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diff --git a/old/55497-0.txt b/old/55497-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ae856c8..0000000 --- a/old/55497-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,38243 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Historians' History of the World in -Twenty-Five Volumes, Volume 4, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Historians' History of the World in Twenty-Five Volumes, Volume 4 - Greece to the Roman Conquest - -Author: Various - -Editor: Henry Smith Williams - -Release Date: September 6, 2017 [EBook #55497] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE WORLD, VOL 4 *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: As a result of editorial shortcomings in the original, -some reference letters in the text don’t have matching entries in the -reference-lists, and vice versa. - - - - -THE HISTORIANS’ HISTORY OF THE WORLD - -[Illustration: GROTE] - - - - - THE HISTORIANS’ - HISTORY - OF THE WORLD - - A comprehensive narrative of the rise and development of nations - as recorded by over two thousand of the great writers of all ages: - edited, with the assistance of a distinguished board of advisers - and contributors, by - - HENRY SMITH WILLIAMS, LL.D. - - [Illustration] - - IN TWENTY-FIVE VOLUMES - - VOLUME IV--GREECE TO THE ROMAN CONQUEST - - The Outlook Company - New York - - The History Association - London - - 1904 - - COPYRIGHT, 1904, - BY HENRY SMITH WILLIAMS. - - _All rights reserved._ - - Press of J. J. Little & Co. - New York, U. S. A. - - - - -Contributors, and Editorial Revisers. - - - Prof. Adolf Erman, University of Berlin. - Prof. Joseph Halévy, College of France. - Prof. Thomas K. Cheyne, Oxford University. - Prof. Andrew C. McLaughlin, University of Michigan. - Prof. David H. Müller, University of Vienna. - Prof. Alfred Rambaud, University of Paris. - - Prof. Eduard Meyer, University of Berlin. - Dr. James T. Shotwell, Columbia University. - Prof. Theodor Nöldeke, University of Strasburg. - Prof. Albert B. Hart, Harvard University. - Dr. Paul Brönnle, Royal Asiatic Society. - Dr. James Gairdner, C.B., London. - - Prof. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Möllendorff, University of Berlin. - Prof. H. Marnali, University of Budapest. - Dr. G. W. Botsford, Columbia University. - Prof. Julius Wellhausen, University of Göttingen. - Prof. Franz R. von Krones, University of Graz. - Prof. Wilhelm Soltau, Zabern University. - - Prof. R. W. Rogers, Drew Theological Seminary. - Prof. A. Vambéry, University of Budapest. - Prof. Otto Hirschfeld, University of Berlin. - Baron Bernardo di San Severino Quaranta, London. - Prof. F. York Powell, Oxford University. - Dr. John P. Peters, New York. - - Dr. S. Rappoport, School of Oriental Languages, Paris. - Prof. Hermann Diels, University of Berlin. - Prof. C. W. C. Oman, Oxford University. - Prof. I. Goldziher, University of Vienna. - Prof. E. C. Fleming, University of West Virginia. - Prof. R. Koser, University of Berlin. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - VOLUME IV - - GREECE - - PAGE - - INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. THE EVOLUTION OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY. By Dr. - Hermann Diels xiii - - CHAPTER XXXVII - - THE REIGN OF TERROR IN ATHENS (404-403 B.C.) 1 - - Lysander, 2. Cruelties of the Thirty, 3. The Sycophants, 4. The - revolt of Thrasybulus, 10. - - CHAPTER XXXVIII - - THE DEMOCRACY RESTORED (403-400 B.C.) 16 - - The end of Alcibiades, 23. Life at Athens, 25. Aristophanes, 27. - Euripides, 30. - - CHAPTER XXXIX - - SOCRATES AND THE SOPHISTS (_ca._ 425-399 B.C.) 33 - - The prosecution of Socrates, 36. Plato’s account of the last - hours of Socrates, 39. Grote’s estimate of Socrates, 45. - - CHAPTER XL - - THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND (404-399 B.C.) 49 - - The affairs of Persia, 49. Xenophon’s account of Cunaxa, 53. The - retreat, 59. Xenophon’s picture of the hardships, 61. End of the - march, 63. The meaning of Xenophon’s feat, 64. - - CHAPTER XLI - - THE SPARTAN SUPREMACY (480-240 B.C.) 66 - - Grote’s comparison of Spartan and Athenian rule, 72. Harshness of - the Spartan hegemony, 76. Degeneracy of Sparta, 77. - - CHAPTER XLII - - SPARTA IN ASIA (400-394 B.C.) 82 - - War of Lacedæmon and Elis, 86. Cinadon’s plot, 90. Agesilaus in - Asia, 91. Persian gold, 95. War rises in Greece, 96. Lysander’s - plot, 99. Agesilaus recalled, 101. - - CHAPTER XLIII - - THE CORINTHIAN WAR (394-387 B.C.) 104 - - Battle of Cnidus, 107. Battle of Coronea, 108. Land affairs of - the Corinthian War, 111. The great deeds of Conon, 115. Conon - rebuilds the Long Walls, 117. The embassy of Antalcidas, 119. The - King’s Peace, 123. - - CHAPTER XLIV - - THE RISE OF THEBES (387-371 B.C.) 126 - - Mantinea crushed, 127. The Olynthian War, 129. The surprise of - Thebes, 130. Fate of Evagoras and the Asiatic Greeks, 133. The - revolt of Thebes, 135. The second Athenian League, 140. Corcyra, - 144. The trial of Timotheus, 148. The congress at Sparta, 151. - Athens abandons Thebes, 153. - - CHAPTER XLV - - THE DAY OF EPAMINONDAS (371-367 B.C.) 154 - - Sparta invades Bœotia, 156. Battle of Leuctra, 157. Significance - of Leuctra, 159. Jason of Thessaly, 160. Von Stern on the Theban - policy, 165. A congress at Athens, 167. Mantinea restored, 167. - The Arcadian Revolution, 169. Spartan intolerance of cowardice, - 171. The Thebans in the Peloponnesus, 172. Founding of Messene, - 175. Athens in league with Sparta, 177. Second invasion of - Peloponnesus, 177. Expedition into Thessaly, 180. An embassy to - Persia and a congress at Thebes, 182. - - CHAPTER XLVI - - WHEN THEBES WAS SUPREME (368-360 B.C.) 185 - - Joint work of Epaminondas and Pelopidas, 185. The end of - Pelopidas, 189. Battle of Mantinea and death of Epaminondas, - 191. Xenophon’s account of how Epaminondas fought, 194. Grote’s - estimate of Epaminondas, 196. Confusion following Epaminondas’ - fall, 199. - - CHAPTER XLVII - - THE TYRANTS IN SICILY (410-337 B.C.) 202 - - CHAPTER XLVIII - - THE RISE OF MACEDONIA (490-357 B.C.) 208 - - Early history of Macedonia, 210. Philip, the organiser, 215. - Military discipline, 216. Macedonian culture, 217. Olympias, - mother of Alexander, 219. The Macedonian phalanx, 220. The waxing - of Philip, 221. - - CHAPTER XLIX - - THE TRIUMPHS OF PHILIP (359-336 B.C.) 222 - - Demosthenes, the orator, 222. Æschines, the rival of Demosthenes, - 223. The unpopularity of Demosthenes, 224. Philip’s better side, - 225. The Sacred War, 227. The First Philippic, 227. Philip and - Athens, 229. A treaty of peace, 231. Punishment of the Phocians, - 232. The attitude of the Athenians, 232. The Macedonian party, - 233. The patriotic party, 234. Philip’s intrigues and the - outbreak of war, 235. The Third Philippic, 236. Philip returns - to the fray, 237. Siege of Perinthus and Byzantium, 238. Decline - of Philip’s prestige; the Scythian expedition, 238. The crusade - against Amphissa, 239. Alliance between Athens and Thebes, 241. - The armies in the plain of Chæronea, 243. Battle of Chæronea, - 245. Philip takes Thebes, 247. Peace of Demades, 248. Philip in - Peloponnesus, 249. Political schemes; family broils, 250. The - death of Philip, 251. A summing-up of Philip’s character, 253. - Grote’s estimate of Philip, 254. - - CHAPTER L - - ALEXANDER THE GREAT (336-335 B.C.) 256 - - Philip and Alexander compared by Justin, 257. Alexander’s youth - according to Quintus Curtius, 258. Aristotle as his teacher, - 261. Bucephalus, 263. Alexander’s first deeds, 263. Demosthenes - ridicules Alexander, 265. Alexander dashes through Greece, 267. - Alexander winnows the North, 268. The revolt of Thebes, 269. The - fate of Thebes, 271. - - CHAPTER LI - - ALEXANDER INVADES ASIA (334 B.C.) 274 - - Schemes of conquest, 274. The problem and the troops, 276. The - size of the army, 277. The phalanx and the cavalry, 278. The - light troops, 280. The condition of the Persian Empire, 281. - The entry into Asia, according to Arrian, 283. Battle of the - Granicus, 284. Courage and danger of Alexander, 287. Effects of - Alexander’s victory, 289. - - CHAPTER LII - - ISSUS AND TYRE (334-332 B.C.) 290 - - Halicarnassus, 292. Gordium, 295. Darius musters a new host, 297. - Darius at Issus, 299. Preparing for battle, 301. Battle of Issus, - 302. Flight of Darius, 303. From Issus to Tyre, 305. The siege of - Tyre, 307. - - CHAPTER LIII - - FROM GAZA TO ARBELA (332-331 B.C.) 312 - - The siege of Gaza according to Arrian, 312. Incidents from - Quintus Curtius, 314. Alexander in Egypt, 315. The visit to - Ammon, 317. Alexander leaves Egypt, 318. Battle of Arbela, 320. - - CHAPTER LIV - - THE FALL OF PERSIA (331-327 B.C.) 329 - - The entry into Babylon described by Quintus Curtius, 329. At - the border of Persia, 331. A shepherd guide, 332. The released - captives; sacking Persepolis, 334. Curtius tells of the - enormous loot, 335. Curtius describes an orgy and the burning - of Persepolis, 336. The new meaning of the conquest, 338. The - pursuit of Darius, 338. Conspiracies against Alexander, 342. - Capture of Bessus, 346. Limit of Alexander’s progress northward, - 348. Alexander murders his friend, 348. Remorse of Alexander, - 350. Conspiracy of the royal pages, 353. - - CHAPTER LV - - THE CONQUEST OF INDIA (327-324 B.C.) 355 - - The war with Porus, 358. The eastern limit, 360. The march to - the West, 362. The brave Mallians, 363. Alexander’s severe wound - and the army’s grief, 365. The desert march, 367. Excesses and - cruelties described by Curtius, 369. The return of Nearchus, 371. - - CHAPTER LVI - - THE END OF ALEXANDER (324-323 B.C.) 375 - - His projects, 375. The marriage of Greece with Persia, 377. The - mutiny, 379. The last expedition, 383. Grief for Hephæstion, 384. - To Babylon, 386. Last illness, 390. The death-bed of Alexander, - 391. - - CHAPTER LVII - - VARIOUS ESTIMATES OF ALEXANDER 393 - - His vices and virtues (Arrian), 393. His favour with fortune - (Ælianus), 394. If Alexander had attempted Rome (Livy), 395. A - patriotic estimate of Rome’s greatness, 398. His invincibility - (Grote), 399. His meanness (Ménard and Rollin), 401. His evil - influence (Niebuhr), 403. His motives (Droysen), 405. His effect - on federalisation (Pöhlmann), 407. His heritage (Hegel), 408. - Alexander’s true glory (Wheeler), 409. - - CHAPTER LVIII - - GREECE DURING THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER (333-323 B.C.) 410 - - Confederacy against Macedonia, 411. War in Greece, 412. Affairs - at Athens, 413. Demosthenes and Æschines, 414. Deification of - Alexander; the gold of Harpalus, 416. - - CHAPTER LIX - - THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER (323-232 B.C.) 420 - - Council at Babylon after Alexander’s death, 422. Perdiccas, - Meleager, Eumenes, and the puppet king, 425. The compact, - 426. The partition, 427. Alexander’s posthumous plans, 428. - Alexander’s funeral described by Diodorus, 430. Alexander’s - heirs, 431. Arrhidæus, the imbecile, 431. The Diadochi, 432. - The women claimants, 433. Death of Perdiccas, 435. The feats - of Eumenes, 436. The empire of Antigonus, 437. Polysperchon - _versus_ Cassander, 438. Lysimachus, 441. Cassander in power, - 442. The name of “king” assumed, 446. The siege of Rhodes, 447. - The fall of Antigonus, 449. Demetrius at large, 450. Death of - Cassander; Demetrius wins and loses, 452. Lysimachus, Arsinoe, - and Agathocles, 454. Seleucus; Antigonus; the Ptolemies, 455. - Ptolemy Ceraunus in Macedonia, 457. Anarchy in Macedonia, 458. - Antigonus Gonatas, 459. The Chremonidean War, 460. Pyrrhus’ son - takes Macedonia, 461. - - CHAPTER LX - - AFFAIRS IN GREECE PROPER AFTER ALEXANDER’S DEATH (323-318 B.C.) 463 - - The Lamian War, 463. Return of Demosthenes; death of - Leosthenes, 466. Leonnatus, 467. Death of Leonnatus; naval - war; war in Thessaly, 468. Dissolution of the league, 469. The - capitulation, 470. The end of Demosthenes, 470. Grote’s estimate - of Demosthenes, 472. Antipater in Greece, 474. The deaths of - Antipater and of Demades, 476. Polysperchon and Cassander, 477. - Olympias and Eumenes, 478. Imperial edict recalling exiles, 479. - Contest at Athens, 480. Intrigues of Phocion, 481. Phocion’s - disgrace, 482. - - CHAPTER LXI - - THE FAILURE OF GRECIAN FREEDOM (318-279 B.C.) 486 - - Hellas at peace, 487. Athens under Demetrius; Sparta behind - walls, 488. The last acts of Olympias’ power, 490. Ptolemy - in Greece, 493. Athens passive and servile, 494. Success of - Demetrius in Greece, 497. Battle of Ipsus, 498. - - CHAPTER LXII - - THE EXPLOITS OF PYRRHUS (_ca._ 360-272 B.C.) 502 - - The antecedents of Pyrrhus, 503. The last adventures of - Demetrius, 504. The end of Lysimachus, king of Macedon, 505. - Death of Seleucus, 506. Invasion of the Gauls, 506. Defence of - the temple at Delphi, 507. Pyrrhus and the Romans, 508. Pyrrhus - summoned by the Tarentines, 508. Pyrrhus in Sicily; his return to - Italy, 510. Magna Græcia subdued by the Romans, 511. Return of - Pyrrhus to Macedonia, 512. Expedition of Pyrrhus against Sparta, - 512. Death of Pyrrhus, 513. Antigonus Gonatas, 514. - - CHAPTER LXIII - - THE LEAGUES AND THEIR WARS (249-167 B.C.) 516 - - The Ætolians, 516. The Ætolian League, 517. The Achæan League and - Aratus of Sicyon, 518. Aratus controls the league, 520. Aratus - takes Corinth, 521. Sparta under Cleomenes, 523. Antigonus called - in, 524. The Social War, 526. Alliance with Rome, 528. Greek - freedom proclaimed, 531. The Ætolians crushed, 531. Greece at the - mercy of “friendly” Rome, 533. Rome against Philip, 535. Perseus, - king of Macedonia, 537. The humiliation of Greece, 538. - - CHAPTER LXIV - - THE FINAL DISASTERS (156 B.C.-540 A.D.) 540 - - The Macedonian insurrection, 542. The Achæan War, 542. The - destruction of Corinth, 545. Greece under the Romans, 546. - - CHAPTER LXV - - THE KINGDOM OF THE SELEUCIDÆ (323-65 B.C.) 552 - - Seleucus, 553. Antiochus Soter, 555. Seleucus Philopator, 559. - - CHAPTER LXVI - - THE KINGDOM OF THE PTOLEMIES (323-30 B.C.) 562 - - Ptolemy Philadelphus, 568. Ptolemy Euergetes, 570. Ptolemy - Philopator, 572. Epiphanes, 573. Philometor and Physcon, 573. - Roman Interference, 575. Ptolemy Auletes; Cleopatra and the end, - 576. - - CHAPTER LXVII - - SICILIAN AFFAIRS (317-216 B.C.) 578 - - Agathocles, 578. Pyrrhus and the Romans, 583. - - CONCLUDING SUMMARY - - THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HELLENIC SPIRIT. By Dr. Ulrich von - Wilamowitz-Möllendorff 587 - - BRIEF REFERENCE-LIST OF AUTHORITIES BY CHAPTERS 614 - - A GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GRECIAN HISTORY 617 - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -THE EVOLUTION OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY - -WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THE PRESENT WORK - -BY DR. HERMANN DIELS - -Professor in the University of Berlin. - - -It is a primary law of development that each generation should supplant -and supersede that which preceded it. The parents bring forth the child, -and when the child has advanced to full maturity they themselves lapse -into oblivion; and the same fate overtakes their children and children’s -children. - -So it is with nations. One civilisation rises above the level of -the rest, then sinks, yielding place to the fresh vigour of younger -nations, to which it bequeaths its heritage of culture. For a while the -elder mother-nation is held in remembrance as a teacher and model; but -ultimately--when the new generation of nations has grown strong enough to -maintain an independent existence--the elder vanishes to return no more. - -Such a stage we ourselves seem to have reached. The peoples of the -Classic Age have long passed away, but in the Renaissance the culture of -their time rose again from the dead. A bevy of daughters entered upon -the heritage of this mother--Italy, France, England, Germany, and many -others--and added to it, each after her own fashion. Then they outgrew -the imitation and mere echo of the antique, passing on to express in act -an independent culture of their own; and now the time seems to have come -when the modern spirit claims absolute liberty of action in every sphere, -without the slightest reference to the traditions of antiquity. For the -modern technician, the modern naturalist, the modern historian, the -modern artist, the modern poet, the ancient world has no message. It is -dead--dead past recovery, as we may say. - -There is, however, one sphere in which it is not dead, where it still -imparts fresh stimulus to the minds of men from day to day, in which it -is still recognised as the guide to every fresh enterprise. This sphere -is philosophy. - -The last and loftiest height to which thinking humanity can climb -is that comprehensive vision of all things which we Germans call -_Weltanschauung_, and which the Greeks called _Philosophia_. In -speculation of this illimitable range we have made but little advance -upon the Greeks; nay, even those most modern of philosophers who, on -the basis of biological knowledge, have built up the most modern of -all conceptions of the world, are in unconscious agreement with the -rudiments of Greek natural science in the sixth century B.C. Let anyone -compare the “cosmological perspective” to which Ernest Haeckel has -attained in his book _Die Welträthsel_ [_The Riddle of the Universe_] -(1900) p. 15, “from the highest point of monistic science yet reached,” -with what Anaximandros taught in the reign of Cyrus, and he will perceive -with amazement that modern times have hardly gone further by a single -step. The eternity, infinity, and illimitability of the Cosmos; the -substance thereof, with its attributes of matter and energy, which in -perpetual motion occupy the boundless space; perpetual motion itself -in its periodic changes of becoming and ceasing to be; the constant -progress of decay and destruction in the innumerable celestial bodies -which give place to fresh formations of a similar character; the process -of biogenesis on our own planet, by which in the course of æons animal -life was brought forth, and by which, through gradual metamorphoses, -the vertebrates were evolved from its earliest forms, the mammalia -from vertebrates, the primary apes from mammalia, and lastly, through -progressive evolution, man was brought into being towards the end of the -tertiary period--all these propositions had already been recognised and -stated in germ by the Greek thinker who lived during the first generation -of Greek philosophy. The sum total of the progress made in twenty-five -hundred years, that what was then surmised from, rather than disclosed -by, an empiric consideration of some few facts, has now been demonstrated -in detail by scientific observation. - -But these main propositions, which the modern scientist regards as his -own gains, because he has had to win them afresh by his own toil from the -errors of the ancient and mediæval world, are of no great significance -when compared with the far greater residuum of questions that still -remain unanswered. Du Bois-Raymond, as is well known, described these -“world riddles” in the year 1880 as in part unsolved, in part insoluble. -They are seven in number: (1) The nature of matter and force; (2) the -origin of motion; (3) the first beginning of life; (4) the adaptation of -nature to certain ends; (5) the rise of sensation and consciousness; (6) -the origin of thought and speech; (7) freedom of will. - -It is easy to see that, compared with these fundamental questions, which -may be summed up in the great question of all, “God and the world,” the -whole sequence of cosmic research from Anaximander to Haeckel is merely -of secondary importance. It is, as it were, the surface of the matter; -and even if, with Goethe, we feel the inadequacy of the apothegm of -Haller, the poet and naturalist, “Into the heart of nature no created -spirit may penetrate,” yet we cannot but see that as yet we poor mortals -are only nibbling at the rind, and that centuries more of labour are -needed to penetrate its diamond hardness. - -Thus everything that has hitherto been achieved is, as it were, a -mere prelude to the abstract presentment of cosmic principles, and -consequently the rudimentary beginnings of study in this sphere are far -less remote from its present condition than is the case in any other -department of the intellectual activity of mankind. And hence, even at -the present day, the consideration of Greek philosophy is not only the -most interesting, but also by far the most directly profitable part of -the study of antiquity. No man who has not thoroughly studied the systems -of Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle can become a profound philosopher in -our own time. - -“The love of wisdom” was the name which, from the fifth century B.C. -onwards, the Greeks bestowed on any kind of intellectual endeavour which -was diverted from the practice and directed to the theory of life. The -scope of this striving naturally varied in different periods. In the -infancy of Greek speculation, _i.e._, in the sixth and fifth centuries -B.C., men pored with wide, childlike eyes over the marvels of nature -that lay about them and tried to find in natural science the solution -of the riddle of existence. Philosophy was then mainly the embodiment -of scientific and mathematical research, that is to say, it was what we -nowadays call “Science.” - -A troublous period followed, represented by the Sophists, a time of -youthful storm and stress, out of which the mature philosophy of ideas -developed towards the end of the fifth century. The term “philosopher” -begins to acquire a professional meaning. Side by side with the Sophist, -who supplied “culture” in return for money, stood the philosopher, who -directed the course of education without remuneration. At first, it is -true, this education was confined to morals. But in Plato it proceeded -to expand into a study that comprised mathematics, logic, physics, and -ethics, as well as politics, forming a pyramid built on the broadest -of possible bases and culminating in the idea of Good. By that time -a “philosopher” had come to mean one who is capable of grasping the -eternal idea (Plato, Rep. VI, 484 A). Next, in the Universal Encyclopædia -of Aristotle, this platonic structure is completed and made habitable -within and fitted to human requirements. Under him the idea and the term -“philosopher” attained its maximum extension. Thereafter both begin to -narrow down. The end of the fourth century witnessed the collapse of the -Greek state, to the insecure structure of which the philosophers had -never been blind. - -With the fall of the Hellenic municipal system and the rise of the -Macedonian sovereignty a new world comes into being, in which the leaders -are monarchs and no longer individual citizens. The outlook and sphere -of action of the individual is restricted. Men grow to be eminent in -practical affairs, experts in the art of living, less eager to solve the -riddle of the universe than that of the personal Ego, by withdrawing -men from the tumult of external affairs and guiding them into the -imperturbable calm of philosophic conviction as into a sure haven. Hence -in the systems of the Stoa and of Epicurus and Pyrrho the designation of -philosopher assumes the meaning of a counsellor in the conduct of life, -who, in the lack of political liberty then prevailing, held up an ideal -of liberty within, which no tyrant could menace. - -In proportion as the sphere of philosophy in the Hellenistic world -narrowed to the consideration of the Useful and the Practicable, the -sphere of its influence widened. Alexander’s expedition had thrown -the East open to Greek civilisation, and the assiduous and subjective -temperament of the youth of the Semitic peoples was drawn to the wisdom -of the Greeks. An active process of endosmosis and exosmosis set in -between the countries of the West and East. During the period from -the third to the first century B.C. this interchange created a new -civilisation, destined to form the basis of the _Imperium Romanum_ in -matters temporal and the _Imperium Christi_ in matters spiritual. But at -this period the clear outlines of development tend to become blurred. - -As the Hellenic nation expands into the Hellenistic peoples, as the -national language of Greece becomes the common medium of the East, nay, -of the whole civilised world, the eclecticism which had been formed -out of certain elements of the old Greek philosophy under the dominant -influence of the Stoa gained ground on all sides. In the time of Christ, -Greek philosophy is an indispensable requisite of the higher culture, -and the university of Athens, with its professors, whose appointment the -state soon took upon itself, is the one where the educated Roman and -Cappadocian alike must have studied. The Greek private tutor, recommended -by the head of some school or other at Athens, becomes a standing -institution in Roman families of distinction, and is treated with the -contempt due to such a _Græculus_, ranking first among the slaves of the -household. - -Times soon change, however. Under the philosopher Marcus, philosophy -gained admission to courtly circles, and presently became indispensable -in the conflict with the increasing might of Christianity. After the -Christian conception of the world had conquered under Constantine, the -university of Athens became the bulwark of Paganism. Neo-Platonism, a -new philosophy bred of the enthusiastic temperament of the East, the -congenial philosophy of Plato and the erudition of Aristotle, fought the -last fight with the courage of despair. But though its champions were, -for the most part, superior in courage, moral character, and scientific -learning to the bishops whom they withstood, philosophy and the ancient -world had played out their part. In the latter end of the period of -antiquity the overseer of any craft (as, for example, the overseer of the -quarrymen in the _Passio Sanctorum IV Coronatorum_) was called in popular -parlance _philosophus_ to distinguish him from the artisans. _Sic transit -gloria mundi._ - - -I - -With the term “philosophy” as our guide, we have made a rapid superficial -survey of the progress of the studies it included in these eleven -hundred years of development (585 B.C.-529 A.D.). We will now consider -in somewhat fuller detail the three phases which cover the Greek epoch -proper, _i.e._, the first three centuries, from Thales to Pyrrho -(585-270), with a special view to the study of their internal evolution. - -The Greek nation is almost the last of all the civilised peoples of the -ancient world to enter upon the scene of history and bulk largely in -the minds of men. The long period during which the Greeks dwelt among -their Aryan kindred, fruitful in intellectual progress as their language -proves it to have been, has passed utterly out of the historic memory -of the race. And yet the beginnings of scientific knowledge must have -fallen within this period, in so far as the dim prevision of eternal and -perpetual motion dawned upon men’s minds from the observation of the -moon (_mēnē_, from the root _mē_, to measure), from chronology, and the -consequent observation of cosmic laws. Nor have any other than mythical -records come down to us from the first thousand years in which the -Hellenes dwelt in the Balkan peninsula, then-future home, side by side -with the original inhabitants and other migratory tribes; but from the -buildings and monuments which the earth has yielded to Schliemann’s and -Evans’ spades we can form some conception of the might of these rulers -and the splendour of the knightly life they led. - -A faint reflection of the Middle Age of Greece has been preserved in -the epic poetry of Homer, the most ancient portions of which date back -to the year 1000 B.C., while the latest bring us down to the time of -Thales, that is to say, to the sixth century. The Homeric bards do not -philosophise as the Stoics fancied they did, they look upon life with -living eyes in the true artist spirit, and reproduce it “not sickbed -o’er with the pale cast of thought.” Only in a few later passages of -the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ do we catch strange notes that harmonise -ill with that _joie de vivre_ which is the keynote of the epics. We see -that in those strenuous days, when the Greeks were bent upon carrying -their commerce to the uttermost ends of the earth and satisfying the ever -increasing clamour of the populace for food and power, the nation begins -to pass over from the light-hearted carelessness of the epic of chivalry -to the harsher and more reflective didactic poetry of Hesiod. Indeed, in -one of the later passages of the _Odyssey_ (_Nekyia_) we note an evident -reflex of the Orphic cosmologies, in which, under the name of a Thracian -bard of remote antiquity, a mournful and pessimistic strain of poetry, -dealing with sin and penitence, stands contrasted with the optimistic -acceptance of the existing order of things which is characteristic of -Homer. - -The forces which brought philosophy, properly so called, to the birth -at the beginning of the sixth century were three in number. First, -the poetry then extant, which had cast into artless shape a number of -speculative observations on the subject of the Cosmos--such as the -conceptions of Oceanus encircling the earth, of Zeus dwelling in ether -above it, of Tartarus beneath it, and so forth. Nothing but a cool -head and a turn for systematisation was needed to convert these images -into “ideas” and to combine the latter into a homogeneous and coherent -conception. Another service was rendered by the study of geography, -mathematics, and astronomy, developed as it had been by the long voyages -of Milesians and Phocæans in the Mediterranean after they had supplanted -the Phœnicians. A school of navigation came into being at Miletus, which -city had successfully opened up the Euxine in the seventh century; and -both Thales and Anaximander were trained in it. Miletus, where the trade -with Egypt was started about the same time and the establishment of -permanent factories like Naucratis taken in hand, likewise constituted -the meeting-place of the geometry and astronomy of the Egyptians, -whose learning was formerly much over estimated, with the far superior -astronomical science of the Babylonians. The reports of mariners, charts, -the catalogue of the stars, all combined with Oriental tradition and the -unbiassed perspicacity of the Greeks to give the world the first science, -_i.e._, research built upon a basis of empiricism, tested by the methods -of mathematics and logic, and aiming at a harmonious interpretation of -the Cosmos. To give a name to this study the Ionians evolved the idea of -_Historia_, which in the sixth century took the place of _Philosophia_; -the latter not coming into use until the fifth century. - -In this place I must mention the third element, although it is not in -evidence in the earliest exponents of Ionian philosophy. It is the -tendency to mysticism, to abstraction from the world, then beginning to -develop in the Orphic school, which has left traces of its influence with -ever-increasing distinctness in Anaximander, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, and -Empedocles. It favoured the rise of a transcendental idealism which, -although we do not find it matured into immaterial conceptions in these -first natural philosophers, yet contains the germ of Plato’s dualistic -idea of the universe. Not that the curve of development runs in smooth -ascent from Thales to Plato; it exhibits the spiral windings inseparable -from historic processes, since every new tendency calls forth the -antagonistic principle to that which has spent its force, and thus brings -about the necessity of reaction in a retrospective sense. - -Thales, who enjoyed great repute in his native city of Miletus and -throughout Asia Minor at the commencement of the sixth century, calls -water the beginning of all things. This was no new idea. For before his -time poets had spoken of Oceanus, of the origin of the gods, and of the -deluge from which the world was born anew. And the infinite sea could not -but lie close to the thoughts of a seafaring nation. - -The novel and genuinely philosophic element in this proposition is -rather the monistic endeavour to refer all phenomena to a single cause, -to be sought not in heaven but on earth. For that which is taken as -the beginning is not Oceanus, or, it may be, Poseidon, as in the older -cosmogonies, but this palpable substance of water, out of which all -things come and to which they all return. This original matter is -indeed supposed to be animated by a divine spirit, but this divinity -is not a person. There is no place for it on Olympus. Rather is it the -expression of the immanent force which this philosopher recognised in -the incomprehensible properties of the magnet, and there called “soul.” -This enduing of nature with a soul is characteristic of the infancy -of speculation, and hence this Ionic philosophy has also been called -Hylozoism (the doctrine of living matter). The monistic impulse, which -would bind the world and this single and supposed divine primeval force -together, is diametrically opposed to the polytheistic tendency of the -popular religion of Greece. Even in the first Greek philosophers this -aspiration after unity points forward to monotheism, which was preached -by Xenophanes, the Ionian, at the end of this same century. - -Of all the achievements of Thales his prediction of the eclipse of -the sun (May 28, 585) is that which caused the greatest amazement, -although its scientific significance is the most trifling of any. For, -as the history of astronomy proves beyond controversy, Thales and his -whole generation lacked the rudiments of knowledge necessary for the -calculation of eclipses, and had not the faintest notion of how they -came about. Hence he can only have employed according to a fixed method -some such formula as the Chaldeans had gained from empiric observation -in calculating their eclipse period of eighteen years and eleven days -(_Saros_). The rule only suffices for approximate predictions. As a -matter of fact, Herodotus, the earliest witness to this event, states -that Thales allowed a margin of a whole year for the occurrence of the -eclipse. - -Thales himself left no written works, and this Ionic _Historia_ first -emerges into the full light of day with Anaximander of Miletus, who -founded the Ionic school about a generation later. In him the three -forces are strongly marked and defined--first the scientific spirit, -which impelled him to give visible expression to the geographical ideas -of his countrymen by means of a map of the earth’s surface, and to -make a systematic description of the heavens with the stationary and -revolving celestial bodies. With him originated the conception of the -constellations as a system of spheres rotating through and within one -another, and it was his mathematical imagination that led him to assume -the existence of certain fixed intervals between the revolving spheres, -arbitrarily determined as to number, but expressing in their proportion -the idea of harmony. - -Here we have the germ of the speculations of Pythagoras, on which, as is -well known, the laws of Copernicus and Kepler are founded. The vein of -poetry in the Ionian character is manifest not only in this intuitive -perception but in the aptness of his imagery, when he calls these spheres -“chariot-wheels,” from the rim of which the fiery flames of the sun, -moon, etc., start out like felloes. The scientific element in his system -is evident in the manner in which he follows out biologically the idea of -Thales concerning water. If all things have at one time been water, then -organisms cannot originally have been created as land animals. Hence man, -who now comes into the world utterly helpless, has been gradually evolved -from pisciform creatures--the first germ of Darwinism. - -Lastly the pessimistic mysticism which had lately arisen is clearly -manifest in him. When he regards the origin of all individual existences -as a wrong committed by them in separating themselves from the All-One, -we can only understand him by referring to Orphic religious ideas, in -which birth is looked upon as a decline and fall from the blissful -seats of the gods and earthly life is represented as a vale of misery. -Death is consequently the penalty which the individual pays for his -presumption, whether the individual be a man or a celestial body. For -the earth and all other Cosmoi are doomed to extinction in an “Infinite” -which corresponds to the ancient idea of Chaos, and, like that, is -not conceived of as a vacuum but as matter in an undefined form. This -alternation of creation and annihilation, this perpetual motion, -anticipates the eternal flux of Heraclitus of Ephesus, who at the end -of the sixth century and the beginning of the fifth, transformed the -teaching of Anaximander into keener dialectics. - -In comparison with this Ephesian thinker the successors of Anaximander -at Miletus and whatsoever following they had down to the end of the -fifth century sink into total obscurity. Before turning our attention -to Heraclitus, however, we must first consider the man who transplanted -the Ionic _Historia_ from Ionia to Italy and there elaborated both the -scientific and mystic side of it with marvellous assiduity--that is, -Pythagoras. - -Pythagoras left Samos about the year 530, and turned his steps towards -Croton in lower Italy, where he found virgin soil for his labours. The -mathematical foundation upon which the Ionic school is based attains -an excessive predominance with Pythagoras. Epoch-making maxims are -associated with his name, and probably not without good reason. But the -speculative tendency of the Ionic mind prompted him to set up number -itself as a principle; the Infinite of Anaximander being conceived of -arithmetically as the Uneven, _i.e._, that which cannot be divided by -two. Since the Even and Uneven alone co-exist, the sacred Three is -compounded of Unity and Duality, as is also the Four (_tetraktys_), the -root of Being. By simply adding these first four numbers together the -Decas (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10) is obtained. The cosmos is made to consist -of ten celestial bodies, corresponding to this Decas, by the addition -of the heaven of the fixed stars as an outermost crust, and the earth -and the “anti-earth” (_antichthon_) containing the central fire, at the -heart of it. The earth and other stars moved round this centre, and here -we have the first glimpse of the modern conception which explains the -apparent diurnal motion of the heavens by the rotation of the earth. This -rudimentary idea, as elaborated by later Pythagoreans, and particularly -by Aristarchus of Samos in the Alexandrine period, constitutes the first -starting-point we can assign to the Copernican system of the universe. - -Pythagoras made the astounding discovery that the harmonic intervals of -the seven-stringed lyre can be reduced to simple rational proportions -(the octave = 1:2, the fifth 2:3, the fourth 3:4, the whole tone 8:9). He -then sought for a like scheme in the harmony of the spheres, and, as the -geometric habit of the Greek mind converted these arithmetical relations -into lines and planes, the whole process by which the universe came into -existence seemed to be a sum in arithmetic. - -The strong tinge of mysticism which Pythagoras had brought with him -from the Orphic influences of his native land to his new home in Italy -served as a wholesome corrective to this exaggerated rationalism. Every -religious sect thrives better in a colony than in the mother-country, -as is demonstrated in the case of William Penn and many others. The -aristocratic and religious league which Pythagoras founded at Croton -prospered mightily, and presently the whole of lower Italy and Sicily was -covered with branches of the order. Its religious ideas, particularly -that of the transmigration of souls, were not new, although they have -been claimed as peculiarly Pythagorean. Orphic mysticism had adopted -in precisely the same fashion the notion of the fall of the spirit and -its purification by transmigrations of all kinds into the bodies of -men and animals. But the earnestness with which noble-minded men lived -conformably to these ideas in matters of practice and brought them into -connection with the results of scientific research strongly impressed the -ancient world; and the close freemasonry which linked Pythagoreans from -every quarter with one another set forth an ideal of manly friendship -which served as a model for the institution of the Academy and similar -philosophic societies. - -But the too strongly marked political complexion of these Pythagorean -societies contained the seed of their destruction. At the end of the -sixth century and the beginning of the fifth the aristocratic principle -was everywhere on the decline, and in Italy itself the Pythagoreans were -attacked on democratic grounds by Xenophanes of Colophon, who ridiculed -the aristocratic physical sports in which even distinguished Pythagoreans -(such as Milo) indulged, and vaunted the intellectual sport of his own -_Sophia_. The said wisdom, it must be confessed, was of a negative rather -than a positive character. - -Xenophanes attacked Homer, the Bible of the ancients, in verses of fierce -satire, showing the gods as there depicted to be examples of every kind -of immorality. By the unparalleled vigour with which he transferred the -monistic tendency of Ionic rationalism to the religious problem, he, -first of all Greeks, originated the monotheistic conception of the Deity, -which none of the later philosophers ventured to maintain with such -unflinching boldness in face of the polytheism of the vulgar herd. To -the aristocratic submission to authority in matters of belief required -by the Pythagoreans this democratic philosopher opposed the prerogative -of doubt, and he has consequently been lauded by the sceptics of all -ages as their standard-bearer. At this stage of physical observation, -indeed, doubt sets in concerning natural objects. Xenophanes discovers -that the rainbow is an optical illusion. He promptly generalises in -his scepticism; the sun and the other stars are nothing but fiery -exhalations. This assumption will lead to further results among his -Eleatic friends. - -Meanwhile in the mother-country speculation advanced with huge strides. -Heraclitus, a descendant of the royal dynasty of Ephesus, withdrew -from his democratic fellow-citizens into haughty isolation. Instead -of concerning himself with the scientific gossip which tended to make -the Ionic _Historia_ lose itself in detail, he laid stress upon the -vast concatenation of things. He made the fundamental laws of thought -his starting-point, in place of the principles of mathematics. The -selection of physical propositions which he deduced poetically from -his observations of nature are far more than mere natural symbolism. -Fire, constantly transformed into water and earth and as constantly -exhaling upwards to the celestial fire, is to him a type of the perpetual -change of phenomena that veils the eternal and immutable Law (_logos_), -identical in everything but name with the Harmony of the Pythagoreans, -which expresses itself in numbers eternally the same. The law of man -feeds, he says, upon the divine law manifesting itself in fire. - -Here we have the germ of the vast scheme of law which binds God and the -world, physics and morals, into a compact entity in the Pantheism of the -Stoic philosophy. Since he places fire and soul upon the same footing, it -follows that human physiology and psychology are explicable by the same -formula, to which he likewise ingeniously adapts the Orphic ideas. Thus -Heraclitus has exercised great influence upon succeeding generations, and -Hegel’s system avowedly leans upon him. - -Equally great is the influence of Parmenides, the Kant of the ancient -world. Descended from an Ionian family of rank which had taken refuge -at Elea in Italy at the time of the occupation of Phocæa (560), he -carries on the tradition of the philosophic poetry of Xenophanes, whose -Pantheistic Monism he defends in acute polemics against the “two-headed” -Heraclitus. Being--one, eternal, indivisible, immutable, unchangeable--is -alone intellectually conceivable. All beside--multiplicity, divisibility, -mobility, variability--is logically inconceivable and therefore -non-existent. Reason (_logos_) is consequently the measure of all things. -His system is abstract and logical to absurdity, but his postulate -that this monistic Being must be bounded like a globe that is equally -closed in all directions reminds us that we are still in the age of -physics. In him the scepticism of Xenophanes hardens into the assertion -that everything which contravenes his logical postulate of the Sole -Existent--such as multiplicity, colour, motion, becoming and ceasing to -be--is mere illusion. - -The logical and sceptical bias of the Eleatics is surpassed by the -hair-splitting dialectics of Zeno, whose evidences against motion and -multiplicity still perplex the thinkers of to-day. On the one hand -this precise manipulation of the laws of thought which represents the -culminating point of Ionic rationalism redeems the negative Sophism -which was beginning to deny the actuality and perceptibility of things -themselves (Protagoras, Gorgias), while on the other hand the positive -result of this strict definition of the highest conception of Being -was to call forth a series of systems which came into existence almost -simultaneously, though subject in part to reciprocal influence, a little -before the middle of the fifth century. Such was the Doctrine of the -Elements taught by Empedocles of Agrigentum, who once more found the idea -of the imperishable principle in the fourfold root of Being (the four -elements) and brought about the Heraclitic alternation of the external -world by the introduction of the two polar forces of love and hate. - -The idea of the Element in endless subdivision (which could not be evaded -in the world-process of Empedocles) and in endless diversity of quality -was strongly brought out by Anaxagoras the Ionian in his _homoiomere_. -To this chaos he opposed the thinking and directing reason (_nous_) -as a distinct existence, thus definitely breaking with the idea of a -hylozoistic union of matter and force, which had already threatened to -go to pieces in the systems of Heraclitus and Parmenides, and setting -forth the positive dualism of God and the world, _i.e._, of the Universal -Reason working towards predetermined ends and the blind chaotic mass of -matter. - -More important than either of these two is Leucippus of Miletus, the -founder of the atomistic theory, who, as Theophrastus rightly asserts, -starts from the position of Parmenides. For he finds the homogeneous, -eternal, complete, and indivisible, unchangeable Existence, to which no -quality can be ascribed, in the “atom,” and solves the difficulties which -arose for the Eleatics out of the idea of multiplicity by assuming the -existence of an infinite number of such units. Hence results a mechanical -interpretation of nature, which proved of all ancient systems the most -serviceable for the elucidation of physical and physiological facts. By -explaining sensory impressions by mechanical transmission from object -to subject, he propounds the first theory of sensory perception, and -since, in consequence of this assumption, he regards such qualities as -colour, taste, etc., as subjective sensory impressions to which atoms in -different arrangements correspond objectively, he lays the foundation of -a distinction between primary and secondary qualities which has not been -rightly appreciated until modern days. - -Generally speaking, the value of the Leucippic theory has only been -recognised since the Renaissance. For although Democritus of Abdera -extended his master’s admirable system to fresh departments of knowledge, -established it more firmly by combating the sensualism of Protagoras and -other theories arising from a misunderstanding of Leucippus, and, above -all, brought it to a high pitch of mathematical and notional exactitude, -yet the atomistic school which continued to exist at Abdera till into -the fourth century has passed almost utterly out of mind. Plato ignored -it, although he adopted many of its theories indirectly; Aristotle alone -made use of it, though not as regards the main points of its teachings; -and Epicurus, who borrowed from it almost the whole of his theoretical -science, by this very absorption played the chief part in the destruction -of the Abderite writings, the greatest loss that science has ever -suffered. - -How can we explain this astounding disregard of atomistic philosophy? In -some degree by the fact that Leucippus settled in the barbarous north, -far away from Athens, which had grown since the Persian wars to be more -and more the _prytaneion_, or central focus of warmth to Hellas, and -drew all talent to itself from every quarter; and further, from the fact -that the natural science which was dominant in the sixth century and the -beginning of the fifth--and was regarded, indeed, as the only legitimate -kind of scientific thought--lost its hold on men’s minds towards the -middle of the fifth century. We have evidence of this in Eleatism, -which, with Zeno and Melissus, devoted itself to purely dialectical -questions and abandoned the interpretation of nature. We have evidence -of it, again, in Empedocles, who in his second series of didactic poems -(_Katharmoi_) flings himself into the arms of Orphic mysticism; and in -his pupil, Gorgias, who proceeded from physics to nihilism and thence -to mere superficial rhetoric. We have the strongest proof of all in -Democritus himself, who embraced inductive logic, æsthetics, grammar, -and ethics within the range of his studies as well as the old questions -of physics. Thus during the Peloponnesian War the way was prepared for -the new epoch which was performed with Athens for a stage, and Socrates, -Plato, and Aristotle for heroes. - - -II - -Socrates, the Athenian, brought philosophy, as Cicero says, from heaven -to earth; that is to say, in place of one-sided speculation upon nature -he pursued an equally one-sided study of ethics. In his practical, -matter-of-fact way he availed himself of what Eleatic ontology had -acquired in order to settle the fundamental ideas of morality and to -demonstrate the possibility of scientific proof in face of the nihilistic -fallacies of sophistry which despaired of both. So much we may accept -as certain from received accounts. All the details of his teaching are -wrapped in doubt, for we possess no historical account of it, but merely -works of an apologetic character, in which liberal and justifiable -advantage is taken of the prerogatives of fiction. Neither Plato nor -Xenophon (the latter of whom did not take up his pen until after a -superabundant crop of Socratic literature had come into being) can be -accepted as historic evidence without further ado. Nevertheless both the -disciples of Socrates and his opponents, Aristophanes and Spintharus (the -father of Aristoxenus), bear witness to the extraordinary personality of -the man. - -The rights of the individual were not recognised until the fifth century. -The atomistic theory of Leucippus and Democritus sees the Eternal and -Constant not in the All-One of Xenophanes and Parmenides, but in the -individual. The philosophy of the Sophists breaks the bonds of authority, -and in the motto “Man (the individual) is the measure of all things,” -Protagoras sets up the charter of subjective inclination. This charter -Socrates adopts, but he opposes to the liberty of the individual will -the counteracting force of obedience to the dictates of the individual -conscience. But conscience, as the German and Latin name for it alike -imply, means knowledge. A man should therefore act upon his own judgment, -but only in so far as his action is founded upon norms scientifically -determined. Thus Socrates reads a deeper meaning into the admonition of -the Delphic god, “Know thyself,” by recognising the independence of the -will. - -Inasmuch as traditional usage and the law of the state are thus tacitly -set aside (and on this point Aristophanes judged more correctly in his -caricature than the apologists Plato and especially Xenophon will admit) -Socrates is the preacher of a new private morality which traverses the -public morality of classic antiquity. His death sentence is so far -intelligible, though it remains an act of crude, reactionary violence. -The greatness of soul, so far beyond the ordinary level of mankind, -which, according to all accounts, the philosopher displayed at the near -prospect of death, wrought upon a far wider circle than that of his -disciples and contemporaries. His martyrdom set the seal upon the victory -of the Ideal philosophy in Athens. - -Socrates himself represents a complete individuality, hence his method -of education has been of service to individualities the most dissimilar. -What contrasting types do we find in Xenophon, the bigoted and stupid -cavalry officer; and Plato, the witty and profound thinker; the cynic -Antisthenes full of the pride of beggary, and the frivolous courtier -Aristippus! They all portrayed themselves rather than their master in -their writings, and yet each one of them has in some way or other his -part in him. - -Of all these disciples of Socrates, two only have influenced the -afterworld, Antisthenes and Plato, Athenians both, the former a plebeian -and founder of the philosophy of the proletariat, the latter, sprung from -an old and noble family, an aristocrat of the purest water in all his -philosophic ideas. Antisthenes carried the practical and matter-of-fact -temper of his master to extremes. Virtue with him is a question of -character, and therefore scorns empty words and learning. Logic and -mathematics are superfluous, virtue is the only good, vice the only evil; -everything else is a matter of indifference. This meagreness of theory -is made good by strength of will. Force of character, freedom from the -prejudices of conventional custom, conventional religion or conventional -government--these are what distinguish the true freeman, the man free in -soul, from the slave. - -The impression produced by this king in rags in the midst of that age of -decadence was striking beyond belief. He with his barking voice seemed to -be the warning cry of the proletarian admonishing men to return to nature -and to simplicity of life. His acute and witty writings were gladly read. -His school, which can show one disciple of world-wide celebrity in the -person of Diogenes, was gradually merged into the Stoa, which owes to -Cynicism the popular tone of its influential system of ethics. Since the -birth of Christ, the Cynic has come to life again, as of old in the guise -of the mendicant preacher, proclaiming the gospel of renunciation and -holding up the mirror to the corruption of the age. This new Cynicism -was one of the most important precursors of the Christian apostolate. -It awoke once more in the age of the Renaissance, finding its wittiest -exponent in Montaigne, in whose steps J. J. Rousseau afterwards trod. In -him we have the best typical example of the strength and weakness of this -anti-scientific movement. - -Plato, the antithesis of Antisthenes, continued in a direct line the -thread of Athenian philosophy. He accomplished, in the widest sense of -the term, the task which Socrates had only begun--that of establishing -science, now discredited by the Sophist, on a new basis. - -We are but imperfectly acquainted with the life of Plato and the phases -of his development, for the chronology of his dialogues has not been -determined up to this time, either absolutely or relatively, and it is -a matter of doubt how far their artistic intention admits of a complete -exposition of his system. For Plato’s true work was not his literary -productions, which he himself regarded as of secondary importance -and which obviously reproduce only a fraction of his researches and -speculations, but his Academy, in which, from the eighties of the -fourth century onwards, he gathered together the ablest scholars from -amongst the youth of Greece for study and life in community. If all the -transactions of this Academy had been preserved (like the information -Aristotle gives us concerning the latter years), it may be that we should -be able to trace distinctly the development of this wonderful man. For -Plato is both the most gifted and the most complicated personality of -Greek antiquity, and the depths and recesses of his nature were not -wholly penetrated by his intimate friends, not even by Aristotle; how -much less by us of this latter day. What we do possess is, however, amply -sufficient to indicate at least his place in this summary. - -If from the ranks of the Greek thinkers we have so far considered, we -choose out the most eminent leaders and mark the lines of connection -between them, we shall see how they all converge to Plato. He is the -focus of ancient philosophy, whither all that went before him tends, and -whence bright light and warmth stream forth upon posterity down to our -own day. - -The range of his achievements alone is enough to make this evident. Like -the Ionians his grasp embraces cosmology, physics, and anthropology. Like -the Pythagoreans he pursues the study of mathematics with ever increasing -devotion, presumably as the basis of his speculations. Like Xenophanes he -enters the school of the ancient Orphic Mysticism, and in the _Timæus_ -exalts it into a theology culminating in Monotheism. Like the Eleatics -he ponders the problems of ontology. Like Heraclitus he inquires into -the eternal flow of genesis; he ponders on the ideals of culture and the -political theories of the Sophists, he wrestles with the ideal method of -Socrates, he strives with hostile philosophers of the Socratic school -on this hand and on that (Aristippus, Euclides, and Antisthenes), and, -lastly, he strives with himself as his speculation develops more and more -along theological and mathematical lines. For, as the genuine servant of -Truth, Plato regards himself up to old age as in process of growing and -learning. Nothing is so hateful to him as Dogmatism. Nevertheless there -are so many opinions to which he held with unwavering constancy that we -are probably justified in speaking of the system of Plato. - -At the centre of it lies what has crystallised in more living shape out -of the dry conceptions of the Socratic method--the domain of ideas. Even -as Parmenides perceived Being in the eternal All-Existent, accessible to -Reason alone, so Plato sees the being of individual things in that which -pertains to them in common and as such can be grasped by the Reason. -But even as the Eleatic “One” exists even apart from its recognition -as an objective being, so these eternal and unchangeable archetypes -(_ideai_) live in and by themselves as objective essences which exist -wholly apart from the individual objects which partake of their form. -These archetypes, like the Eleatic All-Existent, bear the name of unit -(monad), only in Plato’s scheme there are many such monads, and their -unchangeableness does not exclude the idea of causation. Thus his “ideas” -are the “units” of Parmenides in multiplicity and the “conceptions” of -Socrates endued by metaphysics with the breath of life. - -To Socrates the idea of Good and of Virtue lay at the heart of his -teaching, and thus the preponderance of the idea of Good is confirmed -to his pupil, and in its theological elaboration this abstract idea is -converted into the Supreme Reason, the first cause of Being, which is -identical with the Deity. - -As to the Eleatics, the external world was an illusion of the senses, -and in any case a thing irrational, so matter and the world of phenomena -which occupies the middle place between matter and ideas is hard to -grasp, and Plato’s notion of the World-Soul which hovers between the -two is as contradictory and obscure as that of the human soul. For -with this gifted poet-philosopher there is much that tarries on the -threshold of consciousness, and fails to struggle into clear light, a -circumstance that harmonises with his own teachings, which find clearness -and singleness of purport in the Eternal and Divine alone, obscurity -and ambiguity in the intermediate terrestrial sphere of genesis, and -utter darkness and inconceivability in the lower sphere of matter and -non-existence. These three stages are repeated in his theory of the soul, -which from desire rises to courage and ultimately to reason. His ethics -and politics, which according to his Hellenic ideas are one and the same, -are calculated for three classes of humanity--the iron, the silver, and -the golden. The last two, the military and learned classes, are the only -ones taken into account in the educational system of his ideal state; for -the proletariat there is no need to be concerned, although Antisthenes -and his successors regarded this very class as the only one capable of -genuine philosophy. But Plato, like the aristocrat he was, has in view -an elect type of humanity, exalted by exceptional intelligence above -the brute multitude and the solid middle-class element and called by -philosophy, _i.e._, the doctrine of ideas, to the helm of the ideal state. - -The teaching of the Sophists had abolished law. Plato likewise knows no -law on the lofty level of his ideal state. But the constraint of law -seems superfluous where each individual is trained to be the ideal man. -Forced by bitter experience to moderate his demands upon human nature -and the state towards the end of his life, he sketched in the _Laws_, a -model state on the basis of the old established system of government. -But this system, like the metaphysics of his old age, seems, as it were, -a desertion of his ideals. All that Plato achieved was the education of -a race of pupils in his Academy who far surpassed the common standard -of learning and morals, and who, though unable to save the state, yet -maintained a high standard of knowledge and an ideal of morality for -mankind in the midst of a corrupt society. - -The greatest of these Academicians is Aristotle of Stagira, who -displayed a versatility and thoroughness of research which appears -absolutely incomprehensible in our eyes. Like Plato, he steadfastly -held that knowledge is never complete, but that truth is to be found by -unremitting persistence in inquiry. This is probably the reason why -he gave the world some dialogues adapted to the public taste, and with -the help of some of his pupils accumulated and published collections -of historico-philological and scientific matter in an unpretentious -form; but the systematic lectures in which he propounded to the more -advanced followers of his school the results of his speculations and -of his wide empirical observation, together with a critical treatment -of his predecessors, were never published by him. He worked at these -papers his whole life long, and many of the didactic writings which were -edited by his pupils after his death, and which are all we possess of the -whole body of Aristotle’s works, bear evident traces of gradual growth, -correction, and amplification. - -In a sketch like the present it is impossible to give so much as a -summary of the contents of this admirably arranged encyclopædia, which -ranked as the richest storehouse of every kind of empiric and speculative -science from the beginning of the Christian era down to modern times. The -essential points in which his life-work makes an advance on that of Plato -are as follows: - -Plato never went so far as to reduce his great discoveries and intuitions -in every department of science to a complete and connected whole, being -averse, on scientific and ethical grounds alike, from the dogmatic -definition inseparable from any systematic treatise. This Aristotle -did, dividing the whole body of philosophy under three principal heads -(theoretical, practical, and poetical) and distinguishing subdivisions -(logic, physics, metaphysics, ethics, and politics, and so forth) within -these divisions by strongly marked lines of demarcation and methods -rigorously exact. He is a Platonist in all things and feels himself so to -be. Even where he displays most independence, as in the development of -syllogisms or in biology, it is impossible to overlook his indebtedness -to the bold speculations of the master. - -If the whole work of Plato’s life and of his scholars between 388 and 348 -had been preserved to us, the ultimate connection between Aristotle and -the researches of the Academy would probably be even more evident than it -is. Nevertheless there is a marked difference between the speculations of -these two great philosophers. Plato wholly dissevered the Universal and -Essential in things from the Terrestrial and placed it in a heaven beyond -the earth. - -Aristotle repudiates this transcendentalism all along the line. The -Universal cannot exist without the archetype, the essence must be -immanent in it. Hence the individual is the only true Substantive, -containing Substance and Matter. This opposition of opinion concerning -“Universalia” is, as is well known, the starting-point of mediæval -Scholasticism (Nominalism, Realism). - -The motion of passive substance towards the active form, _i.e._, the -realisation of the Possible, leads up to the idea of development, of -genesis (though not, indeed, in the modern sense) on which Plato’s -speculations had made shipwreck, and passes over Plato’s rigid Eleatism -to join hands with Heraclitus, the philosopher of change, with whom -Aristotle sees the ultimate cause of all motion and all things in the -Deity, itself as eternal as the world, which “yearns towards It as the -bridegroom towards the bride.” Thus soul, too, is the pattern of the -body, hence the purpose of its being. The body is but the instrument -(_organon_) of the soul. Thus Aristotle first coins the name and idea -of organic being and draws a sharp distinction between these animate -creatures (plants, animals, and man) and inanimate nature. In ethics and -politics his speculation treads in the footsteps of Plato, save that, in -this province of thought also, he mitigates the uncompromising rigourism -of the master by his innate bias towards the historically-established -and practically-possible, and turns it to more profitable uses. The -ethico-political speculations of both are, however, adapted to the -aristocratic class at that time dominant in Greece. Alexander, the pupil -of Aristotle, conquered the East during his master’s life-time, but -the philosopher’s opinion that the newly acquired continent should be -governed by other laws than those of Hellas was not practically feasible. -His ethics failed him utterly in face of the new political situation thus -created. - - -III - -At this juncture the cosmopolitan Cynicism, which had outgrown the narrow -particularism of Hellenism as early as the time of Antisthenes, and the -Stoicism which was built upon its foundation later on, proved the form -best fitted to the times. Zeno, sprung of Phœnician blood and brought up -in Cyprus, that is on semi-Asiatic soil, elaborated this theory of life -at Athens, whither he came shortly after the death of Aristotle (about -320). After the dualism that had prevailed from Anaxagoras to Plato and -Aristotle, in which God and the World were set over against one another -as antagonistic principles, Zeno’s theory harks back to the monistic -tendency of the Ionic period. Like that, it is realistic, nay, grossly -materialistic, in contrast to the Idealism of Athenian philosophy. The -result is a consistent Pantheism in which soul and body represent the -analogon to God and the World. Both are of the same essential nature, and -only temporarily divided by transitory differentiation of manifestation. -Zeno’s morality is rigorous, and aims not at the moderation of the -passions (like that of Plato and Aristotle) but at their extirpation. The -inexorable law that holds the world and man in bonds from which there is -no escape, exacts obedience, and to render it voluntarily is virtue. - -Since the main object of the Stoic school is the training of the will, -and since wisdom as such is only a means to an end, the dogmatic form -that corresponds to Oriental modes of thought and the despotic system -of contemporary government prevails throughout its teachings. Hence we -can understand how this somewhat coarse, wire-drawn, as it were, but -effective form of philosophy dominates the whole world from this time -forward till about the second century A.D. In essentials it represents -a revival of Heraclitism, just as the antithetical philosophy of -Epicureanism, which prevailed for the same length of time, is in essence -reminiscent of the Abderitic system. - -Epicurus (born 342) was the son of an Athenian, but born at Samos. Thus -he had opportunities of making himself acquainted with the philosophy of -Democritus, which was more highly esteemed in Ionia than at Athens. He -did not care for learning for its own sake, however, but for the sake of -its practical application. In this respect, as also in his consistent -materialism, he is closely akin to the Stoic school. - -In dogmatic positiveness and immutability Epicurus far surpasses even -the Stoic philosophy. With him the main consideration is a mode of life -which induces a tranquil cheerfulness of temper by the refusal to admit -all disquieting thoughts (as of death, immortality or divine punishment) -and troublesome passions, and by which his followers, while here below, -become partakers of the felicity of the gods. This quietist philosophy -harmonised with the ideals of life which obtained at that period, and -the ardent exaltation of friendship among this free-thinking fellowship -and their ideal of human freedom and dignity atone in some degree for the -hollowness of their theory of life. - -Finally Scepticism takes the form of a school in Greece with Pyrrho, who -died in the same year as Epicurus, 270 B.C. He, too, is only solicitous -for tranquillity of mind, but he does not win it by dogmatic faith in -this system of doctrine or that, but in believing nothing whatever, -in thinking nothing right and nothing important. This thorough-going -scepticism is bound to doubt even itself. As a result it neutralises -itself and thus marks the spontaneous dissolution of Hellenic philosophy. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS] - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII. THE REIGN OF TERROR IN ATHENS - - Desolate Athens! though thy gods are fled, - Thy temples silent, and thy glory dead, - Though all thou hast of beautiful and brave - Sleep in the tomb, or moulder in the wave, - Though power and praise forsake thee, and forget, - Desolate Athens, thou art lovely yet! - - --WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED. - - -[Sidenote: [404 B.C.]] - -In the capitulation on which Athens surrendered, so far as its terms -are reported by Xenophon, no mention appears to have been made of any -change which was to take place in its form of government; and, if we -might believe Diodorus, one article expressly provided that the Athenians -should enjoy their hereditary constitution. This is probably an error; -but if such language was used in the treaty it was apparently designed -rather to insult than to deceive the people; and the framers of the -article, who were also to be its expounders, had in their view not the -free constitution under which the city had flourished since the time of -Solon, but some ancient form of misrule, which had been long forgotten, -but might still be recovered from oblivion by the industry of such -antiquarians as Nicomachus. It is at least not to be doubted that the -Spartan government, if it did not stipulate for the subversion of the -democracy, looked forward to such a revolution as one of the most certain -and important results of its victory. But it may have believed that -its Athenian partisans would be strong enough to effect it without its -interference. And we gather from a statement of Lysias, that Lysander, -after he had seen the demolition of the walls begun, leaving his friends -to complete their work, sailed away to Samos, now the only place in the -Ægean where the authority of Sparta was not acknowledged. - -If this was the case, he had scarcely laid siege to Samos before -his presence was required at Athens. Theramenes, Critias, and their -associates, wished to give a legitimate aspect to the power which they -meant to usurp, and to overthrow the constitution in the name of the -people. But they did not think it safe to trust to their own influence -for the first step; and though Agis was still at hand, he might not enter -so cordially into their views, and did not possess so much weight as -Lysander. When therefore a day had been fixed for an assembly to consider -the question of reforming the constitution, Lysander was sent for to -attend the discussion. Theramenes had undertaken the principal part in -the management of the business. He proposed that the supreme power should -for the present be lodged with thirty persons, who should be authorised -to draw up a new code of laws, which however was to be conformable to the -ancient institutions, according to a model framed by Dracontides. - - -LYSANDER - -The presence of Lysander, and the nearness of the Peloponnesian troops, -deterred the friends of liberty from expressing their sentiments on -this proposition. But its nature and tendency were clear, and a murmur -of disapprobation ran through the assembly. Theramenes treated it with -contemptuous defiance; but Lysander silenced it by a graver argument. -He bade the malcontents take notice, that they were at his mercy, and -were no longer protected by the treaty. The fortifications had not been -demolished within the time prescribed, and therefore in strictness of -right the treaty was void. Their lives were forfeited and might be in -jeopardy, if they should reject the proposition of Theramenes. It was -adopted without further hesitation; and a list of the Thirty, of whom -ten were named by Theramenes, ten by the Athenian ephors, and ten were -nominally left to the choice of the assembly, was received with equal -unanimity. The names which it comprised, some of which soon became -infamously notorious were: Polyarches, Critias, Melobius, Hippolochus, -Euclidas, Hiero, Mnesilochus, Chremo, Theramenes, Aresias, Diocles, -Phædrias, Chærilaus, Anætius, Piso, Sophocles (not the poet, who was -now dead), Eratosthenes, Charicles, Onomacles, Theognis, Æschines, -Theogenes, Cleomedes, Erasistratus, Phido, Dracontides, Eumathes, -Aristoteles, Hippomachus, Mnesithides. Besides these a board of Ten was -appointed--perhaps by Lysander himself--to govern Piræus. As soon as this -affair was despatched, Lysander departed with his fleet to Samos, and the -Peloponnesian army evacuated Attica. - -The Samians, blockaded by land and by sea, were forced to capitulate -before the end of the summer; they were permitted to leave the city, but -not to carry away any part of their property, except the clothes they -wore. - -These terms might be thought lenient, had they been guilty of any -ferocious outrage; but perhaps Lysander did not view their conduct in -that light. He was however probably anxious to return home and to exhibit -the fruits of his victory to his admiring countrymen, and may have been -therefore the more willing to treat with the besieged. When they had -withdrawn, he supplied their place with the exiles who had been expelled -at various times in the civil feuds of the island, put them in possession -of all the property of the vanquished party and appointed a council -of Ten, to govern them, and secure their obedience. He then dismissed -the allies to their homes, and himself with the Lacedæmonian squadron -returned to Laconia. - -He brought with him the Athenian galleys surrendered in Piræus, the last -fragments of that maritime power which he had broken, trophies from -the prizes taken at Ægospotami, and 470 talents [£94,000 or $470,000], -the remainder of the tribute which he had collected from the Asiatic -cities during the absence of Cyrus. But we are inclined to conclude from -a story which, though it is not mentioned by Xenophon, is related by -several later writers, with circumstances too minute and probable to -be rejected, that he had previously sent a larger sum--perhaps not much -less than a thousand talents--which he is said to have entrusted to the -care of Gylippus, the hero of Syracuse. Gylippus was subject to the same -infirmity which had occasioned the disgrace of his father Cleandridas. -He could not resist the temptation of embezzling a part of the treasure, -was detected and banished, and put an end to his own life by fasting. -But even the sum mentioned by Xenophon was probably the largest that had -ever been carried at one time to Sparta. To this were added crowns, and -various other presents, which had been bestowed upon Lysander by many -cities, which were eager to testify their gratitude and admiration, or to -gain the favour of the conqueror. - -This influx of wealth was viewed with jealousy by several Spartans, -who dreaded the effect it might produce both on their foreign policy, -and their domestic institutions: the example of Gylippus, though by no -means an extraordinary case, might seem to confirm their views: and it -appears that a proposal was made to dedicate the whole to the Delphic -god. But Lysander and his friends strenuously resisted this measure, -and prevailed on the ephors or the people to let the treasure remain in -the public coffers. A part was employed to commemorate the triumph of -Sparta, and the merits of the individuals who had principally helped to -achieve it. Lysander himself adorned one of the Spartan temples with -memorials of his two victories, of Notium and Ægospotami; and the first -might indeed justly be considered as having opened the way for the last. -Tripods of extraordinary size were dedicated at Amyclæ; and at Delphi -the statues of the tutelary twins, Zeus, Apollo, Artemis, and Poseidon, -forming part of a great group, which comprised those of Lysander, who -was represented receiving a crown from Poseidon, his soothsayer Abas, -Hermon the Megarian, the master of his galley, and upwards of twenty-nine -other persons, Spartans or natives of other cities, who had distinguished -themselves at Ægospotami, long attested the gratitude of Sparta towards -gods and men. - - -CRUELTIES OF THE THIRTY - -In the meanwhile the party which had usurped the supreme authority at -Athens, had been unfolding the real character of its domination. The -first care of the Thirty was to provide themselves with instruments -suited to their purposes; they filled all important posts with their -creatures. The ephoralty seems to have merged in their own office. The -council was already for the most part composed of their own partisans, -and needed but few purifying changes; it was now to become the sole -tribunal for state-trials. - -It might be inferred from the language of Xenophon’s history, that the -legislative functions which they professed to assume were merely nominal; -but we collect from a hint which he drops elsewhere, that they availed -themselves from time to time of this branch of their authority, to -promulgate laws, or regulations of police, either by way of precaution -or of pretext; and that they exercised a censorial control over the -occupations and conduct of their subjects. But it is probable that they -never intended to publish any code, much less any constitution which -might limit their power. Their main object, in which they seem to have -been unanimous, was to reverse the policy of Themistocles and Pericles: -to reduce Athens to the rank of a petty town, cut off from the sea, -without colonies or commerce, incapable of resisting the will of Sparta, -or of exciting her jealousy. It seems to have been with the design of -signifying this leading maxim of their administration in a sensible -manner, that they altered their position of the bema from which the -orators addressed the assembly in the Pnyx, so that it might no longer -command a view of the sea and of Salamis. They still more distinctly -intimated their intention, while they took a step towards carrying it -into effect, by selling the materials of the magnificent arsenal, which -it had cost a thousand talents to build, for three, to a contractor -who undertook to demolish and clear it away. It was perhaps at a later -period, and for their own security, that they destroyed the fortresses on -the borders of Attica. If they had succeeded in their aims, the history -of Athens might now have been said to have closed; for it would have -ceased materially to affect the course of events in the rest of Greece, -and could have possessed no interest but such as might belong to the -internal changes or quarrels of the oligarchy. - - -THE SYCOPHANTS - -Happily for their country the diversity of their characters was too -great to be reconciled even by the sense of their common interest, and -proved a source of dissension which became fatal to their power. The -men whose ability and energy gave them the predominance over the rest, -were hurried by the violence of their passions into excesses from which -their more prudent and moderate associates recoiled, but which they were -unable to prevent. For some time they preserved a show of decency in -their proceedings, and some of their acts were so generally acceptable, -that the means, though contrary to law and justice, might to many seem to -be sanctified by the end. The first prosecutions were directed chiefly -against a class of men who were universally odious, and had contributed -more than any others to involve the state in the evils from which -they themselves now justly suffered, the informers, or sycophants as -they were called at Athens, who had perverted the laws, corrupted the -tribunals, and had gained an infamous livelihood by the extortion which -they were thus enabled to practise on wealthy and timid citizens, but -more especially on foreigners subject to Athenian jurisdiction, who were -thus, more than by any other grievance, alienated from the sovereign -state. The most notorious of these pests of the commonwealth were eagerly -condemned by the council; and their punishment was viewed with pleasure -by all honest men. Yet the satisfaction it caused must have been a little -allayed in some minds by the reflection, that the form of proceeding by -which they were condemned was one under which the most innocent might -always be exposed to the same fate. - -[Illustration: GREEK TERRA-COTTA - -(In the British Museum)] - -According to the new regulation the Thirty presided in person over trials -held by the council: two tables were placed in front of the benches which -they occupied, to receive the balls, or tokens, by which the councillors -declared their verdict, and which instead of being dropped secretly into -a box, were now to be openly deposited on the board, so that the Thirty -might see which way every man voted. These however were not the only -cases which they brought before the council, even in the early part -of their reign. The persons who before the surrender of the city had -been arrested on information, partly procured by bribery, and partly -extorted by fear, or by the rack, charging them with a conspiracy against -the state, but who had really been guilty of no offence but that of -expressing their attachment to the constitution which was now abolished, -were soon after brought to a mock trial, and judicially murdered. - -[Sidenote: [404-403 B.C.]] - -Even such executions might be considered as among the temporary evils -incident to every political revolution: and there were some of the -Thirty who did not wish to multiply them more than was necessary to -their safety. But the greater number, and above all Critias, did not -mean to stop here: and perhaps some signs of discontent soon became -visible, which gave them a pretext for insisting on the need of stronger -measures, and of additional safeguards. Two of their number, Æschines and -Aristoteles, were deputed by common consent to Sparta, to obtain a body -of troops to garrison the citadel. The ground alleged was that there were -turbulent men whom it was necessary to remove before their government -could be settled on a firm basis; and they undertook to maintain the -garrison as long as its presence should be required. Xenophon’s language -seems to imply that Lysander had by this time returned to Sparta; if so, -upwards of six months had now elapsed from the surrender of the city. -Lysander, whether present or absent, exerted his influence in their -behalf, and induced the ephors to send the force which they desired, -under the command of Callibius, who was invested with the authority -of harmost. His arrival released Critias and his colleagues from all -the restraints hitherto imposed on them by their fears of their fellow -citizens. They courted him with an obsequiousness proportioned to the -wantonness of the tyranny which they hoped to exercise with his sanction -and aid. - -The footing on which they stood with him is well illustrated by a single -fact. An Athenian named Autolycus, of good family and condition, who in -his youth had distinguished himself by a gymnastic victory, had in some -way or other offended Callibius, who, according to the Spartan usage, -raised his truncheon to strike him. But Autolycus, not yet inured to such -discipline, prevented the blow by bringing him to the ground. Lysander, -it is said, when Callibius complained of this affront, observed that he -did not know how to govern freemen. He however understood the men with -whom he had principally to deal; for the Thirty soon after gratified him -by putting Autolycus to death. - -In return for such deference he placed his troops at their disposal, -to lead whom they would to prison: and now the catalogue of political -offences was on a sudden terribly enlarged. The persons who were now -singled out for destruction, were no longer such only as had made -themselves odious by their crimes, or had distinguished themselves on -former occasions by their opposition to the ruling party, but men of -unblemished character, without any strong political bias, who had gained -the confidence of the people by their merits or services, and might be -suspected of preferring a popular government to the oligarchy under which -they were living. Xenophon seems to believe that Critias was inflamed -with an insatiable thirst for blood by the remembrance of his exile. -But it would appear that ambition and cupidity, rather than resentment, -were the mainsprings of his conduct, and that he calculated with great -coolness the fruits of his nefarious deeds. Nor was it merely political -jealousy that determined his choice of his victims; the immediate profit -to be derived from the confiscation of their property was at least an -equally powerful inducement. It is uncertain to which of these motives we -should refer the execution of Niceratus, the son of Nicias, who shared -his uncle’s fate, but may have been involved in it more by his wealth -than by his relation to Eucrates. It was perhaps on the like account, -rather than because of the services which he had rendered to the people, -that Antiphon,[1] who during the war had equipped two galleys at his own -expense, was now condemned to death. And it was most probably with no -other object that Leon, an inhabitant of Salamis, who seems to have been -universally respected, and a great number of his townsmen, were dragged -from their homes and consigned to the executioner. The case of Leon is -particularly remarkable for the light it throws on the policy of the -oligarchs. After the arrival of the Lacedæmonian garrison they had begun -to dispense with the assistance of the council; and Leon was put to death -without any form of trial. But they did not think it expedient always to -employ the foreign troops on their murderous errands; they often used -Athenians as their ministers on such occasions, and men who did not -belong to their party, for the purpose of implicating them in the guilt -and odium of their proceedings. When they had resolved on the destruction -of Leon, they sent for Socrates and four other persons, and ordered them -to go and fetch him from Salamis. As his innocence was no less notorious -than the fate which awaited him, Socrates, on leaving the presence of -the Thirty, instead of obeying their commands, returned home. The rest -executed their commission. - -These atrocities soon began to spread general alarm; for no one could -perceive any principle or maxim by which they were to be limited for the -future; there was on the contrary reason to apprehend that they would -be continually multiplied and aggravated. Theramenes, who was endowed -with a keen tact which enabled him readily to observe the bent of public -opinion, was early aware of the danger into which his colleagues were -rushing; and he remonstrated with Critias on the imprudence of creating -themselves enemies by putting men to death for no other reason than -because they had filled eminent stations, or performed signal services, -under the democracy; for it did not follow that they might not become -peaceful and useful subjects of the oligarchy, since there had been -a time when both Critias and himself had courted popular favour. But -Critias contended that they were now in a position which they could only -maintain by force and terror; and that every man who had the means of -thwarting their plans, and who was not devoted to their interest, must be -treated as an enemy. - -This argument seems for the time to have satisfied Theramenes. But as -deeds of blood followed each other with increasing rapidity, and the -murmurs of all honest citizens, though stifled in public, began to find -vent in private circles, Theramenes again warned his colleagues, that -it would be impossible for the oligarchy to subsist long on its present -narrow basis. He wished that they might be able to dispense with the -foreign garrison, and foresaw that, if they persisted in their present -course, they could never safely dismiss it. His advice now produced some -effect on them; but they seem to have been alarmed not so much by the -danger which he pointed out as by the warning itself. They knew that he -was a man who had never adhered to any party which he believed to be -sinking, and suspected that he might be meditating to put himself at the -head of a new revolution, as in the time of the Four Hundred. And though -his character was so generally understood that he had acquired a homely -nickname,[2] which expressed the readiness with which he shifted his -side, and the dexterity with which he adapted himself to every change -of circumstances, still he might again become a rallying-point for the -disaffected. To guard against this danger they determined to strengthen -themselves by an expedient similar to that which had been adopted by -the former oligarchy. They made out a list of three thousand citizens, -who were to enjoy a kind of franchise which perhaps was never exactly -defined; but one of its most important privileges was, that none of them -should be put to death without a trial before the council. All other -Athenians were outlawed, and left to the mercy of the Thirty, who might -deal as they thought fit with their lives and property. - -Theramenes objected to the new constitution, both on account of the small -number of the privileged body, and its arbitrary limitation, which would -show that the selection did not proceed upon any ground of merit. - -Since they meant to govern by force, it was impolitic, he said, to -establish such a disproportion between their strength and that of the -governed. His objections were overruled, but not wholly neglected. -They perhaps suggested the precaution which was immediately afterwards -adopted. Under pretext of a review all the citizens were deprived of -their arms, except the knights, and the Three Thousand, who were thus -enabled to cope with the rest. The Thirty now believed themselves -completely secure, and grew more and more reckless in the indulgence -of their rapacity and cruelty. In the low state to which the Athenian -finances were reduced, the maintenance of the garrison was a burden which -they found it difficult to support; and, among other extraordinary means -of raising supplies, it appears that they resorted to the spoliation -of the temples. But this was an expedient which probably required some -caution and secrecy, and which could not be carried beyond certain -limits. One which perhaps appeared both safer and more productive was -suggested by Piso and Theognis, two of their number, who observed that -several of the resident aliens were known to be ill-affected to the -oligarchy, and thus afforded a pretext for plundering the whole class. - -They therefore made the proposition that each of the Thirty should have -one of the wealthy aliens assigned to him, should put him to death, and -take possession of his property. Theramenes very truly remarked, that the -sycophants who had rendered the democracy odious to many, had never done -anything so iniquitous as what was now contemplated by the persons who -were used to style themselves the best sort of people, for they had never -taken away both money and life; and he apprehended with good reason that -this measure would render the aliens generally hostile to the government. -But his colleagues, after what they had already done, were not disposed -to view this question on the moral side, and, having braved the hatred -of their fellow-citizens, they were not afraid of provoking the aliens. -The proposition was adopted; and Theramenes was invited to single out his -prey with the rest: but he refused to stain his hands with this innocent -blood. It was however resolved to begin by taking ten lives; and, for -the sake of covering the real motive, two of the victims were to be poor -men, who would therefore be supposed to have suffered for some political -offence. - -[Sidenote: [403 B.C.]] - -Men who were capable of perpetrating such actions could not long endure -the presence of an associate who refused to take his full share of their -guilt and odium. The colleagues of Theramenes resolved to rid themselves -of a troublesome monitor who might soon prove a dangerous opponent. They -first endeavoured to communicate their distrust of his designs to the -members of the council in private conversation, and then concerted a plan -for an open attack on him. But to insure its success they surrounded -the council-chamber with a band of the most daring of their younger -followers, armed with daggers, which they did not take much pains to -conceal. Critias then came forward to accuse Theramenes, who was present. - -Theramenes made a defence, which, with respect to the charges of Critias, -was in most points a satisfactory vindication of his conduct. A murmur of -approbation, which ran through the assembly, warned Critias that he could -not safely rely on its subserviency for the condemnation of Theramenes; -and, after having conferred a few moments with his colleagues, he called -in his armed auxiliaries, and stationed them round the railing within -which the council sat. He then told the councillors, that he thought he -should be wanting in the duty of his station, if he suffered his friends -to be misled; and that the persons whom they now saw round them, also -declared that they would not permit a man who was manifestly aiming at -the ruin of the oligarchy to escape with impunity. Now by virtue of the -new constitution none of the Three Thousand could be put to death except -by a sentence of the council; but all who were not included in that list -might be sent to execution without any form of trial by the Thirty. He -therefore declared that, with the unanimous consent of his colleagues, -he struck out the name of Theramenes from the list, and condemned him to -death.[b] - -Xenophon gives a vivid picture of the scene that followed: “On hearing -this, Theramenes sprang upon the altar of Vesta, and said, ‘But I, -gentlemen, entreat you for what is most strictly legal--that it may -not be in the power of Critias to strike off me, or any of you whom he -pleases; but according to the law which these men passed respecting those -in the list, according to that may be the decision, both for you and -for me. And of this, indeed,’ said he, ‘by the gods, I am not ignorant, -that this altar will be no protection to me; but what I wish to show -is, that these men are not only most unjust with regard to mankind, but -also impious with regard to the gods. At you, however, who are good and -honourable men, I am astonished if you do not come forward in your own -defence; knowing moreover, as you do, that my name is not at all more -easy to strike off than each of yours.’ Upon this, the herald of the -Thirty ordered the Eleven to come for Theramenes; and when they had -entered with the officers, led by Satyrus the boldest and most shameless -of their number, Critias said, ‘We deliver up to you this Theramenes -here, condemned according to law: do ye, Eleven, seize, and lead him off -to the proper place, and do your duty with him.’ When he had thus spoken, -Satyrus dragged the condemned man from the altar, aided by the other -officers. Theramenes, as was natural, called both on gods and men to look -on what was doing. But the council kept quiet, seeing both the fellows of -Satyrus at the bar, and the space before the council-house filled with -guards, and not being ignorant they had come with daggers. So they led -off the man through the market-place, while he declared with a very loud -voice how he was being treated. And this one expression also is told of -him. When Satyrus said that he would rue it if he were not silent, he -asked, ‘And shall I not then rue it, if I am?’ - -“Moreover, when he was compelled to die, and drank the hemlock, they said -that he flung out on the floor what was left of it, saying, ‘Let this be -for the lovely Critias.’ Now I am aware that these sayings are not worth -mentioning: but this I consider admirable in the man, that when death was -close at hand, neither his good sense nor his pleasantry deserted his -soul.”[c] - -In Theramenes we find much to condemn, and nothing to approve, except -that he shrank from following his profligate associates in their career -of wickedness. If he had reason to complain that they did not spare the -author of their elevation, the other victims of their tyranny had much -more cause to rejoice in his fate. He seems to have died unpitied by -either of the parties whom he had alternately courted and abandoned. - -His death released the Thirty--among whom it is probable that Satyrus -was immediately chosen to supply his place--from the last restraints -of fear or shame which had kept them within any bounds of decency; and -they now proceeded to bolder and more thorough-going measures. They -emulated the ancient tyrants, who had often removed the lowest class of -the commonalty, for whom it was difficult to find employment, from the -capital into the country, and prohibited all Athenians who were not on -the list of the Three Thousand from entering the city. - -But by the oligarchs this step seems not to have been adopted so much -with a view to their safety, as to increase the facility of rapine and -murder. They continued to send out their emissaries to seize the persons -and confiscate the property of the citizens, who were now scattered by -their decree over Attica. The greater part of the outcasts took refuge -in Piræus; but when it was found that neither the populous town, nor -their rural retreats, could shelter them from the inquisition of their -oppressors, numbers began to seek an asylum in foreign cities; and Argos, -Megara, and Thebes, were soon crowded with Athenian exiles. - -The oligarchs, notwithstanding their Lacedæmonian garrison, and their -reliance on Spartan protection, began to be alarmed at the state to -which they had reduced themselves, and to dread the vengeance of their -exiled enemies, who were waiting so near at hand for an opportunity of -attacking them; and they applied to the Spartan government to interpose -for the purpose of averting the danger. The Spartans, instigated perhaps -by Lysander, issued an edict, which showed to what a degree they were -intoxicated by prosperity. It empowered the Athenian rulers to arrest the -exiles in every Greek city, and under a heavy penalty, forbade any one to -interfere in their behalf. - -But this decree was no less impolitic than inhuman; it disclosed a -domineering spirit, which could not but produce general alarm and -disgust; but its object was beyond the reach of the Spartan power. At -Argos and Thebes, and probably in other cities, the injunction and the -threat were disregarded; the exiles continued to find hospitable shelter. -The Thebans more particularly took pains to manifest their contempt -for the Spartan proclamation by a counter decree, directing that the -persecuted Athenians should be received in all the Bœotian towns; that if -any attempt should be made to force them away, every Bœotian should lend -his aid to rescue them; and that they should not be obstructed in any -expedition which they might undertake against the party now in possession -of Athens. - -This measure, though the spirit it breathes is so different from that in -which the Theban commander had voted for the extirpation of the Athenian -people, was not dictated either by justice or compassion towards Athens, -but by jealousy and resentment towards Sparta. Very soon after the close -of the war causes had arisen to alienate the Thebans from their old ally. -They were always disposed to set a high value on the services which they -had rendered to the Peloponnesian cause and now conceived that they had -not been properly requited. They put forward some claims relating to -the spoil collected at Decelea, and likewise to the treasure carried to -Sparta by Lysander, which, chiefly it seems at his instance, had been -resisted or neglected. Hence they could not without great dissatisfaction -see Athens in the hands of Lysander’s creatures. - - -THE REVOLT OF THRASYBULUS - -[Sidenote: [404-403 B.C.]] - -Thrasybulus, like Alcibiades, had been formally banished by the Thirty; -though it is not certain that he was at Athens when their government -was established. He was however at Thebes when their furious tyranny -began to drive the citizens by hundreds into exile; and the temper now -prevailing at Thebes encouraged him to undertake the deliverance of his -country. Having obtained a small supply of arms and money from his Theban -friends, he crossed the border with a band of about seventy refugees, -and seized the fortress of Phyle, which stood on an eminence projecting -from the side of Mount Parnes, with which it was connected by a narrow -ridge with precipitous sides, twelve or thirteen miles from Athens. The -fortifications had either escaped when the other Attic strongholds were -demolished by the Thirty, or were soon restored to a defensible state. -The oligarchs, confident that they should soon be able to crush so -feeble an enemy, marched against them with the Three Thousand and their -equestrian partisans.[b] - -[Illustration: OFFICER’S HELMET] - -On their arrival, some of the young men, in a foolhardy spirit, -immediately assaulted the place, producing, however, no effect upon -it, but retiring with many wounds. When the Thirty were desirous of -surrounding it with works, that they might reduce it by cutting off all -supplies of provisions, there came on during the night a very heavy fall -of snow, covered with which they returned the next day into the city, -after losing very many of their camp followers by an attack of the men -from Phyle. Knowing, however, that they would also plunder the country, -if there were no watch to prevent it, they despatched to the frontiers, -at the distance of fifteen furlongs from Phyle, all but a few of the -Lacedæmonian guards, and two squadrons of horse. These having encamped -on a rough piece of ground, proceeded to keep watch. There were by -this time assembled at Phyle about seven hundred men, whom Thrasybulus -took, and marched down by night; and having grounded arms about three -or four stades from the party on guard, remained quietly there. When it -was towards daybreak, and the enemy now began to get up and retire from -their post on necessary purposes, and the grooms were making a noise -in currying their horses--at this juncture the party with Thrasybulus -took up their arms again, and fell upon them at a run. Some of them they -despatched, and routed and pursued them all for six or seven furlongs; -killing more than a hundred and twenty of the infantry; and of the -cavalry, Nicostratus (surnamed The Handsome) and two others also, whom -they surprised while yet in their beds. After returning and erecting -a trophy, they packed up all the arms and baggage they had taken, and -withdrew to Phyle. And now the horsemen in the city came out to the -rescue, but found none of the enemy any longer on the spot; having -waited, therefore, till their relatives had taken up the dead, they -returned into the city. - -Upon this the Thirty, no longer thinking their cause safe, wished to -secure for themselves Eleusis, that they might have a place of refuge, if -required. Having sent their orders to the cavalry, Critias and the rest -of the Thirty came to Eleusis; and having held a review of the horse in -the place, alleging that they wished to know what was their number, and -how much additional garrison they would require, they ordered them all -to write down their names, and as each one wrote it down in his turn, to -pass out through the postern to the sea. On the beach they had posted -their cavalry on both sides, and as each successively passed out, their -attendants bound him. When all were arrested, they ordered Lysimachus, -the commander of the cavalry, to take them to the city and deliver them -up to the Eleven. The next day they summoned to the Odeum the heavy-armed -in the list, and the rest of the cavalry; when Critias stood up, and -said: “It is no less for your advantage, gentlemen, than for our own, -that we are establishing the present form of government. As then you will -share in its honours, so too you ought to share in its dangers. You must -give your votes therefore against the Eleusinians here arrested, that -you may have the same grounds with us both of confidence and of fear.” -And pointing out a certain spot, he ordered them openly to deposit their -votes in it. At the same time the Lacedæmonian guard under arms occupied -half of the Odeum; and these measures were approved by such of the -citizens also as only cared for their own advantage. - -[Sidenote: [403 B.C.]] - -After this, Thrasybulus took those at Phyle, who had now gathered -together to the number of about a thousand, and came by night into -Piræus. The Thirty, on this intelligence, immediately went out to the -rescue with both the Lacedæmonians, and the cavalry, and the heavy-armed; -and then advanced along the cart-way that leads to Piræus. The force from -Phyle for some time attempted to stop their approach; but when the great -circuit of the wall appeared to require a large body to guard it, and -they were not a large one, they marched in close order into Munychia. The -troops from the city drew themselves up so as to fill up the road, being -not less than fifty shields deep. In this order they marched up the hill. -The force from Phyle also filled up the road, but were not more than ten -deep in their heavy-armed; behind whom, however, there were posted both -targeteers and light dart-men, and behind them the slingers. These indeed -formed a numerous body; for the inhabitants of the place had joined them. -While the enemy were coming on, Thrasybulus ordered his men to ground -their shields, and having grounded his own, but keeping the rest of his -arms, he took his stand in the midst of them, and spoke thus: - -“My fellow-citizens, I wish to inform some of you, and to remind others, -that of the men who are coming against us, those on the right wing are -they whom you routed and pursued five days ago; and those on the extreme -left are the Thirty, who both deprived us of our country when guilty of -nothing, and expelled us from our houses, and prosecuted the dearest of -our relatives. But now truly they have come into a position, where they -never thought of being, but we have always been praying that they might -be. For we are posted against them with arms in our hands; and seeing -that in former days we were arrested both when at our meals, and asleep, -and in the market-place, while others of us were banished, when, so far -from being guilty of any offence, we were not even in the country; for -these reasons the gods are now clearly fighting on our side. For even in -fair weather they raise a storm, when it is for our advantage; and when -we make an attack, though our enemies are many, they grant to us, who -are but few, to erect trophies. And now, too, they have brought us into -a position, in which our opponents can neither hurl their spears nor -their darts beyond those who are posted before them, through its being -up-hill; whereas we, discharging down-hill both spears, and javelins, -and stones, shall both reach them, and mortally wound many of them. And -one might perhaps have thought that the first ranks, at any rate, must -fight on equal terms; but as it is, if you only discharge your weapons -with spirit, as suits your character, no one will miss, since the road -is filled up with them, and standing on their guard they will all the -time be skulking under their shields; so that we shall be able both to -strike them when we please, like blind men, and to leap on and overturn -them. But, sirs, we must act in such a way that each of us may have the -consciousness of having been most instrumental towards the victory. For -that (if God will) will now restore to us both country, and houses, and -freedom, and honours, and children (such as have them), and wives. O -blessed, then, those of us who, as victors, may see that sweetest day of -all! And happy, too, he who falls! For no one, however rich he may be, -shall enjoy so glorious a monument. I, then, when the time is come, will -begin the pæan; and when we have called on Mars to help us, then let us -all with one heart avenge ourselves on these men for the insults we have -suffered.” - -Having thus spoken, he faced about towards the enemy, and remained still. -For their prophet gave them orders not to make the onset before some one -on their side had either fallen, or been wounded: “When, however,” said -he, “that has happened, I will lead the way, and there will be victory -for you who follow, but death to me, as I, at least, believe.” And he -spoke no falsehood; but when they had taken up their arms, he himself, as -though led by some destiny, was the first to bound forward, and falling -on the enemy was killed, and is buried by the passage of the Cephisus; -but the rest were victorious, and pursued them as far as the level -ground. There were slain there, of the Thirty, Critias and Hippomachus; -of the ten commanders in Piræus, Charmides, son of Glaucon; and of the -rest about seventy. The conquerors took the arms, but plundered the -clothes of none of their fellow-citizens. And when this was done, and -they were returning the dead under a truce, many on both sides came up -and conversed together. And Cleocritus, the herald of the initiated,[3] -being gifted with a very fine voice, hushed them into silence and thus -addressed them: - -“Fellow-citizens, why are you driving us from our country? Why do you -wish to kill us? For we have never yet done you any harm; but have -shared with you both the most solemn rites, and the noblest sacrifices -and festivals; and have been your companions in the dance, and in the -schools, and in war; and have faced many dangers with you by land and by -sea, for the common safety and liberty of both parties. In the name of -our fathers’ and our mothers’ gods, in the name of kindred, and affinity, -and fellowship (for all these things have we in common with one another), -cease sinning against your country, and be not persuaded by those most -impious Thirty, who, for the sake of their own gain, have killed almost -more of the Athenians in eight months than all the Peloponnesians in -ten years’ warfare. And when we might live together in peace, these -men inflict on us that war which of all is the most disgraceful, and -grievous, and impious, and most hateful both to gods and men--war with -one another. But, however, be well assured, that for some of those now -slain by us, not only you, but we also, have shed many tears.” Such was -his speech. The rest of the enemy’s commanders, from the very fact of -their hearing such fresh appeals to them, led back their men into the -city. - -The next day the Thirty, quite dejected and solitary, sat together in -council: while the Three Thousand, wherever they were severally posted, -were at variance with one another. For as many as had acted in a more -violent manner, and were therefore afraid, vehemently maintained that -they ought not to submit to those in Piræus: while such as were confident -that they had done no wrong, both reflected themselves, and were -persuading the rest, that there was no necessity for these troubles: and -they said that they ought not to obey the Thirty, nor suffer them to ruin -the state. At last they voted for deposing them, and choosing others: and -accordingly they chose ten, one from each tribe. - -So the Thirty departed to Eleusis; while the Ten, together with the -commanders of the cavalry, directed their attention to those in the city, -who were in a state of great confusion and distrust of each other. The -cavalry also bivouacked in the Odeum, with both their horse and their -shields; and owing to their want of confidence, they kept going their -rounds along the walls, after evening had set in, with their shields, and -towards morning with their horses, being constantly afraid that some of -those in Piræus might attack them. They, being now many in number, and -men of all sorts, were making themselves arms, some of wood, others of -wickerwork, and were whitening them over. Before ten days had elapsed, -after giving pledges that whoever joined in the war, even though they -were strangers, should have equal privileges, they marched out, with many -heavy-armed and many light-armed. They had also about seventy horse; -and making forays by day, and carrying off wood and corn, they slept -again in Piræus. Of those in the city none else came out under arms, but -the cavalry sometimes secured plunderers from the force in Piræus, and -annoyed their phalanx. - -[Illustration: STATUE OF DIANA] - -And now the Thirty from Eleusis, and those in the list from the city, -sent ambassadors to Lacedæmon, and urged them to come to their support, -as the people had revolted from the Lacedæmonians. Lysander, calculating -that it was possible quickly to reduce those in Piræus, when besieged -both by land and by sea, if once they were cut off from all supplies, -joined in getting a hundred talents lent them, and himself sent out as -harmost, with his brother Libys as admiral. And having himself proceeded -to Eleusis, he raised a large force of Peloponnesian heavy-armed; while -the admiral kept guard that no provisions should go in for them by sea; -so that those in Piræus were soon in a strait again, while those in the -city, on the other hand, were elated again with confidence in Lysander. - -When things were progressing in this way, Pausanias the king, filled with -envy at the thought of Lysander’s succeeding in these measures, and so at -once winning reputation and making Athens his own, gained the consent of -three of the ephors, and led out an expedition.[4] All the allies also -joined him, except the Bœotians and Corinthians. - -Pausanias encamped on a spot called Halipedum, near Piræus, himself -occupying the right wing, and Lysander, with his mercenaries, the left. -And he sent ambassadors to those in Piræus, telling them to go away to -their own homes; but when they did not obey his message, he made an -assault (so far, at least, as noise went), that he might not openly -appear to wish them well. When he had retired with no result from the -assault, the day following he took two brigades of the Lacedæmonians, -and three squadrons of the Athenian cavalry, and went along to the -Mute Harbour, reconnoitring in what direction Piræus was most easy to -circumvallate. - -On his retiring, a party of the besieged ran up and caused him trouble; -annoyed at which, he ordered the horse to charge them at full speed, -and such as had passed the period of youth ten years to accompany them, -while he himself followed with the rest. And they slew about thirty of -the light-armed, and pursued the rest to the theatre in Piræus. There -all the targeteers and heavy infantry of the party in Piræus happened -to be arming themselves. And now the light-armed immediately running -forward began darting, throwing, shooting, slinging. The Lacedæmonians, -when many were being wounded, being very hard pressed, began slowly to -retreat; and upon this their opponents threw themselves on them much more -vigorously. Seeing this, Thrasybulus and the rest of the heavy-armed went -to the support of their men, and quickly drew themselves up in front of -the others, eight deep. Pausanias, being very hard pressed, and having -retired about four or five furlongs to a hill, sent orders for the -Lacedæmonians and the rest of the allies to advance and join him. There -having formed his phalanx very deep, he led it against the Athenians. -They received his charge, but then some of them were driven into the mud -at Halæ, and the rest gave way, about a hundred and fifty of them being -slain. Pausanias erected a trophy, and withdrew. - -Not even under these circumstances was he exasperated with them, but sent -secretly, and instructed those in Piræus, with what proposals they should -send ambassadors to him and the ephors who were there. They complied -with his advice. He also set those in the city at variance, and advised -that as many as possible should collect together and come to the Spartan -officers, alleging that they did not at all want to be at war with the -men in Piræus, but to be reconciled together, and both parties to be -friends of the Lacedæmonians. The ephors and the committee appointed -to consider the question having heard all their statements, despatched -fifteen men to Athens, and ordered them, in concert with Pausanias, -to effect the best reconciliation of the parties they could. So they -reconciled them on condition of their making peace with one another, and -returning to their several homes, with the exception of the Thirty, the -Eleven, and the Ten who had commanded in Piræus. If any of those in the -city should feel afraid of remaining there, it was determined that they -should establish themselves at Eleusis. - -These arrangements being effected, Pausanias disbanded his army, and the -party from Piræus went up under arms to the Acropolis, and sacrificed to -Athene. But some time afterwards, hearing that the party at Eleusis were -hiring mercenaries, they took the field _en masse_ against them; and when -their commanders had come to a conference, they put them to death; but -sent in to the others their friends and relatives, and persuaded them to -a reconciliation. And having sworn not to remember past grievances, they -lived together under the same government, the popular party abiding by -their oaths.[c] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] This Antiphon has been confounded with the celebrated orator. - -[2] _Cothurnus_--a shoe which fitted either foot. - -[3] [That is, one of the communicants in the Eleusinian mysteries.] - -[4] [This curious method of intervention for Athens’ sake has been -variously interpreted. Thirlwall makes quite a drama of benevolent -duplicity about it. According to others, Pausanias was simply moved by a -desire to nip Lysander’s ambition and to put an end to further cruelties -by the Thirty who were already winning general sympathy for the common -people and the democratic cause of Athens.] - -[Illustration: GREEK TERRA-COTTA FIGURE - -(In the British Museum)] - - - - -[Illustration: GRECIAN BUCKLES - -(In the British Museum)] - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE DEMOCRACY RESTORED - - -The period intervening between the defeat of Ægospotami (October, 405 -B.C.), and the re-establishment of the democracy as sanctioned by the -convention concluded with Pausanias (some time in the summer of 403 -B.C.), presents two years of cruel and multifarious suffering to Athens. - -After such years of misery, it was an unspeakable relief to the Athenian -population to regain possession of Athens and Attica; to exchange their -domestic tyrants for a renovated democratical government; and to see -their foreign enemies not merely evacuate the country, but even bind -themselves by treaty to future friendly dealing. In respect of power, -indeed, Athens was but the shadow of her former self. She had no empire, -no tribute, no fleet, no fortifications at Piræus, no long walls, not a -single fortified place in Attica except the city itself. - -Of these losses, the Athenians made little account at the first epoch -of their re-establishment; so intolerable was the pressure which they -had just escaped, and so welcome the restitution of comfort, security, -property, and independence at home. The very excess of tyranny committed -by the Thirty gave a peculiar zest to the recovery of the democracy. In -their hands, the oligarchical principle (to borrow an expression from -Burke) “had produced in fact and instantly, the grossest of those evils -with which it was pregnant in its nature”; realising the promise of -that plain-spoken oligarchical oath, which Aristotle mentions as having -been taken in various oligarchical cities--to contrive as much evil as -possible to the people. So much the more complete was the reaction of -sentiment towards the antecedent democracy, even in the minds of those -who had been before discontented with it. To all men, rich and poor, -citizens and metics, the comparative excellence of the democracy, in -respect of all the essentials of good government, was now manifest. With -the exception of those who had identified themselves with the Thirty -as partners, partisans, or instruments, there was scarcely any one who -did not feel that his life and property had been far more secure under -the former democracy, and would become so again if that democracy were -revived. - -It was the first measure of Thrasybulus and his companions, after -concluding the treaty with Pausanias and thus re-entering the city, -to exchange solemn oaths of amnesty for the past, with those against -whom they had just been at war. Similar oaths of amnesty were also -exchanged with those in Eleusis, as soon as that town came into their -power. The only persons excepted from this amnesty were the Thirty, the -Eleven who had presided over the execution of all their atrocities, -and the Ten who had governed in Piræus. Even these persons were not -peremptorily banished: opportunity was offered to them to come in and -take their trial of accountability (universal at Athens in the case of -every magistrate on quitting office); so that if acquitted, they would -enjoy the benefit of the amnesty as well as all others. We know that -Eratosthenes, one of the Thirty, afterwards returned to Athens; since -there remains a powerful harangue of Lysias invoking justice against him -as having brought to death Polemarchus (the brother of Lysias). - -We learn moreover from the same speech, that such was the detestation of -the Thirty among several of the states surrounding Attica, as to cause -formal decrees for their expulsion or for prohibiting their coming. The -sons, even of such among the Thirty as did not return, were allowed -to remain at Athens, and enjoy their rights as citizens unmolested; a -moderation rare in Grecian political warfare. - -The first public vote of the Athenians, after the conclusion of peace -with Sparta and the return of the exiles, was to restore the former -democracy purely and simply, to choose by lot the nine archons and -the senate of Five Hundred, and to elect the generals--all as before. -It appears that this restoration of the preceding constitution was -partially opposed by a citizen named Phormisius, who, having served with -Thrasybulus in Piræus, now moved that the political franchise should -for the future be restricted to the possessors of land in Attica. His -proposition was understood to be supported by the Lacedæmonians, and was -recommended as calculated to make Athens march in better harmony with -them. It was presented as a compromise between oligarchy and democracy, -excluding both the poorer freemen and those whose property lay either in -movables or in land out of Attica; so that the aggregate number of the -disfranchised would have been five thousand persons. Since Athens now had -lost her fleet and maritime empire, and since the importance of Piræus -was much curtailed not merely by these losses, but by demolition of its -separate walls and of the Long Walls--Phormisius and others conceived -the opportunity favourable for striking out the maritime and trading -multitude from the roll of citizens. Many of these men must have been in -easy and even opulent circumstances; but the bulk of them were poor; and -Phormisius had of course at his command the usual arguments, by which -it is attempted to prove that poor men have no business with political -judgment or action. But the proposition was rejected; the orator Lysias -being among its opponents, and composing a speech against it which was -either spoken, or intended to be spoken, by some eminent citizen in the -assembly. - -Unfortunately we have only a fragment of the speech remaining, wherein -the proposition is justly criticised as mischievous and unseasonable, -depriving Athens of a large portion of her legitimate strength, -patriotism, and harmony, and even of substantial men competent to serve -as hoplites or horsemen--at a moment when she was barely rising from -absolute prostration. Never certainly was the fallacy which connects -political depravity or incapacity with a poor station, and political -virtue or judgment with wealth, more conspicuously unmasked than in -reference to the recent experience of Athens. The remark of Thrasybulus -was most true--that a greater number of atrocities, both against person -and against property, had been committed in a few months by the Thirty, -and abetted by the class of horsemen, all rich men, than the poor -majority of the demos had sanctioned during two generations of democracy. -Moreover we know, on the authority of a witness unfriendly to the -democracy, that the poor Athenian citizens, who served on shipboard and -elsewhere, were exact in obedience to their commanders; while the richer -citizens who served as hoplites and horsemen and who laid claim to higher -individual estimation, were far less orderly in the public service. - -The motion of Phormisius being rejected, the antecedent democracy was -restored without qualification, together with the ordinances of Draco, -and the laws, measures, and weights of Solon. But on closer inspection, -it was found that the latter part of the resolution was incompatible with -the amnesty which had been just sworn. According to the laws of Solon -and Draco, the perpetrators of enormities under the Thirty had rendered -themselves guilty, and were open to trial. To escape this consequence, a -second psephism or decree was passed, on the proposition of Tisamenus, to -review the laws of Solon and Draco, and re-enact them with such additions -and amendments as might be deemed expedient. Five hundred citizens had -just been chosen by the people as _nomothetæ_ or law-makers, at the -same time when the senate of Five Hundred was taken by lot; out of -these nomothetæ the senate now chose a select few, whose duty it was to -consider all propositions for amendment or addition to the laws of the -old democracy, and post them up for public inspection before the statues -of the Eponymous Heroes, within the month then running. The senate, and -the entire body of five hundred nomothetæ, were then to be convened, in -order that each might pass in review, separately, both the old laws and -the new propositions; the nomothetæ being previously sworn to decide -righteously. While this discussion was going on, every private citizen -had liberty to enter the senate, and to tender his opinion with reasons -for or against any law. All the laws which should thus be approved (first -by the senate, afterwards by the nomothetæ), but no others--were to be -handed to the magistrates, and inscribed on the walls of the portico -called Pœcile, for public notoriety, as the future regulators of the -city. After the laws were promulgated by such public inscription, the -senate of Areopagus was enjoined to take care that they should be duly -observed and enforced by the magistrates. A provisional committee of -twenty citizens was named, to be generally responsible for the city -during the time occupied in this revision. As soon as the laws had been -revised and publicly inscribed in the Pœcile pursuant to the above -decree, two concluding laws were enacted which completed the purpose of -the citizens. - -The first of these laws forbade the magistrates to act upon, or permit to -be acted upon, any law not among those inscribed; and declared that no -psephism, either of the senate or of the people, should overrule any law. -It renewed also the old prohibition (dating from the days of Clisthenes -and the first origin of the democracy), to enact a special law inflicting -direct hardship upon any individual Athenian apart from the rest, unless -by the votes of six thousand citizens voting secretly. - -The second of the two laws prescribed, that all the legal adjudications -and arbitrations which had been passed under the antecedent democracy -should be held valid and unimpeached--but formally annulled all which -had been passed under the Thirty. It further provided that the laws now -revised and inscribed, should only take effect from the archonship of -Euclides; that is, from the nominations of archons made after the recent -return of Thrasybulus and the renovation of the democracy. - -By these ever memorable enactments, all acts done prior to the nomination -of the archon Euclides and his colleagues (in the summer of 403 B.C.) -were excluded from serving as grounds for criminal process against any -citizen. To insure more fully that this should be carried into effect, -a special clause was added to the oath taken annually by the senators, -as well as to that taken by the heliastic dicasts. The senators pledged -themselves by oath not to receive any impeachment, or give effect to -any arrest, founded on any fact prior to the archonship of Euclides, -excepting only against the Thirty and the other individuals expressly -shut out from the amnesty, and now in exile. To the oath annually taken -by the heliasts, also, was added the clause: “I will not remember past -wrongs, nor will I abet any one else who shall remember them; on the -contrary, I will give my vote pursuant to the existing laws”: which -laws proclaimed themselves as only taking effect from the archonship of -Euclides. - -By additional enactments, security was taken that the proceedings of the -courts of justice should be in full conformity with the amnesty recently -sworn, and that, neither directly nor indirectly, should any person be -molested for wrongs done anterior to Euclides. And in fact the amnesty -was faithfully observed: the re-entering exiles from Piræus, and the -horsemen with other partisans of the Thirty in Athens, blended again -together into one harmonious and equal democracy. - -[Illustration: GREEK SEALS] - -Eight years prior to these incidents, we have seen the oligarchical -conspiracy of the Four Hundred, for a moment successful, and afterwards -overthrown; and we have had occasion to notice, in reference to that -event, the wonderful absence of all reactionary violence on the part of -the victorious people, at a moment of severe provocation for the past -and extreme apprehension for the future. We noticed that Thucydides, no -friend to the Athenian democracy, selected precisely that occasion--on -which some manifestation of vindictive impulse might have been supposed -likely and natural--to bestow the most unqualified eulogies on their -moderate and gentle bearing. Had the historian lived to describe the -reign of the Thirty and the restoration which followed it, we cannot -doubt that his expressions would have been still warmer and more emphatic -in the same sense. Few events in history, either ancient or modern, are -more astonishing than the behaviour of the Athenian people, on recovering -their democracy, after the overthrow of the Thirty: and when we view -it in conjunction with the like phenomenon after the deposition of the -Four Hundred, we see that neither the one nor the other arose from -peculiar caprice or accident of the moment; both depended upon permanent -attributes of the popular character. If we knew nothing else except -the events of these two periods, we should be warranted in dismissing, -on that evidence alone, the string of contemptuous predicates,--giddy, -irascible, jealous, unjust, greedy, etc.--one or other of which have been -so frequently pronounced by unsympathetic or hostile critics respecting -the Athenian people. A people, whose habitual temper and morality merited -these epithets, could not have acted as the Athenians acted both after -the Four Hundred and after the Thirty. Particular acts may be found in -their history which justify severe censure; but as to the permanent -elements of character, both moral and intellectual, no population in -history has ever afforded stronger evidence than the Athenians on these -two memorable occasions. - -If we follow the acts of the Thirty, we shall see that the horsemen and -the privileged three thousand hoplites in the city had made themselves -partisans in every species of flagitious crime which could possibly -be imagined to exasperate the feelings of the exiles. The latter on -returning saw before them men who had handed in their relatives to be put -to death without trial; who had seized upon and enjoyed their property; -who had expelled them all from the city, and a large portion of them -even from Attica; and who had held themselves in mastery not merely by -the overthrow of the constitution, but also by inviting and subsidising -foreign guards. Such atrocities, conceived and ordered by the Thirty, -had been executed by the aid, and for the joint benefit (as Critias -justly remarked) of those occupants of the city whom the exiles found -on returning. Now Thrasybulus, Anytus, and the rest of these exiles, -saw their property all pillaged and appropriated by others during the -few months of their absence: we may presume that their lands--which had -probably not been sold, but granted to individual members or partisans of -the Thirty--were restored to them; but the movable property could not be -reclaimed, and the losses to which they remained subject were prodigious. - -[Sidenote: [403-402 B.C.]] - -The men who had caused and profited by these losses--often with great -brutality towards the families of the exiles, as we know by the case -of Lysias--were now at Athens, all individually well known to the -sufferers. In like manner, the sons and brothers of Leon and the other -victims of the Thirty, saw before them the very citizens by whose hands -their innocent relatives had been consigned without trial to prison and -execution. The amount of wrong suffered had been infinitely greater than -in the time of the Four Hundred, and the provocation, on every ground, -public and private, violent to a degree never exceeded in history. -Yet with all this sting fresh in their bosoms, we find the victorious -multitude, on the latter occasion as well as on the former, burying -the past in an indiscriminate amnesty, and anxious only for the future -harmonious march of the renovated and all-comprehensive democracy. We see -the sentiment of commonwealth in the demos, twice contrasted with the -sentiment of faction in an ascendant oligarchy; twice triumphant over the -strongest counter-motives, over the most bitter recollections of wrongful -murder and spoliation, over all that passionate rush of reactionary -appetite which characterises the moment of political restoration. - -“Bloody will be the reign of that king who comes back to his kingdom -from exile”--says the Latin poet: bloody indeed had been the rule of -Critias and those oligarchs who had just come back from exile: “harsh -is a demos (observes Æschylus) which has just got clear of misery.” -But the Athenian demos, on coming back from Piræus, exhibited the rare -phenomenon of a restoration after cruel wrong suffered, sacrificing all -the strong impulse of retaliation to a generous and deliberate regard -for the future march of the commonwealth. Thucydides remarks that the -moderation of political antipathy which prevailed at Athens after the -victory of the people over the Four Hundred, was the main cause which -revived Athens from her great public depression and danger. Much more -forcibly does this remark apply to the restoration after the Thirty, when -the public condition of Athens was at the lowest depth of abasement, from -which nothing could have rescued her except such exemplary wisdom and -patriotism on the part of her victorious demos. Nothing short of this -could have enabled her to accomplish that partial resurrection--into -an independent and powerful single state, though shorn of her imperial -power--which will furnish material for the subsequent portion of our -history. - -If we wanted any further proof of their capacity for taking the largest -and soundest views on a difficult political situation, we should find it -in another of their measures at this critical period. The Ten who had -succeeded to oligarchical presidency of Athens after the death of Critias -and the expulsion of the Thirty, had borrowed from Sparta the sum of one -hundred talents [£20,000 or $100,000] for the express purpose of making -war on the exiles in Piræus. After the peace, it was necessary that such -sum should be repaid, and some persons proposed that recourse should be -had to the property of those individuals and that party who had borrowed -the money. The apparent equity of the proposition was doubtless felt with -peculiar force at a time when the public treasury was in the extreme of -poverty. Put nevertheless both the democratical leaders and the people -decidedly opposed it, resolving to recognise the debt as a public charge; -in which capacity it was afterwards liquidated, after some delay arising -from an unsupplied treasury. - -The necessity of a fresh collection and publication (if we may use -that word) of the laws, had been felt prior to the time of the Thirty. -But such a project could hardly be realised without at the same time -revising the laws, as a body, removing all flagrant contradictions, and -rectifying what might glaringly displease the age either in substance or -in style. Now the psephism of Tisamenus, one of the first measures of the -renewed democracy after the Thirty, both prescribed such revision and -set in motion a revising body; but an additional decree was now proposed -and carried by Archinus, relative to the alphabet in which the revised -laws should be drawn up. The Ionic alphabet, that is, the full Greek -alphabet of twenty-four letters, as now written and printed, had been in -use at Athens universally, for a considerable time--apparently for two -generations; but from tenacious adherence to ancient custom, the laws had -still continued to be consigned to writing in the old Attic alphabet of -only sixteen or eighteen letters. It was now ordained that this scanty -alphabet should be discontinued, and that the revised laws, as well as -all future public acts, should be written up in the full Ionic alphabet. - -Partly through this important reform, partly through the revising body, -partly through the agency of Nicomachus, who was still continued as -Anagrapheus [“Writer-up” of the old laws], the revision, inscription, and -publication of the laws in their new alphabet was at length completed. -But it seems to have taken two years to perform--or at least two years -elapsed before Nicomachus went through his trial of accountability. He -appears to have made various new propositions of his own, which were -among those adopted by the nomothetæ: for these he was attacked, on a -trial of accountability, as well as on the still graver allegation of -having corruptly falsified the decisions of that body--writing up what -they had not sanctioned, or suppressing that which they had sanctioned. - -The archonship of Euclides, succeeding immediately to the Anarchy (as -the period of the Thirty was denominated), became thus a cardinal point -or epoch in Athenian history. We cannot doubt that the laws came forth -out of this revision considerably modified, though unhappily we possess -no particulars on the subject. We learn that the political franchise -was, on the proposition of Aristophon, so far restricted for the future, -that no person could be a citizen by birth except the son of citizen -parents on both sides; whereas previously, it had been sufficient if the -father alone was a citizen. The rhetor Lysias, by station a metic, had -not only suffered great loss, narrowly escaping death from the Thirty -(who actually put to death his brother Polemarchus) but had contributed -a large sum to assist the armed efforts of the exiles under Thrasybulus -in Piræus. As a reward and compensation for such antecedents, the -latter proposed that the franchise of citizen should be conferred upon -him; but we are told that this decree, though adopted by the people, was -afterwards indicted by Archinus as illegal or informal, and cancelled. -Lysias, thus disappointed of the citizenship, passed the remainder of his -life as an _isoteles_, or non-freeman on the best condition, exempt from -the peculiar burdens upon the class of metics. - -[Illustration: GREEK FIRE IRONS - -(In the British Museum)] - -Such refusal of citizenship to an eminent man like Lysias, who had both -acted and suffered in the cause of the democracy, when combined with -the decree of Aristophon above noticed, implies a degree of augmented -strictness which we can only partially explain. It was not merely the -renewal of her democracy for which Athens had now to provide. She had -also to accommodate her legislation and administration to her future -march as an isolated state, without empire or foreign dependencies. For -this purpose material changes must have been required: among others, we -know that the Board of Hellenotamiæ (originally named for the collection -and management of the tribute at Delos, but attracting to themselves -gradually more extended functions, until they became ultimately, -immediately before the Thirty, the general paymasters of the state) was -discontinued, and such among its duties as did not pass away along with -the loss of the foreign empire, were transferred to two new officers--the -treasurer at war, and the manager of the theoricon, or religious -festival-fund. - -While the Athenian empire lasted, the citizens of Athens were spread over -the Ægean in every sort of capacity--as settlers, merchants, navigators, -soldiers, etc., which must have tended materially to encourage -intermarriages between them and the women of other Grecian insular -states. Indeed we are even told that an express permission of _connubium_ -with Athenians was granted to the inhabitants of Eubœa--a fact (noticed -by Lysias) of some moment in illustrating the tendency of the Athenian -empire to multiply family ties between Athens and the allied cities. -Now, according to the law which prevailed before Euclides, the son of -every such marriage was by birth an Athenian citizen; an arrangement -at that time useful to Athens, as strengthening the bonds of her -empire--and eminently useful in a larger point of view, among the causes -of Panhellenic sympathy. But when Athens was deprived both of her empire -and her fleet, and confined within the limits of Attica--there no longer -remained any motive to continue such a regulation, so that the exclusive -city-feeling, instinctive in the Grecian mind, again became predominant. -Such is perhaps the explanation of the new restrictive law proposed by -Aristophon. - -Thrasybulus and the gallant handful of exiles who had first seized Phyle -received no larger reward than a thousand drachmæ [£40 or $200] for a -common sacrifice and votive offering, together with wreaths of olive as -a token of gratitude from their countrymen. The debt which Athens owed -to Thrasybulus was indeed such as could not be liquidated by money. To -his individual patriotism, in great degree, we may ascribe not only the -restoration of the democracy, but its good behaviour when restored. How -different would have been the consequences of the restoration and the -conduct of the people, had the event been brought about by a man like -Alcibiades, applying great abilities principally to the furtherance of -his own cupidity and power! - - -THE END OF ALCIBIADES - -[Sidenote: [405-403 B.C.]] - -At the restoration of the democracy, Alcibiades was already no more. -Shortly after the catastrophe at Ægospotami, he had sought shelter in the -satrapy of Pharnabazus, no longer thinking himself safe from Lacedæmonian -persecution in his forts on the Thracian Chersonesus. He carried with -him a good deal of property, though he left still more behind him in -these forts: how acquired we do not know. But having crossed apparently -to Asia by the Bosporus, he was plundered by the Thracians in Bithynia, -and incurred much loss before he could reach Pharnabazus in Phrygia. -Renewing the tie of personal hospitality which he had contracted with -Pharnabazus four years before, he now solicited from the satrap a safe -conduct up to Susa. The Athenian envoys--whom Pharnabazus, after his -former pacification with Alcibiades, 408 B.C., had engaged to escort -to Susa, but had been compelled by the mandate of Cyrus to detain as -prisoners--were just now released from their three years’ detention, -and enabled to come down to the Propontis; and Alcibiades, by whom this -mission had originally been projected, tried to prevail on the satrap to -perform the promise which he had originally given, but had not been able -to fulfil. The hopes of the sanguine exile, reverting back to the history -of Themistocles, led him to anticipate the same success at Susa as had -fallen to the lot of the latter: nor was the design impracticable, to -one whose ability was universally renowned, and who had already acted as -minister to Tissaphernes. - -The court of Susa was at this time in a peculiar position. King Darius -Nothus, having recently died, had been succeeded by his eldest son -Artaxerxes Mnemon; but the younger son Cyrus, whom Darius had sent for -during his last illness, tried after the death of the latter to supplant -Artaxerxes in the succession--or at least was suspected of so trying. -Cyrus being seized and about to be slain, the queen-mother, Parysatis, -prevailed upon Artaxerxes to pardon him, and send him again down to his -satrapy along the coast of Ionia, where he laboured strenuously, though -secretly, to acquire the means of dethroning his brother; a memorable -attempt, of which we shall speak more fully hereafter. But his schemes, -though carefully masked, did not escape the observation of Alcibiades, -who wished to make a merit of revealing them at Susa, and to become the -instrument of defeating them. He communicated his suspicions as well as -his purpose to Pharnabazus; whom he tried to awaken by alarm of danger to -the empire, in order that he might thus get himself forwarded to Susa as -informant and auxiliary. - -Pharnabazus was already jealous and unfriendly in spirit towards Lysander -and the Lacedæmonians (of which we shall soon see plain evidence)--and -perhaps towards Cyrus also, since such were the habitual relations of -neighbouring satraps in the Persian empire. But the Lacedæmonians and -Cyrus were now all-powerful on the Asiatic coast, so that he probably -did not dare to exasperate them, by identifying himself with a mission -so hostile, and an enemy so dangerous, to both. Accordingly he refused -compliance with the request of Alcibiades; granting him nevertheless -permission to live in Phrygia, and even assigning to him a revenue. -But the objects at which the exile was aiming soon became more or less -fully divulged to those against whom they were intended. His restless -character, enterprise, and capacity, were so well known as to raise -exaggerated fears as well as exaggerated hopes. Not merely Cyrus, but -the Lacedæmonians, closely allied with Cyrus, and the decarchies, -whom Lysander had set up in the Asiatic Grecian cities, and who held -their power only through Lacedæmonian support--all were uneasy at the -prospect of seeing Alcibiades again in action and command, amidst so -many unsettled elements. Nor can we doubt that the exiles whom these -decarchies had banished, and the disaffected citizens who remained at -home under their government in fear of banishment or death, kept up -correspondence with him, and looked to him as a probable liberator. -Moreover the Spartan king Agis still retained the same personal antipathy -against him, which had already (some years before) procured the order to -be despatched, from Sparta to Asia, to assassinate him. Here are elements -enough, of hostility, vengeance, and apprehension, afloat against -Alcibiades--without believing the story of Plutarch, that Critias and the -Thirty sent to apprise Lysander that the oligarchy at Athens could not -stand so long as Alcibiades was alive. - -[Sidenote: [404 B.C.]] - -A special despatch (or scytale) was sent out by the Spartan authorities -to Lysander in Asia, enjoining him to procure that Alcibiades should -be put to death. Accordingly Lysander communicated this order to -Pharnabazus, within whose satrapy Alcibiades was residing, and requested -that it might be put in execution. Pharnabazus therefore despatched his -brother Magæus and his uncle Sisamithres, with a band of armed men, to -assassinate Alcibiades in the Phrygian village where he was residing. -These men, not daring to force their way into his house, surrounded it -and set it on fire. Yet Alcibiades, having contrived to extinguish the -flames, rushed out upon his assailants with a dagger in his right hand, -and a cloak wrapped around his left to serve as a shield. None of them -dared to come near him; but they poured upon him showers of darts and -arrows until he perished, undefended as he was either by shield or by -armour. A female companion with whom he lived--Timandra--wrapped up -his body in garments of her own, and performed towards it all the last -affectionate solemnities. - -[Illustration: A GREEK RELIGIOUS PROCESSION] - -Such was the deed which Cyrus and the Lacedæmonians did not scruple to -enjoin, nor the uncle and brother of a Persian satrap to execute; and by -which this celebrated Athenian perished before he had attained the age -of fifty. Had he lived, we cannot doubt that he would again have played -some conspicuous part--for neither his temper nor his abilities would -have allowed him to remain in the shade--but whether to the advantage -of Athens or not is more questionable. Certain it is that, taking his -life throughout, the good which he did to her bore no proportion to the -far greater evil. Of the disastrous Sicilian expedition, he was more the -cause than any other individual; though that enterprise cannot properly -be said to have been caused by any individual: it emanated rather from a -national impulse. Having first, as a counsellor, contributed more than -any other man to plunge the Athenians into this imprudent adventure, he -next, as an exile, contributed more than any other man (except Nicias) -to turn that adventure into ruin, and the consequences of it into still -greater ruin. Without him, Gylippus would not have been sent to Syracuse, -Decelea would not have been fortified, Chios and Miletus would not have -revolted, the oligarchical conspiracy of the Four Hundred would not -have been originated. Nor can it be said that his first three years of -political action as Athenian leader, in a speculation peculiarly his -own--the alliance with Argos, and the campaigns in Peloponnesus--proved -in any way advantageous to his country. On the contrary, by playing an -offensive game where he had hardly sufficient force for a defensive, he -enabled the Lacedæmonians completely to recover their injured reputation -and ascendency through the important victory of Mantinea. The period -of his life really serviceable to his country, and really glorious to -himself, was that of three years ending with his return to Athens in 407 -B.C. The results of these three years of success were frustrated by the -unexpected coming down of Cyrus as satrap: but just at the moment when it -behoved Alcibiades to put forth a higher measure of excellence, in order -to realise his own promises in the face of this new obstacle--at that -critical moment we find him spoiled by the unexpected welcome which had -recently greeted him at Athens, and falling miserably short even of the -former merit whereby that welcome had been earned. - -If from his achievements we turn to his dispositions, his ends, and -his means--there are few characters in Grecian history who present so -little to esteem, whether we look at him as a public or as a private -man. His ends are those of exorbitant ambition and vanity; his means -rapacious as well as reckless, from his first dealing with Sparta and the -Spartan envoys, down to the end of his career. The manœuvres whereby his -political enemies first procured his exile were indeed base and guilty -in a high degree. But we must recollect that if his enemies were more -numerous and violent than those of any other politician in Athens, the -generating seed was sown by his own overweening insolence and contempt -of restraints, legal as well as social. On the other hand, he was -never once defeated either by land or sea. In courage, in ability, in -enterprise, in power of dealing with new men and new situations, he was -never wanting; qualities which, combined with his high birth, wealth, and -personal accomplishments, sufficed to render him for the time the first -man in every successive party which he espoused--Athenian, Spartan, or -Persian--oligarchical or democratical. But in none of them did he ever -inspire any lasting confidence; all successively threw him off. On the -whole, we shall find few men in whom eminent capacities for action and -command are so thoroughly marred by an assemblage of bad moral qualities -as Alcibiades.[b] - - -LIFE AT ATHENS - -[Sidenote: [404-403 B.C.]] - -The state of Athens after the expulsion of the Thirty was in some -respects apparently less desolate than that in which she had been left -after the battle of Platæa. It is possible indeed that the invasions of -Xerxes and Mardonius may have inflicted less injury on her territory than -the methodical and lingering ravages of the Peloponnesians during the -Decelean war. But in 479 the city, as well as the country, had been, for -a part of two consecutive years, in the power of an irritated enemy. All -that it required both for ornament and defence was to be raised afresh -from the ground. Yet the treasury was empty: commerce had probably never -yet yielded any considerable supplies, and it had been deeply disturbed -by the war; the state possessed no dependent colonies or tributary -allies, and was watched with a jealous eye by the most powerful of its -confederates. - -[Sidenote: [403-402 B.C.]] - -Commerce had not only been interrupted by the blockade, but had sustained -still greater detriment from the tyranny of the Thirty, which had crushed -or scared away the most opulent and industrious of the aliens: and the -cloud which continued to hang over the prospects of the state, even -after freedom and tranquillity had been restored, tended to discourage -those who might have been willing to return. The public distress was -such that it was with the greatest difficulty the council could provide -ways and means for the ordinary expenses. Even the ancient sacrifices -prescribed by the sacred canons were intermitted, because the treasury -could not furnish three talents [£600 or $8000] for their celebration: -and the repayment of a loan of two talents which had been advanced by -the Thebans, probably in aid of the exiles, was so long delayed through -the same cause, that hostilities were threatened for the purpose of -recovering the debt. The navy of Athens had now sunk to a fourth of that -which she had maintained before the time of Solon, and it was limited to -this footing by a compact which could not be broken or eluded without -imminent danger; Piræus was again unfortified: the arsenal was in ruins: -even the city walls needed repairs, which could not be undertaken -for want of money; and on all sides were enemies who rejoiced in her -humiliation, and were urged both by their passions and interests to -prevent her from again lifting up her head. - -[Illustration: DRINKING HORNS] - -The corruption of the Athenian courts of justice probably began with that -great extension of their business which took place when the greater part -of the allies had lost their independence and were compelled to resort to -Athens for the determination of all important causes. At the same time -the increase of wealth and the enlargement of commerce, multiplied the -occasions of litigation at home. The taste of the people began to be more -and more interested in forensic proceedings, even before it was attracted -towards them by any other inducement. The pay of the jurors introduced by -Pericles strengthened this impulse by a fresh motive, which, when Cleon -had tripled its amount, acted more powerfully, and on a larger class. A -considerable number of citizens then began to look to the exercise of -their judicial functions as a regular source both of pleasure and profit. - -[Illustration: FORTUNE - -(After Hope)] - -But the prevalence of this frivolous habit was not the worst fault of -the Athenian courts. In the most important class of cases, the criminal -prosecutions, they were seldom perfectly impartial, and their ordinary -bias was against the defendant. The juror in the discharge of his office -did not forget his quality of citizen, and was not indifferent to the -manner in which the issue of a trial might affect the public revenue, -and thus he leaned towards decisions which replenished the treasury with -confiscations and pecuniary penalties, while they also served to terrify -and humble the wealthy class, which he viewed with jealousy and envy. -On this notorious temper of the courts was grounded the power of the -infamous sycophants who lived by extortion, and generally singled out, as -the objects of their attacks, the opulent citizens of timid natures and -quiet habits, who were both unable to plead for themselves, and shrank -from a public appearance. Such persons might indeed procure the aid of -an advocate, but they commonly thought it better to purchase the silence -of the informer, than to expose themselves to the risk and the certain -inconvenience of a trial. The resident aliens were not exempt from this -annoyance; and, though they were not objects of fear or jealousy, they -were placed under many disadvantages in a contest with an Athenian -prosecutor. But the noble and affluent citizens of the subject states, -above all, had reason to tremble at the thought of being summoned to -Athens, to meet any of the charges which it was easy to devise against -them, and to connect with an imputation of hostile designs or disloyal -sentiments, and were ready to stop the mouths of the orators with gold. - -There is no room for doubt as to the existence of the evils and vices we -have been describing, though the most copious information we possess on -the subject is drawn not from purely historical sources, but from the -dramatic satires of Aristophanes. But there may still be a question as to -the measure of allowance to be made for comic exaggeration, or political -prejudices, in the poet; and it seems probable that the colours in which -he has painted his countrymen are in some respects too dark. That the -mass of the people had not sunk to this degree of depravity, may we -think be inferred from the grief and indignation which it is recorded to -have shown on some occasions, where it had been misled into an unjust -sentence, by which it stained itself with innocent blood: as Callixenus, -who however was not worse than other sycophants, though he was among -those who returned after the expulsion of the Thirty, and enjoyed the -benefit of the amnesty, died, universally hated, of hunger. - - -ARISTOPHANES - -[Sidenote: [_ca._ 425-400 B.C.]] - -The patriotism of Aristophanes was honest, bold, and generally wise. He -was still below the age at which the law permitted a poet to contend -for a dramatic prize, and was therefore compelled to use a borrowed -name, when, in the year after the death of Pericles, he produced his -first work, in which his chief aim seems to have been to exhibit the -contrast between the ancient and the modern manners. In his next, his -ridicule was pointed more at the defects or the perversion of political -institutions, and perhaps at the democratical system of filling public -offices by lot. In both, however, he had probably assailed many of the -most conspicuous persons of the day, and either by personal satire, or -by attacks on the abuses by which the demagogues throve, he provoked the -hostility of Cleon, who endeavoured to crush him by a prosecution. Its -nominal ground was, it seems, the allegation, that the poet, who in fact -according to some accounts was of Dorian origin, was not legally entitled -to the franchise. But the real charge was that in his recent comedy -he had exposed the Athenian magistracy to the derision of the foreign -spectators. Cleon, however, was baffled; and though the attempt was once -or twice renewed, perhaps by other enemies of Aristophanes, it failed -so entirely, that he seems to have been soon left in the unmolested -enjoyment of public favour; and he not only was encouraged to revenge -himself on Cleon by a new piece, in which the demagogue was exhibited in -person, and was represented by the poet himself,--who it is said could -not find an actor to undertake the part, nor even get a suitable mask -made for it,--but he at the same time ventured on an experiment which it -seems had never been tried before on the comic stage. - -[Illustration: ARISTOPHANES] - -The people had been accustomed to see the most eminent Athenian statesmen -and generals brought forward there and placed in a ludicrous light; but -it had never yet beheld its own image set before its eyes as in a mirror, -which reflected the principal features of its character, not indeed -without the exaggeration which belonged to the occasion, but yet with a -truth which could not be mistaken or evaded. This was done in the same -play which exposed Cleon’s impudence and rapacity; and the follies and -faults of the assembled multitude, which appears under its proper name -of Demos, as an old dotard, not void of cunning, though incapable of -governing himself, are placed in the strongest relief by the presence of -its unworthy favourite, who is introduced, not indeed by name, but so -as to be immediately recognised, as a lying, thievish, greedy, fawning, -Paphlagonian slave. The poet’s boldness was so far successful, that -instead of offending the audience he gained the first prize: but in -every other respect he failed of attaining his object; for Cleon, as we -have seen, maintained his influence unimpaired to the end of his life, -and the people showed as little disposition to reform its habits, and -change its measures, as if the portrait it had seen of itself had been -no less amiable than diverting. But the issue of this attempt did not -deter him from another, which, but for the applause which had crowned -the first, might have appeared equally dangerous. As in the _Knights_ he -had levelled his satire against the sovereign assembly; in the _Wasps_, -which he exhibited in the year before Cleon’s death, he attacked the -other stronghold of his power, the courts of justice, with still keener -ridicule. - -The vehicles in which Aristophanes conveyed his political lessons, -strange as they appear to us, were probably judiciously chosen, as well -with the view of pointing the attention of the audience more forcibly to -his practical object, as of relieving the severity of his admonitions -and censures. As time has spared only a few fragments of the earlier -and the contemporary productions of the comic drama, it is only from -the report of the ancient critics that we can form any notion of the -relation in which he stood to his theatrical competitors. He is said not -only to have introduced several improvements in the structure of the old -political comedy, by which he brought it to its highest perfection, but -to have tempered the bitterness and the grossness of his elder rival -Cratinus, who is described as the comic Æschylus. It is not quite clear -in what sense this account is to be understood, for it is difficult to -conceive that the satire of Cratinus can have been either freer or more -licentious. But the difference seems to have consisted in the inimitable -grace with which Aristophanes handled every subject which he touched. -We are informed, indeed, that even in this quality he was surpassed by -Eupolis, who is also said to have shown more vigour of imagination in -the invention of his plots. Yet another account represents Eupolis as -more nearly resembling Cratinus in the violence and homeliness of his -invectives; and the testimony of the philosopher Plato, who in an epitaph -called the soul of Aristophanes a sanctuary of the Graces, studied his -works as a model of style for the composition of his own dialogues, and -honoured him with a place in one of his masterpieces, seems sufficient to -prove that at least in the elegance of his taste, and the gracefulness of -his humour, he had no equal. - -How much Aristophanes was in earnest with his subject, how far he was -from regarding it merely as an occasion for the exercise of his art, and -how little he was swayed by personal prejudices, which have sometimes -been imputed to him, is proved less by the keenness of his ridicule than -by the warmth of his affection for Athens, which is manifest even under -the comic mask. In his extant plays he nowhere intimates a wish for -any change in the form of the Athenian institutions. He only deplores -the corruption of the public spirit, points out its signs and causes, -and assails the persons who minister to it. It is indeed the Athens of -another age that he heartily loves; but that age is no remote antiquity; -it is, if not within his own memory, near enough to be remembered by the -elder part of his audience. He looks back indeed to the days of Miltiades -and Aristides, as the period when the glory of Athens was at its height. -But those of Myronides and Thucydides, the rival of Pericles, likewise -belong, in his view, to the good old times, which he sighs for; and the -evils of his own are of still more recent origin. He traces them to the -measures of Pericles; to the position in which he had placed Athens with -regard to the subject states, and above all to the war in which he had -involved her. - -The Peloponnesian War he treats as entirely the work of Pericles, and -he chooses to ascribe it to his fears for his own safety, or to the -influence of Aspasia; and to consider the quarrel with Megara as only the -occasion or colour for it. The war he regards as the main foundation of -the power of such demagogues as Cleon and Hyperbolus. If peace were only -restored, he hopes that the mass of the people would return to its rural -occupations and to its ancient tastes and habits; that the assembly and -the courts of justice would no longer hold out the same attractions; that -litigation would abate, and the trade of the sycophants decay. Cleon is -reproached in the _Knights_ with having caused the Spartan overtures to -be rejected, because he knew that it was by the war he was enabled to -plunder the subject cities, and that if the people were released from the -confinement of the city walls, and once more to taste the blessings of -peace and of a country life, he should no longer find it subservient to -his ends. Hence we may perhaps conclude that when, at the end of the same -play, Demos (the personified people) is introduced as newly risen out of -a magic cauldron, restored to the vigour and comeliness of youth, in a -garb and port worthy of the companion of Aristides and Miltiades, his -eyes opened to his past errors, and with the purpose of correcting them, -the poet did not conceive the change thus represented as hopeless, and -still less meant to intimate that it was impossible. - -It was not without reason that Aristophanes, in common with all Athenians -who loved and regretted the ancient times, regarded the sophistical -circles with abhorrence, not only as seminaries of demagogues and -sycophants, but as schools of impiety and licentiousness. That the -attention of the Athenian youth should be diverted from military and -athletic exercises, from the sports of the field, and from the enjoyment -of that leisure which had once been esteemed the most precious privilege -of a Greek freeman, to sedentary studies, which at the best only inflated -them with self-conceit, and stimulated them to lay aside the diffidence -which befitted their age, and come forward prematurely in public, to -exhibit their new acquirements and to supplant the elder and graver -citizens on the bema, or to harass them before the popular tribunals: -this in itself he deemed a great evil. - -In the last scene of the _Knights_, one of the resolutions which Demos -adopts is that he will bar the agora and the Pnyx against the beardless -youths who now pass so much of their time in places of public resort, -where they amuse themselves with discussing the merits of the orators -in technical language, and will force them to go a-hunting, instead of -making decrees. But it was a still more alarming evil, that, by way of -preparation for this pernicious result, the religious belief of the -young Athenians should be unsettled, their moral sentiments perverted, -their reverence for the maxims and usages of antiquity extinguished; -that subjects which had never before been contemplated but at an awful -distance--the being and nature of the gods, the obligations arising from -domestic and civil relations--should be submitted to close and irreverent -inspection. It was according to the view of Aristophanes a matter of -comparatively little moment, what turn such discussions happened to take, -or what was the precise nature of the sophistical theories. The mischief -was already done, when things so sacred had once been treated as subjects -for inquiry and argument. But he perceived the evil much more clearly -than the remedy. He would fain have carried his countrymen half a century -backward, and have forced them to remain stationary at the stage which -they had then reached in their intellectual progress; and it seems as if -he wished to see the schools of the new philosophy forcibly suppressed, -and with this view attempted to direct popular indignation against them. -The only case in which this attempt succeeded was one in which the poet -himself, if he had been better informed, must have desired it should fail. - - -EURIPIDES - -Aristophanes closely watched all the workings of the sophistical spirit, -and was sagacious enough to perceive that they were not confined to any -particular sphere, but pervaded every province of thought and action. He -was naturally led to observe its influence with peculiar attention in the -branches of literature or art which were most nearly allied to his own. -He was able to trace it in the innovations which had taken place in music -and lyrical poetry, but above all in the tragic drama: and Euripides, -the last of the three tragic poets who are known to us by their works, -appeared to him as one of the most dangerous sophists, and was on this -account among the foremost objects of his bitterest ridicule. The -earnestness with which Aristophanes assailed him seems to have increased -with the growth of his reputation; for of the three comedies in which he -is introduced, the last, which was exhibited after his death, contains -by far the most severe as well as elaborate censure of his poetry. It is -not however quite certain that Euripides, even in the latter part of his -career, was so popular as Sophocles. In answer to a question of Socrates, -in a conversation which Xenophon probably heard during the latter part of -the Peloponnesian War, Sophocles is mentioned as indisputably the most -admirable in his art. - -It has often been observed, that the success of Euripides, if it is -measured by the prizes which he is said to have gained, would not seem to -have been very great: and perhaps there may be reason to suspect, that -he owed much of the applause which he obtained in his life-time to the -favour of a party, which was strong rather in rank and fortune than in -numbers; the same which is said to have been headed by Alcibiades, and to -have deprived Aristophanes of the prize. - -Alcibiades employed Euripides to celebrate his Olympic victories; and -his patronage was sufficient to spread the poet’s fame at home and -abroad. The anecdote about the celebrity which he had acquired in Sicily -is perfectly consistent with this view; as is the invitation which he -received a little before his death from Archelaus of Macedon, at whose -court he ended his life; and the admiration which Dionysius of Syracuse -expressed for him, by buying his tablets and pen at a high price, to -dedicate them in the temple of the Muses. - -Aristophanes was so far from being blind to the poetical merits of -Euripides, that he was himself charged by his rivals with borrowing from -him, and in one of his lost plays acknowledged that in his diction he had -imitated the terseness of the tragic poet, but asserted that his thoughts -were less vulgar. How accurately he had studied the works of the tragic -drama, how vividly he perceived the genuine character of Greek tragedy, -and the peculiar genius of each poet, is sufficiently proved by the mode -in which he has conducted the contest which he feigns between Æschylus -and Euripides. But his criticism would probably have been less severe, if -he had not considered Euripides less in his poetical character than in -his connection with the sophistical school. Euripides had in fact been -a hearer of Anaxagoras, and probably both of Protagoras and Prodicus. -In his house Protagoras was said to have read one of his works by which -he incurred a charge of atheism. He was also on intimate terms with -Socrates, who was therefore reported to have aided him in the composition -of his tragedies, and perhaps may have done so, in the same way as -Prodicus and Anaxagoras; and this connection was, as we shall see, of -itself a sufficient ground with Aristophanes for suspicion and aversion. -The strength of Euripides lay in passionate and moving scenes, and he -sought like other poets for situations and characters which afforded the -best opportunity for the display of his powers. But he was too frequently -tempted to work upon the feelings of his audience by an exhibition of -sufferings which were quite foreign to the heroic dignity of the persons -who endured them, who were therefore degraded by the pity they excited. -The misery of his heroes often consisted chiefly in bodily privations, -which could only awaken the sympathy of the spectator’s animal nature. - -His irreligion is contrasted with the piety of Æschylus, who invokes the -goddess of the Eleusinian mysteries; a hint which, after the prosecution -of Alcibiades, was easily understood, as to the party to which Euripides -belonged. It was probably in the same point of view that Aristophanes -considered the plays which he founded on tales of criminal passion. - -Euripides was undoubtedly induced to select such subjects, some of which -were new to the Greek stage, chiefly by the opportunity they afforded him -of displaying his peculiar dramatic talent. But in his hands they seldom -failed to give occasion for a sophistical defence of conduct repugnant -to Greek usages and feelings, which to Aristophanes would appear much -more pernicious than the example itself. But his plays were likewise -interspersed with moral paradoxes, which in more than one instance are -said to have excited the indignation of the audience. A line in which the -most pious of his heroes distinguishes between the oath of the tongue -and that of the mind, in terms which might serve to justify any perjury, -became very celebrated, and Aristophanes dwells upon it, apparently as -a striking illustration of the sophistical spirit. It seems clear that -these, and others of the novelties just mentioned, cannot have been -designed to gain the general applause of the audience. Though we must -reject a story told by some of his Greek biographers, which indeed is at -variance with chronology, that the fate of his master Anaxagoras deterred -him from philosophical pursuits, and led him to turn his thoughts to -the drama, we might still wonder at his indiscretion, if it had not -appeared probable that he aimed at gratifying the taste, not so much of -the multitude, as of that class of persons which took pleasure in the -new learning, and was in fact the favourite poet, not so much of the -common people, as of a party, which was growing more and more powerful -throughout his dramatic career. - -Euripides, however, occupies only a subordinate place among the disciples -and supporters of the sophistical school, whom Aristophanes attacked. The -person whom he selected as its representative, and on whom he endeavoured -to throw the whole weight of the charges which he brought against it, -was Socrates. In the _Clouds_, a comedy exhibited in 423, a year after -the _Knights_ had been received with so much applause, Socrates was -brought on the stage under his own name, as the arch-sophist, the master -of the free-thinking school. The story is of a young spendthrift, who -has involved his father in debt by his passion for horses, and having -been placed under the care of Socrates is enabled by his instructions to -defraud his creditors, but also learns to regard filial obedience and -respect, and piety to the gods, as groundless and antiquated prejudices; -and it seems hardly possible to doubt that under this character the -poet meant to represent Alcibiades, whom it perfectly suits in its -general outline, and who may have been suggested to the thoughts of -the spectators in many ways not now perceived by the reader. It seems -at first sight as if in this work Aristophanes must stand convicted -either of the foulest motives or of a gross mistake. For the character -of Socrates was in most points directly opposed to the principles and -practice which he attributes here and elsewhere to the sophists and -their followers. Yet in the _Clouds_ this excellent person appears in -the most odious as well as ridiculous aspect; and the play ends with the -preparations made by the father of the misguided youth to consume him and -his school.[c] - - - - -[Illustration: REMAINS OF A TEMPLE AT METAPONTUM] - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX. SOCRATES AND THE SOPHISTS - - -It was not till the superior talents of Pericles had quieted the storms -of war and faction that science, which had in the interval received -great improvement among the Asian Greeks, revived at Athens with new -vigour. Anaxagoras of Clazomenæ, the preceptor and friend of Pericles, -bred in all the learning of the Ionian school, is said first to have -introduced what might properly be called philosophy there. To him is -attributed the first introduction in European Greece of the idea of -one eternal, almighty, and all-good Being, or, as he is said, after -Thales, to have expressed himself, a perfect mind, independent of body, -as the cause or creator of all things. The gods received in Greece, of -course, were low in his estimation; the sun and moon, commonly reputed -divinities, he held to be mere material substances, the sun a globe -of stone, the moon an earth, nearly similar to ours. A doctrine so -repugnant to the system on which depended the estimation of all the -festivals, processions, sacrifices, and oracles, which so fascinated the -vulgar mind, was not likely to be propagated without reprehension. Even -the science which enabled men to calculate an eclipse was offensive, -inasmuch as it lowered the importance, and interfered with the profits, -of priests, augurs, interpreters, and seers. An accusation of impiety was -therefore instituted against Anaxagoras; the general voice went with the -prosecutors; and all that the power and influence of Pericles could do -for his valued friend, was to procure him means of escape from Attica. - -But while physical and metaphysical speculation engaged men of leisure, -other learning had more attraction for the ambitious and needy. Athens -always was the great field for acquiring fame and profit in this line; -yet those who first attained eminence in it were foreigners there, -Gorgias of Leontini in Sicily, Prodicus of the little island of Ceos, -and Hippias of Elis. All these are said to have acquired considerable -riches by their profession. Their success invited numbers to follow -their example; and Greece, but far more especially Athens, shortly -abounded with those who, under the name of sophists, professors of -wisdom, undertook to teach every science. The scarcity and dearness of -books gave high value to that learning which a man with a well-stored -mind, and a ready and clear elocution could communicate. None, without -eloquence, could undertake to be instructors; so that the sophists, -in giving lessons of eloquence, were themselves the example. They -frequented all places of public resort, the agora, the public walks, the -gymnasia, and the porticoes; where they recommended themselves to notice -by an ostentatious display of their abilities, in disputation among one -another, or with whoever would converse with them. - -The profession of sophist had not long flourished, and no Athenian had -acquired fame in any branch of philosophy, when the singular talents, -and singular manners and pursuits, of Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, -engaged public attention. The father was a statuary, and is not mentioned -as very eminent in his profession; but, as a man, he seems to have -been respected among the most eminent of the commonwealth: he lived -in particular intimacy with Lysimachus, son of the great Aristides. -Socrates, inheriting a very scanty fortune, had a mind wholly intent upon -the acquisition and communication of knowledge. The sublime principles of -theology, taught by Anaxagoras, made an early impression upon his mind. -They led him to consider what should be the duty owed by man to such a -Being as Anaxagoras described his Creator; and it struck him that, if the -providence of God interfered in the government of this world, the duty of -man to man, little considered by poets or priests as any way connected -with religion, and hitherto almost totally neglected by philosophers, -must be a principal branch of the duty of man to God. It struck him -further that, with the gross defects which he saw in the religion, the -morality, and the governments of Greece, though the favourite inquiries -of the philosophers, concerning the nature of the Deity, the formation -of the world, the laws of the heavenly bodies, might, while they amused, -perhaps also enlarge and improve the minds of a few speculative men, yet -the investigation of the social duties was infinitely more important, -and might be infinitely more useful, to mankind in general. Endowed by -nature with a most discriminating mind, and a singularly ready eloquence, -he directed his utmost attention to that investigation; and when, by -reflection, assisted and proved by conversation among the sophists and -other able men, he had decided an opinion, he communicated it, not in the -way of precept, which the fate of Anaxagoras had shown hazardous, but -by proposing a question, and, in the course of interrogatory argument, -leading his hearers to the just conclusion. - -We are informed by his disciple Xenophon how he passed his time. He was -always in public. Early in the morning he went to the walks and the -gymnasia: when the agora filled, he was there; and, in the afternoon, -wherever he could find most company. Generally he was the principal -speaker. The liveliness of his manner made his conversation amusing -as well as instructive, and he denied its advantages to nobody. But -he was nevertheless a most patient hearer; and preferred being the -hearer whenever others were present able and disposed to give valuable -information to the company. He did not commonly refuse invitations, -frequently received, to private entertainments; but he would undertake no -private instruction, nor could any solicitation induce him to relieve his -poverty by accepting, like the sophists and rhetoricians, a reward for -what he gave in public. - -In the variety of his communication on social duties he could not easily, -and perhaps he did not desire entirely, to avoid either religious or -political subjects; hazardous, both of them, under the jealous tyranny of -democracy. It remains a question how far he was subject to superstition; -but his honesty is so authenticated that it seems fairer to impute to -him some weakness in credulity than any intention to deceive. If we may -believe his own account, reported by his two principal disciples, he -believed himself divinely impelled to the employment to which he devoted -his life, inquiring and teaching the duty of man to man. A divine -spirit, in his idea, constantly attended him; whose voice, distinctly -heard, never expressly commanded what he was indisposed to do, but -frequently forbade what he had intended. To unveil the nature of Deity -was not among his pretensions. He only insisted on the perfect goodness -and perfect wisdom of the Supreme God, the creator of all things, and -the constant superintendence of his providence over the affairs of men. -As included in these, he held that everything done, said, or merely -wished by men, was known to the Deity, and that it was impossible he -could be pleased with evil. The unity of God, though implied in many of -his reported discourses, he would not in direct terms assert; rather -carefully avoiding to dispute the existence of the multifarious gods -acknowledged in Greece; but he strongly denied the weaknesses, vices, and -crimes commonly imputed to them. Far however from proposing to innovate -in forms of worship and religious ceremonies, so various in the different -Grecian states, and sources of more doubt and contention than any other -circumstances of the heathen religion, he held that men could not, in -these matters, do wrong if they followed the laws of their own country -and the institutions of their forefathers. He was therefore regular in -sacrifice, both upon the public altars and in his family. He seems to -have been persuaded that the Deity, by various signs, revealed the future -to men; in oracles, dreams, and all the various ways usually acknowledged -by those conversant in the reputed science of augury. “Where the wisdom -of men cannot avail,” he said, “we should endeavour to gain information -from the gods; who will not refuse intelligible signs to those to whom -they are propitious.” Accordingly he consulted oracles himself, and he -recommended the same practice to others, in every doubt on important -concerns. - -The circumstances of the Athenian government, in his time, could -not invite a man of his disposition to offer himself for political -situations. He thought he might be infinitely more useful to his country -in the singular line, it might indeed be called a public line, which he -had chosen for himself. Not only he would not solicit office, but he -would take no part in political contest. In the several revolutions which -occurred he was perfectly passive. But he would refuse nothing: on the -contrary, he would be active in everything that he thought decidedly the -duty of a citizen. When called upon to serve among the heavy-armed, he -was exemplary in the duties of a private soldier; and as such he fought -at Potidæa, Amphipolis, and Delium. We find him mentioned in civil -office; at one time president of the general assembly, and at another a -member of the council of Five Hundred. In each situation he distinguished -himself by his unbending uprightness. When president, he resisted the -violence of the assembled people, who voted a decree, in substance or -in manner, contrary to the constitution. Neither entreaties nor threats -could move him to give it the necessary sanction of his office. As -a member of the council we have already seen him, in the office of -prytanis, at the trial of the six generals, persevering in resistance -to the injustice of popular tyranny, rendered useless through the want -of equal constancy in his colleagues, who yielded to the storm. Under -the Thirty again we have seen him, not in office indeed, but daring to -refuse office, unworthy and illegal office, which the tyranny of the -all-powerful Critias would have put upon him. - -We are not informed when Socrates first became distinguished as a -sophist; for in that description of men he was in his own day reckoned. -When the wit of Aristophanes was directed against him in the theatre -he was already among the most eminent, but his eminence seems to have -been then recent. It was about the tenth or eleventh year of the -Peloponnesian War, when he was six or seven and forty years of age, -that, after the manner of the old comedy, he was offered to public -derision upon the stage, by his own name, as one of the persons of the -drama, in the comedy of Aristophanes, called the _Clouds_, which is yet -extant. The audience, accustomed to look on defamation with carelessness, -and to hold as lawful and proper whatever might amuse the multitude, -applauded the wit, and even gave general approbation to the composition; -but the high estimation of the character of Socrates sufficed to prevent -that complete success which the poet had looked for. The crown, which -rewarded him whose drama most earned the public favour, and which -Aristophanes had so often won, was on this occasion refused him. - -Two or three and twenty years had elapsed since the first representation -of the _Clouds_; the storms of conquest suffered from a foreign enemy and -from four revolutions in the civil government of the country, had passed; -nearly three years had followed of that quiet which the revolution under -Thrasybulus produced, and the act of amnesty should have confirmed, -when a young man, named Meletus, went to the king-archon, delivered, in -the usual form, an information against Socrates, and bound himself to -prosecute. The information ran thus: “Meletus, son of Meletus, of the -borough of Pitthos, declares these upon oath against Socrates, son of -Sophroniscus, of the borough of Alopece: Socrates is guilty of reviling -the gods whom the city acknowledges, and of preaching other new gods: -moreover he is guilty of corrupting the youth. Penalty, death.” - -[Illustration: GRECIAN TERRA-COTTA - -(In the British Museum)] - - -THE PROSECUTION OF SOCRATES - -[Sidenote: [399 B.C.]] - -Xenophon begins his _Memorabilia_ of his revered master with declaring -his wonder how the Athenians could have been persuaded to condemn to -death a man of such uncommonly clear innocence and exalted worth. -Ælianus, though for authority not to be compared with Xenophon, has -nevertheless, we think, given the solution. “Socrates,” he says, -“disliked the Athenian constitution. For he saw that democracy is -tyrannical, and abounds with all the evils of absolute monarchy.” But -though the political circumstances of the times made it necessary for -contemporary writers to speak with caution, yet both Xenophon and -Plato have declared enough to show that the assertion of Ælianus was -well founded; and further proof, were it wanted, may be derived from -another early writer, nearly contemporary, and deeply versed in the -politics of his age, the orator Æschines. Indeed, though not stated in -the indictment, yet it was urged against Socrates by his prosecutors -before the court, that he was disaffected to the democracy; and in -proof they affirmed it to be notorious that he had ridiculed what the -Athenian constitution prescribed, the appointment to magistracy by lot. -“Thus,” they said, “he taught his numerous followers, youths of the -principal families of the city, to despise the established government, -and to be turbulent and seditious; and his success had been seen in -the conduct of two, the most eminent, Alcibiades and Critias. Even the -best things he converted to these ill purposes: from the most esteemed -poets, and particularly from Homer, he selected passages to enforce his -anti-democratical principles.” - -Socrates, it appears indeed, was not inclined to deny his disapprobation -of the Athenian constitution. His defence itself, as it is reported -by Plato, contains matter on which to found an accusation against him -of disaffection to the sovereignty of the people, such as, under the -jealous tyranny of the Athenian democracy, would sometimes subject a man -to the penalties of high treason. “You well know,” he says, “Athenians, -that, had I engaged in public business, I should long ago have perished, -without procuring any advantage either to you or to myself. Let not -the truth offend you: it is no peculiarity of your democracy, or of -your national character; but wherever the people is sovereign, no man -who shall dare honestly to oppose injustice, frequent and extravagant -injustice, can avoid destruction.” - -Without this proof indeed we might reasonably believe that, though -Socrates was a good and faithful subject of the Athenian government, -and would promote no sedition, no political violence, yet he could not -like the Athenian constitution. He wished for wholesome changes by -gentle means; and it seems even to have been a principal object of the -labours to which he dedicated himself, to infuse principles into the -rising generation that might bring about the desirable change insensibly. -His scholars were chiefly sons of the wealthiest citizens, whose easy -circumstances afforded leisure to attend him; and some of these, -zealously adopting his tenets, others merely pleased with the ingenuity -of his arguments and the liveliness of his manner, and desirous to -emulate his triumphs over his opponents, were forward, after his example, -to engage in disputation upon all the subjects on which he was accustomed -to discourse. Thus employed and thus followed, though himself avoiding -office and public business, those who governed or desired to govern the -commonwealth through their influence among the many, might perhaps not -unreasonably consider him as one who was, or might become, a formidable -adversary; nor might it be difficult to excite popular jealousy against -him. - -Meletus, who stood forward as his principal accuser, was, according to -Plato, not a man of any great consideration. He was soon joined by Lycon, -one of the most powerful speakers of his time, and the avowed patron -of the rhetoricians, who, as well as the poets, thought their interest -injured by the moral philosopher’s doctrine. But Anytus, a man scarcely -second to any in the commonwealth in rank and general estimation, who had -held high command with reputation in the Peloponnesian War, and had been -the principal associate of Thrasybulus in the war against the Thirty and -the restoration of the democracy, declared himself a supporter of the -prosecution. Nothing in the accusation could, by any known law of Athens, -affect the life of the accused. In England no man would be put upon trial -on so vague a charge: no grand jury would listen to it. But in Athens, if -the party was strong enough, it signified little what was the law. When -Lycon and Anytus came forward, Socrates saw that his condemnation was -already decided. - -By the course of his life, however, and by the turn of his thoughts -for many years, he had so prepared himself for all events, that the -probability of his condemnation, far from being alarming, was to him -rather matter for rejoicing, as, at his age, a fortunate occurrence. -Xenophon says that, by condescending to a little supplication, Socrates -might easily have obtained his acquittal. It was usual for accused -persons, when brought before the court, to bewail their apprehended lot, -with tears to supplicate favour, and by exhibiting their children upon -the bema, to endeavour to excite pity. No admonition or entreaty of his -friends however could persuade him to such an unworthiness. He thought -it, he said, more respectful to the court, as well as more becoming -himself, to omit all this; however aware that their sentiments were -likely so far to differ from his that judgment would be given in anger -for it. Accordingly, when put upon his defence, he told the people that -he did not plead for his own sake, but for theirs, wishing them to avoid -the guilt of an unjust sentence. - -Condemnation pronounced wrought no change upon him. He again addressed -the court, declared his innocence of the matters laid against him, and -observed that, even if every charge had been completely proved, still -altogether did not, according to any known law, amount to a capital -crime. “But,” in conclusion he said, “it is time to depart: I to die, you -to live: but which for the greater good, God only knows.” - -[Illustration: SOCRATES IN PRISON] - -It was usual at Athens for execution very soon to follow condemnation; -commonly on the morrow. But it happened that the condemnation of Socrates -took place on the eve of the day appointed for the sacred ceremony of -crowning the galley which carried the annual offerings to the gods -worshipped at Delos: and immemorial tradition forbade all executions -till the sacred vessel’s return. Thus the death of Socrates was respited -thirty days, while his friends had free access to him in the prison. -During all that time he admirably supported his constancy. Means were -concerted for his escape; the jailer was bribed, a vessel prepared, and -a secure retreat in Thessaly provided. No arguments, no prayers could -persuade him to use the opportunity. He had always taught the duty of -obedience to the laws, and he would not furnish an example of the breach -of it. To no purpose it was urged that he had been unjustly condemned: he -had always held that wrong did not justify wrong. He waited with perfect -composure the return of the sacred vessel, reasoned on the immortality of -the soul, the advantage of virtue, the happiness derived from having made -it through life his pursuit, and, with his friends about him, took the -fatal cup, and died. - -Writers who, after Xenophon and Plato, have related the death of -Socrates, appear to have held themselves bound to vie with those who -preceded them in giving pathos to the story. The purpose here has been -rather to render it intelligible: to show its connection with the -political history of Athens; to derive from it illustration of the -political history. The magnanimity of Socrates, the principal factor of -the pathos, surely deserves admiration; yet it is not that in which he -has most outshone other men. The singular merit of Socrates lay in the -purity and the usefulness of his manners and conversation; the clearness -with which he saw, and the steadiness with which he practised, in a blind -and corrupt age, all moral duties; the disinterestedness and the zeal -with which he devoted himself to the benefit of others; and the enlarged -and warm benevolence, whence his supreme and almost only pleasure seems -to have consisted in doing good. The purity of Christian morality, little -enough indeed seen in practice, nevertheless is become so familiar in -theory that it passes almost for obvious, and even congenial to the human -mind. Those only will justly estimate the merit of that near approach -to it which Socrates made, who will take the pains to gather, as they -may from the writings of his contemporaries and predecessors, how little -conception was entertained of it before his time; how dull to a just -moral sense the human mind has really been; how slow the progress in -the investigation of moral duties, even where not only great pains have -been taken, but the greatest abilities zealously employed; and, when -discovered, how difficult it has been to establish them by proofs beyond -controversy, or proofs even that should be generally admitted by the -reason of men. - -It is through the light which Socrates diffused by his doctrine enforced -by his practice, with the advantage of having both the doctrine and the -practice exhibited to highest advantage in the incomparable writings of -disciples such as Plato and Xenophon, that his life forms an era in the -history of Athens and of man.[b] - -It is our great good fortune to possess a long and sympathetic -description of the closing scenes of his life in the unsurpassed prose of -his disciple Plato. Though told in the form of a dialogue and much too -long for quotation in full, the presentation of Socrates is so vivid and -veracious that a part of it must be given.[a] - - -PLATO’S ACCOUNT OF THE LAST HOURS OF SOCRATES - -When we entered, we found Socrates just freed from his bonds, and -Xantippe, you know her, holding his little boy and sitting by him. As -soon as Xantippe saw us, she wept aloud and said such things as women -usually do on such occasions, as “Socrates, your friends will now -converse with you for the last time and you with them.” But Socrates, -looking towards Crito, said, “Crito, let some one take her home.” Upon -which some of Crito’s attendants led her away, wailing and beating -herself. - -But Socrates sitting up in bed, drew up his leg, and rubbed it with -his hand, and as he rubbed it, said: “What an unaccountable thing, my -friends, that seems to be, which men call pleasure; and how wonderfully -is it related towards that which appears to be its contrary, pain, in -that they will not both be present to a man at the same time, yet, if any -one pursues and attains the one, he is almost always compelled to receive -the other, as if they were both united together from one head. - -“And it seems to me,” he said, “that if Æsop had observed this he would -have made a fable from it, how the Deity, wishing to reconcile these -warring principles, when he could not do so, united their heads together, -and from hence whomsoever the one visits the other attends immediately -after; as appears to be the case with me, since I suffered pain in my leg -before from the chain, but now pleasure seems to have succeeded. - -“‘A bypath, as it were, seems to lead us on in our researches undertaken -by reason,’ because as long as we are encumbered with the body, and our -soul is contaminated with such an evil, we can never fully attain to -what we desire; and this, we say, is truth. For the body subjects us to -innumerable hindrances on account of its necessary support, and moreover -if any diseases befall us, they impede us in our search after that which -is; and it fills us with longings, desires, fears, all kinds of fancies, -and a multitude of absurdities, so that, as it is said in real truth, by -reason of the body it is never possible for us to make any advances in -wisdom. - -“For nothing else but the body and its desires occasion wars, seditions, -and contests; for all wars amongst us arise on account of our desire to -acquire wealth; and we are compelled to acquire wealth on account of -the body, being enslaved by its service; and consequently on all these -accounts we are hindered in the pursuit of philosophy. But the worst of -all is, that if it leaves us any leisure, and we apply ourselves to the -consideration of any subject, it constantly obtrudes itself in the midst -of our researches, and occasions trouble and disturbance, and confounds -us so that we are not able by reason of it to discern the truth. It has -then in reality been demonstrated to us, that if we are ever to know -anything purely, we must be separated from the body, and contemplate -the things themselves by the mere soul. And then, as it seems, we shall -obtain that which we desire, and which we profess ourselves to be lovers -of, wisdom, when we are dead, as reason shows, but not while we are -alive. For if it is not possible to know anything purely in conjunction -with the body, one of these two things must follow, either that we can -never acquire knowledge, or only after we are dead; for then the soul -will subsist apart by itself, separate from the body, but not before. And -while we live, we shall thus, as it seems, approach nearest to knowledge, -if we hold no intercourse or communion at all with the body, except -what absolute necessity requires, nor suffer ourselves to be polluted -by its nature, but purify ourselves from it, until God himself shall -release us. And thus being pure, and freed from the folly of the body, -we shall in all likelihood be with others like ourselves, and shall of -ourselves know the whole real essence, and that probably is truth; for -it is not allowable for the impure to attain to the pure. Such things, I -think, Simmias, all true lovers of wisdom must both think and say to one -another. Does it not seem so to you?” - -“Most assuredly, Socrates.” - -“If this, then,” said Socrates, “is true, my friend, there is great hope -for one who arrives where I am going; there, if anywhere, to acquire that -in perfection for the sake of which we have taken so much pains during -our past life; so that the journey now appointed me is set out upon with -good hope, and will be so by any other man who thinks that his mind has -been as it were purified.” - -“Certainly,” said Simmias. - -“But does not purification consist in this, as was said in a former part -of our discourse, in separating as much as possible the soul from the -body, and in accustoming it to gather and collect itself by itself on all -sides apart from the body, and to dwell, as far as it can, both now and -hereafter, alone by itself, delivered as it were from the shackles of the -body?” - -“Certainly,” he replied. - -“Is this then called death, this deliverance and separation of the soul -from the body?” - -“Assuredly,” he answered. - -“But, as we affirmed, those who pursue philosophy rightly, are especially -and alone desirous to deliver it, and this is the very study of -philosophers, the deliverance and separation of the soul from the body, -is it not?” - -“It appears so.” - -“Then, as I said at first, would it not be ridiculous for a man who has -endeavoured throughout his life to live as near as possible to death; -then, when death arrives, to grieve? Would not this be ridiculous?” - -“How should it not?” - -“In reality then, Simmias,” he continued, “those who pursue philosophy -rightly study to die; and to them of all men death is least formidable. -Judge from this. Since they altogether hate the body and desire to keep -the soul by itself, would it not be irrational if, when this comes to -pass, they should be afraid and grieve, and not be glad to go to that -place, where on their arrival they may hope to obtain that which they -longed for throughout life; but they longed for wisdom; and to be freed -from association with that which they hated? How many of their own accord -wished to descend into Hades, on account of human objects of affection, -their wives and sons, induced by this very hope of there seeing and being -with those whom they have loved; and shall one who really loves wisdom, -and firmly cherishes this very hope, that he shall nowhere else obtain it -in a manner worthy of the name, except in Hades, be grieved at dying, and -not gladly go there? We must think that he would gladly go, my friend, if -he be in truth a philosopher; for he will be firmly persuaded of this, -that he will nowhere else but there attain wisdom in its purity; and if -this be so, would it not be very irrational, as I just now said, if such -a man were to be afraid of death?” - -“Very much so, by Jupiter,” he replied. - -“But it is right, my friends,” he said, “that we should consider this, -that if the soul is immortal, it requires our care not only for the -present time, which we call life, but for all time; and the danger would -now appear to be dreadful, if one should neglect it. For if death were -a deliverance from everything, it would be a great gain for the wicked, -when they die, to be delivered at the same time from the body, and from -their vices together with the soul: but now, since it appears to be -immortal, it can have no other refuge from evils, nor safety, except -by becoming as good and wise as possible. For the soul goes to Hades, -possessing nothing else but its discipline and education, which are said -to be of the greatest advantage or detriment to the dead, on the very -beginning of his journey thither. - -“When the dead arrive at the place to which their dæmon leads them -severally, first of all they are judged, as well those who have lived -well and piously, as those who have not. And those who appear to have -passed a middle kind of life, proceeding to Acheron, and embarking in -the vessels they have, on these arrive at the lake, and there dwell, and -when they are purified, and have suffered punishment for the iniquities -they may have committed, they are set free, and each receives the reward -of his good deeds, according to his deserts: but those who appear to -be incurable, through the magnitude of their offences, either from -having committed many and great sacrileges, or many unjust and lawless -murders, or other similar crimes, these a suitable destiny hurls into -Tartarus, whence they never come forth. But those who appear to have been -guilty of curable, yet great offences, such as those who through anger -have committed any violence against father or mother, and have lived -the remainder of their life in a state of penitence, or they who have -become homicides in a similar manner, these must of necessity fall into -Tartarus, but after they have fallen, and have been there for a year, the -wave casts them forth, the homicides into Cocytus, but the parricides -and matricides into Pyriphlegethon: but when, being borne along, they -arrive at the Acherusian lake, there they cry out to and invoke, some -those whom they slew, others those whom they injured, and invoking them, -they entreat and implore them to suffer them to go out into the lake, and -to receive them; and if they persuade them, they go out, and are freed -from their sufferings, but if not, they are borne back to Tartarus, and -thence again to the rivers, and they do not cease from suffering this -until they have persuaded those whom they have injured, for this sentence -was imposed on them by the judges. But those who are found to have lived -an eminently holy life, these are they, who, being freed and set at -large from these regions in the earth, as from a prison, arrive at the -pure abode above, and dwell on the upper parts of the earth. And among -these, they who have sufficiently purified themselves by philosophy shall -live without bodies, throughout all future time, and shall arrive at -habitations yet more beautiful than these. - -“On account of these things, then, a man ought to be confident about -his soul, who during this life has disregarded all the pleasures and -ornaments of the body as foreign to his nature, and who, having thought -that they do more harm than good, has zealously applied himself to the -acquirement of knowledge, and who having adorned his soul not with a -foreign but its own proper ornament, temperance, justice, fortitude, -freedom, and truth, thus waits for his passage to Hades, as one who -is ready to depart whenever destiny shall summon him. You then,” he -continued, “Simmias and Cebes, and the rest, will each of you depart at -some future time; but now destiny summons me, as a tragic writer would -say, and it is nearly time for me to betake myself to the bath; for -it appears to me to be better to drink the poison after I have bathed -myself, and not to trouble the women with washing my dead body.” - -When he had thus spoken, Crito said, “So be it, Socrates, but what -commands have you to give to these or to me, either respecting your -children, or any other matter, in attending to which we can most oblige -you?” - -“What I always say, Crito,” he replied, “nothing new; that by taking -care of yourselves you will oblige both me and mine, and yourselves, -whatever you do, though you should not now promise it; but if you neglect -yourselves, and will not live as it were in the footsteps of what has -been now and formerly said, even though you should promise much at -present, and that earnestly, you will do no good at all.” - -“We will endeavour then so to do,” he said; “but how shall we bury you?” - -“Just as you please,” he said, “if only you can catch me, and I do not -escape from you.” And at the same time smiling gently, and looking -around on us, he said; “I cannot persuade Crito, my friends, that I am -that Socrates who is now conversing with you, and who methodises each -part of the discourse; but he thinks I am he whom he will shortly behold -dead, and asks how he should bury me. But that which I sometime argued -at length, that when I have drunk the poison I shall no longer remain -with you, but shall depart to some happy state of the blessed, this I -seem to have urged to him in vain, though I meant at the same time to -console both you and myself. Be ye then my sureties to Crito,” he said, -“in an obligation contrary to that which he made to the judges; for he -undertook that I should remain; but do you be sureties that, when I die, -I shall not remain, but shall depart, that Crito may more easily bear it, -and when he sees my body either burnt or buried, may not be afflicted -for me, as if I suffered some dreadful thing, nor say at my interment -that Socrates is laid out, or is carried out, or is buried. For be well -assured,” he said, “most excellent Crito, that to speak improperly is not -only culpable as to the thing itself, but likewise occasions some injury -to our souls. You must have a good courage then, and say that you bury -my body, and bury it in such a manner as is pleasing to you, and as you -think is most agreeable to our laws.” - -When he had said thus he rose, and went into a chamber to bathe, and -Crito followed him, but he directed us to wait for him. We waited, -therefore, conversing among ourselves about what had been said, and -considering it again, and sometimes speaking about our calamity, how -severe it would be to us, sincerely thinking that, like those who are -deprived of a father, we should pass the rest of our life as orphans. -When he had bathed, and his children were brought to him, for he had two -little sons and one grown up, and the women belonging to his family were -come, having conversed with them in the presence of Crito, and given them -such injunctions as he wished, he directed the women and children to go -away, and then returned to us. - -And it was now near sunset; for he spent a considerable time within. But -when he came from bathing he sat down, and did not speak much afterwards; -then the officer of the Eleven came in, and standing near him, said, -“Socrates, I shall not have to find that fault with you that I do with -others, that they are angry with me, and curse me, when, by order of the -archons, I bid them drink the poison. But you, on all other occasions -during the time you have been here, I have found to be the most noble, -meek, and excellent man of all that ever came into this place; and, -therefore, I am now well convinced that you will not be angry with -me--for you know who are to blame--but with them. Now, then, for you know -what I came to announce to you, farewell, and endeavour to bear what is -inevitable as easily as possible.” And at the same time, bursting into -tears, he turned away and withdrew. - -And Socrates, looking after him, said, “And thou, too, farewell; we -will do as you direct.” At the same time turning to us, he said, “How -courteous the man is; during the whole time I have been here he has -visited me, and conversed with me sometimes, and proved the worthiest of -men; and now how generously he weeps for me. But come, Crito, let us obey -him, and let some one bring the poison, if it is ready pounded; but if -not, let the man pound it.” - -Then Crito said, “But I think, Socrates, that the sun is still on the -mountains, and has not yet set. Besides, I know that others have drunk -the poison very late, after it had been announced to them, and have -supped and drunk freely, and some even have enjoyed the objects of their -love. Do not hasten then, for there is yet time.” - -Upon this Socrates replied, “These men whom you mention, Crito, do these -things with good reason, for they think they shall gain by so doing, and -I too with good reason shall not do so; for I think I shall gain nothing -by drinking a little later, except to become ridiculous to myself, in -being so fond of life, and sparing of it when none any longer remains. -Go, then,” he said, “obey, and do not resist.” - -Crito having heard this, nodded to the boy that stood near. And the boy -having gone out, and stayed for some time, came, bringing with him the -man who was to administer the poison, who brought it ready pounded in a -cup. - -And Socrates, on seeing the man, said, “Well, my good friend, as you are -skilled in these matters, what must I do?” - -“Nothing else,” he replied, “than, when you have drunk it walk about, -until there is a heaviness in your legs, then lie down; thus it will do -its purpose.” - -And at the same time he held out the cup to Socrates. And he having -received it very cheerfully, neither trembling, nor changing at all -in colour or countenance, but, as he was wont, looking steadfastly at -the man, said, “What say you of this potion, with respect to making a -libation to any one, is it lawful or not?” - -“We only pound so much, Socrates,” he said, “as we think sufficient to -drink.” - -“I understand you,” he said, “but it is certainly both lawful and right -to pray to the gods, that my departure hence thither may be happy; which -therefore I pray, and so may it be.” And as he said this, he drank it -off readily and calmly. Thus far, most of us were with difficulty able -to restrain ourselves from weeping, but when we saw him drinking, and -having finished the draught, we could do so no longer; but in spite of -myself the tears came in full torrent, so that, covering my face, I wept -for myself, for I did not weep for him, but for my own fortune, in being -deprived of such a friend. But Crito, even before me, when he could not -restrain his tears, had risen up. - -But Apollodorus even before this had not ceased weeping, and then -bursting into an agony of grief, weeping and lamenting, he pierced the -heart of every one present, except Socrates himself. But he said, “What -are you doing, my admirable friends? I, indeed, for this reason chiefly, -sent away the women, that they might not commit any folly of this kind. -For I have heard that it is right to die with good omens. Be quiet, -therefore, and bear up.” - -When we heard this we were ashamed, and restrained our tears. But he, -having walked about, when he said that his legs were growing heavy, lay -down on his back; for the man so directed him. And at the same time he -who gave him the poison, taking hold of him, after a short interval -examined his feet and legs; and then having pressed his foot hard, he -asked if he felt it; he said that he did not. And after this he pressed -his thighs; and thus going higher, he showed us that he was growing cold -and stiff. Then Socrates touched himself, and said, that when the poison -reached his heart he should then depart. But now the parts around the -lower belly were almost cold; when, uncovering himself, for he had been -covered over, he said, and they were his last words, “Crito, we owe a -cock to Æsculapius; pay it, therefore, and do not neglect it.” - -“It shall be done,” said Crito, “but consider whether you have anything -else to say.” - -To this question he gave no reply; but shortly after he gave a convulsive -movement, and the man covered him, and his eyes were fixed; and Crito -perceiving it, closed his mouth and eyes. - -This was the end of our friend, a man, as we may say, the best of all of -his time that we have known, and moreover, the most wise and just.[c] - - -GROTE’S ESTIMATE OF SOCRATES - -Thus perished the “_parens philosophiæ_”--the first of ethical -philosophers; a man who opened to science both new matter, alike copious -and valuable, and a new method, memorable not less for its originality -and efficacy, than for the profound philosophical basis on which -it rests. Though Greece produced great poets, orators, speculative -philosophers, historians, etc., yet other countries, having the benefit -of Grecian literature to begin with, have nearly equalled her in all -these lines, and surpassed her in some. But where are we to look for -a parallel to Socrates, either in or out of the Grecian world? The -cross-examining elenchus, which he not only first struck out, but wielded -with such matchless effect, and to such noble purposes, has been mute -ever since his last conversation in the prison; for even his great -successor Plato was a writer and lecturer, not a colloquial dialectician. -No man has ever been found strong enough to bend his bow; much less, -sure enough to use it as he did. His life remains as the only evidence, -but a very satisfactory evidence, how much can be done by this sort of -intelligent interrogation; how powerful is the interest which it can -be made to inspire, how energetic the stimulus which it can apply in -awakening dormant reason and generating new mental power. - -[Illustration: GREEK VASE] - -It has been often customary to exhibit Socrates as a moral preacher, in -which character probably he has acquired to himself the general reverence -attached to his name. This is, indeed, a true attribute, but not the -characteristic or salient attribute, nor that by which he permanently -worked on mankind. On the other hand, Arcesilaus, and the New Academy, a -century and more afterwards, thought that they were following the example -of Socrates (and Cicero seems to have thought so too) when they reasoned -against everything--and when they laid it down as a system, that against -every affirmative position, an equal force of negative argument might be -brought up as counterpoise. Now this view of Socrates is, in my judgment, -not merely partial, but incorrect. He entertained no such systematic -distrust of the powers of the mind to attain certainty. He laid down a -clear (though erroneous) line of distinction between the knowable and -the unknowable. About physics, he was more than a sceptic; he thought -that man could know nothing: the gods did not intend that man should -acquire any such information, and therefore managed matters in such a way -as to be beyond his ken, for all except the simplest phenomena of daily -wants; moreover, not only man could not acquire such information, but -ought not to labour after it. But respecting the topics which concern -man and society, the views of Socrates were completely the reverse. This -was the field which the gods had expressly assigned, not merely to human -practice, but to human study and acquisition of knowledge; a field, -wherein, with that view, they managed phenomena on principles of constant -and observable sequence, so that every man who took the requisite pains -might know them. - -Nay, Socrates went a step further--and this forward step is the -fundamental conviction upon which all his missionary impulse hinges. -He thought that every man not only might know these things, but ought -to know them; that he could not possibly act well, unless he did know -them; and that it was his imperious duty to learn them as he would learn -a profession; otherwise, he was nothing better than a slave, unfit to -be trusted as a free and accountable being. Socrates felt persuaded -that no man could behave as a just, temperate, courageous, pious, -patriotic agent, unless he taught himself to know correctly what justice, -temperance, courage, piety, patriotism, etc., really were. He was -possessed with the truly Baconian idea, that the power of steady moral -action depended upon, and was limited by, the rational comprehension of -moral ends and means. But when he looked at the minds around him, he -perceived that few or none either had any such comprehension, or had ever -studied to acquire it--yet at the same time every man felt persuaded that -he did possess it, and acted confidently upon such persuasion. Here, -then, Socrates found that the first outwork for him to surmount, was, -that universal “conceit of knowledge without the reality,” against which -he declares such emphatic war; and against which, also, though under -another form of words and in reference to other subjects, Bacon declares -war not less emphatically, two thousand years afterwards--“_Opinio copiæ -inter causas inopiæ est_.” - -If then the philosophers of the New Academy considered Socrates either as -a sceptic, or as a partisan of systematic negation, they misinterpreted -his character, and mistook the first stage of his process--that which -Plato, Bacon, and Herschel call the purification of the intellect--for -the ultimate goal. The elenchus, as Socrates used it, was animated by the -truest spirit of positive science, and formed an indispensable precursor -to its attainment. - -Though negative in his means, Socrates is strictly positive in his ends; -his attack is undertaken only with distinct view to a positive result; in -order to shame them out of the illusion of knowledge, and to spur them -on and arm them for the acquisition of real, assured, comprehensive, -self-explanatory, knowledge--as the condition and guarantee of virtuous -practice. Socrates was indeed the reverse of a sceptic; no man ever -looked upon life with a more positive and practical eye; no man ever -pursued his mark with a clearer perception of the road which he was -travelling; no man ever combined, in like manner, the absorbing -enthusiasm of a missionary, with the acuteness, the originality, the -inventive resource, and the generalising comprehension, of a philosopher. - -His method yet survives, as far as such method can survive, in some of -the dialogues of Plato. It is a process of eternal value and of universal -application. That purification of the intellect, which Bacon signalised -as indispensable for rational or scientific progress, the Socratic -_elenchus_ affords the only known instrument for at least partially -accomplishing. However little that instrument may have been applied since -the death of its inventor, the necessity and use of it neither have -disappeared, nor ever can disappear. There are few men whose minds are -not more or less in that state of sham knowledge against which Socrates -made war: there is no man whose notions have not been first got together -by spontaneous, unexamined, unconscious, uncertified association--resting -upon forgotten particulars, blending together _disparates_ or -inconsistencies, and leaving in his mind old and familiar phrases, and -oracular propositions, of which he has never rendered to himself account: -there is no man, who, if he be destined for vigorous and profitable -scientific effort, has not found it a necessary branch of self-education, -to break up, disentangle, analyse, and reconstruct, these ancient mental -compounds--and who has not been driven to it by his own lame and solitary -efforts, since the giant of the colloquial elenchus no longer stands in -the market-place to lend him help and stimulus. - -To hear of any man, especially of so illustrious a man, being condemned -to death on such accusations as that of heresy and alleged corruption of -youth, inspires at the present day a sentiment of indignant reprobation, -the force of which I have no desire to enfeeble. The fact stands -eternally recorded as one among the thousand misdeeds of intolerance, -religious and political. But the sentiment now prevalent is founded -upon a conviction that such matters as heresy and heretical teaching of -youth are not proper for judicial cognisance. Even in the modern world, -such a conviction is of recent date; and in the fifth century B.C. it -was unknown. Socrates himself would not have agreed in it; and all -Grecian governments, oligarchical and democratical alike, recognised the -opposite. The testimony furnished by Plato is on this point decisive. -When we examine the two positive communities which he constructs, in the -treatises _De Republica_ and _De Legibus_, we find that there is nothing -about which he is more anxious, than to establish an unresisted orthodoxy -of doctrine, opinion, and education. A dissenting and free-spoken -teacher, such as Socrates was at Athens, would not have been allowed to -pursue his vocation for a week, in the Platonic republic. Plato would not -indeed condemn him to death; but he would put him to silence, and in case -of need, send him away. This, in fact, is the consistent deduction, if -you assume that the state is to determine what is orthodoxy, and orthodox -teaching--and to repress what contradicts its own views. Now all the -Grecian states, including Athens, held this principle of interference -against the dissenting teacher. In any other government of Greece, as -well as in the Platonic republic, Socrates would have been quickly -arrested in his career, even if not severely punished; in Athens, he was -allowed to talk and teach publicly for twenty-five or thirty years, and -then condemned when an old man. Of these two applications of the same -mischievous principle, assuredly the latter is at once the more moderate -and the less noxious. - -Secondly, the force of this last consideration, as an extenuating -circumstance in regard to the Athenians, is much increased, when we -reflect upon the number of individual enemies whom Socrates made to -himself in the prosecution of his cross-examining process. Here were a -multitude of individuals, including men personally the most eminent and -effective in the city, prompted by special antipathies, over and above -general convictions, to call into action the dormant state-principle of -intolerance against an obnoxious teacher. If, under such provocation, he -was allowed to reach the age of seventy, and to talk publicly for so many -years, before any real Meletus stood forward--this attests conspicuously -the efficacy of the restraining dispositions among the people, which made -their practical habits more liberal than their professed principles. - -Thirdly, whoever has read the account of the trial and defence of -Socrates, will see that he himself contributed quite as much to the -result as all the three accusers united. Not only he omitted to do all -that might have been done without dishonour, to insure acquittal--but he -held positive language very nearly such as Meletus himself would have -sought to put in his mouth. He did this deliberately--having an exalted -opinion both of himself and his own mission--and accounting the cup -of hemlock, at his age, to be no calamity. It was only by such marked -and offensive self-exaltation that he brought on the first vote of the -dicastery, even then the narrowest majority, by which he was found -guilty: it was only by a still more aggravated manifestation of the same -kind, even to the pitch of something like insult, that he brought on -the second vote, which pronounced the capital sentence. Now it would be -uncandid not to allow for the effect of such a proceeding on the minds of -the dicastery. They were not at all disposed, of their own accord, to put -in force the recognised principle of intolerance against him. But when -they found that the man who stood before them charged with this offence, -addressed them in a tone such as dicasts had never heard before and could -hardly hear with calmness, they could not but feel disposed to credit -all the worst inferences which his accusers had suggested, and to regard -Socrates as a dangerous man both religiously and politically, against -whom it was requisite to uphold the majesty of the court and constitution. - -In appreciating this memorable incident, therefore, though the -mischievous principle of intolerance cannot be denied, yet all the -circumstances show that that principle was neither irritable nor -predominant in the Athenian bosom; that even a large body of collateral -antipathies did not readily call it forth against any individual; that -the more liberal and generous dispositions, which deadened its malignity, -were of steady efficacy, not easily overborne; and that the condemnation -ought to count as one of the least gloomy items in an essentially gloomy -catalogue. - -Let us add, that as Socrates himself did not account his own condemnation -and death, at his age, to be any misfortune, but rather a favourable -dispensation of the gods, who removed him just in time to escape that -painful consciousness of intellectual decline, which induced Democritus -to prepare the poison for himself--so his friend Xenophon goes a step -further, and while protesting against the verdict of guilty, extols -the manner of death as a subject of triumph; as the happiest, most -honourable, and most gracious way, in which the gods could set the seal -upon an useful and exalted life. - -It is asserted by Diodorus, and repeated with exaggerations by other -later authors, that after the death of Socrates the Athenians bitterly -repented of the manner in which they had treated him, and that they -even went so far as to put his accusers to death without trial. I know -not upon what authority this statement is made, and I disbelieve it -altogether. From the tone of Xenophon’s _Memorabilia_, there is every -reason to presume that the memory of Socrates still continued to be -unpopular at Athens when that collection was composed. Plato, too, left -Athens immediately after the death of his master, and remained absent for -a long series of years: indirectly, I think, this affords a presumption -that no such reaction took place in Athenian sentiment as that which -Diodorus alleges; and the same presumption is countenanced by the manner -in which the orator Æschines speaks of the condemnation, half a century -afterwards. I see no reason to believe that the Athenian dicasts, -who doubtless felt themselves justified, and more than justified, in -condemning Socrates after his own speech, retracted that sentiment after -his decease.[d] - - - - -[Illustration: RUINS OF A TEMPLE OF ZEUS] - - - - -CHAPTER XL. THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND - - -In the latter years of the Peloponnesian War the affairs of Greece -became more than formerly implicated with those of Persia; and, during -the short calm which succeeded the long troubles of the former country, -some events in the latter will require attention. The detail will lead -far from Greece; but, beside involving information of Grecian affairs -not found elsewhere, it has a very important connection with Grecian -history through the insight it affords into circumstances which prepared -a revolution effected by Grecian arms, one of the greatest occurring in -the annals of the world. - - -THE AFFAIRS OF PERSIA - -By the event of the Peloponnesian War the Asian Greeks changed the -dominion of Athens, not for that of Lacedæmon, the conquering Grecian -power, but of a foreign, a barbarian master, the king of Persia, then -the ally of Lacedæmon. Towards the end of the same year in which a -conclusion was put to the war, by the taking of Athens, Darius, king of -Persia, the second of the name, died. He was succeeded by his eldest -son, Artaxerxes, also the second of his name, and, for his extraordinary -memory, distinguished among the Greeks by the addition of Mnemon, “the -Mindful.” The old king, in his last illness, desirous to see once more -his favourite son Cyrus, sent for him from his government in Lydia. The -prince, in obeying his father’s requisition, travelled in the usual -manner of the Eastern great, with a train amounting almost to an army; -and, to exhibit in his guard the new magnificence of troops so much heard -of in the upper provinces, but never yet seen, he engaged by large pay -the attendance of three hundred heavy-armed Greeks, under the command of -Xenias of Parrhasia in Arcadia. As a friend and counsellor, he took with -him Tissaphernes, satrap of Caria. - -[Sidenote: [404-401 B.C.]] - -On the decease of Darius, which followed shortly, a jealousy, scarcely -separable from a despotic throne, but said to have been fomented by -the unprincipled Tissaphernes, induced the new monarch to imprison his -brother; whose death, it was supposed, in course would have followed, but -for the powerful intercession of the queen-mother, Parysatis. Restored, -through her influence, not only to liberty but to the great command -entrusted to him by his indulgent father, Cyrus nevertheless resented -highly the indignity he had suffered. - -He seems indeed to have owed little to his brother’s kindness. Jealous -of the abilities and popular character of Cyrus, apprehensive of his -revenge, and perhaps not unreasonably also of his ambition, Artaxerxes -practised that wretched oriental policy of exciting civil war between -the commanders of his provinces, to disable them for making war against -the throne. Orontes, a person related to the royal family, governor of -the citadel of Sardis, was encouraged by the monarch’s councils to rebel -against that superior officer, under whose immediate authority, by those -very councils, he was placed, and ostensibly still required to act. Cyrus -subdued and forgave him. A second opportunity occurring, Orontes again -rebelled; again found himself, notwithstanding the secret patronage of -the court, unable to support his rebellion; and, soliciting pardon, -obtained from the generosity of Cyrus, not pardon only, but favour. But -according to report, to which Xenophon gave credit, the queen-mother -herself, Parysatis, whether urged by the known enmity of Artaxerxes to -Cyrus, or by whatever other cause, incited her younger son to seek the -throne and life of the elder. Thus much, however, appears certain, that, -very soon after his return into Asia Minor, Cyrus began preparations with -that criminal view. For a pretence, it must be allowed, he seems not to -have been totally without what the right of self-defence might afford; -yet his principal motives evidently were ambition and revenge. - -The disjointed, tottering, and crumbling state of that empire, which, -under the first Darius, appeared so well compacted, and really was so -powerful and flourishing, favoured his views. Egypt, whose lasting revolt -had been suppressed by the first Artaxerxes, was again in rebellion, -and the fidelity of other distant provinces was more than suspected. -Within his own extensive vice-royalty, the large province of Paphlagonia, -governed by its own tributary prince, paid but a precarious obedience -to the Persian throne; the Mysian and Pisidian mountaineers made open -war upon the more peaceful subjects of the plains; and the Lycaonians, -possessing themselves of the fortified places, held even the level -country in independency, and refused the accustomed tribute. A large part -of Lesser Asia was thus in rebellion, more or less avowed. Hence, on one -hand, the attention of the king’s councils and the exertion of his troops -were engaged; on the other, an undeniable pretence was ready for Cyrus to -increase the military force under his immediate authority. - -Cyrus, on his first arrival in the neighbourhood of the Grecian colonies, -became, as we have seen, partial to the Grecian character. - -As soon as the design against his brother’s throne was decided, the -younger Cyrus, with increased sedulity, extended his connections among -the Greeks. They alone, among the nations of that time, knew how to -train armies so that thousands of men might act as one machine. Hence -their heavy-armed had a power in the shock of battle that no number of -more irregular troops, however brave, could resist. Through the long -and extensive war lately concluded, Greece abounded with experienced -officers, and with men of inferior rank, much practised in arms, and -little in any peaceful way of livelihood. Opportunity was thus ready -for raising a force of Grecian mercenaries, almost to any amount. What -required circumspection was to avoid alarming the court of Susa; and this -the defective principles and worse practice of the Persian administration -made even easy. Cyrus therefore directed his Grecian commanders, in the -several towns, to enlist Greeks, especially Peloponnesians, as many as -they could; with the pretence of strengthening his garrisons against the -apprehended attempts of Tissaphernes. In Miletus, so the popularity of -his character prevailed, a conspiracy was formed for revolting to him; -but before it could be carried into effect, it was discovered; and, by -the satrap’s order, the ringleaders were executed, and many of their -adherents banished. Cyrus not only protected the fugitives, but besieged -Miletus by land and sea; and this new war furnished an additional -pretence for levying troops. - -Notwithstanding the character of frankness, honour, and strict regard -for truth which Cyrus generally supported, the candour of Xenophon, his -friend and panegyrist, has not concealed from us that he could stoop to -duplicity when the great interest of his ambition instigated. So far from -acknowledging any purpose of disobedience to the head of the empire, -he condescended to request from that brother, against whose throne and -life his preparations were already directed, the royal authority for -adding Ionia to his immediate government. The request was granted; at -the instance, it was said, of Parysatis, who preserved much influence -with her elder son, while she incited the nefarious views of the younger -against him. - -Among the many Greeks admitted to the conversation and to the table of -Cyrus, was Clearchus, a Lacedæmonian; who, after serving in the armies of -his own commonwealth, through the Peloponnesian War, found himself, at -the age of fifty, still uneasy in rest. Seeking opportunity for military -employment, he thought he had discovered it in the Thracian Chersonesus, -where the Greek settlers were harassed by incursions of the neighbouring -barbarians; and he persevered in representation and solicitation to the -ephors till he obtained a commission for a command there. Hastening his -departure, at Corinth an order of recall overtook him. The disappointment -was more than he could bear; he resolved to disobey the revered scytale; -and proceeded, in defiance of it, to act in pursuance of his commission -received. For this he was, in absence, condemned to death; a sentence -operating to his banishment for life. - -What fair hope now remained to Clearchus does not appear; but the need -of military talents, continually and extensively occurring among the -various warring commonwealths and scattered colonies of the Greeks, -always offered some prospect for adventurers of any considerable military -reputation; and, in the moment, a still more inviting field, possibly -always in his view, appeared in the court of Cyrus. Thither he went, -and, under a forbidding outside, a surly countenance, a harsh voice, and -rough manners, the prince discovering in him a character he wanted, after -short intercourse, made him a present of ten thousand darics, near eight -thousand pounds sterling. - -Clearchus did not disappoint this magnificent generosity. Employing -the whole of the prince’s present in raising troops, he offered, as -an individual adventurer, that protection to the Chersonesites which, -as a general of the Lacedæmonian forces, he had been commissioned to -give, but which the Lacedæmonian government, though claiming to be the -protecting power of the Grecian name, had finally refused to afford. His -service was accepted; and his success against the barbarians, together -with the uncommon regularity and inoffensiveness of his troops in the -friendly country, so gratified, not the Chersonesites only, but all the -Hellespontine Greeks, that, while he generally found subsistence at the -expense of the enemy, they provided large pay for his army by voluntary -contribution. Hence, with a discipline severe sometimes to excess, he -preserved the general attachment of those under him; and thus a body of -troops was kept in the highest order, ready for the service of Cyrus. - -The circumstances of Thessaly afforded another opportunity. Aristippus, a -Thessalian of eminence, probably banished by faction, had been admitted -to the prince’s familiarity. Returning afterwards to his own country, -and becoming head of his party, divisions were still such that civil -war followed. Then Aristippus thought he might profit from that claim -which the ancient doctrine of hospitality gave him upon the generosity -of Cyrus. He requested levy-money for two thousand men, with pay for -three months. Cyrus granted them for four thousand, and six months; only -stipulating that without previous communication with him no accommodation -should be concluded with the adverse party. Thus another body of troops, -unnoticed, was maintained for Cyrus. - -Proxenus, a Theban of the first rank and highest connections, happy in -his talents, cultivated under the celebrated Gorgias, of manners to win, -and character to deserve esteem, dissatisfied with the state of things -in his own city, passed, at the age of towards thirty, to the court -of Cyrus, with the direct purpose of seeking employment, honour, and -fortune; and, in Xenophon’s phrase, of so associating with men in the -highest situations that he might earn the means of doing, rather than lie -under the necessity of receiving favours. Recommended by such advantages, -Proxenus not only obtained the notice, but won the friendship of Cyrus, -who commissioned him to raise a Grecian force, pretended for a purpose -which the Persian court could not disapprove, the reduction of the -rebellious Pisidians. - -Thus engaged in the prince’s service, it became the care of Proxenus to -obtain in his foreign residence the society of a friend, of disposition, -acquirements, and pursuits congenial to his own. With this view he wrote -to a young Athenian, with whom he had long had intimacy, Xenophon, son of -Gryllus, a scholar of Socrates, warmly urging him to come and partake of -the prince’s favour, to which he engaged to introduce him. In the actual -state of things at Athens enough might occur to disgust honest ambition. -Xenophon therefore, little satisfied with any prospect there, accepted -his friend’s invitation; and to these circumstances we owe his beautiful -narrative of the ensuing transactions, which remains, like the _Iliad_, -the oldest and the model of its kind. - -For a Grecian land-force Cyrus contented himself with what might be -procured by negotiation with individuals and the allurement of pay. But -he desired the co-operation of a Grecian fleet, which, in the existing -circumstances of Greece, could be obtained only through favour of the -Lacedæmonian government. By a confidential minister therefore, despatched -to Lacedæmon, he claimed a friendly return for his assistance in the -war with Athens. The ephors, publicly acknowledging the justness of his -claim, sent orders to Samius, then commanding on the Asiatic station, to -join the prince’s fleet, and follow the directions of his admiral, Tamos, -an Egyptian. - -Preparation being completed, and the advantageous season for action -approaching, all the Ionian garrisons were ordered to Sardis, and put -under the command of Xenias, the Arcadian, commander of the Grecian -guard, which had attended Cyrus into Upper Asia. The other Grecian troops -were directed to join; some at Sardis, some at places farther eastward. -A very large army of Asiatics, whom the Greeks called collectively -Barbarians, was at the same time assembled. The pretence of these great -preparations was to exterminate the rebellious Pisidians; and, in the -moment, it sufficed for the troops. It could, however, no longer blind -Tissaphernes; who, not choosing to trust others to report what he knew -or suspected, set off, with all the speed that the way of travelling of -an Eastern satrap would admit, with an escort of five hundred horse, -to communicate personally with the king. Meanwhile Cyrus marched from -Sardis, with the forces already collected, by Colossæ to Celænæ in -Phrygia, a large and populous town, where he halted thirty days. There he -was joined by the last division of his Grecian forces, which now amounted -to about eleven thousand heavy-armed, and two thousand targeteers. His -Asiatics or barbarians were near a hundred thousand.[b] - -[Illustration: GREEK MARBLE CHAIR] - - -XENOPHON’S ACCOUNT OF CUNAXA - -[Sidenote: [401 B.C.]] - -Of the following famous battle-picture, Plutarch wrote glowingly: “Many -historians have described this battle; but Xenophon has done it with such -life and energy that we do not read an account of it--we see it and feel -all the danger.” The praise is not undeserved, and yet as an illuminating -example of the mental attitude of the ancient historian with his love -of long digressions, it should be noted that in the very midmost of the -battle, Xenophon pauses to insert a whole chapter reviewing the life of -Cyrus. This chapter is omitted here, the rest of the description being -given in the antiquated translation made in 1749 by Edward Spelman.[a] - -From thence Cyrus proceeded through the Country of Babylon, and in -three days’ march made twelve Parasangs.[5] When they were arrived -at the end of the third day’s march, Cyrus reviewed his Forces, both -Greeks and Barbarians in a Plain about Midnight (for he expected the -King would appear the next Morning, at the Head of his Army, ready to -give him Battle), and gave to Clearchus the Command of the right Wing, -and to Menon the Thessalian that of the left, while he himself drew up -his own Men. After the Review, and as soon as the Day appear’d, there -came Deserters from the Great King, who brought Cyrus an account of his -Army: then Cyrus, having called together the Generals and Captains of -the Greeks, advis’d with them concerning the Order of Battle; when he -encourag’d them by the following Persuasions: - -“O Greeks! it is not from any want of Barbarians, that I make use of -you as my Auxiliaries, but because I look upon you as superior to -great Numbers of them; for that reason I have taken you also into my -Service: Shew yourselves therefore worthy of that Liberty you enjoy, -in the possession of which I think you extremely happy; for be assur’d -that I would prefer Liberty before all things I possess. But, that you -may understand what kind of Combat you are going to engage in, I shall -explain it to you: Their Numbers are great, and they come on with mighty -Shouts, which if you can withstand, for the rest I am almost asham’d -to think what kind of Men you will find our Country produces. But you -are Soldiers; behave yourselves with Bravery, and, if any one of you -desires to return home, I will take care to send him back the Envy of his -Country; but I am confident that my Behaviour will engage many of you -rather to follow my Fortunes, than return home.” - -Here Gaulites, a banish’d Samian, a Man of Fidelity to Cyrus, being -present, spoke thus: “It is said by some, O Cyrus! that you promise many -things now, because you are in such imminent Danger, which, upon any -Success, you will not remember; and by others, that, though you should -remember your Promises, and desire to perform them, it will not be in -your power.” - -Cyrus hearing this, said: “Gentlemen! my paternal Kingdom to the South, -reaches as far as those Climates that are uninhabitable through Heat, -and to the North, as far as those that are so through Cold: Every thing -between is under the Government of my Brother’s Friends; and, if we -conquer, it becomes me to put you, who are my Friends, in possession of -it; so that I am under no apprehension, if we succeed, lest I should not -have enough to bestow on each of my Friends; I only fear, lest I should -not have Friends enow on whom to bestow it. But to each of you Greeks, -besides what I have mention’d, I promise a Crown of Gold.” The Officers, -hearing these things, espous’d his Cause with greater Alacrity, and -made their Report to the rest. After this the Greek Generals, and some -of the private Men came to him to know what they had to expect, if they -were victorious; all whom he sent away big with hopes: and all who were -admitted, advis’d him not to engage personally, but to stand in the Rear. -And then it was that Clearchus put this Question to Cyrus: “Are you of -Opinion, O Cyrus! that your Brother will hazard a Battle?” “Certainly,” -answered Cyrus: “If he is the Son of Darius and Parysatis, and my -Brother. I shall never obtain all this without a stroke.” - -While the Soldiers were accomplishing themselves for the Action, the -number of the Greeks was found to amount to ten thousand four hundred -heavy-arm’d Men, and two thousand four hundred Targeteers; and that of -the Barbarians in the Service of Cyrus, to one hundred thousand Men, -with about twenty Chariots armed with Scythes. The Enemy’s Army was -said to amount to twelve hundred thousand Men, and two hundred Chariots -armed with Scythes: they had besides six thousand Horse, under the -Command of Artagerses. These were drawn up before the King. The King’s -Army was commanded by four Generals, Commanders and Leaders, who had -each the Command of three hundred thousand Men; these were Abrocomas, -Tissaphernes, Gobryas, and Arbaces. But of this Number nine hundred -thousand only were present at the Battle, together with one hundred and -fifty Chariots arm’d with Scythes: For Abrocomas coming out of Phœnicia, -arrived five Days after the Action. This was the Account the Deserters -gave to Cyrus before the Battle, which was afterwards confirm’d by the -Prisoners. From thence Cyrus, in one day’s March, made three Parasangs, -all his Forces, both Greeks and Barbarians, marching in Order of Battle; -because he expected the King would fight that day: for in the middle of -their March there was a Trench cut five Fathom broad, and three deep. -This Trench extended twelve Parasangs upwards, traversing the Plain as -far as the Wall of Media. In this Plain are the Canals deriv’d from the -River Tigris; they are four in number, each one hundred Feet in breadth, -and very deep, and barges laden with Corn sail in them: These Canals fall -into the Euphrates; they are distant from one another one Parasang, and -have Bridges over them. - -Close to the Euphrates, there was a narrow Pass, between the River and -the Trench, about twenty Feet in breadth. This Trench the Great King, -as soon as he heard Cyrus was marching against him, caus’d to be made -by way of Fortification; through this Pass Cyrus and his Army march’d, -and were now within the Trench. That day the King did not engage, but -many Tracks appear’d both of Horses and Men that retreated. Here Cyrus, -sending for Silanus, the Soothsayer of Ambracia, gave him three thousand -Darics,[6] because the eleventh Day before that, when he was offering -Sacrifice, he told Cyrus that the King would not fight within ten Days: -Upon which Cyrus said, “If he does not fight within ten Days, he will -not fight at all: And, if what you say proves true, I’ll give you ten -Talents;” which Sum, the ten Days being expir’d, he then paid him. Since -therefore the King had suffer’d the Army of Cyrus to march through this -Pass unmolested, both Cyrus and the rest concluded that he had given over -all Thoughts of fighting: so that the next Day Cyrus march’d with less -Circumspection; and the third day he rode on his Car, very few marching -before him in their Ranks; great part of the Soldiers observ’d no Order, -many of their Arms being carried in Waggons, and upon sumpter Horses. - -It was now about the time of Day, when the Market is usually crowded, the -Army being near the place, where they propos’d to encamp, when Patagyas, -a Persian, one of those whom Cyrus most confided in, was seen riding -towards them full speed, his Horse all in a Sweat, and immediately called -to every one he met, both in his own Language, and in Greek, that the -King was at hand with a vast Army, marching in Order of Battle. Upon -this there was great Confusion, the Greeks and all the rest expecting he -would charge them, before they had put themselves in Order: and Cyrus -leaping from his Car, put on his Corslet, then mounting his Horse, took -his Javelins in his Hand, and order’d all the rest to arm, and every Man -to take his Post: They quickly form’d themselves, Clearchus on the right -Wing, close to the Euphrates, and next to him Proxenus, and after him the -rest: Menon and his Men were posted upon the left of the Greek Army. Of -the Barbarians a thousand Paphlagonian Horse, with the Greek Targeteers, -stood next to Clearchus on the right. Upon the left Ariæus, Cyrus’ -Lieutenant-General, was plac’d with the rest of the Barbarians. Cyrus put -himself in the Center with six hundred Horse: they had large Corslets, -and Cuisses, and all of them Helmets, but Cyrus, who stood ready for -the Charge, with his Head unarm’d; they say it is also customary for -the rest of the Persians to expose themselves in a day of Action in -the same manner: All the Horses in Cyrus’ Army had both Frontlets and -Breast-plates, and the Horsemen Greek Swords. - -It was now the middle of the Day, and no Enemy was yet to be seen. In -the Afternoon there appear’d a Dust like a white Cloud, which not long -after spread itself like a Darkness over the Plain; when they drew -nearer, immediately the brazen Armour flash’d, and their Spears and Ranks -appear’d: The Enemy had on their left a Body of Horse arm’d in white -Corslets (these were said to be commanded by Tissaphernes), next came -those with Persian Bucklers, and next to them heavy-arm’d Men with wooden -Shields, reaching down to their Feet (these were said to be Egyptians); -then other Horse and other Archers. All these marched according to their -respective Countries, each Nation being drawn up in a solid oblong -Square: And before them were disposed the Chariots arm’d with Scythes, -at a considerable distance from one another. These Chariots had Scythes -fix’d aslant at the Axle-Trees, with others under the Body of the -Chariot, pointing downwards, that so they might cut asunder every thing -they encounter’d. The Design of these Chariots was to break the Ranks of -the Greeks. - -It now appear’d that Cyrus, when he had exhorted the Greeks to withstand -the Shouts of the Barbarians, was mistaken; for they did not come on -with Shouts, but as silently and quietly as possible, and in an equal -and slow March. Here Cyrus, riding along the Ranks with Pigres the -Interpreter, and three or four others, called to Clearchus to bring his -Men over-against the Center of the Enemy, because the King was there: -And if we break that, says he, our Work is done. But Clearchus observing -their Center, and understanding from Cyrus that the King was beyond the -left Wing of the Greek Army (for the King was so much superior in number, -that, when he stood in the Center of his own Army, he was beyond the left -Wing of that of Cyrus) Clearchus, I say, would not however be prevail’d -on to withdraw his right from the River, fearing to be surrounded on both -sides: but answer’d Cyrus, He would take care that all should go well. - -Now the Barbarians came regularly on: and the Greek Army standing on the -same Ground, the Ranks were form’d, as the Men came up. In the mean time -Cyrus, riding at a small distance before the Ranks, survey’d both the -Enemy’s Army and his own: Whom Xenophon, an Athenian, observing from the -Greek Army, he rode up to him, and ask’d him, whether he had any thing -to command; Cyrus, stopping his Horse, order’d him to let them all know, -that the Sacrifices and Victims promis’d success. While he was saying -this, he heard a Noise running through the Ranks, and ask’d him what -Noise it was; Xenophon answer’d, that the Word was now giving for the -second time; Cyrus wonder’d who should give it, and ask’d him what the -Word was; the other replied, Jupiter the Preserver, and Victory: Which -Cyrus hearing, said, I accept it, let That be the Word. After he had said -this, he return’d to his Post. - -The two Armies being within three or four Stadia of each other, the -Greeks sung the Pæan, and advanced: As this Motion occasion’d a small -Fluctuation in the Line of Battle, those who were left behind, hasten’d -their march, and at once they gave a general Shout, as their Custom is -when they invoke the God of War, and all ran on. Some say they struck -their Shields with their Pikes to frighten the Enemy’s Horses. But the -Barbarians, before they came within the Reach of their Darts, turn’d -their Horses and fled, and the Greeks pursued them as fast as they could, -calling out to one another not to run, but to follow in their Ranks. Here -some of the Chariots were borne through their own People without their -Charioteers, others through the Greeks, some of whom seeing them coming, -divided; while others being amaz’d, like Spectators in the Hippodrome, -were taken unawares; but even these were reported to have received no -harm, neither was there any other Greek hurt in the Action, except one -upon the left Wing, who was said to have been wounded by an Arrow. - -Cyrus seeing the Greeks victorious on their side, and in pursuit of the -Enemy, rejoic’d, and was already worshipp’d as King by those about him; -however, he was not so far transported as to leave his Post, and join in -the Pursuit; but, keeping his six hundred Horse in a Body, he observ’d -the King’s Motions; well knowing that he was in the Center of the Persian -Army: for in all Barbarian Armies, the Generals ever place themselves in -the Center, looking upon that Post as the safest, on each side of which -their Strength is equally divided, and, if they have occasion to give -out any Orders, these are receiv’d in half the time by the Army. The -King therefore being at that time in the Center of his own Battle, was, -however, beyond the left Wing of Cyrus; and, when he saw none oppos’d him -in front, nor any Motion made to charge the Troops that were drawn up -before him, he wheel’d to the left, in order to surround their Army. Upon -this Cyrus, fearing he should get behind him, and cut off the Greeks, -advanc’d against the King, and charging with his six hundred Horse, broke -those who were drawn up before him, put the six thousand Men to flight, -and, as they say, killed with his own Hand Artagerses, their Commander. - -These being broken, the six hundred also belonging to Cyrus dispers’d -themselves in the Pursuit, very few being left about him, and those -almost all Persons who used to eat at his Table; being accompanied with -these, he discovered the King, and those about him, and, unable to -contain himself, immediately cried out, I see the Man; then ran furiously -at him, and, striking him on the Breast, wounded him through his Corslet, -as Ctesias the Physician says, who affirms that he cur’d the Wound. -While he was giving the Blow, somebody threw a Javelin at him with great -force, and wounded him under the Eye: and now the King and Cyrus engag’d -hand to hand, and those about them, in defence of each. In this Action -Ctesias (who was with the King) informs us how many fell on his side; on -the other, Cyrus himself was killed, and eight the most considerable of -his Friends lay dead upon him. When Artapates, who was in the greatest -Trust with him of any of his scepter’d Ministers, saw Cyrus fall, they -say, he leap’d from his Horse, and threw himself about him: some say, the -King order’d Artapates to be slain upon the Body of Cyrus; others, that, -drawing his Scimitar, he slew himself: for, he wore a golden Scimitar, -a Chain, Bracelets, and other Ornaments, which are worn by the most -considerable Persians; and was held in great esteem by Cyrus, both for -his Affection and Fidelity. - -When Cyrus was dead, his Head and right Hand were cut off upon the spot, -and the King, with his Men, in the Pursuit, broke into his Camp; while -those with Ariæus, no longer made a stand, but fled through their own -Camp to their former Post, which was said to be four Parasangs from the -Field of Battle. The King, with his Forces, among many other things, took -Cyrus’ Mistress, a Phocæan, who was said to be a Woman of great Sense -and Beauty. The other, a Milesian, who was the younger of the two, was -also taken by the King’s Troops, but escap’d naked to the Quarter of the -Greeks, who were left to guard the Baggage. These, forming themselves, -kill’d many of those who were plundering the Camp, and lost some of their -own Men; however, they did not fly, but sav’d the Milesian, with the Men -and Effects, and, in general, every thing else that was in their Quarter. -By this time the King and the Greeks were at the distance of about thirty -Stadia from one another, these pursuing the Enemy that were opposite to -them, as if they had gain’d a complete Victory; and the King’s Troops -plundering the Camp of the Greeks, as if they also had been every where -victorious. But, when the Greeks were inform’d, that the King, with his -Men, was among their Baggage, and the King, on his side, heard from -Tissaphernes, that the Greeks had put those before them to flight, and -were gone forward in the Pursuit, he then rallied his Forces, and put -them in order. On the other side, Clearchus consulted with Proxenus, who -was nearest to him, whether they should send a Detachment, or should all -march to relieve the Camp. - -In the mean time the King was observ’d to move forward again, and seem’d -resolved to fall upon their Rear; upon which the Greeks faced about, and -put themselves in a posture to march that way, and receive him. However, -the King did not advance that way; But, as before, he pass’d beyond -their left Wing, so now he led his Men back the same Way, taking along -with him those who had deserted to the Greeks during the Action, and -also Tissaphernes with his Forces: for Tissaphernes did not fly at the -first Onset, but penetrated with his Horse, where the Greek Targeteers -were posted, quite as far as the River: However, in breaking through, he -killed none of their Men, but the Greeks, dividing, wounded his People -both with their Swords and Darts. Episthenes of Amphipolis commanded the -Targeteers, and shewed great conduct upon this occasion. - -Tissaphernes, therefore, sensible of his Disadvantage, departed, then; -coming to the Camp of the Greeks, he found the King there, and reuniting -their Forces, they advanc’d. When they came opposite to the left of the -Greeks, these were afraid they should attack their Wing, and, by wheeling -to the right and left, annoy them on both sides; to avoid which, they -resolv’d to open that Wing, and cover the Rear with the River. While they -were consulting upon this, the King marched by them, and drew up his Army -opposite to theirs, in the same Order in which he first engag’d. When the -Greeks saw them draw near in Order of Battle, they again sung the Pæan, -and went on with much more Alacrity than before. However, the Barbarians -did not stay to receive them, but fled sooner than the first time: and -the Greeks pursued them to a Village. There they halted; for there was -an Eminence above the Village, upon which the King’s Forces fac’d about. -He had no Foot with him, but the Hill was cover’d with Horse in such a -manner, that it was not possible for the Greeks to see what was doing: -However, they said they saw the royal Ensign there, which was a golden -Eagle with its Wings extended, resting upon a Spear. - -When the Greeks advanc’d towards them, the Horse quitted the Hill, some -running one way, and some another: However, the Hill was clear’d of them -by degrees, and at last they all left it. Clearchus did not march up -the Hill with his Men, but, halting at the Foot of it, sent Lycius the -Syracusan, and another, with Orders to reconnoitre the place, and make -their Report; Lycius rode up the Hill, and, having view’d it, brought -Word that the Enemy fled in all haste. While these things were doing, it -grew near Sunset. Here the Greeks halted, and lying under their Arms, -rested themselves. In the mean time they wonder’d that neither Cyrus -appear’d any where, nor any one from him; for they did not know he was -dead; but imagin’d, that he was either led away by the Pursuit, or had -rode forward to possess himself of some Post. Hereupon they consulted -among themselves, whether they should stay where they were, and send for -their Baggage, or return to their Camp. At last they resolv’d to return: -And arriv’d at their Tents about Supper-time; And this was the end of -that Day. There they found the greatest part of their Baggage plunder’d, -with all the Provisions, and also the Carriages full of Flour and Wine, -which Cyrus had prepar’d, in order to distribute them among the Greeks, -if at any time his Army should labour under the want of Necessaries. It -was said these Carriages amounted to four hundred: which were then all -rifled by the King’s Troops, so that the greatest part of the Greeks had -no Supper, neither had they eaten any Dinner; for, before the Army could -halt in order to dine, the King appear’d. And in this Manner they passed -the Night.[c] - -[Illustration: GREEK SEALS] - - -THE RETREAT - -When the battle of Cunaxa was over, the Greeks, whose camp meanwhile -had been pillaged, rejected the Persian king’s demand for unconditional -surrender, and, although their numbers by this time were reduced to ten -thousand, determined to fight their way through to Asia Minor, a task -which involved marching through a hostile country for a distance which -measured 1850 miles by the route they had taken from Ephesus to Cunaxa. - -Xenophon, one of their leaders, has made this march of the Greeks, -which is commonly known as the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, the subject -of a separate work. It is one of the most famous military exploits of -antiquity and sets the superiority of Greece in the most brilliant light, -for the bold and successful enterprise of these ten thousand Greeks does -not redound to their glory alone. It is the common possession of their -age, their nation, and the culture which it had attained; and marks in -the most striking fashion the contrast of the relative values of Persian -and Greek civilisation and political institutions. A handful of Greeks -bid splendid defiance to the sovereign of the enormous Persian empire, to -the sheer bulk of his army, and to all the intrigues of his satraps. It -was the victory of Greek subtlety and skill over the rigid and mechanical -organisation of Persia, of Greek science over the intellectual poverty of -the East, of Greek tactics over Persian confusion; finally, of a genuine -sense of honour and patriotic pride over craft, cowardice, and servility. - -The route which the Ten Thousand took was not the same by which they had -marched to Cunaxa; it lay through Mesopotamia, Media, Armenia, and along -the southern shore of the Black Sea to Thrace. The valiant Greeks did not -know their way through these countries; they had neither maps nor any -trustworthy guide; they had to march through desert and wilderness, to -cross mountains and ravines, to pass through barbarous tribes and whole -provinces in arms; nevertheless they succeeded in reaching the frontier -of their own land with comparatively slight loss. - -Soon after they had begun their march, Artaxerxes concluded a treaty with -them through the mediation of the satrap Tissaphernes, who had succeeded -to the satrapy of Cyrus, in virtue of which they were to be allowed -to proceed home undisturbed, escorted by the latter at the head of a -Persian army, and supplied with the requisite provisions by the way. But -Tissaphernes kept the Greeks waiting for more than twenty days before -he returned from the king’s camp, and when at length he did return and -set forth with them on their way through Media, he showed himself of so -suspicious a temper and fostered such constant and increasing friction -between the Greek troops and his own, that at last Clearchus, the Greek -commander, begged for an interview with the satrap. This was granted, and -Clearchus, confiding in the honour of the hostile leader, went to the -Persian camp accompanied by all the twenty-four officers who composed -his military council. As soon as they reached it they were treacherously -taken prisoners and their guard cut down. They were presently carried off -to the royal capital and there put to death together. - -The Persians hoped to throw the Greeks into confusion by this treacherous -blow, and so vanquish them without much trouble; but they were not a -little amazed when (in striking contrast to the spirit and organisation -of their own army) a new body of generals and new subordinate officers -sprang immediately and, as it were, spontaneously into being from the -ranks of the Greek privates and subalterns. For in the Greek army fresh -appointments to all posts were made every year; there was no regular -promotion and no officer held permanent rank; on the contrary, the man -who one year occupied the position of an officer frequently served as a -private soldier the next. By this means almost every private soldier was -qualified to step into the place of an officer, and it was an easy matter -to appoint fresh leaders to the large and small divisions of the army. -Xenophon, who had hitherto accompanied the march, neither in the capacity -of private nor officer, but merely as a friend and comrade of one of the -generals, was the first after the treacherous act of Tissaphernes to -urge his countrymen not to yield to the Persian demand for submission, -but to fight their way sword in hand through the enemy’s country. Only -one of the colonels and captains who gathered about him demurred to his -proposal. This aroused the suspicions of the rest, and, marking him -more narrowly, they perceived by his pierced ears that he was by birth -no Greek but a Persian. He was promptly expelled, and Xenophon and four -others were appointed to succeed the generals captured by the Persians. - -From that day forward Xenophon was the soul of the Greek army, which owed -its ultimate deliverance to him and in whom it rightly reposed absolute -confidence. He was prudent enough not to command in his own name, but -in that of Chirisophus of Sparta, though the latter was wholly devoid -of the capacity and knowledge requisite for leading his countrymen home -through the heart of the Persian empire. Xenophon’s motive in this was, -on the one hand, to avoid making himself obnoxious to the Spartans, who -had become masters of Greece by the Peloponnesian War, and on the other, -to keep his own people under stricter discipline through the terror of a -Spartan leader. Directed by an admirable tactical skill, which was equal -to every fresh demand of place or circumstance, the Greeks continued -their march, perpetually pursued and harassed by the Persians, to the -rugged and inhospitable mountain country about the Upper Tigris. Here -they came in contact with the fierce and warlike tribe of the Carduchi, -who, like the Kurds of to-day who may be their descendants, had never -been conquered, and who rejected all overtures for permission to pass -through their territory in peace. The Persians, not daring to venture -farther, now gave up the pursuit of the Ten Thousand, and the latter -marched into the rugged and precipitous country of the Carduchi, and -in spite of the constant attacks of the inhabitants succeeded by the -superiority of their military discipline and experience in reaching the -other side of the mountain range and the frontiers of Armenia in seven -days. This march through the country of the Carduchi was the most arduous -part of their journey and cost them more loss and suffering than all the -attacks of the Persian army.[e] We turn again to the vivid description in -Xenophon’s own words as Englished by Spelman. - - -XENOPHON’S PICTURE OF THE HARDSHIPS - -In the country of the Taochians, their Provisions began to fail them: -For the Taochians inhabited Fastnesses, into which they had convey’d -all their Provisions. At last the army arriv’d at a strong Place, which -had neither City nor Houses upon it, but where great Numbers of Men -and Women with their Cattle were assembled. This Place Chirisophus -order’d to be attack’d the Moment he came before it, and, when the first -Company suffer’d another went up, and then another; for the Place being -surrounded with Precipices, they could not attack it on all Sides at -once. When Xenophon came up with the Rear-Guard, the Targeteers and -heavy-arm’d Men, Chirisophus said to him, “You come very seasonably, for -this Place must be taken, otherwise the Army will be starved.” - -Upon this they call’d a Council of War, and Xenophon demanding, what -could hinder them from carrying the Place; Chirisophus answer’d, “there -is no other Access to it but This, and, when any of our Men attempt to -gain it, they roll down Stones from the impending Rock, and those they -light upon are treated as you see”; pointing at the same time to some of -the Men, whose Legs and Ribs were broken. “But,” says Xenophon, “when -they have consum’d all the Stones they have, what can hinder us then from -going up? For I can see nothing to oppose us, but a few Men, and of these -not above two or three that are arm’d. The Space, you see, through which -we must pass expos’d to these Stones, is about one hundred and fifty -Feet in Length, of which that of one hundred Feet is cover’d with large -Pines, growing in Groups, against which, if our Men place themselves, -what can they suffer, either from the Stones that are thrown, or rolled -down by the Enemy? The remaining Part of this Space is not above fifty -Feet, which, when the Stones cease, we must dispatch with all possible -Expedition.” “But,” says Chirisophus, “the Moment we offer to go to the -Place that is cover’d with the Trees, they will shower down Stones upon -us.” “That,” replies Xenophon, “is the very Thing we want, for by this -Means they will be consum’d the sooner. However,” continues he, “let us, -if we can, advance to that Place, from whence we may have but a little -Way to run, and from whence we may also, if we see convenient, retreat -with Ease.” - -Upon this, Chirisophus and Xenophon, with Callimachus of Parrhasia, one -of the Captains, advanced (for the last had the command that Day of the -Captains in the Rear), all the rest of the Officers standing out of -Danger. Then about seventy of the Men advanc’d under the Trees, not in -a Body, but one by one, each sheltering himself as well as he could: -While Agasias the Stymphalian and Aristonymus of Methydria, who were also -Captains belonging to the Rear, with some others, stood behind, without -the Trees, for it was not safe for more than one Company to be there. -Upon this Occasion Callimachus made Use of the following Stratagem. He -advanc’d two or three Paces from the Tree under which he stood; but, as -soon as the Stones began to fly, he quickly retir’d, and, upon every -Excursion, more than ten Cart-Loads of Stones were consum’d. When -Agasias saw what Callimachus was doing, and that the Eyes of the whole -Army were upon him, fearing lest he should be the first Man who enter’d -the Place, he, without giving any Notice to Aristonymus, who stood next -to him, or to Eurylochus, of Lusia, both of whom were his friends, or to -any other Person, advanc’d alone, with a Design to get before the rest. -When Callimachus saw him passing by, he laid hold of the Border of his -Shield. In the mean Time Aristonymus, and, after him, Eurylochus ran by -them both: For all these were Rivals in Glory, and in constant Emulation -of each other. And, by contending thus, they took the Place: For, the -Moment one of them had gain’d the Ascent, there were no more Stones -thrown from above. - -And here followed a dreadful Spectacle indeed; for the Women first -threw their Children down the Precipice, and then themselves. Then Men -did the same. And here Æneas the Stymphalian, a Captain, seeing one of -the Barbarians, who was richly dress’d, running with a Design to throw -himself down, caught hold of him, and the other drawing him after, they -both fell down the Precipice together, and were dashed to Pieces. Thus we -made very few Prisoners, but took a considerable Quantity of Oxen, Asses, -and Sheep. - -From thence the Greeks advanc’d, through the Country of the Chalybians, -and, in seven Marches, made fifty Parasangs. These being the most -valiant People they met with in all their March, they came to a close -engagement with the Greeks. They had linen Corslets that reach’d below -their Navel, and, instead of Tassels, thick Cords twisted. They had also -Greaves and Helmets, and at their Girdle a short Faulchion, like those -of the Lacedæmonians, with which they cut the Throats of those they -over-power’d, and afterwards, cutting off their Heads, carried them away -in Triumph. It was their Custom to sing and dance, whenever they thought -the Enemy saw them. They had Pikes fifteen Cubits in length, with only -one Point. They staid in their Cities till the Greeks march’d past them, -and then followed harassing them perpetually. After that they retir’d -to their strong Holds, into which they had conveyed their Provisions: -So that the Greeks could supply themselves with nothing out of their -Country, but liv’d upon the Cattle they had taken from the Taochians. - -They now came to the River Harpasus, which was four hundred Feet broad. -And from thence advanc’d through the Country of the Scythinians, and, in -four Days’ March, made twenty Parasangs, passing through a Plain into -some Villages; in which they staid three Days, and made their Provisions. -From this Place they made, in four Days’ March, twenty Parasangs, to a -large and rich City well inhabited: It was called Gymnias. The Governour -of this Country sent a Person to the Greeks, to conduct them through -the Territories of his Enemies. This Guide, coming to the Army, said he -would undertake, in five Days, to carry them to a Place, from whence they -should see the Sea. If not, he consented to be put to death. And, when -he had conducted them into the Territories belonging to his Enemies, -he desired them to lay waste the Country with Fire and Sword. By which -it was evident that he came with this View, and not from any Good-will -he bore to the Greeks. The fifth Day they arriv’d at the holy Mountain -called Theches. As soon as the Men, who were in the Vanguard, ascended -the Mountain, and saw the Sea, they gave a great Shout, which, when -Xenophon and those in the Rear, heard, they concluded that some other -Enemies attack’d them in Front, for the People belonging to the Country -they had burn’d, follow’d their Rear, some of whom those who had Charge -of it, had killed, and taken others Prisoners in an Ambuscade. They had -also taken twenty Bucklers made of raw Ox-hides with the hair on. - -The Noise still increasing as they came nearer, and the Men, as fast as -they came up, running to those who still continued Shouting, their Cries -swelled with their Numbers, so that Xenophon, thinking something more -than ordinary had happen’d, mounted on Horse-back, and, taking with him -Lycius and his Horse, rode up to their Assistance: And presently they -heard the Soldiers calling out “The Sea! The Sea!” and cheering one -another. At this they all set a running, the Rear-guard as well as the -rest, and the Beasts of Burden, and Horses were driven forward. When they -were all come up to the Top of the Mountain, they embraced one another, -and also their Generals and Captains with Tears in their Eyes. And -Immediately the Men, by whose Order it is not known, bringing together -a great many Stones, made a large Mount, upon which they plac’d a great -Quantity of Shields made of raw Ox-hides, Staves, and Bucklers taken from -the Enemy. The Guide himself cut the Bucklers in Pieces, and exhorted the -rest to do the same. After this the Greeks sent back their Guide, giving -him Presents out of the publick Stock, these were a Horse, a silver Cup, -a Persian Dress, and ten Darics. But, above all Things the Guide desir’d -the Soldiers to give him some of their Rings, many of which they gave -him. Having therefore shewn them a Village, where they were to Quarter, -and the Road that led to the Macronians, when the Evening came on, he -departed, setting out on his Return that Night.[c] - - -END OF THE MARCH - -[Sidenote: [401-399 B.C.]] - -At length, four months after the battle of Cunaxa, they entered Trapezus, -the first Greek city they came to, and celebrated their safe arrival -among their kindred with sacrifices and games. From this point they -continued their retreat, some by sea and some by land. But when the air -of Greece breathed upon them once more and the fear of the barbarians was -overpast, discord and greed crept in amongst them, and they proved such -troublesome guests that even the inhabitants of the Greek colonies along -the southern shore of the Black Sea tried to get rid of them as speedily -as possible. Making many raids in search of booty and suffering no small -loss on the way, they came through Bithynia to Byzantium, and thence -proceeded to the interior of Thrace, where Seuthes, who then ruled the -country, engaged the rude and bellicose adventurers into whom the remnant -of the Ten Thousand had degenerated. For some months they assisted him to -extend his sovereignty over various Thracian tribes. Finally they were -enlisted by the Spartans, who were then at war with the Persian empire, -and so went back to Asia. - -The remnant of the whole force amounted to six thousand men, the distance -they had traversed from the battle-field of Cunaxa to about the middle -of the south coast of the Black Sea to not less than two thousand miles. -This they had done in eight months. But the whole march, from Ephesus -to Cunaxa and thence to this region on the Black Sea, occupied fifteen -months (from February, 401, to the beginning of June, 400 B.C.), and the -march from the latter place to the spot where they joined the Spartan -army in Asia Minor (March, 399 B.C.) took nine months. - -Xenophon, who had rendered the most conspicuous service on this memorable -march, returned to Greece after he had led the remnant of the Ten -Thousand to the Spartan army in Asia Minor. Some years later he took -part in the expedition against the Persians conducted by his friend the -Spartan king, Agesilaus, and after the return of the latter fought at the -battle of Coronea. While he was in Asia with Agesilaus he was banished -from his native city by a vote of the people, because he had taken part -in a war against the Persian king, who was at that time an ally of -Athens, and because his aristocratic opinions and his preference for the -political system of Sparta had earned him the hatred of the demagogues -and the jealousy of the populace. After the battle of Coronea he -accompanied Agesilaus to Sparta and remained there for a while, and then -settled on a country estate in the neighbourhood of Olympia, which he -had either received as a gift from the Spartans or bought with the great -wealth he had amassed in Asia. Here and in Corinth he wrote some part -of his works. The sentence of banishment from Athens was soon repealed, -but it does not seem probable that he ever returned to his native city, -though at a later time he induced his son Gryllus to take part in one of -the military expeditions of the Athenians. Gryllus fell at the battle of -Mantinea, and the story goes that the news of his death was brought to -his aged father as he was standing by an altar, sacrificing to the gods. -Xenophon was crowned with a garland, in accordance with the Greek custom -of wearing wreaths upon festal occasions. He immediately took it from his -head, but received the news of his son’s death with the utmost composure, -saying that he knew he had only begotten a mortal. When he was told -that Gryllus had fought with great valour, he put the garland on again, -finished his sacrifice, and added to it a prayer in which he gave thanks -to the gods for his son’s worthiness. Xenophon died at Corinth in (355 -B.C.) the ninetieth year of his age.[e] - - -THE MEANING OF XENOPHON’S FEAT - -[Sidenote: [399 B.C.]] - -The world has never ceased to thrill with a sympathetic memory of that -glad cry of Xenophon’s Ten Thousand, “_Thalatta! Thalatta!_” (The sea! -The sea!) It has a kinship with the feelings of the foot-sore and -heart-sore children of Israel reaching the edge of the Promised Land. It -stands out from above the usual crises of history as a temple dome above -a town. It takes its place among such peaks of emotion as the view that -Attila took of Rome, and the crusaders of the minarets of Jerusalem, the -cry of “Land ho!” on the ships of Columbus. It finds a strangely modern -parallel in the first ocean-glimpse of the American soldiers in Sherman’s -march to the sea. - -Like all these picturesque incidents, it meant more than a merely -dramatic moment to the history of mankind. It was a prelude in Greek -history to the triumph of Alexander. It showed to the Greeks that their -ambitions need not be confined to the small parishes they had dwelt in. -It revealed the fact that the great realm of the Persian monarch, whom -the Greeks always referred to as “The King,” was like Dead Sea fruit: -brilliant in its shell, and hollow corruption at core. The only impetus -the Greeks had felt towards a Panhellenic spirit had been inspired by the -imminence of the Persian danger. They had with small bands of patriots -dispersed the droves of oriental subjects brought against them, and yet -they could not have dreamed that their success in an offensive war would -be equal to the glory of the defensive struggle. - -But here was a lessening body of ten thousand Greeks, bound together -by no common sentiment except a desire for money--which they did not -get. And this comparative handful of mercenaries had ransacked the -very innermost recesses of the Persian empire, and had never found an -army great enough or brave enough to withstand it in open assault. The -conquest of such an empire seemed to be within the grasp of any Greek -commander. The first to attempt it was a second-rate Spartan king, -Agesilaus, who failed. And the Persian empire resisted attack for five -generations more, till the new blood of Macedonia and the unlimited -ambitions of Alexander made the attempt. Until he came, the blows of the -others were only so much callisthenics. When he came he was not loath to -acknowledge, on the eve of the battle of Issus, the inspiration he owed -to the feat of the Ten Thousand. - -Meanwhile, without reference to its remote bearings, the anabasis and -catabasis of Xenophon’s army stand forth glorious in themselves. He -himself sums up the achievement baldly at the conclusion of his work. - -[Sidenote: [401-399 B.C.]] - -“The governors of The King’s country, as much of it as we went through, -were these: of Lydia, Artemas; of Phrygia, Artacamas; of Lycaonia and -Cappadocia, Mithridates; of Cilicia, Syennesis; of Phœnicia and Arabia, -Dernes; of Syria and Assyria, Belesys; of Babylon, Rhoparas; of Media, -Arbaces; of the Phasiani and Hesperitæ, Tiribazus; the Carduchi, the -Chalybes, the Chaldeans, the Macrones, the Colchians, the Mosynœci, -the Cœtæ, and the Tibareni, were independent nations; of Paphlagonia, -Corylas; of the Bithynians, Pharnabazus; and of the Thracians in Europe, -Seuthes. - -“The computation of the whole journey, the anabasis and catabasis, was -215 days’ march, 1155 parasangs, 34,650 stadia. The length of time -occupied in the anabasis and catabasis was one year and three months.” - -Reckoning the parasang at three and two-fifths miles, the total distance -covered would therefore be 3927 miles in the course of fifteen months. -The manuscripts do not all agree with regard to the numbers, but the -total march may be accepted as nearly four thousand miles, through a -country bristling with hostility and treachery, a country unmapped and -unknown to the Greeks. This exploit of what might well be termed a pack -of desperadoes looms high in history, both as an absolute feat of bravado -and as a finger-post for Grecian ambition.[a] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[5] [A parasang was equal to about 3⅖ English miles.] - -[6] [A daric, named after Darius, was a gold coin of about the weight of -a sovereign, or five dollars. An Attic talent was valued at about £200 or -$1000.] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: GREEK MEDAL] - - - - -CHAPTER XLI. THE SPARTAN SUPREMACY - - -There is an inevitable bias in the minds of most people towards the -brilliant and refined ideals of Athens as opposed to the obstinate -and barren creed of the Spartans. We have heard, therefore, more of -the Athenian side than of the Spartan in their wars together. As we -approach a period of Spartan glory, it is well to make a quick review and -summary of her ideals and achievements down to this period, when, as the -Spartophile Müller notes, Sparta won her advancement by discarding her -venerable creeds. What follows must be read with the knowledge that it is -from the pen of a Spartan partisan.[a] - -Sparta, by the conquest of Messenia and Tegea, had obtained the first -rank in the Peloponnese, which character she confirmed by the expulsion -of the tyrants, and the overthrow of Argos. From about the year 580 B.C. -she acted as the recognised commander, not only of the Peloponnese, but -of the whole Greek name. The confederacy itself, however, was formed -by the inhabitants of that peninsula alone, on fixed and regular laws; -whereas the other Greeks only annexed themselves to it temporarily. The -order of precedence observed by the members of this league may be taken -from the inscription on the footstool of the statue of Jupiter, which was -dedicated at Olympia after the Persian War, the Ionians, who were only -allied for a time, being omitted. It is as follows: Lacedæmon, Corinth, -Sicyon, Ægina, Megara, Epidaurus, Tegea, Orchomenos, Phlius, Trœzen, -Hermione, Tiryns, Mycenæ, Lepreum, and Elis; which state was contented -with the last place, on account of the small share which it had taken in -the war. - -The defenders of the isthmus are enumerated as follows: Lacedæmonians, -Arcadians, Eleans, Corinthians, Sicyonians, Epidaurians, Phliasians, -Trœzenians, and Hermionians, nearly agreeing with the other list, only -that the Arcadians, having been present with their whole force, and also -the Eleans, occupy an earlier place; and the Megarians and Æginetans are -omitted, as having had no share in the defence. This regular order of -precedence is alone a proof of a firm union. The Tegeatæ, since they had -joined the side of Lacedæmon, enjoyed several privileges, and especially -the place of honour at the left wing of the allied army. Argos remained -excluded from the nations of the Peloponnesus, as it never would submit -to the command of Sparta; the Achæans, indifferent to external affairs, -only joined themselves momentarily to the alliance: but the Mantineans, -though latterly they followed the policy of Argos, were long attached to -the Peloponnesian league; for at the end of the Persian War they sent an -army, which arrived too late for the battle of Platæa: having before, -together with the other Arcadians, helped to defend the isthmus; they had -also been engaged in the first days of the action at Thermopylæ, and -they were at this time still the faithful allies of the Lacedæmonians. -Their subsequent defection from Sparta may be attributed partly to their -endeavours to obtain the dominion of Parrhasia, which was protected by -Lacedæmon, to their hostility with Tegea, which remained true to Sparta -after the great war with Arcadia, which began about 470 B.C., and to -the strengthening of their city, and the establishment of a democratic -government, through the influence of Argos. - -[Sidenote: [480-432 B.C.]] - -The supremacy of Sparta was exercised in the expeditions of the whole -confederacy, and in transactions of the same nature. In the first, the -Spartan king--after it had been thought proper never to send out two -together--was commander-in-chief, in whose powers there were many remains -of the authority of the ancient Homeric princes. Occasionally, however, -Sparta was compelled to give up her privilege to other commanders, -especially at sea, as, for instance, the fleet at Salamis to Eurybiades. -When any expedition was contemplated, the Spartans sent round to the -confederate states, to desire them to have men and stores in readiness. -The highest amount which each state could be called on to supply was -fixed once for all, and it was only on each particular occasion to be -determined what part of that was required. In like manner the supplies -in money and stores were regularly appointed; so that an army, with all -its equipment, could be collected by a simple summons. But agricultural -labour, festivals, and the natural slowness of the Doric race, often very -much retarded the assembling of this army. The contributions, chiefly -perhaps voluntary, both of states and individuals, were registered on -stone: and there is still extant an inscription, found at Tegea, in which -the war-supplies of the Ephesians, Melians, etc., in money and in corn, -are recorded. But the Lacedæmonians never exacted from the Peloponnesian -confederacy a regular annual contribution, independent of circumstances; -which would have been, in fact, a tribute: a measure of this kind being -once proposed to King Archidamus, he answers, “that war did not consume -according to rule.” - -Pericles, however, properly considers it as a disadvantage to the -Peloponnesians that they had no paid troops, and that they had amassed -no treasure. The object of an expedition was publicly declared: -occasionally, however, when secrecy was required, it was known neither -to the states nor to their army. The single allied states, if necessity -demanded it, could also immediately summon the army of the others; but it -is not clear to what extent this call was binding upon them. The Spartan -military constitution, which we will explain hereafter, extended to the -whole allied army; but it was doubtless variously combined with the -tactics of the several nations. To the council of war, which, moreover, -only debated, and did not decide, the Spartan king summoned the leaders -of the several states, together with other commanders, and generally the -most distinguished persons in the army. - -According to the constitution of the Peloponnesian league, every common -action, such as a declaration of war, or the conclusion of a peace or -treaty, was agreed on at a congress of the confederates. But, as there -was no regular assembly of this kind, the several states sent envoys -(ἄγγελοι), like the deputies (πρόβουλοι), of the Ionians, who generally -remained together only for a short time. All the members had legally -equal votes (ἰσόψηφοι); and the majority sometimes decided against a -strong opposition; Sparta was often outvoted, Corinth being at all times -willing to raise an opposition. We have, however, little information -respecting the exact state of the confederacy; it is probable, from the -aristocratic feelings of the Peloponnesians, that, upon the whole, -authority had more weight than numbers; and for great undertakings, such -as the Peloponnesian War, the assent of the chief state was necessary, in -addition to the agreement of the other confederates. When the congress -was summoned to Sparta, the envoys often treated with a public assembly -of the Spartans. - -But upon the internal affairs, laws, and institutions of the allied -states, the confederacy had legally no influence. It was a fundamental -law that every state should, according to its ancient customs, be -independent and supreme; and it is much to the credit of Sparta, that, -so long as the league was in existence, she never, not even when a -favourable opportunity offered, deprived any Peloponnesian state of this -independence. Nor were disputes between individual states brought before -the congress of the allies, which, on account of the preponderance of -Sparta, would have endangered their liberty; but they were commonly -either referred to the Delphian oracle, or to arbitrators chosen by both -states. For disputes between citizens of different states there was an -entirely free and equal intercourse of justice. The jurisdiction of the -states was also absolutely exempt from foreign interference. These are -the chief features of the constitution of the Peloponnesian confederacy; -the only one which in the flourishing times of Greece combined extensive -powers with justice, and a respect for the independence of its weaker -members. - -[Sidenote: [580-479 B.C.]] - -Sparta had not become the head of this league by agreement, and still -less by usurpation; but by tacit acknowledgment she was the leader, -not only of this, but of the whole of Greece; and she acted as such in -all foreign relations from about the year 580 B.C. Her alliance was -courted by Crœsus: and the Ionians, when pressed by Cyrus, had recourse -to the Spartans, who, with an amusing ignorance of the state of affairs -beyond the sea, thought to terrify the king of Persia by the threat -of hostilities. It is a remarkable fact, that there were at that time -Scythian envoys in Sparta, with whom a great plan of operations against -Persia is said to have been concerted. In the year 520 B.C. the Platæans -put themselves under the protection of Cleomenes, who referred them -to Athens; a herald from Sparta drove the Alcmæonidæ from their city: -afterwards Aristagoras sought from the protector of Greece aid against -the national enemy: and when the Æginetans gave the Persians earth and -water, the Athenians accused them of treachery before the Spartans: and -lastly, during the Persian War, Greece found in the high character of -that state the only means of effecting the union so necessary for her -safety and success. - -In this war a new confederacy was formed, which was extended beyond the -Peloponnese; the community of danger and of victory having, besides a -momentary combination, also produced a union destined for some duration. -It was the assembly of this league--a fixed congress at Corinth during, -and at Sparta after, the war--that settled the internal differences of -Greece, that invited Argos, Corcyra, and Gelo to join the league, and -afterwards called upon Themistocles to answer for his proceedings. So -much it did for the present emergency. But at the same time Pausanias, -the regent of Sparta, after the great victory of Platæa, prevailed upon -the allies to conclude a further treaty. Under the auspices of the -gods of the confederacy, particularly of the Eleutherian (or Grecian) -Jupiter, they pledged themselves mutually to maintain the independence of -all states, and to many other conditions, of which the memory has been -lost. To the Platæans in particular security from danger was promised. -The Ionians also, after the battle of Mycale, were received into this -confederacy. - -The splendid victories over the Persians had for some time taken Sparta, -which was fitted for a quiet and passive existence, out of her natural -sphere; and her king, Pausanias, had wished to betray his country for -the glitter of an Asiatic prince. But this state soon perceived her true -interest, and sent no more commanders to Asia, “that her generals might -not be made worse”: she likewise wished to avoid any further war with -the Persians, thinking that Athens was better fitted to carry it on than -herself. If the speech were now extant in which Hetoëmaridas the Heraclid -proved to the councillors that it was not expedient for Sparta to aim at -the mastery of the sea, we should doubtless possess a profound view, on -the Spartan side, of those things which we are now accustomed to look on -with Athenian eyes. Nor is it true that the supremacy over the Greeks -was in fact transferred at all from Sparta to Athens, if we consider -the matter as Sparta considered it, however great the influence of this -change may have been on the power of Athens. But Sparta continued to -hold its pre-eminence in the Peloponnese, and most of the nations of the -mother-country joined themselves to her: while none but the Greeks of -Asia Minor and the islands, who had previously been subjects of Persia, -and were then only partially liberated, perhaps too much despised by -Sparta, put themselves under the command of Athens. But the complete -liberation of Asia Minor from the Persian yoke, which has been considered -one of the chief exploits of Athens, was in fact never effected. The -Athenian empire did not prevent the vassals and subjects of the king of -Persia from ruling over the Greeks of Asia Minor, even down to the very -coast. We need not go any further to prove the entire falsehood of the -account commonly given by the panegyrical rhetoricians of Athens. - -[Illustration: GREEK SHOVELS - -(In the British Museum)] - -[Sidenote: [479-465 B.C.]] - -The Peloponnese took the less concern in these proceedings, as internal -differences had arisen from some unknown cause, which led to an open -war between Sparta and Arcadia. We only know that, between the battle -of Platæa (in which Tegea, as also later still, showed great fidelity -towards Sparta) and the war with the Helots (_i.e._ between 479 and -465 B.C.), the Lacedæmonians fought two great battles, the one against -the Tegeatæ and Argives at Tegea, the other against all the Arcadians, -with the exception of the Mantineans, at Dipæa (ἐν Διπαιεῦοιν), in the -Mænalian territory. Tisamenus, an Elean, of the family of the Iamidæ, was -in both battles in the Spartan army; and in both Sparta was victorious. - -[Sidenote: [465-451 B.C.]] - -This war had not been brought to a termination, when, in the year 465 -B.C., a tremendous earthquake destroyed Sparta, and a sudden ruin -threatened to overwhelm the chief state of Greece. For, in the hope of -utterly annihilating their rulers, many helots revolted, and the war was -called the Third Messenian War. Upon this the Lacedæmonians, foreseeing -a tedious siege, called in the aid of their allies; and this call was -answered among others by the Athenians; the Spartans, however, dismissed -them, as we have seen, before the fortress was taken. - -Immediately after the dismission of the Athenians from Ithome, the -injured people of Athens annulled the alliance with Sparta, which had -subsisted since the Persian War. Then followed the war with the maritime -towns of Argolis, in which Athens, after many reverses, at length -succeeded in destroying the fleet of Ægina, and subjugating that island -(457 B.C.). The inactivity of Sparta during these astonishing successes -of her enemy (for when she concluded the armistice with Athens she must -have partly foreseen its consequences) seems to prove that she was -entirely occupied with the final capture of Ithome, and the settlement of -her interests in Arcadia. - -The five years’ truce in 451 B.C. was only an armistice between Athens -and the Peloponnesian confederacy, which left Bœotia to shake off the -Athenian yoke by her own exertions. At the end of these five years Megara -revolted from the Athenians, and in consequence an invasion of Attica -by the Peloponnesians took place, which, though it did not produce any -immediate result, was soon followed by the Thirty Years’ Truce, in which -Athens ceded her conquests in Megaris and the Peloponnese, and on the -mainland returned within her ancient boundaries. - -If now we consider the events which have been briefly traced it will be -perceived, that the principle on which the Lacedæmonians constantly acted -was one of self-defence, of restoring what had been lost, or preserving -what was threatened with danger; whereas the Athenians were always aiming -at attack or conquest, or the change of existing institutions. While the -Spartans during this period, even after the greatest victories, did not -conquer a foot of land, subjugate one independent state, or destroy one -existing institution; the Athenians, for a longer or for a shorter time, -reduced large tracts of country under their dominion, extended their -alliance (as it was called) on all sides, and respected no connection -when it came in conflict with their plans of empire. - -But the astonishing energy of the Athenians, which from one point kept -the whole of Greece in constant vibration, almost paralysed Sparta; the -natural slowness of that state became more and more apparent: which -having been, as it were, violently transplanted into a strange region, -only began by degrees to comprehend the policy of Athens. It is manifest -that the maxims of the Athenian policy were directly at variance with the -general feeling of justice entertained by the Greeks, and especially to -the respect for affinity of blood; and this fundamental difference was -the true cause of the Peloponnesian War. In the first place then, Dorians -were opposed to Ionians; and hence in the well-known oracle it was -called the Doric War. It was a union of the free Greeks against the evil -ambition of one state: of land forces against sea forces: the fleet of -the Peloponnesians was at the beginning of the war very inconsiderable. -Hence it was some time before the belligerent parties even so much as -encountered one another; the land was the means of communication for one -party, the sea for the other: hence the states friendly to Athens were -immediately compelled to build Long Walls for the purpose of connecting -the chief city with the sea, and isolating it from the land. Large bodies -of men practised in war fought against wealth: the Peloponnesians -carried on the war with natives; whereas Athens manned her fleet--the -basis of her power--chiefly with foreign seamen; so that the Corinthians -said justly that the power of Athens was rather purchased than native. -It was the main principle of Pericles’ policy, and it is also adopted by -Thucydides in the famous introduction to his _History_, that it is not -the country and people, but moveable and personal property in the proper -sense of the word, which make states great and powerful. The war meant -the maintenance of ancient custom as opposed to the desire for novelty: -the former was the chief feature of the Doric, the latter of the Ionic -race. The Dorians wished to preserve their ancient dignity and power, as -well as their customs and religious feelings: the Ionians were commonly -in pursuit of something new. It was a union of nations and tribes against -one arbitrarily formed: aristocracy was pitted against democracy: -this difference was manifested in the first half of the war by Athens -changing, while Sparta only restored governments; for in this instance -also the power of Sparta was in strictness only employed in upholding -ancient establishments, as an aristocracy may indeed be overthrown, but -cannot be formed in a moment. - -[Illustration: GRECIAN TERRA-COTTA STATUETTE - -(In the British Museum)] - -These obvious points of difference are sufficient to substantiate the -result which we wish to arrive at. The “honesty and openness” of the -Doric character, the noble simplicity of the ancient times of Greece, -soon disappeared in this tumultuous age. Sparta therefore and the -Peloponnesians emerge from the contest, altered, and as it were reversed; -and even before its termination appear in a character of which they had -before probably contained only the first seeds. - -[Sidenote: [460-405 B.C.]] - -But in the second half of the war, when the Spartans gave up their great -armaments by land, and began to equip fleets with hired seamen; when -they had learnt to consider money as the chief instrument of warfare, -and begged it at the court of Persia; when they sought less to protect -the states joined to them by affinity and alliance, than to dissolve -the Athenian confederacy; when they began to secure conquered states -by harmosts of their own, and by oligarchs forced upon the people, and -found that the secret management of the political clubs was more to their -interest than open negotiation with the government; we see developed on -the one hand an energy and address, which was first manifested in the -enterprises of the great Brasidas, and on the other a worldly policy, as -was shown in Gylippus, and afterwards more strongly in Lysander; when the -descendants of Hercules found it advisable to exchange the lion’s for the -fox’s skin. And since the enterprises conducted in the spirit of earlier -times either wholly failed or else remained fruitless, this new system, -though the state had inwardly declined, brought with it, by the mockery -of fate, external fame and victory.[b] - -Whatever nobility of creed the Sparta-loving Müller has, as above, -claimed for Sparta up to this time, it is certain that the sudden -accession of vast and unforeseen power changed her to a mood in which, -as Bury says, “she cynically set aside her high moral professions and -yielded to a lust for oppression.” Grote was no lover of Sparta and yet -he substantiates well his accusations against her.[a] - - -GROTE’S COMPARISON OF SPARTAN AND ATHENIAN RULE - -[Sidenote: [405-404 B.C.]] - -The Spartan empire began with the decisive victory of Ægospotami in the -Hellespont (September or October 405 B.C.). The whole power of Athens was -thus annihilated, and nothing remained for the Lacedæmonians to master -except the city itself and Piræus; a consummation certain to happen, and -actually brought to pass in April 404 B.C., when Lysander entered Athens -in triumph, dismantled Piræus, and demolished a large portion of the Long -Walls. With the exception of Athens herself--whose citizens deferred the -moment of subjection by an heroic, though unavailing, struggle against -the horrors of famine--and of Samos, no other Grecian city offered any -resistance to Lysander after the battle of Ægospotami; which in fact not -only took away from Athens her whole naval force, but transferred it all -over to him, and rendered him admiral of a larger Grecian fleet than had -ever been seen together since the battle of Salamis. - -The allies, especially Thebes and Corinth, not only relented in their -hatred and fear of Athens, now that she had lost her power--but even -sympathised with her suffering exiles, and became disgusted with the -self-willed encroachments of Sparta; while the Spartan king Pausanias, -together with some of the ephors, were also jealous of the arbitrary and -oppressive conduct of Lysander. - -We have learned from dark, but well-attested details, to appreciate the -auspices under which that period of history called the Lacedæmonian -empire was inaugurated. Such phenomena were by no means confined within -the walls of Athens. On the contrary, the Year of Anarchy (using that -term in the sense in which it was employed by the Athenians) arising out -of the same combination of causes and agents, was common to a very large -proportion of the cities throughout Greece. The Lacedæmonian admiral -Lysander, during his first year of naval command, had organised in most -of the allied cities factious combinations of some of the principal -citizens, corresponding with himself personally. By their efforts in -their respective cities he was enabled to prosecute the war vigorously, -and he repaid them, partly by seconding as much as he could their -injustices in their respective cities, partly by promising to strengthen -their hands still further as soon as victory should be made sure. - -In the greater number of cities, he established an oligarchy of ten -citizens, or a decarchy, composed of his own partisans; while he at the -same time planted in each a Lacedæmonian harmost or governor, with a -garrison, to uphold the new oligarchy. The decarchy of ten Lysandrian -partisans, with the Lacedæmonian harmost to sustain them, became the -general scheme of Hellenic government throughout the Ægean, from Eubœa -to the Thracian coast towns, and from Miletus to Byzantium. Lysander -sailed round in person with his victorious fleet to Byzantium and -Chalcedon, to the cities of Lesbos, to Thasos, and other places--while -he sent Eteonicus to Thrace for the purpose of thus recasting the -governments everywhere. Not merely those cities which had hitherto -been on the Athenian side, but also those which had acted as allies of -Sparta, were subjected to the same intestine revolution and the same -foreign constraint. Everywhere the new Lysandrian decarchy superseded the -previous governments, whether oligarchical or democratical. - -In what spirit these new decarchies would govern, consisting as they -did of picked oligarchical partisans distinguished for audacity and -ambition--who, to all the unscrupulous lust of power which characterised -Lysander himself, added a thirst for personal gain, from which he -was exempt, and were now about to reimburse themselves for services -already rendered to him--the general analogy of Grecian history would -sufficiently teach us, though we are without special details. But in -reference to this point, we have not merely general analogy to guide -us; we have further the parallel case of the Thirty at Athens, the -particulars of whose rule are well known and have already been alluded to. - -Isocrates, who speaks with indignant horror of these decarchies, while he -denounces those features which they had in common with the triacontarchy -at Athens--extrajudicial murders, spoliations, and banishments--notices -one enormity besides, which we do not find in the latter: violent -outrages upon boys and women. Nothing of this kind is ascribed to Critias -and his companions; and it is a considerable proof of the restraining -force of Athenian manners, that men who inflicted so much evil in -gratification of other violent impulses, should have stopped short here. -The decemvirs named by Lysander, like the decemvir Appius Claudius at -Rome, would find themselves armed with power to satiate their lusts as -well as their antipathies, and would not be more likely to set bounds to -the former than to the latter. Lysander, in all the overweening insolence -of victory, while rewarding his most devoted partisans with an exaltation -comprising every sort of licence and tyranny, stained the dependent -cities with countless murders, perpetrated on private as well as on -public grounds. No individual Greek had ever before wielded so prodigious -a power of enriching friends or destroying enemies, as in this universal -reorganisation of Greece; nor was there ever any power more deplorably -abused. - -Taking all these causes of evil together--the decarchies, the harmosts, -and the overwhelming dictatorship of Lysander--and construing other -parts of the Grecian world by the analogy of Athens under the Thirty, -we shall be warranted in affirming that the first years of the Spartan -empire, which followed upon the victory of Ægospotami, were years -of all-pervading tyranny, and multifarious intestine calamity, such -as Greece had never before endured. The hardships of war, severe in -many ways, were now at an end, but they were replaced by a state of -suffering not the less difficult to bear because it was called peace. -And what made the suffering yet more intolerable was, that it was a -bitter disappointment and a flagrant violation of promises proclaimed, -repeatedly and explicitly, by the Lacedæmonians themselves. - -For more than thirty years preceding--from times earlier than the -commencement of the Peloponnesian War--the Spartans had professed to -interfere only for the purpose of liberating Greece, and of putting down -the usurped ascendency of Athens. Like the allied sovereigns of Europe in -1813, who, requiring the most strenuous efforts on the part of the people -to contend against the Emperor Napoleon, promised free constitutions, and -granted nothing after the victory had been assured--the Lacedæmonians -held out the most emphatic and repeated assurances of general autonomy in -order to enlist allies against Athens; disavowing, even ostentatiously, -any aim at empire for themselves. - -The victory of Ægospotami, with its consequences, cruelly undeceived -every one. The language of Brasidas, sanctioned by the solemn oaths -of the Lacedæmonian ephors, in 424 B.C., and the proceedings of the -Lacedæmonian Lysander in 405-404 B.C., the commencing hour of Spartan -omnipotence, stand in such literal and flagrant contradiction, that we -might almost imagine the former to have foreseen the possibility of such -a successor, and to have tried to disgrace and disarm him beforehand. -There was no present necessity for conciliating allies--still less for -acting up to former engagements; so that nothing remained to oppose the -naturally ambitious inspirations of the Spartan ephors, who allowed the -admiral to carry out the details in his own way. But former assurances, -though Sparta was in a condition to disregard them, were not forgotten -by others; and the recollection of them imparted additional bitterness -to the oppressions of the decemvirs and harmosts. In perfect consistency -with her misrule throughout eastern Greece, too, Sparta identified -herself with the energetic tyranny of Dionysius at Syracuse, assisting -both to erect and to uphold it; a contradiction to her former maxims of -action which would have astounded the historian Herodotus. - -[Sidenote: [405-371 B.C.]] - -The empire of Sparta, thus constituted at the end of 405 B.C., maintained -itself in full grandeur for somewhat above ten years, until the naval -battle of Cnidus in 394 B.C. That defeat destroyed her fleet and -maritime ascendency, yet left her in undiminished power on land, which -she still maintained until her defeat by the Thebans, at Leuctra in 371 -B.C. Throughout all this time, it was her established system to keep up -Spartan harmosts and garrisons in the dependent cities on the continent -as well as in the islands. Even the Chians, who had been her most active -allies during the last eight years of the war, were compelled to submit -to this hardship; besides having all their fleet taken away from them. -But the native decarchies, though at first established by Lysander -universally throughout the maritime dependencies, did not last as a -system so long as the harmosts. Composed as they were to a great degree -of the personal nominees and confederates of Lysander, they suffered in -part by the reactionary jealousy which in time made itself felt against -his overweening ascendency. After continuing for some time, they lost -the countenance of the Spartan ephors, who proclaimed permission to the -cities (we do not precisely know when) to resume their pre-existing -governments. Some of the decarchies thus became dissolved, or modified in -various ways, but several probably still continued to subsist, if they -had force enough to maintain themselves; for it does not appear that the -ephors ever systematically put them down as Lysander had systematically -set them up. - -Such then was the result throughout Greece when that long war, which had -been undertaken in the name of universal autonomy, was terminated by the -battle of Ægospotami. In place of imperial Athens was substituted, not -the promised autonomy, but yet more imperial Sparta. An awful picture -is given by the philo-Laconian Xenophon, in 399 B.C., of the ascendency -exercised throughout all the Grecian cities, not merely by the ephors and -the public officers, but even by the private citizens, of Sparta. - -We have more than one picture of the Athenian empire in speeches made by -hostile orators who had every motive to work up the strongest antipathies -in the bosoms of their audience against it. We have the addresses of -the Corinthian envoys at Sparta when stimulating the Spartan allies to -the Peloponnesian War; that of the envoys from Mytilene delivered at -Olympia to the Spartan confederates, when the city had revolted from -Athens and stood in pressing need of support; the discourse of Brasidas -in the public assembly at Acanthus; and more than one speech also from -Hermocrates, impressing upon his Sicilian countrymen hatred as well as -fear of Athens. Whoever reads these discourses, will see that they dwell -almost exclusively on the great political wrong inherent in the very fact -of her empire, robbing so many Grecian communities of their legitimate -autonomy, over and above the tribute imposed. That Athens had thus -already enslaved many cities, and was only watching for opportunities -to enslave many more, is the theme upon which they expatiate. But of -practical grievances--of cruelty, oppression, spoliation, multiplied -exiles, etc., of high-handed wrong committed by individual Athenians--not -one word is spoken. Had there been the smallest pretext for introducing -such inflammatory topics, how much more impressive would have been the -appeal of Brasidas to the sympathies of the Acanthians! How vehement -would have been the denunciations of the Mytilenean envoys, in place of -the tame and almost apologetic language which we now read in Thucydides! -Athens extinguished the autonomy of her subject-allies, and punished -revolters with severity, sometimes even with cruelty. But as to other -points of wrong, the silence of accusers, such as those just noticed, -counts as a powerful exculpation. - -[Sidenote: [405-403 B.C.]] - -The case is altered when we come to the period succeeding the battle of -Ægospotami. Here indeed also, we find the Spartan empire complained of -(as the Athenian empire had been before), in contrast with that state -of autonomy to which each city laid claim, and which Sparta not merely -promised to ensure, but set forth as her only ground of war. Yet this -is not the prominent grievance--other topics stand more emphatically -forward. The decemvirs and the harmosts (some of the latter being -helots), the standing instruments of Spartan empire, are felt as more -sorely painful than the empire itself; as the language held by Brasidas -at Acanthus admits them to be beforehand. At the time when Athens was -a subject city under Sparta, governed by the Lysandrian Thirty and -by the Lacedæmonian harmost in the Acropolis--the sense of indignity -arising from the fact of subjection was absorbed in the still more -terrible suffering arising from the enormities of those individual -rulers whom the imperial state had set up. Now Athens set up no local -rulers--no native Ten or native Thirty--no resident Athenian harmosts or -garrisons. This was of itself an unspeakable exemption, when compared -with the condition of cities subject, not only to the Spartan empire, -but also under that empire to native decemvirs like Critias, and Spartan -harmosts like Aristarchus or Aristodemus. A city subject to Athens had -to bear definite burdens enforced by its own government, which was -liable in case of default or delinquency to be tried before the popular -Athenian dicastery. But this same dicastery (as is distinctly stated by -Thucydides) was the harbour of refuge to each subject city; not less -against individual Athenian wrong-doers than against misconduct from -other cities. In no one point can it be shown that the substitution of -Spartan empire in place of Athenian was a gain, either for the subject -cities or for Greece generally; while in many points it was a great and -serious aggravation of suffering. And this abuse of power is the more -deeply to be regretted, as Sparta enjoyed after the battle of Ægospotami -a precious opportunity--such as Athens had never had, and such as never -again recurred--of reorganising the Grecian world on wise principles, and -with a view to Panhellenic stability and harmony. - -She now stood without competitor as leader of the Grecian world, and -might at that moment have reasonably hoped to carry the members of it -along with her to any liberal and Panhellenic organisation, had she -attempted it with proper earnestness. Unfortunately she took the opposite -course, under the influence of Lysander; founding a new empire far more -oppressive and odious than that of Athens, with few of the advantages, -and none of the excuses, attached to the latter. As she soon became even -more unpopular than Athens, _her_ moment of high tide, for beneficent -Panhellenic combination, passed away also--never to return.[c] - - -HARSHNESS OF THE SPARTAN HEGEMONY - -[Sidenote: [405-353 B.C.]] - -The Peloponnesian War had been disastrous in its consequences to public -morals. Its long duration and peculiarly bloody character, arousing -everywhere mistrust, exciting passions, deifying brute force, had wrought -a deterioration in the Greek nature from which it never fully recovered. -There was ferocity on the battle-field, a ferocity in the party contests. -“This,” says Aristotle, “is the oath administered to-day in several -cities by the oligarchy: ‘I will be the enemy of the people and will do -them all the evil I can.’” We may indeed place against this homicidal -oath that taken by the heliasts of Athens after the tyranny: “I will -forget all past ills and will permit no one else to remember and give -them mention.” But Athens even in its decadence was always Athens liberal -and generous, even as its mutilated statues remain beautiful in all their -degradation. - -[Illustration: GREEK URN - -(In the British Museum)] - -The system of warfare had also changed. We have shown how one military -revolution had already occurred; the replacing of the aristocratic army -of former times by the democratic army of the fifth and sixth centuries. -And now the age of mercenaries was being ushered in by the employment, -in all Greek cities, of hired soldiers to fight beside their citizen -troops. But to pay these hirelings money was required, and Greece applied -to Persia, who alone had money; hence her mendicant attitude towards -the Great King, and the continual intervention of Xerxes’ successors in -Hellenic affairs. This dependence on a foreign power and harshness of -the public temper were first observed during the last years of the war; -they are found again in the year after peace was concluded, the Year of -Anarchy, as the Greeks called the commencement of the Spartan dominion. - -Blood flowed everywhere because everywhere were established oligarchical -governments. A massacre occurred at Thasos. At Miletus eight hundred -citizens belonging to the popularist party were lured from their retreats -by Lysander and put to death. At Byzantium, Œtœa, and the greater part -of the towns of Asia Minor similar outrages were committed. At Samos the -inhabitants were all banished, with the privilege of taking away but a -single garment. The defection of Chios and its navy had assured Sparta’s -triumph; as a reward its most prominent citizens were sent into exile -and all its triremes were seized. Lycophron, a Pheræan, made himself -master of the province of Thessaly after desperate battles. “Thereafter,” -relates Xenophon, “a Lacedæmonian’s lightest word was obeyed; even a -citizen in private life could arrange everything to his will.” Xenophon -himself appears to have shared this terror, since after the retreat -of the Ten Thousand he refused the title of general-in-chief that his -companions wished to bestow upon him, fearing that Sparta might view -with disfavour the placing of command in the hands of an Athenian. The -islanders, especially those who had betrayed the cause of Athens, hoped -that with the accession to power of Lacedæmonia who was an ally of the -Great King the duties established by Aristides and Pericles to protect -their commerce would be removed. But they found they had simply changed -masters, Sparta continuing to levy the former tribute, which amounted -annually to 1000 talents [£200,000 or $1,000,000]. - -Athens, more adroit in establishing her empire, had proceeded without -cruelty, violence, or spoliation, hence had not known, even in her time -of greatest misfortune, the falling-off of her supports. Sparta was not -so wise in the formation of kingdoms; force was the only instrument of -which she knew the use, and with her the use of it was the abuse of it. -Athens had also made use of force, but had always associated with it -justice. Athens had made itself the political, military, and judiciary -centre of the empire, and further, it was the metropolis of arts and -letters for all Hellas. Nothing great or glorious, nothing useful or full -of promise, could proceed from the Lacedæmonian dominion; it threatened -to topple over in the hour of its erection. A thousand causes were at -work to bring about a rapid dissolution; many of these were in Sparta or -Greece, the rest in other lands. - - -DEGENERACY OF SPARTA - -[Sidenote: [353-240 B.C.]] - -The results of Lycurgus’ institutions continued to be made manifest. The -Spartan city diminished in population from day to day, as though worn -away by the friction of its iron institutions. The narrow circle, which -it had drawn round itself, never widening but always growing smaller, -finally came to enclose but an insignificant number of Spartans. Great -numbers had perished in the wars, others cast by poverty into the lower -classes could no longer take their seats at the public tables. Aristotle -says, “Whoever is without means to contribute to the expense of these -tables must forfeit his political rights.” The Spartans knew that they -were menaced with destruction through lack of citizens; the cry that -arose when the four hundred and twenty Spartan soldiers were imprisoned -on the island of Sphacteria, still rang in every ear. Aristotle further -states: “The territory of Sparta that is capable of providing sustenance -for fifteen hundred cavalry and thirty thousand hoplites, to-day barely -supports a thousand warriors.” In the assemblies of four thousand, -there were scarcely to be seen forty Spartans; moreover, inequality of -conditions grew as the people decreased in number. - -Gold and silver currency had for a long time ceased to be proscribed -and the disinterestedness of the Lacedæmonians to be extolled. Numerous -examples of their venality were known; Eurybiades had been bought by -Themistocles, Plistoanax and Cleandridas by Pericles, Leotychides by -the Aleuadæ, the admiral and captains of the fleet by Tissaphernes. The -kings, the senators, the ephors, all had repeatedly received bribes, -and Gylippus, the liberator of Syracuse, who had been charged to carry -to Sparta the plunder of Athens, kept back for his own use thirty -talents [£6000 or $30,000]. Hence the remark of an interlocutor in the -_Alcibiades_: “There is more gold and silver in Lacedæmonia than in all -the rest of Greece; money flows to it from all parts and once there -remains; the country is like a lion’s cave, one sees the footprints -of those who enter, but of footsteps leaving there is no trace.” The -commanders who returned from ports in Asia brought with them great -wealth, and more than that a taste for luxury and ease, in a word, -corruption; every one plunged into wild extravagance and the vices -engendered by the possession of riches. - -[Sidenote: [405-240 B.C.]] - -After the Peloponnesian War, the ephor Epitadeus had passed a law -authorising citizens to dispose of their property and land. The effects -of this rhetra were so prompt to appear that Aristotle was given cause -to write: “The land has passed into the hands of a few.” In the time -of Agis IV the entire territory was owned by a hundred Spartans. Thus -the government had become more and more oligarchical. All the national -affairs were carried on by the ephors and the senate, even the general -assembly was rarely consulted, and in consequence the rulers, being few -in number, were all the more jealous of the privileges of their station -and less disposed to suffer them to be curtailed. To open their ranks, -moreover, for the readmission of families that poverty had driven forth -would have been to expose themselves, by relinquishing the majority, to -some territorial reform tending toward a fresh division of the immense -domains now concentrated in the possession of a few. Public interest -might point this way but private interest decidedly opposed it, and -private interest won. - -There resulted from this a violent hatred between the privileged and -the lower classes; the latter being formed of Spartans degraded from -their ranks, enfranchised helots, Laconians to whom had been accorded -certain rights, and the children of Spartan fathers of the higher order -and alien mothers. These classes were given denominations that kept them -separate and distinct; there was doubtless also a wide difference in -conditions. Below the Equals, who formed a restricted oligarchy, were the -Inferiors, or Spartans, who were excluded from the public tables, and the -_neodamodes_ or helots enfranchised for services rendered the state, and -lastly the _periœci_. Though they had no share in the actual government -of their country these men estimated highly the value of their services -to the state; and at different times many prominent figures, sons of -Spartan fathers and helot mothers, such as Lysander, Gylippus, and -Callicratidas had issued from this class. In a vindictive address against -Lacedæmon the Thebans at Athens declared that the Spartans recruited -their military governors from among men who had helot blood in their -veins; and indeed many of these people had amassed competencies that gave -them the ambition to leave the inferior station in which custom held -them. When Cleomenes III promised liberty to those among the helots who -could pay into the public treasury the sum of five minæ [£21 or $108], -six thousand presented themselves. - -Lacedæmon’s two royal houses, however, had been retained, and it should -have been the function of these to maintain discipline in the state. But -the newly-acquired wealth of Sparta, coupled with the growing authority -of the ephors, appreciably diminished the power of the kings. Reduced to -the rôle of hereditary generals these monarchs could never depart on an -expedition without being accompanied by ten supervisors, who, under the -name of councillors, in reality directed all the military operations. -During the last years of the Peloponnesian War the decisive battles had -been fought on sea, and the fleets were commanded, captives sold, cities -ransomed and subsidies received from the Great King by men who were not -of pure Spartan blood. Aristotle in his _Politics_ calls the office of -admiral among them “a second royalty.” - -Lysander was not obeying the dictates of ambition when, as Sparta’s -leading citizen, he undertook to reform for his own advantage the -political system of the city. “He could not,” says Plutarch, “see without -regret a city whose glory he had done so much to increase governed by -kings who had no more ability to rule than he, so he formed the plan of -depriving the reigning houses of their dignity to make it the common -appanage of all the Heraclids.” The discovery of the plot of Cinadon -[described later] revealed an abyss of hatred yawning beneath the social -system of Sparta, and at the same time an alarming unanimity of feeling -between the inferior classes, both free and slaves. A civil war could -easily have resulted from the situation; but Sparta, with that vigilance -which continued distrust arouses in all oligarchies, discovered and -baffled all the plots that were formed against her. - -Yet in spite of this hostility between the classes, in spite of many -other difficulties, such as strife between the kings on the one hand -and the senators and the ephors on the other, in which the kings were -reduced almost to the condition of subjects, and rivalry between the -kings themselves, the Spartan government, by reason of concentration of -authority in a few hands, was powerful enough for action against other -states. At home and abroad the ephors and the harmosts, those so-called -conciliators, exercised a permanent dictatorship, maintaining garrisons -at Megara, Ægina, Tanagra, Pharsalus, Heraclea in Trachinia, at the -entrance of Thermopylæ; also Dionysius of Syracuse was Sparta’s ally. But -this power, widespread as it was, was scarcely more than an influence, -and an influence that was already on the wane, since the nation that -lacks citizens has no resources within itself. - -Sparta’s exactions offended those who still loved liberty and had not, -to console them for its loss, the advantages offered by Athens to her -subjects--extensive commerce, and the splendour of public festivals, of -arts and of poetry. Sparta, equally grasping and more oppressive, robbed -her subjects of everything. She levied on them an annual tribute of one -thousand talents [£200,000 or $1,000,000] which vanished in Lacedæmon -never to be seen again, and those who had furnished her with troops, like -the Achæans and Arcadians, or with vessels, like the Corinthians, or -auxiliaries, like the Thebans, received nothing in return. - -The weight of this heavy Dorian rule began shortly to be felt, and many -regretted the Athenian supremacy that was kindly even in its excesses. -That the Greeks from the coasts of Thrace or Asia, those people who -had never known how to say “No,” should tremble at sight of a Spartan -mantle or wand of office, was in no way remarkable, since they had been -accustomed to obey. Not that a double servitude, that of the oligarchs, -friends of Lysander, and that of the Lacedæmonian harmosts was not -a great burden to bear, even for them. But Sparta must not count on -such docility in the mother-country. She had not hesitated to speak as -sovereign in the matter of the Athenian exiles, nor to make decrees, as -sole authority, for all Greece. We have seen how Thebes responded. - -Thebes, a continental power, had long aspired to play in central Greece -the part played by Sparta in the Peloponnesus. Between this state -and Athens there might be jealousy, but not necessarily a clash of -interests as in her relations with Lacedæmonia. In the intoxication of -victory Sparta had believed prudence no longer necessary, and, incensed -that the Thebans should have taken at Decelea the tithe belonging to -Apollo, had scornfully rejected their claims to a share in the spoils -and treasures brought back by Lysander, fourteen hundred and seventy -talents, the remainder of the advances made by Cyrus. Corinth, no better -received, made common cause with Thebes, and this formed another ground -of complaint to Sparta against that state. The Argives, in a discussion -relative to the fixing of boundaries, maintained their reasons to be -superior to those of their adversaries. “He who is strongest with this -argument,” said Lysander, drawing his sword, “reasons best about boundary -limits.” A Megarian, in conference, spoke in a very loud voice. “My -friend,” said Lysander, addressing him, “your words need a city to make -them good.” Still more unceremoniously Sparta dealt with the Eleans, as -we shall see later. - -To the imperious demands of the Spartan government were added individual -acts of violence, which are often more odious because a single victim, -even though obscure, excites more pity than a whole people bowed under -defeat; and there is less peril in attacking public liberty which is the -property of all, than in endangering, by contempt of truth and right, the -honour or the life of an individual. - -A kind and hospitable man of Leuctra, Scedadus, received in his house one -day two young Lacedæmonians, who were greatly struck with the beauty of -their host’s two daughters. Returning from a voyage to Delphi, whither -they had gone to consult the oracle, these two Lacedæmonians found the -daughters alone in the house and violated them, after which they murdered -them and threw their bodies into the well. When Scedadus returned next -day his daughters did not, to his surprise, come forth to meet him, and -his dog, howling plaintively, ran back and forth from his master to the -well. Alarmed, Scedadus looked into the well, discovered the crime, and -learned from his neighbours who were its perpetrators. He departed at -once for Lacedæmon. In Argolis he fell in with a man as unfortunate as -himself, whose son had fallen a victim to the brutality of a Spartan. -This father had believed in Lacedæmonian justice, but had had none -accorded him. Nevertheless Scedadus continued on his journey, and when -he arrived in Sparta, told his story to the ephors, to the kings, to all -the citizens he met, but no one would give it heed. Then wishing to call -the divine anger down upon Sparta he invoked all the gods of heaven and -earth, especially the furies of revenge, and put an end to his life. A -tomb was later erected at Leuctra to his unfortunate daughters. - -As against the few facts of this nature that have come to our knowledge -how many have escaped us? We realise this more fully when we reflect on -the hatred Sparta everywhere inspired even in the Peloponnesus. - -The Arcadians and the Achæans served her from motives of fear alone; she -was, they declared, a citadel placed upon their flank to keep guard over -the whole peninsula. At Lacedæmon their sentiments were well known. On -his return from an expedition in which a whole Spartan corps had been -lost, in the Corinthian War which we shall treat of shortly, Agesilaus -entered the towns only at night, leaving them at break of day, that -his men might not witness the joy exhibited by the inhabitants at this -disaster.[f] - -[Illustration: GREEK PHILOSOPHER - -(After Hope)] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XLII. SPARTA IN ASIA - - -When the Lacedæmonians put an end to the Athenian empire, they neither -claimed any dominion on the continent of Asia, nor asserted the freedom -of the Grecian republics there: the allegiance of the Asian Greeks was -transferred from the Athenian people to the Persian king; and, under -him, to the satraps, Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes. We have seen that, -among the Greeks of Asia, Cyrus was popular, and Tissaphernes unpopular; -insomuch that by a kind of rebellion against the satrap, the Ionians -had attached themselves to the prince. The event therefore of the -expedition against the king, and the appointment of Tissaphernes to the -great command which Cyrus had held, could not but be highly alarming to -them. But, on the other hand, the glorious retreat of the Greeks who had -accompanied the prince, and the clear evidence which their return in -safety bore to the superiority of the Grecian arms, afforded ground of -encouragement. If the patronage of Lacedæmon could be obtained, whose -councils commanded the united arms of Greece, little, it was hoped, -need be apprehended from the satrap’s vengeance. Refusing therefore to -acknowledge his authority, the Ionians sent ministers to Lacedæmon to -solicit protection. - -The Lacedæmonian government, less expecting friendship from the king and -from Tissaphernes on account of their connection with Cyrus, and valuing -it less as the fame of the actions of the Cyrean army taught to despise -their enmity, resolved that the Ionians should be protected. Possibly -circumstances at home might contribute to this determination. It might -be desirable to employ a part of their people on foreign service; and -for service against an enemy so famed for wealth, and so little for -bravery and military skill, volunteers would be numerous among the poor -commonwealths of Peloponnesus. Four thousand men were required from the -allies. Only one thousand were added from Lacedæmon: and they were all of -those called neodamodes, who, owing their elevation from the condition -of slaves into the rank of citizens to the necessities of war, were, on -the return of peace, looked upon with so invidious an eye, that occasion -for sending them on foreign service would be acceptable, both to the -government and to themselves. Cavalry was very desirable for war in Asia: -but the utmost force that Peloponnesus could raise was very small; and -the principal citizens of the wealthiest republics, who alone composed -it, would not be the most willing partakers in distant adventure. -Application was therefore made to Athens; where recent disorders, extreme -political jealousy, and a total want of protection against any momentary -caprice of the people, made the situation of men of rank and fortune -so precarious that the offer of pay for three hundred horse found ready -acceptance there. Thimbron was appointed commander in chief in Asia, with -the title of harmost. - -[Sidenote: [400-399 B.C.]] - -From their attachment to the cause of Cyrus, and consequent dread of -the king’s vengeance, apparently arose the revolt of those Grecian -subjects of the Persian empire, which otherwise would mark gross -ingratitude to a beneficent government. For the testimony here given by -Xenophon, remarkably corresponding with all remaining from Herodotus -and Thucydides, strongly confirms what has been heretofore observed, -that there was uncommon liberality in the despotism of the Persian -empire. Public faith was kept; property was not without security; it -was not then, as under the present wonderfully barbarian government of -the same fine country, a crime to be rich. Large estates, given even -to foreigners, passed to their late posterity; and, instead of the -tyranny which now depopulates towns and provinces, and against which the -remaining subjects recur to the patronage of some foreign ambassador, -the Persian government so extended liberal protection to all, that -Grecian cities could prefer the dominion of the Persian king to that of -the Athenian or Lacedæmonian commonwealths, and flourish under it. But -the Persian government, though generally mild and liberal, had been, -since the reign of Xerxes, always weak, and verging to dissolution. The -Lacedæmonian general Thimbron, who, with comparatively a small force, had -been making conquests against it, showed no considerable abilities in the -field, and in camp and in quarters his discipline was very deficient. The -allies suffered from the licentiousness of his army; and complaints were -in consequence so urged at Lacedæmon that, on the expiration of his year, -he was sentenced to banishment. - -Dercyllidas, who succeeded him, was more equal to a great and difficult -command. Having already served in Asia, under Lysander, he knew the -characters of the two satraps, who divided between them, in almost -independent sovereignty, the dominion of the western provinces. The -instructions of the ephors directed him to lead the army into Caria, the -hereditary government of Tissaphernes. But the desire of revenging a -disgrace he had formerly incurred, when harmost of Abydos, in consequence -of an accusation from Pharnabazus, assisted at least, according to the -contemporary historian, his friend, in determining him to act otherwise. -He negotiated with Tissaphernes; and that dastardly satrap, ill-disposed -towards Pharnabazus, and always readier for negotiation than battle, -instead of exerting the great power with which he was vested for the -general defence of the empire, bargained for a particular peace for -his own provinces, and consented that the Grecian arms should, without -opposition from him, be carried into the Bithynian satrapy. Dercyllidas, -having thus provided for the safety of the rich fields of Ionia, which -would otherwise have been liable, in his absence, to suffer from the -Persian cavalry, hastened his march northward; and, in the length of -way from Caria to the borders of Æolis, he maintained an exactness of -discipline that gained him the greater credit with the allies as it was -contrasted with the licentiousness from which the country had suffered -while Thimbron commanded. - -The circumstances of Æolis might reasonably have invited the attention -of the general, though revenge had not instigated him. According to -that liberal policy, more than once already noticed as ordinary among -the Persians, Pharnabazus had appointed Zenis, a Greek of Dardanus, -to be governor, or, according to Xenophon’s phrase, satrap of that -fine country, so interesting, in earliest history, as the kingdom of -Priam, and the seat of the Trojan War. Zenis died young, leaving a -widow, Mania, also a Dardanian. This extraordinary woman solicited the -succession to her late husband’s command; and supported her solicitations -with presents so agreeable to the satrap’s fancy, and proofs so pregnant -of her own talents and spirit, that she obtained her suit. Being -accordingly vested with the government, she did not disappoint, but, on -the contrary, far exceeded, the satrap’s expectation. She not only held -all in due obedience, but, raising a body of Grecian mercenaries, she -reduced the maritime towns of Larissa, Hamaxitus, and Colonæ, which had -hitherto resisted the Persian dominion. Herself attended the sieges, -viewing the operations from her chariot, and by praises and presents -judiciously bestowed she excited such emulation that her army acquired -repute superior to any other body of mercenaries in Asia. Pharnabazus -requiring troops for suppressing the incursions of the rebellious Mysians -and Pisidians, she attended in person. In consequence of her able conduct -and high reputation, he always treated her with great respect, and -sometimes even desired her assistance in his council. - -[Sidenote: [399 B.C.]] - -Mania was another Artemisia; and the weighty authority of Xenophon for -the history of the Dardanian satrapess not a little supports the account -given by Herodotus of the Halicarnassian queen. But, though Mania could -govern provinces and conduct armies, yet, amid the encouragement which -the gross defects, both of Grecian and Persian government, offered for -daring villainy, she could not secure herself against domestic treachery. -Scarcely had she passed her fortieth year when she was murdered in her -palace by Midias, who had married her daughter. But a single murder would -not answer the execrable villain’s purpose. Her son, a most promising -youth of seventeen, was cut off. The assassin had then the impudence to -ask of the satrap the succession to the government held by the deceased -Mania, supporting his solicitation by large presents. But he seems to -have founded his hopes on a knowledge rather of the general temper -and practice of the Persian great than of the particular character of -Pharnabazus. He, with a generous indignation, refused the presents, and -declared he would not live unless he could revenge Mania. Midias prepared -to support himself by force or intrigue, as circumstances might direct. -He had secured Gergis and Scepsis, fortified towns in which Mania’s -treasures were deposited; but the other towns of the province, with one -consent, refusing to acknowledge his authority, adhered to Pharnabazus. - -Dercyllidas arrived upon the borders in this critical conjuncture. The -satrap was unprepared; the Lacedæmonian name was popular; and the towns -of Larissa, Hamaxitus, and Colonæ, in one day opened their gates. A -declaration was then circulated, that the purpose of Dercyllidas and the -Lacedæmonian government was to give perfect independency to the Æolian -cities; desiring only alliance defensive and offensive, with quarters -for the army within their walls whenever it might become requisite in -that service whose object was the common liberty of all Grecian people. -The garrisons were composed mostly of Greeks, attached to Mania, but -indifferent to the interest of Pharnabazus. The towns of Neandria, Ilium, -and Cocylium acceded to the Spartan general’s invitation. Hope of large -reward for his fidelity induced the governor of Cebrene to adhere to the -satrap; but, upon the approach of the army, the people soon compelled him -to surrender. - -Dercyllidas then marched towards Scepsis. The assassin Midias, fearful, -at the same time, of the Spartan general, the Persian satrap, and the -Scepsian citizens, conceived his best hope to lie in accommodation with -the former. He proposed a conference, to which Dercyllidas consented. -Acquitting himself then of that miscreant by restoring all his private -property, with liberal allowance for all his claims, he seized the -wealth of Mania, as now belonging to the satrap, the common enemy; and -it was his boast, a grateful boast to the army, that he had enriched the -military chest with a twelvemonth’s pay for eight thousand men. - -[Sidenote: [399-398 B.C.]] - -Having thus, according to Xenophon’s expression, in eight days, taken -nine cities, he sent proposals of truce to Pharnabazus. That generous -satrap, unassisted from the capital of the empire, and deserted and -betrayed by the great neighbouring officer whose more peculiar duty it -was to afford him assistance, readily accepted them. Xenophon indeed -says, that he was little disturbed with the loss of Æolis; esteeming -that province, under Lacedæmonian protection, while he had himself peace -with Lacedæmon, rather a useful barrier against other enemies. The -meaning of this apparently is to be collected only from what follows. The -Bithynians, though as tributary subjects of the empire he had assisted -them against the Cyrean army, were always licentious, sometimes perhaps -rebellious, and they frequently carried hostile depredation among the -more peaceful and settled inhabitants of his satrapy. Among these people -Dercyllidas resolved to take his winter quarters, as in a hostile -territory, and Pharnabazus expressed no dissatisfaction. - -Since he had been in Asia, Dercyllidas had fought no great battle, nor -taken any town by assault; but, in an army which, under his predecessor, -had been so lawless as to be a terror more to friends than enemies, he -had restored exact discipline, and yet was the favourite of that army. -With that army then he had awed the two great satraps, each commanding a -province equal to a powerful kingdom, and both together acting under the -mightiest empire in the world; so that, after having given independency -and security to the long line of Ionian and Æolian colonies, he could -direct his views another way for the benefit of the Grecian name. - -The Thracian Chersonese, once the principality of the renowned Miltiades, -lately, in large proportion, the property of another great and singular -character, Alcibiades, and by its fertility, its many harbours, and its -advantageous situation for trade, always a great object for industrious -adventurers from Greece, was however always subject to dreadful -incursions from the wild hordes of Thracians, who made it their glory -to live by rapine. The Chersonesites, in a petition to Lacedæmon for -protection, declared that, unless it were granted, they must abandon -the country. Dercyllidas, informed of this, before orders could come to -himself from Lacedæmon, or another could be sent with the commission, -resolved to execute the service. He sent to Pharnabazus a proposal -for prolonging the existing truce, which was immediately accepted; -and, having so far provided tranquillity for Asia, he transported his -army to the European shore. Immediately he visited the Thracian prince -Seuthes, by whom he was very hospitably entertained; and having arranged, -apparently to his satisfaction, those matters in which his commonwealth -and that prince had a common concern, he marched to the Chersonese. There -he employed his army, not in plunder and destruction, but in raising -a rampart across the isthmus, to secure the peace of the rich country -and industrious people within. Begun in spring, it was completed before -autumn, and the army was reconveyed into Asia. Dercyllidas then made a -progress through the Asiatic cities, to inspect the state of things, and -had the satisfaction to find everywhere peace, prosperity, and general -content. - -Now the ephors sent orders for war to be carried into Caria; for the army -under Dercyllidas to march thither; and for the fleet, then commanded by -Pharax, to co-operate with it. The first effect of these ill-concerted -measures appears to have been to produce, or at least to hasten, a -union between the two satraps, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus; whose long -variance had in no small degree contributed to those great successes -which the Greeks, with a force otherwise inadequate to contention with -the Persian empire, had been enabled to obtain. Pharnabazus, unsupported -by the court of Susa, and basely deserted, or worse than deserted, by -Tissaphernes, his immediate superior in command, had acquiesced under the -loss of Æolis. But, as soon as the threatened attack of Caria afforded a -probability that Tissaphernes would be disposed to change his conduct, -Pharnabazus went to him, and declared his readiness to co-operate -zealously in measures for driving the Greeks out of Asia. This proposal, -to which the jealousy and pusillanimity of Tissaphernes otherwise would -scarcely have listened, was made acceptable by the indiscreet violence of -the Spartan government. The two satraps went together into Caria, and, -having arranged matters for the defence of that country, returned to take -the command of an army which threatened Ionia with destruction. - -[Sidenote: [398-397 B.C.]] - -Dercyllidas was already marching for Caria, when information reached him -that all his hitherto successful labours for the welfare of the colonies -were upon the point of being rendered utterly vain. In these alarming -circumstances the interested pusillanimity of Tissaphernes relieved -him. Pharnabazus was desirous of engaging; but Tissaphernes already -more than half satisfied, since his property in Caria was no longer in -immediate danger, would first try the effect of a conference. A herald -was therefore sent to the Grecian general. The conference being held -accordingly, Dercyllidas insisted on the simple proposition, “that all -Grecian cities should be independent.” To this the satraps consented, -with the conditions, “that the Grecian army should quit the king’s -territory” (by which seems to have been meant Asia, including the Grecian -colonies), “and that the Lacedæmonian governors should quit the Grecian -towns.” Upon these terms a truce was concluded, to hold till the pleasure -of the king and of the Lacedæmonian government could be known. - -This was the first treaty, reported on any authentic or even probable -testimony, by which, since the early times of the Lydian monarchy, it -was provided that the Asian Greeks should be completely emancipated from -foreign dominion. All the Ionian and Æolian cities, it appears, thus -gained immediate enjoyment of independency in peace: the Carian seem to -have waited the confirmation of the treaty by the king of Persia and -the Lacedæmonian government. But it was a quiet revolution: no great -battle gave it splendour; none of those striking events attended which -invite the attention of the writer in proportion as they are fitted to -impress the fancy of the reader. It forms, nevertheless, a memorable -and interesting era in Grecian history; and the fame of Dercyllidas, -less brilliant, but far purer, than that of most of the great men of -Greece, though, being recorded by the pen of Xenophon, it is indeed -secured against perishing, yet deserves to have been more generally and -more pointedly noticed, than we find it, by writers whose theme has been -Grecian history, or panegyric of the Grecian character. - - -WAR OF LACEDÆMON AND ELIS - -[Sidenote: [420-399 B.C.]] - -In that system, if it may be so called, by which the various members of -the Greek nation were in some degree held together, we find a strange -mixture of undefined, and sometimes repugnant claims, more or less -generally admitted. While the Lacedæmonians presided, with authority -far too little defined, over the political and military affairs of -Greece, the Eleans asserted a prescriptive right to a kind of religious -supremacy; also too little defined; universally allowed nevertheless, -in a certain degree, but, like the Lacedæmonian supremacy, not always -to the extent to which the claimants pretended. In the schism of -Peloponnesus, which occurred during the Peloponnesian War, we have seen -the imperial state of Lacedæmon summoned to the Elean tribunal, as a -British corporation might be summoned to the courts at Westminster; a -fine imposed, its citizens interdicted the common games and sacrifices of -the nation, an opprobrious punishment publicly inflicted upon an aged and -respectable Spartan, who, but by implication, offended against the Elean -decrees; and, finally, these measures supported by avowed hostilities, -and alliance with the enemies of Sparta. The necessity of the times -induced the Lacedæmonians to make peace with these affronts unrevenged; -but their smothered resentment had been revived and increased by what -they esteemed a new indignity. Before the conclusion of the Peloponnesian -War, Agis, king of Lacedæmon, had been sent, in pursuance of a supposed -prophetical direction, to perform a sacrifice to Jupiter at Olympia. The -Eleans forbade the ceremony, alleging that, according to ancient law, no -oracle should be consulted for success in wars between Greeks and Greeks, -and they would allow no prayer for victory in such a war. There is a -beneficence, a liberal and extended patriotism in this idea, so consonant -to the spirit with which Iphitus is said to have founded the Olympian -festival, and so opposite to the tenets afterwards generally prevailing -in Greece, that they seem to mark the law for ancient and genuine. The -Lacedæmonians however were not the less offended with the Eleans for -bringing forward, upon such an occasion, what, if those maxims only were -considered which had prevailed through succeeding ages, would carry much -the appearance of a complete novelty. - -[Illustration: GREEK VASE] - -The judgment passed against the Lacedæmonians and the fine imposed, the -interdiction of the games, the punishment of Lichas, the confederacy -with Athens and Argos, the hostilities ensuing, and finally the refusal -of permission for sacrifice at Olympia, are stated by the contemporary -historian as the motives which disposed the Lacedæmonians to war. We -gather from him however that others existed; the democratical party at -this time governed Elis, and Elis held many towns of Elea in subjection. -The Lacedæmonians did not absolutely require oligarchy in every state -of Greece; for they had lately permitted the restoration of democracy -in Athens; and even their own government had a mixture of democracy: -but they always beheld, with peculiar jealousy, dominion exercised by a -democratical commonwealth. - -[Sidenote: [399 B.C.]] - -In pursuance of this resolution, ministers were sent to Elis with a -declaration that “the Lacedæmonians deemed it just and proper that the -towns held in subjection by the Eleans be restored to independency.” -The Eleans, alleging the right of conquest, refused to resign their -sovereignty; and upon this the ephors ordered the king, Agis, to march -into their country. The usual ravage of Grecian armies presently -followed, but an earthquake, imagined a divine admonition, alarming the -aged prince and his superstitious people, they retired out of Elea,[7] -and the troops were dismissed to their several homes. Whether as marking -the favour of the gods or the weakness of their enemies, this conduct -greatly encouraged the Eleans. In either view it improved the hope of -gaining to their cause many Grecian states, known to be disaffected -towards Lacedæmon. But if the Lacedæmonian sovereignty was tyrannical, -theirs apparently was not less so; and while they were cherishing the -hope of foreign assistance, they did not take wiser precautions than -other Grecian states for securing the attachment of their subjects. In -the next spring Agis again entered Elea with an army to which all the -allies had contributed, excepting Corinth and Bœotia. Immediately Lepreum -revolted to him; Macistus and Epitalium quickly followed the example; -and these were imitated, as he advanced into the country, by Leprine, -Amphidolia, and Marganeæ. In this defection of their towns, the Eleans -were utterly unable to face the Lacedæmonian army in the field. Agis -proceeded unopposed to Olympia and sacrificed, now unforbidden, on the -altar of Jupiter. The territories of the revolting towns of course had -been spared; but rapine and devastation marked the way from Olympia to -Elis, whither the king next directed his march. Nor did the country -suffer only from the conquering army. The opportunity of freebooting -invited the neighbouring Arcadians and Achæans; and slaves and cattle -and corn were carried off to such an amount that all the markets of -Peloponnesus were glutted with Elean plunder. It was supposed that Agis -would not, rather than that he could not, take Elis itself, which was -unfortified. After destroying many fair buildings of the outskirts he -proceeded to Cyllene, the principal seaport of the Eleans, and ravage was -extended from the mountains to the sea. - -Occasion has already frequently occurred to remark, that scarcely any -misfortune could befall a Grecian state which would not bring advantage, -or at least the hope of advantage, to some considerable portion of its -subjects. The aristocratical party in Elis, oppressed by the demagogue -Thrasydæus, looked to the present sufferings of their country as the -means of relief; but with no better consideration of any political or -moral principle than might have guided the wildest savages, or the most -profligate among the lowest populace in civilised nations. They proposed -to assassinate Thrasydæus, with a few of his confidential friends; -and then, in the name of the commonwealth, to open a negotiation with -Lacedæmon. The people, they trusted, deprived of their leader, and -dreading the arms of the Lacedæmonians, would acquiesce; and thus the -principal power in the state would of course come into their hands. -The plot failed through a mistake, by which another was murdered for -Thrasydæus. The people, however, supposing their favourite killed, -rested in silent dejection: but, while the conspirators were arming, -and stationing their party, the demagogue awoke, where drunkenness and -supervening sleep had overnight checked his way. The people immediately -flocked about him; a battle followed, and the conspirators, overpowered, -fled to the Lacedæmonian camp. - -[Sidenote: [398 B.C.]] - -The conduct of the war was such as we have so often seen in Greece. When -plunder no longer remained to employ the Lacedæmonian army profitably, -Agis marched home, leaving only a garrison in Epitalium on the Alpheus, -where he established the Elean fugitives. Hence rapine was occasionally -prosecuted through the autumn and winter. Elis could not, like Athens, -support itself under the continual ravage of its territory. In spring -therefore Thrasydæus opened a negotiation with Lacedæmon, and at once -offered the independency of all the towns over which the Eleans claimed -sovereignty by right of conquest; proposing only to keep Epium, whose -territory they had purchased from the inhabitants for thirty talents -fairly paid. The Lacedæmonians however, considering, or affecting to -consider, the purchase as forced, required that Epium should be free -like the rest. The disposition thus apparent in the Lacedæmonians to -depress Elis encouraged the villagers of the Pisan territory to assert -their claim to the superintendency of the Olympian temple, violently -taken from their ancestors, as they contended, by the Eleans, when their -city was destroyed. But, whatever might have been the ancient right, the -Lacedæmonian administration, thinking those uneducated pretenders unfit -for an office of much solemnity and dignity in the eyes of all Greece, -would not interfere. Upon the condition therefore that every town of Elea -should be, as a free republic, a separate member of the Lacedæmonian -confederacy, which was, in effect, to be subjects of Lacedæmon, peace -was made; and Elis, according to the Lacedæmonian decree preceding the -war, humbled and chastened, was itself also restored to its place in that -confederacy. - -[Illustration: THE SHORES OF ELIS] - -The imputation of impiety, under which the Lacedæmonians began the war, -perhaps urged them to a more ostentatious display of respect for the gods -at the end of it. Agis himself was deputed to offer, at Delphi, the tenth -of the spoil. On his return, he was taken ill at Heræa, and he died soon -after his arrival at Lacedæmon. In the magnificence of his funeral the -Lacedæmonians probably meant also to exhibit their own piety, as well -as to testify their opinion of the deceased prince’s merit. They failed -however in their estimate of the prevailing prejudices of the Grecian -people. Honour to the gods indeed was supposed to be best shown, and -religion principally to consist, in pompous processions and expensive -spectacles; but general opinion condemned the splendour of the funeral of -Agis, as greater than could become the most illustrious mortal.[b] - -When the days for the funeral solemnities were past and it was necessary -for another king to be appointed, Leotychides, who said that he was the -son of Agis, and Agesilaus his brother, stood forward as competitors for -the throne. Leotychides saying, “The law, Agesilaus, directs, not that -the brother, but that the son of the king is to reign; though if there -happen to be no son, the brother may in that case become king.” Agesilaus -rejoined, “Then I must be king.” “How,” said Leotychides, “when I am -alive?” “Because,” returned Agesilaus, “he whom you call your father, -said that you were not his son.”[8] “But my mother, who knows much better -than he, still declares that I am.” “Neptune, however,” said Agesilaus, -“showed that what you assert is false, as he drove your father abroad by -an earthquake from her chamber; and time, which is said to be the truest -of witnesses, gives testimony with him to the same effect; for you were -born in the tenth month after he fled from her, and was never after seen -in her chamber.” In this manner they disputed. But Diopithes, a man who -paid great attention to oracles, supported Leotychides, and said that -there was an oracle of Apollo enjoining them “to beware of a halting -reign.” Lysander however said in reply to him, on behalf of Agesilaus, -that “he did not think the god desired them to beware lest their king -should stumble and halt, but rather lest one who was not of the royal -family should reign; for that the royal power would assuredly be lame -whenever men not descended from Hercules should rule the state.” The -people, after hearing such arguments from both sides, chose Agesilaus for -their king. - - -CINADON’S PLOT - -[Sidenote: [398-397 B.C.]] - -Agesilaus had not yet been a year on the throne, when, as he was offering -one of the sacrifices appointed for the city, the augur told him that the -gods indicated some conspiracy of the most dangerous kind. Within five -days after the conclusion of this sacrifice, somebody gave information -to the ephors of a conspiracy, and said that “Cinadon was leader in the -affair.” Cinadon was a man of vigorous frame, and of powerful mind, but -not one of the Equals. When the ephors asked the informer what account -he could give of the way in which the plot would be carried into effect, -he said that “Cinadon, having conducted him to the outside of the forum, -desired him to count how many Spartans there were in the forum; and I,” -continued he, “having counted the king, the ephors, the senators, and -about forty others, asked him, ‘And why, Cinadon, have you told me to -count them?’ ‘Consider these,’ he replied, ‘as enemies, and all the rest -now in the forum, who are more than four thousand, as allies.’” He said -also that Cinadon pointed out to him in the streets sometimes one, and -sometimes two, that were enemies, and said that all the other people -were auxiliaries, and that whatever Spartans were on their estates in -the country, one, namely the master, was an enemy, while on every estate -there were numbers of allies. The ephors then inquiring how many Cinadon -said were privy to the plot, he replied that he told him, as to that -point, that “there were not very many in concert with the principal -agents, but that they were trustworthy, and declared that they were in -communication with all the helots, the newly-enfranchised, the inferior -citizens, and the people in the parts about the city; for whenever any -mention of the Spartans was made among them, no one could forbear from -showing that he would willingly eat them up alive.” When the ephors -further asked “whence they said they would get arms,” he answered, -that Cinadon had stated to him, “Those of us who are already united, -say we have arms enough;” and for the multitude, he said that Cinadon, -conducting him into the iron-market, had pointed out numbers of daggers, -swords, spits, axes, hatchets, and scythes, and added that “all the -instruments with which men cultivate the ground, or hew wood or stone, -would serve as weapons, while the greater part of the artificers had -sufficient tools to fight with, especially against unarmed enemies.” The -informer being finally interrogated “at what time the scheme was to be -carried into execution,” replied that “directions had been given him to -be in readiness at home.” - -The ephors, after listening to his statement, were of opinion that he had -given information of a well-concerted plot, and were greatly alarmed; -nor did they summon even what was called the lesser assembly, but some -of the senators, conferring together here and there, resolved to send -Cinadon to Aulon, accompanied by some others of the younger men, with -directions to bring back with him certain inhabitants of that place, and -some helots, whose names were written on his scytale. They desired him -also to bring with him a certain woman, who was said to be the handsomest -in the place, and was thought to corrupt all the Lacedæmonians, old -as well as young, that went thither. Cinadon had executed similar -commissions for the ephors before; and they now delivered to him the -scytale on which were written the names of the persons that were to be -apprehended. As he asked “which of the young men he should take with -him,” they said to him, “Go, and desire the eldest of the _hippagretæ_ -to send with you six or seven of such of his men as may be at hand.” -They had previously taken care that the _hippagretæ_ should know whom he -was to send, and that those who were sent should be apprized that they -were to secure Cinadon. They moreover acquainted Cinadon that they would -send three carriages, that they might not bring away their prisoners on -foot, concealing from him as carefully as possible that they sent them -with a view to his security alone. They did not apprehend him in the -city, because they were uncertain how far the plot might have spread, and -wished first to hear from Cinadon himself who were his accomplices in it, -before they themselves should be aware that information was given against -them, lest they should make their escape. The party who took him were to -keep him prisoner, and when they had learned from him the names of his -accomplices, were to send them in writing to the ephors as speedily as -possible. So intent indeed were the ephors on effecting their object, -that they even despatched a troop of horse to support the party that was -gone to Aulon. - -As soon as Cinadon was secured, and a horseman arrived with the names of -those whom he had put on his list, they instantly apprehended Tisamenus -the soothsayer, and the other principal conspirators; and when Cinadon -was brought back and examined, and had made a full confession and -specified his accomplices, they at last asked him “with what object he -had engaged in such a scheme.” He replied, “in order that he might be -inferior to no man in Lacedæmon.” Soon after he was fastened, arms and -neck, in a wooden collar, and scourged and pricked with lances; and in -this condition he and his accomplices were led round the city. Thus they -suffered the penalty of the law.[c] - - -AGESILAUS IN ASIA - -[Sidenote: [396 B.C.]] - -Not long after this event news was brought to Sparta by a Syracusan named -Herodes, who had just returned from Phœnicia, of preparations which he -had witnessed in the Phœnician ports for a great armament, which he had -learned was to consist of three hundred galleys. He had not been able to -ascertain its object, but it had induced him to quicken his departure, -that he might bear the tidings to Greece. The Spartan government was -alarmed, and called a congress of the allies to deliberate on preventive -measures. But to Lysander the intelligence afforded a highly welcome -opportunity of resuming his ambitious plans, and recovering his influence -among the Asiatic Greeks. He seems however to have been aware that he -was himself viewed with jealousy at home, and that a proposal coming -directly from himself, and immediately tending to his own aggrandisement, -would probably be ill received. He resolved therefore to make use of his -friend Agesilaus, to accomplish his purpose, and easily prevailed on him -to undertake, with a small force, to give such employment to the Persian -arms in Asia, as would secure Greece from the threatened invasion. - -Agesilaus, who was in the prime of life, was no less eager to display his -military talents in such a brilliant field, than Lysander to renew his -intrigues, and to replace his creatures in the posts from which they had -been dislodged. He therefore offered to take the command of an expedition -to Asia, for which he required no more than two thousand neodamode -troops, and six thousand of the allies, and desired to be accompanied by -a council of thirty Spartans--which he probably knew would, according -to usage, be forced upon him--and by Lysander among them. His offer was -accepted, and all his requests granted, with the addition of six months’ -pay for the army. Corinth, Thebes, and Athens, were called upon to -contribute their forces, but they all refused. - -It was the first time since the expedition of Menelaus that a king of -Sparta had undertaken to invade Asia; and Agesilaus, partly perhaps for -the sake of the omen, and partly for the sake of his own renown, was -willing to associate his enterprise with the recollection of that heroic -adventure. He therefore stopped at Aulis, to sacrifice there after the -example of Agamemnon. But before he had completed the rite, the Bœotarchs -sent a party of horse to enjoin him to desist, and the men did not merely -deliver the message, but scattered the parts of the victim which they -found on the altar. He however stifled his resentment, and embarked again -for Geræstus, where he found the bulk of his armament assembled, and -sailed with it to Ephesus. - -Soon after his arrival he received a message from Tissaphernes, calling -on him to explain the design of his coming. Agesilaus replied, that his -object was to restore the Asiatic Greeks to the independence which their -brethren enjoyed on the other side of the Ægean. The satrap on this -proposed a truce until the king’s pleasure could be taken on this demand; -he engaged himself to support it with all the credit he possessed, and -professed to believe that the court would comply with it. Agesilaus -consented to the proposal, only requiring security for the observance -of the engagement, and even this security was no more than the oath of -Tissaphernes, which he pledged with due solemnity to Dercyllidas, and -two other Spartan commissioners, who were sent to ratify the convention. -Nothing however was farther from the mind of either party than the -thought of peace. Tissaphernes, as soon as he had taken the oath, sent -to the king for a reinforcement to enable him to take the field; and -Agesilaus, who was well aware of his intentions, and probably would not -otherwise have granted the truce, though he observed it with strict -fidelity, undoubtedly did not suffer the time to be lost with regard to -the progress of his own preparations. - -During this interval a breach, which the characters and views of the -two men rendered almost inevitable, rose between him and Lysander. -The rumour of the expedition, and of the part which Lysander was to -take in it, seems to have rekindled the flames of discord in the -Asiatic cities, which after the expulsion of his creatures had for a -time been kept tranquil by the wise forbearance of the ephors and the -prudent administration of Dercyllidas. When he came to Ephesus, his -door was immediately besieged by a crowd of petitioners, who desired -a license to oppress their countrymen under his patronage. After the -victory of Ægospotami, Lysander, as the man who for the time wielded -the irresistible power of Sparta, had been courted with extravagant -servility by the Asiatic Greeks. They did not content themselves with -the ordinary honours of golden crowns and statues, but raised altars and -offered sacrifices, and sang pæans, and consecrated festivals to him -as a god: the first example of that grossest kind of adulation, which -afterwards became common among the Greeks, and was reduced to a system by -the Romans. When he now appeared again in Asia, though in the train of a -Spartan king, it was still supposed that the substance of power resided -with him, and that he would direct the exercise of the royal authority, -as he thought fit. He did not discountenance this persuasion, for he -shared it himself. He had calculated on the subserviency of Agesilaus, -whom he considered as mainly indebted to his friendship, first for the -throne, and then--an obligation little inferior--for the command in Asia. -But his colleagues, the rest of the Thirty, felt that the homage paid to -him by the allies was derogatory, not only to the royal dignity, but to -their own; and they complained to Agesilaus of his presumption. - -[Illustration: PROWS OF GREEK GALLEYS] - -The king himself had been hurt by it, and resolved to check it, not by -a friendly remonstrance, but in a way the most grating to Lysander’s -feelings. He rejected all applications which were made to him in reliance -on Lysander’s interest; and his purpose at length became so evident, -that Lysander was obliged to inform his clients, that his intercession, -instead of furthering, would only obstruct their suits. He had however -sufficient self-command to stifle or disguise his resentment; and, -after a very mild expostulation with Agesilaus on the harshness of his -conduct, requested to be removed from the scene of his humiliation to -some other place, where he might still be employed in the public service. -The king very willingly complied, and sent him to the Hellespont, where -not long after he achieved an acquisition of some moment to the Spartan -arms. He prevailed on a Persian of high rank, named Spithridates, who -had been offended by Pharnabazus, to revolt, and come with his family, -his treasures, and two hundred horse, to Cyzicus, and thence sailed -with him and his son to Ephesus, and presented them to Agesilaus, who -received them with great pleasure, and took this opportunity of gaining -information about the state of Pharnabazus. This incident produced an -apparent reconciliation between him and Lysander; but we shall see reason -to suspect that on one side, at least, it was not sincere. - -Tissaphernes had no sooner received such an addition to his forces, as -appeared to him sufficient to overpower Agesilaus, than he threw aside -the mask, and sent a message to the Spartan king, bidding him immediately -quit Asia, or prepare for war. The council and the allies were somewhat -daunted by his arrogant tone, and apparent strength; but Agesilaus, -who had expected this result, and desired no other, told the envoys to -carry back his thanks to their master, for the advantage he had given -the Greeks by his perjury. He then ordered his troops to put themselves -in readiness for a long march; sent word to the towns which lay on the -road to Caria to lay in provisions for the use of his army; and called on -the cities of Ionia, Æolis, and the Hellespont, for their contingents. -Agesilaus had reckoned upon this effect of the satrap’s selfish fears, -and, instead of seeking him in Caria, marched in the opposite direction -toward the residence of Pharnabazus. As this invasion was quite -unexpected, he found the towns on his road unprepared for resistance, and -collected an immense booty. He penetrated nearly to Dascylium without -encountering an enemy. But in that neighbourhood he fell in with a body -of Persian horse, and, by the issue of a skirmish which ensued, was made -to feel its superiority in equipments and training over his own. The -next day when he sacrificed, observes Xenophon--as if he was relating a -providential warning, not a human contrivance--the victims were found -imperfect; and Agesilaus advanced no farther, but retreated towards -Ephesus. - -[Sidenote: [396-395 B.C.]] - -There he spent the winter in preparations for the next campaign, and more -particularly applied himself to the raising of a body of cavalry, which -he perceived would be indispensable to the success and the safety of his -future operations. For this purpose he made a list of the most opulent -men in the Greek cities, and compelled each of them, as the condition of -his exemption from personal service, to furnish a trooper. In the spring -he collected his forces at Ephesus, and put them into an active course -of training, rousing their emulation by the prizes which he proposed for -the most gallant show, and the highest degree of expertness, in every -department of the service. Xenophon, as an old soldier, is delighted -with the recollection of the military bustle which prevailed during -this season at Ephesus; where the wrestling schools and the hippodrome -were constantly enlivened by the exercises of the men, the market was -abundantly supplied with horses, and arms of every kind, and all the -trades subservient to war were kept in full employment. Among other -devices for raising the spirits of his troops, Agesilaus borrowed a hint, -it would seem, from one of Cimon’s stratagems, and ordered his Persian -prisoners to be exposed to sale naked, that the Greeks might contrast the -delicacy of their persons with the robustness of frames hardened by the -exercises of the palæstra. - -Before he took the field again, a year having now elapsed from the -commencement of his expedition, Lysander and his colleagues were -superseded by a new body of councillors, and returned home. Agesilaus -then gave public notice, that he meant to take the shortest road into -the richest part of the enemy’s country. The notice was designed not -more for the preparation of his own troops, than for Tissaphernes, who -concluded that if this had been the intention of Agesilaus, he would not -have disclosed it, and that now Caria was certainly his real mark. He -therefore repeated the dispositions of the preceding summer. But while -he waited for the enemy with his cavalry in the vale of the Mæander, -Agesilaus directed his march towards the plains of Sardis, the richest -of Western Asia. During three days he traversed them without seeing an -enemy; but on the fourth the Persian cavalry, which Tissaphernes seems -to have sent forward as soon as he heard of the movements of Agesilaus, -suddenly came up, and cut off many of the followers of the camp, as they -were ranging over the country in quest of plunder. - -Tissaphernes had already arrived at Sardis; and his countrymen, many of -whom had probably suffered considerable loss from the invasion, bitterly -censured him for leaving them unprotected, and even it seems charged -him with treachery. The complaints were carried up to the court, where -he had one implacable and powerful enemy in the fiendish Parysatis, who -thirsted to revenge herself on him for his enmity to her favourite son. -She had already found that Artaxerxes was weak enough to sacrifice his -most faithful servants to her resentment, even when he knew that it -was inflamed by the very services which they had rendered to himself; -and according to the most probable account, it was in compliance with -her request that he now ordered Tissaphernes to be put to death. -The execution of the sentence was committed to Tithraustes, who was -appointed to succeed Tissaphernes in his satrapy, and was instructed -to open a negotiation with Agesilaus. Accordingly, after executing -the first part of his commission, which he did in the Turkish style -by the hands of an underling, who surprised Tissaphernes in his bath, -Tithraustes sent envoys to treat with the Spartan king. He affected to -consider Tissaphernes as the author of the quarrel between his master -and the Greeks, and, as if the end of their expedition was now answered -by their enemy’s death, proposed that Agesilaus should return home. -As to the Asiatic Greeks, Artaxerxes was willing to acknowledge their -independence, on condition that they would pay their ancient tribute. -Agesilaus replied, that he had no authority to conclude peace without the -sanction of the government at home: but he would transmit the Persian -overtures to Sparta. In the meanwhile Tithraustes was very anxious that -hostilities should be suspended in his province, and, pleading his own -merits in the execution of Tissaphernes, begged Agesilaus, while he -waited for an answer to the terms proposed, to turn his arms against the -satrapy of Pharnabazus. To this Agesilaus consented on condition that -Tithraustes would defray the expense of the march; and he received thirty -talents [£6000 or $30,000] on that score. This was a step beyond former -precedents: for even Tissaphernes, though he had not scrupled to conclude -a separate truce, had not paid the enemy a subsidy for invading another -part of his master’s dominions. - -[Sidenote: [395 B.C.]] - -On his march towards the territories of Pharnabazus, Agesilaus received -a flattering testimony of the approbation with which his proceedings -were viewed at Sparta, and of the disposition which prevailed there to -support him in the prosecution of the war. By a despatch which reached -him as he lay near Cyme, he learned that he had been invested with the -administration of naval affairs, that he was empowered to appoint whom -he would to the office of admiral, and still to regulate the operations -of the fleet at his discretion. Thus to unite the supreme command of the -army and of the navy in one person, was an unexampled mark of confidence, -and a striking indication of the new energy which ambition had infused -into the Spartan counsels. Agesilaus immediately took measures for -raising a fleet; and by a judicious distribution of the burden among the -maritime allies, and his influence with wealthy individuals, collected -120 new galleys. But he was less prudent and fortunate in the choice of -an admiral, and instead of seeking the highest qualifications, consulted -his private affection in the appointment of his wife’s brother Pisander. -When this business was despatched, he continued his march to the satrapy -of Pharnabazus. - - -PERSIAN GOLD - -These preparations, combined perhaps with other tokens, convinced -Tithraustes that Agesilaus had no intention of withdrawing from Asia, -but was inclined rather to extend than contract his views, and cherished -strong hopes of effecting the conquest of the empire. He perceived that -he had only purchased a temporary relief, and bethought himself how he -might employ the gold, which was his last remaining stay, to greater -advantage. The history of the contest between Greece and Persia afforded -several instructive lessons, which were now peculiarly applicable. At -the time when the first Artaxerxes was embarrassed by the success of the -Athenians in Egypt, he sent an agent, as we have seen, with bribes to -Sparta, to procure a diversion in his favour. Tithraustes now resorted to -a similar expedient. He sent a Rhodian named Timocrates to Greece, with -a sum of fifty talents, which he was charged to distribute, with proper -precautions, among the leading persons in the states which might be most -easily induced to interrupt the progress of Agesilaus by kindling a war -against Sparta at home. Not only was this mission itself a notorious -and unquestionable fact; but Xenophon professes an equal degree of -certainty as to the names of the persons who received the money. We may -at least venture to believe that, though it may have roused them to -greater activity, it produced no change in their political sentiments: -and we even doubt whether it gave rise to any events which would not have -occurred nearly as soon without it. It was indeed natural enough for -Agesilaus and his friends to attribute the disappointment of his hopes to -the venality of their adversaries. But Xenophon himself observes that the -Athenians, though they did not receive any share of the gold, were eager -for war in the hope of recovering their independence. And it is clear -from his own narrative that similar feelings of jealousy or resentment -towards Sparta already prevailed at Thebes, Corinth, and Argos, and -were only waiting for an opportunity of displaying themselves in open -hostility, but needed no corrupt influence to excite them. - -The anti-Laconian party at Thebes--the same no doubt which had sheltered -the Athenian exiles, and had contrived the affront offered to Agesilaus -at Aulis, and which had therefore reason to dread his resentment if he -should ever return to Europe as the conqueror of Asia--set the first -springs of hostility in motion. The disposition to war they found already -existing; a pretext only was wanting, and this they easily devised. Means -were found to induce the Locrians of Opus to make an inroad upon a tract -of land which had been long the subject of contention between them and -their neighbours the Phocians. The Phocians retaliated by the invasion -of the Opuntian Locris, and the Thebans were soon persuaded to take part -with the Locrians, and invade Phocis. The Phocians, as was foreseen, -applied for succour to Sparta, where, as Xenophon admits, there was the -utmost readiness to lay hold on any pretence for a war with Thebes; and -the present season of prosperity seemed to the Spartan government the -most favourable for humbling a power which had given so many proofs of -ill-will towards it. - - -WAR RISES IN GREECE - -War therefore was decreed, and Lysander was sent into Phocis with -instructions to collect all the forces he could raise there, and among -the tribes seated about Mount Œta, and to march with them to Haliartus -in Bœotia, where Pausanias, with the Peloponnesian troops, was to join -him on an appointed day. Lysander discharged his commission with his -usual activity, and besides succeeded in inducing Orchomenos, which -was subject to Thebes, to assert its independence. Pausanias, having -crossed the Laconian border, waited at Tegea for the contingents which -he had demanded from the allies. They seem to have come in slowly, and -Corinth refused to take any part in the expedition. The Thebans, seeing -themselves threatened with invasion, sent an embassy to prevail on the -Athenians to make common cause with them against Sparta. There were -many feelings to be overcome at Athens, before this resolution could be -adopted: recollections of a long hereditary grudge, of the animosity -displayed by Thebes during the last war, and especially at its close; the -sense of weakness, and the dread of provoking a power, by which Athens -had so lately been brought to the brink of destruction. The Athenians -desired to recover their pre-eminence in Greece, and their readiest way -to that end was to declare themselves the protectors of all who suffered -under Spartan tyranny. If they were inclined to dread the enemy’s power, -they had only to reflect by what means their own had been overthrown. -Sparta likewise now ruled over unwilling subjects, and offended allies, -who only wanted a leader to encourage them to revolt from her. Indeed she -had not one sincere friend left. Argos had always been hostile; Elis had -just been deeply wronged. Corinth, Arcadia, and Achaia saw the services -which they had rendered in the war requited with insolent ingratitude, -and were subject to the control of harmosts, who were not even citizens -of Sparta, but helots; bondmen at home, masters abroad. The cities once -subject to Athens, which had been tempted to revolt by the prospect of -liberty, found themselves cheated of their hopes, and groaned under -the double yoke of a foreign governor, and a domestic oligarchy. The -Persian king, to whom Sparta mainly owed her victory, she had immediately -afterwards treated as an enemy. Athens might now place herself at the -head of a confederacy much more powerful than the empire which she had -lost; and the Spartan dominion would be more easily overthrown than the -Athenian had been, in proportion as the allies of Sparta were stronger -than the subjects of Athens. - -[Illustration: GREEK TERRA-COTTA LAMP] - -These arguments found a willing audience; they were seconded by many -voices, and the assembly was unanimous in favour of the alliance with -Thebes. Thrasybulus, who moved the decree, reminded the Thebans that -Athens was about to repay the obligation which they had laid on her when -they refused to concur in riveting her chains, by active exertions, and -at a great risk. For she would have to face the enmity of Sparta while -Piræus remained still unfortified. Both states prepared for war. - -Lysander, having collected all the forces he could raise in the north, -marched to Haliartus; but he found that Pausanias had not yet arrived -there. It was not in his character to remain anywhere inactive, and -he was desirous of making himself master of the town. He first tried -negotiation to engage it to revolt. But there were some Theban and -Athenian troops in the place, whose presence overawed the disaffected; -and he then resolved to venture on an assault. A battle took place -close to the walls, in which Lysander was slain. It seems clear from a -comparison of all accounts, that he was intercepted between the main body -of the Thebans and the garrison, which made a sally; and he was known to -have fallen by the hand of a citizen of Haliartus. His troops were put -to flight, and betook themselves to the hills--a branch of the range of -Helicon--which rose at no great distance behind the town. The conquerors -pursued with great vigour, and incautiously pressed forward up the rising -ground, until the difficulties of the ground brought them to a stand, and -the fugitives, perceiving their perplexity, turned upon them, assailed -them with a shower of missiles, rolled down masses of rock on their -heads, and finally drove them in disorder, with the loss of more than two -hundred men, into the plain. The dejection caused by this disaster was -relieved the next day by the discovery that the remains of Lysander’s -army had dispersed during the night. - -But the exultation of the Thebans at this fruit of their victory was -damped in the course of a few hours by the appearance of Pausanias, who -had received the news of the battle on the road from Platæa to Thespiæ, -and had hastened his march to Haliartus. Yet, according to Diodorus, he -brought with him no more than six thousand men; but so small a force -could scarcely have produced the alarm described by Xenophon, who, -with a slight touch of humour, exhibits the Theban camp as fluctuating -between the extremes of presumption and despondency. For the next day -their spirits were again raised by the arrival of Thrasybulus and an -Athenian army; and their confidence was heightened when they perceived -that Pausanias showed no disposition to seek an engagement. His situation -was extremely embarrassing. According to Greek usage it was absolutely -necessary for him to recover the bodies of the slain, who are said -to have amounted to a thousand, either by force or by consent of the -victors. The greater part lay so near to the town walls that the attempt -to carry them away by force would be one of great difficulty and danger, -even if he should gain a victory; and the enemy was so strong in cavalry, -that the event of a battle would be very uncertain, especially as his -own troops had engaged in the expedition with reluctance. He therefore -held a council of war; and after mature deliberation the majority came -to the decision--if indeed it was not unanimous--to apply for permission -to carry away the dead. The Thebans however were not satisfied with this -confession of their superiority, and refused to grant a truce, except on -condition that the invaders should withdraw from Bœotia. These terms were -gladly accepted by Pausanias and his council, though they were felt by -the troops as a degradation, such as a Lacedæmonian army had never before -experienced. The general dejection and ill-humour which prevailed in the -retreat, were heightened by the insulting demeanour of the Thebans, who -accompanied them on their march through Bœotia, and drove back all who -deviated in the least from the line, with blows, into the road. - -The conduct of Pausanias appears to have been in the whole of this affair -perfectly blameless. He had failed indeed to reach Haliartus by the -preconcerted day, but he arrived the day after; and when it is considered -that he had to collect his army from many quarters, and that the allies -were generally averse to the expedition, he may seem rather to have -deserved praise, for bringing it up so nearly within the appointed time. -The disastrous issue could only be attributed to Lysander’s imprudence; -and the decision of the council of war with regard to the recovery of -the slain, even if it was not clearly required by the circumstances of -the case, could not reasonably be imputed as a crime to Pausanias. Yet -on his return to Sparta he was capitally impeached; and the nature of -the charges brought against him showed that he could not expect a fair -trial, but was foredoomed to be sacrificed to public prejudice or to -private passion; for the accusation embraced not merely his conduct -in his last expedition, but the indulgence which he had granted to the -Athenian refugees in Piræus; though his measures on that occasion seem to -have been viewed with general approbation at the time, and had only been -proved to be impolitic by the event. But under the irritation produced -by the recent shame and disappointment, the Spartan senate was no more -capable of listening to reason and justice, than the Athenian assembly -on some similar occasions; and it is probable that Lysander’s friends -did the utmost to inflame the public feelings against his old adversary. -Pausanias did not appear at the trial; he was condemned to death, and -was obliged to seek shelter in the venerated sanctuary of Athene Alea -at Tegea, where he ended his days. His son Agesipolis succeeded to the -throne. - -Lysander left his family in a state of poverty, which proved that his -ambition was quite pure from all sordid ingredients. But, if we may -believe a story which became current after his death, and is related upon -such authority, that we can scarcely suppose it to have been without -foundation, he was not satisfied either with fame, or with the substance -of power. He is said to have conceived the project of levelling the -privileges of the two royal houses, and of making the kingly office -elective, and open to all Spartans, no doubt with the hope of obtaining -it for himself.[d] - - -LYSANDER’S PLOT - -[Sidenote: [404-395 B.C.]] - -The melodramatic scheme to secure the throne, which has been credited to -Lysander, was discredited by Thirlwall, and Mitford, but Grote, Bury, and -others accept it, and it is curious enough to deserve chronicle here: - -When the Heraclidæ mixed with Dorians, and settled in Peloponnesus, -there was a large and flourishing tribe of them at Sparta. The whole, -however, were not entitled to the regal succession, but only two -families, the Eurytionidæ and the Agidæ; while the rest had no share in -the administration on account of their high birth. For as to the common -rewards of virtue, they were open to all men of distinguished merit. -Lysander, who was of this lineage, no sooner saw himself exalted by his -great actions, and supported with friends and power, but he became uneasy -to think that a city which owed its grandeur to him, should be ruled by -others no better descended than himself. Hence he entertained a design -to alter the settlement which confined the succession to two families -only, and to lay it open to all the Heraclidæ. Some say, his intention -was to extend this high honour not only to all the Heraclidæ, but to -all the citizens of Sparta; that it might not so much belong to the -posterity of Hercules, as to those who resembled Hercules in that virtue -which numbered him with the gods. He hoped, too, that when the crown was -settled in this manner, no Spartan would have better pretensions than -himself. - -At first he prepared to draw the citizens into his scheme, and committed -to memory an oration written by Cleon of Halicarnassus for that purpose. -But he soon saw that so great and difficult a reformation required -bolder and more extraordinary methods to bring it to bear. And as in -tragedy machinery is made use of, where more natural means will not -do, so he resolved to strike the people with oracles and prophecies; -well knowing that the eloquence of Cleon would avail but little, unless -he first subdued their minds with divine sanctions and the terrors -of superstition. Ephorus tells us, he first attempted to corrupt the -priestess of Delphi, and afterwards those of Dodona by means of one -Pherecles; and having no success in either application, he went himself -to the oracle of Ammon, and offered the priests large sums of gold. They -too rejected his offers with indignation, and sent deputies to Sparta -to accuse him of that crime. When these Libyans found he was acquitted, -they took their leave of the Spartans in this manner: “We will pass -better judgments, when you come to live among us in Libya.” It seems -there was an ancient prophecy, that the Lacedæmonians would some time or -other settle in Africa. This whole scheme of Lysander was of no ordinary -texture, nor took its rise from accidental circumstances, but was laid -deep and conducted with uncommon art and address: so that it may be -compared to a mathematical demonstration, in which, from some principles -first assumed, the conclusion is deduced through a variety of abstruse -and intricate steps. We shall, therefore, explain it at large, taking -Ephorus, who was both an historian and philosopher, for our guide. - -[Illustration: GREEK DOOR KEYS] - -[Sidenote: [400-395 B.C.]] - -There was a woman in Pontus who gave it out that she was pregnant by -Apollo. Many rejected her assertion, and many believed it. So that when -she was delivered of a son, several persons of the greatest eminence -took particular care of his education, and for some reason or other -gave him the name of Silenus. Lysander took this miraculous birth for a -foundation, and raised all his building upon it. He made choice of such -assistants, as might bring the story into reputation, and put it beyond -suspicion. Then he got another story propagated at Delphi and spread at -Sparta, that certain ancient oracles were kept in the private registers -of the priests, which it was not lawful to touch or to look upon, till in -some future age a person should arise, who could clearly prove himself -the son of Apollo, and he was to interpret and publish these oracles. -The way thus prepared, Silenus was to make his appearance, as the son of -Apollo, and demand the oracles. The priests, who were in combination, -were to inquire into every article, and examine him strictly as to -his birth. At last they were to pretend to be convinced of his divine -parentage, and to show him the books. Silenus then was to read in public -all those prophecies, particularly that for which the whole design was -set on foot; namely, that it would be more for the honour and interest of -Sparta to set aside the present race of kings, and choose others out of -the best and most worthy men in the commonwealth. But when Silenus was -grown up, and came to undertake his part, Lysander had the mortification -to see his piece miscarry by the cowardice of one of the actors, whose -heart failed him just as the thing was going to be put in execution. -However, nothing of this was discovered while Lysander lived. - -Lysander’s poverty, which was discovered after his death, added lustre -to his virtue. It was then found, that notwithstanding the money which -had passed through his hands, the authority he had exercised over so -many cities, and indeed the great empire he had been possessed of, he -had not in the least improved his family fortune. Ephorus tells us that, -afterwards, upon some disputes between the confederates and the Spartans, -it was thought necessary to inspect the writings of Lysander, and for -that purpose Agesilaus went to his house. Among the other papers he found -that political one, calculated to show how proper it would be to take -the right of succession from the Eurytionidæ and Agidæ, and to elect -kings from among persons of the greatest merit. He was going to produce -it before the citizens, and to show what the real principles of Lysander -were. But Lacratides, a man of sense, and the principal of the ephors, -kept him from it, by representing how wrong it would be to dig Lysander -out of his grave, when this oration, which was written in so artful and -persuasive a manner, ought rather to be buried with him. - -Among the other honours paid to the memory of Lysander, that which we -shall mention is none of the least. Some persons who had contracted -themselves to his daughters in his lifetime, when they found he died -poor, fell off from their engagement. The Spartans fined them for -courting the alliance while they had riches in view, and breaking off -when they discovered that poverty which was the best proof of Lysander’s -probity and justice. It seems, at Sparta there was a law which punished, -not only those who continued in a state of celibacy, or married too late, -but those that married ill; and it was levelled chiefly at persons who -married into rich rather than good families.[e] - - -AGESILAUS RECALLED - -[Sidenote: [395 B.C.]] - -While these movements were taking place in Greece, Agesilaus was carrying -on the war in Asia, with an activity and success which might well have -alarmed the Persian court, and proved the wisdom of the precautions -adopted by Tithraustes. On his march into the province of Pharnabazus, -he was accompanied by Spithridates, who urged him to advance into -Paphlagonia, and undertook to make Cotys, the king of that country, his -ally. Cotys, who is elsewhere named Corylas, was one of those powerful -hereditary vassals of the Persian king, whose subjection had become -merely nominal, and he had lately renounced even the appearance of -submission. Artaxerxes, imprudently or insidiously, had put his obedience -to the test, by summoning or inviting him to court. But the Paphlagonian -prince was too wary, and knew the character of the Persian government too -well, to trust himself in its power, and he had openly refused to obey -the royal command. It would add nothing to his offence, though something -to his security, to treat with the enemies of Artaxerxes. Nothing could -be more agreeable to Agesilaus than the opportunity of gaining so -powerful an ally; he gladly accepted the mediation of Spithridates, who -not only fulfilled his promise, and engaged Cotys to come to the Greek -camp, and conclude an alliance with Sparta in person, but prevailed on -him, before his departure, to leave a reinforcement of one thousand -cavalry, and two thousand targeteers, with the army of Agesilaus. - -To reward Spithridates for this important service, in a manner -which would strengthen the Greek interest in Asia, Agesilaus, with -great address, negotiated a match between Cotys and the daughter of -Spithridates, so as to lead each party to consider himself as under -obligations to the other, and both to look upon him as their benefactor. -As the season was too far advanced for a journey by land across the -Paphlagonian mountains, the young lady was sent by sea, under the charge -of a Spartan officer, to the dominions of her intended consort; and -Agesilaus returned to take up his winter quarters in the territories of -Pharnabazus, and in the satrap’s own residence of Dascylium. Here were -parks, chases, and forests abounding in game of every kind, and round -about were many large villages plentifully stocked with provisions for -the ordinary supply of the princely household. The domain was skirted by -the windings of a river, full of various kinds of fish. Here therefore -the Greek army passed the winter in ease and plenty, making excursions, -as occasion invited, into the surrounding country far and wide, while -Pharnabazus was forced to range over it as a houseless fugitive, carrying -with him his family and his treasures, for which he could find no place -of permanent shelter, and, even in this Scythian mode of life, never free -from apprehensions for his personal safety. - -Sometimes, however, he hovered in the neighbourhood of the Greeks, and -once surprised them in one of their marauding excursions; and though he -had with him only two scythe-chariots, and about four hundred cavalry, -he dispersed a body of seven hundred Greek horse with his chariots, and -drove them, with the loss of one hundred men, to seek shelter from their -heavy infantry. A few days after this skirmish Spithridates learned -that the satrap was encamped in the village of Cava, about twenty miles -off, and communicated the discovery to Herippidas. Herippidas, who -loved a brilliant enterprise, was immediately fired with the hope of -making himself master of the satrap’s camp and person, and requested -Agesilaus to grant him, for this purpose, two thousand heavy infantry, -as many targeteers, the Paphlagonian cavalry, and those of Spithridates, -and as many of the Greek horse as might be willing to take part in -the adventure. He obtained all he asked; but at night, at the hour of -departure, he found that not half of his volunteers appeared at the -appointed place. Nevertheless, fearing the raillery of his colleagues, if -he should desist, he persevered in his undertaking, and after marching -all night, arrived at daybreak at the encampment of Pharnabazus. He -overpowered a body of Mysians at the outpost; but their resistance -afforded time for the escape of Pharnabazus and his family, who however -left the camp, with a great treasure of drinking vessels and costly -furniture, in the possession of the assailants. But Herippidas, being -anxious, for the sake of his own honour, to deliver the whole booty -into the hands of the officers who in the Spartan army answered to the -Roman quæstors, took precautions to exclude his allies from all share -in it; and he thus deprived the Spartan arms of an advantage much -more important than the value of the spoil. For Spithridates and the -Paphlagonians, indignant at this treatment, deserted the camp the next -night, and repairing to Sardis entered the service of Ariæus, who had -again revolted, and was at war with the king: Agesilaus was more deeply -affected by this loss than by any mischance that he met with in the -course of his expedition: and he seems to have regretted it still more on -private than on public grounds. - -Not long after, a prospect seemed to be opened to him of gaining a much -more valuable ally. A Greek of Cyzicus, who was connected by ties of -hospitality with Pharnabazus, and had recently entered into the same -relation with Agesilaus, proposed to him to bring about an interview -between him and the satrap. The preliminaries were arranged, and a place -of meeting appointed in the open air, to which Agesilaus came accompanied -by the Thirty, and they seated themselves on the grass to wait for -Pharnabazus. He came attended by a train of servants, who, according to -the Persian fashion, proceeded to lay down a carpet and cushions for -their master. But the intelligent Persian, struck by the contrast of the -Spartan simplicity, in a fortune at present so much more prosperous than -his own, ordered these instruments of luxury to be removed, and, in his -splendid attire, took his seat without ceremony on the green-sward by the -side of Agesilaus. - -[Sidenote: [395-394 B.C.]] - -After the forms of a friendly greeting had been interchanged, Pharnabazus -opened the conference with an expostulation on the hard treatment which -he had suffered. He reminded his hearers of the zeal and constancy -with which he had espoused the cause of Sparta in the war with Athens. -Nevertheless Spartan hostility had now reduced him to such a condition -that even in his own territory he did not know how to find a meal, except -such as he could collect, like a dog, from the orts and leavings of their -rapine; while his fair patrimonial mansions, his pleasant woods and -parks, had been all burned, and felled, and spoiled. If, he concluded, it -was his ignorance that made him unable to reconcile such conduct with the -obligations of justice and gratitude, he desired that the Spartans would -enlighten him. - -This address, Xenophon says, struck the Thirty with shame, and it was -some time before Agesilaus broke the silence that ensued. Private -friendship, he said, must give way to reasons of state. The Spartans, -being at war with the king of Persia, were compelled to treat all his -subjects as their enemies; and Pharnabazus among the rest, however glad -they might be to gain him for their friend. And what they had now to -propose was not that he should exchange one master for another, but that -he should at once become their ally, and independent of every superior. -Nor was it a poor or barren independence that they held out to him, but -a rich addition to his hereditary possessions, which their aid would -enable him to make at the expense of his fellow subjects, who would then -be forced to own him as their master. Pharnabazus, in answer to these -overtures, said that he would frankly declare his mind to them. If the -king should attempt to place any other general in authority over him, -he would renounce his allegiance, and ally himself to Sparta; but if -his master entrusted him with the supreme command in that part of his -domains, he would do his best to defend them. Agesilaus grasped his hand, -and assured him of his warmest regard, and, under the excitement of a -generous feeling, forgetting the excuse he had just before made for his -past conduct, promised to withdraw immediately from his territories, and, -though they should continue at war, to abstain from invading them, as -long as there was any other quarter in which he could employ his forces. -So the interview ended. - -Agesilaus kept his word, and withdrew his forces from the satrapy of -Pharnabazus, where indeed it is probable he would not otherwise have -stayed much longer, as the spring was coming on, and he was meditating -a new expedition, in which he meant to advance as far as he could into -the interior. By this movement, if he gained no more decisive advantage, -he expected that he should at least separate all the provinces which he -left behind him from the Persian empire. With this design he proceeded -to the plain of Thebe, where he encamped, and began to collect all the -forces he could raise from the allied cities. He was in the midst of -these preparations, when he received a message from the ephors, which -was brought by a Spartan named Epicydidas, who apprised him of the new -turn which affairs had taken in Greece, and summoned him to march with -the utmost speed for the defence of his country. Agesilaus received this -intelligence with fortitude, though it stopped him at the outset of the -most brilliant career that had ever yet been opened by a Greek, and -obeyed the command of the ephors with as much promptness as if he had -been present in their council-room at Sparta.[d] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[7] [Elea is used here to denote the district of which the city of Elis -was the capital.] - -[8] [It was commonly believed that Alcibiades was the father of -Leotychides.] - - - - -[Illustration: GREEK VASES] - - - - -CHAPTER XLIII. THE CORINTHIAN WAR - - -[Sidenote: [394 B.C.]] - -Two cares principally engaged Agesilaus before his departure; to provide -security for the Asian Greeks in his absence, and to have a numerous and -well-appointed army to lead into Greece. For the former purpose, naming -Euxenus to preside, with the title of harmost, he placed a body of four -thousand men under his orders. With the latter view, he proposed prizes -for the cities which should furnish the best troops; and for commanders -of mercenaries, horse, heavy-armed, bowmen, and targeteers, whose bands -should be the best chosen, best appointed, and best disciplined. The -prizes were mostly arms, elegantly wrought; but, for higher merit, or -the merit of those of higher rank, there were some golden crowns; and -Xenophon mentions it, as a large sum for the occasion, that the expense -amounted to four talents, less than a thousand pounds sterling. Three -Lacedæmonians, with one officer from each Asiatic city, were named for -judges; but the decision, or the declaration of it, was judiciously -referred to the arrival of the army in the Thracian Chersonesus. - -Unable as the leading men in the Lacedæmonian administration were, -either to conduct a war against the powerful confederacy formed against -them, or, upon any tolerable terms, to prevent it, the recall of -Agesilaus seems to have been a necessary measure. The army assembled -by their enemies was such as had not often been seen in wars within -Greece. Argos furnished seven thousand heavy-armed; Athens had already -recovered strength to send six thousand, and add six hundred horse; -Bœotia, Corinth, Eubœa, and Locris made the whole of the army twenty-four -thousand heavy-armed, with above fifteen hundred cavalry; to which was -added a large body of the best light-armed of Greece, Acarnanians, -Ozolian Locrians, and Malians. The fighting men of all descriptions -must have amounted to fifty thousand. The avowed purpose was to invade -Laconia. “The Lacedæmonian state,” said the Corinthian Timolaus, in -a debate on the plan of operations, “resembles a river, which, near -the source, is easily forded, but the farther it flows, other streams -joining, the depth and power of the current increases. Thus the -Lacedæmonians always march from home with their own troops only; but -as they proceed, being reinforced from other cities, their army swells -and grows formidable. I hold it therefore advisable to attack them, if -possible, in Lacedæmon itself; otherwise, the nearer to Lacedæmon the -better.” - -Against so powerful a league, the allies, whom the Lacedæmonians could -now command, were principally from the smaller Grecian cities, and none -beyond Peloponnesus. Marching themselves six thousand foot and six -hundred horse, and being joined by the Mantineans and Tegeans, whose -numbers are not reported, they were farther reinforced by no more than -seven thousand five hundred heavy-armed, from Epidaurus, Hermione, -Trœzen, Sicyon, Achaia, and Elis. Aristodemus, of the blood royal, as -regent, commanded for the king, Agesipolis, yet a boy. - -Circumstances commonly occur to render confederate armies less -efficacious, in proportion to their strength, than those under a single -authority. A dispute about the command in chief, with some difference -of opinion about their order of battle, some of the generals being for -deeper, others for more extended phalanges, gave opportunity for the -Lacedæmonians to collect their forces, and march far beyond their own -frontier, so as to meet the enemy near Corinth. In the account of the -preparatory sacrifices there drops from Xenophon a remarkable confession, -that those ceremonies were sometimes engines of policy. While the -Bœotians, he says, held the left of their army, they were in no haste -to engage; but, as soon as they had prevailed to have their situation -in the line changed, so that the Athenians would be opposed to the -Lacedæmonians, and themselves to the Achæans, then they declared that the -symptoms of the victims were favourable. They saved themselves perhaps -some slaughter by this disingenuous artifice. In the battle which ensued -the Achæans fled, and all the allies of Lacedæmon equally yielded to -those opposed to them. But the Athenians were defeated with considerable -slaughter; and the superior discipline of the Lacedæmonians so prevailed -against superior numbers that, with the loss of only eight of their own -body, they remained finally masters of the field; in which, if we may -trust Xenophon’s panegyric of Agesilaus for what he has omitted to state -in his general history, no less than ten thousand of the confederate army -fell.[9] Probably however, though the Lacedæmonians themselves suffered -little, their allies suffered much; for the victory seems to have been -little farther decisive than to prevent the invasion of Peloponnesus. - -Meanwhile Agesilaus was hastening his march from Asia. He crossed the -Hellespont about the middle of July. At Amphipolis he met Dercyllidas, -who had been sent to inform him of the victory obtained near Corinth. -Immediately he forwarded that able and popular officer into Asia, to -communicate the grateful news among the Grecian cities there, and to -prepare them for his early return, of which there seemed now fair promise. - -Through Thrace and Macedonia the country was friendly, or feared to -avow hostility. Thessaly, inimically disposed, and powerful through -population and wealth resulting from the natural productiveness of the -soil, was however too ill-governed to give any systematical opposition. -The defiles of the mountains against Macedonia, where a small force -might efficaciously oppose a large one, seem to have been left open. But -the influence of the principal towns, Larissa, Cranon, Scotussa, and -Pharsalus, in close alliance with the Bœotians, decided the rest, and -as the Lacedæmonian army crossed the plain a body of horse, raised from -the whole province, infested the march. It was singularly gratifying to -Agesilaus that, with his horse, promiscuously collected, and entirely -formed by himself, supporting it judiciously with his infantry, he -defeated and dispersed the Thessalian, the most celebrated cavalry of -Greece. - -On the day after this success he reached the highlands of Phthia; and -thence the country was friendly quite to the border of Bœotia. But there -news met him, unwelcome for the public, unwelcome on his private account, -and such as instantly almost to blot out his once bright prospect, which, -as the historian, his friend and the companion of his march, shows, he -had thus far been fondly cherishing, of conquest in Asia, and glory -over the world. While the misconduct of the Lacedæmonian administration -had excited a confederacy within Greece, which proposed to overwhelm -Lacedæmon by superiority of land-force, and, with that view, to carry -war directly into Laconia, a hostile navy had arisen in another quarter, -powerful enough to have already deprived her, by one blow, of her new -dominion of the sea. The train of circumstances which had produced this -event, though memorials fail for a complete investigation of it, will -require some attention. - -[Illustration: A CORINTHIAN VASE - -(In the Museum of Napoleon III)] - -We have seen Cyprus, at a very early age, from a Phœnician, become a -Grecian island, and Salamis the first Grecian city founded there. We -have then observed the Cyprian Greeks yielding to the Persian power. -The ruin of the marine, the inertness of the court, and the distraction -in the councils of Persia, which followed, would afford opportunity and -temptation for the Cypriots, beyond other subjects of the empire, again -to revolt; and the Persian interest, and the Greek, and the Phœnician, -and the tyrannic, and the oligarchal, and the democratical, would be -likely to fall into various contest. Such, as far as may be gathered, -was the state of things which first invited Athenian ambition to direct -its view to Cyprus, when the Athenian navy, rising on the ruins of the -Persian, was extending dominion for Athens on all sides, under the first -administration of Pericles. This view, quickly diverted to other objects, -was however, after a change in the Athenian administration, resumed; and -Cimon, as we have seen, died in command in Cyprus. The policy of Athens -would of course propose to hold dominion, there as elsewhere, through -support given to the democratical interest. But after the death of Cimon -wars so engaged the Athenian government as to prevent the extension of -any considerable exertion to such a distance; and the Cyprian cities were -mostly governed by their several princes or tyrants, under the paramount -sovereignty of Persia. - -Among the fugitive Greeks was Evagoras, a youth who claimed descent from -the ancient princes of Salamis, of the race of Teucer. Informed of the -state of things, this young man formed the bold resolution, with only -about fifty fellow-sufferers in exile, devoted to his cause, to attempt -the recovery of what he claimed as his paternal principality. From Soli -in Cilicia, their place of refuge, they passed to the Cyprian shore, -and proceeded to Salamis by night. Knowing the place well, they forced -a small gate, probably as in peace, unguarded, marched directly to the -palace, and, after a severe conflict, overcoming the tyrant’s guard, -while the people mostly kept aloof, they remained masters of the city, -and Evagoras resumed the sovereignty. - -This little revolution, in a distant island, became, through a chain -of events out of all human foresight, a principal source of great -revolutions in Greece. An extraordinary intimacy grew between the -Athenian democracy and the tyrant of Salamis (for that was the title -which Evagoras commonly bore among the Greeks), insomuch that the tyrant -was associated among the Athenian citizens. In the ruin of Athens, -impending from the defeat of Ægospotami, Conon fled thither with eight -triremes, saved from the general destruction of the fleet. Conon had -previous acquaintance with Evagoras; and eight triremes at his orders, -equipped and ably manned, would enable him, in seeking refuge, to offer -important service. The Athenian refugee became the most confidential -minister of the Cyprian prince, or rather his associate in enterprise. -Undertaking negotiation with Pharnabazus, he conciliated that satrap’s -friendship for Evagoras; which so availed him that, without resentment -from the court, or opposition from other satraps, he could add several -towns of the island to his dominion. - -While Agesilaus was threatening the conquest of Asia, and Pharnabazus, -having obtained, in a manner from his generosity and mercy, a respite -from the pressure upon himself, was nevertheless apprehensive that this -satrapy, separated from the body of the empire, might become dependent -upon the Lacedæmonian commonwealth, Conon suggested that the progress of -the Lacedæmonian arms, which seemed irresistible by land, would be most -readily and efficaciously checked by a diversion by sea. A considerable -fleet of Phœnician ships was at the satrap’s orders: Evagoras had a fleet -which might co-operate with it; the Athenian interest, still considerable -in the island and Asiatic Grecian cities, would favour the purpose; -and Conon himself had consideration among those cities, and especially -among their seamen. Even before Agesilaus left Asia, a project, founded -on these suggestions, seems to have been in forwardness. Soon after his -departure, through the combined exertions of Pharnabazus, Evagoras, and -Conon, a fleet very superior to the Lacedæmonian was assembled; and the -generous Pharnabazus formed the resolution, extraordinary for a Persian -satrap, to take the nominal command in person, having the good sense -apparently to leave the effective command to the superior abilities and -experience of Conon. - - -BATTLE OF CNIDUS - -Near Cnidus they met the Lacedæmonian fleet, and the brave but -inexperienced Pisander, brother-in-law of Agesilaus, would not avoid a -battle. Conon and Evagoras led the Grecian force against him: Pharnabazus -took the particular command of the Phœnician, forming a second line. The -Grecian force alone, according to report, though Xenophon does not speak -of it as certain, outnumbered the Lacedæmonian fleet. The allies in the -left of the Lacedæmonian line, alarmed at the view of the enemy’s great -superiority, presently fled. Pisander was then quickly overpowered. His -galley being driven on the Cnidian shore, the crew mostly escaped; but, -refusing himself to quit his ship, he was killed aboard. The victory of -Conon was complete: according to Diodorus fifty ships were taken. - -Such was the disastrous event, the news of which met Agesilaus on his -arrival on the confines of Bœotia. The first information struck him with -extreme anguish and dejection. Presently, however, the consideration -occurring how disadvantageous, in the existing circumstances, the -communication of it might be, he had command enough of himself to check -all appearance of his feelings. His army consisted mostly of volunteers, -attached indeed to his character, but more to his good fortune; and -bound, as by no necessity, so by no very firm principle, to partake in -expected distress. With such an army he was to meet, within a few days, -the combined forces of one of the most powerful confederacies ever formed -in Greece. To support, or, if possible, raise, the confidence and zeal of -his troops, though by a device of efficacy to be of short duration, might -be greatly important. He therefore directed report to be authoritatively -circulated that Pisander, though at the expense of his life, had gained -a complete victory; and, to give sanction to the story, he caused the -ceremony of the evangelian sacrifice to be performed, and distributed the -offered oxen among the soldiers. - -Resuming then his march, in the vale of Coronea he met the confederate -army, consisting of the flower of the Bœotian, Athenian, Argive, -Corinthian, Eubœan, Locrian, and Ænian forces. Expecting this formidable -assemblage, he had been attentive to all opportunity for acquiring -addition to his own strength. Some he had gained from the Grecian towns -on his march through Thrace. On the Bœotian border he was joined by the -strength of Phocis, and also of the Bœotian Orchomenos, always inimical -to Thebes. A Lacedæmonian mora had been sent from Peloponnesus to -reinforce him, with half a mora which had been in garrison in Orchomenos. -The numbers of the two armies were thus nearly equal; but the Asiatic -Grecian troops, which made a large part of that under Agesilaus, were -reckoned very inferior to the European. It was in the spirit of the -institutions of Lycurgus that Agesilaus, otherwise simple, even as a -Spartan, in his dress and manner, paid much attention to what our great -dramatic poet has called “the pomp and circumstance of war”; aware how -much it attaches the general mind, gives the soldier to be satisfied with -himself, and binds his fancy to the service he is engaged in. Scarlet or -crimson appears to have been a common uniform of the Greeks, and the army -of Agesilaus appeared, in Xenophon’s phrase, all brass and scarlet. - - -THE BATTLE OF CORONEA - -According to the usual manner of war among the Greeks, when the armies -approached a battle soon followed. On the present occasion both quitted -advantageous ground; Agesilaus moving from the bank of the Cephissus, and -the confederates from the roots of Helicon, to meet in a plain. Perfect -silence was observed by both armies till within nearly a furlong of -each other, when the confederates gave the military shout, and advanced -running. At a somewhat smaller distance the opposite army ran to meet -the charge. The Lacedæmonians, on its right, where Agesilaus took post, -instantly overthrew the Argives, their immediate opponents, who, scarcely -waiting the assault, fled toward Helicon. The Cyreans supported in Greece -the reputation they had acquired in Asia; and were so emulated by the -Ionians, Æolians, and Hellespontines, from whom less was expected, that, -all coming to push of spear together, they compelled the centre of the -confederate army to retreat. The victory seemed so decided that some of -the Asiatics were for paying Agesilaus the usual compliment of crowning -on the occasion; when information was brought him, that the Thebans had -routed the Orchomenians, who held the extreme of his left wing, and had -penetrated to the baggage. Immediately changing his front, he proceeded -toward them. - -The Thebans perceived they were cut off from their allies, who had -already fled far from the field. It was a common practice of the Thebans -to charge in column, directing their assault, not against the whole, but -a chosen point of the enemy’s line. Thus they had gained the battle of -Delium against the Athenians, in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian -War. To such a formation their able leaders had recourse now; resolving -upon the bold attempt to pierce the line of the conquering Lacedæmonians; -not any longer with the hope of victory, but with the view to join their -defeated allies in retreat. Xenophon praises the bravery, evidently not -without meaning some reflection on the judgment, of Agesilaus; who chose -to engage them, he says, front to front, when, if he had opened his line -and given them passage, their flanks and rear would have been exposed to -him. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF ANCIENT WALL, AT CORA - -(With Modern Structure Superimposed)] - -A most fierce conflict ensued. Shield pressed against shield, stroke was -returned for stroke; amid wounds and death no clamour was heard; neither, -says the historian, who accompanied the Spartan king, was there complete -silence, for the mutterings of rage were mixed with the din of weapons. -The perseverance, the discipline, and the skill in arms of the Thebans -were such, and such the force of their solid column, that, after many had -fallen, a part actually pierced the Lacedæmonian line, and reached the -highlands of Helicon; but the greater part, compelled to retreat, were -mostly put to the sword. In this obstinate action Agesilaus was severely -wounded. His attendants were bearing him from the field when a party of -horse came to ask orders concerning about eighty Thebans, who, with their -arms, had reached a temple. Mindful, amid his suffering, of respect due -to the deity, he commanded that liberty should be granted to them to -pass unhurt, whithersoever they pleased. In the philosopher-historian’s -manner of relating this anecdote is implied that, among the Greeks, in -such circumstances, revenge would have prompted an ordinary mind; and, -even in Agesilaus, the generous action is attributed, not to humanity, -but to superstition; not to an opinion of the deity’s regard for mercy -and charity among men, but to the fear, unless it were rather the desire -of inculcating the fear, of his resentment for any want of respectful -attention to himself. When pursuit ended, the victorious army anxiously -employed itself in dragging the enemy’s slain within its own lines: a -remarkable testimony, from the same great writer, to the prevalence -still, in a degree that may surprise us, of that barbarism in war, which -in Homer’s description is striking, though in his age less a matter for -wonder. - -Next morning early the troops were ordered to parade with arms, all -wearing chaplets. Agesilaus himself being unable to attend, the polemarch -Gylis commanded at the ceremony of raising the trophy; which was -performed with all the music of the army playing, and every circumstance -of pomp, that might most inspire, among the soldiery, alacrity and -self-satisfaction. - -Why then no measures were taken to profit from the advantages, which -victory apparently should have laid open, is not shown. The Thebans -sending, in usual form, for permission to bury their dead, a truce was -granted them, evidently for a longer time than for that purpose alone, -could be wanted. Meanwhile the Lacedæmonian army withdrew into Phocis, -a country friendly or neutral, to perform a ceremony to which Grecian -superstition indeed attached much importance, the dedication of the tenth -of the spoil collected by Agesilaus in his Asiatic command. It amounted -to a hundred talents; perhaps something more than twenty thousand pounds. - -After this second triumphal rite the army, committed to the orders of -Gylis, proceeded into the neighbouring hostile province of Ozolian -Locris, where the object seems to have been little more than to collect -plunder, which, according to the Grecian manner, might serve the soldiers -instead of pay. Corn, goods, whatever the rapacious troops could find in -the villages, were taken. The Locrians, unable to prevent the injury, did -nevertheless what they best could to revenge it. Occupying the defiles -which, in returning into Phocis, were necessarily to be repassed, they -gave such annoyance that Gylis was provoked to take the command of a -select body in pursuit of them. - -Entangled among the mountains, he was himself killed, and the whole party -would have been cut off, had not the officers left with the command of -the main body brought seasonable relief. Agesilaus, still from his wounds -unfit for fatigue, passed by sea to Laconia, and the army was distributed -in quarters. - -If any other writer had ever given any authority for the supposition, -we might suspect that Xenophon’s account of the battle of Coronea was -written under the influence of partiality for his friend and patron, and -that the victory was less complete than he has described it.[10] Yet -we are not without information of circumstances which may have given -occasion for the line of conduct which Agesilaus pursued. The defeat of -Cnidus produced a great and rapid revolution in Asiatic Greece. - -And thus the fabric of the Lacedæmonian empire, seemingly so established -by the event of the Peloponnesian War, and since so extended by the -ability of the commanders in Asia, was in large proportion almost -instantly overthrown. - -Most of the principal officers, and many inferior men, of the numerous -Asiatic troops under Agesilaus, would be deeply interested in this -revolution. The principal sources of pay for all would cease; and hence -the plain of Coronea seems to have been the last field of fame for the -Cyreans. We find no mention of them afterwards from Xenophon: apparent -proof that their following fortunes were not brilliant; not such as he -could have any satisfaction in reporting. Probably they dispersed, some -to their homes, some to seek new service, and never more assembled.[b] - - -LAND AFFAIRS OF THE CORINTHIAN WAR - -[Sidenote: [394-392 B.C.]] - -Xenophon was no such student of the accurate arrangement of events as was -Thucydides, and the history recounted hereafter is differently ordered -by different historians; by some the massacre at Corinth is postponed -two years, to 392 B.C. The massacre which Xenophon with his Spartan -sympathies makes so cold-blooded a butchery is by sober historians -credited merely to the government’s anticipation of a similar step on the -part of the opposition.[a] - -Corinth still continued to be the theatre of war. A Lacedæmonian -garrison occupied Sicyon, and made frequent inroads into the Corinthian -territory. The allies of Corinth were well pleased to see themselves -thus exempt from the calamities of war at her expense. But the party -among the Corinthians which, on political grounds, desired to renew -their connection with Sparta, derived new motives from this state of -things to encourage them in their designs; and they began to hold private -meetings to concert measures for restoring peace. Their movements were -observed by their adversaries, who determined to counteract them by one -of those atrocious massacres which so frequently disfigure the pages of -Greek history. We do not know what credit may be due to Xenophon, when -he intimates that all the principal allies of Corinth,--the Argives, -and Bœotians, and Athenians,--had an equal share in the conspiracy, -or whether he is only speaking of the foreign garrison. His horror is -chiefly excited by the impiety of the murderers, who selected a holiday -for the deed, that they might be the more likely to find their enemies -out of doors, and in the execution of their purpose paid no regard to the -most sacred things and places, but stained even the altars and images of -the gods with the blood of their victims. - -Unhappily this was no new excess of party rage: but perhaps few scenes of -this kind had been planned with more ferocious coolness, or accompanied -with a greater number of shocking circumstances; though it must not -be forgotten that it is Xenophon who describes it. Suspicions however -had been previously entertained of the plot by Pasimelus, one of the -persecuted party, and at the time of the tumult a body of the younger -citizens was assembled with him in a place of exercise outside the -walls. They immediately ran up to seize the Acrocorinthus, where they -maintained themselves for a time against the attacks of their enemies. -But an unpropitious omen, probably strengthening the consciousness of -their weakness, made them resolve to withdraw, and to seek safety in -exile. Yet, notwithstanding the impious treachery of their enemies, they -were induced by the persuasions of their friends and relatives, and by -the oaths of the leading men of the opposite party, to abandon this -intention, and return to their homes. - -But their fears for their personal safety had no sooner subsided, than -the state of public affairs again began to appear insupportable, and -they were ready to run any risk for the sake of a change. The opposite -party had gone so far in their enmity to Sparta, or in their zeal for -democracy, as to do their utmost towards establishing a complete unity, -both of civil rights and of territory, between Corinth and Argos. The -land-marks which separated the two states had been removed; so that the -name either of Corinth or of Argos might be applied to the whole. But -since it was Argive influence that had brought about this union, since -the Argive institutions had been adopted, and the Argive franchise -communicated to the Corinthians, the discontented had some reason to -complain, that Corinth had lost her independence and dignity, while -Argos had gained an increase of territory by the transaction. But what -they bore still more impatiently, was the loss of their own rank and -influence, which were totally extinguished by the union; they no longer -enjoyed any exclusive privileges, any rights which they did not share -with the whole Argive-Corinthian commonalty; and this was a franchise -which they valued no more than the condition of an alien. They therefore -resolved on a desperate effort for restoring Corinth to her former -station in Greece, and for recovering their own station in Corinth. - -[Sidenote: [392 B.C.]] - -Pasimelus and Alcimenes took the lead in this enterprise. They obtained -a secret interview with Praxitas, the Spartan commander at Sicyon, -and proposed to admit him and his troops within the walls that joined -Corinth with Lechæum, her port on the western gulf. He knew the men, and -embraced their offer; and at an appointed hour of night came with a mora -of Lacedæmonians, and a body of Sicyonians and of Corinthian exiles, to -a gate where the conspirators had contrived to get themselves placed on -duty. He was introduced without any opposition; but as the space between -the walls was large, and he had brought but a small force with him, he -threw up a slight entrenchment, to secure himself until the succours -which he expected should arrive. During the next day he remained quiet, -and was not attacked; though, besides the garrison of the city, there was -a body of Bœotians behind him at Lechæum. But aid had been summoned from -Argos, and on the day following the Argive forces arrived, and, confident -in their numbers, immediately sought the enemy. They were supported by -their Corinthian partisans, and by a body of mercenaries commanded by -Iphicrates, an Athenian general, who in this war laid the foundation of -his military renown. - -The superiority of the Lacedæmonian troops over the other Greeks, and -the terror they inspired even when they were greatly outnumbered, was -again strikingly manifested in the engagement which ensued. The Argives -forced their way through the entrenchment, and drove the handful of -Sicyonians before them down to the sea. But when the Lacedæmonians came -up, they took to flight, without offering any resistance, and made for -the city. But, meeting with the Corinthian exiles, who had defeated the -mercenaries, and were returning from the pursuit, they were driven back, -and those who did not make their escape by ladders over the wall, were -slaughtered by the Lacedæmonians like a flock of sheep. Lachæum was -taken, and the Bœotian garrison was put to the sword. After his victory -Praxitas was joined by the expected contingents of the allies, and he -made use of them first to demolish the Long Walls, for a space sufficient -to afford a passage for an army. Next, crossing the isthmus, he took and -garrisoned the towns of Sidus and Crommyon. On his return he fortified -the heights of Epieicea, which commanded one of the most important -passes, and then disbanded his army, and returned to Sparta. - -Two important consequences of the long series of hostilities in which -all the Greek states had been engaged now became apparent. The number of -persons who were thrown upon war as a means of subsistence had so much -increased, that the contending powers were able to carry on the struggle -with mercenary troops. Another result of the long practice of war was, -that it had begun to be more and more studied as an art, and cultivated -with new refinements. - -Thus Iphicrates had been led to devote his attention to the improvement -of a branch of the light infantry, which had hitherto been accounted of -little moment in the Greek military system. He had formed a new body -of targeteers, which in some degree combined the peculiar advantages -of the heavy and light troops, and was equally adapted for combat and -pursuit. To attain these objects, he had substituted a linen corslet for -the ancient coat of mail, and had reduced the size of the shield, while -he doubled the length of the spear and the sword. At the head of this -corps he made frequent inroads into Peloponnesus, and in the territory -of Phlius he surprised the forces of the little state in an ambuscade, -and made so great a slaughter of them that the Phliasians were obliged to -admit a Lacedæmonian garrison into their town. But in Arcadia such was -the terror inspired by the troops of Iphicrates, that they were suffered -to plunder the country with impunity, and the Arcadians did not venture -to meet them in the field. On the other hand they were themselves no -less in dread of the Lacedæmonians, who had taught them to keep aloof in -a manner which proved the peculiar excellence of the Spartan military -training. - -A Lacedæmonian _mora_, stationed at Lechæum, accompanied by the -Corinthian exiles, ranged the country round about Corinth without -interruption. Yet it was not able to prevent the Athenians from repairing -the breach which Praxitas had made in the Long Walls, which they regarded -as a barrier that screened Attica from invasion. The whole serviceable -population of Athens, with a company of carpenters and masons, sallied -forth to the isthmus, and having restored the western wall in a few days, -completed the other at their leisure. Their work, however, was destroyed -in the course of the same summer by Agesilaus, on his return from an -expedition which he had made into Argolis, for the purpose of letting -the Argives taste the fruits of the war which they had helped to stir, -and were most forward to keep up. After having carried his ravages into -every part of their territory, he marched to Corinth, stormed the newly -repaired walls, and recovered Lechæum. Here he met his brother Teleutias, -who, through his influence, which in this case was better exerted than -in that of Pisander, had been appointed to the command of the fleet, and -having come with a small squadron to support his operations, made some -prizes in the harbour and the docks. - -[Sidenote: [392-391 B.C.]] - -But the appearance of Teleutias in the Corinthian Gulf was connected with -other events, more important than any which took place in Peloponnesus -after the return of Agesilaus from Asia. That we exhibit them in an -uninterrupted series, together with their consequences, we shall follow -Xenophon’s order, and return to them after having briefly related how the -war was carried on in Greece, in the campaigns which ensued down to its -close. - -In the spring of 392, Agesilaus made a fresh expedition for the purpose -of bringing the Corinthians to terms, by cutting off one of their chief -resources, the fortress of Piræum, at the foot of Mount Geranea on the -western gulf. The captures and the booty were brought out, and passed in -review before Agesilaus, as he sat in an adjacent building on the margin -of a small lake. His triumph was heightened by the presence of envoys -from various states, among the rest from Thebes, where the party which -desired peace had succeeded in procuring an embassy to be sent for the -purpose of ascertaining the terms which Sparta would grant. Agesilaus, -the more fully to enjoy their humiliation, affected to take no notice of -their presence, while Pharax, their proxenus, stood by him, waiting for -an opportunity to present them. Just at this juncture a horseman came -up, his horse covered with foam, and informed the king of a disaster -which had just befallen the garrison of Lechæum, the loss of almost a -whole mora, which had been intercepted and cut off by Iphicrates and his -targeteers. The action was in itself so trifling, that it would scarcely -have deserved mention, but for the importance attached to it at the time, -and the celebrity which it retained for many generations. - -After all, the whole loss of the Lacedæmonians amounted to no more than -250 men. Yet it produced a degree of consternation and dejection on the -one side, and of exultation on the other, which is significant in the -same proportion that the disaster appears to us slight and the exploit -inconsiderable. - -Nothing more clearly shows the weakness of Sparta and the power of her -name than the importance attributed both by herself and by her enemies -to this petty affair. Agesilaus, having accomplished the object of his -expedition, now set out homeward. He took with him the remnant of the -defeated mora, leaving another in its room at Lechæum. But his march -through Peloponnesus was like that of the Roman army on its return from -the Caudine Forks. He would only enter the towns, where he was forced to -rest, as late as he could in the evening, and left them again at break -of day. At Mantinea, though it was dark when he reached it, he would not -stop at all, that his men might not have to endure the insulting joy of -their ill-affected allies. On the other hand Iphicrates was emboldened by -his success to aim at fresh advantages; and he recovered Sidus, Crommyon, -and Œnoe, where Agesilaus had left a garrison. - -His achievement so terrorised the Corinthian exiles at Sicyon, that -they no longer ventured to repeat their marauding excursions by land, -but crossed over the gulf, and landed near Corinth, where they saw -opportunity of giving annoyance. Even in later times the destruction of -the Lacedæmonian mora, 250 men, continued to be mentioned as the great -military action of his life, and was not thought unworthy to be named in -the same page with Marathon and Platæa. - -It is not improbable that this victory of Iphicrates was attended with -another result, which Xenophon has not thought fit to notice. It seems -not only to have prevented the Theban envoys from discharging their -commission, but to have put a stop to a negotiation which was proceeding -at the same time between Athens and Sparta, after it had reached a very -advanced stage. Minute as these occurrences are, they are perhaps, both -in themselves and for the impression they produced, the most momentous -that took place in Greece before the end of the war. We should have been -glad indeed to know a little more of the causes which withdrew Iphicrates -from this scene of action shortly after his victory: for they would -perhaps have thrown some light on the internal state of Corinth. But -Xenophon only informs us that he was dismissed by the Argives, after he -had put to death some Corinthians of their party; from what motive and on -what pretext we do not learn, nor does it appear whether this transaction -had any influence on the relations between Athens and Argos. - -[Sidenote: [391-390 B.C.]] - -In the year following no military operations seem to have taken place -in Peloponnesus, except the petty combats or alternate inroads between -Sicyon and Corinth, which Xenophon himself does not think worth more -than a general notice. But the arms of Agesilaus were turned against -Acarnania, where he displayed his usual ability, and established the -Spartan supremacy almost without bloodshed. An Athenian squadron was -lying at Œniadæ, to intercept him, if, as was expected, he should attempt -to cross the gulf from any part of the coast immediately below Calydon. -To avoid it he marched to Rhium through the heart of Ætolia, by roads -along which, Xenophon observes, no army, great or small, could have -passed without the consent of the Ætolians. They permitted his passage, -because they hoped to be aided by his influence in recovering Naupactus. -At Rhium he crossed the straits, and returned home. - -The event proved the policy of the moderation which he had shown against -the wish of his allies. The next spring, as he was preparing for a second -invasion of Acarnania, the Acarnanians, alarmed by the prospect of again -losing a harvest, on which the subsistence of the people, who were but -little conversant with arts or commerce, mainly depended, sent envoys to -Sparta to treat for peace, and submitted to the terms which Agesilaus -had dictated. The same year his young colleague Agesipolis, who had now -reached his majority, was entrusted with the command of an expedition -against Argos. The expedition yielded no fruits but the plunder, with -which he returned to Sparta. In the meanwhile, through the ambition of -Sparta and the patriotic efforts of Conon, Athens had been enabled to -take some great steps towards securing her independence, and recovering a -part at least of her ancient power.[e] - -[Illustration: GREEK DOOR KEYS] - - -THE GREAT DEEDS OF CONON - -Three great battles had been fought in little more than the space of a -month (July and August)--those of Corinth, Cnidus, and Coronea: the first -and third on land, the second at sea. In each of the two land-battles -the Lacedæmonians had gained a victory: they remained masters of the -field, and were solicited by the enemy to grant the burial-truce. But if -we inquire what results these victories had produced, the answer must be -that both were totally barren. Even the narrative of Xenophon, deeply -coloured as it is both by his sympathies and his antipathies, indicates -to us that the predominant impression carried off by every one from the -field of Coronea was that of the tremendous force and obstinacy of the -Theban hoplites--a foretaste of what was to come at Leuctra! - -If the two land-victories of Sparta were barren of results, the case -was far otherwise with her naval defeat at Cnidus. That defeat was -pregnant with consequences following in rapid succession, and of the -most disastrous character. As with Athens at Ægospotami--the loss of -her fleet, serious as that was, served only as the signal for countless -following losses. Pharnabazus and Conon, with their victorious fleet, -sailed from island to island, and from one continental seaport to -another, in the Ægean, to expel the Lacedæmonian harmosts, and terminate -the empire of Sparta. So universal was the odium which it had inspired, -that the task was found easy beyond expectation. Conscious of their -unpopularity, the harmosts in almost all the towns, on both sides of -the Hellespont, deserted their posts and fled, on the mere news of the -battle of Cnidus. Everywhere Pharnabazus and Conon found themselves -received as liberators, and welcomed with presents of hospitality. They -pledged themselves not to introduce any foreign force or governor, nor -to fortify any separate citadel, but to guarantee to each city its own -genuine autonomy. This policy was adopted by Pharnabazus at the urgent -representation of Conon, who warned him that if he manifested any design -of reducing the cities to subjection, he would find them all his enemies; -that each of them severally would cost him a long siege; and that a -combination would ultimately be formed against him. Such liberal and -judicious ideas, when seen to be sincerely acted upon, produced a strong -feeling of friendship and even of gratitude, so that the Lacedæmonian -maritime empire was dissolved without a blow, by the almost spontaneous -movements of the cities themselves. Though the victorious fleet presented -itself in many different places, it was nowhere called upon to put down -resistance, or to undertake a single siege. Cos, Nisyrus, Teos, Chios, -Erythræ, Ephesus, Mytilene, Samos, all declared themselves independent, -under the protection of the new conquerors. Pharnabazus presently -disembarked at Ephesus and marched by land northward to his own satrapy, -leaving a fleet of forty triremes under the command of Conon. - -[Sidenote: [394-393 B.C.]] - -To this general burst of anti-Spartan feeling, Abydos, on the Asiatic -side of the Hellespont, formed the solitary exception; and it happened -by a fortunate accident for Sparta that the able and experienced -Dercyllidas was harmost in the town at the moment of the battle of -Cnidus. Dercyllidas assembled the Abydenes, heartened them up against the -reigning contagion, and exhorted them to earn the gratitude of Sparta by -remaining faithful to her while others were falling off; assuring them -that she would still be found capable of giving them protection. His -exhortations were listened to with favour. Abydos remained attached to -Sparta, was put in a good state of defence, and became the only harbour -of safety for the fugitive harmosts out of the other cities, Asiatic and -European. - -Dercyllidas maintained his position effectively both at Abydos and at -Sestos; defying the requisition of Pharnabazus that he should forthwith -evacuate them. The satrap threatened war, and actually ravaged the -lands round Abydos; but without any result. His wrath against the -Lacedæmonians, already considerable, was so aggravated by disappointment -when he found that he could not yet expel them from his satrapy, that he -resolved to act against them with increased energy, and even to strike a -blow at them near their own home. For this purpose he transmitted orders -to Conon to prepare a commanding naval force for the ensuing spring, and -in the meantime to keep both Abydos and Sestos under blockade. - -As soon as spring arrived, Pharnabazus embarked on board a powerful fleet -equipped by Conon; directing his course to Melos, to various islands -among the Cyclades, and lastly to the coast of Peloponnesus. They here -spent some time on the coast of Laconia and Messenia, disembarking -at several points to ravage the country. They next landed on the -island of Cythera, which they captured, granting safe retirement to -the Lacedæmonian garrison, and leaving in the island a garrison under -the Athenian Nicophemus. Quitting then the harbourless, dangerous, -and ill-provided coast of Laconia, they sailed up the Saronic Gulf to -the Isthmus of Corinth. Here they found the confederates--Corinthian, -Bœotian, Athenian, etc.--carrying on war, with Corinth as their central -post, against the Lacedæmonians at Sicyon. The line across the isthmus -from Lechæum to Cenchreæ (the two ports of Corinth) was now made good -by a defensive system of operations, so as to confine the Lacedæmonians -within Peloponnesus; just as Athens, prior to her great losses in 446 -B.C., while possessing both Megara and Pegæ, had been able to maintain -the inland road midway between them, where it crosses the high and -difficult crest of Mount Geranea, thus occupying the only three roads by -which a Lacedæmonian army could march from the Isthmus of Corinth into -Attica or Bœotia. Pharnabazus communicated in the most friendly manner -with the allies, assured them of his strenuous support against Sparta, -and left with them a considerable sum of money. - -The appearance of a Persian satrap with a Persian fleet, as master of the -Peloponnesian Sea and the Saronic Gulf, was a phenomenon astounding to -Grecian eyes. And if it was not equally offensive to Grecian sentiment, -this was in itself a melancholy proof of the degree to which Panhellenic -patriotism had been stifled by the Peloponnesian War and the Spartan -empire. No Persian tiara had been seen near the Saronic Gulf since the -battle of Salamis; nor could anything short of the intense personal wrath -of Pharnabazus against the Lacedæmonians, and his desire to revenge upon -them the damage inflicted by Dercyllidas and Agesilaus, have brought him -now as far away from his own satrapy. It was this wrathful feeling of -which Conon took advantage to procure from him a still more important -boon. - -Since 404 B.C., a space of eleven years, Athens had continued without -any walls round her seaport town Piræus, and without any Long Walls -to connect her city with Piræus. To this state she had been condemned -by the sentence of her enemies, in the full knowledge that she could -have little trade--few ships either armed or mercantile--poor defence -even against pirates, and no defence at all against aggression from the -mistress of the sea. Conon now entreated Pharnabazus, who was about to -go home, to leave the fleet under his command, and to permit him to use -it in rebuilding the fortifications of Piræus as well as the Long Walls -of Athens. While he engaged to maintain the fleet by contributions from -the islands, he assured the satrap that no blow could be inflicted upon -Sparta so destructive or so mortifying, as the renovation of Athens and -Piræus with their complete and connected fortifications. Sparta would -thus be deprived of the most important harvest which she had reaped from -the long struggle of the Peloponnesian War. Indignant as he now was -against the Lacedæmonians, Pharnabazus sympathised cordially with these -plans, and on departing not only left the fleet under the command of -Conon, but also furnished him with a considerable sum of money towards -the expense of the fortifications. - - -CONON REBUILDS THE LONG WALLS - -[Sidenote: [393 B.C.]] - -Conon betook himself to the work energetically and without delay. He had -quitted Athens in 407 B.C., as one of the joint admirals nominated after -the disgrace of Alcibiades. He had parted with his countrymen finally -at the catastrophe of Ægospotami in 405 B.C., preserving the miserable -fraction of eight or nine ships out of that noble fleet which otherwise -would have passed entire into the hands of Lysander. He now returned, in -393 B.C., as a second Themistocles, the deliverer of his country, and -the restorer of her lost strength and independence. All hands were set -to work; carpenters and masons being hired with the funds furnished by -Pharnabazus, to complete the fortifications as quickly as possible. The -Bœotians and other neighbours lent their aid zealously as volunteers--the -same who eleven years before had danced to the sound of joyful music -when the former walls were demolished; so completely had the feelings -of Greece altered since that period. By such hearty co-operation, the -work was finished during the course of the present summer and autumn -without any opposition; and Athens enjoyed again her fortified Piræus -and harbour, with a pair of long walls, straight and parallel, joining -it securely to the city. The Athenian people not only inscribed on a -pillar a public vote gratefully recording the exploits of Conon, but also -erected a statue to his honour. - -The importance of this event in reference to the future history of -Athens was unspeakable. Though it did not restore to her either her -former navy, or her former empire, it reconstituted her as a city not -only self-determining but even partially ascendant. It reanimated her, -if not into the Athens of Pericles, at least into that of Isocrates and -Demosthenes: it imparted to her a second fill of strength, dignity, and -commercial importance, during the half century destined to elapse before -she was finally overwhelmed by the superior military force of Macedon. -Those who recollect the extraordinary stratagem whereby Themistocles had -contrived (eighty-five years before) to accomplish the fortification -of Athens, in spite of the base but formidable jealousy of Sparta and -her Peloponnesian allies, will be aware how much the consummation of -the Themistoclean project had depended upon accident. Now, also, Conon -in his restoration was favoured by unusual combinations such as no one -could have predicted. So strangely did events run, that the energy, by -which Dercyllidas preserved Abydos, brought upon Sparta, indirectly, the -greater mischief of the new Cononian walls. It would have been better -for Sparta that Pharnabazus should at once have recovered Abydos as well -as the rest of his satrapy; in which case he would have had no wrongs -remaining unavenged to incense him, and would have kept on his own side -of the Ægean; feeding Conon with a modest squadron sufficient to keep the -Lacedæmonian navy from again becoming formidable on the Asiatic side, but -leaving the walls of Piræus (if we may borrow an expression of Plato) “to -continue asleep in the bosom of the earth.” - -[Illustration: REMAINS OF A GREAT WALL AT MESSENE] - -The presence of Pharnabazus and Conon with their commanding force in -the Saronic Gulf, and the liberality with which the former furnished -pecuniary aid to the latter for rebuilding the full fortifications -of Athens, as well as to the Corinthians for the prosecution of the -war--seem to have given preponderance to the confederates over Sparta -for that year. The plans of Conon were extensive. He was the first -to organise, for the defence of Corinth, a mercenary force which was -afterwards improved and conducted with greater efficiency by Iphicrates; -and after he had finished the fortifications of Piræus with the Long -Walls, he employed himself in showing his force among the islands, for -the purpose of laying the foundations of renewed maritime power for -Athens.[f] - -While this work was proceeding, the Corinthians, with the subsidy they -had received, fitted out a squadron, with which their admiral Agathinus -scoured the Corinthian Gulf. The Spartans sent Polemarchus with some -galleys to oppose him: but their commander was soon after slain, and -Pollis, who took his place, was compelled by a wound which he received in -another engagement, to resign it to Herippidas. Herippidas seems to have -driven the Corinthians from their station at Rhium: and Teleutias, who -succeeded him, recovered the complete mastery of the gulf, and was thus -enabled, as we have seen, to co-operate with Agesilaus at Lechæum. - - -THE EMBASSY OF ANTALCIDAS - -[Sidenote: [393-390 B.C.]] - -But this partial success did not diminish the alarm with which the -Spartan government viewed the operations of Conon, who was proceeding -to restore the Athenian dominion on the coasts and in the islands of -the Ægean. It perceived that it was necessary to change its policy with -regard to the court of Persia, and for the present at least to drop -the design of conquest in Asia, and to confine itself to the object of -counteracting the efforts of the Athenians, and establishing its own -supremacy among the European Greeks. And it did not despair of making the -Persian court subservient to these ends. For this purpose Antalcidas, a -dexterous politician of Lysander’s school, was sent to Tiribazus, who was -now occupying the place of Tithraustes in Western Asia, to negotiate a -peace. His mission awakened the apprehensions of the hostile confederacy; -and envoys [including Conon] were sent from Athens, Bœotia, Corinth, and -Argos, to defeat his attempts, and to support the interests of the allies -at the satrap’s court. Antalcidas however made proposals highly agreeable -to Tiribazus, and accompanied them with arguments which convinced the -satrap that his master’s interest perfectly coincided with that of -Sparta. He renounced all claim on the part of his government to the Greek -cities in Asia, and was willing that they should remain subject to the -king’s authority. For the islands, and the other towns, he asked nothing -but independence. Thus, he observed, no motive for war between Greece and -Persia would be left. The king could gain nothing by it, and would have -no reason to fear either Athens or Sparta, so long as the other Greek -states remained independent. Tiribazus was perfectly satisfied, but had -not authority to close with these overtures, at least against the will of -the states which were at present in alliance with his master; and they -refused to accede to a treaty on these terms. - -But, though the satrap did not venture openly to enter into alliance with -Sparta without his master’s consent, he did not scruple privately to -supply Antalcidas with money for the purpose of raising a navy to carry -on the war with the states which were still acknowledged as allies of -Persia: and having drawn Conon to Sardis, he threw him into prison, on -the pretext that he had abused his trust, and had employed the king’s -forces for the aggrandisement of Athens. He then repaired to court -to report his proceedings and to consult the royal pleasure. It was -perhaps rather through some court intrigue, or vague suspicion, than -a deliberate purpose of adopting a line of policy opposite to that of -Tiribazus, that Artaxerxes detained him at court, and sent Struthas down -to fill his place. Struthas had perhaps witnessed the Asiatic campaigns -of Agesilaus, and could not all at once get rid of the impression that -the Spartans were his master’s most formidable enemies. He therefore -immediately made known his intention of siding with the Athenians and -their allies. - -The Spartan government, perhaps too hastily, concluding that their -prospect of amicable dealings with Persia was now quite closed, -determined to renew hostilities in Asia, and sent Thimbron--apparently -the same officer whom we have already seen commanding there, and who had -been fined on his return to Sparta for misconduct--to invade the king’s -territory. Struthas took advantage of his failings, and, one day that he -had gone out at the head of a small party to attack some of the Persian -cavalry who had been purposely thrown in his way, suddenly appeared with -a superior force, slew him, and a flute-player named Thersander, the -favourite companion of his convivial hours, and defeated the rest of -his army, as it came up after him, with great slaughter. Diphridas was -sent from Sparta to collect the scattered remains of his army, and to -raise fresh troops, to defend the allied cities, and carry on the war -with Struthas. Teleutias was ordered to sail to Asia with the twelve -galleys which he had with him in the Corinthian Gulf, to supersede -Ecdicus, and to prosecute the war, in Rhodes or elsewhere, as he found -opportunity. His first adventure, after he had taken the command at -Cnidus, illustrates the complicated relations and the unsettled state of -Greek politics at this period. Teleutias, whose force had been raised, by -some additions which it received at Samos, to seven-and-twenty galleys, -on his way from Cnidus to Rhodes, fell in with a squadron of ten, sent by -the Athenians to aid Evagoras, who had revolted from the king of Persia, -their ally, and the enemy of Sparta, whose admiral nevertheless destroyed -or captured the whole. - -[Sidenote: [390-388 B.C.]] - -The Athenians now thought it necessary to interpose in defence of their -Rhodian friends, and sent Thrasybulus--the hero of Phyle--with forty -galleys to check the operations of Teleutias. He thought that he might -render more important services to the commonwealth in the north of the -Ægean, and the Hellespont, where he would have no enemy to encounter on -the sea. Sailing therefore first to the coast of Thrace, he composed the -feud of the two Odrysian princes, Amadocus and Seuthes, and engaged them -both in a treaty of alliance with Athens. He proceeded to Byzantium, and, -throwing his weight into the scale of the democratical party, established -its predominance, and with it that of the Athenian interest; and he -was thus enabled to restore a main source of the Athenian revenue, the -duty of a tenth on vessels coming out of the Euxine. Before he quitted -the Bosporus, he also brought over Chalcedon to the Athenian alliance. -Thrasybulus now reduced several of the Lesbian towns, and collected much -plunder from the lands of those which refused to submit. He then prepared -to return to Rhodes; but first sailed eastward to levy contributions on -the southern coast of Asia. Here his career was abruptly terminated. He -anchored in the Eurymedon near Aspendus, where he obtained a supply of -money. But the Aspendians fell upon him by night, and killed him in his -tent. Xenophon’s remark, that he died with the reputation of a very good -man, may be admitted as sufficient proof that the great services he had -rendered to his country were not his only claim to the esteem of his -contemporaries, and that the suspicions excited against him were wholly -unfounded. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF OLYMPIAN JOVE] - -The flourishing condition to which Thrasybulus had restored the affairs -of Athens in the Hellespont, excited uneasiness at Sparta. Anaxibius -obtained three galleys, and a grant of money sufficient to raise one -thousand mercenaries. On his arrival in the Hellespont he waged a -successful war with the neighbouring towns, subject to Pharnabazus, or -allied to Athens, and did much damage to the Athenian commerce. The -Athenians were at length induced to send Iphicrates, with eight galleys -and about twelve hundred targeteers, mostly those who had served under -him at Corinth, to counteract the movements of Anaxibius. Anaxibius was -surprised by an ambush. He bade his men seek their safety in flight; for -himself, he said, his part was to die there; and, calling for his shield, -fought until he fell, with a few of his Spartan companions. The rest fled -in disorder to Abydos with the loss of about 250 men. - -Notwithstanding the successes of the Athenians in the Hellespont the -enemy found means of annoying and threatening them at home. They had -hitherto maintained a peaceful intercourse with Ægina; but the Spartans -now resolved to make use of the island for the purpose of infesting the -coasts of Attica. Teleutias was soon after superseded by Hierax, the new -Spartan admiral, and returned home. Hierax sailed to Rhodes, leaving -Gorgopas, his vice-admiral, with twelve galleys at Ægina. The Athenians -in the fort were soon reduced to greater straits than the Æginetans in -the city; and, in the fifth month after their arrival, a strong squadron -was sent out from Athens to carry them home. In the meanwhile the Spartan -government had resumed its project of attaining its object by means of -negotiation, and once more sent out Antalcidas, as the person whose -influence with Tiribazus would open the readiest access to the Persian -court, as admiral in the room of Hierax. Antalcidas was escorted to -Ephesus by Gorgopas and his squadron, and on his arrival sent Gorgopas -with ten galleys back to Ægina. The remainder of the fleet which joined -him at Ephesus, he placed under the command of his lieutenant Nicolochus, -while he himself proceeded on more important business to the court of -Artaxerxes. - -Gorgopas on his return fell in with the Athenian squadron under Eunomus, -and was chased by him into the port of Ægina, where he arrived a little -before sunset. Eunomus sailed away soon after dark, with a light in the -stern of his galley, to keep his squadron together. Gorgopas, whose men -in the meanwhile had landed and refreshed themselves, now embarked again, -and pushed across the gulf in the enemy’s wake, guided by his light, with -every precaution for suppressing or weakening the usual sounds of galleys -in motion. At Cape Zoster, as the Athenians were landing, the silence -of the night was broken by the sound of the trumpet, and after a short -engagement by moonlight, Gorgopas captured four of their galleys; the -rest made their escape into Piræus. But not long after, Chabrias, having -been sent with a squadron of ten galleys and eight hundred targeteers to -the aid of Evagoras, landed by night on Ægina, and posted his targeteers -in an ambush. The next day, according to a preconcerted plan, a body of -heavy-armed infantry which had come over with him under the command of -Demænetus, advanced into the interior of the island. Gorgopas marched -to meet them with all the forces he could muster, and passing by the -ambuscade was routed and fell in the action, with some other Spartans and -between three and four hundred of the other troops. By this victory the -Attic commerce was for a time freed from annoyance; for though Eteonicus -still remained in Ægina, he had no money to pay the seamen, and therefore -could exert no authority. - -[Sidenote: [388-387 B.C.]] - -In this emergency Teleutias was sent to take the command. His arrival was -hailed with delight by the men, who had already served under him, and -expected an immediate supply of pay. He however called them together, and -informed them that he had brought no money with him, and that they had -no resource to look to for the relief of their necessities, but their -own activity and courage. It was best that they should not depend for -subsistence upon the favour either of Greek or barbarian, but should -provide for themselves at the enemy’s expense. The men expressed entire -confidence in his guidance, and promised to obey all his commands. That -very night, after they had ended their evening meal, he ordered them to -embark with a day’s provision, and with twelve galleys crossed the gulf -towards Piræus. When they were within about half a mile of the harbour, -they rested till daybreak, and then sailed in. He gave orders to strike -none but the ships of war which might be lying in the harbour, to capture -as many merchant vessels as could be conveniently taken in tow, and to -carry away as many prisoners as could be taken from the rest. Not only -were these orders executed with alacrity and success, but some of his -men, landing on the quay, seized some of the merchants and shipowners -who were assembled there, and hurried them on board. While the military -force of Athens marched down to the relief of Piræus, which was supposed -to have been taken, he made his retreat from the harbour, sent three or -four of his galleys with the prizes to Ægina, and with the rest proceeded -along the coast as far as Sunium. He made the more captures on his way, -as his squadron, having been seen to issue from the port of Athens, was -believed to be friendly. At Sunium he found a number of vessels laden -with corn, and other valuable cargoes, with which he sailed away to -Ægina. The produce of this adventure yielded a month’s pay to the men, -raised their spirits, and increased their devotion for their commander, -who continued to employ them in this predatory warfare: the only kind to -which his small force was adequate. - -The Athenians however still retained the ascendency in the Hellespont, -where Nicolochus, who after the departure of Antalcidas had sailed -northward with five-and-twenty galleys, was blockaded at Abydos by an -Athenian squadron of two and thirty, which was stationed on the opposite -coast of the Chersonesus, under the command of Diotimus and Iphicrates. -But the aspect of affairs was completely changed by the arrival of -Antalcidas, who returned in 387 with Tiribazus from the Persian court, -where he had been treated with marks of distinguished favour by -Artaxerxes, and had fully succeeded in the main object of his mission, -having prevailed on the king to aid Sparta in carrying on the war, until -the Athenians and their allies should accept a peace to be dictated in -the king’s name on terms previously arranged between him and the Spartan -ambassador. Being informed of the situation of Nicolochus, he proceeded -by land to Abydos, and took the command of the blockaded squadron, with -which he sailed out in the night. Additions raised his fleet to eighty -sail, and gave him the complete command of the sea, so that he was -enabled to divert the commerce of the Euxine from Athens into the ports -of the allies of Sparta. - -The Athenians now saw themselves not only exposed to constant annoyance -from Ægina, but in danger of falling again under the power of the enemy, -and losing all the benefit of Conon’s victory. They were therefore -heartily desirous of an honourable peace. Most of the other states were -probably still more anxious for the termination of a contest from which -they could expect no advantage. When therefore Tiribazus, in his master’s -name, summoned a congress of deputies to listen to the proposals which he -was commissioned to announce, all the belligerents readily sent their -ministers to attend it. In the presence of this assembly Tiribazus, -having shown the royal seal, read his master’s decree, which ran in the -following imperial style: - -“King Artaxerxes thinks it right that the Greek cities in Asia, and the -islands of Clazomenæ and Cyprus, should belong to himself; but that all -the other Greek cities, both small and great, should be left independent, -with the exception of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, and that these should -as of old belong to the Athenians. If any state refuse to accept this -peace, I will make war against it, with those who consent to these terms, -by land and by sea, with ships and with money.” - - -THE KING’S PEACE - -[Sidenote: [387-386 B.C.]] - -The treaty founded on these conditions was ratified by all the parties -almost without opposition. A little delay arose from the Thebans, who -were reluctant to part with the sovereignty they had hitherto exercised -over many of the Bœotian towns, and wished, for the sake of at least -retaining their pretensions, to ratify in the name of all the other -Bœotians. But Agesilaus, who was charged to receive the oath of their -ministers, refused to accept it in this form, and required them strictly -to conform to the Persian ordinance, and expressly to acknowledge the -independence of all other states. One impediment to the general peace -still remained. The governments of Corinth and Argos did not consider -themselves bound by the treaty to alter the relations which had hitherto -subsisted between them; and it was only when Agesilaus threatened them -with war, that they consented, the one to dismiss, and the other to -withdraw, the Argive garrison from Corinth. Its departure was attended by -an immediate reaction in the state of the Corinthian parties. The authors -of the massacre, knowing themselves to be generally odious to their -fellow citizens, thought themselves no longer safe at home, and left the -city. Most of them found refuge at Athens, where they met with a much -more honourable reception than they deserved. The exiles of the opposite -faction were recalled; and their return dissolved the union with Argos, -and restored the influence of Sparta, and the oligarchical institutions. - -This treaty, which was long celebrated under the name of the Peace of -Antalcidas, was undoubtedly a masterpiece of policy, nor does it appear -to deserve the censure which it incurred from the Attic orators and from -Plutarch, and which has been repeated by some modern writers, as a breach -of political morality. Sparta in her transactions with Persia during -the Peloponnesian War, had more than once acknowledged the title of the -Persian king to the dominion of the Asiatic Greeks; she had never pledged -herself to maintain their independence; and even if she had done so, -the revival of the maritime power of Athens, and its union with that of -Persia, would have afforded a fair plea for receding from an engagement -which she was no longer able to fulfil. The clause in favour of Athens -was perhaps only designed to excite jealousy and discord between Athens -and the hated Bœotians. It has been attributed to a deeper policy; it -has been considered as a device, by which Sparta reserved a pretext for -eluding the conditions of the treaty which she rigorously enforced in the -case of other states. But it is doubtful whether the exception expressly -made concerning the three islands which Athens was allowed to retain, -could have been needed, or if needful could have availed, as a colour -under which Sparta, while she stripped Thebes of her sovereignty in -Bœotia, might keep possession of Messenia and the subject districts of -Laconia. Sparta did not permit a question to be raised on this point. She -was constituted the interpreter of the treaty; she expounded it by the -rule, not of reason, but of might, with the sword in hand, and the power -of Persia at her back.[e] - -This momentous treaty, which is sometimes called the Peace of Antalcidas -after its chief Grecian agent, is nowadays more commonly called the -King’s Peace, and wisely, since it was the king who chiefly profited by -it. Thirlwall, who can always be relied upon to take an impartial view -of the question, says of it: “And thus the Peace of Antalcidas, which -professed to establish the independence of the Greek states, subjected -them more than ever to the will of one. It was not in this respect only -that appearances were contrary to the real state of things. The position -of Sparta, though seemingly strong, was artificial and precarious; while -the majestic attitude in which the Persian king dictated terms to Greece, -disguised a profound consciousness, that his throne subsisted only by -sufferance, and that its best security was the disunion of the people -with whom he assumed so lordly an air.” Niebuhr, to whom the Spartans -were almost always hypocrites, has this to say: “Painful as this peace -was to the feelings of the Greeks, who were obliged to leave the dominion -over their countrymen to barbarians, yet the hypocrisy of the Spartans, -who, by this peace, allowed the Persians to interfere in the internal -affairs of Greece, was worse.” - -Grote, whose history is a glowing brief for Athens, the type of -democracy, as against Sparta, the type of oligarchy, cannot be expected -to approve of an agreement leading to such degradation for the Athenians, -as well as for all the Greek world. He says: “The peace or convention, -which bears the name of Antalcidas, was an incident of serious and -mournful import in Grecian history. Its true character cannot be better -described than in a brief remark and reply which we find cited in -Plutarch. ‘Alas, for Hellas (observed some one to Agesilaus) when we see -our Laconians _medising_!’ ‘Nay (replied the Spartan king), say rather -the Medes _laconising_.’ These two propositions do not exclude each -other. Both were perfectly true. The convention emanated from a separate -partnership between Spartan and Persian interests. It was solicited by -the Spartan Antalcidas, and propounded by him to Tiribazus on the express -ground that it was exactly calculated to meet the Persian king’s purposes -and wishes, as we learn even from the philo-Laconian Xenophon. While -Sparta and Persia were both great gainers, no other Grecian state gained -anything as the convention was originally framed.” - -George W. Cox, in his _General History of Greece_, recognises in the -treaty a humiliation for Sparta as well as for the rest of Greece, since -the peace was not drawn up in the form of an agreement, but rather forced -upon Greece by the edict of Persia. It was indeed a fiat “sent down from -Susa,” like another royal decree to the subjects whom the Persian king -looked down upon with oriental disdain. Cox writes thus fervidly: - -“The Persian king chose to regard the acceptance of the peace by the -Spartans as an act of submission not less significant than the offering -of earth and water. In the disgrace which it involved the one was as -ignominious as the other; but Sparta had now not even the poor excuse -which long ago she had put forward for calling in the aid of the -barbarian. She was no longer struggling for self-preservation. In short, -by Sparta the Peace of Antalcidas was adopted with the settled resolution -to divide and govern; and all of those of her acts, which might seem at -first sight to have a different meaning, carry out in every instance -this golden rule of despotism. It was the curse of the Hellenic race, -and the ruin ultimately of Sparta itself, that this maxim flattered -an instinct which they had cherished with blind obstinacy, until it -became their bane. But for Sparta, the consolidation of the Athenian -empire would long ago have restrained this self-isolating sentiment -within its proper limits. In theory the Spartans by enforcing the Peace -of Antalcidas restored to the several Greek states the absolute power -of managing their own affairs, and of making war upon one another. In -practice Sparta was resolved that their armies should move only at her -dictation, that into her treasury should flow the tribute, the gathering -of which was denounced as the worst crime of imperial Athens, and that in -the government of the oligarchical factions she should have the strongest -material guarantee for the absolute submission of the Greek cities. To -secure this result the Hellenic states of Lesser Asia were abandoned to -the tender mercies of Persian tax-gatherers, and left to feel the full -bitterness of the slavery from which Athens had rescued them some ninety -years ago.” - -An outcome which none could have foreseen from the acceptance of this -humiliating title-deed to Grecian independence was the sudden and -rocket-like rise of the city of Thebes, a city which had heretofore been -a second-or third-rate town chiefly distinguished for being on the wrong -side of Hellenic questions. Thebes is now about to break forth into flame -with a fire-brand named Epaminondas, one of the noblest and most splendid -names in all the glitter of Grecian history.[a] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[9] [This statement of Xenophon is, according to Grote, either a -mis-reading or a wild exaggeration. Diodorus says that the Spartans lost -1100; the allies 2800.] - -[10] [On this point Bury says: “Though the battle of Coronea, like the -battle of Corinth, was a technical victory for the Spartans, history must -here again offer her congratulations to the side which was superficially -defeated.… It was a great moral encouragement to Thebes for future warfare -with Lacedæmon.”] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: GREEK PINS AND BUCKLE - -(In the British Museum)] - - - - -CHAPTER XLIV. THE RISE OF THEBES - - -The brilliant expansion of the power of Sparta after the King’s Peace -is intimately connected with the name of Agesilaus. Therefore in order -rightly to understand the significance and the results of the Peace of -Antalcidas, we must first form some idea of the tendencies and political -position of this eminent man. Nothing but a just appreciation of his -personality will suffice to keep us from tossing rudderless between the -Scylla and Charybdis of diametrically opposite views of the object of the -peace, and of Sparta’s policy at that period. - -Agesilaus was from the outset the typical representative of the Sparta -of his time. All his thoughts and energies had their root in his own -state alone, and to exalt this state to the position of the first power -in the world, to gain for it the hegemony of Hellenic affairs, was his -object, as it was the object of the whole contemporary policy of Sparta. -To this end he laboured with admirable consistency through all his long -life, from his first campaign in Asia to his expedition into Egypt, and -all his acts, whether as a victorious monarch or an adventurous leader -of mercenaries, were directed to one end--to vindicate the authority of -Sparta. And when this end could not be attained by force of arms he was -equal to compassing it by diplomatic moves. Hence it is certain that the -Peace of Antalcidas was not concluded without his knowledge and consent, -even if circumstances rendered it desirable for him to keep in the -background during the negotiations in Asia. - -Lacedæmon found herself incapable of maintaining by mere force of arms -the position which had devolved upon her through the events of the -Peloponnesian War, and if Sparta were not to abdicate the hegemony of -Greece she must perforce try to conclude an advantageous peace and an -alliance with Persia. This project was favoured by the ill-timed attempts -of Athens to regain her maritime supremacy, and the Spartans, rightly -gauging the situation, associated with these attempts their conciliatory -negotiations with Persia. That this step, which closed to him henceforth -his career of glory in Asia, was an easy one for Agesilaus to take, is -unlikely; it was a political necessity, the inevitable consequence of the -lines along which Greek policy had developed for the last thirty years. - -Persia and Sparta were alike interested in preventing the revival of the -sea power of Athens, and both needed peace to regain sway in their own -dominions. This was the natural basis of the negotiations. The Great -King was appointed supreme arbitrator in the affairs of Greece, and the -possession of the Greek cities in Asia Minor was guaranteed to him. The -Spartans had never indulged in Panhellenistic sentiments. Their whole -political organisation and development made it almost impossible for -the fate of their kindred in Asia to rouse any interest in their minds. -When once their interests in Ionia were lost by the fortune of war, the -documentary recognition of the fact could have roused no scruple in the -breast of any true Spartan. And although it was these paragraphs of the -peace which stirred the profoundest indignation in such men as Plato and -Demosthenes, in the rest of Greece the time of national enthusiasm had -gone by. Even in Athens the masses had unlearned their ancient hatred of -Persia since they had been indebted to the succour of the Great King for -the only bright spot in troublous times of war, and statesmen could not -blind themselves to the fact that the political sins of Greece since the -year 411, and the constant appeal to Persia for support and mediation -which had become habitual since then, had been inexorably conducting her -to this end. - -The second main paragraph dealt with the internal affairs of Greece. -Every state, great or small, was to become autonomous. If the first -article contained an important concession to the Great King, this, which -decreed the autonomy, was made primarily with a view to the advantage of -Sparta. It could have no aim but one, to assert the hegemony of Sparta -in Greece. This article, which had so enticing a sound in Greek ears, -was the death-warrant of the growing power of the Athenian maritime -confederacy, of the supremacy of Thebes in Bœotia, of the union of -Argos and Corinth; it destroyed in the germ every power that might have -imperilled the position of Sparta. Her own dominion in the Peloponnesus -was not compromised by the proclamation of liberty, as her allies were -already autonomous in name, while the authority of the hostile coalition -was shattered at a blow. Thus the victor of Cnidus shared the spoils -with the vanquished foe who had known so well how to avail himself of -the right moment for proving an indispensable ally. As suzerain of -Hellas, Artaxerxes, who could not suppress the rebels in his own country, -dictates peace there, a peace which proclaimed liberty to the states but -was nevertheless meant from the outset to enslave them, and Sparta lets -herself be appointed to execute the compact which is to procure anew for -her the supremacy of Greece. It was not the end of her projects but the -beginning. - -[Sidenote: [387-386 B.C.]] - -A glance at the history of the succeeding years shows how she pursued -these projects. First of all, the Spartans turned their attention to the -internal affairs of the Peloponnesus. The first thing they had to do was -to vindicate their authority at home. During the long years of war the -old ties between Sparta and her allies had grown looser; here and there -the democratic element had taken the helm; there had been attempts to -evade the obligation of military service; there had been open rejoicing -at Sparta’s ill-success. The situation called for energetic measures. -We have already seen how a beginning was made with Corinth during the -peace negotiations in Sparta. By a threat of armed invasion the Argive -garrison was forced to withdraw and the alliance between the two states -was dissolved; the Corinthian democrats left the city, the exiles were -recalled, and Corinth, more closely linked with Lacedæmon than ever, -again became her bulwark against enemies from without. - - -MANTINEA CRUSHED - -The next step was to juggle the government of the other democratic -states back into the hands of the oligarchy. Mantinea was the first to -suffer. This city had always been an offence in the eyes of Sparta. The -_synoicismus_[11] and the fortification of Mantinea had taken place at -the instigation of Argos after the Persian wars, and friendship towards -Sparta was hardly likely to have been the leading motive for these -proceedings. After the Peace of Nicias the city had joined the league -against Sparta founded by Argos, and had taken an active part in the war. -The unfavourable issue of the campaign obliged Mantinea to submit to -Sparta once more and to conclude peace for thirty years, but nevertheless -the democratic government remained in power, and the antagonism against -Sparta persisted after, as before. The people made a parade of their -animosity, treated the obligation of military service with neglect; and -after the defeat of the _mora_ on the isthmus Agesilaus had to pass the -city under cover of fog and darkness in order to elude the scorn and -malicious satisfaction of the inhabitants. - -[Sidenote: [386-385 B.C.]] - -Now the day of reckoning had come. Spartan ambassadors came to Mantinea, -bringing a multitude of complaints, together with the demand for the -demolition of the walls about the city. This demand being met by a -refusal, Sparta declared war. Agesilaus begged to be excused from the -chief command of the army, as the Mantineans had rendered his father -great services during the Messenian War. Agesipolis marched against -Mantinea and endeavoured to force the people into compliance by -devastating their territory. When this expedient proved fruitless he -laid siege to the city. The inhabitants made an obstinate defence, but -they were obliged to surrender unconditionally after Agesipolis had -dammed the river Ophis, which flowed through the town, and thus caused an -inundation which brought about the fall of its walls of unbaked brick. -By the intercession of Pausanias, who was living in exile at Tegea, the -leaders of the people and the partisans of democracy, sixty in number, -were allowed to withdraw in safety, a portion of the population was -allowed to inhabit Mantinea as an unfortified place, and the remainder -was obliged to settle in four distinct unprotected villages. To each -of these villages a Spartan xenagos was appointed. Xenophon adds that -the Mantineans were at first indignant at being removed, but that they -afterwards expressed their satisfaction at what had been done, as under -an aristocratic government they could lead a quiet life near their -estates and free from troublesome demagogues. This is a reproduction of -the Spartan and oligarchic view of the matter. - -[Illustration: GREEK WEAPONS] - -In both ancient and modern times the treatment meted out to Mantinea has -invariably been branded as an act of most brutal and barbarous violence -and arbitrary cruelty, the outcome of the policy of Agesilaus. In this -general and (to a certain extent) just censure of the ruler of the -Spartan state at the time, one point has been overlooked. In a democratic -constitution the Spartans could see nothing but a reign of revolutionary -terrorism which oppressed the peaceful and sober part of the community, -their own friends and adherents. To help the latter, to put them in -power again, they held to be the duty of the sovereign state. Spartan -policy was sure of its aims, and in its consistency lies the secret of -Sparta’s superiority at this period. And if we are right in assuming -that a Spartan must have ceased to be a Spartan before he could conceive -otherwise of the state of affairs, there is no justification for heaping -personal abuse and scandalous imputations upon a writer who reflects the -opinions of his circle. - -[Sidenote: [385-383 B.C.]] - -The punishment of Mantinea produced a profound effect upon the -other Peloponnesian cities. With high hopes of an equally energetic -interference on their behalf the aristocratic exiles from Phlius -immediately turned to Sparta with the entreaty that the Spartans would -intercede for their restoration to their homes. A bare admonition from -the ephors to the municipal authorities to receive back the friends they -had cast out for no sufficient reason, was enough to evoke a decree -by which the sentence of banishment was repealed and the exiles were -promised the restoration of their property. The spirit of resistance had -been broken by the fate of Mantinea. - -The Spartans next turned their attention to Bœotia. Although the Bœotian -league, not being based on the principle of autonomy, had been broken -up by the second paragraph of the peace, they felt the need of taking -precautions against any attempt on the part of Thebes--the city which -they regarded as the author of the whole ill-starred war and which had -defied them to the last to re-establish its authority. Hence, as a first -step, a Spartan garrison was retained in the friendly city of Orchomenos, -and both Thespiæ and Tanagra were induced to throw in their lot with -Sparta. But the most telling stroke at Thebes was the restoration of -Platæa. For one thing, the Thebans were thereby deprived of the usufruct -of Platæan territory, and for another, the newly founded city, being -of course wholly dependent upon Sparta, afforded an excellent base for -attack upon Thebes itself. Here again we see the relentless and energetic -policy of Sparta in action. - - -THE OLYNTHIAN WAR - -[Sidenote: [383 B.C.]] - -More serious complications in Greek affairs soon gave the Spartans their -opportunity for showing themselves masters of Hellas. In the spring of -383 ambassadors from the cities of Apollonia and Acanthus presented -themselves in Sparta to beg for support against the increasing power of -the Olyntho-Chalcidian league. Their petition was seconded by deputies -from Amyntas, king of Macedonia, who felt the security of his dominions -imperilled by the encroachments of Olynthus. The Olynthians strove -more and more vigorously to assert the authority of the league. They -had succeeded in persuading nearly all the cities of the Chalcidice -to join their confederacy; they had pushed forward towards Macedonia, -and had even brought Pella over to their interests. The league was now -in a position to hold the menace of war over any cities which refused -adherence, and to meditate far-reaching enterprises. By an agreement with -Athens and Thebes it hoped to secure an influence upon middle Greece. -By this energetic and well-considered centralisation a federal state -was created, admirably calculated to serve as a bulwark of the power of -Hellas against Thrace, and as a fresh starting-point for the civilisation -of the barbarous North. - -As we look back at the lines along which the history of Greece developed, -we are inevitably forced upon the conclusion that nothing but strict -union, the formation of closely confederated states, could have checked -the rapid process of political decay. This conviction lies at the root -of the liberal recognition and sympathy which the majority of modern -scholars have accorded to the efforts of the Olynthian league. Whether -the brilliant visions of the future which Grote, in particular, sketches -for the league would ever have been realised, even if it had not fallen -upon the days of Sparta’s arbitrary dominion, remains an open question. -Centralisation and unification were repugnant to the Greek mind, and -every attempt in that direction was bound to go to wreck on the fanatical -love of autonomy among the Greek states. - -The appeal of Apollonia and Acanthus, which wished to retain their -ancient constitution, and the simultaneous action of the oppressed -Amyntas, offered Sparta the desired opportunity for attacking the -Chalcidic federation. Doubtless the sea power of Olynthus and the steady -expansion of the league had long since attracted general attention there, -and had been the subject of anxious reflection. The possibility that -this league might grow more powerful still and attain an authoritative -position in middle Greece also had to be guarded against at all risks. -The policy of Sparta rendered it imperative that every considerable -development of power in other states should be repressed. The war -against the Olynthians was determined upon, and, by the desire of the -ambassadors, Eudamidas was immediately despatched with such forces as -could be equipped in haste. - - -THE SURPRISE OF THEBES - -[Sidenote: [383-380 B.C.]] - -His brother Phœbidas was to follow with the remainder of the troops -destined for the campaign in Thrace as soon as the levies were completed, -a process which was probably rendered more lengthy by the fact that the -new military system was now brought into use for the first time. By the -end of summer, 383, Phœbidas was ready to start. He took his way past -Thebes. There, as Xenophon tells, party quarrels had reached an extreme -point. The office of polemarch was held by Leontiades and Ismenias, -who were deadly enemies, each being the leader of a distinct body of -partisans. For the moment the anti-Laconian party was in the ascendant. A -decree had been promulgated that no man should be allowed to enlist for -the campaign against Olynthus. When Phœbidas appeared before the walls of -the city, Leontiades, whose family had always maintained close relations -with Sparta, endeavoured to gain his favour by every kind of service, and -then persuaded the vain and ambitious general to attempt a coup-de-main -against the Cadmea. By this means he was to bring the adherents of Sparta -into power and secure the active assistance of Thebes in the Olynthian -War. - -Phœbidas fell in with the proposed plot, and the day of the feast of -the Thesmophoria was appointed for its execution. On that day the women -of the city celebrated by themselves a festival in the ancient temple -of Demeter on the Cadmea. Phœbidas was to make a feint of striking camp -and setting out on his march northwards. While the council was assembled -in a hall in the market-place and the heat of noon-day kept the rest -of the population indoors, Leontiades galloped after the departing -general, led him unobserved up to the citadel, and opened the gates to -him. He then hied to the council, announced what had taken place, and -had Ismenias arrested as a seditious person. The leaders and adherents -of the opposition, to the number of three hundred, were obliged to flee -for their lives to Athens. The occupation of the Cadmea was a political -necessity, the logical consequence of the efforts of Sparta to secure -the hegemony. The experiences of the last war had not been suffered in -vain. - -While Agesilaus was pursuing his victorious career in Asia a coalition -against Sparta had been formed in Greece at the instigation of Persia, -and Thebes had shown herself most zealous in promoting this anti-Spartan -combination which was so grave a menace to the existence of Lacedæmon. -This time Sparta was once more undertaking a war on the confines of -Greece; if fortune were adverse, if a battle were lost, she had no -guarantee against the possibility--the probability even--that hostile -Thebes, still barely subdued, might revolt again, bar the way of retreat -against the Spartan army, and throw the most serious obstacles in the way -of reinforcements. “The Cadmea was the decisive point for the security -of the line of march,” says Curtius. If a prolonged war were to be -waged in the distant north it was essential that this position should -be in friendly hands. And the only way of attaining this object was to -juggle the reins of government into the hands of the oligarchical party -in Thebes and to garrison the citadel with Spartan hoplites for their -protection. The success of the expedient proves how well worth while it -had been for Phœbidas to take the circuitous route. - -This act of violence, the surprise of the Theban citadel in time of -peace, called forth a storm of indignation throughout the whole of -Greece. Even in Sparta itself a clamour of popular displeasure arose -against Phœbidas, because (as Xenophon adds) he had acted without due -warrant or command. Apparently the Spartan government found it expedient -to cast the odium of the proceeding upon Phœbidas, and therefore, in -spite of Xenophon’s silence on the subject, there is probably some truth -in the story that he was deposed from his command and condemned to pay -an exorbitant fine. The wrath of Greece may well have been the reason -for this mock sentence. The payment of the fine was never exacted, and -in the following year he held the office of a Spartan harmost in Bœotia. -For the rest, the remonstrances of Leontiades and Agesilaus, the latter -of whom openly maintained that the only point to be considered in judging -the case was whether the transgression of Phœbidas were profitable -to the state or not, quickly persuaded the Spartans of the propriety -and necessity of the coup-de-main. The citadel was not evacuated, and -legal proceedings were taken against Ismenias in respect of the league. -A solemn tribunal was called together in Thebes, consisting of three -Spartan commissioners and a deputy from every town of the league, to pass -judgment upon the crimes of Ismenias. He was condemned to death. The most -repulsive feature of this judicial murder, which was merely an act of -vengeance upon the whilom leader of the anti-Spartan coalition, is the -farce of a tribunal which was supposed to represent national ideas and -interests. - -The road to Thrace was now safe, and the war against Olynthus was -prosecuted with the utmost vigour. - -It was probably in the spring of 382 that Teleutias, brother of -Agesilaus, marched against the city with a large army. He had made up the -number of his forces in Thebes, and had received auxiliary contingents -from Amyntas and from Derdas, prince of Elimea. This was the beginning -of a fierce and prolonged struggle. After some successes which allowed -him to press forward to Olynthus itself, devastating the country as he -went, he fell in a hotly contested battle, and his death was the signal -for a general flight. His whole army was swept away and annihilated. With -amazing perseverance the Spartans continued the war; in the spring of -380 another huge army was equipped and the leadership entrusted to the -young king, Agesipolis. He was fortunate in battle, but succumbed to a -violent fever the same summer. It was left for Polybiades, his successor -in the command, to force the starving city, cut off from access to the -sea and robbed of its harvests by the prolonged and desolating war, -into surrender. In the year 379 the league was dissolved and the proud -city compelled to render military service to the Spartans; the mighty -chief city of the Chalcidice became a humble member of the Lacedæmonian -alliance. - -[Sidenote: [380-379 B.C.]] - -Meanwhile the Peloponnesus itself had become the scene of a fresh -struggle. It has already been mentioned that the exiled aristocrats from -Phlius had been allowed to return at the request of Sparta and had been -promised the restoration of their property. But here, as everywhere, the -attempts at expropriation met with almost insurmountable obstacles. There -may have been a lack of good will to push on the proceedings, since it is -probable that in many cases the judges themselves were in possession of -the estates of the exiles. But in the beginning, at least, there seems to -have been no excessive difficulty or delay in giving compensation, and we -hear that, in the campaign of Agesipolis, the Phliasians distinguished -themselves as zealous allies of Sparta by the liberality and promptitude -of their contributions. After the departure of Agesipolis, as Xenophon -relates, the Phliasians hoping to be quit of Spartan intervention, -neglected the settlement of the chaotic claims. The returning -aristocrats, finding their demands disregarded by an unbiassed court of -arbitration, turned with their grievances to Sparta. The authorities of -their own city having punished them for this arbitrary proceeding, the -ephors, persuaded by exiles and by Agesilaus, the fast friend of the -latter, determined upon a campaign against Phlius. The Phliasians sued -for peace, but naturally could not accede to the demand of Agesilaus for -an unconditional surrender of their citadel. - -A tedious siege then began, during which Agesilaus found himself obliged -to have recourse to every kind of artifice to allay the wrath of the -Lacedæmonians and their allies at making enemies of the large population -of the Asopus valley for the sake of a few oligarchs. It was the first -note of that discord among the Peloponnesian allies which was destined to -exercise such a paralysing effect upon the future military undertakings -of the Lacedæmonians. Thanks to the valiant defence of Delphion, to whom -Xenophon does not refuse his due meed of praise, the city held out twice -as long as had been expected. At last, in the year 379, the lack of -provisions constrained the inhabitants to treat for peace, and, unwisely -ignoring Agesilaus, they applied direct to Sparta. Sparta committed the -sole decision to the king, and the punishment in store for Phlius was -naturally not the less severe for the attempt to set Agesilaus aside. A -commission was appointed, consisting of fifty oligarchs and fifty of the -citizens, and they were empowered to decide the question which of the -inhabitants should remain alive and which should not. The further duty of -elaborating a constitution was also assigned to them. To safeguard the -new order of things a Lacedæmonian garrison was left provisionally in the -acropolis. Thus in Phlius, as in Olynthus, Sparta had won the victory. - -At this point both Xenophon and Diodorus, with a view to providing a -more striking background for subsequent events, give a summary of the -expansion of the power and dominion of Sparta up to this time. And -truly, from the Peace of Antalcidas to the subjugation of Olynthus the -history of Greece is nothing but a history of the extension of Spartan -authority. Allied with the king of Persia, the tyrant of Syracuse, and -the king of Macedonia, the will of Sparta was “irresistible from the -cliffs of Taygetus to Athos.” The autonomy-paragraph had broken up -all anti-Spartan coalitions. In Corinth, the key of the Peloponnesus, -oligarchy was restored, Bœotia had become a vassal of Sparta, the -menacing Olynthian league had been annihilated, and the ruins of Mantinea -and the sanguinary tribunals at Phlius showed what punishment Sparta -was prepared to mete out to any attempt at mutiny or disobedience. The -Spartan harmosts with their garrisons commanded the citadels everywhere, -and under their protection oligarchic rulers held the populace in -fetters. In the time of Lysander, indeed, the Spartan dominions had -been more extensive, but Sparta had never borne sway in Hellas with -more authority or less restraint. Athens might strive with unflagging -perseverance to establish an ascendency at sea; she might conclude an -alliance with Chios directly after the Peace of the King, an alliance -which was the precursor of the maritime confederacy presently to be -revived; but how insignificant were such things as opposed to the -dominant position of Sparta, now at the zenith of her glory! And for the -fact that her will and her word were law in Greece, Sparta was mainly -indebted to the steady and consistent policy of Agesilaus. - -The gray-haired monarch might well look with pride upon the object he had -attained. He had reared a mighty structure: though it had been built by -harshness and arbitrary power and welded together with blood and cruelty, -it is none the less a moving spectacle to see how, before the eyes of its -founder, stone after stone was cast down, till nothing but a vast expanse -of ruins remained to bear witness to its former greatness.[b] - - -FATE OF EVAGORAS AND THE ASIATIC GREEKS - -[Sidenote: [394-380 B.C.]] - -During the first years of his reign, Evagoras doubtless paid his tribute -regularly, and took no steps calculated to offend the Persian king. But -as his power increased, his ambition increased also. We find him towards -the year 390 B.C., engaged in a struggle not merely with the Persian -king, but with Amathus and Citium in his own island, and with the great -Phœnician cities on the mainland. By what steps, or at what precise -period, this war began, we cannot determine. At the time of the battle -of Cnidus (394 B.C.) Evagoras not only paid his tribute, but was mainly -instrumental in getting the Persian fleet placed under Conon to act -against the Lacedæmonians, himself serving aboard. It was in fact (if we -may believe Isocrates) to the extraordinary energy, ability, and power -displayed by him on that occasion in the service of Artaxerxes himself, -that the jealousy and alarm of the latter against him are to be ascribed. -Without any provocation, and at the very moment when he was profiting -by the zealous services of Evagoras, the Great King treacherously began -to manœuvre against him and forced him into the war in self-defence. -Evagoras accepted the challenge, in spite of the disparity of strength, -with such courage and efficiency, that he at first gained marked -successes. Seconded by his son Pnytagoras, he not only worsted and -humbled Amathus, Citium, and Soli, which cities, under the prince Agyris, -adhered to Artaxerxes, but he also equipped a large fleet, attacked the -Phœnicians on the mainland with so much vigour as even to take the great -city of Tyre; prevailing, moreover, upon some of the Cilician towns to -declare against the Persians. He received powerful aid from Acoris, the -native and independent king in Egypt, as well as from Chabrias and the -force sent out by the Athenians. Beginning apparently about 390 B.C., -the war against Evagoras lasted something more than ten years, costing -the Persians great efforts and an immense expenditure of money. Twice -did Athens send a squadron to his assistance, from gratitude for his -long protection to Conon and his energetic efforts before in the battle -of Cnidus--though she thereby ran every risk of making the Persians her -enemies. - -[Sidenote: [380-374 B.C.]] - -The satrap Tiribazus saw that so long as he had on his hands a war in -Greece, it was impossible for him to concentrate his force against the -prince of Salamis and the Egyptians. Hence, in part, the extraordinary -effort made by the Persians to dictate, in conjunction with Sparta, the -Peace of Antalcidas, and to get together such a fleet in Ionia as should -overawe Athens and Thebes into submission. It was one of the conditions -of that peace that Evagoras should be abandoned; the whole island of -Cyprus being acknowledged as belonging to the Persian king. Though thus -cut off from Athens, and reduced to no other Grecian aid than such -mercenaries as he could pay, Evagoras was still assisted by Acoris of -Egypt, and even by Hecatomnus, prince of Caria, with a secret present -of money. But the Peace of Antalcidas being now executed in Asia, the -Persian satraps were completely masters of the Grecian cities on the -Asiatic seaboard, and were enabled to convey round to Cilicia and Cyprus -not only their own fleet from Ionia, but also additional contingents from -these very Grecian cities. - -Evagoras defended himself with unshaken resolution, still sustained -by aid from Acoris in Egypt; while Tyre and several towns in Cilicia -also continued in revolt against Artaxerxes; so that the efforts of the -Persians were distracted, and the war was not concluded until ten years -after its commencement. It cost them on the whole (if we may believe -Isocrates) 15,000 talents in money [£3,000,000 or $15,000,000], and -such severe losses in men, that Tiribazus acceded to the propositions -of Evagoras for peace, consenting to leave him in full possession of -Salamis, under payment of a stipulated tribute. - -[Illustration: STATUE OF MINERVA IN A RUINED TEMPLE AT ATHENS] - -It was seemingly not very long after the peace, that a Salaminian named -Nicoreon formed a conspiracy against his life and dominion, but was -detected, by a singular accident, before the moment of execution, and -forced to seek safety in flight. He left behind him a youthful daughter -in his harem, under the care of a eunuch (a Greek, born in Elis) named -Thrasydæus; who, full of vindictive sympathy in his master’s cause, -made known the beauty of the young lady both to Evagoras himself and to -Pnytagoras, the most distinguished of his sons, partner in the gallant -defence of Salamis against the Persians. Both of them were tempted, each -unknown to the other, to make a secret assignation for being conducted to -her chamber by the eunuch: both of them were there assassinated by his -hand. - -Thus perished a Greek of pre-eminent vigour and intelligence, remarkably -free from the vices usual in Grecian despots, and forming a strong -contrast in this respect with his contemporary Dionysius, whose military -energy is so deeply stained by crime and violence. Nicocles, the son -of Evagoras, reigned at Salamis after him, and showed much regard, -accompanied by munificent presents, to the Athenian Isocrates; who -compliments him as a pacific and well-disposed prince, attached to Greek -pursuits and arts, conversant by personal study with Greek philosophy, -and above all, copying his father in that just dealing and absence of -wrong towards person or property which had so much promoted the comfort -as well as the prosperity of the city. - -[Sidenote: [387 B.C.]] - -We now revert from the episode respecting Evagoras--interesting not -less from the eminent qualities of that prince than from the glimpse -of Hellenism struggling with the Phœnician element in Cyprus--to the -general consequences of the Peace of Antalcidas in Central Greece. For -the first time since the battle of Mycale in 479 B.C., the Persians were -now really masters of all the Greeks on the Asiatic coast. The satraps -lost no time in confirming their dominion. In all the cities which they -suspected, they built citadels and planted permanent garrisons. In some -cases, their mistrust or displeasure was carried so far as to raze the -town altogether. And thus these cities, having already once changed their -position greatly for the worse, by passing from easy subjection under -Athens to the harsh ride of Lacedæmonian harmosts and native decemvirs, -were now transferred to masters yet more oppressive and more completely -without the pale of Hellenic sympathy. Both in public extortion, and -in wrong-doing towards individuals, the commandant and his mercenaries -whom the satrap maintained, were probably more rapacious, and certainly -more unrestrained, than even the harmosts of Sparta. Moreover, the -Persian grandees required beautiful boys as eunuchs for their service, -and beautiful women as inmates of their harems. What was taken for their -convenience admitted neither of recovery nor redress. While the Asiatic -Greeks were thus made over by Sparta and the Perso-Spartan convention -of Antalcidas, to a condition in every respect worse, they were at the -same time thrown in, as reluctant auxiliaries to strengthen the hands -of the Great King against other Greeks--against Evagoras in Cyprus, -and above all, against the islands adjoining the coast of Asia--Chios, -Samos, Rhodes, etc. These islands were now exposed to the same hazard, -from their overwhelming Persian neighbours, as that from which they had -been rescued nearly a century before by the confederacy of Delos, and by -the Athenian empire into which that confederacy was transformed. All the -tutelary combination that the genius, the energy, and the Panhellenic -ardour of Athens had first organised, and so long kept up, was now broken -up; while Sparta, to whom its extinction was owing, in surrendering the -Asiatic Greeks, had destroyed the security even of the islanders.[e] - - -THE REVOLT OF THEBES - -The ambition of making conquests in the East, which it now appeared -impossible to retain, had deprived the Lacedæmonians of an authority, or -rather dominion in Greece, acquired by the success of the Peloponnesian -War, and which they might have reasonably expected to preserve and to -confirm. Not only their power, but their safety, was threatened by the -arms of a hostile confederacy, which had been formed and fomented by the -wealth of Persia. Athens, their rival, their superior, their subject, -but always their unrelenting enemy, had recovered her walls and fleet, -and aspired to command the sea. Thebes and Argos had become sensible of -their natural strength, and disdained to acknowledge the pre-eminence, -or to follow the standard, of any foreign republic. The inferior states -of Peloponnesus were weary of obeying every idle summons to war, -from which they derived not any advantage but that of gratifying the -ambition of their Spartan masters. The valuable colonies in Macedon and -Thrace, and particularly the rich and populous cities of the Chalcidic -region, the bloodless conquests of the virtuous Brasidas, had forsaken -the interest of Sparta, when Sparta forsook the interest of justice. -Scarcely any vestige appeared of the memorable trophies erected in a -war of twenty-seven years. The eastern provinces (incomparably the most -important of all) were irrecoverably lost; and this rapid decline of -power had happened in the course of ten years, and had been chiefly -occasioned by the fatal splendour of Agesilaus’ victories in Asia. - -During five years the Spartans maintained, in the Cadmea at Thebes, a -garrison of fifteen hundred men. Protected by such a body of foreign -troops, which might be reinforced on the shortest warning, the partisans -of aristocracy acquired an absolute ascendency in the affairs of the -republic, which they conducted in such a manner as best suited their own -interest, and the convenience of Sparta. Without pretending to describe -the banishments, confiscations, and murders of which they were guilty, -it is sufficient for the purpose of general history to observe, that -the miserable victims of their vengeance suffered similar calamities -to those which afflicted Athens under the Thirty Tyrants. The severity -of the government at length drove the Thebans to despair; and both the -persecuted exiles abroad, and the oppressed subjects at home, prepared to -embrace any measures, however daring and hazardous, which promised them a -faint hope of relief. - -[Sidenote: [382-379 B.C.]] - -Among the Theban fugitives, who had taken refuge in Athens, and whose -persons were now loudly demanded by Sparta, was Pelopidas, the son of -Hippoclus, a youth whose distinguished advantages might have justly -rendered him an object of envy, before he was involved in the misfortunes -of his country. He yielded to none in birth; he surpassed all in fortune; -he excelled in the manly exercises so much esteemed by the Greeks, and -was unrivalled in qualities still more estimable--generosity and courage. -He had an hereditary attachment to the democratic form of policy; and, -previous to the late melancholy revolution, he was marked out by his -numerous friends and adherents as the person most worthy of administering -the government. Pelopidas had often conferred with his fellow-sufferers -at Athens about the means of returning to their country, and restoring -the democracy; encouraging them by the example of the patriotic -Thrasybulus, who, with a handful of men, had issued from Thebes, and -effected a similar, but still more difficult, enterprise. While they -secretly deliberated on this important object, Mellon, one of the exiles, -introduced to their nocturnal assembly his friend Phyllidas, who had -lately arrived from Thebes; a man whose enterprising activity, singular -address, and crafty boldness, justly entitle him to the regard of history. - -Phyllidas was strongly attached to the cause of the exiles; yet, by his -insinuating complaisance, and officious servility, he had acquired the -entire confidence of Leontiades, Archias, and the other magistrates, or -rather tyrants, of the republic. In business and in pleasure, he rendered -himself alike necessary to his masters; his diligence and abilities had -procured him the important office of secretary to the council; and he -had lately promised to Archias and Philip, the two most licentious of -the tyrants, that he would give them an entertainment, during which they -might enjoy the conversation and the persons of the finest women in -Thebes. The day was appointed for this infamous rendezvous, which these -magisterial debauchés awaited with the greatest impatience; and, in the -interval, Phyllidas set out for Athens, on pretence of private business. - -[Sidenote: [379 B.C.]] - -In Athens, the time and the means were adjusted for executing the -conspiracy. A body of Theban exiles assembled in the Thriasian plain, -on the frontier of Attica, where seven, or twelve, of the youngest and -most enterprising, voluntarily offered themselves to enter the capital, -and to co-operate with Phyllidas in the destruction of the magistrates. -The distance between Thebes and Athens was about thirty-five miles. The -conspirators had thirteen miles to march through a hostile territory. -They disguised themselves in the garb of peasants, arrived at the city -towards evening with nets and hunting poles, and passed the gates without -suspicion. During that night, and the succeeding day, the house of -Charon, a wealthy and respectable citizen, the friend of Phyllidas and a -determined enemy of the aristocracy, afforded them a secure refuge till -the favourable moment summoned them to action. - -[Illustration: CHARON SUMMONED BEFORE THE MAGISTRATES] - -The important evening approached, when the artful secretary had prepared -his long-expected entertainment in the treasury. Nothing had been omitted -that could flatter the senses, and lull the activity of the mind in a -dream of pleasure. But a secret and obscure rumour, which had spread in -the city, hung, like a drawn dagger, over the voluptuous joys of the -festivity. It had been darkly reported that some unknown strangers, -supposed to be a party of the exiles, had been received into the house -of Charon. All the address of Phyllidas could not divert the terror of -his guests. They despatched one of their lictors or attendants to demand -the immediate presence of Charon. The conspirators were already buckling -on their armour, in hopes of being immediately summoned to execute their -purpose. But what was their astonishment and terror, when their host -and protector was sternly ordered to appear before the magistrates! The -most sanguine were persuaded that their design had become public, and -that they must all miserably perish, without effecting anything worthy -of their courage. After a moment of dreadful reflection, they exhorted -Charon to obey the mandate without delay. But that firm and patriotic -Theban first went to the apartment of his wife, took his infant son, -an only child, and presented him to Pelopidas and Mellon, requesting -them to retain in their hands this dearest pledge of his fidelity. -They unanimously declared their entire confidence in his honour, and -entreated him to remove from danger a helpless infant, who might become, -in some future time, the avenger of his country’s wrongs. But Charon was -inflexible, declaring, “that his son could never aspire to a happier -fortune, than that of dying honourably with his father and friends.” - -So saying, he addressed a short prayer to the gods, embraced his -associates, and departed. Before he arrived at the treasury, he was -met by Archias and Phyllidas. The former asked him, in the presence of -the other magistrates, whose anxiety had brought them from table, “Who -are those strangers said to have arrived the other day, and to be now -entertained in your family?” Charon had composed his countenance so -artfully, and retorted the question with such well-dissembled surprise, -as considerably quieted the solicitude of the tyrants, which was totally -removed by a whisper of Phyllidas, “that the absurd rumour had doubtless -been spread for no other purpose but that of disturbing their pleasures.” - -They had scarcely returned to the banquet, when Fortune, as if she had -taken pleasure to confound the dexterity of Phyllidas, raised up a new -and most alarming danger. A courier arrived from Athens with every mark -of haste and trepidation, desiring to see Archias, to whom he delivered a -letter from an Athenian magistrate of the same name, his ancient friend -and guest. This letter revealed the conspiracy; a secret not entrusted to -the messenger, who had orders, however, to request Archias to read the -despatch immediately, as containing matters of the utmost importance. -But that careless voluptuary, whose thoughts were totally absorbed -in the expected scene of pleasure, replied with a smile, “Business -to-morrow;” deposited the letter under the pillow of the couch, on which, -according to ancient custom, he lay at the entertainment; and resumed his -conversation with Phyllidas. - -Matters were now come to a crisis; Phyllidas retired for a moment; the -conspirators were put in motion; their weapons concealed under the -flowing swell of female attire, and their countenances overshadowed -and hid by a load of crowns and garlands. In this disguise they were -presented to the magistrates intoxicated with wine and folly. At a given -signal they drew their daggers, and effected their purpose. Charon and -Mellon were the principal actors in this bloody scene, which was entirely -directed by Phyllidas. But a more difficult task remained. Leontiades, -with other abettors of the tyranny, still lived, to avenge the murder -of their associates. The conspirators, encouraged by their first -success, and conducted by Phyllidas, gained admission into their houses -successively, by means of the unsuspected secretary. On the appearance of -disorder and tumult, Leontiades seized his sword, and boldly prepared for -his defence. Pelopidas had the merit of destroying the principal author -of the Theban servitude and disgrace. His associates perished without -resistance; men whose names may be consigned to just oblivion, since they -were distinguished by nothing memorable but their cruel and oppressive -tyranny. - -The measures of the conspirators were equally vigorous and prudent. -Before alarming the city, they proceeded to the different prisons, which -were crowded with the unfortunate victims of arbitrary power. Every door -was open to Phyllidas. The captives, transported with joy and gratitude, -increased the strength of their deliverers. They broke open the arsenals, -and provided themselves with arms. The streets of Thebes now resounded -with alarm and terror; every house and family were filled with confusion -and uproar; the inhabitants were universally in motion; some providing -lights, others running in wild disorder to the public places, and all -anxiously wishing the return of day, that they might discover the unknown -cause of this nocturnal tumult. - -During a moment of dreadful silence, which interrupted the noise of -sedition, a herald proclaimed, with a clear and loud voice, the death -of the tyrants, and summoned to arms the friends of liberty and the -republic. Among others who obeyed the welcome invitation was Epaminondas, -the son of Polymnis, a youth of the most illustrious merit; who united -the wisdom of the sage and the magnanimity of the hero, with the -practice of every mild and gentle virtue; unrivalled in knowledge and in -eloquence; in birth, valour, and patriotism, not inferior to Pelopidas, -with whom he had contracted an early friendship. The principles of the -Pythagorean philosophy, which he had diligently studied under Lysis of -Tarentum, rendered Epaminondas averse to engage in the conspiracy, lest -he might imbrue his hands in civil blood. But when the sword was once -drawn, he appeared with ardour in defence of his friends and country; -and his example was followed by many brave and generous youths who had -reluctantly endured the double yoke of domestic and foreign tyranny. - -The approach of morning had brought the Theban exiles, in arms, from -the Thriasian plain. The partisans of the conspirators were continually -increased by a confluence of new auxiliaries from every quarter of the -city. Encompassed by such an invincible band of adherents, Pelopidas and -his associates proceeded to the market-place; summoned a general assembly -of the people; explained the necessity, the object, and the extent of the -conspiracy; and, with the universal approbation of their fellow-citizens, -restored the democratic form of government. - -Exploits of valour and intrepidity may be discovered in the history of -every nation. But the revolution of Thebes displayed not less wisdom of -design, than enterprising gallantry in execution. Amidst the tumult of -action, and ardour of victory, the conspirators possessed sufficient -coolness and foresight to reflect that the Cadmea, or citadel, which -was held by a Lacedæmonian garrison of fifteen hundred men, would be -reinforced, on the first intelligence of danger, by the resentful -activity of Sparta. To anticipate this alarming event, which must have -rendered the consequences of the conspiracy incomplete and precarious, -they commanded the messenger, whom, immediately after the destruction of -the tyrants, they had despatched to their friends in the Thriasian plain, -to proceed to Athens, in order to communicate the news of a revolution -which could not fail to be highly agreeable to that state, and to solicit -the immediate assistance of the Athenians, whose superior skill in -attacking fortified places was acknowledged by Greeks and barbarians. -This message was attended with the most salutary effects. The acute -discernment of the Athenians eagerly seized the precious opportunity of -weakening Sparta, which, if once neglected, might never return. Several -thousand men were ordered to march; and no time was lost, either in the -preparation, or in the journey, since they reached Thebes the day after -Pelopidas had re-established the democracy. - -The seasonable arrival of those auxiliaries, whose celerity exceeded the -most sanguine hopes of the Thebans, increased the ardour of the latter -to attack the citadel. The events of the siege are variously related. -According to the most probable account, the garrison made a very feeble -resistance, being intimidated by the impetuous alacrity and enthusiasm, -as well as the increasing number of the assailants, who already amounted -to fourteen thousand men, and received continual accessions of strength -from the neighbouring cities of Bœotia. Only a few days had elapsed, -when the Lacedæmonians desired to capitulate, on condition of being -allowed to depart in safety with their arms. Their proposal was readily -accepted; but they seem not to have demanded, or at least not to have -obtained, any terms of advantage or security for those unfortunate -Thebans whose attachment to the Spartan interest strongly solicited their -protection. At the first alarm of sedition, these unhappy men, with their -wives and families, had taken refuge in the citadel. The greater part of -them cruelly perished by the resentment of their countrymen; a remnant -only was saved by the humane interposition of the Athenians. So justly -had Epaminondas suspected, that the revolution could not be accomplished -without the effusion of civil blood.[f] - - -THE SECOND ATHENIAN LEAGUE - -[Sidenote: [379-378 B.C.]] - -Politics makes strange bedfellows. The petty jealousies of the little -Grecian townships, called countries, were as important and as bitter to -them as the feuds of empires. Yet, of course, when any two of them fell -by the ears they were always ready to accept aid from the bystanding -communities, on whatsoever terms they may have recently been. We are now -to see a stranger sight than the union of Athens and Sparta, and that is -the re-alliance of the polished and haughty Athenians with the citizens -of Thebes, although to the Attic mind the very word “Bœotian” had been -from time immemorial a synonym for “swine,” a by-word of treachery, of -Asiatic sympathy, and of backwoods uncouthness. - -The immediate effect of the theatrical revolution at Thebes was the death -of three of the leading generals concerned. Sparta in disgust executed -two of the defeated harmosts with short shrift of trial. The Athenians -put to death one of the generals who had gone to the relief of the -Thebans, and outlawed the other. They were not yet ready to take a step -in renewal of the ancient wars with Sparta. The Thebans felt themselves -now quite left at the mercy of the Lacedæmonians, and, indeed, it was -only a Spartan who could seemingly have been of aid to them. Sphodrias, -a harmost of Thespiæ, was hot-headed enough to dream of taking Athens -unawares and seizing the Piræus. He was so slow on the march, however, -that daylight found him only at Eleusis. Thereupon, his surprise failing, -he retreated, ravaging the country through which he passed. Athens had -shown her purpose to keep the peace with Sparta by her punishment of -the rash officers who had gone to the relief of Thebes, and yet here -was a Spartan general marching against Athens and playing havoc in the -vicinity. A prompt disavowal on the part of Sparta was demanded, with -the execution of Sphodrias. Sphodrias did not dare return to Sparta -for trial, feeling that his doom was certain. And so it would have -been had it not been for the influence of Agesilaus who was notably a -tender-hearted man and could not resist the pleadings of his son who -was on terms of Grecian intimacy with the son of Sphodrias. Acquittal -followed, and Athens could not but feel herself insulted and forced into -an open declaration for Thebes. War broke out and was busy for six years. -It took the form, as usual, of a war between two leagues. - -Sparta felt called upon to deal gently with her remaining confederates -after she saw Chios, Byzantium, Rhodes, and Mytilene revolt at once to -Athens. Sparta divided her league into ten classes: herself the first, -the Arcadian states second and third, Elis the fourth, the Achæans the -fifth, Corinth and Megara the sixth, Sicyon, Phlius, and the towns of the -Argolic Acte the seventh, the Acarnanians the eighth, the Phocians and -Locrians the ninth, Olynthus and the other cities on the coast of Thrace -the tenth. - -To Athens it seemed as if destiny had forced her once more to the -forefront of a league against Sparta, a league which should bring her -back to her old-time mastery of the seas. This league, which is called by -Busolt[k] and others the second Athenian league, is called the third by -Beloch,[g] who writes of it as follows: - -“Meanwhile Athens had striven with zeal to erect again the twice-lost -lordship of the seas. Immediately after the King’s Peace the alliance -with Chios, Mytilene, Methymna, and Byzantium was renewed: Rhodes also -entered into treaty with Athens, as her Asia Minor league had gone to -pieces at the death of Glos, about 379. The effort to resume the old -relations with the Chalcidians in Thrace had been quickly foiled by the -Spartan intervention; but instead, as we have seen, Thebes had entered -into alliance with Athens in the spring of 378. And now, after the -breach with Sparta was definite, Athens lifted up to all Hellenes and -barbarians, where they were not under Persian rule, the summons to band -together in a league against the encroachment of Sparta. The provisions -of the King’s Peace should fashion the ground plan. The autonomy of -all the states party to it was guaranteed; the Persian king was to be -recognised as lord of the continent of Asia: Athens renounced all claims -on her old colonial possessions and for the future the acquisition of -houses and lands anywhere in the confederacy should be forbidden to the -Athenians. For the administration of affairs a congress (_synedrion_) -was established which sat in Athens, and in which delegates from all -the allied states had place and vote; but Athens herself none. For the -passing of measures, the consent of both the chief city [Athens] and of -the synedrion was necessary. The funds for the fleet of the league were -defrayed through contributions (_syntaxeis_) whose amount the synedrion -would fix according to current needs. The management of this fund and the -leadership in war belonged to Athens. - -“Athens made heavy sacrifices to lay the foundation for the erection of -this new league. It was a complete breach with her political practices -down to the King’s Peace, a final renunciation of the re-establishment -of the empire in its old form, as she had planned since Thrasybulus. -And more than that: thousands of Athenian citizens lost their last hope -of regaining the property outside Attica, which their fathers had lost -through the catastrophe of the year 404. But these sacrifices were not -made in vain. The states of Eubœa came at once into the new league, -except Oreus, which was held by a Spartan garrison; also the northern -Sporades, Peparethus, Sciathus and Icus; Tenedos at the mouth of the -Hellespont, Perinthus and Maronea in Thrace; Paros and other neighbouring -isles. Moreover, the previous confederates of Athens, Chios, Mytilene, -Mythimna, Byzantium, Rhodes, and Thebes came back. - -“Thus at one blow Athens was again the ruling power in the Ægean Sea; -she could now take again in hand the trusteeship of the temple of Delos, -which she had lost for some years. - -“At the same time the reorganisation of the Attic marine was begun. -That was strongly needful: since in the Corinthian War the material had -been rendered largely useless, and efforts at its repair had been very -insufficiently made. There existed well over one hundred triremes, but -most of them old and hardly seaworthy. The building of a great number of -new battleships was begun and pushed so skilfully that after the lapse of -twenty years (357-6) an array of 289 triremes remained in spite of the -great demands made on the Attic fleet. To cover these expenses and for -the payment of the costs of the war an extraordinary tax was levied on -the property in Attica.” - -[Sidenote: [378-376 B.C.]] - -Thus we find Athens again with an array of allies behind her. She no -longer has the prestige of old. The moneys that they entrust to her -are contributions (_syntaxeis_), and no longer tribute (_phoros_). So -jealous are they, indeed, of Athenian ambition that no citizen of Athens -may even acquire property among the allies. The very tablet on which -this treaty was carved is still in existence, though broken in a score -of fragments. The chief purpose of the league is, it states, to be one -of defence, a combination “to compel the Spartans to leave the Greeks -in peace and freedom with unviolated lands.” The chief agents in the -organisation of this confederacy and in the proselyting of allies were -the brilliant orator Callistratus, who has been called the Aristides of -the second confederacy, and the shrewd generals, Iphicrates, Chabrias, -and Timotheus, the worthy son of the great admiral, Conon. The chief -fault with the confederacy was that it bound Athens into an unnatural -alliance with Thebes, its inveterate enemy, who could serve little -further purpose than that of a ladder to be discarded as soon as it had -been climbed over. The war, therefore, becomes mainly a war between -Sparta and Athens, in which, as Holm[h] notes, “Athens played always the -rôle of the spectator who sits quiet, saving his strength in order to act -as peace-maker over both the antagonists.” - -Thebes took up the war with a blazing enthusiasm. She had for a -controlling spirit the coming man Epaminondas, a military genius of the -very first rank, a gifted musician, a philosopher, and an orator. He -had the rare qualities of modesty, of pure patriotism, of indifference -to money and to partisanship. Allied with him was Pelopidas, who was in -command of a new organisation which stood some chance of meeting the -famous Spartan hoplite in equal combat. This _Hieros Lochos_, or Sacred -Band of sworn friends, was a curious body of three hundred young men -fighting in couples and bound together by Grecian ideas of friendship. -They were trained to a high degree of gymnastic strength, and while -chosen at first merely to serve as front-rank men, later came to be -employed as a separate regiment of irresistible momentum in a charge. - -Before they had learned the power of this troop the Thebans dug a ditch -and built a rampart around the most fertile part of their territory -against the invasions of the Spartans. Soon after the revolt of the -city, in 378 B.C., the Spartan king Cleombrotus had raided the land, but -without result. Later came King Agesilaus for two expeditions, equally -fruitless, except for pillage. The Spartan Phœbidas made an inroad in -377 and was killed in a disastrous defeat. To relieve a famine due to -the destruction of two harvests, the Thebans sent for two galleys of -corn which the Spartan Alcetas captured, putting the crews in prison in -the citadel in Oreus in Eubœa. The prisoners captured the fortress and -took possession of the town, which now joined the league with Athens. In -376, Agesilaus, who was ill from the bursting of a blood-vessel, on his -previous campaign, was compelled to keep his room, and the Spartans sent -an army under Cleombrotus, who was repulsed at the passes of Cithæron. -The Spartans now sent a fleet to cut off the corn supplies of Athens and -put her port under blockade. - -Athens, once more able to take the sea, fitted a fleet of eighty galleys -which she entrusted to Chabrias. In order to decoy the Spartan fleet -under Pollis away from the Piræus, he laid siege to Naxos which was -wavering towards the Athenian confederacy. Pollis accepted the challenge, -and, though he had only sixty galleys, gave battle between Paros and -Naxos. It was a hard fight and the Spartans seem to have lost all their -ships except eleven, and these would have been destroyed, says Diodorus, -had it not been for the fate of the commanders in the battle of Arginusæ, -who, as will be remembered, were in such haste to pursue the defeated -enemy that they did not stop to pick up their own wounded and dead on the -sinking wrecks of their own fleet. They had been put to death in their -hour of triumph, and the lesson was not forgotten by Chabrias in his -victory thirty years later. - -[Sidenote: [376-374 B.C.]] - -The glory of Naxos, however, was a sufficient. And while it was not so -momentous a success as Conon’s at the battle of Cnidus, it was more -savoury to the Athenians, because it had been won by a fleet not of -Asiatics merely commanded by an Athenian, but altogether by Athenian -ships and men. In this battle the command of the left wing was given to -Phocion, who looms large in later Athenian history. This success at Naxos -in the year 376 relieved Athens of famine, re-established her prestige -on the sea, and brought seventeen new cities around the Ægean Sea into -the confederacy, together with a large contribution. In the same year -the Athenians also punished an insurrection at Delos where the renewal -of her authority was not entirely welcome. Preparations were now made -for a circumnavigation of the Peloponnesus with a fleet under Pinotenus. -In 375 he sailed and brought over to the Athenian alliance the islands -of Corcyra and Cephallenia, a part of Acarnania, and the king of the -Molossians. At Alyzia, Timotheus with his sixty galleys was attacked by -the Spartan Nicolochus, with fifty-five galleys. The Athenian won this -encounter, but declined a later challenge, and increased his fleet to -seventy sail. - -[Illustration: GREEK WARRIOR IN TRAVELLING COSTUME - -(After Hope)] - -The expedition had succeeded in the purpose that had led the Thebans -to suggest it, that is, it had prevented Sparta from making her usual -incursion into Bœotia. Athens, however, found the fleet a very heavy -and irksome expense, and each captain of a trireme was compelled to -advance £28 or $140 towards the payment of his crew. The Athenians now -suggested that the Thebans make some payment towards the cost of an -expedition which had been of such economy to them; but they declined the -opportunity, and Athens, in a not unnatural pique, turned towards Sparta. -In 374 a peace was agreed to, but was broken at once owing to the fact -that Timotheus interfered at Zacynthus and brought down the wrath of -Sparta. So the war went on. - -Meanwhile, the year before, the Thebans had been active and growingly -successful. They turned against three near-by cities in Bœotia which -were old victims of Thebes and had been granted independence under the -Peace of Antalcidas. These towns were Platæa, Thespiæ, and Orchomenos. -They hated Thebes from bitter memories of former oppressions and -held out against her increasing presumption, although other Bœotian -towns were brought into the league, and although they were themselves -heavily assailed. It was 372 before Platæa was taken by surprise and -all the inhabitants driven out of it. They took refuge in Athens, whose -friendship for Platæa was of old times. Thebes also compelled Thespiæ to -tear down her fortifications. These things only revived in Athens the -ancient abhorrence of Thebes, but they fed the insolence of the Bœotians. -It was probably in 375 B.C., that Pelopidas, at the head of his Sacred -Band, unexpectedly fell in with two Spartan moras, each of them equal -alone to his three hundred, and each under command of a polemarch. One of -his men came flying to Pelopidas, exclaiming: - -“We have fallen into the midst of the enemy.” - -“Why not they into the midst of us?” answered Pelopidas. And at once he -charged home. - -The first onset killed the two Spartan leaders. This threw the two moras -into confusion, and Pelopidas, after cutting his way through, instead of -retiring, turned and successfully routed each of the moras. So far as -the number engaged is concerned, it was hardly more than a serious riot, -but, as we have seen before, any blow at the prestige of the Spartan -soldier made all Greeks shudder, and here was a new organisation or club -from the unheroic city of Thebes destroying a Spartan force of twice its -strength. This was a further blow to Spartan pride and new fuel for the -increase of Theban self-confidence. In 374 an expedition against Phocis -was checked by Spartan troops under Cleombrotus, but about this time the -Athenians seem to have regained Oropus, which the Spartans had captured -in 411. This year also Lacedæmonian pride was more deeply humbled before -Corcyra.[a] Of this let Xenophon tell. - - -CORCYRA - -[Sidenote: [375-372 B.C.]] - -The Lacedæmonians preparing again to send out a fleet, collected vessels -to the number of sixty from Lacedæmon itself, from Corinth, Leucas, -Ambracia, Elis, Zacynthus, Achaia, Epidaurus, Trœzen, Hermion, and the -Halians. Appointing Mnasippus admiral, they instructed him to attend to -affairs in that sea in general, and to make an attempt upon Corcyra. They -sent also to Dionysius, representing that it was for his interest that -Corcyra should not be in the power of the Athenians. - -Mnasippus, when his fleet was collected, set sail for Corcyra. He had -with him, in addition to the troops from Lacedæmon, a body of mercenaries -to the amount of not less than fifteen hundred. When he landed on the -island, he at once became master of it, and laid waste the country, -which was excellently cultivated and planted, and exhibited, throughout -the fields, fine houses and well-constructed wine-vaults; so that the -soldiers, they said, arrived at such a height of luxury, that they would -drink no wine but such as was of a fragrant odour. Slaves and cattle in -great numbers were carried off from the fields. At length he encamped -with his land-forces on a hill, distant about five stadia from the city, -and overlooking the country, so that if any of the Corcyræans should -come out into the fields, he might cut off their retreat; his ships he -stationed on the opposite side of the city, at a point where he thought -that they would observe and stop whatever vessels might approach the -coast. In addition to these arrangements, he anchored galleys, when foul -weather did not prevent, in front of the harbour. Thus he kept the city -in a state of blockade. - -As the Corcyræans, in consequence, could get no supplies from their -grounds, since they were overpowered by land, while nothing could be -brought them by sea, because they were inferior in naval force, they -suffered greatly from want of provisions, and, sending to the Athenians, -entreated aid of them, and represented that “they would lose a very -valuable possession if they should be deprived of Corcyra, and would -greatly increase at the same time, the strength of their enemies; since -from no state in Greece, except Athens, could more ships or money be -raised;” they added, also, that “the island of Corcyra was favourably -situated with regard to the Gulf of Corinth, and the cities lying upon -it, and favourably, too, for ravaging the territory of Laconia, but most -favourably of all with reference to the opposite continent, and the -passage from Sicily to the Peloponnesus.” The Athenians, on hearing these -representations, were of opinion that they must pay careful attention -to the matter, and sent out Stesicles, as general, with six hundred -peltasts, requesting Alcetas to assist in conveying them over the water. -These troops were accordingly landed on the coast by night, and made -their way into the city of Corcyra. - -The Athenians also resolved to fit out sixty additional ships, and -elected Timotheus as commander of them. Timotheus, not being able to -man these vessels at home, sailed about to the different islands, and -endeavoured to complete his crews from thence; thinking it would be no -light matter to sail round without due preparation against ships so well -disciplined as those of the enemy. But the Athenians, imagining that -he was wasting the whole of the season suitable for the expedition, -had no patience with him, and, depriving him of his command, appointed -Iphicrates in his room. Iphicrates, as soon as he was made commander, -manned his vessels with the utmost expedition, and obliged the trierarchs -to exert themselves. He took from the Athenians, also, whatever ships -were on the coast of Attica, as well as the Paralus and Salaminian ships, -observing that “if affairs at Corcyra were successful, he would send them -back plenty of ships.” His fleet amounted in all to about seventy. - -During this time the people of Corcyra were so grievously oppressed -with famine, that, in consequence of the number of deserters, Mnasippus -made proclamation that “all deserters for the future should be sold as -slaves.” But when they continued to desert nevertheless, he at last -scourged them, and sent them back. The people in the city, however, -refused to receive any slaves into the town, and many, in consequence, -perished without the walls. Mnasippus, observing this, imagined that he -was all but in possession of the city, and began to make new arrangements -as to his mercenaries, some of whom he dismissed from his service, while -to those who remained he continued in debt two months’ pay, though not, -as it was said, for want of money, for the greater number of the towns, -in consequence of the expedition being over the sea, had sent him money -instead of men. But as the people in the city observed from their towers -that the lines of the enemy were guarded with less strictness than -before, and that the men were straggling over the country, they made a -sally upon them, and took some of them prisoners and killed some. - -Mnasippus, perceiving what had happened, armed himself, and hastened, -with all the heavy-armed troops that he had, to the succour of his men, -ordering also the captains and centurions to lead out the mercenaries. -Some of the captains observing that “it was not easy for those to have -their men obedient who gave them no subsistence,” he struck one of them -with his staff, and another with the handle of his spear. Thus they all -came out without spirit, and with feelings of hatred towards their -general; a state of mind by no means favourable for fighting. However, -when he had drawn up his force, he put to flight those of the enemy that -were near the gates of the city, and pressed forward in pursuit of them; -but the pursued, when they were close to the wall, faced about, and -hurled stones and darts at him from the tombs; while others, sallying -forth from the other gates, fell, in a dense body, upon the extremity of -his line. Mnasippus’ men there, being formed but eight deep, and thinking -their wing too weak, endeavoured to wheel round, but when they began -to withdraw from their position, the enemy rushed upon them as if they -were going to flee, when they themselves no longer attempted to turn, -and those that were nearest to them took to flight. Mnasippus, at the -same time, was unable to support the party that were in difficulties, as -the enemy were pressing upon him in front, and he was continually left -with fewer and fewer men. At last the enemy, collecting in a body, made -a general attack upon those remaining with Mnasippus, now reduced to -a very small number indeed; while the people from the city, observing -how things stood, sallied forth, and, after killing Mnasippus, joined -in a general pursuit. The pursuers would probably have taken the camp -and entrenchment, had they not observed the crowd in the market, and -that of the servants and slaves, and, imagining it an efficient body of -defenders, retraced their steps. The Corcyræans however erected a trophy, -and restored the dead under a truce. - -After this affair, the people in the city grew bolder, while those -without were in extreme dejection; for it was said that Iphicrates was -almost at hand; and the Corcyræans actually proceeded to fit out their -vessels. But Hypermenes, who had been second in command to Mnasippus, -manned all the Lacedæmonian ships that were there, and, sailing round -to the encampment, loaded them every one with slaves and other effects, -and sent them off. He himself, with the marines, and such of the other -soldiers as survived, stayed to guard the entrenchment; but at last these -also got on board in the utmost disorder and sailed away, leaving behind -them a great quantity of corn and wine, and a number of slaves and sick -persons; for they were extremely afraid that they would be surprised in -the island by the Athenians. However, they arrived in safety at Leucas. - -Iphicrates, as soon as he commenced his voyage, continued, while he -pursued his way, to prepare everything necessary for an engagement. He -left his large sails at home at starting, as standing out for a battle, -and of his other sails, even if the wind was favourable, he made little -use; but, making his passage with the oar, caused his men, by that means, -to keep themselves in better condition, and his ships to pursue their -course better. Frequently, too, wherever the crews were going to dine -or sup, he would draw off one extremity of the fleet to a distance from -the land over against the place, and, when he had turned about, and -ranged his vessels in a line with their prows towards it, would start -them, at a signal, to race against each other to the shore; when it was -a great advantage for such as could first take their water, and whatever -else they needed, and first finish their meal; while, to such as came -last, it was a great punishment to have the disadvantage in all these -respects, since they were all obliged to put out to sea again when he -gave the signal; for it was the fortune of those that landed first to do -everything at their leisure, but of those that were last, to do all with -hurry. - -If he landed to take a meal in the enemy’s country, he not only posted -sentinels, as was proper, on the shore, but also, raising the masts in -his ships, kept a lookout from thence. The men stationed on the masts, -indeed, saw much farther than those on the level ground, as they looked -down from a higher position. Wherever he supped or slept, he kindled -no fire in the camp at night, but kept a light burning in front of the -encampment, that no one might approach undiscovered. Often, moreover, if -the weather was calm, he would resume his voyage as soon as supper was -over; and, if a breeze propelled the vessels, the men reposed as they -ran on, but, if it was necessary to use the oar, he made them take rest -by turns. In his course by day, he would sometimes, at given signals, -lead his ships in a line behind one another, and sometimes in a body -side by side; so that, while they pursued their voyage, they practised -and acquired whatever was necessary for naval warfare, and thus arrived -at the sea which they believed to be occupied by the enemy. They dined -and supped, for the most part, on the enemy’s territory; but, as they -did nothing more there than what was necessary, Iphicrates escaped all -attacks by the suddenness with which he resumed his voyage, which he soon -accomplished. About the time of Mnasippus’ death he was at the Sphagiæ -in Laconia. Advancing thence to the coast of Elis, and sailing past the -mouth of the Alpheus, he came to anchor at the promontory called Icthys. -Next day he proceeded from thence to Cephallenia, with his fleet so -arranged, and keeping his course in such a manner, that he could, if it -should be requisite, get everything needful ready for battle, and engage -at once; for as to the fate of Mnasippus, he had heard no account from -any eye-witness, and suspected that it might be a report intended to -deceive him, and accordingly kept upon his guard. But when he arrived at -Cephallenia, he received a full statement of facts, and stopped there to -refresh his men. - -Having reduced the towns in Cephallenia, he sailed off to Corcyra. Here -the first intelligence he received was, that ten galleys were coming from -Dionysius to reinforce the Lacedæmonians; and going in person therefore -along the coast, and considering from what points it was possible to -descry those vessels approaching, and for people making signals to render -them visible at the city, he posted sentinels in those places, arranging -with them what signals they should give when the enemy sailed up and -cast anchor. He then selected twenty of his own captains, who were to be -ready to follow him whenever he should send a messenger to them, and gave -them notice, that, if any one of them should not follow him, he must not -complain of any penalty imposed upon him. As soon as these ships, then, -were signalled as approaching, and messengers were sent to the captains, -their haste was deserving of admiration; for there was no one, of those -that were going to sail, that did not embark with the utmost speed. -Standing away to the point where the ships of the enemy were, he found -that the men from the rest of them were gone ashore, but that Melanippus, -a Rhodian captain, was exhorting the other commanders not to stay there, -and, embarking his own crew, was sailing off. Melanippus, in consequence, -though he met with the ships of Iphicrates, nevertheless escaped, but -all the ships from Syracuse were captured, with their crews. Iphicrates, -cutting off the beaks of the vessels, brought them in tow into the -harbour of Corcyra, and settled a fixed sum for each of the prisoners to -pay for his ransom, except Crinippus, the chief captain, whom he kept -under guard, as if he would exact a vast sum from him, or sell him as -a slave. He however died, through grief, by his own hands. The other -prisoners Iphicrates discharged, taking security from the Corcyræans for -the payment of their ransom. - -He maintained his sailors, chiefly, by employing them in agriculture in -the service of the Corcyræans. With the peltasts, and the heavy-armed -men from the fleet, he passed over to Acarnania, where he afforded aid to -the friendly towns, if any required it, and made war upon the Thyreans, -a people of great bravery, and occupying a strongly fortified place. -Afterwards, fetching the fleet from Corcyra, consisting now of about -ninety ships, he proceeded first to Cephallenia and raised contributions -there, as well from people that were willing to give them, as from -those that were unwilling. He then prepared to commit depredations on -the territories of the Lacedæmonians; and, of the cities in those parts -attached to the enemy, to receive into alliance such as were willing to -join him, and to make war on such as rejected his advances.[c] - - -THE TRIAL OF TIMOTHEUS - -[Sidenote: [373 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: GREEK HERALD] - -The happy result of the Corcyræan expedition, imparting universal -satisfaction at Athens, was not less beneficial to Timotheus than to -Iphicrates. It was in November 373 B.C., that the former, as well as his -quæstor or military treasurer, Antimachus, underwent each his trial. -Callistratus, having returned home, pleaded against the quæstor, perhaps -against Timotheus also, as one of the accusers; though probably in a -spirit of greater gentleness and moderation, in consequence of his -recent joint success and of the general good temper prevalent in the -city. And while the edge of the accusation against Timotheus was thus -blunted, the defence was strengthened not merely by numerous citizen -friends speaking in his favour with increased confidence, but also by the -unusual phenomenon of two powerful foreign supporters. At the request of -Timotheus, both Alcetas of Epirus, and Jason of Pheræ, came to Athens a -little before the trial, to appear as witnesses in his favour. They were -received and lodged by him in his house in the Hippodamian Agora, the -principal square of the Piræus. And as he was then in some embarrassment -for want of money, he found it necessary to borrow various articles of -finery in order to do them honour--clothes, bedding, and two silver -drinking-bowls--from Pasion, a wealthy banker near at hand. These two -important witnesses would depose to the zealous service and estimable -qualities of Timotheus; who had inspired them with warm interest, and had -been the means of bringing them into alliance with Athens; an alliance -which they had sealed at once by conveying Stesicles and his division -across Thessaly and Epirus to Corcyra. The minds of the dicastery would -be powerfully affected by seeing before them such a man as Jason of -Pheræ, at that moment the most powerful individual in Greece; and we are -not surprised to learn that Timotheus was acquitted. Although he was now -acquitted, his reputation suffered so much by the whole affair, that in -the ensuing spring he was glad to accept an invitation of the Persian -satraps, who offered him the command of the Grecian mercenaries in their -service for the Egyptian war; the same command from which Iphicrates had -retired a little time before. - -[Sidenote: [378-373 B.C.]] - -That admiral, whose naval force had been reinforced by a large number -of Corcyræan triremes, was committing without opposition incursions -against Acarnania, and the western coast of Peloponnesus; insomuch that -the expelled Messenians, in their distant exile at Hesperides in Libya, -began to conceive hopes of being restored by Athens to Naupactus, which -they had occupied under her protection during the Peloponnesian War. -And while the Athenians were thus masters at sea both east and west of -Peloponnesus, Sparta and her confederates, discouraged by the ruinous -failure of their expedition against Corcyra in the preceding year, -appear to have remained inactive. With such mental predispositions, -they were powerfully affected by religious alarm arising from certain -frightful earthquakes and inundations with which Peloponnesus was -visited during this year, and which were regarded as marks of the wrath -of the god Poseidon. More of these formidable visitations occurred this -year in Peloponnesus than had ever before been known; especially one, -the worst of all, whereby the two towns of Helice and Bura in Achaia -were destroyed, together with a large portion of their population. Ten -Lacedæmonian triremes, which happened to be moored on this shore on the -night when the calamity occurred, were destroyed by the rush of the -waters. - -Under these depressing circumstances, the Lacedæmonians had recourse to -the same manœuvre which had so well served their purpose fifteen years -before, in 388-387 B.C. They sent Antalcidas again as envoy to Persia, -to entreat both pecuniary aid and a fresh Persian intervention enforcing -anew the peace which bore his name; which peace had now been infringed -(according to Lacedæmonian construction) by the reconstitution of the -Bœotian confederacy under Thebes as president. And it appears that in -the course of the autumn or winter, Persian envoys actually did come to -Greece, requiring that the belligerents should all desist from war, and -wind up their dissensions on the principles of the Peace of Antalcidas. -The Persian satraps, at this time renewing their efforts against Egypt, -were anxious for the cessation of hostilities in Greece, as a means of -enlarging their numbers of Grecian mercenaries; of which troops Timotheus -had left Athens a few months before to take the command. - -Apart, however, from this prospect of Persian intervention, which -doubtless was not without effect, Athens herself was becoming more -and more disposed towards peace. That common fear and hatred of the -Lacedæmonians, which had brought her into alliance with Thebes in 378 -B.C., was now no longer predominant. She was actually at the head of a -considerable maritime confederacy; and this she could hardly hope to -increase by continuing the war, since the Lacedæmonian naval power had -already been humbled. Moreover, the Athenians had become more and more -alienated from Thebes. The ancient antipathy between these two neighbours -had for a time been overlaid by common fear of Sparta. But as soon as -Thebes had re-established her authority in Bœotia, the jealousies of -Athens again began to arise. - -During the last three or four years, Platæa, like the other towns of -Bœotia, had been again brought into the confederacy under Thebes. -Re-established by Sparta after the Peace of Antalcidas as a so-called -autonomous town, it had been garrisoned by her as a post against Thebes, -and was no longer able to maintain a real autonomy after the Spartans -had been excluded from Bœotia in 376 B.C. While other Bœotian cities -were glad to find themselves emancipated from their philo-Laconian -oligarchies and rejoined to the federation under Thebes, Platæa--as well -as Thespiæ--submitted to the union only by constraint; awaiting any -favourable opportunity for breaking off, either by means of Sparta or of -Athens. Aware probably of the growing coldness between the Athenians and -Thebans, the Platæans were secretly trying to persuade Athens to accept -and occupy their town, annexing Platæa to Attica; a project hazardous -both to Thebes and Athens, since it would place them at open war with -each other, while neither was yet at peace with Sparta. - -[Sidenote: [373-371 B.C.]] - -This intrigue, coming to the knowledge of the Thebans, determined them -to strike a decisive blow. The bœotarch Neocles conducted a Theban armed -force immediately from the assembly, by a circuitous route through Hysiæ -to Platæa; which town he found deserted by most of its male adults and -unable to make resistance. The Platæans--dispersed in the fields, finding -their walls, their wives, and their families, all in possession of the -victor--were under the necessity of accepting the terms proposed to them. -They were allowed to depart in safety and to carry away all their movable -property; but their town was destroyed and its territory again annexed -to Thebes. The unhappy fugitives were constrained for the second time -to seek refuge at Athens, where they were again kindly received, and -restored to the same qualified right of citizenship as they had enjoyed -prior to the Peace of Antalcidas. - -It was not merely with Platæa, but also with Thespiæ, that Thebes -was now meddling. Mistrusting the dispositions of the Thespians, she -constrained them to demolish the fortifications of their town; as she had -caused to be done fifty-two years before, after the victory of Delium, -on suspicion of leanings favourable to Athens. Such proceedings on the -part of the Thebans in Bœotia excited strong emotion at Athens, where -the Platæans not only appeared as suppliants, with the tokens of misery -conspicuously displayed, but also laid their case pathetically before the -assembly, and invoked aid to regain their town, of which they had been -just bereft. On a question at once so touching and so full of political -consequences, many speeches were doubtless composed and delivered, one -of which has fortunately reached us; composed by Isocrates, and perhaps -actually delivered by a Platæan speaker before the public assembly. The -hard fate of this interesting little community is here impressively set -forth, including the bitterest reproaches, stated with not a little of -rhetorical exaggeration, against the multiplied wrongs done by Thebes, as -well towards Athens as towards Platæa. - -The resolution was at length taken--first by Athens, and next, probably, -by the majority of the confederates assembled at Athens--to make -propositions of peace to Sparta, where it was well known that similar -dispositions prevailed towards peace. Notice of this intention was -given to the Thebans, who were moreover invited to send envoys to the -Lacedæmonian capital, if they chose to become parties. - -In the spring of 371 B.C., at the time when the members of the -Lacedæmonian confederacy were assembled at Sparta, both the Athenian -and Theban envoys, and those from the various members of the Athenian -confederacy, arrived there. Among the Athenian envoys, two at -least--Callias (the hereditary _daduch_ or torchbearer of the Eleusinian -ceremonies) and Autocles--were men of great family at Athens; and they -were accompanied by Callistratus, the orator. From the Thebans, the only -man of note was Epaminondas, then one of the Bœotarchs. - - -THE CONGRESS AT SPARTA - -[Sidenote: [371 B.C.]] - -Of the debates which took place at this important congress, we have very -imperfect knowledge; and of the more private diplomatic conversations, -not less important than the debates, we have no knowledge at all. -Xenophon gives us a speech from each of the three Athenians, and from -no one else. That of Callias, who announces himself as hereditary -proxenus of Sparta at Athens, is boastful and empty, but eminently -philo-Laconian in spirit; that of Autocles is in the opposite tone, full -of severe censure on the past conduct of Sparta; that of Callistratus, -delivered after the other two--while the enemies of Sparta were elate, -her friends humiliated, and both parties silent, from the fresh effect -of the reproaches of Autocles--is framed in a spirit of conciliation, -admitting faults on both sides, but deprecating the continuance of war, -as injurious to both, and showing how much the joint interests of both -pointed towards peace. - -This orator, representing the Athenian diplomacy of the time, recognises -distinctly the Peace of Antalcidas as the basis upon which Athens was -prepared to treat, autonomy to each city, small as well as great: and in -this way, coinciding with the views of the Persian king, he dismisses -with indifference the menace that Antalcidas was on his way back from -Persia with money to aid the Lacedæmonians in the war. Athens and Sparta -were to become mutual partners and guarantees; dividing the headship -of Greece by an ascertained line of demarcation, yet neither of them -interfering with the principle of universal autonomy. Thebes, and her -claim to the presidency of Bœotia, were thus to be set aside by mutual -consent. - -[Illustration: GREEK JAR - -(In the British Museum)] - -It was upon this basis that the peace was concluded. The armaments on -both sides were to be disbanded; the harmosts and garrisons everywhere -withdrawn, in order that each city might enjoy full autonomy. If any city -should fail in observance of these conditions, and continue in a career -of force against any other, all were at liberty to take arms for the -support of the injured party; but no one who did not feel disposed, was -bound so to take arms. This last stipulation exonerated the Lacedæmonian -allies from one of their most vexatious chains. - -To the conditions here mentioned, all parties agreed; and on the ensuing -day, the oaths were exchanged. Sparta took the oath for herself and her -allies; Athens took the oath for herself only--her allies afterwards took -it severally, each city for itself. Why such difference was made, we are -not told; for it would seem that the principle of severance applied to -both confederacies alike. Next came the turn of the Thebans to swear; -and here the fatal hitch was disclosed. Epaminondas, the Theban envoy, -insisted on taking the oath, not for Thebes separately, but for Thebes as -president of the Bœotian federation, including all the Bœotian cities. -The Spartan authorities, on the other hand, and Agesilaus as the foremost -of all, strenuously opposed him. They required that he should swear -for Thebes alone, leaving the Bœotian cities to take the oath each for -itself. Already in the course of the preliminary debates, Epaminondas -had spoken out boldly against the ascendency of Sparta. While most of -the deputies stood overawed by her dignity, represented by the energetic -Agesilaus as spokesman, he, like the Athenian Autocles, and with strong -sympathy from many of the deputies present, had proclaimed that nothing -kept alive the war except her unjust pretensions, and that no peace -could be durable unless such pretensions were put aside. Accepting the -conditions of peace as finally determined, he presented himself to swear -to them in the name of the Bœotian federation. But Agesilaus, requiring -that each of the Bœotian cities should take the oath for itself, appealed -to those same principles of liberty which Epaminondas himself had just -invoked, and asked him whether each of the Bœotian cities had not as -good a title to autonomy as Thebes. Epaminondas might have replied by -asking why Sparta had just been permitted to take the oath for her allies -as well as for herself. But he took a higher ground. He contended that -the presidency of Bœotia was held by Thebes on as good a title as the -sovereignty of Laconia by Sparta. He would remind the assembly that -when Bœotia was first conquered and settled by its present inhabitants, -the other towns had all been planted out from Thebes as their chief and -mother-city; that the federal union of all, administered by bœotarchs -chosen by and from all, with Thebes as president, was coeval with the -first settlement of the country; that the separate autonomy of each was -qualified by an established institution, devolving on the bœotarchs and -councils sitting at Thebes the management of the foreign relations of all -jointly. - -All this had been pleaded by the Theban orator before the five Spartan -commissioners assembled to determine the fate of the captives after the -surrender of Platæa; when he required the condemnation of the Platæans -as guilty of treason to the ancestral institutions of Bœotia, and the -Spartan commissioners had recognised the legitimacy of these institutions -by a sweeping sentence of death against the transgressors. Moreover, at -a time when the ascendency of Thebes over the Bœotian cities had been -greatly impaired by her anti-Hellenic co-operation with the invading -Persians, the Spartans themselves had assisted her with all their -power to re-establish it, as a countervailing force against Athens. -Epaminondas could show that the presidency of Thebes over the Bœotian -cities was the keystone of the federation--a right not only of immemorial -antiquity, but pointedly recognised and strenuously vindicated by the -Spartans themselves. He could show further that it was as old, and as -good, as their own right to govern the Laconian townships; which latter -was acquired and held (as one of the best among their own warriors had -boastfully proclaimed) by nothing but Spartan valour and the sharpness of -the Spartan sword. - -An emphatic speech of this tenor, delivered amidst the deputies -assembled at Sparta, and arraigning the Spartans not merely in their -supremacy over Greece, but even in their dominion at home, was as it -were the shadow cast before by coming events. It opened a question such -as no Greek had ever ventured to raise. It was a novelty startling to -all--extravagant probably in the eyes of Callistratus and the Athenians, -but to the Spartans themselves intolerably poignant and insulting. They -had already a long account of antipathy to clear off with Thebes; their -own wrong-doing in seizing the Cadmea; their subsequent humiliation in -losing it and being unable to recover it; their recent short-comings -and failures, in the last seven years of war against Athens and Thebes -jointly. To aggravate this deep-seated train of hostile associations, -their pride was now wounded in an unforeseen point, the tenderest of -all. Agesilaus, full to overflowing of the national sentiment, which in -the mind of a Spartan passed for the first of virtues, was stung to the -quick. Had he been an Athenian orator like Callistratus, his wrath would -have found vent in an animated harangue. But a king of Sparta was anxious -only to close these offensive discussions with scornful abruptness, -thus leaving to the presumptuous Theban no middle ground between humble -retractation and acknowledged hostility. Indignantly starting from his -seat, he said to Epaminondas: “Speak plainly,--will you, or will you not, -leave to each of the Bœotian cities its separate autonomy?” To which the -other replied, “Will you leave each of the Laconian towns autonomous?” -Without saying another word, Agesilaus immediately caused the name of the -Thebans to be struck out of the roll, and proclaimed them excluded from -the treaty. - -Such was the close of this memorable congress at Sparta in June 371 B.C. -Between the Spartans and the Athenians, and their respective allies, -peace was sworn. But the Thebans were excluded, and their deputies -returned home, (if we may believe Xenophon) discouraged and mournful. -Yet such a man as Epaminondas must have been well aware that neither his -claims nor his arguments would be admitted by Sparta. If, therefore, he -was disappointed with the result, this must be because he had counted -upon, but did not obtain, support from the Athenians or others. - - -ATHENS ABANDONS THEBES - -The leaning of the Athenian deputies had been adverse rather than -favourable to Thebes throughout the congress. They were disinclined, -from their sympathies with the Platæans, to advocate the presidential -claims of Thebes, though on the whole it was to the political interest of -Athens that the Bœotian federation should be maintained, as a bulwark to -herself against Sparta. Yet the relations of Athens with Thebes, after -the congress as before it, were still those of friendship, nominal rather -than sincere. It was only with Sparta, and her allies, that Thebes was at -war, without a single ally attached to her. On the whole, Callistratus -and his colleagues had managed the interests of Athens in this congress -with great prudence and success. They had disengaged her from the -alliance with Thebes, which had been dictated seven years before by -common fear and dislike of Sparta, but which had no longer any adequate -motive to countervail the cost of continuing the war; at the same time -the disengagement had been accomplished without bad faith. The gains of -Athens, during the last seven years of war, had been considerable. She -had acquired a great naval power, and a body of maritime confederates; -while her enemies the Spartans had lost their naval power in the like -proportion. Athens was now the ascendant leader of maritime and insular -Greece, while Sparta still continued to be the leading power on land--but -only on land; and a tacit partnership was now established between the -two, each recognising the other in their respective halves of the -Hellenic hegemony. Moreover, Athens had the prudence to draw her stake, -and quit the game, when at the maximum of acquisitions, without taking -the risk of future contingencies.[e] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[11] [That is, the organisation of a group of settlements into one city or -capital.] - - - - -[Illustration: GREEK SEALS] - - - - -CHAPTER XLV. THE DAY OF EPAMINONDAS - - -It was not a new enemy which Sparta had found, but rather an old one -which had come to new power, in the city of Thebes. In that city an -extraordinary man had come to light, and by his sole influence he raised -his people to the head of Grecian affairs. This man was Epaminondas, -certainly one of the greatest men--some would have it even the very -greatest--that Greece ever produced. - -There have been philosophical historians who have doubted the influence -of the individual man in moulding the course of human events. According -to one point of view it is the events always that make the man, the great -man coming forward when he is needed, and because he is needed. But -such cases as that of Epaminondas ill accord with this theory. Nothing -seems clearer than that Thebes rose into great influence and wrested the -sceptre of power from Sparta solely because the great leader Epaminondas -chanced to be a Theban. For it is quite beyond dispute, that in all the -previous years in which she had constantly participated in the Grecian -struggles, Thebes had occupied a subordinate place, and it is equally -clear that she sank back at once into relative insignificance the moment -that Epaminondas was gone. - -It was Epaminondas who led the Thebans in person against the Spartans, -in the first engagement in which a Spartan army was ever put to flight -in open combat, and the success of Epaminondas was probably due to the -fact that his genius had developed a new form of tactics. The method of -massing the heavy-armed soldiers in what came afterwards to be famous -as the Macedonian phalanx--the weapon with which Alexander won his -victories--was, it is said, really due to Epaminondas. Philip of Macedon, -who was afterwards to become the master of Greece, was a captive in -Thebes during his boyhood, and it is supposed that he there gained the -germ of the idea, which afterwards, when put into practice, enabled his -Macedonian warriors to scatter the true Greeks as easily as in an earlier -day the Greeks had scattered the Persians. What else Philip may have -learned through the example of Epaminondas it would be difficult to say, -but in this view it is clear that the genius of the great Theban leader -may have entered much more potently into the story of the final overthrow -of Greece than might at first sight appear. - -Such intangible associations aside, however, it is clear that the fame of -Epaminondas has suffered through the relative insignificance of the epoch -in which he lived. Historians, by common consent, give him a foremost -place among the great Greeks; yet to the generality of readers, to whom -such names as Themistocles, Pericles, and Alexander are household words, -the name of Epaminondas is almost unknown. This neglect was inevitable, -for the events in which this latter hero figured were the events of -the declining years of a great nation; events which, far from telling -for the up-building of Grecian power, were merely the last preparatory -stages for the final overthrow. It seems strange to reflect that the -period that intervened between the close of the Peloponnesian War and the -final conquest of Greece by Philip of Macedon is a longer period than -the entire stretch of the age of Pericles. It was an epoch separated -from that golden period of Grecian culture only by the lapse of a single -generation; yet how strangely different is the import that it bears to -after generations. The proud Athens is now the home of a broken and -dispirited people. Sparta, after a brief moment of glory, has been laid -in the dust. The ascent of Thebes is no more rocket-like than its descent. - -When looking on this period one feels that already Greece has ceased to -exist, and yet one may well doubt whether any contemporary citizen, say -of Athens, could at all have realised the enormous change that had come -over the spirit and status of the Greek race. There were still great men -in Athens. Perhaps it may have seemed to the Athenian of that day that -great men were as numerous as they had ever been. Euripides and Sophocles -had left no worthy successors, to be sure; but Aristophanes lived well on -into the later period, and in the field of art Praxiteles may easily have -seemed to contemporary judgment the peer of Phidias, while in the field -of philosophy and science there were such names as Plato, and Aristotle, -and Xenophon, and in oratory there was no name in the previous epoch to -rival that of Demosthenes. - -Such names as these show that Greek genius did not die out in a single -hour. A nation once grown to greatness cannot be overthrown in a single -generation, unless its entire population be destroyed or scattered as was -that of Nineveh. Yet it is none the less certain that Athenian culture -was now in its time of decay, however little patency that fact may have -had to the contemporary witness. And in looking back, with all that one -has learned of the seemingly fixed limits of national existence through -study of other peoples, one is forced to the conclusion that perhaps it -did not greatly matter that the sturdy Macedonian from the north should -have swept down and stamped out the last spark of Athenian power.[a] - -The condition of Greece at this time shows that, during the long -convulsions, all the old sentiments and associations had been lost, and -that Greece had now come to a point at which most of the states could not -exist without a protector. It required that fearful training which the -Greeks had to submit to for nearly a whole century, before they became -capable of living under a really free federal constitution like that -of the Achæan League: a firm union into one whole, when the isolated -existence of the separate states had become a matter of impossibility. -The state of Greece was indescribably sad, and the most atrocious scenes -occurred everywhere. - -The Spartans might now have enjoyed peace; but they were still -incorrigible. When pressed by great difficulties, they always signed -the treaties; but when they were out of danger, and the treaties had -to be carried into effect, they felt uneasy; they could never prevail -upon themselves to exercise self-control, or to give up anything. The -Thebans seemed to be ready to accede to the peace; but the Spartans -still insisted upon the necessity of Thebes separating from Bœotia, -although they had not undertaken the guarantee of the peace; in the Peace -of Antalcidas they had done so, but this was not the case now. King -Cleombrotus was stationed with an army in Phocis; that army ought now -to have been disbanded, and this was the opinion of a few sensible men; -but the majority thought that it should be employed in compelling the -Thebans to set the Bœotians free. The ruling party at Sparta now hoped -to be able to compel Thebes, which was forsaken by all the other Greeks, -without any difficulty, especially as some of the Bœotian towns, such -as Orchomenos, sided with Sparta. Orchomenos was still dreaming of her -ancient splendour and glory, and of the mythical times when Thebes was -separated from Bœotia, when Orchomenos was the most powerful city, and -Thebes paid tribute to her. These recollections were cherished by the -Orchomenians with great and fond partiality; just as if Amalfi wished at -present to re-establish the claims of its ancient greatness. - - -SPARTA INVADES BŒOTIA - -Cleombrotus, therefore, full of hope, entered Bœotia, after the peace had -been signed, demanding that Bœotia should carry the terms of the peace -into effect, and renounce Thebes, and that every town should assert its -independence. The other Bœotian towns, with the exception of Orchomenos -and Thespiæ, were reasonable enough to see that their dependence on -Thebes, with extensive rights, was far better than independence; -and Thebes was supported by far the greater number of the Bœotians. -The Thebans, joined by their Bœotian allies, now took the field.[b] -Cleombrotus, with a degree of military skill rare in the Spartan -commanders, baffled all the Theban calculations. Instead of marching -by the highway he turned south, defeated a Theban force and captured -the port of Creusis with twelve Theban triremes. He then marched north -through the mountains into Thespiæ and encamped on the high ground at a -place of ever-memorable name--Leuctra.[c] - -Fortunately for Bœotia, Epaminondas was bœotarch at this time. Pelopidas, -likewise bœotarch, commanded the _Hieros Lochos_ [Sacred Band], the -_élite_ of the citizens. If Epaminondas had been an ordinary man, he -would have turned back again almost immediately after he had marched -out; for the omens, to which the ancients attached so much importance, -strangely accumulated to such a degree, that they might have shaken a -firm mind which was not altogether proof against superstition. When the -army passed out of the gate, for example, they met a herald bringing -back a deserter, and uttering ominous words, “You ought not to be led -out of the city.” Then a high wind rose, carrying off ribbons with which -they had adorned themselves for the sacrifice, and these ribbons clung -round a pillar on a tomb. Hence an indescribable consternation arose, but -Epaminondas recited the magnificent line from the _Iliad_: - - εἴς οἰωνὸς ἄριστος ἀμύνεσθαι περὶ πάτρης![12] - -and boldly marched out. It is a pity that we have not a life of -Epaminondas by Plutarch; with his Bœotian patriotism, he would certainly -have produced a pleasing biography; but how, with his superstitious -notions, he would have managed it, we do not know. Every one of the -Thebans knew that they should have to fight a battle against the -Spartans, and with heavy hearts they set out against an enemy who had -never yet been conquered in the field. But the confidence of Epaminondas -was unshaken. Although himself armed against all superstition, he -willingly allowed his soldiers to fortify themselves with their belief -in supernatural signs, and did not oppose the spreading of the rumour -among his troops, that the armour of Hercules had disappeared from his -temple at Thebes, the birthplace of the god, and that consequently the -god himself had taken up his arms to fight for his fellow-citizens. He -made his preparations in full confidence, and did what was best under -the circumstances. He foresaw that the Spartans would have the belief in -their favour that their tactics were superior; for it was the general -opinion that their tactics of deep masses were unconquerable, just as -it was believed of the drilling regulations of Frederick II after the -Seven Years’ War, when all the states ordered their troops to be trained -according to it, imagining that thereby they could gain battles as he had -done. Epaminondas, moreover, had to overcome the pride of the Spartans. -Now, in order to meet their tactics and break their pride, he made an -excellent disposition, employing the system of defeating masses by still -greater masses. - - -THE BATTLE OF LEUCTRA - -The Spartans were drawn up together with their allies. Epaminondas -advanced in an oblique line, sending forward the left wing and keeping -back the right; but he then ordered the left wing gradually to withdraw -to the left, and thus formed on that wing an immense mass. With this he -now made a most vigorous attack upon the right wing of the enemy, where -the Spartans themselves were stationed. An ordinary general would have -done the contrary, directing his force against the part from which no -such powerful resistance was to be expected. Pelopidas conducted the -attack, and ordered the mass to advance with immense rapidity. We do -not know whether the statement is true, that the Thebans advanced fifty -men deep. We have only the testimony of Xenophon, but see no reason -for denying it. The troops must have been excellently trained, for -notwithstanding the dense mass, they advanced with an alacrity as if they -had been light troops, just as at present troops advance in an attack -with the bayonet, and not according to the fashion of phalangites, who -otherwise advanced with deliberate solemnity. The Spartans made a skilful -move: in order not to be outflanked, they turned to the right, intending -to throw their cavalry upon the right wing of the Bœotians. But the -Bœotians made the attack with such precision and quickness, that being -beforehand, they routed the Lacedæmonians and Spartans. There Cleombrotus -fell, and the Spartans were as decidedly beaten as they well could be. -The army did not indeed disperse, but it was absolutely impossible to -find any pretext for saying that they had been victorious at any one -point, a matter in which the Greeks were otherwise extremely inventive. -It requires the partiality of a Xenophon, to leave it undecided as to -whether the Spartans were defeated.[13] - -After the battle, they appear to have remained together for a time, but -there was no one among them able to undertake the command. Meantime, as a -report had reached Sparta, that the Bœotians offered resistance, another -Spartan army, under Archidamus, a son of Agesilaus, had marched across -the Isthmus, and was now approaching, but found the Spartans already -defeated. All he could do was to collect the remains of the defeated -army and to return with them. They seem to have effected their retreat -under the protection of a truce. The only auxiliaries of the Thebans in -the battle of Leuctra, had been the Thessalian troops of prince Jason of -Pheræ: one of the phenomena of an age, when the old order of things has -disappeared, and new institutions have been formed. - -If we believe Diodorus, the battle of Leuctra was the direct punishment -for perjury: for Cleombrotus, it is said, had concluded a truce with -the Thebans, but on the arrival of reinforcements from Peloponnesus, -he broke it. One of the narratives must be untrue, either his or that -of Xenophon; if the reinforcements under Archidamus arrived before the -battle, Xenophon’s account must necessarily be given up. Cleombrotus may -have had the peculiar misfortune, which happens to many a one who has -been unsuccessful; all that is bad and disgraceful is attributed to him. -What makes us still more inclined to disbelieve the account of Diodorus -is, that if Archidamus had been present at the battle, it could not have -been said that after the battle the Spartan army was without a commander. -Diodorus probably too eagerly caught up an account which throws the blame -upon the Spartans; it was invented either by Ephorus or by Callisthenes. - -The loss of the Spartans in the battle is very differently stated. -According to one account, it amounted to 4000 men, which would include, -besides the Lacedæmonians and Spartans, all the other allies; others -mention only 1000 slain, which number would comprise the Lacedæmonians -only; others again estimate their number at 1700; but this last number -is erroneous, as has been correctly observed by Schneider in a note -on Xenophon, and arose from a hasty glance at the numbers written in -the characters of the Greek alphabet. We may take it for granted that -not less than 1000 Lacedæmonians fell in the battle; but whether this -number also comprised the Spartans or not, is a question which cannot be -answered at all. But it is a fact, that the number of the Spartans was -so extremely small, that the strength of the Spartan citizens as a body -was completely paralysed by the loss of this battle. At one time there -had been 9000 citizens, subsequently they are said to have amounted to -8000, but at this time there cannot have been 1000 real citizens, and at -a still later time there were only 700. At Leuctra several hundreds of -them fell. The ancient Spartan citizens were certainly not more numerous -than the _nobili_ of Venice. They now had to feel the consequences of -their wretched selfish policy, which had been so jealous in granting the -franchise to the periœci, as to exclude a great many excellent men as -unfit and unworthy, and had cut them off from every prospect of obtaining -it. - -All Greece was startled at the news of this victory; it seemed impossible -that Sparta should have been beaten in the field. The Spartans themselves -were quite dejected. Their allies turned their backs upon them, and in a -moment all the states of Peloponnesus, which had hitherto followed their -standards, threw up their connection with them, and declared themselves -independent; the Phocians, Locrians, and other allies beyond the -Isthmus, immediately concluded a peace and alliance with the Bœotians. -Not eighteen months passed away, perhaps it was even in the very winter -after the battle of Leuctra, when the Bœotians invaded Peloponnesus. -The Spartans were panic-stricken and retreated. The Bœotians announced -themselves as the protectors of liberty, and there can be no doubt -that the personal character and the eminent qualities of Epaminondas -everywhere excited great confidence, while the national character of the -Thebans would certainly have called forth the opposite feeling.[b] - - -SIGNIFICANCE OF LEUCTRA - -The battle of Leuctra was certainly one of those battles which are -decisive of the fate of countries and which give history a new turn. It -not only brought to the fore a leader of singular magnificence at the -head of a new and zealous nation, but it saw the complete collapse of -Sparta. It made possible the first invasion of that country which, being -without walls, had felt itself girt about with imperishable granite in -the brawn of its soldiery. The other nations of Greece for all their -hatred of Sparta had never succeeded in invading her. It was considered -glory enough to sail around the Peloponnesus or to establish a stronghold -upon some portion of the coast. It remained for a Theban newcomer, whom -Xenophon does not even mention in his account of the battle of Leuctra, -to march into Sparta and prove that her granite wall of soldiery was only -a superstition that crumbled before the onslaught of that new Theban -formation which modern foot-ball players have revived and called “the -flying-wedge.” - -[Illustration: GREEK VASE - -(In the British Museum)] - -The battle of Leuctra is significant in showing that the course of -Grecian empire was taking a northward way. In its passage, Thebes was -only a stepping-stone to Macedonia. Once out of the little peninsula -it had thus far dwelt in, Grecian ambition was to find itself upon an -unlimited field of conquest whence it would turn, not logically to the -West, where Rome was young and inglorious, but to the East, with its -ancient and rotting civilisation and its hoarded opulence. - -For the present, however, it is enough to realise that Sparta has -fallen never to lift her head again. Remembering all the better side -of the Spartan life and the Spartan philosophy, one is disposed to -feel a deep sense of regret. It seems to be a moment for elegy. But to -certain historians who can see in Sparta at best only a stupid mountain -of conservatism, and at worst a monster of hypocrisy, of cruelty and -of inertia, it seems to be a time for rejoicing that a blot has been -removed from the Grecian escutcheon. No one is more severe and no one -more eloquent than Cox who says in his self-defence, “I have been charged -with being over-severe to Sparta. I would gladly be convinced that I have -been; but until I am so convinced, I cannot modify my words.” Then he -launches forth into a glowing philippic from which we may quote a portion: - -“So ended the fight which left Epaminondas the first general of his -age, and so fell a power which had fully earned its title to stability, -if grinding tyranny and law-defying oppressiveness could confer such a -right. The Lycurgean discipline, which crushed all that imparted grace -and beauty of life at Athens, would indeed have been worth little if it -had failed to produce the semblance of an unconcern which treated the -more generous and tender instincts of humanity as the worst of vices. - -“Another act in the great drama had been thus played out; and the whole -Hellenic world had at length learned that the promises of freedom made -by Sparta had been from beginning to end a lie--a lie scantily veiled -at first by the rhetoric of Brasidas, but put forth afterward in the -nakedness of unblushing effrontery. Not a single pledge had she redeemed; -not a single burden had been removed, not a single abuse redressed. -She had hailed the downfall of Athens as the beginning of a golden age -for Hellas, and in order to realise it she had aided and abetted her -victorious generals in setting up everywhere societies of murderers. -Her enemies were prostrate; and she trampled on them without a touch of -commiseration. Her allies were too much overpowered by the consciousness -of their inferiority really to dispute her will; and she refused to -share her spoils with the partners of her robberies. She had put down -the Athenian empire with the courts, which, at the least, offered to the -free or the subject allies the means of redress for wrongs inflicted or -received; and by way of improving matters she had, with gigantic cruelty, -let loose upon them a crowd of rapacious and lustful tyrants against whom -she would hear no complaint. - -“In short the supremacy of Sparta had been from first to last the -supremacy of high-handed violence and wanton tyranny. Nor could it have -been anything else but what it was. Much has been said of the golden -opportunities which the course of events offered to Sparta, and which she -deliberately threw away, opportunities presented first in the unlimited -freedom of action which followed the seizure of the Athenian fleet at -Ægospotami, and again when the return of the Cyrean Greeks placed her -at the head of a splendid army in her involuntary conflict with the -Persian king. But in truth it is absurd to speak of opportunities of -feasting on the loveliest of landscapes, to the man who has extinguished -in himself all sense of beauty, of opportunities for generous action to -the man whose whole life exhibits nothing but the working of unvarying -and consistent selfishness. Whether after Ægospotami, or after the -return of the Ten Thousand, it was impossible for Sparta to do anything -towards establishing a real Panhellenic union, in other words, a real -Greek nation, without reverting in greater or less degree to the works of -Athens. To go back to any such system would be for the Spartans what the -changing of his skin would be to the Ethiopian, or of his spots to the -leopard.” - -Before returning to the crescent glory of Epaminondas, it is necessary -to pause to note the sudden phenomenon of a singular genius, Jason of -Pheræ, who flares up and overawes Greece only to expire at once. He -is a striking personage, and important as a forewarning flash of the -irresistible storm rising in the North.[a] - - -JASON OF THESSALY - -Intelligence of the fatal blow at Leuctra, carried to Lacedæmon, was -borne with much real magnanimity, and with all that affectation of -unconcern which the institutions of Lycurgus commanded. It happened to -be the last day of the festival called the Naked Games; and the chorus -of men was on the stage, before the assembled people, when the officer -charged with the despatches arrived. The ephors were present, as their -official duty required, and to them the despatches were delivered. -Without interrupting the entertainment they communicated the names -of the slain to their relations, with an added admonition, that the -women should avoid that clamorous lamentation which was usual, and bear -the calamity in silence. On the morrow all the relations of the slain -appeared as usual in public, with a deportment of festivity and triumph, -while the few kinsmen of the survivors, who showed themselves abroad, -carefully marked in their appearance humiliation and dejection. - -It was a large proportion of the best strength of the commonwealth that, -after so great a loss in the battle, remained in a danger not in the -moment to be calculated. Every exertion therefore was to be made to save -it. Of six moras, into which for military purposes the Lacedæmonian -people were divided, the men of four, within thirty years after boyhood -(such was the term, meaning perhaps the age of about fourteen), had -marched under Cleombrotus; those however being excepted who bore at the -time any public office. The ephors now ordered the remaining two moras -to march, together with those of the absent moras, to the fortieth year -from boyhood, and no longer allowing exception for those in office. The -command, Agesilaus being not yet sufficiently recovered to take it, was -committed to his son Archidamus. Requisitions were at the same time -hastened off for the assistance of the allies: and the Lacedæmonian -interest, or the interest adverse to the pretensions and apprehended -purposes of Thebes, prevailed so in Tegea, Mantinea, Phlius, Corinth, -Sicyon, and throughout the Achæan towns, that from all those places the -contingent of troops was forwarded with alacrity. - -Meanwhile the leading Thebans, meaning to pay a compliment that might -promote their interest in Athens, had hastened thither information of -their splendid success. But the impression made by this communication -was not favourable to their views: on the contrary, it showed that the -jealousy, formerly entertained so generally among the Athenians towards -Lacedæmon, was already transferred to Thebes. Thus the incessant quarrels -among the Grecian republics, source indeed of lasting glory to some, -brought however, with their decision, neither lasting power nor lasting -quiet to any; but, proving ever fertile in new discord, had a constant -tendency to weaken the body of the nation. Relief to Lacedæmon in its -pressing danger came, not from its own exertion, not from the interest -which all the Grecian republics had in preventing Thebes from acquiring -that overbearing dominion with which in a Lacedæmon had oppressed them, -but from a power newly risen, or revived, in a corner of the country -whence, for centuries, Greece had not been accustomed to apprehend -anything formidable. - -Jason of Pheræ in Thessaly was one of those extraordinary men in whom -superior powers of mind and body sometimes meet. He was formed to be -a hero had he lived with Achilles: and as a politician he could have -contended with Themistocles or Pericles. He had the advantage of being -born to eminence in his own city, one of the principal of Thessaly; and -he appears to have acquired there a powerful popularity. Little informed -of the early part of his life, we find him mentioned as general of the -Pheræans about six years before the battle of Leuctra, and commanding a -force sent to assist Neogenes, chief of Histiæa in Eubœa. In the contests -of faction in Thessaly it was become common to employ mercenary troops. -Jason excelled in diligence in training such troops, in courage and skill -in commanding them, and in the arts by which he attached them to his -interest. - -Of the state of Thessaly at this time altogether we may form some -judgment from what the contemporary historian [Xenophon] has related -of Pharsalus, one of its most considerable cities. The leaders of -the factions by which Pharsalus was torn, weary at length of ruinous -contest, came to an extraordinary agreement. Fortunately they had -a fellow-citizen, Polydamas, eminent throughout Thessaly for high -birth, large possessions, and that splendid hospitality for which the -Thessalians were distinguished, but yet more singularly eminent for -integrity. To this man the Pharsalians committed the command of their -citadel and the exclusive management of their public revenue, giving him -altogether a princely authority. In so extraordinary an office Polydamas -had the good fortune to succeed in everything, except in opposing the -ambition of the too politic and powerful Jason. - -Tyrant or patriot, as you will, in his own city of Pheræ, Jason had -proceeded to bring most of the Thessalian cities, some by policy, some -by arms, under that kind of subjection which so commonly in Greece -was entitled confederacy. The strength of Pharsalus, directed by the -abilities of Polydamas, was exerted to protect them. But Pharsalus itself -was threatened, when Jason sent a proposal for a conference with the -chief, which was accepted. In this conference the Pheræan avowed his -“intention to reduce Pharsalus, and the towns dependent upon Pharsalus, -to dependency upon himself;” but declared that “it was his wish to -effect this rather by negotiation than by violence, and with benefit to -Polydamas, rather than to his injury. It was in the power of Polydamas,” -he said, “to persuade the Pharsalians; but that it was not in his power -to defend them, the result of all his recent efforts sufficiently showed. -For himself, he was resolved to hold the first situation in Greece; the -second he offered to Polydamas. What their advantages would be, if a -political union took place, Polydamas as well as himself could estimate. - -“The cavalry of Thessaly was six thousand strong: the heavy-armed -infantry exceeded ten thousand; the numerous inhabitants of the -surrounding mountains, subjects of the Thessalian cities, were excellent -targeteers. In addition to this force then he had six thousand -mercenaries in his pay; a body such as, for choice of men, and perfection -of discipline, no commonwealth of Greece possessed. But connection with -Athens did not suit his views; for the Athenians affected to be the first -maritime power of Greece, and he meant to make Thessaly the first. The -three necessaries to naval power were timber, hands, and revenue. With -the former, Athens was supplied from Macedonia, which lay much more -conveniently for the supply of Thessaly. With the second their Penestian -subjects were a resource to which Athens had nothing equal.” (The -Penestæ were a conquered people, reduced to a kind of vassalage under -the Thessalians, for whom they performed menial and laborious offices, -but were not held in a slavery so severe and degrading as the helots of -Laconia, for we find them admitted to that military service, the cavalry, -which was generally reckoned among the Greeks to assort only with rank -above the lowest citizens.) - -It had been a practice of the Thessalian republics, always acknowledging -some common bonds of union, to appoint, for extraordinary occasions a -common military commander, a captain-general of the Thessalian nation, -with the title of Tagus. To this high rank and great command Jason -aspired, and the approbation of the Pharsalian government, it appears, -was necessary. But he was far from so confining his views. Even the -command of all Greece did not suffice for his ambition. “That all Greece -might be reduced under their dominion,” he observed to Polydamas, -“appeared probable from what he had already stated: but he conceived the -conquest of the Persian empire to be a still easier achievement; the -practical proof afforded by the return of the Cyrean Greeks, and by the -great progress made with a very small force by Agesilaus, leaving this no -longer a matter of mere speculation.” - -Polydamas, in reply, admitted the justness of Jason’s reasoning; but -alleged his own connection with Lacedæmon, which he would at no rate -betray, as an objection that appeared to him insuperable. Jason, -commending his fidelity to his engagements, freely consented that he -should go to Lacedæmon and state his circumstances; and if he could -not obtain succour which might give him reasonable hope of successful -resistance, then he would stand clearly excused, both to his allies -and to his fellow-citizens, in accepting the proposal offered him. -Polydamas, returning then into Thessaly, requested and obtained from -Jason, that he should hold under his own peculiar command the citadel of -Pharsalus, which had been, in a manner so honourable to him, entrusted -to his charge. For security of his fidelity to his new engagements, he -surrendered his children as hostages. The Pharsalians, persuaded to -acquiesce, were admitted to terms of peace and friendship by Jason, who -was then elected without opposition tagus of Thessaly. - -The first object of Jason, in his high office, was to inquire -concerning the force which the whole country, now acknowledging him -its constitutional military commander, could furnish; and it was found -to amount to more than eight thousand horse, full twenty thousand -heavy-armed foot, and targeteers enough, in the contemporary historian’s -phrase, for war with all the world. His next care was the revenue, which -might enable him to give energy to this force. Jason was ambitious, but -not avaricious, and he desired to have willing subjects. He required -therefore from the dependent states around Thessaly only that tribute -which had been formerly assessed under the tagus Scopas. At the time of -the battle of Leuctra, Jason was already this formidable potentate, and -he was then in alliance with Thebes. When therefore the Thebans sent to -the Athenian people an account of that splendid action, they did not -fail to communicate the intelligence also to the tagus of Thessaly; and -they added a request for his co-operation towards the complete overthrow -of the tyranny, so long exercised by the Lacedæmonians over the Greek -nation. The circumstances were altogether such as Jason was not likely to -look upon with indifference. Having ordered a fleet to be equipped, he -put himself at the head of his mercenaries, his standing army, and taking -the cavalry in the moment about him, he began his march. He reached -Bœotia without loss; showing, as the contemporary historian observes, how -despatch may often do more than force. - -Jason, the ally of Thebes, was connected, not indeed by political -alliance, but by public and hereditary hospitality, with Lacedæmon. -Pleased with the humiliation of his hosts, he was not desirous that his -allies should become too powerful. On reaching the Theban camp therefore, -demurring to the proposal of the Theban generals for an immediate attack -upon the Lacedæmonians, he became the counsellor of peace; and, acting -as mediator, he quickly succeeded so far as to procure a truce. The -Lacedæmonians hastened to use the opportunity for reaching a place of -safety. Jason, after having thus acted as arbiter of Greece, hastened -his return to Thessaly. In his way through the hostile province of -Phocis, with leisure to exercise his vengeance, for which he had not -before wanted strength, he confined it to the little town of Hyampolis, -whose suburbs and territory he wasted, killing many of the people. The -Lacedæmonian colony of Heraclea was then to be passed. He had served -Lacedæmon at Leuctra because he thought it for his interest; and he -would, without scruple, or fear, injure Lacedæmon, in its colony of -Heraclea, because the prosperity of that colony would obstruct his views. -Heraclea was most critically situated for commanding the only easily -practicable communication between the countries northward and southward. -He therefore demolished the fortifications. - -[Illustration: GREEK ARCHER] - -Decidedly now the greatest potentate of Greece, powerful, not by his -own strength alone, but by his numerous alliances, while on all sides -his alliance was courted, Jason proposed to display his magnificence at -the approaching Pythian games. He had commanded all the republics which -owned the authority of the tagus of Thessaly to feed oxen, sheep, goats, -and swine for the sacrifices; and he proposed the reward of a golden -crown for the state which should produce the finest ox to lead the herd -for the god. By a very easy impost on them severally, he collected more -than a thousand oxen, and ten thousand smaller cattle. He appointed a -day, a little before the festival, for assembling the military force -of Thessaly; and the expectation in Greece was that he would assume -to himself the presidency. Apprehension arose that he might seize the -treasure of Delphi; insomuch that the Delphians consulted their oracle -for directions from the god on the occasion. The answer, according to -report, was similar to what had been given to their forefathers when -Xerxes invaded Greece, “that the care of the treasure would be the god’s -own concern.” - -Before the period for the splendid display arrived, this extraordinary -man, after a review of the Pheræan cavalry, sitting to give audience to -any who might have occasion to speak to him, was assassinated by seven -youths, who approached with the pretence of stating a matter in dispute -among them. The attending guards, or friends of the tagus, killed one of -them on the spot, and another as he was mounting his horse; but the rest -so profited from the confusion of the moment, and the opportunities which -circumstances throughout Greece commonly afforded, that they effected -their escape. What was the provocation to this murder, or the advantage -proposed from it, we are not informed. No symptom appears of any -political view: no attempt at a revolution is noticed by the historian; -but what he mentions to have followed marks the popularity of Jason among -the Thessalians, and also the deficient ideas, equally of morality and -true policy, generally prevailing through Greece. The brothers of the -deceased, Polydorus and Polyphron, were appointed jointly to succeed to -the dignity of tagus: the assassins could find no refuge in Thessaly; -but in various cities of other parts of Greece they were received with -honour: proof, says the contemporary historian, how vehemently it was -apprehended that Jason would succeed in his purpose of making himself -sovereign of the country. Such was the unfortunate state of Greece: in -the weakness of its little republics men were compelled to approve -means the most nefarious, where other prospect failed, by which their -fears were relieved, and present safety procured. Thus assassination -became so generally creditable, or at least so little uncreditable, that -hope of safety, through speed in flight, was always afforded to the -perpetrators.[e] - - -VON STERN ON THE THEBAN POLICY - -In Lachmann, Curtius, and others, we are confronted by the notion that -Epaminondas began the War of Liberation against Sparta as a Greek, and -not in the interest of Bœotia alone, and that the weal or woe of the -Greek nation as a whole was the leading motive of all that he did or -left undone. Since the Bœotian hegemony (regarded in this aspect as the -outcome of the noblest Panhellenic aspirations) is to our historians the -pole and focus of their view of the subsequent period, we can easily see -the paramount importance of an acceptance or denial of such aspirations -for the common good of Greece, in forming an opinion upon this portion -of history. It therefore becomes a duty to examine the question more -minutely. - -It has never been contested that up to the time of the battle of -Leuctra the Thebans had never had opportunity or occasion to turn their -attention and their energies to a wider field for patriotism. What iron -persistency they were compelled to exercise, what struggles they had -to endure, in order to maintain their own existence and to realise the -local unity for which they strove! It is not probable, not possible, that -during these years of wrestling for deliverance from Spartan supremacy, -during a struggle of which the issue perpetually hung in suspense, they -should have cherished designs for the benefit of Greece as a whole. The -deliberate purpose with which they strove straight towards the end in -view, without turning aside to the right hand or to the left, proves how -keen was the foresight, how determinate the programme, of the Theban -leaders, and shows at the same time how little place they gave to idle -dreams and illusions, which invariably involve some neglect of the needs -of the moment. - -The battle of Leuctra, therefore, marks the momentous turning-point in -the eyes of the scholars above referred to. “The victory,” says Curtius, -“was to be regarded as a national act from which all Greeks were to -derive benefit,”--hence the embassies sent from the battle-field to -Athens and Thessaly. But can the wish to be regarded as the benefactor -of all Hellas really have been the true motive of this despatch of -heralds? Thebes had won the victory indeed, but the hostile army was -far from being annihilated and still occupied the country in formidable -numbers. Isolated and without confederates, Thebes could scarcely hope -to secure the fruits of her victory unless she could now win powerful -allies. The attitude of Athens was naturally of the first importance. -It was essential for Thebes to frustrate a conjunction between Sparta -and Athens, and, if possible, to assure herself of the support of her -powerful neighbour. - -The temper of Athens was not propitious to such endeavours. If the -knowledge that peace was of the first necessity to themselves rendered -the Athenians averse to incurring fresh hardships for the sake of -Sparta, they felt even less obligation to take up the cause of Thebes. -The embassy was fruitless. The mission to Thessaly was more successful, -for Jason of Pheræ promptly prepared to come and render assistance. The -Thebans did not dare to attack the enemy’s camp before his arrival; and -when he appeared in Bœotia with an army they entreated him to undertake -the assault in concert with them. Even then the mere mention on his -part of the difficulties in the way was enough to divert the Thebans -from their project and induce them to accede to his proposals for -mediation. We see that they were far from feeling themselves masters of -the situation; nothing short of the withdrawal of the Spartan army seemed -to them to insure the security of their own position, which was the -first-fruits of their victory. - -[Sidenote: [371-370 B.C.]] - -Moreover, Thebes had next to overcome the last resistance to Bœotian -unity within her own borders. Thespiæ and Orchomenos had to be coerced -before a further advance could be thought of. The next steps were -naturally taken with a view to a union amongst the states of middle -Greece; and by compacts with Phocis, Locris, Ætolia, and Acarnania, -which acknowledged the right of the conqueror of Leuctra to be the head -and chief of the new amphictyony, Thebes strove to attain the position -to which her success had given her the best title. But it seems in the -highest degree improbable that in all these proceedings Thebes had the -interests of the whole of Greece in view, that she cherished the idea of -a national uprising against Spartan oppression, that by the extension of -dominion for which she strove she desired to make good the wrong done to -other Greeks in earlier days by Sparta, and that, as Curtius supposes, -the project for the restoration of Messenia had already been definitely -conceived. The Theban leaders could not be blind to the fact that the -struggle with Sparta had by no means come to an end with the battle of -Leuctra, but the political conditions of the time gave them as yet no -chance of forming definite resolutions and plans as to how the end was to -be brought about. Curtius undoubtedly goes too far when he assumes that -at that time Epaminondas was sole master of the situation and controlled -the destinies of the Greeks. The Thebans did not even venture to transfer -the struggle to Peloponnesian soil and denude Bœotia of her troops, on -account of the menacing attitude assumed by Jason of Pheræ in the north. - -The tyrant was ostensibly the ally of the Thebans, but his ambitions -and independent schemes were coming into ever greater prominence. As he -retired from Bœotia after the battle of Leuctra he had surprised Heraclea -and destroyed the walls of the city; he would have no one able to bar -his free entry into Hellas. Now, in the summer of 370, he was equipping -a magnificent army to attend the Pythian games at Delphi. His object in -so doing was not merely to make a display of his kingly power. Delphi, -the seat and centre of the amphictyones, had always been the connecting -link between Thessaly and the other Greek states. By the splendid homage -he offered to the god in his sacrificial procession, Jason intended to -renew the old obsolete relations; and relying upon the fact that the -Thessalian races had a majority in the ancient amphictyonic council, to -usurp the guardianship of the oracle and the management of the games, and -to secure for himself an influence in Greek politics proportionate to -his power. The great body of troops which was to accompany him in this -procession sufficiently emphasised these claims and demands. The northern -Greeks were not unaware of the danger that threatened them--neither -in all likelihood were the Thebans. Xenophon’s narrative amply proves -with what apprehension they watched his steps, and how great was the -disquietude amongst the dwellers in northern Greece. Jason’s sudden death -was to the Hellenes the deliverance from a nightmare, and the fact that -his murderers were honoured as saviours from tyranny and oppression, -is an unmistakable token of the temper aroused in Greece by his last -enterprise. But it was absolutely impossible for Thebes and the league -of middle Greece to wage war upon Sparta in the Peloponnesus while -Jason was planning his march to Delphi. They could not withdraw troops -from Bœotia without incurring the risk that he would make use of the -circumstance to give the fullest scope to his ambitious designs.[g] - - -A CONGRESS AT ATHENS - -The ill-humour with which the news of the battle of Leuctra was received -at Athens seems to have arisen merely out of the old jealousy and -animosity with which the Athenians had been used to regard their northern -neighbours, and which revived as soon as the affairs of Thebes became -prosperous. For in the event itself, considered with respect to their own -interests, they could have seen nothing to deplore. And they proceeded -without delay to take advantage of the shock which it had given to -the influence of Sparta. It seems to have been the prevailing opinion -throughout Greece, and not least at Sparta itself, that the Spartan power -had suffered a fatal blow; and Xenophon intimates that the Athenians were -surprised to find that any of the Peloponnesian states still adhered to -the ancient chief of their confederacy. They believed that the time had -now come when Athens might step into the place of Sparta, as guardian of -the Peace of Antalcidas, and might transfer all the advantages which her -rival had reaped from that title to herself. They therefore assembled a -congress in their own city, to which they invited deputies not only from -their old allies, but from all the states of Greece which were willing -to adopt the Peace of Antalcidas as the basis of their mutual relations. -It seems to have been attended by many, if not by most members of the -Peloponnesian confederacy; and the resolution to which it came in the -oath by which each state was to ratify the compact was thus expressed: -“I will abide by the treaty sent down by the king, and by the decrees -of the Athenians and their allies, and if an attack be made on any of -the states which take this oath, I will succour it with all my might.” -So that Athens found herself able to obtain better security for the -execution of the treaty, than had been given in the last congress held -for the like purpose at Sparta, where none of the parties had been bound -to enforce its observance by arms: and yet the engagement for mutual -defence now involved those who entered into it in danger of a contest -both with Sparta and Thebes. Elis would gladly have united herself to an -association which would separate, and might protect her, from Sparta; -but she would not resign her claims to the sovereignty of the Triphylian -towns. The congress on the other hand determined that every town, small -or great, should be alike independent, and commissioners were sent round -to exact an oath to this effect from the magistrates of each state. It -was taken, Xenophon says, by all but the Eleans. - - -MANTINEA RESTORED - -We should have been glad to know which of the Peloponnesian states -acceded to this confederacy. But all the information that Xenophon -gives as to this point only enables us to conclude that the Mantineans -at least were of the number. One of the first effects of the battle of -Leuctra seems to have been a revolution which overthrew the Mantinean -aristocracy; and the declaration of the congress at Athens--though it -expressed the very same principle on which the Spartans had professed -to act when they scattered the Mantineans over their four villages--was -now interpreted by the democratical party as a license to restore their -political unity, and to rebuild their city; and the work was immediately -begun. The Spartan government felt that the restoration of Mantinea would -prove to all Greece that it was no longer formidable even to its nearest -neighbours; but, in its anxiety to escape this humiliation, it resorted -to a step which still more clearly betrayed its weakness, and showed how -much it was dispirited by its recent reverse. Agesilaus, who had now -recovered from his illness, was sent to use all his hereditary influence -at Mantinea to stop the work; and he was instructed to undertake that, -if it was only deferred for the present, he would procure the consent of -the Spartan government, and even some help towards defraying the expense -of the building. He was not allowed to lay this proposal before the -popular assembly, but was informed that the decree of the people rendered -it necessary to proceed without delay. Though he felt this repulse as a -personal affront, and though it set the power of the state at defiance, -it was not thought expedient at Sparta to have recourse to arms, and the -treaty last concluded with Athens served as a plea for acquiescence. For -it was now admitted that the independence of Mantinea had been violated, -when it was dismembered for the sake of the aristocratical party. Some -of the other Arcadian towns sent workmen to assist the Mantineans, -and Elis contributed three talents [£600 or $3000] to the cost of the -fortification. The new city was so constructed as to be secure from such -attacks as had proved fatal to that which it replaced. - -Peloponnesus had for some years been violently agitated by political -convulsions, and had been the scene of incessant struggles between the -two leading parties, the friends of aristocratical and of democratical -institutions. It seems that the principles on which the Peace of -Antalcidas was professedly founded had encouraged the partisans of -democracy to hope that they might establish their ascendency, wherever -they were the strongest, without any obstruction from Sparta. Her conduct -towards Phlius and Mantinea must have checked these hopes; yet they seem -to have revived when the new confederacy between Thebes and Athens, -after the recovery of the Cadmea and the revolt of several maritime -states compelled Sparta to observe more moderation towards her remaining -allies. In many places the aristocratical party was overpowered, and -suffered severe retaliation for the oppression it had exercised during -the period of its domination. But these triumphs were only the beginning -of a series of fierce and bloody contests. The exiles were continually -on the watch for an opportunity of regaining what they had lost, and the -attempt, whether it succeeded or failed, commonly ended in a massacre. -The oligarchical exiles of Phigalea, having seized a fortress near the -town, surprised it during a festival, while the multitude was assembled -in the theatre, and made a great slaughter among the defenceless crowd, -though they were at last forced to retreat, and take refuge in Sparta. -The Corinthian exiles, who had found shelter at Argos, were baffled in -a similar enterprise, and killed one another to avoid falling into the -hands of the opposite party, which immediately instituted a rigorous -inquiry at Corinth, and condemned numbers to death or exile on the charge -of abetting the conspiracy. Like scenes took place at Megara, Sicyon, and -Phlius. The confluence of democratical exiles from other cities tended to -keep up a state of constant unnatural excitement at Argos; and there were -demagogues who took advantage of it to instigate the multitude against -the wealthier citizens into a conspiracy for self-defence. - -Arrests were multiplied, until the number of the prisoners amounted to -twelve hundred; and the populace, impatient of legal delays, arming -itself with clubs, rose upon them, and massacred them all: this bloody -execution became memorable under the name of the _scytalism_.[14] The -demagogues who had excited the frenzy now endeavoured to restrain it from -further excesses; but the attempt only turned it against themselves, -and most of them shared the fate of their victims. Their blood seemed -to propitiate the infernal powers: the flame, no longer supplied with -fuel, expired; and tranquillity was restored. It must be considered as -an indication of a remarkable superiority in the Athenian character and -institutions over those of Argos, that under similar circumstances, in -the affair of the Hermes busts, when religious and political fanaticism -combined their influence to madden the people, no such spectacle was -witnessed at Athens. - - -THE ARCADIAN REVOLUTION - -[Illustration: GREEK SOLDIER WITH MACE] - -With a territory more extensive than any other region of Peloponnesus, -peopled by a hardy race, proud of its ancient origin and immemorial -possession of the land, and of its peculiar religious traditions, -Arcadia--the Greek Switzerland--had never possessed any weight in the -affairs of the nation; the land only served as a thoroughfare for -hostile armies, and sent forth its sons to recruit the forces of foreign -powers--Greek or barbarian--and to shed their blood in quarrels in which -they had no concern. The battle of Leuctra opened a prospect of carrying -it into effect. A Mantinean named Lycomedes, a man of large fortune and -of the highest birth in his native city, seems to have been either the -author or the most active mover of the project which was now formed, -and which was at least partly executed in the course of the same year -(371). The object was to unite the Arcadian people in one body, yet so -as not to destroy the independence of the particular states; and with -this view it was proposed to found a metropolis, to institute a national -council which should be invested with supreme authority in foreign -affairs, particularly with regard to peace and war, and to establish a -military force for the protection of the public safety. And though there -is no reason to doubt that Lycomedes and those who shared his views were -chiefly desirous of rescuing their country from a degrading subjection to -her imperious neighbour, and of elevating her to an honourable station -among the Greek commonwealths, they undoubtedly did not overlook the -accession of strength which would result from this event to their party, -in its contest with its domestic adversaries. Their plan could not fail -to be agreeable to the Thebans, just in proportion as it was alarming to -Sparta; and it was very early communicated to Epaminondas. Within a few -months after the battle of Leuctra, a meeting of Arcadians from all the -principal towns was held, to deliberate on the measure; and under its -decree a body of colonists, collected from various quarters, proceeded to -found a new city, which was to be the seat of the general government, and -was called Megalepolis, or Megalopolis (the Great City). - -The city was designed on a very large scale, and the magnitude of the -public buildings corresponded to its extent; the theatre was the most -spacious in Greece. The population was to be drawn from a great number -of the most ancient Arcadian towns. Pausanias gives a list of forty -which were required to contribute to it. The greater part of them appear -to have been entirely deserted by their inhabitants; others retained a -remnant of their population, but in the condition of villages subject -to Megalopolis. Trapezus made an obstinate resistance; and its citizens -who survived the struggle preferred quitting their native land to -changing their abode in it, and having found means for embarking for -the Euxine, were hospitably received as kinsmen in the city of the same -name. Lycosura--which boasted of being the most ancient city under the -sun--was spared out of respect for the sanctity of one of its temples. -The districts which were thus drained of their population never recovered -it, and were left in a great measure uncultivated. - -The most interesting subject connected with this event, the constitution -under which Arcadia was to be united, is unfortunately involved in -the greatest obscurity. Megalopolis was the place appointed for the -deliberation of the supreme council of the Arcadian body. But of this -council we only know that it was commonly described by the name of -the Ten Thousand--an appellation which raises a number of perplexing -questions. For that it was a representative assembly, and was not -intended to consist only of Megalopolitans, is clear both from the terms -in which it is spoken of, and from the nature of the case: this would -have been a privilege which the other cities would never have conceded -to a colony formed out of the most insignificant townships. On the other -hand, that so numerous a body should have been collected, either at -stated times or as often as occasion required, from the other parts of -Arcadia, is scarcely less hard to understand. - -Ten commissioners were appointed to superintend the first settlement of -the colony, and were honoured with the title of founders. Two of them, -Lycomedes and Opeleas, were Mantineans; two, Timon and Proxenus, were -leaders of the democratical party at Tegea. Of the rest, two came from -Clitor, two from Mænalus, and as many from the Parrhasian cantons. As -there was reason to apprehend that Sparta might attempt to interrupt -the work in its beginning, Epaminondas sent Pammenes, one of his ablest -officers, with one thousand choice troops, to guard and assist the -colonists; and hence he also might be looked upon as one of the founders; -but it does not appear that he had the foremost, much less, as was -sometimes contended, an exclusive claim to that title. It was not however -at Megalopolis that any opposition was offered to the undertaking; but -in other places violent contests arose between the advocates and the -adversaries of the new measure. - -It was at Tegea, the chief seat of Spartan and aristocratical influence -in Arcadia, that the hardest struggle took place. Though Proxenus and -Timon had been deputed as founders of Megalopolis, Stasippus and his -partisans did not cease to exert their utmost efforts to counteract the -plan of the union, and to keep Tegea in its ancient state of subserviency -to Sparta,--or, as Xenophon expresses it, probably in their language, -in the enjoyment of its hereditary institutions. Proxenus and another -democratical leader named Callibius,--conscious, though they were -outvoted in the oligarchical councils, that the majority of the citizens -was on their side,--appealed to arms. Stasippus and some of his party -were overtaken. Their enemies having induced them to surrender, conveyed -them bound on a wagon to Tegea, where, after a mock trial, in which -the Mantineans assisted as judges, they put them all to death. Their -surviving partisans, to the number of eight hundred fled to Sparta. - -The safety of Sparta seemed to require that she should not passively -submit to the blow thus struck at the last remains of her influence in -Arcadia, and among the Tegean refugees were several private friends of -Agesilaus, and probably of other leading Spartans, who solicited redress -and revenge against the Mantineans and their political adversaries. The -interference of Mantinea in the civil feuds of Tegea was construed as a -violation of the principle which had been recognised in all the treaties -concluded since the Peace of Antalcidas, and therefore afforded a fair -colour for taking up arms: and war was accordingly declared against -Mantinea on this ground. But the strongest motive by which the Spartan -government was urged to this step, appears to have been the necessity -which it felt for some effort which should restore confidence and -cheerfulness at home. For notwithstanding the heroic countenance with -which the news of the battle of Leuctra had been received, it had made an -impression of deep despondency from which the city had not yet recovered. -After the return of the defeated army, a grave question had arisen as to -the manner in which the soldiers should be treated. - - -SPARTAN INTOLERANCE OF COWARDICE - -According to the precedents of earlier times, the Spartan who saved -his life by flight was subject to the loss of all civil privileges, -and to marks of ignominy; and we have seen that it was thought -necessary to inflict a temporary degradation on the prisoners who had -surrendered--with the permission of their superiors--at Sphacteria. -There were some who held that the dishonour which the Spartan arms had -incurred at Leuctra could only be effaced by a rigorous enforcement of -the ancient martial law. But Agesilaus, and probably most other members -of the government, saw that such severity would be now very ill-timed; -and according to Plutarch he was empowered to frame some new regulations -on this head; but instead of any formal innovation, simply proposed that -the law should be suffered to sleep for this once, without prejudice to -its application on future occasions. It was, however, on this account -the more desirable to divert the thoughts of the people from the recent -disaster by a fresh expedition; and Agesilaus was now sufficiently -recovered from his illness to take the command. - -Xenophon says that he marched with one mora, probably meaning only the -Spartan division of his forces. Neither side however was willing to -fight: Agesilaus, because his first care was to husband the strength -of Sparta; the Arcadians, because they expected soon to be joined -by a Theban army, for they were informed by the Eleans that Thebes -had borrowed ten talents from Elis for the purpose of the meditated -expedition. Perhaps the same intelligence increased the anxiety of -Agesilaus to return home. But that his retreat might not appear to be the -effect of fear, he remained three days before Mantinea, and ravaged the -plain; and then marched back with the utmost speed. Still the honour of -Sparta had been vindicated, and the fallen spirits of his countrymen were -cheered by the outcome of the events in the vicinity of Mantinea. - - -THE THEBANS IN THE PELOPONNESUS - -The Thebans were in fact advancing with a powerful army, and not long -after joined the Arcadians--who employed the interval after the retreat -of Agesilaus in an inroad into the Heræan territory--at Mantinea. The -victory of Leuctra had so completely changed their position, that they -had now the forces of almost all northern Greece, except Attica, at their -command. Even Phocis, though as hostile as ever, was compelled to aid -them against her late allies. All the Eubœan towns, the Locrians both -of the east and west, the Acarnanians, the Trachinian Heraclea and the -Malians, contributed to the army; and Thessaly furnished cavalry and -targeteers. - -The whole force assembled at Mantinea amounted according to Diodorus to -fifty thousand, according to Plutarch to seventy thousand men, of whom -forty thousand were heavy-armed. The professed object of the expedition -was to protect Mantinea, and as it now was no longer in danger, and the -season--it was mid-winter--was unfavourable to military operations, -several of the Theban commanders proposed to return. They expected to -find all the passes, which were naturally difficult, strongly guarded, -and could not at once reconcile themselves to the thought of seeking -an enemy, who till lately had been deemed almost invincible, in his -own country, where he would be animated by the strongest motives to -extraordinary exertions. Their apprehensions were only overcome when -they received invitations and assurances of support from Laconia itself, -and were encouraged by some of the provincials, who came for that -purpose to the camp, to expect that the appearance of their army would -produce a general revolt of the subject population, which it was said -had already refused to obey the orders of the government when it was -summoned to the defence of Sparta. They were also informed that one of -the principal passes, which led through Caryæ and Sellasia into the vale -of the Eurotas, was quite unguarded; and some of the inhabitants of Caryæ -offered themselves as guides, and were ready to pledge their lives for -the truth of their assertions. The invasion was then unanimously resolved -upon. - -To distract the enemy’s attention, and to accelerate their own movements, -the invaders divided their forces so as to penetrate into Laconia -simultaneously by different routes. Sellasia was the place of rendezvous -appointed for all the four divisions. The Thebans and the Eleans appear -to have met with no resistance. The Argives found the passes guarded -by a body of troops consisting partly of Bœotian refugees, commanded -by a Spartan named Alexander who, however, was overpowered, and fell -with two hundred of his men. The pass of the Sciritis might also have -been occupied, and from its natural strength it was believed that the -Arcadians would never have been able to force it; but Ischolaus, a -Spartan who was posted near it at the village of Ium with a garrison of -neodamode troops, and about four hundred of the exiled Tegeans, instead -of securing the pass, determined to make his stand in the village, where -he was surrounded by the enemy, and slain with almost every one of his -men. The four divisions then effected their junction without further -opposition, and after having plundered and burnt Sellasia, descended to -the banks of the Eurotas, and encamped in a sanctuary of Apollo at the -entrance of the plain of Sparta. The next day they pursued their march -along the left bank of the river, which was swollen by the winter rains, -until they reached the bridge which crossed it directly over against the -city. A body of armed troops which appeared on the other side deterred -them from attempting the passage; and they proceeded, still keeping -the left bank, to plunder and destroy the dwellings which were thickly -scattered in the neighbourhood of the capital, and which from Xenophon’s -description, who says they were full of good things, seem to have been -chiefly villas of the more opulent Spartans, and were probably better -stored and furnished than their houses in the town. - -It was the first time that fires kindled by a hostile army had ever been -seen from Sparta, since it had been in the possession of the Dorian -race; and the grief and consternation excited by the spectacle in the -women, and the elder part of the men, were proportioned not merely to its -strangeness, but to the pride and confidence with which the traditions of -so many centuries had taught them to regard their soil as inviolate, and -their city, though unwalled, as impregnable. - -In this emergency all eyes were turned upon Agesilaus. As he was fully -aware of the danger, so he clearly perceived the course which could alone -afford a prospect of deliverance. To remain strictly on the defensive, -and in case of an attack to take advantage of the inequalities of the -ground, and of the position of the streets and buildings in the outskirts -of the town, and in the meanwhile to maintain tranquillity and obedience -within, was all that was left to be done; and this, with the means at -his disposal, demanded all his abilities. The Spartans, when distributed -over the wide range which they had to defend, made so poor a show that -the government thought it necessary to resort to an expedient which -had been adopted before on less urgent occasions: to arm as many of -the helots as could be induced to enlist by a promise of emancipation. -And notwithstanding the atrocious purpose which had been cloaked by a -similar proposal in former times, more than six thousand volunteers now -presented themselves. Their services were accepted with trembling, and -employed with continued distrust, until the arrival of some foreign -auxiliaries gave a little more security to the government. Not many days -after, a small force, probably less than six thousand strong, collected -from Corinth, Sicyon, Pellene, Epidaurus, Trœzen, Hermione, and Halia, -having been transported in succession over the Argolic Gulf to Brasiæ on -the coast of Laconia, crossed the mountains, and, though the enemy was -encamped only two or three miles off, made its way into the city. - -In the meanwhile the invading army, having ravaged the eastern side of -the plain till it came over against Amyclæ, then crossed the river, and -turned its front toward Sparta. As the greatest breadth of the plain lies -between the river and the foot of Taygetus, still more spoil was found -here than on the other side, and this with the greater part of the allies -was the single object of attention. The Theban generals alone appear to -have been able to prevent their troops from ranging at large in quest of -plunder, and to have taken precautions against a surprise from the city. -What Epaminondas most desired was to draw the enemy into an engagement, -and he is said to have tried the effect of a taunting challenge on -Agesilaus, whose temper was not always proof against provocation. But -on this occasion he controlled his own feelings, and calmed the general -excitement by his authority and example. The Spartans had a small body of -cavalry, very inferior, not only in numbers but in condition, to that of -the allies; it was however drawn up on the level south of the city. Its -appearance served rather to heighten than to check the confidence of the -assailants. But an adjacent building, which was consecrated by tradition -as the house of the tutelary twins, concealed about three hundred of the -young Spartan infantry, who, when the enemy drew near, started from their -ambush to support the charge which was made at the same time by their -own cavalry. This unexpected attack threw the advancing squadrons into -confusion, and though they were pursued but to a short distance, they did -not stop till they reached the Theban phalanx, and even a part of the -infantry were so much alarmed by their flight, as to retreat. - -[Sidenote: [370-369 B.C.]] - -It was perhaps on this occasion, while the allies were advancing, that -a band of about two hundred men, who had for the most part been long -suspected by the government, occupied the Issorium, one of the heights on -the skirt of the town towards the river. As they had received no orders, -it was evident that they were acting with treasonable designs; and some -proposed that they should be forthwith dislodged by force. Agesilaus, -however, thought it more prudent, as the extent of the conspiracy was -not known, to try a milder course; and going up to the place with a -single attendant, affected to believe that they had mistaken his orders, -and directed them to station themselves in different quarters. They -obeyed, thinking that they had escaped detection; but fifteen of them -were arrested by the orders of Agesilaus, and put to death without form -of trial, in the night. The suppression of this attempt may have led to -the discovery of another more dangerous conspiracy, in which a number -of Spartans were implicated. They were arrested in a house where they -held clandestine meetings. The clearer their guilt, the more dangerous -it probably appeared to bring them to trial; yet there was no power in -the state which could legally put a Spartan to death without one. Even -the authority of the ephors had never yet been carried so far. They -determined however, after a consultation with Agesilaus, to dispense with -legal forms, and the prisoners were delivered to a secret execution. The -desertions which took place among the helots and the Laconian troops were -carefully concealed from public knowledge; but this may not indicate -their frequency, so much as the vigilance of Agesilaus. - -The reports brought to the camp of the allies, as to the state of -things in Sparta, did not encourage Epaminondas to repeat the attempt -in which the cavalry had been repulsed, or to prolong his stay in the -neighbourhood of the capital. He directed his march southward, and -ravaged the whole vale of the Eurotas as far as the coast. Some unwalled -towns were committed to the flames, and an assault was made for three -successive days on Gythium, the naval arsenal of Sparta, but without -success. If it was the design of Epaminondas to take advantage of the -discontent which was supposed to prevail in the subject population -towards the government, to effect a permanent revolution, the devastation -committed by his allies, which he was probably unable to restrain, -must have tended to counteract it. He was joined, Xenophon says, by -some of the provincials; but the majority must have looked upon the -invaders as enemies. Their stay was protracted for some weeks. At length -the Peloponnesian troops began to withdraw with their booty, leaving -the country almost exhausted. The growing scarcity of provisions and -diminution of numbers, combined with the hardships of the season, would -have admonished Epaminondas to retire, even if, as Xenophon would lead -his readers to suppose, his only business, after recrossing the border, -had been to march homeward. But the historian has carefully suppressed -the main object which Epaminondas had in view, and which he accomplished -during his stay in the peninsula. - -He meditated a blow much more destructive to the power and prosperity of -Sparta than the invasion of her territory. His design was to deprive her -of Messenia, to collect the Messenians in the land of their forefathers, -and to found a new city, where they might maintain their independence. -He had already sent to the various regions in which the remains of the -heroic people were scattered, to invite them to return to their ancient -home. - - -FOUNDING OF MESSENE - -Ithome was recommended, at once by the most animating recollections, and -by the advantages of its strong and central position; and the western -slope of the ridge on which the ancient stronghold stood, was selected -for the new city, Messene. The foundations were laid with the utmost -solemnity; and if we may trust Pausanias, Epaminondas on this occasion -did not disdain to practise a pious fraud, for the purpose of showing -that the undertaking was sanctioned by the will of the gods. The name -of Aristomenes was invoked with peculiar veneration, not only by the -Messenians, but by the Greeks of every race who took part in the founding -of the city: and the victory of Leuctra was, now perhaps for the first -time, ascribed to his supernatural interposition. But though Epaminondas -did not neglect the aid to be derived from pious and patriotic -enthusiasm, he at least paid equal attention to all the material means -of securing the duration of his work. The most judicious use was made -of the natural advantages of the site; the most approved architects of -the day were employed upon the plan, and the most skilful workmen in -the execution; and the fortifications of Messene, which some centuries -later excited the admiration of Pausanias, are still found to justify his -praise by the solid and beautiful masonry of the remains which are even -yet in existence. - -[Illustration: GREEK TERRA-COTTA FIGURE - -(In the British Museum)] - -When the fortifications of Messene had been carried so far that the -presence of the army was no longer needed, Epaminondas, leaving a -garrison there, began his march homeward. The building of Messene is -so coupled with that of Megalopolis in the accounts of Diodorus and -Pausanias, that we may perhaps infer that he did not pass through Arcadia -without contributing some important assistance to the latter work, on -which the people of Megalopolis were still engaged. - -An enemy however still awaited him at the isthmus. In their distress the -Spartans had applied for succour to Athens: and their ambassadors were -accompanied by envoys from the Peloponnesian states which still adhered -to them, among whom those of Corinth and Phlius appear to have supported -their request with the greatest earnestness. They appealed to the -generosity, to the jealousy, to the fears, and the hopes of the Athenians. - -There was already a general disposition among the people, if not in -favour of Sparta, yet strongly adverse to Thebes. The assembly, after -having heard the ambassadors, would not listen to any arguments on the -other side, but decreed that the whole force of the commonwealth should -march to the relief of Sparta, and appointed Iphicrates to the command. -An army was immediately raised; and the troops are described by Xenophon -as so zealous in the cause, that they murmured because Iphicrates halted -for a few days at Corinth. But when they resumed their march, expecting, -the historian says, to be led to some glorious action, no such result -ensued. It seems that Iphicrates had no wish to seek the enemy, and, -perhaps having heard that Sparta was freed from immediate danger, he -contented himself with attacking some places in Arcadia, either for the -sake of plunder or in the hope that this diversion might hasten the -enemy’s retreat from Laconia. But it does not appear that his operations -produced any effect on those of the Theban army. When Epaminondas began -to move towards the isthmus, he posted himself there to guard the passes -at the southern extremity: but through some oversight which Xenophon -notices with evident surprise, as an extraordinary failure of his -military skill, he left the most convenient of them--that on the side of -Cenchreæ--open; and the Thebans penetrated without any opposition to the -isthmus. A body of cavalry, which was sent to observe their movements, -and which, Xenophon says, was larger than that purpose required, though -insufficient for any other, approached so near as to be drawn into a -skirmish, and lost some men in its retreat. With this little advantage -over one of the greatest captains of the age, who commanded the forces -of the only power which could now be considered as a rival to Thebes, -Epaminondas concluded this memorable campaign. - -The services which he had rendered to his country were in general duly -appreciated by his fellow-citizens; but they excited, and did not disarm, -the envy of some inferior minds, and the expedition itself, successful -as it had been, afforded them a pretext for assailing him. The yearly -term for which he held his office of Bœotarch had expired, it seems, soon -after he entered Peloponnesus, and he and his colleagues had retained -their command, without any express sanction, three or four months longer. -On this ground he and Pelopidas were separately charged with a capital -offence. It was merely an experiment to try the strength of their -popularity; for their conduct, though perhaps it infringed the letter of -the law, was manifestly in accordance with the will of the people. It is -indeed somewhat surprising that their adversaries should have ventured -on such an attempt, and still more that the issue, as we learn from -Plutarch, was considered doubtful, because Pelopidas was first brought to -trial. Epaminondas, it is said, declared himself willing to die, provided -the names of Leuctra, Sparta, and Messene, and the deeds by which his own -was connected with them, might be inscribed upon his tomb. Both, however, -were acquitted in the most honourable manner; and Pelopidas, less -magnanimous or more irritable than his philosophic friend, who would have -forgiven the harmless display of malice, afterwards employed the forms of -law to crush their principal accusers.[h] - -Niebuhr remarks that the re-establishment of Messene “is an imperishable -monument to Epaminondas,” but draws therefrom a somewhat disconcerting -moral: - -“In the restoration of Messene, Epaminondas obeyed the dictates of -prudence and of his own noble heart; and he could not have acted -otherwise even if he had foreseen the consequences. It must be observed -that this is again one of those cases in which the accomplishment of -justice was not followed by happy results. The restoration of Messene -produced at a later period of Greek history, terrible consequences. The -Messenians being, by their peculiar situation, the implacable enemies -of Sparta, were obliged to seek support against her; and they preferred -doing so at the greatest distance, which made them the humble servants of -Macedonia, and the perpetual enemies and traitors of Greece. There was -no people so devoted body and soul to King Philip, as the Messenians. -The death of Philopœmen is an example of the mischief which Messenia -created in Greece, an ineffaceable brand on the name of Messenia. Things -which every honest man must desire, are in the end often followed by the -saddest consequences.”[b] - - -ATHENS IN LEAGUE WITH SPARTA - -In the existing pressure upon Lacedæmon, and upon the states whose -interest yet bound them to the Lacedæmonian cause, it was of great -importance to hold, and, if possible, improve, their connection with -Athens. Ministers accordingly were therefore sent thither, fully -empowered to agree upon the system of command and the plan of operations -for the next campaign. The former alone made any difficulty. The Athenian -council, at this time swayed apparently by wise and moderate men, had -agreed with the Peloponnesians, that, all circumstances considered, it -would be most for the interest of the confederacy, and most equitable, -that the Athenians should direct operations by sea, and the Lacedæmonians -by land. But a party in Athens, with Cephisodotus for their orator, -thought to earn popular favour by opposing this arrangement. When the -proposal of the council was laid before the general assembly (for by that -tumultuary meeting, in the degenerate state of Solon’s constitution, all -the measures of executive government were to have their ratification), -Cephisodotus persuaded the ill-judging multitude that they were imposed -upon. In the Lacedæmonian squadron, he said, the trierarchs would be -Lacedæmonians, and perhaps a few heavy-armed; but the body of the crews -would be helots or mercenaries. Thus the Athenians would command scarcely -any but slaves and the outcast of nations in the Lacedæmonian navy, -whereas, in the Athenian army, the Lacedæmonians would command the best -men of Athens. If they would have a partition of military authority -really equal, according to the fair interpretation of the terms of the -confederacy, the command equally of the sea and of the land forces -must be divided. Popular vanity was caught by this futile argument; -and the assembly voted that the command, both by sea and by land, -should be alternately five days with the Athenians, and five with the -Lacedæmonians. In this decision of the petulant crowd, singularly adapted -to cripple exertion both by sea and land, the Lacedæmonians, pressed by -circumstances, thought it prudent to acquiesce. - - -SECOND INVASION OF PELOPONNESUS - -In spring an army was assembled at Corinth to prevent the passage of the -Thebans and their northern allies into Peloponnesus. But the superior -abilities of the Theban leaders prevailed. They surprised an outpost. -Doubting still their means for forcing their way over the rough descent -of the Onean Mountains, they communicated with the Lacedæmonian polemarch -commanding, and, whether through his treachery or his weakness, they -obtained a truce, under favour of which they safely joined the forces -of their Peloponnesian allies, the Arcadians, Argives, and Eleans. This -junction being effected, they found themselves far superior to the army -of the Lacedæmonian confederacy. Without opposition then they punished -the attachment of the Epidaurians to the Lacedæmonian interest by ravage -of their lands. They attempted then one of the gates of Corinth; but, the -Corinthians submitting themselves to the able direction of the Athenian -general, Chabrias, who was there with a body of mercenaries, they were -repulsed with some slaughter. Against so great a superiority of force -however the abilities of Chabrias could not prevent the ravage of the -Corinthian territory. All Peloponnesus now seemed open to the Thebans, -when the pressure of the Thessalian arms, under the tagus, Alexander of -Pheræ, upon their northern allies, and apprehension of its extending to -Bœotia itself, called the Thebans suddenly out of the peninsula. All the -Peloponnesians of the confederacy then, assuming leave of absence, parted -to their several homes. - -The dissolution of the army of the Theban confederacy gave a most -fortunate relief to Lacedæmon. All the leisure it afforded seems to have -been wanted for composing troubles within Laconia itself. Offensive -operations were left to the auxiliaries sent by Dionysius, then ruling in -Syracuse; a body remarkable enough, both in itself and for its actions, -to deserve notice. The infantry were Gauls and Spaniards; the cavalry, -apparently Sicilian Greeks, so excellent that, though scarcely exceeding -fifty horsemen, they had given more annoyance to the Thebans, while -laying waste the Corinthian lands, than all the rest of the army. After -the other troops, on both sides, were withdrawn, this transmarine force -alone undertook the invasion of Sicyonia, defeated the Sicyonians in -battle, and took a fort in their territory by assault. Gratified then -with glory and plunder they embarked, and, with twenty triremes, their -convoy, returned to Syracuse. - -Thus far the able leaders of the Theban councils, profiting from the -animosity so extensively prevailing against Lacedæmon, had kept their -confederacy unanimous and zealous, under the supremacy of Thebes. But -it was little likely that, by any management, so many states could be -long retained in patient submission to so new a superiority. The long -deference of the Grecian republics to Lacedæmonian command, amounting, -in many instances, to a zealous, and sometimes extending to a general, -loyalty towards the superior people, is a political phenomenon perhaps -singular in the history of mankind. But that deference was paid to a -superiority, not suddenly obtained, but growing from the extraordinary -institutions under which the Lacedæmonians lived; which made them really -a superior people, obviously fittest, in the divided and tumultuary state -of the Greek nation, to command in war and to arbitrate in peace: whence -even still, when the political power of Lacedæmon was so declining, the -estimation of the Lacedæmonian people, we are told, was such that at the -Olympian and other national meetings a Lacedæmonian was an object of -curiosity and admiration for strangers, more even than the conquerors in -the games. The superiority of Athens, also, though in few instances, or -for a short time only, supported by a loyalty like that which Lacedæmon -enjoyed, accruing suddenly, yet had resulted from long preparation. -Legislation more perfected, talents and manners more cultivated, and an -extraordinary succession of able men at the head of affairs, gave to the -Athenians an effectual superiority which the people of other republics -saw and felt. But Thebes, without any advantage of ancient prejudice -in favour of her pretensions, without any public institutions to be -admired, recently emerged from political subjection, possessing indeed -a large and disciplined population which might infuse some terror, was -yet become so suddenly eminent only through the blaze of talents of a -few, and principally of one extraordinary man, leading her councils, -and commanding her armies. If therefore, in any other state of the -confederacy, where military force was not very inferior, a similar blaze -of character should occur, that state would presently feel itself equal -to Thebes, and be prepared to break a connection involving an admission -of her superiority. - -[Sidenote: [368 B.C.]] - -Such a character had been for some time rising among the Arcadians in -Lycomedes of Mantinea, a man inferior to none of his country in birth, -superior to most in property, one who had already distinguished himself -in council as a principal promoter of the Arcadian union, and in arms at -the head of the Arcadian forces. Lycomedes apparently already saw, what -afterwards became abundantly notorious, that, if any view to the general -good of Greece influenced the Theban councils, it was wholly subordinate -to the ambition of making Thebes supreme over the Greek nation. This -ambition he resolved to oppose. In the general assembly therefore of the -Arcadian states, convened in the new city of Megalopolis, he represented -that “Peloponnesus, among all its various present inhabitants, was the -proper country of the Arcadians alone; the rest were really strangers. -Nor were the Arcadians the most ancient only, they were the most powerful -of the Grecian tribes; they were the most numerous, and they excelled in -strength of body. It was notorious that the troops of no other Grecian -people were in equal request. The Lacedæmonians knew their value: they -had never invaded Attica without Arcadian auxiliaries; nor would the -Thebans now venture to invade Laconia without them. If therefore the -Arcadians knew their own interest, they would no longer obey the Thebans, -but insist upon equality in command. They had formerly raised Lacedæmon; -they were now raising Thebes; and shortly they would find the Thebans but -other Lacedæmonians.” - -Flattering thus alternately, and stimulating the Arcadian people, -Lycomedes obtained the effective command of them; and the natural -consequence of the submission of the multitude’s caprice to an able man’s -control resulted: the Arcadians were successful, and their successes were -brilliant. The Argives invaded Epidauria. The renowned Athenian general -Chabrias, at the head of the Athenian and Corinthian forces, intercepted -their retreat. The Arcadians were in alarm for their allies; an assembly -was held; the interest of Lycomedes decided the choice of commanders, and -the Arcadian army, against great disadvantage of ground, brought off the -Argives without loss. An expedition was then undertaken into Laconia; the -territory of Asine was ravaged, and the Lacedæmonian polemarch Geranor, -who commanded there, was defeated and killed. Many predatory incursions, -in the common way of Grecian warfare, followed; and when any object -invited, neither night, says the contemporary historian, nor weather, nor -distance, nor difficulty of way deterred; insomuch that the Arcadians -acquired the reputation of being the best soldiers of their time. - -Disposed as the Arcadians showed themselves no longer to admit the -superiority of Thebes, their strength, their discipline, and their -successful activity in arms, though exerted in the cause of the -confederacy, could scarcely fail to excite some jealousy and apprehension -in the Theban government. No direct breach ensued, but friendship -cooled and became precarious. Meanwhile the new energy of the Arcadian -government attracted the regard of the humble and oppressed; always -an extensive description of men, and sometimes of states, among the -Grecian republics. The people of Elis had long claimed, and generally -maintained, a sovereignty over the people of several towns of Elis, and -of the whole district called Triphylia, on the border against Messenia. -In a strong situation in Triphylia, called Lasion, to assist in curbing -the inhabitants they had allowed some Arcadian exiles to establish -themselves. They at length made common cause with their neighbouring -fellow-subjects, particularly the Marganeans and Scilluntines, in -opposition to the Elean government. For support then they turned their -view to the new union of Arcadia: they claimed to be Arcadians; and by -a petition addressed to the new united government they desired to be -taken under its protection. At the same time the Eleans were pressing for -assistance from their allies of Arcadia, to recover their former dominion -over the towns which the Lacedæmonians had restored to independency. The -Arcadians slighted this application, and declared by a public resolution -that the petition of the Triphylians was well founded, and that their -kinsmen should be free. Elis became in consequence still more alienated -from Arcadia than Arcadia from Thebes. - -The growing schism in the opposing confederacy promised great -advantage to Lacedæmon. Meanwhile, though, through vices in their -civil constitution and ill-management in their administration, the -Lacedæmonians had lost the best half of their territory, their -negotiations abroad still carried weight, and were conducted ably and -successfully. It was at this critical time that Philiscus, a Greek of -Abydos, arrived as minister from the satrap of Bithynia, Ariobarzanes, -professedly charged to mediate in the king of Persia’s name a general -peace among the Grecian republics. This new interference of Persia in -Grecian affairs was produced by Lacedæmonian intrigue. Philiscus proposed -a congress at Delphi; and deputies from Thebes and from the states of the -Theban confederacy readily met deputies from Lacedæmon there. No fear -of Persia, so the historian, not their friend, testifies, influenced -the Thebans; for Philiscus requiring, as an indispensable article, that -Messenia should return under obedience to Lacedæmon, they positively -refused peace but upon condition that Messenia should be free. - -This resolution being firmly demonstrated, the negotiation quickly ended, -and both sides prepared for war. Philiscus then gave ample proof of -his disposition to the Lacedæmonian cause, by employing a large sum of -money, entrusted to him by the satrap, in levying mercenaries for the -Lacedæmonian service. Meanwhile a body of auxiliaries from Dionysius -of Syracuse, chiefly Gauls and Spaniards, as in the former year, had -joined the Lacedæmonian army; and, while the Athenians were yet but -preparing to march, a battle was fought under the command of Archidamus -son of Agesilaus. The united forces of Argos, Arcadia, and Messenia were -defeated, with slaughter, if Diodorus may be believed, of more than ten -thousand men, and, as all the historians report, without the loss of a -single Spartan. After a series of calamities the intelligence of this -extraordinary success made such impression at Lacedæmon that tears of -joy, says the contemporary historian, beginning with Agesilaus himself, -fell from the elders and ephors, and finally from the whole people. Among -the friends of the Lacedæmonians nevertheless, as no tear of sorrow -resulted, this action became celebrated with the title of the “Tearless -Battle” of Midea. - - -EXPEDITION INTO THESSALY - -[Illustration: GREEK OFFICER SACRIFICING ON THE EVE OF BATTLE] - -The war with Thessaly now pressed upon Thebes. Still urging Lacedæmon -by her confederates and dependents in Peloponnesus, she not only could -afford protection to her northern subjects and allies against the -successor of the most formidable potentate of the age, but she could aim -at dominion, or influence which would answer the purpose of dominion, -among the populous and wealthy, but ill-constituted cities of Thessaly. -While the rapacity and ambition of the tagus, Alexander of Pheræ, -occasioned a necessity for measures of protection and defence, the -disposition to revolt, which his tyranny had excited among those over -whom his authority extended, gave probability to views of aggrandisement -for those who might support the revolt. Accordingly Pelopidas was sent -into Thessaly with an army under a commission to act there at his -discretion; for the advantage however, not of the Thessalians, who had -solicited protection, but of the Bœotian people, who pretended to be -common protectors: a kind of commission which it has been usual in all -ages for the barefaced ambition of democracies to avow, while the more -decent manners of the most corrupt courts, from which such commissions -may have issued, have generally covered them with a veil. Pelopidas -penetrated to Larissa, and with the co-operation of its people, expelled -the tyrant’s garrison. Extending negotiations then into Macedonia, he -concluded a treaty with Alexander, king of that country, who desired -alliance with Thebes, the better to resist the oppression which he felt -or feared from the naval power and ambitious policy of Athens, which -were continually exerted to extend dominion or influence over every town -on every shore of the Ægean. His younger brother, Philip, then a boy, -afterwards the great Philip, father of the greater Alexander, is said to -have accompanied Pelopidas in his return to Thebes; whether for advantage -of education and to extend friendly connection, or, as later writers have -affirmed, as a hostage to insure the performance of stipulated conditions. - -Pelopidas returning to his command in Thessaly, his usual success -failed him. According to Diodorus and Plutarch, venturing as voluntary -negotiator for his country within the power of the profligate tagus, -he was seized and imprisoned. But Polybius imputes his misfortune to -positive imprudence, and an expression of Demosthenes would imply that -he was made prisoner in battle. Nor were the exertions of the Theban -government to avenge him fortunate. The Bœotarchs, who had ventured far -into Thessaly with an army said to have been eight thousand foot and -six hundred horse, not finding the support expected from the Thessalian -people, were reduced to retreat before the greater force of the tagus; -and, in traversing the Thessalian plain pursued by a superior cavalry, -they suffered severely. It is attributed to the ability of Epaminondas, -serving in an inferior station, but called forth by the voices of the -soldiers to supply the deficiencies of the generals, that the army was -not entirely cut off. Negotiation, supported probably by arms, yet not -without some concession, procured at length the release of Pelopidas, -early in 367. - - -AN EMBASSY TO PERSIA AND A CONGRESS AT THEBES - -[Sidenote: [368-367 B.C.]] - -The cordial support of Athens, the force of mercenaries to be added -by Philiscus, the growing aversion among the Arcadians to the Theban -cause, and the troubles in the northern provinces, with the pressure -of the Thessalian arms upon the Theban confederacy, together seemed -likely to restore a decisive superiority to Lacedæmon, at least within -her peninsula; and then, judging from experience, it was not likely -to be confined there. But the able directors of the Theban councils -had observed that the first and perhaps the most powerful efficient of -this change in circumstances had been negotiation with Persia; and they -resolved to direct also their attention to Persia, and try if they could -not foil the Lacedæmonians by negotiation still more effectually than -by arms. A minister from Lacedæmon, Euthycles, was actually resident at -the Persian court. Upon this ground a congress of the confederacy was -summoned, and, in pursuance of a common resolution, Pelopidas was sent to -Susa on the part of Thebes, accompanied by ministers, from Argos, Elis, -and Arcadia. The Athenians, jealous of the measure, sent their ministers -also, Timagoras and Leon. - -Pelopidas was treated by the Persian court with distinguishing honour. -A Persian of rank was appointed to accompany Pelopidas back to Greece, -bearing a rescript from the king in which the terms of his friendship -were declared. It required that “the Lacedæmonians should allow the -independency of Messenia; that the Athenians should lay up their fleet; -that war should be made upon them if they refused; and that, if any -Grecian city denied its contingent for such war, the first hostilities -should be directed against that city; that those who accepted these terms -would be considered as friends of the king, those who refused them as -enemies.” - -If we compare the style and spirit of this rescript, and the manner in -which it was offered to united Greece, with the terms and circumstances -of the Peace of Antalcidas, we shall hardly discover what has been the -ground of distinction between them; why one has been so much reprobated, -while the other, little indeed applauded, has in a manner been thrown out -of observation by the imposing abundance of panegyric which the consent -of ancient and modern writers has bestowed on the magnanimous patriotism -of Pelopidas, and of his great associate in politics as in arms, -Epaminondas. But we may perhaps be led to think that political principle -has been out of view, both in the panegyric and in the reproach; that -the merit of individuals has considerably swayed the general mind; yet -that the great distinction has rested on party-spirit. If however, -leaving the political principles of Pelopidas in that obscurity which -we seem without means very satisfactorily to illuminate, we look to his -political abilities, we shall see them exhibited in their fairest light, -in real splendour, not by his professed panegyrists, but by the candid -contemporary historian, not his friend. They are evident in the success -of his Persian negotiation, to which that historian has borne full -testimony; and that negotiation must unquestionably have been a business -abounding with difficulties, and requiring much discernment to conduct -and bring to so advantageous a conclusion. - -But the Thebans appear to have been too much elated by their success, -in this extraordinary and very important affair, for perfect prudence -to hold through their political conduct; whether their able chiefs -now erred, or rather popular presumption, in the badness of their -constitution, to which Polybius bears testimony, was not to be -restrained. They assumed immediately to be arbiters of Greece. Their -summonses for a congress of deputies from the several republics to meet -in Thebes were generally obeyed. The Persian who had accompanied the -return of Pelopidas, attended, with the king’s rescript in his hand. This -was read and interpreted to the congress, while the king’s seal appendant -was ostentatiously displayed. The Thebans proposed, as the condition -of friendship with the king and with Thebes, that the deputies should -immediately swear to the acceptance of the terms, in the names of their -respective cities. Readily however, as the congress had met in Thebes, -the deputies did not come so prepared to take the law from Thebes. - -Not simply objecting to the proposed oath, Lycomedes insisted that -“Thebes was not the place in which the congress should have been -assembled.” The Thebans exclaiming, with marks of resentment, that he -was promoting discord in the confederacy, he declared his resolution to -hold his seat in the congress no longer; and, the other Arcadian deputies -concurring with him, they all retired together. The result seems to have -been that the congress broke up without coming to any resolution. - -Disappointed and thwarted thus, the Thebans could not yet resolve to -abandon their project of arrogating that supremacy over the Greek -nation which Lacedæmon had so long held; long indeed by the voluntary -concession of a large majority of it. They sent requisitions separately -to every city to accede to the terms proposed; expecting that the fear -of incurring the united enmity of Thebes and of the king, says the -contemporary historian, would bring all severally to compliance. The -Corinthians, however, setting the example of a firm refusal, with the -added observation, that “they wanted no alliance, no interchange of -oaths with the king,” it was followed by most of the cities. And thus, -continues Xenophon, this attempt of Pelopidas and the Thebans to acquire -the empire of Greece finally failed. - -If we refuse to Thebes the credit of a glory genuine and pure for her -first successful struggle against the tyranny of Lacedæmon, we have -Epaminondas himself with us, who would take no part in the revolution -till the business of conspiracy, treachery, and assassination was -over, and the affair came into the hands of the people at large, ready -for leaders, and wanting them. We may have more difficulty to decide -upon the merit or demerit of that obstinacy with which the Thebans -afterwards persisted in asserting dominion over the cities of Bœotia, -and thus denying peace to Greece, when proposed upon a condition which -might seem, on first view, all that true Grecian patriotism could -desire--universal independency. For where was to be found the sanction of -that peace? Unfortunately the efficacy of any great interest pervading -the country was overborne and lost in the multitude of narrow, yet -pressing interests, of parties and of individuals, dividing every little -community. No sooner would the independency of the Bœotian towns have -been established than a revolution would have been made, or attempted -in every one of them. The friends of Thebes once overpowered, and the -friends of Lacedæmon prevailing among those towns, how long might Thebes -itself have been secure against a second subjection to Lacedæmon, more -grievous than the former? As far, then, as these considerations may -apologize for the refusal of accession to the treaty of Athens, so far -it may also justify the Persian embassy; though scarcely the haughtiness -which success in that negotiation seems to have inspired. But what should -have been the farther conduct of Thebes to secure her own quiet, without -interfering in the affairs of surrounding states, or how to insure quiet -among those states, without the possession and the use of power to -control them, is not so easy to determine. For the business of the honest -statesman, amid the seldom failing contention of factions within, and the -ambition of interested neighbours without, is not so easy and obvious as -presumptuous ignorance is commonly ready to suppose, and informed knavery -often, with interested purposes, to affirm. How ill prepared Greece was -at this time for internal quiet, what follows will but concur with all -that has preceded of its history to show.[e] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[12] [These are Hector’s words in the _Iliad_, XII, 243. The omens -having been unfavourable, Polydamas warns him not to fight, but the -“crest-tossing Hector” answers scornfully as above, “The best omen of all -is to defend the fatherland,” and so saying he assailed the Greeks with -more than common success.] - -[13] [Grote says: “To the discredit of Xenophon, Epaminondas is never -named in his narrative of the battle, though he recognises in substance -that the battle was decided by the irresistible Theban force brought to -bear upon one point of the enemy’s phalanx; a fact which both Plutarch and -Diodorus expressly referred to the genius of the general.”] - -[14] [σκυταλισμός--from the weapon (σκυτάλη) a club which seems to have -been principally used.] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XLVI. WHEN THEBES WAS SUPREME - - -JOINT WORK OF EPAMINONDAS AND PELOPIDAS - -The Thebans had every inducement to husband their strength and guard -their commonwealth against civil divisions, for the number of their -adversaries increased with their good fortune. If they could look back -with pride on what had been accomplished, still their future was by no -means secure. They had indeed baffled the unjustifiable designs of their -enemies. The Spartans, who eighteen months before had cherished the -hope of decimating the divided Thebans for the benefit of the god, were -now reduced to complete impotence, while they were threatened by the -Thebans with almost the same fate by which the latter had themselves been -confronted; the foundation of a city which offered a safe refuge to all -oppressed and outlawed inhabitants of Laconia, had inflicted a mortal -wound on the ruling Dorian state; the annihilation of the Peloponnesian -league had permanently broken the Spartan supremacy. - -But the very rapidity with which the fetters had been shaken off had -created many difficulties which the Thebans had to face when they came -to reunite the dismembered limbs into a new whole. The hegemony of -Sparta, like that of Athens, rested on the foundation of ancient popular -tradition; each had its justification in the eminent qualities of the -respective states, in the exclusive military training and bravery of -the Spartans, in the cultivation and democratic judicial life of the -Athenians; all the Greek commonwealth had been pledged to one or the -other of these states for a shorter or longer period; consequently -subordination to one of them was no disgrace to any town, since the -ancestors of its inhabitants had already stood in a similar relation. - -The position was quite different in the case of Thebes, which neither -by her historical past, nor by the greatness and importance of her -intellectual and moral progress and civil institutions, seemed justified -and qualified for the assumption of so eminent a position. Much as the -Peloponnesians admired the bravery, the discipline, and the excellent -disposition of the Theban troops, their military reputation was too -recent to allow of its measuring itself in the eyes of the Hellenes with -the glory of Sparta’s arms and her military practice; and yet warlike -courage and bodily dexterity were the only merits which the Thebans could -bring forward to support their claim to supremacy in Hellas. They had -neglected navigation, though the favourable situation of the country, -with its extensive coast on both shores and the excellent roadsteads, -especially at Aulis, offered many advantages; they had at all times -shown a disinclination and contempt for commerce and industry, and were -consequently often in distress for money; in intellectual and artistic -progress, they had not only remained behind Athens and the Hellenes of -Asia Minor, but the Dorian states of Sparta, Corinth, Sicyon, and Ægina -had also developed a richer culture; the composition of lyrics and the -art of playing on the flute were the only accomplishments in which the -Bœotians had attained to any skill. - -The sense of justice and humanity were little cultivated; savage and -cruel in their disposition, they pursued their enemies and their rivals -with bloodthirsty passion, so that on his second expedition into the -Peloponnesus Epaminondas only saved a number of aristocratic fugitives -from Bœotia from an agonising death by denying their origin. Beside this, -the inclination of the Thebans to sensual pleasures and their delight in -luxurious feasts and banquets, formed a striking contrast to Athenian -simplicity and moderation, and to the stern and joyless lives of the -Spartans. - -It has been already remarked that Epaminondas was free from all these -defects and vices and did all in his power to remove them; but he stood -so far above his fellow-citizens that his influence was diminished by -that very fact. Judging his countrymen by himself, and assuming in them -the same virtue and morality, the same enthusiasm for the glory and -greatness of their native land as he felt in his own great soul, he drew -them into undertakings to which neither their strength nor their capacity -was equal; he entered on courses which they, with their defective -political training, could not pursue with safety. Consequently it has -been justly said that with the corpse of Epaminondas the glory of Thebes -was also carried to the grave. - -When the period of his command in the field expired, Epaminondas returned -home, where he was once more to experience the ingratitude of his -fellow-citizens. Not only did the people, now again roused against him, -pass him over in the election of the Bœotarchs; it is related that the -deluded mob appointed him overseer of roads and canals (telearchus), -but that by his conscientious administration he gave importance to this -insignificant office. Alike in the highest and in the lowest position, -this magnanimous man endeavoured to work for the good of his country; his -soul was free from the petty human weaknesses which so often cling, like -a dark shadow, to talent and worth. This was exhibited in another scene -in the year which followed. - -From his expedition in Thessaly he, to save Pelopidas, returned joyfully -home too late to preserve the Theban state from a disgraceful act -of bloodshed. In the interval, armed mobs, stirred up by passionate -demagogues, had marched against Orchomenos, where an aristocratic -conspiracy was said to have been discovered, had destroyed the detested -city, murdered the nobles and chief citizens, and sold the rest into -servitude, together with their wives and children. Thus the ancient -and famous city of Orchomenos, once the wealthy seat of the Minyæ, -disappeared from the number of Greek towns. “Had I been at home,” -Epaminondas lamented, “this atrocity would never have been committed.” - -At Susa, in spite of his refusal to bend the knee, Pelopidas had won -such high favour with the king, by reason of the fame of his deeds and -the recollection of the ancient brotherhood in arms so long subsisting -between Thebes and Persia, that the conditions of peace which Artaxerxes -declared to the envoys proved to be entirely in accordance with the ideas -and interests of Thebes and her skilful representative. - -But this award whose fulfilment, and with it the supremacy over Hellas, -was entrusted to the Thebans, provoked indignation and resistance in the -other states. At Athens, the envoy, Timagoras, was condemned to death -for his intimacy with Pelopidas; at Sparta, exception was taken to the -recognition of the rebellious Messenians; in Arcadia, the people resented -the recognition of the Elean claims to suzerainty over the district of -Triphylia, which had joined the Arcadian confederacy, and the deputy, -Antiochus, famous as a pugilist and wrestler, vented his anger at home -in ridicule of the Persians: “The king,” he said, “had bakers, cooks, -cup-bearers, and door-keepers in large numbers, but in spite of a zealous -search he had not been able to find men who should be able to stand -against the Hellenes in a fight; abundance of money and wealth was a -vain show; the celebrated golden plane tree could hardly give shade to a -locust.” - -[Sidenote: [368-365 B.C.]] - -Such being the state of opinion, it is not surprising that the acceptance -of the peace should have encountered insuperable difficulties. The -ambassadors summoned to Thebes in the ensuing spring had refused to -swear to it, and the Arcadian deputy, Lycomedes, even took exception -to the place of assembly, by means of which the Thebans would have -invested their town with their pre-eminence, and went away in anger. The -endeavours to win the concurrence of the separate states were not more -successful, so the general war resumed its course and with it sanguinary -party strifes in every city, and flight and pursuit for the defeated. -In vain Epaminondas, on his third Peloponnesian expedition, endeavoured -to bring the principles of mildness and civil tolerance into effect in -Achaia: the Theban commonwealth, stirred up by the Arcadian democrats, -abolished his institutions and sent magistrates into the country, -who countenanced the expulsion of the oligarchs and the erection of -unrestricted popular governments, until the refugees assembled together, -forcibly compelled their recall, and once more carried Achaia over to the -Spartan alliance, whereupon the persecution assumed a different form. - -In Sicyon, Euphron, a rich and influential citizen, supported by Arcadian -and Argive auxiliaries, placed the new commonwealth under the protection -of Thebes, and with the confiscated property of his expelled enemies he -obtained mercenaries, with whose aid he made himself ruler of his native -city in the capacity of demagogue and tyrant. By wiles and treachery, -robberies and crimes, he maintained himself in the government for a long -time until, having at last been overpowered and put to flight by an -aristocratic army, he was slain in Thebes, whither some of his enemies -had followed him, under the eyes of the council. The perpetrator of the -deed managed to defend himself so skilfully that he got away unpunished; -but the townspeople of Sicyon honoured Euphron, who had freed them from -the yoke of the aristocrats, as the second founder of their city. - -Thus throughout the Peloponnesus the most terrible party rage was the -order of the day; communities and individuals, prompted by passion and -revenge, perpetrated wild misdeeds and crimes. Isocrates, in his oration -called _Archidamus_, thus paints the situation in the Peloponnesus: - -“Every town has its adversaries about it and therefore we have -devastation of the country, destruction of the towns, subversion of -governments, disregard of laws. Men fear their enemies less than their -own fellow-citizens. The rich would rather throw their property into the -sea than give to the poor; on the other hand the poor desire nothing -better than to rob the rich. The sacrifices are suspended; men slay -each other at the altars. There are more exiles from a single city than -formerly in the whole of Peloponnesus.” - -The laws had no longer any general application, since Sparta’s ancient -supremacy had collapsed and the pre-eminence of Thebes was not yet -established; all common interests vanished, and in alliances and -secessions nothing but the momentary advantage was kept in view. Even -religious awe was extinguished in men’s minds; votive offerings and -temple treasures were seized to pay hired troops. The greatest feats -of arms were performed for no purpose; valour and military spirit were -squandered in adventurous combats and enterprises. Yet in spite of this -distracted state of affairs, Sparta could not recover her power and -consideration: the want of a free citizenhood and the restoration of -Messenia ceased to be spoken of. With the help of Syracusan mercenaries, -whom the younger Dionysius had sent them, the generals did, indeed, -succeed in bringing the town of Sellasia with the passes into Arcadia -again under their power; but on the other hand they had to permit not -only the Corinthians, but the Phliasians also, the most faithful of -the allies of Sparta, who had executed many brave deeds and conducted -so many expeditions against the Sicyonians and Argives, to conclude a -separate peace with Thebes. They themselves refused to accede to it, -notwithstanding the persuasions of their friends, because they could -not make up their minds to the recognition of the independence of the -Messenians, which was demanded. - -[Illustration: LOOKING TOWARDS CORINTH FROM ARCADIA] - -[Sidenote: [368-367 B.C.]] - -As Corinth, Phlius, Epidaurus, and other cities now allied themselves -with Thebes, Arcadia drew up an offensive and defensive treaty with -Athens, which Epaminondas, in his capacity of ambassador, vainly -endeavoured to counteract by a speech against Callistratus before the -national council of the Ten Thousand. But Lycomedes, the creator of this -union, was not to reap the fruit of his labours. On his way home he met -with a violent death at the hands of some Arcadian refugees. The dream -of an Arcadian hegemony was buried with him. No other statesman had it -in his power to lead that uncultivated, divided nation of soldiers and -shepherds, strangers as they were to any sort of common action, to higher -and patriotic aims. Petty border feuds again claimed the whole attention -of the Arcadians, and the increasing estrangement between Mantinea and -Tegea, and the jealousy of both in regard to Megalopolis, stood in -the way of the strengthening and development of a united state. Soon -disputes with Elis led to other complications fraught with consequences -which necessitated a new military expedition on the part of the Thebans. - -After the battle of Leuctra, the Eleans had again taken possession of -the territory of Triphylia, which had once been wrested from them by the -Spartans; but the inhabitants, dissatisfied with the rule of the Eleans, -had turned to the Arcadians, and, appealing to the ancient connection -between the races, had requested and obtained admission into the Arcadian -confederacy. The suzerainty of Elis over Triphylia had indeed, as it -seems, been recognised in the peace prescribed by Persia, but the -latter’s dispositions received as little acceptance here as elsewhere; -both sides were therefore prepared to vindicate their claims by force of -arms. - -[Sidenote: [365-364 B.C.]] - -To strengthen their position the Eleans concluded an alliance with -Sparta, and vacated the border town of Lasion on the western slope of -Erymanthus in favour of a flock of oligarchical refugees from Arcadia. In -this settlement the government of Megalopolis saw a hostile intention, -for from thence the oligarchs had no difficulty in forming traitorous -connections with those who thought with them, and they seized the -occasion to visit the peaceful little country with a devastating war. -They carried robbery and destruction up to the very capital, excited -a sanguinary civil war between the popular party and the oligarchical -families, and reduced the inhabitants to a state of despair. In vain -the Eleans brought about an invasion of the friendly Spartans into the -territory of Megalopolis; after an heroic struggle the Arcadians forced -the Lacedæmonian king, Archidamus, to surrender the strong hill town of -Cromnus, which he had occupied by a rapid movement, and forced him to a -disastrous retreat during which a hundred Lacedæmonian citizens fell into -the hands of the victors. And as it chanced that the time of the Olympic -games was approaching, they took possession of the holy site and bestowed -the office of judge of the contests on the Pisatans. - -The Eleans, furious at this infringement of their rights, marched up -with their collected forces, and on the sacred ground, before the eyes -of those assembled for the festival, they delivered a sanguinary battle -which was finally decided against them. The Eleans had to give place to -the Arcadians and content themselves with omitting the festival from the -series of Olympic years, on the grounds of its having been celebrated -contrary to law and order. The confederate government of Arcadia laid -hands on the temple treasure, and in spite of the protests of the -Mantineans, they used it to defray the cost of the war and the pay of -the national levies and _epariti_. This was the means of widening the -schism and the difference of opinion which had for some time divided the -Arcadian confederacy into two camps and which now developed into a breach -destined to lead to serious consequences. The Mantineans, outnumbered -in the federal government and national council, again turned to the -Spartans, while the democrats of Tegea, who then had the upper hand in -the guidance of united Arcadia, adhered to the alliance with Thebes. - - -THE END OF PELOPIDAS - -[Sidenote: [364-357 B.C.]] - -The Thebans had taken no part in these events in the Peloponnesus, beyond -keeping provincial governors (harmosts) and garrisons in Tegea, Sicyon, -and other towns, for the purpose of guarding their own interests and -upholding the cause of democracy. The complications in Thessaly and the -attempts to wrest the command of the sea from the Athenians claimed the -whole energies of their statesmen. Soon after the retreat of Epaminondas -and Pelopidas after the latter’s rescue, Alexander, the cruel tyrant of -Pheræ, had renewed his plans of conquest in the mountain country, had -subdued the cities of the Achæans, Phthiotæ, and Magnetes, and extended -his military despotism over the whole country. Then the oppressed and -threatened people turned once more for help to the Thebans, who now -fitted out an army of seven thousand hoplites to take stern vengeance -on the disturber of the peace. But on the day fixed for its departure, -an eclipse of the sun occurred and spread so much terror among the -superstitious people that the march had to be put off. - -Pelopidas, the Bœotarch who had been selected to conduct the enterprise, -was not deterred by the agitation, and determined to carry out the -project by himself at the head of two hundred horsemen, in the conviction -that on his appearance the Thessalian soldiers and volunteers would -join him in crowds. And his expectation was not disappointed. Even at -Pharsalus he found himself in command of such forces that he ventured on -storming the line of hills called the “Dogs’ heads” (_Cynoscephalæ_), -which Alexander held with a far superior army. The ranks of the enemy -were already giving way, when Pelopidas, in the passion of victory and -revenge, rushed impetuously on the flying tyrant, and, becoming separated -from his own men, met his death at the spears of the bodyguard. Maddened -by the fall of their brave leader, the Thebans and their companions in -arms put renewed energy into the attack and won a complete victory. And -as if the honour of this success belonged solely to the dead general, -they piled the spoils and weapons of the slaughtered foes beside his -corpse, as a monument of the victory, and abandoned themselves to the -deepest grief. Many cut off their hair or their horses’ manes, many spent -the day in their tents without eating or lighting a fire. And as the body -was being conducted to Thebes, all the towns along the route manifested -their sympathy by mourning celebrations, and in his own native city the -great funeral solemnities bore witness to the deep love and honour of the -Thebans for the fellow-citizen who had served them so well, who from the -glorious days of the Liberation had been always included in the number -of the Bœotarchs, whose name was associated with the most famous deeds -and the proudest memories, and who had been no less eminent for his -chivalrous and magnanimous character than for his heroic spirit and pure -patriotism. - -The whole army now took the field to avenge his death, and, in -conjunction with the Thessalian allies, they soon reduced the tyrant -to such straits that he sued for peace, which the victors with more -magnanimity than foresight granted him. He had to abandon the towns -he had occupied, to confine his dominion to Pheræ and the surrounding -district, and to render military service to the Thebans; a compact -which neither provided satisfactory security against the repetition of -similar encroachments, nor secured a powerful alliance for the Thebans. -As in the Peloponnesus, so now there prevailed in Thessaly a condition -of distraction and dissolution which was eventually to prepare for the -northern conqueror a way into the heart of Hellas. - -For seven years longer Alexander continued his nefarious practices, -henceforth turning his attention to piracy and the plunder of the islands -and coast towns. In the general confusion his audacity went so far that -he is said to have once surprised the Piræus in an unguarded hour and -carried off a rich booty. Finally, at the instigation of his wife, Thebe, -who on a former occasion had excited the imprisoned Pelopidas against -her cruel husband, he was murdered by her brothers. - -[Sidenote: [366-362 B.C.]] - -The piratical expeditions with which Alexander afflicted the northern -waters, were probably carried out with the knowledge and connivance of -Thebes, for the purpose of annoying the Athenians. The latter, especially -since their alliance with Sparta, had made the most eager efforts to -re-establish their influence over the maritime states, though their -means and forces were small and the mercenaries and peltasts who manned -their ships little fitted to supply the place of the old citizen army. -Iphicrates cruised in the northern waters for the space of three years, -attempted to bring back the Greek cities in Thrace and Macedon to their -old relation with Athens and made repeated attacks on Amphipolis, but -without being able to win back this ancient colony; Timotheus brought -Samos into subjection, and, with the help of the revolted Persian -governor Ariobarzanes, acquired Sestos and Crithote on the Thracian -Chersonesus, whereby the relations with Byzantium were restored, and -also won a firm footing in Chalcidice and the Gulf of Thermæ by taking -Potidæa and Torone, as well as Methone and Pella. These successes of -Athens, though small in comparison with her former dominion over the -sea and coasts, and insecure as they were in face of the impossibility -of permanently providing the hired troops with pay and maintenance, -nevertheless awakened the jealousy of Thebes. - -The keen eye of Epaminondas did not fail to perceive that his native city -could only attain to the hegemony of Greece if the dominion of the sea -were snatched from the Athenians, and being as bold and enterprising as -he was sagacious, he endeavoured to persuade his countrymen to build a -fleet. Thebes must become a sea power, in order, as he declared before -the people, “to place the Propylæa of the Athenian Acropolis under the -superintendence of the Cadmea”; not that he wished to accustom the -powerful national forces to the seductive life on the sea and thus weaken -the heavy-armed militia; the old manner of warfare, which rested on -custom, education, and tradition, was to continue to prevail; but for the -foundation of a secure ascendency in Hellas a fleet was indispensable. -And so influential was the voice of this great general, that in spite -of the remonstrance of the popular orator Meneclidas, the Theban people -immediately resolved on the building and equipment of a hundred triremes -and the establishment of shipyards of their own. - -He undertook the command of the fleet himself, and on his advent the -islands of Chios and Rhodes and the important city of Byzantium were -induced to fall away from Athens. It was the fatal destiny of Thebes -and her patriotic leader, that her appearance had everywhere the effect -of simply loosening such federal bonds as still existed and dissolving -every force, but without enabling her to herself attain to the height of -a great power. No foreign enemy could have found a means so well adapted -to break up and enfeeble the Hellenic nation as was the disorganising and -disintegrating policy of the Theban general. - - -THE BATTLE OF MANTINEA AND THE DEATH OF EPAMINONDAS - -The Athenians, bitterly incensed against the Thebans by this attack on -their maritime supremacy and by the occupation of the town of Oropus on -the northeastern frontier, soon found an opportunity to give expression -to their resentment by force of arms. In Arcadia the enmity of the -supporters of a democratic state unity, with the Tegeans at their -head, against the defenders of the ancient federative organisation -on oligarchical principles under the standard of the Mantineans, had -reached a high pitch of excitement. This was further aggravated when the -Theban governor arrested a number of citizens from Mantinea who were of -Laconian sympathies, and were, at Tegea, celebrating the peace recently -concluded with Elis, and intended so it was said to take advantage of -the opportunity for executing a stratagem which would place the city -in the hands of the Spartans: frightened by the threatening attitude -of their sympathisers, the governor again set them at liberty; but -on complaint being made to Thebes, the aggrieved Arcadians were not -granted the desired satisfaction for this breach of the peace, but on -the contrary the release of the prisoners was disapproved. On this the -Mantineans allied themselves with the Lacedæmonians, Athenians, Achæans, -and Eleans and prepared for a struggle against the popular party in Tegea -and Megalopolis, and against the Thebans who were approaching for the -protection of the latter and the preservation of the frontier against -Lacedæmon. - -[Sidenote: [362 B.C.]] - -In the spring of 362 Epaminondas and a considerable army, composed of -allied Bœotians, Eubœans, Thessalians, etc., marched through Nemea -without opposition to Tegea, where he collected around him the troops -of the Arcadian, Argive, and Messenian allies, whilst the opposing side -assembled its forces in Mantinea. When the Theban general learned that -Agesilaus and the Lacedæmonian host were on the way to the meeting-place -of their party, and had already reached the town of Pellana on the -Arcadian and Laconian frontier, he hastily resolved to advance on Sparta -by a night march, and seize the enemy’s capital, thus denuded of its -defenders “like an empty nest.” - -The plan would doubtless have succeeded, since only a small number of -the citizens had remained behind, had not Agesilaus, hearing of the -project from a deserter, despatched a messenger to his son Archidamus, -with the command immediately to put the town in a state of defence, -while he himself at once set out to return with the cavalry. Thus when -Epaminondas approached the banks of the Eurotas, almost at the same time -as Agesilaus, he found the town so well watched and guarded that, after a -hotly contested battle, he was obliged to retreat with loss. It is true -that he managed to penetrate to the market-place, but when he attempted -to storm the upper parts of the town, he encountered an obstinate -resistance. The inhabitants had torn down their houses and thrown up -barricades to bar the approaches. Protected by these dispositions and -filled with patriotic enthusiasm, the Spartan citizenhood under the -guidance of the old king and his son performed prodigies of valour, and -gave evidence, as Xenophon says, that no one can easily maintain his -ground against despairing men. Even women and children did their part by -hurling down stones, utensils, and missiles from the roofs. Isadas, the -handsome son of Phœbidas, specially distinguished himself by his heroism -and his bold courage. Disappointed in his expectation of surprising -Sparta undefended, Epaminondas desisted from the attack, the more readily -when he learned that the whole united army of the enemy had started from -Mantinea and was hastening to the assistance of the beleaguered town. - -He now formed a plan to make up for the failure of the undertaking -against Sparta by seizing the town of Mantinea, now denuded of its -troops, or at least to make spoil of the stores of grain and herds of -cattle collected there. Deceiving the enemy by means of watchfires and -a simulated attack, he led the army back to Tegea by a difficult night -march. Here he accorded a brief rest to the wearied infantry, whilst the -mounted troops proceeded towards Mantinea. But Epaminondas now learned -that fate was against him. The Thebans had already advanced to within -seven stadia [nearly a mile] of the town, when they saw the Athenian -auxiliaries entering the gates from the opposite side. Hegesilaus, the -leader of the Athenian cavalry, was assailed by the prayers of the -Mantineans, in alarm for their property; and he at once marched against -the enemy, to whom he gave battle under the walls of the town, in a sharp -cavalry action, from which the Athenians eventually retired victorious. -In this preliminary skirmish at Mantinea fell the brave Athenian leaders, -Cephisodorus, and Gryllus, the son of Xenophon. Their memory continued to -be held in honour by their fellow-citizens. Gryllus was represented by -the painter Euphron in the act of slaying a Theban with his spear, and -this circumstance, by a confusion of the previous encounter with the main -battle, may have given rise to the story that Epaminondas was slain by -Gryllus. - -The whole forces of both sides now concentrated in the plain of Mantinea -and Tegea, determined to settle the future destiny of Greece by a -decisive battle. Epaminondas had pressing reasons for desiring this -settlement. The two unsuccessful enterprises, with the strenuous and -fruitless marches, were not calculated to enhance his reputation as -a general; while a long delay would necessarily weaken the spirit of -his soldiers, who adhered to him with such great devotion, and would -undermine the prestige of Thebes. Moreover his followers were superior -in number to those of the adversary. The size of his army is set down -at thirty thousand heavy-armed troops and three thousand cavalry; the -enemy’s force was smaller by ten thousand hoplites and one thousand -mounted men. Faith in Epaminondas had inspired his soldiers with the -greatest enthusiasm for the conflict; they eagerly polished their helmets -and shields and sharpened their swords and lances, while the Arcadian -club-men assumed the Theban ensign. - -In the disposition and order of his line of battle, Epaminondas followed -much the same plan which had been found to answer so well at Leuctra, -only that in order to deceive and make sure of the foe, he caused the -troops ranged for the conflict to make a feint of retreating towards the -western heights; then, when the enemy, fancying that the encounter would -be delayed, began to break up their order of battle, he suddenly made -a rapid and vehement attack, so that at the first onset his left wing, -where the Thebans and the bravest of the allies had their place, broke -the enemy’s left, composed of the Spartans and Mantineans. Already the -whole wing had begun to waver and plunge into a confused flight; when, at -the very moment that he was about to win a complete victory, Epaminondas, -pressing boldly forward, was struck in the breast by a spear thrown from -the hostile ranks, and with such force that the shaft broke off and the -iron remained fixed in the wound. - -He was still living when he was carried out of the mêlée; but the fall of -their leader shook the spirit and confidence of the troops, and produced -such dismay that the advancing column stood still as if paralysed and -did not take advantage of its victory. The right wing, composed of the -cavalry and peltasts, was overthrown by the opposing Athenians, and -thus the battle remained without any decisive issue, though the Thebans -retained possession of the field and the Spartans were the first to seek -the usual truce for the burial of the dead, a request always looked upon -as a token of defeat. Both sides, however, set up memorials of victory. -Epaminondas was sorely wounded and the physicians had declared to him -that the withdrawal of the spear would result in his death. From a -wooded height he watched the battle, covering the wound with his hand, -till his shield, which had been lost in the press, was brought to him -and he was informed of the victory of the Thebans. Then he said, “Now -it is time to die.” He asked for his two brave colleagues, Daïphantus -and Iolaïdas, and when he learned that they, too, had lost their lives -in the battle he advised his fellow-citizens to make peace; and then -with a quiet and serene countenance he drew the iron from his breast and -delivered up his heroic spirit. His beloved Cephisodorus had fallen at -his side and was buried by him on the field of battle. When the friends -who stood round him lamented that he left no children, he is reported -to have said jestingly, “Am I not leaving you two noble daughters--the -battles of Leuctra and Mantinea?”[b] - -[Illustration: SANDALS WORN BY GREEK SOLDIERS] - -In the last chapter of his _Hellenics_, Xenophon does tardy justice to -the genius of Epaminondas, whom he did not even name in his account of -Leuctra. In this splendid and Panhellenic struggle at Mantinea, Xenophon -lost a son who died bravely and was honoured with a monument by the -Mantineans. The father, himself a soldier, has left a less perishable -monument in his history, the conclusion of which we quote as follows:[a] - - -XENOPHON’S ACCOUNT OF HOW EPAMINONDAS FOUGHT - -Epaminondas now reflecting that he must quit Tegea in a few days--as -the time allotted for the expedition would soon expire--and that, if he -should leave those undefended to whom he came as an ally, they would be -besieged and reduced by their enemies and he himself would suffer greatly -in reputation--having been repulsed at Sparta with a numerous body of -heavy-armed troops, by a handful of men; having been defeated in a -cavalry engagement at Mantinea, and having been the cause, by his hostile -expedition into the Peloponnesus, of the Lacedæmonians, Arcadians, -Achæans, Eleans, and Athenians, forming a union--judged it, on these -accounts, impossible for him to withdraw without fighting; for he thought -that, if he should conquer, he should cause all his previous failures to -be forgotten, and conceived that, if he should die, his death would be -glorious in the endeavour to leave the sovereignty of the Peloponnesus to -his country. That he should have reasoned thus, appears to me by no means -surprising, for such are the reasonings of men ambitious of honour; but -that he had so disciplined his army that they sank under no toil, either -by night or day, shrank from no danger, and, though they had but scanty -provisions, were yet eager to obey, seems to me far more wonderful. For -when at last he gave them orders to prepare for battle, the cavalry, -at his word, began eagerly to polish their helmets; the heavy-armed -troops of the Arcadians marked the clubs on their shields as if they -were Thebans, and all the men sharpened their spears and swords, and -brightened their bucklers. - -After he had led them out thus prepared, it is well to consider how he -acted. First of all, as was to be expected, he drew up his forces, and -in doing so appeared to give manifest indications that he was preparing -for a battle. When his army however was drawn up as he wished, he did -not lead it the shortest way towards the enemy, but conducted it towards -the mountains on the west and over against Tegea--so as to produce a -notion in the enemy that he would not fight that day; for when he came -near the hills, after his main body was drawn out to its full extent, he -ordered his men to file their arms at the foot of the heights, so that -he appeared to be encamping. By acting in this manner, he slackened the -determination for engaging which was in the hearts of most of the enemy, -and caused them to quit their posts on the field. But when he had brought -up to the front the companies which on the march had been in the wings, -and had made the part in which he was posted strong and in the shape of -a wedge, he immediately gave orders for his troops to resume their arms, -and began to advance, while they followed him. As for the enemy, when -they saw the Thebans advancing, contrary to what they had expected, not -one of them could remain quiet, but some ran to their posts, some formed -themselves in line, others bridled their horses, others put on their -breastplates; yet all were more like men going to suffer some harm than -to inflict any on others. - -Epaminondas led on his army like a ship of war with its beak directed -against the enemy, expecting that wherever he assailed and cut through -their ranks he would spread disaster among their whole force; for he was -prepared to settle the contest with the strongest part of his troops; -the weaker he had removed to a distance, knowing that if they were -defeated they would cause dismay among his own men and confidence in the -enemy. The enemy, on their part, had drawn up their cavalry like a body -of heavy-armed infantry, of a close depth, without any foot to support -them; but Epaminondas, on the contrary, had formed of his cavalry a -strong wedge-like body, and had posted companies of foot to support them, -judging that when he had broken through the cavalry of the enemy, he -would have defeated their whole force, since it is hard to find men that -will stand when they see some of their own party in flight; and that the -Athenians might not send succour from their left wing to the part of the -enemy nearest them, he posted over against them, upon some high grounds, -parties of horse and heavy-armed foot, wishing to inspire them with the -apprehension that if they stirred to aid others his own troops would -attack them in the rear. - -Such was the mode in which he commenced the engagement; nor was he -deceived in his expectations; for, being successful in the part on which -he made his attack, he forced the whole body of the enemy to take to -flight. But when he himself fell, those who survived him could make no -efficient use of their victory; for though the main body of the enemy -fled before them, his heavy-armed troops killed none of them, nor even -advanced beyond the spot where the charge took place; and though the -cavalry also retreated, his own cavalry did not pursue, or make any -slaughter either of horse or foot, but, like men who had been conquered, -slipped away in trepidation amidst their fleeing adversaries. The other -parties of foot, indeed, and the peltasts, who had shared in the success -of the cavalry, advanced up to the enemy’s left wing, as if masters of -the field, but there the greater part of them were put to the sword by -the Athenians. - -When the conflict was ended, the result of it was quite contrary to what -all men had expected that it would be; for as almost the whole of Greece -was assembled on the occasion, and arrayed in the field, there was no -one who did not suppose that, if a battle took place, one side would -conquer and be masters, and the other be conquered and become subjects; -but the divine power so ordered the event, that both parties erected -trophies as being victorious, neither side hindering the other in the -erection; both parties, as conquerors, restored the dead under a truce, -and both parties, as defeated, received them under truce; and neither -party, though each asserted the victory to be its own, was seen to gain -any more, either in land, or towns, or authority, than it possessed -before the battle took place. Indeed there was still greater confusion -and disturbance in Greece after the conflict than there had been before -it.[c] - - -GROTE’S ESTIMATE OF EPAMINONDAS - -Scarcely any character in Grecian history has been judged with so much -unanimity as Epaminondas. He has obtained a meed of admiration--from all, -sincere and hearty; from some, enthusiastic. Cicero pronounces him to be -the first man of Greece. The judgment of Polybius, though not summed up -so emphatically in a single epithet, is delivered in a manner hardly less -significant and laudatory. Nor was it merely historians or critics who -formed this judgment. The best men of action, combining the soldier and -the patriot, such as Timoleon and Philopœmen, set before them Epaminondas -as their model to copy. The remark has been often made, and suggests -itself whenever we speak of Epaminondas, though its full force will be -felt only when we come to follow the subsequent history--that with him -the dignity and commanding influence of Thebes both began and ended. -His period of active political life comprehends sixteen years, from the -resurrection of Thebes into a free community, by the expulsion of the -Lacedæmonian harmost and garrison, and the subversion of the ruling -oligarchy--to the fatal day of Mantinea, 379-362 B.C. His prominent and -unparalleled ascendency belongs to the last eight years, from the victory -of Leuctra, 371 B.C. Throughout this whole period, both all that we know -and all that we can reasonably divine, fully bear out the judgment of -Polybius and Cicero, who had the means of knowing much more. And this -too, let it be observed, though Epaminondas is tried by a severe canon; -for the chief contemporary witness remaining is one decidedly hostile. -Even the philo-Laconian Xenophon finds neither misdeeds nor omissions to -reveal in the capital enemy of Sparta--mentions him only to record what -is honourable, and manifests the perverting bias mainly by suppressing -or slurring over his triumphs. The man whose eloquence bearded Agesilaus -at the congress immediately preceding the battle of Leuctra--who in -that battle stripped Sparta of her glory, and transferred the wreath to -Thebes, who a few months afterwards, not only ravaged all the virgin -territory of Laconia, but cut off the best half of it for the restitution -of independent Messene, and erected the hostile Arcadian community of -Megalopolis on its frontier--the author of these fatal disasters inspires -in Xenophon such intolerable chagrin and antipathy, that in the first two -he keeps back the name, and in the third, suppresses the thing done. But -in the last campaign, preceding the battle of Mantinea, whereby Sparta -incurred no positive loss, and where the death of Epaminondas softened -every predisposition against him, there was no such violent pressure upon -the fidelity of the historian. Accordingly, the concluding chapter of -Xenophon’s _Hellenica_ contains a panegyric, ample and unqualified, upon -the military merits of the Theban general; upon his daring enterprise, -his comprehensive foresight, his care to avoid unnecessary exposure -of soldiers, his excellent discipline, his well-combined tactics, his -fertility of aggressive resource in striking at the weak points of the -enemy, who content themselves with following and parrying his blows (to -use a simile of Demosthenes) like an unskilful pugilist, and only succeed -in doing so by signal aid from accident. - -[Sidenote: [379-362 B.C.]] - -The effort of strategic genius--then for the first time devised and -applied, of bringing an irresistible force of attack to bear on one point -of the hostile line, while the rest of his army was kept comparatively -back until the action had been thus decided--is clearly noted by -Xenophon, together with its triumphant effect, at the battle of Mantinea; -though the very same combination on the field of Leuctra is slurred -over in his description, as if it were so commonplace as not to require -any mention of the chief with whom it originated. Compare Epaminondas -with Agesilaus--how great is the superiority of the first--even in -the narrative of Xenophon, the earnest panegyrist of the other! How -manifestly are we made to see that nothing except the fatal spear-wound -at Mantinea prevented him from reaping the fruit of a series of admirable -arrangements, and from becoming arbiter of Peloponnesus, including Sparta -herself! - -The military merits alone of Epaminondas, had they merely belonged to -a general of mercenaries, combined with nothing praiseworthy in other -ways, would have stamped him as a man of high and original genius, above -every other Greek, antecedent or contemporary. But it is the peculiar -excellence of this great man that we are not compelled to borrow from one -side of his character in order to compensate deficiencies in another. -His splendid military capacity was never prostituted to personal -ends--neither to avarice, nor ambition, nor overweening vanity. Poor at -the beginning of his life, he left at the end of it not enough to pay his -funeral expenses; having despised the many opportunities for enrichment -which his position afforded, as well as the richest offers from -foreigners. Of ambition he had so little, by natural temperament, that -his friends accused him of torpor. But as soon as the perilous exposure -of Thebes required it, he displayed as much energy in her defence -as the most ambitious of her citizens, without any of that captious -exigence, frequent in ambitious men, as to the amount of glorification -or deference due to him from his countrymen. And his personal vanity was -so faintly kindled, even after the prodigious success at Leuctra, that -we find him serving in Thessaly as a private hoplite in the ranks, and -in the city as an ædile or inferior street magistrate, under the title -of Telearchus. An illustrious specimen of that capacity and good-will, -both to command and to be commanded, which Aristotle pronounces to form -in their combination the characteristic feature of the worthy citizen. -He once incurred the displeasure of his fellow-citizens for his wise and -moderate policy in Achaia, which they were ill-judged enough to reverse. -We cannot doubt also that he was frequently attacked by political censors -and enemies--the condition of eminence in every free state; but neither -of these causes ruffled the dignified calmness of his political course. -As he never courted popularity by unworthy arts, so he bore unpopularity -without murmurs, and without any angry renunciation of patriotic duty. - -The mildness of his antipathies against political opponents at home was -undeviating; and, what is even more remarkable, amidst the precedents -and practice of the Grecian world, his hostility against foreign -enemies, Bœotian dissentients, and Theban exiles, was uniformly free -from reactionary vengeance. Sufficient proofs have been adduced in -the preceding pages of this rare union of attributes in the same -individual--of lofty disinterestedness, not merely as to corrupt gains, -but as to the more seductive irritabilities of ambition, combined with a -just measure of attachment towards partisans, and unparalleled gentleness -towards enemies. His friendship with Pelopidas was never disturbed during -the fifteen years of their joint political career--an absence of jealousy -signal and creditable to both, though most creditable to Pelopidas, the -richer, as well as the inferior man of the two. To both, and to the -harmonious co-operation of both, Thebes owed her short-lived splendour -and ascendency. Yet when we compare the one with the other, we not only -miss in Pelopidas the transcendent strategic genius and conspicuous -eloquence, but even the constant vigilance and prudence, which never -deserted his friend. If Pelopidas had had Epaminondas as his companion -in Thessaly, he would hardly have trusted himself to the good faith, nor -tasted the dungeon, of the Pheræan Alexander; nor would he have rushed -forward to certain destruction, in a transport of frenzy, at the view of -that hated tyrant in the subsequent battle. - -In eloquence, Epaminondas would doubtless have found superiors at Athens; -but at Thebes, he had neither equal, nor predecessor, nor successor. -Under the new phase into which Thebes passed by the expulsion of the -Lacedæmonians out of the Cadmea, such a gift was second in importance -only to the great strategic qualities; while the combination of both -elevated their possessor into the envoy, the counsellor, the debater, of -his country, as well as her minister at war and commander-in-chief. The -shame of acknowledging Thebes as leading state in Greece, embodied in the -current phrases about Bœotian stupidity, would be sensibly mitigated, -when her representative in an assembled congress spoke with the flowing -abundance of the Homeric Ulysses, instead of the loud, brief, and hurried -bluster of Menelaus. The possession of such eloquence, amidst the -uninspiring atmosphere of Thebes, implied far greater mental force than a -similar accomplishment would have betokened at Athens. In Epaminondas, it -was steadily associated with thought and action--that triple combination -of thinking, speaking, and acting which Isocrates and other Athenian -sophists set before their hearers as the stock and qualification for -meritorious civic life. To the bodily training and soldier-like practice, -common to all Thebans, Epaminondas added an ardent intellectual impulse -and a range of discussion with the philosophical men around, peculiar to -himself. - -He was not floated into public life by the accident of birth or wealth, -nor hoisted and propped up by oligarchical clubs, nor even determined -to it originally by any spontaneous ambition of his own. But the great -revolution of 379 B.C., which expelled from Thebes both the Lacedæmonian -garrison and the local oligarchy who ruled by its aid, forced him forward -by the strongest obligations both of duty and interest; since nothing -but an energetic defence could rescue both him and every other free -Theban from slavery. It was by the like necessity that the American -Revolution, and the first French Revolution, thrust into the front rank -the most instructed and capable men of the country, whether ambitious -by temperament or not. As the pressure of the time impelled Epaminondas -forward, so it also disposed his countrymen to look out for a competent -leader wherever he was to be found; and in no other living man could -they obtain the same union of the soldier, the general, the orator, and -the patriot. Looking through all Grecian history, it is only in Pericles -that we find the like many-sided excellence; for though much inferior -to Epaminondas as a general, Pericles must be held superior to him as -a statesman. But it is alike true of both, and their mark tends much -to illustrate the sources of Grecian excellence--that neither sprang -exclusively from the school of practice and experience. They both brought -to that school minds exercised in the conversation of the most instructed -philosophers and sophists accessible to them--trained to varied -intellectual combinations and to a larger range of subjects than those -that came before the public assembly, familiarised with reasonings which -the scrupulous piety of Nicias forswore, and which the devoted military -patriotism of Pelopidas disdained. - -On one point, the policy recommended by Epaminondas to his countrymen -appears of questionable wisdom--his advice to compete with Athens for -transmarine and naval power. One cannot recognise in this advice the same -accurate estimate of permanent causes--the same long-sighted view of the -conditions of strength to Thebes and of weakness to her enemies, which -dictated the foundation of Messene and Megalopolis. These two towns, -when once founded, took such firm root, that Sparta could not persuade -even her own allies to aid in effacing them; a clear proof of the sound -reasoning on which their founder had proceeded. - -What Epaminondas would have done--whether he would have followed out -maxims equally prudent and penetrating, if he had survived the victory -of Mantinea--is a point which we cannot pretend to divine. He would have -found himself then on a pinnacle of glory, and invested with a plenitude -of power, such as no Greek ever held without abusing. But all that we -know of Epaminondas justifies the conjecture that he would have been -found equal, more than any other Greek, even to this great trial; and -that his untimely death shut him out from a future not less honourable to -himself, than beneficial to Thebes and to Greece generally.[d] - - -CONFUSION FOLLOWING EPAMINONDAS’ FALL - -[Sidenote: [362-361 B.C.]] - -So died Epaminondas--the ablest commander, the noblest citizen, the most -stainless character, even if not the greatest statesman, of the Hellenic -world. The combination of military ability with civic virtue, of physical -prowess with intellectual culture and eloquence, of manly daring with -humane feeling, of practical capacity with ideal aspirations, of merit -with modesty, of glory with humility, of power with simplicity, has won -for him the admiration of succeeding generations as of the whole ancient -world. He fell a victim to a deplorable fratricidal war; and cities and -citizens, instead of weeping and beating their breasts in penitence over -the corpse of the high-hearted man, disputed jealously among themselves -the honour of having transfixed his breast with the fatal thrust. But so -great was his influence even in death that soon afterwards all the Greek -states followed the counsel he had given, and concluded a peace based -upon the recognition of the _status quo_. They all needed time for coming -to fresh resolutions and collecting fresh forces. Sparta alone held -aloof, refusing with obstinate consistency to acknowledge the political -independence of Messenia. - -Agesilaus did not long survive his opponent. A year after the battle of -Mantinea he marched to Egypt with an army of mercenaries, accompanied by -thirty Spartan citizens, to fight in the service of the rebellious kings -Tachus and Nectanebo against the Persians, out of revenge for Messenia’s -having been declared independent by Artaxerxes. But he obtained little -glory. Instead of being appointed commander-in-chief of the fighting -forces, as he had hoped, he had to be contented with the position of -a captain of mercenaries. The Egyptians were very much disappointed -in their expectations to behold, instead of a knightly king, crowned -with glory, an old man of eighty years, infirm, of small stature and -poorly dressed, who, devoid of oriental royal dignity and the pomp and -ceremonious state of oriental sovereigns, sat down on the grassy ground -with his followers, to partake of a meagre repast. After some time he -took his departure from the country of the Nile to return by way of -Cyrene to his own country, having been royally rewarded by Nectanebo, -but without having met the Persians in combat. He died however en route. -His mourning companions took the corpse of Agesilaus to bury it in -Sparta, the city of his fathers, whose highest power and decline he had -witnessed. As regards generalship and magnanimity of disposition, the -Spartan king stood far below the Theban citizen, but he equalled him -in simplicity of habits and manner of living, in voluntary poverty, in -disdain of earthly possessions, and in incorruptible rectitude and ardent -patriotism. These were the last bright stars in free Hellas; but while -Epaminondas shone forth to the following generations as the model of a -high-hearted patriotic general, Agesilaus pointed out to his countrymen -the adventurous path of foreign travel and accustomed them to the -dishonourable vocation of a mercenary, to which henceforth Sparta’s rude -citizens abandoned themselves more and more. - -[Sidenote: [361-360 B.C.]] - -The Athenians made better use of their opportunities. As long as -Epaminondas lived, their enterprises on the sea were without success; so -that several of their generals were condemned to death (as Leosthenes -and Callisthenes), or a mulct was imposed upon them (as on Cephisodotus) -because they had caused losses to the state on account of their -negligence and their unsuccessful undertakings. But after the battle of -Mantinea they not only succeeded in driving the Thebans completely away -from the sea, but they were again successful in uniting the greatest -part of the islands of the Ægean Sea (Eubœa, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, -etc.) under their sea-hegemony; in strengthening their sovereignty in -Chalcidice and Macedonia and on the Gulf of Thermæ; and, after the murder -of the Thracian sovereign Cotys by two youths who had been brought up -in Athens, in again bringing the Thracian Chersonesus under their power -and opening the sea-route to the fertile coast of the Pontus by way of -the Hellespont. As the murderers of a tyrant, the young men of Ænus, -who executed this “divine” deed on the person of Cotys, were honoured -by the Athenians with the rights of citizens and golden wreaths. But -with the good fortune of the Athenians there also returned the old -abuses. The dissolute mercenaries, poorly paid, committed acts of -extortion and oppression; the sovereign assembly often violated the -treaties based on equality of rights, imposed taxes and aids upon the -allied cities, divided territories among Attic colonists (cleruchs) and -forgot the principles of clemency and moderation which had won so many -willing members to their second maritime confederation. Besides, there -was a scarcity of able leaders to replace the aging generals, such as -Iphicrates, Chabrias, and Timotheus, and there was also a waning of -patriotic feeling. Having their own advantage more in mind than the -greatness of their city, the generals tried to acquire independent -possessions and dominions, an effort which was assisted by the increasing -number of the mercenaries, who were taking the place of all the citizen -levies. These conditions, combined with the secret intrigues of the -Thebans, caused new dissatisfaction and brought about the deplorable -social war, which led to the dissolution of the second Athenian maritime -confederation at a time when the latter already comprised about seventy -cities, as the disasters of the last years of the Peloponnesian War were -the cause of the dissolution of the first.[b] - -Great changes have taken place in the history of Greece since we left the -Athenian soldiers and sailors rotting in the mines of Sicily. A greater -change is about to take place. Of this it is only necessary to say the -word “Macedonia.” Before we trace the rise of these northerners it will -be well to glance briefly at the busy circumstances of Sicily.[a] - -[Illustration: GREEK TERRA-COTTA - -(In the British Museum)] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XLVII. THE TYRANTS IN SICILY - - -[Sidenote: [410-405 B.C.]] - -The absence of federation which, in spite of the military superiority of -the Greeks, had enabled the king of Persia to become master of Asiatic -Greece and arbitrator of European Greece, was about to deliver the whole -of Sicily into the hands of the Carthaginians. Segesta, constantly at war -with Selinus, called them to its assistance in 410 B.C., as some years -previously it had called the Athenians. Carthage was then at the height -of its power; it raised an army of one hundred thousand mercenaries, -and sent them into Sicily under the command of Hannibal, grandson of -that Hamilcar who had been killed in the battle of Himera seventy years -before this time. He began by taking possession of Segesta in the name -of Carthage, then besieged Selinus, which was taken in 409, after a -heroic resistance. All the inhabitants, men and women, old and young, -were slain. The town was razed to the ground; the scattered ruins of its -temples are still to be seen. Himera was also entirely destroyed. The -greater number of the inhabitants had succeeded in escaping before the -last assault; about three thousand were left, whom Hannibal put to death -by torture in the very spot where his grandfather had fallen. - -Two years later he again came to Sicily with Himilco, at the head of -180,000 mercenaries, Libyans, Numidians, Iberians, and Campanians, and -laid siege to the large commercial town of Agrigentum, the most important -in Sicily, after Syracuse. He caused the tombs to be destroyed for the -construction of an embankment; the plague which spread through his army, -and of which he himself died, was considered a vengeance of the gods. -His colleague, Himilco, offered up children to Moloch as an expiatory -sacrifice. The Syracusans, who had come to the help of Agrigentum, -completely defeated a body of forty thousand Iberians and Campanians. -But the town began to suffer from famine; a large convoy of corn was -seized by the Carthaginians. The inhabitants of Agrigentum, spoilt by -luxury and incapable of supporting the fatigues of military life, had -taken mercenaries into their service; these latter betrayed them and -passed over to the enemy. At the end of a siege of six months, most of -the inhabitants left the town by night and escaped to Gela. Himilco -immediately entered the town and gave it up to pillage, massacred all -the inhabitants who were left, and destroyed the buildings which had -been erected by the Carthaginian prisoners after the battle of Himera. -Magnificent ruins still bear witness to the splendour of Agrigentum, the -richest of the Greek cities and one of the most beautiful in the world -(406). - -Since her victory over the Athenian armies and fleets, Syracuse had -become the capital of Sicily. A new code of laws, drawn up by Diocles, -had made her constitution still more democratic; magistrates were -chosen by vote. Little is known of this legislation, which is said to -have been adopted by other Siceliot towns. The chief of the aristocratic -party, Hermocrates, who had distinguished himself in the war against -the Athenians, commanded the fleet sent by Syracuse to the help of the -Peloponnesians and was defeated with them at Cyzicus. The Syracusans -withdrew from a war in which they had nothing to gain and exiled -Hermocrates. He tried to return to his country by armed force and -perished in the attempt. Among those who had fought with him was a scribe -named Dionysius, who was wounded and left for dead; this circumstance -enabled him to escape the sentence of exile which was pronounced on the -followers of Hermocrates. - -The invasion of the Carthaginians was a cause of fresh dissensions in -Syracuse; the destruction of Agrigentum awoke alarm. In the assembly -of the people Dionysius accused the generals of having caused, either -through incapacity or treason, the misfortunes of Sicily. He was -condemned to a fine for factiousness; but a rich townsman, the historian -Philistus, promised to pay all the fines laid upon him. He continued -to stir up the people and persuaded them to choose a new government, -of which he himself was a member. The only thing still wanting was to -get rid of his colleagues. “They also are betraying the republic,” he -said, “and have sold themselves to the Carthaginians.” He recalled the -exiles in order to make partisans of them. He was sent to Gela to rescue -the people from the oppression of the rich; he condemned certain of the -nobles to death and distributed their wealth among his soldiers. On his -return to Syracuse he saw the people coming out of the theatre: “It is -thus that you are deceived,” he exclaimed, “they keep you amused by -entertainments while the soldiers are without the necessaries of life and -the enemy is at our gates. Take back the power you have confided to me; I -will not share it with traitors.” His friends said: “What honesty! He is -the only upright man!” And he was made generalissimo of the troops, whose -pay he immediately doubled. Then, as Pisistratus and so many others had -done, he declared that there were plots to kill him because he loved the -people. A bodyguard was given him of six hundred men; these he increased -to a thousand and chose them from among the poorest of the people. He -enlisted mercenaries, set the slaves free, filled all the government -appointments with men who were devoted to his fortune, and settled in the -isle of Ortygia where were situated the arsenals, and which commanded the -great port (405). - -[Sidenote: [405-368 B.C.]] - -Now that he had become tyrant through the folly of the people, Dionysius -fought the Carthaginians with no more success than the generals whom he -had accused of treason. He was able to save neither Gela nor Camarina, -and the entire population of these two towns sought refuge in Syracuse. -Displeased by these defeats, the Syracusans tried, but all too late, to -rise against him. Supported by his mercenaries, he stifled the rebellion, -caused some of his enemies to be put to death, drove the others from the -town, and maintained his power by fear. A plague stopped the advance -of the Carthaginians and induced them to make peace, but they kept all -their conquests, that is to say, more than two-thirds of Sicily, in -exchange for a clause of the treaty recognising Dionysius as tyrant of -Syracuse. He fortified the isle of Ortygia, of which he made a citadel, -after driving out the inhabitants so as to make room for his mercenaries. -Then he gave the best part of the Syracusan territory to his friends and -to the magistrates; the rest was distributed in equal shares between -the citizens, the freed slaves and resident foreigners. This alteration -of property caused a rebellion; he shut himself up in his fortress of -Ortygia and his mercenaries re-established his authority. Some days -later, while the inhabitants were in the fields, busy gathering in the -harvest, he had all the houses searched and all weapons removed. When -he believed himself absolute master of Syracuse, he wished to extend -his rule over the whole of the eastern coast of Sicily. He seized Ætna -and Enna, destroyed Naxos and Catana which had been delivered to him -by traitors, and sold their inhabitants in order to give their land to -the Sicels of the surrounding country and to his Campanian mercenaries. -The terrified Leontines opened their gates to him, and were carried to -Syracuse. The Rhegians, uneasy at his advance, sent an army into Sicily; -but, abandoned by the Messenians, who had at first joined them, they made -peace with Dionysius and returned to Italy. - -In the meanwhile Dionysius was preparing to revenge himself on the -Carthaginians. Syracuse was surrounded by ramparts which made it -impregnable. Workmen from all the neighbouring countries, attracted by -lure of high wages, were employed to make large supplies of arms and -implements of war; it was at this time that the catapult was invented to -cast stones and arrows. Numerous warships were built, some of them on a -new model with four or five benches of rowers. When these preparations -were completed, and mercenaries collected from all sides, Dionysius -declared war on the Carthaginians, and, at the head of an army of eighty -thousand men, successively re-captured all the towns which they had -conquered seven years previously, Gela, Camarina, Agrigentum, Selinus, -and Himera, besieged their principal fortress in the isle of Motya on -the western point of Sicily, and took it by means of his implements -of war (397). But the following year, Himilco landed at Panormus with -one hundred thousand men, regained Motya and all the conquests of -Dionysius, destroyed Messana, and after a naval victory in sight of -Catana, besieged Syracuse by land and sea. Dionysius was obliged to -restore to the citizens the arms which he had taken from them, and soon -signs of rebellion were again perceived. But once more plague broke out -in the Carthaginian army. Himilco paid three hundred talents [£60,000 -or $300,000] for permission to withdraw with the Carthaginian citizens -who were in his army, abandoning all his mercenaries who were taken -and sold as slaves. Hostilities continued for two years longer and the -Carthaginians finally made peace by giving up Tauromenium (392). - -This treaty gave Dionysius the opportunity to turn his arms against -Magna Græcia, the conquest of which he had long meditated. He took -Caulonia, Hipponium, Scylacium, and gave their lands to the Locrians who -had made an alliance with him. Croton also fell into his power in spite -of a vigorous resistance. Rhegium, which he had besieged for eleven -months, finally surrendered; he destroyed the town and sold all the -inhabitants. The Syracusan exiles sought refuge on the Adriatic Sea and -settled at Ancona (387). Dionysius then ravaged the coasts of Latium and -Etruria, where he stole a thousand talents from the temple of Agylla, -made alliance with the Gauls who had just taken Rome, enlisted a large -number of them among his mercenaries and sent them to the assistance -of Sparta which had lately renewed its alliance with Syracuse and was -now at war with the Thebans. He founded the town of Lissus in Illyria, -and re-established an exiled prince in Epirus. In 383 he made a third -war against the Carthaginians; after an alternation of victories and -defeats, a treaty was made which fixed the limits of their possessions at -the river Halycus. In a fourth war he took Selinus, Entella, and Eryx, -but, his fleet being destroyed opposite Lilybæum, he did not succeed in -driving them from the island, and the war again ended in a treaty. - -In the opinion of the ancients, Dionysius was a type of the godless, -avaricious, and suspicious tyrant. In the temple of Zeus, in Syracuse, -he replaced by a woollen coat the god’s golden coat, which, he said, -was too cold in winter and too warm in summer. He stole the gold beard -of Æsculapius, saying that the son ought not to have a beard when his -father, Apollo, had none. As he was returning with a favourable wind from -an expedition in which he had pillaged the temples: “See,” he said, “how -the gods protect the ungodly.” - -Numerous anecdotes have been told concerning his perpetual fear: he -always wore armour under his clothes; his room was surrounded by a moat -which could only be crossed by a drawbridge; when he addressed the people -it was from the summit of a tower; he did not dare to be shaved, and -his daughters singed off his beard for him with red-hot nutshells; the -prisons of the quarries were so arranged that he could hear the least -sound. One of his courtiers named Damocles was vaunting the happiness -of kings: Dionysius said that he would allow him to enjoy it for one -hour; he let him lie on a couch of purple and gold before a well-spread -table, and suddenly Damocles perceived above his head a sword suspended -by a single hair. This anecdote has all the appearance of a philosophic -parable. Those which have been related concerning the literary -pretensions of Dionysius are scarcely more trustworthy. It is said that -he sent Philoxenus, who found fault with his verses, to the quarries; -some time later he had him brought back and read him other verses which -he thought better; Philoxenus stood up and said, “Let them take me back -to the quarries.” - -[Sidenote: [368-357 B.C.]] - -Dionysius had often sent tragedies to the Athenian competitions, but -had had little success; however, at the time of the Theban war he had -sent mercenaries to the help of the Spartans, then the allies of the -Athenians; the latter, therefore, gave the prize to one of his tragedies -called _Hector’s Ransom_. He celebrated this success by a magnificent -feast at which he drank to excess. He was seized with a fever from -which he died. Some say that he was poisoned by his son. He had reigned -thirty-eight years (367). - -Dionysius was a bigamist; he married on the same day a Locrian and a -Syracusan, the latter the daughter of one of his most active partisans. -The son of the former, named like himself Dionysius, and who is called -Dionysius the Younger, succeeded him without difficulty. Dion, the -brother of his second wife, had no trouble in taking the direction of -the government, for the new tyrant had no thought for anything but -pleasure. Dion, a great admirer of Plato, had caused him to come to -Sicily during the lifetime of Dionysius the Elder, who received the -philosopher somewhat badly and even, it is said, had him sold as a slave. -This should have taught Plato that a king’s court is not the place for a -philosopher; however, after the death of Dionysius and the accession of -his son, he returned at the request of Dion, and was very well received -by Dionysius the Younger, who took lessons in geometry, and decreased -the magnificence of the table, but made no attempt to carry out Plato’s -communistic theories in Syracuse. After a short time, however, he -imagined that Dion was only interesting him in philosophy to distract -his attention from public affairs. He intercepted a letter which Dion -had written to the Carthaginian generals asking them to address their -communications only to himself. Dionysius showed the letter to Dion, -accused him of treason, and made him embark for Italy. Plato was unable -to obtain his friend’s recall. Dionysius even forced his sister Arete, -the wife of Dion, to marry some one else (360). Dion returned three -years later with eight hundred men whom he had recruited in Greece and -appeared before Syracuse during the absence of Dionysius. The inhabitants -received him enthusiastically, but he was unable to seize the citadel of -Ortygia (357). Dionysius, defeated in a naval fight, retired to Locris -with his riches, but his son Apollocrates remained in the citadel whose -garrison held out for a long time. There were disputes in the town; an -agrarian law was demanded. Dion was driven away, then recalled, and -famine having forced the garrison of Ortygia to surrender, he remained -master of Syracuse. Now was the time to re-establish the republic as he -had promised; but his love of philosophy did not carry him to the point -of renouncing power. He even caused a demagogue to be put to death for -having demanded the destruction of the fortress of Ortygia which had been -built for the sole purpose of protecting tyranny against the people. A -short time after this, he, himself, was assassinated by the Athenian -Callippus, his intimate friend (354). - -[Sidenote: [357-343 B.C.]] - -After a reign of two years Callippus was overthrown by Hipparinus -and Nysæus, brothers of Dionysius and nephews of Dion. They reigned -successively. Then Dionysius, after ten years’ absence, seized the -city by surprise. But Hicetas, tyrant of the Leontines, forced him to -take refuge in the isle of Ortygia. In the midst of this anarchy, and -threatened, moreover, by an attack of the Carthaginians, the Syracusans -implored help from Corinth, who sent one of her citizens, Timoleon, to -the aid of her colony. Timoleon had previously saved the life of his -brother Timophanes in a battle. Later on Timophanes had tried to usurp -the tyranny at Corinth, and Timoleon joined his brother’s murderers. -Haunted by his mother’s curse and troubled by his conscience, he was -living in retirement when the Corinthians entrusted him with the mission -of delivering Syracuse from tyranny. He set out with twelve hundred men, -and after escaping the Carthaginian fleet, landed at Tauromenium, on the -east coast of Sicily. When he reached Syracuse, Dionysius was besieged in -his fortress by Hicetas; seeing that he could not defend himself against -two enemies at the same time, rather than make terms with Hicetas, he -offered to deliver Ortygia up to Timoleon on condition that he should be -sent to Corinth with his riches. He lived there for several years, and is -said to have opened a school for children, to have at least a similitude -of royalty. - -Timoleon occupied Ortygia; but his position was difficult, for Hicetas -had called the Carthaginians to his assistance, and, under command of -Mago, they filled the port with one hundred and fifty vessels and the -town with six thousand men. Fortunately Timoleon received from Corinth -a reinforcement of ten vessels filled with troops. Catana and other -Greek towns along the coast declared for him. Mago, on learning that the -Corinthian garrison had succeeded in seizing Achradina, the principal -suburb of Syracuse, believed that Hicetas had betrayed him, and feared -lest all the Greeks should unite against him. He embarked his soldiers -and set sail for Carthage. Hicetas, left with only his own troops, could -no longer resist: he returned to Leontini with his army, and Timoleon, -without the loss of a single man, was master of Syracuse. - -He began by doing what Dion had refused to do; he destroyed the fortress -of Ortygia, built on its site courts of justice and restored to power the -democratic legislation of Diodes. The town was half deserted; he recalled -the exiles, and caused it to be proclaimed at the public games in Greece -that Syracuse required colonists. Sixty thousand men answered this -appeal. In order to relieve public poverty, he distributed the unoccupied -lands to the poor, and sold the statues of the tyrants, except that of -Gelo, the conqueror of the Carthaginians. He then turned his attention -to the overthrow of tyranny in the other Siceliot towns, and began by -forcing Hicetas to live simply as a private citizen. Leptines, tyrant of -Engyum, consented to go to the Peloponnesus, as Dionysius had done, for -Timoleon was anxious to show the Greeks the tyrants whom he had driven -from Sicily. He also seized Apollonia and Entella and restored them -their freedom. All the Greek towns sided with him, because he allowed -them self-government according to their own inclination. Following their -example, several Sican and Sicel towns asked to be admitted into alliance -with him. - -[Sidenote: [343-337 B.C.]] - -Terrified by this commencement of a league between the towns, and by -the increasing prosperity of Syracuse, the Carthaginians landed seventy -thousand men at Lilybæum. Timoleon, who had only succeeded in collecting -an army of eleven thousand men, advanced nevertheless against the enemy, -whom he surprised on the banks of the brook Crimisus on Selinuntine -territory. He established himself in a strong position, attacked the -Carthaginians as they were crossing the river, and killed ten thousand -of them, of whom three thousand were Carthaginian citizens. He imposed -no onerous conditions, for Syracuse was not in a position to carry on -a prolonged war: the limits of their territory were fixed at the river -Halycus, to the west of Agrigentum, and they agreed to give no more -help to the tyrants (338). Timoleon overcame those who were still left; -Hicetas, who had again seized the power, was put to death, as were -also Mamercus, tyrant of Catana, Hippon, tyrant of Messana, and some -others. Timoleon then helped in the rebuilding and repeopling of the -towns destroyed by the Carthaginians, Gela and Agrigentum, for instance, -drove from Ætna a band of Campanians, Dionysius’ former mercenaries, who -had made the town into a retreat for brigands. At last, his work being -complete, he abdicated the power. But he always retained the great moral -authority; towards the end of his life he became blind, and whenever -there was an important discussion he was carried into the market place -and his advice was always followed. He died eight years after his arrival -in Sicily (337), and the expenses of his funeral were paid from the -public treasury. The Syracusans instituted annual games in his honour, -“because,” said the decree, “he drove away the tyrants, defeated the -barbarians, repeopled the towns, and restored to the Siceliots their laws -and institutions.”[b] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER XLVIII. THE RISE OF MACEDONIA - - -We have seen that Greece was never a unified nation. There was even -dispute, throughout the history of the Greeks as a people, as to just -who were included under the caption “Greek.” In particular the question -rose in reference to the Macedonians when they came to power under the -leadership of King Philip, father of Alexander the Great. The Macedonians -spoke a dialect of the Greek language, and Philip ardently contended -that he and his people were entitled to be considered as true Greeks. -The claim was hotly contested so long as the people of Greece, in the -narrower sense, had the power to hold out against the man whom they -regarded as a usurper; but in the end the claim of Philip received -official recognition, and his subjugation of Greece was not regarded as -the conquest of a foreigner, but merely as establishing the hegemony of -one Greek state over the others, Macedonia now taking that leadership -which had been held in turn by Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. - -In the broadest view this way of regarding the Macedonians as really -Greeks was, perhaps, not illogical. The question of the exact origin -of the Hellenes is still much in doubt, but the more the matter is -investigated, the more certain it becomes that this wonderful people was -a mixed race. Throughout history everywhere, the ethnologist points out -that it is the mixed race which develops the greatest potentialities; and -the case of Greece is no exception to the rule. One speaks of the Greeks -as Aryans, and, therefore, naturally associates them with the Persians -and Indians on the one hand and the Germanic races on the other. Yet, in -point of fact, it is probably only in relation to their speech that any -such close affinity exists. If the theory of the “Mediterranean race” -with its central African origin be true, then the Greeks considered -ethnologically were much more closely associated with the so-called -Hamitic Egyptians and the so-called Semitic Hebrews, Babylonians, -Assyrians and Phœnicians, than they were with the other so-called Aryan -races. - -All discussion of this exact point is still somewhat problematical, -but it is quite clear to the most casual physical inspection that the -Greek is of a physical type much more closely akin to the dark-skinned -and dark-eyed Mediterranean races than to the fair-skinned, blue-eyed, -Indo-Germanic tribes. Yet the language of the Greeks is unequivocally of -the Indo-Germanic family. Quite possibly, the explanation of this anomaly -may be found in the theory of a prehistoric invasion of Greece by a -Germanic race from the north, which mingled with the Mediterranean race -already in possession of the soil, and gave to it the elements of the -Indo-Germanic language, yet failed to stamp the traits of its physical -personality upon the original occupants of the little peninsula. Whoever -will, for a moment, consider the known history of the English people -as an ethnic race contrasted with the history of the language which -they speak, will at once see how very misleading may be any inferences -as to racial status based solely upon the English language, were not -such checked by other historical sources of information. This is but -one case of many that might be given illustrating how philologists -have slowly awakened to the fact that inferences based solely upon -philological evidence must not be made too confidently in their -application to questions of ethnology pure and simple. And so with the -case of the Greeks, the fact of their Aryan speech must not blind us to -the probability that, as a race, the Hellenes were not closely akin in -recent times to the other races speaking Indo-Germanic languages. That -the Greeks came to their favoured land from some unknown region and that -they found a population there before them which gradually disappeared, -presumably by intermingling with the invaders, we have already viewed as -a current tradition. - -But this is only one item of the evidence which makes it clear that -when one uses the word “Greek” he is speaking of a mixed race with no -certain proof of common lineage and often with no stronger bond than that -supplied by a common language. In one sense, then, whoever spoke the -Greek language as his mother tongue was a Greek, whether the place of his -nativity were the little peninsula of Greece proper, or an Ægean island, -or the coast of Asia Minor, or the island of Sicily, or southern Italy, -or Macedonia. - -Yet, from another point of view, it is quite clear that the Macedonians -were in some respects different in temperament from the typical Greeks -and, in particular, from the typical Athenians. One can hardly imagine -a Philip or an Alexander as being of Athenian birth. We have learned -to revere the Athenian for his culture, his love of the beautiful, his -artistic instincts, and exceptionally for his abstract philosophy. But -with all this one cannot escape the feeling that, in some sense, the -Athenian even of the most brilliant period was a child. He was vain, -arrogant, emotional, vacillating; in short, the reverse of all that -usually goes to make a great leader or a great political people. The -Spartan, to be sure, was more akin to the Macedonian, but rarely indeed -did any Spartan show that breadth of political view which characterised -Philip and Alexander, and at least the germs of which were latent in a -considerable company of their associates and generals. And, indeed, in -viewing the Macedonian race as a whole one is forced to the conclusion -that here was a sturdier race, of firmer fibre, if also, and perhaps -inevitably, of a lower æsthetic plane and a less elaborated culture. - -In accordance then as one views the case from one point of view or -another, it might be made to appear that Philip was right in claiming -that his kingdom was a part of Greece; or that the Athenians were -right in combating that claim. But, whatever the theoretical right of -the matter, here, as always in the history of nations, Might made the -practical or political Right, and the Might lay with Philip. He was a -great soldier, and he came at a time when the power of Greece proper -had been almost utterly shattered by internal dissensions. Still, it -was his desire to effect a peaceful conquest; he sought to rule Greece, -but to rule it by diplomacy rather than by the sword, and he well-nigh -succeeded. But for the stubborn resistance of Athens, urged on by -Demosthenes, he would probably have gained all that he sought without -striking a single warlike blow against the people whom he was pleased -to regard as his fellow-Greeks; but the hostility of Athens at last -made an appeal to arms inevitable, and on the field of Chæronea Philip -proved the sword to be mightier than voice or pen, and effected the utter -subjugation of all Greece. - -This accomplished, Philip was ready for that invasion of Persia which he -had long planned. But, just as his preparations were completed, he was -struck down by the hand of an assassin. His ambition was thus cut short, -his life-work left unfinished. What he would have accomplished had he -lived remains, of course, problematical. He was only in middle life when -he fell, and he had already demonstrated that his powers were of the -first order, and it is not improbable, had he been permitted to undertake -the Asiatic invasion, which he planned, that he would have carried it out -successfully. But all comment on such a question as this is, of course, -idle. As the case stands, Philip’s glory has been almost eclipsed by -that of his more brilliant son, and the history of the rise of Macedon -seems important to after ages, not so much because it is the history of -the overthrow of the Grecian independence, as because it is the history -of the preparation for Alexander. The narrative of this preparation we -must now view in some detail before passing on to the events of that -extraordinary period which has been stamped in history for all time as -the Age of Alexander the Great.[a] - - -EARLY HISTORY OF MACEDONIA - -Æschylus attributes to King Pelasgus of Argos the statement that the -dwellings of his people, named Pelasgians after him, extended to the -clear waters of the Strymon, enclosing in their sweep the highlands -of Dodona, the district about Pindus, and the wide region of Pæonia. -According to the old soldier of Marathon, the inhabitants of the lands -watered by the Haliacmon and the Axius were of the same race as those -ancient populations which occupied the regions extending from Olympus -to the Tænarum, and to the west of Pindus. This high mountain that -separates Thessaly from Epirus and the highlands of Dodona forms in its -northwestern slope, as far as the Schar-Dagh of ancient Scardus, the wall -that divides Macedonia and Illyria, then turns eastward to the source of -the Strymon and continues at the left of the river southeastward under -the name of Orbelus, till it reaches the coast, thus forming a natural -boundary between Macedonia and Pæonia, and keeping off the Thracian -populations in the east and north. Within this enclosed territory, -crossed by the Haliacmon, the Axius with its tributaries, and the -Strymon, are a second and third mountain chain which, concentric like -that of Pindus-Scardus-Orbelus, enclose the inner coast lands, Pella and -Thessalonica. Hemmed in this double circle of valleys, through which -break three streams, those of Haliacmon and Axius making their way side -by side to the sea, the inhabitants of this district are set apart by -nature as forming a sort of hermit race with the lowlands of the coast as -their common territorial centre. - -According to Herodotus the people, called Dorians at a later period, -were crowded out of Thessaly and established themselves near Pindus in -the Haliacmon valley, being known there under the name of Macedonians. -According to other accounts Argæus, from whom the Macedonians are -supposed to descend, came from Argos in Orestis and settled in the region -about the source of the Haliacmon, which explains the origin of the name, -Argead, given to the house of the king. There are other traditions, -widely received at that time, which assert that three brothers, -Heraclidæ of the princely Argive race that sprang from Temenus, travelled -north to Illyria, then penetrated into Macedonia and settled at Edessa, -close to the mighty falls which mark the entrance of the waters into the -fruitful coast lands. In Edessa, also called Ægæ, Perdiccas, youngest of -the three brothers, founded the kingdom that was to include in its steady -growth and unite in the name of Macedonia the neighbouring districts of -Emathia, Mygdonia, Bottia, Pieria, and Amphaxitis. - -They belonged to the same Pelasgic race that once peopled all the -Hellenic land; but were looked upon by the Hellenes, to whose degree of -cultivation they by no means attained, as nothing more than barbarians -or semi-barbarians. The religion of the Macedonians and their customs, -attest this common origin; and although on the frontiers there was -some intermingling with Thracians and Illyrians, the Macedonian speech -resembled strongly the older Hellenic dialects. - -[Illustration: MEDALLION OF PHILIP II] - -Up to a very late day the hetæri were retained in the Macedonian system -of warfare. Entering the land, as they indubitably did, with the founding -of the kingdom, the Macedonian Heraclidæ met the same fate as their -forerunners in the Peloponnesus, who, immigrants in a foreign land, were -under the necessity of establishing right and might for themselves by -the complete overthrow of the native power; with the only difference -that here, more than in other Doric lands, the mingling of old and new -traits formed a whole, which, retaining the vigour as well as the rough -moroseness of the forefathers, presented a picture of heroic times in -its least poetic aspect. Certain of the customs were like those of the -ancient Franks; the warrior who had never slain a foe must wear the -halter about his neck; the hunter who had never brought down a wild boar -on the run must sit at the banquet, not recline. At the burning of a dead -body the daughter of the deceased was the one designated to extinguish -the flames of the pyre after the corpse was consumed; it is also related -that the trophies won by Perdiccas in his first victory over the native -tribes were torn, in obedience to the will of the gods, by a lion as a -sign that friends had been gained, not enemies defeated; and it ever -after remained a Macedonian custom never to erect trophies on defeating -a foe, whether Hellenic or barbarian, a custom observed by both Philip -after Chæronea, and Alexander after the conquest of the Persians and -Hindus. - -The throne belonged by hereditary right to the reigning race, but the -succession was not always so clearly fixed as to exclude all doubt or -dispute. The greater the power wielded by royalty, the greater were the -wisdom and ability made necessary on the part of those in whom it was -vested, and it only too frequently happened that an indolent, incapable -minor had to yield the throne in favour of his able brother or cousin. - -There was still another danger. Numerous examples show that to the -younger sons of kings, also to aliens, portions of the land were yielded -over to become hereditary possessions, under suzerainty of the king, -it is true, but with such princely privileges and control that the -owners were at liberty to maintain troops of their own. Arrhidæus, the -younger brother of the first Alexander, had thus come into possession of -the principality of Elymiotis in the upper part of the country, which -descended from generation to generation of his race; and to Perdiccas’ -brother Philip was given an estate on the upper Axius. The kingdom could -not gain in power so long as these princely lines were not under complete -subjection, and so long as the Pæones, the Agrianes, and the Lyncestæ -supported them by establishing independent princes on their borders. -Alexander I appears to have been the first to force the Lyncestæ, -the Pæones, the Orestæ, and the Tymphæi to recognise the Macedonian -supremacy, but the princes of those races retained their rank and all -their princely possessions. - -[Sidenote: [490-480 B.C.]] - -Of the constitution and administration of Macedonia too little has -been handed down to enable us to judge accurately of the extent of the -king’s power; but when we are told that King Archelaus, during the last -decade of the Peloponnesian War, brought into use an entire new set -of regulations, that Philip II, in order to make uniform the currency -of his realm, instituted throughout an improved system of coinage and -also brought about a complete reform in military affairs, we cannot but -conclude that to the kingdom belonged a power both great and widespread. -Certainly habit and custom had a great deal to do with establishing right -and made up for the deficiencies of the constitution. It can be said of -the Macedonian rule that it as little resembled that of Asiatic despotism -as its people were far removed from the bondage of slavery. “Macedonians -are free men,” says an ancient writer. Not penestæ like the mass of -the populations of Thessaly, not helots like the Spartans, they were a -peasant race, holding independent and hereditary property and possessing -a common system of laws and local courts, but all bound to give military -service when called upon by the king of the land. Even at a later -period the military forces were still held to be a union of the general -population, with a place in the public assemblies, councils, and courts -of law. - -In this army a numerous aristocracy came prominently to the front under -the name of _hetæri_, or “companions of war,” as they are called in the -songs of Homer. The members of this class can scarcely be designated as -nobles, since the distinguishing marks of their condition were simply -large possessions, noble origin, and a close connection with the person -of the king, who always rewarded their faithful service with presents and -honours. Neither did the families of those princely lines that formerly -held independent possessions in the upper country and retained them -even after coming under the suzerainty of the more powerful Macedonian -kingdom hold aloof, but with their followers submitted themselves to the -conditions that prevailed in the kingdom. Large cities, in the Hellenic -sense of the word, were not to be found in these lands peopled by -aristocrats and peasants; the settlements of the coast were independent -Hellenic colonies, in striking contrast to the settlements of the -interior. - -About the time of the Persian War, under the reign of the first -Alexander, there began to appear unmistakable signs of an understanding -between Macedonia and Greece. Already Alexander’s father had given refuge -to Hippias, son of Pisistratus, after his flight from Athens, and had -bestowed upon him lands in the Macedonian domain. Alexander himself, -being obliged to follow the Persian army into Hellas, had exerted every -means in his power--notably at the battle of Platæa--to assist the -Greeks; and by reason of his descent from the Teminedians of Argos, -which procured him admission to the Olympian games, had been declared a -Hellene. - -Like him, Alexander’s immediate successors applied themselves with -varying energy and ability to bringing their country into the closest -possible touch with the trade, the political life, and the culture of -the Greeks. The proximity of the rich commercial colonies of Chalcidice, -that brought them into close and frequent relations with the main powers -of Hellas, who, continually at war with each other, sought or feared the -Macedonian influence; the almost constant, internal strife with which -Hellas herself was torn and which drove many distinguished men from home -to seek peace and honour at the wealthy court of Pella--were causes which -acted powerfully to promote Macedonia’s advance. - -[Sidenote: [479-390 B.C.]] - -Particularly rich in progress and events was the reign of Archelaus. -Though the rest of Hellas was torn and distracted by the Peloponnesian -War, under his able guidance Macedonia made constant strides forward. -He built fortresses, which the land had previously lacked, laid out -streets, and developed the organisation of the army, “accomplishing,” -says Thucydides, “more for the good of Macedonia than all the eight kings -that had preceded him.” He founded festival games patterned after those -of Hellas at Dion, not far from the grave of Orpheus, at which homage -was paid to Olympian Zeus and the Muses. His court, the rallying-point -of poets and artists and the common centre for all the Macedonian -aristocracy, was a model for the growth of the entire race, and Archelaus -himself passed in the eyes of his contemporaries for the richest and most -fortunate of men. - -Upon the reign of Archelaus followed a period of intensified internal -strife, brought about probably by a reaction against the innovations -introduced by the growing royal power and directed against the new -customs and culture instituted by the court. These modern tendencies -found, as was natural, their chief supporters among the princely families -and a portion of the hetæri, and were furthered by the politics of the -leading Hellenic states, whereas the mass of the people, it appears, were -quite indifferent to the advantages they offered. - -Even in King Archelaus’ time there had been an uprising led by the -Lyncestian prince Arrhibæus, in concert with the Elymean Sirrhas, either -to avenge the removal of the rightful heir to the throne, or to support -the claim of Amyntas, the son of Arrhidæus who was grandson to the -Amyntas whom Perdiccas caused to disappear. Archelaus had obtained peace -by giving his elder daughter in marriage to Sirrhas, and his younger -to Amyntas. He was killed, according to tradition, while on a hunting -expedition. His son Orestes, who was a minor, succeeded him under the -regency of Æropus, but the regent murdered Orestes, and himself became -king. Æropus was undoubtedly the son of that Arrhibæus who belonged to -the Bacchiadæ line of Lyncestians settled on the borders of Illyria that -had so frequently aided his forefathers in their uprisings against the -Macedonian kings. The conduct of Æropus and of his sons and grandsons -during the next sixty years shows them to have persistently opposed the -new monarchical tendencies of the royal house, and to have steadily -upheld the laxer system of former times. The constant succession of -revolts and the frequent changes of sovereigns that followed are proof of -the struggles that were constantly being waged between the members of the -royal line and the particularist party. - -Æropus was well able to uphold the dignity of his rank, but at his death -in 392 Amyntas took possession of the throne; he was murdered by Derdas -in 391 and Æropus’ son, Pausanias, became king. He was deposed in his -turn by that Amyntas, son of Arrhidæus (390-369 B.C.), in whose person -the oldest line of the royal house came again into its rights. - -[Sidenote: [390-360 B.C.]] - -The years of his reign were marked by internal disorders that made -Macedonia ready to fall an easy prey to any attack. Summoned possibly by -the Lyncestians, the Illyrians broke into the land and devastated it, -defeated the army of the king, and forced the king himself to take flight -beyond the borders. Argæus had been on the throne two years, whether he -was Pausanias’ brother or a Lyncestian remains undecided. But aided by -Thessaly Amyntas returned, and regained the kingdom, which he found in -wretched plight, all the cities and coast lands being in the power of the -Olynthians, while even Pella had shut its doors against the king. - -There followed as a result of the Peace of Antalcidas, the expedition -of the Spartans against Olynthus, which was joined by Amyntas, also by -Derdas, prince of Elimea, with four hundred horsemen. But success was -not so easy as had been anticipated, and Derdas was taken prisoner. -When Olynthus was finally subdued (380 B.C.), Thebes rose in revolt, -and Sparta was defeated at Naxos and at Leuctra. Olynthus renewed the -Chalcidian alliance; and Jason of Pheræ, uniting the Thessalian powers, -compelled Amyntas III to enter his alliance. On the threshold of a -brilliant success Jason was assassinated (370 B.C.). The irresolute -Amyntas had not succeeded in upholding his sovereignty, and a little -later he died. He was succeeded by the oldest of his three sons, -Alexander II, who was soon brought by his mother, the Elymean, to an -untimely end. She had for long been carrying on a secret love intrigue -with Ptolemæus, of uncertain lineage, who was the husband of her -daughter. She persuaded him, during an absence of Alexander in Thessaly, -to take up arms against Alexander on his return, and the Thebans rushed -to join the movement, it being necessary to impair Macedonia’s power -before she could gain further victories in Thessaly. Pelopidas arranged -a compromise whereby thirty of Alexander’s pages were placed as hostages -and Ptolemæus received a part-principality, the name of which he assumed. -This compromise seemed to be effected only to hasten the downfall of the -king, who was assassinated during the course of a festival dance. His -mother bestowed her hand upon the murderer, also the throne, to which he -acceded under the name of guardian over the two younger sons, Perdiccas -and Philippus (368-365 B.C.). - -Summoned from Chalcidice Pausanias, called “of the kingly line,” though -to which branch of the royal family he belonged cannot be ascertained, -commenced a vigorous campaign against the regent. His success was -immediate; Eurydice fled with her two sons to Iphicrates, who was -stationed with an Attic fleet in neighbouring waters, and he finally -put down the revolt. Still Ptolemæus’ position had not been rendered -more secure; the murder of Alexander was a breach of the agreement with -Thebes, and the friends of the murdered king applied to Pelopidas, who -advanced with a hastily gathered army. But Ptolemæus’ gold brought -disaffection in the ranks, and Pelopidas was obliged to content himself -with making a new agreement with the king. Ptolemæus placed his son -Philoxenus and fifty hetæri as hostages for his good faith; this was -perhaps the motive that brought Philippus to Thebes. - -When he reached manhood Perdiccas III avenged the death of his brother -by causing the assassination of the usurper. To escape the influence -of Thebes he devoted himself to the cause of Athens, fighting bravely -against the Olynthians by the side of Timotheus. But about this time -the Illyrians, doubtless at the instigation of the Lyncestians, came -pouring over the borders. Perdiccas made a successful stand against this -invasion, but in a desperate battle he and four hundred others lost -their lives. The whole country was now devastated by the Illyrians, and -laid open to the invasion of the Pæonians on the north. - -[Sidenote: [360-350 B.C.]] - -This was the situation when Philippus, representing Perdiccas’ son -Amyntas, who was not yet of age, took command of the army in 359. He -had been established in Macedonia since the death of Ptolemæus, having -received a part-principality in consequence of a compromise to which -Perdiccas had been advised by Plato, and the troops he already had about -him formed a nucleus of support. The Illyrians and the Pæonians had -already entered the land, and added to them were the former pretenders -to the throne, Argæus, and Pausanias from Athens, with the support -of the Thracian princes, and three illegitimate sons of his father, -who also advanced claims to the throne. Backed by the sympathy and -support of the entire country, Philip was equal to the first great -emergencies; by the exercise of foresight, skill, and resolution, he -rescued the land from the invaders, the throne from its false claimants, -and the royal line from fresh intrigues and disasters. And when the -Athenians, who had committed the folly of turning their back on him -as thanks for his recognition of their claims on Amphipolis, became -alarmed at his successes and formed with Grabos the Illyrian, Lyppæus, -the Pæonian, and Cetriporis, the Thracian, an offensive and defensive -alliance aiming to break Macedonia’s might before it became thoroughly -established, Philip--having already taken Amphipolis and won over its -inhabitants--proceeded rapidly to the frontiers and soon brought the -barbarians, who were by no means ready for the conflict, under subjection. - -About 356, the frontiers were made secure against barbarian invasion for -many years to come. Not long after this all the different intriguing -parties had vanished from the court. Of the Lyncestians, Ptolemæus -and Eurydice were dead; one of Æropus’ sons, Alexander, later became -established at court by reason of his marriage with the daughter of the -faithful Antipater; the remaining two sons, Heromenes and Arrhibæus, were -received into favour by others high in station, and Arrhibæus’ two sons, -Neoptolemus and Amyntas, were brought up at court. The two pretenders, -Argæus and Pausanias, disappear about this time from historical accounts. -The rightful heir to the throne, Perdiccas’ son Amyntas, in whose name -Philip had at first carried on the sovereignty, was secured to Philip’s -cause by marriage to his daughter, Cynane. - - -PHILIP THE ORGANISER - -[Sidenote: [350-324 B.C.]] - -Thus Macedonia, under the rule of a prince who had dexterously and -systematically developed and employed her resources, had risen to the -height where at last she might entertain the thought of issuing forth, -and, at the head of united Greece, entering the lists against the Persian -might. In the historical accounts that lie before us the forces that were -actually at work to produce Philip’s astonishing success seem curiously -to be lost sight of. Though the writers follow, through all its cleverly -planned movements, the hand that seized and drew into its owner’s -possession all the Greek states one after another, they leave us in the -dark as to every detail concerning the personality to which that hand -belonged, and to which it owed its strength and firmness. Gold which they -always show the hand to dispense at exactly the right moment, seems to -be about the only means of effecting his purposes that they attribute to -Philip. - -On looking closely into the inner life of the state two events stand -forth that, arising from earlier causes, were made to yield their full -significance by Philip, and in reality formed the basis of his power. - -“My father,” said Arrian’s Alexander to the mutinous Macedonians at -Opis in 324, “took you under his protection when he was king, and you, -destitute and clad in skins, wandered here from your mountains where you -had tended your flocks of sheep that you could with difficulty protect -against the Illyrians, the Thracians, and the Triballi; he gave you the -chlamys of the soldiers and led you down into the plain, where he trained -you to be the equal of the barbarian in the fight.” Every man capable -of bearing arms had always indeed come forward in time of war, but only -to return to his hearth or plough when the need of his services was at -an end. The dangers by which Philip was beset when he first assumed -the rule, the attacks against which he had to protect a land that was -menaced on all sides, gave rise to a measure that, already set on foot -in Archelaus’ reign, might have averted much of the subsequent internal -strife, had it been brought to full development. On the basis of the duty -owed by every man to his country in time of war, Philip brought into -existence a standing army of native forces that, constantly increasing in -size and strength, finally came to number forty thousand men. - - -MILITARY DISCIPLINE - -Not only did Philip form this army, but he brought it up to a high -standard of discipline and efficiency. It is related that, to the great -displeasure of the lazy, he did away with the baggage-wagon of the -foot-soldiers, and allowed but one groom to each horseman; also that -he often, even in the heat of summer, organised marches of twenty-five -miles or more, carrying provisions and accoutrements for several days. -So severe was Philip’s discipline that in the war of 338 two officers of -high rank who introduced a lute-player into the camp were immediately -cashiered. In the service itself the strictest obedience was demanded -from subordinates to superiors, and the system of advancement was based -solely on the recognition of experience and merit. - -[Illustration: PHILIP AND HIS SOLDIERS] - -The benefits of this military constitution soon became apparent. A -feeling was aroused in the various provinces and dependencies of the -realm that they formed part of an organic whole, and that Macedonia had -risen to the dignity of a nation. Above all, in their unity and the -confidence inspired by this military system, the Macedonian races had -the consciousness of possessing great efficiency in war, and an ethical -strength resulting from a firm social organisation at the head of which -was the king himself. The peasant population of this kingdom provided -the king with hardy, tractable material from which to form his soldiers, -and the nobility furnished in the hetæri higher military officials that -were distinguished for zeal and a sense of the dignity of their calling. -It was natural that an army of this kind should prove vastly superior to -the bodies of mercenaries, or even the citizen troops employed by the -Hellenic states; and that a people of this physical freshness and vigour -should possess a decided advantage over Greek populations whose powers -had deteriorated through too close a study of democracy, or from the evil -effects of city life. Favoured by fortune in this respect, Macedonia -had been enabled to retain her earlier qualities until such time as -they should be needed for some great task; and in the conflicts between -the king and the aristocracy she had, contrary to the example given by -Hellas centuries before, let the victory fall to the king. Indeed, -this sovereignty over a free and powerful peasant race, this military -monarchy, guided the people in the direction, and made them assume the -form and power, marked out by the democrats in Hellas, who had not, -however, been able to bring their plans to realisation. - - -MACEDONIAN CULTURE - -[Sidenote: [380-356 B.C.]] - -On the other hand education, the most marked result of Hellenic -civilisation, must now be made a part of the life of the Macedonian -people, thus completing the work already begun by former rulers. In this -endeavour the example offered by the court was of utmost importance, the -nobility naturally forming the class of highest culture in the land. The -demarcation thus made had no parallel elsewhere, inasmuch as the Spartans -were all uncultured, and yet had supremacy over the inferior classes -of their nation; the free Athenians held themselves all to be without -exception of the highest culture; while other states, having given up -the ruling class or the introduction of a democracy, had, by emphasising -the difference between rich and poor, reduced still lower the general -intellectual standard. - -In the time of Epaminondas, Philip had lived in Thebes, where a pupil -of Plato, Euphræus of Oreus, had exercised a potent influence over his -future life. Isocrates calls Philip himself a friend of literature and -education, and this esteem is proved by his appointment of Aristotle to -the post of tutor to his son. He endeavoured by instructive lectures, -instituted especially for the pages and young men about his court, to -strengthen their attachment to his person, and to prepare them for the -duties devolving upon nobles in their high position. The members of the -aristocracy, first as pages, then as hetæri, or bodyguard of the king, -and finally as commanders of the different divisions of the army, or -as ambassadors to the Hellenic states, had frequent enough occasion to -distinguish themselves and receive the reward due to faithful service; -but a lack of that polish admired by the king and possessed by him in a -high degree was everywhere noticeable. His bitterest adversary must admit -that Athens herself could scarcely show his equal in social qualities; -and whatever might be the tendency to perpetuate at his court the old -Macedonian habits of brawling and drunkenness, the court festivals, -receptions to foreign ambassadors, and celebration of national games, -were all characterised by that splendour and magnificence dear to the -Hellenic taste. The extent of the royal domains, the revenues from -land taxes and shipping duties, the mines of Pangea, which yielded one -thousand talents annually, and above all the order and economy introduced -by Philip into the management of public affairs, elevated his kingdom -to a position never before attained by any Hellenic state, save perhaps -Athens in the time of Pericles. - -Even the Attic envoys were impressed by the character of the nobility -gathered at the court of Pella, and by the opulence and military -splendour that prevailed. Most of the noble families, such as the -Bacchiadæ of Lyncestis, or the house of Polysperchon, or of Orontes, to -whom the district of Orestis seems to have belonged, were of princely -origin. To Perdiccas, the oldest son of Orontes, was given the command of -the Orestian phalanx, which when he became hipparch passed over to his -brother Alcetas. The most important of these princely houses was that -of Elimea, which was founded by Derdas in the time of the Peloponnesian -War. In the year 380, a second Derdas came into possession of the land -and joined Amyntas of Macedonia and the Spartans in their attack on -Olynthus; later he is mentioned as having been taken captive by the -Olynthians. Philip’s motive for taking Derdas’ sister, Phila, to wife -was either to bind Derdas’ interests faster to his own or to arrange -some dispute that had arisen between them. The brothers of Derdas, -Machatas and Harpalus, were given high offices at court. Yet the breach -between Philip and this family was never completely healed, being kept -open doubtless by the king, for the purpose of keeping the different -members at a distance and in uncertainty as to his favour. Scarcely -could Machatas be sure of a just decision in the court presided over by -the king, and Philip took advantage of a fault committed by a single -member of Derdas’ family to turn it to the public confusion of the -rest, repulsing with considerable sharpness all Harpalus’ pleas in his -kinsman’s favour. - -Among the noble families gathered about the court of Pella, two from -their prominence deserve especial mention; these were the houses of -Iollas and Philotas. Philotas’ son was that wise and faithful general, -Parmenion, to whose command Philip repeatedly entrusted the most -difficult expeditions. To him Philip owed his victory over the Dardanians -in 356, and later his possession of Eubœa. Parmenion’s brothers, Asander -and Agathon, as also his sons, Philotas, Nicanor, and Hector, carried on -the glory of his name, and his daughters contracted marriages with the -highest families of the land; one with Cœnus, the leader of the Phalanx, -and the other with Attalus, the uncle of a later wife of the king. That -a no less honourable and influential post was assigned to Iollas’ son, -Antipater, or as he was called by the Macedonians, Antipas, is attested -by the king’s words, “I have slept in peace--Antipas was on guard.” The -tried fidelity of this statesman, his clear, cool judgment in military -as well as political affairs, seemed to single him out as particularly -qualified for the high position of viceregent he was soon to fill. He -gave his daughter in marriage to the son of a noble Lyncestian family, -as being the surest means of gaining their support; his sons, Cassander, -Archias, and Iollas, did not attain prominence till later. - -Similar to the development of the court was that of the Macedonian nation -under Philip’s rule; but to this statement we will add that, owing as -much to the position formerly held by the state as to the power of -Philip’s personality, the monarchical element of necessity predominated -in the political life of the country. We must first consider all the -facts in their relation to each other before we can fully understand -Philip’s character and methods of procedure. At the centre of a mass of -contradictions and disparities of the most unusual nature, a Greek in his -relations to his own people, a Macedonian to the Greeks, he exceeded the -latter in Hellenic craft and perfidy, and the former in directness and -vigour, while he was superior to both in grasp of purpose, in the logical -pursuance of his plans, in reticence, and in rapidity of execution. -He was proficient in the art of embarrassing his adversaries, always -presenting himself before them under a different aspect, and advancing -upon them from a different direction from that expected. By nature -voluptuous and pleasure-loving, he was as reckless in the indulgence of -his appetites as he was inconstant, remaining withal perfect master of -himself even when seeming most under the sway of passion; indeed, it is -to be questioned whether it was in his virtues or his faults that his -true nature was most prominently displayed. In him are united, as are the -physical features of a portrait, all the different characteristics of -his time--the shrewdness, the polish, the frivolity, coupled with great -suppleness and versatility, and the capacity for high thoughts. - - -OLYMPIAS, MOTHER OF ALEXANDER - -[Sidenote: [359-336 B.C.]] - -In striking contrast to that of Philip was the character of Olympias, -his wife. She was the daughter of Neoptolemus, the Epirot king, and -having known her in his youth at Samothrace, Philip had married her with -the consent of her uncle and guardian, Arymbas. Beautiful, reserved, -passionate, Olympias was a devotee of the secret rites of Orpheus and -Bacchus, and practised in the magical arts of Thracian women. During -nocturnal orgies, it is related, she was frequently to be seen rushing -through mountain paths with the thyrsus and winding serpents in her hand; -and in her dreams were repeated the fantastic pictures with which her -brain was filled. The night before her marriage she dreamed, according to -tradition, that she was exposed to the fury of a terrific storm, during -which a burning thunderbolt fell into her lap which, flaming up ever -higher and higher, finally disappeared in its own wild blaze. - -[Illustration: BRONZE MODEL OF A GRECIAN BOAT] - -When tradition further relates that among other signs given on the night -of Alexander’s birth the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, which, with -Megabyzus and his eunuchs and the hieroduli of the Hellenes formed a -striking example of true oriental heathenism, was burned to the ground; -and that simultaneously with the information of the birth of his son, -Philip received the news of a triple victory--it simply expresses in -popular form the significance of a hero’s entrance into the world, and -the great thoughts associated with such an event. - -Theopompus says of Philip, “Everything considered, Europe has never -produced a man that could equal the son of Amyntas.” Yet the work that -he had set as the aim of his existence was not accomplished by the -scheming, resolute, tenacious king. He may have used this aspiration, -it having root in the very nature of Greece’s history and culture, to -bring into union the whole Greek world; but he was compelled rather -by the exigencies of the situation in which he was placed than by the -inherent power of the inspiration itself, and failed to follow it out -to full fruition. Beyond the sea was the land wherein lay greatness and -the future of Macedonia; but the glance that he strained towards this -land would often become dimmed, and the solid structure of his plans -be obscured under the airy figures of his desire. Philip’s ambition to -accomplish a great work was shared by all about him, both the aristocracy -and the common people; it was the undertone that was heard through every -phrase of Macedonian life, the alluring possibility that was continually -beckoning out of the future. The Macedonian armies fought against the -Thracians and gained victories over the Greeks; but the Orient was the -real object for which they fought and conquered.[b] - - -THE MACEDONIAN PHALANX - -[Sidenote: [358-357 B.C.]] - -The Spartans had created a system of tactics, that is, a military -ordnance, which was adopted by all the other Greeks. The Thebans added to -it the system of compact masses, the advantage of which was demonstrated -by the victory of Leuctra. Philip, formed in the school of Epaminondas, -perfected this system and made of it the Macedonian phalanx, which -Plutarch compared to a monstrous beast bristling with iron. It was a mass -of hoplites, sixteen files deep, pressed close against each other and -armed with a sort of pike seven yards long, called _sarissa_. The men in -the first five ranks held this weapon in both hands, their faces turned -to the enemy. The pikes of the first rank extended five yards beyond the -line of battle, those of the second, four, and so on to the fifth, whose -lance ends were also a yard beyond the breasts of the men next behind. -The remaining ranks pressed forward against the first and prevented their -retreating, holding their _sarissæ_ with the points upward, resting -upon the shoulders of the men in front, and this wilderness of spears -effectually warded off the darts of the enemy. Irresistible on level -ground, but without ability to make a quick change of front or a rapid -evolution, this cumbersome body of infantry was supported in the rear -and on the flanks by the light infantry of peltasts, who commenced the -conflict. - -Before and at the sides ran the archers and frondeurs, an irregular -troop composed of strangers, who, when need came, closed in behind the -wings. The cavalry of the hetæria, or companions of the king, armed -with a javelin and a sabre and formed of young men belonging to the -highest nobility, constituted, with the phalanx, the principal force of -the Macedonian armies. There was further a body of light cavalry and a -corps of engineers attached to the service of the siege artillery, which -consisted of balists and catapults, recently invented machines for the -purpose of firing darts at the enemy and boulders against the ramparts of -towns. The establishment of a permanent army was Philip’s most important -military innovation. Under Philip’s weak predecessors the multiplicity of -pretenders to the throne had rendered the nobles fractious and virtually -independent; but they had under them neither penestæ as in Thessaly, nor -a helot as in Sparta. - -Without openly abolishing the ancient privileges, Philip contrived to -make them inoffensive by transferring them to the army, where there was -always a military and political council. The nobles were little by little -induced to leave their estates, and were held permanently at court by -the attraction of pleasure and high appointments. It was held an honour -among them to have their sons received in the corps of the hetæria, and -these young members of the king’s bodyguard, fulfilling domestic offices -about his person, were in reality hostages delivered over into his hands. -“Never,” says Titus Livius, “were seen slaves so servile in the presence -of the master, so arrogant elsewhere.” - -As regards the common people, nothing whatever was changed in their -condition. They had never, as in Greece, formed a political body, and -there was no Macedonian city. Apparently everything took place by popular -consent, but the army was the Macedonian people. Philip frequently -harangued his troops; a proceeding that offered no danger, since the -soldiers of a bellicose chief never withhold from him their approbation. -Macedonia was a nation of soldiers; hence its government, maintaining a -permanent army and engaged in perpetual wars, could be none other than a -military monarchy. - - -THE WAXING OF PHILIP - -As soon as he had made his kingdom safe from the attacks of barbarians, -Philip wished to extend his dominion to the sea, access to which was -closed by the Grecian colonies. Some of these had ranged themselves under -the protection of Athens, others under that of Olynthus. Amphipolis was -independent; Olynthus and Athens had an equal interest in preserving -this independence and Philip himself had formally recognised it; -nevertheless it was decided not to hold to this obligation, but to seize -Amphipolis. It was necessary to prevent the Olynthians and Athenians -from uniting for its defence, and in this endeavour Philip made use -of wile, he possessing, even in a greater degree than Lysander, the -combined qualities of the fox and the lion. He persuaded the Athenians -that his only desire in taking Amphipolis was to deliver it to them in -exchange for Pydna, a Macedonian town which had placed itself under -their protection. At the same time he made sure of the neutrality of -the Olynthians, and even obtained help from them by delivering to them -Anthemus, and by promising them Potidæa, which belonged to the Athenians. -The latter, over-confident of his good faith, did not respond to the -appeal of Amphipolis for help. Philip took the town, and afterwards -treacherously entered and took Pydna, keeping them both. The Athenians -had been outdone, but they could not seek vengeance for this perfidy, -as they were engaged at the time in the war of the allies, and had need -of all their forces to carry it to an end. This encouraged Philip to -take another step; he seized Potidæa, which was occupied by an Athenian -garrison, politely sent back the garrison to Athens, and delivered -the town to the Olynthians, whom he wished to place in a position of -conflicting interests towards the Athenians (357). - -Master of Amphipolis, Philip crossed the Strymon with the intention of -possessing himself of the mining region of Mount Pangea. He founded -there upon the site of the ancient Thasian city Crenides, a new town -which he called Philippi, upon the money of which was imprinted the head -of Hercules, ancestor of the Macedonian kings. The city of Philippi -was at once a military post, the entrance to Thrace, and a centre of -exploitation for the mines of Mount Pangea. These mines, far better -operated than they had been by the Thasians and Athenians, furnished -Philip with an annual revenue of a thousand talents, [£200,000 or -$1,000,000] out of which he made the handsome gold coins which bear his -name. This source of riches which enabled him to support his army and to -buy traitors in the Greek cities, contributed to his greatness at least -as much as the phalanx. He declared that no city was impregnable into -which could be driven a mule laden with gold pieces.[c] - -[Illustration: GREEK MASKS] - - - - -[Illustration: FRAGMENT OF SCULPTURE, SHOWING OARSMEN IN GALLEY] - - - - -CHAPTER XLIX. THE TRIUMPHS OF PHILIP - - -DEMOSTHENES, THE ORATOR - -The trite proverb that “the pen is mightier than the sword,” like all -other proverbs, expresses hardly half the truth. Never was there a -more definite combat between the two sharp instruments than in the -history of Greece at this period, for that history becomes hardly more -than a pitched battle between a splendid organiser of armies and a -splendid captain of arguments, and the parallel is the closer inasmuch -as Demosthenes, though commonly thought of as an orator, was much more -distinctly a writer; for he was decidedly inferior as a speaker to his -great rival Æschines, and his orations are chiefly valuable for their -logic and their cautious reasoning. Unlike the perishable glories of the -art of oratory pure and simple, the art of Demosthenes has come down to -us in considerable completeness, and forms a text-book whose eloquence -is little appreciated by the students that reluctantly unravel its -close-knit fabric. - -As this duel between the king of Macedonia and the manufacturer’s son -of Athens was so nearly a combat of equals, it will be well to cast a -brief look at the biography of Demosthenes, since we have given so much -attention to the formation of Philip’s character.[a] - -The father of this great orator was an Athenian by birth, and exercised -the trade of an armourer, by which he acquired considerable wealth. -He married the daughter of one Gylon who had settled upon the borders -of the Euxine Sea and contracted an alliance with a rich heiress of -the country.[15] At the age of seven Demosthenes was deprived of his -father, who left him a fortune which entitled him to rank with the -wealthiest citizens. Though guardians had been appointed to manage his -estate and direct his education, they seem to have dilapidated the one, -and neglected the other. Left at an early age entirely to himself, he -launched out into expenses with all the extravagance and vanity of -youth, acted as choregus or president of theatrical entertainments, and -equipped a ship of war for the service of the republic. He spent the -first part of his life without any fixed purpose or aim, indulging in -such a state of indolence and effeminacy, as to have his name stigmatised -by a term of reproach [Batalos]. But the seeds of genius, being either -allowed to shoot up in wild luxuriance or to lie dormant through -neglect, were soon to spring up with amazing vigour. He determined -thenceforth to devote himself wholly to the study of eloquence. At that -time learning of all kinds, but particularly philosophy and the art of -rhetoric, was cultivated with great eagerness by the Athenian youth. -Plato had established his school in the Academy, and was attended by a -vast concourse. Demosthenes attended it with great assiduity, as well -as that of Isæus the rhetorician. After these preparatory studies, he -tried his strength against his guardians, whom he obliged to refund a -part of his property. Emboldened by this success, he mounted the tribunal -to harangue the people upon the state of affairs, but was heard with -very little attention, and no signs of approbation. Not discouraged by -this unfavourable reception, he made a second attempt and was equally -unsuccessful. - -As he retired, exceedingly depressed by his ill-success, and determined -in his mind to relinquish a pursuit for which nature seemed to have -rendered him unfit, by denying him the free use of the organs of speech, -and a sufficient quantity of breath to articulate distinctly a sentence -of moderate length, he was met by one of his friends, a comedian, who -exhorted him to conquer the natural and acquired defects under which -he laboured. He instantly set about correcting, with the greatest -perseverance and most extraordinary means, his rapid and inarticulate -pronunciation, ungraceful and awkward gestures in declaiming, and several -natural defects under which he laboured.[c] - -The anecdotes of Demosthenes’ struggle with his defects are remembered -by many people to whom the very name of King Philip is obscure. These -anecdotes rest upon the orator’s own authority. The reader need hardly be -reminded of the hours he spent talking with his mouth full of pebbles, -shouting against the roar of the stormy ocean, practising his gestures -before a mirror, expanding his lungs by running and by declaiming as he -climbed the steep hills of which Greece is made, shaving half his head -to compel himself to keep indoors at his studies, and shutting himself -up for months at a time in an underground room where he copied all -Thucydides eight times, and polished his own phrases to incandescence. - -Thus prepared, he undertook a losing battle in defence of that system -of municipal isolation and jealousy which he thought of as freedom, but -which had brought on Greece innumerable crimes and sorrows and kept the -little peninsula always under the shadow of complete disaster before a -larger foe. In a sense, Demosthenes may be compared with the advocates -of States’ Rights in the United States before the Civil War, except that -the Americans never dreamed of carrying their theories to such an extent. -To put the two instances on a par, it would be necessary to imagine the -Southerners of America demanding not merely that the states have no -federation whatsoever, but that even the smallest town of each state -should go its own petty way. - - -ÆSCHINES, THE RIVAL OF DEMOSTHENES - -Heroic as the figure of Demosthenes is in many respects one must not -forget to do justice to the opposition he met, not only from Macedonia -but from within his own city. Posterity is likely to generalise too -vigorously, and Æschines has suffered more than his due from the fact -that he happened to be the opponent of Demosthenes. It is customary to -think of Æschines as a traitor, a hypocrite, and the paid attorney of -Philip in Athens. Yet it might be well to remember that if his advice had -been taken and the Macedonians treated with welcome instead of warfare -as preached by Demosthenes, the result would have been exactly the same -except that much bloodshed would have been saved and a loathsome amount -of intrigue and villainy avoided. When Demosthenes is praised for his -determination and persistence in his one idea, Æschines must be praised -for the same to the same degree. When sympathy is felt for Demosthenes -in the enmity he met, it must be remembered that Æschines suffered -exile and suffered it with dignity. Æschines was never proved guilty -of accepting money from Macedonia, while Demosthenes gloated over the -poverty of Æschines and boasted of his own riches. On the other hand it -is known that Demosthenes accepted money from Persia. And, if one may be -permitted to distinguish between degrees of guilt in bribery, one might -feel that Persian money was far dirtier for a Grecian to handle than the -semi-Grecian gold of Macedonia, coming from the hand of a king whose -great ambition was to organise Greece into a federated monarchy and lead -her against Persia. - -Æschines claimed to have been of distinguished blood, and, while -Demosthenes declared him to be of the lowest possible origin, and -that dishonest, he certainly represented the aristocratic party. His -friendship for Philip’s cause cannot be imputed to a cowardly desire -for peace at any price, since he proved himself a brave soldier, while -Demosthenes threw away his shield and fled from the very battle-ground -of Chæronea to which his eloquence had summoned the Greeks. Æschines was -a writer of great skill and the three of his orations still extant are -rated almost as high as those of Demosthenes. Æschines seems to have -had a far better voice and presence than the effeminate student whom -posterity thinks of as a majestic thunderer. The good and ill in the -character of the latter have been nowhere more briskly summarised than by -Prévost-Paradol[d]: - - -THE UNPOPULARITY OF DEMOSTHENES - -“Demosthenes was never entirely popular. He had nothing grand in him -but his eloquence and will. Dignity of character was wanting. Is it -to be said that the highest virtues were necessary in Athens for the -popularity of a political man? By no means. Virtue was a title, but -the contrary of virtue had also its influence when it was joined to -elegance. For Demosthenes, who owed a ridiculous surname [Batalos] to -hidden debauches, and who devoted the rest of his youth to an ungrateful -work, had neither the graces of vice nor the dignity of virtue. He was -neither Aristides nor Alcibiades. Nor had he the easy levity of Cleon and -many other demagogues. He was a man of anxiety and toil. He had not the -good-natured and happy insolence of a popular orator, who plays with the -people and himself, and enlivens the tribune: neither did he possess that -which was the contrary, that is to say, natural dignity, the majestic -calm which made Pericles the organ of divine reason, a kind of medium -between Athens and its destiny, between the people and the spirit of the -republic. Demosthenes was violent and laborious. His discourses smelt of -oil, but smoothness was absent from them. It was premeditated vehemence, -the result of art as much as of inspiration. In short, the people had -seen this orator raise himself slowly from mediocrity, and buy his power -with long night studies; he inoculated himself patiently with genius. -They had hissed at Demosthenes and had seen him come back stronger; -they had hissed again and he had returned all-powerful. The mob is wrong -in rarely pardoning such marvels. The mob, with eternal injustice, more -willingly gives its approbation to the idleness of genius than to the -fertile preparation of work; it adds its partiality in favour of destiny, -and the glory which gives itself is more brilliant in its eyes than -that which must be conquered. The conduct of Demosthenes, as haughty as -his eloquence, would often have irritated a less suspicious democracy. -This energetic spirit, nourished by contests, which struggle and effort -had alone rendered fruitful, never distrusted its natural impetuosity. -Demosthenes applied to political difficulties the same violence he had so -happily used against his natural difficulties; he treated his adversaries -like the obstacles which had prevented his becoming eloquent. One day -an accomplice of Philip, Antiphon, arraigned before the assembly of the -people, is sent away acquitted. Demosthenes snatched away the benefit -of the popular sentence, arraigned him before the Areopagus, and never -rested until he was condemned to death. When has a democracy patiently -allowed itself to be thus defended against itself and its judgments -broken? - -“Demosthenes was of the aristocracy; the aristocracy of money, it is -true, but it is sufficient to read Aristophanes to feel that this -aristocracy was the heaviest to bear, when one had the misfortune to -belong to it. Demosthenes was rich, the son of riches, and he boasted -about it with perilous intemperance. In the _Discourse on the Crown_ -he opposed his fortune to the poverty of Æschines, with a disgust and -hardness contrary to the Athenian spirit. - -“Add to so many causes of unpopularity, the natural inconsistency of the -people, the sacrifices Demosthenes claimed from them, the dangers and the -reverses of his politics, and one will be surprised at the lasting power -of this great man. The explanation thereof is entirely in the strength -and clearness of his wonderful genius. Every day he showed his prodigious -eloquence, which consisted in raising his audience above its ordinary -intelligence, communicated for a moment to the crowd the generosity of -a great soul and the divination of a superior mind. He made the people -capable of feeling what was noble in politics, and understanding what -was necessary. He showed them in this policy the natural result of the -Athenian destiny. He identified his work with the work of that superior -power against which all complaint is useless and all anger ridiculous, -the work of Necessity.” - -But perhaps the most satisfactory claim Demosthenes has on the memory -of all time is to be found in that inevitable beauty which surrounds -a losing battle fought to the end. Professor Jebb[e] has said, “As a -statesman, Demosthenes needs no epitaph but his own words in the speech -_On the Crown_: ‘I say that, if the event had been manifest to the whole -world beforehand, not even then ought Athens to have forsaken this -course, if Athens had any regard for her glory, or for her past, or for -the ages to come.’” - - -PHILIP’S BETTER SIDE - -But finally, while we are endeavouring to be judicial, it is appropriate -to think of the better side of King Philip. He, too, had obstacles to -overcome, and he suffers from the pathetic consequences of success; -for we forgive the weaknesses and vices and the underhand measures of -the one who fails, but we are prone to impute the success of the man -who succeeds, purely to the evil of his ways. Once more we may quote -Prévost-Paradol[d]: - -“Philip had closely observed Greece, with its incurable and daily -augmenting weaknesses, and he had foreseen, as a magnificent future, -the reunion of these powerless and divided people, under his sovereign -authority. He had understood that the Grecian empire, defended by -mercenaries and void of citizens, belonged to those who could put in the -ranks the greatest number of trained soldiers, and that patriotism had -no longer any part to play in this supreme struggle. The instinct and -passion of craftiness, patience, the art of bribery, made him eminently -suitable for those corrupting and lying manœuvres, which divide the -enemy and prepare victory. And to these precious gifts were added an -unrestrained ambition, sufficiently strong so as not to draw back in -the face of any danger, sufficiently enlightened only to seek opportune -contests, and to become great only through success. It is because Philip -always saw ahead of his actions, and hoped for great things, that they -were always appropriate and useful, and that he did them with such -terrible activity. He gave himself up entirely to intrigues, to battles, -to the formation of his army, to the subjection of Greece, and to vast -hopes. - -“It is with a sort of terror that Demosthenes saw and described him as -being consumed by desires always greater, and carried away by a hidden -strength from enterprise to enterprise. ‘I saw Philip with one eye put -out, one shoulder broken, a crippled hand, a wounded thigh, abandon to -fortune without ceremony or hesitation all that it wished to take of -his body, provided the rest remained powerful and honoured.’ Who does -not see that his unchecked activity followed a more elevated aim than -the submission of Greece and that this great man, in a hurry to have -finished, was afraid of seeing life suddenly fail his ambition? What -could Greece do to such a genius, sustained by such a character?” - -[Illustration: RUINS OF THE GATE OF THE PROPYLEA OF ATHENS] - -Professor Bury[f] is even more direct in Philip’s praise and in blame -for Demosthenes: “To none of the world’s great rulers has history done -less justice than to Philip. The overwhelming greatness of a son greater -than himself has overshadowed him and drawn men’s eyes to achievements -which could never have been wrought but for Philip’s life of toil.” He -also notes that we have no information of Philip’s stupendous conquest -of Thrace, and that what we know of him at all has come through Athenian -mouths and chiefly from “the malignant eloquence” of Demosthenes, on -which account the Greek history of Philip’s time has often been regarded -“as little more than a biography of Demosthenes,” whose policy Professor -Bury finds retrograde and retarding, unrelieved by any new ideas. The -time needed an Athenian statesman of adaptability and judgment. In the -long look, Æschines was more nearly that man than Demosthenes.[a] - - -THE SACRED WAR - -[Sidenote: [359-351 B.C.]] - -Alexander, the tyrant of Pheræ, was assassinated in 359 by his -brothers-in-law, at the instigation of his wife, Thebe, she having -taken care to deprive him of his sword while he slept and to remove the -dogs which guarded the entrance to his chamber. She then introduced her -brothers, and on their hesitating to deal the blow she threatened to -awake her husband. The murderers assumed Alexander’s tyranny, and one of -them, Lycophron, was on the throne when Philip was summoned to oppose -him by the powerful family of the Aleuadæ of Larissa, who, like the -Macedonian kings, pretended to descend from Hercules. Philip was then -besieging Methone, the only city of the Thermaic Gulf which still formed -part of the Athenian federation. After having received a wound which -cost him one eye, he took the city, razed it to the ground, and seized -the occasion which then offered to enter Thessaly. Lycophron having made -an alliance with the Phocians, Phayllus, brother of Onomarchus, came -to his aid with seven thousand men. Philip defeated Phayllus, but was -himself defeated by Onomarchus, who forced him back into Macedonia while -he, Onomarchus, returned to Bœotia to gain possession of Coronea. But -Philip reappeared shortly with a new army: his forces united to those -of Thessaly amounted to twenty thousand men and three thousand horses. -Against the Phocians, who had stolen the treasure of the temple of -Delphi, he appeared as an avenger of Apollo, and all his soldiers wore -crowns made of laurel leaves from Tempe. - -The encounter took place near the Gulf of Pagasæ, where was stationed an -Athenian fleet. Philip obtained a complete victory, due principally to -the Thessalian cavalry. The Phocians lost six thousand men; of those made -prisoners three thousand were cast into the sea as being sacrilegious, -but many of them were able to reach the Athenian vessels by swimming. -Onomarchus had been killed in battle, and his body crucified. Lycophron -obtained by bribes permission to retire to the Peloponnesus with his -troops, delivering the city of Pheræ over to Philip, who seized the port -of Pagasæ and the fleet constructed by Alexander. Philip caused to be -paid over to him by his Thessalian allies, as war indemnity, a large part -of the revenues of the country. He wished to penetrate farther, and under -pretext of entering Phocia marched towards Thermopylæ in order to take up -his position on a spot that was the key to all Greece. But an Athenian -corps commanded by Diophantus occupied the pass, and Philip was obliged -to turn back (352). - - -THE FIRST PHILIPPIC - -[Sidenote: [351 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: DEMOSTHENES] - -It was at this epoch that Demosthenes pronounced, before the people -of Athens, his first Philippic. So absorbed had been the Greeks by -their private rivalries that they had paid no heed to the rapid and -increasing progress made by the Macedonian monarchy. One man alone saw -the danger; he had no other arms than his patriotism and his eloquence, -but with these he fought valiantly, and though he could not preserve -to his country liberty, he at least preserved its honour. The unequal -conflict which was about to take place between Demosthenes and Philip was -not alone a duel between the ablest of politicians and the greatest of -orators; it was a duel to the death between two principles, monarchism -and republicanism. These two principles had once before, in the reign -of Xerxes, been arrayed against each other; but at that time the Greeks -were able to forget their private differences in the common danger, and -to superiority of numbers they had opposed, not alone heroism, which does -not always suffice to conquer, but military tactics. Now conditions were -different; Philip had borrowed of the Greeks their tactics, which he -brought to perfection, and he managed to turn to his own advantage the -condition of the land, now more than ever divided. It was never again -to have that unity of military command so necessary in the face of the -enemy. The hegemony of Sparta which Athens nobly accepted in the Median -War was forever destroyed, and Sparta, which struggled vainly under its -double burden, Megalopolis and Messene, took no notice of the progress of -Philip. Thebes, which had broken Sparta’s power, was not strong enough -to take its place, and foolishly inviting the approach of the enemy, -repented too late and died in expiation of its fault. Athens remained, -but how fallen from its former condition of active energy. In vain -Demosthenes tried to awaken it; it asked but to sleep the long sleep of -worn-out races. “When, Athenians,” cried the great demagogue, “will you -rouse and do your duty? What new event, what pressing need, do you await? -What contingency more urgent for free men than the danger of dishonour? -Will you always assemble in the public squares to ask each other, ‘Well, -what is new?’ What can be newer than a man from Macedonia making himself -victor of Athens and master over all Greece? Is Philip dead? No, he is -only ailing. But what matter to you if he be sick or dead; if heaven were -to deliver you from him to-day, to-morrow you would cause another Philip -to arise, for his victorious advance is far less a result of his own -power than of your inertia.” - -The war of the allies had exhausted Athens’ principal source of revenue, -and, as frequently happens in the case of spendthrifts who are obliged -to economise, the city preferred to do without necessities rather than -deny itself the superfluous; the sovereign people refused absolutely -to curtail its civil list. Pericles in instituting the public funds -could not foresee that the day was to come when the Athenians would -prefer amusement to the preservation of the nation’s safety. “Why be -surprised at Philip’s success,” asks Demosthenes, “when all the sums -formerly allotted to defray the cost of war are now squandered in useless -festivity, a decree, furthermore, menacing with pain of death any one -who undertakes to restore them to their former purpose?” He reverts -frequently to this incurable propensity of Athenian dilettantism, citing -the extreme punctuality with which public feast days were observed as -against the tardiness of the administration in all that concerned marine -matters, or war. “Tell me why your pompous feasts of Panathenæa or of -Dionysia, which cost more than the armament of a fleet, are always -celebrated on the day set, while your fleets, as at Methone, Pagasæ, -and Potidæa, arrive too late? In the observance of your feasts all has -been regulated by law; each of you knows in advance the choregus, the -gymnasiarch of his tribe; he knows just what he is to receive and the -exact moment when he is to receive it; nothing is uncertain, unexpected, -neglected. In time of war, with all the preparations war demands, -there is no order, no foresight, nothing but confusion on all sides. -At the first alarm trierarchs are named, exchanges are made, subsidies -are demanded. Then, to the ships are summoned first the metœci, then -the freedmen, then the citizens, then--but pending all this work of -preparation, that which our fleet should save has perished. All this, -citizens, is doubtless very disagreeable to hear, but if in leaving out -of a discourse all that offends we exclude the matter itself, what need -to speak save for the mere pleasure of your ears?” And this was virtually -true; the people listened to Demosthenes because he spoke well, then went -to hear the orators of the opposite side, and in the enjoyment of this -fine oratorical display were as royally amused as though they had visited -the theatre or the Odeum. - - -PHILIP AND ATHENS - -[Sidenote: [351-349 B.C.]] - -Philip endeavoured by apparent inaction to make the Athenians forget -the attack on Thermopylæ by which he justified Demosthenes’ fears. -But his time was not wasted; he employed it in making partisans, even -drawing around himself certain of the pillagers of the Delphic temple. -He received their money in trust, thus attaching them firmly to his -interests. He had established or was maintaining tyrants in the island -of Eubœa, two of whom, feigning treachery to him, called the Athenians -to their aid, only to betray them as soon as they had responded to this -appeal; it was with difficulty that Phocion could save the Athenian -army from destruction. To obtain possession of Amphipolis, Philip had -caused the Olynthians to withdraw from the Athenian alliance by ceding -to them Potidæa; they, however, regretted this step as soon as they saw -their independence menaced. Philip accused them of having given refuge -to Macedonian conspirators, and took successively several cities of -the Olynthian federation, Apollonia, Stagira, Mecyberna, Torone. The -Olynthians asked help of Athens, and Demosthenes, in support of their -appeal, delivered three of his most celebrated discourses called the -_Olynthiacs_. The first showed the Athenians the danger they were in, -since if Philip were to become master of Olynthus he would not fail to -fall upon Athens with all his forces. He then indicated the remedy: a -better use of public moneys. Unable to attack the Theorica directly, he -evaded the difficulty by demanding a reform in the laws governing its use. - -“Be not surprised, Athenians, if I speak contrary to the opinion of the -majority. Establish nomothetes, not to create new laws, but to abolish -such as work you harm, and these I will designate clearly. They are the -laws regulating the theatre and military service. One set sacrifices to -the idlers of the town the funds set apart for war, the other assures -impunity to cowards. We stood formerly without a rival, rulers at home, -arbiters in foreign lands. Sparta was crushed, Thebes occupied abroad, -confronting us was no power that could dispute our empire. What have -we done? We have lost our provinces, and uselessly dissipated fifteen -hundred talents. War restored to us our allies; in time of peace wise -counsellors caused us to lose them, and our enemy has waxed great and -powerful. Can any one deny that it is through us that Philip has risen? -Undoubtedly you will reply, things on the outside are not favourable to -us, but within, what marvels have been accomplished! Name them! Walls -restored, roads repaired, fountains rebuilt, and a hundred other trifling -matters. Look upon the authors of these splendid works; formerly poor, -they are now rich, and in proportion to the rise in their fortunes has -been the decline of the state’s. The power to pardon is in their hands, -nothing is accomplished save through them; and you, Athenians, suffer -everything to be taken from you, allies as well as money. Great in -numbers, you are treated like menials, happy when your masters throw you -your daily pittance, the price of admission to the theatre. The shame of -such a condition! They give you your own, and you render thanks as though -for a mercy shown you! I know well that it may cost me dear to place your -disgrace so clearly before you; but dearer still will it cost those who -have brought that disgrace about.” - -[Sidenote: [349-347 B.C.]] - -Only in a democracy could a ruler be found who would accept reproaches -so severe. The Athenians knew that Demosthenes was right, but to give -up the theatre--that was very hard; to reform the administration of the -finances--that would take a long, long time! The most urgent need was -attended to first: two armies were sent to succour the Olynthians, who -were struggling bravely in their own defence. But these armies were -formed of mercenaries, commanded by Chares, an indifferent general who -was in the pay of every land. The presence of such troops had for effect -to create disturbance among the besieged without rendering them the -slightest aid. It was finally decided to send an army of citizens; but -it was already too late; two traitors had delivered over the city to the -enemy (347). - -There was stupefaction in Athens and in all Greece when it was learned -that Philip had destroyed Olynthus and sold its inhabitants. But pity was -of short duration: “Each people,” says Demosthenes, “seemed to look upon -as gained the time spent by Philip in destroying another.” Nevertheless -the possession of Chalcidice made him master over the Ægean Sea and -brought him nearer to the Thracian Chersonesus, ceded to the Athenians by -the king, Cersobleptes. His fleet, already greater than that of Athens, -threatened Imbros, Scyros, Lemnos, and Eubœa, made a descent on Attica, -carried off the Paralian galley, and tore down the trophies at Marathon. -The Athenians, tired of carrying on the struggle alone, tried to form -against Philip a general alliance, but his liberality had created for -him a numerous faction. Even at Athens little was spoken of but the good -intentions of the king. Among those who upheld him were many who had been -bought over, notably the orator Demades, possibly also Æschines; but -some of the dupes were honest, among them the rhetorician Isocrates, who -was dazzled by Philip’s success, and many resembling Phocion, who always -looked on the dark side, preaching peace because he believed victory -impossible, although he was the best general Athens possessed. “Have -military greatness,” he advised the Athenians, “or make those who have -it your friends.” When Demosthenes saw this man arise to reply to him, -“There,” he said, “is the axe of my discourse.” - -[Sidenote: [352-346 B.C.]] - -The Sacred War still continued. After the death of Onomarchus his brother -Phayllus succeeded him in command. With the aid of the Delphic treasure -he got together a large army of mercenaries. The Spartans furnished him -one thousand men, the Achæans two thousand, the Athenians five thousand -and four hundred horses; thus Sparta and Athens participated indirectly -in the pillage, Phayllus paying for the maintenance of the troops sent -to him. He invaded Bœotia and took the greater part of the cities of -Epicnemidian Locris; but falling ill he died and his place was taken by -Phalæcus, son of Onomarchus. The command of this army of bandits came to -be a sort of hereditary royalty. Phalæcus being still very young a tutor -was given him in the person of Mnaseas, who was shortly after killed. -Phalæcus continued the war; but ten thousand talents, the last of the -treasure of Delphi, had been expended and the Phocians were clamouring -for a reckoning. The Thebans were also at the end of their resources, in -spite of the three hundred talents they had obtained from the king of -Persia. They called on Philip for assistance, but he not being willing -to risk again finding the pass of Thermopylæ, guarded by Athenians, they -were obliged to drop out of the contest. The Athenians were in reality -glad to discontinue a war which had lasted ten years without bringing -them any profit, and desired a reconciliation with the Thebans. - -It even seemed possible to establish a general peace among the Grecian -states, for all were equally tired of the long and fruitless war. Philip -indirectly gave the Athenians to understand that he was disposed to treat -for peace. It being difficult to divine their motive these advances -were looked upon as suspicious. Still at Philocrates’ proposal it was -voted to send off ten ambassadors, among whom was Philocrates himself, -the rival orators, Demosthenes and Æschines, and the actor Aristodemus. -Æschines later reproached Demosthenes with having failed in eloquence -before Philip, a fact which had in it nothing extraordinary, since -only Alcibiades or Lysander could compete with Philip in guile, and -Demosthenes was used to speaking his thoughts openly to a free people. -He was at least, contrary to many of his colleagues, proof against fine -speeches, banquets, and gifts. - - -A TREATY OF PEACE - -The ambassadors returned without having obtained anything from Philip -save a vague promise to respect the Athenian possessions in Thrace. -Three Macedonian envoys followed them; the terms of a treaty of peace -were decided upon and another embassy, similar probably to the first, -was charged to obtain Philip’s signature. Contrary to the advice of -Demosthenes, this embassy travelled by short stages on land, and waited a -month for Philip at Pella, giving him time to wage war upon the king of -Thrace, Athens’ ally. He at last returned and persuaded the ambassadors -to accompany him as far as Pheræ, under the pretext of desiring their -mediation between two Thessalian cities. At Pheræ he signed the treaty -but refused to inscribe upon it the name of the Phocians. The ambassadors -having left he marched rapidly upon Thermopylæ and took possession of the -pass which this time he found unguarded. This had been the aim of all his -hesitation and delay. The Athenians were outwitted, and their ambassadors -either dupes or accomplices; later Demosthenes even accused Æschines of -having sold himself to Philip. - -Phalæcus’ treason is still more apparent. Before peace was concluded he -had refused the assistance first of the Athenians, then of the Spartans, -who offered to occupy the fortresses. The Phocians were left to their -fate. Philip presented himself and the fortresses were delivered up -to him on the sole condition that Phalæcus be permitted to retire -to Peloponnesus with ten thousand mercenaries. In such fashion this -chieftain of a robber band, finding nothing more to steal at Delphi, -abandoned without a struggle his country to the enemy. The Phocians were -at the mercy of Philip who delivered them over to the hatred of the -Thebans.[b] - -The king occupied the country without striking a blow and then summoned -the Amphictyonic council to Delphi, that he might hold a trial of the -Phocians and their allies and re-order the affairs of the national -sanctuary. - - -PUNISHMENT OF THE PHOCIANS - -[Sidenote: [346 B.C.]] - -The sentence was sufficiently severe. The court, attended only by -representatives of the peoples which, like the Thebans, Locrians, and -Thessalians, had taken part in the Sacred War, followed the dictates -of revenge and passion. The Phocians, as being accursed, were expelled -from the Amphictyonic league and the two votes which they had hitherto -possessed were transferred to Philip and his successors; all the towns, -twenty-two in number, were (with the exception of Abæ) to be destroyed -and the inhabitants to settle in villages of not more than fifty -inhabitants. The fugitives were to be accursed and outlawed wherever -they were encountered; those who remained were to pay Apollo a yearly -tribute of fifty talents [£10,000 or $50,000] and to be despoiled of -their arms and horses until the stolen treasure should be made up. Philip -was in future to preside at the Pythian games. The desire for vengeance -went so far that the Œtæans even made a suggestion that the whole male -population, exclusive of the boys and the old men, should be thrown -down from the rock as temple robbers: an inhuman proposal which Philip -rejected with anger. In contrast with such unbridled fury the Macedonian -king, who had little mercy for his own enemies, appeared as a mild ruler. - -The execution of the sentence was undertaken with relentless severity; -ancient towns like Hyampolis, Panopeus, Daulis, Lilæa disappear -henceforth from history; their former inhabitants either wandered -homeless in foreign countries or lived out their days in mournful -servitude. Many joined the bands of mercenaries which Timoleon the -Corinthian conducted to Syracuse in the following year; others passed -over with Phalæcus into Crete, where some time afterwards the leader -met his death at the siege of Cydonia. All the Phocians who had taken -part in the robbing of the temple met with a fearful end, but the lot of -those who remained behind was not more enviable. Some years later, when -Demosthenes went to Delphi, he beheld a picture of misery: “houses torn -down, walls in ruins, the country emptied of men of vigorous age, and -a few mourning women and children and old people; such wretchedness as -admits of no description in words.” - - -THE ATTITUDE OF THE ATHENIANS - -The tidings of these events fell on the betrayed Athenians like a -thunderbolt out of a clear sky. Relying on the royal grace and mercy, -they had delivered the Phocians to their enemies with their hands tied, -and how had that trust been rewarded! In Athens consequently, no one -joined in the songs of rejoicing which pealed through Delphi when the -Amphictyonic council and the Greek envoys who hailed Philip as the -protector of the venerable sanctuary were entertained by him at a banquet -and sacrifices, and libations and prayers were offered in favour of -Apollo; on the contrary there was great excitement among the citizens -and a mingled feeling of sorrow, indignation, and fear. Men fancied that -they already saw the Macedonian king in Attica. On the suggestion of -Callisthenes they decided to bring the women and children into the city -from the country, to hide their possessions and make preparations for -defence. In defiance of the Amphictyonic ban the fugitive Phocians were -assured of welcome and protection. - -Still when Philip, by an embassy of his own, unfolded his peaceful -intentions, but at the same time remained in the neighbourhood with his -army in readiness, the position began to be considered more calmly. -Nevertheless in the first assembly the people clamoured so that the -orators could not make themselves heard, and Æschines called out to -Philip’s messengers: “The criers are many, the fighters few.” But when in -view of the pressure of circumstances, even Demosthenes raised his voice -“for the peace,” and warned the general assembly against inconsiderate -action, since it would after all be “foolish and sheer nonsense” to -engage in a general war over the “shadow at Delphi,” they submitted to -the inevitable and recognised the _fait accompli_. A new embassy, with -Æschines at its head, carried to the Macedonian ruler the consent of -Athens to the decision of the Amphictyons and to her own entrance into -the temple union. Satisfied with this result, the king now arranged -for the Pythian games with unusual magnificence, and then returned to -Macedonia, leaving a garrison behind him in Phocis. - - -THE MACEDONIAN PARTY - -During the years which followed while Philip made his hereditary kingdom -more compact and extended its borders by successful contest with the -Illyrians and Triballians, with the Epirots and Molossians, and with the -eastern Thracians, and while the land of Hellas lay ruined and broken, -the Athenians made use of the time to revive their trade, strengthen and -equip their fleet, and erect new and magnificent buildings for public -purposes. But the civil breach became more and more clearly apparent, -and prevented the lasting healing and cure of the sick commonwealth -from the severe wounds of the past years. Since the fraudulent embassy -the Macedonian faction which adhered to Æschines and Philocrates and -the patriots who honoured Demosthenes, Lycurgus, and Hyperides as their -leaders had occupied a hostile position towards one another. - -If Æschines had at first placed himself on Philip’s side from a natural -inclination because he was dazzled by the royal personality, and he was -able to deceive himself concerning his intentions, he was now on personal -grounds the warmest supporter of the king, since the latter had called -him his friend and enriched him with presents. He who had once made so -poor and modest an appearance, now carried his head proudly, walked about -in long flowing garments, and showed by his liberal expenditures the -alteration in the means at his disposal. The man of practical wisdom had -long since recognised the Macedonian’s deceitful game, but he continued -to “tread the bridge for him.” - -Philocrates flaunted his dishonour still more shamelessly. He openly -acknowledged that Philip had royally rewarded him, and his prodigality, -his dissolute life, and the careless fashion in which he abandoned -himself to sensual pleasures and vices were evidence of the great -gifts of his wealthy patron. But among all the partisans of Macedon the -greatest zeal was shown by Demades, the son of a poor mariner whose rough -wit and popular style of eloquence still revealed the ex-sailor. Round -these men, to whom must be added the clever but unprincipled Pytheas, -swarmed the mass of people who desired peace at any price that they might -enjoy life in ease and comfort and such base spirits as set gold and -pleasures above honour and their native country. - - -THE PATRIOTIC PARTY - -[Sidenote: [346-343 B.C.]] - -This party had its roots and its support in the selfish and -pleasure-loving nature of the multitude, and in proportion as it gained -in power and adherents the greater was the merit of the men whom no -favours and no profit could shake in their fidelity to their country, who -looked with suspicious eyes on all Philip’s undertakings and intrigues -and recognised the preservation of the liberty they had received from -their fathers as the worthy aim of all struggle and effort. Amongst these -men, besides Demosthenes, who in these years developed a marvellous -activity, sought to thwart Philip’s plans in every direction, and in -especial endeavoured to prevent the intriguing interference of Macedonia -in the Peloponnesus by pacification and reconciliation, the noble orator -Lycurgus was distinguished in the first rank of the patriots by his -unassuming simplicity and austerity. Like Socrates and Phocion an enemy -to all sensual pleasures and effeminacy, he effected more through his -worth and noble disposition than through his somewhat awkward eloquence. -Hyperides was a frank and energetic defender of the interests of his -country, but also much addicted to the joys of this world, the pleasures -of the table, and fair women. His love affair with the charming courtesan -Phryne was notorious. Talented, sprightly, and cultivated, he enchained -his listeners by the fresh and natural charm of his oratory. Moreover the -“curly-headed” Hegesippus and Timarchus belonged to the patriotic party, -but they damaged it in the eyes of the people by their ill repute. - -The position of parties was first revealed in the action against -Timarchus who in union with Demosthenes had brought before the court of -auditors (logistæ) an accusation against Æschines on the subject of the -fraudulent embassy (344). To defeat this accusation Æschines endeavoured -to represent that Timarchus was absolutely disqualified from taking -such proceedings by his shameless life and notorious character, and he -demonstrated this so effectually that his adversary was punished with -the loss of civil rights while his own integrity was shown in a most -favourable light. If Æschines had taken up arms in moral indignation at -his opponent’s vicious conduct, we could only approve his action; but far -from appearing as a defender of virtue he treats vice and the prevailing -immorality with the greatest leniency and only lifts the veil as much as -may serve his party aims. A more successful accusation was that which -Hyperides brought in the next year against Philocrates. Conscious of his -guilt, the accused went into exile even before judgment was pronounced. -Demosthenes might feel encouraged by this result to launch a second -documentary accusation against Æschines respecting the treachery and -bribery in connection with the fraudulent embassy; but thanks to the -skilful defence of the accused and the support of the peace-party, this -famous contest also ended with the acquittal of the orator (343). - - -PHILIP’S INTRIGUES AND THE OUTBREAK OF WAR - -[Sidenote: [344-341 B.C.]] - -Philip employed the deceitful peace to form alliances for himself by -means of bribery and intrigues in all the Hellenic states; and to acquire -partisans and supporters and nourish the civil divisions. He took -especial pains to make his own profit out of the internal dissensions -in the Peloponnesian states and the irreconcilable hatred of Arcadians, -Messenians, and Argeians against Sparta; to win a reputation for himself -as the protector of the weal and thus gradually to bring the power of -chief arbitrator into his own hands. The fact that these intrigues were -not completely successful and that the Athenians, forewarned and filled -with distrust, rendered the task of the Macedonian negotiators much more -difficult, may be considered as an effect of the _Second Philippic_ of -Demosthenes. Philip’s ill will was consequently especially directed -against the Athenians, in whom he recognised the sole opponents of his -thirst for dominion, and he sought to damage them in every way without -directly violating the peace. - -He expelled the pirates from the Attic island of Halonesus and retained -the isle as his own property, and when the Athenians complained, he -offered it to them as his personal gift; with his newly created naval -power he injured Athenian trade and also brought the dominion of the sea -more and more into his own hands, and instead of his restoring Eubœa to -the Athenians, as had once been hoped, he strengthened his own power by -maintaining a secret understanding with his partisans to secure them the -supremacy in Eretria and Oreus; in Thessaly he abolished the office of -tagus, or chief of the confederation, and set over the four districts -four tetrarchs on whom he could rely, a government which was calculated -“to break all efforts at union and make the divided forces of the country -completely subservient to his aims.” - -Above all a great stir was created among the Athenians when Philip again -turned his arms against the princes Cersobleptes and Teres, with whom -they were on friendly terms. In this it was evidently his intention to -secure himself a passage into Asia by the subjection of the Thracian -coast lands and at the same time to cut the main arteries of Athenian -maritime trade, namely the entrance to the Pontus. A royal document with -some conciliatory proposals and the offer to lay the disputed points -before an impartial tribunal, was designed to divert the attention of the -Athenians from their possessions on the Chersonesus, but its suggestions -and demands were opposed by Demosthenes or, as the newer criticism has -convincingly shown, by Hegesippus, in the _Speech On Halonesus_. And in -order to cover their Thracian possessions with the old and new cleruchs, -the Athenians sent the general Diopeithes with a squadron and mercenary -troops. By two successful campaigns Philip now overcame the Thracians in -several encounters after a brave resistance and dethroned their princes; -he took one town after another on the Middle Hebrus where his soldiers -wintered in earth-holes (in “mud-pits”), and secured his new dominions by -planting several colonies (Philippopolis, Berœa, Cabyle, etc.); meantime -Diopeithes cruised in the Pontic waters, compelled the cities to purchase -a safe voyage for their merchant vessels either by a tribute or, as -the commander of the fleet expressed it, of good will, and undertook a -military expedition in the Macedonian coasts along the Propontis. - -When Philip lodged complaints at Athens at this breach of the peace, -and threatened reprisals, the Macedonian party was of opinion that they -ought to endeavour to conciliate the king by the recall and punishment -of the general. Then Demosthenes demonstrated, in the sublime speech -_The Affairs of the Chersonesus_, that the peace had actually been broken -long ago by Philip himself, and that the Athenians, instead of punishing -their bold leader, as the corrupt servants of the king and the cowardly -advocates of peace demanded, ought to supply him with new troops and -munitions of war before Philip could bring all his plans to maturity and -fall upon Athens herself. - - -THE THIRD PHILIPPIC - -[Sidenote: [341 B.C.]] - -After this “act in words,” which had the desired effect, Demosthenes -in the _Third Philippic_, made clear to the Athenians the necessity -of concluding an alliance with the rest of the Hellenic towns for the -furnishing of mutual aid so that a check might be given to the insolent -and mischievous disposition of the Macedonian, who was perpetrating acts -of war and violence under cover of a pretended peace. - -[Illustration: GREEK MIRROR - -(In the British Museum)] - -“In former days, when any Hellenes abused their power for the oppression -of others,” so ran this remarkable, wise, and energetic speech, “all -Hellas rose to guard the right, and now we permit a ‘good-for-nothing -Macedonian,’ a ‘barbarian of the most abandoned character,’ to destroy -Greek cities and hold the Pythian games, or cause them to be held by his -servants. The Hellenes look on this and do nothing, ‘as a man regards -a shower of hail, praying it may not hit him’; his power is allowed -to continue growing, no step being taken against it, each reckoning -the moment at which another is shipwrecked to his own gain instead of -thinking how to save the existence of Hellas and being active in its -cause, though none can help knowing that the evil will attain even the -most remote. Once the man who allowed himself to be corrupted by the -ambitious and malevolent enemies of his country, fell a victim to the -general hate, and was visited with the severest punishment as a grievous -criminal; now all this is as it were done away and in its stead is -introduced that of which Greece lies sick unto death, jealousy of him to -whom aught has been given, laughter when he confesses to it, hatred of -whoever shall rebuke.” - -In the _Third Philippic_ Demosthenes rebukes the indolence and degeneracy -of the people with more cutting sarcasm; and although all faith had not -disappeared from his soul, yet it is not without reason that the piece -has been called “a study in shadows, in whose gloomy colours is revealed -a saddened spirit and far from joyful anticipations, whilst through the -speech on the Chersonesus, which was written under the influence of -bright hopes, there breathes a fresher air.” - -The tempestuous eloquence of the _Third Philippic_ made a powerful -impression. Now at the eleventh hour the assembly was roused to decisive -action; it placed the conduct of business for a time chiefly in the hands -of the patriotic party and made energetic preparations for defence. -Whilst Hyperides brought the islands of Chios and Rhodes over to the side -of Athens, Demosthenes went himself to the scene of the war, persuaded -Byzantium, abandoning her ancient jealousy, to reconcile herself with -Athens and conclude an offensive and defensive alliance (341), and -acquired Abydos and with it the undisturbed navigation of the Hellespont. -Meanwhile the Persian governors, who for a long time past had looked -with anxiety and uneasiness on the rise and extension of the Macedonian -kingdom, were requested to give assistance, and several states in the -Peloponnesus were induced to join in “the Hellenic alliance against -Philip.” This was a free confederation under the leadership of Athens, -with fixed contributions in money and men. Eubœa was also won over to the -alliance after the Macedonian governors in Eretria and Oreus had been, -the one killed, the other expelled by Phocion. In recognition of these -services a golden wreath was awarded to Demosthenes and set on his head -in the theatre at the Dionysia. - -To make the members of the alliance more ready for sacrifices Athens -herself set a magnanimous example of patriotic devotion. It was not only -that, on Demosthenes’ suggestion, a change had been effected in the -organisation of the trierarchy and thus the less wealthy were secured -from oppressive tradition and the rich constrained to make greater -efforts in proportion to their resources; the people also agreed that -the sums which it had hitherto been customary to apply to festival -expenses, entertainments, and dramatic representations should be utilised -for military operations. “The people,” says Niebuhr, “whose poverty -was dominant in the assembly and refused the gifts by which alone they -obtained the luxury of eating meat on certain festival days since all -the rest of the year they ate only olives, cabbages, and onions with dry -bread and salt fish,--they who made this sacrifice to provide for the -honour of their country; this people has my whole heart and my deepest -veneration.” - - -PHILIP RETURNS TO THE FRAY - -[Sidenote: [341-340 B.C.]] - -The warlike impulse in Athens did not long remain unknown to the -Macedonian king. He concealed his anger so long as the Thracian War was -still in progress; but when he had destroyed the once powerful Odrysian -kingdom and secured the Thracian districts by means of colonies and -garrisons, when he had led his army across the Hæmus to the Getæ and had -won over the colonies on the western shore of the Pontus by conciliation -or force, he proceeded to send the Athenians a defiant letter, full -of complaints and accusations, and added to them such insults by -marching into their possessions on the Chersonesus and seizing Athenian -merchantmen, that the assembly of the people declared the peace to have -been violated, threw down the peace column, and took measures to furnish -substantial aid to the Byzantines whom Philip was even then threatening -with a siege. - -There was no delusion in Athens as to the importance of the step. When -Hegesippus recommended the refusal of Philip’s last proposals, there -was a cry “Thou art bringing war upon us,” whereupon he answered: “Not -war alone, but early death and mourning garments and public burials -and funeral orations if ye will give yourselves in earnest to free the -Hellenes and win back the hegemony which your fathers maintained.” - -Thus ended the hollow Peace of Philocrates which had lasted seven -years, and although from the aspect of affairs and the previous course -of events there could be no hope of a successful struggle of divided -Hellas against the advancing power of the Macedonian kingdom, now in -the youthful vigour of its military strength; yet we cannot but feel -the deepest respect for the manly impulse, the resolution which defied -death, and preferred to fall gloriously and honourably under the feet -of hostile armies, rather than be any longer a prey to the deceitful -trickery of the king and his purchased satellites, or hover any longer -in the undignified and ruinous state between war and peace. It was not a -question of preserving “a piece of finery which had grown old-fashioned,” -but of saving liberty and the popular government handed down from -their forefathers, of passing on unimpaired to their successors the -institutions and political forms for which former generations had staked -their property and their blood, and of avoiding the break with the great -historical past as long as possible. - - -SIEGE OF PERINTHUS AND BYZANTIUM - -[Sidenote: [340-339 B.C.]] - -And that there was still strength and courage in the Greek people, Philip -to his great chagrin soon received sensible evidence before Perinthus, a -maritime city, built in terrace fashion on the high ridge of a tongue of -land on the Propontis, with rows of houses crowded thickly together and -which he failed to take after a long siege by land and sea. Supported -by the Byzantines and the Persian governor, the brave citizens repelled -storm and attack with spirit. And now encouraged by the example of the -Perinthians, and with the co-operation of the Athenians who sent first -Chares, then Phocion, with ships and men to the aid of their hard-pressed -ally, the Byzantines offered a manful resistance; so that here too Philip -had to raise the siege and it was only by a stratagem that he succeeded -in bringing off his fleet from the Black Sea through the Bosporus and the -Hellespont. - -The feeble Byzantines would hardly have held out so long against the -siege which Philip conducted in similar fashion with battering-rams, -machines for flinging projectiles and saps, but Chares, the Athenian, and -his squadron drove the Macedonian fleet to the Pontus in a victorious -combat, and from his advantageous position at Chrysopolis protected the -entrance to the sea, while the valiant Phocion did his utmost to aid -in the defensive measures of the Byzantine commander Leon, whom he had -previously known in Plato’s school. So here too Philip failed to attain -his object, in spite of the skill of his engineers and the bravery of his -troops, who once even won an entrance into the town on a rainy, moonless -night, but were beaten back in a hot fight by the citizens, who ran up -hastily, considerably aided by the appearance of an aurora borealis. - - -DECLINE OF PHILIP’S PRESTIGE; THE SCYTHIAN EXPEDITION - -The golden wreath and votes of gratitude with which the rescued -Perinthians and Byzantines and the Attic cleruchs on the Chersonesus -expressed their thanks to the Athenian state, were especially due to the -orator Demosthenes, who by his disinterested and patriotic activity had -been mainly instrumental in bringing about this revival of energy. On the -news of Philip’s failures at Perinthus and Byzantium, the national party -reared its head more proudly. Relying on Athens--whose ships again ruled -the Pontus as far as Thessaly, barred the coasts and impeded Macedonian -trade and maritime commerce--the patriotic party, in which the spirit -of independence, freedom, and national honour was not yet extinct, again -bestirred itself in all the Hellenic cities. Even at Thebes evidences -appeared which showed how great was the indignation and suspicion against -Philip. The partisans of Macedon and the supporters of the peace were -thrust into the background; the Hellenic alliance received new members -and adherents. Philip’s consideration was manifestly on the wane, the -more as during this time he was with his army in the distant regions of -the Danube. For in order to compensate his troops for their fruitless -toil by means of a raiding expedition and restore his military reputation -by a brilliant feat, Philip led his army from Byzantium against the -Scythians on the Lower Danube. Here he did indeed win the victory in a -great pitched battle, took many prisoners, and made spoil of a number -of valuable horses and live stock; but on the return march through the -country of the Triballi the greater part of this booty was lost; it was -only with great difficulty, and when he himself had been sorely wounded, -that he led back the army through the pass of Hæmus to his own country. - - -THE CRUSADE AGAINST AMPHISSA - -[Sidenote: [339-338 B.C.]] - -Nothing but a brilliant feat of arms could restore Philip his declining -prestige in Hellas, and to this his partisans paved the way. They -contrived to kindle fresh dissensions amongst the Hellenes and managed so -skilfully that Philip was afforded an excuse for the invasion of Greece -and could hide his personal objects under an honourable pretext. He was -able to appear a second time as the protection of the Pythian sanctuary -and to overthrow his adversaries. - -The Locrians of Amphissa had utilised considerable portions of that -accursed “Crissæan plain” as corn and meadow land, had set up brick -kilns and farmyards and in the walled haven had erected a toll house -where pilgrims journeying to the place of the holy oracle had to pay an -impost for shelter and guidance. The Delphians had left the Amphissians -in peace to do as they would, especially as the latter paid the usual -tithe for the ground they occupied, as well as a ground rent. After the -Phocian War, in which the Locrians exhibited so much zeal for the honour -of the temple, they would not be likely to become more neglectful in the -fulfilment of their tasks; and probably also, as a suitable reward for -their services, they acquired new tracts of land which they cultivated. -But the sanctuary itself probably now stood in a different position as -regards the Hellenic people, since a foreign king had assumed the office -of its protector and the Pythia was credited with “philippising.” - -Æschines, as assistant Athenian deputy (Pylagoras), was at Delphi for the -spring meeting of the Amphictyonic council. He had a grudge against the -Amphissians because they sided with the patriotic party and he now made -use of their position to bring an accusation against them. Pointing, from -the height on which the sitting was held, at the harbour and cultivated -ground, he made a solemn address to the assembly, and threw it into such -a state of excitement by reciting the ancient statutes and oaths, that -the envoys, seized with an extravagant religious zeal, marched next -morning into the Crissæan plain, accompanied by the citizens and slaves -of Delphi, destroyed the harbour, set fire to the houses, and demolished -the works. Furious at a proceeding so sudden and carried into effect -without any inquiry, the Amphissians fell on the “crusaders” with arms -in their hands, and wounded some while others saved themselves by a hasty -flight to Delphi. - -Here a meeting of the council and the citizens, under the presidency of -Cottyphus of Pharsalus, passed a resolution that at the next regular -meeting to be held at Pylæ the punishment of the Amphissians for their -crime against the god and the sacred plain should be determined on, and -for this purpose the deputies were to obtain special powers from their -states. - -When Æschines made his report to the Athenian people, Demosthenes cried -out to him: “Thou bringest war into Attica--an Amphictyonic war”; and -his warning words were of force enough to restrain the Athenians from -sending delegates to the appointed tribunal. The Thebans also held aloof, -although Timolaus, “the greatest slave of his pleasures” and others of -Philip’s partisans zealously bestirred themselves. However, the assembly -was held, a heavy money-fine was imposed on the Amphissians and when they -refused payment it was resolved to make war against them. But the small -army which Cottyphus himself led against them effected nothing; there was -so little zeal that several tribes did not send their contingents, and -the others went to work very sluggishly. Consequently at the next autumn -meeting the leaders of the Macedonian party were able to make use of the -to elect the Macedonian king as commander in the Sacred War. - -[Illustration: GREEK WAR CHARIOT] - -Philip had returned from the Scythian expedition only a short time -before, but he did not long delay. With an army which gradually increased -to thirty thousand foot and twenty thousand horsemen, he broke into -Phocis through the pass of Thermopylæ, won possession by a stratagem of -the defiles at Parnassus which had been occupied by the generals Chares -and Proxenus, and, after some brief contests with the mercenaries, took -Amphissa. The city was razed to the ground, the inhabitants expelled, -and the consecrated land restored to the Delphian sanctuary. When Philip -had further conquered Naupactus and handed it over to the Ætolians, he -went back across the mountains, occupied the Phocian frontier town of -Elatea in the fertile plain of the Cephisus valley which, commanding the -entrance to Locris and Bœotia, offered an excellent base for further -operations. When Elatea had been hastily fortified by a stockade and -provided with a strong garrison, it became a military camp which -threatened immediate danger to Bœotia and Attica. - -Demosthenes has painted in lively colours the impression made on the -council and citizens of Athens by the news of the occupation of Elatea: - -“It was evening when a messenger came to the prytanes with the -announcement that Elatea was taken. They immediately rose from table; -some drove the market people from their booths and lighted the trellis -work in order by this fiery signal to summon the people from the country -to the town; others sent to the generals and had the alarm sounded: and -the city was in the greatest excitement. At daybreak the next morning the -prytanes summoned the great council to the council house; the citizens -gathered in the popular assembly, and before the council had consulted -and come to a decision the whole community was assembled on the Pnyx. And -when the council appeared and the prytanes repeated the news received and -had introduced the messenger and the latter had communicated his report, -the herald asked: ‘Who will speak?’ but no one came forward; and as often -as the herald repeated the question none rose although all the strategi -were present and all the public orators.” - -Then Demosthenes arose and first opposed the idea that Philip was acting -in accordance with an understanding with Thebes: - -“Whoever indulges in an exaggerated anxiety as though Philip were sure of -the Thebans, mistakes the position, for I am convinced that if it were -so we should not hear that he is at Elatea but on our frontiers. But -it is quite true that in taking this step he had the design of winning -Thebes for himself. He has already brought many over to his side by money -and craft, but those who have withstood him from the beginning he will -not now be able to win. In what intention has he now occupied Elatea? -In order that by displaying his power in the neighbourhood and by the -threatening aspect of his weapons he may encourage his friends to a bold -stroke and intimidate his enemies, so that they will yield from fear or -be coerced by the rest. If then we now remember our former quarrels with -the Thebans and then distrust them, we shall first of all accomplish -Philip’s dearest wish and then drive those who have hitherto been his -adversaries over to his side, and there will be a general attack on -Attica in conjunction with him.” - -To avoid this Demosthenes made the following suggestions to his -fellow-citizens: first to banish this present terror, and next to fear -for the Thebans, since they were much nearer the object of dread and it -was to them that the danger was most threatening; then they should march -to Eleusis with their whole forces and with the cavalry, to show that -they were themselves under arms, and by this means the party of liberty -in Thebes would be encouraged to make a stand for the right, as those -sold to Philip had a supporter at Elatea; finally they might choose ten -envoys who in conjunction with the strategi should make the necessary -arrangements for the march, and then going to Thebes declare there that -the Athenians were ready with assistance if the Thebans wished and -demanded it. - -“If they accept the offer and join us we shall have attained our end -without compromising the dignity of our state; if we are not successful -the Thebans will have only themselves to blame if they meet with -misfortune, but we shall have done nothing shameful or base.” - - -ALLIANCE BETWEEN ATHENS AND THEBES - -The words of the patriot were a ray of light in the gloom of confusion -and uncertainty. His suggestions were adopted without a dissentient word -and himself placed at the head of an embassy which was to negotiate -the alliance with the Thebans and arrange with the generals as to the -measures needed for the war. Demosthenes and his companions set out -immediately whilst the army took up its post at Eleusis. When the envoys -reached Thebes they immediately encountered those of Philip and his -Thessalian allies who, aided by the Macedonian party, were zealously -endeavouring by the most seductive promises to persuade the Thebans to -conclude a military alliance with the king, or at least to remain neutral -and allow his troops a passage to Attica. The witty, eloquent Python of -Byzantium showed much skill in enumerating all the acts of benevolence -which the king had performed for their city, and in exhibiting the -advantages to Thebes which a united attack on Attica would bring in -its train, and reminding the people of all the injuries and acts of -hostility which Athens had ever inflicted upon them and for which they -might now take vengeance. Nor did he forget the participation in the -spoils of victory in case of their joining their arms with Macedon and -the sufferings and horrors of the war if they stood by Athens. The Theban -assembly wavered. But when Demosthenes implored the meeting to forget for -the moment all former dissensions and injuries, and only think of saving -their native Hellas and preserving liberty and honour; when he made it -clear to them that the common danger could only be averted by their -firm cohesion--then all doubts vanished before his fiery words. In the -enthusiasm with which his speech filled them, they forgot self interest, -fear, and favour; they determined to renounce the king and to make an -offensive and defensive alliance with Athens. It was the last flicker -of the fire which had shone so bravely in the days of the Persian War. -At this time Demosthenes’ opinion was decisive, not less in the newly -erected confederate council at Thebes than before the popular assembly at -Athens. - -The provisions of the treaty are not positively known. Thebes was -recognised as the head of Bœotia, each side secured in its possessions, -and the restoration of the Phocian commonwealths determined on. -Two-thirds of the cost of the war was to be borne by Athens, one-third -by Thebes On the other hand the assertion of Æschines that Thebes was to -have the sole command by land, and by sea was to share it with Athens, -lies under justifiable suspicion. - -The newly awakened military spirit and the union of the arms of the two -most powerful Hellenic states, by no means promised well for Philip’s -enterprises. He therefore again had recourse to negotiation. His friends -and ambassadors protested that he had no hostile intentions against -Greece, he had only come to fulfil the decrees of the Amphictyons. Even -in Thebes and Athens there were notable men whose voices counselled -peace, appealing to the evil signs and presages which were forthcoming in -great numbers. - -“The Pythia announced heavy misfortunes and old Sibylline utterances were -in circulation which pointed to unfortunate battles and bloody fields -of corpses, a prey to ravens and vultures: the vanquished weeps, ruin -strikes the victor.” - -It required all the energy and decision of Demosthenes to overcome these -impressions. He went himself to Thebes and confirmed the Bœotarchs and -the assembly of the people in their resolution; in Athens, where even -Phocion spoke against the war, he is said to have threatened, to “drag -into a cell by the hair of his head the first man who suggested peace -with Philip.” Demosthenes carried his point. His popularity ran so high -that the Athenians honoured him with the award of a golden crown twice in -one year. - -In the first days of spring the citizen army of Athens set out for -Thebes and encamped before the city; but the Thebans brought them in and -entertained them in their houses until the two allied armies marched -together into the Phocian country. The two first encounters with the -Macedonian troop at the Cephisus and in the “wintry” mountain country -were favourable to the Hellenes. In Thebes and Athens thanks were -rendered to the gods with sacrifices and solemn processions for the -successful “river and winter battles.” The Athenian army had especially -distinguished itself by its discipline, equipment, and military ardour. -Such men in Phocis as were capable of bearing arms joined the allies who -now occupied the defiles leading into Bœotia. In order to drive them from -this advantageous position and open a passage for himself, Philip again -had recourse to a stratagem. He sent a division of his army into Bœotia -by another mountain road and caused the villages and hamlets to be set -on fire. This determined the Bœotian leaders to leave their position and -protect their own country. Philip had been waiting for this; he quickly -recalled that division and then marched through the passes with his whole -army on Chæronea in the plain of the Cephisus, where the wide level -offered a favourable battle-field. - - -THE ARMIES IN THE PLAIN OF CHÆRONEA - -[Sidenote: [338 B.C.]] - -Here he was met by the army of the Hellenic allies. To the Thebans and -Athenians who formed the kernel, the Eubœans, Megarians, Corinthians, -Achæans, and Corcyræans had added their manhood, so that on the whole -the Greeks had perhaps the advantage in numbers over their opponent. -On the other hand they were far behind him in everything else. Their -hastily summoned troops, composed of various nationalities, were no -match either in training and discipline or in the use of weapons and -military experience for the well-equipped and seasoned hosts of the -Macedonians--who had lately been through the Thracian War, crossed the -Hæmus and fought with the Scythians and Triballi in the steppes of the -Danube--or for the Thessalian horsemen, who were renowned and feared -throughout antiquity. And this efficient, practised force was guided -by a single will of acknowledged mastery, and led into the battle by -experienced generals like Antipater and others; whilst on the side of the -Greeks there was no commander of name and consideration. The Athenian -Stratocles and the Theban Theagenes were brave and conscientious, but -in no way distinguished leaders; and the two other Athenian generals, -Lysicles and Chares, the profligate and little regarded captain of -mercenaries, could not in any way be compared with Philip. - -Under these circumstances it was to be expected that the battle of -Chæronea would end in a defeat of the Greeks. But they fought and fell -with honour. It was the last test of the strength of the Hellenic people; -only a few hired soldiers were to be found in the ranks, the great -majority consisting of citizen levies. The heavy infantry of the Thebans, -amongst whom the “Sacred Band” of the Three Hundred occupied the place -of honour, maintained the reputation for bravery and discipline which -they had borne since the days of Epaminondas; and the Athenians, in whose -ranks Demosthenes served with the hoplites as a common soldier, were no -unworthy members of the league. They formed the left wing whilst the -Thebans fought on the right; the rest of the Hellenes and the mercenaries -filled the centre. Philip, recognising the importance of the battle, made -his dispositions with great wariness. He himself took command of the wing -opposite to the Athenians; the other he entrusted to his son Alexander, a -youth of eighteen, who, surrounded by the most experienced warriors, was -consumed with eagerness to begin his heroic career of fame and victory in -this decisive battle. The oak-tree on the left bank of the Cephisus where -his tent stood was still pointed out in Plutarch’s time.[n] - -It is among the accusations urged by Æschines against Demosthenes, that -in levying mercenary troops he wrongfully took the public money to pay -men who never appeared; and further, that he placed at the disposal of -the Amphissians a large body of ten thousand mercenary troops, thus -withdrawing them from the main Athenian and Bœotian army; whereby Philip -was enabled to cut to pieces the mercenaries separately, while the entire -force, if kept together, could never have been defeated. Æschines affirms -that he himself strenuously opposed this separation of forces, the -consequences of which were disastrous and discouraging to the whole cause. - -[Illustration: GREEK CATAPULT] - -It was in August, 338 B.C., that the allied Grecian army met Philip near -Chæronea, the last Bœotian town on the frontiers of Phocis. He seems to -have been now strong enough to attempt to force his way into Bœotia, and -is said to have drawn down the allies from a strong position into the -plain by laying waste the neighbouring fields. His numbers are stated by -Diodorus at thirty thousand foot and two thousand horse; he doubtless -had with him Thessalians and other allies from northern Greece, but -not a single ally from Peloponnesus. Of the united Greeks opposed to -him, the total is not known. We can therefore make no comparison as to -numbers, though the superiority of the Macedonian army in organisation -is incontestable. The largest Grecian contingents were those of Athens, -under Lysicles and Chares, and of Thebes, commanded by Theagenes; -there were, besides, Phocians, Achæans, and Corinthians--probably also -Eubœans and Megarians. The Lacedæmonians, Messenians, Arcadians, Eleans, -and Argives, took no part in the war. All of them had doubtless been -solicited on both sides, by Demosthenes as well as by the partisans of -Philip. But their jealousy and the fear of Sparta led the last four -states rather to look towards Philip as a protector against her, though -on this occasion they took no positive part. - -The command of the army was shared between the Athenians and the Thebans, -and its movements were determined by the joint decision of their -statesmen and generals. As to statesmen, the presence of Demosthenes -at least insured to them sound and patriotic counsel powerfully set -forth; as to generals, not one of the three was fit for an emergency -so grave and terrible. It was the misfortune of Greece that, at this -crisis of her liberty, when everything was staked on the issue of the -campaign, neither an Epaminondas nor an Iphicrates was at hand. Phocion -was absent as commander of the Athenian fleet in the Hellespont or the -Ægean. Portents were said to have occurred, oracles and prophecies were -in circulation, calculated to discourage the Greeks; but Demosthenes, -animated by the sight of so numerous an army, hearty and combined in -defence of Grecian independence, treated all such stories with the same -indifference as Epaminondas had shown before the battle of Leuctra, and -accused the Delphian priestess of philippising. Nay, so confident was -he in the result (according to the statement of Æschines), that when -Philip, himself apprehensive, was prepared to offer terms of peace, and -the Bœotarchs inclined to accept them, Demosthenes alone stood out, -denouncing as a traitor anyone who should broach the proposition of -peace, and boasting that if the Thebans were afraid, his countrymen the -Athenians desired nothing better than a free passage through Bœotia to -attack Philip single-handed. - - -THE BATTLE OF CHÆRONEA - -In the field of battle near Chæronea, Philip himself commanded a chosen -body of troops on the wing opposed to the Athenians; while his youthful -son Alexander, aided by experienced officers, commanded against the -Thebans on the other wing. Respecting the course of the battle, we are -scarcely permitted to know anything.[16] It is said to have been so -obstinately contested that for some time the result was doubtful. The -Sacred Band of Thebes, who charged in one portion of the Theban phalanx, -exhausted all their strength and energy in an unavailing attempt to bear -down the stronger phalanx and multiplied pikes opposed to them. The -youthful Alexander here first displayed his great military energy and -ability. After a long and murderous struggle, the Theban Sacred Band were -all overpowered and perished in their ranks, while the Theban phalanx was -broken and pushed back. Philip on his side was still engaged in undecided -conflict with the Athenians, whose first onset is said to have been so -impetuous, as to put to flight some of the troops in his army; insomuch -that the Athenian general exclaimed in triumph, “Let us pursue them even -to Macedonia.” It is farther said that Philip on his side simulated a -retreat, for the purpose of inducing them to pursue and to break their -order. We read another statement--more likely to be true; that the -Athenian hoplites, though full of energy at the first shock, could not -endure fatigue and prolonged struggle like the trained veterans in the -opposite ranks. Having steadily repelled them for a considerable time, -Philip became emulous on witnessing the success of his son, and redoubled -his efforts: so as to break and disperse them. The whole Grecian army was -thus put to flight with severe loss. - -The Macedonian phalanx, as armed and organised by Philip, was sixteen -deep; less deep than that of the Thebans either at Delium or at Leuctra. -It had veteran soldiers of great strength and complete training in its -front ranks; yet probably soldiers hardly superior to the Sacred Band, -who formed the Theban front rank. But its great superiority was in the -length of the Macedonian pike or sarissa, in the number of these weapons -which projected in front of the foremost soldiers, and the long practice -of the men to manage this impenetrable array of pikes in an efficient -manner. The value of Philip’s improved phalanx was attested by his -victory at Chæronea. - -But the victory was not gained by the phalanx alone. The military -organisation of Philip comprised an aggregate of many sorts of troops -besides the phalanx--the bodyguards, horse as well as foot; the -hypaspistæ, or light hoplites; the light cavalry, bowmen, slingers, etc. - -One thousand Athenian citizens perished in this disastrous field; two -thousand more fell into the hands of Philip as prisoners. The Theban -loss is said also to have been terrible, as well as the Achæan. But we -do not know the numbers; nor have we any statement of the Macedonian -loss. Demosthenes, himself present in the ranks of the hoplites, shared -in the flight of his defeated countrymen. He is accused by his political -enemies of having behaved with extreme and disgraceful cowardice; but we -see plainly from the continued confidence and respect shown to him by -the general body of his countrymen, that they cannot have credited the -imputation. The two Athenian generals, Chares and Lysicles, both escaped -from the field. The latter was afterwards publicly accused at Athens by -the orator Lycurgus. Lysicles was condemned to death by the dicastery. -What there was to distinguish his conduct from that of his colleague -Chares--who certainly was not condemned, and is not even stated to have -been accused--we do not know. - -Unspeakable was the agony at Athens on the report of this disaster, with -a multitude of citizens as yet unknown left on the field or prisoners, -and a victorious enemy within three or four days’ march of the city. -The whole population, even old men, women, and children, were spread -about the streets in all the violence of grief and terror, interchanging -effusions of distress and sympathy, and questioning every fugitive as he -arrived about the safety of their relatives in the battle. The flower -of the citizens of military age had been engaged; and before the extent -of loss had been ascertained, it was feared that none except the elders -would be left to defend the city. At length the definite loss became -known: severe indeed and terrible--yet not a total shipwreck, like that -of the army of Nicias in Sicily. - -As on that trying occasion, so now: amidst all the distress and alarm, -it was not in the Athenian character to despair. The mass of citizens -hastened unbidden to form a public assembly, wherein the most energetic -resolutions were taken for defence. Decrees were passed enjoining every -one to carry his family and property out of the open country of Attica -into the various strongholds; directing the body of the senators, who -by general rule were exempt from military service, to march down in -arms to Piræus, and put that harbour in condition to stand a siege; -placing every man without exception at the disposal of the generals, as -a soldier for defence, and imposing the penalties of treason on every -one who fled; enfranchising all slaves fit for bearing arms, granting -the citizenship to metics under the same circumstances, and restoring -to the full privilege of citizens those who had been disfranchised by -judicial sentence. This last-mentioned decree was proposed by Hyperides; -but several others were moved by Demosthenes, who, notwithstanding the -late misfortune of the Athenian arms, was listened to with undiminished -respect and confidence. Not only he, but also most of the conspicuous -citizens and habitual speakers in the assembly, came forward with large -private contributions to meet the pressing wants of the moment. Every -man in the city lent a hand to make good the defective points in the -fortification. Materials were obtained by felling the trees near the -city, and even by taking stones from the adjacent sepulchres--as had -been done after the Persian War when the walls were built under the -contrivance of Themistocles. The temples were stripped of the arms -suspended within them, for the purpose of equipping unarmed citizens. -By such earnest and unanimous efforts, the defences of the city and of -Piræus were soon materially improved. At sea Athens had nothing to fear. -Her powerful naval force was untouched, and her superiority to Philip -on that element incontestable. Envoys were sent to Trœzen, Epidaurus, -Andros, Ceos, and other places, to solicit aid and collect money; in one -or other of which embassies Demosthenes served, after he had provided for -the immediate exigences of defence. - - -PHILIP TAKES THEBES - -Such were the precautions taken at Athens after this fatal day. But -Athens lay at a distance of three or four days’ march from the field -of Chæronea; while Thebes, being much nearer, bore the first attack -of Philip. Of the behaviour of that prince after his victory, we have -contradictory statements. According to one account, he indulged in the -most insulting and licentious exultation on the field of battle, jesting -especially on the oratory and motions of Demosthenes; a temper from which -he was brought round by the courageous reproof of Demades, then his -prisoner as one of the Athenian hoplites.[17] At first he even refused to -grant permission to inter the slain, when the herald came from Lebadea to -make the customary demand. According to another account, the demeanour -of Philip towards the defeated Athenians was gentle and forbearing. -However the fact may have stood as to his first manifestations, it is -certain that his positive measures were harsh towards Thebes and lenient -towards Athens. He sold the Theban captives into slavery; he is said -also to have exacted a price for the liberty granted to bury the Theban -slain--which liberty, according to Grecian custom, was never refused, -and certainly never sold, by the victor. Whether Thebes made any further -resistance, or stood a siege, we do not know. But presently the city fell -into Philip’s power, who put to death several of the leading citizens, -banished others, and confiscated the property of both. A council of -Three Hundred--composed of philippising Thebans, for the most part just -recalled from exile--was invested with the government of the city, and -with powers of life and death over every one. The state of Thebes became -much the same as it had been when the Spartan Phœbidas, in concert with -the Theban party headed by Leontiades, surprised the Cadmea. A Macedonian -garrison was now placed in the Cadmea, as a Spartan garrison had been -placed then. Supported by this garrison, the philippising Thebans were -uncontrolled masters of the city; with full power, and no reluctance, to -gratify their political antipathies. At the same time, Philip restored -the minor Bœotian towns--Orchomenos, and Platæa, probably also Thespiæ -and Coronea--to the condition of free communities instead of subjection -to Thebes. - -At Athens also, the philippising orators raised their voices loudly and -confidently, denouncing Demosthenes and his policy. New speakers, who -would hardly have come forward before, were now put up against him. The -accusations however altogether failed; the people continued to trust him, -omitting no measure of defence which he suggested. Æschines, who had -before disclaimed all connection with Philip, now altered his tone, and -made boast of the ties of friendship and hospitality subsisting between -that prince and himself. He tendered his services to go as envoy to the -Macedonian camp; whither he appears to have been sent, doubtless with -others, perhaps with Xenocrates and Phocion. Among them was Demades also, -having been just released from his captivity. Either by the persuasions -of Demades, or by a change in his own dispositions, Philip had now become -inclined to treat with Athens on favourable terms. The bodies of the -slain Athenians were burned by the victors, and their ashes collected -to be carried to Athens; though the formal application of the herald, -to the same effect, had been previously refused. Æschines (according -to the assertion of Demosthenes) took part as a sympathising guest in -the banquet and festivities whereby Philip celebrated his triumph over -Grecian liberty. At length Demades with the other envoys returned to -Athens, reporting the consent of Philip to conclude peace, to give back -the numerous prisoners in his hands, and also to transfer Oropus from the -Thebans to Athens. - - -PEACE OF DEMADES - -Demades proposed the conclusion of peace to the Athenian assembly, -by whom it was readily decreed. To escape invasion and siege by the -Macedonian army was doubtless an unspeakable relief; while the recovery -of the two thousand prisoners without ransom was an acquisition of great -importance, not merely to the city collectively but to the sympathies -of numerous relatives. Lastly, to regain Oropus--a possession which -they had once enjoyed, and for which they had long wrangled with the -Thebans--was a further cause of satisfaction. Such conditions were -doubtless acceptable at Athens. But there was a submission to be made on -the other side, which to the contemporaries of Pericles would have seemed -intolerable, even as the price of averted invasion or recovered captives. -The Athenians were required to acknowledge the exaltation of Philip to -the headship of the Grecian world, and to promote the like acknowledgment -by all other Greeks, in a congress to be speedily convened. They were to -renounce all pretensions to headship, not only for themselves, but for -every other Grecian state; to recognise not Sparta nor Thebes, but the -king of Macedon, as Panhellenic chief; to acquiesce in the transition -of Greece from the position of a free, self-determining, political -aggregate, into a provincial dependency of the kings of Pella and Ægæ. -It is not easy to conceive a more terrible shock to that traditional -sentiment of pride and patriotism, inherited from forefathers who, after -repelling and worsting the Persians, had first organised the maritime -Greeks into a confederacy running parallel with and supplementary to -the non-maritime Greeks allied with Sparta; thus keeping out foreign -dominion and casting the Grecian world into a system founded on native -sympathies and free government. Such traditional sentiment, though it -no longer governed the character of the Athenians nor impressed upon -them motives of action, had still a strong hold upon their imagination -and memory, where it had been constantly kept alive by the eloquence of -Demosthenes and others. The Peace of Demades, recognising Philip as chief -of Greece, was a renunciation of all this proud historical past, and the -acceptance of a new and degraded position, for Athens as well as for -Greece generally. - -If Philip had not purchased the recognition of Athens, he might have -failed in trying to extort it by force. For though, being master of the -field, he could lay waste Attica with impunity, and even establish a -permanent fortress in it like Decelea--yet the fleet of Athens was as -strong as ever, and her preponderance at sea irresistible. Under these -circumstances, Athens and Piræus might have been defended against him, -as Byzantium and Perinthus had been, two years before; the Athenian -fleet might have obstructed his operations in many ways; and the siege -of Athens might have called forth a burst of Hellenic sympathy, such as -to embarrass his further progress. We may see therefore that, with such -difficulties before him if he pushed the Athenians to despair, Philip -acted wisely in employing his victory and his prisoners to procure her -recognition of his headship. His political game was well played, now -as always; but to the praise of generosity bestowed by Polybius he has -little claim. - -Besides the recognition of Philip as chief of Greece, the Athenians, on -the motion of Demades, passed various honorary and complimentary votes -in his favour; of what precise nature we do not know. Immediate relief -from danger, with the restoration of two thousand captive citizens, was -sufficient to render the peace generally popular at the first moment; -moreover, the Athenians, as if conscious of failing resolution and -strength, were now entering upon that career of flattery to powerful -kings which we shall hereafter find them pushing to disgraceful -extravagance. It was probably during the prevalence of this sentiment, -which did not long continue, that the youthful Alexander of Macedon, -accompanied by Antipater, paid a visit to Athens. Meanwhile the respect -enjoyed by Demosthenes among his countrymen was noway lessened. Though -his political opponents thought the season favourable for bringing many -impeachments against him, none of them proved successful. - -[Illustration: GREEK MARBLE CHAIR] - - -PHILIP IN PELOPONNESUS - -Having thus subjugated and garrisoned Thebes, having reconstituted the -anti-Theban cities in Bœotia, having constrained Athens to submission and -dependent alliance, and having established a garrison in Ambracia, at -the same time mastering Acarnania, and banishing the leading Acarnanians -who were opposed to him, Philip next proceeded to carry his arms into -Peloponnesus. He found little positive resistance anywhere, except in -the territory of Sparta. The Corinthians, Argives, Messenians, Eleans, -and many Arcadians, all submitted to his dominion; some even courted -his alliance, from fear and antipathy against Sparta. Philip invaded -Laconia with an army too powerful for the Spartans to resist in the -field. He laid waste the country, and took some detached posts; but he -did not take, nor do we know that he even attacked, Sparta itself. The -Spartans could not resist; yet would they neither submit nor ask for -peace. It appears that Philip cut down their territory and narrowed -their boundaries on all the three sides; towards Argos, Messene, -and Megalopolis. We have no precise account of the details of his -proceedings; but it is clear that he did just what seemed to him good, -and that the governments of all the Peloponnesian cities came into the -hands of his partisans. Sparta was the only city which stood out against -him; maintaining her ancient freedom and dignity, under circumstances of -feebleness and humiliation, with more unshaken resolution than Athens. - - -POLITICAL SCHEMES; FAMILY BROILS - -[Sidenote: [338-336 B.C.]] - -Philip next proceeded to convene a congress of Grecian cities at Corinth. -He here announced himself as resolved on an expedition against the -Persian king, for the purpose both of liberating the Asiatic Greeks -and avenging the invasion of Greece by Xerxes. The general vote of the -congress nominated him leader of the united Greeks for this purpose, -and decreed a Grecian force to join him, to be formed of contingents -furnished by the various cities. The total of the force promised is -stated only by Justin, who gives it at two hundred thousand foot, and -fifteen thousand horse; an army which Greece certainly could not have -furnished, and which we can hardly believe to have been even promised. -The Spartans stood aloof from the congress, continuing to refuse all -recognition of the headship of Philip. The Athenians attended and -concurred in the vote; which was in fact the next step to carry out the -peace made by Demades. They were required to furnish a well-equipped -fleet to serve under Philip; and they were at the same time divested of -their dignity of chiefs of a maritime confederacy, the islands being -enrolled as maritime dependencies of Philip, instead of continuing to -send deputies to a synod meeting at Athens. For several years afterwards, -the naval force in the dockyards of Athens still continued large and -powerful; but her maritime ascendency henceforward disappears. - -This scheme--the invasion of Persia--had now ceased to be an object of -genuine aspiration throughout the Grecian world. The Great King, no -longer inspiring terror to Greece collectively, might now be regarded as -likely to lend protection against Macedonian oppression. To emancipate -the Asiatic Greeks from Persian dominion would be in itself an enterprise -grateful to Grecian feeling, though all such wishes must have been -gradually dying out since the Peace of Antalcidas. But emancipation, -accomplished by Philip, would be only a transfer of the Asiatic Greeks -from Persian dominion to his. The synod of Corinth served no purpose -except to harness the Greeks to his car, for a distant enterprise -lucrative to his soldiers and suited to his insatiable ambition. - -It was in 337 B.C. that this Persian expedition was concerted and -resolved. During that year preparations were made of sufficient magnitude -to exhaust the finances of Philip; who was at the same time engaged in -military operations, and fought a severe battle against the Illyrian king -Pleurias. In the spring of 336 B.C., a portion of the Macedonian army -under Parmenion and Attalus, was sent across to Asia to commence military -operations; Philip himself intending speedily to follow. - -Such however was not the fate reserved for him. Not long before, he had -taken the resolution of repudiating, on the allegation of infidelity, -his wife Olympias; who is said to have become repugnant to him, from the -furious and savage impulses of her character. He had successively married -several wives, the last of whom was Cleopatra, niece of the Macedonian -Attalus. It was at her instance that he is said to have repudiated -Olympias; who retired to her brother, Alexander of Epirus. This step -provoked violent dissensions among the partisans of the two queens, -and even between Philip and his son Alexander, who expressed a strong -resentment at the repudiation of his mother. Amidst the intoxication of -the marriage banquet, Attalus proposed a toast and prayer, that there -might speedily appear a legitimate son, from Philip and Cleopatra, to -succeed to the Macedonian throne. Upon which Alexander exclaimed in -wrath, “Do you then proclaim me as a bastard?”--at the same time hurling -a goblet at him. Incensed at this proceeding, Philip started up, drew his -sword, and made furiously at his son; but fell to the ground from passion -and intoxication. This accident alone preserved the life of Alexander, -who retorted, “Here is a man, preparing to cross from Europe into Asia, -who yet cannot step surely from one couch to another.” After this violent -quarrel the father and son separated. Alexander conducted his mother -into Epirus, and then went himself to the Illyrian king. Some months -afterwards, at the instance of the Corinthian Demaratus, Philip sent for -him back, and became reconciled to him; but another cause of displeasure -soon arose, because Alexander had opened a negotiation for marriage -with the daughter of the satrap of Caria. Rejecting such an alliance as -unworthy, Philip sharply reproved his son, and banished from Macedonia -several courtiers whom he suspected as intimate with Alexander; while the -friends of Attalus stood high in favour. - - -THE DEATH OF PHILIP - -[Sidenote: [336 B.C.]] - -Such were the animosities distracting the court and family of Philip. A -son had just been born to him from his new wife Cleopatra. His expedition -against Persia, resolved and prepared during the preceding year, had been -actually commenced. But Philip foresaw that during his absence danger -might arise from the furious Olympias, bitterly exasperated by the recent -events, and instigating her brother Alexander, king of Epirus, with -whom she was now residing. He now deemed it essential to conciliate him -still further, by a special tie of alliance; giving to him in marriage -Cleopatra, his daughter by Olympias. For this marriage, celebrated at -Ægæ in Macedonia in August 336 B.C., Philip provided festivals of the -utmost cost and splendour, commemorating at the same time the recent -birth of his son by Cleopatra. Banquets, munificent presents, gymnastic -and musical matches, tragic exhibitions--among which Neoptolemus the -actor performed in the tragedy of Cinyras, etc., with every species of -attraction known to the age--were accumulated, in order to reconcile -the dissentient parties in Macedonia, and to render the effect imposing -on the minds of the Greeks; who, from every city, sent deputies for -congratulation. Statues of the twelve great gods, admirably executed, -were carried in solemn procession into the theatre; immediately after -them, the statue of Philip himself as a thirteenth god. - -Amidst this festive multitude, however, there were not wanting -discontented partisans of Olympias and Alexander, to both of whom the -young queen with her new-born child threatened a formidable rivalry. -There was also a malcontent yet more dangerous--Pausanias, one of the -royal bodyguards, a noble youth born in the district called Orestis -in upper Macedonia, who, from causes of offence peculiar to himself, -nourished a deadly hatred against Philip. The provocation which he had -received is one which we can neither conveniently transcribe, nor indeed -accurately make out, amidst discrepancies of statement. It was Attalus, -the uncle of the new queen Cleopatra, who had given the provocation, by -inflicting upon Pausanias an outrage of the most brutal and revolting -character. Even for so monstrous an act, no regular justice could be -had in Macedonia against a powerful man. Pausanias complained to Philip -in person. According to one account, Philip put aside the complaint -with evasions, and even treated it with ridicule; according to another -account, he expressed his displeasure at the act, and tried to console -Pausanias by pecuniary presents. But he granted neither redress nor -satisfaction to the sentiment of an outraged man. Accordingly Pausanias -determined to take revenge for himself. Instead of revenging himself -on Attalus--who indeed was out of his reach, being at the head of the -Macedonian troops in Asia--his wrath fixed upon Philip himself, by whom -the demand for redress had been refused. That the vindictive Olympias -would positively spur on Pausanias to assassinate Philip, is highly -probable. Respecting Alexander, though he also was accused, there is no -sufficient evidence to warrant a similar assertion;[18] but that some -among his partisans--men eager to consult his feelings and to insure his -succession--lent their encouragements, appears tolerably well established. - -Unconscious of the plot, Philip was about to enter the theatre, already -crowded with spectators. As he approached the door, clothed in a white -robe, he felt so exalted with impressions of his own dignity, and so -confident in the admiring sympathy of the surrounding multitude, that he -advanced both unarmed and unprotected, directing his guards to hold back. -At this moment Pausanias, standing near with a Gallic sword concealed -under his garment, rushed upon him, thrust the weapon through his body, -and killed him. Having accomplished his purpose, the assassin immediately -ran off, and tried to reach the gates, where he had previously caused -horses to be stationed. Being strong and active, he might have succeeded -in effecting his escape--like most of the assassins of Jason of Pheræ -under circumstances very similar--had not his foot stumbled amidst some -vine-stocks. The guards and friends of Philip were at first paralysed -with astonishment and consternation. At length, however, some hastened -to assist the dying king, while others rushed in pursuit of Pausanias. -Leonnatus and Perdiccas overtook him and slew him immediately. - -In what way, or to what extent, the accomplices of Pausanias lent him -aid, we are not permitted to know. It is possible that they may have -posted themselves artfully so as to obstruct pursuit, and favour his -chance of escape; which would appear extremely small, after a deed of -such unmeasured audacity. Three only of the reputed accomplices are -known to us by name--three brothers from the Lyncestian district of -upper Macedonia, Alexander, Heromenes, and Arrhibæus, sons of Æropus; -but it seems that there were others besides. The Lyncestian Alexander -whose father-in-law, Antipater, was one of the most conspicuous and -confidential officers in the service of Philip, belonged to a good family -in Macedonia, perhaps even descendants from the ancient family of the -princes of Lyncestis. It was he who, immediately after Pausanias had -assassinated Philip, hastened to salute the prince Alexander as king, -helped him to put on his armour, and marched as one of his guards to take -possession of the regal palace.[g] - - -A SUMMING UP OF PHILIP’S CHARACTER - -His character was always to be without character in disposition and -action; his principles, to have no principles and everywhere to dissemble -his aims; his habits, to accustom himself to nothing, but solely to -follow the inspirations of the moment; his strength, to remain master -of himself in every condition and proceeding, and, in a thousand other -causes and consequences of weakness, to follow his chief plan unchanged, -and to lead everything around him, whilst to the short-sighted he -appeared to be led by all. - -He possessed wit, sagacity, and eloquence, and made use of them. He -was insinuating and condescending when it was a question of winning or -deluding; merciful when he hated; irritating when he loved; compassionate -when he himself had dealt the wounds; ready to comfort, when he had -decided to strike the heart more deeply; poor, so as to soften the rage -of the plundered rich, so as to reward his helpers; liberal with promises -when he saw the people were credulous; full of respect for the gods only -when he had a mind to; unconcerned as to the lawfulness of the means, -provided they led to the end. - -“Philip,” says Pausanias, “accomplished the greatest deeds of all the -Macedonian kings who reigned before and after him, and also broke more -oaths and violated more covenants.” - -The new politics which Philip established, arose entirely out of his -genius, and the master understood his work and knew how to use it. When -Philip as a statesman formed something new with cleverness and vigour, -the old must therefore have succumbed to it. The old methods were no -longer suitable; the means failed the end, the roads no longer led to the -goal; danger then took another form, and was threatened on another side. -That which could have saved the Greeks from imitating the new methods of -the opponent, and of seizing the spirit of them, and throwing themselves -quickly into another kind of transaction, they were no longer capable -of. By the side of politics he placed an improved war department, but -one spirit drifted into both. Philip possessed the talents especially -required by a general. In the greatest danger, full of presence of mind, -he never doubted his safety; his most terrible deliberation in the field -was quiet deliberation and stratagem. The Bœotians learned this when they -had cut him off and already thought him caught, and the Chalcidonians -whose cleverly contrived perfidy was wrecked by his cunning. He -anticipated all his enemies; they admitted that on this account he always -had advantage over them. - -Demosthenes says to the Athenians: “You wage war with Philip in the same -way as the barbarians carry on a boxing match; when some one is hit he -tries to protect the place, and if he is struck on another part his -hands go to it; but to prevent the blow or to foresee it, they cannot -and will not. It is thus with you; when you hear Philip is in Chæronea, -you decide to send an army there, when in Pydna, also there, so that he -is truly your commanding officer.” He maintained a standing army and -was therefore always ready to strike; this gave him a great superiority, -because as monarch he could at once use his fighting forces, without -losing time in consultation. - -When he attacked the Greeks, his army had already been trained through -fighting the surrounding barbarians; it had to learn how useful and -necessary it was, and realise to what purpose he made them persevere in -peace. He often made them march three hundred stadia encumbered with -their weapons, with helmet, shield, and splints, and in addition to -this, food and clothing and utensils. They had to observe the strictest -discipline. A distinguished Tarentine was dismissed from the service -because he had helped himself to a warm bath; Æropus and Damasippus were -dismissed because they brought singers into the camp. In the same manner -as Epaminondas, in whose school Philip had learned, beat the Lacedæmonian -mora by a new formation of the army and deprived them of the efficiency -of their firm, quiet movements--so Philip formed the Macedonian phalanx. - -Even Æmilius Paulus acknowledged that nothing ever terrified them. They -stood the test at Chæronea, where the sacred troops of the Thebans were -defeated, and the Athenians, also in the last fight for their freedom, -did not prevail against them.[j] - - -GROTE’S ESTIMATE OF PHILIP - -Thus perished the destroyer of freedom and independence in the Hellenic -world, at the age of forty-six or forty-seven, after a reign of -twenty-three years. Our information about him is signally defective. -Neither his means, nor his plans, nor the difficulties which he overcame, -nor his interior government, are known to us with exactness or upon -contemporary historical authority. But the great results of his reign, -and the main lines of his character, stand out incontestably. At his -accession, the Macedonian kingdom was a narrow territory round Pella, -excluded partially, by independent and powerful Grecian cities, even -from the neighbouring sea coast. At his death Macedonian ascendency was -established from the coasts of the Propontis to those of the Ionian Sea, -and the Ambracian, Messenian, and Saronic gulfs. Within these boundaries, -all the cities recognised the supremacy of Philip; except only Sparta, -and mountaineers like the Ætolians and others defended by a rugged home. - -Good fortune had waited on Philip’s steps; but it was good fortune -crowning the efforts of a rare talent. Indeed the restless ambition, -the indefatigable personal activity and endurance, and the adventurous -courage of Philip were such as, in a king, suffice almost of themselves -to guarantee success, even with abilities much inferior to his. That -among the causes of Philip’s conquests, one was corruption, employed -abundantly to foment discord and purchase partisans among neighbours -and enemies; that with winning and agreeable manners, he combined -recklessness in false promises, deceit and extortion even towards allies, -and unscrupulous perjury when it suited his purpose--this we find -affirmed, and there is no reason for disbelieving it. Such dissolving -forces smoothed the way for an efficient and admirable army, organised, -and usually commanded, by himself. Its organisation adopted and enlarged -the best processes of scientific warfare employed by Epaminondas and -Iphicrates. Begun as well as completed by Philip, and bequeathed as an -engine ready-made for the conquests of Alexander, it constitutes an -epoch in military history. But the more we extol the genius of Philip as -a conqueror, formed for successful encroachment and aggrandisement at -the expense of all his neighbours--the less can we find room for that -mildness and moderation which some authors discover in his character. If, -on some occasions of his life, such attributes may fairly be recognised, -we have to set against them the destruction of the thirty-two Greek -cities in Chalcidice, and the wholesale transportation of reluctant and -miserable families from one inhabitancy to another. - -Besides his skill as a general and politician, Philip was no mean -proficient in the Grecian accomplishments of rhetoric and letters. -Isocrates addresses him as a friend of letters and philosophy; a -reputation which his choice of Aristotle as instructor of his son -Alexander tends to bear out. Yet in Philip, as in the two Dionysii of -Syracuse and other despots, these tastes were not found inconsistent -either with the crimes of ambition or the licenses of inordinate -appetite. The contemporary historian Theopompus, a warm admirer of -Philip’s genius, stigmatises not only the perfidy of his public dealings, -but also the drunkenness, gambling, and excesses of all kinds in which -he indulged--encouraging the like in those around him. His Macedonian -and Grecian bodyguard, eight hundred in number, was a troop in which -no decent man could live; distinguished indeed for military bravery -and aptitude, but sated with plunder, and stained with such shameless -treachery, sanguinary rapacity, and unbridled lust, as befitted only -centaurs and Læstrygons. The number of Philip’s mistresses and wives -was almost on an oriental scale; and the innumerable dissensions thus -introduced into his court through his offspring by different mothers, -were fraught with mischievous consequences. - -In appreciating the genius of Philip, we have to appreciate also -the parties to whom he stood opposed. His good fortune was nowhere -more conspicuous than in the fact, that he fell upon those days of -disunion and backwardness in Greece (indicated in the last sentence of -Xenophon’s _Hellenics_) when there was neither leading city prepared to -keep watch, nor leading general to take command, nor citizen-soldiers -willing and ready to endure the hardships of steady service. Philip -combated no opponents like Epaminondas, or Agesilaus, or Iphicrates. -How different might have been his career, had Epaminondas survived the -victory of Mantinea, gained only two years before Philip’s accession! -To oppose Philip, there needed a man like himself, competent not only -to advise and project, but to command in person, to stimulate the zeal -of citizen-soldiers, and to set the example of braving danger and -fatigue. Unfortunately for Greece, no such leader stood forward. In -counsel and speech Demosthenes sufficed for the emergency. Twice before -the battle of Chæronea--at Byzantium and at Thebes--did he signally -frustrate Philip’s combinations. But he was not formed to take the lead -in action, nor was there any one near him to supply the defect. In the -field, Philip encountered only that “public inefficiency,” at Athens and -elsewhere in Greece, of which even Æschines complains; and to this decay -of Grecian energy, not less than to his own distinguished attributes, -the unparalleled success of his reign was owing. We shall find during -the reign of his son Alexander the like genius and vigour exhibited on -a still larger scale, and achieving still more wonderful results; while -the once stirring politics of Greece, after one feeble effort, sink yet -lower, into the nullity of a subject province.[g] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[15] [This made Demosthenes part Scythian.] - -[16] [Niebuhr,[h] commenting on our scant information, says, “It is as if -the muse of Greece had grown dumb on the death-day of Greek liberty, and -had thrown her veil over the death blow.” Later he notes the remarkable -coincidence that the battle of Chæronea was fought in the same year in -which Rome conquered the Volscians and Latins “and laid the foundation of -her sovereignty over all Italy.”] - -[17] [According to Diodorus,[i] he said, “Since Fortune, O King, has -represented thee like Agamemnon, art thou not ashamed to act the part of -Thersites?” With this sharp reproof Philip was so startled, they say, that -he wholly changed his former course, and with admiration released the man -that had reprehended him and advanced him to places of honour.] - -[18] [But Niebuhr[h] is less negative. He exclaims, “Alexander was no -doubt deeply implicated in this murder. A jury would have condemned -him as an accomplice. But he was prudent enough to make away with the -participators in the conspiracy, who might have betrayed him.”] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER L. ALEXANDER THE GREAT - - -The world has seen many great conquerors, but certainly not more than -two or three who have stamped their names so indelibly upon the pages of -history and appealed to the imagination of so wide an audience as the -hero of Macedonia. The young soldier’s meteoric career, which Appian, -the great Roman historian, justly likened to a flash of lightning, had -all the elements of dramatic picturesqueness. Alexander was the wonder -of the age in which he lived, and no less a wonder to each succeeding -generation. A myth soon grew up about his name, but the myth was scarcely -more wonderful than the bald facts of his history. The main outlines of -that history are familiar to every school-boy, yet it is a curious fact -that no contemporary record of the achievements of Alexander has come -down to us. We have the account of the Persian Wars written by Herodotus -who was born before their close. We have the record of the Peloponnesian -War written by Thucydides who participated in it, and by Xenophon who -must have known personally many of its greatest actors. Xenophon has also -left us a biography of Agesilaus, who so nearly anticipated Alexander -in an Asiatic conquest, and, in so doing, he writes not merely as a -contemporary but as a personal friend. But the oldest extant writings -that give us an account of the deeds of Alexander were not penned until -some three centuries after that hero lived and died. It is true that -contemporary records of the history of Alexander were written in numbers, -but by some curious chance no copy of any one of these records has been -preserved. - -Fortunately, however, the histories of Alexander that have come down to -us are all based more or less on the contemporary records that are lost. -There are five of these important histories, all written, perhaps, almost -in the same century--the works namely of Diodorus, Justin, Plutarch, -Curtius, and Arrian. The most ancient of these is the history of -Diodorus, which dates from somewhere about the age of Julius Cæsar; the -latest, that of Arrian, was written probably about the time of the reign -of Adrian. There are, of course, numerous other classical authors who -make reference to Alexander, but these five are the only ones who have -given us anything like a complete history of his doings. - -Of these histories, by common consent, the most authoritative is that of -Arrian.[i] This work is based upon the writings of two of Alexander’s -generals, Ptolemy and Aristobulus. The point of view from which the work -is written cannot be better described than in the author’s own words: - -“I have admitted into my narrative as strictly authentic all the -statements relating to Alexander and Philip which Ptolemy, son of Lagus, -and Aristobulus, son of Aristobulus, agree in making; and from those -statements which differ I have selected that which appears to me the more -credible, and at the same time the more deserving of record. Different -authors have given different accounts of Alexander’s actions; and there -is no one about whom more have written, or more at variance with each -other; but in my opinion the narratives of Ptolemy and Aristobulus are -more worthy of credit than the rest--Aristobulus, because he served under -King Alexander in his expedition, and Ptolemy’s, not only because he -accompanied Alexander in his expedition, but also because, being a king -himself, the falsification of the facts would have been more disgraceful -to him than to any other man. Moreover they are both more worthy of -credit, because they compiled their histories after Alexander’s death, -when neither compulsion was used nor reward offered to them to write -anything different from what really occurred. Some statements also made -by other writers I have incorporated in my narrative, because they seemed -to me worthy of mention and not altogether improbable; but I have given -them merely as reports of Alexander’s proceedings. And if any man wonders -why, after so many other men have written of Alexander, the compilation -of this history came into my mind, after perusing the narratives of all -the rest, let him read this of mine, and then wonder--if he can.” - -When one reflects on the library of volumes that have been written in -recent times on Alexander and his doings, it is curious to consider how -meagre are the original materials on which all this elaboration is based. -The entire accounts of Diodorus, Justin, Plutarch, Curtius, and Arrian if -printed together in full would make but a comparatively small volume. Nor -can it be said that any recent discoveries have greatly altered the point -of view from which the history of Alexander is to be regarded, or largely -added to our knowledge of the subject. The reader who has mastered -these five classical authorities has learned practically all that is -specifically known regarding the deeds of Alexander, and every modern -historian who treats of the subject must bear these original authorities -constantly in mind.[a] - -Before taking up Alexander’s deeds in detail, it may be well to quote, by -way of transition from father to son, the epigrammatic comparison made by -Justin, between Philip and Alexander, using Brown’s translation of 1712: - - -PHILIP AND ALEXANDER COMPARED BY JUSTIN - -[Sidenote: [356-336 B.C.]] - -“Philip was killed in the Forty-Seventh Year of his Age, after he had -Reigned Twenty-Five Years. He had a Son by an Actress of Larissa, whose -Name was Aridæus, who reign’d after Alexander. He had, as ’tis usual -with Princes, several other Sons by several Wives, some of whom died a -Natural, and others fell by a violent Death. He was a Prince that took -more Delight in Arms than in Feasting. His greatest Riches consisted -in his Military Stores. He was more dexterous at getting Money than -at keeping of it, which was the Reason that he was everlastingly Poor -and Necessitous, amidst all his Rapines and Plunders. He was naturally -inclined neither to Mercy nor Pity, but used both indifferently, as his -Affairs required. - -“He thought no Way dishonourable to overcome an Enemy. In his Discourse -he was Free and Courteous, but always designing. He would promise -infinitely more than he intended to perform. He was equally excellent at -Railery and serious Discourse. He measured Friendship not by Fidelity, -but the Advantages it brought. His principal Talents were to pretend -Love where he hated most, to excite Animosities and Distrusts between -Friends, and at the same time to curry Favour with both. Among his -other Qualities, Eloquence was none of the least, his Conversation was -sprightly and subtle and neither did the Easiness of it exclude its -Elegance, nor its Elegance Adulterate the Beauty of its Easiness. - -“He was succeeded by his Son Alexander, who surpassed his Father both in -his Virtues and his Vices. Their Methods of Conquering were extremely -different. The Son carried on his Wars by open Force, the Father by -Artifice and Stratagem. One loved to trick an Enemy underhand, the Other -to defeat them gallantly in the Field by Bravery. One was more subtle in -Council, the Other more Magnificent in his Temper. - -“The Father could dissemble, and for the most part overcome his Anger. -The Son, when he was thoroughly inflamed, neither knew how to allay, nor -Moderate his Revenge. Both of them were over-greedy of Wine, but the -Vices of their Drunkenness were different. The Father would run from an -Entertainment to go and engage with an Enemy and rashly expose himself -to Danger. The Son quarrelled with his friends in his Wine, and treated -them like Enemies. Thus we find that Philip has frequently returned from -Battels Wounded, and Alexander came from a Banquet stained with the -Blood of his Friends. One would rule in Conjunction with his Friends, -the Other would reign over them. The Father rather chose to make himself -beloved, the Son to be fear’d. Both of ’em were equal Encouragers and -Lovers of Learning. The Father had more Cunning, the Son more Honour. -Philip was more moderate in his Conversation, Alexander in his Actions, -which he show’d by being more Merciful and Generous to the Conquer’d. -The Father loved Frugality, the Son was more inclined to Luxury. With -these Qualifications the Father laid a Foundation for the Conquest of the -World, which the Son most Gloriously accomplished.”[d] - - -ALEXANDER’S YOUTH ACCORDING TO QUINTUS CURTIUS - -The kings of Macedon derived their pedigree from Hercules; and Olympias, -Alexander’s mother, reckoned the origin of her family from Achilles. From -his very infancy he wanted neither allurements or examples to excite him -in the pursuit of glory, nor masters to teach him virtue, nor exercise -to accustom him to it. For his father, Philip, did by his continual -wars raise the reputation of the Macedonians, who, till then were -accounted despicable, and by his conquest of Greece, made them formidable -everywhere. In fine, he not only laid the foundations of the great things -which were done after his death, but even a little before his decease, -having resolved to carry the war into Persia, he had levied men, gathered -provisions, raised money, and, in short, had an army ready for that -expedition; and had actually opened a passage into Asia, by the means of -Parmenion. - -But in this very juncture he was taken away, as if to leave to his son so -great forces to carry on the war, and reap the full glory of it, when it -was finished; which seems to have been the contrivance of fortune, who -always yielded entire obedience to Alexander alone. This prince was so -much in the admiration of all men, not only after he had done so great -things, but even at his first setting out, that it was a question whether -it were not more reasonable to ascribe the divine original of so great a -man immediately to Jupiter himself, rather than mediately to the same god -by the Æacidæ and Hercules. - -When he went himself to visit the temple of Ammon in Libya, nothing -less would content him than to be called his son, as we shall shew in -the sequel. Moreover, it was the opinion of many that Alexander was the -offspring of a serpent which had been seen in his mother’s bed-chamber, -and into which Jupiter had transformed himself; that the credit of his -divine pedigree was advanced by dreams and prophesies; and that when -Philip sent to Delphi to consult about it, he was admonished by the -oracle, to pay the greatest reverence to Ammon. On the other hand, there -are those who affirm, “That all this is mere fiction; and that there was -reason to suspect Alexander’s mother was guilty of adultery: for that -Nectanebus, king of Egypt, who was driven from his kingdom, did not go to -Ethiopia, as was commonly believed, but went to Macedonia, in hopes of -receiving succours from Philip against the power of the Persians. That -he deceived Olympias by the force of magical enchantments, and defiled -his landlord’s bed. That from that time Philip had a jealousy of her, and -that it afterwards appeared this was the chief cause of their divorce. -That the very day that Philip brought Cleopatra into his house, Attalus, -his wife’s uncle, took the liberty to reproach Alexander with the -baseness of his birth, while the king himself disowned him for his son. -In fine, that the constant rumour of Olympias’ adultery was entertained -not only in that part of the world, but even among the nations which -he conquered. That the fiction of the serpent was derived from ancient -fables, on purpose to conceal the ignominy of that princess. That the -Messenians had formerly given out the same story concerning Aristomenes, -and the Sicyonians concerning Aristodemus.” - -In reality the same report was spread abroad concerning Scipio, who was -the first that ruined Carthage; and the birth of Augustus was in like -manner thought to have had something divine in it. For as to Romulus, the -founder of Rome, there is no occasion to say anything of him; since there -is no nation so contemptible, but derives its origin either from some -god, or the offspring of a god. After all, the flight of Nectanebus does -not agree with those times; for Alexander was six years of age, when that -prince was vanquished by Ochus, and lost his kingdom and inheritance; -but for all this, the tale which is reported of Jupiter, is not the less -likely to be false. It is affirmed, that Olympias herself, having nothing -to fear after her husband’s death, laughed at the vanity of her son, who -would needs have it believed that he was sprung from Jupiter; and begged -him in a letter, “not to expose her to Juno’s indignation, seeing that -she had been guilty of nothing that deserved that punishment.” However, -before that time, she is thought to have been the person that took the -most pains to gain credit to this fable, and is said to have admonished -Alexander upon his expedition into Asia, “To be mindful of his origin, -and do nothing that was unworthy of so great a father.” - -But it is generally agreed, that between the conception and birth of -that prince, it was signified both by prodigies and divers presages, how -considerable a person should be born. Philip saw in his sleep the womb -of Olympias sealed up with a ring, on which the picture of a lion was -engraved; the memory whereof was preserved by the city of Alexandria in -Egypt, which was for a long time called Leontopolis. Aristander, the -ablest diviner of that time, who afterwards accompanied Alexander, and -was his chief priest, interpreted the dream, and said it signified the -magnanimity and courage of the infant. The same night that Olympias was -brought to bed, the temple of Diana in Ephesus, the most famous of all -Asia, was burnt to ashes. This was done by a profligate villain, who -being apprehended and put to the torture, confessed he had no other view -in doing it, but to preserve his memory by some great and memorable act -of impiety. Wherefore the Magi, who were then at Ephesus, not reckoning -so great a misfortune from the loss of the temple alone, but looking -upon it as a presage of greater destruction, filled the whole city with -mournful exclamations; “That there was a torch kindled somewhere, which, -on the like account, and from the same motive, should one day consume all -the East.” - -Philip being blessed with a son, of whom so many happy omens made -him conceive the highest hopes, turned all his thoughts towards his -education. For being a wise man, and a lover of his country, he easily -perceived that all his endeavours would be to no purpose, if he should -leave an ignorant and slothful prince behind him, to govern Macedonia, -while things were in an unsettled state everywhere: and that his glory -could not be long-lived, if the great things he had begun should be -lost and ruined by the weakness or negligence of a successor. Among his -letters, that discreet and elegant one which he wrote to Aristotle, who -was then at Athens with Plato, is yet extant, and is conceived in words -much to this purpose: - -“Philip to Aristotle wisheth Health. - -“I am to acquaint you, that a son is born to me; nor do I thank the gods -so much for his birth, as for his being born in your time. I hope that -when he shall have been educated and instructed by you, he shall be -worthy of us, and fit to succeed to so great a kingdom. For I think it -much better to be without children, than to beget them for a punishment, -and educate them to the shame and dishonour of their ancestors.” - -Nor was Philip mistaken; for having been long under the direction of -Aristotle, the effect was, that the instructions he received from that -great master, laid a foundation for, and enabled him to perform all the -great exploits which he executed from that time. - -When he grew up, there appeared a perfect symmetry in his members, his -joints were strong and firm; and being but of a middle stature, he was -really stronger than he appeared to be. His skin was white, only his -cheeks and his breast were dyed with an agreeable red; his hair was -yellow, and went into a gentle curl; his nose was aquiline, and his eyes -of different colours: for his left eye is said to have been blue, and his -right very black. There was a certain secret virtue in them; insomuch -that nobody could look on his countenance without veneration and fear. -He could run with wonderful swiftness, which he often practised, even -when he was king, as esteeming it of great use in expeditions; and he -was often seen to run for a prize with the swiftest persons about him. -He bore fatigue with a patience and firmness that even passes belief; -and by this one virtue he oftentimes saved both himself and his armies -in the greatest extremities. By frequent exercises, and a very warm -constitution, he did so purge off any bad humours which commonly lodge -under the skin, that not only his breath, but also what he perspired -through the pores of his body were sweet, and his very clothes had a -fragrant smell; and this was the cause, as some think, why he was so much -inclined to wine and passion. Pictures and statues of him are yet to -be seen, which were the performances of the best artists. For lest the -comeliness of his face should suffer any thing from the unskilfulness of -vulgar sculptors or painters, he strictly forbade any to draw his picture -without his order, and threatened to punish any one that should disobey -it. In consequence whereof, though there was abundance of good workmen, -yet Apelles was the only person who had his consent to draw his picture; -Pyrgoteles to grave him on precious stones, and Lysippus and Polyclitus -to represent him in medals. - -His governor Leonidas is said to have walked too fast, which Alexander -learnt of him; and never was able to help it afterwards by all his -endeavours. I am not ignorant that very much is owing to education, but -I am inclined to impute this rather to the temper of that young prince, -than to his accustoming himself to it; for it was impossible for one -of his ardour and impetuosity of spirit, not to have the motions of -his body answerable to it. And this hastiness of his was so far from -being accounted an imperfection by his successors, that they studiously -affected it, and imitated him therein; as they did in his wry neck, -which leaned to his left shoulder, in his piercing look and high voice, -being incapable to copy the virtues of his mind. In reality, there were -many of them whose long lives had scarce anything in them that deserved -to be compared to his childhood. Nor did he ever say or act anything -that was mean or base, but all his words and actions were equal to, -or even surpassed, his fortune. For though he was most ambitious of -praise, yet he did not affect to draw it indifferently from every thing, -but would have it arise from things that were most praiseworthy; being -sensible that the praise which arises from mean actions is inglorious and -dishonourable, and that that victory which is gained over the meanest -enemy, is so much the more noble and illustrious. Therefore when some -persons told him, “that seeing he was an excellent runner, he ought -to list himself among those who were to contend for the prize at the -Olympic games, after the example of a king of his name; and that thereby -he should acquire a great fame all over Greece”: he answered, “I would -certainly do so, if I were to run against kings.” - -As often as Philip obtained any signal victory, or reduced any rich and -strong place, he could not conceal his grief, amidst the rejoicing of -others; and he was heard to complain amongst boys of his own age, “that -his father would leave nothing for him and them to do when they came to -be men.” For he looked upon every accession of power and riches to be a -diminution to his glory, and had a stronger passion for honour than for -wealth. He was naturally disposed to sleep but little, and increased -his watchfulness by art. If anything happened to him that required -serious thought, he put his arm out of the bed, holding a silver ball -in his hand, which by its fall into a basin might make a noise, and so -disperse that heaviness which was inclining him to slumber. From his very -infancy he loved to worship the gods splendidly; and one day as they were -sacrificing, he flung so much incense into the fire, that Leonidas, who -was a severe and parsimonious man, not being able to bear that profusion, -cried out, “You may burn incense in this manner when you conquer the -countries where it grows.” Remembering this saying afterwards, when he -settled the affairs of Arabia, which produces incense, he sent Leonidas a -vast quantity of this perfume, ordering him withal, “to be more liberal -for the future, in paying honour to the gods, since he was now convinced -that they did plentifully repay the gifts that had been cheerfully made -them.” - - -_Aristotle as His Teacher_ - -[Illustration: ARISTOTLE] - -That he understood the more sublime sciences, is evident from his letter -to Aristotle, wherein he complains, “That he had profaned their dignity -by divulging their principles.” Upon which, Aristotle excused himself by -answering, “That those books were published in such a manner, as that -they might be reckoned not published; for that no body would be able to -understand the meaning of them, but such as had already been instructed -in the principles which they contained.” When Alexander demanded his -books of rhetoric, he strictly forbade him to let them come to the hands -of any other; for he was no less desirous to excel others in arts and -sciences, than in power and greatness; nor could he endure that men of -the lowest rank should share that glory with him. Besides, it appears -from his letters that he studied physic under one Aristotle, who was the -son of a physician, of the race of Æsculapius. But he studied that part -of philosophy so well, which teaches a man to command both himself and -others, that he is thought to have undertaken the supervision of that -vast weight and power of the Persian empire, rather by his magnanimity, -prudence, temperance, and fortitude, than by his arms and riches. He -frankly owned, “That he owed more to Aristotle than to Philip; for that -he was indebted to the one for his life; to the other for that life’s -being formed upon the principles of honour and virtue.” Nevertheless, -it has been believed by some, not without ground, that his mind, which -was so fired with ambition, was yet more inflamed by the too great value -which Aristotle set upon honour and glory, which he placed in the rank of -things that may be called goods; so that he not only multiplied wars upon -wars, in order to extend his dominions, but would needs be looked upon as -a god. - -Of all the monuments of antiquity, he had the greatest esteem for Homer, -who, he thought, was the only person that had perfectly described that -wisdom by which empires subsist; and such a passion for him, that he was -called Homer’s Lover. He was wont to carry his books always along with -him; and even when he went to bed, he put them and his sword under his -pillow, calling them “his military viaticum, and the elements of warlike -virtue.” He esteemed Achilles to have been happy in finding so great a -man to celebrate his virtues. - -Having found a most curious casket, both for matter and workmanship, -amongst the plunder of Damascus, and his friends having asked him “What -use it was most proper for?” he answered, “We will dedicate it to Homer, -since it is but reasonable that the most precious monument of human wit -should be preserved in the finest piece of workmanship.” From hence the -most correct edition of that poet, which Alexander was at much pains -to get, was called the “edition of the casket”; because in that casket -the Persians had used to keep odours and perfumes. One day as a certain -messenger of good news ran towards him, in all haste stretching out his -right hand, with the highest marks of joy on his countenance; “What news -can you tell me,” says he, “that’s worthy of so much joy, unless that -Homer is alive again?” He was then arrived to such a degree of happiness, -that he thought there wanted nothing to complete his glory, but one -capable to trumpet his praise. By frequent reading of him, he had got -almost all by heart; so that no person could quote him more readily or -familiarly, or judge of him more justly. - - -_Bucephalus_ - -He showed an extraordinary courage and dexterity, to the great -astonishment of his father and others, in managing the horse Bucephalus, -which name was given him from his being marked with the figure of an -ox’s head. Thessaly was very much famed at that time for fine horses, -and great numbers of them were bred in that country, but none of them -was to be compared to Bucephalus either for mettle or beautifulness; -for which reason Philonicus a Pharsalian, thinking him worthy of the -greatest prince in those parts, brought him to Philip, and proposed to -sell him for sixteen talents. But when they came to try his speed and -management, by riding him out into the fields, there was none of the -king’s friends or attendants that durst venture to manage him; for he -rose upon them, and frightened all that essayed to mount him, by his -fierceness: so that he was now looked upon as unmanageable and useless, -upon the account of his wildness: at which Alexander sighing said, “What -a fine horse those people lose through their ignorance and cowardice.” -After having repeated these words over and over, his father chid him “for -finding fault with horsemen that were both older and more skilful than -himself, as if he could manage that horse better than they.” To which he -answered, “I will manage him better than they, father, if you will give -me leave.” Upon this, the father asked him, “What he would forfeit if -he could not execute what he had undertaken?” “I will forfeit the price -of the horse,” replied he. At this every body smiled, and agreed, “That -if he won, his father should buy the horse for him; but if he lost, he -should lay down the money himself.” Then Alexander, taking the horse by -the bridle, turned him directly to the sun, that so he might not see -his shadow; for he had observed, that this frightened him, and made him -more untractable. Finding his fury not much abated notwithstanding this, -he stroked his mane, laid his cloak aside gently, and jumped upon him -at once, though he was foaming with rage. Then Bucephalus, that was not -used to obey, began to fling with his heels, and throw about his head, -and very obstinately refuse to be guided by the bridle; then he essayed -to get loose, and run away full speed. He was then in a spacious plain -that was fit for riding in: wherefore Alexander, giving him the rein, -and setting his spurs to his sides, rode shouting with all the vigour -and fury imaginable. And after he had traversed a vast space of ground, -till he was weary, and willing to stop, he spurred him on till such time -as his mettle was exhausted, and he became tame; after which he brought -him back very gentle and tractable. When Alexander alighted, his father -embraced him with tears of joy, and kissing him, said, “He must seek -out a larger empire for himself, for that the kingdom of Macedon was -too small for so vast a spirit.” Afterwards Bucephalus continued the -same fierceness towards others, while he obeyed Alexander alone with a -wonderful submission; and after he had been his companion in many labours -and dangers, he was at last killed in a battle against Porus.[e] - - -ALEXANDER’S FIRST DEEDS - -From the remotest ages of Pelasgian antiquity down to the time of the -Roman empire, the holy island of Samothrace, the seat of an awfully -mysterious worship, was accounted equal to Delphi in sanctity. Here it -is said Philip first saw Olympias, when they partook at the same time in -the Cabirian mysteries, and resolved to seek her hand. Olympias loved -the fanatical orgies celebrated by the Thracian and Macedonian women -in honour of their Dionysus; and is even said to have introduced some -of the symbols of this frantic worship,--the huge tame snakes, which -the Bacchanals wreathed round their necks and arms,--into her husband’s -palace. It is a stroke which agrees well with the other features of her -wild, impetuous character. Who can estimate the degree in which this -irritable, uncontrollable nature may have contributed one element towards -that combination of ardent enthusiasm with the soberest forethought which -distinguishes Alexander, perhaps above every man that ever filled a like -station? - -The anecdotes related of Alexander’s boyhood are chiefly remarkable as -indicating what may be fitly called a kingly spirit, which not only -felt conscious that it was born to command, and was impatient of all -opposition to its will, but also studied how it might subject all things -and persons around it to its own higher purposes. This inborn royalty -of soul could hardly have failed to find its way to fame, had it even -been originally lodged in an obscure corner. But the prince, who was -destined to effect so great a change in the state of the world, was to -be committed to the care of the man whose spirit was not less active and -ambitious, who also in the range of his intellectual conquests had never -been equalled, and who founded a much more lasting empire in the sphere -of thought. Never, before or since, have two persons so great in the -historical sense of the word, been brought together--above all in the -same relation--as Alexander and Aristotle. - -Alexander was but thirteen years old when he became the philosopher’s -pupil. This relation appears to have subsisted between them for no -more than three successive years. Alexander was only sixteen when -Philip set out on his expedition to Thrace, from which he only returned -in the autumn of 339, and he was entrusted with the regency of the -kingdom--probably under the direction of a council--during his father’s -absence. He was then of course occupied with affairs of state; and in the -course of this time, a revolt of one of the conquered tribes, probably on -the Illyrian frontier, afforded an occasion for his first essay in the -art of war. He reduced the insurgents, took their chief city, expelled -its inhabitants, and planted a new colony there, to which he gave the -name of Alexandropolis. In the interval between the battle of Chæronea -and his father’s death, he was engaged in transactions quite alien from -philosophical or literary pursuits. It is very doubtful whether he saw -Aristotle again before he came to the throne. Their personal intercourse -must at least have been confined to occasional interviews. - -It is pleasing to find it recorded that still he wrote a book on -the office of a king expressly for Alexander. Nevertheless we have -unquestionable proof that even on this head the force of nature was -stronger than that of education. Aristotle’s national prejudices led him -into extravagant notions as to the superiority of the Hellenic race over -the rest of mankind: as if the distinction between Greek and barbarian -was nearly the same as between man and brute, person and thing: hence -slavery appeared to him not a result of injustice and cruelty, but an -unalterable law of nature, a relation necessary to the welfare of society. - -Hence too he deduced a practical maxim, which he endeavoured to inculcate -upon the future conqueror of Asia, that he should treat the Greeks as -his subjects, the barbarians as his slaves. The advice was contrary to -Alexander’s views and sentiments: it did not suit the position which his -consciousness of his own destiny led him to assume. He acted, we know, on -a directly opposite principle. - -We have at least reason to believe that Alexander, though he was but -twenty years old at his father’s death, had learned, thought, seen, and -done more to fit him for the place he was to fill, than many sovereigns -in the full maturity of their age and experience. Like his father, he -found himself, on his accession to the throne, in a situation which -called forth all the powers of his mind and all the energies of his -character. Macedonia, though nominally at peace with all its European -neighbours, was surrounded by enemies, who might be expected eagerly -to seize the opportunity, which seemed to offer itself now that the -crown had devolved on a stripling, to shake off a yoke which they had -endured with ill-disguised impatience. In the kingdom itself there were -powerful families, which had not forgotten the times when they aspired to -independence, if not to the possession of the throne. Amyntas, too, the -son of Perdiccas, was still living, and might be tempted to assert his -claim. It was known that the court of Persia was on the watch. - -The young king’s first object was to secure himself at home: the next -to overawe his hostile neighbours, and to extort from them such an -acknowledgment of his superiority, as would place him in the position -which his father was occupying at the time of his death. In Macedonia, -though there might be some ambitious and disaffected nobles, the mass of -the people both recognised his title and were attached to his person. -Amyntas, son of Perdiccas, was put to death on a charge of a plot against -Alexander’s life. After the last honours had been paid to his father, the -king showed himself in a general assembly of his people, and declared his -intention of prosecuting his predecessor’s undertakings with like vigour, -and, it is said, granted a general immunity from all burdens except -military service. - -The news of Philip’s death had excited a general ferment throughout -Greece. The gloomy prospect which, since the battle of Chæronea, must -have saddened so many hearts--the thought that the flower of the -Grecian youth were henceforth to shed their blood for the execution of -projects which threatened their country with perpetual subjection--was -suddenly exchanged for the liveliest hopes of deliverance from the -foreigner’s power. In all the principal states language was heard, and -preparations were seen, denoting a disposition to take advantage of the -unexpected opportunity. Ambracia expelled the Macedonian garrison, and -re-established its democratical institutions. The Acarnanian exiles who -had taken refuge in Ætolia prepared to return, and the Ætolians in their -congress voted succours to reinstate them. Athens took the lead in these -movements, and indeed seems to have been the centre from which they -proceeded. - - -DEMOSTHENES RIDICULES ALEXANDER - -[Sidenote: [336 B.C.]] - -Among the Athenian envoys who had been sent to congratulate Philip was -Charidemus; being at Ægæ at the time of Philip’s death, he lost no -time in despatching a courier, who was directed to carry the news to -Demosthenes before he communicated it to any one else. It happened that -the orator was at this juncture mourning the loss of an only daughter, -who had died but seven days before; but his private sorrow gave way to -public cares. He immediately laid aside his weeds, came out dressed in -white, with a festive wreath on his head, and a joyful countenance, and -was seen performing a solemn sacrifice at one of the public altars. In -order to give greater effect to the momentous tidings, the orator appears -to have resorted to a stratagem which proves that he knew his countrymen -to be still superstitious, and credulous. He appeared before the council -of Five Hundred, and declared that it had been revealed to him in a dream -by Zeus and Athene, that some great good was about to happen to the -commonwealth. Messengers soon after arrived with the news which fulfilled -the divine announcement. It was apparently the object of Demosthenes, -by this artifice, to impress the people with his own view of the change -which Philip’s death had made in the situation and prospects of Athens. -It was at least as harmless an imposture as was ever practised; and, -if fraud could ever be pious, might deserve that epithet.[19] He now -moved moreover that religious honours should be decreed to the memory of -Pausanias. - -This conduct of Demosthenes was strongly censured by his contemporaries -on various grounds; though not on those which render it most repugnant to -the maxims and feelings of civilised society in modern times. Yet we know -that even under the better light which we enjoy, not only the massacre -of the Huguenots was celebrated with public rejoicings and thanksgivings -in the capital of Christian Europe, but the assassination of the prince -of Orange, and that of Henry III of France, were openly applauded, and -Balthasar Gérard and Clément treated as heroes. - -[Illustration: BUST OF ALEXANDER - -(In the Capitoline Museum, Rome)] - -Phocion objected to the proposed demonstrations of joy on two accounts: -first, because such exultation over an enemy’s death was dastardly, and -then, because the force which had won the day at Chæronea had only been -diminished by the loss of a single life. That the loss which Macedonia -had sustained by Philip’s death, was only to be reckoned as that of -a single soldier, was manifestly false; and the best excuse that can -be offered for Demosthenes is, that he wished to place the event in a -different light--one which he might well believe to be the true one. -We cannot indeed be sure that he entertained so low an opinion of -Alexander’s abilities as he thought it expedient to profess; though it -appears that the impression made on him by the young prince when he saw -him at his father’s court was not favourable, and on his return from -his embassy he turned his boyish performance into ridicule. It was true -that Alexander had at least acted the part of a man better than himself -at Chæronea; but his real character, and the promise of greatness which -he held out, could not yet be known at Athens. Perhaps some report of -his multifarious studies and attainments had been heard there, which -afforded a handle for Demosthenes to compare him with Margites, the hero -of a burlesque poem attributed to Homer, who knew many things, but none -well; and the orator now ventured to assure the Athenians, that they had -nothing to fear from the young king, who would never stir from Macedonia, -but would remain at Pella, dividing his time between his peaceful studies -and the inspection of victims, which would never permit him to undertake -any dangerous expedition. - -There were beside engines which the orator was able to set at work -against him, which were known only to himself, and which he was obliged -to keep secret, but which might reasonably strengthen his confidence. He -was in correspondence with the Persian court, and had, it seems, already -received sums of money from it to be distributed at his discretion for -the purpose of thwarting Philip’s enterprise against Asia. The conduct of -Demosthenes in this transaction--if we consider that he was carrying on -a clandestine negotiation with a foreign state against which his own had -declared war, to injure a prince who was the ally of Athens--cannot be -vindicated on the principles which regulate the intercourse of civilised -nations in modern times. But how little were such scruples heeded when -Napoleon’s disasters opened a prospect for restoring the independence of -Germany! - -The people, however, seem to have retained too lively a recollection of -the consternation which had followed the battle of Chæronea, to pledge -themselves hastily to a renewal of the contest with Macedonia. The -language of Æschines inclines us to believe that they did not adopt the -motion of Demosthenes with respect to Pausanias. But he prevailed on them -to send envoys to many of the Greek states, with secret instructions. -The Persian gold, or the promise of subsidies, may have overcome many -obstacles. There was another quarter in which the Athenian emissaries -might still more safely reckon on a friendly reception. Attalus, -Alexander’s personal enemy, was commanding a body of troops in Asia. A -negotiation was opened with him by means of a letter from Demosthenes, -and nothing probably but want of time prevented its success. - - -ALEXANDER DASHES THROUGH GREECE - -[Sidenote: [336-335 B.C.]] - -But all these plans and preparations were disconcerted and suppressed -by the rapidity of Alexander’s movements. It seems as if his elder -counsellors, who had been long used to Philip’s cautious policy, advised -him to leave the Greeks for the present to themselves, and not to make -any attempt to force them to obedience, until he had established a -good understanding with the barbarian tribes on his northern frontier, -which after Philip’s death had begun to assume a threatening aspect. -Alexander, however, saw that, if he should adopt such a course, the work -of his father’s reign might be undone in a few months: he saw that his -presence was immediately necessary in Greece, and he set his forces in -motion without delay. In his passage through Thessaly, he endeavoured -to conciliate the ruling families by promises. All the concessions that -had been made to Philip were renewed to him: their revenues and troops -were placed at his disposal. At Thermopylæ he assembled the Amphictyonic -council, perhaps before the ordinary time of the autumnal meeting with -a view to secure the adherence of the northern tribes which had votes -in it; and from them it seems he received the title [Leader of the -Greeks] which had been conferred on his father in the Sacred War. He then -advanced by rapid marches to Thebes, where, as no preparations had yet -been made to execute the resolution which had been precipitately adopted, -his presence awed the disaffected into entire submission. - -His approach produced a like effect at Athens. The people hastened to -appease him by an embassy, which they sent to apologise for their late -proceedings, and to offer him all the honours they had conferred on -Philip. Demosthenes himself was appointed one of the envoys--perhaps -through the intrigues of his adversaries; and he even proceeded as far -as Cithæron, on his way to the Macedonian camp. We do not know whether -it was his own reflections on the dangers of his mission, or some hints -which he received as to Alexander’s intentions, that induced him to find -some excuse for turning back. The rest of the ambassadors, however, found -the king ready to accept their excuses and promises, perhaps were led -to believe that he had never suspected the commonwealth of any hostile -designs. He despatched a trusty officer, named Hecatæus, over to Asia, -with orders either to arrest Attalus and convey him to Macedonia, or to -put him to death. It seems that Attalus had so won the affections of his -troops, that Hecatæus thought it safest to have him secretly killed. - -Alexander had sent envoys before him to summon a fresh congress at -Corinth. He found this assembly as obsequious as that which had been -called by his father; and was invested by it with the same title and -authority for the prosecution of the war with Persia, as had been -bestowed on Philip. Sparta alone either refused to send deputies to the -congress, or instructed them to disavow its proceedings. She had been -used--such was still her language--herself to take the lead among the -Greeks, and would not resign her hereditary rank to another. Alexander -perhaps smiled at these pretensions of a state which was hardly able to -protect itself, but did not think it worth while to put its resolution to -the test, by an invasion of its territory. So too the revolt of Ambracia -did not appear to him important enough to detain him so long as would -have been necessary to crush it. He even condescended to assure the -Ambracians that they had only forestalled his intentions: that he should -of his own accord have restored their democratical institutions. It was a -concession which his commanding posture enabled him to make with dignity, -and therefore without danger. Having thus in the course of a few weeks -settled the affairs of Greece, he returned to Macedonia, with the hope -that in the following spring he might be able to embark for Asia. - - -ALEXANDER WINNOWS THE NORTH - -But when the season for military operations drew near in 335, reports -were heard of movements among the Thracian tribes and the Triballians, -which seemed to render it necessary, for the security of his kingdom -during his absence, that he should spread the terror of his arms in that -quarter, before he began an expedition which would carry him so far away -from it. Early in the spring Alexander set out on his march toward the -Danube. A small squadron of ships of war was ordered to be fitted out at -Byzantium, and to sail up the river to meet the army. In ten days, having -crossed the Hebrus at Philippopolis, it reached the foot of the Balkan. -Here the Thracians had collected their forces to guard the defiles, and -were seen entrenched behind their wagons on the summit of the pass. As -the road which led up to it was extremely steep, they had formed the plan -of rolling their wagons down on the enemy as they advanced, and then -falling on their broken ranks. Alexander perceived the object of their -preparations, and provided against the danger. The heavy infantry were -ordered, where the ground permitted, to open their files and make way for -the wagons: where this was not practicable, to throw themselves forward -on the ground, and link their shields together over their heads, so that -the descending masses might bound over them. The shock came and passed in -a few moments, leaving the men unhurt; they closed their ranks, and rose -from the ground with heightened courage. The enemy were soon dislodged -from their position by a skilful and vigorous charge, leaving fifteen -hundred slain: the fugitives easily escaped; the camp, in which were -their wives and children, fell into the hands of the victors. - -Having crossed the mountains without further interruption, Alexander -now resumed his march, and in three days reached the right bank of the -Danube, where he found the galleys which he expected from Byzantium. -Under favour of night they crossed over unmolested, and landed in fields -of standing corn. This the phalanx levelled, as it marched through, with -its spears, the cavalry following until they reached the open ground, -where the enemy, astonished and dismayed by their unexpected appearance, -did not even wait for the first charge of the horse, but took refuge in -their town which lay but a few miles off. Even this--for it was poorly -fortified--they abandoned at Alexander’s approach, and taking as many as -they could of the women and children on their horses, retreated into the -wilderness. The town was sacked and razed to the ground, and Alexander -having sacrificed on the right bank of the Danube to the gods who had -granted him a safe passage, returned to his camp on the other side. Here -he received embassies, with submissive or at least pacific overtures, -from Syrmus, and from many of the independent nations bordering on the -river. His chief object was attained in the proof thus afforded of the -terror inspired by his arms. - -He now turned his march westward, to reach the borders of Illyria, -through the country of the Agrianians and Pæonians, on the western side -of the mountains which contain the springs of the Hebrus and the Nestus. -The king however was enabled to pursue his march without obstruction -up the valley of the Erigon, towards the fortress of Pelium. It stood -on high ground in the midst of lofty wooded hills, which were also -guarded by Illyrian troops, so as to command all the approaches of the -place; and the barbarians had sought an additional safeguard against the -assaults of the Macedonians, in a sacrifice, which they celebrated on -the hill tops, of three boys, three girls, and as many black rams. Yet -all these precautions proved fruitless; and Alexander, after he made -himself master of the adjacent hills--where he found the victims of those -horrid rites--was proceeding to invest Pelium itself, when the arrival -of Glaucias with a numerous army compelled him to retire, that he might -provide for his own safety. We shall not dwell on the evolutions by which -he extricated himself from a most perilous position. It is sufficient to -mention that he first penetrated through a difficult defile, and crossed -a river in the presence of an enemy greatly superior in numbers; and -three days afterwards, having suddenly returned, fell upon the allies, -whose camp was carelessly guarded, in the night, and broke up their -host. Glaucias fled towards his home, and was pursued by Alexander with -great slaughter as far as the mountains which protected his territories. -Clitus at first took shelter in Pelium; but soon despairing of his own -resources, set fire to the fortress, and retreated into the dominions of -Glaucias. - - -THE REVOLT OF THEBES - -[Sidenote: [335 B.C.]] - -The accounts which reached Greece of Alexander’s operations in these -wild and distant regions, were, it may be supposed, very imperfect and -confused; and at length, during an interval in which no news was heard -of him, a report of his death sprang up, or was studiously set afloat. -The report seems to have encouraged a party of Theban exiles to enter -the city by night, and attempt a revolution. They began in an unhappy -spirit with the massacre of two officers of the Macedonian garrison. They -then summoned an assembly, and prevailed on the people to rise in open -insurrection, and lay siege to the Cadmea. The citizens who were still -in exile were recalled, the slaves enfranchised, the aliens won by new -privileges. Demosthenes furnished them with a subsidy which enabled them -to procure arms, and induced the Athenians to enter into an alliance with -them, and emboldened the people to decree an expedition in aid of the -Thebans. This decree, however, was not carried into effect. Elis, too, -openly espoused the cause of the Thebans so far as even to send their -forces as far as the isthmus, where they were joined by those of some -Arcadian states. But here their generals were induced to halt, by the -tidings which reached them of Alexander’s return. - -He was still at Pelium when he heard of the revolt of Thebes. He knew -that unless it was crushed in time it would probably spread, and he -was anxious about the garrison of the Cadmea. He therefore set out -immediately for Bœotia. In seven days, having traversed the upper -provinces of Macedonia and crossed the Cambunian range towards its -junction with Pindus, he reached Pelinna in Thessaly. Six days more -brought him into Bœotia. So rapid were his movements that, before the -Thebans had heard that he had passed Thermopylæ, he had arrived at -Onchestus. The authors of the insurrection would not at first listen -to the news of his approach; they gave out that it was Antipater who -commanded the Macedonian army: and then that Alexander, the son of -Æropus, had been taken for his royal namesake. But when the truth was -ascertained, they found the people still willing to persevere in the -struggle which had now become so hopeless. - -Alexander, on the other hand, wishing to give them time for better -counsels, now moved slowly against the city; and even when he had -encamped near the foot of the Cadmea, which they had encompassed with -a double line of circumvallation, waited some time for proposals of -peace, which he was ready to grant on very lenient terms. There was a -strong party within which was willing to submit to his pleasure, and -urged the people to cast themselves on his mercy: but the leaders of the -revolt, who could expect none for themselves, resisted every such motion; -and as beside their personal influence they filled most places in the -government, they unhappily prevailed. It was their object to draw matters -to extremities. When Alexander sent to demand Phœnix and Prothytas, two -of their chiefs, they demanded Philotas and Antipater in return; and when -he proclaimed an offer of pardon to all who should surrender themselves -to him and share the common peace, they made a counter proclamation from -the top of a tower, inviting all who desired the independence of Greece -to take part with them against the tyrant. These insults, and especially -the animosity and distrust which they implied, put an end to all thoughts -of peace, and Alexander reluctantly prepared for an assault. - -The fate of Thebes seems after all to have been decided more by accident -than by design. Perdiccas, who was stationed with his division in front -of the camp, not far from the Theban entrenchments, without waiting for -the signal, began the attack, and forced his way into the space between -the enemy’s lines, and was followed by Amyntas son of Andromenes, who -commanded the next division. Alexander was thus induced to bring up the -rest of his forces. Yet at first he only sent in some light troops to -the support of the two divisions which were engaged with the enemy. When -however Perdiccas had fallen, severely wounded, as he led his men within -the second line of entrenchments, and the Thebans, who at first had given -way, rallied and in their turn put the Macedonians to flight, he himself -advanced to the scene of combat with the phalanx, and fell upon them in -the midst of the disorder caused by the pursuit. They were instantly -routed, and made for the nearest gates of the city, in such confusion -that the enemy entered with them, and being soon joined by the garrison -of the Cadmea, made themselves masters of the adjacent part of the city. -The besieged made a short stand in the market-place; but, when they saw -themselves threatened on all sides, the cavalry took to flight through -the opposite gates, and the rest as they could find a passage. But few -of the foot combatants effected their escape; and the conquerors glutted -their rage with unresisted slaughter. - -It was not however so much from the Macedonians, as from some of their -auxiliaries, that the Thebans suffered the utmost excesses of hostile -cruelty. Alexander had brought with him a body of Thracians among his -light troops, and he had been reinforced by the Phocians and by all the -Bœotian towns hostile to Thebes--more especially by Orchomenos, Thespiæ, -and Platæa. The Thracians, impelled by their habitual ferocity, of which -they had shown so fearful a specimen many years before, at the capture of -Mycalessus; the Bœotians, eager to revenge the wrongs they had endured -from Thebes in the day of her prosperity--revelled in the usual license -of carnage, plunder, and wanton outrages on those whose age and sex -left them most defenceless. The bloodshed, however, was restrained by -cupidity, that the most valuable part of the spoil might not be lost. The -number of the slain was estimated at six thousand; that of the prisoners -at thirty thousand. The Macedonians lost about five hundred men. - - -THE FATE OF THEBES - -It only remained to fix the final doom of the conquered city. Alexander, -who had probably made up his mind on it, referred it to a council of his -allies, in which the representatives of the Bœotian towns took a leading -part. The issue of their deliberation might be easily foreseen, and did -not want plausible reasons to justify it. There was a sentence which had -been hanging over Thebes ever since the Persian War in which she had -so recklessly betrayed the cause of Grecian liberty. It had never been -forgotten, and calls had been heard from time to time for its execution. -And the city which had so long been permitted by the indulgence of -the Greeks to retain a forfeited existence, had nevertheless been -distinguished by her merciless treatment of her conquered enemies. In the -case of Platæa she had not only instigated the Spartans to a cold-blooded -slaughter, forbidden by the usages of Greek warfare, but she had -destroyed a city which by its heroic patriotism had earned the gratitude -of the whole nation, and was itself a monument of the national triumph. -Nor was it forgotten that when Athens was at the mercy of its enemies she -alone had proposed to sweep it from the face of Greece. - -It seems that these old offences were placed in the foreground, while -little notice was taken of the later acts of violence and oppression -towards the Bœotian towns, which were the real grounds of their -implacable resentment. The decree of the council was that the Cadmea -should be left standing, to be occupied by a Macedonian garrison; that -the lower city should be levelled with the ground, and the territory, -except the part which belonged to the temples, divided among the allies: -the men, women, and children, sold as slaves, all but the priests and -priestesses, and some citizens who stood in a relation of hospitality -to Philip or Alexander, or held the office of proxenus to the state of -Macedonia. Under this head were probably included most of the conqueror’s -political adherents. He made one other exception, which was honourable -rather to his taste than his humanity. He bade spare the house of Pindar, -and as many as were to be found of his descendants. The council likewise -decreed that Orchomenos and Platæa should be rebuilt. The demolished -buildings of Thebes may have furnished materials for the restoration of -Platæa. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF THE GREAT-GATE IN THE WALLS OF MESSENE] - -It can hardly be doubted that policy had a large share in this rigorous -measure, and that Thebes was destroyed chiefly because it would not have -been safe to leave it standing, and that the example of its fate might -strike the rest of Greece with a wholesome awe. Alexander himself in his -subsequent treatment of individual Thebans tacitly acknowledged that his -severity had been carried to an extreme which bordered upon cruelty. -But the harshness which he displayed in this case enabled him to assume -the appearance of magnanimity and gentleness in others. All the Greek -states which had betrayed their hostility towards him, now vied with one -another in apologies, recantations, and offers of submission. A reaction -immediately took place at Elis in favour of the Macedonian party; and in -the Arcadian towns which had sent succours for the Thebans, the authors -of this imprudent step were condemned to death. The Ætolians too who had -shown some symptoms of disaffection sent an embassy to deprecate the -king’s displeasure. - -Athens, however, had most reason to dread his anger, and strove to avert -it by a servile homage, which at once marks the character of the man -who proposed it and the depth to which the people had fallen since the -battle of Chæronea. When the first fugitives arrived from Thebes, the -Athenians were celebrating their great Eleusinian mysteries. All fled in -consternation to the city, and removed their property out of the country -within the walls. An assembly was immediately called, in which, on the -motion of Demades, it was decreed that ten envoys, the most acceptable -that could be found, should be sent to congratulate Alexander on his -safe return from his northern expedition, and on the chastisement -which he had inflicted on Thebes. The king discovered no displeasure -at this piece of impudent obsequiousness, but in reply sent a letter -to the people demanding nine of the leading anti-Macedonian orators -and generals--Demosthenes, Lycurgus, Hyperides, Polyeuctus, Chares, -Charidemus, Ephialtes, Diotimus, and Mœrocles, whom he charged both with -the transactions which had led to the battle of Chæronea, and with all -the hostile measures that had since been adopted at Athens towards his -father and himself, particularly with the principal share in the revolt -of Thebes. - -In the assembly which was held to consider this requisition, Phocion, -it is said, both counselled the people to surrender the objects of the -conqueror’s resentment or apprehensions, and exhorted the elected victims -to devote themselves spontaneously for the public weal. Demosthenes is -reported to have quoted the fable of the wolf who called on the sheep to -give up their dogs. The people wavered between fear and reluctance, till -Demades stept in to remove the difficulty. He undertook--it was commonly -believed for a fee of five talents--to appease Alexander, and save the -threatened lives. He found the king satiated with the punishment of the -Thebans, and disposed for an exercise of mercy which might soften the -impression it had produced on the minds of the Greeks. He remitted his -demand with respect to all except Charidemus, who perhaps had incurred -his peculiar displeasure by his conduct at Ægæ after Philip’s death, and -who now embarked for Asia, and proceeded to the Persian court. - -The conqueror celebrated his return to Macedonia with an Olympic festival -at Ægæ, and with games in honour of the Muses at Dium in Pieria. The -inhabitants of Dium held the memory of Orpheus in great reverence, and -boasted of the possession of his bones. At the time of the games it was -reported that a statue of the ancient bard, which perhaps adorned his -monument near the town, had been seen bathed in sweat. Alexander’s Lycian -soothsayer, Aristander of Telmessus, bade him hail the omen: it signified -that the masters of epic and lyric poetry should be wearied by the tale -of his achievements. These achievements will now for some time claim our -undivided attention.[h] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[19] [It is a bishop and a doctor of divinity, Thirlwall, who justifies -this mummery. If it is “excusable” and almost “pious,” the trickeries of -Philip merit the same tender consideration.] - -[Illustration: GREEK HARVESTING] - - - - -[Illustration: APOLLO AND MERCURY] - - - - -CHAPTER LI. ALEXANDER INVADES ASIA - - -SCHEMES OF CONQUEST - -[Sidenote: [334 B.C.]] - -A year and some months had sufficed for Alexander to make a first display -of his energy and military skill, destined for achievements yet greater; -and to crush the growing aspirations for freedom among Greeks on the -south, as well as among Thracians on the north, of Macedonia. The ensuing -winter was employed in completing his preparations; so that early in -the spring of 334 B.C., his army destined for the conquest of Asia was -mustered between Pella and Amphipolis, while his fleet was at hand to -lend support. - -The whole of Alexander’s remaining life--from his crossing the Hellespont -in March or April 334 B.C., to his death at Babylon in June 323 B.C., -eleven years and two or three months--was passed in Asia, amidst -unceasing military operations, and ever-multiplied conquests. He never -lived to revisit Macedonia; but his achievements were on so transcendent -a scale, his acquisitions of territory so unmeasured, and his thirst for -further aggrandisement still so insatiate, that Macedonia sinks into -insignificance in the list of his possessions. Much more do the Grecian -cities dwindle into outlying appendages of a newly grown oriental empire. -During all these eleven years, the history of Greece is almost a blank, -except here and there a few scattered events. It is only at the death of -Alexander that the Grecian cities again awaken into active movement. - -The Asiatic conquests of Alexander do not belong directly and literally -to the province of an historian of Greece. They were achieved by armies -of which the general, the principal officers, and most part of the -soldiers, were Macedonian. The Greeks who served with him were only -auxiliaries, along with the Thracians and Pæonians. Though more numerous -than all the other auxiliaries, they did not constitute, like the Ten -Thousand Greeks in the army of the younger Cyrus, the force on which -he mainly relied for victory. His chief secretary, Eumenes of Cardia, -was a Greek, and probably most of the civil and intellectual functions -connected with the service were also performed by Greeks. Many Greeks -also served in the army of Persia against him, and composed indeed a -larger proportion of the real force (disregarding mere numbers) in -the army of Darius than in that of Alexander. Hence the expedition -becomes indirectly incorporated with the stream of Grecian history by -the powerful auxiliary agency of Greeks on both sides--and still more, -by its connection with previous projects, dreams, and legends, long -antecedent to the aggrandisement of Macedon--as well as by the character -which Alexander thought fit to assume. To take revenge on Persia for -the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, and to liberate the Asiatic Greeks, -had been the scheme of the Spartan Agesilaus and of the Pheræan Jason; -with hopes grounded on the memorable expedition and safe return of the -Ten Thousand. It had been recommended by the rhetor Isocrates, first to -the combined force of Greece, while yet Grecian cities were free, under -the joint headship of Athens and Sparta; next, to Philip of Macedon -as the chief of united Greece, when his victorious arms had extorted -a recognition of headship, setting aside both Athens and Sparta. The -enterprising ambition of Philip was well pleased to be nominated chief of -Greece for the execution of this project. From him it passed to his yet -more ambitious son. - -Though really a scheme of Macedonian appetite and for Macedonian -aggrandisement, the expedition against Asia thus becomes thrust into the -series of Grecian events, under the Panhellenic pretence of retaliation -for the long-past insults of Xerxes. We call it a pretence, because it -had ceased to be a real Hellenic feeling, and served now two different -purposes: first, to ennoble the undertaking in the eyes of Alexander -himself, whose mind was very accessible to religious and legendary -sentiment, and who willingly identified himself with Agamemnon or -Achilles, immortalised as executors of the collective vengeance of Greece -for Asiatic insult; next, to assist in keeping the Greeks quiet during -his absence. He was himself aware that the real sympathies of the Greeks -were rather adverse than favourable to his success. - -Apart from this body of extinct sentiment, ostentatiously rekindled -for Alexander’s purposes, the position of the Greeks in reference to -his Asiatic conquests was very much the same as that of the German -contingents, especially those of the confederation of the Rhine, who -served in the grand army with which the emperor Napoleon invaded Russia -in 1812. They had no public interest in the victory of the invader, -which could end only by reducing them to still greater prostration. They -were likely to adhere to their leader as long as his power continued -unimpaired, but no longer. Yet Napoleon thought himself entitled to -reckon upon them as if they had been Frenchmen, and to denounce the -Germans in the service of Russia as traitors who had forfeited the -allegiance which they owed to him. We find him drawing the same pointed -distinction between the Russian and the German prisoners taken, as -Alexander made between Asiatic and Grecian prisoners. These Grecian -prisoners the Macedonian prince reproached as guilty of treason against -the proclaimed statute of collective Hellas, whereby he had been declared -General and the Persian king a public enemy. - -Hellas, as a political aggregate, has now ceased to exist, except in so -far as Alexander employs the name for his own purposes. Its component -members are annexed as appendages, doubtless of considerable value, to -the Macedonian kingdom. Fourteen years before Alexander’s accession, -Demosthenes, while instigating the Athenians to uphold Olynthus -against Philip, had told them: “The Macedonian power, considered as -an appendage, is of no mean value; but by itself, it is weak and full -of embarrassments.” Inverting the position of the parties, these -words represent exactly what Greece herself had become, in reference -to Macedonia and Persia, at the time of Alexander’s accession. Had -the Persians played their game with tolerable prudence and vigour, -his success would have been measured by the degree to which he could -appropriate Grecian force to himself, and withhold it from his enemy. - -Alexander’s memorable and illustrious manifestations, on which we are -now entering, are those, not of the ruler or politician, but of the -general and the soldier. In his character his appearance forms a sort of -historical epoch. It is not merely in soldier-like qualities--in the most -forward and even adventurous bravery, in indefatigable personal activity, -and in endurance as to hardship and fatigue--that he stands pre-eminent; -though these qualities alone, when found in a king, act so powerfully on -those under his command, that they suffice to produce great achievements, -even when combined with generalship not surpassing the average of his -age. But in generalship, Alexander was yet more above the level of his -contemporaries. His strategic combinations, his employment of different -descriptions of force conspiring towards one end, his long-sighted plans -for the prosecution of campaigns, his constant foresight and resource -against new difficulties, together with rapidity of movement even in -the worst country--all on a scale of prodigious magnitude--are without -parallel in ancient history. They carry the art of systematic and -scientific warfare to a degree of efficiency, such as even successors -trained in his school were unable to keep up unimpaired.[b] - - -THE PROBLEM AND THE TROOPS - -At a first glance Alexander’s projects appear to bear no slight -disproportion to the resources at his disposal. In superficial extension -his kingdom (even inclusive of Greece) was barely equal to one-fiftieth -of the Persian empire, and the numerical proportion of his fighting power -to that of Persia by sea and land was even less in his favour. If we add -that at Philip’s death the Macedonian treasury was exhausted, that the -greater part of the royal domain had been given away; that most of the -imposts and tributes had been remitted; and finally that, while enormous -stores of gold and silver lay amassed in the treasuries of the Persian -empire, Alexander, on the completion of his armaments, which cost him -eight hundred talents [about £160,000 or $800,000] had no more than -seventy talents [£14,000 or $70,000] left to begin the war with Asia--the -enterprise does in truth appear foolhardy and almost chimerical. - -But a closer study of the circumstances shows that Alexander’s projects, -though certainly bold, were not rash, but came within the compass of -the forces and expedients at his command. To realise the possibility -and necessity of their success, to understand the organisation of his -army and the character of its operations, we must forget the analogies -of modern campaigns, since war--as little dependent as anything else in -history on normal laws and conditions--changes its theory and purpose -with the change of the local and historical conditions involved. The -armies which conquered the East were unable to withstand the legions of -Rome. - -With reference to the financial considerations we must first bear in mind -that Alexander invaded an enemy’s country, where he might reasonably -expect to find treasure and stores of all sorts. When once his host -was armed and provided with money and food enough to last till they -encountered the foe, he had no further need of a large war-fund; the -wars of his time not being rendered costly by expensive ammunition and -elaborate transport. Thus the lack of money did not hamper Alexander, -while the vaunted treasures of the Great King and the Persian satraps -made them all the more welcome as the adversaries to the Macedonian -soldiery. - -[Illustration: STATUE OF ALEXANDER] - -The disproportion of the Macedonian sea-power seems a more serious -matter. The Persian king could command four hundred sail, his fleet -was that of the Phœnicians, the best seamen of the ancient world, and, -in their last sea-fight at least, they had defeated the Hellenes. The -Macedonian sea-power, founded by Philip but never yet put to the test, -was insignificant, and the fleet which was to sail against the Persians -consisted mainly of the triremes of the Greek confederacy, from whom an -extreme devotion was naturally not to be expected. Alexander’s plans were -based entirely upon the excellence of his land forces, and the only use -of the fleet was to insure the safety of these in their first movements. -When this object had been achieved it became a burden, and Alexander -therefore soon took the opportunity of dismissing it. - -Lastly, to turn to the Macedonian army, we cannot but recognise in its -organisation a rare combination of fortunate circumstance and great -military talent. The moral superiority of the Greek army, as opposed -to the material superiority of the Persians, had been more and more -gloriously proven in almost every war for the last two centuries. The -more highly the art of war was developed among the Greeks by civil and -foreign strife, the more formidable did they become to the troops of -the Persian empire; Alexander’s army, full of martial ardour and proud -memories, skilled in all the technicalities of the military profession, -and notable by reason of its thoroughly practical organisation as the -first strategic body known to history, bore in itself the certainty of -victory. - -The armies of Asia have always been characterised by the vehemence of -their onslaught, their overwhelming numbers, and their wild rushes hither -and thither, which make them formidable even in flight. In addition -to this there were many thousands of Greeks in Persian pay, so that -Alexander could not reckon on having to wage war merely on barbarians, -but had to look for Hellenic arms, courage, and military skill, on the -part of the enemy. Finally, in accordance with the natural scope of his -great enterprise, the mobility necessary for taking offensive, and the -stability essential to military occupation, had both to be considered in -the constitution of his army. - - -THE SIZE OF THE ARMY - -In Philip’s time the Macedonian forces had consisted of thirty thousand -infantry and from three to four thousand horsemen. Alexander had led -about the same number of troops against Thebes. On his departure for -Asia he left twelve thousand foot-soldiers and fifteen hundred mounted -men in Macedonia under the command of Antipater, and their place was -taken by eighteen hundred Thessalian knights, five thousand Greek -mercenaries, and seven thousand heavy-armed troops furnished by the Greek -states. Besides these he had in his following five thousand Triballians, -Odrysians, Illyrians, etc., from one to two thousand archers and -Agrianian light infantry, Greek cavalry to the number of six hundred, -Thracian and Pæonian to the number of nine hundred. The sum total of his -troops therefore amounted to not much over 30,000 infantry and a little -more than 5,000 horse. This, with slight divergencies suggested by the -details of the narrative, is the estimate of Diodorus. Ptolemy Lagi -gives the same figures in his _Memorabilia_, and Arrian repeats them -after him. When Anaximenes reckons thirty-four thousand men on foot and -five thousand five hundred on horseback he perhaps includes the corps -which had already been despatched to Asia by Philip. The estimate of -Callisthenes, 40,000 infantry, is obviously too high. - -The whole body of infantry and cavalry was not divided into legions or -brigades, but into troops bearing the same weapons and, to some extent, -recruited from the same district. The very advantages of a Macedonian -army rendered necessary an arrangement which would be unsatisfactory -under present conditions; the phalanx would have been no phalanx if -it had fought with cavalry, light infantry, and Thracian slingers all -combined into a complete army in miniature. It is the general use of -small fighting units which has made it necessary for the parts of an army -to be self sufficient, and to repeat on a small scale the organisation -of the whole. Against such an enemy as the Asiatic hordes--collected -together for a pitched battle without previous discipline or training, -giving up all for lost after a single defeat, and gaining nothing but -renewed danger by a victory over organised troops--against such an -enemy, solid and homogeneous masses have the advantage of simplicity, -weight, and internal stability, and in the same region where Alexander’s -phalanx overpowered the army of Darius the Roman legions succumbed to the -vehement onslaught of the Parthians. On the whole, Alexander’s army was -well adapted for such pitched battles, and hence the bulk of it consisted -of his phalanxes and heavy cavalry. - - -THE PHALANX AND THE CAVALRY - -[Illustration: A SOLDIER OF ALEXANDER’S PHALANX] - -The peculiar character of the phalanx was due to the weapons and -co-ordination of the individual members. They were heavily armed -according to Greek ideas, equipped with helmets, armour, and a shield -which protected the whole body, and their chief weapons were the -Macedonian sarissa, a lance more than twenty feet long, and the short -Greek sword. Intended solely for close fighting in the mass, they had -to be so arranged as to be able, on the one hand, calmly to await the -fiercest onset of the enemy, and on the other, to be sure of breaking -through the opposing ranks with a rush. They therefore usually stood -sixteen deep, the lances of the first five files projecting beyond the -front, an impenetrable and indeed unassailable barrier to the advancing -enemy; the hinder files laid their sarissa on the shoulders of those in -front, so that the charge of the phalanx was irresistible from the double -force of weight and motion. Nothing but the thorough gymnastic training -of the individual members of the phalanx rendered possible the unity, -precision, and rapidity necessary for the very difficult evolutions of a -body of men crowded into so small a space. Alexander had about eighteen -thousand of these heavy-armed soldiers, the so-called foot-guards, and at -the beginning of the campaign they were divided into six divisions under -the generals Perdiccas, Cœnus, Craterus, Amyntas the son of Andromenes, -Meleager, and Philip the son of Amyntas. The nucleus of these troops at -least was Macedonian, and the divisions were named after the Macedonian -districts from which they were recruited; thus the division under Cœnus -came from Elimea, that under Perdiccas from Orestis and Lyncestis, that -of Philip (afterwards led by Polysperchon) from Stymphæa, etc. - -What the phalanx was among the infantry, the Macedonian and Thessalian -_ilai_ were among the cavalry. Both were composed of heavy-armed soldiers -and consisted of the nobility of Macedonia and Thessaly; equal in arms, -in birth, and in fame, they vied with each other in distinguishing -themselves in the eyes of the king, who usually fought at their head. -The importance of this arm to Alexander’s enterprise was proved in -almost every fight; terrible alike in single combat and in charges in -the mass, their discipline and armour rendered them superior to the -light Asiatic cavalry, however great their numbers, and their onslaught -on the enemy’s foot was generally decisive. According to the estimate -of Diodorus, the knighthood of Macedonia and Thessaly each consisted of -five hundred knights; but he, like Callisthenes, sets the cavalry of the -Macedonian army at no more than four thousand five hundred men, while -the best authorities place it at over five thousand. The two bodies of -knights were armed alike--Calas, the son of Harpalus, had command of the -Thessalians; Philotas, the son of Parmenion, of the Macedonians. - -The latter naturally took the highest rank of the whole Macedonian army, -and bore the name of the “guards” or the “king’s guards.” It consisted -of eight _ilai_ or squadrons, which were called indifferently by the -names of their districts or of their _ilarchoi_ (colonels). That under -Clitus called the royal _ile_, held the first rank among the Macedonian -knighthood and formed the _agema_ or royal guard. Besides these knights -from Macedonia and Thessaly, there were six hundred more Greek horsemen -in the army; they were usually attached to the Thessalian squadron, and -seemed to have been similarly armed and drilled. They were commanded by -Philip, the son of Menelaus. - -Next in rank comes that peculiarly Macedonian body, the hypaspists. The -Athenians under Iphicrates had already instituted, under the name of -peltasts, a corps with linen corslets, and lighter shields and longer -swords than those carried by the hoplites, in order to have a force -swifter in attack than the latter and heavier than the light-armed -troops. This new kind of corps was received with great approval in -Macedonia; the soldier of the phalanx was too heavily armed for service -about the person of the king, the light armed soldier was neither -dignified nor serviceable enough. This intermediate force was selected -for the purpose, and received the name of hypaspists from the long -shield, the aspis, as it was called, which they had adopted from the -phalanx. This force was of enormous value in a war against Asiatic -tribes, for the lie of the land hampered only too often the full use -of the phalanx, and it was often essential to attempt surprises, -quick marches, and strokes of all sorts for which the phalanx was not -sufficiently mobile nor the light troops sufficiently steady. For -occupying heights, forcing the passage of rivers, and supporting and -following up cavalry charges, these hypaspists were admirably adapted. -Their numbers amounted to six thousand men. The whole corps was led by -Nicanor, whose brother, Philotas, commanded the knights of the guard, -and whose father, Parmenion, is described as general of the phalanxes. -The first chiliarchy was that of Seleucus; it bore the title of “royal -hypaspists,” and in its ranks the sons of noble families saw their first -military service as pages of the king. The second bore the title of -“royal escort of hypaspists,” and kept guard over the king’s tent. - - -THE LIGHT TROOPS - -The light troops of the Macedonian army were of peculiar importance. -They came from the countries of the Odrysians, Triballians, Illyrians, -Agrians, and from upper Macedonia; they were armed with their national -weapons of offence and defence, and exercised by the hunting and raiding -to which they were accustomed at home and the countless petty wars of -their chieftains, they were of extreme value in skirmishing, covering the -line of march, and for all the purposes served by Pandours, Croats, and -Highlanders in modern warfare. The most famous among them are the Agrian -chasseurs and the Macedonian archers, who may have formed together a -corps of about two thousand men. There is hardly a battle in which they -do not play a prominent part, and the devotion with which they fought -is testified by the circumstance that the post of toxarch had to be -filled afresh three times in one year. At the opening of the campaign -it was held by Clearchus, Attalus being in command of the Agrianians. -The strength of the other light troops, usually known by the general -designation of Thracians, was five thousand men, under the command of the -Thracian prince Sitalces. - -It is obvious that in these troops Alexander brought into use a -strategic element hitherto practically non-existent. At all events, the -light troops of the Greek armies before his time had been of no great -importance, either by numbers or by the uses which they served; nor had -they escaped a certain amount of contempt--a natural result of the Greek -preference for sword-play, rendered more natural by the fact that their -light infantry was composed partly of the off-scouring of the people -and partly of barbarian mercenaries. There now appeared on the scene -light troops whose national characteristics proved advantageous in this -particular kind of fighting, and whose strength and glory lay in those -arts of surprise, alarm, and retreat in apparent confusion, which seemed -purposeless and questionable to Greek warriors. The famous Spartan -general Brasidas himself confessed that the onset of these tribes--with -their loud war-cries and the menacing waving of their weapons--had in it -something alarming; their capricious transition from attack to flight, -and from disorder to pursuit something terrible, against which nothing -but the strict discipline of a Hellenic regiment could make it proof. -As a matter of fact, these bands were able to fulfil their object to -perfection because, being light troops by nature, they needed, when -combined with the serried masses of the army, to be used for no purpose -except that for which they were naturally fit. - -The fundamental principle of the battle array of the Macedonian army -was as follows. The army formed two wings, the left under Parmenion, -and the right (which usually made the main attack) under Alexander. The -infantry of both wings, four divisions of the phalanxes on the right and -two, with the corps of hypaspists, on the left, formed the main line, to -which were attached the light and heavy cavalry and the light infantry; -the invariable order being that the Macedonian guards were on the right, -with the Pæonian cavalry and skirmishers, the Agrianian chasseurs and the -archers; and the Thessalian guards on the left, with the Greek cavalry, -Agathon’s Odrysian Thracians, and, lastly, the light infantry, which was -often detached from the fighting-line to protect the camp and baggage. -In the closest formation, when the phalanx was covered by its shields -and stood sixteen deep, and the cavalry eight deep, the line of battle -required a plain of at least half a mile in breadth to deploy in, as a -rule the phalanxes alone forming a line nearly five thousand paces long. - -Such was the army with which Alexander proposed to conquer the East. -Though relatively small in numbers it had every prospect of success by -reason of its organisation, the excellent discipline of the several -corps, the moral force of all, and finally, the personal character of -the king and his generals. The Persian empire was not in a position to -offer resistance; in its extent, the condition of its subject races, -and the inefficiency of its government it contained the elements of its -inevitable ruin. - - -THE CONDITION OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE - -If we consider the condition of the Persian empire at the time Darius -Codomannus ascended the throne, we see plainly how completely it was -disintegrated and ripe for dissolution. The cause did not lie in the -moral corruption of the court, of the ruling race, and of the peoples it -ruled. This corruption, the invariable accompaniment of despotism, is -never prejudicial to despotic power; and the greatest empire of modern -times gives proof that in the midst of the most shocking profligacy at -court, of constant cabals and scandals among the nobles, violent changes -of dynasty and unnatural cruelty to the party all-powerful up to the -moment of change, despotism enlarges its borders more and more. Persia’s -misfortune was to have a succession of weak rulers, who were unable to -hold the reins of power as firmly as was essential in the interests of -the cohesion of the empire; and the consequence was that the people lost -the slavish fear, the satraps the blind obedience, the whole empire the -only unity which held it together. Thence there grew in the subject -peoples, all of whom retained their old religion, laws, and customs, -and some their native princes, the longing for independence; in the -satraps, too, powerful vicegerents of large and remote districts, the -lust of independent power; in the ruling race--which had forgotten in the -possession and habit of command the very conditions of its establishment -and continuance--indifference to the Great King and the stock of the -Achæmenides. In the hundred years of almost complete inaction which -followed Xerxes’ invasion of Europe, a singular development of the art of -war had taken place, and Asia had lost the capacity for coping with it; -Greek weapons seemed more powerful than the immense hordes of Persia the -satraps trusted to in their rebellions and King Ochus in his campaign to -suppress the revolt in Egypt; so that the empire founded by the victories -of Persian arms was forced to protect itself by the help of Greek -mercenaries. - -It is true that Ochus had succeeded in restoring the external unity of -the empire and in asserting his power with the fanatical severity proper -to despotism; but it was too late. He sank into inaction and impotence, -the satraps retained their too lofty station, and in the revival of -oppression the subject peoples, particularly those of the western -satrapies, did not forget that they had all but thrown it off. - -[Illustration: A GREEK GENERAL - -(After Hope)] - -Finally, after fresh and frightful complications, Darius came to the -throne. To save the empire he should have been energetic rather than -virtuous, cruel rather than mild, arbitrary rather than honourable. He -gained the respect of the Persians, all the satraps were devoted to him; -but that could not save Persia. He was not feared but loved, and time was -soon to show that the nobles of the empire preferred their own advantage -to the favour or the service of a master in whom they could admire all -but his imperial qualities. - -The empire of Darius extended from the Indus to the Hellenic Sea, from -the Jaxartes to the Libyan desert. His rule, or rather, the rule of his -satraps, did not vary with the character of the various races they ruled; -it was nowhere a national form of government, nor had it anywhere the -guarantee of a dependent organisation; their power was limited to the -satisfaction of arbitrary caprice, the exaction of perpetual impositions, -and a kind of hereditary tenure which had grown customary under weak -princes. Thus the Great King had hardly any authority over them except -the force of arms or such as they chose to recognise for personal -reasons. The conditions which existed everywhere within the Persian -empire merely rendered the mouldering colossus less capable of rising in -its own defence. - -The tribes of Iran, Turania, and Ariana were indeed warlike, and happy -under any rule which led them to battle and plunder, and horsemen from -Hyrcania, Bactria, and Sogdiana formed the standing army of the satraps -in most provinces, but there was no great attachment to the Persian -empire to be found among them, and terrible as their onslaught had been -in the armies of Cyrus and Cambyses, they were wholly incapable of a -serious and prolonged defence, especially when opposed to Greek prowess -and military skill. - -And as for the western tribes, which were held in subjection only by -force, and often with difficulty, they were certain to abandon the -Persian cause if a victorious enemy approached their borders. - -The Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor were barely kept in subjection by -tyrants who depended for their existence on the empire and its satraps, -and the inland tribes of the peninsula, after two centuries of stern -oppression, had neither the power nor the will to rise in the cause of -Persia. They had not even taken part in the previous rebellions of the -satrapies of Asia Minor, they were dull, indolent, and forgetful of their -past. The same held good of the two Syrias on either side of the water; -long centuries of slavery had reduced the inhabitants to the lowest stage -of enervation, and with repulsive indifference they submitted to whatever -fate overtook them. On the coast of Phœnicia alone the old versatile life -survived, and with it more danger than devotion to Persia; and nothing -but private interest and jealousy of Sidon kept Tyre faithful to the -Persians. Lastly, Egypt had never relaxed or disguised her hatred of the -foreigners, and the devastations of Ochus might cripple but could never -subdue her. All the countries conquered to its own perdition by the -Persian empire were to all intents and purposes lost at the first attack -from the West.[c] - - -THE ENTRY INTO ASIA, ACCORDING TO ARRIAN - -In the spring of 334 B.C., Alexander completed his preparations and moved -towards the Hellespont (leaving the administration of the affairs in -Greece in Antipater’s hands), and carried an army of foot, consisting of -archers and light-armed soldiers, about thirty thousand, and a little -above five thousand horse. He first directed his march to Amphipolis, -by way of the lake Cercynites, and thence to the mouths of the river -Strymon, which having crossed, he passed by Mount Pangea, along the -road leading to Abdera and Maronea, maritime cities of Greece. Thence -he marched to the river Hebrus, which being easily forded, he proceeded -through the country of Plætis to the river Melas, and thence, on the -twentieth day after his departure from Macedon, he arrived at Sestos, -whence marching to Elæus, he sacrificed upon the tomb of Protesilaus, -because he, of all the Greeks who accompanied Agamemnon to the siege of -Troy, set his foot first on the Asiatic shore. - -[Illustration: GREEK WINE JUG - -(Bardon)] - -The design of this sacrifice was, that his descent into Asia might be -more successful to him, than the former was to Protesilaus. Then having -committed to Parmenion the care of conveying the greatest part both -of the horse and foot from Sestos to Abydos, they were accordingly -transported in 160 trireme galleys, besides many other vessels of burden. -Several authors report, that Alexander sailed from Elæus, another port -in Greece, himself commanding the flag-ship; and also, that when he was -in the middle of the Hellespont, he offered a bull to Neptune and the -Nereids; and poured forth a libation into the sea from a golden cup. He -is moreover said first of all to have stepped on shore in Asia completely -armed, and to have erected altars to Jupiter Descensor, and to Pallas -and Hercules. When he came to Ilium, he sacrificed to Pallas Iliaca, -and having fixed the arms he then wore in her temple, he took down from -thence some consecrated armour, which had remained there from the time -of the Trojan War. This armour, some targeteers were always wont to bear -before him, in his expedition. He is also said to have sacrificed to -Priam upon the altar of Jupiter Herceios, that he might thereby avert the -wrath of his manes from the progeny of Pyrrhus, whence he deduced his -pedigree. - -When he arrived at Ilium, Menetius, the governor, crowned him with a -crown of gold; the same did Chares the Athenian, who came for that -purpose from Sigeum; and several others, as well Greeks as Asiatics, -followed their example. He then encircled the sepulchre of Achilles with -a garland (as Hephæstion did that of Patroclus) and pronounced him happy, -who had such a herald as Homer to perpetuate his name; and indeed he was -deservedly so styled, because that single accident had raised him to -the highest pitch of human glory. As to his actions, none had hitherto -described them in a suitable manner, either in prose or verse, neither -had any attempted them in a lyric strain, as the poets had, heretofore, -done those of Hiero, Gelo, Theron, and many more, whose exploits were no -ways comparable to his; for which reason his greatest acts are less known -than the least and most inconsiderable of many ancient generals.[e] - - -THE BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS - -The army, when reviewed on the Asiatic shore after its crossing, -presented a total of thirty thousand infantry, and forty-five hundred -cavalry, thus distributed: - - INFANTRY - - Macedonian phalanx and hypaspists 12,000 - Allies 7,000 - Mercenaries 5,000 - ------ - Under the command of Parmenion 24,000 - Odrysians, Triballi (both Thracians), and Illyrians 5,000 - Agrianes and archers 1,000 - ------ - Total infantry 30,000 - - CAVALRY - - Macedonian heavy--under Philotas son of Parmenion 1,500 - Thessalian (also heavy)--under Calas 1,500 - Miscellaneous Grecian--under Erigyius 600 - Thracian and Pæonian (light)--under Cassander 900 - ------ - Total cavalry 4,500 - -Such seems the most trustworthy enumeration of Alexander’s first invading -army. There were, however, other accounts, the highest of which stated -as much as forty-three thousand infantry with four thousand cavalry. -Besides these troops, also, there must have been an effective train of -projectile machines and engines, for battles and sieges, which we shall -soon find in operation. As to money, the military chest of Alexander, -exhausted in part by profuse donatives to his Macedonian officers, was as -poorly furnished as that of Napoleon Bonaparte on first entering Italy -for his brilliant campaign of 1796. According to Aristobulus, he had -with him only seventy talents [£14,000 or $70,000]; according to another -authority, no more than the means of maintaining his army for thirty days. - -Previously the Macedonian generals Parmenion and Calas had crossed into -Asia with bodies of troops. Parmenion, acting in Æolis, took Grynia, but -was compelled by Memnon to raise the siege of Pitane; while Calas, in the -Troad, was attacked, defeated, and compelled to retire to Rhœteum. - -We thus see that during the season preceding the landing of Alexander, -the Persians were in considerable force, and Memnon both active and -successful even against the Macedonian generals, on the region northeast -of the Ægean. This may help to explain that fatal imprudence, whereby the -Persians permitted Alexander to carry over without opposition his grand -army into Asia, in the spring of 334 B.C. They possessed ample means of -guarding the Hellespont, had they chosen to bring up their fleet, which, -comprising as it did the force of the Phœnician towns, was decidedly -superior to any naval armament at the disposal of Alexander. The -Persian fleet actually came into the Ægean a few weeks afterwards. Now -Alexander’s designs, preparations, and even intended time of march, must -have been well known not merely to Memnon, but to the Persian satraps -in Asia Minor, who had got together troops to oppose him. These satraps -unfortunately supposed themselves to be a match for him in the field, -disregarding the pronounced opinion of Memnon to the contrary, and even -overruling his prudent advice by mistrustful and calumnious imputations. - -At the time of Alexander’s landing, a powerful Persian force was already -assembled near Zelia in the Hellespontine Phrygia, under command -of Arsites the Phrygian satrap, supported by several other leading -Persians, Spithridates (satrap of Lydia and Ionia), Pharnaces, Atizyes, -Mithridates, Rheomithres, Niphates, Petines, etc. Forty of these men -were of high rank (denominated kinsmen of Darius), and distinguished for -personal valour. The greater number of the army consisted of cavalry, -including Medes, Bactrians, Hyrcanians, Cappadocians, Paphlagonians, -etc. In cavalry they greatly outnumbered Alexander; but their infantry -was much inferior in number, composed, however, in large proportion, -of Grecian mercenaries. The Persian total is given by Arrian as twenty -thousand cavalry, and nearly twenty thousand mercenary foot; by Diodorus -as ten thousand cavalry, and one hundred thousand infantry; by Justin -even at six hundred thousand. The numbers of Arrian are the more -credible; in those of Diodorus the total of infantry is certainly much -above the truth--that of cavalry probably below it. - -Memnon, who was present with his sons and with his own division, -earnestly dissuaded the Persian leaders from hazarding a battle. -Reminding them that the Macedonians were not only much superior in -infantry, but also encouraged by the leadership of Alexander, he enforced -the necessity of employing their numerous cavalry to destroy the forage -and provisions,--and if necessary, even towns themselves,--in order to -render any considerable advance of the invading force impracticable. -While keeping strictly on the defensive in Asia, he recommended that -aggressive war should be carried into Macedonia; that the fleet should -be brought up, a powerful land-force put aboard, and strenuous efforts -made, not only to attack the vulnerable points of Alexander at home, but -also to encourage active hostility against him from the Greeks and other -neighbours. - -Had his plan been energetically executed by Persian arms and money, -we can hardly doubt that Antipater in Macedonia would speedily have -found himself pressed by serious dangers and embarrassments, and that -Alexander would have been forced to come back and protect his own -dominions; perhaps prevented by the Persian fleet from bringing back his -whole army. At any rate, his schemes of Asiatic invasion must for the -time have been suspended. But he was rescued from this dilemma by the -ignorance, pride, and pecuniary interests of the Persian leaders. Unable -to appreciate Alexander’s military superiority, and conscious at the -same time of their own personal bravery, they repudiated the proposition -of retreat as dishonourable, insinuating that Memnon desired to prolong -the war in order to exalt his own importance in the eyes of Darius. This -sentiment of military dignity was further strengthened by the fact, that -the Persian military leaders, deriving all their revenues from the land, -would have been impoverished by destroying the landed produce. Arsites, -in whose territory the army stood, and upon whom the scheme would first -take effect, haughtily announced that he would not permit a single -house in it to be burned. Occupying the same satrapy as Pharnabazus had -possessed sixty years before, he felt that he would be reduced to the -same straits as Pharnabazus under the pressure of Agesilaus--“of not -being able to procure a dinner in his own country.” The proposition -of Memnon was rejected, and it was resolved to await the arrival of -Alexander on the banks of the river Granicus. - -This unimportant stream, commemorated in the _Iliad_, and immortalised -by its association with the name of Alexander, takes its rise from one -of the heights of Mount Ida near Scepsis, and flows northward into the -Propontis, which it reaches at a point somewhat east of the Greek town -of Parium. It is of no great depth: near the point where the Persians -encamped, it seems to have been fordable in many places; but its right -bank was somewhat high and steep, thus offering obstruction to an enemy’s -attack. The Persians, marching forward from Zelia, took up a position -near the eastern side of the Granicus, where the last declivities of -Mount Ida descend into the plain of Adrastea, a Greek city, situated -between Priapus and Parium. - -Meanwhile Alexander marched onward towards this position, from Arisbe -(where he had reviewed his army)--on the first day to Percote, on the -second to the river Practius, on the third to Hermotus; receiving on his -way the spontaneous surrender of the town of Priapus. Aware that the -enemy was not far distant, he threw out in advance a body of scouts under -Amyntas, consisting of four squadrons of light cavalry and one of the -heavy Macedonian (companion) cavalry. From Hermotus (the fourth day from -Arisbe) he marched towards the Granicus, in careful order, with his main -phalanx in double files, his cavalry on each wing, and the baggage in the -rear. On approaching the river, he made his dispositions for immediate -attack, though Parmenion advised waiting until the next morning. Knowing -well, like Memnon on the other side, that the chances of a pitched battle -were all against the Persians, he resolved to leave them no opportunity -of decamping during the night. - -Alexander himself took the command of the right, giving that of the -left to Parmenion; by right and left are meant the two halves of the -army, each of them including three _taxeis_ or divisions of the phalanx -with the cavalry on its flank--for there was no recognised centre under -a distinct command. On the other side of the Granicus, the Persian -cavalry lined the bank. The Medes and Bactrians were on their right, -under Rheomithres--the Paphlagonians and Hyrcanians in the centre, under -Arsites and Spithridates--on the left were Memnon and Arsamenes with -their divisions. The Persian infantry, both Asiatic and Grecian, were -kept back in reserve; the cavalry alone being relied upon to dispute the -passage of the river. - -In this array, both parties remained for some time, watching each -other in anxious silence. There being no firing or smoke, as with -modern armies, all the details on each side were clearly visible to the -other; so that the Persians easily recognised Alexander himself on the -Macedonian right from the splendour of his armour and military costume, -as well as from the respectful demeanour of those around him. Their -principal leaders accordingly thronged to their own left, which they -reinforced with the main strength of their cavalry, in order to oppose -him personally. Presently he addressed a few words of encouragement to -the troops, and gave the order for advance. He directed the first attack -to be made by the squadron of companion-cavalry whose turn it was on that -day to take the lead (the squadrons of Apollonia, of which Socrates was -captain, commanded on this day by Ptolemæus son of Philippus), supported -by the light horse or Lancers, the Pæonian darters (infantry), and one -division of regularly armed infantry, seemingly hypaspists. He then -himself entered the river, at the head of the right half of the army, -cavalry and infantry, which advanced under sound of trumpets and with -the usual war-shouts. As the occasional depths of water prevented a -straightforward march with one uniform line, the Macedonians slanted -their course suitably to the fordable spaces; keeping their front -extended so as to approach the opposite bank as much as possible in line, -and not in separate columns with flanks exposed to the Persian cavalry. -Not merely the right under Alexander, but also the left under Parmenion, -advanced and crossed in the same movement and under the like precautions. - -The foremost detachment under Ptolemy and Amyntas, on reaching the -opposite bank, encountered a strenuous resistance, concentrated as it -was here upon one point. They found Memnon and his sons with the best -of the Persian cavalry immediately in their front; some on the summit -of the bank, from whence they hurled down their javelins--others down -at the water’s edge, so as to come to closer quarters. The Macedonians -tried every effort to make good their landing, and push their way by main -force through the Persian horse, but in vain. Having both lower ground -and insecure footing, they could make no impression, but were thrust -back with some loss, and retired upon the main body which Alexander was -now bringing across. On his approaching the shore, the same struggle -was renewed around his person with increased fervour on both sides. He -was himself among the foremost, and all near him were animated by his -example. The horsemen on both sides became jammed together, and the -contest was one of physical force and pressure by man and horse; but the -Macedonians had a great advantage in being accustomed to the use of the -strong close-fighting pike, while the Persian weapon was the missile -javelin. At length the resistance was surmounted, and Alexander, with -those around him, gradually thrusting back the defenders, made good their -way up the high bank to the level ground. At other points the resistance -was not equally vigorous. The left and centre of the Macedonians, -crossing at the same time on all practicable spaces along the whole line, -overpowered the Persians stationed on the slope, and got up to the level -ground with comparative facility. Indeed no cavalry could possibly stand -on the bank to offer opposition to the phalanx with its array of long -pikes, wherever this could reach the ascent in any continuous front. The -easy crossing of the Macedonians at other points helped to constrain -those Persians, who were contending with Alexander himself on the slope, -to recede to the level ground above. - - -_Courage and Danger of Alexander_ - -Here again, as at the water’s edge, Alexander was foremost in personal -conflict. His pike having been broken, he turned to a soldier near -him--Aretis, one of the horse-guards who generally aided him in mounting -his horse--and asked for another. But this man, having broken his pike -also, showed the fragment to Alexander, requesting him to ask some one -else; upon which the Corinthian Demaratus, one of the companion-cavalry -close at hand, gave him his weapon instead. Thus armed anew, Alexander -spurred his horse forward against Mithridates (son-in-law of Darius), -who was bringing up a column of cavalry to attack him, but was himself -considerably in advance of it. Alexander thrust his pike into the face -of Mithridates, and laid him prostrate on the ground: he then turned -to another of the Persian leaders, Rhœsaces, who struck him a blow on -the head with his scimitar, knocked off a portion of his helmet, but -did not penetrate beyond. Alexander avenged this blow by thrusting -Rhœsaces through the body with his pike. Meanwhile a third Persian -leader, Spithridates, was actually close behind Alexander, with hand and -scimitar uplifted to cut him down. At this critical moment, Clitus son of -Dropides--one of the ancient officers of Philip, high in the Macedonian -service--struck with full force at the uplifted arm of Spithridates and -severed it from the body, thus preserving Alexander’s life. Other leading -Persians, kinsmen of Spithridates, rushed desperately on Alexander, -who received many blows on his armour, and was in much danger. But the -efforts of his companions near were redoubled, both to defend his person -and to second his adventurous daring. It was on that point that the -Persian cavalry was first broken. On the left of the Macedonian line, -the Thessalian cavalry also fought with vigour and success; and the -light-armed foot, intermingled with Alexander’s cavalry generally, did -great damage to the enemy. The rout of the Persian cavalry, once begun, -speedily became general. They fled in all directions, pursued by the -Macedonians. - -But Alexander and his officers soon checked this ardour of pursuit, -calling back their cavalry to complete his victory. The Persian infantry, -Asiatics as well as Greeks, had remained without movement or orders, -looking on the cavalry battle which had just disastrously terminated. -To them Alexander immediately turned his attention. He brought up his -phalanx and hypaspists to attack them in front, while his cavalry -assailed on all sides their unprotected flanks and rear; he himself -charged with the cavalry, and had a horse killed under him. His infantry -alone was more numerous than they, so that against such odds the result -could hardly be doubtful. The greater part of these mercenaries, after -a valiant resistance, were cut to pieces on the field. We are told that -none escaped, except two thousand made prisoners, and some who remained -concealed in the field among the dead bodies. - -In this complete and signal defeat, the loss of the Persian cavalry -was not very serious in mere number, for only one thousand of them -were slain. But the slaughter of the leading Persians, who had exposed -themselves with extreme bravery in the personal conflict against -Alexander, was terrible. There were slain not only Mithridates, Rhœsaces, -Spithridates, whose names have been already mentioned, but also -Pharnaces, brother-in-law of Darius, Mithrobarzanes satrap of Cappadocia, -Atizyes, Niphates, Petines, and others; all Persians of rank and -consequence. Arsites, the satrap of Phrygia, whose rashness had mainly -caused the rejection of Memnon’s advice, escaped from the field, but -died shortly afterwards by his own hand, from anguish and humiliation. -The Persian or Perso-Grecian infantry, though probably more of them -individually escaped than is implied in Arrian’s account, was as a body -irretrievably ruined. No force was either left in the field, or could be -afterwards reassembled in Asia Minor. - -The loss on the side of Alexander is said to have been very small. -Twenty-five of the companion-cavalry, belonging to the division under -Ptolemy and Amyntas, were slain in the first unsuccessful attempt to -pass the river. Of the other cavalry, sixty in all were slain; of the -infantry, thirty. This is given to us as the entire loss on the side of -Alexander. It is only the number of killed; that of the wounded is not -stated; but assuming it to be ten times the number of killed, the total -of both together will be 1265. If this be correct, the resistance of the -Persian cavalry, except near that point where Alexander himself and the -Persian chiefs came into conflict, cannot have been either serious or -long protracted. But when we add farther the contest with the infantry, -the smallness of the total assigned for Macedonian killed and wounded -will appear still more surprising. The total of the Persian infantry is -stated at nearly twenty thousand, most part of them Greek mercenaries. -Of these only two thousand were made prisoners; nearly all the rest -(according to Arrian) were slain. Now the Greek mercenaries were well -armed, and not likely to let themselves be slain with impunity; moreover -Plutarch expressly affirms that they resisted with desperate valour, and -that most of the Macedonian loss was incurred in the conflict against -them. It is not easy therefore to comprehend how the total number of -slain can be brought within the statement of Arrian. - -After the victory, Alexander manifested the greatest solicitude for -his wounded soldiers, whom he visited and consoled in person. Of the -twenty-five companions slain, he caused brazen statues, by Lysippus, -to be erected at Dium in Macedonia, where they were still standing in -the time of Arrian. To the surviving relatives of all the slain he also -granted immunity from taxation and from personal service. The dead -bodies were honourably buried, those of the enemy as well as of his -own soldiers. The two thousand Greeks in the Persian service who had -become his prisoners, were put in chains, and transported to Macedonia -there to work as slaves; to which treatment Alexander condemned them on -the ground that they had taken arms on behalf of the foreigner against -Greece, in contravention of the general vote passed by the synod at -Corinth. At the same time, he sent to Athens three hundred panoplies -selected from the spoil, to be dedicated to Athene in the Acropolis -with this inscription, “Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks except -the Lacedæmonians (_present these offerings_), out of the spoils of -the foreigners inhabiting Asia.” Though the vote to which Alexander -appealed represented no existing Grecian aspiration, and granted only a -sanction which could not be safely refused, yet he found satisfaction in -clothing his own self-aggrandising impulse under the name of a supposed -Panhellenic purpose: which was at the same time useful as strengthening -his hold upon the Greeks, who were the only persons competent, either -as officers or soldiers, to uphold the Persian empire against him. His -conquests were the extinction of genuine Hellenism, though they diffused -an exterior varnish of it, and especially the Greek language, over much -of the oriental world. “True Grecian interests,” says Grote, “lay more on -the side of Darius than of Alexander.” - - -EFFECTS OF ALEXANDER’S VICTORY - -No victory could be more decisive or terror-striking than that of -Alexander. There remained no force in the field to oppose him. The -impression made by so great a public catastrophe was enhanced by two -accompanying circumstances: first, by the number of Persian grandees -who perished, realising almost the wailings of Atossa, Xerxes, and the -Chorus, in the _Persæ_ of Æschylus, after the battle of Salamis; next, -by the chivalrous and successful prowess of Alexander himself, who, -emulating the Homeric Achilles, not only rushed foremost into the mêlée, -but killed two of these grandees with his own hand. Such exploits, -impressive even when we read of them now, must at the moment when -they occurred have acted most powerfully upon the imagination of the -contemporaries.[f] - - - - -[Illustration: BATTLE-FIELD OF ISSUS] - - - - -CHAPTER LII. ISSUS AND TYRE - - -Arsites had fled after the battle into Phrygia; but there, it was said, -overpowered by grief and shame by the disaster, which he attributed to -his own counsels, laid violent hands on himself. Alexander bestowed -his satrapy on Calas; encouraged the barbarians, who had fled to the -mountains, to return to their homes; and ordered the tribute to remain -on its ancient footing. Parmenion was detached to take possession of -the satrap’s residence Dascylium. The king himself, bending his march -southward, advanced towards Sardis. The news of his victory produced such -an effect in the capital of Lydia, that when he had come within eight or -nine miles of it, Mithrines, the commander of the garrison, accompanied -by the principal inhabitants, met him, with a peaceable surrender of -the city, the citadel, and the treasure. He retained Mithrines on an -honourable footing near his person, and committed the command of the -citadel to Pausanias, an officer of his guard. To conciliate the Lydians, -he restored their ancient laws; that is, abolished the restraints which -the policy of the Persian government had imposed on them, when it crushed -their rebellion after the first conquest: while, perhaps to make them -more familiar with Greek usages, he ordered a temple to be built on the -citadel to Olympian Zeus. A body of cavalry and light troops and the -Argive contingent were left as a garrison. - -Four days after, Alexander arrived at Ephesus. There too, as soon as -the tidings of the battle arrived, a body of mercenaries who had been -stationed there by Memnon took ship with Amyntas, son of Antiochus, a -Macedonian emigrant, who had fled his country to avoid the effects of the -king’s displeasure, or because he was conscious of a share in some of the -plots formed against him. Ephesus was divided between an oligarchical -and a democratical faction, which seem nearly to have balanced each -other. The oligarchy had been sustained by the power of Persia: their -adversaries therefore looked forward with hope to the impending invasion, -and had probably received promises of support from Philip. Violent -tumults had taken place, in which the oligarchs, aided by Memnon’s -troops, had prevailed, forced many of their opponents to leave the city, -threw down a statue of Philip which stood in the temple, committed other -acts of sacrilege there, and broke open the tomb of Heropythes, a great -popular leader, who had been buried in the market place. A complete -reaction ensued on Alexander’s arrival: democracy was formally restored, -the exiles returned to their homes, and the triumphant party became -eager for revenge on their vanquished oppressors. Alexander interfered -to prevent bloodshed, and forbade any proceedings to be instituted for -the punishment of political offences. The city was permitted to expend -the tribute which it had before paid to the Persian government on its -new temple, which was not yet finished. At a later period he offered to -defray the whole expense of the building, on condition that his own name -should be inscribed on it as its founder--an offer which the Ephesians -declined with ingenious flattery. Before his departure he celebrated a -great sacrifice to the goddess, with a solemn procession of his whole -army in battle array. By like measures, especially by the establishment -of democracy, and remission of tribute, he endeavoured to gain the -good-will of all the other Greek cities on the coast, which was of great -importance to him at this juncture, while the naval power of Persia was -still formidable. - -In the meanwhile he had received offers of submission from Magnesia and -Tralles, in the vale of the Mæander, and had sent Parmenion forward -to take possession of them. He had also at first reason to hope that -Miletus would be as quietly surrendered to him; for Hegesistratus, who -commanded the garrison, had made him like offers by letter. But the -approach of a Persian armament, which was on its way from Phœnicia, -encouraged Hegesistratus to change his intention, and defend his post. -Nicanor, however, Alexander’s admiral, got the start of the barbarians, -and arrived with his fleet of 160 galleys at Lade, before they appeared: -and Alexander forthwith secured the island, which commanded the entrance -to the port of Miletus, with a detachment of four thousand men. The -Persians, finding themselves shut out, came to anchor at Mycale. Their -fleet amounted to four hundred sail. Yet, notwithstanding this great -inequality, Parmenion advised the king to hazard a sea-fight. A victory, -he thought, would be attended with the greatest advantages, while defeat -would not make the state of his naval affairs much worse--since, as -it was, the enemy were masters of the sea. An omen too, which he had -observed, confirmed him in his opinion. Alexander pointed out to him -that it might be otherwise interpreted, and that his arguments were not -sounder than his rules of divination. The Macedonian fleet was inferior, -not only in number, but in nautical skill and training to the Phœnician -and Cyprian galleys. It would be mere foolhardiness to seek a battle -under such disadvantages; and a defeat, far from leaving him in nearly -the same condition as he now stood in, might involve consequences no -less important and disastrous than a general insurrection in Greece. The -eagle which had been seen to perch on the beach behind the royal galley, -signified that he was destined to overcome the Persian navy by his -operations on land. - -Miletus was divided into two distinct cities by an inner wall, which -appears to have been much stronger than the outer one; if indeed what -was called the outer city was not a mere open suburb. Alexander had -taken it by assault on his first arrival, and then prepared to besiege -the other. The townsmen came to a compromise with the garrison, and by -mutual consent they deputed one of the most eminent citizens to the king, -with an offer of neutrality, which he rejected, bidding them prepare to -sustain an immediate attack. His enginery soon made a breach in the wall, -which his troops mounted before the eyes of the Persians, who were unable -to relieve their friends; for, to cut off all chance of succour, Nicanor -had moved up to the mouth of the inner harbour, and laid some galleys -across it side by side, so as effectually to bar entrance or escape. The -citizens and the garrison, when the besiegers began to pour in through -the breach, fled toward the sea; some put off in boats, but found the -harbour’s mouth closed before they reached it; about three hundred of -the mercenaries swam to a rocky islet within the harbour, and prepared -to defend themselves there, until Alexander, admiring their courage, -permitted them to purchase their lives by entering into his service. The -Persian fleet continued for some time moored at Mycale, in the hope of -drawing the enemy into an action; but as it was forced to fetch its water -from the mouth of the Mæander, Alexander ordered Philotas to proceed to -the place, with a body of infantry and cavalry, and to hinder the crews -from landing. The fleet was consequently obliged to go over to Samos -for provisions: it returned shortly after, and attempted to surprise -the Macedonians in the harbour; but having been foiled in this attempt, -withdrew from the coast of Miletus. - -Alexander now perceived that his fleet would be of little service to him, -while the state of his finances was such that he could ill bear the cost -of it. On the other hand, he hoped to shut out the Persians from all -the ports of Asia, and thus to disable them from continuing their naval -operations. He therefore resolved to dismiss his fleet, retaining only a -small squadron, which included the Athenian galleys, for the transport of -his besieging machines, and to confine his attention to the prosecution -of the war on the southern coast. - - -HALICARNASSUS - -His first object was the reduction of Halicarnassus, where the enemy had -now collected almost all the strength which he had remaining in this -quarter. Memnon, who after the battle of the Granicus sent his wife and -children as pledges of his fidelity to Darius, and had been invested by -him with supreme authority in the west of Asia, and with the command of -all his naval forces, had been long making preparations for the defence -of the place, where he himself, with the Persian Orontobates, satrap -of Caria, a numerous garrison of Greeks and barbarians, awaited the -invader’s approach. They were animated by the presence of two Athenians, -Ephialtes and Thrasybulus, who had come to offer their services against -the common enemy. The fleet too, lying at the mouth of the harbour, was -capable of rendering good service during a siege. The city, built on -heights which rise abruptly in the form of a theatre from the sea, was -naturally strong, and had been elaborately fortified, both with walls -and a ditch forty-five feet in width, and about half as many in depth. -Alexander, on his march from Miletus, made himself master of all the -towns that lay between that city and Halicarnassus; and on his entrance -into Caria, he was met by Ada, the widow of Idrieus, who surrendered -her fortress of Alinda to him, begged leave to adopt him as her son, -and placed herself under his protection. He then advanced towards -Halicarnassus, and encamped at about half a mile from the walls. - -He began by filling up the ditch, so as to enable his engines and wooden -towers to approach the walls. The besieged made many vigorous sallies for -the purpose of setting fire to the machines, but were always repulsed, -and sometimes with great loss. Once a mad attempt of two Macedonian -soldiers, who, having challenged one another over their cups to a trial -of valour, undertook to storm the citadel on the land side alone, brought -on an engagement, which was near becoming general, and might have ended -in the capture of the city. For two towers and the intervening wall had -been battered down by the engines; but before advantage was taken of the -breach, the besieged built another brick wall in the form of a crescent -behind it. Twice they made a desperate attempt to destroy the engines -which Alexander brought to play on this new wall--the second time, at -the instigation of Ephialtes, with their whole force; but they were -defeated with great slaughter, in which Ephialtes himself fell, and it -was believed that Alexander might then have stormed the place, but was -induced to spare it by the hope that it would soon surrender. In fact, -Memnon and Orontobates now despaired of defending it much longer, and -resolved to abandon it. In the dead of the night they set fire to a -wooden tower, and to some of the houses and magazines near the wall, and -while the conflagration spread, made their escape, and crossed over to -Cos, where it seems they had previously deposited their treasures. The -garrison took refuge, some in the citadels, some in Arconnesus. Alexander -immediately entered the city, and checked the progress of the flames. -But as soon as he had become master of it, he razed it to the ground. He -did not however think it worth while to stay, until he had dislodged the -enemy from their remaining strongholds; but having committed the province -to Ada, he left her, with about three thousand foot and two hundred -horse, under a Macedonian officer, to reduce them. He himself pursued his -march along the south coast of Asia Minor, to make himself master of the -ports which might harbour the Persian fleet. - -But as winter was now approaching, he determined, before he left Caria, -to send a part of his troops, who had lately married when he set out on -his expedition, back to Macedonia, to pass the winter at home. He gave -the command of them to three of his generals, who were themselves in the -same case; directing them on their return to bring with them as many -fresh troops as they could raise. The measure was politic, as well as -gracious; for his army had been much weakened to supply so many garrisons -as were required for the conquered cities; and nothing was more likely -to promote the levies in Macedonia, than the presence of the victorious -warriors, whose return attested at once his success and his liberality. -Another officer was sent to collect all the troops he could in -Peloponnesus. Parmenion was ordered to proceed with the greater part of -the cavalry and the baggage to Sardis, and thence into Phrygia, where he -himself, after he should have traversed the coast of Lycia and Pamphylia, -designed to meet him in the spring. - -In his march through Caria he met with a short resistance from the -garrison of the strong fortress Hyparna; and turned aside to punish the -insolence of the inhabitants of Marmora in Peræa. After he had crossed -the Xanthus, he received the submission of most of the Lycian towns. -Phaselis even presented him with a golden crown; and the motive which led -it to pay him this honour may help to account for the ready submission -of the other Lycians. The people of Phaselis had suffered much from the -incursions of their neighbours, the Pisidian mountaineers, who had even -taken up a fortified position in their territory, for the purpose of -continual molestation. They hoped that Alexander would deliver them from -this annoyance, and they were not disappointed. - -He was still in the neighbourhood of Phaselis, when he was apprised of -a plot which had been formed against his life, by his namesake, the -son of Æropus, whom he had appointed to command the Thessalian cavalry -in the place of Calas, the new satrap of the Hellespontine Phrygia. It -appears that, notwithstanding this favour, the Lyncestian either could -not forgive the king for the execution of his two brothers, or could not -forget the ancient pretensions of his family to royal dignity. He had -entered into a negotiation with the Persian court through the fugitive -Amyntas, and Darius had sent down an agent named Asisines, to obtain a -secret interview with him, and to offer, if he killed his sovereign, -to raise him to the throne of Macedonia, or at least to aid him in the -attempt to secure it, with a thousand talents. The Persian emissary -had fallen into the hands of Parmenion, and revealed his business; and -Parmenion had sent him to the king. Alexander held a council on the -subject, and by its advice despatched orders to Parmenion to arrest the -Lyncestian and keep him in custody. - -[Illustration: A PERSIAN NOBLE - -(After Bardon)] - -Between Phaselis and the maritime plains of Pamphylia, the mountains -which form the southern branch of Taurus descend abruptly on the coast, -leaving only a narrow passage along the beach, and this never open but -in calm weather, or during the prevalence of a northerly wind. The -promontory was called Mount Climax. At the time when Alexander was about -to resume his march eastward, the wind was blowing from the south, -and the waves washed the foot of the cliffs. He therefore sent the -main body of his army over the mountains to Perga, by a circuitous and -difficult road, which however he had ordered to be previously cleared -by his Thracian pioneers. But for himself he determined with a few -followers to try the passage along the shore; danger and difficulty had -a charm for him which he could scarcely resist. Perhaps the wind had -already subsided; soon after it shifted to the north--a change in which -he recognised a special interposition of the gods. Yet, according to -Strabo’s authors, he found the water still nearly breast high, and had to -wade through it for a whole day. As he advanced from Perga, he was met -by an embassy from the neighbouring town of Aspendus, which lay a little -further eastward near the mouth of the Eurymedon, offering to acknowledge -his authority, but praying that they might not be compelled to receive -a Macedonian garrison. This request he granted, requiring one hundred -talents and yearly tribute, and exacting hostages for their performance. -Then he began his march towards Phrygia. - -His road led through the heart of Pisidia, where he was the more desirous -of striking terror, as its fierce and lawless inhabitants, secure in -their mountain barriers and almost impregnable fortresses, had constantly -defied the power of the Persian government. Yet he could not spare the -time which would have been necessary to reduce all its strongholds. -Termessus, situated on a steep rock, commanding a narrow pass which led -from Pisidia into Phrygia, appeared to him too strong to be attempted, -though he had dislodged the barbarians from the position which they had -taken up without the walls, and made himself master of the pass. But the -resistance of Termessus procured for him offers of alliance from its -enemy Selge, another of the principal cities, which proved very useful -to him. He stormed Sagalassus, though besides its natural strength its -inhabitants were accounted the most warlike of the Pisidians; and this -success was followed by the submission of most of the smaller towns. -He then advanced by the lake Ascania to Celænæ, where the citadel, on -an almost inaccessible rock, was guarded by a garrison of one thousand -Carians, and one hundred Greeks, placed there by the satrap of Phrygia. -It however offered to surrender unless it should be relieved within sixty -days; and Alexander thought it best to accept these conditions; and -having left a body of fifteen hundred men to observe it, and appointed -Antigonus, son of Philip, to the important satrapy of central Phrygia, he -prosecuted his march to Gordium, where he had ordered Parmenion to meet -him. - - -GORDIUM - -Arrian does not expressly state the object of this movement, which, -as Alexander designed next to make for the coast of Syria, involved -an enormous circuit. It is hardly credible that he was deterred from -advancing directly into Cilicia by the difficulty of passing through -the mountain region (the Rugged Cilicia), which immediately follows -Pamphylia. He probably thought it necessary to establish his authority in -the central provinces, so far at least as to break off their relations -with the Persian government, and thus to secure the Greek cities on the -western coast from the attacks which might have been made on them from -this quarter, if the peninsula, east of Lydia, had remained subject to -Darius. The central situation of Gordium also afforded means of easier -communication with Macedonia, which the movements of the Persian fleet -in the Ægean rendered very desirable, while it enabled him to negotiate -on a more advantageous footing with the satraps of the provinces on the -Euxine, who, when they saw him so near, might apprehend an immediate -invasion. Accordingly, it seems to have been from Gordium that he sent -Hegelochus to the coast, with orders to equip another fleet to protect -the islands which were threatened by the Persians. - -Here he was rejoined by the troops he had sent to winter by their own -hearths, accompanied by the new levies, 3000 Macedonian infantry and -650 horse, 300 from Macedonia, 200 from Thessaly, the rest from Elis. -Here also he received an embassy from Athens, which came to request -that he would release the Athenian prisoners who had been taken among -the mercenaries in the battle of the Granicus, and had been sent to -Macedonia. Alexander did not think it prudent, while he was on the eve of -a decisive contest with Darius, to relax his severity towards the Greeks -who took part with the barbarians, but he gave the Athenians leave to -renew their application at a more seasonable juncture. - -Gordium had been in very early times the seat of the Phrygian kings, -and was supposed to have derived its name from Gordius, the father of -the more celebrated Midas. In the citadel was preserved with religious -veneration a wagon, in which, according to the tradition of the country, -Midas with his father and mother entered the town, at a time when the -people, who were distracted by civil discord, were holding an assembly. -They had been informed by an oracle that a wagon should bring them a king -who should compose their strife. The sudden appearance of Midas convinced -them that he was the king destined for them; and when he had mounted the -throne, he dedicated the wagon in the citadel, as a thank-offering to the -king of the gods, who, before his birth, had sent an eagle to alight upon -its yoke, while Gordius was ploughing, as a sign of the honour reserved -for his race. - -[Sidenote: [333 B.C.]] - -This legend had given rise to a prophecy that whoever untied the knot -of bark by which the yoke was fastened to the pole, must become lord of -Asia. Alexander did not leave Gordium before he had proved that this -prophecy related to himself. He went up to the citadel, and separated -the yoke from the pole. Whether he loosened the knot by drawing out a -peg,[20] or cut it with his sword, his own followers were not agreed. But -all the spectators were convinced that he had legitimately fulfilled the -prophecy, and a storm of thunder and lightning which took place the same -night, removed every shadow of doubt on the subject (333). - -He now resumed his march eastward, and at Ancyra received an embassy from -Paphlagonia, promising obedience on the somewhat ambiguous condition -that he should abstain from entering their country. The subjugation -of this extensive and very mountainous region would have detained him -much too long from the more important objects which he had in view, -and he therefore contented himself with this show of submission, which -at least heightened, while it proved, the terror inspired by his name, -and annexed Paphlagonia to the satrapy of Calas. As he advanced through -Cappadocia towards the passes of Taurus, he met with no resistance; and -his authority was at least nominally acknowledged to a great distance -beyond the Halys, so that he could appoint a satrap of Cappadocia. On -his way he received tidings from Tarsus, that the satrap Arsames, having -heard that he had passed the Gates, was about to quit the city, which at -first he meant to defend, and, it was feared, would plunder it before -his departure. Hereupon Alexander pushed forward with his cavalry and -the lightest part of the infantry at full speed for Tarsus, and Arsames, -whatever his intention may have been, fled, leaving the city unhurt, to -join the army of Darius. - -Alexander, on his arrival at Tarsus, while his blood was still violently -heated by these extraordinary exertions, had been tempted to plunge -into the clear and limpid waters of the Cydnus, which flowed through -the city. This imprudence was generally supposed to have been the cause -of a fever which seized him immediately after, and which soon became so -threatening in its symptoms that most of his physicians despaired of -his life. One however, an Acarnanian named Philippus, who stood high -in his confidence, undertook to prepare a medicine which would relieve -him. In the meanwhile, a letter was brought to the king from Parmenion, -informing him of a report that Philippus had been bribed by Darius to -poison him. Alexander, it is said, had the letter in his hand, when the -physician came in with the draught, and, giving it to him, drank while he -read--a theatrical scene, as Plutarch unsuspectingly observes, but one -which would not have been invented but for such a character, and which -Arrian was therefore induced, though doubtingly, to record. The remedy, -or Alexander’s excellent constitution, prevailed over the disease; but it -was long before he had regained sufficient strength to resume his march. - -In the meanwhile, he sent Parmenion forward with about a third of the -army, to occupy the nearest of the maritime passes leading out of Cilicia -into Syria. He himself, when sufficiently recovered, proceeded westward -with the rest of his forces to Anchialus, where he beheld the statue of -its reputed founder Sardanapalus, the voluptuous king, who judged so -differently from himself--as the Assyrian inscription on his monument -and the figure itself attested--of the value and use of life. At Soli, -where he arrived next, he found a strong leaning to the Persian interest, -which induced him to place a garrison there, and afforded him a fair -ground for demanding a contribution of two hundred talents. Yet it seems -to have been only an oligarchical party that had favoured the Persians, -and perhaps the penalty was levied on them alone; for he established a -democratical government, and the garrison may have been needed for its -security. Before he returned to Tarsus, he made an inroad with a division -of his forces into the mountains of the rugged Cilicia, and in the course -of seven days reduced their wild inhabitants by force or terror to -submission. On his return to Soli, he received the agreeable intelligence -that Orontobates had been defeated in a hard-fought battle by Ptolemy -and Asander, and that the citadel of Halicarnassus, and the other places -which he had retained on the coast of Caria, had fallen. - -Darius had previously suffered a much greater loss in the death of -Memnon, who was carried off by a sudden illness while engaged in the -siege of Mytilene, which, after having made himself master of Chios -through treachery, and of the rest of Lesbos, he had invested closely -by sea and land. Alexander, before he left Soli, celebrated the victory -of his generals and at the same time testified his gratitude for his -own convalescence by a solemn sacrifice to Æsculapius, with a military -procession, a torch race, and musical and gymnastic contests. - -He then marched back to Tarsus, and, sending Philotas forward with the -bulk of cavalry across the Aleian plain, himself took a more circuitous -route along the coast through Magarsus to Mallus, a town which claimed -the Argive hero Amphilochus, as its founder. On this ground, as himself -descended from the Heraclids of Argos, he both healed its intestine -disorders, and exempted it from the tribute which it had paid to the -Persian government. At Mallus for the first time he heard of the approach -of the great Persian army commanded by Darius in person.[b] - - -DARIUS MUSTERS A NEW HOST - -If Alexander was a gainer in respect to his own operations by the death -of the eminent Rhodian [Memnon], he was yet more a gainer by the change -of policy which that event induced Darius to adopt. The Persian king -resolved to renounce the defensive schemes of Memnon, and to take the -offensive against the Macedonians on land. His troops, already summoned -from the various parts of the empire, had partially arrived, and were -still coming in. Their numbers became greater and greater, amounting at -length to a vast and multitudinous host, the total of which is given by -some as six hundred thousand men; by others as four hundred thousand -infantry and one hundred thousand cavalry. - -[Illustration: PHRYGIAN WEAPONS AND HELMET] - -The spectacle of this showy and imposing mass, in every variety of -arms, costume, and language, filled the mind of Darius with confidence; -especially as there were among them between twenty thousand and thirty -thousand Grecian mercenaries. The Persian courtiers, themselves elate -and sanguine, stimulated and exaggerated the same feeling in the king -himself, who became confirmed in his persuasion that his enemies could -never resist him. - -From Sogdiana, Bactria, and India, the contingents had not yet had time -to arrive; but most of those between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian -Sea had come in--Persians, Medes, Armenians, Derbices, Barcanians, -Hyrcanians, Cardaces, etc.; all of whom, mustered in the plains of -Mesopotamia, are said to have been counted, like the troops of Xerxes -in the plain of Doriscus, by paling off a space capable of containing -exactly ten thousand men, and passing all the soldiers through it in -succession. Neither Darius himself, nor any of those around him, had -ever before seen so overwhelming a manifestation of the Persian imperial -force. To an oriental eye, incapable of appreciating the real conditions -of military preponderance--accustomed only to the gross and visible -computation of numbers and physical strength--the king who marched forth -at the head of such an army appeared like a god on earth, certain to -trample down all before him just as most Greeks had conceived respecting -Xerxes, and by stronger reason Xerxes respecting himself, a century -and a half before. Because all this turned out a ruinous mistake the -description of the feeling, given in Curtius and Diodorus, is often -mistrusted as baseless rhetoric. Yet it is in reality the self-suggested -illusion of untaught men, as opposed to trained and scientific judgment. - -But though such was the persuasion of orientals, it found no response in -the bosom of an intelligent Athenian. Among the Greeks now near Darius, -was the Athenian exile Charidemus; who having incurred the implacable -enmity of Alexander, had been forced to quit Athens after the Macedonian -capture of Thebes, and had fled together with Ephialtes to the Persians. -Darius, elate with the apparent omnipotence of his army under review, and -hearing but one voice of devoted concurrence from the courtiers around -him, asked the opinion of Charidemus, in full expectation of receiving an -affirmative reply. So completely were the hopes of Charidemus bound up -with the success of Darius, that he would not suppress his convictions, -however unpalatable, at a moment when there was yet a possibility that -they might prove useful. He replied (with the same frankness as Demaratus -had once employed towards Xerxes), that the vast multitude now before -him were unfit to cope with the comparatively small number of the -invaders. He advised Darius to place no reliance on Asiatics, but to -employ his immense treasures in subsidising an increased army of Grecian -mercenaries. He tendered his own hearty services either to assist or to -command. To Darius, what he said was alike surprising and offensive; in -the Persian courtiers, it provoked intolerant wrath. Intoxicated as they -all were with the spectacle of their immense muster, it seemed to them -a combination of insult with absurdity, to pronounce Asiatics worthless -as compared with Macedonians, and to teach the king that his empire -could be defended by none but Greeks. They denounced Charidemus as a -traitor who wished to acquire the king’s confidence in order to betray -him to Alexander. Darius himself, stung with the reply, and still further -exasperated by the clamours of his courtiers, seized with his own hands -the girdle of Charidemus, and consigned him to the guards for execution. -“You will discover too late,” exclaimed the Athenian, “the truth of what -I have said. My avenger will soon be upon you.” - -Filled as he now was with certain anticipations of success and glory, -Darius resolved to assume in person the command of his army, and march -down to overwhelm Alexander. From this moment, his land-army became the -really important and aggressive force, with which he himself was to act. -Herein we note his distinct abandonment of the plans of Memnon--the -turning-point of his future fortune. He abandoned them, too, at the -precise moment when they might have been most safely and completely -executed. In the first place, there was the line of Mount Taurus, -barring the entrance of Alexander into Cilicia; a line of defence nearly -inexpugnable. Next, even if Alexander had succeeded in forcing this line -and mastering Cilicia, there would yet remain the narrow road between -Mount Amanus and the sea, called the Amanian Gates, and the Gates of -Cilicia and Assyria--and after that, the passes over Mount Amanus -itself--all indispensable for Alexander to pass through, and capable -of being held, with proper precautions, against the strongest force -of attack. A better opportunity, for executing the defensive part of -Memnon’s scheme, could not present itself; and he himself must doubtless -have reckoned that such advantages would not be thrown away. - -The momentous change of policy, on the part of the Persian king, was -manifested by the order which he sent to the fleet after receiving -intelligence of the death of Memnon. Confirming the appointment of -Pharnabazus (made provisionally by the dying Memnon) as admiral, he at -the same time despatched Thymodes (son of Mentor and nephew of Memnon) -to bring away from the fleet the Grecian mercenaries who served aboard, -to be incorporated with the main Persian army. Here was a clear proof -that the main stress of offensive operations was henceforward to be -transferred from the sea to the land. - -It is the more important to note such desertion of policy, on the part of -Darius, as the critical turning-point in the Greco-Persian drama--because -Arrian and the other historians leave it out of sight, and set before -us little except secondary points in the case. Thus, for example, they -condemn the imprudence of Darius, for coming to fight Alexander within -the narrow space near Issus, instead of waiting for him on the spacious -plains beyond Mount Amanus. Now, unquestionably, granting that a general -battle was inevitable, this step augmented the chances in favour of -the Macedonians. But it was a step upon which no material consequences -turned; for the Persian army under Darius was hardly less unfit for a -pitched battle in the open plain; as was afterwards proved at Arbela. -The real imprudence--the neglect of the Memnonian warning--consisted in -fighting the battle at all. Mountains and defiles were the real strength -of the Persians, to be held as posts of defence against the invader. - - -DARIUS AT ISSUS - -Darius had marched out of the interior his vast and miscellaneous host, -stated at six hundred thousand men. His mother, his wife, his harem, his -children, his personal attendants of every description, accompanied him, -to witness what was anticipated as a certain triumph. All the apparatus -of ostentation and luxury was provided in abundance, for the king and -for his Persian grandees. The baggage was enormous: of gold and silver -alone, we are told that there was enough to furnish load for six hundred -mules and three hundred camels. A temporary bridge being thrown over the -Euphrates, five days were required to enable the whole army to cross. -Much of the treasure and baggage, however, was not allowed to follow -the army to the vicinity of Mount Amanus, but was sent under a guard to -Damascus in Syria. - -At the head of such an overwhelming host, Darius was eager to bring on -at once a general battle. It was not sufficient for him simply to keep -back an enemy, whom, when once in presence, he calculated on crushing -altogether. Accordingly, he had given no orders (as we have just seen) -to defend the line of the Taurus; he had admitted Alexander unopposed -into Cilicia, and he intended to let him enter in like manner through -the remaining strong passes--first, the Gates of Cilicia and Syria, -between Mount Amanus and the sea--next, the pass, now called Beylan, -across Amanus itself. He both expected and wished that his enemy should -come into the plain to fight, there to be trodden down by the countless -horsemen of Persia. - -But such anticipation was not at once realised. The movements of -Alexander, hitherto so rapid and unremitting, seemed suspended. We -have already noticed the dangerous fever which threatened his life, -occasioning not only a long halt, but much uneasiness among the -Macedonian army. All was doubtless reported to the Persians, with -abundant exaggerations; and when Alexander, immediately after recovery, -instead of marching forward towards them, turned away from them to subdue -the western portion of Cilicia, this again was construed by Darius as -an evidence of hesitation and fear. It is even asserted that Parmenion -wished to await the attack of the Persians in Cilicia, and that Alexander -at first consented to do so. At any rate, Darius, after a certain -interval, contracted the persuasion, and was assured by his Asiatic -councillors and courtiers, that the Macedonians, though audacious and -triumphant against frontier satraps, now hung back intimidated by the -approaching majesty and full muster of the empire, and that they would -not stand to resist his attack. Under this impression Darius resolved -upon an advance into Cilicia with all his army. - -Thymodes indeed, and other Grecian advisers--together with the Macedonian -exile Amyntas--deprecated his new resolution, entreating him to persevere -in his original purpose. They pledged themselves that Alexander would -come forth to attack him wherever he was, and that, too, speedily. They -dwelt on the imprudence of fighting in the narrow defiles of Cilicia, -where his numbers, and especially his vast cavalry, would be useless. -Their advice, however, was not only disregarded by Darius, but denounced -by the Persian councillors as traitorous. Even some of the Greeks in -the camp shared, and transmitted in their letters to Athens, the blind -confidence of the monarch. The order was forthwith given for the whole -army to quit the plains of Syria and march across Mount Amanus into -Cilicia. To cross, by any pass, over such a range as that of Mount -Amanus, with a numerous army, heavy baggage, and ostentatious train -(including all the suite necessary for the regal family), must have -been a work of no inconsiderable time; and the only two passes over -this mountain were, both of them, narrow and easily defensible. Darius -followed the northernmost of the two, which brought him into the rear of -the enemy. - -Thus at the same time that the Macedonians were marching southward to -cross Mount Amanus by the southern pass, and attack Darius in the plain, -Darius was coming over into Cilicia by the northern pass to drive them -before him back into Macedonia. Reaching Issus, seemingly about two days -after they had left it, he became master of their sick and wounded left -in the town. With odious brutality, his grandees impelled him to inflict -upon these poor men either death or amputation of hands and arms. He -then marched forward, along the same road by the shore of the gulf which -had already been followed by Alexander, and encamped on the banks of the -river Pinarus. - -The fugitives from Issus hastened to inform Alexander, whom they overtook -at Myriandrus. So astonished was he, that he refused to believe the news, -until it had been confirmed by some officers whom he sent northward -along the coast of the gulf in a small galley, and to whom the vast -Persian multitude on the shore was distinctly visible. Then, assembling -the chief officers, he communicated to them the near approach of the -enemy, expatiating on the favourable auspices under which a battle would -now take place. His address was hailed with acclamation by his hearers, -who demanded only to be led against the enemy. - - -PREPARING FOR BATTLE - -His distance from the Persian position may have been about eighteen -miles. By an evening march, after supper, he reached at midnight the -narrow defile (between Mount Amanus and the sea) called the Gates of -Cilicia and Syria, through which he had marched two days before. Again -master of that important position, he rested there the last portion of -the night, and advanced forward at daybreak northward towards Darius. -On approaching near to the river Pinarus (which flowed across the -pass), he adopted his order of battle. On the extreme right he placed -the hypaspists, or light division of hoplites; next (reckoning from -right to left), five taxeis or divisions of the phalanx, under Cœnus, -Perdiccas, Meleager, Ptolemy, and Amyntas. The breadth of plain between -the mountains on the right, and the sea on the left, is said to have been -not more than fourteen stadia, or somewhat more than one English mile -and a half. From fear of being outflanked by the superior numbers of the -Persians, he gave strict orders to Parmenion to keep close to the sea. -His Macedonian cavalry, the companions, together with the Thessalians, -were placed on his right flank; as were also the Agrianians, and the -principal portion of the light infantry. The Peloponnesian and allied -cavalry, with the Thracian and Cretan light infantry, were sent on the -left flank to Parmenion. - -Darius, informed that Alexander was approaching, resolved to fight -where he was encamped, behind the river Pinarus. He, however, threw -across the river a force of thirty thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand -infantry, to insure the undisturbed formation of his main force behind -the river. He composed his phalanx, or main line of battle, of ninety -thousand hoplites; thirty thousand Greek hoplites in the centre, and -thirty thousand Asiatics armed as hoplites (called Cardaces), on each -side of these Greeks. These men--not distributed into separate divisions, -but grouped in one body or multitude--filled the breadth between the -mountains and the sea. On the mountains to his left, he placed a body -of twenty thousand men, intended to act against the right flank and -rear of Alexander. But for the great numerical mass of his vast host, -he could find no room to act; accordingly they remained useless in the -rear of his Greek and Asiatic hoplites; yet not formed into any body -of reserve, or kept disposable for assisting in case of need. When his -line was thoroughly formed, he recalled to the right bank of the Pinarus -the thirty thousand cavalry and twenty thousand infantry, which he had -sent across as a protecting force. A part of this cavalry were sent to -his extreme left wing, but the mountain ground was found unsuitable -for action, so that they were forced to cross to the right wing, where -accordingly the great mass of the Persian cavalry became assembled. -Darius himself in his chariot was in the centre of the line, behind the -Grecian hoplites. In the front of his whole line ran the river or rivulet -Pinarus; the banks of which, in many parts naturally steep, he obstructed -in some places by embankments. - - -THE BATTLE OF ISSUS - -As soon as Alexander, by the retirement of the Persian covering -detachment, was enabled to perceive the final dispositions of Darius, he -made some alteration in his own, transferring his Thessalian cavalry by a -rear movement from his right to his left wing, and bringing forward the -lancer-cavalry or sarrissophori, as well as the light infantry, Pæonians -and archers, to the front of his right. The Agrianians, together with -some cavalry and another body of archers, were detached from the general -line to form an oblique front against the twenty thousand Persians posted -on the hill to outflank him. As these twenty thousand men came near -enough to threaten his flank, Alexander directed the Agrianians to attack -them, and to drive them farther away on the hills. - -Having thus formed his array, after giving the troops a certain halt -after their march, he advanced at a very slow pace, anxious to maintain -his own front even, and anticipating that the enemy might cross the -Pinarus to meet him. But as they did not move, he continued his advance, -preserving the uniformity of the front, until he arrived within bowshot, -when he himself, at the head of his cavalry, hypaspists, and divisions -of the phalanx on the right, accelerated his pace, crossed the river -at a quick step, and fell upon the Cardaces or Asiatic hoplites on the -Persian left. Unprepared for the suddenness and vehemence of this attack, -these Cardaces scarcely resisted a moment, but gave way as soon as they -came to close quarters, and fled, vigorously pressed by the Macedonian -right. Darius, who was in his chariot in the centre, perceived that -this untoward desertion exposed his person from the left flank. Seized -with panic, he caused his chariot to be turned round, and fled with all -speed among the foremost fugitives. He kept to his chariot as long as -the ground permitted, but quitted it on reaching some rugged ravines, -and mounted on horseback to make sure of escape; in such terror that he -cast away his bow, his shield, and his regal mantle. He does not seem to -have given a single order, nor to have made the smallest effort to repair -a first misfortune. The flight of the king was the signal for all who -observed it to flee also; so that the vast host in the rear were quickly -to be seen trampling one another down, in their efforts to get through -the difficult ground out of the reach of the enemy. Darius was himself -not merely the centre of union for all the miscellaneous contingents -composing the army, but also the sole commander; so that after his flight -there was no one left to give any general order. - -[Illustration: PHRYGIAN WEAPONS AND HELMET] - -This great battle--we might rather say, that which ought to have been -a great battle--was thus lost, through the giving way of the Asiatic -hoplites on the Persian left, and the immediate flight of Darius within -a few minutes after its commencement. But the centre and right of the -Persians, not yet apprised of these misfortunes, behaved with gallantry. -When Alexander made his rapid dash forward with the right, under his -own immediate command, the phalanx in his left centre (which was under -Craterus and Parmenon) either did not receive the same accelerating -order, or found itself both retarded and disordered by greater steepness -in the banks of the Pinarus. Here it was charged by the Grecian -mercenaries, the best troops in the Persian service. The combat which -took place was obstinate, and the Macedonian loss not inconsiderable; the -general of division, Ptolemy, son of Seleucus, with 120 of the front-rank -men or choice phalangites, being slain. But presently Alexander, having -completed the rout on the enemy’s left, brought back his victorious -troops from the pursuit, attacked the Grecian mercenaries in flank, and -gave decisive superiority to their enemies. These Grecian mercenaries -were beaten and forced to retire. On finding that Darius himself had -fled, they got away from the field as well as they could, yet seemingly -in good order. There is even reason to suppose that a part of them forced -their way up the mountains or through the Macedonian line, and made their -escape southward. - -Meanwhile on the Persian right, towards the sea, the heavy-armed -Persian cavalry had shown much bravery. They were bold enough to cross -the Pinarus and vigorously to charge the Thessalians; with whom they -maintained a close contest, until the news spread that Darius had -disappeared, and that the left of the army was routed. They then turned -their backs and fled, sustaining terrible damage from their enemies in -the retreat. - -The rout of the Persians being completed, Alexander began a vigorous -pursuit. The destruction and slaughter of the fugitives were prodigious. -Amidst so small a breadth of practicable ground, narrowed sometimes into -a defile and broken by frequent watercourses, their vast numbers found no -room, and trod one another down. As many perished in this way as by the -sword of the conquerors; insomuch that Ptolemy (afterwards king of Egypt, -the companion and historian of Alexander) recounts that he himself in the -pursuit came to a ravine choked up with dead bodies, of which he made a -bridge to pass over it. The pursuit was continued as long as the light of -a November day allowed; but the battle had not begun till a late hour. -The camp of Darius was taken, together with his mother, his wife, his -sister, his infant son, and two daughters. His chariot, his shield, and -his bow also fell into the power of the conquerors; and a sum of three -thousand talents [£600,000 or $3,000,000] in money was found, though much -of the treasure had been sent to Damascus. The total loss of the Persians -is said to have amounted to ten thousand horse and one hundred thousand -foot; among the slain moreover were several eminent Persian grandees: -Arsames, Rheomithres, and Atizyes, who had commanded at the Granicus, and -Sabaces, satrap of Egypt. Of the Macedonians we are told that 300 foot -and 150 horse were killed. Alexander himself was slightly wounded in the -thigh by a sword. - - -_Flight of Darius_ - -When Alexander returned at night from the pursuit, he found the Persian -regal tent reserved for him. In an inner compartment of it he heard the -tears and wailings of women. He was informed that the mourners were -the mother and wife of Darius, who had learned that the bow and shield -of Darius had been taken, and were giving loose to their grief under -the belief that Darius himself was killed. Alexander immediately sent -Leonnatus to assure them that Darius was still living, and to promise -further that they should be allowed to preserve the regal title and -state--his war against Darius being undertaken not from any feelings -of hatred, but as a fair contest for the empire of Asia. Besides this -anecdote, which depends on good authority, many others, uncertified or -untrue, were recounted about his kind behaviour to these princesses; and -Alexander himself, shortly after the battle, seems to have heard fictions -about it, which he thought himself obliged to contradict in a letter. It -is certain (from the extract now remaining of this letter) that he never -saw, nor ever entertained the idea of seeing, the captive wife of Darius, -said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia; moreover he even declined to -hear encomiums upon her beauty. - -How the vast host of fugitives got out of the narrow limits of Cilicia, -or how many of them quitted that country by the same pass over Mount -Amanus as that by which they had entered it--we cannot make out. It is -probable that many, and Darius himself among the number, made their -escape across the mountain by various subordinate roads and bypaths; -which, though unfit for a regular army with baggage, would be found a -welcome resource by scattered companies. Darius managed to get together -four thousand of the fugitives, with whom he hastened to Thapsacus, and -there recrossed the Euphrates. The only remnant of force, still in a -position of defence after the battle, consisted of eight thousand of the -Grecian mercenaries under Amyntas and Thymodes. These men, fighting their -way out of Cilicia (seemingly towards the south, by or near Myriandrus), -marched to Tripolis on the coast of Phœnicia, where they still found the -same vessels in which they had themselves been brought from the armament -of Lesbos. Seizing sufficient means of transport, and destroying the rest -to prevent pursuit, they immediately crossed over to Cyprus, and from -thence to Egypt. - -With this exception, the enormous Persian host disappears with the battle -of Issus. We hear of no attempt to rally or re-form, nor of any fresh -Persian force afoot until two years afterwards. The booty acquired by the -victors was immense, not merely in gold and silver, but also in captives -for the slave-merchant. On the morrow of the battle, Alexander offered -a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving, with three altars erected on the -banks of the Pinarus; while he at the same time buried the dead, consoled -the wounded, and rewarded or complimented all who had distinguished -themselves. - -No victory recorded in history was ever more complete in itself, or more -far-stretching in its consequences, than that of Issus. Not only was -the Persian force destroyed or dispersed, but the efforts of Darius for -recovery were paralysed by the capture of his family. Portions of the -dissipated army of Issus may be traced, reappearing in different places -for operations of detail, but we shall find no further resistance to -Alexander, during almost two years, except from the brave freemen of two -fortified cities. Everywhere an overwhelming sentiment of admiration and -terror was spread abroad, towards the force, skill, or good fortune of -Alexander, by whichever name it might be called--together with contempt -for the real value of a Persian army, in spite of so much imposing pomp -and numerical show; a contempt not new to intelligent Greeks, but now -communicated even to vulgar minds by the recent unparalleled catastrophe. - -Both as general and as soldier, indeed, the consummate excellence of -Alexander stood conspicuous, not less than the signal deficiency of -Darius. The fault in the latter was that of fighting the battle, not -in an open plain, but in a narrow valley, whereby his superiority of -number was rendered unprofitable. But this (as we have already observed) -was only one among many mistakes, and by no means the most serious. -The result would have been the same, had the battle been fought in the -plains to the eastward of Mount Amanus. Superior numbers are of little -avail on any ground, unless there be a general who knows how to make -use of them; unless they be distributed into separate divisions ready to -combine for offensive action on many points at once, or at any rate to -lend support to each other in defence, so that a defeat of one fraction -is not a defeat of the whole. The faith of Darius in simple multitude -was altogether blind and childish; nay, that faith, though overweening -beforehand, disappeared at once when he found his enemies did not run -away, but faced him boldly--as was seen by his attitude on the banks -of the Pinarus, where he stood to be attacked instead of executing his -threat of treading down the handful opposed to him. But it was not merely -as a general that Darius acted in such a manner as to render the loss -of the battle certain. Had his dispositions been ever so skilful, his -personal cowardice in quitting the field and thinking only of his own -safety, would have sufficed to nullify their effect. Though the Persian -grandees are generally conspicuous for personal courage, yet we shall -find Darius hereafter again exhibiting the like melancholy timidity, and -the like incompetence for using numbers with effect, at the battle of -Arbela, though fought in a spacious plain chosen by himself. - - -FROM ISSUS TO TYRE - -Happy was it for Memnon that he did not live to see the renunciation of -his schemes, and the ruin consequent upon it! The fleet in the Ægean, -which had been transferred at his death to Pharnabazus, though weakened -by the loss of those mercenaries whom Darius had recalled to Issus, -and disheartened by a serious defeat which the Persian Orontobates had -received from the Macedonians in Caria, was nevertheless not inactive -in trying to organise an anti-Macedonian manifestation in Greece. While -Pharnabazus was at the island of Siphnos with his one hundred triremes, -he was visited by the Lacedæmonian king Agis, who pressed him to embark -for Peloponnesus as large a force as he could spare, to second a movement -projected by the Spartans. But such aggressive plans were at once crushed -by the terror-striking news of the battle of Issus. Apprehending a revolt -in the island of Chios, as a result of this news, Pharnabazus immediately -sailed thither with a large detachment. Agis, obtaining nothing more -than a subsidy of thirty talents and a squadron of ten triremes, was -obliged to renounce his projects in Peloponnesus, and to content himself -with directing some operations in Crete, to be conducted by his brother -Agesilaus; while he himself remained among the islands, and ultimately -accompanied the Persian Autophradates to Halicarnassus. It appears, -however, that he afterwards went to conduct the operations in Crete, and -that he had considerable success in that island, bringing several Cretan -towns to join the Persians.[c] - -The spoil of Damascus was not the most important advantage which -Alexander reaped from the battle of Issus. It averted a danger which, -notwithstanding Memnon’s death, had continued to give him occasion for -much uneasiness; for he was still threatened with a diversion in his -rear--a general rising of the Greeks and an invasion of Macedonia--which -might have interrupted, even if it did not finally defeat, his enterprise. - -Thus then Alexander had nothing more to fear on this side for the -present. But it was not the less his foremost object to guard against the -recurrence of this danger, and to deprive the Persian government of all -means of aiding the Greeks in their attempts for the recovery of their -independence. He saw that if he once made himself master of Phœnicia and -Egypt, the Persians would be deserted by the best part of their galleys, -which were furnished by the Phœnician cities, and would be unable to -repair the loss. His authority would then be undisputed in all the -provinces of the empire west of the Euphrates. - -Darius had continued his flight without intermission until he had crossed -the river at Thapsacus, where he arrived with about four thousand -fugitives, who had successively joined his train; and then first felt -himself out of immediate peril. Amyntas [the Greek mercenary general -who had escaped from Issus], it seems, conceived the bold project of -making himself master of Egypt. Sabaces, the satrap of Egypt, had fallen -in the battle; and Amyntas, pretending that he had a commission from -Darius, gained admittance at Pelusium. He then dropped the mask, and -calling on the Egyptians to shake off the hated yoke of Persia, marched -against Memphis. Mazaces, the Persian commander of Memphis, was defeated, -and forced to take shelter behind the walls. But the victors suffered -themselves to be surprised by Mazaces, and Amyntas was slain, with almost -all his men. - -Darius indeed had the force of the greater part of his empire still -entire, and at his command. The troops of the eastern satrapies, -including some of the most warlike in his dominions, had already been -summoned to the royal standard; and he might expect, in the course of -a few months, to see himself at the head of a still more numerous host -than he had commanded at Issus. It was perhaps partly with the view of -gaining time, that he no sooner reached a place of safety, than he began -to sound Alexander’s temper by overtures of negotiation. He sent two -envoys to Alexander. He assumed the tone of remonstrance, as one who had -suffered an unprovoked aggression. He was now reduced, by the chance of -war, to make a request: such however as one king might becomingly address -to another--that Alexander would restore his mother, wife, and children. -He himself was willing to become Alexander’s friend and ally, and desired -that he would send ministers with the two Persian envoys, to treat with -him. - -The Persian envoys had been instructed to urge the request contained -in their master’s letter by word of mouth. Alexander sent Thersippus -along with them, charged with a letter to Darius, but with orders to -abstain from oral communications on the subject. The letter was a kind -of manifesto, in which he vindicated the justice of his proceedings -by various reasons, as good, at least, as the strong are usually able -to find for attacking the weak. He began like the wolf in the fable. -The ancestors of Darius had invaded Macedonia and Greece, and he had -been appointed by the Greeks their general, and had come over to Asia, -to avenge their wrongs and his own. Ochus had furnished succours -to Perinthus and the Thracians against Philip. It was through the -machinations of the Persian court that Philip had been murdered; and -his death had been made a subject of boastful exultation in its public -letters. Darius himself had been the accomplice of Bagoas in the murder -of Arses, and had usurped the throne of Persia: he had endeavoured to -excite the Greeks to war against Macedonia, and had offered subsidies -to Sparta, and to other states, which indeed had been accepted only by -Sparta; but his agents had succeeded in corrupting many private persons, -and had been incessantly labouring to disturb the tranquillity of Greece. -His invasion therefore had been undertaken on just grounds. But since the -gods had crowned his arms with victory, none of those who had trusted -themselves to his clemency had found reason to regret their choice. He -therefore invited Darius himself to come to him, as to the lord of Asia. -He might beforehand receive pledges of his personal safety, and might -then ask with confidence for his mother, wife, and children, and for -whatever else he could desire. In future, he must address Alexander as -the King of Asia, in the style, not of an equal, but of a subject, or -must expect to be treated as an enemy. If, however, he disputed his claim -to sovereignty, let him wait for his coming, and try the event of another -contest. He might rest assured that Alexander would seek him, wherever he -might be found. - -On his road to Phœnicia, Alexander had been met by Straton, son of the -king of Aradus, Gerostratus, whose territory included Marathus and -several other towns on the main. Gerostratus himself, with all the other -Phœnician and Cypriote princes, was serving in the Persian fleet, under -Autophradates. Yet Straton brought a golden crown to the conqueror, and -surrendered all the cities in his father’s dominions into his hands. As -he advanced from Marathus, Byblus capitulated to him, and Sidon, where -every heart burned with hatred of Persia, hailed him as her deliverer. -Thus he proceeded without resistance towards Tyre. And even from this -great city he received a deputation on his way, composed of the most -illustrious citizens, among whom was the king’s son, bringing a golden -crown, and a present of provisions for the army, and announcing that the -Tyrians had resolved to obey all his commands. - - -THE SIEGE OF TYRE - -[Sidenote: [332 B.C.]] - -It seems that the language in which this message was conveyed intimated -something as to the limits of that obedience which the Tyrians were -willing to pay. It was not meant that it should extend so far as totally -to resign their independence. This Alexander probably understood, -and nothing could satisfy him short of absolute submission, and full -possession of so important a place. But he met the offers of the Tyrians, -as if they had been made in the sense which he required; and bade the -envoys apprise their fellow-citizens that it was his intention to cross -over to their island, and offer a sacrifice to Melkarth, the Phœnician -Hercules, whom he chose to consider as one with the hero of Argos and -Thebes. This was perhaps the least offensive way of bringing the matter -to an issue; and it obliged the Tyrians to speak their mind more plainly. -They now informed him that in all other points he should find them -ready to submit to his pleasure, but that they would not admit either a -Persian or a Macedonian within their walls; and they begged that he would -celebrate the sacrifice which he wished to offer in Old Tyre, which lay -on the coast opposite to their island city, where their god had another, -and probably a much more ancient, sanctuary. - -Alexander indignantly dismissed their ambassadors, and called a council -of his officers, in which he declared his intention of besieging Tyre, -and explained the reasons which rendered this undertaking necessary, -arduous as it was. He observed that it would be unsafe to invade Egypt, -so long as the Persians commanded the sea, and that to advance into the -interior against Darius, while Tyre remained neutral or vacillating, -and while Cyprus and Egypt were in the enemy’s hands, would be to let -the war be transferred to Greece, where Sparta was openly hostile, and -Athens only withheld from the avowal of her enmity by fear. On the other -hand the reduction of Tyre would be attended with the submission of all -Phœnicia; and the Phœnician fleet, the strength of the Persian navy, -would soon pass over to the power which possessed the cities by which it -had been equipped, and to which the crews belonged. Cyprus would then -speedily fall, and there would be no further obstacle to the conquest of -Egypt. They might then set out for Babylon, leaving all secure on the -side of Greece, and with the proud consciousness that they had already -severed all the provinces west of the Euphrates from the Persian empire. - -The motives which induced Alexander to undertake the siege of Tyre are -more evident than those which led the Tyrians to defy his power, after so -many of the other Phœnician cities had submitted to him. The main ground -of their conduct seems to have been more in the nature of a commercial -calculation of expediency. The issue of the contest between Alexander -and Darius was still doubtful; notwithstanding his past success the -Macedonian conqueror might meet the fate of the younger Cyrus in some -future field of battle. In any case the Tyrians believed their city to -be impregnable so long as they were superior at sea. It was thought -necessary, either for the purpose of detaining the god, or of quieting -the popular uneasiness, to adopt an expedient similar to that which many -years before had been employed by the Ephesians in a like emergency--to -fasten the statue of Apollo, who was denounced as a friend of Alexander, -by a golden chain to the altar of Melkarth. On the other hand Alexander -seems to have thought it prudent to raise the spirits of his troops by -assurances of divine assistance, in an enterprise which appeared to -surpass human ability. He too related that he had seen Hercules in a -dream taking him by the hand, and leading him within the walls of his -city--a sign, as Aristander interpreted it, of success, though in a -Herculean labour. - -An ordinary conqueror might indeed himself have needed such assurances -to encourage him, when he was about to attack a place so prepared for -defence as Tyre at this time was, both by nature and art. The island on -which the city stood was separated from the main by a channel half a -mile broad, through which, in rough weather, the sea rushed with great -violence. This strait was indeed shallow on the side of the Phœnician -coast, but near the island became three fathoms deep. The walls, which -rose from the edge of the cliffs, were 150 feet high on the land side, -and composed of huge blocks of stone, cemented with mortar. The city -was abundantly stocked with provisions and military stores, contained a -number of copious springs; was filled with an industrious and intelligent -population, expert in all the arts of naval warfare, and possessed -mechanics and engineers, not inferior, it seems, to any that were to be -found in the Macedonian camp. Though the greater part of the Tyrian fleet -was absent in the Persian service, there still remained a sufficient -number of galleys of war, and of smaller craft, both for the defence of -the harbours--for there were two, one on the north, the other on the -south side of the island--and for the annoyance of the enemy. - -Alexander had no naval force which he could immediately oppose to this. -His plan was soon formed: he resolved to carry a causeway through the -channel, and when it had reached the foot of the walls, to batter them -from it with his engines. The real difficulty of the undertaking was not -perceived until the dam had been carried halfway across the water. But as -the depth increased, while the work itself became more and more laborious -and difficult, it now came within reach of the missiles discharged from -the top of the walls; and the Tyrian galleys, taking their station at -a short distance, incessantly annoyed the workmen, who were not armed -to sustain these attacks. Alexander however ordered two wooden towers -erected both to shelter the workmen and repel the assailants. - -The Tyrians now prepared a more formidable mode of attack. A horse -transport was filled with dry twigs and other combustibles, over which -they poured pitch and brimstone. In the forepart an additional space -was enclosed, so as to form a huge basket for the reception of these -materials, in the midst of which were fixed two masts, which at the ends -of their yard-arms supported two cauldrons filled with an inflammable -liquid. The stem was raised high above the water by means of ballast -heaped near the stern. The besieged, having waited for a favourable -breeze, towed the ship behind two galleys towards the mole, and when it -came near set it on fire, and, seconded by the wind, ran it on the end -of the mole between the towers. The flames soon caught them; but the -conflagration did not reach its full height, until the masts gave way and -discharged the contents of the cauldrons on the blazing pile. To render -it the more effectual, the men on board the galleys from a convenient -distance plied the towers with their arrows, so as to defeat every -attempt that was made to extinguish the fire. - -[Illustration: GREEK BATTERING RAM] - -A shoal of boats now came off from the harbours filled with people, who -soon tore up the piles, and set fire to all the machines which had not -been overtaken by the flames of the burning ship. The ruin of the work -which had cost so much time and labour was completed in a few hours. -Alexander, however, was not disheartened; he gave orders that a new mole -should be begun, of greater breadth, so as to be capable of receiving -more towers, and that new engines should be constructed. But as he now -became aware that, without some naval force to oppose to the Tyrians, he -should find the difficulties of the siege insurmountable, he repaired at -once in person to Sidon, with a detachment of light troops, to collect as -many galleys as he could. - -Gerostratus, king of Aradus, and Enylus of Byblus, as soon as they heard -that he had become master of their cities, quitted the Persian fleet, -with their squadrons, and with a part of the Sidonian galleys; so that -Alexander was joined at Sidon by eighty sail of Phœnician ships. About -the same time came in ten from Rhodes, as many from Lycia, three from -Soli and Mallus, and his own victorious captain, Proteas, from Macedonia. -And these were followed not long after by the Cypriote princes with 120 -galleys. He had now an armament of nearly 250 sail at his orders. While -it went through a course of training for a sea-fight, and while the -machines were in preparation, he made an excursion, with some squadrons -of horse and a body of light troops, into the range of Anti-Libanus, -and having reduced the mountaineers to submission, within eleven days -returned to Sidon, where he found a reinforcement of four thousand Greek -soldiers, who had been brought by Cleander from Peloponnesus. He then -set sail for Tyre in line of battle, himself, as on shore, commanding -the right wing, and Craterus the left. The Tyrians, it seems, expected -his approach and were prepared to meet him; when they saw the numbers -which he brought with him, they gave up all thoughts of resistance, -and only used their galleys to block up the mouths of their harbours. -Alexander, when he came up, found the northern harbour too well secured -to be attacked, though he sank three of the enemy’s galleys which were -moored on the outside, and captured one which was consecrated to the -tutelary god. The next day he stationed the Cypriotes under the command -of Andromachus near the entrance of this harbour, and the Phœnicians near -the other, in the same quarter where his own tent was pitched. - -In the meanwhile the mole had been restored, and was actively carried -forward; mechanics had been collected in great numbers from Phœnicia and -Cyprus, and had constructed abundance of engines, which were planted, -some on the mole, others on transports and on the heavier galleys. -These vessels at first found the approach very much impeded by a bed of -stones which the besieged had carried out into the sea from the foot of -the cliffs; and the attempts which the Macedonians made to remove this -obstacle were for some time thwarted by the dexterity and boldness of -the Tyrian divers, who cut the cables of the ships which were anchored -for the purpose of drawing up the stones. Chain cables were at length -substituted, and the passage was then rapidly cleared by machines, which -raised the stones out of their bed, and hurled them into the deep water. -The walls were now assailed by the engines on every side, and the contest -grew closer and hotter than it had ever been. Every contrivance that -ingenuity quickened by fear could suggest was tried by the besieged to -ward off these attacks. - -Very famous in particular was one, which is not the less credible because -Arrian’s authors seem to have passed it over in silence: the invention -of shields filled with heated sand, which they were made to discharge on -the assailants, and which, penetrating between their armour and their -skin, inflicted indescribable tortures. Still the means of attack kept -growing on the resources of defence. Dejection began to spread within the -walls; and there were some who proposed to renew a horrid rite, which -had long fallen into disuse--the sacrifice of a boy of good family to -Moloch. It does honour to the Tyrian government, that it did not either -humour this bloody superstition, or give way to despair; it was policy -perhaps to check all thoughts of capitulation rather than ferocity that -induced it to execute its Macedonian prisoners on the top of the walls, -and to cast their bodies, in the sight of the besiegers, into the sea; -but it directed the energy of the people to better expedients. It made -a vigorous attempt to surprise the Cypriote squadron stationed near the -northern harbour, and would have gained a complete victory over it; but -Alexander, having received timely notice of the sally, sailed round -unobserved, turned the fortune of the day, and sunk or took most of the -enemy’s ships. All hopes from offensive measures were crushed by this -blow; the safety of the city now rested chiefly in the strength of its -walls. - -Even these, after several fruitless attempts had been made in other -quarters, began to give way on the south side; and a breach was opened, -which Alexander tried, but did not find immediately practicable. Three -days after, however, when a calm favoured the approach of the vessels, -he gave orders for a general attack. It was to be made on all sides at -once, to distract the attention of the besieged; and the fleet was at -the same time to sail up to both the harbours, in the hope that in the -midst of the tumult it might force an entrance into one of them. But the -main assault was to be directed against the breach that had been already -formed. The vessels which bore the engines were first brought up to play -upon it; and when it had been sufficiently widened, were followed by two -galleys, with landing boards and the men who were to mount it. One was -commanded by Admetus, and was filled with troops of the guard, and in -this Alexander himself embarked. Admetus and his men were the first to -effect a landing, animated by the immediate presence of their king, who, -after he had paused awhile to observe and animate the exertions of his -warriors, himself mounted the breach. - -When the Macedonian had once gained a firm footing, the issue of the -conflict did not long remain doubtful. Admetus indeed, who led the -way, was slain; but Alexander soon made himself master of two towers -and the intervening curtain, through which the troops from the other -vessel poured in after him, and he then advanced along the walls to the -royal palace, which stood on the highest ground, that he might descend -from it with the greater ease into the heart of the city. The Tyrians, -seeing the wall taken, abandoned their fortifications, and collected -their forces in one of the public places, where they gallantly made -head against their assailants. But in the meanwhile both the harbours -had been forced, their ships sunk or driven ashore, and the besiegers -landed to join their comrades in the city. It soon became a scene of -unresisted carnage and plunder. The Macedonians, exasperated by the -length and labours of the siege, which had lasted seven months, and by -the execution of their comrades, spared none that fell into their hands. -The king--whom the Greeks call Azemilcus--with the principal inhabitants, -and some Carthaginian envoys who had been sent with the usual offerings -to Melkarth, took refuge in his sanctuary: and these alone, according to -Arrian, were exempted from the common lot of death or slavery. It was -an act of clemency, by which the conqueror at the same time displayed -his piety to the god. Of the rest, eight thousand perished in the first -slaughter, and thirty thousand, including a number of foreign residents, -were sold as slaves. But if we may believe Curtius, fifteen thousand -were rescued by the Sidonians, who first hid them in their galleys, and -afterwards transported them to Sidon--not, it must be presumed, without -Alexander’s connivance or consent. It seems incredible, that he should -have ordered two thousand of the prisoners to be crucified; though he -might have inflicted such a punishment on those who had taken the leading -part in the butchery of the Macedonians. But, after the king and the -principal citizens had been spared, it is not easy to understand why any -others should have suffered on this account. - -So fell Tyre, the rich, and beautiful, and proud, in arts and arms the -queen of merchant cities. The conqueror celebrated his victory with a -solemn military and naval procession, sacrifice, and games, in honour of -the tutelary god who had thus fulfilled his promise and, though after the -labour of so many months, had at length brought him into his city. He -dedicated the engine which had first shattered the wall, and the sacred -galley, in the sanctuary of Melkarth.[b] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[20] As Aristobulus related, according to Arrian. Droysen observes that -the other version is much more appropriate to the character and destiny -of the conqueror, and would have been more readily believed by the army. -But, critically considered, this is a reason for preferring the account -of Aristobulus, whom Droysen elsewhere, as if in dispraise, styles “the -sober.” - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LIII. FROM GAZA TO ARBELA - - -While Alexander was yet besieging Tyre, ambassadors arrived from Darius, -telling him that Darius would bestow upon him ten thousand talents of -silver, if he would set his mother, his wife, and children at liberty; as -also all the country between the Euphrates and the Hellespont; and if he -would take his daughter in marriage, he should be styled his friend and -confederate. Which embassy being debated in council, Parmenion is said to -have told him that if he were Alexander, he would accept the terms, and, -when the end of war was gained, no longer tempt the hazard thereof. To -which the other is said to have replied, “So would I if I were Parmenion; -but as I am Alexander, I must act worthily of Alexander.” He therefore -answered the ambassador that he neither wanted Darius’ money, nor would -accept of part of his empire, instead of the whole--since all the -treasure, and the country, were his; that he would marry his daughter, -if he pleased, without his consent: but if Darius had a mind to try his -humanity, let him come to him. - -This answer being carried to Darius, he, despairing of peace, made -fresh preparations for war. Alexander then resolved upon an expedition -into Egypt, all the cities of that part of Syria called Palestine being -surrendered peaceably into his hands, except Gaza, which was kept by a -certain eunuch, named Batis, who, foreseeing this, had already hired many -troops of Arabians, and laid up vast stores of provisions, to serve for a -long siege. He also entirely trusted to the strength of the place, which -he looked upon as impregnable; for which reason, he was resolved that, -whenever Alexander approached, he should be denied entrance. - - -THE SIEGE OF GAZA ACCORDING TO ARRIAN - -Gaza is only twenty furlongs distant from the seashore, and exceeding -difficult of access, because of the depth of the sand, and the -neighbouring sea, which is, everywhere, shallow. The city itself is large -and populous, seated on a high hill, and surrounded with a strong wall. -It is also the last inhabited place which travellers meet with in their -way from Phœnicia to Egypt, and borders upon a vast desert. Alexander, -immediately after his arrival there, encamped over against that part -of the wall which seemed most subject to an assault, and ordered his -engines to be brought thither; and notwithstanding the opinion of some -of his engineers, that the wall was not possible to be taken by force, -by reason of the height of the bulwarks, he thought fit to declare his -sentiments to the contrary; and that the more difficult the attempt was, -the more necessary it was to be undertaken; for that the very suddenness -and briskness of their assault would strike their enemies with no small -terror. He added that, if he were unable to reduce the city, it would -abundantly redound to his dishonour, when the news should be carried to -Greece, as well as to Darius. - -He therefore ordered a rampart to be run round it, of such a height that -the engines placed thereupon might be upon a level with the top of the -wall, which rampart he then built over against the south part of the -wall, because it seemed, there, the least difficult to be assaulted. -And when the work was now brought to its full height, the Macedonian -engines were immediately placed thereon. About this time, as Alexander -was sacrificing, with a crown of gold upon his head, according to the -custom of Greece, and just entering upon the office, a certain bird of -prey hovered over the altar and let fall a stone from his claws upon his -head. Alexander immediately sent to consult Aristander, the soothsayer, -what this prodigy could portend. He returned answer: “Thou shalt indeed -take the city, O King; but beware of danger from thence, on the day it is -taken.” He, hearing this, retired out of the reach of their darts to the -engines on the rampart. - -But when Alexander saw the Arabians make a furious sally out of the -city, and set fire to the engines, and, having the advantage of the -higher station, gall the Macedonians below and beat them from the rampart -which they had built--then, either forgetful of the divine warning, or -moved with the danger of his soldiers, he called his targeteers together -and hasted to succour the Macedonians where they were most exposed, -and by his presence kept them from betaking themselves to flight and -abandoning the rampart: but while he was thus pushing forward, an arrow -from an engine pierced his shield and breastplate and wounded him in the -shoulder; which, when he perceived, and thereby knew that Aristander’s -prediction was true, he rejoiced, because, by the same prediction, he was -to take the city. - -In the meantime other engines, which had been used at the siege of Tyre, -arriving by sea, he ordered the rampart to be run quite round the city, -two stadia in breadth, and 250 feet in height. The engines then being -prepared, and planted thereupon, the wall was vehemently shaken, and -the miners in many places, working privately underneath the foundations -thereof and conveying the rubbish away, it fell down. The besiegers then -plying the citizens with their darts, beat them out of their towers; yet -thrice they sustained the Macedonian shocks, with the loss of abundance, -slain and wounded. But at the fourth attack, when Alexander had called -his men thither, he so levelled the wall, which had been undermined in -some places, and widened the breaches made by the engines in others, that -it seemed then a matter of no difficulty to the Macedonians to fix their -ladders to the ruins thereof and storm the city. As soon as the ladders -were fixed there arose a great emulation among the besiegers who should -first mount the breach. This honour was gained by Neoptolemus of the -race of the Æcidæ, one of his friends; and after him, other captains and -others still entered with their forces; and when many of the Macedonians -were now within the walls, they forced open the gates, one after another, -and gave entrance to the whole army. The citizens, notwithstanding they -saw the place thus taken by storm, were resolved to fight to the last; -and gathering together in a body, every one lost his life where he stood, -after a brave resistance. Alexander sold the wives and children for -slaves; and a colony being drawn thither from the neighbourhood, the city -was afterwards made use of as a garrison.[b] - -The following incidents, not mentioned by Arrian, are characteristic -enough to be quoted from Quintus Curtius, IV. 6. The treatment of Batis, -who was in command at Gaza, if correctly reported,--which, however, is by -no means certain,--is one of those spasms of barbarity which now and then -marred a career otherwise full of dignity.[a] - - -INCIDENTS FROM QUINTUS CURTIUS - -“A certain Arabian, one of Darius’ soldiers, ventured upon an action -above his fortune, and covering his sword with his buckler, fell upon -his knees before the king, as if he had deserted to him; whereupon the -king bid him rise, and ordered him to be received into his service; but -the barbarian, taking his sword courageously into his right hand, made -at the king’s head; who having declined the blow, at the same time cut -off the disappointed hand of the barbarian, and flattered himself that he -was now cleared of the danger of the day. However, fate, as I take it, is -unavoidable, for as he was fighting gallantly among the foremost he was -wounded with an arrow, which passed through his armour, and struck in his -shoulder, from whence Philip, his physician, drew it. Now the blood began -to run in a great quantity, and all that stood by were frightened, never -having known an arrow penetrate so deep through armour before. - -“As for Alexander, he did not so much as change his countenance, but -bid them stop the bleeding, and tie up the wound. Thus he remained some -time at the head of the army, either dissembling or overcoming the pain; -but when the blood that had been stopped by an application began to -run afresh in a larger quantity, and the wound (which by reason of its -newness did not at first pain him) upon the cooling of the blood began -to swell, then he fainted and fell on his knees. They that were next to -him took him up, and carried him into his tent, and Batis concluding -him dead, returned into the town in a triumphing manner; but the king, -impatient of delay (before his wound was cured), gave orders for a -terrace to be raised as high as the city walls, which he commanded to be -undermined. - -“The besieged, on their part, were not idle, for they had erected a new -fortification of equal height with the old wall, but that, however, -did not come upon the level with the towers which were planted on the -terrace, so that the inward parts of the town were exposed to the -enemies’ darts; and to complete their hard fate, the walls were now -overthrown by the mines, and gave the Macedonians an opportunity of -entering the city at the breaches. The king was at the head of the -foremost, and while he carelessly entered the place, his leg was hurt -with a stone; notwithstanding which, leaning on his weapon, he fought -among the first, though his old wound was not yet healed; his resentment -was the greater on account of his having received two wounds in the siege. - -“Batis, having behaved himself gallantly, and received several wounds, -was at last forsaken by his men, yet this did not hinder him from -fighting on, though his arms were grown slippery with his own and his -enemies’ blood: but being attacked on all sides, he was taken alive, and -being brought before the king, who was overjoyed that he had him in his -power, insomuch that he used to admire virtue, even in an enemy, giving -way this time to revenge, told him: - -“‘Thou shalt not, Batis, die as thou wouldst, but expect to undergo -whatever torments ingenuity can invent.’ - -“At which threats Batis, without making any reply, gave the king not -only an undaunted, but an insolent look; whereupon Alexander said, ‘Do -you take notice of this obstinate silence? Has he either offered to -kneel down, or made the least submission? However, I’ll overcome his -taciturnity, if by no other means, at least by groans.’ This said, his -anger turned to rage, his fortune having already corrupted his manners, -so that he ordered cords to be run through Batis’ heels and tied to the -hinder part of a cart, and in that manner had him dragged alive round -the city, valuing himself for having imitated Achilles (from whom he -descended) in punishing his enemy.”[c] - - -ALEXANDER IN EGYPT - -The sieges of Tyre and Gaza, occupying together nine months, were, says -Grote, the hardest fighting that Alexander ever encountered.[21] - -The siege of Gaza had occupied, it seems, three or four months; and it -was perhaps not before December 332, that Alexander began his expedition -to Egypt. Here he might safely reckon not merely on an easy conquest, but -on an ardent reception, from a people who burned to shake off the Persian -tyranny, and had even welcomed and supported the adventurer Amyntas. -Mazaces himself, as soon as he heard of the battle of Issus, became aware -that all resistance to Alexander would be useless, and met him with a -voluntary submission. At Pelusium he found the fleet, and having left a -garrison in the fortress, ordered it to proceed up the Nile as far as -Memphis, while he marched across the desert. Near Heliopolis he crossed -the river, and joined the fleet at Memphis. Here he conciliated the -Egyptians by the honours which he paid to all their gods, especially to -Apis, who had been so cruelly insulted by the Persian invaders; but at -the same time he exhibited a new spectacle to the natives--a musical and -gymnastic contest, for which he had collected the most celebrated artists -from all parts of Greece. He then embarked, and dropt down the western or -Canopic arm of the river to Canopus, to survey the extremity of the Delta -on that side; and having sailed round the lake Mareotis, landed on the -narrow belt of low ground which parts it from the sea, and is sheltered -from the violence of the northern gales, which would otherwise desolate -and overwhelm it, by a long ridge of rock, then separated from the main -land by a channel, nearly a mile (seven stadia) broad, and forming the -isle of Pharos. On this site stood the village of Racotis, where the -ancient kings of Egypt had stationed a permanent guard to protect this -entrance of their dominions from adventurers, especially Greeks, who -might visit it for the sake either of plunder or commerce; while for -greater security they granted the adjacent district to a pastoral tribe, -which regarded all strangers as enemies. - -Alexander’s keen eye was immediately struck by the advantages of this -position for a city, which should become a great emporium of commerce, -and a link between the East and the West--one of the great objects which -already occupied his mind--while it secured the possession of Egypt to -his empire, and transmitted the name of its founder to distant ages. He -immediately gave orders for the beginning of the work, himself traced -the outline, which was suggested by the natural features of the ground -itself,[22] and marked the sites of some of the principal buildings, -squares, palaces, and temples. The two main streets, which intersected -each other at right angles in a great public place, one traversing the -whole length of the city, and forming a series of magnificent edifices, -provided for health and enjoyment by a free current of air; and the -inundations of the Nile secured it from the pernicious effects which -would otherwise have arisen from the vicinity of the lake. A causeway -connected the island--on which it is said Alexander at first thought of -building the city--with the main, and divided the intervening basin into -two harbours, which were only joined together by a canal near either end. -By the continual accumulation of sand, this isthmus has been so enlarged -that it now forms the site of the modern Alexandria. Still there were two -defects to counterbalance so many advantages of situation. The harbour -was on both sides difficult of entrance, and there was no other within -a great distance either on the east or the west. This inconvenience -could never be wholly remedied, though the danger of the approach from -the sea was afterwards much lessened by the erection of a magnificent -beacon-tower, on a rock, near the eastern point of Pharos, which threw -out its light to the distance, it is said, of nearly forty miles. The -other defect was the want of water; and for this ample provision was made -by a new canal, branching from the Nile, which brought a constant supply -into the cisterns over which the houses were built. Yet Alexandria was -thus placed at the mercy of every enemy who could make himself master of -the canal and deprive it of a main necessary of life. It was a part of -Alexander’s plan to people the city with a mixed colony of Greeks and -Egyptians, in which the prejudices of the two races might be effaced by -habitual intercourse, though Grecian arts and manners were to give their -character to the whole; and therefore, among the temples of the Grecian -gods, he ordered one to be founded for the worship of Isis. - -[Sidenote: [331 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: GREEK JUG] - -A favourable omen is said to have afforded a presage of the prosperity -which awaited the new city. When he was about to trace the course of the -walls, no chalk was at hand for the purpose, and it was found necessary -instead to make use of flour, which soon attracted a large flock of -birds from all sides to devour it. Aristander--who was never at a -loss--construed this incident as a sign of the abundance which the city -should enjoy and diffuse. That indeed probably far exceeded its founder’s -most sanguine hopes; but still less could he have foreseen or calculated -all the elements of a new intellectual life, which were to be there -combined, and the influence which it was to exert over the opinions and -condition of a great part of the world. - -He was still thus engaged when Hegelochus arrived with the news that -the Persians had been dislodged from the last holds of their power in -the Ægean. Tenedos had revolted from them, as soon as it became sure -of Macedonian protection. At Chios the democratical party had risen -against the government established by the Persian satraps, and had taken -Pharnabazus himself prisoner: and soon after Aristonicus, the tyrant of -Methymna, having sailed into the harbour, before he had heard of the -recent revolution, with some pirate ships, fell into their hands. The -crews were all put to death; he himself, together with the oligarchical -leaders, who had betrayed the city to the Persians, was sent to Alexander -to receive his sentence. Mytilene, too, where Chares, the Athenian -general, commanded the garrison, had been forced to capitulate, and the -whole of Lesbos had been recovered. Hegelochus had likewise left his -colleague Amphoterus in possession of Cos, which the islanders had freely -surrendered. There Pharnabazus had made his escape; but he had brought -the other prisoners with him, among whom, beside Aristonicus, were -several tyrants who had ruled under Persian patronage. These Alexander -abandoned to the mercy of the cities which they had governed, and they -all suffered a cruel death; the Chians, as both enemies and traitors, -he sent under a strong guard to a wretched exile in the stifling island -prison of Elephantine. - -He was now on the confines of Egypt and Libya. In the region which -lay not many days’ march to the west, as some Greek legends told, -Hercules and Perseus had pursued their marvellous adventures: both, it -was believed, had consulted the oracle of Ammon in the heart of the -Libyan wilderness. Alexander may have been desirous of emulating the -achievements of his two heroic ancestors; or, if he had not heard of -them, might still have been attracted by the celebrity of the oracle, and -by the difficulty of reaching it. That he was impelled by curiosity about -its answers, is very doubtful; but it is highly probable that he did not -overlook the advantage which he might derive from them, however they -might run, and the mysterious dignity with which the expedition itself -might invest him in the eyes of his subjects. If however to these motives -for the enterprise it should be thought necessary to add any others of -a more intelligible policy, it might be conjectured that he also wished -to impress Cyrene with respect for his power, and to show that even her -secluded situation did not place her beyond the reach of his arms. On his -march to Parætonium he was met at about midway by envoys from Cyrene, -who brought a crown and other magnificent presents. After a march of -about two hundred miles along the coast--perhaps nearly as far as the -eastern frontier of the territory of Tripoli--he appears to have taken -the direction toward the southeast, which leads, in five or six days for -a private caravan, to the oasis. - - -THE VISIT TO AMMON - -It was now for the first time that the Macedonians became acquainted -with the face of the Libyan desert--its pathless sands, naked rocks, -burning sky, and delusive images. That the journey should have furnished -numberless stories for the entertainment of the camp, may easily be -supposed. It is more difficult to understand how Alexander could have -been at a loss for guides well acquainted with the way, as both Ptolemy -and Aristobulus represented--though the one related that the perplexity -of the wanderers was relieved by two great serpents, which pointed out -the track, and were heard even when they could not be seen; the others -described two ravens as performing the same office. Whether these are -mere fictions of an idle fancy, or cover some fact which we are not able -to ascertain, it is hardly worth while to inquire.[23] That the army -was refreshed with the extraordinary occurrence of a shower of rain, in -which it saw a manifest interposition of the gods, cannot reasonably be -doubted. At length it descended safely into the green, well-watered, and -richly cultivated valley, where, embosomed in thick woods, stood, within -the same enclosure, the palace of the ancient priestly kings, and close -by the temple of Ammon. - -It was a visit such as Ammon had probably never before received, and the -priests no doubt did their utmost, both to welcome the royal pilgrim with -due honours, and to impress him with the highest veneration for their -oracle. It was not, it seems, always in the temple itself that answers -were given. The god chose the place of his revelations for himself. His -visible symbol, a round disc formed of precious stones, was placed in a -golden ship, from which, on each side, hung sacred vessels of silver; and -borne on the shoulders of eighty priests, attended by a train of virgins -and matrons, who accompanied the procession with sacred chants, in which -they implored a propitious and certain answer, according to the secret -impulse of the deity which directed their steps. By such a procession -Alexander seems to have been met, as he approached at the head of his -army, and to have been conducted into the temple, where his questions -were answered by the chief priest. What these questions and answers were, -was perhaps never known to any but the interlocutors. It is indeed in -itself by no means improbable that the priest saluted him as a hero of -divine origin, and promised him the empire of the world: the address -would not have been more flattering, nor the prophecy bolder, than those -which the Greek oracles, less safe from exposure, had sometimes ventured -on. But it is well attested that Alexander did not, at least at the time, -disclose what he had heard; but merely declared to his followers that he -had received such answers as he had desired, and showed his satisfaction -by his offerings and donations. - - -ALEXANDER LEAVES EGYPT - -Aristobulus perhaps only expressed himself carelessly when he said -that the army returned by the same route: we cannot hesitate to prefer -Ptolemy’s statement, that it took the direct road to Memphis; unless -indeed we should adopt a supposition which might render the two accounts -more consistent--that Alexander struck across the desert in a third -direction, which leads directly to the lake Mareotis. At Memphis he -received reinforcements which had been sent to him by Antipater, and -embassies to present congratulations or petitions from several states -of Greece: among them, it seems, one which brought a golden crown, that -had been decreed by a congress assembled at the isthmus on the occasion -of the Isthmian games. It now only remained for him to settle the mode -of administration by which Egypt was to be governed in his absence. -It was his object at once to gain the good-will of the Egyptians, and -to secure a province so important, and so easily defended, from the -ambition of his own officers. The system which he established served -in some points as a model for the policy of Rome under the emperors. -He retained the ancient distribution of the country into the districts -called nomes, and not only permitted them to be still governed by the -native magistrates, the nomarchs, but placed them all under the authority -of two Egyptians. Garrisons were stationed at Memphis and Pelusium. The -country on the western side of the Delta was committed to the care of -Apollonius; that on the east, towards Arabia, to Cleomenes, an Egyptian -Greek of Naucratis, who afterwards became unhappily celebrated for his -rapacity and financial stratagems. An army was left under the command of -Peucestas and Balacrus, and a fleet under that of Polemon. The mutual -jealousy of these officers was a sufficient pledge for their loyalty. - -In the spring of 331 he set out from Memphis on his return to Phœnicia. -At Tyre he found his fleet arrived, and celebrated another sacrifice -to Melkarth, and received an embassy which had been brought over from -Athens in the _Paralus_. Its chief object was to obtain the release of -the Athenian prisoners taken at the battle of the Granicus; and this -Alexander now granted, with several other requests which were urged by -the crew of the _Paralus_, who accompanied the envoys in a body. The -accounts which came from Peloponnesus indicated that it was threatened -with a commotion through the restlessness of Sparta; and Amphoterus -was ordered to lead a squadron to the aid of the Peloponnesians, who -were well affected towards the Macedonian interest and the war with -Persia, and to recover Crete from the Spartans. A new fleet of one -hundred sail was ordered to be fitted out in the ports of Phœnicia and -Cyprus to follow and reinforce Amphoterus. Whether on this occasion -Alexander visited Jerusalem is doubtful; but it seems that he made an -expedition into Samaria, to punish the Samaritans, who--goaded perhaps -by ill-treatment--had revolted against Andromachus, had taken him -prisoner, and burnt him alive. On Alexander’s approach, the authors of -this atrocity were delivered up to him, and tranquillity was restored. He -then began his march towards the Euphrates, and before the end of August -arrived at Thapsacus. - -[Illustration: COSTUME OF A PERSIAN MAGISTRATE - -(After Bardon)] - -A body of troops had been sent forward to throw a bridge across the -river. When he had crossed, Alexander did not follow the route which -Cyrus had taken through the Mesopotamian desert, but directed his march -towards the northeast, through a country which afforded a more abundant -supply of food, and where the army had less to suffer from the heat. On -the road some Persian scouts fell into his hands, from whom he learnt -that Darius, with an army far greater than he had before brought into the -field, lay on the left bank of the Tigris, prepared to guard the passage -against him. He now advanced at full speed towards the Tigris: but when -he reached it found neither Darius himself nor any hostile force, and -met with no other obstacle than the rapidity of the stream. On the left -bank he gave his troops a few days’ rest after their forced march, during -which there occurred an eclipse of the moon. Aristander expounded it as a -sign that, during that month, the Persian monarchy was destined to lose -its power and glory; and when Alexander sacrificed to the moon, the sun, -and the earth, as the powers which concurred to produce the portent, the -victims were found to announce a victory. He then marched southward along -the river, and four days after his reconnoitring parties brought word -that a body of cavalry was in sight. They fled at his approach, but some -were overtaken, and slain or made prisoners. From these he learned that -Darius with his whole army was encamped at no great distance. - -The Persian king had employed the long interval allowed him by -Alexander’s operations after the battle of Issus, to collect the -remaining strength of his empire; and he had assembled a host with which, -if superiority of numbers could have ensured success, he might reasonably -have hoped to crush his adversary. It was also composed for the most -part of more warlike troops. The division which was most formidable, -both for numbers and martial qualities, consisted of the hardy tribes -which inhabited the plains on the eastern side of the Caspian, and the -valleys above Cabul on the borders of India. They were led by Bessus, -the powerful satrap of Bactria; and he was also followed by a body of -horse-bowmen, furnished by the Sacæ, who wandered in the valleys east -of Transoxiana, and though they did not acknowledge his authority, -willingly joined him as allies for the sake of pay and plunder. All the -provinces between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and from Syria -and Cappadocia to the mountains west of the Indus, had poured forth their -choicest warriors. - -The whole amount was stated by some authors at a million of foot and -forty thousand horse; this may be a great exaggeration, but it was -probably reduced as much too low by those who reckoned no more than -two hundred thousand infantry. There were beside two hundred scythed -chariots, and fifteen elephants brought from the west of India. With this -host Darius had encamped in one of the wide plains between the Tigris and -the mountains of Kurdistan, near the Bumadus, a tributary of the Lycus, -and a village named Gaugamela (the camel’s house), which should have -given its name to the battle fought near it, but was forced, through a -caprice of which we have many examples, to surrender this distinction to -the town of Arbela, which lay more than twenty miles off, where Darius -had left his baggage and his treasure. He had been persuaded by his -courtiers that his defeat at Issus was entirely owing to the disadvantage -of the ground, and he had therefore chosen a field on which he might -fully display his forces, and where the enemy would have neither sea nor -mountains to cover his flanks; and he had ordered a large tract of the -plain to be cleared and levelled for the evolutions of his cavalry and -chariots.[d] - - -THE BATTLE OF ARBELA - -The position of the Persian king near Mesopotamia was chosen with great -military skill. It was certain that Alexander on his return from Egypt -must march northward along the Syrian coast, before he attacked the -central provinces of the Persian empire. A direct eastward march from the -lower part of Palestine across the great Syrian desert was then, as now, -utterly impracticable. Marching eastward from Syria, Alexander would, -on crossing the Euphrates, arrive at the vast Mesopotamian plains. The -wealthy capitals of the empire, Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, would then -lie to his south; and if he marched down through Mesopotamia to attack -them, Darius might reasonably hope to follow the Macedonians with his -immense force of cavalry, and, without even risking a pitched battle, to -harass and finally overwhelm them. We may remember that three centuries -afterwards a Roman army under Crassus was thus actually destroyed by -the oriental archers and horsemen in these very plains; and that the -ancestors of the Parthians who thus vanquished the Roman legions, served -by thousands under King Darius. If, on the contrary, Alexander should -defer his march against Babylon, and first seek an encounter with the -Persian army, the country on each side of the Tigris in this latitude -was highly advantageous for such an army as Darius commanded; and he had -close in his rear the mountainous districts of northern Media, where he -himself had in early life been satrap, where he had acquired reputation -as a soldier and a general, and where he justly expected to find loyalty -to his person, and a safe refuge in case of defeat. - -His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against him, at the -head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of Macedonian -officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand foot, and seven -thousand horse. In studying the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the -peculiar advantage of deriving our information from two of Alexander’s -generals of division, who bore an important part in all his enterprises. -In fact, in reading Arrian, we read General Aristobulus and General -Ptolemy on the campaigns of the Macedonians; and it is like reading -General Jomini or General Foy on the campaigns of the French. - -The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of Alexander’s army, -seems reasonable when we take into account both the losses which he had -sustained, and the reinforcements which he had received since he left -Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen, who know with what mere handfuls of men -their own generals have, at Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and other -Indian battles, routed large hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers -that we read of in the victories won by the Macedonians over the Persians -presents nothing incredible. The army which Alexander now led, was wholly -composed of veteran troops in the highest possible state of equipment -and discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader, and full of -confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny. - -The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of his -infantry. His men were veterans; and he could obtain from them an -accuracy of movement and steadiness of evolution, such as probably the -recruits of his father would only have floundered in attempting, and -such as certainly were impracticable in the phalanx when handled by his -successors: especially as under them it ceased to be a standing force, -and became only a militia. The main strength of his cavalry consisted in -two chosen corps of cuirassiers, one Macedonian, and one Thessalian, each -of which was about fifteen hundred strong. They were provided with long -lances and heavy swords, and horse as well as man was fully equipped with -defensive armour. Other regiments of regular cavalry were less heavily -armed, and there were several bodies of light horsemen, whom Alexander’s -conquests in Egypt and Syria had enabled him to mount superbly. - -The Persian king availed himself to the utmost of every advantage in his -power. He caused a large space of ground to be carefully levelled for the -operation of his scythe-armed chariots; and he deposited his military -stores in the strong town of Arbela, about twenty miles in his rear. The -rhetoricians of after ages have loved to describe Darius Codomannus as -a second Xerxes in ostentation and imbecility; but a fair examination -of his generalship in this his last campaign, shows that he was worthy -of bearing the same name as his great predecessor, the royal son of -Hystaspes. - -On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left of the Tigris, -Alexander hurried forward and crossed that river without opposition. He -was at first unable to procure any certain intelligence of the precise -position of the enemy, and after giving his army a short interval of -rest, he marched for four days down the left bank of the river. A -moralist may pause upon the fact, that Alexander must in this march have -passed within a few miles of the remains of Nineveh, the great city of -the primeval conquerors of the human race. Neither the Macedonian king -nor any of his followers knew what those vast mounds had once been. -They had already become nameless masses of grass-grown ruins; and it is -only within the last century that the intellectual energy of Layard has -rescued Nineveh from its long centuries of oblivion. - -On the fourth day of Alexander’s southward march, his advanced guard -reported that a body of the enemy’s cavalry was in sight. He instantly -formed his army in order for battle, and directing them to advance -steadily, he rode forward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry, -and charged the Persian horse whom he found before him. This was a -mere reconnoitring party, and they broke and fled immediately; but the -Macedonians made some prisoners, and from them Alexander found that -Darius was posted only a few miles off, and learned the strength of the -army that he had with him. On receiving this news, Alexander halted, -and gave his men repose for four days, so that they should go into -action fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his camp, and deposited -in it all his military stores, and all his sick and disabled soldiers; -intending to advance upon the enemy with the serviceable part of his -army perfectly unencumbered. After this halt, he moved forward, while it -was yet dark, with the intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking -them at break of day. About halfway between the camps there were some -undulations of the ground, which concealed the two armies from each -other’s view. But, on Alexander arriving at their summit, he saw by the -early light the Persian host arrayed before him; and he probably also -observed traces of some engineering operation having been carried on -along part of the ground in front of them. Not knowing that these marks -had been caused by the Persians having levelled the ground for the free -use of their war-chariots, Alexander suspected that hidden pitfalls had -been prepared with a view of disordering the approach of his cavalry. -He summoned a council of war forthwith. Some of the officers were for -attacking instantly at all hazards, but the more prudent opinion of -Parmenion prevailed, and it was determined not to advance farther till -the battle-ground had been carefully surveyed. - -[Illustration: GREEK SOLDIER, TIME OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT] - -Alexander halted his army on the heights; and taking with him some -light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed part of the day in -reconnoitring the enemy, and observing the nature of the ground which he -had to fight on. Darius wisely refrained from moving from his position to -attack the Macedonians on the eminences which they occupied, and the two -armies remained until night without molesting each other. On Alexander’s -return to his headquarters, he summoned his generals and superior -officers together, and telling them that he well knew that their zeal -wanted no exhortation, he besought them to do their utmost in encouraging -and instructing those whom each commanded, to do their best in the next -day’s battle. They were to remind them that they were now not going to -fight for a province, as they had hitherto fought, but they were about -to decide by their swords the dominion of all Asia. Each officer ought -to impress this upon his subalterns, and they should urge it on their -men. Their natural courage required no long words to excite its ardour; -but they should be reminded of the paramount importance of steadiness -in action. The silence in the ranks must be unbroken as long as silence -was proper; but when the time came for the charge, the shout and the -cheer must be full of terror for the foe. The officers were to be alert -in receiving and communicating orders; and every one was to act as if he -felt that the whole result of the battle depended on his own single good -conduct. - -Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander ordered that the -army should sup, and take their rest for the night. Darkness had closed -over the tents of the Macedonians, when Alexander’s veteran general, -Parmenion, came to him, and proposed that they should make a night attack -on the Persians. The king is said to have answered, that he scorned to -filch a victory, and that Alexander must conquer openly and fairly. -Arrian justly remarks that Alexander’s resolution was as wise as it was -spirited. Besides the confusion and uncertainty which are inseparable -from night engagements, the value of Alexander’s victory would have been -impaired, if gained under circumstances which might supply the enemy with -any excuse for his defeat, and encourage him to renew the contest. It -was necessary for Alexander not only to beat Darius, but to gain such a -victory as should leave his rival without apology for defeat, and without -hope of recovery. - -The Persians, in fact, expected, and were prepared to meet, a night -attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius entertained of it, that he -formed his troops at evening in order of battle, and kept them under arms -all night. The effect of this was, that the morning found them jaded and -dispirited, while it brought their adversaries all fresh and vigorous -against them. - -The written order of battle, which Darius himself caused to be drawn -up, fell into the hands of the Macedonians after the engagement, and -Aristobulus copied it into his journal. We thus possess, through Arrian, -unusually authentic information as to the composition and arrangement -of the Persian army. On the extreme left were the Bactrian, Dahean, and -Arachosian cavalry. Next to these Darius placed the troops from Persia -proper, both horse and foot. Then came the Susians, and next to these the -Cadusians. These forces made up the left wing. Darius’ own station was in -the centre. This was composed of the Indians, the Carians, the Mardian -archers, and the division of Persians who were distinguished by the -golden apples that formed knobs of their spears. Here also were stationed -the bodyguard of the Persian nobility. Besides these, there were in -the centre, formed in deep order, the Uxian and Babylonian troops, and -the soldiers from the Red Sea. The brigade of Greek mercenaries, whom -Darius had in his service, and who were alone considered fit to stand -in the charge of the Macedonian phalanx, was drawn up on either side of -the royal chariot. The right wing was composed of the Cœlo-Syrians and -Mesopotamians, the Medes, the Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians, -Hyrcanians, Albanians, and Sacesinæ. In advance of the line on the left -wing were placed the Scythian cavalry, with a thousand of the Bactrian -horse, and a hundred scythe-armed chariots. The elephants and the fifty -scythe-armed chariots were ranged in front of the centre; and fifty more -chariots, with the Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in -advance of the right wing. - -Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the night, that to -many thousands of them was the last of their existence. The morning of -the first of October dawned slowly to their wearied watching, and they -could hear the note of the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and could -see King Alexander’s forces descend from their tents on the heights, and -form in order of battle on the plain. - -There was deep need of skill, as well as of valour, on Alexander’s side; -and few battle-fields have witnessed more consummate generalship than was -now displayed by the Macedonian king.[24] There were no natural barriers -by which he could protect his flanks; and not only was he certain to be -overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but -there was imminent risk of their circling round him and charging him in -the rear, while he advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore, -a second or reserve line, which was to wheel round, if required, or -to detach troops to either flank, as the enemy’s movements might -necessitate: and thus with their whole army ready at any moment to be -thrown into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two lines -against the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right wing, and the -renowned phalanx forming the centre, while Parmenion commanded on the -left. - -Such was the general nature of the disposition which Alexander made of -his army. But we have in Arrian the details of the position of each -brigade and regiment; and as we know that these details were taken from -the journals of Macedonian generals, it is interesting to examine them, -and to read the names and stations of King Alexander’s generals and -colonels in this the greatest of his battles. - -The eight troops of the royal horse-guards formed the right of -Alexander’s line. Their captains were Clitus (whose regiment was on the -extreme right, the post of peculiar danger), Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis, -Heraclides, Demetrias, Meleager, and Hagelochus. Philotas was general of -the whole division. Then came the shield-bearing infantry; Nicanor was -their general. Then came the phalanx, in six brigades. Cœnus’ brigade was -on the right, and nearest to the shield-bearers; next to this stood the -brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager’s, then Polysperchon’s; and then the -brigade of Amyntas, but which was now commanded by Simmias, as Amyntas -had been sent to Macedonia to levy recruits. Then came the infantry of -the left wing, under the command of Craterus. Next to Craterus’ infantry -was placed the cavalry regiments of the allies, with Erigyius for their -general. The Thessalian cavalry, commanded by Philippus, were next, -and held the extreme left of the whole army. The whole left wing was -entrusted to the command of Parmenion, who had round his person the -Pharsalian troop of cavalry, which was the strongest and best amid all -the Thessalian horse-regiments. - -The centre of the second line was occupied by a body of Phalangite -infantry, formed of companies, which were drafted for this purpose from -each of the brigades of their phalanx. The officers in command of this -corps were ordered to be ready to face about, if the enemy should -succeed in gaining the rear of the army. On the right of this reserve of -infantry, in the second line, behind the royal horse-guards, Alexander -placed half the Agrianian light-armed infantry under Attalus, and with -them Brison’s body of Macedonian archers, and Cleander’s regiment of -foot. He also placed in this part of his army Menidas’ squadron of -cavalry, and Aretes’ and Ariston’s light horse. Menidas was ordered to -watch if the enemy’s cavalry tried to turn the flank, and if they did so, -to charge them before they wheeled completely round, and so take them in -flank themselves. A similar force was arranged on the left of the second -line for the same purpose. The Thracian infantry of Sitalces was placed -there, and Cœranus’ regiment of the cavalry of the Greek allies, and -Agathon’s troops of the Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme left of the -second line in this quarter was held by Andromachus’ cavalry. A division -of Thracian infantry was left in guard of the camp. In advance of the -right wing and centre was scattered a number of light-armed troops, of -javelin-men and bowmen, with the intention of warding off the charge of -the armed chariots.[25] - -Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armour, and by the chosen band of -officers who were round his person, Alexander took his own station, as -his custom was, in the right wing, at the head of his cavalry; and when -all the arrangements for the battle were complete, and his generals were -fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, he began to lead -his men towards the enemy. - -It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, and to -emulate the personal prowess of his great ancestor, Achilles. Perhaps in -the bold enterprise of conquering Persia, it was politic for Alexander to -raise his army’s daring to the utmost by the example of his own heroic -valour; and, in his subsequent campaigns, the love of the excitement, of -“the rapture of the strife,” may have made him, like Murat, continue from -choice a custom which he commenced from duty. But he never suffered the -ardour of the soldier to make him lose the coolness of the general; and -at Arbela, in particular, he showed that he could act up to his favourite -Homeric maxim of being - - Ἀμφότερον, βασιλεύς τ’ ἀγαθὸς κρατερός τ’ αἰχμητής.[26] - -Great reliance had been placed by the Persian king on the effects of the -scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to launch these against the -Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry, -which it was hoped would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by -the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part -of Alexander’s force. In front, therefore, of the Persian centre, where -Darius took his station, and which it was supposed the phalanx would -attack, the ground had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as to -allow the chariots to charge over it with their full sweep and speed. -As the Macedonian army approached the Persian, Alexander found that the -front of his whole line barely equalled the front of the Persian centre, -so that he was outflanked on his right by the entire left wing of the -enemy, and by their entire right wing on his left. His tactics were to -assail some one point of the hostile army, and gain a decisive advantage, -while he refused, as far as possible, the encounter along the rest of -the line. He therefore inclined his order of march to the right, so as to -enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with the enemy -on as favourable terms as possible, though the manœuvre might in some -respects compromise his left. - -The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the phalanx and his -own wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground which the Persians had -prepared for the operations of the chariots; and Darius, fearing to -lose the benefit of this arm against the most important parts of the -Macedonian force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were -drawn up on his extreme left, to charge upon Alexander’s right wing, and -check its further lateral progress. Against these assailants Alexander -sent from his second line Menidas’ cavalry. As these proved too few to -make head against the enemy, he ordered Ariston also from the second -line with his light horse, and Cleander with his foot, in support of -Menidas. The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way, but Darius -reinforced them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry from his main line, and -an obstinate cavalry fight now took place. The Bactrians and Scythians -were numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen under Menidas and -Ariston; and the loss at first was heaviest on the Macedonian side. But -still the European cavalry stood the charge of the Asiatics, and at last, -by their superior discipline, and by acting in squadrons that supported -each other instead of fighting in a confused mass like the barbarians, -the Macedonians broke their adversaries, and drove them off the field. - -[Illustration: SCYTHE-BEARING CHARIOT - -(Showing the Attachment of the Scythe to the Axle)] - -Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven against -Alexander’s horse-guards and the phalanx; and these formidable vehicles -were accordingly sent rattling across the plain, against the Macedonian -line. When we remember the alarm which the war-chariots of the Britons -created among Cæsar’s legions, we shall not be prone to deride this arm -of ancient warfare as always useless. The object of the chariots was -to create unsteadiness in the ranks against which they were driven, -and squadrons of cavalry followed close upon them, to profit by such -disorder. But the Asiatic chariots were rendered ineffective at Arbela -by the light-armed troops whom Alexander had specially appointed for the -service, and who, wounding the horses and drivers with their missile -weapons, and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the -reins, marred the intended charge; and the few chariots that reached the -phalanx passed harmlessly through the intervals which the spearmen opened -for them, and were easily captured in the rear. - -A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, collected -against Alexander’s extreme right, and moved round it, with the view of -gaining the flank of his army. At the critical moment, Aretes, with his -horsemen from Alexander’s second line, dashed on the Persian squadrons -when their own flanks were exposed by this evolution. While Alexander -thus met and baffled all the flanking attacks of the enemy with troops -brought up from his second line, he kept his own horse-guards and the -rest of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready to take advantage of -the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow. This soon came. A -large body of horse, who were posted on the Persian left wing nearest to -the centre, quitted their station, and rode off to help their comrades -in the cavalry fight that still was going on at the extreme right of -Alexander’s wing against the detachments from his second line. This made -a huge gap in the Persian array, and into this space Alexander instantly -dashed with his guard; and then pressing towards his left, he soon began -to make havoc in the left flank of the Persian centre. The shield-bearing -infantry now charged also among the reeling masses of the Asiatics; and -five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the irresistible might of their -sarissas, bore down the Greek mercenaries of Darius, and dug their way -through the Persian centre. In the early part of the battle, Darius had -shown skill and energy; and he now for some time encouraged his men, by -voice and example, to keep firm. But the lances of Alexander’s cavalry -and the pikes of the phalanx now gleamed nearer and nearer to him. His -charioteer was struck down by a javelin at his side; and at last Darius’ -nerve failed him; and, descending from his chariot, he mounted on a -fleet horse and galloped from the plain, regardless of the state of the -battle in other parts of the field, where matters were going on much more -favourably for his cause. - -Alexander’s operations with his right and centre had exposed his left -to an immensely preponderating force of the enemy. Parmenion kept out -of action as long as possible; but Mazæus, who commanded the Persian -right wing, advanced against him, completely outflanked him, and pressed -him severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers. Seeing the -distress of Parmenion’s wing, Simmias, who commanded the sixth brigade -of the phalanx, which was next to the left wing, did not advance with -the other brigades in the great charge upon the Persian centre, but kept -back to cover Parmenion’s troops on their right flank; as otherwise they -would have been completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the -Macedonian army. By so doing, Simmias had unavoidably opened a gap in -the Macedonian left centre; and a large column of Indian and Persian -horse, from the Persian right centre, had galloped forward through this -interval, and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line. -Instead of then wheeling round upon Parmenion, or upon the rear of -Alexander’s conquering wing, the Indian and Persian cavalry rode straight -on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the Thracians who were left in -charge of it, and began to plunder. This was stopped by the phalangite -troops of the second line, who, after the enemy’s horsemen had rushed -by them, faced about, countermarched upon the camp, killed many of the -Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, and forced the rest to -ride off again. Just at this crisis, Alexander had been recalled from his -pursuit of Darius, by tidings of the distress of Parmenion, and of his -inability to bear up any longer against the hot attacks of Mazæus. Taking -his horse-guards with him, Alexander rode towards the part of the field -where his left wing was fighting; but on his way thither he encountered -the Persian and Indian cavalry on their return from his camp. - -These men now saw that their only chance of safety was to cut their -way through; and in one huge column they charged desperately upon the -Macedonians. There was here a close hand-to-hand fight, which lasted -some time, and sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three generals, -who fought close to Alexander’s side, were wounded. At length the -Macedonian discipline and valour again prevailed, and a large number of -the Persian and Indian horsemen were cut down; some few only succeeded in -breaking through and riding away. Relieved of these obstinate enemies, -Alexander again formed his horse-guards, and led them towards Parmenion; -but by this time that general also was victorious. Probably the news -of Darius’ flight had reached Mazæus, and had damped the ardour of the -Persian right wing; while the tidings of their comrades’ success must -have proportionally encouraged the Macedonian forces under Parmenion. -His Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished themselves by their -gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by the time that Alexander -had ridden up to Parmenion, the whole Persian army was in full flight -from the field.[27] - -It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure the person of -Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The Upper Zab was between the -field of battle and the city of Arbela, whither the fugitives directed -their course, and the passage of this river was even more destructive -to the Persians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had been -in the engagement. The narrow bridge was soon choked up by the flying -thousands who rushed towards it, and vast numbers of the Persians threw -themselves, or were hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and -perished in its waters. Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through -Arbela without halting. Alexander reached that city on the next day, and -made himself master of all Darius’ treasure and stores; but the Persian -king had fled too fast for his conqueror. - -A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, “the oldest seat -of earthly empire” then in existence, as its acknowledged lord and -master. There were yet some campaigns of his brief and bright career -to be accomplished. Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his -phalanx. He was yet to effect that conquest of Afghanistan in which -England since has failed. His generalship, as well as his valour, -were yet to be signalised on the banks of the Hydaspes, and the field -of Chillianwallah; and he was yet to precede the queen of England in -annexing the Punjab to the dominions of a European sovereign. But the -crisis of his career was reached; the great object of his mission was -accomplished; and the ancient Persian empire, which once menaced all -the nations of the earth with subjection, was irreparably crushed, when -Alexander had won his crowning victory at Arbela.[j] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[21] [Somewhere about this period belongs a picturesque tradition which -Grote, Bury, Holm, and others do not mention at all, even to deny; and -that is, Alexander’s reception in Palestine as described by Josephus. -While it is disbelieved, even by such Jewish historians as Ewald and -Milman, it is not entirely impossible. Thirlwall, unlike Mitford, found it -credible.] - -[22] [“The city was, in form, like unto a soldier’s coat,” says Diodorus.] - -[23] As to the ravens, there is no reason to doubt the literal fact. It -appears that these birds are looked upon as indicating the vicinity of a -well in the African desert. Two ravens met Belzoni, as he was approaching -the oasis El Wak. Ritter, _Afrika_, p. 969. - -[24] [“In so far as we can follow the dispositions of Alexander they -appear the most signal example recorded in integrity of military genius -and sagacious combination,” says Grote.[h] “He had really as great an -available force as his enemy, because every company in his army was turned -to account.”] - -[25] Kleber’s arrangement of his troops at the battle of Heliopolis, -where, with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter eighty thousand -Asiatics in an open plain, is worth comparing with Alexander’s tactics at -Arbela. See Thiers’ _Histoire du Consulat_, etc., vol. ii. book v. - -[26] [“Both a good king and a valiant warrior.”] - -[27] [The Persian dead were 300,000 according to Arrian, 90,000 according -to Diodorus; 40,000 according to Curtius. Arrian says the Macedonians lost -100; Curtius, 300; Diodorus, 500.] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LIV. THE FALL OF PERSIA - - -THE ENTRY INTO BABYLON DESCRIBED BY QUINTUS CURTIUS - -As Alexander was continuing his march towards Babylon, Mazæus (who had -fled thither from the battle) came with his children that were at the -age of maturity, and surrendered himself and the town to the king. His -submission was very acceptable to the king, by reason that the siege of -so strong a place must of necessity have been tedious. Besides this, -his quality and bravery were very considerable, and he had but lately -distinguished himself in the last great action, and his example might be -a great inducement to others to imitate him. The king therefore received -him and his children very graciously; however, he formed his army, which -he led in person, into a square, and commanded them to enter the town in -that order, as if they had been going to an engagement. - -In Babylon the walls were filled with Babylonians who flocked thither, -eager to behold their new sovereign; but the greatest part went out to -meet him. Among these were Bagophanes, governor of the castle and the -keeper of the king’s treasure, who was unwilling to be outdone in zeal -by Mazæus. The road he had strewed all over with flowers and garlands, -and was adorned on each side with silver altars, which were filled, not -only with frankincense, but all manner of perfumes. He was followed by -the presents he designed for the king, viz., droves of cattle and horses, -with lions and leopards in strong cages for that purpose. These were -followed by the Magi singing hymns after the manner of the country. After -these came the Chaldeans, and not only the Babylonian prophets, but also -the musicians with their respective instruments. These were closed by the -Babylonian cavalry, whose rich clothing and furniture, for themselves and -their horses, denoted luxury rather than magnificence. - -The king commanded the multitude of townspeople to follow in the rear -of his foot, and being encompassed by his guards, entered the city in -a chariot, and repaired to the palace. The next day he took a view of -Darius’ furniture, and all his treasure. The beauty and antiquity of the -place attracted not only Alexander’s eyes, but likewise those of all that -beheld it. - -“The king resided longer here,” Curtius continues, “than he had done -anywhere; nor could any place be more destructive of discipline. Nothing -can be more corrupt than the manners of this city,[28] nor better -provided with all the requisites to stir up and promote all sorts of -debauchery and lewdness: for parents and husbands suffer their children -and wives to prostitute themselves to their guests, if they are but paid -for the crime. The kings and noblemen of Persia take great delight in -licentious entertainments: and the Babylonians are very much addicted to -wine, and the consequences of drunkenness. The women, in the beginning -of their feasts, are modestly clad; then after some time, they lay aside -their upper garment, and violate their modesty by degrees; at last -(without offence be it spoken) they fling away even their lower apparel: -nor is this the infamous practice of the courtesans only, but likewise of -the matrons and their daughters, who look upon this vile prostitution of -their bodies as an act of complaisance. - -“It is reasonable to think, that that victorious army, which had -conquered Asia, having wallowed thirty-four days in all kinds of lewdness -and debauchery, would have found itself much weakened, for any following -engagements, if an enemy had presented itself; but that the damage might -be less sensible, it was from time to time as it were renewed with fresh -recruits, for Amyntas, the son of Andromenes, brought from Antipater -6000 Macedonian foot, and 500 horse of the same nation; and with these -600 Thracian horse, and 3500 foot of that country. There came also -from Peloponnesus 4000 mercenary foot, and 380 horse. The said Amyntas -likewise brought him 50 young gentlemen of the nobility of Macedonia, to -serve as guards of his person.” - -The king having appointed Agathon governor of the castle of Babylon, -assigning him seven hundred Macedonians and three hundred mercenaries -for that purpose, left the government of the territory and city to Menes -and Apollodorus, allotting them a garrison of two thousand foot, and one -thousand talents, commanding both to make new levies to recruit the army. -He gave to Mazæus who came over to him, the superintendency of Babylon, -and ordered Bagophanes, who had surrendered the castle to him, to follow -him. He gave the government of Armenia to Mithrenes, who had yielded up -Sardis. Out of the money found in Babylon, he ordered every Macedonian -trooper six hundred denarii [about £20 or $100], and five hundred to -every foreign trooper, and to every foot soldier two hundred. - -Alexander having settled things after this manner, marched into the -country called Satrapene. - -As the king was on his march to Susa, Abulites, who was governor of that -province, sent his son to meet him on the road, and assure him he was -ready to surrender the town. It is uncertain whether he did this of his -own accord, or by Darius’ order, thereby to amuse Alexander with the -booty. Having entered the town, Alexander took out of the treasury a -prodigious sum, viz., fifty thousand talents of silver, not coined, but -in the wedge and bar.[29] Several kings had been a long time heaping up -these vast treasures, as they thought, for their children, and posterity, -but one single hour put them all into the hands of a foreign prince. - -He then seated himself in the regal throne, which, being much too high -for his stature, his feet could not reach the ground; one of his pages -therefore brought a table and set it under his feet. Hereupon one of -Darius’ eunuchs sighed, which the king observing, enquired into the -cause of his grief. Then the eunuch told him, “That Darius was used to -eat upon that table; and that he could not behold, without shedding -tears, the table, which was consecrated to his master’s use, applied in -a manner so insulting and contemptuous.” At these words, the king began -to be ashamed to violate the gods of hospitality, and commanded it to be -taken away: but Philotas entreated him by no means to do so, but on the -contrary to take it as a good omen, that that table, off of which his -enemy used to eat, was now become his footstool. - -[Sidenote: [330 B.C.]] - -Alexander designing now to pass into Persia, gave the government, -of Susa to Archelaus, leaving him a garrison of three thousand men; -Xenophilus had the charge of the castle, having with him for garrison -the superannuated Macedonians. The care of the treasury was committed to -Callicrates, and the lieutenancy of the county of Susa was restored to -Abulites. Darius’ mother and children were likewise left here. - -Alexander having passed the river with nine thousand foot, the Agrianes, -mercenary Greeks, and three thousand Thracians, came into the country of -the Uxians; it borders upon the territory of Susa, and extends itself -as far as the frontier of Persia. He afterwards united the Uxian nation -to the government of Susa; then having divided his army with Parmenion, -he commanded him to march through the flat country, while he, with the -light-armed forces, took his way along the mountains, which run in a -perpetual ridge into Persia. - - -AT THE BORDER OF PERSIA - -Having ravaged all this country, he arrived the third day on the -borders of Persia, and on the fifth he entered the straits Pylæ Susidæ. -Ariobarzanes, with twenty-five thousand foot, had taken possession of -these rocks, which were on all sides steep and craggy, on the tops -whereof the barbarians kept themselves, being there out of the cast of -the darts. Here they remained quiet on purpose, and seemed to be afraid -till the army was advanced within the narrowest part of the straits; but -when they perceived them to continue their march, as it were in contempt -of them, they rolled down stones of a prodigious bigness upon them, which -rebounding often from the lower rocks, fell with the greater force, and -not only crushed single persons, but even whole companies. - -They likewise plied their slings and bows from all parts; even this did -not seem a hardship to these brave men, save that they were forced to -perish unrevenged, like beasts taken in a pitfall: upon this, their anger -turning into rage, they caught hold of the rocks, and helping one another -up, did all they could to get to the enemy; but the parts they laid hold -on giving way to the strength of so many hands, fell upon those that -loosened them. In these sad circumstances they could neither stand still -nor go forward, nor protect themselves with their bucklers, by reason -of the great size of the stones the barbarians pushed upon them. The -king was not only grieved, but ashamed he had so rashly brought his army -into these straits. Till this day he had been invincible, having never -attempted anything in vain. He had entered the straits of Cilicia without -damage, and had opened himself a new way by sea into Pamphylia; but here -that happiness which had always attended him, seemed to be at a stand, -and there was no other remedy but to return the same way he came. Having -therefore given the signal for a retreat, he commanded the soldiers to -march in close order, and to join their bucklers over their heads, and -so retire out of these straits, after they had advanced thirty furlongs -within them. - - -A SHEPHERD GUIDE - -The king, at his return from the straits, having pitched his camp in -a plain open ground, not only held a council on the present juncture -of affairs, but also was so superstitious as to consult the prophets -concerning what was the most advisable to be done: but what, in such -a case, could Aristander (who was then in greatest esteem) pretend to -foretell? Laying aside therefore the unseasonable sacrifices, he gave -orders to bring to him such men as were well acquainted with the country; -these men told him of a way through Media, which was safe and open, but -the king was ashamed to leave his soldiers unburied, for there was no -custom more religiously observed amongst the Macedonians, than that of -burying their dead: he therefore commanded the prisoners he had lately -taken to be brought before him; among these, there was one who was -skilled in both the Greek and Persian languages; this man told him, it -was in vain for him to think of leading his army into Persia, over the -tops of the mountains; that the narrow ways lay all among woods, and -were hardly passable to single persons; that he had been a shepherd, and -knew all those byways perfectly well: and that he had been twice taken -prisoner; once by the Persians in Lycia, and now by himself. - -This answer put the king in mind of the oracle that had told him, “a -Lycian should be his guide into Persia;” having therefore made him -large promises, suitable to the present necessity, and the prisoner’s -condition, he ordered him “to be armed after the Macedonian manner, and -in the name of fortune to lead the way.” Then having committed the guard -of the camp to Craterus, with the foot which he commanded, and the forces -under Meleager, and a thousand horse archers, he ordered him “to observe -the same form of encampment, and to keep a great many fires, that the -barbarians might by that think the king was there in person; but if he -found Ariobarzanes got intelligence of his march through the winding -narrow ways, and thereupon made detachments to oppose his passage; that -then Craterus should use his utmost efforts to terrify him, and oblige -him to keep his troops together to oppose the present danger; but if he -(the king) deceived the enemy, and gained the wood, that then, upon the -alarm among the enemies endeavouring to pursue the king, he should boldly -enter the straits they had been repulsed in the day before, since he -might be sure they were undefended, and the enemy turned upon himself.” - -At the third watch, he broke up in great silence, without so much as -the signal from the trumpet, and followed his guide towards the narrow -way. Every light-armed soldier had orders to carry with him three days’ -provision. But besides the steepness of the rocks, and the slipperiness -of the stone that often deceived their feet, the driven snow very much -incommoded them; for it sometimes swallowed them up as if they had fallen -into pits; and when their fellow-soldiers endeavoured to help them out, -they themselves were pulled down into the same pits. Moreover, the -night, and unknown country, besides the uncertainty whether the guide -was faithful or not, very much increased their fear: for if he deceived -the guards, and made his escape, they were liable to be taken like wild -beasts: so that the king’s and their safety depended on the fidelity and -life of one prisoner. At length they gained the top of the mountain. - -[Illustration: PERSIAN NOBLE IN CIVIL COSTUME] - -Having there refreshed his men both with food and sleep, at the second -watch he continued his march, without any great difficulty. However, by -reason of the declivity of the mountains towards the plain, there was -a great gulf (occasioned by the meeting of several torrents that had -worn away the earth) which stopped their further progress. Besides, the -branches of the trees were so entangled one within the other, and joined -so close, that it opposed their passage like a thick hedge. This cast -them into the utmost despair, and they had much ado, to retain their -tears: the darkness of the night also increased their terror, for if any -stars appeared, they were intercepted by the close contexture of the -boughs. The very use of their ears was also taken away; for the wind was -high, and by blowing against the interfering branches of the trees, its -noise was greatly increased. At last, the long-expected light lessened -the terrors which the night had enhanced; for by fetching a small -compass, they avoided the gulf: and now every one began to be a guide -to himself. Having therefore gained the top of a hill, from whence they -could discover the enemy’s out-guards, they resolutely showed themselves -at the back of the enemy, who mistrusted no such thing. Those few who -dared engage, were killed; and the groans of those that were dying, -together with the dismal appearance of those that fled to their main -body, struck such a terror amongst them, that they took to their heels -without so much as trying their fortune. - -The noise having reached Craterus’ camp, he presently advanced to take -possession of those straits where they had been baffled the day before. -At the same time, Philotas with Polysperchon, Amyntas, and Cœnus, who -had been ordered to march another way, gave a fresh surprise to the -barbarians, who were now surrounded on all sides by the Macedonians; -notwithstanding which, they behaved themselves gallantly. Oftentimes -despair is the cause of hope: for naked as they were, they closed in -with those that were armed, and by the bulk of their bodies, brought -them down to the ground, and then stuck several of them with their own -weapons. However, Ariobarzanes with forty horse, and about five thousand -foot, broke through the Macedonian army (a great many falling on both -sides) and endeavoured to possess himself of Persepolis, the chief city -of the country. But being denied entrance by the garrison, and the enemy -pursuing him closely, he renewed the fight, and was slain with all his -men. By this time Craterus marching with the utmost expedition, also -joined the king. - -The king fortified his camp in the same place where he had defeated the -enemy: for notwithstanding that he had gained a complete victory, yet -the large and deep ditches in many places retarded his march, and so he -thought it more advisable to proceed leisurely; not suspecting so much -any attempt from the barbarians, as the treachery of the ground. - -In his march he received letters from Tiridates (keeper of the royal -treasure at Persepolis) notifying him, “that upon advice of his approach, -the inhabitants would have rifled the treasury; wherefore he desired -him to hasten his march, and come and take possession of it; that the -way was safe, although the river Araxes ran across.” No other virtue of -Alexander’s is so admirable as his expedition in all actions. Leaving -therefore his foot behind, he marched all night with his cavalry, -notwithstanding their late fatigues, and arrived by break of day at the -Araxes. There were several villages in the neighbourhood, which having -pillaged and demolished, he made a bridge of the materials. - - -THE RELEASED CAPTIVES; SACKING PERSEPOLIS - -The king was not far from Persepolis, when so sad a spectacle presented -itself to his eyes, as can hardly be paralleled in history. It consisted -of four thousand Greek captives, whom the Persians had mangled after a -miserable manner. For some had their feet cut off, others their hands -and ears, and all their bodies were burnt with barbarous characters, and -thus reserved for the cruel diversion of their inhuman enemies; who now -finding themselves under foreign subjection, did not oppose their desire -to go out and meet Alexander. They resembled some strange figures more -than men, being only distinguishable as such by their voice. They drew -more tears from their spectators, than they shed themselves; for in so -great a variety of calamities, notwithstanding they were all sufferers, -yet their punishment was so diversified, that it was a difficult matter -to determine which of them was most miserable. But when they cried out, -that at last Jupiter the revenger of Greece had opened his eyes, all -the beholders were so moved with compassion, that they thought their -sufferings their own. Alexander having dried his eyes (for he could not -forbear weeping at so sad an object) bade them “have a good heart,” and -assured them, “they should see their native country, and their wives -again.” - -Some few accepted, but the remainder were overcome by a long habit, which -is stronger than nature; they agreed therefore “to desire the king to -assign them some place for their habitation”; and chose a hundred out -of their body, to prefer their petition. Alexander, thinking they would -ask what he himself intended for them, told them, he had “ordered every -one of them a horse, and a thousand denarii [£34 or $170]; and that when -they should come to Greece, he would so provide for them that (except -for the calamities they had experienced in their captivity) none should -be happier than they.” At these words, they fell to weeping, and being -dejected, could neither look up, nor speak; which made the king inquire -into the cause of their sadness. Then Euthymon made an answer suitable to -what he had said to his companions. Hereupon the king, moved with their -misfortune and resolution, ordered three thousand denarii [£102 or $510] -to be distributed to every one of them, besides ten suits of clothes, -with cattle, sheep, and such a quantity of corn, as was sufficient to -cultivate the land that was assigned them. - -The next day, having called together all his generals, he represented to -them, “that no city had been more mischievous to the Greeks than this -seat of the ancient kings of Persia: from hence came all those vast -armies: from hence Darius first, and then Xerxes, made their impious -wars upon Europe: it was therefore necessary to raze it, to appease the -Manes of their ancestors.” The inhabitants had abandoned it, and were -fled some one way, and some another; so that the king led the phalanx -into it without further delay. He had before this made himself master of -many towns of regal wealth and magnificence, some by force, and some by -composition, but the riches of this exceeded all the rest. Hither the -Persians had brought all their substance; gold and silver lay here in -heaps: of clothes there was a prodigious quantity; the furniture of the -houses seemed not only designed for use, but for luxury and ostentation. -This gave occasion to the conquerors to fight among themselves, each -taking for an enemy his companion that had got the richest spoils: and as -they could not carry off all they found, they were now no longer employed -in taking, but in picking and choosing. - -They tore the royal garments, every one being willing to have his share -of them: with axes they cut in pieces vessels of exquisite art; in fine, -nothing was left untouched, nor carried away entire; the images of gold -and silver were broken in pieces, according as every one could lay hold -on them. Avarice did not only rage here, but cruelty likewise; for being -loaded with gold and silver, they would not be troubled to guard their -prisoners, but inhumanly killed them, and now barbarously murdered those -they had at first shown mercy to in hopes of gain. This occasioned a -great many to give themselves over to a voluntary death, so that putting -on their richest apparel, they cast themselves headlong from the walls, -with their wives and children; some set fire to their houses (which they -thought the enemy would do) and perished, with their families, in the -flames. At last the king gave orders, not to injure the persons of the -women, nor meddle with their apparel. - - -CURTIUS TELLS OF THE ENORMOUS LOOT - -The immense treasures taken here exceeded all belief: but we must either -doubt of all the rest, or believe that in the exchequer of this place -was found 120,000 talents,[30] which the king, designing for the use of -the war, caused “horses and camels to be brought from Susa to Babylon, -to carry it off for that purpose.” This sum was afterwards increased, -by taking Pasargada, wherein were found six thousand talents. Cyrus had -built this city; and Gobares, who was governor thereof, surrendered it to -Alexander. - -The king made Nicarthides governor of the castle of Persepolis, leaving -with him a garrison of three thousand Macedonians; he also continued -Tiridates (who had delivered up the treasure) in the same honours he had -enjoyed under Darius. - -Alexander left here the greatest part of his army, with the baggage, -under the command of Parmenion and Craterus; and taking with him a -thousand horse, and part of the light-armed foot, penetrated farther -into the country of Persia about the beginning of winter. On his way he -was very much incommoded with storms of rain, and tempests that seemed -intolerable; notwithstanding which, he pursued his intended progress. He -was now in a country covered over with snow and ice: the sad view of the -place, and the impassable wastes and solitudes, struck the tired soldier -with horror; he now began to think he was at the end of the world. They -beheld with astonishment the frightful solitudes, which had not the least -signs of human culture; they therefore required him to return, “before -the very light and heavens failed them.” The king forebore chastising -them in the amazement they were in, but leaping from his horse, marched -on foot before them through the snow and ice. They were ashamed not to -follow him; therefore first his friends, then the captains, and at last -the soldiers marched after him. - -The king was the first that with a pickaxe broke the ice, and made -himself a passage; then the rest imitated his example. At length, having -made their way through woods almost impassable, they began to discover -here and there some tokens that the place was inhabited, as also flocks -of sheep wandering up and down. The inhabitants lived in cottages, and -thought themselves sufficiently secured by the impracticableness of the -country. At the sight of the enemy, they presently killed those who could -not follow them, and fled to the remotest mountains, which were covered -with snow; but after some conferences with the prisoners, their fright -abated, and they surrendered themselves to the king, who was no way -severe to them. - - -CURTIUS DESCRIBES AN ORGY AND THE BURNING OF PERSEPOLIS - -Alexander having ravaged the country of Persia, and reduced several towns -under his obedience, came at last into the country of the Mardians, who -were a warlike nation, and very different from the rest of the Persians -in their manner of living. “They dig themselves caves in the mountains,” -says Curtius, “where they dwell, feeding on their flocks, or wild beasts. -The women are not of a softer nature than the men; they have bushy hair, -and their garments hardly reach their knees. They bind their forehead -with a sling, which serves them both for ornament and weapon.” However, -the same torrent of fortune bore down this nation, as it had done the -rest; so that on the thirteenth day after he departed from Persepolis, he -returned thither again. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS] - -Then he made presents to his friends, and to the rest according to their -respective merit, distributing amongst them almost all that had been -taken in the town. - -But the excellent endowments of his mind, that noble disposition whereby -he surpassed all kings, that manly constancy in surmounting dangers, that -unparalleled celerity in undertaking and executing the greatest designs, -his inviolable faith to those who submitted to him, his wonderful -clemency towards the prisoners, and his temperance in allowable and -usual pleasures, were all sullied by his excessive love of wine: for -notwithstanding his enemy and rival, for the empire was at this very -instant making the greatest preparations to renew the war, and the late -conquered nations were yet uneasy under his new government, yet he would -spend the day-time in revelling and feasting; to which entertainments the -women were also admitted; not such whom it was a crime to violate, but -such as were common, and whose conversation was a disgrace to a man in -arms. One of these, whose name was Thais, being heated with wine, told -him, he could not do anything that would more oblige all the Greeks, than -if he burnt the palace of the kings of Persia; that they expected this by -way of reprisal for those towns of theirs the barbarians had destroyed. -This drunken harlot had no sooner spoken her opinion in a matter of so -great a consequence, but presently some of the company (who were also -loaded with wine) applauded the proposal: and the king not only heard it -with patience, but, eager to put it in execution, said: - -“Why do we not revenge Greece? Why do we delay setting fire to the town?” -They were all heated with wine, and in that drunken condition immediately -rose to burn that city they had spared when armed. The king showed them -the example, and was the first that set fire to the palace, after which -his guests, servants, and concubines did the same. There being a great -deal of cedar in this noble structure, it presently took fire, and -communicated the flames. The army, which was encamped not far from the -town, perceived the conflagration, and imagining it to be casual, ran -to help to quench it; but being come to the entrance of the palace, and -seeing the king himself carrying fresh flambeaux to increase the fire, -they flung down the water they had brought, and fed the flames with dry -materials. - -This was the end of the noblest city of the East, from whence so many -nations received their laws; which had been the birthplace of so many -kings; formerly the chief terror of Greece; had fitted out a fleet of a -thousand sail of ships, and sent out armies, which, like an inundation, -almost covered all Europe, had laid bridges over the sea, and hollowed -mountains to make the sea a passage; and in so long a time as has elapsed -since its destruction, never was rebuilt: for the Macedonian kings -made choice of other towns for their residence, which are now in the -possession of the Parthians. The ruin of this city was so complete, that -were it not for the river Araxes, we should hardly know where it stood. -This river ran at no great distance from the walls of this town, which -(as the neighbouring inhabitants rather conjecture than certainly know) -was situate about twenty furlongs from it. - -The Macedonians were ashamed so famous a city should be destroyed by -their king in a drunken humour. They therefore made a serious matter of -it, and persuaded themselves, “it was expedient it should be consumed -this way.” But as for Alexander, as soon as rest had restored him to -himself, it is certain he repented of what he had done; and he said, the -Persians “would have made more ample satisfaction to Greece had they been -necessitated to behold him sitting in Xerxes’ throne in his royal city.” - -The next day he ordered thirty talents to be given to the Lycian who -had been his guide into Persia. From hence he passed into the country -of Media, where he was met by new recruits from Cilicia. They consisted -of five thousand foot, and one thousand horse, both the one and the -other were under the command of Plato the Athenian. Having received this -reinforcement, he resolved to pursue Darius.[b] - - -THE NEW MEANING OF THE CONQUEST - -From this time (330 B.C.) forward to the close of Alexander’s life, a -period of about seven years, his time was spent in conquering the eastern -half of the Persian empire, together with various independent tribes -lying beyond its extreme boundary. But neither Greece, nor Asia Minor, -nor any of his previous western acquisitions, was he ever destined to see -again. - -Now in regard to the history of Greece, the first portion of Alexander’s -Asiatic campaigns (from his crossing the Hellespont to the conquest of -Persia, a period of four years, March 334 B.C. to March 330 B.C.), though -not of direct bearing, is yet of material importance. Having in his -first year completed the subjugation of the Hellenic world, he had by -these subsequent campaigns absorbed it as a small fraction into the vast -Persian empire, renovated under his imperial sceptre. He had accomplished -a result substantially the same as would have been brought about if the -invasion of Greece by Xerxes, destined, a century and half before, to -incorporate Greece with the Persian monarchy, had succeeded instead of -failing. Towards the kings of Macedonia alone, the subjugation of Greece -would never have become complete, so long as she could receive help from -the native Persian kings, who were perfectly adequate as a countervailing -and tutelary force, had they known how to play their game. But all -hope for Greece from without was extinguished, when Babylon, Susa, and -Persepolis became subject to the same ruler as Pella and Amphipolis--and -that ruler too, the ablest general, and most insatiate aggressor, of -his age, to whose name was attached the prestige of success almost -superhuman. Still, against even this overwhelming power, some of the -bravest of the Greeks at home tried to achieve their liberation with the -sword: we shall see presently how sadly the attempt miscarried. - -But though the first four years of Alexander’s Asiatic expedition, in -which he conquered the western half of the Persian empire, had thus an -important effect on the condition and destinies of the Grecian cities, -his last seven years, on which we are now about to enter, employed -chiefly in conquering the eastern half, scarcely touched these cities -in any way. The stupendous marches to the rivers Jaxartes, Indus, and -Hyphasis, which carried his victorious armies over so wide a space of -Central Asia, not only added nothing to his power over the Greeks, but -even withdrew him from all dealings with them, and placed him almost -beyond their cognisance. To the historian of Greece, therefore, these -latter campaigns can hardly be regarded as included within the range of -his subject. They deserve to be told as examples of military skill and -energy, and as illustrating the character of the most illustrious general -of antiquity--one who, though not a Greek, had become the master of all -Greeks. - - -THE PURSUIT OF DARIUS - -About six or seven months had elapsed from the battle of Arbela to the -time when Alexander prepared to quit his most recent conquest--Persia -proper. During all this time, Darius had remained at Ecbatana, the chief -city of Media, clinging to the hope, that Alexander, when possessed of -the three southern capitals and the best part of the Persian empire, -might have reached the point of satiation, and might leave him unmolested -in the more barren East. As soon as he learned that Alexander was in -movement towards him, he sent forward his harem and his baggage to -Hyrcania, on the southeastern border of the Caspian Sea. Himself, with -the small force around him, followed in the same direction, carrying -off the treasure in the city, 7000 talents [£1,400,000 or $7,000,000] -in amount, and passed through the Caspian Gates into the territory of -Parthyene. His only chance was to escape to Bactria at the eastern -extremity of the empire, ruining the country in his way for the purpose -of retarding pursuers. But this chance diminished every day, from -desertion among his few followers, and angry disgust among many who -remained. - -Eight days after Darius had quitted Ecbatana, Alexander entered it. How -many days had been occupied in his march from Persepolis, we cannot -say: in itself a long march, it had been further prolonged, partly by -necessity of subduing the intervening mountaineers called Parætacene, -partly by rumours exaggerating the Persian force at Ecbatana, and -inducing him to advance with precaution and regular array. Possessed of -Ecbatana, the last capital stronghold of the Persian kings and their -ordinary residence during the summer months, he halted to rest his -troops, and establish a new base of operations for his future proceedings -eastward. He made Ecbatana his principal depot; depositing in the -citadel, under the care of Harpalus as treasurer, with a garrison of six -thousand or seven thousand Macedonians, the accumulated treasures of his -past conquests, out of Susa and Persepolis; amounting we are told, to -the enormous sum of 180,000 talents [£36,000,000 sterling $180,000,000]. -Parmenion was invested with the chief command of this important post, -and of the military force left in Media; of which territory Oxodates, a -Persian who had been imprisoned at Susa by Darius, was named satrap. - -At Ecbatana, Alexander was joined by a fresh force of six thousand -Grecian mercenaries, who had marched from Cilicia into the interior, -probably crossing the Euphrates and Tigris at the same points as -Alexander himself had crossed. Hence he was enabled the better to dismiss -his Thessalian cavalry, with other Greeks who had been serving during his -four years of Asiatic war, and who now wished to go home. He distributed -among them the sum of two thousand talents [£400,000 or $2,000,000] in -addition to their full pay, and gave them the price of their horses, -which they sold before departure. The operations which he was now about -to commence against the eastern territories of Persia were not against -regular armies, but against flying corps and distinct native tribes, -relying for defence chiefly on the difficulties which mountains, deserts, -privation, or mere distance, would throw in the way of an assailant. -For these purposes he required an increased number of light troops, and -was obliged to impose even upon his heavy-armed cavalry the most rapid -and fatiguing marches, such as none but his Macedonian companions would -have been contented to execute; moreover he was called upon to act less -with large masses, and more with small and broken divisions. He now -therefore for the first time established a regular taxis, or division of -horse-bowmen. - -Remaining at Ecbatana no longer than was sufficient for these new -arrangements, Alexander recommenced his pursuit of Darius. He hoped to -get before Darius to the Caspian Gates, at the northeastern extremity of -Media; by which gates was understood a mountain pass, or rather a road of -many hours’ march, including several difficult passes stretching eastward -along the southern side of the great range of Taurus towards Parthia. He -marched to Rhagæ, about fifty miles north of the Caspian Gates; which -town he reached in eleven days, by exertions so severe that many men as -well as horses were disabled on the road. But in spite of all speed, he -learned that Darius had already passed through the Caspian Gates. After -five days of halt at Rhagæ, indispensable for his army, Alexander passed -them also. A day’s march on the other side of them, he was joined by two -eminent Persians, Bagistanes and Antibelus, who informed him that Darius -was already dethroned and in imminent danger of losing his life. - -The conspirators by whom this had been done were: Bessus, satrap of -Bactria; Barsaentes, satrap of Drangiana and Arachosia; and Nabarzanes, -general of the regal guards. The small force of Darius having been -thinned by daily desertion, most of those who remained were the -contingents of the still unconquered territories, Bactria, Arachosia, -and Drangiana, under the orders of their respective satraps. The -Grecian mercenaries, fifteen hundred in number, and Artabazus, with a -band under his special command, adhered inflexibly to Darius, but the -soldiers of Eastern Asia followed their own satraps. Bessus and his -colleagues intended to make their peace with Alexander by surrendering -Darius, should Alexander pursue so vigorously as to leave them no hope -of escape; but if they could obtain time to reach Bactria and Sogdiana, -they resolved to organise an energetic resistance, under their own joint -command, for the defence of those eastern provinces--the most warlike -population of the empire. Under the desperate circumstances of the case, -this plan was perhaps the least unpromising that could be proposed. -The chance of resisting Alexander, small as it was at the best, became -absolutely nothing under the command of Darius, who had twice set the -example of flight from the field of battle, betraying both his friends -and his empire, even when surrounded by the full force of Persia. For -brave and energetic Persians, unless they were prepared at once to submit -to the invader, there was no choice but to set aside Darius; nor does -it appear that the conspirators intended at first anything worse. At a -village called Thara in Parthia, they bound him in chains of gold, placed -him in a covered chariot surrounded by the Bactrian troops, and thus -carried him onward, retreating as fast as they could; Bessus assuming the -command. Artabazus, with the Grecian mercenaries, too feeble to prevent -the proceeding, quitted the army in disgust, and sought refuge among the -mountains of the Tapyri bordering on Hyrcania towards the Caspian Sea. - -On hearing this intelligence, Alexander strained every nerve to overtake -the fugitives and get possession of the person of Darius. At the head of -his companion cavalry, his light horse, and a body of infantry picked -out for their strength and activity, he put himself in instant march, -with nothing but arms and two days’ provisions for each man; leaving -Craterus to bring on the main body by easier journeys. A forced march of -two nights and one day, interrupted only by a short midday repose (it was -now the month of July), brought him at daybreak to the Persian camp which -his informant, Bagistanes, had quitted. But Bessus and his troops were -already beyond it, having made considerable advance in their flight; upon -which Alexander, notwithstanding the exhaustion both of men and horses, -pushed on with increased speed through all the night to the ensuing day -at noon. He there found himself in the village where Bessus had encamped -on the preceding day. Yet learning from deserters that his enemies had -resolved to hasten their retreat by night marches, he despaired of -overtaking them unless he could find some shorter road. He was informed -that there was another shorter, but leading through a waterless desert. -Setting out by this road with his cavalry, he got over no less than -forty-five miles during the night, so as to come on Bessus by complete -surprise. - -The Persians, marching in disorder without arms, and having no -expectation of an enemy, were so panic-stricken at the sudden appearance -of their indefatigable conqueror, that they dispersed and fled without -any attempt to resist. In this critical moment, Bessus and Barsaentes -urged Darius to leave his chariot, mount his horse, and accompany them -in their flight. But he refused to comply. They were determined however -that he should not fall alive into the hands of Alexander, whereby his -name would have been employed against them, and would have materially -lessened their chance of defending the eastern provinces; they were -moreover incensed by his refusal, and had contracted a feeling of hatred -and contempt to which they were glad to give effect. Casting their -javelins at him, they left him mortally wounded, and then pursued their -flight. His chariot, not distinguished by any visible mark, nor known -even to the Persian soldiers themselves, was for some time not detected -by the pursuers. At length a Macedonian soldier named Polystratus found -him expiring, and is said to have received his last words; wherein he -expressed thanks to Alexander for the kind treatment of his captive -female relatives, and satisfaction that the Persian throne, lost to -himself, was about to pass to so generous a conqueror. It is at least -certain that he never lived to see Alexander himself. - -Alexander had made the prodigious and indefatigable marches of the -last four days, not without destruction to many men and horses, for -the express purpose of taking Darius alive. It would have been a -gratification to his vanity to exhibit the Great King as a helpless -captive, rescued from his own servants by the sword of his enemy, and -spared to occupy some subordinate command as a token of ostentatious -indulgence. Moreover, apart from such feelings, it would have been a -point of real advantage to seize the person of Darius, by means of whose -name Alexander would have been enabled to stifle all further resistance -in the extensive and imperfectly known regions eastward of the Caspian -Gates. The satraps of these regions had now gone thither with their hands -free, to kindle as much Asiatic sentiment and levy as large a force as -they could, against the Macedonian conqueror; who was obliged to follow -them, if he wished to complete the subjugation of the empire. We can -understand therefore that Alexander was deeply mortified in deriving no -result from this ruinously fatiguing march, and can the better explain -that savage wrath which we shall hereafter find him manifesting against -the satrap Bessus. - -[Illustration: HEAD-DRESSES, ANCIENT PERSIA - -(After Bardon)] - -Alexander caused the body of Darius to be buried, with full pomp and -ceremonial, in the regal sepulchres of Persis. The last days of this -unfortunate prince have been described with almost tragic pathos by -historians; and there are few subjects in history better calculated to -excite such a feeling, if we regard simply the magnitude of his fall, -from the highest pitch of power and splendour to defeat, degradation, and -assassination. But an impartial review will not allow us to forget that -the main cause of such ruin was his own blindness--his long apathy after -the battle of Issus, and abandonment of Tyre and Gaza, in the fond hope -of repurchasing queens whom he had himself exposed to captivity--lastly, -what is still less pardonable, his personal cowardice in both the two -decisive battles deliberately brought about by himself. If we follow -his conduct throughout the struggle, we shall find little of that which -renders a defeated prince either respectable or interesting. Those who -had the greatest reason to denounce and despise him, were his friends and -countrymen, whom he possessed ample means of defending, yet threw those -means away. On the other hand, no one had better grounds for indulgence -towards him than his conqueror; for whom he had kept unused the countless -treasures of the three capitals, and for whom he had lightened in -every way the difficulties of a conquest, in itself hardly less than -impracticable. - -The recent forced march, undertaken by Alexander for the purpose of -securing Darius as a captive, had been distressing in the extreme to -his soldiers, who required a certain period of repose and compensation. -This was granted to them at the town of Hecatompylos in Parthia, where -the whole army was again united. Alexander now began to feel and act -manifestly as successor of Darius on the Persian throne; to disdain the -comparative simplicity of Macedonian habits, and to assume the pomp, the -ostentatious apparatus of luxuries, and even the dress, of a Persian king. - -To many of Alexander’s soldiers, the conquest of Persia appeared to be -consummated and the war finished, by the death of Darius. They were -reluctant to exchange the repose and enjoyments of Hecatompylos for fresh -fatigues; but Alexander, assembling the select regiments, addressed to -them an emphatic appeal which revived the ardour of all. His first march -was across one of the passes into Hyrcania, the region bordering the -southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea. Here he found no resistance. -Alexander undertook an expedition into the mountains of the Mardi, and -reduced the remnant of the half-destroyed tribes to sue for peace. - -After repose and festivity at Zeudracarta, the chief town of Hyrcania, -Alexander marched eastward with his united army through Parthia into -Aria. A few days enabled him to crush the Arians. He then marched -southward into the territory of the Drangi, or Drangiana (the modern -Seistan), where he found no resistance. - - -CONSPIRACIES AGAINST ALEXANDER - -In the chief town of Drangiana occurred the revolting tragedy, of which -Philotas was the first victim, and his father Parmenion the second. -Parmenion, now seventy years of age, and therefore little qualified for -the fatigue inseparable from the invasion of the eastern satrapies, -had been left in the important post of commanding the great depot and -treasure at Ecbatana. His long military experience, and confidential -position even under Philip, rendered him the second person in the -Macedonian army, next to Alexander himself. His three sons were all -soldiers. The youngest of them, Hector, had been accidentally drowned in -the Nile, while in the suite of Alexander in Egypt; the second, Nicanor, -had commanded the hypaspists or light infantry, but had died of illness, -fortunately for himself, a short time before; the eldest, Philotas, -occupied the high rank of general of the companion cavalry, in daily -communication with Alexander, from whom he received personal orders. - -A revelation came to Philotas, that a soldier named Dimnus had made -boast to Nicomachus, his intimate friend or beloved person, under vows -of secrecy, of an intended conspiracy against Alexander, inviting him -to become an accomplice. Nicomachus, at first struck with abhorrence, at -length simulated compliance, asked who were the accomplices of Dimnus, -and received intimation of a few names; all of which he presently -communicated to his brother Cebalinus, for the purpose of being divulged. -Cebalinus told the facts to Philotas, entreating him to mention them to -Alexander. But Philotas, though every day in communication with the king, -neglected to do this for two days; upon which Cebalinus began to suspect -him of connivance, and caused the revelation to be made to Alexander -through one of the pages named Metron. Dimnus was immediately arrested, -but ran himself through with his sword, and expired without making any -declaration. - -Of this conspiracy, real or pretended, everything rested on the testimony -of Nicomachus. Alexander indignantly sent for Philotas, demanding why -he had omitted for two days to communicate what he had heard. Philotas -replied that the source from which it came was too contemptible to -deserve notice--that it would have been ridiculous to attach importance -to the simple declarations of such a youth as Nicomachus, recounting -the foolish boasts addressed to him by a lover. Alexander received, or -affected to receive, the explanation, gave his hand to Philotas, invited -him to supper, and talked to him with his usual familiarity. - -But it soon appeared that advantage was to be taken of this incident for -the disgrace and ruin of Philotas, whose free-spoken criticisms on the -pretended divine paternity--coupled with boasts, that he and his father -Parmenion had been chief agents in the conquest of Asia--had neither been -forgotten nor forgiven. - -Some of the generals around Alexander, especially Craterus the first -suborner of Antigone, fomented these suspicions from jealousy of the -great ascendency of Parmenion and his family. There was not a tittle of -evidence against him, except the fact that the deposition had been made -known to him, and that he had seen Alexander twice without communicating -it. Upon this single fact, however, Craterus and the other enemies of -Philotas worked so effectually as to inflame the suspicions and the -pre-existing ill-will of Alexander into fierce rancour. He resolved -on the disgrace, torture, and death of Philotas--and on the death of -Parmenion besides. - -To accomplish this, however, against the two highest officers in the -Macedonian service, one of them enjoying a separate and distant command, -required management. Alexander was obliged to carry the feelings of the -soldiers along with him, and to obtain a condemnation from the army, -according to an ancient Macedonian custom, in regard to capital crimes, -though, as it seems, not uniformly practised. He not only kept the -resolution secret, but is even said to have invited Philotas to supper -with the other officers, conversing with him just as usual. In the middle -of the night, Philotas was arrested while asleep in his bed, put in -chains, and clothed in an ignoble garb. A military assembly was convened -at daybreak, before which Alexander appeared with the chief officers in -his confidence. Addressing the soldiers in a vehement tone of mingled -sorrow and anger, he proclaimed to them that his life had just been -providentially rescued from a dangerous conspiracy organised by two men -hitherto trusted as his best friends--Philotas and Parmenion--through the -intended agency of a soldier named Dimnus, who had slain himself when -arrested. The dead body of Dimnus was then exhibited to the meeting, -while Nicomachus and Cebalinus were brought forward to tell their story. -A letter from Parmenion to his sons Philotas and Nicanor, found among the -papers seized on the arrest, was read to the meeting. Its terms were -altogether vague and unmeaning; but Alexander chose to construe them as -it suited his purpose. - -We may easily conceive the impression produced upon these assembled -soldiers by such denunciations from Alexander himself--revelations of -his own personal danger, and reproaches against treacherous friends. -Amyntas, and even Cœnus, the brother-in-law of Philotas, were yet more -unmeasured in their invectives against the accused. They, as well as the -other officers with whom the arrest had been concerted, set the example -of violent manifestation against him, and ardent sympathy with the king’s -danger. Philotas was heard in his defence, which, though strenuously -denying the charge, is said to have been feeble. It was indeed sure -to be so, coming from one seized thus suddenly, and overwhelmed with -disadvantages; while a degree of courage, absolutely heroic, would have -been required for any one else to rise and presume to criticise the -proofs. The royal pages began the cry, echoed by all around, that they -would with their own hands tear the parricide in pieces. - -It would have been fortunate for Philotas if their wrath had been -sufficiently ungovernable to instigate the execution of such a sentence -on the spot. But this did not suit the purpose of his enemies. Aware -that he had been condemned upon the regal word, with nothing better than -the faintest negative ground of suspicion, they determined to extort -from him a confession such as would justify their own purposes, not only -against him, but against his father Parmenion--whom there was as yet -nothing to implicate. Accordingly, during the ensuing night, Philotas -was put to the torture. Hephæstion, Craterus, and Cœnus--the last of the -three being brother-in-law of Philotas--themselves superintended the -ministers of physical suffering. Alexander himself, too, was at hand, -but concealed by a curtain. It is said that Philotas manifested little -firmness under torture, and that Alexander, an unseen witness, indulged -in sneers against the cowardice of one who had fought by his side in so -many battles. All who stood by were enemies, and likely to describe the -conduct of Philotas in such manner as to justify their own hatred. The -tortures inflicted, cruel in the extreme and long continued, wrung from -him at last a confession, implicating his father along with himself. He -was put to death; and at the same time, all those whose names had been -indicated by Nicomachus, were slain also--apparently by being stoned, -without preliminary torture. Philotas had serving in the army a numerous -kindred, all of whom were struck with consternation at the news of his -being tortured. It was the Macedonian law that all kinsmen of a man -guilty of treason were doomed to death along with him. Accordingly, some -of these men slew themselves, others fled from the camp, seeking refuge -wherever they could. Such was the terror and tumult in the camp, that -Alexander was obliged to proclaim a suspension of this sanguinary law for -the occasion. - -It now remained to kill Parmenion, who could not be safely left alive -after the atrocities used towards Philotas; and to kill him, moreover, -before he could have time to hear of them, since he was not only the -oldest, most respected, and most influential of all Macedonian officers, -but also in separate command of the great depot at Ecbatana. Alexander -summoned to his presence one of the companions named Polydamas; a -particular friend, comrade, or _aide-de-camp_, of Parmenion. Every -friend of Philotas felt at this moment that his life hung by a thread; -so that Polydamas entered the king’s presence in extreme terror, as -he was ordered to bring with him his two younger brothers. Alexander -addressed him, denouncing Parmenion as a traitor, and intimating that -Polydamas would be required to carry a swift and confidential message to -Ecbatana, ordering his execution. Polydamas was selected as the attached -friend of Parmenion, and therefore as best calculated to deceive him. -Two letters were placed in his hands, addressed to Parmenion; one from -Alexander himself, conveying ostensibly military communications and -orders; the other, signed with the seal-ring of the deceased Philotas, -and purporting to be addressed by the son to the father. Together with -these, Polydamas received the real and important despatch, addressed by -Alexander to Cleander and Menidas, the officers immediately subordinate -to Parmenion at Ecbatana; proclaiming Parmenion guilty of high treason, -and directing them to kill him at once. Large rewards were offered to -Polydamas if he performed this commission with success, while his two -brothers were retained as hostages against scruples or compunction. He -promised even more than was demanded--too happy to purchase this reprieve -from what had seemed impending death. Furnished with native guides and -with swift dromedaries, he struck by the straightest road across the -desert of Khorasan, and arrived at Ecbatana on the eleventh day--a -distance usually requiring more than thirty days to traverse. Entering -the camp by night, without the knowledge of Parmenion, he delivered his -despatch to Cleander, with whom he concerted measures. On the morrow he -was admitted to Parmenion, while walking in his garden with Cleander and -the other officers marked out by Alexander’s order as his executioners. -Polydamas ran to embrace his old friend, and was heartily welcomed by the -unsuspecting veteran, to whom he presented the letters professedly coming -from Alexander and Philotas. While Parmenion was absorbed in perusal, -he was suddenly assailed by a mortal stab from the hand and sword of -Cleander. Other wounds were heaped upon him as he fell, by the remaining -officers--the last even after life had departed. - -The soldiers in Ecbatana, on hearing of this bloody deed, burst into -furious mutiny, surrounded the garden wall, and threatened to break in -for the purpose of avenging their general, unless Polydamas and the other -murderers should be delivered to them. But Cleander, admitting a few of -the ringleaders, exhibited to them Alexander’s written orders, to which -the soldiers yielded, not without murmurs of reluctance and indignation. -Most of them dispersed, yet a few remained, entreating permission to bury -Parmenion’s body. Even this was long refused by Cleander, from dread of -the king’s displeasure. At last, however, thinking it prudent to comply -in part, he cut off the head, delivering to them the trunk alone for -burial. The head was sent to Alexander. - -Among the many tragical deeds recounted throughout the course of this -history, there is none more revolting than the fate of these two -generals. Alexander, violent in all his impulses, displayed on this -occasion a personal rancour worthy of his ferocious mother Olympias, -exasperated rather than softened by the magnitude of past services. -When we see the greatest officers of the Macedonian army directing in -person, and under the eye of Alexander, the laceration and burning of -the naked body of their colleague Philotas, and assassinating with -their own hands the veteran Parmenion, we feel how much we have passed -out of the region of Greek civic feeling into that of the more savage -Illyrian warrior, partially orientalised. It is not surprising to read, -that Antipater, viceroy of Macedonia, who had shared with Parmenion the -favour and confidence of Philip as well as of Alexander, should tremble -when informed of such proceedings, and cast about for a refuge against -the like possibilities to himself. Many other officers were alike -alarmed and disgusted with the transactions. Hence Alexander, opening and -examining the letters sent home from his army to Macedonia, detected such -strong expressions of indignation, that he thought it prudent to transfer -many pronounced malcontents into a division by themselves, parting them -off from the remaining army. Instead of appointing any substitute for -Philotas in the command of the companion cavalry, he cast that body into -two divisions, nominating Hephæstion to the command of one, and Clitus to -that of the other. - - -CAPTURE OF BESSUS - -[Sidenote: [330-329 B.C.]] - -The autumn and winter (330-329 B.C.) were spent by Alexander in reducing -Drangiana, Gedrosia, Arachosia, and the Paropamisadæ, the modern Seistan, -Afghanistan, and the western part of Kabul, lying between Ghazna on -the north, Kandahar or Kelar on the south, and Furrah in the west. He -experienced no combined resistance, but his troops suffered severely from -cold and privation. Near the southern termination of one of the passes of -the Hindu-Kush (apparently northeast of the town of Kabul) he founded a -new city, called Alexandria ad Caucasum, where he planted seven thousand -old soldiers, Macedonians, and others as colonists. Towards the close of -winter he crossed over the mighty range of the Hindu-Kush; a march of -fifteen days through regions of snow, and fraught with hardship to his -army. On reaching the north side of these mountains, he found himself in -Bactria. - -[Illustration: NORTH PERSIAN WARRIOR - -(After Bardon)] - -The Bactrian leader Bessus, who had assumed the title of king, could -muster no more than a small force, with which he laid waste the country, -and then retired across the river Oxus into Sogdiana, destroying all -the boats. Alexander overran Bactria with scarcely any resistance; the -chief places, Bactra (Balkh) and Aornus, surrendering to him on the first -demonstration of attack. Having named Artabazus satrap of Bactria, and -placed Archelaus with a garrison in Aornus, he marched northward towards -the river Oxus, the boundary between Bactria and Sogdiana. It was a -march of extreme hardship; reaching for two or three days across a sandy -desert destitute of water, and under very hot weather. The Oxus, six -furlongs in breadth, deep, and rapid, was the most formidable river that -the Macedonians had yet seen. Alexander transported his army across it -on the tent-skins inflated and stuffed with straw. It seems surprising -that Bessus did not avail himself of this favourable opportunity for -resisting a passage in itself so difficult; he had however been abandoned -by his Bactrian cavalry at the moment when he quitted their territory. -Some of his companions, Spitamenes and others, terrified at the news that -Alexander had crossed the Oxus, were anxious to make their own peace by -betraying their leader. They sent a proposition to this effect; upon -which Ptolemy with a light division was sent forward by Alexander, and -was enabled, by extreme celerity of movements, to surprise and seize -Bessus in a village. Alexander ordered that he should be held in chains, -naked, and with a collar round his neck, at the side of the road along -which the army were marching. On reaching the spot, Alexander stopped his -chariot, and sternly demanded from Bessus, on what pretence he had first -arrested, and afterwards slain, his king and benefactor Darius. Bessus -replied, that he had not done this single-handed; others were concerned -in it along with him, to procure for themselves lenient treatment from -Alexander. The king said no more, but ordered Bessus to be scourged, and -then sent back as prisoner to Bactra.[31] - -In his onward march, Alexander approached a small town, inhabited by -the Branchidæ; descendants of those Branchidæ near Miletus on the coast -of Ionia, who had administered the great temple and oracle of Apollo on -Cape Posidium, and who had yielded up the treasures of that temple to the -Persian king Xerxes, 150 years before. This surrender had brought upon -them so much odium, that when the dominion of Xerxes was overthrown on -the coast, they retired with him into the interior of Asia. Delighted to -find themselves once more in commerce with Greeks, they poured forth to -meet and welcome the army, tendering all that they possessed. Alexander, -when he heard who they were and what was their parentage, gave orders -to massacre the entire population--men, women, and children. They were -slain without arms or attempt at resistance, resorting to nothing but -prayers and suppliant manifestations. Alexander next commanded the walls -to be levelled, and the sacred groves cut down, so that no habitable site -might remain, nor anything except solitude and sterility. Such was the -revenge taken upon these unhappy victims for the deeds of their ancestors -in the fourth or fifth generation before. Alexander doubtless considered -himself to be executing the wrath of Apollo against an accursed race who -had robbed the temple of the god. The Macedonian expedition had been -proclaimed to be undertaken originally for the purpose of revenging upon -the contemporary Persians the ancient wrongs done to Greece by Xerxes; so -that Alexander would follow out the same sentiment in revenging upon the -contemporary Branchidæ the acts of their ancestors--yet more guilty than -Xerxes, in his belief. The massacre of this unfortunate population was in -fact an example of human sacrifice on the largest scale, offered to the -gods by the religious impulses of Alexander, and worthy to be compared -to that of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, when he sacrificed three -thousand Grecian prisoners on the field of Himera, where his grandfather -Hamilcar had been slain seventy years before. - - -LIMIT OF ALEXANDER’S PROGRESS NORTHWARD - -[Sidenote: [329-327 B.C.]] - -Alexander then continued his onward progress, first to Maracanda -(Samarcand), the chief town of Sogdiana--next to the river Jaxartes, -which he and his companions, in their imperfect geographical notions, -believed to be the Tanaïs, the boundary between Asia and Europe. In his -march, he left garrisons in various towns, but experienced no resistance, -though detached bodies of the natives hovered on his flanks. - -Here, on the river Jaxartes, Alexander projected the foundation of a new -city to bear his name; intended as a protection against incursions from -the Scythian nomads on the other side of the river. He planted in it some -Macedonian veterans and Grecian mercenaries, together with volunteer -settlers from the natives around. An army of Scythian nomads, showing -themselves on the other side of the river, piqued his vanity to cross -over and attack them. Carrying over a division of his army on inflated -skins, he defeated them with little difficulty, pursuing them briskly -into the desert. But the weather was intensely hot, and the army suffered -much from thirst; while the little water to be found was so bad, that -it brought upon Alexander a diarrhœa which endangered his life. This -chase of a few miles on the right bank of the Jaxartes (seemingly in -the present Khanat of Khokand), marked the utmost limit of Alexander’s -progress northward. - -Shortly afterwards, a Macedonian detachment, unskilfully conducted, was -destroyed in Sogdiana by Spitamenes and the Scythians: a rare misfortune, -which Alexander avenged by overrunning the region near the river -Polytimetus (the Kohik), and putting to the sword the inhabitants of -all the towns which he took. He then recrossed the Oxus, to rest during -the extreme season of winter at Zariaspa in Bactria, from whence his -communications with the West and with Macedonia were more easy, and where -he received various reinforcements of Greek troops. - -Alexander, distributing his army into five divisions, traversed the -country and put down all resistance, while he also took measures for -establishing several military posts, or new towns, in convenient places. -After some time the whole army was reunited at the chief place of -Sogdiana, Maracanda, where some halt and repose was given. - - -ALEXANDER MURDERS HIS FRIEND - -[Sidenote: [327 B.C.]] - -During this halt at Maracanda (Samarcand), 328-327 B.C., the memorable -banquet occurred wherein Alexander murdered Clitus. Clitus had saved -his life at the battle of the Granicus, by cutting off the sword arm -of the Persian Spithridates, when already uplifted to strike him from -behind. Since the death of Philotas, the important function of general -of the companion cavalry had been divided between Hephæstion and Clitus. -Moreover, the family of Clitus had been attached to Philip, by ties so -ancient, that his sister, Lanice, had been selected as the nurse of -Alexander himself when a child. Two of her sons had already perished in -the Asiatic battles. If, therefore, there were any man who stood high in -the service, or was privileged to speak his mind freely to Alexander, it -was Clitus. - -In this banquet at Maracanda, when wine, according to the Macedonian -habit, had been abundantly drunk, and when Alexander, Clitus, and -most of the other guests were already nearly intoxicated, enthusiasts -or flatterers heaped immoderate eulogies upon the king’s previous -achievements. They exalted him above all the most venerated legendary -heroes; they proclaimed that his superhuman deeds proved his divine -paternity, and that he had earned an apotheosis like Hercules, which -nothing but envy could withhold from him even during his life. Alexander -himself joined in these boasts, and even took credit for the later -victories of the reign of his father, whose abilities and glory he -depreciated. To the old Macedonian officers, such an insult cast on the -memory of Philip was deeply offensive. But among them all, none had been -more indignant than Clitus, with the growing insolence of Alexander--his -assumed filiation from Zeus Ammon, which put aside Philip as -unworthy--his preference for Persian attendants, who granted or refused -admittance to his person--his extending to Macedonian soldiers the -contemptuous treatment habitually endured by Asiatics, and even allowing -them to be scourged by Persian hands and Persian rods. The pride of a -Macedonian general in the stupendous successes of the last five years, -was effaced by his mortification, when he saw that they tended only to -merge his countrymen amidst a crowd of servile Asiatics, and to inflame -the prince with high-flown aspirations transmitted from Xerxes or Ochus. -But whatever might be the internal thoughts of Macedonian officers, -they held their peace before Alexander, whose formidable character and -exorbitant self-estimation would tolerate no criticism. - -At the banquet of Maracanda, this long-suppressed repugnance found an -issue, accidental, indeed, and unpremeditated, but for that very reason -all the more violent and unmeasured. The wine, which made Alexander more -boastful, and his flatterers fulsome to excess, overpowered altogether -the reserve of Clitus. He rebuked the impiety of those who degraded the -ancient heroes in order to make a pedestal for Alexander. He protested -against the injustice of disparaging the exalted and legitimate fame -of Philip, whose achievements he loudly extolled, pronouncing them to -be equal, and even superior, to those of his son. For the exploits of -Alexander, splendid as they were, had been accomplished, not by himself -alone, but by that unconquerable Macedonian force which he had found -ready made to his hands; whereas those of Philip had been his own--since -he had found Macedonia prostrate and disorganised, and had to create -for himself both soldiers and a military system. The great instruments -of Alexander’s victories had been Philip’s old soldiers, whom he now -despised, and among them Parmenion, whom he had put to death. - -Remarks such as these, poured forth in the coarse language of a -half-intoxicated Macedonian veteran, provoked loud contradiction from -many, and gave poignant offence to Alexander; who now for the first time -heard the open outburst of disapprobation, before concealed and known -to him only by surmise. But wrath and contradiction, both from him and -from others, only made Clitus more reckless in the outpouring of his own -feelings, now discharged with delight after having been so long pent -up. He passed from the old Macedonian soldiers to himself individually. -Stretching forth his right hand towards Alexander, he exclaimed, -“Recollect that you owe your life to me; this hand preserved you at the -Granicus. Listen to the outspoken language of truth, or else abstain from -asking freemen to supper, and confine yourself to the society of barbaric -slaves.” All these reproaches stung Alexander to the quick. But nothing -was so intolerable to him as the respectful sympathy for Parmenion, which -brought to his memory one of the blackest deeds of his life--and the -reminiscence of his preservation at the Granicus, which lowered him into -the position of a debtor towards the very censor under whose reproof he -was now smarting. - -At length wrath and intoxication together drove him into uncontrollable -fury. He started from his couch, and felt for his dagger to spring -at Clitus; but the dagger had been put out of reach by one of his -attendants. In a loud voice and with the Macedonian word of command, he -summoned the bodyguards and ordered the trumpeter to sound an alarm. But -no one obeyed so grave an order, given in his condition of drunkenness. -His principal officers, Ptolemy, Perdiccas, and others, clung round him, -held his arms and body, and besought him to abstain from violence; others -at the same time tried to silence Clitus and hurry him out of the hall, -which had now become a scene of tumult and consternation. But Clitus -was not in a humour to confess himself in the wrong by retiring; while -Alexander, furious at the opposition now, for the first time, offered -to his will, exclaimed that his officers held him in chains as Bessus -had held Darius, and left him nothing but the name of a king. Though -anxious to restrain his movements, they doubtless did not dare to employ -much physical force; so that his great personal strength, and continued -efforts, presently set him free. He then snatched a pike from one of -the soldiers, rushed upon Clitus, and thrust him through on the spot, -exclaiming, “Go now to Philip and Parmenion.” - - -REMORSE OF ALEXANDER - -No sooner was the deed perpetrated than the feelings of Alexander -underwent an entire revolution. The spectacle of Clitus, a bleeding -corpse on the floor--the marks of stupefaction and horror evident in all -the spectators, and the reaction from a furious impulse instantaneously -satiated--plunged him at once into the opposite extreme of remorse and -self-condemnation. Hastening out of the hall, and retiring to bed, he -passed three days in an agony of distress, without food or drink. He -burst into tears and multiplied exclamations on his own mad act; he -dwelt upon the names of Clitus and Lanice with the debt of gratitude -which he owed to each, and denounced himself as unworthy to live after -having requited such services with a foul murder. His friends at length -prevailed on him to take food, and return to activity. All joined in -trying to restore his self-satisfaction. The Macedonian army passed a -public vote that Clitus had been justly slain, and that his body should -remain unburied; which afforded opportunity to Alexander to reverse -the vote, and to direct that it should be buried by his own order. The -prophets comforted him by the assurance that his murderous impulse had -arisen, not from his own natural mind, but from a maddening perversion -intentionally brought on by the god Dionysus, to avenge the omission of a -sacrifice due to him on the day of the banquet, but withheld. Lastly, the -Greek sophist or philosopher, Anaxarchus of Abdera, revived Alexander’s -spirits by well-timed flattery, treating his sensibility as nothing -better than generous weakness; reminding him that in his exalted position -of conqueror and Great King, he was entitled to prescribe what was right -and just, instead of submitting himself to laws dictated from without. -Callisthenes the philosopher was also summoned, along with Anaxarchus, -to the king’s presence, for the same purpose of offering consolatory -reflections. But he is said to have adopted a tone of discourse -altogether different, and to have given offence rather than satisfaction -to Alexander. - -To such remedial influences, and probably still more to the absolute -necessity for action, Alexander’s remorse at length yielded. Like the -other emotions of his fiery soul, it was violent and overpowering while -it lasted. But it cannot be shown to have left any durable trace on his -character, nor any effects justifying the unbounded admiration of Arrian; -who has little but blame to bestow on the murdered Clitus, while he -expresses the strongest sympathy for the mental suffering of the murderer. - -After ten days, Alexander again put his army in motion, to complete -the subjugation of Sogdiana. He found no enemy capable of meeting him -in pitched battle; yet Spitamenes, with the Sogdians and some Scythian -allies, raised much hostility of detail, which it cost another year to -put down. Alexander underwent the greatest fatigue and hardships in his -marches through the mountainous parts of this wide, rugged, and poorly -supplied country, with rocky positions, strong by nature, which his -enemies sought to defend. One of these fastnesses, held by a native -chief named Sisymithres, seemed almost unattackable, and was indeed -taken rather by intimidation than by actual force. The Scythians, after -a partial success over a small Macedonian detachment, were at length so -thoroughly beaten and overawed, that they slew Spitamenes, and sent his -head to the conqueror as a propitiatory offering. - -[Illustration: GREEK URN] - -After a short rest at Nautaca during the extreme winter, Alexander -resumed operations, by attacking a strong post called the Sogdian Rock, -whither a large number of fugitives had assembled, with an ample supply -of provision. It was a precipice supposed to be inexpugnable; and would -seemingly have proved so, in spite of the energy and abilities of -Alexander, had not the occupants altogether neglected their guard, and -yielded at the mere sight of a handful of Macedonians who had scrambled -up the precipice. Among the captives taken by Alexander on this rock, -were the wife and family of the Bactrian chief Oxyartes; one of whose -daughters, named Roxane, so captivated Alexander by her beauty that he -resolved to make her his wife. He then passed out of Sogdiana into the -neighbouring territory Parætacene, where there was another inexpugnable -site called the Rock of Chorienes, which he was also fortunate enough to -reduce. - -From hence Alexander went to Bactra. Sending Craterus with a division to -put the last hand to the reduction of Parætacene, he himself remained -at Bactra, preparing for his expedition across the Hindu Kush to the -conquest of India. As a security for tranquillity of Bactria and Sogdiana -during his absence, he levied thirty thousand young soldiers from those -countries to accompany him. - -It was at Bactra that Alexander celebrated his marriage with the captive -Roxane, in the spring of 327 B.C. Amidst the repose and festivities -connected with that event, the oriental temper which he was acquiring -displayed itself more forcibly than ever. He could no longer be satisfied -without obtaining prostration, or worship, from Greeks and Macedonians as -well as from Persians; a public and unanimous recognition of his divine -origin and superhuman dignity. Some Greeks and Macedonians had already -rendered to him this homage. Nevertheless to the greater number, in spite -of their extreme deference and admiration for him, it was repugnant and -degrading. Even the imperious Alexander shrank from issuing public and -formal orders on such a subject; but a manœuvre was concerted, with -his privity, by the Persians and certain compliant Greek sophists or -philosophers, for the purpose of carrying the point by surprise. - -During a banquet at Bactra, the philosopher Anaxarchus, addressing the -assembly in a prepared harangue, extolled Alexander’s exploits as greatly -surpassing those of Dionysus and Hercules. He proclaimed that Alexander -had already done more than enough to establish a title to divine honours -from the Macedonians; who, he said, would assuredly worship Alexander -after his death, and ought in justice to worship him during his life, -forthwith. - -This harangue was applauded, and similar sentiments were enforced, by -others favourable to the plan; who proceeded to set the example of -immediate compliance, and were themselves the first to tender worship. -Most of the Macedonian officers sat unmoved, disgusted at the speech. -But though disgusted, they said nothing. To reply to a speech doubtless -well-turned and flowing, required some powers of oratory; moreover, -it was well known that whoever dared to reply stood marked out for -the antipathy of Alexander. The fate of Clitus, who had arraigned the -same sentiments in the banqueting hall of Maracanda, was fresh in the -recollection of every one. The repugnance which many felt, but none -ventured to express, at length found an organ in Callisthenes of Olynthus. - -This philosopher, whose melancholy fate imparts a peculiar interest to -his name, was nephew of Aristotle, and had enjoyed through his uncle an -early acquaintance with Alexander during the boyhood of the latter. At -the recommendation of Aristotle, Callisthenes had accompanied Alexander -in his Asiatic expedition. - -On occasion of the demonstration incited by Anaxarchus at the banquet, -Callisthenes had been invited by Hephæstion to join in the worship -intended to be proposed towards Alexander; and Hephæstion afterwards -alleged, that he had promised to comply. But his actual conduct affords -reasonable ground for believing that he made no such promise; for he not -only thought it his duty to refuse the act of worship, but also to state -publicly his reasons for disapproving it; the more so, as he perceived -that most of the Macedonians present felt like himself. He contended -that the distinction between gods and men was one which could not be -confounded without impiety and wrong. Alexander had amply earned--as a -man, a general, and a king--the highest honours compatible with humanity; -but to exalt him into a god would be both an injury to him and an offence -to the gods. Anaxarchus, he said, was the last person from whom such a -proposition ought to come, because he was one of those whose only title -to Alexander’s society was founded upon his capacity to give instructive -and wholesome counsel. - -Callisthenes spoke out what numbers of his hearers felt. The speech -was so warmly applauded by the Macedonians present, especially the -older officers, that Alexander thought it prudent to forbid all -further discussion upon this delicate subject. Presently the Persians -present, according to Asiatic custom, approached him and performed -their prostration; after which Alexander pledged, in successive goblets -of wine, those Greeks and Macedonians with whom he had held previous -concert. To each of them the goblet was handed, and each, after drinking -to answer the pledge, approached the king, made his prostration, and then -received a salute. Lastly, Alexander sent the pledge to Callisthenes, -who, after drinking like the rest, approached him for the purpose of -receiving the salute but without any prostration. Of this omission -Alexander was expressly informed by one of the companions; upon which -he declined to admit Callisthenes to a salute. The latter retired, -observing, “Then I shall go away, worse off than others as far as the -salute goes.” - -Callisthenes certainly would have done well to withdraw earlier (if -indeed he could have withdrawn without offence) from the camp of -Alexander, in which no lettered Greek could now associate without -abnegating his freedom of speech and sentiment, and emulating the -servility of Anaxarchus. But being present, as Callisthenes was, in -the hall at Bactra when the proposition of Anaxarchus was made, and -when silence would have been assent--his protest against it was both -seasonable and dignified for being fraught with danger to himself. - -Callisthenes knew that danger well, and was quickly enabled to recognise -it in the altered demeanour of Alexander towards him. He was, from that -day, a marked man in two senses: first, to Alexander himself, as well as -to the rival sophists and all promoters of the intended deification--for -hatred, and for getting up some accusatory pretence such as might serve -to ruin him; next, to the more free-spirited Macedonians, indignant -witnesses of Alexander’s increased insolence, and admirers of the -courageous Greek who had protested against the motion of Anaxarchus. By -such men he was doubtless much extolled; which praises aggravated his -danger, as they were sure to be reported to Alexander. The pretext for -his ruin was not long wanting. - - -CONSPIRACY OF THE ROYAL PAGES - -Among those who admired and sought the conversation of Callisthenes, -was Hermolaus, one of the royal pages--the band, selected from noble -Macedonian families, who did duty about the person of the king. It had -happened that this young man, one of Alexander’s companions in the chase, -on seeing a wild boar rushing up to attack the king, darted his javelin, -and slew the animal. Alexander, angry to be anticipated in killing the -boar, ordered Hermolaus to be scourged before all the other pages and -deprived him of his horse. Thus humiliated and outraged--for an act not -merely innocent, but the omission of which, if Alexander had sustained -any injury from the boar, might have been held punishable--Hermolaus -became resolutely bent on revenge. He enlisted in the project his -intimate friend Sostratus, with several others among the pages; and it -was agreed among them to kill Alexander in his chamber, on the first -night when they were all on guard together. The appointed night arrived, -without any divulgation of their secret; yet the scheme was frustrated -by the accident, that Alexander continued till daybreak drinking with -his officers, and never retired to bed. On the morrow, one of the -conspirators, becoming alarmed or repentant, divulged the scheme to his -friend Charicles, with the names of those concerned. Eurylochus, brother -to Charicles, apprised by him of what he had heard, immediately informed -Ptolemy, through whom it was conveyed to Alexander. By Alexander’s order, -the persons indicated were arrested and put to the torture; under which -they confessed that they had themselves conspired to kill him, but named -no other accomplices, and even denied that anyone else was privy to the -scheme. In this denial they persisted, though extreme suffering was -applied to extort the revelation of new names. They were then brought up -and arraigned as conspirators before the assembled Macedonian soldiers. -There the confession was repeated. It is even said that Hermolaus, in -repeating it, boasted of the enterprise as both legitimate and glorious; -denouncing the tyranny and cruelty of Alexander as having become -insupportable to a freeman. Whether such boast was actually made or -not, the persons brought up were pronounced guilty, and stoned to death -forthwith by the soldiers. - -The pages thus executed were young men of good Macedonian families, -for whose condemnation accordingly Alexander had thought it necessary -to invoke--what he was sure of obtaining against any one--the sentence -of the soldiers. To satisfy his hatred against Callisthenes--not a -Macedonian, but only a Greek citizen, one of the remnants of the -subverted city of Olynthus--no such formality was required. In his -case, therefore, as in that of Philotas before, it was necessary -to pick up matter of suspicious tendency from his reported remarks -and conversations. He was alleged to have addressed dangerous and -inflammatory language to the pages, holding up Alexander to odium, -instigating them to conspiracy, and pointing out Athens as a place of -refuge; he was moreover well known to have been often in conversation -with Hermolaus. For a man of the violent temper and omnipotent authority -of Alexander, such indications were quite sufficient as grounds of action -against one whom he hated. - -On this occasion, we have the state of Alexander’s mind disclosed by -himself, in one of the references to his letters given by Plutarch. -Writing to Craterus and to others immediately afterwards, Alexander -distinctly stated that the pages throughout all their torture had deposed -against no one but themselves. Nevertheless, in another letter addressed -to Antipater in Macedonia, he used these expressions: “The pages were -stoned to death by the Macedonians; but I myself shall punish the -sophist, as well as those who sent him out here, and those who harbour -in their cities conspirators against me.” The sophist Callisthenes had -been sent out by Aristotle, who is here designated; and probably the -Athenians after him. Fortunately for Aristotle, he was not at Bactra, -but at Athens. That he could have had any concern in the conspiracy of -the pages, was impossible. In this savage outburst of menace against -his absent preceptor, Alexander discloses the real state of feeling -which prompted him to the destruction of Callisthenes--hatred towards -that spirit of citizenship and free speech, which Callisthenes not only -cherished, in common with Aristotle and most other literary Greeks, -but had courageously manifested in his protest against the motion for -worshipping a mortal. - -Callisthenes was first put to the torture and then hanged. His tragical -fate excited a profound sentiment of sympathy and indignation among the -philosophers of antiquity. - -The halts of Alexander were formidable to friends and companions; his -marches, to the unconquered natives whom he chose to treat as enemies.[c] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[28] [Curtius is obviously speaking of the Babylon of his own day (the -early part of the first century A.D.), and assuming, no doubt correctly, -that the venerable city had not greatly changed since the time of -Alexander. The reader will recall the tales of Babylon quoted from -Herodotus in our first volume.] - -[29] [Grote values this at £11,500,000 which amounts to about $55,000,000. -Reckoned as Æginetan talents the sum would be far greater. Grote says it -would seem incredible were it not that the treasures of Persepolis were -found far greater.] - -[30] [This sum, which Grote reckons at £27,600,000 or $138,000,000, -need not be considered impossible, viewing the extent and the extortion -of Persian despotism; the soldiers were paid by the provinces that -contributed them; the servants of the government had no salaries in cash -from above; and the royal disbursements for necessary expenses were -accordingly small. Grote notes that when Nadia-Shah took Delhi in 1739, he -found a treasure stated as £32,000,000--even more than Alexander’s loot. -A pride, too, was taken in vast hoards of precious metal by the oriental -despots. Prof. Bury[d] notes how the sudden circulation of such an amount -would “perturb the markets of the world.”] - -[31] [Later he was brought forth and Alexander had his nose and ears cut -off. Mutilation was abhorrent to the Greeks, and even Arrian[e] (IV, 7) -rebukes his hero for this atrocity. Bessus was then turned over to the -Medes and Persians who, according to Diodorus,[f] XVII, 9,“after they had -put him to all manner of torments, and used him with all the despite and -disgrace imaginable, cut his body into small pieces and hurled every part -here and there away out of their slings.” Plutarch,[g] however, says that -two straight trees were bent together, and one of Bessus’ legs fastened to -each so that when they were released and sprang apart, his body was torn -asunder.] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LV. THE CONQUEST OF INDIA - - -After the conquest of the Bactrian satrapy, there remained only one -province of the Persian empire into which Alexander had not yet carried -his arms. Already, indeed, before he crossed the Paropamisus, he had made -himself master of a great part of the country which the Persians called -India, and perhaps had very nearly reached the utmost limits within which -the authority of the Great King was acknowledged in the latter years -of the monarchy. But the power of the first Darius had certainly been -extended much farther eastward. At the battle of Arbela the Greeks for -the first time saw elephants, which they heard had been brought from the -banks of the Indus. To Alexander and his companions India appeared from a -distance as a new world, of indefinite extent, and abounding in wonders -and riches. Even without any other inducement, he must eagerly have -desired to explore and subdue it. - -The king of Taxila [or Takshasila] had offered his alliance to Alexander, -and sought aid from him against a powerful neighbour; and thus Alexander -ascertained that the state of things in this part of India was highly -favourable to his projected invasion. Through some revolutions, no record -of which has been preserved, a great part of it had in Alexander’s time -fallen under the dominion of three princes, Taxiles and two who were -kinsmen and bore the name of Porus. The most powerful of these was the -immediate neighbour of Taxiles; his territories lay to the east of the -Hydaspes. It was against him that the king of Taxila sought to strengthen -himself by an alliance with the Macedonian conqueror. - -[Sidenote: [327-326 B.C.]] - -Alexander marched into India at the head of 120,000 foot and 15,000 -horse. We must suppose that at least 70,000 of these were Asiatic troops. -The summer of 327 had scarcely begun, when he crossed the mountains and -advanced to the banks of the Cophen, the river formed by the confluence -of the Kabul river with the Panjshir, a larger stream, which meets it -from the northwest. Here, in conformity to his summons, he was met by -Taxiles, and by several chiefs from the country west of the Indus, -bringing presents, such as were accounted the most honourable; and as he -expressed a wish for elephants, they promised all they possessed, which -however amounted to no more than five-and-twenty. - -Alexander now divided his forces. He sent Hephæstion and Perdiccas, -with a strong division, accompanied by the Indian chiefs, down the vale -of the Cophen to the Indus, to prepare a bridge for the passage of the -army, while he himself directed his march into the mountains north of the -Cophen, and included between it and the Indus. Here lay the territories -of three warlike tribes--the Aspasians or Hippasians, Guræans, and -Assacenians. The operations of this campaign, which occupied the rest -of the year, do not require to be related here with all the military -details. He ascended the rugged vale of the Choes; and gathered a vast -booty, including forty thousand captives, and between three and four -hundred thousand head of cattle, from which he selected some of the -finest to be sent into Macedonia. He then, with some difficulty, effected -the passage of the deep and rapid Guræus, and entered the territory -of the Assacenians. Alexander accepted the surrender of Massaga, the -capital, on the condition that the mercenaries should join his army. -But they discovered a degree of patriotism which he had not looked for. -They were so averse from the thought of turning their arms against -their countrymen, that, having marched out, and encamped on a hill by -themselves, they meditated making their escape in the night. Alexander -was apprised of their design, and, though they had not begun to execute -it, with less generosity than might have been expected from him, even -if mercy was out of the question, surrounded the hill with his troops, -and cut them all to pieces. Then, holding the capitulation to have been -broken, he stormed the defenceless city, where the chief’s mother and -daughter fell into his hands. - -The inhabitants of Bazira fled to a place of refuge, which was deemed -impregnable, and soon became crowded with fugitives from all parts of -the country. This was a hill fort on the right bank of the Indus, not -far above its junction with the Cophen. Its Indian name seems to have -been slightly distorted by the Greeks, according to their usual practice, -into that of Aornus, which answered to its extraordinary height, as above -the flight of a bird. It was precipitous on all sides, and accessible -only by a single path cut in the rock, though in one direction it was -connected with a range of hills. But its summit was an extensive plain of -fruitful soil, partly clothed with wood, and containing copious springs. -The traditions of the country concerning its insurmountable strength seem -to have given occasion to the fable, which spread through the Macedonian -camp, that Hercules himself had assailed it without success. Alexander -did not need this inducement to excite him to the undertaking. It had -been a principle, to which he owed most of his conquests, to show that he -was not to be deterred by any natural difficulties; and he resolved to -make the Aornus his own. - -He had not long arrived at it, before he received information of a rugged -and difficult track that led up to the top of a hill, separated by a -hollow of no great depth, though of considerable width, from the rock. By -this path he sent Ptolemy, with a body of light troops, who reached the -summit before he was noticed by the garrison, and immediately, as he had -been ordered, threw up an entrenchment, and by a fire-signal announced -his success to the camp below. The Indians attempted in vain to dislodge -him from his position: and the next day Alexander, by a hard struggle, -notwithstanding their vigorous resistance, joined him there with the rest -of the army. He now availed himself of his superior numbers, and began -to carry a mound across the hollow. He took part in the work with his -own hands, and the whole army, animated by his example and exhortations, -prosecuted it with restless assiduity. But the Indians, astonished at the -intrepidity with which a handful of men had seized this vantage-ground, -and alarmed by the progress of the work, began to despair of resistance, -and to meditate flight. But while they were stealing out of the place, -Alexander scaled the deserted wall with a part of his guard, entered the -fortress, and chased the fugitives with great slaughter into the plains -below. The capture of the rock which had baffled the assaults of Hercules -was celebrated with solemn sacrifices, and supplied a fresh theme for the -eloquence of Agis and Anaxarchus. - -It was in the course of the campaign in the highlands between the Cophen -and the Indus, and, it seems, in the territory of the Guræans, that the -Macedonians were struck with some appearances in the productions of the -soil, and the manners of the natives, and probably also by the sound of -some names which reminded them of the legends of Dionysus, whose fabulous -conquests were now so often mentioned by Alexander’s flatterers, for the -purpose of exalting the living hero, whom they proposed to deify, above -the god. And so we read that Alexander came to a city called Nysa, which -boasted of Dionysus as its founder, and, as evidence of the fact, showed -the ivy and laurel which he had planted--a sight new to the Macedonians, -since they had left their native land. Alexander, Arrian observes, was -gratified by their story, and wished it to be believed that he was then -treading in the steps of Dionysus; for he hoped that the Macedonians, -roused by emulation, would be the more willing to bear the fatigues of -the expedition in which he purposed to pass the utmost distance that -had been reached by the divine conqueror. If we may depend on this -observation, it would prove that he had not yet thought of any limit to -his own progress, within the farthest bounds of the eastern world. - -It cannot have been later than March 326 when he crossed the Indus, -probably a little above its junction with the Cophen. He celebrated -his arrival on the eastern bank by a solemn sacrifice, and soon after -met Taxiles, who had come out, with his army and his elephants, to -greet him, and conduct him to his capital, with professions of the most -entire devotion. It seems to have been during his stay at Taxila, that -Alexander was first enabled to gratify his curiosity concerning the -doctrines and practices of the Indian ascetics. He had already witnessed -something similar at Corinth, where he found Diogenes living in habits -of simplicity not unworthy of the Eastern gymnosophists--as the Greeks -called the sages who exposed themselves almost naked to the inclemency -of the Indian sky. He is reported to have said that, had he not been -Alexander, he would have been Diogenes. The independence of a man who had -nothing to ask of his royal visitor but that he would not stand between -him and the sun, struck him as only less desirable than the conquest of -the world; and he conceived a like admiration for the Indian quietists, -who manifested a kindred spirit. He was desirous of carrying away with -him some of the Indian sophists as companions of Anaxarchus. - -After solemn sacrifices and games, Alexander resumed his march. He was -informed that Porus had collected his forces on the left bank of the -Hydaspes, to defend the passage; and he therefore sent Cœnus back to the -Indus, with orders to have the vessels in which the army had crossed -sawed each into two or three pieces, and transported to the Hydaspes. -He left all his invalids at Taxila, and strengthened his army with five -thousand Indians, who were commanded by Taxiles in person. Having arrived -on the right bank of the Hydaspes, he beheld the whole army of Porus, -with between two hundred and three hundred elephants, drawn up on the -other side. - -To distract the attention of Porus, he divided his army into several -columns, with which he made frequent excursions in various directions, as -if uncertain where he should attempt a passage. - - -THE WAR WITH PORUS - -At the distance of a day’s march above the camp, at a bend of the river -towards the west, where the projecting right bank was covered with -wood, an island, also thickly wooded, parted the stream. This was the -spot which Alexander fixed upon for his attempt. He ordered the vessels -brought in pieces from the Indus to be carried to it--the shelter of the -wood enabled the workmen to put them together again unobserved. Skins -also were provided to be stuffed with straw. Night after night he sallied -forth with his cavalry, as noisily as possible, and pushed up or down the -river, as if to attempt a passage. Porus at first drew out his elephants, -and moved towards the quarter from which the clamour proceeded. But when -the feint had been often repeated, he ceased to attend to it, and did not -stir his elephants for any noise that he might hear on the other side. - -Alexander himself set out with the flower of his Macedonian cavalry, -and the Bactrian, Sogdian, and Scythian auxiliaries, in all about five -thousand, and a select division of heavy and light infantry, which -included the hypaspists and the brigades of Clitus and Cœnus. He directed -his march at a sufficient distance from the river to be concealed from -the enemy’s view, and about sunset arrived over against the island. -During the night a violent fall of rain, accompanied by a terrible -thunderstorm, a little impeded the labours of the men; but the noise also -served to drown the clatter of the axes and hammers, and all the din of -preparation, which might otherwise have reached the post on the opposite -bank. - -With the return of light the rain had ceased, and the storm was hushed: -and the troops were immediately embarked. The king himself, with Ptolemy, -Perdiccas, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, the founder of the Syrian dynasty, -went on board a small galley, with a part of the hypaspists. The woody -island concealed their movements, until, having passed it, they were -within a short distance of the left bank. Then first they were perceived -by the Indians stationed there; who immediately rode off at full speed to -carry the tidings. Porus was not of a spirit to be so easily overpowered. -His first thought, when he received the intelligence, was that there -might still be time to come up with the enemy, before they had completed -their landing; and he immediately sent one of his sons, with two thousand -cavalry, and 120 chariots, towards the place. Alexander charged with all -his cavalry. The Indians scarcely waited for the shock of this greatly -superior force. Four hundred of them were slain, and among them the -prince himself. - -Even this disaster did not bow the courage of Porus; leaving a part of -his elephants to check Craterus, he advanced to the decisive conflict, -with two hundred of them, the whole of his cavalry (about four thousand), -three hundred chariots, and the bulk of his thirty thousand men. - -[Illustration: SURRENDER OF PORUS] - -Alexander, when he came in sight of the enemy, made his cavalry halt, to -allow time for the infantry to come up, and recover breath, after their -long and quick march, while he himself, observing the disposition of the -hostile army, decided on his plan of attack. He posted himself, as usual, -in the right wing, with the main body of the cavalry; but stationed -Cœnus, with two squadrons, on the left. With his wonted sagacity he -anticipated that an attack on the enemy’s left wing would draw out the -cavalry on the right to protect it; and he ordered Cœnus in this case -to fall on their rear. The horse-bowmen were first ordered to advance, -and threw the enemy into some disorder by a shower of arrows. Alexander -then led up the rest of his cavalry to the charge. The Indian cavalry of -the right wing was brought up to the relief of their left, and was at -the same time taken in the rear by Cœnus, and charged by Alexander in -front. The whole body, in disorder, sought shelter in the line of the -elephants, and the Macedonian phalanx then advanced to take advantage of -the confusion, and to support their cavalry. Yet the shock of the huge -animals, as long as they were under control, made havoc even in the ranks -of the phalanx, and afforded time for the Indian cavalry to rally. But -when they were driven in by a second charge of the Macedonian horse, -and the engagement was crowded within a narrower space, the elephants, -pressed on all sides, began to grow unmanageable; many lost their -drivers, and, maddened by wounds, turned their fury indiscriminately -against friend and foe. The phalanx then opened a large space for them -and eluded their onset, while the light troops plied them with their -missiles, or mutilated their trunks, and drove them back upon their own -ranks, where, as long as their strength lasted, they spread havoc and -confusion. At length, when many of them were killed, and the rest, spent -with wounds and toil, ceased to be formidable, Alexander ordered another -general charge of horse and foot; and the Indians, routed at all points, -betook themselves to flight. By this time Craterus, and the divisions on -the right bank, had effected their passage; and engaging in the pursuit -with all the vigour of fresh troops, made dreadful slaughter among the -fugitives. - -[Illustration: INDIAN SOLDIERS] - -The number of the slain on the side of the Indians amounted, according to -the more moderate account in Diodorus, to about twelve thousand. Among -them were two other sons of Porus, and the greater part of his principal -officers. Nine thousand prisoners were taken, and eighty elephants. The -loss of the Macedonians is estimated, as usual, at only a few hundreds. - -Porus himself, mounted on an elephant, had both directed the movements -of his forces, and gallantly taken part in the action. He had received a -wound in his shoulder--his body was protected by a corselet of curious -workmanship, which was proof against all missiles--yet, unlike Darius, as -long as any of his troops kept their ground he would not retire from the -field. When, however, he saw all dispersed, he too turned his elephant -for flight. He was a conspicuous object, and easily overtaken. All he -would ask of Alexander, was to be treated as a king; and when Alexander -observed that this was no more than a king must do for his own sake, and -bade him make some request for himself, his reply was still that all -was included in this. His expectations could scarcely have equalled the -conqueror’s munificence. He was not only reinstated in his royal dignity, -but received a large addition of territory. Yet it was certainly not pure -magnanimity, or admiration for his character, that determined Alexander -to this proceeding. He was conscious that his forces were not sufficient -to enable him to displace the native princes east of the Indus, and -to annex their territories, in the form of a satrapy, to his empire. -Hence the generosity he had shown to Taxiles. But Taxiles himself might -have become formidable without a rival; and the only way to secure the -Macedonian ascendency in the Punjab, was to trim the balance of power. - -Alexander, after he had buried his slain, and solemnised his victory -with his usual magnificence, allowed the main body of his army a month’s -rest, perhaps in the capital of Porus. The continuance of the rains was -probably the chief motive for this delay. But before he quitted the scene -of his triumph, he founded two cities near the Hydaspes--one, which he -named Nicæa, near the field of battle, the other near the place where he -had crossed the river; this he named Bucephala, after his gallant steed, -which had sunk either under fatigue or wounds in the hour of victory. - - -THE EASTERN LIMIT - -Before he resumed his march eastward, Alexander ordered a great quantity -of ship timber to be felled in the forests on the upper course of the -Hydaspes, which abound in fir and cedar, and floated down the stream to -his new cities, and a fleet to be built for the navigation of the Indus. -Alexander, on his march up the river Hydraotes, received or extorted -the submission of some other smaller tribes. As he approached Sangala, -he found the Cathæans strongly entrenched on an insulated hill near the -city, behind a triple barrier of wagons. A bloody carnage ensued; for -the besieged made a vigorous resistance, and more than twelve hundred -of the besiegers, including several general officers, were wounded. In -revenge seventeen thousand of the barbarians were massacred; seventy -thousand were made prisoners. Alexander then continued his march towards -the southeast and arrived on the banks of the Hyphasis, or rather of the -stream formed by the junction of the Hyphasis (Bias) with the Hesidrus -(Sutlej). - -Here he had at length reached the fated term of his progress towards the -east. Alexander had, no doubt, long been undeceived as to the narrow -limits which, according to the geography of his day, he had at first -assigned to India, and to the eastern side of the earth. The ocean, which -he had once imagined to be separated by no very vast tract from the banks -of the Indus, had receded, as he advanced, to an immeasurable distance. -He had discovered that, beyond the Hyphasis, a desert more extensive -than any he had yet crossed parted the plains of the Five Streams from -the region watered by the tributaries of the Ganges, a river mightier -than the Indus: that the country east of the Ganges was the seat of a -great monarchy, far more powerful than that of Porus, the land of the -Gangarides and Prasians, whose king could bring into the field two -hundred thousand foot, twenty thousand horse, and several thousands of -elephants. That this information rather served to inflame Alexander’s -curiosity and ambition than to deter him, could scarcely be doubted by -any one who has fully entered into his character, even if it had not been -expressly stated by the ancients. - -But the accounts which kindled his ardour, plunged the Macedonians into -sullen dejection, which at length broke out into open murmurs. It is -possible that, if they had seen any distinct and certain goal before -them, they would not have shrunk from the dangers and difficulties of -a last enterprise, however arduous. But to set out from a region which -had once appeared to them as the verge of the habitable world on a new -series of conquests, to which they could foresee no termination, was -enough to appal the most adventurous spirits.[32] Their thoughts began to -revert with uncontrollable force to their homes in the distant west, as -they had reason to fear that they were on the point of being torn from -them forever. For even of those who might escape the manifold dangers -of a fresh campaign, how many might be doomed to sit down as colonists, -and to spend the rest of their lives in that strange land! India was a -still more hopeless place of exile than Bactria and Sogdiana, where the -Greeks, who had been planted by violence, were only detained by terror. -The wish to return became universal, and was soon transformed into a firm -resolution not to proceed. - -It is difficult to guess how far the arguments by which Alexander -endeavoured to overcome the repugnance of his troops, and to animate -them with his own spirit, resembled any of those which are attributed to -him by Arrian and Curtius. The threat which Curtius puts into his mouth, -that, if the Macedonians would not follow him, he would throw himself on -his Bactrian and Scythian auxiliaries and make the expedition with them -alone, most likely misrepresents the tone which he assumed. But it may -easily be supposed that he expressed his wishes, and urged the army to -compliance, with passionate eloquence. Not only, however, the feelings of -the troops, but the judgment of his officers was adverse to the proposed -enterprise; and Cœnus, in a speech which has either been better written -or more faithfully reported than the king’s, exhorted him to abandon his -design. Alexander retired to his tent in displeasure. - -The next day he again assembled the army, and made another attempt to -overpower their reluctance, declaring that he would force no Macedonian -to accompany him; he was sure that there would be volunteers enough -among them for his purpose; the rest might return home and say that they -had left their king in the midst of his enemies. But even this appeal -produced no effect. For three days he kept within his tent, where not -even his chief officers were admitted to his presence, waiting for a -change in the disposition of the men. But the stillness which prevailed -in the camp convinced him, more strongly than words could have done, -that their determination was fixed. He then felt that it was time to -yield--not perhaps without some pride in the reflection that there -was not a man in the army who was capable of his own contempt for -difficulties and dangers. He had however gone too far, it seems, to -recede without some other pretext. The sacrifices easily supplied one. -When they were found unpropitious to the passage of the river, he called -his council and declared his resolution to retreat. - -It was received with tears of joy and grateful shouts by the army. -Before he quitted the Hyphasis, he ordered twelve colossal altars to be -built on its banks, and dedicated to the gods who had led him thus far -victorious; then, after a solemn sacrifice and games, he began to retrace -his steps. On the Acesines he found the city, which Hephæstion had been -ordered to build, ready to receive a colony; and there he left the -disabled mercenaries, and as many natives of the neighbouring districts, -as were willing to settle there. - -The fleet on the Hydaspes was now nearly ready, but the two new cities -had suffered so much from the rains that the army was for some time -employed in restoring them. In the meanwhile, Alexander made his final -arrangement of the affairs of the northern Punjab, by which Porus gained -a fresh addition of territory, so that his dominions included, it is -said, seven nations and above two thousand cities, with, it seems, a -title which established his superiority over all the chiefs east of the -Indus. - - -THE MARCH TO THE WEST - -[Sidenote: [326-325 B.C.]] - -The fleet, which was probably for the most part collected from the -natives, numbered, according to Ptolemy, nearly two thousand vessels of -various kinds, including eighty galleys of war. The command of the whole -fleet was entrusted to Nearchus. Alexander divided his forces into four -corps. The main body, with about two hundred elephants, was to advance -along the eastern bank under the command of Hephæstion. Craterus was to -lead a smaller division of infantry and cavalry on the opposite side of -the river. Philippus, with the troops of his satrapy, was ordered to -take a circuitous route towards the point where the two other generals -were to wait for the fleet, in which the king himself was to embark with -the hypaspists, the bowmen, and a division of his horse-guard--in all, -eight thousand men. On the morning of the embarkation, Alexander himself, -under the direction of his soothsayers, offered the libations and prayers -which were deemed fittest to propitiate the powers of the Indian streams, -Hydaspes and the impetuous Acesines, which was soon to join it, and the -mighty Indus, which was afterwards to receive their united waters. Among -the gods of the west, Hercules and Ammon were invoked with especial -devotion; then, at the sound of the trumpet, the fleet began to drop down -the river. - -It was a spectacle such as the bosom of the Hydaspes had never before -witnessed, nor has it since. Its high banks were crowded with the -natives, who flocked from all quarters with eager curiosity to gaze, and -accompanied the armament in its progress to some distance before they -could be satiated with the sight of the stately galleys, the horses, the -men, the mighty mass of vessels gliding down in unbroken order; and as -the adjacent woods rang with the signals of the boatswains, the measured -shouts of the rowers, and the plash of numberless oars, keeping time with -perfect exactness, the Indians too testified their delight in strains of -their national music. - -Alexander, as he proceeded, landed his troops wherever he found a display -of force necessary to extort submission from the neighbouring tribes, -though it was with reluctance that he spent any time in these incursions; -he was anxious, as soon as possible, to reach the frontiers of the Malli, -a warlike race, from whom he expected a vigorous resistance, and whom he -therefore wished to surprise before they had completed their preparations -and had been joined by their allies, particularly their southern -neighbours the Oxydracæ or Sudracæ. In five days he arrived at the second -place of rendezvous, the confluence of the Hydaspes and the Acesines. His -Indian pilots had warned him of the danger which the fleet would have to -encounter at this point; yet it did not escape. The united rivers were -at that time pent into a narrow space, where their conflicting waters -roared and chafed in eddies and waves. Several of the long galleys lost -a great part of their oars, and were much shattered; two were dashed -against each other, and entirely wrecked, and many of the crews perished. -According to some accounts, Alexander himself at one time thought his own -galley so much in danger, that he was on the point of jumping overboard. -As the stream widened, and spent its violence, a headland on the right -bank afforded shelter to the fleet. - -While it was undergoing the necessary repairs, Alexander made an -expedition inland against the Sibas, or Sivaites, so called undoubtedly -from the Indian deity, who was the chief object of their worship. On -his return to the fleet, he was rejoined by his three generals, and -immediately made his dispositions for the subjugation of the Malli. - -There can be little doubt that the name of this people has been preserved -in that of the modern city of Multan. The united forces of the Malli -and the Sudracæ are estimated in the accounts of Diodorus and Curtius, -on the most moderate calculation, at eighty thousand foot, ten thousand -horse, and seven hundred chariots; and from the manner in which they are -coupled together, we are led to presume that in this respect there was -no inequality between them. But the two races were composed of widely -different elements: for the name of the one appears to have been derived -from that of the Sudra caste; and it is certain that the Brahmans were -predominant in the other. As it was on the side of the desert that they -might be expected to feel most secure, Alexander resolved to strike -across it himself with one division of his army, into the heart of their -country, while two other corps traversed it in other directions, to -intercept the retreat of those whom he might drive before him.[b] - -It was with a wonderful ease and enthusiasm that Alexander and his troops -captured citadel after citadel and routed horde after horde, slaying -ruthlessly those who fought and those who fled. But it is not with -equal ease and enthusiasm that the modern reader peruses a catalogue -of victories so long as to grow monotonous. We therefore omit the -accounts of the various successes of the Macedonians, and hasten to the -picturesque climax before the chief Mallian city as told by Arrian.[a] - - -THE BRAVE MALLIANS - -[Sidenote: [325 B.C.]] - -When the defendants were unable to endure the violence of his assault -they retired into the castle. Alexander with his forces, having burst -open one of the gates of the city, entered, and took possession thereof, -a long time before the rest. Perdiccas and his party no sooner mounted -the walls (for many of them had not yet recovered their ladders) than -they perceived the city taken, because the walls were left defenceless. - -However, the besieged, entering the castle, and being resolutely bent -to hold it, some of the Macedonians endeavoured to undermine the walls, -others to scale them, and accordingly busied themselves in fixing -their ladders, wherever they could, with design to storm the place. -But Alexander, not brooking their slow proceedings, snatched a ladder -out of the hands of one of the soldiers, and applying it to the wall, -immediately mounted, having guarded his body with his shield. Peucestas -followed his steps, bearing the consecrated shield, which Alexander had -taken from the temple of the Trojan Pallas, and had ordered to be borne -before him in all his battles; after him, Leonnatus ascended by the same -ladder, and Abreas (one who received a double stipend, on account of -former services) by another. And now Alexander, having gained the top -of the battlements, and fixed his shield for defence, drove some of the -defendants headlong down into the castle, and slew others with his sword, -clearing the place where he stood. - -But the royal targeteers being solicitous and endeavouring to ascend -in too great numbers, broke the ladders, and thereby not only fell -down themselves, but hindered others from mounting. Alexander, in the -meantime, stood as a mark for all the Indians, who were in the adjacent -towers, for none of them durst venture to come so near him as to fight -hand to hand; and those within the castle also cast their darts at him, -but at some distance (for the Indians had thrown up a rampart there -within the wall, where they stood, and they easily perceived who he was, -both by the brightness of his armour, and the greatness of his courage). -However, he resolved, rather than to continue exposed in that station, -where nothing was to be done worthy notice, to cast himself directly into -the castle, imagining that such an action would strike a terror into the -besieged, or at least it would add greatly to his glory, and if he died -there, he should gain the admiration and applause of posterity; upon -which he immediately leaped down into the castle, where, fixing himself -against the wall, some of the enemy who rushed forwards upon him he slew -with his sword, and among the rest, the Indian general. Others, as they -advanced towards him, he smote with stones, and beat them back; but upon -their second, and higher approach, he slew them also with his sword, so -that the barbarians durst now no more attempt to come within his reach, -but gathering about him, at some distance, threw their darts, and such -other weapons, at him, as they had, or could find, from that station. - -Peucestas, Abreas, and Leonnatus were the only three persons of the -whole Macedonian army who mounted the castle wall before the ladders -broke, and they leaped down on the inside and valiantly fought to save -their king. Abreas was wounded in the face with an arrow, and fell -down dead. Alexander’s breastplate was pierced through with an arrow, -whereby he received a wound in the breast, which Ptolemy says, was so -dangerous that, by the vast effusion of blood, his life was despaired -of: nevertheless, so long as he was hot, he retained his innate courage, -and defended himself valiantly; but the blood streaming from him, and -his spirits sinking, he was seized with a dizziness in his head, and -a chillness throughout his limbs, whereupon he fell forward upon his -shield. Peucestas then, with the sacred shield of Pallas, stood by the -king, and protected him from the enemies’ darts on the one side, as did -Leonnatus on the other; but they were also sore wounded, and Alexander -was very nigh losing his blood and life together. - -The Macedonians without were in the utmost anxiety to decide how they -should ascend the walls, and get to the inside of the castle, fearing -lest their king, who had rashly exposed himself by scaling the walls, -and leaping down among the enemy, should be in danger; and their ladders -being broken, they used all their skill to contrive other ways to mount: -whereupon some of them drove large iron pins into the wall (which was -built with brick), and taking hold of those, hoisted themselves up with -great difficulty; others mounted upon the shoulders of their companions, -and so gained the top; however, he who ascended first leaped down on -the other side, and saw the king lying prostrate; and afterward, others -following, with dreadful shouts and lamentations, a sharp battle ensued, -they endeavouring with all their might to save their king, by covering -him with their shields. In the meanwhile, others having torn off the -bars, and forced open a gate between two towers, made way for their -companions to enter, and a part of the wall giving way to the violent -shocks of some others, opened a new passage into the castle. - - -ALEXANDER’S SEVERE WOUND AND THE ARMY’S GRIEF - -A mighty slaughter of the Indians then ensued, every individual found -being cut off, and not so much as the women or children spared. The -Macedonians then turned their thoughts on their king, whom they bore away -upon his shield, not knowing whether he would die or live. Some authors -relate that Critodemus, a physician of Cos, laid open his wound and drew -out the arrow; others, that Perdiccas performed that task, no physician -being present and the case urgent: for Alexander commanded that the wound -should be opened, though with a sword, and the dart drawn out of his -body. However, he lost abundance of blood in the operation, and again -fainted away. - -[Illustration: AN INDIAN PRINCE, TIME OF ALEXANDER] - -While the king lay there, to wait for the healing of his wound, news was -carried to the camp, from whence he set out on that expedition, that he -was dead; upon which a sudden cry run throughout the camp, as the report -spread from one to another: and when they came a little to themselves, -and began to set bounds to their grief, they were strangely perplexed, -and in great doubt, who should be chosen to head the army (for many -seemed to have equal pretence to that dignity, by their merit, not only -in Alexander’s opinion, but also in that of the Macedonians), and how -they should be led safe into their own country, being surrounded with -so many fierce and warlike nations; some whereof, whom they had not yet -visited, would, in all probability, fight stoutly for their liberty, and -others, whom they had, would revolt, when they were freed from the fear -of Alexander. Besides, when they begun to consider how many vast rivers -were between them and their country, which they were in no ways able to -pass over, they were almost driven to despair; and indeed everything -seemed terrible to them, when they wanted their king: and even when the -former accounts were contradicted, and news came of his being still -alive, the messenger could hardly find credit, for they had before heard -that there were but small hopes of his life--nay, when letters arrived -signifying that he would return to the camp in a short while, the news -seemed incredible to many, for they supposed that the letters had been no -more than a contrivance of his bodyguards and the generals of his army. - -When Alexander came to the knowledge of this, he began to fear that -an insurrection might happen, for which reason, as soon as his health -would admit, he ordered himself to be conveyed to the banks of the river -Hydraotes, and from thence, down the stream, to the camp, which was nigh -the confluence of the Hydraotes and Acesines, where Hephæstion had the -command of the army, and Nearchus of the navy. When the ship, which had -the king on board, approached in view of the camp, he ordered the cover -of his royal pavilion to be hoisted upon the poop thereof, to be seen -by the whole army. But neither yet did many believe him to be alive, -thinking the ship was bringing his dead body, until at last he drew near -the shore, and stretched out his right hand to the multitude. - -Then a loud shout was raised for joy, some holding up their hands to -heaven, others to their king; and many, who despaired of his life, -melting into tears, by such a sudden and unexpected joy. And when, upon -his coming on shore, they brought the bed or litter, whereon he had -been carried before, he refused it, and ordered his horse to be made -ready, which having mounted, he again received the joyful acclamations -of the whole army; the banks and neighbouring woods, echoing with the -sound. When he approached his tent, he leaped from his horse, and showed -himself also to his army on foot, to give them the greater certainty of -his health. Then arose a general emulation among them, and they strove -which should approach nighest to him, and some were ambitious to touch -his hands, others, his knees, others aspired no nigher than his garment; -and some were even satisfied with the sight of him, and with wishing him -health and happiness; some brought garlands, and others, flowers such as -the country produced to strew in his way; and when some of his friends -reproved him for exposing himself to such dangers for the army, and told -him, it was not the business of a general, but of a common soldier, -Nearchus tells us he took their reproofs ill, and the reason why he was -offended at the liberty they used, seems to be, because their reproofs -were just, and he was conscious he deserved them. However, his fortitude -in battle, and his thirst after glory, hurried him so far, that he could -not contain himself, nor keep out of the midst of danger.[e] - -While Alexander was convalescent from his grievous wound, such of the -Malli and Sudracæ as remained alive sent ambassadors and made submission -with what tattered pride they could muster. They were banqueted and -then attached to the satrapy of Philippus, and a thousand of their best -troops required to follow Alexander down the river. At the juncture -of the Acesines with the Indus he bade Philippus build a city. His -father-in-law Oxyartes, bringing news of the misconduct of Tyriaspes the -satrap of Paropamisus, was given the satrapy for his own. Craterus was -sent westward into Carmania with the bulk of the land-forces. The opulent -princedom of Musicanus submitted gracefully, but later revolted, and -Musicanus was hanged upon a cross as an example. The prince of Pattala -surrendered without struggle and Alexander sailed on to the ocean. Here -the Macedonians first saw a real oceanic tide, and many of their vessels, -after being stranded, were later shattered by the swift reflux of that -coast, till the frightened troops as Quintus Curtius says “neither dared -trust themselves on the land, nor remain on board,” and there followed -the usual result of panic, for as old John Digby in 1747 quaintly -translated Curtius “in all tumultuary assemblies, haste is of pernicious -consequence.” - -[Sidenote: [325-324 B.C.]] - -Nearchus, the admiral, was now left to conduct the fleet from the Indus -to the Tigris by way of the Persian Gulf, a marvellous feat of seafaring -in that early day. Alexander about August moved westward by land, soon -striking the desert of Gedrosia, where the horrors of the march deserve -fuller description.[a] - - -THE DESERT MARCH - -He himself then marched forward to Pura, the capital city of the Gedrosi, -where he arrived the sixtieth day, after his departure from the country -of the Oritæ. Many of the writers of Alexander’s life tell us that all -the hardships which his army endured in his expedition through Asia -were not to be compared with those they underwent in that march. And -Nearchus assures us that though he could not possibly be ignorant of the -difficulties they must struggle with in such a country, yet nevertheless -he was resolved to go forwards. - -He tells us the inhabitants informed him that no general was ever able -to conduct an army safe through these deserts; that Semiramis entering -them with great numbers of men in her flight from India, carried no -more than twenty through out of her whole army: and that Cyrus, the son -of Cambyses, who also attempted to invade India, but miscarried, lost -the greatest part of his forces in those dangerous wastes, himself and -seven of his followers only escaping; that these stories being told to -Alexander were so far from damping his resolutions that he was thereupon -the rather excited to attempt to conduct his army through these parts, -where both Cyrus and Semiramis had failed of success, to show that no -country was impassable to such soldiers, led on by such a general. - -For these reasons, as also that he might be nigh the seacoast to provide -necessaries for his fleet, he chose to return that way. However, the -heats were so vehement and their want of water so much, that many of his -men and most of their beasts of burden died--some by being smothered in -the deep scorching sands, but the greatest part of thirst; for they found -many little tumuli or hillocks of sand which they were obliged to ascend, -and where no firm footing could be had, but they sank deep into it, as -they would into clay or new-fallen snow; and their horses and mules were -no less harassed and wearied out by the excessive heats and intolerable -fatigues of such a march than the men. The great distance of their -resting-places was one occasion of the army’s hardship, for their want of -water caused them oftentimes to continue their march much farther than -otherwise they would. Then the length of the march, with the excessive -heats and raging thirsts they endured, despatched many of them. - -The soldiers then began to slay many beasts of burden for their own use; -for when provisions failed they consulted together, and killed both -horses and mules, and ate their flesh, and afterwards excused themselves, -by pretending that they died of heat or thirst, and there was none who -took the pains to inquire thoroughly into the affair: even Alexander -himself, it is said, was not ignorant of it; but as their necessities -pleaded in their behalf, he deemed it prudence rather to conceal his -knowledge thereof, than to seem to authorise it, by suffering the guilty -persons to escape punishment. And now, to such straits were they reduced, -that neither the sick, nor those who were weary with travel, could be -drawn any further, partly for want of beasts, and partly for want of -carriages--which the soldiers themselves, because they could not easily -drag them through the sands, broke in pieces. Many also broke their -wagons, before they began this march, through fear that they should be -forced to leave the shorter and nearer path, and take that which was -farther about, only because it was more convenient for carriages. - -On this account, many were left behind--some by reason of sickness--some -of heat and weariness, and others of thirst; and none took care, either -to restore them to health again, or to help them forwards; for the army -moved apace, and the whole was so much in danger that they were obliged -to neglect the care of particular persons. If any chanced to fall asleep, -by reason of the vast fatigues of a hard night’s march, when they awaked, -if they had strength they followed the army by the track of their -footsteps, though few of them ever came up with it, the far greatest part -sinking into the sands, like sailors into the ocean, and so perishing. - -Another accident also happened, which equally affected man and beast; for -the Gedrosian country, like the Indies, is subject to rains while the -Etesian winds blow; but these rains fall not in the plains, but among the -mountains, where the clouds, not reaching their tops, are, as it were, -pent up by the winds and dissolved into showers. When the army therefore, -encamped nigh a small brook, for the sake of the water, the same, about -the second watch of the night (being swelled with sudden rains, which -none of them perceived), poured down such a dreadful inundation, that -many women and children, who followed the camp, with the royal furniture, -and the baggage mules, which were left alive, were swept away. Nay, -so furious was the deluge, that the soldiers were hardly able to save -themselves, many of them losing their arms, and some few their lives; -many also, who had long endured the utmost extremities of heat and -thirst, finding plenty of water, at their first coming here, drank to -excess, and died. And hence it was, that Alexander would never, after -that time, suffer them to encamp near a torrent, but at the distance of -twenty furlongs, at least, to hinder his men from rushing too violently -forwards, and drinking too large draughts, to their own destruction; he -also took care, that those who came first should not run into the water -with their feet, and thereby render it unwholesome to the rest of the -army. - -[Illustration: GREEK TRIPOD AND BUST] - -While the army laboured under the most dreadful inconveniences of heat -and thirst in this desert, Alexander performed one gallant act, which we -can by no means pass over in silence, though some authors affirm it was -not done here, but in the desert of Paropamisus. As the forces continued -their march through these sands, which reflected the burning rays of -the sun upon them, it was necessary that they should send out parties -daily to seek for water; the king, though ready to faint away with -thirst, marched on foot, at the head of his troops, that his officers -and soldiers (as is usual in such cases) might the more patiently endure -those hardships which their general shared in common with them. In the -meanwhile, some light-armed soldiers, who were despatched to search for -water, found a small quantity, not far from the army, in the channel of a -brook, almost dried up, but it was very muddy; however, they drew it up, -and bringing it in a shield, presented it to the king, as a choice gift. - -He received it, and returning due thanks to those who brought it, poured -it immediately upon the ground, in presence of the army. This action of -his encouraged the soldiers, as much as if every man had drunk a share of -that water which he refused to taste; and his extraordinary self-denial -is no less praiseworthy, than the noble example he showed of a wise and -consummate general. - -Another accident happened here, which, if it had not been speedily -remedied, might have occasioned the loss of the whole army; for the -sands being moved to and fro, by the winds, and all the surface reduced -to a level, their guides themselves were at a loss how to conduct the -army any further: for no sign of any track appeared to point out the -path; nor was there so much as a tree, nor a shrub, nor any certain -hillock, to be seen to direct them. Besides, they were unacquainted with -the manner of observing the motions of the sun by day, and the stars -by night, to regulate their march, as mariners at sea to their course -by the two Bears, the Phœnicians by the Lesser, but most other nations -by the Greater. In this difficulty, Alexander was forced to proceed -as chance directed him. However, he ordered his army to turn to the -left, and himself, with a few choice horse, went before to point out -the road; but their horses, quite spent with heat, were most of them -left behind--insomuch, that only he, with five of his followers, passed -through the sands, to the seashore, safe on horseback. However, on their -arrival there, they dug nigh the coast, and found plenty of water, -sweet, and clear; whereupon he ordered the army thither, and, after that -travelled seven days along the seacoast, and always found plenty of -water. Then, his guides assuring him they knew the way again, they left -the sea, and led the army into the inland parts again.[e] - - -EXCESSES AND CRUELTIES DESCRIBED BY CURTIUS - -By these means the army came at last upon the frontiers of the -Gedrosians, whose territory was very fruitful. Here he stayed some time -to refresh his harassed troops; in the interim he received letters from -Leonnatus, importing “that he had fought and overcome eight thousand -foot, and five hundred horse of the Oritæ.” Craterus likewise sent him -advice “that he had seized and put into custody Ozines and Zariaspes, two -noblemen of Persia, who were contriving a rebellion.” The king afterwards -appointed Siburtius governor of that province, in the room of Memnon, -who was lately dead, and then marched into Carmania. Aspastes had the -government of this nation, and was suspected to aim at innovations during -the king’s abode in India; but as he came to meet the king, his majesty -thought fit to dissemble his resentment, and kept him in the same station -till he could get a clearer information of the crimes he was accused of. - -The governor of India having sent him by this time (according to his -orders) a great number of horses and draught cattle out of the respective -countries subject to his empire, he remounted, and gave fresh equipages -to those who wanted. He also restored their arms to their former -splendour, for they were not now far from Persia, which was not only in a -profound peace, but vastly rich. - -As therefore he not only rivalled the glory Bacchus had gained by the -conquest of these countries, but also his fame, he resolved (his mind -being elevated above mortal grandeur) to imitate him in his manner of -triumph, though it be uncertain whether it was at first intended by -Bacchus as a triumph, or only the sport and pastime of the drunken crew. -Hereupon he caused all the streets through which he was to pass to be -strewed with flowers and garlands, and large vessels and cups filled with -wine to be placed before the doors of the houses. Then he ordered wagons -to be made of a sufficient largeness to contain a great many, which were -adorned like tents, some with white coverings, and some with precious -furniture. - -The king’s friends and the royal band went first, wearing on their -heads chaplets made of variety of flowers, in some places the flutes -and hautboys were heard, in others the harmonious sound of the harp -and lute; all the army followed, eating and drinking after a dissolute -manner, everyone setting off his wagon according to his ability, their -arms (which were extraordinarily fine) hanging round about the same. The -king, with the companions of his debauchery, was carried in a magnificent -chariot laden with gold cups, and other large vessels of the same metal. -After this manner did this army of bacchanals march for seven days -together, a noble as well as certain prey to those they had conquered, -if they had had but courage enough to fall upon them in this drunken -condition: nay, it had been an easy matter for a thousand men (provided -they were but sober) to have made themselves masters of this riotous -army, in the midst of its triumph, as it lay plunged in the surfeits -and excesses of a seven days’ debauch; but fortune, that sets the price -and credit of things, turned this military scandal into glory. The then -present age and posterity since have with reason admired, how they could, -in that drunken condition, with safety pass through nations hardly yet -sufficiently subdued; but the barbarians interpreted the rankest temerity -imaginable for a well-grounded assurance. However, all this pomp and -splendour had the executioner at its heels, for the satrap Aspastes, of -whom we before made mention, was ordered to be put to death. Thus we see -that luxury is no obstacle to cruelty, nor cruelty to luxury. - -About this time Cleander and Sitalces, with Agathon and Heracon (who -had killed Parmenion by the king’s orders), came to him, having with -them five thousand foot and one thousand horse; but they were followed -by their accusers out of the respective provinces of which they had -had the prefecture; and indeed it was impossible for them to atone for -so many enormous crimes which they had committed, though they had been -instruments in an execution altogether grateful to the king; for they -were not contented to pillage the public, but even plundered the temples, -and left the virgins and chief matrons to bewail the violation of their -honour. In fine, by their avarice and lust, they had rendered the very -name of the Macedonians odious to the barbarians; but Cleander’s fury -exceeded all the rest, for he was not contented to defile a noble virgin, -but gave her afterwards to his slave for a concubine. - -The major part of Alexander’s friends did not so much regard the -grievousness of the crimes that were now publicly laid to their charge, -as the memory of Parmenion, who had been killed by their hands, which -perhaps might secretly plead for them in the king’s breast; and they were -overjoyed to see those ministers of his anger experience the dire effects -of it themselves, and “that no power that is injuriously acquired can be -of long duration.” - -The king having heard their accusation, said “that their adversaries -had forgot one thing, and the greatest of all their crimes, which was -their despairing of his safety; for they would never have dared to be -guilty of such villainies, if they had either hoped or believed he -should have returned safe from India.” He therefore committed them to -custody, and ordered “six hundred soldiers who had been the instruments -of their cruelty to be put to death.” The same days also the authors -of the Persian revolt (whom Craterus had brought along with him) were -executed.[f] - -Still cruelty, in the most odious sense of the word, wanton injustice, -was always foreign to his nature; nor have we any proof that his temper -had become in other respects harsher, or less even, than before his -Indian expedition. - - -THE RETURN OF NEARCHUS - -In the meanwhile he was in painful uncertainty, and was giving way more -and more to gloomy thoughts, as to the fate of Nearchus and the fleet. -They were at length dispelled by tidings that Nearchus had landed on the -coast of Carmania, within a few days’ march of the camp. The bearer of -the news was the governor of the maritime district in which the event had -occurred. Some of the men belonging to the fleet, in an excursion up the -country, had fallen in with one of Alexander’s soldiers, and learned from -him that the king was encamped only five days’ march from the sea; by him -Nearchus was brought to the governor, who hastened to the camp with the -joyful tidings. Alexander sent party after party with means of conveyance -for Nearchus. Some of his messengers proceeded but a short distance, and -returned without intelligence. Others went further, but lost the road. -He began to suspect that he had been deceived, and ordered the governor -to be arrested. Meanwhile Nearchus had hauled up his vessels on shore, -and had fortified a naval camp, where he left the greater part of his -men, and set out, with Archias, his second in command, and five or six -companions, to seek the king. On their way they met one of the parties -which had been sent with horses and carriages in search of them. But so -great was the change made in their appearance by the hardships of the -voyage, that, even when they inquired the road to the camp, they were not -recognised by their countrymen, until, on the suggestion of Archias, they -made themselves known. Some now hastened to inform Alexander of their -approach. When he heard of the smallness of their number, he concluded -that the fleet was lost, and that they were the only survivors. But their -arrival cleared up all mistakes, and diffused universal joy. - -The details of the voyage would be foreign to our purpose. Nearchus had -been forced to begin it, before the winds had become favourable, by the -hostility of the Indians at Pattala; and though he waited four-and-twenty -days on the Arabite coast, he afterwards lost three of his vessels in -the adverse monsoon. On the coast of Oritis he met Leonnatus, who, after -Alexander’s departure, had been obliged to defend himself against the -combined forces of the natives and their allies. He had gained a great -victory with the loss of few men; the satrap Apollophanes was among -the slain. From Leonnatus, according to the king’s orders, Nearchus -received a supply of corn sufficient for ten days, and exchanged some of -his least active sailors for better men from the camp; but it does not -appear that he lighted upon any of the magazines destined by Alexander -for his use. After manifold hardships and perils, from the monsters of -the deep, the barrenness of the coast, the hostility of the barbarians, -and from the timidity and despondency of his own crews, he at length, -with the aid of a Gedrosian pilot, reached the mouth of the Persian Gulf. -When they came in sight of Arabia, Onesicritus--with what view is not -perfectly clear--urged the admiral to strike across, and steer to the -south. Nearchus however prudently refused to deviate from the king’s -instructions, and finally landed near the mouth of the river Anamis -(Ibrahim), not far to the east of the isle of Ormuz.[b] - -Now Alexander, having conceived vast designs, had resolved after he had -conquered all the eastern coast, to pass out of Syria into Africa, being -very much incensed against the Carthaginians, and from thence marching -through the deserts of Numidia, to direct his course towards Cadiz; for -it was generally reported that Hercules had there planted his pillars. -From hence he proposed to march through Spain, which the Greeks call -Iberia, from the river Iberus; and having passed the Alps to come to -the coast of Italy, from whence it was but a short cut to Epirus. He -therefore gave orders to his governors in Mesopotamia “to cut down timber -in Mount Libanus, and convey it to Thapsacus, a town in Syria, where it -was to be employed to build large vessels, which were afterwards to be -conducted to Babylon. The kings of Cyprus were also commanded to supply -them with copper, hemp and sails.” - -While he was doing these things he received letters from the kings Porus -and Taxiles, to acquaint him with the death of Abisares by sickness, -and that Philip his lieutenant was dead of his wounds; as also that -the persons concerned in that action had been punished. Hereupon he -substituted Eudœmon (who was commander of the Thracians) in the room -of Philip, and gave Abisares’ kingdom to his son. From thence he came -to Pasargada, which is a city of Persia, and whose satrap’s name was -Orxines, who in nobility and riches far exceeded all the barbarians; -he derived his pedigree from Cyrus, formerly king of Persia; his -predecessors had left him a great deal of wealth, which he had very much -increased by the long enjoyment of his authority. This nobleman came to -meet the king, with all sorts of presents, as well for himself as for -his friends; he had with him whole studs of horses ready broke, chariots -adorned with gold and silver, rich furniture, jewels, gold plate to a -great value, purple garments, and four thousand talents of coined silver. -However, this excessive liberality proved the cause of his death; for -having presented all the king’s friends with gifts far beyond their -expectation, he took no notice of Bagoas the eunuch, who had endeared -Alexander to him by his abominable compliance; and being informed by some -who wished him well, that he was very much in Alexander’s favour, he made -answer, “that he honoured the king’s friends, but not his eunuchs, it not -being the custom of the Persians.” The eunuch was no sooner acquainted -with this answer, than he employed all the power and interest he had so -shamefully procured himself to ruin this innocent nobleman. - -It happened that Alexander caused Cyrus’ tomb to be opened, in order to -pay his ashes the funeral rites; and whereas he believed it to be full of -gold and silver, according to the general opinion of the Persians, there -was nothing found in it but a rotten buckler, two Scythian bows and a -scimitar. However, the king placed a crown of gold upon his coffin, and -covered it with the cloak he used to wear himself, and seemed to wonder -“that so great a prince, who abounded in riches, was not more sumptuously -interred than if he had been a private person.” Hereupon Bagoas, who -stood next to the king, turning to him said: “What wonder is it to find -the royal tombs empty, when the satrap’s houses are not able to contain -the treasures they have taken from thence? As for my own part, I must -confess, I never saw this tomb before, but I remember I have heard Darius -say that there were three thousand talents buried with Cyrus. From hence -proceeds Orxines’ liberality to you, that what he knew he could not keep -with impunity might produce him your favour, when he presented you with -it.” - -Having thus stirred up the king’s anger, those whom Bagoas had entrusted -with the same affair came in, so that he on one side, and the suborned -witnesses on the other so possessed the king’s ears, that Orxines -found himself in chains before he had the least suspicion of his being -accused. This vile eunuch was not satisfied with the death of this -innocent prince, but had the impudence to strike him as he was going to -be executed; whereupon Orxines looking at him said: “I had heard indeed, -that formerly women reigned in Asia, but it is altogether new, that a -eunuch should be a king.” This was the end of the chiefest nobleman -of Persia, who was not only innocent, but had likewise been profusely -liberal to the king.[33] At that time Phradates was put to death, being -suspected to aim at the regal dignity. “Now,” says Curtius, “Alexander -began to be too apt to give credit to false informations; from whence it -is plain that prosperity is able to change the best nature, it being a -rarity to find anyone sufficiently cautious against good fortune. Thus -he who a little before could not find in his heart to condemn Lyncestes -Alexander, though accused by two witnesses; and who had suffered several -prisoners of a mean condition to be acquitted, even contrary to his own -inclination, only because they seemed innocent to the rest, and had -restored kingdoms to his conquered enemies, at last so degenerated from -himself as even against his own sentiment to bestow kingdoms on some at -the pleasure of an infamous catimite, and deprive others of their lives.” - -[Illustration: GREEK WINE JUG] - -Much about the same time he received letters from Cœnus concerning the -transactions in Europe and Asia, whilst he was subduing India--_viz._, -that Zopirio his governor of Thrace, in his expedition against the Getæ, -had been surprised with a sudden storm, and perished therein with the -whole army; and that Sceuthes being informed thereof had solicited the -Odrysians his countrymen to revolt, whereby Thrace was almost lost, and -Greece itself in danger; for Alexander having punished the insolence of -some of the satraps (who during his wars in India, had exercised all -manner of crimes in their respective provinces) had thereby terrified -others, who being guilty of the same foul practices, expected to be -rewarded after the same manner, and therefore took refuge with the -mercenary troops, designing to make use of their hands in their defence, -if they were called to execution; others, getting together what money -they could, fled. The king being advised hereof, despatched letters to -all the governors throughout Asia, whereby they were commanded upon sight -to disband all the foreign troops within their respective provinces. - -Harpalus was one of these offenders; Alexander had always a great -confidence in him, because he had upon his account formerly been banished -by Philip, and therefore when Mazæus died, he conferred upon him the -satrapship of Babylon, and the guard of the treasures. This man having, -by the extravagance of his crimes, lost all the confidence he had in -the king’s favour, took five thousand talents out of the treasury, and -having hired six thousand mercenaries, returned into Europe. He had for -a considerable time followed the bent of his lust and luxury, so that -despairing of the king’s mercy, he began to look about for foreign means -to secure himself against his anger; and as he had all along cultivated -the friendship of the Athenians--whose power was no way contemptible, and -whose authority he knew was very great with the other Greeks, as well -as their private hatred to the Macedonians--he flattered those of his -party that, as soon as the Athenians should be informed of his arrival, -and behold the troops and treasure he brought with him, they would -immediately join their arms and counsels to his; for he thought that by -the means of wicked instruments whose avarice set everything to sale, -he might by presents and bribes compass his ends with an ignorant and -wavering people. - -The king being informed of these things, was equally incensed against -Harpalus and the Athenians, and immediately ordered a fleet to be got -ready, resolving to repair immediately to Athens; but while he was taken -up with these thoughts he received letters of advice that Harpalus had -indeed entered Athens, and by large sums gained the chief citizens; -notwithstanding which, in an assembly of the people, he had been -commanded to leave the town, whereupon he retired to the Greek soldiers, -who seized him, and that he was afterwards treacherously killed by a -certain traveller.[34] Being pleased with this account, he laid aside his -thoughts of passing into Europe; however, he ordered all the cities of -Greece to receive their respective exiles, excepting such who had defiled -their hands with the blood of their fellow-citizens. - -The Greeks not daring to disobey his commands (although they looked upon -them as a beginning of the subversion of their laws), not only recalled -them, but also restored to them all their effects that were in being. The -Athenians were the only people who on this occasion asserted both their -own and the public liberty; for, looking upon it as an insupportable -grievance (as not being used to monarchical government, but to their own -laws and customs of their country), they forbade the exiles entering -their territories, being resolved to suffer anything rather than grant -admittance to those former dregs of their own town, and now the refuse of -the places of their exile.[f] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[32] [“Their very horses’ hoofs were worn away by their continual -marches,” says Diodorus[d] xvii.] - -[33] [Arrian[e] says, however, that Orxines was proved clearly guilty of -defacing and plundering the tomb of Cyrus and of other acts of sacrilege.] - -[34] For a fuller account of the affairs of Harpalus and the exile decree, -see Chapter LVIII. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: RUINS OF THE THEATRE OF ATTICUS, ATHENS] - - - - -CHAPTER LVI. THE END OF ALEXANDER - - -HIS PROJECTS - -Alexander might now be said to have returned into the heart of his -dominions; since the Indus, the Jaxartes, and the Nile, had become -Macedonian rivers. It was a question at that time of great importance -to the whole civilised world, what were the plans now floating in the -imagination of the youthful conqueror, if not yet reduced to a settled -purpose. - -It was believed by many that he designed to circumnavigate Arabia to -the head of the Red Sea, and afterwards Africa; then, entering the -Mediterranean by the Pillars of Hercules, to spread the terror of his -arms along its western shores, and finally to explore the northern -extremity of the Lake Mæotis, and, if possible, discover a passage into -the Caspian Sea. These reports were not altogether without a visible -foundation. They seem to have arisen out of the simple fact that -Alexander, on his return from India, prepared to equip a fleet on the -Euphrates, and sent orders to Phœnicia for vessels to be built there and -transported to Thapsacus; thence to fall down the river to Babylon, where -a harbour was to be formed, capable of containing one thousand galleys of -war. - -That a great armament therefore was to be collected, for some operations -which were to begin in the Persian Gulf, was sufficiently certain; and -Alexander also gave proofs that his views were directed toward Arabia, -for he sent three expeditions to survey its coasts: first, a vessel under -the command of Archias, the companion of Nearchus, who, however, did not -even venture to cross over to the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf, but -stopped short at one of the islands. Androsthenes, who was afterwards -sent out with another vessel, did a little more--he sailed for a short -distance along the coast. The boldest of the adventurers was a Cilician, -named Hiero, who advanced much farther in the same direction; but his -courage and perseverance were at length overcome by the vast range of the -coast, which exceeded all his expectations, and on his return he reported -that Arabia was nearly as large as India. Yet it would seem, from -Arrian’s account, that even he had not doubled the cape seen by Nearchus. - -It can hardly be supposed that Alexander had resolved to attempt the -conquest of Arabia, while he was conscious that he knew so little about -the nature and extent of the country, especially as the information which -he might obtain as to the interior cannot have been encouraging. But it -is not the less probable that discovery and conquest in this quarter -were the objects which, henceforth to his death, chiefly occupied his -thoughts; for the spirit of discovery was here stimulated by a clear -prospect of great advantages to be derived from a maritime communication -between Egypt and India. To ascertain whether it was possible to open -one, and to secure it, if not by conquests at least by colonies planted -on the Arabian coast, was a design certainly suited to Alexander’s -genius, and worthy of his ambition; and this appears to have been the -first destination of the new armament. On any other projects which he may -have entertained, it would be still more idle to speculate. - -For some time after his return, his attention was engrossed by different -cares. From every side he continued to receive fresh complaints of the -excesses committed by his satraps and other officers, during his absence, -and fresh proofs that many of them aimed at establishing an independent -authority. The indignation of the people was especially provoked by the -spoliation of the sacred buildings. It is probable, that in almost every -case such outrages on the national feelings proceeded from the reckless -cupidity of the Macedonians, though the native governors may have abused -their powers as grossly in other matters. Not unfrequently perhaps -they had connived at the misconduct of the Macedonian officers under -their command, we may suspect to have been the case with Orxines and -Polymachus. So Abulites, the satrap of Susa, and his son Oxathres, were -put to death, it is said, for neglect of duty--it would seem too hastily, -for Alexander ran Oxathres through the body with his own sarissa; but -it was the Macedonian Heracon who had plundered the temple at Susa. -Such proceedings may have been the main cause of an insurrection which -had broken out in Media, but was suppressed by the satrap Atropates, -who brought its author, a Median named Baryaxes, and several of his -partisans, to Pasargadæ, where they suffered death. Baryaxes had assumed -the erect cidaris, and the title of king of the Medes and Persians, a -step to which he was probably encouraged by the popular discontent which -had been excited by the extortion and insolence of the strangers. - -But such precautions as these were barely sufficient to maintain -tranquillity for the present; much more was needed for the future. All -that he had observed since his return appears to have strengthened his -previous conviction that his empire, to be permanent, must be established -on a new basis. And at Susa he began a series of measures, tending, in -their remote consequences, to unite the conquerors with the conquered, -so as to form a new people out of both, and, in their immediate effects, -to raise a new force, independent alike of Macedonian and of Persian -prejudices, and entirely subservient to his ends. The first of these -measures was a great festival, in which he at the same time celebrated -his own nuptials with Statira, the eldest daughter of Darius (who now, it -seems, took the name of Arsinoe) and those of his principal officers with -Persian and Median ladies of the noblest families. We find an intimation -that some address was needed, before the preliminaries could be arranged; -and this, from the known temper and views of the Macedonian generals we -can easily believe. The king’s example had no doubt the greatest weight -in overcoming the aversion which they must have felt to such an alliance. -The liberality with which he portioned their brides out of his treasure -also had its effect; and their pride was flattered by the condescension -with which he placed them on a level with himself in the ceremony. - - -THE MARRIAGE OF GREECE WITH PERSIA - -Hephæstion received the hand of Drypetis, Statira’s sister; it was -Alexander’s express wish that his friend’s children should be related to -his own. Craterus was wedded to Amastris, a niece of Darius; Perdiccas -to a daughter of the satrap Atropates; Ptolemy and Eumenes, to two -daughters of Artabazus. For Nearchus, Alexander chose the daughter of -Mentor by Barsine, a mark of distinguished favour, since he himself -had admitted the mother to his bed, and already had a son by her, on -whom he had bestowed the name of Heracles, and who afterwards became a -competitor for the throne. To Seleucus he gave a daughter of the Bactrian -chief Spitamenes. These are the only names recorded by Arrian, but the -whole number of the officers who followed the king’s example amounted to -nearly a hundred. It was not less important for his object that above -ten thousand of the private Macedonians had either already formed a -connection, or were now induced to enter into one, with Asiatic women. -To render it solemn and binding, a list was taken of their names, and a -marriage portion was granted to each. - -The wealth of Asia and the arts of Greece were combined to adorn the -spectacle with a splendour and beauty worthy of the occasion. A gorgeous -pavilion was erected, probably on a plain near the city, capable of -containing not only the bridal party but the guests whom the king had -invited to the banquet. It was supported by pillars sixty feet high, -glittering with gold, silver, and precious stones, and was hung and -spread with the richest tissues. Ninety-two chambers, magnificently -furnished, were annexed to the building: and an outer court appears to -have been enclosed by a partition, likewise hung with costly tapestry, -for the reception of the ten thousand newly-married soldiers, each of -whom received a golden vessel for his libation; and of the strangers who -had been drawn by business or curiosity to the court. In the foreground -without, tables were spread for the rest of the immense multitude. The -nuptials were solemnised according to Persian usage. A separate seat was -assigned to each pair: all were ranged in a semicircle, to the right and -left of the royal throne. When the last libation had been announced by -a flourish of trumpets to the multitude without, the brides entered the -banquet hall, and took their places. The king first gave his hand to -Statira, and saluted her as his consort; and his example was followed by -the rest. This, it seems, completed the nuptial ceremony. The festivities -lasted five days, which were filled up with a variety of entertainments; -among the rest, musical and dramatic performances of Greek artists, and -feats of Indian jugglers. Alexander’s subjects from all parts of the -empire vied with each other in the magnificence of their offerings to -the king, and the value of the crowns which he received on this occasion -is said to have amounted to fifteen thousand talents [£3,000,000 or -$15,000,000]. - -The nuptial festival was a concession gained from the Macedonians in -favour of the ancient masters of Asia. Notwithstanding the king’s -liberality and condescension, murmurs were excited by the preference -which had been given to the Persian ceremonial. Alexander now endeavoured -to conciliate them by another act of royal munificence, and by the -distribution of rewards to those who had distinguished themselves in the -late expeditions. He declared his intention to pay the debts of every -Macedonian in the army; and directed that all who wished to share his -bounty should give in their names to be registered. The offer was at -first very coldly received, and awakened a suspicion, which indicated -an unsound state of feeling, though it arose in part from a reproving -conscience, and might also be considered as occasioned by the incredible -amount of the proffered donative. It was generally believed that the -king’s object was chiefly to gain information as to the state of their -private affairs, and, from the debts which they had contracted, to form -a judgment which could not fail to be often unfavourable on the habits -and character of each. Few therefore presented themselves to enter their -names. - -Alexander, as soon as he discovered the cause of this general -backwardness, reproved them for their unworthy distrust, with the -remark that it was no more fit that subjects should suspect their king -of falsehood, than that he should practise it; and immediately ordered -tables to be set in the camp, with heaps of gold, where each might -receive the amount of his debts without registering his name. This -generous confidence removed all doubts; men of all ranks flocked in with -their claims, and the secrecy was felt as a greater favour than the -relief. - -The sum expended on this largess is said to have been no less than -twenty thousand talents. Other rewards were conferred on a great number -of persons in proportion to their rank and services. But the popularity -which the king gained by these measures was soon to be subjected to a -hard trial. For it was not long after that the satraps, who had the -charge of the Asiatic youth, selected some years before to be taught the -Greek language, and to be trained to war according to the Macedonian -system, came to Susa, with a body of thirty thousand young soldiers -formed in these schools, equipped and armed in the Macedonian fashion. -Alexander himself was delighted with their fine persons and martial -bearing, and with the manner in which they executed their manœuvres, and -immediately proceeded to incorporate them with his army. The infantry, -it seems, was for the present kept distinct from the Macedonian troops; -but the cavalry, which was drawn from Bactria and Sogdiana, and other -eastern provinces, was admitted into the same ranks with the flower of -the Macedonian nobility. A fifth division of horse was formed to receive -them; and, at the same time, several of the young Asiatic nobles were -enrolled in the escort, a body hitherto selected from the first families -of Macedonia. - -These changes roused the jealousy and resentment of the old troops, in -a much higher degree than any of the king’s previous acts. His adoption -of the dress and usages of the conquered people had displeased them, -because it indicated a purpose which they disliked; the late alliances -created perhaps still greater discontent, because they still more clearly -and directly tended to the same point. But the new organisation of the -army was more than a tendency--it was not a mere indication, but the -first step in the execution of the purpose which had alarmed them; it -was a beginning of destruction to all the privileges they most valued. -Alexander, it was plain, wished to be considered only as their sovereign, -no longer as their countryman. - -The murmurs of the camp probably did not escape his notice, and may -have induced him to set out the earlier from Susa, on a march which, by -the new occupation it afforded, would perhaps make the army forget its -supposed grievances. He therefore ordered Hephæstion to lead the main -body down to the coast, while he himself embarked on board the fleet.[b] - - -THE MUTINY - -When he arrived at Opis, he called his forces together, and issued -a declaration, that “all of them, who by age, infirmity, or loss of -limbs, found themselves unable to undergo the fatigues of war, should be -freely discharged, and at full liberty to return home. But whoever were -inclined to stay with him, should taste so largely of his royal bounty -as to become the envy of those who tarried at home, and excite other -Macedonians freely to share their toils and dangers with them.” - -This declaration was made by Alexander with a design to please the -Macedonians, but it had a contrary effect; for they interpreting it -as if they were despised, or deemed useless in any further warlike -enterprise, were vehemently enraged, and took that discourse as levelled -against them, which was designed for the army in general. Howbeit, upon -this occasion, all their former complaints were renewed--namely, his -compliance with the Persians in their habit; his allowing the Macedonian -habit to be worn by youths who were barbarians, and styling them their -successors; and his admission of strange horse into the auxiliary forces; -wherefore they were no longer able to contain themselves, but all of them -entreated to be absolved from their military oath. Nay, some proceeded so -far as to insult him, by telling him that he and his father Ammon, might, -for the future, join their forces and wage war against their enemies. -Alexander no sooner heard these words (for he was now much more subject -to wrath than heretofore) but leaping instantly from his seat where his -captains surrounded him, he commanded the chief of those who endeavoured -to excite the multitude to sedition, to be seized, and pointed with his -hand to his targeteers, to show them whom they should seize. These were -thirteen in number, all whom he commanded immediately to be put to death; -whereat, while the rest stood amazed, and kept silence, he again mounted -his tribunal, and spoke to this effect. - -“Far be it from me, O my Macedonians, to endeavour to divert you from -your desires of returning home (you having a free liberty to go whenever -you think convenient), but I will, that you understand before your -departure, how much you are changed from what once you were. And first -to begin, as I ought, with my father Philip: he received you into his -protection, a poor, wandering, and unsettled people; many of you clothed -with skins, and feeding small flocks of sheep, upon the mountains, which -yet you could not keep without continual skirmishes with the Illyrians, -Triballi, and Thracians, your neighbours, in which you were often -unsuccessful. For shepherds’ coats of skins, my father arrayed you in -the choicest garments; from the barren mountains, he led you down into -the fruitful plains, and instructed you in military discipline, so that -you had no more occasion to place your safety in rough and inaccessible -mountains, but in your own valour. - -“He gave you cities to dwell in, and excellent laws and statutes to be -governed by. He gained you also the sovereignty over those barbarians -who, aforetime, continually harassed and insulted you, and from a state -of slavery, made you free. He added a great part of Thrace to Macedonia, -and by reducing the towns upon the seacoast, set open the gate to -commerce. He it was that subdued the Thessalians, who were formerly so -terrible to you, and made them your servants; and having overcome the -Phocians, opened a wide and convenient entrance for you into Greece, -instead of one narrow and difficult. The Athenians and Thebans, who had -joined in confederacy against you, he so humbled (myself being present -to assist him) that whereas we were, before that time, tributaries to -the former, and slaves to the latter, on the contrary, now, both these -cities are under our protection. He entered Peloponnesus, and composing -matters there, was constituted general of all the Grecian forces, in the -intended expedition against the Persians, and thereby acquired, not only -glory to himself, but also to the Macedonian name and nation. - -[Illustration: THE DYING ALEXANDER - -(From the bust in the Uffizi gallery)] - -“Those were my father’s bounties to you--great ones indeed, if considered -by themselves, but small if compared with mine. For when I succeeded -to my father’s kingdom I found some golden and silver cups indeed, but -scarce sixty talents in his treasury, though I was charged with a debt -of his, of five hundred. However, not discouraged by this, I contracted -a fresh debt of eight hundred talents. I marched out of Macedonia, which -was scarce able to sustain you, and led you safe over the Hellespont, -though the Persians then held the sovereignty of the sea. Then having -beaten Darius’ generals in battle, I thereby added Ionia, Æolis, both -Phrygias, and Lydia, to the Macedonian empire. I afterwards took Miletus -by assault, and received the voluntary homage of many other people and -nations, who submitted themselves, and consented to become tributaries. -The treasures of Egypt and Cyrene, which we obtained without blows, -helped to fill your coffers; Cœle-Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, are -in your possession. Babylon, Bactria, and Susa, are in your power. The -wealth of Lydia, the treasure of Persia, the riches of India, and the -ocean, are yours. You are constituted deputies of provinces. You are made -captains, princes, and generals of armies. - -“What, I beseech you, have I reserved to myself, for all the toils I have -undergone, except this purple robe and diadem? I have withheld nothing -from you; neither can any mortal show a treasure in my custody, besides -what is either yours or preserved for your use. I have no private desires -to gratify, that I should hoard up wealth on that account, for I observe -the same diet with yourselves, and am satisfied with the same portion of -rest. Nay, I have been contented with coarser food than many among you, -who live deliciously; and I have often watched for you, that you might -sleep in ease and safety. - -“Some may, perhaps, insinuate that all these were acquired by your own -toils and dangers, in which I, your general, bore no part; but who dares -affirm that he has run greater hazards for me, than I have for him? - -“See, which of you has received wounds, let him open his bosom and show -the scars, and I will show mine, for there is none of the forepart of -my body free; nor is there any kind of weapon which is either thrust -forwards by hand, or darted, the marks whereof are not plainly to be -traced upon this breast of mine; for I have been wounded with swords -in close fight, and with darts and arrows at a distance; besides, I -have been beat to the ground with stones from the enemies’ engines; and -notwithstanding I have suffered so much for your sakes, by stones, and -clubs, and swords, and missive weapons, yet have I led you victorious -through all lands, over all seas, rivers, hills, and plain countries. -I solemnised your nuptials with my own, that your children might claim -affinity with mine. - -“The debts of my whole army I freely discharged, without examining too -strictly how they were contracted; and notwithstanding the vast stipends -you then received, you made no small advantage of the plunder of such -cities as you took by storm. Add to this, that I bestowed crowns of -gold on many of you, as eternal monuments of your valour, and my esteem -for you; and whoever chanced to fall in battle, valiantly fighting, he, -over and above the glory which he then acquired by death, was usually -honoured with a sumptuous monument. Nay, brazen statues are erected, -as testimonies of the valour of some of them in Macedonia, and honours -decreed their parents, with a full immunity from all public taxes and -impositions; for none of you, fighting under my banner, had ever any -occasion to turn his back upon an enemy. - -“And now I had determined to release such of you as are unable any -longer to endure the fatigues of war, and send you home, so laden with -honours and rewards that your countrymen and fellow citizens should -deem you, above measure, fortunate and happy. But since ye are all one -mind, and since the same notion of returning has possessed all of you, -go all, and report at home that your king Alexander, who had subdued the -Persians, Medes, Bactrians, and Sacæ; who had tamed the Uxii, Arachoti, -and Drangæ; who had reduced the Parthians, Chorasmians, and Hyrcanians, -and penetrated as far as the Caspian Sea; who had forced his way over -Mount Caucasus, and through the Caspian Straits; who had passed the -rivers Oxus, and Tanaïs, and Indus (which last was never passed before, -unless by Bacchus); who had ferried over the rivers Hydaspes, Acesines, -and Hydraotes; and had also led you beyond the Hyphasis, if you had -not refused to follow him; who entered the ocean by both the mouths of -the river Indus, and afterwards, marching through the barren and sandy -country of the Gedrosi (where none ever carried an army safe before) -subdued the Carmanians and Oritæ; who lastly, having conveyed his fleet -from the coasts of India, to the Persian Sea, brought you safe and -victorious to Susa--tell your countrymen, I say, that after all these -great and glorious acts, done for you, you have forsaken him, departed -from him, and left him in the hands and under the care of the barbarians, -whom he had conquered. When you shall have told all these things, your -glory among men, and the notion of your piety towards the gods, will -receive a mighty betterment.” - -Having thus spoke, he leaped suddenly from his seat, and retiring into -the palace, neither put on his royal robes, nor admitted any of his -friends to see him that day, nor the next; and on the third having called -the Persian nobility round him, he distributed the command of the several -troops among them, and as many of them as he had made his relations, -he suffered to kiss him. But the Macedonians, moved with their king’s -speech, stood before the tribunal, like people astonished, and kept a -profound silence; nor did one of their number offer to accompany the -king when he retired to his palace, except his friends and bodyguards, -who surrounded him. However, many stood still before the tribunal, and -refused to depart, though they neither knew what they should do, nor say, -there. - -But when they came to understand what he had bestowed upon the Medes -and Persians--namely, the several commands of the army; and that the -barbarians were distributed into several ranks and orders; that the -Persian agema was to be called by a Macedonian name; and the troops -of auxiliary foot, and others, to be made up of Persians; that the -companions, and all the royal cohort of horse, were to consist of -Persians; and that the regiment of Persians was to be nominated the royal -regiment--they were no longer able to contain themselves, but running -straight, in a body, to the palace, they laid down their arms before the -gate, as a sign of submission and repentance: then standing without, they -begged to be admitted into the king’s presence, promising that they would -deliver up the authors of the late tumult, and those who had stirred them -to sedition; and withal protesting that they would never stir from his -gate, day nor night, unless they could move him to take compassion upon -them. - -When Alexander came to understand this, he immediately came forth to -them, and perceiving them humble and dejected, was so much moved with -their sorrow and lamentation, that he wept, and stood some time, as -though he would have spoke; but they remained in the same suppliant -posture. However, at last, Callines, belonging to the auxiliary troop of -horse, a man of much esteem, as well for his age as the command he bore, -spoke to this effect: - -“Thy Macedonians, O king, are grieved and discontented, because thou hast -made some of the Persians thy relations, honoured them with the title of -thy kindred, and sufferest them to kiss thee; when, at the same time, -they are excluded.” Then Alexander interrupting him, replied, “I now -make you all my kindred, and shall, henceforth, style you so.” With that -Callines stepped forward and kissed him, and such others, as pleased, -followed his example. Whereupon they again took up their arms, and with -shouts of joy, and songs, returned to the camp. After this, he sacrificed -to the gods, according to the custom of his country, and prepared a royal -banquet, which he graced with his presence, where the Macedonians were -placed nearest his person; next these the Persians, and then those of all -other nations, according to their dignity, or the post they held in the -army. - -Then the king, and all his guests, drank out of the same cup; the Grecian -augurs, as well as the Persian magi, pronouncing their decrees, wishing -prosperity to the king and the army, and praying for eternal concord and -unanimity between the Macedonians and Persians, for the common benefit of -both nations. Nine thousand guests are said to have been present at this -entertainment, who all drank out of the same cup, and all joined in the -same songs, for the peace and safety of the army. - -Then such of the Macedonians as were unable to follow the army, by reason -of age, or loss of limbs, were freely discharged, to the number of about -ten thousand, who were not only paid their full stipends, according to -the time they had served, but each had a talent [£200 or $1000] given him -to defray the expenses of his journey. Those among them who had married -Asiatic wives, and had children by them, were ordered to leave their -sons behind, lest they should be the cause of a sedition in Macedonia, -if both the sons and their mothers were sent together. However, he took -care to instruct them in the Macedonian manners, and to teach them their -military discipline, that so, when they arrived at manhood, he might -bring them home, and deliver them, thus accomplished, to their parents. - -These uncertain and precarious things he promised them at their -departure; but he added one sure and undoubted mark of his good will -towards them, by appointing Craterus (whom he found ever faithful to -him, and whom he loved as his life) to be their captain, to conduct them -safe into their own country; wherefore, wishing them all health and -happiness, and weeping to behold them weep, he dismissed them, ordering -Craterus, when he had finished his task of conducting them safe home, -to take upon him the government of Macedonia, Thrace, and Thessaly, and -preside over the liberties of Greece. He moreover ordered Antipater to -come to him, and bring with him other Macedonians, young and vigorous, -instead of those who were dismissed. He dispatched Polysperchon away with -Craterus, and gave him the next command under him, for fear any accident -should happen to Craterus by the way (he being somewhat indisposed at his -setting forward) and they should be destitute of a leader. - -It was said that Alexander, overcome with the calumnies wherewith his -mother had loaded Antipater, was willing to remove him from Macedonia. -But perhaps this call of Antipater was not designed for his disgrace; -but rather to prevent any mischief arising from their quarrels, which he -might not be able to compose. Many letters had been carried to the king, -wherein Antipater accused Olympias of arrogance, cruelty, and meddling -with what did not become the mother of Alexander; insomuch, that the king -is said to have complained, that he was forced to pay her very dear for -the ten months she carried him in her womb. Olympias, on the other hand, -exclaimed against Antipater, as insolent, by reason of the command he -bore, and the people’s obedience to him; that he began to be altogether -unmindful from whence he received his authority, and judged himself fit -for the sovereignty over Macedonia, and all Greece, where he ought only -to act as deputy. - -Thus was the king continually wearied out with these complaints insomuch, -that at last he began to incline to the opinion of those who were for -disgracing Antipater, as one who was more to be feared than the other, if -the report were just. However, he neither by word nor action, gave the -least intimation that his affections were any way estranged.[c] - - -THE LAST EXPEDITION - -After the departure of Craterus, Alexander set out for Ecbatana. The -state of the treasure, and the country, which had been so long in such -hands as those of Cleander and Sitalces, demanded his attention. It was -also a point where he might collect information, and concert measures, -with regard to the regions which bounded his dominions on the north -along the coasts of the Caspian Sea, concerning which his knowledge -was hitherto very imperfect. But no doubt one of his main objects was -to gratify the Medians by a residence of some months in their splendid -capital, one of the proudest cities of the ancient world, where his -Persian predecessors had been used to hold their court during a part of -the year. Alexander’s presence was everywhere felt as a blessing. In his -progress through Media he viewed the pastures celebrated--it seems, -under the name of the Nisæan plain--for the number and excellence of the -horses bred in them. The number had amounted to 150,000; but, through a -series of depredations, which mark the disordered state of the province, -it had been reduced by nearly two-thirds. Here he was met by Atropates, -the satrap of the northwest part of Media, who, it seems, entertained him -with a masquerade of a hundred women, mounted, and equipped with hatchets -and short bucklers, according to the popular notion of the Amazons. Such -is Arrian’s conjecture. The fact, whatever it may have been, gave rise -to a story, that Alexander here received an embassy from the queen of -the Amazons, and promised to pay her a visit. There were several other -objects on this road to attract his attention in a leisurely march: a -Bœotian colony planted by Xerxes, which still retained a partial use of -the Greek language, and the garden and monuments of Baghistane, which -tradition ascribed to Semiramis. - -At Ecbatana, after he had despatched the most important business which -awaited him there, he solemnised the autumnal festival of Dionysus with -extraordinary magnificence. The city was crowded with strangers, who came -to witness the spectacle; and three thousand artists are said to have -been assembled from Greece, to bear a part in it. The satrap Atropates -feasted the whole army; and the Macedonian officers seem to have vied -with each other in courtly arts. They put proclamations into the mouths -of the heralds, breathing, it is said, a strain of flattery, such as -had scarcely been heard by the Persian kings. One of these, which was -preserved as a specimen of insolent servility, but is more remarkable as -an indication of Alexander’s sentiments, was made by Gorgus, the master -of the armoury, who presented him with a crown worth three thousand gold -pieces, and undertook to furnish ten thousand complete suits of armour, -and as many missiles of every sort proper for the attack of a town, -whenever he should lay siege to Athens. - - -GRIEF FOR HEPHÆSTION - -[Sidenote: [324 B.C.]] - -Among the theatrical exhibitions there was one which, through the -singularity of the subject, has been in part preserved from the oblivion, -in which the rest, with numberless better things, have been lost. It was -a little drama of the satirical class, entitled _Agen_, the work, as -was generally believed, of one Python, possibly the Byzantian, Philip’s -secretary; but there was also a singular report, that it was written by -Alexander himself. If he did not even suggest the subject, or any of the -scenes, the passages which have been preserved were certainly designed -to gratify his feelings. They allude to the flight of Harpalus, who is -mentioned both by his own name, and by a nickname significant of his most -notorious vice; to the monument which he had erected at Babylon in honour -of Pythionice, and to the largess of corn by which he had obtained the -Athenian franchise. The wretched state of Athens, as if it needed such -benefactions, is described in a tone of bitter sarcasm, which passes into -that of earnest hostility, when one of the speakers observes, that the -corn was Glycera’s, but might perhaps prove a fatal pledge of friendship -to those who had received it. There can be no doubt that in these words -the poet meant to speak Alexander’s mind. - -But the festival was interrupted by an event, which Alexander felt as the -greatest calamity of his life. Hephæstion had been attacked some days -before by a fever, which at first did not show any alarming symptoms. -Trusting to his youth and strong constitution, he had, it appears, -neglected the directions of his physician, and by his imprudence so -inflamed the disease, that it carried him suddenly off. It was a day -which was to have been devoted to the gymnastic exercises of the boys. -Alexander was witnessing a footrace, when a message was brought to him -that Hephæstion was worse. He instantly hurried to his friend’s bedside, -but before he arrived Hephæstion had expired. - -Alexander’s grief, though not embittered by self-reproach, was passionate -and violent, as that which he showed at the death of Clitus. There is -no evidence that Hephæstion possessed any qualities that deserved the -preference with which Alexander distinguished him: and indeed there are -intimations that, even in Alexander’s judgment, his chief merit was -the devotion and obsequiousness with which he requited his master’s -partiality. Perhaps if the attachment had been more considerately formed, -the loss would have been less keenly felt. After the first transports of -anguish had subsided, Alexander sought consolation in the extravagant -honours which he paid to his departed favourite, and in the vain -semblance of grief, which he forced all persons and things around him to -put on. - -We may refuse, with Arrian, to believe that he was so barbarous and -frantic, as to put the innocent physician to death, and to pull down -the temple of Æsculapius, if there was one, at Ecbatana. But there is -no reason why we should question Plutarch’s statement, that he ordered -the horses and mules to be shorn, and the town walls to be dismantled of -their battlements.[35] These were probably among the customary signs of -a general mourning on the death of the Persian kings: and it is certain -that he directed one to be observed throughout his Asiatic dominions. -He also commanded that, as was usual on the same occasions, the sacred -fire should be quenched in all the Persian sanctuaries until the funeral -was over. For this, preparations were made on a scale of more than royal -magnificence. He ordered Perdiccas to convey the corpse to Babylon, where -a pile was to be built at the expense of ten thousand talents [£2,000,000 -or $10,000,000], and funeral games were to be celebrated with a splendour -never before witnessed: for which purpose all the artists assembled -at Ecbatana were to repair to the capital. The courtiers, especially -those who might be suspected to entertain very different feelings, -endeavoured to prove their sympathy with the king by extraordinary tokens -of veneration for the departed favourite. Eumenes, who had lately had a -violent quarrel with him, which was only composed by the royal authority, -dexterously set the example, and dedicated himself and his arms to the -deceased; perhaps anticipating Alexander’s wish, that Hephæstion should -receive sacred honours. He was anxious that this should be done under -the sanction of religious authority, and therefore sent to consult the -oracle of Ammon on the question, whether Hephæstion should be worshipped -as a hero or a god. In the meanwhile, it is said, he ordered the sound of -music to cease in the camp. The division of the cavalry which had been -commanded by Hephæstion, was to retain his name, and the officer to whom -it was committed was to be regarded only as his lieutenant. - -These fantastic cares, however, served but to cherish his melancholy, -and his officers endeavoured to divert him by some fitter occupation, -which might draw him from Ecbatana, where he was constantly reminded of -his bereavement. He at length began to rouse himself, and complied with -their wishes. An object opportunely presented itself, which called him -again into action, and in the manner most suited to the present temper of -his soul. The Kossæans, who inhabited the highlands on the confines of -Media and Persia, were still unsubdued; and, relying on their mountain -strongholds, continued from time to time to make predatory inroads on -their neighbours. Though it was now the depth of winter, Alexander set -out to punish and quell them. He divided his forces into two columns, and -gave the command of one to Ptolemy. The obstacles opposed by the country -and the season were such as he was used to overcome: the barbarians could -do little to bar his progress. They were hunted like wild beasts into -their lairs, and every man taken capable of bearing arms was put to the -sword. It was a sacrifice to the shade of Hephæstion, in which Alexander -might see another resemblance to Achilles. He then crossed the mountains, -and, coming down upon the Tigris, took the direct road to Babylon. - - -TO BABYLON - -[Sidenote: [324-323 B.C.]] - -At the distance of some days’ march from the city, he was met by presages -of impending calamity. A deputation of the Chaldean priests came to the -camp, and requested a private audience, in which they informed him that -their god Belus had revealed to them that some danger threatened him, if -he should at that time enter Babylon. Alexander is said to have replied -with a verse of Euripides, expressing disbelief in divination. But it -is certain that the warning sank deep into his mind. The state of his -feelings was apt for gloomy forebodings: and there was a strange harmony -between the words of the Chaldeans, and an intimation which he had lately -received from a Greek soothsayer, named Peithagoras. - -[Illustration: GREEK URN] - -Still the priests found that they could not induce the king to give -up his intention of visiting the capital of his empire, where many -important affairs were to be transacted, and embassies from remote -parts of the world were awaiting his arrival. They then urged him at -least not to enter the city by the eastern gate, so as to have his face -turned towards the dark west. This mysterious advice struck Alexander’s -fancy; he altered the course of his march, and proceeded some distance -along the bank of the Euphrates. But he then found that the lakes and -morasses formed by the inundations of the river to the west of Babylon -would prove an insurmountable obstacle. He was still reluctant to neglect -the warning of the Chaldeans, but yet not now indisposed to listen to -Anaxarchus, and the other philosophical Greeks about him, who treated the -occult science, and especially its Babylonian professors, with contempt. -There was however another motive for distrust, a suspicion that his -priestly counsellors were less concerned about his safety than their own. -Alexander, before he left Babylon, had ordered the great temple, which -Xerxes had demolished, to be rebuilt under the superintendence of the -priests. The revenues which had been assigned by the Assyrian kings, for -the maintenance of the temple-worship, were also managed by the priests, -and, while the temple lay in ruins, had been applied by them to their own -use. They knew that Alexander’s presence would soon put an end to such -abuses. - -Thus then he at length entered Babylon, not without a secret misgiving, -by the ominous quarter.[36] The Great City had probably never before -witnessed so stirring a scene as was exhibited by the crowds now -assembled for various purposes within its walls. Nearchus had brought in -the fleet from Opis: the vessels transported over land from Phœnicia had -come down from Thapsacus: the harbour was in progress, and other ships -were on the stocks in the arsenals of Babylon itself. Another crowd of -workmen and artists were busied with Hephæstion’s funeral pile, and with -the preparations for his obsequies. And never before had Alexander’s -imperial greatness been so conspicuously displayed as in the embassies -from foreign states, which were now in attendance at his court.[37] It -seems indeed that there was a disposition among some of his historians -to exaggerate the number and variety of those embassies. We must perhaps -pass over as doubtful those which are said to have come--surprising the -Macedonians and the Greeks by the novelty and strangeness of their names -and garb--from the European Scythians, from Celtic and Iberian tribes, -from Ethiopia, from Carthage, from Libya, and from at least three of the -Italian nations, the Bruttians, Lucanians, and Tyrrhenians. - -The object of the Italian embassies is not mentioned: those of the -Bruttians and Lucanians may be easily accounted for, since, only six or -seven years before, the conqueror’s kinsman and namesake, Alexander of -Epirus, had perished in war with them. We are prepared to accept the -testimony that they were met at Babylon by envoys from Rome, and though -the scene may appear to us so memorable as to have afforded temptation -for fiction, the fact was recorded before the greatness of the Roman name -could have suggested the thought. Strabo mentions an occasion which might -have led to this embassy. Alexander--we know not precisely when--had sent -remonstrances to the Romans on account of injuries which his subjects had -suffered from the pirates of Antium, which was subject to Rome. Alexander -would probably have been satisfied with such a supremacy in Italy as -he had acquired in Greece: that no general confederacy would have been -formed against him by the Italian states: and Rome, single-handed, could -not long have withstood such an army as he could have brought against -her, backed by the forces and treasure of Greece, Asia, and Africa. - -Among the embassies were several from Greek cities. He gave precedence -according to the dignity of their temples. So Elis took the lead, and was -followed by Delphi and Corinth: but the shrine of Ammon was recognised as -second to Olympia. The Epidaurians received an offering for their god, -though Alexander added the remark, that Æsculapius might have treated him -better, than to suffer him to lose his dearest friend. - -The honours designed for Hephæstion continued to share his earnest -attention with graver business. The funeral pile was at length completed, -and was a marvel of splendour, such as the gorgeous East had never -beheld. A part of the wall of Babylon, to the length of about a mile, -was thrown down to furnish materials for the basement, and the shell -of the building. It was a square tower, and each side, at least at the -foot, measured a stade in breadth: the height was about two hundred feet, -divided into thirty stories, roofed with the trunks of palm trees. The -whole of the outside was covered with groups of colossal figures, and -other ornaments, all of gold, ivory, and other precious materials, and it -was surmounted by statues of sirens, so contrived as to emit a plaintive -melody. All who courted the king’s favour contributed their offerings to -the work, or to the obsequies. As to the magnificence of the concluding -ceremony, of the funeral games and banquet, nothing more need be said -than that it corresponded to the richness of this astonishing work of -art, which was raised at an expense about ten times exceeding that of the -Parthenon, merely to be devoured by the flames. - -Alexander was not of a character to continue long brooding over -melancholy thoughts.[38] He appears now to have resumed his great plans -with his wonted energy. It was about this time, that he sent out three -expeditions to explore the coast of Arabia. He was impressed with -the belief, that the Caspian Sea was connected by some outlet at its -northern extremity with the ocean which girded the earth, and perhaps -hoped that a passage might be found through this channel to the coast of -India. With this view he sent Heraclides, with a party of shipwrights, -to the shores of the Caspian, to build a fleet, which might survey its -coasts, and ascertain its limits. In the meanwhile, he undertook an -excursion from Babylon on the Euphrates, to inspect the canal called the -Pallacopas, which branched from it to the southwest. He then sailed down -the Pallacopas into the lakes which received its waters, and examined the -channels by which they were connected with each other. On a part of the -shore his eye was struck by a point, which seemed to him well adapted -for the site of a city, and he ordered one to be built there, which he -afterwards peopled with a colony of Greek mercenaries. The circuit was -large, and the passages so intricate, that he was once separated for some -time from the main body of the squadron. On his return through this maze -of waters, an accident occurred, trifling in itself, but sufficiently -ominous, it seems, to revive the uneasy feelings with which he had -entered Babylon, and which had subsided when he saw himself once more -out of it, and the prediction of the Chaldeans apparently belied. As the -royal galley, which Alexander steered himself, passed over the lake, a -sudden gust of wind carried away his causia into the water, and lodged -the light diadem which circled it on one of the reeds that grew out of a -tomb. One of the sailors immediately swam off to recover it, and, to keep -it dry, placed it on his own head. Alexander rewarded him with a talent, -but at the same time ordered him to be flogged, for the thoughtlessness -with which he had assumed the ensign of royalty. The diviners, it is -said, took the matter more seriously, and advised the king to avert the -omen by the infliction of death on the offender. - -On his return he found all the preparations for his intended expedition -nearly complete. Fresh troops had arrived from the western provinces, and -Peucestas had brought an army of twenty thousand Persians, and a body -of mountaineers from the Kossæan and Tapurian highlands. The Persians -Alexander incorporated with his Macedonian infantry; so as in every file -of sixteen to combine twelve Persians, armed with bows or javelins, with -four heavy-armed Macedonians. And now the envoys whom he had sent to -the oracle of Ammon returned with the answer, that Hephæstion was to be -worshipped as a hero. This was probably as much as Alexander had desired. -He immediately proceeded to give effect to the injunction, and sent -orders to his satrap Cleomenes, to erect two temples to the new hero, one -in Alexandria, the other on the isle of Pharos. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF GREEK WALL AT ALATRIUM] - -Fresh envoys had also arrived from Greece--from what states we are not -informed--to render him the divine honours which he had demanded. They -came crowned, according to the custom of persons sent on a sacred mission -to a temple, offered golden crowns to him, and saluted him with the title -of a god. But, Arrian observes with emphatic simplicity, he was now not -far from his end. It seemed to be announced by another sinister omen. The -king had been busied with the enrolment of the newly-arrived troops, in -council with his officers, who were seated on each side of the throne. -Feeling thirst, he withdrew to refresh himself; the council rose for a -time, and none were left in the hall but the attendant eunuchs. Before he -returned, a man entered the apartment, mounted the steps of the throne, -and seated himself on it. The slaves had probably been kept motionless -by amazement, when they should have prevented him: but when the deed was -done, the etiquette of the Persian court forbade them to lay their hands -on one who occupied the seat of royalty, and they rent their clothes and -beat their breasts in helpless consternation. The man was examined, and -put to the torture, by Alexander’s orders, who suspected a treasonable -design. According to some accounts, he was a Messenian, named Dionysius, -who had been a long time in prison, and had just made his escape. We -may infer, that he was out of his senses. He could give no explanation -of his act, but that it had come into his mind. Hence it seemed the -more manifest to the soothsayers, that it must be viewed as a sign of -impending evil. Alexander himself probably so considered it, and it was -the more alarming, as it followed so many others. That he was haunted -by his gloomy forebodings, and superstitious fancies, to the degree -which Plutarch describes, is hardly credible, unless he was already -unconsciously affected by the disorder which proved fatal to him: as -on the other hand it seems probable that its secret germs may have been -cherished by the dejected state of his spirits. - -From the presence of the disease, before its symptoms had become -manifest, we may perhaps best explain the behaviour which Plutarch -attributes to him in the interview which he had with Antipater’s son, -Cassander, shortly before his death; a scene which appears to have been -attended with very important consequences. Alexander confronted Cassander -with Antipater’s accusers: and when Cassander treated their charges -as groundless calumnies, sternly interrupted him, and asked whether -men who had suffered no wrong would have travelled so far to prefer a -calumnious charge. Cassander pleaded, that the greater the distance from -the scene of the alleged injury, the safer was the calumny. But the -king indignantly replied that Cassander showed how well he had studied -Aristotle’s sophistry, by which every argument might be turned two -opposite ways, but that it should avail nothing, if the complaints proved -to be in any degree well-founded. So far indeed we only see a proof that -Alexander retained the full vigour of his mind and character. Plutarch -however adds, what is more difficult to believe, that because Cassander, -at his first audience, could not keep his countenance at the sight of the -Persian ceremonial, which was entirely new to him, Alexander seized him -by the hair, and dashed his head against the wall. This may be a gross -exaggeration; but that Cassander’s reception was so harsh and violent -as to leave an indelible impression of fear and hatred on his soul, is -confirmed, as strongly as such a fact can be, by his subsequent conduct. - - -LAST ILLNESS - -The preparations for the projected campaign were now so far advanced, -that Alexander celebrated a solemn sacrifice for its success. He at the -same time entertained his principal officers at a banquet, and continued -drinking with them to a late hour of the evening. As he was retiring to -rest, he was invited by Medius--who it seems had of late been admitted -to an intimacy with him something like Hephæstion’s--to a revel, which -was to be followed by a fresh drinking-bout. He complied, and the greater -part of the night seems to have been thus spent. The next evening he -again banqueted at the house of Medius, and again the carousal was -prolonged. - -It was at the close of this banquet, after he had refreshed himself with -a bath, that he felt the symptoms of fever so strongly as to be induced -to sleep there. The grasp of death was on him, though his robust frame -yielded only after a hard struggle to the gradual prevalence of the -malady. - -We have a minute and seemingly complete account of his last illness, in -an official diary which Arrian transcribed. Nevertheless various reports, -which it does not sanction, were current in ancient times, and one of -them, which ascribed his death to gross intemperance, has always been -very generally believed. Another, which has been as generally rejected, -attributed it to a dose of poison,[39] contrived by Aristotle, conveyed -by Cassander, and administered by Iollas, another of Antipater’s sons, -who filled the office of cup-bearer to the king. As this report was -undoubtedly invented by Cassander’s enemies, so the other may have been -first circulated by him and his partisans. It represents Alexander as -having drained an enormous cup, a bowl of Hercules, as it was called, -and as having instantly sunk as from a sudden blow. This incident -certainly would not have appeared on the face of the journal; but neither -does it seem quite consistent with Alexander’s habits, who, according to -Aristobulus, drank chiefly for the sake of prolonging conversation, nor -with other details which have been preserved concerning the banquet. If -he had been in his usual state of health, the debauch described in the -journal would probably have produced no effect on him. It may however -both have hastened the outbreak of the fever, and have rendered it fatal. -Aristobulus related another fact, which the journal passed over in -silence; that in a paroxysm of the fever, the patient quenched his thirst -with a large draught of wine.[b] - - -THE DEATH-BED OF ALEXANDER - -On the morning of the first of June Alexander awoke very ill. The varied -emotions of the last few days, with the rapid succession of banquets, -had made him only too susceptible to illness, and the fever took strong -hold on him. He had to be carried in his bed to the altar for the morning -sacrifice which he was wont to offer daily. He then lay on a couch in the -great hall, receiving his generals and giving them the necessary orders -for the start: the army was to set out on the fourth of June; the fleet, -with which he was going in person, on the following day. He was then -carried on his couch to the Euphrates, got into a ship and crossed to the -gardens on the farther side, where he took a bath and passed the night -shivering with chill. After the bath and sacrifice the next morning, he -went into his private apartment and lay on a couch there all day. Medius -was there and tried to cheer him by conversation. The king commanded the -leaders to appear before him next morning, and having taken a little -supper he went to bed. - -The fever increased, his condition grew worse, and he passed the whole -night without sleep. After the bath and sacrifice next morning Nearchus -and the other leaders of the fleet were admitted; the king informed -them that their departure must be postponed for a day on account of his -illness, but that he hoped to be sufficiently recovered by that time to -embark on the sixth. He remained in the bathroom; Nearchus was commanded -to sit by his bed and tell him of his voyage. Alexander listened with -great pleasure, rejoicing that he too should presently experience -similar perils. Meanwhile his condition changed for the worse, the fever -was higher every night. Nevertheless on the morning of the fourth of -June he called the officers of the fleet together after the bath and -morning sacrifice, and commanded them to have everything in readiness -for his reception and for the sailing of the fleet on the sixth. After -the evening bath the fever set in more violently than ever, the king’s -strength diminished visibly, and a night of sleepless torment ensued. - -Next morning he was carried in a high fever to the great reservoir and -offered sacrifice with difficulty; he then gave audience to the officers, -issued some orders concerning the sailing of the fleet, discussed the -appointments to certain posts with his generals, and left the selections -of the officers to be promoted, to them, with the admonition to make a -strict examination. The sixth came, the king was prostrated by sickness, -nevertheless he had himself carried to the altar, offered sacrifices and -prayers, and gave orders for the departure of the fleet to be postponed. -A melancholy night followed, and the next morning the king was hardly -able to offer sacrifice. He commanded the generals to assemble in the -anteroom of the palace and the captains and officers to keep together -in the courtyard. He had himself carried back from the gardens to the -palace. He grew weaker every moment; when the leaders were admitted -he recognised them but was not able to speak. The fever continued -through the night, and through the following day and night the king lay -speechless. - -The impression produced by the king’s illness in both the army and the -city was beyond description; the Macedonians thronged round the palace, -they begged to see their king, they feared that he was dead already and -that his death was kept secret; they did not cease their lamentations, -threats, and entreaties until the doors were opened to them. Then they -filed past their king’s bed, and Alexander raised his head slightly, gave -his hand to each and looked his silent farewell to his veterans. On the -following day (it was the tenth of June) Pithon, Peucestas, Seleucus, -and others went to the temple of Serapis and inquired of the god whether -the king would be better if he were carried into his temple and prayed -to him. The answer was “Bring him not, if he remains where he is he -will soon be better.” And on the day after, towards the evening of the -eleventh of June, Alexander died.[d] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[35] Droysen[d] rejects these reports with the utmost contempt; perhaps -forgetting what Herodotus (IX, 24) relates of the mourning for Masistius, -in which the Persians shaved themselves, and the horses, and the beasts of -burden: a precedent, which at least proves that there is nothing absurd or -incredible in Plutarch’s account; if it does not render it certain that -the same marks of grief were a necessary part of the general mourning -ordered by Alexander. - -[36] That Alexander’s return to Babylon took place early in 323, may now -be considered as sufficiently certain. - -[37] [Niebuhr[f] compares this period with Napoleon’s stay in Dresden -before he made his fatal march to Moscow. He was similarly surrounded by -embassies in crowds.] - -[38] [Here again, Droysen’s[d] picture of Alexander’s dejection: “With -Hephæstion his youth had sunk into the grave: and, though scarcely beyond -the threshold of manhood, he began fast to grow old,” seems violently -overcharged.] - -[39] [Niebuhr[f] thinks that Alexander could hardly have been poisoned as -the poisons of that day always acted within twenty-four hours. This is, -however, by no means certain. Aratus, the hero of the Achæan League, died -of slow poisoning, according to the high authority of Polybius.] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LVII. VARIOUS ESTIMATES OF ALEXANDER - - -Now that we have compassed the so great deeds of a life so short, it -is inevitable that the sum total of the man’s varied activity should -be reckoned up into a brief statement of the value of his career to -civilisation. The sums arrived at in Alexander’s case have been as -various as the minds that have made them up. A brief collection of them -is full of contrast and illumination.[a] - - -HIS VICES AND VIRTUES (ARRIAN) - -His body was beautiful, and well proportion’d; his Mind brisk and Active; -his Courage wonderful. He was strong enough to undergo Hardships, and -willing to meet Dangers; ever ambitious of Glory, and a strict observer -of Religious Duties. As to those Pleasures which regarded the Body, he -shewed himself indifferent; as to the Desires of the Mind, insatiable. -In his Counsels he was sharp-sighted, and cunning; and pierc’d deep into -doubtful Matters, by the Force of his natural Sagacity. In marshalling, -arming, and governing an Army, he was thoroughly skill’d; and famous for -exciting his Soldiers with Courage, and animating them with Hopes of -Success, as also in dispelling their private Fears, by his own Example of -Magnanimity. He always enter’d upon desperate Attempts with the utmost -Resolution and Vigour, and was ever diligent in taking any Advantage of -his Enemies’ Delay, and falling upon him unawares. He was a most strict -observer of his Treaties; notwithstanding which he was never taken at a -Disadvantage, by any Craft or Perfidy of his Enemies. He was sparing in -his Expenses, for his own Private Pleasures, but in the distribution of -his Bounty to his Friends, Liberal and Magnificent. - -If anything can be laid to Alexander’s Charge, as committed in the -heat and violence of Wrath, or if he may be said to have imitated the -Barbarian Pride a little too much, and bore himself too haughtily, I -cannot think them such vast Crimes; and especially when one calmly -considers his green Years, and uninterrupted Series of Success, it will -appear no great Wonder if Court Sycophants, who always flatter Princes -to their Detriment, sometimes led him away. But this must be said, in his -behalf, that all Antiquity has not produced an Example of such sincere -Repentance, in a King, as he has shewed us. I cannot condemn Alexander -for endeavouring to draw his Subjects into the Belief of his Divine -Original, because ’tis reasonable to imagine he intended no more by it, -than to procure the greater Authority among his Soldiers. Neither was -he less famous than Minos, or Æacus, or Rhadamanthus, who, all of them -challeng’d Kindred with Jove; and none of the ancients condemn’d them for -it; nor were his glorious Actions any way inferior to those of Theseus, -or Ion, tho’ the former claim’d Neptune, and the latter Apollo, for -his Father. His assuming and wearing the Persian Habit, seems to have -been done with a political View, that he might appear not altogether to -despise the Barbarians, and that he might also have some Curb to the -Arrogance and Insolence of his Macedonians. And for this Cause, I am of -Opinion, he plac’d the Persian Melophori among his Macedonian Troops, -and Squadrons of Horse, and allow’d them the same share of Honour. Long -Banquets, and deep Drinking, Aristobulus assures us, were none of his -Delights; neither did he prepare Entertainments for the sake of the Wine -(which he did not greatly love, and seldom drank much of) but to Rub up a -mutual Amity among his Friends. - -Whoever therefore attempts to condemn, or calumniate Alexander, does -not so much ground his Accusation upon those Acts of his, which really -deserve Reproof, but gathers all his Actions as into one huge Mass, and -forms his Judgment thereupon: But let any Man consider seriously who he -was, what Success he always had, and to what a pitch of Glory he arrived; -who, without Controversy, reigned King of both Continents, and whose Name -has spread through all Parts of the habitable World; and he will easily -conclude, that in comparison of his great and laudable Acts, his Vices -and Failings are few and trifling, and which, in so prodigious a Run of -Prosperity, if they could be avoided, (considering his Repentance and -Abhorrence of them afterwards) may easily be overlooked, and are not of -Weight sufficient to cast a Shade upon his Reign. - -I am persuaded there was no Nation, City, nor People then in being -whither his Name did not reach, for which Reason, whatever Origin he -might boast of or claim to himself, there seems to me to have been some -Divine Hand presiding both over his Birth and Actions, insomuch, that no -mortal upon Earth either excel’d or equal’d him.[b] - - -HIS FAVOUR WITH FORTUNE (ÆLIANUS) - -Commendable and renowned be the actes of Alexander which he dyd at -Granicus and Issus. His foughten field at Arbeles, the taking of Darius, -the subduing of the Persians to the Macedonians, the conquering of al -Asia, the bringyng of the Indians under his owne dominion, etc. Lawdible -be his feats of armes donne at Tyrus, and Oxydacris: But what meane we -to comprehend in a skantlyng of lynes the puisaunce of so incomparable -a Prince? let it be as some envyous varlets and backbiting tonges -woulde have it, that the prosperous successe of his adventures is to be -attributed to Fortune, what of that? yet is he notable and praiseworthy -notwithstanding, insomuch as his fortune never fainted nor fayled, and -in that hee was lulled in the lappe of so loving a Lady that she never -withdrew her favour from him.[c] - - -IF ALEXANDER HAD ATTEMPTED ROME (LIVY) - - [When the historian of Rome, old Livy, was writing of the - comparatively obscure general, Papirius Cursor, the fact that - he was contemporary with Alexander and would have had to meet - him had he come against Italy, led Livy to breathe so Roman a - defiance to the world-conqueror that we must needs quote it here, - preferably in the old-fashioned garb of the anonymous translation - of 1686.] - -Without doubt in that Age, which yielded as great plenty of gallant -Captains as any, there was not a Person on whom the State of Rome did -more rely and depend, insomuch, as some Writers have concluded, that he -[Papirius Cursor] would have been an equal match to the Great Alexander, -if after the Conquest of Asia, he had bent his Arms against Europe. - -Now although from the beginning of this Work it may sufficiently appear, -that I have sought nothing less than Digressions from the just order -and series of the Story; nor have at all endeavored, by extravagant -Varieties, to garnish it, or with pleasant Sallies to divert the Reader -and refresh myself; yet happening upon the mention of so great a King, -and so renowned a Captain, I could not but be moved to disclose and set -down those thoughts which have oft occur’d to my mind, and inquire a -little, What event would probably have succeeded to the Roman Affairs, -had they happened to have been engaged with this Illustrious Conqueror. -As the Roman State bore up against other Kings and Nations, so it -might have prov’d to him also Invincible. To begin with ballancing the -Commanders one against another, I do not deny but Alexander was an -excellent Leader, but that which enhanc’d his Fame, was, That he was a -sole and Soveraign Commander; a young Man, his Sails always full blown -with prosperous Gales, and one who dyed before ever he had labored under -any of the frowns of Fortune. For to omit other glorious Princes and -renowned Captains, illustrious Examples of the uncertainty of Humane -Grandeur: What was it that exposed Cyrus (whom the Greeks so highly -magnifie) or our great Pompey of late, to the turning Wheel of Fortune, -but only this, That they lived long? On the other side, Let us take a -review of the Roman Commanders, I mean not through all Ages, but such as -being Consuls or Dictators about those times, Alexander must have engaged -with, if he had spread his Ensigns this way; there were M. Valerius -Corvinus, C. Marcius Rutilus, C. Sulpicius, T. Manlius Torquatus, Q. -Publilius Philo, L. Papirius Cursor, Q. Fabius Maximus, the two Decii, L. -Volumnius, Manlius Curius, besides abundance of prodigious Warriors that -succeeded afterwards; if he had first set upon the Carthaginians, (as he -was resolv’d to have done, if he had not been prevented by Death) and so -had arriv’d in Italy when well stricken in years. Each one of these was -master of as good Parts and natural Abilities, as Alexander, and had the -advantage of being train’d up in an incomparable Military Discipline, -which having been delivered from hand to hand ever since the foundation -of their City, was now by continual Precepts arriv’d to the perfection of -an Art. And whereas, Alexander often hazarded his Person, and underwent -all Military toils and dangers (which was one thing that not a little -added to his Glory:) can it be thought, that if Manlius Torquatus, or -Valerius Corvinus, had chanc’d to meet him at the head of his Troops, -either of them would not have prov’d a Match for him, who were both of -them famous for stout Soldiers before ever they had Commands? Would the -Decii, that rush’d with devoted Bodies into the midst of the Enemy, have -been afraid of him? Would Papirius Cursor, that mighty Man both for -strength of Body and gallantry of Mind, have declined to cope with him? -Was it likely that a single young Gentleman should out-wit or manage his -Affairs with greater prudence than that Senate which he only, whoever he -was, had a right Idea of, that said, “It consisted altogether of Kings”? - -Here, forsooth, was the danger, lest he should more advantagiously -choose his Ground to Encamp on, provide Victuals more carefully, prevent -Surprizes and Stratagems more warily, know better when to venture a -Battel, range his Army more Soldier-like, or strengthen it with Reserves -and Recruits, better than any of those whom I have named knew how to do: -Alas! in all these matters, he would have confess’d he had not to deal -with a Darius, over whom, being attended with a vast Train of Women and -Eunuchs, softened with wearing gold and Purple, and clogg’d with the -superfluous Furniture of his luxurious Fortune, he did indeed obtain an -unbloody Victory, meeting rather with a Booty than an Enemy, and had only -this to boast of, That he durst handsomely contemn such an abundance of -Vanity. - -He would have had another kind of prospect in Italy than in India, -through which he march’d at his ease with a drunken Army, Feasting and -Revelling all the way: But here he must have met with the thick woody -Forrest, and almost unpassable Streights of Apulia; the lofty Mountains -of Lucania, and fresh Tokens of a late Defeat that happen’d to his own -Name and Family, where his Uncle Alexander, King of the Epirotes, was -hewn to pieces. - -We speak hitherto of Alexander, not yet debauch’d with excess of good -Fortune, wherein never any Man had less command of himself than he: But -if we consider him in his new Habit, and that new Nature, (if I may -call it so) which he took up after he had a while been flush’d with -Victories, we may avow he would have come into Italy, more like a Darius -than an Alexander, and brought with him a bastard Army, altogether -degenerated from the Macedonian courage and manners, into the debauches -and effeminacies of the Persians. I am asham’d, in so great a Monarch -as he was, to relate his proud humors of changing so oft his Garb; his -excessive vain-glory, in expecting that Men should adore him by casting -themselves prostrate at his feet, when-ever they approached him; his -barbarous Cruelties and Butcheries of his nearest Friends amongst his -Cups and Banquets, and that ridiculous Vanity of forging a Divine -Pedigree, and boasting himself the Son of Jupiter. Nay more, since his -Drunkenness and Greediness of wine, his savage Passions and cholerick -Phrensies did every day increase (I report nothing but what all Authors -agree in), shall we not think that his Abilities, as a General, must -quickly have decayed and been wonderfully impaired? - -But here perhaps was the danger (which some little trifling Greeks who -would cry up the glory even of the Parthians, to depress the Roman -name, are often wont to alledge) That the People of Rome would never -have been able to endure the very Majesty and dread of Alexanders Name -(whom indeed I am apt to think they then scarce ever heard of:) Let us -conceit as magnificently as may be of this Prince, yet still it will be -but the Grandeur of one Man, acquir’d in little more than twelve Years -continued Felicity; and whereas some extol it highly on his Account, That -the Romans, though never worsted in any War, have yet been defeated in -divers Battels, whereas Fortune was never wanting to Alexander in any one -encounter, they do not consider that they are comparing the Exploits of -one particular Man, and he too but a Youth, with the atchievements of a -People that have now been involv’d in Wars eight hundred years. - -[Illustration: GRECIAN COSTUME - -(After Hope)] - -You ought rather to compare Man with Man, Captain with Captain, than -the Fortune of one with the other. How many Roman Generals may I name, -that never suffer’d a Repulse in their days? We can run over whole Pages -in the Annals of our Magistrates, full of Consuls and Dictators, whose -Success as well as Virtue, was such, as they never gave the Common-wealth -so much as one days grief or discontentment. And that which makes them -yet to be more admired than Alexander, or any other King in the World; -some of them held their Office of Dictator not above ten or twenty -days, and none the Consulship beyond a year: Their Levies were often -obstructed by the Tribunes of the Commons, so that they set forth too -late; and sometimes for holding the Court for Elections, they were -sent for home too soon: In the hurry of Affairs the Year was apt to be -wheel’d about, and then they must leave all to new Instruments; now -the rashness, another time the dishonesty of a Colleague, was either -a great hindrance to their Success, or perhaps occasion’d a mischief. -Many times they succeeded after the defeat of their Predecessors, or -receiv’d a raw and undisciplin’d Army: From all which inconveniences -Kings are not only free, but absolute Masters both of their Enterprizes, -and the times and means they will take to accomplish them, leading all -things by their Councils, and not following them. Had therefore this -unconquered Alexander been engaged against these unconquered Captains, -he would have hazarded all those past pleasures of Fortunes favor; nay, -in this the danger would have been greater, that the Macedonians had -but one Alexander, and he not only obnoxious to many Casualties, but -voluntarily exposing himself to frequent Dangers. But the Romans had many -that were Alexanders equals, both for Glory and the grandeur of their -Atchievements, each of whom, might according to his peculiar Fate, either -live or dye, without at all endangering the Publick. - -It remains now to ballance the Forces on each side, and that neither in -respect of numbers, quality of the Soldiers, or the multitude of their -Allies and Auxiliaries. There were numbered of Romans in the Surveys -taken by the Censors of that Age, two hundred and fifty thousand Polls; -and therefore in all the revolts of the Latines, they were able to levy -Ten Legions, and that too almost wholly in the City; and frequently -in those times, four or five distinct Armies were kept on foot at -once, which maintained Wars in Etruria, in Umbria, with the Gauls -(Confederates with the Enemy) in Samnium and in Lucania: On the other -side, he must have cross’d the Sea, having of old Macedonian Bands not -above Thirty thousand Foot, and four thousand Horse, and those most of -them Thessalians; for this was the total of his Force when he appeared -most formidable. If he should have added to these, Persians, Indians, or -others out of his new Conquests, they would but more encumber rather -than assist him. Then the Romans had Supplies at hand to reinforce them -presently from home upon any accident; whereas Alexander (as it happened -afterwards to Annibal), Warring in a remote foreign Country, his Army -would have mouldered away apace, and could not readily have Recruits. -The Macedonians had for their Arms, a Shield and a Spear like a Pike; -the Romans, a large Target that skreen’d almost the whole Body, and a -Javelin, a Weapon not a little more serviceable than the Spear, both to -strike and push with, near hand, and also to be lanced at a distance. The -Soldiers of each side were wont to stand firm, and keep their Ranks; the -Macedonian Phalanx was immovable and uniform; but the Roman Battalions -more distinct, and consisting of several Divisions, more ready to -separate and close again upon any occasion. - - -_A Patriotic Estimate of Rome’s Greatness_ - -To speak now of labour and travel, What Soldier is comparable to the -Roman? Who better able to hold out and endure all the fatigues of War? -Alexander, worsted in one Battel, had been utterly undone: But what Power -could have broken the Roman courage, whom neither the shameful disgrace -at Caudium nor the fatal defeat at Cannæ, could in the least daunt or -dispirit? Undoubtedly Alexander, although his first attempt should have -prov’d prosperous, would often here have missed his Persians and his -Indians; he would have wish’d to have been dealing again with the soft -and cowardly Nations of Asia and confest, That before he only fought with -Women, as King Alexander of Epirus is reported to have said, when he had -here received his Death wound, reflecting upon those easie Occurents of -War, which this young Prince (his Nephew) met with in Asia, in respect to -those difficulties he himself had to struggle with in Italy. - -And truly, when I consider that the Engagements at Sea between the Romans -and Carthaginians in the first Punick War, took up no less than four -and twenty years’ space, I am inclinable to conjecture, that the whole -age of Alexander would not have been enough to have finish’d a War with -either a one of those States. And since by antient Leagues they were -then at Amity and in Alliance with each other, ’tis probable an equal -apprehension of danger might have united them against the common Enemy: -And what less could he then expect but to have been utterly overwhelm’d -and crush’d by the joint Arms of two the most potent Republicks in the -World? The Romans, though not indeed in the days of Alexander, or when -the Macedonian Power was at heighth, have yet since try’d the courage of -the Macedonians, under the conduct of Antiochus, Philip, and Perses, and -came off not only without loss, but even without any danger or hazard. - -It may seem a proud word, but without arrogance it is spoken, Let there -be no Civil Wars amongst us; never can we be distressed by any Enemy, -Horse or Foot; never in set Battel, never in plain equal ground, or -places disadvantagious, outdone in Courage or Resolution. The Soldier I -confess in heavy Armour, may be apprehensive of the Enemies Cavalry in -a Champion Country, or be incommoded with Arrows shot from a distance, -or embarrass’d in unpassable Woods, or Quarters, where provisions cannot -be brought to them; but still let there be a thousand Armies greater and -stronger than that of Alexander and his Macedonians, so long as we hold -together, and continue that love of Peace, and prudent care of civil -Concord, wherein we live at this day, we are able, and ever shall be, to -rout and put them all to flight.[d] - - -HIS INVINCIBILITY (GROTE) - - [Against Livy’s confidence in the Roman bulwark must be placed - Grote’s trust in Alexander’s genius.] - -Exalted to this prodigious grandeur, Alexander was at the time of his -death little more than thirty-two years old--the age at which a citizen -of Athens was growing into important commands; ten years less than -the age for a consul at Rome; two years younger than the age at which -Timur first acquired the crown, and began his foreign conquests. His -extraordinary bodily powers were unabated; he had acquired a large stock -of military experience; and what was still more important, his appetite -for further conquest was as voracious, and his readiness to purchase -it at the largest cost of toil or danger, as complete, as it had been -when he first crossed the Hellespont. Great as his past career had been, -his future achievements, with such increased means and experience, -were likely to be yet greater. His ambition would have been satisfied -with nothing less than the conquest of the whole habitable world as -then known; and if his life had been prolonged, he would probably have -accomplished it. Nowhere (so far as our knowledge reaches) did there -reside any military power capable of making head against him; nor were -his soldiers, when he commanded them, daunted or baffled by any extremity -of cold, heat, or fatigue. - -The patriotic feelings of Livy dispose him to maintain that Alexander, -had he invaded Italy would have failed and perished like his relative, -Alexander of Epirus. But this conclusion cannot be accepted. If we grant -the courage and discipline of the Roman infantry to have been equal to -the best infantry of Alexander’s army, the same cannot be said of the -Roman cavalry as compared with the Macedonian companions. Still less is -it likely that a Roman consul, annually changed, would have been found -a match for Alexander in military genius and combinations; nor, even if -personally equal, would he have possessed the same variety of troops -and arms, each effective in its separate way, and all conspiring to one -common purpose; nor the same unbounded influence over their minds in -stimulating them to full effort. I do not think that even the Romans -could have successfully resisted Alexander the Great; though it is -certain that he never throughout all his long marches encountered such -enemies as they, nor even such as Samnites and Lucanians--combining -courage, patriotism, discipline, with effective arms both for defence and -for close combat. - -Among all the qualities which go to constitute the highest military -excellence, either as a general or as a soldier, none was wanting -in the character of Alexander. Together with his own chivalrous -courage--sometimes indeed both excessive and unseasonable, so as to form -the only military defect which can be fairly imputed to him--we trace -in all his operations the most careful dispositions taken beforehand, -vigilant precaution in guarding against possible reverse, and abundant -resource in adapting himself to new contingencies. Amidst constant -success, these precautionary combinations were never discontinued. His -achievements are the earliest recorded evidence of scientific military -organisation on a large scale, and of its overwhelming effects. Alexander -overawes the imagination more than any other personage of antiquity, by -the matchless development of all that constitutes effective force--as -an individual warrior, and as organiser and leader of armed masses; -not merely the blind impetuosity ascribed by Homer to Ares, but also -the intelligent, methodised, and all-subduing compression which he -personifies in Athene. But all his great qualities were fit for use only -against enemies; in which category indeed were numbered all mankind, -known and unknown, except those who chose to submit to him. In his -Indian campaigns, amidst tribes of utter strangers, we perceive that not -only those who stand on their defence, but also those who abandon their -property and flee to the mountains, are alike pursued and slaughtered. - -Apart from the transcendent merits of Alexander as a soldier and a -general, some authors give him credit for grand and beneficent views on -the subject of imperial government, and for intentions highly favourable -to the improvement of mankind. I see no ground for adopting this opinion. -As far as we can venture to anticipate what would have been Alexander’s -future, we see nothing in prospect except years of ever-repeated -aggression and conquest, not to be concluded until he had traversed -and subjugated all the inhabited globe. The acquisition of universal -dominion--conceived not metaphorically, but literally, and conceived with -greater facility in consequence of the imperfect geographical knowledge -of the time--was the master passion of his soul. - -The Persian empire was a miscellaneous aggregate, with no strong feeling -of nationality. The Macedonian conqueror who seized its throne was still -more indifferent to national sentiment. He was neither Macedonian nor -Greek. Though the absence of this prejudice has sometimes been counted -to him as a virtue, it only made room, in my opinion, for prejudices -yet worse. The substitute for it was an exorbitant personality and -self-estimation, manifested even in his earliest years, and inflamed by -extraordinary success into the belief in divine parentage; which, while -setting him above the idea of communion with any special nationality, -made him conceive all mankind as subjects under one common sceptre to be -wielded by himself. To this universal empire the Persian king made the -nearest approach, according to the opinions then prevalent. Accordingly -Alexander, when victorious, accepted the position and pretensions of the -overthrown Persian court as approaching most nearly to his full due. -He became more Persian than either Macedonian or Greek. While himself -adopting, as far as he could safely venture, the personal habits of the -Persian court, he took studied pains to transform his Macedonian officers -into Persian grandees, encouraging and even forcing intermarriages with -Persian women according to Persian rites. At the time of Alexander’s -death, there was comprised, in his written orders given to Craterus, -a plan for the wholesale transportation of inhabitants both out of -Europe into Asia, and out of Asia into Europe, in order to fuse these -populations into one by multiplying intermarriages and intercourse. Such -reciprocal translation of peoples would have been felt as eminently -odious, and could not have been accomplished without coercive authority. -It is rash to speculate upon unexecuted purposes; but, as far as we can -judge, such compulsory mingling of the different races promises nothing -favourable to the happiness of any of them, though it might serve as an -imposing novelty and memento of imperial omnipotence. - -In respect of intelligence and combining genius, Alexander was Hellenic -to the full; in respect of disposition and purpose, no one could be -less Hellenic. Instead of hellenizing Asia, he was tending to asiatise -Macedonia and Hellas. His temper and character, as modified by a few -years of conquest, rendered him quite unfit to follow the course -recommended by Aristotle towards the Greeks--quite as unfit as any of -the Persian kings, or as the French Emperor Napoleon, to endure that -partial frustration, compromise, and smart from free criticism, which is -inseparable from the position of a limited chief.[e] - -Cox[f] in his _General History of Greece_ sees a degeneration already set -in foreshadowing his future, had he lived, and agrees with Grote[e] as to -his asiatising tendency. “It may almost be said that the results which he -had achieved were precisely those which would have followed if Xerxes had -been the conqueror at Salamis, Platæa, and Mycale.” - - -HIS MEANNESS (MÉNARD AND ROLLIN) - - “So ended he,” says Ménard, “whom they call Alexander the Great. - Let the name stand; but he owed his greatness not to his personal - qualities, to his own efforts, or to his genius, but, as Plutarch - admitted, to Fortune. Never was there an example of a prosperity - so infallible and so little deserved. But Fame is feminine; - she measures merit by success. Alexander created a school; his - personality encumbers history and usurps an enormous space. The - decadence of Greece and the Roman decadence are filled up with - pastiches and caricatures of him; even in modern times he has - remained the type and the ideal of all warrior tyrants down to - Louis XIV and Napoleon. - - “The literature that makes his fame is for the most part of - poor stuff. The Greeks of the imperial epoch, in order to - console themselves for the grandeur of Rome, did their best - to inflate the glory of Alexander. This theatrical hero is - worth more to the rhetorician than a legislator like Solon or - a statesman like Pericles. Men of letters of all countries and - times have been overwhelmed by him and found in him the god of - monarchic idolatry. Thanks are due to Rollin for having made - some reservations. He who lived in the sunlight of royalty was - not afraid to say that it was a poor compliment for a king to be - compared to Alexander, ‘the least estimable of Plutarch’s great - men.’ We hardly read Rollin nowadays and his judgments have - little authority; they say that he lacked the power of historic - criticism. Perhaps he did, but he had a right conscience, - which is worth still more. He made history a school of moral - instruction, and it is thus that later generations are formed - strong and sane. Our grandfathers, who learned their history from - Rollin, achieved the French Revolution.”[g] - - It is interesting to refer directly to the pages of Rollin - alluded to by Ménard. Rollin divides Alexander’s life into two - distinct halves, the former all beautiful and brilliant; the - latter in hideous contrast. We quote from his resumé of the - latter and uglier half.[a] - -His uninterrupted felicity, that never experienced adverse fortune, -intoxicated and changed him to such a degree, that he no longer appeared -the same man; and I do not remember that ever the poison of prosperity -had a more sudden or more forcible effect than upon him. - -Was ever enterprise more wild and extravagant, than that of crossing the -sandy deserts of Libya; of exposing his army to the danger of perishing -with thirst and fatigue; of interrupting the course of his victories, -and giving his enemy time to raise a new army, merely for the sake of -marching so far, in order to get himself named the son of Jupiter Ammon; -and purchase, at so dear a rate, a title which could only render him -contemptible? - -It appears to me that to the battle of Issus and the siege of Tyre -inclusive, it cannot be denied, but that Alexander was a great warrior -and an illustrious general. But I much doubt, whether, during these his -first exploits, he ought to be set above his father; whose actions, -though not so dazzling, are however as much applauded by good judges, -and those of the military profession. Philip, at his accession to the -throne, found all things unsettled. He himself was obliged to lay the -foundations of his own fortune, and was not supported by the least -foreign assistance. He alone raised himself to the power and grandeur -to which he afterwards attained. He was obliged to train up, not only -his soldiers, but his officers; to instruct them in all the military -exercises; to inure them to the fatigues of war; and to his care and -abilities alone, Macedonia owed the rise of the celebrated phalanx, -that is, of the best troops the world had then ever seen, and to which -Alexander owed all his conquests. How many obstacles stood in Philip’s -way before he could possess himself of the power which Athens, Sparta, -and Thebes had successively exercised over Greece! The Greeks, who were -the bravest people in the universe, would not acknowledge him for their -chief, till he acquired that title by wading through seas of blood, and -by gaining numberless conquests over them. Thus we see, that the way was -prepared for Alexander’s executing his great design; the plan whereof, -and most excellent instructions relative to it, had been laid down for -him by his father. Now, will it not appear a much easier task to subdue -Asia with Grecian armies, than to subject the Greeks who had so often -triumphed over Asia? - -[Illustration: MERCURY - -(From a vase)] - -It must be confessed, that the actions of this prince diffuse a splendour -that dazzles and astonishes the imagination, which is ever fond of the -great and marvellous. His enthusiastic courage raises and transports all -who read his history, as it transported himself. But ought we to give the -name of bravery and valour to a boldness that is equally blind, rash, and -impetuous; a boldness void of all rule, that will never listen to the -voice of reason, and has no other guide than a senseless ardour for false -glory, and a wild desire of distinguishing itself at any price? This -character suits only a military robber, who has no attendants; whose own -life is alone exposed; and who, for that reason, may be employed in some -desperate action; but the case is far otherwise with regard to a king, -who owes his life to all his army and his whole kingdom. True valour -is not desirous of displaying itself, is no ways anxious about its own -reputation, but is solely intent on preserving the army. - -Do any of these characteristics suit Alexander? When we peruse his -history and follow him to sieges and battles, we are perpetually alarmed -for his safety, and that of his army; and conclude every moment that -they are upon the point of being destroyed. Here we see a rapid flood, -which is going to draw in and swallow up this conqueror: there we behold -a craggy rock, which he climbs, and perceives round him soldiers, either -transfixed by the enemy’s darts, or thrown headlong by huge stones from -precipices. We tremble when we perceive in a battle the axe just ready to -cleave his head; and much more when we behold him alone in a fortress, -whither his rashness had drawn him, exposed to all the javelins of the -enemy. Alexander was ever persuaded, that miracles would be wrought in -his favour, than which nothing could be more unreasonable, as Plutarch -observes; miracles do not always happen; and the gods at last are weary -of guiding and preserving rash mortals, who abuse the assistance they -afford them. - -Alexander seems possessed of such qualities only as are of the second -rank, I mean those of war, and these are all extravagant; are carried to -the rashest and most odious excess, and to the extremes of folly and -fury; whilst his kingdom is left a prey to the rapine and exactions of -Antipater; and all the conquered provinces abandoned to the insatiable -avarice of the governors, who carried their oppressions so far, that -Alexander was forced to put them to death. - -Nor do his soldiers appear to be better regulated; for these, having -plundered the wealth of the East, after the prince had given them the -highest marks of his beneficence, grew so licentious, so disorderly, so -debauched and abandoned to vices of every kind, that he was forced to pay -their debts by a largess of £1,500,000. - -What strange men were these! how depraved their school! how pernicious -the fruit of their victories![h] - - -HIS EVIL INFLUENCE (NIEBUHR) - -Alexander is for the East, what Charlemagne is for the West; and, next to -Rustam, he is the chief hero of the Persian fairy tales and romances. To -us also he is a man of extraordinary importance, inasmuch as he gave a -new appearance to the whole world. He began what will now be completed, -in spite of all obstacles--the dominion of Europe over Asia; he was the -first that led the victorious Europeans to the East. Asia had played its -part in history, and was destined to become the slave of Europe. He has -also become the national hero of the Greeks, although he was as foreign -to them as Napoleon was to the French, notwithstanding that he traced his -family to the mythical heroes of Greece. - -But his personal character will appear to us in a different light. Many -a rhetorician, even in antiquity, formed a correct judgment of him. Who -does not know the story of the pirate, who was condemned to death by -Alexander, and, on being brought before him, said, that there was no -difference between them! The Orientals still call him, “Alexander the -robber.” I will not judge of him from this point of view, for the whole -history of the world turns upon war and conquest; I speak only of his -personal character. But, without agreeing with the declamations which -have so often been made about him, I unhesitatingly declare, that I have -formed a very unfavourable opinion of him. When I behold a young man, -who, in his twentieth year, ascends the throne, after having conspired -against his father--who then displays in his policy a cruelty like that -of the house of the Medici in the sixteenth century, like Cosmo de Medici -and his two sons--who not only sacrifices his step-mother to Olympias, -but causes the innocent infant of the unhappy Cleopatra, as well as -several other near relatives, to be murdered (we do not know their names, -as Arrian skilfully evades mentioning them)--who despatched all that knew -anything of his complicity, as well as those who had previously offended -him--such a young man is condemned for all time to come. - -Plutarch shows a foolish and unfounded partiality towards him, and -such was universally the case among the Greeks. His drunkenness cannot -be denied, and with it they excuse his murders, as, for example, that -of Clitus; and, in order poetically to complete the indescribable -folly committed by later Greeks, they compare him with Dionysus. But -his drunkenness does not account for all he did. He caused the most -innocent and most faithful servant, the best general of his father, to -be maliciously assassinated in a truly oriental manner; the man had been -frank and open, and knew that Alexander was what he was through him. The -murder of his friend Clitus, who told him the truth, was a fearful act. -I do not comprehend how persons can excuse Alexander by saying, that he -was an unusually great man; if he was so, was he not then responsible -for his unusually great powers? All his actions, which are praised as -generous, are of a theatrical nature and mere ostentation. His friendship -for Aristotle did not save Callisthenes. His attachment to Hephæstion -was not friendship, but a disgrace. His generosity towards the captive -Persian princesses is nothing extraordinary; if it be not ostentation, it -is something quite natural, and of everyday occurrence; but it is mere -ostentation. - -[Illustration: WRAPPING THE DEAD IN INFLAMMABLE SHEETS] - -It must, indeed, be acknowledged that Alexander is a most remarkable -phenomenon; but the praise bestowed on him can apply only to his great -intelligence and his talents. He was altogether an extraordinary -man, with the vision of a prophet, a power for which Napoleon also -was greatly distinguished; when he came to a place, he immediately -perceived its capability and its destination; he had the eye which -makes the practical man. If we had no other example of the keenness of -his judgment, the fact that he built Alexandria would alone furnish -sufficient evidence; he discovered the point which was destined, for -fifteen hundred years, to form the link between Egypt, Europe, and Asia. -It is impossible not to concede to him the praise of a great general. -Nay, a most competent judge, Hannibal, declared him to be the greatest -general. It must not, however, be forgotten, that he had most excellent -instruments--distinguished generals, and a splendid army. If he had -had to create his army, his undertaking would not have succeeded so -well. Parmenion, Philotas, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Antigonus were all -distinguished captains, all proceeded from the school of his father, -and had acquired great reputation even under him; and, if we except the -single Eumenes, we may assert, that no great commander was trained under -Alexander. In like manner, King Frederick II inherited an army already -trained by his father; and most of his generals had served in the army -before his time. - -Alexander undertook the Asiatic expedition as a true adventurer. He -himself adopted the most contemptible pomp of eastern despotism, and took -pleasure in the vanities and follies of the Persians; the Orientals, who -were accustomed to prostrate themselves before him, were his darlings. -He forgot the respect due to his old soldiers, and demanded of them, who -were free men, the prostration of the Persians. - -His worthless friend Hephæstion died; and Alexander celebrated his -burial in a manner which showed utter senselessness and absurdity, in -his prodigality and in his perpetration of oriental horrors. In order -to offer to the deceased a worthy sacrifice, he undertook an expedition -against a free people of mountaineers, and extirpated the whole nation; -and according to a truly eastern fashion, he slaughtered all the -prisoners in honour of his deceased friend. All that is related of this -period is disgraceful; insensible to all that is good, and dissatisfied -with himself, he abandoned himself more and more to frightful -drunkenness. He offered prizes for the best drinkers, and an ἀγὼν -πολυποσίας ended with some thirty persons drinking themselves to death: a -proceeding which we can contemplate only with the most complete disgust. - -Perhaps no man has personally exercised a greater historical influence -than Alexander; this cannot be questioned. But what influence he -exercised, and whether it was beneficial, is a question on which -opinions are divided. In regard to Greece, his conquests were altogether -injurious. Through him the Greek nation was, as it were, seized with -consumption, for he reduced its numbers immensely. A vast number of -recruits must have gone from Greece and Macedonia to India and Upper -Asia, whom he forever withdrew from their country by assigning to them -settlements in those countries. It lay in the nature of things, that -Greece should be lost, and should fall into a state of complete weakness, -when a new wealthy and military state arose by the side of it. Even the -good which arose from the establishment of this Macedonio-Asiatic empire, -was injurious to Greece. Commerce was transferred to Alexandria; and -Athens ceased to be spoken of as a commercial city. Alexander’s influence -upon the nearer and remoter parts of conquered Asia was different in -different countries. Upon Egypt it was beneficial, for that country -was evidently better off under the Ptolemies than it had been under -the Persians. The first three Macedonian kings of Egypt were excellent -princes, and raised the country to a degree of prosperity, which it never -enjoyed either before or after: and that period was sufficient for such a -country to heal its ancient wounds. - -Alexander’s contemporaries among the Greeks were not mistaken as to the -influence which he exercised. He died detested and cursed by Greece and -Macedonia. If he had lived longer, he would perhaps himself have seen the -downfall of the structure he had reared. He could not be otherwise than -active and stirring, and he could not have gone on without bringing ruin -upon himself. His intention was not to hellenise Asia, but to make Greece -Persian; hence if he had longer remained in Asia, we should have seen -the formation of a Græco-Persico-Macedonian empire. As he wanted to arm -the Greeks and Macedonians in the Persian fashion, those nations would -afterwards probably have revolted and put him to death. The only means by -which Greece might have been saved, and have recovered its liberty, would -have been, if Alexander had passed through the natural course of his -life, and had fallen with the glory of his exploits.[i] - - -HIS MOTIVES (DROYSEN) - - [Bishop Thirlwall[k] sees great benefits from Alexander’s - conquests, but doubts if they were all intentional with him, or - largely the accidents of his success. Droysen feels no doubt as - to the presence of sharply definite motives and large policies in - Alexander’s mind.] - -“That the soul of this king was built on a scale that surpassed human -measure,” Polybius says, “is an opinion in which all agree.” His strength -of will, his wide vision, his intellectual pre-eminence are proved by -his deeds and the strict, the rigid, logic of their consistency. What -his desire was, and what his conception of his work (a fair judge will -wish no other measure), this is something one can approximately learn -only from such parts of his work as he was allowed to realise. Alexander -was versed in the highest culture and knowledge of his time; he would -have cherished no meaner opinion of a king’s calling than the “master of -those who know.” But for him, unlike his great teacher, the thought of -what monarchy was and the “monarch’s duty as watchman” did not logically -lead to the necessity of treating barbarians like animals and plants. -Nor would it have been his opinion that his Macedonians had been trained -to arms from his father’s time in order that they might be, in the -philosopher’s language, “masters over those who were fitly slaves”; still -less that first his father, and then he himself, had forced the Greeks -into the Corinthian federation, that they might plunder defenceless Asia, -squeeze it dry with their exquisite selfishness and their shameless -intrigues. - -[Illustration: ARISTOTLE TEACHING THE YOUTHFUL ALEXANDER - -(See p. 262)] - -He had dealt Asia a terrible blow. He would remember the spear of -his ancestor Achilles. He would recognise that the grace of the true -spear of royalty lay in its power to heal the wounds it made. With the -annihilation of the old kingdom, with the death of Darius, he became heir -to the empire over unnumbered peoples who had been governed till then as -slaves. A labour it was, worthy of a king indeed, to free them so far as -they could understand or learn of freedom, to preserve and further them -in whatever they enjoyed of laudable and sound, to respect and spare them -in whatever was sacred in their eyes and whatever was their very own. He -must know how to propitiate, how to win them, that they too may be made -to share the burden of the empire which is gradually to unite them with -the Greek world. Such a monarchy could permit no mention of conquerors -and conquered when once the victory was won; it must wipe out from men’s -memory the distinction between Greek and barbarian. - -There lay on this road difficulties immeasurable--much that was -arbitrary, much that was violent, unnatural--they seemed to make the -undertaking impossible. But him they did not stop nor perplex; they -only heightened the vehemence of his will, and stiffened the rigid and -conscious assurance of his dealings. The work which he had undertaken in -the exaltation of youth possessed him; gathering like an avalanche it -swept him on; ruin, devastation, fields of dead, marked his progress; -with the world that he conquered, there came a change over his army, over -his surroundings, over the man himself. He passed on like a tempest, he -saw only his aim, and in that his justification. - -The majority misunderstood and disapproved of what the king did or left -undone. While Alexander tried all means to win the conquered and make -them forget their conquerors in the Macedonians, many of his followers -in their insolence and their selfishness calmly claimed the conquerors’ -ruthless right of violence. While Alexander received with the same -graciousness the genuflexions of Persian magnates and the congratulatory -missions with which Greece honoured him, accepting alike the worship -which the orientals considered they owed him, and the military -acclamations of his phalanxes, they would have liked to see themselves as -the equal of their king, and everything else far below them in the dust -of humility. And while they themselves yielded to all the luxuriousness -and licentiousness of Asiatic life, so far as the camp and the vicinity -of their openly disapproving king permitted--yielded with no other object -besides the gratification of appetites run mad--they took it ill of -their king that he wore the Median dress and affected the Persian court -functions, wherein the millions of Asia recognised and worshipped him as -their god and king.[l] - - -HIS EFFECT ON FEDERALISATION (PÖHLMANN) - - [Every one admits that the lack of unity among the Greek towns - was the cause of evils innumerable, and that some form of - federation was vitally needed. Many have felt that Alexander - furnished the needed unifaction by his centralised empire; but - Pöhlmann is of contrary mind.] - -Droysen’s peculiar way of seeing history has led him greatly to overrate -the blessings of the new federal régime. It is true that in Hellas, under -the old party names of aristocrat and democrat, the hostile interests -of rich and poor were engaged in a pitiless and passionate struggle, -and, if we consider the decomposition that was killing the life of -communities, a monarchy would appear to be exactly what was needed to -exercise a levelling and reconciliatory influence. But a kingdom of this -national character, whose first aim would be to satisfy the most vital -interests of the nation and create a true internal peace--such a kingdom -was not at all the ideal of the Macedonian monarchy. So far from standing -superior to party warfare, the monarchy supported itself by favouring -the particular interests of that party which came over to the Macedonian -camp. The immense emigration produced by the consequent oppression of -those who belonged to the opposition, is proof enough that the new order -did not produce a citizenship of inner peace, but, on the contrary, -gave new food to the differences from which the communities suffered. -So far as the policy of Philip was concerned, the object of the bond -was attained when it brought the power of the Greek people into its own -service; and even if the war against Persia had its national and Hellenic -side, yet so early an authority as Polybius rightly and soberly judged -that the Macedonian king was chiefly acting in the matter to satisfy -a personal end. It is an illusion of Droysen’s to imagine that this -subjection of Greece to a policy which was, by its nature, bound to serve -dynastic and personal interests, at the same time secured to the Greeks a -common national policy. - -The consolidation of the new world power was a consequence of Alexander’s -irresistible and victorious progress through the heart of the Persian -kingdom. His policy was to bring about a new “Hellenistic” régime which -should lead to a peaceful blending of Greek and barbarian, and the -object was to be gained by putting the oriental and the Græco-Macedonian -elements on an equality in army and administration--setting Asiatics, -for example, as satraps beside European military governors and treasury -officers. He triumphed over opposition, which he encountered chiefly in -the army. - -This policy was certainly an inevitable consequence of his undertaking -and of the conditions which were necessary to its success; but need he -have so exaggerated it as to make a complete return to the traditions of -oriental despotism? This is a question we do not find so easy to answer -in the affirmative, as Droysen does, for he sees nothing but “prejudice” -in the resistance which Alexander’s claims to apotheosis and genuflexion -encountered in the old Macedonian spirit and the Greek love of freedom. - -As Ranke rightly declared, it meant a complete break with their entire -national history that the Greeks as well should be subjected to the -sway of an authority which was no other than that against which they -had warred for centuries. Certainly the “city” had outlived its time as -the final political unit. The needs of the day called for “an ascent -from the city constitution to state constitutions,” in which the cities -themselves would enjoy only a communal independence. But then they must, -to use Droysen’s own words, “find in the universal bond their right and -their safeguard.” And this safeguard could be offered by no orientalising -despotism.[n] - - -HIS HERITAGE (HEGEL) - -Alexander had the good fortune to die at the proper time--_i.e._, it -may be called good fortune, but it is rather a necessity. That he may -stand before the eyes of posterity as a youth, an early death must hurry -him away. Achilles begins the Greek world, and his antitype Alexander -concludes it: and these youths not only supply a picture of the fairest -kind in their own persons, but at the same time afford a complete and -perfect type of Hellenic existence. Alexander finished his work and -completed his ideal; and thus bequeathed to the world one of the noblest -and most brilliant of visions, which our poor reflections only serve to -obscure. For the great world-historical form of Alexander, the modern -standard applied by recent historical “Philistines”--that of virtue or -morality--will by no means suffice. And if it be alleged in depreciation -of his merit, that he had no successor, and left behind no dynasty, we -may remark that the Greek kingdoms that arose in Asia after him are his -dynasty. The Græco-Bactrian kingdom lasted for two centuries. Thence the -Greeks came into connection with India, and even with China. The Greek -dominion spread itself over northern India. Other Greek kingdoms arose in -Asia Minor, in Armenia, in Syria, and Babylonia. But Egypt especially, -among the kingdoms of the successors of Alexander, became a great centre -of science and art; for a great number of its architectural works belong -to the time of the Ptolemies, as has been made out from the deciphered -inscriptions. Alexandria became the chief centre of commerce--the point -of union for Eastern manners and tradition with Western civilisation. -Besides these, the Macedonian kingdom, that of Thrace, stretching beyond -the Danube, that of Illyria, and that of Epirus, flourished under the -sway of Greek princes.[m] - - -ALEXANDER’S TRUE GLORY (WHEELER) - -If a man’s life-work is to be judged only by what he erects into formal -organisation, then we must pronounce the career of Alexander a failure, -and more than a failure. He had dismantled what he found, and built -nothing sure in its place. His dream of fusing the East and the West -had been fulfilled and embodied in no visible institution, no form of -government or law, of state or church. Greece, Egypt, and the Orient were -still in government asunder. - -No wonder that historians have written the story of Greece--among them -great names like Niebuhr and Grote--and seen nothing more in the career -of Alexander than a brilliant disturbance of the world’s order, an -enthronement of militarism, an annihilation of Greek liberty, and an -undoing of Greece in all that makes her life of interest to the world. It -is another thing that their blindness could see in Alexander himself only -a mad opportunist and greedy conqueror, whose life, had it been spared, -could have wrought no more than further conquest; for Alexander was of -all things an idealist, and they who have not read that in the story of -his life, may as well not have read it at all. Grote and Demosthenes -are, each in his way, types of historians and statesmen who have spent -their strength in deploring the waste of goodly seed-corn scattered on -the fields, their eyes turned towards the former harvest, not the next. -The old maxims, the old creeds, and the good old times are reasserted, -defended, and bewailed long after they have passed to their larger -fruitage in the unfolding of a larger life. - -When Alexander’s career began, the culture of the world, fixed in -two main types, the feminine and the masculine, if we may broadly -characterise them so, was still centralised and located, on the one hand -in the wealth and settled industrial life of the Mesopotamian and the -Egyptian river valleys, on the other in the free energy of the old Greek -city communities. When his career ended, the barrier separating these -domains had been broken down, never to be raised again. - -Man as a base line for measuring the universe, man as a source of -governing power, arose in Greece; it was Greece that shaped the law of -beauty from which came the arts of form, the law of speculative truth -from which by ordered observations came the sciences, and the law of -liberty from which came the democratic state. This was what the old -Greece held in keeping for the world. Alexander was the strong wind that -scattered the seed; again, he was the willing hand of the sower. - -The story of Alexander has become a story of death. He died, himself, -before his time. With his life he brought the old Greece to its end; -with his death, the state he had founded. But they all three, Alexander, -Greece, the Grand Empire, each after its sort, set forth, as history -judges men and things, the inner value of the saying, “Except a grain of -wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth alone.”[o] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LVIII. GREECE DURING THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER - - -The great conqueror is so much more of a cosmopolitan than a Greek -that it has been possible and advisable to trace his career as a unit -almost without alluding to the little territory his father had been so -anxious to acquire and appease. But Greece, never quiet, was not stagnant -during the absence of Alexander; and before taking up the tangle of the -successors of Alexander, it will be well to glance at the activities of -the Grecians and their futile restiveness.[a] - -The springs of that policy among the Grecian republics, which produced -war against Alexander in Greece itself while he was prosecuting the -war of the Grecian confederacy against Persia--nowhere declared by -ancient writers, but seeming rather studiously involved in mist by some -of them--may nevertheless, by a careful examination of information -remaining, in a great degree be traced. - -Nothing in ancient history remains more fully ascertained than that, -under the Macedonian supremacy, the Grecian republics enjoyed, not only -more liberty and independency than under the Athenian or Lacedæmonian -supremacy, but, as far as appears, all that could be consistent with the -connection of all as one people. Nor did it rest there; Demosthenes, -in the Athenian assembly, reviled the Macedonian monarchs, the allies -of his commonwealth, the heads of the Grecian confederacy, in a manner -that in modern times would be reckoned highly indecent towards an -enemy; and he avowed and even boasted of treasonable practices against -the general confederacy, of which his commonwealth was a member. “I,” -he said, “excited Lacedæmon against Alexander: I procured the revolt -against him in Thessaly and Perrhæbia.” In fact the government of Athens, -described, as we have formerly seen, by Xenophon and Isocrates as in -their time verging towards anarchy, is largely shown, in the extant works -of following orators, and especially in the celebrated contest between -Æschines and Demosthenes, to have been still advancing in corruption -and degradation. During the whole time that Alexander was in Asia, the -struggle of parties was violent--one, under Demosthenes, with the support -of Persia, contended ably and indefatigably for the mastery of Athens -and of Greece; the other, after Isocrates, looking to Phocion as their -leader, desired peace under the established supremacy of Macedonia, -and above all things dreaded the ascendency of Demosthenes and his -associates. - -[Sidenote: [333-331 B.C.]] - -Of the domestic politics of Lacedæmon information rarely comes to us -but through transactions with other states. Agis, the reigning king of -the Proclidean family, whom we have seen already active in enmity to -Macedonia, appears to have been a man of character to suit the purposes -of Demosthenes. Possibly he was not much grieved, nor perhaps was -Demosthenes, at the death of Memnon. Had Memnon lived, either could have -been but second of the Greeks of the party; which could no way maintain -itself but through the patronage of Persia. By Memnon’s death indeed -great advantages were lost, and a contest of far less hope for the party -altogether remained. But in that contest Demosthenes reckoned, by his -talents and his extensive political communication, to hold the first -importance among the Greeks, while Agis reckoned himself effectually -first, by his regal dignity and the old eminence of the Lacedæmonian -state; both trusting that they should still not fail of support from -Persia. Till the battle of Issus the hopes of both might reasonably run -high; and evidently they were not abandoned on the adverse event of that -battle. - -Looking to facts acknowledged by all, we find the half-ruined state of -Lacedæmon never ceasing to avow a political opposition, at length growing -into open hostility to the confederacy of republics, constitutionally -established under the lead of Macedonia; as constitutionally, it appears, -as ever before under the lead of Lacedæmon, Athens, or Thebes. In Athens -itself an opposition to the Macedonian interest was always openly -maintained. Negotiation was carried on by Lacedæmon among the other -republics with avowed hostile purpose, and adverse intrigue from Athens -appears to have been no secret. Against this open political hostility no -interference of force has been even pretended to have been used; and, -in all appearance, hardly so much opposition of influence as honest -prudence might require. Negligence, inertness, short-sightedness, may -seem, with more reason, to be imputed; yet they never have been imputed -to Antipater, to whom the government of Macedonia and the protection -of the Macedonian party in Greece were committed. While then the -Macedonian supremacy, if not remissly, was liberally exercised, the party -interests in every Grecian state, the inveterate hatred everywhere of -fellow-citizens to fellow-citizens, and the generally active and restless -temper of the Grecian people afforded ground for that league against the -confederacy of the Greek nations acknowledging the lead of Macedonia, -which Demosthenes and Agis succeeded in forming. - - -CONFEDERACY AGAINST MACEDONIA - -[Sidenote: [331-330 B.C.]] - -It is beyond question that Persian gold, imputed by all writers, -greatly promoted the Persian interest. It appears to have been after -the disastrous battle of Arbela, when the Persian monarch’s hope even -of personal safety depended on opportunity to raise new enemies to -Alexander, that he found means to make remittances to Greece. Æschines, -uncontradicted by Demosthenes, stated before the assembled Athenian -people, as a matter publicly known and not to be gainsaid, that a -present to them of three hundred talents (about sixty thousand pounds) -was offered in the name of the king of Persia. The prevalence of -Phocion’s party however at the time sufficed to procure a refusal of the -disgraceful offer. - -But in Peloponnesus the Persian party, under the lead of the king -of Lacedæmon, for whom there was no difficulty in taking subsidies -from the Persian court, obtained superiority. Argos and Messenia -were inveterately hostile to Lacedæmon, and were indeed neither by -bribes nor threats to be gained. But all Elis, all Arcadia, except -Megalopolis, and all Achaia, one small town only refusing, renounced -the confederacy under the lead of Macedonia, and joined Lacedæmon in -war, equally against Macedonia and all Grecian republics which might -adhere to the confederacy. Beyond the peninsula the opposite politics -generally prevailed; though in Athens Phocion’s party could do no more -than maintain nominal adherence to engagement, and a real neutrality; -the weight of the party of Demosthenes sufficing to prevent any exertion -against the Lacedæmonian league. - -That league however was not of such extent that it could be hoped, with -the civic troops only of the several states, to support war against -the general confederacy under the lead of Macedonia; and those states -were not of wealth to maintain any considerable number of those, called -mercenaries, ready to engage with any party. Nevertheless mercenary -troops were engaged for that league, to the number, if the contemporary -orator Dinarchus should be trusted, of ten thousand--Persia supplying the -means, as Æschines, still uncontradicted by Demosthenes, affirms; and -another source is hardly to be imagined. With such preparation and such -support Agis ventured to commence offensive war. A small force of the -opposing Peloponnesian states was overborne and destroyed or dispersed; -siege was laid to the only adverse Arcadian city, Megalopolis, and its -fall was expected daily. - -Alexander was then in pursuit of Darius. Accounts of him received in -Greece of course would vary: some reported him in the extreme north -of Asia; others in India. Meanwhile revolt in Thessaly and Perrhæbia, -excited by the able intrigues of Demosthenes, and, according to -Diodorus,[c] also in Thrace, distressed Antipater; while it was a most -imperious duty upon him, as vicegerent of the head of the Grecian -confederacy, to protect the members of that confederacy, apparently the -most numerous part of the nation, against the domestic enemy, supported -by the great foreign enemy who threatened them. - - -WAR IN GREECE - -Accounts remaining, both of the circumstances of the Macedonian kingdom -at the time, and of following events, are very defective. But it appears -indicated that no Macedonian force, that could be spared for war -southward, would enable Antipater to meet Agis; and it was long before -he could excite the republican Greeks, adverse to the Lacedæmonian and -Persian interest, however dreading its prevalence, to assemble in arms -in sufficient numbers. His success however in quelling the disturbances -in Thessaly and Thrace, encouraging the zeal of that portion of the -Greek nation which dreaded republican empire, whether democratical under -Demosthenes or oligarchical under Agis, enabled him at length to raise -superior numbers. - -Megalopolis had resisted beyond expectation. Antipater, entering -Peloponnesus to relieve that place, was met by Agis. A sanguinary battle -ensued. The Lacedæmonians are said to have fought with all the obstinacy -which their ancient institutions required, and which their ancient fame -was adapted to inspire. But they were overborne: Agis, fighting at -their head, with the spirit of a hero rather, apparently, than with the -skill of a general, received a wound which disabled him, so that it was -necessary to carry him out of the field. His troops, unable to resist -superior numbers, directed by superior skill, took to flight. Diodorus -relates that, pressed by the pursuing enemy, he peremptorily commanded -his attendants to save themselves, and leave him with his arms; and -that, disabled as he was, refusing quarter and threatening all who -approached him, he fought till he was killed. - -The conduct of the victor then was what became the delegate of the -elected superintendent and protector of the liberties of Greece. The -Lacedæmonian government, feeling its inability to maintain the war in -which it was engaged, and the principal instigator being no more, sent a -deputation to Antipater to treat for peace. Antipater, as deputy of the -captain-general and vicegerent of the Greek nation, took nothing further -upon himself than to summon a congress of the several republics to -Corinth, to which he referred the Lacedæmonian ministers. There matters -were much debated and various opinions declared. The decision at last, in -the historian’s succinct account, appears not what might best become the -wisdom and dignity of a nation accustomed to appreciate its ascertained -privileges, or what ought to be such. Unable to agree upon a measure to -afford precedent for future times, the resource was to decree that the -Lacedæmonian state, submitting itself to the mercy of their great and -magnanimous captain-general, should send fifty principal Spartans into -Macedonia, as hostages to insure obedience to his decision. We owe to -Curtius the additional probable information that the assembly set a fine -of 120 talents [about £24,000 or $120,000] upon the Eleans and Achæans, -to compensate to the Megalopolitans the damages done in the hostile -operations against them. - -It seems likely the Lacedæmonians rejoiced in a sentence which, in -so great a degree, secured them against the usual virulence of party -animosity among the Greeks, and the result of which they had reason to -hope would be liberal and mild. It does not appear that anything more -was required than to acknowledge error in hostile opposition to the -general council of the nation, and to send, thus late, the Lacedæmonian -contingent of troops for maintaining the Grecian empire, already -acquired, in Asia.[b] - -This blow riveted the chains forged at Chæronea, which however were still -destined to be burst by more than one gallant struggle, though never to -be finally shaken off. Alexander, when he heard of Antipater’s success, -is said to have spoken contemptuously of “the battle of mice,” which his -lieutenant had been fighting, while he had been slaughtering myriads, and -overrunning kingdoms; and while the event continued unknown, it did not -in the slightest degree interfere with his operations. Yet Antipater’s -victory was perhaps not much less hardly won than either of his own over -Darius. But from the distance at which he now stood, Greece and Macedonia -began to appear very diminutive objects. His little kingdom was now -chiefly valuable to him as a nursery of soldiers; and the most important -advantage which he reaped from the establishment of his power in Greece, -was that it insured a constant succession of recruits for his army. - - -AFFAIRS AT ATHENS - -It is rather surprising that when Agis--encouraged by the great distance -which separated Alexander from Europe, by perhaps exaggerated rumours of -the dangers that threatened him in Asia, and by the disasters which had -befallen the Macedonian arms at home--ventured on his ill-fated struggle -Athens remained neutral. It was afterward made a ground of accusation -against Demosthenes, that he had taken no advantage of this occasion to -display the hostility which he always professed towards Alexander. The -event proves that he took the most prudent course; but his motives must -remain doubtful. He was perhaps restrained, not by his opinion of the -hopelessness of the attempt, but by the disposition to peace, which he -found prevailing at home, whether the effect of fear or of jealousy, or -of any other cause. Had the people been ready to embark in the contest, -an orator probably would not have been wanting to animate them to it. -But Demosthenes may still have given secret encouragement and assistance -to the Peloponnesian confederates, and may have alluded to this, when, -according to his adversary’s report, he boasted that the league was -his work. The issue of that struggle, and the news which arrived soon -after, of the great victory by which Alexander had decided the fate -of the Persian monarchy at Gaugamela [Arbela], must have crushed all -hope at Athens, except one, which might have been suggested by domestic -experience, that the conqueror’s boundless ambition might still lead him -into some enterprise beyond his strength. - - -DEMOSTHENES AND ÆSCHINES - -There was however a party there, which did not dissemble the interest -it felt in the success of the Macedonian arms. Before the battle of -Issus, when Alexander was commonly believed to be in great danger, and -Demosthenes was assured by his correspondents that he could not escape -destruction, Æschines says, that he was himself continually taunted -by his rival, who exultingly displayed the letters that conveyed the -joyful tidings, with the dejection he betrayed at the prospect of the -disaster which threatened his friends. Æschines was the active leader -of the macedonising party: all his hopes of a final triumph over his -political adversaries were grounded on the Macedonian ascendency. But -Phocion, though his motives were very different, added all the weight of -his influence to the same side. His sentiments were so well known, that -Alexander himself treated him as a highly honoured friend; addressed -letters to him from Asia, with a salutation which he used to no one -else except Antipater, and repeatedly pressed him to accept magnificent -presents. Phocion indeed constantly rejected them; and when Alexander -wrote that their friendship must cease if he persisted to decline all his -offers, was only moved to intercede in behalf of some prisoners, whose -liberty he immediately obtained. - -[Illustration: URNS AND VASES] - -[Sidenote: [337-325 B.C.]] - -The disaster of Chæronea (337 B.C.) had held out a signal to the enemies -of Demosthenes at Athens, to unite their efforts against him. He had -been assailed in the period following that event until Philip’s death, -by every kind of legal engine that could be brought to bear upon him; by -prosecutions of the most various form and colour. All these experiments -had failed; the people had honoured him with more signal proofs of its -confidence than he had ever before received: he had never taken a more -active part, or exercised a more powerful sway, in public affairs. Yet -it seems that after the Macedonian arms had completely triumphed, both -in Asia and in Greece, Æschines thought the opportunity favourable for -another attempt of the same nature. This trial, the most celebrated of -ancient pleadings, the most memorable event in the history of eloquence -throughout all past ages, deserves mention here, chiefly for the light -it throws on the character and temper of the Athenian tribunals, at a -time when the people is supposed to have been verging towards utter -degeneracy, so as to be hardly any longer an object of historical -interest--a time, it must be remembered, when the rest of Greece was -quailing beneath the yoke of the stranger, and his will, dictated to the -so-called national congress at Corinth, was sovereign and irresistible. - -The occasion of this prosecution arose out of two offices with which -Demosthenes had been entrusted, in the year, it seems, after that of the -battle of Chæronea. He had been appointed by his tribe to superintend -the repairs which, according to a decree proposed by himself, the city -walls were to undergo, the work being equally distributed among the ten -tribes. At the same time he filled another post--the treasurership of -the theoric fund, which involved a large share in the general control -and direction of the finances. In both offices he had made a liberal -contribution out of his own property to the service of the state. On -this ground, but more especially as a mark of approbation for his public -conduct on all occasions, a decree was passed, on the motion of his -friend Ctesiphon, that he should be presented with a golden crown. For -this decree Æschines had indicted Ctesiphon as having broken the law in -three points: first, because it was illegal to crown a magistrate before -he had rendered an account of his office; next, because it was forbidden -to proclaim such an honour, when bestowed by the people, in any other -place than the assembly-ground in the Pnyx, but particularly to proclaim -it, as Ctesiphon had proposed; and, lastly, because the reason assigned -in the decree, so far as related to the public conduct of Demosthenes, -was false, inasmuch as he had not deserved any reward. The question at -issue was, in substance, whether Demosthenes had been a good or a bad -citizen. Hence the prosecutor, after a short discussion of the dry legal -arguments, enters, as on his main subject, into a full review of the -public and private life of Demosthenes; and Demosthenes, whose interest -it was to divert attention from the points of law, which were not his -strong ground, can scarcely find room for them in his defence of his own -policy and proceedings, which, with bitter attacks on his adversary, -occupies almost the whole of his speech. - -His boast is that throughout his political career he had kept one object -steadily in view: to strengthen Athens within and without, and to -preserve her independence, particularly against the power and the arts -of Philip. He owned that he had failed; but it was after he had done all -that one man in his situation--a citizen of a commonwealth--could do. He -had failed in a cause in which defeat was more glorious than victory in -any other, in a struggle not less worthy of Athens than those in which -her heroic citizens in past ages had earned their fame. In a word, the -whole oration breathes the spirit of that high philosophy which, whether -learned in the schools or from life, has consoled the noblest of our -kind in prisons, and on scaffolds, and under every persecution of adverse -fortune, but in the tone necessary to impress a mixed multitude with -a like feeling, and to elevate it for a while into a sphere above its -own. The effect it produced on that most susceptible audience can be but -faintly conceived. The result was that Æschines not only lost his cause, -but did not even obtain a fifth part of the votes, and consequently, -according to law, incurred a small penalty. But he seems to have felt it -insupportable to remain at the scene of his defeat, where he must have -lived silent and obscure. He quitted Athens, and crossed over to Asia, -with the view it is said of seeking protection from Alexander, through -whose aid alone he could now hope to triumph over his adversaries. - -When this prospect vanished, he retired to Rhodes, where he opened a -school of oratory, which produced a long series of voluble sophists, and -is considered as the origin of a new style of eloquence, technically -called the Asiatic, which stood in a relation to the Attic not unlike -that of the composite capital to the Ionic volute, and was destined to -prevail in the East wherever the Greek language was spoken, down to -the fall of the Roman Empire. He died at Samos, about nine years after -Alexander, having survived both his great antagonist and his friend -Phocion. - - -DEIFICATION OF ALEXANDER; THE GOLD OF HARPALUS - -[Sidenote: [325-324 B.C.]] - -In the course of the year preceding Alexander’s death, the stillness and -obscurity of Athenian history were broken, partly by the new measures -adopted by the conqueror on his return from India with respect to Greece, -and partly by the adventures of Harpalus. - -Alexander’s claim of divine honours could not be viewed in Greece with -the same feelings which it had excited among the victorious Macedonians. -To the people bowed down by irresistible necessity under a foreign -yoke, it was not a point of great moment under what form or title the -conqueror, in the plenitude of his power, chose to remind them of their -subjection. They might consider the demand as a wanton insult; but it -was in no other sense an injury. There might not be many base enough to -recommend it, but there were perhaps still fewer so unwise as to think it -a fit ground for resistance. It involved no surrender of religious faith, -even in those who were firmly attached to the popular creed; and the -ridicule for which it afforded so fair a mark was, with most, sufficient -revenge for its insolence. The Spartan answer to the king’s envoys was -perhaps the best: “If Alexander will be a god, let him.” At Athens there -was something more of debate on the question; yet it hardly seems that -opinions were seriously divided on it. It was opposed by a young orator, -named Pytheas. It was observed by the more practical statesmen, that he -was not yet of an age to give advice on matters of such importance. He -replied that he was older than Alexander, whom they proposed to make a -god. Lycurgus appears to have spoken, with the severity suited to his -character, of “the new god, from whose temple none could depart without -need of purification.” But it does not follow that he wished to see the -demand rejected. At least Demades and Demosthenes were agreed on the main -point, and their language, as far as it is reported, seems to have been -very similar. Demades warned the people not to lose earth while they -contested the possession of heaven; and Demosthenes advised them not to -contend with Alexander about celestial honours. The assembly acquiesced -in the king’s demand.[40] - -But the order relating to the return of the exiles awakened very much -stronger feelings, partly of fear, and partly of indignation. It appears -that Alexander, before he set out on his expedition, when it was his -object to conciliate the Greeks, had engaged by solemn compact with the -national congress at Corinth--perhaps only confirming one before made -by Philip--not to interfere with the existing institutions of any Greek -state, but to preserve them inviolate. The tendency of Alexander’s new -measure was to effect a revolution, wherever Macedonian influence was -not yet completely predominant, throughout Greece. Nicanor, a Stagirite, -had been sent down by Alexander to publish his decree during the games -at Olympia. There were some thousands of the exiles and their friends -collected there, who listened to the proclamation with joy. It was in the -form of a letter addressed to them in a style of imperial brevity: “King -Alexander to the exiles from the Greek cities. We were not the author of -your exile, but we will restore you to your homes, all but those who are -under a curse [for sacrilege or murder]. And we have written to Antipater -on the subject, that he may compel those cities which are unwilling to -receive you.” - -Great alarm ensued at Athens among those who had reason to dread the -execution of the decree. The people would not comply with it, but still -did not venture openly to reject it. A middle course was taken, by which -time at least was gained. An embassy was sent to Alexander, to deprecate -his interference; and at Babylon the Athenian envoys met those of several -other Greek states, who had come on the same business. In the meanwhile -there prevailed at home not only great anxiety about the issue of the -embassy, but fears for the immediate safety of the city. - -[Sidenote: [324-323 B.C.]] - -Such was the state of affairs at Athens, when the appearance of Harpalus -gave rise to fresh perplexity and uneasiness. The precise time when he -arrived on the coast of Attica is difficult to ascertain. But it seems -most probable that it was after the return of Demosthenes from Olympia. -Harpalus, as we have seen, carried away some five thousand talents, and -had collected about six thousand mercenaries. He must therefore have -crossed the Ægean with a little squadron; and it is probable that the -rumour of his approach reached Athens at least some days before him. He -had reason to hope for a favourable reception. He came with his Athenian -mistress, for whose sake he had conferred a substantial benefit on -her native city; and he had already gained at least one friend there, -on whose influence he may have founded great expectations: Charicles, -Phocion’s son-in-law, who had descended so low as to undertake the -erection of the monument in honour of Pythionice, and had received -thirty talents by way of reimbursement. He might calculate still more -confidently on the force of the temptation which his treasure and his -troops held out to the people, if they were already disposed to risk an -open quarrel with Alexander, and on the ample means of corruption he -possessed. These hopes were disappointed, and at first he certainly met -with a total repulse. It seems most probable--though our authors leave -this doubtful--that his squadron was not permitted to enter Piræus. We -know that a debate took place on his first arrival, that Demosthenes -advised the people not to receive him, and that Philocles, the general -in command at Munychia, was ordered to prevent his entrance. Philocles -indeed appears afterwards to have disobeyed this order; but it is -probable that he did not immediately allow Harpalus to land. The fullest -account we have of the proceedings of Harpalus on his first appearance in -the roads of Munychia, is contained in the few words of Diodorus; that, -“finding no one to listen to him, he left his mercenaries at Tænarus, and -with a part of his treasure came himself to implore the protection of the -people.” The sum which he brought with him was a little more than 750 -talents: enough certainly to buy the greater part of the venal orators; -and many yielded to the temptation. - -Whether Demosthenes was one of those who accepted a bribe from Harpalus, -has been a disputed point from his own day to ours. It will appear from -the following narrative that the evidence cannot be considered as quite -conclusive on either side; all that can be proved in his favour is that, -the more fully the facts of the case are stated, the more glaring are the -absurdities and contradictions involved in the suppositions of his guilt, -while the few facts which tend that way may be very easily reconciled -with the supposition of his innocence. - -The part which he took in the public debates on the affair, is known from -good authority--mostly from that of his contemporaries and accusers. It -is universally admitted that he was one of those who at the first opposed -the reception of Harpalus. After the return of Harpalus to Athens, when -he had gained over several of the orators to his side, envoys came from -several quarters--from Antipater, from Olympias, and it seems also from -Philoxenus, a Macedonian, who filled a high office in Asia Minor--to -require that he should be given up. Demosthenes and Phocion both resisted -this demand; and Demosthenes carried a decree, by which it was directed, -that the treasure should be lodged in the citadel, to be restored to -Alexander, and he himself was empowered to receive it. Its amount was -declared by Harpalus himself; but, out of the 750 talents no more than -308 remained in his possession. It was clear that nearly 450 had found -their way into other hands. Demosthenes now caused another decree to be -passed, by which the Areopagus was directed to investigate the case, and -he proposed that instead of the ordinary penalty--tenfold the amount -of the bribe--capital punishment should be inflicted on the offenders. -A very rigid inquiry was instituted; the houses of all suspected -persons--with the single exception of one who had been just married--were -searched: the Areopagus made its report against several, and among them -was Demosthenes himself. He was the first who was brought to trial, was -found guilty, and condemned to pay fifty talents. Being unable to raise -this sum, he was thrown into prison, but soon after made his escape and -went into exile. - -One point is indisputably clear: that Demosthenes, whether bribed or -not, did not change sides. Harpalus, notwithstanding the efforts of -Demosthenes and Phocion in his behalf, was committed to prison, to await -Alexander’s pleasure. He however made his escape, returned to Tænarus, -and thence crossed over with his troops, and the rest of his treasure, -to Crete. Here he was assassinated by Thimbron, one of his confidential -officers. His steward fled to Rhodes, where he was seized by order of -Philoxenus, and forced to disclose the names of those who had accepted -bribes from his master. The list was sent to Athens, and the name -of Demosthenes--though Philoxenus is said to have been his personal -enemy--did not appear in it. - -It is a question, which the meagre accounts that have been preserved -leave in great obscurity, whether any preparations for war had actually -been made at Athens before Alexander’s death. It can hardly be supposed -that any such measures were taken until the envoys who had been sent -to remonstrate with him returned from Babylon; and the interval -between their return and the arrival of the news of his death, cannot -have been very long. Yet that in this interval at least something was -done with a view to a war which was believed to be impending, may be -regarded as nearly certain. For it was at this time that a division of -the mercenaries who had been disbanded by the satraps, in compliance -with Alexander’s orders, was brought over to Europe by the Athenian -Leosthenes. Leosthenes himself had been for a time in Alexander’s -service, and though still young, had gained a high reputation: but it -seems that he had quitted it in disgust, and had already returned to -Athens, and that he went over to Asia, to collect as many as he could -of the disbanded troops, whom he landed at Cape Tænarus. It can hardly -be supposed that he did this without some ulterior object; and his -connection with Hyperides--the chief of the anti-Macedonian party after -Demosthenes had withdrawn--and his subsequent proceedings, scarcely leave -room to doubt that the object was to have a force in readiness to resist -Antipater, if he should attempt to enforce Alexander’s edict. - -When the news of Alexander’s death reached Athens, Phocion and Demades -professed to disbelieve the report. Demades bade the people not to -listen to it: such a corpse would long before have filled the world with -its odour. Phocion desired them to have patience; and when many voices -asseverated the truth of the report, replied, “If he is dead to-day, he -will still be dead to-morrow, and the next day, so that we may deliberate -at our leisure, and the more securely.” But their remonstrances were -disregarded. The council of Five Hundred held a meeting with closed -doors; and Leosthenes was commissioned immediately to engage the troops -at Tænarus, about eight thousand men, but secretly, and in his own name, -that Antipater might not suspect the purpose, and that the people might -have the more time for other preparations. Confirmation of the fact was -received shortly after from the mouth of eye-witnesses, who had been -present at Babylon when it took place.[e] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[40] [We insert here a defence of Alexander’s act from the pen of his -chief biographer, Droysen:[d] “Neither sacred history nor dogma were -grounded on the firm basis of doctrinal writings, revealed once for -all as of divine origin; for religious things there was no other rule -or form than the experience and opinion of men as it was and developed -itself in life, also perhaps the instructions of the oracles and the many -interpretations of signs. If the oracle of Zeus Ammon, although ridiculed, -in the end still designated the king as Zeus’ son; if Alexander, sprung -of the race of Hercules and Achilles, had conquered and reorganised a -world; if in reality he had accomplished greater things than Hercules and -Dionysus; if the long established enlightening of minds disaccustomed to -the deepest religious wants had left from the honour and feasts of the -gods only the diversions, the outer ceremonies, and the calendar;--then -one can realise that for Greece, the thoughts of divine honour and -deification of man did not lie too far off. Alexander was only the first -to claim for himself that which after him the most miserable princes and -the most infamous men could justly receive from Hellenes and Greeks, above -all from Athenians.” The apotheosis of Alexander must then be regarded -as a move not altogether due to vanity, and of political rather than -religious or personal meaning.] - -[Illustration: GREEK SEALS] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LIX. THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER - - -Some of the most important histories of Greece, notably those of Mitford -and of Grote, have terminated with the death of Alexander; and in point -of fact one feels some logic in the contention that Greece as a factor -in civilisation disappeared with the close of the Alexandrian epoch. Yet -as far as mere chronology goes Greece continued a nation, and in some -respects a more closely unified nation than ever before, for a period -after the death of Alexander as long as the period of her prominence -before that event. It was in the year 500 B.C. that the Ionian cities -of Asia Minor revolted against the Persian power, and precipitated that -conflict which had for its chief result the bringing of the Greek nation, -for the first time, into prominence as a world power. From this memorable -date to the death of Alexander in 323 B.C., is a period of 177 years; -and, as it happened, another period of exactly the same length intervened -between the death of Alexander and the final overthrow of Greece by the -Romans, culminating in the destruction of Corinth in the year 146 B.C. - -But while equally extended in point of time, how utterly different are -these two periods in world-historic import! Into the first of them were -crowded the events which have made the name of Greece famous for all -time; the second was a mere period of senility, in which a once powerful -and still proud people struggled in vain to regain its former status, and -finally collapsed utterly under the blows of a superior power. Yet in -mere geographical extent the Greece of this later period was far larger -than Greece proper of the earlier time, for now it included, in addition -to the original Hellas, the territories of Macedonia and Epirus; but this -was never an harmonious coalition. - -The old Greeks of the classical territory were never reconciled to the -domination of their northern neighbours, whom they preferred to consider -as barbarians, but they were obliged for much of the time to accept that -domination, however unwillingly; for the kings of Macedonia, though their -power fluctuated from time to time, always had more or less influence -over the entire territory of the new Greece. - -The meteoric career of Alexander had been cut short at a time when that -hero, though he had accomplished conquests without precedent in history, -had not yet entered upon the full prime of manhood. It is known that his -ever active brain was teeming with plans for fresh conquests, and it is -hardly to be doubted that, had he lived, some of these would have been -put into almost immediate execution. What the final result would have -been, is one of those problems that must ever puzzle the mind of the -thoughtful student of history. Such conjectures are utterly futile; yet -one cannot escape them. Would the conqueror of the East have spread his -power to the West also, subjugating Europe as he had already subjugated -Asia? Would he have gone on throughout another half century, had that -stretch of life been granted to him, ruling with a firm hand the wide -territories that he had conquered, and holding his mighty empire under -one unified government with himself at its summit--or would his mighty -ambition presently have overstepped the bounds of reason, and would some -reverse have presently dashed him headlong from his pinnacle of power? As -to this no man can say, and all moralisings on the subject are but idle -dreams. - -[Sidenote: [323-301 B.C.]] - -But turning from such visions to the realities, one is presented with -an extraordinary picture of a mighty empire, built up by a mere youth, -held for the moment, as it were, in the grasp of his hand, and then -dashed suddenly into fragments as that hand fell stricken by death. In -twelve years the youth Alexander had made himself absolute master of -wider territories than were probably ever ruled before by any one man -in recorded history; but, almost before the breath of life had left his -body, and literally before that body had been laid in the tomb, a strife -had begun among the followers of the great captain, which was to lead to -almost immediate dismemberment of his empire. - -It is one of the surest tests of a great leader of men to be able to -gather about him great men as his assistants. Judged by this test -Alexander looms large indeed, for he had among his generals, as after -events were to prove, a whole company of men, each of whom acknowledged -himself subordinate to Alexander, but declined to bow to any lesser -power; each of whom, indeed, believed himself worthy to be a king, and -determined to make that belief good in practice, now that the great -king was no more. Antipater and Craterus, and Antigonus, and Cassander, -and Ptolemy, and Eumenes--these are but a few of the leaders among the -men who at once began to quarrel about Alexander’s possessions, even to -the neglect of the burial of Alexander’s body. It seems that Alexander -had foreseen the inevitable faction, for the story was told that on his -death-bed, he had been asked to whom he wished his empire to fall, and he -had feebly answered, “to the best man!” - -There was, indeed, a pretence of preserving the empire for Alexander’s -son, borne by Roxane after his death, and given the name of Alexander -the Younger; but a score of years is long to wait for a ruler of a -newly formed empire, which has within it so many elements of discord -as were to be found in the empire of Alexander; and, however sincere a -certain number of the leaders may have been, their original intentions -of holding the empire for the heir of its founder had vanished from the -minds of every one almost before that heir was born. There was indeed a -royalist party, which for a time attempted, perhaps in good faith, to -uphold the rights of the royal family of Macedonia; but, in the course -of the intricate series of revolts and wars in which the entire empire -was soon involved, it became difficult, if not impossible, to trace the -motives that influenced the various principal actors. But, whatever these -motives, the results were very tangible and unmistakable. Alexander’s -heir was never destined to reach manhood. Both he and his mother were -ruthlessly killed by Cassander. Olympias, the mother of Alexander, who, -for a time, took an active part in the contests, evincing qualities which -explained many of the traits of her great son, met a like fate. - -The work of destruction went on until the royal family of Macedon, which -Philip and Alexander had made illustrious, was routed out to its last -member, and finally, after some twenty-two years of incessant warfare, -the vast empire of Alexander was divided into three chief parts: -Macedonia, including Greece proper, under the Antigonidæ, the descendants -of Antigonus; the Asiatic kingdom, under the Seleucidæ; and Egypt, under -the Ptolemies. The subsequent history of each of these three kingdoms -must be considered by itself, but first we must make a brief survey of -that great conglomerate struggle through which this dismemberment of the -empire of Alexander was brought about.[a] Of this Niebuhr says: - -“The disputes among the generals of Alexander are to me the most -confused events in history. I have very often read them attentively, -in order to gain a clear insight into them; but, although I have had a -tenacious memory from my early youth, I never was able to gain a distinct -recollection of the detail of those quarrels and disputes: I always found -myself involved in difficulties. And such is the case still; I find it -impossible to group the events in such a manner as to afford an easy -survey. This confusion arises from the fact that we have to deal with a -crowd of men among whom there is not one that stands forth prominently -on account of his personal character. The question always is, whether -one robber or another is to be master, and it is impossible to take -pleasure in any one of them. One is, indeed, better than another, and -Ptolemy is, in my opinion, the best: he was a blessing to Egypt, which -under him became happy and prosperous, for his government was rational; -but still he is morally a man in whom we can take little interest. His -personal character leaves us quite indifferent, when we have once formed -a notion of him. Eumenes is the only one who is important on account of -his personal character; all the rest are imposing through their deeds of -arms alone. - -“In the earlier history of Greece we like to follow the great men step by -step; but all these Macedonians leave us perfectly indifferent; we feel -no interest whether the one is defeated or the other; not even the tragic -fall of Lysimachus can make an impression upon us; I look upon it with -greater indifference than I should feel at a bull-fight, in which a noble -animal defends itself against the dogs that are set at it. I could wish -that the earth had opened and swallowed up all the Macedonians. Everyone -intimately acquainted with ancient history will share this feeling of -indifference with me. And when we are under the influence of such a -feeling, it is not easy to dwell upon a history like this; it does not -impress itself upon our mind. - -“It would be most easy to relate the history of the successors of -Alexander as minutely as it was given by Trogus Pompeius, and as we still -have it in Diodorus; but there would then be before us only a vast chaos. -Even where we have ample information, we must advance rapidly. - -“Whoever wishes to investigate this history, must study the eighteenth, -nineteenth, and twentieth books of Diodorus; but he ought not to forget -that there are many gaps in Diodorus. The eighteenth book, in particular -is very much mutilated, and some of the gaps are concealed; for the -manuscripts of Diodorus were made with the intention to conceal the fact -that they are not complete. The student, however, must compare also the -_Excerpts_ in Photius from Arrian’s lost work.”[g] - - -COUNCIL AT BABYLON AFTER ALEXANDER’S DEATH - -[Sidenote: [323 B.C.]] - -The Macedonians passed the night after the king’s death under arms, as -if feeling themselves surrounded by enemies. The peaceable inhabitants -of Babylon, perhaps with better reason, dreaded lest their wealthy city -should become the scene of military tumult and licence. They hardly -ventured to creep out of their houses to gather news; lighted no lamps -in the evening, but watched for the morning in darkness and silence, -eagerly listening, and trembling at every sound they caught. The great -officers on whom the care of the state chiefly devolved, probably spent -the same interval, together or apart, in no less anxious deliberation. By -Hephæstion’s death the number of those who bore the title of somatophylax -was reduced to seven: Leonnatus, Lysimachus, Aristonous, Perdiccas, -Ptolemy (the reputed son of Lagus, but, according to a report rather -widely spread, one of Philip’s bastards, his mother having been the -king’s mistress), Pithon, and Peucestas. When Alexander died, they were -all in Babylon. - -The next day they summoned a council of the other Macedonian officers, -some of whom were but little inferior to them in rank and influence, -to confer on the great question of the succession. The soldiers wished -to take part in it also; and, though forbidden, forced their way into -the palace, and filled the avenues of the council hall, so that many -witnessed the proceedings. There a mournful object met their eyes, and -revived the consciousness of their loss--the vacant throne, on which had -been laid the diadem, with the royal robes and armour. The sight called -forth a fresh burst of lamentation, which however was hushed into deep -silence, when Perdiccas came forward to address the assembly. First -he placed the ring, which he had received from Alexander in his last -moments, on the throne. “The ring,” he said, “was the royal signet, which -Alexander had used for the most important state business; it had been -committed to him by the dying king, but he placed it at their disposal. -It was however absolutely necessary for their own safety that they should -forthwith elect a chief, capable of guarding them against the dangers to -which they would be exposed without a head in a hostile land. It was to -be hoped that, in a few months, Roxane would give them an heir to the -throne. In the meanwhile it was for them to choose, by whom they would -be governed.” He had probably hoped that the wish which he so modestly -dissembled would have been anticipated by general acclamation. But the -meeting waited for advice. - -Nearchus had a different plan to propose. He, as we have seen, had -married a daughter of Mentor’s widow, Barsine; and Barsine was also the -mother of a son by Alexander. He therefore pointed out to the Macedonians -“that there was no need to wait for the uncertain issue of Roxane’s -pregnancy; there was an heir to the throne already born--Hercules, the -son of Barsine: to him the diadem belonged.” But Nearchus was the only -man present who had any interest in this choice. The soldiers clashed -their spears and shields together, in token of vehement dissent; and -Ptolemy gave utterance to their feelings on this point: “Neither Barsine, -nor Roxane, could be mother of a prince whom the Macedonians would -acknowledge as their sovereign. Was it to be borne, that the conquerors -of Asia should become subject to the son of a barbarian captive? It was -better that the throne should remain vacant, and that the persons who had -formed Alexander’s council of state should continue to have the supreme -management of affairs, deciding all questions by a majority of votes.” -This motion however gained few partisans; its effect would have been -permanently to exclude the royal family from the succession: a step for -which few were prepared. - -Thus most minds were turned towards the advice of Perdiccas; for there -was a clear distinction between Barsine, and Roxane, Alexander’s beloved -wife, who was then in the palace, while Mentor’s widow had been left -with her son at Pergamus. It was now the right time for some friend -of Perdiccas to come forward in his behalf, and Aristonous, perhaps -according to previous concert, undertook the task. He observed “that -Alexander himself had already decided who was worthiest to command, when, -having cast his eyes round all his friends who were at his bedside, he -gave his royal signet to Perdiccas. They had only to ratify Alexander’s -choice.” Still the assembly was not inclined to invest Perdiccas alone, -under any title, with supreme power. The result of the whole deliberation -was a sort of compromise between the proposals of Ptolemy and Aristonous. -It seems to have been decided, but not without clamorous opposition, -that, if Roxane should bear a son, he should succeed to the throne; -and that in the meanwhile four guardians should be appointed for the -future prince to exercise the royal authority in his name. Perdiccas and -Leonnatus were to be regents in Asia, Antipater and Craterus in Europe. - -The cavalry--the aristocratical portion of the army--acquiesced in the -resolution of their chiefs. But it was very ill received by the whole -body of the infantry. No motive appears for their dissatisfaction, except -that they had not been consulted on the question, and that they wished to -dispose of the crown. Still it is not clear whether they acted quite of -their own accord, or were excited to resistance by Meleager, who seems -to have been impelled, partly by ambition, and partly by personal enmity -to Perdiccas. The accounts remaining of his conduct are contradictory -as to details, but agree in representing him as the leader and soul of -the opposition. According to some authors, he quitted the council of the -officers after bitter invectives against Perdiccas, declaring that the -people was the true heir of the monarchy, and alone could rightfully -dispose of it, and hastened to instigate the soldiery to insurrection and -plunder. According to others, he was deputed to appease their discontent, -but took the opportunity to inflame it, and placed himself at their head. -We are left equally in doubt whether it was he who first proposed another -competitor for the throne, whose name was soon mentioned in the popular -assembly. - -This was Arrhidæus, a son of Philip, by Philinna, a Thessalian woman, -who is commonly described as of low condition. Arrhidæus was either -naturally deficient in understanding, or had never recovered from the -effects of a potion, said to have been administered to him by Olympias, -whom jealousy rendered capable of every crime. It seems that Alexander, -either through prudence or compassion, had removed him from Macedonia, -though he had not thought him fit to be trusted with any command; and -he was now in Babylon. Most probably Meleager, perceiving that whoever -should raise such a prince to the throne would reign under his name, was -the foremost to recommend him as the sole legitimate heir. To the army -Arrhidæus must have been personally indifferent; but he was Philip’s son, -without any mixture of barbarian blood, and, which probably weighed more -with them, he would be purely their creature. The proposal therefore was -agreeable to their pride and their prejudices, which were stronger than -their regard for Alexander now, as they had been in his lifetime. After a -short pause--perhaps of surprise that a name so seldom heard should have -been put forward on such an occasion--all, as if some happy discovery -had been made, broke out into loud acclamations in favour of Arrhidæus; -and Pithon, who, it seems--having apparently been sent by the council -to soothe them--endeavoured to show the folly of their choice, only -incurred their resentment. Meleager was deputed to bring the prince into -the assembly; and, when he came, they saluted him as king, under the new -name of Philip. He immediately proceeded to the palace, accompanied by -Meleager, and escorted by the troops. The officers, it seems, were still -in council there, and when Arrhidæus appeared, some attempt was made to -terminate the affair by discussion. But as the chiefs refused to sanction -the choice of the infantry, they soon found themselves threatened with -violence, and obliged to retire. Arrhidæus mounted the throne, and was -invested with the royal robes. - - -PERDICCAS, MELEAGER, EUMENES, AND THE PUPPET KING - -Perdiccas had ordered the door of the room where Alexander’s body lay to -be locked, and prepared to guard it with six hundred chosen men; he was -joined by Ptolemy at the head of the royal pages. They were however soon -overpowered by superior numbers. The soldiers of the adverse party broke -into the chamber; blows were interchanged, Perdiccas himself was attacked -with missiles, and blood was beginning to flow, when some of the elder -among the assailants interposed, and, taking off their helmets, entreated -Perdiccas and his followers to desist from their useless resistance. - -[Illustration: WATER CARRIER - -(After Hope)] - -Their mediation put an end to this prelude of the long contest which -was to take place for Alexander’s remains. But the greater part of the -generals, and the whole body of the cavalry, quitted the city, and -encamped outside the walls. Perdiccas did not yet accompany them; he -hoped, it seems, that some change might happen in the disposition of the -multitude, which he might more easily turn to his own advantage, if he -stayed. But Meleager, probably apprehending the same thing, and eager to -satisfy his hatred, urged the king to give an order for the execution of -Perdiccas. This he could not obtain; Arrhidæus was perhaps too timid to -strike so great a blow. Meleager therefore was forced to interpret the -silence of his royal puppet as consent, and sent an armed band to the -house of Perdiccas, with directions to bring him to the palace, or to -kill him if he should resist. Perdiccas had only about sixteen of the -royal pages with him, when his door was beset. He however appeared on the -threshold with a firm countenance, and overawed those who came to arrest -him by the severe dignity of his looks and his words. They probably did -not think Meleager’s authority a sufficient warrant for the murder of a -man of such high rank. When they had withdrawn, he and his attendants -mounted their horses, and hastened to the camp of their friends. - -One eminent person of their party however remained in the city: Eumenes -the Cardian, who had already decided on the course which his own -interests required, and on this occasion gave proof of the sagacity and -dexterity, which afterwards carried him through so many dangers and even -brought him so near to the highest fortune. Eumenes, in his boyhood, had -attracted Philip’s notice by his promising talents; he was brought up at -the Macedonian court, and was employed by Alexander both as his principal -secretary and keeper of the records, and in military commands. He had -risen so high in favour with the king, that he could even venture on more -than one occasion to quarrel with Hephæstion; but, after the favourite’s -death, he laboured, by ingenious contrivances and profuse expense in -honour of his memory, to remove all suspicion that he viewed the event -with pleasure. In this liberality, he showed the greater self-command, as -he was habitually parsimonious. - -Such a man was formed for the times which followed Alexander’s death. -Eumenes felt that he could only be safe in the strife of parties, as -long as he could guard against the jealousy to which a foreigner in -high station was exposed among the Macedonians. He remained, as we -have observed, in Babylon after the flight of Perdiccas, under the -pretext that he had no right to take a part in disputes concerning the -succession; secretly however purposing to promote the interests of -Perdiccas, as far as he could; for he probably foresaw that this side -would finally prevail. He assumed the character of a peace-maker; and his -seeming neutrality gave great weight to his mediation. It was seconded -by vigorous measures on the part of the seceders. They began to stop -the supply of provisions, and to threaten the Great City with famine. -Meleager found his condition growing every day more embarrassing. He had -been called to account by his own troops for the attempt he had made -against the life of Perdiccas, and could only shelter himself under the -royal authority. At length the soldiers came in a body to the palace, and -demanded that an embassy should be sent to the cavalry, with overtures of -peace. Three envoys were accordingly despatched: and it is remarkable, -that one of them was a Thessalian, another an Arcadian of Megalopolis; -so that probably the third, Perilaus, whose country is not mentioned, -was not a Macedonian. The negotiations which followed are reported too -obscurely to be described. It is said that the party of Perdiccas refused -to treat, until the authors of the quarrel had been given up to them; and -that this demand excited a violent tumult in the city, which was only -calmed when Arrhidæus, displaying more vigour than he had been believed -to possess, offered to resign the crown. Yet it does not appear that this -condition was granted. - - -THE COMPACT - -The terms on which the treaty was concluded were, according to the most -authentic account, that Arrhidæus should share the empire with Roxane’s -child, if it should be a boy; that Antipater should command the forces in -Europe; that Craterus should be at the head of affairs in the dominions -of Arrhidæus; but that Perdiccas should be invested with the command of -the horse-guards, the chiliarchy, before held by Hephæstion, in which -Alexander would permit no one to succeed him. This, it seems, was a post -which, at the Persian court, had been equivalent to that prime minister, -or grand vizier of the whole empire. It was however stipulated that -Meleager should be associated with Perdiccas in the regency, though with -a subordinate rank. Of Leonnatus we hear no more as a member of the -government. The compact was ratified by a solemn reconciliation between -the contending parties. The cavalry returned to the city; the phalanx -marched out to meet them; Perdiccas and Meleager advanced between the -lines to salute each other as friends. The troops on each side followed -their example, and were once more united in one body. - -It was however impossible, after what had happened, that Perdiccas and -Meleager should ever trust each other. Meleager probably relied on the -infantry for protection. But Perdiccas had now taken possession of the -imbecile king, who was as passive in his hands as he had been in his -rival’s, and had resolved to strike the first blow. Before he directly -attacked his enemy, he thought it necessary to deprive him of the support -which he might find in the army; and he seems to have devised a very -subtle plan for this end. He suborned emissaries to complain among the -foot-soldiers that by the recent arrangement Meleager had been elevated -to an equality with himself--not apparently for the purpose of exciting -discontent, or of gaining a party among these troops, but to lead -Meleager himself blindfold into a snare. Meleager was soon informed of -the language that had been used against him in the camp, and indignantly -complained of it to Perdiccas, whom he probably suspected to be its -secret author. But Perdiccas was so great a master of dissimulation, that -he completely lulled his suspicions. He affected to sympathise deeply -with his resentment, and proposed to arrest the agitators. It was agreed -between them, the more safely and surely to effect their object, that the -whole army should be drawn out in the adjacent plain, under the pretext -of a solemn lustration, to be celebrated with the old Macedonian rites, -to purify it from the blood shed in the late quarrel. The usage on such -occasions was to kill a dog, and to carry its entrails, divided into two -parts, to opposite extremities of the field, so that the army might be -drawn up between them, the phalanx on one side, the cavalry on the other. -Such at least was the order now adopted by the two chiefs. - -On the appointed day Perdiccas, with the king at his side, placed himself -at the head of the cavalry and the elephants, facing the infantry, which -was commanded by Meleager. After a short pause, he ordered them to -advance. Meleager’s troops were alarmed at the sight of this movement, -for they now observed that the ground was favourable for the operations -of the cavalry, and that, if they were attacked, they should not be able -to make good their retreat without great loss. But, as they received no -orders from their chief, and were quite uncertain as to the design of -Perdiccas, they remained motionless, until a very narrow interval was -left between the two lines. The king then rode up with a single squadron, -and, having been previously instructed by the regent, demanded that -the authors of the late dissensions should be given up to punishment; -threatening, if they refused, to charge with the whole force of the -cavalry and the elephants. - -The men were dismayed by the suddenness of the proceeding; and Meleager, -who now perceived his own danger, had not sufficient presence of mind -to make any attempt at self-defence. Perdiccas took advantage of their -consternation, to select about three hundred of those who had most -distinguished themselves as his adversary’s partisans, and immediately -caused them to be trampled to death by the elephants in the sight of -the whole army, and with the apparent consent of the king whose cause -they had maintained. After this execution Meleager could have no hope of -safety but in flight. He was not arrested on the field, but soon after -took refuge in a temple at Babylon, where he was despatched by order of -Perdiccas. - - -THE PARTITION - -By this blow the regent’s authority was firmly established, as far as -related to the king and the army. A more difficult task remained. He was -still surrounded by rivals as ambitious as Meleager, and more formidable -from their ability and influence. His next care was to satisfy their -pretensions, so as least to weaken himself. A new distribution of the -satrapies was settled by general consent, but probably in most points -under his direction; in some at least we clearly trace his hand. It was -not necessary for any purpose to make a total change; and the general -principle adopted seems to have been to retain as many as possible of the -satraps appointed by Alexander in their governments. The provinces which -lay near the eastern and northeast frontier of the empire, were probably -the least coveted, and in these scarcely any alteration was made. There -were others from which, as they were more desirable, it might have been -more difficult to displace their actual occupants. - -The most important part of the new arrangement was that which related to -the governments west of the Euphrates. Ptolemy, who was not only honoured -on account of his reputed connection with the royal family, but also much -beloved for his personal qualities, by the army, had fixed his eyes on -Egypt, and obtained it with the adjacent regions of Arabia and Libya. -Cleomenes was not removed, but placed under his orders. Laomedon remained -in Syria, Philotas in Cilicia, Asander in Caria, Menander in Lydia, and -Antigonus in the great province which included Phrygia proper, Lycia, and -Pamphylia. But since Lycia and Pamphylia are also said to have been given -to Nearchus, we may infer that he held these provinces with a subordinate -rank--a suspicion which is confirmed by his subsequent relations with -Antigonus. The Hellespontine Phrygia was assigned to Leonnatus--perhaps -as a compensation for his share in the regency, or for the sake of -removing him from court; and Eumenes, whom Perdiccas regarded as his -steady adherent, was rewarded with the title of satrap over Paphlagonia -and Cappadocia. But these countries, which Alexander had never subdued, -were still to be won by the sword from their native ruler, Ariarathes, -who had held them as an hereditary vassal of Persia. - -In Europe the government of Macedonia and Greece, together with that -of the western countries on the coast of the Adriatic, which might -afterwards be annexed to the empire, was to be divided between Antipater -and Craterus--a partition in which Perdiccas may have seen a prospect of -collision between them likely to promote his ascendency. Thrace, or the -whole maritime region to the northeast of Macedonia, a province which had -never been reduced to tranquil submission, and where the Odrysians had -lately been roused to revolt by their chief Seuthes, was committed to -Lysimachus, a warrior of iron frame and unflinching hardihood. There are -two other names which might have been looked for in this list. Aristonous -might have been expected to occupy a prominent place in it, since he -had shown himself a decided partisan of Perdiccas; yet we hear of no -provision made for him. Hence it has been conjectured that Perdiccas -retained him near his person, as one of his staunchest friends. It was -perhaps for a like reason that he entrusted Seleucus--who was destined -to act so great a part in the history of the ensuing period--with the -chiliarchy which had been assigned to himself--a highly honourable and -important post indeed, but one which he might safely part with, as it -could add little or nothing to the power he possessed as regent. - - -ALEXANDER’S POSTHUMOUS PLANS - -[Illustration: PRIESTESS - -(After Hope)] - -There still remained a question on which he felt it necessary to consult -the army, that he might relieve himself from a dangerous responsibility. -Papers had been found in Alexander’s cabinet, containing the outlines -of some vast projects. It would seem that they might easily have been -suppressed; but it was known that they corresponded in part with the -instructions which had been given to Craterus, and therefore they could -not safely be neglected without the general consent. Some related to the -equipment of a great armament--a thousand galleys, it is said, of the -largest size--destined for the conquest of Carthage, and of the whole -coast of Africa on the Mediterranean as far as the Straits, and those -of Spain and the adjacent maritime regions, as far as Sicily: for which -end a road was to be made along the African shore. Others were plans for -new colonies, to be planted in Asia with Europeans, and in Europe with -Asiatics. There were also directions for six new temples to be built in -Europe--at Delos, Delphi, Dodona, Dium, Amphipolis, and Cyrrhus--each -at the cost of fifteen hundred talents, beside one of extraordinary -magnificence to the goddess of Ilium, and for a monument to his father in -Macedonia, which was to equal the largest of the Egyptian pyramids in its -dimensions. - -It must be owned, that there are some points in these schemes which -look suspicious, and which, even if they had crossed Alexander’s mind, -we should not have expected he would have committed to writing. But the -part relating to the temples can scarcely have been fabricated, and -was probably contained in the instructions given to Craterus. The plan -for an interchange of population between Europe and Asia is also quite -conformable to the views which Alexander disclosed in his life-time. This -however, and that of the expedition to Africa, could not any longer have -entered into any one’s thoughts, and might have been silently dropped. -But perhaps Perdiccas apprehended that the sums destined for the other -objects might be demanded from him by his colleagues, and therefore -deemed it advisable formally to annul the whole by the highest authority. -That he forged the project of the expedition, to render the real contents -of the papers the less acceptable to the Macedonians, seems a very -improbable conjecture. All were laid before a military assembly, and -rejected as impracticable or useless. - -During the tumultuous scenes which followed Alexander’s death, his body -had lain in the palace unburied. There are various reports as to the -place selected for its interment. According to one, it was to have been -transported to the sanctuary of Ammon. But the more probable is, that it -was determined it should be deposited in the sepulchre of his ancestors -at Ægæ. And Aristander the soothsayer is said to have declared that it -had been revealed to him, the land where it rested was destined to be -ever prosperous and secure from invasion: which however was no more -than an ancient Greek superstition as to the virtue of a hero’s relics. -Orders were now given to construct a funeral car worthy of these precious -remains, and the general Arrhidæus was appointed to escort them towards -the western coast.[b] - -The description by Diodorus (XVIII, 3) of this funeral pomp is so -gorgeous that as a farewell sunset of Alexander’s day it merits insertion -here:[a] - - -ALEXANDER’S FUNERAL DESCRIBED BY DIODORUS - -“First was provided a Coffin of beaten Gold, so wrought by the Hammer -as to answer to the Proportion of the Body; it was half fill’d with -Aromatick Spices, which serv’d as well to delight the Sense as to -preserve the Body from Putrefaction. Over the Coffin was a Cover of Gold, -so exactly fitted, as to answer the higher part every way: Over this was -thrown a curious Purple Coat embroider’d with Gold, near to which were -plac’d the Arms of the Deceas’d, that the whole might represent the Acts -of his Life. Then was provided the Chariot, in which the Body was to be -convey’d, upon the top of which was rais’d a Triumphant Arch of Gold, set -thick and studded over with precious Stones eight Cubits in breadth, and -twelve in length: Under this Roof was plac’d a Throne of Gold, join’d to -the whole Work, foursquare, on which were carv’d the Heads of Goat-Harts, -and to these were fastened Golden Rings of two Hands breadth in the -diameter; at which hung, for Show and Pomp, little Coronets of various -beautiful Colours, which, like so many Flowers, gave a pleasant Prospect -to the Eye. Upon the top of the Arch was a Fringe of Network, where hung -large Bells, that the Sound of them might be heard at a great distance. - -“On both sides the Arch at the Corners stood an Image of Victory in Gold, -bearing a Trophy: A Peristthylium, of Gold supported the Arch-work, -the Chapiters of whose Pillars were of Ionian Workmanship: Within the -Peristthylium, by a Network of Gold of a finger’s thickness in the -Workmanship, hung four Tablets one by another equal to the Dimensions of -the Wall, whereupon were portray’d all sorts of living Creatures. At the -entrance into the Arch stood Lions in Gold, with their Faces towards them -that approach’d to enter. From the middle of every Pillar an Achanthus -in Gold, sprouted up in Branches spiring in slender Threads to the very -Chapiters: Over the Arch about the middle of the Roof on the outside -was spread Purple Carpet in the open Air, on which was plac’d a vast -Golden Crown, in form of an Olive Coronet, which by the reflection of -the Sun-Beams darted such an amazing Splendor and Brightness, that at a -distance it appear’d as a Flash of Lightning. Under the Seats or Bottom -of the whole Work ran two Axle-trees, about which mov’d four Persian -Wheels, whose spokes and Nathes were over-laid with Gold, but the Felloes -were shod with Iron: The Ends of the Axes were of Gold, representing the -Heads of Lions, every one holding a Dart in his Mouth. There were four -Draught-Trees, to every one of which were fix’d four Courses of Yoaks, -and to every Course were bound four Mules, so that the Mules were sixty -four in number, the choicest for Strength and Largeness that could be -got: Every Mule was adorn’d with a Crown of Gold, and Bells of Gold on -either side their Heads; and on their Necks were fitted Rich Collars set -and beautified with precious Stones. And suitable to so stately a Show, -a vast Company of Workmen and Pioneers (that plain’d the Ways for its -Passage) attended it. - -“And thus Arrhidæus (who had spent two Years in Preparations) brought -the King’s Body from Babylon to Ægypt. Ptolemy, in Honour of the King -met the Corps with his Army as far as Syria, where he receiv’d it, and -accompany’d it with great Care and Observance: For he had resolv’d not as -yet to conduct it to the Temple of Hammon, but to keep the Body in the -City which Alexander himself had built, the most Famous almost of any -City in the World. To this end he built a Temple in Honour of Alexander -in Greatness and Stateliness of Structure becoming the Glory and Majesty -of that King; and in this Repository he laid the Body, and honour’d the -Exequies of the Dead with Sacrifices and magnificent Shows, agreeable to -the State of a Demi-God.”[c] - - -ALEXANDER’S HEIRS - -[Sidenote: [323-321 B.C.]] - -While such honours were paid to the conqueror’s corpse, two of the living -objects of his affection fell victims to the revenge of Roxane and the -ambition of Perdiccas. Roxane, with the agent’s concurrence, invited -Statira and her sister Drypetis to Babylon by a friendly letter, and when -they came she caused them to be assassinated and secretly buried. In the -course of time Roxane was delivered of a boy, who was acknowledged as -partner of Philip Arrhidæus in the empire, and bore the name Alexander -(Ægus).[b] - - -_Arrhidæus, the Imbecile_ - -The sham government of Arrhidæus was now to commence. He must have -been staying with the army. The phalanx no doubt did not believe that -Arrhidæus was an idiot, but probably considered him to be a wise ruler -who was only calumniated: just as even in Denmark, no one would believe -that Christian VII was mad, from fear of wronging the king’s majesty. The -king’s madness was in Holstein such a secret that persons at the utmost -whispered it to one another, and to believe it appeared to the people -like a culpable act; there is something mystic in the belief that such -royal aberration is not madness, but profundity of thought. This may have -been the feeling of the phalangites. - -The cavalry were satisfied, as soon as they had him in their power. -Perdiccas was chiliarchus or administrator, and Craterus was to take -care of the king’s person, as the queen took care of the person of King -George III, while the successor managed the government. Craterus was -assigned to him as a kind of tutor, who took care of him, and always -kept him in order; this shows how imbecile he must have been. Arrhidæus -disappears altogether from history, and he was no more king than his -nephew Alexander, the son of Roxane, and is mentioned only as a name. But -in order to understand many coins and some inscriptions, we must bear in -mind that Arrhidæus assumed the name of Philip. - -The satrapies were now distributed afresh. - -But before proceeding to the history of the satraps, or governors, -we must relate the first of the horrible scenes of that time--viz., -the insurrection of the unfortunate Greeks in the ἄνω σατραπεῖαι (323 -B.C.)--a term comprising Khorasan in its widest extent, partly the -province, properly so called, and partly the whole of Persia, east of -the great Median desert. There Alexander had settled the captive Greeks, -who had served as mercenaries under Darius, as well as other Greeks from -among his own allies; he formed them into military colonies. These people -were driven by despair to revolt, probably when they heard the report -of the Lamian War; they assembled and determined to force their way to -Greece. A Macedonian army under Pithon was sent against them. The fearful -demoralisation among the mercenaries became manifest on that occasion; -he would probably have been unable to do anything against them, if he had -not bribed one of their commanders, who during the engagement deserted -his post. Being overpowered, they now capitulated. Pithon had received -orders from Perdiccas to put them all to the sword, that they might no -longer be troublesome to him. But Pithon had formed a different plan: he -wanted to employ those Greeks as a force, with the aid of which he hoped -to play a prominent part; he was a Macedonian, and had claims upon the -empire which was already beginning to be torn in pieces. Accordingly he -spared their lives; but now his Macedonians rebelled against him--here we -see the effects of the national hatred existing between the Greeks and -Macedonians--for they found that it would be much more advantageous to -kill the Greeks and seize the booty they had collected. They therefore -made a general massacre among them, and took their property. After this -was done, Pithon returned as if he had executed the orders of Perdiccas. -It is as if we read a history of Ali Pasha. Soon afterwards, the -hostilities among the governors broke out. - - -_The Diadochi_ - -The generals and satraps of Alexander, called in Greek the Diadochi -[διάδοχοι, or “successors”], were about twenty in number; none of them -was inclined to play a subordinate part, but a great many could not -entertain the thought of assuming supreme power. Some of them, therefore, -at first kept aloof from the disputes; these were the men who had no -great expectations for themselves. The great rupture at the beginning was -between Perdiccas on the one hand, and Antipater and Ptolemy on the other. - -Perdiccas claimed the supreme power, because Alexander, by giving him his -seal-ring, had conveyed it to him; and Antipater claimed it as regent -of Macedonia, because he looked upon himself in that capacity as the -representative of the nation. He was joined by Ptolemy because he was -far off, for if they had been near each other, Antipater and Ptolemy -could never have become allies. But as it was, Ptolemy in a distant and -inaccessible kingdom considered himself safe, and Antipater could have no -inclination to deprive him of his kingdom. - -Ptolemy showed himself as a very practical and intelligent man; for he -never thought for one moment of making himself master of the whole of -Alexander’s empire, while the others were more or less harbouring such -notions; but he was satisfied with the enormous prize he had carried -off from the lottery, the possession of Egypt; and he only sought such -provinces as could be maintained from his own kingdom, that is, Syria, -Cyprus, and the countries on the opposite coast of Asia, which formed -the monarchy under Philadelphus and Euergetes, who were masters of the -opposite coast. This was very natural, as he could not but wish to secure -himself on all sides. - -Antipater aimed at power, but despised the diadem, still having the -feelings of a soldier of Philip. He was already very far advanced in -years, being the oldest of the generals; and Philip had had none who -surpassed him in ability, and he had honoured him more than any other, -as, for example, by the embassy to Athens. We recognise Antipater and -Parmenion as the greatest among Philip’s generals. Antipater was a man of -the old school, and affected great simplicity. While the other generals -appeared in purple chlamydes, he used the common Macedonian garment, -and a stick, so that no one could distinguish him from an ordinary -Macedonian. Such an affectation, combined with internal rudeness, is -very often found in men of a bloodthirsty disposition. Not even Plutarch -is able to conceal his cruelty. - -Perdiccas was the worst of all. He seems to have been a Macedonian -noble. Although we read little of a nobility and the like among the -Macedonians, and yet he appears in all circumstances as a person of great -pretensions. He was guilty of every license, even the greatest cruelties, -without being bloodthirsty like Antipater, who was another Duke of Alva. -Perdiccas was a purely oriental and unprincipled character; a man of very -moderate talents, to whom nothing was sacred. - -He had no friends; Eumenes of Cardia alone was in connection with him, -and drew close to him. As Craterus was the most chivalrous and gallant -among the Macedonians, so Eumenes was the cleverest, and very much -distinguished by his great talents: he would have been a distinguished -man at any time. He is the only man of that period (if we except -Craterus, who fell early) in whom we can take a personal interest; he -was a true Odysseus, inexhaustible in resources. He never sacrificed a -friend to his own interests. He always obeyed the dictates of humanity, -and whenever in his life there occur actions which would be deplored -in better times, still they are praiseworthy in comparison with what -others did at the time. Being inexhaustible in counsel, he also had quite -different ideas from those of the Macedonians. Had he been a Macedonian, -he would unquestionably have gained the inheritance of Alexander, as far -as it was possible, and as far as it could be concentrated in one man’s -hand. But he was a stranger, a native of Cardia in Chersonesus, and -this circumstance placed him in a position among the Macedonians, which -prevented his ever rising to the height which he might otherwise have -attained. - -Eumenes had not risen, like the rest, by his military talents alone, -but more especially as a statesman. At the age of twenty he had entered -the cabinet of King Philip, and was employed by him for seven years as -secretary; he had then, without interruption, been with Alexander until -the king’s death, so that for twenty years he had been the organ of the -royal government. But he was by no means unfit for the calling, by which -men at that time rose to greatness, for he was also a good soldier. -Alexander had a horse-guard consisting of two squadrons, and one of them -was commanded by Eumenes. If he had been a native of Macedonia, he would -unquestionably have eclipsed all others. He afterwards displayed the very -greatest talent as a general, which is the more wonderful, as in the time -of Alexander he had never commanded an army: he had only acted the part -of a looker-on. He was then forty years old, but he was like the men of -the revolution who displayed their military skill, although no one had -suspected that they possessed any. Eumenes was appointed governor of -Cappadocia and Pontus, but had first to conquer them. Perdiccas, feeling -that Eumenes was very useful to him, assisted him in his conquests. - - -_The Women Claimants_ - -While Perdiccas was aiding Eumenes, the women of the family of Alexander -began a commotion with a view of taking possession of the reins of -government. Even during the life-time of Alexander, his sister, -Cleopatra, the widow of the Molossian, ambitious like her mother, -Olympias, and her whole race, had tried to interfere in the affairs -of Macedonia. Even before Alexander’s death, Olympias quarrelled with -Antipater, and went to her family in Epirus. Cleopatra now endeavoured -to obtain influence with Antipater, but he would not allow her any; it -would, however, seem that she acted on the authority of her brother, -who wished to prevent Antipater establishing himself too firmly, and -therefore allowed her some influence along with Antipater. She seems -to have been the spy of her brother. After Alexander’s death, Olympias -remained in Epirus for several years, until she unfortunately returned -after Antipater’s death. Cleopatra, fearing Antipater, who was master in -Macedonia, went to Sardis, where she kept a princely court, which became -the centre of the intrigues and endless complications of the time. - -[Illustration: FEMALE COSTUME] - -As Queen Elizabeth continued to deceive many by allowing them to believe -that they might hope for her hand, so Cleopatra held out hopes to -several of the generals, partly because she had no confidence in her -own situation, and partly because she expected brilliant results from -her marrying one of the commanders. Thus she contrived to keep up a -hope especially in the aged Perdiccas. This was a cause of great alarm -to Antipater, who endeavoured to counteract the scheme, and to connect -Perdiccas with himself by offering him his daughter, Nicæa, in marriage. -This double intrigue was quite in the spirit of all the transactions of -that time; it has all its meanness and untruth. The result was, that -Perdiccas, through these negotiations, was placed in great difficulties. -He thought it dangerous to offend Antipater; but the latter was not in -earnest, wishing only to put off Perdiccas and to gain time, and thus -both negotiations came to nothing. - -About the same time there appeared in Asia Minor another daughter -of Philip, who is called by some Cyna, and by others Cynane, a -Barbaro-Macedonian name. She was a daughter of Audata, an Illyrian woman, -for King Philip, according to Macedonian custom, had lived in polygamy, -like other barbarian kings. The fate of this Cyna was very tragic. The -fact that no one has ever made the last misfortunes of the family of -Alexander the subject of a historical tragedy, shows how little the -history of that time is known; we have here a most excellent subject for -a tragedy, and if Shakespeare had known the fate of that princess and of -Olympias, he would unquestionably have seized it as a subject for his -muse. - -Cyna had been married to the pretender Amyntas, a cousin of Alexander, -and she had remained behind in Macedonia with her only daughter, Adeia, -who afterwards adopted the Greek name Eurydice, which had also been -assumed by her grandmother, the mother of Cyna, whose Illyrian name was -Audata; Eurydice was a common name in the family of Philip (his mother -also bore it), just as Laudice or Laodice was common in the family of the -Syrian dynasty. The names of the Macedonians are very often confounded; -it is remarkable, that among the Macedonian princes sometimes even -brothers have the same name; two brothers of Antigonus Gonatas, _e.g._, -were called Demetrius. - -Cynane was an Amazon character, having accompanied her father on his -last expedition, and she educated her daughter in the same way. She went -to Asia Minor for the purpose of creating a revolution; she belonged to -Antipater’s faction, and it was, no doubt, according to a preconcerted -plan with Cleopatra, that Perdiccas caused her to be murdered by his -brother Alcetas; she died like a heroine. This made a terrible impression -upon the Macedonians, and was the main cause of the fall of Perdiccas. - - -DEATH OF PERDICCAS - -Soon afterwards, hostilities broke out between Perdiccas and Antigonus, -the satrap of Phrygia, during which Eumenes declared in favour of -Perdiccas. This was followed by a general contest in which Perdiccas -was joined by Eumenes alone; all the rest, not only Ptolemy, Antipater, -and Antigonus, but also Lysimachus and Craterus, were arrayed against -Perdiccas. - -Perdiccas, who was under the necessity of undertaking something, in order -to maintain himself, now (321) undertook an expedition against Ptolemy, -whom he wanted to drive out of Egypt, while Eumenes was defending himself -in Asia Minor. - -This undertaking, which was indeed very difficult, failed; Ptolemy had -very prudently fortified himself behind the Nile, and made excellent -preparations for defending himself. The army followed Perdiccas very -reluctantly, and after having tried in vain for weeks and months to -break through the lines of Ptolemy, a rebellion broke out among his men, -and he was murdered by his own troops[41] (321). His power had lasted -three years, beginning with the death of Alexander; and during that -period he had always carried Arrhidæus with him. Antipater, who had even -before gone to Asia Minor, now came forward in the camp. The generals of -Perdiccas gladly concluded peace with Ptolemy. - -Antipater now assumed the supreme power in the empire, which had been -possessed by Perdiccas, and all acquiesced in it, because he was at the -greatest distance. - -The show-kings were now handed over to Antipater. The unfortunate Philip -Arrhidæus was married to Eurydice, the daughter of Cyna--a circumstance -which is of interest only in the tragic fate of the house of Philip. -Eurydice, on account of her ambition, now endeavoured to throw matters -into confusion, but Antipater took her and Arrhidæus, as well as Roxane -and her child, to Europe with him, and compelled them, as long as he -lived, to be more humble. It may in some respects have been disagreeable -to the ambitious Macedonian rulers in Asia, that the members of the royal -family were in Macedonia in the hands of Antipater; but at the same time -this very circumstance paved the way for their independence. - -A new distribution of the satrapies also was then undertaken, which, -however, was soon set at nought by Ptolemy, who by force made himself -master of Phœnicia and Syria, and expelled the governors of these -provinces. - - -THE FEATS OF EUMENES - -[Sidenote: [321-301 B.C.]] - -In the meantime, there had been going on in Asia Minor the war between -Eumenes, the satrap of Cappadocia, and Antigonus, the satrap of Phrygia, -with the party of Antipater; and in that war Craterus had fallen. He -had come to the assistance of Antigonus, but Eumenes gained a brilliant -victory over him, and Craterus lost his life. But now a storm was rising -against Eumenes: a superior force, for which he was no match, was -assembling against him. He was sometimes successful, but he succumbed in -the end. - -The facts are these. After the death of Perdiccas, Eumenes, together -with the other partisans of Perdiccas, especially his brother Alcetas -of Pisidia, was declared an outlaw in an assembly of the Macedonian -army, which on such occasions represented the nation. Antigonus was -commissioned to carry the sentence into effect, and he also received the -means necessary for this object--but he employed them for the purpose of -establishing for himself a larger dominion. - -Eumenes, after having lost a battle in Cappadocia, in the face of -Antigonus, shut himself up with five hundred men, in the mountain -fortress of Nora in Cappadocia, and disbanded his whole army, in the hope -that if circumstances should improve, his soldiers would be drawn towards -him as towards a magnet. He sustained the siege for half a year. Then, -after having been besieged in vain during the winter, he escaped from the -besiegers, having kept them engaged, until he had collected strength in -other parts. He fled into Syria, and then to the upper satrapies (which -had taken no part in the earlier war) to Antigenes of Susa, and Peucestas -of Persia. A second war then broke out between Eumenes and Antigonus. - -The death of Antipater, which had taken place in the meantime, had -greatly altered all circumstances. He had appointed Polysperchon regent, -and the latter called upon Olympias to come forward again. Antigonus, -Cassander, and Ptolemy (though the last did not do so actively), declared -against him; Polysperchon, on the other hand, put himself in connection -with Eumenes, on behalf of Olympias and her grandson, and called upon him -to take the family of Alexander under his protection. - -Eumenes now appeared in upper Asia with full authority from Olympias. -The argyraspidæ and most of Alexander’s veterans were likewise in those -parts, for what reason, we know not. They looked upon themselves as a -station of invalids, were in the enjoyment of perfect leisure, and lived -in the greatest abundance, like the followers of the Normans in England. -They were all _seigneurs_. They had hitherto joined no party, and lived -like a nation of Mamelukes, almost in the forms of a republic. Eumenes, -provided with the authorisation of Olympias, now applied to them, and -gained them over to his side. The satraps also declared themselves in his -favour, and he obtained possession of the royal treasures. With these -means at his command, Eumenes for years carried on the war on behalf -of Olympias and young Alexander. For years he overcame the jealousy of -the Macedonian commanders, who hated him as a foreigner, and controlled -those old faithless men of the sword. He induced them to quit their -merry quarters for the objects he stated to them, to follow him, and to -risk their own existence for his personal objects; he guided them all -by assuming the appearance that they were all equal, and by erecting a -symbolical throne of Alexander. - -All the Macedonian world was now divided into two masses, which fought -against each other both in Europe and in Asia. Cassander was engaged -in Greece against Polysperchon, and Antigonus in Asia against Eumenes, -still pretending that he was obliged to carry into effect the decrees of -the Macedonian army against Eumenes. - -The power of Antigonus, however, increased immensely through the war with -which he was commissioned: he not only made himself master of Eumenes’ -satrapy of Cappadocia in western Asia, and of other satrapies in Asia -Minor, such as Pisidia and Lycia, but he also occupied Media and the -intermediate provinces, so that his rule extended from the Hellespont to -Persia. He took his headquarters at Ecbatana, whence he made war upon -the southern provinces. In order to attack them he had to pass through -the desert of Rhei and Kom, which separates Fars and Kerman from Media. -Antigonus there undertook the celebrated expedition through the desert, -in order to attack the allies in their winter quarters; but the manner in -which Eumenes discovered and thwarted his march, is much more brilliant, -for he deceived his enemy, and induced him to give up his plan, which -could not have failed, and to make his retreat. In the eighth year -after Alexander’s death, Antigonus concluded the war against Eumenes, -by attacking him with a far superior force. Peucestas had displayed a -miserable character, but Antigonus had conducted the war in a most able -manner. In the end (316 B.C.), he defeated the allies, and conquered the -immense oriental train and their harems, which they carried about with -them; and in order to recover these, they concluded peace with Antigonus. -This was the price for which the unfortunate Eumenes was delivered up by -his own troops, as Charles I was delivered up by the Scotch. Antigonus -would willingly have saved him, but he was obliged to sacrifice him to -the national hatred of the Macedonians against the Greeks. - - -THE EMPIRE OF ANTIGONUS - -This war established the dominion of Antigonus, who through his victory -over Eumenes and the satraps under him, obtained the supremacy over their -provinces, and now was in possession of a large empire. He was the first -who was courageous enough to drop all hypocrisy, and in 306 B.C. assumed -the diadem and the kingly title. No one had as yet ventured to do this, -just as Napoleon hesitated for a long time to assume the imperial title. -Antigonus was already advanced in years, being of about the same age as -Perdiccas, and somewhat younger than Antipater (who was the oldest among -the generals) if we take into consideration the age at which he died in -301 B.C. He was one of the old officers of Philip, and a good one too. He -was, indeed, like most of them, nothing beyond a soldier, but in ability -he was superior to most of them. Among those who contended for the -empire (if we except Eumenes the stranger and Craterus who fell early), -he and Lysimachus were probably the best. Besides Antipater and his son -Cassander, they alone were true generals. Ptolemy distinguished himself -only by his skilful defence of Egypt against Perdiccas; subsequently in -the war against Antigonus, not much is to be said of him. - -In the meantime great changes had taken place in Macedonia. Antipater had -been quiet during the latter years: he reigned in the name of Arrhidæus, -and of the little son of Alexander, who at his death was not yet seven -years old. Heracles was older, but illegitimate, and was regarded as -incapable of succeeding his father: he too was in Macedonia with his -mother Barsine. Antipater kept the royal family at Pella in a state of -splendid captivity, while he himself lived in the greatest simplicity. - -[Sidenote: [319-317 B.C.]] - -But when his end was approaching, he made a singular arrangement -concerning the regency (319 B.C.). Two of his sons were still alive: -the one, Iollas, who was said to have poisoned Alexander, was dead, -but Cassander and Philip were still living. Antipater did not give the -regency and his power to either of them, but to a petty Epirot prince of -the name of Polysperchon or Polyperchon. - - -POLYSPERCHON VERSUS CASSANDER - -This arrangement made Cassander and Polysperchon enemies. As soon as -the father had closed his eyes, and Polysperchon had entered upon the -administration, Cassander quitted Macedonia, went to Ptolemy in Egypt, -assembled troops, and prepared to attack Polysperchon. He was conscious -of his own superiority: he was a man who in great difficulties knew how -to extricate himself; he was a general who undertook little, but was -very cautious in what he did undertake, and a remarkable instrument in -taking revenge for Alexander’s cruelty against the Greeks. Antigonus and -Ptolemy, as we have already mentioned, joined him; though the latter took -no active part in the war, being desirous firmly to establish his own -dominion in the interior. - -A war now arose which was carried on with the most fearful devastation of -unhappy Greece; the ravages were constantly repeated, until the country -was brought down so completely, that it was entirely annihilated. - -This war between the two pretenders to the crown of Macedonia, and to the -guardianship of the unfortunate royal family, however, inflicted even -more suffering upon Macedonia than upon poor Greece. - -Polysperchon favoured Olympias, with whom he was already connected by his -nationality. She was still living among her countrymen in Epirus, whither -she had gone even in the reign of Alexander. The fact that Æacides, -a petty prince of the Molossians, who had been expelled by her, now -supported her, and on this account brought great misery upon his family, -shows that national ties were stronger than those arising from family -connection. Polysperchon, as we said before, connected himself with -Olympias, and called upon her to return to Macedonia, and undertake the -government as the guardian of her grandson, Alexander, the son of Roxane. -She readily accepted this proposal, and both now formed connections with -Eumenes. - -The latter obtained from Olympias full power to act as he thought fit, -as if he were _Lieutenant du Roi_, and this induced the argyraspidæ and -the satraps of Upper Asia to declare in his favour. Olympias, however, -appears still to have remained in Epirus. Eurydice, on the other hand, -joined the party of Cassander, and the feud between the two queens became -the cause of the civil wars in Macedonia. Polysperchon seems to have had -less ambition, and was satisfied with being the first general. - -At the same time, however, Polysperchon also endeavoured to secure -the assistance of the Greeks, and in the name of the king he issued a -proclamation to them in which he declares, in the name of King Philip -Arrhidæus, employing the language of hearty sympathy, that the Greeks -ought not to impute the harsh cruelties which they had experienced from -the generals (Antipater and Craterus) to the king; that he had neither -approved nor known of them; that he disapproved of the change in their -constitutions, and that they should be restored just as they had been -under Philip and Alexander. All the exiled Greeks, moreover, with the -exception of a few, were to return. For the purpose of carrying this -measure into effect, Polysperchon proceeded to Greece. - -[Sidenote: [317 B.C.]] - -Cassander appeared with a few thousand soldiers, whom he had collected in -Asia. With this small force he commenced the war elsewhere described, in -which he recovered the dominion of his father and a great deal more. When -Cassander had established himself there, Polysperchon no longer attacked -him, but turned to Peloponnesus, to carry his decrees into effect. - -While Polysperchon and Cassander were thus arrayed against each other in -Greece, Olympias ruled in Macedonia with a tragic fury. The Macedonians -hated and despised her both personally and because she was a foreigner; -and she knew this quite well. She remembered that the old national party -in Macedonia had regarded Alexander as the son of a foreigner; that on -the other hand, the marriage of Philip with Cleopatra, the niece of -Attalus, had been hailed with general rejoicings, and that she had been -obliged to withdraw with Alexander. She therefore looked upon the real -Macedonians as her personal enemies, and the more terrible her natural -disposition was, the more she felt irritated, and the more she abandoned -herself to acts of infuriated cruelty. The accounts of them are certainly -not exaggerated, for we are moving during this period on perfectly -historical ground, though it is indeed a barren and exhausted ground, -which does not produce a single blossom of poetry. The history of that -time is quite authentic, but we may rejoice that we have no very minute -accounts of it. - -Among the victims of Olympias, we find her step-son, the poor Arrhidæus, -and his unfortunate wife Eurydice, the daughter of Cynane. This Cynane -was persecuted by her in every way as a mortal enemy, and Eurydice was -looked upon by her as the granddaughter of a rival. In early life, Philip -had loved Olympias, but afterwards he was shocked at her, and withdrew -from her; she had become detestable to him. He lived in wild polygamy, -and his mistresses were to her the objects of a truly oriental hatred. -Eurydice, the granddaughter of such a rival, was young, lively, and -equally ambitious. Olympias cherished against her the hatred of fading -age and a malign disposition against the freshness of youth. It must also -be borne in mind, that Eurydice’s mother had been married to Amyntas, -the champion of the party which drove Olympias from Macedonia. Her -mother, Cynane, was a bold woman, and Eurydice was a person of the same -character; she wanted to rule in the name of her husband. - -[Illustration: HYGEIA - -(After Hope)] - -While Polysperchon was forming a connection with Olympias, Eurydice -entered into a relation with Cassander. Olympias seems still to have -been staying in Epirus at the time when Polysperchon went to Phocis and -thence into Peloponnesus. He took Arrhidæus with him on this expedition, -but he must afterwards have sent him back to Pella. Olympias now returned -to Macedonia with an army of Epirots and Ætolians, which was opposed -by Eurydice and a Macedonian force. Olympias made use of the influence -of her own name and of that of her son, for the purpose of gaining over -the followers of Eurydice. The Macedonians were extremely untrustworthy, -and they seem to have been induced to desert to their opponents not -only by bribery, but often by mere caprice; and it is not till the time -when the dominion of the Antigonidæ had become established, that this -faithlessness ceases. Eurydice and Arrhidæus accordingly being deserted -by the Macedonians, fell into the hands of Olympias, who now ordered them -to be put to death. Wishing to enjoy their death, she first intended to -kill them by hunger, and ordered them to be walled up in a dungeon--and -a little food to be given to them. But as this lasted too long, Olympias -becoming impatient, and fearing lest a tumult should arise, ordered -the dungeon to be broken open and the harmless idiot to be murdered by -Thracians. Eurydice was obliged to choose the manner in which she was to -die, and died with great firmness. Olympias now put forward her little -grandson Alexander with his mother Roxane. In the same manner she raged -against the whole house of Antipater, one of whose sons was likewise -killed. - -[Sidenote: [316 B.C.]] - -But the cruelties of Olympias excited discontent and rebellion among -the restless and mutinous Macedonians. When Polysperchon was obliged -to retreat from Megalopolis, most of the Greek cities declared for -Cassander. Cassander thus gained a firm footing in Greece; and, while -Polysperchon retreated, Cassander followed him into Macedonia, where the -people declared for him, Pella, Pydna, and Amphipolis alone declaring -against him. Olympias, with her grandson Alexander, Roxane, and others, -had fled to Pydna. Polysperchon was deserted by his troops, who were -bribed by Cassander, and was obliged to flee with a few faithful -adherents into Ætolia. - -[Illustration: COSTUME OF A YOUTH OF THE UPPER CLASSES] - -Olympias was thus shut up in Pydna; it was situated quite close to the -sea, and there was no one inclined to afford her assistance. Eumenes was -then in Upper Asia, engaged in the war against Antigonus. If Antigonus, -as he himself wished, had become reconciled to Eumenes, the latter would -have been able to act as mediator on behalf of Olympias; but, at all -events, the assistance from that quarter would have come too late. The -party blockaded at Pydna were suffering from the most terrible famine, -and Olympias was compelled to surrender. She stipulated for her life, -and Cassander promised to spare her, but had no intention of keeping his -word. The widows and orphans of those who had been murdered by Olympias -brought charges against her before the Macedonians, who again formed a -_champ de Mars_. Olympias did not appear, and was sentenced to death. -Afterwards, she declared her willingness to appear before a court of -Macedonians; but Cassander ordered her to be executed, saying, that he -must obey the will of the nation.[g] Olympias received warning that she -must prepare for death. She put on her royal robes and came forward, -leaning on two of her women, to meet the soldiers. Even they were so -overpowered by the majesty of her presence, and by the numberless great -recollections attached to her name, that they could not bring themselves -to execute Cassander’s order. He was obliged to commit the deed of blood -to the persons who had accused her, and who were eager enough for revenge -to undertake it themselves. She submitted to her fate with unbending -firmness, neither shrinking from their swords nor uttering a word -unworthy of her birth and fortunes.[b] - -Young Alexander, and his mother, Roxane, were sent to Amphipolis, where, -for a time, they were kept in close confinement, and afterwards put to -death. Hercules, the son of Barsine, was likewise murdered, and that too -by Polysperchon; but when this happened cannot be accurately determined. -Polysperchon now disappears from history. His son, Alexander, continued -to play a part for some time, but it did not last long. - -After the fall of Olympias, all the other places, which had till then -held out, opened their gates to Cassander; and he now was king of -Macedonia, without having the regal title. - -About the same time Antigonus, by his conquest of Eumenes, became master -of all Asia, while Lysimachus ruled in Thrace, and Ptolemy in Egypt. -We need hardly observe, that Antigonus’ dominion in the most eastern -satrapies was merely nominal, or did not exist at all; but, in regard to -Babylonia, Persia, and other interior provinces, the case was different, -for there he really ruled as master. But none of the princes had yet -assumed the kingly title. This was the state of things in 316 B.C. - -In the feuds which henceforth arise among the rulers, a younger -generation of men already appears on the stage, and they can in no way be -compared with the older men who had gone forth from the school of Philip. -Seleucus was one of these younger men; he had not yet distinguished -himself, but may have become acquainted with war as early as the time of -Philip. He was of about the same age as Alexander, and in every sense -an _enfant de la fortune_, who rose only through his extraordinary good -fortune. [His realm and his followers, known as the Seleucidæ, will be -treated in a later chapter.] Antigonus had conquered for himself an -empire by campaigns, labours, and hardships; he lost one eye, and, in -the end, his life. Ptolemy had been a companion in arms of Philip, and -had greatly distinguished himself under Alexander. Of Cassander we have -already spoken; and Lysimachus had been obliged to conquer Thrace, the -possession of which he was now enjoying. - -It had been given to him to be conquered, for it was not a satrapy, -having been under the administration of Antipater. The country had -become tributary as early as the time of Philip, but had retained its -ancient dynasties. The princes of the Odrysians, though dependent on, -and weakened by Philip, still existed; and, in the reign of Alexander, -Thrace was always united with Macedonia. But, after his death Perdiccas -separated the two countries, for the purpose of weakening Antipater, and -changed Thrace into a satrapy, which he gave to Lysimachus, and which -Lysimachus subdued. - - -LYSIMACHUS - -It is uncertain whether Lysimachus was a Thessalian or a Macedonian. He -was captain of the king’s bodyguard, and very distinguished, especially -for his lion-like bravery. When Callisthenes was tortured by Alexander, -Lysimachus, on seeing his frightful condition, gave him poison out of -compassion--a bold thing to do under a tyrant of Alexander’s temperament. -This story shows that Lysimachus was considered as a man of independence -of mind, who preserved his free and proud spirit, when Alexander had -already become an eastern despot. - -He established his empire with small means, and for the greater part of -his life he was reasonable enough to be satisfied with his dominion. -It was not till his old age that ambition overcame him and carried him -away, though, perhaps, not without some deeper motive and the desire to -save himself. He once crossed the Danube in the vain attempt to make -conquests in the country beyond the river; this may, perhaps, have been -only an attempt to keep off the invading nations of the north. He had a -difficult problem to solve, to conquer the wild and warlike Thracians, -whose country appears to us northern people as a fair southern sort -of paradise, but was terrible to the Greeks on account of the severe -arctic cold; and the terror was increased by the savage manners of the -inhabitants. On the coast, however, there were large and magnificent -Greek cities, and the beautiful Chersonesus. We know little of the -reign of Lysimachus, and we are not even informed whether he resided at -Byzantium or elsewhere. In later times, during the war against Antigonus, -his residence seems to have been in Asia, at Sardis or at Ephesus. - - -CASSANDER IN POWER - -[Sidenote: [316-307 B.C.]] - -When Cassander was once in possession of Macedonia, he extirpated the -family of Alexander, without a hand being raised in their defence. -Aristobulus, who wished to interfere, was delivered up and sacrificed. -Hence it is remarkable that he married Thessalonice, the only surviving -daughter of Philip; but this may have arisen from the pride of the -usurper, or from the hope of thereby establishing his dominion. His -government of Macedonia was at the same time a perfect dominion over -Greece, with very few exceptions, one of which was Sparta. - -Thebes had been restored by Cassander immediately after the conquest -of Macedonia (316 B.C.), for, in his hatred of Alexander, he undid all -that Alexander had done. By their possession of the Theban territory the -Bœotians were so much bound up with the interests of Macedonia, that it -became a question as to whether it was prudent to restore Thebes. It is -not certain whether they had incurred the suspicion of Cassander. It -was a matter of great difficulty to induce the Bœotians to consent to -the restoration; in all of the rest of Greece it was regarded as an act -of the greatest justice, and it seems to have been a general national -consolation. - -About the same time Cassander founded Cassandrea, a remarkable proof -that he was a man of practical sagacity. Philip had extirpated or sold -the Greek population on the Macedonian coast, with the exception of that -of Amphipolis and Pydna. One of these destroyed cities was Potidæa, -which had at first been a Corinthian colony, but afterwards belonged to -Athenian cleruchi. Now, on that site, Cassander assembled, not only many -strangers, but all the Greeks, especially those Olynthians who were still -surviving from the destruction of their city, and built Cassandrea. On -the site of the insignificant town of Therma, he founded Thessalonica, -which he called after the name of his wife. This act also shows great -practical wisdom. Thessalonica, situated on a fine harbour, and in a -fertile district, being now extended, became the chief commercial place -in Macedonia, a rank which it has maintained down to the present day. -Cassandrea (now Cassandra) soon became great and powerful; it has often -been destroyed, but was always restored again; and its situation was so -happily chosen, that it naturally always recovered. - -This was the condition of Greece at the time when the appearance of -Demetrius Poliorcetes, the son of Antigonus (307 B.C.), stirred up -everything without doing any good. He had even before been actively -engaged in a war against Ptolemy. - -The defeat and death of Eumenes put Antigonus in possession of a vast -monarchy, extending from the Hellespont as far as India. According to the -early invented principle of the balance of power, the others now demanded -that he should give up a part of his conquests; they even thought it -necessary, for the sake of justice and for the balance of power, that the -countries of upper Asia should form a separate state. - -Seleucus, the child of fortune, was destined to obtain that empire; a -man who was the pet of fortune, but in no way distinguished as a hero or -statesman. In the same year (316 B.C.) in which Cassander had conquered -Macedonia, and Antigonus, after the conquest of Eumenes, returned -from Upper Asia, Antigonus intended to order Seleucus to be arrested -at Babylon. But he escaped, and the Chaldeans now foretold Antigonus, -that the fate of his family was involved in the affair. It was easy -to foretell the beginning, but not the end, for the Seleucidæ did not -overthrow Antigonus. Seleucus now went to Ptolemy whom he urged on to -wage war against Antigonus. - -Thus arose, in 316 B.C., the second or third great internal war among -the Macedonian princes--we say the second or third, because the -recommencement of the war in 318 B.C. may either be regarded as a -continuation of the first or as a second war. In this war, Antigonus -fell out with Cassander, and Ptolemy allied himself with Cassander and -Lysimachus against Antigonus. Lysimachus, however, was cunning enough to -keep aloof as much as he could, and Cassander, too, at first took much -less part in it than Ptolemy. In the beginning it was, properly speaking, -only Antigonus and Ptolemy that were arrayed against each other. - -The war was at first carried on especially in Syria and Cyprus. Ptolemy -had taken possession of Cœle-Syria and southern Phœnicia. Antigonus now -directed his arms against him, and at first generally with success, so -that he made himself master of Syria and a great part of Cyprus; until, -in the fourth year of the war, Demetrius Poliorcetes lost the battle of -Gaza against Ptolemy, of which we shall speak hereafter. - -In the meantime, however, the generals of Antigonus were carrying on a -war in Greece against Cassander, from 315 B.C. till the end of 312 B.C. -It is worthy of remark that both Antigonus and Ptolemy considered the -Greeks of sufficient importance, to endeavour to gain their favour by -proclaiming the struggle a war of independence for the Greeks; neither of -them, however, had any serious intention of this kind. In the very first -year of the war, Antigonus sent Aristodemus of Miletus with a fleet and -large sums of money to Greece, probably with no other intention than to -make a diversion against Cassander and prevent him from crossing over -into Asia. - -[Sidenote: [312-311 B.C.]] - -This brought unspeakable misery upon Greece. Each city was too weak, and -also but little inclined to defend itself; each threw itself into the -arms of the party that happened to be at its gates. Alexander, the son of -Polysperchon, had remained in Peloponnesus, establishing himself mainly -at Corinth and Sicyon; he now joined Antigonus, from whom he received -money and troops. He and Aristodemus also enlisted soldiers in Greece, -and the war now broke out, especially in Peloponnesus. Cassander, forcing -his way into the peninsula, conquered Cenchreæ, the port of Corinth. - -But all on a sudden, Alexander deserted Antigonus, and faithlessly -concluded a peace with Cassander in his own name and that of his father. -By this means, Aristodemus was driven out of Peloponnesus, and now went -to Ætolia, whence he carried on the war against the opposite countries of -Peloponnesus, Achaia, and Elis. The watchword always was, “Liberty and -Autonomy for Greece;” but the towns were, notwithstanding, treated in a -most terrible manner. During the first campaign, the principal scene of -operations was Arcadia and Argolis, and in the second, Elis and Achaia. -Almost the whole of Achaia was laid waste during this campaign, and Patræ -and Ægium were taken. Alexander was then murdered, and Cratesipolis, his -widow, keeping possession of Corinth and Sicyon, ruled there almost as an -absolute queen. - -[Illustration: A SCENE IN SYRIA] - -But Cassander transferred the war into Ætolia; these occurrences rendered -the conflict more and more important, and the Acarnanians, therefore, -beginning to be apprehensive, threw themselves into the arms of Cassander -and the Macedonians. Being now supported by Cassander, they endeavoured -to rid themselves of their connection with the Ætolians. The year -following saw the commencement of the war of Cassander against Ætolia. - -In 312 B.C., Antigonus made great preparations, and under the command of -Ptolemy, a son of his sister, sent an army into Greece, more especially -into Bœotia, which was exasperated against Cassander, for having been -obliged by him to give up the territory of Thebes. In conjunction with -them, Ptolemy conquered Chalcis, and wherever they went, they were -successful in expelling the garrisons of Cassander, who had no other city -in Greece left that sided with him except Athens. But while Antigonus was -victorious there, he was losing ground in other parts; and thus he found -himself obliged, in 311 B.C., to conclude a peace with his opponents. - -[Sidenote: [312-308 B.C.]] - -In Syria, Antigonus had entrusted the supreme command against Ptolemy -and Seleucus to his son Demetrius, who was then still a very young man. -This Demetrius plays a very prominent part in history. He has the honour -of having his life described among the biographies in Plutarch--an -honour which we might reasonably grudge Demetrius, for he is a despicable -person. We know him, partly from Plutarch’s biographies, and partly from -a number of anecdotes in Athenæus, to have been the most unprincipled -and most detestable man in existence: the acts of faithlessness which -he committed against Alexander, the son of Cassander, are not the only -things for which he deserves our detestation. He was also a voluptuary -of the vulgarest and most abject description; the lowest crapule was the -element in the filth of which he revelled; and he was quite a heartless -man, who knew no friendship; the basest creatures, the companions of -his lusts, were his only friends. Cassander was, after all, capable -of distinguishing persons deserving of respect, as he showed in the -selection of Demetrius Phalereus; and so also was Ptolemy; but we know -that Demetrius Poliorcetes lived at Athens in intimacy with the most -abject and abandoned persons of the time. He also showed towards his -soldiers an ingratitude and a heartlessness, which are quite revolting; -they were perfectly indifferent to him, and he regarded them only as his -tools. They accomplished great things for him, but he always sacrificed -them without any scruple, leaving to destruction on the morrow those who -had saved his life the day before. In addition to this, he was a gambler, -whose dull torpor could be excited only by great changes of fortune, and -who staked everything upon a card. He is remarkable for his enormous good -fortune: “fortune raised him beyond all conception, and then deserted -him, but when he seemed entirely lost, she again held out her hand to -him,” says Plutarch, in a verse which he applies to him. - -Such a man would deserve no attention at all, were it not that he acted -a great part, and that nature had endowed him with great abilities, -especially in mechanics, according to the leaning of that age toward the -mechanical sciences. In this respect, as in many others, we may compare -him with a modern person, the regent Philip of Orleans, who, however, was -a far better man. Demetrius was a great inventor in mechanics, and he did -much for the improvement of military engineering: this is a merit which -he did not unfairly assume, but he is fully entitled to his reputation -in this respect. A short time before, a great impulse had been given -to mechanics in the affairs of war, and machines of every description -were improved. Engines, which for centuries had remained unchanged, were -now, partly through the progress of mathematics, and partly through the -increased wealth that could be employed upon them, improved in one year, -more than they were formerly in the course of centuries. - -Demetrius was eighteen years old when Antigonus commissioned him to -undertake the command of an army against Ptolemy. The first attempt -failed, for at Gaza he was completely defeated, and Ptolemy again took -possession of Cœle-Syria. Ptolemy carried on the war in a generous -spirit, for, declaring it to be a civil war between Macedonians, he set -the prisoners free without ransom, whereby he gained the good will of the -Macedonians. Antigonus now undertook the command himself, and Ptolemy -again evacuating the towns of Cœle-Syria, ravaged them. - -Peace was then concluded, but it lasted only for a short time. Cassander -succeeded in inducing Ptolemy, the nephew of Antigonus, who was stationed -in Bœotia, as well as another general on the Hellespont, to revolt. Yet -Antigonus soon recovered those countries. In the same year Ptolemy took -Cyprus and extended his power on the coast of Asia Minor. - -In the year following Ptolemy appeared with a fleet in Greece, having -until then been the ally of Cassander. It was probably the Bœotians and -Peloponnesians that called in his assistance against Polysperchon, and -he had a fair opportunity of being able to say that he was coming to -avenge the murder of Roxane and Alexander. Cratesipolis surrendered to -him her principality of Argos and Sicyon, being unable to maintain those -cities any longer; but it was not without difficulty that the mercenaries -were prevailed upon to surrender: it was effected only by stratagem. The -Peloponnesians afterwards were slow in doing what they had promised, and -Ptolemy himself probably did not care much about the conquest. Hence he -concluded a treaty with Cassander, whereby he obtained possession of -Peloponnesus with the exception of Argos and Sicyon. - -[Sidenote: [308-306 B.C.]] - -Antigonus now sent his son Demetrius with a fleet to Greece. No one there -was willing to sacrifice himself for Cassander, who had no fleet, so -that he was unable to undertake anything against Demetrius. The latter -appeared unexpectedly before Piræus: the harbour not being closed, he -landed and quickly took Piræus, before the posts could be occupied. He -immediately proclaimed that the expedition had been undertaken for the -purpose of restoring to Athens her freedom and autonomy, and he was -accordingly received with enthusiasm. The Macedonian garrison under -Dionysius shut itself up in Munychia, and negotiations were commenced -between Demetrius Poliorcetes and the city. Demetrius Phalereus was -sent as ambassador down to the camp in Piræus: Demetrius promised the -Athenians an amnesty, the city was declared free, and the ancient -democratic constitution was restored; but Demetrius Phalereus was sent -into exile. - -Demetrius Poliorcetes now besieged the Macedonians in Munychia. He -would not go to Athens till he had taken that fortress; it was at first -blockaded, while the preparations for a siege were going on. While the -engines were building, Demetrius marched against Megara, where there -was a garrison of Cassander. The town was taken by storm and plundered, -and it was only at the urgent request of the Athenian ambassadors, that -its inhabitants were saved and not dragged away into slavery. He then -returned to Piræus, where he attacked Munychia, until the feeble garrison -being exhausted, was obliged, after several days, to surrender, and then -departed. The fortifications were razed to the ground, and the place -given up to the Athenians. Athens was now free, but Demetrius, for the -protection of the Athenians, gave them a garrison of his own troops. -After this he stayed for a time at Athens, where he was received with -enthusiasm, as elsewhere described. - -If Demetrius had remained at Athens, and continued the war against -Cassander, he might easily have conquered all Greece; but he was called -away by his father Antigonus, because Ptolemy had made himself master -of Cyprus. About the month of Hecatombæon, Demetrius sailed to Cyprus; -and now, by a brilliant victory of Demetrius over Menelaus, the brother -of Ptolemy, near Salamis in Cyprus, Antigonus and Demetrius gained the -mastery at sea. Cyprus was reconquered. Menelaus, with all his forces in -the island, was obliged to capitulate; and thus the sea far and wide was -in the power of Antigonus and his son. But an expedition which the two -undertook against Egypt proved a failure. - - -THE NAME OF KING ASSUMED - -[Sidenote: [307-305 B.C.]] - -Until now, none of the princes had assumed the title of king, but after -the victory of Salamis, Antigonus took the diadem for himself and his -son. Immediately afterwards, Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus, and Seleucus -did the same; and the years were now counted from their accession (306 -B.C.): these are what are called the Macedonian Eras. - -Demetrius now remained absent from Athens for a period of three or -nearly four years; during this time the city was left to itself, and a -hard time it was. We may easily imagine that Cassander was not idle, -and endeavoured to recover Athens, which was of such importance to him. -He was in possession of Panactum and Phyle, and inflicted the severest -sufferings upon the city. This war must unquestionably be regarded as one -of the chief causes of the terrible poverty in which we afterwards find -Athens, for there can be no doubt that the whole territory was laid waste -during the incursions from Panactum and Phyle. In this war, Demochares -was strategus of Athens, and with her resources alone he operated against -Cassander for four years in a most able manner, until Demetrius returned. - -According to the order observed by Trogus Pompeius--though not according -to that of Justin, who has here quite without judgment omitted many -things--we now come to the expedition of Demetrius against Rhodes, one -year after the unsuccessful undertaking against Egypt. - - -THE SIEGE OF RHODES - -[Sidenote: [305-304 B.C.]] - -The salted and dried fish of the Euxine were articles of great -consumption in Egypt, and it was for this trade that Rhodes was the -natural entrepôt. The consequence of this was, that the Rhodians and -the Ptolemies were natural friends and allies, and that Rhodes would -on no account separate itself from Egypt; its whole existence depended -upon the commercial advantages, which even the first Ptolemy conceded to -them. Rhodes, therefore, was a weak place, in which Demetrius Poliorcetes -and Antigonus might attack the Egyptians; and it would have been an -immense loss to Egypt, if the two princes had conquered the island, the -possession of which was to them of equal importance. - -Hostilities commenced by Demetrius capturing the Rhodian merchant -vessels, which were sailing to Egypt; the first example in antiquity of -neutral vessels being seized upon. The Rhodians paying in equal coin, -captured the ships of Antigonus, who now declared this measure to be an -act of open hostility; and Demetrius was commissioned to lay siege to -Rhodes. While Antigonus was engaged in preparations, the Rhodians, seeing -that Ptolemy’s fleet had been defeated, made an attempt to obtain peace; -but the terms which were offered to them were such as to prevent their -accepting them. Antigonus demanded one hundred hostages, whom he himself -was to select, the right freely to use the harbour of Rhodes for his -ships of war, and an unconditional alliance against Ptolemy. These terms -were rejected by the Rhodians. - -Demetrius then landed at Rhodes. His preparations were immense: the -determination of the Rhodians to defend themselves manfully could not -be doubted, and hence every effort was made to compel them by force. -Demetrius appeared with two hundred ships of war, one hundred and seventy -transports, and many small vessels; he is said to have embarked no less -than forty thousand men, partly sailors and partly soldiers. He assembled -his forces at Loryma, opposite to Rhodes, and during his passage across, -the sea between Caria and Rhodes was covered with his ships. He landed -without opposition, made a harbour for his ships of war, and approached -with besieging engines. The whole island was in the meantime overrun, -the country was laid waste, and all who had not fled into the city, were -led away into slavery. - -While Demetrius was thus encamped before the walls of the city, the -Rhodians were making the most extraordinary preparations. Their citizens -were called to arms; in their enumeration only six thousand were found -capable of bearing arms, and not more than one thousand metœci and -strangers, who were willing faithfully to undertake the defence. At first -they do not appear to have employed mercenaries; but they allowed their -slaves to take up arms, and after the close of the war they rewarded them -with freedom and the franchise. - -This siege is as interesting and as important as the siege of Rhodes -under Soliman against the noble Grand Master de l’Isle Adam in 1522, -which was one of the most heroic defences in modern history. In like -manner, the siege of ancient Rhodes is one of the most glorious -achievements in the later history of Greece. - -[Illustration: TERRA-COTTA URN - -(In the British Museum)] - -Demetrius at last became tired, observing that the game was not worth the -chase. The siege would have lasted a few months longer, and this prospect -made him impatient, as he was losing immense numbers of men and ships. -In addition to this, Cassander was completely gaining the upper hand in -Greece, and Antigonus found that all around, everybody was rising against -him. Demetrius accordingly, on the mediation of Athens and several other -Greek cities, concluded a peace, by which he hoped to save his honour. -It was based on the terms which the Rhodians had been willing to accept -from the first: they were to assist Antigonus and Demetrius in all other -wars, but not against Ptolemy, “and as the wars of the two princes were -chiefly directed against Ptolemy, the Rhodians had neutrality guaranteed -to them.” They were further to retain their city with perfect freedom, as -well as all their subjects. - -Demetrius now returned to Greece. Cassander had been blockading Athens, -while Demetrius was besieging Rhodes; and the latter now appeared with -a very considerable fleet to relieve Athens. He landed at Aulis on the -Euripus, between Oropus and Chalcis, to come upon the rear of Cassander -and compel him to withdraw from Athens. Demetrius had a good harbour at -Aulis. Chalcis was in the hands of Cassander, and had a Bœotian garrison; -but it was a large, desolate place, and was easily taken. In order not -to be cut off, Cassander was obliged to break up, and proceeded through -Bœotia towards Thessaly. He succeeded in reaching Thermopylæ; Demetrius -pursued him, and Heraclea surrendered to him; while six thousand -Macedonian troops declared in his favour. - -[Sidenote: [304-301 B.C.]] - -Demetrius, then entering to Attica, conquered Panactum and Phyle, which -had been occupied by Cassander, and through which he had had Attica -under his control. The Athenians received Demetrius with enthusiasm, as -their benefactor. All that impertinent flattery could devise had been -exhausted; and what was done now had the character of caricature. - -From Athens, Demetrius made several expeditions in different directions, -but the city remained his headquarters. During these expeditions, the -desolation of the country increased more and more, and it is surprising -that Attica did not become a complete wilderness as early as that time. - -In the spring of 303 Demetrius entered Peloponnesus, which was in the -hands of Cassander and Ptolemy; and he again showed himself in the field -as an excellent and active commander. He conquered Corinth, Sicyon, Bura, -and Ægium. Then he undertook an expedition with his fleet to Leucas and -Corcyra. The Corcyræans were enemies of Cassander. While Demetrius was -engaged in those parts, the Romans had advanced to the extreme point of -Messapia, and accordingly were very near to Demetrius. - -From thence Demetrius returned to Corinth, where he convened a congress -of the Greeks, the first after the time of Alexander. He was there -proclaimed hegemon of the Greeks, and in the spring, he proceeded to -Athens, where he was received as a god with incense and processions by -the Athenians, who, being adorned with wreaths, came out to meet him. - -Afterwards Athens had to pay a war contribution of 250 talents, which -Demetrius under the very eyes of the people gave to his courtesans while -he ridiculed the Athenians. Things like these naturally goaded the people -into madness. - -Demetrius was now master of the greater part of Greece. In the following -year he assembled a large army of his allies, and proceeded by way of -Chalcis into Thessaly with fifty-six thousand men, to meet Cassander. -He took from him a great part of Thessaly, and then after both had -dragged each other about without anything being decided, they separated, -Demetrius being called to Asia by his father, because a great coalition -had there been formed against him. In order, therefore, to withdraw -honourably, Demetrius concluded a peace with Cassander, in which Greece -was declared free, and then crossed over into Asia. - - -THE FALL OF ANTIGONUS - -[Sidenote: [301-300 B.C.]] - -Seleucus who was now master of Babylon and the upper satrapies, after -having subdued all Iran as far as India without any effort, had formed, -together with Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus, a coalition against -Antigonus. This is the first instance known in history, of a great -coalition of princes of equal rank and equal independence. Antigonus, who -now possessed only Asia Minor, Cyprus, a portion of Syria and the greater -part of Greece, was thus opposed by all the rest of the Macedonian world; -and it was against this coalition that Demetrius led his army into Asia -Minor. We know very little about the details of the war, but it appears -that the enemies pressed into Asia Minor from all sides. The decisive -battle was fought near Ipsus in Phrygia; it was decided especially by -the admirable infantry of Lysimachus and Cassander. Seleucus had only -Asiatics; the phalanx of Ptolemy was of little importance, and only his -mercenaries fought bravely; but the truth is that in reality he had no -talent as a commander. Antigonus fell in the battle, and the defeat was -so complete, that his whole empire was destroyed. Demetrius escaped -with a small band to the maritime towns of Ionia, but behaved in a -praiseworthy manner. - -The empire of Antigonus was now cut up: the western provinces were -divided between Cassander and Lysimachus, the upper provinces were -assigned to Seleucus, and Cyprus and Syria to Ptolemy, who, however, did -not maintain upper Syria, but confined himself to Phœnicia and Cyprus. -Plistarchus, a brother of Cassander obtained Cilicia as a special -indemnification for Cassander, who himself received Caria and Pamphylia, -while Lysimachus acquired Lydia, Ionia, Phrygia, and the north coast of -Asia Minor. - - -DEMETRIUS AT LARGE - -After the battle of Ipsus, Demetrius had escaped with a few thousand men -to Ephesus, where he had a fleet; and he did not altogether despair of -the success of his cause. Cyprus, Sidon, and Tyre, as well as several -of the Ionian towns and islands, were still in his possession, and he -was anything but an insignificant man. He now displayed great skill, and -drew all his forces together, with a view to establish himself in Greece, -and there again to try his fortune. For he saw well, that the coalition -of the generals who had invaded his father’s empire must soon break up, -and that then his assistance would probably be sought by one or other of -them, which was, in fact, afterwards done by Seleucus and Ptolemy. He -sent the great Pyrrhus first as negotiator, and afterwards as hostage, to -Ptolemy. Pyrrhus had been his companion in arms; he had lost his kingdom -through Cassander, and was now wandering about in the world in the hope -of conquering a kingdom for himself. The expedition of the adventurer -Cleonymus also belongs to this time, or, rather, to a somewhat earlier -one; he was a pretender to the throne of Sparta, from which he was, -perhaps unjustly, excluded. - -From Ephesus, Demetrius sailed through the Cyclades to Athens, where he -wanted to establish himself first. But the Athenians were determined to -avail themselves of the jealousy of the princes among each other, to -secure their independence; and accordingly they sent an embassy to meet -Demetrius, and declare to him, that they would not receive him. - -Athens was now spared for a time, and Demetrius, before attacking the -city, undertook several other expeditions. He first directed his course, -with his squadron, towards the coast of Thrace, gained a footing in the -Thracian Chersonesus, and made war upon Lysimachus, who, in the meantime, -had taken possession of Lydia, Caria, and Phrygia. Lysimachus was not -supported by the other princes, nor was it necessary, and Demetrius -made no conquests there. Meantime, however, a new lucky star was rising -for him through Seleucus, who, having fallen out with Ptolemy, and -being dissatisfied with his share, was ready to form a friendship with -Demetrius. He sued for the hand of Stratonice, a daughter of Demetrius, -whom, however, he afterwards gave up to his son, Antiochus. Demetrius -now sailed with his fleet to Cilicia and Syria, and, in passing, made -himself master of Cilicia, and the treasures which Plistarchus, the -son of Cassander, was guarding there, and then began to quarrel with -Seleucus. For when Cilicia and the Phœnician cities were in the power of -Demetrius, Seleucus in vain asked that they should be given up to him; -and it was not without difficulty that Demetrius escaped from his plots: -a formal rupture, however, did not take place. Demetrius then became -reconciled with Ptolemy also, and that as we have already mentioned, -through the mediation of Pyrrhus. He now again appeared in Greece, with -increased forces. He gained a firm footing in Peloponnesus, though it is -uncertain how many towns he subdued there. - -[Sidenote: [300-295 B.C.]] - -In the mean time, Cassander died, and Demetrius, supported by a -newly-increased fleet, began the siege of Athens. He had then again -fallen out with Ptolemy, who now sent a fleet to assist the Athenians. - -Demetrius blockaded the city by land and by sea, and the Athenians, being -cut off from the sea, were visited by a fearful famine. They fed upon all -kinds of animals, upon indigestible herbs, and the grass which grew on -the Acropolis. An Egyptian fleet, attempting to introduce provisions into -Piræus, was repelled by Demetrius. At length, after an obstinate defence, -they were compelled by the famine to surrender. Every catastrophe brought -the city nearer its downfall, though Demetrius, considering that he was -the conqueror, displayed great mildness. He convened the Athenians, -without their arms, in the theatre, and surrounded the building with his -hoplites. But he was satisfied with having struck them with the horrors -of death, and, having reproached them for their ingratitude, he declared -that he pardoned them. The Athenians were obliged at once to concede to -him the right to keep garrisons at Munychia and Piræus, but otherwise -they fared better under him now, than at the time when as their friend -he had revelled in his excesses. He even fed the Athenians, giving them -grain and other necessaries of life. - -Demetrius now returned to Peloponnesus. During this expedition, he was on -the point of making himself master of Sparta. The Spartans, ever since -the battle of Megalopolis, had taken no part in the struggle of the -Greeks for independence. Sparta had during that period become more and -more powerless, although she was in the enjoyment of peace. That which -now emboldened and induced her to declare against Macedonia, is left -unnoticed by the historians of the time; and it would be inexplicable, -if we did not know that Ptolemy and Lysimachus continued the war -against Demetrius. We also know that down to the time of Cleomenes, -there existed a constant connection between Sparta and Alexandria; -whence we may suppose, that that alliance already existed, and that -all the Lacedæmonians received pay from Alexandria. Acts of hostility -had indeed occurred between Sparta and Demetrius, but they were not of -any importance. It is unknown what forces Archidamus possessed, and -what occasioned him to commence the war. All we know is that Archidamus -was defeated near Mantinea, that Demetrius advanced as far as Laconia, -and that Sparta was now surrounded for the second time with palisades -and trenches, and in some parts also with a wall: Pausanias at least -places the fortifications at this time. He also calls the defeat of -Mantinea, the third great blow to Sparta after the battle of Leuctra -and that of Agis. Demetrius might, no doubt, easily have crossed those -fortifications, if he had not at the moment received intelligence that -all his affairs were in a bad condition, and if he had not for this -reason given up the war with Sparta. - -For Ptolemy had taken possession of all the places in Cyprus, with the -exception of Salamis, which city he was besieging, and which contained -the children of Demetrius. Lysimachus was making himself master of the -Ionian and other maritime Greek towns in Asia Minor, which had hitherto -been under the dominion of Demetrius. The Egyptian fleet seems to have -gained the ascendency; probably because Ptolemy had become master of -Tyre and Sidon, whereby Demetrius lost the means of obtaining timber and -troops. The Asiatic province henceforth disappears from the history of -Demetrius, and he was again in great difficulties. - - -DEATH OF CASSANDER; DEMETRIUS WINS AND LOSES - -But the death of Cassander, and the misfortunes of his family, opened -fresh prospects for Demetrius. Cassander died of dropsy in 297. His -eldest son Philip appears to have been his sole heir, but he died soon -afterwards at Elatea, 296; two other sons, Antipater and Alexander, then -divided the empire between themselves. Both were very young, and their -mother Thessalonice, a daughter of King Philip, was the only surviving -member of the family; they can scarcely have been more than grown up -boys, if the time of Cassander’s marriage with Thessalonice is correctly -stated in Diodorus. Thessalonice was appointed guardian, or she was -commissioned to divide the empire between her two sons. To do this -fairly, was a difficult task. - -[Sidenote: [295-286 B.C.]] - -Antipater, the elder, thinking himself wronged by his mother in the -division, murdered her; and applying to Lysimachus, his father-in-law, -he was supported by him. But Alexander, who was confined to western -Macedonia, applied to Pyrrhus, who in the meantime had returned to his -paternal kingdom, to obtain his assistance; for this purpose he ceded to -him the possessions which the Macedonian kings had in Epirus, together -with Ambracia and Acarnania. But distrusting Pyrrhus, he applied at the -same time to Demetrius. As Pyrrhus sold his assistance, we may suppose -that Demetrius did not give his without some selfish motive either; he -evidently caused Thessaly to be ceded to him, the whole of which had -belonged to Cassander. Demetrius now entering Thessaly, met Alexander at -Larissa. Both intrigued against each other, and aimed at each other’s -life. After many attempts, and repeated snares, Demetrius struck the blow -and caused Alexander to be murdered. - -The Macedonian troops of the latter now had no king; Demetrius came -forward with a proclamation, in which he declared that he had acted only -in self-defence; that his life had been in danger (which was really -true, but all the Macedonian princes were equally bad); and called upon -the Macedonians to submit to him. The troops submitted to Demetrius and -he was proclaimed king. Lysimachus having put himself in possession of -the dominion of Antipater, his son-in-law, gave up his new Macedonian -possession and made peace with Demetrius, who thus became master of all -Macedonia. He now ruled over Macedonia, Thessaly, Attica, Megara, and -most of the towns of Peloponnesus. The Spartans, however, continued the -war against him. - -During these struggles, Demetrius wanted to take from Pyrrhus that -portion of Macedonia which Alexander had ceded to him, and thus he -began to quarrel with his most faithful friend. During his residence -in Alexandria, Pyrrhus had married Antigone, a daughter of Ptolemy by -his first wife; and as long as he lived, he was sure of the friendship -of the Alexandrian court. The detail of the wars between Pyrrhus and -Demetrius cannot form a part of this history, for they are petty and -insignificant. Pyrrhus was allied with the Ætolians, and defended himself -with great skill against an immensely superior force; and after a few -years he was victorious. It was fortunate for him that Demetrius was -just then planning greater things; for he was thinking of recovering -the empire of his father--a senseless idea under the circumstances of -the time. He built an enormous fleet, and enlisted an army which is -said to have amounted to one hundred thousand men. His empire comprised -not only Macedonia and Thessaly, for nominally he was also hegemon of -the Greeks, as Philip and Alexander had been before, and possessed a -number of coast towns in Asia; the parts of his kingdom were very much -scattered about. But he collected his army with immense exertions; his -subjects were fearfully oppressed, and all his dominion was in a state of -ferment. His government was on the whole unbearable to the Macedonians -on account of his pride and his cruelty; they were not a nation to allow -themselves to be governed in the Asiatic fashion. He showed himself -very rarely and accepted no petitions; but once he behaved with unusual -kindness, receiving all petitions and throwing them into the folds of his -garment. Everybody was highly delighted; but when he rode over the bridge -of the Axius, he threw them all into the river. Such things naturally -exasperated all the people against him. - -[Illustration: GRECIAN OIL BOTTLE] - -[Sidenote: [286-285 B.C.]] - -In the end Pyrrhus, called upon by the more distant kings, and being -no doubt invited by the Macedonians themselves, availed himself of the -ferment, and invaded Macedonia with a small force. Demetrius marched -against him; Pyrrhus manœuvred and negotiated with the Macedonians, until -they rose in a general insurrection, refusing obedience to Demetrius and -ordering him to withdraw. He was glad to get away, and went, we believe, -to Demetrias in Magnesia, which he himself had built on the Gulf of -Pagasæ, near the ancient town of Iolcus, and which we afterwards find -in the hands of his son Antigonus. Thence he proceeded into Greece. He -was a great general; his keen discernment as a military commander is -attested by the foundation of Demetrias and of New-Sicyon: the fortress -of Demetrias exercised an important influence upon the fate of Greece. -Demetrius had reigned over Macedonia five or six years. - -Demetrius soon concluded peace with Pyrrhus, and if he had waited -patiently, he would have been certain of his restoration; but he could -not wait, he wanted to decide everything at once, and thus in his -restlessness he crossed over into Asia. He left behind him in Greece his -son Antigonus, surnamed Gonatas, who remained master of a great part of -Greece. His father had retained possession of Thessaly and of some Greek -towns, in which he had garrisons, and the fortress of Demetrias, where he -had established arsenals and wharfs for ships of war, commanded Thessaly -and Eubœa. Demetrius landed in Asia Minor, wishing to undertake an -expedition into the interior of Asia, like a man who has no more to lose; -heaven knows what dreams he may have indulged in of overthrowing the -empire of Lysimachus and Seleucus. It was impossible for him to conceive -anything else but a successful result of his scheme. He accordingly -first appeared with his troops in the Asiatic provinces of Lysimachus, -where he was met by Agathocles, a son of Lysimachus, who successfully -manœuvred him out of those provinces, so that he was obliged to proceed -to the interior. In this manner he dragged his army into Armenia, just -as Charles XII dragged his into the Ukraine. His desponding troops at -length delivered him up to Seleucus, who had surrounded him and cut him -off from the sea. He was accordingly taken prisoner, but Seleucus treated -him with great clemency. He continued to live for a time very contentedly -and happily as a perfectly reckless man; Seleucus, who formed a correct -estimate of him, having given him a large Persian palace with hunting -grounds, etc., in Syria. Seleucus would perhaps have made use of him -against Lysimachus, but Demetrius died in the meantime. - - -LYSIMACHUS, ARSINOE, AND AGATHOCLES - -[Sidenote: [285-283 B.C.]] - -Lysimachus had, during this period, after the murder of Antipater, his -son-in-law, and the last heir of the elder Antipater (perhaps as a -punishment for an attempt upon his own life), been in possession of a -portion of Macedonia; but he had afterwards given it up to Demetrius. -The Macedonians now recognised Pyrrhus as their king; but Lysimachus -invaded his kingdom, and after having reigned alone for seven months, -Pyrrhus was obliged to divide his empire between himself and Lysimachus. -The Macedonians deserting him as a stranger, surrendered to Lysimachus, -whom they honoured as an ancient companion of Alexander, and whom they -regarded as being nearly related to themselves, being either a Thessalian -or a Macedonian. The division, however, between Lysimachus and Pyrrhus -did not last for any length of time; for shortly after Lysimachus drove -Pyrrhus out of his kingdom. He had reigned over Macedonia altogether five -years and six months, partly in conjunction with Lysimachus and partly -alone. - -The empire of Lysimachus had been gradually extended and consolidated. -Greece did not become subject to him; Antigonus Gonatas, who had -received the greater part of his father’s fleet, maintained himself -there with the remnants of his father’s forces, and from Demetrias he -ruled over a part of Greece, although many Greek cities asserted their -independence. Besides Macedonia proper and Thrace, Lysimachus ruled over -Lydia, Mysia, Ionia, Caria, and, no doubt over Phrygia Major also--an -empire as beautiful as he could have wished, “and just of that extent -which Alexander ought to have given to his empire in order to insure -its stability.” His real residence seems to have been Lysimachia in -Chersonesus, in the neighbourhood of the ancient Cardia. With the -exception of Thessalonice, all those Macedonian princes built new -capitals for themselves; Alexandria was at least enlarged by Ptolemy. - -Previously to the conquest of Macedonia, Lysimachus had undertaken an -expedition across the Danube, against Dromichætes, a king of the Getæ. -In the plain of Bessarabia his retreat was cut off, and he, with all -his army, was taken prisoner. The generous conduct of the Dacian king, -Dromichætes, is celebrated in the collection of anecdotes; Lysimachus was -set free, and his power was not weakened by this defeat. - -[Sidenote: [283-282 B.C.]] - -But the royal house was soon to become the scene of a terrible tragedy, -the occasion of which came from the family of Ptolemy. Ptolemy had -divorced his first wife Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater; and his -second wife, the intriguing Berenice, employed every means to cajole -Ptolemy, who was enfeebled by age, and to get the succession decided -in favour of her own son. She succeeded so well that the aged Ptolemy, -two years before his death, resigned his throne to his younger son -Ptolemy Philadelphus, and himself took the oath of allegiance to him. -The first-born Ptolemy, surnamed Ceraunus, betook himself to Lysimachus, -whose eldest son, Agathocles, was married to his sister Lysandra, -likewise a daughter of Ptolemy Soter, by his first wife Eurydice. -Lysimachus, who received him in a friendly manner, was himself married -to Arsinoe, a daughter of Ptolemy by his second wife, by whom he had two -sons. This Arsinoe now had recourse to the same intrigues in the house -of Lysimachus. His eldest son, Agathocles, was already a man of very -mature age (Lysimachus was seventy-four years old at his death) and of -great eminence. In many a campaign he had successfully commanded his -father’s armies; he was very popular throughout the country, and it was -he that was destined to succeed his father. But Arsinoe hated him as the -husband of her half-sister, against whom she entertained a deadly enmity; -and also because he was an obstacle in the way of her own children. She -accordingly determined to deprive him of both his throne and his life. It -must be borne in mind, that in case of Lysimachus’ death she had reason -to fear for her own life, and that according to the practice of the age, -the step-mother and her children would have been murdered by Agathocles -as soon as he had ascended the throne. - -Arsinoe, therefore, calumniously informed Lysimachus that his life -was threatened by his son Agathocles. The latter was at first treated -with insult and persecuted by his father, and soon afterwards killed -by poison. As this made a great impression, Lysimachus caused several -others of his sons to be put to death, and began to rage against all whom -Arsinoe pointed out as partisans of Agathocles. These things produced -a complete state of anarchy both in the house of Lysimachus and in his -kingdom. As everyone felt that his life was in danger, his nobles began -to apply for protection to Seleucus, to whom Lysandra, the wife of -Agathocles, had fled with one of her husband’s brothers. Seleucus had -no objection to being thus called upon to interfere. He marched from -Babylon across Mount Taurus down into Western Asia, and, though chiefly -by treachery, gained a decisive victory over the aged king in Lower -Phrygia. Lysimachus, as at all other times, showed great valour, but fell -in the battle. With the exception of Cassandrea, where the widow Arsinoe -resided with her children, the whole of the Macedonian state surrendered -to Seleucus. - - -SELEUCUS; ANTIGONUS; THE PTOLEMIES - -The whole of Alexander’s empire, with the exception of Egypt, southern -Syria, a portion of Phœnicia, and Cyprus, was thus united under the -sceptre of Seleucus. As he had not seen his native country since -the beginning of Alexander’s expedition, Seleucus now crossed the -Hellespont to take possession of his native land, perhaps with the -intention of there closing his days in peace. But while sacrificing in -the neighbourhood of Lysimachia, he was murdered by Ptolemy Ceraunus, -whom he had protected in his misfortunes with the view, according to -the policy of the time, of having a dangerous pretender against Ptolemy -Philadelphus. The state of dissolution was such that Ptolemy, without any -difficulty, was recognised as king by the Macedonian troops of Seleucus, -and by all Macedonia. He accordingly took possession of the empire. There -was no hereditary family--that was the misfortune. Ptolemy Ceraunus had -paved his way to the throne by murder and ingratitude; but he was in -himself no insignificant man: he was very brave and resolute. What his -morality was will be seen hereafter. - -[Sidenote: [281-280 B.C.]] - -The Asiatic provinces of Lysimachus were quite united with the Syrian -empire, of which Antiochus remained in undisturbed possession, Seleucus, -even in his lifetime, having assigned to him the upper provinces. -Antiochus endeavoured to avenge the death of his father; and a war broke -out between Ptolemy Ceraunus and this Antiochus, who is surnamed Soter, -for all the Macedonian kings bearing the same name are distinguished by -surnames. He was called Soter, for having conquered the Gauls in Asia -Minor. Ptolemy Ceraunus was also at war with Antigonus. - -The war with Antiochus did not last long; for Antiochus was wise enough -to confine himself to Asia, and not to extend his power further. He would -not come to Europe, because he would have been unable to defend his -possessions there. He therefore soon listened to proposals of peace. - -No definite peace seems to have been concluded with Antigonus; he was -too weak to effect anything against Macedonia, and seems to have been -reasonable enough to avoid everything which might have called forth -greater efforts against him. - -Ptolemy endeavoured to establish his power firmly by treaties; and here -our guide passes on to the history of Pyrrhus: Ptolemy tried to form -alliances, renounced his claims to Egypt, became reconciled with his -brother Ptolemy Philadelphus, and tried to win the friendship of Pyrrhus. - -Throughout this period, Antigonus Gonatas was at war with Ptolemy -Ceraunus, Antiochus Soter, and Ptolemy Philadelphus, and carried on a -petty maritime war with them. But during the same period a general Greek -war was carried on against him “with the aid of Egypt.” This war is -mentioned only in a chapter of Justin, by means of which we must find our -way by a careful interpretation; and for this reason the war has been -overlooked by all who have written on the Amphictyons. It had its origin -in the Amphictyony. Justin, who mentions its date, 281, however, does not -call it an Amphictyonic war. The fact is that the Greeks sought a pretext -for uniting their forces, in order to rid themselves of the dominion of -Antigonus, and therefore engaged in a war against the Ætolians, who were -allied with Antigonus. - -It is not difficult to understand that, under the Amphictyonic pretext, -the Spartans again obtained the assistance of the allies, and recovered -the supremacy. Sparta had the supreme command of the army. Areus (or as -the Latins call him, Areas), who was then king of Sparta, as well as his -son Acrotatus, was very different from the earlier Spartan kings. In his -reign Sparta again became a state of some importance, not through his -power but through his name, and perhaps more particularly through his -good fortune. The war was carried on with Egyptian money; with it Areus -raised the armies which he commanded, and the wars continued for a long -time. Egypt assisted with her fleet, but gave no land forces, which were -furnished by Areus. - -This war forms the beginning of another interference of Egypt in the -affairs of Greece, for since the time when Demetrius Poliorcetes removed -the garrisons of Ptolemy Soter from Corinth and Sicyon, the Egyptian -kings do not seem to have interfered in the affairs of Greece. This new -interference tore Greece to pieces, and owing to the subsidies which -Sparta received, the power of that state rose again. - - -PTOLEMY CERAUNUS IN MACEDONIA - -After the Amphictyonic War, Justin passes on to Ptolemy Ceraunus and the -affairs of Macedonia. He reigned two years, or one year and a half, and -during that period he committed crime upon crime. His sister Arsinoe, -the widow of Lysimachus, was living with two sons at Cassandrea; the -Macedonian princesses had such towns as places in which they resided as -widows, and in which, in case of a change of dynasty, they might be safe -against any hostile machinations. Cassandrea quickly rose to prosperity, -and its possession had an immense charm for her brother. If Arsinoe -had placed herself under the protection of Ptolemy Philadelphus, her -step-brother, the latter would have had a very strong place in Macedonia, -where his fleet might have been stationed, and her sons might then have -placed themselves at the head of the malcontents in Macedonia, and have -come forward as pretenders. The simplest way for Ptolemy Ceraunus now -was to cause his sister and her sons to be murdered, and the question -as to whether this should be done or not could not excite any scruples, -according to the principles of that time; the only doubt was, how it -should be done. - -[Illustration: GREEK JUG] - -In order to carry out his plan, Ptolemy sued for the hand of his own -sister, according to the notions of the family of the Lagidæ, who had -adopted the Egyptian views about marriage with a sister. Arsinoe was -at first very timid, and her eldest son, though still a child, foresaw -what was to come, and warned his mother, saying that the whole was a -treacherous scheme. But Arsinoe was a silly woman, who allowed herself to -be deceived by the prospect of becoming a queen, just as afterwards Nicæa -allowed herself to be gained over by Antigonus Gonatas. She confided in -him, opened the gates of the fortress, and admitted him into the town. -But now the clouds vanished from her eyes, and she discovered too late -what his intentions were. Ptolemy treacherously took possession of the -gates of the town, and the first thing he did was to murder the two boys -before the eyes of their mother; Arsinoe herself was stripped of all -her ornaments (for the avarice of those men was as great as their other -vices), and ignominiously sent to Samothrace. She afterwards returned -to Egypt, where she spent the remainder of her life. The history of -that period reveals to us an interesting but horrible spectacle; it is -by no means as monotonous or as unimportant as we are easily tempted to -imagine. - -This crime of Ptolemy Ceraunus was soon followed by its punishment--the -arrival of the Gauls as previously described. - -Ptolemy drew his forces together, but foolishly declined the auxiliaries -offered to him by the Dardanians, and thoughtlessly ventured upon a -battle, the result of which was the same as that of the battle on the -Allia. No army could resist the vehemence of the Celts, without having -been previously accustomed to their appearance and their horrid war -cries, and without having learned to sustain the shock with which the -intoxicated and infuriated Celts rushed to battle. Familiarity with these -things alone rendered resistance possible. Ptolemy, with all his crimes, -was an able warrior; he fought bravely, until being severely wounded, he -fell into the hands of the Gauls who murdered him. - - -ANARCHY IN MACEDONIA - -[Sidenote: [280-277 B.C.]] - -We know nothing of the consequences of this victory, except that there -followed a state of anarchy in Macedonia, which lasted four years. A -panic spread over the whole country, and even a number of towns no -doubt succumbed to the Gauls; the open country was thoroughly inundated -by the Gauls, and all the population was put to the sword or dragged -into slavery, as is usually done by the Tartars and Turks, the latter -of whom, in 1683, carried away from Austria no less than two hundred -thousand men. There was no heir to the throne, for Ptolemy had left no -issue; the families of Cassander and Lysimachus were extirpated, and -Pyrrhus happened to be in Italy; civil disturbances breaking out among -the Macedonians, whom the death of their king had left to themselves, -completed the misfortune. One Meleager, a brother of Ptolemy Ceraunus, -came forward as king, and then Antipater, a son of Philip, the brother -of Cassander; but neither was able to maintain himself on account of the -divisions among the Macedonians. What became of Meleager is uncertain, -but Antipater afterwards appears again. - -In these circumstances, Sosthenes, as we have seen, assembled an army, -and successfully resisted the enemy. His exploits attracted so much -attention that the Macedonians proclaimed him their king. But he did not -accept the royal title for himself, but only demanded that they should -take the oath of allegiance to him as a strategus; he is, however, -enumerated among the kings of Macedonia. His modesty does him honour. -When the barbarians had murdered and plundered to their hearts’ content, -they gradually retreated, and Sosthenes restored a portion of Macedonia. -But two years later, there followed a fresh invasion of the barbarians -on their expedition to Delphi; he met them with all his forces, but the -battle was lost, and the brave and worthy man died in consequence of -illness, 279. - -There now followed again a state of anarchy. Several pretenders arose -against one another, who are mentioned in the fragments of Porphyrius -on Macedonian history; Antipater came forward again, then Ptolemy a son -of Lysimachus, Arrhidæus, and Antigonus. Antipater appears for a time -to have had the upper hand, at least he was in possession of Macedonia -at the time when Antigonus Gonatas gained the sovereignty. Among the -pretenders we also find Eurydice, the daughter of Lysimachus, and -widow of Antipater, the son of Cassander; she, being in possession of -Cassandrea, restored its inhabitants to freedom. This must have happened -after 280, when it was yet in the hands of Ptolemy Ceraunus, and before -277, in which year Antigonus Gonatas overpowered his competitors. We -should scarcely know anything about that period, had not fortunately a -kind providence preserved some isolated statements here and there, and in -Eusebius the excerpts from Porphyrius on the chronology of the Macedonian -kings. - -Four years of perfect misery thus passed away, until Antigonus Gonatas, -after having concluded peace with Antiochus Soter, proceeded from Greece -and Thessaly to the coast of Macedonia, and was readily recognised by the -Macedonians (277). He restored the kingdom of Macedonia. From a Greek -point of view, as well as from that of common humanity, we can only -detest him; but, as far as the Macedonian nation is concerned, he was -a benefactor--a real Camillus, and he was even more to Macedonia than -Camillus was to Rome. - -The expedition of the Gauls against Delphi was contemporary with the -second campaign of Pyrrhus against the Romans, and for years he did -not allow himself to be induced by these dangers to return across the -Adriatic, although he became more inclined to make peace. During that -period Antigonus made himself master of the vacant throne of Macedonia. - -The reign of Antigonus Gonatas is quite obscure; there is scarcely any -other period in history which is equally so. It is a remarkable period, -and the long reign of thirty-six years was not without great events. - - -ANTIGONUS GONATAS - -He was the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes and Phila, the daughter of -Antipater, so that through his mother he was a grandson of Antipater, -and a step-brother of Craterus, the son of Craterus. Antigonus had not -recovered Macedonia till after the lapse of ten years. In the interval -he had ruled over a very scattered empire, and he seems to have resided -at Demetrias in Magnesia. Whether during that period he was still in -possession of Corinth and Chalcis, or whether they were already in -the hands of Craterus, we cannot say with certainty. He was, however, -master of a part of Thessaly. It was not till 277 that he became king of -Macedonia. Chronology here is in the most terrible confusion. - -[Sidenote: [277-266 B.C.]] - -Even his conquest of Macedonia has not come down to us in any connected -narrative, and we can only guess the connection. Macedonia was overcome -by Gauls, and had no legitimate ruler, Antipater being only a usurper. -Antigonus must have come by sea, and have offered himself as king to -the Macedonians. After he was landed and was encamped near Lysimachia, -he came in contact with the Gauls, who were in possession of the open -country. While still encamped on the coast, he tried to conclude peace -with them; but they were as faithless as they were uncivilised, and at -the most critical moment he learned that they were treacherously marching -against him. Abandoning his camp, he withdrew to his ships, while a part -of his army remained concealed in a forest; they then fell upon his camp, -intoxicated themselves, and when they, engaged in plunder, had fallen -into disorder, and were overladen with food and drink, Antigonus attacked -and defeated them. This victory at once raised him very high in public -estimation, and gained for him great repute. He then conquered Antipater, -and established himself as king of Macedonia, though assuredly not of -Macedonia in its whole extent. The interior at first did not belong to -him, and was still occupied by the Gauls. - -To Macedonia he was a very beneficent ruler, and he showed himself to be -an extremely prudent, thoughtful, and resolute character. - -At the very beginning of his reign there occurred a war, which Antigonus, -for the recovery of Macedonia, carried on against Apollodorus, the tyrant -of Cassandrea, a man whose name is interesting at a time when Greek -history cannot point to any other person of importance. - -This was the first success of Antigonus, and he also extended his -dominion in Greece; but the Athenians maintained themselves against him. - -Pyrrhus then returned from Italy after an absence of seven years; he was -highly indignant at Antigonus, of whom he had demanded assistance against -Italy, and who had imprudently refused it. Antigonus went to meet Pyrrhus -as far as the passes of the Aous--where afterwards Antigonea was founded. -Pyrrhus defeated him in a battle of some importance; during his retreat, -the Gauls who were to protect Antigonus were nearly all cut to pieces, -and the Macedonian phalanx, deserting Antigonus, proclaimed Pyrrhus -king. Pyrrhus was thus, for a time, king of Macedonia, and Antigonus was -confined to a few places on the seacoast, Thessalonica, Cassandrea, and -Thessaly. - -Pyrrhus now marched into Greece, and perished at Argos whither Antigonus -had followed him with an army. - -Antigonus was then stationed in the heart of Peloponnesus with an armed -force. He availed himself of the opportunity of making himself master of -the peninsula and of constituting it anew according to his own mind. Not -being able to place garrisons everywhere, he gave the government in all -towns which surrendered to him, to his partisans, and established tyrants -who were ready to exert their power for his interests. Hence rebellions -sometimes occurred when Antigonus was absent. We may mention particularly -the overthrow of Aristotimus of Elis, which was brought about by a heroic -conspiracy headed by a childless old man; this is one of the noble -occurrences in dying Greece. - - -THE CHREMONIDEAN WAR - -Athens, and Sparta under its king, Areus, were apparently allied with -the Ætolians and with king Ptolemy against Antigonus. The friendship -which the war of Pyrrhus had brought about between Antigonus and the -Spartans, was of short duration; the Antigonids and Ptolemies were and -remained mortal enemies, and thus the Spartans, being the allies of -Ptolemy, became again involved in a war against Antigonus. We do not know -how Athens was drawn into this war, whether she had imprudently formed -an alliance with Ptolemy, or whether Antigonus had sought a quarrel -with her. But an alliance did exist between Athens and Ptolemy, and -an Egyptian fleet was stationed near Attica to support Athens by sea. -Attica was cruelly ravaged by incursions from Bœotia, and Athens itself -was besieged and often blockaded. This war lasted for many years, and -completed the misery of Athens, as much as the siege and conquest of -Totila completed the destruction of Rome. - -This war in Attica is called the Chremonidean War, because Chremonides, -an Athenian, was the soul of it. - -We know only very little about this war. Ptolemy sent a fleet under the -admiral Patroclus to the assistance of the Athenians; and while he was -to land and relieve Athens from the sea side, Areus, with the Spartans -and his allies, was to attack the Macedonians and oblige them to raise -the siege on the land side. But Areus was too slow. The two parties -thus being unable to come to an understanding, returned home without -having effected anything. After a very long siege, during which Ptolemy -Philadelphus, with all his good intentions, effected nothing, Athens -being completely exhausted and helpless, was obliged to capitulate. - - -PYRRHUS’ SON TAKES MACEDONIA - -[Sidenote: [265-239 B.C.]] - -Among the various changes of that period, we may mention the transitory -conquest of Macedonia by Alexander II, of Epirus, during the Chremonidean -war. This Alexander was the only one of the three sons of Pyrrhus that -survived his father, of whom he was not unworthy. After his father’s -death, he remained in the undisturbed possession of the country. He -greatly resembled his father, and was, in fact, almost a copy of him, -although with feebler features. He also possessed the intellectual -culture of his father, and was, like him, an author. Alexander had the -same restlessness as his father, but he was not a gambler in the same -degree as his father, who staked everything on one throw. While Antigonus -was deeply involved in the war with Greece, Alexander invaded Macedonia, -which was then still so weak (and it was not yet so much attached to the -new dynasty as it was afterwards under Philip, the grandson of Antigonus) -that the Macedonian troops deserted to him, and Alexander was recognised -as king without difficulty. But he did not maintain the new acquisition. -Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, who was then still very young, assembled -a fresh army, attacked him, and recovered Macedonia from him, just as -Charles XII, in his youth, so brilliantly repelled a similar attack. -Demetrius pursued Alexander himself into Epirus, so that the latter was -obliged to take refuge in Acarnania, and returned to his kingdom only -with the assistance of the Ætolian towns. Afterwards, Alexander of Epirus -observed indeed a hostile policy towards Macedonia, but took care not to -become involved in a war with it. His kingdom of Epirus was consolidated, -and had the same extent in which Pyrrhus had left it to him, and he was -allied with the Ætolians. - -Trogus says that after the subjugation of Athens, about 264, and after -the death of Areus, Antigonus had to carry on a war with Alexander, -the son of his brother. This Alexander was the son of Craterus, a -half-brother of Antigonus, by Phila. - -We will not decide whether the statement that Antigonus poisoned -Alexander, is true or not; but there can be no doubt that he gained -possession of Corinth by treachery and gained a secure footing in the -Peloponnesus. But through the carelessness of the aged Antigonus, whose -thoughts turned away from Greece to the restoration of Macedonia, the -league of the Achæan towns was revived and gained fresh strength. -Antigonus became the second founder of the Macedonian kingdom, but the -more he strengthened his own country the more he neglected Greece. Aratus -of Sicyon, as we have already seen, surprised Corinth and expelled the -Macedonian garrison. The loss of Corinth was a death-blow to Antigonus, -for through it he lost his dominion over Peloponnesus. The Ætolians, -thinking themselves thus endangered, allied themselves with Antigonus. -The Achæans had received considerable support from Ptolemy Euergetes. -Antigonus died at the age of seventy-three and was succeeded by his son -Demetrius, whose reign was inglorious and unfortunate for Macedonia. -The greatest event of the reign of Demetrius is his great war for the -possession of Epirus which he fought with the Ætolians. - -[Sidenote: [242-232 B.C.]] - -Alexander of Epirus, the son of the great Pyrrhus, left behind him five -children--two sons, Pyrrhus and Ptolemy, and three daughters. At his -death his sons were yet very young, and his widow Olympias, who was at -once his sister and his wife, according to the detestable custom of -the Ptolemies, acted as guardian of the children. Alexander’s kingdom -comprised all Epirus to the extent which his father had possessed, and -the part of Acarnania which had fallen to his share at the time when the -country was divided between him and the Ætolians. But his relation to the -Ætolians was insecure, and Olympias was not without apprehensions; it is -possible that symptoms may have already been visible in Epirus of the -ferment which afterwards manifested itself in so fearful a manner, and it -is not unlikely that the malcontents may have applied to the Ætolians. -Olympias alone being unable to offer any resistance to the Ætolians, -sought the protection of the Macedonians by endeavouring to effect a -marriage between one of her daughters (whose name is misspelt Ptia; -we must no doubt read Phthia) with Demetrius of Macedonia. Demetrius -accepted the offer, although he was already married to the Syrian -princess Stratonice, a sister of Antiochus Theos, whom he now divorced in -order to marry Phthia. - -Stratonice, leaving Demetrius, went to Asia Minor, as Justin, our only -authority, relates; the divorce, however, did not lead to a war between -Macedonia and Syria, because the latter country was too weak. But in -Syria itself that fury of a woman created great mischief. She proceeded -to the court at Antioch, offering her hand to Seleucus Callinicus; and -when he rejected the offer, she induced the restless Antiochians by -her intrigues to recognise her as their queen. Seleucus happened to -be engaged in an expedition against the upper satrapies, and when he -returned, he conquered Stratonice. Being now deserted by the Antiochians, -she was taken prisoner and put to death. - -The marriage of Phthia with Demetrius then became the occasion of -great confusion and misfortune, by dragging him into the war with the -Ætolians. The latter availed themselves of the forlorn state of Epirus -for the purpose of attacking the Epirot portion of Acarnania, and making -themselves masters of the whole country. Demetrius hastened to support -the Epirots, and thus arose a war between the Macedonians and Ætolians, -in which the latter joined the Achæans, against whom they otherwise -entertained an invincible aversion. This is the most brilliant war that -was ever carried on by the Greeks against the Macedonians, but we know -nothing of its separate occurrences. Whether the war was brought to a -close by the conclusion of a truce or otherwise, is unknown. - -There never was a moment since the Lamian war, at which the recovery of -the national independence of the Greeks was so near at hand as after the -death of Demetrius. He died during an expedition against the Dardanians, -after a reign of ten years, leaving behind him Philip, a boy of between -five and six years old, just at the time when the Romans, for the first -time, appeared with their armies on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.[g] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[41] [Diodorus describes vividly how Perdiccas tried to cross the Nile; -part of his army crossing safely trod away the sand and hundreds who -followed were lost. Perdiccas then recalled the vanguard and they were -drowned by hundreds. Enraged at this loss of two thousand lives “without a -stroke stricken,” a body of knights killed him in his tent.] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LX. AFFAIRS IN GREECE PROPER AFTER ALEXANDER’S DEATH - - -The preceding chapter has dealt with the affairs of the post-Alexandrian -epoch, with chief reference to the outlying territories of the disrupting -empire. We must now take up the trend of affairs in Greece proper, and -from the Grecian standpoint. Something of this has necessarily been dealt -with incidentally in the preceding chapter, but a certain amount of -repetition is essential to clearness. We are now back in Greece, and are -to witness the effect produced at Athens by the death of Alexander. - - -THE LAMIAN WAR - -[Sidenote: [323 B.C.]] - -We have seen that the report of the great conqueror’s demise was at -first disbelieved. The hearers hoped, but doubted. When the report -was confirmed, the effect was electric.[a] At once there was an end -of hesitation and secrecy. The popular feeling burst forth, like a -flood long pent up. Phocion, and the orators of the Macedonian party, -endeavoured in vain to stem it. Their influence was gone--as Demades, -before long, experienced to his cost. None were listened to but those -who recommended the most decided and vigorous measures. It was resolved -without delay to send a supply of arms and money to Leosthenes for his -levies at Tænarus, with directions no longer to make a secret of the -object for which they were destined. The remainder of the treasure of -Harpalus, and the penalties which had been recovered, furnished the means. - -It was very important, now that a prospect was once more opened of a -general confederacy among the Greeks for a national cause, that Athens -should immediately make her determination known as widely as possible. By -another decree, the people declared itself ready to assert the liberty -of Greece, and to deliver the cities which were held by Macedonian -garrisons; for this purpose a fleet was to be equipped of forty trireme -galleys, and two hundred of the larger size, with four banks of oars. -All the citizens under forty years of age were to arm: those of seven -tribes to prepare for foreign service, the rest to remain at home for -the defence of Attica. Lastly, envoys were appointed to the principal -states of Greece, to announce that Athens was again, as in the days of -her ancient glory, about to place herself in the front of the battle with -the common enemy, and to set her last resources, men, money, and ships, -on the venture; and to exhort all who wished for independence, to follow -her example. - -The success of the Athenian negotiations appears not to have been so -great in Peloponnesus as in the northern states, though these were -exposed to the enemy’s first attacks. Sparta, Arcadia, and Achaia kept -aloof from the struggle to the end--whether restrained by jealousy of -Athens, or by the remembrance of the last unfortunate contest with -Macedonia. Messene, Elis, Sicyon, Phlius, Epidaurus, Trœzen, and Argos -joined the confederacy; but even of these, several appear to have held -back until they were encouraged by the first success of the other allies. -In northern Greece, Leosthenes himself was one of the most active and -successful envoys. As soon as he had completed the equipment of his -levies at Tænarus, leaving them, it seems, under the command of an -inferior officer, he went over to Ætolia. He found the Ætolians, who had -been alarmed and incensed by Alexander’s threats about Œniadæ, heartily -inclined to the national cause, and obtained a promise of seven thousand -men. He then proceeded to solicit aid from Locris, Phocis, and others of -the neighbouring states. Almost everywhere, from the borders of Macedonia -to Attica, a good spirit prevailed. The Dolopians, the mountaineers -of Œta, all the towns of Doris, Carystus in Eubœa, the Locrians and -Phocians, many of the tribes in the western valleys of Pindus, as the -Ænianians, Alyzæans, and Athamantians, the Leucadians, and a part at -least, it seems, of the Acarnanians, sent their contingents. Even from -beyond the borders of Greece, the allies received some auxiliaries: from -the Molossian chief, Aryptæus, who, however, afterwards deserted and -betrayed them, and in very small number from Illyria and Thrace. But the -policy by which Thebes had been destroyed, and its territory divided -among the Bœotian towns, was now attended with an effect more disastrous -to Greece than the conqueror could have foreseen. It was known that the -success of the Greeks would be followed by the restoration of Thebes--the -Theban exiles probably formed a strong body in the Greek army; and -hence the Bœotians, though surrounded on all sides by the forces of the -confederacy, zealously adhered to the Macedonian cause, which was that of -their private interest, and their inveterate hatred to the fallen city. - -Antipater received the tidings of Alexander’s death--to him no mournful -event--nearly at the same time with those of the movements in Greece. -His situation was one of great difficulty and danger. The whole force -immediately at his disposal was small, and, if he marched against -Greece, it would be necessary to leave a part of it for the protection -of Macedonia. Nevertheless Antipater determined not to wait for -reinforcements nor to remain on the defensive, but to seek the enemy. -The force which he was able to bring into the field amounted to no more -than thirteen thousand foot, and six hundred horse. It might seem that -he, rather than the Athenians, was acting rashly, when, with so small an -army, he ventured to invade Greece: and perhaps he relied somewhat too -confidently on the superiority of the Macedonian discipline and tactics, -and on the recollection of his victory over Agis. It must however be -observed, that he calculated on the support of the Thessalians, and -probably of some other northern states; and he might hope by a rapid -movement to crush the confederacy, before it had collected its forces, or -at least to prevent it from receiving fresh accessions of strength. He -had also ordered Sippas, whom he left to supply his place in Macedonia, -to levy troops with the utmost diligence, and may have expected to be -speedily reinforced by these recruits. His coffers were well filled, for -he had received a large supply of treasure from Alexander; and the fleet -which had brought it over, consisting of 110 galleys, remained with him, -and was now ordered to attend the operations of the army. - -Leosthenes was elected commander-in-chief, not more in honour of Athens -than on account of the confidence which was reposed in his abilities. -The Athenians could spare no more than five thousand infantry, and five -hundred cavalry, of Attic troops; to these they added two thousand -mercenaries. But now the Bœotians, encouraged perhaps by the tidings of -Antipater’s approach, collected their forces to oppose the passage of -this little army, and encamped near Platæa, no doubt in very superior -numbers, to watch the passes of Cithæron. Leosthenes, apprised of their -movement, hastened with a division of his troops to the relief of his -countrymen, effected a junction with them, and gave battle to the enemy. -He gained a complete victory, raised a trophy, and returned, with this -happy omen of more important success, to his camp. - -Antipater was joined on his march by a strong body of Thessalian cavalry, -under Menon of Pharsalus, which gave him, in this arm, a decided -advantage over the allies. He drew up his forces, it seems, in the vale -of the Sperchius, and offered battle. Leosthenes did not wait to be -attacked. It is possible that he may have had a secret understanding with -the Thessalian general. But his army was thirty thousand strong, and it -may have been the sight of his superior force that fixed Menon’s wavering -inclination. The fortune of the day was decided by the Thessalian -cavalry, which went over in the heat of the battle to the Greeks. We are -not informed what loss Antipater suffered, but he did not think it safe -to attempt to retreat through Thessaly. He looked about for the nearest -place of refuge, and threw himself into the town of Lamia--which stood in -a strong position on the south side of Mount Othrys, about three miles -from the sea--began to repair the fortifications, and laid in a supply of -arms and provisions furnished perhaps by the fleet. His only remaining -hope was that he might be able to sustain a siege, until succours should -arrive. Leosthenes immediately proceeded to fortify a camp near the town, -and after having in vain challenged the enemy to a fresh engagement, made -several attempts to take it by assault. But the place was too strong, the -garrison too numerous: the assailants were repulsed with the loss of many -lives; and at length he found himself obliged to turn the siege into a -blockade. - -It was the first advantage that had been gained for many years over the -Macedonian arms, which were beginning perhaps to be thought invincible; -and it had certainly reduced an enemy, late the master of Greece, to -a state of extreme distress and danger. The confidence of the people -was raised to its utmost height by an embassy from Antipater, by which -he sued for peace. We are not informed what terms he proposed, but his -overtures were probably treated as a sign of despair. The people looked -upon him as already in their power, and demanded that he should surrender -at discretion. Yet they did not relax their efforts, but made use of the -advantage they had gained to procure additional strength for the common -cause. Polyeuctus was sent with other envoys into Peloponnesus, to rouse -the states which had hitherto remained neutral, to action. Here he was -opposed by some of the traitors whom Athens had lately cast out from -her bosom; but he was seconded by the voluntary exertions of his old -colleague Demosthenes. - -As soon as Alexander’s death released the Athenians from the restraint -which his power had imposed on them, the orators of the Macedonian party -sank under the contempt and indignation of the people, and several of -them paid the penalty of their former insolence and baseness. Demades -was perhaps most mildly treated in proportion to his offences. Yet he -was brought to trial on several indictments--among others, as the author -of the decree which conferred divine honours on Alexander, for which he -was condemned to a fine of ten talents [£2000 or $10,000]. But he was -partially disfranchised, so as to be made incapable of taking part in -public affairs. The bronze statues also, with which he had been honoured, -and the city disgraced, were melted down, and applied to purposes the -most expressive of contempt and loathing for the original. He however -remained at Athens in the enjoyment of his ill-gotten wealth, waiting -till the accomplishment of Phocion’s denunciations should raise him once -more out of his ignominious obscurity, and should compel the people -to listen to his voice. The time-serving Pytheas, the prosecutor of -Demosthenes, and the witty glutton Callimedon, who had been accused by -Demosthenes of a treasonable correspondence with the exiles at Megara, -were also convicted, we know not on what charges, and were obliged, -either by sentence of banishment, or to escape worse evils, to quit -Athens. They now threw aside the mask, openly entered into the service of -Macedonia, and were employed by Antipater to counteract the influence of -the Athenian envoys in Peloponnesus with all the power of their oratory. - - -RETURN OF DEMOSTHENES; DEATH OF LEOSTHENES - -[Sidenote: [323-322 B.C.]] - -Demosthenes had not resigned himself so contentedly as Æschines to -perpetual exile. It was perhaps a weakness, but one which does not lower -him in our esteem, that he met the thought of it with less courage -than that of death. But when he heard of the successes of Leosthenes, -when he learned that an Athenian embassy was making the circuit of -Peloponnesus to advocate the cause of national independence, and that -it was thwarted at every step by Antipater’s hirelings, his despondency -and resentment vanished; he quitted his retreat, joined the envoys, and -accompanied them to the end of their mission. To him it owed its most -important results. Sicyon, Argos, and even Corinth are mentioned among -the states which were brought over to the league by his eloquence. His -kinsman Demon took advantage of the general feeling to propose a decree -for his recall. It was passed, and not in the form of an act of grace, -but of a respectful invitation. A vessel was sent by public authority, -to bring him over from the place of his sojourn. When it returned with -him to Piræus, a solemn procession, headed by the magistrates and the -priests, came down to greet him, and to escort him back to the city. He -now again raised his hands--perhaps to the goddess whom he had unjustly -reproached--and congratulated himself on a return so much happier than -that of Alcibiades, as it was the effect of the free good will of his -fellow-citizens, not extorted from their fears. It was indeed a day of -glory so pure--not to be effaced by a thousand scandalous anecdotes--that -he might gladly have consented to the price which he afterwards paid -for it. The penalty to which he had been condemned still remained to be -discharged, and it was one of those obligations which it seems could not -be legally cancelled. But Demon carried a decree by which fifty talents -were assigned to Demosthenes from the treasury, nominally to defray the -cost of an altar which was annually adorned at the public expense for one -of the festivals. - -But these bright gleams of joy and hope were soon to be overcast. -Antipater’s fortune had sunk to the lowest point; it was now to be -gradually gaining the ascendant. The first disaster which befell the -Greek cause was the death of Leosthenes. Antipater had directed a sally -against the besiegers, who were employed in the work of circumvallation. -A sharp combat took place; and Leosthenes, hastening up to the support -of his men, was struck on the head by a stone from an engine, fell -senseless, and was carried back to the camp, where he died, the third day -after. - -It remained to be considered, who should take the place of Leosthenes. -The choice, we find, was left without dispute to Athens. Antiphilus, -a young man who had acquired high reputation for courage and military -skill, received the command. - - -LEONNATUS - -[Sidenote: [322 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: WATER CARRIER] - -But in the meanwhile succours were approaching for the relief of -Antipater. Leonnatus had come down to take possession of his satrapy, -with instructions from Perdiccas, to aid Eumenes in the conquest of -Cappadocia. But, if he was ever in earnest about this enterprise, he was -soon diverted from it by other projects. He had entered into a secret -correspondence with Olympias, who, being in open enmity with Antipater, -and very much dissatisfied with the recent arrangements, desired to -form an alliance, through her daughter Cleopatra, the widowed queen of -Epirus, with some one powerful enough to protect her interests. The -history of such negotiations is seldom accurately known; it only appears -that Leonnatus received a letter from Cleopatra, in which she promised -him her hand--if he came to Pella with a sufficient force, it must be -supposed, to overpower Antipater, and to secure the throne of Macedonia -for himself. He was a man of sanguine temper, as well as of towering -ambition, and eagerly grasped at the offer. While he was occupied with -this scheme, he received a message from Antipater, now blocked up in -Lamia, to implore his speediest succour. Antipater’s envoy was empowered -to offer the hand of one of Antipater’s daughters to Leonnatus. Eumenes -endeavoured to dissuade Leonnatus from compliance with this request, -and professed to consider his own life as in danger from the enmity of -Antipater and Hecatæus. Leonnatus therefore thought he might safely trust -him with the secret, let him see Cleopatra’s letters, and assured him -that his intentions were nothing less than friendly to Antipater. But the -project did not at all suit the views of Eumenes, who saw that he should -probably forfeit his satrapy with the patronage of Perdiccas, and felt no -confidence in the impetuous character of Leonnatus. He therefore made his -escape by night, accompanied only by three hundred horse and two hundred -armed slaves, with his treasure, which amounted to five thousand talents, -and fled to Perdiccas, whose favour he secured by this proof of fidelity. - -Leonnatus had now no choice left. It was in Macedonia alone that he could -hope to establish himself. But it seems that he thought it necessary for -his own sake, first to quell the insurrection of the Greeks, and then -to rid himself of Antipater. He therefore crossed over to Europe, and -marched towards the theatre of war. In Macedonia, he added a large body -of troops to his army, which then numbered no less than twenty thousand -foot and twenty-five hundred horse. When Antiphilus heard of the approach -of this formidable force, he immediately perceived that the siege must be -raised; and he seems to have taken his measures with great judgment and -energy. He fired his camp, sent the baggage and all his useless people -to Melitæa, a town on the Enipeus, which lay near his road, and himself, -crossing the chain of Othrys, advanced with his unencumbered troops to -meet Leonnatus, before he could be joined by Antipater. - - -DEATH OF LEONNATUS; NAVAL WAR; WAR IN THESSALY - -Leonnatus charged with his wonted valour; but after a sharp combat, his -troops were broken, and put to flight, and driven into the marsh, where -he himself fell, pierced with many wounds. The Greeks remained masters of -the field, and erected their trophy, the third which they had won since -the beginning of the war. - -To Antipater however the loss which he suffered through the defeat of -Leonnatus was more than compensated by the advantage he gained from the -death of a formidable rival; though he may not have known the whole -extent of his danger. He had followed the march of the Greeks, and it -seems was at no great distance when the battle took place; for the next -day he effected a junction with the army of Leonnatus, which immediately -acknowledged him as its chief. He now saw himself at the head of a force, -before which the allies, but for the superiority of their cavalry, would -not have been able to stand. Still, such was the terror inspired by the -Thessalian horse, that he did not venture to descend into the plain; -and he had probably already received intelligence of the approach of -Craterus. He therefore advanced along the higher ground on the skirts of -the plain towards the borders of Macedonia. Antiphilus and Menon could -only watch his movements, and made no attempt to obstruct them; but -remained in the central vale of Thessaly. - -In the meanwhile the Athenians, who had undertaken the whole burden of -the war on the sea, had been defeated on what they were used to consider -as their own element. The Macedonian admiral Clitus, with his 240 sail, -gained two victories over the Athenians, who were commanded by Eetion, -and destroyed a great number of their ships. Soon after, when the -Macedonians had become masters of the sea, a squadron was sent, with a -strong body of troops, Macedonians as well as mercenaries, under the -command of Micion, to invade Attica. Phocion led as strong a force as -could be mustered to meet the enemy, who had landed on the eastern coast, -not far from Marathon, and was overrunning the country. But the enemy was -defeated, and driven back to his ships with great loss, and Micion was -left among the slain. So that even this naval war, though it probably -inflicted a severe injury on the Athenians, terminated in a manner which -reminded them of better days. - -Not long after, the aspect of affairs in Thessaly was again changed -by the arrival of Craterus. He had brought, beside the veterans, four -thousand heavy-armed, one thousand Persian bowmen and slingers, and -fifteen hundred cavalry. He probably entered Thessaly by one of the -western passes, as this was the direction which Antipater had taken. When -they had joined their forces, Craterus resigned the supreme command to -his colleague. They then marched down into the plain, where the allies -were posted, and encamped near the banks of the Peneus. The Macedonian -army now amounted to between forty thousand and fifty thousand heavy -infantry, three thousand light troops, and five thousand cavalry. The -Greeks were little more than half as numerous; for the Ætolians had not -returned to the camp. It became evident to Antiphilus and Menon that they -must hazard a battle or soon be deserted by the greater part of their -troops. The engagement took place on the plain of Crannon, a little to -the west of the road between Larissa and Pharsalus, not far from the -foot of a range of low hills which stretch across from the Enipeus to the -Peneus. It began, as before, with the cavalry. That of the Macedonians -was probably commanded by Craterus, but it was still unable to cope -with the Thessalians; and the event of the day might have been similar -to that in which Leonnatus fell, if the Macedonians had not now had the -advantage of two able and experienced generals. Antipater, who was at -the head of the phalanx, when he saw his horse giving way, fell upon the -enemy’s infantry. They were quite unable to sustain the shock, but still -were so ably commanded that they retreated in good order to the adjacent -high ground, and there took up a position from which the Macedonians -vainly attempted to dislodge them. We seem to collect from this fact that -Alexander was still more fortunate in his enemies than in his officers. -But Menon, perceiving the retreat of his infantry, did not venture to -prolong the combat, in which he was on the point of gaining a decided -victory; he drew off his troops, and the Macedonians remained everywhere -masters of the field. - - -DISSOLUTION OF THE LEAGUE - -The Greeks had not lost more than five hundred men; but though the -loss was trifling, it was the result of a defeat; and this, in such -circumstances, was inevitably fatal to their cause. Antiphilus and Menon -thought themselves forced to negotiate. Antipater at once saw that an -opportunity was presented to him of dissolving the confederacy without -another blow. When the Greek heralds came to him with proposals of peace, -he declared that he would enter into no treaty with the confederacy, -but was willing to receive envoys from the allied states separately. He -knew that this would be an irresistible temptation to each to renounce -the common cause, that it might make the better terms for itself. But -to hasten their resolution, he and Craterus laid siege to some of the -Thessalian towns, among the rest to Pharsalus, which the allies were -compelled to abandon to their fate. This proof of weakness, and the -danger which extorted it, overpowered all reluctance in the inferior -states of the confederacy. One after another sent its envoys to the -Macedonian camp, and submitted to the terms dictated by Antipater, which -were unexpectedly mild. Their lenity attracted those who still hesitated, -and in a short time all had laid down their arms. - -The two states which had excited and guided the insurrection, now -remained exposed to the conqueror’s vengeance, unable to afford any -help to one another--unable, had their forces been united, to offer any -resistance to him. Phocion now had the melancholy pleasure of exerting -the influence he had gained by his long connection with the enemies of -his country, in her behalf. For the readiness he showed on this occasion, -we may well forgive his gentle reproach--that if she had followed his -counsels, she would not have needed his aid; as in truth if she had -followed those of Lycidas in the Persian War, she would not have become -an object of envy and hatred, and would perhaps never have been subject -to a Macedonian master. The honour of his mediation he shared with -Demades, to whom the eyes of all were first turned in this emergency. -While the storm of war was rolling towards the frontiers of Attica, -Demades sat aloof, like Achilles, an unconcerned spectator, brooding over -his dishonour, and could only be induced to interpose by entreaties and -gifts. He was a disfranchised man, who had no right to offer his advice. -But he was not inexorable; and when his franchise was restored to him, -proposed a decree, which was immediately carried, to send envoys, Phocion -and himself in the number, with full powers to Antipater. They found the -Macedonian army encamped on the site of Thebes, and preparing to invade -Attica. Antipater would be satisfied with nothing but absolute submission. - -The terms finally granted were, that they should deliver up a number of -their obnoxious orators, including Demosthenes and Hyperides; that they -should limit their franchise by a standard of property; that they should -receive a garrison in Munychia, and pay a sum of money for the cost of -the war. All the articles were accepted by the plenipotentiaries, and -ratified by the people; and soon after the Macedonian garrison marched -into Munychia, to settle the interpretation of those which had not been -precisely defined. - - -THE CAPITULATION - -We conclude that the Athenians had been induced to expect a revival of -the ancient limited democracy, perhaps as it existed in the time of -Solon; by which the poorest would indeed have been excluded from several -offices, but not from the privileges which they exercised in the assembly -and the courts of justice. Hopeless as the condition of the people was, -it seems doubtful whether they would have ratified the treaty, if they -had known beforehand how Antipater understood it on this point. The new -regulation which he decreed sounded very moderate, if not necessary or -just; but its practical effect was that nearly two-thirds of the citizens -were disfranchised, and many transported out of Greece. It provided that -a qualification of two thousand drachmæ should be required from every -citizen, and this has been commonly understood as the entire amount of -property of every kind to be possessed by each. If this was the case, it -remains an inexplicable mystery that out of twenty-one thousand persons -then exercising the franchise, no more than nine thousand could be found -possessing that sum [£80 or $400]. - -To the disfranchised citizens Antipater offered a town and district in -Thrace. A great number of a higher class were formally banished. - -It seems that the contribution which had been mentioned in the treaty was -not immediately exacted; perhaps was purposely reserved as an additional -security for their good behaviour. The question about Samos was referred -to the king’s council, and, by order of Perdiccas, the Athenian colonists -were soon after expelled from their possessions. The republic, it -appears, was also deprived of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros. - - -THE END OF DEMOSTHENES - -Demosthenes and his partners in misfortune had retired from the city -before the Macedonian garrison arrived, yet hardly so soon as it was -heard that Antipater was on his march against Athens. Demades proposed -a decree condemning Antipater’s victims to death. They had certainly -escaped, before they could be arrested under this decree; and their first -place of refuge was Ægina. - -As the danger grew more pressing, the friends parted, seeking separate -asylums. Aristonicus and Himeræus took shelter in the Æaceum. Hyperides, -it seems, first sought refuge at the altar of Poseidon in the same -island, but afterwards passed over to Peloponnesus, and fled to the -temple of Demeter at Hermione, once deemed a shrine of awful sanctity. -Demosthenes chose the sanctuary of Poseidon in the isle of Calaurea near -Trœzen. There remained no hope of safety for the fugitives, but in the -protection of the gods. But Antipater had taken his measures to render -even this safeguard unavailing. - -It was not in Athens alone that Antipater pursued the friends of liberty -to death. To carry out his purpose, he had engaged the services of a -band of men, who, from their infamous occupation, acquired the title -of the Exile-Hunters. The leader of this pack was an Italian Greek of -Thurii, named Archias. He had been a player, and afterwards, it seems, -had studied, perhaps practised, rhetoric; but we find no trace that -he was connected with any political party in Greece--where indeed, as -a foreigner, he could scarcely have been admitted into one. He served -probably for nothing but his hire; yet he displayed as much zeal in -his commission, as if he had been instigated by private enmity. He -was attended on his circuit by a guard of Thracians, and with their -assistance dragged most of the Athenian exiles--whom, as the prey for -which his master most longed, he had undertaken to seize himself--from -the altars to which he found them clinging. Aristonicus, Himeræus, and -Hyperides were conveyed to Antipater, who was then at Corinth or Cleonæ, -and the first two at least were immediately put to death. Hyperides, -according to the more authentic report, was reserved to be executed in -Macedonia. But all seem to have agreed that Antipater was not satisfied -with his blood, but ordered his tongue to be first cut out, and his -remains to be cast to the dogs. His bones however were secretly rescued -by one of his kinsmen, and carried to Athens, where they were buried in -the grave of his fathers. - -Demosthenes calmly awaited the coming of Archias in the temple at -Calaurea, well knowing that he would not be sheltered by the sanctity -of the place, and prepared for his end. He had dreamed, it is said, the -night before, that he was contending with Archias in a tragic part; that -the judgment of the spectators was in his favour, but that he lost the -prize, because he had not been furnished with the outward requisites of -the exhibition--an apt illustration at least of his failure in the real -contest, which was the task of his life. When Archias came to the door of -the temple with his satellites, he found Demosthenes seated. He at first -addressed him in the language of friendly persuasion, to inveigle him out -of his retreat, and offered to intercede with Antipater in his behalf. - -Demosthenes listened for a time in silence to his bland professions, but -at length replied: “Archias, you never won me by your acting, nor will -you now by your promises.” When the player found that he was detected, he -flung away the mask, and threatened in earnest. “Now,” said Demosthenes, -“you speak from the Macedonian tripod; before you were only acting: wait -a little, till I have written a letter to my friends at home.” And he -took a roll, as to write, and as was his wont, when he was engaged in -composition, put the end of the reed to his mouth, and bit it; he then -covered his face with his robe, and bowed his head. According to another -report, he was seen to take something out of a piece of linen, and put -it into his mouth; the Thracians imagined that it was gold. In one way -or other, he had swallowed a poison which he had kept for this use. When -he had remained some time in this attitude the barbarians, thinking that -he was lingering through fear, began to taunt him with cowardice; and -Archias, going up to him, urged him to rise, and repeated his offers of -mediation. - -Demosthenes now felt the poison in his veins; he uncovered his face, -rose, and fixing his eyes on the dissembler, said, “It is time for you, -Archias, to finish the part of Creon, and to cast my body to the dogs. I -quit thy sanctuary, Poseidon, still breathing; though Antipater, and the -Macedonians, have not spared even it from pollution.” So saying, he moved -with faltering step towards the door, but had scarcely passed the altar, -when he fell with a groan, and breathed his last. - -His end would undoubtedly have been more truly heroic, though not in the -sight of his own generation, if he had braved the insults and torture -which awaited him. But he must not be judged by a view of life which had -never been presented to him; according to his own, it must have seemed -base to submit to the enemy whom he had hitherto defied, for the sake of -a few days more of ignominious wretchedness. And even on the principles -of a higher philosophy he might think that the gods, who were not able to -protect him, had discharged him from their service, and permitted him to -withdraw from a post which he could no longer defend. - -The ancients saw the finger of Heaven in the fate of the vile instruments -of his destruction. That of Demades will be afterwards related; Archias -ended his days in extreme indigence, under the weight of universal -contempt. It was later before Athens was permitted to do justice to the -services of her great citizen, who indeed had never lost her esteem. The -time at length came when his nephew Demochares might safely propose a -decree, by which the honours of the prytaneum and of the foremost seat -at public spectacles, were granted to his descendants, and a bronze -statue was erected in the agora to himself. It bore an inscription, -corresponding in its import to the dream which he was said to have had -at Calaurea: “Had but the strength of thy arm, Demosthenes, equalled -thy spirit, never would Greece have sunk under the foreigner’s yoke.” -The statue itself was believed in Plutarch’s time to have confirmed the -general persuasion of his innocence as to the only charge which ever -threw a shade on the purity of his political character.[42] The honours -paid to his memory were not confined to Athens. A monument was erected -to him in the sanctuary where he died, and both at Calaurea and in other -parts of Greece he continued, down to the age of Hadrian and probably as -long as the memory of the past survived there, to receive marks of public -reverence approaching to the worship of a hero.[b] - -[Illustration: THE DEATH OF DEMOSTHENES] - - -GROTE’S ESTIMATE OF DEMOSTHENES - -The violent deaths of these illustrious orators, the disfranchisement -and deportation of the Athenian demos, the suppression of the public -dicasteries, the occupation of Athens by a Macedonian garrison, and -of Greece generally by Macedonian Exile-Hunters--are events belonging -to one and the same calamitous tragedy, and marking the extinction -of the autonomous Hellenic world. Of Hyperides as a citizen we know -only the general fact, that he maintained from first to last, and with -oratorical ability inferior only to Demosthenes, a strenuous opposition -to Macedonian dominion over Greece; though his prosecution of Demosthenes -respecting the Harpalian treasure appears (so far as it comes before us) -discreditable. Of Demosthenes, we know more--enough to form a judgment of -him both as citizen and statesman. At the time of his death he was about -sixty-two years of age, and we have before us his first _Philippic_, -delivered thirty years before (352-351 B.C.). We are thus sure that even -at that early day he took a sagacious and provident measure of the danger -which threatened Grecian liberty from the energy and encroachments of -Philip. He impressed upon his countrymen this coming danger, at a time -when the older and more influential politicians either could not or -would not see it; he called aloud upon his fellow-citizens for personal -service and pecuniary contributions, enforcing the call by all the -artifices of consummate oratory, when such distasteful propositions only -entailed unpopularity upon himself. At the period when Demosthenes first -addressed these earnest appeals to his countrymen, long before the fall -of Olynthus, the power of Philip, though formidable, might have been -kept perfectly well within the limits of Macedonia and Thrace; and would -probably have been so kept, had Demosthenes possessed in 351 B.C. as much -public influence as he had acquired ten years afterwards. - -Throughout the whole career of Demosthenes as a public adviser, down -to the battle of Chæronea, we trace the same combination of earnest -patriotism with wise and long-sighted policy. During the three years’ -war which ended with the battle of Chæronea, the Athenians in the main -followed his counsel; and disastrous as were the ultimate military -results of that war, for which Demosthenes could not be responsible, -its earlier periods were creditable and successful, its general scheme -was the best that the case admitted, and its diplomatic management -universally triumphant. But what invests the purposes and policy of -Demosthenes with peculiar grandeur, is, that they were not simply -Athenian, but in an eminent degree Panhellenic also. It was not Athens -only that he sought to defend against Philip, but the whole Hellenic -world. In this he towers above the greatest of his predecessors for half -a century before his birth--Pericles, Archidamus, Agesilaus, Epaminondas; -whose policy was Athenian, Spartan, Theban, rather than Hellenic. He -carries us back to the time of the invasion of Xerxes and the generation -immediately succeeding it, when the struggles and sufferings of the -Athenians against Persia were consecrated by complete identity of -interest with collective Greece. The sentiments to which Demosthenes -appeals throughout his numerous orations are those of the noblest and -largest patriotism--trying to inflame the ancient Grecian sentiment of an -autonomous Hellenic world, as the indispensable condition of a dignified -and desirable existence; but inculcating at the same time that these -blessings could only be preserved by toil, self-sacrifice, devotion of -fortune, and willingness to brave hard and steady personal service. - -[Illustration: DECORATION, FROM A VASE] - -From the destruction of Thebes by Alexander in 335 B.C., to the Lamian -War after his death, the policy of Athens neither was nor could be -conducted by Demosthenes. But condemned as he was to comparative -inefficacy, he yet rendered material service to Athens, in the Harpalian -affair of 324 B.C. If, instead of opposing the alliance of the city with -Harpalus, he had supported it as warmly as Hyperides, the exaggerated -promises of the exile might probably have prevailed, and war would have -been declared against Alexander. The Lamian War was not of his original -suggestion, since he was in exile at its commencement. But he threw -himself into it with unreserved ardour, and was greatly instrumental -in procuring the large number of adhesions with it obtained from so -many Grecian states. In spite of its disastrous result, it was, like -the battle of Chæronea, a glorious effort for the recovery of Grecian -liberty, undertaken under circumstances which promised a fair chance of -success. There was no excessive rashness in calculating on distractions -in the empire left by Alexander; on mutual hostility among the principal -officers and on the probability of having only to make head against -Antipater and Macedonia, with little or no reinforcement from Asia. -Disastrous as the enterprise ultimately proved, yet the risk was one -fairly worth incurring, with so noble an object at stake; and could the -war have been protracted another year, its termination would probably -have been very different. We shall see this presently when we come to -follow Asiatic events. After a catastrophe so ruinous, extinguishing free -speech in Greece, and dispersing the Athenian demos to distant lands, -Demosthenes himself could hardly have desired, at the age of sixty-two, -to prolong his existence as a fugitive beyond sea. - -Of the speeches which he composed for private litigants, occasionally -also for himself, before the dicastery, and of the numerous stimulating -and admonitory harangues on the public affairs of the moment, which -he had addressed to his assembled countrymen, a few remain for the -admiration of posterity. These harangues serve to us, not only as -evidence of his unrivalled excellence as an orator, but as one of the -chief sources from which we are enabled to appreciate the last phase of -free Grecian life, as an acting and working reality. - - -ANTIPATER IN GREECE - -[Sidenote: [322-319 B.C.]] - -The death of Demosthenes, with its tragical circumstances, is on the -whole less melancholy than the prolonged life of Phocion, as agent of -Macedonian supremacy in a city half depopulated, where he had been born -a free citizen, and which he had so long helped to administer as a free -community. The dishonour of Phocion’s position must have been aggravated -by the distress in Athens, arising both out of the violent deportation of -one-half of its free citizens, and out of the compulsory return of the -Athenian settlers from Samos--which island was now taken from Athens, -after she had occupied it forty-three years, and restored to the Samian -people and to their recalled exiles, by a rescript of Perdiccas in the -name of Arrhidæus. Occupying this obnoxious elevation, Phocion exercised -authority with his usual probity and mildness. Exerting himself to guard -the citizens from being annoyed by disorders on the part of the garrison -of Munychia, he kept up friendly intercourse with its commander Menyllus, -though refusing all presents both from him and from Antipater. - -Throughout Peloponnesus, Antipater purged and remodelled the cities, -Argos, Megalopolis, and others, as he had done at Athens; installing -in each an oligarchy of his own partisans--sometimes with a Macedonian -garrison--and putting to death, deporting, or expelling hostile, or -intractable, or democratical citizens. Having completed the subjugation -of Peloponnesus, he passed across the Corinthian Gulf to attack the -Ætolians, now the only Greeks remaining unsubdued. It was the purpose -of Antipater, not merely to conquer this warlike and rude people, but -to transport them in mass across into Asia, and march them up to the -interior deserts of the empire. His army was too powerful to be resisted -on even ground, so that all the more accessible towns and villages fell -into his hands. But the Ætolians defended themselves bravely, withdrew -their families into the high towns and mountain tops of their very -rugged country, and caused serious loss to the Macedonian invaders. -Nevertheless, Craterus, who had carried on war of the same kind with -Alexander in Sogdiana, manifested so much skill in seizing the points -of communication, that he intercepted all their supplies and reduced -them to extreme distress, amidst the winter which had now supervened. -The Ætolians, in spite of bravery and endurance, must soon have been -compelled to surrender from cold and hunger, had not the unexpected -arrival of Antigonus from Asia communicated such news to Antipater and -Craterus, as induced them to prepare for marching back to Macedonia, -with a view to the crossing of the Hellespont and operating in Asia. -They concluded a pacification with the Ætolians--postponing till a -future period their design of deporting that people--and withdrew into -Macedonia; where Antipater cemented his alliance with Craterus by giving -to him his daughter Phila in marriage. - -Another daughter of Antipater, named Nicæa, had been sent over to Asia -not long before, to become the wife of Perdiccas. That general, acting -as guardian or prime minister to the kings of Alexander’s family (who -are now spoken of in the plural number, since Roxane had given birth to -a posthumous son, called Alexander, and made king jointly with Philip -Arrhidæus), had at first sought close combination with Antipater, -demanding his daughter in marriage. But new views were presently opened -to him by the intrigues of the princess at Pella (Olympias, with -her daughter Cleopatra, widow of the Molossian Alexander)--who had -always been at variance with Antipater, even throughout the life of -Alexander--and Cynane (daughter of Philip by an Illyrian mother, and -widow of Amyntas, first cousin of Alexander, but slain by Alexander’s -order) with her daughter Eurydice. It has been already mentioned that -Cleopatra had offered herself in marriage to Leonnatus, inviting him to -come over and occupy the throne of Macedonia; he had obeyed the call, but -had been slain in his first battle against the Greeks, thus relieving -Antipater from a dangerous rival. The first project of Olympias being -thus frustrated, she had sent to Perdiccas proposing to him a marriage -with Cleopatra. Perdiccas had already pledged himself to the daughter -of Antipater; nevertheless he now debated whether his ambition would -not be better served by breaking his pledge, and accepting the new -proposition. To this step he was advised by Eumenes, his ablest friend -and coadjutor, steadily attached to the interest of the regal family, and -withal personally hated by Antipater. But Alcetas, brother of Perdiccas, -represented that it would be hazardous to provoke openly and immediately -the wrath of Antipater. Accordingly Perdiccas resolved to accept Nicæa -for the moment, but to send her away after no long time, and take -Cleopatra; to whom secret assurances from him were conveyed by Eumenes. -Cynane also (daughter of Philip and widow of his nephew Amyntas), a -warlike and ambitious woman, had brought into Asia her daughter Eurydice -for the purpose of espousing the king Philip Arrhidæus. Being averse -to this marriage, and probably instigated by Olympias also, Perdiccas -and Alcetas put Cynane to death. But the indignation excited among the -soldiers by this deed was so furious as to menace their safety, and they -were forced to permit the marriage of the king with Eurydice. - -All these intrigues were going on through the summer of 322 B.C., while -the Lamian War was still effectively prosecuted by the Greeks. About -the autumn of the year, Antigonus (called Monophthalmus), the satrap of -Phrygia, detected these secret intrigues of Perdiccas; who, for that and -other reasons, began to look on him as an enemy, and to plot against his -life. Apprised of his danger, Antigonus made his escape from Asia into -Europe to acquaint Antipater and Craterus with the hostile manœuvres of -Perdiccas; upon which news, the two generals, immediately abandoning -the Ætolian War, withdrew their army from Greece for the more important -object of counteracting Perdiccas in Asia. - -In the spring of 321 B.C., Antipater and Craterus, having concerted -operations with Ptolemy governor of Egypt, crossed into Asia and began -their conflict with Perdiccas; who himself, having the kings along with -him, marched against Egypt to attack Ptolemy. - -By the death of Perdiccas, and the defection of his soldiers, complete -preponderance was thrown into the hands of Antipater, Ptolemy, and -Antigonus. Antipater was invited to join the army, now consisting of -the forces both of Ptolemy and Perdiccas united. He was there invested -with the guardianship of the persons of the kings, and with the sort -of ministerial supremacy previously held by Perdiccas. He was however -exposed to much difficulty, and even to great personal danger, from the -intrigues of the princess Eurydice, who displayed a masculine boldness -in publicly haranguing the soldiers; and from the discontents of the -army, who claimed presents, formerly promised to them by Alexander, -which there were no funds to liquidate at the moment. At Triparadisus -in Syria, Antipater made a second distribution of the satrapies of the -empire; somewhat modified, yet coinciding in the main with that which -had been drawn up shortly after the death of Alexander. To Ptolemy was -assured Egypt and Libya, to Antigonus the Greater Phrygia, Lycia, and -Pamphylia--as each had had before. - -Antigonus was placed in command of the principal Macedonian army in -Asia, to crush Eumenes and the other chief adherents of Perdiccas; most -of whom had been condemned to death by a vote of the Macedonian army. -After a certain interval, Antipater himself, accompanied by the kings, -returned to Macedonia, having eluded by artifice a renewed demand on the -part of his soldiers for the promised presents. The war of Antigonus, -first against Eumenes in Cappadocia, next against Alcetas and the other -partisans of Perdiccas in Pisidia, lasted for many months, but was at -length successfully finished. Eumenes, beset by the constant treachery -and insubordination of the Macedonians, was defeated and driven out of -the field. He took refuge with a handful of men in the impregnable and -well-stored fortress of Nora in Cappadocia, where he held out a long -blockade, apparently more than a year, against Antigonus. - - -THE DEATHS OF ANTIPATER AND OF DEMADES - -[Sidenote: [319 B.C.]] - -Before the prolonged blockade of Nora had been brought to a close, -Antipater, being of very advanced age, fell into sickness, and presently -died. One of his latest acts was to put to death the Athenian orator -Demades, who had been sent to Macedonia as envoy to solicit the removal -of the Macedonian garrison at Munychia. Antipater had promised, or -given hopes, that if the oligarchy which he had constituted at Athens -maintained unshaken adherence to Macedonia, he would withdraw the -garrison. The Athenians endeavoured to prevail on Phocion to go to -Macedonia as solicitor for the fulfilment of this promise; but he -steadily refused. Demades, who willingly undertook the mission, reached -Macedonia at a moment very untoward for himself. The papers of the -deceased Perdiccas had come into possession of his opponents; and among -them had been found a letter written to him by Demades, inviting him -to cross over and rescue Greece from her dependence “on an old and -rotten warp”--meaning Antipater. This letter gave great offence to -Antipater--the rather, as Demades is said to have been his habitual -pensioner--and still greater offence to his son Cassander; who caused -Demades with his son to be seized, first killed the son in the immediate -presence and even embrace of the father, and then slew the father -himself, with bitter invective against his ingratitude. All the accounts -which we read depict Demades, in general terms, as a prodigal spendthrift -and a venal and corrupt politician. We have no ground for questioning -this statement; at the same time, we have no specific facts to prove it. - - -POLYSPERCHON AND CASSANDER - -Antipater by his last directions appointed Polysperchon, one of -Alexander’s veteran officers, to be chief administrator, with full -powers on behalf of the imperial dynasty; while he assigned to his own -son Cassander only the second place, as chiliarch, or general of the -bodyguard. He thought that this disposition of power would be more -generally acceptable throughout the empire, as Polysperchon was older and -of longer military service than any other among Alexander’s generals. -Moreover, Antipater was especially afraid of letting dominion fall into -the hands of the princesses; all of whom--Olympias, Cleopatra, and -Eurydice--were energetic characters; and the first of the three (who had -retired to Epirus from enmity towards Antipater) furious and implacable. - -[Illustration: PROMONTORY OF SUNIUM] - -[Sidenote: [319-318 B.C.]] - -But the views of Antipater were disappointed from the beginning, because -Cassander would not submit to the second place, nor tolerate Polysperchon -as his superior. Immediately after the death of Antipater, but before it -became publicly known, Cassander despatched Nicanor with pretended orders -from Antipater to supersede Menyllus in the government of Munychia. To -this order Menyllus yielded. But when after a few days the Athenian -public came to learn the real truth, they were displeased with Phocion -for having permitted the change to be made--assuming that he knew the -real state of the facts, and might have kept out the new commander. -Cassander, while securing this important post in the hands of a confirmed -partisan, affected to acquiesce in the authority of Polysperchon, and -to occupy himself with a hunting-party in the country. He at the same -time sent confidential adherents to the Hellespont and other places in -furtherance of his schemes; and especially to contract alliance with -Antigonus in Asia and with Ptolemy in Egypt. His envoys being generally -well received, he himself soon quitted Macedonia suddenly, and went to -concert measures with Antigonus in Asia. It suited the policy of Ptolemy, -and still more that of Antigonus, to aid him against Polysperchon and -the imperial dynasty. On the death of Antipater, Antigonus had resolved -to make himself the real sovereign of the Asiatic Alexandrine empire, -possessing as he did the most powerful military force within it. - -Even before this time the imperial dynasty had been a name rather than -a reality; yet still a respected name. But now, the preference shown to -Polysperchon by the deceased Antipater, and the secession of Cassander, -placed all the real great powers in active hostility against the dynasty. -Polysperchon and his friends were not blind to the difficulties of their -position. The principal officers in Macedonia having been convened to -deliberate, it was resolved to invite Olympias out of Epirus, that she -might assume the tutelage of her grandson Alexander (son of Roxane); -to place the Asiatic interests of the dynasty in the hands of Eumenes, -appointing him to the supreme command; and to combat Cassander in Europe, -by assuring of themselves the general good will and support of the -Greeks. This last object was to be obtained by granting to the Greeks -general enfranchisement, and by subverting the Antipatrian oligarchies -and military governments now paramount throughout the cities. - - -OLYMPIAS AND EUMENES - -The last hope of maintaining the unity of Alexander’s empire in Asia, -against the counter-interests of the great Macedonian officers--who were -steadily tending to divide and appropriate it--now lay in the fidelity -and military skill of Eumenes. At his disposal Polysperchon placed the -imperial treasures and soldiers in Asia; especially the brave, but -faithless and disorderly Argyraspides. Olympias also addressed to him a -pathetic letter, asking his counsel as the only friend and saviour to -whom the imperial family could now look. Eumenes replied by assuring them -of his devoted adherence to their cause. But he at the same time advised -Olympias not to come out of Epirus into Macedonia; or if she did come, at -all events to abstain from vindictive and cruel proceedings. Both these -recommendations, honourable as well to his prudence as to his humanity, -were disregarded by the old queen. She came into Macedonia to take the -management of affairs; and although her imposing title--of mother to the -great conqueror--raised a strong favourable feeling, yet her multiplied -executions of the Antipatrian partisans excited fatal enmity against a -dynasty already tottering. Nevertheless Eumenes, though his advice had -been disregarded, devoted himself in Asia with unshaken fidelity to the -Alexandrine family, resisting the most tempting invitations to take part -with Antigonus against them. His example contributed much to keep alive -the same active sentiment in those around him; indeed, without him, the -imperial family would have had no sincere or commanding representative -in Asia. His gallant struggles for two years against the greatly -preponderant forces of Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Seleucus, and against the -never-ceasing treachery of his own officers and troops are among the most -memorable exploits of antiquity. While even in a military point of view, -they are hardly inferior to the combinations of Alexander himself, they -evince, besides, a flexibility and aptitude such as Alexander neither -possessed nor required, for overcoming the thousand difficulties raised -by traitors and mutineers around him. To the last, Eumenes remained -unsubdued; he was betrayed to Antigonus by the base and venal treachery -of his own soldiers, the Macedonian Argyraspides. - - -IMPERIAL EDICT RECALLING EXILES - -On learning the death of Antipater, most of the Greek cities had sent -envoys to Pella. To all the governments of these cities, composed as they -were of his creatures, it was a matter of the utmost moment to know what -course the new Macedonian authority would adopt. Polysperchon, persuaded -that they would all adhere to Cassander, and that his only chance of -combating that rival was by enlisting popular sympathy and interests in -Greece, or at least by subverting these Antipatrian oligarchies--drew up -in conjunction with his counsellors a proclamation which he issued in the -name of the dynasty. - -This proclamation directed the removal of all the garrisons, and the -subversion of all the oligarchies, established by Antipater after -the Lamian War. It ordered the recall of the host of exiles then -expelled. It revived the state of things prevalent before the death of -Alexander--which indeed itself had been, for the most part, an aggregate -of macedonising oligarchies interspersed with Macedonian garrisons. To -the existing Antipatrian oligarchies, however, it was a death-blow; -and so it must have been understood by the Grecian envoys--including -probably deputations from the exiles, as well as envoys from the civic -governments--to whom Polysperchon delivered it at Pella. Not content with -the general edict, Polysperchon addressed special letters to Argos and -various other cities, commanding that the Antipatrian leading men should -be banished with confiscation of property, and in some cases put to -death; the names being probably furnished to him by the exiles. Lastly, -as it was clear that such stringent measures could not be executed -without force--the rather as these oligarchies would be upheld by -Cassander from without--Polysperchon resolved to conduct a large military -force into Greece; sending thither first, however, a considerable -detachment, for immediate operations, under his son Alexander. - -To Athens, as well as to other cities, Polysperchon addressed special -letters, promising restoration of the democracy and recall of the exiles. -At Athens, such change was a greater revolution than elsewhere, because -the multitude of exiles and persons deported had been the greatest. To -the existing nine thousand Athenian citizens, it was doubtless odious -and alarming; while to Phocion, with the other leading Antipatrians, -it threatened not only loss of power, but probably nothing less than -the alternative of flight or death. The state of interests at Athens, -however, was now singularly novel and complicated. There were the -Antipatrians and the nine thousand qualified citizens, there were the -exiles, who, under the new edict, speedily began re-entering the city, -and reclaiming their citizenship as well as their property. Polysperchon -and his son were known to be soon coming with a powerful force. Lastly, -there was Nicanor, who held Munychia with a garrison, neither for -Polysperchon, nor for the Athenians, but for Cassander; the latter being -himself also expected with a force from Asia. Here then were several -parties--each distinct in views and interests from the rest, some -decidedly hostile to each other. - - -CONTEST AT ATHENS - -The first contest arose between the Athenians and Nicanor respecting -Munychia; which they required him to evacuate, pursuant to the recent -proclamation. Nicanor on his side returned an evasive answer, promising -compliance as soon as circumstances permitted, but in the meantime -entreating the Athenians to continue in alliance with Cassander, as they -had been with his father Antipater. He seems to have indulged hopes of -prevailing on them to declare in his favour--and not without plausible -grounds, since the Antipatrian leaders and a proportion of the nine -thousand citizens could not but dread the execution of Polysperchon’s -edict. And he had also what was of still greater moment--the secret -connivance and support of Phocion: who put himself in intimate relation -with Nicanor, as he had before done with Menyllus--and who had greater -reason than any one else to dread the edict of Polysperchon. - -Foreseeing the gravity of the impending contest, Nicanor had been -secretly introducing fresh soldiers into Munychia. Presently, making an -unexpected attack from Munychia and Salamis, he took Piræus by surprise, -placed both the town and harbour under military occupation, and cut off -its communication with Athens by a ditch and palisade. On this palpable -aggression, the Athenians rushed to arms. But Phocion as general damped -their ardour, and even declined to head them in an attack for the -recovery of Piræus before Nicanor should have had time to strengthen -himself in it. - -[Illustration: GREEK PEASANT - -(After Hope)] - -The occupation of Piræus in addition to Munychia was a serious calamity -to the Athenians, making them worse off than they had been even under -Antipater. Piræus, rich, active, and commercial, containing the Athenian -arsenal, docks, and muniments of war, was in many respects more valuable -than Athens itself--for all purposes of war, far more valuable. Cassander -had now an excellent place of arms and base, which Munychia alone would -not have afforded, for his operations in Greece against Polysperchon; -upon whom therefore the loss fell hardly less severely than upon the -Athenians. Now Phocion, in his function as general, had been forewarned -of the danger, might have guarded against it, and ought to have done -so. This was a grave dereliction of duty, and admits of hardly any -other explanation except that of treasonable connivance. It seems that -Phocion, foreseeing his own ruin and that of his friends in the triumph -of Polysperchon and the return of the exiles, was desirous of favouring -the seizure of Piræus by Nicanor, as a means of constraining Athens to -adopt the alliance with Cassander; which alliance indeed would probably -have been brought about, had Cassander reached Piræus by sea sooner -than the first troops of Polysperchon by land. Phocion was here guilty, -at the very least, of culpable neglect, and probably of still more -culpable treason, on an occasion seriously injuring both Polysperchon -and the Athenians; a fact which we must not forget, when we come to read -presently the bitter animosity exhibited against him. - -The news that Nicanor had possessed himself of Piræus, produced a strong -sensation. Presently arrived a letter addressed to him by Olympias -herself, commanding him to surrender the place to the Athenians, upon -whom she wished to confer entire autonomy. But Nicanor declined obedience -to her order, still waiting for support from Cassander. The arrival of -Alexander (Polysperchon’s son) with a body of troops, encouraged the -Athenians to believe that he was come to assist in carrying Piræus by -force, for the purpose of restoring it to them. Their hopes, however, -were again disappointed. Though encamped near Piræus, Alexander made -no demand for the Athenian forces to co-operate with him in attacking -it; but entered into open parley with Nicanor, whom he endeavoured to -persuade or corrupt into surrendering the place. When this negotiation -failed, he resolved to wait for the arrival of his father, who was -already on his march towards Attica with the main army. - - -INTRIGUES OF PHOCION - -[Sidenote: [318 B.C.]] - -It was Phocion and his immediate colleagues who induced Alexander -to adopt this insidious policy; to decline reconquering Piræus for -the Athenians, and to appropriate it for himself. To Phocion, the -reconstitution of autonomous Athens--with its democracy and restored -exiles, and without any foreign controlling force--was an assured -sentence of banishment, if not of death. Not having been able to -obtain protection from the foreign force of Nicanor and Cassander, he -and his friends resolved to throw themselves upon that of Alexander -and Polysperchon. They went to meet Alexander as he entered Attica, -represented the impolicy of his relinquishing so important a military -position as Piræus, while the war was yet unfinished, and offered to -co-operate with him for this purpose, by proper management of the -Athenian public. Alexander was pleased with these suggestions, accepted -Phocion with the others as his leading adherents at Athens, and looked -upon Piræus as a capture to be secured for himself. Numerous returning -Athenian exiles accompanied Alexander’s army. It seems that Phocion was -desirous of admitting the troops, along with the exiles, as friends and -allies into the walls of Athens, so as to make Alexander master of the -city; but that this project was impracticable in consequence of the -mistrust created among the Athenians by the parleys of Alexander with -Nicanor. - -The strategic function of Phocion, however--so often conferred and -re-conferred upon him--and his power of doing either good or evil, now -approached its close. As soon as the returning exiles found themselves -in sufficient numbers, they called for a revision of the list of state -officers, and for the re-establishment of the democratical forms. They -passed a vote to depose those who had held office under the Antipatrian -oligarchy, and who still continued to hold it down to the actual -moment. Among these Phocion stood first: along with him were his -son-in-law Charicles, the Phalerean Demetrius, Callimedon, Nicocles, -Thudippus, Hegemon, and Philocles. These persons were not only deposed, -but condemned--some to death, some to banishment and confiscation of -property. Demetrius, Charicles, and Callimedon sought safety by leaving -Attica; but Phocion and the rest merely went to Alexander’s camp, -throwing themselves upon his protection on the faith of the recent -understanding. Alexander not only received them courteously, but gave -them letters to his father Polysperchon, requesting safety and protection -for them, as men who had embraced his cause, and who were still eager to -do all in their power to support him. Armed with these letters, Phocion -and his companions went through Bœotia and Phocis to meet Polysperchon on -his march southward. They were accompanied by Dinarchus and by a Platæan -named Solon, both of them passing for friends of Polysperchon. - -The Athenian democracy, just reconstituted, which had passed the -recent condemnatory votes, was disquieted at the news that Alexander -had espoused the cause of Phocion and had recommended the like policy -to his father. It was possible that Polysperchon might seek, with his -powerful army, both to occupy Athens and to capture Piræus, and might -avail himself of Phocion (like Antipater after the Lamian War) as a -convenient instrument of government. It seems plain that this was the -project of Alexander, and that he counted on Phocion as a ready auxiliary -in both. Now the restored democrats, though owing their restoration to -Polysperchon, were much less compliant towards him than Phocion had -been. Not only would they not admit him into the city, but they would -not even acquiesce in his separate occupation of Munychia and Piræus. On -the proposition of Agnonides and Archestratus, they sent a deputation to -Polysperchon accusing Phocion and his comrades of high treason; yet at -the same time claiming for Athens the full and undiminished benefit of -the late regal proclamation--autonomy and democracy, with restoration of -Piræus and Munychia free and ungarrisoned. - -As the sentiment now prevalent at Athens evinced clearly that Phocion -could not be again useful to him as an instrument, Polysperchon heard his -defence with impatience, interrupted him several times, and so disgusted -him that he at length struck the ground with his stick, and held his -peace. Hegemon, another of the accused, was yet more harshly treated. The -sentence could not be doubtful. Phocion and his companions were delivered -over as prisoners to the Athenian deputation, together with a letter from -the king, intimating that in his conviction they were traitors, but that -he left them to be judged by the Athenians--now restored to freedom and -autonomy. - - -PHOCION’S DISGRACE - -The Macedonian Clitus was instructed to convey them to Athens as -prisoners under a guard. Mournful was the spectacle as they entered the -city; being carried along the Ceramicus in carts, through sympathising -friends and an embittered multitude, until they reached the theatre, -wherein the assembly was to be convened. - -The common feeling of antipathy against him burst out into furious -manifestations. Agnonides the principal accuser, supported by Epicurus -and Demophilus, found their denunciations welcomed and even anticipated, -when they arraigned Phocion as a criminal who had lent his hand to the -subversion of the constitution, to the sufferings of his deported -fellow-citizens, and to the holding of Athens in subjection under a -foreign potentate; in addition to which, the betrayal of Piræus to -Nicanor constituted a new crime--fastening on the people the yoke of -Cassander, when autonomy had been promised to them by the recent imperial -edict. After the accusation was concluded, Phocion was called on for -his defence; but he found it impossible to obtain a hearing. Attempting -several times to speak, he was as often interrupted by angry shouts; -several of his friends were cried down in like manner; until at length he -gave up the case in despair, and exclaimed: - -“For myself, Athenians, I plead guilty; I pronounce against myself the -sentence of death for my political conduct; but why are you to sentence -these men near me, who are not guilty?” - -[Illustration: GREEK TERRA-COTTA JAR - -(In the British Museum)] - -“Because they are your friends, Phocion,” was the exclamation of those -around. Phocion then said no more; while Agnonides proposed a decree, -to the effect that the assembled people should decide by show of -hands, whether the persons now arraigned were guilty or not; and that -if declared guilty, they should be put to death. Some persons present -cried out that the penalty of torture ought to precede death: but this -savage proposition, utterly at variance with Athenian law in respect to -citizens, was repudiated not less by Agnonides than by the Macedonian -officer Clitus. The decree was then passed; after which the show of -hands was called for. Nearly every hand in the assembly was held up in -condemnation; each man even rose from his seat to make the effect more -imposing; and some went so far as to put on wreaths in token of triumph. - -After sentence, the five condemned persons, Phocion, Nicocles, Thudippus, -Hegemon, and Pythocles, were consigned to the supreme magistrates of -Police, called the Eleven, and led to prison for the purpose of having -the customary dose of poison administered. Hostile bystanders ran -alongside, taunting and reviling them. It is even said that one man -planted himself in the front, and spat upon Phocion; who turned to the -public officers and exclaimed, “Will no one check this indecent fellow?” -This was the only emotion which he manifested; in other respects, his -tranquillity and self-possession were resolutely maintained, during this -soul-subduing march from the theatre to the prison, amidst the wailings -of his friends, the broken spirit of his four comrades, and the fiercest -demonstrations of antipathy from his fellow-citizens generally. One ray -of comfort presented itself as he entered the prison. It was the day -on which the Knights celebrated their festal procession with wreaths -on their heads in honour of Zeus. Several of these horsemen halted in -passing, took off their wreaths, and wept as they looked through the -gratings of the prison. - -Being asked whether he had anything to tell his son Phocus, Phocion -replied: “I tell him emphatically, not to hold evil memory of the -Athenians.” The draught of hemlock was then administered to all five--to -Phocion last. Having been condemned for treason, they were not buried -in Attica; nor were Phocion’s friends allowed to light a funeral pile -for the burning of his body; which was carried out of Attica into the -Megarid, by a hired agent named Conopion, and there burned by fire -obtained at Megara. The wife of Phocion, with her maids, poured libations -and marked the spot by a small mound of earth; she also collected the -bones and brought them back to Athens in her bosom, during the secrecy of -night. She buried them near her own domestic hearth, with this address: -“Beloved Hestia, I confide to thee these relics of a good man. Restore -them to his own family vault, as soon as the Athenians shall come to -their senses.”[43] - -After a short time (we are told by Plutarch) the Athenians did thus -come to their senses. They discovered that Phocion had been a faithful -and excellent public servant, repented of their severity towards him, -celebrated his funeral obsequies at the public expense, erected a statue -in his honour, and put to death Agnonides by public judicial sentence; -while Epicurus and Demophilus fled from the city and were slain by -Phocion’s son. - -These facts are ostensibly correct; but Plutarch omits to notice the -real explanation of them. Within two or three months after the death of -Phocion, Cassander, already in possession of Piræus and Munychia, became -also master of Athens; the oligarchical or Phocionic party again acquired -predominance; Demetrius the Phalerean was recalled from exile, and placed -to administer the city under Cassander, as Phocion had administered it -under Antipater. - -We cannot indeed read without painful sympathy the narrative of an -old man above eighty,--personally brave, mild, and superior to all -pecuniary temptation, so far as his positive administration was -concerned,--perishing under an intense and crushing storm of popular -execration. But when we look at the whole case--when we survey, not -merely the details of Phocion’s administration, but the grand public -objects which those details subserved, and towards which he conducted -his fellow-citizens--we shall see that this judgment is fully merited. -In Phocion’s patriotism--for so doubtless he himself sincerely conceived -it--no account was taken of Athenian independence; of the autonomy or -self-management of the Hellenic world; of the conditions, in reference -to foreign kings, under which alone such autonomy could exist. He had -neither the Panhellenic sentiment of Aristides, Callicratidas, and -Demosthenes, nor the narrower Athenian sentiment, like the devotion of -Agesilaus to Sparta, and of Epaminondas to Thebes. To Phocion it was -indifferent whether Greece was an aggregate of autonomous cities, with -Athens as first or second among them, or one of the satrapies under the -Macedonian kings. Now this was among the most fatal defects of a Grecian -public man. - -It was precisely during the fifty years of Phocion’s political and -military influence, that the Greeks were degraded from a state of -freedom, into absolute servitude. In so far as this great public -misfortune can be imputed to anyone man--to no one was it more ascribable -than to Phocion. He was strategus during most of the long series of years -when Philip’s power was growing; it was his duty to look ahead for the -safety of his countrymen, and to combat the yet immature giant. He heard -the warnings of Demosthenes, and he possessed exactly those qualities -which were wanting to Demosthenes--military energy and aptitude. Had he -lent his influence to inform the short-sightedness, to stimulate the -inertia, to direct the armed efforts, of his countrymen, the kings of -Macedon might have been kept within their own limits, and the future -history of Greece might have been altogether different. Unfortunately, -he took the opposite side. He acted with Æschines and the Philippisers; -without receiving money from Philip, he did gratuitously all that Philip -desired--by nullifying and sneering down the efforts of Demosthenes and -the other active politicians. After the battle of Chæronea, Phocion -received from Philip first, and from Alexander afterwards, marks of -esteem not shown towards any other Athenian. This was both the fruit -and the proof of his past political action--anti-Hellenic as well as -anti-Athenian. - -Having done much, in the earlier part of his life, to promote the -subjugation of Greece under the Macedonian kings, he contributed -somewhat, during the latter half, to lighten the severity of their -dominion; and it is the most honourable point in his character that -he always refrained from abusing their marked favour towards himself, -for purposes either of personal gain or of oppression over his -fellow-citizens. Alexander not only wrote letters to him, even during -the plenitude of imperial power, in terms of respectful friendship, but -tendered to him the largest presents--at one time the sum of one hundred -talents [£20,000 or $100,000]; at another time the choice of four towns -on the coast of Asia Minor, as Xerxes gave to Themistocles. He even -expressed his displeasure when Phocion, refusing everything, consented -only to request the liberation of three Grecian prisoners confined at -Sardis. The intense and unanimous wrath of the people against him is an -instructive, though a distressing spectacle. It was directed, not against -the man or the administrator--for in both characters Phocion had been -blameless, except as to the last collusion with Nicanor in the seizure -of the Piræus--but against his public policy. It was the last protest of -extinct Grecian freedom, speaking as it were from the tomb in a voice of -thunder, against that fatal system of mistrust, inertia, self-seeking, -and corruption, which had betrayed the once autonomous Athens to a -foreign conqueror.[e] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[42] [Plutarch[c] tells this story: “A certain soldier being sent for to -come unto his captain, did put such pieces of gold as he had into the -hands of Demosthenes’ statue, which had both his hands joined together: -and there grew hard by it a great plane tree, divers leaves whereof either -blown off by wind by chance, or else put there of purpose by the soldier, -covered so this gold, that it was there a long time, and no man found -it: until such time as the soldier came again, and found it as he left -it. Hereupon this matter running abroad in every man’s mouth, there were -divers wise men that took occasion of this subject to make epigrams in the -praise of Demosthenes, who in his life was never corrupted.” But the same -story was told of other statues.] - -[43] Plutarch, _Phocion_, 36, 37. Two other anecdotes are recounted by -Plutarch, which seem to be of doubtful authenticity. Nicocles entreated -that he might be allowed to swallow his potion before Phocion; upon which -the latter replied: “Your request, Nicocles, is sad and mournful; but as I -have never yet refused you anything throughout my life, I grant this also.” - -After the first four had drunk, all except Phocion, no more hemlock was -left; upon which the jailer said that he would not prepare any more, -unless twelve drachmæ of money were given to him to buy the material. Some -hesitation took place, until Phocion asked one of his friends to supply -the money, sarcastically remarking that it was hard if a man could not -even die _gratis_ at Athens.[c] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LXI. THE FAILURE OF GRECIAN FREEDOM - - -[Sidenote: [318-309 B.C.]] - -We have already mentioned that Polysperchon with his army was in Phocis -when Phocion was brought before him, on his march towards Peloponnesus. -Before he reached Attica, Cassander arrived at Piræus to join Nicanor -with a fleet of thirty-five ships and four thousand soldiers obtained -from Antigonus. On learning this fact, Polysperchon hastened his march -also, and presented himself under the walls of Athens and Piræus with a -large force of twenty thousand Macedonians, four thousand Greek allies, -one thousand cavalry, and sixty-five elephants; animals which were now -seen for the first time in Greece. He at first besieged Cassander in -Piræus, but finding it difficult to procure subsistence in Attica for so -numerous an army, he marched with the larger portion into Peloponnesus, -leaving his son Alexander with a division to make head against Cassander. -Either approaching in person the various Peloponnesian towns, or -addressing them by means of envoys, he enjoined the subversion of the -Antipatrian oligarchies, and the restoration of liberty and free speech -to the mass of the citizens. In most of the towns, this revolution was -accomplished; but in Megalopolis, the oligarchy held out, not only -forcing Polysperchon to besiege the city, but even defending it against -him successfully. His admiral Clitus was soon afterwards defeated in the -Propontis, with the loss of his whole fleet, by Nicanor (whom Cassander -had sent from Piræus) and Antigonus. - -After these two defeats, Polysperchon seems to have evacuated -Peloponnesus, and to have carried his forces across the Corinthian Gulf -into Epirus, to join Olympias. His party was greatly weakened all over -Greece, and that of Cassander proportionally strengthened. The first -effect of this was the surrender of Athens. The Athenians in the city, -including all or many of the restored exiles, could no longer endure -that complete severance from the sea, to which the occupation of Piræus -and Munychia by Cassander had reduced them. Athens without a port was -hardly tenable; in fact, Piræus was considered by its great constructor, -Themistocles, as more indispensable to the Athenians than Athens itself. -It was agreed that they should become friends and allies of Cassander; -that they should have full enjoyment of their city, with the port Piræus, -their ships and revenues; that the exiles and deported citizens should -be readmitted; that the political franchise should for the future be -enjoyed by all citizens who possessed one thousand drachmæ of property -and upwards; that Cassander should hold Munychia with a governor and -garrison, until the war against Polysperchon was brought to a close; -and that he should also name some one Athenian citizen, in whose hands -the supreme government of the city should be vested. Cassander named -Demetrius the Phalerean (_i.e._, an Athenian of the deme Phalerum), one -of the colleagues of Phocion. - -This convention restored substantially at Athens the Antipatrian -government; yet without the severities which had marked its original -establishment, and with some modifications in various ways. It made -Cassander virtually master of the city (as Antipater had been before -him), by means of his governing nominee, upheld by the garrison, and by -the fortification of Munychia; which had now been greatly enlarged and -strengthened, holding a practical command over Piræus, though that port -was nominally relinquished to the Athenians. But there was no slaughter -of orators, no expulsion of citizens; moreover, even the minimum of one -thousand drachmæ, fixed for the political franchise, though excluding the -multitude, must have been felt as an improvement compared with the higher -limit of two thousand drachmæ prescribed by Antipater. Cassander was not, -like his father, at the head of an overwhelming force, master of Greece. -He had Polysperchon in the field against him with a rival army and an -established ascendency in many of the Grecian cities; it was therefore -his interest to abstain from measures of obvious harshness towards the -Athenian people.[b] - - -HELLAS AT PEACE - -Subsequent events, in Greece itself first of all, offer sufficient -explanation of what the Peace of 311 meant, so far as the freedom of the -Grecian states was concerned. And yet it appears the old magic of the -word did not cease to delude the mind and inflame the heart--for did not -that word comprehend everything they thought they now lacked and had once -enjoyed? - -Free their city republics could yet certainly be, or become--free after -a certain fashion; but independent, scarce one of them. Powers far -superior stood round on every side; and although full of active men ready -to be hired for fighting, these little states were too poor to bring up -considerable armies, too jealous and bitter about one another to make a -reliable alliance, and lastly the public spirit of their citizens was -too decayed to permit any possible hope of a radically better state of -things. Their day was over. Only the forms of a great monarchy could have -held together this restless life which was fretting itself away; but -whatever attempt had been made in this direction had taken no root among -a people who were entirely separatist, and whose ideas of citizenship -never went beyond the limits of their various cities. The very qualities -that so peculiarly fitted the Greek spirit to serve as the fermenting -leaven that should work through the peoples of Asia and forward their -development, incapacitated it for the work of retaining its independent -politics and keeping pace with the new developments of the time. - -The situation of Sparta in these times is a strange one. The laws of -Lycurgus and the old forms still linger there, but the old spirit has -gone out, even to the last trace. It is a reign of the basest immorality. -The citizens have dwindled to a few hundreds, the constitution of -Lycurgus, formally observed, is a lie. The narrower the intellectual -circle in which thought may move, the cruder must be the notions that -obtain. Literature and science, the comfort and hope of the rest of -Greece, were still, even to this day, proscribed in Sparta. Sparta -had no other interest in the situation except that in her dominion -was the universal recruiting ground for all parties--the peninsula of -Tænarus--and distinguished Spartans were always glad to take the field as -mercenaries. Even the son of the aged king Cleomenes II, Acrotatus, led -a mercenary army to Tarentum and Sicily in 315, revolting those in whose -pay he fought by his bloodthirsty savagery and his unnatural passions. -He came home to Sparta dishonoured, and died before he could inherit from -his father. - -At the death of Cleomenes (309), Cleonymus, a worthy brother to Acrotatus -in dissoluteness and arrogance, demanded the kingdom; the Gerousia -decided in favour of the young son of Acrotatus, Areus, and after a -few years Cleonymus entered the service of Tarentum with a force of -mercenaries, to bring the name of Sparta into ignominy by behaving even -worse than his brother. At home the power of the kings, since the state -no longer existed for its business of war, was as good as gone. The -ephorate ruled as an oligarchy, and the oligarchy wanted nothing but -quiet and pleasure, wrapped up in the dead laws of Lycurgus; nothing was -further from their thoughts than the idea of winning again their old -hegemony, at least in the Peloponnese--an idea which might now have been -justified by the distraction of Greece and the strife of parties that was -bursting afresh into flames. - - -ATHENS UNDER DEMETRIUS; SPARTA BEHIND WALLS - -Athens affords us the most vivid glimpse into this unhappy time. How -often had the ruling party and the policy of the city changed since the -battle of Chæronea. At last in the autumn of 318, after the victory of -Cassander, the state was given a form which was anything but a democracy. -The man whom the people chose, and Cassander confirmed, as state -administrator, was Demetrius, the son of Phanostratus of Phalerus. He -had grown up in the house of Timotheus and had been educated in science -and for a political life by Theophrastus. He was a man as talented as -he was vain, as versatile in the realm of letters as he was politically -characterless--for the rest, a man of the world and its pleasures, who -fell on his feet wherever he was. - -It may be that in his early years he had lived like a philosopher, that -his table was laid very frugally, “only with olives in vinegar and cheese -from the islands.” And then too, when he became master of the state he -showed himself, according to some, a humane, clear-sighted, excellent -statesman; while others declare that he spent but a small proportion of -the city’s income (which with subsidies from Egypt and Macedonia he had -raised to twelve hundred talents) in administration and in keeping the -city well prepared for war; the rest went partly in public festivities -and splendour, and partly in his own riotous and dissolute living. He -that would pose in his ordinances as a reformer of Athenian morals, -corrupted morals by his more than doubtful example. Every day, it was -said, he gave splendid dinners to which a great number of guests were -always invited; in his expenditure on his table he surpassed even the -Macedonians, in his elegance he outdid Cyprians and Phœnicians; spikenard -and myrrh were sprinkled for perfume, the floor was strewn with flowers, -costly carpets and paintings decorated the rooms; he kept so extravagant, -so luxurious, a table, that his cook, who had what was left over, was -able to buy three properties in two years out of the profits he made by -his sales. Demetrius spent the greatest care upon his choice of dress, -he dyed his hair fair, painted his face, anointed his head with precious -oils; he always showed a smiling countenance, he wanted to please every -one. - -The most dainty and unbridled wantonness side by side with that subtle, -gracious, and witty culture, which has ever since been described by the -epithet Attic--both are characteristic of the life of Athens in those -days. It was the fashion to attend the schools of philosophy. - -[Illustration: GRECIAN HEAD-DRESSES.] - -Such words as home, chastity, modesty, were no longer heard in the Athens -of that time, or they were only words. Life had all become phrases and -epigrams, ostentation and occupied idleness. Athens distributed flattery -and entertainment to the mighty ones of the earth, and permitted herself -to receive in return their gifts and gratuities. She grew more servile -as she grew more oligarchic. She played as a state the rôle of parasite -to kings and such as held power, a sponging flatterer not at all ashamed -to buy admiration and pleasures at the price of dignity. There were only -two things her people were afraid of; they were afraid of being bored, -and they were afraid of being ridiculous--and there were rich occasions -for being both. Religion had disappeared, and with the indifference -of enlightenment superstition came in--magic, witchcraft, astrology. -Moral conduct, out of an old habit (for morality like the laws had been -reasoned away), was theoretically handled in the schools and made a theme -for debate and literary duels. The two standard philosophies of the next -centuries, the Stoic and the Epicurean, were evolving in Athens at this -period. - -It was, of course, a proud thing for Demetrius that the city was much -and profitably frequented. Trade itself was probably livelier in Athens -during these years than at any other time and rivalled that of Rhodes, -Byzantium, and Alexandria. According to a census which was probably -undertaken during the year Demetrius was archon (309), the population -of Attica amounted to 21,000 citizens, 10,000 strangers, 400,000 -slaves--certainly a great number of inhabitants for a territory of little -more than forty square miles.[c] - -[Sidenote: [318-317 B.C.]] - -The acquisition of Athens by Cassander, followed up by his capture -of Panactum and Salamis, and seconded by his moderation towards the -Athenians, procured for him considerable support in Peloponnesus, -whither he proceeded with his army. Many of the cities, intimidated or -persuaded, joined him and deserted Polysperchon; while the Spartans, -now feeling for the first time their defenceless condition, thought it -prudent to surround their city with walls. This fact, among many others -contemporaneous, testifies emphatically how the characteristic sentiments -of the Hellenic autonomous world were now dying out everywhere. The -maintenance of Sparta as an unwalled city was one of the deepest and most -cherished of the Lycurgean traditions; a standing proof of the fearless -bearing and self-confidence of the Spartans against dangers from without. -The erection of the walls showed their own conviction, but too well borne -out by the real circumstances around them, that the pressure of the -foreigner had become so overwhelming as hardly to leave them even safety -at home. - - -THE LAST ACTS OF OLYMPIAS’ POWER - -[Sidenote: [317-311 B.C.]] - -The warfare between Cassander and Polysperchon became now embittered by -a feud among the members of the Macedonian imperial family. King Philip -Arrhidæus and his wife Eurydice, alarmed and indignant at the restoration -of Olympias, which Polysperchon was projecting, solicited aid from -Cassander, and tried to place the force in Macedonia at his disposal. In -this however they failed. - -Olympias, assisted not only by Polysperchon, but by the Epirot prince -Æacides, made her entry into Macedonia out of Epirus, apparently in the -autumn of 317 B.C. She brought with her Roxane and her child--the widow -and son of Alexander the Great. The Macedonian soldiers, assembled by -Philip Arrhidæus and Eurydice to resist her, were so overawed by her -name and the recollection of Alexander, that they refused to fight, and -thus insured to her an easy victory. Philip and Eurydice became her -prisoners; the former she caused to be slain; to the latter she offered -only an option between the sword, the halter, and poison. The old queen -next proceeded to satiate her revenge against the family of Antipater. -One hundred leading Macedonians, friends of Cassander, were put to death, -together with his brother Nicanor; while the sepulchre of his deceased -brother Iollas, accused of having poisoned Alexander the Great, was -broken up. - -During the winter, Olympias remained thus completely predominant in -Macedonia; where her position seemed strong, since her allies the -Ætolians were masters of the pass at Thermopylæ, while Cassander -was kept employed in Peloponnesus by the force under Alexander, -son of Polysperchon. But Cassander, disengaging himself from these -embarrassments, and eluding Thermopylæ by a maritime transit to Thessaly, -seized the Perrhæbian passes before they had been put under guard, and -entered Macedonia without resistance. Olympias, having no army competent -to meet him in the field, was forced to shut herself up in the maritime -fortress of Pydna, with Roxane, the child Alexander, and Thessalonice -daughter of her late husband Philip, son of Amyntas. - -Here Cassander blocked her up for several months by sea as well as by -land, and succeeded in defeating all the efforts of Polysperchon and -Æacides to relieve her. In the spring of the ensuing year (316 B.C.), -she was forced by intolerable famine to surrender. Cassander promised -her nothing more than personal safety, requiring from her the surrender -of the two great fortresses, Pella and Amphipolis, which made him master -of Macedonia. Presently however the relatives of those numerous victims, -who had perished by order of Olympias, were encouraged by Cassander to -demand her life in retribution. They found little difficulty in obtaining -a verdict of condemnation against her from what was called a Macedonian -assembly. Nevertheless, such was the sentiment of awe and reverence -connected with her name, that no one except these injured men themselves -could be found to execute the sentence. She died with a courage worthy -of her rank and domineering character. Cassander took Thessalonice -to wife, confined Roxane with the child Alexander in the fortress of -Amphipolis--where (after a certain interval) he caused both of them to be -slain. - -While Cassander was thus master of Macedonia, and while the imperial -family were disappearing from the scene in that country, the defeat and -death of Eumenes (which happened nearly at the same time as the capture -of Olympias) removed the last faithful partisan of that family in Asia. -But at the same time it left in the hands of Antigonus such overwhelming -preponderance throughout Asia, that he aspired to become vicar and master -of the entire Alexandrine empire, as well as to avenge upon Cassander the -extirpation of the regal family. His power appeared indeed so formidable -that Cassander of Macedonia, Lysimachus of Thrace, Ptolemy of Egypt, and -Seleucus of Babylonia, entered into a convention, which gradually ripened -into an active alliance against him. - -[Sidenote: [317-315 B.C.]] - -During the struggles between these powerful princes, Greece appears -simply as a group of subject cities, held, garrisoned, grasped at, or -coveted, by all of them. Polysperchon, abandoning all hopes in Macedonia -after the death of Olympias, had been forced to take refuge among the -Ætolians, leaving his son Alexander to make the best struggle that he -could in Peloponnesus; so that Cassander was now decidedly preponderant -throughout the Hellenic regions. After fixing himself on the throne of -Macedonia, he perpetuated his own name by founding, on the isthmus of the -peninsula of Pallene and near the site where Potidæa had stood, the new -city of Cassandrea. - -Passing through Bœotia, he undertook the task of restoring the city of -Thebes, which had been destroyed twenty years previously by Alexander -the Great, and had ever since existed only as a military post on the -ancient citadel called Cadmea. The other Bœotian towns, to whom the old -Theban territory had been assigned, were persuaded or constrained to -relinquish it; and Cassander invited from all parts of Greece the Theban -exiles or their descendants. From sympathy with these exiles, and also -with the ancient celebrity of the city, many Greeks, even from Italy and -Sicily, contributed to the restoration. The Athenians, now administered -by Demetrius Phalereus under Cassander’s supremacy, were particularly -forward in the work; the Messenians and Megalopolitans, whose ancestors -had owed so much to the Theban Epaminondas, lent strenuous aid. Thebes -was re-established in the original area which it had occupied before -Alexander’s siege; and was held by a Cassandrian garrison in the Cadmea, -destined for the mastery of Bœotia and Greece. - -After some stay at Thebes, Cassander advanced towards Peloponnesus. -Alexander (son of Polysperchon) having fortified the isthmus, he was -forced to embark his troops with his elephants at Megara, and cross -over the Saronic Gulf to Epidaurus. He dispossessed Alexander of Argos, -of Messenia, and even of his position on the isthmus, where he left a -powerful detachment, and then returned to Macedonia. His increasing -power raised both apprehension and hatred in the bosom of Antigonus, who -endeavoured to come to terms with him, but in vain. Cassander preferred -the alliance with Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus--against Antigonus, -who was now master of nearly the whole of Asia, inspiring common dread -to all of them. Accordingly, from Asia to Peloponnesus, with arms and -money Antigonus despatched the Milesian Aristodemus to strengthen -Alexander against Cassander; whom he further denounced as an enemy of -the Macedonian name, because he had slain Olympias, imprisoned the other -members of the regal family, and re-established the Olynthian exiles. -He caused the absent Cassander to be condemned by what was called a -Macedonian assembly, upon these and other charges. - -Antigonus further proclaimed, by the voice of this assembly, that all -the Greeks should be free, self-governing, and exempt from garrisons or -military occupation. It was expected that these brilliant promises would -enlist partisans in Greece against Cassander; accordingly Ptolemy, ruler -of Egypt, one of the enemies of Antigonus, thought fit to issue similar -proclamations a few months afterwards, tendering to the Greeks the same -boon from himself. These promises, neither executed nor intended to be -executed, by either of the kings, appear to have produced little or no -effect upon the Greeks. - -[Sidenote: [315-312 B.C.]] - -The arrival of Aristodemus in Peloponnesus had reanimated the party -of Alexander (son of Polysperchon), against whom Cassander was again -obliged to bring his full forces from Macedonia. Though successful -against Alexander at Argos, Orchomenos, and other places, Cassander was -not able to crush him, and presently thought it prudent to gain him -over. He offered to him the separate government of Peloponnesus, though -in subordination to himself; Alexander accepted the offer--becoming -Cassander’s ally--and carried on war, jointly with him, against -Aristodemus, with varying success, until he was presently assassinated -by some private enemies. Nevertheless his widow Cratesipolis, a woman of -courage and energy, still maintained herself in considerable force at -Sicyon. - -Cassander’s most obstinate enemies were the Ætolians, of whom we now -first hear formal mention as a substantive confederacy. These Ætolians -became the allies of Antigonus as they had been before of Polysperchon, -extending their predatory ravages even as far as Attica. Protected -against foreign garrisons, partly by their rude and fierce habits, -partly by their mountainous territory, they were almost the only Greeks -who could still be called free. Cassander tried to keep them in check -through their neighbours the Acarnanians, whom he induced to adopt a -more concentrated habit of residence, consolidating their numerous -petty townships into a few considerable towns,--Stratus, Sauria, and -Agrinium,--convenient posts for Macedonian garrisons. He also made -himself master of Leucas, Apollonia, and Epidamnus, defeating the -Illyrian king Glaucias, so that his dominion now extended across from the -Thermaic to the Adriatic Gulf. His general Philippus gained two important -victories over the Ætolians and Epirots, forcing the former to relinquish -some of their most accessible towns. - -The power of Antigonus in Asia underwent a material diminution, by the -successful and permanent establishment which Seleucus now acquired in -Babylonia; from which event the era of the succeeding Seleucidæ takes its -origin. In Greece, however, Antigonus gained ground on Cassander. He sent -thither his nephew Ptolemy with a large force to liberate the Greeks, -or in other words, to expel the Cassandrian garrisons; while he at the -same time distracted Cassander’s attention by threatening to cross the -Hellespont and invade Macedonia. This Ptolemy (not the Egyptian) expelled -the soldiers of Cassander from Eubœa, Bœotia, and Phocis; having taken -Chalcis, Oropus, Eretria, and Carystus, he entered Attica and presented -himself before Athens. So much disposition to treat with him was -manifested in the city, that Demetrius the Phalerean was obliged to gain -time by pretending to open negotiations with Antigonus, while Ptolemy -withdrew from Attica. Nearly at the same epoch, Apollonia, Epidamnus, -and Leucas, found means, assisted by an armament from Corcyra, to drive -out Cassander’s garrisons, and to escape from his dominion. The affairs -of Antigonus were now prospering in Greece, but they were much thrown -back by the discontent and treachery of his admiral Telesphorus, who -seized Elis and even plundered the sacred treasures of Olympia. Ptolemy -presently put him down, and restored these treasures to the god. - -[Sidenote: [312-308 B.C.]] - -In the ensuing year, a convention was concluded between Antigonus, on one -side, and Cassander, Ptolemy (the Egyptian) and Lysimachus, on the other, -whereby the supreme command in Macedonia was guaranteed to Cassander, -until the maturity of Alexander son of Roxane; Thrace being at the same -time assured to Lysimachus, Egypt to Ptolemy, and the whole of Asia to -Antigonus. It was at the same time covenanted by all, that the Hellenic -cities should be free. Towards the execution of this last clause, -however, nothing was actually done. Nor does it appear that the treaty -had any other effect, except to inspire Cassander with increased jealousy -about Roxane and her child; both of whom (as has been already stated) -he caused to be secretly assassinated soon afterwards, by the governor -Glaucias, in the fortress of Amphipolis, where they had been confined. -The forces of Antigonus, under his general Ptolemy, still remained in -Greece. But this general presently (310 B.C.) revolted from Antigonus, -and placed them in co-operation with Cassander; while Ptolemy of Egypt, -accusing Antigonus of having contravened the treaty by garrisoning -various Grecian cities, renewed the war and the triple alliance against -him. - -Polysperchon--who had hitherto maintained a local dominion over various -parts of Peloponnesus, with a military force distributed in Messene and -other towns--was now encouraged by Antigonus to espouse the cause of -Heracles (son of Alexander by Barsine), and to place him on the throne -of Macedonia in opposition to Cassander. This young prince Heracles now -seventeen years of age, was sent to Greece from Pergamus in Asia, and -his pretensions to the throne were assisted not only by a considerable -party in Macedonia itself, but also by the Ætolians. Polysperchon invaded -Macedonia, with favourable prospects of establishing the young prince; -yet he thought it advantageous to accept treacherous propositions -from Cassander, who offered to him partnership in the sovereignty of -Macedonia, with an independent army and dominion in Peloponnesus. -Polysperchon, tempted by these offers, assassinated the young prince -Heracles, and withdrew his army towards Peloponnesus. But he found such -unexpected opposition, in his march through Bœotia, from Bœotians and -Peloponnesians, that he was forced to take up his winter quarters in -Locris (309 B.C.). From this time forward, as far as we can make out, he -commanded in southern Greece as subordinate ally or partner of Cassander. - -The assassination of Heracles was speedily followed by that of Cleopatra, -sister of Alexander the Great, and daughter of Philip and Olympias. -She had been for some time at Sardis, nominally at liberty, yet under -watch by the governor, who received his orders from Antigonus; she was -now preparing to quit that place, for the purpose of joining Ptolemy in -Egypt, and of becoming his wife. She had been invoked as auxiliary, or -courted in marriage, by several of the great Macedonian chiefs, without -any result. Now, however, Antigonus, afraid of the influence which her -name might throw into the scale of his rival Ptolemy, caused her to be -secretly murdered as she was preparing for her departure; throwing the -blame of the deed on some of her women, whom he punished with death. - -All the relatives of Alexander the Great (except Thessalonice wife of -Cassander, daughter of Philip by a Thessalian mistress) thus successively -perished, and all by the orders of one or other among his principal -officers. The imperial family, with the prestige of its name thus came to -an end. - - -PTOLEMY IN GREECE - -[Sidenote: [308-307 B.C.]] - -Ptolemy of Egypt now set sail for Greece with a powerful armament. He -acquired possession of the important cities--Sicyon and Corinth--which -were handed over to him by Cratesipolis, widow of Alexander son of -Polysperchon. He then made known by proclamation his purpose as a -liberator, inviting aid from the Peloponnesian cities themselves against -the garrisons of Cassander. From some he received encouraging answers -and promises; but none of them made any movement, or seconded him by -armed demonstrations. He thought it prudent therefore to conclude a -truce with Cassander and retire from Greece, leaving however secure -garrisons in Sicyon and Corinth. The Grecian cities had now become tame -and passive. Feeling their own incapacity of self-defence, and averse to -auxiliary efforts--which brought upon them enmity without any prospect of -advantage--they awaited only the turns of foreign interference and the -behests of the potentates around them. - -The Grecian ascendency of Cassander, however, was in the following year -exposed to a graver shock than it had ever yet encountered, by the sudden -invasion of Demetrius called Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus. This young -prince, sailing from Ephesus with a formidable armament, contrived to -conceal his purposes so closely, that he actually entered the harbour of -Piræus (on the 26th of the month Thargelion--May) without expectation, or -resistance from any one; his fleet being mistaken for the fleet of the -Egyptian Ptolemy. The Phalerean Demetrius, taken unawares, and attempting -too late to guard the harbour, found himself compelled to leave it in -possession of the enemy, and to retire within the walls of Athens; while -Dionysius, the Cassandrian governor, maintained himself with his garrison -in Munychia, yet without any army competent to meet the invaders in the -field. This accomplished Phalerean, who had administered for ten years as -the viceroy and with the force of Cassander, now felt his position and -influence at Athens overthrown, and even his personal safety endangered. -He obtained permission to retire to Thebes, from whence he passed over -soon after to Ptolemy in Egypt. The Athenians in the city declared in -favour of Demetrius Poliorcetes; who however refused to enter the walls -until he should have besieged and captured Munychia, as well as Megara, -with their Cassandrian garrisons. In a short time he accomplished both -these objects. Indeed energy, skill, and effective use of engines in -besieging fortified places, were among the most conspicuous features -in his character; procuring for him the surname whereby he is known to -history. He proclaimed the Megarians free, levelling to the ground the -fortifications of Munychia, as an earnest to the Athenians that they -should be relieved for the future from all foreign garrison. - - -ATHENS PASSIVE AND SERVILE - -[Sidenote: [307-304 B.C.]] - -After these successes, Demetrius Poliorcetes made his triumphant entry -into Athens. He announced to the people, in formal assembly, that they -were now again a free democracy, liberated from all dominion either -of soldiers from abroad or oligarchs at home. He also promised them a -further boon from his father Antigonus and himself--150,000 medimni -of corn for distribution, and ship-timber in quantity sufficient for -constructing one hundred triremes. Both these announcements were received -with grateful exultation. The feelings of the people were testified not -merely in votes of thanks and admiration towards the young conqueror, -but in effusions of unmeasured and exorbitant flattery. Stratocles (who -has already been before us as one of the accusers of Demosthenes in the -Harpalian affair) with others exhausted their invention in devising new -varieties of compliment and adulation. Antigonus and Demetrius were -proclaimed to be not only kings, but gods and saviours; a high priest -of these saviours was to be annually chosen, after whom each successive -year was to be named (instead of being named after the first of the nine -archons, as had hitherto been the custom), and the dates of decrees and -contracts commemorated; the month Munychion was re-named as Demetrion; -two new tribes, to be called Antigonias and Demetrias, were constituted -in addition to the preceding ten; the annual senate was appointed to -consist of six hundred members instead of five hundred; the portraits and -exploits of Antigonus and Demetrius were to be woven, along with those -of Zeus and Athene, into the splendid and voluminous robe periodically -carried in procession, as an offering at the Panathenaic festival; -the spot of ground where Demetrius had alighted from his chariot, was -consecrated with an altar erected in honour of Demetrius Catæbates or -the Descender. Several other similar votes were passed, recognising, and -worshipping as gods, the saviours Antigonus and Demetrius. Nay, we are -told that temples or altars were voted to Phila-Aphrodite, in honour -of Phila wife of Demetrius; and a like compliment was paid to his two -mistresses, Leæna and Lamia. Altars are said to have been also dedicated -to Adimantus and others, his convivial companions or flatterers. At the -same time the numerous statues which had been erected in honour of the -Phalerean Demetrius during his decennial government, were overthrown, and -some of them even turned to ignoble purposes, in order to cast greater -scorn upon the past ruler. The demonstrations of servile flattery at -Athens, towards Demetrius Poliorcetes, were in fact so extravagantly -overdone, that he himself is said to have been disgusted with them, and -to have expressed contempt for these degenerate Athenians of his own time. - -[Illustration: GREEK JUG] - -The most fulsome votes of adulation proposed in honour of Demetrius -Poliorcetes by his partisans, though perhaps disapproved by many, would -hardly find a single pronounced opponent. One man, however, there was, -who ventured to oppose several of the votes--the nephew of Demosthenes, -Demochares; who deserves to be commemorated as the last known spokesman -of free Athenian citizenship. We know only that such were his general -politics, and that his opposition to the obsequious rhetor Stratocles -ended in banishment, four years afterwards. He appears to have acted as a -general during this period, and to have been active in strengthening the -fortifications and military equipment of the city. - -The altered politics of Athens were manifested by impeachment against -Demetrius Phalereus and other leading partisans of the late Cassandrian -government. He and many others had already gone into voluntary exile; -when their trials came on, they were not forthcoming, and all were -condemned to death. But all those who remained, and presented themselves -for trial, were acquitted; so little was there of reactionary violence on -this occasion. - -The friendship of this obnoxious Phalerean, and of Cassander also, -towards the philosopher Theophrastus, seems to have been one main cause -which occasioned the enactment of a restrictive law against the liberty -of philosophising. It was decreed, on the proposition of a citizen -named Sophocles, that no philosopher should be allowed to open a school -or teach, except under special sanction obtained from a vote of the -senate and people. Such was the disgust and apprehension occasioned by -the new restriction, that all the philosophers with one accord left -Athens. This spirited protest, against authoritative restriction on the -liberty of philosophy and teaching, found responsive sympathy among the -Athenians. The celebrity of the schools and professors was in fact the -only characteristic mark of dignity still remaining to them--then their -power had become extinct, and when even their independence and free -constitution had degenerated into a mere name. - -[Illustration: CERES - -(From a vase)] - -Athenian envoys were despatched to Antigonus in Asia, to testify the -gratitude of the people, and communicate the recent complimentary -votes. Antigonus not only received them graciously, but sent to Athens, -according to the promise made by his son, a large present of 150,000 -medimni of wheat, with timber sufficient for one hundred ships. He -at the same time directed Demetrius to convene at Athens a synod of -deputies from the allied Grecian cities, where resolutions might be -taken for the common interests of Greece. It was his interest at this -moment to raise up a temporary self-sustaining authority in Greece, for -the purpose of upholding the alliance with himself, during the absence -of Demetrius--whom he was compelled to summon into Asia with his army, -requiring his services for the war against Ptolemy in Syria and Cyprus. - -The following three years were spent by Demetrius: (1) In victorious -operations near Cyprus, defeating Ptolemy and making himself master of -that island; after which Antigonus and Demetrius assumed the title of -kings, and the example was followed by Ptolemy, in Egypt, by Lysimachus, -in Thrace, and by Seleucus in Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and Syria; thus -abolishing even the titular remembrance of Alexander’s family. (2) In -an unsuccessful invasion of Egypt by land and sea, repulsed with great -loss. (3) In the siege of Rhodes. The brave and intelligent citizens of -this island resisted for more than a year the most strenuous attacks -and the most formidable siege-equipments of Demetrius Poliorcetes. All -their efforts however would have been vain had they not been assisted -by large reinforcements and supplies from Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and -Cassander. Such are the conditions under which alone even the most -resolute and intelligent Greeks can now retain their circumscribed sphere -of autonomy. The siege was at length terminated by a compromise; the -Rhodians submitted to enrol themselves as allies of Demetrius, yet under -proviso not to act against Ptolemy. Towards the latter they carried -their grateful devotion so far as to erect a temple to him, called the -Ptolemæum, and to worship him (under the sanction of the oracle of Ammon) -as a god. Amidst the rocks and shoals through which Grecian cities were -now condemned to steer, menaced on every side by kings more powerful than -themselves, and afterwards by the giant republic of Rome--the Rhodians -conducted their political affairs with greater prudence and dignity than -any other Grecian city. - -[Sidenote: [304-302 B.C.]] - -Shortly after the departure of Demetrius from Greece to Cyprus, Cassander -and Polysperchon renewed the war in Peloponnesus and its neighbourhood. -We make out no particulars respecting this war. The Ætolians were in -hostility with Athens, and committed annoying depredations. The fleet of -Athens, repaired or increased by the timber received from Antigonus, was -made to furnish thirty quadriremes to assist Demetrius in Cyprus, and -was employed in certain operations near the island of Amorgos, wherein -it suffered defeat. But we can discover little respecting the course of -the war, except that Cassander gained ground upon the Athenians, and that -about the beginning of 303 B.C., he was blockading or threatening to -blockade Athens. The Athenians invoked the aid of Demetrius Poliorcetes, -who, having recently concluded an accommodation with the Rhodians, came -again across from Asia, with a powerful fleet and army, to Aulis in -Bœotia. He was received at Athens with demonstrations of honour equal -or superior to those which had marked his previous visit. He seems to -have passed a year and a half, partly at Athens, partly in military -operations carried successfully over many parts of Greece. He celebrated, -as president, the great festival of the Heræa at Argos; on which occasion -he married Didamia, sister of Pyrrhus, the young king of Epirus. He -prevailed on the Sicyonians to transfer to a short distance the site of -their city, conferring upon the new city the name of Demetrias. At a -Grecian synod, convened in Corinth under his own letters of invitation, -he received by acclamation the appointment of leader or emperor of -the Greeks, as it had been conferred on Philip and Alexander. He even -extended his attacks as far as Leucas and Corcyra. The greater part of -Greece seems to have been either occupied by his garrisons, or enlisted -among his subordinates. - -So much was Cassander intimidated by these successes, that he sent -envoys to Asia, soliciting peace from Antigonus; who, however, elate and -full of arrogance, refused to listen to any terms short of surrender at -discretion. Cassander, thus driven to despair, renewed his applications -to Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. All these princes felt equally -menaced by the power and dispositions of Antigonus, and all resolved upon -an energetic combination to put him down. - - -SUCCESS OF DEMETRIUS IN GREECE - -[Sidenote: [302-301 B.C.]] - -After uninterrupted prosperity in Greece, throughout the summer of 302 -B.C., Demetrius returned from Leucas to Athens, about the month of -September, near the time of the Eleusinian mysteries. He was welcomed -by festive processions, hymns, pæans, choric dances, and bacchanalian -odes of joyous congratulation. One of these hymns is preserved, sung -by a chorus of ithyphalli--masked revellers, with their heads and arms -encircled by wreaths--clothed in white tunics, and in feminine garments. - -Effusions such as these, while displaying unmeasured idolatry and -subservience towards Demetrius, are yet more remarkable, as betraying -a loss of force, a senility, and a consciousness of defenceless and -degraded position, such as we are astonished to find publicly proclaimed -at Athens. It is not only against the foreign potentates that the -Athenians avow themselves incapable of self-defence, but even against -the incursions of the Ætolians,--Greeks like themselves, though warlike, -rude, and restless. When such were the feelings of a people--once the -most daring, confident, and organising, and still the most intelligent, -in Greece, we may see that the history of the Greeks as a separate nation -or race is reaching its close; and that from henceforward they must -become merged in one or other of the stronger currents that surround them. - -After his past successes, Demetrius passed some months in enjoyment and -luxury at Athens. He was lodged in the Parthenon, being considered as -the guest of the goddess Athene. But his dissolute habits provoked the -louder comments, from their being indulged in such a domicile; while -the violences which he offered to beautiful youths of good family led -to various scenes truly tragical. The subservient manifestations of the -Athenians towards him, however, continued unabated. It is even affirmed -that, in order to compensate for something which he had taken amiss, they -passed a formal decree, on the proposition of Stratocles, declaring that -everything which Demetrius might command was holy in regard to the gods, -and just in regard to men. The banishment of Demochares is said to have -been brought on by his sarcastic comments upon this decree. In the month -Munychion (April) Demetrius mustered his forces and his Grecian allies -for a march into Thessaly against Cassander; but before his departure, -he was anxious to be initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries. It was -however not the regular time for this ceremony; the Lesser Mysteries -being celebrated in February, the Greater in September. The Athenians -overruled the difficulty by passing a special vote, enabling him to be -initiated at once, and to receive in immediate succession the preparatory -and the final initiation, between which ceremonies a year of interval was -habitually required. Accordingly, he placed himself disarmed in the hands -of the priests, and received both first and second initiation in the -month of April, immediately before his departure from Athens. - - -BATTLE OF IPSUS - -[Sidenote: [301-294 B.C.]] - -Demetrius conducted into Thessaly an army of fifty-six thousand men, -of whom twenty-five thousand were Grecian allies--so extensive was his -sway at this moment over the Grecian cities. But after two or three -months of hostilities, partially successful, against Cassander, he was -summoned into Asia by Antigonus to assist in meeting the formidable army -of the allies--Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander. Before -retiring from Greece, Demetrius concluded a truce with Cassander, whereby -it was stipulated that the Grecian cities, both in Europe and Asia, -should be permanently autonomous and free from garrison or control. -This stipulation served only as an honourable pretext for leaving -Greece; Demetrius had little expectation that it would be observed. In -the ensuing spring was fought the decisive battle of Ipsus in Phrygia -(300 B.C.), by Antigonus and Demetrius, against Ptolemy, Seleucus, -and Lysimachus; with a large army and many elephants on both sides. -Antigonus, completely defeated, was slain; his age was more than eighty -years. His Asiatic dominion was broken up, chiefly to the profit of -Seleucus, whose dynasty became from henceforward ascendant, from the -coast of Syria eastward to the Caspian Gates and Parthia; sometimes, -though imperfectly, farther eastward, nearly to the Indus. - -The effects of the battle of Ipsus were speedily felt in Greece. The -Athenians passed a decree proclaiming themselves neutral, and excluding -both the belligerent parties from Attica. Demetrius, retiring with the -remnant of his defeated army, and embarking at Ephesus to sail to Athens, -was met on the voyage by Athenian envoys, who respectfully acquainted him -that he would not be admitted. At the same time, his wife Didamia, whom -he had left at Athens, was sent away by the Athenians under an honourable -escort to Megara, while some ships of war which he had left in the Piræus -were also restored to him. Demetrius, indignant at this unexpected -defection of a city which had recently heaped upon him such fulsome -adulation, was still further mortified by the loss of most of his other -possessions in Greece. His garrisons were for the most part expelled, -and the cities passed into Cassandrian keeping or dominion. His fortunes -were indeed partially restored by concluding a peace with Seleucus, -who married his daughter. This alliance withdrew Demetrius to Syria, -while Greece appears to have fallen more and more under the Cassandrian -parties. It was one of these partisans, Lachares, who, seconded by -Cassander’s soldiers, acquired a despotism at Athens such as had been -possessed by the Phalerean Demetrius, but employed in a manner far more -cruel and oppressive. - -Various exiles from his tyranny invited Demetrius Poliorcetes, who passed -over again from Asia into Greece, recovered portions of Peloponnesus, and -laid siege to Athens. He blocked up the city by sea and land, so that the -pressure of famine presently became intolerable. Lachares having made his -escape, the people opened their gates to Demetrius, not without great -fear of the treatment awaiting them. But he behaved with forbearance, -and even with generosity. He spared them all, supplied them with a large -donation of corn, and contented himself with taking military occupation -of the city, naming his own friends as magistrates. He put garrisons, -however, not only into Piræus and Munychia, but also into the hill called -Museum, a part of the walled circle of Athens itself (298 B.C.). - -While Demetrius was thus strengthening himself in Greece, he lost all -his footing both in Cyprus, Syria, and Cilicia, which passed into the -hands of Ptolemy and Seleucus. New prospects however were opened to him -in Macedonia by the death of Cassander (his brother-in-law, brother of -his wife Phila) and the family feuds supervening thereupon. Philippus, -eldest son of Cassander, succeeded his father, but died of sickness after -something more than a year. Between the two remaining sons, Antipater -and Alexander, a sanguinary hostility broke out. Antipater slew his -mother Thessalonice, and threatened the life of his brother, who in -his turn invited aid both from Demetrius and from the Epirotic king -Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus being ready first, marched into Macedonia, and expelled -Antipater; receiving as his recompense the territory called Tymphæa -(between Epirus and Macedonia) together with Acarnania, Amphilochia, -and the town of Ambracia, which became henceforward his chief city and -residence. Antipater sought shelter in Thrace with his father-in-law -Lysimachus; by whose order, however, he was presently slain. Demetrius, -occupied with other matters, was more tardy in obeying the summons; but, -on entering into Macedonia, he found himself strong enough to dispossess -and kill Alexander (who had indeed invited him, but is said to have -laid a train for assassinating him), and seized the Macedonian crown; -not without the assent of a considerable party, to whom the name and the -deeds of Cassander and his sons were alike odious. - -[Sidenote: [294-279 B.C.]] - -Demetrius became thus master of Macedonia, together with the greater -part of Greece, including Athens, Megara, and much of Peloponnesus. -He undertook an expedition into Bœotia, for the purpose of conquering -Thebes; in which attempt he succeeded, not without a double siege of -that city. But Greece as a whole was managed by Antigonus (afterwards -called Antigonus Gonatas) son of Demetrius, who maintained his supremacy -unshaken during all his father’s life-time; even though Demetrius -was deprived of Macedonia by the temporary combination of Lysimachus -with Pyrrhus, and afterwards remained (until his death in 283 B.C.) a -captive in the hands of Seleucus. After a brief possession of the crown -of Macedonia successively by Seleucus, Ptolemy Ceraunus, Meleager, -Antipater, and Sosthenes--Antigonus Gonatas regained it in 277 B.C. His -descendants, the Antigonid kings, maintained it until the battle of Pydna -in 168 B.C.; when Perseus, the last of them, was overthrown, and his -kingdom incorporated with the Roman conquests. - -Of Greece during this period we can give no account, except that the -greater number of its cities were in dependence upon Demetrius and his -son Antigonus--either under occupation by Macedonian garrisons, or -ruled by local despots who leaned on foreign mercenaries and Macedonian -support. The spirit of the Greeks was broken, and their habits of -combined sentiment and action had disappeared. The invasion of the Gauls -indeed awakened them into a temporary union for the defence of Thermopylæ -in 279 B.C. But this burst of spirit did not interrupt the continuance -of the Macedonian dominion in Greece, which Antigonus Gonatas continued -to hold throughout most of a long reign. He greatly extended the system -begun by his predecessors, of isolating each Grecian city from alliances -with other cities in its neighbourhood--planting in most of them local -despots, and compressing the most important by means of garrisons. Among -all Greeks, the Spartans and the Ætolians stood most free from foreign -occupation, and were the least crippled in their power of self-action. -The Achæan League too developed itself afterwards as a renovated sprout -from the ruined tree of Grecian liberty, though never attaining to -anything better than a feeble and puny life, nor capable of sustaining -itself without foreign aid.[b] - -At this point Grote ends his immortal work and takes farewell of Grecian -history in the following words: - -“With this after-growth, or half-revival, I shall not meddle. It forms -the Greece of Polybius, which that author treats, in my opinion justly, -as having no history of its own, but as an appendage attached to some -foreign centre and principal among its neighbours--Macedonia, Egypt, -Syria, Rome. Each of these neighbours acted upon the destinies of -Greece more powerfully than the Greeks themselves. The Greeks to whom -these volumes have been devoted--those of Homer, Archilochus, Solon, -Æschylus, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Demosthenes--present -as their most marked characteristic a loose aggregation of autonomous -tribes or communities, acting and reacting freely among themselves, -with little or no pressure from foreigners. The main interest of the -narrative has consisted in the spontaneous grouping of the different -Hellenic fractions, in the self-prompted co-operations and conflicts, -the abortive attempts to bring about something like an effective federal -organisation, or to maintain two permanent rival confederacies, the -energetic ambition and heroic endurance of men to whom Hellas was the -entire political world. The freedom of Hellas, the life and soul of this -history from its commencement, disappeared completely during the first -years of Alexander’s reign. After following to their tombs the generation -of Greeks contemporary with him--men like Demosthenes and Phocion, -born in a state of freedom--I have pursued the history into that gulf -of Grecian nullity which marks the succeeding century; exhibiting sad -evidence of the degrading servility, and suppliant king-worship, into -which the countrymen of Aristides and Pericles had been driven, by their -own conscious weakness under the overwhelming pressure from without. - -“I cannot better complete that picture than by showing what the leading -democratical citizen became, under the altered atmosphere which now -bedimmed his city. Demochares, the nephew of Demosthenes, has been -mentioned as one of the few distinguished Athenians in this last -generation. He was more than once chosen to the highest public offices; -he was conspicuous for his free speech, both as an orator and as an -historian, in the face of powerful enemies; he remained throughout a -long life faithfully attached to the democratical constitution, and was -banished for a time by its opponents. In the year 280 B.C., he prevailed -on the Athenians to erect a public monument, with a commemorative -inscription, to his uncle Demosthenes. Seven or eight years afterwards, -Demochares himself died, aged nearly eighty. His son Laches proposed -and obtained a public decree, that a statue should be erected, with an -annexed inscription, to his honour. We read in the decree a recital -of the distinguished public services whereby Demochares merited this -compliment from his countrymen. All that the proposer of the decree, his -son and fellow-citizen, can find to recite, as ennobling the last half of -the father’s public life (since his return from exile), is as follows: -(1) He contracted the public expenses, and introduced a more frugal -management. (2) He undertook an embassy to King Lysimachus, from whom he -obtained two presents for the people--one of thirty talents, the other of -one hundred talents. (3) He proposed the vote for sending envoys to King -Ptolemy in Egypt, from whom fifty talents were obtained for the people. -(4) He went as envoy to Antipater, received from him twenty talents, and -delivered them to the people at the Eleusinian festival. - -“When such begging missions are the deeds for which Athens both employed -and recompensed her most eminent citizens, an historian accustomed to -the Grecian world as described by Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon, -feels that the life has departed from his subject, and with sadness and -humiliation brings his narrative to a close.”[b] - -A kindred feeling seems to have actuated most of the other prominent -historians of Greece, with the notable exception of Thirlwall. Yet from -a slightly altered point of view, there is much of interest in the story -of the later struggles of this wonderful people, against a seemingly -predestined fate. Even were it not so, our present purpose, which regards -Greece not as an isolated entity but as a part of the scheme of world -history, requires that we should follow the tragic drama to its close.[a] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LXII. THE EXPLOITS OF PYRRHUS - - -We now approach that dramatic moment when Greek first met Roman in battle -array. Into the tangled web of the history of this period there flashes -the scarlet thread of the life of Pyrrhus of Epirus. Though a fuller -account of his war against Italy must be deferred to the Roman history, -it will be briefly sketched here, together with a short account of his -country and his ancestors.[a] - -Epirus, in spite of its distance from the chief centres of Greek thought -and action, and the fact that its inhabitants were hardly regarded as -other than barbarians, exerted even at an early period no small influence -on Greece, by means more especially of the oracle of Dodona. One of -the earliest and most flourishing settlements of the Greeks proper in -Epirus was the Corinthian colony of Ambracia, which gave its name to the -neighbouring gulf. The happy results of the experiment appear to have -tempted other Greek states to imitate the example, and Elatria, Bucheta, -and Pandosia bore witness to the enterprise of the people of Elis. -Phœnice, still so called, was the wealthiest of all the native cities -of Epirus, and after the fall of the Molossian kingdom the centre of an -Epirotic league. - -[Sidenote: [_ca._ 360-288 B.C.]] - -The kings or rather chieftains of the Molossians, who ultimately extended -their power over all Epirus, claimed to be descended from Pyrrhus, son -of Achilles, who, according to the legend, settled in the country after -the sack of Troy, and transmitted his kingdom to Molossus, his son -by Andromache. The early history of the dynasty is very obscure; but -Admetus, who lived in the fifth century B.C., has become famous for his -hospitable reception of the banished Themistocles, in spite of the grudge -that he must have harboured against the great Athenian, who had persuaded -his countrymen to refuse the alliance tardily offered by the Molossian -chief when their victory against the Persians was already secured. He was -succeeded about 429 B.C. by his son or grandson, Tharymbas or Arymbas -I, who being placed by a decree of the people under the guardianship of -Sabylinthus, chief of the Atintanes, was educated at Athens, and thus -became at a later date the introducer of a higher kind of civilisation -among his subjects. Alcetas, the next king mentioned in history, was -contemporary with Dionysius of Syracuse (about 385 B.C.) and was indebted -to his assistance for the recovery of his throne. His son Arymbas II -(who succeeded by the death of his brother Neoptolemus) ruled with -prudence and equity, and gave encouragement to literature and the arts. -To him Xenocrates of Chalcedon dedicated his four books on the art of -governing; and it is specially mentioned that he bestowed great care on -the education of his brother’s children. Troas, one of his nieces, became -his own wife; and Olympias, the other, was married to Philip of Macedon, -and had the honour of giving birth to Alexander the Great. On the death -of Arymbas, his nephew Alexander, the brother of Olympias, was put in -possession of the throne by the assistance of Philip, who was afterwards -assassinated on occasion of the marriage of the youthful king with -Philip’s daughter Cleopatra. Alexander was the first who bore the title -of king of Epirus, and he raised the reputation of his country amongst -foreign nations. His assistance having been sought by the Tarentines -against the Samnites and Lucanians, he made a descent, 332 B.C., at -Pæstum, near the mouth of the river Silarus, and reduced several cities -of the Lucani and Bruttii; but in a second attack upon Italy he was -surrounded by the enemy, defeated, and slain, near the city Pandosia, in -the Bruttian territory. - -Æacides, the son of Arymbas II, succeeded Alexander, and espoused the -cause of Olympias against Cassander; but he was dethroned by his own -soldiers, and had hardly regained his position when he fell, 313 B.C., in -battle against Philip, brother of Cassander. He had, by his wife Phthia, -the celebrated Pyrrhus, and two daughters Didamia and Troas, of whom the -former married Demetrius Poliorcetes. His brother Alcetas, who succeeded -him, continued the war with Cassander till he was defeated; and he was -ultimately put to death by his rebellious subjects, 295 B.C. The name -of Pyrrhus, who next ascended the throne, gives to the history of his -country an importance which it would otherwise never have possessed. - - -THE ANTECEDENTS OF PYRRHUS - -Born about the year 318, and claiming descent from Pyrrhus, the son of -Achilles, connected also with the royal family of Macedonia through -Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, he became when a mere -stripling king of the wild mountain tribes of Epirus, and learned how -to fight battles in the school of Demetrius Poliorcetes and of his -father Antigonus. He fought by their side in his seventeenth year at -the memorable battle of Ipsus in Phrygia, in which they were decisively -defeated by the combined armies of Seleucus and Lysimachus. Soon -afterwards he was sent to the court of Ptolemy of Egypt at Alexandria as -a pledge for the faithful carrying out of a treaty of alliance between -Ptolemy and Demetrius, as his sister Didamia was the wife of the latter. -Through Ptolemy, whose step-daughter Antigone he married, he was enabled -to establish himself firmly on the throne of Epirus, and he became a -formidable opponent to Demetrius, who was now king of Macedonia and the -leading man in the Greek world.[e] - -[Sidenote: [288-285 B.C.]] - -Demetrius had not renounced the project of resuming his father’s kingdom. -He made immense preparations. The other kings renewed their league in -which they included Pyrrhus, who had long been the friend of Demetrius -but was now to become his rival. This rivalry was the more dangerous -to Demetrius since he had made himself hated by his insolence. One day -when, contrary to his custom, he had received all the petitions which -were presented to him, he was seen to throw them into a river as he was -crossing the bridge. - -All the kings of that day made an endeavour to imitate Alexander, but it -was said that Demetrius represented him as an actor on the stage, bowing -his head to right and left, assuming majestic airs, adorning himself with -a double diadem and a purple mantle on which he had caused the sun, the -moon, and the stars to be embroidered in gold. - -Pyrrhus, on the contrary, recalled Alexander by his fire and his -boldness. He was the type of the soldier and the adventurer. He loved -war for itself and despised all else. He came to the assistance of the -Ætolians when they were attacked by Demetrius, but the two kings did not -meet, having both missed their way. Whilst Demetrius ravaged Epirus, -Pantarchus, one of his lieutenants, gave battle to Pyrrhus, and during -the fight provoked him to single combat. Both were wounded, but Pyrrhus -overthrew his adversary; the Epirots, excited by the courage of their -king, carried the victory, and the Macedonians, having been conquered by -him, admired him more and more. - -Whilst Ptolemy raised the Greek towns against Demetrius, Lysimachus -entered Macedon by Thrace, and Pyrrhus by Epirus. Demetrius thought -it prudent to turn first against Pyrrhus, who was a foreigner, but he -was not slow to repent his action. Desertions were numerous and soon -a general mutiny broke out in the army. The soldiers had not forgiven -Demetrius for permitting the capture of Berœa, where most of them had -left their wives and their money. They went over to Pyrrhus in crowds to -ask for his commands as their general. Demetrius returned to his tent, -took off his crown and his royal mantle, assumed a dark dress and a -Macedonian cap and left the camp unnoticed. He had scarcely gone when his -tent was pillaged. - -Pyrrhus was proclaimed king of Macedon; but Lysimachus appeared on the -scene and demanded his share. Pyrrhus was not sufficiently certain of the -Macedonians to enter into a contest with one of Alexander’s lieutenants, -and he agreed to divide the towns and provinces of Macedonia with -Lysimachus. As Antipater, who had murdered his own mother, protested -against this arrangement and complained that he was being despoiled of -his inheritance, Lysimachus had him put to death; in him the family of -Alexander became extinct. - - -THE LAST ADVENTURES OF DEMETRIUS - -[Sidenote: [285-281 B.C.]] - -Demetrius withdrew first to Cassandrea, a town which Cassander -had founded on the site of Potidæa. Then he passed into Greece to -endeavour to retrieve his fortunes. The Athenians, under the command -of Olympiodorus, had expelled the Macedonian garrison from the Museum -and resumed possession of the Piræus and of Munychia. They had summoned -Pyrrhus, who, after having aided them to liberate themselves, gave them -the excellent advice to receive no more kings into their city. Demetrius -would have besieged Athens, but the philosopher Crates, being sent to -him, dissuaded him in his own interest. Corinth and some portions of the -Peloponnesus still remained to him; there he left his son, Antigonus -Gonatas, and set out for Asia with such vessels as he had and about -twelve thousand soldiers. Most of the towns surrendered and several -he took by force, amongst others the town of Sardis. A few officers -and soldiers passed into his camp. But Agathocles, son of Lysimachus, -appeared with a numerous army. Demetrius, pursued across the desert, -soon found himself confronted by Seleucus. The latter presented himself -unarmed before his enemy’s troops and exhorted them to quit a brigand -leader who had not even the means of paying them. The soldiers saw the -wisdom of the advice and went over to him. - -Demetrius attempted to flee, but was soon dying of hunger and obliged to -give himself up to Seleucus. Lysimachus offered a large sum to have him -put to death; Antigonus Gonatas implored Seleucus to release his father, -offering to abandon all he possessed as his ransom and to surrender -himself as hostage. - -Seleucus repulsed both proposals. He contented himself with preventing -this incorrigible adventurer from again trying his fortune. He gave him -a palace, park, and all the comforts of life. The besieger developed -a taste for hunting and then for games of chance. He soon accustomed -himself to this easy life, became very fat, and died of over-eating (283). - - -THE END OF LYSIMACHUS, KING OF MACEDON - -As soon as Lysimachus had nothing more to fear from Demetrius, he turned -against Pyrrhus and tried to corrupt his officers. He reproached them for -having selected for themselves an Epirot king whose ancestors had been -the slaves of Macedon, and for having preferred him to an old comrade -of Alexander. Pyrrhus could not struggle against the desertion of his -troops. A caprice of the soldiers had given him Macedon; a new caprice -took it away from him, and he withdrew to Epirus. We might think we -were reading the history of the Lower or Byzantine Empire--the fruits -of military government are everywhere the same. Macedonia was united -with the kingdom of Thrace (286); but it had not yet come to the end of -the revolutions which had continued to shake it ever since the death of -Alexander. These revolutions, always provoked by personal ambition and -never by a question of principle or national interest, refute the Utopia -of monarchical stability in a striking manner. - -The polygamy practised by the Macedonian kings multiplied the rivalries -so common in royal families. Agathocles, the eldest of the sons of -Lysimachus, who had established his father’s throne on a firmer basis -by his combats with the independent Thracians and with Demetrius, died -of poison administered at the instigation of his step-mother Arsinoe, -the daughter of Ptolemy. This murder was followed by many others, for -Agathocles had numerous friends. His widow, Lysandra, who was also a -daughter of Ptolemy, took refuge with Seleucus and demanded that he -should avenge her. She had with her one of her brothers who, like all -the members of the royal family of Egypt, bore the name of Ptolemy and -was surnamed Ceraunus, the thunder, on account of his violent character. -He was the eldest of the children of Ptolemy Soter, but the intrigues -of Berenice, one of his step-mothers, caused him to be deprived of -the throne. Ptolemy Soter abdicated in favour of the son he had had -by Berenice, and who reigned under the name of Ptolemy Philadelphus -(285). The eldest at first went to Lysimachus, then to Seleucus, whom he -endeavoured to interest in his favour. - -Seleucus, who nourished the hope of reconstituting Alexander’s monarchy, -had an opportunity to intervene in Macedonia to avenge Lysandra and in -Egypt to support Ptolemy Ceraunus. He was undecided when Lysimachus -forestalled him by declaring war against him. The two octogenarians, in -whom age had not extinguished ambition, once more measured their forces -in a last battle at Corupedion in Phrygia.[44] Lysimachus was slain; for -some days his body was sought for in vain; it was discovered through his -dog who had guarded it and kept off the birds of prey. They buried him in -the town of Lysimachia which he had founded near Cardia on the European -bank of the Hellespont (281). The ranks of the veterans are thinning -rapidly; and little wonder,--forty troublous years had passed since -Alexander died. - - -DEATH OF SELEUCUS - -[Sidenote: [281-279 B.C.]] - -Seleucus assumed the title of Nicator, the conqueror. The defeat and -death of Lysimachus made him master of Asia Minor, Thrace, and Macedonia. -In the east he had extended his sway over Upper Asia as far as the Indus, -but he had given his son Antiochus the crown of the provinces beyond the -Euphrates. Antiochus might thus think that after the death of his father -he would unite under his authority all the possessions of Alexander -with the exception of Egypt. It is said that at the time when Seleucus -was serving as a common soldier in the army of the conqueror of Asia, -the oracle of the Didymean Apollo had announced to him the greatness of -his future, while advising him never to return to Europe. Nevertheless, -six months after the battle of Corupedion, he wished to take possession -of Macedonia and to end his days in his own country. He disembarked at -Lysimachia and at once offered a sacrifice. Then Ptolemy Ceraunus who -had come to him as a suppliant and had been received by him as a friend, -stabbed him before the altar (280). - -The death of the last of Alexander’s companions-in-arms was not avenged. -The army which had proved faithful to none of its chiefs, proclaimed the -murderer king of Thrace and Macedon. He had no difficulty in getting -rid of his rivals. Antiochus, to whom he abandoned Asia Minor, had to -subdue the towns on the Hellespont which had revolted; Antigonus Gonatas, -involved in a struggle with a league of cities in the Peloponnesus, -could not assert his claims to Macedonia. Pyrrhus was more dangerous, -but at this moment the Tarentines, who were at war with Rome, summoned -him to their aid. Ptolemy Ceraunus furnished him with troops, elephants, -and ships to pass over into Italy, gave him his daughter in marriage, -and undertook to protect Epirus so long as he should be absent. Pyrrhus -set out at once and the assassin might fancy that he was to enjoy his -usurped throne in peace. He did not enjoy it long; the very next year a -formidable invasion of barbarians swooped down on Macedonia and Greece. - - -INVASION OF THE GAULS - -[Sidenote: [279-278 B.C.]] - -Numerous tribes of Gauls, or Galatæ, as the Greeks called them, had been -established, for how long is not known, on the banks of the Danube, when -a fresh migration of Belgic Tectosages, starting from Toulouse, set in -motion those populations which, having little knowledge of the art of -cultivating the ground, found all regions too narrow for them. Two or -three hundred thousand men, divided into three bands descended like -clouds of locusts on Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece. Ptolemy Ceraunus, -who in his presumption had refused the assistance of the Dardani, was -overwhelmed with his whole army. His head was stuck on the end of a -pike and paraded about the country. The fields were laid waste, the -towns closed their gates, and the inhabitants, accustomed to rely on the -protection of the soldiers, could do nothing but groan and invoke the -names of Philip and Alexander. A Macedonian named Sosthenes urged them -to defend themselves, collected the young men and succeeded in repelling -the enemy. He was offered the crown, which he refused, desiring only the -title of general. But very soon his little army, weak and inexperienced -as it was, succumbed with him to the invasion of a new horde of -barbarians which, after completing the devastation of Macedonia turned in -the direction of Greece. - -The Athenians, though weakened by their struggles with the Macedonian -kings, resolved to arrest the barbarians at the pass of Thermopylæ. -The peoples of central Greece responded to their summons, but the -Peloponnesians, believing themselves to be sufficiently protected by the -Isthmus of Corinth, did not stir. The Ætolians furnished the largest -number of soldiers, but the command was conferred on the Athenians, who -had taken the initiative in resistance. Their ships were of much service -to the Greek army; they approached the shore, in spite of the difficulty -of navigating amongst the morasses, and sent a shower of arrows against -the enemy. It was a deadly fight for the barbarians; their superiority -in numbers was of no advantage to them in this narrow passage. Then, in -order to compel the Ætolians to return home, Brennus[45] detached forty -thousand men who recrossed the Sperchius and deluged Ætolia with fire and -blood. It was the warfare of savages; nothing was spared, neither age -nor sex. As Brennus had anticipated, the Ætolians immediately quitted -Thermopylæ to rescue or avenge their wives and children. But already a -corps of troops from Patræ, the only town in the Peloponnesus which had -thought of coming to the rescue of the Ætolians, had encountered the -barbarians and inflicted such slaughter upon them that less than half -returned to the camp at Thermopylæ. - - -DEFENCE OF THE TEMPLE AT DELPHI - -[Sidenote: [280-278 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: A SOLDIER OF GAUL] - -The Ænianes and Heracleans, ridding themselves of the neighbourhood of -the barbarians by an act of treachery, showed Brennus the path by which -in the old days the Persians had turned Mount Œta. The Phocians who -guarded it were thrown into confusion and the army of the Greeks would -have suffered the same fate as the soldiers of Leonidas, if it had not -been fortunate enough to take refuge on the Athenian vessels. The Galatæ -immediately proceeded towards Delphi; they had heard of the riches of -the temple and it was primarily for this that they had invaded Greece. -The Delphians demanded of the oracle whether they should put the sacred -treasure in a place of safety: “The god,” answered the Pythia, “ordains -that the votive offerings be left where they are; he will himself protect -his sanctuary by means of the White Virgins.” It was thus that the Pythia -indicated Artemis and Athene, the moon and the light. It was indeed the -terrors of the night which triumphed over the barbarians. The noise of -thunder, repeated by the great echoes of Parnassus, struck them with -fear. Enormous fragments of rock detached themselves from the mountain -and crushed them by thousands. Amidst the awe of the sacred woods, a prey -to the mysterious terror which was ascribed to Pan, they rushed against -one another. Enveloped in a whirlwind of hail and snow they fled in -confusion, pursued like wild beasts through the deep gorges under the -irresistible arrows of the archer who strikes from afar. Brennus ordered -them to burn their chariots and kill their ten thousand wounded who were -hindering their flight. He himself, after taking copious draughts of -wine, stabbed himself with his sword. What remained of this countless -army succumbed to hunger, fatigue, and the attacks of the Ætolians -and Dardani. According to Justin, Diodorus, and Pausanias, not one -escaped.[46] - -Other bands of Galatæ were destroyed about the same time by Antigonus -Gonatas who since the death of Sosthenes had returned to Macedonia. He -had left them his camp after having distributed his soldiers in the woods -and on ships. When the barbarians were filled with wine and meat he fell -unexpectedly upon them and effected a great slaughter. As these Galatæ -were strong and brave he took many of them into his pay and soon had -occasion to employ them. On the coins struck in memory of this victory we -see the god Pan, the originator of panic fears, bearing a trophy (278). - - -PYRRHUS AND THE ROMANS - -The absence of any federal link between the Greek cities of Italy -rendered them incapable of resisting the native peoples of the Samnites, -Lucanians, and Bruttians. They were thus naturally led to demand the -support of the great Roman republic, which alone could protect them. Rome -never refused her protection to those who asked for it, even if they were -at a distance from Italy,--like Marseilles which, thanks to her alliance -with the Romans, was able to extend her commerce without any fear of her -barbarian neighbours, the Ligurians and the Gauls. Rome’s first relations -with the Greek towns of Italy were those of friendship: Locri, Thurii, -and Rhegium, asked and obtained her alliance and protection. Tarentum -alone preferred to have the Romans as enemies rather than friends. - -She had never had to suffer either from the tyrants of Syracuse or from -the Lucanians or the Samnites, for she was separated from them by less -powerful and less warlike populations. Under the influence of democratic -institutions she had achieved, says Strabo, an amazing prosperity. She -aspired to play a dominant part in the peninsula of Italy similar to that -which Syracuse had acquired in Sicily; it was therefore with anxiety and -jealousy that she watched the progress of the Roman power. By a mad act -of provocation the Tarentines put themselves entirely in the wrong and -rendered war with Rome inevitable. Then, according to their custom, they -called in the assistance of a foreign prince, and though on this occasion -they had chosen the bravest and most skilful captain of the day, the -struggle on which they embarked resulted in the final establishment of -the dominion of the Romans over all Italy. - - -PYRRHUS SUMMONED BY THE TARENTINES - -[Sidenote: [280-279 B.C.]] - -They summoned Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, promising him the support of the -Lucanians and Samnites. He eagerly seized the opportunity to renew the -attempt of his great-uncle, Alexander the Molossian. Ptolemy Ceraunus, -in order to rid himself of a dangerous competitor, furnished him with -soldiers and elephants. Pyrrhus founded great hopes on this expedition. - -No sooner had he arrived than he caused the theatre, the gymnasiums, and -the gardens where they met to discuss politics, to be closed, forbade -festivals and all unseasonable diversions, enrolled all the citizens -and had them drilled. There were many who sought to escape but he had -the doors guarded. When this produced murmuring he took some of the -malcontents and sent them to Epirus. - -Soon he heard that the Roman army was approaching. He would have liked -to await the arrival of the Lucanians and Samnites, and offered his -mediation to the consul Lævinus, but was answered that the Romans did -not accept him as arbitrator and did not dread him as a foe. The battle -was fought near the river Siris in the neighbourhood of Heraclea. The -king had his horse killed under him, and, according to Justin, was even -wounded. He sent his elephants forward; the Romans, who had never seen -any, called them the Lucanian oxen. It was they that gave Pyrrhus the -victory. When he saw the dead bodies of the Romans, all wounded in front -and with their hands on their arms: “With such men,” he said, “I should -have soon conquered the world.” He caused them to be buried in like -manner with his own soldiers (280). - -Pyrrhus marched into Campania, but did not manage to surprise Capua -and was not more successful in an attempt on Naples. He went as far as -Præneste and came within sight of Rome; but the Romans had now raised a -new army; he saw the legions being restored to life like the heads of the -hydra, and fearing to be surrounded he returned to Tarentum. An embassy -was sent to him; he hoped that he was about to dictate terms of peace but -it merely came to discuss the ransom of the captives. Pyrrhus offered to -restore the prisoners without payment. Knowing that Fabricius, the chief -ambassador, was poor, he thought to win him over by proposing to repair -the errors of fortune. Fabricius answered simply that his poverty did -not trouble him and did not prevent his being highly considered in his -own country. Pyrrhus sent Cineas to Rome with presents for the wives of -the senators; it is said that these presents were refused; this is not -impossible though very extraordinary. Historians are not agreed as to the -conditions proposed. The senate would have accepted them, but a lofty -speech of the blind old Appius Claudius so worked on the assembly as to -lead to its returning Pyrrhus the answer that it would not be possible -to treat with him until he had left Italy. Cineas, on his return from -Rome, told Pyrrhus that the senate seemed to him an assembly of kings; -politically speaking, the heads of families who composed the Roman city, -may indeed be compared with the Homeric kings; but if Cineas meant to -refer to the successors of Alexander, the comparison was by no means -flattering to honourable men like Curius and Fabricius. - -[Sidenote: [279-275 B.C.]] - -There was nothing for it but to continue the war. A fresh encounter took -place near Asculum; Pyrrhus, whose Italian auxiliaries were armed in -the Roman fashion, had skilfully combined the formation of the legion -with that of the phalanx. But a Roman soldier cut off the trunk of an -elephant: the Lucanian oxen were not, then, invulnerable. According to -the _Epitome_ of Titus Livius the result of the battle was doubtful. -According to Plutarch the Romans had the advantage on the first day, but -on the morrow Pyrrhus, having contrived to decoy them to ground on which -he was able to manipulate his forces, put them to flight and obliged them -to take refuge in their camp. He had lost his best soldiers, and when he -was congratulated on his success: “Another such victory,” he said, “and -I shall have to return to Epirus.” One of his followers offered to poison -him for the Romans: Fabricius denounced the treachery to him, advising -him to choose his friends better. He sent back the Roman prisoners -without ransom; the senate sent him an equal number of Greek and Italian -prisoners. An armistice was concluded and he took advantage of it to pass -into Sicily (278). - - -PYRRHUS IN SICILY; HIS RETURN TO ITALY - -Since the death of Agathocles Sicily had been continuously troubled -by the acts of brigandage perpetrated by the Mamertines established -at Messana, and by the wars of Hicetas, tyrant of Syracuse, against -Phintias, tyrant of Agrigentum. After having reigned nine years, Hicetas -was dethroned by Thynion who took his place and occupied the island -of Ortygia whilst Sosistratus was master of the rest of the town. The -Carthaginians, taking advantage of the dissensions of these two leader’s, -besieged Syracuse. It was then that the two parties implored the aid -of Pyrrhus. He had some claims to Sicily as son-in-law of Agathocles. -He could not pass through Messana for the Mamertines had made a league -with the Carthaginians against him. He disembarked at Tauromenium, -whither he had been summoned by the tyrant Tyndarion and from there he -proceeded to Catana and thence to Syracuse where he was received as a -deliverer. He reconciled Thynion and Sosistratus and joining the forces -of the Syracusans to those which he had brought with him, he expelled the -Mamertines and forced them to retire to Messana. Agrigentum, Leontini, -Selinus, Segesta, and many other towns opened their gates to him. He -took Eryx, leading the assault himself, and in the same way made himself -master of Panormus the principal port of the Carthaginians, to whom, of -all their Sicilian possessions, only Lilybæum remained (277). - -After two months’ siege he judged that this place was impregnable so long -as the Carthaginians were masters of the sea. He then decided to make -a descent on Africa, after the example of Agathocles. But as he needed -sailors he required the cities to supply them and grew angry at their -tardiness and resistance; his yoke began to weigh as heavily as that of -the Carthaginians and Mamertines. He had had enough of Sicily and used -the reiterated appeals of the Tarentines and Samnites as an excuse for -departure. With great difficulty he escaped from the Carthaginian fleet, -which sank seventy of his ships, and he then fell in with a band of -Mamertines who were waiting for him on the coast of Italy. He lost his -rear-guard and two of his elephants; he was hurt and as he was retiring -to dress his wound a tall soldier came and attacked him. But Pyrrhus had -a strong arm and a well-tempered sword: he hit him a blow on the head -and cut it in two. The barbarians, struck with admiration, allowed him -to continue his route. He stopped at Locri to punish the inhabitants who -had expelled his garrison, then, as he was in want of money to pay his -troops, he pillaged the temple of Core, one of the most celebrated in -Italy. But the vessels which were carrying off the sacred treasure were -thrown on the shore by a tempest. Pyrrhus, struck with fear, replaced -all the money in the treasury of the goddess and continued his route to -Tarentum. - -In his absence the Romans had retaken Crotona, admitted Heraclea to -their alliance and several times defeated the Bruttians, Lucanians, and -Samnites. Weakened by these defeats the allies of Pyrrhus sent him but -few soldiers. Nevertheless he hastened to take the field to prevent the -junction of two Roman armies sent against him--the one by Samnium, the -other by Lucania. Near Beneventum he encountered the consul Curius, who -was compelled to give battle before the arrival of his colleague. But -the Romans no longer dreaded the elephants; they flung flaming tow at -them. Some were killed and others reserved for the triumph. The victory -of the Romans was complete (275). They took the camp of Pyrrhus who -re-entered Tarentum with a small number of riders. He was compelled to -renounce his projects in the west. The whole scheme had failed and he -made haste to embark on another. He told the Tarentines he had written to -the kings of Macedon and Asia for their help, and that he was going away -to collect a fresh army. He left them a garrison. The Tarentines summoned -the Carthaginians who sent their fleet to the harbour. But Milon, the -commander of the Epirot garrison, surrendered the citadel to the Romans. -They entered the town, declared it tributary to Rome and disarmed the -inhabitants. - -[Illustration: RUINED TEMPLE NEAR ATHENS] - - -MAGNA GRÆCIA SUBDUED BY THE ROMANS - -All the native peoples of southern Italy, who had welcomed Pyrrhus as -a deliverer were finally subdued to the dominion of Rome. It was a -deliverance for such Greek cities as still existed, but they were no -more than the shadow of their former selves. Although free under the -protection of Rome, they disappear obscurely from history. In the time -of Strabo the name of Magna Græcia was already an ancient memory and -the Greek language was no longer spoken save at Naples, Rhegium, and -Tarentum. For want of a federal bond between the autonomous cities, the -Hellenic race with its brilliant civilisation had gradually disappeared -from the soil of Italy. The Romans were about to enter into its -inheritance that they might eventually transmit it to Gaul and Spain. -They repeopled some of the ancient Greek colonies which had lapsed into -barbarism, notably Posidonia and Hipponium which had long been peopled, -the one by the Campanians, the other by the Bruttians and which changed -their Greek names for those of Pæstum[47] and Vibo Valentia. - - -RETURN OF PYRRHUS TO MACEDONIA - -[Sidenote: [274-272 B.C.]] - -The sole advantage which Macedonia had derived from Alexander’s conquest -was the barren honour of furnishing royal dynasties to Egypt and Asia. No -part of the conqueror’s heritage had been more disputed between ambitious -rivals. Within the space of fifty years ten kings had succeeded each -other on the throne in consequence of as many military revolutions. After -the invasion of the Galatæ, Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius, -fancied he had secured himself in the possession of devastated Macedonia -by making a treaty with his competitor Antiochus Soter, whose daughter -he married. But military anarchy had not yet reached its term. Pyrrhus, -returning from Italy and at a loss how to pay his troops, sought an -occasion for war. He entered Macedonia simply for the purpose of -collecting spoil. Having won a few successes he remembered that he had -been king of this country, marched against Antigonus, cut to pieces the -Galatæ whom he employed as mercenaries, and took his elephants. Then he -approached the phalanx, recognised some of the captains who commanded -it, addressed them by their names and extended his hand to them. All -the soldiers went over to him. Proud of his victory over the Galatæ, he -consecrated their shields in the temple of the Itonian Athene, enlisted -the barbarians, whose value he had recognised, and put them as garrisons -in the Macedonian cities. At Ægæ they pillaged the royal tombs and -scattered the bones. This called forth complaints from the Macedonians; -but Pyrrhus, as an Epirot, took little interest in the ancient kings of -Macedonia. He had no time to punish his mercenaries, and he was soon to -stand in need of their services. An opportunity of conquering Greece had -presented itself to him and he desired to take advantage of it. - - -EXPEDITION OF PYRRHUS AGAINST SPARTA - -[Sidenote: [272 B.C.]] - -This opportunity was offered to him by Cleonymus of Sparta, the same who -had been before him in making an expedition to Tarentum. He requested -Pyrrhus to support the rights which he pretended to have to the throne -of Sparta. The ephors had set him aside in favour of Areus, the son of -his eldest brother; and to complete his chagrin his wife Chelidonis, who -was much beloved by him, did not conceal her aversion, and showed her -preference for the son of Areus, named Acrotatus. - -This seemed to Pyrrhus a sufficient pretext for invading the Peloponnesus -with twenty-five thousand footmen, two thousand horses, and twenty-four -elephants. He declared, moreover, that his sole object was to restore -liberty to the towns which Antigonus was keeping in subjection. As -to the Spartans, far from wishing them ill, he proposed, he said, to -confide his younger sons to their care, that they might be educated -in the discipline of Lycurgus. When his soldiers began pillaging, the -Spartans reproached him with his breach of faith. He answered, “Neither -are you in the habit of saying beforehand what you will do.” There had -been nothing to give warning of this aggression in time of peace and the -town was not in a state of defence: the whole army had followed the king -Areus to Crete whither he had been summoned by the Gortynians. Cleonymus -would have liked to attack immediately; but Pyrrhus preferred to wait for -a capitulation which seemed inevitable. He established his camp before -Sparta believing himself certain of being able to enter whenever he might -wish. - -Sparta was saved by the women. It had been proposed to send them to -Crete, a suggestion which roused their indignation. Archidamia, mother -of Acrotatus and the richest heiress in Sparta, entered the senate, -sword in hand, and protested in the name of the women against their -being thought capable of surviving the ruin of their country. The walls -raised in preceding wars left the town exposed at several points: the -night was spent in digging a great ditch parallel with the enemy’s camp, -and barricades were formed on each side by means of chariots with their -wheels buried in the ground. The women undertook a third of the work and -obliged those who were to fight next day to rest. In the morning they -armed the young men and exhorted them to die under the eyes of their -mothers. During the fight, which lasted all day, they kept close to -them, handing them weapons, carrying them food and drink and tending the -wounded. But as Rollin has pointed out, if the women of Sparta practised -masculine virtues they sometimes forgot the virtues of their sex: seeing -the young Acrotatus who had fought like a lion return covered with blood -and dust, they envied the lot of Chelidonis. Plutarch adds a detail -which shows how far the Spartans carried the sacrifice of the family to -the city: the old men, he says, cried out: “Bravo, Acrotatus. Retain -Chelidonis, and may she give the country children as brave as thou.” As -to Chelidonis herself, not wishing to fall into the hands of her husband, -she had prepared a rope to hang herself if the town were taken. - -The combat began again the next day. The Macedonians endeavoured to fill -up the trench with branches. Pyrrhus even succeeded in crossing it and -galloped towards the town; but his horse was killed and threw him on a -steep slope; his friends had great difficulty in rescuing him. Almost -all the Spartans were killed or wounded, and the town was on the verge -of being taken when a lieutenant of Antigonus brought help. Almost at -the same time Areus arrived from Crete with two thousand Spartans. -Pyrrhus decided to raise the siege. He turned in the direction of Argos, -where one party had summoned him to oppose another faction supported -by Antigonus. Areus pursued him as he retreated, harassing him in the -defiles and destroying his rear-guard composed of Galatæ and Molossians. -To avenge the death of his son Ptolemy, who had been killed in this -fight, Pyrrhus destroyed almost the whole Spartan army and then continued -his route towards Argos. - - -DEATH OF PYRRHUS - -Antigonus was occupying the heights. Pyrrhus proposed to him to settle -their quarrel in a single combat, but Antigonus answered that if Pyrrhus -was weary of life he might find many roads to death. The Argives begged -the two kings to withdraw and to permit them to remain friends of both. -They consented to do so, but during the night the partisans of Pyrrhus -admitted him into the town. The members of the opposite party immediately -summoned Antigonus. At the same time Areus arrived with the relics of his -army. Fighting went on in the streets all night in the midst of a general -confusion. Pyrrhus would have retired, but his Galatæ, coming to his -assistance, blocked the narrow streets. One of his elephants had fallen -across the gateway, another whose driver was wounded was overturning -friends and enemies indiscriminately. Pyrrhus received a blow from the -javelin of an Argive soldier and turned against the man who had wounded -him; the soldier’s mother, who, with some other women, was watching the -fight from the top of the roofs, seeing her son in danger seized a tile -and flung it at the king’s head. He fell from his horse. Though he had -removed the plume from his helmet he was recognised: his head was cut -off and taken to Antigonus. At this example of the mutability of fortune -the latter was reminded of his father Demetrius and caused a search to -be made for the body of Pyrrhus, which he burned, with the head, on a -funeral pyre. He sent the ashes to Pyrrhus’ son Helenus who returned to -Epirus (272). - - -ANTIGONUS GONATAS - -[Sidenote: [272-243 B.C.]] - -The history of the twenty years which followed the death of Pyrrhus is -little known. We have no guide but Justin[g] who is not always very -reliable, and some scanty indications in Polybius[h] and Pausanias.[i] -All we know is that these twenty years were not an epoch of repose for -Greece, and still less of liberty. The death-blow of Greek liberty had -been struck at Chæronea, and the weapon had been left in the wound. The -Macedonian monarchy clung to Greece like the shirt of Nessus. Though -they had been compelled to renounce Alexander’s heritage the kings of -Macedon were still the heirs of Philip and determined to continue his -work of subjugating Greece. This policy was persistently followed by -Antigonus Gonatas, who bequeathed it to his successors. After the death -of Pyrrhus he had no competitors for the throne of Macedon. The greater -part of the army of the king of Epirus was composed of Macedonians and -Galatæ who passed without difficulty into Antigonus’ service. His rule in -Greece extended over Thessaly and Eubœa, over Corinth and a part of the -Peloponnesus, exactly which part is not known: Justin says vaguely that -the Peloponnesians were delivered into his hands by treachery. Sometimes -he put garrisons into the cities, sometimes he set up tyrants: “Most of -the tyrants in Greece,” says Polybius, “date from this Antigonus.” The -isolation of the cities, their mutual jealousies and the rivalry of the -political factions, everywhere raised up interested accomplices for the -Macedonian usurpation. - -Following the example of his predecessors, Antigonus Gonatas was -especially eager for the conquest of Athens. He burned the temple of -Poseidon at Colonus and the sacred wood which surrounded it. The war -lasted six or seven years. A revolt of Antigonus’ hired Galatæ scarcely -interrupted hostilities; Areus, king of Sparta, and a lieutenant of -Ptolemy Philadelphus who had been sent to the aid of Athens and might -have taken advantage of this diversion, remained inactive and the -Athenians, deserted by their allies, were obliged to receive a Macedonian -garrison (268). Antigonus also sent garrisons to Megara, Salamis, and -Cape Sunium. - -But about the same time Alexander, king of Epirus, made an incursion -into Macedonia to avenge the death of his father Pyrrhus, and the -phalanx went over to him, thus giving a fresh example of the facility -with which military monarchies change masters. Antigonus was absent; -his son Demetrius, who was still very young, soon recovered possession -of Macedonia. Alexander, in his turn despoiled of Epirus, took refuge -amongst the Acarnanians, who subsequently reinstated him in possession -of his kingdom. This did not prevent him from treating with the Ætolians -for the partition of Acarnania, for gratitude is by no means a royal -virtue. Antigonus kept the throne of Macedonia till his death in 243, and -his dynasty maintained itself there for more than a century, prosecuting -the conquest of Greece up to the last, till that country, exhausted by -the ceaseless struggle, finally threw itself into the arms of the Roman -people.[b] - -[Sidenote: [272 B.C.]] - -Inglorious as was this termination of a career like that of Pyrrhus, the -closing scene of his life was not without some points of resemblance -to its general character. He was undoubtedly one of the nobler spirits -of his age, though it would seem that it could have been only in one -which was familiar with atrocious crimes, that he could have gained the -reputation of unsullied virtue, more particularly of probity, which we -find attached to his name. With extraordinary prowess, such as revived -the image of the heroic warfare, he combined many qualities of a great -captain, and was thought by some to be superior even to Alexander in -military art. But his whole life was not only a series of unconnected, -mostly abortive, enterprises, but might be regarded, with respect to -himself, as one ill-concerted, perplexed, and bootless adventure. From -beginning to end he was the sport, not so much of fortune, as of desires -without measure or plan, of an impetuous, but inconstant will. His ruling -passion was less ambition than the love of action; and he seems to have -valued conquest chiefly because it opened new fields of battle. But -viewed as subservient to higher ends, both his life and his death were -memorable and important. He contributed to adjust the balance of power -among Alexander’s successors in the West. He exercised the Roman arms -with a harder trial than they had ever before undergone; and inspired -the people with a confidence in its own strength which nerved it for the -struggle with Carthage, and prepared it for the mastery of the world. His -death forms a momentous epoch in Grecian history, as it left the field -clear for the final contest between the liberty of Greece and the power -of Macedon, a contest which was only terminated by the ruin of both.[f] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[44] [“This,” says Justin,[g] “was the last contest between the -fellow-soldiers of Alexander; Lysimachus was seventy-four years old; -Seleucus seventy-seven.”] - -[45] [This name Brennus seems to be merely a military title, having been -referred to the Cymric _brenhin_--king, though others believe it a proper -name like the Welsh “Bran”; some historians refer to Brennus simply as -“the brenn.”] - -[46] [It would hardly be necessary to add a rational explanation of this -supernatural defence of Delphi, were it not desirable that the credit -should not be denied the gallant 4000 Delphians and other soldiers who -made so brave a stand for their gods and altars and after rolling down -rocks upon the Gauls until they were in confusion, charged them and broke -them into panic, pursuing them even through a night of bitter storm.] - -[47] [At Pæstum, most interesting ruins of three Greek temples are still -to be seen. Two of these are in a relatively fine state of preservation; -and one--the temple of Poseidon--is among the most imposing structures -in existence. It is probably as old as the Parthenon, and is much better -preserved.] - -[Illustration: GREEK BOTTLES - -(From the Museum of Napoleon III)] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LXIII. THE LEAGUES AND THEIR WARS - - -Whilst the cultured Greeks of the long-established cities and -confederacies were being gradually absorbed into the Macedonian kingdom, -and the spirit of liberty was dying out amidst luxury and the fleeting -pleasures of sense, amidst theatrical shows and festivals, and amidst the -philosophy and culture of the day; two races, as yet little affected by -the influences of Hellenic life and culture, emerged into the foreground -of effective action. These were the Ætolians and the Achæans. - - -THE ÆTOLIANS - -For centuries the Ætolian mountaineers, a branch of the Æolian race -but with a great admixture of foreign (barbarian) blood, had led in -peasant simplicity a quiet and unnoted existence in the open country, -dwelling in villages and scattered homesteads, remote from the culture -and refinement, as from the enervation and luxury of other Hellenic -peoples. Inured to a life of hardship by the character of their country, -which, bounded on the west by the torrent stream of the Achelous and on -the east by the Evenus, offered no fertile land for cultivation except -along the southern coast--the inland tracts being fit for nothing but -pasture and the chase--the Ætolians had preserved intact the warlike -spirit and savage freedom of primitive times “when the law ran just as -far as the sword could reach, and honourable pillage by sea and land was -every brave man’s trade.” Out of sheer valour and love of fighting they -undertook venturesome freebooting voyages under their native captains and -chiefs, penetrating even to the distant coasts of Italy and Asia Minor, -or entered the service of foreign states as mercenaries; while those who -remained at home provided for the few needs of their rude and simple -existence by field labour, cattle-tending, horse-breeding, and the chase. - -Weapons were the pride and ornament of the free man, and he hardly ever -laid them aside. When the Ætolians took the field, armed with slings -and spears, and ranged, sometimes in serried phalanx, sometimes in -irregular hordes, their strength, agility, and desperate courage made -them formidable to all their enemies. Their national dress included the -_kausia_ or broad-brimmed white hat, the tunic, girded high and leaving -the arms free, and the high Cretan shoe. The right foot was left bare -in climbing or going up-hill, “to insure a firmer foothold.” In culture -and learning they were far behind other Greeks, who avoided and despised -the rude, haughty, and boastful “mountain peasants” in consequence. Yet -even they in time developed some artistic feeling and talent, for as -their power increased, Thermus the capital of their league, was richly -adorned with public buildings and temples, pictures and statues. In this -unfortified town, encircled by mountains and tracts of fertile country, -the districts belonging to the league celebrated their annual festival -and assembly with fairs, games, and feasts, for they were as ready to -enjoy life in every sort of turbulent and unbridled pleasure as to hazard -it in any bold venture. - - -THE ÆTOLIAN LEAGUE - -From very early times the townships and districts under democratic -government had been united in some sort of loose confederacy, which -imposed but a very slight curb upon the independent action of each -community; but it was not until the Macedonian period, when the power of -other states was impaired by civil wars and their energy paralysed by the -effects of a higher state of civilisation, that the several confederacies -of kindred tribes united to form a general Ætolian League, its purpose -being rather to safeguard their predatory excursions than to strengthen -a political system based on moral or legal principles.[48] For although -the germ of a vigorous federal and communal life might lie dormant in -this hardy and primitive race, yet it was wanting in moral discipline, -the authority of law, and the habit of obedience. The first result of -the fresh unity and order brought into Ætolian enterprise by this closer -union was the extension of Ætolian supremacy westward over the Œniades -and eastward over Naupactus. - -From this time forth we find the Ætolians mentioned in every military -achievement of importance; they manfully withstood the Macedonian greed -of domination; we see them defending Hellenic liberty and independence -against Antipater and Cassander; they formed the nucleus of the force -which checked the wild hordes of the Celts at Thermopylæ and overthrew -Brennus and his robber bands on the sacred soil of Delphi. Everywhere we -find their strong hand and resolute energy at work on the destinies of -the Greek nation in the mournful period of its decline and fall, staving -off and delaying the complete subjugation of Greece to the best of their -ability. - -The supreme authority of the federated states was vested in the -_Panætolium_, or Diet of the League, which assembled in council -regularly every year at the autumnal equinox in the mountain city of -Thermus, and at which every free-born Ætolian was entitled to appear -and vote. In cases of urgency this assembly was sometimes held at -other times and places. The Diet of the League declared war and peace, -concluded alliances and treaties, and sent and received ambassadors. Its -proceedings were directed by a president (strategus) who was elected -annually. In administrative and judicial matters the supreme authority -was the Council called the _Apocleti_, the members or “assessors” -(synedri) of which were elected annually from amongst the members of -the Diet and the noble families of the several districts. Under the -presidency of the strategus the Council managed the ordinary course of -business and judicature for the league as a whole as well as for the -several districts or cantons, maintained the rights of the League and -the several confederated districts against attacks from within and from -without, and in certain cases appointed commissions consisting of not -more than thirty members. - -At first all members of the League enjoyed full civil rights within it, -and accordingly might settle anywhere within its territory, acquire -landed property, contract marriages, take part in the public assemblies, -vote, and hold public office. These privileges of citizenship were -shared not only by all Ætolians, but by all other Greeks who joined the -League, whether voluntarily or under compulsion, such as the inhabitants -of certain towns and districts in Thessaly, Phocis, Locris, Messenia, -and others. Since the expulsion of Aristotimus, governor of Elis, the -Eleans had occupied a relation of independent defensive alliance with -the Ætolians; they gave and received help at need, but retained their -political autonomy. It was otherwise with the Cephallenians, who paid -tribute as Ætolian subjects, and were obliged to sue for justice in the -Ætolian law courts. - - -THE ACHÆAN LEAGUE AND ARATUS OF SICYON - -In natural contrast with the Ætolian “peasant league,” the league of the -Achæan cities arose in the reign of Antigonus Gonatas. It was the last -vigorous shoot that sprang from the decaying root of the Hellenic tree of -liberty. - -From primitive times the twelve towns of the coast of Achaia had been -joined in a loose confederacy for which the sanctuary of Zeus Homagyrius -or Homorius in the district of Helice served as a place of assembly and -council. It was a religious association based upon kinship--ancient -Greece has many such to show--a free union for the worship of tribal -divinities under traditional forms, and involved no restraint upon the -political independence of its members. Without exercising any great -influence upon the political and military life of Greece, Achaia was -notable for unostentatious virtues, for order, unity, and a patriarchal -form of government; while Croton, Sybaris, and other flourishing colonies -in lower Italy bore eloquent witness to the culture and creative energy -of the Achæan race. In so great honour were the uprightness and public -virtue of the simple and industrious coast dwellers held by the rest -of Greece that after the battle of Leuctra the great Hellenic states -besought them to arbitrate in their internal quarrels. This old-time -confederacy was broken up and destroyed by the Macedonian rulers, who -craftily sowed the seeds of discord, and then made use of the ensuing -dissensions to subjugate and oppress the several cities by foreign -garrisons and governors. But despotism could not obliterate the memory -of the happy past. Favoured by the weakness and confusion which followed -upon the Celtic invasion of Macedonia, four towns, Dyme, Patræ, Tritæa, -and Pharæ, having expelled their garrisons and tyrants, renewed the -confederacy, vowed mutual aid against external and internal enemies, and -pledged themselves faithfully to observe the decrees of the League. Five -years later they were joined by Ægium, thenceforth the capital. Others -soon followed: Burs, where the tyrant had been slain, Cerynea, where -the governor had voluntarily abdicated in fear of a like fate, Pellene, -Leontium, and Ægira. - -But even in its rejuvenated form the Achæan League remained for years in -provincial isolation, until Aratus of Sicyon[49] induced his native city -to join it, and set before it a loftier aim in the deliverance of Greece -from the dismemberment and chaos due to the exclusive regard of local -interests, and the awakening of national spirit, unity, and vigour. - -[Sidenote: [249 B.C.]] - -Even in the days of Macedonian rule Sicyon had not forfeited her ancient -glories. Her gardens, fruitful fields, and flourishing villages, her -magnificent buildings and art collections, and the merchant vessels in -her sheltered harbour, bore testimony to the wealth, culture, and busy -trade of her citizens. But internal discord, fostered by Macedonian -guile, undermined the foundations of her prosperity. Party strife arose, -bringing revolutions and tyrannies. Clinias, a citizen of noble birth, -great wealth, and patriotic spirit, perished in the struggle against -the tyrant Abantidas. With difficulty his son Aratus, a child of seven -years old, was rescued and brought to Argos, where he grew up sound in -body and mind under the fostering care of friends, while his native city -fell under tyranny after tyranny, until, broken in spirit and shorn -of her noblest citizens, she ultimately came under the sway of the -wicked and violent Nicocles. For thirteen years Aratus dwelt in Argos, -in the society of the wealthy and cultured friends of his family, and -in intercourse with the numerous Sicyonians who sought refuge in this -neighbouring town from the wrath and persecution of their own tyrant, -and who turned eyes full of hope upon the vigorous and able youth who -combined courage with discretion and burned with desire to deliver his -native place and avenge his father’s murder. He contrived cunningly to -deceive the tyrant’s spies, to whom he seemed to spend all his days in -thoughtless gaiety with courtesans and boon companions. - -When the auspicious moment seemed to have come, Aratus left Argos in -company with some fugitives and a band of mercenaries. They climbed the -walls during the night, surprised and disarmed the tyrant’s bodyguard, -and at daybreak summoned the citizens to rise for their liberties. -Nicocles escaped in the tumult, his palace was sacked and given to the -flames, his property confiscated to the commonwealth. Thus without -bloodshed was the liberation of Sicyon effected. But fresh disorders and -disturbances soon threatened, when some six hundred fugitives, who had -once been wealthy men, returned and demanded the restoration of property -which had long since passed into other hands. In order that he might not -be left without support in this difficult situation Aratus induced the -Dorian city, wealthy still in spite of all, to join the Achæan League -on an equality of laws and privileges, and then, by the help of a large -sum of money granted to him by the friendly king of Egypt, Ptolemy, upon -his personal application in Alexandria, he effected a settlement and -reconciliation among his contentious fellow-citizens. - -The fame which he won by this prudent and patriotic act, combined with -the great service he had rendered to the League by inducing such an -important seaport to join it, smoothed the young commander’s way to -the highest office; but he modestly chose to work his way up. He first -enrolled himself in the Achæan cavalry, but by the end of six years -he had attained the dignity of strategus which was thenceforth seldom -conferred upon another until his death. Clear-minded, far-sighted, -and steeped in the philosophic and patriotic culture of his time, -Aratus soon turned his energies towards the great end of uniting all -Peloponnesians under the hegemony of Achaia. Without interfering with the -autonomy and freedom of the several states he established the principle -of equal rights for all members of the League. The road to office and -honours lay open to every man within it, without distinction of wealth -or social standing; and, though some towns or districts of those which -were gradually won over to the League might favour a different form -of government, yet the constitution of the Achæan confederacy, as it -developed by degrees under Aratus, retained the character of a moderate -democracy. Moreover, careful as he was to avoid rousing local jealousies -or wounding local self-esteem and prejudices by meddling with internal -administration, traditional privileges and customs, or the religious -peculiarities of different places or communities, he awakened the -sense of a common civilisation by introducing uniformity of weights -and measures, a common coinage, and equality of commercial rights, and -secured it by the bond of religion. - - -ARATUS CONTROLS THE LEAGUE - -The government of the Achæan League which was formed under Aratus was -vested in the free Diet of the people, which met twice a year (in spring -and autumn) at their ancient place of council, not far from Ægium, and -at which every free citizen who had attained his thirtieth year was -qualified to appear and give his opinion and his vote. In spring, the -beginning of the civil year, the officers of the League were elected by -the Diet, the president, the secretary or chancellor, and the senate, -which, in concert with the demiurgi, or representatives of the ten -Achæan towns which originally composed the League, formed the supreme -executive authority, managing political affairs in conformity with the -decrees and ordinances of the Diet and under its control, directing the -discussion and voting of the great assemblies of the League, and making -the necessary preparations when they were to be held. In urgent cases -the strategus and senate acted on their own initiative, without the -authorisation of the Diet but subject to the obligation of rendering -account to it. There was a League Court, likewise appointed by the great -assembly, for the settlement of internal disputes. The strategus presided -at the Diet as in the greater and lesser council, and confirmed decrees -and ratified documents by his signature and the seal of the League. -Possessed of executive powers in external and internal affairs, he had -charge of the treasury, called in the contributions of the confederates -in money, ships, and men, and held supreme command of the army and fleet, -subject to the obligation of rendering account of his actions. In war -he was assisted by the captain of the cavalry (hipparch), and in home -affairs by the chancellor or secretary (grammateus). - -[Sidenote: [249-242 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: A SHIELD BEARER] - -This admirable constitution was in the main the work of Aratus, always -the “moving spirit” of the League, and though his later years are in -many respects open to reproach, yet this practical application of his -philosophic and patriotic ideas is worthy of the highest commendation. -He is one of those characters whose portraits, distorted by the favour -and enmity of partisans, are but uncertainly discerned in history. -Strenuously as he strove in his _Memorabilia_ (the essentials of which -Plutarch has preserved in his biography) to guard his actions and motives -from misconception and to truly exhibit himself to his contemporaries and -to posterity, his record is nevertheless darkened by many shadows and -charged with many blunders. “Aratus had not a great Hellenic soul,” is -the verdict of Schorn, “his soul was narrow and Achæan.” As a man he was -distinguished by many fine and amiable qualities, as a citizen he merits -respect for his great love of his country, to which he dedicated his life -with an absolute devotion, and to the aggrandisement of which all his -efforts were directed with rare perseverance. To the state he sacrificed -himself without reserve, giving up his property, friendships, enmities, -and even the implacable hatred of tyrants with which he had been imbued -from his youth up; everything, indeed, except the ambition which cast a -doubt even upon his patriotism. He desired to shine on the Achæan horizon -alone, and he used his influence to keep down any who attempted to shine -beside him. - -He regarded the Ætolian peasant-league, with its raids and savage feuds, -and the revolutionary attempts of the Spartan kings Agis and Cleomenes -with equal abhorrence; and by turning his arms against them alternately -he played into the hands of the common national foe, Macedonia. As -strategus his military talents were of a very inferior order. He was -admirably skilled in arranging sudden attacks and ambushes, and in the -carrying out of military surprises his boldness and daring were equal to -his subtlety and cunning, but as a commander his capacity was small, and -in his first campaign he proved diffident, timorous, and faint-hearted. -It was not his strong point to look danger boldly in the face, in battle -he lost self-control and presence of mind; and he consequently preferred -the privy and crooked ways of stratagem, dissimulation, and deceit to a -direct and valiant attack. - -In his second period of office as strategus, Aratus increased the -reputation he had gained by the liberation of Sicyon, but had impaired -by a profitless campaign against the Ætolians in the first year of his -command, by his successful stratagem at Corinth. With mingled craft and -daring he succeeded in ridding the impregnable citadel of Acrocorinthus -of its Macedonian garrison, and persuaded this important city, one of the -three “fetters of Greece,” to join the League.[e] - - -ARATUS TAKES CORINTH - -Three brothers, Syrian Greeks, had pilfered from the royal treasure at -Corinth, and one of them named Erginus, came to Sicyon from time to time -to exchange their plunder at the house of a banker well known to Aratus. -Through this channel Aratus learned that there was an accessible point -in the wall of the citadel; and Erginus, having engaged the concurrence -of a fourth brother who served in the garrison, undertook to conduct -Aratus to the place, where the wall was no more than fifteen feet -high. The brothers demanded a large reward. Sixty talents [£12,000 or -$60,000] were to be deposited with the banker, to be paid to them in -the event of success; and even in the case of failure, if they escaped, -each was to receive a house and a talent. Aratus could not immediately -raise so large a sum, and was forced to pledge his plate and his wife’s -ornaments, purchasing, as Plutarch observes, the privilege of a perilous -adventure for the good of his country, at a price which it would have -been accounted magnanimous to reject, if it had been offered as a bribe. -When the time came which had been fixed for the attempt, leaving the -main body of his forces under arms, he proceeded with four hundred men, -few of whom were in the secret, towards Corinth. As they approached the -wall, the light of the full moon, which would have rendered concealment -almost impossible, was intercepted by clouds which rose from the sea. -Several other propitious circumstances contributed to his success, though -he fully earned it by his courage. Erginus with seven others, disguised -as wayfarers, gained entrance at a gate and overpowered the guard, while -Aratus, with only a hundred of his men, scaled the wall, and advanced -towards the citadel with the scaling-ladders, ordering the rest to -follow. But on his way through the town he fell in with a patrol, one of -whom escaped, and soon raised a general alarm. - -Aratus, again favoured by the moon which broke through the clouds as he -was entangled in the most intricate part of the ascent, reached the wall -of the citadel safely, and was soon engaged in a hard combat with the -garrison. As soon as the alarm was raised, Archelaus, finding that the -citadel was attacked, hastened with all his forces in that direction. But -he chanced to light on three hundred Achæans, who, unable to find the -track of their comrades, had cowered behind a projection of the rock. -They now sprang out as from an ambuscade, and completely routed and -dispersed his troops. But they were recalled from the pursuit by Erginus -to the succour of Aratus, and their arrival decided the struggle. By -sunrise he was in possession of the fortress, and the forces which had -followed him from Sicyon, making their appearance at the same time, were -joyfully admitted into the lower town by the Corinthians, who helped to -capture the royal soldiers.[d] - -[Sidenote: [242-232 B.C.]] - -By this act, in which he generously hazarded his private fortune, Aratus -gained such a degree of popular confidence that the Achæans thenceforth -committed the conduct of public affairs to his hands, and followed his -counsel even in the years when he was by law excluded from the office of -strategus. The towns of Trœzen, Epidaurus, Cleonæ, and Megara, presently -revolted from Macedonia and joined the Achæan League. - -The rise of the Achæans stirred up the jealousy of other states, and -incited the Macedonians to fresh exertions to recover what they had -lost. The old king Antigonus concluded an alliance with the Ætolians for -a joint attack on Achaia, on the basis of a partition of the territory -to be acquired. But Aratus, who had chosen Ptolemy as patron of the -League, and thus secured the protection of Egypt in the event of possible -disaster, repulsed the Ætolian marauders before they could join hands -with the Macedonians, and dissuaded King Antigonus from the proposed -campaign by promising him the remaining dominions of the Peloponnesus. -The aged Antigonus Gonatas died soon afterwards, and his son and heir, -Demetrius II, was kept fully occupied by an invasion of his own country -by the Dardans. - -Aratus contrived to make use of these circumstances for fresh -acquisitions. Secured from attack in the rear by an offensive and -defensive alliance with the Ætolians, he induced most of the states of -the Peloponnesus by force or subtlety to join the League. Thus Lydiades, -the young and accomplished prince who reigned at Megalopolis, was -prevailed upon to join, and the rich and extensive territory of that city -was won for the League. The tyrants, abandoned by Macedonia, were no -longer able to withstand the power of Achaia; they yielded voluntarily -or under compulsion to the tide of democracy; so that when Demetrius II -sank into his grave after ten years of feeble sovereignty, and Antigonus -Doson (the Promiser) undertook the government of Macedonia during the -minority of King Philip III, the Achæans ruled over Hermione, Phlius, and -the greater part of Arcadia, counted the rich island of Ægina among their -possessions, had induced Argos to join the League after a long struggle -with three successive tyrants, and had entered into an alliance with -Athens (whence, by the assistance of Aratus, the Macedonian garrisons -had been forced to withdraw) on equal terms though without reciprocal -civil rights. Mantinea, Tegea, Orchomenos, and Elis were the only towns -that remained subject to the Ætolians, who, however, had meanwhile -extended their dominion over part of Thessaly; and Sparta, just awakened -from her long trance and invigorated by a new birth from within, was -striving to regain the ascendency which had been hers in the glorious -days of old. Out of these elements was bred the fatal conflict which -broke all that was left of the strength of Greece at the very moment -when the Romans began to intermeddle in the domestic concerns of warring -states.[e] - - -SPARTA UNDER CLEOMENES - -[Sidenote: [232-227 B.C.]] - -Lacedæmon had, by this time, exchanged poverty and hardy discipline for -opulence and voluptuous manners. The public meals, that last pledge of -Spartan frugality and temperance, were discountenanced by the rulers -of the state, and fell into disrepute and disuse. One or two princes, -who endeavoured to stem the torrent of corruption, suffered deposition, -exile, and even death. The laws of Lycurgus were totally disregarded. The -lands were all in possession of a few families, who lived in the greatest -splendour, whilst the rest of the Spartans, stripped of their patrimony, -were doomed to the greatest indigence. The efforts of Agis IV, the king, -to enforce the sumptuary laws, to cancel all debts, and to make a new -division of lands, were opposed by the rich, and at last punished with -death, on pretence of a design to alter the government. - -In such a situation of affairs, Cleomenes ascended the Spartan throne, a -prince who united integrity of heart with martial spirit and a love of -glory. He found, on his accession, both the internal constitution and -the public affairs of Sparta in the utmost confusion. Domestic distress, -with its concomitant despondency of spirit, had caused throughout Laconia -a universal depopulation. Instead of natives sufficient to occupy the -thirty-nine thousand shares into which Lycurgus had originally divided -the land, only seven hundred families of the Spartan race were now to -be found; and, of these, about six hundred, sunk into abject penury and -wretchedness, were incapable of exerting any degree of vigour in the -public service. The slaves, too, had many of them perished through want -of employment and subsistence, while others had been carried off, in -great numbers, by the enemies of Sparta. Such was the miserable decay -of both public and private virtue! Cleomenes, actuated by his natural -disposition to arms, as well as by the representations already mentioned -of the Ætolians, in order to revive the martial spirit of the Spartans, -attacked Tegea, Mantinea, and Orchomenos, cities of Arcadia. Having -reduced these under his obedience, he marched without delay against a -certain castle in the district of Megalopolis, which commanded on that -side the entrance into Laconia. - -Immediately upon this act of hostility, the Achæan states declared war -against the Spartans. The Spartan king forthwith took the field, with -what troops he could muster, and ravaged the territories of the cities -in alliance with Achaia. With five thousand men he advanced against the -Achæan general Aratus, who, perceiving the resolution of the Spartans, -declined an engagement, though at the head of twenty thousand. The -retreat of Aratus, determined the Eleans, who had never been steady in -the interests of Achaia, openly to declare against her. The Achæans -attempted to chastise this defection; but they were routed by Cleomenes -at Lycæum, near the Elean borders; and totally overthrown by him in -the ensuing campaign, near Leuctra. Pursuing his good fortune, he -reduced several of the towns of Arcadia, which he garrisoned with his -Lacedæmonian troops. - -[Sidenote: [227-223 B.C.]] - -He returned to Sparta with the mercenaries only, and cut off the ephori, -whom he considered as troublesome to himself, and oppressive to the -Spartan subjects, by assassination; a course which he endeavoured to -justify, by arraigning the unconstitutional establishment of this order -of magistrates, and a recital of several acts of iniquity. He now seized -on the administration of justice, and re-established the agrarian and -sumptuary laws of Lycurgus, which he enforced by his own example. -Having thus made himself master of Sparta, he diverted that energy to -foreign enterprises, which might otherwise have broken out in domestic -sedition. He plundered the territories of Megalopolis, forced the Achæan -lines at Hecatombæum, and obtained a complete victory. The Achæan army, -composed of the flower of their nation, were almost all cut off. The -Mantineans, having slaughtered the Achæan garrison stationed in their -city, put themselves under the protection of the Spartans. The same -spirit of defection and revolt appeared in most of the other cities of -Peloponnesus. In this extremity, they sued for peace to Cleomenes; but -Aratus, who had for some time declined to take the lead in the public -affairs of Achaia, now resumed his authority; and, by insisting on such -terms as the high-spirited Cleomenes could not accept, contrived to -prevent that peace which his countrymen wished for. - -Both Aratus and Cleomenes wished to unite all the nations of Peloponnesus -into one commonwealth, and by that means to form such a bulwark for the -liberties of Greece, as might set all foreign power at defiance. But to -what people the supreme direction of the common affairs should belong, -was the question. Even Aratus, so much above the love of money, showed -himself, on this occasion, the slave of ambition; and, rather than see a -superior in power, determined to involve everything in confusion. - -The interruption of the negotiations for peace raised a general ferment -throughout Peloponnesus; the conduct of Aratus fired the martial ardour -of Cleomenes, and excited jealousies in different states; nor could the -Achæans obtain any assistance from the Athenians, the Ætolians, or the -Argives. Corinth was on the point of surrendering to the Spartan king; -and even Sicyon must have been lost, had not a timely discovery prevented -an intended conspiracy. Here we may remark the extreme quickness with -which the Grecian states entered into any confederacy that was formed for -humbling whatever power preponderated in Greece: a proof, that, however -their manners were corrupted, their sentiments of liberty and the balance -of power were not yet wholly subverted. - - -ANTIGONUS CALLED IN - -[Sidenote: [223-221 B.C.]] - -Resentment against Cleomenes induced Aratus to entertain the project -of calling in, for the destruction of Sparta, the aid of Antigonus of -Macedon. But in Greece this attempt was generally odious, and Antigonus -was averse from all interference in Grecian affairs, not being easily -dazzled by the splendour of ambition. But the last and greatest of these -difficulties Aratus surmounted by various artifices, and entered into -a compact with Antigonus, the conditions whereof were that the citadel -of Corinth should be delivered into the hands of the king; that he -should be at the head of the Achæan confederacy, superintend their -councils, and direct their operations; that his army should be supported -at their expense. From these articles it is evident, that the liberties -of Achaia were now no more, and that the sovereign of this country was -Antigonus.[50] - -This transaction roused the indignation of the Peloponnesian states: -they looked to Cleomenes as the only protector of their liberties. That -hero, upon hearing that the Macedonians were in motion, took possession -of a pass on the Onean Mountains, which commanded the Corinthian Isthmus; -but the Achæans having surprised Argos, he was forced to abandon it, -and to leave it open for the Macedonians. The Achæans now resumed their -superiority in Peloponnesus, and most of the cities in that peninsula -were constrained to submit to their power. The efforts of Cleomenes to -restore the liberties of Peloponnesus, and to protect, of course, those -of the rest of Greece, equal the most famed exploits of antiquity. But -the wary Antigonus, rich in treasure, artfully protracted the war, and -suffered his impetuous adversary to waste his force in vain. Cleomenes -was forced to retreat to Sellasia, in order to cover Sparta. - -[Illustration: GREEK CUIRASS AND HELMETS - -(In the British Museum)] - -Antigonus, therefore, encamped at a distance, on the plain below, -in order to watch the motions of the enemy, and to act according to -circumstances. Cleomenes, reduced to the greatest distress for want of -provisions, was forced to throw open his entrenchments, and, without -further delay, to come to an engagement. All his skill and valour, which -were eminently displayed on this occasion, could not save him from a -complete defeat (221 B.C.). He fled first to Sparta, and from thence to -Egypt; where, after various adventures, the loftiness of his spirit, -which could not brook the indignities offered to him by the ministers of -Ptolemy Philopator, brought him to an honourable but untimely end.[f] - -Having eluded the vigilance of his guards he made a sally with his -friends, thirteen in number, all with drawn swords, and raised the cry -of liberty. The Alexandrian populace stared and applauded, as at a -scene on the stage, but with as little thought of taking any part in -the action. The Spartans killed the governor of the city, and another -courtier, but after an ineffectual attempt to break open the prison in -the citadel, finding themselves universally shunned, they abandoned their -forlorn hope, and turned their swords against their own hearts. Panteus, -the dearest of the king’s friends, consented at his request to survive -until he saw that the others had breathed their last. Ptolemy, as soon -as he had learned what had happened, ordered all the women and children -belonging to the deceased to be put to death; and the young wife of -Panteus is said to have paid the like pious offices to Cratesiclea, who -was forced to witness the butchery of her two grandsons, as Cleomenes had -received from her husband. The body of Cleomenes was flayed and hung on -a cross, until, if we may believe Plutarch, an extraordinary occurrence -awakened Ptolemy’s superstitious fears, gave occasion for new expiatory -rites in the palace, and induced the Alexandrians to venerate Cleomenes -as a hero. - -Such indeed he was, when measured with them. As we turn from them to -the proper subject of this history, we feel, as it were, that we are -beginning again to breathe a healthier atmosphere: and we carry away -a strengthened conviction, that great as were the evils which Greece -suffered from the ill-regulated passion for liberty, it was still better -to live there, than under the sceptre of the Ptolemies--among a people -who can hardly be said to have a history, in any higher sense than a herd -of animals, always prone, unless when goaded into fury.[d] - -[Sidenote: [221 B.C.]] - -During the absence of Antigonus, a multitude of Illyrians, and other -barbarians, made an irruption into Macedon, and committed great -devastation. This irruption hastened his return into his own dominions. -In a decisive battle, the barbarians were defeated; but the Macedonian -king, by straining his voice during the engagement, burst a blood-vessel. -The consequent effusion of blood threw him into a languishing state, and -he died in the space of a few days, lamented by all Greece. - -Antigonus II was succeeded by Philip, the son of Demetrius, the last of -the Macedonian kings of that name; a prince only in the seventeenth year -of his age, intelligent, affable, munificent, and attentive to all the -duties of the royal station. This excellent character was formed by a -good natural disposition, cultivated by the instructions and example of -Antigonus, who appointed him his successor on the Macedonian throne. - - -THE SOCIAL WAR - -[Sidenote: [221-216 B.C.]] - -The jealousy which the Ætolians had long entertained of the Achæan -states, was increased by the importance which they had assumed from -their alliance with Macedon. No sooner were they relieved from the -dread of Antigonus, than they ravaged the Achæan coast, and committed -depredations on all the neighbouring countries. Aratus having opposed -to them the Achæan forces in vain, invoked and obtained the aid of the -king of Macedon. Philip promised that as soon as he should have settled -the affairs of his own kingdom, he would repair to Corinth, in order to -meet the convention of the states in alliance with Achaia, that he might -have an opportunity of settling with them a plan of future operations. In -the meantime, the Ætolians, making a fresh irruption into Peloponnesus, -sacked Cynætha, a city of Arcadia, put most of the inhabitants to -the sword, and laid the place in ruins. The convention of the Achæan -confederates, now assembled at Corinth, unanimously agreed that unless -the Ætolians should make reparation, war should be declared against them, -and the direction of it committed to the king of Macedon. Hence the -origin of the Social War, so called from the association entered into by -the several states engaged against Ætolia. - -Philip commenced his operations with the siege of Ambracas, a fortress -which commanded an extensive territory, belonging of right to Epirus, -but now in the hands of the Ætolians. Having reduced this fortress, he -restored it to the Epirots, and prepared to carry the war into Ætolia. -The Ætolian spirit was not daunted either by the loss of Ambracas or -the threats of Philip. They invaded Macedon, and made incursions into -Achaia, which they reduced to the greatest distress. The mercenaries -in the Achæan service had mutinied for want of pay; the Peloponnesian -confederates became spiritless or disaffected; even the Messenians, in -whose cause chiefly Achaia, had, at the beginning, taken up arms, were -afraid to act against the Ætolians: whilst the Spartans, notwithstanding -their engagements, at the late conventions, to Achaia, had now massacred, -or sent into exile, all such of their own citizens as were in the -interest of the Achæans, and openly declared against them. For the -Spartans, amidst their greatest humiliation, had ever been impatient of -the domination of Achaia, to which the haughtiness of that republic had, -in all probability, very much contributed. - -[Sidenote: [216-208 B.C.]] - -A year had elapsed since the alliance had been formed against Achaia, -when Philip of Macedon, in the depth of winter, set out with the utmost -secrecy to Corinth, where a part of his forces were stationed. He -surprised a party of Eleans, who had gone forth to ravage the Sicyonian -territories, and reduced Psophis, a stronghold within the confines of -Arcadia, of which the Eleans had taken possession. He plundered Elis, -one of the finest regions in Greece, in respect to cultivation, and -rich in every kind of rural wealth. He next subdued under his power -Triphylia, a district of Peloponnesus to the southward of Elis, and -wrested the Ætolian yoke from the necks of the Messenians. Philip made -a temperate use of all his victories. He granted peace to all who sued -for it; and the whole of his conduct seemed to be directed by the same -generous motives which had formerly directed that of Antigonus. But in -the midst of these fair appearances, Philip began to manifest latent -seeds of ambition. He restrained the pride and power of his ministers, -who had been appointed to their offices by his predecessor Antigonus; and -supported Eperatus in the election of general of Achaia, in opposition -to Aratus. In order to counterbalance this unpopular measure, and to -strengthen himself in the affections of the Achæan people, he besieged -Teichos, and having taken that fortress, restored it to the Achæans, to -whom it belonged. He also made an inroad into Elis, and presented the -Dymeans and the cities in the neighbourhood with all the plunder. He now -imagined that the wealth and vigour of the Achæan republic were at his -disposal; but the new general had not provided any magazines, and the -treasury was exhausted. Philip now affected to place great confidence -in Aratus. By the advice of this statesman, he made an attempt on the -island of Cephallenia, an island in the Ionian Sea, near the coast of -Peloponnesus, and the great resort of the Ætolian pirates. His attempt, -after it had been carried on almost to success, was baffled by the -treachery of his ministers. - -He now, following the advice of Aratus, invaded and ravaged Ætolia -itself, returned into Peloponnesus, laid waste Laconia, and, flushed -with success, meditated the subjection of all Greece, and a junction -with Hannibal against the Romans. Aratus in vain attempted to dissuade -him from this project. He sent ambassadors to the Carthaginian general, -but they were intercepted, soon after their landing in Italy: as they -gave out, however, that they were going to Rome, they, in a little time, -obtained their release, and made their way to Hannibal, with whom they -concluded a treaty. On their return they were again intercepted, and sent -with all their papers to Rome. But Philip despatched other ambassadors, -and a ratification of the treaty was obtained. It was stipulated that -Philip should furnish a fleet of two hundred ships, to be employed in -harassing the Italian coasts; and that he should also assist Hannibal -with a considerable body of land-forces. In return for this assistance, -when Rome and Italy should be finally reduced, which were to remain in -the possession of the Carthaginians, Hannibal was to pass into Epirus at -the head of a Carthaginian army, to be employed as Philip should desire; -and, having made a conquest of the whole country, to give up to him such -parts of it as lay convenient for Macedon. - -In consequence of this agreement, the Macedonian king entered the Ionian -Gulf, with a large fleet, fell down to the coast of Epirus, took Oricum, -on the coast of Epirus, a defenceless seaport, but from which there was -a short passage to Italy, and laid siege to Apollonia; but surprised and -defeated by the Romans, secretly retreated homeward across the mountains. - - -ALLIANCE WITH ROME - -The Romans, humbled by the victorious arms of Hannibal, were not in -a condition in which they might prosecute a war with Macedon; they -therefore determined, if possible, to raise up enemies against Philip -in Greece, that he might be employed at home in the defence of his own -dominions. They accordingly made overtures for this purpose to the -Ætolians, who, confiding in the flattering declarations of the Roman -ambassador, hastened to conclude a treaty, of which the following were -the principal conditions: That the Ætolians should immediately commence -hostilities against Philip by land, which the Romans were to support by -a fleet of twenty galleys; that whatever conquests might be made, from -the confines of Ætolia to Corcyra, the cities, buildings, and territory, -should belong to the Ætolians, but every other kind of plunder to the -Romans. The Spartans and Eleans, with other states, were included in -this alliance; and the war commenced with the reduction of the island of -Zacynthus, which, as an earnest of Roman generosity and good faith, was -immediately annexed to the dominions of Ætolia. These transactions were -dated about 208 B.C. - -[Sidenote: [208-205 B.C.]] - -It has already been observed, that Philip aimed at the subjection of -all Greece. Aratus, who would have opposed him in this design, he took -off by poison.[51] His interest in Greece was now strengthened by the -introduction of the Romans: he was regarded by the Greeks as the champion -of freedom, and as their defence against the Romans, whom they still -considered and denominated barbarians. Not only the Greeks northward -of the Corinthian isthmus, but even the Achæan League, prepared to -take up arms in his support. Encouraged by these allies, he acted with -uncommon vigour: he carried the war into Illyricum with success; marched -to the relief of the Acarnanians, who were threatened by the Ætolians, -and fortified himself in Thessaly. The Ætolians, notwithstanding these -advantages gained over them by Philip, and that they were afterwards -defeated by him in two hot engagements, remained undaunted, and -prosecuted the war with an amazing obstinacy. The neighbouring states, -now jealous of the successes of Philip, endeavoured to mediate a peace; -nor did the Macedonian show himself unwilling to treat for that purpose. - -A peace was ready to be concluded, when the Romans, deeply interested in -the prolongation of war, sent their fleet to support the Ætolians; who, -encouraged also by the prospect of acquiring another ally, Attalus, king -of Pergamus, boldly set Philip at defiance, and talked of terms to which -they knew he would not submit. The moderation of Philip strengthened -the indignation of his Greek confederates against the Ætolians; a -disposition which he soon found an opportunity of calling forth into -action. Intelligence being brought to him, whilst he was assisting at -the Nemean games, that the Romans had landed, and were laying waste -the country from Corinth to Sicyon, he instantly set out, attacked and -repulsed the enemy, and, before the conclusion of the games, returned -again to Argos; an achievement which greatly distinguished him in the -eyes of all Greece, assembled at that solemnity. After other vigorous, -though unsuccessful, exertions against the Romans, he was called back, by -domestic insurrections, to Macedon. - -The Achæan states, though deprived of the powerful aid of the Macedonian -king, still carried on their military operations under the conduct of -Philopœmen of Megalopolis, in Arcadia, an enthusiast in the cause of -liberty from his earliest years, and one who had been active in bringing -over several of the Arcadians to join the Achæan League. Soon after -the death of Aratus, to whom he was as much superior in military, as -he was inferior in political abilities, he attained the chief sway in -the Achæan councils. He saw with concern the humiliating condition to -which a foreign yoke had reduced his countrymen, and conceived the -noble resolution of relieving them from it. In the character of general -of Achaia, he improved their discipline, inured them to hardship and -toil, and gave them weightier armour, and more powerful weapons. The -effect of this discipline soon appeared: the armies of Ætolia and -Elis, which attacked them in Philip’s absence, were totally defeated. -In the meantime, the Romans, supported by Attalus, attacked Eubœa, -of all the provinces of Greece, though an island, one of the most -considerable for fertility of soil, extent of territory, and advantage -of situation. Philip, on his part, kept a watchful eye on his enemies: -his military preparations were vigorous, and not without success. The -war was prolonged, with various success, for six years, when the Romans -and Attalus retired from Greece. A peace was now concluded between the -Ætolians and Romans, on the one part, and Philip on the other, whose -successful ambition led him, by a natural progress, to attack the -dominions of the king of Egypt. - -[Sidenote: [205-199 B.C.]] - -The Romans, whose policy it was never to have more enemies on their hands -than one at a time, had consented to a peace with Macedon, because they -were involved in a war with Carthage; but that war being now at an end, -they eagerly embraced the first pretexts they could find for a rupture -with the prince, whose successes had excited a jealousy of his growing -power. Complaints being brought before that political and powerful people -from Attalus, from the Rhodians, from the Athenians, and from Egypt, they -readily determined to improve so favourable a juncture. And first, they -declared themselves the guardians of the young king of Egypt. Marcus -Æmilius was despatched from Rome, to announce to Philip the intentions -of the Roman senate. The ambassador found the king before Abydos, at the -head of an army flushed with victory. Philip was not insensible of the -advantage of his situation; yet the Roman, undaunted by the deportment -of the monarch, charged him with dignity and firmness, not to attack -the possessions of the crown of Egypt; to abstain from war with any -of the Grecian states; and to submit the matters in dispute between -him, Attalus, and the Rhodians, to fair arbitration. “The boastful -inexperience of youth,” said the king, “thy gracefulness of person, and, -still more, the name of Roman, inspire thee with this haughtiness. It -is my wish, that Rome may observe the faith of treaties; but should she -be inclined again to hazard an appeal to arms, I trust that, with the -protection of the gods, I shall render the Macedonian name as formidable -as that of the Roman.” These things, with the cruel destruction of the -city and inhabitants of Abydos, happened about 199 B.C. - -Philip, like other ambitious princes, was now on terms of hostility -with most of the neighbouring nations. Rome, on the contrary, was in a -situation the most favourable that could be imagined to her ambition: -Carthage was subdued; in Italy, all remains of insurrection had subsided; -Sicily, in fertility and opulence, at that time the pride of the western -world, with most of the adjacent islands, was annexed to her dominions; -and even those nations which had not yet felt the force of her arms, -heard, with terror, the fame of a people not to be subdued even by a -Hannibal. About three years, therefore, after peace had been made with -Philip, the Romans despatched a fleet, under the conduct of the consul -Sulpicius, for the relief of Athens, then besieged by the Macedonians. - -Philip was moved with resentment, and attempted to wreak his vengeance -on Athens. Disappointed in his hope of surprising that city, he laid -waste the country around it, destroying even the temples, which he had -hitherto affected to venerate, and mangling and defacing every work of -art in such a manner, that there scarcely remained, according to the -Roman historian Livy, a vestige of symmetry or beauty. Here we have an -opportunity of remarking the contrast between the genius of Athens, in -the times of Philip, the father of Alexander, and that Philip who now -filled the throne of Macedon. The Athenians harassed by the arms of this -last mentioned prince, had recourse to the only weapons with which they -were now acquainted--the invectives of their orators, and the acrimony of -their popular decrees. It was resolved, that “Philip should forever be an -object of execration to the Athenian people; that whatever statues had -been raised to him, or to any of the Macedonian princes, should be thrown -down; that whatever had been enacted in their favour should be rescinded; -that every place in which any inscription, or memorial, had been set up -in praise of Philip, should be thenceforth held profane and unclean; that -in all their solemn feasts, when their priests implored a blessing on -Athens and her allies, they should pronounce curses on the Macedonian, -his kindred, his arms by sea and land, and the whole Macedonian name -and nation: in a word, that whatever had been decreed in ancient times -against the Pisistratidæ, should operate in full force against Philip; -and that whoever should propose any mitigation of the resolutions now -formed, should be adjudged a traitor to his country, and be punished -with death.” The flatteries of the Athenians to their allies were in -proportion to their impotent execrations of the Macedonian monarch. Such -is the connection between meanness of spirit and the loss of freedom! - - -GREEK FREEDOM PROCLAIMED - -[Sidenote: [200-193 B.C.]] - -A languid and indecisive war had been carried on for the space of two -years between the Macedonians and Romans, during the consulship of -Sulpicius and that of his successor Villius, not much to the honour of -these commanders, when the command of the Roman army devolved to the -new consul, Titus Quintius Flaminius, not indeed unacquainted, being a -Roman, with the science of war, but more remarkable for his skill and -address in negotiation than for military genius. The Roman consul, by the -vigour of his arms, but still more by the dexterity with which he carried -into execution the profound policy of his nation, brought Greece to the -lowest state of humiliation. By detaching the most considerable of the -Grecian states, particularly the Ætolians and the Achæans, from their -connection with Macedon; by ingratiating himself with the Grecian states, -whom he managed, after they had become his confederates, with infinite -artifice; by making a pompous but insidious proclamation of their freedom -at the Isthmian and Nemean games, he reduced the Macedonian king to the -necessity of first seeking a truce, and afterwards of accepting peace on -these mortifying conditions, which were entirely approved by the Roman -senate: - -“That all the Greek cities, both in Asia and in Europe, should be free, -and restored to the enjoyment of their own laws. - -“That Philip, before the next Isthmian games, should deliver up to the -Romans all the Greeks he had in any part of his dominions, and evacuate -all the places he possessed either in Greece or in Asia. - -“That he should give up all the prisoners and deserters. - -“That he should surrender all his decked ships of every kind; five small -vessels, and his galley of sixteen banks of oars, excepted. - -“That he should pay the Romans a thousand talents [£200,000 or -$1,000,000], one half down, the rest in ten equal annual payments. - -“And that, as a security for the performance of these regulations, he -should give hostages, his son Demetrius being one.” The date of this -peace was 198 B.C. - -Flaminius having made various decrees in favour of the several Grecian -communities in confederacy with the Romans; having expelled Nabis, the -tyrant of Sparta, from Argos; and having obtained the freedom of the -Roman slaves in Greece, returned to Rome, to the great satisfaction of -all Greece; and withdrew, as he had promised, all the Roman garrisons. - - -THE ÆTOLIANS CRUSHED - -[Sidenote: [193-187 B.C.]] - -Antiochus, king of Syria, was renowned for the magnificence of his -court, great treasures, numerous armies, military talents, and political -wisdom. He had visited the coasts of the Hellespont, formerly subject to -the kings of Syria; he had even passed over into Thrace, where he had -likewise claims; and he was preparing to rebuild Lysimachia, in order to -make it again the seat of government in the countries anciently possessed -by Lysimachus. The pretensions of so powerful and politic a prince to -countries which the Romans had already marked as their own, excited the -jealousy of that ambitious people. They gave him repeated notification, -that, “by the treaty with Macedon, the Grecian cities in Asia, as well -as Europe, had been declared free; that Rome expected he would conform -to that declaration”; and further, “that henceforth Asia was to be the -boundary of his dominions; and that any attempt to make a settlement in -Europe, would be considered by Rome as an act of hostility.” Antiochus, -at first, manifested a disposition to peace, and, in order to obtain -it, would have made large concessions, could anything less than the -humiliation of the crown of Syria have satisfied Roman ambition. - -But Hannibal, the sworn enemy of Rome, no sooner heard of his meditating -a war against the Romans, than he made his escape from Carthage to the -Syrian court, and urged him to arms. The Ætolians, too, solicited him -to vindicate the cause of Greece, notwithstanding the delusive show of -liberty granted by Rome, more enthralled in reality than at any former -period. Hannibal recommended an invasion of Italy, where alone, in his -judgment, Rome was vulnerable. With only eleven thousand land-forces, and -a suitable naval armament, he offered to carry the war into the heart of -that country; provided Antiochus would, at the same time, appear at the -head of an army on the western coast of Greece, that, by making a show of -an intended invasion from that quarter, he might divert the attention and -divide the strength of the Romans. The Ætolians, on the other hand, told -him, that if Greece were made the seat of war, there would be, throughout -all that country, a general insurrection against the power of the Romans. -Antiochus, having adopted the plan of the Ætolians in preference to that -of Hannibal, entered Greece with a small force, and being disappointed in -his expectations of succour from the Grecian states, was defeated at the -straits of Thermopylæ by Manlius Acilius Glabrio, the Roman consul. He -escaped with only five hundred men to Chalcis, from whence he retreated -with precipitation to his Asiatic dominions, 187 years before the -Christian era. - -The Ætolians having rejected the terms of peace offered to them by the -Romans, the consul pressed forward the siege of Heraclea, which soon -surrendered at discretion. He was preparing to besiege Naupactas, a -seaport on the Corinthian Gulf, of the greatest importance to the Ætolian -nation, who now decided to submit themselves to the faith of the Roman -people, and sent deputies to intimate this determination to the Roman -consul. Acilius, catching the words of the deputies, said, “Is it then -true, that the Ætolians submit themselves to the faith of Rome?” Phæneas, -who was at the head of the Ætolian deputation, replied, that they did. -“Then,” continued the consul, “let no Ætolian, from henceforth, on any -account, public or private, presume to pass over into Asia; and let -Dicæarchus, with all who have had any share in his revolt, be delivered -into my hands.” - -“The Ætolians,” interrupted Phæneas, “in submitting to the faith of -the Romans, meant to rely upon their generosity, but not to yield -themselves up to servitude: neither the honour of Ætolia, nor the customs -and laws of Greece, will allow us to comply with your requisition.” -“It is insolent prevarication,” answered the consul, “to mention the -honour of Ætolia and the customs and laws of Greece; you ought even -to be put in chains.” The Ætolians, exasperated even to madness at -this imperious treatment of their deputies and nation, were encouraged -in their disposition to vindicate their liberties by arms, by the -expectation of succours from Asia and from Macedon; but this expectation -was disappointed, and they were reduced to the necessity of sending -ambassadors to Rome, to implore the clemency of the Roman senate. The -only conditions they could obtain were, either to pay a thousand talents -[£200,000 or $1,000,000], a sum which, they declared, far exceeded their -abilities, and to have neither friend nor foe, but with the approbation -of Rome, or to submit to the pleasure of the senate. The Ætolians desired -to know, what they were to understand by “submitting to the pleasure of -the senate”: an explanation being refused, they were obliged to return -uncertain of their fate. The war with Rome was renewed; but the Roman -vigour and policy prevailed in the unequal contest, and the Ætolians were -again obliged to apply to the consul, in the most submissive manner, for -mercy. The conditions granted to them were extremely hard: they were -heavily fined, obliged to give up several of their cities and territories -to the Romans, and to deliver to the consul forty hostages, to be chosen -by him, none under twelve, or above forty years of age. But one express -condition comprehended everything that imperious power might think fit to -impose: the Ætolians were to “pay observance to the empire and majesty of -the Roman people.” - -The predominant power of the Achæans in the Peloponnesus, now became the -object of Roman jealousy and ambition. Though confederated with Achaia, -the Peloponnesian cities retained each of them peculiar privileges, and -a species of independent sovereignty. No sooner was peace concluded -with Ætolia, than Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, to whom the conduct of the -Ætolian War had been committed on the expiration of the consulship of -Acilius, took up his residence in the island of Cephallenia, that he -might be ready, upon the first appearance of any dispute in Achaia, -to pass over into Peloponnesus, and improve every dissension, for the -aggrandisement of the Roman Republic. Such an opportunity soon presented -itself: the congress of the Achæan states had always been held at Ægium: -but Philopœmen, now the Achæan general, having determined to divide among -all the cities of the League the advantages of a general convention, had -named Argos for the next diet. This innovation the inhabitants of Ægium -opposed, and appealed to the Roman consul for his decision. Another -pretext for passing over into Greece was also soon offered to Fulvius. -The Lacedæmonian exiles, who had been banished in the days of the -tyrants, and never restored, resided in towns along the coast of Laconia, -protected by Achæan garrisons, cut off the inhabitants of Lacedæmon -from all intercourse with the seacoast. One of those maritime towns was -attacked by the Spartans in the night-time, but defended by the exiles, -with the assistance of the Achæan soldiery. Philopœmen represented -this attempt of the Spartans as an insult on the whole Achæan body. He -obtained a decree in favour of the exiles, commanding the Lacedæmonians, -on pain of being treated as enemies, to deliver up the authors of that -outrage. This decree the Lacedæmonians refused to obey. They dissolved -their alliance with Achaia, and offered their city to the Romans. In -revenge of this, Philopœmen, notwithstanding the advanced season, laid -waste the territories of Lacedæmon.[f] - - -GREECE AT THE MERCY OF “FRIENDLY” ROME - -[Sidenote: [189-183 B.C.]] - -The bond which had formerly existed between Macedonia and Greece, giving -the history of both, after the time of Philip and the Great Alexander, -a common road to travel, had in the course of time disappeared. The -Greeks had not desired this bond with Macedonia, though nothing else -could possibly have won the townships their independence. For, while the -kings of Macedonia proceeded rigorously in carrying out their desire -of building for themselves a suzerainty in Greece, yet for all that -the ultimate end of pursuit was not the enslaving of Greece, but her -amalgamation with Macedonia. The Greeks would have been as free as the -Macedonians were under the monarchy, and it was no mean degree of freedom -they enjoyed. - -An Asiatic despotism could take no root on this soil, it could not spring -up spontaneously. Rome certainly was capable of exercising such power, -since she commanded forces such as would not have been at the disposal -of a king of Macedonia and Greece. But the Greeks had worked against -the amalgamation with Macedonia as though it had been the worst of all -fates. Now, as a reward, they accepted the rule of the cruel Romans, -who revealed their character even more and more clearly through the -veiling cloud of their friendship, their alliance, and their altruistic -enthusiasm for freedom. - -There is a silence come over the land of Greece, since the result of the -Roman war against Syria, the silence of bondage. Zacynthus, Apollonia, -Epidamnus, and certain other points in the Greek world, might thereafter -at once be considered and treated as subject lands. Altogether the Romans -during this time moved nearer. Istria was conquered and made a province. -Even Ætolia was not talked of in Philip’s last years; here too, stillness -had come. Not one of the many little leagues, which now divided Greece -dared or could dare to refuse anything the Romans demanded--if, that is -to say, the Romans attached any importance to it. And of what kind these -commands were one may still judge from isolated facts appearing in the -detached fragments from which we have to construct the history of Greece -during this period. Thebes had to receive again within her walls the -murderer of the Bœotarch, Brachyllas, because he murdered for Rome’s sake -and was a friend of Rome. - -[Illustration: BACCHUS - -(After Hope)] - -From only one quarter of Greece did there sound any note of life and -activity--from Achaia; and the Romans did, for an exception, think it -worth while to concern themselves about Achaia somewhat, and to take -action, when occasion offered, that her dissolution might be hastened. - -But such life or activity as may still stir in the Achæan League is no -longer a cheering spectacle in any way. Those of its men who are best -calculated to win respect, because they are not in the pay of the Romans, -and still cherish thoughts of independence, prove themselves to be, -if not without real worth, yet certainly without caution or insight. -Philopœmen and Lycortas stand highest among them. Philopœmen himself -is said to have perceived that extinction under the Roman rule was -become altogether inevitable, and that the only thing left to do was to -endeavour to put it off as long as possible. That was the right view for -a man to take, unless he had determined to evade bondage by a voluntary -death. But Philopœmen, it would appear, did not hold the view attributed -to him. He thought the bond might grow stronger again some day, and, if -it were necessary, assert itself in arms against the Romans. For why -else, if this were not his idea, should there have been that madness and -murder in Sparta? The old Spartan life had to be stamped out, the new -citizens must be strangled, because the old Sparta and the strong Sparta -would not join the Achæans and so the Peloponnese remained divided. With -the idea that the unity of the Peloponnese was gained at last, and that -the bond was solid and complete, Philopœmen and his friends may have -rested from the festival of murder in Sparta, which now found herself -once more forced into the Achæan League. - -Obviously the heads of the League thought they might move more freely. -They ventured to mention the League’s independence, they continued to -disobey Roman commands. In this they made one of two mistakes. Either -they thought the senate really desired their independence, or else they -imagined that they also were still something considerable and were -capable, if necessary, of defending themselves in arms. It would not have -suited the Romans just then to appear again in Greece with an army, and -so, for a time, though only a very short time, they permitted the high -and empty words of the Achæans. And in the end the sword was not in the -least required to bring them back to heel, only a stern command from the -senate, and at once the liberty craze of the Achæans tumbled pitifully -into nothing. - -The trifling differences which sprang from the endeavours of the Achæans -and the counter endeavours of the Spartans, would be insignificant did -they not conduce to our knowledge of the Roman method. The arts which -were employed against Macedonia were also employed against the Achæans. -The small should be stricken like the great, so that in the end both -might be completely and easily taken. The Romans must have seen with -pleasure the perverse measures to which Philopœmen and the Achæans -resorted in order to force the Peloponnesus to the unity of the League.[g] - -The Romans, thus invited to act as umpires in Greece, found means to -break the strength of the commonwealth of Achaia, by seducing its -confederate states--a conduct which, in the eyes of pure morality, must -appear enormously treacherous; but which if, in the ambitious designs of -states and princes, the certain attainment of the end be considered as -a sufficient justification of the means, must be deemed refined policy. -By the intrigues of Roman emissaries, too, a party of Messenians took -up arms against the Achæans; and Philopœmen, hastening to suppress the -insurgents, fell into their hands, and was put to death. - - -ROME AGAINST PHILIP - -[Sidenote: [185-179 B.C.]] - -During these transactions in Greece, the Romans, jealous of the -increasing power of their ally, Philip of Macedon, sought an occasion of -quarrelling with him, and, agreeably to their usual policy, encouraged -every complaint, and supported the pretensions of his enemies; prepared -to plunder them, too, in their turns, when the Macedonian power should no -longer be formidable. The small cantons or communities of Thessaly, in -which he had re-established his authority, were now encouraged to assert -their independence; and the Macedonian king was called to account for -those very outrages which he had committed on the side of the Romans. -Commissioners were appointed for the settlement of differences. Philip -was required by them to evacuate Ænus and Maronea, which were claimed -by Eumenes. These were cities on the Hellespont, which, from their -maritime situation, afforded many advantages. The complexion and designs -of the Roman commissioners were obvious; and Philip, judging it vain -to keep measures with men determined at any rate to take part with his -adversaries, expostulated with them with great boldness on the injustice, -treachery, and ingratitude of their nation. - -In this temper of mind he wreaked his revenge on the Maroneans, whose -solicitations, he supposed, had been employed against him. A body of his -fiercest Thracian mercenaries being introduced into Maronea, on the night -before the Macedonian garrison was to march out, on pretence of a sudden -tumult, put to the sword all the inhabitants suspected of favouring the -Roman interest, without distinction of condition, age, or sex, and left -the place drenched in the blood of its citizens. The Romans threatened -to revenge this massacre, and Philip was obliged to send his second son, -Demetrius, to Rome, to make an apology. The Roman senate, with a view -to debauch the filial affection of Demetrius and to draw him over to -the interests of Rome, told him that, on his account, whatever had been -improper in his father’s conduct should be passed over; and that, from -the confidence they had in him, they were well assured Philip would, for -the future, perform everything that justice required: that ambassadors -should be sent to see all matters properly settled: and that, from the -regard they bore to the son, they were willing to excuse the father. This -message excited in the breast of Philip a suspicion of the connection -formed between Rome and Demetrius; which suspicion was inflamed by -the insinuations and dark artifices of his eldest son Perseus, a -prince, according to the Roman writers, of an intriguing and turbulent -disposition, sordid, ungenerous, and subtle. - -Perseus and Demetrius were both in the bloom of life; the former aged -about thirty years when Demetrius returned from Rome, but born of a -mother of mean descent, a seamstress of Argos, and of so questionable a -character, as to make it doubtful whether he was really Philip’s son. -Demetrius was five years younger, born of his queen, a lady of royal -extraction. Hence Perseus had conceived a jealousy of his brother, -and was insidiously active to undermine him in the royal favour. He -accused Demetrius to the king of a design to assassinate him. Philip, -familiarised as he was to acts of blood, was struck with horror at the -story of Perseus. Retiring into the inner apartment of his palace, with -two of his nobles, he sat in solemn judgment on his two sons, being under -the agonising necessity, whether the charge could be proved or disproved, -of finding one of them guilty. Distracted by his doubts, Philip sent -Philocles and Apelles, two noblemen, to proceed as his ambassadors to -Rome, with instructions to find out, if possible, with what persons -Demetrius corresponded, and what were the ends he had in view. - -Perseus, profoundly artful, and having the advantage of being the heir -apparent to the Macedonian crown, secretly gained over to his interest -his father’s ambassadors, who returned to the king with an account -that Demetrius was held in the highest estimation at Rome, and that -his views appeared to have been of an unjustifiable kind; delivering, -at the same time, a letter, which they pretended to have received from -Quintus Flaminius. The handwriting of the Roman, and the impression -of his signet, the king was well acquainted with; and the exactness -of the imitation induced him to give entire credit to the contents, -more especially as Flaminius had formerly written in commendation -of Demetrius. The present letter was written in a different strain. -The author acknowledged the criminality of Demetrius, who indeed, he -confessed, aimed at the throne; but for whom, as he had not meditated the -death of any of his own blood, he interceded with the monarch. The issue -of this atrocious intrigue was truly tragical: Demetrius, found guilty of -designs against the crown and the life of his father, was put to death. -Philip, when too late, discovered that he had been imposed upon by a -forgery, and died of a broken heart. - - -PERSEUS, KING OF MACEDONIA - -[Sidenote: [179-168 B.C.]] - -Perseus succeeded his father on the throne of Macedon, a hundred and -seventy-nine years before the birth of Christ. The first measures of his -government appeared equally gracious and political. He assumed an air -of benignity and gentleness. He not only recalled all those whom fear -or judicial condemnation had, in the course of the late reign, driven -from their country; but he even ordered the income of their estates, -during their exile, to be reimbursed. His deportment to all his subjects -was happily composed of regal dignity and parental tenderness. The same -temper which regulated his behaviour to his own subjects, he displayed -in his conduct towards foreign states. He courted the affections of the -Grecian states, and despatched ambassadors to request a confirmation of -the treaties subsisting between Rome and Macedon. The senate acknowledged -his title to the throne, and pronounced him the friend and ally of the -Roman people. His insinuations and intrigues with his neighbours were -the more effectual, that most of them began to presage what they had to -expect, should the dominion of Rome be extended over all Greece; and -looked upon Macedon as the bulwark of their freedom from the Roman yoke. - -The only states that stood firm to the Roman cause, were Athens and -Achaia. But in this all of them now agreed, that foreign aid was on all -occasions necessary to prop the tottering remains of fallen liberty, -which, by this time, was little else than a choice of masters. Besides -all those advantages which Perseus might derive from the well-grounded -jealousy of Roman ambition, he succeeded to all those mighty preparations -which were made by his father. But all this strength came to nothing: it -terminated in discomfiture, and the utter extinction of the royal family -of Macedon. He lost all the advantages he enjoyed, through avarice, -meanness of spirit, and want of real courage. The Romans, discovering -or suspecting his ambitious designs, sought and found occasion of -quarrelling with him. A Roman army passed into Greece. This army, for the -space of three years, did nothing worthy of the Roman name; but Perseus, -infatuated, or struck with a panic, neglected to improve the repeated -opportunities which the incapacity or the corruption of the Roman -commanders presented to him. Lucius Æmilius Paullus, elected consul, -restored and improved the discipline of the Roman army, which, under -the preceding commanders, had been greatly relaxed. He advanced against -Perseus, drove him from his entrenchments on the banks of the river -Enipeus, and engaged and defeated him under the walls of Pydna. - -On the ruin of his army, Perseus fled to Pella. He gave vent to the -distraction and ferocity of his mind, by murdering with his own hand two -of his principal officers, who had ventured to blame some parts of his -conduct. Alarmed at this act of barbarity, his other attendants refused -to approach him; so that, being at a loss where to hide himself, or -whom to trust, he returned from Pella, which he had reached only about -midnight, before break of day. On the third day after the battle he fled -to Amphipolis. Being driven by the inhabitants from thence, he hastened -to the seaside, in order to pass over into Samothrace, hoping to find -a secure asylum in the reputed holiness of that place. Having arrived -thither, he took shelter in the temple of Castor and Pollux. Abandoned by -all the world, his eldest son Philip only excepted, without a probability -of escape, and even destitute of the means of subsistence, he surrendered -to Octavius, the Roman prætor, who transported him to the Roman camp. -Perseus approached the consul with the most abject servility, bowing his -face to the earth, and endeavouring with his suppliant arms to grasp -his knees. “Why, wretched man,” said the Roman, “why dost thou acquit -Fortune of what might seem her crime, by a behaviour which evinces that -thou deservest not her indignation? Why dost thou disgrace my laurels, -by showing thyself an abject adversary, and unworthy of having a Roman -to contend with?” He tempered, however, this humiliating address, by -raising him from the ground, and encouraging him to hope for everything -from the clemency of the Roman people. After being led in triumph through -the streets of Rome, he was thrown into a dungeon, where he starved -himself to death. His eldest son, Philip, and one of his younger sons, -are supposed to have died before him. Another of his sons, Alexander, was -employed by the chief magistrates of Rome in the office of a clerk. - - -THE HUMILIATION OF GREECE - -[Sidenote: [168-167 B.C.]] - -Within the space of fifteen days after Æmilius had begun to put his -army in motion, all the armament was broken and dispersed; and, within -two days after the defeat at Pydna, the whole country had submitted to -the consul. Ten commissioners were appointed to assist that magistrate -in the arrangement of Macedonian affairs. A new form of government was -established in Macedon, of which the outlines had been drawn at Rome. On -this occasion the Romans exhibited a striking instance of their policy -in governing by the principle of division. The whole kingdom of Macedon -was divided into four districts; the inhabitants of each were to have no -connection, intermarriages, or exchange of possessions, with those of the -other districts, but every part to remain wholly distinct from the rest. -And among other regulations tending to reduce them to a state of the most -abject slavery, they were inhibited from the use of arms, unless in such -places as were exposed to the incursions of the barbarians. Triumphal -games at Amphipolis, exceeding in magnificence all that this part of the -world had ever seen, and to which all the neighbouring nations, both -European and Asiatic, were invited, announced the extended dominion of -Rome, and the humiliation not only of Macedon, but of Greece; for now the -sovereignty of Rome found nothing in that part of the world that was able -to oppose it. - -The Grecian states submitted to various and multiplied acts of -oppression, without a struggle. The government which retained the -longest a portion of the spirit of ancient times, was the Achæan. In -their treatment of Achaia, the Romans, although they had gained over to -their interests several of the Achæan chiefs, were obliged to proceed -with great circumspection, lest the destruction of their own creatures -should defeat their designs. They endeavoured to trace some vestiges of -a correspondence between the Achæan body and the late king of Macedon; -and when no such vestiges could be found, they determined that fiction -should supply the place of evidence. Caius Claudius, and Cneius Domitius -Ahenobarbus, were sent as commissioners from Rome, to complain that some -of the first men of Achaia had acted in concert with Macedon. At the -same time they required, that all who were in such a predicament should -be sentenced to death: promising that, after a decree for that purpose -should be enacted, they would produce the names of the guilty. “Where,” -exclaimed the assembly, “would be the justice of such a proceeding? -First name the persons you accuse, and make good your charge.” “I name, -then,” said the commissioner, “all those who have borne the office of -chief magistrate of Achaia, or been the leaders of your armies.” “In that -case,” answered Xenon, an Achæan nobleman, “I too shall be accounted -guilty, for I have commanded the armies of Achaia; and yet I am ready to -prove my innocence, either here, or before the senate of Rome.” “You say -well,” replied one of the Roman commissioners, laying hold on his last -words, “let the senate of Rome then be the tribunal before which you -shall answer.” - -A decree was framed for this end, and above a thousand Achæan chiefs -were transported into Italy, a hundred and sixty-seven years before -Christ.[f] Among these was Polybius,[b] who afterwards became famous as -the historian of the Roman Conquest, and whose work, though preserved -only in fragments beyond the fifth book of the original forty, is the -chief reliable source of information regarding some of the events of the -period we have just considered. Had fortune spared us the later books of -Polybius, our knowledge of the history of the Leagues would have been far -different from what it is; for this Greek of the “degenerate” Hellenistic -age is universally admitted to be the most philosophical and reliable of -all historical writers among his countrymen of any age, Thucydides alone -excepted. We shall see more of his work when we come to the history of -the Punic wars, where he is again the chief authority.[a] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[48] [Freeman[i] comparing the two great Leagues says: “The political -conduct of the Achæan League with some mistakes and some faults, is, on -the whole, highly honourable. The political conduct of the Ætolian League -is, throughout the century in which we know it best, simply infamous.”] - -[49] [Freeman[i] praises Marcus of Cerynea, as the probable founder or -“Washington of the original League,” though obscured later by Aratus.] - -[50] [Freeman[i] calls Aratus “the Creator, the Preserver, and the -Destroyer” of the League and bitterly compares his surrender of Corinth -with Cavour’s delivery of Savoy and Nice to Napoleon III.] - -[51] [“This infamous action,” says Polybius,[b] “was not for some time -discovered to the world; for the poison was not of that kind which -procures immediate death; but was one of those which weaken the habit -of the body, and destroy life by slow degrees. Aratus himself was very -sensible of the injury that he had received. ‘Such, Cephalo,’ he said to a -favourite servant, ‘is the reward of the friendship which I have had for -Philip.’ So great and excellent a thing is moderation, which disposed the -sufferer, and not the author of the injury, to feel the greatest shame -when he found that all the glorious actions which he had shared with -Philip, in order to promote the service of that prince, had been at last -so basely recompensed. - -“Such was the end of this magistrate, who received after his death, -not from his own country alone, but from the whole republic of the -Achæans, all the honours that were due a man who had so often held the -administration of their government, and performed such signal services for -the State. For they decreed sacrifices to him, with the other honours that -belong to heroes, and, in a word, omitting nothing that could serve to -render his name immortal.”] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration: THE PLAIN OF ARGOS] - - - - -CHAPTER LXIV. THE FINAL DISASTERS - - -The condition of Achaia during this period of the Roman dominion, from -B.C. 172 to 152, was peculiar and is very obscure. The government was -in a very sad condition; Callicrates and Andronidas tyrannised over the -Achæans, although they had no followers, and although the people were so -enraged against the former that he was publicly hissed, and everybody -shunned him. “He is a man who stands forth branded in every respect with -everlasting infamy; he was never invited by a Greek either to dinner or -to a wedding;” but still it was impossible to change the direction he -gave to the state. “He was regarded as a demon, whose existence could -not be controlled.” No consideration was shown towards foreign powers; -it was a state of utter inactivity and leisure, but at the same time -of material prosperity. Commerce and agriculture were thriving, as is -mentioned several times by Polybius; the taxes were not very heavy, the -laws were suited to the circumstances, and hence it was a period of -general material well-being. But at the same time, it is evident that the -number of regular marriages decreased immensely, and consequently that -of persons who were born citizens also; it was just the same as towards -the end of the Roman Republic and under the Roman emperors, when people -generally lived in concubinage. It was a deplorable condition. - -There was not a trace of intellectual life; literature no longer existed, -except that a few philosophers still lived at Athens. Poetry was confined -to little poems, and was cultivated in Asia more than in Peloponnesus; -the new comedy had entirely died away. In spite of the material -prosperity, nothing was done for the arts and for monuments. The Achæans -preserved the Greek name until the end, but the Romans need not have been -jealous of them. There were still some places to be subdued to complete -the supremacy of Rome, as Carthage, for example; and so long as that -city existed, the Romans turned their eyes towards those who might be an -obstacle to their subduing those places. - -[Sidenote: [156-150 B.C.]] - -At the middle of the second century B.C., Achaia embraced the whole of -Peloponnesus; it must have extended its dominion even beyond it, for not -to mention Megara, which had belonged to it before, it now also comprised -Pleuron and Calydon, which were originally Ætolian towns, but are called -both Ætolian and Achæan. In general people had become accustomed to the -Achæan League; Sparta alone bore the connection reluctantly. - -The disputes which, in the end, led to the fatal war, arose out of the -intrigues of Menalcidas, a Lacedæmonian, who even rose to the dignity -of strategus. This Menalcidas, with a remarkable versatility in his -wickedness, jumped from one party to another. The quarrels between the -Achæans and Lacedæmonians are said to have arisen from his villainy and -that of Diæus of Megalopolis, on the occasion of a quarrel between Athens -and Oropus. - -[Illustration: THE LAST DAYS OF CORINTH] - -The town of Oropus, of which, ever since the Peloponnesian War, the -Athenians had wanted to take possession, which was often subdued by -them, but each time taken from them again, had, according to Pausanias, -been assigned to them by Philip after the Macedonian War, that is, -he had made the town tributary to Athens. The Athenians, it is said, -plundered the town, because they were suffering from severe poverty--but -they had probably imposed too heavy taxes upon the Oropians, and levied -them too rigorously, so that the Oropians applied to the Romans for -redress. A great quantity of existing Athenian tetradrachmæ still -attests the poverty prevailing at that time in Athens, for they consist -of copper only covered over with a thin coat of silver. The Athenians -were then compelled to pay to the Oropians one hundred talents as an -indemnification; but they contrived to become reconciled with them, and -induced them not to exact the money, to return to their former relation, -and admit a garrison into their town. The conduct of this garrison, -however, induced the Oropians to demand its withdrawal. As the Athenians -refused, the Oropians applied to the Achæans, and bribed Menalcidas, who -happened to be strategus, with ten talents; Menalcidas again prevailed -upon Callicrates to persuade the popular assembly to compel Athens to -pay the one hundred talents. But the Athenians were beforehand with -them: they completely plundered Oropus, and Menalcidas also exacted the -promised sum with the greatest insolence, while he himself refused to pay -to Callicrates the sum he had promised him. The latter charged him with -high treason, and Menalcidas retaliated. The former repaired to Rome, and -Menalcidas is said to have saved his life only by bribing Diæus, who was -strategus. - -The manner in which out of this unrelated quarrel the disputes between -the Achæans and Lacedæmonians arose is not clear. But they gave rise -to a war, and a wretched war it was. Diæus, with an army of the Achæan -confederates, entered Laconia, demanding the condemnation of the -recalcitrants. A Spartan senator proposed, that the twenty-four whose -condemnation was demanded by Diæus, should of their own accord go into -exile. This was done, and according to a preconcerted plan, all were -condemned to death. But these exiles were kindly received by the Roman -senate, and Diæus and Callicrates were sent to Rome to counteract their -influence. The latter died on his journey, having apparently somewhat -changed his conduct during the latter part of his life. Diæus and -Menalcidas vehemently disputed before the senate, which simply commanded -them to return and wait, until a Roman embassy should bring over a -decisive answer. The Achæans, however, did not wait, and Damocritus, who -had in the meantime succeeded Diæus as strategus, invaded Laconia, before -the Roman ambassadors arrived, defeated the enemy, and advanced as far -as Sparta. He had no intention to pursue them farther, and the Achæans -accordingly accused and condemned him, thinking that he had been bribed; -and he went into exile. This happened probably in 150 B.C.; and Diæus now -became strategus in the place of Damocritus. - -In the meantime the great drama throughout the world came to a crisis. -The Romans had undertaken the destruction of Carthage, but did not find -it so easy as they had imagined. In the provinces, the most contemptible -side of the character of the Romans was seen; they were beheld as -plunderers and oppressors; it was known that they were hated by all the -world, and it was expected that a general insurrection would break out, -extending from Spain to the extreme East. And it was believed that Rome -could not stand against it. It is possible that the nations may have -heard of the internal decay of Rome, of the ferment of Italy, and of the -discontent of the allies. - -[Sidenote: [149-146 B.C.]] - -Under these circumstances, an insurrection first broke out in Macedonia. -The Romans had torn that country asunder in four parts, as Napoleon -wanted to divide Poland into three states--an attempt which proved fatal -to him. The Romans in Macedonia had not left together those masses which, -in language and origin, as well as geographically, were united; but with -a diabolic and calculating policy they had torn the country to pieces, -and it was divided in such a manner as to have as little connection as -possible, one tribe being mixed up with others. All the respectable -people of Macedonia, under the pretext of their being hostages, had been -carried away with their families into Italy, where they amalgamated with -the inhabitants and disappeared. In this manner all persons of mark had -been removed. Moreover, the _commercium_ and _connubium_ among those -four provinces had been abolished, so that no Macedonian was allowed to -possess land in two different provinces, every one being confined to his -own district. But still Macedonia was in a condition of great prosperity, -especially in consequence of its mines and commerce, as we must infer -from the immense quantity of Macedonian money of that period, which has -come down to us. The limbs which had been torn asunder, longed to be -reunited as one whole. - - -THE MACEDONIAN INSURRECTION - -At this time there appeared among them a man of about forty years, -calling himself Philip, and declaring himself to be a son of Perseus, -and to have escaped from his father’s misfortunes. It is possible that -he was a pseudo-Philip, that his real name was Andriscus, and that he -was a native of Thrace: there were several such impostors at that time. -Philip defeated the Romans, and in a very short time made himself master -of all Macedonia, which recognised him. He even penetrated into Thessaly, -where he gained advantages, and successfully maintained himself against -the untrained troops of the Romans. All sided with him; but the Achæans -very inconsistently sent auxiliaries to the Romans, although at the time -all nations were harbouring designs of revolt, but the Achæans thought -that they were not yet ripe for it. The Achæan auxiliaries came very -opportunely to the Romans; it was only through these, who were commanded -by a Roman legate, that they succeeded in defending Thessaly, and with -their assistance they repelled the Macedonians, until Metellus came -with the Roman legion. He defeated this Philip, whom the Romans call -Andriscus, in several battles. Macedonia now became a Roman province, -under the absolute power of an imperator; the senate coolly ordered -them to dismiss from the confederacy not only Lacedæmon, but all the -other places which had not belonged to Achaia at the time when the -Achæans concluded the treaty with Rome in the first (or more correctly -the second) Macedonian War. C. Aurelius Orestes, together with other -ambassadors, brought these orders to Corinth, whither he summoned the -allies of the Achæans. - - -THE ACHÆAN WAR - -This very unjust and insolent demand threw the Achæans into a state of -frenzy; even before Orestes had finished his speech, the council hastened -to the market-place, calling upon the people to assemble, and it cannot -excite wonder, though it is a proof of the utter want of common sense -among the Achæans, that they fell upon the Roman ambassadors, and -insultingly drove them out of the theatre. All the Lacedæmonians who -happened to be in the city were arrested. After this the Achæans again -marched into Laconia, where Menalcidas had, in the meantime, made away -with himself, because he had broken a truce which he had been ordered to -observe by the Romans. - -At this time the Macedonian insurrection was not yet quelled, and fortune -was still undecided. Metellus had not yet come over. Simultaneously the -Third Punic War was going on; the Spaniards and Iberians were stirring; -Masinissa’s family was suspected, and in short the Romans were pressed on -all sides. Their cunning policy therefore was mildness: they said that -they were willing to pardon the Achæans, if they would but acknowledge -their guilt, and apologise. But almost the whole nation was now in a -state of intoxication, “according to the words of Scripture, that God -makes the nations intoxicated for their own destruction.” Critolaus the -strategus, played the part of a hero, and inflamed the minds of the -people--especially of the populace, which was already in commotion at -Corinth. When the Roman ambassadors commenced speaking no one listened to -them; they were obliged to stop, and as the tumult became too great, they -went away. Critolaus, and still more, Diæus, now goaded the Achæans into -the madness of declaring war against the Romans, and marching towards -Thermopylæ. The war was decreed nominally against the Lacedæmonians, but -in reality against the Romans. - -We have only very scanty information about the course of this war; but -the _Excerpts_ of Porphyrogenitus from Polybius[c] will throw light upon -it. “Posterity can form no conception,” says Polybius, “of the madness -with which the war was carried on; it was as if men rushed into it for -the purpose of perishing.” - -Critolaus assembled a considerable army. The Bœotians, headed by the -Thebans under the wretched Pytheas, and the Chalcidians, were the only -Greeks that sided with the Achæans; the Ætolians and the other nations -were neutral; the Lacedæmonians, on the other hand, were hostile towards -the Achæans, for which reason all of the Achæans could not leave -their country. The allied army advanced as far as Heraclea near Mount -Œta, and laid siege to that town in order to protect Thermopylæ. But -everything was there managed so senselessly, that when Metellus, who -on being informed of this, without waiting for orders, had broken in -from Macedonia with the rapidity of lightning, came to its relief, the -Achæans under Diæus and Critolaus hastily fled back through the pass of -Thermopylæ. - -Metellus overtook them near Scarphe, attacked and defeated them -so completely that within a few hours the Achæan army was utterly -annihilated; many were slain, many were taken prisoners, and many -dispersed in flight. Diæus fled, Critolaus was not to be found, having -perhaps perished in a marsh. The whole army was scattered. An Arcadian -contingent of one thousand men, which arrived too late, was carried away -by the flight of the others, and a few days later, in the neighbourhood -of Chæronea, it was partly taken and partly cut to pieces by the Romans. -The Achæans fled in disorder into Peloponnesus. In Bœotia all the people, -quitting the towns, took refuge in the mountains; Thebes was deserted; -many made away with themselves from despair, and many implored the -Romans to kill them, declaring themselves to be the authors of all the -misfortunes. - -Diæus succeeded Critolaus in the command of the army; he was a person of -the utmost incapacity, and formidable only to those who obeyed him. He -had recourse to the most extreme measures; he decreed that all judicial -trials for debts should be stopped, all imprisoned debtors should be set -free, and that no debt should become due before the close of the war--a -sad decree for the wealthy, but it made him popular among the rabble. -Twelve thousand slaves were to be manumitted and armed (they are called -παράτροφοι--_i.e._, milk-brothers, the children of female slaves or -nurses); and heavy war contributions were levied. Four thousand men were -sent to Megara to defend that place, and Diæus himself assembled the -army on the isthmus. When Metellus appeared, those four thousand soon -evacuated Megara, and all the forces were concentrated on the isthmus -close to the walls of Corinth. - -[Sidenote: [146 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: GREEK WATER VESSEL - -(Berlin Museum)] - -Metellus now appeared before Corinth. Animated by a feeling of humanity -he wished to spare the city; such a magnificent ancient city was indeed -something venerable to many a Roman, and the idea of destroying it was -terrible to Metellus. It is also possible that he grudged the consul -Mummius, who was already advancing in quick marches, the honour of -bringing the war to a close. Once more Metellus sent some Greeks to the -Achæan army, according, according to Roman notions, fair terms, if they -would but lay down their arms, and requesting them to put confidence in -him. What else could he have done? But Diæus, who knew that his life was -forfeited, goaded the poor people to madness. The Achæans, believing that -Metellus had offered peace from a feeling of weakness, nearly killed -the ambassadors, and Diæus did not set them free until a ransom of ten -thousand drachmæ was paid; this is a characteristic feature of the man -who showed his avarice to the very last minute. The hypostrategus, who -was favourable to the Romans, was tortured. - -In the meantime Mummius arrived and took the place of Metellus. He had -no such feelings towards the Achæans as his predecessor, who returned to -Rome. Mummius now had an army of twenty-three thousand foot and three -thousand horse, while the Achæans had only fourteen thousand foot and a -few hundred horse. The Achæans were encamped on the isthmus in a strong -position, but this was of no avail. The Romans had a fleet furnished by -their allies, while the Greeks had no ships, and the Roman fleet cruised -along the whole coast of Peloponnesus, landing everywhere, and ravaging -the country with the most fearful cruelty. What Themistocles had said -to the Peloponnesians, when they wanted to fortify themselves on the -isthmus, now came to pass; the contingents, especially those of the -Eleans, dispersed in all directions in order to protect their own towns, -without being able to do so. - -A somewhat favourable engagement, in which they defeated a detachment of -the Romans, which had ventured too far and was not duly supported, made -the Achæans completely mad, and being thus encouraged they thoughtlessly -attacked the Roman army. But their small advantage was immediately -neutralised by a fatal blow; for in a great and decisive battle, the -Achæans were so completely routed, that they were not even able to throw -themselves into Corinth. The cavalry fled immediately; the infantry -maintained its ground better, but in the end all fled in different -directions into the mountains, and Diæus to Megalopolis, where he first -murdered his wife and then took poison. All the population of Corinth -deserted the city and took refuge in the mountains, as the Romans had -done on the arrival of the Gauls, and were hunted by the Romans like wild -beasts.[b] - - -THE DESTRUCTION OF CORINTH - -Mummius had not expected so easy a conquest, and, though informed that -the gates were open, suspecting some stratagem, suffered an entire -day to pass before he marched into the city. Though no resistance was -offered, all the men found within the walls were put to the sword; the -women and children were reserved for sale; and when all its treasures -had been carried away, on a signal given by blast of the trumpet the -city was consigned to the flames. So it is said the senate had expressly -decreed. But vengeance for the insults offered to the Roman envoys was -probably more the pretext than the motive for this cruelty. It was at -least no less a crime in the eyes of the Roman soldiers that Corinth was -the richest city of Greece. Scarcely any other was adorned with so many -precious works of art. Mummius himself had as little eye for them as any -of his men, who made dice-boards of the finest masterpieces of painting; -but he knew that such things were highly valued by others, and he -therefore preserved those which were accounted the choicest to embellish -his triumph. - -Before the arrival of the ten commissioners, who were sent in the autumn -to regulate the state of Greece, he made a circuit in Peloponnesus to -inflict punishment on the cities and persons that had taken an active -share in the war. The walls of all such towns were dismantled, and their -whole population disarmed. The adherents of Diæus were sentenced to -death or exile, and their property confiscated; and the Achæans--that -is, the cities which had contributed to the war--were condemned to pay -two hundred talents [£40,000 or $200,000] to Sparta. The greater part -of the Corinthian territory was annexed to Sicyon. Mummius afterwards -marched northward to deal like retribution among the insurgents of Bœotia -and Eubœa. He razed Thebes and Chalcis--or at least their walls--to the -ground; condemned the Bœotians and Eubœans--or more probably those cities -alone--to pay one hundred talents to Heraclea, which they had helped to -besiege; and at Chalcis he shed so much blood of the principal citizens, -that Polybius himself can only reconcile his conduct with the supposed -mildness of his character by the suggestion that he was urged by his -council to unwonted severity. - -It remained for the ten commissioners, according to the instructions -of the senate, to fix the future condition of the conquered nation. -All Greece, as far as Macedonia and Epirus, was constituted a Roman -province: and Achaia enjoyed the melancholy distinction of giving its -name to the whole. But the senate’s jealousy was not satisfied with the -formal establishment of its sovereignty; it had also decreed a series of -regulations tending as much as possible to restrict every kind of union -and intercourse among the Greeks, and to reduce them to the lowest stage -of weakness and degradation. All federal assemblies, all democratical -polities, were abolished, and the government of each city committed to -a magistracy, for which a certain amount of property was required as a -qualification. No one might acquire land in any part of the province but -that in which his franchise lay. The details of this outline, and all -temporary measures for the settlement of the country, were left to the -discretion of Mummius and the Ten; and Polybius, who appears to have -arrived in Greece soon after the fall of Corinth, was now able in some -degree to alleviate the calamity which he had found it impossible to -avert; and perhaps it would not have been equally in his power to render -such services to his countrymen if he had been previously less alienated, -at least in appearance, from the national cause. As the intimate friend -of the conqueror of Carthage, he was treated with the highest respect -and confidence; and he employed his influence so as to win the esteem -and gratitude of his fellow-citizens. Mummius himself, when sated with -bloodshed and rapine, showed a disposition to conciliate the vanquished. -Before his departure, though he had removed the statue of the Isthmian -Poseidon, to dedicate it--in gross violation of religious propriety--in -the temple of Jupiter at Rome, he repaired the damage which had been done -to the public buildings on the Isthmus, adorned the temples of Olympia -and Delphi, and made a circuit round the principal Greek cities to -receive tokens of their gratitude. - -The political institutions were of course, according to the senate’s -decree, strictly oligarchical. And in this respect no alteration seems -ever to have been granted by the Roman government. But in some other -points the rigour of its original regulations was a few years afterward -greatly relaxed. The fines imposed on the Achæans, and on the Bœotians -and Eubœans, were remitted; the restraints on intercourse and commerce -were withdrawn; and the federal unions which had been abolished were -revived. The Romans in their official language seem to have described -this renewal of the old forms as a restoration of liberty to Greece. But -even if the monument in which this sounding phrase appears to be applied -to it, did not itself illustrate the vigilance with which the exercise -of political freedom was checked by the provincial government, we might -be sure that these revived confederations answered no other purpose than -that of affording an occasion for some periodical festivals, and some -empty titles, soothing perhaps to the feelings of the people, but without -the slightest effect on their welfare. The end of the Achæan War was the -last stage of the lingering process by which Rome enclosed her victim in -the coils of her insidious diplomacy, covered it with the slime of her -sycophants and hirelings, crushed it when it began to struggle, and then -calmly preyed upon its vitals. - - -GREECE UNDER THE ROMANS - -[Sidenote: [146 B.C.-540 A.D.]] - -We have brought the political history of ancient Greece down to a point -which may be fitly regarded as its close; since in the changes which -afterwards befell the country the people remained nearly passive. The -events of the Mithridatic War--in which the Achæans and Lacedæmonians, -and all Bœotia, except Thespiæ, are said to have declared themselves -against Rome, and the royal army in Greece received a reinforcement of -Lacedæmonian and Achæan troops--might serve to indicate that the national -spirit was not wholly extinct, or that the Roman dominion was felt to be -intolerably oppressive. But Athens certainly no more deserved Sulla’s -bloody vengeance for the resistance into which she was forced by the -tyranny of Athenion, than for the credulity with which she had listened -to his lying promises. - -No historical fact is more clearly ascertained than that from this epoch -the nation was continually wasting away. Strabo,[e] who visited Greece -but a little more than a century later (B.C. 29), found desolation -everywhere prevailing. Beside his special enumeration of ruined towns -and deserted sites, and his emphatic silence as to the present, while -he explores the faint vestiges or doubtful traditions of the past, the -description of almost every region furnishes occasion for some general -remark illustrating the melancholy truth. Messenia was for the most part -deserted, and the population of Laconia very scanty in comparison with -its ancient condition; for beside Sparta it contained but thirty small -towns in the room of the hundred for which it had once been celebrated. -Of Arcadia it was not worth while to say much, on account of its utter -decay. There was scarcely any part of the land in tillage, but vast -sheep-walks, and abundant pasture for herds of cattle, especially horses; -and so the solitude of Ætolia and Acarnania had become no less favourable -to the rearing of horses than Thessaly. Both Acarnania and Ætolia--he -repeats elsewhere--are now utterly worn out and exhausted; as are many of -the other nations. Of the towns of Doris scarcely a trace was left; the -case was the same with the Ænianes. Thebes had sunk to an insignificant -village; and the other Bœotian cities in proportion--that is, as he -elsewhere explains himself, they were reduced to ruins and names, all but -Tanagra and Thespiæ, which, compared with the others, were tolerably well -preserved. - -It has been usual in modern times to attribute this decline of population -to the loss of independence, to the withering influence of a foreign -yoke--in a word, to Roman misrule. And it would be bold and probably -an error, to assert, that it was wholly unconnected with the nature of -the government to which Greece was subject as a Roman province. It is -too well known what that government was--how seldom it was uprightly -administered, how easily, even in the purest hands, it became the -instrument of oppression. The ordinary burdens were heavy. The fisherman -of Gyaros, who was sent ambassador to Augustus, to complain that a tax of -150 drachmæ was laid upon his island which could hardly pay two-thirds -of that sum, afforded but a specimen of a common grievance. Greece was -not exempt from those abuses which provoked the massacre of the Romans -in Asia at the outbreak of the Mithridatic War. And even if we had no -express information on the subject, we might have concluded that it did -not escape the still more oppressive arbitrary exactions of corrupt -magistrates, and their greedy officers. “Who does not know,” Cicero asks, -“that the Achæans pay a large sum yearly to L. Piso?” It was notorious -that he had received one hundred talents from them, beside plunder and -extortion of other kinds. The picture which Cicero draws of the evils -inflicted by L. Piso upon Greece is no doubt rhetorically overcharged; -but it is one of utter impoverishment, exhaustion, and ruin. And here -we may remark that the privileges of the free cities included in the -province afforded no security against the rapacity and oppression of a -Piso or a Verres. The Lacedæmonians, Strabo observes, were peculiarly -favoured, and remained free, paying nothing but voluntary offerings. -But these were among the most burdensome imposts; and so Athens, which -enjoyed the like immunity, was nevertheless, according to Cicero’s -phrase, torn to pieces by Piso. To this it must be added that the -oligarchical institutions everywhere established--and even Athens was -forced so to qualify her democracy that little more than the name seems -to have been left--tended to promote the accumulation of property in few -hands; as we read that the whole island of Cephallenia was subject to C. -Antonius as his private estate. - -Nevertheless it seems certain, that when these are represented as the -main causes of the decline of population in Greece, which followed the -loss of her independence, their importance has been greatly exaggerated, -while others much more efficacious have been overlooked or disparaged. -For on the one hand it is clear that this decline did not begin at that -epoch, but had been going on for many generations before. A comparison -of the forces brought into the field to meet the Celtic invasion by -the states of northern Greece with those which they furnished in the -Persian War, would be sufficient to prove the fact with regard to -them; the evil lay deeper than the ravages of war. And we have now the -evidence of Polybius, that in the period either immediately preceding, or -immediately subsequent to the establishment of the Roman government--a -period which he describes as one of concord and comparative prosperity, -when the wounds which had been inflicted on the peninsula were beginning -to heal--even then the population was rapidly shrinking, through causes -quite independent of any external agency, and intimately connected with -the moral character and habits of the society itself. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF THE ERECHTHEUM, ATHENS] - -The evil was not that the stream of population was violently absorbed, -but that it flowed feebly, because there was an influence at work which -tended to dry up the fountain-head. Marriages were rare and unfruitful -through the prevalence of indifference or aversion toward the duties and -enjoyments of domestic life. The historian traces this unhealthy state -of feeling to a taste for luxury and ostentation. But this explanation, -which could only apply to the wealthy, seems by no means adequate to -the result. The real cause struck deeper, and was much more widely -spread. Described in general terms, it was a want of reverence for the -order of nature, for the natural revelation of the will of God; and the -sanction of infanticide was by no means the most destructive, or the most -loathsome form in which it manifested itself. This was the cancer which -had been for many generations eating into the life of Greece. - -How little the vices of the Roman government had to do with the decrease -of population in Greece, becomes still more apparent as we follow its -course through the history of the empire. The change from republican to -monarchical institutions was in general beneficial to the provinces, -and especially to Greece, which was not only exempt from the danger of -arbitrary oppression, but was distinguished by many marks of imperial -favour. Within the space of a few years, about the beginning of this -period, three new colonies animated the south coast of the Corinthian -Gulf. Pompey planted a settlement of pirates in the solitude of Dyme. His -great rival restored Corinth, and, if he had lived longer, would perhaps -have opened a canal through the Isthmus. Though the commerce, which at -the fall of Corinth had been diverted to Delos, and afterwards dispersed -by the Mithridatic War, may not have wholly returned into its ancient -channel, still there can be no question that the advantages of this -restoration were very largely felt throughout Greece. Augustus founded -another populous Roman colony at Patræ, which enjoyed the privileges of -a free city. Nicopolis indeed was rather designed as a monument of his -victory, than to promote the prosperity of Greece: for it was peopled -from the decayed towns of the adjacent regions, and the effect was to -turn Acarnania and Ætolia into a wilderness. - -Athens too had soon repaired the loss it suffered through Sulla’s -massacre, though Piræus did not rise out of its ruins. But the Athenian -population was recruited, as it had long been, by the lavish grant or -cheap sale of the franchise. It was like the galley of Theseus, retaining -nothing but the name and semblance of the old Athenian people, without -any real natural identity of race; so that it was no exaggeration, when -Piso called it a jumble of divers nations. The poverty indeed of the -city, which had been a main cause of its unfortunate accession to the -side of Mithridates, still continued, and was but slightly relieved by -the bounty of benefactors like Pomponius and Herodes Atticus, or even by -the growing influx of wealthy strangers who came to pursue rhetorical or -philosophical studies there. - -While its splendour was increased by the magnificent structures added to -it by Hadrian and Herodes, perhaps the larger part of the freemen was -never quite secure of their daily meal. Still the good will of the early -emperors was unequivocally manifested. They seem always to have lent -a favourable ear to the complaints and petitions of the province, and -Nero went so far as to reward the Greeks for their skilful flattery of -his musical talents by an entire and general exemption from provincial -government, which may have compensated for the presents he exacted from -them. The Greeks, it is said, abused their new privileges by discord and -tumults, and Vespasian restored the proconsular administration, and above -all the tribute--which was perhaps his real motive--with the remark that -they had forgotten the use of liberty. But it is evident that on the -whole, from the reign of Augustus to that of Trajan, the increase of the -population was not checked by oppression or by any calamity. Yet at the -end of this period we find Plutarch declaring, that Greece had shared -more largely than any other country in the general failure of population -which had been caused by the wars and civil conflicts of former times -over almost all the world, so that it could then hardly furnish three -thousand heavy-armed soldiers--the number raised by Megara alone for the -Persian War; and his assertion is confirmed by the pictures drawn by -another contemporary witness. - -In times when the present was so void and cheerless, the future so dark -and hopeless, it was natural that men should seek consolation in the -past, even though it had been less full, than was the case among the -Greeks, of power and beauty, prosperity and glory. Nor was it necessary -then to evoke its images by learned toil out of the dust of libraries -or archives. The whole land was covered with its monuments in the most -faultless productions of human genius and art. There was no region so -desolate, no corner so secluded, as to be destitute of them. Even the -rapacity of the Romans could not exhaust these treasures. Though Mummius -was said to have filled Italy with the sculptures which he carried away, -it is probable that in the immense multitude which remained, their -absence, in point of number, might be scarcely perceived. If Nero robbed -Delphi of five hundred statues, there might still be more than two -thousand left there. - -The expressive silence of these memorials was interpreted by legends -which lived in the mind and the heart of the people; and so long as any -inhabitants remained in a place, a guide was to be found thoroughly -versed in this traditional lore. The town of Panopeus at the northern -foot of Parnassus, though celebrated by Homer as a royal residence, -had been reduced, when it was visited by Pausanias,[f] to a miserable -assemblage of huts, in which the traveller could find nothing to deserve -the name of a city, as it contained neither an archive, nor a gymnasium, -nor a theatre, nor a market-place, nor a fountain; but the people -remembered that they were not of Phocian, but of Phlegyan origin: they -could show the grave which covered the vast bulk of the great Tityus, -and the remnants of the clay out of which Prometheus had moulded the -human race. Relics of like antiquity were at the same period reverently -treasured in most parts of Greece. The memory of the past was still more -effectually preserved by a great variety of festivals, games, public -sacrifices, and other religious solemnities. After the extinction of -the national independence, the battle of Platæa did not cease to be -commemorated by the Feast of Liberty; as notwithstanding the absence -of all political interests, the forms of deliberation were kept up in -the Amphictyonic, the Achæan, Phocian, and Bœotian councils. The heroes -both of the mythical and the historical age were still honoured with -anniversary rites--Aratus and Demosthenes, and the slain at Marathon, no -less than Ajax and Achilles, Temenus, Phoroneus, and Melampus. - -The religion of the Greeks, which was so intimately associated with -almost all their social pleasures and their most important affairs, had -never lost its hold on the great body of the nation. We hear much of the -change wrought in the state of religious feeling by the speculations -of the sophists, and the later kindred philosophical schools, by the -frequent examples of sacrilegious violence, by the progress of luxury, -and the growing corruption of manners. But the effect seems to have -been confined to a not very large circle of the higher classes. With -the common people paganism continued, probably as long as it subsisted -at all, to be not a mere hereditary usage, but a personal, living, -breathing, and active faith. In the age of the Antonines the Attic -husbandmen still believed in the potent agency of their hero Marathon, -as the Arcadian herdsmen fancied that they could hear the piping of Pan -on the top of Mænalus. The national misfortunes, as they led the Greeks -to cling the more fondly to their recollections of the past, tended to -strengthen the influence of the old religion, and rendered them the less -disposed to admit a new faith which shocked their patriotic pride and -dispelled many pleasing illusions, while it ran counter to all their -tastes and habits, and deprived them of their principal enjoyments. -Accordingly, it seems that Christianity, notwithstanding the consolations -it offered for all that it took away, made very slow progress beyond the -cities in which it was first planted; and its ascendency was not firmly -established long before the beginning of a period in which a series of -new calamities threatened the very existence of the nation. - -The result of the Persian invasion in the mind of the victorious -people had been a feeling of exulting self-confidence, which fostered -the development of all its powers and resources. The terror of the -Celtic inroad was followed by a sense of security earned in a great -measure by an honourable struggle. Far different was the impression -left by the irruption of Alaric, when Greece was at length delivered -from his presence. The progress of the barbarians had been stopped by -no resistance before they reached the utmost limits of the land. They -retreated indeed before Stilicho, but not broken or discomfited, carrying -off all their booty to take undisturbed possession of another, not a -distant province. It was long indeed before the Greeks experienced -a repetition of this calamity, but henceforth they lived in the -consciousness that they were continually exposed to it. They neither -had strength to defend themselves, nor could rely on their rulers for -protection. - -The safety of Greece was one of the last objects which occupied the -attention of the court of Constantinople. In the utter uncertainty how -soon a fresh invader might tread in the steps of Alaric, every rumour -of the movements of the hordes which successively crossed the Danube, -might well spread alarm, even in the remotest corners of Peloponnesus. -The direction which they might take could be as little calculated -as the course of lightning. Who could have foreseen that Attila and -Theodoric would be diverted from their career to fall upon other -prey--that Genseric after his repulse before Tænarus would not renew his -invasion--that the Bulgarians would be so long detained by the plunder -of the northern provinces? In the reign of Justinian the advances of the -barbarians became more and more threatening, and in the year 540 northern -Greece was again devastated by a mixed swarm of Huns and other equally -ferocious spoilers, chiefly of the Slavonic race. - -The strengthened fortifications of the Isthmus indeed withstood this -flood, though they could not shelter the Peloponnesians from the -earthquakes and the pestilence, which during this unhappy period were -constantly wasting the scanty remains of the Hellenic population which -had escaped or survived the inroads of the barbarians. Justinian’s -enormous line of fortresses revealed the imminence of the danger, -but could not long avert it. In the course of the seventh and eighth -centuries the worst forebodings were realised; after many transient -incursions the country was permanently occupied by Slavonic settlers. -The extent of the transformation which ensued is most clearly proved -by the number of the new names which succeeded to those of the ancient -geography. But it is also described by historians in terms which have -suggested the belief that the native population was utterly swept away, -and that the modern Greeks are the descendants of barbarous tribes which -subsequently became subject to the empire, and received the language and -religion which they have since retained from Byzantine missionaries and -Anatolian colonists; and such is the obscurity which hangs over the final -destiny of the most renowned nation of the earth, that it is much easier -to show the weakness of the grounds on which this hypothesis has been -reared, than to prove that it is very wide of the truth.[d] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LXV. THE KINGDOM OF THE SELEUCIDÆ - - -[Sidenote: [323-312 B.C.]] - -In the final tripartite division of Alexander’s empire, the largest part, -geographically speaking, fell to Seleucus, known as Nicator, or the -Conqueror, who gave his name to the kingdom which was destined for many -generations to play a more or less important part in Asiatic history. -Seleucus had his capital first at Babylon and re-established the power -of Grecian or Macedonian arms over a large part of the Asiatic territory -of Alexander’s empire. Subsequently the seat of the kingdom was shifted -to the newly founded city of Antioch on the coast of Asia Minor, which -became one of the most important capitals in the world, at times almost -rivalling Alexandria. The territory and power of the Seleucidæ were -early curtailed owing to the advance of outlying nations, notably the -Parthians, and gradually disintegrated rather by slow stages than by -the sudden shock of a single conquest. Chiefly because of the shifting -of progress far to the west, it was not destined to play any really -important part in the building of world history. In name, at least, the -kingdom continued in independent existence long after Greece proper had -been overthrown; but the Parthians and Sassanians in turn had largely -shorn it of its glory, and it was these powers, rather than the Seleucidæ -proper, that came into rivalry and conflict with the Roman might when -that new mistress of the world extended her influence to the eastward. We -must think therefore of the kingdom of the Seleucidæ rather as a link in -time and place between great powers, than as a thing of really intrinsic -importance. A brief summary of its history is, therefore, all that need -detain us. Here again for the sake of clearness--if clearness be possible -in this chaotic period--some repetition is unavoidable.[a] - -The kingdom of Syria was not confined to that country alone, but also -comprehended those vast and fertile provinces of upper Asia, which -formed the Persian empire; being, in its full extent, bounded by the -Mediterranean on one side, and the river Indus on the other. These -wide-spreading dominions are commonly called the kingdom of Syria, -because Seleucus, the first of the Syro-Macedonian kings, having built -the city of Antioch in that province, chose it, as did likewise his -successors, for the usual place of his residence. Here his descendants, -from him styled Seleucidæ, reigned, according to Eusebius, for the space -of 251 years, that is, from the 117th Olympiad, when Seleucus recovered -Babylon, to the third year of the 180th, when Antiochus Asiaticus, the -last of the race of Seleucus, was driven out by Pompey, and Syria reduced -to a Roman province. Before we proceed to the history of the Seleucidæ, -we shall exhibit a series of the kings of that race, with the years of -their respective reigns. - -A TABLE OF THE KINGS OF SYRIA, FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THAT MONARCHY TO -ITS BEING REDUCED BY THE ROMANS, WITH THE YEARS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE -REIGNS. - - YEARS - - Seleucus Nicator 32 - Antiochus Soter 19 - Antiochus Theos 15 - Seleucus Callinicus 20 - Seleucus Ceraunus 3 - Antiochus the Great 36 - Seleucus Philopator 11 - Antiochus Epiphanes 11 - Antiochus Eupator 12 - Demetrius Soter 12 - Alexander Balas 5 - Demetrius Nicator 6 - Antiochus Theos 3 - Tryphon 4 - Antiochus Sidetes 11 - Alexander Zebina 13 - Antiochus Grypus 19 - Antiochus Cyzicenus 21 - Seleucus Epiphanes 7 months - Antiochus Eusebes 1 - Demetrius Eucærus 2 - Philip 3 - Antiochus Epiphanes 4 - Antiochus Dionysus 7 - Tigranes 14 - Antiochus Asiaticus 4 - -Seleucus, the founder of the Syro-Macedonian empire, was the son of -Antiochus, one of the chief captains of Philip, the father of Alexander. -He served under Alexander from his tender years, attended him in his -expedition into Asia, and was by him honoured with the chief command of -the elephants, a commission of great trust and reputation. After the -death of that conqueror, Perdiccas, whom the officers had unanimously -appointed regent of the empire, placed Seleucus at the head of the -cavalry of the allies; in which command he acquitted himself with such -reputation that Antipater, who succeeded Perdiccas in his regency, raised -him to the government of Babylon and its territory. - - -SELEUCUS - -In this post he was tempted, by the example of the other captains -of Alexander, who aspired to the supreme power in their respective -allotments, to betray his trust, and entertain thoughts of setting up -for himself; whence, when Eumenes, on his march into Susiana, pressed -him to join the governors of the upper provinces against Antigonus, who -had openly revolted, he not only refused to lend them any assistance, -but even attempted to destroy both Eumenes and his army, by cutting the -sluices of the Euphrates, and laying the whole plain where they were -encamped under water. Eumenes, however, though thus surprised, reached an -eminence with his troops, before the waters rose to any height, and the -next day, by diverting their course, found means to escape the danger, -without the loss of a single man. Seleucus made a truce with Eumenes, -granting him a free passage through his province. But when Antigonus -demanded an account of the revenues of his government, the answer he gave -him so exasperated Antigonus that he thought it advisable to abandon his -province, and put himself under the protection of Ptolemy, governor of -Egypt. - -[Sidenote: [312-300 B.C.]] - -Seleucus meeting with a friendly reception from Ptolemy, in Egypt, -represented so effectually to that prince, as also to Lysimachus and -Cassander, the formidable power and ambitious views of Antigonus, that -he engaged them all three in a league against him. This war put an end -both to the life and reign of Antigonus. After the victory which Ptolemy -gained over Demetrius at Gaza, Seleucus, having obtained of the conqueror -a thousand foot and two hundred horse, took his route towards Babylon, in -order to attempt the recovery of that city. This undertaking was looked -upon as a desperate enterprise, even by his friends, but was attended -with all the success he wished for. - -Seleucus being now master of the city and castle, judged it necessary -to raise what forces he could, not doubting that Antigonus would soon -send an army to drive him from these acquisitions. Accordingly, while he -was busy in recruiting his army and disciplining his new-raised troops, -news was brought him that Nicanor, governor of Media under Antigonus, -was advancing against him, at the head of ten thousand foot, and seven -thousand horse. Upon this intelligence Seleucus marched out to meet him -with three thousand foot and four hundred horse only, and passing the -Tigris, concealed his men, as the enemy drew near, in the fens hard by -the river, with a design to attack Nicanor unexpectedly; who not having -had any intelligence of Seleucus’ march, encamped in a disadvantageous -post, where he was the following night surprised, and his army, after -great slaughter, put to the rout. Such of the soldiers as survived the -slaughter declared for Seleucus--a circumstance which enabled him to -pursue his conquests, and reduce in a short time all Media and Susiana, -with many of the adjacent provinces. Having, by this victory, established -his interest and power in Babylon, he daily improved them by the clemency -of his government, and by his justice, equity, and humanity, to such a -degree that, from so low a beginning, he became, in a few years, the -greatest and most powerful of all Alexander’s successors. - -And now Seleucus, seeing himself in quiet possession of Babylon and its -territory, advanced at the head of a considerable army into Media, where -he engaged and slew with his own hand Nicanor, or, as others call him, -Nicator, whom Antigonus had sent against him. Having reduced all Media, -he pursued his march into Persia, Bactria, Hyrcania, etc., subjecting to -his new empire these and all the other provinces on this side the Indus, -which had been formerly conquered by Alexander. In the meantime Antigonus -and Demetrius having assumed the title of king, Seleucus imitated their -example, styling himself king of Babylon and Media. - -Having therefore no enemy to fear on this side the Indus, he resolved -to cross that river, and, by a sudden irruption, make himself master -of those vast provinces which were known by the name of India. These -Alexander had formerly subdued; but after his death, while his successors -were engaged in mutual wars with each other, one Sandrocottus, or, -as others call him, Androcottus, an Indian of mean extraction, under -the specious pretence of delivering his country from the tyranny of -foreigners, had raised a powerful army, and having driven out the -Macedonians, seized the Indian provinces for himself. To recover these -provinces Seleucus crossed the Indus: but finding that Sandrocottus -had made himself absolute master of all India and drawn into the field -an army of six hundred thousand men, with a prodigious number of -elephants, he did not judge it advisable to provoke so great a power; -and therefore entering into a treaty with him, he agreed to renounce all -his pretensions to that country, provided Sandrocottus furnished him -with five hundred elephants--which proposal the Indian prince willingly -agreeing to, a peace was concluded between them. - -Seleucus marching into the upper Syria, made himself master of that rich -province, and built on the river Orontes the city of Antioch, which soon -became, and continued to be for many ages, the metropolis of the East; -for the Syrian kings, and afterwards the Roman governors, who presided -over the affairs of the eastern provinces, chose it for their place of -residence; and afterward in the Christian times, it was the see of the -chief patriarch of Asia. Besides Antioch, Seleucus built in the same -country several other cities of less importance. - -[Sidenote: [283-273 B.C.]] - -A few months after the decease of Demetrius, died also Ptolemy Soter, -king of Egypt, so that two only of Alexander’s captains survived,--viz., -Lysimachus and Seleucus. As they were each upwards of seventy, it was -expected that they should have closed the scene of life in the union -which had subsisted so long between them, for they had ever been closely -united, and, to the utmost of their power, supported each other; but -it happened quite otherwise; a war, which proved fatal to both, soon -breaking out between them. - -Seleucus was easily persuaded to engage in this war, being already -sufficiently inclined to it on other accounts; but before he embarked -in so great an undertaking, he not only resigned to his son Antiochus a -considerable part of his empire, but also, by an unparalleled example, -his favourite queen Stratonice. Seleucus having, without much difficulty, -prevailed upon Stratonice to accept of a young prince for her husband -instead of an old king, the nuptials were solemnised with the utmost pomp -and magnificence; after which Antiochus and Stratonice were crowned king -and queen of upper Asia, Seleucus willingly resigning to them all those -provinces. - -Seleucus advanced into Asia Minor, where he easily reduced all the -places belonging to Lysimachus. The city of Sardis was soon obliged -to capitulate. Lysimachus met the enemy at Corupedion in Phrygia. The -engagement was very bloody, and the victory long doubtful; but at last -Lysimachus, who had fought the whole time at the head of his troops -with incredible bravery, being run through with a spear by Malacon of -Heraclea, and killed on the spot, his soldiers betook themselves to -flight, and left Seleucus master of the field and all their baggage. Thus -died Lysimachus, after having seen the death of fifteen of his children; -and as he was, to use the expression of Memnon, the last stone of his -house to be pulled down, Seleucus, without opposition, made himself -master of all his dominions. - -What gave him most pleasure on this occasion was that he now was the only -survivor of all the captains of Alexander; and that, by the event of this -battle, he was become, as he styled himself, the Conqueror of Conquerors. -This last victory, which he looked upon as the effect of a peculiar -providence in his favour, gave him the best title to the name of Nicator, -or conqueror, by which historians commonly distinguish him from other -kings of the same name, who afterwards reigned in Syria. - -His triumph on this occasion did not last long; for, seven months after, -as he was marching into Macedon, to take possession of that kingdom, -with a design to pass the remainder of his life in his native country, -he was treacherously slain by Ptolemy Ceraunus, on whom he had conferred -innumerable favours. Such was the end of Seleucus, the greatest general -in the opinion of Arrian, and the most powerful prince, after Alexander, -in the age he lived in. He died in the forty-third year after the death -of Alexander, in the thirty-second of the Grecian or Seleucian era, and -seventy-third or, as Justin will have it, seventy-eighth of his age. - - -ANTIOCHUS SOTER - -On the death of Seleucus, Antiochus, surnamed Soter, his son by Apama, -the daughter of Artabazus the Persian, took possession of the empire of -Asia, and held it for the space of nineteen years. - -[Sidenote: [277-261 B.C.]] - -Sosthenes, who had reigned some years in Macedon, being dead, Antiochus -Soter, and Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius, laid claim to -that kingdom, their fathers having held it, one after the other; but -Antigonus, who had already reigned ten years in Greece, being nearest, -first took possession of those dominions; but neither daring to attack -the other, the two kings came to an agreement; and Antigonus having -married Phila, the daughter of Stratonice by Seleucus, Antiochus -renounced his pretensions to the crown of Macedon. In consequence of this -renunciation, Antigonus not only quietly enjoyed the kingdom of Macedon, -but transmitted it to his posterity, who reigned there for several -generations. - -Antiochus now marched against the Gauls, who having, by the favour of -Nicomedes, got settlements in Asia, harassed, with frequent incursions, -the neighbouring princes. Antiochus defeated them with great slaughter, -and delivered those provinces from their oppressions; and hence he -acquired the title of Soter, or “saviour.” - -[Illustration: RUINS OF ANTIOCH] - -Not long after this successful expedition against the Gauls, Antiochus, -hearing of the death of Philetærus, prince of Pergamus, seized that -opportunity to invade his territories, with a view to add them to his -own dominions; but Eumenes, nephew and successor of the deceased prince, -having raised a considerable army, encountered him near Sardis, overthrew -him in battle, and thereby not only secured himself in the possession of -what he had already enjoyed, but enlarged his dominions with several new -acquisitions. After his defeat, Antiochus returning to Antioch there put -to death one of his own sons for raising disturbances in his absence, and -at the same time proclaimed the other, called also Antiochus, king of -Syria. He died soon after, leaving his son in the sole possession of his -dominions. The young prince was his son by Stratonice. - -Antiochus, on his accession to the throne, assumed the surname of -Theos,--that is, god; and by this he is distinguished from the other -kings of Syria who bore the name of Antiochus. - -In the third year of the reign of Antiochus Soter, a bloody war had -broken out between him and Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt. While -Antiochus was thus engaged in a war with the king of Egypt, great -commotions and revolts happened in the eastern provinces of his empire, -which, as he was not at leisure to suppress them immediately, increased -to such a degree that he could never afterwards re-establish quiet; by -which means Antiochus lost all the provinces of his empire lying beyond -the Euphrates. - -[Sidenote: [261-223 B.C.]] - -These troubles and commotions in the East made Antiochus Theos weary of -his war with Ptolemy; a treaty of peace was therefore concluded on the -following terms: that Antiochus should divorce his former wife Laodice, -who was his own sister by the father, marry Berenice, the daughter of -Ptolemy, and settle the crown upon the male issue of that marriage. Two -years after this marriage Ptolemy Philadelphus died--an event which -Antiochus Theos, his son-in-law, no sooner understood than he removed -Berenice from his bed, and recalled Laodice, with her children Seleucus -Callinicus, and Antiochus Hierax; but Laodice being well acquainted -with his fickle temper, and fearing lest he might again abandon her and -receive Berenice, resolved to improve the present opportunity and secure -the succession to her son, for by the late treaty with Ptolemy, her -children were disinherited and the crown settled on the son of Berenice. -To effect this design, she caused Antiochus to be poisoned; when she -saw him expiring, she ordered him to be privately conveyed away, and -one Artemon, who greatly resembled him, as well in features as in the -tone of his voice, to be placed in his bed. Artemon acted his part with -great dexterity, and personating Antiochus, tenderly recommended his -dear Laodice and her children to the lords that visited him. In the name -of Antiochus, whom the people believed still alive, orders were issued, -enjoining all his subjects to obey his beloved son Seleucus Callinicus, -and acknowledge him for their lawful sovereign. The crown being by this -infamous contrivance secured to Callinicus, the death of the king was -publicly declared, and Callinicus without any opposition ascended the -throne. Antiochus Hierax, the other son of Laodice, had at this time -the government of the provinces of Asia Minor, where he commanded a -considerable body of troops.[c] - -Hardly had Seleucus to some extent recovered from the severe defeats -inflicted upon him by Ptolemy the “benefactor” during the three years’ -war of vengeance, when his younger brother Antiochus, surnamed “the hawk” -(Hierax) on account of his rapacity, raised the standard of revolt in -conjunction with Mithridates of Pontus, and (Seleucus having been routed -by Galatian mercenaries in a terrible battle at Ancyra) made himself -master of a large part of Asia Minor, but was forced to pay tribute for -it to the hordes of Celtic robbers, who overran the provinces after their -victory, ravaging and pillaging with impunity. Not until Seleucus had -effected a reconciliation with his brother and made a peace by which he -resigned to the latter his dominions in Asia Minor, was he able gradually -to reunite the lost or rebellious provinces and to restore tranquillity -and order in his kingdom. Both brothers were brave and energetic; but -the sanguinary quarrels of their house, and the crimes which were handed -down from generation to generation to beget fresh acts of revenge, had -imbruted their minds. Alike in vigour, restlessness, and violence, they -persecuted each other to the death. Antiochus died a fugitive in a -Thracian city under the blows of Celtic assassins, and his royal brother -fell in the following year in an unsuccessful fight with Attalus I, the -conqueror of the Galatians and ruler of the kingdom of Pergamus. - -[Sidenote: [223-196 B.C.]] - -The son and successor of Seleucus, who bore the same name as his father -with the surname of “the thunderbolt” (Ceraunus), entered on the heritage -of the kingdom and the war with Attalus, but after a reign of three years -met his death in battle at the hands of Nicanor and the Galatian captain -Apaturius. The Syrian army then bestowed the crown upon his younger -brother, Antiochus III. He, being occupied with the eastern provinces, -delegated the conduct of the war in Asia Minor to his maternal uncle -Achæus. They both fought with good fortune and success. While the king -led an expedition into Media and Persia, defeated the rebellious satraps -Molon and Alexander in the field and constrained them to commit suicide, -and compelled the Bactrians, Parthians, and Indians to acknowledge the -suzerainty of the Syrian king, Achæus drove his adversary Attalus back -over the frontiers of his own principality, pressed hard upon him in -his own capital, and, by a policy of mingled conciliation and coercion, -prevailed upon the Greek cities of the western coast to submit to -annexation. But, rendered presumptuous by success, he next attempted to -set up an independent kingdom in Asia Minor, and thus again prevented -the complete restoration of the Seleucid dominion. Antiochus, involved -in a fresh war with Egypt, from which country he was scheming to wrest -the intermediate Syrian territory of the Lebanon, was obliged to let his -uncle have a free hand for a while. But he had hardly concluded peace -with Ptolemy after the disastrous battle of Raphia in the ancient country -of the Philistines, and abandoned his claim to the Syrian coast, before -he took the field against the traitorous Achæus. The latter, deserted by -most of his troops, took refuge in the fortified city of Sardis, where -he was closely besieged by Antiochus, and, having been treacherously -betrayed into his hands, was put to a painful death. - -Antiochus, whom the flattery of contemporary historians styles “the -great,” then conceived the design of restoring the empire of the -Seleucids to its pristine expansion. For this purpose he undertook an -adventurous campaign of several years’ duration in eastern Iran and -India, constrained the revolting princes and states to do homage to him, -and extorted a recognition (more apparent than real) of Syrian supremacy. - -Just as Antiochus returned to Asia Minor the fourth Ptolemy, the -voluptuous Philopator, died, and his son Ptolemy Epiphanes, a minor, -succeeded to the kingdom. The consequent disorders, factions, and -weakness of Egypt inspired the enterprising king of Syria with the -hope that he might after all acquire the coast land of the Lebanon. -Reinforced by a treaty of partition with Philip of Macedonia, who -himself coveted the Egyptian possessions in Asia Minor, Thrace, and the -islands, Antiochus invaded Judea with an army, overthrew the Ætolian -leader, Scopas, commander of the Egyptian forces, at Paneas near the -sources of the Jordan, and subjugated the coast, including the fortified -town of Gaza. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea gladly welcomed -the rule of Syria, which was at first mild and conciliatory, though it -soon became even more oppressive than that of Egypt. The guardians of -the Egyptian king hastened to prevent an attack upon Egypt itself by -concluding a treaty of peace in which they renounced all claim to the -conquered territory and betrothed their ward to Cleopatra, daughter of -Antiochus. Meanwhile Philip had been waging successful war in Asia Minor, -the Hellespont, and the islands, though all his conquests were rendered -nugatory by the disastrous fight with the Romans at Cynoscephalæ. - -[Sidenote: [196-170 B.C.]] - -Instead of manfully supporting his ally against the mighty adversary from -the west, Antiochus endeavoured to turn the withdrawal of the Macedonian -army to his own profit. He laid claim to all the territory west of the -Taurus and on both shores of the Hellespont which his ancestor Seleucus -had acquired by his victory over Lysimachus; and, not content with -mastering the Greek cities on the Asiatic coast and the independent -kings of Pergamus, Bithynia, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Armenia, he crossed -the Hellespont, occupied the city of Lysimachia which had been rebuilt, -together with other places on the Thracian peninsula, and threatened -Lampsacus, Byzantium, and Heraclea. Apprehensive for their independence, -the princes and cities he menaced followed the example set by the rich -and powerful commercial city of Rhodes, and placed themselves under the -protection of the Romans. The latter, by repeated embassies, required -“the great” king to desist from hostilities against their allies, and to -liberate all the Greek cities in Asia and Europe. Antiochus haughtily -declined Roman intermeddling with his affairs, saying that as he did not -trouble himself about the concerns of Italy and the western world, so -he forbade the Romans to curtail his prerogatives in Asia and Thrace, -stigmatising their demands as contrary to justice and honour. [He also -gave the Carthaginian Hannibal his protection and support against Rome.] -Further negotiations by embassies and epistles delayed the outbreak of -war for some years, but could not divert the fatal blow from the Syrian -empire. The battle of Magnesia broke the might of the Seleucid kingdom -for evermore; Syria made no second appeal to arms. Antiochus “the great” -was slain at Elymais, south of the Caspian Sea, by the inhabitants of the -city, while he was engaged in plundering the temple of Baal to fill his -empty coffers with its treasures.[b] - - -SELEUCUS PHILOPATOR - -He was succeeded by Seleucus, surnamed Philopator, or, as Josephus[d] -styles him, Soter, which indeed was the surname of his son Demetrius. -This prince reigned eleven years and some months; but made a very poor -figure, by reason of the low state to which the Syrian empire had been -reduced by the Romans, and the exorbitant sum of a thousand talents he -was obliged to pay annually, by virtue of the treaty of peace between -the king his father and that republic. It was under this prince that the -famous accident happened concerning Heliodorus, which is mentioned in the -second book of Maccabees, and described in the History of Israel. Later -Heliodorus poisoned Seleucus and put the crown on his own head. - -Antiochus, brother of Seleucus, being arrived at Athens on his return -from Rome, received there the news of his brother’s death, and was at the -same time told that Heliodorus had seized the crown and was supported by -a strong party; but that another was forming in favour of Ptolemy, who -claimed the kingdom of Syria, in right of his mother, the deceased king’s -sister. Hereupon Antiochus had recourse to Eumenes, king of Pergamus, and -to Attalus, the king’s brother, who conducted him into Syria, at the head -of a powerful army, drove out the usurper, and seated him on the throne. -On his being settled on the throne he assumed the name of Epiphanes, that -is, “the illustrious,” which title was never worse applied. His odd and -extravagant conduct made his subjects look upon him as a madman; whence, -instead of Epiphanes, or “the illustrious,” they used to style him -Epimanes, that is, “the madman.” - -[Sidenote: [170-125 B.C.]] - -Antiochus having, ever since the return of Apollonius from the Egyptian -court, been making the necessary preparations for the war with Ptolemy, -was met by the forces of Ptolemy, between Mount Casius and Pelusium. -Hereupon an engagement ensued, in which the Egyptians were routed at the -first onset. Antiochus, having spent the whole winter in making fresh -preparations for a second expedition into Egypt, gained a second victory -over the forces of Ptolemy, took Pelusium, and led his army into the -very heart of the kingdom. In this last overthrow it was in his power to -have cut off all the Egyptians to a man; but, instead of pursuing his -advantage, he took care to put a stop to the slaughter, riding about -the field in person, forbidding his men to put any more to death. This -clemency gained him the hearts of the Egyptians so completely, that when -he advanced into the country all the inhabitants voluntarily submitted to -him; by which means he made himself master of Memphis, and all the rest -of Egypt, except Alexandria, which still held out against him. In his -second invasion Ptolemy fell into the hands of the conqueror; but whether -he was taken prisoner, or surrendered himself voluntarily, is uncertain. -It was at this time that Antiochus took Jerusalem, and profaned the -temple. - -The Alexandrians, seeing Ptolemy Philometor in the hands of Antiochus, -whom he suffered to govern his kingdom as he pleased, looked upon him as -lost to them, and therefore placed his younger brother on the throne, -giving him the name of Euergetes, which was afterwards changed into that -of Physcon, or “great-bellied,” his luxury and gluttony having made him -remarkably corpulent, and by this name he is most commonly mentioned in -history. - -Antiochus, being informed of what was transacting in Egypt, took occasion -from this to return a third time into that country, upon the specious -pretence of restoring the deposed king; but in reality he made himself -master of the kingdom. Having therefore defeated the Alexandrians in a -sea-fight near Pelusium, he again entered that unhappy country at the -head of a powerful army, and advanced directly to Alexandria to besiege -it. - -In this extremity Ptolemy Euergetes and Cleopatra his sister, who were -in the city, sent ambassadors to Rome representing their situation, and -imploring the assistance of that powerful republic. The Roman ambassadors -obliged Antiochus to quit Egypt. On his return, being highly provoked -to see himself thus obliged to quit a kingdom which he looked upon as -his own, Antiochus vented his rage upon the city of Jerusalem, which -had given him no offence. But the desolations he caused in Judea, and -the bloody war which he carried on against the Jews, with the generous -resistance made first by Mattathias, and afterwards by his son, the brave -Judas Maccabæus, are recorded in the history of that people.[c] - -On the death of Antiochus, his favourite Philip was left as regent -during the minority of Antiochus Eupator. Philip was however put to -death by a rival, Lysias. Meanwhile Demetrius, the son of Seleucus -Philopator, who had been at Rome as hostage for many years, escaped -and seized the throne, taking the surname of Soter, “saviour.” The -Romans acknowledged him, but with so little enthusiasm that when an -alleged impostor, Alexander Balas, claiming to be the son of Antiochus, -appeared, the Romans favoured him, and he defeated Demetrius, who fell -in battle 150 B.C. He left a son, also named Demetrius, who, with the -aid of Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt, defeated Alexander Balas, and put -him to death. Demetrius, called Nicator, was overthrown by a general -named Tryphon acting for Antiochus, the son of Alexander Balas, who was -crowned as Antiochus Theos, only to be put to death later by Tryphon, who -claimed the crown. Tryphon was dispossessed by the brother of Demetrius -Nicator, who took the name of Antiochus Sidetes, a monarch of many good -qualities, and reigned nine years, winning praise even from the Jews who -had suffered so much from Syrian kings. He was killed in battle with -the Parthians, and Demetrius Nicator, who had remained in captivity all -these nine years, recovered the throne, but was slain by a new pretender, -Alexander Zebina, who was put to death by a son of Demetrius Nicator, -called Antiochus Grypus, who is said to have made his mother Cleopatra--a -past mistress of intrigue--drink a bowl of poison she had prepared for -him. - -[Sidenote: [125-65 B.C.]] - -After a reign of eight years he was opposed by his half-brother, -Antiochus Cyzicenus, who compelled him to share the kingdom. Grypus -being assassinated, Syria was again made one under a Seleucus Epiphanes, -who defeated Cyzicenus only to be expelled in seven months by Antiochus -Eusebes, who in turn, after a year, fell before Grypus’ fourth son, -Demetrius Eucærus. He was driven out by his own brother Philip, and -Philip by a younger brother, Antiochus Dionysius. - -By this time the kaleidoscopic feuds of the Seleucidæ had weakened Syria -till it was ripe for a foreigner, and the Armenian king, Tigranes, made -prey of it. A last claimant, Antiochus Asiaticus, held out for a time; -then called in the Romans, who under Pompey absorbed Syria into the -empire, and put an end to the race of Seleucus, which had ruled from -about 312 B.C. to 65 B.C.[a] - -[Illustration: GREEK BOTTLES - -(In the Museum of Napoleon III)] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LXVI. THE KINGDOM OF THE PTOLEMIES - - -[Sidenote: [323-321 B.C.]] - -When the empire of Alexander was parcelled out among his generals, the -most desirable lot perhaps was that which fell to the share of Ptolemy. -That astute general chose Egypt for his portion, and despite the efforts -of his rivals, he was able, thanks in part to the isolated geographical -position, to retain it, and ultimately to become its recognised sovereign -and the founder of a dynasty of kings which was to hold unbroken sway -there for the long period of three hundred years. - -Ptolemy, besides being an excellent general, was evidently a man of -rather wide culture and varied attainments. His capacities have been -sometimes accounted for by the suggestion that he was probably in fact -the half-brother of Alexander the Great, as his mother had been a -concubine of Philip; though his royal paternity, if indeed a fact, was -never officially recognised. Be that as it may, Ptolemy was a man of -great ability as a ruler, and his general culture is evidenced by the -fact that he wrote a history of the life and campaigns of Alexander, -which work, as we have already seen, was one of the two chief sources -from which the history of Arrian was compiled. - -The first Ptolemy founded, and his successors enlarged and extended, the -famous Alexandrian library, which came to be by far the most important -collection of books that had probably been gathered together anywhere in -the world up to that time, comprising, it is said, no fewer than half a -million manuscripts. In connection with the library was an institution -which was virtually a college, where the most distinguished scholars of -the day studied and taught. The language and the entire official life -thus transplanted into Old Egypt were of course Grecian. All official -connection with the mother country was soon utterly broken; the kingdom -of the Ptolemies, as a political factor, was a thing quite apart; but -in the broader sense the new Egyptian power was essentially Greek. -Alexandria, the new Athens, became the centre of Greek life, thought, -and influence; it was there, rather than to Athens itself, that the -youth flocked from the provinces to drink at that fount of Grecian -culture which still maintained its influence in the world for generations -after the original Hellas had been shattered in power and shorn of all -political significance. - -But the time came when the Egyptian empire also was to come in conflict -with the Romans. The tragic romance of Cleopatra, the last daughter of -the Ptolemies, is known to every one, though curiously enough the patent -fact is often overlooked that this “daughter of the Nile” was in no -proper sense an Egyptian, but to the last drop of her blood a Macedonian -Greek, bearing the name even of one of the wives of the father of -Alexander the Great. It was this Egyptian empire of the Ptolemies, then, -which served as the direct channel of transit of the old Grecian culture -to Rome, somewhat as Persia had been the channel of transit of Egyptian -and Babylonian culture to Greece. It was a curious and interesting -revival through which Egypt, which for some centuries had ceased to play -an important part in the great game of the nations, came to be again the -centre of culture of the entire world, even though this time it bore an -exotic and not an indigenous culture. - -But though this empire of the Ptolemies had thus a vastly greater -importance than the other portions of Alexander’s dismembered empire, we -shall treat its history somewhat briefly here, since we must necessarily -return to some phases of it more in detail in pursuing the history of -that Roman power by which the kingdom of the Ptolemies was finally -overthrown.[a] - -THE KINGDOM OF THE PTOLEMIES: THE THIRTY-THIRD EGYPTIAN DYNASTY[d] - - YEARS BEGAN B.C. - - Lagus or Soter reigned 38 323 - Philadelphus 38 285 - Euergetes 25 247 - Philopator 17 222 - Epiphanes 24 204 - Philometor 35 181 - Physcon or Euergetes II 29 146 - Soter II or Lathyrus 10 117 - Alexander I (Soter deposed) 18 107 - Soter II restored 7 89 - Berenice 6 months 81 - Alexander II 6 months 80 - Neus Dionysus or Auletes 14 80 - Ptolemy the Elder 4 51 - Ptolemy the Younger 3 48 - Cleopatra 14 44 - Egypt a Roman province 30 - -When Egypt was given to Ptolemy by the council of generals, Cleomenes was -at the same time and by the same power made second in command, and he -governed Egypt for one year before Ptolemy’s arrival, that being in name -the first year of the reign of Philip Arrhidæus, or, according to the -chronologer’s mode of dating, the first year after Alexander’s death. The -first act of Ptolemy was to put Cleomenes to death. - -[Sidenote: [321-316 B.C.]] - -Perdiccas, in the death of Cleomenes and the seizure of the body of -Alexander, had seen quite enough proof that Ptolemy, though too wise to -take the name of king, had in reality grasped the power; and he now led -the Macedonian army against Egypt, to enforce obedience and to punish the -rebellious lieutenant. - -Perdiccas attempted to cross the Nile at the deep fords below Memphis. -Part of his army passed the first ford, though the water was up to the -men’s breasts. But they could not pass the second ford in the face of -Ptolemy’s army. After this check, whole bodies of men, headed by their -generals, left their ranks; and among them Pithon, a general who had held -the same rank under Alexander as Perdiccas himself, and who would no -longer put up with his haughty commands. Upon this the disorder spread -through the whole army, and Perdiccas soon fell by the hand of one of his -own soldiers. - -On the death of their leader, all cause of war ceased. Ptolemy sent corn -and cattle into the camp of the invading army, which then asked for -orders from him who the day before had been their enemy. The princes, -Philip Arrhidæus and the young Alexander, both fell into his hands; and -he might then, as guardian in their name, have sent his orders over the -whole of Alexander’s conquests. But, by grasping at what was clearly out -of his reach, he would have lost more friends and power than he would -have gained; and when the Macedonian phalanx, whose voice was law to the -rest of the army, asked his advice in the choice of a guardian for the -two princes, he recommended to them Pithon and Arrhidæus; Pithon, who had -just joined him, and had been the cause of the rout of the Macedonian -army, and Arrhidæus, who had given up to him the body of Alexander. - -[Illustration: BACCHANALIAN FIGURE - -(After Hope)] - -The Macedonian army, accordingly, chose Pithon and Arrhidæus as -guardians, and as rulers with unlimited power over the whole of -Alexander’s conquests; but though none of the Greek generals who now held -Asia Minor, Syria, Babylonia, Thrace, or Egypt, dared to acknowledge it -to the soldiers, yet in reality the power of the guardians was limited -to the little kingdom of Macedonia. With the death of Perdiccas, and the -withdrawal of his army, Phœnicia and Cœle-Syria were left unguarded, and -almost without a master; and Ptolemy, who had before been kept back by -his wise forethought rather than by the moderation of his views, sent an -army under the command of Nicanor, to conquer those countries. Jerusalem -was the only place that held out against the Egyptian army; but Nicanor, -says the historian Agatharchides, seeing that on every seventh day the -garrison withdrew from the walls, chose that day for the assault, and -thus gained the city. What used to be Egypt was an inland kingdom, -bounded by the desert; but Egypt under Ptolemy was a country on the -seacoast; and on the conquest of Phœnicia and Cœle-Syria he was master -of the forests of Libanus and Antilibanus, and stretched his coast from -Cyrene to Antioch, a distance of twelve hundred miles. - -The wise and mild plans which were laid down by Alexander for the -government of Egypt, when a province, were easily followed by Ptolemy -when it became his own kingdom. The Greek soldiers lived in their -garrisons or in Alexandria under the Macedonian laws; while the Egyptian -laws were administered by their own priests, who were upheld in all the -rights of their order and in their freedom from land tax. - -While Egypt under Ptolemy was thus enjoying the advantages of its -insulated position, and was thereby at leisure to cultivate the arts of -peace, the other provinces were being harassed by the unceasing wars of -Alexander’s generals, who were aiming like Ptolemy at raising their own -power. - -[Sidenote: [316-311 B.C.]] - -Antigonus, in his ambitious efforts to stretch his power over the whole -of the provinces, had by force or treachery driven Seleucus out of -Babylon, and forced him to seek Egypt for safety, where Ptolemy received -him with the kindness and good policy which had before gained so many -friends. No arguments of Seleucus were wanting to persuade Ptolemy that -Antigonus was aiming at universal conquest, and that his next attack -would be upon Egypt. He therefore sent ambassadors to make treaties of -alliance with Cassander and Lysimachus, who readily joined him against -the common enemy. - -Ptolemy crossed over to Cyprus to punish the kings of the little states -on that island for having joined Antigonus; for now that the fate of -empires was to be settled by naval battles the friendship of Cyprus -became very important to the neighbouring states. He landed there with -so large a force that he met with no resistance. He added Cyprus to the -rest of his dominions. He banished the kings, and made Nicocreon governor -of the whole island. From Cyprus, Ptolemy landed with his army in upper -Syria, and then marching hastily into Asia Minor he took Mallus, a city -of Cilicia. Having rewarded his soldiers with the booty there seized, he -again embarked and returned to Alexandria. This inroad drew off the enemy -from Cœle-Syria. - -Ptolemy, on reaching Alexandria, set his army in motion towards Pelusium, -on its way to Palestine. He was met at Gaza by the young Demetrius with -an army of eleven thousand foot and twenty-three hundred horse, followed -by forty-three elephants and a body of light-armed barbarians, who, like -the Egyptians in the army of Ptolemy, were not counted. But the youthful -courage of Demetrius was no match for the cool skill and larger army -of Ptolemy; the elephants were easily stopped by iron hurdles, and the -Egyptian army, after gaining a complete victory, entered Gaza, while -Demetrius fled to Azotus. Ptolemy, in his victory, showed a generosity -unknown in ancient warfare; he not only gave leave to the conquered army -to bury their dead, but sent back the whole of the royal baggage which -had fallen into his hands, and also those personal friends of Demetrius -who were found among the prisoners. By this victory the whole of Phœnicia -was again joined to Egypt, and Seleucus regained Babylonia. - -When Antigonus, who was in Phrygia on the other side of his kingdom, -heard that his son Demetrius had been beaten at Gaza, he marched with -all his forces to give battle to Ptolemy. Ptolemy did not choose to risk -his kingdom against the far larger forces of Antigonus. Therefore, with -the advice of his council of generals, he levelled the fortifications -of Acca, Joppa, Samaria, and Gaza, and withdrew his forces and treasure -into Egypt, leaving the desert between himself and the army of Antigonus. -Antigonus then led his army northward, leaving Egypt unattacked. - -[Sidenote: [311-306 B.C.]] - -This retreat was followed by a treaty of peace between these generals, -by which it was agreed that each should keep the country that he then -held; that Cassander should govern Macedonia until Alexander Ægus, the -son of Alexander the Great, should be of age; that Lysimachus should -keep Thrace, Ptolemy Egypt, and Antigonus Asia Minor and Palestine; and -each wishing to be looked upon as the friend of the soldiers by whom his -power was upheld and the whole of these wide conquests kept in awe, added -the very unnecessary article that the Greeks living in each of these -countries should be governed according to their own laws. - -All the provinces held by these generals became more or less Greek -kingdoms, yet in no one did so many Greeks settle as in Lower Egypt. -Though the rest of Egypt was governed by Egyptian laws and judges, the -city of Alexandria was under Macedonian law. It did not form part of -the nome of Hermopolites in which it was built. It scarcely formed a -part of Egypt, but was a Greek state in its neighbourhood, holding the -Egyptians in a state of slavery. In that city no Egyptian could live -without feeling himself of a conquered race. He was not admitted to the -privileges of Macedonian citizenship; while they were at once granted to -every Greek, and soon to every Jew, who would settle there. - -By the treaty just spoken of, Ptolemy, in the thirteenth year after the -death of Alexander, was left undisputed master of Egypt. During these -years he had not only gained the love of the Egyptians and Alexandrians -by his wise and just government, but had won their respect as a general -by the skill with which he had kept the war at a distance. He had lost -and won battles in Syria, in Asia Minor, in the island of Cyprus, and at -sea; but since Perdiccas marched against him, before he had a force to -defend himself with, no foreign army had drunk the sacred waters of the -Nile. - -The next year Ptolemy, finding that his troops could hardly keep their -possessions in Cilicia, carried over an army in person to attack the -forces of Antigonus in Lycia. He gained the whole southern coast of Asia -Minor. - -[Sidenote: [306-280 B.C.]] - -While Ptolemy was busy in helping the Greek cities of Asia to gain their -liberty, Menelaus, his brother and admiral, was almost driven out of -Cyprus by Demetrius. On this Ptolemy got together his fleet, to the -number of 140 long galleys and two hundred transports, manned with not -less than ten thousand men, and sailed with them to the help of his -brother. This fleet under the command of Menelaus was met by Demetrius -with the fleet of Antigonus, consisting of 112 long galleys and a number -of transports; and the Egyptian fleet, which had hitherto been master of -the sea, was beaten near the city of Salamis in Cyprus by the smaller -fleet of Demetrius. This was the heaviest loss that had ever befallen -Ptolemy. Eighty long galleys were sunk, and forty long galleys with one -hundred transports and eight thousand men were taken prisoners. He could -no longer hope to keep Cyprus, and he sailed hastily back to Egypt, -leaving to Demetrius the garrisons of the island as his prisoners, all -of whom were enrolled in the army of Antigonus, to the number of sixteen -thousand foot and six hundred horse. - -This naval victory gave Demetrius the means of unburdening his proud mind -of a debt of gratitude to his enemy; and accordingly, remembering what -Ptolemy had done after the battle of Gaza, he sent back to Egypt, unasked -for and unransomed, those prisoners who were of high rank, that is to -say, the whole that had any choice about which side they fought for; and -among them were Leontiscus the son, and Menelaus the brother of Ptolemy. - -Antigonus was overjoyed with the news of his son’s victory. By lessening -the power of Ptolemy, it had done much to smooth his own path to the -sovereignty of Alexander’s empire, which was then left without an heir; -and he immediately took the title of king, and gave the same title to his -son Demetrius. In this he was followed by Ptolemy and the other generals, -but with this difference--that while Antigonus called himself king of all -the provinces, Ptolemy called himself king of Egypt; and while Antigonus -gained Syria and Cyprus, Ptolemy gained the friendship of every other -kingdom and of every free city in Greece; they all looked upon him as -their best ally against Antigonus, the common enemy. - -The next year Antigonus mustered his forces in Cœle-Syria, and got ready -for a second attack upon Egypt. The pride of Antigonus would not let him -follow the advice of the sailors, and wait eight days till the north -winds of the spring equinox had passed; and by this haste many of his -ships were wrecked on the coast, while others were driven into the Nile -and fell into the hands of Ptolemy. Antigonus himself, marching with the -land forces, found all the strong places well guarded by the Egyptian -army; and, being driven back at every point, discouraged by the loss of -his ships and by seeing whole bodies of his troops go over to Ptolemy, he -at last took the advice of his officers and led back his army to Syria, -while Ptolemy returned to Alexandria, to employ those powers of mind in -the works of peace which he had so successfully used in war. - -[Illustration: GREEK VASE - -(In the British Museum)] - -Antigonus then turned the weight of his mighty kingdom against the little -island of Rhodes. The galleys of Ptolemy, though unable to keep at sea -against the larger fleet of Demetrius, often forced their way into the -harbour with the welcome supplies of corn. Month after month every -stratagem and machine which the ingenuity of Demetrius could invent were -tried and failed; and after the siege had lasted more than a year he was -glad to find an excuse for withdrawing his troops; and the Rhodians in -their joy hailed Ptolemy with the title of Soter or “saviour.” This name -he ever afterwards kept, though by the Greek writers he is more often -called Ptolemy the son of Lagus, or Ptolemy Lagus. - -The next of Ptolemy’s conquests was Cœle-Syria; and soon after this -the wars between these successors of Alexander were put an end to by -the death of Antigonus, whose overtowering ambition was among the -chief causes of quarrel. This happened at the great battle of Ipsus in -Phrygia, where they all met, with above eighty thousand men in each army. -Antigonus king of Asia Minor was accompanied by his son Demetrius, and -by Pyrrhus king of Epirus; and he was defeated by Ptolemy king of Egypt, -Seleucus king of Babylon, Lysimachus king of Thrace, and Cassander king -of Macedonia; and the old man lost his life fighting bravely. After the -battle, Demetrius fled to Cyprus, and yielded to the terms of peace which -were imposed on him by the four allied sovereigns. He sent his friend -Pyrrhus as a hostage to Alexandria; and there this young king of Epirus -soon gained the friendship of Ptolemy and afterwards his step-daughter in -marriage. Ptolemy was thus left master of the whole of the southern coast -of Asia Minor and Syria--indeed of the whole coast of the eastern end of -the Mediterranean, from the island of Cos on the north to Cyrene on the -south. - -During these formidable wars with Antigonus, Ptolemy had never been -troubled with any serious rising of the conquered Egyptians; and perhaps -the wars may not have been without their use in strengthening his throne. - -[Sidenote: [304-285 B.C.]] - -Ptolemy’s first children were by Thais the noted courtesan, but they were -not thought legitimate. Leontiscus, the eldest, we afterwards hear of, -fighting bravely against Demetrius; of the second, named Lagus after his -grandfather, we hear nothing. He then married Eurydice the daughter of -Antipater, by whom he had several children. The eldest son, Ptolemy, was -named Ceraunus, “the thunderbolt,” and was banished by his father from -Alexandria. In his distress he fled to Seleucus, by whom he was kindly -received; but after the death of Ptolemy Soter he basely plotted against -Seleucus and put him to death. He then defeated in battle Antigonus the -son of Demetrius, and got possession of Macedonia for a short time. -He married his half-sister Arsinoe, and put her children to death; he -was soon afterwards put to death himself by the Gauls, who were either -fighting against him or were mercenaries in his own army. His Macedonian -coins, with the name of Ptolemy Ceraunus, prove that he took the name -himself, and that it was not a nickname given to him for his ungovernable -temper, as has been sometimes thought. - -Another son of Ptolemy and Eurydice was put to death by Ptolemy -Philadelphus, for plotting against his throne, to which, as the elder -brother, he might have thought himself the best entitled. Their daughter -Lysandra married Agathocles the son of Lysimachus; but when Agathocles -was put to death by his father, she fled to Egypt with her children, and -put herself under Ptolemy’s care. Next he married Berenice, a lady who -had come into Egypt with Eurydice, and had formed part of her household. -She was the widow of a man named Philip; and she had by her first husband -a son named Magas, whom Ptolemy made governor of Cyrene, and a daughter, -Antigone, whom Ptolemy gave in marriage to Pyrrhus, when that young king -was living in Alexandria as hostage for Demetrius. - -With Berenice Ptolemy spent the rest of his years without anything to -trouble the happiness of his family. He saw their elder son Ptolemy, whom -we must call by the name which he took late in life, Philadelphus, grow -up everything that he could wish him to be; and, moved alike by his love -for the mother and by the good qualities of the son, he chose him as his -successor on the throne, instead of his eldest son Ptolemy Ceraunus, who -had shown, by every act in his life, his unfitness for the trust. His -daughter Arsinoe married Lysimachus in his old age, and urged him against -his son Agathocles, the husband of her own sister. She afterwards married -her half-brother Ptolemy Ceraunus; and lastly we shall see her the wife -of her brother Philadelphus. Argæus, the youngest son of Ptolemy, was -put to death by Philadelphus, on a charge of treason. Of his youngest -daughter Philotera we know nothing, except that her brother Philadelphus -afterwards named a city on the coast of the Red Sea after her. - -After the last battle with Demetrius, Ptolemy had regained the island of -Cyprus and Cœle-Syria, including Judea; and his throne became stronger as -his life drew to an end. - -His last public act, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, was ordered -by the same forbearance which had governed every part of his life. -Feeling the weight of years press heavily upon him, that he was less -able than formerly to bear the duties of his office, and wishing to see -his son firmly seated on the throne, he laid aside his diadem and his -title, and without consulting either the army or the capital, proclaimed -Ptolemy, his son by Berenice, king, and contented himself with the modest -rank of somatophylax, or satrap, to his successor. - - -PTOLEMY PHILADELPHUS - -[Sidenote: [285-245 B.C.]] - -One of the chief troubles in the reign of Philadelphus was the revolt -of Cyrene. The government of that part of Africa had been entrusted to -Magas, the half-brother of the king, a son of Berenice by her former -husband. Berenice, who had been successful in setting aside Ceraunus to -make room for her son Philadelphus on the throne of Egypt, has even been -said to have favoured the rebellious and ungrateful efforts of her elder -son Magas to make himself king of Cyrene. - -After the war between the brothers had lasted some years, Magas made -an offer of peace, which was to be sealed by betrothing his only child -Berenice to the son of Philadelphus. To this offer Philadelphus yielded; -as by the death of Magas, who was already worn out by luxury and disease, -Cyrene would then fall to his own son. Magas, indeed, died before the -marriage took place; but, notwithstanding the efforts made by his widow -to break the agreement, the treaty was kept, and on this marriage Cyrene -again formed part of the kingdom of Egypt. - -But the black spot upon the character of Philadelphus, which all the -blaze of science and letters by which he was surrounded cannot make us -overlook, is the death of two of his brothers. - -Philadelphus had, when young, married Arsinoe the daughter of Lysimachus -of Thrace, by whom he had three children--Ptolemy, who succeeded him, -Lysimachus, and Berenice; but, having found that his wife was intriguing -with Amyntas, and with his physician Chrysippus of Rhodes, he put these -two to death, and banished the queen Arsinoe to Coptos in the Thebaid. - -He then took Arsinoe his own sister as the partner of his throne. She had -married first the old Lysimachus king of Thrace, and then Ceraunus her -half-brother, when he was king of Macedonia. As they were not children of -the same mother, this second marriage was neither illegal nor improper -in Macedonia; but her third marriage, with Philadelphus, could only be -justified by the laws of Egypt, their adopted country. They were both -past the middle age, and whether Philadelphus looked upon her as his wife -or not, at any rate they had no children. Her own children by Lysimachus -had been put to death by Ceraunus, and she readily adopted those of -her brother with all the kindness of a mother. This seeming marriage, -however, between brother and sister did not escape blame with the Greeks -of Alexandria. The poet Sotades, whose verses were as licentious as his -life, wrote some coarse lines against the queen, for which he was forced -to fly from Egypt, and being overtaken at sea he was wrapped up in lead -and thrown overboard. - -In the Egyptian inscriptions Ptolemy and Arsinoe are always called “the -brother-gods”; on the coins they are called Adelphi, “the brothers”; and -afterwards the king took the name of Philadelphus, or “sister-loving,” by -which he is now usually known. - -The wars between Philadelphus and his great neighbour Antiochus Theos -seem not to have been carried on very actively, though they did not -wholly cease till Philadelphus offered as a bribe his daughter Berenice, -with a large sum of money under the name of a dower. Antiochus was -already married to Laodice, whom he loved dearly, and by whom he had two -children, Seleucus and Antiochus; but political ambition had deadened -the feelings of his heart, and he agreed to declare this first marriage -void and his two sons illegitimate, and that his children, if any should -be born to him by Berenice, should inherit the throne of Babylon and the -East. The peace between the two countries lasted as long as Philadelphus -lived, and was strengthened by kindnesses which each did to the other. - -Philadelphus was of a weak frame of body, and had delicate health; and -though a lover of learning beyond other kings of his time, he also -surpassed them in his unmeasured luxury and love of pleasure. - -He reigned over Egypt, with the neighbouring parts of Arabia; also over -Libya, Phœnicia, Cœle-Syria, part of Ethiopia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, -Lycia, Caria, Cyprus, and the isles of the Cyclades. The island of -Rhodes and many of the cities of Greece were bound to him by the ties of -friendship, for past help and for the hope of future. The wealthy cities -of Tyre and Sidon did homage to him, as before to his father, by putting -his crowned head upon their coins. The forces of Egypt reached the very -large number of two hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse, two -thousand chariots, four hundred Ethiopian elephants, fifteen hundred -ships of war, and one thousand transports. Of this large force, it is not -likely that even one-fourth should have been Greeks; the rest must have -been Egyptians and Syrians, with some Gauls. - -These large forces were maintained by a yearly income, equally large, of -fourteen thousand eight hundred talents, or two millions and a quarter -pounds sterling, besides the tax on corn, which was taken in kind, of -a million and a half of artabas, or about five millions of bushels. To -this we may add a mass of gold, silver, and other valuable stores in the -treasury, which were boastfully reckoned at the unheard-of sum of seven -hundred and forty thousand talents, or above one hundred million pounds -sterling. - -The trade down the Nile was larger than it had ever been before; the -coasting trade on the Mediterranean was new; the people were rich and -happy; justice was administered to the Egyptians according to their own -laws, and to the Greeks of Alexander, according to the Macedonian laws; -the navy commanded the whole of the eastern half of the Mediterranean; -the schools and library had risen to a great height upon the wise plans -of Ptolemy Soter; in every point of view Alexandria was the chief city in -the world. Athens had no poets or other writers during this century equal -in merit to those who ennobled the Museum. Philadelphus, by joining to -the greatness and good government of his father the costly splendour and -pomp of an eastern monarch, so drew the eyes of after ages upon his reign -that his name passed into a proverb. - -Needless to say, the civilisation of this time was essentially Greek. The -main body of writers and scholars of the period naturally gave the stamp -of this culture to the epoch. Yet the old civilisation of Egypt must have -reacted upon the intruders in many ways. - -Philadelphus died in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, leaving the -kingdom as powerful and more wealthy than when it came to him from his -father; and he had the happiness of having a son who would carry on, even -for the third generation, the wise plans of the first Ptolemy. - - -PTOLEMY EUERGETES - -Ptolemy, the eldest son of Philadelphus, succeeded his father on the -throne of Egypt, and after a short time took the name of Euergetes. He -began his reign with a Syrian war; for no sooner was Philadelphus dead -than Antiochus, who had married Berenice only because it was one of -the articles of the treaty with Egypt, sent her away together with her -young son. Antiochus then recalled his first wife, Laodice, and she, -distrusting her changeable husband, had him at once murdered to secure -the throne to her own children. Seleucus, the eldest, seized the throne -of Syria; and, urged on by his mother, sent a body of men after Berenice, -with orders to put her to death, together with her son, who by the -articles of marriage had been made heir to the throne. - -[Sidenote: [245-222 B.C.]] - -The cities of Asia Minor hastily sent help to the queen and her son, -while Ptolemy Euergetes, her brother, who had just come to the throne -of Egypt, marched without loss of time into Syria. But it was too late -to save them; they were both put to death by the soldiers of Seleucus. -Many of the cities, moved by hatred of their king’s cruelty, opened their -gates to the army of Euergetes; and, had he not been recalled to Egypt -by troubles at home, he would soon have been master of the whole of the -kingdom of Seleucus. As it was, he had marched beyond the Euphrates, had -left an Egyptian army in Seleucia the capital of Syria, and had gained a -large part of Asia Minor. On his march homeward, he laid his gifts upon -the altar in the temple of Jerusalem, and there returned thanks to heaven -for his victories. He had been taught to bow the knee to the crowds of -Greek and Egyptian gods; and, as Palestine was part of his kingdom, it -seemed quite natural to add the god of the Jews to the list. - -No sooner had Euergetes reached home than Seleucus, in his turn, marched -upon Egypt, and sent for his brother Antiochus Hierax, to bring up his -forces and to join him. But before Antiochus could come up the army -of Seleucus was already beaten; and Antiochus, instead of helping his -brother in his distress, strove to rob him of his crown. Instead of -leading his army against Euergetes, he marched upon Seleucus, and by the -help of his Gallic mercenaries beat him in battle. But the traitor was -himself soon afterwards beaten by Eumenes, king of Bithynia, who had -entered Syria in the hope that it would fall an easy prey into his hands -after being torn to pieces by civil war. Antiochus, after the rout of his -army, fled to Egypt, believing that he should meet with kinder treatment -from Euergetes, his enemy, than after his late treachery he could hope -for from his own brother. But he was ordered by Euergetes to be closely -guarded, and when he afterwards made his escape he lost his life in his -flight by the hands of Celtic assassins, as already related. - -Euergetes, finding himself at peace with all his neighbours on the coasts -of the Mediterranean, then turned his arms towards the south. He easily -conquered the tribes of Ethiopia, whose wild courage was but a weak -barrier to the arms and discipline of the Greeks; and made himself for -the moment master of part of the highlands of Abyssinia, the country of -the Hexumitæ. - -Euergetes did not forget his allies in Greece, but continued the yearly -payment to Aratus, the general of the Achæan League, to support a -power which held the Macedonians in check; and when the Spartans under -Cleomenes tried to overthrow the power of the Achæans, Euergetes would -not help them. Euergetes had married his cousin Berenice, who, like the -other queens of Egypt, is also called Cleopatra; by her he left two -sons, Ptolemy and Magas, to the elder of whom he left his kingdom, after -a reign of twenty-five years of unclouded prosperity. Egypt was during -this reign at the very height of its power and wealth. It had seen three -kings, who, though not equally great men, not equally fit to found a -monarchy or to raise the literature of a people, were equally successful -in the parts which they had undertaken. Euergetes left to his son a -kingdom perhaps as large as the world had ever seen under one sceptre, -and though many of his boasted victories were like letters written in the -sand, of which the traces were soon lost, yet he was by far the greatest -monarch of his day. - -But here the bright pages in the history of the Ptolemies end. Though -trade and agriculture still enriched the country, though arts and letters -did not quit Alexandria, we have from this time forward to mark the -growth of only vice and luxury, and to measure the wisdom of Ptolemy -Soter by the length of time that his laws and institutions were able to -bear up against the misrule and folly of his descendants. - - -PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR - -[Sidenote: [222-216 B.C.]] - -[Illustration: A GREEK MAIDEN] - -Nothing is known of the death of Ptolemy Euergetes, and there is no proof -that it was by unfair means. But when his son began a cruel and wicked -reign by putting to death his mother and brother, and by taking the name -of Philopator, or father-loving, the world seems to have thought that he -was the murderer of his father, and had taken this name to throw a cloak -over the deed. Unfortunately history is not free from acts of successful -wickedness. By this murder of his brother, and by the minority both of -Antiochus king of Syria and of Philip king of Macedonia, Philopator found -himself safe from enemies either at home or abroad, and he gave himself -up to a life of thoughtlessness and pleasure. The army and fleet were -left to go to ruin, and the foreign provinces, which had hitherto been -looked upon as the bulwarks of Egypt, were only half guarded; but the -throne rested on the virtues of his forefathers, and it was not till his -death that it was found to have been undermined by his own vices.[c] - -At the instigation of his minister, Sosibius, he caused his brother Magas -to be murdered, lest he might endeavour to secure the kingdom to himself. -The death of Cleomenes, the exiled king of Sparta, who had been protected -and provided for by the preceding king, soon followed. Antiochus the -Great, who at this time ruled in Syria, perceiving the disorder and -licentiousness which prevailed in the court of Egypt, thought it a -favourable time to declare war against that country. Ptolemy, who seems -not to have lacked courage, roused himself for the emergency, collected a -great army, and proceeded to meet the enemy. In the beginning of the war, -Antiochus obtained some advantages over the Egyptian troops: but shortly -after, in a great battle fought at Raphia near Gaza, he was completely -defeated, with great loss; and Ptolemy obtained a large extension of -influence in Palestine and Syria. Humbled by this defeat, and alarmed -at the progress of Achæus in Asia Minor, Antiochus was anxious to -make peace with Ptolemy; and the Egyptian king, although he had every -inducement to prosecute the war, being equally anxious to return to his -licentious pleasures, was ready to receive his overtures. A peace was in -consequence concluded, by which Cœle-Syria and Palestine were confirmed -as belonging to Egypt. This being done, Ptolemy went to Jerusalem, where -he was well received, and treated the inhabitants kindly, until, having -made a fruitless attempt to enter the inner sanctuary, he retired from -the city threatening the whole nation of the Jews with extermination. -It does not appear that he dared to assail the sacred city; but, on -returning to Egypt, he published a decree which he caused to be engraved -on a pillar erected at the gate of his palace, excluding all those who -did not sacrifice to the gods whom he worshipped. By this means the -Jews were virtually outlawed, being prevented from suing to him for -justice, or from claiming his protection. But this was not the extent of -his infliction. By another decree he reduced them from the first rank -of citizens, to which they had been raised by the favour of Alexander, -to the third rank. They were in consequence degraded so far as to be -enrolled among the common people of Egypt. - -[Sidenote: [216-170 B.C.]] - -During this reign the Romans, being again at war with Carthage, sent -ambassadors to Egypt, to renew their ancient friendship, who brought -magnificent presents to Ptolemy and his queen. - - -EPIPHANES - -At the death of Philopator, 204 B.C., Ptolemy Epiphanes, being then a -child of five years old, ascended the throne. In the early part of his -reign another Roman embassy visited Egypt, when the king’s counsellors -took the opportunity of placing the young prince under the guardianship -of the powerful republic. The senate of Rome accepted the charge, and -sent Marcus Lepidus to act as guardian--a trust which, after a short stay -in Egypt, he conferred upon Aristomenes, an Acarnanian, who discharged -the duties of this important office with integrity and ability for -several years, until the king had attained the age of fourteen, when, -according to the usage of the country, he was entitled to take the -administration of the kingdom into his own hands. The folly of investing -a person so young with absolute power, was in this instance made fully -apparent. The youth, who had been universally popular whilst under the -direction of Aristomenes, was no sooner enthroned than he placed himself -under the influence of worthless men, by whose advice he was led to the -adoption of measures through which great disorders were introduced into -every branch of the government; and at length his former able and honest -minister was put to death. - -Epiphanes married Cleopatra, daughter of Antiochus the Great. This -marriage appears to have taken place when the young king was about -seventeen years old. It is generally supposed that he was taken off by -poison, administered by his nobles, to prevent him from entering on a war -with Syria to which he had committed himself, when the national finances -were so low that they feared they should have to contribute largely -towards the expenses of the contest. He left two sons, Philometor and -Physcon; and a daughter, Cleopatra, who was successively married to her -two brothers. - - -PHILOMETOR AND PHYSCON - -[Sidenote: [170-146 B.C.]] - -Philometor, the elder of the two sons, then but six years old, was placed -on the throne under the guardianship of his mother Cleopatra, who for -eight years conducted the affairs of the kingdom with great judgment -and success. After her death, Lenæus, a nobleman of distinction, and -Eulæus, a eunuch, were charged with the government of the country. One of -their earliest measures was to insist on the restoration of Cœle-Syria -and Palestine to Egypt,--these provinces having been wrested from the -dominion of Egypt by the power of Antiochus the Great. This demand led -to a violent contest, which tended more than any preceding event to -demonstrate the rapid decline of Egyptian power, and the rising sway of -Rome. - -The Syrian army, under the command of Antiochus Epiphanes, prosecuted -the war with such vigour and success that it penetrated to the walls -of Alexandria, and actually secured the person of the Egyptian king. -Whether he was taken in war, or placed himself willingly in the hands of -the Syrian king, does not clearly appear. But, however this may be, the -Syrian monarch gained little by his acquisition. For although he induced -Philometor to enter into a treaty with him, this was instantly disallowed -by the nation, who, regarding a sovereign in the power of an enemy as -lost to his country, immediately raised Physcon, the king’s brother, to -the throne. This led to a second Syrian invasion, which resulted in the -expulsion of Physcon; Antiochus restoring Philometor to the government, -but retaining Pelusium, the key to the country, in the possession of -Syrian troops. From this and other indications of the Syrian king’s -intentions, Philometor rightly judged that it was his design, by setting -the two brothers in continued collision with each other, to retain Egypt -virtually in his own power. Acting on this judgment, Philometor invited -his brother to terms of reconciliation, which, by the aid of their sister -Cleopatra, was happily effected. - -The measures adopted by the two brothers to restore Egypt to an -independent and prosperous condition, induced Antiochus again to march -an army into that country. He was on this occasion, however, compelled, -by the prompt and energetic interference of the Romans, to abandon the -enterprise. By agreement between the two brothers, they were to reign -jointly; but they were no sooner freed from the danger of foreign -aggression, than they began to quarrel between themselves. This quickly -produced an open rupture, in which Physcon succeeded in driving his -brother out of the kingdom. He was, however, soon after restored by -the power of Rome, which at the same time assigned Libya and Cyrene to -Physcon. New disputes arose, and various contests took place between -them, in all of which Rome regarded herself as entitled to act as the -paramount ruler of Egypt, and to award the sovereignty according to her -will. - -Philometor was soon after provoked into a war with Alexander Balas, who -had been raised to the throne of Syria mainly by his support. In the -prosecution of this contest, the king of Egypt marched into Syria, where -he completely routed the army of Alexander near Antioch, but died, a few -days after, from wounds received in the battle. He left behind him a -high reputation for wisdom and clemency. It was in his reign, and by his -favour and that of his queen Cleopatra, that the Jews under Onias were -permitted to build the famous Jewish temple at Heliopolis. - -[Sidenote: [146-107 B.C.]] - -On the death of her husband, Cleopatra endeavoured to secure the crown -for their son; but some of the leading men inclined towards Physcon, -and invited him from Cyrene, where he then reigned, into Egypt. The -queen raised an army to oppose him, and a civil war was imminent, when -an accommodation was arranged, through the mediation of Rome, by which -Physcon married Cleopatra, who was his sister and his brother’s widow, on -the understanding that they were to reign with joint authority, and that -Cleopatra’s son by Philometor should be declared next heir to the crown. -This agreement was no sooner completed than it was violated. On the day -of his marriage Physcon murdered the son of Philometor in the arms of -his mother, and commenced a career of iniquity and slaughter of which -this was a fitting prelude. He indeed assumed the name of Euergetes, -“benefactor,” which the Alexandrians changed into Kakergetes, “the -evil-doer”--an epithet which he justly merited; for he was the most cruel -and wicked, most despicable and vile, of all the Ptolemies. To the Jews -he evinced unmitigated enmity and cruelty, because they had espoused the -cause of Cleopatra. He then divorced Cleopatra, his wife, and married her -daughter, of the same name, who was his own niece; but not before he had -subjected the young princess to the vilest indignity. - -[Illustration: HEAD-DRESSES] - -Such conduct excited the disgust of his subjects, and, accompanied as it -was with excessive cruelty, produced a revolt which drove him from the -kingdom. He, however, succeeded in recovering his position, and at length -died in the sixty-seventh year of his age, having reigned twenty-nine -years. - -It is a fact as singular as unaccountable, that this most licentious -and bloody prince, whose name is infamous, as associated with almost -every crime, is notwithstanding celebrated by the most respectable -ancient writers as a great restorer of learning, a patron of learned -men, and withal an author of some celebrity himself. Physcon left three -sons--Apion, by a concubine, and Lathyrus and Alexander by his wife -Cleopatra. By his will he left the kingdom of Cyrene to Apion, and the -crown of Egypt to his widow in conjunction with either of her sons whom -she should choose. In the exercise of this discretionary power the -queen would have preferred Alexander, the younger son; but this was so -distasteful to the people that she was compelled to admit Lathyrus to the -joint sovereignty, and place Alexander in the kingdom of Cyprus. After -reigning ten years, the former prince was obliged to leave Egypt, to -which his brother immediately returned; Lathyrus repairing to Cyprus, and -taking upon himself the government of that country. It was at this period -that Lathyrus invaded Judea, then governed by Alexander Jannæus, and -obtained such advantages over him that the Jewish state was only saved -from ruin by the aid sent to it by Cleopatra from Egypt. - -[Sidenote: [107-48 B.C.]] - -In the meantime the younger brother, Alexander, having for nearly -eighteen years, while bearing the name of “king,” submitted as a slave to -the violent and capricious will of his mother, became quite weary of her -intolerable tyranny, and put her to death. This fact being made public, -he was driven from the throne, and Lathyrus, or Soter II, restored; -he reigned seven years longer. During this period the ruin of Thebes -took place. Lathyrus, freed from the power of his rival, undertook to -restore the government of the kingdom to its former state. This led to an -insurrection, of which Thebes was the centre. That ancient city not only -refused to submit to the prescribed laws, but even struggled to regain -its lost independence. The effort was vain. The king, having defeated the -rebels in several battles, besieged Thebes, which, having held out for -three years, was at length subdued, and so devastated that this noble -capital was never afterwards repaired, and consequently sank into ruin. - - -ROMAN INTERFERENCE - -Lathyrus was succeeded by his only legitimate child, Cleopatra, whose -proper name was Berenice. This princess, however, had scarcely assumed -the sovereignty, when she was called to submit to the dictation of Roman -power. Sulla, then perpetual dictator of the imperial city, no sooner -heard of the death of Lathyrus, than he conferred the crown of Egypt on -Alexander, a son of the king of that name who had been driven out of the -country for having murdered his mother. The Alexandrians succeeded in -persuading Alexander to marry Berenice, and reign jointly with her. This -he did, but in nineteen days afterwards caused her to be murdered. He, -however, continued on the throne, and reigned fifteen years in a manner -which might be expected from the atrocity of the commencement. At length -the people, worn out by his exactions and goaded to desperation by his -cruelties, rose with common consent, and drove him from the throne. He -made some fruitless efforts to induce Pompey to aid him to recover his -crown, but died a few months after his expulsion, in banishment at Tyre. - - -PTOLEMY AULETES; CLEOPATRA AND THE END - -The Egyptians, having driven out this tyrant, selected a natural son -of Ptolemy Lathyrus to fill the vacant throne. This prince, by a gift -of six thousand talents (£1,200,000 or $6,000,000) to Julius Cæsar and -Pompey, was recognised as king of Egypt in alliance with Rome. He was -named Ptolemy Auletes, “the Flute-player”; but took on himself the title -of Neus Dionysus, “the new Bacchus.” He was a fit representative of the -fallen condition of the Egyptian state. More effeminate than any of his -predecessors, priding himself on dancing in a female dress in religious -processions, he was at the same time equal to his grandfather Physcon -in the violence and viciousness of his conduct. After some time he was, -like his predecessor, expelled from the throne. He succeeded, however, -by immense gifts, in inducing Gabinius, the Roman governor of Syria, to -attempt his restoration, which was at length accomplished; Archelaus, -who had been invested with the government, having been defeated and -slain by the Romans. Auletes was thus restored to the throne, and died -in peaceable possession of his dignity about four years after his -restoration. - -Auletes on his restoration had put to death his daughter Berenice; and -at his demise left two daughters, Cleopatra and Arsinoe, and two sons. -The first of these, Ptolemy the elder, otherwise called Dionysus II, -was, according to his father’s will, married to his eldest sister, then -about seventeen years old; and the juvenile couple were invested with -the sovereignty of Egypt, under the protection of the Roman republic. It -appears that this most celebrated Egyptian princess evinced considerable -vigour and talent, even at that early age. So clever, indeed, was she, -that the ministers who had been placed in charge of the national affairs -were very anxious to get rid of her, and at length deprived her of her -share in the sovereignty, and expelled her from the kingdom. Cleopatra, -however, had a spirit equal to the occasion. She retired into Syria, -raised an army, and in a short time marched upon Pelusium, prepared to -dispute with her brother the sovereignty of the nation. It was while the -hostile armies of the brother and sister lay within sight of each other, -that Pompey, after the loss of the battle of Pharsalia, reached Egypt, -expecting protection and support, but was put to death by the ministers -of Ptolemy. Soon after this event, Julius Cæsar arrived in pursuit of his -rival, and was presented with Pompey’s head and his ring. - -[Sidenote: [48-30 B.C.]] - -Cleopatra, whose licentiousness was quite equal to her talent and energy, -caused herself to be secretly conveyed to Cæsar’s quarters, where -she succeeded in captivating that mighty conqueror, and commenced an -intimacy which resulted in the birth of a son, called, after his father, -Neocæsar. The scandal of this conduct enabled Ptolemy and his ministers -to rouse the public spirit of the Alexandrians, and of Lower Egypt -generally, against the mighty Roman, to such an extent that he was placed -in most imminent peril. Cæsar, however, disposed the handful of soldiers -which he had with him in such a manner as to keep the Egyptians in check, -until the arrival of Mithridates with large reinforcements, when he -defeated the Egyptian forces with great slaughter. In the course of this -conflict Ptolemy was drowned in the Nile. - -Cæsar soon adjusted the affairs of Egypt to his own mind, placing -Cleopatra on the throne. But as the Egyptians had a great antipathy to -female sovereignty, he compelled Cleopatra to submit to the farce of -marrying her younger brother, a lad eleven years old. She, however, -held the power in her own hand until he reached the age of fourteen, -when by the laws of the country he was entitled to enter upon the -joint administration of affairs. She then caused him to be poisoned. -Arsinoe, who had been carried to Rome by Julius Cæsar, and compelled to -walk, bound in chains of gold, before his triumphal chariot, was also -assassinated at the instigation of Cleopatra. - -The death of Cæsar convulsed the whole empire of Rome and all its -dependencies, and swept away the last feeble figment of Egyptian -monarchy and independence. On this occasion Cleopatra instantly decided -to support the triumvirs against the murderers of Julius. On a charge -of being unfaithful to this purpose, she was summoned to appear before -Antony at Tarsus. Confident in the power of her charms, she obeyed, -and effectually seduced that great captain. In fact, so besotted was -he by this intercourse, that he neglected his affairs, and at length -was so completely ruined that, having inflicted on himself a mortal -wound, he died in the arms of his wanton mistress. Cleopatra had two -sons by Antony, and soon after his decease she shared the fate which -she had brought on him. To avoid being made a spectacle at the triumph -of Augustus, as he was proof against her seductive charms, she procured -her own death in some unknown way; tradition says by the bite of an asp. -Egypt then became a province of the Roman empire, and continued in this -state until the birth of Christ, and long afterwards.[d] - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER LXVII. SICILIAN AFFAIRS - - -AGATHOCLES - -While Greece and Macedonia were torn by the disputes of Alexander’s -successors, Sicily was a prey to a tyrant who for energy, audacity, and -complete absence of moral sense, is worthy to be ranked amongst them. It -was the age of adventurers and soldiers of fortune. Agathocles, the son -of a working potter, became famous in his youth by his beauty, strength, -and courage, and also by his immoral life. He enlisted as a soldier, and -men were amazed by his height and the weight of his weapons. He obtained -a command through the influence of a powerful citizen who liked him, -and whose widow he married shortly after. This marriage brought him -riches, but his ambition was not limited by wealth. He wished to gain the -approval of the people by his eloquence, as he had obtained the affection -of the soldiers by his daring. - -Tyranny, the natural result of class antagonism in a city, had reappeared -at Syracuse after the death of Timoleon. The tyrant, Sosistratus, -was supported by the aristocrats; Agathocles became the advocate of -the claims of the people. He had also a personal grievance against -Sosistratus, who, after an expedition against the Bruttians, had refused -him the prize for courage which he deserved. Being driven from Syracuse, -he recruited an army among the exiles, whose number was always very great -by reason of the continual revolutions of Sicily and Magna Græcia. He -tried in vain to seize Croton, then served with the Tarentines, who, -a short time after, drove him away because he wished to direct their -government. - -[Sidenote: [317-310 B.C.]] - -Some time later, a revolution broke out at Syracuse. Sosistratus was -exiled with six hundred men of his faction and asked help of the -Carthaginians. Agathocles returned, distinguished himself in the war -by his courage and skill, and became so popular that the Corinthian -Acestorides, general of the republic, suspected him of aspiring to -the tyranny and wished to have him murdered. He escaped the danger by -changing clothes with a slave and soon after they heard that he was -raising troops. Peace was made with the Carthaginians, who brought back -Sosistratus and his partisans. Agathocles obtained permission to return -also, and swore in the temple of Demeter to respect the constitution. - -Soon after, the people, fascinated by his speeches, named him protector -of peace, and charged him with the re-establishment of harmony between -the factions. According to Justin, who seldom agrees with Diodorus, -Agathocles’ usurpation was the result of a treaty with Hamilcar, the -Carthaginian general, who supplied him with African soldiers. Whatever -may be the truth in regard to this, the first use which he made of his -power was to massacre the six hundred senators, their relatives, and -friends. The town was given up to the soldiers, who pillaged the houses, -carried off the women, and killed without discrimination. Those partisans -of the oligarchy who succeeded in escaping the massacre, took refuge at -Agrigentum. Then Agathocles called the people together and declared that -his only wish had been to restore their freedom and that he now intended -retiring to private life. His followers, especially those who had taken -part in the pillage, begged him to remain in power. He consented, but on -condition that he should govern alone, for the colleagues who might be -given him would perhaps attempt to violate the laws, and he would not be -responsible except for his own acts. Votes were taken, and as the rich -were paralysed by fear, and he had promised the poor to cancel debts and -divide lands, he obtained all the votes. But he took neither the crown -nor any of the external signs of power: the reality sufficed; he would -not even have a bodyguard. Having no further enemies to fear, he allowed -himself the luxury of clemency, tactics imitated later by Augustus and -recommended by Machiavelli. He then administered the finances, attended -to the necessities of the army and the navy, and added to the dominion of -Syracuse some of the towns and territory of the interior. - -The Syracusan exiles who had taken refuge at Agrigentum stirred up the -people to make war on Agathocles before his rule extended over the whole -of Sicily. The Agrigentines recognised the danger, and joining with the -inhabitants of Gela and Messana sent to Sparta to ask for a general, for -they feared to entrust the command to one of their own citizens who might -make use of it to usurp the tyranny. Acrotatus, son of King Cleomenes, -was detested at Sparta; he seized the opportunity of fighting abroad. -But when he came to Agrigentum, he made himself universally disliked on -account of his insolence, his waste of public funds, his dissolute life, -and his luxury more worthy of a Persian than a Lacedæmonian. He murdered -Sosistratus, the chief of the Syracusan exiles, at a banquet. He was -driven away, they even wished to stone him, but he escaped by night. The -Agrigentines made peace with Agathocles who, having no further foreign -hostility to fear, was able to strengthen and extend his authority. -The Syracusan exiles, being forced to leave Agrigentum, took refuge at -Messana, but the Messanians feared the anger of Agathocles; he offered -to make alliance with them, and persuaded them to grant the freedom of -the city to these exiles. Men were astonished by such noble sentiments, -but some time later he found means to entice them from Messana, to the -number of more than six hundred, and had them put to death. He succeeded -in making his government recognised in most of the towns of Sicily, and -on all sides he caused the death of all who inspired him with fear. - -The ever increasing progress of Agathocles awoke the fears of the -Carthaginians and they sent a large army into Sicily under the command -of Hamilcar the son of Gisco. A battle took place near the river Himera -between Gela and Agrigentum. It was said to have been on this spot -that a former tyrant of Agrigentum, Phalaris, put his enemies to death -by shutting them up in a bronze bull under which a fire was lighted; -the hill on which Phalaris’ castle stood was still called Ecnomus. -Agathocles seemed to have won the battle, when unexpected help came to -the Carthaginians and gave them the victory. Then the towns which had -accepted or suffered Syracusan suzerainty submitted successively to the -Carthaginians, and Hamilcar, master of all the rest of Sicily, laid siege -to Syracuse. Agathocles repaired the fortifications of the town and put -it in a state of defence, but these precautions could only delay certain -ruin, for no outside help could be expected. Agathocles then conceived a -singularly daring plan: he resolved to carry the war into Africa. It was -what Scipio did at a later date, but in less difficult circumstances, for -in Agathocles’ case it was first necessary to leave a town besieged by -land and sea. - -[Sidenote: [310-307 B.C.]] - -He had few soldiers; he set free and enlisted the slaves, and made them -take an oath of fidelity. Although he had been pitiless towards his -political adversaries, he knew that some were still alive, and that -they were ready to capitulate with the enemy. He spoke of his plan to -no one. He told the Syracusans that all he asked of them was a little -patience, and that he had sure means of saving them. In the town he -only left the soldiers requisite for its defence and embarked all the -rest, being careful to take as hostages a member of each of the families -which he mistrusted. He persuaded the rich to avoid the fatigues and -privations of the siege by retiring to their estates, and when they were -scattered he had them killed by his soldiers, and took their money. The -port was blockaded by the Carthaginian fleet; but merchant vessels were -seen bringing provisions to the besieged. The Carthaginians advanced to -capture them. Agathocles seized the opportunity to leave the port, and -the merchant vessels were able to enter while the Carthaginians pursued -Agathocles’ fleet. He escaped by dint of hard rowing and landed with his -army on the coast of Africa. - -Then, having offered a sacrifice, he told his soldiers that he had made -a vow if his vessels escaped the enemy to make torches of them for the -principal goddesses of Sicily, Demeter and Core, and taking a brand from -the altar he set fire to his fleet. The soldiers, losing all hope of -return, had no other resource than victory. This act of temerity, which -has become proverbial, was perhaps necessary. Agathocles had too few -soldiers to employ some in protecting the fleet; it would have been taken -by the Carthaginians, who were masters of the sea. They seized a pleasure -town which Diodorus calls the Great Town and the White Tunis. Agathocles -had not sufficient soldiers to leave garrisons; he razed it to the ground -and encamped under the walls of Carthage. - -The Carthaginians, seeing their country pillaged, thought that their army -in Sicily had been destroyed. They had no time to collect mercenaries; -they armed to the number of forty thousand and placed Hanno and -Bomilcar at their head. These chiefs belonged to two rival families. -The Carthaginians often took this precaution as a guarantee against -usurpation. But this multitude of new and badly disciplined soldiers -could not resist Agathocles’ little army. Hanno was killed, and Bomilcar, -who aspired to the tyranny, led the troops back to the town. The -terrified Carthaginians attributed their misfortune to the anger of the -gods. For a long time they had sacrificed to Moloch only children whom -they bought; they thought that he demanded more precious victims, and -offered him two hundred children from the most wealthy families. Three -hundred citizens offered themselves to complete the sacrifice. They were -placed on the hands of the bronze statue, and a large fire was lighted; -the victims fell into the burning flames. Diodorus believes that these -human sacrifices, customary among Phœnician nations, possibly gave rise -to the fable of Cronos devouring his children, for the Greeks identified -their Cronos with the Phœnician Moloch. - -The Carthaginians ordered Hamilcar to send them some of his troops; -but not wishing to abandon Sicily, they announced the complete ruin of -Agathocles and, as a proof, sent to Syracuse the beaks of his burnt -vessels. Antander, Agathocles’ brother, wished to surrender; the -Ætolian Eurymedon persuaded him not to despair, and a short time later -they received news of the success of the Greeks. The courage of the -besieged was renewed; Hamilcar wished to attempt an assault; he was -taken, his head was cut off and sent to Agathocles, who threw it into -the Carthaginian camp. His success won him the alliance of the Libyan -and Numidian nations. He wrote to Ophellas, governor of Cyrene, who -had fought under Alexander, entreating him to invade the Carthaginian -territory, which should be shared after the victory; he would leave -Africa to Ophellas, and would be content to keep Sicily. This plan -tempted Ophellas; he was in communication with the Athenians, because he -had married a descendant of Miltiades. He raised mercenaries in Greece -and set out to cross the desert with a numerous army, carrying along -with it women and children, for they hoped to found colonies. The army -suffered much from the heat, from thirst, and from the bites of serpents. -Agathocles received his allies warmly, gave them food, then murdered -Ophellas and incorporated his soldiers in his own army; the women and -children were sent to Sicily and perished in a tempest. Cyrene became -part of the dominions of Ptolemy. - -[Illustration: GREEK CANDLE STICK] - -About the same time, the Carthaginians put Bomilcar to death for -attempting to seize the tyranny. Agathocles might have profited by the -confusion which this event caused in Carthage, but he had received -alarming news. The Agrigentines had endeavoured to profit by Hamilcar’s -death to free Sicily from both Carthaginian and Syracusan rule. -Agathocles, leaving the command of his army to Archagathus, his eldest -son, embarked on open boats which had been hastily built. On landing -at Selinuntium, he was told that his officers had just defeated the -Agrigentine army. He reduced to submission Heraclea, Thermæ, Centuripæ, -Cephalœdium, and Apollonia. It was about this time that, following the -example of the successors of Alexander, he took the title of king, and -had it put on his coins (307). However, he wore no crown, and instead of -imitating the mistrust of Dionysius the Elder, he went to the assembly -without a guard. When he gave banquets, he was often served in an earthen -bowl, and willingly recalled the time when he had begun life as a working -potter. He was easy tempered and gay, so as to encourage his guests to -talk freely, but he took note of all that he heard, and when, by this -means, he had discovered which men were not to be trusted, he invited -them separately and put them to death. - -In Africa, his son Archagathus was at first successful; but he found -his army weakened by desertions, in need of the necessities of life, -and inclined to revolt. The soldiers complained of not being paid. He -risked a battle and was defeated. Then he resolved to leave the army, -as Bonaparte did in later times in Egypt. The soldiers, furious at -finding themselves abandoned by their general, murdered his two sons and -surrendered to the Carthaginians, who enrolled them in their army. - -[Sidenote: [307-300 B.C.]] - -On his return to Sicily, Agathocles first of all gave vent to his anger -against Segesta, which had refused him subsidies. This expedition was -marked, according to Diodorus, by atrocious cruelty: men were burned -alive, pregnant women made to miscarry, young girls and children sold -to the Bruttians, and the town of Segesta, peopled by new inhabitants, -received the name of Dicæopolis--city of vengeance. At the same time -Agathocles commanded his brother Antander to slay the parents, wives, -and children of the soldiers of the African army, to revenge the murder -of his sons. Diodorus adds that these savage executions produced such -horror that Agathocles, despairing of keeping the power, proposed to -Dinocrates, the general of the exiles, to re-establish the republic at -Syracuse. But Dinocrates had no desire to do so; in the twenty years -during which he had been leader of armed bands, he had acquired a taste -for this kind of regal dignity. Unsuccessful in forming this alliance, -Agathocles purchased Carthaginian help by yielding up certain towns to -them, and beat Dinocrates whose troops surrendered. He had them massacred -but spared Dinocrates, and as they were worthy of each other, he made him -his lieutenant. - -[Illustration: NYMPH - -(From a statue)] - -He undertook, following Dionysius’ example, the conquest of southern -Italy. He began by seizing the Æolian Isles, in order to obtain the -treasure consecrated to Core and to Hephæstus in the prytaneum of Lipara; -then he prepared to cross into Italy. His preparations excited the fears -of the Tarentines, who were already menaced in another direction by the -native populations. They applied to the Spartans, whose king, Cleonymus, -enrolled mercenaries at Cape Tænarum. He formed a considerable army by -uniting with them the forces of Tarentum and the Messapians, with whom -he made an alliance immediately on his arrival. The Lucanians in alarm -made peace with Tarentum, and Cleonymus, not wishing to have come in -vain, turned against Metapontum, which town, however, he had entered as -an ally. He imposed on the town a tribute of six hundred talents, and -took two hundred young girls as hostages, which caused him to be looked -on with suspicion, for, although he was a Spartan, he had the reputation -of a man of dissolute character; however, he was punished later on by -the wicked behaviour of his wife Chelidonis. Then, instead of delivering -Sicily from the tyranny of Agathocles, as he had announced the intention -of doing, he attacked Corcyra, which appeared to him a convenient post -for watching Greek affairs, raised a tribute, and established a garrison. -Then, returning to Italy, without troubling either about the Tarentines -who had summoned him, or about the Messapians whose alliance he had -demanded, he began to fight and pillage indiscriminately, under pretext -of punishing those whom he called rebels. He carried on this piratical -war to the remotest part of the Adriatic Sea. The Italians killed some -of his troops, a tempest destroyed part of his fleet, but he escaped and -wound up his series of adventures by calling Pyrrhus against his country -to avenge his matrimonial troubles. - -[Sidenote: [300-289 B.C.]] - -Agathocles conducted an expedition against Corcyra, in pursuit of -Cleonymus, but found Cassander besieging the town by land and by sea. -He burned the Macedonian fleet, and seized Corcyra, which he gave as -a dowry to his daughter Lanassa, whom he married to Pyrrhus, king of -Epirus. On his return he found that a number of his mercenaries were in -revolt against his grandson Archagathus, who had not given them their -pay; he had two thousand of them killed. According to Diodorus, they were -Ligurians and Etruscans, but it seems probable that there were Bruttians -among them, for this punishment led to a war between the Bruttians and -Agathocles. He was defeated and revenged himself on the inhabitants of -Croton, who had done him no injury. He told them not to be troubled by -his advance, he was only travelling through the country to take his -daughter into Epirus. They made no preparations for defence; he took -the town, sacked it, and massacred the inhabitants. Then he attacked -Hipponium, which was in the hands of the Bruttians, took it, and placed a -garrison there which was massacred a short time later. - -In his old age he suffered from a very painful illness of the joints, and -his son and grandson disputed his succession during his life-time. The -latter caused him to be poisoned by his favourite, Mænon, by means of a -corrosive placed in a toothpick. This Mænon was a Segestan and had become -the tyrant’s slave; in this manner he avenged his country’s ruin. It is -said that Agathocles, to put an end to the torture he was suffering, had -himself placed, while still alive, on the funeral pyre; this was believed -to be a punishment for the sacrilege which he had committed in the Æolian -Isles in stealing the sacred treasure of Hephæstus. - -After the death of Agathocles, his son and grandson were killed by Mænon, -who tried to seize the power with the help of the Carthaginians. The -Syracusans chose Hicetas for their general, and it was agreed that they -should give hostages and recall the exiles. But at the first election of -the magistrates Agathocles’ mercenaries claimed that they were wronged, -the citizens armed, a fight was imminent; at last it was agreed that the -mercenaries should leave Sicily. They were mostly Campanians, known by -the name of Mamertines. - -Agathocles had taken a great number into his pay. When it was agreed -that they were to leave Sicily, they went to Messana to embark, and were -hospitably received; but during the night they killed the inhabitants -and seized their wives and possessions. This settlement of Mamertines at -Messana was a fresh element of trouble for Sicily, and later on became -the cause of the first war between the Romans and the Carthaginians. - - -PYRRHUS AND THE ROMANS - -[Sidenote: [282-272 B.C.]] - -The absence of federal union between the Greek cities of Italy made them -incapable of resisting the native populations, the Samnites, Lucanians, -and Bruttians. They were therefore naturally induced to ask aid of the -great Roman Republic, which alone was able to protect them. The earliest -relations which Rome had with the Greek towns of Italy were friendly. -Tarentum alone preferred having the Romans as enemies to having them -as friends. By an act of mad provocation the Tarentines put themselves -entirely in the wrong and caused war with Rome to become inevitable. -Then, as was their custom, they called to their assistance a foreign -prince, and although this time they chose the bravest and most skilful -captain of the period, the struggle in which they engaged had as a -consequence the final establishment of Roman government over all Italy. - -[Illustration: HYGEIA - -(From a statue)] - -The Lucanians and the Bruttians having attacked the town of Thurii, the -ally of Rome, an army, commanded by the consul Fabricius was sent to -its rescue, while at the same time a squadron of ten galleys cruised in -the Gulf of Tarentum. The Tarentines, assembled in the theatre which -overlooked the sea, perceived some of these vessels at the entrance of -the port. Immediately an orator named Philochares, who was known by the -name of the famous courtesan Thais because of his shameful immorality, -exclaimed that the presence of these ships was an act of hostility, and -that by the terms of a treaty, the Romans were not allowed to pass Cape -Lacinium. The people hurried to the port, sank or captured the vessels, -the duumvir who commanded them was killed, the rowers were reduced to -slavery. The Roman senate sent an embassy to demand reparation. The -ambassadors had scarcely entered the theatre where the people were -assembled than they were greeted by insulting laughter. They wished to -speak, but their pronunciation of Greek was ridiculed and they were -driven out. A drunkard soiled the toga of the principal ambassador; the -laughter increased. The Roman turned round and said: “Laugh! you will -soon weep, for my robe shall be washed in your blood.” - -They summoned Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, promising him the support of -the Lucanians and Samnites. An account of his exploits and death has -previously been given. - -[Sidenote: [272-216 B.C.]] - -All the natives of southern Italy who had greeted Pyrrhus as a saviour, -were finally subdued to Roman rule. It was the rescue of the Greek -towns which were still in existence, but they were only shadows of -their former selves. Although free under the protection of Rome, they -vanished obscurely from history. In the time of Strabo the name of Magna -Græcia was already an ancient recollection, and the Greek language was -only spoken at Naples, Rhegium, and Tarentum. For want of federal union -between the autonomous cities, the Hellenic race with its brilliant -civilisation had disappeared gradually from Italian soil. The Romans were -about to reap its inheritance and transmit it to Gaul and Spain. They -repeopled some of the former Greek colonies which had become barbarous, -especially Posidonia and Hipponium, which had long been inhabited, the -latter by the Campanians, the former by the Bruttians, and which had -changed their Greek names for those of Pæstum and Vibo-Valentia. - -The Roman peace did not restore to the Greek towns of Italy the glory -which had radiated from their art and literature during the stormy -period of their political independence. The innumerable painted vases -which are admired in our museums, and the coins of infinite variety -suffice to mark their place in the history of civilisation. Not rich -Tarentum only, but towns of no importance, Terina, Velia, Metapontum, -Heraclea in Lucania, made coins of inimitable perfection. The production -of these works of art ceased abruptly with that communal autonomy of -which the coin was the visible symbol. In 268, Rome, who, till then, had -only had moulded copper coinage, for the first time made silver coins, -and at the same time withdrew the right of coining from all her Italian -subjects. Few laws have been more disastrous to art. - -The beautiful iconic coins of King Hiero and his wife, Queen Philistis, -mark the last period of Sicilian autonomy. After a victory gained over -the Mamertines of Messana, Hiero was proclaimed king by the Syracusans -who no longer felt capable of supporting the disturbances of freedom -(269). On leaving Sicily Pyrrhus had said: “What a fine battle-field we -leave the Romans and Carthaginians!” The fulfilment of this prophecy was -not delayed, and the First Punic War, which broke out in 263, had Sicily -for a stage. At the beginning Hiero, the ally of Carthage, was defeated -by the Romans, and passed over to their side. His reign, a long and -peaceful one, was a transition for the Syracusans between their stormy -autonomy and the inevitable dominion of Rome.[b] - -[Illustration] - - - - -GREECE - - Clime of the unforgotten brave! - Whose land from plain to mountain-cave - Was Freedom’s home or Glory’s grave! - Shrine of the mighty! can it be - That this is all remains of thee? - Approach, thou craven, crouching slave; - Say, is not this Thermopylæ? - These waters blue that round you lave, - O servile offspring of the free, - Pronounce what sea, what shore is this? - The gulf, the rock of Salamis! - These scenes, their story not unknown, - Arise and make again your own; - Snatch from the ashes of your sires - The embers of their former fires; - And he who in the strife expires - Will add to theirs a name of fear - That Tyranny shall quake to hear, - And leave his sons a hope, a fame, - They too will rather die than shame; - For Freedom’s battle once begun, - Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son, - Though baffled oft is ever won. - Bear witness, Greece, thy living page, - Attest it, many a deathless age: - While kings, in dusty darkness hid, - Have left a nameless pyramid, - Thy heroes, though the general doom - Have swept the column from their tomb, - A mightier monument command, - The mountains of their native land! - There points thy muse to stranger’s eye - The graves of those that cannot die! - ’Twere long to tell, and sad to trace, - Each step from splendour to disgrace: - Enough,--no foreign foe could quell - Thy soul, till from itself it fell; - Yes! self-abasement paved the way - To villain-bonds and despot sway. - - --BYRON; _The Giaour_. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -CONCLUDING SUMMARY - -THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HELLENIC SPIRIT - -WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THE PRESENT WORK - -BY DR. ULRICH VON WILAMOWITZ-MÖLLENDORFF - -PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN, ETC. - - -Homer stands at the beginning of Greek history; nothing before him, -nothing beside him, a great gulf fixed between him and everything after; -yet there is nothing Greek on which his light or shadow does not fall. -Homer is a world in himself, and what a world he is! In the eyes of many, -even to this day, he stands for the sum total of the Greek spirit; in the -eyes of some, for the whole body of poetry. What the two epics set before -us is so complete, so individual, that in spite of all concessions in -detail, the oneness of the poem and of the author is constantly obtruding -itself upon our notice anew. Homer is so little antiquated that he seems -to be of no age; we place him in a sunnier morning-time of mankind, -that is all; but to range him in the sequence of history, to conceive -of him as under conditions of time and place seems like profanation; -this, like so much else, he has in common with the Old Testament. And -yet to classify him thus is the first necessity of real comprehension. -The Greeks themselves have not done much to help us. About the time of -Socrates a school of æsthetic criticism restricted the sacred name of the -poet Homer, certainly not without some show of reason, to the _Iliad_ -and the _Odyssey_; and thus these poems have come down to us, but the -price we pay is the loss of all others of equally Homeric origin; and -hence Homer stands more than ever alone. The last word of the philology -of antiquity was that Homer ought to be explained only by himself. Modern -philology seemed on the way to the same conclusion. - -By the discoveries of the last generation the ban of this isolation -has been broken. Only by wilful blindness can the Ilium of Homer be -dissociated from the Ilium restored to light on Hissarlik, though the -remains of the latter go far back beyond the time of Homer and Priam. Not -the age of the Homeric poets alone, but the age of the Homeric heroes -rises up before us from these strongholds and tombs. The links that bind -it to the older civilisation of Asia and of Egypt lie revealed, positive -chronological data already enable us to determine the certainty of this -or that. From these actual remains we begin to gain some conception of -the history and the peoples whose poetic reflection shines for us in the -_Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_. - -On the shores of the Ægean Sea, in the second half of the second thousand -years before Christ, there existed a sumptuous civilisation which had -received impulses from the East and from the South, but in which we -nevertheless recognise the spirit of the Greece immortalised in the -Homeric poems; and in the Asiatic home of Homer the connecting threads do -not break off short as we trace them back. In the mother-country, on the -other hand, other savage Greek tribes, whom we name after the Dorians, -forced their way in; they destroyed the ancient superior civilisation, -reduced some of its representatives to slavery, and drove the rest over -into Asia. There was another immigration into Asia, this time of the -Phrygio-Thracian tribes, the ancestors of the Armenians; such of the -earlier population as were not reduced to slavery being driven south. -These tribes we are wont to call after the Carians. There was a time when -they reached out towards Europe, and in a few islands they continued for -centuries to struggle against the Hellenising influence to which in the -long run they completely succumbed. But as the study of this long and -important period is still in its infancy, our main object should still -be the collection of material; it will be one of the principal tasks of -the next generation to sift and elaborate what has been accumulated. At -the present time it is more important than any amount of detail for us to -understand what is the historic background both for the subject-matter -of the Homeric epics and for the practice of this form of poetry and the -existence of the poets who used it. - -The Homeric poems are a legacy from the first great period of Greek -history. We may approximately fix the year 800 B.C. as their latest -possible date. The subject-matter of the Epos, the Heroic legend, is -the deposit of historical reminiscences of that earlier time. It was -wholly fit that men should see in the epic heroes the founders of their -own nation and of their own civilisation; but in point of fact it was -through Homer that the Greek nation first acquired consciousness of -itself, of its individuality and of the common blood in its veins. Not -in the time of the heroes alone, but in that of the poets of the Epos, -the Greeks had no national unity and less than no national feeling, and -the same holds good of their civilisation. The tales which Homer tells -are laid to a great extent in Argos, Thebes, and Sparta; all the heroes -come from the country which we call Hellas and distinguish from Asia as -their mother-country. Nearly all the Homeric gods have their homes there -likewise. But now gods and heroes, like Agamemnon’s Achæan host, are -taken across to the northwestern angle of Asia. Achilles has conquered -Lesbos; the descendants of Agamemnon rule in Mytilene and Cyme. Cyme, -Smyrna, and Chios are the reputed birth-places of Homer. Here, where -later the Æolian dialect comes into collision with the mightier Ionian, -was perfected the artificial dialect of the epic,--a dialect spoken in -this form at no time and in no place,--and the heroic verse that was at -no time and in no place a really popular form, and was first imported -into Lesbos itself by the Ionian Epos. Here, side by side with the -ruling class which claimed descent from the Homeric gods and heroes, was -evolved a class of professional bards, and amongst them arose the gifted -poets whose names have been forgotten in the fame of the one and only -Homer. Let us hope that the real Homer was worthy of this pre-eminence. -By these Homerides the Epos, first sung to the lute, and then recited, -was carried farther and farther among the islands and along the coast. -The subject-matter awakened interest everywhere; being, as it were, -national history, the form won for itself an ever widening circle of -appreciation. Gradually in the mother-country there were found native -bards who learned from wandering rhapsodists the art of making poetry -in the Homeric style, that is to say, of using a foreign language and -a foreign art-form, but to express new matter, which was nevertheless -invariably linked in some fashion with the world of Homeric heroes. -Accordingly, the production of epic poems, ever based upon Homeric -legend, was maintained in the mother-country for centuries after it had -died out in Ionia, continuing into the sixth century. It is through these -circles, in the main, that Homer has been preserved. - -The cardinal point was that, in the Homeric Epos, the Greeks acquired an -organ of speech capable of expressing all that men could say and hear. -It was a well-defined and yet highly elastic style, not by any means -exclusively adapted to narrative; on the contrary they never abandoned -the practice of casting instruction of all kinds into this form, which -was popularised and made generally intelligible by the school from the -time there were schools at all. It was also used in incantations, in -monumental inscriptions, and in the fleeting jest. The most abstract -philosophy, the description of the starry heavens, the dogmatic side -of astrology, nay even the Psalms and the Gospel of St. John, have -been clothed in Homeric garb. In like manner it is characteristic of -the genius of Greece that it begins its evolution by creating such a -mode of expression, and for a thousand years does not grow weary of -it. The instinct for form and the adherence to a form once discovered -are likewise Greek; their combination begets at first an unparalleled -achievement, but for centuries long it has to drudge in the service of -imitative facility and orthodox formalism. - -Homer, moreover, created for the Greeks their heroic legend. The whole -wealth of scattered and desultory reminiscence and tradition among the -various tribes and families, combined with all that occupied the memory -and imagination of man, was gathered together in one by the art of the -Epic poets. Thus another and more beautiful domain was built up in the -imaginations of men, from which a light fell on the present so brilliant -that the present paled before it, while even as children men began to -make themselves at home in that domain. Here it was that the Greeks found -their common fatherland, proud and united, whilst they were still at -daggers drawn with one another upon earth, and once more when they were -all subject to foreign lords; to this day all those of us who have drunk -a draught from Homer’s spring, feel at home in this region. Their gods -the Greeks, likewise, received from Homer; not the faith by which the -heart is made heavy and light, rendered contrite and redeemed, but the -names and the histories, the relations and the amours of their celestial -host--that is to say, their mythology. - -The name itself implies how far it was from anything like divine -revelation and holiness. The muse has much to say that is untrue -but resembles truth. Homeric art, however, understood the secret of -humanising the stories of the gods as effectually as the stories of -tribes and kings. And this Homeric art took captive the fancy of the -listeners, that is, the fancy of the whole nation as soon as it gave -ear to the poetry of Homer. Homer gave to the Greek his gods, and all -the Greek gods turned into men with the gift. He gives us a complete -picture of nature too, he teaches us to see what surrounds us, and the -sorrows and joys that condition our brief life under the sun. The roseate -flush of dawn, the twinkling of the dog-star, the rush of the hurricane, -the babble of the mountain stream, the tops of the fir trees in the -highland forest, and the clumps of asphodel on untilled ground; the lions -and wolves in the Asiatic mountain country, the horse and the hound, -the companions of man, he sees everything, shows everything, loves -everything; above all, the sea, eternal, ever new, that has become a home -to the Ionian in lieu of mother-earth. In the light in which he viewed -Nature and set her forth the Greeks accustomed themselves to look upon -her. Not only so, but whole generations took pleasure in the reproduction -of what had once been done, and turned their eyes aside from the -contemplation of the Real, the infinitude whereof no Homer can exhaust. - -In fine, the judgment passed upon Homer by Horace, who repeats the -verdict of the stoics, contains a large measure of truth: - - _“Qui, quid sit pulcrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non,_ - _Planius ac melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit.”_ - -He gives us a complete picture of the doings of man, shows us princes -and beggars, old men and boys, the budding maiden and the perfection of -dæmonic beauty. So rich is this completeness, so profound the poet’s -knowledge of life, that the thing we most clearly realise is the utter -preposterousness of any attempt to compare Homer with any popular poetry -whatsoever. Rather does Plato rightly name him the grandsire of tragedy, -and only one picture of the world can claim a birthright equal to that of -Homer--the picture set forth on the stage of William Shakespeare. - -In this Homeric delineation of mankind, which includes immortal men, -to wit, the gods, and has the portrayal of nature for its complement, -lies that specifically Homeric quality which casts a spell over every -unspoilt mind, and which the finest art-critics of all times and nations -never grow weary of praising. It bears witness to a high psychological -culture in both poets and listeners. No state of primitive barbarism -such as Tacitus depicts in the Germani, none but an old and richly -developed civilisation, could lead up to this. The fresh observation -of nature in the pictures of Knossos, the rigid stylistic convention -of the cuttle-fish on the golden platter of Mycenæ, for example, the -bold ornament on painted vessels, like the pitcher of Marseilles, the -architecture of the beehive tombs, show the Homeric sense of art in other -regions and at a pre-Homeric period. - -This Homeric art is certainly in the main Hellenic. But for all that, -it is only one side of the Hellenic spirit, which is not even remotely -understood by those who identify it with Homer. A great danger is -already threatening this form of art in the shape of conventionalism, -of stereotyped beauty. It grows too easy to be a Homerides, and he who -rests satisfied with such an achievement thereby renounces all aspiration -to become a Homer. And the life depicted by Homer conceals beneath its -brilliant surface much not only of hollowness but of evil. There is a -total lack of national sentiment; there is no state; properly speaking -there is no religion. These gods will vanish into thin air like vapours -at the advent of a true god who wins men’s hearts to serve him. These -men and women enjoy and suffer--to what end? To blossom and wither like -the leaves of the woodland. What is the end of this brilliant world? The -horrors of devastation for Ilium, and for the Achæans, returning home in -their fleet--shipwreck. - -The Ionians had just been torn from their native mountains and springs, -from their ancestors and from their gods; in dire distress they had -fought for and conquered new settlements on a foreign coast and among -foreign races. They had been constrained to turn away from their -mother-earth: the sea cannot take its place, for the earth alone is -θεσμοφόρος. So it is that the legitimate heirs of the Homeric poets -are the very men who shake off Homeric ideals--the Milesian merchant -who traverses all seas, founds factories and cities, mingles with all -nations, gathers information and wealth from all sides; the Ionian artist -who abandons the excrescences of conventional style with the conventional -Heroic legend, in his search for what is characteristic and individual; -the subjective thinker of Ionia who seeks in his own breast the solution -of the world’s enigma, and whether he discovers cosmic law there or in -the contemplation of the heavens, ruthlessly thrusts away from him the -fair illusions of Homer. - -Meanwhile, in obscurity and gloom another Greece slowly arose in the -mother-country. The immigrants, before whom the peoples of Agamemnon, -Achilles, and Nestor--in so far as they were not enslaved by their rough -masters--fled across the sea, had to begin from the beginning. The -remains of the old civilisation stood in their midst, uncomprehended and -mysterious as the Roman strongholds in the countries inundated by the -flood of the Germani of the great migration. Where, as in Sparta, the -forms of life fitted for migratory conditions were preserved in art, -that primitive rudeness survived which (to take an instance) permitted -the use of the axe only and not of the plane in the fashioning of a -door-post. We recognise everywhere the oldest and lowest forms of -religion--fetich-worship, totemism, a gloomy form of ancestor-worship; -human sacrifice is frequent. Ornament has lost the sensuous delight in -form proper to the Heroic period; it begins with lines and dots. The -influence of the East must for a while have been totally arrested. How -ill at ease an Asiatic Greek must have felt in this world is shown by -Hesiod, who inveighs against his Heliconian village-home. He was the -son of an immigrant Æolian. A large part of the country, not only the -whole of the west coast, but also Thessaly the home of Hellen, _i.e._, -of the whole nation, never again played an active part in civilisation. -This, of course, had to come from the Greeks of Asia; and the cities -of the eastern border in which the remains of the original population -preponderated, Athens and Eubœa, to which the maritime city of Corinth -was added from the Dorian cities, were the entrance gates to this -civilisation. But the process of receiving and assimilating it was -carried on in the main under the pressure of new modes of life, which -we name after the Dorians. With regard to the older period we lack not -direct evidence merely but credible information at almost every step: not -till the beginning of the sixth century does it become possible to some -extent to grasp this civilisation; but the institutions, their reflection -in Heroic legend, and the character of the religion (not mere mythology) -permit of a few inferences. The times were hard; for the most part a -ruling class alone raised itself above the miserable, restless, joyless -struggle for daily bread, and below it bondmen in many cases wore out a -wretched existence. Not until the end of the period do men advance beyond -the stage of primitive husbandry, and then not everywhere. Agriculture -and cattle rearing remain the chief means of livelihood. The ruling -class is warlike; where the mountains permit it, they pursue the sport -of horse-racing, but for purposes of war horsemen are of little account. -Highest in public esteem stands the physical exercise which in time of -peace takes the place of military service; Greek gymnastics, of which -Homer knows little, become hallowed by the competitive games which by -degrees not only become the culminating moments of life but also evoke -the first glimmer of public spirit. - -The umpires at the Olympian games are the first to apply the name of -Hellenes to the nation--more exactly speaking, to the class. For here -it has come to pass that, though politically divided into numberless -cantons, though involved in perpetual feuds and irreconcilable local -animosities, the members of this class recognise one another, -intermarry, call a truce for the festivals, and find a common interest in -maintaining their class supremacy against the encroachments of the lower -orders. The protection of the patriarchal organisation places Sparta at -the head of a loose federation. The spirit of the age is masculine. The -loin-cloth is laid aside at gymnastic exercises, the nude male form is -the fairest of objects. The love of boys becomes not only a national -institution but the sole province in which love claims the co-operation -of the soul. Everything presents the sharpest contrast to Homer. -Gymnastics require self-control and training; military service requires -obedience; class supremacy is not favourable to the predominance of the -individual man, but demands his subordination to the class. Thus, then, -these men trained themselves strictly and austerely, and gained control -over themselves, body and soul. They set up an ideal of the perfect man, -who by training and obedience earns the right to be free and to rule. And -they held out to him the prospect of becoming equal with the gods, even -as Hercules entered heaven; but on earth they kept him within bounds by -raising above him the other Greek ideal, that of the free self-governing -community--the aggregate of equally worthy and therefore equally -privileged free men. However much the reality may have altered, these -two ideals remained inviolate, and they are the specifically European -element which the Greeks have to show as against the East--the Greeks of -the mother-country, be it understood, for Homer knows of nothing but an -unbridled individualism; he does homage to the hero who, in good and evil -alike, knows no bounds. These nobles are not licensed to aspire beyond -the limits of their class nor do they wish to do so. They invented an -ideal of happiness that could be realised on earth; all that was required -was to keep within bounds. Hercules, the ideal hero of this society, had -nothing but toil upon earth, but in return he made the step from human to -divine by his own strength. This grand conception betrays the lengths to -which Doric self-reliance believed itself able to go. - -The free man has come into being; the power above him, which we call -society or the state, has also come; at that time it was called Law -or Custom--_Nomos_; and this power is sanctified by the existence of -an exponent of the divine revelation, the god (_i.e._ the Apollo) of -Delphi. The authority of this god, and of the oracles by which he answers -through his priests, is undisputed. He addresses the mortal with the -warning “Know thyself,” that is, as a creature that is mortal. He enjoins -self-control and self-restraint; the numerous Greek adages recommending -moderation, the praise of the mean and of equality, the encomiums on -_sophrosyne_, belong to this period and to this world. No doubt, so much -would not have been said of this virtue if it had not been so rare, but -erroneous as it is to conceive of the Greeks as examples of the virtues -they recommend, the establishment of this moral ideal is significant; -a complement to their faith in the power of man to gain admittance -into heaven by force. Under Apollo’s direction music takes its place -by the side of gymnastics; music also masters the wild instincts; it -includes every kind of intellectual culture known to this society. The -boy learns to sing, to strike the lute, to keep time in the dance; and -the consecration of worship rests upon it all. Harmony must reign in -the deportment and movement of the body, and of the soul likewise. The -piper takes his place in the column on the march; it marks an important -advance that the line of battle now marches to meet the enemy in step and -in serried ranks; it is thought a fit subject for the painter’s art, and -not without justice. The ruling caste does not often produce a poet who -is a musician at the same time; the poets are for the most part brought -from the East: but the nobles must be able to sing the songs, to dance, -and even to improvise a verse to a set tune over the wine. The female sex -also takes its part in music; choirs of maidens are popular, and native -poetesses occur more frequently than native poets. Side by side with -solemn gravity we get, at stated times of the ceremonial year, the most -unbridled enjoyment, ecstatic revelry, the grossest kind of burlesque; -but this is curbed; it appeals more to the lower social strata, and does -not find expression in art until a late period. - -Like all institutions, this worship and the whole system of the cult of -Apollo was not established without fierce struggles; and it incorporated -into itself, and thus rendered innocuous, many things which it was unable -to cast forth. This was true more particularly of ecstasy. There had -been a time when the nation was thrilled by a mighty religious movement -having its source in the Phrygio-Thracian religions; the great god -Dionysus came, he who walks the earth demanding faith and followers, who -possesses men with his spirit and enables a man to experience what he -himself experienced, and is ever experiencing afresh--divine madness, -death and resurrection. The movement naturally laid hold upon the Greeks -of the East also, but it did not take souls captive there; the Homeric -Greeks have no appreciation of mysticism. Here, on the contrary, within -the religion that was gradually being Homerised, a counter-current set -in, capable, indeed, of becoming a sub-current, but only if its course -were directed into the bed of the official religion, and if Apollo -effected a compromise with Dionysus. In narrower circles, outside the -state religion, this doctrine and practice based upon the ecstasy, the -redemption of man, have always held their own; the old religion of -Demeter passed through similar crises, and the incorporation into the -state cult of secret rites such as were practised at Eleusis, did not -suffice to stifle the longing for an individual religion. But for the -time the Apolline system is triumphant. - -Doric architecture is now added to the solemn rendering of Doric -music. The temple, the house of the image of the god, made, not for -congregational worship, but for solemn procession or devout meditation, -is the consummate expression of this piety. That the gods should take the -form of men is an outcome of the Homeric temper; but Zeus as a naked man -hurling lightning, Apollo as a naked youth, the calm, majestic matrons -and maidens--these are the Doric ideal of divinity. In addition to these -we get the statues of men, the male image (ἀνδριάς) and the virginal -image (κόρη). The inspiration of these arts certainly came from the East, -but what interests and delights us in archaic sculpture and in those -very examples which seem to us typical, as so genuinely Greek, is the -Doric element; it reveals itself to us not only in the Æginetæ and the -statues of nude youths who are just as much gods as men, but also in the -Idolino and the Delphic charioteer, the Hestia Giustiniani and the female -prize-runner, in the works of Polyclitus and again in those of Myron; for -Athens long shares in this culture, the chief prophet of which at the -twelfth hour was the Theban Pindar, with his gift for showing us both its -splendour and its remoteness from modern sentiment. To this day Homer -and the Athenians produce a vivid impression on every unsophisticated -mind; Pindar requires arduous historical study, like Virgil, Dante, and -Calderon. - -By its situation, and the close ties of consanguinity between -its population and the Ionians, Athens was destined to unite the -civilisations of East and West. The comparatively large peninsula of -Attica, so shut off that it is almost insular, had already developed -into a political unit at an earlier stage. Aristocratic rule had, it is -true, reduced the less wealthy of the peasant population to a condition -of servitude, but by introducing the olive it had made agriculture -profitable; and, like the Dorians in Corinth, it had recognised trade -as an occupation not derogatory to men of rank. Material conditions for -amelioration were far more favourable than in the neighbouring island of -Ægina, where commerce concerned only the ruling class, who farmed their -lands with purchased slaves. But the rapid rise of Athens from obscurity -to the first rank is due to one man, in whom the union of East and West -was first consummated--the wise Solon. Of noble birth and in sympathy -with Dorian modes of life, he had, for all that, travelled to distant -shores as a merchant, had laid aside among the Ionians all prejudice, -superstition, and mysticism; above all, had acquired the power of using -poetry not only for political but also for moral exhortation. He was -inspired by the fullest confidence in the might, wisdom, and justice -of God, and in the goodness of human nature; all it needed was liberty -to exercise itself without let or hindrance,--a need which found its -complement in the social order,--that other men might likewise obtain the -liberty that was their right. His people had faith in him, and placed the -organisation of the state in his hands. He gave the power to the whole -people, _i.e._, to the changing majority of free and upright Athenians, -and he gave them all access to the national assembly, to the executive -committee, the deliberative council, and the national court of justice. -In principle, democracy was established. And the principle of freedom and -of equality can be obscured neither by abuse nor by inadequate use; the -only limitation to which it is subject is due to the higher principle -which Solon himself placed above it, and which never disappears, at -least, in theory, from the politics of the Greeks--the principle of -justice. Whatever modification it underwent, with Solon there came into -existence the municipal constitution, not of Athens alone, but of Greece, -which endures as long as the Greek spirit can be traced in historical -continuity--the free state of free men. At the time, as a matter of -fact, freedom could not be maintained in Athens. But the struggles of -the great families, which for another hundred years wrestled together -for supremacy, only gave the city time to absorb the Ionian spirit more -fully, to develop industry and trade side by side with agriculture, to -exploit that economic freedom which was never again encroached upon, -and so to accumulate strength in every direction for the decisive -moment. This came with the question whether Europe was to be swallowed -up in the despotic world-empire of Asia, to which Homeric Greece had -already ingloriously succumbed. The issue was not a question of national -differences, but simply one of freedom or servitude; a servitude, too, -such as the wise man often accepts, because it does not seem to threaten -individual liberty. But the free state or class, the democracy of Athens, -no less than the Peloponnesian aristocracy, refused to brook it. The -Athenian line of battle won the victory at Marathon--it was the triumph -of the Doric element. The weapon for the maritime victory of Salamis had -been rapidly forged by the genius of Themistocles, a modern Ionian in -every sense of the word. In defiance of all human calculations, Xerxes -was defeated and compelled to renounce his pretensions to the whole of -Europe. - -The spirit of Greece now became a national idea; the kinsmen of the -Greeks in Asia not only came over, but they made Athens,--Sparta being so -tardy,--the presidial centre of a confederation unprecedented in power -and extent by anything Greek; the conception of a vast Greek empire in -the future, a national confederation, seemed capable of realisation at -that moment, since it was possible for the first thought of it to take -shape. Politically, too, Athens seemed destined to unite the Greeks of -the East and of the West; and if she did so, the Greeks were bound to -possess the world. - -Under the auspices of these great times Attic tragedy arose as the most -perfect expression of the union of Western with Eastern Hellenism, -stamped with the features of the great period of its birth; for not until -Æschylus, the warrior of Marathon, took the Homeric Heroic legend for -the groundwork of the ancient ecstatic Dionysian festivals; not until he -substituted the solemn Doric chorus for the satyrs, and reduplicated the -Ionian reciter, was the drama discovered which, sublime beyond the scope -of mere humanity, and still remaining a part of the worship of the god, -yet bore within it the germ of development into a picture of human life, -making an appeal more direct and more effective than the narrative of the -rhapsodist or the song of the bard. An abundance of talent turned to this -new form, which remained Athenian even when the poets came from abroad, -and became more and more Athenian, human, and modern. Yet no one ventured -to abandon the Homeric subject-matter and go direct to contemporary life -for material. And so it continued to be, although with the decay of the -Attic empire and its great poets, tragedy (whether as Attic drama or as a -part of worship), no longer had any intrinsic claim to the subject-matter -of the Heroic legend. Here again the authority of a great achievement -condemned posterity to the depths of imitation. The form of drama known -at Athens as comedy was regarded as quite another thing; and it had -certainly gone far from its source in the same masquerade and the same -Dionysian ecstasy by the time it was cast into shape by witty Athenian -poets, and promoted to be species of literature. Comedy became drama, and -followed the lines of tragedy by centring about a definite action; it -was no less wonderful than the latter so long as it served the purpose -of the moment and of the necessarily circumscribed circle of Athenian -society; but for this very reason it exercised no universal influence, -and was destined to fall to pieces with the collapse of the political and -social fabric. The last literary achievement of Athens was to transform -it, about the time of Alexander, into a refined, purely recitative play -which occupied exactly the same relation to contemporary life as later -tragedy occupied to the Heroic legends. This new comedy deserved and -received the same classic _imprimatur_ as tragedy; but the same slavish -subjection to a model ensued; the figures of Menander, so infinitely -commonplace and provincial, alas! were doomed to make their appearance -on the comic stage, like Medea and Orestes on the tragic, whether the -play were written and acted in Rome or Alexandria. In this petrified -and haphazard form the theory rather than the poetry of the drama was -conveyed to the West. Aristotle, in particular, failed to advance from -the chance illustration of actual performances to a formulated statement -of the truth, and modern writers have still an unwholesome habit of -tossing about the terms “tragedy” and “comedy,” at all events in theory. -We have the will to admire and the capacity to understand both what has -been achieved by the Athenians and the causes that led inevitably to that -achievement: but the foundation of modern dramatic art is Shakespeare--or -Plato, who recognised in theory that tragedians and comedians are -anything but contradictory terms, and who, like Shakespeare, combined -both in himself. - -In the Athenian art of the fifth century, as in Æschylean tragedy, -the elements of Eastern and Western Greece interpenetrate, and each -heightens the effect of the other. The Parthenon is a Doric temple -with an Ionic frieze. To Ionic monumental fresco painters is given the -task of painting Homeric stories on the broad surfaces of Athenian -and Delphic porticoes; the capacity to immortalise the deeds of -contemporary life is its own contribution. From the devout spirit that -inspires the poet of the Oresteia, Phidias, with all the wealth and -all the art at his command, tries to create images of the gods that -will satisfy the religious feeling of his time. To the Greeks they were -the greatest for all time. Precisely as in the case of tragedy, such a -high strain of endeavour lasts but a short time. Then the Ionic element -becomes preponderant; the human, subjective aspect thrusts itself into -prominence. It is inevitable, and the thing it created is worthy of -admiration. But in the _pathos_ and _ethos_ of the divine types created -by Praxiteles and Scopas there is nothing but the mythological character -of Homer’s gods; they are immortal men, and no more; to Scopas and -Praxiteles they were nothing higher than this. And it was right that it -should be so; for in the meantime the comprehension of the truly divine -had so far progressed that its circumscription in a person was merely -symbolical, and implied no idea of physical incarnation. - -Ionia’s greatest and most important contribution was that provided by -the audacity of the great thinkers and observers of the sixth century, -that indeed which, by setting the whole conception of the world on a -new basis, was bound to destroy the fair illusion of gods in the form -of men which Æschylus and Phidias might still have regarded as a truth. -It was only on Ionian soil, on the soil of Homer, that man had courage -and strength to fling aside all convention, all tradition, to step into -the centre of the universe himself and say “Thou art naught but what I -recognise as thee, thou signifiest what I discover in thee.” The idea was -not at the outset formulated with this precision, but such is the spirit -in which the Ionians early went to work--not the philosophers alone, but -the reckless natures who in the world of action took themselves for the -standard of conduct--men like Archilochus the poet, whose subjectivism -combined with his brutal outspokenness and license aroused the delight -and horror of his contemporaries and of posterity. A terrible moral -danger lurked in this attitude, and Ionia, which changed nothing but its -masters, brought an infection into the mother-country which neither the -state nor society availed to overcome. But for strong natures it also -provided the remedy, and the world, for its part, owes to this Ionic -element the best of what the Greeks have bequeathed to her--science, -philosophy, natural science, and history, though it is true that they had -first to be ennobled by the Athenians. This is most easily seen in the -case of history. - -_Historia_ is subjective inquiry; Herodotus, not a man of powerful -intellect, gives us, as he himself says, the sum of his own -investigations. This includes what he has seen, heard, read, and thought, -all in close juxtaposition. The subjective mind determines how and what -he can and may narrate. Thucydides, the Athenian, on the other hand, -writes the war of the Peloponnesians and Athenians; here it is the object -which is the determining factor. The writer renders both himself and the -reader account of his subject and of his method, indicates the degree of -credibility for his various statements and adds his own interpretations -and conclusions for what they are worth; the scientific method has thus -been reached. Man has not lost his independence, but he consciously -places his whole strength at the service of an idea, in this case the -idea of truth; and, clear as it is to him that he cannot reach the point -of presenting it pure and complete, he has no doubt that an objective -truth exists and is accessible to human knowledge. - -Natural science had begun, at a stroke, to explain genesis (das Werden) -in general and particular by a bold hypothesis. The investigator made the -laws. Natural science, in its turn, came to test its laws by a thousand -patient, minute, independent observations of nature, to accumulate -the facts from which the rule might be deduced in its turn. Most -important for this purpose is the cultivation of that domain in which -pure abstraction permits of an unbroken series of proofs, the domain -of numbers and geometrical concepts. Here we have a genuine process -of learning from which, in time, mathematics takes its name; here the -deceptive character of sensuous perceptions is as clear as the existence -of knowable laws; here are revealed the necessity and possibility of -many to collaborate and continue the work. It was not by means of his -religious brotherhood, which, if it had lasted, would have ultimately -become a sect, that Pythagoras exercised a beneficent influence, but by -the methodical organisation of study, which became scientific in so far -as it turned its attention to mathematics. At the same time, in spite -of all premature hypotheses, medicine, the branch of observation most -closely in touch with actual life, discovered by keen observation and -continuous experiment the right way to gain a knowledge of the human -body, its nature, its sufferings, how to keep it healthy, or if necessary -how to cure it. In astronomy and medicine we have the difference between -the East and Hellas most clearly manifest. Thousands of years before, the -Babylonians had already observed the heavens; thousands of years before, -the Egyptians had compounded prescriptions from all kinds of drugs -and simples. But this was sorcery, and even the Greeks had to pay for -allowing themselves to be imposed upon by it. - -In the sphere of morals the breach with that _Nomos_ of which we have -spoken was a great danger: the whole edifice of the Apolline organisation -fell to pieces. Democracy fairly challenged man to translate his theory -into practice, and the mental attitude of the time was so political -that people thought Anaxagoras a crank, because of his own free will he -devoted himself to the _vita contemplativa_ and refused to mingle in the -political hurly-burly. They declined to believe in his good faith, and -political suspicion allied with the principle of established authority, -which always naturally opposes a tendency so novel, banished him from -Athens. And from the very fact that, in all other fields, this principle -was so strong among the Greeks, the age that dared express and pursue -every thought that rose in the mind acquires its peculiar significance. -The activity, inventiveness, and audacity of the period of the sophists, -with its superabundance of talent, sowed seeds without number, many of -which, unproductive at the time, have been left for the modern world -rightly to appreciate. Thus a science of jurisprudence would have been -developed, had not the fall of the empire destroyed the sphere in which -alone a uniform system of law could prevail: the practice of the legal -profession thus falling into the hands of pettifoggers, while the theory -of jurisprudence was left to philosophers, who were honest in their quest -of the principle of justice. - -Modern speculation has gradually outgrown the tendency to regard the -sophists through the eyes of Plato, and to impute to them moral and -intellectual indifferentism. One thing, however, is incontestable: -the whole movement, coming, as it does, from Ionia, is rationalistic -through and through; the intellect will acknowledge nothing on a par -with itself. A prophet like Empedocles, who was a doctor, a philosopher, -and a poet to boot, besides cherishing the proud conviction of being as -good a sophist as any other, could go about extolling his revelation in -the Peloponnesus; in Athens he would have found no place. The port of -Athens, on the other hand, was laid out by a Milesian diagrammatically -in the dreary chess-board style then in vogue for buildings on new -sites, although it can only be satisfactory on paper, inasmuch as it -neither takes account of the character of the landscape nor consists -with the artistic feeling of the Greeks. Rationalistic in his teaching, -again, was the only Athenian whose sophist doctrines gave offence to his -compatriots, especially because instead of making a fortune like the -teachers of wisdom from abroad, he neglected his affairs. We, ourselves, -should hardly except Socrates from the category of sophists on account -of his merits as a dialectician, had not the reactionary democracy of -the restoration executed him as a person dangerous to the common weal. -He chose to die rather than do the least thing that ran counter to his -consciousness of rectitude, his Logos, the belief in the reality of the -Good which he was not able to demonstrate by rationalistic methods; and -the moral grandeur of his death has reared for the faith of the human -race an image which bears eternal witness that man is free and happy if -he can but base his actions on belief in the Good; he needs no future -world of punishment and reward. This eccentric Silenus-faced Athenian did -not aspire to become a god like Hercules, he would have been more at home -in a pedantic than a heroic atmosphere: he merely did nothing which he -did not think right. The claim that the will obeys the reason--in most -cases such a pitiful brag!--was a truth with him. Socrates was Athenian -to the core, and therefore a loyal citizen of the democratic state; but, -like Solon, he combines the Ionian and the Doric temperament; and, in -common with the law-giver, he is devoid of feeling for mysticism and -the whole sphere of the Unknown. His life is only intelligible as an -outgrowth of the history of Athens; his death makes him a type of man as -he can and should be. So long as the human race survives on our planet it -will be a master experience of our moral education to live through the -dying hours of this old and ugly plebeian. - -That we can so do, that we can have Socrates as our master, we owe wholly -and solely to the loyalty and poetic genius of the man (Plato) who set -himself in the days of that agony to show that--hard as it may be to -define uprightness, courage, piety and what other virtues there may -be--the upright and courageous and therefore happy man has demonstrated -in his own person the reality of these abstractions. This alone would -have sufficed to make Plato a benefactor to mankind; but this is only -a small part of his labours. With all that Socrates and the school -of sophistry taught him, he combines mathematics and the mysticism -of Pythagoras. He founded the school which was destined to serve the -purposes of organised scientific work for nearly a thousand years, and -which is the prototype of all such organisations. He lays down the -fundamental lines of every philosophical science, constructing, and, -where he thinks he has found a better way, demolishing the foundations -he himself has laid. Many of his intuitions have only been verified -after the lapse of centuries and tens of centuries; others still await -verification. The force inherent in him is best proved by the energy -of those who assure us that he has had his day. He has set Eros as the -mediator between heaven and earth; this Eros has no worthier abode than -the writings of Plato; through them, even to-day, Psyche is learning the -road heavenwards. But Plato is a Greek in every fibre, he can only be -understood through his people, and his people through him. - -Plato was a poet; and though he fixed his mind wholly on the eternal -type, unduly despising the individual phenomenon, and thrusting his own -individuality completely into the background, yet this individuality with -its poetic genius cast light and shade in bewildering alternation over -every field of contemplation, like the full moon as she fleets over the -mountains and plains of Attica. - -Science needed the cool judgment and caution of the systematiser. She -found it in the person of Aristotle, the master-builder among men -(_baumeisterlicher Mann_), as Goethe calls him. At his hands science -first received systematic treatment and method--the tools of her craft. -The existence of the man and his work attest for all time the unnatural -character of a division of the one and indivisible body of science though -it be only into natural and abstract sciences. For even in the collection -of material, he laboured for all branches alike. It is idle to inquire -which were the greater, his personal achievements or those which owed -their birth to his example. For his successors carried on the work in -his spirit, even more truly when, often after vehement controversy, they -advanced beyond him, than when they rested content with merely working -out the plan of the master-builder. Sprung of a family of physicians, -and endowed with the Ionian temperament, the natural science of Ionia is -the most substantial contribution he made to the legacy bequeathed by -Plato. But he had likewise made himself familiar with all the accepted -tricks of oratory at Athens, he speaks with authority on logic, rhetoric, -and poetry, and he is capable of treating all literary forms with the -hand of a master. Yet he did not discover his own peculiar style until -he combined the bald simplicity of Ionian scientific phraseology with -Attic balance and Attic elegance. Thus he became the father of scientific -prose, of the text-book no less than the lecture and the practical -investigation. Even in halting translations he afforded nutriment to -powerful intellects. His own words will have a modern ring to the end of -time. - -It is a characteristic distinction between the two philosophers that -Plato, the incomparable artist in words, fiercely attacked rhetoric, -while Aristotle made it a cardinal item in his programme of education. -It was a power and he reckoned with it accordingly, not without yielding -more to contemporary taste than we can approve. To the modern mind -rhetoric is the least congenial element in the culture and literature -of antiquity. We can understand that in the political agitation which -pervaded the Attic empire, oratory, which was a daily necessity in -parliamentary debate and in the law courts, was bound to develop into -an art, and that a literature should have arisen corresponding to -that of our daily press. So, too, we can understand that the manifold -intellectual activity of the age of the sophists, and the tentative -efforts of science, needed an organ which should not only convey -practical information but have an eye to effect. That this prose should -become Attic, in spite of the fact that the language of Athens had -barely passed through its first phase of development in tragedy, was -inevitable from the time when Athens took the lead in Greece. In the -sphere of language, at all events, the country attained to national -unity. But to us there is at first sight something monstrous in the -fact that in the age of Pericles a set form of oratory should arise -which not only consciously competes with poetry but seeks to supplant -it--and which actually succeeded in preventing the development of any new -poetic method. The whole classic world, including the Latins, devoted no -trifling labour and skill to this art of eloquence, and its art-theory -ended by making poetry a mere subdivision of it. We are now coming to -recognise more and more how much modern poetry in particular owes to this -prose-poetry and its methods: the modern connecting-link of the rhyme -was discovered beyond all dispute by that Gorgias whom Plato attacked as -the champion of rhetoric; the intermediate links lie before us in an -unbroken chain. Our astonishment subsides, if we so far rid ourselves -of prejudice as to realise how arbitrary is every line of demarcation -between poetry and prose. Not only the poems of Walt Whitman, but a great -many of Goethe’s finest poems would be regarded by every Greek art-critic -as prose. Prose really implies that the language proceeds on foot; the -reverse,--that it soars aloft by means of this device or that,--applies -to every conventionalised form of speech; whether it is cast into a -regular measure or not is irrelevant in comparison with the fact that -it is informed by measure. The Hellenic bias towards style manifests -itself here in the creation of a definite form, and we cannot question -the fact that the development of the period demanded a new style and one -unhampered by the laws of metre. For at such a high point of civilisation -the poetic form does not suffice for what the world has to say and wishes -to hear. Empty and conventional jingle, relying on tricks of style, -undoubtedly attained a bad eminence in Greek and Latin oratory; but a -similar spectacle has been afforded by poetry and the arts of chisel -and brush. If a man had something to say, like Aristotle, Polybius, -and Plutarch, it did him no harm to clothe his thoughts in a form, the -effect of which we perceive agreeably even without understanding the art -to which it is due. It is the same artistic conventionality which to -this day lends to French prose, whether it be that of literature or of -polite conversation, the charm which the Teuton does not possess in equal -measure. And the French have attained to it by a rhetorical schooling -traditionally derived from the method of antiquity. That elegance is not -an inborn quality with them is shown by the formlessness of so great a -writer as Rabelais. Were we in a position to read the laws of Solon we -should perceive that Attic elegance was likewise no gift of heaven. An -art which we find still dominant in the sermons and hagiography of the -Byzantines is a power not to be despised, even apart from its historical -value. - -[Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS TO-DAY] - -Again, it was not to these conventional tricks, in the first instance, -that Plato was averse. He was logician enough to appreciate the high -educational value of making thought move in regulated periods (a thing -that many people overlook nowadays); but the heaven-born poet felt that -this intellectual mechanism was antagonistic to the direct unconscious -self-revelation of emotional experience. The thing that roused him to -passionate protest was the claim laid by rhetoric to the formation -of youth. This had to be begun on a fresh system, the old training -in music and gymnastics being no longer adequate. The question was -between a scientific and philosophical education (Plato was thinking -particularly of mathematics, to which we also devote attention) and a -conventional and mechanical training of the mind. There is no question -that the rhetoricians provided the latter. It is rhetoric that our own -schools desire to achieve by the practice of speaking and writing in -the mother-tongue, and rhetoric that they formerly aimed at by speaking -and writing in Latin. This Plato repudiated because it was no genuine -knowledge, while the fact that the rhetorician took upon himself to talk -of everything, irrespective of how much he knew of his subject, and never -attempted to conceal that he aimed at effect and nothing else, appeared -to the disciple of Socrates wantonly immoral. And when Isocrates, the -most successful and systematic teacher of rhetoric, called his form of -instruction philosophy, it must have sounded like mockery in the ears -of the genuine philosopher. In youth, Plato had experienced in his own -case that no poetic form was suited to portray what was to him the -noblest of all visions--Socrates in converse with his pupils and with -the sophists. He felt within himself the capacity to embody this vision -directly by the reproductive power of imagination without any other -stylistic conventionality than that of his own poetic fire. Thus in the -divine madness of the poet, of which he speaks later in his _Phædrus_, he -found the form to suit him. This form he perfected, and created, in the -height of his power, works in which we find all the merits of all kinds -of poetry and rhetoric, but which are, nevertheless, something utterly -apart and unique. In his old age he probably felt that the form was no -longer adequate to the substance; but he did not care to abandon it; -and he who has glowed with enthusiasm with the youthful Plato, in his -elder years willingly gives ear to the style of his old age, because the -soul within has not grown old. Great writers like Aristotle and Cicero, -having safely stored this characteristic form, which was natural to -one period and one person alone, in the pigeon-holes of their æsthetic -system, have indeed produced admirable dialogues. They are counterfeits -none the less, and it is a wholly anti-Platonic classicism which holds -or would hold the dialogue to be the true, or even a particularly good, -method of scientific investigation and statement. Plato’s dialogue is -a miracle which will edify the world to the end of time, like Athenian -tragedy and the comedy of Aristophanes; but it is specifically Athenian. -This is why Aristotle at his best abandoned dialogue in favour of a -plain statement of ideas. Had the efforts of Aristotle been attended -with success, the quarrel between rhetoric and philosophy would have -been adjusted, inasmuch as rhetorical training would have received its -proper and subordinate place in the philosophical education of youth. But -the unforeseen expansion of Hellenic civilisation did not allow of such -root-growth, and at a later period the power was wanting. In the dialogue -_De Oratore_, that work which has most of the Platonic character, Marcus -Cicero, though himself of the rhetorical school, renews the attempt to -subordinate rhetoric to scientific training. In so doing he reproduced -the ideas of his contemporaries, the successors of Plato in the Academy. -The attempt succeeded neither in Rome nor in Greece. One of the strongest -signs of decadence in the time of the empire is the fact that philosophy, -except where it holds its own in narrow scholastic circles, has to -yield precedence to rhetoric. Where the Latin language prevailed more -especially, philosophy becomes no more than a part of general education; -while rhetoric, thanks to an adherence to Attic models of style that -grows ever closer and more difficult, becomes more and more an empty -game of words that only serves to mask the internal decay which it -precipitates. And yet the sight of the clinging ivy on the trunk of the -dead oak is a fair one. - -For centuries the great model of all rhetoricians was Demosthenes. His -inimitable greatness is most plainly manifest in their imitations, -even though they be those of Cicero. He, too, is intelligible only in -connection with his age and his city, the only time and place which could -have brought him forth as their natural fruit. The statesmen of the -great epoch of Athens had wrought with the living word, prisoned in no -written document--thus, Pericles. Gradually the political pamphlet began -to make its way, choosing amongst other forms that of the δημηγορία, or -parliamentary speech. The leading statesmen, indeed, wrote very seldom; -but the literati, whom they made their mouthpiece, in time became a -power in the formation of public opinion. Pre-eminent among these was -Isocrates; he too made use of the form of the δημηγορία amongst others, -his studied arts of speech giving it a character which must have formed -a singular contrast to the words dictated by the passion of the moment -in the Pnyx. It was a result of existing conditions that the speech in -the law courts was sometimes suited to produce its effect as a pamphlet -pretty much in the form in which it had been delivered. The popularity -of rhetoric also preserved many speeches in the courts which had no -particular tendency, and thus, curiously enough, special pleading made -its way into literature. But Demosthenes was the first to rise to the -position of a leading statesman by the publication of orations to the -people or to the courts which he had either actually made or else had -reduced to this form. Simultaneously his works took their place among -the most distinguished classics of his nation. His only education had -been that of an advocate, which included, it must be admitted, all the -arts of speech; nothing that may even remotely be called science ever -touched him. In our moral judgment of him we should apply no standard but -that which he recognised; he took the license which had been taken by -patriotic Athenian statesmen even in the days of Themistocles. Possibly -this did not tally with the Platonic standard, but then, neither did -the state of Athens. The charm of Demosthenes lies in his faith in -the democratic imperialistic ideals of the Athens of Pericles. That -these had long been past hope, was the key to his fate; he himself was -ruined by the fact. That by the power of the spoken word and the faith -that alone makes the word powerful, he almost succeeded in inspiring -his worn-out and selfish nation with his own patriotism, and, that in -spite of everything, Athens once again entered the arena to champion -liberty against Philip with the lives of her citizens--therein lies his -greatness. The tragic side of this greatness heightens its fascination -for one who sees through the illusions of Demosthenes and perceives the -better right, historically speaking, on the side of Philip; but the fire -of the passion of Demosthenes will carry even such a one away. This is -not the charm to which the rhetoricians were susceptible. What held -them spell-bound is what at first alienates our sympathies. Hellenic -art restrained all wildness and passion, reducing it to the smoothest, -most harmonious form. Demosthenes did not speak like this, of that we -are sure. As a writer he practises the art of conventionalisation with -the soundest judgment and the most cautious intelligence--we discover -that this speaker can do whatever he pleases, his power knows no -bounds; but he himself defines the narrow limits consistent with the -growth of harmonious beauty; beauty, if you will, of the style in which -contemporary art adorned its mausoleums; for in the case of Scopas and -Leochares, too, vast pathos slumbers beneath the sweep of the beautiful -line. - -Athenian independence and power and that Greek liberty in opposition to -which Philip looked a barbarian and a tyrant in the eyes of Demosthenes, -had in truth long been but a phantom. The attempt made by Athenian -statesmen, from Aristides to Pericles, to transform into an Athenian -empire the confederation of cities which the repulse of the Persians -had called into existence, was the greatest act of the Hellenes in the -sphere of politics. The concentration of their civilisation into a unit -under the hegemony of Athens was achieved. But the issue which the young -Thucydides foresaw when, at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war, he -determined to write his history, fell out otherwise than he perhaps -anticipated or than was in all human probability to be anticipated. -Athens had not strength to subdue the Peloponnesus; Sparta subdued Athens -and destroyed the empire--but with the help of the Persians, who were the -real victors. The result was not only the desolation and brutalisation -incident to a long civil war, but a despair of any kind of favourable -issue--indeed of any issue at all. The restoration of the Athenian -democracy, the catastrophe of Sparta, which after Leuctra has as much -as it can do in fighting for its own existence, the ephemeral rise of -Thebes, due to the pre-eminence of a single man, all this has no further -significance in the history of the nation except to emphasise the fact -that none of these little cities could maintain a sovereignty either at -home or over their neighbours; that they existed only in virtue of the -general weakness. Even the Persian might, which imposes its will on the -Greeks so frequently even without the aid of armed force, subsists only -because no one attacks it. What this whole world lacks is a dominant -will to coerce it to its own advantage. It lacks a master. Many are -aware of this, many give voice to it; that state in particular,--founded -in violence and yet powerful,--which Dionysius of Syracuse carved out -for himself by overcoming the Carthaginians in the hour of their need, -widely disseminated this feeling. The fall of his dynasty brought about a -reaction, and the spirit of ancient municipal independence owed its power -to the fact that the monarchy seemed to place even the personal freedom -of the individual in jeopardy. How Philip would have solved the problem -put in his hands on the day of Chæronea, it is idle to speculate. Long -before that, the aged Isocrates had called upon him to take his place as -general of the Hellenic confederacy against the Persians. And now it came -to pass that his son was confronted with this same problem. He it was who -solved it. He is and was the master of whom the Hellenic nation stood in -need. - -Demosthenes and all those who were pledged to the old ideals of sovereign -cities, whether oligarchies or democracies, were naturally incapable of -understanding the great king and his empire, but even Aristotle seems to -have thought much as they did, although he had been Alexander’s tutor and -saw clearly the need of reform in society and the petty states, and was -strongly inclined to translate his political theories into practice. His -historical compilations ignore the Macedonian monarchy, and his theories -reveal no suspicion of what Alexander designed and executed. This ought -not to astonish us, even if we see in Alexander the crowning figure of -Hellenic civilisation. For all truly great men in history seem to the -reflective eye of posterity like providential agents appearing at the -right moment to accomplish what has long ago been augured as a need, -prophesied and prepared for. As a matter of fact they accomplish the -result in quite another fashion, a fashion of their own, often contrary -to all anticipation, filled as they justly are with the sense that they -are contributing something new and original. But contemporaries who have -no power of reading history backwards from the event (even if their -interpretation were likely to be sound), experience the clash of this -novel contribution with all the more violence the higher they stand over -the common herd, which after all only takes up the catchword, crying, -“Hosannah!” on Sunday, and on Friday, “Crucify!” Even now it counts -itself singularly sage for taking its catchword from Demosthenes or -Aristotle for the condemnation of Alexander. - -Alexander went to Asia with the intention of seizing upon the empire of -the Persian king. This he accomplished, not in a wild orgy of victory but -with the tenacious perseverance which took three years for the conquest -and organisation of the Eastern provinces, but did not overleap itself -by extravagant ambitions. It is only legend that makes him the conqueror -of the world. He was a Macedonian, the hereditary king of a feudal state -which the energy of his father had transformed into a military monarchy. -He was a Greek in the sense which even the journalists had long since -learned to express by saying that it was not race but education that made -the Greek. But he was also recognised as the legitimate successor of the -Achæmenides, and was himself willing to employ the Persians, side by side -with Macedonians and Hellenes, in the service of the empire. His empire -was accordingly not to be based on nationality, it was to rear itself -over the heads of nations and states. He granted self-government in the -widest interpretation of the term to kingdoms, half-civilised tribes, -Hellenic and other towns; he not only respected all local peculiarities -of manners and religion, he even went so far in this direction as to -deliver peoples from a foreign yoke--as for instance in the case of the -Egyptians. But his empire was to be more than a confederacy, it was to -be an effective entity with the imperial rule supreme over all, with the -imperial army a ready instrument of war in the hands of the sovereign, -to compel the Universal Peace, as he called his empire, and with the -king’s officers able to exercise sufficient authority for the protection, -not only of the constituent parts of the empire against one another but -also of the individual against the arbitrary action of the individual -community. Finally, he realised the civilising mission of the state as -fully as any prince has ever realised it; he took in hand the irrigation -of Mesopotamia, founded cities, built harbours, and set about the -scientific exploration of his newly discovered world in a style to which -even the present furnishes few parallels. - -The imperial government, like the imperial army, was centred, head and -heart, in the king. On his person everything depended. Absolute monarchy -was the only possible form for the empire. The founder of this empire, -who bore as many wounds on his body as anyone among his veterans, who -commanded in all battles in person, who himself, by ceaseless toil, -carried on the business of administration, might well regard himself as -the true king whose right to rule, even his master, Aristotle, did not -dispute, though he questioned the possibility of such a man’s existence. -But Alexander in no way regarded himself as a sovereign because he had -the power. He regarded himself as a king by the grace of God, not in the -sense of a more or less dubious legitimacy, which many great and petty -sovereigns are apt to advance as sole proof of their title, but in the -sense in which the genuine artist and the prophet may claim to be the -depositaries of the divine spirit. It was the reverse of presumption when -Alexander set the divine element in himself in the foreground. During his -lifetime he exhibited the most scrupulous piety, and it is contemptible -to tax him with hypocrisy; he had far more faith in miracles and oracles -than we are willing to ascribe to the pupil of Aristotle, though we can -readily understand it in the Macedonian and the soldier. To him it was a -revelation from heaven when the Libyan god greeted him as his son. Had -not his ancestor, Heracles, been the son of Zeus and of Amphitryon? For -him personally it was the confirmation of his faith in his own mission, -and the divinity of its ruler gave his empire a religious consecration. -It was consistent with this idea that the worship of Alexander took -its place above the innumerable special cults of tribes and towns, of -families and communities, as the religion of the empire as a whole. There -are many instances of the worship of the sovereign being assigned a place -in the pantheon, side by side with that of the godhead figured under a -thousand different names and shapes; for the worship of defunct monarchs, -the ancient and hallowed practice of ancestor-worship offers a precedent. -The adoration paid to Plato and Epicurus was of a precisely similar -character. Thus, the abuses of which weaklings and miscreants on the -throne, and flatterers and sycophants among subjects, have been guilty, -must not be allowed to neutralise the historical and spiritual authority -of the institution of the worship of the sovereign, which is inseparably -bound up with the institution of the monarchy of Alexander. This monarchy -is the highest phase of political and social organisation attained by -antiquity. For the much-lauded Roman Empire is nothing else than this -kind of monarchy, _imperium et libertas_. Cæsar actually grasped at the -crown of the Greek king. So far as Italy and the West were concerned, -Augustus certainly wished to be the first citizen and no more--the -confidential agent of the sovereign people. But to the Greek half of his -empire he was from the first both king and god, and he owed his victory -not least to his own belief and that of others in the divinity of his -adoptive father. From the time of Hadrian the Augustan theory was in the -main exploded even in the West. - -This Hellenistic state allowed Alexander’s scheme to drop; he would have -granted the Persians full rights of citizenship. From henceforth these -rights pertain only to the man who has been Hellenised--the legal stamp -of such a condition being membership of an Hellenic community. This is -clearly manifest in Egypt, where even the Roman emperor bestows Roman -citizenship on no Egyptian who has not been adopted into one of the Greek -cities of the country. (In this connection we may leave institutions -specifically Roman out of account.) For the rest, the king strives to -preserve the ideals of the elder age of Greece, the free man and the -free state. Personal and economic liberty, legal redress, and liberty -of emigration are for the most part secured, not only to the subjects -of a single kingdom, but to all Greeks. In like manner the cities enjoy -a very considerable liberty of action, in degrees ranging from nominal -sovereignty down to the government by royal officials which is presently -established in Alexandria. The ancient Greek municipalities of Asia, -in particular, enjoyed as subjects much greater privileges than, for -example, the cities of Latin countries at the present day. The country, -on the contrary, was almost everywhere allotted to some municipal -community; that tendency with which we are familiar in the Roman Empire, -to convert nations which did not take kindly to town settlements (like -the Celts, for instance) from tribes into towns, if only on paper, is -equally perceptible in Syria. Egypt remained “the country,” _Chora_, but -likewise remained barbarous and enslaved. One of the rocks on which the -civilisation of antiquity made shipwreck was the fact that the farmer -was kept in tutelage or even in bondage by the city, and that he lagged -behind it in education. Slavery, as an institution, has to be reckoned -with only in the western half of the empire; not in Egypt, Palestine, -and large districts of Asia. A community which holds property of its -own, imposes its own taxes, which has its own laws and law courts, its -own constitution and elective magistrates, is free to all intents and -purposes; the fact that it pays a fixed tribute to the king, and leaves -to his decision or award all questions of peace and war, intercourse -with foreign states, or even with communities of its own political -status, and is in many respects practically subject to his control, -does not materially detract from its liberty. The danger of such a -situation lurks in the circumstance that it minimises interest in their -own city among the most capable of its citizens. It offers no career -for effective political action. Worse still, the citizen ceases to bear -arms. The army consists of the royal troops, official rank goes by royal -appointment, and the monarchy alone has great resources at its command. -To this centre, and to courts and capitals, the stir of life and every -kind of talent is drawn. Very few of the free cities, mainly those which -still retained their sovereign rights, like Rhodes, remained centres of -civilisation. Not one of the new settlements became such, unless it was -a royal capital. Doubtless there can be no genuine patriotism when the -citizen takes no part in public life either by counsel or act. Doubtless -a government which rests entirely upon the capacity of the sovereign -can neither he stable, nor in the long run endure. But, on the whole, -we must confess that the Hellenes lived at ease under this kind of -government. The ancient petty states alone chose rather to bleed to death -than to forego the empty name of liberty. We may regard with sympathy the -attempts at confederacies made by Crete, the Peloponnesus and Ætolia; but -we cannot deny that politically they are of little importance; they are -matters of no moment in the history of civilisation. - -About the year 330 there were three men who stood forth as the -representatives of the great ideals of life--Alexander, Aristotle, and -Demosthenes. Demosthenes perishes; the time is gone by for his kind of -Greek liberty and greatness; the future is for the heroes of the _vita -activa_ and the _vita contemplativa_, men of action who passionately -assail the Doric ideal of the _sophrosyne_, as Alexander did in taking -the Achilles of Homer for his model. In many cases they are inspired -solely by personal ambition, and the lust of pleasure joins hands with -the love of power. The end is contempt for man and the nausea of satiety. -Of such are Demetrius, the conqueror of cities, and Pyrrhus. But not a -few have learned from Aristotle and Alexander what the duty of a king -is. The first sovereigns of the dynasties of the Seleucids and the -Ptolemies, Antigonus Gonatas and Hiero of Syracuse, devoted a lifetime of -toil and pains to the high duty of sovereignty. Cleomenes of Sparta, the -socialistic dreamer on the throne, perishes in the attempt to renew the -youth of Sparta and the Peloponnesus. - -The men of contemplative life vanish from public and often from social -life; they make a habit of living celibate lives in small circles and -communities; doctrine alone, and that often esoteric, takes its place -side by side with research. Those who translate into action what they -have learned from the masters generally contribute little to scientific -inquiry. Philosophy is compelled to an inevitable step, the several -sciences disengage themselves from her. What remains,--metaphysical and -logical speculation,--nevertheless maintains its supreme ascendancy in -virtue of the fact that from this time forward the active, effective -potency of philosophy shines forth, the potency which she exercises as -_magistra vitæ_, as the religion of the heart and the assurance of the -intellect in life and conduct. This power extends its sway over ever -widening circles even though it cannot reach down to the lower classes; -and the gulf between the cultured and the illiterate grows broader and -broader. Athens remains the capital city of this philosophy; this is -its only title to distinction. Wide as are the differences between the -schools, they are agreed in this, that their ideal is the sage, the man -apart, who takes his stand not only above the world but outside it--the -reverse of the kingly type. The historic continuity of the ancient -ideals, Ionian no less than Dorian, is unmistakable. - -The various sciences flourish where the necessary means are at their -disposal, that is to say, at the courts. This does not make them courtly -in character, although Eratosthenes and Aristarchus were tutors of -princes; not mathematics alone but all serious learning knows no royal -road for kings. The library, the observatory, the scientific collections, -and the medical school of Alexandria, which far surpass all others, must -be looked upon as directly due to the school of Aristotle; the first -two Ptolemies honoured learning, and for that reason gave it nothing -but means and liberty. In the second century, their unworthy successors -banished the company of scholars, who then found liberty at least in -Rhodes. By tracing the course of mathematics and astronomy we can see -how the scholars of the few places where they laboured with enthusiasm -keep in constant touch with one another by their writings; but splendid -as is the progress made by individuals, the number of those who can -really follow is very small, and we feel that a general stagnation must -set in if this correspondence were to die out and the few scientific -institutions perish. Without the study of pure science that of the -applied sciences will never make progress; it will soon lose ground. -Thus it was, even in the department in which observation and practice -most go hand in hand, in medicine. From his geographical, botanical, and -zoölogical survey, Alexander had left behind an enormous mass of material -which was at first augmented by many additions. Eratosthenes, in his map -of the world, could use some of the astronomical definitions of locality -which had evidently been made for the purpose. This is the origin of the -network of degrees with which the globe is overlaid, and one would have -thought that other scholars would have hastened to verify and complete -it by further measurements of shadows. Not so. True, Eratosthenes stands -at the end of the third century, when the great period of advance is -over, and the evil genius of Greece gathers strength to rest satisfied -with the great things achieved and, by canonising them, to put a stop -to further progress. The criticism of Hipparchus, well grounded as it -was in the abstract, contributed something to this end by repudiating -the good attained and setting hindrances in the way of a greater -attainable good, for the sake of a greatest good that was unattainable. -Every department of natural science presents much the same spectacle. -What has been gained by the labours of the third century, is here and -there carried farther by the few (in many cases, as was inevitable, by -quantitative amplification), but in the main the scientific thinking had -been done; and by no means all the old ideas were transmitted, even in -this petrified form. It was left for the nineteenth century, which in its -own strength has advanced to an incomparable height of knowledge, to look -back and appreciate at its just value the achievements and intuitions of -the earlier age. - -In the department of abstract science the accumulation of material,--not -only of the whole heritage of literature, but also of all that was -preserved in the memory of man,--was taken in hand on a scale amazingly -vast. The Ionians had already taken note of the traditions of barbarous -nations; the study was prosecuted in the spirit of Alexander, and -presently Hellenised barbarians, such as Manetho, Berosus, and Apollonius -of Caria, took part in it. Grammar, with philology, lexicography, textual -criticism, and minute exegesis, likewise becomes a genuine science, -the importance of which, again, the nineteenth century has been the -first to realise, when, in the pride of its own strength, it soared -beyond the achievements of this early period. Towards a real science of -history, however, no step had been taken, even in dealing with Homer, -who constituted the centre and culminating point of these studies. -Nor did the Greeks attempt to gain a scientific conception of any -foreign language, not even of Latin. This one-sided view hampered their -historical judgment. Not one of them tried to see from the point of view -of another mind, and their philology and their science of history have -therefore remained rationalistic. - -The students in the sphere of language and literature were principally -poets, men whose interest was æsthetic; and the poetry of the time, in so -far as it has come down to us, is either actually erudite or has the airs -and graces of erudition, in that it employs the art-forms of an earlier -period, particularly those of the Ionic school. It displays a vast amount -of taste and elegance; it twines about the stately life of the courts -and the seats of learning, the quiet peristyles of the town houses and -country villas by shore and stream; as rich and ornate as the grotesques -of the loggias in the Vatican and the frescoes of the Farnesina, -obtrusively magnificent as the allegories of the Doges’ palace and of the -Luxembourg. But it no longer brought forth anything that fired the spirit -of the whole nation, and spoke to all mankind. Moreover, it disdained to -seek new forms, and soon prohibited the search for them. No doubt in the -lower and numerically larger classes of society there continued to exist -a poetry which satisfied their needs, a poetry which would probably have -a powerful charm for us by reason of its popular character; but the fatal -evil was that the nation was now altogether incapable of renewing its -youth by the upspringing of fresh elements. - -Prose was more national in character and more lucid. Our terminology is -incommensurable with that of the period, and the works themselves have -all fallen victims to the later tendencies of style, but when we see that -the historical novel, the love-story, the _roman comique_, the romance of -travel, and so forth, are Hellenic products, we suspect that intellectual -activity was no less marked in this sphere than in others. - -In the third century the bias towards mysticism seems to have been -completely repressed, we find no trace of a popular religious movement -that seizes upon the hearts of men and takes their senses captive. The -Ionian spirit prevails throughout. The gorgeous ritual of worship, the -temple-building and festivals, all bear the stamp of superficiality. -Even the disciples of Plato hark back to Socratic criticism: the -result being the most important scientific work of the age, though to -the uninitiated it looks like pure scepticism. It has its complement, -however, in Plato’s own writings and in the practical recognition of his -moral idealism. The deficiency is none the less unmistakable. Even with -the noblest representatives of active as of intellectual life we breathe -a thin rationalistic air. In the second century mysticism begins to come -slowly to the surface, frequently associated with the ancient name of -Pythagoras, not seldom heralding the irruption of the barbarian element -and barbarian religions. And astrology, with its vain superstitions, has -already made its appearance, having tortured into its service a hideously -shallow pseudo-science. - -Even the man in whom the intellectual culture of the Hellenistic period -as a whole is once more grandly embodied at its close does not escape -the contagion of this false doctrine; I mean Posidonius, who, in the -spirit of Aristotle, strove, by voyages of discovery, observations, and -calculations of his own, to unite that side of philosophy which touched -upon natural science with metaphysics and ethics, primarily and mainly on -the basis of the old Stoic school, though strongly influenced by Plato -and Aristotle. Apart from these merits, he was a brilliant portrayer of -manners and chronicler of contemporary history, a loyal adherent of the -Roman oligarchy, even though he preferred to live in Rhodes, the most -independent of free cities. By his monotheism, which was a heart-felt -religion with him, by the mixture of mysticism and reason, the abundance -of his encyclopædic learning and his advocacy of encyclopædic education, -he affected the succeeding age more powerfully than any other man; -especially among the Romans, for Varro and Cicero, Sallust and Seneca -are under his influence. For all our admiration we must confess that he -himself is not free from gross superstition, and that scholarship with -him is in danger of being attenuated to general culture. We can judge -of the change when we remember that he was the pupil of Panætius, the -shallow and shrewd-minded friend of Scipio Æmilianus, who drew up for -the Romans a handbook of the Ciceronian doctrine of duty, afterwards -compiled by Cicero in his _Di Officiis_, and who athetised the _Phædo_, -because the doctrine of immortality appeared to him unworthy of the -admired dialectician. - -Posidonius came from Apamea in Syria, and countries in which the bulk of -the population was Semitic furnish a large number of contemporary poets -and writers of all sorts. But the best witness to the power of Hellenism -is supplied by those circles which oppose it, in the front rank the Jews, -concerning whom we have the fullest information. Their independence -in matters of detail is of far less importance than their community -of thought and feeling. In writings like Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and -Wisdom, the influence of Greek thought is unmistakable. Before and -during the Maccabæan reaction the subject-matter of the Old Testament -was worked up by Greek methods into novels, epics, and dramas. Prophecy -and apocalypse linked themselves with the poetic oracles of Greece, and -the nationalist movement, the leaders of which soon became Hellenistic -princes themselves, goes but a little way towards severing the threads -of connection. In the early days of the empire, Philo is no less subject -than Cicero to the influence of Posidonius and of Plato. The Pharisees -of Jerusalem, and, still more, the populations of mixed districts, could -not disown the Hellenistic atmosphere they breathed. Without Alexander, -without Hellenism, we cannot imagine the Gospels coming into existence. - -The great task of Hellenism was the education of the nation that ruled -it. This was begun in times out of mind, when the Greek character -and Greek weights and measures were adopted on the Tiber, and the -first temples in the Greek style arose in Roman market-places to the -gods of Greece. The Latins had nevertheless preserved their national -characteristics and had tolerated no Greek settlement on their shores. -Now the question was no longer one of ousting the Greek language, but -rather of adopting the whole of Greek civilisation. Greek scholars, -hearing Marcus Cicero speak, lamented that the last advantage of their -nation had been taken from them, not without justice. And yet through the -winning of this soul the West was won for Greek civilisation, even though -it was no less determined that the Hellenes should one day be called -Romæi. - -It was of cardinal importance to the history of the world that the -Hellenistic kingdoms were too weak to enter into the decisive struggle -carried on between Rome and Carthage, first for Sicily, (which was -utterly lost to the Greeks,) and then for the mastery of the West. - -Rome had already banished Greek influence from Italy. This momentous -fact of the weakness of Greece was the result of Alexander’s untimely -death and of the impossibility of maintaining the unity of the empire, -the struggle for which had lasted fifty years and allowed of the rise of -three great powers which mutually held one another in check. By the time -Rome had overcome Hannibal, Egypt had been so enfeebled by misgovernment -that it put itself, ingloriously but prudently, under the protection of -the Roman republic. Macedonia succumbed, not without honour. The king -of Asia no longer had the power to extend his influence to Europe; he -forfeited to Rome the countries to which he owed that title. But the -fall of the empire, now called Syria, involved the strengthening of that -nationality which Alexander, rightly estimating its value, had desired -to gain over by a share in the government. With the Arsacid monarchy, -Philhellenes though they called themselves, a foreign nationality and -an intolerant religion flung Hellenism back beyond the Euphrates. The -Roman senate undertook the government of the Greek provinces reluctantly, -rightly thinking that the result would be as detrimental to their own -people as to the subject provinces. It is none the less true that a more -ruthless set of blood-suckers has hardly ever fallen upon a defenceless -prey. Despair made the Asiatics see a deliverer even in that savage -Cappadocian Mithridates, thus bringing disaster upon disaster. Rome -herself was utterly out of joint, and finally Greece had to furnish a -stage for the decisive struggles of the Roman revolution. Rhodes, the -last city that had enjoyed some degree of immunity, was pillaged by -the liberators who had murdered Cæsar. How hardened men were to such -catastrophes we have recently learnt when it became known that, in the -time of Sulla, northern barbarians burned the temple at Delphi; a thing -that had been entirely forgotten in the traditions handed down to us. -It has also come to light that probably at that time the whole amount -of capital accumulated and secured in countless institutions was lost, -the festivals of the gods, the games, the banquets all came to an end; -the guilds collapsed, even those of the musicians and actors, who had -provided themselves with charters from all the powers; wide stretches of -the country lay desolate. Some few individuals acquired property which -in the sequel became enormously valuable, and this fact in itself was a -hindrance to any healthy revival. - -Augustus was the deliverer who ultimately brought peace and order: and -the Greeks did extravagant homage to their saviour. He deserved it, no -doubt, but fresh sap could no longer rise in the decrepit and mutilated -tree. Hellenism had seen everything perish that fire and sword could -destroy; the sole thing left intact was the intellectual heritage of her -forefathers. With them she took refuge, they proved themselves victorious -even over the Romans, her lords. Thus was consummated the process which -determined the future of the world, the process by which the nation not -only resigned all political aspirations, but blotted out the whole of -the last three centuries, insisted on speaking as Plato or Demosthenes -spoke, or even like Herodotus and Lysias, forgot even the deeds of -Alexander in contemplating Salamis and Marathon, and actually went so -far as to dispute the possibility of progress in poetry and philosophy -(inclusive of the several sciences) beyond that of the classic age, -which it chose to conclude with the Attic period. Imitation was now the -only safe way, the very principle of progress was challenged. This was -the case even more in theory than in practice; the plastic arts, for -example, still continued to do original work, because artists are seldom -burdened with literary culture. But in the whole sphere of language -the results could not fail to be disastrous, for the gulf between the -educated classes,--who, by virtue of schooling and study, could twist -their speech into the mode of three centuries ago and more,--and the -populace,--whose speech, thus deprived of all ennobling influences, -rapidly degenerated,--presently became so wide that they hardly attempted -to arrive at a common understanding. The difficulty of artificial modes -of speech made it necessary for rhetoric and the art of style to take the -first place in the schools, and words gradually stifled ideas. Nor was -novelty in the latter thought desirable, they were all the more welcome -if they were as classic as the words. The whole object of life was really -nothing more than a repetition of forms, and of substance (so far as -there was any substance), hallowed by antique usage. Even so obsolete an -institution as the gymnastic games was revived, the old religious worship -was laboriously restored; in the second century after Christ, Apollo -began once more to dispense oracles in verse. The authority of Homer -was exalted to an extravagant pitch; every one knew him who had been to -school at all. In extensive circles the use of Homeric phrases passed for -poetry, the Homeric Olympus for religion, and now, for the first time, he -took the place held to-day by the Old Testament among those who have no -other book. This is most plainly manifest in Christian polemics. - -Under the liberal and Philhellenic government of the dynasty that came -to the throne with Nerva, the world prospered; in a material sense Asia -has never been happier. The age could boast of orators who spoke like -Demosthenes and Plato in one. A certain amount of philosophical training -prevailed among educated men; lovable and able individuals are not -lacking; such men as Plutarch, who paints that copy of real Hellenism -which the heroes of the French revolution adopted instead of the -original, and who transmits to Montaigne, for example, a large portion -of the worldly wisdom of the Greeks. The work of compilation by which -astronomy and geography are summed up by Ptolemy, grammar by Herodian, -and medicine by Galen, is of the utmost value from the standpoint of -history. A shallow Semitic pamphleteer like Lucian copies the graceful -forms of antiquity with such skill, that in the Renaissance and the -days of the Éclaircissement he passes for a leading representative of -the Greek spirit. But the age is in its dotage for all that; there is -natural science without experiment, abstract science without unbiassed -examination, knowledge without philosophy. The deeper souls have reached -a point at which their strength lies in resignation. Hope, the only -treasure of all those in Pandora’s box to remain with man in the youth -of the nation, has now fled. None have now a living faith save those -who renounce the world. The Platonic Eros is no longer a force, and the -Agape is known only to those to whom Paul has revealed it. Men’s souls -are weary; presently their bodies too begin to sicken. Æsculapius is the -only god of heaven whose worship flourishes side by side with that of the -emperors, the gods of the empire; the feeble health of the individuals -of whom we hear most becomes a disquieting factor; under Marcus Aurelius -the first great wave of mortality sweeps over the empire. From this point -the downward course is rapid, especially when, with Severus, the empire -falls into the hands of barbarian generals. Nor must it be forgotten that -Augustus greatly circumscribed the eastern half of the empire, which he -permitted to remain Greek. He romanised the Danube provinces, Illyria, -Africa, and even Sicily. Every year the East sent a strong contingent -to the West, and though the fact contributed the largest share to the -assimilation of Greek culture by the West (in Rome, for example, the -language of the Christian congregations was Greek until some time after -this), these emigrants were none the less permanently lost to the Greek -nation. In the East the ancient nations were astir; as early as the -second century an Aramaic literature begins, in Phrygia inscriptions -appear in the vulgar tongue; in spite of Longinus, the Palmyra of Zenobia -is not a Greek city any more; there is an alarming increase of spiritual -force in barbarian religions; even in that which came across the frontier -from the Parthians. In those circles into which Gnosis, so-called, leads -us, which did not consist wholly of ignorant persons, the Greek element -is only one of many. The imperial army becomes more and more a force that -makes for barbarism. No wonder that civilisation collapses, with the -empire out of joint, and the ravages of the Germans--whom the classicism -of the age dubs Scythians, in the phrase of Herodotus--just beginning. -By their misdeeds at this period the Goths and Vandals richly earned the -secondary sense attached to their name, though it has been mistakenly -associated with the devastation of Italy and Africa. They reduced Greece -to a desert, they destroyed Olympia; worse still, they annihilated the -prosperity of Asia. The athletic games which had taken the place of the -gymnastic contests of antiquity, but had always retained something of -the spirit of the latter, practically came to an end. All that peace -had allowed to come into being--temples, monuments, and theatres--was -destroyed to build inadequate walls. Far and wide the thin stratum of the -educated classes that overlaid a people half estranged from civilisation -perished entirely. Some sort of order was restored by Diocletian and -Constantine, but the place of the Greek king had now been taken by -the oriental sultan; the free man had died out. Then came the church, -which presently forbade freedom of thought. Origen was a thinker and -philological student almost without peer among his contemporaries. -Eusebius had no equal among the scholars of his day. It was therefore not -the fault of Christianity if these two men had no successors, but gave -place to the purblind, and barely honest superstition of Athanasius and -the vulgar abuse of Epiphanius. On the contrary, Christianity showed its -affinity with Hellenic civilisation by the very fact that they withered -together. Its earthly victory should dazzle the eyes of those least of -all who believe in the kingdom of God that Jesus preached. Of this there -is hardly a trace at the council of Nicæa. - -The qualities that were at work in the decay of civilisation were -essentially Greek--satisfaction in present achievement, and reverence -for authority. The classicist movement allowed them to gain exclusive -sway. Hand in hand with them went a fine sense of form; the imitative -faculty has never attained greater triumphs. Christianity also submitted -to the yoke of classicist rhetoric; the impressive sermons of the great -Cappadocians bear witness to this, no less than the childish _Symposium -of the Virgins_ of Methodius. In league with the church, this formal -culture has the great merit of having preserved a large portion of the -literature of antiquity as an aid to education. The Greek faculty of -abstract thought showed itself mighty for good and evil. In the midst -of the terrible third century, it was able to take refuge in the purer -air of immaterial conceptions, though at the cost of the delight in the -visible world characteristic of the Ionic school. - -There was little of Plato but his name and the mysticism of his old age -in this last great philosophical movement which called itself after -him; and it was never more alien to the Greek spirit than when it tried -by fantastic necromancy to hold fast the ancient system of religion. -The same mode of thought practically prevailed to the same extent on -Christian soil, not only in the many circles which the church had -repudiated; orthodox dogma is itself but one of these systems, though -one that was canonised and preserved for centuries together with the -whole body of classical civilisation. This torpor is naturally repellent -to us, especially when we contrast it with the active progress of the -Roman church which takes the task of civilising the West out of the hands -of imperial Rome and surpasses all she has done. Nevertheless, there -is a certain grandeur in the spectacle of this ancient and mummified -civilisation preserving the Greek nation from utter wreck, in the face, -ultimately, of enslavement to a barbarous race and a stern and aggressive -religion. But if such a great political and intellectual future as -we should wish them is ever to smile upon the Greeks, or rather, the -Romæi, it will not come by way of the repristination of any obsolete -form whatsoever, it will not be brought about directly by the spirit of -antiquity, whether Greek or Christian; but the whole nation must become -new by the assimilation of the modern culture of the West. The West, it -must be borne in mind, did not imitate the Hellenes, it made a right use -of its heritage from them to liberate itself and renew its youth. This -service they still render, and will continue to render, to the individual -man. By lifting their eyes to the glory of Greece, whether it be Homeric -or Doric, Athenian or Hellenistic, men will evermore gain strength to be -free and to enter willingly into the service of the Idea, and thus, if -they have strayed from the right path, will learn to find their way back -to nature and to God. - -Politically the Greeks did not gain the mastery of the world, they -did not even attain to national unity; but a homogeneous civilisation -for the whole world, nevertheless, came into being through them. In -such a civilisation for the future we too believe, and we labour to -realise it because we desire and advocate the fellowship and concord -of many nations, countries, and languages. But the civilisation of the -world knows no stronger tie than the groundwork common to all genuine -civilisations; and that is our heritage from Greece. - -[Illustration] - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -BRIEF REFERENCE-LIST OF AUTHORITIES BY CHAPTERS - -[The letter[a] is reserved for Editorial Matter.] - - -CHAPTER XXXVII. THE REIGN OF TERROR IN ATHENS - -[b] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _History of Greece_. - -[c] XENOPHON, _Hellenics_. - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE DEMOCRACY RESTORED - -[b] GEORGE GROTE, _History of Greece_. - -[c] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[d] ARISTOPHANES’ _Plays_. - -[e] EURIPIDES’ _Plays_. - -[f] LYSIAS’ _Orations_. - -[g] THUCYDIDES, _History of the Grecian War_. - -[h] PLUTARCH, _Lives of Illustrious Men_. - - -CHAPTER XXXIX. SOCRATES AND THE SOPHISTS - -[b] WILLIAM MITFORD, _History of Greece_. - -[c] PLATO’S _Phædo_ (translated by Henry Carey). - -[d] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[e] XENOPHON, _Memorabilia_ and _Apologia Socrates_. - -[f] CLAUDIUS ÆLIANUS, _Varia Historia_ (translated by A. Fleming). - -[g] DIODORUS SICULUS, _Historical Library_. - - -CHAPTER XL. THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND - -[b] WILLIAM MITFORD, _op. cit._ - -[c] XENOPHON, _Anabasis_ and _Catabasis_. - -[d] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[e] FRIEDRICH D. SCHLOSSER, _Weltgeschichte_. - - -CHAPTER XLI. THE SPARTAN SUPREMACY - -[b] KARL O. MÜLLER, _The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race_ -(translated by Tuffnell and Lewis). - -[c] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[d] JOHN B. BURY, _History of Greece_. - -[e] ARISTOTLE, _Politics_. - -[f] VICTOR DURUY, _Histoire des Grecs_. - - -CHAPTER XLII. SPARTA IN ASIA - -[b] WILLIAM MITFORD, _op. cit._ - -[c] XENOPHON, _op. cit._ - -[d] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[e] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER XLIII. THE CORINTHIAN WAR - -[b] WILLIAM MITFORD, _op. cit._ - -[c] XENOPHON, _op. cit._ - -[d] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[e] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[f] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[g] GEORGE W. COX, _The Athenian Empire_. - -[h] JOHN B. BURY, _op. cit._ - -[i] BARTHOLD G. NIEBUHR, _Lectures on Ancient History_. - - -CHAPTER XLIV. THE RISE OF THEBES - -[b] ERNST VON STERN, _Geschichte der Spartanischen und Thebanischen -Hegemonie_. - -[c] XENOPHON, _op. cit._ - -[d] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[e] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[f] JOHN GILLIES, _History of Ancient Greece_. - -[g] JULIUS BELOCH, _Griechische Geschichte_. - -[h] ADOLF HOLM, _History of Greece_. - -[i] JOHN B. BURY, _op. cit._ - -[j] GEORGE W. COX, _op. cit._ - -[k] GEORG BUSOLT, _Griechische Geschichte_. - - -CHAPTER XLV. THE DAY OF EPAMINONDAS - -[b] BARTHOLD G. NIEBUHR, _op. cit._ - -[c] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[d] GEORGE W. COX, _op. cit._ - -[e] WILLIAM MITFORD, _op. cit._ - -[f] ERNST CURTIUS, _Griechische Geschichte_. - -[g] ERNST VON STERN, _op. cit._ - -[h] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[i] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[j] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[k] XENOPHON, _op. cit._ - -[l] PAUSANIAS, _A general description of Greece_. - - -CHAPTER XLVI. WHEN THEBES WAS SUPREME - -[b] GEORG WEBER, _Weltgeschichte_. - -[c] XENOPHON, _op. cit._ - -[d] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[e] ISOCRATES, _Archidamus_. - -[f] CICERO, _Tusculanarum Disputationum Libri V._ and _De Oratore_. - -[g] POLYBIUS, _General History_. - -[h] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER XLVII. THE TYRANTS IN SICILY - -[b] LOUIS MÉNARD, _Histoire des Grecs_. - - -CHAPTER XLVIII. THE RISE OF MACEDONIA - -[b] JOHANN G. DROYSEN, _Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen_. - -[c] L. MÉNARD, _op. cit._ - -[d] DEMOSTHENES, _Orations_. - -[e] HERODOTUS, _History_. - -[f] THUCYDIDES, _op. cit._ - -[g] ARRIAN, _The Anabasis of Alexander_. - -[h] THEOPOMPUS, _Philippica_. - -[i] TITUS LIVIUS, _Annales_. - - -CHAPTER XLIX. THE TRIUMPHS OF PHILIP - -[b] L. MÉNARD, _op. cit._ - -[c] JOHN POTTER, _Antiquities of Greece_. - -[d] L. A. PRÉVOST-PARADOL, _Revue de l’histoire universelle_. - -[e] R. C. JEBB, in an article on “Demosthenes” in the Ninth Edition of the -_Encyclopædia Britannica_. - -[f] J. B. BURY, _op. cit._ - -[g] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[h] B. G. NIEBUHR, _op. cit._ - -[i] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[j] WILHELM DRUMANN, _Verfall der griechischen Staaten_. - -[k] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[l] PAUSANIAS, _op. cit._ - -[m] XENOPHON, _op. cit._ - -[n] GEORG WEBER, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER L. ALEXANDER THE GREAT - -[b] APPIANUS ALEXANDRINUS, _The History of Appian of Alexandria_ -(translated from the Greek by J. Dancer). - -[d] JUSTIN, _History of the World_ (the abridgment of the _Philippic -History_ of Trogus Pompeius). - -[e] QUINTUS CURTIUS, _The Wars of Alexander_ (translated by William Young, -1747). - -[f] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[g] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[h] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[i] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[j] PTOLEMY LAGI, and ARISTOBULUS, as quoted by Arrian, Diodorus, etc. - - -CHAPTER LI. ALEXANDER INVADES ASIA - -[b] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[c] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[d] JURIEN DE LA GRAVIÉRE, _Les campagnes d’Alexandre_. - -[e] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[f] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[g] PTOLEMY LAGI, ARISTOBULUS, ANAXIMENES, and CALLISTHENES, as quoted by -Arrian, Diodorus, etc. - - -CHAPTER LII. ISSUS AND TYRE - -[b] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[c] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[d] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LIII. FROM GAZA TO ARBELA - -[b] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[c] QUINTUS CURTIUS, _op. cit._ - -[d] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[e] GEORG H. A. EWALD, _The History of Israel_. - -[f] HENRY H. MILMAN, _The History of the Jews_. - -[g] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[h] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[i] WILLIAM MITFORD, _op. cit._ - -[j] EDWARD S. CREASY, _Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World_. - -[k] JOHN B. BURY, _op. cit._ - -[l] ADOLF HOLM, _op. cit._ - -[m] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, _Antiquities of the Jews_. - -[n] KARL RITTER, _Afrika_ (in _Die Erdkunde, etc._). - -[o] LOUIS A. THIERS, _Histoire du Consulat et de l’Empire_. - - -CHAPTER LIV. THE FALL OF PERSIA - -[b] QUINTUS CURTIUS, _op. cit._ - -[c] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[d] JOHN B. BURY, _op. cit._ - -[e] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[f] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[g] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LV. THE CONQUEST OF INDIA - -[b] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[c] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[d] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[e] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[f] QUINTUS CURTIUS, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LVI. THE END OF ALEXANDER - -[b] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[c] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[d] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[e] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[f] BARTHOLD G. NIEBUHR, _op. cit._ - -[g] HERODOTUS, _op. cit._ - -[h] POLYBIUS, _op. cit._ - -[i] ARISTOBULUS, quoted by Plutarch, Arrian, etc. - - -CHAPTER LVII. VARIOUS ESTIMATES OF ALEXANDER - -[b] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[c] CLAUDIUS ÆLIANUS, _op. cit._ - -[d] TITUS LIVIUS, _Roman History_ (translated 1686). - -[e] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[f] GEORGE W. COX, _op. cit._ - -[g] L. MÉNARD, _op. cit._ - -[h] CHARLES ROLLIN, _Ancient History_. - -[i] BARTHOLD G. NIEBUHR, _op. cit._ - -[k] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[l] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[m] GEORG W. P. HEGEL, _Philosophy of History_. - -[n] R. PÖHLMANN, in Müller’s _Handbuch der classischen -Alterthumswissenschaft_. - -[o] BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER, _Alexander the Great_. - - -CHAPTER LVIII. GREECE DURING THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER - -[b] WILLIAM MITFORD, _op. cit._ - -[c] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[d] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[e] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[f] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LIX. THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER - -[b] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[c] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[d] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[e] JUSTIN, _op. cit._ - -[f] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - -[g] B. G. NIEBUHR, _op. cit._ - -[h] WILLIAM MITFORD, _op. cit._ - -[i] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[j] PHOTIUS, Excerpts from Arrian’s _Bithynica_. - - -CHAPTER LX. AFFAIRS IN GREECE PROPER AFTER ALEXANDER’S DEATH - -[b] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[c] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[d] J. G. DROYSEN, _Geschichte des Hellenismus_. - -[e] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[f] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LXI. THE FAILURE OF GRECIAN FREEDOM - -[b] GEORGE GROTE, _op. cit._ - -[c] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[d] PAUSANIAS, _op. cit._ - -[e] JUSTIN, _op. cit._ - -[f] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[g] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[h] POLYBIUS, _op. cit._ - -[i] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LXII. THE EXPLOITS OF PYRRHUS - -[b] L. MÉNARD, _op. cit._ - -[c] TITUS LIVIUS, _op. cit._ - -[d] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[e] Article on “Epirus,” in the Ninth Edition of the _Encyclopædia -Britannica_. - -[f] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[g] JUSTIN, _op. cit._ - -[h] PAUSANIAS, _op. cit._ - -[i] POLYBIUS, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LXIII. THE LEAGUES AND THEIR WARS - -[b] POLYBIUS, _General History_ (translated by Sir H. Spears). - -[c] W. SCHORN, _Geschichte Griechenlands von der Entstehung des ätol. und -achäischen Bundes bis auf die Zerstörung von Korinth_. - -[d] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[e] GEORG WEBER, _op. cit._ - -[f] OLIVER GOLDSMITH, _History of Greece_. - -[g] L. FLATHE, _Geschichte Macedoniens und der Reiche welche von -macedonischen Königen beherrscht wurden_. - -[h] PLUTARCH, _op. cit._ - -[i] EDWARD A. FREEMAN, _History of Federal Government in Greece and Italy_ -(edited by John B. Bury). - - -CHAPTER LXIV. THE FINAL DISASTERS - -[b] BARTHOLD G. NIEBUHR, _op. cit._ - -[c] POLYBIUS, _op. cit._ - -[d] CONNOP THIRLWALL, _op. cit._ - -[e] STRABO, _Geographica_. - -[f] PAUSANIAS, _op. cit._ - -[g] L. FLATHE, _op. cit._ - -[h] W. SCHORN, _op. cit._ - -[i] CONSTANTINE VII, PORPHYROGENITUS, Excerpts from POLYBIUS. - - -CHAPTER LXV. THE KINGDOM OF THE SELEUCIDÆ - -[b] GEORG WEBER, _op. cit._ - -[c] _An Universal History_, compiled from original authors, 1799. - -[d] FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, _op. cit._ - -[e] DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._ - -[f] APPIAN, _Roman History_. - -[g] JUSTIN, _op. cit._ - -[h] ARRIAN, _op. cit._ - - -CHAPTER LXVI. THE KINGDOM OF THE PTOLEMIES - -[b] J. G. DROYSEN, _op. cit._ - -[c] S. SHARPE, _History of Egypt_. - -[d] G. SMITH, _The Gentile Nations_.--PAUSANIAS, _op. cit._--DIODORUS -SICULUS, _op. cit._--JOSEPHUS, _op. cit._--ARRIAN, _op. cit._--PLUTARCH, -_op. cit._--JUSTIN, _op. cit._--EUTROPIUS, _Epitome of Roman History_. - - -CHAPTER LXVII. SICILIAN AFFAIRS - -[b] L. MÉNARD, _op. cit._--DIODORUS SICULUS, _op. cit._--STRABO, _op. -cit._--PLUTARCH, _op. cit._--EDWARD A. FREEMAN, article on “Sicily,” -in the Ninth Edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.--ADOLF HOLM, -_Geschichte Siciliens im Alterthum_. - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - -A GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GRECIAN HISTORY - - -A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE SOURCES - -In a previous part of this work reference has been made to the large -number of historians of Greece and to the fragmentary condition in which -their works have come down to us. Attention has also been called to the -comparatively small aid which the historian of Greece receives from -epigraphical inscriptions. There are, to be sure, various inscriptions -that give an incidental aid; as, for example, the famous inscription on -the leg of the statue of Ramses II at Abu-Simbel; an Athenian inscription -referring to the work on the Erechtheum; inscriptions from the walls of -the temples at Ephesus, at Priene, and the like. All of these, however, -give but incidental glimpses; taken together they would make but a -most meagre and fragmentary historical record. There is, however, one -inscription extant of far greater importance. This is the so-called -Parian marble or Parian chronicle, which was found originally at Paros, -was brought to England in 1627 at the instance of the earl of Arundel, -and was subsequently presented to the University of Oxford, where it -forms part of the collection of Arundel marbles. - -This inscription originally comprised an epitome of the chief events -in Grecian history (with various notable omissions) from the alleged -reign of Cecrops, 1318 B.C., to the archonship of Diognetus, 264 B.C. At -present, however, the last part of the record is lost, so that the extant -portion comes only to the time of Diotimus, 354 B.C. Various parts of the -inscription are more or less illegible, and there are, as just noted, -numerous very noteworthy omissions, particularly as regards political -events. Moreover, the entire record, as pointed out by Clinton,[52] -is everywhere one year out of the way. Nevertheless, as a guide to -the sequence of events in Grecian history and as a check on the other -sources, the Parian chronicle is of the very greatest importance. It -is not known just when or by whom this inscription was made, but it is -apparently based on earlier sources that are in the main fairly reliable. - -As the entire inscription of the Parian chronicle is contained on a slab -of marble only about three and a half feet in length, it is obvious that -its record must be of the most epitomised character; in short, a mere -sequence of names. For a fuller record of the events of Grecian history -we must turn to the usual sources, the manuscripts of the historians -proper. Non-historical writings are not to be altogether ignored, to -be sure. In many cases they furnish us important aids in filling in -gaps or in supplying details. In particular the dramatists and the -orators furnish important historical data; among the former, Æschylus, -Euripides, Aristophanes; among the orators, Isæus, Isocrates, Æschines, -and Demosthenes. The works of Plato and Aristotle and, to a less extent, -of other philosophers are also to be looked to here and there. But all -of these, let it be repeated, are of meagre importance compared with the -records of the historians proper. - -Something has been said in another place of the large number of Greek -historians. Mr. Clinton lists forty-seven by name who flourished -prior to 306 B.C.; and this without including the historians of -Alexander. Among these are such more or less familiar names as Cadmus -of Miletus, Hecatæus, Hellanicus, Ctesias, Ephorus, Theopompus, Dinon, -and Anaximenes. But of the entire list of earlier writers only three -are represented by extant works in anything but the most fragmentary -condition. These three bear the famous names Herodotus, Thucydides, and -Xenophon. All of these lived within the same century; and each of them -left a detailed account of a relatively brief but highly significant -period of Grecian history. The story of Herodotus closes with the year -478 B.C.; Thucydides deals with twenty-one years of the Peloponnesian -War, though taking an incidental glance at earlier history; Xenophon, -taking up the account of the Peloponnesian War where Thucydides leaves -off, continues the record to the death of Epaminondas in the year 362 B.C. - -Curiously enough, there is no Greek historian after Xenophon, for about -two centuries, whose works have been preserved; and the records of -Grecian history for all other periods than those covered by Herodotus, -Thucydides, and Xenophon are mostly preserved in the writings of -authors who lived long after Greece had ceased to have importance as an -autonomous nation. But of course these writings drew upon contemporary -records; and being made at a time when it was possible to check their -accounts with numerous histories that are now lost, they have almost -the same significance as if they were themselves contemporary sources. -These later writings are comparatively few in number. By far the most -important of them is the general history of Diodorus, to which reference -has so frequently been made. Justin’s abridgment of Trogus Pompeius -is also of value; as are the biographies of Plutarch and of Cornelius -Nepos. The chronicle of Eusebius supplies many gaps in the record, -particularly as regards the earlier periods of Grecian history; and the -same is true of the work of Pausanias, which, though dealing primarily -with geography, makes important historical allusions here and there; as, -for example, in regard to the Messenian wars. The lives of Alexander the -Great by Arrian and by Quintius Curtius, based on the now lost works of -Alexandrian contemporaries, furnish us full records of the age of the -Macedonian hero. For the post-Alexandrian epoch the fragments of Polybius -are the chief source for the periods which they cover. But these are so -meagre that our main reliance must be placed upon the general historians -Diodorus and Justin, here as for so many other periods. - -Oddly enough, no single work except the general histories has come down -to us that deals with the history of Greece as a whole; that history -can be reconstructed only by piecing together the various fragmentary -records, and he who would know Grecian history at first hand has chiefly -to attend to the authorities just mentioned. When one has read Diodorus -and Justin, Plutarch and Nepos, and Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, -Arrian, and Curtius, one has appealed to the chief among first-hand -sources of Grecian history. We have already had occasion to refer to some -of these at considerable length, and fuller notes concerning them will be -found in the present bibliography; but there is one of them whose work is -so important and whose position as a factor in the history of literature -is so unique that we are justified in giving more extended attention -to him here. This is, of course, the oldest and in some respects the -most remarkable of all, Herodotus; an author whom we encounter almost -everywhere in the old Orient and who serves as almost our sole witness -for the great events through which Greece attained a dominant place among -the nations,--the events, namely, of the so-called Persian or Median Wars. - -Herodotus, the celebrated father of history, or, as K. O. Müller styles -him, the father of prose, was born at Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor, about -484 B.C., and died at Thurii, Italy, about 424 B.C. Halicarnassus was -a colony of Doric Greece, and therefore Herodotus was related in his -ancestry rather to the Spartans than to the Athenians. His work, however, -was not written in the Doric dialect but in the Ionic, which at that -time was the accepted vehicle of literary productions in Greece, being -the dialect generally employed by Homer, Hesiod, and the long line of -logographers. The style of Herodotus has been recognised by critics of -all succeeding ages as almost perfect of its kind. - -As to the life of the man himself, comparatively little is known. A -wealth of fable is associated with his name, as with that of most -celebrities of antiquity, but the part of this which may be accepted -as historically accurate is almost infinitesimal. Certain ideas, -however, have gradually clustered about the name of Herodotus that by -common consent are accepted as representing his biography, in default -of more accurate information, which latter, presumably, will never be -forthcoming. Thus it is accepted that he was born at Halicarnassus of -parents named Lyxes and Dryo, and that he was the nephew of Panyasis, -a famous epic poet, from which latter circumstance it may be inferred -that he came of a literary lineage. It is further alleged that he left -Halicarnassus owing to the tyranny of Lygdamis, the ruler of the colony, -who had put to death his uncle Panyasis. It is believed that Herodotus -went to the island of Samos and lived there for several years; whether -he made his extensive journeys in search of knowledge thence, or at -a later period, is not ascertained. In either event it is held that -he subsequently returned from Samos to Halicarnassus, and personally -assisted in the overthrow of the tyrant Lygdamis. Even after this event, -however, it would appear that Herodotus did not find Halicarnassus a -satisfactory place of residence, as he subsequently migrated to the Greek -colony of Thurii, in Italy, where his last days were spent, and where it -is presumed he repolished and completed his history. The colony in Thurii -was first established in the year 443, but whether or not Herodotus was -a member of the first company that went out to it is in dispute; that he -finally went there, however, seems to be accepted without reserve. - -These meagre facts, some of them by no means too well authenticated, -constitute practically all that is known from outside authority regarding -the actual life of Herodotus. There are, to be sure, numerous other -traditions current, some of which were doubtless founded upon fact, -and a few of which are almost inseparably associated with the name -of Herodotus. Such, for example, is the story that Herodotus read the -books of his great history before the people of Athens, and created such -popular enthusiasm thereby that the sum of ten talents (£2,000, $10,000) -was voted him from the public treasury. If this be taken as true to fact, -it would appear that the business of literature was not ill paid even in -that early day. Another tale, or possibly an elaboration of the same one, -alleges that Herodotus desired to make his history known to the Greek -world, and decided that this could best be accomplished by reading it -before the assembled multitudes at Olympia. Just when this reading was -held is not clear, but, notwithstanding this lack of date, it is alleged -that the reading created the greatest enthusiasm, and that Herodotus -divided the honours of the occasion with the winners of the Olympic games. - -Another elaboration of the tale, which one would fain believe true, -asserts that the youthful Thucydides, listening to the recital of -Herodotus, was moved to tears, and fired with the ambition to follow in -the footsteps of the great writer. The cold hand of modern scepticism -has been laid rudely on this tradition, it being asserted that the -date of the birth of Thucydides is too near that of Herodotus to lend -authenticity to the story. But, be that as it may, this tale is probably -as near the truth as most of the others which we have associated with the -name of the father of history. - -The work of Herodotus is remarkable, among other things, as being the -oldest complete prose composition that has come down to us from classical -antiquity. It must not be inferred from this that Herodotus was the -first Greek who wrote prose. The fact is far otherwise. The so-called -father of prose was, as is well known, preceded by a long line of Greek -writers, who composed not merely prose compositions, but compositions on -history. The names of many of these men are known, but their works have -come down to us only in meagre fragments. As such, however, they serve to -prove the wide gap which separated the best of them from their successor -Herodotus. Indeed it is doubtless because of the surpassing excellence of -the history of Herodotus that his work lived on through the labours of -successive copyists, while the works of his predecessors were permitted -to disappear through slow decay like the works of so many other and later -writers of antiquity. - -If it be true that the style is the man, then we may feel that after -all, despite the meagre contemporary records as to his life, the man -Herodotus is well known to us; for his great work, possibly the only -one that he ever composed, has come down to us intact. Not indeed that -the actual manuscript of his own production has been preserved. No -author of classical Greece has come down to us directly in this sense. -But in that day the individual copyist did in a small way what the -printing-press to-day accomplishes on a larger scale. And of the numerous -copies that were made of Herodotus in succeeding ages down to the period -of the Renaissance, something less than a score are still preserved. -Most of these date only from the fifteenth, fourteenth, or, at the -earliest, the tenth century. There are, however, two or three that are -undoubtedly still more ancient, though probably none that was written -within a thousand years after the death of the author himself. The fact -of numerous copies made in different ages by different hands being -available for comparison, however, makes it reasonably sure that we have -in the carefully edited editions of modern scholarship a fairly accurate -representation of what Herodotus actually wrote. - -This work, then, is commonly spoken of as the _History of the Persian -War_. It is really much more than that. Starting with the idea of the -Persian War as a foundation, Herodotus has built a structure which -might, perhaps with more propriety, be termed a history of the world -as known in his day. The work itself makes it clear that, in acquiring -material for its composition, the author travelled extensively in Asia -and in Egypt. He visited Babylon, and gives us the description of an -eye-witness of the glories of that famous capital; and he sojourned long -in Egypt, saw with his own eyes the Pyramids and other monuments of that -wonderful civilisation, and heard from the priests fabulous tales of the -past history of their country. - -When one reflects what must have been the range of observation of the -average stay-at-home Greek of that day, one readily understands how much -of what Herodotus saw in these foreign lands had the charm to him of -absolute novelty. He had but to recount what he had seen and heard--a -fair degree of literary skill being of course presupposed--to produce -a narrative which would have all the charm for his compatriots of a -fascinating romance. The marvels of his actual observation in Babylon and -in Egypt must have seemed to him more wonderful than anything he could -conceivably invent. Therefore, even had his sole object been--as quite -probably it was--merely to make an entertaining narrative, he had no -inducement to depart from the recital of the truth as he saw and heard -it. That, in point of fact, he did thus cling to the truth is admitted -to-day on all hands. There were periods, however, within a few hundred -years of his own epoch, when Herodotus was considered by even the best -authorities of the time as a bald romancer. The Greeks and Romans of -about the beginning of our era, with Plutarch--or a “false Plutarch”; the -question of authenticity is an open one--at their head, did not hesitate -to stigmatise Herodotus as a writer of fables. “Plutarch” even went -further and asserted that he was a malignant perverter of the truth as -well. - -Such detractions, however, did not at all alter the fact that the story -of Herodotus had an abiding interest for each succeeding generation of -readers, and it is one of the curious results of modern exploration and -investigation to prove that very often where Herodotus was supposed to -have invented fables he was, in point of fact, merely narrating, in the -clearest manner possible, what he had actually seen. - -Mixed with these recitals of fact, to be sure, there is much that is -really fabulous, but this is chiefly true of those things which Herodotus -reports by hearsay, and explicitly labels as being at second hand. -Whether fact or fable, however, the entire story of Herodotus has at -once the fullest interest and the utmost importance for the historian of -to-day. For where it tells us facts about the nations of antiquity, these -are very often facts that would otherwise be shut out absolutely from -our view; and where he relates fables, he at least preserves to us, in a -vivid way, a picture of the mental status and the intellectual life of a -cultivated Greek in the period of the greatest might of that classical -nation. - -Our present concern is with the part of Herodotus that deals explicitly -with the affairs of Greece. This has particular reference to the Persian -Wars, although giving many incidental references to other periods -of history. For this period of the Persian invasions Herodotus is -practically our sole source, and we have drawn on him largely at first -hand. His narrative here may be paraphrased and in some slight details -modified, but can never be supplanted. The account of Herodotus closes -with the year 478--the definitive year in which the Persians were finally -expelled from Greece. As Herodotus was six years old in 478, he must have -had personal recollections of the effect produced upon his elders by the -accounts of the battles of Thermopylæ, Salamis, and Platæa; must indeed -all his life have been associated with men who participated in these -conflicts; his account, therefore, has all the practical force of the -report of a contemporary witness. - -As we have said, the period following the Persian wars--the age of -Pericles--found no contemporary historian, though the writings of the -poets and the orators to some extent make amends for the deficit; and -the art treasures that have been preserved are more eloquent than words -in their testimony to the culture of the time. The general historians -and biographers supply us with the chief details of the political events -of the time and bridge for us the gap between the Persian and the -Peloponnesian wars. - -When we reach the Peloponnesian War itself we come upon the work of the -master historian Thucydides. A critical estimate of his writings has -already been given and need not be repeated here. Neither need we take -up at length the work of Xenophon, who, as already noted, explicitly -continued the history of Thucydides. We have previously had occasion -to point out that Xenophon did not equal his great predecessor in true -historical sense, or in breadth and impartiality of view. His partiality -for Sparta and his friendship for Agesilaus led him to do scant justice -to the great Theban Epaminondas, and we have previously noted how the -record of Diodorus, rather than the contemporary account of Xenophon, is -our best source for the history of the Theban hero. Nevertheless Xenophon -remains an important source for the period of which his _Hellenica_ -treats. His more popular work, the _Anabasis_, describes a picturesque -incident in Grecian history, which was important rather as an adumbration -of possible future events than because of its intrinsic interest. - -Coming to the Macedonian epoch we find, as might be expected, that the -picturesque life of Alexander called forth a multitude of chroniclers; -all of which, as has been said, were superseded by the later works of -Arrian and Curtius. - -Recapitulating in a few words what has just been said of the original -sources of Grecian history, it would appear that the reader who has -before him the works of Diodorus, Justin, Plutarch, Nepos, Herodotus, -Thucydides, Xenophon, and Arrian will have access to the chief -fountain-heads upon which modern historians have drawn. But it will be -clear to anyone who considers these authors in their entirety that the -idea of Grecian history to be gained by reading these classical writers -alone would be a somewhat disjointed and unsatisfactory one. Many points -of chronology would remain obscure; there would be many gaps in the -story. Yet, the view thus to be gained was the only one accessible until -about a century ago. The revival of interest in the classical authors -that came about along with the general intellectual advance in the time -of Elizabeth, had led to the translation of many classical authors by -such men as Thomas North, Philemon Holland, and Arthur Golding. It had -led also, as we have noted, to the production of Sir Walter Raleigh’s -general history, which was complete for the period during which Greece -was an important nation. But there was no other attempt to unify the -story of Grecian history and give it a modern garb until more than a -century later. - -Then the stimulus given to historical investigation by the success of -Gibbon’s splendid work, led to an attempt to treat the history of Greece -in a manner equally comprehensive. The man who first undertook the task -in England was William Mitford. The work that he produced was an epochal -one, replete with scholarship, yet it had certain limitations which -led directly to the production by another hand of a yet more monumental -work on the same subject. For, as is well known, the history of Grote -was written with the explicit intention of combating the conception of -Grecian civilisation that Mitford’s book had made current. - -There are two quite different points of view from which the history -of a foreign nation may be regarded. One of these may be called the -“sympathetic,” the other the “antipathetic” view. It was the latter -of these which Mitford chose, or rather to which he was impelled by -temperament, in dealing with those phases of Athenian life which are -the central facts in the political history of Greece. It may be laid -down almost as an axiom that it is impossible to write a truly great -history of a great people from the antipathetic standpoint. At best, -one can obtain only a surface knowledge of a foreign people--it is hard -enough to gain a correct knowledge of one’s own race. Every people, like -every individual, is a strangely inconsistent organism. The deeds of its -diverse moods never seem to harmonise; they are as different as the two -sides of a shield or medal, and in proportion as we seize on one phase -or another of the inconsistencies, we change utterly the type of the -picture. Of course the great historian must see all sides and properly -adjust them; but the difficulty is this: it is much easier to detect the -inconsistencies than the underlying consistencies, which, after all, -are necessary to national life. Hence the antipathetic historian makes -out a strong case against the nation with relative ease, while quite -overlooking the better side; whereas the sympathetic historian, while -searching for the better side, cannot by any possibility overlook the -obvious inconsistencies. - -To illustrate from the case in hand: Mitford was an ardent tory, and he -insisted on weighing Greek conduct in his own balance. He never failed -to sneer at the democratic tendency of Athens, and to point out the -inconsistencies in Athenian life. And he found ample material. Nothing -is more startling to the student who undertakes a careful survey of the -history of Greece than the glaring defects of this people. Take two or -three illustrations: The Athenians contended all along for equality of -rights, yet (1) the majority of their co-residents were slaves; (2) they -frequently denied to their best citizens the privilege of living in -Athens, banishing them, without even the charge of crime, by ostracism; -and (3) they strove all along to establish imperial power for Athens over -other cities--strove so fiercely for it that the final result was the -utter overthrow of Greece itself. - -Again, the Athenian is said to have worshipped the æsthetic and the -beautiful. His poetry and art attest the truth of the claim. Yet at -table he ate with his fingers; in the streets he committed indescribable -vulgarities without concealment; and in his relations with his fellows -he indulged in practices of the most revolting kind so commonly that to -“love after the manner of the Greeks” became an opprobrious by-word among -nations. Herodotus himself records that the Greeks taught these practices -to the Persians, who to this day are reproached with them. - -To go no further, here is plenty of material for the antipathetic -historian. Yet even a very brief analysis might serve to modify the first -judgment which would tend to denounce the Greeks as the most inconsistent -and disreputable of mortals. - -Thus, as to the slaves, a sympathetic historian would not forget that -slavery had existed almost everywhere in antiquity, among Hamitic, -Semitic, and Aryan races alike; and that modern nations did not throw -it off for more than two thousand years after the downfall of Greece. -Nor will he forget that the last great nation to discard it was the -United States, the most advanced of democracies; and that, when the great -struggle came through which it was at last rooted out there, practically -all Europe sympathised in spirit with the slave-holder, and not with -the party that strove to free their fellow-men. These are grotesque -inconsistencies; but with the later history in mind we can scarcely hold -up the matter of slavery as an essentially Greek inconsistency. - -Then consider the question of ostracism. At first sight it surely seems -difficult to bring within the pale of reason this fact of the banishment -from Athens of one great citizen after another--of Themistocles, the -hero of Salamis, of Aristides the Just, of the brilliant Alcibiades, of -Xenophon, and of Thucydides. But consider the matter a little further. -Here was a little people, numerically insignificant, who had got hold -of a unique principle. They had experienced the pleasures of personal -liberty, of free “government of, for, and by the people,” and all the -world about them looked jealously on their experiment. Always the gold of -Persia was at hand to help on an aristocratic party at home in the effort -to overthrow the democratic party by whatever means, fair or foul. - -What then must necessarily be the attitude of the best citizens of -Athens toward any one of their number who gained very great popularity -and influence, and who seemed ambitious to use his power autocratically? -Why, such a person, however respected, however loved even--indeed just -in proportion to the respect and affection that he inspired--must be -regarded with apprehension. And the ballot for ostracism solved the -problem, after a fashion. It required no charge against the citizen. It -accused him of no crime. It merely gave official expression to a popular -belief that it were better for the state that this citizen should retire -for a time from its precincts. It was a confession of governmental -weakness, to be sure. A powerful unified democracy like the United States -in modern times has no need of such a law; but a weak government like -that of France still thinks itself obliged sometimes to resort to it in -case of political offenders, who are feared for exactly the same reason -that led to ostracism in Athens--as witness the case of Déroulède and his -allies. In this view then the practice of ostracism, which very probably -preserved the democratic government of Athens long after it would -otherwise have been overthrown, is not the grotesque inconsistency it at -first seems. - -As to the factions of the cities, which led to what Ruskin calls the -“suicide of Greece,” they come to seem as natural as human nature itself -when one stops to reflect that Hellas was never a united country under -unified government. The Greek had, to be sure, a prejudice in favour of -his race against outside barbarians. But his keenest prejudice was for -his own city. The idea of liberty was too new for the conception of a -federation of cities to be grasped all at once. Even now, after more than -twenty-five hundred years of experiment and effort, that idea has only -in a few instances been successfully realised and practised on a large -scale for considerable periods of time--by the Greek cities themselves at -a later period; by the north Italian cities late in the Middle Ages; and -by the Anglo-Saxon race in our own day. It is not strange then that the -Athenian regarded the Spartan as a political foreigner; and the struggles -between the two were not different from the struggles that have gone on -ever since between different neighbouring states all over the world. -The appalling fact of universal carnage inconsistently disturbing the -dreams of the brotherhood of man is one of the saddest evidences of the -restricted civilisation of our race. But with all recent history in our -minds, we can hardly hold it too much against the Greek that he was not -more advanced in this regard in the year 400 B.C. than is all the rest of -the world in the year 1900 A.D. - -Without going further it must be clear how very different the points of -view are from which the “sympathetic” and the “antipathetic” historian -will respectively regard a people, in particular a people of high genius -like the Greeks. And, to return to Mitford, it is hardly an unjust -criticism which has said of him that his ponderous work, despite its -learning, “is scarcely more than a huge party pamphlet.” And this is true -precisely because he viewed the Greek always from the standpoint of his -own narrow prejudice. Yet this must not be taken to imply that Mitford’s -history is valueless. The fact is far otherwise. With due allowance for -its bias, it may be read with full profit by everyone, and there are many -passages of it that are unprejudiced and authoritative, while the merits -of its style commend it so highly that we have had occasion to return to -it again and again. - -But the greatest distinction of Mitford was to call forth the work of -Grote; for it was through indignation aroused by Mitford’s attitude -toward Grecian affairs that the London banker, whose recreation was -the study of the classics, was led to present a different view of -Grecian history. The intentions to combat Mitford developed finally -the conception of a comprehensive history, and when this history was -completed, a definitive presentation of Grecian affairs had been put -forward. Next to Gibbon’s _Rome_, perhaps the greatest historical work -ever produced in England is Grote’s _History of Greece_. Unfortunately, -Grote did not continue his history beyond the time of Alexander, so we -must seek other guides for the period of the decline and fall of Grecian -power. The earliest epochs of Grecian history also have been opened up -by the work of Schliemann and his successors since the day of Grote. Nor -need it be denied that in various details Grote’s theories have been -modified by later investigations. But, in the main, his work was based -upon such secure foundations, and was conceived and carried out in such a -broad and philosophical spirit, that it must stand indefinitely, like the -work of Gibbon, as a finished historical structure. - -If one were to single out for particular reference the part of Grote’s -work which was most revolutionary and at the same time most satisfactory, -one would cite perhaps the earliest portion, that which deals with the -myths and traditions of Greece. It is almost a matter of course that -the chief authoritative investigators of such a subject as this are -usually scholars by profession; closet students of that type of mind -which can give years of enthusiastic devotion to the investigation of -a few pages of an obscure manuscript, and which can devote pages of -polemics to the establishment of the correct reading of a disputed text -the subject-matter of which is perhaps altogether trivial. This type of -mind is in many ways admirable, and the work which it accomplishes is -entitled to full respect, but it is not the kind of intellect one would -willingly follow as a rule in the decision of questions of more practical -import. And it is because this is the sort of intelligence which has -chiefly attacked this problem, that the discussion of it has usually -evinced so little of practicality. Moreover, another set of persons of -even more visionary cast, the poets, namely, have added their modicum -of argument along equally visionary lines, prejudiced in their view by -love of the great literature in which the mythical tales are embalmed. -But Grote combined in his own mind the qualities of secure and profound -scholarship with a full appreciation of the beauties of literature and a -rare practical knowledge of the world of everyday affairs, which gave -him perhaps a keener critical view and a clearer historical perspective -than had been vouchsafed anyone who had before attempted to deal with the -subject. - -Grote was a practical banker and successful financier, turned historian -through sheer love of his subject. He applied to the subject of Greek -mythology the rules of what may be best described as sound common-sense. -He recognised that a myth is not the growth of a day, but the accretion -of perhaps many generations, or even centuries of legendary history. -He fully recognised two very essential basal principles of practical -psychology, namely, first, that quite the rarest feat of the human mind -is anything approaching pure invention; but that, secondly, scarcely less -rare is a recital, however securely founded in history, which does not -contain some elements of invention. He recognised, in other words, the -full truth of the homely saying that “where there is much smoke there -must be some fire”; but he recognised also the truth that no two persons -could ever be found who, after viewing the smoke, would agree as to the -exact proportion which it bore to the fire. - -Making the application to the case in hand, Grote was convinced that -every important myth and legend must have had the prototype of at least -its outline in the actual history of some human beings in some period. -He combined with this conviction the no less certain one that in our -day it is utterly impossible to say what people or what time furnished -this historical basis of the tradition, or just what proportion of fact -is mingled with the enshrouding cloud of fable. When, therefore, Grote -came to write his history of Greece, he adopted a compromise regarding -the mythical period, which is one of the most striking illustrations of -his practical sagacity. He recited the fables as fables, labelling the -legendary period as such, and making no attempt whatever to determine -what relation any specific incident among these legends might bear to the -actual experiences of the people of prehistoric Greece. Grote’s decision -in this matter was at once received with acclaim by a large number of -readers; and though of course it by no means silenced the champions of -other views, it may fairly be said that after more than half a century -there is no other manner of treating this period which can justly -supplant that which the great historian established. - -Our estimate of Grote in other fields is well illustrated by the liberal -use we have made of his work. Notes on other historians of Greece--many -of them by no means unimportant in themselves, but no one of them quite -to be compared with this master historian--will appear in the following -bibliography. It will be sufficient here to recall the names of Thirlwall -and Curtius among the general historians of Greece of the earlier -generation, and the names of Holm, Beloch, Busolt, and Bury among the -more recent writers; while for special periods the names of Droysen, -Müller, Schliemann, and Finlay have particular prominence. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[52] _Fasti Hellenici._ - - -LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED, CITED, OR CONSULTED; WITH CRITICAL AND -BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES - -=Abbot=, E., History of Greece, London, 1892-1893.--=Ælianus= Claudius, -ποικίλη ἱστορία, edited by Perizonius, Leyden, 1701, the Variable History -of Ælianus (trans. by A. Fleming), London, 1576.--=Alfieri=, V., Tragedy -on Agis IV. King of Sparta.--=Allcroft=, A. H., Decline of Hellas, -371-323 B.C., London, 1894; (in collaboration with W. F. =Masom=), -Synopsis of Grecian History to 495 B.C., London, 1891.--=Annual= of the -British School at Athens.--=Anonymous=, Der Griechisch-turkische Krieg -des Jahres 1897, Berlin, 1898; Seven Essays on the Social Condition of -the Ancient Greeks, Oxford, 1832.--=Aristobulus=, as quoted by Plutarch, -Arrian, etc. (in Müller’s Fragmenta).--=Aristotle=, Ἠθικὰ, edited by -Zell, Heidelberg, 1820, 2 vols.; Πολιτικὰ, edited by Barthélemy St. -Hilaire, with Fr. trans., Paris, 1837; Ethics, Politics (trans. by -Gillies), London, 1804.--=Arrianus=, Flavius, Ἀνάβασις Ἀλεξάνδρου, edited -by F. Schmeider, Leipsic, 1798; The Anabasis of Alexander, London. - - _L. Flavius Arrianus_, born at Nicomedia about 100 A.D., died at - an advanced age during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. - - In considering a career so romantic as that of Alexander, it - is quite impossible that the historian should remain a calm, - unmoved spectator of the incidents which he describes. We find, - therefore, that the numerous biographers of Alexander have for - the most part placed themselves explicitly on one or another of - opposite sides. Either, on the one hand, they have considered - Alexander as the greatest of heroes and most wonderful of - men, or, on the other hand, have regarded him as merely the - greatest of adventurers. It is tolerably easy, accordingly as - one emphasises one side or another of the facts of Alexander’s - history, to make out a seemingly good case from either of - these points of view. But what we have elsewhere said about - the sympathetical historian applies with full force here, and - it is not to be expected that anyone can have written a really - satisfactory biography of Alexander who has not been appreciative - of those points of his genius which lie quite without the range - of the ordinary adventurer. Thus it is not surprising to find - that the really great biographies of Alexander, both those of - antiquity and those of modern times, have been written from the - sympathetic point of view. - - The biography of Arrian, which, by common consent, far exceeds - in importance all other writings on Alexander that have come - down to us, is certainly most judicious in spirit, and probably - as impartial as such a production could possibly be. Arrian does - not spare the faults of Alexander nor hesitate to give them full - expression, but he fully appreciates the greatness of his hero, - and he undertook to write his life, as he himself explicitly - states, because he felt that no one before him had done full - justice to his subject. Arrian frankly states his opinion that - his own production will be found not unworthy, and that, in - virtue of it, he, himself, must be entitled to be regarded as one - of the great writers of Greece. All things considered, it is, - perhaps, strange that posterity should have declined to accede to - this claim. The work of Arrian is indeed admitted on all hands - to be a production of sterling merit--certainly one of the most - impartial and judicial historical productions of antiquity. Yet, - notwithstanding the extreme importance of his subject, the name - of Arrian is comparatively little known to the general public, - whereas the name of Xenophon, whom Arrian to some extent took for - his master, is familiar to everyone, though the subject of his - chief work was of such relative insignificance. - - This anomaly is, perhaps, partly explained in the fact that - Arrian did explicitly follow Xenophon as a master, since one - never expects to rank the follower on a par with the originator. - But the truer explanation is probably that Arrian lived at a - late period, after the glory of Greece, as the literary centre - of the world, had quite departed; and it has been customary to - regard all works of this later period, with their necessary - alterations of style, representing the time of degeneracy of - the Greek language, as things to be looked at askance by lovers - of that language in its purity. Then, too, perhaps, the very - importance of Arrian’s subject may have been detrimental to the - permanent popularity of his work. There was no possible reason - why any other writer should take up in great detail the story - of the _Anabasis_ of the Ten Thousand after Xenophon, since - that story, much as if it had been a mere romance, owed its - importance almost entirely to the qualities of style of the - original narrator. But the case of Alexander was quite different. - Numberless writers, as was most natural, had told his story in - the times immediately after his death. It was inevitable that - so amazing a history should continue to excite the interest of - mankind throughout all time and should be retold again and again - by countless generations of historians. Even had the biography - of Arrian proved in all respects comprehensive and satisfactory, - later generations must have demanded that the story should be - retold after the manner of their own times, but in point of fact, - the biography of Arrian, important as it is, is by no means - altogether comprehensive. It contains, to be sure, all incidents - which its author was satisfied were authentic, but it explicitly - omitted various other incidents, which, whether true or false, - must have an abiding interest from the very fact of having been - associated with the name of Alexander. - - Each succeeding generation of historians must then judge for - itself, as is the prerogative of the critic, among the various - contradictory stories that have come down to us, and must weigh - anew the evidence of this side or that, and make for itself a new - story of Alexander. - -=Assmann=, W., Handbuch der Allgemeinen Geschichte, Brunswick, 1853. - - * * * * * - -=Bachelet=, J. A. F., Histoire ancienne grecque, Paris, 1883.--=Baraibar= -(in collaboration with =Menendez Pelayo=) Poetas liricos Griegos, -Madrid, 1884.--=Becker=, Wilhelm A., Charicles, or Illustrations of the -Private Life of the Ancient Greeks (translated by Frederick Metcalfe), -London, 1854.--=Beloch=, J., Griechische Geschichte, Strasburg, -1893-1899, 2 vols.--=Bent=, J. T., The Cyclades: Life among the Insular -Greeks, London, 1885.--=Berens=, E. M., Myths and Legends of Ancient -Greece, London, 1879.--=Berg=, van den, Petite Histoire des Grecs, -Paris, 1880.--=Bergk=, T., Griechische Literaturgeschichte, Berlin, -1872-1894.--=Bernhardy=, G., Grundriss der Griechischen Litteratur, -Halle, 1836, rev. ed. 1876-92.--=Berthelot=, A., Les grandes scènes de -l’histoire grecque, Paris, 1889.--=Blackie=, J. S., Horæ Hellenicæ, -London and Edinburgh, 1874.--=Blanchard=, Th., Les Mavroyeni, Paris, -1893.--=Bluemner=, Hugo, Home Life of Ancient Greeks (trans. by A. -Zimmern), London, 1895; Technologie und Terminologie der Gewerbe und -Künste bei Griechen u. Römern, Leipsic, 1887.--=Boeckh=, A., Public -Economy of the Athenians (trans. by A. Lamb), Boston, 1857. - - _August Boeckh_, born at Carlsruhe, November 24, 1785; died in - Berlin, August 3, 1867. He published an edition of Pindar with - a continuous commentary, a Latin translation, and a treatise on - Greek Versification, (1811); also _Metrological Investigations - concerning the Weights, Coins, and Measures of Antiquity_ (1838); - _A Dissertation on the Silver Mines of Laurium in Attica_, and - other treatises. He began the _Corpus Inscriptionum Grecarum_, - continued by his pupil Franz and still unfinished. His most - important work on the _Public Economy of the Athenians_, while - necessarily somewhat antiquated, retains its original importance - in many features, and as a repository of knowledge drawn from the - classical writers has not been superseded. - -=Bonnet=, M., Le Philologie classique, Paris, 1892.--=Bougeault=, -Alfred, Hist. des lett. étrangères, Paris, 1876.--=Bougot=, A., Rivalité -d’Eschine et Demosthènes, Paris, 1891. =Brequigny=, L. G. O. F. de, -Vie des anciens orateurs grecs, Paris, 1752.--=Bronwer=, P. v. L., -Histoire de la Civilisation Morale et Religieuse des Grecs.--=Brown=, -J. B., Stoics and Saints. Lectures on Later Heathen Moralists, Glasgow, -1893.--=Budge=, E. A. W., The Life and Exploits of Alexander the -Great, London, 1896.--=Bulwer=, H. L. E., An Autumn in Greece, London, -1826.--=Bulwer Lytton=, E. G. E. L. See Lytton.--=Burgess=, G., and -others, Greek Anthology, London, 1854.--=Burnouf=, E., Mémoires sur -l’antiquité, Paris, 1879; La légende athénienne, Paris, 1872; The -Science of Religions (trans. by Julie Liebe), London, 1888; Histoire de -la littérature grecque, Paris, 1869.--=Bury=, J. B., History of Greece, -London, 1900; The Double City of Megalopolis (in Journal of Hellenic -Studies), London, 1898. - - _John B. Bury_, born 1861; was educated at Trinity College, - Dublin, became professor of modern history in Dublin University - in 1893; regius professor of Greek in 1898; and regius professor - of modern history in the University of Cambridge, 1903. - Professor Bury is well known for his _History of the Later Roman - Empire_ and for his edition of Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall_. In - preparing the history of Greece he wavered, as his preface tells - us, between an elaborate work and the more difficult task of - presenting a well-balanced epitome of Greek history in a single - volume. He was probably wise in choosing the latter; and in so - doing he has produced a work which, while brief, may properly - be styled comprehensive and authoritative and which is also - entertaining. It does not attempt to supplant the more elaborate - works of the older writers, nor does it enter quite the same - field with the recent German productions; but it is almost the - only work which, in a single volume, gives the reader any clear - idea of the latest developments of Mycenæan history, while - carrying the story of Grecian history in general through the age - of Alexander. - -=Busolt=, G., Die Griechische Gesch. bis zur Schlacht bei -Chæroneia, Gotha, 1893; (in Müller’s Handbuch der klassischen -Alterthumswissenschaft, Munich, 1892). - - * * * * * - -=Caillemer=, E., Études sur les antiquités juridiques d’Athènes, Paris, -1880.--=Carraroli=, D., Di leggenda di Alessandro Magno, Mondovi, -1892.--=Church=, A. J., Heroes and Kings, London, 1883; London, 1900; The -Fall of Athens, London, 1894; Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition, London, -1899; Pictures from Greek Life and Story, 1893.--=Cicero=, Tusculanarum -Disputationum Libri V. and De Oratore, Rome, 1469.--=Clarke=, E. D., -Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, London, -1810.--=Clinton=, Fynes H., Fasti Hellenici, London, 1851.--=Collins=, -W. L., Ancient Classics for English Readers, London, 1870.--=Conitolas=, -B., La Grèce apres la faillite, Paris, 1895.--=Constantine VII.=, Flavius -Porphyrogenitus, Ἐκλογαὶ περὶ Πρεσβειῶν (Excerpta de Legationibus), περὶ -ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας (Excerpta de Virtutibus et Vitiis), edited by Valesius, -1634; περὶ γνωμῶν (Excerpta de Sententiis), Rome, 1827.--=Corner=, J., -History of Greece, London, 1885, 8 vols.--=Costard=, G., Dissertation -on Uses of Astronomy in History, etc., London, 1764.--=Coulange=, F. -de, Nouvelles recherches sur quelques problèmes d’histoire, Paris, -1891.--=Cox=, G. W., A History of Greece, London, 1874, 2 vols.; General -History of Greece, London, 1876; The Athenian Empire, London, 1876; The -Tale of the Great Persian War, London, 1861; The Greeks and the Persians, -London, 1877; Lives of Greek Statesmen, London, 1885. - - _George W. Cox_, born at Benares, January 10, 1827; vicar - of Bekesbourne, 1881, rector of Scrayingham, 1881-1897. His - various historical works have had great popularity, to which - the excellence of their style eminently entitles them. They - are scholarly as regards their treatment of facts, but are - essentially artistic in their presentation of these facts. No - one has treated the mythological period in a more satisfactory - way. Obviously, considering the date of their publication, - they are not to be looked to for the latest phases of Mycenæan - investigation. - -=Cramer=, J. A., A Geographical and Historical Description of Ancient -Greece, Oxford, 1828.--=Creasy=, Edward S., Fifteen Decisive Battles -of the World, London, 1852.--=Curteis=, A. M., Rise of the Macedonian -Empire, London, 1877.--=Curtius=, E. von, Griechische Geschichte, Berlin, -1887, 3 vols. - - _Ernst Curtius_ was born at Lübeck, Germany, September 2, 1814; - died July 12, 1896. When K. O. Müller undertook that tour of - Greece which began so auspiciously and ended so disastrously, he - had as an assistant a young German of kindred genius to his own, - afterwards to be known perhaps even more widely than himself as - an historian of Greece, in the person of Ernst Curtius. The work - which Müller was not permitted to complete was carried on by - Curtius, who devoted his entire life to the study of classical - antiquities as his master had done before him. It was Curtius - who, many years later, conceived the idea of making excavations - at the famed site of Olympia. Curtius himself, acting as envoy - for the German government, secured to that country the monopoly - of excavating there. The results of these excavations which - Curtius for a time personally conducted are full of importance - and interest, and were given to the world in a series of - ponderous volumes. - - Much of the work of Curtius had this technical character, but - the one book through which he became best known, and by which - he will probably be longest remembered, was an essentially - popular history of Greece--by far the most popular exposition - of the subject that has ever been written in Germany. It is a - work essentially un-German, so to say, in its plan of execution. - It is a condensed running narrative of the events of Grecian - history, and, what is strange indeed in a German work, it is - quite unmarred by footnotes: notes there are, to be sure, but - these are relatively few in number and are placed by themselves - at the end of each volume, where they may be easily found by the - few who care to seek them out, without marring the interest and - distracting the attention of the mass of readers of the text. - It is interesting to note that this most delightful and popular - history was written at the instance of a publisher as a companion - work to Professor Mommsen’s equally famous history of Rome. The - similarity of treatment and general identity of plan of these - two famous works suggest that the publisher perhaps had no small - share in predetermining their character and scope; if so, the - world owes him two of the most important histories that have come - out of the land of historians. - - Professor Curtius’ personal point of view may be described at - once as sympathetic and critical; he had the ripest scholarship, - and he early imbibed much of Müller’s enthusiasm, but he perhaps - brought to his subject a shade more of practicality than his - great master. The combination of traits made him almost a perfect - historian. As a teacher he was long regarded as one of the most - successful in the land of great teachers. Professor Boyesen, in a - popular article on the Berlin University, written for an American - magazine some years ago, described at some length a seminar of - Professor Curtius, and expressed his surprise and admiration - at the ease and fluency with which Professor Curtius carried - on what might be styled a familiar conversation in classical - Latin. Such an incident is far less novel in Germany than it - would be in France, or England, or America; for in Germany the - student is still taught to speak Latin--after a fashion--in the - Gymnasium, and the scholars are not few who learn to handle it - with relative ease as a spoken language. In the case of Professor - Curtius, then, this mastery of classical languages is perhaps - less remarkable than his practical mastery of his mother-tongue; - for there are many German professors who can speak Latin fluently - where there is one who can write German that anyone who is not a - German can read with pleasure. - -=Curtius=, Quintus, De Rebus Gestis Alexandri Magni, Venice, 1471; The -Wars of Alexander (trans. by William Young), London, 1747. - - * * * * * - -=Dahlmann=, F. C., Forschungen auf dem Gebiete der Gesch., Altona, -1822-1824.--=Daremberg=, C. V., and =Saglio=, E., Dictionnaire des -antiquités grecques et romaines, Paris, 1873; La Médecine dans Homère, -Paris, 1865.--=Dares=, the Phrygian, Daretis Phrygii de Excidio Trojæ -Historia, L’hist. véritable de la guerre des Grecs et des Troyens, faite -française par Ch. de Bourgueville, 1893.--=Dauban=, C. A., Extraits -des auteurs anciens sur l’hist. grecque, Paris, 1888.--=Deltour=, N. -F., Histoire de la littérature grecque, Paris, 1885.--=Diodorus=, -Siculus, Βιβλιοθήκη ἱστορική, edited by L. Dindorf, Leipsic, 1828, 6 -vols. The Historical Library, London, 1700.--=Diogenes=, Laertius, -φιλόσοφοι βίοι, edited by H. G. Hübner, Leipsic, 1828, 6 vols.--Lives -and Opinions of the Most Eminent Philosophers (trans. by C. D. Yonge), -London, 1848.--=Dodge=, T. A., Great Captains; History of Origin and -Growth of Art of War, Boston, 1890.--=Donaldson=, J., Modern Greek -Grammar, Edinburgh, 1853.--=Dragoumes=, N., Souvenirs historiques, Paris, -1890.--=Droysen=, J. G., Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen, Gotha, 1892; -Gesch. des Hellenismus, Gotha, 1877-1878. - - _Johann Gustav Droysen_ was born at Treptow, Pomerania, Prussia, - July 6, 1808; died at Berlin, June 19, 1884. His history of - Alexander was written before any of the really great modern - histories of Greece were undertaken, and it far surpassed any - preceding effort in the fullness with which it drew upon all - sources of antiquity and in the critical acumen with which it - analysed the material thus gathered. It had, moreover, the merit - of a style of more than average lucidity, and this, added to - its other qualities, gave it at once a wide popularity and an - authoritative position which it has continued to hold to this - day. Indeed, it is only very recently that anyone has attempted - to write a history of Alexander which could be regarded as - competing in the same field with that of Droysen, except such - extended sketches as form part of such comprehensive Grecian - histories as those of Grote, Thirlwall, and Curtius. - - Droysen treats his subject from a truly sympathetic point of - view. For him Alexander is a very great hero; he is thoroughly - in sympathy with the monarchical idea, and he regards Alexander - as a great benefactor of his kind, who, had he lived, would have - put the stamp of his genius still more firmly upon the most - important epoch in the history of human evolution. Even such - debatable points as Alexander’s demand that divine honours should - be paid him by the Greeks, after the oriental manner, are made - by Droysen, as we have seen, to appear altogether favourable to - his hero. It must not be supposed from this, however, that the - history of Droysen is a fulsome eulogy. It is, on the other hand, - the work of a candid critic of broad views and clear insight, who - is by no means blind to the defects of his hero, but who believes - that, in spite of these defects, the hero was not merely one of - the greatest military geniuses, but one of the greatest men of - any age. - - Having treated the age of Alexander, it was not unnatural - that Droysen should go on to the study of later Greek life. - His treatment of the Hellenic age remains perhaps the most - comprehensive and scholarly contribution to this difficult - subject. - -=Droysen=, H.,(in Hermann’s Lehrbuch d. griechischen Antiquitäten) -Freiburg, 1889; Untersuchungen über Alexanders des Grossen Heerwesen und -Kriegführung, Freiburg, 1885; Athen und der Westen vor der Sicilischen -Expedition, Berlin, 1882.--=Drumann=, W., Verfall der Griechischen -Staaten, Berlin, 1815.--=Dujon=, E., Problèmes de Mythologie, Auxerre, -1887.--=Du Mesnil=, A., Politik des Epaminondas, Munich, 1863--=Dunbar=, -G., in Potter’s Antiquities of Greece, Edinburgh, 1820.--=Duncker=, -M., Abhandlungen aus der griech. Geschichte, Leipsic, 1887; History of -Greece to the End of the Persian War (trans.), London and Edinburgh, -1883.--=Duruy=, V., Histoire des Grecs, Paris, 1887-1889.--=Dyer=, L., -Studies of the Gods in Greece at Certain Sanctuaries, London, 1891. - - * * * * * - -=Elser=, C., Die Lehre des Aristoteles über das Wirken Gottes, Münster, -1893.--=Ely=, T., Olympos, Tales of the Gods of Greece, London, -1891.--=Eugamon=, Τηλεγονία, (Telegonia). - - * * * * * - -=Falke=, J. von, Greece and Rome, their Life and Art (trans. by W. H. -Browne), New York, 1882.--=Farfar=, J. A., Paganism and Christianity, -London, 1891.--=Fellows=, C., An Account of Discoveries in Lycia, -London, 1841.--=Finlay=, G., History of Byzantine and Greek Empires -from 716 to 1453, Edinburgh, 1853; History of Greece from Conquest by -Crusaders, 1204-1461, Edinburgh and London, 1851; History of Greek -Revolution, Edinburgh and London, 1861; History of Greece under Ottoman -and Venetian Domination, Edinburgh and London, 1856; Greece under the -Romans, Edinburgh, 1844. Most of Finlay’s works, dealing with the later -period of Grecian history, are properly without the scope of the present -bibliography. They treat the Byzantine epoch from a Greek point of view -and are thus complementary to Gibbon’s work. We shall have occasion to -return to them when dealing with the later Roman Empire.--=Flathe=, J. L. -F. F., Geschichte Macedoniens, Leipsic, 1832-1834.--=Floigl=, V., Cyrus -und Herodot, Leipsic, 1881.--=Fraenkel=, A., Die Quellen der Alexander -Historiker, 1884, 8 vols.--=Françillon=, R. E., Gods and Heroes, -Edinburgh, 1892.--=Freeman=, E. A., History of Federal Government in -Greece and Italy, London, 1893; History of Sicily, Oxford, 1891; article -on “Sicily” in the Ninth Edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_. The -first edition of Professor Freeman’s work on federal government, cited -above, bore the following title: _The History of Federal Government -from the Foundation of the Achæan League to the Dissolution of the -United States_; a title which suggests the difficulties an historian -may encounter when his enthusiasm leads him to enter the fields of -prophecy. For obvious reasons the author was not able to complete his -work in accordance with the original title. Unfortunately, he did not -move as far towards its completion as he might have done, as a second -volume was never published. The fragment that he has given us, however, -retains great importance in its application to that late and futile -effort of the Greeks to harmonise the relations of their antagonistic -cities.--=Furtwängler= (in collaboration with =Löschke=), Mykenische -Vasen, Berlin, 1886. - - * * * * * - -=Gardner=, Percy, New Chapters in Greek History, London, 1892; Manual -of Greek Antiquities, London, 1895.--=Garnett=, R., A Chaplet from -the Greek Anthology, London, 1892.--=Geddes=, William D., The Problem -of the Homeric Poems, London, 1878, 8 vols.--=Geldart=, E. M., Modern -Greek Language, Oxford, 1866.--=Gell=, W., Itinerary of Greece, with -Commentary on Pausanias and Strabo, London, 1810.--=Gerard=, P., -L’Éducation athénienne au cinquième et quatrième siècles B.C., Paris, -1889.--=Gerhard=, E., Griechische Mythologie, Berlin, 1854.--=Gervinus=, -G. G., Gesch. des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Leipsic, 1853.--=Gibbon=, E., -Decline and Fall of Roman Empire, London, 1853.--=Gilbert=, G., Beiträge -zur inneren Gesch. Athens, Leipsic, 1877; Handbuch der Griechischen -Staatsalterthtümer, Leipsic, 1893.--=Gillies=, J., History of Ancient -Greece, London, 1825.--=Gladstone=, W. E., Studies on Homer and the -Homeric Age, Oxford, 1858.--=Glover=, R., Leonidas (poem), London, -1737.--=Godkin=, E. L., Historical Educator, London, 1854.--=Goldsmith=, -O., History of Greece, London, 1825. - - _Oliver Goldsmith_ was born at Pallas, County Longford, Ireland, - November 10, 1728; died at London, April 4, 1774. The name of - Goldsmith has been everywhere a household word for more than - a century, but probably comparatively few of the multitude of - readers of _The Deserted Village_ and _The Vicar of Wakefield_ - are aware that the famous poet and novelist was also a writer - of histories. And, in point of fact, it would be going much too - far to claim for Goldsmith any such rank in the field of history - as, by common consent, he is accorded in these other walks of - literature. Indeed it might almost be said that Goldsmith was - not a historian at all in the modern sense of the word; he did - not prepare himself by any extended series of intimate personal - researches; he did not attempt to ferret out any new facts, - or bring any novel lights to bear upon the subject. To put - the matter briefly, he took up the writing of history as pure - hack-work for whatever monetary recompense it would bring at the - moment, with probably little thought beyond that. Nevertheless - Goldsmith had some of the inherent instincts of the scholar, and, - moreover, he was too great an artist not to know that truth lies - at the foundation of all art; hence, even though he wrote in one - sense carelessly, he could not do less than ground himself in at - least the main outlines of the story that he had to tell, and it - would be quite a mistake to suppose that his history of Greece - is utterly despicable as a mere narrative of facts. Generally - speaking, on the contrary, it may be depended on as to mere - statement of fact, while its manner of presentation is, it goes - almost without the saying, such as to give it a place quite aside - from the ordinary. - - There are indeed times when the spirit of the writer seems - somewhat to flag, and one misses here and there that felicity of - expression and charm of narrative which one is wont to associate - with the name of Goldsmith; but, in the main, the story, as a - story of Grecian life, is told in a manner not unworthy of the - author of _The Vicar_, which is equivalent to saying that the - mere story of Greek history has rarely elsewhere been told so - well. The skill of the trained writer is shown, however, perhaps - even more in the selection and massing of materials than in the - mere matter of verbal style in the narrower sense. In particular - Goldsmith has followed out the tangled web of post-Alexandrian - history and woven it into something like a continuous and uniform - texture with a facility of literary resource that is rare indeed - among writers of history. Of course matter, rather than manner, - is the _sine quâ non_ with the historian, and it was not to be - expected that the history of Goldsmith could retain the prestige - which it once enjoyed, after such writers as Mitford, Thirlwall, - Grote, and Curtius had devoted years of effort to a more extended - treatment of the same subject. Nevertheless the history of - Goldsmith still has its utility for a certain class of readers. - Judicious selections from it are fully entitled to stand beside - the best that has been written on the subject. If, on the whole, - one regrets that Goldsmith did not take the time to give his work - greater authority, one cannot but regret also that some of the - later writers, and notably Grote, were not able to add to their - more ponderous productions something of the charm of style which - is the chief merit of Goldsmith’s history. - -=Goll=, H., Kulturbilder aus Hellas und Rom, Leipsic, 1878.--=Gossellin=, -P. F., Géographie des Grecs analysée, Paris, 1790.--=Grant=, A., Greece -in the Age of Pericles, London, 1893.--=Grote=, G., History of Greece, -London, 1846-1856; Plato, London, 1865. - - _George Grote_ was born near Beckenham in Kent, November 17, - 1794; died at London, June 18, 1871. He was educated for a - commercial life, and as a banker became a partner in the firm of - Prescott, Grote & Co. He continued in active business until 1843, - and he three times represented the city of London in parliament, - retiring from public life in 1841. The first two volumes of his - _History of Greece_ were published in 1846, the remaining volumes - appearing successively between 1847 and 1856. His _Plato and - the other Companions of Socrates_, in three volumes, appeared - in 1865. In politics Grote was greatly influenced by his friend - James Mill, accepting his theories upon church establishment - and government. Years before the passage of the reform bill, - Grote was one of the earnest reformers who strove to further the - views of Mill and Bentham. His work as a politician, however, - was quite subordinate to his importance as a historian, for the - latter work was taken up at first as a mere labour of love, and - only carried to completion, it is said, at the instigation of his - wife. We have already commented at length upon Grote’s work in - the introduction to this bibliography. - -=Grundy=, G. B., The Persian War. 1901.--=Guerber=, H. A., The Story -of the Greeks, London, 1898.--=Guhl=, E., and =Koner=, W., The Life of -the Greeks and Romans described from Antique Monuments (trans. by F. -Hueffer), London. 1877. - - * * * * * - -=Hadley=, J., Philological Essays, New York, 1873.--=Hahn=, J. G. von, -Folk Lore of Modern Greece, London, 1884.--=Hall=, H. R., The Oldest -Civilisation of Greece.--=Hammond=, B. E., Political Institutions of -the Ancient Greeks, London, 1895; Greek Constitutions, Cambridge, -1896.--=Harrison=, J. E., Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens, -London, 1890.--=Harrison=, J. A., The Story of Greece, New York, -1885.--=Hase=, H., The Public and Private Life of the Ancient -Greeks, London, 1836.--=Hegel=, G. W. F., Lectures on the Philosophy -of History, London, 1857.--=Heine=, H., Gesammelte Werke (Zweiter -Cyklus), Berlin, 1887.--=Helbig=, W., Die Italiker in der Po-Ebene, -Leipsic, 1879.--=Hermann=, K. F., Lehrbuch Griechischer Antiquitäten, -Freiburg, 1880; Kulturgeschichte der Griechen und Römer, Göttingen, -1857.--=Herodotus=, Heroditi Historiæ, ed. Schweighäuser, Strasburg, -1816, 5 vols.; History of Herodotus, translated by Wm. Beloe, London, -1806.--=Hertzberg=, G. F., Gesch. der Griechen im Alterthum, Berlin, -1885; Geschichte von Hellas und Rom, 1879; Geschichte Griechenlands -unter der Herrschaft der Römer, Halle, 1866-1875; Gesch. Griechenlands -seit dem Absterben des antiken Lebens bis zur Gegenwart, Hamburg, -1876-1879. Professor Hertzberg’s works have the merit of pleasant -presentation, and may be depended upon as a representative presentation -of the most authoritative views. They make no claim to any such amount -of original investigation as characterises the standard works of Grote -and Curtius.--=Hogarth=, D. G., article on “Mycenæan Civilisation” in -the _New Volumes_ of the Ninth Edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, -London.--=Holm=, A., Gesch. Siciliens im Alterthum, Leipsic, 1870-1874; -Griechische Gesch., Berlin, 1893; History of Greece, London, 1898. - - _Adolf Holm_ was born in 1830 at Lübeck; he is at present - professor of history at Palermo, Sicily. Professor Holm’s - work, combining original investigation with a fair grade of - popularity of treatment, is one of the most important of recent - contributions to the subject. - -=Hopf=, Carl, Gesch. Griechenlands vom Beginn des Mittelalters (in Ersch -und Gruber’s Encyclopädie), Leipsic, 1818.--=Huellmann=, C. D., Würdigung -des Delphischen Orakels, Bonn, 1837; Anfänge der griech. Geschichte, -Königsberg, 1814.--=Hullmann=, L. D., Primi tempi della storia graeca, -1894.--=Hume=, D., On the Populousness of Ancient Nations, Edinburgh, -1753.--=Hutton=, C. A., Greek Terra-cotta Statuettes, London, 1899. - - * * * * * - -=Isocrates=, Archidamus, ed. by G. S. Dobson, London, 1828, 2 vols. - - * * * * * - -=Jäger=, O., Geschichte der Griechen, Gütersloh, 1896.--=Jahn=, O., -Aus der Alterthumswissenschaft, Bonn, 1868.--=Jebb=, R. E., in an -article on “Demosthenes” in the Ninth Edition of the _Encyclopædia -Britannica_.--=Jevons=, F. B., Athenian Democracy, London, -1895.--=Josephus=, F., Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ed. by Dindorf, Paris, 1845 -(trans. by W. Whiston, “The Jewish Antiquities,” London, 1737); περὶ -τοῦ Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου ἢ Ιουδαϊκῆς ἱστορίας περὶ ἁλώσεως, ed. by Hudson, -Oxford, 1720 (trans. by Whiston, London, 1737).--=Jurien de la Gravière=, -J. P. E., Les campagnes d’Alexandre, Paris, 1884; La marine des anciens, -Paris, 1880.--=Justinus=, Justini Historiarum Philippicarum Libri XLIV; -History of the World, London, 1853. - - * * * * * - -=Kellner=, G. C., Edle Griechen, Leipsic, 1802.--=Kertenensis=, R., -Voyage to Dalmatia, Greece, and Asia.--=Kingsley=, Charles, Hypatia, -London, 1858.--=Kolster=, W. H., Alexander der Grosse, Berlin, -1866.--=Kortum=, J. C., Gesch. Griechenlands von der Urzeit bis zum -Untergang des achäischen Bundes, Heidelberg, 1854.--=Kruse=, F. C. R., -Hellas, Leipsic, 1826. - - * * * * * - -=Lake=, W. M., A Historical Outline of the Greek Revolution, London, -1825.--=Lang=, Andrew, Homer and the Epic, London, 1893.--=Larcher=, -P. H., Traduction d’Hérodote, Paris, 1786.--=Lardy=, E., La Guerre -Greco-Turque (see Modern Greece), Paris, 1899.--=Larocque=, J., La Grèce -au siècle de Périclès, Paris, 1883.--=Laurent=, T., Études sur l’histoire -de l’humanité, Brussels, 1861-1870.--=Leake=, W. M., Researches in -Greece, London, 1814; Topography of Athens, London, 1821.--=Lebeau=, -Charles, Hist. du Bas-Empire, Paris, 1757-1786.--=Lecky=, W. E. H., -Rationalism in Europe, London, 1870.--=Lenormant=, F., La Grande -Grèce, Paris, 1881.--=Lerminier=, E., Histoire des législatures et des -constitutions de la Grèce, Paris, 1882.--=Letronne=, J. A., Fragments -inédits d’anciens poètes grecs, Paris, 1838.--=Livius=, Titus, Annales, -Rome, 1469; ed. by Drakenborch, Leyden, 1738-1746, 7 vols. (trans. -by Philemon Holland, “History of Rome,” London, 1600; by D. Spillan, -C. Edmunds, and W. A. McDevitte, London, 1849, 4 vols.).--=Lloyd=, -W. W., Sophoclean Trilogy (in Journal Hellenic Studies), London, -1884.--=Lytton=, E. G. E. L. Bulwer, Athens: Its Rise and Fall, London, -1837. - - _Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton_ was born at London, - May 25, 1803; died at Torquay, January 18, 1873. It has happened - more than once that the achievements of a man’s later life - have quite eclipsed the renown of his earlier years. It was so - in the case of Bulwer-Lytton. In mature life he came to be so - universally known as a politician and novelist that perhaps - comparatively few of his readers are aware that he ever wrote a - history. Part of this neglect is perhaps due to the fact that he - never finished the important work on Athens which at one time - was very widely and favourably known. Possibly his success as a - novelist led him to abandon his early project, or, more likely, - the distractions of other activities prevented him from returning - to a work which he must have abandoned with reluctance. In any - event the two volumes which he published on Athenian history - remain a valuable fragment. They are written from the standpoint - of an ardent admirer of all phases of Grecian life, and his - judgment must, therefore, sometimes be accepted with a certain - reserve. Yet, as a whole, his work so far as it was carried has - hardly been supplanted as an estimate of the Athenian people and - their life. It is the work of a man who, though pre-eminent as a - writer, had also large attainments as a scholar and investigator. - Whoever turns to the volumes before us must leave them with - regret that the fascinating story which they tell was never - completed. Such as they are, however, they constitute a most - valuable estimate of an artistic people by a man who was himself - an artist. - - * * * * * - -=Macaulay=, G. C., Translation of the History of Herodotus, London, -1890.--=MacDermott=, T. B., Outlines of Grecian History, Dublin, -1889.--=Mahaffy=, J. P., Problems in Greek History, London, 1892; -Alexander’s Empire, London, 1877; The Greek World under Roman Sway, -London, 1890; Greek Life and Thought from Alexander to Roman Conquest, -London, 1887; Introduction to Duruy’s History of Greece, Boston, 1890; -Rambles and Studies in Greece, London, 1876; A History of Classical Greek -Literature, London, 1883; The Empire of the Ptolemies, London, 1895. - - _John Pentland Mahaffy_ was born at Chaponnaire, near Vevey, - Switzerland, February 26, 1839. - - The student of history has occasion to deplore, over and over, - the fact that the greatest scholars so generally fail utterly to - master a lucid style of writing. It is a real pleasure therefore, - as well as a surprise, when, now and again, one comes across - a man of recognised scholarship who has also real distinction - as a writer. Such a man is Professor Mahaffy. As a scholar, - and particularly as an investigator of Grecian life in all its - phases, including prominently the age of the Ptolemies, Professor - Mahaffy has long had an established reputation. And it requires - but the most casual inspection of any of his books to show that - his capacity as a writer is of a high order. - - The explanation of what might almost be said to be an anomaly - such as this is found, seemingly, in the wide sweep of Professor - Mahaffy’s interests and in the sound fund of common sense which - he brings to bear on any problem of scholarship. Too many - students of antiquity have been carried away with the beauties of - the Greek language, and brought utterly under the spell of the - classical literature, until all critical acumen that they might - once have possessed focalises and wastes itself solely on verbal - questions, leaving none for application to practicalities. Thus - it has happened that all manner of myths have grown up in the - minds of men about the word “Greek.” - - Some of these myths Professor Mahaffy has made it his business to - attempt to dispel. We have already had occasion to refer to his - criticism on the eulogists of Thucydides. Again, in a matter of - much broader scope, Professor Mahaffy long ago pointed out that - the popular notion which regarded the Greek as the type of brave - man was a most palpable illusion. He called attention to the fact - that in some of the most important of Grecian battles--as, for - example, that in which the Spartans won against the Corinthians, - in the time of Agesilaus--the total death roll was sometimes - only half a dozen men. He noted the childish way in which the - Greek leaders were wont to keep up the courage of their men by - harangues and bombast, and the way in which each side strove to - frighten the other by loud shoutings and clashing of arms as it - advanced. “These,” he said, “are not the characteristics of men - who are brave in the modern sense of the word.” Again, he asked - if it is conceivable that a modern body of warriors would have - been repelled year after year by the walls of Athens, when only a - handful of men, so to say, were within to defend them. - - Advancing still further in the same iconoclastic spirit, - Professor Mahaffy pointed out that some of the dearest traditions - of Grecian history had been interpreted and foisted on the - world through the minds of prejudiced participants, rather - than in a spirit of fairness and equity. Thus the battle of - Marathon, which we are accustomed even now to hear spoken of as - the great decisive contest between the East and the West, will - with difficulty bear this interpretation if one will consider - it without prejudice. At the best, it was certainly a far less - important and decisive battle than that of Platæa, but it chanced - that the Athenians were the victorious combatants at Marathon, - whereas at Platæa the Spartans bore the honours of the day; and - since the Athenians, through their literature, served as the - mouthpiece of Greece, it is not strange that the event in which - they chiefly figured should have been unduly magnified, and the - memory of it transmitted in distorted proportions to posterity. - It is vastly to the credit of modern scholarship that it should - be able to revise certain judgments on such matters as these, - that have come down to us with all the accumulated inertia of - generations of repetition. - - It must not be supposed, however, from what has just been said, - that Professor Mahaffy’s task in dealing with the history of - Greece is altogether, or even chiefly, iconoclastic. The fact is - quite otherwise. Critical as he can be on occasion, Professor - Mahaffy nevertheless is, on the whole, an ardent and sympathetic - admirer of the people who have furnished the theme of his life - studies; but his laudatory judgments may be accepted with the - more confidence because of the evidence he has given us that in - considering the Greeks he does not allow himself to be carried - utterly away by his enthusiasm, nor to forget that the Greeks, - despite their national genius, were after all very human, and - only properly to be understood when judged by some such practical - standard as we apply to peoples of our own generation. - - Professor Mahaffy knows his Greece of to-day at first hand - quite as well as he knows ancient Greece through studies of the - classics. He has described most charmingly his rambles in Greece - proper; and latterly he has made the Ptolemaic epoch peculiarly - his own, and his writings on this period take rank as among the - most important contributions to a subject which most students of - Grecian history have distinctly neglected. - -=Mannert=, C., Geographie der Griechen und Römer, Nürnberg, -1788-1792.--=Manso=, J. C. F., Sparta, Leipsic, 1800-1805.--=Martin=, -H., Les Cavaliers Athéniens, Paris, 1886.--=Masom=, W. F., Synopsis -of Grecian History, London, 1888.--=Maspero=, G., Hist. ancienne des -peuples de l’orient, Paris, 1886.--=Mela=, Pomponius, De Situ Orbis -Libri III, ed. by Vinetus, Paris, 1572; (trans. by Arthur Golding, Rare -and Singular Works of Pomponius Mela, London, 1590).--=Melingo=, P. v., -Griechenland in unseren Tagen, Vienna, 1892.--=Ménard=, L., Histoire -des Grecs, Paris, 1893, 2 vols.--=Merivale=, Charles, History of the -Romans under the Empire, London, 1850-1851.--=Meyer=, E., Geschichte des -Alterthums, Stuttgart, 1884-1893.--=Milchoefer=, A., Anfänge der Kunst -in Griechenland, Leipsic, 1883.--=Milligan=, W., Religion of Ancient -Greece, Edinburgh, 1882.--=Mitford=, W., History of Greece, London, -1841.--=Monceaux=, P., La Grèce avant Alexandre, Paris, 1892.--=Müller=, -I., Handbuch der klassischen Alterthumswissenschaft, Nördlingen, 1885, -etc., 9 vols., in progress.--=Müller=, A. (in Hermann’s Lehrbuch -der Griechischen Antiquitäten), Freiburg, 1880.--=Müller=, H. D., -Historisch-mythologische Untersuchungen, Göttingen, 1892.--=Müller=, -Karl, Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum, Paris, 1841-1870, 5 vols.; new -edition, 1883.--=Müller=, K. O., History of the Literature of Ancient -Greece, London, 1858; History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, London, -1830; Handbuch der Archäologie der Kunst, Stuttgart, 1878. - - _Karl Otfried Müller_ was born at Brieg, Prussia, August 28, - 1797; died at Athens, August 1, 1840. If to be sympathetic - with the genius of a people is a prerequisite for the great - historian, Müller was eminently qualified to write a history - of the Greek people. He was a man of essentially poetical and - artistical temperament, and combined with these qualities a - profound scholarship. An incident of his early manhood will - illustrate perfectly his temperament. The incident occurred - during his visit to the famous art gallery in Dresden. In itself - it was nothing more than the fact of his becoming entranced by - the celebrated Raphael there. Before this picture, as he himself - writes, he stood quite enchanted, and he could scarcely bring - himself to leave it long enough to visit other portions of the - gallery. Now, of course, to any person of less impressionable - temperament who has seen the picture, it will be quite clear that - Müller, standing thus entranced before the Madonna, saw with - the inner eye of his own enthusiasm, rather than with the more - tangible organ of sense. Doubtless, in his half-hypnotic trance, - he would have been equally delighted had the veriest chromo - been substituted in the canvas for the original picture. He had - gone to see the Raphael full of enthusiastic expectancy, and he - was sure not to be disappointed. He did not see the awkward, - mechanical, old-fashioned grouping; he was quite unmindful of the - defect of drawing which had given unequal legs to the kneeling - figure at the right. He did not know that, if he had come across - this same painting unlabelled and before unheard of, he would - scarcely have given it a second thought; he only knew that it - represented an ideal--an ideal that had lingered fondly in his - mind since his earliest youth. To stand before that picture and - see it with his own eyes was to realise that ideal. Many another - person has had that same sensation before that same canvas, and - for the same reason; and with them, as with him, it was a test - of personal temperament, and not a test of the excellence of the - picture itself. - - Gifted with this impressionable artistic temperament, it was not - strange that Müller’s ambitions early looked in the direction - of Greece. From his earliest youth the study of classical times - became his one absorbing passion, and long before he had reached - middle age he had come to be known to scholars everywhere as a - member of that inner circle who have made classical lore their - own. Naturally he wrote as well as studied, and his works on - Greece became classical from the moment of their issue. His - especial interest during those early years, which were to - represent the largest portion of his working life, was directed - towards the early history of the Greeks as a nation and towards - the effort to solve the riddles of that period. In particular, - his studies of the Doric race became famous, and remain to - this day practically the last word that has been said on the - subject. One must, perhaps, sometimes make allowance for Müller’s - enthusiasm and favourable prejudice, just as for Mitford’s - opposite point of view; but generally speaking, Müller’s work - is distinguished above all things, next to its scholarship, for - its fairness and the breadth of view from which the subject is - contemplated. - - Oddly enough, all Müller’s important works were written before he - himself had ever visited the land of which he treated. Needless - to say, a desire to visit Greece was ever with him, but it was - long before the desire was realised. At last, however, the - opportunity came to visit Greece in a semi-official capacity; - the government granted him leave of absence from his university - work, and provided him with a draftsman to make sketches in - Greece under his direction. In the autumn of 1839 he started on - this memorable and, as it proved, fatal tour. A story is told of - his entry into Greece which will illustrate the power and charm - of his personality. A friend of Finlay, the English historian of - the later period of Greece, chanced to be on the same boat with - Müller, and, after landing, he at once reported to Finlay that a - most extraordinary man had come to Greece--a man whose name and - nationality were unknown to him, but who had surprised everyone - on the boat by seeming to speak all languages with equal facility - and to discuss all topics with a like affluence of erudition. “I - don’t know who he is,” said the narrator, “but he is somebody - quite out of the common.” Needless to say, Finlay was not left - long in doubt as to who this “somebody quite out of the common” - really was. - - With what enthusiasm and energy Müller began his investigations - in the land, every part of which was so dear to him and at once - so familiar and so novel, may be easily imagined, but his labours - were not destined to reach the results that had been hoped; - for, partly perhaps through over-exertion and fatigue, he was - stricken with a fever, was brought back to Athens unconscious - and delirious, and died there on the 1st of August, 1840. His - work was thus cut short while he was yet in his prime, but even - so he will always be remembered as one of the most prominent - contributors to Grecian history of any age. - -=Munro=, Observations on Persian Wars, London, 1898; article in the -Journal of Hellenic Studies.--=Mure=, William, Grecian Literature, -London, 1854.--=Murray=, A. S., Greek Bronzes, London, 1898. - - * * * * * - -=Nagiotte=, E., Histoire de la littérature grecque, Paris, -1883.--=Nepos=, C., De Viris Illustribus, Venice, 1471 (ed. by -Dionysius Lambinus, Paris, 1569); Lives of Illustrious Men, London, -1723.--=Nicolai=, R., Griechische Litteraturgeschichte, Leipsic, -1876.--=Niebuhr=, B. G., Lectures on Ancient History, London, 1852; -Stories of Greek Heroes, London, 1887.--=Niese=, B., Gesch. der -Griechischen und Macedonischen Staaten, Gotha, 1893.--=Nitzsch=, C. -W., Die Römische Annalistik von ihren ersten Anfängen bis auf Valerius -Antias, Berlin, 1873. - - * * * * * - -=Oman=, C. W. C., History of Greece to Macedonian Conquest, London, 1890; -History of Greece to Death of Alexander, London, 1891.--=Oncken=, W., -Athen und Hellas, Leipsic, 1866.--=Osborn=, H. F., From the Greeks to -Darwin, New York, 1894.--=Overbeck=, J., Gesch. der Griechischen Plastik, -Leipsic, 1857. - - * * * * * - -=Paley=, F. A., An Inquiry into the Origin of Bookwriting among -the Greeks, London, 1881.--=Papatthegopoulos=, K., Histoire de la -civilisation héllenique, Paris, 1875.--=Pausanias=, Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις, -ed. by Kühn, Leipsic, 1696; (translation by Thomas Taylor), A Description -of Greece, London, 1794.--=Perry=, W. C., Greek and Roman Sculpture, -London, 1882.--=Peter=, C., Zeittafeln der Griechischen Geschichte, -Halle, 1886.--=Perrot=, G., in collaboration with C. =Chipiez=, Histoire -de l’art dans l’antiquité, Paris, 1881.--=Philippson=, A., Thessalien -und Epirus, Berlin, 1897.--=Philostephanus Timæus=, =Sosibius= and -=Demetrius Phalereus= as quoted by Plutarch.--=Philostratus=, Τὰ ἐς -τὸν Τυανέα Ἀπολλώνιον, Venice, 1502; Life of Apollonius, London, -1809.--=Photius=, Excerpts from Arrian’s Bithynica (in Müller’s -Fragmenta).--=Pigorini=, in Atti dell’ Accademmia de Lincei.--Plato, -Republic (trans. by Henry Cary), London, 1861.--=Pliny=, Historia -Naturalis (trans. by J. Bostock and H. T. Riley), London, 1848.--=Ploix=, -C., La nature des dieux, Paris, 1888.--=Plutarch=, Βίοι Παράλληλοι, -Rome, 1470, 2 vols. (ed. by C. Sintenis, Leipsic, 1839-1846, 4 -vols.); Lives, London, 1579; Lives of Illustrious Men, London, 1829, -etc.--=Pocock=, E., =Talfourd=, T., =Rutt=, J., and =Ottley=, A -History of Greece, London, 1851.--=Poestion=, J. C., Hellas, Rom, -und Thule, Leipsic, 1882.--=Pöhlmann=, R. (in Müller’s Handbuch der -klassischen Alterthumswissenschaft, Nördlingen, 1885, etc., 9 vols. in -progress).--=Pollard=, A., True Stories from Greek History, London, -1892.--=Polyænus=, Στρατηγήματα, Lyons, 1589; Stratagems of War (trans. -by R. Shepherd), London, 1793.--=Polybius=, Καθολικὴ, κοινὴ ἱστορία, -Paris, 1609; The History of (trans. by E. Grimston), London, 1693; -The History of (trans. by Sir H. Spears), Oxford, 1823 (Fragmentary -but very valuable for later period).--=Pomeranz=, B., La Grèce et la -Judée dans l’antiquité, London, 1891.--=Potter=, J. J., Antiquities -of Greece, Edinburgh, 1820.--=Poynter=, E. J., On a Bronze Leg from -Italy (in Journal of Hellenic Studies), London, 1886.--=Preller=, L., -Griechische Mythologie, Berlin, 1899.--=Prévost-Paradol=, L. A., Essai -sur l’histoire universelle, Paris, 1890.--=Purper=, L., La résurrection -de la mythologie, Paris, 1894. - - * * * * * - -=Quinet=, E., De la Grèce dans ses rapports avec l’antiquité, Paris, 1830. - - * * * * * - -=Radet=, S. T. G., La déification d’Alexandre.--=Rangabe=, A. R., -Greece: Her Former and Present Position, New York, 1867; Hist. lit. -de la Grèce moderne, Paris, 1877.--=Ranke=, L. v., Weltgeschichte, -Leipsic, 1883-1886, 8 vols.--=Redesdale=, Lord (in Mitford’s Greece), -Biography of William Mitford, London, 1822.--=Renan=, E., Études -d’histoire religieuse, Paris, 1857.--=Rennell=, J., Geographical System -of Herodotus, London, 1800.--=Ridgeway=, W., The Early Age of Greece, -Cambridge, 1901, 2 vols.; What People produced Objects called Mycenean -(in Journal of Hellenic Studies), London, 1886.--=Ritter=, Karl, Die -Erdkunde im Verhältniss zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen, -Berlin, 1817-1818, 2 vols.--=Roberts=, W. R., The Ancient Bœotians; their -Character, etc., Cambridge, 1895.--=Robinson=, W. S., Short History -of Greece, London, 1895.--=Robion=, F., Les Institutions de la Grèce -antique, Paris, 1882.--=Rodd=, J. R., Customs and Lore of Modern Greece -(see Modern Greece), London, 1892.--=Rollin=, C., Ancient History of the -Greeks and Macedonians, London, 1881; Ancient History of the Egyptians, -Carthaginians, etc., London, 1841.--=Rose=, D., Popular History of -Greece, London, 1888.--=Ruskin=, J., Præterita, London, 1886-1900, 2 -vols.; Modern Painters, London, 1843. - - * * * * * - -=Sardagua=, V., Storia della Grecia Antica, Verona, 1881.--=Sathas=, -C. N., Documents inédits relatifs à l’histoire de la Grèce en Moyen -Age, Paris, 1880.--=Sayce=, A. H. (in his preface to Schliemann’s -Troja, London, 1884); (in J. P. Mahaffy’s A History of Classical Greek -Literature, London, 1883); On the Language of the Homeric Poems, -London, 1881.--=Schäfer=, A., Demosthenes und seine Zeit, Leipsic, -1885-1886; Abriss der Quellenkunde der griech. und röm. Gesch., Leipsic, -1889.--=Schliemann=, H., Troja, London, 1884; Ilios, Leipsic, 1881; -Mycenæ, London, 1878; Tiryns: The Prehistoric Palace of the Kings of -Tiryns, London, 1886. - - _Heinrich Schliemann_ was born at Neu-Buckow, - Mecklenburg-Schwerin, January 6, 1822; died at Naples, December - 27, 1890. He was in many ways a most extraordinary man. He was - largely denied the advantages of an early liberal education, as - it became necessary for him to earn his way in the world while - yet a boy, but he made amends for this by putting into practice a - most amazing system of self-education, through which he had been - able to acquire an entire mastery of a list of languages only - limited by his own desires. French, Italian, Spanish, English, - Russian,--he learned one after another in periods of only a - few months for each; but not till relatively late in life, at - thirty-five namely, did he take up the study of Greek. The reason - for this delay, as he himself explained it, was that his interest - in Grecian history had always been so intense that he dared - not take up the study of the language lest it should prove a - distraction detrimental to his business. But now he had followed - out that business so persistently that he had become a wealthy - man and could afford to do as he wished. He acquired Greek as - quickly and as completely as he had acquired other languages, - beginning with the modern Greek and passing back in inverse - chronological order to the various classical authors. He learned - not merely to read the language, but to write it with facility - and speak it fluently, so that he could express himself in either - modern or ancient Greek almost as readily as in his native tongue. - - This accomplished, he had prepared the way for an attempt which, - as he believed in later years, had been an ambition with him - all his life,--the search, namely, for the site of Ancient - Troy. Having amassed a fortune, the income from which was more - than sufficient for all his needs, he retired from active - participation in business and devoted the remainder of his life - to a self-imposed task. How well he succeeded, all the world - knows. In opposition to the opinions of many scholars he picked - on the hill of Hissarlik as the site of ancient Ilium, and his - excavations there soon demonstrated that at least it had been the - site, not of one alone, but of at least seven different cities - in antiquity--one being built above the ruins of another at - long intervals of time. One of these cities, the sixth from the - top,--or, to put it otherwise, the most ancient but one,--was, he - became firmly convinced, Ilium itself. - - The story of his achievements has already been told. But it - is necessary here to point the warning that Dr. Schliemann’s - excavations--wonderful as are their results--do not, perhaps, - when critically viewed, demonstrate quite so much as might - at first sight appear. There is, indeed, a high degree of - probability that the city which he excavated was really the one - intended in the Homeric descriptions, but it must be clear, to - anyone who scrutinises the matter somewhat closely, that this - fact goes but a little way towards substantiating the Homeric - narrative as a whole. The city of Ilium may have existed without - giving rise to any such series of events as that narrated in the - _Iliad_. Dr. Schliemann himself was led to realise this fact, and - to modify somewhat, in later years, the exact tenor of some of - his more enthusiastic earlier views, yet the fact remains that - the excavations at Hissarlik must be reckoned with by whoever in - future discusses the status of the Homeric story. - - If they did not prove as much as some could wish, they at least - were enormously suggestive. Had they done nothing else, they at - least furnished a mass of authentic documents bearing upon the - life of the prehistoric period of Grecian antiquity. Even more - important in this regard were the excavations of Dr. Schliemann - subsequently made at the sites of the old Greek cities of Mycenæ - and Tiryns. Ilium was not located on Grecian soil, and its - relation with Grecian history was only conjectural, but these - other cities were in Greece itself, and inspection of their ruins - has brought within the historic period some centuries of Grecian - life that hitherto were utterly obscure, or only known through - incidental references of the Homeric poems. - -=Schlosser=, F. C., Weltgeschichte, Frankfort, 1844. - - _Friedlich Christoph Schlosser_, born at Jever, Germany, November - 17, 1776; died at Heidelberg, September 23, 1861, the Nestor - of German historians has been spoken of--not unjustly--as the - German Tacitus. More than almost any other man, perhaps, at - the beginning of the nineteenth century, he was influential - in establishing the school of what may be called scientific - history, not merely through his Writings but through his personal - influence on a coterie of pupils who included many of the - distinguished historians of the middle of the nineteenth century. - - Professor Schlosser was a beautiful character as well as a - scholarly mind. The historical sweep of his mind was of the - widest, as evidenced in the subjects which he selected, while the - force of his personality is equally demonstrated by the results - that he achieved. His _Universal History_ and his _History of - the Eighteenth Century_ immediately took place as the greatest - authorities in the field at the time of their publication, and - the latter work was early translated into English. - - The work on _Universal History_ was the first attempt of its - kind, of anything like a corresponding comprehensiveness, in - modern times. As originally written by Schlosser himself it had - a largely technical character, yet it so clearly contained the - elements of a great popular work that it was soon elaborated - under Schlosser’s own direction by his pupil, Dr. G. L. Kriegk, - and in this popularised form, though a bulky work of nineteen - volumes, it soon achieved a wide circulation throughout Germany. - This was about the middle of the century. Since then there have - been numerous new editions of Schlosser’s popular history, and, - even to-day, its sale probably exceeds in Germany that of any - other similar work. It occupies, indeed, a place of its own - which no other universal history exactly rivals. It has fullest - authority, yet it is essentially popular in character. It is - the narrative of the sweep of world-historic events. Its style, - though less eloquent than that of Weber, is reasonably lucid, and - the sentiments which actuate it throughout are those of which - every reader in the main approves. We shall have occasion to - recur again and again to its pages, and each such recurrence will - tend to increase one’s surprise that a work of such comprehensive - merit should never, hitherto, have been made accessible to the - reader of English. - -=Schneider=, E., Les Pélasges et leurs descendants, Paris, -1884.--=Schorn=, W., Geschichte Griechenlands von der Entstehung -des ätol. und achäischen Bundes bis auf die Zerstörung von -Korinth.--=Schrader=, O., Die älteste Zeitteilung des indogerman. Volks, -Berlin, 1878.--=Schrammen=, T., Tales of the Gods of Ancient Greece, -London, 1894.--=Schuchardt=, C., Schliemann’s Excavations (trans. -by E. Sellers), London, 1891 (an admirable summary of archæological -results).--=Seignobos=, C., Hist. narrative et descriptive de la Grèce -ancienne, Paris, 1891.--=Sergeant=, L., Greece, London, 1880.--=Serre=, -P., Études sur l’histoire militaire et maritime des Grecs, Paris, -1885.--=Simpson=, W., Mycenæ, Troy and Ephesus, London, 1878.--=Sittl=, -C., Gesch. der griechischen Litteratur, Munich, 1884.--=Smith=, A., -The Wealth of Nations, London, 1891.--=Smith=, George, The Gentile -Nations.--=Smith=, J., Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, London, -1848.--=Smyth=, W., History of Greece, London, 1854.--=Stengel=, P. (in -Müller’s Handbuch der Classischen Alterthumswissenschaft, Nördlingen, -1876-1888).--=Strabo=, Γεωγραφικά, Venice, 1516, The Geography of Strabo -(trans. from the Greek by H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer), London, -1854, 3 vols.--=Stern=, E. von, Gesch. d. Spart. Hegemonie, Dorpat, -1884.--=Symonds=, J. A., The Greek Poets, London, 1893. - - * * * * * - -=Taine=, H., The Philosophy of Art in Greece, New York, 1889; Lectures -on Art, New York, 1889.--=Tarbell=, F. B., A History of Greek Art, -London, 1896.--=Taylor=, T., The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, New -York, 1891.--=Terxetti=, A., La Grèce ancienne et moderne considerée -sous l’aspect religieux, Paris, 1884.--=Theognis=, Ἐλέγεια (Poems), -Venice, 1495; edited by Bekker, Leipsic, 1815.--=Theopompus=, Φιλιππικά -(Philippica), Theopompi Chii fragmenta, collegit, disposicit et -explicavit, R. H. E. Wichers, Leyden, 1829.--=Thiers=, L. A., Histoire du -Consulat et de l’Empire, Paris, 1845-1862, 20 vols.--=Thirlwall=, C., A -History of Greece, London, 1845. - - _Connop Thirlwall_ was born at Stepney, London, January 11, 1797; - died at Bath, July 27, 1875. Bishop Thirlwall was one of those - extraordinary men who are, perhaps, much more numerous than the - world generally imagines, of whom it may be justly said that he - never accomplished half that he might have done had he focalised - his energies, and more persistently applied his capabilities. He - was almost a prodigy of learning as a child, and in adult life he - showed how the capacity to acquire knowledge was still retained - by making himself master of the Welsh tongue, and preaching in - that language when called to a Welsh pulpit. But his efforts were - never focalised for a long period on any particular field, and it - was almost by accident, and certainly by outside influence, that - he was led to produce the one work which will transmit his name - to posterity. This work of course is his history of Greece. - - Such criticism as this is not intended in any sense to be - a disparagement of that history, nor indeed of Thirlwall’s - accomplishments as a whole. Applied in that sense criticism would - be absurd, for it may be doubted, even to this day, whether - Thirlwall’s is not the best general history of Greece that - has ever been written. Certainly, for the general reader, it - combines in a larger measure authority with a popular interest - of presentation than any other in the English language. But the - work was written to meet a popular demand, and while it was in no - sense a hurried or careless production, the friends of Thirlwall - always thought that it might have been given a somewhat more - authoritative cast, had it been undertaken through different - motives. - - After all, however, perhaps the world is better for the work as - it stands. Ponderous histories of Greece are no novelty, whereas - readable histories of any country are never a drug on the market. - The frequency with which we have had occasion to recur to the - pages of Thirlwall in treating the history of Greece has been an - earnest of our estimate of the position which his history holds - after two or three generations of workers have searched for fresh - material in the same field. - -=Thouvenal=, E. A., La Grèce du Roi Othou, Paris, 1890.--=Thucydides=, -Συγγραφή, Venice, 1502; The History of the Grecian War (trans. by -Henry Dale), London, 1852; Of the Peloponnesian Wars, London, 1856, -2 vols.--=Timayenis=, T. T., Greece in the Times of Homer, New York, -1885; A History of Greece from Earliest Times to Present, New York, -1881.--=Tozer=, H. F., The Islands of the Ægean, Oxford, 1890; Researches -in the Highlands of Turkey, 1869.--=Tsountas=, C., and J. I. =Manatt=, -The Mycenæan Age, Boston and New York, 1897.--=Tyrtaeus=, Εὐνομία, edited -by Klotz. Bremæ, 1764, Fragments 5, 6. - - * * * * * - -=Virchow=, R. (in Schliemann’s Ilios, Leipsic, 1881). - - * * * * * - -=Wachsmuth=, C., Die Stadt Athen im Alterthum, Leipsic, -1874.--=Waddington=, W. H. (in collab. with Le Bas), Voyage Archéologique -en Grèce et en Asie Mineure, Paris, 1847-1877, 6 vols.--=Walton=, A., -The Cult of Asklepios, Ithaca, N.Y., 1894.--=Watkins=, L., The Age of -Pericles.--=Weber=, G., Weltgeschichte, Leipsic, 1857-1880; A History of -Philosophy, London, 1896.--=Wheeler=, Benjamin Ide, Alexander the Great: -The Merging of East and West in Universal History, New York and London, -1902. - - _Benjamin Ide Wheeler_ was born at Randolph, Mass., July 15, - 1854. President of the University of California since 1899. - President Wheeler’s earlier publications were chiefly concerned - with Greek philology, but his interest in other phases of Greek - life is evidenced by the work above cited. As a matter of course - this work is scholarly; but it is also popular in the best sense - of the word: indeed, no more readable and satisfactory account of - the life of Alexander exists in any language. - -=Wilamowitz-Möllendorff=, W., von, Homerische Untersuchungen, Berlin, -1884.--=Winterton=, R., Poetæ Minores Græci, Cambridge, 1684.--=Witt=, -C., The Retreat of the Ten Thousand, London, 1891; The Trojan -War, London, 1884.--=Wolf=, F. A., Prolegomena ad Homerum, Halle, -1795.--=Wordsworth=, C., Athens and Attica, London, 1836.--=Wyse=, T., -Impressions of Greece, London, 1871. - - * * * * * - -=Xanthus=, Λυδιακὰ Βιβλία δ’, Lydiaca (in C. Müller’s Fragmenta -Historicorum Græcorum, pp. xx-xxiii, 36-44).--=Xenophon=, Κύρου Ἀναβάσις, -ed. by Krüger, Leipsic, 1888, 7th ed.; Anabasis of Cyrus, London, 1881; -Ἀπομνημονεύματα Σωκράτους, ed. by Kühner, Leipsic, 1882, 4th ed.; -Memorabilia, edited by J. R. King, Oxford, 1874; Ἑλληνικά, The Hellenics, -London, 1855. - - * * * * * - -=Zeller=, E., History of Greek Philosophy, London, 1881. - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: MAP OF ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE - -BORMAY & CO.] - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Historians' History of the World -in Twenty-Five Volumes, Volume 4, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE WORLD, VOL 4 *** - -***** This file should be named 55497-0.txt or 55497-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/4/9/55497/ - -Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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