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diff --git a/old/8mgrh10.txt b/old/8mgrh10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3f02298 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8mgrh10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20384 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mosaics of Grecian History +by Marcius Willson and Robert Pierpont Willson + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Mosaics of Grecian History + +Author: Marcius Willson and Robert Pierpont Willson + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6841] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOSAICS OF GRECIAN HISTORY *** + + + + +Produced by Robert J, Hall + + + + + + +MOSAICS OF GRECIAN HISTORY + +BY MARCIUS WILLSON +AND ROBERT PIERPONT WILLSON + + + +PREFACE. + +The leading object had in view in the preparation of the present +volume has been to produce, within a moderate compass, a History +of Greece that shall not only be trustworthy, but interesting +to all classes of readers. + +It must be acknowledged that our standard historical works, with +all their worth, do not command a perusal by the people at large; +and it is equally plain that our ordinary School Manuals--the +abridgments and outlines of more voluminous works--do not meet +with any greater favor. The mere outline system of historical +study usually pursued in the schools is interesting to those only +to whom it is suggestive of the details on which it is based; and +we have long been satisfied that it is not the best for beginners +and for popular use; that it inverts the natural order of +acquisition; that for the young to master it is drudgery; that +its statistical enumeration, if ever learned by them, is soon +forgotten; that it tends to create a prejudice against the study +of history; that it does not lay the proper foundation for future +historical reading; and that, outside of the enforced study of +the school-room, it is seldom made use of. The people in general--the +masses--do not read such works, while they do read with avidity +historical legends, historical romances, historical poems and +dramas, and biographical sketches. And we do not hesitate to assert +that from Shakspeare's historical plays the reading public have +acquired (together with much other valuable information) a +hundred-fold more knowledge of certain portions of English history +than from all the ponderous tomes of formal history that have ever +been written. It may be said that people ought to read Hume, and +Lingard, and Mackintosh, and Hallam, and Froude, and Freeman, +instead of Shakspeare's "King John," and "Richard II.," and "Henry +IV.," and "Henry VIII.," etc. It is a sufficient reply to say they +do not. + +Historical works, therefore, to be read by the masses, must be +adapted to the popular taste. It was an acknowledgment of this +truth that led Macaulay, the most brilliant of historians, to +remark, "We are not certain that the best histories are not those +in which a little of the exaggeration of fictitious narrative +is judiciously employed. Something is lost in accuracy, but much +is gained in effect. The fainter lines are neglected, but the +great characteristic features are imprinted on the mind forever." +If the result to which Macaulay refers be once attained by an +introductory work so interesting that it shall come into general +use, it will, we believe, naturally lead to the reading of some +of the best standard works in the same historical field. In our +attempt to make this a work of such a preparatory character, we +have borne in mind the demand that has arisen for poetic illustration +in the reading and teaching of history, and have given this +delightful aid to historical study a prominent place--ofttimes +making it the sole means of imparting information. And yet we +have introduced nothing that is not strictly consistent with our +ideal of what history should be; for although some of the poetic +selections are avowedly wholly legendary, and others, still, in +a greater or less degree fictitious in their minor details--like +the by-plays in Shakspeare's historic dramas--we believe they do +no violence to historical verity, as they are faithful pictures +of the times, scenes, incidents, principles, and beliefs which +they are employed to illustrate. Aside, too, from their historic +interest, they have a literary value. Many prose selections from +the best historians are also introduced, giving to the narrative +a pleasing variety of style that can be found in no one writer, +even if he be a Grote, a Gibbon, or a Macaulay. + + * * * * * + +THE PRINCIPAL HISTORIES OF GREECE. + +Believing that it may be of some advantage to the general reader, +we give herewith a brief sketch of the principal histories of +Greece now before the public. We may mention, among those of a +comprehensive character, the works of Goldsmith, Gillies, Mitford, +Thirlwall, Grote, and Curtius: + +OLIVER GOLDSMITH, "the popular poet, the charming novelist, the +successful dramatist, and the witty essayist," wrote a popular +history of Greece, in two volumes, 8vo, 1774, embracing a period +from the earliest date down to the death of Alexander the Great. +It is an attractive work, elegantly written, but is superficial +and inaccurate. + +In 1786 was published a history of ancient Greece, in several +volumes, by DR. JOHN GILLIES, who succeeded Dr. Robertson as +historiographer of Scotland. This is a work of considerable merit +but it is written in a spirit of decidedly monarchical tendencies, +although the author evidently aimed at great fairness in his +political views. + +He says: "The history of Greece exposes the dangerous turbulence +of democracy, and arraigns the despotism of tyrants. By describing +the incurable evils inherent in every republican policy, it evinces +the inestimable benefits resulting to liberty itself from the +lawful dominion of hereditary kings, and the steady operation +of well-regulated monarchy." + +In the year 1784 appeared the first volume of WILLIAM MITFORD'S +"History of Greece", subsequently extended to eight and ten volumes, +8vo. It is the first history of Greece that combines extensive +research and profound philosophical reflection; but it is "a +monarchical" history, by a writer of very strong anti-republican +principles. "It was composed," says Alison, the distinguished +historian of modern Europe, "during, or shortly after, the French +Revolution; and it was mainly intended to counteract the visionary +ideas in regard to the blessings of Grecian democracy, which had +spread so far in the world, from the magic of Athenian genius." +Says Chancellor Kent: "Mitford does not scruple to tell the truth, +and the whole truth, and to paint the stormy democracies of Greece +in all their grandeur and in all their wretchedness." Lord Byron +said of the author: "His great pleasure consists in praising tyrants, +abusing Plutarch, spelling oddly, and writing quaintly; and--what +is strange, after all--his is the best modern history of Greece +in any language." But this was penned before Thirlwall's and Grote's +histories were published. Lord Macaulay says of Mitford: "Whenever +this historian mentions Demosthenes he violates all the laws of +candor and even of decency: he weighs no authorities, he makes +no allowances, he forgets the best authenticated facts in the +history of the times, and the most generally recognized principles +of human nature." The North British Review, after calling Mitford +"a bad scholar, a bad historian, and a bad writer of English," +says, farther, that "he was the first writer of any note who found +out that Grecian history was a living thing with a practical +bearing." + +The next truly important and comprehensive Grecian history, +published from 1835 to 1840, in eight volumes, 8vo, was written +by CONNOP THIRLWALL, D. D., Bishop of St. David's. It is a scholarly, +elaborate, and philosophical work evincing a thorough knowledge +of Greek literature and of the German commentators. The historian +Grote said that, if it had appeared a few years earlier, he should +probably never have undertaken his own history of Greece. "I +should certainly," he says, "not have been prompted to the task +by any deficiencies such as those I felt and regretted in Mitford." + +In comparing Thirlwall's history with Grote's, the North British +Review has the following judicious remarks: "Many persons, probably, +who have no special devotion to Grecian history wish to study its +main outlines in something higher than a mere school-book. To +such readers we should certainly recommend Thirlwall rather than +Grote. The comparative brevity, the greater clearness and terseness +of the narrative, the freedom from diversions and digressions, +all render it far better suited for such a purpose. But for the +political thinker, who regards Grecian history chiefly in its +practical bearing, Mr. Grote's work is far better adapted. The +one is the work of a scholar, an enlarged and practical scholar +indeed, but still one in whom the character of the scholar is +the primary one. The other is the work of a politician and man +of business, a London banker, a Radical M. P., whose devotion +to ancient history and literature forms the most illustrious +confutation of the charges brought against such studies as being +useless and impractical." + +"The style of Thirlwall," says Dr. Samuel Warren of England, in +his Introduction to Law Studies, "is dry, terse, and exact--not +fitted, perhaps, for the historical tyro, but most acceptable +to the advanced student who is in quest of things." + +GEORGE GROTE, Member of Parliament, and a London banker, who +wrote a history of Greece in twelve volumes, published from 1846 +to 1855, has been styled, by way of eminence, the historian of +Greece, because his work is universally admitted by critics to +be the best for the advanced student that has yet been written. +The London Athenæum styles his history "a great literary undertaking, +equally notable whether we regard it as an accession of standard +value in our language, or as an honorable monument of what English +scholarship can do." The London Quarterly Review says: "Errors +the most inveterate, that have been handed down without misgiving +from generation to generation, have been for the first time +corrected by Mr. Grote; facts the most familiar have been presented +in new aspects and relations; things dimly seen, and only partially +apprehended previously, have now assumed their true proportions +and real significance; while numerous traits of Grecian character; +and new veins of Grecian thought and feeling, have been revealed +to the eyes of scholars by Mr. Grote's searching criticism, like +new forms of animated nature by the microscope." + +The general character of the work has been farther well summed +up by Sir Archibald Alison. He says: "A decided liberal, perhaps +even a republican, in politics, Mr. Grote has labored to counteract +the influence of Mitford in Grecian history, and construct a +history of Greece from authentic materials, which should illustrate +the animating influence of democratic freedom upon the exertions +of the human mind. In the prosecution of this attempt he has +displayed an extent of learning, a variety of research, a power +of combination, which are worthy of the very highest praise, and +have secured for him a lasting place among the historians of modern +Europe." + +We may also mention, in this connection, the valuable and scholarly +work of the German professor, Ernst Curtius (1857-'67), in five +volumes, translated by A. Ward (1871-'74). His sympathies are +monarchical, and his views more nearly accord with those of Mitford +and Thirlwall than with those of Grote. + +The work by William Smith, in one volume, 1865, is an excellent +summary of Grecian history, as is also that of George W. Cox, 1876. +The former work, which to a considerable extent is an abridgment +of Grote, has been brought down, in a Boston edition, from the +Roman Conquest to the middle of the present century, by Dr. Felton, +late President of Harvard College. President Felton has also +published two volumes of scholarly lectures on Ancient and Modern +Greece (1867). + +The works devoted to limited periods of Grecian history and special +departments of research are very numerous. Among the most valuable +of the former is the History of the Peloponnesian War, by the +Greek historian Thucydides, of which there are several English +versions. He was born in Athens, about the year 471 B.C. His is +one of the ablest histories ever written. + +Herodotus, the earliest and best of the romantic historians, +sometimes called the "Father of History," was contemporary with +Thucydides. He wrote, in a charming style, an elaborate work on +the Persian and Grecian wars, most of the scenes of which he +visited in person; and in numerous episodes and digressions he +interweaves the most valuable history that we have of the early +Asiatic nations and the Egyptians; but he indulges too much in +the marvelous to be altogether reliable." + +Of the numerous works of Xenophon, an Athenian who is sometimes +called the "Attic Muse," from the simplicity and beauty of his +style, the best known and the most pleasing are the Anab'asis, +the Memorabil'ia of Socrates, and the Cyropedi'a, a political +romance. He was born about 443 B.C. The best English translation +of his works is by Watson, in Harper's "New Classical Library." + +The work of the Greek historian, Polybius, originally in forty +volumes, of which only five remain entire covered a period from +the downfall of the Macedonian power to the subversion of Grecian +liberty by the Romans, 146 B.C. It is a work of great accuracy, +but of little rhetorical polish, and embraces much of Roman history +from which Livy derived most of the materials for his account of +the wars with Carthage. + +In the first century of our era, Plutarch, a Greek biographer, +wrote the "Parallel Lives" of forty-six distinguished Greeks and +Romans--a charming and instructive work, translated by John and +William Langhorne in 1771, and by Arthur Hugh Clough in 1858. + +A history of Greece, in seven volumes, by George Finlay, a British +historian, long resident at Athens, is noted for a thorough knowledge +of Greek topography, art, and antiquity. The completed work embraces +a period from the conquest of Greece by the Romans to the middle +of the present century. + +A History of Greek Literature, by J, P. Mahaffy, is the most +polished descriptive work in the department which it embraces. +It is happily supplemented by J. Addington Symonds' Studies of +the Greek Poets. Mr. Mahaffy, in common with many German scholars, +is an unbeliever in the unity of the Iliad. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + [The names of authors from whom selections are taken are in + CAPITOLS.] + + CHAPTER I. + + GENERAL VIEW OF THE GRECIAN STATES AND ISLANDS. + + Introductory.--Olympus.--HEMANS.--Pi'e-rus.--POPE. + 1. Thessaly.--Tem'pe.-HEMANS. + 2. Epi'rus.--Cocy'tus, Ach'eron, Dodo'na.--MILTON: HAYGARTH: + BYRON. + 3. Acarna'nia. + 4. Æto'lia. + 5. Lo'cris. + 6. Do'ris. + 7. Pho'cis.--Parnassus.--BYRON.--Delphi.--HEMANS. + 8. Boeo'tia.--Thebes.--SCHILLER. + 9. Attica.--BYRON. + 10. Corinth.--BYRON: HAYGARTH. + 11. Acha'ia. + 12. Arca'dia. + 13. Ar'golis.--Myce'næ.--HEMANS. + 14. Laco'nia. + 15. Messe'nia. + 16. E'lis. + 17. The Isles of Greece.--BYRON. + Lemnos.--Euboe'a.--Cyc'la-des.--De'los.--Spor'a-des.-- + Crete.--Rhodes.--Sal'amis.--Ægi'na.--Cyth'-era.-- + "Venus Rising from the Sea."--WOOLNER. + Stroph'a-des.--VIRGIL.--Paxos.--Zacyn'thus.-- + Cephalo'nia.--Ith'aca.--Leu'cas or Leuca'dia.-- + Corcy'ra or Cor'fu.--"Gardens of Alcin'o-us." + + CHAPTER II. + + THE FABULOUS AND LEGENDARY PERIOD OF GRECIAN HISTORY. + + I. Grecian Mythology. + Value of the Grecian Fables.--J. STUART BLACKIE. + The Battle of the Giants.--HE'SIOD + Hymn to Jupiter.--CLEAN'THES + The god Apollo.--OV'ID. + Fancies of the Greek Mind.--WORDSWORTH: LIDDELL: BLACKIE. + The Poet's Lament.--SCHILLER. + The Creation.--OVID. + The Origin of Evil.--HESIOD. + What Prome'theus Personified.--BLACKIE. + The Punishment of Prometheus.--ÆS'CHYLUS: SHELLEY + Deluge of Deuca'lion.--OVID. + Moral Characteristics of the Gods, etc.--MAHAFFY: + GLADSTONE: HOMER: ÆSCHYLUS: HESIOD. + Oaths.--HOMER: ÆSCHYLUS: SOPH'OCLES: VIRGIL. + The Future State.--HOMER. + 1. Story of Tan'talus.--BLACKIE + 2. The Descent of Or'pheus.--OVID: HOMER. + 3. The Elys'ium.--HOMER: PINDAR. + Hindu and Greek Skepticism.--(Cornhill Magazine). + + II. The Earnest Inhabitants of Greece. + The Founding of Athens.--BLACKIE. + + III. The Heroic Age. + Heroic Times foretold to Adam.--MILTON + Twelve Labors of Hercules.--HOMER. + Fable of Hercules and Antæ'us.--COLLINS. + The Argonautic Expedition.--PINDAR. + Legend of Hy'las.--BAYARD TAYLOR. + The Trojan War. + 1. The Greek Armament.--EURIP'IDES. + 2. The name Helen.--ÆSCHYLUS. + 3. Ulysses and Thersi'tes.--HOMER. (POPE). + 4. Combat of Menela'us and Paris.--HOMER. (POPE). + 5. Parting of Hector and Androm'a-che.--HOMER. (POPE). + 6. Hector's Exploits and Death of Patro'clus.--HOMER. + (POPE). + 7. The Shield of Achilles.--HOMER. (SOTHEBY). + 8. Address of Achilles to his Horses.--HOMER. (POPE). + 9. The Death of Hector.--HOMER. (BRYANT). + 10. Priam Begging for Hector's Body.--HOMER. (COWPER). + 11. Lamentations of Andromache and Helen.--HOMER. (POPE). + The Fate of Troy.--VIRGIL: SCHILLER. + Beacon Fires from Troy to Argos.--ÆSCHYLUS. + Remarks on the Trojan War.--THIRLWALL: GROTE. + Fate of the Actors in the Conflict.--ENNIUS: LANDOR: LANG. + + IV. Arts and Civilization in the Heroic Age. + Political Life of the Greeks.--MAHAFFY: HEEREN. + Domestic Life and Character.--MAHAFFY: HOMER. + The Raft of Ulysses.--HOMER. + + V. The Conquest of Peloponnesus, and Colonies in Asia Minor. + Return of the Heracli'dæ.--LUCAN. + + CHAPTER III. + + EARLY GREEK LITERATURE, AND GREEK COMMUNITY OF INTERESTS. + + Ionian Language and Culture.--FELTON. + + I. Homer and his Poems.--ANTIP'ATER: FELTON: TALFOURD: POPE: + COLERIDGE. + + II. Some Causes of Greek Unity. + The Grecian Festivals. + 1. Chariot Race and Death of Ores'tes.--SOPHOCLES. + 2. Apollo's Conflict with the Python.--OVID. + 3. The Apollo Belvedere.--THOMSON. + The National Councils. + + CHAPTER IV. + + SPARTA, AND THE LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. + + Description of Sparta.--THOMSON. + + I. The Constitution of Lycurgus. + Spartan Patriotic Virtue.--TYMNOE'US. + + II. Spartan Poetry and Music. + Spartan March.--CAMPBELL.: HEMANS. + Songs of the Spartans.--PLUTARCH: TERPAN'DER: PINDAR: ION. + + III. Sparta's Conquests. + War-song.--TYRTOE'US. + + CHAPTER V. + + FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, AND CHANGES IN GRECIAN POLITICS. + + Introductory.--THIRLWALL: LEG'ARÉ. + + I. Changes from Aristocracies to Oligarchies.--HEEREN. + + II. Changes from Oligarchies to Despotisms.--THIRLWALL: HEEREN: + BULWER: TYRTOE'US. + + CHAPTER VI. + + THE EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS. + + I. The Legislation of Dra'co. + + II. The Legislation of So'lon.--PLUTARCH: A'KENSIDE: SOLON: + THOMSON: SOLON. + + III. The Usurpation of Pisis'tratus. + The Usurper and his Stratagem.--AKENSIDE. + Solon's Appeal to the Athenians.--AKENSIDE. + Character of Pisistratus.--THIRLWALL. + Conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogi'ton.--CALLIS'TRATUS. + + IV. Birth of Democracy.--THIRLWALL. + + CHAPTER VII. + + A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GREEK COLONIES. + + The Cave of the Cumæ'an Sibyl.--VIRGIL: GROTE. + The'ron of Agrigen'tum.--PINDAR. + Increase among the Sicilian Greeks.--GROTE. + + CHAPTER VIII. + + PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS. + + I. The Poems of Hesiod.--"Winter."--FELTON: MURE: THIRLWALL: + MAHAFFY. + + II. Lyric Poetry. + Calli'nus of Ephesus.--"War Elegy". + Archil'ochus of Pa'ros--SYMONDS: MAHAFFY. + Alc'man.--"Sleep, or Night."--MURE. + Ari'on.--Stesich'orus.--MAHAFFY. + Alcæus.--"Spoils of War."--AKENSIDE. + Sappho.--"Defence of."--SYMONDS: ANTIP'ATER. + Anac'reon.--"The Grasshopper."--AKENSIDE. + + III. Early Grecian Philosophy. + The Seven Sages.--(Maxims).-GROTE. + Tha'les, Anaxim'enes, Heracli'tus, Diog'enes, + Anaximan'der, and Xenoph'anes. + Pythag'oras and his Doctrines.--BLACKIE: THOMSON: + COLERIDGE: LOWELL. + The Eleusin'ian Mysteries.--VIRGIL. + + IV. Architecture. + The Cyclo'pean Walls.--LORD HOUGHTON. + Dor'ic, Ion'ic, and Corinthian Orders.--THOMSON. + Cher'siphron, and the Temple of Diana.--STORY. + Temples at Pæs'tum.--CRANCH. + + V. Sculpture. + Glaucus, Rhoe'cus, Theodo'rus, Dipæ'nus, Scyllis. + Cause of the Progress of Sculpture.--THIRLWALL. + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE PERSIAN WARS. + + I. The Ionic Revolt. + + II. The First Persian War. + The Battle of Marathon. + Legends of the Battle.--HEMANS: BLACKIE. + The Death of Milti'ades: his Character.--GROTE: GILLIES. + Aristi'des and Themis'tocles:--THOMSON: PLUTARCH: THIRLWALL. + + III. The Second Persian Invasion. + Xerxes at Aby'dos.--HEROD'OTUS. + Bridging of the Hellespont.--JUVENAL: MILTON. + The Battle of Thermop'ylæ. + 1. Invincibility of the Spartans.--HAYGARTH. + 2. Description of the Contest.--HAYGARTH. + 3. Epitaphs on those who fell.--SIMON'IDES. + 4. The Tomb of Leon'idas.--ANON. + 5. Eulogy on the Fallen.--BYRON + Naval Conflict at Artemis'ium.--PLUTARCH: PINDAR. + The Abandonment of Athens. + The Battle of Salamis. + 1. Xerxes Views the Conflict.--BYRON. + 2. Flight of Xerxes.--JUVENAL: ALAMANNI. + 3. Celebrated Description of the Battle.--MITFORD: + ÆSCHYLUS. + 4. Another Account.--BLACKIE. + The Battle of Platæ'a. + 1. Description of the Battle.--BULWER. + 2. Importance of the Victory.--SOUTHEY: BULWER. + 3. Victory at Myc'a-le.--BULWER. + 4. "The Wasps."--ARISTOPHANES. + + CHAPTER X. + + THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE. + + I. The Disgrace and Death of Themistocles. + Tributes to his Memory.--PLATO: GEMINUS: THIRLWALL. + II. The Rise and Fall of Cimon. + Character of Cimon--THOMSON. + Battle of Eurym'edon.--SIMONIDES. + Earthquake at Sparta, and Revolt of the Helots.--BULWER: + ALISON. + + III. The Accession of Pericles to Power. + Changes in the Athenian Constitution.--BULWER. + Tribute to Pericles.--CROLY. + Picture of Athens in Peace.--HAYGARTH. + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS, AND THE FALL OF ATHENS. + + Speech of Pericles for War.--THUCYD'IDES. + + I. The First Peloponnesian War. + Funeral Oration of Pericles.--THUCYDIDES. + Comments on the Oration.--CURTIUS. + The Plague at Athens.--LUCRETIUS. + Death of Pericles.--CROLY: THIRLWALL: BULWER. + Character of Pericles.--MITFORD. + + II. The Athenian Demagogues. + Cleon, the Demagogue.--GILLIES: ARISTOPH'ANES. + The Peace of Ni'cias. + + III. The Sicilian Expedition. + Treatment of the Athenian Prisoners.--BYRON. + + IV. The Second Peloponnesian War. + Humiliation of Athens. + Barbarities of the Contest.--MAHAFFY. + + CHAPTER XII. + + GRECIAN LITERATURE AND ART, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN + TO THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS (B.C. 500-403). + + LITERATURE. + + Introductory. + The Era of Athenian Greatness.--SYMONDS. + + I. Lyric Poetry. + Simonides.--"Lamentation of Dan'a-ë."--MAHAFFY. + Pindar.--"Threnos."--THIRLWALL: PRIOR: SYMONDS: GRAY: + POPE: HORACE. + + II. The Drama.--BULWER. + 1. Tragedy.--Melpom'ene.--AKENSIDE. + Æschylus.--"Death of Agamemnon."--PLUMPTRE: LAWRENCE: + VAN SCHLEGEL: BYRON: MAHAFFY. + Sophocles.--OEd'ipus Tyran'nus."--TALFOURD: PHRYN'ICHUS: + SIM'MIAS. + Euripides.--"Alcestis Preparing for Death."--SYMONDS: + MILTON: MAHAFFY. + The Transitions of Tragedy.--GROTE. + 2. Comedy. + Characterization of. + Aristophanes.--Extracts from "The Cloud." "Choral Song from + The Birds."--PLATO: GROTE: SEWELL: MILTON: RUSKIN. + + III. History. + Hecatæ'ns.--MAHAFFY: NIEBUHR. + Herodotus.--"Introduction to History."--LAWRENCE. + Herodotus and his Writings.--MACAULAY. + Thucyd'i-des.--MAHAFFY. + Thucydides and Herodotus.--BROWNE. + + IV. Philosophy. + Anaxag'oras: his Death.--WILLIAM CANTON. + The Sophists.--MAHAFFY. + Socrates.--"Defence of Socrates."--"Socrates' Views of + a Future State."--MAHAFFY: THOMSON: SMITH: TYLER: GROTE. + + ART. + + I. Sculpture and Painting. + Phid'ias.--LÜBKE: GILLIES: LÜBKE. + Polygno'tus.--Apollodo'rus.--Zeux'is.--Parrha'sius. + --Timan'thes. + Parrhasius and his Captive.--SENECA: WILLIS. + + II. Architecture. + Introductory.--THOMSON. + The Adornment of Athens.--BULWER. + I. The Acrop'olis and its Splendors. + The Parthenon.--HEMANS. + II. Other Architectural Monuments of Athens. + The Temple of The'seus.--HAYGARTH. + Athenian Enthusiasm for Art.--BULWER. + The Glory of Athens.--TALFOURD. + + CHAPTER XIII. + + THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES. + + I. The Expedition of Cyrus, and the Retreat of the Ten + Thousand.--THOMSON: CURTIUS. + + II. The Supremacy of Sparta. + + III. The Rise and Fall of Thebes. + Pelop'idas and Epaminon'das.--THOMSON: CURTIUS. + + CHAPTER XIV. + + THE SICILIAN GREEKS. + + The Founding of Ætna.--PINDAR. + Hi'ero's Victory at Cu'mæ.--PINDAR. + Admonitions to Hiero.--PINDAR. + Dionysius the Elder.--PLUTARCH. + Damon and Pythias.--The Hostage.--SCHILLER. + Archime'des.--SCHILLER + Visit of Cicero to the Grave of Archimedes.--WINTHROP. + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY. + + I. The Sacred War.--THIRLWALL. + + II. Sketch of Macedonia. + + III. Interference of Philip of Macedon. + Demosthenes.--"The First Philippic."--GROTE. + Pho'cion.--His Influence at Athens.--GROTE. + + IV. War with Macedon. + + V. Accession of Alexander the Great. + + VI. Alexander Invades Asia. + + VII. The Battle of Arbe'la.--Flight and Death of Dari'us.-- + GROTE: ÆS'CHINES. + Alexander's Feast at Persep'olis.--DRYDEN. + + VI. The Death of Alexander. + His Career and his Character.--LU'CAN. + Reflections on his Life, etc.--JUVENAL: BYRON. + + CHAPTER XVI. + + FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY THE ROMANS. + + I. A Retrospective Glance at Greece. + Oration of Æschines against Ctes'iphon. + Oration of Demosthenes on the Crown. + + II. The Wars that followed Alexander's Death. + Character of Ptolemy Philadelphus--THEOC'RITUS. + + III. The Celtic Invasion, and the War with Pyrrhus. + Queen Archidami'a.--ANON. + + IV. The Achæ'an League.--Philip V. of Macedon. + Epigrams on Philip and the Macedonians.--Alcoe'us. + + V. Greece Conquered by Rome. + "The Liberty of Greece."--WORDSWORTH. + Desolation of Corinth.--ANTIPATER. + Last Struggles of Greece.--THIRLWALL: HORACE. + + CHAPTER XVII. + + LITERATURE AND ART AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. + + LITERATURE. + + I. The Drama.--MAHAFFY. + Phile'mon.--"Faith in God." + Menander.--"Human Existence."--SYMONDS: LAWRENCE. + + II. Oratory.--MILTON: CICERO. + Æs'chines and Demosthenes.--LEGARÉ: BROUGHAM: HUME. + + III. Philosophy. + Plato.--HAYGARTH: BROUGHAM: KENDRICK: MITCHELL. + Aristotle.--POPE: BROWNE: LAWRENCE: SMITH: MAHAFFY. + Academe.--ARNOLD. + Epicu'rus and Ze'no.--LUCRETIUS. + + IV. History. + Xen'ophon.--MITCHELL. + Polyb'ius. + + ART. + + I. Architecture and Sculpture. + Changes in Statuary.--WEYMAN. + The Dying Gladiator.--LÜBKE: THOMSON. + The La-oc'o-on.--THOMSON: HOLLAND. + + II. Painting. + Venus Rising from the Sea.--ANTIPATER. + Apel'les and Protog'enes.--ANTHON. + Protogenes' Picture at Rhodes.--THOMSON. + + Concluding Reflections. + The Image of Athens.--SHELLEY. + Immortal Influence of Athens.--MACAULAY: HAYGARTH. + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + GREECE SUBSEQUENT TO THE ROMAN CONQUEST. + + I. Greece under the Romans. + The Revolt.--FINLAY. + Christianity in Greece.--FELTON. + + II. Changes down to the Fourteenth Century. + Courts of the Crusading Chieftains.--EDINBURGH REVIEW. + The Duchy of Athens.--FELTON. + The Turkish Invasion.--HEMANS. + + III. Contests between the Turks and Venetians. + Past and Present of the Acropolis of Athens. + The Siege and Fall of Corinth.--BYRON. + + IV. Final Conquest of Greece by Turkey. + Turkish Oppressions.--TENNENT. + The Slavery of Greece.--CANNING: BYRON. + First Steps to Secure Liberty.--The Klephts.--FELTON. + Greek War-Songs.--RHIGAS: POLYZOIS. + + V. The Greek Revolution. + A Prophetic Vision of the Struggle.--SHELLEY'S "Hellas". + Song of the Greeks.--CAMPBELL. + American Sympathy with Greece.--TUCKERMAN: WEBSTER. + The Sortie at Missolon'ghi.--WARBURTON. + A Visit to Missolonghi.--STEPHENS. + Marco Bozzar'is.--HALLECK. + Battle of Navari'no.--CAMPBELL. + + VI. Greece under a Constitutional Monarchy. + Revolution against King Otho.--BENJAMIN. + The Deposition of King Otho: Greece under his Rule. + --TUCKERMAN: BRITISH QUARTERLY. + Accession of King George.--His Government.--TUCKERMAN. + Progress in Modern Greece.--COOK. + + INDEX + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +GENERAL VIEW OF THE GRECIAN STATES AND ISLANDS. + +The country called HELLAS by the Helle'nes, its native inhabitants, +and known to us by the name of Greece, forms the southern part +of the most easterly of the three great peninsulas of Southern +Europe, extending into the Mediterranean between the Æge'an Sea, +or Grecian Archipelago, on the east, and the Ionian Sea on the +west. The whole area of this country, so renowned in history, is +only about twenty thousand square miles; which is considerably +less than that of Portugal, and less than half that of the State +of Pennsylvania. + +The mainland of ancient Greece was naturally divided into Northern +Greece, which embraced Thessaly and Epi'rus; Central Greece, +comprising the divisions of Acarna'nia, Æto'lia, Lo'cris, Do'ris, +Pho'cis, Breo'tia, and At'tica (the latter forming the eastern +extremity of the whole peninsula); and Southern Greece, which the +ancients called Pel-o-pon-ne'sus, or the Island of Pe'lops, which +would be an island were it not for the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, +which connects it on the north with Central Greece. Its modern +name, the Mo-re'a, was bestowed upon it from its resemblance to +the leaf of the mulberry. The chief political divisions of +Peloponnesus were Corinth and Acha'ia on the north, Ar'golis on +the east, Laco'nia and Messe'nia at the southern extremity of +the peninsula, E'lis on the west, and the central region of Arca'dia. + +Greece proper is separated from Macedonia on the north by the +Ceraunian and Cambunian chain of mountains, extending in irregular +outline from the Ionian Sea on the west to the Therma'ic Gulf on +the east, terminating, on the eastern coast, in the lofty summit +of Mount Olympus, the fabled residence of the gods, where, in +the early dawn of history, Jupiter (called "the father of gods +and men") was said to hold his court, and where he reigned supreme +over heaven and earth. Olympus rises abruptly, in colossal +magnificence, to a height of more than six thousand feet, lifting +its snowy head far above the belt of clouds that nearly always +hangs upon the sides of the mountain. + + Wild and august in consecrated pride, + There through the deep-blue heaven Olympus towers, + Girdled with mists, light-floating as to hide + The rock-built palace of immortal powers. + --HEMANS. + +In the Olympian range, also, was Mount Pie'rus, where was the +Pierian fountain, one of the sacred resorts of the Muses, so +often mentioned by the poets, and to which POPE, with gentle +sarcasm, refers when he says, + + A little learning is a dangerous thing: + Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. + +1. Thessaly.--From the northern chain of mountains, the central +Pindus range, running south, separates Thessaly on the east from +Epi'rus on the west. The former region, enclosed by mountain +ranges broken only on the east, and watered by the Pene'us and +its numerous tributaries, embraced the largest and most fertile +plain in all Greece. On the Thessalian coast, south of Olympus, +were the celebrated mounts Ossa and Pe'lion, which the giants, +in their wars against the gods, as the poets fable, piled upon +Olympus in their daring attempt to scale the heavens and dethrone +the gods. Between those mounts lay the celebrated vale of Tem'pe, +through which the Pene'us flowed to the sea. + + Romantic Tempe! thou art yet the same-- + Wild as when sung by bards of elder time: + Years, that have changed thy river's classic name, + [Footnote: The modern name of the Pene'us is Selembria + or Salamvria.] + Have left thee still in savage pomp sublime. + --HEMANS. + +Farther south, having the sea on one side and the lofty cliffs +of Mount OE'ta on the other, was the celebrated narrow pass of +Thermop'ylæ, leading from Thessaly into Central Greece. + +2. Epi'rus.--The country of Epirus, on the west of Thessaly, was +mostly a wild and mountainous region, but with fertile intervening +valleys. Among the localities of Epirus celebrated in fable and +in song was the river Cocy'tus, which the poets, on account of +its nauseous waters, described as one of the rivers of the lower +world-- + + Cocytus, named of lamentation loud + Heard on the rueful stream. + +The Ach'eron was another of the rivers-- + + Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep-- + --MILTON. + +which was assigned by the poets to the lower world, and over +which the souls of the dead were said to be first conveyed, before +they were borne the Le'the, or "stream of oblivion," beyond. The +true Acheron of Epirus has been thus described: + + Yonder rolls Acheron his dismal stream, + Sunk in a narrow bed: cypress and fir + Wave their dim foliage on his rugged banks; + And underneath their boughs the parched ground, + Strewed o'er with juniper and withered leaves, + Seems blasted by no mortal tread. + +As the Acheron falls into the lake Acheru'sia, and after rising +from it flows underground for some distance, this lake also has +been connected by the poets with the gloomy legend of its fountain +stream. + + This is the place + Sung by the ancient masters of the lyre, + Where disembodied spirits, ere they left + Their earthly mansions, lingered for a time + Upon the confines of eternal night, + Mourning their doom; and oft the astonished hind, + As home he journeyed at the fall of eve, + Viewed unknown forms flitting across his path, + And in the breeze that waved the sighing boughs + Heard shrieks of woe. + --HAYGARTH. + +In Epirus was also situated the celebrated city of Dodo'na, with +the temple of that name, where was the most ancient oracle in +Greece, whose fame extended even to Asia. But in the wide waste +of centuries even the site of this once famous oracle is forgotten. + + Where, now, Dodona! is thine aged grove, + Prophetic fount, and oracle divine? + What valley echoes the response of Jove? + What trace remaineth of the Thunderer's shrine? + All, all forgotten! + --BYRON. + +3. Acarna'nia.--Coming now to Central Greece, lying northward +of the Corinthian Gulf, we find Acarnania on the far west, for +the most part a productive country with good harbors: but the +Acarnanians, a rude and warlike people, were little inclined to +Commercial pursuits; they remained far behind the rest of the +Greeks in culture, and scarcely one city of importance was embraced +within their territory. + +4. Æto'lia, generally a rough and mountainous country, separated, +on the west, from Acarnania by the river Ach-e-lo'us, the largest +of the rivers of Greece, was inhabited, like Acarnania, by a hardy +and warlike race, who long preserved the wild and uncivilized +habits of a barbarous age. The river Achelous was intimately +connected with the religion and mythology of the Greeks. The hero +Hercules contended with the river-god for the hand of De-i-a-ni'ra, +the most beautiful woman of his time; and so famous was the stream +itself that the Oracle of Dodona gave frequent directions "to +sacrifice to the Achelous," whose very name was used, in the +language of poetry, as an appellation for the element of water +and for rivers. + +5. Lo'cris, lying along the Corinthian Gulf east of Ætolia, was +inhabited by a wild, uncivilized race, scarcely Hellen'ic in +character, and said to have been addicted, from the earliest +period, to theft and rapine. Their two principal towns were +Amphis'sa and Naupac'tus, the latter now called Lepanto. There +was another settlement of the Locri north of Pho'cis and Boeo'tia. + +6. Do'ris, a small territory in the north-eastern angle of Ætolia +proper--a rough but fertile country--was the early seat of the +Dorians, the most enterprising and the most powerful of the Hellenic +tribes, if we take into account their numerous migrations, colonies +and conquests. Their colonies in Asia Minor founded six independent +republics, which were confined within the bounds of as many cities. +From this people the Doric order of architecture--a style typical +of majesty and imposing grandeur, and the one the most employed +by the Greeks in the construction of their temples--derived its +origin. + +7. Pho'cis.--On the east of Locris, Ætolia, and Doris was Phocis, +a mountainous region, bordered on the south by the Corinthian +Gulf. In the northern central part of its territory was the famed +Mount Parnassus, covered the greater part of the year with snow, +with its sacred cave, and its Castalian fount gushing forth between +two of its lofty rocks. The waters were said to inspire those who +drank of them with the gift of poetry. Hence both mountain and +fount were sacred to the Muses, and their names have come down +to our own times as synonymous with poetry and song. BYRON thus +writes of Parnassus, in lines almost of veneration, as he first +viewed it from Delphi, on the southern base of the mountain: + + Oh, thou Parnassus! whom I now survey, + Not in the frenzy of a dreamer's eye, + Not in the fabled landscape of a lay, + But soaring snow-clad through thy native sky + In the wild pomp of mountain majesty! + + Oft have I dreamed of thee! whose glorious name + Who knows not, knows not man's divinest lore: + And now I view thee, 'tis, alas! with shame + That I in feeblest accents must adore. + When I recount thy worshippers of yore + I tremble, and can only bend the knee; + Nor raise my voice, nor vainly dare to soar, + But gaze beneath thy cloudy canopy + In silent joy to think at last I look on thee! + +The city of Delphi was the seat of the celebrated temple and +oracle of that name. Here the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo, +pronounced the prophetic responses, in extempore prose or verse; +and here the Pythian Games were celebrated in honor of Apollo. + + Here, thought-entranced, we wander, where of old + From Delphi's chasm the mystic vapor rose, + And trembling nations heard their doom foretold + By the dread spirit throned 'midst rocks and snows. + Though its rich fanes be blended with the dust, + And silence now the hallowed haunt possess, + Still is the scene of ancient rites august, + Magnificent in mountain loneliness; + Still Inspiration hovers o'er the ground, + Where Greece her councils held, her Pythian victors crowned. + --MRS. HEMANS. + +8. Boeo'tia.--Boeotia, lying to the east of Phocis, bordering +on the Euri'pus, or "Euboe'an Sea," a narrow strait which separates +it from the Island of Euboe'a, and touching the Corinthian Gulf +on the south-west, is mostly one large basin enclosed by mountain +ranges, and having a soil exceedingly fertile. It was the most +thickly settled part of Greece; it abounded in cities of historic +interest, of which Thebes, the capital, was the chief--whose walls +were built, according to the fable, to the sound of the Muses: + + With their ninefold symphonies + There the chiming Muses throng; + Stone on stone the walls arise + To the choral Music-song. + --SCHILLER. + +Boeotia was the scene of many of the legends celebrated by the +poets, and especially of those upon which were founded the plays +of the Greek tragedians. Near a fountain on Mount Cithæ'ron, on +its southern border, the hunter Actæ'on, having been changed into +a stag by the goddess Diana, was hunted down and killed by his +own hounds. Pen'theus, an early king of Thebes, having ascended +Cithæron to witness the orgies of the Bacchanals, was torn in +pieces by his own mother and aunts, to whom Bacchus made him +appear as a wild beast. On this same mountain range also occurred +the exposure of OEd'ipus, the hero of the most famous tragedy of +Sophocles. Near the Corinthian Gulf was Mount Hel'icon, sacred +to Apollo and the Muses. Its slopes and valleys were renowned +for their fertility; it had its sacred grove, and near it was +the famous fountain of Aganip'pe, which was believed to inspire +with oracular powers those who drank of its waters. Nearer the +summit was the fountain Hippocre'ne, which is said to have burst +forth when the winged horse Peg'asus, the favorite of the Muses, +struck the ground with his hoofs, and which Venus, accompanied +by her constant attendants, the doves, delighted to visit. Here, +we are told, + + Her darling doves, light-hovering round their Queen, + Dipped their red beaks in rills from Hippocrene. + [Footnote: Always Hip-po-cre'ne in prose; but it is + allowable to contract it into three syllables in poetry, + as in the example above.] + +It was here, also-- + + near this fresh fount, + On pleasant Helicon's umbrageous mount-- + +that occurred the celebrated contest between the nine daughters +of Pie'rus, king of E-ma'thi-a (the ancient name of Macedonia), +and the nine Muses. It is said that "at the song of the daughters +of Pierus the sky became dark, and all nature was put out of +harmony; but at that of the Muses the heavens themselves, the +stars, the sea, and the rivers stood motionless, and Helicon +swelled up with delight, so that its summit reached the sky." +The Muses then, having turned the presumptuous maidens into +chattering magpies, first took the name of Pi-er'i-des, from +Pieria, their natal region. + +9. Attica.--Bordering Boeotia on the south-east was the district +of Attica, nearly in the form of a triangle, having two of its +sides washed by the sea, and the other--the northern--shut off +from the east of Central Greece by the mountain range of Cithæron +on the north-west, and Par'nes on the east. Its other noted +mountains were Pentel'icus (sometimes called Mende'li), so +celebrated for its quarries of beautiful marble, and Hymet'tus, +celebrated for its excellent honey, and the broad belt of flowers +at its base, which scented the air with their delicious perfume. +It could boast of its chief city, the favored seat of the goddess +Minerva-- + + Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts + And eloquence-- + +as surpassing all other cities in beauty and magnificence, and +in the great number of its illustrious citizens. Yet the soil +of Attica was, on the whole, exceedingly barren, with the exception +of a few very fertile spots; but olive groves abounded, and the +olive was the most valuable product. + +The general sterility of Attica was the great safety of her people +in their early history. "It drove them abroad; it filled them +with a spirit of activity, which loved to grapple with danger +and difficulty; it told them that, if they would maintain themselves +in the dignity which became them, they must regard the resources of +their own land as nothing, and those of other countries as their +own." Added to this, the situation of Attica marked it out in an +eminent manner for a commercial country; and it became distinguished +beyond all the other states of Greece for its extensive commercial +relations, while its climate was deemed the most favorable of +all the regions of the civilized world for the physical and +intellectual development of man. It was called "a sunny land," +and, notwithstanding the infertility of its soil, it was full +of picturesque beauty. The poet BYRON, in his apostrophe to Greece, +makes many striking and beautiful allusions to the Attica of his +own time: + + Yet are thy skies as blue, thy crags as wild; + Sweet are thy groves, and verdant are thy fields, + Thine olive ripe as when Minerva smiled, + And still its honeyed wealth Hymettus yields. + There the blithe bee his fragrant fortress builds, + The freeborn wanderer of thy mountain air; + Apollo still thy long, long summer gilds, + Still in his beam Mendeli's marbles glare; + Art, Glory, Freedom fail, but Nature still is fair. + +10. Entering now upon the isthmus which leads into Southern Greece, +we find the little state of Corinth, with its famous city of the +same name, keeping guard over the narrow pass, with one foot on +the Corinthian Gulf and the other on the Saron'ic, thereby commanding +both the Ionian and Æge'an seas, controlling the commerce that +passed between them, and holding the keys of Peloponnesus. It +was a mountainous and barren region, with the exception of a small +plain north-west of the city. Thus situated, Corinth early became +the seat of opulence and the arts, which rendered her the ornament +of Greece. On a lofty eminence overhanging the city, forming a +conspicuous object at a great distance, was her famous citadel--so +important as to be styled by Philip of Macedon "the fetters of +Greece." Rising abruptly nearly two thousand feet above the +surrounding plain, the hill itself, in its natural defences, is +the strongest mountain fortress in Europe. + + The whirlwind's wrath, the earthquake's shock, + Have left untouched her hoary rock, + The key-stone of a land which still, + Though fallen, looks proudly on that hill, + The landmark to the double tide + That purpling rolls on either side, + As if their waters chafed to meet, + Yet pause and crouch beneath her feet. + --BYRON. + +The ascent to the citadel, in the days of Corinthian glory, was +lined on both sides with temples and altars; but temples and +altars are gone, and citadel and city alike are now in ruins. +Antip'ater of Sidon describes the city as a scene of desolation +after it had been conquered, plundered, and its walls thrown down +by the Romans, 146 B.C. Although the city was partially rebuilt, +the description is fully applicable to its present condition. A +modern traveller thus describes the site of the ancient city: + + The hoarse wind sighs around the mouldering walls + Of the vast theatre, like the deep roar + Of distant waves, or the tumultuous rush + Of multitudes: the lichen creeps along + Each yawning crevice, and the wild-flower hangs + Its long festoons around each crumbling stone. + The window's arch and massive buttress glow + With time's deep tints, whilst cypress shadows wave + On high, and spread a melancholy gloom. + Silent forever is the voice + Of Tragedy and Eloquence. In climes + Far distant, and beneath a cloudy sky, + The echo of their harps is heard; but all + The soul-subduing energy is fled. + --HAYGARTH. + +11. Adjoining the Corinthian territory on the west, and extending +about sixty-five miles along the southern coast of the Corinthian +Gulf, was Acha'ia, mountainous in the interior; but its coast +region for the most part was level, exposed to inundations, and +without a single harbor of any size. Hence the Achæ'ans were never +famous for maritime enterprise. Of the eleven Achæan cities that +formed the celebrated Achæan league, Pal'træ (now Patras') alone +survives. Si'çy-on, on the eastern border of Achaia, was at times +an independent state. + +12. South of Achaia was the central region of Arcadia, surrounded +by a ring of mountains, and completely encompassed by the other +states of the Peloponnesus. Next to Laconia it was the largest +of the ancient divisions of Greece, and the most picturesque and +beautiful portion (not unlike Switzerland in its mountain +character), and without either seaports or navigable rivers. It +was inhabited by a people simple in their habits and manners, +noted for their fondness for music and dancing, their hospitality, +and pastoral customs. With the poets Arcadia was a land of peace, +of simple pleasures, and untroubled quiet; and it was natural that +the pipe-playing Pan should first appear here, where musical +shepherds led their flocks along the woody vales of impetuous +streams. + +13. Ar'golis, east of Arcadia, was mostly a rocky peninsula lying +between the Saron'ic and Argol'ic gulfs. It was in great part a +barren region, with the exception of the plain adjoining its +capital city, Argos, and in early times was divided into a number +of small but independent kingdoms, that afterward became republics. +The whole region is rich in historic associations of the Heroic +Age. Here was Tir'yns, whose massive walls were built by the +one-eyed Cy'clops, and whence Hercules departed at the commencement +of his twelve labors. Here, also, was the Lernæ'an Lake, where +the hero slew the many-headed hydra; Ne'mea, the haunt of the +lion slain by Hercules, and the seat of the celebrated Ne'mean +games; and Myce'næ, the royal city of Agamemnon, who commanded +the Greeks in the Trojan War--now known, only by its ruins and +its legends of by-gone ages. + + And still have legends marked the lonely spot + Where low the dust of Agamemnon lies; + And shades of kings and leaders unforgot, + Hovering around, to fancy's vision rise. + --HEMANS. + +14. At the south-eastern extremity of the Peloponnesus was Laconia, +the fertile portions of which consisted mostly of a long, narrow +valley, shut in on three sides by the mountain ranges of Ta-yg'etus +on the west and Parnon on the north and east, and open only on +the south to the sea. Through this valley flows the river Euro'tas, +on whose banks, about twenty miles from the sea, stood the capital +city, Lacedæ'mon, or Sparta, which was unwalled and unfortified +during its most flourishing period, as the Spartans held that the +real defence of a town consists solely in the valor of its citizens. +The sea-coast of Laconia was lined with towns, and furnished with +numerous ports and commodious harbors. While Sparta was equaled +by few other Greek cities in the magnificence of its temples and +statues, the private houses, and even the palace of the king, +were always simple and unadorned. + +15. West of Laconia was Messe'nia, the south-western division of +Greece, a mountainous country, but with many fertile intervening +valleys, the whole renowned for the mildness and salubrity of +its climate. Its principal river, the Pami'sus, rising in the +mountains of Arcadia, flows southward to the Messenian Gulf through +a beautiful plain, the lower portion of which was so celebrated +for its fertility that it was called Maca'ria, or "the blessed;" +and even to this day it is covered with plantations of the vine, +the fig, and the mulberry, and is "as rich in cultivation as can +be well imagined." + +16. One district more--that of E'lis, north of Messenia and west +of Arcadia, and embracing the western slopes of the Achaian and +Arcadian mountains--makes up the complement of the ancient +Peloponnesian states. Though hilly and mountainous, like Messenia, +it had many valleys and hill-sides of great fertility. The river +Alphe'us, which the poets have made the most celebrated of the +rivers of Greece, flows westward through Elis to the Ionian Sea, +and on its banks was Olympia, the renowned seat of the Olympian +games. Here, also, was the sacred grove of olive and plane trees, +within which were temples, monuments, and statues, erected in +honor of gods, heroes, and conquerors. In the very midst stood +the great temple of Jupiter, which contained the colossal gold +and ivory statue of the god, the masterpiece of the sculptor +Phidias. Hence, by the common law of Greece Elis was deemed a +sacred territory, and its cities were unwalled, as they were +thought to be sufficiently protected by the sanctity of the +country; and it was only when the ancient faith began to give +way that the sacred character of Elis was disregarded. + +17. The Isles of Greece.-- + + The Isles of Greece! the Isles of Greece! + Where burning Sappho loved and sung-- + Where grew the arts of war and peace, + Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung! + Eternal summer gilds them yet, + But all except their sun is set. + --BYRON. + +The main-land of Greece was deeply indented by gulfs and almost +land-locked bays, and the shores were lined with numerous islands, +which were occupied by the Grecian race. Beginning our survey of +these in the northern Æge'an, we find, off the coast of Thessaly, +the Island of Lemnos, which is fabled as the spot on which the +fire-god Vulcan--the Lucifer of heathen mythology--fell, after +being hurled down from Olympus. Under a volcano of the island be +established his workshop, and there forged the thunder-bolts of +Jupiter and the arms of the gods and of godlike heroes. + +Of the Grecian islands proper, the largest is Euboe'a, a long +and narrow island lying east of Central Greece, from which it +is separated by the narrow channel of the Euri'pus, or Euboe'an +Sea. South-east of Euboea are the Cyc'la-des, [Footnote: From +the Greek word kuklos, a circle.] a large group that kept guard +around the sacred Island of Delos, which is said to have risen +unexpectedly out of the sea. The Spor'a-des [Footnote: From the +Greek word speiro, to sow; scattered, like seed, so numerous were +they. Hence our word spore.] were another group, scattered over +the sea farther east, toward the coast of Asia Minor. The large +islands of Crete and Rhodes were south-east of these groups. In +the Saron'ic Gulf, between Attica and Ar'golis, were the islands +of Sal'amis and Ægi'na, the former the scene of the great naval +conflict between the Greeks on the one side and the Persians, +under Xerxes, on the other, and the latter long the maritime rival +of Athens. + +Cyth'era, now Cer'igo, an island of great importance to the +Spartans, was separated by a narrow channel from the southern +extremity of Laconia. It was on the coast of this island that +the goddess Venus is fabled to have first appeared to mortals +as she arose out of the foam of the sea, having a beautifully +enameled shell for her chariot, drawn by dolphins, as some paintings +represent; but others picture her as borne on a shining seahorse. +She was first called Cyth-er-e'a, from the name of the island. +The nymphs of ocean, of the land, and the streams, the fishes +and monsters of the deep, and the birds of heaven, with rapturous +delight greeted her coming, and did homage to the beauty of the +Queen of Love. The following fine description of the scene, truly +Grecian in spirit, is by a modern poet: + + Uprisen from the sea when Cytherea, + Shining in primal beauty, paled the day, + The wondering waters hushed, They yearned in sighs + That shook the world--tumultuously heaved + To a great throne of azure laced with light + And canopied in foam to grace their queen. + Shrieking for joy came O-ce-an'i-des, + And swift Ner-e'i-des rushed from afar, + Or clove the waters by. Came eager-eyed + Even shy Na-i'a-des from inland streams, + With wild cries headlong darting through the waves; + And Dryads from the shore stretched their long arms, + While, hoarsely sounding, heard was Triton's shell; + Shoutings uncouth, bewildered sounds, + And innumerable splashing feet + Of monsters gambolling around their god, + Forth shining on a sea-horse, fierce and finned. + Some bestrode fishes glinting dusky gold, + Or angry crimson, or chill silver bright; + Others jerked fast on their own scanty tails; + And sea-birds, screaming upward either side, + Wove a vast arch above the Queen of Love, + Who, gazing on this multitudinous + Homaging to her beauty, laughed. She laughed + The soft, delicious laughter that makes mad; + Low warblings in the throat, that clinch man's life + Tighter than prison bars. + --THOMAS WOOLNER. + +Off the coast of Elis were the two small islands called the +Stroph'a-des, noted as the place of habitation of those fabled +winged monsters, the Harpies. Here Æne'as landed in his flight +from the ruins of Troy, but no pleasant greetings met him there. + + "At length I land upon the Strophades, + Safe from the dangers of the stormy seas. + Those isles are compassed by th' Ionian main, + The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign: + Monsters more fierce offended Heaven ne'er sent + From hell's abyss for human punishment. + We spread the tables on the greensward ground; + We feed with hunger, and the bowls go round; + When from the mountain-tops, with hideous cry + And clattering wings, the hungry Harpies fly: + They snatch the meat, defiling all they find, + And, parting, leave a loathsome stench behind." + --VIRGIL'S Æneid, B. III. + +North of the Strophades, along the western coast of Greece, were +the six Ionian islands known in Grecian history as Paxos, +Zacyn'thus, Cephalo'nia, Ith'aca (the native island of Ulysses), +Leu'cas (or Leuca'dia), and Corcy'ra (now Corfu), which latter +island Homer calls Phæa'cia, and where he places the fabled gardens +of Alcin'o-us. It was King Alcinous who kindly entertained Ulysses +in his island home when the latter was shipwrecked on his coast. +He is highly praised in Grecian legends for his love of agriculture; +and his gardens, so beautifully described by Homer, have afforded +a favorite theme for poets of succeeding ages. HOMER'S description +is as follows: + + Close to the gates a spacious garden lies, + From storms defended and inclement skies; + Four acres was the allotted space of ground, + Fenced with a green enclosure all around; + Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mould, + And reddening apples ripen here to gold. + Here the blue fig with luscious juice o'erflows; + With deeper red the full pomegranate glows; + The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, + And verdant olives flourish round the year. + The balmy spirit of the western gale + Eternal breathes on fruits untaught to fail; + Each dropping pear a following pear supplies; + On apples apples, figs on figs arise: + The same mild season gives the blooms to blow, + The buds to harden, and the fruits to grow. + + Here ordered vines in equal ranks appear, + With all the united labors of the year; + Some to unload the fertile branches run, + Some dry the blackening clusters in the sun, + Others to tread the liquid harvest join, + The groaning presses foam with floods of wine. + Here are the vines in early flower descried, + Here grapes discolored on the sunny side, + And there in Autumn's richest purple dyed. + Beds of all various herbs, forever green, + In beauteous order terminate the scene. + + Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crowned: + This through the garden leads its streams around, + Visits each plant, and waters all the ground; + While that in pipes beneath the palace flows, + And thence its current on the town bestows. + To various use their various streams they bring; + The people one, and one supplies the king. + --Odyssey, B. VII. POPE'S Trans. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE FABULOUS AND LEGENDARY PERIOD OF GRECIAN HISTORY. + +I. GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. + +As the Greeks, in common with the Egyptians and other Eastern +nations, placed the reign of the gods anterior to the race of +mortals, Grecian mythology--which is a system of myths, or fabulous +opinions and doctrines respecting the universe and the deities +who were supposed to preside over it--forms the most natural and +appropriate introduction to Grecian history. + +Our principal knowledge of this system is derived from the works +of Homer, He'si-od, and other ancient writers, who have gathered +the floating legends of which it consists into tales and epic +poems, many of them of great power and beauty. Some of these legends +are exceedingly natural and pleasing, while others shock and disgust +us by the gross impossibilities and hideous deformities which they +reveal. Yet these legends are the spontaneous and the earliest +growth of the Grecian mind, and were long accepted by the people +as serious realities. They are, therefore, to be viewed as exponents +of early Grecian philosophy,--of all that the early Greeks believed, +and felt, and conjectured, respecting the universe and its government, +and respecting the social relations, duties, and destiny of +mankind,--and their influence upon national character was great. +As a Scotch poet and scholar of our own day well remarks, + + Old fables these, and fancies old! + But not with hasty pride + Let logic cold and reason bold + Cast these old dreams aside. + Dreams are not false in all their scope: + Oft from the sleepy lair + Start giant shapes of fear and hope + That, aptly read, declare + Our deepest nature. God in dreams + Hath spoken to the wise; + And in a people's mythic themes + A people's wisdom lies. + --J. STUART BLACKIE. + +According to Grecian philosophy, first in the order of time came +Cha'os, a heterogeneous mass, containing all the seeds of nature. +This was formed by the hand of an unknown god, into "broad-breasted +Earth" (the mother of the gods), who produced U'ranus, or Heaven. +Then Earth married Uranus, or Heaven; and from this union came a +numerous and powerful brood--the Ti'tans, and the Cyclo'pes, and +the gods of the wintry season Kot'-tos, Bria're-us, and Gy'ges, +who had each a hundred hands), supposed to be personifications +of the hail, the rain, and the snow. + +The Titans made war upon their father, Uranus, who was wounded +by Chro'nos, or Saturn, the youngest and bravest of his sons. +From the drops of blood which flowed from the wound and fell upon +the earth sprung the Furies, the Giants, and the Me'lian nymphs; +and from those which fell into the sea sprang Venus, the goddess +of love and beauty. Uranus being dethroned, Saturn was permitted +by his brethren to reign, on condition that he would destroy all +his male children. But Rhe'a (his wife), unwilling to see her +children perish, concealed from him the birth of Zeus' (or Jupiter), +Pos-ei'don (or Neptune), and Pluto. + + +THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS. + +The Titans, informed that Saturn had saved his children, made war +upon him and dethroned him; but he was soon restored by his son +Jupiter. Yet Jupiter soon afterward conspired against his father, +and after a long war with him and his giant progeny, that lasted +full ten years, he drove Saturn from the kingdom, which he held +against the repeated assaults of all the gods, who were finally +destroyed or imprisoned by his overmastering power. This contest +is termed "the Battle of the Giants," and is very celebrated in +Grecian mythology. The description of it which HESIOD has given +in his Theogony is considered "one of the most sublime passages +in classical poetry, conceived with great boldness, and executed +with a power and force which show a masterly though rugged genius. +It will bear a favorable comparison with Milton's 'Battle of the +Angels,' in Paradise Lost." We subjoin the following extracts from +it: + + The immeasurable sea tremendous dashed + With roaring, earth resounded, the broad heaven + Groaned, shattering; huge Olympus reeled throughout, + Down to its rooted base, beneath the rush + Of those immortals. The dark chasm of hell + Was shaken with the trembling, with the tramp + Of hollow footsteps and strong battle-strokes, + And measureless uproar of wild pursuit. + So they against each other through the air + Hurled intermixed their weapons, scattering groans + Where'er they fell. + + The voice of armies rose + With rallying shout through the starred firmament, + And with a mighty war-cry both the hosts + Encountering closed. Nor longer then did Jove + Curb down his force, but sudden in his soul + There grew dilated strength, and it was filled + With his omnipotence; his whole of might + Broke from him, and the godhead rushed abroad. + The vaulted sky, the Mount Olympus, flashed + With his continual presence, for he passed + Incessant forth, and lightened where he trod. + + Thrown from his nervous grasp the lightnings flew, + Reiterated swift; the whirling flash, + Cast sacred splendor, and the thunder-bolt + Fell. Then on every side the foodful earth + Roared in the burning flame, and far and near + The trackless depth of forests crashed with fire; + Yea, the broad earth burned red, the floods of Nile + Glowed, and the desert waters of the sea. + + Round and round the Titans' earthy forms + Rolled the hot vapor, and on fiery surge + Streamed upward, swathing in one boundless blaze + The purer air of heaven. Keen rushed the light + In quivering splendor from the writhen flash; + Strong though they were, intolerable smote + Their orbs of sight, and with bedimming glare + Scorched up their blasted vision. Through the gulf + Of yawning chaos the supernal flame + Spread, mingling fire with darkness. + + The whirlwinds were abroad, and hollow aroused + A shaking and a gathering dark of dust, + Crushing the thunders from the clouds of air, + Hot thunder-bolts and flames, the fiery darts + Of Jove; and in the midst of either host + They bore upon their blast the cry confused + Of battle, and the shouting. For the din + Tumultuous of that sight-appalling strife + Rose without bound. Stern strength of hardy proof + Wreaked there its deeds, till weary sank the war. + --Trans. by ELTON. + +Thus Jupiter, or Jove, became the head of the universe; and to +him is ascribed the creation of the subsequent gods, of man, and +of all animal life, and the supreme control and government of +all. His supremacy is beautifully sung in the following hymn by +the Greek philosopher CLE-AN'THES, said to be the only one of +his numerous writings that has been preserved. Like many others +of the ancient hymns of adoration, it presents us with high +spiritual conceptions of the unity and attributes of Deity; and +had it been addressed to Jehovah it would have been deemed a grand +tribute to his majesty and a noble specimen of deep devotional +feeling. + + Hymn to Jupiter. + + Most glorious of th' immortal powers above-- + O thou of many names--mysterious Jove! + For evermore almighty! Nature's source, + That govern'st all things in their ordered course, + All hail to thee! Since, innocent of blame, + E'en mortal creatures may address thy name-- + For all that breathe and creep the lowly earth + Echo thy being with reflected birth-- + Thee will I sing, thy strength for aye resound! + The universe that rolls this globe around + Moves wheresoe'er thy plastic influence guides, + And, ductile, owns the god whose arm presides. + + The lightnings are thy ministers of ire, + The double-forked and ever-living fire; + In thy unconquerable hand they glow, + And at the flash all nature quakes below. + Thus, thunder-armed, thou dost creation draw + To one immense, inevitable law; + And with the various mass of breathing souls + Thy power is mingled and thy spirit rolls. + Dread genius of creation! all things bow + To thee! the universal monarch thou! + Nor aught is done without thy wise control + On earth, or sea, or round the ethereal pole, + Save when the wicked, in their frenzy blind, + Act o'er the follies of a senseless mind. + + Thou curb'st th' excess; confusion to thy sight + Moves regular; th' unlovely scene is bright. + Thy hand, educing good from evil, brings + To one apt harmony the strife of things. + One ever-during law still binds the whole, + Though shunned, resisted, by the sinner's soul. + Wretches! while still they course the glittering prize, + The law of God eludes their ears and eyes. + Life then were virtue, did they this obey; + But wide from life's chief good they headlong stray. + + Now glory's arduous toils the breast inflame; + Now avarice thirsts, insensible of shame; + Now sloth unnerves them in voluptuous ease, + And the sweet pleasures of the body please. + With eager haste they rush the gulf within, + And their whole souls are centred in their sin. + But oh, great Jove! by whom all good is given-- + Dweller with lightnings and the clouds of heaven-- + Save from their dreadful error lost mankind! + Father, disperse these shadows of the mind! + Give them thy pure and righteous law to know, + Wherewith thy justice governs all below. + Thus honored by the knowledge of thy way, + Shall men that honor to thyself repay, + And bid thy mighty works in praises ring, + As well befits a mortal's lips to sing; + More blest nor men nor heavenly powers can be + Than when their songs are of thy law and thee. + --Trans, by ELTON. + +Jupiter is said to have divided the dominion of the universe +between himself and his two brothers, Neptune and Pluto, taking +heaven as his own portion, and having his throne and holding his +court on Mount Olympus, in Thessaly, while he assigned the dominion +of the sea to Neptune, and to Pluto the lower regions--the abodes +of the dead. Jupiter had several wives, both goddesses and mortals; +but last of all he married his sister Juno, who maintained +permanently the dignity of queen of the gods. The offspring of +Jupiter were numerous, comprising both celestial and terrestrial +divinities. The most noted of the former were Mars, the god of +war; Vulcan, the god of fire (the Olympian artist who forged the +thunder-bolts of Jupiter and the arms of all the gods); and Apollo, +the god of archery, prophecy, music, and medicine. + + "Mine is the invention of the charming lyre; + Sweet notes, and heavenly numbers I inspire. + Med'cine is mine: what herbs and simples grow + In fields and forests, all their powers I know, + And am the great physician called below." + --Apollo to Daphne, in OVID'S Metam. PRYDEN'S Trans. + +Then come Mercury, the winged messenger, interpreter and ambassador +of the gods; Diana, queen of the woods and goddess of hunting, +and hence the counterpart of her brother Apollo; and finally, +Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and skill, who is said to have +Sprung full-armed from the brain of Jupiter. + +Besides these divinities there were many others--as Ceres, the +goddess of grain and harvests; and Vesta, the goddess of home +joys and comforts, who presided over the sanctity of the domestic +hearth. There were also inferior gods and goddesses innumerable--such +as deities of the woods and the mountains, the meadows and the +rivers--some terrestrial, others celestial, according to the places +over which they were supposed to preside, and rising in importance +in proportion to the powers they manifested. Even the Muses, the +Fates, and the Graces were numbered among Grecian deities. + +But while, undoubtedly, the great mass of the Grecian people +believed that their divinities were real persons, who presided +over the affairs of men, their philosophers, while encouraging +this belief as the best adapted to the understanding of the people, +took quite a different view of them, and explained the mythological +legends as allegorical representations of general physical and +moral truths. Thus, while Jupiter, to the vulgar mind, was the +god or the upper regions, "who dwelt on the Summits of the highest +mountains, gathered the clouds about him, shook the air with his +thunder, and wielded the lightning as the instrument of his wrath," +yet in all this he was but the symbol of the ether or atmosphere +which surrounds the earth; and hence, the numerous fables of this +monarch of the gods may be considered merely as "allegories which +typify the great generative power of the universe, displaying itself +in a variety of ways, and under the greatest diversity of forms." +So, also, Apollo was, in all likelihood, originally the sun-god +of the Asiatic nations; displaying all the attributes of that +luminary; and because fire is "the great agent in reducing and +working the metals, Vulcan, the fire-god, naturally became an +artist, and is represented as working with hammer and tongs at +his anvil. Thus the Greeks, instead of worshipping Nature, +worshipped the Powers of Nature, as personified in the almost +infinite number of their deities. + +The process by which the beings of Grecian mythology came into +existence, among an ardent and superstitious people, is beautifully +described by the poet WORDSWORTH as very naturally arising out +of the + + Teeming Fancies of the Greek Mind. + + The lively Grecian, in a land of hills, + Rivers, and fertile plains, and sounding shores, + Under a copse of variegated sky, + Could find commodious place for every god. + In that fair clime the lonely herdsman, stretched + On the soft grass through half a summer's day, + With music lulled his indolent repose; + And in some fit of weariness, if he, + When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear + A distant strain, far sweeter than the sounds + Which his poor skill could make, his fancy fetch'd + Even from the blazing chariot of the sun + A beardless youth, who touched a golden lute, + And filled the illumined groves with ravishment. + + The night hunter, lifting a bright eye + Up toward the crescent moon, with grateful heart + Called on the lovely wanderer who bestow'd + That timely light to share his joyous sport. + And hence a beaming goddess, with her nymphs, + Across the lawn, and through the darksome grove + (Not unaccompanied with tuneful notes, + By echo multiplied from rock or cave), + Swept in the storm of chase, as moon and stars + Glance rapidly along the clouded heaven + When winds are blowing strong. The traveller slacked + His thirst from rill or gushing fount, and thank'd + The Naiad. Sunbeams, upon distant hills + Gliding apace, with shadows in their train, + Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed + Into fleet Oreads sporting visibly. + + The Zephyrs fanning, as they passed, their wings, + Lacked not for love fair objects, whom they wooed + With gentle whisper. Withered boughs grotesque, + Stripped of their leaves and twigs by hoary age, + From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth + In the low vale, or on steep mountain side-- + And sometimes intermixed with stirring horns + Of the live deer, or goat's depending beard-- + These were the lurking Satyrs, a wild brood + Of gamesome deities; or Pan himself, + The simple shepherd's awe-inspiring god. + +Similar ideas are expressed in an article on the Nature of Early +History, by a celebrated English scholar, [Footnote: Henry George +Liddell, D. D., Dean of Christchurch College, Oxford.] who says: +"The legends, or mythic fables, of the Greeks are chiefly connected +with religious ideas, and may mostly be traced to that sort of +awe or wonder with which simple and uneducated minds regard the +changes and movements of the natural world. The direct and easy +way in which the imagination of such persons accounts for marvelous +phenomena, is to refer them to the operation of Persons. When the +attention is excited by the regular movements of sun, and moon, +and stars, by the alternations of day and night, by the recurrence +of the seasons, by the rising and falling of the seas, by the +ceaseless flow of rivers, by the gathering of clouds, the rolling +of thunder, and the flashing of lightning, by the operations of +life in the vegetable and animal worlds--in short, by any exhibition +of an active and motive power--it is natural for uninstructed +minds to consider such changes and movements as the work of divine +Persons. In this manner the early Greek legends associate themselves +with personifications of the powers of Nature. All attempts to +account for the marvels which surround us are foregone; everything +is referred to the immediate operation of a god. 'Cloud-compelling +Zeus' is the author of the phenomenon of the air; 'Earth-shaking +Pos-ei'don,' of all that happens in the water under the earth; +Nymphs are attached to every spring or tree; De-me'ter, or Mother +Earth, for six months rejoices in the presence of Proserpine, +[Footnote: In some legends Proserpine is regarded as the daughter +of Mother Earth, or Ceres, and a personification of the growing +corn.] the green herb, her daughter, and for six months regrets +her absence in dark abodes beneath the earth. + +"This tendency to deify the powers of Nature is due partly to a +clear atmosphere and sunny climate, which incline a people to +live much in the open air in close communion with all that Nature +offers to charm the senses and excite the imagination; partly to +the character of the people, and partly to the poets who in early +times wrought these legendary tales into works which are read with +increased delight in ages when science and method have banished +the simple faith which procured acceptance for these legends. + +"Among the Greeks all these conditions were found existing. They +lived, so to say, out-of-doors; their powers of observation were +extremely quick, and their imagination singularly vivid; and their +ancient poems are the most noble specimens of the old legendary +tales that have been preserved in any country." + +This tendency of the Grecian mind is also very happily set forth +in the following lines by PROFESSOR BLACKIE: + + The old Greek men, the old Greek men-- + No blinking fools were they, + But with a free and broad-eyed ken + Looked forth on glorious day. + They looked on the sun in their cloudless sky, + And they saw that his light was fair; + And they said that the round, full-beaming eye + Of a blazing GOD was there! + + They looked on the vast spread Earth, and saw + The various fashioned forms, with awe + Of green and creeping life, + And said, "In every moving form, + With buoyant breath and pulses warm, + In flowery crowns and veined leaves, + A GODDESS dwells, whose bosom heaves + With organizing strife." + + They looked and saw the billowy sea, + With its boundless rush of water's free, + Belting the firm earth, far and wide, + With the flow of its deep, untainted tide; + And wondering viewed, in its clear blue flood, + A quick and scaly-glancing brood, + Sporting innumerous in the deep + With dart, and plunge, and airy leap; + And said, "Full sure a GOD doth reign + King of this watery, wide domain, + And rides in a car of cerulean hue + O'er bounding billows of green and blue; + And in one hand a three-pronged spear + He holds, the sceptre of his fear, + And with the other shakes the reins + Of his steeds, with foamy, flowing manes, + And coures o'er the brine; + And when he lifts his trident mace, + Broad Ocean crisps his darkling face, + And mutters wrath divine; + The big waves rush with hissing crest, + And beat the shore with ample breast, + And shake the toppling cliff: + + A wrathful god has roused the wave-- + Vain is all pilot's skill to save, + And lo! a deep, black-throated grave + Ingulfs the reeling skiff." + Anon the flood less fiercely flows, + The rifted cloud blue ether shows, + The windy buffets cease; + Poseidon chafes his heart no more, + His voice constrains the billows' roar, + And men may sail in peace. + + [Footnote: Pos-ei'don, another name for Neptune, the sea-god.] + + In the old oak a Dryad dwelt; + The fingers of a nymph were felt + In the fine-rippled flood; + At drowsy noon, when all was still, + Faunus lay sleeping on the hill, + And strange and bright-eyed gamesome creatures, + With hairy limbs and goat-like features, + Peered from the prickly wood. + + [Footnote: The Sa'tyrs.] + + Thus every power that zones the sphere + With forms of beauty and of fear, + In starry sky, on grassy ground, + And in the fishy brine profound, + Were, to the hoar Pelasgic men + That peopled erst each Grecian glen, + GODS--or the actions of a god: + Gods were in every sight and sound + And every spot was hallowed ground + Where these far-wandering patriarchs trod. + +But all this fairy world has passed away, to live only as shadows +in the realms of fancy and of song. SCHILLER gives expression to +the poet's lament in the following lines: + + Art thou, fair world, no more? + Return, thou virgin-bloom on Nature's face! + Ah, only on the minstrel's magic shore + Can we the footsteps of sweet Fable trace! + The meadows mourn for the old hallowing life; + Vainly we search the earth, of gods bereft; + Where once the warm and living shapes were rife + Shadows alone are left. + +The Latin poet OV'ID, who lived at the time of the Christian era, +has collected from the fictions of the early Greeks and Oriental +nations, and woven into one continuous history, the pagan accounts +of the Creation, embracing a description of the primeval world, +and the early changes it underwent, followed by a history of the +four eras or ages of primitive mankind, the deluge of Deuca'lion, +and then onward down to the time of Augustus Cæsar. This great +work of the pagan poet, called The Metamorphoses, is not only the +most curious and valuable record extant of ancient mythology, but +some have thought they discovered, in every story it contains, a +moral allegory; while others have attempted to trace in it the +whole history of the Old Testament, and types of the miracles and +sufferings of our Savior. But, however little of truth there may +be in the last of these suppositions, the beautiful and impressive +account of the Creation given by this poet, of the Four Ages of +man's history which followed, and of the Deluge, coincides in so +many remarkable respects with the Bible narrative, and with +geological and other records, that we give it here as a specimen +of Grecian fable that contains some traces of true history. The +translation is by Dryden: + + Account of the Creation. + + Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball, + And heaven's high canopy, that covers all, + One was the face of Nature--if a face-- + Rather, a rude and indigested mass; + A lifeless lump, unfashioned and unframed, + Of jarring elements, and CHAOS named. + + No sun was lighted up the world to view, + Nor moon did yet her blunted horns renew, + Nor yet was earth suspended in the sky, + Nor, poised, did on her own foundations lie, + Nor seas about the shores their arms had thrown; + But earth, and air, and water were in one. + Thus air was void of light, and earth unstable, + And water's dark abyss unnavigable. + No certain form on any was impressed; + All were confused, and each disturbed the rest. + + Thus disembroiled they take their proper place; + The next of kin contiguously embrace, + And foes are sundered by a larger space. + The force of fire ascended first on high, + And took its dwelling in the vaulted sky; + Then air succeeds, in lightness next to fire, + Whose atoms from inactive earth retire; + Earth sinks beneath and draws a numerous throng + Of ponderous, thick, unwieldy seeds along. + About her coasts unruly waters roar, + And, rising on a ridge, insult the shore. + Thus when the god--whatever god was he-- + Had formed the whole, and made the parts agree, + That no unequal portions might be found, + He moulded earth into a spacious round; + Then, with a breath, he gave the winds to blow, + And bade the congregated waters flow. + He adds the running springs and standing lakes, + And bounding banks for winding rivers makes. + Some parts in earth are swallowed up; the most, + In ample oceans disembogued, are lost. + He shades the woods, the valleys he restrains + With rocky mountains, and extends the plains. + + Then, every void of nature to supply, + With forms of gods Jove fills the vacant sky; + New herds of beasts sends the plains to share; + New colonies of birds to people air; + And to their cozy beds the finny fish repair. + A creature of a more exalted kind + Was wanting yet, and then was Man designed; + Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast, + For empire formed and fit to rule the rest; + Whether with particles of heavenly fire + The God of nature did his soul inspire, + Or earth, but new divided from the sky, + And pliant, still retained the ethereal energy. + Thus while the mute creation downward bend + Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, + Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes + Beholds his own hereditary skies. + + +FOUR AGES OF MAN. + +The poet now describes the Ages, or various epochs in the +civilization of the human race. The first is the Golden Age, a +period of patriarchal simplicity, when Earth yielded her fruits +spontaneously, and spring was eternal. + + The GOLDEN AGE was first, when man, yet new, + No rule but uncorrupted reason knew, + And, with a native bent, did good pursue. + Unforced by punishment, unawed by fear. + His words were simple and his soul sincere; + Needless were written laws where none oppressed; + The law of man was written on his breast. + No suppliant crowds before the judge appeared, + No court erected yet, nor cause was heard, + But all was safe, for conscience was their guard. + + No walls were yet, nor fence, nor moat, nor mound; + Nor drum was heard, nor trumpet's angry sound; + Nor swords were forged; but, void of care and crime, + The soft creation slept away their time. + The teeming earth, yet guiltless of the plough, + And unprovoked, did fruitful stores allow; + The flowers, unsown, in fields and meadows reigned, + And western winds immortal spring maintained. + +The next; or the Silver Age, was marked by the change of seasons, +and the division and cultivation of lands. + + Succeeding times a SILVER AGE behold, + Excelling brass, but more excelled by gold. + Then summer, autumn, winter did appear, + And spring was but a season of the year; + The sun his annual course obliquely made, + Good days contracted, and enlarged the bad. + Then air with sultry heats began to glow, + The wings of wind were clogged with ice and snow; + And shivering mortals, into houses driven, + Sought shelter from the inclemency of heaven. + Those houses then were caves or homely sheds, + With twining osiers fenced, and moss their beds. + Then ploughs for seed the fruitful furrows broke, + And oxen labored first beneath the yoke. + +Then followed the Brazen Age, which was an epoch of war and +violence. + + To this came next in course the BRAZEN AGE; + A warlike offspring, prompt to bloody rage, + Not impious yet. + +According to He'siod, the next age is the Heroic, in which the +world began to aspire toward better things; but OVID omits this +altogether, and gives, as the fourth and last, the Iron Age, also +called the Plutonian Age, full of all sorts of hardships and +wickedness. His description of it is as follows: + + Hard steel succeeded then, + And stubborn as the metal were the men. + Truth, Modesty, and Shame the world forsook; + Fraud, Avarice, and Force their places took. + Then sails were spread to every wind that blew; + Raw were the sailors, and the depths were new: + Trees rudely hollowed did the waves sustain, + Ere ships in triumph plough'd the watery plain. + Then landmarks limited to each his right; + For all before was common as the light. + Nor was the ground alone required to bear + Her annual income to the crooked share; + But greedy mortals, rummaging her store, + Digged from her entrails first the precious ore; + (Which next to hell the prudent gods had laid), + And that alluring ill to sight displayed: + Thus cursed steel, and more accursed gold, + Gave mischief birth, and made that mischief bold; + And double death did wretched man invade, + By steel assaulted, and by gold betrayed. + Now (brandished weapons glittering in their hands) + Mankind is broken loose from moral bands: + No rights of hospitality remain; + The guest by him who harbored him is slain; + The son-in-law pursues the father's life; + The wife her husband murders, he the wife; + The step-dame poison for the son prepares, + The son inquires into his father's years. + Faith flies, and Piety in exile mourns; + And Justice, here oppressed, to heaven returns. + +The Scriptures assert that the wickedness of mankind was the cause +of the Noachian flood, or deluge. So, also, we find that, in Grecian +mythology, like causes led to the deluge of Deuca'lion. Therefore, +before giving Ovid's account of this latter event, we give, from +Hesiod, a curious account of + + +THE ORIGIN OF EVIL, AND ITS INTRODUCTION INTO THE WORLD. + +It appears from the legend that, during a controversy between +the gods and men, Pro-me'theus, [Footnote: In most Greek proper +names ending in 'eus', the 'eus' is pronounced in one syllable; +as Or'pheus, pronounced Or'phuse.] who is said to have surpassed +all his fellow-men in intellectual vigor and sagacity, stole fire +from the skies, and, concealing it in a hollow staff, brought it +to man. Jupiter, angry at the theft of that which had been reserved +from mortals for wise purposes, resolved to punish Prometheus, and +through him all mankind, to show that it was not given to man to +elude the wisdom of the gods. He therefore caused Vulcan to form +an image of air and water, to give it human voice and strength, +and make it assume the form of a beautiful woman, like the immortal +goddesses themselves. Minerva endowed this new creation with +artistic skill, Venus gave her the witchery of beauty, Mercury +inspired her with an artful disposition, and the Graces added +all their charms. But we append the following extracts from the +beautifully written account by Hesiod, beginning with the command +which Jupiter gave to Vulcan, the fire-god: + + Thus spoke the sire, whom heaven and earth obey, + And bade the fire-god mould his plastic clay; + In-breathe the human voice within her breast; + With firm-strung nerves th'elastic limbs invest; + Her aspect fair as goddesses above-- + A virgin's likeness, with the brows of love. + + He bade Minerva teach the skill that dyes + The wool with color's as the shuttle flies: + He called the magic of Love's charming queen + To breathe around a witchery of mien; + Then plant the rankling stings of keen desire + And cares that trick the limbs with pranked attire: + Bade Her'mes [Footnote: Mercury.] last impart the Craft refined + Of thievish manners, and a shameless mind. + + He gives command--the inferior powers obey-- + The crippled artist [Footnote: Vulcan.] moulds the tempered clay: + A maid's coy image rose at Jove's behest; + Minerva clasped the zone, diffused too vest; + Adored Persuasion and the Graces young + Her tapered limbs with golden jewels hung; + Round her smooth brow the beauteous-tressed Hours + A garland twined of Spring's purpureal flowers. + + The whole attire Minerva's graceful art + Disposed, adjusted, formed to every part; + And last, the winged herald [Footnote: Mercury.] of the skies, + Slayers of Argus, gave the gift of lies-- + Gave trickish manners, honeyed words instilled, + As he that rolls the deepening thunder willed: + Then by the feathered messenger of Heaven + The name PANDO'RA to the maid was given; + For all the gods conferred a gifted grace + To crown this mischief of the mortal race. + +Thus furnished, Pandora was brought as a gift from Jupiter to +the dwelling of Ep-i-me'theus, the brother of Prometheus; and +the former, dazzled by her charms, received her in spite of the +warnings of his sagacious brother, and made her his wife. + + The sire commands the winged herald bear + The finished nymph, th' inextricable snare. + To Epimetheus was the present brought: + Prometheus' warning vanished from his thought-- + That he disdain each offering of the skies, + And straight restore, lest ill to man arise. + But he received, and, conscious, knew too late + Th' insidious gift, and felt the curse of fate. + +In the dwelling of Epimetheus stood a closed casket, which he +had been forbidden to open; but Pandora, disregarding the +injunction, raised the lid; when lo! to her consternation, all +the evils hitherto unknown to mortals poured out, and spread +themselves over the earth. In terror at the sight of these monsters, +Pandora shut down the lid just in time to prevent the escape of +Hope, which thus remained to man, his chief support and consolation +amid the trials of his pilgrimage. + + On earth, of yore, the sons of men abode + From evil free, and labor's galling load; + Free from diseases that; with racking rage, + Precipitate the pale decline of age. + Now swift the days of manhood haste away, + And misery's pressure turns the temples gray. + The Woman's hands an ample casket bear; + She lifts the lid--she scatters ill in air. + + Hope sole remained within, nor took her flight-- + Beneath the vessel's verge concealed from light; + Issued the rest, in quick dispersion buried, + And woes innumerous roamed the breathing world: + With ills the land is full, with ills the sea; + Diseases haunt our frail humanity; + Self-wandering through the noon, at night they glide + Voiceless--a voice the power all-wise denied: + Know, then, this awful truth: it is not given + To elude the wisdom of omniscient Heaven. + --Trans. by ELTON. + +PROFESSOR BLACKIE has made this legend the subject of a pleasing +poem, from which we take the following extracts, beginning with +the acceptance by Epimetheus of the gift from Jupiter. The deluded +mortal exclaims-- + + "Bless thee, bless thee, gentle Hermes! + Once I sinned, and strove + Vainly with my haughty brother + 'Gainst Olympian Jove. + Now my doubts his love hath vanquished; + Evil knows not he, + Whose free-streaming grace prepared + Such gift of gods for me. + Henceforth I and fair Pandora, + Joined in holy love, + Only one in heaven will worship-- + Cloud-compelling Jove." + Thus he; and from the god received + The glorious gift of Jove, + And with fond embracement clasped her, + Thrilled by potent love; + And in loving dalliance with her + Lived from day to day, + While her bounteous smiles diffusive + Scared pale care away. + + By the mountain, by the river, + 'Neath the shaggy pine, + By the cool and grassy fountain + Where clear waters shine, + He with her did lightly stray, + Or softly did recline, + Drinking sweet intoxication + From that form divine. + + One day, when the moon had wheeled + Four honeyed weeks away, + From her chamber came Pandora + Decked with trappings gay, + And before fond Epimetheus + Fondly she did stand, + A box all bright with lucid opal + Holding in her hand. + + "Dainty box!" cried Epimetheus. + "Dainty well may't be," + Quoth Pandora--"curious Vulcan + Framed it cunningly; + Jove bestowed it in my dowry: + Like bright Phoebus' ray + It shines without; within, what wealth + I know not to this day." + +It will be observed in what follows that the poet does not strictly +adhere to the legend as given by Hesiod, in which it is stated +that Pandora, probably under the influence of curiosity, herself +raised the lid of the mysterious casket. The poet, instead, +attributes the act to Epimetheus, and so relieves Pandora of the +odium and the guilt. + + "Let me see," quoth Epimetheus, + "What my touch can do!" + And swiftly to his finger's call + The box wide open flew. + O heaven! O hell! What Pandemonium + In the pouncet dwells! + How it quakes, and how it quivers; + How it seethes and swells! + Misty steams from it upwreathing, + Wave on wave is spread! + Like a charnel-vault, 'tis breathing + Vapors of the dead! + Fumes on fumes as from a throat + Of sooty Vulcan rise, + Clouds of red and blue and yellow + Blotting the fair skies! + And the air, with noisome stenches, + As from things that rot, + Chokes the breather--exhalation + From the infernal pot. + And amid the thick-curled vapors + Ghastly shapes I see + Of dire diseases, Epimetheus, + Launched on earth by thee. + A horrid crew! Some lean and dwindled, + Some with boils and blains + Blistered, some with tumors swollen, + And water in the veins; + Some with purple blotches bloated, + Some with humors flowing + Putrid, some with creeping tetter + Like a lichen growing + O'er the dry skin scaly-crusted; + Some with twisted spine + Dwarfing low with torture slow + The human form divine; + Limping some, some limbless lying; + Fever, with frantic air, + And pale consumption veiling death + With looks serenely fair. + + All the troop of cureless evils, + Rushing reinless forth + From thy damned box, Pandora, + Seize the tainted earth! + And to lay the marshalled legions + Of our fiendish pains, + Hope alone, a sorry charmer, + In the box remains. + Epimetheus knew the dolors, + But he knew too late; + Jealous Jove himself, now vainly, + Would revoke the fate. + And he cursed the fair Pandora, + But he cursed in vain; + Still, to fools, the fleeting pleasure + Buys the lasting pain! + + +WHAT PROMETHEUS PERSONIFIED. + +PROFESSOR BLACKIE says, regarding Prometheus, that the common +conception of him is, that he was the representative of freedom +in contest with despotism. He thinks, however, that Goethe is +nearer the depth of the myth when, in his beautiful lyric, he +represents Prometheus as the impersonation of that indefatigable +endurance in man which conquers the earth by skilful labor, in +opposition to and despite; those terrible influences of the wild, +elemental forces of Nature which the Greeks supposed were +concentrated in the person of Jove. Accordingly, PROFESSOR BLACKIE, +in his Legend of Prometheus; represents him as proclaiming, in the +following language, his empire on the earth, in opposition to the +powers above: + + "Jove rules above: Fate willed it so. + 'Tis well; Prometheus rules below. + Their gusty games let wild winds play, + And clouds on clouds in thick array + Muster dark armies in the sky: + Be mine a harsher trade to ply-- + This solid Earth, this rocky frame + To mould, to conquer, and to tame-- + And to achieve the toilsome plan + My workman shall be MAN. + + "The Earth is young. Even with these eyes + I saw the molten mountains rise + From out the seething deep, while Earth + Shook at the portent of their birth. + I saw from out the primal mud + The reptiles crawl, of dull, cold blood, + While winged lizards, with broad stare, + Peered through the raw and misty air. + Where then was Cretan Jove? Where then + This king of gods and men? + + "When, naked from his mother Earth, + Weak and defenceless, man crept forth, + And on mis-tempered solitude + Of unploughed field and unclipped wood + Gazed rudely; when; with brutes, he fed + On acorns, and his stony bed + In dark, unwholesome caverns found, + No skill was then to tame the ground, + No help came then from him above-- + This tyrannous, blustering Jove. + + "The Earth is young. Her latest birth, + This weakling man, my craft shall girth + With cunning strength. Him I will take, + And in stern arts my scholar make. + This smoking reed, in which hold + The empyrean spark, shall mould + Rock and hard steel to use of man: + He shall be as a god to plan + And forge all things to his desire + By alchemy of fire. + + "These jagged cliffs that flout the air, + Harsh granite rocks, so rudely bare, + Wise Vulcan's art and mine shall own + To piles of shapeliest beauty grown. + The steam that snorts vain strength away + Shall serve the workman's curious sway, + Like a wise child; as clouds that sail + White-winged before the summer gale, + The smoking chariot o'er the land + Shall roll at his command. + + "'Blow, winds, and crack your checks!' my home + Stands firm beneath Jove's rattling dome, + This stable Earth. Here let me work! + The busy spirits that eager lurk + Within a thousand laboring breasts + Here let me rouse; and whoso rests + From labor, let him rest from life. + To 'live's to strive;' and in the strife + To move the rock and stir the clod + Man makes himself a god!" + + +THE PUNISHMENT OF PROMETHEUS. + +Regarding the punishment of Prometheus for his daring act, the +legend states that Jupiter bound him with chains to a rock or +pillar, supposed to be in Scythia, and sent an eagle to prey +without ceasing on his liver, which grew every night as much as +it had lost during the day. After an interval of thirty thousand +years Hercules, a hero of great strength and courage, slew the +eagle and set the sufferer free. The Greek poet ÆS'CHYLUS, justly +styled the father of Grecian tragedy, has made the punishment of +Prometheus the basis of a drama, entitled Prometheus Bound, which +many think is this poet's masterpiece, and of which it has been +remarked: + +"Nothing can be grander than the scenery in which the poet has +made his hero suffer. He is chained to a desolate and stupendous +rock at the extremity of earth's remotest wilds, frowning over +old ocean. The daughters of O-ce'a-nus, who constitute the chorus +of the tragedy, come to comfort and calm him; and even the aged +Oceanus himself, and afterward Mercury, do all they can to persuade +him to submit to his oppressor, Jupiter. But all to no purpose; +he sternly and triumphantly refuses. Meanwhile, the tempest rages, +the lightnings flash upon the rock, the sands are torn up by +whirlwinds, the seas are dashed against the sky, and all the +artillery of heaven is leveled against his bosom, while he proudly +defies the vengeance of his tyrant, and sinks into the earth to +the lower regions, calling on the Powers of Justice to avenge his +wrongs." + +In trying to persuade the defiant Prometheus to relent, Æschylus +represents Mercury as thus addressing him: + + "I have indeed, methinks, said much in vain, + For still thy heart, beneath my showers of prayers, + Lies dry and hard! nay, leaps like a young horse + Who bites against the new bit in his teeth, + And tugs and struggles against the new-tried rein, + Still fiercest in the weakest thing of all, + Which sophism is--for absolute will alone, + When left to its motions in perverted minds, + Is worse than null for strength! Behold and see, + Unless my words persuade thee, what a blast + And whirlwind of inevitable woe + Must sweep persuasion through thee! For at first + The Father will split up this jut of rock + With the great thunder and the bolted flame, + And hide thy body where the hinge of stone + Shall catch it like an arm! and when thou hast passed + A long black time within, thou shalt come out + To front the sun; and Zeus's winged hound, + The strong, carnivorous eagle, shall wheel down + To meet thee--self-called to a daily feast-- + And set his fierce beak in thee, and tear off + The long rags of thy flesh, and batten deep + Upon thy dusky liver! + + "Do not look + For any end, moreover, to this curse, + Or ere some god appear to bear thy pangs + On his own head vicarious, and descend + With unreluctant step the darks of hell, + And the deep glooms enringing Tartarus! + Then ponder this: the threat is not growth + Of vain invention--it is spoken and meant! + For Zeus's mouth is impotent to lie, + And doth complete the utterance in the act. + So, look to it, thou! take heed! and nevermore + Forget good counsel to indulge self-will! + +To which Prometheus answers as follows: + + "Unto me, the foreknower, this mandate of power, + He cries, to reveal it! + And scarce strange is my fate, if I suffer from hate + At the hour that I feel it! + Let the rocks of the lightning, all bristling and whitening, + Flash, coiling me round! + While the ether goes surging 'neath thunder and scourging + Of wild winds unbound! + Let the blast of the firmament whirl from its place + The earth rooted below-- + And the brine of the ocean, in rapid emotion, + Be it driven in the face + Of the stars up in heaven, as they walk to and fro! + Let him hurl me anon into Tartarus--on-- + To the blackest degree, + With necessity's vortices strangling me down! + But he cannot join death to a fate meant for me!" + --Trans. by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. + + +THE SUFFERINGS OF PROMETHEUS. + +We close this subject with a brief extract from the Prometheus +Bound of the English poet SHELLEY, in which the sufferings of +the defiant captive are vividly portrayed: + + "No change, no pause, no hope! yet I endure. + I ask the Earth, have not the mountains felt? + I ask yon Heaven, the all-beholding Sun, + Has it not seen? The Sea, in storm or calm, + Heaven's ever-changing shadow, spread below, + Have its deaf waves not heard my agony? + Ah me! alas, pain, pain ever, forever! + + The crawling glaciers pierce me with the spears + Of their moon-freezing crystals; the bright chains + Eat with their burning gold into my bones. + Heaven's winged hound, polluting from thy lips + His beak in poison not his own, tears up + My heart; and shapeless sights come wandering by-- + The ghastly people of the realm of dream + Mocking me; and the Earthquake fiends are charged + To wrench the rivets from my quivering wounds + When the rocks split and close again behind; + While from their loud abysses howling throng + The genii of the storm." + +Returning now to the poet Ovid, we present the account which he +gives of the Deluge, or the destruction of mankind by a flood, +called by the Greeks, + + +THE DELUGE OF DEUCALION. + +Deucalion is represented as the son of Prometheus, and is styled +the father of the Greek nation of post-diluvian times. When Jupiter +determined to destroy the human race on account of its impiety, +it was his first design, OVID tells us, to accomplish it with fire. +But his own safety demanded the employment of a less dangerous +agency. + + Already had Jove tossed the flaming brand, + And rolled the thunder in his spacious hand, + Preparing to discharge on seas and land; + But stopped, for fear, thus violently driven, + The sparks should catch his axle-tree of heaven-- + Remembering, in the Fates, a time when fire + Should to the battlements of heaven aspire, + And all his blazing worlds above should burn, + And all the inferior globe to cinders turn. + His dire artillery thus dismissed, he bent + His thoughts to some securer punishment; + Concludes to pour a watery deluge down, + And what he durst not burn resolves to drown. + +In all this myth, it will be seen, Jupiter may very properly be +considered as a personification of the elemental strife that +drowned a guilty world. Deucalion, warned, by his father, of the +coming deluge, thereupon made himself an ark or skiff, and, putting +provisions into it, entered it with his wife, Pyrrha. The whole +earth is then overspread with the flood of waters, and all animal +life perishes, except Deucalion and his wife. + + The northern breath that freezes floods, Jove binds, + With all the race of cloud-dispelling winds: + The south he loosed, who night and horror brings, + And fogs are shaken from his flaggy wings. + From his divided beard two streams he pours; + His head and rheumy eyes distil in showers. + The skies, from pole to pole, with peals resound; + And showers enlarged come pouring on the ground. + + Nor from his patrimonial heaven alone + Is Jove content to pour his vengeance down: + Aid from his brother of the seas he craves, + To help him with auxiliary waves. + The watery tyrant calls his brooks and floods, + Who roll from mossy caves, their moist abodes, + And with perpetual urns his palace fill; + To whom, in brief, he thus imparts his will: + + Small exhortation needs; your powers employ, + And this bad world (so Jove requires) destroy. + Let loose the reins to all your watery store; + Bear down the dams and open every door." + + The floods, by nature enemies to land, + And proudly swelling with their new command, + Remove the living stones that stopped their way, + And, gushing from their source, augment the sea. + Then with his mace their monarch struck the ground: + With inward trembling Earth received the wound, + And rising stream a ready passage found. + The expanded waters gather on the plain, + They float the fields and overtop the grain; + Then, rushing onward, with a sweepy sway, + Bear flocks and folds and laboring hinds away. + Nor safe their dwellings were; for, sapped by floods, + Their houses fell upon their household gods. + The solid hills, too strongly built to fall, + High o'er their heads behold a watery wall. + Now seas and earth were in confusion lost-- + A world of waters, and without a coast. + + One climbs a cliff; one in his boat is borne, + And ploughs above where late he sowed his corn. + Others o'er chimney-tops and turrets row, + And drop their anchors on the meads below; + Or, downward driven, they bruise the tender vine, + Or, tossed aloft, are hurled against a pine. + And where of late the kids had cropped the grass, + The monsters of the deep now take their place. + Insulting Ner'e-ids on the cities ride, + And wondering dolphins o'er the palace glide. + On leaves and masts of mighty oaks they browse, + And their broad fins entangle in the boughs. + + The frighted wolf now swims among the sheep, + The yellow lion wanders in the deep; + His rapid force no longer helps the boar, + The stag swims faster than he ran before. + The fowls, long beating on their wings in vain, + Despair of land, and drop into the main. + Now hills and vales no more distinction know, + And levelled nature lies oppressed below. + The most of mortals perished in the flood, + The small remainder dies for want of food. + +Deucalion and Pyrrha were conveyed to the summit of Mount Parnassus, +the highest mountain in Central Greece. According to Ovid, Deucalion +now consulted the ancient oracle of Themis respecting the restoration +of mankind, and received the following response: +"Depart from the temple, veil your heads, loosen your girded +vestments, and cast behind you the great bones of your parent." At +length Deucalion discovered the meaning of the oracle--the bones +being, by a very natural figure, the stones, or rocky heights, of +the earth. The poet then gives the following account of the +abatement of the waters, and of the appearance of the earth: + + "When Jupiter, surveying earth from high, + Beheld it in a lake of water lie-- + That, where so many millions lately lived, + But two, the best of either sex, survived-- + He loosed the northern wind: fierce Boreas flies + To puff away the clouds and purge the skies: + Serenely, while he blows, the vapors driven + Discover heaven to earth and earth to heaven; + The billows fall while Neptune lays his mace + On the rough sea, and smooths its furrowed face. + Already Triton [Footnote: Son of Neptune.] at his call appears + Above the waves: a Tyrian robe he wears, + And in his hands a crooked trumpet bears. + The sovereign bids him peaceful sounds inspire, + And give the waves the signal to retire. + The waters, listening to the trumpet's roar, + Obey the summons, and forsake the shore. + A thin circumference of land appears, + And Earth, but not at once, her visage rears, + And peeps upon the seas from upper grounds: + The streams, but just contained within their bounds, + By slow degrees into their channels crawl, + And earth increases as the waters fall: + In longer time the tops of trees appear, + Which mud on their dishonored branches bear. + At length the world was all restored to view, + But desolate, and of a sickly hue: + Nature beheld herself, and stood aghast, + A dismal desert and a silent waste. + +When the waters had abated Deucalion left the rocky heights behind +him, in obedience to the direction of the oracle, and went to +dwell in the plains below. + + +MORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GODS, AND OF THEIR RULE OVER MANKIND. + +It is a prominent feature of the polytheistic system of the Greeks +that the gods are represented as subject to all the passions and +frailties of human nature. There were, indeed, among them +personifications of good and of evil, as we see in A'te, the +goddess of revenge or punishment, and in the Erin'nys (or Furies), +who avenge violations of filial duty, punish perjury, and are the +maintainers of order both in the moral and the natural world; yet +while these moral ideas restrained and checked men, the gods seem +to have been almost wholly free from such control. "The society +of Olympus, therefore," says MAHAFFY, "is only an ideal Greek +society in the lowest sense--the ideal of the school-boy who +thinks all control irksome, and its absence the greatest good--the +ideal of a voluptuous man, who has strong passions, and longs for +the power to indulge them without unpleasant consequences. It +appears, therefore, that the Homeric picture of Olympus is very +valuable, as disclosing to us the poet's notion of a society freed +from the restraints of religion; for the rhapsodists [Footnote: +Rhapsodist, a term applied to the reciters of Greek verse.] were +dealing a death-blow (perhaps unconsciously) to the received +religious belief by these very pictures of sin and crime among +the gods. Their idea is a sort of semi-monarchical aristocracy, +where a number of persons have the power to help favorites, and +thwart the general progress of affairs; where love of faction +overpowers every other consideration, and justifies violence or +deceit. [Footnote: "Social Life in Greece," by J. P. Mahaffy.] + +MR. GLADSTONE has given us, in the following extract, his views +of what he calls the "intense humanity" of the Olympian system, +drawn from what its great expounder has set forth in the Iliad +and the Odyssey. "That system," he says, "exhibits a kind of royal +or palace life of man, but on the one hand more splendid and +powerful, on the other more intense and free. It is a wonderful +and a gorgeous creation. It is eminently in accordance with the +signification of the English epithet--rather a favorite, apparently, +with our old writers--the epithet jovial, which is derived from +the Latin name of its head. It is a life of all the pleasures of +mind and body, of banquet and of revel, of music and of song; a +life in which solemn grandeur alternates with jest and gibe; a +life of childish willfulness and of fretfulness, combined with +serious, manly, and imperial cares; for the Olympus of Homer has +at least this one recommendation to esteem--that it is not peopled +with the merely lazy and selfish gods of Epicurus, but its +inhabitants busily deliberate on the government of man, and in +their debates the cause of justice wins. + +"I do not now discuss the moral titles of the Olympian scheme; +what I dwell upon is its intense humanity, alike in its greatness +and its littleness, its glory and its shame. As the cares and +joys of human life, so the structure of society below is reflected, +by the wayward wit of man, on heaven above. Though the names and +fundamental traditions of the several deities were wholly or in +great part imported from abroad, their characters, relations, and +attributes passed under a Hellenizing process, which gradually +marked off for them special provinces and functions, according to +laws which appear to have been mainly original and indigenous, +and to have been taken by analogy from the division of labor in +political society. The Olympian society has its complement of +officers and servants, with their proper functions. He-phæs'tus +(or Vulcan) moulds the twenty golden thrones which move +automatically to form the circle of the council of the gods, and +builds for each of his brother deities a separate palace in the +deep-folded recesses of the mighty mountain. Music and song are +supplied by Apollo and the Muses; Gan-y-me'de and He'be are the +cup-bearers, Hermes and Iris are the messengers; but Themis, in +whom is impersonated the idea of deliberation and of relative +rights, is the summoner of the Great Assembly of the gods in the +Twentieth Iliad, when the great issue of the Trojan war is to be +determined." [Footnote: Address to the Edinburgh University, +November 3, 1865.] + +But, however prone the gods were to evil passions, and subject +to human frailties, they were not believed to approve (in men) +of the vices in which they themselves indulged, but were, on +the contrary, supposed to punish violations of justice and +humanity, and to reward the brave and virtuous. We learn that +they were to be appeased by libations and sacrifice; and their +aid, not only in great undertakings, but in the common affairs +of life, was to be obtained by prayer and supplication. For +instance, in the Ninth Book of HOMER'S Iliad the aged +Phoe'nix--warrior and sage--in a beautiful allegory personifying +"Offence" and "Prayers," represents the former as robust and fleet +of limb, outstripping the latter, and hence roaming over the earth +and doing immense injury to mankind; but the Prayers, following +after, intercede with Jupiter, and, if we avail ourselves of them, +repair the evil; but if we neglect them we are told that the +vengeance of the wrong shall overtake us. Thus, Phoenix says of +the gods, + + "If a mortal man + Offend them by transgression of their laws, + Libation, incense, sacrifice, and prayer, + In meekness offered, turn their wrath away. + Prayers are Jove's daughters, + Which, though far distant, yet with constant pace + Follow Offence. Offence, robust of limb, + And treading firm the ground, outstrips them all, + And over all the earth before them runs, + Hurtful to man. They, following, heal the hurt. + Received respectfully when they approach, + They yield us aid and listen when we pray; + But if we slight, and with obdurate heart + Resist them, to Saturinian Jove they cry. + Against us, supplicating that Offence + May cleave to us for vengeance of the wrong." + --COWPER'S Trans. + +In the Seventeenth Book, Men-e-la'us is represented going into +battle, "supplicating, first, the sire of all"--that is, Jupiter, +the king of the gods. In the Twenty-third Book, Antil'ochus +attributes the ill-success of Eu-me'lus in the chariot-race to +his neglect of prayer. He says, + + "He should have offered prayer; then had be not + Arrived, as now, the hindmost of us all." + +Numerous other instances might be given, from the works of the +Grecian poets, of the supposed efficacy of prayer to the gods. + +The views of the early Greeks respecting the dispensations of an +overruling Providence, as shown in their belief in retributive +justice, are especially prominent in some of the sublime choruses +of the Greek tragedians, and in the "Works and Days" of Hesiod. +For instance, Æschylus says, + + The ruthless and oppressive power + May triumph for its little hour; + But soon, with all their vengeful train, + The sullen Furies rise, + Break his full force, and whirl him down + Thro' life's dark paths, unpitied and unknown. + --POTTER'S Trans. + +The following extracts from Hesiod illustrate the certainty with +which Justice was believed to overtake and punish those who pervert +her ways, while the good are followed by blessings. They also +show that the crimes of one are often "visited on all." + + Earth's crooked judges--lo! the oath's dread god + Avenging runs, and tracks them where they trod. + Rough are the ways of Justice as the sea, + Dragged to and fro by men's corrupt decree; + Bribe-pampered men! whose hands, perverting, draw + The right aside, and warp the wrested law. + + Though while Corruption on their sentence waits + They thrust pale Justice from their haughty gates, + Invisible their steps the Virgin treads, + And musters evil o'er their sinful heads. + She with the dark of air her form arrays, + And walks in awful grief the city ways: + Her wail is heard; her tear, upbraiding, falls + O'er their stained manners and devoted walls. + + But they who never from the right have strayed-- + Who as the citizen the stranger aid-- + They and their cities flourish: genial peace + Dwells in their borders, and their youth increase; + Nor Jove, whose radiant eyes behold afar, + Hangs forth in heaven the signs of grievous war; + Nor scath, nor famine; on the righteous prey-- + Peace crowns the night, and plenty cheers the day. + Rich are their mountain oaks: the topmost tree + The acorns fill, its trunk the hiving bee; + Their sheep with fleeces pant; their women's race + Reflect both parents in the infant face: + Still flourish they, nor tempt with ships the main; + The fruits of earth are poured from every plain. + + But o'er the wicked race, to whom belong + The thought of evil and the deed of wrong, + Saturnian Jove, of wide-beholding eyes, + Bids the dark signs of retribution rise; + And oft the deeds of one destructive fall-- + The crimes of one--are visited on all. + The god sends down his angry plagues from high-- + Famine and pestilence--in heaps they die! + Again, in vengeance of his wrath, he falls + On their great hosts, and breaks their tottering walls; + + Scatters their ships of war; and where the sea + Heaves high its mountain billows, there is he! + + Ponder, O Judges! in your inmost thought + The retribution by his vengeance wrought. + Invisible, the gods are ever nigh, + Pass through the midst, and bend th' all-seeing eye. + The man who grinds the poor, who wrests the right, + Aweless of Heaven, stands naked to their sight: + For thrice ten thousand holy spirits rove + This breathing world, the delegates of Jove; + Guardians of man, their glance alike surveys + The upright judgments and the unrighteous ways. + + A virgin pure is Justice, and her birth + August from him who rules the heavens and earth-- + A creature glorious to the gods on high, + Whose mansion is yon everlasting sky. + Driven by despiteful wrong she takes her seat, + In lowly grief, at Jove's eternal feet. + There of the soul unjust her plaints ascend: + So rue the nations when their kings offend-- + When, uttering wiles and brooding thoughts of ill, + They bend the laws, and wrest them to their will. + Oh! gorged with gold, ye kingly judges, hear! + Make straight your paths, your crooked judgments fear, + That the foul record may no more be seen-- + Erased, forgot, as though it ne'er had been. + --Trans. by ELTON. + + +OATHS. + +As in the beginning of the foregoing extract, so the poets +frequently refer to the oaths that were taken by those who entered +into important compacts, showing that then as now, and as in Old +Testament times, some overruling deity was invoked to witness +the agreement or promise, and punish its violation. Sometimes +the person touched the altar of the god by whom he swore, or the +blood that was shed in the ceremonial sacrifice, while some walked +through the fire to sanctify their oaths. When Abraham swore unto +the King of Sodom that he would not enrich himself with any of +the king's goods, he lifted up his hand to heaven, pointing to +the supposed residence of the Deity, as if calling on him to +witness the oath. When he requires his servant to take an oath +unto him he says, "Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: and +I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth;" +and Jacob requires the same ceremony from Joseph when the latter +promises to carry his father's bones up out of Egypt. + +When the goddess Vesta swore an oath in the very presence of +Jupiter, as represented in Homer's hymn, she touched his head, +as the most fitting ceremonial. + + Touching the head of Ægis-bearing Jove, + A mighty oath she swore, and hath fulfilled, + That she among the goddesses of heaven + Would still a virgin be. + +We find a military oath described by Æschylus in the drama of +"The Seven Chiefs against Thebes": + + O'er the hollow of a brazen shield + A bull they slew, and, touching with their hands + The sacrificial stream, they called aloud + On Mars, Eny'o, and blood-thirsty Fear, + And swore an oath or in the dust to lay + These walls, and give our people to the sword, + Or, perishing, to steep the land in blood! + +That there was sometimes a fire ordeal to sanctify the oath, we +learn from the Antig'o-ne of SOPHOCLES. The Messenger who brought +tidings of the burial of Polyni'ces says, + + "Ready were we to grasp the burning steel, + To pass through fire, and by the gods to swear + The deed was none of ours, nor aught we knew + Of living man by whom 'twas planned or done." + +In the Twelfth Book of VIRGIL'S Æne'id, when King Turnus enters +into a treaty with the Trojans, he touches the altars of his +gods and the flames, as part of the ceremony: + + "I touch the sacred altars, touch the flames, + And all these powers attest, and all their names, + Whatever chance befall on either side, + No term of time this union shall divide; + No force nor fortune shall my vows unbind, + To shake the steadfast tenor of my mind." + +The ancient poets and orators denounce perjury in the strongest +terms, and speak of the offence as one of a most odious character. + + +THE FUTURE STATE. + +The future state in which the Greeks believed was to some extent +one of rewards and punishments. The souls of most of the dead, +however, were supposed to descend to the realms of Ha'des, where +they remained, joyless phantoms, the mere shadows of their former +selves, destitute of mental vigor, and, like the spectres of the +North American Indians, pursuing, with dreamlike vacancy, the +empty images of their past occupations and enjoyments. So cheerless +is the twilight of the nether world that the ghost of Achilles +informs Ulysses that it would rather live the meanest hireling +on earth than be doomed to continue in the shades below, even +though as sovereign ruler there. Thus Achilles asks him-- + + "How hast thou dared descend into the gloom + Of Hades, where the shadows of the dead, + Forms without intellect, alone reside?" + +And when Ulysses tries to console him by reminding him that he +was even there supreme over all his fellow-shades, he receives +this reply: + + "Renowned Ulysses! think not death a theme + Of consolation: I would rather live + The servile hind for hire, and eat the bread + Of some man scantily himself sustained, + Than sovereign empire hold o'er all the shades." + --Odyssey, by COWPER, B. XI. + +But even in Hades a distinction is made between the good and the +bad, for there Ulysses finds Mi'nos, the early law-giver of Crete, +advanced to the position of judge over the assembled shades-- +absolving the just, and condemning the guilty. + + High on a throne, tremendous to behold, + Stern Minos waves a mace of burnished gold; + Around, ten thousand thousand spectres stand, + Through the wide dome of Dis, a trembling band; + Whilst, as they plead, the fatal lots he rolls, + Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls. + --Odyssey, by POPE, B. XI. + +The kinds of punishment inflicted here are, as might be expected, +wholly earthly in their nature, and may be regarded rather as +the reflection of human passions than as moral retributions by +the gods. Thus, Tan'talus, placed up to his chin in water, which +ever flowed away from his lips, was tormented with unquenchable +thirst, while the fruits hanging around him constantly eluded +his grasp. The story of Tantalus is well told by PROFESSOR BLACKIE, +as follows: + + Tantalus. + + O Tantalus! thou wert a man + More blest than all since earth began + Its weary round to travel; + But, placed in Paradise, like Eve, + Thine own damnation thou didst weave, + Without help from the devil. + Alas! I fear thy tale to tell; + Thou'rt in the deepest pool of hell, + And shalt be there forever. + For why? When thou on lofty seat + Didst sit, and eat immortal meat + With Jove, the bounteous Giver, + The gods before thee loosed their tongue, + And many a mirthful ballad sung, + And all their secrets open flung + Into thy mortal ear. + +The poet then goes on to describe the gossip, and pleasures, and +jealousies, and scandals of Olympus which Tantalus heard and +witnessed, and then proceeds as follows: + + But witless he such grace to prize; + And, with licentious babble, + He blazed the secrets of the skies + Through all the human rabble, + And fed the greed of tattlers vain + With high celestial scandal, + And lent to every eager brain + And wanton tongue a handle + Against the gods. For which great sin, + By righteous Jove's command, + In hell's black pool up to the chin + The thirsty king doth stand: + With-parched throat he longs to drink, + But when he bends to sip, + The envious waves receding sink, + And cheat his pining lip. + +Like in character was the punishment inflicted upon Sis'y-phus, +"the most crafty of men," as Homer calls him. Being condemned to +roll a huge stone up a hill, it proved to be a never-ending, +still-beginning toil, for as soon as the stone reached the summit +it rolled down again into the plain. So, also, Ix-i'on, "the Cain +of Greece," as he is expressly called--the first shedder of kindred +blood--was doomed to be fastened, with brazen bands, to an +ever-revolving fiery wheel. But the very refinement of torment, +similar to that inflicted upon Prometheus, was that suffered by +the giant Tit'y-us, who was placed on his back, while vultures +constantly fed upon his liver, which grew again as fast as it was +eaten. + + +THE DESCENT OF OR'PHEUS. + +Only once do we learn that these torments ceased, and that was +when the musician Orpheus, lyre in hand, descended to the lower +world to reclaim his beloved wife, the lost Eu-ryd'i-ce. At the +music of his "golden shell" Tantalus forgot his thirst, Sisyphus +rested from his toil, the wheel of Ixion stood still, and Tityus +ceased his moaning. The poet OVID thus describes the wonderful +effects of the musician's skill: + + The very bloodless shades attention keep, + And, silent, seem compassionate to weep; + Even Tantalus his flood unthirsty views, + Nor flies the stream, nor he the stream pursues: + Ixion's wondrous wheel its whirl suspends, + And the voracious vulture, charmed, attends; + No more the Bel'i-des their toil bemoan, + And Sisyphus, reclined, sits listening on the stone. + --Trans. by CONGREVE. + +Pope's translation of this scene from the Iliad is peculiarly +melodious: + + But when, through all the infernal bounds + Which flaming Phleg'e-thon surrounds, + Love, strong as death, the poet led + To the pale nations of the dead, + What sounds were heard, + What scenes appeared, + O'er all the dreary coasts! + Dreadful gleams, + Dismal screams, + Fires that glow, + Shrieks of woe, + Sullen moans, + Hollow groans, + And cries of tortured ghost!!! + + But hark! he strikes the golden lyre; + And see! the tortured ghosts respire! + See! shady forms advance! + Thy stone, O Sisyphus, stands still, + Ixion rests upon his wheel, + And the pale spectres dance; + The Furies sink upon their iron beds, + And snakes uncurled hang listening round their heads. + +The Greeks also believed in an Elys'ium--some distant island of +the ocean, ever cooled by refreshing breezes, and where spring +perpetual reigned--to which, after death, the blessed were conveyed, +and where they were permitted to enjoy it happy destiny. In the +Fourth Book of the Odyssey the sea god Pro'teus, in predicting +for Menelaus a happier lot than that of Hades, thus describes the +Elysian plains: + + But oh! beloved of Heaven! reserved for thee + A happier lot the smiling Fates decree: + Free from that law beneath whose mortal sway + Matter is changed and varying forms decay, + Elysium shall be thine--the blissful plains + Of utmost earth, where Rhadaman'thus reigns. + Joys ever young, unmixed with pain or fear, + Fill the wide circle of the eternal year. + Stern Winter smiles on that auspicious clime; + The fields are florid with unfading prime; + From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow, + Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow; + But from the breezy deep the blest inhale + The fragrant murmurs of the western gale. + --POPE'S Trans. + +Similar views are expressed by the lyric poet PINDAR in the +following lines: + + All whose steadfast virtue thrice + Each side the grave unchanged hath stood, + Still unseduced, unstained with vice-- + They, by Jove's mysterious road, + Pass to Saturn's realm of rest-- + Happy isle, that holds the blest; + Where sea-born breezes gently blow + O'er blooms of gold that round them glow, + Which Nature, boon from stream or strand + Or goodly tree, profusely showers; + Whence pluck they many a fragrant band, + And braid their locks with never-fading flowers. + --Trans. by A. MOORE. + +There is so much similarity between the mythology of the early +Greeks and that of many of the Asiatic nations, that we give +place here to the supposed meditations of a Hindu prince and +skeptic on the great subject of a future state of existence, +as a fitting close of our brief review of the religious beliefs +of the ancients. Among the Asiatic nations are to be found accounts +of the Creation, and of multitudes of gods, good and evil, all +quite as pronounced as those that are derived from the Grecian +myths; and while the wildest and grossest of superstitious fancies +have prevailed among the common people, skepticism and atheistic +doubt are known to have been nearly universal among the learned. +The poem which we give in this connection, therefore, though +professedly a Hindu creation, may be accepted not only as +portraying Hindu doubt and despondency, but also as a faithful +picture of the anxiety, doubt, and almost utter despair, not only +of the ancient Greeks; but of the entire heathen world, concerning +the destiny of mankind. + +The Hindu skeptic tells us that ever since mankind began their +race on this earth they have been seeking for the "signs and +steps of a God;" and that in mystical India, where the deities +hover and swarm, and a million shrines stand open, with their +myriad idols and, legions of muttering priests, mankind are still +groping in darkness; still listening, and as yet vainly hoping +for a message that shall tell what the wonders of creation mean, +and whither they tend; ever vainly seeking for a refuge from the +ills of life, and a rest beyond for the weary and heavy-laden, He +turns to the deified heroes of his race, and though long he watches +and worships for a solution of the mysteries of life, he waits in +vain for an answer, for their marble features never relax in +response to his prayers and entreaties; and he says, mournfully, +"Alas! for the gods are dumb." The darts of death still fall as +surely as ever, hurled by a Power unseen and a hand unknown; and +beyond the veil all is obscurity and gloom. + + I. + + All the world over, I wonder, in lands that I never have trod, + Are the people eternally seeking for the signs and steps of a God? + Westward across the ocean, and northward beyond the snow, + Do they all stand gazing, as ever? and what do the wisest know? + + II. + + Here, in this mystical India, the deities hover and swarm + Like the wild bees heard in the tree-tops, or the gusts of a + gathering storm; + In the air men hear their voices, their feet on the rocks are seen, + Yet we all say, "Whence is the message--and what may the + wonders mean?" + + III. + + A million shrines stand open, and ever the censer swings, + As they bow to a mystic symbol or the figures of ancient kings; + And the incense rises ever, and rises the endless cry + Of those who are heavy-laden, and of cowards loath to die. + + IV. + + For the destiny drives us together like deer in a pass of the hills: + Above is the sky, and around us the sound and the shot that kills. + Pushed by a Power we see not, and struck by a hand unknown, + We pray to the trees for shelter, and press our lips to a stone. + + V. + + The trees wave a shadowy answer, and the rock frowns hollow and grim, + And the form and the nod of the demon are caught in the + twilight dim; + And we look to the sunlight falling afar on the mountain crest-- + Is there never a path runs upward to a refuge there and a rest? + + VI. + + The path--ah, who has shown it, and which is the faithful guide? + The haven--ah, who has known it? for steep is the mountain-side. + For ever the shot strikes surely, and ever the wasted breath + Of the praying multitude rises, whose answer is only death! + + VII. + + Here are the tombs of my kinsfolk, the first of an ancient name-- + Chiefs who were slain on the war-field, and women who died in flame. + They are gods, these kings of the foretime, they are spirits who + guard our race: + Ever I watch and worship--they sit with a marble face. + + VIII. + + And the myriad idols around me, and the legion of muttering priests-- + The revels and rites unholy, the dark, unspeakable feasts-- + What have they wrung from the silence? Hath even a Whisper come + Of the secret--whence and whither? Alas! for the gods are dumb. + +Getting no light from the religious guides of his own country, +he turns to the land where the English--the present rulers of +India--dwell, and asks, + + IX. + + Shall I list to the word of the English, who come from the + uttermost sea? + "The secret, hath it been told you? and what is your message to me? + It is naught but the wide-world story, how the earth and the + heavens began-- + How the gods are glad and angry, and a deity once was man. + +And so he gathers around him the mantle of doubt and despondency; +he asks if life is, after all, but a dream and delusion, while +ever and ever is forced upon him that other question, "Where +shall the dreamer awake?" + + X. + + I had thought, "Perchance in the cities where the rulers of + India dwell, + Whose orders flash from the far land, who girdle the earth with + a spell, + They have fathomed the depths we float on, or measured the + unknown main--" + Sadly they turn from the venture, and say that the quest is + vain. + + XI. + + Is life, then, a dream and delusion? and where shall the dreamer + awake? + Is the world seen like shadows on water? and what if the mirror + break? + Shall it pass as a camp that is struck, as a tent that is gathered + and gone + From the sands that were lamp-lit at eve, and at morning are + level and lone? + + XII. + + Is there naught in the heaven above, whence the hail and the + levin are hurled, + But the wind that is swept around us by the rush of the rolling + world-- + The wind that shall scatter my ashes, and bear me to silence + and sleep, + With the dirge and the sounds of lamenting, and voices of + women who weep? + --The Cornhill Magazine. + +What a commentary on all this doubt and despondency are the +meditations of the Christian, who, "sustained and soothed by an +unfaltering trust," approaches his grave + + Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch + About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams! + --BRYANT. + + * * * * * + +II. THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF GREECE. + +The earliest reliable information that we possess of the country +called Greece represents it in the possession of a number of rude +tribes, of which the Pelas'gians were the most numerous and +powerful, and probably the most ancient. Of the early character +of the Pelasgians, and of the degree of civilization to which +they had attained before the reputed founding of Argos, we have +unsatisfactory and conflicting accounts. On the one hand, they +are represented as no better than the rudest barbarians, dwelling +in caves, subsisting on reptiles, herbs, and wild fruits, and +strangers to the simplest arts of civilized life. Other and more +reliable traditions, however, attribute to them a knowledge of +agriculture, and some little acquaintance with navigation; while +there is a strong probability that they were the authors of those +huge structures commonly called Cyclopean, remains of which are +still visible in many parts of Greece and Italy, and on the western +coast of Asia Minor. + +Argos, the capital of Ar'golis, is generally considered the most +ancient city of Greece; and its reputed founding by In'achus, a +son of the god O-ce'anus, 1856 years before the Christian era, +is usually assigned as the period of the commencement of Grecian +history. But the massive Cyclopean walls of Argos evidently show +the Pelasgic origin of the place, in opposition to the traditionary +Phoenician origin of Inachus, whose very existence is quite +problematical. Indeed, although many of the traditions of the +Greeks point to a contrary conclusion, the accounts usually given +of early foreign settlers in Greece, who planted colonies there, +founded dynasties, built cities, and introduced a knowledge of +the arts unknown to the ruder natives, must be taken with a great +degree of abatement. The civilization of the Greeks and the +development of their language bear all the marks of home growth, +and probably were little affected by foreign influence. Still, +many of these traditions are exceedingly interesting, and have +attained great celebrity. One of the most celebrated is that +which describes the founding of Athens, one of the renowned +Grecian cities. + + +THE FOUNDING OF ATHENS. + +Ce'crops, an Egyptian, is said to have led a colony from the +Delta to Greece, about the year 1556 B.C. Two years later he +proceeded to Attica, which had been desolated by a deluge a century +before, and there he is said to have founded, on the Cecropian +rock--the Acrop'olis--a city which, under the following +circumstances, he called Athens, in honor of the Grecian goddess +Athe'na, whom the Romans called Minerva. + +It is an ancient Attic legend that about this time the gods had +begun to choose favorite spots among the dwellings of man for +their own residence; and whatever city a god chose, he gave to +that city protection, and there that particular deity was +worshipped with special homage. Now, it happened that both Neptune +and Minerva contended for the supremacy over this new city founded +by Cecrops; and Cecrops was greatly troubled by the contest, as +he knew not to which deity to render homage. So Jove summoned a +council of the gods, and they decided that the supremacy should +be given to the one who should confer the greatest gift upon the +favored city. The story of the contest is told by PROFESSOR BLACKIE +in the following verses. + +Mercury, the messenger of the gods, being sent to Cecrops, thus +announces to him the decision of the Council: + + "On the peaks of Olympus, the bright snowy-crested, + The gods are assembled in council to-day, + The wrath of Pos-ei'don, the mighty broad-breasted, + 'Gainst Pallas, the spear-shaking maid, to allay. + And thus they decree--that Poseidon offended + And Pallas shall bring forth a gift to the place: + On the hill of Erech'theus the strife shall be ended, + When she with her spear, and the god with his mace, + Shall strike the quick rock; and the gods shall deliver + The sentence as Justice shall order; and thou + Shalt see thy loved city established forever, + With Jove for a judge, and the Styx for a vow." + +So the gods assembled, in the presence of Cecrops himself, on +the "hill of Erechtheus"--afterward known as the Athenian +Acropolis--to witness the trial between the rival deities, as +described in the following language. First; Neptune strikes the +rock with his trident: + + Lo! at the touch of his trident a wonder! + Virtue to earth from his deity flows; + From the rift of the flinty rock, cloven asunder, + A dark-watered fountain ebullient rose. + Inly elastic, with airiest lightness + It leapt, till it cheated the eyesight; and, lo! + It showed in the sun, with a various brightness, + The fine-woven hues of the heavenly bow. + "WATER IS BEST!" cried the mighty, broad-breasted + Poseidon; "O Cecrops, I offer to thee + To ride on the back of the steeds foamy-crested + That toss their wild manes on the huge-heaving sea. + The globe thou shalt mete on the path of the waters, + To thy ships shall the ports of far ocean be free; + The isles of the sea shall be counted thy daughters, + The pearls of the East shall be gathered for thee!" + +Thus Neptune offered, as his gift--symbolized in the salt spring +that he caused to issue from the rock--the dominion of the sea, +with all the wealth and renown that flow from unrestricted commerce +with foreign lands. + +But Minerva was now to make her trial: + + Then the gods, with a high-sounding pæan, + Applauded; but Jove hushed the many-voiced tide; + "For now with the lord of the briny Æge'an + Athe'na shall strive for the city," he cried. + "See where she comes!" and she came, like Apollo, + Serene with the beauty ripe wisdom confers; + The clear-scanning eye, and the sure hand to follow + The mark of the far-sighted purpose, were hers. + Strong in the mail of her father she standeth, + And firmly she holds the strong spear in her hand; + But the wild hounds of war with calm power she commandeth, + And fights but to pledge surer peace to the land. + Chastely the blue-eyed approached, and, surveying + The council of wise-judging gods without fear, + The nod of her lofty-throned father obeying, + She struck the gray rock with her nice-tempered spear. + Lo! from the touch of the virgin a wonder! + Virtue to earth from her deity flows: + From the rift of the flinty rock, cloven asunder, + An olive-tree, greenly luxuriant, rose-- + Green but yet pale, like an eye-drooping maiden, + Gentle, from full-blooded lustihood far; + No broad-staring hues for rude pride to parade in, + No crimson to blazon the banners of war. + + Mutely the gods, with a calm consultation, + Pondered the fountain and pondered the tree; + And the heart of Poseidon, with high expectation, + Throbbed till great Jove thus pronounced the decree: + "Son of my father, thou mighty, broad-breasted + Poseidon, the doom that I utter is true; + Great is the might of thy waves foamy-crested + When they beat the white walls of the screaming sea-mew; + Great is the pride of the keel when it danceth, + Laden with wealth, o'er the light-heaving wave-- + When the East to the West, gayly floated, advanceth, + With a word from the wise and a help from the brave. + But earth--solid earth--is the home of the mortal + That toileth to live, and that liveth to toil; + And the green olive-tree twines the wreath of his portal + Who peacefully wins his sure bread from the soil," + Thus Jove: and to heaven the council celestial + Rose, and the sea-god rolled back to the sea; + But Athena gave Athens her name, and terrestrial + Joy from the oil of the green olive-tree. + +Thus Jove decided in favor of the peaceful pursuits of industry +on the land, as against the more alluring promises but uncertain +results of commerce, thereby teaching this lesson in political +economy--that a people consisting of mere merchants, and neglecting +the cultivation of the soil, never can become a great and powerful +nation. So Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, and patroness of all +the liberal arts and sciences, became the tutelary deity of Athens. +The contest between her and Neptune was represented on one of the +pediments of the Parthenon. + +Of the history of Athens for many centuries subsequent to its +alleged founding by Cecrops we have no certain information; but +it is probable that down to about 683 B.C. it was ruled by kings, +like all the other Grecian states. Of these kings the names of +The'seus and Co'drus are the most noted. To the former is ascribed +the union of the twelve states of Attica into one political body, +with Athens as the capital, and other important acts of government +which won for him the love of the Athenian people. Consulting the +oracle of Delphi concerning his new government, he is said to have +received the following answer: + + From royal stems thy honor, Theseus, springs; + By Jove beloved, the sire supreme of kings. + See rising towns, see wide-extended states, + On thee dependent, ask their future fates! + Hence, hence with fear! Thy favored bark shall ride + Safe o'er the surges of the foamy tide. + +About half a century after the time of Cecrops another Egyptian, +named Dan'a-us, is said to have fled to Greece, with a family +of fifty daughters, and to have established a second Egyptian +colony in the vicinity of Argos. He subsequently became king of +Argos, and the inhabitants were called Dan'a-i. About the same +time Cadmus, a Phoenician, is reported to have led a colony into +Boeo'tia, bringing with him the Phoenician alphabet, the basis +of the Grecian; and to have founded Cadme'a, which afterward +became the citadel of Thebes. Another colony is said to have been +led from Asia by Pe'lops, from whom the southern peninsula of +Greece derived its name of Peloponne'sus, and of whom Agamemnon, +King of Myce'næ, was a lineal descendant. About this time a people +called the Helle'nes--but whether a Pelasgic tribe or otherwise +is uncertain--first appeared in the south of Thessaly, and, +gradually diffusing themselves over the whole country, became, +by their martial spirit and active, enterprising genius, the ruling +class, and impressed new features upon the Grecian character. The +Hellenes gave their name to the population of the whole peninsula, +although the term Grecians was subsequently applied to them by the +Romans. + +In accordance with the Greek custom of attributing the origin +of their tribes or nations to some remote mythical ancestor, +Hel'len, a son of the fabulous Deuca'lion and Pyrrha, is +represented as the father of the Hellen'ic nation. His three +sons were Æ'o-lus, Do'rus, and Xu'thus, from the two former of +whom are represented to have descended the Æo'lians and Do'rians; +and from Achæ'us and I'on, sons of Xuthus, the Achæ'ans and +Io'nians. These four Hellen'ic or Grecian tribes were +distinguished from one another by many peculiarities of language +and institutions. Hellen is said to have left his kingdom to +Æolus, his eldest son; and the Æolian tribe spread the most +widely, and long exerted the most influence in the affairs of +the nation; but at a later period it was surpassed by the fame +and the power of the Dorians and Ionians. + + * * * * * + +III. THE HEROIC AGE. + +The period from the time of the first appearance of the Hellenes +in Thessaly to the return of the Greeks from the expedition against +Troy--a period of about two hundred years--is usually called the +Heroic Age. It is a period abounding in splendid fictions of +heroes and demi-gods, embracing, among others, the twelve wonderful +labors of Hercules; the exploits of the Athenian king The'seus, +and of Mi'nos, King of Crete, the founder of Grecian law and +civilization; the events of the Argonautic expedition; the Theban +and Argol'ic wars; the adventures of Beller'ophon, Per'seus, and +many others; and concluding with the Trojan war and the supposed +fall of Troy. These seem to have been the times which the archangel +Michael foretold to Adam when he said, + + For in those days might only shall be admired, + And valor and heroic virtue called: + To overcome in battle, and subdue + Nations, and bring home spoils with infinite + Manslaughter, shall be held the highest pitch + Of human glory; and, for glory done, + Of triumph to be styled great conquerors, + Patrons of mankind, gods, and sons of gods-- + Destroyers rightly called, and plagues of men. + --Paradise Lost, B. XI. + + +THE LABORS OF HERCULES. + +The twelve arduous labors of the celebrated hero Hercules, who +was a son of Jupiter by the daughter of an early king of Mycenæ, +are said to have been imposed upon him by an enemy--Eurys'theus--to +whose will Jupiter, induced by a fraud of Juno and the fury-goddess +A'te, and unwittingly bound by an oath, had made the hero +subservient for twelve years. Jupiter grieved for his son, but, +unable to recall the oath which he had sworn, he punished Ate by +hurling her from Olympus down to the nether world. + + Grief seized the Thunderer, by his oath engaged; + Stung to the soul, he sorrowed and he raged. + From his ambrosial head, where perched she sate, + He snatched the fury-goddess of debate: + The dread, the irrevocable oath he swore, + The immortal seats should ne'er behold her more; + And whirled her headlong down, forever driven + From bright Olympus and the starry heaven: + Thence on the nether world the fury fell, + Ordained with man's contentious race to dwell. + Full oft the god his son's hard toils bemoaned, + Cursed the dire folly, and in secret groaned. + --HOMER'S Iliad, B. XIX. POPE'S Trans. + +The following, in brief, are the twelve labors attributed to +Hercules: 1. He strangled the Ne'mean lion, and ever after wore +his skin. 2. He destroyed the Lernæ'an hydra, which had nine +heads, eight of them mortal and one immortal. 3. He brought into +the presence of Eurystheus a stag famous for its incredible +swiftness and golden horns. 4. He brought to Mycenæ the wild +boar of Eryman'thus, and slew two of the Centaurs, monsters who +were half men and half horses. 5. He cleansed the Auge'an stables +in one day by changing the courses of the rivers Alphe'us and +Pene'us. 6. He destroyed the carnivorous birds of the lake +Stympha'lus, in Arcadia. 7. He brought into Peloponnesus the +prodigious wild bull which ravaged Crete. 8. He brought from +Thrace the mares of Diome'de, which fed on human flesh. 9. He +obtained the famous girdle of Hippol'y-te, queen of the Amazons. +10. He slew the monster Ge'ry-on, who had the bodies of three +men united. 11. He brought from the garden of the Hesper'i-des +the golden apples, and slew the dragon which guarded them. 12. He +went down to the lower regions and brought upon earth the +three-headed dog Cer'berus. + +The favor of the gods had completely armed Hercules for his +undertakings, and his great strength enabled him to perform them. +This entire fable of Hercules is generally believed to be merely +a fanciful representation of the sun in its passage through the +twelve signs of the zodiac, in accordance with Phoenician mythology, +from which the legend is supposed to be derived. Thus Hercules +is the sun-god. In the first month of the year the sun passes +through the constellation Leo, the lion; and in his first labor +the hero slays the Nemean lion. In the second month, when the +sun enters the sign Virgo, the long-extended constellation of +the Hydra sets--the stars of which, like so many heads, rise +one after another; and, therefore, in his second labor, Hercules +destroys the Lernæan hydra with its nine heads. In like manner +the legend is explained throughout. Besides these twelve labors, +however, Hercules is said to have achieved others on his own +account; and one of these is told in the fable of Hercules and +Antæ'us, in which the powers of art and nature are supposed to +be personified. + + +FABLE OF HERCULES AND ANTÆUS. + +Antæ'us--a son of Neptune and Terra, who reigned over Libya, or +Africa, and dwelt in a forest cave--was so famed for his Titanic +strength and skill in wrestling that he was emboldened to leave +his woodland retreat and engage in a contest with the renowned +hero Hercules. So long as Antæus stood upon the ground he could +not be overcome, whereupon Hercules lifted him up in the air, +and, having apparently squeezed him to death in his arms, threw +him down; but when Antæus touched his mother Earth and lay at +rest upon her bosom, renewed life and fresh power were given him. + +In this fable Antæus, who personifies the woodland solitude and +the desert African waste, is easily overcome by his adversary, +who represents the river Nile, which, divided into a thousand +arms, or irrigating canals, prevents the arid sand from being +borne away and then back again by the winds to desolate the fertile +valley. Thus the legend is nothing more than the triumph of art +and labor, and their reclaiming power over the woodland solitudes +and the encroaching sands of the desert. An English poet has very +happily versified the spirit of the legend, to which he has appended +a fitting moral, doubtless suggested by the warning of his own +approaching sad fate.[Footnote: This gifted poet, Mortimer Collins, +died in 1876, at the age of forty-nine, a victim to excessive +literary labor and anxiety.] + + Deep were the meanings of that fable. Men + Looked upon earth with clearer eyesight then, + Beheld in solitude the immortal Powers, + And marked the traces of the swift-winged Hours. + Because it never varies, all can bear + The burden of the circumambient air; + Because it never ceases, none can hear + The music of the ever-rolling sphere-- + None, save the poet, who, in moor and wood, + Holds converse with the spirit of Solitude. + + And I remember how Antæus heard, + Deep in great oak-woods, the mysterious word + Which said, "Go forth across the unshaven leas + To meet unconquerable Hercules." + Leaving his cavern by the cedar-glen, + This Titan of the primal race of men, + Whom the swart lions feared, and who could tear + Huge oaks asunder, to the combat bare + Courage undaunted. Full of giant grace, + Built up, as 'twere, from earth's own granite base. + Colossal, iron-sinewed, firm he trod + The lawns. How vain against a demi-god! + Oh, sorrow of defeat! He plunges far + Into his forests, where deep shadows are, + And the wind's murmur comes not, and the gloom + Of pine and cedar seems to make a tomb + For fallen ambition. Prone the mortal lies + Who dared mad warfare with the unpitying skies, + But lo! as buried in the waving ferns, + The baffled giant for oblivion yearns, + Cursing his human feebleness, he feels + A sudden impulse of new strength, which heals + His angry wounds; his vigor he regains-- + His blood is dancing gayly through his veins. + Fresh power, fresh life is his who lay at rest + On bounteous Hertha's kind creative breast. + [Footnote: Hertha, a goddess of the ancient Germans, + the same as Terra, or the Earth. Her favorite retreat + was a sacred grove in an island of the ocean.] + + Even so, O poet, by the world subdued, + Regain thy health 'mid perfect solitude. + In noisy cities, far from hills and trees, + The brawling demi-god, harsh Hercules, + Has power to hurt thy placid spirit--power + To crush thy joyous instincts every hour, + To weary thee with woes for mortals stored, + Red gold (coined hatred) and the tyrant's sword. + + Then--then, O sad Antæus, wilt thou yearn + For dense green woodlands and the fragrant fern; + Then stretch thy form upon the sward, and rest + From worldly toil on Hertha's gracious breast; + Plunge in the foaming river, or divide + With happy arms gray ocean's murmuring tide, + And drinking thence each solitary hour + Immortal beauty and immortal power, + Thou may'st the buffets of the world efface + And live a Titan of earth's earliest race. + --MORTIMER COLLINS. + + +THE ARGONAUTIC EXPEDITION. + +From what was probably a maritime adventure that plundered some +wealthy country at a period when navigation was in its infancy +among the Greeks, we get the fable of the Argonautic Expedition. +The generally accepted story of this expedition is as follows: +Pe'lias, a descendant of Æ'o-lus, the mystic progenitor of the +Great Æol'ic race, had deprived his half-brother Æ'son of the +kingdom of Iol'cus in Thessaly. When Jason, son of Æson, had +attained to manhood, he appeared before his uncle and demanded +the throne. Pelias consented only on condition that Jason should +first capture and bring to him the golden fleece of the ram which +had carried Phrix'us and Hel'le when they fled from their stepmother +I'no. Helle dropped into the sea between Sigæ'um and the +Cher'sonese, which was named from her Hellespon'tus; but Phrixus +succeeded in reaching Col'chis, a country at the eastern extremity +of the Euxine, or Black Sea. Here he sacrificed the ram, and +nailed the fleece to an oak in the grove of Mars, where it was +guarded by a sleepless dragon. + +Joined by the principal heroes of Greece, Hercules among the +number, Jason set sail from Iolcus in the ship Argo, after first +invoking the favor of Jupiter, the winds, and the waves, for the +success of the expedition. The ceremony on this occasion, as +descried by the poets, reads like an account of the "christening +of the ship" in modern times, but we seem to have lost the full +significance of the act. + + And soon as by the vessel's bow + The anchor was hung up, + Then took the leader on the prow + In hands a golden cup, + And on great father Jove did call; + And on the winds and waters all + Swept by the hurrying blast, + And on the nights, and ocean ways, + And on the fair auspicious days, + And sweet return at last. + + From out the clouds, in answer kind, + A voice of thunder came, + And, shook in glistening beams around, + Burst out the lightning flame. + The chiefs breathed free, and, at the sign, + Trusted in the power divine. + Hinting sweet hopes, the seer cried + Forthwith their oars to ply, + And swift went backward from rough hands + The rowing ceaselessly. + --PINDAR. Trans. by Rev. H. F. CARY. + +After many adventures Jason reached Col'chis, where, by the aid +of magic and supernatural arts, and through the favor of Me-de'a, +daughter of the King of Colchis, he succeeded in capturing the +fleece. After four months of continued danger and innumerable +hardships, Jason returned to Iolcus with the prize, accompanied +by Medea, whom he afterward deserted, and whose subsequent history +is told by the poet Euripides in his celebrated tragedy entitled +Medea. + +Growing out of the Argonautic legend is one concerning the youth +Hy'las, a member of the expedition, and a son of the King of +Mys'ia, a country of Asia Minor. Hylas was greatly beloved by +Hercules. On the coast of Mysia the Argonauts stopped to obtain +a supply of water, and Hylas, having gone from the vessel alone +with an urn for the same purpose, takes the opportunity to bathe +in the river Scaman'der, under the shadows of Mount Ida. He throws +his purple chlamys, or cloak, over the urn, and passes down into +the water, where he is seized by the nymphs of the stream, and, in +spite of his struggles and entreaties, he is borne by them "down +from the noonday brightness to their dark caves in the depths +below." Hercules went in search of Hylas, and the ship sailed +from its anchorage without him. We have a faithful and beautiful +reproduction of this Greek legend, both in theme and spirit, in +a poem by BAYARD TAYLOR, from which the following extracts are +taken: + + Hylas. + + Storm-wearied Argo slept upon the water. + No cloud was seen: on blue and craggy Ida + The hot noon lay, and on the plains enamel; + Cool in his bed, alone, the swift Scamander. + "Why should I haste?" said young and rosy Hylas; + The seas are rough, and long the way from Colchis. + Beneath the snow-white awning slumbers Jason, + Pillowed upon his tame Thessalian panther; + The shields are piled, the listless oars suspended + On the black thwarts, and all the hairy bondsmen + Doze on the benches. They may wait for water + Till I have bathed in mountain-born Scamander." + + He saw his glorious limbs reversely mirrored + In the still wave, and stretched his foot to press it + On the smooth sole that answered at the surface: + Alas! the shape dissolved in glittering fragments. + Then, timidly at first, he dipped, and catching + Quick breath, with tingling shudder, as the waters + Swirled round his limbs, and deeper, slowly deeper, + Till on his breast the river's cheek was pillowed; + And deeper still, till every shoreward ripple + Talked in his ear, and like a cygnet's bosom + His white, round shoulder shed the dripping crystal. + + There, as he floated with a rapturous motion, + The lucid coolness folding close around him, + The lily-cradling ripples murmured, "Hylas!" + He shook from off his ears the hyacinthine + Curls that had lain unwet upon the water, + And still the ripples murmured, "Hylas! Hylas!" + He thought--"The voices are but ear-born music. + Pan dwells not here, and Echo still is calling + From some high cliff that tops a Thracian valley; + So long mine ears, on tumbling Hellespontus, + Have heard the sea-waves hammer Argo's forehead, + That I misdeem the fluting of this current + For some lost nymph"--again the murmur, "Hylas!" + +The sound that seemed to come from the lilies was the voice of +the sea-nymphs, calling to him to go with them where they wander-- + + "Down beneath the green translucent ceiling-- + Where, on the sandy bed of old Scamander, + With cool white buds we braid our purple tresses, + Lulled by the bubbling waves around us stealing." + +To all their entreaties Hylas exclaims: + + "Leave me, naiads! + Leave me!" he cried. "The day to me is dearer + Than all your caves deep-spread in ocean's quiet. + I would not change this flexile, warm existence, + Though swept by storms, and shocked by Jove's dread thunder, + To be a king beneath the dark-green waters. + Let me return! the wind comes down from Ida, + And soon the galley, stirring from her slumber, + Will fret to ride where Pelion's twilight shadow + Falls o'er the towers of Jason's sea-girt city. + I am not yours--I cannot braid the lilies + In your wet hair, nor on your argent bosoms + Close my drowsed eyes to hear your rippling voices. + Hateful to me your sweet, cold, crystal being-- + Your world of watery quiet. Help, Apollo!" + +But the remonstrances and struggles of Hylas unavailing: + + The boy's blue eyes, upturned, looked through the water + Pleading for help; but heaven's immortal archer; + Was swathed in cloud. The ripples hid his forehead; + And last, the thick, bright curls a moment floated, + So warm and silky that the stream upbore them, + Closing reluctant as he sank forever. + The sunset died behind the crags of Imbros. + Argo was tugging at her chain; for freshly + Blew the swift breeze, and leaped the restless billows. + The voice of Jason roused the dozing sailors, + And up the mast was heaved the snowy canvas. + But mighty Hercules, the Jove-begotten, + Unmindful stood beside the cool Scamander, + Leaning upon his club. A purple chlamys + Tossed o'er an urn was all that lay before him; + And when he called, expectant, "Hylas! Hylas!" + The empty echoes made him answer--"Hylas!" + + +THE TROJAN WAR. + +Of all the events of the Heroic period, however, the Trojan war +has been rendered the most celebrated, through the genius of +Homer. The alleged causes of the war, briefly stated, are these: +Helen, the most beautiful woman of the age, and the daughter of +Tyn'darus, King of Sparta, was sought in marriage by all the +Princes of Greece. Tyndarus, perplexed with the difficulty of +choosing one of the suitors without displeasing all the rest, +being advised by the sage Ulysses, bound all of them by an oath +that they would approve of the uninfluenced choice of Helen, and +would unite to restore her to her husband, and to avenge the +outrage, if ever she was carried off. Menela'us became the choice +of Helen, and soon after, on the death of Tyndarus, succeeded to +the vacant throne of Sparta. + +Three years subsequently, Paris, son of Priam, King of Ilium, +or Troy, visited the court of Menelaus, where he was hospitably +received; but during the temporary absence of the latter he +corrupted the fidelity of Helen, and induced her to flee with +him to Troy. When Menelaus returned he assembled the Grecian +princes, and prepared to avenge the outrage. Combining their +forces under the command of Agamem'non, King of Myce'næ, a brother +of Menelaus, they sailed with a great army for Troy. The +imagination of the poet EURIPIDES describes this armament as +follows: + + With eager haste + The sea-girt Aulis strand I paced, + Till to my view appeared the embattled train + Of Hellas, armed for mighty enterprise, + And galleys of majestic size, + To bear the heroes o'er the main; + A thousand ships for Ilion steer, + And round the two Atridæ's spear + The warriors swear fair Helen to regain. + +After a siege of ten years Troy was taken by stratagem, and the +fair Helen was recovered. On the fanciful etymology of the word +Helen, from a Greek verb signifying to take or seize, the poet +ÆCHYLUS indulges in the following reflections descriptive of the +character and the history of this "spear-wooed maid of Greece:" + + Who gave her a name + So true to her fame? + Does a Providence rule in the fate of a word? + Sways there in heaven a viewless power + O'er the chance of the tongue in the naming hour? + Who gave her a name, + This daughter of strife, this daughter of shame, + The spear-wooed maid of Greece! + Helen the taker! 'tis plain to see, + A taker of ships, a taker of men, + A taker of cities is she! + From the soft-curtained chamber of Hymen she fled, + By the breath of giant Zephyr sped, + And shield-bearing throngs in marshalled array + Hounded her flight o'er the printless way, + Where the swift-flashing oar + The fair booty bore + To swirling Sim'o-is' leafy shore, + And stirred the crimson fray. + --Trans. by BLACKIE. + +According to Homer, the principal Greek heroes engaged in the +siege of Troy, aside from Agamemnon, were Menelaus, Achilles, +Ulysses, Ajax (the son of Tel'amon), Di'omed, Patro'clus, and +Palame'des; while among the bravest of the defenders of Troy +were Hector, Sarpe'don, and Æne'as. + +The poet's story opens, in the tenth year of the siege, with an +account of a contentious scene between two of the Grecian chiefs +--Achilles and Agamemnon--which resulted in the withdrawal of +Achilles and his forces from the Grecian army. The aid of the +gods was invoked in behalf of Achilles, and Jupiter sent a +deceitful vision to Agamemnon, seeking to persuade him to lead +his forces to battle, in order that the Greeks might realize +their need of Achilles. Agamemnon first desired to ascertain the +feeling or disposition of the army regarding the expedition it +had undertaken, and so proposed a return to Greece, which was +unanimously and unexpectedly agreed to, and an advance was made +toward the ships. But through the efforts of the valiant and +sagacious Ulysses all discontent on the part of the troops was +suppressed, and they returned to the plains of Troy. + +Among those in the Grecian camp who had complained of their +leaders, and of the folly of the expedition itself, was a brawling, +turbulent, and tumultuous character named Thersi'tes, whose +insolence Ulysses sternly and effectively rebuked. The following +sketch of Thersites reads like a picture drawn from modern +life; while the merited reproof administered by Ulysses is in +the happiest vein of just and patriotic indignation: + + Ulysses and Thersites. + + Thersites only clamored in the throng, + Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue; + Awed by no shame, by no respect controlled, + In scandal busy, in reproaches bold; + With witty malice, studious to defame; + Scorn all his joy, and censure all his aim; + But chief he gloried, with licentious style, + To lash the great, and monarchs to revile. + + His figure such as might his soul proclaim: + One eye was blinking, and one leg was lame; + His mountain shoulders half his breast o'erspread, + Thin hairs bestrew'd his long misshapen head; + Spleen to mankind his envious heart possessed, + And much he hated all--but most, the best. + Ulysses or Achilles still his theme; + But royal scandal his delight supreme. + Long had he lived the scorn of every Greek, + Vext when he spoke, yet still they heard him speak: + Sharp was his voice; which, in the shrillest tone, + Thus with injurious taunts attacked the throne. + +Ulysses, in his tent, listens awhile to the complaints, and censures, +and scandals against the chiefs, with which Thersites addresses +the throng gathered around him, and at length-- + + With indignation sparkling in his eyes, + He views the wretch, and sternly thus replies: + "Peace, factious monster, born to vex the state + With wrangling talents formed for foul debate, + Curb that impetuous tongue, nor, rashly vain, + And singly mad, asperse the sovereign reign. + + "Have we not known thee, slave! of all our host + The man who acts the least, upbraids the most? + Think not the Greeks to shameful flight to bring; + Nor let those lips profane the name of King. + For our return we trust the heavenly powers; + Be that their care; to fight like men be ours. + + "But grant the host, with wealth our chieftain load; + Except detraction, what hast thou bestowed? + Suppose some hero should his spoil resign, + Art thou that hero? Could those spoils be thine? + Gods! let me perish on this hateful shore, + And let these eyes behold my son no more, + If on thy next offence this hand forbear + To strip those arms thou ill deserv'st to wear, + Expel the council where our princes meet, + And send thee scourged and howling through the fleet." + --B. II. POPE'S Trans. + + +COMBAT OF MENELAUS AND PARIS. + +The opposing armies being ready to engage, a single combat is +agreed upon between Menelaus, and Paris son of Priam, for the +determination of the war. Paris is soon vanquished, but is rescued +from death by Venus; and, according to the terms on which the +combat took place, Agamemnon demands the restoration of Helen. +But the gods declare that the war shall go on. So the conflict +begins, and Diomed, assisted by the goddess Pallas (or Minerva), +performs wonders in this day's battle, wounding and putting to +flight Pan'darus, Æneas, and the goddess Venus, even wounding +the war-god Mars, who had challenged him to combat, and sending +him groaning back to heaven. + +Hector, the eldest son of Priam King of Troy, and the chief hero +of the Trojans, leaves the field for a brief space, to request +prayers to Minerva for assistance, and especially for the removal +of Diomed from the fight. This done, he seeks a momentary interview +with his wife, the fair and virtuous Androm'a-che, whose touching +appeal to him, and his reply, are both, perhaps, without a parallel +in tender, natural solicitude. + + Parting of Hector and Andromache. + + "Too daring prince! ah, whither dost thou run? + Ah, too forgetful of thy wife and son! + And think'st thou not how wretched we shall be, + A widow I, a helpless orphan he? + For sure such courage length of life denies, + And thou must fall, thy virtue's sacrifice. + Greece in her single heroes strove in vain; + Now hosts oppose thee, and thou must be slain! + Oh grant me, gods! ere Hector meets his doom, + All I can ask of heaven, an early tomb! + So shall my days in one sad tenor run, + And end with sorrows as they first begun. + + "No parent now remains my griefs to share, + No father's aid, no mother's tender care. + The fierce Achilles wrapp'd our walls in fire, + Laid The'be waste, and slew my warlike sire! + By the same arm my seven brave brothers fell; + In one sad day beheld the gates of hell. + My mother lived to bear the victor's bands, + The queen of Hippopla'cia's sylvan lands. + + "Yet, while my Hector still survives, I see + My father, mother, brethren, all in thee: + Alas! my parents, brothers, kindred, all + Once more will perish, if my Hector fall. + Thy wife, thy infant, in thy danger share: + Oh, prove a husband's and a father's care! + That quarter most the skilful Greeks annoy, + Where yon wild fig-trees join the walls of Troy; + Thou from this tower defend the important post; + There Agamemnon points his dreadful host, + That pass Tydi'des, Ajax, strive to gain, + And there the vengeful Spartan fires his train. + Thrice our bold foes the fierce attack have given, + Or led by hopes, or dictated from heaven. + Let others in the field their arms employ, + But stay my Hector here, and guard his Troy." + + The chief replied: "That post shall be my care, + Nor that alone, but all the works of war. + How would the sons of Troy, in arms renown'd, + And Troy's proud dames, whose garments sweep the ground, + Attaint the lustre of my former name, + Should Hector basely quit the field of fame! + My early youth was bred to martial pains, + My soul impels me to the embattled plains: + Let me be foremost to defend the throne, + And guard my father's glories and my own. + + "Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates; + (How my heart trembles while my tongue relates!) + The day when thou, imperial Troy! must bend, + Must see thy warriors fall, thy glories end. + And yet no dire presage so wounds my mind, + My mother's death, the ruin of my kind, + Not Priam's hoary hairs defiled with gore, + Not all my brothel's gasping on the shore, + As thine, Andromache! thy griefs I dread. + + "I see thee trembling, weeping, captive led! + In Argive looms our battles to design, + And woes, of which so large a part was thine! + To bear the victor's hard commands, or bring + The weight of waters from Hype'ria's spring. + There, while you groan beneath the load of life, + They cry: 'Behold the mighty Hector's wife!' + Some haughty Greek, who lives thy tears to see, + Embitters all thy woes by naming me. + The thoughts of glory past, and present shame, + A thousand griefs shall waken at the name! + May I lie cold before that dreadful day, + Pressed with a load of monumental clay! + Thy Hector, wrapt in everlasting sleep, + Shall neither hear thee sigh, nor see thee weep." + + Thus having spoke, the illustrious chief of Troy + Stretched his fond arms to clasp the lovely boy. + The babe clung crying to his nurse's breast, + Scared at the dazzling helm and nodding crest. + With secret pleasure each fond parent smiled, + And Hector hasted to relieve his child; + The glittering terrors from his brows unbound, + And placed the beaming helmet on the ground. + Then kissed the child, and, lifting high in air, + Thus to the gods preferred a father's prayer: + + "O thou! whose glory fills the ethereal throne, + And all ye deathless powers! protect my son! + Grant him, like me, to purchase just renown, + To guard the Trojans, to defend the crown, + Against his country's foes the war to wage, + And rise the Hector of the future age! + So when triumphant from successful toils, + Of heroes slain he bears the reeking spoils, + Whole hosts may hail him with deserved acclaim, + And say, 'This chief transcends his father's fame;' + While pleased, amidst the general shouts of Troy, + His mother's conscious heart o'erflows with joy." + + He spoke, and fondly gazing on her charms, + Restored the pleasing burden to her arms; + Soft on her fragrant breast the babe he laid, + Hush'd to repose, and with a smile survey'd. + The troubled pleasure soon chastised by fear, + She mingled with the smile a tender tear. + The soften'd chief with kind compassion view'd, + And dried the falling drops, and thus pursued: + + "Andromache, my soul's far better part, + Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart? + No hostile hand can antedate my doom, + Till fate condemns me to the silent tomb. + Fix'd is the term to all the race of earth; + And such the hard condition of our birth, + No force can then resist, no flight can save-- + All sink alike, the fearful and the brave. + No more--but hasten to thy tasks at home, + There guide the spindle and direct the loom: + Me, glory summons to the martial scene-- + The field of combat is the sphere of men; + Where heroes war, the foremost place I claim, + The first in danger, as the first in fame." + + Thus having said, the glorious chief resumes + His towery helmet black with shading plumes. + His princess parts with a prophetic sigh, + Unwilling parts, and oft reverts her eye, + That stream'd at every look; then, moving slow, + Sought her own palace and indulged her woe. + There, while her tears deplored the godlike man, + Through all her train the soft infection ran: + The pious maids their mingled sorrows shed, + And mourn the living Hector as the dead. + --B. VI. POPE'S. Trans. + + +HECTOR'S EXPLOITS, AND DEATH OF PATRO'CLUS. + +Hector hastened to the field, and there his exploits aroused the +enthusiasm and courage of his countrymen; who drove back the +Grecian hosts. Disheartened, the Greeks sent Ulysses and Ajax +to Achilles to plead with that warrior for his return with his +forces to the Grecian camp. But Achilles obstinately refused to +take part in the conflict, which was continued with varying +success, until the Trojans succeeded in breaking through the +Grecian wall, and attempted to fire the Greek ships, which were +saved by the valor of Ajax. In compliance with the request of +the aged Nestor, however, of whom the poet YOUNG tells us that-- + + When Nestor spoke, none asked if he prevailed; + That god of sweet persuasion never failed-- + +Achilles now placed his own armor on Patroclus, and, giving him +also his shield, sent him to the aid of the Greeks. The Trojans, +supposing Patroclus to be the famous Achilles, became panic-stricken, +and were pursued with great slaughter to the walls of Troy. + +Apollo now goes to the aid of the Trojans, smites Patroclus, +whose armor is strewn on the plain, and then the hero is killed +by Hector, who proudly places the plume of Achilles on his own +helmet. + + His spear in shivers falls; his ample shield + Drops from his arm; his baldric strews the field; + The corslet his astonished breast forsakes; + Loose is each joint; each nerve with horror shakes; + Stupid he stares, and all assistless stands: + Such is the force of more than mortal hands. + + Achilles' plume is stained with dust and gore: + That plume which never stooped to earth before, + Long used, untouched, in fighting fields to shine, + And shade the temples of the mad divine. + Jove dooms it now on Hector's helm to nod; + Not long--for fate pursues him, and the god. + --B. XVI. + +Then ensued a most terrific conflict for the body of the slain +warrior, in which Ajax, Glaucus, Hector, Æneas, and Menelaus +participated, the latter finally succeeding in bearing it off +to the ships. The grief of Achilles over the body of his friend, +and at the loss of his wonderful armor, is represented as being +intense; and so great a blow to the Greeks was the loss of the +armor considered, that Vulcan formed for Achilles a new one, and +also a new shield. Homer's description of the latter piece of +marvelous workmanship--which is often referred to as a truthful +picture of the times, and especially of the advanced condition +of some of the arts and sciences in the Heroic, or post-Heroic, +age--is too long for insertion here entire; but we proceed to +give sufficient extracts from it to show at least the magnificent +conception of the poet. + + How Vulcan Formed the Shield of Achilles. + + He first a vast and massive buckler made; + There all the wonders of his work displayed, + With silver belt adorned, and triply wound, + Orb within orb, the border beaming round. + Five plates composed the shield; these Vulcan's art + Charged with his skilful mind each varied part. + + There earth, there heaven appeared; there ocean flowed; + There the orbed moon and sun unwearied glowed; + There every star that gems the brow of night-- + Ple'iads and Hy'ads, and O-ri'on's might; + The Bear, that, watchful in his ceaseless roll + Around the star whose light illumes the pole, + Still eyes Orion, nor e'er stoops to lave + His beams unconscious of the ocean wave. + + There, by the god's creative power revealed, + Two stately cities filled with life the shield. + Here nuptials--solemn rites--and throngs of gay + Assembled guests; forth issuing filled the way. + Bright blazed the torches as they swept along + Through streets that rung with hymeneal song; + And while gay youths, swift circling round and round, + Danced to the pipe and harp's harmonious sound, + The women thronged, and wondering as they viewed, + Stood in each portal and the pomp pursued. + + Next on the shield a forum met the view; + Two men, contending, there a concourse drew: + A citizen was slain; keen rose the strife-- + 'Twas compensation claim'd for loss of life. + This swore, the mulct for blood was strictly paid: + This, that the fine long due was yet delayed. + Both claim'd th' award and bade the laws decide; + And partial numbers, ranged on either side, + With eager clamors for decision call, + Till the feared heralds seat and silence all. + There the hoar elders, in their sacred place, + On seats of polished stone the circle grace; + Rise with a herald's sceptre, weigh the cause, + And speak in turn the sentence of the laws; + While, in the midst, for him to bear away + Who rightliest spoke, two golden talents lay. + + The other city on the shield displayed + Two hosts that girt it, in bright mail arrayed; + Diverse their counsel: these to burn decide, + And those to seize, and all its wealth divide. + The town their summons scorned, resistance dared, + And secretly for ambush arms prepared. + Wife, grandsire, child, one soul alike in all, + Stand on the battlements and guard the wall. + Mars, Pallas, led their host: gold either god, + A golden radiance from their armor flowed. + +Next, described as displayed on the shield, is a picture of spies +at a distance, an ambuscade, and a battle; the scene then changes +to ploughing and sowing, and the incidents connected with the +gathering of a bountiful harvest; then are introduced a vineyard, +the gathering of the grapes, and a merrymaking by the youths at +the close of the day; then we have a wild outlying scene of +herdsmen with their cattle, the latter attacked by two famished +lions, and the tumult that followed. The description closes as +follows: + + Now the god's changeful artifice displayed + Fair flocks at pasture in a lovely glade; + And folds and sheltering stalls peeped up between, + And shepherd-huts diversified the scene. + + Now on the shield a choir appear'd to move, + Whose flying feet the tuneful labyrinth wove; + Youths and fair girls there, hand in hand, advanced, + Timed to the song their steps, and gayly danced. + Round every maid light robes of linen flowed; + Round every youth a glossy tunic glowed; + Those wreathed with flowers, while from their partners hung + Swords that, all gold, from belts of silver swung. + + Train'd by nice art each flexile limb to wind, + Their twinkling feet the measured maze entwined, + Fleet as the wheel whose use the potter tries, + When, twirl'd beneath his hand, its axle flies. + Now all at once their graceful ranks combine, + Each rang'd against the other, line with line. + + The crowd flock'd round, and, wondering as they view'd, + Thro' every change the varying dance pursued; + The while two tumblers, as they led the song, + Turned in the midst and rolled themselves along. + Then, last, the god the force of Ocean bound, + And poured its waves the buckler's orb around. + --B. XVIII. SOTHEBY'S Trans. + + +Achilles Engages in the Fight. + +Desire to avenge the death of Patroclus proves more powerful +in the breast of Achilles than anger against Agamemnon, and, +clad in his new armor, he is with difficulty restrained from +rushing alone into the fight while his comrades are resting. +Turning and addressing his horses, he reproaches them with the +death of Patroclus. One of them is represented as being +Miraculously endowed with voice, and, replying to Achilles, +prophesies his death in the near future; but, with unabated rage, +the intrepid chief replies: + + "So let it be! + Portents and prodigies are lost on me. + I know my fate: to die, to see no more + My much-loved parents and my native shore. + Enough--when Heaven ordains I sink in night. + Now perish Troy!" he said, and rushed to fight. + +Jupiter now assembles the gods in council, and permits them to +assist either party. The poet vividly describes the terrors of +the combat and the tumult that arose when "the powers descending +swelled the fight." Achilles first encounters Æne'as, who is +preserved by Neptune; he then meets Hector, whom he is on the +point of killing, when Apollo rescues him and carries him away +in a cloud. The Trojans, defeated with terrible slaughter, are +driven into the river Scamander, where Achilles receives the aid +of Neptune and Pallas. + + +This Death of Hector. + +Vulcan having dried up the Scamander in aid of the Trojans, all +those who survive, save Hector, seek refuge in Troy. This hero +alone remains without the walls to oppose Achilles. At the +latter's advance, however, Hector's resolution and courage fail +him, and he flees, pursued by Achilles three times around the +city; At length he turns upon his pursuer, determined to meet +his fate; and the account of the meeting and contest with Achilles, +as translated by BRYANT, is as follows: + + He spake, and drew the keen-edged sword that hung, + Massive and finely tempered, at his side, + And sprang--as when an eagle high in heaven + Through the thick cloud darts downward to the plain, + To clutch some tender lamb or timid hare. + So Hector, brandishing that keen-edged sword, + Sprang forward, while Achilles opposite + Leaped toward him, all on fire with savage hate, + And holding his bright buckler, nobly wrought, + Before him. As in the still hours of night + Hesper goes forth among the host of stars, + The fairest light of heaven, so brightly shone, + Brandished in the right hand of Pe'leus' son, + The spear's keen blade, as, confident to slay + The noble Hector, o'er his glorious form + His quick eye ran, exploring where to plant + The surest wound. The glittering mail of brass + Won from the slain Patroclus guarded well + Each part, save only where the collar-bones + Divide the shoulder from the neck, and there + Appeared the throat, the spot where life is most + In peril. Through that part the noble son + Of Peleus drave his spear; it went quite through + The tender neck, and yet the brazen blade + Cleft not the windpipe, and the power to speak + Remained. + + And then the crested Hector faintly said: + "I pray thee, by thy life, and by thy knees, + And by thy parents, suffer not the dogs + To tear me at the galleys of the Greeks. + Accept abundant store of brass and gold, + Which gladly will my father and the queen, + My mother, give in ransom. Send to them + My body, that the warriors and the dames + Of Troy may light for me the funeral pile." + + The swift Achilles answered, with a frown: + "Nay, by my knees entreat me not, thou cur, + Nor by my parents. I could even wish + My fury prompted me to cut thy flesh + In fragments and devour it, such the wrong + That I have had from thee. There will be none + To drive away the dogs about thy head, + Not though thy Trojan friends should bring to me + Tenfold and twentyfold the offered gifts, + And promise others--not though Priam, sprung + From Dar'danus, should send thy weight in gold. + Thy mother shall not lay thee on thy bier, + To sorrow over thee whom she brought forth; + But dogs and birds of prey shall mangle thee." + + And then the crested Hector, dying, said: + "I know thee, and too clearly I foresaw + I should not move thee, for thou hast a heart + Of iron. Yet reflect that for my sake + The anger of the gods may fall on thee + When Paris and Apollo strike thee down, + Strong as thou art, before the Scæ'an gates." + + Thus Hector spake, and straightway o'er him closed + The light of death; the soul forsook his limbs, + And flew to Hades, grieving for its fate, + So soon divorced from youth and youthful might. + +The great achievement of Achilles was followed by funeral games +in honor of Patroclus, and by the institution of various other +festivities. At their close Jupiter sends The'tis to Achilles to +influence him to restore the dead body of Hector to his family, +and sends Iris to Priam to encourage him to go in person to treat +for it. Priam thereupon sets out upon his journey, and, having +arrived at the camp of Achilles, thus appeals to his compassion: + + Priam Begging for the Body of Hector. + + "Think, O Achilles, semblance of the gods, + On thine own father, full of days like me, + And trembling on the gloomy verge of life. + Some neighbor chief, it may be, even now + Oppresses him, and there is none at hand, + No friend, to succor him in his distress. + Yet, doubtless, hearing that Achilles lives, + He still rejoices, hoping day by day + That one day he shall see the face again + Of his own son, from distant Troy returned. + But me no comfort cheers, whose bravest sons, + So late the flowers of Ilium, are all slain. + + "When, Greece came hither I had fifty sons; + But fiery Mars hath thinned them. One I had-- + One, more than all my sons, the strength of Troy, + Whom, standing for his country, thou hast slain-- + Hector. His body to redeem I come + Into Achaia's fleet, bringing, myself, + Ransom inestimable to thy tent. + Rev'rence the gods, Achilles! recollect + Thy father; for his sake compassion show + To me, more pitiable still, who draw + Home to my lips (humiliation yet + Unseen on earth) his hand who slew my son!" + --COWPER'S Trans. + +Achilles, moved with compassion, granted the request of the +grief-stricken father, and sent him home with the body of his +son. First to the corse the weeping Androm'ache flew, and thus +spoke: + + Lamentation of Andromache. + + "And oh, my Hector! Oh, my lord! (she cries) + Snatched in thy bloom from these desiring eyes! + Thou to the dismal realms forever gone! + And I abandoned, desolate, alone! + An only son, once comfort of our pains, + Sad product now of hapless love, remains! + Never to manly age that son shall rise, + Or with increasing graces glad my eyes; + For Ilion now (her great defender slain) + Shall sink a smoking ruin on the plain. + + "Who now protects her wives with guardian care? + Who saves her infants from the rage of war? + Now hostile fleets must waft those infants o'er + (Those wives must wait them) to a foreign shore: + Thou too, my son, to barbarous climes shalt go, + The sad companion of thy mother's woe; + Or else some Greek whose father pressed the plain, + Or son, or brother, by great Hector slain, + In Hector's blood his vengeance shall enjoy, + And hurl thee headlong from the towers of Troy." + [Footnote: Such was the fate of Astyanax, Hector's + son, when Troy was taken: + + "Here, from the tower by stem Ulysses thrown, + Andromache bewailed her infant son." + --MERRICK'S Tryphiodo'rus.] + +The death of Hector was also lamented by Helen, and her +lamentation is thus spoken of by COLERIDGE: "I have always +thought the following speech, in which Helen laments Hector, and +hints at her own invidious and unprotected situation in Troy, as +almost the sweetest passage in the poem. It is another striking +instance of that refinement of feeling and softness of tone which +so generally distinguish the last book of the Iliad from the rest." + + Helen's Lamentation. + + "Ah, dearest friend! in whom the gods had joined + The mildest manners with the bravest mind, + Now twice ten years (unhappy years) are o'er + Since Paris brought me to the Trojan shore; + (Oh, had I perished ere that form divine + Seduced this soft, this easy heart of mine!) + Yet was it ne'er my fate from thee to find + A deed ungentle, or a word unkind: + When others cursed the authoress of their woe, + Thy pity checked my sorrows in their flow: + If some proud brother eyed me with disdain, + Or scornful sister, with her sweeping train, + Thy gentle accents softened all my pain. + For thee I mourn; and mourn myself in thee, + The wretched source of all this misery. + The fate I caused forever I bemoan; + Sad Helen has no friend, now thou art gone! + Through Troy's wide streets abandoned shall I roam! + In Troy deserted, as abhorred at home!" + --POPE'S Trans. + + +THE FATE OF TROY. + +Homer's Iliad ends with the burial of Hector, and gives no +account of the result of the war and the fate of the chief actors +in the conflict. But in VIRGIL'S Æne'id, which gives an account +of the escape of Æne'as, from the flames of Troy, and of his +wanderings until he reaches the shores of Italy, the way in which +Troy is taken, soon after the death of Hector, is told by Æneas +to Dido, the Queen of Carthage. By the advice of Ulysses a huge +wooden horse was constructed in the Greek camp, in which he and +other Grecian warriors concealed themselves, while the remainder +burned their tents and sailed away to the island of Ten'edos, +behind which they secreted their vessels. Æneas begins his account +as follows: + + "By destiny compelled, and in despair, + The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war, + And by Minerva's aid a fabric reared + Which like a steed of monstrous height appeared. + The sides were planked with pine: they feigned it made + For their return, and this the vow they paid. + Thus they pretend, but in the hollow side + Selected numbers of their soldiers hide; + With inward arms the dire machine they load, + And iron bowels stuff the dark abode. + + "In sight of Troy lies Tenedos, an isle + (While Fortune did on Priam's empire smile) + Renowned for wealth; but since, a faithless bay, + Where ships exposed to wind and weather lay. + There was their fleet concealed. We thought for Greece + Their sails were hoisted, and our fears release. + The Trojans, cooped within their walls so long, + Unbar their gates, and issue in a throng, + Like swarming bees, and with delight survey + The camp deserted where the Grecians lay. + The quarters of the sev'ral chiefs they showed-- + Here Phoenix, here Achilles, made abode; + Here joined the battles; there the navy rode. + + "Part on the pile their wond'ring eyes employ-- + The pile by Pallas raised to ruin Troy. + Thymoe'tes first ('tis doubtful whether hired, + Or so the Trojan destiny required) + Moved that the ramparts might be broken down + To lodge the monster fabric in the town. + But Ca'pys, and the rest of sounder mind, + The fatal present to the flames designed, + Or to the wat'ry deep; at least to bore + The hollow sides, and hidden frauds explore. + + "The giddy vulgar, as their fancies guide, + With noise say nothing, and in parts divide. + La-oc'o-on, followed by a num'rous crowd, + Ran from the fort, and cried, from far, aloud: + 'O wretched countrymen! what fury reigns? + What more than madness has possessed your brains? + Think you the Grecians from your coasts are gone? + And are Ulysses' arts no better known? + This hollow fabric either must enclose, + Within its blind recess, our hidden foes; + Or 'tis an engine raised above the town + T' o'erlook the walls, and then to batter down. + Somewhat is sure designed by fraud or force-- + Trust not their presents, nor admit the horse.' + + "Thus having said, against the steed he threw + His forceful spear, which, hissing as it flew, + Pierced through the yielding planks of jointed wood, + And trembling in the hollow belly stood. + The sides, transpierced, return a rattling sound, + And groans of Greeks enclosed came issuing through the wound; + And, had not Heaven the fall of Troy designed, + Or had not men been fated to be blind, + Enough was said and done t' inspire a better mind. + Then had our lances pierced the treacherous wood, + And Ilion's towers and Priam's empire stood." + +Deceived by the treachery of Sinon, a captive Greek, who represents +that the wooden horse was built and dedicated to Minerva to secure +the aid that the goddess had hitherto refused the Greeks, and +that, if it were admitted within the walls of Troy, the Grecian +hopes would be forever lost, the infatuated Trojans break down +a portion of the city's wall, and, drawing in the horse, give +themselves up to festivity and rejoicing. Æneas continues the +story as follows: + + "With such deceits he gained their easy hearts, + Too prone to credit his perfidious arts. + What Di'omed, nor Thetis' greater son, + A thousand ships, nor ten years' siege, had done-- + False tears and fawning words the city won. + + * * * * * + + "A spacious breach is made; the town lies bare; + Some hoisting levers, some the wheels prepare, + And fasten to the horse's feet; the rest + With cables haul along th' unwieldy beast: + Each on his fellow for assistance calls. + At length the fatal fabric mounts the walls, + Big with destruction. Boys with chaplets crowned, + And choirs of virgins, sing and dance around. + Thus raised aloft, and then descending down, + It enters o'er our heads, and threats the town. + O sacred city, built by hands divine! + O valiant heroes of the Trojan line! + Four times he struck; as oft the clashing sound + Of arms was heard, and inward groans rebound. + Yet, mad with zeal, and blinded with our fate, + We haul along the horse in solemn state, + Then place the dire portent within the tower. + Cassandra cried and cursed th' unhappy hour, + Foretold our fate; but, by the gods' decree, + All heard, and none believed the prophecy. + With branches we the fane adorn, and waste + In jollity the day ordained to be the last." + --The Æneid. Book II.--DRYDEN. + +In the dead of night Sinon unlocked the horse, the Greeks rushed +out, opened the gates of the city, and raised torches as a signal +to those at Tenedos, who returned, and Troy was soon captured and +given over to fire and the sword. Then followed the rejoicings of +the victors, and the weeping and wailing of the Trojan women about +to be carried away captive into distant lands, according to the +usages of war. + + The stately walls of Troy had sunken, + Her towers and temples strewed the soil; + The sons of Hellas, victory-drunken, + Richly laden with the spoil, + Are on their lofty barks reclined + Along the Hellespontine strand; + A gleesome freight the favoring wind + Shall bear to Greece's glorious land; + And gleesome chant the choral strain, + As toward the household altars now + Each bark inclines the painted prow-- + For Home shall smile again! + + And there the Trojan women, weeping, + Sit ranged in many a length'ning row; + Their heedless locks, dishevelled, sweeping + Adown the wan cheeks worn with woe. + No festive sounds that peal along, + Their mournful dirge can overwhelm; + Through hymns of joy one sorrowing song, + Commingled, wails the ruined realm. + "Farewell, beloved shores!" it said: + "From home afar behold us torn, + By foreign lords as captives borne-- + Ah, happy are the dead!" + --SCHILLER. + +For ten long years the Greeks at Argos had watched nightly for +the beacon fires, lighted from point to point, that should announce +the doom of Troy. When, in the Agamemnon of ÆSCHYLUS, Clytemnes'tra +declares that Troy has fallen, and the chorus, half incredulous, +demands what messenger had brought the intelligence, she replies: + + "A gleam--a gleam--from Ida's height + By the fire-god sent, it came; + From watch to watch it leaped, that light; + As a rider rode the flame! + It shot through the startled sky, + And the torch of that blazing glory + Old Lemnos caught on high + On its holy promontory, + And sent it on, the jocund sign, + To Athos, mount of Jove divine. + Wildly the while it rose from the isle, + So that the might of the journeying light + Skimmed over the back of the gleaming brine! + Farther and faster speeds it on, + Till the watch that keep Macis'tus steep + See it burst like a blazing sun! + Doth Macistus sleep + On his tower-clad steep? + No! rapid and red doth the wildfire sweep: + It flashes afar on the wayward stream + Of the wild Euri'pus, the rushing beam! + It rouses the light on Messa'pion's height, + And they feed its breath with the withered heath. + But it may not stay! + And away--away-- + It bounds in its fresh'ning might. + + "Silent and soon + Like a broadened moon + It passes in sheen Aso'pus green, + And bursts in Cithæ'ron gray. + The warden wakes to the signal rays, + And it swoops from the hills with a broader blaze: + On--on the fiery glory rode-- + Thy lonely lake, Gorgo'pis, glowed-- + To Meg'ara's mount it came; + They feed it again, + And it streams amain-- + A giant beard of flame! + The headland cliffs that darkly down + O'er the Saron'ic waters frown, + Are passed with the swift one's lurid stride, + And the huge rock glares on the glaring tide. + With mightier march and fiercer power + It gained Arach'ne's neighboring tower-- + Thence on our Ar'give roof its rest it won, + Of Ida's fire the long-descended son! + Bright harbinger of glory and of joy! + So first and last with equal honor crowned, + In solemn feasts the race-torch circles round. + And these my heralds, this my sign of Peace! + Lo! while we breathe, the victor lords of Greece + Stalk, in stern tumult through the halls of Troy." + --Trans. by BULWER. + +Such, in brief, is the commonly received account of the Trojan +war, as we find it in Homer and other ancient writers. Concerning +it the historian THIRLWALL remarks: "We consider it necessary +to admit the reality of the Trojan war as a general fact, but +beyond this we scarcely venture to proceed a single step. We +find it impossible to adopt the poetical story of Helen, partly +on account of its inherent improbability, and partly because we +are convinced that Helen is a merely mythological person." GROTE +says:[Footnote: "History of Greece." Chap. XV.] "In the eyes of +modern inquiry the Trojan war is essentially a legend and nothing +more. If we are asked if it be not a legend embodying portions +of historical matter, and raised upon a basis of truth--whether +there may not really have occurred at the foot of the hill of +Ilium a war purely human and political, without gods, without +heroes, without Helen, without Amazons, without Ethiopians under +the beautiful son of Eos, without the wooden horse, without the +characteristic and expressive features of the old epic war--if +we are asked if there was not really some such historical Trojan +war as this, our answer must be, that as the possibility of it +cannot be denied, so neither can the reality of it be affirmed." +In this connection it is interesting to note that the discoveries +of the German explorer, Schliemann, upon the site of ancient Troy, +indicate that Homer "followed actual occurrences more closely +than an over-skeptical historical criticism was once willing to +allow." + + +FATE OF THE CHIEF ACTORS IN THE CONFLICT. + +Of the fate of some of the principal actors in the Trojan war +it may be stated that, of the prominent Trojans, Æneas alone +escaped. After many years of wanderings he landed in Italy with +a small company of Trojans; and the Roman writers trace to him +the origin of their nation. Priam was killed by Pyrrhus, the +son of Achilles, during the burning of Troy; while Achilles +himself fell some time before, shot with an arrow in the heel +by Paris, as Hector had prophesied would be the manner of his +death. Ajax, after the death of Achilles, had a contest with +Ulysses for the armor of the dead hero, but was unsuccessful, +and died by his own hand. The poet EN'NIUS ascribes the following +declaration to Tel'amon, the father of Ajax, when he heard of his +son's death: + + I knew, when I begat him, he must die, + And trained him to no other destiny-- + Knew, when I sent him to the Trojan shore, + 'Twas not to halls of feast, but fields of gore. + --Trans. by PETERS. + +Agamemnon, on his return to Greece, was barbarously murdered by +his unfaithful queen, Clytemnestra. Diomed was driven from Greece, +and barely escaped with his life. It is uncertain where or how +he died. Ulysses, after almost innumerable troubles and hardships +by sea and land, at last returned in safety to Ithaca. His +wanderings are the subject of Homer's Odyssey. + +But it may be asked, what became of Helen, the primary cause +of the Trojan war, disastrous alike to victors and vanquished? +According to Virgil, [Footnote: Æneid, B. VI.] after the death +of Paris she married the Trojan hero, De-iph'o-bus, and on the +night after the city was taken betrayed him to Menela'us, to +whom she became reconciled, and whom she accompanied, as Homer +relates, [Footnote: Odyssey B. IV.] during the eight years of +his wandering, on his return to Greece. LANDOR, in one of his +Hellen'ics, represents Menelaus, after the fall of Troy, as +pursuing Helen up the steps of the palace, and threatening her +with death. He thus addresses her: + + "Stand, traitress, on that stair-- + Thou mountest not another, by the gods! + Now take the death thou meritest, the death, + Zeus, who presides over hospitality-- + And every other god whom thou has left, + And every other who abandons thee + In this accursed city--sends at last. + Turn, vilest of vile slaves! turn, paramour + Of what all other women hate, of cowards; + Turn, lest this hand wrench back thy head, and toss + It and its odors to the dust and flames." + +Helen penitently receives his reproaches, and welcomes the +threatened death; and when he speaks of their daughter, Hermi'o-ne, +whom, an infant, she had so cruelly deserted, she exclaims: + + "O my child! + My only one! thou livest: 'tis enough; + Hate me, abhor me, curse me--these are duties-- + Call me but mother in the shades of death! + She now is twelve years old, when the bud swells, + And the first colors of uncertain life + Begin to tinge it." + +Menelaus turns aside to say, + + "Can she think of home? + Hers once, mine yet, and sweet Hermione's! + Is there one spark that cheered my hearth, one left + For thee, my last of love?" + +When she beseeches him to delay not her merited fate, her words +greatly move him, and he exclaims (aside), + + "Her voice is musical + As the young maids who sing to Artemis: + How glossy is that yellow braid my grasp + Seized and let loose! Ah, can ten years have passed + Since--but the children of the gods, like them, + Suffer not age.[Footnote: Jupiter was fabled to be + the father of Helen.] + (Then turning to Helen.) Helen! speak honestly, + And thus escape my vengeance--was it force + That bore thee off?" + +Her words and grief move him to pity, if not to love, and he +again turns aside to say, + + "The true alone and loving sob like her. + Come, Helen!" (He takes her hand.) + (Helen.) Oh, let never Greek see this! + Hide me from Argos, from Amy'clæ [Footnote: A town + of Laconia, where was a temple of Apollo. It was a + short distance to the south-west of Sparta.] hide me, + Hide me from all. + (Menelaus.) Thy anguish is too strong + For me to strive with. + (Helen.) Leave it all to me. + (Menelaus.) Peace! peace! The wind, I hope, is fair for Sparta. + +The intimation, by Landor and others who have sought to exculpate +Helen, that she was unwillingly borne away by Paris, has been +amplified, with much poetic skill and beauty, by a recent +poet,[Footnote: A. Lang, in his "Helen of Troy."] into the story +that the goddess Venus appeared to her, and, while Helen was +shrinking with apprehension and fear of her power, told her that +she should fall into a deep slumber, and on awaking should be +oblivious of her past life, "ignorant of shame, and blameless of +those evil deeds that the goddess should thrust upon her." Venus +declares to her: + + "Thou art the toy of gods, an instrument + Wherewith all mortals shall be plagued or blest, + Even at my pleasure; yea, thou shalt be bent + This way and that, howe'er it like me best: + And following thee, as tides the moon, the West + Shall flood the Eastern coasts with waves of war, + And thy vexed soul shall scarcely be at rest, + Even in the havens where the deathless are. + + "The instruments of men are blind and dumb, + And this one gift I give thee, to be blind + And heedless of the thing that is to come, + And ignorant of that which is behind; + Bearing an innocent, forgetful mind + In each new fortune till I visit thee + And stir thy heart, as lightning and the wind + Bear fire and tumult through a sleeping sea. + + "Thou shalt forget Hermione! forget, + Forget thy lord, thy lofty palace, and thy kin; + Thy hand within a stranger's shalt thou set, + And follow him, nor deem it any sin; + And many a strange land wand'ring shalt thou win; + And thou shalt come to an unhappy town, + And twenty long years shalt thou dwell therein, + Before the Argives mar its towery crown. + + "And of thine end I speak not, but thy name-- + Thy name which thou lamentest--that shall be + A song in all men's speech, a tongue of flame + Between the burning lips of Poesy; + And the nine daughters of Mnemos'y-ne, + With Prince Apollo, leader of the nine, + Shall make thee deathless in their minstrelsy! + Yea, for thou shalt outlive the race divine." + +As the goddess had declared, so it came to pass, for when Helen +awoke from her long slumber, + + She had no memory of unhappy things, + She knew not of the evil days to come, + Forgotten were her ancient wanderings; + And as Lethæ'an waters wholly numb + The sense of spirits in Elysium, + That no remembrance may their bliss alloy, + Even so the rumor of her days was dumb, + And all her heart was ready for new joy. + +The reconciliation of Menelaus with Helen is easily effected by +the same kind of artifice; for when, on the taking of Troy, he +meets her and draws his sword to slay her, the goddess, again +appearing, throws her witching spell over him also: + + Then fell the ruthless sword that never fell + When spear bit harness in the battle din, + For Aphrodi'te spake, and like a spell + Wrought her sweet voice persuasive, till within + His heart there lived no memory of sin; + No thirst for vengeance more, but all grew plain, + And wrath was molten in desire to win + The golden heart of Helen once again. + +It is said that after the death of Menelaus Helen was driven +from the Peloponnesus by the indignant Spartans. + + * * * * * + +IV. ARTS AND CIVILIZATION IN THE HEROIC AGE. + +Although but little confidence can be placed in the reality of +the persons and events mentioned in the poems of Homer, yet there +is one kind of truth from which the poet can hardly have deviated, +or his writings would not have been so acceptable as they evidently +were to his contemporaries--and that is, a faithful portraiture +of the government, usages, institutions, manners, and general +condition of the Greeks during the age in which he lived, and +which undoubtedly differed little from the manners and customs +of the Heroic Age. The pictures of life and character that he +had drawn must have had a reality of existence, and they +unquestionably give us, to a considerable extent, a true insight +into the condition of Grecian society at that early period of +the world's history. + +And yet we must bear in mind that epics such as those of Homer, +describing the manners and customs of a half-barbarous age, and +intended to honor chieftains by extolling the deeds and lives +of their ancestors, and to be recited in the courts of kings and +princes, would, very naturally, be accommodated to the wishes, +partialities, and prejudices of their noble hearers. And this +leads us to consider how far even the great epic of Homer is to +be relied on for a faithful picture of the political life of the +Greeks during the Heroic Age. We quote the following suggestive +remarks on this subject from a recent writer and able Greek critic: + + +THE POLITICAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS, AS REPRESENTED IN THEIR GREAT EPICS. + +"Although, in the Greek epics, the rank and file of the army +are to be marshaled by the kings, and to raise the shout of battle, +they actually disappear from the action, and leave the field +perfectly clear for the chiefs to perform their deeds of valor. +There is not, perhaps, an example in all the Iliad of a chief +falling, or even being wounded, by an ignoble hand. Amid the +cloud of missiles that were flying on the plains of Troy, amid +the crowd of chiefs and kings that were marshaled on either side, +we never hear how a 'certain man drew a bow at a venture, and +smote a king between the joints of the harness.' Yet this must +necessarily have occurred in any prolonged combats such as those +about the walls of Troy. + +"Here, then, is a plain departure from truth, and even from +reasonable probability. It is indeed a mere omission which does +not offend the reader; but such inaccuracies suggest serious +reflections. If the epic poets ignore the importance of the +masses on the battlefield, is it not likely that they underrate +it in the public assemblies? Is it not possible that here too, +to please their patrons, they describe the glorious ages of the +past as the days when the assembled people would not question +the superior wisdom of their betters, but merely assembled to be +taught and to applaud? I cannot, therefore, as Mr. Grote does, +accept the political condition of things in the Homeric poems, +especially in the Iliad, as a safe guide to the political life +of Greece in the poet's own day. + +"The figure of Thersites seems drawn with special spite and venom, +as a satire upon the first critics that rose up among the assembled +people to question the divine right of kings to do wrong. We may +be sure the real Thersites, from whom the poet drew his picture, +was a very different and a far more serious power in debate than +the misshapen buffoon of the Iliad. But the king who had been +thwarted and exposed by him in the day would, over his cups in +the evening, enjoy the poet's travesty, and long for the good old +times when he could put down all impertinent criticism by the +stroke of his knotty sceptre. The Homeric Agora could hardly have +existed had it been so idle a form as the poets represent. But as +the lower classes were carefully marshaled on the battle-field, +from a full sense of the importance which the poet denies them, so +they were marshaled in the public assembly, where we may be sure +their weight told with equal effect, though the poet neglected it +for the greater glory of the counseling chiefs." [Footnote: "Social +Life in Greece, from Homer to Menander," by Rev. J. P. Mahaffy.] +Notwithstanding all this, as HEEREN says, "Homer is the best source +of information that we possess respecting the Heroic Age." + +The form of government that prevailed among the early Greeks, +especially after the Pelasgic race had yielded to the more +warlike and adventurous Hellenes, was evidently that of the +kingly order, on a democratic basis, although it is difficult +to ascertain the precise extent of the royal prerogatives. In +all the Grecian states there appears to have been an hereditary +class of chiefs or nobles, distinguished from the common freemen +or people by titles of honor, superior wealth, dignity, valor, +and noble birth; which latter implied no less than a descent from +the gods themselves, to whom every princely house seems to have +traced its origin. + +But the kings, although generally hereditary, were not always so, +nor were they absolute monarchs; they were rather the most eminent +of the nobility, having the command in war, and the chief seat +in the administration of justice; and their authority was more or +less extended in proportion to the noble qualities they possessed, +and particularly to their valor in battle. Unless distinguished +by courage and strength, kings could not even command in time of +war; and during peace they were bound to consult the people in all +important matters. Among their pecuniary advantages were the +profits of an extensive domain which seems to have been attached +to the royal office, and not to have been the private property of +the individual. Thus, Homer represents Telem'achus as in danger +not only of losing his throne by the adverse choice of the people, +but also, among the rights of the crown, the domains of Ulysses, +his father, should he not be permitted to succeed him.[Footnote: +See the Odyssey (Cowper's Trans.), xi., 207-223.] + +During the Heroic Age the Greeks appear to have had no fixed laws +established by legislation. Public opinion and usage, confirmed +and expounded by judicial decisions, were the only sources to +which the weak and injured could look for protection and redress. +Private differences were most often settled by private means, and +in these cases the weak and deserving were generally plundered +and maltreated by the powerful and guilty; but in quarrels that +threatened to disturb the peace of the community the public +compelled the injured party to accept, and the aggressor to pay, +a stipulated compensation. As among the savage tribes of America, +and even among our early Saxon ancestors, the murderer was often +allowed to pay a stipulated compensation, which stayed the spirit +of revenge, and was received as a full expiation of his guilt. The +mutual dealings of the several independent Grecian states with one +another were regulated by no established principles, and +international law had no existence at this early period. + + +DOMESTIC LIFE AND CHARACTER. + +In the domestic relations of life there was much in the conduct +of the Greeks that was meritorious. Children were treated with +affection, and much care was bestowed on their education; and, +on the other hand, the respect which they showed their parents, +even after the period of youth and dependence, approached almost +to veneration. As evidence of a rude age, however, the father +disposed of his daughter's hand in marriage with absolute +authority; and although we meet with many models of conjugal +affection, as in the noble characters of Andromache and Penelope, +yet the story of Helen, and other similar ones, suggest too +plainly that the faithlessness of the wife was not regarded as +a very great offence. The wife, however, occupied a station of +as much, if not more influence in the family than was the case +in the historical period; but she was not the equal of her +husband, and even Homer portrays none of those feelings of love +which result from a higher regard for the female sex. + +We gather from Homer that there was a low sense of truth among +the Greeks of the Homeric Age, but that the people were better +than might be expected from the examples set them by the gods +in whom they professed to believe. Says MAHAFFY: "At no period +did the nation attain to that high standard which is the great +feature in Germanic civilization. Even the Romans, with all their +coarseness and vulgarity, stood higher in this respect. But +neither in the Iliad nor the Odyssey is there, except in phrases, +any reprobation of deceit as such. To deceive an enemy is +meritorious; to deceive a stranger, innocent; to deceive even a +friend, perfectly unobjectionable, if any object is to be gained. +So it is remarked of Menelaus--as it were, exceptionally--that +he will tell the truth if you press him, for he is very +considerate. But the really leading characters in the Odyssey +and Iliad (except Achilles) do not hesitate at all manner of +lying. Ulysses is perpetually inventing, and so is his patroness, +Pallas Athe'ne; and she actually mentions this quality of wily +deceit as her special ground of love and affection for him." +Thus, we read in the Odyssey that when Ulysses, in response to +what the goddess--then disguised and unknown to him--had said, + + With unembarrassed readiness returned + Not truth, but figments to truth opposite, + For guile, in him, stood never at a pause-- + +the goddess, seemingly well pleased with his "tricks of speech +delusive," thus replied: + + "Who passes thee in artifice well-framed; + And in impostures various, need shall find + Of all his policy, although a god. + Canst thou not cease, inventive as thou art + And subtle, from the wiles which thou hast loved + Since thou wast infant, and from tricks of speech + Delusive, even in thy native land? + But come; dismiss we these ingenious shifts + From our discourse, in which we both excel; + For thou of all men in expedients most + Abound'st and eloquence, and I throughout + All heaven have praise for wisdom and for art." + --COWPER'S Trans. + +To the foregoing it may be added that "Zeus deceives both gods +and men; the other gods deceive Zeus; in fact, the whole Homeric +society is full of guile and falsehood. There is still, however, +an expectation that if the gods are called to witness a +transaction by means of an oath, they will punish deceit. The +poets clearly held that the gods, if they were under no restraint +or fear of punishment from Zeus, were at liberty to deceive as +they liked. One safeguard yet remained--the oath by the Styx, +[Footnote: see the index at the end of the volume.] the penalties +of violating which are enumerated in Hesiod's Theogony, and +consist of nine years' transportation, with solitary confinement +and hard labor. As for oaths, the Hymn to Hermes shows that in +succeeding generations their solemnity was openly ridiculed. +Among the Homeric gods, as well as among the heroes, there were, +indeed, old-fashioned characters who adhered to probity. The +character of Apollo is unstained by deceit. So is that of +Menelaus." + +The Greeks in the Heroic Age were divided into the three classes +--nobles, freemen, and slaves. Of the first we have already +spoken. The condition of the freemen it is difficult to fully +ascertain; but the majority possessed portions of land which +they cultivated. There was another class of freemen who possessed +no property, and who worked for hire on the property of others. +"Among the freemen," says one writer, "we find certain +professional persons whose acquirements and knowledge raised +them above their class, and procured for them the respect and +society of the nobles. Such were the seer, the bard, the herald, +and likewise the smith and the carpenter." The slaves were owned +by the nobles alone, and were treated with far more kindness and +consideration than were the slaves of republican Greece. + +During this period the Greeks had but little knowledge of +geography beyond the confines of Greece and its islands and the +coasts of the Ægean Sea. The habitable world was supposed to be +surrounded by an ocean-like river, like that which Homer describes +as bordering the shield of Achilles, beyond which were realms of +darkness, dreams, and death. Legitimate commerce appears to have +been deemed of little importance. The largest ships were slender, +half-decked row-boats, capable of carrying, at most, only about +a hundred men, and having a movable mast, which was hoisted, and +a sail attached, only to take advantage of a favorable wind. Most +of the navigation at this early period was undertaken for the +purposes of plunder, and piracy was not deemed dishonorable. When +Mentor and Telemachus came to the court of Nestor, that prince, +after entertaining them kindly, asked them, as a matter of +curiosity, whether they were travelers or robbers! + +But the Heroic Age was not one essentially rude and barbarous. +Greece was then a populous and well-cultivated country, with +numerous and large cities surrounded by walls and adorned with +palaces and temples. Homer describes the different branches of +agriculture, and the various labors of farming, the culture of +the grape, and the duties of the herdsmen. The weaving of woolen +and of linen fabrics was the chief occupation of the women, and +was carried to a high degree of perfection. While Homer may have +drawn largely upon his imagination for his brilliant pictures, +still their main features were undoubtedly taken from life, and +many ancient remains of Grecian art attest the general fidelity +of his representations: In the wonderful description of the shield +of Achilles we get some insight into the progress which the arts +of metallurgy and engraving had made, and in the following +description, in the Fifth Book of the Odyssey, of the raft of +Ulysses, on which this wandering hero floated after leaving +Calypso's isle, we learn to what degree the art of ship-building +had attained in the Heroic Age. Calypso furnishes him the +material for constructing his raft. + + The Raft of Ulysses. + + She gave him, fitted to the grasp, an axe + Of iron, ponderous, double-edged, with haft + Of olive-wood inserted firm, and wrought + With curious art. Then placing in his hand + A polished adze, she led herself the way + To her isle's utmost verge, where loftiest stood + The alder, poplar, and cloud-piercing fir, + Though sapless, sound, and fittest for his use, + As buoyant most. To that most verdant grove + His steps the beauteous nymph Calypso led, + And sought her home again. Then slept not he, + But, swinging with both hands the axe, his task + Soon finished; trees full twenty to the ground + He cast; which, dexterous, with his adze he smoothed, + The knotted surface chipping by a line. + Meantime the lovely goddess to his aid + Sharp augers brought, with which he bored the beams, + Then placed them side by side, adapting each + To other, and the seams with wadding closed. + + Broad as an artist, skilled in naval works, + The bottom of a ship of burden spreads, + Such breadth Ulysses to his raft assigned. + He decked her over with long planks, upborne + On massy beams; he made the mast, to which + He added suitable the yard; he framed + Rudder and helm to regulate her course; + With wicker-work he bordered all her length + For safety, and much ballast stowed within. + Meantime Calypso brought him for a sail + Fittest materials, which he also shaped, + And to his sail due furniture annexed + Of cordage strong, foot-ropes and ropes aloft, + Then heaved her down with levers to the deep. + --Odyssey, B. V. COWPER'S Trans. + +We notice in this description the use of the adze--of the +double-edged axe; of augers for boring the beams; the caulking +of the hull; the decking made of planks; the single mast; the +yard from which the sail was spread; the use of the rudder and +the helm; "foot-ropes and ropes aloft;" while, for safety, a +wicker-work of cordage surrounds the deck, and much "ballast" +is stowed within. + +To what extent the higher orders of art--those which became in +later times the highest glory of Greece, and in which she will +always stand unrivalled--were cultivated before the time of +Homer, is a subject of much uncertainty. It is clear, however, +that poetry and music, which were almost inseparably united, +were early made prominent instruments of the religious, martial, +and political education of the people. The aid of poetical song +was called in to enliven and adorn the banquets of the great +public assemblies, the Olympic and other games, and scarcely a +social or public gathering can be mentioned that would not have +appeared to the ardent Grecians cold and spiritless without this +accompaniment. + +It is not equally clear, however, whether architecture, in Homer's +time, had arrived at such a stage as to deserve a place among +the fine arts. But it is probable that while the private dwellings +which the poet describes were strong and convenient rather than +ornamental and elegant in design, the public buildings--the +temples, palaces, etc.--were elegant in design and in architectural +decoration. Statuary was cultivated in this age, as appears from +the remains of many of the Greek cities; and, although no paintings +are spoken of in Homer, yet his descriptions prove that his +contemporaries must have been acquainted with the art of design. +Whether the Greeks were acquainted at this early period with the +art of writing is, perhaps, the most important of all the questions +connected with the progress of art and knowledge at this time, as +it has received the most attention. The prevalent opinion is that +the art of writing was then unknown, and that no written +compositions were extant until many years after the time of Homer. + + * * * * * + +V. THE CONQUEST OF THE PELOPONNESUS, AND COLONIES IN ASIA MINOR. + +Although not yet fully out of the fabulous era of Grecian history, +we now enter upon a period when the crude fictions of more than +mortal heroes begin to give place to the realities of human +existence; but still the vague, disputed, and often contradictory +annals on which we are obliged to rely shed only an uncertain +light around us; and even what we can gather as the most reliable +cannot be taken wholly as undoubted historic truth. + +The immediate consequences of the Trojan war, as represented +by Greek historians, were scarcely less disastrous to the victors +than to the vanquished. The return of the Grecian heroes to their +homes is represented, as we have seen, to have been full of tragic +adventures, and their long absence encouraged usurpers to seize +many of their thrones. Hence arose fierce wars and intestine +commotions, which greatly retarded the progress of Grecian +civilization. Among these petty revolutions, however, no events +of general interest occurred until about sixty years after the +fall of Troy, when a people from Epi'rus, passing over the +mountain-chain of Pindus, descended into the rich plains which +lie along the banks of the Pene'us, and finally conquered the +country, to which they gave the name of Thessaly. The fugitives +from Thessaly, driven from their own country, passed over into +Boeo'tia, which they subdued after a long struggle, in their +turn driving out the ancient inhabitants of the land. This event +is supposed to have occurred in 1124 B.C. + +The unsettled state of society caused by the Thessalian and +Boeotian conquests occasioned what is known as the "Æo'lian +Migration," so-called from the race that took the principal +share in it. These people passed over into Asia Minor, and +established their settlements in the vicinity of the ruins of +Troy. This became known as the Æolian Confederacy. + + +RETURN OF THE HERACLI'DÆ + +About twenty years after the Thessalian conquest, the Dorians, +who had frequently changed their homes, and had finally settled +in a mountainous region on the south of Thessaly, commenced a +migration to the Peloponnesus, accompanied by portions of other +tribes, and led, as was asserted, by descendants of Hercules, +who had been deprived of their dominions in the latter country, +and who had hitherto made several unsuccessful attempts to recover +them. This important event in Grecian history is therefore called +the "Return of the Heraclidæ." The Dorians could muster about +twenty thousand fighting men; and although they were greatly +inferior in numbers to the inhabitants of the country they invaded, +the whole of Peloponnesus, except a few districts, was subdued +and apportioned among the conquerors. Of the Heraclidæ, Tem'enus +received Argos, the sons of Aristode'mus obtained Sparta, and +Cresphon'tes was given Messe'nia. Some of the unconquered tribes +of the southern part of the peninsula seized upon the province +of Acha'ia, and expelled its Ionian inhabitants. The latter sought +a retreat on the western coast of Asia Minor, south of the Æolian +cities, and the settlements thus formed received the name of Ionia. +At a still later period, bands of the Dorians, not content with +their conquest of the Peloponnesus, thronged to Asia Minor, where +they peopled several cities south of Ionia; so that the Ægean Sea +was finally circled by Grecian settlements, and its islands +covered with them. + +The Dorians did not become undisputed masters of the Peloponnesus +until they had conquered Corinth in the next generation. The +capture of Corinth was attended by another expedition which drew +the Dorians north of the Isthmus. They invaded Attica, and encamped +before the walls of Athens. Before proceeding to attack the city +they consulted the oracle at Delphi--the most remarkable oracle +of the ancient world, of which the poet LU'CAN thus writes: + + The listening god, still ready with replies, + To none his aid or oracle denies; + Yet wise, and righteous ever, scorns to hear + The fool's fond wishes, or the guilty's prayer; + Though vainly in repeated vows they trust, + None e'er find grace before him but the just. + Oft to a banished, wandering, houseless race + The sacred dictates have assigned a place: + Oft from the strong he saves the weak in war, + And heals the barren land, and pestilential air. + +The Dorians were told by the oracle that they would be successful +as long as the Athenian king, Co'drus, was uninjured. The latter, +being informed of the answer of the oracle, disguised himself +as a peasant, and, going forth from the city, was met and slain +by a Dorian soldier, thus sacrificing himself for his country's +good. The superstitious Dorians, now deeming the war hopeless, +withdrew from Attica; and the Athenians, out of respect for Codrus, +declared that no one was worthy to succeed him, and abolished the +form of royalty altogether. Magistrates called Archons were first +appointed for life from the family of Codrus, and these were +finally exchanged for others appointed for ten years. These and +other successive encroachments on the royal prerogatives resulted +in the establishment of an aristocratic government of the nobility, +and are almost the only events that fill the meager annals of +Athens for several centuries. + +The foundation of the Greek colonies in Asia Minor may be said to +form the conclusion of the Mythical Period of Grecian history, and +likewise to furnish the basis for the earlier forms of authentic +Greek literature. Before proceeding, therefore, to the general +events that distinguish the authentic period of Greek history, we +will give, first, a brief sketch of this early literature as +embodied chiefly in the poems of Homer; and, second, will point +out some of the causes that tended to unite the Greeks as a +people, notwithstanding their separation into so many independent +communities or states. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +EARLY GREEK LITERATURE, AND GREEK COMMUNITY OF INTERESTS. + +The earliest written compositions of the Greeks, of which tradition +or history has preserved any record, were poetical; a circumstance +which, noticed in other nations also, has led to the assertion +that poetry is preeminently the language of Nature. But the first +poetical compositions of the Greeks were not written. The earliest +of them were undoubtedly the religious teachings of the priests +and seers; and these were soon followed by others founded on the +legends and genealogies of the Grecian heroes, which were addressed, +by their authors, to the ear and feelings of a sympathizing +audience, and were then taken up by professional reciters, called +Rhapsodists, who traveled from place to place, rehearsing them +before private companies or at the public festivals. + +Of the Greek colonists of Asia the Ionians possessed the highest +culture, and with them we find the first development of Greek +poetry. Drawing from the common language a richer tone and a +clearness and graphic power that their neighbors never equaled, +they early unfolded the ancient legends and genealogies of the +race into new and enlarged forms of poetical beauty. Says DR. +C. C. FELTON,[Footnote: "Lectures on Ancient and Modern Greece," +vol. i., p. 78.] "In Ionia the popular enthusiasm took a poetical +turn, and the genius of that richly gifted race responded nobly +to the call. The poets--singers as they were first called--found +in the Orally transmitted ballads the richest mines of legendary +lore, which they wrought into new forms of rhythmical beauty and +splendor. Instead of short ballads, pieces of great length, with +more fully developed characters and more of dramatic action, were +required by a beauty loving and pleasure seeking race; and the +leisure of peace and the demands of refined luxury furnished the +occasion and the impelling motive to this more extended species of +epic song." From the highly esteemed work of Dr. Felton we transcribe +some observations on the beauties of the Ionian dialect, and on +the poetical taste and ingenuity that finally developed the immortal +epics of Homer: + + +Ionian Language and Culture. + +"The Ionian dialect, remoulded from the Asiatic forms and elements +which had traveled through the North and recrossed the Ægean Sea, +under the happy influences of a serene and beautiful heaven, amid +the most varied and lovely scenery in nature, by a people of manly +vigor and exquisite mental and physical organization--of the +keenest susceptibility to beauty of sound as well as of form, of +the most vivid and creative imagination, combined with a childlike +impulsiveness and simplicity--this Ionian language, so sprung and +so nurtured, attained a descriptive force, a copiousness and +harmony, which made it the most admirable instrument on which +poet ever played. For every mood of mind, every shade of passion, +every affection of the heart, every form and aspect of the outward +world, it had its graphic phrase, its clear, appropriate, and +rich expression. Its pictured words and sentences placed the +things described, and thoughts that breathe, in living form +before the reader's eye and mind. It was vivid, rich, melodious; +in its general character strikingly concrete and objective; a +charm to the ear, a delight to the imagination; copious and +infinitely flexible; free and graceful in movement and structure, +having at the beginning passed over the chords of the lyre, and +been modulated by the living voice of the singer; obeying the +impulse of thought and feeling, rather than the formal principles +of grammar. + +"It expressed the passions of robust manhood with artless and +unconscious truth. Its freedom, its voluble minuteness of +delineation, its rapid changes of construction, its breaks, pauses, +significant and sudden transitions, its easy irregularities, +exhibit the intellectual play of national youth; while in boldness +and splendor it meets the demands of highest invention and the +most majestic sweep of the imagination, and bears the impress +of genius in the full strength of its maturity. Frederic Jacobs +says, fancifully yet truly, that 'the language of Ionia resembles +the smooth mirror of a broad and silent lake, from whose depth +a serene sky, with its soft and sunny vault, and the varied nature +along its smiling shores are reflected in transfigured beauty.' +In Ionia, to borrow the expressions of the same eloquent writer, +the mind of man 'enjoyed a life exempt from drudgery, among fair +festivals and solemn assemblies, full of sensibility and frolic +joy, innocent curiosity and childlike faith. Surrendered to the +outer world, and inclined to all that was attractive by novelty, +beauty, and greatness, it was here that the people listened, with +greatest eagerness, to the history of the men and heroes whose +deeds, adventures, and wanderings filled a former age with their +renown, and, when they were echoed in song, moved to ecstasy the +breasts of the hearers. + +"The Ionians had from the beginning a superior natural endowment +for literature and art; and when this most gifted race came into +contact with the antique culture and boundless commercial wealth +of Asia and Africa, the loveliest and most fragrant flowers of +the intellect shot forth in every direction. Carrying with them +the traditions of their race and the war-songs of their bards +to the very scenes where the famous deeds of their forefathers +had been performed, these local circumstances awakened a fresh +interest in the old legends, and epic poetry took a new start, +a bolder character, a loftier sweep, a wider range. A general +expansion of the intellectual powers and the poetical spirit +suddenly took place in the midst of the new prosperity and the +unaccustomed luxuries of the East--in the midst of the gay and +festive life which succeeded the ages of wandering, toil, +hardship, and conflict, like the Sabbath repose following the +weary warfare of the week. The loveliness of nature on the Ionian +shores, and in the isles that crown the Ægean deep, was soon +embellished by the genius of art. Stately processions, hymns +chanted in honor of the gods, graceful dances before the altars, +statues, and shrines, assemblies for festal or solemn purposes +in the open air under the soft sky of Ionia, or within the halls +of princes and nobles--these fill up the moments of the new and +dazzling existence which the excitable Hellenic race are invited +here and now to enjoy. + +"Their first and deepest want--that which, in the foregoing +periods of their existence, had been the first supplied--was +the longing of the heart, the demand of the imagination, for +poetry and song; and it would have been surprising if the bright +genius of Ionia, under all these favoring circumstances, had not +broken upon the world with a splendor which outshone all its +former achievements. Poets sprang up, obedient to the call, and +a new school of poetical composition rapidly developed itself, +embodying the Hellenic traditions of the Trojan story, and the +legends handed down by the Trojans themselves. Troops or companies +of these poets--singers, as they were called--were formed, and +their pieces were the delight of the listening multitudes that +thronged around them. At last, among these minstrels who +consecrated the flower of their lives to the service of the +Muses, appeared a man whose genius was to eclipse them all. This +man was Homer." + + * * * * * + +I. HOMER AND HIS POEMS. + +Not only was Homer the greatest of the poets of antiquity, but +he is generally admitted to be distinguished before all +competitors by a clear and even a vast superiority. The +circumstances of his life are but little known, except that he +was a wandering poet, and, in his later years at least, was blind. +He is supposed to have lived nearly one thousand years before the +Christian era; but, strange as it may seem, nothing is known, +with certainty, of his parentage or his birthplace. Although he +was probably a native of the island of Chi'os, yet seven Grecian +cities contended for the honor of his birth. In view of this +controversy, and of the real doubt that hung over the subject, +the poet ANTIP'ATER, of Sidon, who flourished just before the +Christian era, as if he could not give to his great predecessor +too high an exaltation, attributes his birthplace to heaven, and +he ascribes to the goddess Calli'o-pe, one of the Muses, who +presided over epic poetry and eloquence, the distinction of being +his mother. + + From Col'ophon some deem thee sprung; + From Smyrna some, and some from Chios; + These noble Sal'amis have sung, + While those proclaim thee born in Ios; + And others cry up Thessaly, + The mother of the Lap'ithæ. + Thus each to Homer has assigned + The birthplace just which suits his mind. + + But if I read the volume right, + By Phoebus to his followers given, + I'd say they're all mistaken quite, + And that his real country's heaven; + While, for his mother, she can be + No other than Calliope. + --Trans. by MERIVALE. + +The principal works of Homer, and, in fact, the only ones that +have not been declared spurious, are the Iliad and the Odyssey. +The former, as we have seen, relates some of the circumstances +of the closing year of the Trojan war; and the latter tells the +story of the wanderings of the Grecian prince Ulysses after the +fall of Troy. The ancients, to whom the writings of Homer were +so familiar, fully believed that he was the author of the two +great epics attributed to him. It was left to modern critics to +maintain the contrary. In 1795 Professor F. A. Wolf, of Germany, +published his Prolegomena, or prefatory essay to the Iliad, in +which he advanced the hypothesis that both the Iliad and the +Odyssey were a collection of separate lays by different authors, +for the first time reduced to writing and formed into the two +great poems by the despot Pisis'tratus, of Athens, and his +friends. [Footnote: Nearly all the modern German writers follow +the views of Wolf against the Homeric authorship of this poem, +but among the English critics there is more diversity of opinion. +Colonel Mure, Mr. Gladstone, and others oppose the German view, +while Grote, Professor Geddes, Professor Mahaffy and others of +note adopt it, so far at least as to believe that Homer was not +the sole author of the poems.] We cannot here enter into the +details of the controversy to which this theory has given rise, +nor can we undertake to say on which side the weight of authority +is to be found. The following extracts well express the views +of those who adhere to the common theory on the subject. PROFESSOR +FELTON thus remarks, in the preface to his edition of the Iliad: +"For my own part I prefer to consider it, as we have received it +from ancient editors, as one poem--the work of one author, and +that author Homer, the first and greatest of minstrels. As I +understand the Iliad, there is a unity of plan, a harmony of +parts, a consistency among the different situations of the same +character, which mark it as the production of one mind; but of +a mind as versatile as the forms of nature, the aspects of life, +and the combinations of powers, propensities, and passions in +man are various." + +On the same subject, the English author and critic, THOMAS NOON +TALFOURD, makes these interesting observations: "The hypothesis +to which the antagonists of Homer's personality must resort, +implies something far more wonderful than the theory which they +impugn. They profess to cherish the deepest veneration for the +genius displayed in the poems. They agree, also, in the antiquity +usually assigned to them, and they make this genius and this +antiquity the arguments to prove that one man could not have +composed them. They suppose, then, that in a barbarous age, +instead of one being marvelously gifted, there were many: a +mighty race of bards, such as the world has never since seen--a +number of miracles instead of one. All experience is against this +opinion. In various periods of the world great men have arisen, +under very different circumstances, to astonish and delight it; +but that the intuitive power should be so strangely diffused, at +any one period, among a great number, who should leave no +successors behind them, is unworthy of credit. And we are requested +to believe this to have occurred in an age which those who maintain +the theory regard as unfavorable to poetic art! The common theory, +independent of other proofs, is the most probable. Since the early +existence of the works cannot be doubted, it is easier to believe +in one than in twenty Homers." + +Very numerous and varied are the characterizations of Homer and +the writings ascribed to him. POPE, in his "Temple of Fame", pays +this tribute to the ancient bard: + + High on the list the mighty Homer shone; + Eternal adamant composed his throne; + Father of verse! in holy fillets dressed, + His silver beard waved gently o'er his breast; + Though blind, a boldness in his look appears; + In years he seemed, but not impaired by years. + The wars of Troy were round the pillars seen: + Here fierce Tydi'des wounds the Cyprian queen; + Here Hector, glorious from Patro'clus' fall; + Here, dragged in triumph round the Trojan wall. + Motion and life did every part inspire, + Bold was the work, and proud the master's fire: + A strong expression most he seemed to affect, + And here and there disclosed a brave neglect. + +It is admitted by all that the Homeric characters are drawn, +each in its way, by a master's hand. "The most pervading merit +of the Iliad," says one, "is its fidelity and vividness as a +mirror of man, and of the visible sphere in which he lived, with +its infinitely varied imagery, both actual and ideal; and the +task which the great poet set for himself was perfectly +accomplished." "The mind of Homer," says another, "is like an +Æolian harp, so finely strung that it answers to the faintest +movement of the air by a proportionate vibration. With every +stronger current its music rises along an almost immeasurable +scale, which begins with the lowest and softest whisper, and +ends in the full swell of the organ." + +The "lofty march" of the Iliad is also often spoken of as +characteristic of the style in which that great epic is written. +And yet, as has been said, "though its versification is always +appropriate, and therefore never mean, it only rises into +stateliness, or into a terrible sublimity, when Homer has occasion +to brace his energies for an effort. Thus he ushers in with true +grandeur the marshalling of the Greek army, in the Second Book, +partly by the invocation of the Muses, and partly by an assemblage +of no less than six consecutive similes, which describe, +respectively--1st, the flash of the Greek arms and the splendor +of the Grecian hosts; 2d, the swarming numbers; 3d, the resounding +tramp; 4th, the settling down of the ranks as they form the line; +5th, the busy marshalling by the commanders; 6th, the majesty of +the great chief Agamemnon, 'like Mars or Neptune, such as Jove +ordained him, eminent above all his fellow-chiefs.'" + +These similes are brought in with great effect as introductory +to a catalogue of the ships and forces of the Greeks; thus pouring, +from a single point, a broad stream of splendor over the whole; +and although the enumeration which follows is only a plain matter +of business, it is not without its poetical embellishment, and +is occasionally relieved by short legends of the countries and +noted warriors of the different tribes. We introduce these striking +similes here as marked characteristics of the art of Homer, from +whom, it is little exaggeration to say, a very large proportion of +the similes of all subsequent writers have been, more or less +directly, either copied or paraphrased. + +When it has been decided to lead the army to battle, the aged +Nestor thus addresses Agamemnon: + + "Now bid thy heralds sound the loud alarms, + And call the squadrons sheathed in brazen arms; + Now seize the occasion, now the troops survey, + And lead to war when heaven directs the way." + He said: the monarch issued his commands; + Straight the loud heralds call the gathering bands: + The chiefs enclose their king; the hosts divide, + In tribes and nations ranked on either side. + +The appearance of the gathering hosts is then described in the +following + + Similes. + + (1.) As on some mountain, through the lofty grove, + The crackling flames ascend, and blaze above; + The fires expanding, as the winds arise, + Shoot their long beams, and kindle half the skies; + So from the polished arms and brazen shields + A gleamy splendor flashed along the fields. + + (2.) Not less their number than the embodied cranes, + Or milk-white swans on A'sius' watery plains, + That, o'er the windings of Ca-ys'ter's springs, + Stretch their long necks, and clap their rustling wings; + Now tower aloft, and course in airy rounds, + Now light with noise; with noise the field resounds. + + (3.) Thus numerous and confused, extending wide, + The legions crowd Scamander's flowery side; + With rushing troops the plains are covered o'er, + And thundering footsteps shake the sounding shore.' + + (4.) Along the river's level meads they stand, + Thick as in spring the flowers adorn the land, + Or leaves the trees; or thick as insects play, + The wandering nation of a summer's day, + That, drawn by milky streams, at evening hours, + In gathered swarms surround the rural bowers; + From pail to pail with busy murmur run + The gilded legions, glittering in the sun. + So thronged, so close the Grecian squadrons stood + In radiant arms, athirst for Trojan blood. + + (5.) Each leader now his scattered force conjoins + In close array, and forms the deepening lines. + Not with more ease the skilful shepherd swain + Collects his flocks from thousands on the plain. + + (6.) The king of kings, majestically tall, + Towers o'er his armies, and outshines them all; + Like some proud bull, that round the pastures leads + His subject herds, the monarch of the meads, + Great as the gods, the exalted chief was seen, + His chest like Neptune, and like Mars his mien; + Jove o'er his eyes celestial glories spread, + And dawning conquest played around his head. + --POPE'S Trans. + +Similes abound on nearly every page of the Iliad, and they are +always appropriate to the subject. We select from them the +following additional specimen, in which the brightness and number +of the fires of the Trojans, in their encampment, are likened to +the moon and stars in their glory--when, as Cowper translates the +fourth line, "not a vapor streaks the boundless blue." + + As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, + O'er heaven's blue azure spreads her sacred light, + When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, + And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene; + Around her throne the vivid planets roll, + And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole, + O'er the dark trees a yellow verdure shed, + And tip with silver every mountain head; + Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, + A flood of glory bursts from all the skies; + The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, + Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light; + So many fires before proud Ilion blaze, + And lighten glimmering Xanthus with their rays. + --Iliad, B. VIII. POPE'S Trans. + +Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, is said to have declared of the +two great epics of Homer: + + Read Homer once, and you can read no more, + For all books else appear so mean, so poor; + Verse will seem prose; but still persist to read, + And Homer will be all the books you need. + +The following characterization, from the pen of HENRY NELSON +COLERIDGE, is both true and pleasing: + +"There are many hearts and minds to which one of these matchless +poems will be more delightful than the other; there are many to +which both will give equal pleasure, though of different kinds; +but there can hardly be a person, not utterly averse to the Muses, +who will be quite insensible to the manifold charms of one or the +other. The dramatic action of the Iliad may command attention +where the diffused narrative of the Odyssey would fail to do so; +but how can anyone, who loves poetry under any shape, help +yielding up his soul to the virtuous siren-singing of Genius and +Truth, which is forever resounding from the pages of either of +These marvelous and truly immortal poems? In the Iliad will be +found the sterner lessons of public justice or public expedience, +and the examples are for statesmen and generals; in the Odyssey +we are taught the maxims of private prudence and individual virtue, +and the instances are applicable to all mankind: in both, Honesty, +Veracity, and Fortitude are commended, and set up for imitation; +in both, Treachery, Falsehood, and Cowardice are condemned, and +exposed for our scorn and avoidance. + +"Born, like the river of Egypt, in secret light, these poems +yet roll on their great collateral streams, wherein a thousand +poets have bathed their sacred heads, and thence drunk beauty +and truth, and all sweet and noble harmonies. Known to no man +is the time or place of their gushing forth from the earth's +bosom, but their course has been among the fields and by the +dwellings of men, and our children now sport on their banks and +quaff their salutary waters. Of all the Greek poetry, I, for +one, have no hesitation in saying that the Iliad and the Odyssey +are the most delightful, and have been the most instructive works +to me; there is a freshness about them both which never fades, a +truth and sweetness which charmed me as a boy and a youth, and +on which, if I attain to it, I count largely for a soothing +recreation in my old age." + + * * * * * + +II. SOME CAUSES OF GREEK UNITY. + +The natural causes which tended to unite the Greeks as a people +were a common descent, a common language, and a common religion. +Greek genius led the nation to trace its origin, where historical +memory failed, to fabulous persons sprung from the earth or the +gods; and under the legends of primitive and heroic ancestors lie +the actual migrations and conquests of rude bands sprung from +related or allied tribes. These poetical tales, accepted throughout +Hellas as historical, convinced the people of a common origin. +Thus the Greeks had a common share in the renown of their ancient +heroes, upon whose achievements or lineage the claims of families +to hereditary authority, and of states to the leadership of +confederacies, were grounded. The pride or the ambition of political +rivals led to the gradual embellishment of these traditions, and +ended in ancestral worship. Thus Attica had a temple to Theseus, +the Ionian hero; the shrine of Æsculapius at Epidau'rus was famous +throughout the classic world; and the exploits of Hercules were +commemorated by the Dorians at the tomb of a Ne'mean king. When +the bard and the playwright clothed these tales in verse, all +Greece hearkened; and when the painter or the sculptor took these +subjects for his skill, all Greece applauded. Thus was strengthened +the national sense of fraternal blood. + +The possession of a common speech is so great a means of union, +that the Romans imposed the Latin tongue on all public business +and official records, even where Greek was the more familiar +language; and the Mediæval Church displayed her unity by the +use of Latin in every bishopric on all occasions of public worship. +A language not only makes the literature embodied in it the +heritage of all who speak it, but it diffuses among them the +subtle genius which has shaped its growth. The lofty regard in +which the Greeks held their own musical and flexible language is +illustrated by an anecdote of Themis'tocles, who put to death +the interpreter of a Persian embassy to Athens because he dared +"to use the Greek tongue to utter the demands of the barbarian +king." From Col'chis to Spain some Grecian dialect attested the +extent and the unity of the Hellenic race. + +The Greek institutions of religion were still more powerful +instruments of unity. It was the genius of a race destitute of +an organized priesthood, and not the fancy of the poet, which +animated nature by personifying its forces. Zeus was the +all-embracing heavens, the father of gods and men; Neptune +presided over the seas; Deme'ter gave the harvest; Juno was the +goddess of reproduction, and Aphrodi'te the patroness of Jove; +while Apollo represented the joy-inspiring orb of day. The same +imagination raised the earth to sentient life by assigning Dryads +to the trees, Naiads to the fountains and brooks, O're-ads to +the hills, Ner'e-ids to the seas, and Satyrs to the fields; and +in this many-sided and devout sympathy with nature the imagination +and reverence of all Greece found expression. But Greek religion +in its temples, its oracles, its games, and its councils, provided +more tangible bonds of union than those of sentiment. Each city +had its tutelary deity, whose temple was usually the most beautiful +building in it, and to which any Greek might have access to make +his offering or prayer. The sacred precincts were not to be profaned +by those who were polluted with unexpiated crime, nor by blood, +nor by the presence of the dead: Hence the temples of Greece were +places of refuge for those who would escape from private or judicial +vengeance. The more famous oracles of Greece were at Dodo'na, at +Delphi, at Lebade'a in Boeotia, and at Epidaurus in Ar'golis. +They were consulted by those who wished to penetrate the future. +To this superstition the Greeks were greatly addicted, and they +allowed the gravest business to wait for the omens of the diviner. +A people thus disposed demanded and secured unmolested access to +the oracle. The city in whose custody it was must be inviolable, +and the roads thereto unobstructed. The oracle was a national +possession, and its keepers were national servants. + + +THE GRECIAN FESTIVALS. + +The public games or festivals of the Greeks were probably of +greater efficacy in promoting a spirit of union than any other +outgrowth of the religions sentiment of Greece. The Greeks +exhibited a passionate fondness for festivals and games, which +were occasionally celebrated in every state for the amusement +of the people. These, however, were far less interesting than +the four great public games, sacred to the gods, which were--the +Pythian, at Delphos, sacred to Apollo; the Isth'mian, at Corinth, +to Neptune; the Nemean, at Nemea, to Hercules; and the Olympic, +at Olympia in E'lis, to Jupiter. To these cities flocked the +young and the aged, the private citizen and the statesman, the +trader and the artist, to witness or engage in the spectacles. +The games were open to all citizens who could prove their Hellenic +origin; and prizes were awarded for the best exhibitions of skill +in poetry--and in running, wrestling, boxing, leaping, pitching +the discus, or quoit, throwing the javelin, and chariot-racing. + +The most important of these games was the Olympic, though it +involved many principles common to the others. Its origin is +obscure; and, though it appears that during the Heroic Age some +Grecian chiefs celebrated their victories in public games at +Olympia, yet it was not until the time of Lycurgus, in 776 B.C., +that the games at Olympia were brought under certain rules, and +performed at certain periods. At that time they were revived, +so to speak, and were celebrated at the close of every fourth +year. From their quadrennial occurrence all Hellas computed its +chronology, the interval that elapsed between one celebration +and the next being called an Olympiad. During the month that the +games continued there was a complete suspension of all hostilities, +to enable every Greek to attend them without hindrance or danger. + +One of the most popular and celebrated of all the matches held +at these games was chariot-racing, with four horses. The following +description of one of these races is taken from a tragedy of +SOPHOCLES--the Electra--translated by Bulwer. Orestes, son of +Agamemnon, had gained five victories on the first day of the +trial; and on the second, of which the account is here given, +he starts with nine competitors--an Achæan, a Spartan, two Libyans, +an Ætolian, a Magnesian; an Æ'ni-an, an Athenian, and a Boeotian +--and meets his death in the moment of triumph. + + The Chariot-race, and the Death of Orestes. + + They took their stand where the appointed judges + Had cast their lots and ranged the rival cars. + Rang out the brazen trump! Away they bound! + Cheer the hot steeds and shake the slackened reins; + As with a body the large space is filled + With the huge clangor of the rattling cars; + High whirl aloft the dust-clouds; blent together + Each presses each, and the lash rings, and loud + Snort the wild steeds, and from their fiery breath, + Along their manes, and down the circling wheels, + Scatter the flaking foam. + + Orestes still, + Aye, as he swept around the perilous pillar + Last in the course, wheeled in the rushing axle, + The left rein curbed--that on the outer hand + Flung loose. So on erect the chariots rolled! + Sudden the Ænian's fierce and headlong steeds + Broke from the bit, and, as the seventh time now + The course was circled, on the Libyan car + Dashed their wild fronts: then order changed to ruin; + Car dashed on car; the wide Crissæ'an plain + Was, sea-like, strewn with wrecks: the Athenian saw, + Slackened his speed, and, wheeling round the marge, + Unscathed and skilful, in the midmost space, + Left the wild tumult of that tossing storm. + + Behind, Orestes, hitherto the last, + Had kept back his coursers for the close; + Now one sole rival left--on, on he flew, + And the sharp sound of the impelling scourge + Rang in the keen ears of the flying steeds. + He nears--he reaches--they are side by side; + Now one--now th' other--by a length the victor. + The courses all are past, the wheels erect-- + All safe--when, as the hurrying coursers round + The fatal pillar dashed, the wretched boy + Slackened the left rein. On the column's edge + Crashed the frail axle--headlong from the car, + Caught and all mesh'd within the reins, he fell; + And! masterless, the mad steeds raged along! + + Loud from that mighty multitude arose + A shriek--a shout! But yesterday such deeds-- + To-day such doom! Now whirled upon the earth, + Now his limbs dashed aloft, they dragged him, those + Wild horses, till, all gory, from the wheels + Released--and no man, not his nearest friends, + Could in that mangled corpse have traced Orestes. + They laid the body on the funeral pyre, + And, while we speak, the Phocian strangers bear, + In a small, brazen, melancholy urn, + That handful of cold ashes to which all + The grandeur of the beautiful hath shrunk. + Within they bore him--in his father's land + To find that heritage, a tomb. + +The Pythian games are said to have been established in honor +of the victory that Apollo gained at Delphi over the serpent +Py'thon, on setting out to erect his temple. This monster, said +to have sprung from the stagnant waters of the deluge of +Deucalion, may have been none other than the malaria which laid +waste the surrounding country, and which some early benefactor +of the race overcame by draining the marshes; or, perhaps, as +the English writer, Dodwell, suggests, the true explanation of +the allegorical fiction is that the serpent was the river +Cephis'sus, which, after the deluge had overflowed the plains, +surrounded Parnassus with its serpentine involutions, and was +at length reduced, by the rays of the sun-god, within its due +limits. The poet OVID gives the following relation of the fable: + + Apollo's Conflict with Python. + + From hence the surface of the ground, with mud + And slime besmeared (the refuse of the flood), + Received the rays of heaven, and sucking in + The seeds of heat, new creatures did begin. + Some were of several sorts produced before; + But, of new monsters, earth created more. + Unwillingly, but yet she brought to light + Thee, Python, too, the wondering world to fright, + And the new nations, with so dire a sight, + So monstrous was his bulk; so large a space + Did his vast body and long train embrace; + Whom Phoebus, basking on a bank, espied. + Ere now the god his arrows had not tried + But on the trembling deer or mountain-goat: + At this new quarry he prepares to shoot. + + Though every shaft took place, he spent the store + Of his full quiver; and 'twas long before + The expiring serpent wallowed in his gore. + Then, to preserve the fame of such a deed, + For Python slain he Pythian games decreed, + Where noble youths for mastership should strive-- + To quoit, to run, and steeds and chariots drive. + The prize was fame; in witness of renown, + An oaken garland did the victor crown. + The laurel was not yet for triumphs born, + But every green, alike by Phoebus worn, + Did, with promiscuous grace, his flowing locks adorn. + --Metamorphoses. Trans. by DRYDEN. + +The victory of Apollo over the Python is represented by a statue +called Apollo Belvedere, perhaps the greatest existing work of +ancient art. It was found in 1503, among the ruins of ancient +Antium, and it derives its name from its position in the belvedere, +or open gallery, of the Vatican at Rome, where it was placed by +Pope Julius II. It shows the conception which the ancients had +of this benign deity, and also the high degree of perfection to +which they had attained in sculpture. A modern writer gives the +following account of it: + +"The statue is of heroic size, and shows the very perfection +of manly beauty. The god stands with the left arm extended, still +holding the bow, while the right hand, which has just left the +string, is near his hip. This right hand and part of the right +arm, as well as the left hand, were wanting in the statue when +found, and were restored by Angelo da Montor'soli, a pupil of +Michael Angelo. The figure is nude; only a short cloak hangs over +the left shoulder. The breast is full and dilated; the muscles are +conspicuous, though not exaggerated; the body seems a little thin +about the hips, but is poised with such singular grace as to impart +to the whole a beauty hardly possessed by any other statue. The +sculptor is not known: many attribute the statue to He-ge'si-as, +the Ephesian, others to Praxit'e-les or Cal'amis; but its origin +and date must remain a matter of conjecture." + +The following poetical description of this wonderful statue is +given us by THOMSON: + + All conquest-flushed, from prostrate Python came + The quivered god. In graceful act he stands, + His arm extended with the slackened bow: + Light flows his easy robe, and fair displays + A manly, softened form. The bloom of gods + Seems youthful o'er the bearded cheek to wave; + His features yet heroic ardor warms; + And, sweet subsiding to a native smile, + Mixed with the joy elating conquest gives, + A scattered frown exalts his matchless air. + + +THE NATIONAL COUNCILS. + +While the elements of union we have been considering produced +a decided effect in forming Greek national character--serving +to strengthen, in the mind of the Greek, the feelings which bound +him to his country by keeping alive his national love and pride, +and exerting an important influence over his physical education +and discipline--they possessed little or no efficacy as a bond +of political union--what Greece so much needed. It was probably +a recognition of this need that led, at an early period, to the +formation of national councils, the primary object of which was +the regulation of mutual intercourse between the several states. + +Of these early councils we have an example in the several +associations known as the Amphicty'o-nes, of which the only one +that approached a national senate received the distinctive title +of the "Amphictyon'ic Council." This is said to have been +instituted by Amphic'tyon, a son of Deucalion, King of Thessaly; +but he was probably a fictitious personage, invented to account +for the origin of the institution attributed to him. The council +is said to have been composed, originally, of deputies from +twelve tribes or nations--two from each tribe. But, as independent +states or cities grew up, each of these also was entitled to the +same representation; and no state, however powerful, was entitled +to more. The council met twice every year; in the spring at Delphi, +and in the autumn at Anthe'la, a village near Thermopylæ. + +While the objects of this council, so far as they can be learned, +were praiseworthy, and its action tended to produce the happiest +political effects, it was, after all, more especially a religious +association. It had no right of interference in ordinary wars +between the communities represented in it, and could not turn +aside schemes of ambition and conquest, or subdue the jealousies +of rival states. The oath taken by its members ran thus: "We will +not destroy any Amphictyonic town, nor cut it off from running +water in war or peace; if anyone shall do so, we will march +against him and destroy his city. If anyone shall plunder the +property of the god, or shall take treacherous counsel against +the things in his temple at Delphi, we will punish him with foot, +and hand, and voice, and by every means in our power." Its chief +functions, as we see, were to guard the temple of Delphi and the +interests of religion; and it was only in cases of a violation +of these, or under that pretence, that it could call for the +cooperation of all its members. Inefficient as it had proved +to be in many instances, yet Philip of Macedon, by placing himself +at its head, overturned the independence of Greece; but its use +ceased altogether when the Delphic oracle lost its influence, a +considerable time before the reign of Constantine the Great. + +Aside from the causes already assigned, the want of political +union among the Greeks may be ascribed to a natural and mutual +jealousy, which, in the language of Mr. Thirlwall, "stifled even +the thought of a confederacy" that might have prevented internal +wars and saved Greece from foreign dominion. This jealousy the +institutions to which we have referred could not remove; and it +was heightened by the great diversity of the forms of government +that existed in the Grecian states. As another writer has well +observed, "The independent sovereignty of each city was a +fundamental notion in the Greek mind. The patriotism of a Greek +was confined to his city, and rarely kindled into any general +love for the welfare of Hellas. So complete was the political +division between the Greek cities, that the citizen of one was +an alien and a stranger in the territory of another. He was not +merely debarred from all share in the government, but he could +not acquire property in land or houses, nor contract a marriage +with a native woman, nor sue in the courts except through the +medium of a friendly citizen. The cities thus repelling each +other, the sympathies and feelings of a Greek became more central +in his own." + +In view of these conditions it is not surprising that Greece +never enjoyed political unity; and just here was her great and +suicidal weakness. The Romans reduced various races, in habitual +war with one another and marked by variations of dialect and +customs, into a single government, and kept them there; but the +Greeks, though possessing a common inheritance, a common language, +a common religion, and a common type of character, of manners, +and of aspirations, allowed all these common interests, that +might have created an indissoluble political union, to be +subordinated to mutual jealousies--to an "exclusive patriotism" +that rendered it difficult for them to unite even under +circumstances of common and terrible danger. "It was this +political disunion that always led them to turn their arms +against one another, and eventually subjected them to the power +of Macedon and of Rome." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SPARTA, AND THE LEGISLATION OF LYCURGUS. + + Spread on Eurotas' bank, + Amid a circle of soft rising hills, + The patient Sparta stood; the sober, hard, + And man-subduing city; which no shape + Of pain could conquer, nor of pleasure charm. + Lycurgus there built, on the solid base + Of equal life, so well a tempered state, + That firm for ages, and unmoved, it stood + The fort of Greece! + --THOMSON. + +Returning to the Dorians of Peloponnesus, we find, in early +historical times, that Sparta was gradually acquiring an +ascendancy over the other Dorian states, and extending her +dominions throughout the southern portion of the peninsula. This +result was greatly aided by her geographical position. On a +table-land environed by hills, and with arduous descents to the +sea, her natural state was one of great strength, while her sterile +soil promoted frugality, hardihood, and simplicity among her citizens. + +Some time in the ninth century Polydec'tes, one of the Spartan +kings, died without children, and the reins of government fell +into the hands of his brother Lycurgus, who became celebrated +as the "Spartan law-giver." But Lycurgus soon resigned the crown +to the posthumous son of Polydectes, and went into voluntary +exile. He is said to have visited many foreign lands, observing +their institutions and manners, conversing with their sages, and +employing his time in maturing a plan for remedying the many +disorders which afflicted his native country. On his return he +applied himself to the work of framing a new Constitution, having +first consulted the Delphic oracle, which assured him that "the +Constitution he should establish would be the most excellent in +the world." + + * * * * * + +I. THE CONSTITUTION OF LYCURGUS. + +Having enlisted the aid of most of the prominent citizens, who +took up arms to support him, Lycurgus procured the enactment of +a code of laws founded on the institutions of the Cretan Minos, +by which the form of government, the military discipline of the +people, the distribution of property, the education of the +citizens, and the rules of domestic life were to be established +on a new and immutable basis. The account which Plutarch gives +of these regulations asserts that Lycurgus first established a +senate of thirty members, chosen for life, the two kings being +of the number, and that the former shared the power of the latter. +There were also to be assemblies of the people, who were to have +no right to propose any subject of debate, but were only authorized +to ratify or reject what might be proposed to them by the senate +and the kings. Lycurgus next made a division of the lands, for +here he found great inequality existing, as there were many indigent +persons who had no lands, and the wealth was centered in the +hands of a few. + +In order farther to remove inequalities among the citizens, +Lycurgus next attempted to divide the movable property; but as +this measure met with great opposition, he had recourse to another +method for accomplishing the same object. He stopped the currency +of gold and silver coin, and permitted iron money only to be used; +and to a great quantity and weight of this he assigned but a small +value, so that to remove one or two hundred dollars of this money +would require a yoke of oxen. This regulation is said to have put +an end to many kinds of injustice; for "who," says Plutarch, "would +steal or take a bribe; who would defraud or rob when he could not +conceal the booty--when he could neither be dignified by the +possession of it nor be served by its use?" Unprofitable and +superfluous arts were also excluded, trade with foreign states +was abandoned, and luxury, losing its sources of support, died +away of itself. + +Through the efforts of Lycurgus, Sparta was delivered from the +evils of anarchy and misrule, and began a long period of +tranquillity and order. Its progress was mainly due, however, +to that part of the legislation of Lycurgus which related to +the military discipline and education of its citizens. The position +of Sparta, an unfortified city surrounded by numerous enemies, +compelled the Spartans to be a nation of soldiers. From his birth +every Spartan belonged to the state; sickly and deformed children +were destroyed, those only being thought worthy to live who promised +to become useful members of society. The principal object of +Spartan education, therefore, was to render the Spartan youth +expert in manly exercises, hardy, and courageous; and at seven +years of age he began a course of physical training of great +hardship and even torture. Manhood was not reached until the +thirtieth year, and thenceforth, until his sixtieth year, the +Spartan remained under public discipline and in the service of +the state. The women, also, were subjected to a course of training +almost as rigorous as that of the men, and they took as great +an interest in the welfare of their country and in the success +of its arms. "Return, either with your shield or upon it," was +their exhortation to their sons when the latter were going to +battle. The following lines, supposed to be addressed by a Spartan +mother to the dead body of her son, whom she had slain because +he had ingloriously fled from the battle-field, will illustrate +the Spartan idea of patriotic virtue which was so sedulously +instilled into every Spartan: + + Deme'trius, when he basely fled the field, + A Spartan born, his Spartan mother killed; + Then, stretching forth his bloody sword, she cried + (Her teeth fierce gnashing with disdainful pride), + "Fly, cursed offspring, to the shades below, + Where proud Euro'tas shall no longer flow + For timid hinds like thee! Fly, trembling slave, + Abandoned wretch, to Pluto's darkest cave! + For I so vile a monster never bore: + Disowned by Sparta, thou'rt my son no more." + --TYMNÆ'US. + +There were three classes among the population of Laconia--the +Dorians, of Sparta; their serfs, the He'lots; and the people of +the provincial districts. The former, properly called Spartans, +were the ruling caste, who neither employed themselves in +agriculture nor practiced any mechanical art. The Helots were +slaves, who, as is generally believed, on account of their +obstinate resistance in some early wars, and subsequent conquest, +had been reduced to the most degrading servitude. The people of +the provincial districts were a mixed race, composed partly of +strangers who had accompanied the Dorians and aided them in their +conquest, and partly of the old inhabitants of the country who +had submitted to the conquerors. The provincials were under the +control of the Spartan government, in the administration of which +they had no share, and the lands which they held were tributary to +the state; they formed an important part of the military force of +the country, and had little to complain of but the want of +political independence. + + * * * * * + +II. SPARTAN POETRY AND MUSIC. + +With all her devotion to the pursuit of arms, the bard, the +sculptor, and the architect found profitable employment in Sparta. +While the Spartans never exhibited many of those qualities of +mind and heart which were cultivated at Athens with such wonderful +success, they were not strangers to the influences of poetry and +music. Says the poet CAMPBELL, "The Spartans used not the trumpet +in their march into battle, because they wished not to excite +the rage of their warriors. Their charging step was made to the +'Dorian mood of flute and soft recorder.' The valor of a Spartan +was too highly tempered to require a stunning or rousing impulse. +His spirit was like a steed too proud for the spur." + + They marched not with the trumpet's blast, + Nor bade the horn peal out, + And the laurel-groves, as on they passed, + Rung with no battle-shout! + + They asked no clarion's voice to fire + Their souls with an impulse high; + But the Dorian reed and the Spartan lyre + For the sons of liberty! + + And still sweet flutes, their path around, + Sent forth Eolian breath; + They needed not a sterner sound + To marshal them for death! + --MRS. HEMANS. + +"The songs of the Spartans," says PLUTARCH, "had a spirit which +could rouse the soul, and impel it in an enthusiastic manner to +action. They consisted chiefly of the praises of heroes that had +died for Sparta, or else of expressions of detestation for such +wretches as had declined the glorious opportunity. Nor did they +forget to express an ambition for glory suitable to their respective +ages. Of this it may not be amiss to give an instance. There +were three choirs in their festivals, corresponding with the +three ages of man. The old men began, + + 'Once in battle bold we shone;' + +the young men answered, + + 'Try us; our vigor is not gone;' + +and the boys concluded, + + 'The palm remains for us alone.' + +Indeed, if we consider with some attention such of the +Lacedæmonian poems as are still extant, and enter into the spirit +of those airs which were played upon the flute when marching to +battle, we must agree that Terpan'der and Pindar have very fitly +joined valor and music together. The former thus speaks of +Lacedæmon: + + Then gleams the youth's bright falchion; then the Muse + Lifts her sweet voice; then awful Justice opes + Her wide pavilion. + +And Pindar sings, + + Then in grave council sits the sage: + Then burns the youth's resistless rage + To hurl the quiv'ring lance; + The Muse with glory crowns their arms, + And Melody exerts her charms, + And Pleasure leads the dance. + +Thus we are informed not only of their warlike turn, but of their +skill in music." + +The poet ION, of Chios, gives us the following elegant description +of the power of Sparta: + + The town of Sparta is not walled with words; + But when young A'res falls upon her men, + Then reason rules, and the hand does the deed. + + * * * * * + +III. SPARTA'S CONQUESTS. + +Under the constitution of Lycurgus Sparta began her career of +conquest. Of the death of the great law-giver we have no reliable +account; but it is stated that, having bound the Spartans to make +no change in the laws until his return, he voluntarily banished +himself forever from his country and died in a foreign land. +During a century or more subsequent to the time of Lycurgus, the +Spartans remained at peace with their neighbors; but jealousies +arose between them and the Messe'nians, a people west of Laconia, +which, stimulated by insults and injuries on both sides, gave +rise to the FIRST MESSENIAN WAR, 743 years before the Christian +era. For the first four years the Spartans made little progress; +but in the fifth year of the war a great battle was fought, and, +although its result was indecisive, the Messenians deemed it +prudent to retire to the strongly fortified mountain of Itho'me. +In the eighteenth year of the conflict the Spartans suffered a +severe defeat, and were driven back into their own territory; +but at the close of the twentieth year the Messenians were obliged +to abandon their fortress of Ithome, and leave their rich fields +in the undisturbed possession of their conquerors. Many of the +inhabitants fled into Arcadia and other friendly territories, +while those who remained were treated with great severity, and +reduced to the condition of the Helots. + +The war thus closed developed the warlike spirit that the +institutions of Lycurgus were so well calculated to encourage; +and the Spartans were so stern and unyielding in their exactions, +that they drove the Messenians to revolt thirty-nine years later, +685 B.C. The Messenians found an able leader in Aristom'enes, +whose valor in the first battle struck fear into his enemies, +and inspired his countrymen with confidence. In this struggle +the Argives, Arcadians, Si-çy-o'nians, and Pisa'tans aided +Messenia, while the Corinthians assisted Sparta. In alarm the +Spartans sought the advice of the Delphic oracle, and received +the mortifying response that they must seek a leader from the +Athenians, between whose country and Laconia there had been no +intercourse for several centuries. Fearing to disobey the oracle, +but reluctant to further the cause of the Spartans, the Athenians +sent to the latter the poet TYRTÆ'US, who had no distinction as a +warrior. His patriotic and martial odes, however, roused the spirit +of the Spartans, and animated them to new efforts against the +foe. He appears as the great hero of Sparta during the SECOND +MESSENIAN WAR, and of his songs that have come down to us we give +the following as a specimen: + + To the field, to the field, gallant Spartan band, + Worthy sons, like your sires, of our warlike land! + Let each arm be prepared for its part in the fight, + Fix the shield on the left, poise the spear with the right; + Let no care for your lives in your bosoms find place, + No such care knew the heroes of old Spartan race. + [Footnote: Mure's "History of Greek Literature," + vol. iii., p. 195.] + +But the Spartans were not immediately successful. In the first +battle that ensued they were defeated with severe loss; but in +the third year of the war the Messenians suffered a signal defeat, +owing to the treachery of Aristoc'rates, the king of their Arcadian +allies, who deserted them in the heat of battle, and Aristomenes +retired to the mountain fortress of Ira. The war continued, with +varying success, seventeen years in all; throughout the whole of +which period Aristomenes distinguished himself by many noble +exploits; but all his efforts to save his country were ineffectual. +A second time Sparta conquered (668 B.C.), and the yoke appeared +to be fixed on Messenia forever. Thenceforward the growing power +of Sparta seemed destined to undisputed pre-eminence, not only +in the Peloponnesus, but throughout all Greece. Before 600 B.C. +Sparta had conquered the upper valley of the Eurotas from the +Arcadians, and, forty years later, compelled Te'gea, the capital +of Arcadia, to acknowledge her supremacy. Still later, in 524 +B.C., a long struggle with the Argives was terminated in favor +of Sparta, and she was now the most powerful of the Grecian states. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, AND CHANGES IN GRECIAN POLITICS. + +Although Greek political writers taught that there were, primarily, +but three forms of government--monarchy, or the rule of one; +aristocracy, that of the few; and democracy, that of the many +--the latter always limited by the Greeks to the freemen--yet +it appears that when anyone of these degenerated from its supposed +legitimate object, the welfare of the state, it was marked by a +peculiar name. Thus a monarchy in which selfish aims predominated +became a tyranny; and in later Grecian history, such was the +prevailing sentiment in opposition to kingly rule that all kings +were called tyrants: an aristocracy which directed its measures +chiefly to the preservation of its power became an oligarchy; and +a democracy that departed from the civil and political equality +which was its supposed basis, and gave ascendancy to a faction, +was sometimes designated by the term ochlocracy, or the dominion +of the rabble. "A democracy thus corrupted," says THIRLWALL, +"exhibited many features of a tyranny. It was jealous of all +who were eminently distinguished by birth, fortune, or reputation; +it encouraged flatterers and sycophants; was insatiable in its +demands on the property of the rich, and readily listened to +charges which exposed them to death or confiscation. The class +which suffered such oppression, commonly ill satisfied with the +principle of the Constitution itself, was inflamed with the most +furious animosity by the mode in which it was applied, and it +regarded the great mass of its fellow-citizens as its mortal +enemies." + +As in all the Greek states there was a large class of people not +entitled to the full rights of citizenship, including, among +others, persons reduced to slavery as prisoners of war, and +foreign settlers and their descendants, so there was no such +form of government as that which the moderns understand by a +complete democracy. Of a republic also, in the modern acceptation +of the term--that is, a representative democracy--the Greeks +knew nothing. As an American statesman remarks, "Certain it is +that the greatest philosophers among them would have regarded as +something monstrous a republic spreading over half a continent +and embracing twenty-six states, each of which would have itself +been an empire, and not a commonwealth, in their sense of the +word."[Footnote: Hugh S. Legaré's Writings, vol. i., p.440.] + + * * * * * + +I. CHANGES FROM ARISTOCRACIES TO OLIGARCHIES. + +During several centuries succeeding the period of the supposed +Trojan war, a gradual change occurred in the political history +of the Grecian states, the results of which were an abandonment +of much of the kingly authority that prevailed through the Heroic +Age. At a still later period this change was followed by the +introduction and establishment, at first, of aristocracies, and, +finally, of democratic forms of government; which latter decided +the whole future character of the public life of the Grecians. +The three causes, more prominent than the rest, that are assigned +by most writers for these changes, and the final adoption of +democratic forms, are, first, the more enlarged views occasioned +by the Trojan war, and the dissensions which followed the return +of those engaged in it; second, the great convulsions that attended +the Thessalian, Boeotian, and Dorian migrations; and, third, the +free principles which intercourse and trade with the Grecian +colonies naturally engendered. + +But of these causes the third tended, more than any other one, +to change the political condition of the Grecians. Whether the +migrations of the Greek colonists were occasioned, as they +generally were, by conquests that drove so many from their homes +to seek an asylum in foreign lands, or were undertaken, as was +the case in some instances, with the consent and encouragement +of the parent states, there was seldom any feeling of dependence +on the one side, and little or no claim of authority on the other. +This was especially the case with the Ionians, who had scarcely +established themselves in Asia Minor when they shook off the +authority of the princes who conducted them to their new settlements, +and established a form of government more democratic than any +which then existed in Greece. + +With the rapid progress of mercantile industry and maritime +discovery, on which the prosperity of the colonies depended, a +spirit of independence grew up, which erelong exerted an influence +on the parent states of Greece, and encouraged the growth of free +principles there. "Freedom," says an eloquent author,[Footnote: +Heeren, "Polities of Ancient Greece," p. 103.] "ripens in colonies. +Ancient usage cannot be preserved, cannot altogether be renewed, +as at home. The former bonds of attachment to the soil, and ancient +customs, are broken by the voyage; the spirit feels itself to be +more free in the new country; new strength is required for the +necessary exertions; and those exertions are animated by success. +When every man lives by the labor of his hands, equality arises, +even if it did not exist before. Each day is fraught with new +experience; the necessity of common defence is more felt in lands +where the new settlers find ancient inhabitants desirous of being +free from them. Need we wonder, then, if the authority of the +founders of the Grecian colonies, even where it had originally +existed, soon gave way to liberty?" + +But the changes in the political principles of the Grecian states +were necessarily slow, and were usually attended with domestic +quarrels and convulsions. Monarchy, in most instances, was +abolished by first taking away its title, and substituting that +of archon, or chief magistrate, a term less offensive than that +of king; next, by making the office of chief ruler elective, +first in one family, then in more--first for life, then for a +term of years; and, finally, by dividing the power among several +of the nobility, thus forming an aristocracy or oligarchy. At +the time in Grecian history to which we have come democracy was +as yet unknown; but the principal Grecian states, with the +exception of Sparta, which always retained the kingly form of +government, had abolished royalty and substituted oligarchy. This +change did not better the condition of the people, who, increasing +in numbers and intelligence, while the ruling class declined in +numbers and wealth, became conscious of their resources, and put +forward their claims to a representation in the government. + + * * * * * + +II. FROM OLIGARCHIES TO DESPOTISMS. + +The fall of the oligarchies was not accomplished, however, by +the people. "The commonalty," says THIRLWALL, "even when really +superior in strength, could not all at once shake off the awe +with which it was impressed by years of subjection. It needed a +leader to animate, unite, and direct it; and it was seldom that +one capable of inspiring it with confidence could be found in +its own ranks," Hence this leader was generally found in an +ambitions citizen, perhaps a noble or a member of the oligarchy, +who, by artifice and violence, would make himself the supreme +ruler of the state. Under such circumstances the overthrow of +an oligarchy was not a triumph of the people, but only the +triumph of a then popular leader. To such a one was given the +name of tyrant, but not in the sense that we use the term. HEEREN +says, "The Grecians connected with this word the idea of an +illegitimate, but not necessarily of a cruel, government." As +the word therefore signifies simply the irresponsible rule of a +single person, such person may be more correctly designated by +the term despot, or usurper; although, in point of fact, the +government was frequently of the most cruel and tyrannical +character. + +"The merits of this race of rulers," says BULWER, "and the +unconscious benefits they produced, have not been justly +appreciated, either by ancient or modern historians. Without her +tyrants Greece might never have established her democracies. The +wiser and more celebrated tyrants were characterized by an extreme +modesty of deportment: they assumed no extraordinary pomp, no +lofty titles--they left untouched, or rendered yet more popular, +the outward forms and institutions of the government--they were +not exacting in taxation--they affected to link themselves with +the lowest orders and their ascendancy was usually productive of +immediate benefit to the working-classes, whom they employed in +new fortifications or new public buildings--dazzling the citizens +by a splendor that seemed less the ostentation of an individual +than the prosperity of a state. It was against the aristocracy, +not against the people, that they directed their acute sagacities +and unsparing energies. Every politic tyrant was a Louis the +Eleventh, weakening the nobles, creating a middle class. He +effected his former object by violent and unscrupulous means. He +swept away by death or banishment all who opposed his authority +or excited his fears. He thus left nothing between the state and +a democracy but himself; and, himself removed, democracy naturally +and of course ensued."[Footnote: "Athens: Its Rise and Fall," +vol. i., pp. 148, 149.] + +From the middle of the seventh century B.C., and during a period +of over one hundred and fifty years, there were few Grecian cities +that escaped a despotic government. While the history of Athens +affords, perhaps, the most striking example of it, the longest +tyranny in Greece was that in the city of Si'çyon, which lasted +a hundred years under Orthag'orus and his sons. Their dynasty was +founded about 676 B.C., and its long duration is ascribed to its +mildness and moderation. The last of this dynasty was Clis'thenes, +whose daughter became the mother of the Athenian Clisthenes, the +founder of democracy at Athens on the expulsion of the Pisistrat'idæ. +The despots of Corinth were more celebrated. Their dynasty endured +seventy-four years, having been founded in the year 655. Under +Perian'der, who succeeded to power in 625, and whose government +was cruel and oppressive, Corinth reached her highest prosperity. +His reign lasted upward of forty years, and soon after his death +the dynasty ended, being overpowered by Sparta. + +Across the isthmus from Corinth was the city of Meg'ara, of which, +in 630 B.C., Theag'enes, a bold and ambitious man, made himself +despot. Like many other usurpers of his time, he adorned the +city with splendid and useful buildings. But he was overthrown +after a rule of thirty years, and a violent struggle then ensued +between the oligarchy and the people. At first the latter were +successful; they banished many of the nobles, and confiscated +their property, but the exiles returned, and by force of arms +recovered their power. Still the struggle continued, and it was +not until after many years that an oligarchical government was +firmly established. Much interest is added to these revolutions +in Megara by the writings of THEOG'NIS, a contemporary poet, and +a member of the oligarchical party. "His writings," says THIRLWALL, +"are interesting, not so much for the historical facts contained +in them as for the light they throw on the character and feelings +of the parties which divided his native city and so many others." + +In the poems of THEOGNIS "his keen sense of his personal sufferings +is almost absorbed in the vehement grief and indignation with +which he contemplates the state of Megara, the triumph of the +bad [his usual term for the people], and the degradation of the +good [the members of the old aristocracy]." Some of the social +changes which the popular revolution had effected are thus described: + + Our commonwealth preserves its former fame: + Our common people are no more the same. + They that in skins and hides were rudely dressed, + Nor dreamed of law, nor sought to be redressed + By rules of right, but in the days of old + Lived on the land like cattle in the fold, + Are now the Brave and Good; and we, the rest, + Are now the Mean and Bad, though once the best. + +It appears, also, that some of the aristocracy by birth had so +far forgotten their leading position as to inter-marry with those +who had become possessed of much wealth; and of this condition of +things the poet complains as follows: + + But in the daily matches that we make + The price is everything; for money's sake + Men marry--women are in marriage given; + The Bad or Coward, that in wealth has thriven, + May match his offspring with the proudest race: + Thus everything is mixed, noble and base. + +The usurpations in Sicyon, Corinth, and Megara furnish illustrations +of what occurred in nearly all of the Grecian states during the +seventh and sixth centuries before the Christian era. Some of +those of a later period will be noticed in a subsequent chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE EARLY HISTORY OF ATHENS. + +I. THE LEGISLATION OF DRACO. + +As we have already stated, the successive encroachments on the +royal prerogatives that followed the death of Co'drus, and that +finally resulted in the establishment of an oligarchy, are almost +the only events that fill the meager annals of Athens for several +centuries, or down to 683 B.C. "Here, as elsewhere," says a +distinguished historian, "a wonderful stillness suddenly follows +the varied stir of enterprise and adventure, and the throng of +interesting characters that present themselves to our view in the +Heroic Age. Life seems no longer to offer anything for poetry to +celebrate, or for history to record." The history of Athens, +therefore, may be said to begin with the institution of the nine +annual archons in 683 B.C. These possessed all authority, religious, +civil, and military. The Athenian populace not only enjoyed no +political rights, but were reduced to a condition only a little +above servitude; and it appears to have been owing to the anarchy +that arose from the ruinous extortions of the nobles on the one +hand, and the resistance of the people on the other, that Dra'co, +the most eminent of the nobility, was chosen to prepare the first +written code of laws for the government of the state (624 B.C.). + +Draco prepared his code in conformity to the spirit and the interest +of the ruling class, and the severity of his laws has made his +name proverbial. It has been said of them that they were written, +not in ink, but in blood. He attached the same penalty to petty +thefts as to sacrilege and murder, saying that the former offences +deserved death, and he had no greater punishment for the latter. +Of course, the legislation of Draco failed to calm the prevailing +discontent, and human nature soon revolted against such legalized +butchery. Says an English author, "The first symptoms in Athens of +the political crisis which, as in other of the Grecian states, +marked the transition of power from the oligarchic to the popular +party, now showed itself." Cy'lon, an Athenian of wealth and +good, family, had married the daughter of Theagenes, the despot +of Megara. Encouraged by his father-in-law's success, he conceived +the design of seizing the Acropolis at the next Olympic festival +and making himself master of Athens. Accordingly, at that time +he seized the Acropolis with a considerable force; but not having +the support of the mass of the people the conspiracy failed, and +most of those engaged in it were put to death. + + * * * * * + +II. LEGISLATION OF SOLON. + +The Commonwealth was finally reduced to complete anarchy, without +law, or order, or system in the administration of justice, when +Solon, who was descended from Codrus, was raised to the office +of first magistrate (594 B.C.). Solon was born in Salamis, about +638 B.C., and his first appearance in public life at Athens occurred +in this wise: A few years prior to the year 600 the Island of +Salamis had revolted from Athens to Megara. The Athenians had +repeatedly failed in their attempts to recover it, and, finally, +the odium of defeat was such that a law was passed forbidding, +upon pain of death, any proposition for the renewal of the +enterprise. Indignant at this pusillanimous policy, Solon devised +a plan for rousing his countrymen to action. Having some poetical +talent, he composed a poem on the loss of Salamis, and, feigning +madness in order to evade the penalty of the law, he rushed into +the market-place. PLUTARCH says, "A great number of people flocking +about him there, he got up on the herald's stone, and sang the +elegy which begins thus: + + 'Hear and attend; from Salamis I came + To show your error.'" + +The stratagem was successful: the law was repealed, an expedition +against Salamis was intrusted to the command of Solon, and in +one campaign he drove the Megarians from the island. + +Solon the poet, orator, and soldier, became the judicious law-giver, +whose fame reached the remotest parts of the then known world, +and whose laws became the basis of those of the Twelve Tables of +Rome. Says an English poet, + + Who knows not Solon, last, and wisest far, + Of those whom Greece, triumphant in the height + Of glory, styled her father? him whose voice + Through Athens hushed the storm of civil wrath; + Taught envious Want and cruel Wealth to join + In friendship, and with sweet compulsion tamed + Minerva's eager people to his laws, + Which their own goddess in his breast inspired? + --AKENSIDE. + +Having been raised, as stated, to the office of first archon, +Solon was chosen, by the consent or an parties, as the arbiter +of their differences, and invested with full authority to frame +a new Constitution and a new code of laws. He might easily have +perverted this almost unlimited power to dangerous uses, and his +friends urged him to make himself supreme ruler of Athens. But +he told them, "Tyranny is a fair field, but it has no outlet;" +and his stern integrity was proof against all temptations to +swerve from the path of honor and betray the trust reposed in him. + +The ridicule to which he was exposed for rejecting a usurper's +power he has described as follows: + + Nor wisdom's palm, nor deep-laid policy + Can Solon boast. For when its noblest blessings + Heaven poured into his lap, he spurned them from him; + Where was his sense and spirit when enclosed + He found the choicest prey, nor deigned to draw it? + Who, to command fair Athens but one day, + Would not himself, with all his race, have fallen + Contented on the morrow? + +The grievous exactions of the ruling orders had already reduced +the laboring classes to poverty and abject dependence; and all +whom bad times or casual disasters had compelled to borrow had +been impoverished by the high rates of interest; while thousands +of insolvent debtors had been sold into slavery, to satisfy the +demands of relentless creditors. In this situation of affairs the +most violent or needy demanded a new distribution of property; +while the rich would have held on to all the fruits of their +extortion and tyranny. Pursuing a middle course between these +extremes, Solon relieved the debtor by reducing the rate of +interest and enhancing the value of the currency: he also relieved +the lands of the poor from all encumbrances; he abolished +imprisonment for debt; he restored to liberty those whom poverty +had placed in bondage; and he repealed all the laws of Draco +except those against murder. He next arranged all the citizens +in four classes, according to their landed property; the first +class alone being eligible to the highest civil offices and the +highest commands in the army, while only a few of the lower +offices were open to the second and third classes. The latter +classes, however, were partially relieved from taxation; but in +war they were required to do duty, the one as cavalry, and the +other as heavy-armed infantry. + +Individuals of the fourth class were excluded from all offices, +but in return they were wholly exempt from taxation; and yet they +had a share in the government, for they were permitted to take +part in the popular assemblies, which had the right of confirming +or rejecting new laws, and of electing the magistrates; and here +their votes counted the same as those of the wealthiest of the +nobles. In war they served only as light troops or manned the +fleets. Thus the system of Solon, being based primarily on property +qualifications, provided for all the freemen; and its aim was to +bestow upon the commonalty such a share in the government as would +enable it to protect itself, and to give to the wealthy what was +necessary for retaining their dignity--throwing the burdens of +government on the latter, and not excluding the former from its +benefits. + +Solon retained the magistracy of the nine archons, but with +abridged powers; and, as a guard against democratical +extravagance on the one hand, and a check to undue assumptions +of power on the other, he instituted a Senate of Four Hundred, +and founded or remodeled the court of the Areop'agus. The Senate +consisted of members selected by lot from the first three classes; +but none could be appointed to this honor until they had undergone +a strict examination into their past lives, characters, and +qualifications. The Senate was to be consulted by the archons +in all important matters, and was to prepare all new laws and +regulations, which were to be submitted to the votes of the +assembly of the people. The court of the Areopagus, which held +its sittings on an eminence on the western side of the Athenian +Acropolis, was composed of persons who had held the office of +archon, and was the supreme tribunal in all capital cases. It +exercised, also, a general superintendence over education, morals, +and religion; and it could suspend a resolution of the public +assembly, which it deemed foolish or unjust, until it had undergone +a reconsideration. It was this court that condemned the +philosopher Socrates to death; and before this same venerable +tribunal the apostle Paul, six hundred years later, made his +memorable defence of Christianity. + +Such is a brief outline of the institutions of Solon, which exhibit +a mingling of aristocracy and democracy well adapted to the +character of the age and the circumstances of the people. They +evidently exercised much less control over the pursuits and +domestic habits of individuals than the Spartan code, but at the +same time they show a far greater regard for the public morals. +The success of Solon is well summed up in the following brief +tribute to his virtues and genius, by the poet THOMSON: + + He built his commonweal + On equity's wide base: by tender laws + A lively people curbing, yet undamped; + Preserving still that quick, peculiar fire, + Whence in the laurelled field of finer arts + And of bold freedom they unequalled shone, + The pride of smiling Greece, and of mankind. + +Solon is said to have declared that his laws were not the best +which he could devise, but were the best that the Athenians could +receive. In the following lines we have his own estimate of the +services he rendered in behalf of his distracted state: + + "The force of snow and furious hail is sent + From swelling clouds that load the firmament. + Thence the loud thunders roar, and lightnings glare + Along the darkness of the troubled air. + Unmoved by storms, old Ocean peaceful sleeps + Till the loud tempest swells the angry deeps. + And thus the State, in full distraction toss'd, + Oft by its noblest citizen is lost; + And oft a people once secure and free, + Their own imprudence dooms to tyranny. + My laws have armed the crowd with useful might, + Have banished honors and unequal right, + Have taught the proud in wealth, and high in place, + To reverence justice and abhor disgrace; + And given to both a shield, their guardian tower, + Against ambition's aims and lawless power." + + * * * * * + +III. THE USURPATION OF PISIS'TRATUS. + +The legislation of Solon was not followed by the total extinction +of party-spirit, and, while he was absent from Athens on a visit +to Egypt and other Eastern countries, the three prominent factions +in the state renewed their ancient feuds. Pisistratus, a wealthy +kinsman of Solon, who had supported the measures of the latter +by his eloquence and military talents, had the art to gain the +favor of the mass of the people and constitute himself their +leader. AKENSIDE thus happily describes him as-- + + The great Pisistratus! that chief renowned, + Whom Hermes and the Ida'lian queen had trained, + Even from his birth, to every powerful art + Of pleasing and persuading; from whose lips + Flowed eloquence which, like the vows of love, + Could steal away suspicion from the hearts + Of all who listened. Thus, from day to day + He won the general suffrage, and beheld + Each rival overshadowed and depressed + Beneath his ampler state; yet oft complained + As one less kindly treated, who had hoped + To merit favor, but submits perforce + To find another's services preferred, + Nor yet relaxeth aught of faith or zeal. + Then tales were scattered of his envious foes, + Of snares that watched his fame, of daggers aimed + Against his life. + +When his schemes were ripe for execution, Pisistratus one day +drove into the public square of Athens, his mules and himself +disfigured with recent wounds inflicted by his own hands, but +which he induced the multitude to believe had been received from +a band of assassins, whom his enemies, the nobility, had hired to +murder "the friend of the people." Of this scene the same poet says: + + At last, with trembling limbs, + His hair diffused and wild, his garments loose, + And stained with blood from self-inflicted wounds, + He burst into the public place, as there, + There only were his refuge; and declared + In broken words, with sighs of deep regret, + The mortal danger he had scarce repelled. + +The ruse was successful. An assembly was at once convoked by his +partisans, and the indignant crowd immediately voted him a guard +of fifty citizens to protect his person, although Solon, who had +returned to Athens and was present, warned them of the pernicious +consequences of such a measure. + +Pisistratus soon took advantage of the favor he had gained, and, +arming a large body of his adherents, he threw off the mask and +seized the Acropolis. Solon alone, firm and undaunted, publicly +presented himself in the market-place, and called upon the people +to resist the usurpation. + + Solon, with swift indignant strides + The assembled people seeks; proclaims aloud + It was no time for counsel; in their spears + Lay all their prudence now: the tyrant yet + Was not so firmly seated on his throne, + But that one shock of their united force + Would dash him from the summit of his pride + Headlong and grovelling in the dust. + +But his appeal was in vain, and Pisistratus, without opposition, +made himself master of Athens. The usurper made no change in +the Constitution, and suffered the laws to take their course. +He left Solon undisturbed; and it is said that the aged patriot, +rejecting all offers of favor, went into voluntary exile, and +soon after died at Salamis. Twice was Pisistratus driven from +Athens by a coalition of the opposing factions, but he regained +the sovereignty and succeeded in holding it until his death +(527 B.C.). Although he tightened the reins of government, he +ruled with equity and mildness, and adorned Athens with many +magnificent and useful works, among them the Lyceum, that +subsequently became the famous resort of philosophers and poets. +He is also said to have been the first person in Greece who +collected a library, which he threw open to the public; and to +him posterity is indebted for the collection of Homer's poems. +THIRLWALL says: "On the whole, though we cannot approve of the +steps by which Pisistratus mounted to power, we must own that he +made a princely use of it; and may believe that, though under his +dynasty Athens could never have risen to the greatness she afterward +attained, she was indebted to his rule for a season of repose, +during which she gained much of that strength which she finally +unfolded." + + +THE TYRANNY AND THE DEATH OF HIP'PIAS. + +On the death of Pisistratus his sons Hippias, Hippar'chus, and +Thes'salus succeeded to his power, and for some years trod in +his steps and carried out his plans, only taking care to fill +the most important offices with their friends, and keeping a +standing force of foreign mercenaries to secure themselves from +hostile factions and popular outbreaks. After a joint reign of +fourteen years, a conspiracy was formed to free Attica from their +rule, at the head of which were two young Athenians, Harmo'dius +and Aristogi'ton, whose personal resentment had been provoked by +an atrocious insult to the family of the former. One of the +brothers was killed, but the two young Athenians also lost their +lives in the struggle. Hippias, the elder of the rulers, now +became a cruel tyrant, and soon alienated the affections of the +people, who obtained the aid of the Spartans, and the family of +the Pisistratids was driven from Athens, never to regain its +former ascendancy (510 B.C.). Hippias fled to the court of +Artapher'nes, governor of Lydia, then a part of the Persian +dominion of Dari'us, where his intrigues largely contributed to +the opening of a war between Persia and Greece. + +The names of Harmodius and Aristogiton have been immortalized +by what some writers term "the ignorant or prejudiced gratitude +of the Athenians." DR. ANTHON considers them cowardly conspirators, +entitled to no heroic honors. But, as he says, statues were erected +to them at the public expense; and when an orator wished to suggest +the idea of the highest merit and of the noblest services to the +cause of liberty, he never failed to remind his hearers of Harmodius +and Aristogiton. Their names never ceased to be repeated with +affectionate admiration in the convivial songs of Athens, which +assigned them a place in the islands of the "blessed," by the +side of Achilles and Tydi'des. From one of the most famous and +popular of these songs, by CALLIS'TRATUS, we give the following +verses: + + Harmodius, hail! Though 'reft of breath, + Thou ne'er shalt feel the stroke of death; + The heroes' happy isles shall be + The bright abode allotted thee. + * * * * * + While freedom's name is understood + You shall delight the wise and good; + You dared to set your country free, + And gave her laws equality. + + * * * * * + +IV. THE BIRTH OF DEMOCRACY. + +On the expulsion of Hippias, Clis'thenes, to whom Athens was +mainly indebted for its liberation from the Pisistratids, aspired +to the political leadership of the state. But he was opposed by +Isag'oras, who was supported by the nobility. In order to make +his cause popular, Clisthenes planned, and succeeded in executing, +a change in the Constitution of Solon, which gave to the people +a greater share in the government. He divided the people into ten +tribes, instead of the old Ionic four tribes, and these in turn +were subdivided into districts or townships called de'mes. He +increased the powers and duties of the Senate, giving to it five +hundred members, with fifty from each tribe; and he placed the +administration of the military service in the hands of ten +generals, one being taken from each tribe. The reforms of +Clisthenes gave birth to the Athenian democracy. As THIRLWALL +observes, "They had the effect of transforming the commonalty +into a new body, furnished with new organs, and breathing a new +spirit, which was no longer subject to the slightest control +from any influence, save that of wealth and personal qualities, +in the old nobility. The whole frame of the state was reorganized +to correspond with the new division of the country." + +On the application of Isagoras and his party, Sparta, jealous +of the growing strength of Athens, made three unsuccessful attempts +to overthrow the Athenian democracy, and reinstate Hippias in +supreme command. She finally abandoned the project, as she could +find no allies to assist in the enterprise. "Athens had now entered +upon her glorious career. The institutions of Clisthenes had given +her citizens a personal interest in the welfare and the grandeur +of their country, and a spirit of the warmest patriotism rapidly +sprung up among them. The Persian wars, which followed almost +immediately, exhibit a striking proof of the heroic sacrifices +which they were prepared to make for the liberty and the +independence of their state." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GREEK COLONIES. + +An important part of the history of Greece is that which embraces +the age of Grecian colonization, and the extension of the commerce +of the Greeks to nearly all the coasts of the Mediterranean. Of +the various circumstances that led to the planting of the Greek +colonies, and especially of the Ionic, Æolian, and Dorian colonies +on the coast of Asia Minor and the islands of the Ægean Sea, we +have already spoken. These latter were ever intimately connected +with Greece proper, in whose general history theirs is embraced; +but the cities of Italy, Sicily, and Cyrena'ica were too far +removed from the drama that was enacted around the shores of the +Ægean to be more than occasionally and temporarily affected by +the changing fortunes of the parent states. A brief notice, +therefore, of some of those distant settlements, that eventually +rivaled even Athens and Sparta in power and resources, cannot be +uninteresting, while it will serve to give more accurate views of +the extent and importance of the field of Grecian history. + +At an early period the shores of Southern Italy and Sicily were +peopled by Greeks; and so numerous and powerful did the Grecian +cities become that the whole were comprised by Strabo and others +under the appellation Magna Græcia, or Great Greece. The earliest +of these distant settlements appear to have been made at Cu'mæ +and Neap'olis, on the western coast of Italy, about the middle +of the eleventh century. Cumæ was built on a rocky hill washed +by the sea; and the same name is still applied to the ruins that +lie scattered around its base. Some of the most splendid fictions +of Virgil's Æneid relate to the Cumæan Sibyl, whose supposed cave, +hewn out of the solid rock, actually existed under the city: + + A spacious cave, within its farmost part, + Was hewed and fashioned by laborious art, + Through the hill's hollow sides; before the place + A hundred doors a hundred entries grace; + As many voices issue, and the sound + Of Sibyl's words as many times rebound. + --Æneid B. VI. + +GROTE says: "The myth of the Sibyl passed from the Cymæ'ans in +Æ'olis, along with the other circumstances of the tale of Æne'as, +to their brethren, the inhabitants of Cumæ in Italy. In the hollow +rock under the very walls of the town was situated the cavern of +the Sibyl; and in the immediate neighborhood stood the wild woods +and dark lake of Avernus, consecrated to the subterranean gods, +and offering an establishment of priests, with ceremonies evoking +the dead, for purposes of prophecy or for solving doubts and +mysteries. It was here that Grecian imagination localized the +Cimme'rians and the fable of O-dys'seus."[Footnote: The voyage of +Ulysses (Odysseus) to the infernal regions. Odyssey, B. XI.] + +The extraordinary fertility of Sicily was a great attraction +to the Greek colonists. Naxos, on the eastern coast of the island, +was founded about the year 735 B.C.; and in the following year +some Corinthians laid the foundations of Syracuse. Ge'la, on +the western coast of the island, and Messa'na, now Messï'na, on +the strait between Italy and Sicily, were founded soon after. +Agrigen'tum, on the south-western coast, was founded about a +century later, and became celebrated for the magnificence of its +public buildings. Pindar called it "the fairest of mortal cities," +and to The'ron, its ruler from 488 to 472, the poet thus refers +in the second Olympic ode: + + Come, now, my soul! now draw the string; + Bend at the mark the bow: + To whom shall now the glorious arrow wing + The praise of mild benignity? + To Agrigentum fly, + Arrow of song, and there thy praise bestow; + For I shall swear an oath: a hundred years are flown, + But the city ne'er has known + A hand more liberal, a more loving heart, + Than, Theron, thine! for such thou art. + + Yet wrong hath risen to blast his praise; + Breath of injustice, breathed from men insane, + Who seek in brawling strain + The echo of his virtues mild to drown, + And with their violent deeds eclipse the days + Of his serene renown. + Unnumbered are the sands of th' ocean shore; + And who shall number o'er + Those joys in others' breasts which Theron's hand hath sown? + --Trans. by ELTON. + +In the mean time the Greek cities Syb'aris, Croto'na, and Taren'tum +had been planted on the south-eastern coast of Italy, and had +rapidly grown to power and opulence. The territorial dominions +of Sybaris and Crotona extended across the peninsula from sea +to sea. The former possessed twenty-five dependent towns, and +ruled over four distinct tribes or nations. The territories of +Crotona were still more extensive. These two Grecian states were +at the maximum of their power about the year 560 B.C.--the time +of the accession of Pisistratus at Athens--but they quarreled +with each other, and the result of the contest was the ruin of +Sybaris, in 510 B.C. Tarentum was settled by a colony of Spartans +about the year 707 B.C., soon after the first Messenian war. No +details of its history during the first two hundred and thirty +years of its existence are known to us; but in the fourth century +B.C. the Tar'entines stood foremost among the Italian Greeks, and +they maintained their power down to the time of Roman supremacy. + +During the first two centuries after the founding of Naxos, in +Sicily, Grecian settlements were extended over the eastern, +southern, and western sides of the island, while Him'era was the +only Grecian town on the northern coast. These two hundred years +were a period of prosperity among the Sicilian Greeks, who dwelt +chiefly in fortified towns, and exercised authority over the +surrounding native population, which gradually became assimilated +in manners, language, and religion to the higher civilization of +the Greeks. "It cannot be doubted," says GROTE, "that these first +two centuries were periods of steady increase among the Sicilian +Greeks, undisturbed by those distractions and calamities which +supervened afterward, and which led indeed to the extraordinary +aggrandizement of some of their communities, but also to the ruin +of several others; moreover, it seems that the Carthaginians in +Sicily gave them no trouble until the time of Ge'lon. Their position +will seem singularly advantageous, if we consider the extraordinary +fertility of the soil in this fine island, especially near the +sea; its capacity for corn, wine, and oil, the species of +cultivation to which the Greek husbandman had been accustomed +under less favorable circumstances; its abundant fisheries on +the coast, so important in Grecian diet, and continuing +undiminished even at the present day--together with sheep, cattle, +hides, wool, and timber from the native population in the +interior."[Footnote: "History of Greece," vol. iii., p. 367.] + +During the sixth century before the Christian era the Greek cities +in Sicily and Southern Italy were among the most powerful and +flourishing that bore the Hellenic name. Ge'la and Agrigentum, +on the south side of Sicily, had then become the most prominent +of the Sicilian governments; and at the beginning of the fifth +century we find Gelon, a despot of the former city, subjecting +other towns to his authority. Finally obtaining possession of +Syracuse, he made it the seat of his empire (485 B.C.), leaving +Gela to be governed by his brother Hi'ero, the first Sicilian +ruler of that name. + +Gelon strengthened the fortifications and greatly enlarged the +limits of Syracuse, while to occupy the enlarged space he +dismantled many of the surrounding towns and transported their +inhabitants to his new capital, which now became not only the +first city in Sicily, but, according to Herodotus, superior to +any other Hellenic power. When, in 480 B.C., a formidable +Carthaginian force under Hamil'-car invaded Sicily at the +instigation of Xerxes, King of Persia, who had overrun Greece +proper and captured Athens, Gelon, at the head of fifty-five +thousand men, engaged the Carthaginians in battle at Himera, and +defeated them with terrible slaughter, Hamilcar himself being +numbered among the slain. The victory at Himera procured for +Sicily immunity from foreign war, while the defeat of Xerxes at +Salamis, on the very same day, dispelled the terrific cloud that +overhung the Greeks in that quarter. + +Syracuse continued a flourishing city for several centuries later; +but the subsequent events of interest in her history will be +related in a later chapter. Another Greek colony of importance +was that of Cyre'ne, on the northern coast of Africa, between +the territories of Egypt and Carthage. It was founded about 630 +B.C., and, having the advantages of a fertile soil and fine +climate, it rapidly grew in wealth and power. For eight generations +it was governed by kings; but about 460 B.C. royalty was abolished +and a democratic government was established: Cyrene finally fell +under the power of the Carthaginians, and thus remained until +Carthage was destroyed by the Romans. We have mentioned only the +most important of the Grecian colonies, and even the history that +we have of these, the best known, is unconnected and fragmentary. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS. + +I. THE POEMS OF HE'SIOD. + +The rapid development of literature and the arts is one of the +most pleasing and striking features of Grecian history. As one +writer has well said, "There was an uninterrupted progress in +the development of the Grecian mind from the earliest dawn of +the history of the people to the downfall of their political +independence; and each succeeding age saw the production of some +of those master-works of genius which have been the models and +the admiration of all subsequent time." The first period of Grecian +literature, ending about 776 B.C., may be termed the period of epic +poetry. Its chief monuments are the epics of Homer and of Hesiod. +The former are essentially heroic, concerning the deeds of warriors +and demi-gods; while the latter present to us the different phases +of domestic life, and are more of an ethical and religious +character. Homer represents the poetry, or school of poetry, +belonging chiefly to Ionia, in Asia Minor. Of his poems we have +already given some account, and, passing over the minor intervening +poets, called Cyclic, of whose works we have scarcely any knowledge, +we will here give a brief sketch of the poems ascribed to Hesiod. + +Hesiod is the representative of a school of bards which first +developed in Boeotia, and then spread over Phocis and Euboea. +The works purporting to be his, that have come down to us, are +three in number--the Works and Days, the Theogony, and the +Shield of Hercules. The latter, however, is now generally +considered the production of some other poet. From DR. FELTON +we have the following general characterization of these poems: +"Aside from their intrinsic merit as poetical compositions, these +poems are of high value for the light they throw on the mythological +conceptions of those early times, and for the vivid pictures +presented, by the "Works and Days", of the hardships and pleasures +of daily life, the superstitious observances, the homely wisdom +of common experience, and the proverbial philosophy into which +that experience had been wrought. For the truthfulness of the +delineation generally all antiquity vouched; and there is in +the style of expression and tone of thought a racy freshness +redolent of the native soil." Of the poet himself we learn, from +his writings, that he was a native of As'cra, a village at the +foot of Mount Hel'icon, in Boeotia. Of the time of his birth +we have no account, but it is probable that he flourished from +half a century to a century later than Homer. But few incidents +of his life are related, and these he gives us in his works, from +which we learn that be was engaged in pastoral pursuits, and that +he was deprived of the greater part of his inheritance by the +decision of judges whom his brother Per'ses had bribed. This +brother subsequently became much reduced in circumstances, and +applied to Hesiod for relief. The poet assisted him, and then +addressed to him the "Works and Days", in which he lays down +certain rules for the regulation and conduct of his life. + +The design of Hesiod, as a prominent writer observes, was "to +communicate to his brother in emphatic language, and in the order, +or it might be the disorder, which his excited feelings suggested, +his opinions or counsels on a variety of matters of deep interest +to both, and to the social circle in which they moved. The Works +and Days may be more appropriately entitled 'A Letter of +Remonstrance or Advice' to a brother; of remonstrance on the +folly of his past conduct, of advice as to the future. Upon these +two fundamental data every fact, doctrine, and illustration of +the poem depends, as essentially as the plot of the Iliad on +the anger of Achilles." [Footnote: Mure's "Language and Literature +of Ancient Greece," vol. ii., p.384.] The whole work has been +well characterized by another writer as "the most ancient specimen +of didactic poetry, consisting of ethical, political, and minute +economical precepts. It is in a homely and unimaginative style, +but is impressed throughout with a lofty and solemn feeling, +founded on the idea that the gods have ordained justice among +men, have made labor the only road to prosperity, and have so +ordered the year that every work has its appointed season, the +sign of which may be discerned." + +There are three remarkable episodes in the Works and Days. The +first is the tale of Prome'theus, which is continued in the +Theogony; and the second is that of the Four Ages of Man. Both +of these are types of certain stages or vicissitudes of human +destiny. The third episode is a description of Winter, a poem +not so much in keeping with the spirit of the work, but "one in +which there is much fine and vigorous painting." The following +extract from it furnishes a specimen of the poet's descriptive +powers: + + Winter. + + Beware the January month, beware + Those hurtful days, that keenly-piercing air + Which flays the herds; when icicles are cast + O'er frozen earth, and sheathe the nipping blast. + From courser-breeding Thrace comes rushing forth + O'er the broad sea the whirlwind of the north, + And moves it with his breath: the ocean floods + Heave, and earth bellows through her wild of woods. + Full many an oak of lofty leaf he fells, + And strews with thick-branch'd pines the mountain dells: + He stoops to earth; the crash is heard around; + The depth of forest rolls the roar of sound. + The beasts their cowering tails with trembling fold, + And shrink and shudder at the gusty cold; + Thick is the hairy coat, the shaggy skin, + But that all-chilling breath shall pierce within. + Not his rough hide can then the ox avail; + The long-hair'd goat, defenceless, feels the gale: + Yet vain the north wind's rushing strength to wound + The flock with sheltering fleeces fenced around. + He bows the old man crook'd beneath the storm, + But spares the soft-skinn'd virgin's tender form. + Screened by her mother's roof on wintry nights, + And strange to golden Venus' mystic rites, + The suppling waters of the bath she swims, + With shiny ointment sleeks her dainty limbs; + Within her chamber laid on downy bed, + While winter howls in tempest o'er her head. + + Now gnaws the boneless polypus his feet, + Starved 'midst bleak rocks, his desolate retreat; + For now no more the sun, with gleaming ray, + Through seas transparent lights him to his prey. + And now the hornéd and unhornéd kind, + Whose lair is in the wood, sore-famished, grind + Their sounding jaws, and, chilled and quaking, fly + Where oaks the mountain dells embranch on high: + They seek to conch in thickets of the glen, + Or lurk, deep sheltered, in some rocky den. + Like aged men, who, propp'd on crutches, tread + Tottering, with broken strength and stooping head, + So move the beasts of earth, and, creeping low, + Shun the white flakes and dread the drifting snow. + --Trans. by ELTON. + +The Theogony embraces subjects of a higher order than the Works +and Days. "It ascends," says THIRLWALL, "to the birth of the gods +and the origin of nature, and unfolds the whole order of the +world in a series of genealogies, which personify the beings of +every kind contained in it." A late writer of prominence says +that "it was of greater value to the Greeks than the Works and +Days, as it contained an authorized version of the genealogy of +their gods and heroes--an inspired dictionary of mythology--from +which to deviate was hazardous." [Footnote: "The Greek Poets," +by John Addington Symonds.] This work, however, has not the +poetical merit of the other, although there are some passages in +it of fascinating power and beauty. "The famous passage describing +the Styx," says PROFESSOR MAHAFFY, "shows the poet to have known +and appreciated the wild scenery of the river Styx in Arcadia; +and the description of Sleep and Death, which immediately precedes +it, is likewise of great beauty. The conflict of the gods and +Titans has a splendid crash and thunder about it, and is far +superior in conception, though inferior in execution, to the +battle of the gods in the Iliad." [Footnote: Mahaffy's "History +of Classical Greek Literature," vol. i., p. 111.] The poems of +Hesiod early became popular with the country population of Greece; +but in the cities, and especially in Sparta, where war was +considered the only worthy pursuit, they were long cast aside +for the more heroic lines of Homer. + + * * * * * + +II. LYRIC POETRY. + +From the time of Homer, down to about 560 B.C., many kinds of +composition for which the Greeks were subsequently distinguished +were practically unknown. We are told that the drama was in its +infancy, and that prose writing, although more or less practiced +during this period for purposes of utility or necessity, was not +cultivated as a branch of popular literature. There was another +kind of composition, however, which was carried to its highest +perfection in the last stage of the epic period, and that was +lyric poetry. But of the masterpieces of lyric poetry only a few +fragments remain. + + +CALLI'NUS. + +The first representative of this school that we may mention was +Callinus, an Ephesian of the latter part of the eighth century +B.C., to whom the invention of the elegiac distich, the +characteristic form of the Ionian poetry, is attributed. Among +the few fragments from this poet is the following fine war +elegy, occasioned, probably, by a Persian invasion of Asia Minor: + + How long will ye slumber! when will ye take heart, + And fear the reproach of your neighbors at hand? + Fie! comrades, to think ye have peace for your part, + While the sword and the arrow are wasting our land! + Shame! Grasp the shield close! cover well the bold breast! + Aloft raise the spear as ye march on the foe! + With no thought of retreat, with no terror confessed, + Hurl your last dart in dying, or strike your last blow. + Oh, 'tis noble and glorious to fight for our all-- + For our country, our children, the wife of our love! + Death comes not the sooner; no soldier shall fall + Ere his thread is spun out by the sisters above. + Once to die is man's doom: rush, rush to the fight! + He cannot escape though his blood were Jove's own. + For a while let him cheat the shrill arrow by flight; + Fate will catch him at last in his chamber alone. + Unlamented he dies--unregretted? Not so + When, the tower of his country, in death falls the brave; + Thrice hallowed his name among all, high or low, + As with blessings alive, so with tears in the grave. + --Trans. by H. N. COLERIDGE. + + [Footnote: The "sisters" here alluded to were the + Par'coe, or Fates--three goddesses who presided over + the destinies of mortals: 1st, Clo'tho, who held the + distaff; 2d, Lach'esis, who spun each one's portion + of the thread of life; and, 3d, At'ropos, who cut off + the thread with her scissors. + + Clotho and Lachesis, whose boundless sway, + With Atropos, both men and gods obey. --HESIOD.] + + +ARCHIL'OCHUS. + +Next in point of time comes Archilochus of Pa'ros, a satirist +who flourished between 714 and 676 B.C. He is generally considered +to be the first Greek poet who wrote in the Iambic measure; but +there are evidences that this measure existed before his time. +This poet was betrothed to the daughter of a noble of Paros; but +the father, probably tempted by the alluring offers of a richer +suitor, forbade the nuptials. Archilochus thereupon composed so +bitter a lampoon upon the family that the daughters of the nobleman +are said to have hanged themselves. Says SYMONDS, "He made Iambic +metre his own, and sharpened it into a terrible weapon of attack. +Each verse he wrote was polished, and pointed like an arrow-head. +Each line was steeped in the poison of hideous charges against +his sweetheart, her sisters, and her father." [Footnote: "The +Greek Poets;" First Series, p. 108.] + +Thenceforth Archilochus led a wandering life, full of vicissitudes, +but replete with evidences of his merit. "While Hesiod was in +the poor and backward parts of central Greece, modifying with +timid hand the tone and style of epic poetry, without abandoning +its form, Archilochus, storm-tossed amid wealth and poverty, +amid commerce and war, amid love and hate, ever in exile and +yet everywhere at home--Archilochus broke altogether with the +traditions of literature, and colonized new territories with his +genius." [Footnote: "Classical Greek Literature," vol. i., p.157.] +He is said to have returned to Paros a short time before his +death, where, on account of a victory he had won at the Olympic +festival, the resentment and hatred formerly entertained against +him were turned into gratitude and admiration. His death, which +occurred on the field of battle, could not extinguish his fame, +and his memory was celebrated by a festival established by his +countrymen, during which his verses were sung alternately with +the poems of Homer. "Thus," says an old historian, "by a fatality +frequently attending men of genius, he spent a life of misery, +and acquired honor after death. Reproach, ignominy, contempt, +poverty, and persecution were the ordinary companions of his +person; admiration, glory, respect, splendor, and magnificence +were the attendants of his shade." With the exception of Homer, +no poet of classical antiquity acquired so high a celebrity. +Among the Greeks and Romans he was equally esteemed. Cicero +classed him with Sophocles, Pindar, and even Homer; Plato called +him the "wisest of poets;" and Longinus "speaks with rapture of +the torrent of his divine inspiration." + + +ALC'MAN. + +Passing over Simonides of Amorgos, who is chiefly celebrated for +a very ungallant but ingenious and smooth satire on women, and +over Tyrtæ'us, whose animating and patriotic odes, as we have +seen, proved the safety of Sparta in one of the Messenian wars, +we come to the first truly lyric poet of Greece--Alcman-- +originally a Lydian slave in a Spartan family, but emancipated +by his master on account of his genius. He flourished after the +second Messenian war, and his poems partake of the character of +this period, which was one of pleasure and peace. They are chiefly +erotic, or amatory, or in celebration of the enjoyments of social +life. He successfully cultivated choral poetry, and his Parthenia, +made up of a variety of subjects, was composed to be sung by the +maidens of Tayge'tus. "His excellence," says MURE, "appears to +have lain in his descriptive powers. The best, and one of the +longest extant passages of his works is a description of sleep, +or rather of night; a description unsurpassed, perhaps unrivalled, +by any similar passage in the Greek or any other language, and +which has been imitated or paraphrased by many distinguished +poets." [Footnote: "History of Greek Literature," vol. iii., p. +205.] The following is this author's translation of it: + + Now o'er the drowsy earth still night prevails. + Calm sleep the mountain tops and shady vales, + The rugged cliffs and hollow glens; + The wild beasts slumber in their dens, + The cattle on the hill. Deep in the sea + The countless finny race and monster brood + Tranquil repose. Even the busy bee + Forgets her daily toil. The silent wood + No more with noisy hum of insect rings; + And all the feathered tribes, by gentle sleep subdued, + Roost in the glade and hang their drooping wings. + + +ARI'ON AND STESICH'ORUS. + +Arion, the greater part of whose life was spent at the court of +Periander, despot of Corinth, and Stesichorus, of Himera, in +Sicily, who flourished about 608 B.C., were two Greek poets +especially noted for the improvements they made in choral poetry. +The former invented the wild, irregular, and impetuous +dithyramb, [Footnote: From Dithyrambus, one of the appellations +of Bacchus.] originally a species of lyric poetry in honor of +Bacchus; but of his works there is not a single fragment extant. +The latter's original name was Tis'ias, and he was called +Stesichorus, which signifies a "leader of choruses." A late +historian characterizes him as "the first to break the monotony +of the choral song, which had consisted previously of nothing +more than one uniform stanza, by dividing it into the Strophe, +the Antistrophe, and the Epodus--the turn, the return, and the +rest." PROFESSOR MAHAFFY observes of him as follows: "Finding +the taste for epic recitation decaying, he undertook to reproduce +epic stories in lyric dress, and present the substance of the old +epics in rich and varied metres, and with the measured movements +of a trained chorus. This was a direct step to the drama, for +when anyone member of the chorus came to stand apart and address +the rest of the choir, we have already the essence of Greek tragedy +before us." [Footnote: "Classical Greek Literature," vol. i., p. +203.] The works of Stesichorus comprised hymns in honor of the +gods and in praise of heroes, love-songs, and songs of revelry. + + +ALCÆ'US. + +Among the lyric poets of Greece some writers assign the very +first place to Alcæus, a native of Lesbos, who flourished about +610 B.C., and who has been styled the ardent friend and defender +of liberty, more because he talked so well of patriotism than +because of his deeds in its behalf. The poet AKENSIDE, however, +calls him "the Lesbian patriot," and thus contrasts his style +with that of Anac'reon: + + Broke from the fetters of his native land, + Devoting shame and vengeance to her lords, + With louder impulse and a threat'ning hand + The Lesbian patriot smites the sounding chords: + "Ye wretches, ye perfidious train! + Ye cursed of gods and free-born men! + Ye murderers of the laws! + Though now ye glory in your lust, + Though now ye tread the feeble neck in dust, + Yet Time and righteous Jove will judge your dreadful cause." + +The poems of Alcæus were principally war and drinking songs of +great beauty, and it is said that they furnished to the Latin +poet Horace "not only a metrical model, but also the subject-matter +of some of his most beautiful odes." The poet fought in the war +between Athens and Mityle'ne (606 B.C.), and enjoyed the reputation +of being a brave and skilful warrior, although on one occasion +he is said to have fled from the field of battle leaving his +arms behind him. Of his warlike odes we have a specimen in the +following description of the martial embellishment of his own house: + + The Spoils of War. + + Glitters with brass my mansion wide; + The roof is decked on every side, + In martial pride, + With helmets ranged in order bright, + And plumes of horse-hair nodding white, + A gallant sight! + Fit ornament for warrior's brow-- + And round the walls in goodly row + Refulgent glow + Stout greaves of brass, like burnished gold, + And corselets there in many a fold + Of linen foiled; + And shields that, in the battle fray, + The routed losers of the day + Have cast away. + Euboean falchions too are seen, + With rich-embroidered belts between + Of dazzling sheen: + And gaudy surcoats piled around, + The spoils of chiefs in war renowned, + May there be found: + These, and all else that here you see, + Are fruits of glorious victory + Achieved by me. + --Trans. By MERIVALE. + + +SAPPHO. + +Contemporary with Alcæus was the poetess Sappho, the only female +of Greece who ever ranked with the illustrious poets of the other +sex, and whom Alcæus called "the dark-haired, spotless, sweetly +smiling Sappho." Lesbos was the center of Æolian culture, and +Sappho was the center of a society of Lesbian ladies who applied +themselves successfully to literature. Says SYMONDS: "They formed +clubs for the cultivation of poetry and music. They studied the +arts of beauty, and sought to refine metrical forms and diction. +Nor did they confine themselves to the scientific side of art. +Unrestrained by public opinion, and passionate for the beautiful, +they cultivated their senses and emotions, and indulged their +wildest passions." Sappho devoted her whole genius to the subject +of Love, and her poems express her feelings with great freedom. +Hence arose the charges of a later age, that were made against +her character. But whatever difference of view may exist on this +point, there is only one opinion as to her poetic genius. She was +undoubtedly the greatest erotic poet of antiquity. Plato called +her the tenth Muse, and Solon, hearing one of her poems, prayed +that he might not die until he had committed it to memory. We cannot +forbear introducing the following eloquent characterization of her +writings: + +"Nowhere is a hint whispered that the poetry of Sappho is aught +but perfect. Of all the poets of the world, of all the illustrious +artists of all literatures, Sappho is the one whose every word +has a peculiar and unmistakable perfume, a seal of absolute +perfection and inimitable grace. In her art she was unerring. +Even Archilochus seems commonplace when compared with her +exquisite rarity of phrase. Whether addressing the maidens whom, +even in Elysium, as Horace says, Sappho could not forget, or +embodying the profounder yearnings of an intense soul after beauty +which has never on earth existed, but which inflames the hearts of +noblest poets, robbing the eyes of sleep and giving them the +bitterness of tears to drink--these dazzling fragments, + + 'Which still, like sparkles of Greek fire, + Burn on through time and ne'er expire,' + +are the ultimate and finished forms of passionate utterance +--diamonds, topazes, and blazing rubies--in which the fire of +the soul is crystallized forever." [Footnote: Symond's "Greek +Poets," First Series, p. 189.] + +It is related that an associate of Sappho once derided her talents, +or stigmatized her poetical labors as unsuited to her sex and +condition. The poetess, burning with indignation, thus replied +to her traducer: + + Whenever Death shall seize thy mortal frame, + Oblivion's pen shall blot thy worthless name; + For thy rude hand ne'er plucked the beauteous rose + That on Pie'ria's sky-clad summit blows: + [Symond's "Greek Poets," First Series, p. 139.] + Thy paltry soul with vilest souls shall go + To Pluto's kingdom--scenes of endless woe; + While I on golden wings ascend to fame, + And leave behind a muse-enamored, deathless name. + +The memory of this poetess of Love rouses the following strain +of celebration in ANTIP'ATER of Sidon: + + Does Sappho, then, beneath thy bosom rest, + Æolian earth? that mortal Muse confessed + Inferior only to the choir above, + That foster-child of Venus and of Love; + Warm from whose lips divine Persuasion came, + Greece to delight, and raise the Lesbian name? + O ye, who ever twine the threefold thread, + Ye Fates, why number with the silent dead + That mighty songstress, whose unrivalled powers + Weave for the Muse a crown of deathless flowers? + --Trans. by FRANCIS HODGSON. + + +ANAC'REON. + +The last lyric poet of this period that we shall notice was +Anacreon, a native of Teos, in Ionia, who flourished about 530 +B.C. He was a voluptuary, who sang beautifully of love, and wine, +and nature, and who has been called the courtier and laureate of +tyrants, in whose society, and especially in that of Polyc'rates +and Hippar'chus, his days were spent. The poet AKENSIDE thus +characterizes him: + + I see Anacreon smile and sing, + His silver tresses breathe perfume; + His cheeks display a second spring, + Of roses taught by wine to bloom. + Away, deceitful cares, away, + And let me listen to his lay; + Let me the wanton pomp enjoy, + While in smooth dance the light-winged hours + Lead round his lyre its patron powers, + Kind laughter and convivial joy. + +The following is Cowper's translation of a pretty little poem +by Anacreon on the grasshopper: + + Happy songster, perched above, + On the summit of the grove, + Whom a dew-drop cheers to sing + With the freedom of a king, + From thy perch survey the fields, + Where prolific Nature yields + Naught that, willingly as she, + Man surrenders not to thee. + For hostility or hate, + None thy pleasures can create. + Thee it satisfies to sing + Sweetly the return of spring, + Herald of the genial hours, + Harming neither herbs nor flowers. + Therefore man thy voice attends, + Gladly; thou and he are friends. + Nor thy never-ceasing strains + Phoebus and the Muse disdains + As too simple or too long, + For themselves inspire the song. + Earth-born, bloodless; undecaying, + Ever singing, sporting, playing, + What has Nature else to show + Godlike in its kind as thou? + + * * * * * + +III. EARLY GRECIAN PHILOSOPHY. + +We now enter upon a new phase of Greek literature. While the +first use of prose in writing may be assigned to a date earlier +than 700 B.C., it was not until the early part of the sixth +century B.C. that use was made of prose for literary purposes; +and even then prose compositions were either mythological, or +collections of local legends, whether sacred or profane. The +importance and the practical uses of genuine history were neither +known nor suspected until after the Persian wars. But Grecian +philosophy had an earlier dawn, and was coeval with the poetical +compositions of Hesiod, although it was in the sixth century that +it began to be separated from poetry and religion, and to be +cultivated by men who were neither bards, priests, nor seers. +This is the era when the practical maxims and precepts of the +Seven Grecian sages began to be collected by the chroniclers, +and disseminated among the people. + + +THE SEVEN SAGES. + +Concerning these sages, otherwise called the "Seven Wise Men +of Greece," the accounts are confused and contradictory, and +their names are variously given; but those most generally admitted +to the honor are Solon (the Athenian legislator); Bias, of Ionia; +Chi'lo (Ephor of Sparta); Cleobu'lus (despot of Lindos, in the +Island of Rhodes); Perian'der (despot of Corinth); Pit'tacus +(ruler of Mityle'ne); and Tha'les, of Mile'tus, in accordance +with the following enumeration: + + "First Solon, who made the Athenian laws; + While Chilo, in Sparta, was famed for his saws; + In Miletus did Thales astronomy teach; + Bias used in Prie'ne his morals to preach; + Cleobulus of Lindus was handsome and wise; + Mitylene 'gainst thraldom saw Pittacus rise; + Periander is said to have gained, through his court, + The title that Myson, the Chenian, ought." + [Footnote: It is Plato who says that Periander, + tyrant of Corinth; should give place to Myson.] + +The seven wise men were distinguished for their witty sayings, +many of which have grown into maxims that are in current use +even at the present day. Out of the number the following seven +were inscribed as mottoes, in later days, in the temple at Delphi: +"Know thyself," Solon; "Consider the end," Chilo; "Suretyship is +the forerunner of ruin" (He that hateth suretyship is sure; Prov. +xi. 15), Thales; "Most men are bad" (There is none that doeth +good, no, not one, Psalm xiv. 3), Bias; "Avoid extremes" (the +golden mean), Cleobulus; "Know thy opportunity" (Seize time by +the forelock), Pittacus; "Nothing is impossible to industry" +(Patience and perseverance overcome mountains), Periander. GROTE +says of the seven sages: "Their appearance forms an epoch in +Grecian history, inasmuch as they are the first persons who ever +acquired an Hellenic reputation grounded on mental competency +apart from poetical genius or effect--a proof that political +and social prudence was beginning to be appreciated and admired +on its own account." + +The eldest school of Greek philosophy, called the Ionian, was +founded by Thales of Miletus, about the middle of the sixth +century B.C. In the investigation of natural causes and effects +he taught, as a distinguishing tenet of his philosophy, that +water, or some other fluid, is the primary element of all things +--a theory which probably arose from observations on the uses of +moisture in the nourishment of animal and vegetable life. A +similar process of reasoning led Anaxim'enes, of Miletus, half +a century later, to substitute air for water; and by analogous +reasoning Heracli'tus, of Ephesus, surnamed "the naturalist," +was led to regard the basis of fire or flame as the fundamental +principle of all things, both spiritual and material. Diog'enes, +the Cretan, was led to regard the universe as issuing from an +intelligent principle--a rational as well as sensitive soul--but +without recognizing any distinction between mind and matter; +while Anaximan'der conceived the primitive state of the universe +to have been a vast chaos or infinity, containing the elements +from which the world was constructed by inherent or self-moving +processes of separation and combination. This doctrine was revived +by Anaxag'oras, an Ionian, a century later, who combined it with +the philosophy of Diogenes, and taught the existence of one supreme +mind. + + +XENOPH'ANES AND PYTHAG'ORAS. + +Two widely different schools of philosophy now arose in the western +Greek colonies of lower Italy. Xenophanes, a native of Ionia, who +had fled to E'lea, was the founder of one, and Pythagoras, of +Samos, of the other. The former, known as the Eleat'ic philosophy, +admitted a supreme intelligence, eternal and incorporeal, pervading +all things, and, like the universe itself, spherical in form. This +system was developed in the following century by Parmen'ides and +Zeno, who exercised a great influence upon the Greek mind. +Pythagoras was the first Grecian to assume the title of philosopher, +although he was more of a religious teacher. Having traveled +extensively in the East, he returned to Samos about 540 B.C.; +but, finding the condition of his country, which was then ruled +by the despot Polycrates, unfavorable to the progress of his +doctrines, he moved to Croto'na, in Italy, and established his +school of philosophy there. + + Pythagoras, + Vexed with the Samian despot's lawless sway + (For tyrants ne'er loved wisdom), crossed the seas, + And found a home on the Hesperian shore, + Time when the Tarquin arched the infant Rome + With vaults, the germ of Cæsar's golden hall. + There, in Crotona's state, he held a school + Of wisdom and of virtue, teaching men + The harmony of aptly portioned powers, + And of well-numbered days: whence, as a god, + Men honored him; and, from his wells refreshed, + The master-builder of pure intellect, + Imperial Plato, piled the palace where + All great, true thoughts have found a home forever. + --J. STUART BLACKIE. + +Pythagoras made some important discoveries in geometry, music, +and astronomy. The demonstration of the forty-seventh proposition +of Euclid is attributed to him. He also discovered the chords in +music, which led him to conceive that the planets, striking upon +the ether through which they move in their celestial orbits; +produce harmonious sounds, varying according to the differences +of the magnitudes, velocities, and relative distances of the +planets, in a manner corresponding to the proportion of the notes +in a musical scale. Hence the "music of the spheres." From what +can be gathered of the astronomical doctrine of Pythagoras, it +has been inferred that he was possessed of the true idea of the +solar system, which was revived by Coper'nicus and fully +established by Newton. With respect to God, Pythagoras appears +to have taught that he is the universal, ever-existent mind, +the first principle of the universe, the source and cause of all +animal life and motion, in substance similar to light, in nature +like truth, incapable of pain, invisible, incorruptible, and only +to be comprehended by the mind. His philosophy and teachings are +thus pictured by the poet THOMSON: + + Here dwelt the Samian sage; to him belongs + The brightest witness of recording fame. + He sought Crotona's pure, salubrious air, + And through great Greece his gentle wisdom taught. + His mental eye first launched into the deeps + Of boundless ether; where unnumbered orbs, + Myriads on myriads, through the pathless sky + Unerring roll, and wind their steady way. + There he the full consenting choir beheld; + There first discerned the secret band of love, + The kind attraction, that to central suns + Binds circling earths, and world with world unites. + Instructed thence, he great ideas formed + Of the whole-moving, all-informing God, + The Sun of Beings! beaming unconfined-- + Light, life, and love, and ever active power: + Whom naught can image, and who best approves + The silent worship of the moral heart, + That joys in bounteous Heaven and spreads the joy. + +Pythagoras also taught the doctrine of the transmigration of +souls, which he probably derived from the Egyptians; and he +professed to preserve a distinct remembrance of several states +of existence through which his soul had passed. It is related +of him that on one occasion, seeing a dog beaten, he interceded +in its behalf, saying, "It is the soul of a friend of mine, whom +I recognize by its voice." It would seem as if the poet COLERIDGE +had at times been dimly conscious of the reality of this +Pythagorean doctrine, for he says: + + Oft o'er my brain does that strange fancy roll + Which makes the present (while the flash doth last) + Seem a mere semblance of some unknown past, + Mixed with such feelings as perplex the soul + Self-questioned in her sleep: and some have said + We lived ere yet this robe of flesh we wore. + +One of our favorite American poets; LOWELL, indulges in a like +fancy in the following lines from that dream, like, exquisite +fantasy, "In the Twilight," found in the Biglow Papers: + + Sometimes a breath floats by me, + An odor from Dream-land sent, + That makes the ghost seem nigh me + Of a splendor that came and went, + Of a life lived somewhere, I know not + In what diviner sphere-- + Of memories that stay not and go not, + Like music once heard by an ear + That cannot forget or reclaim it-- + A something so shy, it would shame it + To make it a show-- + A something too vague, could I name it, + For others to know, + As if I had lived it or dreamed it, + As if I had acted or schemed it, + Long ago! + + And yet, could I live it over, + This life that stirs in my brain-- + Could I be both maiden and lover, + Moon and tide, bee and clover, + As I seem to have been, once again-- + Could I but speak and show it, + This pleasure, more sharp than pain, + That baffles and lures me so, + The world should not lack a poet, + Such as it had + In the ages glad + Long ago. + +On the whole, the system of Pythagoras, with many excellencies, +contained some gross absurdities and superstitions, which were +dignified with the name of philosophy, and which exerted a +pernicious influence over the opinions of many succeeding +generations. + + +THE ELEUSIN'IAN MYSTERIES, + +Closely connected with the public and private instruction that +the philosophers gave in their various systems, were certain +national institutions of a secret character, which combined the +mysteries of both philosophy and religion. The most celebrated +of these, the great festival of Eleusinia, sacred to Ce'res and +Pros'erpine, was observed every fourth year in different parts +of Greece, but more particularly by the people of Athens every +fifth year, at Eleu'sis, in Attica. + +What is known of the rites performed at Eleusis has been gathered +from occasional incidental allusions found in the pages of nearly +all the classical authorities; and although the penalty of a +sudden and ignominious death impended over anyone who divulged +these symbolic ceremonies, yet enough is now known to describe +them with much minuteness of detail. We have not the space to +give that detailed description here, but the ceremonies occupied +nine days, from the 15th to the 23d of September, inclusive. The +first day was that on which the worshippers merely assembled; the +second, that on which they purified themselves by bathing in the +sea; the third, the day of sacrifices; the fourth, the day of +offerings to the goddess; the fifth, the day of torches, when +the multitude roamed over the meadows at nightfall carrying +flambeaus, in imitation of Ceres searching for her daughter; +the sixth, the day of Bacchus, the god of Vintage; the seventh, +the day of athletic pastimes; the eighth, the day devoted to +the lesser mysteries and celestial revelations; and the ninth, +the day of libations. + +The language that Virgil puts into the mouth of Anchi'ses, in +the Sixth Book of the Æneid, is regarded as a condensed definition +of the secrets of Eleusis and the creed of Pythagoras. The same +book, moreover, is believed to represent several of the scenes +of the mysteries. In the following words the shade of Anchises +answers the inquiries of "his godlike son:" + + "Know, first, that heav'n, and earth's contracted frame, + And flowing waters, and the starry flame, + And both the radiant lights, one common soul + Inspires and feeds--and animates the whole. + This active mind, infused through all the space, + Unites and mingles with the mighty mass. + Hence men and beasts the breath of life obtain, + And birds of air, and monsters of the main. + Th' ethereal vigor is in all the same; + And ev'ry soul is fill'd with equal flame-- + As much as earthy limbs, and gross allay + Of mortal members subject to decay, + Blunt not the beams of heav'n and edge of day. + From this coarse mixture of terrestrial parts, + Desire and fear by turns possess their hearts, + And grief and joy: nor can the grovelling mind, + In the dark dungeon of the limbs confined, + Assert the native skies, or own its heav'nly kind: + Nor death itself can wholly wash their stains; + But long-contracted filth ev'n in the soul remains. + + "The relics of invet'rate vice they wear + And spots of sin obscene in ev'ry face appear. + For this are various penances enjoin'd; + And some are hung to bleach upon the wind, + Some plunged in waters, others purged in fires, + Till all the dregs are drain'd, and all the rust expires. + All have their ma'nes, and those manes bear: + The few, so cleansed, to these abodes repair, + And breathe, in ample fields, the soft Elysian air. + Then are they happy, when by length of time + The scurf is worn away of each committed crime; + No speck is left of their habitual stains, + But the pure ether of the soul remains. + But, when a thousand rolling years are past + (So long their punishments and penance last), + Whole droves of minds are, by the driving god, + Compell'd to drink the deep Lethe'an flood, + In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares + Of their past labors and their irksome years, + That, unrememb'ring of its former pain, + The soul may suffer mortal flesh again." + --Trans. by DRYDEN. + + * * * * * + +IV. ARCHITECTURE. + +In architecture and sculpture Greece stands pre-eminently above +all other nations. The first evidences of the former art that +we discover are in the gigantic walls of Tiryns, Mycenæ, and +other Greek cities, constructed for purposes of defence in the +very earliest periods of Greek history, and generally known by +the name of Cyclo'pean, because supposed by the early Greeks to +have been built by those fabled giants, the Cyclo'pes. + + Ye cliffs of masonry, enormous piles, + Which no rude censure of familiar time + Nor record of our puny race defiles, + In dateless mystery ye stand sublime, + Memorials of an age of which we see + Only the types in things that once were ye. + + Whether ye rest upon some bosky knoll, + Your feet by ancient myrtles beautified, + Or seem, like fabled dragons, to unroll + Your swarthy grandeurs down a bleak hill-side, + Still on your savage features is a spell + That makes ye half divine, ineffable. + + With joy upon your height I stand alone, + As on a precipice, or lie within + Your shadow wide, or leap from stone to stone, + Pointing my steps with careful discipline, + And think of those grand limbs whose nerve could bear + These masses to their places in mid-air: + + Of Anakim, and Titans, and of days + Saturnian, when the spirit of man was knit + So close to Nature that his best essays + At Art were but in all to follow it, + In all--dimension, dignity, degree; + And thus these mighty things were made to be. + --LORD HOUGHTON. + +It was in the erection of the temples of the gods, however, that +Grecian architecture had its ornamental origin, and also made +its most rapid progress. The primeval altar, differing but little +from a common hearth, was supplanted by the wooden habitation +of the god, and the latter in turn gave way to the temple of +stone. Then rapidly rose the three famed orders of architecture +--the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian--the first solemn, +massive, and imposing, while the others exhibit, in their ornamental +features, a gradual advance to perfection. + + First, unadorned, + And nobly plain, the manly Doric rose; + The Ionic then, with decent matron grace, + Her airy pillar heaved; luxuriant last, + The rich Corinthian spread her wanton wreath. + --THOMSON, + +Passing over the earlier structures devoted to purposes of worship, +we find at the beginning of the sixth century several magnificent +temples in course of erection. Among these the most celebrated +were the Temple of He'ra (Juno), at Samos, and the Temple of +Ar'temis (Diana), at Ephesus. The order of architecture adopted +in the first was Doric, and in the second Ionic. Both were built +of white marble. The former was 346 feet in length and 189 feet +in breadth; while the latter was 425 feet long and 220 feet broad. +Its columns were 127 in number, and 60 feet in height; and the +blocks of marble composing the architrave, or chief beams resting +immediately on the columns, were 30 feet in length. + + +CHER'SIPHRON, AND THE TEMPLE OF DIANA. + +The great Temple of Diana was commenced under the supervision +of Chersiphron, an architect of Crete, but it occupied over two +hundred years in building. It is related of Chersiphron that, +having erected the jambs of the great door to the temple, he +failed, after repeated efforts, continued for many days, to bring +the massive lintel to its place in line with the jambs. He finally +sank down in despair, and fell asleep. In his dreams he saw the +divine form of the goddess, who assured him that those who labored +for the gods should not go unrewarded. On awaking he beheld the +massive lintel in its proper place, laid there by the hand of the +goddess herself. An American sculptor and poet relates the incident, +and gives its moral in the following poem: + + When to the utmost we have tasked our powers, + And Nem'esis still frowns and shakes her head; + When, wearied out and baffled, we confess + Our utter weakness, and the tired hand drops, + And Hope flees from us, and in blank despair + We sink to earth, the face, so stern before, + August will smile--the hand before withdrawn + Reach out the help we vainly pleaded for, + Take up our task, and in a moment do + What all our strength was powerless to achieve. + + Unless the gods smile, human toil is vain. + The crowning blessing of all work is drawn + Not from ourselves, but from the powers above. + And this none better knew than Chersiphron, + When on the plains of Ephesus he reared + The splendid temple built to Artemis. + With patient labor he had placed at last + The solid jambs on either side the door, + And now for many a weary day he strove + With many a plan and many a fresh device, + Still seeking and still failing, on the jambs + Level to lay the lintel's massive weight: + Still it defied him; and, worn out at last, + Along the steps he laid him down at night. + Sleep would not come. With dull distracting pain + The problem hunted through his feverish thoughts, + Till in his dark despair he longed for death, + And threatened his own life with his own hand. + + Peace came at last upon him, and he slept; + And in his sleep, before his dreaming eyes + He saw the form divine of Artemis: + O'er him she bent and smiled, and softly said, + "Live, Chersiphron! Who labor for the gods + The gods reward. Behold, your work is done!" + Then, like a mist that melts into the sky, + She vanished; and awaking, he beheld, + Laid by her hand above the entrance-door, + The ponderous lintel level on the jambs. + --W. W. STORY. + +Another celebrated temple of this period was that of Delphi, +which was rebuilt, after its destruction by fire in 548 B.C., +at a cost equivalent to more than half a million of dollars. +It was in the Doric style, and was faced with Parian marble. +About the same time the Temple of Olympian Jove was commenced +or restored at Athens by Pisistratus. All the temples mentioned +have nearly disappeared. That of Diana, at Ephesus, was burned +by Heros'tratus, in order to immortalize his name, on the night +that Alexander the Great was born (356 B.C.). It was subsequently +rebuilt with greater magnificence, and enriched by the genius of +Sco'pas, Praxit'eles, Parrha'sius, Apel'les, and other celebrated +sculptors and painters. A few of its columns support the dome +of the Church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, two of its pillars +are in the great church at Pi'sa, and recent excavations have +brought to light portions of its foundation. Other temples, however, +erected as far back as the fourth and fifth centuries, have more +successfully resisted the ravages of time. Among these are the +six, of the Doric order, whose ruins appear at Selinus, in Sicily; +while at Pæstum, in Southern Italy, are the celebrated ruins of +two temples, which, with the exception of the temple of Corinth, +are the most massive examples of Doric architecture extant. "It +was in the larger of these two temples," says a visitor, "during +the moonlight of a troubled sky, that we experienced the emotions +of the awful and sublime, such as impress a testimony, never to +be forgotten, of the power of art over the affections." + + There, down Salerno's bay, + In deserts far away, + Over whose solitudes + The dread malaria broods, + No labor tills the land-- + Only the fierce brigand, + Or shepherd, wan and lean, + O'er the wide plains is seen. + Yet there, a lovely dream, + There Grecian temples gleam, + Whose form and mellowed tone + Rival the Parthenon. + The Sybarite no more + Comes hither to adore, + With perfumed offering, + The ocean god and king. + The deity is fled + Long-since, but, in his stead, + The smiling sea is seen, + The Doric shafts between; + And round the time-worn base + Climb vines of tender grace, + And Pæstum's roses still + The air with fragrance fill. + --CHRISTOPHER P. CRANCH. + + * * * * * + +V. SCULPTURE. + +Like architecture, sculpture, or, more properly speaking, statuary, +owed its origin to religion, and was introduced into Greece from +Egypt. With the Egyptians the art never advanced beyond the types +established at its birth; but the Greeks, led on, as a recent +writer well says, "by an intuitive sense of beauty which was with +them almost a religious principle, aimed at an ideal perfection, +and, by making Nature in her most perfect forms their model, +acquired a facility and a power of representing every class of +form unattained by any other people, and which have rendered the +terms Greek and perfection, with reference to art, almost +synonymous." The first specimens of Greek sculpture were rough, +unhewn wooden representations of the gods. These were followed, +a little later, by wooden images having some resemblance to life, +and clothed and decorated with ornaments of various kinds. While +this branch of the art long remained in a rude state, sculptured +figures on architectural monuments were executed in a superior +style as early as the age of Homer. + +Long before the period of authentic history, other materials +than wood were used in making statues; and as early as 700 B.C. +a statue was executed of Zeus, or Jupiter, in bronze. The art +of soldering metals is attributed to Glaucus of Chios, about +690 B.C.; while to Rhoe'cus and his son Theodo'rus, of Samos, +is ascribed the invention of modeling and casting figures of +bronze in a mould. The use of marble, also, for statues, was +introduced in the early part of the sixth century by Dipoe'nus +and Scyl'lis of Crete, who are the first artists celebrated for +works in this material. But, while these improvements were +important, they did not necessarily involve any change in style; +and it was the removal of the restraints imposed by religion and +hereditary cultivation that laid the foundation for the rapid +progress of the art and its subsequent perfection. These changes, +and the results produced by them, are well summed up in the +following extract from THIRLWALL: + +"The principal cause of the progress of sculpture was the +enlargement which it experienced in the range of its subjects, +and the consequent multiplicity of its productions. As long as +statues were confined to the interior of the temples, and no +more were seen in each sanctuary than the idol of its worship, +there was little room and motive for innovation; and, on the +other hand, there were strong inducements for adhering to the +practice of antiquity. But, insensibly, piety or ostentation +began to fill the temples with groups of gods and heroes, strangers +to the place, and guests of the power who was properly invoked +there. The deep recesses of their pediments were peopled with +colossal forms, exhibiting some legendary scene appropriate to +the place or the occasion of the building. The custom of honoring +the victors at the public games with a statue--an honor afterward +extended to other distinguished persons--contributed, perhaps, +still more to the same effect; for, whatever restraints may have +been imposed on the artists in the representation of sacred subjects, +either by usage or by a religious scruple, these were removed when +the artists were employed in exhibiting the images of mere mortals. +As the field of the art was widened to embrace new objects, the +number of masters increased; they were no longer limited, where +this had before been the case, to families or guilds; their +industry was sharpened by a more active competition and by richer +rewards. As the study of nature became more earnest, the sense +of beauty grew quicker and steadier; and so rapid was the march +of the art, that the last vestiges of the arbitrary forms which +had been hallowed by time or religion had not yet everywhere +disappeared when the final union of truth and beauty, which we +sometimes endeavor to express by the term ideal, was accomplished +in the school of Phid'ias." [Footnote: Thirlwall's "History of +Greece," vol. i., p. 206.] + +We cannot attempt to give here the names of the masters of +sculpture who flourished prior to 500 B.C., or trace the still +extant remains of their genius; but their works were numerous, +and the beauty and grandeur of many of them caused them to be +highly valued in all succeeding ages. In fact, before the Persian +wars had commenced, the branch of sculpture termed statuary had +attained nearly the summit of its perfection. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PERSIAN WARS. + +Returning now to the political and military history of Greece, +we find that, about the year 550 B.C., the independence of the +Grecian colonies on the coast of Asia Minor was crushed by +Croe'sus, King of Lydia, who conquered their territories. Thus +the Asiatic Greeks became subject to a barbarian power; but +Croesus ruled them with great mildness, leaving their political +institutions undisturbed, and requiring of them little more than +the payment of a moderate tribute. A few years later they +experienced a change of masters, and, together with Lydia, fell +by conquest under the dominion of Persia, of which Cyrus the +elder was then king. Under Darius Hystas'pes, the second king +after Cyrus, the Persian empire attained its greatest extent-- +embracing, in Asia, all that at a later period was contained +in Persia proper and Turkey; in Africa taking in Egypt as far +as Nubia, and the coast of the Mediterranean as far as Barca; +thus stretching from the Ægean Sea to the Indus, and from the +plains of Tartary to the cataracts of the Nile. Such was the +empire against whose united strength a few Grecian communities +were soon to contend for the preservation of their very name +and existence. + + * * * * * + +I. THE IONIC REVOLT. + +Like the Lydians, the Persians ruled the Greek colonies with a +degree of moderation, and permitted them to retain their own +form of government by paying tribute; yet the Greeks seized +every opportunity to deliver themselves from this species of +thraldom, and in 502 B.C. an insurrection broke out in one of +the Ionian states, which soon assumed a formidable character. +Before the Persians could collect sufficient forces to quell +the revolt, the Ionians sought the aid of their Grecian countrymen, +making application first to Sparta, but in vain, and then to +Athens and the islands of the Ægean Sea. The Athenians, regarding +Darius as an avowed enemy, gladly took part with the Ionians, +and, in connection with Euboe'a, furnished them a fleet of +twenty-five vessels. The allied Grecians, though at first +successful, were defeated near Ephesus with great loss. Their +commanders then quarreled, and the Athenians sailed for home, +leaving the Asiatic Greeks (divided among themselves) to contend +alone against the whole power of Persia. Still, the revolt +attained to considerable proportions, and was protracted during +a period of six years. It was terminated by the capture of Miletus, +the capital of the Ionian Confederacy, in 495 B.C. The inhabitants +of this city who escaped the sword were carried into captivity +by the conquerors, and the subjugation of Ionia was complete. + +The principal achievement of the allied Grecians during this +war was the burning of Sardis, the capital of the old Lydian +monarchy. When Darius was informed of it he burst into a paroxysm +of rage, directing his wrath chiefly against the Athenians and +Euboeans who had dared to invade his dominions. "The Athenians!" +he exclaimed, "who are they?" Upon being told, he took his bow +and shot an arrow high into the air, saying, "Grant me, Jove, +to take vengeance upon the Athenians." He also charged one of +his attendants to call aloud to him thrice every day at dinner, +"Sire, remember the Athenians!" As soon, therefore, as Darius +had satisfied his vengeance against the Greek cities and islands +of Asia, he turned his attention to the Athenians and Euboeans, +in pursuance of his vow. He meditated, however, nothing less +than the conquest of all Greece; but the Persian fleet that was +to aid in carrying out his plans was checked in its progress, +off Mount Athos, by a storm so violent that it is said to have +destroyed three hundred vessels and over twenty thousand lives; +and his son-in-law, Mardo'nius, who had entered Thrace and Macedon +at the head of a large army, abruptly terminated his campaign and +recrossed the Hellespont to Asia. + + * * * * * + +II. THE FIRST PERSIAN WAR. + +Darius, having renewed his preparations for the conquest of Greece, +sent heralds through the Grecian cities, demanding earth and +water as tokens of submission. Some of the smaller states, +intimidated by his power, submitted; but Athens and Sparta +haughtily rejected the demands of the Eastern monarch, and put +his heralds to death with cruel mockery, throwing one into a +pit and another into a well, and bidding them take thence their +earth and water. + +In the spring of 490 B.C. a Persian fleet of six hundred ships, +conveying an army of 120,000 men, and guided by the aged tyrant +Hippias, directed its course toward the shores of Greece. Several +islands of the Ægean submitted without a struggle. Euboea was +severely punished; and with but little opposition the Persian +host landed and advanced to the plains of Marathon, within twenty +miles of Athens. The Athenians called on the Platæans and the +Spartans for aid, and the former sent their entire force of one +thousand men; but the Spartans refused to give the much-needed +help, because it lacked a few days of the full moon, and it was +contrary to their religious customs to begin a march during this +interval. Meantime the Athenians had marched to Marathon, and +were encamped on the hills that surrounded the plain. Their army +numbered ten thousand men, and was commanded by Callim'achus, the +Pol'emarch or third Archon, and ten generals, among whom were +Milti'ades, Themis'tocles, and Aristi'des, who subsequently +acquired immortal fame. Five of the ten generals were afraid to +hazard a battle without the aid of the Spartans; but the arguments +of Miltiades finally prevailed upon Callimachus to give his casting +vote in favor of immediate action. Although the ten generals were +to command the whole army successively, each for one day, it was +agreed to invest Miltiades with the command at once, and intrust +to his military skill the fortunes of Athens. He immediately drew +up the little army in order of battle. + + +THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. + +The Persians were extended in a line across the middle of the +plain, having their best troops in the center, while their fleet +was ranged behind them along the beach. The Athenians were drawn +up in a line opposite, but having their main strength in the +extreme wings of their army. Miltiades quickly advanced his +force across the mile of plain that separated it from the foe, +and fell upon the immense army of the Persians. As he had foreseen, +the center of his line was soon broken, while the extremities of +the enemy's line, made up of motley and undisciplined bands of +all nations, were routed and driven toward the shore, and into +the adjoining morasses. Miltiades now hastily concentrated his +two wings and directed their united force against the Persian +center, which, deeming itself victorious, was taken completely +by surprise. The Persians, defeated, fled in disorder to their +ships, but many perished in the marshes; the shore was strewn +with their dead, and seven of their ships were destroyed. Their +loss was six thousand four hundred; that of the Athenians, not +including the Platæans, only one hundred and ninety two. Such, +in brief, was the famous battle of Marathon. The Persians were +strong in the terror of their name, and in the renown of their +conquests; and it required a most heroic resolution in the Athenians +to face a danger that they had not yet learned to despise. + + +LEGENDS OF THE BATTLE. + +The victory at Marathon was viewed by the people as a deliverance +by the gods themselves. It is fabled that before the battle the +voice of the god Pan was heard in the mountains, uttering warnings +and threatenings to the Persians, and inspiring the Greeks with +courage. Hence the wonderful legends of the battle, in which +Theseus, Hercules, and other local heroes are represented as +engaging in the combat, and dealing death among the flying +barbarians. In the following lines MRS. HEMANS has embraced the +description which the Greeks gave of the appearance and deeds of +Theseus on that occasion: + + There was one, a leader crowned, + And armed for Greece that day; + But the falchions made no sound + On his gleaming war array. + In the battle's front he stood, + With his tall and shadowy crest; + But the arrows drew no blood, + Though their path was through his vest. + + His sword was seen to flash + Where the boldest deeds were done; + But it smote without a clash; + The stroke was heard by none! + His voice was not of those + Who swelled the rolling blast, + And his steps fell hushed like snows-- + 'Twas the shade of Theseus passed! + + Far sweeping through the foe + With a fiery charge he bore; + And the Mede left many a bow + On the sounding ocean-shore. + And the foaming waves grew red, + And the sails were crowded fast, + When the sons of Asia fled, + As the shade of Theseus passed! + When banners caught the breeze, + When helms in sunlight shone, + When masts were on the seas, + And spears on Marathon. + +It is said that to this day the peasant believes the field of +Marathon to be haunted with spectral warriors, whose shouts are +heard at midnight, borne on the wind, and rising above the din +of battle. Viewed in the light of such legends, the following +poem on Marathon, by PROFESSOR BLACKIE, is full of interest and +poetic beauty: + + From Pentel'icus' pine-clad height + [Footnote: Pentelicus overhangs the south side of the plain of + Marathon.] + A voice of warning came, + That shook the silent autumn night + With fear to Media's name. + [Footnote: After the absorption of the Median kingdom into that + of Persia, the terms Mede and Persian were interchangeably used, + with little distinction.] + Pan, from his Marathonian cave, + [Footnote: Pan was said to have a famous cave near Marathon. For + the somewhat prominent part which Pan played in the great Persian + war, see Herodotus, vi. p.105.] + Sent screams of midnight terror. + + And darkling horror curled the wave + On the broad sea's moonlit mirror. + Woe, Persia, woe! thou liest low--low! + Let the golden palaces groan! + Ye mothers weep for sons that shall sleep + In gore on Marathon. + + Where Indus and Hydaspes roll, + Where treeless deserts glow, + Where Scythians roam beneath the pole, + O'er hills of hardened snow, + The great Darius rules: and now, + Thou little Greece, to thee + He comes: thou thin-soiled Athens, how + Shalt thou dare to be free? + There is a God that wields the rod + Above: by him alone + The Greek shall be free, when the Mede shall flee + In shame from Marathon. + + He comes; and o'er the bright Ægean, + Where his masted army came, + The subject isles uplift the pæan + Of glory to his name. + Strong Naxos, strong Ere'tria yield; + His captains near the shore + Of Marathon's fair and fateful field, + Where a tyrant marched before. + And a traitor guide, the sea beside, + Now marks the land for his own, + Where the marshes red shall soon be the bed + Of the Mede in Marathon. + + Who shall number the host of the Mede? + Their high-tiered galleys ride, + Like locust-bands with darkening speed, + Across the groaning tide. + Who shall tell the many hoofed tramp + That shakes the dusty plain? + Where the pride of his horse is the strength of his camp, + Shall the Mede forget to gain? + O fair is the pride of the cohorts that ride, + To the eye of the morning shown! + But a god in the sky hath doomed them to lie + In dust on Marathon. + + Dauntless, beside the sounding sea, + The Athenian men reveal + Their steady strength. That they are free + They know; and inly feel + Their high election, on that day, + In foremost fight to stand, + And dash the enslaving yoke away + From all the Grecian land. + Their praise shall sound the world around, + Who shook the Persian throne, + When the shout of the free travelled over the sea + From famous Marathon. + + From dark Cithæ'ron's sacred slope + The small Platæan band + Bring hearts that swell with patriot hope, + To wield a common brand + With Theseus' sons, at danger's gates, + While spellbound Sparta stands, + And for the pale moon's changes waits + With stiff and stolid hands; + And hath no share in the glory rare, + That Athens shall make her own, + When the long-haired Mede with fearful speed + Falls back from Marathon. + + "On, sons of the Greeks!" the war-cry rolls; + "The land that gave you birth, + Your wives, and all the dearest souls + That circle round each hearth; + The shrines upon a thousand hills, + The memory of your sires, + Nerve now with brass your resolute wills, + And fan your valorous fires!" + And on like a wave came the rush of the brave-- + "Ye sons of the Greeks, on, on!" + And the Mede stepped back from the eager attack + Of the Greek in Marathon. + + Hear'st thou the rattling of spears on the right? + Seest thou the gleam in the sky? + The gods come to aid the Greeks in the fight, + And the favoring heroes are nigh. + The lion's hide I see in the sky, + And the knotted club so fell, + And kingly Theseus's conquering eye, + And Maca'ria, nymph of the well. + [Footnote: The nymph Macaria, daughter of Hercules, was said + to have a fountain on the field of Marathon. There is a well + near the north end of the plain, where the fountain is supposed + to have been.] + Purely, purely, the fount did flow, + When the morn's first radiance shone; + But eve shall know the crimson flow + Of its wave, by Marathon. + + On, son of Cimon, bravely on! + [Footnote: Milti'ades, the general in command, whose father's + name was Cimon.] + And Aristides the just! + Your names have made the field your own, + Your foes are in the dust! + The Lydian satrap spurs his steed, + The Persian's bow is broken: + His purple pales; the vanquished Mede + Beholds the angry token + Of thundering Jove, who rules above; + And the bubbling marshes moan + [Footnote: There are two extensive marshes on the plain of + Marathon, one at each extremity. The Persians were driven back + into the marsh at the north end.] + With the trampled dead that have found their bed + In gore, at Marathon. + + The ships have sailed from Marathon + On swift disaster's wings; + And an evil dream hath fetched a groan + From the heart of the king of kings. + An eagle he saw, in the shades of night, + With a dove that bloodily strove; + And the weak hath vanquished the strong in fight, + The eagle hath fled from the dove. + [Footnote: Reference is here made to A-tos'sa's dream, as + given by Æschylus in his tragedy of The Persians.] + Great Jove, that reigns in the starry plains, + To the heart of the king hath shown + That the boastful parade of his pride was laid + In dust at Marathon. + + But through Pentelicus' winding vales + The hymn triumphal runs, + And high-shrined Athens proudly hails + Her free-returning sons. + And Pallas, from her ancient rock, + [Footnote: Pallas, or Minerva.] + With her shield's refulgent round, + Blazes; her frequent worshippers flock, + And high the pæans sound, + How in deathless glory the famous story + Shall on the winds be blown, + That the long-haired Mede was driven with speed + By the Greeks, from Marathon. + + And Greece shall be a hallowed name, + While the sun shall climb the pole, + And Marathon fan strong freedom's flame + In many a pilgrim soul. + And o'er that mound where heroes sleep, + [Footnote: This famous mound is still to be seen on the + battle-field.] + By the waste and reedy shore, + Full many a patriot eye shall weep, + Till Time shall be no more. + And the bard shall brim with a holier hymn, + When he stands by that mound alone, + And feel no shrine on earth more divine + Than the dust of Marathon. + + +THE DEATH OF MILTIADES. + +Soon after the Persian defeat, Miltiades, who at first received +all the honors that a grateful people could bestow, met a fate +that casts a melancholy gloom over his history, and that has +often been cited in proof of the assertion that "republics are +fickle and ungrateful." History shows, however, that the Athenians +were not greatly in the wrong in their treatment of Miltiades. He +obtained of them the command of an expedition whose destination +was known to himself alone; assuring them of the honorableness +and the success of the enterprise. But much treasure was spent, +many lives were lost, and through the seeming treachery of +Miltiades the expedition terminated in disaster and disgrace. +It was found, upon investigation, that the motive of the expedition +was private resentment against a prominent citizen of Paros. +Miltiades was therefore condemned to death; but gratitude for +his previous valuable services mitigated the penalty to a fine +of fifty talents. His death occurred soon after, from a wound +that he received in a fall while at Paros, and the fine was paid +by his son Cimon. + +As GROTE well observes, "The fate of Miltiades, so far from +illustrating either the fickleness or the ingratitude of his +countrymen, attests their just appreciation of deserts. It also +illustrates another moral of no small importance to the right +comprehension of Grecian affairs; it teaches us the painful lesson +how perfectly maddening were the effects of a copious draught of +glory on the temperament of an enterprising and ambitious Greek. +There can be no doubt that the rapid transition, in the course +of about one week, from Athenian terror before the battle to +Athenian exultation after it, must have produced demonstrations +toward Miltiades such as were never paid to any other man in the +whole history of the commonwealth. Such unmeasured admiration +unseated his rational judgment, so that his mind became abandoned +to the reckless impulses of insolence, antipathy, and rapacity-- +that distempered state for which (according to Grecian morality) +the retributive Nemesis was ever on the watch, and which, in his +case, she visited with a judgment startling in its rapidity, as +well as terrible in its amount." [Footnote: "History of Greece," +Chap. xxxvi.] + +But, as GILLIES remarks, "The glory of Miltiades survived him. +At the distance of half a century, when the battle of Marathon +was painted by order of the state, it was ordered that the figure +of Miltiades be placed in the foreground, animating the troops +to victory--a reward which, during the virtuous simplicity of +the ancient commonwealth, conferred more real honor than all +that magnificent profusion of crowns and statues which, in the +later times of the republic, were rather extorted by general +fees than bestowed by public admiration." [See Oration of +Æsehines, pp. 424-426.] + + +ARISTI'DES AND THEMIS'TOCLES. + +After the death of Miltiades, Themistocles and Aristides became +the most prominent men among the Athenians. The former, a most +able statesman, but influenced by ambitious motives, aimed to +make Athens great and powerful that he himself might rise to +greater eminence; while the later was a pure patriot, wholly +destitute of selfish ambition, and knew no cause but that of +justice and the public welfare. The poet THOMSON thus +characterizes him: + + Then Aristides lifts his honest front; + Spotless of heart, to whom the unflattering voice + Of Freedom gave the name of Just. + In pure majestic poverty revered; + Who, e'en his glory to his country's weal + Submitting, swelled a haughty rival's fame. + +But the very integrity of Aristides made for him secret enemies, +who, although they charged him with no crimes, were yet able to +procure his banishment by the process of ostracism, in which his +great rival, Themistocles, took a leading part. This kind of +condemnation was not inflicted as a punishment, but as a +precautionary measure against a degree of personal popularity +that might be deemed dangerous to the public welfare. The process +was as follows: In an assembly of the people each man was at +liberty to write on a shell the name of the person whom he wished +to have banished, and if six thousand votes or more were recorded, +that person against whom the greatest number of votes had been +given was banished for ten years, but with leave to enjoy his +estate, and return after that period. PLUTARCH relates the +following incident connected with the banishment of Aristides: +"An illiterate burgher coming to Aristides, whom he took for +some ordinary person, and giving him his shell, desired him to +write 'Aristides' upon it. The good man, surprised at the +adventure, asked him 'Whether Aristides had ever injured him?' +'No,' said he, 'nor do I even know him; but it vexes me to hear +him everywhere called the Just.' Aristides made no answer, but +took the shell, and, having written his own name upon it, +returned it to the man. When he quitted Athens, he lifted up +his hands toward heaven, and, agreeably to his character, made +a prayer, very different from that of Achilles; namely, 'that +the people of Athens might never see the day which should force +them to remember Aristides.'" + +But it was, perhaps, fortunate for the liberties of Greece that +Themistocles, instead of Aristides, was left in full power at +Athens. "The peculiar faculty of his mind," says THIRLWALL, "which +Thucydides contemplated with admiration, was the quickness with +which it seized every object that came in its way, perceived the +course of action required by new situations and sudden junctures, +and penetrated into remote consequences. Such were the abilities +which were most needed at this period for the service of Athens." +Soon after the battle of Marathon a war had broken out between +Athens and Ægina, which still continued, and which gave +Themistocles an opportunity to exercise his powers of ready +invention and prompt execution. Ægina was one of the wealthiest +of the Grecian islands, and possessed the most powerful navy in +all Greece. Themistocles soon saw that to successfully cope with +this formidable rival, as well as rise to a higher rank among the +Grecian states, Athens must become a great maritime power. He +therefore obtained the consent of the Athenians to devote a large +surplus then in the public treasury, but which belonged to +individual citizens, to the building of a hundred galleys; and, +by this sacrifice of individual emolument to the general good, +the Athenian navy was increased to two hundred ships. But the +foresight of Themistocles extended still farther, and it was no +less his design, in making Athens a first-class maritime power, +to protect her against Persia, which, as he well knew, was preparing +for another and still more formidable attack on Greece. + + * * * * * + +III. THE SECOND' PERSIAN INVASION. + +For three years subsequent to the battle of Marathon Darius made +great preparations for a second invasion of Greece, intending +to lead his forces in person; but death put an end to his plans. +Xerxes, his son and successor, was urged by many advisers to +carry out his father's intentions. His uncle Artaba'nus alone +endeavored to divert him from the enterprise; but Xerxes, having +spent four years in collecting a large fleet and a vast body of +troops from all quarters of his extensive dominions, set out from +Sardis with great ostentation, in the spring of the year 480, to +avenge the disgrace of Marathon. HERODOTUS relates that, on +reaching Aby'dos, on the Hellespont, Xerxes reviewed his vast +host, and wept when he thought of the shortness of human life, +and considered that of all his immense host not one man would +be alive when a hundred years had passed away. The historian's +account is as follows: + + +Xerxes at Abydos. + +"Arrived here, Xerxes wished to look upon his host; so, as there +was a throne of white marble upon a hill near the city, which +they of Abydos had prepared beforehand, by the king's bidding, +for his especial use, Xerxes took his seat on it, and, gazing +thence upon the shore below, beheld at one view all his land +forces and all his ships. As he looked and saw the whole Hellespont +covered with the vessels of his fleet, and all the shore and +every plain about Abydos as full as could be of men, Xerxes +congratulated himself on his good-fortune; but, after a little +while, he wept. Then Artabanus, the king's uncle (the same who +at the first so freely spake his mind to the king, and advised +him not to lead his army against Greece), when he heard that +Xerxes was in tears, went to him, and said: + +"'How different, sire, is what thou art now doing from what thou +didst a little while ago! Then thou didst congratulate thyself, +and now, behold! thou weepest.' + +"'There came upon me,' replied he, 'a sudden pity when I thought +of the shortness of man's life, and considered that of all this +host, so numerous as it is, not one will be alive when a hundred +years are gone by.' + +"'And yet there are sadder things in life than that,' returned +the other. 'Short. as our time is, there is no man, whether it +be here among this multitude or elsewhere, who is so happy as +not to have felt the wish--I will not say once, but full many +a time--that he were dead rather than alive. Calamities fall +upon us, sicknesses vex and harass us, and make life, short though +it be, to appear long. So death, through the wretchedness of +our life, is a most sweet refuge to our race; and God, who gives +us the tastes we enjoy of pleasant times, is seen, in his very +gift, to be envious.'" + --Trans. by RAWLINSON. + +Much that is told about Xerxes--how he cut off Mount Athos from +the main-land by a canal; how he made a bridge of boats across +the Hellespont, where it is three miles wide, and ordered the +waters to be scourged because they destroyed the bridge; how he +constructed new bridges, over which his vast army crossed the +Hellespont as along a royal road; and how his army drank a whole +river dry--all of which is gravely related by Herodotus as fact, +is discredited by the Latin poet JUVENAL, who attributes these +stories to the imaginations of "browsy poets." + + Old Greece a tale of Athos would make out, + Cut from the continent and sailed about; + Seas bid with navies, chariots passing o'er + The channel on a bridge from shore to shore; + Rivers, whose depths no sharp beholder sees, + Drunk, at an army's dinner, to the lees; + With a long legend of romantic things, + Which, in his cups, the browsy poet sings. + --Tenth Satire. Trans. by DRYDEN. + +That Xerxes bridged the Hellespont, however, in the manner related +by Herodotus, is an accepted fact of history. As MILTON says, + + Xerxes, the liberty of Greece to yoke, + From Susa, his Memnonian palace high, + Came to the sea, and over Hellespont + Bridging his way, Europe with Asia joined. + --Paradise Regained. + +He crossed to Ses'tus, a city of Thrace, and entered Europe at +the head of an army the greatest the world has ever seen, and +whose numbers have been estimated at over two millions of +fighting men. Having marched along the coast through Thrace and +Macedonia, this immense force passed through Thessaly, and +arrived, without opposition, at the Pass of Thermop'ylæ, a narrow +defile on the western shore of the gulf that lies between Thessaly +and Euboea, and almost the only road by which Greece proper, or +ancient Greece, could be entered on the north-east by way of +Thessaly. In the mean time the Greeks had not been idle. The +winter before Xerxes left Asia a general congress of the Grecian +states was held at the isthmus of Corinth, at which the differences +between Athens and Ægina were first settled, and then a vigorous +effort was made by Athens and Sparta to unite the states and +cities in one great league against the power of Persia. But, +notwithstanding the common danger, only a few of the states +responded to the call, and the only people north and east of the +isthmus who joined the league were the Athenians, Phocians, +Platæans, and Thespians. The command of both the land and naval +forces was relinquished by Athens to the Spartans; and it was +resolved to make the first stand against Persia at the Pass of +Thermopylæ. + + +THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ. + +When the Persian monarch reached Thermopylæ, he found a body of +but eight thousand men, commanded by the Spartan king Leonidas, +prepared to dispute his passage. A herald was sent to the Greeks +commanding them to lay down their arms; but Leonidas replied, +with true Spartan brevity, "Come and take them!" When it was +remarked that the Persians were so numerous that their darts +would darken the sun, "Then," replied Dien'eces, a Spartan, "we +shall fight in the shade." Trained from youth to the endurance of +all hardships, and forbidden by their laws ever to flee from an +enemy, the sons of Sparta were indeed formidable antagonists for +the Persians to encounter. + + Stern were her sons. Upon Euro'tas' bank, + Where black Ta-yg'etus o'er cliff and peak + Waves his dark pines, and spreads his glistening snows, + On five low hills their city rose: no walls, + No ramparts closed it round; its battlements + And towers of strength were men--high-minded men, + Who heard the cry of danger with more joy + Than softer natures listen to the voice + Of pleasure; who, with unremitting toil + In chase, in battle, or athletic course, + To fierceness steeled their native hardihood; + Who sunk in death as tranquil as in sleep, + And, hemmed by hostile myriads, never turned + To flight, but closer drew before their breasts + The massy buckler, firmer fixed the foot, + Bit the writhed lip, and, where they struggled, fell. + --HAYGARTH. + +Xerxes, astonished that the Greeks did not disperse at the sight +of his vast army, waited four days, and then ordered a body of +his troops to attack them, and lead them captive before him; but +the barbarians fell in heaps in the very presence of the king, +and blocked the narrow pass with their dead. Xerxes now thought +the contest worthy of the superior prowess of his own guards, +the ten thousand Immortals. These were led up as to a certain +victory; but the Greeks stood their ground as before. The combat +lasted a whole day, and the slaughter of the enemy was terrible. +Another day of combat followed, with like results, and the +confidence of the Persian monarch was changed into despondence +and perplexity. + +While in the uncertainty caused by these repeated failures to +force a passage, Xerxes learned, from a Greek traitor, of a +secret path over the mountains, by which he was able to throw +a force of twenty thousand men into the rear of the brave +defenders of the pass. Leonidas, seeing that his post was no +longer tenable, now dismissed all his allies that desired to +retire, and retained only three hundred fellow-Spartans, with +some Thespians and Thebans--in all about one thousand men. He +would have saved two of his kinsmen, by sending them with messages +to Sparta; but the one said he had come to bear arms, not to +carry letters, and the other that his deeds would tell all that +Sparta desired to know. Leonidas did not wait for an attack, but +sallying forth from the pass, and falling suddenly upon the +Persians, he penetrated to the very center of their host, where +the battle raged furiously, and two of the brothers of Xerxes +were slain. Then the surviving Greeks, with the exception of +the Thebans, fell back within the pass and took their final stand +upon a hillock, where they fought with the valor of desperation +until every man was slain. The Thebans, however, who from the first +had been distrusted by Leonidas, threw down their arms early in +the fight, and begged for quarter. + +The conflict itself, and the glory of the struggle on the part +of the Spartans, have been favorite themes with the poets of +succeeding ages. The following description is by HAYGARTH: + + Long and doubtful was the fight; + Day after day the hostile army poured + Its choicest warriors, but in vain; they fell, + Or fled inglorious. Foul treachery + At last prevailed; a steep and dangerous path, + Known only to the wandering mountaineers, + By difficult ascent led to the rear + Of the heroic Greeks. The morning dawned, + And the brave chieftain, when he raised his head + From the cold rock on which he rested, viewed + Banner and helmet, and the waving fire + From lance and buckler, glancing high amidst + Each pointed cliff and copse which stretch along + Yon mountain's bosom. Then he saw his fate; + But saw it with an unaverted eye: + Around his spear he called his countrymen, + And with a smile that o'er his rugged cheek + Pass'd transient, like the momentary flash + Streaking a thunder-cloud--"But we will die" + (He cried) "like Grecians; we will leave our sons + A bright example. Let each warrior bind + Firmly his mail, and grasp his lance, and scowl + From underneath his helm a frown of death + Upon his shrinking foe; then let him fix + His firm, unbending knee, and where he fights + There fall." They heard, and, on their shields + Clashing the war-song with a noble rage, + Rushed headlong in the conflict of the fight, + And died, as they had lived, triumphantly. + +The Greek historian Diodorus, followed by the biographer Plutarch +and the Latin historian Justin, states that Leonidas made the +attack on the Persian camp during the night, and in the darkness +and in the confusion of the struggle nearly penetrated to the +royal tent of Xerxes. On this basis of supposed facts the poet +CROLY wrote his stirring poem descriptive of the conflict; but +the statement of Diodorus, which is irreconcilable with Herodotus, +is generally discredited by modern writers. + +Monuments to the memory of the Greeks who fell were erected on +the battle-ground, and many were the epitaphs written to +commemorate the heroism of the famous three hundred; but the +oldest, best, and most celebrated of these is the inscription +that was placed on their altar-tomb, written by the poet +SIMON'IDES, of Ce'os. It consists of only two lines in the +Original Greek. [Footnote: The following is the original Greek +of the epitaph: O xeiu hangeddeiy Dakedaimouiois hoti taede +keimetha, tois keiuoy hraemasi peithomeuoi.] All Greece for +centuries had them by heart; but in the lapse of time she forgot +them, and then, in the language of "Christopher North," "Greece +was living Greece no more." There have been no less than three +Latin and eighteen English versions of this epitaph; and herewith +we give three of the latter: + + Go, stranger, and to Laç-e-dæ'mon tell + That here, obedient to her laws, we fell. + + Stranger, to Sparta say that here we rest + In death, obedient to her high behest. + + Go, tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, + That here, obedient to their laws, we lie. + +Another inscription, said to have been written by Simonides for +the tombs of the heroes of Thermopylæ, is as follows: + + Happy they, the chosen brave, + Whom Destiny, whom Valor led + To their consecrated grave + 'Mid Thessalia's mountains dread. + Their sepulchre's a holy shrine, + Their epitaph, the engraven line + Recording former deeds divine; + And Pity's melancholy wail + Is changed to hymns of praise that load the evening gale. + + Entombed in noble deed's they're laid-- + Nor silent rust, nor Time's inexorable hour, + Shall e'er have power + To rend that shroud which veils their hallowed shade. + Hellas mourns the dead + Sunk in their narrow grave; + But thou, dark Sparta's chief, whose bosom bled + First in the battle's wave, + Bear witness that they fell as best beseems the brave. + +Leonidas himself fell in the plain, and his body was carried +into the defile by his followers. He was buried at the north +entrance to the pass, and over his grave was erected a mound, +on which was placed the figure of a lion sculptured in stone. +The sculptured lion marked the grave of the hero down to the time +Of Herodotus. + + On Phocis' shores the cavern's gloom + Imbrowns yon solitary tomb: + There, in the sad and silent grave + Repose the ashes of the brave + Who, when the Persian from afar + On Hellas poured the stream of war, + At Freedom's call, with martial pride, + For his loved country fought and died. + Seek'st thou the place where, 'midst the dead + The hero of the battle bled? + Yon sculptured lion, frowning near, + Points out Leonidas's bier. + --ANON. + +The poet BYRON, who was peculiarly the friend of Greece, and an +earnest admirer of both the genius and the heroic deeds of her +sons, has written the following lines commemorating the glory of +those who fell at Thermopylæ: + + They fell devoted, but undying; + The very gale their names seemed sighing: + The waters murmured of their name; + The woods were peopled with their fame; + The silent pillar, lone and gray, + Claimed kindred with their sacred clay: + Their spirits wrapped the dusky mountain, + Their memory sparkled o'er the fountain; + The meanest rill, the mightiest river + Rolled mingling with their fame forever. + + +THE ABANDONMENT OF ATHENS. + +While fighting was in progress at Thermopylæ, a Greek fleet, +under the command of the Spartan Eurybi'ades, that had been sent +to guard the Euboean Sea, encountered the Persian ships at +Artemis'ium. In several engagements that occurred, the Athenian +vessels, commanded by Themistocles, were especially distinguished; +and although the contests with the enemy were not decisive, yet, +says PLUTARCH, "they were of great advantage to the Greeks, who +learned by experience that neither the number of ships, nor the +beauty and splendor of their ornaments, nor the vaunting shouts +and songs of the Persians, were anything dreadful to men who know +how to fight hand-to-hand, and are determined to behave gallantly. +These things they were taught to despise when they came to close +action and grappled with the foe. Hence in this respect, and for +this reason, Pindar's sentiments appear just, when he says of the +fight at Artemisium, + + "'Twas then that Athens the foundation laid + Of Liberty's fair structure.'" + +Although the Greeks were virtually the victors in these engagements, +at least one-half of their vessels were disabled; and, hearing +of the defeat of Leonidas at Thermopylæ, they resolved to retreat. +Having sailed through the Euboean Sea, the fleet kept on its way +until it reached the Island of Salamis, in the Saron'ic Gulf. +Here Themistocles learned that no friendly force was guarding +the frontier of Attica, although the Peloponnesian states had +promised to send an army into Boeotia; and he saw that there was +nothing to prevent the Persians from marching on Athens. He +therefore advised the Athenians to abandon the city to the mercy +of the Persians, and commit their safety and their hopes of victory +to the navy. The advice was adopted, though not without a hard +struggle; and those of the inhabitants who were able to bear arms +retired to the Island of Salamis, while the old and infirm, the +women and children, found shelter in a city of Argolis. + + +THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS. + +Xerxes pursued his march through Greece unopposed except by +Thespiæ and Platæa, which towns he reduced, and spread desolation +over Attica until he arrived at the foot of the Cecropian hill, +which he found guarded by a handful of desperate citizens who +refused to surrender. But the brave defenders were soon put to +the sword, and Athens was plundered and then burned to the ground. +About this time the Persian fleet arrived in the Bay of Phale'rum, +and Xerxes immediately dispatched it to block up that of the +Greeks in the narrow strait of Salamis. Eurybiades, the Spartan, +who still commanded the Grecian fleet, was urged by Themistocles, +and also by Aristides, who had been recalled from exile, to hazard +an engagement at once in the narrow strait, where the superior +numbers of the Persians would be of little avail. The Peloponnesian +commanders, however, wished to move the fleet to the Isthmus of +Corinth, where it would have the aid of the land forces. At last +the counsel of Themistocles prevailed, and the Greeks made the +attack. The engagement was a courageous and persistent one on +both sides, but the Greeks came off victorious. Xerxes had caused +a royal throne to be erected on one of the neighboring heights, +where, surrounded by his army, he might witness the naval conflict +in which he was so confident of victory. But he had the misfortune +to see his magnificent navy almost utterly annihilated. Among +the slain was the brother of Xerxes, who commanded the navy, and +many other Persians of the highest rank. + + A king sate on the rocky brow + Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis; + And ships, by thousands, lay below, + And men in nations--all were his! + He counted them at break of day-- + And when the sun set, where were they? + --BYRON. + +Anxious now for his own personal safety, the Persian monarch's +whole care centered on securing his retreat by land. He passed +rapidly into Thessaly, and, after a march of forty-five days, +reached the shores of the Hellespont to find his bridges washed +away. + + But how returned he? Say; this soul of fire, + This proud barbarian, whose impatient ire + Chastised the winds that disobeyed his nod + With stripes ne'er suffered by the Æolian god-- + But how returned he? say; his navy lost, + In a small bark he fled the hostile coast, + And, urged by terror, drove his laboring prore + Through floating carcasses and fields of gore. + So Xerxes sped; so sped the conquering race: + They catch at glory, and they clasp disgrace. + --JUVENAL, Satire X. Trans. by GIFFORD. + +The ignominious retreat of Xerxes was in marked contrast to the +pomp and magnificence of his advance into Greece. Death from +famine and distress spread its ravages among his troops, and +the remnant that returned with him to Asia was but "a wreck, or +fragment, rather than a part of his huge host." + + O'er Hellespont and Athos' marble head, + More than a god he came, less than a man he fled. + --LUIGI ALAMANNI. Trans. by AUBREY DE VERE. + + +A Celebrated Description of the Battle. + +Among the Athenians who nobly fought at Marathon, and who also +took part in the battle of Salamis, was the tragedian Æschylus; +and so much did he distinguish himself in the capacity of soldier, +that, in the picture which the Athenians caused to be painted +representing the former battle, the figure of Æschylus held so +prominent a place as to be at once recognized, even by a casual +observer. Eight years after the latter battle Æschylus composed +his tragedy of The Persians, which portrays, in vivid colors, +the defeat of Xerxes, and gives a fuller, and, indeed, better +account of that memorable sea-fight than is found even in the +pages of Herodotus. + +Says MITFORD, "It is matter of regret, not indeed that Æschylus +was a poet; but that prose-writing was yet in his age so little +common that his poetical sketch of this great transaction is +the most authoritative, the clearest, and the most consistent +of any that has passed to posterity." In the famous tragedy of +Æschylus the account of the destruction of the Persian fleet is +supposed to be given by a Persian messenger, escaped from the +fight, to Atos'sa, the mother of Xerxes. The scene is laid at +Susa, the Persian capital, near the tomb of Darius. The whole +drama may be considered as a proud triumphal song in favor of +Liberty. + +Atossa, appearing with her attendants, and anxious for news of +her son, first inquires in what clime are the towers of Athens-- +the conquest of which her son had willed--and what mighty armies, +what arms, and what treasures the Athenians boast, and what mighty +monarch rules over them; and is told, to her surprise, that instead +of the strong bow, like the Persians, they have stout spears +and massy bucklers; and although their rich earth is a copious +fount of silver, yet the people, "slaves to no lord, own no kingly +power." Then enters the messenger, who exclaims: + + Woe to the towns of Asia's peopled realms! + Woe to the land of Persia, once the port + Of boundless wealth! All, at a blow, has perished! + Ah me! How sad his task who brings ill tidings! + But, to my tale of woe--I needs must tell it. + Persians--the whole barbaric host has fallen! + +At this astounding news the chorus breaks out in, concert: + + Oh horror, horror, what a train of ills! + Alas! Is Hellas then unscathed? And has + Our arrowy tempest spent its force in vain? + Raise the funereal cry--with dismal notes + Wailing the wretched Persians. Oh, how ill + They planned their measures! All their army perished! + +Then the messenger exclaims: + + I speak not from report; but these mine eyes + Beheld the ruin which my tongue would utter. + In heaps the unhappy dead lie on the strand + Of Salamis, and all the neighboring shores. + Oh, Salamis--how hateful is thy name! + Oh, how my heart groans but to think of Athens! + +Atossa at length finds words to say: + + Astonished with these ills, my voice thus long + Hath wanted utterance: griefs like these exceed + The power of speech or question: yet e'en such, + Inflicted by the gods, must mortal man, + Constrained by loud necessity endure. + But tell me all: without distraction, tell me + All this calamity, though many a groan + Burst from thy laboring heart. Who is not fallen? + What leader must we wail? What sceptred chief, + Dying, hath left his troops without a lord? + +The messenger tells her that Xerxes himself lives, and still +beholds the light, and then gives her a general summary of the +disasters that befell the Persians, the names of the chiefs that +were slain, the numbers of the horsemen, and the spearmen, and +the seamen that lay "slaughtered on the rocks," "buried in the +waters," or "mouldering on the dreary shore." At the request of +Atossa he then proceeds to give the following more detailed +account, which, as we have said, is the best history that we +have of this memorable naval conflict: + + Our evil genius, lady, or some god + Hostile to Persia, led to every ill. + Forth from the troops of Athens came a Greek, + And thus addressed thy son, the imperial Xerxes: + "Soon as the shades of night descend, the Grecians + Shall quit their station: rushing to their oars, + They mean to separate, and in secret flight + Seek safety." At these words the royal chief, + Little dreaming of the wiles of Greece, + And gods averse, to all the naval leaders + Gave his high charge: "Soon as yon sun shall cease + To dart his radiant beams, and dark'ning night + Ascends the temple of the sky, arrange + In three divisions your well-ordered ships, + And guard each pass, each outlet of the seas: + Others enring around this rocky isle + Of Salamis. Should Greece escape her fate, + And work her way by secret flight, your heads + Shall answer the neglect." This harsh command + He gave, exulting in his mind, nor knew + What Fate designed. With martial discipline + And prompt obedience, snatching a repast, + Each manner fixed well his ready oar. + + Soon as the golden sun was set, and night + Advanced, each, trained to ply the dashing oar, + Assumed his seat; in arms each warrior stood, + Troop cheering troop through all the ships of war. + Each to the appointed station steers his course, + And through the night his naval force each chief + Fix'd to secure the passes. Night advanced, + But not by secret flight did Greece attempt + To escape. The morn, all beauteous to behold, + Drawn by white steeds, bounds o'er the enlighten'd earth: + + At once from every Greek, with glad acclaim, + Burst forth the song of war, whose lofty notes + The echo of the island rocks returned, + Spreading dismay through Persia's host, thus fallen + From their high hopes; no flight this solemn strain + Portended, but deliberate valor bent + On daring battle; while the trumpet's sound + Kindled the flames of war. But when their oars + (The pæan ended) with impetuous force + Dash'd the surrounding surges, instant all + Rush'd on in view; in orderly array + The squadron of the right first led, behind + Rode their whole fleet; and now distinct was heard + From every part this voice of exhortation: + + "Advance, ye sons of Greece, from thraldom save + Your country--save your wives, your children save, + The temples of your gods, the sacred tomb + Where rest your honor'd ancestors; this day + The common cause of all demands your valor." + Meantime from Persia's hosts the deep'ning shout + Answer'd their shout; no time for cold delay; + But ship 'gainst ship its brazen beak impell'd. + + First to the charge a Grecian galley rush'd; + Ill the Phoenician bore the rough attack-- + Its sculptured prow all shatter'd. Each advanced, + Daring an opposite. The deep array + Of Persia at the first sustain'd the encounter; + But their throng'd numbers, in the narrow seas + Confined, want room for action; and deprived + Of mutual aid, beaks clash with beaks, and each + Breaks all the other's oars: with skill disposed, + The Grecian navy circled them around + In fierce assault; and, rushing from its height, + The inverted vessel sinks. + + The sea no more + Wears its accustomed aspect, with foul wrecks + And blood disfigured; floating carcasses + Roll on the rocky shores; the poor remains + Of the barbaric armament to flight + Ply every oar inglorious: onward rush + The Greeks amid the ruins of the fleet, + As through a shoal of fish caught in the net, + Spreading destruction; the wide ocean o'er + Wailings are heard, and loud laments, till night, + With darkness on her brow, brought grateful truce. + Should I recount each circumstance of woe, + Ten times on my unfinished tale the sun + Would set; for be assured that not one day + Could close the ruin of so vast a host. + +After some farther account, by the messenger, of the magnitude +of the ruin that had overwhelmed the Persian host, the mother +of Xerxes thus apostrophizes and laments that "invidious fortune" +which had pulled down this ruin on her son's devoted head: + + Invidious fortune, how thy baleful power + Hath sunk the hopes of Persia! Bitter fruit + My son hath tasted from his purposed vengeance + On Athens, famed for arms; the fatal field + Of Marathon, red with barbaric blood, + Sufficed not: that defeat he thought to avenge, + And pulled this hideous ruin on his head! + Ah me! what sorrows for our ruined host + Oppress my soul! Ye visions of the night, + Haunting my dreams, how plainly did you show + These ills! You set them in too fair a light. + +In the Epode, or closing portion of the tragedy, the following +"Lament" may be considered as expressing the feelings with which +the Persians bewailed this defeat, with reference to its effects +upon Persian authority over the Asiatic nations: + + With sacred awe + The Persian law + No more shall Asia's realm revere: + To their lord's hand, + At his command, + No more the exacted tribute bear. + Who now falls prostrate at the monarch's throne? + His regal greatness is no more. + Now no restraint the wanton tongue shall own, + Free from the golden curb of power; + For on the rocks, washed by the beating flood, + His awe-commanding nobles lie in blood. + --POTTER'S trans. + +Among the modern poems on Xerxes and the battle of Salamis, is +one by the Scotch poet and translator, JOHN STUART BLACKIE, from +which we take the following extracts: + + Seest thou where, sublimely seated on a silver-footed throne, + With a high tiara crested, belted with a jewelled zone, + Sits the king of kings, and, looking from the rocky mountain-side, + Scans, with masted armies studded far, the fair Saronic tide? + Looks he not with high hope beaming? looks he not with pride elate? + Seems he not a god? The words he speaks are big with instant fate. + + He hath come from far Euphrates, and from Tigris' rushing tide, + To subdue the strength of Athens, to chastise the Spartan's pride; + He hath come with countless armies, gathered slowly from afar, + From the plain, and from the mountain, marshalled ranks of + motley war; + From the land and from the ocean, that the burdened billows groan, + That the air is black with banners, which great Xerxes calls his + own. + + Soothly he hath nobly ridden o'er the fair fields, o'er the waste, + As the earth might bear the burden, with a weighty-footed haste; + He hath cut in twain the mountain, he hath bridged the rolling + main, + He hath lashed the flood of Hel'le, bound the billow with a + chain; + And the rivers shrink before him, and the sheeted lakes are dry, + From his burden-bearing oxen, and his hordes of cavalry; + And the gates of Greece stand open; Ossa and Olympus fail; + And the mountain-girt Æmo'nia spreads the river and the gale. + + Stood nor man nor god before him; he hath scoured the Attic land, + Chased the valiant sons of Athens to a barren island's strand; + He hath hedged them round with triremes, lines on lines of + bristling war; + He hath doomed the prey for capture; he hath spread his + meshes far; + And he sits sublimely seated on a throne with pride elate, + To behold the victim fall beneath the sudden swooping Fate. + +Then follows an account of the nations which formed the Persian +hosts, their arrangement to entrap the Greeks, who were thought +to be meditating flight, the patriotic enthusiasm of the latter, +the naval battle which followed, and the disastrous defeat of +the Persians, the poem closing with the following satirical address +to Xerxes: + + Wake thee! wake thee! blinded Xerxes! God hath found thee + out at last; + Snaps thy pride beneath his judgment, as the tree before the + blast. + Haste thee! haste thee! speed thy couriers--Persian couriers + travel lightly-- + To declare thy stranded navy, that by cruel death unsightly + Dimmed thy glory. Hie thee! hie thee! hence, even by what + way thou camest, + Dwarfed to whoso saw thee mightiest, and where thou wert + fiercest, tamest! + + Frost and fire shall league together, angry heaven to earth + respond, + Strong Poseidon with his trident break thy impious-vaunted + bond; + Where thou passed, with mouths uncounted, eating up the + famished land, + With few men a boat shall ferry Xerxes to the Asian strand. + Haste thee! haste thee! they are waiting by the palace gates + for thee; + By the golden gates of Susa eager mourners wait for thee. + Haste thee! where the guardian elders wait, a hoary-bearded + train; + They shall see their king, but never see the sons they loved, + again. + + Where thy weeping mother waits thee, Queen Atossa waits to see + Dire fulfilment of her troublous, vision-haunted sleep in thee. + She hath dreamt, and she shall see it, how an eagle, cowed with + awe, + Gave his kingly crest to pluck before a puny falcon's claw. + Haste thee! where the mighty shade of great Darius through + the gloom + Rises dread, to teach thee wisdom, couldst thou learn it, from + the tomb. + There begin the sad rehearsal, and, while streaming tears are + shed, + To the thousand tongues that ask thee, tell the myriads of thy + dead! + + +THE BATTLE OF PLATÆ'A. + +When Xerxes returned to his own dominions he left his general, +Mardo'nius, with three hundred thousand men, to complete, if +possible, the conquest of Greece. Mardonius passed the winter +in Thessaly, but in the following summer his army was totally +defeated, and himself slain, in the battle of Platæa. Two hundred +thousand Persians fell here, and only a small remnant escaped +across the Hellespont. We extract from BULWER'S Athens the +following eloquent description of this battle, both for the sake +of its beauty and to show the effect of the religion of the Greeks +upon the military character of the people. Mardonius had advanced +to the neighbor-hood of Platæa, when he encountered that part +of the Grecian army composed mostly of Spartans and Lacedæmonians, +commanded by Pausa'nias, and numbering about fifty thousand men. +The Athenians had previously fallen back to a more secure position, +where the entire army had been ordered to concentrate; and +Pausanias had but just commenced the retrograde movement when +the Persians made their appearance. + +BULWER says: "As the troops of Mardonius advanced, the rest of +the Persian armament, deeming the task was now not to fight but +to pursue, raised their standards and poured forward tumultuously, +without discipline or order. Pausanias, pressed by the Persian +line, lost no time in sending to the Athenians for succor. But +when the latter were on their march with the required aid, they +were suddenly intercepted by the Greeks in the Persian service, +and cut off from the rescue of the Spartans. + +"The Spartans beheld themselves thus unsupported with considerable +alarm. Committing himself to the gods, Pausanias ordained a +solemn sacrifice, his whole army awaiting the result, while the +shafts of the Persians poured on them near and fast. But the +entrails presented discouraging omens, and the sacrifice was again +renewed. Meanwhile the Spartans evinced their characteristic +fortitude and discipline--not one man stirring from the ranks +until the auguries should assume a more favoring aspect; all +harassed, and some wounded by the Persian arrows, they yet, seeking +protection only beneath their broad bucklers, waited with a stern +patience the time of their leader and of Heaven. Then fell +Callic'rates, the stateliest and strongest soldier in the whole +army, lamenting not death, but that his sword was as yet undrawn +against the invader. + +"And still sacrifice after sacrifice seemed to forbid the battle, +when Pausanias, lifting his eyes, that streamed with tears, to +the Temple of Juno, that stood hard by, supplicated the goddess +that, if the fates forbade the Greeks to conquer, they might at +least fall like warriors; and, while uttering this prayer, the +tokens waited for became suddenly visible in the victims, and +the augurs announced the promise of coming victory. Therewith +the order of battle ran instantly through the army, and, to use +the poetical comparison of Plutarch, the Spartan phalanx suddenly +stood forth in its strength like some fierce animal, erecting +its bristles, and preparing its vengeance for the foe. The ground, +broken into many steep and precipitous ridges, and intersected +by the Aso'pus, whose sluggish stream winds over a broad and +rushy bed, was unfavorable to the movements of cavalry, and the +Persian foot advanced therefore on the Greeks. + +"Drawn up in their massive phalanx, the Lacedæmonians presented +an almost impenetrable body--sweeping slowly on, compact and +serried--while the hot and undisciplined valor of the Persians, +more fortunate in the skirmish than the battle, broke itself +in a thousand waves upon that moving rock. Pouring on in small +numbers at a time, they fell fast round the progress of the Greeks +--their armor slight against the strong pikes of Sparta--their +courage without skill, their numbers without discipline; still +they fought gallantly, even when on the ground seizing the pikes +with their naked hands, and, with the wonderful agility that +still characterizes the Oriental swordsmen, springing to their +feet and regaining their arms when seemingly overcome, wresting +away their enemies' shields, and grappling with them desperately +hand to hand. + +"Foremost of a band of a thousand chosen Persians, conspicuous +by his white charger, and still more by his daring valor, rode +Mardonius, directing the attack--fiercer wherever his armor blazed. +Inspired by his presence the Persians fought worthily of their +warlike fame, and, even in falling, thinned the Spartan ranks. +At length the rash but gallant leader of the Asiatic armies +received a mortal wound--his skull was crushed in by a stone +from the hand of a Spartan. His chosen band, the boast of the +army, fell fighting around him, but his death was the general +signal of defeat and flight. Encumbered by their long robes, and +pressed by the relentless conquerors, the Persians fled in disorder +toward their camp, which was secured by wooden intrenchments, by +gates, and towers, and walls. Here, fortifying themselves as they +best might, they contended successfully, and with advantage, +against the Lacedæmonians, who were ill skilled in assault and +siege. + +"Meanwhile the Athenians gained the victory on the plains over +the Greek allies of Mardonius, and now joined the Spartans at +the camp. The Athenians are said to have been better skilled in +the art of siege than the Spartans; yet at that time their +experience could scarcely have been greater. The Athenians were +at all times, however, of a more impetuous temper; and the men +who had 'run to the charge' at Marathon were not to be baffled +by the desperate remnant of their ancient foe. They scaled the +walls; they effected a breach through which the Tege'ans were +the first to rush; the Greeks poured fast and fierce into the +camp. Appalled, dismayed, stupefied by the suddenness and greatness +of their loss, the Persians no longer sustained their fame; they +dispersed in all directions, falling, as they fled, with a +prodigious slaughter, so that out of that mighty armament scarce +three thousand effected an escape." + +But the final overthrow of the Persian hosts on the battle-field +of Platæa has an importance far greater than that of the +deliverance of the Greeks from immediate danger. Perhaps no other +event in ancient history has been so momentous in its consequences; +for what would have been the condition of Greece had she then +become a province of the Persian empire? The greatness which she +subsequently attained, and the glory and renown with which she +has filled the earth, would never have had an existence. Little +Greece sat at the gates of a continent, and denied an entrance to +the gorgeous barbarism of Asia. She determined that Europe should +not be Asiatic; that civilization should not sink into the abyss +of unmitigated despotism. She turned the tide of Persian +encroachment back across the Hellespont, and Alexander only +followed the refluent wave to the Indus. + +"'Twas then," as SOUTHEY says, + + "The fate + Of unborn ages hung upon the fray: + T'was at Platæa, in that awful hour + When Greece united smote the Persian's power. + For, had the Persian triumphed, then the spring + Of knowledge from that living source had ceased; + All would have fallen before the barbarous king-- + Art, Science, Freedom: the despotic East, + Setting her mark upon the race subdued, + Had stamped them in the mould of sensual servitude." + +Furthermore, on this subject we subjoin the following reflections +from the author previously quoted: + +"When the deluge of the Persian arms rolled back to its Eastern +bed, and the world was once more comparatively at rest, the +continent of Greece rose visibly and majestically above the rest +of the civilized earth. Afar in the Latian plains the infant +state of Rome was silently and obscurely struggling into strength +against the neighboring and petty states in which the old Etrurian +civilization was rapidly passing into decay. The genius of Gaul +and Germany, yet unredeemed from barbarism, lay scarce known, +save where colonized by Greeks, in the gloom of its woods and +wastes. + +"The ambition of Persia, still the great monarchy of the world, +was permanently checked and crippled; the strength of generations +had been wasted, and the immense extent of the empire only served +yet more to sustain the general peace, from the exhaustion of +its forces. The defeat of Xerxes paralyzed the East. Thus Greece +was left secure, and at liberty to enjoy the tranquillity it had +acquired, and to direct to the arts of peace the novel and amazing +energies which had been prompted by the dangers and exalted by +the victories of war." + +On the very day of the battle of Platæa the remains of the Persian +fleet which had escaped at Salamis, and which had been drawn +up on shore at Myc'a-le, on the coast of Ionia, were burned by +the Grecians; and Tigra'nes, the Persian commander of the land +forces, and forty thousand of his men, were slain. This was the +first signal blow struck by the Greek at the power of Persia on +the continent. "Lingering at Sardis," says BULWER, "Xerxes beheld +the scanty and exhausted remnants of his mighty force, the fugitives +of the fatal days of Mycale and Platæa. The army over which he +had wept in the zenith of his power had fulfilled the prediction +of his tears; and the armed might of Media and Egypt, of Lydia +and Assyria, was now no more!" + +In one of the comedies of the Greek poet ARISTOPH'ANES, entitled +The Wasps, which is designed principally to satirize the passion +of the Athenians for the excitement of the law courts, there +occurs the following episode, that has for its basis the activity +of the Athenians at the battle of Platæa. We learn from this +episode that the appellation, the "Attic Wasp," had its origin +in the venomous persistence with which the Athenians, swarming +like wasps, stung the Persians in their retreat, after the defeat +of Mardonius. Occurring in a popular satirical comedy, it also +shows how readily any allusion to the famous victories of Greece +could be made to do service on popular occasions--an allusion +that the dramatist knew would awaken in the popular heart great +admiration for him and his work: + + With torch and brand the Persian horde swept on from east to + west, + To storm the hives that we had stored, and smoke us from our + nest; + Then we laid our hand to spear and targe, and met him on his + path; + Shoulder to shoulder, close we stood, and bit our lips for wrath. + So fast and thick the arrows flew, that none might see the + heaven, + But the gods were on our side that day, and we bore them back + at even. + High o'er our heads, an omen good, we saw the owlet wheel, + And the Persian trousers in their backs felt the good Attic + steel. + Still as they fled we followed close, a swarm of vengeful foes, + And stung them where we chanced to light, on cheek, and lip, + and nose. + So to this day, barbarians say, when whispered far or near, + More than all else the ATTIC WASP is still a name of fear. + --Trans. by W. LUCAS COLLINS. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE. + +I. THE DISGRACE AND DEATH OF THEMISTOCLES. + +Six years after the battle of Platæa the career of Xerxes was +terminated by assassination, and his son, Artaxerxes Longim'anus, +succeeded to the throne. In the mean time Athens had been rebuilt +and fortified by Themistocles, and the Piræus (the port of Athens) +enclosed within a wall as large in extent as that of Athens, but +of greater height and thickness. But Themistocles, by his selfish +and arbitrary use of power, provoked the enmity of a large body +of his countrymen; and although he was acquitted of the charge +of treasonable inclinations toward Persia, popular feeling soon +after became so strong against him that he was condemned to exile +by the same process of ostracism that he had directed against +Aristides, and he retired to Argos (471 B.C.) Some time before +this a Grecian force, composed of Athenians under Aristides, +and Cimon the son of Miltiades, and Spartans under Pausanias +the victor of Platæa, waged a successful war upon the Persian +dependencies of the Ægean, and the coasts of Asia Minor. The +Ionian cities were aided in a successful revolt, and Cyprus and +Byzantium--the latter now Constantinople--fell into the hands +of the Grecians. Pausanias, who was at the head of the whole +armament, now began to show signs of treasonable conduct, which +was more fully unfolded by a communication that he addressed +to the Persian court, seeking the daughter of Xerxes in marriage, +and promising to bring Sparta and the whole of Greece under +Persian dominion. + +When news of the treason of Pausanias reached Sparta, he was +immediately recalled, and, though no definite proof was at first +furnished against him, his guilt was subsequently established, +and he perished from starvation in the Temple of Minerva, whither +he had fled for refuge, and where he was immured by the eph'ors. +The fate of Pausanias involved that of Themistocles. In searching +for farther traces of the former's plot some correspondence was +discovered that furnished sufficient evidence of the complicity +of Themistocles in the crime, and he was immediately accused by +the Spartans, who insisted upon his being punished. The Athenians +sent ambassadors to arrest him and bring him to Athens; but +Themistocles fled from Argos, and finally sought refuge at the +court of Persia. He died at Magne'sia, in Asia Minor, which had +been appointed his place of residence by Artaxerxes, and a splendid +monument was raised to his memory; but in the time of the Roman +empire a tomb was pointed out by the sea-side, within the port +of Piræus, which was generally believed to contain his remains, +and of which the comic poet PLATO thus wrote: + + By the sea's margin, on the watery strand, + Thy monument, Themistocles, shall stand. + By this directed to thy native shore, + The merchant shall convey his freighted store; + And when our fleets are summoned to the fight + Athens shall conquer with thy tomb in sight. + --Trans. by CUMBERLAND. + +Although "the genius of Themistocles did not secure him from +the seductions of avarice and pride, which led him to sacrifice +both his honor and his country for the tinsel of Eastern pomp," +yet, as THIRLWALL says, "No Greek had then rendered services +such as those of Themistocles to the common country; and no +Athenian, except Solon, had conferred equal benefits on Athens. +He had first delivered her from the most imminent danger, and +then raised her to the pre-eminence on which she now stood. He +might claim her greatness; and even her being, as his work." +The following tribute to his memory is from the pen of TULLIUS +GEM'INUS, a Latin poet: + + Greece be thy monument; around her throw + The broken trophies of the Persian fleet; + Inscribe the gods that led the insulting foe, + And mighty Xerxes, at the tablet's feet. + There lay Themistocles; to spread his fame + A lasting column Salamis shall be; + Raise not, weak man, to that immortal name + The little records of mortality. + --Trans. by MERIVALE. + + * * * * * + +II. THE RISE AND FALL OF CIMON. + +Foremost among the rivals of Themistocles in ability and influence, +was Cimon, the son of Miltiades. In his youth he was inordinately +fond of pleasure, and revealed none of those characteristics for +which he subsequently became distinguished. But his friends +encouraged him to follow in his father's footsteps, and Aristides +soon discovered in him a capacity and disposition that he could +use to advantage in his own antagonism to Themistocles. To Aristides, +therefore, Cimon was largely indebted for his influence and success, +as well as for his mild temper and gentle manners. + + Reared by his care, of softer ray appears + Cimon, sweet-souled; whose genius, rising strong, + Shook off the load of young debauch; abroad + The scourge of Persian pride, at home the friend + Of every worth and every splendid art; + Modest and simple in the pomp of wealth. + --THOMSON. + +On the banishment of Themistocles Aristides became the undisputed +leader of the aristocratical party at Athens, and on his death, +four years subsequently, Cimon succeeded him. The later was already +distinguished for his military successes, and was undoubtedly +the greatest commander of his time. He continued the successful +war against Persia for many years, and among his notable victories +was one obtained on both sea and land, in Pamphyl'ia, in Asia +Minor, and called + + +THE BATTLE OF EURYM'EDON. + +After dispersing a fleet of two hundred ships Cimon landed his +troops, flushed with victory, and completely routed a large Persian +army. The poet SIMONIDES praises this double victory in the +following verse: + + Ne'er since that olden time, when Asia stood + First torn from Europe by the ocean flood, + Since horrid Mars first poured on either shore + The storm of battle and its wild uproar, + Hath man by land and sea such glory won + As by the mighty deed this day was done. + By land, the Medes in myriads press the ground; + By sea, a hundred Tyrian ships are drowned, + With all their martial host; while Asia stands + Deep groaning by, and wrings her helpless hands. + --Trans. by MERIVALE. + +The same poet pays the following tribute to the Greeks who fell +in this conflict: + + These, by the streams of famed Eurymedon, + There, envied youth's short brilliant race have run: + In swift-winged ships, and on the embattled field, + Alike they forced the Median bows to yield, + Breaking their foremost ranks. Now here they lie, + Their names inscribed on rolls of victory. + --Trans. by MERIVALE. + +On the recall of Pausanias from Asia Minor Sparta lost, and Athens +acquired, the command in the war against Persia. Athens was now +rapidly approaching the summit of her military renown. The war +with Persia did not prevent her from extending her possessions +in Greece by force of arms; and island after island of the Ægean +yielded to her sway, while her colonies peopled the winding shores +of Thrace and Macedon. The other states and cities of Greece could +not behold her rapid, and apparently permanent, growth in power +without great dissatisfaction and anxiety. When the Persian war +was at its height, a sense of common danger had caused many of +them to seek an alliance with Athens, the result of what is known +as the Confederacy of Delos; but, now that the danger was virtually +passed, long existing jealousies broke out, which led to political +dissensions, and, finally, to the civil wars that caused the ruin +of the Grecian republics. Sparta, especially, had long viewed +with indignation the growing resources of Athens and was preparing +to check them by an invasion of Attica, when sudden and complicated +disasters forced her to abandon her designs, and turn her attention +to her own dominions. In 464 B.C. the city was visited by an +earthquake that laid it in ruins and buried not less than twenty +thousand of its chosen citizens; and this calamity was immediately +followed by a general revolt of the Helots. BULWER'S description +of this terrible earthquake, and of the memorable conduct of the +Laconian government in opposing, under such trying circumstances, +the dreadful revolt that occurred, has been greatly admired for +its eloquence and its strict adherence to facts. + + +The Earthquake at Sparta and the Revolt of the Helots. + +"An earthquake, unprecedented in its violence, occurred in Sparta. +In many places throughout Laconia the rocky soil was rent asunder. +From Mount Ta-yg'e-tus, which overhung the city, and on which +the women of Lacedæmon were wont to hold their bacchanalian orgies, +huge fragments rolled into the suburbs. The greater portion of +the city was absolutely overthrown; and it is said, probably +with exaggeration, that only five houses wholly escaped disaster +from the shock. This terrible calamity did not cease suddenly as +it came; its concussions were repeated; it buried alike men and +treasure: could we credit Diodorus, no less than twenty thousand +persons perished in the shock. Thus depopulated, impoverished, and +distressed, the enemies whom the cruelty of Sparta nursed within +her bosom resolved to seize the moment to execute their vengeance +and consummate her destruction. Under Pausanias the Helots were +ready for revolt; and the death of that conspirator checked, but +did not crush, their designs of freedom. Now was the moment, +when Sparta lay in ruins--now was the moment to realize their +dreams. From field to field, from village to village, the news +of the earthquake became the watchword of revolt. Up rose the +Helots--they armed themselves, they poured on--a wild and gathering +and relentless multitude resolved to slay, by the wrath of man, +all whom that of nature had yet spared. The earthquake that leveled +Sparta rent their chains; nor did the shock create one chasm so +dark and wide as that between the master and the slave. + +"It is one of the sublimest and most awful spectacles in history +--that city in ruins--the earth still trembling, the grim and +dauntless soldiery collected amid piles of death and ruin; and in +such a time, and such a scene, the multitude sensible not of danger, +but of wrong, and rising not to succor, but to revenge--all that +should have disarmed a feebler enmity giving fire to theirs; the +dreadest calamity their blessing--dismay their hope. It was as if +the Great Mother herself had summoned her children to vindicate +the long-abused, the all-inalienable heritage derived from her; +and the stir of the angry elements was but the announcement of an +armed and solemn union between nature and the oppressed. + +"Fortunately for Sparta, the danger was not altogether unforeseen. +After the confusion and the horror of the earthquake, and while +the people, dispersed, were seeking to save their effects, +Archida'mus, who, four years before, had succeeded to the throne +of Lacedæmon, ordered the trumpets to sound as to arms. That +wonderful superiority of man over matter which habit and discipline +can effect, and which was ever so visible among the Spartans, +constituted their safety at that hour. Forsaking the care of +their property, the Spartans seized their arms, flocked around +their king, and drew up in disciplined array. In her most imminent +crisis Sparta was thus saved. The Helots approached, wild, +disorderly, and tumultuous; they came intent only to plunder and +to slay; they expected to find scattered and affrighted foes +--they found a formidable army; their tyrants were still their +lords. They saw, paused, and fled, scattering themselves over +the country, exciting all they met to rebellion, and soon joined +with the Messenians, kindred to them by blood and ancient +reminiscences of heroic struggles; they seized that same Ithome +which their hereditary Aristodemus had before occupied with +unforgotten valor. This they fortified, and, occupying also the +neighboring lands, declared open war upon their lords." [Footnote: +"Athens: Its Rise and Fall," pp. 176, 177.] + +"The incident here related of the King of Sparta," says ALISON, +"amid the yawning of the earthquake and the ruin of his capital, +sounding the trumpets to arms, and the Lacedæmonians assembling +in disciplined array around him, is one of the sublimest recorded +in history. We need not wonder that a people capable of such +conduct in such a moment, and trained by discipline and habit to +such docility in danger, should subsequently acquire and maintain +supreme dominion in Greece." The general insurrection of the Helots +is known in history as the THIRD MESSENIAN WAR. After two or three +years had passed in vain attempts to capture Ithome, the Spartans +were obliged to call for aid on the Athenians, with whom they were +still in avowed alliance. The friends of Pericles, the rival of +Cimon and the leader of the democratic party at Athens, opposed +granting the desired relief; but Cimon, after some difficulty, +persuaded his countrymen to assist the Lacedæmonians, and he +himself marched with four thousand men to Ithome. The aid of the +Athenians was solicited on account of their acknowledged skill +in capturing fortified places; but as Cimon did not succeed in +taking Ithome, the Spartans became suspicious of his designs, +and summarily sent him back to Athens. + + * * * * * + +III. THE ACCESSION OF PERICLES TO POWER. + +The ill success of the expedition of Cimon gave Pericles the +opportunity to place himself and the popular party in power at +Athens; for the constitutional reforms that had been gradually +weakening the power of the aristocracy were now made available +to sweep it almost entirely away. The following extract from +BULWER'S Athens briefly yet fully tells what was accomplished +in this direction: + +"The Constitution previous to Solon was an oligarchy of birth. +Solon rendered it an aristocracy of property. Clisthenes widened +its basis from property to population; and it was also Clisthenes, +in all probability, who weakened the more illicit and oppressive +influences of wealth by establishing the ballot of secret suffrage, +instead of the open voting which was common in the time of Solon. +The Areop'agus was designed by Solon as the aristocratic balance +to the popular assembly. This constitutional bulwark of the +aristocratic party of Athens became more and more invidious to +the people, and when Cimon resisted every innovation on that +assembly he only insured his own destruction, while he expedited +the policy he denounced. Ephial'tes, the friend and spokesman of +Pericles, directed all the force of the popular opinion against +this venerable senate; and at length, though not openly assisted +by Pericles, who took no prominent part in the contention, that +influential statesman succeeded in crippling its functions and +limiting its authority." + +With regard to the nature of the constitutional changes effected, +the same writer adds: "It appears to me most probable that the +Areopagus retained the right of adjudging cases of homicide, and +little besides of its ancient constitutional authority; that it +lost altogether its most dangerous power in the indefinite police +it had formerly exercised over the habits and morals of the people; +that any control of the finances was wisely transferred to the +popular senate; that its irresponsible character was abolished, +and that it was henceforth rendered accountable to the people." +The struggle between the contending parties was long and bitter, +and the fall of Cimon was one of the necessary consequences of +the political change. Charged, among other things, with too great +friendship for Sparta, he was driven into exile. Pericles now +persuaded the Athenians to renounce the alliance with Sparta, and +he increased the power of Athens by alliances with Argos and other +cities. He also continued the construction of the long walls from +Athens to the Piræus and Phalerum--a project that Themistocles +had advised and that Cimon had commenced. + +The long existing jealousy of Sparta at last broke out in open +hostilities. While the siege of Ithome was in progress, Sparta, +still powerful in her alliances, sent her allied forces into +Boeotia to counteract the growing influence of the Athenians in +that quarter. The indignant Athenians, led by Pericles, marched +out to meet them, but were worsted in the battle of Tan'agra. +Before this conflict began, Cimon, the banished commander, +appeared in the Athenian camp and begged permission to enter +the ranks against the enemy. His request being refused, he left +his armor with his friends, of whom there were one hundred among +the Athenians, with the charge to refute, by their valor, the +accusation that he and they were the friends of Sparta. Everyone +of the one hundred fell in the conflict. About two months after, +in the early part of the year 456 B.C., the Athenians wiped off +the stain of their defeat at Tanagra by a victory over the combined +Theban and Boeotian forces, then in alliance with Sparta; whereby +the authority and influence of Sparta were again confined to +the Peloponnesus. + +The Athenians were now masters of Greece, from the Gulf of Corinth +to the Pass of Thermopylæ, and in the following year they sent an +expedition round the Peloponnesus, which captured, among other +cities, Naupactus, on the Corinthian Gulf. The third and last +Messenian war had just been concluded by the surrender of Ithome, +on terms which permitted the Messenians and their families to +retire from the Peloponnesus, and they joined the colony which +Athens planted at Naupactus. But the successes of Athens in Greece +were counterbalanced, in the same year, by reverses in Egypt, where +the Athenians were fighting Persia in aid of In'arus, a Libyan +prince. These, with some other minor disasters, and the state of +bitter feeling that existed between the two parties at Athens, +induced Pericles to recall Cimon from exile and put him in +command of an expedition against Cyprus and Egypt. In 449, however, +Cimon was taken ill, and he died in the harbor of Ci'tium, to which +place he was laying siege. + +Before the death of Cimon, and through his intervention, a five +years' truce had been concluded with Sparta, and soon after his +death peace was made with Persia. From this time the empire of +Athens began to decline. In the year 447 B.C. a revolt in Boeotia +resulted in the overthrow of Athenian supremacy there, while the +expulsion of the Athenians from Pho'cis and Lo'cris, and the +revolt of Euboea and Megara, followed soon after. The revolt of +Euboea was soon quelled, but this was the only success that Athens +achieved. Meanwhile a Spartan army invaded Attica and marched to +the neighborhood of Eleusis. Having lost much of her empire, with +a fair prospect of losing all of it if hostilities continued, +Athens concluded a thirty years' truce with Sparta and her allies, +by the terms of which she abandoned her conquests in the +Peloponnesus, and Megara became an ally of Sparta (445 B.C.) + + +THE "AGE OF PERICLES." + +With the close of the Persian contest, and the beginning of the +Thirty Years' truce, properly begins what has been termed the +"Age of Pericles"--the inauguration of a new and important era +of Athenian greatness and renown. Having won the highest military +honors and political ascendancy, Athens now took the lead in +intellectual progress. Themistocles and Cimon had restored to +Athens all that of which Xerxes had despoiled it--the former +having rebuilt its ruins, and the latter having given to its +public buildings a degree of magnificence previously unknown. +But Pericles surpassed them both: + + He was the ruler of the land + When Athens was the land of fame; + He was the light that led the band + When each was like a living flame; + The centre of earth's noblest ring, + Of more than men the more than king. + + Yet not by fetter nor by spear + His sovereignty was held or won: + Feared--but alone as freemen fear; + Loved--but as freemen love alone; + He waved the sceptre o'er his kind + By nature's first great title--mind! + --CROLY. + +Orator and philosopher, as well as statesman and general, Pericles +had the most lofty views. "Athens," says a modern writer, "was +to become not only the capital of Greece, but the center of art +and refinement, and, at the same time, of those democratical +theories which formed the beau ideal of the Athenian notions +of government." Athens became the center and capital of the most +polished communities of Greece; she drew into a focus all the +Grecian intellect, and she obtained from her dependents the wealth +to administer the arts, which universal traffic and intercourse +taught her to appreciate. The treasury of the state being placed +in the hands of Pericles, he knew no limit to expenditure but +the popular will, which, fortunately for the glories of Grecian +art, kept pace with the vast conceptions of the master designer. +Most of those famous structures that crowned the Athenian Acropolis, +or surrounded its base, were either built or adorned by his +direction, under the superintendence of the great sculptor, +Phidias. The Parthenon, the Ode'um, the gold and ivory statue of +the goddess Minerva, and the Olympian Jupiter--the latter two +the work of the great sculptor himself--were alone sufficient to +immortalize the "Age of Pericles." Of these miracles of sculpture +and of architecture, as well as of the literature of this period, +we shall speak farther in a subsequent place. + +Of the general condition and appearance of Athens during the +fourteen years that the Thirty Years' Truce was observed, HAYGARTH +gives us the following poetical description: + + All the din of war + Was hushed to rest. Within a city's walls, + Beneath a marble portico, were seen + Statesmen and orators, in robes of peace, + Holding discourse. The assembled multitude + Sat in the crowded theatre, and bent + To hear the voice of gorgeous Tragedy + Breathing, in solemn verse, or ode sublime, + Her noble precepts. The broad city's gates + Poured forth a mingled throng--impatient steeds + Champing their bits, and neighing for the course: + Merchants slow driving to the busy port + Their ponderous wains: Religion's holy priests + Leading her red-robed votaries to the steps + Of some vast temple: young and old, with hands + Crossed on their breasts, hastening to walks and shades + Suburban, where some moralist explained + The laws of mind and virtue. On a rock + A varied group appeared: some dragged along + The rough-hewn block; some shaped it into form; + Some reared the column, or with chisel traced + Forms more than human; while Content sat near, + And cheered with songs the toil of Industry. + +But, as the poet adds, + + Soon passed this peaceful pageant: War again + Brandished his bloody lance-- + +and then began that dismal period between the "Age of Pericles" +and the interference of the Romans--embracing the three +Peloponnesian wars, the rising power of Macedonia under Philip +of Macedon, the wars of Alexander and the contentions that +followed--known as the period of the civil convulsions of Greece. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS, AND THE FALL OF ATHENS. + +CAUSES OF THE FIRST WAR. + +The various successful schemes of Pericles for enriching and +extending the power of Athens were regarded with fear and jealousy +by Sparta and her allies, who were only waiting for a reasonable +excuse to renew hostilities. The opportunity came in 435 B.C. +Corinth, the ally of Sparta, had become involved in a war with +Corcy'ra, one of her colonies, when the latter applied to Athens +for assistance. Pericles persuaded the Athenians to grant the +assistance, and a small fleet was dispatched to Corcyra. The +engagement that ensued, in which the Athenian ships bore a part +--the greatest contest, Thucydides observes, that had taken place +between Greeks to that day--was favorable to the Corinthians; +but the sight of a larger Athenian squadron advancing toward +the scene of action caused the Corinthians to retreat. This first +breach of the truce was soon followed by another. Potidæ'a, a +Corinthian colony, but tributary to Athens, revolted, on account +of some unjust demands that the Athenians had enforced against +it, and claimed and obtained the assistance of the Corinthians. +Thus, in two instances, were Athens and Corinth, though nominally +at peace, brought into conflict as open enemies. + + +THE CONGRESS AT SPARTA.--THE PERSECUTION OF PERICLES. + +The Lacedæmonians meanwhile called a meeting of the Peloponnesian +Confederacy at Sparta, at which Ægina, Meg'ara, and other states +made their complaints against Athens. It was also attended by +envoys from Athens, who seriously warned it not to force Athens +into a struggle that would be waged for its very existence. But +a majority of the Confederacy were of the opinion that Athens +had violated her treaties, and the result of the deliberations +was a declaration of war against her. Not with any real desire +for peace, but in order to gain time for her preparations before +the declaration was made public, Sparta opened negotiations with +Athens; but her preliminary demands were of course refused, while +her ultimatum, that Athens should restore to the latter's allies +their independence, was met with a like demand by the Athenians +--that no state in Peloponnesus should be forced to accommodate +itself to the principles in vogue at Sparta, "Let this be our +answer," said Pericles, in closing his speech in the Athenian +assembly: "We have no wish to begin war, but whosoever attacks +us, him we mean to repel; for our guiding principle ought to be +no other than this: that the power of that state which our fathers +made great we will hand down undiminished to our posterity." The +advice of Pericles was adopted, all farther negotiations were +thereupon concluded, and Athens prepared for war. + +Although the political authority of Pericles was now at its height, +and his services were receiving unwonted public recognition, he +had many enemies among all classes of citizens, who made his +position for a time extremely hazardous. These at first attacked +his friends--Phidias, Anaxagoras, Aspasia, and others--who were +prominent representatives of his opinions and designs. The former +was falsely accused of theft, in having retained for himself a +part of the gold furnished to him for the golden robe of Athene +Par'thenos, and of impiety for having reproduced his own features +in one of the numerous figures on the shield of the goddess. He +was cast into prison, where he died before his trial was concluded. +Anaxagoras, having exposed himself to the penalties of a decree +by which all who abjured the current religious views were to be +indicted and tried as state criminals, barely escaped with his +life; while Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles, charged with impiety +and base immorality, was only saved by the eloquence and tears +of the great statesman, which flowed freely and successfully +in her behalf before the jury. Finally, Pericles was attacked +in person. He was accused of a waste of the public moneys, and +was commanded to render an exact account of his expenditures. +Although he came forth victorious from this and all other attacks, +it is evident, as one historian observes, that "the endeavors of +his enemies did not fail to exercise a certain influence upon +the masses; and this led Pericles, who believed that war was +in any case inevitable, to welcome its speedy commencement, as +he hoped that the common danger would divert public attention +from home affairs, render harmless the power of his adversaries, +strengthen patriotic feeling, and make manifest to the Athenians +their need of his services." + + * * * * * + +THE FIRST PELOPONNESIAN WAR. + +On the side of Sparta was arrayed the whole of Peloponnesus, +except Argos and Acha'ia, together with the Megarians, Phocians, +Locrians, Thebans, and some others; while the allies of Athens +were the Thessalians, Acarnanians, Messenians, Platæans, Chi'ans, +Lesbians, her tributary towns in Thrace and Asia Minor, and all +the islands north of Crete with two exceptions--Me'los and The'ra. +Hostilities were precipitated by a treacherous attack of the +Thebans upon Platæa in 431 B.C.; and before the close of the +same year a Spartan army of sixty thousand ravaged Attica, and +sat down before the very gates of Athens, while the naval forces +of the Athenians desolated the coasts of the Peloponnesus. The +Spartans were soon called from Attica to protect their homes, +and Pericles himself, at the lead of a large force, spread +desolation over the little territory of Megaris. This expedition +closed the hostilities for the year, and, on his return to Athens, +Pericles was intrusted with the duty of pronouncing the oration +at the public funeral which, in accordance with the custom of the +country, was solemnized for those who had fallen in the war. + +This occasion afforded Pericles an opportunity to animate the +courage and the hopes of his countrymen, by such a description +of the glories and the possibilities of Athens as he alone could +give. Commencing his address with a eulogy on the ancestors and +immediate forefathers of the Athenians, he proceeds to show the +latter "by what form of civil polity, what dispositions and habits +of life," they have attained their greatness; graphically +contrasting their institutions with those of other states, and +especially with those of the Spartans, their present enemies. + + +The Oration of Pericles. +[Footnote: From "History of Thucydides," translated by S. T. +Bloomfield, D. D., vol. I., p. 366.] + +"We enjoy a form of government not framed on an imitation of the +institutions of neighboring states, but, are ourselves rather a +model to, than imitative of, others; and which, from the government +being administered not for the few but for the many, is denominated +a democracy. According to its laws, all participate in an equality +of rights as to the determination of private suits, and everyone is +preferred to public offices with a regard to the reputation he +holds, and according as each is in estimation for anything; not +so much for being of a particular class as for his personal merit. +Nor is any person who can, in whatever way, render service to the +state kept back on account of poverty or obscurity of station. +Thus liberally are our public affairs administered, and thus +liberally, too, do we conduct ourselves as to mutual suspicions +in our private and every-day intercourse; not bearing animosity +toward our neighbor for following his own humor, nor darkening +our countenance with the scowl of censure, which pains though +it cannot punish. While, too, we thus mix together in private +intercourse without irascibility or moroseness, we are, in our +public and political capacity, cautiously studious not to offend; +yielding a prompt obedience to the authorities for the time being, +and to the established laws; especially those which are enacted +for the benefit of the injured, and such as, though unwritten, +reflect a confessed disgrace on the transgressors." + +Having referred to the recreation provided for the public mind +by the exhibition of games and sacrifices throughout the whole +year, as well as to some points in military matters in which +the Athenians excel, Pericles proceeds as follows: "In these +respects, then, is our city worthy of admiration, and in others +also; for we study elegance combined with frugality, and cultivate +philosophy without effeminacy. Riches we employ at opportunities +for action, rather than as a subject of wordy boast. To confess +poverty with us brings no disgrace; not to endeavor to escape +it by exertion is disgrace indeed. There exists, moreover, in +the same persons an attention both to their domestic concerns +and to public affairs; and even among such others as are engaged +in agricultural occupations or handicraft labor there is found +a tolerable portion of political knowledge. We are the only people +who account him that takes no share in politics, not as an +intermeddler in nothing, but one who is good for nothing. We +are, too, persons who examine aright, or, at least, fully revolve +in mind our measures, not thinking that words are any hindrance +to deeds, but that the hindrance rather consists in the not being +informed by words previously to setting about in deed what is to +be done. For we possess this point of superiority over others, +that we execute a bold promptitude in what we undertake, and yet +a cautious prudence in taking forethought; whereas with others +it is ignorance alone that makes them daring, while reflection +makes them dastardly. + +"In short, I may affirm that the city at large is the instructress +of Greece, and that individually each person among us seems to +possess the most ready versatility in adapting himself, and that +not ungracefully, to the greatest variety of circumstances and +situations that diversify human life. That all this is not a +mere boast of words for the present purpose, but rather the actual +truth, this very power of the state, unto which by these habits +and dispositions we have attained, clearly attests; for ours +is the only one of the states now existing which, on trial, +approves itself greater than report; it alone occasions neither +to an invading enemy ground for chagrin at being worsted by such, +nor to a subject state aught of self-reproach, as being under +the power of those unworthy of empire. A power do we display +not unwitnessed, but attested by signs illustrious, which will +make us the theme of admiration both to the present and future +ages; nor need we either a Homer, or any such panegyrist, who +might, indeed, for the present delight with his verses, but any +idea of our actions thence formed the actual truth of them might +destroy: nay, every sea and every land have we compelled to become +accessible to our adventurous courage; and everywhere have we +planted eternal monuments both of good and of evil. For such a +state, then, these our departed heroes (unwilling to be deprived +of it) magnanimously fought and fell; and in such a cause it is +right that everyone of us, the survivors, should readily encounter +toils and dangers." + +After paying a handsome tribute to the memory of the departed +warriors whose virtues, he says, helped to adorn Athens with +all that makes it the theme of his encomiums, Pericles exhorts +his hearers to emulate the spirit of those who contributed to +their country the noblest sacrifice. "They bestowed," he adds, +"their persons and their lives upon the public; and therefore, +as their private recompense, they receive a deathless renown +and the noblest of sepulchres, [Footnote: + While kings, in dusty darkness hid, + Have left a nameless pyramid, + Thy heroes, though the general doom + Hath swept the column from their tomb, + A mightier monument command-- + The mountains of their native land! + These, points thy muse, to stranger's eye-- + The graves of those that cannot die! + --BYRON.] +not so much that wherein their bones are entombed as in which +their glory is preserved--to be had in everlasting remembrance +on all occasions, whether of speech or action. For to the +illustrious the whole earth is a sepulchre; nor do monumental +inscriptions in their own country alone point it out, but an +unwritten and mental memorial in foreign lands, which, more durable +than any monument, is deeply seated in the breast of everyone. +Imitating, then, these illustrious models--accounting that +happiness is liberty, and that liberty is valor--be not backward +to encounter the perils of war. [Footnote: It was a kindred spirit +that led our own great statesman, Webster, in quoting from this +oration, to ask: "Is it Athens or America? Is Athens or America +the theme of these immortal strains? Was Pericles speaking of his +own country as he saw it or knew it? or was he gazing upon a +bright vision, then two thousand years before him, which we see +in reality as he saw it in prospect?"] For the unfortunate and +hopeless are not those who have most reason to be lavish of their +lives, but rather such as, while they live, have to hazard a +chance to the opposite, and who have most at stake; since great +would be the reverse should they fall into adversity. For to +the high-minded, at least, more grievous is misfortune +overwhelming them amid the blandishments of prosperity; than +the stroke of death overtaking them in the full pulse of vigor +and common hope, and, moreover, almost unfelt." + +Says the historian from whose work the speech of Pericles is +taken: "Such was the funeral solemnity which took place this +winter, with the expiration of which the first year of the war +was brought to a close." DR. ERNST CURTIUS comments as follows +on the oration: "With lofty simplicity Pericles extols the Athenian +Constitution, popular in the fullest sense through having for +its object the welfare of the entire people, and offering equal +rights to all the citizens; but at the same time, and in virtue +of this its character, adapted for raising the best among them +to the first positions in the state. He lauds the high spiritual +advantages offered by the city, the liberal love of virtue and +wisdom on the part of her sons, their universal sympathy in the +common weal, their generous hospitality, their temperance and +vigor, which peace and the love of the beautiful had not weakened, +so that the city of the Athenians must, in any event, be an object +of well-deserved admiration both for the present and for future +ages. Such were the points of view from which Pericles displayed +to the citizens the character of their state, and described to +them the people of Athens, as it ought to be. He showed them +their better selves, in order to raise them above themselves and +arouse them to self-denial, to endurance, and to calm resolution. +Full of a new vital ardor they returned home from the graves, and +with perfect confidence confronted the destinies awaiting them +in the future." [Footnote: "The History of Greece," vol. iii., +p. 66; by Dr. Ernst Curtius.] + + +THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS. + +In the spring of 430 B.C. the Spartans again invaded Attica, +and the Athenians shut themselves up in Athens. But here the +plague, a calamity more dreadful than war, attacked them and +swept away multitudes. This plague, which not only devastated +Athens, but other Grecian cities also, is described at considerable +length, with a harrowing minuteness of detail, by the Latin poet +LUCRETIUS. His description is based upon the account given by +Thucydides. We give here only the beginning and the close of it: + + A plague like this, a tempest big with fate, + Once ravaged Athens and her sad domains; + Unpeopled all the city, and her paths + Swept with destruction. For amid the realms + Begot of Egypt, many a mighty tract + Of ether traversed, many a flood o'erpassed, + At length here fixed it; o'er the hapless realm + Of Cecrops hovering, and the astonished race + Dooming by thousands to disease and death. + + * * * * * + + Thus seized the dread, unmitigated pest + Man after man, and day succeeding day, + With taint voracious; like the herds they fell + Of bellowing beeves, or flocks of timorous sheep: + On funeral, funeral hence forever piled. + E'en he who fled the afflicted, urged by love + Of life too fond, and trembling for his fate, + Repented soon severely, and himself + Sunk in his guilty solitude, devoid + Of friends, of succor, hopeless and forlorn; + While those who nursed them, to the pious task + Roused by their prayers, with piteous moans commixt, + Fell irretrievable: the best by far, + The worthiest, thus most frequent met their doom. + --Trans. by J. MASON GOOD. + + +THE DEATH OF PERICLES. + +Oppressed by both war and pestilence, the Athenians were seized +with rage and despair, and accused Pericles of being the author +of their misfortunes. But that determined man still adhered to +his plans, and endeavored to soothe the popular mind by an +expedition against Peloponnesus, which he commanded in person. +After committing devastations upon various parts of the enemy's +coasts, Pericles returned to find the people still more impatient +of the war and clamorous for peace. An embassy was sent to Sparta +with proposals for a cessation of hostilities, but it was +dismissed without a hearing. This repulse increased the popular +exasperation, and, although at an assembly that he called for +the purpose Pericles succeeded, by his power of speech, in +quieting the people, and convincing them of the justice and +patriotism of his course, his political enemies charged him with +peculation, of which he was convicted, and his nomination as +general was cancelled. He retired to private life, but his +successors in office were incompetent and irresolute, and it +was not long before he was re-elected general. He appeared to +recover his ascendancy; but in the middle of the third year of +the war he died, a victim to the plague. + + He perished, but his wreath was won; + He perished in his height of fame: + Then sunk the cloud on Athens' sun, + Yet still she conquered in his name. + Filled with his soul, she could not die; + Her conquest was Posterity! + --CROLY. + +Thucydides relates that when Pericles was near his end, and +apparently insensible, the friends who had gathered round his bed +relieved their sorrow by recalling the remembrance of his military +exploits, and of the trophies which he had raised. He interrupted +them, observing that they had omitted the most glorious praise +which he could claim: "Other generals have been as fortunate, +but I have never caused the Athenians to put on mourning"-- +referring, doubtless, to his success in achieving important +advantages with but little loss of life; and which THIRLWALL +considers "a singular ground of satisfaction, if Pericles had +been conscious of having involved his country in the bloodiest +war it had ever waged." + +The success of Pericles in retaining, for so many years, his +great influence over the Athenian people, must be attributed, +in large part, to his wonderful powers of persuasion. Cicero is +said to have regarded him as the first example of an almost perfect +orator; and Bulwer says that "the diction of his speeches, and +that consecutive logic which preparation alone can impart to +language, became irresistible to a people that had itself become +a Pericles." Whatever may be said of Pericles as a politician, +his intellectual superiority cannot be questioned. As the +accomplished man of genius, and the liberal patron of literature +and art, he is worthy of the highest admiration; for "by these +qualities he has justly given name to the most brilliant +intellectual epoch that the world has ever seen." The following +extract from MITFORD'S History of Greece, may be considered a +correct sketch of the great democratic ruler: + + +The Character of Pericles. + +"No other man seems to have been held in so high estimation by +most of the ablest writers of Greece and Rome, for universal +superiority of talents, as Pericles. The accounts remaining of +his actions hardly support his renown, which was yet, perhaps, +more fairly earned than that of many, the merit of whose +achievements has been, in a great degree, due to others acting +under them, whose very names have perished. The philosophy of +Pericles taught him not to be vain-glorious, but to rest his +fame upon essentially great and good rather than upon brilliant +actions. It is observed by Plutarch that, often as he commanded +the Athenian forces, he never was defeated; yet, though he won +many trophies, he never gained a splendid victory. A battle, +according to a great modern authority, is the resource of ignorant +generals; when they know not what to do they fight a battle. It +was almost universally the resource of the age of Pericles; little +conception was entertained of military operations beyond ravage +and a battle. His genius led him to a superior system, which the +wealth of his country enabled him to carry into practice. His +favorite maxim was to spare the lives of his soldiers; and scarcely +any general ever gained so many important advantages with so +little bloodshed. + +"This splendid character, however, perhaps may seem to receive +some tarnish from the political conduct of Pericles; the +concurrence, at least, which is imputed to him, in depraving the +Athenian Constitution, to favor that popular power by which he +ruled, and the revival and confirmation of that pernicious +hostility between the democratical and aristocratical interests, +first in Athens and then by the Peloponnesian war throughout the +nation. But the high respect with which he is always spoken of +by three men in successive ages, Thucydides, Xenophon, and +Isoc'rates, all friendly to the aristocratical interest, and all +anxious for concord with Lacedæmon, strongly indicates that what +may appear exceptionable in his conduct was, in their opinion, +the result, not of choice, but of necessity. By no other conduct, +probably, could the independence of Athens have been preserved; +and yet that, as the event showed, was indispensable for the +liberty of Greece." + + * * * * * + +II. THE ATHENIAN DEMAGOGUES. + +Soon after the death of Pericles the results of the political +changes introduced by him, as well as of the moral and social +changes that had taken place in the people from various causes, +became apparent in the raising to power of men from the lower +walks of life, whose popularity was achieved and maintained +mainly by intrigue and flattery. Chief among these rose Cle'on, +a tanner, who has been characterized as "the violent demagogue +whose arrogant presumption so unworthily succeeded the +enlightened magnanimity of Pericles." In the year 428 Mityle'ne, +the capital of the Island of Lesbos, revolted against the +supremacy of Athens, but was speedily reduced to subjection, +and one thousand or more Mityleneans were sent as prisoners to +Athens, to be disposed of as the Athenian assembly should direct. +Cleon first prominently appears in public in connection with the +disposal of these prisoners. With the capacity to transact +business in a popular manner, and possessing a stentorian voice +and unbounded audacity, he had become "by far the most persuasive +speaker in the eyes of the people;" and now, taking the lead in +the assembly debate, he succeeded in having the unfortunate +prisoners cruelly put to death. From this period his influence +steadily increased, and in the year 425 he was elected commander +of the Athenian forces. For several years circumstances favored +him. With the aid of his general, Demosthenes, he captured Py'lus +from the Spartans, and on his return to Athens he was received +with demonstrations of great favor; but his military incompetence +lost him both the victory and his life in the battle of Amphip'olis, +422 B.C. + +What we know of the political conduct of Cleon comes from +measurably unreliable sources. Aristoph'anes, the chief of the +comic poets, describes him as "a noisy brawler, loud in his +criminations, violent in his gestures, corrupt and venal in his +principles, a persecutor of rank and merit, and a base flatterer +and sycophant of the people." Thucydides also calls him "a dishonest +politician, a wrongful accuser of others, and the most violent +of all the citizens." Both these writers, however, had personal +grievances. Of course Cleon very naturally became a target for +the invective of the poet. "The taking of Pylus," says GILLIES, +"and the triumphant return of Cleon, a notorious coward transformed +by caprice and accident into a brave and successful commander, +were topics well suiting the comic vein of Aristophanes; and in +the comedy first represented in the seventh year of the war--The +Knights--he attacks him in the moment of victory, when fortune +had rendered him the idol of a licentious multitude, when no +comedian was so daring as to play his character, and no painter +so bold as to design his mask." The poet himself, therefore, +appeared on the stage, "only disguising his face, the better +to represent the part of Cleon." As another writer has said, +"Of all the productions of Aristophanes, so replete with comic +genius throughout, The Knights is the most consummate and +irresistible; and it presents a portrait of Cleon drawn in colors +broad and glaring, most impressive to the imagination, and hardly +effaceable from the memory." The following extract from the play +will show the license indulged in on the stage in democratic +Athens, the boldness of the poet's attacks, and will serve, also, +as a sample of his style: + + +Cleon the Demagogue. + +The chorus come upon the stage; and thus commence +their attack upon Cleon: + +Chorus. Close around him, and confound him, the confounder + of us all; + Pelt him, pummel him, and maul him; rummage, ransack, overhaul him; + Overbear him and outbawl him; bear him down, and bring him under. + Bellow, like a burst of thunder, robber! harpy! sink of plunder! + Rogue and villain! rogue and cheat! rogue and villain, I repeat! + Oftener than I can repeat it has the rogue and villain cheated. + Close around him, left and right; spit upon him, spurn and smite: + Spit upon him as you see; spurn and spit at him like me. + But beware, or he'll evade you! for he knows the private track + Where En'crates was seen escaping with his mill-dust on his back. + +Cleon. Worthy veterans of the jury, you that, either right or wrong, + With my threepenny provision I've maintained and cherished long, + Come to my aid! I'm here waylaid--assassinated and betrayed"! + +Chorus. Rightly served! we serve you rightly, for your hungry + love of pelf; + For your gross and greedy rapine, gormandizing by yourself-- + You that, ere the figs are gathered, pilfer with a privy twitch + Fat delinquents and defaulters, pulpy, luscious, plump, and rich; + Pinching, fingering, and pulling--tempering, selecting, culling; + With a nice survey discerning which are green and which are turning, + Which are ripe for accusation, forfeiture, and confiscation. + Him, besides, the wealthy man, retired upon an easy rent, + Hating and avoiding party, noble-minded, indolent, + Fearful of official snares; intrigues, and intricate affairs-- + Him you mark; you fix and hook him, while he's gaping unawares; + At a fling, at once you bring him hither from the Chersonese; + Down you cast him, roast and baste him, and devour him at your ease. + +Cleon. Yes; assault, insult, abuse me! This is the return I find + For the noble testimony, the memorial I designed: + Meaning to propose proposals for a monument of stone, + On the which your late achievements should be carved and neatly done. + +Chorus. Out, away with him! the slave! the pompous, empty, fawning + knave! + Does he think with idle speeches to delude and cheat us all, + As he does the doting elders that attend his daily call? + Pelt him here, and bang him there; and here, and there, and + everywhere. + +Cleon. Save me, neighbors! Oh, the monsters! Oh, my + side, my back, my breast! + +Chorus. What! you're forced to call for help? you brutal, + overpowering pest! + +[Clean is pelted off the stage, pursued by the Chorus.] + + +THE PEACE OF NI'ÇI-AS. + +The struggle between Sparta and Athens continued ten years without +intermission, and without any successes of a decisive character +on either side. In the eleventh year of the struggle (421 B.C.) +a treaty for a term of fifty years was concluded--called the +Peace of Nicias, in honor of the Athenian general of that name +--by which the towns captured during the war were to be restored, +and both Athens and Sparta placed in much the same state as when +hostilities commenced. But this proved to be a hollow truce; +for the war was a virtual triumph for Athens--and interest, +inclination, and the ambitious views of her party leaders were +not long in finding plausible pretexts for renewing the struggle. +Again, the Boeotian, Megarian, and Corinthian allies of Sparta +refused to carry out the terms of the treaty by making the required +surrenders, and Sparta had no power to compel them, while Athens +would accept no less than she had bargained for. + +The Athenian general Nicias, through whose influence the Fifty +Years' Truce had been concluded, endeavored to carry out its +terms; but through the artifices of Alcibi'ades, a nephew of +Pericles, a wealthy Athenian, and an artful demagogue, the treaty +was soon dishonored on the part of Athens. Alcibi'ades also managed +to involve the Spartans in a war with their recent allies, the +Ar'gives, during which was fought the battle of Mantine'a, 418 +B.C., in which the Spartans were victorious; and he induced the +Athenians to send an armament against the Dorian island of Me'los, +which had provoked the enmity of Athens by its attachment to +Sparta, and which was compelled, after a vigorous siege, to +surrender at discretion. Meanwhile the feeble resistance of +Sparta, and her apparent timidity, encouraged Athens to resume +a project of aggrandizement which she had once before undertaken, +but had been obliged to relinquish. This was no less than the +virtual conquest of Sicily, whose important cities, under the +leadership of Syracuse, had some years before joined the +Peloponnesian confederacy. + + * * * * * + +III. THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION. + +Although opposed by Nicias, Socrates, and a few of the wiser +heads at Athens, the counsels of Alcibiades prevailed, and, after +three months of great preparation, an expedition sailed from +Athens for Sicily, under the plea of delivering the town of +Eges'ta from the tyranny of Syracuse (415 B.C.). The armament +fitted out on this occasion, the most powerful that had ever +left a Grecian port, was intrusted to the joint command of +Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lam'achus. The expedition captured the +city of Cat'ana, which was made the headquarters of the armament; +but here Alcibiades was summoned to Athens on the absurd charge +of impiety and sacrilege, connected with the mutilation of the +statues of the god Her'mes, that had taken place just before he +left Athens. He was also charged with having profaned the +Eleusinian mysteries by giving a representation of them in his +own house. Fearing to trust himself to the giddy multitude in a +trial for life, Alcibiades at once threw himself upon the +generosity of his open enemies, and sought refuge at Sparta. +When, soon after, he heard that the Athenians had condemned +him to death, he answered, "I will show them that I am still +alive." + +By the death of Lamachus, Nicias was soon after left in sole +command of the Athenians. He succeeded in landing near Syracuse +and defeating the Syracusans in a well-fought engagement; but +he wasted his time in fortifying his camp, and in useless +negotiations, until his enemies, having received aid from Corinth +and Sparta, under the Spartan general Gylip'pus, were able to +bid him defiance. Although new forces were sent from Athens, +under the Athenian general Demosthenes, the Athenians were defeated +in several engagements, and their entire force was nearly destroyed +(413 B.C.). "Never, in Grecian history," says THUCYDIDES, "had +ruin so complete and sweeping, or victory so glorious and +unexpected, been witnessed." Both Nicias and Demosthenes were +captured and put to death, and the Syracusans also captured seven +thousand prisoners and sold them as slaves. Some of the latter, +however, are said to have received milder treatment than the +others, owing, it is supposed, to their familiarity with the +works of the then popular poet, Eurip'ides, which in Sicily, +historians tell us, were more celebrated than known. It is to +this incident, probably, that reference is made by BYRON in the +following lines: + + When Athens' armies fell at Syracuse, + And fettered thousands bore the yoke of war, + Redemption rose up in the Attic Muse-- + Her voice their only ransom from afar. + See! as they chant the tragic hymn, the car + Of the o'ermastered victor stops; the reins + Fall from his hands--his idle scimitar + Starts from its belt--he rends his captive's chains, + And bids him thank the bard for freedom and his strains. + --Childe Harold, IV., 16. + + * * * * * + +IV. THE SECOND PELOPONNESIAN WAR. + +The aid which Gylippus had rendered the Syracusans now brought +Sparta and Athens in direct conflict. The result of the Athenian +expedition was the greatest calamity that had befallen Athens, +and the city was filled with affliction and dismay. The Spartans +made frequent forays into Attica, and Athens was almost in a +state of siege, while several of her allies, instigated by +Alcibiades, who was active in the Spartan councils, revolted +and joined the Spartans. It was not long, however, before Athens +regained her wonted determination and began to repair her wasted +energies. Samos still remained faithful to her interests, and, +with her help, a new flee was built, with which Lesbos was +recovered, and a victory was obtained over the Peloponnesians +at Miletus. Soon after this defeat Alcibiades, who had forfeited +the confidence of the Spartans by his conduct, was denounced +as a traitor and condemned to death. He escaped to the court +of Tissapher'nes, the most powerful Persian satrap in Asia Minor. +By his intrigues Alcibiades, who now sought a reconciliation +with his countrymen, partially detached Tissaphernes from the +interests of Sparta, and offered the Athenians a Persian alliance +as the price of his restoration to his country. But, as he feared +and hated the Athenian democracy, he insisted that an oligarchy +should be established in its place. + +The Athenian generals accepted the proposal as the only means +of salvation for Athens; and, although they subsequently +discovered that Alcibiades could not perform what he had +undertaken, a change of government was effected, after much +opposition from the people, from a democracy to an aristocracy +of four hundred of the nobility; but the new government, dreading +the ambition of Alcibiades, refused to recall him. Another change +soon followed. The defeat of the Athenian navy at Ere'tria, and +the revolt of Euboea, produced a new revolution at Athens, by +which the government of the four hundred was overthrown, and +democracy restored. Alcibiades was now recalled; but before his +return he aided in destroying the Peloponnesian fleet in the +battle of Cys'icus (411 B.C.). He was welcomed at Athens with +great enthusiasm, a golden crown was decreed him, and he was +appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces of the commonwealth +both by land and by sea. + + +THE HUMILIATION OF ATHENS. + +Alcibiades was still destined to experience the instability of +fortune. He sailed from Athens in September, 407, and proceeded +to Samos. While he was absent from the main body of his fleet +on a predatory excursion, one of his subordinates, contrary to +instructions, attacked a Spartan fleet and was defeated with a +loss of fifteen ships. Although in command of a splendid force, +Alcibiades had accomplished really nothing, and had now lost a +part of his fleet. An unjust suspicion of treachery fell upon +him, the former charges against him were revived, and he was +deprived of his command and again banished. In the year 406 the +Athenians defeated a large Spartan fleet under Callicrat'idas, +but their victory secured them no permanent advantages. Lysander, +a general whose abilities the Athenians could not match since +they had deprived themselves of the services of Alcibiades, was +now in command of the Spartan forces. He obtained the favor of +Cyrus, the youngest son of the King of Persia, who had been +invested with authority over the whole maritime region of Asia +Minor, and, aided by Persian gold, he manned a numerous fleet +with which he met the Athenians at Æ'gos-pot'ami, on the +Hellespont, destroyed most of their ships, and captured three +thousand prisoners (405 B.C.). The maritime allies of Athens +immediately submitted to Lysander, who directed the Athenians +throughout Greece to repair at once to Athens, with threats of +death to all whom he found elsewhere; and when famine began to +prey upon the collected multitude in the city, he appeared before +the Piræus with his fleet, while a large Spartan army blockaded +Athens by land. + +The Athenians had no hopes of effectual resistance, and only +delayed the surrender of their city to plead for the best terms +that could be obtained. Compelled at last to submit to whatever +terms were dictated to them, they agreed to destroy their long +walls and fortifications; to surrender all their ships but twelve; +to restore their exiles; to relinquish their conquests; to become +a member of the Peloponnesian Confederacy; and to serve Sparta +in all her expeditions, whether by land or by sea. Thus fell +imperial Athens (404 B.C. ), in the seventy-third year after +the formation of the Confederacy of Delos, the origin of her +subsequent empire. Soon after this event, and in the same year, +Alcibiades, who had been honored by both Athens and Sparta, and +was now the dread of both, met his fate in a foreign land. While +living in Phrygia he was murdered by the Persian satrap at the +instance of Sparta. It has been said of him that, "with qualities +which, if properly applied, might have rendered him the greatest +benefactor of Athens, he contrived to attain the infamous +distinction of being that citizen who had inflicted upon her the +most signal amount of damage." + +The war just closed was characterized by many instances of cruelty +and heartlessness, in marked contrast with the boasted clemency +and culture of the age, of which two prominent illustrations +may be given. The first occurred at Platæa in the year 427, soon +after the execution by the Athenians of the Mitylene'an prisoners. +After a long and heroic defence against the Spartans under King +Archida'mus himself, and after a solemn promise had been given +that no harm should be illegally done to any person within its +walls, Platæa surrendered. But a Spartan court soon after decreed +that the Platæan alliance with Athens was a treasonable offence, +and punishable, of course, with death. Thereupon all those who +had surrendered (two hundred Platæans and twenty-five Athenians) +were barbarously murdered. The other instance occurred at Lamp'sacus, +where the three thousand prisoners taken by Lysander at Ægospotami +were tried by court-martial and put to death. + +Referring to these barbarities, MAHAFFY observes, in his Social +Life in Greece, that, "though seldom paralleled in human history, +they appear to have called forth no cry of horror in Greece. +Phil'ocles, the unfortunate Athenian general at Ægospotami, +according to Theophrastus, submitted with dignified resignation +to a fate which he confessed would have attended the Lacedæmonians +had they been vanquished. [Footnote: Plutarch relates that when +Lysander asked Philocles what punishment he thought he deserved, +undismayed by his misfortunes, he answered, "Do not start a +question where there is no judge to decide it; but, now you are +a conqueror, proceed as you would have been proceeded with had +you been conquered." After this he bathed, dressed himself in a +rich robe, and then led his countrymen to execution, being the +first to offer his neck to the axe.] The barbarity of the Greeks +is but one evidence out of a thousand that, hitherto in the world's +history, no culture, no education, no political training, has +been able to rival the mature and ultimate effects of Christianity +in humanizing society." + + +CHANGES IN GOVERNMENT AT ATHENS. + +The change of government which followed the Spartan occupation +of Athens conformed to the aristocratic character of the Spartan +institutions. All authority was placed by Lysander in the hands +of thirty archons, who became known as the Thirty Tyrants, and +whose power was supported by a Spartan garrison. Their cruelty +and rapacity knew no bounds, and filled Athens with universal +dismay. The streets of Athens flowed with blood, and while many +of the best men of the city fell, others more fortunate succeeded +in escaping to the territory of the friendly Thebans, who, groaning +under Spartan supremacy, sympathized with Athens, and regarded +the Thirty as mere instruments for maintaining the Spartan +dominion. A large band of exiles soon assembled, and choosing +one Thrasybu'lus for their leader, they resolved to strike a +blow for the deliverance of their country. + +They first seized a small fortress on the frontier of Attica, +when, their numbers rapidly increasing, they were able to seize +the Piræus, where they entrenched themselves and defeated the +force that was brought against them, killing, among others, +Cri'ti-as, the chief of the tyrants. The loss of Critias threw +the majority into the hands of a party who resolved to depose +the Thirty and constitute a new oligarchy of Ten. The rule of +the Thirty was overthrown; but the change in government was +simply a reduction in the number of tyrants, as the Ten emulated +the wickedness of their predecessors, and when the populace +turned against them, applied to Sparta for assistance. Lysander +again entered Athens at the head of a large force; but the Spartan +councils became divided, Lysander was deposed from command, and +eventually, by the aid of Sparta herself, the Ten were overthrown. +The Spartans now withdrew their forces from Attica, and Athens +again became a democracy (403 B.C.). Freed from foreign domination, +she soon obtained internal peace; but her empire had vanished. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GRECIAN LITERATURE AND ART I FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSIAN +TO THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WARS. (500-403 B.C.) + +LITERATURE. + +In a former chapter we briefly traced the growth of Grecian +literature and art from their beginnings down to the time of +the Persian wars. Within this period, as we noticed, their progress +was the greatest in the Grecian colonies, while, of the cities +of central Greece, the one destined to become pre-eminent in +literature and the fine arts--Athens--contributed less than several +others to intellectual advancement. "She produced no artists to +be compared with those of Argos, Corinth, Si'cy-on, and of many +other cities, while she could boast of no poets as celebrated +as those of the Ionian and Æolian schools." But at the opening +of the Persian wars the artistic and literary talent of Greece +began to center in Athens, and with the close of that contest +properly begins the era of Athenian greatness. Athens, hitherto +inferior in magnitude and political importance, having borne +the brunt and won the highest martial honor of the conflict with +Persia, now took the lead, as well in intellectual progress as +in political ascendancy. To this era PROFESSOR SYMONDS refers, +as follows: + +"It was the struggle with Xerxes which developed all the latent +energies of the Greeks, which intensified their national existence, +and which secured for Athens, as the central power on which the +scattered forces of the race converged, the intellectual +dictatorship of Hellas. It was a struggle of spiritual energy +against brute force, of liberty against oppression, of intellectual +freedom against superstitious ignorance, of civilization against +barbarism; and Athens, who had fought and won this battle of the +Spirit--by spirit we mean the greatness of the soul, liberty, +intelligence, and everything which raises men above brutes and +slaves, and makes them free beneath the arch of heaven--became +immediately the recognized impersonation of the spirit itself. +Whatever was superb in human nature found its natural home and +sphere in Athens. We hear no more of the colonies. All great +works of art and literature are now produced in Athens, and it +is to Athens that the sages come to teach and to be taught." +[Footnote: "The Greek Poets." First Series, p. 19.] + + * * * * * + +I. LYRIC POETRY. + +SIMON'IDES AND PINDAR. + +The rapid progress made in the cultivation of lyric poetry +preceding the Persian wars found its culmination, during those +wars, in Simonides of Ceos, the most brilliant period of whose +life was spent at Athens; and in Pindar, a native of Thebes, +who is considered the greatest lyric poet of all ages. The life +of Simonides was a long one, reaching from 556 to 469 B.C. +"Coming forward at a time," says MAHAFFY, "when the tyrants had +made poetry a matter of culture, and dissociated it from politics, +we find him a professional artist, free from all party struggles, +alike welcome at the courts of tyrants and among the citizens of +free states; he was respected throughout all the Greek world, +and knew well how to suit himself, socially and artistically, +to his patrons. The great national struggle with Persia gave +him the opportunity of becoming the spokesman of the nation in +celebrating the glories of the victors and the heroism of the +fallen patriots; and this exceptional opportunity made him quite +the foremost poet of his day, and decidedly better known and +more admired than Pindar, who has so completely eclipsed him +in the attention of posterity." [Footnote: "Classical Greek +Literature," vol. i., p. 207.] + +Simonides was the intimate friend of Miltiades and Themistocles +at Athens, of Pausanias at Sparta, and of the tyrants of Sicily. +In the first named city he composed his epigrams on Marathon, +Thermopylæ, Salamis, and Platæa--"poems not destined to be merely +sung or consigned to parchment, but to be carved in marble or +engraved in letters of imperishable bronze upon the works of +the noblest architects and statuaries." In his elegy upon Marathon +he carried away the prize from Æschylus. He was a most prolific +poet, and his writings, comprising all the subjects that human +life, with its joys and sorrows, its hopes and disappointments, +could furnish, are noted for their sweetness and pure and exquisite +polish. He particularly excelled in the pathetic; and the most +celebrated of the existing fragments of his muse, the "Lamentation +of Dan'a-ë," is a piece of this character. The poem is based +upon a tradition concerning Danaë, the daughter of Acris'ius, +King of Argos, and her infant son, the offspring of Jove. +Acrisius had been told by the oracle that his life would be taken +by a son that his daughter should bear, and, for his own +preservation, when the boy had reached the age of four years, +Acrisius threw both him and his mother into a chest and set them +adrift on the sea. But they were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman +of the Island of Seri'phus, whose brother Polydec'tes, king of +the country, received and protected them. The boy grew up to +manhood, and became the famous hero Per'seus, who accidentally +killed Acrisius at the funeral games of Polydectes. The following +is the + + Lamentation of Dan'a-ë. + + While, around her lone ark sweeping, + Wailed the winds and waters wild, + Her young cheeks all wan with weeping, + Danae clasped her sleeping child; + And "Alas!" cried she, "my dearest, + What deep wrongs, what woes are mine; + But nor wrongs nor woes thou fearest + In that sinless rest of thine. + Faint the moonbeams break above thee, + And within here all is gloom; + But, fast wrapped in arms that love thee, + Little reck'st thou of our doom. + Not the rude spray, round thee flying, + Has e'en damped thy clustering hair; + On thy purple mantlet lying, + O mine Innocent, my Fair! + Yet, to thee were sorrow sorrow, + Thou wouldst lend thy little ear; + And this heart of thine might borrow, + Haply, yet a moment's cheer. + But no: slumber on, babe, slumber; + Slumber, ocean's waves; and you, + My dark troubles, without number-- + Oh, that ye would slumber too! + Though with wrongs they've brimmed my chalice, + Grant, Jove, that, in future years, + This boy may defeat their malice, + And avenge his mother's tears!" + --Trans. by W. PETER. + + +Simonides was nearly eighty years old when he gained his last +poetical prize at Athens, making the fiftieth that he had won. +He then retired to Syracuse, at the invitation of Hi'ero, where +he spent the remaining ten years of his life. He was a philosopher +as well as poet, and his wise sayings made him a special favorite +with the accomplished Hiero. When inquired of by that monarch +concerning the nature of God, Simonides requested one day for +deliberating on the subject; and when Hiero repeated the question +the next day, the poet asked for two days more. As he still went +on doubling the number of days, the monarch, lost in wonder, +asked him why he did so. "Because," replied Simonides, "the longer +I reflect on the subject, the more obscure does it appear to +me to be." + +Pindar, the most celebrated of all the lyric poets of Greece, +was born about 520 B.C. At an early age he was sent to Athens +to receive instruction in the art of poetry: returning to Thebes +at twenty, his youthful genius was quickened and guided by the +influence of Myr'tis and Corin'na, two poetesses who then enjoyed +great celebrity in Boeotia. At a later period "he undoubtedly +experienced," says THIRLWALL, "the animating influence of that +joyful and stirring time which followed the defeat of the barbarian +invader, though, as a Theban patriot, he could not heartily enjoy +a triumph by which Thebes as well as Persia was humbled." But +his enthusiasm for Athens, which he calls "the buttress of Hellas," +is apparent in one of his compositions; and the Athenians specially +honored him with a valuable present, and, after his death, erected +a bronze statue to his memory. It is probable, however, that +while he was sincerely anxious for the success of Greece in the +great contest, he avoided as much as possible offending his own +people, whose sympathies and hopes lay the other way. + +The reputation of Pindar early became so great that he was employed, +by various states and princes, to compose choral songs for special +occasions. Like Simonides, he "loved to bask in the sunshine +of courts;" but he was frank, sincere, and manly, assuming a +lofty and dignified position toward princes and others in authority +with whom he came in contact. He was especially courted by Hiero, +despot of Syracuse, but remained with him only a few years, his +manly disposition creating a love for an independent life that +the courtly arts of his patron could not furnish. As his poems +show, he was a reserved man, learned in the myths and ceremonies +of the times, and specially devoted to the worship of the gods. +"The old myths," says a Greek biographer, "were for the most part +realities to him, and he accepted them with implicit credence, +except when they exhibited the gods in a point of view which +was repugnant to his moral feelings; and he accordingly rejects +some tales, and changes others, because they are inconsistent +with his moral conceptions." As a poet correctly describes him, +using one of the names commonly applied to him, + + Pindar, that eagle, mounts the skies, + While virtue leads the noble way. + --PRIOR. + +The poems of Pindar were numerous, and comprised triumphal odes, +hymns to the gods, pæans, dirges, and songs of various kinds. +His triumphal odes alone have come down to us entire; but of +some of his other compositions there are a few sublime and beautiful +fragments. The poet and his writings cannot be better described +than in the following general characterization by SYMONDS: + +"By the force of his originality Pindar gave lyrical poetry a +wholly new direction, and, coming last of the great Dorian lyrists, +taught posterity what sort of thing an ode should be. His grand +pre-eminence as an artist was due, in great measure, to his +personality. Frigid, austere, and splendid; not genial like that +of Simonides, not passionate like that of Sappho, not acrid like +that of Archil'ochus; hard as adamant, rigid in moral firmness, +glittering with the strong, keen light of snow; haughty, +aristocratic, magnificent--the unique personality of the man +Pindar, so irresistible in its influence, so hard to characterize, +is felt in every strophe of his odes. In his isolation and elevation +Pindar stands like some fabled heaven-aspiring peak, conspicuous +from afar, girdled at the base with ice and snow, beaten by winds, +wreathed round with steam and vapor, jutting a sharp and dazzling +outline into cold blue ether. Few things that have life dare +to visit him at his grand altitude. Glorious with sunlight and +with stars, touched by rise and set of day with splendor, he +shines when other lesser lights are dulled. Pindar among his +peers is solitary. He had no communion with the poets of his +day. He is the eagle; Simonides and Bacchyl'ides are jackdaws. +He soars to the empyrean; they haunt the valley mists. Noticing +this rocky, barren, severe, glittering solitude of Pindar's soul, +critics have not infrequently complained that his poems are devoid +of individual interest. Possibly they have failed to comprehend +and appreciate the nature of this sublime and distant genius, +whose character, in truth, is just as marked as that of Dante +or of Michael Angelo." + +After giving some illustrations of the impression produced upon +the imagination by a study of Pindar's odes, the writer proceeds +with his characterization, in the following language: "He who +has watched a sunset attended by the passing of a thunder-storm +in the outskirts of the Alps--who has seen the distant ranges +of the mountains alternately obscured by cloud and blazing with +the concentrated brightness of the sinking sun, while drifting +scuds of hail and rain, tawny with sunlight, glistening with +broken rainbows, clothe peak and precipice and forest in the +golden veil of flame-irradiated vapor--he who has heard the thunder +bellow in the thwarting folds of hills, and watched the lightning, +like a snakes tongue, flicker at intervals amid gloom and glory +--knows, in Nature's language, what Pindar teaches with the voice +of Art. It is only by a metaphor like this that any attempt to +realize the Sturm and Drang of Pindar's style can be communicated. +As an artist he combines the strong flight of the eagle, the +irresistible force of the torrent, the richness of Greek wine, +and the majestic pageantry of Nature in one of her sublimer +moods." [Footnote: "The Greek Poets." First Series, pp. 171, 174.] + +Pindar, as we have seen, was compared to an eagle, because of +the daring flights and lofty character of his poetry--a simile +which has been beautifully expressed in the following lines by +GRAY: + + The pride and ample pinion + That the Theban eagle bare, + Sailing with supreme dominion, + Through the azure deeps of air. + +Another image, also, has been employed to show these features +of his poetry. The poet POPE represents him riding in a gorgeous +chariot sustained by four swans: + + Four swans sustain a car of silver bright, + With heads advanced and pinions stretched for flight; + Here, like some furious prophet, Pindar rode, + And seemed to labor with th' inspiring god. + +A third image, given to us by HORACE, represents another +characteristic of Pindar, which may be called "the stormy violence +of his song:" + + As when a river, swollen by sudden showers, + O'er its known banks from some steep mountain pours; + So, in profound, unmeasurable song, + The deep-mouthed Pindar, foaming, pours along. + --Trans. by FRANCIS. + +As a sample of the religious sentiment of Pindar we give the +following fragment of a threnos translated by MR. SYMONDS, which, +he says, "sounds like a trumpet blast for immortality, and, +trampling underfoot the glories of this world, reveals the gladness +of the souls that have attained Elysium:" + + For them, the night all through, + In that broad realm below, + The splendor of the sun spreads endless light; + 'Mid rosy meadows bright, + Their city of the tombs, with incense-trees + And golden chalices + Of flowers, and fruitage fair, + Scenting the breezy air, + Is laden. There, with horses and with play, + With games and lyres, they while the hours away. + + On every side around + Pure happiness is found, + With all the blooming beauty of the world; + There fragrant smoke, upcurled + From altars where the blazing fire is dense + With perfumed frankincense, + Burned unto gods in heaven, + Through all the land is driven, + Making its pleasant place odorous + With scented gales, and sweet airs amorous. + + * * * * * + +II. THE DRAMA. + +One of the most striking proofs that we possess of the rapid +growth and expansion of the Greek mind, is found in the rise +of the Drama, a new kind of poetical composition, which united +the leading features of every species before cultivated, in a +new whole "breathing a rhetorical, dialectical, and ethical spirit" +--a branch of literature that peculiarly characterized the era +of Athenian greatness. Its elements were found in the religious +festivals celebrated in Greece from the earliest ages, and +especially in the feast of Bacchus, where sacred odes of a grave +and serious character, intermixed with episodes of mythological +story recited by an actor, were sung by a chorus that danced +around the altar. A goat was either the principal sacrifice on +these occasions, or the participants, disguised as Satyrs, had +a goat-like appearance; and from the two Greek words representing +"goat" and "song" we get our word tragedy, [Footnote: From the +Greek tragos, "a goat," and o'de, "a song."] or goat-song. At +some of the more rustic festivals in honor of the same god the +performance was of a more jocose or satirical character; and +hence arose the term comedy, [Footnote: From the Greek ko'me, +"a village," and o'de, "a song."] from the two Greek words +signifying "village" and "song"--village-song. In the teller of +mythological legends we find the first germ of dialogue, as the +chorus soon came to assist him by occasional question and remark. +This feature was introduced by Thespis, a native of Ica'ria, +in 535 B.C., under whose direction, and that of Phryn'icus, his +pupil, the first feeble rudiments of the drama were established. +In this condition it was found by Æschylus, in 500 B.C., who +brought a second actor upon the scene; whence arose the increased +prominence of the dialogue, and the limitation and subsidiary +character of the chorus. Æschylus also added more expressive +masks, and various machinery and scenes calculated to improve +and enlarge dramatic representation. Of the effect of this new +creation upon all kinds of poetical genius we have the following +fine illustration from the pen of BULWER: + +"It was in the very nature of the Athenian drama that, when once +established, it should concentrate and absorb almost every variety +of poetical genius. The old lyrical poetry, never much cultivated +in Athens, ceased in a great measure when tragedy arose; or, +rather, tragedy was the complete development, the new and perfected +consummation, of the dithyrambic ode. Lyrical poetry transmigrated +into the choral song as the epic merged into the dialogue and +plot of the drama. Thus, when we speak of Athenian poetry we +speak of dramatic poetry--they were one and the same. In Athens, +where audiences were numerous and readers few, every man who +felt within himself the inspiration of the poet would necessarily +desire to see his poetry put into action--assisted with all the +pomp of spectacle and music, hallowed by the solemnity of a +religious festival, and breathed by artists elaborately trained +to heighten the eloquence of words into the reverent ear of +assembled Greece. Hence the multitude of dramatic poets; hence +the mighty fertility of each; hence the life and activity of +this--the comparative torpor and barrenness of every other-- +species of poetry." + + +1. TRAGEDY. + +MELPOM'ENE, one of the nine Muses, whose name signifies "To +represent in song," is said to have been the inventress of tragedy, +over which she presided, always veiled, bearing in one hand the +lyre, as the emblem of her vocation, and in the other a tragic +mask. As queen of the lyre, every poet was supposed to proclaim +the marvels of her song, and to invoke her aid. + + Queen of the lyre, in thy retreat + The fairest flowers of Pindus glow, + The vine aspires to crown thy seat, + And myrtles round thy laurel grow: + Thy strings adapt their varied strain + To every pleasure, every pain, + Which mortal tribes were born to prove; + And straight our passions rise or fall, + As, at the wind's imperious call, + The ocean swells, the billows move. + + When midnight listens o'er the slumbering earth, + Let me, O Muse, thy solemn whispers hear: + When morning sends her fragrant breezes forth, + With airy murmurs touch my opening ear, + --AKENSIDE. + + +ÆSCHYLUS. + +Æschylus, the first poet who rendered the drama illustrious, +and into whose character and writings the severe and ascetic +doctrines of Pythagoras entered largely, was born at Eleu'sis, +in Attica, in 525 B.C. He fought, as will be remembered, in the +combats of Marathon and Salamis, and also in the battle of Platæa. +He therefore flourished at the time when the freedom of Greece, +rescued from foreign enemies, was exulting in its first strength; +and his writings are characteristic of the boldness and vigor +of the age. In his works we find the fundamental idea of the +Greek drama--retributive justice. The sterner passions alone +are appealed to, and the language is replete with bold metaphor +and gigantic hyperbole. Venus and her inspirations are excluded; +the charms of love are unknown: but the gods--vast, majestic, +in shadowy outline, and in the awful sublimity of power-pass +before and awe the beholder. [Footnote: see Grote's "History +of Greece," Chap. lxvii.] Says a prominent reviewer: "The +conceptions of the imagination of Æschylus are remarkable for +a sort of colossal sublimity and power, resembling the poetry of +the Book of Job; and those poems of his which embody a connected +story may be said to resemble the stupendous avenues of the +Temple of Elora, [See Index.] with the vast scenes and vistas; +its strange, daring, though rude sculptures; its awful, shadowy, +impending horrors. Like the architecture, the poems, too, seem +hewn out of some massy region of mountain rock. Æschylus appears +as an austere poet-soul, brooding among the grand, awful, and +terrible myths which have floated from a primeval world, in which +traditions of the Deluge, of the early, rudimental struggle between +barbaric power and nascent civilization, were still vital." + +"The personal temperament of the man," says DR. PLUMPTRE, [Footnote: +"The Tragedies of Æschylus," by E. H. Plumptre, D.D.] seems to +have been in harmony with the characteristics of his genius. +Vehement, passionate, irascible; writing his tragedies, as later +critics judged, as if half drunk; doing (as Sophocles said of +him) what was right in his art without knowing why; following +the impulses that led him to strange themes and dark problems, +rather than aiming at the perfection of a complete, all-sided +culture; frowning with shaggy brows, like a wild bull, glaring +fiercely, and bursting into a storm of wrath when annoyed by +critics or rival poets; a Marlowe rather than a Shakspeare: this +is the portrait sketched by one who must have painted a figure +still fresh in the minds of the Athenians. [Footnote: Aristophanes, +in The Frogs.] Such a man, both by birth and disposition, was +likely to attach himself to the aristocratic party, and to look +with scorn on the claims of the demos to a larger share of power; +and there is hardly a play in which some political bias in that +direction may not be traced." + +Æschylus wrote his plays in trilogies, or three successive dramas +connected. Of the eighty tragedies that he wrote, only seven +have been preserved. From three of these, The Persians, Prome'theus, +and Agamemnon, we have given extracts descriptive of historical +and mythological events. The latter is the first of three plays +on the fortunes of the house of A'treus, of Myce'næ; and these +three, of which the Choëph'oroe and Eumenides are the other two, +are the only extant specimen of a trilogy. The Agamemnon is the +longest, and by some considered the grandest, play left us by +Æschylus. "In the Agamemnon," says VON SCHLEGEL, "it was the +intention of Æschylus to exhibit to us a sudden fall from the +highest pinnacle of prosperity and renown into the abyss of ruin. +The prince, the hero, the general of the combined forces of the +Greeks, in the very moment of success and the glorious achievement +of the destruction of Troy, the fame of which is to be re-echoed +from the mouths of the greatest poets of all ages, in the very +act of crossing the threshold of his home, after which he had +so long sighed, and amidst the fearless security of preparations +for a festival, is butchered, according to the expression of +Homer, 'like an ox in the stall,' slain by his faithless wife, +his throne usurped by her worthless seducer, and his children +consigned to banishment or to hopeless servitude." [Footnote: +"Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature," by Augustus William +on Schlegel. Black's translation.] + +Among the fine passages of this play, the death of Agamemnon, at +the hand of Clytemnes'tra, is a scene that the poet paints with +terrible effect. Says MR. EUGENE LAWRENCE, [Footnote: "A Primer +of Greek Literature," by Eugene Lawrence, p.55.] "Mr. E. C. +Stedman's version of the death of Agamemnon is an excellent one. +A horror rests upon the palace at Mycenæ; there is a scent of +blood, the exhalations of the tomb. The queen, Clytemnestra, enters +the inner room, terrible as Lady Macbeth. A cry is heard: + + "'Agam. Woe's me! I'm stricken a deadly blow within!' + "'Chor. Hark! who is't cries "a blow?" Who meets his death?' + "'Agam. Woe's me! Again! again! a second time I'm stricken!' + "'Chor. The deed, methinks, from the king's cry, is done.' + +At length the queen appears, standing at her full height, terrible, +holding her bloody weapon in her hand. She seeks no concealment. +She proclaims her guilt: + + "'I smote him! nor deny that thus I did it; + So that he could not flee or ward off doom. + A seamless net, as round a fish, I cast + About him, yea, a deadly wealth of robe, + Then smote him twice; and with a double cry + He loosed his limbs; and to him fallen I gave + Yet a third thrust, a grace to Hades, lord + Of the under-world and guardian of the dead.'" + +But the most finished of the tragedies of Æschylus is Choëphoroe, +which is made the subject of the revenge of Ores'tes, son of +Agamemnon, who avenges the murder of his father by putting his +mother to death. For this crime the Eumenides represents him as +being driven insane by the Furies; but his reason was subsequently +restored. It is the chief object of the poet, in this tragedy, to +display the distress of Orestes at the necessity he feels of +avenging his father's death upon his mother. To this BYRON refers +in Childe Harold: + + O thou! who never yet of human wrong + Left the unbalanced scale--great Nem'esis! + Thou who didst call the Furies from the abyss, + And round Orestes bade them howl and hiss + For that unnatural retribution--just, + Had it but been from hands less near--in this, + Thy former realm, I call thee from the dust! + +At the close of an interesting characterization of Æschylus and +his works--much too long for a full quotation here--PROFESSOR +MAHAFFY observes as follows: + +"We always feel that Æschylus thought more than he expressed, +that his desperate compounds are never affected or unnecessary. +Although, therefore, he violated the rules that bound weaker +men, it is false to say that be was less an artist than they. +His art was of a different kind, despising what they prized, and +attempting what they did not dare, but not the less a conscious +and thorough art. Though the drawing of character was not his +main object, his characters are truer and deeper than those of +poets who attempted nothing else. Though lyrical sweetness had +little place in the gloom and terror of his Titanic stage, yet +here too, when he chooses, he equals the masters of lyric song. +So long as a single Homer was deemed the author of the Iliad +and the Odyssey, we might well concede to him the first place, +and say that Æschylus was the second poet of the Greeks. But +by the light of nearer criticism, and with a closer insight into +the structure of the epic poems, we must retract this judgment, +and assert that no other poet among the Greeks, either in grandeur +of conception or splendor of execution, equals the untranslatable, +unapproachable, inimitable Æschylus." [Footnote: "Classical Greek +Literature," vol. i., p.275.] + + +SOPHOCLES. + +Æschylus was succeeded, as master of the drama, by Sophocles-- +the Raffaelle of the drama, as Bulwer calls him--who was also +one of the generals of the Athenian expedition against Samos +in the year 440 B.C. He brought the drama to the greatest +perfection of which it was susceptible. In him we find a greater +range of emotions than in Æschylus--figures more distinctly +seen, a more expanded dialogue, simplicity of speech mixed with +rhetorical declamation, and the highest degree of poetic beauty. +Says a late writer: "The artist and the man were one in Sophocles. +We cannot but think of him as specially created to represent +Greek art in its most refined and exquisitely balanced perfection. +It is impossible to imagine a more plastic nature, a genius more +adapted to its special function, more fittingly provided with +all things needful to its full development, born at a happier +moment in the history of the world, and more nobly endowed with +physical qualities suited to its intellectual capacity." + +Sophocles composed one hundred and thirteen plays, but only seven +of them are extant. Of these the most familiar is the tragedy +of OEd'ipus Tyran'nus--"King OEdipus." It is not only considered +his masterpiece, but also, as regards the choice and disposition +of the fable on which it is founded, the finest tragedy of +antiquity. A new interest has been given to it in this country +by its recent representation in the original Greek. Of its many +translations, it is conceded that none have done, and none can +do it justice; they can do little more than give its plan and +general character. The following, in brief, is the story of this +famous tragedy: + + +OEdipus Tyrannus. + +La'i-us, King of Thebes, was told by the Delphic oracle that if +a son should be born to him, by the hand of that son he should +surely die. When, therefore, his queen, Jocasta, bare him a son, +the parents gave the child to a shepherd, with orders to cast +it out, bound, on the hill Cithæ'ron to perish. But the shepherd, +moved to compassion, deceived the parents, and intrusted the +babe to a herdsman of Pol'ybus, King of Corinth; and the wife +of Polybus, being childless, named the foundling OEdipus, and +reared it as her own. + +Thirty years later, OEdipus, ignorant of his birth, and being +directed by the oracle to shun his native country, fled from +Corinth; and it happened at the same time that his father (Laius) +was on his way to consult the oracle at Delphi, for the purpose +of ascertaining whether the child that had been exposed had +perished or not. As father and son, strangers to each other, met +in a narrow path in the mountains, a dispute arose for the right +of way, and in the contest that ensued the father was slain. + +Immediately after this event the goddess Juno, always hostile to +Thebes, sent a monster, called the sphinx, to propound a riddle +to the Thebans, and to ravage their territory until some one +should solve the riddle--the purport of which was, "What animal +is that which goes on four feet in the morning, on two at noon, +and on three at evening?" OEdipus, the supposed son of Polybus, +of Corinth, coming to Thebes, solved the riddle, by answering +the sphinx that it was man, who, when an infant, creeps on all +fours, in manhood goes on two feet, and when old uses a staff. +The sphinx then threw herself down to the earth and perished; +whereupon the Thebans, in their joy, chose OEdipus as king, and +he married the widowed queen Jocasta, by whom he had two sons +and two daughters. Although everything prospered with him--as +he loved the Theban people, and was beloved by them in turn for +his many virtues--soon the wrath of the gods fell upon the city, +which was visited by a sore pestilence. Creon, brother of the +queen, is now sent to consult the oracle for the cause of the +evil; and it is at the point of his return that the drama opens. +He brings back the response + + "That guilt of blood is blasting all the state;" + +that this guilt is connected with the death of Laius, and that + + "Now the god clearly bids us, he being dead, + To take revenge on those who shed his blood," + +OEdipus engages earnestly in the business of unraveling the mystery +connected with the death of Laius, the cause of all the Theban +woes. Ignorant that he himself bears the load of guilt, he charges +the Thebans to be vigilant and unremitting in their efforts,-- + + "And for the man who did the guilty deed, + Whether alone he lurks, or leagued with more, + I pray that he may waste his life away, + For vile deeds vilely dying; and for me, + If in my house, I knowing it, he dwells, + May every curse I spake on my head fall." + +A blind and aged priest and prophet, Tire'sias, is brought before +OEdipus, and, being implored to lend the aid of prophecy to "save +the city from the curse" that had fallen on it, he at first refuses to +exert his prophetic power. + + Tiresias. Ah! Reason fails you an, but ne'er will I + Say what thou bidd'st, lest I thy troubles show. + I will not pain myself nor thee. Why, then, + All vainly question? Thou shalt never know. + +But, urged and threatened by the king, he at length exclaims: + + Tier. And has it come to this? I charge thee, hold + To thy late edict, and from this day forth + Speak not to me, nor yet to these, for thou-- + Thou art the accursed plague-spot of the land! + +OEdipus at first believes that the aged prophet is merely the +tool of others, who are engaged in a conspiracy to expel him +from the throne; but when Jocasta, in her innocence, informs +him of the death of Laius, names the mountain pass in which he +fell, slain, as was supposed, by a robber band, and describes +his dress and person, OEdipus is startled at the thought that +he himself was the slayer, and he exclaims, + + "Great Zeus! what fate hast thou decreed for me? + Woe! woe! 'tis all too clear." + +Yet there is one hope left. The man whom he slew in that same +mountain pass fell by no robber band, and, therefore, could not +have been Laius. Soon even this hope deserts him, when the story +is truly told. He learns, moreover, that he is not the son of +Polybus, the Corinthian king, but a foundling adopted by his +queen. Connecting this with the story now told him by Jocasta, +of her infant son, whom she supposed to have perished on the +mountain, the horrid truth begins to dawn upon all. Jocasta rushes +from the presence of OEdipus, exclaiming, + + "Woe! woe! ill-fated one! my last word this, + This only, and no more for evermore." + +When the old shepherd, forced to declare the truth, tells how +he saved the life of the infant, and gave it into the keeping +of the herdsman of Polybus, the evil-starred OEdipus exclaims, +in agony of spirit: + + "Woe! woe! woe! all cometh clear at last. + O light! may this my last glance be on thee, + Who now am seen owing my birth to those + To whom I ought not, and with whom I ought not + In wedlock living, whom I ought not slaying." + +Horrors still thicken in this terrible tragedy. Word is brought +to OEdipus that Jocasta is dead--dead by her own hand! He rushes in: + + Then came a sight + Most fearful. Tearing from her robe the clasps, + All chased with gold, with which she decked herself, + He with them struck the pupils of his eyes, + With words like these--"Because they had not seen + What ills he suffered and what ills he did, + They in the dark should look, in time to come, + On those whom they ought never to have seen, + Nor know the dear ones whom he fain had known." + With such-like wails, not once or twice alone, + Raising his eyes, he smote them; and the balls, + All bleeding, stained his cheek, nor poured they forth + Gore drops slow trickling, but the purple shower + Fell fast and full, a pelting storm of blood. + +The now blind and wretched OEdipus, bewailing his fate and the +evils he had so unwittingly brought upon Thebes, begs to be cast +forth with all speed from out the land. + + OEdipus. Lead me away, my friends, with utmost speed + Lead me away; the foul, polluted one, + Of all men most accursed, + Most hateful to the gods. + + Chorus. Ah, wretched one, alike in soul and doom, + I fain could wish that I had never known thee. + + OEdipus. Ill fate be his who from the fetters freed + The child upon the hills, + And rescued me from death, + And saved me--thankless boon! + Ah! had I died but then, + Nor to my friends nor me had been such woe. + +A touching picture is presented in the farewell of OEdipus, on +departing from Thebes to wander an outcast upon the earth. The +tragedy concludes with the following moral by the chorus: + + Chorus. Ye men of Thebes, behold this OEdipus, + Who knew the famous riddle, and was noblest. + Whose fortune who saw not with envious glances? + And lo! in what a sea of direst trouble + He now is plunged! From hence the lesson learn ye, + To reckon no man happy till ye witness + The closing day; until he pass the border + Which Severs life from death unscathed by sorrow. + --Trans. by E. H. PLUMPTRE. + + +Character of the Works of Sophocles. + +The character of the works of Sophocles is well described in the +following extract from an Essay on Greek Poetry, by THOMAS NOON +TALFOURD: "The great and distinguishing excellence of Sophocles +will be found in his excellent sense of the beautiful, and the +perfect harmony of all his powers. His conceptions are not on +so gigantic a scale as those of Æschylus; but in the circle which +he prescribes to himself to fill, not a place is left unadorned; +not a niche without its appropriate figure; not the smallest +ornament which is incomplete in the minutest graces. His judgment +seems absolutely perfect, for he never fails; he is always fully +master of himself and his subject; he knows the precise measure +of his own capacities; and while he never attempts a flight beyond +his reach, he never debases himself nor his art by anything beneath +him. + +"Sophocles was undoubtedly the first philosophical poet of the +ancient world. With his pure taste for the graceful he perceived, +amidst the sensible forms around him, one universal spirit of +Jove pervading all things. Virtue and justice, to his mind, did +not appear the mere creatures of convenience, or the means of +gratifying the refined selfishness of man; he saw them, having +deep root in eternity, unchanging and imperishable as their divine +author. In a single stanza he has impressed this sentiment with +a plenitude of inspiration before which the philosophy of expediency +vanishes--a passage that has neither a parallel nor equal of its +kind, that we recollect, in the whole compass of heathen poetry, +and which may be rendered thus: 'Oh for a spotless purity of +action and of speech, according to those sublime laws of right +which have the heavens for their birthplace, and God alone for +their author--which the decays of mortal nature cannot vary, +nor time cover with oblivion, for the divinity is mighty within +them and waxes not old!'" + +Sophocles died in extreme old age, "without disease and without +suffering, and was mourned with such a sincerity and depth of +grief as were exhibited at the death of no other citizen of Athens." + + Thrice happy Sophocles! in good old age, + Blessed as a man, and as a craftsman blessed, + He died: his many tragedies were fair, + And fair his end, nor knew be any sorrow. + --PHRYN'ICHUS. + + Wind, gentle evergreen, to form a shade + Around the tomb where Sophocles is laid; + Sweet ivy wind thy boughs, and intertwine + With blushing roses and the clustering vine. + Thus will thy lasting leaves, with beauties hung, + Prove grateful emblems of the lays he sung, + Whose soul, exalted by the god of wit, + Among the Muses and the Graces writ. + --SIM'MIAS, the Theban. + + +EURIP'IDES. + +Contemporary with Sophocles was Euripides, born in 480 B.C., the +last of the three great masters of the drama--the three being +embraced within the limits of a single century. Under Sophocles +the principal changes effected in the outward form of the drama +were the introduction of a third actor, and a consequent limitation +of the functions of the chorus. Euripides, however, changed the +mode of handling tragedy. Unlike Sophocles, who only limited +the activity of the chorus, he disconnected it from the tragic +interest of the drama by giving but little attention to the +character of its songs. He also made some other changes; and, +as one writer expresses it, his innovations "disintegrated the +drama by destroying its artistic unity." But although perhaps +inferior, in all artistic point of view, to his predecessors, +the genius of Euripides supplied a want that they did not meet. +Although his plays are all connected with the history and mythology +of Greece, in them rhetoric is more prominent than in the plays +of either Æschylus or Sophocles; the legendary characters assume +more the garb of humanity; the tender sentiments--love, pity, +compassion--are invoked to a greater degree, and an air of exquisite +delicacy and refinement embellishes the whole. These were the +qualities in the plays of Euripides that endeared him to the +Greeks of succeeding ages, and that gave to his works such an +influence on the Roman and modern drama. + +Of Euripides MR. SYMONDS remarks: "His lasting title to fame +consists in his having dealt with the deeper problems of life +in a spirit which became permanent among the Greeks, so that +his poems never lost their value as expressions of current +philosophy. Nothing strikes the student of later Greek literature +more strongly than this prolongation of the Euripidean tone of +thought and feeling. In the decline of tragic poetry the literary +sceptre was transferred to comedy; and the comic playwrights may +be described as the true successors of Euripides. The dialectic +method, which he affected, was indeed dropped, and a more +harmonious form of art than the Euripidean was created for comedy +by Menan'der, when the Athenians, after passing through their +disputatious period, had settled down into a tranquil acceptation +of the facts of life. Yet this return to harmony of form and +purity of perception did not abate the influence of Euripides. +Here and there throughout his tragedies he had said, and well +said, what the Greeks were bound to think and feel upon important +matters; and his sensitive, susceptible temperament repeated +itself over and over again among his literary successors. The +exclamation of Phile'mon that, if he could believe in immortality, +he would hang himself to see Euripides, is characteristic not +only of Philemon, but also of the whole Macedonian period of +Greek literature." [Footnote: "The Greek Poets." Second Series, +p. 300.] + +Euripides wrote about seventy-five plays, of which eighteen have +come down to us. The Me-de'a, which is thought to be his best +piece, is occupied with the circumstances of the vengeance taken +by Medea on the ungrateful Jason, the hero of the Argonautic +expedition, for whom she had sacrificed all, and who, after his +return, abandoned her for a royal Corinthian bride. [Footnote: +See Argonautic Expedition, p. 81.] But the most touching of the +plays of Euripides is the Alces'tis, founded on the fable of +Alcestis dying for her husband, Adme'tus. MILTON thus alludes +to the story, in his sonnet on his deceased wife: + + Methought I saw my late espoused saint + Brought to me, like Alcestis, from the grave, + Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave, + Rescued from death by force, though pale and faint. + +The substance of the story is as follows: + +Admetus, King of Phe'ræ, in Thessaly, married Alcestis, who became +noted for her conjugal virtues. Apollo, when banished from heaven, +received so kind treatment from Admetus that he induced the Fates +to prolong the latter's life beyond the ordinary limit, on +condition that one of his own family should die in his stead. +Alcestis at once consented to die for her husband, and when the +appointed time came she heroically and composedly gave herself +to death. Soon after her departure, however, the hero Hercules +visited Admetus, and, pained with the profound grief of the +household, he rescued Alcestis from the grim tyrant Death and +restored her to her family. The whole play abounds in touching +scenes and descriptions; and the best modern critics concede that +there is no female character in either Æschylus or Sophocles, +not even excepting Antig'one, that is so great and noble, and +at the same time so purely tender and womanly, as Alcestis. +"Where has either Greek or modern literature," says MAHAFFY, +"produced a nobler ideal than the Alcestis of Euripides? Devoted +to her husband and children, beloved and happy in her palace, +she sacrifices her life calmly and resignedly--a life which is +not encompassed with afflictions, but of all the worth that life +can be, and of all the usefulness which makes it precious to +noble natures." [Footnote: "Social Life in Greece, p. 189.] We +give the following short extract from the poet's account of the +preparations made by Alcestis for her approaching end: + + Alcestis Preparing for Death. + + When she knew + The destined day was come, in fountain water + She bathed her lily-tinctured limbs, then took + From her rich chests, of odorous cedar formed, + A splendid robe, and her most radiant dress. + Thus gorgeously arrayed, she stood before + The hallowed flames, and thus addressed her prayer: + "O queen, I go to the infernal shades; + Yet, ere I go, with reverence let me breathe + My last request: protect my orphan children; + Make my son happy with the wife he loves, + And wed my daughter to a noble husband; + Nor let them, like their mother, to the tomb + Untimely sink, but in their native land + Be blessed through lengthened life to honored age." + + Then to each altar in the royal house + She went, and crowned it, and addressed her vows, + Plucking the myrtle bough: nor tear, nor sigh + Came from her; neither did the approaching ill + Change the fresh beauties of her vermeil cheek. + Her chamber then she visits, and her bed; + There her tears flowed, and thus she spoke: "O bed + To which my wedded lord, for whom I die, + Led me a virgin bride, farewell! to thee + No blame do I impute, for me alone + Hast thou destroyed: disdaining to betray + Thee, and my lord, I die: to thee shall come + Some other woman, not more chaste, perchance + More happy." As she lay she kissed the couch, + And bathed it with a flood of tears: that passed, + She left her chamber, then returned, and oft + She left it, oft returned, and on the couch + Fondly, each time she entered, cast herself. + Her children, as they hung upon her robes, + Weeping, she raised, and clasped them to her breast + Each after each, as now about to die. + --Trans. by POTTER. + +Euripides died in the year 406 B.C., in Macedon, to which country +he had been compelled to go on account of domestic troubles; +and the then king, Archela'us honored his remains with a sumptuous +funeral, and erected a monument over them. + + Divine Euripides, this tomb we see + So fair is not a monument for thee, + So much as thou for it; since all will own + That thy immortal fame adorns the stone. + +We have now observed the transitions through which Grecian tragedy +passed in the hands of its three great masters, Æschylus, Sophocles, +and Euripides. As GROTE says, "The differences between these +three poets are doubtless referable to the working of Athenian +politics and Athenian philosophy on the minds of the two latter. +In Sophocles we may trace the companion of Herodotus; in Euripides +the hearer of Anaxag'oras, Socrates, and Prod'icus; in both, +the familiarity with that wide-spread popularity of speech, and +real, serious debate of politicians and competitors before the +dikastery, which both had ever before their eyes, but which the +genius of Sophocles knew how to keep in subordination to his +grand poetical purpose." To properly estimate the influence which +the tragedies exerted upon the Athenians, we must remember that +a large number of them was presented on the stage every year; +that it was rare to repeat anyone of them; that the theatre of +Bacchus, in which they were represented, accommodated thirty +thousand persons; that, as religious observances, they formed +part of the civil establishment; and that admission to them was +virtually free to every Athenian citizen. Taking these things +into consideration, GROTE adds: "If we conceive of the entire +population of a large city listening almost daily to those +immortal compositions whose beauty first stamped tragedy as a +separate department of poetry, we shall be satisfied that such +powerful poetic influences were never brought to act upon any +other people; and that the tastes, the sentiments, and the +intellectual standard of the Athenians must have been sensibly +improved and exalted by such lessons." [Footnote: "History of +Greece," Chap, lxvii.] + + +2. COMEDY. + +Another marked feature of Athenian life, and one but little less +influential than tragedy in its effects upon the Athenian character, +was comedy. It had its origin, as we have seen, in the vintage +festivals of Bacchus, where the wild songs of the participants +were frequently interspersed with coarse witticisms against the +spectators. Like tragedy, it was a Dorian invention, and Sicily +seems to have early become the seat of the comic writers. +Epichar'mus, a Dorian poet and philosopher, was the first of +these to put the Bacchic songs and dances into dramatic form. +The place of his nativity is uncertain, but he passed the greater +part of his life at Syracuse, in the society of the greatest +literary men of the age, and there he is supposed to have written +his comedies some years prior to the Persian war. It seems, however, +that comedy was introduced into Attica by Susa'rion, a native +of Meg'ara, long before the time of Epichar'mus (578 B.C.). But +the former's plays were so largely made up of rude and abusive +personalities that they were not tolerated by the Pisistrati'dæ, +and for over a century we bear nothing farther of comedy in +Attica--not until it was revived by Chion'ides, about 488 B.C., +or, according to some authorities, twenty years later. + +Under the contemporaries or successors of Chionides comedy became +an important agent in the political warfare of Athens, although +it was frequently the subject of prohibitory or restrictive legal +enactments. "Only a nation," says a recent writer, "in the plenitude +of self-contentment, conscious of vigor, and satisfied with its +own energy, could have tolerated the kind of censorship the comic +poets dared to exercise." + + +Characterization of the Old Comedy. + +In the preliminary discourse to his translation of the Comedies +of Aristophanes, MR. THOMAS MITCHELL, an English critic of note, +makes these observations upon the character of the Old Comedy: +"The Old Comedy, as it is called, in contradistinction to what +was afterward named the Middle and the New, stood in the extreme +relation of contrariety and parody to the tragedy of the Greeks +--it was directed chiefly to the lower orders of society at Athens; +it served in some measure the purposes of the modern journal, in +which public measures and the topics of the day might be fully +discussed; and in consequence the dramatis personæ were generally +the poet's own contemporaries, speaking in their own names and +acting in masks, which, as they bore only a caricature resemblance +of their own faces, showed that the poet, in his observations, +did not mean to be taken literally. Like tragedy, comedy +constituted part of a religious ceremony; and the character of +the deity to whom it was more particularly dedicated was stamped +at times pretty visibly upon the work which was composed in his +honor. The Dionysian festivals were the great carnivals of +antiquity--they celebrated the returns of vernal festivity or +the joyous vintage, and were in consequence the great holidays +of Athens--the seasons of universal relaxation. + +"The comic poet was the high-priest of the festival; and if the +orgies of his divinity (the god of wine) sometimes demanded a +style of poetry which a Father of our Church probably had in +his eye when he called all poetry the devil's wine, the organ +of their utterance (however strange it may seem to us) no doubt +considered himself as perfectly absolved from the censure which +we should bestow on such productions: in his compositions he +was discharging the same pious office as the painter, whose duty +it was to fill the temples of the same deity with pictures which +our imaginations would consider equally ill-suited to the +habitations of divinity. What religion therefore forbids among +us, the religion of the Greeks did not merely tolerate but enjoin. +Nor was the extreme and even profane gayety of the comedy without +its excuse. To unite extravagant mirth with a solemn seriousness +was enjoined by law, even in the sacred festival of Ceres. + +"While the philosophers, therefore, querulously maintained that +man was the joke and plaything of the gods, the comic poet reversed +the picture, and made the gods the playthings of men; in his hands, +indeed, everything was upon the broad grin: the gods laughed, +men laughed, and animals laughed. Nature was considered as a +sort of fantastic being, with a turn for the humorous; and the +world was treated as a sort of extended jest-book, where the +poet pointed out the bon-mots [Footnote: French; pronounced +bong-mos.] and acted in some degree as corrector of the Press. +If he discharged this office sometimes in the sarcastic spirit +of a Mephistopheles, this, too, was considered as part of his +functions. He was the Ter'roe Fil'ius [Footnote: Terroe Filius, +son of the earth; that is, a human being.] of the day; and +lenity would have been considered, not as an act of discretion, +but as a cowardly dereliction of duty." + +It was in the time of Pericles that the comedy just described +first dealt with men and subjects under their real names; and +in one of the plays of Crati'nus--under whom comedy received +its full development--Cimon is highly eulogized, and his rival, +Pericles, is bitterly derided. With unmeasured and unsparing +license comedy attacked, under the veil of satire, not only all +that was really ludicrous or base, but often cast scorn and derision +on that which was innocent, or even meritorious. For the reason +that the comic writers were so indiscriminate in their attacks, +frequently making transcendent genius and noble personality, as +well as demagogism and personal vice, the butt of comic scorn; +their writings have but little historical value except in the +few instances in which they are corroborated by higher authority. + + +ARlSTOPH'ANES. + +Among the contemporaries of Cratinus were Eu'polis and Aristophanes, +the latter of whom became the chief of what is known as the Old +Attic Comedy. Of his life little is known; but he was a member +of the conservative or aristocratic party at Athens, directing +his attacks chiefly against the democratic or popular party of +Pericles, and continuing to write comedies until about 392 B.C. +While his comedies are replete with coarse wit, they are wonderfully +brilliant, and contain much, also, that is pure and beautiful. +As a late writer has well said, "Beauty and deformity came to +him with equal abundance, and his wonderful pieces are made up +of all that is low and all that is pure and lovely." + + The Muses, seeking for a shrine + Whose glories ne'er should cease, + Found, as they strayed, the soul divine + Of Aristophanes. + --PLATO, trans. by MERIVALE. + +MR. GROTE characterizes the comedies of Aristophanes as follows: +"Never probably will the full and unshackled force of comedy be +so exhibited again. Without having Aristophanes actually before +us it would have been impossible to imagine the unmeasured and +unsparing license of attack assumed by the old comedy upon the +gods, the institutions, the politicians, philosophers, poets, +private citizens, specially named--and even the women, whose life +was entirely domestic--of Athens. With this universal liberty +in respect of subject there is combined a poignancy of derision +and satire, a fecundity of imagination and variety of turns, and +a richness of poetical expression such as cannot be surpassed, +and such as fully explains the admiration expressed for him by +the philosopher Plato, who in other respects must have regarded +him with unquestionable disapprobation. His comedies are popular +in the largest sense of the word, addressed to the entire body +of male citizens on a day consecrated to festivity, and providing +for their amusement or derision, with a sort of drunken abundance, +out of all persons or things standing in any way prominent before +the public eye." [Footnote: "History or Greece," Chap. lxvii.] + +In his introduction to the Dialogues of Plato, REV. WILLIAM SEWELL, +an English clergyman and author, observes that "Men smile when +they hear the anecdote of Chrys'ostom, one of the most venerable +fathers of the Church, who never went to bed without something +from Aristophanes under his pillow." He adds: "But the noble +tone of morals, the elevated taste, the sound political wisdom, +the boldness and acuteness of the satire, the grand object, which +is seen throughout, of correcting the follies of the day, and +improving the condition of his country--all these are features +in Aristophanes which, however disguised, as they intentionally +are, by coarseness and buffoonery, entitle him to the highest +respect from every reader of antiquity." Yet, while the purposes +of Aristophanes were in the main praiseworthy, and the persons +and things he attacked generally deserving of censure, he spared +the vices of his own party and associates; and, like all satirists, +for effect he often traduced character, as in the case of the +virtuous Socrates. In an attack on the Sophists, in his play +of the Clouds, he gives to Socrates the character of a vulgar +Sophist, and holds him up to the derision of the Athenian people. +But, as another has said, "Time has set all even; and 'poor +Socrates,' as Aristophanes called him--as a far loftier bard +has sung-- + + 'Poor Socrates, + By what he taught, and suffered for so doing, + For truth's sake suffering death unjust, lives now, + Equal in fame to proudest conquerors.'" + --MILTON. + + +The Comedy of the "Clouds." + +It is curious to observe in the Clouds of Aristophanes that while +the main object of the poet is to ridicule Socrates, and through +him to expose what he considers the corrupt state of education +in Athens, he does not disdain to mingle with his low buffoonery +the loftiest flights of the imagination--reminding us of the +not unlike anomaly of Shakspeare's sublime simile of the +"cloud-capp'd towers," in the Tempest. In one part of the play, +Strepsi'ades, who has been nearly ruined in fortune by his +spendthrift son, goes to Socrates to learn from him the logic +that will enable him "to talk unjustly and--prevail," so that +he may shirk his debts! He finds the master teacher suspended +in air, in a basket, that he may be above earthly influences, +and there "contemplating the sun," and endeavoring to search +out "celestial matters." To the appeal of Strepsiades, Socrates, +interrupted in his reveries, thus answers: + + Socrates. Old man, sit you still, and attend to my will, and + hearken in peace to my prayer. (He then addresses the Air.) + O master and king, holding earth in your swing, O measureless + infinite Air; + And thou, glowing Ether, and Clouds who enwreathe her with + thunder and lightning and storms, + Arise ye and shine, bright ladies divine, to your student, in + bodily forms. + +Then we have the farther prayer of Socrates to the Clouds, in +which is pictured a series of the most sublime images, colored +with all the rainbow hues of the poet's fancy. We are led, in +imagination, to behold the dread Clouds, at first sitting, in +glorious majesty, upon the time-honored crest of snowy Olympus +--then in the soft dance beguiling the nymphs "'mid the stately +advance of old Ocean"--then bearing away, in their pitchers +of sunlight and gold, "the mystical waves of the Nile," to refresh +and fertilize other lands; at one time sporting on the foam of +Lake Mæo'tis, and at another playing around the wintry summits +of Mi'mas, a mountain range of Ionia, The farther invocation +of the Clouds is thus continued: + + Socrates. Come forth, come forth, ye dread Clouds, and to + earth your glorious majesty show; + Whether lightly ye rest on the time-honored crest of Olympus, + environed in snow, + Or tread the soft dance 'mid the stately advance of old Ocean, + the nymphs to beguile, + Or stoop to enfold, with your pitchers of gold, the mystical + waves of the Nile, + Or around the white foam of Mæotis ye roam, or Mimas all + wintry and bare, + O hear while we pray, and turn not away from the rites which + your servants prepare. + +Then the chorus comes forward and answers, as if the Clouds were +speaking: + + Chorus. Clouds of all hue, + Now rise we aloft with our garments of dew, + We come from old Ocean's unchangeable bed, + We come till the mountains' green summits we tread, + We come to the peaks with their landscapes untold, + We gaze on the earth with her harvests of gold, + We gaze on the rivers in majesty streaming, + We gaze on the lordly, invisible sea; + We come, for the eye of the Ether is beaming, + We come, for all Nature is flashing and free. + Let us shake off this close-clinging dew + From our members eternally new, + And sail upward the wide world to view, + Come away! Come away! + + Socr. O goddesses mine, great Clouds and divine, ye have + heeded and answered my prayer. + Heard ye their sound, and the thunder around, as it thrilled + through the petrified air? + + Streps. Yes, by Zeus! and I shake, and I'm all of a quake, + and I fear I must sound a reply, + Their thunders have made my soul so afraid, and those terrible + voices so nigh-- + + Socr. Don't act in our schools like those comedy-fools, with + their scurrilous, scandalous ways. + Deep silence be thine, while these Clusters divine their + soul-stirring melody raise. + +To which the chorus again responds. But we have not room for +farther extracts. The description of the floating-cloud character +of the scene is acknowledged by critics to be inimitable. There +is one passage, in particular, in which Socrates, pointing to +the clouds that have taken a sudden slanting downward motion, says: + + "They are drifting, an infinite throng, + And their long shadows quake over valley and brake"-- + +which, MR. RUSKIN declares, "could have been written by none +but an ardent lover of the hill scenery--one who had watched +hour after hour the peculiar, oblique, sidelong action of +descending clouds, as they form along the hollows and ravines +of the hills. [Footnote: The line in Greek, which is so vividly +descriptive of this peculiar appearance and motion of the clouds-- + + dia toy koiloy kai toy daseoy autai plagiai-- + +loses so much in the rendering, that the beauty of the passage +can be fully appreciated only by the Greek scholar.] There are +no lumpish solidities, no billowy protuberances here. All is +melting, drifting, evanescent, full of air, and light as dew." + + +Choral Song from "The Birds." + +In the following extract from the comedy of The Birds, Aristophanes +ridicules the popular belief of the Greeks in signs and omens +drawn from the birds of the air. Though undoubtedly an exaggeration, +it may nevertheless be taken as a fair exposition of the +superstitious notions of an age that had its world-renowned +"oracles," and as a good example of the poet's comic style. The +extract is from the Choral Song in the comedy, and is a true +poetic gem. + + Ye children of man! whose life is a span, + Protracted with sorrow from day to day; + Naked and featherless, feeble and querulous, + Sickly, calamitous creatures of clay! + Attend to the words of the sovereign birds, + Immortal, illustrious lords of the air, + Who survey from on high, with a merciful eye, + Your struggles of misery, labor, and care. + Whence you may learn and clearly discern + Such truths as attract your inquisitive turn-- + Which is busied of late with a mighty debate, + A profound speculation about the creation, + And organical life and chaotical strife-- + With various notions of heavenly motions, + And rivers and oceans, and valleys and mountains, + And sources of fountains, and meteors on high, + And stars in the sky.... We propose by-and-by + (If you'll listen and hear) to make it all clear. + + All lessons of primary daily concern + You have learned from the birds (and continue to learn), + Your best benefactors and early instructors. + We give you the warnings of seasons returning: + When the cranes are arranged, and muster afloat + In the middle air, with a creaking note, + + Steering away to the Libyan sand, + Then careful farmers sow their lands; + The craggy vessel is hauled ashore; + The sail, the ropes, the rudder, and oar + Are all unshipped and housed in store. + The shepherd is warned, by the kite re-appearing, + To muster his flock and be ready for shearing. + You quit your old cloak at the swallow's behest, + In assurance of summer, and purchase a vest. + + For Delphi, for Ammon, Dodo'na--in fine, + For every oracular temple and shrine-- + The birds are a substitute, equal and fair; + For on us you depend, and to us you repair + For counsel and aid when a marriage is made-- + A purchase, a bargain, or venture in trade: + Unlucky or lucky, whatever has struck ye-- + A voice in the street, or a slave that you meet, + A name or a word by chance overheard-- + If you deem it an omen you call it a bird; + And if birds are your omens, it clearly will follow + That birds are a proper prophetic Apollo. + --Trans. by FRERE. + + * * * * * + +III. HISTORY. + +As we have stated in a former chapter, literary compositions +in prose first appeared among the Greeks in the sixth century +B.C., and were either mythological, or collections of local legends, +whether sacred or profane, of particular districts. It was not +until a still later period that the Grecian prose writers, becoming +more positive in their habits of thought, broke away from +speculative and mystical tendencies, and began to record their +observations of the events daily occurring about them. In the +writings of Hecatæ'us of Mile'tus, who flourished about 500 B.C., +we find the first elements of history; and yet some modern writers +think he can lay no claim whatever to the title of historian, +while others regard him as the first historical writer of any +importance. He visited Greece proper and many of the surrounding +countries, and recorded his observations and experiences in a +work of a geographical character, entitled Periodus. He also wrote +another work relating to the mythical history of Greece, and died +about 467 B.C. + + +HEROD'OTUS. + +MAHAFFY considers Hecatæ'us "the forerunner of Herodotus in his +mode of life and his conception of setting down his experiences;" +while NIE'BUHR, the great German historian, absolutely denies +the existence of any Grecian histories before Herodotus gave +to the world the first of those illustrious productions that +form another bright link in the literary chain of Grecian glory. +Born in Halicarnas'sus about the year 484, of an illustrious +family, Herodotus was driven from his native land at an early +age by a revolution, after which he traveled extensively over +the then known world, collecting much of the material that he +subsequently used in his writings. After a short residence at +Samos he removed to Athens, leaving there, however, about the +year 440 to take up his abode at Thu'rii, a new Athenian colony +near the site of the former Syb'aris. Here he lived the rest +of his life, dying about the year 420. Lucian relates that, on +completing his work, Herodotus went to Olympia during the +celebration of the Olympic games, and there recited to his +countrymen the nine books of which his history was composed. +His hearers were delighted, and immediately honored the books +with the title of the Nine Muses. A later account of this scene +says that Thucydides, then a young man, stood at the side of +Herodotus, and was affected to tears by his recitations. + +Herodotus modestly states the object of his history in the +following paragraph, which is all the introduction that he makes +to his great work: "These are the researches of Herodotus of +Halicarnassus, which he publishes in the hope of thereby preserving +from decay the remembrance of what men have done, and of preventing +the great and wonderful actions of the Greeks and the barbarians +from losing their due meed of glory; and, withal, to put on record +what were their grounds of feud." [Footnote: Rawlinson's +translation.] But while he portrays the military ambition of +the Persian rulers, the struggles of the Greeks for liberty, +and their final triumph over the Persian power, he also gives +us a history of almost all the then known world. "His work begins," +says MR. LAWRENCE, "with the causes of the hostility between +Persia and Greece, describes the power of Croe'sus, the wonders +of Egypt, the expedition of Darius into Scythia, and closes with +the immortal war between the allied Greeks and the Persian hosts. +To his countrymen the story must have had the intense interest +of a national ode or epic. Athens, particularly, must have read +with touching ardor the graceful narrative of its early glory; +for when Herodotus finished his work the brief period had already +passed away. What Æschylus and the other dramatists painted in +brief and striking pictures on the stage, Herodotus described +with laborious but never tedious minuteness. His pure Ionic diction +never wearies, his easy and simple narrative has never lost its +interest, and all succeeding ages have united in calling him 'the +Father of History.' His fame has advanced with the progress of +letters, and has spread over mankind." + +The following admirable description of Herodotus and of his writings +is from an essay on "History," by LORD MACAULAY: + + +Herodotus and his Writings. + +"Of the romantic historians, Herodotus is the earliest and the +best. His animation, his simple-hearted tenderness, his wonderful +talent for description and dialogue, and the pure, sweet flow +of his language, place him at the head of narrators. He reminds +us of a delightful child. There is a grace beyond the reach of +affectation in his awkwardness, a malice in his innocence, an +intelligence in his nonsense, and an insinuating eloquence in +his lisp. We know of no other writer who makes such interest +for himself and his book in the heart of the reader. He has written +an incomparable book. He has written something better, perhaps, +than the best history; but he has not written a really good history; +for he is, from the first to the last chapter, an inventor. We +do not here refer merely to those gross fictions with which he +has been reproached by the critics of later times, but we speak +of that coloring which is equally diffused over his whole narrative, +and which perpetually leaves the most sagacious reader in doubt +what to reject and what to receive. The great events are, no +doubt, faithfully related; so, probably, are many of the slighter +circumstances, but which of them it is impossible to ascertain. +We know there is truth, but we cannot exactly decide where it lies. + +"If we may trust to a report not sanctioned, indeed, by writers +of high authority, but in itself not improbable, the work of +Herodotus was composed not to be read, but to be heard. It was +not to the slow circulation of a few copies, which the rich only +could possess, that the aspiring author looked for his reward. +The great Olympian festival was to witness his triumph. The interest +of the narrative and the beauty of the style were aided by the +imposing effect of recitation--by the splendor of the spectacle, +by the powerful influence of sympathy. A critic who could have +asked for authorities in the midst of such a scene must have +been of a cold and skeptical nature, and few such critics were +there. As was the historian, such were the auditors--inquisitive, +credulous, easily moved by the religious awe of patriotic +enthusiasm. They were the very men to hear with delight of strange +beasts, and birds, and trees; of dwarfs, and giants, and cannibals; +of gods whose very names it was impiety to utter; of ancient +dynasties which had left behind them monuments surpassing all +the works of later times; of towns like provinces; of rivers +like seas; of stupendous walls, and temples, and pyramids; of +the rites which the Magi performed at daybreak on the tops of +the mountains; of the secrets inscribed on the eternal obelisks +of Memphis. With equal delight they would have listened to the +graceful romances of their own country. They now heard of the +exact accomplishment of obscure predictions; of the punishment +of climes over which the justice of Heaven had seemed to slumber; +of dreams, omens, warnings from the dead; of princesses for whom +noble suitors contended in every generous exercise of strength +and skill; and of infants strangely preserved from the dagger +of the assassin to fulfil high destinies. + +"As the narrative approached their own times the interest became +still more absorbing. The chronicler had now to tell the story +of that great conflict from which Europe dates its intellectual +and political supremacy--a story which, even at this distance +of time, is the most marvelous and the most touching in the annals +of the human race--a story abounding with all that is wild and +wonderful; with all that is pathetic and animating; with the +gigantic caprices of infinite wealth and despotic power; with +the mightier miracles of wisdom, of virtue, and of courage. He +told them of rivers dried up in a day, of provinces famished for +a meal; of a passage for ships hewn through the mountains; of +a road for armies spread upon the waves; of monarchies and +commonwealths swept away; of anxiety, of terror, of confusion, +of despair! and then of proud and stubborn hearts tried in that +extremity of evil and not found wanting; of resistance long +maintained against desperate odds; of lives dearly sold when +resistance could be maintained no more; of signal deliverance, +and of unsparing revenge. Whatever gave a stronger air of reality +to a narrative so well calculated to inflame the passions and +to flatter national pride, was certain to be favorably received." + + +THUCYDIDES. + +Greater even than Herodotus, in some respects, but entirely +different in his style of composition, was the historian Thucydides, +who was born in Athens about 471 B.C. In early life he studied +in the rhetorical and sophistical schools of his native city; +and he seems to have taken some part in the political agitations +of the period. In his forty-seventh year he commanded an Athenian +fleet that was sent to the relief of Amphip'olis, then besieged +by Bras'idas the Spartan. But Thucydides was too late; on his +arrival the city had surrendered. His failure to reach there +sooner appears to have been caused by circumstances entirely +beyond his control, although some English scholars, including +GROTE, declare that he was remiss and dilatory, and therefore +Deserving of the punishment he received--banishment from Athens. +He retired to Scaptes'y-le, a small town in Thrace; and in this +secluded spot, removed from the shifting scenes of Grecian life, +he devoted himself to the composition of his great work. Tradition +asserts that he was assassinated when about eighty years of age, +either at Athens or in Thrace. + +The history of Thucydides, unfinished at his death, gives an +account of nearly twenty-one years of the Peloponnesian war. +The author's style is polished, vigorous, philosophical, and +sometimes so concise as to be obscure. We are told that even +Cicero found some of his sentences almost unintelligible. But, +as MAHAFFY says: "Whatever faults of style, whatever transient +fashion of involving his thoughts, may be due to a Sophistic +education and to the desire of exhibiting depth and acuteness, +there cannot be the smallest doubt that in the hands of Thucydides +the art of writing history made an extraordinary stride, and +attained a degree of perfection which no subsequent Hellenic +(and few modern) writers have equaled. If the subject which he +selected was really a narrow one, and many of the details trivial, +it was nevertheless compassed with extreme difficulty, for it +is at all times a hard task to write contemporary history, and +more especially so in an age when published documents were scarce, +and the art of printing unknown. Moreover, however trivial may +be the details of petty military raids, of which an account was +yet necessary to the completeness of his record, we cannot but +wonder at the lofty dignity with which he has handled every part +of the subject. There is not a touch of comedy, not a point +of satire, not a word of familiarity throughout the whole book, +and we stand face to face with a man who strikes us as strangely +un-Attic in his solemn and severe temper." [Footnote: "History +of Greek Literature," vol. ii., p. 117.] + +The following comparison, evidently a just one, has been made +between Thucydides and Herodotus: + + +Thucydides and Herodotus. + +"In comparing the two great historians, it is plain that the +mind and talents of each were admirably suited to the work which +he took in hand. The extensive field in which Herodotus labored +afforded an opportunity for embellishing and illustrating his +history with the marvels of foreign lands; while the glorious +exploits of a great and free people stemming a tide of barbarian +invaders and finally triumphing over them, and the customs and +histories of the barbarians with whom they had been at war, and +of all other nations whose names were connected with Persia, +either by lineage or conquest, were subjects which required the +talents of a simple narrator who had such love of truth as not +willfully to exaggerate, and such judgment as to select what +was best worthy of attention. But Thucydides had a narrower field. +The mind of Greece was the subject of his study, as displayed +in a single war which was, in its rise, progress, and consequences, +the most important which Greece had ever seen. It did not in +itself possess that heart-stirring interest which characterizes +the Persian war. In it united Greece was not struggling for her +liberties against a foreign foe, animated by one common patriotism, +inspired by an enthusiastic Jove of liberty; but it presented +the sad spectacle of Greece divided against herself, torn by +the jealousies of race, and distracted by the animosities of +faction. + +"The task of Thucydides, therefore, was that of studying the +warring passions and antagonistic workings of one mind; and it +was one which, in order to become interesting and profitable, +demanded that there should be brought to bear upon it the powers +of a keen, analytical intellect. To separate history from the +traditions and falsehoods with which it had been overlaid, and +to give the early history of Greece in its most truthful form; +to trace Athenian supremacy from its rise to its ruin, and the +growing jealousy of other states, whether inferiors or rivals, +to which that supremacy gave rise; to show its connection with +the enmities of race and the opposition of politics; to point +out what causes led to such wide results; how the insatiable +ambitions of Athens, gratifying itself in direct disobedience +to the advice of her wise statesman, Pericles, led step by step +to her ultimate ruin,--required not a mere narrator of events, +however brilliant, but a moral philosopher and a statesman. Such +was Thucydides. Although his work shows an advance, in the science +of historical composition, over that of Herodotus, and his mind +is of a higher, because of a more thoughtful order, yet his fame +by no means obscures the glory which belongs to the Father of +History. Their walks are different; they can never be considered +as rivals, and therefore neither can claim superiority." [Footnote: +"Greek and Roman Classical Literature," by Professor R. W. Browne, +King's College, London.] + + * * * * * + +IV. PHILOSOPHY. + +ANAXAG'ORAS. + +The most illustrious of the Ionic philosophers, and the first +distinguished philosopher of this period of Grecian history, +was Anaxagoras, who was born at Clazom'enæ in the year 499 B.C. +At the age of twenty he went to Athens, where he remained thirty +years, teaching philosophy, and having for his hearers Pericles, +Socrates, Euripides, and other celebrated characters. While the +pantheistic systems of Tha'les, Heracli'tus, and other early +philosophers admitted, in accordance with the fictions of the +received mythology, that the universe is full of gods, the doctrine +of Anaxagoras led to the belief of but one supreme mind or +intelligence, distinct from the chaos to which it imparts motion, +form, and order. Hence he also taught that the sun is an inanimate, +fiery mass, and therefore not a proper object of worship. He +asserted that the moon shines by reflected light, and he rightly +explained solar and lunar eclipses. He gave allegorical explanations +of the names of the Grecian gods, and struck a blow at the popular +religion by attributing the miraculous appearances at sacrifices +to natural causes. For these innovations he was stoned by the +populace, and, as a penalty for what was considered his impiety, +he was condemned to death; but through the influence of Pericles +his sentence was commuted to banishment. He retired to Lamp'sacus, +on the Hellespont, where he died at the age of seventy-two. + +A short time before his death the senate of Lampsacus sent to +Anaxagoras to ask what commemoration of his life and character +would be most acceptable to him. He answered, "Let all the boys +and girls have a play-day on the anniversary of my death." The +suggestion was observed, and his memory was honored by the people +of Lampsacus for many centuries with a yearly festival. The amiable +disposition of Anaxagoras, and the general character of his +teachings, are pleasantly and very correctly set forth in the +following poem, which is a supposed letter from the poet Cleon, +of Lampsacus, to Pericles, giving an account of the philosopher's +death: + + + The Death of Anaxagoras. + + Cleon of Lampsacus, to Pericles: + Of him she banished now let Athens boast; + Let now th' Athenian raise to him they stoned + A statue. Anaxagoras is dead! + To you who mourn the master, called him friend, + Beat back th' Athenian wolves who fanged his throat, + And risked your own to save him--Pericles-- + I now unfold the manner of his end: + + The aged man, who found in sixty years + Scant cause for laughter, laughed before he died, + And died still smiling: Athens vexed him not! + Not he, but your Athenians, he would say, + Were banished in his exile! + + When the dawn + First glimmers white o'er Lesser Asia, + And little birds are twittering in the grass, + And all the sea lies hollow and gray with mist, + And in the streets the ancient watchmen doze, + The master woke with cold. His feet were chill, + And reft of sense; and we who watched him knew + The fever had not wholly left his brain, + For he was wandering, seeking nests of birds, + An urchin from the green Ionian town + Where he was born. We chafed his clay-cold limbs; + And so he dozed, nor dreamed, until the sun + Laughed out--broad day--and flushed the garden gods + Who bless our fruits and vines in Lampsacus. + + Feeble, but sane and cheerful, he awoke, + And took our hands and asked to feel the sun; + And where the ilex spreads a gracious shade + We placed him, wrapped and pillowed; and he heard + The charm of birds, the whisper of the vines, + The ripple of the blue Propontic sea. + Placid and pleased he lay; but we were sad + To see the snowy hair and silver beard + Like withering mosses on a fallen oak, + And feel that he, whose vast philosophy + Had cast such sacred branches o'er the fields + Where Athens pastures her dull sheep, lay fallen, + And never more should know the spring! Confess + You too had grieved to see it, Pericles! + + But Anaxagoras owned no sense of wrong; + And when we called the plagues of all your gods + On your ungrateful city, he but smiled: + "Be patient, children! Where would be the gain + Of wisdom and divine astronomy, + Could we not school our fretful minds to bear + The ills all life inherits? I can smile + To think of Athens! Were they much to blame? + Had I not slain Apollo? plucked the beard + Of Jove himself? Poor rabble, who have yet + Outgrown so little the green grasshoppers + From whom they boast descent, are they to blame? + [Footnote: The Athenians claimed to be of indigenous origin-- + Autoch'tho-nes, that is, Aborigines, sprung from the earth + itself. As emblematic of this origin they wore in their hair + the golden forms of the cicada, or locust, often improperly + called grasshopper, which was believed to spring from the + earth. So it was said that the Athenians boasted descent + from grasshoppers.] + + "How could they dream--or how believe when taught-- + The sun a red-hot iron ball, in bulk + Not less than Peloponnesus? How believe + The moon no silver goddess girt for chase, + But earth and stones, with caverns, hills, and vales? + Poor grasshoppers! who deem the gods absorbed + In all their babble, shrilling in the grass! + What wonder if they rage, should one but hint + That thunder and lightning, born of clashing clouds, + Might happen even with Jove in pleasant mood, + Not thinking of Athenians at all!" + + He paused; and, blowing softly from the sea, + The fresh wind stirred the ilex, shaking down + Through chinks of sunny leaves blue gems of sky; + And lying in the shadow, all his mind + O'ershadowed by our grief, once more he spoke: + "Let not your hearts be troubled! All my days + Hath all my care been fixed on this vast blue, + So still above us; now my days are done, + Let it have care of me! Be patient, meek, + Not puffed with doctrine! Nothing can be known; + Naught grasped for certain: sense is circumscribed; + The intellect is weak, and life is short!" + + He ceased, and mused a little while we wept. + "And yet be nowise downcast; seek, pursue! + The lover's rapture and the sage's gain + Less in attainment lie than in approach. + Look forward to the time which is to come! + All things are mutable, and change alone + Unchangeable. But knowledge grows! The gods + Are drifting from the earth like morning mist; + The days are surely at the doors when men + Shall see but human actions in the world! + Yea, even these hills of Lampsacus shall be + The isles of some new sea, if time fail not!" + + And now the reverend fathers of our town + Had heard the master's end was very near, + And come to do him homage at the close, + And ask what wish of his they might fulfil. + But he, divining that they thought his heart + Might yearn to Athens for a resting-place, + Said gently, "Nay; from everywhere the way + To that dark land you wot of is the same. + I feel no care; I have no wish. The Greeks + Will never quite forget my Pericles, + And when they think of him will say of me, + 'Twas Anaxagoras taught him!" + + Loath to go, + No kindly office done, yet once again + The reverend fathers pressed him for a wish. + Then laughed the master: "Nay, if still you urge, + And since 'twere churlish to reject good-will, + I pray you, every year, when time brings back + The day on which I left you, let the boys-- + All boys and girls in this your happy town-- + Be free of task and school for that one day." + + He lay back smiling, and the reverend men + Departed, heavy at heart. He spoke no more, + But, haply musing on his truant days, + Passed from us, and was smiling when he died. + --WILLIAM CANTON, in The Contemporary Review. + +The teachings of Anaxagoras were destined to attain to wide-spread +power over the Grecian mind. As auguries, omens, and prodigies +exercised a great influence on the public affairs of Greece, a +philosophical explanation of natural phenomena had a tendency +to diminish respect for the popular religion in the eyes of the +multitude, and to leave the minds of rulers and statesmen open +to the influences of reason, and to the rejection of the follies +of superstition. The doctrines taught by Anaxagoras were the +commencement of the contest between the old philosophy and the +new; and the varying phases of the struggle appear throughout +all subsequent Grecian history. + + +THE SOPHISTS. + +In the fifth century there sprang up in Greece a set of teachers +who traveled about from city to city, giving instruction (for +money) in philosophy and rhetoric; under which heads were included +political and moral education. These men were called "Sophists" +(a term early applied to wise men, such as the seven sages), +and though they did not form a sect or school, they resembled +one another in many respects, exerting an important, and, barring +their skeptical tendencies, a healthful influence in the formation +of character. Among the most eminent of these teachers were +Protag'oras of Abde'ra, Gor'gias of Leontini, and Prod'icus of +Ce'os. That great philosopher of a later age, Plato, while +condemning the superficiality of their philosophy, characterized +these men as important and respectable thinkers; but their +successors, by their ignorance, brought reproach upon their calling, +and, in the time of Socrates, the Sophists--so-called--had lost +their influence and had fallen into contempt. "Before Plato had +composed his later Dialogues," says MAHAFFY, "they had become +too insignificant to merit refutation; and in the following +generation they completely disappear as a class." This author +thus proceeds to give the causes of their fall: + +"It is, of course, to be attributed not only to the opposition +of Socrates at Athens, but to the subdivision of the profession +of education. Its most popular and prominent branch--that of +Rhetoric--was taken up by special men, like the orator An'tiphon, +and developed into a strictly defined science. The Philosophy +which they had touched without sounding its depths was taken +up by the Socratic schools, and made the rule and practice of +a life. The Politics which they had taught were found too general; +nor were these wandering men, without fixed home, or familiarity +with the intricacies of special constitutions, likely to give +practical lessons to Greece citizens in the art of state-craft. +Thus they disappear almost as rapidly as they rose--a sudden +phase of spiritual awakening in Greece, like the Encyclopædists +of the French." [Footnote: "History of Classical Greek literature," +vol. ii., p. 63.] + + +SOCRATES. + +The greatest teacher of this age was Socrates, who was born near +Athens in 469 B.C. His father was a sculptor, and the son for +some time practiced the same profession at Athens, meanwhile +aspiring toward higher things, and pursuing the study of philosophy +under Anaxagoras and others. He served his country in the field +in the severe struggle between Sparta and Athens, where he was +distinguished for his bravery and endurance; and when upward +of sixty years of age he was chosen to represent his district +in the Senate of Five Hundred. Here, and under the subsequent +tyranny, his integrity remained unshaken; and his boldness in +denouncing the cruelties of the Thirty Tyrants nearly cost him +his life. As a teacher, Socrates assumed the character of a moral +philosopher, and he seized every occasion to communicate moral +wisdom to his fellow-citizens. Although often classed with the +Sophists, and unjustly selected by Aristophanes as their +representative, the whole spirit of his teachings was directly +opposed to that class. Says MAHAFFY, "The Sophists were brilliant +and superficial, he was homely and thorough; they rested in +skepticism, he advanced through it to deeper and sounder faith; +they were wandering and irresponsible, he was fixed at Athens, +and showed forth by his life the doctrines he preached." GROTE, +however, while denying that the Sophists were intellectual and +moral corrupters, as generally charged, also denies that the +reputation of Socrates properly rests upon his having rescued +the Athenian mind from their influences. He admires Socrates for +"combining with the qualities of a good man a force of character +and an originality of speculation as well as of method, and a +power of intellectually working on others, generically different +from that of any professional teacher, without parallel either +among contemporaries or successors." [Footnote: "History of Greece," +Chap. lxviii.] + +Socrates taught without fee or reward, and communicated his +instructions freely to high and low, rich and poor. His chief +method of instruction was derived from the style of Zeno, of +the Eleatic school, and consisted of attacking the opinions of +his opponents and pulling them to pieces by a series of questions +and answers. [Footnote: A fine example of the Socratic mode of +disputation may be seen In "Alciphron; or, the Minute Philosopher," +by George Berkeley, D.D., Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland. It is a +defence of the Christian religion, and an exposé of the weakness +of infidelity and skepticism, and is considered one of the most +ingenious and excellent performances of the kind in the English +tongue.] He made this system "the most powerful instrument of +philosophic teaching ever known in the history of the human +intellect." The philosopher was an enthusiastic lover of Athens, +and he looked upon the whole city as his school. There alone +he found instruction and occupation, and through its streets +he would wander, standing motionless for hours in deep meditation, +or charming all classes and ages by his conversation. Alcibiades +declared of him that, "as he talks, the hearts of all who hear +leap up, and their tears are poured out." The poet THOMSON, musing +over the sages of ancient time, thus describes him: + + O'er all shone out the great Athenian sage, + And father of Philosophy! + Tutor of Athens! he, in every street, + Dealt priceless treasure; goodness his delight, + Wisdom his wealth, and glory his reward. + Deep through the human heart, with playful art, + His simple question stole, as into truth + And serious deeds he led the laughing race; + Taught moral life; and what he taught he was. + +Of the unjust attack made upon Socrates by the poet Aristophanes +we have already spoken. That occurred in 423 B.C., and, as a +writer has well said, "evaporated with the laugh"--having nothing +to do with the sad fate of the guiltless philosopher twenty-four +years after. Soon after the restoration of the democracy in Athens +(403 B.C.) Socrates was tried for his life on the absurd charges +of impiety and of corrupting the morals of the young. His accusers +appear to have been instigated by personal resentment, which +he had innocently provoked, and by envy of his many virtues; +and the result shows not only the instability but the moral +obliquity of the Athenian character. He approached his trial +with no special preparation for defence, as he had no expectation +of an acquittal; but he maintained a calm, brave, and haughty +bearing, and addressed the court in a bold and uncompromising +tone, demanding rewards instead of punishment. It was the strong +religious persuasion (or belief) of Socrates that he was acting +under a divine mission. This consciousness had been the controlling +principle of his life; and in the following extracts which we +have taken from his Apology, or Defence, in which he explains +his conduct, we see plain evidences of this striking characteristic +of the great philosopher: + + +The Defence of Socrates. +[Footnote: From the translation by Professor Jowett, of Oxford +University.] + +"Strange, indeed, would be my conduct, O men of Athens, if now, +when, as I conceive and imagine, God orders me to fulfil the +philosopher's mission of searching into myself and other men, +I were to desert my post through fear of death, or any other +fear: that would indeed be strange, and I might justly be arraigned +in court for denying the existence of the gods, if I disobeyed +the oracle because I was afraid of death: then I should be fancying +I was wise when I was not wise. For this fear of death is indeed +the pretence of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance +of knowing the unknown; since no one knows whether death, which +he in his fear apprehends to be the greatest evil, may not be +the greatest good. Is there not here conceit of knowledge which +is a disgraceful sort of ignorance? And this is the point in +which, as I think, I am superior to men in general, and in which +I might, perhaps, fancy myself wiser than other men--that whereas +I know but little of the world below, I do not suppose that I +know; but I do know that injustice and disobedience to a better, +whether God or man, is evil and dishonorable, and I will never +fear or avoid a possible good rather than a certain evil. And +therefore should you say to me, 'Socrates, this time we will +not mind An'ytus, and will let you off, but upon one condition, +that you are not to inquire and speculate in this way any more, +and that if you are caught doing this again you shall die'--if +this were the condition on which you let me go, I should reply, +'Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather +than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease +from the practice and teaching of philosophy, and exhorting, +after my manner, any one whom I meet.' I do nothing but go about +persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought +for your persons or your properties, but first and chiefly to +care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that +virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue come money +and every other good of man, public as well as private. This +is my teaching; and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the +youth, my influence is ruinous indeed. But if anyone says that +this is not my teaching, he is speaking an untruth. Wherefore, +O men of Athens, I say to you, do as Anytus bids or not as Anytus +bids, and either acquit me or not; but whatever you do, know +that I shall never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many +times." + +Socrates next refers to the indignation that he may have occasioned +because he has not wept, begged, and entreated for his life, +and has not brought forward his children and relatives to plead +for him, as others would have done on so serious an occasion. +He says that he has relatives, and three children; but he declares +that not one of them shall appear in court for any such purpose +--not from any insolent disposition on his part, but because he +believes that such a course would be degrading to the reputation +which he enjoys, as well as a disgrace to the state. He then +closes his defence as follows: + +"But, setting aside the question of dishonor, there seems to +be something wrong in petitioning a judge, and thus procuring +an acquittal, instead of informing and convincing him. For his +duty is not to make a present of justice, but to give judgment; +and he has Sworn that he will adjudge according to the law, and +not according to his own good pleasure; and neither he nor we +should get into the habit of perjuring ourselves--there can be +no piety in that. Do not, then, require me to do what I consider +dishonorable, and impious, and wrong, especially now, when I +am being tried for impiety. For if, O men of Athens, by force +of persuasion and entreaty, I could overpower your oaths, then +I should be teaching you to believe that there are no gods, and +convict myself, in my own defence, of not believing in them. +But that is not the case; for I do believe that there are gods, +and in a far higher sense than that in which any of my accusers +believe in them. And to you and to God I commit my cause, to +be determined by you as is best for you and me." + +As he had expected, and as the tenor of his speech had assured +his friends would be the case, Socrates was found guilty--but by +a majority of only five or six in a body of over five hundred. +He would make no proposition, as was his right, for a mitigation +of punishment; and after sentence of death had been passed upon +him he spent the remaining thirty days of his life in impressing +on the minds of his friends the most sublime lessons in philosophy +and virtue. Many of these lessons have been preserved to us in +the works of Plato, in whose Phoe'do, which pictures the last +hours of the prison life of Socrates, we find a sublime conversation +on the immortality of the soul. The following is an extract from +this work: + + +Socrates' Views of a Future State. + +"When the dead arrive at the place to which their demon 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 +Ach'eron, 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 a year, the wave casts +them forth, the homicide into Cocy'tus, [Footnote: Co-cy'tus] +but the parricides and matricides into Pyriphleg'ethon; [Footnote: +Pyr-i-phlege-thon, "fire-blazing;" one of the rivers of hell] +but when, being borne along, they arrive at the Acheru'sian +lake, [Footnote: Ach'e-ron. Cocytus signifies the river of wailing; +Pyriphlegethon, the river that burns with fire; Acheron, the +river of woe; and the Styx, another river of the lower world, +the river of hatred. Thus Homer, in describing "Pluto's murky +abode," says: + + There, into Acheron runs not alone + Dread Pyriphlegethon, but Cocytus loud, + From Styx derived; there also stands a rock, + At whose broad base the roaring rivers meet. + Odyssey. B. X.] +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, +those 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, which it +is neither easy to describe, nor at present is there sufficient +time for the purpose. + +"For the sake of these things which we have described we should +use every endeavor to acquire virtue and wisdom in this life, +for the reward is noble and the hope great. To affirm positively, +however, that these things are exactly as I have described them, +does not become a man of sense; but that either this, or something +of the kind, takes place with respect to our souls and their +habitations--since our soul is certainly immortal--appears to +me most fitting to be believed, and worthy the hazard for one +who trusts in its reality; for the hazard is noble, and it is +right to allure ourselves with such things, as with enchantments; +for which reason I have prolonged my story to such length. 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 from 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 with its own proper +ornaments--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." + +After some farther conversation with his friends respecting the +disposition to be made of his body, and having said farewell +to his family, Socrates drank the fatal hemlock with as much +composure as if it had been the last draught at a cheerful banquet, +and quietly laid himself down and died. "Thus perished," says +DR. SMITH, "the greatest and most original of Grecian philosophers, +whose uninspired wisdom made the nearest approach to the divine +morality of the Gospel." As observed by PROFESSOR TYLER of Amherst +College, "The consciousness of a divine mission was the leading +trait in his character and the main secret of his power. This +directed his conversations, shaped his philosophy, imbued his +very person, and controlled his life. This was the power that +sustained him in view of approaching death, inspired him with +more that human fortitude in his last days, and invested his +dying words with a moral grandeur that 'has less of earth in +it than heaven.'" [Footnote: Preface to "Plato's Apology and Crito."] +There was a more special and personal influence, however, to +which Socrates deemed himself subject through life, and which +probably moved him to view death with such calmness. + +With all his practical wisdom, the great philosopher was not +free from the control of superstitious fancies. He not only always +gave careful heed to divinations, dreams, and oracular intimations, +but he believed that he was warned and restrained, from childhood, +by a familiar spirit, or demon, which he was accustomed to speak +of familiarly and to obey implicitly. A writer, in alluding to +this subject, says: "There is no more curious chapter in Grecian +biography than the story of Socrates and his familiar demon, +which, sometimes unseen, and at other times, as he asserted, +assuming human shape, acted as his mentor; which preserved his +life after the disastrous battle of De'lium, by pointing out +to him the only secure line of retreat, while the lives of his +friends, who disregarded his entreaties to accompany him, were +sacrificed; and which, again, when the crisis of his fate +approached, twice dissuaded him from defending himself before +his accusers, and in the end encouraged him to quaff the poisoned +cup presented to his lips by an ungrateful people." + + +ART. + +Having briefly traced the history of Grecian literature in its +best period, it remains to notice some of the monuments of art, +"with which," as ALISON says, "the Athenians have overspread +the world, and which still form the standard of taste in every +civilized nation on earth." + + * * * * * + +I. SCULPTURE AND PAINTING. + +Grecian sculpture, as we have seen, had attained nearly the summit +of its perfection at the commencement of the Persian wars. Among +those who now gave to it a wider range may be mentioned Pythagoras, +of Rhegium, and Myron, a native of Eleu'theræ. The former executed +works in bronze representing contests of heroes and athletes; +but he was excelled in this field by Myron, who was also +distinguished for his representations of animals. The energies +of sculpture, however, were to be still more directly concentrated +and perfected in a new school. That school was at Athens, and +its master was Phid'ias, an Athenian painter, sculptor, and +architect, who flourished about 460 B.C. "At this point," observes +LÜBKE, [Footnote: "Outlines of the History of Art," by Wilhelm +Lübke; Clarence Cook's edition.] "begins the period of that +wonderful elevation of Hellenic life which was ushered in by +the glorious victory over the Persians. Now, for the first time, +the national Hellenic mind rose to the highest consciousness +of noble independence and dignity. Athens concentrated within +herself, as in a focus, the whole exuberance and many-sidedness +of Greek life, and glorified it into beautiful unity. Now, for +the first time, the deepest thoughts of the Hellenic mind were +embodied in sculpture, and the figures of the gods rose to that +solemn sublimity in which art embodied the idea of divinity in +purely human form. This victory of the new time over the old +was effected by the power of Phidias, one of the most wonderful +artist-minds of all time." + +Phidias was intrusted by Pericles with the superintendence of +the public works erected or adorned by that lavish ruler, and +his own hands added to them their most valuable ornaments. But +before he was called to this employment his statues had adorned +the most celebrated temples of Greece. "These inimitable works," +says GILLIES, [Footnote: Gillies's "History of Ancient Greece," +p. 178.] "silenced the voice of envy; and the most distinguished +artists of Greece--sculptors, painters, and architects--were +ambitious to receive the directions, and to second the labors +of Phidias, which were uninterruptedly employed, during fifteen +years, in the embellishment of his native city." The chief +characteristic of Phidias was ideal beauty of the sublimest order +in the representation of divinities and their worship; and he +substituted ivory for marble in those parts of statues that were +uncovered, such as the face, hands, and feet, while for the covered +portion he substituted solid gold in place of wood concealed +with real drapery. The style and character of his work are well +described by LÜBKE, as follows: + +"That Phidias especially excelled in creating images of the gods, +and that he preferred, as subjects for his art, those among the +divinities the essence of whose nature was spiritual majesty, +marks the fundamental characteristic of his art, and explains +its superiority, not only to all that had been produced before +his time, but to all that was contemporary with him, and to all +that came after him. Possessed of that unsurpassable masterly +power in the representation of the physical form to which Greek +art, shortly before his time, had attained by unceasing endeavor, +his lofty genius was called upon to apply these results to the +embodiment of the highest ideas, and thus to invest art with +the character of sublimity, as well as with the attributes of +perfect beauty. Hence it is said of him, that he alone had seen +images of the gods, and he alone had made them visible to others. +Even in the story that, in emulation with other masters, he made +an Amazon, and was defeated in the contest by his great +contemporary Polycle'tus, we see a confirmation of the ideal +tendency of his art. But that his works realized the highest +conceptions of the people, and embodied the ideal of the Hellenic +conception of the divinity, is proved by the universal admiration +of the ancient world. This sublimity of conception was combined +in him with an inexhaustible exuberance of creative fancy, an +incomparable care in the completion of his work, and a masterly +power in overcoming every difficulty, both in the technical +execution and in the material." + +Probably the first important work executed by Phidias at Athens +was the colossal bronze image of Minerva, which stood on the +Acropolis. It was nearly seventy feet in height, and was visible +twenty miles out at sea. It was erected by the Athenians, in +memory of their victory over the Persians, with the spoils of +Marathon. A smaller bronze statue, on the same model, was also +erected on the Acropolis. But the greatest of the works of Phidias +at Athens was the ivory and gold statue of Minerva in the Parthenon, +erected with the booty taken at Salamis. It was forty feet high, +representing the goddess, "not with her shield raised as the +vigorous champion of her people, but as a peaceful, protecting, +and victory-giving divinity." Phidias was now called to Elis, +and there he executed his crowning work, the gold and ivory statue +of Jupiter at Olympia. "The father of the gods and of men was +seated on a splendid throne in the cella of his Olympic temple, +his head encircled with a golden olive-wreath; in his right hand +he held Nikè, who bore a fillet of victory in her hands and a +golden wreath on her head; in his left hand rested the +richly-decorated sceptre." The throne was adorned with gold and +precious stones, and on it were represented many celebrated scenes. +"From this immeasurable exuberance of figures," says LÜBKE, "rose +the form of the highest Hellenic divinity, grand and solemn and +wonderful in majesty. Phidias had represented him as the kindly +father of gods and men, and also as the mighty ruler in Olympus. +As he conceived his subject he must have had in his mind those +lines of Homer, in which Jupiter graciously grants the request +of Thetis: + + 'As thus he spake, the son of Saturn gave + The nod with his dark brows. The ambrosial curls + Upon the sovereign one's immortal head + Were shaken, and with them the mighty Mount + Olympus trembled.'" [Footnote: Iliad, I., 528-580. + Bryant's translation.] + +While the art of painting was early developed in Greece, certainly +as far back as 718 B.C., the first painter of renown was +Polygno'tus, of Tha'sos, who went to Athens about 463 B.C., and +established there what was called "the Athenian school" of painting. +Aristotle called him "the painter of character," as he was the +first to give variety to the expression of the countenance, and +ease and grace to the outlines of figures or the flow of drapery. +He painted many battle scenes, and with his contemporaries, +Diony'sius of Col'oplon, Mi'con, and others, he embellished many +of the public buildings in Athens, and notably the Temple of +Theseus, with representations of figures similar to those of +the sculptor. About 404 B.C. painting reached a farther degree +of excellence in the hands of Apollodo'rus, a native of Athens, +who developed the principles of light and shade and gave to the +art a more dramatic range. Of this school Zeux'is, Parrha'sius, +and Timan'thes became the chief masters. + + +PARRHASIUS. + +Of the artists of this period it has been asserted by some +authorities that Parrhasius was the most celebrated, as he is +said to have "raised the art of painting to perfection in all +that is exalted and essential;" uniting in his works "the classic +invention of Polygnotus, the magic tone of Apollodorus, and the +exquisite design of Zeuxis." He was a native of Ephesus, but +became a citizen of Athens, where he won many victories over +his contemporaries. One of these is recorded by Pliny as having +been achieved in a public contest with Zeuxis. The latter displayed +a painting of some grapes, which were so natural as to deceive +the birds, that came and pecked at them. Zeuxis then requested +that the curtain which was supposed to screen the picture of +Parrhasius be withdrawn, when it was found that the painting +of Parrhasius was merely the representation of a curtain thrown +over a picture-frame. The award of merit was therefore given +to Parrhasius, on the ground that while Zeuxis had deceived the +birds, Parrhasius had deceived Zeuxis himself. + +The Roman philosopher Seneca also tells a story of Parrhasius +as follows: While engaged in making a painting of "Prometheus +Bound," he took an old Olynthian captive and put him to the torture, +that he might catch, and transfer to canvas, the natural expression +of the most terrible of mortal sufferings. This story, we may +hope, is a fiction; but the incident is often alluded to by the +poets, and the American poet WILLIS has painted the alleged scene +in lines scarcely less terrible in their coloring than those +pallid hues of death-like agony which we may suppose the +painter-artist to have employed. + + Parrhasius and his Captive. + + Parrhasius stood gazing forgetfully + Upon his canvas. There Prometheus lay, + Chained to the cold rocks of Mount Cau'casus-- + The vulture at his vitals, and the links + Of the lame Lemnian festering in his flesh; + [Footnote: Vulcan; the Olympian artist, who, + when hurled from heaven, fell upon the Island + of Lemnos, in the Ægean. He forged the chain + with which Prometheus was bound.] + And, as the painter's mind felt through the dim, + Rapt mystery, and plucked the shadows forth + With its far-reaching fancy, and with form + And color clad them, his fine, earnest eye + Flashed with a passionate fire; and the quick curl + Of his thin nostril, and his quivering lip, + Were like the wing'd god's, breathing from his flight. + [Footnote: The winged god Mercury.] + + "Bring me the captive now! + My bands feel skilful, and the shadows lift + From my waked spirit airily and swift, + And I could paint the bow. + Upon the bended heavens, around me play + Colors of such divinity to-day. + + "Ha! bind him on his back! + Look! as Prometheus in my picture here! + Quick, or he faints! stand with the cordial near! + Now--bend him to the rack! + Press down the poisoned links into his flesh, + And tear agape that healing wound afresh! + + "So, let him writhe! How long + Will he live thus? Quick, my good pencil, now! + What a fine agony works upon his brow! + Ha! gray-haired, and so strong! + How fearfully he stifles that short moan! + Gods! if I could but paint a dying groan! + + "'Pity' thee! So I do. + I pity the dumb victim at the altar; + But does the robed priest for his pity falter? + I'd rack thee though I knew + A thousand lives were perishing in thine! + What were ten thousand to a fame like mine? + + "Yet there's a deathless name! + A spirit that the smothering vault shall spurn, + And like a steadfast planet mount and burn; + And, though its crown of flame + Consumed my brain to ashes as it shone, + By all the fiery stars I'd bind it on! + + "Ay, though it bid me rifle + My heart's last fount for its insatiate thirst; + Though every life-strung nerve be maddened first; + Though it should bid me stifle + The yearning in my throat for my sweet child, + And taunt its mother till my brain went wild-- + + "All--I would do it all + Sooner than die, like a dull worm, to rot-- + Thrust foully into earth to be forgot! + O heavens! but I appall + Your heart, old man! Forgive--ha! on your lives + Let him not faint!--rack him till he revives! + + "Vain--vain--give o'er. His eye + Glazes apace. He does not feel you now; + Stand back! I'll paint the death-dew on his brow. + Gods I if he do not die + But for one moment--one--till I eclipse + Conception with the scorn of those calm lips! + + "Shivering! Hark! he mutters + Brokenly now: that was a difficult breath-- + Another? Wilt thou never come, O Death? + Look how his temple flutters! + Is his heart still? Aha! lift up his head! + He shudders--gasps--Jove help him! So--he's dead!" + + * * * * * + + How like a mounting devil in the heart + Rules the unreined ambition! Let it once + But play the monarch, and its haughty brow + Glows with a beauty that bewilders thought, + And unthrones peace forever. Putting on + The very pomp of Lucifer, it turns + The heart to ashes, and with not a spring + Left in the bosom for the spirit's lip, + We look upon our splendor and forget + The thirst of which we perish! + + * * * * * + +II. ARCHITECTURE. + + In Architecture, too, thy rank supreme! + That art where most magnificent appears + The little builder, man; by thee refined, + And smiling high, to full perfection brought. + --THOMSON. + +We have already referred, in general terms, to the monuments +of art for which the era of Athenian greatness was distinguished, +and have stated that it was more particularly in the "Age of +Pericles" that Athenian genius and enthusiasm found their full +development, in the erection or adornment of those miracles of +architecture that crowned the Athenian Acropolis or surrounded +its base. The following eloquent description, from the pen of +BULWER, will convey a vivid idea of the magnitude and the +brilliancy of the labors performed for + + +The Adornment of Athens. + +"Then rapidly progressed those glorious fabrics which seemed, +as Plutarch gracefully express it, endowed with the bloom of a +perennial youth. Still the houses of private citizens remained +simple and unadorned; still were the streets narrow and irregular; +and, even centuries afterward, a stranger entering Athens would +not at first have recognized the claims of the mistress of Grecian +art. But to the homeliness of her common thoroughfares and private +mansions the magnificence of her public edifices now made a +dazzling contrast. The Acropolis, that towered above the homes +and thoroughfares of men--a spot too sacred for human habitation-- +became, to use a proverbial phrase, 'a city of the gods.' The +citizen was everywhere to be reminded of the majesty of the state +--his patriotism was to be increased by the pride in her beauty-- +his taste to be elevated by the spectacle of her splendor. + +"Thus flocked to Athens all who throughout Greece were eminent +in art. Sculptors and architects vied with one another in adorning +the young empress of the seas: then rose the masterpieces of +Phidias, of Callic'rates, of Mnesicles, which, either in their +broken remains, or in the feeble copies of imitators less inspired, +still command so intense a wonder, and furnish models so immortal. +And if, so to speak, their bones and relics excite our awe and +envy, as testifying of a lovelier and grander race, which the +deluge of time has swept away, what, in that day, must have been +their brilliant effect, unmutilated in their fair proportions-- +fresh in all their lineaments and hues? For their beauty was +not limited to the symmetry of arch and column, nor their materials +confined to the marbles of Pentel'icus and Pa'ros. Even the exterior +of the temples glowed with the richest harmony of colors, and +was decorated with the purest gold: an atmosphere peculiarly +favorable to the display and the preservation of art, permitted +to external pediments and friezes all the minuteness of ornament +--the brilliancy of colors, such as in the interior of Italian +churches may yet be seen--vitiated, in the last, by a gaudy and +barbarous taste. Nor did the Athenians spare any cost upon the +works that were, like the tombs and tripods of their heroes, to +be the monuments of a nation to distant ages, and to transmit +the most irrefragable proof 'that the power of ancient Greece +was not an idle legend.'" [Footnote: "Athens: Its Rise and Fall," +pp. 256, 257.] + + +1. THE ACROPOLIS AND ITS SPLENDORS. + +The Acropolis, the fortress of Athens, was the center of its +architectural splendor. It is a rocky height rising abruptly +out of the Attic plain, and was accessible only on the western +side, where stood the Propylæ'a, a magnificent structure of the +Doric order, constructed under the direction of Pericles by the +architect Mnesicles, and which served as the gate as well as +the defence of the Acropolis. But the latter's chief glory was +the Parthenon, or Temple of Minerva, built in the time of Pericles +by Icti'nus and Callic'rates, and which stood on the highest +point, near the center. It was constructed entirely of the most +beautiful white marble from Mount Pentelicus, and its dimensions +were two hundred and twenty-eight feet by one hundred and two +--having eight Doric columns in each of the two fronts, and +seventeen in each of the sides, and also an interior range of +six columns in each end. The ceiling of the western part of the +main building was supported by four interior columns, and of +the eastern end by sixteen. The entire height of the building +above its platform was sixty-five feet. The whole was enriched +within and without with matchless works of art by various artists +under the direction of Phidias--its chief wonder, however, being +the gold and ivory statue of the Virgin Goddess, the work of +Phidias himself, elsewhere described. + +This magnificent structure remained entire until the year 1687, +when, during a siege of Athens by the Venetians, a bomb fell +on the devoted Parthenon, and, setting fire to the powder that +the Turks had stored there, entirely destroyed the roof and reduced +the whole building almost to ruins. The eight columns of the +eastern front, however, and several of the lateral colonnades, +are still standing; and the whole, dilapidated as it is, retains +an air of inexpressible grandeur and sublimity. + + + The Parthenon. + + Fair Parthenon! yet still must fancy weep + For thee, thou work of nobler spirits flown. + Bright as of old the sunbeams o'er thee sleep + In all their beauty still--and thine is gone! + Empires have sunk since thou wast first revered, + And varying rites have sanctified thy shrine. + The dust is round thee of the race that reared + Thy walls, and thou--their fate must still be thine! + But when shall earth again exult to see + Visions divine like theirs renewed in aught like thee? + + Lone are thy pillars now--each passing gale + Sighs o'er them as a spirit's voice, which moaned + That loneliness, and told the plaintive tale + Of the bright synod once above them throned. + Mourn, graceful ruin! on thy sacred hill + Thy gods, thy rites, a kindred fate have shared: + Yet art thou honored in each fragment still + That wasting years and barbarous hands have spared; + Each hallowed stone, from rapine's fury borne, + Shall wake bright dreams of thee in ages yet unborn. + + Yes; in those fragments, though by time defaced, + And rude, insensate conquerors, yet remains + All that may charm th' enlightened eye of taste, + On shores where still inspiring freedom reigns. + As vital fragrance breathes from every part + Of the crushed myrtle, or the bruised rose, + E'en thus th' essential energy of art + There in each wreck imperishably glows! + The soul of Athens lives in every line, + Pervading brightly still the ruins of her shrine. + --MRS. HEMANS. + +North of the Parthenon stood the Erechthe'um, an irregular but +beautiful structure of the Ionic order, dedicated to the worship +of Neptune and Minerva. Considerable remains of it are still +standing. In addition to the great edifices of the Acropolis +referred to, which were adorned with the most finished paintings +and sculptures, the entire platform of the hill appears to have +been covered with a vast composition of architecture and sculpture, +consisting of temples, monuments, and statues of gods and heroes. +The whole Acropolis was at once the fortress, the sacred enclosure, +and the treasury of the Athenian people--forming the noblest museum +of sculpture, the richest gallery of painting, and the best school +of architecture in the world. + + +2. OTHER ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS OF ATHENS. + +Beneath the southern wall of the Acropolis was the Theatre of +Bacchus, capable of seating thirty thousand persons, and the +seats of which, rising one above another, were cut out of the +sloping rock. Adjoining this on the east was the Ode'um, a smaller +covered theatre, built by Pericles, and so constructed as to +imitate the form of Xerxes's tent. On the north-east side was +the Prytane'um, where were many statues, and where citizens who +had rendered service to the state were maintained at the public +expense. A short distance to the north-west of the Acropolis, +and separated from it only by some hollow ground, was the small +eminence called Areop'agus, or Hill of Mars, at the eastern +extremity of which was situated the celebrated court of Areopagus. +About a quarter of a mile south-west stood the Pnyx, the place +where the public assemblies of Athens were held in its palmy +days, and a spot that will ever be associated with the renown +of Demosthenes and other famed orators. The steps by which the +speaker mounted the rostrum, and a tier of three seats for the +audience, hewn in the solid rock, are still visible. + +The only other monument of art to which we shall refer in this +connection is the celebrated Temple of Theseus, built of marble +by Cimon as a resting-place for the bones of the distinguished +hero. [Footnote: Cimon conquered the island of Scy'ros, the haunt +of pirates, and brought thence to Athens what were supposed to +be the bones of Theseus.] It is of the Doric order, one hundred +and four feet by forty-five, and surrounded by columns, of which +there are six at each front and thirteen at the sides. The roof, +friezes, and cornices of this temple have been but little impaired +by time, and the whole is one of the most noble remains of the +ancient magnificence of Athens, and the most nearly perfect, +if not the most beautiful, existing specimen of Grecian +architecture. + + + The Temple of Theseus. + + Here let us pause, e'en at the vestibule + Of Theseus' fame. With what stern majesty + It rears its ponderous and eternal strength, + Still perfect, still unchanged, as on the day + When the assembled throng of multitudes + With shouts proclaimed the accomplished work, and fell + Prostrate upon their faces to adore + Its marble splendor! + + How the golden gleam + Of noonday floats upon its graceful form, + Tinging each grooved shaft, and storied frieze, + And Doric triglyph! How the rays amid + The opening columns, glanced from point to point, + Stream down the gloom of the long portico! + + * * * * * + + How the long pediment, + Embrowned with shadows, frowns above, and spreads + Solemnity and reverential awe! + + Proud monument of old magnificence! + Still thou survivest; nor has envious Time + Impaired thy beauty, save that it has spread + A deeper tint, and dimmed the polished glare + Of thy refulgent whiteness. + --HAYGARTH. + +So much for some of the architectural wonders of Athens. As BULWER +says, "It was the great characteristic of these works that they +were entirely the creation of the people. Without the people +Pericles could not have built a temple nor engaged a sculptor. +The miracles of that day resulted from the enthusiasm of a +population yet young--full of the first ardor for the beautiful-- +dedicating to the state, as to a mistress, the trophies honorably +won, or the treasures injuriously extorted, and uniting the +resources of a nation with the energy of an individual, because +the toil, the cost, were borne by those who succeeded to the +enjoyment and arrogated the glory." TALFOURD, in his Athenian +Captive, calls all that went to make up Athens in the days of +her glory + + An opening world, + Diviner than the soul of man hath yet + Been gifted to imagine--truths serene + Made visible in beauty, that shall glow + In everlasting freshness, unapproached + By mortal passion, pure amid the blood + And dust of conquests, never waxing old, + But on the stream of time, from age to age, + Casting bright images of heavenly youth + To make the world less mournful. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACIES. + +I. THE EXPEDITION OF CYRUS, AND THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND. + +The aid given by Cyrus the Persian to Sparta in her contest with +Athens, as related in a preceding chapter, was bestowed with +the understanding that Sparta should give him her assistance +against his elder brother, Artaxerxes Mne'mon, should he ever +require it. Accordingly, when the latter succeeded to the Persian +throne, on the death of his father, Cyrus, still governor of +the maritime region of Asia Minor, prepared to usurp his brother's +regal power. For this purpose he raised an army of one hundred +thousand Persians, which he strengthened with an auxiliary force +of thirteen thousand Greeks, drawn principally from the cities +of Asia under the dominion of Sparta. On the Grecian force, +commanded by Cle-ar'chus, a Spartan, Cyrus placed his main reliance +for success. + +With these forces Cyrus marched from Sardis, in the spring of +401, to within seventy miles of Babylon without the least +opposition. Here, however, he was met by Artaxerxes, it the head +of nine hundred thousand men. This immense force was at first +driven back; but in the conflict that ensued Cyrus rashly charged +the guards that surrounded his brother, and was slain. His Persian +troops immediately fled, leaving the Greeks almost alone, in +the presence of an immense hostile force, and more than a thousand +miles from any friendly territory. The victorious enemy proposed +to the Grecians terms of accommodation, but, having invited +Clearchus and other leaders to a conference, they treacherously +put them to death. No alternative now remained to the Greeks +but to submit to the Persians or fight their way back to their +own land. They bravely chose the latter course--and, selecting +Xenophon, a young Athenian, for their leader, after a four months' +march, attended with great suffering and almost constant battling +with brave and warlike tribes, ten thousand of their number +succeeded in reaching the Grecian settlements on the Black Sea. +Proclaiming their joy by loud shouts of "The sea! the sea!" The +Greek heroes gave vent to their exultation in tears and mutual +embraces. + + Hence, through the continent, ten thousand Greeks + Urged a retreat, whose glory not the prime + Of victories can reach. Deserts in vain + Opposed their course; and hostile lands, unknown; + And deep, rapacious floods, dire banked with death; + And mountains, in whose jaws destruction grinned; + Hunger and toil; Armenian snows and storms; + And circling myriads still of barbarous foes. + Greece in their view, and glory yet untouched, + Their steady column pierced the scattering herds + Which a whole empire poured; and held its way + Triumphant, by the sage, exalted chief + Fired and sustained. + + O light, and force of mind, + Almost mighty in severe extremes! + The sea at last from Colchian mountains seen, + Kind-hearted transport round their captains threw + The soldiers' fond embrace; o'erflowed their eyes + With tender floods, and loosed the general voice + To cries resounding loud--"The sea! the sea!" + --THOMSON. + +Xenophon, who afterward became an historian of his country, has +left an admirable narrative of this expedition, and "The Retreat +of the Ten Thousand," in his Anab'asis, written with great +clearness and singular modesty. Referring to the expedition, and +to the historian's account of it, DR. CURTIUS makes the following +interesting observations: + +"Although this military expedition possesses no immediate +significance for political history, yet it is of high importance, +not only for our knowledge of the East, but also for that of +the Greek character; and the accurate description which we owe +to Xenophon is, therefore, one of the most valuable documents +of antiquity. We see a band of Greeks of the most various origin, +torn out of all their ordinary spheres of life, in a strange +quarter of the globe, in a long complication of incessant +movements, and of situations ever-varying and full of peril, in +which the real nature of these men could not but display itself +with the most perfect truthfulness. This army is a typical chart, +in many colors, of the Greek population--a picture, on a small +scale, of the whole people, with all its virtues and faults, +its qualities of strength and of weakness--a wandering political +community, which, according to home usage, holds its assemblies +and passes its resolutions, and at the same time a wild and not +easily manageable band of free-lances. They are men in full measure +agitated by the unquiet spirit of the times, which had destroyed +in them their affection for their native land; and yet how closely +they cling to its most ancient traditions! Visions in dream and +omens, sent by the gods, decide the most important resolutions, +just as in the Homeric camp before Troy: most assiduously the +sacrifices are lit, the pæans sung, altars erected, and games +celebrated, in honor of the savior gods, when at last the aspect +of the longed-for sea animates afresh their vigor and their courage. + +"This multitude has been brought together by love of lucre and +quest of adventure; and yet in the critical moment there manifest +themselves a lively sense of honor and duty, a lofty heroic spirit, +and a sure tact in perceiving what counsels are the best. Here, +too, is visible the mutual jealousy existing among the several +tribes of the nation; but the feeling of their belonging together, +the consciousness of national unity, prevail over all; and the +great mass is capable of sufficient good-sense and self-denial +to subordinate itself to those who, by experience, intelligence, +and moral courage, attest themselves as fitted for command. And +how very remarkable it is that in this mixed multitude of Greeks +it is an Athenian who by his qualities towers above all the rest, +and becomes the real preserver of the entire army! Xenophon had +only accompanied the army as a volunteer; yet it was he who, +obeying an inner call, re-awakened a higher, a Hellenic +consciousness, courage, and prudence among his comrades, and +who brought about the first salutary resolutions. Possessing +the Athenian superiority of culture which enabled him to serve +these warriors as spokesman, negotiator, and general, to him +it was essentially due that, in spite of unspeakable trials, +they finally reached the coast." [Footnote: "History of Greece," +vol. iv., pp. 191, 192.] + + * * * * * + +II. THE SUPREMACY OF SPARTA. + +On the fall of Athens, Sparta became the mistress of Greece. +Her power and his own wealth induced Lysander to appear again +in public life. He first attempted to overthrow the two regal +families of Sparta, and, by making the crown an elective office, +secure his own accession to it. But he failed in this, although, +on the death of A'gis, King of Sparta, he succeeded in setting +aside Leo-tych'i-des, the son and rightful successor of Agis, +and giving the office to Agesila'us, the late king's brother. +The government of Sparta now became far more oppressive than +that of Athens had been, and it was not long before some of the +Grecian states under her sway united in a league against her. + +The part which the Greek cities of Asia took in the expedition +of Cyrus involved them in a war with Persia, in which they were +aided by the Spartans. Agesila'us entered Asia with a considerable +force (396 B.C.), and in the following year he defeated the Persians +in a great battle on the plains of Sardis, in Lydia. But in 394 +the Spartan king was called home to avert the dangers which +threatened his country in a war that had been fomented by the +Persian king in order to save his dominions from the ravages +of the Spartans. The King of Persia had supplied Athens with +a fleet which defeated the Spartan navy at Cni'dus, and Persian +gold rebuilt the walls of Athens. A battle soon followed between +the Spartans on one side and the Thebans and Athenians on the +other, in which the former were defeated and Lysander was slain. +On the other hand, Athens and her allies were defeated, in the +same year, in the vicinity of Corinth, and on the plains of +Corone'a. Finally, after the war had continued eight years, and +Sparta had virtually lost her maritime power, the peace of +Antal'cidas, as it is called, was concluded with Persia, at the +instance of Sparta, and was ratified by all the states engaged +in the contest (387 B.C.). + +By the treaty with Persia, Athens regained three of the islands +she had been obliged to relinquish to Sparta under Lysander; +but the Greek cities in Asia were given up to Persia, and both +Athens and Sparta lost their former allies. It was the unworthy +jealousy of the Grecians, which the Persian king knew how to +stimulate, that prompted them to give up to a barbarian the free +cities of Asia; and this is the darkest shade in the picture. +Though Sparta was the most strongly in favor of the terms of +the treaty, yet Athens was the greatest gainer, for she once +more became an independent and powerful state. + +It was not long before ambition, and the resentment of past +injuries, involved Sparta in new wars. When her thirty years' +truce with Mantine'a had expired, she compelled that city, which +had formerly been an unwilling ally, to throw down her walls, +and dismember her territory into the four or five villages out +of which it had been formed. Each of these divisions was now +left unfortified, and placed under a separate oligarchical +government. Sparta did this under the pretext that the +Mantine'ans had supplied one of her enemies with provisions +during the preceding war, and had evaded their share of service +in the Spartan army. The jealousy of Sparta was next aroused +against the rising power of Olynthus, a powerful confederacy +in the south-eastern part of Macedonia, which had become engaged +in hostilities with some rival cities; and the Spartans readily +accepted an invitation of one of the latter to send an army to +its aid. + +The expedition against Olynthus led to an affair of much importance. +As one of the divisions of the Spartan army was marching through +the Theban territories it turned aside, and the Spartan general +treacherously seized upon the Cadme'a, or Theban citadel, although +a state of peace existed between Thebes and Sparta (382 B.C.). +The political morality of Sparta is clearly exhibited in the +arguments by which the Spartan king justified this palpable and +treacherous breach of the treaty of Antal'cidas. He declared +that the only question for the Spartan people to consider was, +whether they were gainers or losers by the transaction. The +assertion made by the Athenians on a prior occasion was confirmed +--that, "of all states, Sparta had most glaringly shown by her +conduct that in her political transactions she measured honor +by inclination, and justice by expediency." + +On the seizure of the Theban citadel the most patriotic of the +citizens fled to Athens, while a faction upheld by a Spartan +garrison ruled the place. Thebes now became a member of the +Spartan alliance, and furnished a force for the war against +Olynthus. After a struggle of four years Olynthus capitulated, +the Olynthian Confederacy was thereby dissolved, and the cities +belonging to it were compelled to join the Spartan alliance. +As a modern historian observes, "Sparta thus inflicted a great +blow upon Hellas; for the Olynthian Confederacy might have served +as a counterpoise to the growing power of Macedon, destined soon +to overwhelm the rest of Greece." The power of Sparta had now +attained its greatest height, but, as she was leagued on all +sides with the enemies of Grecian freedom, her unpopularity was +great, and her supremacy was doomed to a rapid decline. + + * * * * * + +III. THE RISE AND FALL OF THEBES. + +Thebes had been nearly four years in the hands of the Spartans +when a few determined residents of the city rose against their +tyrants, and, aided by the exiles who had taken refuge at Athens, +and by some Athenian volunteers, they compelled the Spartan +garrison to capitulate (379 B.C.). At the head of the revolution +were two Theban citizens, Pelop'idas and Epaminon'das, young +men of noble birth and fortune, already distinguished for their +patriotism and private virtues. They are characterized by the +poet THOMSON, as + + Equal to the best; the Theban Pair + Whose virtues, in heroic concord joined, + Their country raised to freedom, empire, fame. + +By their abilities they raised Thebes, hitherto of but little +political importance, to the first rank in power among the Grecian +states. They have been thus described by the historian CURTIUS: +"Pelopidas was the heroic champion and pioneer who, like Miltiades +and Cimon, with full energy accomplished the tasks immediately +at hand; while Epaminondas was a statesman whose glance took a +wider range, who organized the state at home, and established +its foreign relations upon a thoroughly thought-out plan. He +created the bases of the power of Thebes, as Themistocles and +Aristides had those of the power of Athens; and he maintained +them, so long as he lived, by the vigor of his mind, like another +Pericles. And, indeed, it would be difficult to find in the entire +course of Greek history any other two great statesmen who, in +spite of differences of character and of outward conditions of +life, resembled each other so greatly, and were, as men, so truly +the peers of each other, as Pericles and Epaminondas." + +The successes of Thebes revived the jealousy and distrust of Athens, +which concluded a peace with Sparta, and subsequently formed +an alliance with her. But the Thebans continued to be successful, +and at Teg'yra Pelopidas defeated a greatly superior force and +killed the two Spartan generals; while at Leuc'tra Epaminondas, +with a force of six thousand Thebans, defeated the Lacedæmonian +army of more than double that number (371 B.C.). Leuctra has +been called "the Marathon of the Thebans," as their defensive +war was turned by it into a war of conquest. Aided now by the +Arca'dians, Ar'gives, and E'leans, Epaminondas invaded Laconia, +appearing before the gates of Sparta, where a hostile force had +not been seen in five hundred years; but he made no attempt upon +the city, and, after laying waste with fire and sword the valley +of the Euro'tas, he retraced his steps to the frontiers of Arcadia. +Another expedition was undertaken against the Peloponnesus in +367 B.C., and the cities of Achaia immediately submitted, becoming +the allies of Thebes. In 362 the Peloponnesus was invaded for +the last time, and at Mantinea Epaminondas defeated the Spartans +in the most sanguinary contest ever fought among Grecians; but he +fell in the moment of victory, and the glory of Thebes departed +with him. Before his death, having been told that those whom +he intended to be his successors in command had been slain, he +directed the Thebans to make peace. His advice was followed, and +a general peace was soon after established, on the condition +that each state should retain its respective possessions. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE SICILIAN GREEKS. + +Before proceeding to the history of the downfall of Greece, and +her subjugation by a foreign power--a result that soon followed +the events just narrated--we turn aside to notice the affairs of +the Sicilian Greeks, as more especially presented in the history +of Syracuse, in all respects the strongest and most prominent +of the Sicilian cities. + + +HIERO. + +On the death of Ge'lon, despot of Syracuse, a year after the +battle of Him'era, the government fell into the hands of his +brother Hi'ero, a man of great energy and determination. He +founded the city of Ætna, of which PINDAR says: + + That city, founded strong + In liberty divine, + Measured by the Spartan line, + Has Hiero 'stablish'd for his heritage; + To whose firm-planted colony belong + Their mother-country's laws, + From many a distant age. + +He also added many cities to his government, and his power was +not inferior to that of Gelon. The city of Cu'mæ, on the Italian +coast, being harassed by the Carthaginians, the aid of Hiero was +solicited by its citizens, and he sent a fleet which severely +defeated and almost destroyed the squadron of their enemies. +Says PINDAR of this event: + + That leader of the Syracusan host, + With gallies swiftly-rushing, them pursued; + And they his onset rued, + When on the Cuman coast + He dashed their youth in gulfy waves below, + And rescued Greece from heavy servitude. + +Hiero was likewise a liberal patron of literature and the arts, +inviting to his court many of the eminent poets and philosophers +of his time, including Pindar, Simon'ides, Epichar'mus, Æs'chylus, +and others; but his many great and noble qualities were alloyed +by insatiable cupidity and ambition, and he became noted for +"his cruel and rapacious government, and as the organizer of +that systematic espionage which broke up all freedom of speech +among his subjects." Although the eminent men who visited his +court have much to say in praise of Hiero, Pindar, especially, was +too honest and independent to ignore his faults. As GROTE says, +"Pindar's indirect admonitions and hints sufficiently attest the +real character of Hiero." Of these, the following lines from the +Pythian ode may be taken as a sample: + + The lightest word that falls from thee, O King! + Becomes a mighty and momentous thing: + O'er many placed as arbiter on high, + Many thy goings watchful see. + Thy ways on every side + A host of faithful witnesses descry; + Then let thy liberal temper be thy guide. + If ever to thine ear + Fame's softest whisper yet was dear, + Stint not thy bounty's flowing tide: + Stand at the helm of state; full to the gale + Spread thy wind-gathering sail. + Friend! let not plausive avarice spread + Its lures, to tempt thee from the path of fame: + For know, the glory of a name + Follows the mighty dead. + --Trans. by ELTON. + +Hiero was succeeded on his death, in 467 B.C., by his brother +Thrasybu'lus; but the latter's tyranny caused a popular revolt, +and after being defeated in a battle with his subjects he was +expelled from the country. His expulsion was followed by the +extinction of the Gelonian dynasty at Syracuse, and the institution +of a popular government there and in other Sicilian cities. These +free governments, however, gave rise to internal revolts and +wars that continued many months; and finally a general congress +of the different cities was held, which succeeded in adjusting +the difficulties that had disturbed the peace of all Sicily. +The various cities now became independent--though it is probable +that the governments of all of them continued to be more or less +disturbed--and were soon distinguished for their material and +intellectual prosperity. Syracuse maintained herself as the first +city in power; and in this condition of prosperity the Sicilian +cities were found at the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war. + + +DIONYESIUS THE ELDER. + +Of the Athenian league and expedition against Syracuse we have +already given some account. Soon after the termination of this +contest the Constitution of Syracuse was rendered still more +democratic by the adoption of a new code of laws, prepared by +Di'ocles, an eminent citizen, who became the director of the +government. But the Carthaginians now again invaded Sicily, and +established themselves over its entire western half. Taking +advantage of the popular alarm at these aggressions, and of the +ill success of Diocles and the Syracusan generals in opposing +them, Diony'sius the Elder, then a young man, of low birth, but +brave, determined, and talented, having been raised by popular +favor to the generalship of the Syracusan army, subsequently +made himself despot of the city (405 B.C.). Dionysius ruled +vigorously, but with extreme tyranny, for thirty-eight years. +By the year 384 he had extended his power over nearly all Sicily +and a part of Magna Grecia, and under his sway Syracuse became +one of the most powerful empires on earth. PLUTARCH relates that +Dionysius boasted that he bequeathed to his son an empire "fastened +by chains of adamant." Like Hiero, Dionysius was a lover of +literature, and sought to gain distinction by his poetical +compositions, some of which won prizes at Athens. He also invited +Plato to his court; but the philosopher's moral conversations +were distasteful to the tyrant, who finally sold him into slavery, +from which he was redeemed by a friend. + +It was during the reign of Dionysius the Elder that occurred +that memorable incident in the lives of Damon and Pythias by +which Dionysius himself is best remembered, and which has passed +into history as illustrative of the truest and noblest friendship. +Damon and Pythias were distinguished Syracusans, and both were +Pythagore'ans. Pythias, a strong republican, having been seized +for calling Dionysius a tyrant, and being condemned to death +for attempting to stab him, requested a brief respite in order +to arrange his affairs, promising to procure a friend to take +his place and suffer death if he should not return. Damon gave +himself up as surety, and Pythias was allowed to depart. Just +as Damon was about to be led to execution, Pythias, who had been +detained by unforeseen circumstances, returned to accept his +fate and save his friend. Dionysius was so struck by these proofs +of virtue and magnanimity on the part of the two friends that +he set both of them free, and requested to be admitted into their +friendship. The subject has been repeatedly dramatized, and has +formed the theme of numerous separate poems. Schiller has a ballad +on the subject; but he amplifies the incidents of the original +story, and substitutes other names in place of Damon and Pythias. +The following are the first three and the last three verses from +SCHILLER: + + The Hostage. + + The tyrant Di'onys to seek, + Stern Moe'rus with his poniard crept; + The watchful guards upon him swept; + The grim King marked his changeless cheek: + "What wouldst thou with thy poniard? Speak!" + "The city from the tyrant free!" + "The death-cross shall thy guerdon be." + + "I am prepared for death, nor pray," + Replied that haughty man, "to live; + Enough if thou one grace wilt give: + For three brief suns the death delay, + To wed my sister--leagues away; + I boast one friend whose life for mine, + If I should fail the cross, is thine." + + The tyrant mused, and smiled, and said, + With gloomy craft, "So let it be; + Three days I will vouchsafe to thee. + But mark--if, when the time be sped, + Thou fail'st, thy surety dies instead. + + His life shall buy thine own release; + Thy guilt atoned, my wrath shall cease." + + * * * * * + + The sun sinks down--the gate's in view, + The cross looms dismal on the ground-- + The eager crowd gape murmuring round. + His friend is bound the cross unto. + Crowd--guards--all--bursts he through; + "Me! Doomsman, me," he shouts, "alone! + His life is rescued--lo, mine own!" + + Amazement seized the circling ring! + Linked in each other's arms the pair-- + Weeping for joy, yet anguish there! + Moist every eye that gazed: they bring + The wondrous tidings to the King-- + His breast man's heart at last hath known, + And the Friends stand before his throne. + + Long silent he, and wondering long, + Gazed on the pair. "In peace depart, + Victors, ye have subdued my heart! + Truth is no dream! its power is strong. + Give grace to him who owns his wrong! + 'Tis mine your suppliant now to be: + Ah, let the band of Love--be THREE!" + --Trans. by BULWER. + +Dionysius the Younger succeeded to the government of Syracuse +in 367, but he was incompetent to the task; and his tyranny and +debauchery brought about his temporary overthrow, ten years later, +by Dion, his father's brother-in-law. Dion had enjoyed unusual +favors under Dionysius the Elder, and was now a man of wealth +and high position, as well as of great energy and marked mental +capacities. For his talents he was largely indebted to Plato, +under whose teachings he became imbued "with that sense of +regulated polity, and submission of individual will to fixed +laws, which floated in the atmosphere of Grecian talk and +literature, and stood so high in Grecian morality." In one of +his letters Plato says, "When I explained the principles of +philosophy and humanity to Dion, I little thought that I was +insensibly opening a way to the subversion of tyranny!" + +Long before the death of Dionysius the Elder, Dion had conceived +the idea of liberating Syracuse from despotism and establishing +an improved constitutional policy, originated by himself; and, +on becoming the chief adviser of the young Dionysius, he tried +to convince the latter of the necessity of reforming himself +and his government. Although at first favorably impressed with +the plans of Dion, the young monarch subsequently became jealous +of his adviser and expelled him from the country. Gathering a +few troops from various quarters, Dion returned to Sicily ten +years after, and, aided by a revolt in Syracuse, he soon made +himself master of the city. Dionysius had meanwhile retired to +Ortyg'ia, and soon left Sicily for Italy. But the success of +Dion was short-lived. "Too good for a despot, and yet unfit for +a popular leader, he could not remain long in the precarious +position he occupied." Both his dictatorship and his life came +to an end in 354. He became the victim of a conspiracy originating +with his most intimate friend, and was assassinated in his own +dwelling. + +Dionysius soon after returned to Syracuse, from the government +of which he was finally expelled by Timo'leon, a Corinthian, +who had been sent from Corinth, at the request of some exiled +Syracusans, to the relief of their native city (343 B.C.). Timoleon +made himself master of the almost deserted Syracuse, restored it +to some degree of its former glory, checked the aspiring power +of Carthage by defeating one of its largest armies, crushed the +petty despots of Sicily, and restored nearly the whole island +to a state of liberty and order. The restoration of liberty to +Syracuse by Timoleon was followed by many years of unexampled +prosperity. Having achieved the purpose with which he left Corinth, +Timoleon at once resigned his command and became a private citizen +of Syracuse. But he became the adviser of the Syracusans in their +government, and the arbitrator of their differences, enjoying +to a good age "what Xenophon calls 'that good, not human, but +divine command over willing men, given manifestly to persons +of genuine and highly-trained temperance of character.'" + + +HIERO II. + +In 317, Agath'ocles, a bold adventurer of Syracuse, usurped its +authority by the murder of several thousand citizens, and for +twenty-eight years maintained his power, extending his dominion +over a large portion of Sicily, and even gaining successes in +Africa. After his death, in 289, successive tyrants ruled, until, +in 270, Hiero II., a descendant of Gelon, and commander of the +Syracusan army, obtained the supreme power. Meantime the +Carthaginians had gained a decided ascendancy in Sicily, and in +265 the Romans, alarmed by the movements of so powerful a neighbor, +and being invited to Sicily to assist a portion of the people +of Messa'na, commenced what is known in history as the first +Punic war. Hiero allied himself with the Carthaginians, and the +combined armies proceeded to lay siege to Messana; but they were +attacked and defeated by Ap'pius Clau'dius, the Roman consul, +and Hiero, panic-stricken, fled to Syracuse. Seeing his territory +laid waste by the Romans, he prudently made a treaty with them, +in 263. He remained their steadfast ally; and when the Romans +became sole masters of Sicily they gave him the government of +a large part of the island. His administration was mild, yet firm +and judicious, lasting in all fifty-four years. With him ended +the prosperity and independence of Syracuse. + + +ARCHIME'DES. + +It was during the reign of Hiero II. that Archimedes, a native +of Syracuse, and a supposed distant relation of the king, made +the scientific discoveries and inventions that have secured for +him the honor of being the most celebrated mathematician of +antiquity. He was equally skilled in astronomy, geometry, mechanics, +hydrostatics, and optics. His discovery of the principle of specific +gravity is related in the following well-known story: Hiero, +suspecting that his golden crown had been fraudulently alloyed +with silver, put it into the hands of Archimedes for examination. +The latter, entering a bath-tub one day, and noticing that he +displaced a quantity of water equal in bulk to that of his body, +saw that this discovery would give him a mode of determining +the bulk and specific gravity of King Hiero's crown. Leaping +out of the tub in his delight, he ran home, crying, "Eure'ka! +eureka!" I have found it! I have found it! + +To show Hiero the wonderful effects of mechanical power, Archimedes +is said to have drawn some distance toward him, by the use of +ropes and pulleys, a large galley that lay on the shore; and +during the siege of his native city by the Romans, his great +mechanical skill was displayed in the invention and manufacture +of stupendous engines of defence. Later historians than Polybius, +Livy, and Plutarch say that on this occasion, also, he burnt +many Roman ships by concentrating upon them the sun's rays from +numerous mirrors. SCHILLER gives the following poetic account +of a visit, to Archimedes, by a young scholar who asked to be +taught the art that had won the great master's fame: + + To Archimedes once a scholar came: + "Teach me;" he said, "the Art that won thy fame; + The godlike Art which gives such boons to toil, + And showers such fruit upon thy native soil; + The godlike Art that girt the town when all + Rome's vengeance burst in thunder on the wall!" + "Thou call'st Art godlike--it is so, in truth, + And was," replied the master to the youth, + "Ere yet its secrets were applied to use-- + Ere yet it served beleaguered Syracuse. + Ask'st thou from Art but what the Art is worth? + The fruit? For fruit go cultivate the Earth. + He who the goddess would aspire unto + Must not the goddess as the woman woo!" + --Trans. by BULWER. + +Among the discoveries of Archimedes was that of the ratio between +the cylinder and the inscribed sphere, and he requested his friends +to place the figures of a sphere and cylinder on his tomb. This +was done, and, one hundred and thirty-six years after, it enabled +Cicero, the Roman orator, to find the resting-place of the +illustrious inventor. The story of his visit to Syracuse, and his +search for the tomb of Archimedes, is told by the HON. R C. WINTHROP +in a lecture entitled Archimedes and Franklin, from which we quote +as follows: + + +Visit of Cicero to the Grave of Archimedes. + +"While Cicero was quæstor in Sicily--the first public office +which he ever held, and the only one to which he was then eligible, +being but just thirty years old--he paid a visit to Syracuse, +then among the greatest cities of the world. The magistrates +of the city of course waited on him at once, to offer their +services in showing him the lions of the place, and requested +him to specify anything which he would like particularly to see. +Doubtless they supposed that he would ask immediately to be +conducted to some one of their magnificent temples, that he might +behold and admire those splendid works of art with which +--notwithstanding that Marcellus had made it his glory to carry +not a few of them away with him for the decoration of the Imperial +City--Syracuse still abounded, and which soon after tempted the +cupidity, and fell a prey to the rapacity, of the infamous Verres. + +"Or, haply, they may have thought that he would be curious to +see and examine the Ear of Dionysius, as it was called--a huge +cavern, cut out of the solid rock in the shape of a human ear, +two hundred and fifty feet long and eighty feet high, in which +that execrable tyrant confined all persons who came within the +range of his suspicion, and which was so ingeniously contrived +and constructed that Dionysius, by applying his ear to a small +hole, where the sounds were collected as upon a tympanum, could +catch every syllable that was uttered in the cavern below, and +could deal out his proscription and his vengeance accordingly +upon all who might dare to dispute his authority or to complain +of his cruelty. Or they may have imagined, perhaps, that he would +be impatient to visit at once the sacred fountain of Arethusa; +and the seat of those Sicilian Muses whom Virgil so soon after +invoked in commencing that most inspired of all uninspired +compositions, which Pope has so nobly paraphrased in his glowing +and glorious Eclogue--the 'Messiah.' + +"To their great astonishment, however, Cicero's first request +was that they would take him to see the tomb of Archimedes. To +his own still greater astonishment, as we may well believe, they +told him in reply that they knew nothing about the tomb of +Archimedes, and had no idea where it was to be found, and they +even denied that any such tomb was still remaining among them. +But Cicero understood perfectly well what he was talking about. +He remembered the exact description of the tomb. He remembered +the very verses which had been inscribed on it. He remembered the +sphere and the cylinder which Archimedes had himself requested +to have wrought upon it, as the chosen emblems of his eventful +life. And the great orator forthwith resolved to make search +for it himself. Accordingly, he rambled out into the place of +their ancient sepulchres, and, after a careful investigation, he +came at last to a spot overgrown with shrubs and bushes, where +presently he descried the top of a small column just rising above +the branches. Upon this little column the sphere and the cylinder +were at length found carved, the inscription was painfully +deciphered, and the tomb of Archimedes stood revealed to the +reverent homage of the illustrious Roman quæstor. + +"This was in the year 76 before the birth of our Savior. Archimedes +died about the year 212 before Christ. One hundred and thirty six +years only had thus elapsed since the death of this celebrated +person, before his tombstone was buried beneath briers and brambles; +and before the place and even the existence of it were forgotten +by the magistrates of the very city of which he was so long the +proudest ornament in peace, and the most effective defender in +war. What a lesson to human pride, what a commentary on human +gratitude was here! It is an incident almost precisely like that +which the admirable and venerable DR. WATTS imagined or imitated, +as the topic of one of his most striking and familiar Lyrics: + + "'Theron, among his travels, found + A broken statue on the ground; + And searching onward as he went, + He traced a ruined monument. + Mould, moss, and shades had overgrown + The sculpture of the crumbling stone; + Yet ere he passed, with much ado, + He guessed and spelled out, Sci-pi-o. + "Enough," he cried; "I'll drudge no more + In turning the dull Stoics o'er; + + * * * * * + + For when I feel my virtue fail, + And my ambitious thoughts prevail, + I'll take a turn among the tombs, + And see whereto all glory comes." + +I do not learn, however, that Cicero was cured of his eager vanity +and his insatiate love of fame by this "turn" among the Syracusan +tombs. He was then only just at the threshold of his proud career, +and he went back to pursue it to its bloody end with unabated +zeal, and with an ambition only extinguishable with his life.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE MACEDONIAN SUPREMACY. + +I. THE SACRED WAR. + +Four years after the battle of Mantine'a the Grecian states again +became involved in domestic hostilities, known as the Sacred +War, the second in Grecian history to which that title was applied, +the first having been carried on against the inhabitants of Crissa, +on the northern shore of the Corinthian Gulf, in the time of +Solon. The causes of this second Sacred War were briefly these: +The Pho'cians, allies of Sparta against Thebes, had taken into +cultivation a portion of the plain of Delphos, sacred to Apollo; +and the Thebans caused them to be accused of sacrilege before +the Amphictyonic Council, which condemned them to pay a heavy +fine. The Phocians refused obedience, and, encouraged by the +Spartans, on whom a similar penalty had been imposed for their +wrongful occupation of the Theban capital, they took up arms +to resist the decree, and plundered the sacred Temple of Delphos +to obtain means for carrying on the war. + +The Thebans, Thessa'lians, and nearly all the states of northern +Greece leagued against the Phocians, while Athens and Sparta +declared in their favor. After the war had continued five years +a new power was brought forward on the theatre of Grecian history, +in the person of Philip, who had recently established himself +on the throne of Maç'edon, and to whom some of the Thessalians +applied for aid against the Phocians. The interference of Philip +forms an important epoch in Grecian affairs. "The most desirable +of all conditions for Greece would have been," says THIRLWALL, +"to be united in a confederacy strong enough to prevent intestine +warfare among its members, and so constituted as to guard against +all unnecessary encroachment on their independence. But the time +had passed by when the supremacy of any state could either have +been willingly acknowledged by the rest, or imposed upon them +by force; and the hope of any favorable change in the general +condition of Greece was now become fainter than ever." Wasted +by her internal dissensions, Greece was now about to suffer their +natural results, and we interrupt our narrative to briefly trace +the growth of that foreign power which, unexpectedly to Greece, +became its master. + + * * * * * + +II. SKETCH OF MACEDONIA. + +Maçedon--or Macedo'nia--whose boundaries varied greatly at different +times, had its south-eastern borders on the Ægean Sea, while +farther north it was bounded by the river Strymon, which separated +it from Thrace, and on the south by Thessaly and Epirus. On the +west Macedonia embraced, at times, many of the Illyrian tribes +which bordered on the Adriatic. On the north the natural boundary +was the mountain chain of Hæ'mus. The principal river of Macedonia +was the Ax'ius (now the Vardar), which fell into the Thermaic +Gulf, now called the Gulf of Salonica. + +The history of Macedonia down to the time of Philip, the father +of Alexander the Great, is involved in much obscurity. The early +Macedonians appear to have been an Illyrian tribe, different +in race and language from the Hellenes or Greeks; but Herodotus +states that the Macedonian monarchy was founded by Greeks from +Argos; and, according to Greek writers, twelve or fifteen Grecian +princes reigned there before the accession of Philip, who took +charge of the government about the year 360 B.C., not as monarch, +but as guardian of the infant son of his elder brother. + +Philip had previously passed several years at Thebes as a hostage, +where he eagerly availed himself of the excellent opportunities +which that city afforded for the acquisition of various kinds +of knowledge. He successfully cultivated the study of the Greek +language; and in the society of such generals and statesmen as +Epaminondas, Pelopidas, and their friends, became acquainted +with the details of the military tactics of the Greeks, and learned +the nature and working of their democratical institutions. Thus, +with the superior mental and physical endowments which nature +had given him, he became eminently fitted for the part which +he afterward bore in the intricate game of Grecian politics. + +After Philip had successfully defended the throne of Maçedon +during several years, in behalf of his nephew, his military +successes enabled him to assume the kingly title, probably with +the unanimous consent of both the army and the nation. He annexed +several Thracian towns to his dominions, reduced the Illyrians +and other nations on his northern and western borders, and was +at times an ally, and at others an enemy, of Athens. At length, +during the Sacred War against the Phocians, the invitation which +he received from the Thessalian allies of Thebes, as already +noticed, afforded him a pretext, which he had long coveted, for +a more active interference in the affairs of his southern neighbors. + + * * * * * + +III. INTERFERENCE OF PHILIP OF MACEDON. + +Of all the Grecian states, Athens alone had succeeded in regaining +some of her former power, and she now became the leader in the +struggle with Macedonia. In response to the invitation extended +to him, Philip entered Thessaly on his southern march, but was +at first repulsed by the Phocians and their allies, and obliged +to retire to his own territory. He soon returned, however, at +the head of a more numerous army, defeated the enemy in a decisive +engagement near the Gulf of Pag'asæ, and would have marched upon +Phocis at once to terminate the war, but he found the Pass of +Thermopylæ strongly guarded by the Athenians, and thought it +prudent to withdraw his forces. + +The Sacred War still lingered, although the Phocians desired +peace; but the revengeful spirit of the Thebans was not allayed, +and Philip was again urged to crush the profaners of the national +religion. It was at this period that the great Athenian orator, +Demosthenes, came forward with the first of those orations against +Philip and his supposed policy, which, from their subject, received +the name of "the Philippics"--a title since commonly given to +any discourse or declamation abounding in acrimonious invective. +The penetration of Demosthenes enabled him easily to divine the +ambitious plans of Philip, and as he considered him the enemy +of the liberties of Athens and of Greece, he sought to rouse +his countrymen against him. His discourse was essentially practical. +As a writer has said, "He alarms, but encourages his countrymen; +Points out both their weakness and their strength; rouses them +to a sense of danger, and shows the way to meet it; recommends +not any extraordinary efforts, for which at this moment there +was no urgent necessity, but unfolds a scheme, simple and feasible, +suiting the occasion, and calculated to lay the foundation of +better things." + +In the following language he censures the indolence and supineness +of the Athenians: + + +The First Philippic of Demosthenes. + +"When, O my countrymen I will you exert your vigor? When roused +by some event? When forced by some necessity? What, then, are +we to think of our present condition? To freemen, the disgrace +attending our misconduct is, in my opinion, the most urgent +necessity. Or, say, is it your sole ambition to wander through +the public places, each inquiring of the other, 'What new advices?' +Can anything be more new than that a man of Maçedon should conquer +the Athenians and give law to Greece? 'Is Philip dead? No, but +he is sick.' [Footnote: Philip had received a severe wound, which +was followed by a fit of sickness; hence these rumors and inquiries +of the Athenians. "Longinus quotes this whole passage as a beautiful +instance of those pathetic figures which give life and force and +energy to an oration."] How are you concerned in these rumors? +Suppose he should meet some fatal stroke; you would soon raise +up another Philip, if your interests are thus regarded. For it +is not to his own strength that he so much owes his elevation +as to our supineness. And should some accident affect him--should +Fortune, who hath ever been more careful of the state than we +ourselves, now repeat her favors (and may she thus crown them!) +--be assured of this, that by being on the spot, ready to take +advantage of the confusion, you will everywhere be absolute +masters; but in your present disposition, even if a favorable +juncture should present you with Amphip'olis, [Footnote: Amphipolis, +a city of Thrace founded by the Athenians, had fallen into the +hands of Philip after a siege, and the Athenians had nothing +more at heart than its recovery.] you could not take possession +of it while this suspense prevails in your councils. + +"Some of you wander about crying, 'Philip hath joined with the +Lacedæmonians, and they are concerting the destruction of Thebes, +and the dissolution of some free states.' Others assure us that +he has sent an embassy to the king; [Footnote: The King of Persia, +generally called "the king" by the Greeks.] others, that he is +fortifying places in Illyria. Thus we all go about framing our +several stories. I do believe, indeed, Athenians, that he is +intoxicated with his greatness, and does entertain his imagination +with many such visionary prospects, as he sees no power rising +to oppose him, and is elated with his success. But I cannot be +persuaded that he hath so taken his measures that the weakest +among us know what he is next to do--for the silliest are those +who spread these rumors. Let us dismiss such talk, and remember +only that Philip is our enemy--that he has spoiled us of our +dominions, that we have long been subject to his insolence, that +whatever we expected to be done for us by others has proved against +us, that all the resource left us is in ourselves, and that, if +we are not inclined to carry our arms abroad, we may be forced +to engage at home. Let us be persuaded of this, and then we shall +come to a proper determination; then we shall be freed from idle +conjectures. We need not be solicitous to know what particular +events will happen; we need but be convinced that nothing good +can happen unless you attend to your duty, and are willing to +act as becomes you. + +"As for me, never have I courted favor by speaking what I am +not convinced is for your good; and now I have spoken my whole +mind frankly and unreservedly. I could have wished, knowing the +advantage of good counsel to you, that I were equally certain +of its advantage to the counselor; so should I have spoken with +more satisfaction. Now, with an uncertainty of the consequence +to myself, but with a conviction that you will benefit by following +my advice, I freely proffer it. And, of all those opinions which +are offered for your acceptance, may that be chosen which will +best advance the general weal." + --LELAND'S trans. + +The most prominent of the particular acts specified by Demosthenes +as indispensable to the Athenian welfare, were the fitting out of +a fleet of fifty vessels, to be kept ready to sail, at a moment's +notice, to any exposed portion of the Athenian sea-coast; and +the establishment of a permanent land force of twenty-two hundred +men, one-fourth to be citizens of Athens. The expense was to +be met by taxation, a system of which he also presented for +adoption. MR. GROTE says of the first Philippic of Demosthenes: + +"It is not merely a splendid piece of oratory, emphatic and forcible +in its appeal to the emotions; bringing the audience, by many +different roads, to the main conviction which the orator seeks +to impress; profoundly animated with genuine Pan-hellenic +patriotism, and with the dignity of that pre-Grecian world now +threatened by a monarch from without. It has other merits besides, +not less important in themselves, and lying more immediately +within the scope of the historian. We find Demosthenes, yet only +thirty years old--young in political life--and thirteen years +before the battle of Chærone'a, taking accurate measure of the +political relations between Athens and Philip; examining those +relations during the past, pointing out how they had become every +year more unfavorable, and foretelling the dangerous contingencies +of the future, unless better precautions were taken; exposing +with courageous frankness not only the past mismanagement of +public men, but also those defective dispositions of the people +themselves wherein such mismanagement had its root; lastly, after +fault found, adventuring on his own responsibility to propose +specific measures of correction, and urging upon reluctant citizens +a painful imposition of personal hardship as well as of taxation." + +Of course Demosthenes and his policy were opposed by a strong +party, and his warnings and exhortations produced but little +effect. The latter result was largely due to the position of +the Athenian general and statesman Pho'cion--the last Athenian +in whom these two functions were united--who generally acted +with the peace-party. Unlike many prominent members of that party, +however, Phocion was pure and patriotic in his motives, and a +man of the strictest integrity. It was his unquestioned probity +and his peculiar disinterestedness that gave him such influence +with the people. As an orator, too, he commanded attention by +his striking and pithy brevity. "He knew so well," says GROTE, +"on what points to strike, that his telling brevity, strengthened +by the weight of character and position, cut through the fine +oratory of Demosthenes more effectively than any counter oratory +from men like Æsehines." Demosthenes was once heard to remark, +on seeing Phocion rise to speak, "Here comes the pruner of my +periods." + +As MR. GROTE elsewhere adds: "The influence of Phocion as a public +adviser was eminently mischievous to Athens. All depended upon +her will; upon the question whether her citizens were prepared +in their own minds to incur the expense and fatigue of a vigorous +foreign policy--whether they would handle their pikes, open their +purses, and forego the comforts of home, for the maintenance +of Grecian and Athenian liberty against a growing but not as +yet irresistible destroyer. Now, it was precisely at such a moment, +and when such a question was pending, that the influence of the +peace-loving Phocion was most ruinous. His anxiety that the +citizens should be buried at home in their own sepulchres--his +despair, mingled with contempt, of his countrymen and their refined +habits--his hatred of the orators who might profit by an increased +war expenditure--all contributed to make him discourage public +effort, and await passively the preponderance of the Macedonian +arms; thus playing the game of Philip, and siding, though himself +incorruptible, with the orators in Philip's pay." [Footnote: +"History of Greece," vol. xi., p. 278.] + +As no measures of importance were taken to check the growing +power of Philip, in the year 349 he attacked the Olynthians, +who were in alliance with Athens. They sent embassies to Athens, +seeking aid, and Demosthenes supported their cause in the three +"Olynthiac Orations," which roused the Athenians to more vigorous +efforts. But the latter were divided in their counsels, and the +aid they gave the Olynthians was inefficient. In 347 Olynthus +fell into the hands of Philip, who, having somewhat lulled the +suspicions of the Athenians by proposals of an advantageous peace, +marched into Phocis in 346, and compelled the enemy to surrender +at discretion. The Amphictyonic Council, with the power of Philip +to enforce its decrees, doomed Phocis to lose her independence +forever, to have her cities leveled with the ground, her population +to be distributed in villages of not more than fifty dwellings, +and to pay a yearly tribute of sixty talents to the temple until +the full amount of the plundered treasure should be restored. +Finally, the two votes that the Phocians had possessed in the +council were transferred to the King of Maçedon and his successors. + + * * * * * + +IV. WAR WITH MAÇEDON. + +From an early period of his career Philip had aspired to the +sovereignty of all Greece, as a secondary object that should +prepare the way for the conquest of Persia, the great aim and +end of all his ambitious projects. The accession of power he had +just acquired now induced him to exert himself, by negotiation +and conquest, to extend his influence on every side of his +dominions. Demosthenes had been sent by the Athenians into the +Peloponnesus to counteract the intrigues of Philip there, and had +openly accused him of perfidy. To repel this charge, as well as +to secure farther influence, if possible, Philip sent an embassy +to Athens, headed by the orator Py'thon. It was on this occasion +that Demosthenes delivered his second "Philippic" (344 B.C.), +addressing himself principally to the Athenian sympathizers with +Philip, of whom the orator Æsehines was the leader. + +In his military operations Philip ravaged Illyria, reduced Thessaly +more nearly to a Macedonian province, conquered a part of the +Thracian territory, extended his power into Epi'rus and Acarna'nia, +and would have gained a footing in E'lis and Acha'ia, on the +western coast of Peloponnesus, had it not been for the watchful +jealousy of Athens which Demosthenes finally succeeded in arousing. +The first open rupture with the Athenians occurred while Philip +was subduing the Grecian cities on the Thracian coast of the +Hellespont, in what was called the Thracian Chersone'sus. As +yet Macedon and Athens were nominally at peace, and Philip +complained that the Athenians were attempting to precipitate +a conflict. He sent an embassy to Athens, which gave occasion +to the speech of Demosthenes, "On the Chersonese" (341 B.C.). +The rupture in the Chersonesus was followed by Athenian successes +in Euboe'a, whither Demosthenes had succeeded in having an +expedition sent, and, finally, by the expulsion of Philip's forces +from the Chersonesus. Soon after this (339 B.C.) the Amphictyonic +Council, through the influence of the orator Æsehines, appointed +Phillip to conduct a war against Amphis'sa, a Lo'crian town, +that had been convicted of a sacrilege similar to that of the +Phocians. + + +THE SUCCESSES AND DEATH OF PHILIP. + +It was now that Philip first threw off the mask, and revealed +his designs against the liberties of Greece. Hastily passing +through Thrace at the head of a powerful army, he suddenly seized +and commenced fortifying Elate'a, the capital of Phocis, which +was conveniently situated for commanding the entrance into Boeotia. +Intelligence of this event reached Athens at night, and caused +great alarm. At daybreak on the following morning the Senate of +Five Hundred met, and the people assembled in the Pnyx. Suddenly +waking, at last, from their dream of security, from which all +the eloquent appeals of Demosthenes had hitherto been unable +fully to arouse them, the Athenians began to realize their danger. +At the instance of the great orator they formed a treaty with +the Thebans, and the two states prepared to defend themselves +from invasion; but most of the Peloponnesian states kept aloof +through indifference, rather than through fear. + +When the Athenian and Theban forces marched forth to give Philip +battle, dissensions pervaded their ranks; for the spirit of Grecian +liberty had already been extinguished. They gained a minor +advantage, however, in two engagements that followed; but the +decisive battle was fought in August of the year 338, in the +plain of Chærone'a, in Boeotia. The hostile armies were nearly +equal in numbers; but there was no Pericles, or Epaminondas, +to match the warlike abilities of Philip and the young prince +Alexander, the latter of whom commanded a wing of the Macedonian +army. The Grecian army was completely routed, and the event broke +up the feeble combination against Philip, leaving each of the +allied states at his mercy. He treated the Thebans with much +severity, but he exercised a degree of leniency toward the +Athenians which excited general surprise--offering them terms +of peace which they would scarcely have ventured to propose to +him. Now virtually master of Greece, he assembled a Congress +of the Grecian states at Corinth, at which all his proposals +were adopted; war was declared against Persia, and Philip was +appointed commander-in-chief of the Grecian and Macedonian forces. +But while he was preparing for his great enterprise he was +assassinated, during the festivities attending the marriage of +his daughter, by a young Macedonian of noble birth, in revenge +for some private wrong. + + * * * * * + +V. ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. + +Alexander, the son of Philip, then at the age of twenty years, +succeeded his father on the throne of Macedon. At once the +Illyrians, Thracians, and other northern tribes took up arms to +recover their independence; but Alexander quelled the revolt in +a single campaign. On the death of Philip, Demosthenes, who had +been informed of the event by a special messenger, immediately +took steps to incite Athens to shake off the Macedonian yoke. In +the words of a modern historian, "He resolved to avail himself +of the superstition of his fellow-citizens, by a pious fraud. +He went to the senate-house and declared to the Five Hundred +that Jove and Athe'na had forewarned him in a dream of some great +blessing that was in store for the Commonwealth. Shortly afterward +public couriers arrived with the news of Philip's death. +Demosthenes, although in mourning for the recent loss of an only +daughter, now came abroad dressed in white, and crowned with a +chaplet, in which attire he was seen sacrificing at one of the +public altars." He made vigorous preparations for action, and +sent envoys to the principal Grecian states to excite them against +Macedon. Several of the states, headed by the Athenians and the +Thebans, rose against the dominant oligarchy; but Alexander, +whose marches were unparalleled for their rapidity, suddenly +appeared in their midst. Thebes was taken by assault; six thousand +of her warriors were slain; the city was leveled with the ground, +and thirty thousand prisoners were condemned to slavery. The +other Grecian states hastily renewed their submission; and Athens, +with servile homage, sent an embassy to congratulate the young +king on his recent successes. Alexander accepted the excuses of +all, and having intrusted the government of Greece and Macedon +to Antip'ater, one of his generals, he set out on his career +of Eastern conquest with only thirty-five thousand men, and a +treasury of only seventy talents of silver. He had distributed +nearly all the remaining property of his crown among his friends; +and when he was asked what he had reserved for himself, he answered, +"My hopes." + + * * * * * + +VI. ALEXANDER INVADES ASIA. + +Early in the spring of 334 Alexander crossed the Hellespont, and +a few days later defeated a large Persian army on the eastern bank +of the Grani'cus, with the loss on his part of only eighty-five +horsemen and thirty light infantry. The gates of Sardis and Ephesus +were next thrown open to him, and he was soon undisputed master +of all Asia Minor. Early in the following year he directed his +march farther eastward, and on the coast of Cili'cia, near Issus, +again met the Persian or barbarian army, numbering over seven +hundred thousand men, and commanded by Dari'us, the Persian king. +Alexander, as usual, led his army in person, and achieved a +splendid victory. The wife, daughters, and an infant son of Darius +fell into the hands of the conqueror, and were treated by him +with the greatest kindness and respect, Some time after, and +just before his death, when Darius heard of the generous treatment +of his wife, who was accounted the most beautiful woman in Asia +--of her death from sudden illness, and of the magnificent burial +she had received from the conqueror--he lifted up his hands to +heaven and prayed that if his kingdom were to pass from himself, +it might be transferred to Alexander. + +The conqueror now directed his march southward through northern +Syria and Palestine, conquering Tyre after a vigorous siege of +seven months. This was perhaps the greatest of Alexander's military +achievements; but it was tarnished by his cruelty toward the +conquered. Exasperated by the long and desperate resistance of +the besieged, he gave them no quarter. Eight thousand of the +inhabitants are said to have been massacred, and thirty thousand +were sold into slavery. After the fall of Tyre Alexander proceeded +into Egypt, which he easily brought under subjection. After having +founded the present city of Alexandria, at the mouth of the Nile, +he returned to Palestine, crossed the Euphrates, and marched +into the very heart of the Persian empire, declaring, "The world +can no more admit two masters than two suns." + + * * * * * + +VII. BATTLE OF ARBE'LA.--FLIGHT AND DEATH OF DARIUS. + +On a beautiful plain, twenty miles distant from the town of Arbela, +the Persian monarch, surrounded by all the pomp and luxury of +Eastern magnificence, had collected the remaining strength of +his empire, consisting of an army of more than a million of +infantry and forty thousand cavalry, besides two hundred scythed +chariots, and fifteen elephants brought from the west of India. +To oppose this immense force Alexander had only forty thousand +infantry and seven thousand cavalry. But his forces were well +armed and disciplined, and were led by an able general who had +never known defeat. Darius sustained the conflict with better +judgment and more courage than at Issus; but the cool intrepidity +of the Macedonians was irresistible, and the field of battle soon +became a scene of slaughter, in which some say forty thousand, +and others three hundred thousand, of the barbarians were slain, +while the loss of Alexander did not exceed five hundred men. +Although Darius escaped with a portion of his body-guard, the +whole of the royal baggage and treasure was captured at Arbela. + +Now simply a fugitive, "with merely the title of king," Darius +crossed the mountains into Media, where he remained six or seven +months, and until the advance of Alexander in pursuit compelled +him to pass through the Caspian Gates into Parthia. Here, on +the near approach of the enemy, he was murdered by Bessus, satrap +of Bactria, because he refused to fly farther. "Within four years +and three months from the time Alexander crossed the Hellespont," +says GROTE, "by one stupendous defeat after another Darius had +lost all his Western empire, and had become a fugitive eastward +of the Caspian Gates, escaping captivity at the hand of Alexander +only to perish by that of the satrap Bessus. All antecedent +historical parallels--the ruin and captivity of the Lydian +Croe'sus, the expulsion and mean life of the Syracusan Dionysius, +both of them impressive examples of the mutability of human +condition--sink into trifles compared with the overthrow of this +towering Persian colossus. The orator Æschines expressed the +genuine sentiment of a Grecian spectator when he exclaimed (in +a speech delivered at Athens shortly before the death of Darius): + +"'What is there among the list of strange and unexpected events +which has not occurred in our time? Our lives have transcended +the limits of humanity; we are born to serve as a theme for +incredible tales to posterity. Is not the Persian king--who dug +through Athos and bridged the Hellespont, who demanded earth +and water from the Greeks, who dared to proclaim himself, in +public epistles, master of all mankind from the rising to the +setting sun--is not he now struggling to the last, not for dominion +over others, but for the safety of his own person?' [Footnote: +He speaks of both Xerxes and Darius as the Persian king.] Such +were the sentiments excited by Alexander's career even in the +middle of 330 B.C., more than seven years before his death." + +Babylon and Susa, where the riches of the East lay accumulated, +had meanwhile opened their gates to Alexander, and thence he +directed his march to Persepolis, the capital of Persia, which +he entered in triumph. Here he celebrated his victories by a +magnificent feast, at which the great musician Timo'theus, of +Thebes, performed on the flute and the lyre, accompanied by a +chorus of singers. Such was the wonderful power of his music +that the whole company are said to have been swayed by it to +feelings of love, or hate, or revenge, as if by the wand of a +magician. The poet DRYDEN has given us a description of this feast +in a poem that has been called by some "the lyric masterpiece +of English poetry," and by others "an inspired ode." Though +designed especially to illustrate the power of music, it is based +on historic facts. Only partial extracts from it can here be +given. + + Alexander's Feast. + + 'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won + By Philip's warlike son: + Aloft in awful state + The godlike hero sate + On his imperial throne: + His valiant peers were placed around, + Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound + (So should desert in arms be crowned). + The lovely Thais, by his side + Sat, like a blooming Eastern bride, + In flower of youth and beauty's pride. + Happy, happy, happy pair! + None but the brave, + None but the brave, + None but the brave deserve the fair. + +In the second division of the poem Timo'theus is represented +as singing the praises of Jupiter, when the crowd, carried away +by the enthusiasm with which the music had inspired them, proclaim +Alexander a deity! The monarch accepts the adoration of his +subjects, and "assumes the god." + + The list'ning crowd admire the lofty sound: + "A present deity!" they shout around: + "A present deity!" the vaulted roofs rebound. + With ravished ears + The monarch hears, + Assumes the god, + Affects to nod, + And seems to shake the spheres. + +The praises of Bacchus and the joys of wine being next sung, +the effects upon the king are described; and when the strains +had fired his soul almost to madness, Timotheus adroitly changes +the spirit and measure of his song, and as successfully allays +the tempest of passion that his skill had raised. The effects +of this change are thus described: + + Soothed with the sound, the king grew vain; + Fought all his battles o'er again; + And thrice he routed all his foes; and thrice he slew the slain. + The master saw the madness rise; + His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes; + And, while he Heaven and Earth defied, + Changed his hand, and checked his pride. + He chose a mournful Muse, + Soft pity to infuse; + He sung Darius, great and good, + By too severe a fate, + Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, + Fallen from his high estate, + And weltering in his blood; + Deserted at his utmost need, + By those his former bounty fed; + On the bare earth exposed he lies, + With not a friend to close his eyes. + With downcast looks the joyless victor sat, + Revolving in his altered soul + The various turns of chance below; + And, now and then a sigh he stole, + And tear's began to flow. + +Under the soothing influence of the next theme, which is Love, +Alexander sinks into a slumber, from which, however, a change +in the music to discordant strains arouses him to feelings of +revenge, as the singer draws a picture of the Furies, and of the +Greeks "that in battle were slain." Then it was that Alexander, +instigated by Thais, a celebrated Athenian beauty who accompanied +him on his expedition, set fire to the palace of Persepolis, +intending to burn the whole city--"the wonder of the world." +The poet compares Thais to Helen, whose fatal beauty caused the +downfall of Troy, 852 years before. + + Now strike the golden lyre again; + A louder yet, and yet a louder strain. + Break his bands of sleep asunder, + And rouse him, like a rattling peal of thunder. + Hark! hark! the horrid sound + Has raised up his head, + As awaked from the dead, + And, amazed, he stares around. + Revenge! revenge! Timotheus cries, + See the Furies arise! + See the snakes that they rear! + How they hiss in their hair, + And the sparkles that flash from their eyes! + Behold a ghastly band, + Each a torch in his hand! + These are the Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain, + And unburied remain, + Inglorious on the plain: + Give the vengeance due + To the valiant crew, + Behold how they toss their torches on high! + How they point to the Persian abodes, + And glittering temples of their hostile gods! + The princes applaud with a furious joy; + And the king seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy; + Thais led the way, + To light him to his prey, + And, like another Helen, fired another Troy! + +During four years Alexander remained in the heart of Persia, +reducing to subjection the chiefs who still struggled for +independence, and regulating the government of the conquered +provinces. Ambitious of farther conquests, he passed the Indus, +and invaded the country of the Indian king Po'rus, whom he defeated +in a sanguinary engagement, and took prisoner. Alexander continued +his march eastward until he reached the Hyph'asis, the most eastern +tributary of the Indus, when his troops, seeing no end of their +toils, refused to follow him farther, and he was reluctantly +forced to abandon the career of conquest, which he had marked +out for himself, to the Eastern ocean. He descended the Indus +to the sea, whence, after sending a fleet with a portion of his +forces around through the Persian Gulf to the Euphrates, he marched +with the remainder of his army through the barren wastes of +Gedro'sia, and after much suffering and loss once more reached +the fertile provinces of Persia. + + * * * * * + +VIII. THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER. + +For some time after his return Alexander's attention was engrossed +with plans for organizing, on a permanent basis, the government +of the mighty empire that he had won. Aiming to unite the +conquerors and the conquered, so as to form out of both a nation +independent alike of Macedonian and Persian prejudices, he married +Stati'ra, the oldest daughter of Darius, and united his principal +officers with Persian and Median women of the noblest families, +while ten thousand of his soldiers were induced to follow the +example of their superiors. But while he was occupied with these +cares, and with dreams of future conquests, his career was suddenly +terminated by death. On setting out to visit Babylon, in the +spring of 324, soon after the decease of an intimate friend +--Hephæs'tion--whose loss caused a great depression of his spirits, +he was warned by the magicians that Babylon would be fatal to +him; but he proceeded to the city to conclude his preparations +for his next ambitious scheme--the subjugation of Arabia. Babylon +was now to witness the consummation of his triumphs and of his +life. "As in the last scene of some well-ordered drama," says +a modern historian, "all the results and tokens of his great +achievements seemed to be collected there to do honor to his +final exit." Although his mind was actively occupied in plans +of conquest, he was haunted by gloomy forebodings and superstitious +fancies, and endeavored to dispel his melancholy by indulging +freely in the pleasures of the table. Excessive drinking at last +brought to a crisis a fever which he had probably contracted +in the marshes of Assyria, and which suddenly terminated his +life in the thirty-third year of his age, and the thirteenth +of his reign (323 B.C.). He was buried in Babylon. From the Latin +poet LUCAN we take the following estimate of + + + His Career and His Character. + + Here the vain youth, who made the world his prize, + That prosperous robber, Alexander, lies: + When pitying Death at length had freed mankind, + To sacred rest his bones were here consigned: + His bones, that better had been tossed and hurled, + With just contempt, around the injured world. + But fortune spared the dead; and partial fate, + For ages fixed his Pha'rian empire's date. + [Footnote: Pharian. An allusion to the famous light-house, + the Pharos of Alexandria, built by Ptolemy Philadelphus, + son of Ptolemy Soter, who succeeded Alexander in Egypt.] + + If e'er our long-lost liberty return, + That carcass is reserved for public scorn; + Now it remains a monument confessed, + How one proud man could lord it o'er the rest. + To Maçedon, a corner of the earth, + The vast ambitious spoiler owed his birth: + There, soon, he scorned his father's humbler reign, + And viewed his vanquished Athens with disdain. + + Driven headlong on, by fate's resistless force, + Through Asia's realms he took his dreadful course; + His ruthless sword laid human nature waste, + And desolation followed where he passed. + Red Ganges blushed, and famed Euphrates' flood, + With Persian this, and that with Indian blood. + + Such is the bolt which angry Jove employs, + When, undistinguishing, his wrath destroys: + Such to mankind, portentous meteors rise, + Trouble the gazing earth, and blast the skies. + Nor flame nor flood his restless rage withstand, + Nor Syrts unfaithful, nor the Libyan sand: + [Footnote: Syrts. Two gulfs--Syrtis Minor and Syrtis + Major--on the northern coast of Africa, abounding in + quicksands, and dangerous to navigation.] + O'er waves unknown he meditates his way, + And seeks the boundless empire of the sea. + + E'en to the utmost west he would have gone, + Where Te'thys' lap receives the setting sun; + [Footnote: Tethys, the fabled wife of Ocean, and + daughter of Heaven and Earth.] + Around each pole his circuit would have made, + And drunk from secret Nile's remotest head, + When Nature's hand his wild ambition stayed; + With him, that power his pride had loved so well, + His monstrous universal empire, fell; + No heir, no just successor left behind, + Eternal wars he to his friends assigned, + To tear the world, and scramble for mankind. + --LUCAN. Trans. by ROWE. + +The poet JUVENAL, moralizing on the death of Alexander, tells +us that, notwithstanding his illimitable ambition, the narrow +tomb that be found in Babylon was sufficiently ample for the +small body that had contained his mighty soul. + + One world sufficed not Alexander's mind; + Cooped up, he seemed in earth and seas confined, + And, struggling, stretched his restless limbs about + The narrow globe, to find a passage out! + Yet, entered in the brick-built town, he tried + The tomb, and found the straight dimensions wide. + Death only this mysterious truth unfolds: + The mighty soul, how small a body holds! + --Tenth Satire. Trans. by DRYDEN. + +The body of Alexander was removed from Babylon to Alexandria +by Ptolemy Soter, one of his generals, subsequently King of Egypt, +and was interred in a golden coffin. The sarcophagus in which +the coffin was enclosed has been in the British Museum since +1802--a circumstance to which BYRON makes a happy allusion in +the closing lines of the following verse: + + How vain, how worse than vain, at length appear + The madman's wish, the Macedonian's tear! + He wept for worlds to conquer; half the earth + Knows not his name, or but his death and birth, + And desolation; while his native Greece + Hath all of desolation, save its peace. + He "wept for worlds to conquer!" he who ne'er + Conceived the globe he panted not to spare! + With even the busy Northern Isle unknown, + Which holds his urn, and never knew his throne. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY THE ROMANS. + +I. A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE AT GREECE. + +PROSECUTION OF DEMOSTHENES. + +Turning now to the affairs of Greece, we find that, three years +after Alexander entered Asia, the Spartans made a determined +effort to throw off the Macedonian yoke. They were joined by +most of the Peloponnesian states, but Athens took no part in the +revolt. Although meeting with some successes at first, the Spartans +were finally defeated with great slaughter by Antip'ater (331 B.C.), +who had been left by Alexander in command of Greece and Macedonia. +This victory, and Alexander's successes in the East, gave rise +to active measures by the Macedonian party in Athens against +Demosthenes, who was holding two public offices, and, by his +ability and patriotism, was still doing great service to the +state. The occasion of this prosecution was as follows: + +Soon after the disastrous battle of Chærone'a, Ctes'iphon, an +Athenian citizen, proposed that a golden crown [Footnote: It was +customary with the Athenians, and some other Greeks also, to +honor their most meritorious citizens with a chaplet of olive +interwoven with gold, and this was called a "golden crown."] +should be bestowed upon Demosthenes, in the public theatre, on +the occasion of the Dionysiac festival, as a reward for his +patriotism and public services. The special service for which +the reward was proposed was the rebuilding of the walls of Athens +by Demosthenes, partially at his own expense. After the Athenian +Senate had acquiesced in the measure, Æschines, the rival of +Demosthenes, brought an accusation against Ctesiphon for a +violation of the law, in that, among other things charged, it +was illegal to crown an official intrusted with the public moneys +before he had rendered an account of his office--a proceeding +which prevented the carrying of Ctesiphon's proposal to the people +for a final decision. Thus the matter slumbered during a period +of six years, when it was revived by Æschines, who thought he +saw, in the success of the Macedonian arms--on which all his +personal and political hopes were staked--a grand opportunity +to crush his great rival. He now, therefore, brought the charges +against Ctesiphon to trial. Although the latter was the nominal +defendant in the case, and Demosthenes was only his counsel, +it was well understood that the real object of attack was +Demosthenes himself, his whole policy and administration; and +a vast concourse of people flocked to Athens to hear the two +most celebrated orators in the world. A jury of not less than +five hundred, chosen from the citizens at large, was impaneled +by the archon; and before a dense and breathless audience the +pleadings began. + + +The Oration of Æschines against Ctesiphon. + +Æschines introduces his oration with the following brief exordium: +"You see, Athenians, what forces are prepared, what numbers +gathered and arrayed, what soliciting through the assembly, by +a certain party--and all this to oppose the fair and ordinary +course of justice in the state. As to me, I stand here in firm +reliance, first on the immortal gods, next on the laws and you, +convinced that faction never can have greater weight with you +than law and justice." + +After Æschines had dwelt at length, and with great ability, upon +the nature of the offence with which Ctesiphon is charged, the +laws applicable to it, and the supposed evasions of Demosthenes +in his reply, he reads the decree of the senate in favor of the +bestowment of the crown, in the following words: + +"And the herald shall make proclamation in the theatre, in presence +of the Greeks, that the community of Athens hath crowned him, +on account of his virtue and magnanimity, and for his constant +and inviolable attachment to the interests of the state, through +the course of all his counsels and administration." + +This gives the orator the opportunity to enter upon an extended +review of the public life and character of Demosthenes, in which +he boldly charges him with cowardice in the battle of Chæronea, +with bribery and fraud in his public administration, and declares +him to have been the prime cause of innumerable calamities that +had befallen his country. He says: + +"It is my part, as the prosecutor, to satisfy you on this point, +that the praises bestowed on Demosthenes are false; that there +never was a time in which he even began as a faithful counselor, +far from persevering in any course of conduct advantageous to +the state. + +"It remains that I produce some instances of his abandoned +flattery. For one whole year did Demosthenes enjoy the honor +of a senator; and yet in all that time it never appears that +he moved to grant precedency to any ministers; for the first +time--the only time--he conferred this distinction on the ministers +of Philip; he servilely attended, to accommodate them with his +cushions and his carpets; by the dawn of day he conducted them +to the theatre, and, by his indecent and abandoned adulation, +raised a universal uproar of derision. When they were on their +departure toward Thebes, he hired three teams of mules, and +conducted them in state into that city. Thus did he expose his +country to ridicule. + +"And yet this abject, this enormous flatterer, when he had been +the first that received advice of Philip's death from the +emissaries of Charide'mus, pretended a divine vision, and, with +a shameless lie, declared that this intelligence had been conveyed +to him, not by Charidemus, but by Jupiter and Minerva. Thus he +dared to boast that these divinities, by whom he had sworn falsely +in the day, had descended to hold communication with him in the +night, and to inform him of futurity. Seven days had now scarcely +elapsed since the death of his daughter when this wretch, before +he had performed the usual rites of mourning--before he had duly +paid her funeral honors--crowned his head with a chaplet, put +on his white robe, made a solemn sacrifice in despite of law +and decency; and this when he had lost his child, the first, +the only child that had ever called him by the tender name of +father. I say not this to insult his misfortunes; I mean but +to display his real character. For he who hates his children, +he who is a bad parent, cannot possibly prove a good minister. +He who is insensible to that natural affection which should engage +his heart to those who are most intimate and near to him, can +never feel a greater regard to your welfare than to that of +strangers. He who acts wickedly in private life cannot prove +excellent in his public conduct; he who is base at home, can +never acquit himself with honor when sent to a strange country +in a public character. For it is not the man, but the scene that +changes. + +"Is not this, our state, the common refuge of the Greeks, once +the great resort of all the ambassadors from the several cities +sent to implore our protection as their sure resource, now obliged +to contend, not for sovereign authority, but for our native land? +And to these circumstances have we been gradually reduced, from +that time when Demosthenes first assumed the administration. Well +doth the poet Hesiod refer to such men, in one part of his works, +where he points out the duty of citizens, and warns all societies +to guard effectually against evil ministers. I shall repeat his +words; for I presume we treasured up the sayings of poets in +our memory when young, that in our riper years we might apply +them to advantage. + + "'When one man's crimes the wrath of Heaven provoke, + Oft hath a nation felt the fatal stroke. + Contagion's blast destroys at Jove's command, + And wasteful famine desolates the land. + Or, in the field of war, her boasted powers + Are lost, and earth receives her prostrate towers. + In vain in gorgeous state her navies ride, + Dashed, wrecked, and buried in the boist'rous tide.' + +"Take away the measure of these verses, consider only the sentiment, +and you will fancy that you hear, not some part of Hesiod, but +a prophecy of the administration of Demosthenes; for true it +is, that both fleets and armies, and whole cities, have been +completely destroyed by his administration. + +"Which, think ye, was the more worthy citizen--Themistocles, +who commanded your fleet when you defeated the Persian in the +sea-fight at Salamis, or this Demosthenes, who deserted from +his post? Miltiades, who conquered the barbarians at Marathon, +or this man? The chiefs who led back the people from Phy'le; +Aristides, surnamed the Just, or Demosthenes? No; by the powers +of heaven, I deem the names of these heroes too noble to be +mentioned in the same day with that of this savage! And let +Demosthenes show, when he comes to his reply, if ever decree +was made for granting a golden crown to them. Was then the state +ungrateful? No; but she thought highly of her own dignity. And +these citizens, who were not thus honored, appear to have been +truly worthy of such a state; for they imagined that they were +not to be honored by public records, but by the memories of those +they had obliged; and their honors have there remained, from +that time down to this day, in characters indelible and immortal. +There were citizens in those days who, being stationed at the +river Strymon, there patiently endured a long series of toils +and dangers, and at length gained a victory over the Medes. At +their return they petitioned the people for a reward; and a reward +was conferred upon them (then deemed of great importance) by +erecting three memorials of stone in the usual portico, on which, +however, their names were not inscribed, lest this might seem +a monument erected to the honor of the commanders, not to that +of the people. For the truth of this I appeal to the inscriptions. +That on the first statue was expressed thus: + + "'Great souls! who fought near Strymon's rapid tide, + And braved the invader's arm, and quelled his pride, + Ei'on's high towers confess'd the glorious deed, + And saw dire famine waste the vanquished Mede. + Such was our vengeance on the barb'rous host, + And such the generous toils our heroes boast.' + +"This was the inscription on the second: + + "'This the reward which grateful Athens gives! + Here still the patriot and the hero lives! + Here let the rising age with rapture gaze, + And emulate the glorious deeds they praise.' + +"On the third was the inscription: + + "'Mnes'the-us hence led forth his chosen train, + And poured the war o'er hapless Ilion's plain. + 'Twas his (so speaks the bard's immortal lay) + To form the embodied host in firm array. + Such were our sons! Nor yet shall Athens yield + The first bright honors of the sanguine field. + Still, nurse of heroes! still the praise is thine, + Of every glorious toil, of every art divine.' + +"In these do we find the name of the general? No; but that of +the people. Fancy yourselves transported to the grand portico; +for, in this your place of assembling, the monuments of all great +actions are erected in full view. There we find a picture of +the battle of Marathon. Who was the general in this battle? To +this question you will all answer--Miltiades. And yet his name +is not inscribed. How? Did he not petition for such an honor? +He did petition; but the people refused to grant it. Instead +of inscribing his name, they consented that he should be drawn +in the foreground, encouraging his soldiers. In like manner, +in the temple of the great Mother adjoining the senate-house, +you may see the honors paid to those who brought our exiles back +from Phyle; nor were even these granted precipitately, but after +an exact previous examination by the senate into the numbers +of those who maintained their post there, when the Lacedæmonians +and the Thirty marched to attack them--not of those who fled +from their post at Chæronea on the first appearance of an enemy." +Æschines closes his very able and brilliant oration with the +following words: + +"And now bear witness for me, thou Earth, thou Sun, O Virtue +and Intelligence, and thou, O Erudition, which teachest us the +just distinction between vice and goodness, that I have stood +up, that I have spoken in the cause of justice. If I have supported +my prosecution with a dignity befitting its importance, I have +spoken as my wishes dictated; if too deficiently, as my abilities +admitted. Let what hath now been offered, and what your own +thoughts must supply, be duly weighed, and pronounce such a +sentence as justice and the interests of the state demand." + --Trans. by THOMAS LELAND, D.D. + +Æschines was immediately followed by Demosthenes in a reply which +has been considered "the greatest speech of the greatest orator +in the world." The historian GROTE speaks of "the encomiums which +have been pronounced upon it with one voice, both in ancient and +modern times, as the unapproachable masterpiece of Grecian +oratory." It has been styled, from the occasion on which it was +delivered, + +The Oration of Demosthenes on the Crown. + +The orator opens his defence against the charges brought forward +by his adversary with the following exordium, which Quintil'ian +commends for its modesty: + +"I begin, men of Athens, by praying to every god and goddess +that the same good-will which I have ever cherished toward the +Commonwealth, and all of you, may be requited to me on the present +trial. I pray likewise--and this specially concerns yourselves, +your religion, and your honor--that the gods may put it in your +minds, not to take counsel of my opponent touching the manner +in which I am to be heard [Footnote: Æschines had requested that +Demosthenes should be "confined to the same method in his defence" +which he, Æschines, had pursued in his charges against him.]--that +would indeed be cruel!--but of the laws and of your oath; wherein +(besides the other obligations) it is prescribed that you shall +hear both sides alike. This means, not only that you must pass +no pre-condemnation, not only that you must extend your good-will +equally to both, but also that you must allow the parties to +adopt such order and course of defence as they severally choose +and prefer. + +"Many advantages hath Æschines over me on this trial; and two +especially, men of Athens. First, our risk in the contest is +not the same. It is assuredly not the same for me to forfeit +your regard as for my adversary not to succeed in his indictment. +To me--but I will say nothing untoward at the outset of my address. +The prosecution, however, is play to him. My second disadvantage +is the natural disposition of mankind to take pleasure in hearing +invective and accusation, and to be annoyed by them who praise +themselves. To Æschines is assigned the part which gives pleasure; +that which is (I may fairly say) offensive to all, is left for me. +And if, to escape from this, I make no mention of what I have +done, I shall appear to be without defence against his charges, +without proof of my claims to honor; whereas, if I proceed to +give an account of my conduct and measures, I shall be forced +to speak frequently of myself. I will endeavor, then, to do so +with becoming modesty. What I am driven to by the necessity of +the case will be fairly chargeable to my opponent, who has +instituted such a prosecution. + +"I think, men of the jury, you will all agree that I, as well +as Ctesiphon, am a party to this proceeding, and that it is a +matter of no less concern to me than to him. It is painful and +grievous to be deprived of anything, especially by the act of +one's enemy; but your good-will and affection are the heaviest +loss precisely as they are the greatest prize to gain. + +"Had Æschines confined his charge to the subject of the prosecution, +I too would have proceeded at once to my justification of the +decree. [Footnote: The decree of the senate procured by Ctesiphon +in favor of Demosthenes.] But since he has wasted no fewer words +in the discussion, in most of them calumniating me, I deem it +both necessary and just, men of Athens, to begin by shortly +adverting to these points, that none of you may be induced by +extraneous arguments to shut your ears against my defence to +the indictment. + +"To all his scandalous abuse about my private life observe my +plain and obvious answer. If you know me to be such as he alleged +--for I have lived nowhere else but among you--let not my voice +be heard, however transcendent my statesmanship. Rise up this +instant and condemn me. But if, in your opinion and judgment, +I am far better and of better descent than my adversary; if (to +speak without offence) I am not inferior, I or mine, to any +respectable citizens, then give no credit to him for his other +statements; it is plain they were all equally fictions; but to +me let the same good-will which you have uniformly exhibited +upon many former trials be manifested now. With all your malice, +Æschines, it was very simple to suppose that I should turn from +the discussion of measures and policy to notice your scandal. +I will do no such thing. I am not so crazed. Your lies and +calumnies about my political life I will examine forthwith. For +that loose ribaldry I shall have a word hereafter, if the jury +desire to hear it. + +"If the crimes which Æschines saw me committing against the state +were as heinous as he so tragically gave out, he ought to have +enforced the penalties of the law against them at the time; if +he saw me guilty of an impeachable offence, by impeaching and +so bringing me to trial before you; if moving illegal decrees, +by indicting me for them. For surely, if he can indict Ctesiphon +on my account, he would not have forborne to indict me myself +had he thought he could convict me. In short, whatever else he +saw me doing to your prejudice, whether mentioned or not mentioned +in his catalogue of slander, there are laws for such things, +and trials, and judgments, with sharp and severe penalties, all +of which he might have enforced against me; and, had he done +so--had he thus pursued the proper method with me--his charges +would have been consistent with his conduct. But now he has +declined the straightforward and just course, avoided all proofs +of guilt at the time, and after this long interval gets up to +play his part withal--a heap of accusation, ribaldry, and scandal. +Then he arraigns me, but prosecutes the defendant. His hatred +of me he makes the prominent part of the whole contest; yet, without +having ever met me upon that ground, he openly seeks to deprive +a third party of his privileges. Now, men of Athens, besides +all the other arguments that may be urged in Ctesiphon's behalf, +this, methinks, may very fairly be alleged--that we should try +our quarrel by ourselves; not leave our private dispute and look +what third party we can damage. That, surely, were the height +of injustice." + +Demosthenes now enters upon an elaborate review of the history of +Athens from the beginning of the Phocian war, his own relations +thereto, and the charges of Æschines in connection therewith, +fortifying his defence with numerous citations from public +documents, and boldly arraigning the political principles and +policy of his opponent, whom he accuses of being in frequent +communication with the emissaries of Philip--"a spy by nature, +and an enemy to his country." In the following terms he speaks +of his own public services, and reminds Æschines that the people +do not forget them: + +"Many great and glorious enterprises has the Commonwealth, +Æschines, undertaken and succeeded in through me; and she did +not forget them. Here is the proof. On the election of a person +to speak the funeral oration immediately after the event, you +were proposed; but the people would not have you, notwithstanding +your fine voice; nor Dema'des, though he had just made the peace; +nor He-ge'mon, nor any other of your party--but me. And when +you and Pyth'ocles came forward in a brutal and shameful manner +(oh, merciful Heaven!) and urged the same accusations against +me which you now do, and abused me, they elected me all the more. +The reason--you are not ignorant of it, yet I will tell you. +The Athenians knew as well the loyalty and zeal with which I +conducted their affairs as the dishonesty of you and your party; +for what you denied upon oath in our prosperity you confessed +in the misfortunes of the republic. They considered, therefore, +that men who got security for their politics by the public +disasters had been their enemies long before, and were then +avowedly such. They thought it right, also, that the person who +was to speak in honor of the fallen, and celebrate their valor, +should not have sat under the same roof or at the same table +with their antagonists; that he should not revel there and sing +a pæan over the calamities of Greece in company with their +murderers, and then come here and receive distinction; that he +should not with his voice act the mourner of their fate, but that +he should lament over them with his heart. And such sincerity +they found in themselves and me, but not in any of you: therefore +they elected me, and not you. Nor, while the people felt thus, +did the fathers and brothers of the deceased, who were chosen +by the people to perform their obsequies, feel differently. For +having to order the funeral (according to custom) at the house +of the nearest relative of the deceased, they ordered it at mine +--and with reason: because, though each to his own was nearer +of kin than I was, no one was so near to them all collectively. +He that had the deepest interest in their safety and success +must surely feel the deepest sorrow at their unhappy and unmerited +misfortune. Read the epitaph inscribed upon their monument by +public authority. In this, Æschines, you will find a proof of +your absurdity, your malice, your abandoned baseness. Read! + + + The Epitaph. + + "'These are the patriot brave who, side by side, + Stood to their arms and dashed the foeman's pride: + Firm in their valor, prodigal of life, + Hades they chose the arbiter of strife; + That Greeks might ne'er to haughty victors bow, + Nor thraldom's yoke, nor dire oppression know, + They, fought, they bled, and on their country's breast + (Such was the doom of Heaven) these warriors rest: + Gods never lack success, nor strive in vain, + But man must suffer what the Fates ordain.' + +"Do you hear, Æschines, in this very inscription, that 'the gods +never lack success, nor strive in vain?' Not to the statesman +does it ascribe the power of giving victory in battle, but to +the gods. But one thing, O Athenians, surprised me more than +all--that, when Æschines mentioned the late misfortunes of the +country, he felt not as became a well-disposed and upright citizen; +he shed no tear, experienced no such emotion: with a loud voice, +exulting and straining his throat, he imagined apparently that +he was accusing me, while he was giving proof against himself +that our distresses touched him not. + +"Two things, men of Athens, are characteristic of a well-disposed +citizen; so may I speak of myself and give the least offence. +In authority his constant aim should be the dignity and +pre-eminence of the Commonwealth; in all times and circumstances +his spirit should be loyal. This depends upon nature; power and +might upon other things. Such a spirit, you will find, I have +ever sincerely cherished. Only see! When my person was +demanded--when they brought Amphictyonic suits against me--when +they menaced--when they promised--when they set these miscreants +like wild beasts upon me--never in any way have I abandoned my +affection for you. From the very beginning I chose an honest +and straightforward course in politics, to support the honor, +the power, the glory of my fatherland; these to exalt, in these +to have my being. I do not walk about the market-place gay and +cheerful because the stranger has prospered, holding out my right +hand and congratulating those who I think will report it yonder, +and on any news of our own success shudder and groan and stoop +to the earth like these impious men who rail at Athens, as if +in so doing they did not rail at themselves; who look abroad, +and if the foreigner thrives by the distresses of Greece, are +thankful for it, and say we should keep him so thriving to all +time. + +"Never, O ye gods, may those wishes be confirmed by you! If +possible, inspire even in these men a better sense and feeling! +But if they are indeed incurable, destroy them by themselves; +exterminate them on land and sea; and for the rest of us, grant +that we may speedily be released from our present fears, and +enjoy a lasting deliverance." [Footnote: Lord Brougham says that +"the music of this closing passage (in the original) is almost +as fine as the sense is impressive and grand, and the manner +dignified and calm," and he admits the difficulty of preserving +this in a translation. His own translation of the passage is as +follows: "Let not, O gracious God, let not such conduct receive +any measure of sanction from thee! Rather plant even in these +men a better spirit and better feelings! But if they are wholly +incurable, then pursue them, yea, themselves by themselves, to +utter and untimely perdition, by land and by sea; and to us who +are spared, vouchsafe to grant the speediest rescue from our +impending alarms, and an unshaken security."] + --Trans. by CHARLES RANN KENNEDY. + +Æschines lost his case, and, not having obtained a fifth part +of the votes, became himself liable to a penalty, and soon left +the country in disgrace. + + * * * * * + +II. THE WARS THAT FOLLOWED ALEXANDER'S DEATH. + +When the intelligence of Alexander's death reached Greece the +country was already on the eve of a revolution against Antip'ater. +Athens found little difficulty in uniting several of the states +with herself in a confederacy against him, and met with some +successes in what is known as the La'mian war. But the movement +was short-lived, as Antipater completely annihilated the +confederate army in the battle of Cran'non (322 B.C.). Athens +was directed to abolish her democratic form of government, pay +the expenses of the war, and surrender a number of her most famous +men, including Demosthenes. The latter, however, escaped from +Athens, and sought refuge in the Temple of Poseidon, in the island +of Calaure'a. Here he took poison, and expired as he was being +led from the temple by a satellite of Antipater. + +The sudden death of Alexander left the government in a very +unsettled condition. As he had appointed no successor, immediately +following his death a council of his generals was held, and the +following division of his conquests was agreed upon: Ptolemy +Soter was to have Egypt and the adjacent countries; Macedonia +and Greece were divided between Antipater and Crat'erus; Antig'onus +was given Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphyl'ia; Lysim'achus was granted +Thrace; and Eume'nes was given Cappadocia and Paphlagonia. Soon +after this division Perdic'cas, then the most powerful of the +generals who retained control in the East, and had the custody +of the infant Alexander, proclaimed himself regent, and at once +set out on a career of conquest. Antigonus, Antipater, Craterus, +and Ptolemy leagued against him, however, and in 321, after an +unsuccessful campaign in Egypt, Perdiccas was murdered by his +own officers. + +Antipater died in 318, and shortly after his death his son +Cassander made himself master of Greece and Macedon, and caused +the surviving members of Alexander's family to be put to death. +Antigonus had, before this time, conquered Eumenes, and overrun +Syria and Asia Minor; but his increasing power led Ptolemy, +Seleu'cus, Lysimachus, and Cassander to unite against him; and +they fought with him the famous battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia, +that ended in the death of Antigonus and the dissolution of his +empire (301 B.C.). A new partition of the country was now made +into four independent kingdoms: Ptolemy was given Egypt and Libya; +Seleucus received the countries embraced in the eastern conquests +of Alexander, and the whole region between the coast of Syria +and the river Euphrates; Lysimachus received the northern and +western portions of Asia Minor, and Cassander retained the +sovereignty of Greece and Macedon. + +Of these kingdoms the most powerful were Syria and Egypt; the +former of which continued under the dynasty of the Seleucidæ, +and the latter under that of the Ptolemies, until both were +absorbed by the Roman empire. Of all the Ptolemies, Ptolemy +Philadelphus was the most eminent. He was not only a sovereign +of ability, but was also distinguished for his amiable qualities +of mind, for his encouragement of the arts and commerce, and he +was called the richest and most powerful monarch of his age. He +was born in 309 B.C. and died in 247. The Greek poet THEOCRITUS, +who lived much at his court, thus characterizes him: + + What is his character? A royal spirit + To point out genius and encourage merit; + The poet's friend, humane and good and kind; + Of manners gentle, and of generous mind. + He marks his friend, but more he marks his foe; + His hand is ever ready to bestow: + Request with reason, and he'll grant the thing, + And what be gives, he gives it like a king. + +The poet then sings the praises of the king, and describes the +strength, the wealth, and the magnificence of his kingdom, in +the following striking lines: + + Here, too, O Ptolemy, beneath thy sway + What cities glitter to the beams of day! + Lo! with thy statelier pomp no kingdom vies, + While round thee thrice ten thousand cities rise. + Struck by the terror of thy flashing sword, + Syria bowed down, Arabia called thee Lord; + Phoenicia trembled, and the Libyan plain, + With the black Ethiop, owned thy wide domain: + E'en Lesser Asia and her isles grew pale + As o'er the billows passed thy crowd of sail. + + Earth feels thy nod, and all the subject sea; + And each resounding river rolls for thee. + And while, around, thy thick battalions flash, + Thy proud steeds neighing for the warlike clash-- + Through all thy marts the tide of commerce flows, + And wealth beyond a monarch's grandeur glows. + Such gold-haired Ptolemy! whose easy port + Speaks the soft polish of the mannered court; + And whose severer aspect, as he wields + The spear, dire-blazing, frowns in tented fields. + + And though he guards, while other kingdoms own + His conquering arms, the hereditary throne, + Yet in vast heaps no useless treasure stored + Lies, like the riches of an emmet's hoard; + To mighty kings his bounty he extends, + To states confederate and illustrious friends. + No bard at Bacchus' festival appears, + Whose lyre has power to charm the ravished ears, + But he bright honors and rewards imparts, + Due to his merits, equal to his arts; + And poets hence, for deathless song renowned, + The generous fame of Ptolemy resound. + At what more glorious can the wealthy aim + Than thus to purchase fair and lasting fame? + -Trans. by FAWKES. + +Cassander survived the establishment of his power in Greece only +four years, and as his sons quarreled over the succession; +Demetrius, son of Antigonus, seized the opportunity to interfere +in their disputes, cut off the brother who had invited his aid, +and made himself master of the throne of Macedon, which was held +by him and his posterity, except during a brief interruption +after his death, down to the time of the Roman Conquest. For +a number of years succeeding the death of Demetrius, Macedon, +Greece, and western Asia were harassed with the wars excited by +the various aspirants to power; and in this situation of affairs +a storm, unseen in the distance, but that had long been gathering, +suddenly burst upon Macedon, threatening to convert, by its ravages, +the whole Grecian peninsula into a scene of desolation. + + * * * * * + +III. THE CELTIC INVASION, AND THE WAR WITH PYRRHUS. + +A vast horde of Celtic barbarians had for some time been collecting +around the head-waters of the Adriatic. Influenced by hopes of +plunder they now overran Macedon to the borders of Thessaly, +defeating Ptolemy Ceraunus, then King of Macedonia, in a great +battle. The walled towns alone held out until the storm had spent +its fury, when the Celts gradually withdrew from a country in +which there was but little left to tempt their cupidity. But in +the following year (279 B.C.) another band of them, estimated at +over two hundred thousand men, overran Macedonia, passed through +Thessaly, defeated the allied Grecians at Thermopylæ, and then +marched into Phocis, for the purpose of plundering the treasures +of Delphi. But their atrocities aroused against them the whole +population, and only a remnant of them gained their original +seats on the Adriatic. + +The throne of Macedon now found an enemy in Pyrrhus, King of +Epirus, a connection of the royal family of Macedon, and of whose +exploits Roman history furnishes a full account. A desultory +contest was maintained for several years between Pyrrhus and +Antigonus II., the son of Demetrius, and then King of Macedon. +While Pyrrhus was engaged in this war, Cleon'ymus, of the blood +royal of Sparta, who had been excluded from the throne by the +Spartan people, to give place to A'reus, invited Pyrrhus to his +aid. Pyrrhus marched to Sparta, and, supposing that he should +not meet with any resistance, ordered his tents to be pitched, +and sat quietly down before the city. Night coming on, the Spartans +in consternation met in council, and resolved to send their women +to Crete for safety. Thereupon the women assembled and remonstrated +against it; and the queen, Archidami'a, being appointed to speak +for the rest, went into the council-hall with a sword in her +hand, and boldly upbraiding the men, told them they did their +wives great wrong if they thought them so faint-hearted as to +live after Sparta was destroyed. The women then rushed to the +defences of the city, and spent the night aiding the men in +digging trenches; and when Pyrrhus attacked on the morrow, he +was so severely repulsed that he soon abandoned the siege and +retired from Laconia. The patriotic spirit and heroism of the +Spartan women on this occasion are well characterized in the +following lines: + + Queen Archidami'a. + + The chiefs were met in the council-hall; + Their words were sad and few, + They were ready to fight, and ready to fall, + As the sons of heroes do. + + And moored in the harbor of Gyth'e-um lay + The last of the Spartan fleet, + That should bear the Spartan women away + To the sunny shores of Crete. + + Their hearts went back to the days of old; + They thought of the world-wide shock, + When the Persian hosts like an ocean rolled + To the foot of the Grecian rock; + + And they turned their faces, eager and pale, + To the rising roar in the street, + As if the clank of the Spartan mail + Were the tramp of the conqueror's feet. + + It was Archidamia, the Spartan queen, + Brave as her father's steel; + She stood like the silence that comes between + The flash and the thunder-peal. + + She looked in the eyes of the startled crowd; + Calmly she gazed around; + Her voice was neither low nor loud, + But it rang like her sword on the ground. + + "Spartans!" she said--and her woman's face + Flushed out both pride and shame-- + "I ask, by the memory of your race, + Are ye worthy of the name? + + "Ye have bidden us seek new hearths and graves, + Beyond the reach of the foe; + And now, by the dash of the blue sea-waves, + We swear that we will not go! + + "Is the name of Pyrrhus to blanch your cheeks? + Shall he burn, and kill, and destroy? + Are ye not sons of the deathless Greeks + Who fired the gates of Troy? + + "What though his feet have scathless stood + In the rush of the Punic foam? + Though his sword be red to its hilt with the blood + That has beat at the heart of Rome? + + "Brothers and sons! we have reared you men: + Our walls are the ocean swell; + Our winds blew keen down the rocky glen + Where the staunch Three Hundred fell. + + "Our hearts are drenched in the wild sea-flow, + In the light of the hills and the sky; + And the Spartan women, if need be so, + Will teach the men to die. + + "We are brave men's mothers, and brave men's wives: + We are ready to do and dare; + We are ready to man your walls with our lives, + And string your bows with our hair. + + "Let the young and brave lie down to-night, + And dream of the brave old dead, + Their broad shields bright for to-morrow's fight, + Their swords beneath their head. + + "Our breasts are better than bolts and bars; + We neither wail nor weep; + We will light our torches at the stars, + And work while our warriors sleep. + + "We hold not the iron in our blood + Viler than strangers' gold; + The memory of our motherhood + Is not to be bought and sold. + + "Shame to the traitor heart that springs + To the faint soft arms of Peace, + If the Roman eagle shook his wings + At the very gates of Greece! + + "Ask not the mothers who gave you birth + To bid you turn and flee; + When Sparta is trampled from the earth + Her women can die, and be free." + +Soon after the repulse at Sparta, Pyrrhus again marched against +Antig'onus; but having attacked Argos on the way, and after having +entered within the walls, he was killed by a tile thrown by a +poor woman from a house-top. The death of Pyrrhus forms an +important epoch in Grecian history, as it put an end to the +struggle for power among Alexander's successors in the West, and +left the field clear for the final contest between the liberties +of Greece and the power of Macedon. Antigonus now made himself +master of the greater part of Peloponnesus, and then sought to +reduce Athens, the defence of which was aided by an Egyptian +fleet and a Spartan army. Athens was at length taken (262 B.C.), +and all Greece, with the exception of Sparta, seemed to lie +helpless at the feet of Antigonus, who little dreamed that the +league of a few Achæan cities was to become a formidable +adversary to him and his house. + + * * * * * + +IV. THE ACHÆ'AN LEAGUE.--PHILIP V, OF MACEDON. + +The Achæan League at first comprised twelve towns of Acha'ia, +which were associated together for mutual safety, forming a little +federal republic. But about twenty years after the death of Pyrrhus +other cities gave in their adherence, until the confederacy +embraced nearly the whole of the Peloponnesus. Athens had been +reduced to great misery by Antigonus, and was in no condition to +aid the League, while Sparta vigorously opposed it, and finally +succeeded in inducing Corinth and Argos to withdraw from it. +Sparta subsequently made war against the Achæans, and by her +successes compelled them to call in the aid of the Macedonians, +their former enemies. Antigonus readily embraced this opportunity +to restore the influence of his family in southern Greece, and, +marching against the Lacedæmonians, he obtained a decisive victory +which placed Sparta at his mercy; but he used his victory +moderately, and granted the Spartans peace on liberal terms +(221 B.C.). Antigonus died soon after this success, and was +succeeded by his nephew and adopted son, Philip V., a youth of +only seventeen. The Æto'lians, a confederacy of rude Grecian +tribes, aided by the Spartans, now began a series of unprovoked +aggressions on some of the Peloponnesian states. The Messenians, +whose territory they had invaded by way of the western coast of +Peloponnesus, called upon the Achæans for assistance; and the +youthful Philip having been placed at the head of the Achæan +League, a general war began between the Macedonians and Achæans +on the one side, and the Ætolians and their allies on the other, +that continued with great severity and obstinacy for four years. +Philip was on the whole successful, but new and more ambitious +designs led him to put an end to the unprofitable contest. The +great struggle going on between Rome and Carthage attracted his +attention, and he thought that an alliance with the latter would +open to himself prospects of future conquest and glory. So a +treaty was concluded with the Ætolians, which left all the +parties to the war in the enjoyment of their respective +possessions (217 B.C.), and Philip prepared to enter the field +against Rome. + +After the battle between Carthage and Rome at Can'næ (216 B.C.), +which seemed to have extinguished the last hopes of Rome, Philip +sent envoys to Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, and concluded +with him a treaty of strict alliance. He next sailed with a fleet +up the Adriatic, to assist Deme'trius of Pharos, who had been +driven from his Illyrian dominions by the Romans; but while +besieging Apollo'nia, a small town in Illyria, he was met and +defeated by the Roman prætor M. Vale'rius Lævi'nus, and was forced +to burn his ships and retreat overland to Macedon. Such was the +issue of his first encounter with the Romans. The latter now +turned their attention to Greece (211 B.C.), and contrived to +keep Philip busy at home by inciting a violation of the recent +treaty with the Ætolians, and by inducing Sparta and Elis to +unite in a war against Macedon. Philip was for a time supported +by the Achæans, under their renowned leader Philopoe'men; but +Athens, which Philip had besieged, called in the aid of a Roman +fleet (199 B.C.), and finally the Achæans themselves, being divided +into factions, accepted terms of peace with the Romans. Philip +continued to struggle against his increasing enemies until his +defeat in the great battle of Cynoceph'alæ (197 B.C.), by the +Roman consul Titus Flamin'ius, when he purchased peace by the +sacrifice of his navy, the payment of a tribute, and the +resignation of his supremacy over the Grecian states. + +At this time there was a Grecian epigrammatic poet, ALCÆ'US, +of Messe'ne, who was an ardent partisan of the Roman consul +Flaminius, and who celebrated the defeat of Philip in some of +his epigrams. He wrote the following on the expedition of +Flaminius: + + Xerxes from Persia led his mighty host, + And Titus his from fair Italia's coast. + Both warred with Greece; but here the difference see: + That brought a yoke--this gives us liberty. + +He also wrote the following sarcastic epigram on the Macedonians +of Philip's army who were slain at Cynocephalæ: + + Unmourned, unburied, passenger, we lie, + Three myriad sons of fruitful Thessaly, + In this wide field of monumental clay. + Ætolian Mars had marked us for his prey; + Or he who, bursting from the Ausonian fold, + In Titus' form the waves of battle rolled; + And taught Æma'thia's boastful lord to run + So swift that swiftest stags were by his speed outdone. + +Philip is said to have retorted this insult by the following +inscription on a tree, in which he pretty plainly states the +chastisement Alcæus would receive were he to fall into the hands +of his enemy: + + Unbarked, and leafless, passenger, you see, + Fixed in this mound Alcæus' gallows-tree. + --Trans. by J. H. MERIVALE. + + * * * * * + +V. GREECE CONQUERED BY ROME. + +At the Isthmian games, held at Corinth the year after the downfall +of Philip, the Roman consul Flaminius, a true friend of Greece, +under the authority of the Roman Senate caused proclamation to +be made, that Rome "took off all impositions and withdrew all +garrisons from Greece, and restored liberty, and their own laws +and privileges, to the several states" (196 B.C.). The deluded +Greeks received this announcement with exultation, and the highest +honors which a grateful people could bestow were showered upon +Flaminius. [Footnote: See a more full account of the events +connected with this proclamation, in Mosaics of Roman History.] + + A Roman master stands on Grecian ground, + And to the concourse of the Isthmian games + He, by his herald's voice, aloud proclaims + "The liberty of Greece!" The words rebound + Until all voices in one voice are drowned; + Glad acclamation by which the air was rent! + And birds, high flying in the element, + Dropped to the earth, astonished at the sound! + A melancholy echo of that noise + Doth sometimes hang on musing Fancy's ear. + Ah! that a conqueror's words should be so dear; + Ah! that a boon should shed such rapturous joys! + A gift of that which is not to be given + By all the blended powers of earth and heaven. + --WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. + +The Greeks soon realized that the freedom which Rome affected +to bestow was tendered by a power that could withdraw it at +pleasure. First, the Ætolians were reduced to poverty and deprived +of their independence, for having espoused the cause of Anti'ochus +of Syria, the enemy of Rome. At a later period Perseus, the +successor of Philip on the throne of Macedon, being driven into +a war by Roman ambition, finally lost his kingdom in the battle +of Pydna (168 B.C.); and then the Achæans were charged with having +aided Macedon in her war with Rome, and, without a shadow of +proof against them, one thousand of their worthiest citizens +were seized and sent to Rome for trial (167 B.C.). Here they +were kept seventeen years without a hearing, when three hundred +of their number, all who survived, were restored to their country. +These and other acts of cruelty aroused a spirit of vengeance +against the Romans, that soon culminated in war. But the Achæans +and their allies were defeated by the consul Mum'mius, near +Corinth (146 B.C.), and that city, then the richest in Greece, +was plundered of its treasures and consigned to the flames. +Corinth was specially distinguished for its perfection in the +arts of painting and sculpture, and the poet ANTIP'ATER, of Sidon, +thus describes the desolation of the city after its destruction +by the Romans: + + Where, Corinth, are thy glories now-- + Thy ancient wealth, thy castled brow, + Thy solemn fanes, thy halls of state, + Thy high-born dames, thy crowded gate? + There's not a ruin left to tell + Where Corinth stood, how Corinth fell. + The Nereids of thy double sea + Alone remain to wail for thee. + --Trans. by GOLDWIN SMITH. + +The last blow to the liberties of the Hellenic race had now been +struck, and all Greece, as far as Epi'rus and Macedonia, became +a Roman province under the name of Achaia. Says THIRLWALL, "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." But although Greece had lost her +independence, and many of her cities were desolate, or had sunk +into insignificance, she still retained her renown for philosophy +and the arts, and became the instructor of her conquerors. In +the well-known words of HORACE, + + When conquered Greece brought in her captive arts, + She triumphed o'er her savage conquerors' hearts. + -Bk. II. Epistle 1. + +As another has said, "She still retained a sovereignty which +the Romans could not take from her, and to which they were obliged +to pay homage." In whatever quarter Rome turned her victorious +arms she encountered Greek colonies speaking the Greek language, +and enjoying the arts of civilization. All these were absorbed +by her, but they were not lost. They diffused Greek customs, +thought, speech, and art over the Latin world, and Hellas survived +in the intellectual life of a new empire. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LITERATURE AND ART AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. + + +LITERATURE. + +I. THE DRAMA. + +As we have seen in a former chapter, Greek tragedy attained its +zenith with the three great masters--Æschylus, Sophocles, and +Euripides. As MAHAFFY well says, "Its later annals are but a +history of decay; and of the vast herd of latter tragedians two +only, and two of the earliest--Ion of Chi'os, and Ag'athon--can +be called living figures in a history of Greek literature." Even +these, it seems, wrote before Sophocles and Euripides had closed +their careers. But few fragments of their genius have come down +to us. Longi'nus said of Ion, that he was fluent and polished, +rather than bold or sublime; while Agathon has been characterized +as "the creator of a new tragic style, combining the verbal +elegancies and ethical niceties of the Sophists with artistic +claims of a luxurious kind." + +While tragedy declined, with comedy the case was different, for +its changes were progressive. Most writers divide Greek comedy +into the Old, the Middle, and the New; and although the boundary +lines between the three orders are very indistinct, each has +certain well-defined characteristics. It is asserted, as we have +elsewhere noted, that the chief subjects of the first were the +politics of the day and the characters and deeds of leading persons; +that the chief peculiarity of the second, in which the action +of the chorus was much curtailed, was the exclusion of personal +and political criticism, and the adoption of parodies of the +gods and ridicule of certain types of character; and that the +New Comedy, in which the chorus disappeared, aimed to paint scenes +and characters of domestic life. The Middle Comedy, however, +still continued to be in some degree personal and political, +and even in the New Comedy these features of the Old are frequently +apparent. + +Aristoph'anes, the leader of the Old Comedy, toward the close +of his life produced The Frogs--a work that signalized the +transition from the Old to the Middle Comedy. The latter school, +however, took its rise in Sicily, and its most distinguished +authors were Antiph'anes, probably of Athens, born in 404, and +Alex'is of Thu'rii, born about 394. The New Comedy arose after +Athens had fallen under Macedonian supremacy, and as many as +sixty-four poets belong to this period, the later of whom composed +their plays in Alexandria, in the time of Alexander's successors. +The founder of this school was Phile'mon of Soli, in Cilicia, +born about 360 B.C. Of his ninety plays fragments of fifty-six +remain. The majority of these have been described as "elegant +but not profound reflections on the 'changes and chances of this +mortal life.'" A late critic chooses the following fragment as +illustrative of Philemon, and at the same time favorable to his +reputation: + + Have faith in God, and fear; seek not to know him; + For thou wilt gain naught else beyond thy search; + Whether he is or is not, shun to ask: + As one who is, and sees thee, always fear him. + --Trans. by J. A. SYMONDS. + + +MENANDER. + +The acknowledged master and representative of this period, however, +and the last of the classical poets of Greece, was Menan'der, +an Athenian, son of Diopi'thes, the general whom Demosthenes +defended in his speech "On the Chersonese," and a nephew of the +poet Alexis. Menander was born in 342 B.C.; and although only +fragments of his writings exist, he was so closely copied or +imitated by the Roman comic poets that his style and character +can be very clearly traced. MR. SYMONDS thus describes him: "His +personal beauty, the love of refined pleasure that distinguished +him in life, the serene and genial temper of his wisdom, the +polish of his verse, and the harmony of parts he observed in +composition, justify us in calling Menander the Sophocles of +comedy. If we were to judge by the fragments transmitted to us, we +should have to say that Menander's comedy was ethical philosophy +in verse; so mature is its wisdom, so weighty its language, so +grave its tone. The brightness of the beautiful Greek spirit +is sobered down in him almost to sadness. Yet the fact that +Stobæ'us found him a fruitful source of sententious quotations, +and that alphabetical anthologies were made of his proverbial +sayings, ought not to obscure his fame for drollery and humor. +If old men appreciated his genial or pungent worldly wisdom, +boys and girls read him, we are told, for his love-stories." + +Menander was an intimate friend of Epicu'rus, the philosopher, +and is supposed to have adopted his teachings. On this point, +however, MR. SYMONDS thus remarks: "Speaking broadly, the +philosophy in vogue at Athens during the period of the New Comedy +was what in modern days is known as Epicureanism. Yet it would be +unjust to confound the grave and genial wisdom of Menander with +so trivial a philosophy as that which may be summed up in the +sentence 'eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' A fragment from +an unknown play of his expresses the pathos of human existence +with a depth of feeling that is inconsistent with mere +pleasure-seeking: + + "'When thou would'st know thyself, what man thou art, + Look at the tombstones as thou passest by: + Within those monuments lie bones and dust + Of monarchs, tyrants, sages, men whose pride + Rose high because of wealth, or noble blood, + Or haughty soul, or loveliness of limb; + Yet none of these things strove for them 'gainst time; + One common death hath ta'en all mortal men. + See thou to this, and know thee who thou art.'" + +As EUGENE LAWRENCE says: "Most modern comedies are founded on +those of Menander. They revive their characters, repeat their +jokes, transplant their humor; and the wit of Molière, Shakspeare, +or Sheridan is often the same that once awoke shouts of laughter +on the Attic stage." + + * * * * * + +II. ORATORY. + + Thence to the famous orators repair, + Those ancient, whose resistless eloquence + Wielded at will that fierce democracy, + Shook the arsenal, and fulmined over Greece + To Macedon and Artaxerxes' throne. + --MILTON. + +Eloquence, or oratory, which Cicero calls "the friend of peace +and the companion of tranquillity, requiring for her cradle a +commonwealth already well-established and flourishing," was +fostered and developed in Greece by the democratic character +of her institutions. It was scarcely known there until the time +of Themistocles, the first orator of note; and in the time of +Pericles it suddenly rose, in Athens, to a great height of +perfection. Pericles himself, whose great aim was to sway the +assemblies of the people to his will, cultivated oratory with +such application and success, that the poets of his day said +of him that on some occasions the goddess of persuasion, with +all her charms, seemed to dwell on his lips; and that, at other +times, his discourse had all the vehemence of thunder to move +the souls of his hearers. The golden age of Grecian eloquence +is embraced in a period of one hundred and thirty years from +the time of Pericles, and during this period Athens bore the +palm alone. + +Of the many Athenian orators the most distinguished were Lys'ias, +Isoc'rates, Æschines, and Demosthenes. The first was born about +435 B.C., and was admired for the perspicuity, purity, sweetness, +and delicacy of his style. Having become a resident of Thurii +in early life, on his return to Athens he was not allowed to +speak in the assemblies, or courts of justice, and therefore +wrote orations for others to deliver. Many of these are +characterized by great energy and power. Dionysius, the Roman +historian and critic, praises Lysias for his grace; Cicero commends +him for his subtlety; and Quintilian esteems him for his +truthfulness. Isocrates was born at Athens in 436. Having received +the instructions of some of the most celebrated Sophists of his +time, he opened a school of rhetoric, and was equally esteemed +for the excellence of his compositions--mostly political +orations--and for his success in teaching. His style was more +philosophic, smooth, and elegant than that of Lysias. "Cicero," +says a modern critic, "whose style is exceedingly like that of +Isocrates, appears to have especially used him as a model--as +indeed did Demosthenes; and through these two orators he has +moulded all the prose of modern Europe." Isocrates lived to the +advanced age of ninety-eight, and then died, it is said, by +voluntary starvation, in grief for the fatal battle of Chæronea. + + "That dishonest victory. + At Chæronea, fatal to liberty, + Killed with report that old man eloquent." + + +ÆSCHINES AND DEMOSTHENES. + +The orator Æschines was born in 398 B.C. He is regarded as the +father of extemporaneous speaking among the Greeks, but is chiefly +distinguished as the rival of Demosthenes, rather than for his +few orations (but three in number) that have come down to us, +although he was endowed by nature with extraordinary rhetorical +powers, and his orations are characterized by ease, order, +clearness, and precision. "The eloquence of Æschines," says an +American scholar and statesman, [Footnote: Hugh S. Legaré, of +Charleston, South Carolina, in an article on "Demosthenes" in +the New York Review.] "is of a brilliant and showy character, +running occasionally, though very rarely, into a Ciceronean +declamation. In general his taste is unexceptionable; he is clear +in statement, close and cogent in argument, lucid in arrangement, +remarkably graphic and animated in style, and full of spirit +and pleasantry, without the least appearance of emphasis or effort. +He is particularly successful in description and the portraiture +of character. That his powers were appreciated by his great rival +is evident from the latter's frequent admonitions to the assembly +to remember that their debates are no theatrical exhibitions +of voice and oratory, but deliberations involving the safety +of their country." + +On leaving Athens, after his defeat in the celebrated contest +with Demosthenes, Æschines went to Rhodes, where he established +a school of rhetoric. It is stated that on one occasion he began +his instruction by reading the two orations that had been the +cause of his banishment. His hearers loudly applauded his own +speech, but when he read that of Demosthenes they were wild with +delight. "If you thus praise it from my reading it," exclaimed +Æschines, "what would you have said if you had heard Demosthenes +himself deliver it?" + +By the common consent of ancient and modern times, Demosthenes +stands pre-eminent for his eloquence, his patriotism, and his +influence over the Athenian people. He was born about 383 B.C. +On attaining his majority, his first speech was directed against +a cousin to whom his inheritance had been intrusted, and who +refused to surrender to him what was left of it. Demosthenes +won his case, and his victory brought him into such prominent +notice that he was soon engaged to write pleadings for litigants +in the courts. He devoted himself to incessant study and practice +in oratory, and, overcoming by various means a weakly body and +an impediment in his speech, he became the chief of orators. +Of his public life we have already seen something in the history +of Athens. With all his moral and intellectual force, the closing +years of his life were shaded with misery and disgrace. Fifty +years after his death the Athenians erected a bronze statue to +his memory, and upon the pedestal placed this inscription: + + Divine in speech, in judgment, too, divine, + Had valor's wreath, Demosthenes, been thine, + Fair Greece had still her freedom's ensign borne, + And held the scourge of Macedon in scorn! + +With regard to the character of the orations of Demosthenes, +it must be confessed that somewhat conflicting views have been +entertained by the moderns. LORD BROUGHAM, while admitting that +Demosthenes "never wanders from the subject, that each remark +tells upon the matter in hand, that all his illustrations are +brought to bear upon the point, and that he is never found making +a step in any direction which does not advance his main object, +and lead toward the conclusion to which he is striving to bring +his hearers," still denies that he is distinguished for those +"chains of reasoning," and that "fine argumentation" which are +the chief merit of our greatest modern orators. While he admits +that Demosthenes abounds in the most "appropriate topics, and +such happy hits--to use a homely but expressive phrase--as have +a magical effect upon a popular assembly, and that he clothes +them in the choicest language, arranges them in the most perfect +order, and captivates the ear with a music that is fitted, at +his will, to provoke or to soothe, and even to charm the sense," +he regards all this as better suited to great popular assemblies +than to a more refined, and a more select audience--such as one +composed of learned senators and judges. But this is admitting +that he adapted himself, with admirable tact and judgment, to +the subject and the occasion. But while the character thus +attributed to the orations of the great Athenian orator may be +the true one, as regards the Philippics, the speech against +Æschines, and the one on the Crown, it is not thought to be +applicable to the many pleas which he made on occasions more +strictly judicial. + +"That which distinguishes the eloquence of Demosthenes above +all others, ancient or modern," says the American writer already +quoted, "is earnestness, conviction, and the power to persuade +that belongs to a strong and deep persuasion felt by the speaker. +It is what Milton defines true eloquence to be, 'none but the +serious and hearty love of truth'--or, more properly, what the +speaker believes to be truth. This advantage Demosthenes had +over Æschines. He had faith in his country, faith in her people +(if they could be roused up), faith in her institutions. He is +mad at the bare thought that a man of Macedon, a barbarian, should +be beating Athenians in the field, and giving laws to Greece. +The Roman historian and critic, Dionysius, said of his oratory, +that its highest attribute was the spirit of life that pervades +it. Other remarkable features were its amazing flexibility and +variety, its condensation and perfect logical unity, its elaborate +and exquisite finish of details, to which must be added that +polished harmony and rhythm which cannot be attained, to a like +degree, in any modern language. Moreover, however elaborately +composed these speeches were, they were still speeches, and had +the appearance of being the spontaneous effusions of the moment. +No extemporaneous harangues were ever more free and natural." + +The historian HUME says of the style of Demosthenes: "It was +rapid harmony adjusted to the sense; vehement reasoning without +any appearance of art; disdain, anger, boldness, and freedom, +involved in a continued strain of argument." Another writer says: +"It was his undeviating firmness, his disdain of all compromise, +that made him the first of statesmen and orators; in this lay +the substance of his power, the primary foundation of his +superiority; the rest was merely secondary. The mystery of his +mighty influence, then, lay in his honesty; and it is this that +gave warmth and tone to his feelings, an energy to his language, +and an impression to his manner before which every imputation +of insincerity must have immediately vanished." + + * * * * * + +III. PHILOSOPHY. + +PLATO. + +While oratory was thus attaining perfection in Greece, philosophy +was making equal progress in the direction marked out by Socrates. +Among the philosophers of the brighter period of Grecian history +are the names of Plato and Aristotle, names that will ever be +cherished and venerated while genius and worth continue to be +held in admiration. Of the pupils of Socrates, Plato, born in +Athens in 429 B.C., was by far the most distinguished, and the +only one who fully appreciated the intellectual greatness and +seized the profound conceptions of his master. In fact, he came +to surpass Socrates in the profoundness of his views, and in +the correctness and eloquence with which he expressed them. On +the death of his teacher, Plato left Athens and passed twelve +years in visiting different countries, engaged in philosophic +investigation. Returning to Athens, he founded his school of +philosophy in the Acade'mia, a beautiful spot in the suburbs +of the city, adorned with groves, walks, and fountains, and +which his name has immortalized. + + Here Philosophy + With Plato dwelt, and burst the chains of mind; + Here, with his stole across his shoulders flung, + His homely garments with a leathern zone + Confined, his snowy beard low clust'ring down + Upon his ample chest, his keen dark eye + Glancing from underneath the arched brow, + He fixed his sandaled foot, and on his staff + Leaned, while to his disciples he declared + How all creation's mighty fabric rose + From the abyss of chaos: next he traced + The bounds of virtue and of vice; the source + Of good and evil; sketched the ideal form + Of beauty, and unfolded all the powers + Of mind by which it ranges uncontrolled, + And soars from earth to immortality. + --HAYGARTH. + +To Plato, as the poet intimates in his closing lines, we owe +the first formal development of the Socratic doctrine of the +spirituality of the soul, and the first attempt toward +demonstrating its immortality. As a late writer has well said, +"It is the genius of Socrates that fills all Plato's philosophy, +and their two minds have flowed out over the world together." +Of his doctrine on this subject, as expressed in the Phoe'do, +LORD BROUGHAM thus wrote: "The whole tenor of it refers to a +renewal or continuation of the soul as a separate and individual +existence after the dissolution of the body, and with a complete +consciousness of personal identity: in short, to a continuance of +the same rational being's existence after death. The liberation +from the body is treated as the beginning of a new and more perfect +life." Plato's only work on physical science is the Timoe'us. +His works are all called "Dialogues," which the critics divide +into two classes--those of search, and those of exposition. Among +the latter, the Republic and the Laws give us the author's +political views; and, on the former, More's Uto'pia and other +works of like character in modern times are founded. + +"Plato, of all authors," says DR. A. C. KENDRICK, [Footnote: +Article "Plato," in Appleton's American Cyclipoedia.] "is the +one to whom the least justice can be done by any formal analysis. +In the spirit which pervades his writings, in their untiring +freshness, in their purity, love of truth and of virtue, their +perpetual aspiring to the loftiest height of knowledge and of +excellence, much more than in their positive doctrines, lies +the secret of their charm and of their unfailing power. Plato is +often styled an idealist. But this is true of the spirit rather +than of the form of his doctrine; for strictly he is an intense +realist, and differs from his great pupil, Aristotle, far less +in his mere philosophical method than in his lofty moral and +religious aspirations, which were perpetually winging his spirit +toward the beautiful and the good. His formal errors are abundant; +but even in his errors the truth is often deeper than the error; +and when that has been discredited, the language adjusts itself +to the deeper truth of which it was rather an inadequate expression +than a direct contradiction." Concerning the style of Plato's +writings, a distinguished English scholar and translator observes +as follows: "Nor is the language in which his thoughts are conveyed +less remarkable than the thoughts themselves. In his more elevated +passages he rises, like his own Prometheus, to heaven, and brings +down from thence the noblest of all thefts, [Footnote: See the +story of Prometheus.] Wisdom with Fire; but, in general, calm, +pure, and unaffected, his style flows like a stream which gurgles +its own music as it runs; and his works rise, like the great +fabric of Grecian literature, of which they are the best model, +in calm and noiseless majesty." [Footnote: Thomas Mitchell.] + +Plato died at the advanced age of eighty-one, his mental powers +unimpaired, and he was buried in the Academe. On his tomb was +placed the following inscription: + + Here, first of all men for pure justice famed, + Aris'tocles, the moral teacher, lies: + [Footnote: The proper name of Plato was Aristocles: + but in his youth he was surnamed Plato by his companions + in the gymnasium, on account of his broad shoulders. + (From the Greek word platus, "broad.")] + And if there ere has lived one truly wise, + This man was wiser still: too great for envy. + + +ARISTOTLE. + +Aristotle was born in 384 B.C., at Stagi'ra, in Macedonia. Hence +he is frequently called the "Stag'i-rite;" as POPE calls him +in the following tribute found in his Temple of Fame: + + Here, in a shrine that cast a dazzing light, + Sat, fixed in thought, the mighty Stagirite; + His sacred head a radiant zodiac crowned, + And various animals his sides surround; + His piercing eyes, erect, appear to view + Superior worlds, and look all nature through. + +He repaired to Athens at the age of seventeen, and soon after +became a pupil of Plato. His uncommon acuteness of apprehension, +and his indefatigable industry, early won the notice and applause +of his master, who called him the "mind" of the school, and said, +when he was absent, "Intellect is not here." On the death of +Plato, Aristotle left Athens, and in 343 he repaired to Macedonia, +on the invitation of Philip, and became the instructor of the +young prince Alexander. In after years Alexander aided him in his +scientific pursuits by sending to him many objects of natural +history, and giving him large sums of money, estimated in all +at two millions of dollars. + +In the year 335 Aristotle returned to Athens, and opened his +school in the Lyce'um. He walked with his scholars up and down +the shady avenues, conversing on philosophy, and hence his school +was called the peripatetic. Aristotle nowhere exhibits the merits +of Plato in the service of metaphysics, yet he was the most learned +and most productive of the writers of Greece. He had neither +the poetical imagination nor the genius of his teacher, but he +mastered the whole philosophical and historical science of his +age, and, more than Plato, his intellect has influenced the course +of modern civilization. He was eminently a practical philosopher--a +cold inquirer, whose mind did not reach the high and lofty teaching +of Plato, concerning Deity and the destiny of mankind. We find +the following just estimate of him in BROWNE'S Greek Classical +Literature: "One cannot set too high a value on the practical +nature of Aristotle's mind. He never forgot the bearing of all +philosophy upon the happiness of man, and he never lost sight +of man's wants and requirements. He saw the inadequacy of all +knowledge, unless he could trace in it a visible practical +tendency. But, beyond this one single point, he falls grievously +short of his great master, Plato. All his ideas of man's good +are limited to the consideration of this life alone. It is +impossible to trace in his writings any belief in a future state +or immortality." + +For many centuries succeeding the Middle Ages, especially from +the eleventh to the fifteenth, the metaphysical teachings of +Aristotle held a tyrannic sway over the public mind; but they +have been gradually yielding to the more lofty and sublime +teachings of Plato. His investigations in natural science, however, +and his work as a logician and political philosopher, constitute +his greatness, and create the enormous influence that he has +wielded in the world. "Science owes to him its earliest impulse," +says MR. LAWRENCE. "He perfected and brought into form," says +DR. WILLIAM SMITH, "those elements of the dialectic art which +had been struck out by Socrates and Plato, and wrought them by +his additions into so complete a system that he may be regarded +as at once the founder and perfecter of logic as an art." Says +MAHAFFY, "He has built his politics upon so sound a philosophic +basis, and upon the evidence of so large and varied a political +experience, that his lessons on the rise and fall of governments +will never grow old, and will be perpetually receiving fresh +corroborations, so long as human nature remains the same." +Aristotle was a friend of the Macedonians, and, on the death +of Alexander, he fled, from Athens to Chal'cis, in Euboea, to +escape a trial for impiety. There he died in 322 B.C. In the +lives of the three great philosophers of Greece--Socrates, Plato, +and Aristotle--is embraced what is commonly called "The +Philosophical Era of Athens." To this era MILTON has beautifully +alluded in his well-known description of the famous city; and +for the Academe, or Academia, the beautiful garden that was the +resort of the philosophers, EDWIN ARNOLD expresses these sentiments +of veneration: + + Pleasanter than the hills of Thessaly, + Nearer and dearer to the poet's heart + Than the blue ripple belting Salamis, + Or long grass waving over Marathon, + Fair Academe, most holy Academe, + Thou art, and hast been, and shalt ever be. + I would be numbered now with things that were, + Changing the wasting fever of to-day + For the dear quietness of yesterday: + I would be ashes, underneath the grass, + So I had wandered in thy platane walks + One happy summer twilight--even one. + Was it not grand, and beautiful, and rare, + The music and the wisdom and the shade, + The music of the pebble-paven rills, + And olive boughs, and bowered nightingales, + Chorusing joyously the joyous things + Told by the gray Silenus of the grove, + Low-fronted and large-hearted Socrates! + Oh, to have seen under the olive blossoms + But once--only once in a mortal life, + The marble majesties of ancient gods! + And to have watched the ring of listeners-- + The Grecian boys gone mad for love of truth, + The Grecian girls gone pale for love of him + Who taught the truth, who battled for the truth; + And girls and boys, women and bearded men, + Crowding to hear and treasure in their hearts + Matter to make their lives a happiness, + And death a happy ending. + + +EPICU'RUS AND ZE'NO. + +What is known as the Epicure'an school of philosophy was founded +by Epicurus, a native of Samos, born in 342, who went to Athens +in early youth, and, at the age of thirty, established himself +as a philosophical teacher. He met with great success. He did +not believe in the soul's immortality, and taught the pursuit +of mental pleasure and happiness as the highest good. While his +learning was not great, he was a man of unsullied morality, +respected and loved by his followers to a wonderful degree. +Although he wrote books in advocacy of piety, and the reverence +due to the gods on account of the excellence of their nature, +he maintained that they had no concern in human affairs. Hence +the Roman poet LUCRETIUS, who lived when the old belief in the +gods and goddesses of the heathen world had nearly faded away, +attributes to the teachings of Epicurus the triumph of philosophy +over superstition. + + On earth in bondage base existence lay, + Bent down by Superstition's iron sway. + She from the heavens disclosed her monstrous head, + And dark with grisly aspect, scowling dread, + Hung o'er the sons of men; but toward the skies + A man of Greece dared lift his mortal eyes, + And first resisting stood. Not him the fame + Of deities, the lightning's forky flame, + Or muttering murmurs of the threat'ning sky + Repressed; but roused his soul's great energy + To break the bars that interposing lay, + And through the gates of nature burst his way. + + That vivid force of soul a passage found; + The flaming walls that close the world around + He far o'erleaped; his spirit soared on high + Through the vast whole, the one infinity. + Victor, he brought the tidings from the skies + What things in nature may, or may not, rise; + What stated laws a power finite assign, + And still with bounds impassable confine. + Thus trod beneath our feet the phantom lies; + We mount o'er Superstition to the skies. + --Trans. By ELTON. + +The school of the Stoics was founded by Zeno, a native of Cyprus, +who went to Athens about 299 B.C., and opened a school in the +Poi'ki-le Sto'a, or painted porch, whence the name of his sect +arose. As is well known, the chief tenets of the Stoics were +temperance and self-denial, which Zeno himself practiced by living +on uncooked food, wearing very thin garments in winter, and +refusing the comforts of life generally. To the Stoics pleasure +was irrational, and pain a visitation to be borne with ease. +Both Stoicism and Epicureanism flourished among the Romans. The +teachings of Epictetus, the Roman Stoic philosopher, are summed +up in the formula, "Bear and forbear;" and he is said to have +observed that "Man is but a pilot; observe the star, hold the +rudder, and be not distracted on thy way." Both these schools +of philosophy, however, passed into skepticism. Epicureanism +became a material fatalism and a search for pleasure; while +Stoicism ended in spiritual fatalism. But when the Gospel awakened +the human heart to life, it was the Greek mind which gave mankind +a Christian theology. + + * * * * * + +IV. HISTORY + +XENOPHON. + +The most distinguished Greek historian of this period was Xenophon, +of whom we have already seen something as the leader of the famous +"Retreat of the Ten Thousand," and as the author of a delightful +and instructive account of that achievement. He was born in Athens +about 443 B.C., and at an early age became the pupil of Socrates, +to whose principles he strictly adhered through life, in practice +as well as in theory. Seemingly on account of his philosophical +views he was banished by the Athenians, before his return from +the expedition into Asia; but the Spartans, with whom he fought +against Athens at Coronea, gave him an estate at Scil'lus, in +Elis, and here he lived, engaging in literary pursuits, that +were diversified by domestic enjoyments and active field-sports. +He died either at Scillus or at Corinth--to which latter place +some authorities think he removed in the later years of his +life--in the ninetieth year of his age. + +Among the works of Xenophon is the Anab'asis, considered his +best, descriptive of the advance into Persia and the masterly +retreat; the Hellen'ica, a history of Greece, in seven books, +from the time of Thucydides to the battle of Mantine'a, in 362 +B.C.; the Cyropoedi'a, a political romance, based on the history +of Cyrus the Great; a treatise on the horse, and the duties of +a cavalry commander; a treatise on hunting; a picture of an +Athenian banquet, and of the amusement and conversation with +which it was diversified; and, the most pleasing of all, the +Memorabil'ia, devoted to the defence of the life and principles +of Socrates. Concerning the remarkable miscellany of Xenophon, +MR. MITCHELL says: "The writer who has thrown equal interest +into an account of a retreating army and the description of a +scene of coursing; who has described with the same fidelity a +common groom and a perfect pattern of conjugal faithfulness--such +a man had seen life under aspects which taught him to know that +there were things of infinitely more importance than the turn +of a phrase, the music of a cadence, and the other niceties which +are wanted by a luxurious and opulent metropolis. The virtuous +feelings that were necessary in a mind constituted as his was, +took into their comprehensive bosom the welfare of the world." + +Although the genius of Xenophon was not of the highest order, +his writings have afforded, to all succeeding ages, one of the +best models of purity, simplicity, and harmony of language: By +some of his contemporaries he has been styled "The Attic Muse;" +by others, "The Athenian Bee;" while his manners and personal +appearance have been described by Diog'enes Laer'tius, in his +Lives of the Philosophers, in the following brief but comprehensive +sentence: "Modest in deportment, and beautiful in person to a +remarkable degree." + + +POLYB'IUS. + +Of the prominent Greek historians, Polybius was the last. Born +about 204 B.C., he lived and wrote in the closing period of Grecian +history. Having been carried a prisoner to Rome with the one +thousand prominent citizens of Achaia, his accomplishments secured +for him the friendship of Scip'io Africa'nus Mi'nor, and of his +father, Æmil'ius Pau'lus, at whose house he resided. He spent +his time in collecting materials for his works, and in giving +instruction to Scipio. In the year 150 B.C. he returned to his +native country with the surviving exiles, and actively exerted +himself to induce the Greeks to keep peace with the Romans, but, +as we know, without success. After the Roman conquest the Greeks +seem to have awakened to the wisdom of his advice, for on a statue +erected to his memory was the inscription, "Hellas would have +been saved had the advice of Polybius been followed." Polybius +wrote a history in forty books, embracing the time between the +commencement of the Second Punic War, in 218 B.C., and the +destruction of Carthage and Corinth by the Romans, in 146 B.C. +It is the most trustworthy history we possess of this period, +and has been closely copied by subsequent writers. A correct +estimate of its character and worth will be found in the following +summary: + +"The greater part of the valuable and laborious work of Polybius +has perished. We have only the first five books entire, and +fragments and extracts of the rest. As it is, however, it is +one of the most valuable historical works that has come down +to us. His style, indeed, will not bear a comparison with the +great masters of Greek literature: he is not eloquent, like +Thucydides; nor practical, like Herodotus; nor perspicuous and +elegant, like Xenophon. He lived at a time when the Greek language +had lost much of its purity by an intermixture of foreign elements, +and he did not attempt to imitate the language of the Attic +writers. He wrote as he spoke: he gives us the first rough draft +of his thoughts, and seldom imposes on himself the trouble to +arrange or methodize them; hence, they are often meager and +desultory, and not infrequently deviate entirely from the subject. + +"But in the highest quality of an historian--the love of truth-- +Polybius has no superior. This always predominates in his writings. +He has judgment to trace effects to their causes, a full knowledge +of his subjects, and an impartiality that forbids him to conceal +it to favor any party or cause. In his geographical descriptions +he is not always clear, but his descriptions of battles have +never been surpassed. 'His writings have been admired by the +warrior, copied by the politician, and imitated by the historian. +Brutus had him ever in his hands, Tully transcribed him, and +many of the finest passages of Livy are the property of the Greek +historian.'" + + +ART. + +I. ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE. + +After the close of the Peloponnesian war the perfection and +application of the several orders of Grecian architecture were +displayed in the laying out of cities on a grander scale, and +by an increase of splendor in private residences, rather than +by any marked change in the style of public buildings and temples. +Alexandria in Egypt, and Antioch in Syria, were the finest examples +of Grecian genius in this direction, both in the regularity and +size of their public and private buildings, and in their external +and internal adornment. This period was also distinguished for +its splendid sepulchral and other monuments. Of these, probably +the most exquisite gem of architectural taste is the circular +building at Athens, the Cho-rag'ic Monument, or "Lantern of +Demosthenes," erected in honor of a victory gained by the chorus +of Lysic'rates in 334 B.C. "It is the purest specimen of the +Corinthian order," says a writer on architecture, "that has reached +our time, whose minuteness and unobtrusive beauty have preserved +it almost entire among the ruins of the mightiest piles of Athenian +art." Other celebrated monuments of this period were the one +erected at Halicarnas'sus by the Ca'rian queen Artemi'sia to the +memory of her husband Mauso'lus, adorned with sculptural +decorations by Sco'pas and others, and considered one of the +seven wonders of the world; and the octagonal edifice, the +Horolo'gium of Androni'cus Cyrrhes'tes, at Athens. + +In sculpture, Athens still asserted its pre-eminence, but the +style and character of its later school were materially different +from those of the preceding one of Phid'ias. "Toward the close +of the Peloponnesian war," says a recent writer, "a change took +place in the habits and feelings of the Athenian people, under +the influence of which a new school of statuary was developed. +The people, spoiled by luxury, and craving the pleasures and +excitements which the prosperity of the age of Pericles had opened +to them, regarded the severe forms of the older masters with +even less patience than the austere virtues of the generation +which had driven the Persians out of Greece. The sculptors, giving +a reflex of the times in their productions, instead of the grand +and sublime cultivated the soft, the graceful, and the flowing, +and aimed at an expression of stronger passion and more dramatic +action. Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, the favorite subjects of +the Phidian era, gave place to such deities as Venus, Bacchus, +and Amor; and with the departure of the older gods departed also +the serene and composed majesty which had marked the +representations of them." [Footnote: C. S. Weyman.] + +The first great artist of this school was Scopas, born at Paros, +and who flourished in the first half of the fourth century B.C. +Although famous in architectural sculpture, he excelled in single +figures and groups, "combining strength of expression with grace." +The celebrated group of Ni'o-be and her children slain by Ar'temis +and Apollo, a copy of which is preserved in the museum of Florence, +and the statue of the victorious Venus in the Louvre at Paris, +are attributed to Scopas. The most esteemed of his works, according +to Pliny, was a group representing Achilles conducted to the Island +of Leu'ce by sea deities. The only other artist of this school +that we will refer to is Praxit'eles, a contemporary of Scopas. +He excelled in representing the female figure, his masterpiece +being the Cnid'ian Aphrodi'te, a naked statue, in Parian marble, +modeled from life, representing Venus just leaving the bath. +This statue was afterward taken to Constantinople, where it was +burned during the reign of Justinian. + +This Athenian school of sculpture was followed, in the time of +Alexander the Great, by what was called the Si-çy-o'ni-an school, +of which Euphra'nor, of Corinth, and Lysip'pus, of Si'çy-on, were +the leading representatives. The former was a painter as well +as sculptor. His statues were executed in bronze and marble, and +were admired for their dignity. Lysippus worked only in bronze, +and was the only sculptor that Alexander the Great permitted +to represent him in statues. His works were very numerous, +including the colossal statue of Jupiter at Tarentum, sixty feet +high, several of Hercules, and many others. The succeeding and +later Greek sculptors made no attempt to open a new path of design, +but they steadily maintained the reputation of the art. Many +works of great excellence were produced in Rhodes, Alexandria, +Ephesus, and elsewhere in the East. Among these was the famous +Colossus, a statue of the sun, designed and executed by Cha'res +of Rhodes, that reared its huge form one hundred and five feet +in height at the entrance to Rhodes harbor; the Farnese Bull, +at Naples, found in the Baths of Caracalla at Rome, also the +work of a Rhodian artist; and the Apollo Belvedere, in the Vatican. + +Two works of this late age deserve special mention. One is the +statue of the Dying Gladiator, in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, +supposed to have come from Pergamus. Says LÜBKE, "It undoubtedly +represents a Gaul who, in battle, seeing the foe approach in +overwhelming force, has fallen upon his own sword to escape a +shameful slavery. Overcome by the faintness of approaching death, +he has fallen upon his shield; his right arm with difficulty +prevents his sinking to the ground; his life ebbs rapidly away +with the blood streaming from the deep wound beneath his breast; +his broad head droops heavily forward; the mists of death already +cloud his eyes; his brows are knit with pain; and his lips are +parted in a last sigh. There is, perhaps, no other statue in +which the bitter necessity of death is expressed with such terrible +truth--all the more terrible because the hardy body is so full +of strength." + + Supported on his shortened arm he leans, + Prone agonizing; with incumbent fate + Heavy declines his head, yet dark beneath + The suffering feature sullen vengeance lowers, + Shame, indignation, unaccomplished rage; + And still the cheated eye expects his fall. + --THOMSON. + +The other statue is that masterpiece of art, the group of the +La-oc'o-on, now in the Vatican at Rome, the work of the three +Rhodian sculptors, Agesan'dros, Polydo'rus, and Athenodo'rus. +It represents a scene, in connection with the fall of Troy, that +Virgil describes in the Second Book of the Æneid. A Trojan priest, +named Laocoon, endeavored to propitiate Neptune by sacrifice, +and to dissuade the Trojans from admitting within the walls the +fatal wooden horse, whereupon the goddess Minerva, ever favorable +to the Greeks, punished him by sending two enormous serpents +from the sea to destroy him and his two sons. The poet THOMSON +well describes the agony and despair that the statue portrays: + + Such passion here! + Such agonies! such bitterness of pain + Seem so to tremble through the tortured stone + That the touched heart engrosses all the view. + Almost unmarked the best proportions pass + That ever Greece beheld; and, seen alone, + On the rapt eye the imperious passions seize: + The father's double pangs, both for himself + And sons, convulsed; to Heaven his rueful look, + Imploring aid, and half-accusing, cast; + His fell despair with indignation mixed + As the strong-curling monsters from his side + His full-extended fury cannot tear. + More tender touched, with varied art, his sons + All the soft rage of younger passions show: + In a boy's helpless fate one sinks oppressed, + While, yet unpierced, the frighted other tries + His foot to steal out of the horrid twine. + +An American writer thus apostrophizes this grand representation: + + Laocoon! thou great embodiment + Of human life and human history! + Thou record of the past, thou prophecy + Of the sad future! thou majestic voice, + Pealing along the ages from old time! + Thou wail of agonized humanity! + There lives no thought in marble like to thee! + Thou hast no kindred in the Vatican, + But standest separate among the dreams + Of old mythologies-alone-alone! + --J. G. HOLLAND. + + * * * * * + +II. PAINTING. + +In painting, the Asiatic school of Zeuxis and Parrhasius was +also followed by a "Si-çy-o'ni-an school"--the third and last +phase of Greek painting, founded by Eupom'pus, of Si'çy-on. The +characteristics of this school were great ease, accuracy, and +refinement. Among its chief masters were Pam'philus, Apel'les, +Protog'enes, Ni'cias, and Aristides. Of these the most famous was +Apelles, a native of Col'ophon, in Ionia, who flourished in the +time of Alexander the Great, with whom he was a great favorite. +Of his many fine productions the finest was his painting of +Venus rising from the Sea, and concerning which ANTIPATER, the +poet of Sidon, wrote the following epigram: + + Graceful as from her native sea she springs, + Venus, the labor of Apelles, view: + With pressing hands her humid locks she wrings, + While from her tresses drips the frothy dew: + Ev'n Juno and Minerva now declare, + No longer we contend whose form's most fair. + + +APELLES AND PROTOGENES. + +A very pleasing story is told, by Pliny, of Apelles and his +brother-artist, Protogenes, which DR. ANTHON relates as follows: + +"Apelles, having come to Rhodes, where Protogenes was then +residing, paid a visit to the artist, but, not finding him at +home, obtained permission from a domestic in waiting to enter +his studio. Finding here a piece of canvas ready on the frame +for the artist's pencil, Apelles drew upon it a line (according +to some, a figure in outline) with wonderful precision, and then +retired without disclosing his name. Protogenes, on returning +home, and discovering what had been done, exclaimed that Apelles +alone could have executed such a sketch. However, he drew another +himself--a line more nearly perfect than that of Apelles--and +left directions with his domestic that, when the stranger should +call again, he should be shown what had been done by him. Apelles +came, accordingly, and, perceiving that his line had been excelled +by Protogenes, drew a third one, much better than the other two, +and cutting both. Protogenes now confessed himself vanquished; +he ran to the harbor, sought for Apelles, and the two artists +became the warmest friends. The canvas containing this famous +trial of skill became highly prized, and at a later day was placed +in the palace of the Cæsars at Rome. Here it was burned in a +conflagration that destroyed the palace itself." + +Protogenes was noted for his minute and scrupulous care in the +preparation of his works. He carried this peculiarity to such +excess that Apelles was moved to make the following comparison: +"Protogenes equals or surpasses me in all things but one--the +knowing when to remove his hand from a painting." Protogenes +survived Apelles, and became a very eminent painter. It is stated +that when Demetrius besieged Rhodes, and could have reduced it +by setting fire to a quarter of the city that contained one of +the finest productions of Protogenes, he refused to do so lest +he should destroy the masterpiece of art. It is to this incident +that the poet THOMSON undoubtedly refers when he says, + + E'en such enchantment then thy pencil poured, + That cruel-thoughted War the impatient torch + Dashed to the ground; and, rather than destroy + The patriot picture, let the city 'scape. + +From the time of Alexander the art of painting rapidly +deteriorated, and at the period of the Roman conquest it had +scarcely an existence. Grecian art, like Grecian liberty, had +lost its spirit and vitality, and the spoliation of public +buildings and galleries, to adorn the porticos and temples of +Rome, hastened its extinction. We have now reached the close +of the history of ancient Greece. But Hellas still lives in her +thousand hallowed associations of historic interest, and in the +numerous ruins of ancient art and splendor which cover her soil-- +recalling a glorious Past, upon which we love to dwell as upon +the memory of departed friends or the scenes of a happy childhood-- +"sweet, but mournful to the soul." And although the ashes of her +generals, her poets, her scholars, and her artists are scattered +from their urns, and her statuary and her temples are mutilated +and discolored ruins, ancient Greece lives also in the song, +the art, and the research of modern times. In contemplating the +influence of her genius, the mind is naturally fixed upon the +chief repository of her taste and talent--Athens, "the eye of +Greece"--from which have sprung "all the strength, the wisdom, +the freedom, and the glory of the western world." + + Within the surface of Time's fleeting river + Its wrinkled image lies, as then it lay, + Immovably unquiet, and forever + It trembles, but it cannot pass away! + The voices of thy bards and sages thunder + With an earth-awaking blast + Through the caverns of the past; + Religion veils her eyes; Oppression shrinks aghast; + A wingèd sound of joy, and love, and wonder, + Which soars where Expectation never flew, + Rending the veil of space and time asunder! + One ocean feeds the clouds, and streams, and dew; + One sun illumines heaven; one spirit vast + With life and love makes chaos ever new, + As Athens doth the world with her delight renew. + --SHELLEY. + +Of the splendid literature of Athens LORD MACAULAY says, "It +is a subject in which I love to forget the accuracy of a judge +in the veneration of a worshipper and the gratitude of a child." +To Hellenic thought, as embodied and exemplified in the great +works of Athenian genius, he rightly ascribes the establishment +of an intellectual empire that is imperishable; and from one of +his valuable historical "Essays" we quote the following graphic +delineation of what may be termed + + +The Immortal Influence of Athens. + +"If we consider merely the subtlety of disquisition, the force +of imagination, the perfect energy and elegance of expression, +which characterize the great works of Athenian genius, we must +pronounce them intrinsically most valuable; but what shall we +say when we reflect that from hence have sprung, directly or +indirectly, all the noblest creations of the human intellect? +That from hence were the vast accomplishments and the brilliant +fancy of Cicero, the withering fire of Juvenal, the plastic +imagination of Dante, the humor of Cervantes, the comprehension +of Bacon, the wit of Butler, the supreme and universal excellence +of Shakspeare? All the triumphs of truth and genius over prejudice +and power, in every country and in every age, have been the +triumphs of Athens. Whatever a few great minds have made a stand +against violence and fraud, in the cause of liberty and reason, +there has been her spirit in the midst of them, inspiring, +encouraging, consoling--the lonely lamp of Erasmus; by the restless +bed of Pascal; in the tribune of Mirabeau; in the cell of Galileo, +and on the scaffold of Sidney. But who shall estimate her influence +on private happiness? Who shall say how many thousands have been +made wiser, happier, and better, by those pursuits in which she +has taught mankind to engage? to how many the studies which took +their rise from her have been wealth in poverty, liberty in bondage, +health in sickness, society in solitude? Her power is indeed +manifested at the bar, in the senate, on the field of battle, +in the schools of philosophy. But these are not her glory. Wherever +literature consoles sorrow or assuages pain--wherever it brings +gladness to eyes which fail with wakefulness and tears, and ache +for the dark house and the long sleep--there is exhibited, in +its noblest form, the immortal influence of Athens. + +"The dervis, in the Arabian tale, did not hesitate to abandon to +his comrade the camels with their load of jewels and gold, while +he retained the casket of that mysterious juice which enabled him +to behold at one glance all the hidden riches of the universe. +Surely it is no exaggeration to say that no external advantage +is to be compared with that purification of the intellectual +eye which gives us to contemplate the infinite wealth of the +mental world; all the hoarded treasures of the primeval dynasties, +and all the shapeless ore of its yet unexplored mines. This is +the gift of Athens to man. Her freedom and her power have been +annihilated for more than twenty centuries; her people have +degenerated into timid slaves; [Footnote: But this is not the +character of the Athenians of the present day.] her language +into a barbarous jargon; her temples have been given up to the +successive depredations of Romans, Turks, and Scotchmen; but +her intellectual empire is imperishable. And, when those who +have rivaled her greatness shall have shared her fate; when +civilization and knowledge shall have fixed their abode in distant +continents; when the sceptre shall have passed away from England; +when, perhaps, travelers from distant regions shall in vain labor +to decipher on some mouldering pedestal the name of our proudest +chief--shall hear savage hymns chanted to some misshapen idol +over the ruined dome of our proudest temple, and shall see a +single naked fisherman wash his nets in the river of the ten +thousand masts--the influence and glory of Athens will still +survive, fresh in eternal youth, exempt from mutability and decay, +immortal as the intellectual principle from which they derived +their origin, and over which they exercise their control." + + Genius of Greece! thou livest; though thy domes + Are fallen; here, in this thy loved abode, + Thine Athens, as I breathe the clear pure air + Which thou hast breathed, climb the dark mountain's side + Which thou hast trod, or in the temple's porch + Pause on the sculptured beauties which thine eye + Has often viewed delighted, I confess + Thy nearer influence; I feel thy power + Exalting every wish to virtuous hope; + I hear thy solemn voice amid the crash + Of fanes hurled prostrate by barbarian hands, + Calling me forth to tread with thee the paths + Of wisdom, or to listen to thy harp + Hymning immortal strains. + + Greece! though deserted are thy ports, and all + Thy pomp and thy magnificence are shrunk + Into a narrow circuit; though thy gates + Pour forth no more thy crested sons to war; + Though thy capacious theatres resound + No longer with the replicated shouts + Of multitudes; although Philosophy + Is silent 'mid thy porticos and groves; + Though Commerce heaves no more the pond'rous load, + Or, thund'ring with her thousand cars, imprints + Her footsteps on thy rocks; though near thy fanes + And marble monuments the peasant's hut + Rears its low roof in bitter mockery + Of faded splendor--yet shalt thou survive, + Nor yield till time yields to eternity. + --HAYGARTH. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +GREECE SUBSEQUENT TO THE ROMAN CONQUEST. + +I. GREECE UNDER THE ROMANS. + +The Romans conducted their administration of Greece with much +wisdom and moderation, treating both its religion and municipal +institutions with great respect. As MR. FINLAY says, "Under these +circumstances prudence and local interests would everywhere favor +submission to Rome; national vanity alone would whisper incitements +to venture on a struggle for independence." [Footnote: "History +of Greece from 146 B.C. to A.D. 1864;" by George Finlay, LL.D.] +But the latter induced the Greeks to attempt to regain their +liberties at the time of the first Mithridatic war, about 87 +B.C. Sylla, the Roman general, marched into Greece at the head +of a powerful army, and laid siege to Athens, which made a +desperate defence. At last, their resources exhausted, the +Athenians sent a deputation of orators to negotiate with the old +Roman; and it is stated that "their spokesman began to remind +him of their past glory, and was proceeding to touch upon Marathon, +when the surly soldier fiercely replied, 'I was sent here to +punish rebels, not to study history.' And he did punish them. +Breaking down the wall, his soldiers poured into the city, and +with drawn swords they swept through the streets." The severe +losses sustained by Greece in this rebellion were never repaired. +The same historian adds that both parties--Greeks and Romans-- +"inflicted severe injuries on Greece, plundered the country, +and destroyed property most wantonly. The foundations of national +prosperity were undermined; and it henceforward became impossible +to save from the annual consumption of the inhabitants, the sums +necessary to replace the accumulated capital of ages which this +short war had annihilated. In some cases the wealth of the +communities became insufficient to keep the existing public works +in repair." + +Cilician pirates soon after commenced their depredations, and +ravaged both the main-land and the islands until expelled by +Pompey the Great. The civil wars that overthrew the Roman republic +next added to the desolation of Greece; but on the establishment +of the Roman empire the country entered upon a career of peace +and comparative prosperity. Says a late compiler, [Footnote: Edward +L. Burlingame, Ph.D.] "Augustus and his successors generally +treated Greece with respect, and some of them distinguished her +by splendid imperial favors. Trajan greatly improved her condition +by his wise and liberal administration. Hadrian and the +Antonines venerated her for her past achievements, and showed +their good-will by the care they extended to her works of art, +and their patronage of the schools." It was at this time, also, +that the Christian religion was gaining great victories 'over +the indifference of the people to their ancient rites,' and was +thus essentially changing the moral and intellectual condition +of Greece. Aside from its power to fill the void in the heart +that philosophy, though strengthening the intellect, could not +reach, Christianity bore certain relations to the ancient +principles of government, that commended it to the acceptance +of the Greeks. These relations, and their effects, are thus +explained by DR. FELTON and a writer that he quotes: [Footnote: +"Lecture on "Greece under the Romans."] + +"Besides the peculiar consolations afforded by Christianity to +the afflicted of all ranks and classes, there were popular elements +in its early forms which could not fail to commend it to the +regards of common men. It borrowed the designation ecclesia from +the old popular assembly, and liturgy from the services required +by law of the richer citizens in the popular festivities. It +taught the equality of all men in the sight of God; and this +doctrine could not fail to be affectionately welcomed by a +conquered people. The Christian congregations were organized upon +democratic principles, at least in Greece, and presented a +semblance of the free assemblies of former times; and the daily +business of communities was, equally with their spiritual affairs, +transacted under these popular forms. 'From the moment a people,' +says a recent writer, 'in the state of intellectual civilization +in which the Greeks were, could listen to the preachers, it was +certain they would adopt the religion. They might alter, modify, +or corrupt it, but it was impossible they should reject it. The +existence of an assembly in which the dearest interests of all +human beings were expounded and discussed in the language of +truth, and with the most earnest expressions of persuasion, must +have lent an irresistible charm to the investigation of the new +doctrine among a people possessing the institutions and the +feelings of the Greeks. Sincerity, truth, and a desire to persuade +others, will soon create eloquence where numbers are gathered +together. Christianity revived oratory, and with oratory it +awakened many of the characteristics which had slept for ages. +The discussions of Christianity gave also new vigor to the +commercial and municipal institutions, as they improved the +intellectual qualities of the people.'" + +Among the imperial friends of Greece, whose reign has been +characterized by some writers as "the last fortunate period in +the sad annals of that country," was the Emperor Julian, known +as "The Apostate." He ascended the throne in 361 A.D.; and, +although he sought to overthrow Christianity and re-establish +the pagan religion, "he founded charities, aimed at the suppression +of vice and profligacy, and was distinguished for his devotion +to the happiness of the people." Well educated in early life, +he became an accomplished and cultured sovereign, "and in many +ways manifested his passionate attachment to Greece, her +literature, her institutions, and her arts." + + * * * * * + +II. CHANGES DOWN TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. + +On the establishment of the Eastern empire of the Romans, with +Byzantium for its capital, the Greeks began to exert a greater +influence in the affairs of government, and, outside of the +metropolis itself, the Roman spirit of the administration was +gradually destroyed. In the third and fourth centuries Greece +suffered from invasions by the Goths and Huns, and all apparent +progress was stopped; but during the long reign of Justinian, +from 527 to 565, many of its cities were embellished and fortified, +and the pagan schools of Athens were closed. No farther events +of importance affecting the condition of Greece occurred until +the immigrations of the Slavonians and other barbarous races, +in the sixth and eighth centuries. The population of Greece had +dwindled rapidly, and its revenues were so small that the Eastern +emperors cared little to defend it. Hence these northern migratory +hordes rapidly acquired possession of its soil. Finally this great +body of settlers broke up into a number of tribes and disappeared +as a people, leaving behind them, however, still existing evidences +of their influence upon the country and its inhabitants. + + +THE COURTS OF CRUSADING CHIEFTAINS. + +The next important changes in the affairs of Greece were wrought +by warriors from the West. In 1081 the Norman, Robert Guiscard, +and in 1146 Roger, King of Sicily, conquered portions of the +country, including Corinth, Thebes, and Athens; and in the time +of the fourth Crusade to the Holy Land (1203), when Constantinople +was captured by Latin princes (1204), Greece became a prize for +some of the most powerful crusading chieftains, under whose rule +the courts of Thessaloni'ca, Athens, and the Peloponnesus attained +to considerable celebrity even throughout Europe. "But their +magnificence," says a writer in the Edinburgh Review, "was entirely +modern. It centered wholly round their own persons and interests; +and although the condition of the people was in no respects worse, +in some respects palpably better, still they did but minister +to the glory of the houses of Neri or Acciajuoli, or De la Roche +or Brienne. The beautiful structures of Athens and the Acropolis +were prized, not as heirlooms of departed greatness, but as the +ornaments of a feudal court, and the rewards of successful valor." + +The Duchy of Athens was the most interesting and renowned of +these Frankish kingdoms; and in one of his lectures PRESIDENT +FELTON [Footnote: Lecture on "Turkish Conquest of Constantinople."] +points out the traces which this duchy has left here and there +in modern literature. "The fame of the brilliant court of Athens," +he says, "resounded through the west of Europe, and many a chapter +of old romance is filled with gorgeous pictures of its splendors. +One of the heroines of Boccacio's Decameron, in the course of +her adventurous life, is found at Athens, inspiring the duke +by her charms. Dan'te was a contemporary of Guy II. and Walter +de Brienne; and in his Divina Commedia he applies to Theseus, +King of ancient Athens, the title so familiar to him, borne by +the princely rulers in his own day. Chaucer, too--the bright +herald of English poetry--had often heard of the dukes of Athens; +and he too, like Dante, gives the title to Theseus. Finally, in +the age of Elizabeth, when Italian poetry was much studied by +scholars and courtiers, Shakspeare, in the delightful scenes of +the Midsummer Night's Dream, introduces Theseus, Duke of Athens, +as the conqueror and the lover of Hippol'yta, the warrior-queen +of the Amazons." + + Theseus. Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my sword, + And won thy love, doing thee injuries; + But I will wed thee in another key, + With pomp, with triumph, and with revelling. + --Act I. Scene I. + + +THE TURKISH INVASION. + +Some of these Latin principalities and dukedoms existed until +they were swept away by the Turks, who, after the fall of +Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire in 1453, by degrees +obtained possession of Greece. + + Then, Greece, the tempest rose that burst on thee, + Land of the bard, the warrior, and the sage! + Oh, where were then thy sons, the great, the free, + Whose deeds are guiding stars from age to age? + Though firm thy battlements of crags and snows, + And bright the memory of thy days of pride, + In mountain might though Corinth's fortress rose, + On, unresisted, rolled th' invading tide! + Oh! vain the rock, the rampart, and the tower, + If Freedom guard them not with Mind's unconquered power. + + Where were th' avengers then, whose viewless might + Preserved inviolate their awful fane, + When through the steep defiles to Delphi's height + In martial splendor poured the Persian's train? + Then did those mighty and mysterious Powers, + Armed with the elements, to vengeance wake, + Call the dread storms to darken round their towers, + Hurl down the rocks, and bid the thunders break; + Till far around, with deep and fearful clang, + Sounds of unearthly war through wild Parnassus rang. + + Where was the spirit of the victor-throng, + Whose tombs are glorious by Scamander's tide, + Whose names are bright in everlasting song, + The lords of war, the praised, the deified? + Where he, the hero of a thousand lays, + Who from the dead at Marathon arose + All armed, and, beaming on th' Athenian's gaze, + A battle-meteor, guided to their foes? + Or they whose forms, to Alaric's awe-struck eye, + [Footnote: GIBBON says: "From Thermopylæ to Sparta the leader + of the Goths (Alaric) pursued his victorious march without + encountering any mortal antagonist; but one of the advocates of + expiring paganism has confidently asserted that the walls of + Athens were guarded by the goddess Minerva with her formidable + ægis, and by the angry phantom of Achilles; and that the + conqueror was dismayed by the presence of the hostile deities + of Greece." But Gibbon characteristically adds, "The Christian + faith which Alaric had devotedly embraced taught him to despise + the imaginary deities of Rome and Athens."--Milman's "Gibbon's + Rome," vol. ii., p. 215.] + Hovering o'er Athens, blazed in airy panoply? + + Ye slept, oh heroes! chief ones of the earth-- + High demi-gods of ancient day--ye slept. + There lived no spark of your ascendant worth, + When o'er your land the victor Moslem swept; + No patriot then the sons of freedom led, + In mountain-pass devotedly to die; + The martyr-spirit of resolve was fled, + And the high soul's unconquered buoyancy; + And by your graves, and on your battle-plains, + Warriors, your children knelt, to wear the stranger's chains. + --MRS. HEMANS. + + * * * * * + +III. CONTESTS BETWEEN THE TURKS AND VENETIANS. + +Greece was long the scene of severe contests between the Turks +and the Venetians. Athens was first captured by the Turks in +1456, but they were driven from it in 1467 by the Venetians, who +were in turn expelled from the city by the Turks in 1470. But +Venice, as a French historian--COMTE DE LABOURDE--has observed, +"Alone of the states of Europe could feel, from a merely material +point of view, the force of the blow struck at Europe and her +own commerce by the submission of almost the whole of Greece +to Turkish rule;" and this feeling survived many centuries. In +1670 the Turks conquered Crete from the Venetians, and in 1684 +the latter retaliated by offensive operations against the +Peloponnesus, which was soon reconquered by the Venetian admiral +Morosini. In 1687 Morosini crowned his successes by the capture +of Athens. The Turkish garrison had retired to the Acropolis, +and the victory is principally of interest on account of the +irreparable injury done to the works of art on that "rock-shrine +of Athens." Although he subsequently sought to evade all +responsibility for the desolation that ensued, it was Morosini +who directed his batteries to hurl their fatal burdens against +the Acropolis, and it was he who afterward robbed it of many +of its treasures. Hitherto the alterations made for military +purposes, and the slight injuries inflicted at various times, +had not marred the general beauty and effect of its buildings; +but when the troops of Venice entered Athens, the Parthenon and +others of that gorgeous assemblage of structures were in ruins, +and the glory of the Athenian Acropolis survived only in the +past. Contrasting its past glory and its present decay, a writer +in a recent Review makes these interesting observations: + +"No other fortress has embraced so much beauty and splendor within +its walls, and none has witnessed a series of more startling +and momentous changes in the fortunes of its possessors. Wave +after wave of war and conquest has beaten against it. The city +which lies at its feet has fallen beneath the assaults of the +Persian, the Spartan, the Macedonian, the Roman, the Goth, the +Crusader, and the Turk. Through all these and other vicissitudes +the Acropolis passed, changing only in the character of its +occupants, unchanged in its loveliness and splendor. With a few +blemishes and losses, whether from the decaying taste of later +times or the occasional robberies of a foreign conqueror, but +unaffected in its general aspect, it presented to the eyes of +the victorious Ottoman the same front of unparalleled beauty +which it had displayed in the days of Pericles. To him who looks +upon it now, however, the scene is changed indeed--changed not +only in the loss of its treasures of decorative art (for of many +of these it had been robbed before), but with its loveliest fabrics +shattered, many reduced to hopeless ruin, and not a few utterly +obliterated. Less than two centuries sufficed to bring about +all this dilapidation: less than three months sufficed to complete +the ruin. If the Venetian, by his abortive conquest, inflicted +not more injury on the fair heritage of Athenian art than it had +undergone from all preceding spoliations, he left it, not merely +from the havoc of war, but by wanton subsequent mutilation, +in that state which rendered the recovery of its ancient grace +and majesty impossible." + +The Venetians evacuated Athens in 1688, and a few years +subsequently the Peloponnesus was their only possession in Greece. +In 1715 a Turkish army of one hundred thousand men under Al'i +Coumour'gi, the Grand Vizier of Ach'met III., invaded the +Peloponnesus, and first attacked Corinth. Historians tell us +that the garrison, weakened by several unsuccessful attacks, +opened negotiations for a surrender; but, while these were in +progress, the accidental firing of a magazine in the Turkish +camp so enraged the infidels that they at once broke off the +negotiations, stormed and captured the city, and put most of +the garrison, with Signor Minotti, the commander, to the sword. +Those taken prisoners were reserved for execution under the walls +of Nauplia, within sight of the Venetians. + +In BYRON'S Siege of Corinth, founded on the historical narrative; a +poetical license is taken, and the death of Minotti and the remnant +of his followers is attributed to the explosion of a powder-magazine +fired by Minotti himself. From the fine descriptions which this poem +contains we extract the following verses: + + + The Siege and Fall of Corinth. + + On dim Cithæron's ridge appears + The gleam of twice ten thousand spears; + And downward to the Isthmian plain, + From shore to shore of either main, + The tent is pitched, the crescent shines + Along the Moslem's leaguering lines; + And the dusk Spä'hi's bands advance + Beneath each bearded pä'sha's glance; + And far and wide as eye can reach + The turbaned cohorts throng the beach; + And there the Arab's camel kneels, + And there his steed the Tartar wheels; + The Turcoman has left his herd, + The sabre round his loins to gird; + And there the volleying thunders pour, + Till waves grow smoother to the roar. + The trench is dug, the cannon's breath + Wings the far hissing globe of death; + Fast whirl the fragments from the wall, + Which crumbles with the ponderous ball; + And from that wall the foe replies, + O'er dusty plain and smoky skies, + With fires that answer fast and well. + The summons of the Infidel. + + The walls grew weak; and fast and hot + Against them poured the ceaseless shot, + With unabating fury sent + From battery to battlement; + And thunder-like the pealing din + Rose from each heated culverin; + And here and there some crackling dome + Was fired before the exploding bomb; + And as the fabric sank beneath + The shattering shell's volcanic breath, + In red and wreathing columns flashed + The flame, as loud the ruin crashed, + Or into countless meteors driven, + Its earth-stars melted into heaven-- + Whose clouds that day grew doubly dun, + Impervious to the hidden sun, + With volumed smoke that slowly grew + To one wide sky of sulphurous hue. + +Having made a breach in the walls, as morning dawns the Turks +form in line, and wait for the word to storm the intrenchments. +Coumourgi addresses them--the command is given, and with the +irresistible force of an avalanche the infidels pour into Corinth. + + Tartar, and Spähi, and Turcoman, + Strike your tents and throng to the van; + Mount ye, spur ye, skirr the plain, + That the fugitive may flee in vain + When he breaks from the town; and none escape, + Aged or young, in the Christian shape; + While your fellows on foot, in a fiery mass, + Bloodstain the breach through which they pass. + The steeds are all bridled, and snort to the rein; + Curved is each neck, and flowing each mane; + White is the foam of their champ on the bit: + The spears are uplifted, the matches are lit, + The cannon are pointed, and ready to roar, + And crush the wall they have crumbled before: + The khan and the päshas are all at their post; + The vizier himself at the head of the host. + When the culverin's signal is fired, then on; + Leave not in Corinth a living one-- + A priest at her altars, a chief in her halls, + A hearth in her mansions, a stone on her walls. + God and the prophet-Ala Hu! + Up to the skies with that wild halloo! + "There the breach lies for passage, the ladder to scale; + And your hands on your sabres, and how should ye fail? + He who first downs with the red cross may crave + His heart's dearest wish; let him ask it, and have!" + Thus uttered Coumourgi, the dauntless vizier; + The reply was the brandish of sabre and spear, + And the shout of fierce thousands in joyous ire; + Silence--hark to the signal--fire! + + * * * * * + + As the spring-tides, with heavy plash, + From the cliffs invading, dash + Huge fragments, sapped by the ceaseless flow, + Till white and thundering down they go, + Like the avalanche's snow, + On the Alpine vales below; + Thus at length, outbreathed and worn, + Corinth's sons were downward borne + By the long and oft renewed + Charge of the Moslem multitude. + In firmness they stood, and in masses they fell, + Heaped, by the host of the infidel, + Hand to hand, and foot to foot: + Nothing there, save death, was mute; + Stroke, and thrust, and flash, and cry + For quarter, or for victory, + Mingle there with the volleying thunder, + Which makes the distant cities wonder + How the sounding battle goes, + If with them or for their foes. + + From the point of encountering blades to the hilt + Sabres and swords with blood were gilt; + But the rampart is won, and the spoil begun, + And all but the after-carnage done. + Shriller shrieks now mingling come + From within the plundered dome: + Hark to the haste of flying feet, + That splash in the blood of the slippery street; + But here and there, where 'vantage ground + Against the foe may still be found, + Desperate groups of twelve or ten + Make a pause, and turn again-- + With banded backs against the wall + Fiercely stand, or fighting fall. + +Minotti, though an old man, has an "arm full of might," and he +disputes, foot by foot, the successful and deadly onslaughts +of the Turks. He finally retires, with the remnant of his gallant +band, to the fortified church, where lie the last and richest +spoils sought by the infidels, and in the vaults beneath which, +lined with the dead of ages gone, was also "the Christians' chiefest +magazine." To the latter a train had been laid, and, seizing +a blazing torch, his "last and stern resource," + + Darkly, sternly, and all alone, + Minotti stands o'er the altar-stone, + +and awaits the last attack of his foes. It soon comes. + + So near they came, the nearest stretched + To grasp the spoil he almost reached, + When old Minotti's hand + Touched with the torch the train-- + 'Tis fired! + Spire, vaults, the shrine, the spoil, the slain, + The turbaned victors, the Christian band, + All that of living or dead remain, + Hurled on high with the shivered fane, + In one wild roar expired! + The shattered town, the walls thrown down, + The waves a moment backward bent-- + The hills that shake, although unrent, + As if an earthquake passed-- + The thousand shapeless things all driven + In cloud and flame athwart the heaven, + By that tremendous blast-- + Proclaimed the desperate conflict o'er + On that too long afflicted shore: + Up to the sky like rockets go + All that mingled there below: + Many a tall and goodly man, + Scorched and shrivelled to a span, + When he fell to earth again + Like a cinder strewed the plain: + Down the ashes shower like rain; + Some fell in the gulf, which received the sprinkles + With a thousand circling wrinkles; + Some fell on the shore, but, far away, + Scattered o'er the isthmus lay. + + * * * * * + + All the living things that heard + That deadly earth-shock disappeared; + The wild birds flew; the wild dogs fled, + And howling left the unburied dead; + The camels from their keepers broke, + The distant steer forsook the yoke-- + The nearer steed plunged o'er the plain, + And burst his girth, and tore his rein; + The bull-frog's note, from out the marsh, + Deep-mouthed arose, and doubly harsh + The wolves yelled on the caverned hill, + Where echo rolled in thunder still; + The jackal's troop, in gathered cry, + Bayed from afar complainingly, + With a mixed and mournful sound, + Like crying babe, and beaten hound: + With sudden wing and ruffled breast + The eagle left his rocky nest, + And mounted nearer to the sun, + The clouds beneath him seemed so dun; + Their smoke assailed his startled beak, + And made him higher soar and shriek. + Thus was Corinth lost and won! + + * * * * * + +IV. FINAL CONQUEST OF GREECE BY TURKEY. + +The fall of Corinth opened the way to a successful advance of +the Turkish forces through the Peloponnesus, and the Venetians +were soon compelled to abandon it. By the peace of Passä'rowitz, +in 1718, the whole of Greece was again surrendered to Turkey, +and under her rule the country, divided into military districts +called Pasha'lics, sunk into a deplorable condition which the +progress of time did nothing to ameliorate. The Greeks, being +virtually reduced to bondage, suffered untold miseries from the +rapacity and barbarism of their masters. Says the historian, +SIR EMERSON TENNENT, "So undefined was the system of extortion, +and so uncontrolled the power of those to whose execution it +was intrusted, that the evil spread over the whole system of +administration, and insinuated itself with a polypous fertility +into every relation and ordinance of society, till there were +few actions or occupations of the Greeks that were not burdened +with the scrutiny and interference of their masters, and none that +did not suffer, in a greater or less degree, from their heartless +rapine." For four centuries and over the Greeks suffered under +this despotism, which stamped out industry and education, and +tended to the extinction of every manly trait in the people, while +it also developed the native vices of the Hellenic character. + +In a poem written in 1786 by the afterward celebrated British +statesman, GEORGE CANNING, the writer, after paying a handsome +tribute to the greatness and glory of the Greece of olden time, +draws the following truthful picture of her degeneracy in his +own day: + + + The Slavery of Greece. + + Oh, how changed thy fame, + And all thy glories fading into shame! + What! that thy bold, thy freedom-breathing land + Should crouch beneath a tyrant's stern command! + That servitude should bind in galling chain + Whom Asia's millions once opposed in vain, + Who could have thought? Who sees without a groan + Thy cities mouldering and thy walls o'erthrown; + That where once towered the stately, solemn fane, + Now moss-grown ruins strew the ravaged plain; + And, unobserved but by the traveller's eye, + Proud, vaulted domes in fretted fragments lie; + And the fallen column, on the dusty ground, + Pale ivy throws its sluggish arms around? + + Thy sons (sad change!) in abject bondage sigh; + Unpitied toil, and unlamented die; + Groan at the labors of the galling oar, + Or the dark caverns of the mine explore. + The glittering tyranny of Othman's sons, + The pomp of horror which surrounds their thrones, + Have awed their servile spirits into fear; + Spurned by the foot, they tremble and revere. + The day of labor, night's sad, sleepless hour, + The inflictive scourge of arbitrary power, + The bloody terror of the pointed steel, + The murderous stake, the agonizing wheel, + And (dreadful choice!) the bowstring or the bowl, + Damps their faint vigor and unmans the soul. + Disastrous fate! Still tears will fill the eye, + Still recollection prompt the mournful sigh, + When to the mind recurs thy former fame, + And all the horrors of thy present shame. + +In 1810-'11 the poet BYRON spent considerable time in Greece, +visiting its many scenes of historic interest, and noting the +condition of its people. Here he wrote the second canto of +Childe Harold, in which the following fine apostrophe and appeal +To Greece, still under Moslem rule, are found: + + Fair Greece! sad relic of departed worth! + Immortal, though no more; though fallen, great! + Who now shall lead thy scattered children forth, + And long accustomed bondage uncreate? + Not such thy sons who whilom did await, + The hopeless warriors of a willing doom, + In bleak Thermopylæ's sepulchral strait-- + Oh, who that gallant spirit shall resume, + Leap from Euro'ta's banks, and call thee from the tomb? + + Spirit of Freedom! when on Phy'le's brow + Thou sat'st with Thrasybu'lus and his train, + Couldst thou forebode the dismal hour which now + Dims the green beauties of thine Attic plain? + Not thirty tyrants now enforce the chain, + But every carle can lord it o'er thy land; + Nor rise thy sons, but idly rail in vain, + Trembling beneath the scourge of Turkish hand, + From birth till death enslaved; in word, in deed, unmanned. + + In all, save form alone, how changed! and who + That marks the fire still sparkling in each eye, + Who but would deem their bosoms burned anew + With thy unquenched beam, lost Liberty! + And many dream withal the hour is nigh + That gives them back their father's heritage: + For foreign arms and aid they fondly sigh, + Nor solely dare encounter hostile rage, + Or tear their name defiled from Slavery's mournful page. + + Hereditary bondsmen! know ye not + Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? + By their right arms the conquest must be wrought? + Will Gaul or Muscovite redress thee? No! + True, they may lay your proud despoilers low, + But not for you will Freedom's altars flame. + Shades of the Helots! triumph o'er your foe! + Greece! change thy lords, thy state is still the same; + Thy glorious day is o'er, but not thy years of shame. + + * * * * * + + When riseth Lacedæmon's hardihood, + When Thebes Epaminondas rears again, + When Athens' children are with hearts endued, + When Grecian mothers shall give birth to men, + Then may'st thou be restored; but not till then. + A thousand years scarce serve to form a state; + An hour may lay it in the dust: and when + Can man, in shattered splendor renovate, + Recall its virtues back, and vanquish Time and Fate? + + +FIRST STEPS TO SECURE LIBERTY. + +Although the oppressive domination of the Turks was tamely +submitted to for so many centuries, the Greeks did not entirely +lose their national spirit, nor their devotion to their religion +and their domestic institutions; and long before Byron wrote, +Greece began preparations to break the Turkish yoke. The +preservation of the national spirit was largely due to the warlike +inhabitants of the mountainous regions of the north, who maintained +their independence against the bloody tyranny of the Turks, and +continually harassed their camps and villages. These mountaineers +were known as Klephts; and though they were literally robbers, +ofttimes plundering the Greeks as well as the Turks, yet, on +the decline of the Armato'li--the Christian local militia which +the Turks attempted to crush out--the Klephts acquired political +and social importance as a permanent class in the Greek nation; +and, as DR. FELTON says, "When the Revolution broke out, the +courage, temperance, and hardihood of these bands were among +the most effective agencies in rescuing Greece from the blighting +tyranny of the Turks." This writer characterizes the ballads of +the Klephts as "full of fire, and redolent of the mountain life, +which had an irresistible charm for young and adventurous spirits +chafing under the domination of the Turks in the lowlands;" and +to him we are indebted for a literal version of one of these +ballads, representing the feelings of a young man who had resolved +to leave his mother's home and betake himself to the mountains, +and "illustrating at once the impatient spirit of rebellion against +the Turks, and the sweet flow of natural poetry which was ever +welling up in the hearts of the people." [Footnote: This ballad +is taken from "a collection published by Zampelios, a Greek +gentleman, and a native of Leucadia."] + +"Mother, I can no longer be a slave to the Turks; I cannot--my +heart fights against it. I will take my gun and go and become +a Klepht; to dwell on the mountains, among the lofty ridges; +to have the woods for my companions, and my converse with the +beasts; to have the snow for my covering, the rocks for my bed; +with sons of the Klephts to have my daily habitation. I will go, +mother, and do not weep, but give me thy prayer. And we will pray, +my dear mother, that I may slaughter many a Turk. Plant the rose, +and plant the dark carnation, and give them sugar and musk to +drink; and as long, O mother mine, as the flowers blossom and +put forth, thy son is not dead, but is warring with the Turks. +But if a day of sorrow come, a day of woe, and the plants fade +away, and the flowers fall, then I too shall have been slain, +and thou must clothe thyself in black.' + +"Twelve years passed, and five months, while the roses blossomed +and the buds bloomed; and one spring morning, the first of May, +when the birds were singing and heaven was smiling, at once it +thundered and lightened, and grew dark. The carnation sighed, the +rose wept, both withered away together, and the flowers fell; and +with them the hapless mother became a lifeless heap of earth." + +The last half of the eighteenth century witnessed, in Greece, the +first general desire for liberty. Secret societies were formed +to aid in the emancipation of the country, and "eminent writers, +at home and abroad, appealed to the glorious recollections of +Greece in order to excite a universal enthusiasm for freedom." +Among the latter may be mentioned CONSTANTINOS RHIGAS, a native +of Thessaly, born in 1753, a man of fine accomplishments and +an ardent patriot, whose lyric ballads are said to have "rung +through Greece like a trumpet," and who has been styled "the +Tyrtæ'us of modern Greece." One of his war-songs has been thus +translated: + + Sons of the Greeks, arise! + The glorious hour's gone forth, + And, worthy of such ties, + Display who gave us birth. + + * * * * * + + Then manfully despising + The Turkish tyrant's yoke, + Let your country see you rising, + And all her chains are broke. + Brave shades of chiefs and sages, + Behold the coming strife! + Hellenes of past ages, + Oh start again to life! + At the sound of my trumpet, breaking + Your sleep, oh join with me! + And the seven-hilled city [Footnote: Constantinople] seeking, + Fight, conquer, till we're free. + + Sparta, Sparta, why in slumbers + Lethargic dost thou lie? + Awake, and join thy numbers + With Athens, old ally! + Leonidas recalling, + That chief of ancient song, + Who saved ye once from falling-- + The terrible! the strong! + Who made that bold diversion + In old Thermopylæ, + And warring with the Persian + To keep his country free; + With his three hundred waging + The battle, long he stood, + And, like a lion raging, + Expired in seas of blood. + --Trans. by BYRON. + +Another poet, POLYZOIS, writes in a similar vein: + + Friends and countrymen, shall we + Slaves of Moslems ever be, + Of the old barbaric band, + Tyrants o'er Hellenic land? + Draws the hour of vengeance nigh-- + Vengeance! be our battle-cry. + +It may be stated that Rhigas, having visited Vienna with the +hope of rousing the wealthy Greek residents of that city to +immediate action, was barbarously surrendered to the Turks by +the Austrian government. On the way to execution he broke from +his guards and killed two of them, but was overpowered and +immediately beheaded. + + * * * * * + +v. THE GREEK REVOLUTION. + +The various efforts made by the Greeks in behalf of freedom, +or, as more comprehensively stated by a recent writer, "The +constancy with which they clung to the Christian Church during +four centuries of misery and political annihilation; their +immovable faithfulness to their nationality under intolerable +oppression; the intellectual superiority they never failed to +exhibit over their tyrants; the love of humane letters which +they never, in all their sorrows, lost; and the wise preparation +they made for the struggle by means of schools, and by the +circulation of editions of their own ancient authors, and +translations of the most instructive works in modern literature" +--these were the influences which finally impelled the Greeks to +seek their restoration in armed insurrection, that first broke +out in the spring of 1821, and that ushered in the great Greek +Revolution. On the 7th of March Alexander Ypsilanti, a Greek, +who had been a major-general in the Russian army, proclaimed +from Moldavia the independence of Greece, and assured his +countrymen of the aid of Russia in the approaching contest. But +the Russian emperor declined intervention; and the Porte took +the most vigorous measures against the Greeks, calling upon all +Mussulmen to arm against the rebels for the protection of Islamism. +The wildest fanaticism raged in Constantinople, where thousands +of resident Greeks were remorselessly murdered; and in Moldavia +the bloody struggle was terminated by the annihilation of the +patriot army, and the flight of Ypsilanti to Trieste, where the +Austrian government seized and imprisoned him. + +In southern Greece, however, no cruelties could quench the fire +of liberty; and sixteen days after the proclamation of Ypsilanti +the revolution of the Morea began at Suda, a large village in +the northern part of Acha'ia, and spread over Achaia and the +islands of the Æge'an. The ancient names were revived; and on +the 6th of April the Messenian senate, assembled at Kalamä'ta, +proclaimed that Greece had shaken off the Turkish yoke to preserve +the Christian faith and restore the ancient character of the +country. A formal address was made by that body to the people +of the United States, and was forwarded to this country. It +declared that, "having deliberately resolved to live or die for +freedom, the Greeks were drawn by an irresistible impulse to +the people of the United States." In that early stage of the +struggle, however, the address failed to excite that sympathy +which, as we shall see farther on, the progress of events and +a better understanding of the situation finally awakened. + +During the summer months the Turks committed great depredations +among the Greek towns on the coast of Asia Minor; the inhabitants +of the Island of Candia, who had taken no part in the insurrection, +were disarmed, and their archbishop and other prelates were +murdered. The most barbarous atrocities were also committed at +Rhodes and other islands of the Grecian Archipelago, where the +villages were burned and the country desolated. But in August +the Greeks captured the strong Turkish fortresses of Monembasi'a +and Navarï'no, and in October that of Tripolit'za, and took a +terrible revenge upon their enemies. In Tripolitza alone eight +thousand Turks were put to death. The excesses of the Turks showed +to the Greeks that their struggle was one of life and death; and +it is not surprising, therefore, that they often retaliated when +the power was in their hands. In September of the same year the +Greek general Ulysses defeated a large Turkish army near the +Pass of Thermopylæ; but, on the other hand, the peninsula of +Cassandra, the ancient Pelle'ne, was taken by the Turks, and +over three thousand Greeks were put to the sword. The Athenian +Acropolis was seized and garrisoned by the Turks, and the people +of Athens, as in olden time, fled to Sal'amis for safety; but +in general, throughout all southern Greece, the close of the +year saw the Turks driven from the country districts and shut +up in the principal cities. + + +A PROPHETIC VISION OF THE STRUGGLE. + +When the revolution of the Greeks broke out the English poet +SHELLEY was residing in Italy. It was during the first year of +the war that Shelley, filled with enthusiasm for the Greek cause, +wrote, from the scanty materials that were then accessible, his +beautiful dramatic poem of Hellas; and although he could at that +time narrate but few events of the struggle, yet his prophecies +of the final result came true in their general import. Forming +his poem on the basis of the Persians of Æschylus, the scene +opens with a chorus of Greek captive women, who thus sing of +the course of Freedom, from the earliest ages until the light +of her glory returns to rest upon and renovate their benighted +land: + + In the great morning of the world + The Spirit of God with might unfurled + The flag of Freedom over Chaos, + And all its banded anarchs fled, + Like vultures frightened from Ima'us, + [Footnote: A Scythian mountain-range.] + Before an earthquake's tread, + + So from Time's tempestuous dawn + Freedom's splendor burst and shone: + Thermopylæ and Marathon + Caught, like mountains beacon-lighted, + The springing fire, The winged glory + On Philippi half alighted + [Footnote: The republican Romans, under Brutus and Cassius, + were defeated here by Octavius and Mark Antony, 42 B.C.] + Like an eagle on a promontory. + + Its unwearied wings could fan + The quenchless ashes of Milan. + [Footnote: Milan was the center of the resistance of the + Lombard league against the Austrian tyrant Frederic Barbarossa. + The latter, in 1162, burned the city to the ground; but liberty + lived in its ashes, and it rose, like an exhalation, from its + ruins.] + From age to age, from man to man + It lived; and lit, from land to land, + Florence, Albion, Switzerland. + [Footnote: Florence freed itself from the power of the + Ghibelline nobles, and became a free republic in 1250. + Albion--England: Magna Charta wrested from King John: + the Commonwealth. Switzerland: the great victory of + Mogarten, in 1315, led to the compact of the three cantons, + thus forming the nucleus of the Swiss Confederation.] + + Then night fell; and, as from night, + Re-assuring fiery flight + From the West swift Freedom came, + [Footnote: The American Revolution.] + Against the course of heaven and doom, + A second sun, arrayed in flame, + To burn, to kindle, to illume. + From far Atlantis its young beams + [Footnote: The fabled Atlantis of Plato; here used for America.] + Chased the shadows and the dreams. + + France, with all her sanguine streams, + Hid, but quenched it not; again, + [Footnote: Referring to the French Revolution.] + Through clouds, its shafts of glory rain + From utmost Germany to Spain. + [Footnote: Referring to the revolutions that broke out about + the year 1820.] + As an eagle, fed with morning, + Scorns the embattled tempest's warning, + When she seeks her aerie hanging + In the mountain cedar's hair, + And her brood expect the clanging + Of her wings through the wild air, + Sick with famine; Freedom, so, + To what of Greece remaineth, now + Returns; her hoary ruins glow + Like orient mountains lost in day; + Beneath the safety of her wings + Her renovated nurslings play, + And in the naked lightnings + Of truth they purge their dazzled eyes. + Let Freedom leave, where'er she flies, + A desert, or a paradise; + Let the beautiful and the brave + Share her glory or a grave. + +In the farther prosecution of his narrative, the poet represents +the Turkish Sultan, Mahmoud, as being strongly moved by dreams +of the threatened overthrow of his power; and he accordingly sends +for Ahasuerus, an aged Jew, to interpret them. In the mean time +the chorus of women sings the final triumph of the Cross over +the crescent, and the fleeing away of the dark "powers of earth +and air" before the advancing light of the "Star of Bethlehem:" + + A power from the unknown God, + A Promethean conqueror came; + Like a triumphal path he trod + The thorns of death and shame. + A mortal shape to him + Was like the vapor dim + Which the orient planet animates with light; + Hell, sin, and slavery came, + Like bloodhounds mild and tame, + Nor preyed until their lord had taken flight. + The moon of Ma'homet + Arose, and it shall set; + While, blazoned as on heaven's immortal noon, + The Cross leads generations on. + + Swift as the radiant shapes of sleep, + From one whose dreams are paradise, + Fly, when the fond wretch wakes to weep, + And day peers forth with her black eyes; + So fleet, so faint, so fair, + The powers of earth and air + Fled from the rising Star of Bethlehem. + Apollo, Pan, and Love, + And even Olympian Jove + Grew weak, for killing Truth had glared on them. + Our hills, and seas, and streams, + Dispeopled of their dreams-- + Their waters turned to blood, their dew to tears-- + Wailed for the golden years. + +In the language of Hassan, an attendant of Mahmoud, the poet +then summarizes the events attending the opening of the struggle, +giving a picture of the course of European politics--Egypt sending +her armies and fleets to aid the Sultan against the rebel world; +England, Queen of Ocean, upon her island throne, holding herself +aloof from the contest; Russia, indifferent whether Greece or +Turkey conquers, but watching to stoop upon the victor; and Austria, +while hating freedom, yet fearing the success of freedom's enemies. +The poet could not foresee that change in English politics which +subsequently permitted England, aided by France and Russia, to +interfere in behalf of Greece. Hassan says: + + "The anarchies of Africa unleash + Their tempest-winged cities of the sea, + To speak in thunder to the rebel world. + Like sulphurous clouds, half shattered by the storm, + They sweep the pale Ægean, while the Queen + Of Ocean, bound upon her island throne, + Far in the West, sits mourning that her sons, + Who frown on Freedom, spare a smile for thee: + Russia still hovers, as an eagle might + Within a cloud, near which a kite and crane + Hang tangled in inextricable fight, + To stoop upon the victor; for she fears + The name of Freedom, even as she hates thine; + But recreant Austria loves thee as the grave + Loves pestilence; and her slow dogs of war, + Fleshed with the chase, come up from Italy, + And howl upon their limits; for they see + The panther Freedom fled to her old cover + Amid seas and mountains, and a mightier brood + Crouch around." + +Although Hassan recounts the numbers of the Sultan's armies, +and the strength of his forts and arsenals, yet the desponding +Mahmoud, watching the declining moon, thus symbolizes it as the +wan emblem of his fading power: + + "Look, Hassan, on yon crescent moon, emblazoned + Upon that shattered flag of fiery cloud + Which leads the rear of the departing day, + Wan emblem of an empire fading now! + See how it trembles in the blood-red air, + And, like a mighty lamp whose oil is spent, + Shrinks on the horizon's edge--while, from above, + One star, with insolent and victorious light + Hovers above its fall, and with keen beams, + Like arrows through a fainting antelope, + Strikes its weak form to death." + +As messenger after messenger approaches, and informs the Sultan +of the revolutionary risings in different parts of his empire, +he refuses to hear more, and takes refuge in that fatalistic +philosophy which is an unfailing resource of the followers of +the Prophet in all their reverses: + + "I'll hear no more! too long + We gaze on danger through the mist of fear, + And multiply upon our shattered hopes + The images of ruin. Come what will! + To-morrow and to-morrow are as lamps + Set in our path to light us to the edge, + Through rough and smooth; nor can we suffer aught + Which He inflicts not, in whose hands we are." + +When the Jew, Ahasuerus, at length arrives, he speaks in oracular +terms, and calls up visions which increase the Sultan's fears; +and when the latter hears shouts of transient victory over the +Greeks, he regards it but as the expiring gleam which serves to +make the coming darkness the more terrible. He thus soliloquizes: + + "Weak lightning before darkness! poor faint smile + Of dying Islam! Voice which art the response + Of hollow weakness! Do I wake, and live, + Were there such things? or may the unquiet brain, + Vexed by the wise mad talk of the old Jew, + Have shaped itself these shadows of its fear? + It matters not! for naught we see, or dream, + Possess or lose, or grasp at, can be worth + More than it gives or teaches. Come what may, + The future must become the past, and I + As they were, to whom once the present hour, + This gloomy crag of time to which I cling, + Seemed an Elysian isle of peace and joy + Never to be attained." + +Although the poet predicts series of disasters and periods of +gloom for struggling Greece, yet, at the close of the poem, a +brighter age than any she has known is represented as gleaming +upon her "through the sunset of hope." + +The year 1822 opened with the assembling of the first Greek +congress at Epidau'rus, the proclaiming of a provisional +constitution on the 13th of January, and the issuing, on the +27th, of a declaration that announced the union of all Greece, +with an independent federative government under the presidency +of Alexander Mavrocordä'to. But the Greeks, unaccustomed to +exercise the rights of freemen, were unable at once to establish +a wise and firm government: they often quarreled among themselves; +and those who had exercised an independent authority under the +government of the Turks were with difficulty induced to submit +to the control of the central government. The few men of +intelligence and liberal views among them had a difficult task +to perform; but the wretchedly undisciplined state of the Turkish +armies aided its successful accomplishment. The principal military +events of the year were the terrible massacre of the inhabitants +of the Island of Scio by the Turks in April; the defeat of the +latter in the Morea, where more than twenty thousand of them +were slain; the successes of the Greek fire-ships, by which many +Turkish vessels were destroyed; and the surrender to the Greeks +of Nap'oli di Roma'nia, the ancient Nauplia, the port of Argos. +By the destruction of the Island of Scio a paradise was changed +into a scene of desolation, and more than forty thousand persons +were killed or sold into slavery. Soon after, one hundred and +fifty villages in southern Macedonia experienced the fate of +Scio; and the pasha of Saloni'ca boasted that he had destroyed, +in one day, fifteen hundred women and children. + +Goaded to desperation, rather than disheartened by their reverses +and the remorseless cruelties of the Turks, the Greeks struggled +bravely on, and during the year 1823 the results of the contest +were generally in their favor. They often proved themselves worthy +sons of those who fell + + "In bleak Thermopylæ's strait," + +or on the plains of Marathon. Their patriotic determination to be +free, or die in the attempt, is happily reflected in the following +lines by the poet CAMPBELL, whose heart beat in sympathy with their +efforts for liberty. + + + Song of the Greeks. + + Again to the battle, Achaians! + Our hearts bid the tyrants defiance! + Our land--the first garden of Liberty's tree-- + It hath been, and shall yet be, the land of the free; + For the Cross of our faith is replanted, + The pale, dying crescent is daunted, + And we march that the footprints of Mahomet's slaves + May be washed out in blood from our forefathers' graves. + Their spirits are hovering o'er us, + And the sword shall to glory restore us. + + Ah! what though no succor advances, + Nor Christendom's chivalrous lances + Are stretched in our aid? Be the combat our own! + And we'll perish or conquer more proudly alone! + For we've sworn by our country's assaulters, + By the virgins they've dragged from our altars, + By our massacred patriots, our children in chains, + By our heroes of old, and their blood in our veins, + That, living, we shall be victorious, + Or that, dying, our deaths shall be glorious! + + A breath of submission we breathe not: + The sword that we've drawn we will sheathe not; + Its scabbard is left where our martyrs are laid, + And the vengeance of ages has whetted its blade. + Earth may hide, waves ingulf, fire consume us; + But they shall not to slavery doom us. + If they rule, it shall be o'er our ashes and graves: + But we've smote them already with fire on the waves, + And new triumphs on land are before us-- + To the charge!--Heaven's banner is o'er us. + + This day shall ye blush for its story, + Or brighten your lives with its glory. + Our women--oh say, shall they shriek in despair, + Or embrace us from conquest, with wreaths in their hair? + Accursed may his memory blacken, + If a coward there be who would slacken + Till we've trampled the turban, and shown ourselves worth + Being sprung from, and named for, the godlike of earth. + Strike home! and the world shall revere us + As heroes descended from heroes. + + Old Greece lightens up with emotion! + Her inlands, her isles of the ocean, + Fanes rebuilt, and fair towns, shall with jubilee ring, + And the Nine shall new hallow their Helicon's spring. + Our hearths shall be kindled in gladness, + That were cold and extinguished in sadness; + While our maidens shall dance, with their white waving arms, + Singing joy to the brave that delivered their charms, + When the blood of yon Mussulman cravens + Shall have crimsoned the beaks of our ravens! + + +AMERICAN SYMPATHY WITH GREECE. + +The progress of events in 1822 and 1823 made friends for the +Greeks wherever free principles were cherished; and from England +and America large contributions of money, clothing, and provisions, +were forwarded to relieve the sufferings inflicted by the wanton +cruelties of the Turks. It was the United States, however, as +the first American Minister to Greece, MR. TUCKERMAN, says, that +first responded, "in the words of President Monroe, Webster, +Clay, Everett, Dwight, and hosts of other lights," to the appeal +of the Greek senate at Kalamäta, made in 1821. When Congress +assembled in December, 1823, President Monroe made the revolution +in Greece the subject of a paragraph in his annual message, in +which he expressed the hope of success to the Greeks and disaster +to the Turks; and Mr. Webster subsequently introduced a resolution +in the House of Representatives providing for the appointment +of an agent or commissioner to Greece. These were the first +official expressions favorable to the struggling country uttered +by any government; and in speaking to his resolution in January, +1824, Mr. Webster began his remarks as follows: + +"An occasion which calls the attention to a spot so distinguished, +so connected with interesting recollections, as Greece, may +naturally create something of warmth and enthusiasm. In a grave +political discussion, however, it is necessary that those feelings +should be chastened. I shall endeavor properly to repress them, +although it is impossible that they should be altogether +extinguished. We must, indeed, fly beyond the civilized world; +we must pass the dominion of law and the boundaries of knowledge; +we must, more especially, withdraw ourselves from this place, +and the scenes and objects which here surround us, if we would +separate ourselves entirely from the influence of all those +memorials of herself which ancient Greece has transmitted for +the admiration and the benefit of mankind. This free form of +government, this popular assembly--the common council for the +common good--where have we contemplated its earliest models? +This practice of free debate and public discussion, the contest +of mind with mind, and that popular eloquence which, if it were +now here, on a subject like this, would move the stones of the +Capitol--whose was the language in which all these were first +exhibited? Even the edifice in which we assemble, these +proportioned columns, this ornamented architecture, all remind +us that Greece has existed, and that we, like the rest of mankind, +are greatly her debtors. + +"But I have not introduced this motion in the vain hope of +discharging anything of this accumulated debt of centuries. I +have not acted upon the expectation that we who have inherited +this obligation from our ancestors should now attempt to pay it +to those who may seem to have inherited from their ancestors a +right to receive payment. My object is nearer and more immediate. +I wish to take occasion of the struggle of an interesting and +gallant people in the cause of liberty and Christianity, to draw +the attention of the House to the circumstances which have +accompanied that struggle, and to the principles which appear +to have governed the conduct of the great states of Europe in +regard to it, and to the effects and consequences of these +principles upon the independence of nations, and especially upon +the institutions of free governments. What I have to say of Greece, +therefore, concerns the modern, not the ancient--the living, +and not the dead. It regards her, not as she exists in history, +triumphant over time, and tyranny, and ignorance, but as she +now is, contending against fearful odds for being, and for the +common privileges of human nature." + +In an argument of some length Mr. Webster forcibly condemns the +then existing policy of the European Powers, who, holding that +all changes in legislation and administration "ought to proceed +from kings alone," were therefore "wholly inexorable to the +sufferings of the Greeks, and entirely hostile to their success." +He demands that the protest of this government shall be made +against this policy, both as it is laid down in principle and +as it is applied in practice; and he closes his address with +the following references to the determination of the Greeks and +the sympathy their struggle should receive: + +"Constantinople and the northern provinces have sent forth +thousands of troops; they have been defeated. Tripoli, and Algiers, +and Egypt have contributed their marine contingents; they have +not kept the ocean. Hordes of Tartars have crossed the Bosphorus; +they have died where the Persians died. The powerful monarchies +in the neighborhood have denounced the Greek cause, and admonished +the Greeks to abandon it and submit to their fate. They have +answered that, although two hundred thousand of their countrymen +have offered up their lives, there yet remain lives to offer; +and that it is the determination of all--'yes, of ALL'--to persevere +until they shall have established their liberty, or until the +power of their oppressors shall have relieved them from the burden +of existence. It may now be asked, perhaps, whether the expression +of our own sympathy, and that of the country, may do them good? +I hope it may. It may give them courage and spirit; it may assure +them of public regard, teach them that they are not wholly +forgotten by the civilized world, and inspire them with constancy +in the pursuit of their great end. At any rate, it appears to +me that the measure which I have proposed is due to our own +character, and called for by our own duty. When we have discharged +that duty we may leave the rest to the disposition of Providence. +I am not of those who would, in the hour of utmost peril, withhold +such encouragement as might be properly and lawfully given, and, +when the crisis should be past, overwhelm the rescued sufferer +with kindness and caresses. The Greeks address the civilized +world with a pathos not easy to be resisted. They invoke our +favor by more moving considerations than can well belong to the +condition of any other people. They stretch out their arms to +the Christian communities of the earth, beseeching them, by a +generous recollection of their ancestors, by the consideration +of their desolated and ruined cities and villages, by their wives +and children sold into an accursed slavery, by their blood, which +they seem willing to pour out like water, by the common faith +and in the name which unites all Christians, that they would +extend to them at least some token of compassionate regard." + + +THE SORTIE AT MISSOLONGHI. + +One of the noted exploits of the Greeks in 1823, and one that has +been commemorated in many ways, occurred at Missolon'ghi, the +capital of Acarnania and Ætolia, while that town was besieged by +a Turkish army; and the name of Marco Boz-zar'is, the commander +of the garrison, has ever since been classed with that of Leonidas +and other heroes of ancient Greece who fell in the moment of +victory. In his Crescent and the Cross; or, Romance and Realities +of Eastern Travel, the English author WARBURTON thus tells the +story of the well-known deed that saved Missolonghi to the Greeks +and hastened the delivery of their country: + +"When Missolonghi was beleaguered by the Turkish forces, Marco +Bozzaris commanded a garrison of about twelve hundred men, who +had barely fortifications enough to form breastworks. Intelligence +reached him that an Egyptian army was about to form a junction +with the formidable besieging host. A parade was ordered of the +garrison, 'faint and few, but fearless still.' Bozzaris told +them of the destruction that impended over Missolonghi, proposed +a sortie, and announced that it should consist only of volunteers. +Volunteers! The whole garrison stepped forward as one man, and +demanded the post of honor and of death. 'I will only take the +Thermopylæ number,' said their leader; and he selected the three +hundred from his true and trusty Suliotes. In the dead of night +this devoted band marched out in six divisions, which were placed, +in profound silence, around the Turkish camp. Their orders were +simply, 'When you hear my bugle blow seek me in the pasha's tent.' + +"Marco Bozzaris, disguised as an Albanian bearing dispatches +to the pasha from the Egyptian army, passed unquestioned through +the Turkish camp, and was only arrested by the sentinels around +the pasha's tent, who informed him that he must wait till morning. +Then wildly through the stillness of the night that bugle blew; +faithfully it was echoed from without; and the war-cry of the +avenging Greek broke upon the Moslem's ear. From every side that +terrible storm seemed to break at once; shrieks of agony and +terror swelled the tumult. The Turks fled in all directions, +and the Grecian leader was soon surrounded by his comrades. Struck +to the ground by a musket-ball, he had himself raised on the +shoulders of two Greeks; and, thus supported, he pressed on the +flying enemy. Another bullet pierced his brain in the hour of +his triumph, and he was borne dead from the field of his glory." +But Missolonghi was saved, and under Constantine and Noto Bozzaris, +brothers of the dead hero, it withstood repeated assaults of +the Turks, until, in 1826, after having been besieged for over +a year by a very large naval and military force, it was finally +taken. Those left of the small garrison who were able to fight, +placing the women in the center, sallied forth at midnight of +the 22d of April, and cut their way through the Turkish camp; +while those who were too feeble to attempt an escape assembled +in a large mill that was used as a powder-magazine, and blew +themselves and many of the incoming Turks to atoms. + +Some fifteen years after the death of Marco Bozzaris, the American +traveller and author, Mr. John L. Stephens, visited Greece, and, +at Missolonghi, was presented to Constantine Bozzaris and the +widow and children of his deceased brother. In the account which +the author gives of this interview, in his Incidents of Travel +in Greece, he describes Constantine Bozzaris, then a colonel +in the service of King Otho, as a man of about fifty years of +age, of middle height and spare build, who, immediately after +the formal introduction, expressed his gratitude as a Greek for +the services rendered his country by America; and added, "with +sparkling eye and flushed cheek, that when the Greek revolutionary +flag sailed into the port of Napoli di Romania, among hundreds +of vessels of all nations, an American captain was the first +to recognize and salute it." Mr. Stephens thus describes the +widow of the Greek hero: "She was under forty, tall and stately +in person, and habited in deep black. She looked the widow of +a hero; as one worthy of those Grecian mothers who gave their +hair for bow-strings and their girdles for sword-belts, and, +while their heartstrings were cracking, sent their husbands to +fight and perish for their country. Perhaps it was she who led +Marco Bozzaris from the wild guerilla warfare in which he had +passed his early life, and fired him with the high and holy +ambition of freeing his country. I am certain that no man could +look her in the face without finding his wavering purposes fixed, +and without treading more firmly in the path of high and honorable +ambition." + +Mr. Stephens closes the account of his interview with the widow +and family as follows: "At parting I told them that the name of +Marco Bozzaris was as familiar in America as that of a hero of +our own Revolution, and that it had been hallowed by the +inspiration of an American poet. I added that, if it would not +be unacceptable, on my return to my native country I would send +the tribute referred to, as an evidence of the feeling existing +in America toward the memory of Marco Bozzaris." The promised +tribute was the following Beautiful and stirring poem by +FITZ-GREENE HALLECK: + + + Marco Bozzaris. + + At midnight, in his guarded tent, + The Turk was dreaming of the hour + When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, + Should tremble at his power: + In dreams, through camp and court, he bore + The trophies of a conqueror; + In dreams his song of triumph heard; + Then wore his monarch's signet-ring; + Then pressed that monarch's throne--a king; + As wild his thoughts, and gay of wing, + As Eden's garden-bird. + + At midnight, in the forest shades, + Bozzaris ranged his Suliote band, + True as the steel of their tried blades, + Heroes in heart and hand. + There had the Persian's thousands stood, + There had the glad earth drunk their blood + On old Platæa's day; + And now there breathed that haunted air + The sons of sires who conquered there, + With arm to strike, and soul to dare, + As quick, as far as they. + + An hour passed on--the Turk awoke; + That bright dream was his last; + He woke to hear his sentries shriek + "To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek!" + He woke, to die 'mid flame and smoke, + And shout, and groan, and sabre-stroke, + And death-shots falling thick and fast + As lightnings from the mountain-cloud, + And heard, with voice as trumpet loud, + Bozzaris cheer his band: + "Strike! till the last armed foe expires; + Strike! for your altars and your fires; + Strike! for the green graves of your sires, + God, and your native land!" + + They fought like brave men, long and well; + They piled that ground with Moslem slain; + They conquered; but Bozzaris fell, + Bleeding at every vein. + His few surviving comrades saw + His smile when rang their proud hurrah, + And the red field was won, + Then saw in death his eyelids close, + Calmly as to a night's repose-- + Like flowers at set of sun. + + Come to the bridal chamber, Death! + Come to the mother, when she feels, + For the first time, her first-born's breath; + Come when the blessed seals + That close the pestilence are broke, + And crowded cities wail its stroke; + Come in consumption's ghastly form, + The earthquake shock, the ocean storm; + Come when the heart beats high and warm + With banquet song, and dance, and wine; + And thou art terrible: the tear, + The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier, + And all we know, or dream, or fear + Of agony, are thine. + + But to the hero, when his sword + Has won the battle for the free, + Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word, + And in its hollow tones are heard + Thanks of millions yet to be. + Come, when his task of fame is wrought; + Come, with her laurel-leaf, blood-bought; + Come, in her crowning hour--and then + Thy sunken eye's unearthly light + To him is welcome as the sight + Of sky and stars to prisoned men; + Thy grasp is welcome as the hand + Of brother in a foreign land; + Thy summons welcome as the cry + That told the Indian isles were nigh + To the world-seeking Genoese, + When the land-wind, from woods of palm, + And orange-groves, and fields of balm, + Blew o'er the Haytien seas. + + Bozzaris! with the storied brave + Greece nurtured in her glory's time, + Rest thee--there is no prouder grave, + Even in her own proud clime. + She wore no funeral weeds for thee, + Nor bade the dark hearse wave its plume, + Like torn branch from death's leafless tree, + In sorrow's pomp and pageantry, + The heartless luxury of the tomb; + But she remembers thee as one + Long loved, and for a season gone: + For thee her poet's lyre is wreathed, + Her marble wrought, her music breathed; + For thee she rings the birthday bells; + Of thee her babes' first lisping tells; + For thine her evening prayer is said + At palace couch and cottage bed; + Her soldier, closing with the foe, + Gives for thy sake a deadlier blow; + His plighted maiden, when she fears + For him, the joy of her young years, + Thinks of thy fate and checks her tears. + And she, the mother of thy boys, + Though in her eye and faded cheek + Is read the grief she will not speak, + The memory of her buried joys, + And even she who gave thee birth, + Will, by their pilgrim-circled hearth, + Talk of thy doom without a sigh: + For thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's-- + One of the few, the immortal names + That were not born to die! + +About the time of the exploit of Bozzaris, Lord Byron arrived +in Greece, to take an active part in aid of Greek independence, +and proceeded to Missolonghi in January, 1824. No warmer friend +of the Greeks than Byron ever lived; but while he sympathized +with, and was anxious to aid in every way possible, those who, +in his own words, "suffered all the moral and physical ills that +could afflict humanity," it was evidently his honest belief that +the only salvation for Greece lay in her becoming a British +dependency. In his notes to Childe Harold, penned before the +revolution broke out, but while all Greece was ablaze with the +desire for liberty, he wrote as follows: "The Greeks will never +be independent; they will never be sovereigns, as heretofore, +and God forbid they ever should! but they may be subjects without +being slaves. Our colonies are not independent, but they are +free and industrious, and such may Greece be hereafter." These +words show that he considered Greece incapable of self-government, +should she ever regain her liberty; and he therefore deprecated +a return to her ancient sovereignty. That this was his view, +and that he subsequently designed to give it effect in his own +person, we are assured from the well-founded belief, derived +from his own declarations, that when he joined the Greek cause +he had a mind to place himself at its head, hoping and perhaps +believing that he might become King of Hellas, under the protection +of Great Britain. But whatever his plans may have been, they were +cut short by his death, at Missolonghi, on the 19th of April +following his arrival there. + + +INTERFERENCE OF THE GREAT POWERS. + +In the campaign of 1824, while the Greeks lost Candia and the +strongly fortified rocky isle of Ip'sara, a Turkish fleet was +repulsed off Samos, and a large Egyptian fleet, sent to attack +the Morea, was frustrated in all its designs. The campaign of +1825, however, was opened by the landing, in the Morea, of a +large Egyptian army, under Ibrahim Päsha, son of the Viceroy +of Egypt. Navarï'no soon fell into his power; and at the time +of the fall of Missolonghi, in the following year, be was in +possession of most of southern Greece, and many of the islands +of the Archipelago. The foundation of an Egyptian military and +slave-holding state now seemed to be laid in Europe; and this +danger, combined with the noble defence and sufferings at +Missolonghi and elsewhere, attracted the serious attention of +the European governments and people; numerous philanthropic +societies were formed to aid the Greeks, and finally three of +the great European powers were moved to interfere in their behalf. +On the 6th of July, 1827, a treaty was concluded at London between +England, Russia, and France, stipulating that the Greeks should +govern themselves, but that they should pay tribute to the Porte. + +To enforce this treaty a combined English, French, and Russian +squadron sailed to the Grecian Archipelago; but the Turkish Sultan +haughtily rejected the intervention of the three powers, and +the troops of Ibrahim Pasha continued their devastations in the +Morea. On the 20th of October the allied squadron, under the +command of the English admiral, Edward Codrington, entered the +harbor of Navarino, where the Turkish-Egyptian fleet lay at anchor; +and a sanguinary naval battle followed, in which the allies nearly +destroyed the fleet of the enemy. Although this action was spoken +of by the British government as an "untoward event," Admiral +Codrington was rewarded both by England and Russia; and the poet +CAMPBELL, in the following lines on the battle, naturally praises +him for planning and striking this decisive blow for Grecian liberty: + + + The Battle of Nava'rino. + + Hearts of Oak, that have bravely delivered the brave, + And uplifted old Greece from the brink of the grave! + 'Twas the helpless to help, and the hopeless to save, + That your thunderbolts swept o'er the brine; + And as long as yon sun shall look down on the wave + The light of your glory shall shine. + + For the guerdon ye sought with your bloodshed and toil, + Was it slaves, or dominion, or rapine, or spoil? + No! your lofty emprise was to fetter and foil + The uprooter of Greece's domain, + When he tore the last remnant of food from her soil, + Till her famished sank pale as the slain! + + Yet, Navarï'no's heroes! does Christendom breed + The base hearts that will question the fame of your deed? + Are they men?--let ineffable scorn be their meed, + And oblivion shadow their graves! + Are they women?--to Turkish sérails let them speed, + And be mothers of Mussulmen slaves! + + Abettors of massacre! dare ye deplore + That the death-shriek is silenced on Hellas' shore? + That the mother aghast sees her offspring no more + By the hand of Infanticide grasped? + And that stretched on yon billows distained by their gore + Missolonghi's assassins have gasped? + + Prouder scene never hallowed war's pomp to the mind + Than when Christendom's pennons wooed social the wind, + And the flower of her brave for the combat combined-- + Their watchword, humanity's vow: + Not a sea-boy that fought in that cause but mankind + Owes a garland to bon or his brow! + No grudge, by our side, that to conquer or fall + Came the hardy, rude Russ, and the high-mettled Gaul: + For whose was the genius that planned, at its call, + When the whirlwind of battle should roll? + All were brave! but the star of success over all + Was the light of our Codrington's soul. + + That star of thy day-spring, regenerate Greek! + Dimmed the Saracen's moon, and struck pallid his cheek: + In its fast flushing morning thy Muses shall speak, + When their love and their lutes they reclaim; + And the first of their songs from Parnassus's peak + Shall be "Glory to Codrington's name!" + +The result of the conflict at Navarino so enraged the Turks that +they stopped all communication with the allied powers, and prepared +for war. In the following year (1828) France and England sent +an army to the Morea: Russia declared war for violations of +treaties, and depredations upon her commerce; and on the 7th of +May a Russian army of one hundred and fifteen thousand men, under +Count Witt'genstein, crossed the Pruth, and by the 2d of July +had taken seven fortresses from the Turks. In August a convention +was concluded with Ibrahim Päsha, who agreed to evacuate the +Morea, and set his Greek prisoners at liberty. In the mean time +the Greeks continued the war, drove the Turks from the country +north of the Corinthian Gulf, and fitted out numerous privateers +to prey upon the commerce of their enemy. In January, 1829, the +Sultan received a protocol from the three allied powers, declaring +that they took the Morea and the Cyc'lades under their protection, +and that the entry of any military force into Greece would be +regarded as an attack upon themselves. The danger of open war +with France and England, as well as the successes and alarming +advances of the Russians, now commanded by Marshal Die'bitsch, +who had meantime taken Adrianople, within one hundred and thirty +miles of the Turkish capital, induced the Sultan to listen to +overtures of peace; and on the 14th of September "the peace of +Adrianople" was signed by Turkey and Russia, by which the former +recognized the independence of Greece. + + * * * * * + +VI. GREECE UNDER A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY. + +Though freed from her Turkish oppressors, Greece was severely +agitated by domestic discontents, jealousies, and even manifest +turbulence. Count Cä'po d'Is'tria, a Greek in the service of +Russia, who had been chosen, in 1828, president of the provisional +government, aroused suspicions that he designed to establish a +despotism in his own person, and he was assassinated in 1831. +A period of anarchy followed. The great powers had previously +determined to erect Greece into a monarchy, and had first offered +the crown to Prince Leopold, afterward King of Belgium, who, having +accepted the offer, soon after declined it on account of the +unwillingness of the Greeks to receive him, and their +dissatisfaction with the territorial boundaries prescribed for +them. Finally, the boundaries of the kingdom having been more +satisfactorily determined by a treaty between Turkey and the +powers in 1832, the crown was conferred on Otho, a Bavarian +prince, who arrived at Nauplia, the then capital of Greece, in +1833. Athens became the seat of government in 1835. Says a writer +in the British Quarterly, "The Greeks neither elected their own +sovereign nor chose their national polity. In a spirit of generous +confidence they allowed the three protecting powers to name a +king for them, and the powers rewarded them by making the worst +selection they could. They gave the Greeks a boy of seventeen, +with neither a character to form nor an intellect to develop." + +The treaty by which Otho was placed on the throne made no provision +for a constitution, but one was expected; and, after ten years +of oppressive subjection by the king and his Bavarian minions, +both the people and a revolted soldiery surrounded the palace, +and demanded a constitution. The king acquiesced, a national +assembly was held, and a constitution was framed which received +the king's approval in March, 1844. In this bloodless revolution +we have an instance both of the determination, and peaceable, +orderly, and well-disposed tendencies of the Greek people. An +eye-witness of the scene has thus described it: + +"I well recollect the uprising of 1843. Exasperated by the +miserable rule of Otho, a plot was hatched to wrench a constitution +from him, and when everything was ripe the Athenians arose. At +midnight the hoofs of horses were heard clanging on the pavements, +and the flash of torches gleamed in the streets, as the populace +and military hurried toward the palace; and when the amber-colored +dawn lighted the Acropolis and the plain of Athens, the king +found himself surrounded by his happy subjects, and discovered +two field-pieces pointing into the entrance of the royal residence. +A constitution was demanded in firm but respectful terms--it +being suggested at the same time that, if the request were not +granted by four o'clock in the afternoon, fire would be opened +on the palace. In the mean while all Athens was gathered in the +open space around the palace, chatting, cracking jokes, taking +snuff, and smoking, as if they had assembled to witness a show +or hear the reading of a will. Not a shot was fired; no violence +was offered or received; and precisely as the limiting hour +arrived, the obstinate king succumbed to his besiegers, and the +multitude quietly dispersed to their homes." [Footnote: B. G. W. +Benjamin, in "The Turk and the Greek."] + +The Constitution which the Greeks secured contained no real +guarantee for the legislative rights of the people, and the minor +benefits it gave them were ignored by the government. A continuance +of the severe contests between the national party and foreign +intriguers materially interfered with the prosperity of the +country. Other events, also, now occurred to disturb it. In 1847 +a diplomatic difficulty with Turkey, and, in 1848, a difference +with England, that arose from various claims of English subjects, +and that continued for several years, assumed threatening +proportions, and were only terminated by the submission of Greece +to the demands made upon her. When the Crimean war broke out, +Greece took a decided stand in favor of Russia; but England and +France soon compelled her to assume and maintain a strictly neutral +position. In 1859 the residents of the Ionian Islands, which were +under the protectorate of England, sought annexation to Greece, +and manifested their intentions in great popular demonstrations, +and even insurrections; but Greece, though sympathizing with them, +was too feeble to aid them, and no change was then made in their +relations. + + +THE DEPOSITION OF KING OTHO. + +While these events were transpiring, the feeling of hostility +toward King Otho and the royal family was taking deeper root +with the Greek people, and open demonstrations of violence were +frequently made. The king promised more liberal measures of +government; but these fell short of the popular demand, and the +Greeks resolved to dethrone the dynasty. In October, 1862, after +several violent demonstrations elsewhere, matters culminated in +a successful revolution at Athens. A provisional government was +established by the leaders of the popular party, who decreed +the deposition of the king. Otho, who was absent from Athens +at the time, on a visit to Napoli, finding himself without a +throne did not return to Athens, but issued a proclamation taking +leave of Greece, and sailed for Germany in an English frigate. +He had occupied the throne just thirty years. MR. TUCKERMAN thus +describes him: "An honest-hearted man, but without intellectual +strength, dressed in the Greek fustinella, he endeavored to be +Greek in spirit; but under his braided jacket his heart beat to +foreign measures, and his ear inclined to foreign counsels. But +for the quicker-witted Amelia, the queen, his follies would have +worn out the patience of the people sooner than they did." The +condition of Greece under his government is thus described by +the writer in the British Quarterly, who wrote immediately after +the coup d'état: "To outward appearance, the Greece which the +Philhel'lenists of the days of Canning declared to be re-animated +and restored, has presented, during thirty years of settled +government, the aspect of a country corrupt, intriguing, venal, +and poor. The government has kept faith neither with its subjects +nor with its creditors; it has endeavored, by all means in its +power, to crush the constitutional liberties of its subjects; +and by refusing, throughout this period, to pay a single drachma +of its public debt, it has stamped itself either hopelessly +bankrupt or scandalously fraudulent. The people, meanwhile, +crushed by the incubus of a dishonest and extravagant foreign +rule, remain in nearly the situation they held on the first +establishment of their kingdom. In a word, Greece was thirty +years ago transferred from one despotism to another. The Bavarian +rule was no appreciable mitigation of the Turkish rule. If the +Christian monarch hated his Hellenic subjects less than the +Mussulman monarch, he was still more ignorant of the conditions +of prosperous government." + + +THE ACCESSION OF KING GEORGE. + +If it has ever had an existence, Greek independence may be properly +dated from the deposition of the Bavarian dynasty. In December, +1862, a committee appointed by the provisional government ordered +the election of a new king. The national assembly shortly after +met at Athens, and, having first confirmed the deposition of +Otho, of those proposed as candidates for the vacant throne by +the European powers, Prince Alfred of England was elected by +an immense majority on the first ballot. This choice of a scion +of the freest and most stable of the constitutional monarchies +of Europe, was an expression of the desire and the resolve of +the Greek people to secure as full political and civil liberties +as was possible for them under a monarchical government. But +Prince Alfred was held ineligible in consequence of a clause +in the protocol of the protecting powers, which declared that +the government of Greece should not be confided to a prince chosen +from the reigning families of those states. Thereupon, in March, +1863, Prince George of Denmark, the present king, was unanimously +elected by the assembly, and his election was confirmed by the +great powers in the following July. There is every reason to +suppose that England assumed the honor of choosing Prince George. +On the withdrawal of Prince Alfred she expressed her willingness +to abandon her protectorate of the Ionian Islands, and cede them +to Greece, provided a king were chosen to whom the English +government could not object. The Ionian Islands were ceded to +Greece within two months after the accession of King George; +and Mr. Tuckerman relates that, "when Prince Christian, King +of Denmark, was in London, attending the marriage of his daughter +to the Prince of Wales, Lord John Russell discovered the second +son of Prince Christian in the uniform of a midshipman, and +suggested his name as the successor of Otho." + +King George took the constitutional oath in October, 1863. In +1866 the revolution in Crete, or Candia, broke out, and, owing +to Greek sympathy with the insurrectionists, thousands of whom +found an asylum in Greece, grave complications arose between +Greece and Turkey, which were only settled by a conference of +the great powers in 1869. By the treaty with the Porte in 1832 +the boundary line of Greece had been settled in an arbitrary +manner, by running it from the Gulf of Volo along the chain of +the Othrys Mountains to the Gulf of Arta--by which Greece was +deprived of the high fertile plains of Thessaly and Epirus, the +largest and richest of classical Greece. At the close of the late +Russian-Turkish war, however, the boundary line was changed by +the powers so as to include within the kingdom a large portion +of those ancient possessions; but this change occasioned serious +conflicts between the government and the people of the annexed +districts, and difficulties also arose with Turkey in consequence. +But these were finally settled by an amendment to the treaty, +passed in 1881." + +With the exceptions just noted, no important events have disturbed +the peace of Greece since the accession of King George. In him +the country has a ruler of capacity, who is in great measure his +own adviser, and who comprehends the chief wish of his subjects, +"that Greece shall govern Greece." As MR. TUCKERMAN has said +of him, "Unlike his predecessor, he is a Greek by sympathy of +language and ideas. He feels the popular pulse and tries to +keep time with it, not more as a matter of policy than from +national sympathy; and his hands are comparatively free of the +impediment of those foreign ministerial counselors who, each +struggling for supremacy, united only in checking the political +advancement of the kingdom." It was no fault of the Greek people +that, under King Otho, Greece failed to make the internal +advancement that was expected of her on her escape from Moslem +tyranny. It was the fault of the government; for, when a better +government came, there was a corresponding change in the inner +life of the people; and at the present time, with the freest of +constitutional monarchies, and under the guidance of a ruler so +sympathetic, competent, and popular, redeemed Greece is making +rapid strides in intellectual and material progress. Of this +progress we have the following account by a prominent American +divine, a recent visitor to that country: + + +Progress in Modern Greece. [Footnote: Rev. Joseph Cook, in the +New York Independent, February, 1883.] + +"You lean over the parapet of the Acropolis, on the side toward +the modern city, and look in vain for the print of that Venetian +leprous scandal and that Turkish hoof which for six hundred years +trod Greece into the slime. In the long bondage to the barbarian, +the Hellenic spirit was weakened, but not broken. The Greek, with +his fine texture, loathes the stolid, opaque temperament of +the polygamistic Turk. Intermarriages between the races are very +few. The Greek race is not extinct. In many rural populations +in Greece the modern Hellenic blood is as pure as the ancient. +Only Hellenic blood explains Hellenic countenances, yet easily +found; the Hellenic language, yet wonderfully incorrupt; and +the Hellenic spirit, omnipresent in liberated Greece. Fifty years +ago not a book could be bought at Athens. To-day one in eighteen +of the whole population of Greece is in school. In 1881 thirteen +very tall factory chimney-stacks could be counted in the Piræ'us, +not one of which was there in 1873. It is pathetic to find Greece +at last opening, on the Acropolis and in the heart of Athens, +national museums for the sacred remnants of her own ancient art, +which have been pillaged hitherto for the enrichment of the museums +of all Western Europe. During sixty years of independence the +Hellenic spirit has doubled the population of Greece, increased +her revenues five hundred per cent., extended telegraphic +communication over the kingdom, enlarged the fleet from four +hundred and forty to five thousand vessels, opened eight ports, +founded eleven new cities, restored forty ruined towns, changed +Athens from a hamlet of hovels to a city of seventy thousand +inhabitants, and planted there a royal palace, a legislative +chamber, ten type-foundries, forty printing establishments, twenty +newspapers, an astronomical observatory, and a university with +eighty professors and fifteen hundred students. After little +more than half a century of independence, the Hellenic spirit +devotes a larger percentage of public revenue to purposes of +instruction than France, Italy, England, Germany, or even the +United States. Modern Greece, sixty years ago a slave and a beggar, +to-day, by the confession of the most merciless statisticians, +stands at the head of the list of self-educated nations." + + + + +INDEX. + +[Names in CAPITALS denote authors to whom prominent reference +is made, or from whom selections are taken.] + +Aby'dos. Xerxes and his army at. +Acade'mla, or Ac-a-deme'. A public garden or grove, the resort + of the philosophers at Athens. +Acarna'ni-a, description of; aids Athens. +Achæ'ans, the; origin of. +Achæ'an League, the. +Achæ'us, son of Xuthus, and ancestor of the Achæans. +Acha'ia, description of. Name given to Greece by the Romans. +Achelo'us, the river, described. +Ach'eron, the river; described. +Acheru'sia (she-a), the lake, described. +Achil'les, accompanies expedition to Troy; contends with Agamemnon, + and withdrawn; refuses to enter the contest, puts his armor + on Patroclus, and the armor is lost; description of his new + armor; he enters the fight; encounters Æneas, who escapes; + kills Hector; delivers the body to Priam; death of. +Acri'si-us (she-us), King of Argos. +Acrop'olis, the Athenian; seizure of, by Cylon; by Pisistratus; + by the Persians; famous structures of; its splendors in the + time of Pericles; injury to, inflicted by the Venetians. +Actæ'on, the fable of. +Adme'tus, King of Pheræ. +Æge'an Sea. +Ægi'na, island of; war of, with Athens. +Æ'gos-pot'ami. Defeat of Athenians at. +Æmo'nia, same as Hæmonia, an early name of Thessaly. +Æne'as, a Trojan hero, and subject of Virgil's Æne'id; wounded, + and put to flight by Diomed; fights for the body of Patroclus; + encounters Achilles, and is preserved by Neptune; account of + his escape from Troy. +Æne'id, the. +Æo'lians, the; colonies of. +Æ'olus, progenitor of the Æolians. +ÆS'CHI-NES, the orator; prosecutes Demosthenes; exile of; oratory + of. Extracts from: The Death of Darius; Oration against Ctesiphon. +ÆS'CHYLUS, poet and tragedian. Life and works of. Extracts from: + Punishment of Prometheus; Retributive justice of the gods; The + taking of an oath; The name "Helen"; Beacon fires from Troy to + Argos; Battle of Salamis; Murder of Agamemnon. +Æscula'pius, god of the healing art. Shrine of. +Æ'son, King of Iolcus. +Æt'na, a city in Sicily, founded by Hiero. +Æto'lia. +Agamem'non, King of Mycenæ; commands the expedition against Troy; + contends with Achilles; demands restoration of Helen; return + to Greece and is murdered. +Agamemnon, the. Extracts from. +Aganip'pe, fountain of. +Ag'athon, a tragedian. +Agesan'dros, a Rhodian sculptor. +Agesila'us, King of Sparta. Defeats the Persians at Sardis. +A'gis, King of Sparta. +Agrigen'tum, in Sicily. +A'jax. Goes with the Greeks to Troy; fights for the body of + Patroclus; his death. +AKENSIDE, MARK.--Character of Solon; of Pisistratus, and his + usurpation; Alcræs; Anacreon; Melpomene. +ALAMANNI, LUIGI.--Flight of Xerxes. +ALCÆ'US, a lyric poet.--Life and writings of. Extracts from: + The spoils of war; Sappho. +ALCÆ'US, of Messene.--Epigrams of, on Philip V. +Alcestis, the. +Alcibi'ades. Artifices of; retires to Sparta; intrigues of, against + Athens; is condemned to death, but escapes; is recalled to + Athens; is banished; death of. +Alcin'o-us, King. Gardens of. +"Al'ciphron, or the Minute Philosopher". +ALC'MAN, a lyric poet.--Life and writings of. +Alexander the Great. Quells revolt of the Grecian states; invades + Asia; defeats Darius; further conquests of; feast of, at + Persepolis; invades India; dies at Babylon; career, character, + and burial of; wars that followed his death. +Alexandria, in Egypt. Founded by Alexander. +Alex'is, a comic poet. +ALISON, ARCHIBALD.-Earthquake at Sparta, and Spartan heroism. +Alphe'us, river. Legends of. +A'mor, son of Venus, and god of love. +Amphic'tyon, Amphicty'ones, and Amphictyon'ic Council. +Amphip'olis, in Thrace. +Amphis'sa, town of. +Amy'clæ, town of. +Anab'asis, the. +ANAC'REON, a lyric poet.--Life and writings of. +An'akim, a giant of Palestine. +Anaxag'oras, the philosopher; attacks upon, at Athens; life, + works, and death of. +Anaximan'der, the philosopher. +Anaxim'enes, the philosopher. +Anchi'ses, father of Æne'as. +Androm'a-che, wife of Hector. Lamentation of, over Hector's body. +An'gelo, Michael. +ANONYMOUS.--Tomb of Leonidas; Queen Archidamia. +Antæ'us, son of Neptune and Terra. Encounter with Hercules. +Antal'cidas, the peace of. +Anthe'la, village of. +ANTHON, CHARLES, LL.D.--Apelles and Protogenes. +Antig'o-ne, the. +Antig'onus, one of Alexander's generals; conquests and death of. +Antig'onus II., a king of Macedon.--War of, with Phyrrus; becomes + master of Greece, and death of. +Antil'ochus (in the Iliad). +Anti'ochus, King of Syria. +ANTIP'ATER, of Sidon.--Extracts from: The birthplace of Homer; + Sappho; Desolation of Corinth; The painting of Venus rising + from the sea. +Antip'ater, one of Alexander's generals. Is given command of + Macedon and Greece; suppresses a Spartan revolt; the Athenian + revolt; is given part of Macedonia and Greece; death of. +Antiph'anes, a comic poet. +An'tiphon, orator and rhetorician. +An'tium (an'she-um); a city of Italy. +An'tonines, the. Treatment of Greece by. +An'ytus, the accuser of Socrates. +Apel'les, an Ionian painter; anecdote of. +Aphrodi'te. (See Venus.) +Apollo, the god of archery, etc.; aids the Trojans; character + of; conflict of, with Python. +Apollo Bel've-dere, statue of. +Apollodo'rus, of Athens, a painter. +Apollo'nia, town in Illyria. +Ap'pius Claudius, the Roman consul. +Arach'ne, tower of. +Arbe'la. Battle of. +Arca'dia and Arcadians. Arcadians assist Messenia; assist Thebes + in war with Sparta. +Archidami'a, Queen of Sparta. +Archela'us, King of Macedon. +Archida'mus, King of Sparta. +Archil'ochus, lyric poet. +Archime'des, the Syracusan; Cicero visits the tomb of. +Architecture.--First period. Second period. Third period. +Ar'chons. Institution of, in Athens. +Areop'agus, or Hill of Mars. Court of; changes in power of. +A'res (same as Mars). +Arethu'sa, fountain of. +A're-us, King of Sparta. +Ar'gives, the. +Ar'go, the ship. +Argol'ic Gulf. +Ar'golis. +Argonau'tic expedition, the. +Ar'gos, city of. +Ari'on, the poet. +Aristi'des, the Athenian general and statesman. At Marathon; + rise of, in Athenian affairs; banishment of, and return to + fight at Salamis; leadership and death of. +Aristi'des, a painter. +Aristoc'rates, King of Arcadia. +Aristode'mus, one of the Heraclidæ. +Aristogi'ton. Conspiracy of, against the Pisistratidæ, and death + of; tribute to. +Aristom'enes, a Messenian leader. +ARISTOPH'ANES, the comic poet. Life and works of. Extracts from: + The Wasps; Cleon the Demagogue; The Clouds; The Birds. +Aristot'le, the philosopher. Life and works of. +ARNOLD, EDWIN.--The Academia. +Ar'ta, Gulf of. +Artaba'nus, uncle of Xerxes. +Artapher'nes, Persian governor of Lydia. +Artaxerx'es Longim'anus. +Artaxerxes Mne'mon. +Ar'temis. (See Diana.) +Artemis'ia (she-a), Queen of Carin. +Artemis'ium. Naval conflict at. +Arts. (See Literature.) +As'cra. Birthplace of Hesiod. +A'sius (a'she-us). A marshy place near the river Ca-ys'ter, + in Asia Minor. +Aso'pus, the river, in Boeotia. +Aspa'sia (she-a). Attacks upon. +Asty'anax, Hector's son. Fate of. +A'te, goddess of revenge. +Athe'na. (See Minerva.) +Athenodo'rus, a Rhodian sculptor. +Athens, and the Athenians; founding of the city; early history + of; legislation of Draco and Solon; usurpation of Pisistratus; + birth of democracy at; battle of Marathon; affairs of, under + Aristides and Themistocles; war of, with Ægina, and settlement + of; abandonment of city; successes of, at Artemisium and Salamis; + at Platæa; empire of Athens; Athens rebuilt; affairs of, under + Cimon; at battle of Eurymedon; jealousy of Sparta against; + affairs of, under Pericles; changes in Constitution of; war + of, with Sparta; reverses of, in Egypt, decline of, and thirty + years' truce of, with Sparta; the "Age of Pericles"; war of, + with Sparta; the plague at; violates the Peace of Nicias; + Sicilian expedition of; war of, with Sparta, and revolt of + allies; reverses and humiliation of; fall of Athens; the rule + of the Tyrants; lead of, in intellectual progress; literature + and art of; adornment of; glory of; alliance of, with Sparta; + engages in the Sacred War; leads against Macedon; censured by + Demosthenes; allies of, defeated by Philip; first open rupture + with Macedon; alliance of, with Thebes, and defeat at Chæronea; + revolt of, against Alexander; captured by Antigonus; late + architecture, sculpture, and painting of; immortal influence + of; the Duchy of Athens; captured by Turks and Venetians; + revolution at, against Otho. +A'thos, Mount, in Macedonia. +Atos'sa, mother of Xerxes. +Atri'dæ, the. A term meaning "sons of Atreus," and applied by + Homer to Agamemnon and Menelaus. +Attica. +"Attic Wasp," the. +Augustus, the Roman emperor. +Au'lis, on the Euripus. +Auso'nian, or Au'sones. An ancient race of Italy. +Aver'nus, lake of. + +Babylon. +Bacchus, god of vintage or wine; theatre of. +Bel'i-des, a surname given to daughters of Belus. +Beller'ophon, son of Glaucus. +BENJAMIN, S. G. W.--Revolution against Otho. +Bes'sus, satrap of Bactria. +Bias, one of the Seven Sages. +Birds, the. +BLACKIE, J. STUART.--Value of Greek fables. Fancies of the Greek + mind. Legend of Pandora. Prometheus. Story of Tantalus. The + founding of Athens. Pythagoras. Legends of Marathon. Xerxes + and the battle of Salamis. +Boeo'tla. +Boz-zar'ls, Marco.--Bravery and death of. Constantine Bozzaris, + and Noto Bozzaris. +Bras'idas, the Spartan. +Brazen Age, the. +British Quarterly Review.--The choice of Otho; and Greece under + his rule. +Bria're-us (or Bri'a-reus). +BROUGHAM, LORD.--Demosthenes' Oration on the Crown. The style of + Demosthenes. The doctrine of Plato. +BROWNE, R. W.--Thucydides and Herodotus. Aristotle. +BULWER, EDW. LYTTON.--Merits of a "Tyranny." The battle of Platæa, + and importance of. Xerxes at Sardis. Earthquake, and revolt + of Helots at Sparta. Changes in Athenian Constitution, Oratory + of Pericles. The Drama. Adornment of Athens. +BURLINGAME, EDW. L.--Roman treatment of Greece. +BYRON, LORD.--Dodona. Parnassus. Allusions to Attica. The + Corinthian rock. The Isles of Greece. The dead at Thermopylæ. + Xerxes at Salamis. Deathless renown of Greek heroes. The Athenian + prisoners at Syracuse. The revenge of Orestes. Alexander's + career. Siege and fall of Corinth. Greece under Moslem rule. + Views of Greek independence. +Byzan'tium (she-um). + +Cadmus, founder of Cadme'a. +Cadmea, citadel of Thebes. +Cal'amis, the sculptor. +Calaure'a, island of. +Callic'ra-tes, a Spartan soldier. +Callicrates, an architect. +Callicrat'i-das, a Spartan officer. +Callim'achus, the Pol'emarch. +CALLI'NUS, a lyric poet.--Writings of. +Calli'o-pe, the goddess of epic poetry. +CALLIS'TRATUS.--Tribute to Harmodius. +Calyp'so, the nymph, island of. +Cambunian mountains. +CAMPBELL, THOMAS.--Music of the Spartans. Song of the Greeks. + Battle of Navari'no. +Can'dla, island of (Crete). +Can'næ, in Apulia. Battle at. +CANNING, GEORGE.--The Slavery of Greece. +CANTON, WILLIAM.--Death of Anaxagoras. +Capo d'Istria, Count. +Capys, a Trojan. +Carthaginians, the. +Caspian Gates, the. +Cassan'der, son of Antipater.--Master of Greece and Macedon; + death of. +Cassan'dra, daughter of Priam. +Castalian Fount, the. +Cat'ana, in Sicily. +Cau'casus, Mount. +Ca-ys'ter, the river, in Asia Minor. +Ce'crops. +Cecro'plan hill (Acropolis). +Celts, the. +Cephalo'nia, island of. +Cephis'sus, the river. +Ceraunian mountains. +Ce'res, goddess of grain, etc. +Chærone'a, in Boeotia; battle of. +Chal'cis, in Euboea. +Cha'os. +Cha'res, a Rhodian sculptor. +Cher'siphron, a Cretan architect. Story of. +Chersone'sus. the Thracian. +Chi'lo, one of the Seven Sages. +Chion'i-des, a comic poet. +Chi'os, island of. +Choëph'oroe, the. +Christianity in Greece. +Chro'nos, or Saturn. +Cicero, the Roman orator. Visits tomb of Archime'des. +Cili'cia (she-a). +Ci'mon (meaning Milti'a-des). +Cimon, son of Miltiades, and an Athenian general and statesman; + successes and rise of, at Athens; wins battle of Eurym'edon; + aids Sparta; the fall and banishment of; recall of, expedition + to Cyprus, and death of. +Cithæ'ron, Mount. +Ci'tium (she-um), in Cyprus. +Clazom'enæ, on an island off the Dorian coast. +CLE-AN'THES.--Hymn to Jupiter. +Cle-ar'chus, a Spartan general. +Cleo-bu'lus, one of the Seven Sages. +Cle'on, the Athenian.--Causes the Mityleneans to be put to death; + conduct and character of, and attacks upon, by Aristoph'anes. +Cle'on of Lampsacus. +Cleon'ymus of Sparta. +Clouds, the. +Clis'thenes (eze), last despot of Si'çyon. +Clisthenes, founder of democracy at Athens; reforms of. +Clytemnes'tra, wife of Agamemnon. +Cocy'tus, the river. +Codrington, Admiral. +Co'drus, early King of Athens. +Col'chis. +COLERIDGE, HENRY N.--The poems of Homer. +COLERIDGE, SAMUEL T.--Pythagore'an influences. +COLLINS, MORTIMER.--Fable of Hercules and Antæ'us. +Colonies, the Greek. In Asia Minor; history of, in Magna Groeca, + etc.; in Sicily, Italy, Africa, etc. +Col'ophon, in Ionia. +Comedy. The Old; the New. +COOK, REV. JOSEPH.--Progress in Modern Greece. +Corcy'ra, or Corfu, island of. +Corinna, a Boeotian poetess. +Corinth, and the Corinthians; conquest of; despotisms of; war + of, with Corcyra; aids Syracuse; destruction of; capture of, + by the Turks. +Corinthian Architecture. +Corinthian Gulf, the. +Corone'a, plains of. Athenian defeat at. +Coumour'gi, Äl'i, the Turkish Grand Vizier. Successes of. +Councils, the National. +CRANCH, CHRISTOPHER P.--Temples at Pæstum. +Cran'non, battle of. +Crat'erus, one of Alexander's generals. +Crati'nus, a comic poet. +Creation, the. Account of. +Cre'on. +Cresphon'tes, of the Heraclidæ. +Crete, island of; conquered by the Turks; revolution in. +Cris'sa, town of. +Crissæ'an plain. +Cri'ti-as (cri'she-as), chief of the Thirty Tyrants. +Croe'sus, King of Lydia. +CROLY, GEORGE.--Pericles. Death of Pericles. +Croto'na, in Italy. +Crusaders, the. Courts of, in Greece. +Ctes'iphon, who proposed a crown for Demosthenes. +Cu'mæ, in Italy. +Cumæ'an Sibyl, the. Myth of. +CURTIUS, ERNST.--The Oration of Pericles. Retreat of the Ten + Thousand. Pelopidas and Epaminondas. +Cyc'la-des, the (islands). +Cyc'lic poets, the. +Cy'clops, or Cyclo'pes, the. +Cy'lon, the Athenian. +Cynoceph'alæ, In Thessaly. Battle of. +Cyprian queen (Venus). +Cyprus, Island of. +Cyrena'ica, colony of. +Cy-re'ne, colony of. +Cyropoedi'a, the. +Cyrus the Elder. Conquers Lydia. +Cyrus the Younger. +Cys'icus, Island of. Victory of Alcibiades at. +Cyth'era, island of. +Cytheræ'a, name given to Venus. + +Damon and Pythias. +Dan'a-ë, Lamentation of. +Dan'a-i, the. +Dan'a-us, founder of Argos. +Dar'danus, son of Jupiter and Electra. +Dari'us I. (Hystas'pes), King of Persia; dominion of; he suppresses + the Ionic revolt; invades Greece; death of. +Darius III., King of Persia. Defeated at Issus, and at Arbe'la; + Flight and death of. +De-iph'obus, a Trojan hero. +De'lium, in Boeotia. Battle of. +Del'phi, or Delphos. City, temple, and oracle of. +De'los, island of; Confederacy of States at. +Deme'ter. (See Ceres.) +Deme'trius, son of Antigonus. Seizes the throne of Macedon. +Demos'the-nes, the Athenian general. Captures Pylus; defeat and + death of, at Syracuse. +DEMOS'THE'NES, the orator; pious fraud of; measures against, at + Athens, and attack upon, by Æschines; death of; oratory + of.--Extracts from: The First Philippic. Oration on the Crown. +Deuca'lion, son of Prometheus. Deluge of. +Diana, or Ar'temis, temple to, at Ephesus. +Die'bitsch, Marshal. +Di'o-cles, of Syracuse. +Diodo'rus, the historian. +Diog'enes, the Cretan. +DIOG'ENES LAER'TIUS.--Xenophon. +Di'omed, a Greek hero in the Trojan war; valor of; fate of. +Di'on, of Syracuse. +Dionysian Festivals, the. +Dionysius of Col'ophon, a painter. +Dionysius the Elder, of Syracuse. +Dionysius the Younger, of Syracuse. +Dionysius, the Roman historian. +Diopl'thes, the general. +Dipoe'nus, the sculptor. +Dis, a name given to Pluto. +Dodo'na, city and temple of. +Do'rians, the, migrations and colonies of. +Dor'ic architecture. +Do'ris. +Do'rus, progenitor of the Dorians. +Dra'co, the Athenian legislator. +Drama, the. Before Peloponnesian wars; characterization of; + influence of; the drama after Peloponnesian war. +Dry'ads, or Dry'a-des, the. Wood-nymph. +DRYDEN, JOHN.--Alexander's feast at Persep'olis. + +Edinburgh Review. Courts of Crusaders. +Eges'ta, in Sicily. +E'lea, in Lucania. Eleatic philosophy. +Elec'tra, the. +Eleu'sis, and the Eleusinian Mysteries. +Eleu'therre, in Attica. +E'lis and E'leans. +Elo'ra, temple of. Elora is a town in south-western Hindostan, + noted for its splendid cave-temples, cut from a hill of red + granite, black basalt, and quartz rock. Of these, that called + "Paradise," to which reference is here made, is 100 feet high, + 401 feet deep, and 185 feet in greatest breadth. It is "a + perfect pantheon of the gods of India." +Elysium, the. +Ema'thia, or Macedon. +En'nius. The Fate of Ajax. +Eny'o, a war-goddess. +E'os, The same as Aurora, a term applied to the eastern parts + of the world. +Epaminon'das, the Theban. Character of, and his successes against + Sparta. +Eph'esus. +Ephi-al'tes. +Epichar'mus. +Epicu'rus, Life and works of. +Epidau'rus, in Argolis. +Epime'theus (thuse). +Epi'rus. +Er-ech'the-um, the. +Erech'theus (thuse). +Ere'tria. +Erin'nys. (See Furies.) +Euboe'a, island of. +Euboe'an Sea. +Eu'menes, Alexander's general. +Eumen'i-des, the. +Euphra'nor, a sculptor. +Eu'polis, a comic poet. +Eupom'pus, a Siçyonian painter. +EURIP'IDES. Life and works of. Extracts from: The Greek Armament. + Alcestis preparing for death. +Euri'pus, or Euboean Sea. +Euro'tas. +Eurybi'ades, a Spartan general. +Euryd'i-ce. +Eurym'edon, in Pamphylia. + +Farnese Bull, the. Sculpture of. +Fates, the. +FELTON, C. C., D.D.--Ionian language and culture, Unity of the + Iliad. Works of Hesiod. Christianity in Greece. The Duchy of + Athens. The Klephts. +Festivals, the Grecian. +FINLAY, GEORGE, LL.D.--The Revolt against Rome. +Flamin'ius, Titus, Roman consul. +Frogs, the. +Furies, the. +Future State, the. Greek views of. + +Gan-y-me'de, Jove's cup-bearer. +Gedro'sia (she-a), in Persia. +Ge'la, in Sicily. +Ge'lon, despot of Gela. Becomes despot of Syracuse; dynasty of, + extinguished. +GEM'INUS, TULLIUS.--Themistocles. +George, Prince of Denmark. Is chosen King of Greece; progress + of Greece under. +Giants, the; battle with Jupiter. +GILLIES, JOHN, LL.D.--Memorial to Miltiades. Aristophanes and + Cleon. The works of Phidias. +Gladiator, the Dying. +GLADSTONE, WM. EWART.--The humanity of the gods. +Glau'cus, a Trojan hero. +Glaucus, a sculptor. +Gods, the. Personifications and deifications of; moral + characteristics of; deceptions of. +Golden Age, the. +Gor'gias, the Sophist. +Gorgo'pis, lake, near Corinth. +Goths, the. Overrun Greece. +Government, forms of, and changes in. +Graces, the. +Grani'cus, the river. Battle at. +GRAY, THOMAS.--Pindar. +GROTE, GEORGE.--The Trojan war. The Cumæan Sibyl. Increase of + power among Sicilian Greeks. The Seven Sages. Lesson from the + fate of Miltiades. Transitions of tragedy. Aristophanes. The + Sophists and Socrates. Demosthenes' first Philippic. The + Influence of Phocion. Conquests of Alexander. The Oration on + the Crown. +Guiscard (ges-kar'), Robert. Conquests of. +Gy'ges, the. +Gylip'pus, a Spartan general. +Gyth'e-um (or Gy-the'-nm), port of Sparta. + +Ha'des. +Ha'drian, the Roman emperor. +Hæ'mus, mountain chain of. +Halicarnas'sus, in Caria. +HALLECK, FITZ-GREENE.--Marco Bozzaris. +Hamil'car, a Carthaginian general. +Hannibal, a Carthaginian general. +Harmo'dius, an Athenian. +Harpies, the. Winged monsters with female faces and the bodies, + claws, and wings of birds. +HAYGARTH, WILLIAM.--Acheron and Acherusia. Ancient Corinth. + Sparta's invincibility. Battle of Thermopylæ. Athens in time + of peace. Temple of Theseus. The Academia. Immortality of + Grecian genius. +He'be, goddess of youth. +Hecatæ'us, the historian. +Hec'tor, eldest son of Priam, King of Troy; parting of, with + Androma-che; exploits of; encounters Achilles, is slain, and + his body given up to Priam; lamentation over, by Andromache + and Helen. +HEE'REN (ha'ren).--Authority of Homer. Freedom in colonies. + Character of a "tyranny". +He-ge'sias (she-as), the sculptor. +Helen of Troy. Abduction of; the name of; laments Hectors death; + supposed career of, after the Trojan war. +Hel'icon, Mount, in Boeotia. +Hel'las, or Greece; survival. +Hellas, the. +Helle'nes, and Hellen'ic (Hellen). Spirit of, in modern Greece. +Hellen'ica, the. +Hellen'ics, the. +Hel'lespont, the. +He'lots, the. The revolt of. +HEMANS, FELICIA.--Mount Olympus, 2. Vale of Tempe, 3. City and + temple of Delphi, T. Mycenæ. Spartan march to battle. Legend + of Marathon. The Parthenon. The Turkish invasion. +Hephæs'tus, or Vulcan, M. +He'ra. (See Juno.) +Her-a-cli'dæ, the return of the. +Heracli'tus, the philosopher. +Hercules, frees Prometheus; twelve labors, &c., of; fable of; + encounter of, with Antæ'ns; sails with Argonautic expedition; + legends of, at Marathon; statue of. +Hermes. (See Mercury.) +Hermi'o-ne. +HEROD'OTUS, the historian. Life and writings of; compared with + Thucydides.--Extracts from: Xerxes at Abydos. Introduction to + history. +Heroic Age, the. Some events of; arts and civilization in. +Heros'tratus. +Hertha, goddess of the earth. +HE'SI-OD. Life and works of.--Extracts from: Battle of the Giants. + Origin of Evil, etc. The justice of the gods. Winter. +Hi'ero I. Despot of Gela; becomes despot of Syracuse. +Hiero II. Despot of Syracuse. +Him'era, in Sicily. +Hippar'chus. +Hip'pias, son and successor of Pisistratus. Is driven from Athens; + leads the Persians against Greece. +Hippocre'ne (or crene' in poetry), fountain of. +Hippopla'çia (also Hypopla'kia). Same as The'be, in Mysia, and + so called because supposed to lie at the foot of or under Mount + Plakos. +History. To close of Peloponnesian wars; subsequent period of. +HOLLAND. J. G.-The La-oc'o-on. +HOMER. Life and works of.--Extracts from: The gardens of Alcin'o-us, + Prayer to the gods. The taking of an oath. The Future State. + The descent of Orpheus. The Elysium. Punishment of Ate. Ulysses + and Thersites. Parting of Hector and Andromache. Death of + Patroclus. The shield of Achilles. Death of Hector. Priam begging + for Hector's body. Lamentation of Andromache; of Helen. Artifice + of Ulysses. The Raft of Ulysses. Similes of Homer. Jupiter + grants the request of Thetis. +HORACE.--Description of Pindar. Greece the conqueror of Rome. +Horolo'gium, the, at Athens. +HOUGHTON, LORD.--The Cyclopean walls. +HUME, DAVID.--The style of Demosthenes. +Huns, the. Overrun Greece. +Hy'las, legend of. +Hymet'tus, Mount. +Hype'ria's Spring, in Thessaly. + +Ib'rahim Pä'sha (or pa-shä'). +Ica'ria, island of. +Ictinus, the architect. +I'da, Mount. +Idalian queen (same as Venus). +Il'iad. +Il'i-um, or Troy. Grecian expedition against; the fate of; fall + of, announced to the Greeks; discoveries on site of. +Illyr'ia. +Im'bros, island of. +In'achus, son of Oceanus. +In'arus, a Libyan prince. +Iol'cus, in Thessaly. +I'on, son of Xuthus. +ION, of Chios. The power or Sparta. +Io'nla, and Ionians; language and culture of. Colonies of. +Ionian Sea. +Ion'ic Architecture. +Ionic Revolt, the. +I'os, island of. +Ip'sara, isle of. +I'ra, fortress of, in Messenia. +I'ris, the rainbow goddess. +Isag'oras, the Athenian. +Isles of Greece, the. +Isoc'ra-tes, an Athenian orator. +Is'sus, in Cilicia. Battle of. +Isthmian Games, the. +Italy, Greek colonies in. +Ithaca, island of. +Itho'me, fortress of. +Ixi'on. The punishment of. + +Jason. +Jove. (See Jupiter.) +Julian, the Roman emperor. +Juno, or Hera, temple of, at Samos; temple of, near Platæa. +Jupiter, Jove, or Zeus. Court of; temple of, and games sacred + to; hymn to; divides dominion of the universe; statue of, at + Tarentum. +Justin, the Latin historian. +JUVENAL.--Stories about Xerxes. Flight of Xerxes from Salamis. + Alexander's tomb. + +Kalamä'ta. +KENDRICK, A. C., LL.D.--Plato and his writings. +Klephts, the. +Knights, the. +Kot'tos. + +Laç-e-dæ'mon, or Sparta. +Laco'nia. +Lævi'nus, M. Valerius. +Lam'achus, an Athenian general. +Lamp'sacus, on the Hellespont. +LANDOR, WALTER SAVAGE.--Reconciliation of Helen and Menelaus. +LANG, A.--Venus visits Helen of Troy. Reconciliation of Helen + and Menelaus. +La-oc'o-on, a priest of Apollo. Statuary group of the Laocoon. +Lap'ithæ, a people of Thessaly. +LAWRENCE, EUGENE.--The murder of Agamemnon. Herodotus. Menander. + Aristotle. +Lebade'a, temple and oracle of. +LEGARÉ (le-gre'), HUGH S.--Character of a Greek democracy. The + eloquence of Æschines. The eloquence of Demosthenes. +Lem'nian (relating to Vulcan). +Lem'nos, island of. +Leon'idas, a Spartan king. Bravery and death of, at Thermopylæ; + the tomb of. +Leotych'i-des. +Lepan'to. +Lernæ'an Lake. +Les'bos, island of. +Le'the. +Leu'cas, or Leucadia. +Leu'ce, in the Euxine Sea. +Leuc'tra, in Boeotia. Battle of. +LIDDELL, HENRY G., D.D.--Legends of the Greeks. Literature and + the Arts. In the Ionian colonies; the poems of Homer. 1. Progress + of, before the Persian wars; poems of Hesiod; lyric poetry; + philosophy; early architecture; early sculpture. 2. Progress + of, from the Persian to close of Peloponnesian wars; lyric + poetry; the Drama-tragedy; old comedy; early history; philosophy; + sculpture and painting; architecture. 3. Progress of, after + Peloponnesian wars; the drama; oratory; philosophy; history; + architecture and sculpture; painting. +Livy, the Roman historian. +Lo'cris, and Locrians. +LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL.--A Pythagorean fantasy. +LÜB'KE, WILHELM.--Art at Athene. Phidias and his work. The Dying + Gladiator. +LU'CAN.--The Delphic oracle. Alexander's career and character. +LUCRE'TIUS (she-us).--The plague at Athens. Epicurus. +Lyce'um, the, at Athens. +Lycur'gus, the Spartan law-giver; legislation of. +Lyric Poetry. Before the Persian wars; from Persian to close + of Peloponnesian wars. +Lysan'der, a Spartan general. Acts of. +Ly'si-as (she-as), an Athenian orator. +Lysic'rates, monument to. +Lysim'achus, Alexander's general. +Lysip'pus, of Sicyon. Works of. + +Maca'ria, plain of. +MACAULAY, LORD.--Herodotus. Literature of Athens, and her immortal + influence. +Maç'edon, or Maçedo'nia. Invasion of, by the Persians; by Xerxes; + Athenian colonies in; supremacy of; sketch of; interference + of, in affairs of Greece; war of, with Greece; with Persia; + revolt of Sparta against; invasion of, by Celts, and war with + Pyrrhus; conquest of, by Rome. +Macis'tus, Mount, in Euboea, near Eretria. +Mæ-o'tis, same as Sea of Azof. +MAHAFFY, J. P.--The society of Olympus. Political life of the + Greeks. Domestic life in the Heroic Age. Hesiod's description + of the Styx. Archilochus. Stesich'orus. Barbarities in the + Peloponnesian wars. Simonides. Æschylus. The "Alcestis" of + Euripides. Thucydides. The Sophists. Socrates. Late Greek + tragedy. Aristotle. +Magne'sia (she-a). +Mah'moud, the Sultan. +Mantine'a, in Arcadia. +Mar'athon, the plains of; battle of, and legends connected with. +Mardo'nius, Persian general. First invasion of Greece; his second + Invasion and defeat at Marathon; defeated at Platæa, and is + slain. +Mars. +Mavrocordä'to, Alexander. +Mede'a. +Medea, the. +Meg'ara. +Me'llan nymphs. They watched over gardens and flocks of sheep. +Me'los, island of. +Melpom'e-ne, inventress of tragedy. +Memno'nian Palace. So called because said to have been founded by + the father of Memnon. +Memorabil'ia, the. +MENAN'DER, the comic poet. Life and works of. Fragment from. +Men-e-la'us. +Men'tor, a friend of Ulysses. +Mercury, or Her'mes. +Messa'na, in Sicily. +Messa'pion, Mount, in Boeotia. +Messe'nia, and Messe'nians, wars of, with Sparta. +Messenian Gulf. +Messenian wars, the. +Metamorphoses, the. +Mi'con, a painter. +Mile'tus, in Ionia. +Milti'a-des, the Athenian general, etc. Commands at Marathon; + disgrace and death of; lesson of. +MILTON, JOHN.--Cocytus and Acheron. Heroic times foretold. Xerxes + crosses the Hellespont. Reference to Alcestis. Socrates. Oratory. +Mi'mas, a mountain-range of Ionia. +Minerva, temple of; statue of, at Athens. +Mi'nos, Cretan law-giver. +Minot'ti. Story of. +Missolon'ghi. The sortie at. +MITCHELL, THOMAS.--The Old Comedy. Style of Plato. Xenophon. +MITFORD, WILLIAM.--Æschylus's account of Salamis. Character of + Pericles. +Mityle'ne. +Mnemos'y-ne, mother of the Nine Muses. +Mnes'icles, a sculptor. +Mnes'theus.--A great-grandson of Erechtheus, who deprived Theseus + of the throne of Athens, and led the Athenians in the Trojan war. +Molda'via. +Monembasï'a. On the south-east coast of Laconia. +More'a. +Morosi'ni, a Venetian admiral. +Mum'mius, a Roman consul. +MURE, WILLIAM.--The "Works and Days" of Hesiod. Alcman. +Muses, the Nine. +Mye'a-le. Defeat of Persians at. +Myce'næ. +My'ron, a painter. +Myr'tis, a poetess. +Mys'la (she-a). +Mythology, Grecian. + +Na-i'a-des, or Nai'ads, the. +Nap'oli di Roma'nia. +Naupac'tus. +Nau'pli-a. +Navarï'no; battle of. +Nax'os, in Sicily. +Ne-ap'olis, in Italy. +Ne'mea, city of. +Ne'mean games. +Ne'mean lion. +Nem'esis, a female avenging deity. +Neptune or Posei'don; temple of. +Ner-e'i-des, or Ner'e-ids. +Nestor, a Greek hero and sage. +Niçi-as (she-as), the Peace of. +Niçi-as, the Athenian general. +Niçi-as, a painter. +Ni'o-be, and her children. + +Oaths, of the gods, etc. +O-ce-an'i-des, the.--Ocean-nymphs and sisters of the rivers; + supposed personifications of the various qualities and appearances + of water. +O-ce'anus, god of the ocean. +O-de'um, the. +Qdy'ssey, the. +OEd'ipus Tyran'nus, the. +OE'ta, Mount. +Olym'pia, in E'lis; statue of Jupiter at. +Olym'piad. +Olym'pian Jove. Temple of; statue of. +Olym'pus, Mount; society of. +Olyn'thus, in Macedonia. +Oratory. +O're-ads, the. +Ores'tes, son of Agamemnon. +Or'pheus (pheus), the musician. +Orthag'oras of Sicyon. +Ortyg'ia, in Sicily. +Os'sa, Mount. +Otho, King of Greece; revolution against and deposition of. +O'thrys Mountains. +OV'ID.--Apollo. The Creation. Deluge of Deucalion. The Descent + of Orpheus. Apollo's Conflict with Python. + +Pæs'tum. Ruins of temples at. +Pagasæ, Gulf of. +Painting. +Palame'des, a Greek hero. +Pal'las (same as Minerva). +Pami'sus, the river. +Pam'philus, a painter. +Pan; legend of.--The god of shepherds, in form both man and beast, + having a horned head and the thighs, legs, and feet of a goat. +Pan'darus, a Trojan hero. +Pando'ra, legend of. +Paradise Lost, the. +Par'çæ, or Fates. +Paris, of Troy. Abducts Helen; combat of, with Menelaus; kills + Achilles. +Parmen'ides. +Parnas'sus, Mount. +Par'nes, mountains of. +Par'non, mountains of. +Pa'ros an island of the Cyclades group. +Parrha'sius (she-us). Anecdotes of. +Par'thenon, the; glories of; destruction of. +Passä'rowitz, in Servia. The peace of. Concluded between Austria + And Venice on the one side, and Turkey on the other. +Pa'træ. +Patro'cius, a Greek hero. +Pausa'nias, a Spartan general. At Platæa; treason, punishment, + and death of. +Pax'os, island of. +Pegasus, the winged horse. +Pelas'gians, the. +Pe'leus. +Pe'li-as. +Pe'li-on, Mount. +Pelle'ne, or Cassandra, in Achaia. +Pelop'idas, the Theban. +Peloponne'sus, the. +Peloponnesian wars, the; the first war; the second war. +Pe'lops. +Penel'o-pe, wife of Odysseus. +Pene'us, the river. +Pentel'icus, or Mende'li, Mount. +Pen'theus, King of Thebes. +Perdic'cas, Alexander's general. +Perian'der, despot of Corinth; one of the Seven Sages. +Per'icles, the Athenian general, etc. Accedes to power in place + of Cimon; constitutional changes made by, at Athens; measures + of, for war with Sparta; defeat of, at Tanagra; recalls Cimon; + progress under his rule; attacks upon, at Athens; declares war + against Sparta; oration of; death and character of. +Persep'olis. Alexander's feast at. +Per'seus (or se'us). +Per'seus, King of Macedon. +Persians, the. +Persian wars, the. Account of. +Phoe'do, the. +Phale'rum, bay of. +Phe'ræ, in Thessaly. +Phid'ias, the sculptor; the work and masterpieces of. +PHILE'MON, the comic poet. Life and works or. +Philip of Macedon; interference of, in Grecian affairs; invades + Thessaly; attacks of Demosthenes against; captures Olynthus; + reveals his designs against Greece, and defeats Athens + and Thebes at Chæronea; is invested with supreme command, and + declares war against Persia; death of. +Philip V. of Macedon; defeat of, at Apollonia and Cynocephalæ. +Philippics, the. +Phil'ocles, bravery of. +Philopoe'men. +Philosophy. Before the Persian wars; to close of Peloponnesian + wars; subsequent to Peloponnesian wars. +Phleg'ethon, or Pyr-iphleg'ethon. +Pho'cion (she-on), Athenian statesman. Opposes the policy of + Demosthenes. +Pho'cis and Phocians, sacrilege of, and war with. +Phoe'bus, the sun-god (Apollo). +Phoe'nix, warrior and sage. +PHRYN'ICHUS. Tribute to Sophocles. +Phy'le. A fortress in a pass of Mount Parnes, north-west from + Athens. This was the point seized by Thrasybulus in the revolt + against the Thirty Tyrants. +Pi-e'ri-an fount. +Pi-er'i-des, name given to the Muses. +Pi'e-rus, or Pl-e'ri-a, Mount. +Pi'e-rus, King of Emathia. +PIN'DAR. Life and writings of. Extracts from: The Greek Elysium; + Christening of the Argo; Spartan music and poetry; Tribute to + Theron; Athenians at Artemisium; Threnos; Founding of Ætna; + Hiero's victory at Cumæ; Admonitions to Hiero. +Pin'dus, mountains of. +Piræ'us, the. +Pi'sa and Pisa'tans. +Pisis'tratus and the Pisistrat'idæ; usurpation of Pisistratus; + death and character of; family of, driven from Athens. +Pit'tacus, one of the Seven Sages. +Plague, the, at Athens. +Platæ'a and the Platæ'ans; battle of Platæa; results of; attack + on, by Thebans. +PLATO, the philosopher. Life and works of. +PLATO, the comic poet.--Tomb of Themistocles; Aristophanes. +PLINY.--Story of Parrhasius and Zeuxis. +PLUMPTRE, E. H., D.D.--Personal temperament of Æschylus. +PLUTARCH.--Songs of the Spartans; Solon's efforts to recover + Salamis; Incident of Aristides's banishment; Artemisium; + Lysander and Phil'ocles. +Pluto. +Pnyx, the. +Polyb'ius. Life and works of. +Pol'ybus, King of Corinth. +Polycle'tus, a sculptor. +Polyc'ra-tes, despot of Samoa. +Polydec'tes, a Spartan king. +Polydec'tes, King of Seri'phus. +Polydo'rus, a Rhodian sculptor. +Polygno'tus, of Thasos. +POLYZO'IS.--war song. +POPE, ALEXANDER.--The Pierian Spring; Tribute to Homer; Description + of Pindar; Aristotle. +Posei'don, (See Neptune.) +Potidæ'a, revolt of. +Praxit'eles, an Athenian sculptor. +Priam, King of Troy. +Prie'ne, in Carla. +PRIOR, MATTHEW.--Description of Pindar. +Prod'icus, the Sophist. +Prome'theus. Legend of; Hesiod's tale of. +Prome'theus Bound, the. +Propon'tic Sea. +Propylæ'a, at Athens. +Pros'erpine, daughter of Ceres. +Protag'oras, the Sophist. +Pro'teus (or te-us), a sea-deity. +Protog'enes, a Rhodian painter. +Ptol'emy Cerau'nus, of Macedon. +Ptol'emy Philadelphus, King of Egypt. +Ptol'emy So'ter, Alexander's general. +Pyd'na, in Macedonia. Battle of. +Py'lus, in Messenia. +Pyr'rha, wife of Deucalion. +Pyr'rhus, a son of Achilles. +Pyr'rhus, King of Epirus; war of, with Macedon; with Sparta; + death of. +Pythag'oras, the philosopher; doctrines of, etc.. +Pythag'oras, a painter. +Pyth'ia, priestess of Apollo. +Pythian games. +Py'thon; Apollo's conflict with. +Py'thon, an orator of Macedon. + +Quintil'ian, the historian. + +Rhadaman'thus, son of Jupiter and Europa. +Rhapsodists, the. +Rhe'a, daughter of Coelus and Terra (Heaven and Earth). +Rhe'gium, in Magna Groecia. +RHI'GAS, CONSTANTINE. War song. +Rhodes, island of; sculptures of. +Rhoe'cus, a sculptor. +Roger, King of Sicily. +Rome and the Romans; called into Sicily, and become masters of + the island; defeat of, at Cannæ, and victory of, at Cynocephalæ; + become masters of Greece and Macedon; their administration + of Greece. +RUSKIN, JOHN.--The "Clouds" of Aristophanes. + +Sacred War, the. +Sages, the Seven. +Sal'amis, island of; naval battle at. +Saler'no, bay of, in Italy. +Saloni'ca, once Thessaloni'ca. +Sa'mos, island of. +SAP'PHO (saf'fo), a poetess. Lire, writing, and characterization of. +Sar'dis, in Asia Minor. +Saron'ic Gulf (Thermaic). +Sarpe'don, a Trojan hero. +Sat'urn. (See Chro'nos.) +Sa'tyrs, the. +Scæ'an Gates, the, of Troy. +Scaman'der, river in Asia Minor. +Scaptes'y-le, in Thrace. +SCHILLER.--The building of Thebes; the poet's lament; wailing + of the Trojan women; Damon and Pythias--The Hostage; a visit + to Archimedes. +SCHLEGEL, A. W., von.--Character of the Agamemnon. +Sçil'lus, In E'lis. +Sçl'o, island of.--Massacre at. +Sco'pas, the sculptor. +Sculpture.--Before the Persian wars; from Persian to close of + Peloponnesian wars; subsequent to Peloponnesian wars. +Sçyl'lis, a sculptor. +Sçy'ros, Island of. +Seleu'cus, Alexander's general; the Seleucidæ. +Seli'nus.--Ruins of temples at. +Seneca, Roman philosopher. +Seri'phus, island of. +Seven Chiefs against Thebes, the. +SEWELL, WILLIAM.--Anecdote of Chrys'ostom. +SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE.--The sufferings of Prometheus; an image of + Athens; a prophetic vision of the Greek Revolution. +Shield of Hercules, the. +Sicilian Expedition, the. +Sicily, Island of.--Colonies in; invasion of, by Carthaginians; + by the Athenians; affairs in the colonies under Hiero, Dionysius, + etc.; the Roman conquer. +Si'çy-on and Siçy-o'nians (sish'i-on); sculpture of; painting of. +Slle'nus, a demi-god. The nurse, preceptor, and attendant of + Bacchus, to whom Socrates was wont to compare himself. +SIM'MIAS.--Tribute to Sophocles. +Sim'o-is, a river of Troas. +Simon'ides of Amorgos. +SIMON'IDES OF CEOS.--Life and writings of. Extracts from: Epitaphs + on the fallen at Thermopylæ; battle of Eurym'edon; Lamentation + of Dan'ae. +Slavonians, the.--Influences of. +SMITH, WILLIAM, LL.D.--Socrates. Aristotle. +SOCRATES; attack upon, by Aristophanes. Life and works of. Extracts + from: His Defence. Views of a Future State. +Solon, the Athenian law-giver.--Life and legislation of; capture + of Salamis by; his integrity; protests against acts of + Pisistratus; voluntary exile and death of; classed as one of + the Seven Sages. Extracts from: Ridicule to which his integrity + exposed him. Estimate of his own character and services. +Sophists, the. +SOPH'OCLES. Life and works of. Extracts from: The taking of an + oath. Chariot-race of Orestes. The OEdipus Tyrannus. +SOUTHEY, ROBERT.--The battle of Platoon. +Sparta and the Spartans; Sparta is assigned to sons of Aristodemus; + early history of; education and patriotism of; their poetry + and music; conquests by; colonize Tarentum; reject the demands + of Darius, but refuse to help Athens at Marathon; efforts of, + to unite states against Persia; in battle of Thermopylæ; + monuments and epitaphs to; in battle of Salamis; or Platæa; + on coasts of Asia Minor; loses command in war against Persia; + earthquake at Sparta, and revolt of the Helots; accepts aid + from Athens; alliance of, with Athens, renounced, and war begun; + defeats Athens at Tanagra, and is defeated; truce of, with + Athens; begins Peloponnesian war; concludes the peace of Nicias; + war of, with Argives, and victory at Mantinea; aids Syracuse + against Athens; successes of, against Athens; occupies Athens, + and withdraws from Attica; supremacy of Sparta; her defeat + and humiliation by Thebes; engages in the Sacred War; revolt + of, against Macedon; war with Pyrrhus; with Antigonus. +Spor'a-des, the (islands). +Sta-gi'ra, in Macedonia. +Stati'ra, daughter of Darius, +STEPHENS, JOHN L--A visit to Missolonghi. +Stesich'orus, the poet. +STORY, WILLIAM W.--Chersiphron, and the Temple of Diana. +Stroph'a-des, the (islands). +Stry'mon, the river. +Styx. A celebrated torrent in Arcadia--now called "Black water" + from the dark color of the rocks over which it flows--from + which the fabulous river of the same name probably originated. +Su'da, in Achaia. +Su'sa, capital of Persia. +Susa'rion, a comic poet. +Syb'aris, in Italy; destroyed by Crotona. +Sylla, a Roman general. +SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON.--The "Theogony" of Hesiod; Archilochus; + the ladies of Lesbos; Sappho and her poems; the era of Athenian + greatness; Pindar; Euripides; Menander. +Syracuse, in Sicily.--Founded by Corinthians; progress of, under + Gilon, and war with Carthage; destroys the Athenian expedition; + affairs of, under Hiero and succeeding rulers. +Syrts, two gulfs in Africa. + +TALFOURD, THOMAS NOON.- Unity of the Iliad; Sophocles; the glory + of Athens. +Tan'agora, in Boeotia, battle of. +Tan'talus, the story of. +Taren'turn, in Italy. +Tar'tarus, the place of punishment. +Ta-yg'etus, mountain-range of. +TAYLOR, BAYARD.--Legend of Hylas. +Te'gea, in Arcadia. +Teg'y-ra, battle at. +Tem'enus, of the Heraclidæ. +Tem'pe, Vale of. +Ten'edos, island of. +TENNENT, EMERSON.--Turkish oppression in Greece. +Ten Thousand Greeks, retreat of. +Te'os, in Ionia. +TERPAN'DER, the poet; Spartan valor and music. +Te'thys, wife of Ocean. +Tha'is, an Athenian beauty. +Tha'les, one of the Seven Sages; philosophy of. +Theag'enes, despot of Megara. +The'be, a city of Mysia. +Thebes, city of; Thebans at Thermopylæ; attack of Thebans on + Platæa; sympathy of, with Athens; seizure of, by the Spartans; + rise and fall of Thebes; defeat of, at Charonea. +The'mis, goddess of justice, or law. +Themis'to-cles, Athenian general and statesman; at Marathon; + rise of, in Athenian affairs; character and acts of; at + Artemisium, and at Salamis; banishment, disgrace, and death + of; monuments and tributes to. +THEOC'RITUS.--Ptolemy Philadelphus. +Theodo'rus, the sculptor. +THEOG'NIS, poet of Megara.--The Revolutions in Megara. +Theog'ony, the. +The'ra, island of. +Therma'ic Gulf (Saronic). +Thermop'ylæ, pass of; battle at. +The'ron, ruler of Agrigentum. +Thersi'tes; a Greek warrior. +The'seus (or se-us), first king of Athens; temple to, at Athens; + legends of; temple of. +Thes'piæ and the Thespians. +Thes'pis. +Thes'salus, son of Pisistratus. +Thes'saly and the Thessa'lians. +The'tis, a sea-deity; "Thetis' son" (Achilles). +THIRLWALL, CONNOP, D.D.--The Trojan war. Want of political union + among the Greeks. Character of an ochlocracy. Effects of the + fall of oligarchy. Writings of Theognis. The rule of Pisistratus. + Reforms of Clisthenes. The "Theogony" of Hesiod. Progress of + Sculpture. Themistocles. Pericles. Pindar. The Greeks in the + Sacred War. Last struggles of Greece. +THOMSON, JAMES.--The Apollo-Belvedere. Sparta. Tribute to Solon. + Teachings or Pythagoras. Architecture. Aristides. Cimon. Socrates. + Architecture. Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Pelopidas and + Epaminondas. The Dying Gladiator. The La-oc'o-on. The painting + by Protog'enes at Rhodes. +Thrace. +Thrasybu'lus, an Athenian patriot. +Thrasybulus, despot of Syracuse. +THUCYD'IDES, the historian. Life and Works of. Extracts from: + Speech of Pericles for war; Funeral Oration of Pericles; Athenian + defeat at Syracuse. +Thu'rii, in Italy. +Tigra'nes. +Timo'leon, a Corinthian.--Rebuilds Syracuse, and restores her + prosperity. +Timo'theus. +Tire'sias (shi-as), priest and prophet. (See OEdipus Tyrannus.) +Tir'yns, in Argolis. +Tissapher'nes, Persian satrap. +Ti'tans, the. +Tit'y-us, punishment of. +Tragedy.--At Athens; decline of. +Tra'jan, the Roman emperor. +Tripolit'za, modern capital of Arcadia. +Tri'ton. A sea-deity, half fish in form, the son and trumpeter + of Neptune. He blew through a shell to rouse or to allay the sea. +Trojan War, the.--Account of; consequences of. +Troy. (See Ilium.) +TUCKERMAN.--American sympathy with Greece. Character of Otho. + Of King George. +Turks, the; invade Greece; contests of, with the Venetians; + Siege and capture of Corinth by; final conquest of Greece; + Greek revolution against; compelled to evacuate Greece. +Tydl'des, a patronymic of Diomed. +TYLER, PROF. W. S.--The divine mission of Socrates. +TYMNÆ'US.--Spartan patriotic virtue. +Tyn'darus, King of Sparta. +Tyrant, or despot.--Definition of. +Tyrants, the Thirty. The Ten Tyrants. +Tyre, city of. +TYRÆ'US.--Spartan war-song. + +Ulys'ses, subject of the Odyssey; goes to Troy; rebukes Thersites; + advises construction of the wooden horse; wanderings of; + character of; raft of, described. +Ulys'ses, a Greek general. +U'ranus, or Heaven. + +Venetians, the; contests of, with the Turks; capture the + Peloponnesus and Athens; evacuate Athens; abandon Greece. +Ve'nus, or Aphrodi'te, goddess of love; appears to Helen; statue + of; painting of, rising from the sea. +Vesta. +VIRGIL.--Landing of Æneas. The taking of an oath. The fate of Troy. + The Cumæan Cave. The Eleusinian Mysteries. +Vo'lo, gulf of. +Vulcan, god of fire. + +WARBURTON, ELIOT B. G.--The sortie at Missolonghi. +Wasps, the. +WEBSTER, DANIEL.--Appeal of, for sympathy with the Greeks. +WEYMAN, C. S.--Changes in statuary. +WILLIS, N. P.--Parrhasius and his captive. +WINTHROP, ROBERT C.--Visit of Cicero to tomb of Archimedes. +WOOLNER, THOMAS.--Venus risen from the sea. +WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM.--Fancies of the Greek mind. The joy of the + Greeks at the Isthmian games. +Works and Days, the. + +Xan'thus, or the river Scamander. +Xenoph'anes, the philosopher. +Xen'ophon, the historian.--Leads the retreat of the Ten Thousand. + Life and works of. +Xerxes, King of Persia; prepares to invade Greece, and reviews + his troops at Abydos; stories of; bridges and crosses the + Hellespont; defeats the Spartans at Thermopylæ: is defeated at + Salamis: his flight; death of. +Xu'thus, son of Helen. + +YOUNG, EDWARD.--The persuasive Nestor. +Ypsilan'ti, Alexander.--The first to proclaim the liberty of Greece. + +Zacyn'thus, Island of. +Ze'no, a philosopher of Elea. +Ze'no, the Stoic philosopher, of Citium.--Life and works of. +Zeux'is, the painter.--Anecdote of. + +THE END. + + +[Illustration: (Map of) Ancient Greece with the Coast of Asia Minor.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mosaics of Grecian History +by Marcius Willson and Robert Pierpont Willson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOSAICS OF GRECIAN HISTORY *** + +This file should be named 8mgrh10.txt or 8mgrh10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8mgrh11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8mgrh10a.txt + +Produced by Robert J, Hall + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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