEMUS OF SOPHOCLES.
xxi.]
of a
new
poet,
2S9
and not without some understanding of
a party
feeling.
The presidency of the Archon eponymus determines the
representation for the greater Dionysia in his ninth
The date corresponds
(Elaphebolion), the spring of 468 B.C.
with that recorded for the Triptolemus of
the
month
1
Sophocles, a
drama
surviving lines of which form part of a geographical
feu-
excursus in the anticpue style of those in the Prometheus,
Persae, and Supplicants of Aeschylus.
Demeter
on
visit
is
is
a passage in the
which reads much
him
is
to
his beneficent errand of spreading the culture of bread-
There
corn.
In this extant passage
describing to the hero the various countries he
as
if it
and
to Triptolemus,
life
of
Cimon by
Plutarch,
echoed some earlier comparison of
it is
open to conjecture that the
ori-
home liberalities than
been settled by him in what are
ginal praise referred less directly to his
to the colonies that
had just
emphatically called the hitherto
'
The
lavish liberality of
'
ill-cultivated
Cimon/ he
says,
'
'
fields of
Scyros.
exceeded even the
antique hospitality and philanthropy of the Athenians
for
;
they communicated to the Greeks, what the city justly
proud
of,
is
the seed (corn) of food, and taught mankind the
use of spring water and the art of lighting
his house a
common prytaneum
fire
;
but he made
for the citizens,
and by
free
communication of the best and rarest produce of his land
seemed to bring back in a manner the fabled communistic
state of the
It
time of
z
Cronus.'
seems characteristic of the prompt succession of genius
in these
Athenian years, that the date of the
Pericles into
politics
is
first
entrance of
calculated to be almost coincident
with the death of Aristides.
It
is
only by such reckoning,
not by any historical record of his earlier participation in
in affairs, that the fact
is
known.
His father Xanthippus has
been missed from story since the victory of Mycale.
1
Plin. //.
X xvii.
-.
2
Plut.
dm.
10.
It
was
;
290
IIISTOltY
probably another
member
OF GREECE.
[chap
of his family, Alcmaeon,
who along
1
with Cimon pressed forward the ostracism of Themistocles
and
it
was the son of Alemaeon, Leobotes, who
in concert
with
the Laconising party and agents, would afterwards have sub-
admonitory ostracism either the severer penalty
stituted for
of exile and consequent forfeiture of estate, or, even more
that
eagerly,
Eleven years had elapsed since
death.
of
Salamis, and a generation was come to maturity which had
grown up
in
an atmosphere of enthusiasm, and regarded
Some
national progress as a law of nature.
the past were
still
both in politics and arts
coming
into prominence
own,
which
for
all
great names of
remaining, vigorous and even progressive
still
;
men who were now
but the
had purposes and projects of their
that had been done was mere preparation,
and were urged by an unresting consciousness of power within
to
claim an immediate share in the guidance of national
energies worthy of and
It
demanding
must have been about
their best services.
this time,
that the death of Aristides occurred
;
possibly this year,
at a time when, for
whatever cause, he appears to have so far withdrawn from
active politics that his departure involved no such change
as to
make
recording
a record of
the
fact
it
he
that
Later writers, whilst
inevitable.
left
neither portions
for
his
daughters nor enough money for his funeral expenses, contrast
this so-called honourable poverty,
and the sordid poverty of
his descendants, with the worldly
wisdom of Themistocles,
the appropriate rewards of which were enjoyed by himself
to the last,
and transmitted to his descendants through long
generations.
dated
as
'
The Seven against Thebes
produced
and an anecdote
under
the
next
of Aeschylus
really just'
1
'
one
who
is
Theagenides,
exists to the effect that the line in
the poet characterises Amphiaraus as
seem but to be
'
archon,
which
seeks not to
was greeted enthusiastically by
Pint. Aristid. 25.
THE LAST OF ARISTIDES.
xxi.]
The story comes
the audience as applicable to Avistides.
but haltingly unless
291
off
the application can be understood as
extending to the general
context,
which would distinctly
imply that the merits of Aristides were in marked contrast to
the unworthiness and unpopularity of his recent colleagues.
An
Atheniau audience
is
not to be lightly charged with the
inept perversity of catching at the terms of a single expression without completely apprehending its drift and purport.
If
we
are to accept the anecdote at
all,
we must take
as
it
an
expression of regretful condemnation of a once esteemed and
even venerated favourite who had recently been found on the
wrong, that
is
on the then unpopular,
have been the case
if,
This
side.
may
well
during the recent unpopularity of
Themistocles which resulted in his ostracism, Aristides had
held aloof from the persecution,
—
still
more
he had loyally
if
own was
remained by the side of one with whose character his
so contrasted, but with
co-operated
1
whom, though once
in rivalry,
he had
and domestic
frankly in imperial organisation
reform.
Concurrent possibly with these transactions, but certainly
concluded
later,
was a war with Carystus in Euboea
conduct of what commander
Dryopian, and
it is
is
—under
Carystus was
not mentioned.
therefore fair to conjecture that the quarrel
was connected with the arbitrary treatment of Scyros.
Y\
hen
Datis and Artaphernes had moved from Delos upon Athens
and Eretria, Carystus had gallantly refused
to
surrender
hostages or to take part in hostilities against her neighbour
cities,
but was forced to give way to positive pressure.
It
was probably due to the continued influence of a Medising
party then placed in power that the city became liable to the
penalties for which, as
attempted to
seen,
compound by bribes
of position that enabled
1
we have
it
to resist
2
had already
then, as
Plutarch; Comparison of Aristides and Cato,
U 2
it
to Themistocles.
lii.
.-
it
in vain
Strength
had previously
H
viii.
112.
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
292
encouraged resistance to the Mede, enabled
again, although unsupported
of the same Dryopian kinship.
some
all
losses
;
prolonged by
it
The
2
l
Mycale
obstinacy,
;
cities
even
besiegers had to lament
here died Hermolycus,
the Athenians at
to hold out
it
by other Euboean
who
deserved best of
but the defence, however
was hopeless of ultimate success
ended in a capitulation, and the story brings us upon the
Carystians later °on as duly contributory to the
1
Herod,
ix.
105.
2
Time.
i.
99.
jj/ioros.
3
lb.
vii.
57.
CHAPTER
PAINTING, RUDIMENTARY
It
XXII.
AND ADVANCED.
— POLYGNOTUS.
not easy to believe that the art of painting
is
had
not as worthy and as remote an antiquity among' the Greeks
as sculpture
works
yet the almost entire absence of record of great
;
in this art,
Cimon and
to the traditional
works
and of great names anterior to the age of
his friend Polygnotus, is in striking contrast both
in metal
and the authenticated records respecting
and marble.
Such
difference
no doubt does
but represent in a general way the relative unimportance of
painting throughout the whole development of Greek
There
is
art.
no account of the production by Greek painting,
even when at
its
highest technical perfection, of works that
could range in dignity and scope with the great compositions of
Alcamenes and Polycletus, not to say of Pheidias; the pictures
in
that come nearest to this
fact
Polygnotus,
almost the very
distinct account,
earliest
It
is
first
standard are
of which
those
and these are too near the transition from
rudimentary forms to have a chance of reaching
possible
of
we have any
that the application
it.
of colour to the great
chryselephantine statues of gods and goddesses and to their
ornamental accompaniments had
in a certain degree the effect
of superseding the rivalry of painting
perfection of sculpture might seem
hopeless.
The conditions were the
;
as indeed the
very
to render such
rivalry
reverse of those
which
controlled the great development of Italian art,
when even
;
HISTORY OF GREEi
294
the
Buonarroti,
nounced the
to
embody
may
sculpture
The
by what was to him the
be recognised even on the Homeric shield
must be supposed,
distinguished either by symbolical or by
armour:
of
of the variegation
principle
in metal, and, as
The gods
re-
where many figures and objects which were
of Achilles,
wrought
sculpture,
for
under the force of circumstances, in order
his sublimest conceptions
congenial pencil.
less
modern genius
greatest
chisel
[chap.
I.
in relief,
apt local colours.
and Ares are golden and clad
Pallas
arc-
golden
in
and Fate, as she drags along the bodies of the
men;
slaughtered, has a garment dabbled with the gore of
the furrows are represented,
ening behind the ploughs
from vines supported by
the vineyard
a marvel of
'
hang
black clusters of grapes
;
silver props;
moat of
the watery
azure, the fence that encloses
is
black-
as
art,'
it
is
the colours of the oxen are diversified by gold and
of tin
tin,
and
the dancing youths, dressed in delicate glistening chitons,
have
swords
other
distinct
little
to
applications
refer to,
the ornamental
from
pendent
gold
of
of
beyond the
For
baldrics.
Homer, there
in
ships' sides painted
of ivory
staining
silver
colour
by Carian women
is
and
red,
but
;
there can be little hesitation in inferring that the battles
of
and
Greeks
Trojans,
that
Helen
occupies
herself
in
working, were conceived, and intended to be conceived, as
made out
in diversified
broideries
of Phoenicia,
and appropriate
remoter date, and in fact allusion
of Sidonian
In times
l
colours.
The em-
Babylon, or Assyria are of a far
is
made
to the possession
specimens.
far earlier
drawing
in
than Greek legend even pretends to
outline
and painting in
tints at
refer
to,
least
had been in vogue both in Assyria and Egypt, and
some of
their advanced applications
flat
might have been
first
borrowed directly from those sources by the Greeks at any
1
Iliad,
vi.
289.
HOMERIC COLOURED DESIGN.
xxn.]
295
time, and taken as starting-points for further progress and
improvement.
It is
however quite consistent with
nonce, that a nation which
an independent
for
start,
is
endowed
historical
capacity
with,
not easily resign a
will
in-
first
tention even for the benefit of something better that
is
to
be obtained by borrowing, but rather pursues pertinaciously
\vn first idea;
it
borrows
and when
it
borrows at
Even
of
modern Europe developes
lines;
it
and not only
art
is
and rapidity
thought
communication, the
for
alien,
almost beyond recog-
at the present time, for all the ease
and transport and
of travel
and even when
does so less by adopting what
freely,
than by associating and assimilating
nition.
all,
the most part in parallel
and philosophy, but even the
sciences,
struggle in every country to continue national, and would
The
than theoretical succession.
fain assert hereditary rather
Greeks, especially, loved to consider
all
arts
and sciences as
having originated independently amongst themselves
their case,
if
ever, a
in
;
excusable mistake and not un-
very
natural boast, for never was there a race that more positively
subjected
all
borrowings to their individual genius.
Certain incidents and epochs of the art of painting occur
in scattered mention as anterior to Polygnotus
many
such, even
the
are
notices
such, there doubtless
A
list,
development by a
however
full,
uncharacterised artists, goes
if
we can
and seem
for
merely contrived to eke out the customary
statement of progressive
inventors.
but
;
vague and questionable, and wanting in
detailed individuality and historical certitude,
the most part
and some
;
must have been
for
of
succession
of
names of uuknown
or
nothing
;
and
it
is
much
occasionally identify agreement of the traditions
with something more than mere general probabilities, and
connect them consistently
The black
represent
the
figures
with
seats
of the
upon red ground of the
skiagrapkia,
the
production
of
art
in
earliest
later
vases
monochrome
HIST0R1 OF GREECE.
296
[chap.
drawings by the aid of shadows; and this
given as the
is
form of the art of painting as practised at Sicyon
earliest
So Saurias of Samos was
and Corinth and Samos.
said to
have delineated a horse after the shadow cast by sunlight,
and the daughter of Dibutades at Corinth the
shadow thrown by
lover after the
artificial
profile of her
light.
On
the
vases the delineation of figures in black on lighter ground
helped by
is
interior
when
interior
paintings.
were
lines
The
with
scratched
lines
through the dark paint, and
is
it
sharp
a
point
noted as a further advance
introduced
monochrome
the
in
incised line is sometimes employed to give
exactness of definition even to the proper outlines or contours
of the black figures.
With
and no more, groups
this aid
of very considerable complication are rendered perfectly distinct,
— as
for
instance
slightly advanced
the four horses of a chariot very
beyond each
and beyond them, the warrior
time very considerable taste
definition of the forms
main balance of
The
practice of
by
other, the attendants beside
in the chariot
Ajax/
—but
at the
free outline, as not to
responsibility
some of the
on the
throw the
interior incised lines.
also of objects that perfectly
explain themselves, such as
same
much
earlier vase-painters, of inscribing
not only the names of persons represented,
'
;
exercised in securing so
is
'
— 'Achilles'
or
and even excellently
a fountain,'
'
a hydria,'
'
a seat,'
at least explains the origin of the tradition that the earliest
paintings were
so
rude,
that
man
horse or tree were
or
undistinguishable without such written hint and aid.
That
such aid was ever really required, and thence survived by
habit after the necessity had gone
\>j, is
hard to think; the
application of determinatives in hieroglyphics
in the earliest times, it
is
a proof how,
was painting that came to the aid
of syllabic writing rather than the reverse.
In the next stage of vase-painting, the figures are red
upon
the
a
black ground;
proper
red
or
rather they
are
ground of the vase being
made out by
left
untouched
;
PAINTING AND VASE-PAINTING.
xxii.]
297
within their outlines and painted black without and around
them
the incised line, being" no Longer applicable for the
;
interior,
of the
is
now superseded by
vase
supplies
resemblance
certain
the colour
;
the
to
local
So Dibutades of Corinth was said to
colour of the nude.
have modelled
a
painted black lines
in clay the face of his daughter's lover,
upon
the outline she had drawn, and added artificial red to the
material
and Cleophantus
;
of Corinth
outline drawings with a red
have
to
filled
up
obtained by pounding
colour
terra cotta.
When
the vase-painter laid
of
hand
drawing
in
tiful lines
down the pointed
and very
;
tool to take
he had already acquired command
to the brush exclusively,
and beau-
refined delineation
are often found associated,
however strangely at
The new
variance, with the rude principle of the process.
process
was soon eager to prove
own independent powers
its
and preferred to continue even more
than that which
it
that had already been
made with the black
application of local colour, in
monochrome
which had been in truth
less
figures to the
arms and ornaments.
by white
flesh,
an advance to proper
local
faces
than a supplement in the way of symbolism, was
given up along with irrational inscriptions, as
unnecessary, but
well
until
The
and
distinguishing of female figures
colour
strictly
superseded, renouncing some approaches
obsolete.
At
this
stage the
content for ceramic painting to
it
had perfected a
and opportunities
it
;
is
not
only
Greek was
make a long
halt,
style appropriate to its application
simple, free,
and
refined,
but with
no affectation of an exactness which must invariably have
failed in a process
by
of jpentimenti, but,
much more,
Eumarus
associated
its
of Athens
nature excluding not only palliation
and Cimon of Cleonae are
by Pliny with
draughtsmanship,
plication of very
—both
their correction.
improved
skill
of uncertain, but
early dates
;
for
to
names
and daring in
by manifest im-
Eumarus
is
assigned
HISTORY OF GREECE.
298
renown
for
figures,
as
Cimon
is
his
success
[chap.
distinguishing male and
in
well as Lis bold imitation of varied
credited with
the
further
downwards
attitudes.
— looking
the expression of joints and
;
more probably muscles; and, very important
veins,
and
-figures,
presentations of the countenance in varied aspects
back, upwards, or
female
advancement of these
by venturing to represent foreshortened
feats,
'
indeed,
the folds and waves, the arranged or accidental convolutions,
Here again we may
of drapery.
upon the vases a
trace
advance in the direction of elegance and nature,
parallel
from the
stiff
neither swayed
and formal draperies of the archaic
by
by apparent capacity
cating,
modelling of the limbs
style,
nor swung by movement, nor indi-
air
3
to
sink or swell, the natural
beneath.
If these innovations could
— an
really be brought home to the name, Cimon of Cleonae
— would justly rank as
Homeric dependency of Mycenae
one
of the best deserving masters in the history of art.
The
historical notices thus far refer less to painting' proper
than to simple draughtsmanship, which has however, at
the
in
case of bas-relief,
It
sculpture.
is
when we
only
least
an equally direct application to
reach Polygnotus that
we
encounter hints of the proper glories of painting, for even
his father
Aglaophon has no
verified claim
beyond standing
on the record as instructor of his son.
Polygnotus was of the wealthy island of Thasos, and his
date
is
fixed generally
by
his
known
relations
to
Cimon
and to Elpinice, before she was quite so old as Pericles
thought her in 463-2
picture
Ol. 78.
date.
is
2=467-6
picture
B.C.,
B.C.,
inscription for his Delphic
who
died four years earlier,
and gives perhaps a more precise
was executed by him
Cimon was
medon 466-5
1
The
ascribed to Simonides,
The
his friend
B.C.
at
for the
Cnidians
;
Cnidus before the battle of the Eury-
but as this was in the next year after the
Fiynrae omnes. Pliny, xxxv. 34.
3
Cf. Aelian,
2
V.
Catagrapha, obliquae imagines. lb.
H.
viii. 8.
—
THE EPOCH OF POLYGNOTUS.
xxii.]
299
death of Simonides, the inference appears to he that this
dedication of the Cnidians was anterior to their participation
in
t<>
We
the spoils of Eurymedon.
thrown upon an
are thus
motive and occasion of the picture,
earlier date for the
the days immediately after the liberation of the Ionian
and of Thasos from the Persians, and the time of the
cities
Cimon with
transactions of
relatively to Scyros,
476
the Amphictyons at Thermopylae,
B.C.
Again, Polygnotus decorated with paintings the Theseum,
which received the bones of the hero about 469-8
B.C.
As
regards the style, modes, and manner of Polygnotus, Pliny
that he
states
as transparent
painted
with which he depicted
it
same
the
was
black
tilian,
either gathered naturally in
four
only be
be given
to
it
another authority
is
him
Cicero names
colours,
a simplicity for which, as
;
could
it
Criticism therefore
to
]
who employed only
painters
2
effect.
as
wind; Aelian
folds or fluttering in the
to
drapery of his female figures
the
and Lucian has a reference to the delicacy
;
affectation
as
one of the
of
which one
seemed to Quin-
it
admiration.
profess
to
seems was already known in antiquity,
assert
peculiar
insight,
be jealous of
to
the claims of beauty that condescended to be manifest to
unsophisticated taste, or even that reposed on the best judg-
ments of the
of
it
where
world.
r)ast,
it
The
and preferred to announce a revelation
must needs be a mystery
better critics however,
it
to
the rest of the
most
is
certain, did
not err in their lofty estimate of the art of Polygnotus,
restricted as
That he was
dresses
liberal
in
are the notices that he
uniform
tints,
I.
18.
his
resources
narrow to admit of great variety.
the
variegation of feminine head-
an unimportant matter
is
Nor were
were his appliances.
in respect of colour too
;
more
did not content
the
to
purpose
himself with
flat
but compassed gradations both of tints and
..
xxxiii. 12
;
xxxv.
6.
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
300
fconej
and
so
made the
He
monochrome.
first
and all-important advance beyond
painted fishes as seen indistinctly in the
mutilated form
dark waters of Acheron; the vast and
Tityus
[cnui
Eurynomus was coloured
like
the
of
the daemon
Hades was mysteriously obscure;
in
wrecked
the
flesh-flies;
Oilian Ajax was recognised with his sea stains about
him
;
the cheeks of the abused Cassandra bore the tender blush
of her situation.
As
regards
expression,
harmony with the beauty
was praised
still
the blush of Cassandra
of her
to lips, exposed teeth, relieved
rigidity
;
brows.
'
more enthusiastically;
And
was
in
his Polyxena
he gave movement
physiognomy from archaic
he represented the tender, the pathetic, the im-
pulsive, the reserved, the heroic.
Hence Polygnotus
2
to Aristotle the ethical
is
painter,
the ethical artist indeed as compared either with sculptors
or
especially
painters,
Pauson and
reality
3
as
Polygnotus, says Aristotle, exceeded
Zeuxis.
in his representation of
Dion}r sius was on the same
We
compared in his own art with
man, Pauson
fell
below
it,
level.
have most happily a detailed description by Pau-
sanias of his great paintings in the Lesche, or public apart-
ment
to
for conversation, at Delphi, the
which he executed
many
of the
early
work already
for the citizens of Cnidus.
Italian
painters,
referred
Like so
and under the same
influence of requirement to cover large architectural spaces
with subjects that could not appropriately be disconnected
with each other, he had very large views of composition,
both as within each
certain connections
separate
picture
and
demanding
as
and contrasts of one picture with another.
In such early combinations we constantly find a well-marked
gradation in associated dignities, so that a subordinate subject supports a principal,
1
Lucian, Imagg.
7.
2
whether the secondary subject be
Arist. Poet. vi. 15
;
Folit. viii. 5.
3
lb. Poet,
ii.
2.
—
;
P0LYGN0TU8 AT DELPHI.
xxii.]
introductory
more frequently,
or, as
301
a sequel, or as, perhaps
with equal frequency, with no pragmatical interdependence,
but an ideal antitype.
The
subjects, disposed
on opposite
walls, to right
and
left
of
the entrance, were the Capture of Troy and Departure of the
Greeks ou the right
;
and on the other
side, scenes in
Hades,
The
including the descent of Ulysses to consult Teiresias.
seventy
each
in
figures
were very numerous
—
many
as
indeed
as
—but disposed in groups of considerable independence,
so that the picture
in separate
might seem made up of a system of groups
though not harshly disconnected
Names
scenes.
were inscribed in archaic fashion, in one ease even a collective
description
is
added
'•
The Uninitiated/
1
I have given
else-
where a detailed exposition of these pictures, group by group
and indeed figure by
figure,
with illustrative restorations for
which the account of Pausanias gives inviting opportunity.
The aim at symmetry
still
more
is
very marked in particular groups, and
so in their general correspondence with each other
in one degree less formally than in the
but
still
Aeginetan pediments,
In each ease we see that
as decidedly in intention.
grace and variety are superinduced upon a sublying arrange-
ment
as orderly as a pattern,
cernible, but not least
happy
and always more or
in effect
when
even as the disorder of fluttering drapery owes
considerably to the occult but
still
less dis-
least conspicuous
its
;
gracefulness
regulative fact that
it
is
order in disturbance.
Disconnected as the several groups might be in action, a
very considerable breadth of
effect
was compassed
composition, and that in spite of the
still
in general
further difficulty
that the groups were in rows, two, three, or even more, one
above another, and
— at least so far as appears— without
perspective diminution or continuous landscape.
The
either
practice
of the Apulian vase-painters, although at a considerably later
'Fa
—
HISTORY OF CHE EC E.
302
may
date,
[chap.
be taken as exemplifying the conventions of this
where disgrace of
style of painting,
limitation of
what was attempted
was precluded by
failure
the vase-painters judi-
;
own
ciously recognising- the need of the limitation in their
case long after painting in the larger sense had as wisely
asserted
its
In
emancipation.
portion
central
the
exhibited
Capture of
the
ruthless
Troy the
prosecution
of
the
slaughter by Neoptolemus, the demolition of the walls, and
the Greek chiefs in
council
on the subject of an act of
by one of
violence
sacrilegious
their
number during the
These groups were flanked on one side by the heaps
sack.
of slain, the burials in progress, the spared Trojans preparing
for retirement inland
of
wounded and
on the other by more important groups
;
captives,
with recaptured Helen and
The groups of
and Greeks preparing
wing of the composition
this
to
embark
spoil.
are
more
weighty and numerous than those of the other, and were
made
so not without artistic design
that the
first
demands a
long composition
sequel,
— found
which concludes, as
mass of groups.
first,
;
it
reference to
concluding the
commences, with a more impressive
terminal inclusions,
commencing the
last.
is
indicated most
by the terminal
giving correlative representations of the punishment
of the irreligious and impious
at one end
other.
but
subjects are thus not only paired anti-
emphatically, no longer by the central but
;
itself
in fact in the opposite picture,
In the second subject, the general scene
groups
thus intimated
is
not complete in
but knit together as one in general intention by
thetically,
common
this
The
is
;
—Tantalus, the Danaids, Sisyphus
Tityus. the parricidal and sacrilegious
The intermediate
man,
at the
space, in contrast to the first picture,
divided by a comparatively
has no central compartment, but
is
blank central space between two
lateral systems,
each in sym-
metry at once independent and contrasted. These intermediate
combinations are formed of groups of heroes and heroines, of
ARCHAIC PICTORIAL COMPOSITION.
xxn.]
303
the Homeric period chiefly, represented as occupants of the
underworld.
was by an oversight
It
rearranging the groups
that, in
of Riepenhausen, I missed the necessity for another capital
and
modification,
failed to reverse the sequence of
the second picture.
order,
groups in
Pausanias goes through the subjects in
beginning on his right as he entered the building
when he reached
;
but
the end of one wall he naturally and pro-
perly enough passed over to the corresponding end of the
opposite
The
and
wall,
so
worked back towards the entrance.
relative collocation of figures as opposite to each other is
therefore represented falsely
enumeration as
if
both
by a drawing which
series
commenced
at the
follows the
same end of
the building.
It surprises us at first to find that pictures dedicated at Delphi
can be so entirely without allusion to Apollo, the peculiar god
of this most sacred locality; but the solution of the difficulty,
though
is
it
remote associations,
is
complete, and
a most remarkable exemplification of the retentiveness of
Hellenic
is
carries us into
memory
Religious allusion
for tribal connections.
not and could not be omitted, but
not of Apollo, but of divinities
it refers
whom
to the worship
his splendour
have obscured but was powerless to obliterate,
might
— to the Pelasgic
worship of the powers of earth and of the underworld, whose
seat he invaded,
and only occupied at
last
by a compromise
and alliance such as he himself afterwards had to concede
The Amphictyons who met
Dionysus.
to
at Delphi also as-
sembled on alternate occasions at Thermopylae, at the temple
of Demeter
those
;
earlier
neighbouring
their
I
and the worship of Demeter was most
colonists
coasts,
of Cnidus
who,
starting
affected
by
from the
had again transmitted the worship from
new seats to new colonies, and
we are now dealing with.
have pursued this subject
to times far later than
in detail in
trations of Pindar's Sicilian Ode-.
my
historical illus-
—
3
HISTORJ OF GREECE.
A
Thus
is
accounted
[ohap.
the introduction, that
for
might other-
wise seem intrusive here, of reference by typical incidents and
inscriptions
the
to
and
rites
of Demeter.
initiations
The
Danaids are inscribed as contemners of her mysteries, and her
Thasian priestess Cleoboia crosses the Acheron holding her
sacred cista.
The
episode of Ulysses,
who
consults Teiresias as to his safe
return to Ithaca, connects the subject of this picture with that
of the sack of
Troy and departure of the Greeks.
cessful issue of the Trojan
this
The
suc-
war meets us again and again
time, as an adopted mythical
at
prototype of the recent
and was probably
victories over the Asiatic host of Xerxes,
At
intended to be understood so here.
predominant sentiment of the designs
the same time the
the inculcation of
is
moderation in victory, especially in the matter of respect for
and sanctuaries.
sanctities
Neoptolemus, who had a tradi-
tional ill-name for sacrilege at Delphi,
regardless blood-thirst
is
conspicuous here for
and the central subject of
;
the
all is
reprobation by the Hellenic kings of the unholy violence of
Locrian Ajax.
The recovery
of Aethra, the
mother
of Theseus, supplies
an
Athenian allusion which might be gratifying to Cimon.
The
Peisianactian, afterwards called the Poecile Stoa, at
Athens was decorated with paintings, partly at
Polygnotus, and partly by Micon,
who appears
league in another instance, and partly, as
a later date,
Pausanias,
(2)
;
who
gives no names of painters, enumerates
the battle and the painter are alike unrecorded.
The
The
1
col-
seems, though at
Athenians and Lacedaemonians at Oenoe in
battle of Theseus
distinctly ascribed to
(3)
as his
by
by Panaenus, brother of Pheidias.
(i) Battle of
Argolis
it
least
third,
*
and Athenians with the Amazons
;
Micon.
which
2
Aristoph. Lysist. 678
Plutarch ascribes to Polygnotus, was
ff.
'
Cimon,
4.
—
PAINTINGS OF POLYGNOTUS.
xxii.]
305
at least a repetition of the subject that he painted at Delphi,
the Capture of Troy and debate on the sacrilege of the Locrian
This latter incident was painted again by an Athenian
Ajax.
at Olympia,
recommended by some
and must have been
specific application
to current feelings, apparently as repro-
bating the sacrilege of the northern Greeks,
that of the Persians.
It
was
who had
abetted
in this that a portrait of Elpiniee
was introduced as Laodice, the most beautiful of the daughters
of Priam.
And the most celebrated
(4)
—the battle of Marathon, which
Micon and
authorities ascribe variously to
The
to Panaenus.
subjects chosen indicate the prevailing
Cimon, the son of the victor
influence of
Marathon.
at
In the temple of the Dioscuri at Athens, Polygnotus painted
their marriage with the daughters of Leucippus,
here the Argonauts,
though
—including,
—how
treated
Micon painted
the text does not enable us even to conjecture.
no doubt, the Dioscuri,
the picture was chiefly admired for
the horses
—
of
Acastus.
In the Pinacotheca,
at
Pausanias saw six pictures
subjects,
and seems
among
to ascribe
they seem to constitute a set
of
the
Propylaea,
others of which he gives the
them
all
— the
more probably as
— to Polygnotus.
(1)
Diomedes carrying
(2)
Ulysses obtaining the
Here we have manifestly
entrance
the
off the
Palladium from
bow
a pair
Ilion.
of Philoctetes in Lemnos.
and the common theme of
;
fraudulent capture of a charm involving the fate of a city
may
be taken as an appropriate warning to wardens of an
Acropolis.
(3)
Orestes slaying
Nauplius,
(4)
who come
Aegisthus, and
Polyxena on the point of being
Achilles.
Pylades the sons of
to his rescue.
This was no doubt
sacrificed at the
tomb
of
the Polyxena that
we have
common,
that they
found cited with admiration.
These two subjects have this
x
at
leasl in
HISTORY OF GREECE.
306
[chap.
are parallel examples of revenge, retributive or superstitious,
for the death of a father.
among- the virgins at Scyros,
(5) Achilles
moment
of his discovery
by Ulysses
—whether
at the
as represented in
many
ancient works of art, especially in a very remarkable Pompeian
picture, does not appear.
(6)
Ulysses himself, and the maidens along with Nausicaa,
at the river.
Here again
a parallelism
is
reference to the place or to the
may
Lastly
— each
—but not
palpable,
covered hero and scared maidens,
in
companion
be noticed the
picture a dis-
any
so
definite
pictures.
pronaos of
pictures in the
the temple raised by the Plataeans to Athene Areia,
Warrior Athene,
— Pausanias says from
—the
their share of the spoils
of the victory at Marathon.
(
By Polygnotus,
1)
— Ulysses immediately
after the slaughter
of the suitors.
By
(2)
Onasias, a painter otherwise
unknown,
— the
first
expedition of the Argives against Thebes.
The date
been
later
by the
of this temple, no doubt, can scarcely but have
than the demolition of Plataea and
Persians, but even so, as peculiarly
the battle of Marathon,
the spoils, while
it
it
sanctuaries
its
commemorative of
would be considered as
might
all
the same
built
from
receive dedications
in memorial of later victories.
The paintings
at least
have much more obvious reference to
Plataea than to Marathon.
territory after prolonged exile,
than
all after
home and
Plataeans restored to
decisive victory
and recovering
all
and more
and a general slaughter of
enemies at their very gates, might fairly look through
and
find
and wish no
fairer
their
Homer
antitype of their triumph than
Ulysses standing in blood amidst the heaped bodies of his
enemies in his
much
own
recovered palace hall.
But otherwise lam
disposed to question the ascription of the picture to
Polygnotus, and to connect the subject with the
much
later
PAINTINGS AT PLATAEA.
xxii.]
incident of the slaughter
307
by the Plataeans of the treacherously
intrusive Thebans, the opening incident of the Peloponnesian
war.
The
selection of the other subject as appropriately typical
of the position of Plataea at this time has peculiar interest,
because
it
explains
how
the Athenians also
may have been
consistently disposed to read off the significance of the
subject as
it
was treated at
Seven against Thebes.
fell,
like the
The
Theban
with him in blood.
parricidal horrors,
assailant himself
allies
on a host of foreign
Thebes
for
same
time by Aeschylus in the
The discomfiture
seem to represent a triumph
not so regarded.
this
of the Argives
;
but
it
might
was evidently
was a Theban, and he
of Persia, while inciting and leading
allies
against those most closely united
The whole
story
fratricidal
and
in the disgrace
and
was one of
and began and ended
desolation of Thebes, the direst and most inveterate, but at
this
time the disarmed enemy of Plataea and Athens.
\ 2
CHAPTER
XXIII.
THEMISTOCLES IN PELOPONNESUS.
While
during these years were
the Athenians
exercising their
own
actively-
powers, and arrogating more and more
independent control over their
appear as strangely inert
allies,
the
Spartans would
but the hints which we gather
;
from Herodotus are found confirmed in general terms by
Thucydides, of collisions with their immediate neighbours,
so serious
that they might well
concur with certain do-
mestic embarrassments to hamper wider action.
Brilliant as
had been the achievements of Leotychides and Pausanias,
misconduct
their
sufficient to confirm the
remote enterprises
commands was more than
national maxim of abstention from
foreign
in
and
;
a
jealous
oligarchy was
on
its
guard against indulging the enthusiastic emulation of the
young, or affording unnecessarily a dangerous relaxation of
that galling restraint
atically
the
made
And
field.
and kept
power.
even
exile
for the
might
still
be,
among them,
humiliated
but yet no inconsiderable
seems to have had some sympathetic partisans
among
like
Pausanias was
in check he
He
by which peace at home was systemSpartan more irksome than war in
so
the ephors;
many
but that he was not driven into
of his predecessors
less to his personal influence as
was probably due
a Heracleid, or respect for
the victor of Plataea, than to the proof which he had already
given of his powers for formidable mischief when remote
THEMISTOCLES IN PELOPONNESUS.
from direct control.
In the meantime uneasy feelings of
danger were gathering strength in connection
and
discontent,
309
with
even obscure suspicions of intrigue
his
among
the helots.
Under such circumstances
visable
might well be thought ad-
it
by the ephors to withdraw
from active
a time
for
interference in extra-Peloponnesian politics,
and to be
satisfied
with watching the movements of party at Athens and pro-
moting
as they
might
so
welcome a
result as the extrusion
of the mistrusted, or certainly inimical, Themistocles, and
the establishment in power of the more ingenuous and ever
friendly Cimon.
But the Lacedaemonians were soon
might be scarcely
to discover that
mistocles ostracised
Themistocles supreme at Athens
less
no short time their
in
;
views and interests within Peloponnesus
1
Herodotus of the
We
owe
were thwarted
itself
had much appearance of
in a variety of transactions that
proceeding in concert.
The-
troublesome than
an incidental notice by
to
of the seer
official services
Tisamenus,
our only information, that at some time between the battle
of Plataea (01. 75. 2
;
479
two
in
78.
their
4
B.C.)
;
own
territory
is
victories
;
the
alliance, except the
serious.
first
Maenalian
was over the Tegeans
"district
over
all
the
The exception
Mantineans.
important, but conflict with
have been
were gained by Sparta
supported by the Argives, and the
second at Dipaea in the
Arcadians in
and the siege of Ithome
B.C.)
465
which imply two distinct wars
(01.
such a league must
still
That the Mantineans stood aloof may
be probably accounted for less by present sympathy
with
Sparta than by jealousy of an alliance between Argos and
Tegea, their neighbours on either
general Arcadian
cities.
side, or
even
Only a few years
among
later
the
they are
found annexing territory and asserting control over other
1
Herod,
ix.
35.
'
P.ius.
iii.
n.
6.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
310
[chap.
Arcadians, and then the course of politics turns them back
towards an Argive alliance for security against the jealousy
of
Unless some other equally uncited authority
Sparta.
*
is
seems to be by misreading Strabo that Curtius
relied on, it
dates at this time the fortification of Mantinea under Argive
influence.
We
are left in ignorance as to the interval that
may
separated these victories, but
up
led
We
to
by a
fairly
may have
assume that each was
series of considerable disputes
and
difficulties.
by
are equally left to conjecture, but not unsupported
strong presumptions,
as
how
to
complications
these
may
have been dependent on some others of which Argos was
the centre.
Argos was the usual residence of Themistocles, and
is
it
impossible not to connect the notice of Thucydides that
he was in frequent movement about Peloponnesus, with the
changes that followed on rapidly in various directions,
—
all
inimical to the influence of Sparta over even her immediate
neighbours or most constant
individual states, and to
allies,
—
all
tending to strengthen
them
dispose-
to
independence in
the choice of their alliances.
It
was something, though
that the scattered populations
might not be very much,
it
of Elis
from smaller townships into one
were now gathered
city.
This process
was
always justly recognised in Greece as endowing a nation
with the
first
condition of vigour and independence.
is
every appearance that
at
Mantinea
especially,
it
was by promoting such a
and then at other
cities
There
policy,
that became
afterwards of chief importance in both Arcadia and Achaia,
hat Argos had in past centuries averted the entire absorption
of the Peloponnesus by the Dorian conquerors of
At
Elis,
Thuc.
Sparta.
which, protected by the universally recognised
of its
consecration
1
2
v.
29. 8
1.
territory,
dispensed with
2
Strabo, 33;.
C'f.
fortifications,
348-356.
;:
RECOVERY OF ARGOS.
xxiii.]
the chief motive
may have been
311
consciousness of enhanced
importance from the great accession of valuable dedications
which more were already preparing-
after the Persian war, of
at
the same time
must be observed, that
it
susceptibilities
are developed in the future relations of Elis and Sparta which
could not have been unaffected by this present self-assertion.
The present
Elis,
by concluding a
Sparta,
and
agitations are premonitory of the occasion
when
Argos, and Mantinea were to present a bold front to
defensive,
for
joint alliance with Athens, offensive
1
one hundred
A
years.
like
movement
of concentration, but carried through with violence under
circumstances peculiarly offensive to Sparta., was
menced
at Argos,
—
Argos
at
the refuge
of
now com-
the
restless
Athenian, and bearing marks of being prompted by the
genius
who
prided himself on skill to raise a small city into
the position of a great one.
in
In working
for the
power of the most jealous enemy of Sparta
advancement
in Peloponnesus,
he was but following out in exile the policy that he had
consistently advocated
jected his
proposals
;
Argos certainly had
home.
heretofore
alliance against Persia,
Medised
at
—had,
;
re-
had held aloof from the
as Herodotus avers, positively
not only sent no force to Thermopylae, to Salamis
Mardonius
or Plataea, but promised
aid,
though more than
she was able or could dream of being able to perform, to
detain the Lacedaemonians within the Isthmus, and had at
least
given promptest and repeated notice of their move-
ments.
Such were the
sins of her
policy
against
Hellas
but Themistocles, apart from a politician's usual tenderness
towards any policy that succeeds, could only witness with
pleasure dispositions that
advantage of Athens.
might be turned
to
the ultimate
Argos had avowedly spared her
sources during the Persian struggle, from the
recovering population which a
1
Time.
defeat
v. 47.
—
a
necessity
massacre
— by
re-
of
the
HISTORY OF GREECE,
312
[chap.
Lacedaemonians had seriously and dangerously reduced, and
this policy
now
looked for
In the time of her
reward.
its
weakness her authority had been contemned by the adjacent
towns,
— far
now, whatever their proud rivalry in
inferior
poetry and mythology,
above
1
all
— of Tiryns, Hysiae, Orneae, Mideia, and
Mycenae. Pausanias
of neutrality,
and the
—
the same story as Diodorus,
wounded
that the pride of Argos was
Mycenians having presumed,
tells
to the quick
by the
— in contravention of her decree
to despatch even eighty
men
Thermopylae,
to
had been repeated, in company with the
offence
Their anticipation that they would
other towns, at Plataea.
thus engage the protection of Sparta against Argos was
Argos
frustrate.
an opportunity when Sparta was
seized
home, or in one of her calculated
either fully occupied nearer
periods of seeming inaction but secret discipline and
2
them with
attack
to
Cleonae, a
who were
at
its
own account
Nemean games, and
the
ever too jealous
drill,
with the aid of
town which had a quarrel on
respecting precedence
Tegeans,
her force and
all
of Spartan
of the
power
to
be mindful at this opportunity of their solemn oath never
to subvert the city of a confederate against Persia.
Diodorus dates these events in the archonship of Theagenides
(b.c.
468-7), and, with his habitual inexactness, as
commenced and concluded within the year
same time he
which certainly did not occur
its
final
considerable
till
resistance,
catastrophe there
on the great earthquake,
it
was at
it
with
ii.
16. 5
:
viii.
27.
i
,
Diod.
inflicted
Sic. xi. 65.
and not
activity
effective suddenness,
auspices of Tisamenus, they
Paus.
prolonged
a later
date that the Spartans were roused to
chose to resume
Mycenae
three years later.
but how
before
no means of deciding.
is
most natural to suppose that
1
while at the
ascribes the abstention of the Spartans from
interference, to difficulties consequent
offered
;
if
at
It is
earlier
last,
or
when, under the
the defeat upon
2
the
Strabo, 377.
SUBVERSION OF MYCENAE.
xxm.]
313
Tegeans and Argives together.
The
Arcadians was
probable that the Arcadian
alliance
it
was
coming
but
still later,
it is
united
of the
defeat
was threatening trouble previously, and even that
embarrassment that cut
this
Spartans from
off the
Mycenae.
to the rescue of
Mycenae were
a mistake, or his word is
Diodorus states that the inhabitants of
reduced to slavery
employed loosely
but this
;
as
not unimportant warning.
was
after
a
is
may
it
be on other like occasions,
Pausanias
prolonged
siege,
by the
primaeval Cyclopean fortifications
some of the Mycenians
—
it
is
—
Ceryneia in Achaia as to enhance
ance
;
of
a
it
their
to
retired
a
who were
Cleonae, the
number
at
settled
strength and import-
its
and more than half took refuge with Alexander of
Macedon.
Their attraction to Ceryneia and reception there,
seem explained
nection with
can be
strength
that
provisions failed, that
considerable
so
;
till
us
implied but few,
probably the anti-national leaders
very ally of Argos
informs
little
of Achaian
sufficiently
the
city of
by
traces of
some traditional con-
Agamemnon, which
reflect,
there
doubt, a true connection with the ancient centre
power.
1
Eumenides which was
Pausanias saw there a fane of the
foundation of Orestes;
said to be a
the temple statues were of wood, but well executed marble
statues of priestesses were about the entrance
;
for those stained
with murder or other pollution, or sacrilege, to enter the
sacred precinct, involved the risk of raving madness.
style of the
monuments and
refer us to times
long gone by
The Alexander
the
same of
of
whom
The
the tone of the traditions alike
for their origin.
Macedon who
received the fugitives
Herodotus relates as within his
knowledge that he presented himself
is
own
as a competitor at the
Olympic games, was met by an objection of un-Hellenic
origin,
but established his claim to the
1
Paus.
vii. 25.
6
satisfaction of the
HISTORY OF GREECE.
314
and was admit ted and matched
Hellaiiodicae,
stadium.
the
of
the Macedonian
of the
metropolis
memnon;
as
descendant of the Temenid kings of Argos,
Heracleid, as
that
in the contest
was not merely as Hellenic but
It
protected refugees from the antique
realm of Danaus and Pelops and Aga-
he vindicated again his semi-mythical claim
so
of descent, and afforded an example that was not lost upon
his successors,
true
political
when
time was ripe for turning
the
account in more active interferences.
it
to
It
is
very probable that the appearance of Alexander at Olympia
was
second recurrence after the Medica (01. 77
that
at
=
when Hiero and Theron were also competitors,
and Themistocles and Cimon rivals in hospitality and dis-
472-71
play.
B.C.)
Such congresses of the
great ones
'
do not occur
'
without the pretext of peaceful amusement being made the
opportunity for
conferences
of which
results
are
apt
to
become apparent within a year or two on the course of
The
politics.
interests of
and of Cimon, were
of action of Alexander
in Thrace and on the
amenities of Olympia
Athens and of Macedon, the scenes
Strymon
may
easily
in close proximity
and remembrance of the
;
have encouraged the Athe-
nian demus a few years later in their jealousy of Cimon's
tenderness towards a regal guest
when an opportunity was
neglected of gaining a political advantage for Athens by
despoiling
The
1
him.
resistance
and treatment of the Mycenians were
alike
The occupants of the other suppressed towns
exceptional.
and of numerous scattered villages were incorporated as
citizens at
2
fortifications
1
Argos, of which we are
left to
infer that the
were at the same time correspondingly extended.
Plut. Cimon, 14.
2
Pausan.
ii.
25. 5.
CHAPTER
XXIV.
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES OF AESCHYLUS.
It was in the spring" of 467
B.C.,
the year after the victory
of Sophocles with his Triptolemus, that Aeschylus
known
have obtained the
to
first
tetralogy or system of four dramas,
trilogy, Lai'us, Oedipus,
tyric play,
and
The Sphinx,
fate of the
tragedies
on in
show
now
is
prize with his Oedipodeia, a
—
consisting" of a tragic
The Seven against Thebes, and
—which had
for their subject the
The
house of La'ius of Thebes.
a sa-
crimes
titles of
the
that, like those of the Oresteia, they followed
historical sequence of subjects, although, in the tetra-
logy that comprised the Persae, the poet had already either
example of a broader principle of com-
set or followed the
bination.
The second
prize
was gained by Aristias with
we have only the
plays of which
and The Wrestlers
;
titles,
Perseus,
the last apparently a satyric
his father Pratinas of Phlius,
who
drama of
in these compositions
l
accounted inferior to Aeschylus
Tantalus,
alone.
The third
was
place
only was granted to a tetralogy on the Thracian subject of
Lycurgus
It
was
— the
Lveurgeia of Polyphradmon.
to the
great surprise of very confident theorisers
that the discovery of the didascalia
by Franz,
The Seven against Thebes, concluding
as
in 1850,
it
proved
does with the
announcement of the new dispute that gave Sophocles the
'
Tails,
ii.
13
5.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
316
[ciiap.
subject for his Antigone, to be not the intermediate, but the
final
Disconcerted criticism however finds
play of a trilogy.
consolation in the promise that as a final play
more unequivocally
went
before,
to the
and has been
main
Laius,
his country
first
drama, as reported in the
weakness and intemperance of Theban
warned by Apollo that the salvation of
depends on his dying
be propagated
childless, gives in to false
— commencement of
the third
to
hands of his own son.
l
generation
mischief that
—
Oedipus, whose deed
is
is
mad
folly (-napavoia), a
to
by the
perishes
unconsciously
contracts an incestuous marriage, ignorantly
parricide,
2
and purport of what
drift
the
counsels of friends and
but by
point
thrice
lie
who
may
lost.
Far back in the story of the
argument,
it
still,
term of which the import
in
be explained by the preceding lost drama.
Maddened and humiliated by the discovery and then by the
this place could only
undutifulness of his sons, he utters a hasty and fearful curse
it is
with
steel that
between them.
cide
they shall share their
Fraternal hatred continues horrors that parri-
and incest have not exhausted, to the third generation.
Eteocles in possession
with
;
common kingdom
six allies
gate of Thebes
;
assailed
by
his brother Polyneices
he assigns opponents at six several gates,
elects to oppose his
briefly,
is
from Argos, each of whom advances against one
own
the brothers
brother at the seventh himself, and
fall,
each on the spear-point of the
other.
Notwithstanding the nature of such a subject there
truth very
little
in the treatment of it
by Aeschylus
is
in
to assist
a theory which has obtained so strange an acceptation, that
blind immoral Fate
The enunciation
is
supreme in the tragedy of the Greeks.
of this principle
may
be carried up
to
the
Oedipus of Seneca, which has had extraordinary influence on
the developement of a modern school of classical drama, but
1
Aesch. Sept.
c.
Thcb. 740-763.
2
lb. 756.
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES.
xxiv.]
To
scarcely further.
gross an
Athenian poetry were as
affiliate it to
outrage as
make
to
317
Aristotle answerable
for the
What Greek
tragedy
three unities of the French drama.
harp on, and with an impressiveness that
does no doubt
awes us now, and now engages our compassion,
the natural
is
truth that the sins of fathers are painfully visited on the
but
children;
is
sets
it
not obscurely withal, that this
forth,
no slight degree because the dispositions that pro-
in
duce and repeat the sins are inherited by the children,
therefore
nature than of their own.
all
Familiar alike to the experience of
men, and to the records of history
Stuarts as of the Claudian gens
when happy
generation,
in the next,
—
till it
self-restraint, to
The
interposition
fails,
l
to be aggravated
for
;
moment by
cumulative
self-sacrifice
hurry on ruin and annihilation.
upon Theban national
were always welcome to Athenians
sible that
some of those
speedily to
become declared
at
significance,
Herodotus
it
in political results,
We
of the sons of Oedipus.
movement
and
;
characteristics
is
intestine quarrels in Thebes
be sufficiently malignant to remind
lities
one
story of Oedipus, however treated, could scarcely but
involve such aspersions
as
the mischief of
for
ends by natural exhaustion
wrong, unless stayed at favourable
and
—of the Tudors and the
the persistence of family
is
and the tendency
characteristics
who
consequences not more of their father's
aby the
men
even pos-
which are
might already
of the unnatural hosti-
have one hint of a certain
Thebes at this time which cannot be without
however
tells
difficult it
us that
it
may
be to interpret
was twenty years
it
fully.
after the invasion
of Datis and Artaphernes (490 b a), and therefore, allowing
for the
round number, within a year or two of the date of the
Oedipodeia (467
B.C.),
oracle, restored to
that the Thebans, in obedience to an
Delium, close upon the Attic boundary, a
statue of Apollo that
1
had been carried
Aesch. Sept.
c.
off
Tkcb. 70? 708.
by the
fleet
of
HISTORY OF G RE Et'
318
Datis, and afterwards deposited
by him,
dream, at the sacred island of Delos.
of a
Median outrage can
[chap.
I-:.
in
consequence of a
This solemn reparation
scarcely but have
had some bearing
1
on the opprobrium of Medism which one party at Thebes
had an
The incident may
interest in keeping alive.
well have
had a party import as distinct as the recovery of the
which may indeed have suggested
of Theseus,
it
must be
that the
said
tone of the poet
is
it.
relies
Still
not such
as to turn our thoughts with distinct intention towards con-
What
temporary Boeotia.
then was the
crisis
that at this
time chiefly engaged the attention of Athenians in the larger
range of politics?
There
is
this
From
affairs.
to about 475,
unexampled peculiarity in the situation of
467 B.C., the Greek could look back
happy blank, a period of about two
this year,
over
a.
Olympiads, during which, after the subsidence of troubles due
to the Persian invasion, the internal peace of Hellas
had had
no interruption by conflicts of sufficient gravity to occupy a
brief page of the chronicles.
supervened,
is
'
But an ominous change had
the noise of battle hurtles in the
air,'
Sparta
embroiled with Tegea, ever the harbour and resort of her
exiled kings,
and with Argives in
]
vigour
now
is
if
victory
is
again victo-
Arcadia in alliance except the Mantineans.
riously, against all
The struggle
A
alliance.
gained, but a battle has again to be fought,
still
sustained
when Argos, her youthful
recovered from the blow of Cleomenes, can seize
an opportunity to consolidate her power by the incorporation of
several smaller territories,
and then by the siege and ultimate
capture and razing of Mycenae, her rival in traditional
poetical
— claims
—in
that were of no slight value for political
purposes.
Thus the Hellas
of the days of united glory
was harshly
roused from a dream of tranquillity by revival of dire inter-
1
Herod,
ix. ^5.
;
SPIRIT OF THEBAN MYTHOLOGY.
xxiv.]
necine quarrel
war desperate
;
and vindictive
319
was again
afoot extending its designs to the extrusion of nearest neigh-
bours,
the
of
of seats
extirpation
most ancient mythical
renown.
The
story of Thebes furnished a fable that brought into
and excitements of this
visible action all the passions
crisis
hereditary violence and crime, with Argive ambition to aid,
reproduce themselves with ineradicable per-
found to
are
sistency
and even
;
at last,
when
the brothers
seems that from their very burial
it
to spring a
is
in his verse
'
it
it
is
;
—
Marathon
is
together,
new
The warlike
of domestic dissension and political misery.
of the champion of
fall
root
spirit
indulged by a welcome outlet
in the words assigned to
him by Aristophanes,
a drama brimful of the war- god, and every beholder of
would fain be a warrior
himself;'' but it is
that the story draws to an end
pomp and
the
;
war have passed away together
;
on a long wail
the clatter of
the pride in the infliction
and the endurance of horrors that ever tend to reproduce more
crime than they destroy, leave us to
moral at
last,
make
the best of the
that unnatural and vindictive warfare between
either princes or nations allied in blood has its happiest
when both
little
more
parties suffer alike,
effectually
and yet even then
than enforce a pause
the dragon's teeth that
it
for the
is
ending
apt to do
maturing of
has sown anew.
The story of Oedipus was not likely to be treated by an
Athenian
poet,
and
at
Athens, without being turned in some
degree to the disparagement of Thebes; but the mythus
itself
has a distinct appearance of being of genuine Theban origin.
The
story which connects
Lams
with Elis by his rape of a
beautiful }Outh, corresponds with the evil report that associated Elis
and
friendship which
a
Boeotia in the coarse abuse of a form of
Homer
exhibits in a
and which, faintly surviving
1
Pl;iti>,
still
unsuspected purity,
in historical times,
Symph.
p. 182. et citat.
was
at least
HI STORY OF GREECE.
320
believed
which
by Plato
to be even yet
The
recoverable.
Lai'us disobeys in obtaining
oracle
offspring, points to the
difficulty of surplus population, so unhesitatingly countervailed
throughout Hellas by exposure of the newly-born
consecpiences of his disobedience seem to
and the
;
embody an exemplar
of the confusions which had ultimately led at Thebes to very
remarkable and exceptional legislation.
The
laws of Thebes were ascribed to a lawgiver
Oedipus from
a
tion of infants,
Corinth.
— the
so-called Thetic
who came
They forbade the exposure
practice
like
or deser-
which the case of Oedipus ex-
hibits as liable to bring about the pollution of the country,
however unconsciously, by incestuous unions, certain
to pro-
voke the direst visitations of the wrath of the gods. The babe
that otherwise would have had to take
of rescue to an unidentified
life,
its
chance of death or
was, in accordance with these
enactments, to be brought immediately on birth, and under
heavy penalties, to the authorities, who consigned
it
to
who-
ever offered a price, however small, and was willing to look to
its
future services as a slave as remuneration for cost and
tending in the
1
2
meantime.
Aristot. Pol. xi. 9.
2
Aelian, V.
H.
ii.
7.
CHAPTER
XXV.
THE CATASTROPHE OF PAUSANIAS AND FLIGHT OF
THEMISTOCLES.
B.C.
Sparta then had
ments from
to an
467-466
;
01. 78. 2.
been disabled by whatever embarrass-
interposing* in time to arrest the progress of
Argos
aggrandizement which threatened to furnish, when time
should be ripe, a valuable ally to Athens; but she clearly
vindicated her power at the
first
opportunity, and in the
double victories over Tegea and Argos
first,
and then over
the united Arcadians, the impact of her disciplined hoplites
told with its usual effect.
effectually as
when
It shattered opposition
predecessor no more than succeeded
her supremacy upon a single
antagonists.
fully
restored,
as
in after years Alcibiades, with diplomacy
—but
—in forcing her imperil
rivalling that of Themistocles, at least succeeded
1
now
field
like his
to
against almost the same
Spartan influence in Peloponnesus was at once
and as a valued consequence she was in a
position to free herself once for all from the dreaded
ma-
chinations of Themistocles, though the opportunity only
came
about in the course of events that involved a domestic
crisis
of danger and disorder.
Sharply as the designs of Pausanias had been checked, he
had never renounced them, and when he became aware that
Themistocles,
fallen
like
1
himself into
Thucyd.
Y
vi. 16.
home
disgrace,
was
HISTORY OF GREECE.
322
[chap.
and discontent, he counted
fretting in his exile with impatience
once on sympathetic rancour as well as ancient friendship
at
him
to aid
was
in the revolution that he
plotting against
still
Such had before been
ungrateful and unworthy Hellenes.
the revenge of Demaratus against one city, and of the son
of Peisistratus against the other
and Leotychides, who was
;
only just dead and succeeded formally by his son Archi-
been in a position to be not more
damus, had
at
patriotically
employed
least
while
protected
and Pausanias may have found,
which some ascribed
ject
ephorate,
among
vation,
were
— more
suspicious
his
to
l
if
not sympathy for a pro-
him,
— the
abolition
of
the
probably encouragement for general inno-
ancient comrades and ambitious spirits
content with
ill
in
Party was not unknown at Sparta,
refuge at hostile Tegea.
hegemony, and with the
Even the Persians
who
renunciation of larger Hellenic
the
and
elevation
pride of Athens.
are certainly found within a year or
two
well informed of this latter root of jealousy, and prompt to
negotiate on the assumption of
its bitterness.
own — of
own memories of
Interpreting the feelings of Themistocles by his
the ill-requited victor of Salamis by his
Plataea and Byzantium
Great King's
his
still
for
own
2
letter,
—he
which seems
so completely to
to
him the
have turned
head, and no doubt also his correspondence, which was
active with Artabanus,
and
had communicated
relied on.
off the application,
though without the
Themistocles^ as
effect
we might
he hoped
expect, shook
and declined to have anything to do with
the partnership, but as he declared afterwards, in admitting
the communication so
far,
he held
part of his to denounce a friend;
think
it
it
nevertheless to be no
quite as little
might he
to be his part as an Athenian, not out of hope of
resuming his place at Athens,
to put a stop
prematurely to
transactions that, conducted as they were, could only help to
1
Arist. Polit. v.
r.
2
Plut. Themist. 23.
INTRIGUES OF PAUSANIAS.
xxv.]
embarrass and weaken
probably enough
his
own
not to ruin
if
323
Sparta, and
might
put events in motion that would hasten
Whether Themistocles was made acquainted
recall.
with the domestic development of the scheme of Pausanias
does not appear; the plan for the intervention of Persia was
combined with a plot
raising the helots in rebellion
for
;
he could count on their memory of the spoils and exploits
them the prospect
of Plataea, and he held out to
and of
citizenship,
which in
later
Spartan history
of freedom
gress he had
made
in
both directions
recognised
is
"What pro-
as a natural reward for their services in arms.
avouched by the
is
reappearance before long, and in formidable muster, of a
Perso-Phoenician
fleet,
and then by the
revolt of the helots that
own
before his
the
peril,
career,
had closed
still
more dangerous
was speedily to occur, though not
which would have added
much
so
to
for ever.
In the meantime rumours of his intrigues reached the
Ephors
failed
;
the helots themselves, slaves as they were, had not
to furnish
even direct information
was imperative, not
;
but the
maxim
to recognise obligation to such a source
alone in a serious charge against any Spartiat
;
they could
And
only be watchful until evidence more available arrived.
this
was not long delayed.
Pausanias had already trans-
mitted a series of communications to the satrap Artabanus,
before the time
portant of
all,
came
for
him
conclusive, to the
king and intended to be
hands of a dependent
to suppose a slave
—a
most im-
to entrust one, the
addressed to the
— there
no reason
is
native of Argilus in Thrace,
who had
been his confidential favourite and even something more.
"When thus entrusted, the Argilian called to mind,
if
not cared to dwell on his suspicions
no single
bearer of the
numerous messages of which he had been
cognisant had ever reappeared.
He
having prepared himself to reclose
in case all
was
earlier, that
he had
well,
it
opened the packet, after
with a counterfeit seal
but found, as he foreboded, that
Y
2
it
con-
HISTORY OF GREECE.
324
[chap.
tained an instruction to put the messenger to death as usual.
Desperate and indignant
carried the letter at once to the
lie
ephors, with
whatever other information he could furnish.
Yet even
action had
so,
suspended for further
still
on hesitation, and was
to wait
confirmation
and of a
had
been opened intermediately.
still
ever were
made
evidence of
the
of
a
which however damning in purport
foreigner,
letter
Arrangements how-
at once for procuring this.
Pausanias was presently allowed to hear, and he heard with
alarm, that his messenger
way
to
death,
whom
had taken refuge
he supposed to be on his
as a suppliant
in
a hut
within the sacred precinct of Poseidon at the promontory of
Thither he hurried to seek an explanation, and
Taenaron.
was greeted by the man with reproaches
treachery, for having held
him
—him
safely trusted to take his share in
which he referred in
tiations to
whom
detail
he had sent on the service before him.
and
satisfy
cruel
—
in
no better honour
like the rest
whom
Pausanias made every
him, and, admitting the past, could
so far flatter himself, desperate as
worked upon the man, between
of vast rewards, as to urge
his
any danger in the nego-
and esteem than to consign him to death
effort to soothe
for
he might have
him
was the
case, that
protests of regret
he had
and promise
to quit the protecting sanc-
tuary with confidence, and undertake the journey without
and
delay,
so not frustrate
what was now on the point
of
conclusion.
The confidence
of the Spartan king in his success could
scarcely under such circumstances be very assured,
not surprising that
when
the ephors approached
and
him
it is
after
his return to the city he read the tokens of danger in their
looks
;
they had in
fact,
by prearrangement of a double wall
in the hut of the suppliant, been witnesses of the entire inter-
view.
A
covert sign from one ephor
warning of peril, and he ran
to gain the sanctuary of
who was
at the instant,
his friend
gave
and just in time,
Athene Chalcioecus
—Athene of the
CATASTROPHE OF PAUSAX IAS.
xxv.]
bronze house
— and took refuge
only to beset
while
A
it.
ephors
the
in a small outbuilding- within
The pursuers paused
the sacred precinct.
325
at the entrance, but
story was current in later times, that
were considering- what should
next be
done, the aged mother of the traitor came, bearing a brick,
which she
laid
down on
the threshold without a word, and
then turned and went to her home.
We
have the authority of Thucydides that the ephors did
in fact build
up the entrance, unroof the refuge of the sup-
pliant of the goddess, and set a
watch
to await the
when famine and exposure should bring him
moment
to the last
gasp
;
then, in deference or subjection to the base logic of super-
—which however was afterwards
time
—they drew him
to fail to satisfy
stition
selves
cration
by
desecrated
his death of a holy place that
by any cruelty
in bringing
it
them-
to prevent the dese-
forth just in
was not held
about.
It
to be
was only
due to some protest that they did not cast the body into
the chasm Caiadas, the place of shame for malefactors, but
it still
was put away
ground adjacent.
in
It seems to have
been in unworthy imitation of this insult that Athens afterwards, with less justifying provocation, assigned a spot close
to the proud dedication of Themistocles to
boule, for the bodies
and
l
suicides.
Artemis Aristo-
and instruments of death of malefactors
In time ensuing, the Pythia, concerned
for
the pretensions and immunities of sanctities, appended to
every oracle that she delivered to Lacedaemonians, on whatever subject, a
command
to give
back her suppliant to the
In formal compliance with the injunction they
goddess.
then transferred his remains to the precinct
the protein enisma of the temple
him within
it.
Even
so their
—and
1
2
sacrilege,
as
and associated
Plut. Themitt. 22.
two
statues of
enemies held themselves en-
titled to refer to the repeated oracles
unexpiated
—particularly to
erected
2
it
imputing an ever
with a
Thucyd.
i.
12S.
still
less
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
hap.
ceremonious treatment of Helot suppliants at Taenaron,
\ci\
among
who were
Pausanias,
—
For
execution.
to
implicated
the
probably
in
of
intrigues
the Lacedae-
sacrilegious outrage
this
monians themselves could
divine
recognise
by a desolating earthquake
their sufferings
the
dragged from the sanctuary
forcibly
retribution
— manifest
in
expres-
god of Taenaron.
sion of the anger of the
In the meantime the correspondence of Pausanias was
seized, and, besides
the letters
of the
Persian king, some
documents were found that promised a colourable
implicating Themistocles in the crime of
for
these
it
pleting
was determined to make use of forthwith
if
pretext
Medism
possible the ruin of their ever-dreaded
for
and
;
com-
enemy, to-
gether with the forfeiture by Athens of the services of her most
gifted
and best deserving
Envoys were accordingly
citizen.
sent to Athens, where he had enemies
to
urge on his condemnation
at Argos, and,
;
enough
to second them,
he was charged in his absence
though acquitted upon
his transmitted defence,
the accusation was renewed at the instance of the Lacedae-
monians, and a proposal submitted to the Athenians, that
the enquiry should be referred to the
Hellas
an
to
earlier
ostracism;
be
assembled
at
Sparta.
accusation, rebutted
but this
is
common
synedrion of
Diodorus speaks of
by Themistocles before
inconsistent with his
that the charge was promoted
own
his
account,
by the Lacedaemonians,
as
cognizant, which at that time they were not, of the secret
correspondence.
Athenians by
Plutarch,
letter
who
says that he replied to the
from Argos,
'
respecting the earlier ac-
cusations chiefly,' specifies a formal accusation
by Leobotes,
son of Alcmaeon, which was also posterior to the ostracism,
and
to
which such
letter
must have had
*
reference.
His
reply was in the unsubmissive unconciliatory style that the
Athenian demus had now unfortunately
1
Plut Thcmist. 23.
for itself to listen to
FLIGHT OF THEMISTOGLES.
xxv.]
nearly for the last time
his ambition remained
'
;
had been, to govern, and
was
it
Notwithstanding- this
.
ever
it
who were
their
such
first acquittal,
a reaction occurred as the great Athenian historian
is
given
and
to adverting to as characteristic of a popular assembly,
the
Lacedaemonians
the
of
proposal
up
therefore to surrender
himself alon^ with Hellas, to the barbarians
enemies.'
what
as little in his nature as his
desire to be subjected to rule, or
common
327
gained
acceptance,
whether as Diodorus says by aid of bribes, or not.
admitted of plausible advocacy
Cimon another
chance, and
;
was
gave the
it
flattering
secured
by a
Sparta.
It
practicable
was tempting to essay
policy which Themistocles had been
hostility
his
cordial
working
to be
with
alliance
to controvert the
for,
of
leading
might continue
idea, that the action of united Hellas
perfectly
to
It
Argive
by a revival
of the authority of the Doro-Ionian congress, expressly to his
personal ruin.
A
joint party
was
at once despatched
Lacedaemonians had their men ready
attach
him wherever he could be found
that he
might have been
— with
—the
authority
to
and the implication
;
seized even at
Argos may be
ac-
counted for by the ascendancy there of the friends of Sparta,
Argives and Tegeans, as well as
after the defeat of the allied
He knew
of the united Arcadians.
his enemies, however,
and
even their intentions and their movements too well, and was
not to be found
easily.
Argos was
heard of he was at Corcyra
;
void,
and when next
he had personal claims on the
Corcyraeans for public services rendered to them, and that
he should have such
is
again characteristic of the man.
He
had evidently already discerned that Corcyra westward was
as fitted to be
Peloponnesus
;
an advantageous ally
and
if
we may
for
Athens as Argos
in
trust Plutarch, the obligation
that Thueydides refers to was an award in their favour in
respect of
money and
as against Corinth.
ment of
its
jurisdiction over Leucas, a joint colony,
To weaken Corinth by the encourage-
contumacious colony, Corcyra, was a policy in
a
BISTORT OF GREECE.
328
harmony with the consolidation of the power of Argos
policy that
Athens was
to adopt at a future
of her rivalry with Sparta.
The
momentous
—
crisis
islanders however, whatever
their good- will, could not afford to
provoke both the great
Hellenic powers, though they had held themselves proudly
aloof from alliance with either, and could only speed
his
way
in advance of the
keen pursuit.
him on
CHAPTER
XXVI.
THEMISTOCLES, THE PROMETHEUS DESMOTES OF AESCHYLUS.
The Prometheus Bound
of Aesch}dus
is
of
all his
extant
dramas most characteristic of the poet, and stands alone
moreover in the mysteriousness and elevation of
among
The
have remains or record.
very commencements of
settled cosmical order
with the
theme
human
and
all
civilisation,
— nature-powers,
who
scarcely an exception.
is
treats of the divine
not to say of
the actors, even the Chorus
superhuman
are
rest,
;
we
subject goes back even to the
Titans, with the exception of Io,
formation
its
the works of the Greek tragedians of which
all
economy with
gods,
or
in her strange trans-
In this play Aeschylus
all
the epic freedom of
Homer, and combines, at the same time that he
elevates,
some
elements of sublimity that might have given Hesiod, but for
his crudity of treatment, a dignity to
which even Homer
himself did not attain.
We
have no information whatever as to the date when the
Prometheus was produced, though presumably from
it
must have been
against Thebes.
I
some confidence
have been
and
agreement
now advance
it
a further presumption with
appears strange that the drama should
read,
its
passion
so
sedulously
not have recalled the character of Themis-
his
is
;
its style
than both the Persae and The Seven
constantly
so
scanned, and
tocles
later
position
such
as
as
to
ostracised
and at Argos
;
the
argue strongly that Aeschylus,
—
HISTORY OF GREE(
330
with
daring
own, brought home
his
all
[chap.
I.
the Athenians
i<>
the characteristics of their rejected hero even more directly
than when he was among them at the height of popularity
1
and power.
Sag-acity,
daring,
versatility,
unrivalled
and
combined, have conducted the Titan, as the Athenian, to
the highest power and alliances in a career which
suddenly arrested by a terrible reverse;
theless
is
reverse,
though
unprepared
never-
but the
in cither case unforeseen in its severity
for, ia
endured by the victims,
if
and
not without in-
dignation and impatience, yet in abiding self-confidence thai
sooner or later reaction must come round, and their qualifications be again indispensable,
be at their
own
Prometheus
1
is
addressed at the very
;
commencement
of the
seem to indicate Themistocles almost by
play, in terms that
name
and the exacted reparation
discretion.
the phrase and epithet of the line,
TTJs
opOoftovKov QtpiSos alnvufJTa
irat,
ascribe the faculty of sagacious divination for which he was
most renowned,
vaunt of
recall bis
it
in his
dedication to
Artemis Aristoboule, and though another goddess
it is
Themis
—an equivalent, as
of Gaia, the
2
said distinctly
'known by many another name,'
Earth, and
the goddess of the Lycomidae, to
probably owed his own.
confirms
my
named,
is
by Prometheus,
There
is
whom
Themistocles most
a pertinence here which
rejection of a criticism that
condemns the
line as
spurious chiefly because too significant.
I
am
even inclined to recover from the story of Prome-
theus a hint for history, that as the Titan deserted his original and
inability
lence
to
natural
—required
so Themistocles
1
party, alarmed
recognise
in a
the
new
may have
3
and disgusted by their
tactics
— of
craft
contest against younger
entered politics like
2
Aesch. Prom. V. 18.
new
lb. 209,
2
10;
not vio3
powers,
many a new man
Welcker, Aesch. Trilogie,
Aesch. Prom. V. 206.
p. 40.
THE PROMETHEUS Bo CXI).
xxvi.j
331
by attaching himself to a party from which he ultimately
since,
slipped
away
as
unmanageably wrong-headed,
And
served his purpose.
spirit finds his energies
amongst
it
x
had
the original
;
cramped in the new connection as in
Those who conquered power by the aid of
the old.
thought
when
or
the parallel goes on
fore-
personified, turning incontinently to the distribution
relatives, of functions
and
the government of
offices,
the upper and the under world, the land and sea, neglected
— would even gladly have
unprovided, miserable
2
destroyed
— poor
human-kind, the
demus. Prometheus alone opposed
;
he
secured for low mortals a share of higher privileges, especially
the use of
a franchise that finally assured
fire,
annihilation,
though
it
made
their benefactor
them from
an object of
and tyrannous vindictiveness.
oligarchical
It would be a mistake in this, as indeed in
any case of the
kind, to ascribe to the poet an intention to run an exact and
proper parallel
:
would be enough
it
for
him
to set in action
before his audience all the motives that they themselves were
most familiar with,
or indulged.
to declaim,
all
the passions they had recently excited
Themistocles had as
and
it is
much
cause as Prometheus
consistent with his character that declaim
he did, against the ingratitude of the political organism which
he had reconstructed, whether chargeable on his
cular party or not
himself
;
whom we
and we might think
it
own
parti-
was the Athenian
hear speaking with the proud and con-
temptuous tones that resound from the mask of the fettered
Titan.
When
Prometheus
instituting the arts,
we
tells
are
of his services to
reminded how in the
Satyric play of Aeschylus, the boon of
fire
men
in
earlier
brought by Pro-
metheus had already once been made directly the symbol of
the
restoration
of
sacred
and domestic hearths, and the
reappearance of civilised society after the barbaric desolation
left
behind by the Mede.
1
Aeech. l'rom. V. 440.
In Athens and at the Piraeus, by
2
Ub. 228-240.
HISTORY OF GREECE
332
land
and
Themistocles had been the main agent and
sea,
he
these restorations;
spirit in
leading-
[en
new Prometheus,
claim to represent a
had given him pretensions
if
any man might
as his wise counsels
in the
to such title
The
war.
Athens that rose up under the superintendence of Themistocles,
might well be
improvement
asserted as such an
on the city destroyed by the Persians, as could only be
by the change which Prometheus
paralleled
asserts
that
he introduced in the habitations of previously exposed and
and the creation by him of a new port
squalid humanity;
and improvement of the war
mind by the
to
ships,
might
assertion for himself
1
invention of sailing
as readily be called
by Prometheus, of the
vessels.
The younger gods,
insolent, ungrateful, encroaching,
are
contrasted here, as in the Eumenides, with the elder Titanic
powers;
whether we care
newly established demus,
of absolute
power
in
—
them
approximate
to
the
to
already betraying the tendencies
an extreme democracy, as distinctly as
they w ere to be recognised by Aristotle, indeed avowed by
r
Cleon.
and the Athenians
2
themselves,
who had
generation of aristocrats
acquiring mastery over the demus.
he did not fully
3
anticipate,
master of a secret that
secret of
Prometheus, Themis-
is
and confident in
all his 4
has come, to avoid provoking
it
the younger
provoked the catastrophe that he risked at
tocles-like,
if
— or to
discovered the
own, cares not, now that
He
further violence.
its
least
his prescience,
has
seen two revolutions, two catastrophes of powers in highest
places already,
and he knows
tervention, a third
must
that,
follow,
more shameful
suddenly precipitate than either.
thunders,
is
cognisable
is
helpless against
if
1
still,
and more
Jove himself, for
necessity, of
all
his
which the course
not guided, not by him, but by elder more
mysterious powers, by
3
5
but for his besought in-
Aesch. Prom. V. 467-70.
Aesch. Prom. V. 268.
'
the Triform Fates
2
*
Thucyd.
lb. 206.
ii.
and daemonian
63;
iii.
37;
5
v. 89.
lb. 518.
;
Til EMISTOCLES—PROME THE I rS.
xxvi .]
1
Erinnyes,'
333
— whose plans and purposes, communicated
2
mother of the
ference to Themis-Gaia, the Titanian
in pre-
sufferer.
only come to Jove at second-hand.
There
is
no doubt ample vindication
dramatised, for the episode, which
episode, of Io
;
in the theme, the fable
indeed not strictly an
is
Io, ancestress of Hercules, of
phesied that he
is
whom
it is
pro-
to be the liberator of Prometheus,
and
thus the main instrument of ultimate conciliation
frenzied wanderings under the persecution of
strate, like
3
;
Io,
whose
Hera demon-
the enforced servitude of Hercules afterwards, the
limitation of the power of Jove her lover, as distinctly as does
keeping of Prome-
his ignorance of the secret that is in the
enemy and
theus, his
But the sympathy of Prometheus
victim.
with the persecuted Argive heroine, and his prospect of aid
from her demi-god descendant, coincide
so
markedly with the
Argive connections and interests of Themistoeles, that we seem
reduced to choose between inferences
;
either that Aeschylus
at an early date was cognisant of the advocacy by Themistoeles of the
Argive
had become a
alliance
fact,
later
was disposed
having anticipated and prepared
Prometheus
at a
alliance, or
for
date, after the
to credit
him with
it.
main stroke of policy by
effected his
theft,
by
such craft as Themistoeles was ever ready and dexterous to
resort to
;
and both
on their capacity to
relied too confidently
sustain, or re-establish at least, as strong a position as ever
after
severe
discovery.
;
The Titan pays a penalty unexpectedly
but to him an immortal, with a secular term before
him, the ages are destined to bring back his opportunity.
Mortal
man
fallen
of necessity if he
lays
out plans that
are on a scale disproportionate to the conditions of his being
events might come round in a decade or two that would vindicate the sagacious policy
did
1
so,
but by that time
Aesch. Prom. V. 511-^17.
recommended by Themistoeles, and
all
hopes of restitution for himself,
2
lb. 874.
3
lb. 710.
HISTORY OF CUEI
334
[chap.
chances of hie being seen again with his strong hand
helm of
We
llif
Athenian
state,
the
<>n
were past and over.
are unfortunately destitute of direct information as to
the dramas that were associated and composed with the Pro-
metheus Bound, no
the field
is
open
vague and
tion that
we have
than of the date of
unfruitful, as to the
was
it
less
for speculations that
finally
its
production, and
have proved usually hut
moral or metaphysical solu-
worked out by the
The play
poet.
breaks off upon a suspense as declared as the
In the German play, however, a
part of Faust.
difficulty
mainly constituted by the poet's declared intention
mitted of but lame execution
tion, followed
—
it
is
ad-
— to exhibit how deliberate seduc-
by careless desertion
what he does not seem
as
first
for coarse
debauchery and
was brutal
to perceive
assassination,
could contribute naturally to the development of a gifted but
We
chiefly intellectual, into a perfect character.
mig*ht be
well content to leave Faust, whose reappearance in a second
part
is
an impertinence, to his companion Mephistoplieles, but
make
We
Prometheus to the vulture.
scarcely
to
the most of what hints
are fain, therefore,
we can gather
as to the further
design of Aeschylus, from some fragments and notices of the
presumed
all
is
sequel, his
drama of Prometheus
'
When
Released.'
the fragments and notices are taken together, the outcome
not inconsiderable as compared with our disappointment in
other cases.
The Chorus
now
consisted of. Titans,
who
of Zeus/ that daily descends to tear his
their relative,
visit
suffering under the secular torture of the
still
'
winged hound
renewing
liver.
But time has brought round the contingency on which the
victim of sympathy with the wretchedness of humanity in
unprovided
life,
relied
prophetically for
destined liberator, Hercules, of mingled
deliverauce.
divine and
origin, descendant of Io in the thirteenth generation,
of Zeus himself, appears at last;
which he
is
The
human
and son
the series of labours by
to initiate the relief of struggling
humanity
is
THEOLOGY OF AESCHYLUS.
x.xvi.]
foretold,
and
335
on
his shooting" the ravening- bird brings
clusion a general reconciliation, of
in
con-
Prometheus with Zeus, of
Zeus with the preservation of the once doomed and despised
A
race of mankind.
condition of which
further hard
and apparently hopeless
Hermes had given
1
warning", the volun-
tary renunciation of the privilege of immortality,
fulfilled
is
by the vicarious acceptance of death by the centaur Chiron
the sentence of the eternal chain
tion
by Prometheus
satisfied
;
by the assump-
either of a ring set with a fragment of
Conceding now
the rock, or of a verdant crown.
what he refused
is
to
to compulsion, he discloses his secret
clemency
— that the
threatened fatality awaited Zeus in case he yielded to his
passion and married Thetis,
rior
to his
order,
is
who was
fated to bear a son supe-
The permanence of Olympic, of cosmical
sire.
when
assured,
the restored Titan in festive chaplet
joins the assemblage of the gods at the nuptials of the sea-
goddess with the father of Achilles.
Whether the
2
tradition of the marriage of
with primaeval Themis was combined with this
Zeus himself
fable, as critics
have fondly assumed, remains more than uncertain,
tion fails entirely.
In any
case, it
must be
informa-
for
insisted
on that the
dignity of Zeus, relatively either to Titans or to man, cannot
by any ingenuity be rescued as the ideal of supreme divinity.
Aeschylus, even like
his great
Homer
before him,
exemplar, treats the lord
representative of
whom
he owned as
Olympus but
of
as a
humanity with powers inconceivably en-
hanced, yet only in respect of death exempt from the inherent weakness of humanity.
hesitation
and
In passion and in ignorance, in
indiscretion, in his liability to be vexed
thwarted by powers not only superior but
ditions
and
qualities of
necessity exaggerated
as to the
1
by
humanity
scale
demigod and Titan,
Aesch. Prom. V. 1029.
and
is
inferior,
are mirrored,
contrast.
and
the con-
and even of
To Zeus
himself,
assigned the same invincible
2
Pindar,
Hymn.
2.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
336
consciousness of freedom of will that
[chap.
part of
is
human
nature,
but withal the same half-acknowledged and contradictory
sense of its exercise under permission;
the relation of this
consciousness to the ever-intrusive conviction of a power existent
somewhere that must guide
riously!
— what
— in any
case
how myste-
seems an independent or a drifting
withdrawn, and surely with no unreverential
1
feeling-,
bark,
is
with no
unreasonable humility, from the ken and scrutiny of preciser
definition.
In Aeschylus we
find the consciousness
above
all,
and
fre-
quently the unequivocal expression, of the noblest ideal of
divine attributes, of the Divinity as the supreme creative
and
no
controlling- energy, the centre of all material forces,
less of
the highest moral power and of presiding
gence, which gives the rule of justice as the single
reward and punishment, and yet with an ultimate
indulgence and mercifulness.
That
and
intelli-
norm
of
aj3peal to
this loftier ideal is
from
time to time confused with the agencies of a plurality of gods,
or with such a defective personality as the poetic Zeus,
inconsistency that runs through
all
is
an
Greek poetry, and was
not easily escaped even by Greek philosophers
;
but the in-
consistency tended to become gradually less obtrusive, and
it
did not hinder the development of that sense of the unity of
providential control of the world of matter, of
gence, of conscience, which
is
life,
of intelli-
the essence of monotheism, and
towards which the poetry of Aeschylus
still
doubtless marks a
most important stage of advance.
That
this drama, then,
must needs have been suggestive
to
the original Athenian audience, of recurring applications to
party conflicts and impending political
me
impossible to doubt;
elevated his
theme
it
is
difficulties, it
seems to
equally clear that the poet
above the dignity of the most pregnant
far
embodiment of contemporary passion, by touching sympathies
1
Aesch. Prom.
r
T
.
513-
THE FABLE OF PROMETHEUS.
xxvi.]
common
that are
to all reflecting
ami that
is
is
among very
The Prometheus of Aeschylus
and perplexing contrasts of
earlier days,
and partly absorbed
found accordingly to be conspicuously paralleled
the Titan of Hesiod, of the poet
salient
to
true for all men, true for all time,
in literature of far other genius
lations.
The exciting
mankind.
day are partly attached
interests of a
in a larger reference that
337
contrasted popu-
main
in the
still
is
who
confronts the most
life
in the simplicity of
and embodies in mythus the cruder explanation
men upon whom they came with the surprise of
In Hesiod also we have an equivalent in forms of
of
novelty.
Hellenic
mythology, of those opening chapters of Hebrew story which,
before
it
narrows down to the fortunes of a family or a
regard humanity under
as
its
is
wide as
it
canon closed.
and with a scope
its largest aspects,
was destined
to recur to
and resume at
That man should be
tribe,
so low
last before
and yet so high
the fundamental perplexity in both narratives
so seem-
;
ingly neglected or deserted, and withal so manifestly highly
endowed
possessed of faculties which in their limitless capa-
;
city of development are godlike,
and yet exposed by
possession to evils from which the lower animals,
much
'
common with him, seem
Unaccommodated man is below the level
of
of the brutes in
'
equipment
for
commonest
self-preservation
so
happily exempt.
in
life
this very
who have
;
his existence is
only endurable, or indeed entirely possible, by the opportunity
of art
first as
and knowledge
;
these save him, but only save
the veriest wretch
;
him
at
and are themselves dependent on
that faculty of looking before and after which distinguishes
him from the brutes
indeed,
same time gives opening
for all the agonies of fear
are exempt.
and how gloriously
for the
most poignant of
of
but at the
sufferings,
and doubt, from which the brutes
Endowments which however
the main conditions
!
human
labour
dignified are
and
human
still
grief,
seemed to declare themselves as no rightful apanage, and
their consequences too closely resembled penalties
and punish-
HISTORY OF GREECE.
338
lnciiis,
law
;
not to have been acquired at
and
if so,
how not then by
only by breach of
first
and suggestion of some
aid
ally of intellectual subtlety superior to primeval
The Greek my thus
whom
Prometheus, the genius of Forecast, to
command
of
fire,
man.
ascribes the rescue of foredoomed
chief instrument of the
man
to
he owed the
useful arts
who
;
even qualified the direst consequence of the power of antici-
pating
evil,
independent
by implanting
of,
1
in his breast the
and even indestructible by
wresting of a privilege for
involved difficulty in the
man from
first
1
germ
reason.
of
Hope
But such
a grudging divinity,
instance as to the attributes
of the divinity, and then as to a reconciliation consistently
with man's retention of the
illicitly
obtained advantage.
Of
a problem accepted in so crude a form the solution could
scarcely be
less
crude,
and the mythologist only escapes
from his self-made dilemma by resort to a quibble, or a
metaphor, or a symbol.
Poetical purpose
demanded that these
should be clothed in graceful poetical forms, and so the trage-
dian soothes at last by a pleasing apology for satisfaction, the
distress that
moderate
sity
;
he had taken in the
first
instance little pains to
even when wilder agitation subsides, he of neces-
and not unwillingly leaves over some natural awe at the
still
abiding enigma of
human
life
;
but awe not unallied
with hope from the intimation that beyond these contradictions
verse
and controversies there
exists in the order of the uni-
a remoter but a comprehensive and
influence that will bring all right at last.
1
Aesch. Prom. V. 250.
an over-ruling
CHAPTER
XXVII.
THE FIRST CONTUMACY OF ATHENIAN ALLIES.
— ADMINISTRATION
OF CIMON.
B.C.
The adventures
of his flight
465; 01. 78. 3-4.
commencement
of Themistocles, from the
he found safety, protection, and honour at
till
the court of the Great King
1
,
are related with a fulness of
romantic details that enticed the attention of the historians
from larger public
affairs,
and cover pages
it
must be
said,
somewhat disproportionately, when we consider what has
been omitted.
tionable
is
The
story to the extent that it
we
so extraordinary, that
is
unques-
are scarcely entitled to
challenge embellishment on the score of mere marvellousness,
and
the
for once the cheap criticism,
'
tory,
unhistorical
must own
'
that one version
keen pursuit of
its
so willingly erases the unlikely
itself foiled.
we stumble over
which in
Read
it
how we
will,
a positive contradiction can
must be
false;
from
only
we be
his-
when
certain
and even then no mere
balance of general probabilities will determine with certainty
which ought to give way.
and
retold,
The
tale
seems to have been told
like that of Charles the
Second fugitive from
Worcester, or of the young Pretender after Culloden, and
listened to, if not with
that Greeks were so
sympathy of the same kind, with
all
capable of feeling for dexterity and
courage.
Even Thucydides
quits larger history
tion for personal anecdote,
when he
z 2
and condensed
relates
how
reflec-
the most
HISTORY OF GREECE.
340
of
brilliant
[chap.
Greek careers came to an end only one degree
unhappily and disgracefully for Greece than that of
less
Pausanias.
There was one tradition that told how, when
longer safe for him
to
Xerxes crossed over to
the
mad schemes
was no
it
remain at Corcyra, the victor of
and there parodied
Sicily, to Hiero,
of Pausanias, with a proposal to marry a
daughter of the Syracusan tyrant, and help him to the sub-
Such a story only represents the
jugation of central Gz-eece.
meaning of the
conjectures of later time as to the
his flight,
resources.
and a likely
field for
employment of
Hiero was already dead (467
was dropping
to ruin
;
had
protect
him from
failed
in
their
his dynasty
to lingering rancour
opposition at the Olympic festival.
friends
and
otherwise Themistocles might not have
shunned his court out of apprehension as
for his
and
B.C.),
direction of
his talents
power at
common
least,
enemies
up to throw himself into the arms of
;
His
political
not good-will, to
if
he was now wound
his personal or political
enemies, and to appeal to their credulousness, or generosity
or interests, to refuse to sacrifice
Doubling on
own.
him even
to friends of their
his pursuers he passed over to Epirus, to
the seat of Admetus, king of the Molossians, whose nobler
nature he was prepared to confide
in,
power he had opposed him
some negotiations,
also in
though
day of
in his
— very
dissensions
of Corcyra
and
Corinth as to territories on the mainland,
— which had
been
probably connected with
the
His residence here seems
referred to arbitration at Athens.
to
have continued
for
some months
had hope to remain unmolested,
if
;
and here he may have
be true that at this
it
time he was joined by his wife and children from
But again the strongest
applied
host,
pressure of
by the Lacedaemonians upon
Plut. Them.
Athens.
demands and threats was
his
through envoys of high distinction.
1
l
generous-minded
Admetus, however,
THEMISTOCLES IN EPIRUS.
xxvii.]
341
declared himself bound to protect his guest by the most strin-
gent national sanctions of hospitality
;
for Themistocles
had
claimed and appealed to them in a form which in that region
—prostrate on hearth a
Whatever
or thought, — that Phthia the wife of Admetus
admitted of no denial
his
suppliant,
as
and holding in his arms the child of the house.
might be
had
said
really in the absence of her
husband compassionated the
command over the sympathies
women seems always assumed to be unfailing, and in-
persuasive Athenian, whose
of
him in the formula and ministered the opportunity,
Admetus himself had suggested the ceremony to
supply the pretext, the difficulty was the same there was
still no sign of it yielding to any increased urgency, when it
structed
or that
—
;
was found that Themistocles had again disappeared, and the
clue to the course of his retirement
was broken.
In the meantime the untiring and unresisted
activity
by
which Athens was gradually wearying her confederates into
commute maritime service and even equipment
money payments, the rigour with which these were ex-
xvillingness to
for
acted,
and the general imperiousness with which she com-
ported herself in administration by assumptions injurious to
the dignity of autonomy, were on the point of inducing
sions premonitory of a
change in history.
to be almost simultaneously repudiated
Her
by the two important
islands,
north and south, of Thasos and Naxos.
the
assertions of a right of secession of confederates
first
a qualified union, which might
now seem from
of Persia to have answered its purpose,
for little else
colli-
authority was
and
These are
from
the inactivity
to be
maintained
than to aggrandise a power which threatened to
be quite as oppressive, or certainly more arbitrary than under
the changed circumstances would be quietly endured.
The discontent of Thasos was brought
to
a head
by an
extension which was given about this time to the establish-
ment on the
Str} r mon, that
had been maintained by the Athe-
nians ever since they wrested E'ion from the Persians, after a
HISTORY OE GREECE
342
[chap.
They despatched a colony (465
difficult siege.
b.c.) consisting
of 10,000 settlers, Athenians and general volunteers, for the
purpose of taking* into occupation a very favourable position
about five-and-twenty stadia up the
where
river,
issues
it
from a lake, and which at the time was in the possession of
the Edonian Thracians.
—Ennea Hodoi, —
The name
communications between the
trict
of the
the Nine Ways,
commanding the
site,
indicates its importance as
of Thrace, the dis-
fertile plains
Phyllis to the east, and Macedonia and the Chalcidic
peninsulas westward.
two years
come
settlement, and had
chievous
A
life.
was here that Aristagoras, thirty-
It
had endeavoured to found an independent
before,
to the end of his turbulent
main temptation
for the
and mis-
Athenians consisted
in the riches of the adjacent gold mines, which after being
worked
for centuries
remained
continue so to reward
times
;
unexhausted, and were to
still
more
Macedon.
tration of Philip of
deposits does not
still
richly the energetic adminis-
The
precise
form of these gold
seem to be recorded or explored in modern
but the Athenians had appetising experience of the
profitableness of silver mines as
worked at Laurium by slave
—the machinery of the ancients—
labour
for these
had been to
her the equivalents as a basis of prosperity of the coal and
iron deposits of England.
and no bait
Thrace also had
its
mines,
silver
for industry or for adventurous rapine is
more
stimulative of popular greed than pure metallic riches.
The
Thasians seem to have shared the advantages of these mines,
in
harmony
if
not in regulated partnership, with the Thracians,
before the Persians interfered, and not unnaturally expected
and claimed to re-enter upon
expulsion.
It
was not
preted their rights
substituted
for the
many
;
so
all
their privileges after their
however that the Athenians
the right of conquest has been willingly
a time since and
down
more modest claims of reward
honourable rescue has served
interference.
inter-
its
own
days,
rescue,
after
to our
for
purpose as a pretext for
If the protests of Thasos were disregarded, the
DISAFFECTION AT THASOS.
xxvn.]
who were
Thracians
to be treated
was not
343
ousted at Ennea Hocloi were not likely
with more delicacy in further operations, and
it
long* before the smouldering- enmities burst out into
flame on both sides.
At the same
time, as if in
sympathy and probably not
without some intercommunication, discontent was coming to
a head at another centre.
and renowned
Xaxos, the largest of the Cyclades,
for its productiveness, especially of wine,
appropriately expressed in the mythic encounter on
of Dionysus and Ariadne,
and a
political story in
—had
many
early connection with
—
Athens
Here again,
respects similar.
as
shores
its
as
so often elsewhere, the circumstances of unquestioned later
way
intercourse go some
as springing
to vindicate a
much
from a radical fact ; and the
earlier
visit of
mythus
the truant
Theseus on his return from Crete matches with the notice of
Herodotus, that the natives of Naxos, as also of Ceos, were
Ionians of Athenian descent.
!
Xaxos
as
by taking up the cause of a demus, glad of any
his
own
-
Lygdamis of
Aristotle quotes
an example of the oligarch who becomes a tyrant
His
class.
rule
leader, against
seems to have been shaken
that of Peisistratus at Athens,
by whom on
off like
his recovery of
power, and after a victory over the Xaxians, he was reinstated,
whom
and
he requited afterwards by aid in men and money
to accomplish his
A
own
third and final
parallel fate still attends the
3
restoration.
Xaxian tyrant when the
Spartans, after expelling the Peisistratids from Athens, put an
end to his authority
and re-established their favourite
also,
and avowed form of government, an
4
oligarchy.
About 500 B.C. the demus of Naxos gains the ascendant
and expels the leaders of the party of the so-called Sub'
stantial'
men
concert with
Pol. v. 5.
1.
*
(
avbpes tG>v -na^wv),
the
Ari.-tngoras,
1
5
him
forthwith to
under Persia at Miletus, and in
despot
invite
*
who apply
the
interference of the Persians.
3
Athenaeus, 34S.
Plut. de Malig. 21.
Herod,
v.
Herod,
30.
i.
64.
;
HISTORY OF GREECE,
344
We
[chap.
hear on this occasion a glowing- and somewhat
mar-
vellous account of the power and prosperity of the island
;
Paros, Andros, and others of the Cyclades, are dependent on
it
it is
;
wealthy in money and
slaves,
has a considerable
fleet
of long vessels, and can muster 8,000 heavy-armed men, as
a force
large
as
Such a
Athens sent to Plataea.
repre-
sentation of power corresponds with the magnitude of the
armament, 200
vessels with
Ionians, which
we
A
phernes for the expedition.
failed; the
their
a large force of Persians and
read was assigned by the satrap Arta-
Naxians were found
surprise
to have
withdrawn, with
abundant
property and
transportable
was intended but
victual,
They had,
their walls, prepared to stand a prolonged siege.
in fact, received timely
commander
himself,
afterwards and as
it
warning by contrivance of the Persian
the
same Megabates
whom
Pausanias
seems in consequence mistrusted, who
had quarrelled with Aristagoras on a point of
the conduct of the
authority in
all
within
'
and
discipline
expedition.
A
siege of
four months' duration consumed the funds of both the Persians
and the Greek adventurers, and was then given up,
the exiles being left behind to do the best they might, with
the aid of some fortifications constructed for them.
The
repulse
Artaphernes,
was remembered and revenged by Datis and
who on
490 b.c, burnt the
as
captives
mountains.
all
their
way
and
city
Euboea and Marathon,
to
its
temples, and
who had not taken
After this warning
all
carried
off
timely refuge in the
the Cyclades except the
westernmost, Cythnus, Seriphus, Siphnus,
gave earth and
water, and contributed to the fleet of Xerxes, the Parians
...
both sides to watoh the result
only* holding aloof from
Naxos was
only
controlled
make the poor
by a Medising
faction,
but could
now
contribution of four ships, and these were
carried over to the Greeks
1
by
their
Herod,
v. 34.
commander Democritus.
J
NAXOS
xxvii.
It
is
TN REVOLT.
345
probable enough that the island nevertheless did not
escape some severity
when
visited afterwards
by the
fleet
of
the victors.
Still
it
is
scarcely conceivable that
any treatment could
have goaded the islanders into defying the power of Athens
now
as
developed, and with
the confederation at
all
had encouragement to look further
unless they
command,
for support.
It is scarcely to be doubted, in fact, that the ancient leaven of
Medism
oligarchical
insensibly recovering was again at work,
and that the expected aid was
which now
come from the Persian
to
fleet,
after a
long interval appears again reinforced and
We
are thus conducted to the further inference
reorganised.
that the plans which had been just matured
concert with Persia,
by Pausanias
in
when his treason was discovered, had
been arranged to take
effect
by a combination
at this very
point.
Whatever was the
offence, declared
subsidies or suspected intrigue
contumacy
with the barbarians, Naxos
was attacked by the Athenians
in revolt, besieged and
as
ultimately taken, after what length of resistance
perhaps by surprise or
the
first
'
storm.
in respect of
is
not stated,
This, says Thucydides,
was
of the allied cities that were successively reduced to
subjection in contravention of compact (Tiapa to KaOeo-Tr/Kos),
—
as if in his opinion the
beyond the provocation
on
—a
punishment was unfairly strained
result ensuing for the
most part
money or ships,
The forfeiture
autonomy
refusals of assessed quotas of
instances, of crews for service.
by the Naxians probably involved
in the
or in certain
of
same penalty the
smaller of the Cyclades that had retained connection with
them and signs
make the most of
;
of eagerness
a
on the part of Athens
to
welcome opportunity may have alarmed
communities who had otherwise
Whatever the progress
1
little
sympathy with Naxos.
of the siege, the presence of a large
Aristoph.
Ves}>.
354.
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
346
was not required
fleet
and though Cimon
it
;
the siege, he would
progress to proceed in search of the
its
respecting which
fleet,
and which
ceived,
investment was completed
may have commenced
be at liberty during
Persian
after the
[chap.
information
had been
re-
must be supposed the Naxians were
expecting.
still
The
thus related in the
brilliant exploit that followed is
summary
l
of
Thucydides.
'
After this
attack
on Naxos,
occurred the land fight and naval fight of the Athenians and
allies
Eurymedon in Pamcommand of Cimon, son of
against the Medes, at the river
when
phylia,
the Athenians under
Miltiades, gained a victory in both on the
same day, and cap-
tured and destroyed Phoenician triremes to the
200
in
Another authority which,
all.'
if
number of
genuine as
it
appears
to be, is still closer to the time, is a metrical inscription
— of
dedicated spoils, says Diodorus, but apparently sepulchral
that has come
variation.
down
to us in several copies with but slight
The double achievement
slaughter of
many Medes on
land,
is
here described as the
and the capture or
vic-
torious destruction of 100 Phoenician ships with their full
complement of men
in the
open sea
In both these statements
victory
come
is
to
mentioned
examine
first;
and
it
(Zi>
irekayd).
will be observed that the land
this
is
of importance
compare the
more
when we
detailed
state-
ments of Plutarch and Diodorus, both of which, but the
latter
especially,
seem made up out of
earlier
conflicting
narratives.
The
Cimon
original fleet of
consisted of 200 Athenian
triremes, constructed with all the latest improvements
.
most
efficiently
manned.
and
To Themistocles were due the
changes that had increased their speed on the one hand,
and then the important
qualification of handiness in evolu-
tions, facility in turning,
dependent partly on form, partly on
1
Time.
i.
100.
—
CUIUS BEFORE PHASELIS.
xxvii.]
drill
347
of the rowers, that were together essential to
advan-
Cimon himself had endea-
tageous manoeuvring in action.
voured to combine with these a more ample accommodation
for a fighting-
crew by a greater breadth of beam, and the
addition of a certain
gangway
other without
to the decks, apparently to
from one end of the vessel to the
afford passage for hoplites
interfering with
]
the
armament he proceeded along the
With
oarsmen.
this
coast from Ionia south-
ward and eastward, expelling Persian garrisons wherever he
found them established in the maritime
cities
of Caria and
Lycia; some of these were purely Greek and others of mixed
population, or at least bilingual, from
course
with
surrouuding
such
alien
commerce and
populations,
Hellenised in manners, as the Lycian Tramilae.
city thus acquired for the confederacy
addition to the cpopos
—an
inter-
however
Every new
brought in of course an
apportioned rate of subsidy.
Ac-
cording to Plutarch his immediate starting-place was Cnidus,
on the Triopian promontory, but that the Cnidians did not
now
for the first
ingly, as
time join the confederacy
we have
is
proved, interest-
seen by their dedication at Delphi.
The
only resistance in the course of these operations that we read
of as of any importance, occurred at Phaselis, a Lycian city
on the western shore of the great Pamphylian
citizens
gulf.
The
were chiefly Greek, but nevertheless well content
with the share of quiet and prosperity that they were in
possession of under Persia, and declined either to revolt or
to give reception to the fleet of
Cimon.
After the usual
preliminary of plunder and devastation inflicted on the open
country, a serious attack was at once
commenced upon the
Cimon
fortified city.
Extremities, w^hich from the temper of
on the occasion
— impatient
would have been
of the Chian
allies,
as he
was
for action elsewhere
were prevented by the intervention
severe,
who had
1
friendly relations with the city
Hut. Cim.
12.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
348
[chap.
from of old, an interest sufficiently explained by concern in
the constant flow of commerce to and from Phoenicia, as well
as inland,
which
its
They
harbour accommodated.
Cimon, and by shooting" missives attached
to
mollified
arrows over the
walls succeeded in opening negotiations, which ended in the
wealthy Phaselitans agreeing to
commit themselves
joining
actively
With
fleet
300
a
vessels,
to
the
in
pay ten talents
of former
a breach
enterprise
against
and to
connections by
the
barbarian.
increased by these and other allies to 250 or
so
Diodorus contradicts himself, Cimon now
mouth
sailed direct for the
Eurymedon, which
of the river
flowing southwards enters the sea at the head of the gulf,
where both the
and army of the Persians were
fleet
Aryomandes, son of Gobryes,
tioned.
command, though the
named
is
sta-
as chief in
was under Tithraustes, a base-
fleet
born son of Xerxes, and the army under Pherendates his
Of
nephew.
the
number
to be relied on, they were
increased to 600 in
of their vessels there
350
later
in the history of
authorities
;
is
no account
Ephorus, and
appear to be
both
grossly in excess, as collated with Thucydides and the inscription, perhaps
even with the notice that a squadron of
eighty Phoenician vessels was
It
was the object of Cimon
still
expected.
to force an
engagement before
these could join from Cyprus, and he pressed forward to the
attack
;
the Persians were equally anxious to evade
retired into the river, but finding that conflict
and
it
was unavoid-
able even there, were fain at last to essay a sally in con-
siderable force.
It is
their vessels were afloat,
probable that only a proportion of
and in any case the
restricted space
put numbers at a disadvantage; in a very short time they
lost heart
and made
for shore in order to
protection of the land ai*my.
disembark and gain
The retreating
vessels that
were nearest inshore discharged their crews, but of those
behind large numbers were either captured or sunk with
hands on board.
In this instance as so
many
others,
all
from
BATTLE OF THE EURYMEDOX.
xxvii.]
the dependence of an ancient
many
battle repeats
no
doubt
fleet
upon a camp ashore, the
circumstances of that at Mycale, which
furnished
a
model
emulation
for
Nepos indeed confounds one with the
tory
so
far
349
ouly excited
the
Cornelius
;
The easy
other.
vic-
enthusiasm of the Greeks,
and Cimon, now encouraged by success and the
spirit of his
disembarked his large force of hoplites and boldly
troops,
The contest however here was vigo-
attacked the army.
rously sustained
by the
Persians,
who again
vindicated the
courage that Herodotus credits them with in the battles in
Greece
;
though again
it
was no match
Athenian com-
for the
The
bination of superior arms with courage and discipline.
victory of
Cimon was
at last decisive
and crowned by that
valuable reward, the capture of the Persian camp, replete as
usual with riches, in addition to prisoners
valuable for ransom.
as to a large
exaggerations
little less
Plutarch agrees with the inscription
capture
— 340
who were
of prisoners;
ships
taken
Diodorus records the
and
20,000
over
men
slain.
This compound conflict was, according to Plutarch, the
double victory by sea and on land on the self-same day
which was celebrated as having a point of advantage in comparison with Salamis or with Plataea.
He
adds that the
Cimon
expected Phoenician reinforcement did not escape.
had information of
their rendezvous at
Hydrus
(?
Idyrus or
Cyprus), and was upon them before they had certain news of
To
the disaster of the main force.
where,
this occasion,
if
any-
we must assign the stratagem by which Diodorus
Cimon drew the enemy into the toils, approaching
relates that
them
and with crews
in the captured vessels of their friends
disguised in barbaric costume.
This
is,
in fact, the order in
Such a
which Polyaenus introduces the stratagem.
engagement may have been the
inscription, as distinguished
fight
in
later
open sea of the
from that which
is
localised
by
Thucydides at the embouchure of the Eurymedon. and with
EI8T0R1 OF GREECE.
350
which, as so closely ensuing,
it
[chap.
would afterwards
easily
and
not unnaturally be confused and combined.
Diodorus garnishes his narrative of these events with a
wealth of details that would be valuable indeed, but that
they are hopelessly discredited by his blunders in geography
and time.
He
before events
and transfers the
as
by
battle
sea to the coast of Cyprus,
it
up with a
night
the
Eurymedon,
which
following
on the Persian camp by
attack;
is
first
Frontinus,
does
also
Eurymedon years
we know from Thucy elides preceded it,
places the expedition to the
that
aided by a double delusion on the part of the barbarians,
who mistaking
their assailants for Pisidians fly for refuge to
the falsely seeming Phoenician
He
fleet,
only to perish miserably.
appears to have been misled in part by a false reading
which
of a line of the inscription,
as
he gives
the destruction of 'multitudes of Medes,' not
simply, as in other copies, but
clears
'
in Cyprus.'
up but a small part of the confusion.
ments of history may be involved amongst
if
we make an attempt
it,
f
it specifies
on the land'
This however
Broken fragbut certainly,
to disengage it as a merely
chain nothing impaired but
all
disordered,'
we
'
tangled
shall
fail
entirely.
Victories so gained
energetically,
we might expect
and Cyprus
is
at hand,
to find followed
which before and
up
after-
wards invited attempts to swell Athenian power and revenue
at
the expense of Persia
suddenly
;
a
new danger
;
operations
recalls the fleet
and the commander
colonists
and the
The colony of 10,000
settlers,
northwards, a disaster of the
open defection of Thasos.
however cease here
Strymonian
Athenian and foreign volunteers, represents an enterprise on
an enormous scale at
its
commencement, and probable plans
for still further extension.
Pausanias reckons
it
as a third
Athenian expedition that ranges with their mythical adventure with Iolaus to Sardinia, and their colonisation of
Ionia,
and we
find it rated
along with the vast armament
DISASTER AT DRABMSCUS.
77/A'
xxvji.J
which Pericles reduced
with
351
Samos, and the
still
vaster
The Thasians were threatened with
Syracusan expedition.
interference in their Continental emporia
1
and
mines, and
not only were the Edonian Thracians ejected from Nine
Ways
but an advance was made inland as far as Drabescus.
The
effect of this boldness,
number
who
of tribes,
however, was to alarm and unite a
set
upon the intruders unexpectedly;
a storm seems to have been taken advantage of to cover the
2
surprise,
and with such success as to be
Then perished Sophanes, son of Euty chides,
entire force.
who had
fatal to nearly the
deserved best of
the Athenians at Plataea, and
all
was here in joint command with Leogrus, son of Glaucon.
This crushing catastrophe raised the enthusiastic hopes of the
Thasians, discontented as they were and plotting already, for
The opportunity
the recovery of lost ground of their own.
was the more
to
inviting, as they
had already been encouraged
count upon that active sympathy at Sparta with the
repression of
Athens which was to develope afterwards with
such momentous
In preceding generations Sparta
results.
had won the confidence of Hellas by her readiness to
inter-
pose for the suppression of governments whose genius was
opposed to her own,
absolutely
and
same
the
which her oligarchy was credited in opposition
3
tyranny, was-
now
zeal
looked to with confidence as available
against an arbitrary democrac3 r that threatened
seriously to
The
become her enemy and
was already exemplified
in the case of
infringed
would be admitted
it
liberties
Cimon,
as
was
to
be
Thuc.
i.
ioo.
Naxos
;
emergency
2
Pans.
visited
He
i.
no
failure of
Athens chose to ad-
and an attempt
by
their
might be expected, had no
defeating the Thasians at sea.
1
;
more
rival.
loyal adherence to the confederacy as
feiture.
still
policy that Athens would apply to such an
minister
with
to individual
to vindicate
entire
for-
difficulty in
captured or destroyed their
29. 4.
3
Herod,
v. 92.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
352
of thirty-three
fleet
engagement
also, as
1
ships,
and then, probably
Thucydides mentions
battles,
alter a
land
commenced
a blockade, the usual process of reducing" a strongly-fortilird
city
;
and
its
three years' duration in this case argues not
only the resoluteness of the besieged, but the well-furnished
premeditation of the revolt.
1
Plut. Own. 14.
CHAPTER
XXVIII.
THEMISTOCLES IX PERSIA.
Ix the meantime
— HIS
DEATH.
in consequence of this with-
if Persia,
drawal of Cimon, was indulged with a respite from annoyance on the Greek frontier, her recent defeats had a reaction
at the centre that filled her palaces with discord
shed,
and the
life
and blood-
and reign of Xerxes came to an end under
circumstances that affected the relations of East and
Darius
called the heir and
is
still
enough
to
be entrusted,
by name
;
in history,
according to
(Ctesias), is old
Diodorus, with the
he makes, however, no further appearance
and Artaxerxes, the youngest, of an age
to be referred to as a boy,
Darius.
for
whom
but a youth or a young
man, though Hystaspes, two years younger
satrapy of Bactria
West
Three of his sons are named, of
a considerable time.
is
assumed
as the next heir after
Against the dynasty so represented, a plot
is
formed
by an Hyrcanian, Artabanus, commander of the royal guards,
himself the father of seven sons of power and ability.
immediate confederate
(Diodorus), his friend, and, though his relative, a eunuch,
was
His
Spamitres (Ctesias), or Mithridates
is
who
at the head of the domestic establishment of the palace.
Possible apprehensions apart, of which hints occur in a various
account of the catastrophe that was
known
to
there was suggestion enough for an ambitious
1
Polit. v. 8.
a a
1
Aristotle,
man
in
the
HISTORY OF GREECE.
354
observation
of
the
declining
energy
monarch and the declining reverence
of
[ohap.
self-indulgent
a
bad
for a reign that
been marked by a constantly recurring series of military
disgraces,
devoted
and had
lost in their course so
many
of
its
most
In a night of horror and confusion,
supporters.
Xerxes was murdered in his bed, and the young Artaxerxes,
roused from sleep to hear that the crime was due to the
impatient ambition of his elder brother Darius, beheld him
dragged
forth, vainly protesting as
he was taxed with guiltily
For
simulating sleep, and hastily despatched on the spot.
seven months thereafter, Artabanus, as regent, governed so
by
absolutely as to be admitted
J
chronologists for that term
into the series of Persian monarchs.
Even
so soon
he was prepared to take the
step
last
to
undisguised possession by the removal of the youthful Artaxerxes, relying especially on having secured, as he believed,
the adherence of some malcontent connections of the roya]
house in support of his
own and
his sons' influence with
the army.
Xerxes had been considerably indebted to Megabyzus
the recovery of Babylon, and had rewarded
the
golden
2
plinth
— or
cylinder according
flat
for
him not only with
to
3
Ctesias
—
and as represented on the Naples vase of ten talents, with
which Persian kings recompensed the accepted responsibility
of bold and successful advice, but also with the
hand of
daughter Amytis.
The dignity of the
seriously qualified
by the laxity of her manners
his
alliance was, however,
and the
;
admonitions of Xerxes, when appealed to by the exasperated
husband, had been as
futile as
own
the shamelessness of his
removed by
his
might be expected, considering
intrigues.
Even
this check
was
and the brooding jealousy of the
death,
brother-in-law of Artaxerxes
marked him out
to
Oriental
sympathies as prepared for any extremity of revenge, even
1
Manetho
ap. Syncell. Cf. Clinton, p.
3
314
g.
Ctesias, p. 117.
2
Aelian, V. H.
xii.
62.
THE ACCESSION OF ARTAXERXES.
xxvin.]
though
355
ruined the dynasty that had exalted him only to
it
more conspicuous
Megabyzus, however, Oriental
disgrace.
husband as he was, was
still
insight and experience
he could estimate at their true value
the oaths
self,
and
by which a double
set
following
and
influence, in aid of the
in
traditions
of the house of Darius, which
misconduct of only one
twenty years had by no
just
him-
traitor professed to bind
the other hand he was not himself without
of loyalty and the prestige
the
politician of
no more on whatever he was invited to give
On
exchange.
military
;
and a
a politician,
successor
means
and an
interval
He
cancelled.
of
formed a
appreciation of the fundamental strength of character
of Artaxerxes,
young
as he
was
and
;
was great either way, and he could
and promptitude
its
own courage
side
where he
Artaxerxes justified his confidence, and
was equal to taking part
Artabanus
on the
to turn the balance
cast in his fortunes.
suspending
for the rest, the risk
trust to his
in a counterplot which,
execution until the very
for the crisis of his
conspirators within
resolutely
moment chosen by
own, brought
The
reach together.
by
all
the leading
occasion
was a
grand military muster, at which not only the Regent but
three of his sons were present,
their
adherents, but
—present
they were watched by an associated
in itself surprising to
in
arms and with
ignorant of the feelings with which
force.
many, suddenly arose
The
around the person of Artaxerxes.
of course were variously related
;
it
A
tumult, not
group
in the
details of the incident
was even
said that it
began by the king complaining of the tightness of
his
armour, and proposing to try on that of Artabanus,
body
who
proceeded to divest himself (Justin), and unarmed or embarrassed in
disarming was stabbed there and then by Arta-
xerxes himself.
byzus
Artaxerxes was slightly wounded, and Mega-
much more
seriously, before the general conflict that
ensued ended in the complete suppression of the conspiracy
and the deaths of the three sons of Artabanus.
a a
2
In the
HISTORY OF GREECE.
35G
[chap.
investigation that followed, the particulars of the
first plot
came
his
and the eunuch Spamitres expiated
to light,
com-
the murders of Xerxes and his eldest son by a
plicity in
death of prolonged and disgusting
The date of the death of Xerxes
certified points in the
is
:
torture.
one of the most happily
chronology of these times, and supplies
a limit for the dates of several events in Greek history proper.
Diodorus assigns
465
It
b.c. to
shown by
is
it
July 464
2
to the archonship of Lysitheus
B.C.), after a
(July
reign of over twenty years.
Clinton, on comparison of the canons of
the Persian kings, that
would
it
about the
fall
first
month
of that archon, and the proper accession of Artaxerxes seven
months
later,
about February,
b.c.
464.
It was, according to Plutarch, within this interval, while
Artabanus was
Susa
in power, that Themistocles arrived at
an assignment which
;
Naxos being
of
still
in progress
is
in accordance with the siege
when he
passed into Asia, and
with the revolt of Thasos, which was proceeding in the fourth
year of
King Archidamus
later, as stated
court
3
Sparta (464
b.c.),
being
still
by Thucydides.
But many of the
reception
of
by Plutarch
details inserted
as to the
and demeanour of Themistocles at the Persian
and his intercourse with
Artabanus are manifestly
late inventions or hopeless exaggerations, connected as they
are with the untrustworthy accounts
that told not only of
his arrival at Susa but even of his death at Magnesia, during
the
life
of Xerxes.
The combination most
the brief note of Thucydides,
is
that he
in
harmony with
arrived in Asia
during the power or usurpation of Artabanus, but did not
reach the Persian court until after the revolution that over-
threw him.
Such a gap
as intervened
between his disappearance from
Molottis and his reception at Susa,
1
Ctes. Pers.; Plut. Artax.
3
ii.
is
16.
Plut. Cim. 16.
the very playground of
2
Clinton, p. 314, note b.
THEMISTOCLES AT S AXOS.
xxvm.]
which may be trusted to
conjecture, but of curiosity also,
many
have gathered
facts that
The conclusion of
history.
357
worth the gleaning- of
are
story
his
warning
is
to histo-
criticism not to reject fairly authorised tradition,
rical
the mere ground of
bility
if
;
on
inconsistency with antecedent proba-
its
such a principle sufficed to guide through the
uncertainties of the past, there need be little mystery for
He had known how
us even about the future.
the
warm
zeal
of
to conciliate
two young men of Lyncestis, a
district
between Macedonia and Epirus, who from their engagement
in inland trade
were fully acquainted with the obscure passes
and by-roads of the continent
baffle
to
which he might trust to
By
the most vindictive pursuit.
guidance he made his way from sea to
it
seems, to obtain a useful oracle at
aid of their untiring
sea,
not neglecting, as
Dodona on
his
l
way,
and arrived at Pydna in the Macedonian territory of Alexander, where
he took passage, in a false name, on board a
merchant ship bound
for the
coast of Asia Minor.
Stress
of weather carried the vessel direct upon Naxos, where the
Athenians were engaged on the
siege,
w ould have involved fatal recognition,
much to induce a Greek skipper to
T
and refreshment
while
really
to
him
at the
same time
the required decision.
by the
fatal
He
in a
to
as
manner
that
enemy
for a bribe
;
him
to compel
first
to
instance
him would be
would be
understand that his intention had been to
of their
say
man's power as to
to betray
Athenians
the
to
Themis-
his jeopardy, but appealed
overawed him in the
distinct intimation,
himself,
the rest
dangerous weather.
who he was and what was
run in
would require
even
forego
tocles put himself at once so far in the
declare
it
to
by such an opportunity,
offered
nothing of shelter from
and where
given to
assist the escape
his only chance of avoiding this
catastrophe was to keep the sea at any inconvenience and
any
risk,
and to permit no soul
1
to
Plut. Them. 28.
land
till
the voyage
—
HISTOBT OF GREEi
338
When
could be continued.
dation had done
its
work,
A.
was quite
it
[ohai
that intimi-
clear
was time enough to clinch
it
it
by
a promise of rich reward, which was afterwards honourably
After battling with the weather and privations
performed.
whole day and night, the vessel resumed
for a
Asia had dangers of
and reached Ephesus.
now
the fugitive, and he was
claim,
it
nearer to those
claimed by the Persian king for the
mischievous enemy.
Plutarch
Ergoteles and Pythodorus.' as to
out for
him
capture of his most
refers to the
men
'
following
of
notorious and on the look-
and about Cumae, the old station of the Persian
;
fleet after Salamis,
Xenophon long
*
as if
it
still
in Persian occupation.
adjacent towns under the
Demaratus and Gongylus, to
them
the Persian had granted
He was
were
after finds the
control of descendants of
Greece.
own for
who could
an immense reward of 200 talents pro-
said,
is
course
its
its
in reward for treachery to
in this neighbourhood
disguise, inland to Aegae,
man of vast possessions
whom
when he moved,
in
where he had a host Nicogenes, a
in Aeolis
;
so vast indeed that
Diodorus
seems to confound him in consequence, under the name of 2 Lysitheides, with the magnificent
and
may have been a descendant,
dotus.
With resolution that
he
friend,
ill-requited host of Xerxes,
—whose
tale is told
astonished
by 3 Hero-
and alarmed his
he proposed to avail himself of his intimacy with
Persians of position, to prosecute the plan of presenting himself at
Susa
;
and accordingly,
he started on the journey in a
in
company with
litter,
which was
his
4
friend,
closely cur-
tained and jealously watched as the conveyance of an Ionian
female destined for the harem of a Persian magnate. Besides
we have in Thucydides
be addressed by him to the Great
hints of direct personal introductions,
notes of a missive said to
King, which reappear in Plutarch paraphrased as a
He
1
4
5
speech.
represents that he had strictly limited all the mischief
Xen. Hell. iii. 1.4.
Thucyd. i. 137; Diod.
2
xi.
56.
Diod.
xi. 56.
3
Herod,
5
Plut. Them. 28.
vii.
29-38.
—
THEMISTOCLES AT SUSA.
xxviii.]
359
that he had wrought against his father, Xerxes, to the re-
quirements of self-defence
had
in his power.
him
;
and as soon
as these were satisfied
seized the earliest opportunities to do
He
him
all
the service
claimed a balance of gratitude as due to
for secret information at Salamis,
— which Thucydides takes occasion
and
for his
hindrance
to say was none of
of the disruption of the Hellespont bridge.
It
his
on this same
is
now
account of friendly disposition to Persia, that he has
been driven into exile
signal service,
;
and only
he comes prepared and able to render
solicits
the suspense of a year, that by
the acquisition of the Persian language he
do
may
be enabled to
full justice to his plans.
The reception of Greek
fugitives
was the common policy
the Persian court, on the usual principle of
of
powers that
all
seek for pretexts, or not hesitating about pretexts desire only
in the
instruments, for interfering
politics
of conterminal
with a view to ultimate conquest and appropriation.
states
There might seem to be somewhat of barbaric hebetude in
the readiness with which the subtle refugee was entertained,
notwithstanding experiences of double dealing, in the cases of
Histiaeus, or
traitors
Greek
but to a
Aristagoras;
were indispensable to
cities
and
districts, if
certain
Persia for
such
extent
administration of
they were to continue to yield
the tribute that was the chief reason for holding
them
:
and
there were always abundant instances of able men who were
rendering most valuable services to Persia, and proved to be
quite content to advantage themselves at no greater sacrifice
than desertion or even betrayal of national and party connec-
His reputation
tions.
wise?
—was
for
wisdom
at Susa before him,
been more opportune.
emerged from a sea
— how could
and his
hand a solution of those
Greek
frontier
be other-
have
The young king, who had himself just
of perils, was struck with surprise and
admiration at his daring and dexterity.
his
it
arrival could not
which had been
He seemed to
difficulties of
hold in
dealing with the
fatal to his father,
and even
it
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
360
may
be of others that were
him
surrounding'
still
It is perfectly credible that,
[chap.
as
his elation found
told,
is
home.
at
vent in unusual festivity and even his sleep was interrupted
}
midnight into exclamations,
as he broke out at
Themistocles the
J
'
have got
I
Athenian.'
Notwithstanding
his
new language with
years,
incredible
mastered
Themistocles
the
and as readily
facility,
ac-
quiring and accommodating himself to the customs of the
came more than
nation,
safely
through
The
animosities of the palace and court.
and aunt therefore of the king, was
suppress her feelings against the
had perished at Salamis
the jealousies or
all
sister of
fain
enemy
Xerxes,
to renounce or
of her
sons
who
he was received to greater favour
:
than ever was Greek refugee before him
:
admitted to the
royal huntings, to the private amusements, and even the do-
mestic relaxations of the king, and was taken into confidence
in his
and
it
most important
may
councils.
At this
time, says Plutarch,
well be believed after the revolutions and violence
that had just passed over,
—there were many innovations and
changes in progress with respect to the court and the royal
friends,
tocles
and considerable jealousy was
on the part of
men
them
to the king.
such an occasion that the Athenian,
by Thucydides, was
towards Themis-
of dignity, as presuming to
free observations respecting
us
felt
in
his
who
proper
characteristics indeed that are specified
is
It
make
was on
characterised for
element
by the
;
and the
historian are
given as explanatory of the influence that he acquired with
Artaxerxes.
absolutely
'
For Themistocles,' he says,
what
is
displayed most
the force of natural endowment, and was
in this respect conspicuously
admiration.
'
more than another worthy of
For by native intelligence, and independently of
either previous or occasional information to assist
on briefest
deliberation
1
it,
he formed
the soundest judgment respecting
Plut. Them. 28.
—
THEMISTOCLES AT MAGNESIA.
xxvm.]
they occurred at the instant, and no
as
affairs
was most excellent
respect to the future
was
361
He was
likeliest to ensue.
any business he had
judgment
as to
to a matter that
in hand,
less
with
in forecasting
what
capable of giving- account of
and did not
was
of an apt
fail
what he was without experience
in
and as
;
in a state of obscurity, he, at least,
still
foresaw what would be for the better and what for the worse.
To sum the whole, by the
force of his genius
study he was the ablest of
men
and by rapidity of
to decide on a sudden
what
was necessary to be ^one.'
How
parative
independence,
Maeander, and of
us to
to
find,
assume
as
governor of Magnesia
which extended, as
—even
was assigned
— Lampsacus
in
the
surprises
it
revenue of
him with
bread, and
with condiment,
fish,
In barbaric
his
it
—that
Myus, on
with
is,
for
salt
which
was more preeminently celebrated
own, scarcely a generation
same
in the
fifty talents
on the Hellespont with wine,
Thucydides implies that
Perkote
its
to supply
a gulf abounding in
in that day than
the
Myus, intermediate on the seaboard
to
formula, Magnesia, with
relish,
on
perhaps only because the Persian chose
between revolted Miletus and adjacent Mycale.
year,
com-
his dismissal ultimately to
its district,
— but
so,
and admiration he
were the confidence
complete
commanded was proved by
neighbourhood with
later,
bedding,
and
Palaeskepsis in Aeolis with wardrobe.
There would seem to have been some particular purpose
in furnishing
him with
occasions for authoritative visits at
widely separated points on the frontier.
Mention occurs of
some ill-feeling on the part of a Persian, Epixyes, Satrap of
Upper Phrygia, abutting on these northern
grants, of such
rancour and so dangerous that Themistocles ascribed his escape
to divine favour,
a fane of
and founded
in
acknowledgment
at
Magnesia
Dindymene, mother of the Gods, of which he mad*
1
Thucyd.
i.
139.
3G2
his daughter
he was in
i
here he
—a
HISTORY OF GREECE.
[cijap.
On
another occasion
Mnesiptolema
peril at Sardis
came upon
;
priestess.
in the
temple of the Great Mother
a bronze figure of a
Kore hydrophorus
— two
maiden with a pitcher
cubits high, spoil taken from
Athens, where he himself had dedicated
it
when he
presided
over the water supply, from the fines of fraudulent abstractors.
His suggestion, prompted
by whatever motive,
esting one however interpreted,
to restore
it,
—that he
—an
inter-
should be allowed
aroused indignation which he only pacified by
conciliating with the aid of bribes the indirect interposition
At
of the occupants, probably Ionian, of a Persian harem.
Magnesia
he remained in wealth and dignity, amidst a
Much
numerous family.
of his property in Greece had been
saved by timely transfer to Argos, and some was even trans-
mitted to him from Athens by his friends, in evasion of the
general confiscation of
an enormous sum.
all
that could be attached there
Such friendship was
perilous,
—
and
still
it is
disagreeable to find on record that Epicrates the Acharnian
was even put to death, and that too at the instance of Cimon, for
having aided the escape of his wife and children. It would
be a poor extenuation that they were regarded and retained
as hostages for the dangerous exile.
Political rancour of this
stamp was of bad example, and bore
time,
when
fatal fruits at a later
the resentment of such an exile as Alcibiades was
envenomed by the execution of
his adherents
and
friends.
So long as Themistocles was known to survive,
his life
and
possible action could scarcely be left out of political considera-
tion at
Athens;
promises he
may
it
is
observable, however, that
once have held out at Susa, there
or slightest indication, between his
death, of
for
it,
any renewal of Persian
against Greece.
The
arrival
whatever
is
no hint
there and his
ag-gressiveness, or preparation
persistence of his favour notwith-
standing, would almost of necessity imply that his counsels had
been given and had weight in favour of a purely defensive
policy on this frontier, where attempts to recover full
command
PERSIAN FRONTIER POLICY.
xxviii.]
363
of the coasts and islands were manifestly futile, unless
all
the
consequences were to be accepted of reviving the disastrous
projects of Xerxes, not to say of Darius, against Europe.
Apart
from such designs, which in any case demanded reconstruction
of a powerful
fleet,
there was no better frontier for Persia
than an interior
after all
and semi-Hellenic
line of Hellenic
towns contented, as we have found was the case with Phaselis,
to be at peace
and to pay
or Hellenic satraps.
It
whether through Persian
tribute,
was by such representations that
Alcibiades at a later date reconciled Tissaphernes to favouring
— on
the Athenians against the Lacedaemonians
that
if
the ground
they were allowed to have their way with the
on the coast they would even help the Great King
cities
to his
with the inland Greeks, and might be trusted to have no
designs to penetrate
further.
]
His countrymen may be considered to have made some
reparation
position,
Themistocles,
to
they
when,
brought
never
whether ostracised at Argos or
Asia,
with any
really
Athens or Hellas.
assigned to about 460
resuming active
b.
at
activity
in
against
in
either
is
c, at a time when Athens was again
hostilities at
have been voluntary.
him,
credit
the age of sixty-five,
Cyprus and
Egypt, and
in
thought to have occurred too opportunely
to
equivocal
his
to
and proscribed
exiled
treasonable
His death,
despite
themselves
for his
Thucydides concludes
course of nature, but
still
it
was
honour not
for his death
records the report that
he
destroyed himself in despair of being able to perform what
he had promised to the Great King against the Greeks.
Another report that he places on record
that
it
same time,
at the
was by Themistocles' own command that
his relatives
secretly transported his bones to the soil of Attica, harmonises
better with those versions of his death that ascribe
inability, but
1
Thuc.
to unwillingness to injure his
3
viii.
46.
2
it,
not to
country.
Diod. xi
57.
The
HISTORY OF GREECE.
364
story that the
mode
of his death was
by a draught of
bull's
blood at a solemn sacrifice seems derived in some recondite
manner from a traditional rite of his tribe of Lycomidae.
Such a draught was the test of the priestess of Ge ( = GaiaThemis of the Prometheus Vinctus) at Gaius in Arcadia,
'
where
it
seems implied that death ensued on a
false oath.
Compare, however, another Persian instance, but 2 compulsory.
With
'
Aristophanes,
who alludes to
to die like Themistocles'
That even
at
is
this
form of his catastrophe,
3
to imitate the noblest of models.
Magnesia he had not been inactive
boasted faculty of making cities prosperous,
the magnificent
monument
raised for
the midst of the agora, as
if to
is
intimated by
him by the
a second
in his
citizens in
founder, and
by
the honours which were continued there to his descendants
through long generations.
1
Paus.
vii.
2
25. 8.
3
Herod,
iii.
Arist. Equit. 84.
15,
and Creuzer's
note.
a
CHAPTEE
THE SEVENTY-NINTH OLYMPIAD.
XXIX.
— CORINTHIAN
AND RHODIAN
VICTORS.
The
year after the death of Xerxes
War
—brought
—the
second of the
round at midsummer (464 b. c.) the
seventy-ninth Olympic festival, and of some of its incidents
Thasian
we have
authentic illustrations that most happily supply certain
social characteristics
which are all-important
for the apprecia-
For two of the victors on
tion of the period.
this occasion,
Diogoras of Rhodes and Xenophon of Corinth, Pindar composed epinician odes that have come down to us entire, and
for the latter
left
—
a scolion of which the fragments
are even more important and
—
all
that are
interesting.
Xenophon, of the noble family of Oligaethadae, gained
success unprecedented
the pentathlon
his father forty years before
;
in the foot race,
epithet for
and Pindar opens
the family
'
his
in Sicily
had been victor
ode with the proud
Thrice-Olympian-victoried.'
instance furnishes a conspicuous example
abundance of others
in all parts of Hellas proper
— of hereditary
This
—but only one among
and even
distinction in the games, in the case
of families of high social and even political importance.
it is
still
too
But
more interesting as preserving intimations of the
interior characteristics of Corinth at this time,
know
—
— the double victory of the stadium and
little
;
as indeed
how
little
do we
endlessly varied characteristics of the inner
life
of which
know
we
of the
of any of the
HISTORY OF GREECE.
3GG
numberless Greek
Corinth was always
except Athens.
cities
the most influential of the Peloponnesian
true
sympathy of Dorian
manners and pursuits
;
race,
allies of Sparta,
by
though most contrasted
in
she was very soon to be the most
power of Athens
active of the agitators against the
very great extent
consequence of points
in
unfortunately diverted
A
gleam of light
[chap.
irritating
to
flashed for a
is
—
to a
of agreement
and
contact
collision.
moment by Pindar
into
the deep obscurity of a busy, energetic, and luxurious social
system, and
we
bound
are
to
in the interests of history.
make
its
In his two poems
victories at different celebrations,
are presented to our view
the most of
—two
two
revelations
same
for the
sides of Corinthian life
aspects that are in
more than
Doric and Ionic contrast.
Corinth was
still
at this time, as of yore, aristocratic, and
in the enjoyment of the prolonged tranquillity
was ever disposed
Best.'
Justice, Order,
he asserts
for her
city,
the
under presidency of the Seasons, the Horae,
Hesiod, under ethical
titles
as they
had already been by
— Dike, Eunomia, Eirene—though
without forfeiting their epithet of the
To the
'
and Peace are the characteristics that
which are personified by him,
still
which Pindar
with the predominance of
to associate
many-flowered.'
'
influence of these goddesses are due the wealth of the
the virtues that triumph in the games, and the ingenuity
that originates novelty alike in the aesthetic and the useful
arts.
The poet
cites as
examples of Corinthian inventiveness,
such as her citizens assert the value of in their taunts to
the stationary
J
Spartans, the dithyramb which Arion had
commenced when
in favour at the Court of Periander
;
im-
provements in the harness of horses, and the decoration of the
expanded wing-like pediment
the
2
— the
aetoma
— of the
temples
Thucydides credits them with the invention of
of the Gods.
Intellectual, poetical, warlike,
trireme.
1
Thuc.
i.
70.
-
lb.
gymnic
i.
13.
distinc-
CHARACTERISTICS OF CORINTH.
xxix.]
tions
are
ascribed
all
goddesses of
all
The Seasons
ment.
to
the
established
inspired
order and
prompting of the
beauteous develop-
conjoint natural and ethical
their
in
3G7
by the Greeks not unfrequently with
aspects are interchanged
the Moirai, the Fates, or are associated with them as correla-
change and
tive expressions of the ultimate energies of all
movement
;
and
therefore highly probable that they are
it is
to be identified with the Moirai
whom
ciated with the nature goddesses
Demeter and Kore
Pausanias finds assoin theiu
temple on Acrocorinthus, where the priestesses had a faculty
of divination
by dreams.
The usual mythical example of the
qualities that are cele-
brated in the victor
is
of the Isthmus.
was he who invented the
the bit
—the
which in
his
It
in this case Bellerophon, son of the
very condition of any effective horsemanship
head of Athene on the obverse
—the Athene
to Pausanias
was
;
this
coins,
with the
knowledge came to him
dream which he invited by couching near the
Athene
;
hands was equal to controlling even the winged
Pegasus, the favourite type of Corinthian
in a
god
bridle, or rather
altar of
Chalinitis doubtless of the fane
on this spot.
This mode
known
of consulting the gods
chiefly resorted to for suggestion of cures for diseases,
and hence the poet
equestrian philtre.'
the bridle
calls
'
a mild medicament,'
'
an
After recounting the achievements and
then the fate of Bellerophon, Pindar recurs to the catalogue
of victories of the family of Xenophon, and ends with a gracefully covert injunction
—
itself
a flattery
—to
moderation and
modesty.
But even
missed
so
we should
still
miss the point
—
it
has been
of the parallel of Bellerophon, but for regard to indi-
cations that survive in the fragmentary scolion.
it
as
—
From
these
appears that Xenophon, like his heroic antitype, ascribed
his victory to suggestions of a goddess,
and
like
ledged the favour by a sacred celebration;
him acknow-
while that the
goddess was not Athene, but Aphrodite, explains a retia
HISTORY OF GREECE
368
that befits Kpinician dignity,
[chap.
though the circumstances could
not but be notorious to the audience of the ode and be recognised as pointing the aptness of
Corinth was wealthy above
its allusions.
all
through, the advantage of
her situation, where in closest connection between two seas she
West
held between East and
the gates of commerce, which
some land
willingly avoided, even at the cost of
long and dangerous sea route round Cape
'
carriage, the
The
Malea.
of strangers, of mariners, of wealth on travel, of
ment
influx
wayfaring
brought into importance in this Dorian city an
licentiousness,'
institution
'
which
is
not paralleled even at Athens
— the attach-
of vast numbers of female hierodules to the temple of
Aphrodite as consecrated ministers and contributaries to her
To the prayers
revenues.
of such a tribe to their patroness
did the Corinthian State resort, and
mitting obligation for the repulse
intercession and their participation
not shrink from ad-
Mede.
of the
at a
solemn
represented in a dedicated picture, and Simonides
renowned contemporary poet
inscription
elegiac
that
in this quality
has come
down
Their
were
sacrifice
— the most
— furnished
to
To
now with
us.
goddess had Xenophon addressed himself, and
the
this
his
double Olympic crowns evinced his gratitude by a festive
sacrifice,
and therewith the dedicated
of these ministrants.
Pindar,
who
services of one
is
of Simonides, writes the scolion for the occasion
ever, be it said,
;
not,
how-
without introducing very decided expressions
to the effect that, after all allowance
to accept
hundred
only taking the place
made
for those
a necessity gracefully, the task
who have
he had himself
undertaken was embarrassing and incongruous enough, and
craved almost equal indulgence.
These were the contingencies that, according to Strabo,
explained the
Horace,
— that
Greek metrical proverb,
— more
familiar
in
Corinth was not a city to be visited by every
Strabo.
ARISTOCRATIC ATHLETICISM.
xxix.]
With what
man.
persistency such characteristics clung to
the locality, even after the desolatingit, is
known from
well
Roman had
l
Christianised.
Rhodian Diagoras at the same
victory of the
was gained
passed over
the injunctions and warnings which
were most urgently demanded by Corinth
The
369
in the pugilism of
men; he was
grandfather of Olympian victors
—his
festival
son, father,
Thucy-
Olympiads.
victor, as pancratiast, in three successive
introduces a reference to the occasion of his
dides
and
son Dorieus was even
second
victory as useful for defining a date.
Diagoras belonged to the Heracleid families that had once
ruled at Rhodes with kingly power, and
political
in
the
and Dorieus
into the
alluded to
is
found in a military
is
war
Peloponnesian
after
the
island
had
"When fortune of war threw
joined the enemies of Athens.
him
retained certain
His father Damagetus
predominance.
as in a leading position,
command
still
power of the exasperated and seldom lenient
Athenians, he owed his
life
—
was said
so at least it
— as much
to the admiration of his magnificent frame in presence before
them
as to the glory of his
It
only
is
Aegina, that
2
deeds.
among Dorians, as of Corinth, Rhodes, or
we still meet with men of birth, position,
and power taking
this personal
physical strength and
stage of civilisation
now
concernment in contests of
which seems out of place
at the
attained by Hellas, whatever
might
skill,
be the case in the simplicity of antiquity, in the contests at
the funeral games of Patroclus, or at the court of Alcinous.
In one respect the
more
refined, for
civilisation of
we
Homer seems
observe that he
is
even a degree
careful to
commit
to
the rough hazards of the pugilism in which Diagoras ex-
only personages so utterly unimportant or secondary
as Epeius and Euryalus. The prizes of this contest are the
celled,
most insignificant of
1
I
Cor.
vi.
all
— the
victor has only a
'
13, 20.
Bb
Pau*-
vi
mule
7-
5-
;
and
—
HISTORY OF GREECE.
370
this contest alone does the poet allow sympathies to be
in
seriously disappointed, as
about so coarse a conflict
if
in rebuke for their
— the
engagement
victory being given, with a
certain contemptuousness, to a boaster
and a bully.
Pausanias found the statue of Diagoras at Olympia, by a
leading sculptor, Callicles of Megara, and with
group of victors
the beautiful seventh Olympic
it
an entire
Pindar composed for him
of his family.
all
Ode, which was afterwards
seen set up in letters of gold in the temple of Athene at
Lindus in Rhodes.
Although
as well as
at present not only popularly, but
by Pindar, the cultured perfection of the bodily
frame could be taken as presumption of
all
refinement, voices
that
of Xenophanes
had already been
particularly
race-course, too
ticular contest to
much
the virtues and
raised in
— against
the
Greece
excessive
valued for the sake of the par-
have regard to any purpose beyond, and the
primary justification of the system
frustrate.
all
Training became, as on the
glorification of athletic prowess.
modern
by Herodotus
Euripides,
who was
fell
out of view and was
of such age as to have been
born at Salamis sixteen years before our
date,
on the very day
of the battle in which Aeschylus was a warrior, and for which
Sophocles, as a beautiful youth, sang the paean to the lyre,
was soon
to denounce the pride of the athlete in terms as sour
and severe as those which were echoed afterwards by philosophers, statesmen,
1
vol.
and l physicians.
Eurip. frag. Autohjc.
tuend.
;
Plato de Rep.
iii.
410
;
Arist. Pol. viii. 3
;
Galen de
—
—
CHAPTER
THE RISE OF PERICLES.
XXX.
— REVOLT
OF THE HELOTS.
SURRENDER OF THASOS.
B.C. 464-3.
The
brilliant victories of
he brought
that
Cimon, the additional subsidies
from new confederates, to contribute,
in
together with the spoils of enemies, to the riches and em-
bellishment of the city, went far to complete an influence
already fostered by his popular manners and lavish employ-
ment
of his
own
great wealth.
So
it
was that he threatened
and among those
who were driven in consecmence on new demagogic arts, were
some who would perhaps have preferred to aid the conserto
'
*
out-demagogue
vation of whatever
still
retained,
might
own emergence
'
his political rivals
aristocratical
this only be
to power.
;
elements the constitution
done consistently with their
Such was
especially the position
of Pericles, of distinguished birth, but
who
as son of
Xan-
thippus, the prosecutor of Miltiades, might find himself of
necessity on the side of the opponents of his son.
at present only gradually
meanwhile
coming
to the front, but
He was
working
influentially in the councils of a party of
he was content
which
for a time to leave to others the ostensible
and perhaps invidious guidance.
1
It
Plut. Pericles, 9.
B b 2
was
his
policy, indeed,
HISTORY OF GREECE.
372
even after
[chap.
eminence was declared, and partly
his
was be-
it
lieved from his apprehension of the catastrophe of ostracism
which ever threatened an Athenian statesman, to work
in a
ciation with others and hold himself in reserve for special
Political
occasions.
ever a task
management had now become more than
The Athenian
and danger also.
of delicacy
dermis had assumed a self-consciousness and a self-will which
made
who hoped
a necessity for one
it
power to reckon with
character,
having
own
its
as
it
a
to rise to political
personal
passions,
entity of special
and aims that were ever
acquiring more positive and resolute definition.
urgently than in the case of Solon did
aspirant to legislative influence to consider
of the best he
well
go
the
what proportion
possible
for as
insight as to extend this proportion
political
into
to
more
;
was
it
he combined with administrative ability such true
if
of his
might venture
Still
now behove
it
own
character,
the
assentation,
by the
force
and were spared the weak descent
lazy
adoption
of only
much
so
of
the desirable as was easiest, or unprincipled furtherance of
whatever would carry most favour at the hour.
Cimon, on
his part, seems to
have trusted too much to the
power of popularity when opposed
and to have been
little
had been
his master
set
by
to a popular
movement,
disposed to pursue the example which
and colleague, Aristides, of con-
ceding a chang*e which had become inevitable, and so at least
gaining an opportunity to qualify
if
not to control
it.
En-
couraged by his successes and personal favour, he stood firm
on his
political lines,
and prepared to defend a policy which
was the reverse of popular, and a
consequences of his
to discredit.
At
political
own proceedings were
this very time he
theory that the
naturally tending
was engaged
as a
com-
mander in promoting a change of relations between Athens
and her
allies
which gradually impaired the cordial under-
standing with Sparta which he had most at heart, and at
the same time so stimulated the pride of the demus as to
xxx.]
CIMON AM) THE DEMOCRACY.
make them
ever more and
more
restive
373
under restrictions
which he would himself have preferred rather to tighten than
relax.
As
fear of the barbarian declined, the confederates
ment of
Aristides, the price of their rescue
safety, intolerably
began
and then the burdens of the
find, first the obligations
irksome
;
those
and continued
who were bound
sonal service on shipboard, to supply crews to their
Athenian
were especially
ships,
more unwilling
to give
life
to per-
own
or
and became ever
recalcitrant,
up the ease of
to
assess-
on land, and the
tranquil pursuit of wealth, in industries never so profitable
as on a recovery of security after war.
To Cimon Plutarch
assigns the origination of the policy of accepting composifirst in unmanned ships and then in
money payments which would always provide crews, and
tion for personal service,
those more entirely under Athenian control.
in fact, taken in rotation
selves,
who
from among the Athenians them-
thus with liberal pay acquired maritime habits
and warlike
discipline, in every
who sunk unawares
treatment
Crews were,
into the
of subjects and
money payments
way
at the expense of allies
position and experienced the
servants.
the
Disputes as to
before long involved state prosecutions, and
compulsion which was sometimes so severely administered as
to aggravate the already serious discontents.
In the mean-
time every Athenian oarcinan, every artisan
in
the
dock-
yards of the Peiraeus was acquiring the self-consciousness
of a unit in an imperial state; and every trireme that
the national port carried
tension of the
new empires
x
will
men who had
marine, and indulged, as the
and sometimes
left
risen with the ex-
new men
brutally, in the
of
demeanour
of superiority.
The
reaction on
advancing
spirit
home
politics at
of pride
1
and
Athens of
this constant ly
independence,
Xen. Rep. A
then.
soon
led
to
HISTORY OF GREECE.
374
merely to shake
agitation not
off restraints,
the immediate control of affairs and in
The
its
but to share in
appropriate rewards.
might be
of administration
efficiency
[chap.
become
liable to
impaired by the changes so induced, but in this case, from
the temper of the times, even any
corrective
policy could
scarcely but involve a further concession to democracy.
seems to have been a
were soon to induce capital constitutional changes, that
seriously affected the position
his liberalities as well
single
as his
services,
and so rendered a
politics for
commutations
for
service were already
accumulating at Athens the surplus treasure which was
wards to supply a fund
now
ments, and Pericles,
to
citizens.
It
the
to
acting in conjunction with Ephialtes,
might be
drawn upon
fairly
enjoyments of her so well-deserving
was apparently by the
—of the payment
after-
magnificent public monu-
for her
to declare that it
first
contribute
him
disaster.
Tribute and the
was the
first
which Cimon had gained by
bis conduct of external
reverse in
an irretrievable
It
on some of the questions which
conflict
institution of the theoricon,
to poorer citizens to enable
them
to partici-
pate in the national festivities of the Panathenaea and the
Dionysia,—that a system was commenced which had the
most important and gravest
at least countervailed the
probably committed
results,
and in the meantime
private donations of Cimon, and
him
to
unpopular opposition.
Since
the erection of a costly stone theatre in place of earlier and
more simple accommodation, a charge of two obols had been
made
for seats,
shut out
which, small as
many on
body they seemed
to
periodical theatrical
it
may
when
seem, was sufficient to
members of the ruling
have every right to be present. The
occasions
as
entertainments were a chief part of a
public celebration at a sacred Dionysiac festival
their
:
whether
in
comic or tragic manifestations, they were addressed
most immediately
to the
same public sympathies and
interests
that agitated the political assembly, and the democratic spirit
;
xxx.]
INSTITUTION OF THE TIIEORICON.
375
A
payment
required that the audience should be the same.
by the
of the admission
state
reality but
money
of the poor was in
a circuitous form of public subvention to
expenses of the theatre,
—the condition which,
has too certainly proved indispensable
in
the
for
the
modern times
prolonged
maintenance of either the poetical or the musical drama at the
The poor
highest standard.
citizens
in effect admitted free to the theatre,
by
this assistance were
on the same principle
that they might participate in the sight of a costly national
procession through the open streets, or in the enjoyment of
public parks, or gardens, or porticoes, of which, the expense
had been defrayed out of either foreign tribute or the home
taxation which only touched classes above them.
That the
multitude should be allowed such an enjoyment at a reduced
even gratis,
cost, or
is
in itself no
more of an anomaly than
that they should walk cost free past a noble building or
through a gallery of pictures.
We
are destitute of precise information
extensions
successive
of
of
this
principle
right or wrong, distinctly states that
it
as to the dates
;
but Plutarch,
furnished one of the
instruments by which Pericles and Ephialtes were enabled to
make head against Cimon, and
the example of
its
application
the theoricon appears to be
which has
least connection
with movements that occurred after the party victory was
This victory was not long to be delayed, and was
decided.
due at
last to the collapse of
with Sparta
;
Cimon's policy of a close alliance
events were already in progress to vindicate the
who mistrusted it all along as a delusion
The Thasians were not reduced till 463 B.C.
the previous year, the fourth of King Archidamus,
sagacity of those
and a
in
snare.
they were
to
still
sanguine of
Thucydides, that the
to render
would
was
it
relief,
on the ground, according
Spartans had distinctly promised
by the invasion of Attica, which
infallibly cause the siege to be
still
in force
and was
raised.
to continue for
it
was believed
The
tradition
some time longer,
—
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
376
[chap.
that the delivery of one strong blow by Sparta in a short
expedition in the interval of her festivals would
to
suffice
redress a grievance and assert the respect due to her authority
even considerably later a mere threat, or certainly a demon-
was expected to constrain
stration of an intention to invade,
The
a reversal of Athenian policy.
Athens
for
the results
of
year
a
still
statement of the
two onward
or
that
historian,
them
and
relations of Sparta
agree
with
the
not the negotiations,
if
were very successfully kept
certainly,
secret.
Whatever may have been the
form of their promise
precise
or the value of their intention now, the collision that was to
come more
furiously,
and
fatally, hereafter,
was deferred by a
catastrophe which gave the Spartans full occupation at home,
and which, by involving them as one of
ten years' war, within their
ence,
w as
T
to
own
its
consequences in a
borders and for very exist-
accustom them perforce to sustained
efforts.
Their country was wrecked by an earthquake more terrible
than had ever been known, and the city of Sparta
the centre of the convulsion
:
itself
chasms opened in the
was
valley,
vast masses were detached from the impending summits of
Taygetus
slips,
;
of the city shaken
down
houses at most were
five
overwhelmed by land-
or
left
standing,
record; large numbers perished, and
and lamentable accident a
structive
youths were crushed to death by the
which they were exercising.
tress
and
by one
Even
—such
is
the
peculiarly de-
great assemblage of
fall
of the building in
in the midst of this dis-
disorder, the apprehensions of the ruling class
were
turned to a peril which was always with them, and never more
threateningly than of late since the treason of Pausanias
the helots.
And
with good reason
:
when Arehidamus
tened to give the signal by trumpet
citizens at once
from
all
occupation in salvage of lives or
goods, and they mustered instantly under arms,
moment
too soon
;
has-
that withdrew the
it
was not a
the helots were already collecting in the
REVOLT OF THE UK LOTS.
xxx.]
377
surrounding country, and preparing to surprise their tyrannous
By
masters in the midst of their trouble and confusion.
promptitude of the king they were
but
it
and had to
foiled
was only to commence a struggle that was
the
retire,
to last for
ten years.
The
helot class were
the Messenians,
1
slavery
whom
chiefly,
;
it
is
for
most part descendants of
the
the Dorian conquest had reduced to
of the lower and inferior
possible,
classes of the Messenians,
who may not have enjoyed
full
privileges even before the conquest, while ages of studit d
repression since
had imbruted them
still
further
:
but strength
was infused into their cause by the sympathy and accession
and Anthea espe-
of Messenians and the perioeci of Thouriae
This class enjoyed a restricted franchise in their seve-
cially.
ral townships,
Spartiats.
but was subordinated
and had oppressions of
its
in every respect to the
own
complain
to
was most important now, they had experience and
of;
what
discipline
from having served in the Persian war not only as light-
armed but
as hoplites.
became a revival of the
acropolis
—the
lost cause of
it
precipitous
hill
might be
in origin,
Aristodemus, a struggle
Messenian nationality
for the recovery of
stamped with
First or last the war,
the character of a helot insurrection as
the old Messenian
:
of Ithome
— crowned
by the
temple of Zeus Ithomatns, was seized and obstinately maintained
;
and later history, following Thucydides,
vicissitudes of the third
Messenian war.
relates the
The courage
insurgents was roused and sustained by a confidence
of the
in divine
support, which even the Spartans could not pretend to disallow
as
unnatural and
unauthorised.
An
earthquake was the
appropriate sign of the power and anger of Poseidon, the
earth-shaking
god
of
Homer, and
of this
god the most
venerated sanctuary, at Taenaron, had been grossly violated
by them
in
the
persons of vainly
suppliant
helots.
His
severe visitation of the indignity was recognised through1
Time.
i.
ioi.
—
;
HISTORY OF GREECE.
378
out Hellas, and while
siasm,
roused
it
was not without
[chap.
in unnerving
effect
enthu-
insurgents to
the
even Spartan
confidence.
To provoke the
hostility of
out of the question;
Athens at such a time was
was much
it
if
the secret treaty could
be kept a secret, and the Thasians in consequence were
to their fate.
ditions; their
left
In 463 B.C. they surrendered on hard connavy was given up, their walls demolished,
payment was
a large immediate
by an estimate of inability
to
probably
exacted, decided
pay, without the irony, not
exclusively modern, of reference to formally calculated ex-
penses of the war
a tribute
and a future annual, subsidy
;
— was assessed
:
lastly, the islanders
— now
rather
had to cede the
mines wdrich were the immediate origin of the dispute, and
possessions
their
on the mainland.
Of
l
these
mentions Galepsus and Oesyme as Thasian, and
Stryme further eastward on the
renowned
exile,
—
is
mines.
for all
coast
;
Thucydides
2
Herodotus
and Scapte Hyle,
time as the retirement of Thucydides in
noted as especially valuable for productive gold
Festus mentions
derivation of the local
its silver
mines
also,
name from mining.
of Scapte Hyle, or Scaptensula of
Roman
and observes the
The exact
writers,
is
situation
uncertain
but the influence which Thucydides speaks of as possessed by
himself in the neighbourhood of Amphipolis, implies that his
Another
gold works were not remote from the Strymon.
important station on this coast was Daton, more directly
over ag-ainst Thasos, and which, according to Leake, com-
mands an
eastern pass only second in importance
westward
at
3
Strabo ascribes to
transferred
and
rivers,
in
it
and docks,
Thuc.
iv.
107.
to that
fragment
of
advantages of which some are perhaps
error from
Nine Ways, and
— made
2
Herod,
Ei'on,
peculiarly valuable
timber available at hand, in addition to
1
A
Nine Ways (Amphipolis).
vii.
108.
fertile
3
—
its lake,
by the ship
plains
and
Strabo, 331. 36.
SURRENDER OF
xxx.]
The expedition
lucrative gold mines.
had come
TIIASOS.
to the
379
Strymon, which
to ruin so disastrous at Drabescus, is connected by-
Herodotus with Daton, and probably made this
base of operations in advancing- inland; for
its
it
immediate
is
precisely
between Daton and Drabescus that were situated the mines
which Philip of Macedon found afterwards so
which gave occasion to
profitable,
and
his founding his city, so celebrated in
story sacred and profane, of Philippi.
It seems therefore ascertained that the
extended to taking possession of these mines
command
of the
entire district
also,
and gaining
between the Strymon and
Daton, including the beautiful and
The
Athenian scheme
fertile valley of Phyllis.
defeat at Drabescus had not only checked encroachments
in this direction, but crippled, if
the intended settlement at
it
did not for the time defeat,
Ennea Hodoi
;
and the Athenians,
disappointed by the failure of Leogrus at Daton, were in a
temper to be discontented with Cimon that he had not made
upTor
it
by
acquisitions in the neighbourhood of the Strymon,
at the expense not' merely of Thracians but of Macedonia.
Whatever gains he might have brought home from the
subjection of Thasos, the popular greed for mines was comparatively disappointed
neglected an
;
it
was objected to him that he had
opportunity of wresting from Alexander of
Macedon some
metalliferous districts
— the
that Herodotus speaks of as adjacent to
Nine Ways.
waited
for,
permitted
A
were
if
same doubtless
Lake Pratinas above
pretext would not be wanting if
it
it
need be
only in imputed consequential damage by
not open aid to rebels
:
that he had foregone
such an opportunity was ascribed to his reception of bribes
from the Macedonian king, and upon this very serious, and
indeed
l
capital charge, he
Athens then, no
less
was put upon
his defence.
At
than at Lacedaemon, a grudge against
in
even a successful commander found a convenient opening
Plut. Pericles, 10.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
380
[chap.
the accusation that he had held his hand too soon, and in
ascribing- the lapse,
whether truly such or not, to the influence
of corruption rather than of prudent moderation, or at most
The
to the astuter diplomacy of his opponents.
was apt
injustice
no inconsiderable proportion
to be serious:
demus was
of the Athenian
recoil of this
in after years to be detained
Nicias before Syracuse, again st his
most of
to a miserable catastrophe, from his conviction that
who were then
those
by
own better judgment, and
loudest for the necessity of retirement
would, at home, be clamorous in ascribing
it
to his acceptance
of bribes from the enemy.
Pericles
was at
least popularly
party of the accusers of Cimon,
if,
regarded as attached to the
as Plutarch records, he
one of the publicly appointed prosecutors
set
down
;
— that
She
appeal to him.
Her
ners, along
— convicted
he was the most vio-
who made
intercession of Elpinice, sister of Cimon,
names come up
was
safely
himself has a tale of the not ineffectual
for Plutarch
affairs.
may
but we
mere inference of the biographer
as a
moreover on his own showing
lent
;
a personal
one of the few Athenian ladies whose
is
in anecdotes of
any kind, much
less of public
distinguished beauty and perhaps her
own man-
with the notorious youthful laxity of Cimon, were
sufficient to set afloat the scandal,
which the comedian Eupolis
found amusing, that there was more than fraternal love
between them
she was however only his half
:
several examples in
Greek history of the time,
comes before us in the royal family of Sparta,
connection.
women,
in the picture
the Poecile stoa.
beautiful,' says
certainly he pays the
is
one
among
left
many
traces in
the captive Trojan
with which he gratuitously decorated
She was
Homer,
which
The Thasian painter
Polygnotus, whose attachment to Cimon
his art, introduced her portrait
and
instance
—prove that such
relationship did not preclude lawful marriage,
recorded version of the
sister,
—an
'
his
model
for Laodice,
'
the most
of the daughters of Priam,' though
same compliment elsewhere to Cas-
INDICTMENT OF CIMON.
xxx.]
sandra; but
it
were hard indeed
an admiring- painter
less the
is
if
381
such a compliment from
to be urged as even the support,
ground, of a disparaging imputation.
much
Pericles set
aside the appeal with a verse of rather obscure pertinence,
which
it
is
to be
hoped was intended and understood as a
compliment, though
it
scarcely sounds so.
CHAPTER
EPHIALTES AND THE DEMOCRACY.
XXXI.
ATHENIANS BEFORE ITHOME.
CIMON OSTRACISED.
B.C. 461.
The indictment
failed
and Cimon was acquitted.
was more indulgent than Elpinice had
he supported the accusers, but by a
from her reception;
What we
and that a markedly perfunctory speech.
single
Pericles
perhaps anticipated
read of the defence of
Cimon himself seems
to
imply that he
He
had had some personal intercourse with Alexander.
appealed to the dicasts whether
it
was
attach to himself wealthy foreign hosts
lians
—
as
known way
—Ionians
was the manner of others who found
pense in services and
self-restrained
were
his
gifts,
and not rather
Lacedaemonians
spoils captured
;
to
or Thessa-
their recom-
to the simpler
and
the riches which he valued
from an enemy,
—
their application, to
contribute to the adornment of the city.
The
latter refer-
ence was a proud allusion to the places of public resort, the
gardens and porticoes laid out with elegance and always open,
to
which at his own instance the
largely devoted, which
city,
spoils of
Mycale had been
became a marked characteristic of the
and of snch popularity that the love of frequenting them
had important influence on the habits of Athenian
may even be
said
life,
and
it
on the development of Athenian philosophy.
THE POLICY OF EPHIALTE8
The same fund had
supplied the cost
383
completing the south
of*
wall of the acropolis.
Satisfied with his civic
victory over his accusers, Cinion
was before long again absent from Athens on an expedition
many
of which, as of so
But the party
culars remain.
idle
others during this period, no partiof his opponents had not been
during his absence, and the success with which they
could avail themselves of
it
goes far to prove that the
for-
bearance of Pericles in the prosecution might be due to consciousness of strength that could afford to be magnanimous.
The most ardent and
active
promoter of change at this
Under which
time was Ephialtes.
of the
many
influences
that dissolve the alliances of politicians he had renounced
his
former connection with Cimon does not
breach was certainly serious and
been one of the
first
He
final.
among Athenian
appear;
the
seems to have
politicians
who
per-
ceived the advantage of uninterrupted presence at the centre
of political action.
battle
of Mycale,
l
"We
read how, at some time after the
he sailed unmolested beyond the Cheli-
donian islands with a squadron of thirty ships, as Pericles
on another occasion with
fifty,
but this
is
the only notice that
occurs of his holding a command.
He evidently united with
an energetic and even passionate character the sagacity to
discern at
what point an
old established system
might be
assailed not only with success, but with the best promise of
a series of successes afterwards.
There
is
of Ephialtes
very strong presumption that the great attack
upon the Areopagus dates
several
years later;
but intermediately, though at uncertain dates, very considerable reductions, probably due to his influence and exertions,
had been made in the authority of the archons, the
and other magistracies,
of appointment
by
—
especially through the substitution
lot instead of
1
council,
by
election.
Plut. Oim. 13.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
384
[chap.
Plutarch asserts that the great stroke against the Areo-
pagus had been delivered already, as
though
change;
But Cimon
evidence.
that
clearness
back upon
its
tions even
still
recent
course,
serious,
was already notice
there
of
necessity involve innova-
and he did not
;
The
spirit of the
turned
be
some of which no doubt
from a
flinch
But
resolute attempt to stand in the gap.
avail.
could
legislation
must of
it
more
stand against counter
any case may have recognised with
in
unless
by one comprehensive
if
scarcely
will
this
it
was without
time was too strong for him, and such
legislation under such circumstances ever proves irreversible
mould
Foiled, however, in his enueavour to
policy,
he had a
brilliant,
gleam of success
fallacious,
though as
reached
taxing
for assistance
Pericleidas
sat
:
'
Know
Even though we
l
Aristophanes, they will
allies,
among them
to Athens,
ye not how on a time the Laconian
came hither
as
a
suppliant
of the Athenians,
with sallow face in his scarlet cloak at the
begging an army/
Of
particular
disasters
one note, and that undated, doubtless out of
serious.
2
and was
be evidence for the anxiety and urgency with which
Sparta appealed to the general
and
to come,
considerable deduction on the score of exaggera-
tion from the terms of Lysistrata in
still
still
the resources of the Spartans.
all
make very
which
The Messenian war had
third year, with seven
its
only a
in foreign, the occasion of
seemed to arrive most opportunely.
now
constitutional
proved
it
It
is
preserved
in
altars,
we have but
many and more
an anticipation of history by
Herodotus, in order to put on record the fate of Aeimnestus,
Mardonius
slayer of
at Plataea.
Leading 300 men
course of this war in the plain of Stenyclerus, he
upon by the concentrated Messenian
his entire following.
At
set
forces and perished with
present the difficulty of the Spartans
was of a kind that had long been among
1
in the
was
Aristopli. Lysi-i. 1138.
3
their greatest.
Herod,
ix. 64.
The
SPARTANS BEFORE 1 THOME
xxxi.]
385
insurgents were established in Ithome, of which the natural
strength was aided by fortification, and defied the besiegers,
who
repeated their past experience of the inefficiency of their
military system to
The
fact
cope with enemies defended by works.
that time was not patiently relied on to force a
surrender by the failure of food,
sufficient progress
is
pretty certain proof that
had not been made
to be fully invested
;
in the field for the city
but even on account of the difficulty
and tediousness of this process,
more prudent and promising
it
may have
to risk a
been thought
blow under whatever
disadvantages at the very head of the rebellion in
its
chief
stronghold at once.
Herodotus incidentally alludes to a
the
victory
under the auspices of the
Spartans,
seer
gained by
Tisamenus,
over the Messenians in the neighbourhood of Ithome;
he only dates
it
over the Tegeans and Argives
Arcadians, and
first,
with Athens and
It is always possible
dated
loosely
brought down so low
victories
—that Sparta
but
victories,
and then over the united
before the open quarrel
the battle of Tanagra.
only by these
two previous
generally, as after
—
that
it
was
they are to be
if
had succeeded in check-
ing the active sympathy with the insurgents of the three
Peloponnesus which were always most jealous
states within
of her power
;
and that the severe cost of these
victories, if
not also of that before Ithome, accounts for the urgent supplication for Athenian aid.
The sympathies of the advocates and
nizing policy at Athens were
now
adversaries of a Laco-
declared in
all
the contrast
of an open debate, in which the opposed protagonists again
were Cimon and Ephialtes.
entire Hellas, of Dorians
The] larger confederation of
and Ionians
triumphed at Salamis and Plataea, was
conjointly,
still
ing, notwithstanding the division of states as
the
several headships
of
which had
formally subsist-
grouped under
Athens and Sparta, but with the
cessation of conjoint action against the barbarian had been
c c
HISTORY OF GREECE,
38ii
Athens had had no
gradually sinking- into ineffectiveness.
motive
for repudiating-
the course which
it
it,
[chap.
so long as she
was unmolested
in
suited her to regard as consistent with
it;
and at most had only recognised her obligations under
it,
when
the
in
revulsions
of party
was
she
found
too
willing to co-operate with Sparta in hunting down Themis-
But a
tocles.
a
sacrifice
had been gradually ripening, and
alliance
the time was come
to
between the two great
conflict of interests
divisions of the
when one
what was only
to
or the other
advantage
separate
enjoyed
be
for the
might
common.
in
hesitate
sake of securing
Athenians
were not only conscious of views as to excluding Sparta more
and more from leadership, and as
to
becoming most decidedly
independent of her remonstrances or interference, but were
well aware
how much
their intentions affected the pride
Unknown
sympathies of Spartans.
might be
—and that
it
should not have got wind within two
years after the surrender
is
extraordinary
—the plain-spoken
arguments of Ephialtes would not lack of cogency.
should Athens furnish an
on
its
legs again a
gonist to Athens
to
abate in
trampled
;
pride
on.'
his
power that was a natural
better allow
it
Why
to set
rival
and anta-
to lie prostrate,
and learn
and pretension by experience of being
There
is
a
more generous ring about the
contemporary and friend.
ferent/ he said, 'to seeing Hellas
side,
'
army which would simply help
reclamations of Cimon, which come to us
Chios,
and
as the Thasian intrigue
'
through Ion of
Let us not be
indif-
becoming maimed on one
nor consent that Athens in future should have to draw
without her yoke-fellow.'
It
is
intimated that the assembly
decided to grant the prayer of Sparta rather out of deference
to this sentimental patriotism
policy,
force
To
though
to
exert
in truth such
than from any considerations of
were not wanting of
sufficient
an influence even upon the popular party.
sustain Sparta
was
for
Cimon and
his friends to conserve
a mainstay of the party throughout Hellas which willingly
ATHENIAN AID
xxxi.]
TO SPARTA.
387
held on to old traditions, old institutions, to the authority of
families of lofty claims to descent from mythical heroes, not
to
say from
demigods, and gods,
— ^o
keep up a bulwark
against the ever-advancing inroad of limitless democracy
but support of the grand confederation was also the
;
best,
guarantee for that internal Hellenic harmony which was mi
1
and which was a condition
indifferently secured,
for the pro-
secution even on the part of Athens alone, of attacks on the
barbarians as profitable as they were glorious, for which
opportunities
full
remained on the coasts of Asia Minor,
still
in
Cyprus and even possibly in Egypt.
Cimon was
of
what were the
all
men
state of semi-dependence,
would
so
much
of
Athens
as to their
and to be assured that while nothing
confirm the heartiness of their adherence
which the activity of Athens would convey of
as the sense
their safety
in the best position to understand
feelings of the allies
and the extension of
their
commerce being due
to continued exertions against Persia, there could be
no better
check to the intrigues of the seriously discontented than
that
evidence
On
quarter.
was
Sparta
Athens that no
such
in
among
the other hand,
to
with
them from
that
the usual supporters of
Ephialtes and his party there were those to
of generosity, tempting enough in
alliance
cordial
would come
assistance
itself,
whom
a display
was even more
si
when, besides the gratification of pride by the exhibition
to
all
Greece
Athenian
superior,
how
dexterity
and
how
union
of
indispensable
skill
with
the
opportunity was proffered for interference in
politics
of Peloponnesus,
influence
and
its
an
internal
prospect of exerting such
a
upon the course of the war as would
importantly on the terms of
was the
courage,
tell
very
conclusion.
According to Aristophanes, Cimon marched with the large
auxiliary force of 4,000 hoplites
other succours are specified
;
incidentally of Plataeans, Aeginetans, and the
1
Thuc.
i.
102
:
iii.
54;
iv.
57
C C 2
;
Xen.
//.
G.
v.
'
2
Mantineans.
3.
HISTORY OF GREECE.
388
who on another
occasion, as
we have
1
was landed against Sparta, stood
1
and
parties
states
about
when
seen,
An
aloof.
march gives welcome information as
[chap.
conflicts
of
unceremonious
his
;
Arcadia
anecdote of his
some
to
the Isthmus
all
passage through Corinthian territory was challenged in the
terms, that those
who knock
at strange doors should not
ians,'
w as
r
Yet you Corinth-
f
enter without the master's permission.
the retort, 'not only omitted to knock at the doors
them down and
of the Cleonaeans and Megarians, but broke
forced your
to give
are
way
way
in in arms, considering that
all
The
to the right of the stronger.'
things have
feelings
which
here indicated as already existing between Corinth and
Megara had
arrived at their state of excitement in disputes
about boundaries, and were to have important results before
long
;
the interference with Cleonaeans
may have been
either
the cause or the consequence of assistance rendered by them to
the recent aggressions of Argos.
There
something unpro-
is
mising at the outset, for the cordial co-operation of Dorians
and Ionians, in the offhand treatment and tone thus assumed
by the Athenian towards the firmest allies of those whom he
was on his way to assist, if not to rescue.
The consequences
in fact of a
want of
cordiality
manifested, and were very serious indeed.
of the Lacedaemonians,' says Thucydides,
'
'
The
were soon
chief motive
for calling in the
Athenians was their reputation for ability in the attack of
fortresses, as this
was the point in which they were them-
selves deficient; while
siege of Ithome, they
seem
from the tedious prolongation of the
would
by
fain take it
assault.'
They
to have been quite as incompetent to estimate the diffi-
culty of the task as to execute
find that the
it,
and were disappointed
city did not fall at
once
;
to
disappointed and
alarmed likewise, as they began to recognise what might be
1
Herod,
ix. 35.
CIMON OSTRACISED.
xxxi.]
389
contingent on the continued presence of such a force
The
for
an
but that of Athenians under his
Cimon was one thing,
command and drawn from
a community upon which
fast losing his hold
indefinite
time.
disposition of
was
h'e
The Lace-
be and no doubt was something very different.
daemonians were
startled,
we
are told,
and
first
can easily be
it
which they wit-
believed, at the daring spirit of innovation
nessed for the
might
time displayed and probably paraded so
near to them, and were even apprehensive lest the mere anti-
Dorian tendencies of aliens might induce them to entertain
proposals from the besieged in Ithome at variance with the
views of those
whom
they came to
in such a nation as the
simple ordinary demeanour of such
allies as
and any superiority in military dash and
excitement of the occasion,
when
might reasonably enough be
own
Such jealousy
assist.
Spartans might be excited by the
felt
the Athenians
brilliancy
;
under
other allies were looking on,
by them
dignity and authority, however
as impairing their
little it
could touch their
established reputation for valour.
Their resolution was taken
;
Athenian assistance was being
purchased too dearly and desperately, and Cimon was dismissed abruptly enough, though with as handsome acknow-
ledgments as Spartan nature admitted, on the ground that, as
an assault was deferred, the aid of his force was in fact no
But other
retained,
and
on the return of the expedition, indignation at Athens
re-
longer necessary.
cognised a pointed
pitch
;
slight
allies
were
still
and was roused to the highest
there was indeed no escape from interpreting dismissal
under such circumstances as involving either an
tion
of treachery,
incompetence
or
— scarcely
for the task
if
at
all
less
imputa-
galling
— of
which had been undertaken with
such confidence.
This failure completed the reversal of Cimon's long popularity,
and one more great Athenian turned upon the track
390
HISTORY OF GREECE.
by which he had contributed
to drive out another
still
greater
before him, and passed into exile under ostracism (401
doomed but
B.C.),
for previous recall to be deprived of Athens, as
Athens to be self-deprived of him,
END of
for ten years.
vol.
1.
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