T- nVERHTY of CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES LIBRARY 1 HELLENIC HISTORY m ^ ^^^ - O ■ THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LtDo TORONTO HELLENIC HISTORY BY GEORGE WILLIS BOTSFORD Author of "The Development of the Athenian Constitution,'" "A History of Greece,'' "A History of Rome," "A History of the Ancient World," ■'The Roman Assemblies, '' etc. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1926 All rights reserved S3117 Copyright, 1922, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published March, 1922. Reprinted August, 1922; February, June, 1923; January, 1924; January, November 192S ; November, 1926. c c • • « t c e . «c ... . .,•• V c c < c c • • • • • 4 e • • • • o •• « •• • ,• •• • • • •,, PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE BERWICK & SMITH CO. IB b'^ INTRODUCTORY NOTE The purpose of this volume is to present in brief scope the evolu- tion of Greek civilization — a culture simple in its essential unity, although seemingly complex in its many and wide ramifications. In the conviction that the chief aim of history is to explain the pres- ent, the author has centered his attention on those phases of Greek life which have influenced to a marked degree the civilization of to- day. In the case of the Greeks, perhaps more than of any other people in the world's history, the state was the highest embodi- ment of social and cultural life. In the free air of the city-state the liberty loving, Greek found not alone his inspiration but untram- meled opportunity for expression and development. In the Athen- ian democracy of Pericles, the city-state reached its logical consum- mation; for the first time the citizen could give free rein to his individualism. The successful struggle with the placid yet insi- dious civilization of the Orient gave s'elf-confidence, purpose, and solidarity to Greek life. To embryonic genius the wealth and broadening influence of empire furnished boundless opportunity and inspiration. In coping with the burdens of imperialism, however, this very spirit of individualism proved a serious weakness. Po- litical control passed, though not without long and bitter struggle, first to militaristic Sparta, and then in turn to more efficient mas- ters — Thebes, Macedon, Rome. It is tragedy in its highest form that the Greeks reached a solution of their political problems too late for rescue from foreign domination. And yet it redounds to the glory of Greece, that in spite of political and economic vicis- situdes, the artist and the philosopher continued to create products of even greater refinement and broader humanism. The narrative has been based, therefore, on the story of political evolution. However, the reader will, note many striking omis- sions, particularly in regard to petty squabbles among politicians and states, and the idealization of military leaders. In accor- INTRODUCTORY NOTE dance with the broadening scope of history, due emphasis has been placed on economic factors, which then as now were signposts to political or military policy. Wherever possible, economic and poli- tical events have been combined in a continuous narrative. In other instances the reader is guided by cross reference to separ- ate treatments of important agricultural, industrial, and commercial changes. In the sections devoted to social life there is painted an intimate picture of the everyday life of the leisure class, and of the toiler in town and country, at work and at play. Cultural achievement — wherein we moderns see the chief just- ification for our study of Greek histor}' — has been treated not only as to growth and development, but as an integral part of the Greek life and character. In sliort this book represents an ef- fort to combine political, economic, social, and cultural history in one synthesis, centering attention on those factors which h?ye contri- buted essentially to modern civilization. The Hellenic History is intended to serve primarily as a text- book for college courses in Greek history, and as a guide to the reader who is interested in one or more phases of Greek achieve- ment. For more detailed treatment the reader is referred to the list of books at the end of each chapter. Full bibliographies have been provided for the first seven chapters; for later chapters the lists of additional readings are selective. Those readers who de- sire a parallel study of the sources, or a more extensive biblio- graphy, are advised to consult the companion volume, Hellenic Civilization.^ In the preparation of the manuscript of the Hellenic History for publication, the editor has sought to maintain the author's high standard of scholarship and accuracy. In so far as he has been successful in this endeavor, he is obligated largely to the as- sistance of many friends. In particular, he gratefully acknowl- edges his debt of gratitude to two former students of the author. Professor Wallace E. Caldwell of the University of North Carolina, for his preparation of the bibliographies, and for his assistance in the arduous task of proof-reading, and to Miss Margaret D. Ban- croft, Instructor of History in Wellesley College, for her pains- 1 Botsford, G. W., and Sihler, E. G., Hellenic Civilization. New York, Columbia University Press, 1915. INTRODUCTORY NOTE laking work in the selection and preparation of illustrative ma- terial for this volume; and to his mother, whose constant encour- agement, advice, and practical assistance have made possible the publication of Dr. Botsford's last work. For the use of a con- siderable part of the illustrative material, the editor is indebted to the authorities of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, to Mrs. Elder Marcus of Engle- wood, N. J., and Mrs. A. C. McGiffert of New York city, to Profes- sors Alice Walton and Katherine M. Edwards of Wellesley College, and to Professor A. V. Williams Jackson of Columbia University. The editor desires, furthermore, to express his thanks to Mr. Edward A. Bryant of Yonkers, N. Y. for his compilation of the Index, to Mr. Frederick W. Erb, Miss Adele M. Erb, and Miss Isadore G. Mudge, of the Columbia University Library, for their friendly spirit of cooperation, and finally to his colleague. Professor Francis G. Al- linson of Brown University, for many friendly suggestions and criticisms. Jay Barrett Botsford. Brown University, Providence, R. I. February 10, 1922. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Country and People 1 II. The Minoan Age 8 III. The Middle Age: Transition from. Minoan to Hellenic Lite 31 IV. Economic Growth and Colonial Expansion . 52 V. Evolution of the City-State, Amphictyonies, AND Leagues 69 VI. Crete, Laced^mon, and the Peloponnesian League 81 VII. Athens : From Monarchy to Democracy . . 102 VIII. Intellectual Awakening: (I) Social and Literary Progress 124 IX. Intellectual Awakening: (II) Religious, Moral, and Scientific Progress . . . .136 X. Conquest of the Asiatic Greeks by the Lydians AND THE Persians ......... 158 XI. The War with Persia and Carthage .... 169 XII. The Age of the War Heroes: (I) Political AND Economic 190 XIII. The Age OF the War Heroes : (II) Society and Culture 213 XIV. The Age of Pericles: (I) Imperialism . . 234 XV. The Age of Pericles: (II) The Athenian Democracy 248 XVI. The Age OF Pericles : (III) Society and Public Works . 258 XVII. The Age of Pericles: (IV) Thought, Culture, AND Character 274 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XVIII. The Peloponnesian War to the Beginning of THE Sicilian Expedition . . . . . . .300 XIX. The Sicilian Expedition and the last Years of THE War ... o ....... 316 XX. A Cultural Revolution . . . . . . .329 XXI. The Laced.-emonian Empire ani: ::he Ascendan- cy OF Thebes . 352 XXII. Sicily and Magna Gr.-ecia . .374 XXIII. The Rise OF Macedon TO 337 . .381. XXIV. Economy and Society . . . = . . . .394 XXV. Social Aspects of the State 411 XXVI. Art and Intelligence in the Fourth Century . 423 XXVII. Alexander's Empire and the Hellenistic King- doms ........ 445 XXVIII. The Organization and Administration of the Hellenistic States 461 XXIX. Hellenistic Culture: (I) City Construction AND Art 475 XXX. Hellenistic Culture: (II) Philosophy, Science, and Literature . . ,. . . . .485 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS Acropolis of Athens Frontispiece Stand for Vase : Kamares Ware Porcelain Tablets in Forai of Houses ...... \2 Boar Hunt: Fresco, Cnossus 14 The Great Stairway, Palace of Cnossus Siege Scene: Fragment of Vase ........ 20 Artemis Orthia Froim the Francois Vase Fibul/E ......... o ... o ., 37 Woman Spinning A Potter at Work Olive Industry Agriculture , ... 54 Armorers making Shields Smith's Forge, ........,,,.. 56 Trade in Silphium Penelope at the Loom ........... 65 Temple of Apollo at Delphi ......... 79 Pnyx Areopagus ........ 107 Dionysus Worship Persephone, Triptolemus, and Demeter ...... 142 Panathenaic Amphora Jumper and Trainer ............ 147 A Persian Archer Palace of Darius 163 Delphi: "Treasury of Athenians" ....... 176 Barber cutting Hair Shoe Shop ............... 229 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS Painting Pottery Ass WITH Load , o . . . . 260 Parthenon . . o . 269 A School Theatre at Epidauros . . . . , 297 Sophocles . . , , 299 Comedy Corinth 310 Cybele Athena Nike Temple 336 Erechtheum 350 Battle between the Gauls and the Amazons Hermes of Praxiteles 428 Dying Gaul Altar of Zeus at Pergamum 476 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT Snake Goddess 16 The Cup-Bearer: Fresco, Cnossus 17 Mycen^an Pottery 30 Submarine-Ram 40 Coin of Metapontum Coin of Aegina 52 Menelaon 81 Seventh Century Armor 102 An Ostrakon cast against Themistocles . . . . .123 Alc^us and Sappho . 124 Plan of Temple at Prinese Plan of Small Temple 138 "Maid of Athens" 140 Tenean Apollo 141 Base of Tripod .... ...,,.... 157 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT Marathon 169 Fragments of the Themistoclean Wall . . . . .190 Charioteer at Delphi , 232 Coins: Athena and Owl 234 Athenian Weight: Public Standard 247 Dicast's Ticket 257 Parthenon Frieze ............ 273 Herodotus ....'..., 274 A "Hermes" 328 Socrates .......... 329 Coins of Epanimondas 352 Monument of the Knight Dexileos 357 Messene 358 Syracusan Coins Carthaginian Coins 374 Demosthenes 381 Lion of Ch^ronea 393 Monument of Lysicrates . . . . 410 Alexander Type of Coin .......... 445 Persepolis 460 Ptolemy Soter .............. 461 Ptolemy Adekolys and Arsinoe Ach^an League Coins 474 Darius III defeated by Alexander in the Battle of Issus . 484 Epicurus „ . 485 Greek Steam Boiler 492 Tower, of the Winds . 493 MAPS IN COLOR Greece for Reference . . (double page) The Minoan Age The Hellenic World . Southern Italy ..,.,.... Persian Empire and Greece Greece at the Time of the War with Persia Athenian Empire at its Height .... Greece in the Peloponnesian War . Empire of Alexander the Great .... Kingdoms Formed from Alexander's Empire facing page 1 MAPS IN TEXT Physical Greece ........ Peloponnesian League Athens and Peir/Eus showing Long Walls 5 99 235 HELLENIC HISTORY CHAPTER I COUNTRY AND PEOPLE In the history of the Greeks the centre of interest lies, not in their peninsula, but jn the coasts and islands of the Aegean sea, which collectively formed the very heart of Hellas.^ It was not till they had passed the zenith of their development that the interior and north of the mainland came into prominence. For their beginnings it is instructive to take note of their situation in the great cultural area which borders the eastern half of the Mediterranean sea. In this area mankind first emerged from barbarism. It is a region which at the dawn of history was especially subject to immigration. We may infer, then, that from concentration, added to natural growth, the population became too dense to find support in hunting, fishing, and gathering wild fruits and nuts. The productive valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates, and to a less degree the small alluvial plains at the mouths of the rivers on both Aegean coasts, invited to agri- culture. From tilling the soil, however rudely, to the higher stages of civilization the way was comparatively easy.^ This development was favored by the mild, sub-tropical climate. Less enervating than the equatorial heat, it yet rendered life far easier than is possible in the temperate zones. On the Mediterranean shores men need less food, clothing, and shelter. They live more in the open air in social contact with one another. Thus their struggle for existence is not all-absorbing; they have more leisure to devote to 1 In this volume Greece designates the Greek peninsula, Hellas the country occupied by the ancient Hellenes. Greek and Hellenic, Greeks and Hellenes are used synonymously. 2 Ancient geographies treat of topography, climate, soil, products, ethnology, political conditions, local history and mythology, occupations and manufactures. Examples are Strabo, Geography, and Pliny, Natural History, bks. i-vi. Remnants of other geographers are collected in Miiller, C., Geographici gracci minores, 2 vols, with a third vol. of maps, Paris: Didot, 1855. Much geographical material, too, is contained in the historians, as Herodotus, Xenophon, Polybius, and Diodorus. In fact all ancient literature abounds in references to geographical features and conditions. Great contributions have been made by modem studies and books of travel. Some of these works are mentioned at the close of the present chapter. 2 HELLENIC HISTORY thought and to the creation of the adornments of life and more oppor- tunity for discussion, for the interchange and clarification of ideas. Communication between the Aegean region and the Orient was easy. The ships of Crete sailed south but a short way to Libya, and thence crept along the coast to the Delta. The Aegean shores are lined with harbors well adapted to the small vessels of early time — in fact, the sea between these coasts is itself, so to speak, a great harbor opening to the Orient. These conditions brought southeastern Europe, and the adjacent Anatolian coast, ^ into closest historical relations with the East. Broadly, then, the Aege;An region was one with the great valleys of the Nile and Euphrates; all were included in the home of the oldest civilization. Within this wide area, however, were striking contrasts of geography, hence of historical growth. The Aegean region, on the highway of migration and traffic between two continents, attracted strangers of diverse race and genius; and these immigrant peculiari- ties combined to make the Greeks extremely versatile. The interac- tion, too, of strangers upon one another, their rivalries and efforts at mutual adjustment, provided a most powerful stimulus to progress. In Babylonia, on the other hand, this force was less operative while in Eg}'pt it existed only at certain crises. Great political contrasts, too, arose. The necessity of regulating the waters of the Nile and Euphrates called into existence vast systems of cooperative labor en- forced by an absolute king, whereas in the Aegean world the division of the country into little islands or on the mainlands, diminutive plains separated by high mountain ranges, encouraged the grouping of the population in small independent communities. The conditions of life within these little states, together with the reciprocal relations among them, contributed enormously to the development of individual- ity and intelligence. The genius of the people in these directions was further determined by the mountainous character of their country. In this rugged environment a man could readily make a living for himself and his family in independence, by hunting birds and beasts, pasturing a few domestic animals, and tilling a small patch of ground. He had little need of neighbors, still less of kings. His courage he exercised in battle with the wild boar, the bear, leopard, and lion. Against any force likely to menace his home he could depend on his strong arm, or at the worst on flight to some hidden or guarded refuge, 3 Anatolia is the modern name of Asia Minor. COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 3 Hence arose his fearlessness, the foundation of his character. On the sole basis of courage rested liberty to do and think; on liberty rested intelligence and individuality. In a large degree, too, the nature of the people was determined by the products of their country. Although Greece could never compare in fertility with central Europe, England, or America, it was far more productive anciently than now. There was then a smaller area of bare rock; the soil was thicker, richer and better supplied with moisture. Yet even in earliest times it was but a lean country with its thin flesh barely covering the bones, which here and there pro- truded nakedly. High mountain tops were crowned with bald rocks, bordered with a fringe of alpine plants. Below the snow line grew forests of pine, fir, cedar, oaks of several kinds, beech, bay, and some wild fruits as the apple, pear, and grape. The plane and cypress are thought to l)e importations, and the chestnut, walnut, and almond do not appear till late in history. The thin woods permitted the growth of brush and grass, which pastured domestic animals. The mountaineer gave his chief attention to rearing pigs, fattening them on the abundant acorns, which afforded, too, a substantial ele- ment of the family diet. On the mountain side, below the forest zone,^ lay the drier, thinner- soiled scrub-land, covered with the anemone, asphodel (hyacinth), myrtle, juniper, and other plants. There was a lack of berries, but the many flowers gave food to bees that supplied the inhabitants with their sole material sweetness. Over this zone of scrub ruled the shepherds with their herds of sheep and goats, that perpetually nibbled their dry, prickly food, and furnished the more refined people of the valleys with leather, wool, milk, and meat. For the protection of their flocks and pasture rights the shepherds became war lords, each surrounded by an army of savage dogs. The winter cold drove them to encroach on the neighboring plains, where often on questions of trespass and damage they waged battle with the tillers of the soil. These plains lay either wholly surrounded by mountains or between mountain range and sea. Here the soil, none too good, produced wheat when at its best; otherwise barley, spelt, and millet. Among the vegetables were peas, beans, onions, leeks, and garlic. The fruits were apples, pears, quinces, pomegranates, figs, grapes, and chief of 4 The division of Greece vertically into zones of vegetation is due to Myres. J. L., Greek Lands and Greek People. 4 HELLENIC HISTORY all, olives. The date-palm grew in southern Peloponnese and the neighboring islands. Olive oil was used for food, for anointing the body, and for burning in lamps. Flax provided oil and linen. In addition to fowls and the smaller domestic animals the farmers reared donkeys, mules, and occasionally cows. There were few horses except in Boeotia and Thessaly; and everywhere they were " the ornament of luxurious wealth," used by the cavalry in war, and in time of peace for riding and driving, but never as beasts of burden. Summarily, the animal and vegetable products, far from effecting a surplus of riches, were too scant to support meagerly a moderately dense popula- tion. If a leisurely class was to exist and a high degree of refinement to be attained, the Greeks would have to find other sources of wealth. Turning from farming and grazing to minerals, we discover an almost equal lack of resources. Euboea produced copper, though not nearly enough to supply the demand; and for tin, a necessary in- gredient of much-used bronze, the Greeks had to depend wholly on importations. It was not till near the end of the second millennium B. c, that they began to use iron in the industries. They found it in Euboea and the island of Seriphus, and far more abundantly in the mountain range of Taygetus, Laconia. In spite of this restricted mining area the yield allowed a surplus for export. Of the two precious metals, gold must have been relatively abundant and easily obtained in the Minoan age, though we do not know where was the source of supply. In the historical period it was found in the islands of Siphnos and Thasos and the opposite Thracian coast. Doubtless, however, some of the gold used by the Greeks came from foreign lands. Silver was mined along with the gold; and in Attica Laurium produced it with lead. In building-stone alone is all Greece rich; and the best of marbles come from Mount Pentelicus in Attica and the island of Paros. In the fourth century the Athenians began to derive profit from its exportation. Last but not least in importance were the clay fields distributed over all Greece, which made possible the potter's trade. No coal was mined, and even now within the Mediterranean basin little has been found and that of inferior qual- ity. Wood and charcoal supplied the heat necessary for cooking and the industries. The natural economic resources, however varied, were all limited in quantity. A Greek therefore had to make the best use of his scant means, to study economy. Next to fearlessness and love of liberty, moderation was the greatest quality of the race. 6 HELLENIC HISTORY This principle holds not only for eating, drinking, shelter and the other material things of life, but equally for literature and the fine arts. The simple self-restraint of Hellenism, the product of a long, severe training, contrasts with the redundance of means employed by all other European artists ancient and modern. Another feature of Greece which bore powerfully on character is to be sought in the lack of unity between coast and interior. We have seen that the nature of the country — its division by waters and by high mountain ranges into islands and little plains — prevented the inhabitants from massing together in large social and political groups. Exploitation of the interior and the north, which formed their " back country," would have demanded a united effort, like that which brought the l^orth American colonies under a single government. But this region was crowded with mountains inaccessible and repel- lent, which forced the plain and coast people to the sea as their sphere of life - — to colonization and commerce. This course of action still further stimulated their intelligence and enterprise, but tended even more to decentralization. Whereas great continental undertak- ings call for unity, a single city, whether Athens or Venice, has found it easier unhampered by political dependence to create a great naval power and an extensive commerce. The factors that mould character thus far considered are in whole or part economic. It is possible, however, to find in the countr)' physical features which acted directly on the mind. First of all is the endless variety, contrasting with the monotony of Egypt, the ever- changing landscapes which made for versatility. Whereas the Egyp- tians seem to us like so many slices from the same cheese, we find among the ancient Greeks as great differences as among civilized men of the whole world today. There was no typical Greek. The landscapes, too, are always suggestive. Beyond the nearer range is another higher, and the one still further away presents an opening through which are revealed more distant heights. Thus the imagina- tion is tempted forth beyond its immediate .surroundings, to embark on voyages of mental exploration. The l)cauty it meets on the way is not sensuous, inviting to eat, drink, and sleep. Rather it is intel- lectual, appealing to the noblest faculties of man. These naked, jagged mountain heights, be it noticed, have no economic value. They do their part in awakening a love of beauty for its own sake, which has created for all time the absolute ideal of art. Akin is the COUNTRY AND PEOPLE 7 love of truth for its own sake, that noble intellectual ideal, unmas- tered by thought of worldly gain, which made the Greeks the dis- coverers of the principles of knowledge, the creators of science and philosophy. ADDITIONAL READING I. General Works of Reference. — Shepherd, W. R., Atlas of Ancient History (Holt, 1913), the best historical atlas; Kiepcrt, H., Atlas Antiquus (Boston: Sanborn); Murray, Smaller Classical Atlas, rev. by G. B. Grundy (Oxford University Press, 1904); Whibley, L., Companion, ch. i; Tozer, Lectures on the Geography of Greece (London; Murray, 1873); Kiepert, Manual of Ancient Geography (Macmillan, 1881); Smith, William, Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography, rev. by G. E. Marindin (London: Murray, 1909). II. Travel and Description. — The following works are especially attrac- tive and stimulating : Myres, J. L., Greek Lands and the Greek People (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910) ; Zimmern, A. E., Greek Commonwealth, pt. i; Mahaffy, J. P., Rambles and Studies in Greece (Macmillan, 1878) ; Richardson, R. B., Vacation Days in Greece (Scribner, 1904) ; Allinson, F. G. and A. C. E., Greek Lands and Letters (Houghton Mifflin, 1909) ; Hogarth, D. G., Accidents of an Antiquary's Life (Macmillan, 1910) ; Marden, P. S., Greece and the Aegean Islands (Houghton Mifflin, 1907); Manatt J. I., Aegean Days (Houghton Mifflin, 1914); Bosanquet, Mrs. R. C, Days in Attica (London: Methuen, 1914). III. Climate, Products, Topography, Archaeology, and Folk Customs of Hellas. — Olmstead, A. T., " Climate and History," Journ. of Geog. X. 5 (1912); Huntington, E., Civilization and Climate (Yale University Press, 1915); Jones, W. H. S., Malaria and Greek History (Manchester, 1909); Schellenberg, O., Studien zur Kliinatologie Griechenlands (Leipzig, 1908) ; Meyer, A. B., " Antiquity of the Lion in Greece," Smithsonian Annual Report, 1903, p 661 ff. ; Hehn, V., Kidtur pfianzen und Hausthiere in ihrem Uebergang aus Asien nach Griechenland, etc. (11th ed., Berlin, 1911); Keller, O., Die antike Tierwelt, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1909, 1911); Philippson, A., Das Mittelmeer- gebiet (2d. ed., Teubner, 1907) ; Oldfather, W. A., "Studies in the History and Topography of Locris," Am. Journ. Arch., 1916, pp. 32-66; Woodhouse, W. J., Aetolia (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897); Kern, O., Nordgriechische Skizzen (Berlin, 1912) ; Brailsford, H. N., Macedonia. Its Races and their Future (London: Methuen, 1906); Abbott, G. F., Tale of a Tour in Macedonia (London: Arnold, 1903); Jackson, F. H., The Shores of the Adriatic, 2 vols. (London: Murray, 1906); Lenormant, F., La Grande-Grece, 3 vols. (Paris, 1881-84) ; Minns, E. H., Scythians and Greeks (Cambridge University Press, 1913); Hogarth, D. G., The Nearer East (Appleton, 1902); Anderson, J. G. C, Studia Pontica, I: A Journey of Exploration in Pontus (London: Owen, 1903). CHAPTER II THE MINOAN AGE Neolithic age to 3000 B.C. Our earliest p;limpse of the Aegean area reveals a people in possession of the neolithic culture; as yet they were ignorant of the metals but had learned to polish their stone im- plements with a view to increasing the cutting power. A good op- portunity for the study of progress during the neolithic age is afforded by Cnossus, Crete. The deposits left by the people of this culture on the site of the palace there, measuring in places twenty feet in depth, were doubtless accumulating through several thousand years. During this long age we can trace the slow evolution of mankind by the fragments of pottery which still survive. In the lowest stratum they are of crude clay roughly fashioned by hand. Gradually the potter learned to purify his material, to mould it in somewhat more pleasing forms, and to fire it in an oven. Meanwhile he was making the earliest attempts at ornamentation. The first step was to scratch the surface with angular lines, whence developed the style described as geometric; the next was to fill the incisions with a white chalky substance — the beginning of vase painting. Other varieties of neolithic earthenware need not be considered here.^ Neolithic life. From material found at Cnossus and in deposits of the same age elsewhere we learn that the people of the time used stone axes, hammers, and knives besides many utensils of bone and horn. Undoubtedly their chief material for weapons and implements 1 The sources for the Minoan age with its neolithic antecedents are substantially all ar- chaeological. They are (1) the sites of settlements in these ages, including topography and excavated strata, (2) the objects found by excavation and other research, stored in the museums. The principal Minoan collections are in Candia, Crete; National Museum, Athens; British Museum, London; and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. There are a few si>ecimens in the museums of Boston and New York. Next in value are (3) reports of ex- cavations, containing illustrations and descriptions of the objects. The most important are those of Dr. Evans and others, in BSA., beginning with vol. VI (1899-1900). For Phaestus, Monuntenti antichi, beginning with XII (1902). For other sites, Boyd, H., Transactions of the Department of Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania, I (1904), for her excavations at Gournia; Seager, R. B., Exploration in the Island of Mochlos: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1912; Excavations on the Island of Pseira (University Museum, Phila., 1910); Atkinson, T. D. and others. Excavations at Philakopi in Melos (Macmillan, 1904); Wace, A. J. B and Thompson, M. S., Prehistoric Thessaly (Cambridge; University Press, 1912); Hall, E. H.. Excavations in Eastern Crete, Anthropc logical Publications, Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, 1913; Dorpfeld,' W. and others, Troja u.ii Ilion, 2 vols. (Athens 1902); Frickenhaus, A. and others, Tiryns (Athens, 1912). For illustrations see Maraghian- nis, G., Antiquites cretoiscs, 2 vols. (Vienna, 1906, 1911). Evans, A., Atlas of Cnossian An- tiquities (Macmillan), is promised. 8 THE MINOAN AGE 9 was wood, all of which however has perished. At first they clothed themselves in skins, and this material continued down into historical Greece in the dress of the country folk; but before the end of the age the chiefs and their families were in a position to array themselves in woven garments, a waist-cloth for men and a skirt for women. In earlier times they lived in round, rarely oval, huts of wattle daubed with clay; only in course of centuries and in favorable conditions did the abode become a rectangle divided into several rooms and protected with walls of small rough stones. In their light boats they rowed freely from isle to isle to exchange their simple wares. The occurrence of a similar style of pottery, not only over the Aegean isles but as far distant as Cyprus and Egypt, proves the existence of com- merce throughout this extended area. It is the connection with Egypt, whose chronology in broad outline is known even for this remote time, which enables us to fix the date for the close of the neolithic age at about 3000.- Minoan age. 3000-1200. The bronze (or more strictly, copper- bronze) age, which developed from the neolithic, is now widely known as Minoan, after Minos, a legendary king, or perhaps a god, of Crete. Dr. Evans, the explorer of Cnossus, divides the Minoan age into three periods Early, Middle, and Late. In the present volume the term Mycenaean will be treated as equivalent to " Late Minoan." ^ Early Minoan (Copper) age. 3000-2200. In the beginning of the Early Minoan age the potter invented a black glaze for washing his wares. On the lustrous surface thus produced he painted wide bands in white, or rarely, red. Sometimes he left to the surface its natural buff, whereon he placed black-glaze stripes. These elements of art continued down to historical Greece. Gradually the moulding and painting attained freedom and variety. As the pointed instru- ment yielded to the brush, zigzags naturally developed into curvilinear and simple spiral designs. Here, too, appears the first evidence of the potter's wheel. Slowly followed the effort to express the forms of living things, all in geometric style. The human body was represented 2 The beginning of the neolithic age is variously dated from 12000-10000 B. c. to 5000- 4000 B. c. The oldest neolithic objects discovered in Thessaly mav be somewhat earlier than those of Crete. For neolithic pottery, Mackenzie, JHS. XXIII. 158 ff.; Mosso, Med. Civ. 117-21; Dussaud, 36-8. Dress; Dussaud, 62 f., 208 (ill.); Mosso, 185-94; Breuil, Anthropologic, 1909, p. 17, fig. 9. Round hou.se; Dawkins, BSA. XI. 263. The presence of ivory shows contact with Egypt.— Other parts of Europe were contemporaneously in the neolithic stage, but somewhat less advanced; cf. Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. I. 731 f. 3 Minos may have been a god (Bethe, Rhein Mus. LXV. 214 ff. ), whom the Greeks re- membered as a king. The use of the word Minoan is justified by the great number of cities of that age named Minoa. — In some modem authors Mycenaean is equivalent to Late Minoan III 1400-1200 (or 1100). 10 HELLENIC HISTORY by two triangles, the points coming together at the girdle. The legs and arms were little more than lines. Equally crude are the statu- ettes, presumably idols, of the same age. In the carving of stone vessels, however, the artist reached perfection.* Melos. A leading centre of culture in this period was the island of Melos. Here were quarries of obsidian, a hard, volcanic rock, which splits readily into thin blades, and was therefore especially serviceable for knives, razors and all sharp-bladed or sharp pointed instruments. By exporting wares of the kind in great quan- tities to neighboring lands the Melians grew relatively prosperous. Hence they were able to make progress in the comforts of life. Next after them followed the inhabitants of the neighboring Cyclades, and in fact their influence was felt from the coast of Argolis, Greece, to Troy in Asia Minor. ^ Dwellings and tombs. In this period the rectangular house became larger, more substantial, and better furnished. Many a chieftain must have had his palace, but the one at Troy is best known to us. This site had been occupied in the transition to the bronze age, and the settlement of which we now speak is the second. The essential element of the palace is a great hall (megaron) with a central hearth. From this room we pass through a door into a vestibule formed by the projecting walls, and from there into a large open court. This type of dwelling originated in central Europe. The same plan is afterward found on a more complex scale in the palace at Tiryns. In exposed places from the beginning of the age men were wont to fortify their settlements with rude walls of uncut stones, whereas other cities, like those of Crete, remained unprotected. Copper; pictographs. The great innovation of the age was the introduction of copper, most probably from Egypt and Cyprus. It was used for tools and weapons. Silver and gold became known in the same period. Copper was followed at an interval of centuries by bronze. For a long time, however, stone maintained its place in the useful arts. Equally important was the adoption of a system of picture writing, pictographs. They are found in Crete on seals of ivory, stone, and other material in the form of cylinders, buttons, and prisms. Their near resemblance to Egyptian types proves an inter- course between these two countries in the age of their production. 4 For illustrations of the pottery. Hall, Decorative Art of Grecc in the Bronze Age, 6-10. Group of primitive idols; Dussaud, 361. Stone vases; Seager, Mochlos, 11. Pictures of obsidian objects; Dussaud, 98. THE MINOAN AGE 11 Other wares were exchanged in this period, and Egyptian records mention the Aegean folk by name. It is this commerce which en- ables us to set the closing date of the Early Minoan age at about 2200.« Area of the culture. In this period the Aegean civilization ex- tended from the Cyclades to Troy and Cyprus, and in the opposite direction to the coasts of Greece. There were many local varieties of culture. Although early in the age Troy and the Cyclades had the lead, Trojan progress was checked by the destruction of the city, whereas the islands continued their advance. In Crete the eastern towns were the most progressive. Meanwhile the Aegean folk were carrying their products to Egypt, as stated above, and in other direc- tions to the valley of the Danube and to Sicily and southern Italy. ^ Middle Minoan (First Bronze) age. 2200-1600. Toward the close of the third millennium u. c. central Crete came decidedly to the front. This change marks the beginning of the Middle Minoan period. The chief seats of culture were Cnossus and Phaestus. Near Phaestus the modern village of Hagia Triada marks a third important site. The east was occupied by lesser cities, whereas in the west of the island no remains of the age have as yet been un- earthed.* The Minoan civilization now entered upon its most brilliant period. The invention of the wheel enabled the potter to develop his trade into a fine art. The most beautiful specimens are of the Kamares type — so-named after the cave on Mount Ida, where they were first discovered. The clay, reduced to the utmost purity, was moulded in artistic forms. In the egg-shell thinness of their walls they may be compared with the best Haviland china of today. The painted designs on them are in various shades of white, orange, crimson, and yellow, developing from the two main color classes of the preceding age. The aim was not the representation of nature but the creation of a brilliant harmony of colors. In time, however, the polychrome ornamentation gave way to the simpler principles of the earlier age, while there developed a close imitation of natural objects. Equally G Copper daggers; Dussaud. -41, fig. 22. The daggers of the Early Minoan age contain at most but i.287o of tin, and may therefore be described as copper. In the Middle Mi- noan age the tin alloy has increased to 8-10%, thus producing real bronze, Hazzidakis, BSA. XIX. 47; cf. Mosso, Med. Civ. 105 (one thousandth part of certain Minoan daggers at Rome is zinc and lead). 7 Extent of the culture; Meyer, Cesch. d. Alt. I, 694 f. Commerce; Mosso, Med. Giv. ch. xxiv. — Early Egyptian Name of the Minoans, Hanebu, Dussaud, 452. 8 Among the East-Cretan sites already excavated are Gournia, Zakro, Palaikastro, and the island of Mochlos. STAND FOR VASE: KAMARES WARE (From Palaiokastro, Crete) /////////// ^/^///n^/Z/zTuH PORCELAIN TABLETS IN FORM OF HOUSES THE MINOAN AGE 13 naturalistic are the patterns in faience for which the close of the Mid- dle Minoan period is famous.'' Palaces; Writing. Early in the age the kings of Cnossus and Phaestus built great j)alaces. After tv;o or three centuries they were destroyed or fell to ruin, whereupon the kings proceeded to erect new dwellings on a grander scale. The interior walls they decorated with frescoes from human life and nature. Within the Cnossian palace the art of writing reached a high stage of development. From the original pictographs arose a linear script, in which some characters are doubtless ideographs, denoting things rather than sounds or groups of sounds, whereas others seem to represent syllables. Royal archives of clay tablets indicate its use for governmental business. The old system of writing continued by the side of the new. In the deposits which close the age the excavator of Phaestus found a clay disk covered on both sides with pictographs, evidently stamped on the clay while still soft, and representing therefore the first-known printing with movable types. As the characters are quite different from the Minoan, the disk evidently came from some outlying region, perhaps Asia Minor.^° - ■ ,,, -, ^ — . Late Minoan (Mycenaean) age. 1600-1200. In the beginning of the late Minoan age Cretan civilization, having achieved its utmost, began to stagnate ; it no longer created new forms but merely repeated stereotyped conventions. For a time, however, we find a political advance. Cnossus and Phaestus still flourished while other cities declined and disappeared.^^ It would perhaps accord best with the facts to suppose that the king of Cnossus now ruled th£ whole island and made use of Phaestus as a secondary capital. The Cnossian palace attained to the acme of its grandeur about 1500. To this period belong most of the mural frescoes still pre- served. In vase ornamentation the characteristic development was the " palace " style, which sacrificed the natural to a desire for decorative unity. The age attained great skill in bronze work and in inlaying metals with other substances. In writing, linear script superseded the pictograpns, and a new and improved linear style developed from the old.^^ 9 Polychrome pottery; Dawkins and Laistner, BSA. XIX. 1 ff. ; Mackenzie, JHS. XXIII. 170 ff:; XXVI. 243 ff . ; Dawkins, op. cit. XXIII. 248 ff. Illustrations in colors; Dussaud, fro7ttis piece and opp. p. 48; Seager, Mochlos, plates; JHS. XXIII, XXVI, plates. The Minoans of this age are the Keftiu of Egyptian records; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 230 f. 10 Evans, Scripta Minoa, I. 273 ff. 11 As Gournia, Zakro, and Palaikastro. 12 A monumental work on the Minoan script is Evans. Scripta Minoa (1909), the second D in O u o' u w « PS < o a 3 V tn 3 a O a o 3 o THE MINOAN AGE 15 Throughout the Early and Middle Minoan ages the Greek penin- sula lagged far l)ehind the Aegean isles in culture. During nearly all this time Thessaly and Boeotia remained neolithic, and farther south the peninsula made but little progress beyond this condition. A great change came with the beginning of the Late Minoan time; in fact this age had not advanced far when the leadership in culture shifted to Troy and still more to Greece, where Tiryns, Mycenae, and Orchomenus were entering upon an era of artistic and political splendor. Life in Crete and Mycenae. 2000-1400. The abundance of material that has reached us from the Middle Minoan and early Mycenaean ages affords a clear and comprehensive view of the life of those times. The dominant racial type was a long skull, oval face, brown complexion, black hair, and short stature — the physique of the south Italian or Sicilian of today. These people were thin and wiry with " wasp-waists," lively in action, dependent on agility rather than bulk, a keenly competitive folk gifted with a delicate aesthetic taste and an intuitive mind.^^ Dress. Usually a man wore simply a cloth fastened at the girdle and covering the hips. Sometimes this dress was so modified as to form short trousers. With a close-fitting belt he accentuated the smallness of his waist. The priestly and holiday attire was an ample cloak which reached from neck to ankles. The Cretan's black hair fell over his shoulders in long curls; his face was beardless, whereas at Mycenae it was fashionable to allow the free growth of whiskers. The woman wore a low bodice and a bell-shaped skirt abundantly adorned with ruffles or flounces. Favorite colors were yellow, purple, and blue. Her black hair she dressed elaborately in twists and curls, while the whiteness of her face she intensified by artificial means. She either left the head bare or surmounted it with a hat, some of whose designs closely resemble those of today. In addition to these essentials of dress, she profusely adorned her- self with jewels of gold and precious stones. Altogether her attire was extremely conventional and modish; her pictures in ancient art find their counterpart in modern fashion plates. The foot-gear of volume of which has not yet appeared. See also Hall, Aeg. Arch., ch. viii; Sundwall, J., Jahrb. arch. hist. XXX (1915), 41-64. The later linear system (class B) is mainly a sim- plification of the earlier (class A) ; and the Cyprian script, from the fourteenth to the third century B. C, is a further simplification of the Minoan systems. Cyprian writing, which is syllabic, was adopted by the Greek colonists of that island ; p. 35. 13 The fact of a Mediterranean race, first set forth by Sergi, Mediterranean Race, (1892), is generally accepted by scholars. 16 HELLENIC HISTORY both sexes was elaborated with embroidery and deli- cate colored bindings.^* Dwellings. Like the fem- inine garb of the age, the private dwellings of the wealthy were surprisingly modern. They were built on no fixed plan, but followed the necessities of the site and the taste of the owner. They were of stone, wood, or brick, and their windows seem to have been protected by oiled and tinted parchment. Some were three or four stories high and comprised a multitude of rooms. The owners furnished them comfortably and developed cooking to a high degree of perfection. ^^ Palace. Naturally the palace was incomparably larger and more magnificent than the richest private dwelling. The residence of the king of Cnossus occupied more than five acres and stood at least four stories high. Its irregular- ity of plan may be due to additions and modifications by successive rulers. The essential feature of any large Cretan dwelling, private or royal, is 14 Dress; Hawes, Crete, 26-9, 118 f . ; Mosso, Palaces, ch. vi; Dussaud, 60 ff . ; Abrahams, Creek Dress, 3 ff. ; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 233 ff. ; Tsountas and Manatt, Myc. Age, ch. vii. 15 Bosanquet and Dawkins, BSA. VII. 134 ff. (at Zakro) ; VIII. 14 ff. (at Cnossus); Rider, Creek House, ch. xiii; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 113-8; Mosso, Palaces, 287-308. SNAKE GODDESS (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) THE MINOAN AGE 17 the grouping of rooms about a court. The Cnossian palace comprised an immense central court, smaller courts, long corridors, a theatral space, audience rooms, sanctuaries, an industrial quarter, and "a system of drainage not equalled in Europe between that day and the nineteenth century." We may notice more particularly the room in which the throne of gypsum stands against the wall and is flanked on both sides with long benches of the same material. Here in the midst of his noble councillors sat the king on the "oldest throne in Europe," presumably to receive embassies and to transact busi- ness with his subjects. The in- dustrial quarter swarmed with artists and artisans, whose labors extended over a wide range of activities, from the preparation and storage of wine and olive oil in huge earthen- ware jars to the finest gold work and elaborate mural frescoes. One chamber, fitted up with benches and "a seat for the mas- ter," is thought to be a school room, in which the young learned to mould clay into little tablets, and inscribe them with linear writing. Elsewhere were the archives in which these tablets were stored by the thousands. Although the script has not yet been deciphered, the inscriptions thus far discovered seem to be accounts of stores and of receipts and dues. A larger tablet from the THE CUP-BEARER: FRESCO, CNOSSUS (Reproduction— The Metropolitan Mu- seum of Art) 18 HELLENIC HISTORY Dictaean cave has the appearance of a list of offerings. If the Cretans possessed a literature of songs, epics, and chronicles, as is not unlikely, it must have been written on perishable material, for nothing of the kind has been discovered. It is known, how- ever, that they had the decimal notation and perhaps as many as four systems of weights, including the two most used in his- torical Greece. By dropping a definite weight of silver or gold upon a striated surface they took the first step in the coinage of these metals. Bronze ingots, too, of definite weight were stamped that they might serve as currency.^ ** Workmen and their products. Many laborers busied themselves with tilling the soil and with rearing cattle, sheep, goats, and swine. They ground their barley or wheat in querns or crushed it in stone mortars still preserved. Among their fruits were the fig and the olive, whose oil entered into the preparation of food. Trades were specialized as in the Orient. Among the craftsmen were potters, brickmakers, and carpenters, whose bronze saws, axes, files, and other tools resemble in pattern those of today. Naturally in an age of bronze the workers in that metal filled a large place. Stone, while still serving the lesser arts, had become the essential of architecture, and throughout all history wood has furnished a convenient material for building and for a great variety of furniture. Among the most remarkable of skilled industries was the cutting and engraving of pre- cious stones which included practically all known to the moderns, excepting the diamond. On these gems the engraver skilfully wrought varied scenes from nature and human life. The highest de- velopment ot art is found in the work of the goldsmith, an achieve- ment of the painstaking experience of centuries. This metal was then more common than silver. Among his products were beads adorned with scenes in intaglio and rings with similarly decorated bezels used as seals. He could inlay gold, as well as ivory and other material, on bodies of different substance, so as to produce a polychrome effect. He wrought bracelets, diverse artistic patterns in repoussee on thin plate, and graceful drinking cups. Famed for beauty are the two ir, Palace; Hall, Arg. Arch. 118 ff . ; Mosso, Palaces chs. ii, v; von Lichtenberg, Haus, Dorf, Stadt, 71 ff. Theatre; Evans, BSA. IX. 99 ff. Drainage; Evans, BSA. Vlll. 13 f . ; Hawes, Crete, 32. Throne; Evans, BSA. VI. 35-42. Industrial quarter; Hawes, Crete, ch. iii. School; Evans, BSA. VII. 96 ff. Archives; op. cit. 100 ff . ; Scripta Minoa, I. 38 ff. Weights and currencv; Evans, in Corolla Nuwismatica., (Oxford University Press, 1906), 336-67; Head, Histori'a Numorum, p. xxxix; Regling, in PWK. VII. 973 ff. THE MINOAN AGE 19 gold cups from a boihive tomb at Vaphio, Laconia. The scenes which adorn them are bold, spirited, and lifelike. ^^ Warfare. In war the rank and file were without defensive armor and carried the slinji; and bow. In the latter art the Cretans were especially strong, as we infer from the magazine of bronze arrow- heads in the Cnossian palace; in fact throughout ancient history they kept the lead in archery. A warrior of the better class protected him- self with a huge shield which reached from neck to ankles. It was made of leather stretched on a wooden frame, in form a semi-cylinder or an oval with notched sides. A helmet and greaves completed the defensive armor, whereas he assailed his foe with a short dagger, a sword for thrusting, and a lance, the metal parts of bronze. Unable to carry far the great weight of his shield, he rode to battle in a two- wheeled chariot drawn by a pair of horses. With him as charioteer rode his squire, who sometimes carried a sword. Using his chariot merely for conveyance, the warrior descended in battle to engage in close combat with his foe. Not only many weapons have survived, but also pictures of military life. We see warriors engaged in hand- to-hand combat, while fragments of a silver vase present a living view of a siege. On the large piece illustrated in the text we see outside the walls slingers and bowmen in action. Behind them stand two men probably elders, like those described by Hesiod on the Shield of Heracles (246 f.) : — " To the blessed gods Their hands uplifted for their fighting sons. On the tower above excited women shriek." Smaller fragments show fallen warriors outstretched, others carrying the dead, and others hurling lances.^* City Walls. The Cretan cities were unwalled. As a defence against strangers they had their navy, and like the later Spartans they must have reposed confidence in their bulwarks of brave warriors. In more exposed positions, however, as at Troy, men were accus- tomed from the beginning of the Minoan age to protect their settle- 17 Domestic animals are indicated by survivals of bones and by representations in art. Peas and barlev have been preserved to the present day in jars. Olive press; Evans, BSA. VII. 82 f. ; VIII. 8 f. Craftsmen; Mosso, Palaces, ch. vii. Gold, found abundantly in Mycenae, is lacking in Cnossus. On this metal, Tsountas and Manatt, Myc. Age, " Gold " in Index. Inlaying; op. cit. 227 f. Vaphio cups, interpretation by Mosso, Palaces, 223 ff. 18 Warfare; Tsountas and Manatt, Myc. Age, ch. viii; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 242 ff. Arsenal of arrow heads; Evans, Scripta Minoa, I. 44. Chariot; Hall, op. cit. 142 f. (introduced from Egypt about 1550;. THE GREAT STAIRWAY, PALACE OF CNOSSUS SIEGE SCENE: FRAGMENT OF VASE (From Sejinour, Lije in the Homeric Age) THE MINOAN AGE 21 ments with walls. Gradually the crude wall of unshaped stones was superseded by massive masonry such as we find at Tiryns. There the defences are of huge, slightly dressed stones arranged roughly in layers and held together by mortar. The interstices are filled with smaller stones. This is the so-called Cyclopean masonry. Orig- inally the Tirynthian wall must have risen to a height of sixty feet, the upper part of brick. In the present ruins, on the south and south- east, are two great galleries, covered by a pointed arch, formed by the gradual overlapping of successive layers of stone. This mode of forming arches and domes is characteristic of the age. Connected with the southeast gallery is a series of chambers. Undoubtedly in these well protected spaces provisions and war material were stored against a siege. At Mycenae we find more advanced masonry. In one kind, termed ashlar, the stones are cut in oblong shape and ar- ranged in horizontal layers. Still more developed is the polygonal style, composed of large many-faced stones so carefully fitted as to leave no space for rubble. The cruder forms continued by the side of the more highly developed. ^^ Religion: deities. The chief deity was a nature power, the mother of all living things, Rhea in Crete, Cybele in Asia Minor. As patroness of field and mountain she stands conspicuous on a lofty rock between her two attendant lions. In her relations with civilized life she arms herself with the double-axe to battle for her city, or in times of quiet presides over multifarious social and political func- tions. Her son, the youthful Zeus, a god who is born and ultimately dies, likewise wields the battle axe, or when duly invoked by the young men — curetes — in martial dance, vouchsafes full jars, fleecy flocks, prosperous sea-borne ships and goodly law.-° Another great deity was possibly Minos, worshipped in the form of a bull. Among the deities of less prominence we recognize Aphrodite, a nude or lightly clad idol, her hands brought together on her breast, sometimes accompanied by doves, and Artemis, deity of wood and animals, of hunting and fishing. The serpent attributes of another goddess con- nect her with the earth or underworld, with the spirits of the tomb or of the house. Throughout the age were fashioned small images of these gods and of others whose character eludes our study. In addi- tion to divinities in human form they adored or venerated as sacred 19Tsountas and Manatt, Myc. Age, ch. ii; Hall, Acg. Arch. 138 ff . ; Dussaud, 120 ff., 128 ff. For an example of ashlar masonry, see " A Siege," p. 20. 20 H. Civ. No. 8. 22 HELLENIC HISTORY symbols, trees, pillars, the cross, the double axe, and various other objects. They built no temples, but conducted their worship in the open air, in caves, or in chapels within their dwellings.-^ Worship of the dead. Another aspect of religion was the worship of the dead, which included the customs of burial. A type of inhu- mation is represented in the circular cemetery on the Acropolis of Mycenae. The six graves found here were the burial place of a long dynasty, who used it for all the members of their family, men, women, and children. Each contained several bodies. In death they were elegantly appareled and loaded with jewels and gold ornaments. With them further were buried articles of toilet, cooking utensils and table furniture, tools, military equipment — in brief everything civ- ilized men and women needed in daily life. A gold mask found in one tomb undoubtedly imitated the face of the living. They covered the grave with stone slabs and mounded it over, reopening it for new burials. To the dead they offered sacrifices of wild and domestic animals, probably also of human beings, as the scattered bones of men and animals suggest. Evidently the Minoans believed that the spirits of the dead lived in the tombs and enjoyed these sacrifices and this rich equipment. In submitting to such expensive services the living must have been actuated not only by respect for the dead, but by a superstitious dread of ghosts, who when neglected forsook their abode to do mischief to their kinsfolk. Beehive tombs. Later kings of vastly greater power built in the lower city their dome-shaped " beehive " tombs. The masonry is ashlar; the stones are smoothed and fitted together with nice precision. The entire structure is underground, approached from the side of the hill by a long horizontal passage. The largest building of this class at Mycenae has been popularly known as the " Treasury of Atreus," more recently as the " Tomb of Atreus," father of Agamemnon. Its corridor of approach is a hundred and fifteen feet in length, the dome forty-eight feet high and the same in diameter. The kings who erected these immense, lasting structures, like the Egyptian pyramid- builders, must have wielded enormous power, to command the neces- 21 Religion; Hogarth, "Aegean Religion," in Hasting's Dirt, of Religion and Ethics. Dussaud, ch. vii; Mosso, Palaces, chs. x, xiv; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 147 f, 151 ff. ; Harrison, BSA. XV. 308-38; Bosanquet and Murray, op. cit. 339-65 H. Civ. No. 8. Minos perhaps a god; Bethe, Rhein. Mus. LXV. 214 ff. The worship of Aphrodite was not derived from the Semites, but developed from the neolithic age, as is proved by the continuity of her images from that period. Artemis, Minoan Britomartis; Roscher, Lex. I. 1. 821-8. Snake god- dess; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 154 f. ; Beloch, Griech. Gesch. I. 1. Ill; Frothingham, Am. Journ. Arch. XV. 349-77. Idol.s, double-axe, etc.; Dussaud, 327 ff . ; Hall, 145 f. Possibly a tem- ple in sixth city of Troy; Hall, 146. THE MINOAN AGE 23 sary labor; they must have cherished, too, a vast conception of their own importance and a hope of immortality dependent on the preser- vation of the body with its splendid furnishings of useful and lux- urious objects. Similar tombs, though generally smaller, exist in various parts of Greece and in Crete. Those at Mycenae were plun- dered in ancient times, but elsewhere have been found in them remains of the dead and of rich offerings, whose character places this class of tombs immediately subsequent to those of the Mycenaean citadel.^" Character of the religion. Briefly it may be said that the Minoan religion was an exceedingly complex system, which involved the wor- ship of gods and of disembodied spirits; elaborate rituals performed by a specialized priesthood; the wearing of amulets suggestive of charms and magic; bloody sacrifices with their concomitant ideas of guilt and its purification; mysteries, divination, and oracles. It was a weird religion, well calculated as an instrument in the hands of a sacerdotal aristocracy for holding the masses in check through super- natural terrors.-^ Boxing; "Bull-leaping." Among the ancients recreations con- nected closely with religion. The combative instinct of the Minoans is seen in their love of pugilism. Boxers wore the cestus, and assailed their opponents with hands and feet. Far more dangerous and excit- ing, however, was " bull-leaping." The trick of the toreador seems to have been to meet the charging beast face to face, seize his horns, and turning a somersault over his back, leap to the ground in the rear. Girls and youths, appropriately costumed, took part in the perilous sport, vividly pictured on the Cnossian palace walls. The gay lords and ladies must have witnessed many a bloody scene, in brutality comparable with the gladiatorial shows at Rome or with the bull-baiting of modern Spain. Doubtless these toreadors were forced to their dangerous vocation. Many may have been exacted as tribute from subject states. The myth that Athens had every nine years to send seven youths and seven girls to be devoured by the Minotaur may accordingly contain this kernel of truth; and Theseus, 22 Evans, "Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos," in Archacologia, LIX. 391-562; "The Tomb of the Double Axes," etc., op. cit. LXV. (1914). 1-94; Tsountas and Manatt, Mvc. Age, chs. v-vi; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 158 ff. ; Dussaud, 28 ff., 398 ff. Chamber tombs, usually rec- tangular, and sometimes furnished like a dwelling; Hall, 161, 170; Evans, loc. cit. 23 Amulets; Dussaud, 397 f. fig. 294. Delphic oracle probably derived from Crete; Hom- eric Hymn to Pythian Apollo, 2i7 ff . ; Swindler, Cretan Elements in the Cults and Ritual of Apollo, 15 ff. Evidence of a Minoan settlement at Delphi; Evans, 7HS. XXXII. 285. Gloomy aspects of Minoan religion; Lang, World of Homer, chs. xi-xiii passim. 24 HELLENIC HISTORY who killed the monster, may have been in fact the liberator of his countr}'.^* Chess, music, and dancing. From the excitement of this sport we may turn to watch the king playing with his court favorite a game resembling chess or checkers on an elaborate board still pre- served; or we may imagine an audience of courtiers listening to the musicians. We see a man playing a double pipe, another with a seven-stringed lyre in hand. The tradition therefore which repre- sents Crete as the teacher of music to Hellas is true. To the accom- paniment of such music twinkle the dancers' feet. The long crimped tresses of the dancing girl float out in air as she whirls around in the orchestra of the palace theatre, where " Daedalus once wrought a dancing-place for Ariadne of the lovely tresses." ^^ In our review of Minoan life we have caught glimpses of a society clearly differentiated into poor and rich, commons and nobles, subjects and rulers; labor specialized into diverse crafts; among the wealthy a love of peaceful ease, luxury and beauty, coupled with a passion for brutal shows; and a religion uniting cheerful with gloomy features. The social organization evidently reveals the antecedents of the Dorian system. The field laborers were serfs or serflike dependents, as were the helots of later time. Many towns were politically subject to Cnossus, like the later perioeci of Lacedaemon. There remained a class of nobles who possessed wealth and lived independently in private dwellings. The priest-king, however, or perhaps we should say god-king, aimed to concentrate life within his stupendous palace, to engage as many as possible of the inhabitants in the service of the state, and to measure out food to them at public tables. Thus the artist and artisan class were brought into the palace. An effort was made also to create a military caste dependent on the state and equipped from the palace arsenal. It was a unique experiment in despotic socialism.^" But the system, devised by the king and his 24 Boxers; Burrows, Discoveries, 34 f. ; Mosso, Palaces, 211 f., 339 f. Bull grappling or leaping; Evans, BSA. VII. 94 f. ; VIII. 74; Mosso, 211-25. Presence of ladies; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 48. Theseus and the Minotaur; H. Civ. No. 4. 25 Iliad xviii, 590. Royal gaming board; Dussaud, 63 (ill.). Double pipe and lyre, ibid; see Index. 2ii The notion that social classes are communities or " races " superimposed upon one another is from every point of view absurd, though it is still naively entertained by a few scholars. On this subject, see Botsford, Roman Assemblies, with authorities cited. When the Dorians entered the Minoan area, they found in existence a highly complicated social structure, to which they adapted themselves; see ch. vi. On the sur\'ival of Minoan condi- tions and regulations, Ephorus, in Strabo x. 4. 17; Arist. Polit. ii. 10. 2; vii. 10. 1-2, 1271 b, 1329 b; c/. H. Civ. Nos. 5-6. THE MINOAN AGE 25 favorites, robbed the citizens of individuality and personal freedom; it compelled the masses to toil for the few, who exhausted the re- sources of the nation in art and extravagant luxury. The militarism of the Late Minoan kings added to the waste. The archive records, though we cannot read them, point to a complex bureaucracy, like that of Egypt, which crushed the people by its weight, robbed them of the fruits of their toil, hence finally of their interest in life. Thus in various ways government and civilization, by sapping the energy of the governed, in Crete and later on the Greek mainland, engendered internal decay. The artist lost his inventive power; stagnation was inevitably followed by slow deterioration in every activity of life. Ethnology. It need not be supposed that in the long period ex- tending from the early neolithic age to the end of the Middle Minoan era the population of the Aegean world remained the same. Unin- terrupted development is not in itself evidence of continuity of race; and on the other hand there may be changes of civilization which do not involve the substitution of one people for another. As to the language of this early time there are only the slightest indications. Pre-Hellenic place names in Greece have their kin on the islands and in Asia Minor. This circumstance points to the diffusion of a single language by migration from East to West or the reverse. This tongue is certainly not Indo-European, but seems to be related to the Carian and Lycian. In the extensive Aegean area there was room for more than one form of speech; and from time to time new peoples and tongues were introduced by immigration.-" The original home and early wanderings of the Indo-Europeans need not be considered in this volume; and in treating of their arrival in Greece we can only deal in probabilities. The opening of the Late Minoan era, 1600, as we may reasonably believe, saw them in posses- sion of all or nearly all Greece. The process of migration and set- tlement, however, continually modified their racial character. In fact history knows no people of unmixed blood. Doubtless the Indo- Europeans in their common home were of various stocks. Their several tribes, as they journeyed gradually to their respective histori- cal countries, absorbed all manner of alien peoples on the way, as 27 Place names in -nthos and -essos; Kretchschmer, P., Einleitung in die Geschichte der griech. Sprache, 293 ff. In historical times the inhabitants of Praesos, Crete, still spoke a non-Indo-European language, probably a survival of a pre-Hellenic tongue. Minoan proper names in general have a non-Greek appearance; Hall, Aeg. Arch. 229 f . ; Sundwall, Jahrb. arch. Inst. XXX. 59 ff. ; The Carians and Lycians were not Indo-Europeans; Sund- wall, KHo, XI. 464 ff. and Beiheft XI. 26 HELLENIC HISTORY usually happens with wandering hordes. Few if any who came into Greece were unmixed descendants of those who had left the Indo- European homeland. Then the newcomers in Greece began to blend with the natives, and were continually joined by many strangers from the islands, from Asia Minor, from Crete and elsewhere. The min- gling of these diverse stocks through centuries ultimately produced the Greek race. Although many place names remained undisturbed, the language of the Northerners, rich in myths, strong, flexible, and highly capable of artistic treatment, prevailed.-^ At the opening of the Late Minoan era, 1600, Thessaly and Boeotia, still neolithic, were held by the Aeolians; Attica, Euboea, and the east coast of Peloponnese by tlie Old lonians; central and south- ern Peloponnese by the Arcadians, an offshoot of the Aeolian group. West of the Aeolians Tvas an area occupied either at that time or somewhat later by a people described simply as the Northwestern Greeks. All these racial names, however, properly apply, neither to the northern immigrants nor to the natives, but to the ultimate blend of the two races, and are here used anticipatively for convenience. The immigrants from the North were evidently a minority of the pop- ulation; but superior virility gave their leaders a dominant place in their respective districts. It was not simply the mainland that began in this way to fall under Indo-European control. Evidently indi- vidual adventurers, with their attendants, crossed to the islands, where by cleverness and personal superiority they attained to a place in the ruling classes and mingled their speech with that of the natives. Ow- ing to such long-continued migratory disturbances the peninsula had made but little progress in civilization, though appreciably more in the South than in the North. Before the close of the Middle Minoan age, however, as the movements in Greece temporarily subsided, civ- ilization began to develop there with surprising rapidity.-'' 28 Schrader, Indogermanen (1911), 159 f., places the homeland north and northwest of the Black sea; and this view is at least as probable as any other. Meyer's effort {Gesch. d. Alt. I. 799 ff.) to replace it in central Asia has met with little success. Some have assumed that the Minoan cities in Greece were founded by Cretan colonies. Objections are (1) the hall type of palace. The chieftain from the North kept his tradi- tional plan of house though willing to adopt all manner of imported refinements from Crete. (2) Time must be allowed for the successive waves of migration, for the gradual blending of races, and for the colonization of the Aegean islands, a movement which must have begun near the opening of the Late Minoan age. Important changes in dress, mili- tary equipment, etc. at the beginning of the Late Minoan period; Oelmann, Jahrb. arch. Inst. XXVII (1912). 38-51. „ , . . ^, , , 29 Thessaly and Boeotia; Wace, A. J. B. and Thompson, M. S., Prehistonc Thessaly ;a.\so BSA XIV. 197-223. lonians in eastern Peloponnese; Hdt. viii. 73; Paus. ii. 26. 2; 32. 1; cf. Hoff- mann, Gesch. d. griech. Sprache, I. 19 f. Arcadians or a related people in pre-Dorian Laconia: Solmsen, Rhein. Mus. LXII. 329-38. The historical Arcadians and Aeolians were descend- ants of the so-called Achaeans. The Achaeans of historical times, a wholly different people. THE MINOAN AGE 27 On favorable sites along the coast at a varying distance from the shore, as at Tiryns and Mycenae, at Athens and Orchomenus, at Vaphio (Laconia) and Old Pylos (Messenia) Hellenic chieftains built their fortress cities. In these mainland settlements the most powerful civilizing influence was commerce with Crete; and yet we may well believe that throngs of Minoan architects and artisans came to seek emplo3'ment in the new and stirring centres of political power. The king's abode, however, was not a copy of the Cnossian palace, but a development from a simpler European type like that found in the second settlement at Troy. Its essential characteristic was a great hall with a central hearth, features unknown to contemporary Crete. To win his many Minoan subiects and to centralize his power, the Hellenic king adopted the native religion, including the deification of the deceased sovereign and the building of a gigantic tomb for himself. The mighty walls around his city were a protection from the barbarous tribes that assailed him, and still more from the Cretan king. Hardly had the sovereign of Cnossus united all Crete under his sway than he began to extend his dominion to the more distant Aegean islands. Though he gained no foothold in Asia Minor, he threatened the coasts of Peloponnese and probably made temporary conquests in Attica.^" With the political advance of Greece, how- ever, his power receded. The kings of the Hellenic peninsula were gradually colonizing the islands. First sailed forth great piratical armadas, doubtless made up from several maritime kingdoms. In the fifteenth century Melos was taken by one of these armaments, and its palace sacked and burned. In the new settlement which followed, the palace was of the hall type and the culture in general was conti- nental rather than Cretan. ^^ Evidently a colony from Greece estab- lished itself in the midst of the native population. About 1400 Cnossus experienced the same fate. The palace had attained to its utmost size and magnificence; but the mind of the race was stagnant. Court society, never more brilliant in appearance or more luxurious, was held in the thraldom of fashion; in brief, the whole life of Crete were related to the Dorians. — The earhest Cretan influence on the Greek mainland appears in the pottery of Middle Minoan III (1800-1600) found at Tiryns; Hall, Ancient History, 58. 30 The establishment of colonies named Minoa in the Cyclades (Bethe, Rhein. Mus. LXV. 212) seems to point to Cretan domination. A city of the same name in southern Cynuria and another on an island off Nisaea (op. cit. 211 f.) may well have been points of observation or bases of attack. The conquest of Attica is indicated by the myth of the tribute to the Minotaur. 31 Atkinson and others, Philakopi, 263, 269 f. The settlement at Philakopi here referred to is the one numbered III. 28 HELLENIC HISTORY was fossilizing, like that of contemporary Egypt. These conditions were suddenly brought to an end by the destruction of the palace. The blackened walls, the charred ends of beams, the almost complete absence of gold and bronze seem to proclaim the sack and burning of the city. As the same thing happened at Phaestus, at Hagia Triada, and elsewhere in Crete, we may infer that the catastrophe was due to no accident or dynastic revolution or uprising of the masses. We can explain the event best by supposing it to have been the work of raiders, who swept over the wealthy cities of the island in their career of plunder. It may well be that the fleets of coast cities were joined in this enterprise by squadrons of barbarians from the interior of Europe, for desolating the fairest habitations thus fa^ created by man. Succeeding to this devastation, a colony like that on Melos introduced mainland culture amid the devitalized native pop- ulation. The extreme poverty of the settlement is evidence that others must have enjoyed the movable wealth of the former city. From the beginning of the late Minoan age disturbances in the Aegean sea had turned the commercial enterprise of Crete in other di- rections. Minoans of this age, accordingly, planted colonies in the islands off the west coast of Greece, in southern Italy, and in Sicily. Through these settlements and through commerce the Minoan system of life gained a foothold in all these regions. After the destruction of Cnossus a remnant of the population colonized Spain, while others found homes at Miletus and in Cyprus. A century afterward Greek and Minoan tribes, migrating by sea and land, extended their piracies to the East-Mediterranean waters and coasts. Early in the thir- teenth century they joined the Libyans in ravaging the Egyptian Delta. ^^ A few generations later the Peleset moved from the Minoan area through Asia Minor into Syria " with their families in curious, heavy two-wheeled ox-carts, and by sea in a fleet that skirted the Syrian coast." ^^ Occupying a strip of shore country south of Phoenicia, they became known to history under the name of Philis- tines. Although far superior to the Asiatics in civilization, they adopted the Semitic language; and it was from them most probably that the Phoenicians derived the elements of their alphabet.^* These extensive migrations may be traced in part to a movement 32 Breasted, Ancient Records, III. 579 f. 33 Breasted, Ancient Records, IV. 44. 34 Macalister, R. A. S., The Philistines (1914); cf. History of Civilizatton in Palestine (1912). THE MINOAN AGE 29 of European tribes southward into Thrace and the Balkan peninsula. One of these tribes, the Phrygians, crossed the Hellespont, and occu- pying the central part of western Asia Minor, dislodged some of the natives of that region, who necessarily had recourse to migrations. Under the same southward pressure Northwestern Hellenes filtered into other parts of Greece. Some crossed into Thessaly and Boeotia, yet not in sufficient numbers to overwhelm the Aeolian dialect of these two countries. It remained purer in the former than in the latter. Meanwhile other emigrants from the Northwest were crossing into Peloponnese, where, too, they mingled with the earlier inhabitants. Thus arose Achaea,^^ whose language was akin to that north of the Corinthian Gulf, and of more distantly related speech, the Dorians of Argolis and Laconia. From Argolis the Dorian dialect passed to Corinth and Megara, and from Laconia to Messenia. The dialect of Elis likewise points to a migration from across the Gulf. This movement of population from the Northwest, represented in story as the " Dorian migration," affected nearly the whole of the Greek peninsula. The people of Attica, however, had no tradition of a tribal migration into their country; they knew only of a peaceful infiltration of families, many of whom became noble. Arcadia, too, remained untouched. Its people had once extended over the coast region to the south; and in the Late Minoan age many went off as colonists to Cyprus. Those who remained in Laconia were merged in the Dorian race, whereas the people of the interior highlands, under the name of Arcadians, maintained their original language and their racial character. Having adopted but little of the higher Minoan culture, they had little to lose by its downfall.^" 35 The Achaeans of this country had no connections with the " Achaeans " mentioned above, p. 26, n. 29. 36 When the word race applies to divisions of the Hellenes, it signifies dialectic groups purely and simply; and throughout the present volume the term connotes kinship in feel- ing rather than in fact. No large group of human beings descended from common par- ents is known to history; and the word race, if it is to remain serviceable, must be dis- associated from this false conception.— The wanderings and settlements of the Hellenes are determined by a study of dialects; see Buck, Introduction to the Study of the Greek Dia- lects; Hoffmann, Gesch. der griech. Sprache, I. ADDITIONAL READING For the Minoan age the following books will be found especially useful: Hawes, C. H. and H., Crete the Forerunner of Greece (Harper, 1909), a clear summary; Baikie, J., The Sea-Kings of Crete (London: Adam and Black, 1910), popular; Mosso, A., Dawn of Mediterranean Civilization (London: Fisher Unwin, 1910), to about 2000 B.C.; Palaces of Crete (Putnam, 1907), useful for special topics; Tsountas, C. and Manatt, I., The Mycenaean Age (Houghton Mifflin, 1897), brilliant though in need of revision; Hall, H. R.. 30 HELLENIC HISTORY Aegean Archaeology (London: Warner, 1915); Ancient History of the Near East (London: Methuen, 1913), 31-72; Hall, E. H., Decorative Art of Greece in the Bronze Age (Philadelphia: Winston, 1907). Pottery, the alphabet of archaeology, is well treated in this work. Burrows, R. M., Discoveries in Crete (London: Murray, 1907), deals with the problems; Botsford, G. W. and Sihler, E. G., Hellenic Civilization (Columbia University Press, 1915), for the literary sources and their interpretation; Dussaud, R., Les civilisations prehcllcniques dans le bassin de la nier egee (2d ed., Paris: Geuthner, 1914), the most com- plete treatment, and invaluable for the illustrations; Meyer, E., Geschichte des Altertums, I (2d ed.), 677-803. The following have been promised: Evans, A., The Nine Minoan Periods, summary; An Atlas of Cnossian Antiquities, with explanatory text. See also the works mentioned in the notes and the bibli- ography in H. Civ. 114-7. MYCENAEAN POTTERY (British Museum) 16" Longitude £aat '^ CHAPTER III THE MIDDLE AGE: TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE About 1200-750 At the time when migratory warriors were raiding the Egyptian Delta and colonizing Philistia/ the Minoan civilization was fast yielding to a more barbaric form of life. So notable was the decline that from about 1200 we may date the beginning of a new era, which was essentially a transition from Minoan to Hellenic life. The period thus defined bears close analogies with the later European " Middle Ages," in that both were characterized, not only by invasions of less civilized peoples, but also by a vast decline and an incipient recovery of culture. I. Dorian and Ionian Colonization and Culture For a long period after the beginning of this era colonial expansion from the west to east across the Aegean sea made progress.- From Argolis and Laconia emigrants, first " Achaean " and afterward Dorian, made their homes in Melos and Thera, southmost islands of the Cyclades. In the same order they occupied the choicest parts of Crete, which came thus to the ethnic complexion described by Homer: " There is a land called Crete in the midst of the wine-dark sea, a fair land and rich, begirt with water; and therein are men in- numerable, and ninety cities. And all have not the same speech, but 1 p. 52. The sources for this period are mainly Homer, p. 43 ff. and the excavations. Reports of excavations in Laconia and elsewhere in Sparta begin in BSA. XI (1904-05), by Dawkins, Wace, and others. See also JHS. beginning with XXVII (1907). The cemetery at Athens of this period is well represented by Poulsen, F., Die Dipylongrdber und die Dipylonvasen (Leipzig,, 1905). For Ephesus, see Hogarth, D. G., Excavations at Ephesus, 2 vols. (British Museum, 1908). For Miletus, Milet; die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabuiigen, und der Utitersuchuiigeii seit dein Jahre 1899, edited by Th. Wiegand (Berlin: Reimer) is in course of publication. Reports of excavations in Samos, Abhdl. Berlin. Akad. beginning 1911. 2 Ch. IV. The appearance of the mainland palace in the Cyclades in the fifteenth cen- tury places the beginning of the colonization as early as that period. In this volume the three racial movements of expansion, Dorian, Ionian, and Aeolian, are presented with less regard for chronology than for cultural relations. The Greeks of later time gave the move ments in the reverse order (cf. Busolt, Criech. Gescli. I. p. 272 ff. and notes). It is hardly necessary to say that they had no exact knowledge of the subject. 31 32 HELLENIC HISTORY there is a confusion of tongues: there dwell Achaeans and there too Eteo-Cretans (True Cretans) high of heart, and Cydonians there and Dorians of waving plumes and goodly Pelasgians. And among them is the mighty city Cnossus, wherein Minos rules in nine-year periods, he who had converse with great Zeus." ^ Beyond Crete the Dorians pushed on to Carpathos, to Rhodes, and ultimately to the coast of the mainland. Among their cities on the Anatolian shore were Cnidus and Halicarnassus, both thriving centres of industry and commerce. The Greeks who came to Crete were attracted to the area which had experienced the highest cultural development, to Cnossus, Gortyn, Phaestus and their neighborhood. In the East the Eteo-Cretans, at Praesos, maintained their nationality and their language far down in historical times. In the West were Cydonians, regarded by Homer as non-Greek but certainly Dorian in the historical age. Because of the small number of Hellenic immigrants into this island the process of assimilation was remarkably slow. Earlier perhaps than the Dorian colonization was the beginning of the movement from central Greece to the Cyclades mentioned in the preceding chapter. Gradually this migration continued eastward till it reached and included the narrow strip of territory on the Anatolian coast afterward known as Ionia. On the sites of neolithic villages these immigrants in the period of Minoan decadence founded small cities. To colonists from Crete were added adventurers from the Cyclades and from various parts of the Hellenic peninsula.* In fact it was a motley population that came, and they made themselves more heterogeneous by mingling with the natives. " They have no right to pride themselves on purity of descent," says Herodotus, " considering that a large part of them are Abantes from Euboea, who have no share even in the name of Ionia, and Minyans of Orchomenus have been mingled with them, and Cadmeians and Dryopians and Phocians, who seceded from their native state, and Molossians, and Pelasgians of Arcadia and Dorians of Epidaurus, and many other races have been mingled with them; and those of them who set forth from the prytaneion (town hall) of Athens and who esteem themselves the 3 Odyssey xix. 170 ff. The Pelasgians, probably a pre-Hellenic tribe, may have immi- grated from Thessaly. Eteo-Cretans and Cydonians are explained in the text below. Rhodes was Dorian in Horner's time; Iliad ii. 668. 4 Neolithic village at Miletus, followed by a late Minoan settlement; Dussaud, 200 f . ; Wiegand, Abhdl, Berl. Akad. 1908, p. 7 f. ; 1911, p. 4-6. Early colony at Miletus from Crete; Strabo xiv. 1. 6. TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 33 most noble by descent of the lonians, these, I say, brought no women with them to the settlement, but took Carian captive women, whose parents they slew." ''' So far were the newcomers from aiming at racial purity that they not only married native wives but received Carian chieftains into their own nobility and even acccepted them as kings." In a varying degree this principle of race-mixing holds for all Greek colonies. Doubtless it was partly the composite nature of the population, as well as the lovely climate, the most favorable in the world known to Herodotus, the rich soil, the highly articulated coast adapted to commerce, and the situation on the borderland between Hellenic and Oriental civilizations which made the lonians for centuries the most brilliant and most versatile of Greeks, in the age of their glory the standard-bearers of the world's civilization. Among their most noted cities were Phocaea, famed for her early naval power and her distant western colonies, Ephesus, where was built a great temple to Artemis, and Miletus, an illustrious centre of industry, commerce, and intellectual life. In this new home the lonians were more aggressive and more pow- erful than their Hellenic neighbors. On the South, Dorian Halicar- nassus, and in the opposite direction Aeolic Chios and Smyrna, in time became Ionized, while commercial relations with Phoenicia gave the Semites the Ionian name in the form Javan, with which to desig- nate the entire Hellenic race.^ On the Greek mainland the process of Hellenic assimilation was more rapid than elsewhere. There, apart from place names, no clear trace of a native tongue has been discovered. In considerable stretches of the eastern coast of Peloponnesus, as in Troezen and Cynuria, the Ionian dialect long maintained itself; * elsewhere in Argolis the Dorian speech prevailed both in the country and in Tiryns, Mycenae, and Argos. Within the Middle Age Argos gained the mastery over her rivals and ultimately imposed her hegemony upon the peninsula that bears her name. In Laconia our earliest his- • torical light reveals a population essentially homogeneous in culture 5 Hdt. i. 146. The Abantes, Minyans, and Cadmeians were pre-Hellenes. The name Dryopians (people of central Greece; Hdt. viii. 31) at least is Greek, meaning wood-folk. The Molossians were from Epeirus. The natives of western Asia Minor, including Lyd- ians, Lycians, and Carians, were not Indo-European; Sundwall, Klio, Beih. XL 255 f., 281. 6 Hdt. i. 147. 7 Halicarnassus was partly Ionian from the beginning; Hdt. vii. 99; Strabo xiv. 2. 16. Its official language in the fifth century was Ionian; Hicks and Hill, No. 27.— Javan = Ia(F)onia. F dropped early from the Ionic alphabet. Javan the Semitic name of the Hellenes; Genesis x. 2; Ezekiel xxvii. 13. 8 Troezen; Paus. ii. 32 1 (Ionic institutions). Cynuria; Hdt. viii. 73. 34 HELLENIC HISTORY and in language. Some Mycenaean sites, as Amyclae and Therapne, were occupied by Hellenic cities, whereas Sparta, destined to a leading place in Greek history, was a wholly new foundation. Similarly Attica, which had contained a number of Mycenaean sites, experienced as thorough an amalgamation of Hellenic and native races, and at the same time became politically centralized in its chief city, Athens. As the southmost section of Aegean coasts and islands was occupied by the Dorian race, which was essentially one though with slight local differences of blood and dialect, so the Ionian name generally applied to the section extending from Attica to the Anatolian coast. Only as the Athenians awakened to a conscious- ness of their own superiority, did they discard the Ionian name.^ In this section, too, of Aegean shores and islands, in spite of local differ- ences in dialect and ethnic composition, the population was essen- tially one in language and in race, in political and religious institu- tions, and in social customs. For a long time the mother peoples were more conserv^ative, the colonies more progressive. The most fundamental transformations of this period were the blending of the immigrant culture with that of the natives, and the gradual emergence of the Hellenic world from the turmoil and the relative barbarism following upon the Indo-European invasions. In the case of many an institution or custom it is difficult, or even impos- sible with our present knowledge, to determine the nationality of its several elements. Some aspects of the transition may be traced most distinctly in Crete. After the destruction of Cnossus and Phaestus we find the Cretans thoroughly impoverished and devitalized, as is proved by their utter inability to repair the damage. When these sites came to be reoccupied with poor dwellings, the magnificent palace was in like manner superseded by a smaller and cheaper home of the European type, built for a king of scant means and narrow sway. Art was the same in technique but all inspiration was gone. Naturalism yielded to stiff geometric patterns. This style, after re- maining in the background from the early bronze age, now reasserted itself. The graceful spirals, octopi, flowers, leaves, and tendrils of Minoan culture were driven from the field by zig-zags, triangles, checkers, and meanders. The same changes were taking place throughout the Minoan area; they were in fact most pronounced on 9 The Atticans and islanders are called laones in earliest literature; Iliat] xiii. 685; Hymn to Delian Apollo 147. The linguistic relation of laones to lones is not clear; Kretschmer, Clotta, I. 14, n. 4. Attica is called laonia by Solon, Arist. Const. Ath. 5. TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 35 the Greek peninsula, whence they extended to the rest of the Aegean region. I'he artistic worth varied according to locality from the barbarous specimens found in earliest Sparta to the far more graceful forms of Crete and Rhodes, where Minoan traditions were relatively strong. Everywhere the quality improved throughout the age. For obvious reasons the renaissance was speediest in Crete. Her artistic activity of this period is typified by the mythical Daedalus, whose fame finds an echo in the Iliad?^ Before the close of the period, however, the Cretans were outdis- tanced by the lonians, who having passed from the decadent Minoan to the geometric style rapidly emerged from this condition. Their artists adopted for vase paintings and ornamental work in ivory, bronze, and silver more lifelike representations of man and nature, with a tendency to processional and heraldic groupings, with a fond- ness for winged men, women, and beasts and for human-headed ani- mals. These features, commonly described as Orientalizing, may have been due to contact with the East in the early Middle Age, but had developed to a degree of artistic merit far superior to their Oriental patterns. Contributions to this stage of progress were made, not only by the Aegean Greeks, but also by the Phoenicians, who too were heirs of Minoan culture. Their geographical situation on a narrow coast made them a sea-faring folk. On the downfall of the Cretan naval power their mariners voyaged into the Aegean sea, where they traded with the Greeks in the manner described by Homer. Their chief ser- vice to civilization was the transmission of writing from the Minoans to the Hellenes of the Middle Age. The Minoan linear script, com- prising word signs and syllable signs, gradually grew simpler, chiefly " through the dropping of characters. In Cyprus it was limited to syllabic signs, and in Syria a further step was taken when the number of these signs was reduced to twenty-two, each standing for a single consonantal sound, whereas the vowels remained unrepresented. Receiving this script from the Phoenicians, probably about 900, the lonians transformed it into a phonetic alphabet. Till the opening of the seventh century, however, its use remained extremely rare. Mean- while Greeks and Phoenicians continued to interchange wares and 10 Transition in art; Burrows, Discoveries, 98 f. Survivals of graceful Mycenaean pat- terns on geometric vases; Wide, Ath. Mitt. XXII. 233-58. Superiority of Crete and Rhodes; Walters, Anc. Pottery, I. 276. Daedalus; Iliad xviii. 590 ff . ; cf. v. 60; xviii. 497; xxiii. 743. 36 HELLENIC HISTORY art patterns. As the lonians were the more highly endowed race, it is likely that they gave more than they received, and that much which has hitherto been described as Phoenician should be credited to the Greeks. From the ninth to the seventh century accordingly it was not the Phoenicians but the lonians who were leaders in the geometric and " Orientalizing " art which extended from the Euphrates to Italy and Sicily.^^ In an age of general poverty we find throughout the area once Minoan a remarkable tendency to refinement and luxury among the nobles most noticeable in the lonians. In peace, especially during the sumptuous religious festivals, they indulged in the luxury of trailing gowns of linen, richly dyed in colors from the purple mollusk,^^ and adorned themselves with a profusion of jewelry. Their costliest and most artistic works still surviving are gold orna- ments of various forms and silver cups, plates, and shields, all richly decorated with scenes from mythical or real life. Everywhere too the Greeks of the period cultivated singing and enjoyed the music of the lyre and pipe. The geometric motive, which prevailed till near the end of the period, was derived in part from weaving; and the nobles and kings wore robes adorned with inwoven or embroidered patterns in the pre- vailing art. In fact the entire life of this area was undergoing a profound transformation, manifested as distinctly in dress as in any other external feature of society. The laborer, conservative and eco- nomical, continued even in historical Greece to wear the waist-cloth. The chiton, obviously a Semitic word meaning linen, was a newer gar- ment sewn in the form of a sleeveless shirt which covered the body and hips, and which could be girt in at the waist by a broad belt. A more stately chiton, adapted to gods and kings, doubtless too the holi- day attire of all who could afford the luxury, reached from neck to ankles. The tightness of the dress, whether short or long, is a heritage from Minoan costume. ^^ Still more conservative was the garb of women. The goddess Artemis Orthia at Sparta wore a robe seemingly composed of a low- cut waist with shoulder straps, belt and tight skirt of strongly Minoan 11 The alphabet; Evans, Scripta Minoa, I. SO-Q'I; Petrie, W. M. F., Formation of the Alphabet (Macmillan, 1912); Beloch, Griech. Gesch. I. 1. 224-9. — This phase of culture is well outlined by Poulsen, F., Der Orient unci die friihgriechische Kunst (Leipzig, 1912), but he errs in giving the leading place to the Phoenicians; cf. Hogarth, Ionia and the East, 10, 82 ff., 94 ff . ; Ephesus, 184 (contribution by C. Smith). 12 Iliad xiii. 685. 13 Short chiton; Dawkins, BSA. XIII. 82 (ill.); XV. d1. iv. Long chiton; op. cit. 101, fig- g. ARTEMIS ORTHIA (Lead figurine from the Artemisium) (From the Francois Vase) FIBULAE 93117 3a HELLENIC HISTORY aspect. A great innovation of the age, however, was the fibula, a safety-pin of varying form and complexity, which brought about a revolution in dress. This method of fastening was used in the peplos, a woman's gown which reached from neck to feet. It was a rectangular cloth folded double above the waist line and drawn up under the belt so as to form a pouch around the body. Gradually prevailing over all other styles, it became the Doric gown of the historical age. The hair of women and men alike grew long and hung down in several heavy strands on both sides of the face, held in order by a band encircling the head. Although these articles of dress began to appear early in the Mycenaean period, it was not till the Middle Age that they displaced the Minoan patterns. ^^ One of the most important constructive elements in the new civiliza- tion, which gradually emerged from the ruins of the old, was the rise of the iron industry. In the fourteenth century this manufacture was well developed in the Hittite country of eastern Asia Minor. The metal was mined in the region afterward known as Pontus, and the process of hardening it to steel is indicated by its use for sword blades. Thus writes a Hittite king to another person, probably the Egyptian pharaoh : " As regards your writing to me for pure iron, there is no pure iron prepared in my storehouse. ... As soon as it is ready, I will forward it to you. Now I am sending you an iron sword blade." The use of the metal for tools and weapons, extend- ing westward, reached Crete in the thirteenth century, where iron axes, picks, swords, and spear heads have been found in and about some beehive tombs of that age. Thence its use passed more slowly over the disturbed Aegean area to Laconia, Attica, and Thessaly, and to their colonies. Its penetration into Laconia seems to have been especially slow. Although from the beginning of the period bronze objects abound in Laconian deposits, no iron has been found in the strata below the eighth century. In fact the immigrants of Doric speech arrived in Peloponnese in the early transition from bronze to iron. While the metal was still scarce the Peloponnesians, like other Greeks, began to use it as money. The pieces so employed were in the form of a spit or of a round bar. Still later came the use of this metal in tools and weapons. ^^ 14 Artemis Orthia (?) in terracotta; Dawkins, BSA, XIII. 107, fig. 33 a. The peplos was common in Homeric life; //. v. 424 f . ; vi. 90 ff . ; Od. xviii. 292 ff. For the peplos of later time, see p. 132. On the beginnings of these new styles; Oel- mann, F., Jahrb. arch. Inst. XXVII. 38-51. 15 In Hellenic tradition iron was first mined and wrought by the Chalybians, located in TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 39 The superior power of steel in weapons of attack rendered neces- sary the strengthening of the defensive armor. The round or oval targe, reinforced by a central bronze boss, took the place of the huge man-covering shield, which however lingered on by the side of the improved pattern. At the same time the warrior protected his head with a helmet topped by a high bronze crest, his body with a hauberk of metal plates that opened in front and behind, and bronze greaves for the legs below the knees. ^"^ Those who had the means and the intelligence to procure the im- proved equipment gained through it a political superiority over their neighbors. The working of the iron mines in Mount Taygetus, which separates Laccnia from Messenia, accrued to the advantage of the Spartans, who waged frequent wars of conquest with their weaker neighbors, with the result that before the end of the eighth century they had brought all Laconia under their sway. In the in- tervals of peace they exercised their prowess in hunting wild animals on the neighboring mountains. In like manner the lonians of Greece and of the adjacent islands drew iron from the mines of Euboea and Seriphos. As in the Minoan age, the noble, equipping himself with heavy armor, rode to war in a car driven by his squire. When before the close of the period the chariot was discarded, the noble bestrode his steed and rode to battle, his mounted squire by his side; or he took command of a light galley propelled by oars and a mast, and armed with a submarine ram for assailing the enemy's craft. Corresponding changes were taking place in religion. For a time the cremation of the dead, doubtless accompanied by a weakening of belief in the power of ghosts, tended to supersede inhumation; but in the end the burial of the unburned body, without wholly displac- ing the other form, prevailed though in toml)s too small to be looked upon as dwellings. Men continued accordingly to worship the dead. Still greater reverence was paid to heroes, who as sons or near descen- the Pontic region; Hdt. i. 28; Aesch. Prom. 714; Xen. Anab. v. 5. 1. This view is con- firmed by recent discovery. C)n the eastern origin of the industry, see series of articles in Zeitsch. f. Ethnol. beginning in 1907. For the letter quoted, see Mitt, dcr vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, XVIII. 61, n. 1. It was written in the thirteenth century, and probably ad- dressed to Rameses II of Egypt. The industry must have been flourishing from the four- teenth century or earlier. Iron in Crete, Boyd (Hawes), Gournia, 12; Burrows, Discov- eries, 101 f. An iron knife found at the Menelaion; Wace, Droop, BS.A. XV. 143. Use as money; Xen. Lac. Const, viii. 3; Plut. Lye. 3, 9; cf. Head, Hist. Num. 434, 438. A bundle of such spits, no earlier than the seventh century; Dawkins, BSA. 330. The notion, widely prevailing, that iron was introduced into Greece from central Europe is due to a wrong dating of the Hallstatt deposits. For a better dating see Beltz, Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. XLV. 700. ifi Survival of the Minoan shield in Homer, Iliad, vi. 117 f . ; vii. 219; xv. 645 f. Among the Spartans, Tyrtaeus xi. 23 f. (Botsford, Source Book, 143). The new equipment; Lang, World of Homer, 79; Evans, JHS. XXXII. 290; Beloch, Griech. Cesch. I. 1. 212 f. 40 HELLENIC HISTORY dants of the .Q;ods, were gigantic in stature and strength. Having lived mightily among men, they died and were buried; but their spirits remained powerful to harm or bless. Greatest of all heroes was Heracles, whose cult was already widespread over Hellas. Many heroes "remained local. The Spartans worshipped Menelaus and Helen at a great hero-shrine, heroon, on the left bank of the Eurotas, whereas the chief hero of the Athenians was Theseus, to whom, while king, they ascribed the political unification of Attica.^" The Indo-European and Minoan religions gradually melted into one. The Northern invaders adopted Minoan Artemis and Aphro- dite, apparently with little change. The immigrants to Miletus were as receptive of native cults as of native blood. The desire to se- cure the protection of the local deities and the good will of the Carians went hand in hand with greed for the properties of these gods. SUBMARINE-RAM (Vase painting) Identifying their own sky-deity Zeus with the god of the double axe, they converted the shrines and sacred domains of the Carian deity to their own service. In like manner their Artemis usurped the property and various attributes of the Great Mother, Cybele. Elsewhere Zeus was identified with the son of Cretan Rhea. The character and attributes of the archer Apollo, especially his healings, purifications, and oracles, seem to be in considerable part Minoan.^® These are mere suggestions of that amalgamation which with our present knowledge it is impossible to analyze in detail. At least 17 Cremation in early Sparta; Wace. BSA. X. 293. Prevalence of inhumation, Wace and Dickens, BSA. XIII. 155 ff . ; cf. Ridgeway, Proceedings of the British Academy, 1909-10. p. 124. At Athens; Poulsen, Dipylongraber, 10 ff. In Homer, on the other hand, burning is the exclusive custom.— Discovery of the coffin of the hero Orestes in Arcadia; Hdt. i. 68. Death and burial of Theseus; Plut. Thes. 35 f. The Menelaion; Wace, Droop, and Thompson, BSA. XV. 108 ff. 18 Combination of Zeus and the god of the double axe (labrys) is Zeus Labraundios, to whom no less than six altars in Miletus were devoted; Wiegand. Abhdl. Berl. Akad. 1908. p. 27. Artemis and Cybele; Roscher, Lex. I. 588 ff. Apollo; Swindler Cretan Elements tn the Cult and Ritual of Apollo (Bryn Mawr dissert., 1913). TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 41 we are warranted in assuming that no deity of historical Greece may safely be regarded as purely Indo-European or purely Minoan, and that the native race, endowed with a creative genius in religion as in art, contributed far more than the incoming Northerners to Hellenic belief and ritual. The prevailing tendency today is to assign to the invading people the sunnier aspects of religion, while leaving to the natives the gloomy features, including magic, the worship of ghosts, the doctrine of sin, and its purification by wash- ing in blood. It is significant, too, that as in the Minoan past, the great deities of the Middle Age were mainly goddesses, such as Athena at Athens, Artemis at Sparta and Ephesus, and Hera at Argos. The worship of these heavenly women was intimately bound up with the public life of the cities wherein they severally made their homes. The dwelling of the deity imitated the European type of palace. In the ninth century the Spartans erected to Artemis Orthia a temple consisting of a wooden frame, with walls of unburnt brick resting on a foundation of stone. The apex of the gabled roof was supported by an interior row of wooden columns, running lengthwise through the centre. It was a small building less than fifteen by thirty feet in extent, designed mainly as a shelter for the deity and her utensils and gifts, whereas the worshippers gathered about the great altar outside. The goddess herself, represented by a piece of wood rudely carved, was so small that the priestess could hold it in her hands. In origin a nature goddess, she gave fertility to flocks and fields, and was patroness of youths in their athletic training, and of girls, who worshipped her in choral song and in masked nocturnal processions.^^ Summarily, the Dorians and lonians, occupying the area once most thoroughly permeated with Minoan culture, were its principal heirs In material civilization, religion, government, and social structure they were essentially alike; and it was owing chiefly to developments be- ginning near the close of the Middle Age, above all to the brilliant growth of industry, commerce, and intellectual life among the lonians, that in the historical period the leading communities of the two races differed widely from each other. 11. Aeolian Colonization and Culture While lonians and Dorians were occupying the central and south- i9Paus. iii. 16. 7-10;Bosanquet, BSA. XH. 331^3; Tillyard, op. cit. 351-93; Farrell, op. cit. XIV. 48 ff. 42 HELLENIC HISTORY ern parts of the Aegean islands and Anatolian coasts, the Aeolians of Thessaly and Boeotia were engaged in a parallel moveanent of col- onization. They settled in Lesbos, where Mytilene gained the first rank in population and power. Chios, too, they occupied. On the adjoining mainland they founded twelve settlements, among which were Cyme and Smyrna. ^° The Aeolian colonists had been but slightly touched by Minoan culture and only in its decadent form. Most of them were men of new blood and fresh ideas, the first Euro- peans whom we can clearly know. In all probability it is mainly their life that is pictured by Homer. His age, home, and person- ality are still under controversy. Are the epics attributed to him, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the work of one poet or of a long suc- cession of minstrels? Whether an individual or a collective unit, did Homer live on the Greek mainland or in the Anatolian colonies, soon after the close of the Minoan age, hence about 1100, or three centuries later? Do his poems picture a single phase or successive phases of culture? These problems are still pressing for solution. The present volume has no space for the details of the controversy. It must limit itself to the presentation of a view which seems to the writer most reasonable in the light of the known facts. Most probably the Minoans, like the contemporary Orientals, had a written literature of chronicles, songs, and epics. However that may be, centuries before Homer, " Achaean " minstrels chanted lays of war and adventure in the palaces of the glorious Minoan age. Through song and story the memories of Minoan splendor were vividly retained to the end of the colonial period.-^ Tradition may well have been aided by the survival here and there of an old palace, and more abundantly of rich furniture, gold cups, inlaid swords and other artistic objects, preserved as heirlooms in the families of the great. In these ways material from the golden age, and from that of decadence, came down to the time of Homer, who well knew the art though not the artists.-- The minstrel predecessors of Homer lived in Thessaly and its neighborhood. The gods are therefore Thessalian, their home is Mount Olympus; the Thessalian local coloring is strong; and the political, social, and religious atmosphere is European rather than Minoan. 20Hdt. i. 149-51; Strabo xiii. 1 f. 21 Possibly the songs in Minoan script may have survived till the introduction of the Hellenic alphabet; Evans, JHS. XXXII. 287 f. 22 Cf. Lang, World of Homer, 32 f. TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 43 Among the colonists to Asia Minor came bards with their lays and traditions; and there the struggle of the immigrants with strange environment stimulated the poetic genius to heroic efforts. Among them was Homer, the supreme genius of epic song. His home was Smyrna or Chios, where dwelt Aeolians and lonians mixed.-'' His dialect accordingly combines those of the two races, while the life of his neighborhood is Aeolic modified by Ionian influence. He lived about 800, and may have composed both Iliad and Odyssey, not by incorporating earlier lays or by merely adding to an existing epic, but by totally new creations, yet from tradition contained in extant songs. After his time his poems underwent some changes, especially during the eighth and seventh centuries. Thus it hap- pened that Homer's poems, which are mainly Indo-European, became the inspiration and the literary models of the historical Greeks. The life he pictures is not homogeneous but a mingling of the traditional and the ideal with contemporary facts.-* Living no long time after an age of colonization, Homer knew how a city was founded. The Phaeacians of old, he informs us, dwelt in Hypereia, near the Cyclopes, who continually vexed them. " Thence the godlike Nausithoiis made them depart, and he carried them away, and planted them in Scheria, far off from men that live by bread. And he drew a wall about the town, and built houses and made shrines for the gods and meted out the fields." He became king of the city, and at his death his sceptre passed to his son.^^ The land was distributed on an aristocratic principle. Wood and pasture remained common to all, whereas special domains were re-^ served for the king and the gods, while to the great men, the king's councillors and commanders of troops in war, were granted large estates, to be worked by their slaves, hired men, or tenants^ The common freeman received a lot in the city for his dwelling and in the country a field for cultivation. Such ownership of land as existed was vested in the family, and was not subject to transfer by sale.2« Country life. Slaves and common freemen lived the crudest lives devoid of every comfort. The hut of the swineherd had no table, chair or bed. Laertes, driven from the throne of Ithaca because of 23 p. 33. 24 H. Civ. 2-5. 25 Od. vi. 6 ff. ; cf. Athen. iv. 63, for illotment of landing at the founding of Syracuse. 26 Od. xiv. 211; xv. 488 ff. ; II. xi. 68 f . ; xviii. 542 ff. 44 HELLENIC HISTORY old age, retired to the country, where he lived a poor man : " Thy father abides there in the field, and goes not down to the town, nor lies he on bedding or rugs or shining blankets, but all the winter he sleeps where sleep the thralls in the house, in the ashes by the fire, and is clad in sorry raiment. But when the summer comes and the rich harvest-tide, his beds of fallen leaves are strewn lowly all about the knoll of his vineyard plot. There he lies sorrowing." ^^ We see the same old man " in the terraced vineyard, digging about a plant, clothed in a filthy chiton, patched and unseemly, with clouted leggings of oxhide bound about his legs, against the scratches of the brambles, and long sleeves over his hands by reason of the briars, and on his head he wore a goatskin cap; " ^* or trudg- ing home weary at night to receive his food prepared by an old Sicilian woman. Out of keeping with this sorry life is the fact that he was the proprietor of a " rich and well-ordered farm, that he had won for himself of old, as the prize of great toil in war. There was his house, and all about it ran the huts wherein the thralls were wont to eat and dwell and sleep, bondsmen that worked his will." -^ We watch the laborers plough, plant, reap, thresh, dig trenches, build stone fences, fell trees, and dispute over the bounda- ries of their fields. They produced nearly everything they needed; they rarely went to town, to purchase bronze or iron for their forges; and they seem to have been cut off from all political life. The city. The city was small. Therein lived the king, the no- ble and wealthy with their household slaves, and the common agri- cultural class whose estates were conveniently near. There, too, dwelt potters, curriers, bronzesmiths, and a few merchants, who dealt in useful metals and in imported Eastern luxuries. Into the harbor sailed Phoenicians in their ships laden with " countless gauds," and while they traded they kidnapped children, profitably combining commerce with robber}^ Among a people of action the pirate was more esteemed than the lazy merchant.^" The city was but rudely fortified. The palace was like the Mycenaean of simple form, con- sisting of a great hall with central hearth, bath and sleeping rooms, and a vestibule leading to a front court. The splendid furnishings described by Homer were either heirlooms or a mere memory of a richer and more cultured age. 27 Od. xi. 187 ff. 28 Od. xxiv. 226 ff. 29 Od. xxiv. 205 ff. 30 Od. viii. 158 ff. ; xv. 425 ff. TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 45 Government: the king. The Homeric government contrasts with the Minoan. The monarchy appears in its simplest elements; yet the enormous pretensions of the king may be a breath from the Minoan South. He was a near descendant, preferably a great grand- son of Zeus or some other god.'*^ His honor, too, was from Zeus, lord of counsel, who cherished him, granted him glory, and furnished him even with thoughts. His sceptre, the sign of his power, was made in heaven and given by a god to the founder of his dynasty. The people, therefore, prayed and hearkened to him as to a god.^'- Here we have an ap- proach to the Oriental god-king. Among the Greeks of Homer's time, however, these vast boastings were empty; the king maintained his place only by superior personal ability, as in semi-barbarous life; ^^ and his power depended on the number of troops he led. Thus with Agamemnon " followed the most and goodliest folk by far; and in their midst himself was clad in flashing bronze, all glorious, and was preeminent amid all warriors, because he was good- liest and led folk far greatest in number." ^* Relations were per- sonal, and no theory of government, or even idea of government in the abstract, had yet arisen. Ordinarily the kingship was hereditary; yet if the son was too young or otherwise incompetent, the sceptre might pass to a brother or other relative. Occasionally a new family came to the sceptre. In Ithaca some kind of popular election was thought of to fill the throne of Odysseus, in case the natural heir should not succeed. ^'^ For support the king depended on the great estate attached to the sceptre, personal or family property, gifts from his subjects, his large share of booty and choice portions of sacrificial victims. He wore no crown or purple robe, but dressed and equipped himself little better than other nobles. The State. In this period and among these people the state was a crude undeveloped institution, with functions correspondingly few and ill-defined. The duty, clearly conceived, of protecting the popu- lation from foreign enemies made the king a general, the commander- 31 II. xiii. 4-19 ff. ; xxi. 187 ff. 32 II. ix. 302 f. ; X. 33. 33 //. iii. 166-70, 179. 34//. ii. 577 ff. ; cf. i. 281. sr^ II. ii. 100 ff. ; XX. 181 ff., 307 f. (cf. Thuc. i. 13). Brother inherits; II. ii. 106 f. Election suggested; Od. xv. 521 f. 46 HELLENIC HISTORY in-chief of the army. The need of protecting the state itself from domestic foes, from treason and rebellion, gave him judicial power. It was no less incumbent upon the government to avert the anger of the gods and to secure their good will and beneficence. From this need arose the king's priestly character. Notable is the fact that the state had not yet acquired the function of protecting the lives and property of the citizens; that was a private affair. One who slew another fled from the country to escape the vengeance of the mur- dered man's kin, or remained on condition of paying a sum accepta- ble to the kinsmen.^'' With such things the government had nothing to do. Likewise it was incumbent on each individual to protect his own property from thieves and robbers. There were no police or officers of justice, and in time of peace no army. It often happened, however, that the disputants brought their case for arbitration to the king, queen, or councillors. In the famous trial scene pictured on the shield of Achilles the question seems to be whether the slayer has paid the blood money to the kin. " The folk were gathered in the assembly place; for there a strife was arisen, two men striving for the blood-price of a man slain; the one claimed he had paid full atonement, expounding to the people, but the other denied him and would take naught; and both were fain to receive judgment at the hands of an arbiter. And the folk were cheering both, as they took part on either side. And heralds kept order among the folk, while the elders on polished stones were sitting in the sacred circle, and holding in their hands staves from the loud-voiced heralds. Then before the people they rose up and gave judgment each in turn. And in the midst lay two talents of gold, to give to him who should plead most righteously."^" Probably the councillor who received the loudest applause from the people was deemed the wisest judge. Here is the faint beginning of popular jurisdiction which culminated in the courts of Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries b. c.^* The council. The king was absolute only on the battlefield, where he exercised the power of life and death. ^^ It is true that there was no constitutional way of checking him or of calling him to account; but in point of fact he was limited by the council of elders and by sail. ii. 661 ff.; ix. 632 f . ; xxiii. 85 ff. 37//. xviii. 497-508. The two talents were a small sum; cf. //. xxiii. 269. 38 P. 250 ff. 39//. ii. 391-3; cf. Arist. Polit. iii. 14. 5. TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 47 the popular assembly. The members of the council (boule) had the same honors and titles as the king. They, too, are " sceptre-bearing kings " and " fosterlings of Zeus." The King was himself a coun- cillor, and merely the first among equals.''" Whereas the council was an essential element of government, the king was not so considered, as his presence was unnecessary to the assembly of that body or the transaction of business by it."*^ Individual members rebuked him sharply, denounced him as unfit to rule, and often disobeyed his command. They were haughty, quarrelsome and insubordinate. The right to sit in council. The right to give advice depended on the wisdom of age — hence the members were called elders — on lineage or success in war.'*- The number was small, never more than a dozen. Any man of influence in the community, especially with ability to raise and command military forces, was sure to be given a place in the council by the king; and when once a seat was es- tablished it became hereditary.*'' Usually the councillors assembled round the table of the king, and began business after partaking of his hospitality. The discussion lasted till all agreed. The idea of vot- ing or of majority was totally absent.** There were no specialized functions or departments of adminis- tration; individually and collectively the councillors assisted and limited the king in all his duties, military, judicial and religious. Though they had no legal way of coercing the king, their collective will generally prevailed. It required but a slight shift in the po- litical balance to change the kingship into an aristocracy. In the absence of Odysseus his country was kingless, virtually an aristocracy, at the mercy of turbulent, avaricious nobles, in whom the poet, whose sympathies were with the royal family, could recognize no legitimate authority. The assembly of commons. For the commons the Zeus-nurtured prince cherished supreme contempt,*^ but in practice he had to heed their will. In war all fighters, in peace all men within or near the city attended the assembly called by king or noble. Often the ques- tion brought before them had previously been considered in coun- cil; *° they were usually such as affected the people and whose 40 11. ii. 24, 86, 98; xiv. 27; Od. vii. 49 f. 41/;. X. 43; xviii. 497 ff. Od. vi. 54 f. 42/7. iii. 108-10; vi. 79; xi. 816; xiv. 110 ff. ; xvii. 248; xxiii. 788. 43 II. xiv. 109 ff, ; Od. xi. 505 ff. 44/;. ii. 13 ff., 30 ff., ix. 69 ff., 89 ff . ; Od. i. 26 ff. 45 /;. ii. 198 ff. 46 /;. ii. 84 ff. 48 HELLENIC HISTORY execution required their cooperation. The chief speakers were the king and councillors, though commoners were not wholly debarred.*^ The commons expressed assent by shouting; their disapproval by silence points to remarkable self-restraint. Ordinarily their opinion prevailed; in their gathering lay a germ of democracy, which was to grow and ripen to perfection in Greek states like Athens. The ten- dency of the time, however, was to abridge this influence in the aristocratic interest. In Ithaca during the king's long absence the nobles neglected to summon it; they themselves " all together went to the assembly place, and suffered none others to sit with them, either of the young men or of the elders." ** By degrading the office of king and by neglecting to call the assembly or by restricting it to their own kinsmen and partisans, the nobles were already converting the monarchy into an aristocracy. Religion. In the religion of Homer we find a striking contrast with the Minoan age. The people of whom he speaks feared no ghosts, nor venerated heroes or fetishes or the dead or monsters. The few abnormal creatures who existed in imagination were not the objects of worship. All the gods had human form, and with the exception of the lame smith Hephaestus, all were models of beauty. They differed from men only in their superior stature, strength, and physi- cal perfection, in the character of their food and drink (ambrosia and nectar), in their dwelling-place and life of ease, and in their immor- tality. They needed sleep, suffered pain, and were sometimes wounded by men in battle.*^ Though Zeus was superior, all were lim- ited in knowledge and power. They pursued their several inclina- tions, now in disobedience to Zeus, now winning him by persuasion or cajolery. At times his throne, like that of the mortal king, was in- secure,^° and again his vast superiority seems to indicate a growing monotheism. The council and society of the gods. The great deities dwelt together as a family on the summit of snowy Olympus. There they spent their time in happy feasting; or schemed and quarreled; or under the presidency of Zeus, father of gods and men, they sat in council on the destinies of human kind.^^ Their society was a reflection from that of earth, yet freer from moral restraint. They 47 II. i. 68 ff. ; ii. 98, 212 ff. 48 Od. xvi. 361 ff. 49/;, ii. 477 ff. ; V. 339, 858-61, 885 f . ; xxi. 406 f. 50 Intimations of in.surrection; II. i. 399; viii. 201 ff. 51//. viii (beginning). TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 49 had all the evil as well as good qualities of man; indeed, the poet appears to take deli iftiade of Achilles says, " Speak not comfortably to me of death, glorious Odysseus. I should rather be upon the field as the servant of another, of one who had no land and little property, than a king of all the dead." ^« Elysium. Once only the poet speaks of a future world of hap- piness, the Elysian plain in the extreme West, " where life is easiest for men. No snow is there, nor yet great storm nor any rain; but always ocean sendeth forth the breeze of the shrill west to blow cool on men." ^" There dwells fair-haired Rhadamanthus, brother of Minos; and thither the gods will carr}' Menelaus, because he has Helen to wife and through her is deemed a son of Zeus. Thus this paradise is open to a few favorite? of the gods. Morals. In moral living the Homeric Greeks derived little aid from their deities. It is true that religion taught them to pity and protect stranger suppliants, to honor parents, to refrain from over- weening pride, and in a general way, by precept rather than by the example of the gods, to cultivate righteousness.^^ But their moral progress, whatever it was, must be attributed to purely human effort. Their virtues were preeminently military — above all, physical strength and bravery. The bad man was the coward and weakling. Wisdom was skill in the use of arms or in the management of men, or shrewdness in daily life. The Greeks were proverbially deceit- ful; and Homer's gods and men indulge in clever lying; yet Achilles exclaims: "Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is the man who conceals one thing in his breast and speaks another." ^^ Patience, temperance, and self-control are commended in the hero Odysseus. The spirit of justice and general good order within the state and the army is pronounced; the number of crimes is remarkably few in view of the lack of supervision on the part of the government. Family life. Perhaps the most charming feature of Homeric life is the love of husband and wife, of parents and children — the af- fection which binds the family together in a moral unity.^° This bond was drawn the closer by the circumstance that, unaided by the state, the family had to protect its own property and lives and avenge its wrongs. "^^ The father was head of the family but the mother's 56 Od. xi. 488 ff. 57 Od. iv. 563 ff. 58 Hospitality ;Orf. v. 4-17 f . ; ix. 270; xiv. 404 ff. Honor to parents; II. xxiv. 4868 Od. v. 394 ff. 59 n. ix. 312 f. 60 n. vi. 394 ff. ; xxiii. 222 f. ; Od. v. 394 ff. 61 11. xiv. 484 f. 48 SOUTHERN ITALY and SICILY ao W 60 80 lUO TRANSITION FROM MINOAN TO HELLENIC LIFE 51 place was equally honorable, and descent throui^di her was highly esteemed.*'^ Her father had received for her hand a bride-price in oxen, which went to her as dowry; "^ and the lady of rank chose her husband from among the suitors."'* Women sat with men in the great hall and went about freely in city and country."'"' Sometimes the queen alone held the royal office."" This honorable and influential place of woman was one to which Indo-European and Minoan senti- ments and usages alike contributed. It is true that her pacific nature and her physical inferiority made her the prey of war, the victim of the brutal conqueror; and often her husband's lack of re- spect for the marriage bond subjected her to distressing humiliation; yet at least in the higher class these disadvantages were in part made good by the love and honor, the chivalrous treatment and social power accorded her alike by kin, townspeople, and guests from other states. 62//. XX. 105 ff. ; Od. i. Ail. G3II. ix. 146 f. ; xi. 242 ff. ; Od. ii. 195 ff. ; xi. 117; cf. vi. 159. 64 Od. V. 282 f. ; and the story of Penelope and the suitors. esNausicaa; Od. vi. 15 ff. Arete; vii. 67 ff. Receives suppliants; Od. vi. 310 ff. Free- dom of common women; //. xx. 252 ff. ; Od. xviii. 27 ff. 66//. vi. 425; vii. 468 f . ; Od. xi. 254 ff., 281 ff. ADDITIONAL READING The reports of excavations mentioned on p. 31 n. 1 contain also valuable inter- pretations of the discoveries. Lang, A., World of Homer (Longmans, 1910), especially useful in distinguishing between Minoan and Homeric conditions; Hogarth, D. G., Ionia and the East (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909); The Ancient East (Home Univ. Libr.) ; Burrows, R. M., Discoveries in Crete, ch. xii ; Evans, A. J., " Minoan and Mycenaean Elements in Hellenic Life," JHS. XXXII (1912), 277-97; Montelius, O., "The Geometric Period in Greece," Brit. Assoc, 74th meeting (1905) ; Poulsen, P., Der Orient und die friihgriech- ische Kunst (Teubner, 1912); Wide, S., " Nachleben mykenischer Ornamentik," {Ath. Mitt) XXII 253-58; Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, v., " Ueber die ionische Wanderung," Sitzb. Berl. Akad. (1906), pp. 59-79; Aly, W., " Delphinios, Beitriige zur Stadtgeschichte von Milet und Athen," Klio XI (1911), 1-25; Beloch, Griech. Gesch., I, 1, 180-229; Allen, T. W., "Lives of Homer," JHS., XXXII, 250-60; XXXIII, 19-26; " Canonicity of Homer," Class. Quart, VII, 221-33; Murray, G., Rise of the Greek Epic (2d. ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911), speculative; Seymour, T. D., Life in the Homeric Age (Macmil- lan, 1907); Leaf, W., Troy; A Study of Homeric Geography (Macmillan, 1912) ; Homer and History (Macmillan, 1915) ; Roussel, A., La religion dans Homere (Paris, 1914); Sihler, E. G., Testimonium Animae, ch. iii; Lawton, W. C, Art and Humanity in Homer (Macmillan, 1896) ; Dickins, G., "Homeric House," JHS., XXIII, 325-34 ; Bonner, R. J., " Administration of Justice in the Age of Homer," Class. Philol., VI 12-36; Chadwick, H. M., The Heroic Age (Cambridge: University Press, 1912). For many other works on Homer, see H. Civ., p. 6 f. COIN OF MET- COIN OF AEGINA, APONTUM 6TH CENTURY CHAPTER IV ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 750-479 Agriculture. The decline of Minoan culture had been accom- panied by a vast depopulation, made good only in part by the infiltra- tion of strangers. In the Middle Age forests grew up over many a field that had once been tilled or occupied by human dwellings. As the Hellenes emerge from the darkness of that time, we find them, at the close of the eighth century, chiefly engaged in grazing and agriculture. There remained abundant public land on the mountain slopes, on which the citizens freely pastured their flocks, and cut wood for fuel and building.^ The arable fields were the property of king, gods, associations of various kinds, and citizen families. Our chief source for the beginning of this period is Hesiod's Works and Days.^ He instructs the peasant proprietor " first of all to get a cot- tage and a woman and an ox for plowing, and all necessary furnish- ings in his house," ^ for neighbors do not like to lend; " keep a sharp- toothed dog, stint not his food, lest a day-slumbering man rob thee of thy belongings." * His advice is directed chiefly, however, to the 1 Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hesiod, Works, 420 ff., 509-11, 607 f. 2 Other material which may be used as sources for the period are the poems of Solon, Alcman, Tyrtaeus and the other contemporary authors, the works of later writers from Herodotus to Strabo which treat of this age and subject. Coins are especially valuable, and in addition the vases and their paintings, and the few extant inscriptions from the period. A conception of the fragmentary and widely scattered material may be formed by a glance at the footnotes of Beloch, Griech. Gesch. I. 1. 264-308, a section dealing with the economy of this period. Hesiod lived probably about 700. 3 Hesiod, Works, 405 f. iOp. cit. 604 ff. 52 ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 53 small country esquire, whose manor-house stands near the group of slave cabins.'"' Yet even on such an estate life is simple and full of toil. The lord labors along with his slaves. They use a wooden plow drawn by a pair of steers, a mattock for breaking the clods, and a rude, two-wheeled cart for conveyance." They have no mill for grinding grain — wheat or more commonly barley and spelt — but crush it in a mortar, after threshing it on a hard-beaten floor.'' Their grain and wine they stow for the winter in large earthen jars as had been done in the Minoan age. The labors of the seasons they regulate according to the movements of the stars and the phe- nomena of plant and animal life. The rising of Arcturus announces spring, and when they see the snails climbing the plants, they sharpen sickles for the harvest.^ Life is an endless round of toil, with a slight relaxation in the coldest month, when the fierce northeast wind brings to earth many a lofty oak and branching pine in the mountain dells; or in hottest summer, when the tuneful cicadae shrilly sing, it is permitted the lord to rest in a shady grotto, while he eats his roast kid, or beef and drinks his Biblian wine well-mixed with water.^ We catch but one pleasing glimpse of indoor life, where the unwedded, tender girl bides near her dear mother; after bathing and anointing herself with oil, she sleeps peacefully during the night, while out of doors the homeless polypous gnaws his own foot in dismal haunts.^° Conditions in Attica were similar. Besides grain and grapes this country produced an abundance of honey, figs, and olives. The oil was used for anointing the body and in the preparation of food, and much remained for exportation. The government carefully regu- lated the planting and care of trees, the location of hives, the digging of ditches, and the use of water from public and private wells.^^ Country life grows difficult. The incoming northerners had in- fused Hellas with a tremendous physical vitality. The rapid increase of population made country life more and more difficult. Peasant estates divided equally among the sons, soon became too small to sup- port a family even in a prosperous season; and when crops failed, the situation of the poorer farmers grew desperate. Better it is, says Hesiod, to bring up but a single son, especially as heirs often waste 5 op. cit. 502 (probably cabins rather than bams; cf. p. 44 above). 6 Op. cit. 423-5, 427 ff., 436 ff., 458 ff. 7 Op. cit. 597 ff., 609 ff. sop. cit. 564 ff. ; cf. 383 ff., 414 ff. 9 Op. cit. 504 ff., 582 ff. 10 Op. cit. 519 ff. 11 Laws of Solon (Plut. Sol. 23), incorporated from earlier regulations. WOMAN SPINNING (From a vase painting) A POTTER AT WORK (From a vase painting) OLIVE INDUSTRY (From a vase painting) (Inscription reads: "O, Father Zeus! Would that I might become richi') ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 55 the estate in litigation, and the judges are ready to give the verdict to the one who brings the largest bribe; the common man in the hands of a magistrate is like a nightingale in the hawk's clutches. It is well, therefore, eschewing litigation, to work and save and avoid bor- rowing.^- In Attica a mortgage pillar was placed on the farm of the debtor; and in failure to pay, the estate fell to the creditor. In such a case the debtor generally became a tenant on the land he once had owned, paying his lord a sixth part of the produce. Further borrowing placed a mortgage on the security of his own person or on that of his wife or children. Such debts were hopeless, and served as a step to slavery. Some escaped their doom by flight.^ ^ In Boeotia day-slumbering highwaymen infested the roads. Round the smith's forge or in the rude club-houses of the village gathered throngs of homeless beings, who filled their idle hours with evil plots. ^* Every- where in Attica stood mortgage pillars, holding Black Earth in slavery. Many peasants, once free, toiled trembling under their masters' caprices; many others were sold, often illegally, into foreign lands. ^^ The agricultural population was fast falling into slavery. The libera- tion of the Attic peasantry by Solon will be considered in another chapter (vii). The gloomy outlook filled the Boeotian poet with darkest forebodings for the human race. While, however, he was reiterating his only proposal for a cure, " Work and save," the prob- lem was elsewhere finding solution in the growth of skilled labor. The rise of industry. During the Middle Age the highly de- veloped Minoan industries had almost disappeared; and in the semi- barbarism of the period mankind reverted to the primitive custom of making at home nearly everything needed in house or field. The village smith and potter wrought for their immediate neighborhood. In the coast towns were shipwrights skilled in building the small, round-bottomed boats of the time propelled by a sail and at most by thirty oars. With the help of his slaves the lord built his own house, and women wove the necessary garments. Only the rich could pur- chase a few luxuries, as tapestries, jewelry, and medicine, from Ion- ian or Phoenician traders, or beautifully dyed woollens and linens brought from Lydia and Caria. Gradually, however, as life became more settled, and wealth accumulated in the hands of lords, arose a de- 12 Hesiod, Works, 27 ff., 35 ff., 203 ff., 220 f., 376 ff., 394 ff. 13 Arist. Const. Ath. 3, 5, 12 (H. Civ. no. 27 f.). 14 Hesiod, Works, 493 ff. 15 Solon, in Arist. Const. Ath. 12. ARMORERS MAKING SHIELDS (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) SMITH'S FORGE (Vase painting, Boston Museum of Fine Arts) ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 57 mand for better wares than could be supplied by unskilled hands. To meet this need some of the ])Oor who felt cramy)ed on their little farms, or were made homeless by economic oppression, began manu- facturing on a small scale. Those who had skill and thrift grew wealthy. Many an impoverished lord betook himself to such an occupation; and many a wealthy noble invested part of his capital in trade. ^*^ Men of the same branch of industry banded themselves together for mutual encouragement and protection. The guild, thus arising, patterned itself after the gens; for blood was the firmest bond which united men. As the Alcmeonidae were sons of Alcmeon, the smiths of Athens called themselves the " sons of Bronze " — Chal- cidae. There were, too, the Praxiergidae (" Handicrafts' Sons ") and various other artisan guilds. In these times work was no dis- grace; and the fact that in early Attica the guilds won political privileges speaks well for their reputation. Slavery. Hand in hand with skilled industry developed slavery. A workman who could buy a single slave for his shop became a cap- italist on a small scale, which was generally enlarged with future pur- chases, till the master outrivalled the old noble in wealth and could contend with him for political supremacy. The growth of industry was accordingly interwoven with the political and constitutional de- velopment of Greece. Lydian, Ionian, and Lesbian industries. The industries of the new age had their principal origin in Ionia and her neighbor Lydia, a country of diverse natural resources. Hence it was that in the seventh century Lydian headbands, sandals, and golden ornaments for the person were among the most highly-prized luxuries of Hellas. ^^ Soon, however, these products were excelled by the brilliant efforts of lonians and Lesbians. Miletus won fame for her finely woven woollens of rich violet, saffron, purple, and scarlet colors, and her rare embroideries for the decoration of hats and robes. Doubtless her workshops produced a wide range of wares, not mentioned in history, such as were .demanded by the increasing refinement of her civilization. Second only to Miletus were other cities of Ionia, and Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Notably Glaucus of Chios dis- covered a process for welding iron, which proved inv^aluable in the 10 Examples are Hesiod's father (Works, 633 ff.) and Solon (Arist. Const. Ath. 11). 17 Cf. Alcman 23 (H. Civ. no. 43) ; Sappho 16. 58 HELLENIC HISTORY useful and fine arts. About the same time certain Samians intro- duced bronze casting into Greece from the Orient.^^ Aegina and Calchis. Naturally the extension of skilled industry over Greece was from East to West. Aegina, whose scant soil forced the people to industry and commerce, produced bronze work — such as cauldrons, tripods, and sculptured figures and groups — in addi- tion to small wares of various kinds. In Euboea, on the strait of Euripus, Chalcis became a thriving industrial city. With bronze, obtained in part from neighboring mines, and with the purple mollusk caught in the strait, she manufactured wares for war and peace and costly dyes for kings and nobles. Corinth. In industry and commerce Chalcis had eventually to yield to Corinth, from early time renowned for wealth. Its citadel was Acrocorinthus, a steep and lofty peak commanding a view of the Isthmus below and of a wide expanse of country all about. The two harbors, one on the Saronic Gulf, the other on the Corinthian, afforded easy commerce with the East and the West. To avoid the hazardous doubling of Cape Malea, ships here unloaded their freight, which under a toll to the city was transi)orted across the Isthmus. Early dreams of a canal were idle; but in time was constructed a tramway for hauling ships across. The city was not simply a mart but a thriving centre of industry, which produced vases showing Oriental influence, bronze wares for utensils and arms, well-woven and beautifully dyed woollen fabrics for clothing and tapestries. Even the lonians, not content with their rich native fabrics, welcomed the Corinthian robes of purple, sea-green, hyacinth, violet, and bril- liant red. In the vases were exported wines, olive oil and toilet ointments. These activities were fostered by the government. The king had been supplanted by the members of his gens, the Bacchiadae, who, forming a close aristocracy, refused intermarriage with any other class. During their ninety years of rule (647—557) they de- veloped the useful and decorative arts to a high stage of excellence; and in friendly cooperation with Chalcis they extended their lines of traffic in various directions. ^^ Megara and Attica. Immediately to the north of Corinth was Megara, a little city-state with a narrow territory extending across 18 Milesian goods; Democritus, Temple of Artemis, i, in Athen. xii. 29. Metallic works; Hdt. i. 25; Pliny, N. H. xxxv. 152. 19 Wealthy Corinth; //. ii. 570. Harbors; Strabo viii. 6. 19-23. Canal and tramway; Diog. i .99 (Per. vi). Bacchiadae; Hdt. v. 92; Strabo viii. 6. 20; Euseb. ed. Schoene. i. App. p. 219, ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 59 the Isthmus. The soil was stony, scarcely fit for anything but graz- ing. This condition compelled the Megarians to manufacture, with their scant means, coarse woollens and heavy potteries, and from both their narrow coasts to traffic with the East and West. In the seventh and sixth centuries Attica remained essentially agricultural. It did export, however, oil and probably wine in beautifully, painted va.ses. Her great industrial and commercial development belongs to the following period. Other centres of industry and traffic will be mentioned in other connections. Colonial expansion, about 750-550. With the economic develop- ment of the period is closely connected a great movement of colonial expansion.-** While in agricultural districts the departure of emi- grants lightened the burden of excessive population, the growth of thriving cities demanded not only an increased food supply but an importation of raw materials from distant countries, and markets for manufactured products. Added to the need of an outlet for the sur- plus population and the requirements of industry and commerce, were the love of adventure and enterprise and the fortune-hunting spirit inborn in many Greeks; and as time went on, not a few were detached from their home countries by the political unrest which at- tended the evolution of government from monarchy to aristocracy, tyranny and democracy. Minoan, Etruscan, and Chalcidic colonization. The Minoans had traded with Sicily and with Italy as far north at least as Cam- pania, and had sent colonists thither. A last remnant most probably was the Etruscan people, whose Minoan ancestors came to Italy no later than 800. Then the mariners of Chalcis followed in the Etrus- can path ^^ to Campania for barter with the natives. About 750 they planted their first colony in Italy. The chief object was trade, as we may infer from its location on the little island of Pithecussae off the promontory of Misenum. Here the strangers could defend them- 20 For the beginnings of colonization there are no contemporary sources. The precise dates of founding given in late chroniclers are reconstructions, and the traditions are strongly colored, especially to the credit of the Delphic Apollo. Although incidentally Herodotus (e. g. i. 163-7; iv. 145-6'!) touches upon colonization, the first author to deal systematically with the subject was Hellanicus (FHG. I. p. 51-3). After him came Anti- ochus (FHG. I. p. 181-4), from whom Thucydides (vi. 1-5) drew, Philistus {FHG. I. p. 185-92), Ephorus (.op. cit. p. 243 ff.), and Timaeus (.op. cit. I. 193 ff . ; IV. 640 f.). These lost writers were the sources for Diodorus v-viii; Strabo; Pliny, N. H. iii-vi; Pausanias; Scymnus of Chios (GGM. I. 196 ff.); and occasional passages in other writers. A little light is afforded bv contemporary inscriptions. 21 Minoan colonies; p. 28 above. Chalcidic colonies; Peet, Papers of the British School at Rome, IV. 294. 60 HELLENIC HISTORY selves far better than on the mainland. It was a lovely isle, with a beautiful landscape, rich soil, and an exhaustless supply of the best clay to be found in Italy. From there they crossed over to the main- land and settled Cumae, by ancient repute the oldest Greek colony in the peninsula. Its founding, however, could have been no earlier than the middle of the eighth century. Long afterward Cumae in conjunction with some Athenians settled Neapolis on the Bay of Naples. The Cumaeans manufactured vases and metal wares for trade with the native Ausonians, in whose country they were set- tled, and with the Latins farther north. Their fields unstintingly yielded grain, with which in after years they could relieve the city of Rome when distressed with famine. ^^ Cumaean culture. On the loftiest hill of the city the Cumaeans built a temple to Apollo, in which they erected a wooden statue no less than fifteen feet in height."^ The shrine was the centre of culture, which at that time was all religious. Here the Greeks continued to expand the myths of their race, making Odysseus (Ulysses) and other national heroes visit the shores of Italy in their wanderings. The volcanic character of the land suggested the presence of super-nature — the terrific battle of the giants for the ownership of a fertile neighboring plain, the cavernous mouth of Hades' realm, and the mysterious abode of the Sibyl, Apollo's prophetess, who wrote her oracles on leaves. This was the first Hellenic centre of culture with which the Romans came into touch; thence they borrowed the cult of Apollo and the art of writing. Other Chalcidic colonies. Afterward the Cumaeans with other colonists from the mother city founded Zancle — the " sickle "-shaped town — on the Sicilian side of the strait of Messene. In later years after receiving an accession of immigrants from Messenia, it came to be named Messene (Messana). Other Chalcidic towns were Rhe- gium on the opposite side of the strait, and Himera on the northern coast of Sicily far to the west of Zancle.-* Achaean colonies. Meanwhile Achaeans from northern Pelo- ponnese founded Sybaris in the instep of the peninsula. Built in a plain which was unhealthful yet marvellously productive, the town drew abundant wealth from the soil. Her people expanded by col- 22Strabo v. 4. 4, 9; Livy viii. 22. 5; Pliny, N. H. iii. 82; Pais, Anc. Italy, 181 ff.— Livy ii. 9. 6; 34. 3. 23 Caelius Antipater, in Peter, Relliq. I. p. 163. 24 Sicilian colonies in general; Thuc. vi. 2-5. ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 61 onization and conquest till, it is said, they ruled over four nation- alities and twenty-five cities. In their final struggle with Croton, we are informed with undoubted exaggeration, that they placed three hundred thousand men in the field. -° A colony on the west coast, founded partly by them was Posidonia ^" which now attracts a con- tinual stream of tourists by its temy)le ruins. In a district, malarial and thinly peopled yet surpassingly fertile, stands the temple to Poseidon imj)ressive in its lonely majesty. Originally agricultural, the Achaeans developed a great commerce, especially as intermediaries between Ionia and Etruria. Milesian woollens of fiiie texture, brought to Sybaris, were transported across the peninsula to her coast col- onies, where Etruscan merchants eagerly bought them.^^ Croton, an- other Achaean city, acquired a territory inferior to that of Sybaris, but a superior fame for athletism and war. Locri, a colony from Locris, remained purely agricultural, hence far inferior in wealth and population to the great Achaean cities. Here arose the first Indo-- European law code, which tradition assigns to Zaleucus.^* Dorian colonies : Tarentum. In Italy the Dorians made one set- tlement of primary importance — Tarentum, founded, according to traditions, from Laconia in the time of the Messenian wars. It was on an excellent harbor in the instep of Italy, northeast of Sybaris, The settlers wrested from the native lapygians a wide tract of land, in which they occupied themselves with farming and sheep-raising. Equally important were fishing and the preparation of purple dye. The Tarentines developed a great industry in weaving and dyeing fine woollens as well as in vase-making. Their wares they exported throughout the peninsula. The Greek colonists, and by no means least among them the Tarentines, profoundly affected the history of Italy.29 Syracuse, founded 734. Among the earliest colonizers of Sicily were the Corinthians. Archias, a noble, sailing from Corinth, left a band of settlers on Corcyra; thence proceeding to Sicily, he founded Syracuse on the island of Ortygia. The fountain Arethusa supplied copious fresh water, while the Great and Little harbors gave certain promise of a splendid commercial future. The colonists divided 25Diod. xi. 90. 3; xii. 9. 2; Strabo vi. 1. 13. 26 Strabo vi. 1. 1. 27 Timaeu.s, in FHG. I. p. 205. 60. 28 Polyb. xii. 5 ff . ; Strabo vi. 1. 7 f. ; p. 71 below. 29 Died. viii. 21; Strabo vi. 3. 1-4. Debt of Rome to Greeks of Italy; Pais, Anc. Italy ch. xxi. 62 HELLENIC HISTORY among themselves the adjacent territory, in large estates, to be worked by serfs called Cyllyrians. We do not know the origin of this class but evidently the native Sices formed a great part of it. Far more numerous than their lords, they corresponded in status to the helots of Laconia described below. Thus the society of the colony differen- tiated into great landlords, a middle class of merchants, and artisans, serfs, and purchased slaves. Soon the city outgrew the island and expanded over the neighboring plateau. Under favoring conditions of location and soil Syracuse was destined in the days of her greatness to become the most populous and the most strongly fortified city in Europe.^" Acragas (Agrigentum) and other colonies in Sicily. Many other Dorian colonies from various cities were planted in southern Sicily, the most brilliant of which was Acragas. Its founders, " after long toils bravely borne, took by a river's side a sacred dwell- ing place, and became the eye of Sicily, and a life of good luck clave to them to crown their inborn worth." Their citadel was a lofty ridge two miles from the shore. Beneath this shelter on the south the city grew up on the high ground between two mountain streams, which join below before flowing on to the sea. The river's estuary served as a harbor. There the jars of oil and wine produced in the rich fields about the city were loaded for shipment to the eager marts of Carthage whence a back-returning stream of silver marvellously enriched the Acragantines.^^ Other colonies of Sicily, to be named in the course of this narrative, need not be mentioned here. A wreath of Hellenic settlements nearly encircled the flowery island. Only in the west, the Phoenicians, receding somewhat before the aggressive Greeks, stubbornly maintained themselves. Importance of the Western Greek colonies. The economic and cultural history of the Italian and Sicilian Greeks is closely twined on the one hand with that of the mother country, on the other with that of Rome. They interest us not only for their own contributions to civilization and their reactive stimulus to older Hellas, but even more as a mighty factor in the civilization of Italy, and through Italy of central and western Europe. Improved navigation and the far western colonies: Spain. The earlier voyages to these shores had been made in small round- so Hdt. vii. 155; Timacus, in FUG. I. p. 204. 56; Dion. Hal. vi. 62. Fortifications; p. 210 below. 3iThuc. vi. 4; Strabo vi. 2. 5. Quotation, Pindar, Ol. ii. 9 ff. ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 63 bottomed boats described above. In the seventh century developed a somewhat longer vessel with Hatter bottom furnished with fifty oars and armed with a bronze I^eak for attack. These improved ships conveyed the Samians, and more actively the Phocaeans, in their distant voyages to Iberia (Spain), whose gold, silver, and cop- per attracted them. Beyond the Pillars of Heracles in the stormy Atlantic the Cassiterides Isles and distant Britain yielded tin, a metal chiefly prized as an ingredient of bronze. In the tin trade the Phoenicians were intermediaries between Greeks and natives.^" Colonies in Gaul. On the southern coast of Gaul Phocaeans founded Massalia (Marseilles), long the chief centre of Hellenic culture in the western Mediterranean, mother of a cluster of colonies in Gaul and Iberia, and school of the neighboring barbarians, who learned there to speak and write the Hellenic tongue. The Greeks of this region brought with them the Ionian laws and from Ephesus the cult of Artemis, whose temples rose in every city. We must accord- ingly regard the Phocaeans as the forerunners of Rome in the work of civilizing southwestern Europe."^ Northern Aegean colonies. A somewhat different interest attaches to colonial movements in other directions. The founding of settle- ments on the Thracian sea and along the Hellespont and Propontis served merely to expand Aegean Hellas to its natural limits. In the occupation of the Chalcidic peninsula the name itself suggests that Chalcis took the lead, though Eretria and Corinth participated. The country was rough, but the chief occupation was agriculture, along with fishing. In later time the timber of the region proved a source of revenue, and in the neighborhood were the mines of Mount Pangaeus. It was through these colonies that the Macedonians of the interior, a backward Hellenic people, slowly acquired the civ- ilization of their progressive southern kinsmen.^'* Colonies on the Hellespont and Propontis. Meanwhile the lonians were sailing through the Hellespont and the Propontis and along the coasts of the Black Sea, to catch the tunny fish, to trade with the natives, and to plant settlements on all the shores. Miletus alone is said to have founded no less than ninety in this region.^^ 32 Hdt. i. 163; iv. 152; Strabo iii. 2. 3, 6-10 (valuable Spanish products); 2. 13 f. (Phoeni- cians); 5, 11 (Cassiterides). 33Hdt i. 163; Thuc. i. 13. 6; Arist Frag. 549 (Rose); Timaeus, in FHG. 1. p. 201. 40; strabo iv. 1. 4 f. 34 Thuc. i. 56; iv. 109, 110, 120, 123; Strabo x. 1. 8. 35 Pliny, N. H. v. 112; Ephorus, in FHG. I. p. 260. 92. 64 HELLENIC HISTORY Most important, however, was Byzantium on the Propontis — the most famous among the colonies of Megara. It is situated on a spacious bay in touch with migrating shoals of fish — an exhaustless source of wealth to the inhabitants. Their command of the strait enabled them to levy tolls on passing ships, while splendid opportunities for com- merce, combined with a strong defensible position, further contributed to their prosperity. A thousand years after its founding this city, under the name of Constantinople, became the capital of the Roman empire.^" Colonies on the Black Sea. Although Hellenic settlements sur- rounded the Black Sea in a nearly unbroken chain, their civilization failed to penetrate far into the interior or materially to affect the natives. For such results the settlers were all too few. To Hellas the Black Sea region, while offering little intellectual aid, furnished useful products — especially fish, timber, dyes, wheat, metals, cattle, and slaves.^" Naucratis, Egypt. In another direction Greek enterprise was to bear rich intellectual fruit. About the middle of the seventh century Psammetichus had made himself master of Egypt with the help of bronze-clad Ionian and Carian rovers of the sea. He and his dynasty were therefore most friendly to the Greeks. A settle- ment of Ionian traders on the Canobic channel of the Nile they per- mitted accordingly to grow till it became the colony of Naucratis. Here under the protection of the government various Greek cities of Asia Minor and the neighboring islands, together with Aegina, estab- lished their warehouses for trade. ^^ The king enlisted many Greek mercenaries; the natives, whose country produced few grapes, en- joyed the wines imported from Greece, and sent in exchange the varied products of the Orient. A class of native interpreters, ac- quainted with the Hellenic tongue, grew up, who entranced the curious tourist, with wondrous tales of folklore and religion and medical skill, of engineering and building achievement in the erection of pyramid or labyrinth or temple, whose immensity and durability awed the impressionable Hellenic mind. The importation of papyrus into Greece cheapened writing material, while the elementary facts of geometry and astronomy, brought home by inquisitive tourists, stimu- lated the birth of Hellenic science and philosophy. To the opening of 36Hdt. iv. 144; Strabo vii. 6. 2; (Scymnos) 717. 37 Minns, Scythians and Greeks, 440 ff. 38Hdt. ii. 151-82; Strabo xvii. 1. 18; cf. Hall, Anc. History, 527 ff. TRADE IN SILPHIUM (Vase Painting) PENELOPE AT THE LOOM 66 HELLENIC HISTORY Egypt, therefore, we may trace in part the great intellectual awakening of Hellas. Motive and effects of colonization. It is unnecessary in these pages to mention by name any one of the hundreds of other Greek settlements scattered along the coasts of the Mediterranean and of its tributary waters. The leading motive, as has been noticed, was economic, expansion of trade, and provision for the surplus popula- tion of a marvellously virile race. Among the effects were not only the bestowal of Hellenism in a varying degree upon the peoples of the Mediterranean basin, but also the enrichment of the Greeks themselves, and, through contact with the world, their own stupendous advance in civilization. All that the Europeans and their colonists now are in the world, the Hellenes were then in the Mediterranean basin — carriers of civilization and reaj>ers of political and economic profit through their vital and intellectual mastery. The founding and the organization of a colony. In the plant- ing of colonies the Greeks of this period gradually developed a body of customs, to which they felt morally bound. The founding city — metropolis, " mother-state " — after obtaining the sanction of the Del- phic Apollo, appointed as founder a citizen of noble family, to con- duct the colonists to their new home, establish the government, and after death receive worship as a hero. Often an invitation was issued to friendly neighbors to take part. A charter of incorporation was drawn up which constituted the proposed settlement as a community, named the founder, provided for the assignment of lands and for other necessary matters, and regulated the relations between the mother and daughter cities.'^ The tie was fundamentally one of kinship, such as binds parents and children : " Well I know that many col- onies have been, and will be, at enmity with their parents. But in early days the child, as in a family, loves and is loved; even if there come a time later when the tie is broken, still while he is in want of education, he naturally loves his parents and is beloved by them, and flies to his relatives for protection, and finds in them his only natural allies in time of need." *° These words of Plato testify to the strong bond of filial sentiment which showed itself in the partici- pation in common religious festivals, in the reciprocal rights and hon- 39 Decree for the founding of Brea; H. Civ. no. 73; cf. Hicks and Hill, no. 25; IG. IX. I. no. 334. See also Hdt. iv. 159; Thuc. iii. 92; Cic. Div. i. 1. 3. 40 Plato, Laws, vi. 754 (Jowett). ECONOMIC GROWTH AND COLONIAL EXPANSION 67 ors extended by each community to the members of the other, and in the j:;eneral continuity of religious, social, and political usages and institutions of the old city in the new. A colony in the neigh- borhood of the mother-state usually remained politically dependent, such as were the Athenian settlements of the fifth century known as cleruchies (" lot -holdings ") ; but so strong were the decentralizing tendencies that distant colonies became forthwith sovereign states, permanently united with the mother-state, however, by the firmest bond of alliance known to the Greeks.*^ The colonial movement tended accordingly to widen the sympathy beyond the narrow limits of city-state, while the experience gained in the framing of charters and in the organization of new communities stimulated the development of written law and constitutions and ultimately the birth of political science. Commerce was greatly promoted by the invention of coinage. Early in the Middle Age the Minoan currency was lost to the world, which in consequence returned to barter. After the introduction of iron, spits — obols — of that metal passed as small currency. In the eighth century the lonians, reviving the Minoan custom, began to use as coins striated drops of electron, a natural amalgam of gold and silver. Probably they were before the Lydians in the adoption of a coinage. From the early seventh century Ionian and Lydian is- sues may be approximately dated. West of the Aegean sea the Aeginetans were the first to stamp coins. Their type was a two- drachma piece of about 194 grains, giving 97 grains to the drachma. The latter, considered equivalent to six current obols, would furnish silver for an American quarter of a dollar. This double-drachma was called a " tortoise " from the figure of that reptile stamped on the face. It passed current not only in Aegina but also for a long time in the Greek peninsula, on many of the islands, and in Hellenic colonies of Italy and Sicily. Chalcis and Eretria were not far behind Aegina in coinage. Among their earliest issues were various denominations in electron. Their standard coin, however, was a silver piece weighing about 135 grains and therefore much lighter than the Aeginetan. Attic chronicles of later time regarded this piece, too, as a double drachma. It passed current in the numerous Euboic colonies, and was adopted 41 Hdt. viii. 22; ix. 28; Thuc. i. 56, 60; v. 106. 68 HELLENIC HISTORY by Solon as a standard for Athens. The silver contained in this drachma is worth in American money a trifle more than eighteen cents.*- 42 Minoan currency; p. 00 above. Iron spits at Sparta; p. 18. Date of the beginning of Ionian coinage; Hogarth, Ephesus, 75, 255; Gardner, Brit. Ac. III. In Asia the ratio of electron to silver was 10:1; of gold to silver, 131/3:1. The value of an Aeginetan drachma in American money is strictly tvventy-si.\ cents; of the Attic-Euboic drachma 18% cents. Ascription of the earliest coinage to the Lydians; Xenophanes, in Pollu.x ix. 83; Hdt. i. 94. Possibly they were the first to coin gold and silver as distinguished from electron, of. Gardiner, P., Hist, of Anc. Coinage, pp. 72 ff. ADDITIONAL READING I. Economy. Whibley, Companion, 518-47; Beloch, Griech. Gesch, I., 264- 308, brief treatments of the period. In the following general works, consult the Content and the Indices; Guiraud, P., La propriety jancicre en Grece (Paris, 1893); Etudes economiques sur I'antiquitc (Paris, 1905); Francotte, H. L'industrie dans la Grece ancienne, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1900) ; Meyer, E., Kleine Schrijtcn (Halle, 1910), includes several useful articles on economy. For the coins, see Hill, G. F., Historical Greek Coins (ISIacmillan, 1906); Head, B. V., Ilistoria Numorum (2d. ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911); Babelon, E., Traits des monnaies grecques et romaines, 3 vols. (Paris, 1901-10) ; Gardner, P., A History of Ancient Coinage, 700-300 B. C. (Oxford, 1918). On the ancient ship. Tarn, W., in JHS., XXV, 137 ff, 204 ff. On the plough, Gow, A. S. F., in JHS., XXXIV 249 ff. For other works on economy, see H. Civ., p. 469 f. II. Colonization. — Bury, ch. ii; Holm, I, ch. xxi; Abbott, I, ch. xi; Cur- tius, bk. II, ch. iii; Grote, III, chs. xxii, xxiii; IV, chs. xxvi, xxvii; Freeman, E. A., History of Sicily, 1 (entire) ; Whibley, Companion, 513-17; Botsford and Sihler, Hellenic Civilization, ch. iii; Hogarth, D. G., and others, "Naukratis," JHS., XXV, 105-36; Minns, E. H., Scythians and Greeks (Cambridge Univer- sity Press, 1913), especially chs. x-xiii; Greenidge, Greek Const. Hist., ch. iii; Phillipson, C, International Law and Custom of Greece and Rome, II, ch. xix; Cunningham, IFwierw Civilization in its Economic Aspects, II, ch. i; Beloch, Griech. Gesch., I, 1, 229-64; Holm, A., Geschichte Siziliens, I, 108-44; Pais E., Storia della Sicilia e della Magna Grecia (Torino 1894) ; Ancient Italy (Chicago: University Press 1908); Raoul-Rochette, D., Histoire critique de I'etahlissement des colonies grecques, 4 vols. (Paris, 1815); Svvoboda, H., Griech. Staatsaltertiimer (1913)' 184-207; Gwynn, A., "The Character of Greek Colonisation " in JHS., XXXVIII, 88-123 ; Rostovtzeff, M., The Iranians and the Greeks in S. Russia (Oxford, 1922). CHAPTER V EVOLUTION OF THE CITY-STATE AMPHICTYONIES AND LEAGUES Economic and political transition from Minoan to Hellenic times. Limiting itself narrowly to islands and coasts, the Minoan civilization owed its evolution to the interplay of commercial and industrial cities. Its decay consisted largely in the breaking down of the highly organized life of the city and a reversion to the simpler forms of existence native to field and mountain. The coming of the northerners, accustomed to nothing better than the village, accentu- ated this change. The economy of the Middle Age accordingly was one of hunting, grazing, and incipient agriculture. The emergence of historical Greece, on the other hand, from the obscurity and de- pression of that period consisted essentially in the revival of city civilization, based partly on the old seats of Minoan life and partly on newer foundations. It has already been noted that the area of the Minoan culture — mainly the Aegean islands and coasts — now becoming the home of brilliant cities constituted the very heart of the Hellenic world. The ethnos (e^vo?). The interior and northwest of the peninsula, keeping in the background of culture, retained the more primitive form of the country state. This institution is designated as an ethnos — essentially a community resting on the basis of blood and negatively described as wanting the city organization. Such a peo- ple occupied a definite territory usually limited by natural boundaries,' as mountain chains or seas, and was distinguished from other ethne by dialect and customs. Examples are the Aetolians, Acarnanians, Locrians, and Arcadians. A large ethnos, like the Aetolian, com- prised several sub-ethne which we may venture to call tribes. The latter were divided into smaller groups, the subdivision continuing till we reach the phratry (brotherhood) and its component families. The members of a phratry as kinsmen stood side by side on the field of battle, and in time of peace protected the lives of the brethren, or wreaked vengeance for their slain. Each group from phratry up- 69 70 HELLENIC HISTORY ward, based on real or pretended kinship, had its social institutions, government, and gods; but of these matters the ancient historians give us mere hints. ^ The village (km/xt]). The canton (ovaTrjixa). The city-state, polls (ttoAis). The people lived in small, widely separated villages^ most of them unwalled. Though the village naturally contained a nucleus of kinsfolk, it was fundamentally territorial, comprising a mixed population, and served accordingly as the first step in the transition from tribal to political society. Neighboring villages with little respect for the ties of kin, ioined for mutual protection in a canton, which usually centred in a fortified hilltop. The village chief — demiurgos, " public worker " — represented his community in the cantonal diet. Several such Arcadian cantons continued down into historical time. Under conditions favorable to the advancement of civilization, to the accumulation of wealth, and to political de- velopment, the cantonal centre became a city — polls. Throughout the historical period we constantly observe the formation of cities from villages, and cannot doubt that in prehistoric Greece the process was similar. Although the city thus developed on the basis of neighbor- hood rather than of blood, it organized itself on the ethnic pattern in tribes (or their equivalents) and phratries, and assumed for its citizens a kinship which was fictitious. The new city was a sovereign state, whose organization and government sufficed for her entire territory. A community of this kind is described as a city-state in contrast with the more primitive ethnic community and with the territorial state of modern times. At the opening of the period now under consideration there were in Hellas, in addition to many ethne, a countless number of these states ranging from a few square miles to a few hundred square miles in area.^ Monarchy. Whether of ethnos or polls the government was orig- inally vested in king, council, and 7)opular assembly. Though es- sentially like that described by Homer, Minoan survivals in many places must have modified it in the direction of greater definiteness and complexity.^ Its activity, however, was limited to defence against foreign enemies and domestic rebellion, maintenance of the gods' good will, and the arbitration of private disputes. The defence of 1 Ethnos and its divisions; Tliuc. iii. 94, 96, 101. Tribes and phratries; //, ii. 362 f. 2 Village; Thuc. i. 2, 5; iii. 94. Canton, " union of townships." avaTTnua. or ffvfreyeia bvuLwf, Strabo viii. X 2. City-state; Arist. Po'it. i. 2. 8. 1252 b. •"! P. S3. The earliest known government of Athens and of Sparta, for example, though essentially like the Homeric, is more definite and more complex. CITY-STATE AMPHICTYONIES AND LEAGUES 71 life itself, as has been intimated, belonfred to the families and phra- tries. Law was in fact customary but the general feelinj^ prevailed that the king, who ruled by divine sanction, received his judgments from Zeus or Apollo or some other deity. Transition to aristocracy, beginning about 750. In some ethne, as in Epeiros and Macedon, monarchy j^ersisted throughout histor- ical times. The more progressive city-state, however, as the Ionian, began to adopt aristocracies about the middle of the eighth century. The change was gradual. The great nobles who formed the council took an ever increasing part in the government till they usurped complete control. Their means of aggrandizement were the degrada-, tion of the king to a mere priest and judge, the institution of new offices in addition to the kingship, the reduction of the tenure of all offices to a single year, and the appointment and supervision of offi- cials, rendering them responsible to the council for their adminis- tration. In this way the council made itself supreme, while the of- ficers became its tools and the assembly lost the little significance it had possessed under the monarchy.* Law. The idea of law underwent a corresponding change. While ] it remained for a time purely customary as before, the nobles gen- erally regarded themselves not as recipients of legal revelations, but as keepers of a body of law once divinely established and now handed down as a precious heritage from father to son. The nobles made use of their legal monopoly to decide cases capriciously or from motives of favoritism or in pursuit of bribes. " Persuaded by their love of money," exclaims Solon of Athens, " the nobles desire reck- lessly to destroy the great city. As to the people, the mind of their magistrates is dishonest — magistrates who are doomed to suffer many ills because of their monstrous violence. . . . They grow wealthy in obedience to unjust deeds." ^ Codifications of the law: Zaleucus. These evils, it was doubt- less thought, could be partially remedied by the codification of legal usages. The state already possessed some written documents, includ- ing lists of magistrates and treaties, and it was but natural that writing should now be extended to the preservation of laws. The earliest European code known to history was produced at Locri, Italy. ' The story is told that on consulting the oracle in a time of civil con- 4 Transition; Arist. Polit. iii. 15. 11 f., 1286 b; iv. 7. 2-5, 1293 b; v. 10. 38, 1313 a. 5 Botsford, Source-Book, 125 f. (Solon 4). Misuse of the law in Boeotia; Hesiod, Works, 248 ff. 72 HELLENIC HISTORY fusion the Locrians were directed to a slave shepherd named Zaleucus. Set free and established as legislator, he drew up a code of laws, which he explained were given him by Athena in dreams. He care- fully regulated the lives of the citizens and imposed the stigma of a depraved character on women and men who indulged in an excess of liberty or luxury of dress or ornament. He placed property and business contracts under better control, and deprived the judge of the power to give arbitrary decisions. Ordinances concerning personal injuries were severe, requiring " an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." In a case of appeal, we are informed, judge and appellant had each to appear with his neck in a noose, and the one who failed to sustain his cause was executed on the spot. In like manner the proposer of a new law was required to advocate it with a noose about his neck. The result was that the Locrians became famous for con- servatism, military spirit, hospitality, and sound morals. " There (at Locri)," says Pindar, "do ye, O Muses, join in the song of triumph. I pledge my word that to no stranger-banishing folk ye shall come, nor unacquainted with things noble, but of the highest in the arts and valiant with the spear." " With the Muses setting myself thereunto fervently, have I embraced the Locrians' famous race, and have sprinkled my honey over a city of goodly men." The laws of Zaleucus will suffice as an illustration of early codes; those of Athens will be considered in another place.*^ From aristocracy to tyranny. In Thessaly the aristocrats, who had wrested the supreme power from the king, long retained their supremacy. Elsewhere they were usually too weak to endure more than a century or thereabout. Often the aristocracy was overthrown by a tyrant — usurper, unconstitutional ruler. It is noteworthy that among the Greek states of the seventh century Lacedaemon alone, so far as we know, possessed a standing army sufficient for maintaining domestic peace and protecting life and property. The rest were filled with civil strife. This condition made the usurpation of gov- ernment easy. Sometimes a magistrate refused to lay down his office on its expiration, but maintained himself by force. In this way he became a tyrant. Or the tyrant might be an umpire, whom war- ring factions chose to arbitrate between them, and who took ad- 6 Arist. Frag. 548 (Rose); Diod. xii. 20 f . ; Polyb. xii. 16; Strabo vi. 1. 8; Dem. Timoc. 139-41 ; (Scymnos) 314 f. The existence of Zaleucus was doubted even by the ancients; Timaeus in FHG. I. p. 209. 69. The code, however, implies the codifier, whose name and personality are of minor importance. Quotations from Pindar, Ol. x. 107 ff. ; xi. 13 ff. CITY-STATE AMPHICTYONIES AND LEAGUES 73 vantage of the occasion to seize the government. More commonly he was an ambitious politician who, failing in a struggle for office, appealed to the people, promising them economic or political ad- vantage in return for their support. A military reputation, added to smoothness of speech, increased his chances for success. With the help of the commons, he would overthrow his fellow aristocrats and make himself master.''' Tyranny at Corinth, 657-586 (conventional, though uncer- tain, dates). Among the earliest tyrannies was that of the Cypsel- idae at Corinth. Cypselus, the founder, overthrew the ruling Bacchiadae, to whom he was related on his mother's side. During his reign of thirty years, " he drove many Corinthians into exile, many he deprived of their wealth, and very many more of their lives." These words of Herodotus should apply only to his treat- ment of the nobles. By the people he was so beloved throughout his reign as to require no personal guard. The Bacchiad policy of col- onization and patronage of the useful and fine arts he inherited, and handed down to his son and successor, Periander.® Periander. Of the latter Herodotus has still more discreditable stories to tell. Elsewhere, however, we learn that he was an able commander in war and a wise and moderate ruler. By checking the importation of slaves, he assured to skilled workmen a better social standing than this class enjoyed anywhere else in Hellas. To encour- age agriculture as well as political quiet, he forbade unoccupied per- sons to live within the city. A council which he established was charged with the duty of checking the growth of luxury and of seeing that no one spent more than his income warranted. As mar- ket and harbor customs sufficed for the needs of government, the citi- zens were relieved of direct taxes. These statesmanlike measures help account for his long reign of forty-four years. ^ The tyranny sur- vived him but three years, when it was overthrown by a band of con- spirators. Tyranny at Sicyon, 670-560 (conventional, though uncertain, dates). Next in brilliance among the early Hellenic tyrants stood the Orthagoridae of Sicyon. This city lay northwest of Corinth in the narrow but fertile valley of the Aesopus. The little district was 7 Arist. PoHt. V. 5. 6-11, 1305 a; 8. 7, 1308 a; 10. 4-6, 1310 b. 8Hdt. V. 92; Nicolaus of Damascus, in FHG. HI. p. 391, 58; Arist. Polit. v. 12. 1-4, 1315 b. 9Hdt. V. 92; Nicolaus, op. cit. p. 393. 59 f . ; Pseud. Heracleides, in FHG. II. p. 212. V; Arist. Polit. iii. 13. 16-8, 1284 a; v. 10. 13, 1311 a; 11. 4, 1313 a; 12. 3, 1315 b. 74 HELLENIC HISTORY as famous for its garden and orchard products as for bronze wares and potteries.^*^ In addition to landlords and their serfs there had developed a considerable class of artisans and traders. Whereas usually the tyrant was of noble birth, Orthagoras, who usurped the government of Sicyon, was from a lower social class.^^ Cleisthenes, early sixth century. Of his descendants it was Cleisthenes who made his city one of the most brilliant in Hellas. His first effort was to free Sicyon from the political control which Argos hitherto had exercised over it. This object he accomplished in a successful war with the dominant power. Moreover he forbade the rhapsodists to chant in Sicyon their epics, which celebrated the glories of Argos. To free his countrymen from religious dependence r>n their former master, he determined to expel from his city the cult of Adrastus, an Argive hero. With this end in view he built a shrine to the Theban hero Melanippus, who in story had figured as a deadly enemy of Adrastus. To the newly adopted hero he trans- ferred all the revenues and festivals of the old, whereupon the priests of Adrastus beat a hasty retreat from Sicyon. This anecdote illus- trates the singular importance of hero cults among the early Greeks. The three Doric tribes, to which the landowners belonged, still re- minded Sicyon of its close connection with Argos, till Cleisthenes abolished their names, contemptuously substituting Piglings, Don- keys, and Porkers, whereas his own tribe of Shoremen, evidently comprising artisans and traders, he dignified by the name of Ruling Class (Archelai'). This measure hints at a policy which trans- formed Sicyon from an agricultural to an industrial and commercial state.^2 The wooing of Agariste. Another picture of this illustrious tyrant, drawn by Herodotus, shows him a lordly generous host. On his invitation came young men of noblest birth from every part of Hellas to woo his daughter Agariste; and for a whole year he enter- tained them, while he tested their athletic and musical training, their social and table manners, their breeding and temper. He looked with favor on Hippocleides of Athens, till the latter one evening dis- played a marvellous skill in dancing; after representing Laconian figures, and then Attic, he closed with a performance on the table, head downward, his feet gesticulating in air. " Ah, son of lODiod. XX. 102; Strabo viii. 6. 25; Pliny, N. H. xxxvi. 9. 11 Arist. Polit. v. 12. 1, 1,M5 b; Diod. viii. 2A. i2Hdt. V. 67 f. ; Arist. Polit. v. 12. 1, 1315 b; Nicolaus in FHG. III. p. 394. 61. CITY-STATE AMPHICTYONIES AND LEAGUES 75 Teisander," exclaimed the sovereign, " thou hast danced away thy wedding"; the other answered, " Hippocleides cares not," which became a proverb at Athens. In a polite address Cleisthenes then expressed his regret at not having a daughter to bestow on every one of his highly accomplished guests; and promising them a silver talent each as a trifling substitute, he concluded: " To the son of Alcmaeon, Megacles, I offer my daughter Agariste in marriage according to the laws of the Athenians." The offer was accepted and the two who were thus united became the parents of the famous Athenian law- giver Cleisthenes, and the great-grandparents of the still more famous Pericles. This story sheds a pleasant light on the social relations and intermarriage of the great nobles of Greece, on the genial ele- gance of the tyrant, and on his wide interstate connections.^^ The death of Cleisthenes about 570 closed the century-long rule of his dynasty. Evidently other tyrants succeeded, and it was not till near the end of the sixth century (about 510) that Sicyon shook off the yoke. In the case of both Corinth and Sicyon the revolution was accomplished by a band of noble conspirators supported by the Lacedaemonians. Both cities adopted moderate oligarchy and both entered the Peloponnesian League.^* General character of the tyranny. These examples sufficiently illustrate for the present purpose the character of the earlier tyranny. Whatever the tyrant's origin, his authority was generally exercised in the interest of peace, material prosperity and progress in civiliza- tion. Putting an end alike to the factional strife of nobles and the sectional conilicts of tribes, he reduced his people to harmony and established domestic peace. No force in the Hellenic world of the time contributed so much to cultural progress. The tyrant's patron- age attracted poets, painters, sculptors, and architects, who formed in his court a brilliant and versatile society. Everywhere excepting in Sicyon rhapsodists were engaged to recite the Homeric poems at pop- ular gatherings; and everywhere at festivals in honor of the new god Dionysus, song and recitation — the germ of the drama — celebrated the sufferings and joys he experienced among mankind. By thus fostering literary interest among the people and by attaching them to newer cults he freed them in a degree from the priestly influence of the old nobility and educated them for self-government. 13 Hdt. vi. 126-31. liRylarid Papyri, I. p. 31; Nicolaus, in FHG. III. p. 393. 60. 9; p. 395. 61. 8; Hdt. v. 92; Plut. Malig. Herod. 21, 859 e; Diog. Laert. i. 68. 76 HELLENIC HISTORY Redress of legal and political wrongs. The tyrant's promise to the commons he fulfilled by putting an end to aristocratic oppres- sion, to the exactions of landlords, and to the unjust sentences of magistrates. Generally he enforced the existing laws and constitu- tion, though he was far from permitting the people to enjoy any real political power. The levelling of social classes, the enforcement of law by mercenary aid, developing a much needed civic discipline, together with an enlightened educational policy constituted an essen- tial and long-reaching stride on the way from aristocracy to democ- racy. Necessarily, however, as the tyrant concentrated governmental power in his own hands, the political rights of the citizens slept, while individuals of pronounced ambition were exiled or put to death. The long continuance of despotism would have crushed the genius of the Greeks and reduced them to the dead level of Asiatics. Fortunately tyrannies were short-lived. Whereas the usurper himself was a statesman, his sons and even more his grandsons, corrupted by wealth and unlimited power, so degenerated as to give the word tyrant the meaning which it has retained to the present time. Almost inevitably, however, the tyranny was succeeded either by a democracy or by an oligarchy more liberally constituted than the earlier aristocracy. Oligarchy. Literally an oligarchy is a " rule of the few "; accord- ing to Aristotle ^^ the few who based their right upon wealth. The narrowest and most oppressive form arose where a clique of wealthy men seized the government and exploited the state in their own inter- est. It is characterized by Aristotle '^^ as dynastic, a hydra-headed tyranny, far more heartless than the despotism of an individual. Broader and more endurable was the knightly oligarchy, in which participation in the government depended upon economic ability to furnish all necessary equipments for service on horseback. ^'^ The knight provided from his own estate either a single horse or two horses — one for himself, the other for his squire. Chalcis and Eretria are examples. This form of oligarchy, in which political privileges are graded on the basis of property, is precisely described as a timocracy.^^ Timocracy of the heavy infantry. A more popular form was so broad as to admit to active citizenship all who could equip them- 15 Polit. iii. 7. 5; 8. 6 f., 1279 b. IG Polit. iv. 6. 10 f., 1293 a; cf. iv. 5. 1-3, 1292 a. 17 Arist. Polit. iv. 3. 3, 1290 a; 13. 10, 1297 b. 3.8 Arist. Ethics, viii. 12, 1160; Rhetoric, i. 8, 1365. CITY-STATE AMPHICTYONIES AND LEAGUES 77 selves with a panoply for war. The latter developed from the former mainly through the growth of states in population and wealth. " The earliest government which existed among the Hellenes after the over- throw of the kingly power, grew up from the warrior class, and was originally taken from the knights (for strength and superiority in war at that time depended on cavalry) ; indeed without discipline infantry are useless, and in ancient times there was no military knowledge or tactics, and therefore the strength of armies lay in their cavalry. But when cities increased and the heavy-armed grew in strength, more had a share in the government." ^'"^ The best-known example is that of Athens immediately before Solon. A timocracy of the heavy in- fantry may expand, either directly or through the tyranny, to democ- racy. The latter kind of government will be treated in connection with the reforms of Cleisthenes at Athens. Political versatility of the Hellenes. By means of typical instances we have now traced the main lines of development from monarchy to the beginning of democracy. For appreciating the genius of the Greeks, however, we must bear in mind that in the creation of forms of government they showed the same boundless versatility as in the fields of literature, art, and philosophy. Among their most precious contributions to civilization is the republican gov- ernment, which they devised in endless variety, and which assured to the citizens a varying degree of liberty and self-government. In this atmosphere of freedom they created political science as represented by the works of Plato and Aristotle. We must not con- demn these efforts because in some or all respects they fall short of the actualities or ideals of today; but in all fairness we must regard the Greeks as pioneers, whose political strivings, necessarily tentative, have furnished to after ages suggestions and inspirations for a more perfectly balanced democracy. Combinations of states. The motive which first led neighboring states, whether ethne or cities, to combine in leagues lies far anterior to recorded history. It might have been a border market, the need of allies, the desire for frontier security, or a nascent consciousness of kindred blood. Whatever may have been the practical impetus to friendly intercourse, such neighboring states chose the sanctuary of a deity conveniently situated, at which to hold a periodical festival for worship, often, too, a fair for the interchange of goods. A union 19 Arist. Polit. iv. 13, 10, 1297 b. 78 HELLENIC HISTORY of neighbors ostensibly for a religious object, but sometimes serving more practical ends, was termed an amphictyony. That of Delos, centering in the shrine of Apollo on that island, reached the height of its splendor probably early in the seventh century. The Homeric Hymn to the Delian Apollo, composed at that time, celebrates the gathering of the lonians with their wives and children to worship this god with music, dancing, and gymnastic exercises, and to trade. -"^ From an original union of insular neighbors it had come to include all the lonians. Without ever assuming a political character, it eventually declined. Another amphictyony comprised twelve ethne in the neighborhood of Thermopylae. Its earliest seat of worship was the shrine of Demeter at Anthela, near that pass; but in time it acquired a second and more important centre in the temple of Apollo at Delphi; hence it came to be known as the Delphic amphictyony. The object of the league was the protection of the shrines, especially of the temple and oracle of Apollo. The government lay in the hands of an amphictyonic council, comprising forty-eight " speakers," four from each tribe, and twelve recorders. The speakers alone proposed and debated measures; the recorders alone voted. A resolution adopted by this council in the immemorial past imposed an oath upon the members of the league not to destroy an amphictyonic city or to cut it off from running water in war or peace. Here was one of the earliest attempts to mitigate the primitive rigors of war. Many other decrees of the council are known to us, including one which forbade the Greeks to levy tolls on pilgrims to the shrine, and another requir- ing the states of the league to keep in repair their own roads leading to Delphi. ' Against a state which trespassed upon any rights of the god it had the power to declare a " sacred war." Although the coun- cil sometimes championed the cause of Hellas, as could any associa- tion or individual, it never acquired a recognized authority over all the Greeks; and notwithstanding its occasional participation in polit- ical affairs, it remained essentially a religious convocation.^^ Hegemony, A union religious at basis tended to become political, especially when it contained a state of superior power and secular ambition. For example, the Boeotian amphictyony, whose deities were Poseidon and Athena, was converted into a federal union by 20 Homeric Byvm to the Delian Apollo, 141-64; Thuc. iii. 104. 21 Aesch. Parap. 115 f. ; Ctes. 107; Strabo ix. 3. 4; Paus. x. 8, 2; IG. 11. 545. Organiza- tion of the council; Botsford, "Amphictyony," in Eycycl. Brit. 11th ed. with references. X Ph w o < o ,-i ij o < o w Pi w h 80 HELLENIC HISTORY Thebes.-- Its constitution, which developed toward the end of the fifth century, grouped the states of the league in eleven units roughly equal in population. These units were equally represented in the federal magistracy, council, and court, and had equal military and financial burdens. It provided further for a referendum of important matters to the states, and seems to have admitted of an initiative from the states. Theoretically the arrangement was most admir- able; but in fact the Thebans, who constituted four of the eleven units of representation, dominated the federal policy.^^ These examples will suffice for illustrating the amphictyony and the earlier experimentation with political unions of states. Other confederations will be mentioned in the course of this narrative. The brilliancy of the Greek mind in devising systems of combination, however, was for a long time more than offset by the excessive indi- vidualism of the small republics, to whom sovereign independence was the breath of life. 22 11. ii. 506; Strabo ix. 2. 29, 33; Paus. ix. 34. 1. 23 O*. Hell. xL 3; Botsford, Pol. Sci. Quart. XXV, 284 ff. with references. ADDITIONAL READING I. Development of Forms of Government. — Abbott, II, ch. i; Holm, I, ch. XX ; Greenidge, Greek Const. Hist., ch. ii; Whibley, Companion, 429-441; Fowler, City-State of the Greeks and Romans, chs. i-vi ; Pohlmann, R. von, Griech. Gesch., 56-95 ; Swoboda, Griech. Staatsaltertiimer, in Hermann, Lehrb. d. griech. Antiquitdten, III (113, 21-183; Francotte, H., Melanges de droit public grec, 43-69 (monarchy and tyranny). II. Leagues. — General: Francotte, H., "Formation des villes, des etats, des confederations et des liques dans la Grece ancienne," Bull, de I'Acad. roy. de Belgique, 1901, pp. 949-1012; Howard, G. E., Comparative Federal Institutions, an Analytical Reference Syllabus (University of Nebraska, 1907), with refer- ences. Boeotian league: Botsford, G. W., "Constitution and Politics of the Boeotian League," Pol. Sci. Quart., XXV (1910), 271-96; Swoboda, Griech. Staatsaltertiimer, 249-94. Amphictyony: Botsford, "Amphictyony," Encycl. Brit., 11th ed. ; Bourguet, E., L' Administration financiere du sanctuaire pythique au IV siecle avant J.-C. (Paris, 1905); Sokoloff, T., "Die delphische Amphiktione," Klio, VH (1907), 52-72; Walek, T. B., Die delphische Amphik- tione in der Zeit der dtolischen Herrschaft (Berlin, 1911). MENELAON CHAPTER VI CRETE, LACEDAEMON, AND THE PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE I. Crete City-States and their federation. Of the hundred Cretan cities existing in the Middle Age, at least fifty survived to historical time, or were replaced by newer foundations, and are known by name. They joined in a league to resist invasion, and established a federal court for the settlement of their disputes. Notwithstanding these institu- tions the city-states often fought with one another. The most impor- tant were Cnossus, Gortyn, and Cydonia, which when combined were able to control the policy of the rest.^ Social classes. Because of the relatively small number of Hel- lenic immigrants into Crete Minoan institutions, as well as Minoan art, survived to historical time with less modification than elsewhere.^ " The Lyctians," says Aristotle, " are a colony of the Lacedaemonians, 1 Among the most useful sources are the law code of Gortyn, translated with commentary in H. Civ. No. 76, and other epigraphic documents, especially those contained in SGD. III. 2. p. 227-423. Literary sources are Arist. Polit. ii, 10, 1271 b. f. et pass.; Ephorus, in Strabo x. 3 f. and scattered references, sor.ae of which will be found in the footnotes; cf. also H. Civ. nos. S-8. Hundred cities; II. ii. 649; cf. Od. xix. 174 (ninety). Federation; Plut. Frat. amor. 2 P. 3i. 81 / 82 HELLENIC HISTORY and the colonists when they came to Crete, adopted the laws which they found existing among the inhabitants," ^ Ephorus,* too, holds the opinion that the institutions which we are accustomed to describe as peculiarly Dorian existed in the native cities of Crete before the Dorian immigration. Society in Lyctus and elsewhere was organized in stereotyped classes such as we expect to find in any old, stagnant civilization. Most bought slaves were in the cities employed in do- mestic service. Higher in rank were the serfs, some public, others private. " These slaves (serfs) have some regularly recurring festi- vals in Cydonia, during which no freemen enter the city; but the slaves are masters of everything, and have the right even to flog the freemen." •'"' Their family and business rights were extensive and they were carefully protected by law. Among the freemen were various social grades. Lowest were the perioeci, " dwellers around," the inhabitants of a city in subjection to another. We know little of their condition. The citizens of a free state were by birth either common or noble; all were alike warriors living in the city and differ- entiated from the farming class by a law of Minos. The most impor- tant features of their life were their military education and their public tables." Training of children and youths. The children were taught to read, to sing the traditional songs, and to play the double pipe and lyre, two instruments inherited from Minoan time. At an early age they were taken to the public tables to wait on their fathers. Clad in mean garments which were rarely changed, they ate theii food together, sitting on the ground. The boys, attached to each table were organized in a company under a master. The groups thus formed took rudimentary training for war and fought sham battles. When they reached the seventeenth year, they were organ- ized in troops each under the leadership of a noble youth, whose father supervised its training and enforced discipline. " On certain appointed days troop encounters troop, marching in time to the sound of pipe and lyre, as is their custom in actual war. . . . All the mem- bers who have reached the required age are compelled to marry. They do not bring their brides home forthwith, but wait till the latter are able to attend to household matters. The dowry of a girl is equal 3 Arist. Polit. ii. 10. 2 f., 1271 b (cf. H. Civ. no. 5). 4 In Strabo x. 4. 17. 5 Ephorus, in Athen, vi. 84. Public serfs, mnoitae, related to Minos (?) or possibly de- rived from dmos (8u.ws)> " conquered." Private serfs, clarotae, aphamiotae. 6 Perioeci; H. Civ. no. 5 (Aristotle). Citizens of free states; op. cit. No. 6 (Aristotle). CRETE AND LACEDAEMON 83 to half of her brother's portion." ' Evidently the troop was the com- pany which sat at one table. The messes (jf the older men were called simply clubs, evidently transformed from the troops of youth. Public tables. The limited number of citizens in a state is proved by the fact that the tables were under a single roof. Each table was in charge of a woman, who with the help of common laborers and slaves prepared and served the food, giving the choicest dishes to the citizens most distinguished for wisdom and prowess. An ancient authority informs us that " the people of Lycti conduct their public tables as follows : each brings in a tenth of his produce as well as the public revenues which the authorities of the state distribute among the several houses. Each slave, too, contributes (monthly?) an Aeginetan stater as poll-tax." This arrangement conduced to equal- ity, as state aid permitted the poorest citizens to eat at the public tables.* Military and religious aspects of the training. The object of their peculiar mode of life was military. " That courage and not fear might predominate, they accustomed themselves from childhood to the use of arms and to endure fatigue. Accordingly they disre- garded heat and cold, rugged and steep roads, blows received in gymnastic exercises and in set battles." ^ They practiced archery; and the curetes, young men initiated into the mysteries of Zeus the Divine Youth, performed the Pyrrhic war-dance in armor, while they chanted a song to " the Lord of all that is wet and gleaming," pray- ing for full jars, fleecy flocks, fruitful fields, prosperous sea-borne ships and goodly law.^" Political development. The original kingship changed to an aristocracy, in which the chief magistrates were ten cosmi, " keepers of order," who commanded in war, exercised judicial and general administrative functions, and enforced discipline among the citizens. They were assisted and limited by a council and an assembly. At an early period the laws were reduced to writing. A considerable part of the code of Gortyn has been preserved in an inscription.^^ Gradually the government grew more popular till in the third cen- tury democracy became universal. 7 H. Civ. no. 7 (Ephorus). Troop, agele. SH. Civ. no. 7 (Dosiades), includes quotation; Arist. Polit. ii. 10. 8, 1272 a. A stater =: 2 drachmas = 52 cents. 9 H. Civ. no. 8 (Ephoros). 10 Loc. cit.; p. 69 above. 11 H. Civ. iiO. 76. g4 HELLENIC HISTORY II. Lacedaemon Political unification of Laconia. In Laconia conditions were in some respects similar to those of Crete. Although probably a larger percentage of the Laconians were of northern descent, yet their civilization owed more to the Minoans than to the Indo-European race. Unlike Crete, Laconia contained one city-state — Sparta — which excelled all the rest in military power. Advantageously lo- cated near the centre of the country, and probably commanding a wider area and larger population than any other, well invigorated too with northern blood, this city brought all Laconia under her power (eighth century). Adjacent communities she absorbed, and reduced the others to subjection as perioeci. The nearer result was increased wealth and temporarily a richer culture for the dominant state, but more enduringly the growth of the strongest military power in Hellas." Laconian culture of the seventh century. Early in the seventh century the commercial relations of Sparta with the Asiatic Greeks bore cultural fruit. On invitation the Lesbian musician Terpander came with his seven-stringed Cretan lyre to Sparta to allay a political disturbance. The Greeks were far more sensitive to music than we are; and it is impossible for us to appreciate the moral effect of hortative verse sung to a strange and masterful melody. Shortly afterward Thaletas of Gortyn, invited by the Spartans to visit their city, brought with him the choral song and dance. The word chorus applied originally to the dancing-place, then to the group of perform- ers, and finally to their song. The Pyrrhic war-dance he is said to have invented. However that may be, he introduced it into Sparta. In music the Spartans found a powerful instrument for training, and no state employed it with equal success. ^^ Later in the century we find Alcman active at Sparta. A hint from an extant fragment has led to the view that he was a Lydian from Sardis. At all events he speaks the Doric tongue and identifies himself heart and soul with 12 Assimilation of Minoan and Indo-European in Laconia; p. 26. Sources for Lacedae- monian history; SGD. III. 2. p. 3-226. For tlie seventh century Tyrtaeus and Alcman, though fragmentary, are very valuable. The culture is well represented by reports of exca- vations, BSA., beginning with XI (1904-05); see also the vols, of JHS. beginning about the same date. Incidentally Herodotus, as i. 65; iv. 147 ff. ; vi. 51 ff . ; Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedarnionians ; Aristotle, Politics, ii. 9 et pass.; Plutarch, Lycurgus; Strabo viii. 5. 4-8; X. 4. 17-19 (mainly from Ephorus) ; Pausanias, especially iii; and references widely scattered throughout ancient literature. Most ancient authors, as Plato, idealize Sparta, whereas Aristotle goes to the opposite extreme. 13 Terpander's coming (about 675); Arist. Frag. 545 (Rose); Heracleides Ponticus in FHG. II. p. 210. 6. Thaletas; U. Civ. no. 8 (EphorusJ. CRETE AND LACEDAEMON 85 the natives. His poems open to us a view of Spartan life which we find nowhere else — a life of contentment, of peace and love and pleasure. " From the gods is vengeance; but he is happy who cheer- ily weaves the web of his days unweeping." He invites to Laconia the goddess Aphrodite, " leaving her lovely Cyprus and Paphos en- circled by waves;" he calls upon the Muse of sweet voice, daughter of Zeus, to begin the delightful melody, adding charm to the song, and inspiring the graceful dance of fair-gowned girls with their carven ivory necklets. These sentiments of his, and many more no less gentle, were in keeping with the Laconia of his age.^* " We came to great Demeter's fane, we nine, All maidens, all in goodly raiment clad: In goodly raiment clad, with necklets bright Of carven ivory that shone like (snow)." First Messenian war. In a general way we have traced the his- tory of Laconia through the Middle Age to its acme of cultural devel- opment in the seventh century. The conquest of this country by Sparta was connected closely, as effect and cause, with the growth in that city of a ruling military class of landowners supported by agri- cultural serfs, helots — a social system derived from Minoan life. Having nothing to do but drill and fight, the military class naturally developed an ambitious policy of conquest. Toward the close of the eighth century they had waged a war of aggression upon Messenia. The population of this country at the time was " Achaean " — a blend of aborigines with early Greek-speaking immigrants — among whom doubtless Dorians had already settled. Whatever the pretext for the war may have been, the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus gives the real motive as a desire " to plough and plant fertile Messenia." The same poet, who, living shortly after the time, is our only reliable authority for the event, tells us that " for nineteen years the fathers of our fathers, warriors stout of heart, fought unresting to possess her; and in the twentieth the foemen, forsaking their rich fields, fled from the lofty heights of Mount Ithome." Many of the conquered were reduced to serfdom: "Like asses worn with heavy loads, bitterly are they forced to bring their master the half of all the soil produces; and whenever the baleful fate of death overtakes their lord, they and their wives must needs join in lamenting him." ^^ l4AIcman; H. Civ. no. 43, and the other fraaments in Bergk, Anthologia Lyrica. Also the newlv discovered fragment. Or. Hell. I. no. 8: — 15 Laconia during the Middle Age; p. 27. The Minoan social organization, p. 17. Quo- tations from Tyrtaeus; H. Civ. no. 42. 5-7. 86 HELLENIC HISTORY Second Messenian war, about 650. After this conquest we hear of other Lacedaemonian wars with neighbors, not all so fortunate. There were, too, internal disturbances, which detracted from the reputation of the state. Taking advantage of their weakness, the Messenians, supported by Argives, Arcadians, and Pisatans, revolted. In their iirst struggles with this powerful coalition, the Lacedaemon- ians were beaten, and lost courage. It was the most critical period of their early history. Wealth, art, poetry, the refinements of life had developed here as nowhere in the peninsula; in the pursuit of culture and comfort the Spartans were fast losing their warlike character. It was under these untoward conditions that Tyrtaeus came forward to inspire and guide. He was not merely a poet but a statesman and military leader, as was Solon shortly afterward at Athens. Through his generalship the Laconians conquered Messenia. In battle songs he roused his countrymen to fight and die, if need be, for the father- land, setting before them as an alternative to victory a life of wander- ing beggary. " A noble thing it is to die a valiant man, falling in the front line of warriors, in battle for the fatherland. Most griev- ous of all fates is to leave one's city and fertile fields and to wander begging with a dear mother and aged father and little children and wedded wife." After a long hard struggle the Messenians who failed to escape from the country resumed the }oke of serfdom. '^'^ Conquest and the land system. In her earlier conquests Sparta had readily admitted the higher class to citizenship on condition of removing to the governing city.^' In this way all central Laconia became the private property of the Spartan citizens; and when Mes- senia was subdued, the Spartans distributed among themselves a broad district extending through the centre of that country to the western coast. ' All the towns disappeared from this region, as they had disappeared from central Laconia. The lot assigned the individual Spartan was of such a size as to supply him with seventy medimni of barley and his wife with twelve, and oil and wine in proportion. The farms thus granted by the state were hereditary and inalienable. Other lands were freely bought and sold, and in time it became permissible to give away or bequeath the hereditary lot. The result was that differences in ifiTvrtaeus; Botsford, Source-Book, p. 141-3; Plato, Law.?, i. 629 a; Philochorus, in FHG. 'I. p. 393. 55 f . ; Paus. iv. 18; Justin iii. 5.5; Hcracleides of Lembos, in FHG. III. p. 170. 13. 17 Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 17, 1270 a; Ephorus, in Strabo viii. 5. 4. CRETE AND LACEDAEMON 87 wealth arose amonc; the Spartans. As the citizens were forbidden to engage in trade of every kind, their only lawful source of income was agriculture and grazing. Having originally adopted iron as money, as had various other Greek states at a time when this metal was still scarce, they were compelled by law to adhere to it centuries after silver and gold had elsewhere become current.^ ** In Laconia, as in Minoan Crete, the ruling community tended to make of itself a military caste on the basis of a socialism rigorously enforced by the state. At first liberal with the citizenship, the Spar- tans in time hedged themselves strictly in, refusing except on the rarest occasions to admit a stranger to their political community and ruling in a lordly spirit over their subjects. The elements of the social and governmental system, derived from the Minoans, they gradually (1000-600) adapted to their own requirements; and the discipline, described in the following pages, did not become severe till the sixth century. To maintain their social and political superiority, the Spartans constituted themselves as a perpetual army and transformed their city into a camp. Their whole life was occupied with training. This principle controlled marriage, the birth and education of chil- dren, economy and occupation — in brief every activity of life. In other countries of Greece custom gave the father the option of rearing his child or of putting it to death immediately after birth. In Sparta this function was usurped by the elders of the tribe. If they found the infant weak or deformed, they ordered it exposed in a glen of Mount Taygetus. If, however, he reached the standard of strength and shapeliness, they directed the father to rear him. To the seventh year children were in the care of their mothers and of nurses, who were competent women strictly supervised by the state. The child was trained to eat coarse food without complaint, to cultivate bravery and a cheerful disposition. On reaching the age of seven he was taken from his mother and placed directly under the control of the state. In the organization of these boys in troops under youthful captains of prudence and daring fqr athletic and military drill, and in their education in reading and music, there was a thoroughgoing similarity to Cretan conditions already described. It was not often that the Spartan boys were permitted to bathe or anoint themselves 18 Produce of a lot; Plut. Lvc. S. The Aeginetan medimnus, used in Laconia, 2J^ bu. Original inalienability of the lot; Plut. Ag. 5. Alienable before Aristotle; Polit. ii. 9. 13 ff., 1270 a. Iron money: Xen. Const. Lac. 7. 5; Polyb. vi. 49; Plut. Lye. 9; Lys. 3. 88 HELLENIC HISTORY with oil. They had no bed-clothing but slept in their companies on piles of rushes they had gathered from the banks of the Eurotas. Under the direction of their captain they cooked their own meals, the bigger boys bringing logs for the fire, the smaller gathering pot herbs. They contributed also what they had stolen from the gardens or from the tables of the men. Theft was encouraged as an exercise in agility and cleverness; one caught in the act was punished for clumsiness by flogging and fasting. Their meals were purposely made scant as an inducement to ingenuity in providing extras, and as a means of developing tall, slender bodies. Once a year the supreme test of endurance was applied, when at the altar of Artemis Orthia, the great Minoan goddess, the boys submitted to a flogging. Some endured to death. The severe training resulted not only in strength, agility, and endurance, but also in a quiet, modest bearing which has no parallel in modern life. The young Spartans walked the streets, their hands within the folds of their cloaks, their gaze fixed on the ground before them. " You m-ight sooner expect a stone image to find voice than one of these Spartan youths; to divert the eye of a bronze statue were less difficult." ^^ Barrack life. At the age of twenty the youth became a man liable to service in the field. It was now permitted him to marry, but for a long time he could see his wife only by stealth. In fact he never had the enjoyment of a home, but passed his entire life in military drill, eating and sleeping in the barracks. At the age mentioned he joined a syssition (mess). It comprised about fifteen members, who filled vacancies by cooptation. Their ballots were bread crumbs; and so great a value did they set on unanimity that a single adverse ballot sufficed to debar a candidate. Each member contributed his monthly share of barley, wine, cheese, and figs, with a little cash for luxuries. Their meat was chiefly pork and wild game. The former was an ingredient of their famous black broth : — If you should live in Lacedaemon's bounds, You must comply with all the fashions there; Go to their spare pheiditia for supper, And feast on their black broth; and not disdain To wear fierce whiskers, and seek no indulgence Further than this; but keep the old customs, Such as their country doth compel. ^'^ 19 Training of boys and youths; Xen. Const. Lac. 1-5 (H. Civ. No. 26); Plut. Lye. 16- 2\; Lac. Prov. 32; Plato, Laws, i. 633 ff. ; Arist. PoUt. iv. 9. 7 f., 1294 b; vii. 2. 9, 1324 b; viii. 1. 4, 1337 a; 4. 1-7, 1338 b; Quotation; Xen. Const. Lac. 3. 5. ao Antiphanes, in Atlien, iv, 21. Pheiditia. the same as syssitia. CRETE AND LACED AEMON 89 Mature men. At thirty the Spartan became a mature man, privi- leged to attend the assembly and to fill such political offices as re- quired no advanced age qualification. Continuing their military exercises, the men passed the remainder of their time in the gymnasia and clubs or at the syssitia, discoursing in brief " Laconic " satire, not on money and business matters, but on the " honorable and base." The austerities of life found relief in the merriment of wine parties. Among the images of their deities was a little statue of the god of Laughter. The severity was mitigated, too, in campaigns, which accordingly seemed to them a relief from the labors of peace.^^ Girls and women. Girls underwent a similar training. They, too, practiced running, wrestling, leaping, and throwing the discus and spear, contending for prizes in these sports before the assembled citizens. The state required such exercises, as it considered health and strength in women essential to the physical perfection of the race. Their presence at the competition of youths, with approval and raillery, incited to the utmost the development of the contestants' energy and skill. The women had a part as well in many religious festivals. The parthenia of Alcman are choral songs for girls, who in the ambrosial night bear a mantle to Artemis as a gift, while the stars contend with them in beauty, and streaming tresses grace the leader like gold unalloyed. In nimbleness, strength, and loveliness of form these athletic girls are like steeds compactly built that win the prize with ringing hoofs — creatures of winged dreams. Thus Alcman sings.-- Married women. Their training continued only till marriage. The chief wedding rite was a pretended abduction of the bride by force ^- a relic of the primitive custom of marriage by actual capture. While their husbands lived in the barracks, they enjoyed leisure and comparative luxury at home. Through dowries and inheritances they gradually accumulated property till, in the time of Aristotle, they owned nearly two-fifths of the land. This accumulation of wealth in their hands, under conditions as they existed in Laconia, tended to impoverish the men, to lessen the number who had the means of performing citizen duties, hence to weaken the state. Hav- ing greater leisure, the women probably attained to a higher intel- 21 Plut. Lyc. 19-25; Xen. Const. Lac. 1; sententious sayings of the Spartans collected in Plut. Laconian Proverbs. 22 Training of girls and the resulting beauty of women; Xen. Const. Lac. 1; Plut. Lyc. 14; Aristoph. Lysistr. 78 ff. ; Strabo x. 1. 13; Athen. xiii. 20. Alcman; H. Civ. Tio. 43. 90 HELLENIC HISTORY lectual level than their husbands. We hear much, too, of their patriotism. They held up before husband, son, or father the high Spartan standard of honesty and valor. In all Greece the women of Sparta alone ruled the men. Yet notwithstanding the praises of other writers, Aristotle lays severe strictures on their character; and it may well be that they deteriorated before his age. So degenerate were they in the fourth century as to prove in time of invasion a greater mischief even than the enemy. '^ A self-imposed, socialistic despotism. We find accordingly at Sparta a socialistic community under a self-imposed despotism, which sacrificed the individual to the ideal good of the state, which eradicated the family with its powerful moral influence, and rol:)bed marriage of its sanctity, compelling all the young to regard the elders as their parents, and making it a function of the older people to admonish and to chastise the younger as their children. By limiting education almost exclusively to physical exercise the system tended to stunt the intellect and the imagination. These defects, however, showed themselves but gradually with the lapse of centuries. Social classes. Among the Spartans were degrees of rank. Highest in nobility were the two royal families from whom respec- tively were taken the two kings. Below were other hereditary nobles, who alone were qualified for membership in the gerousia (senate, council). Still lower were the mass of commons, whose means enabled them to contribute to the syssitia, and who were physically able to undergo the training. All who had these qualifications were " peers." Those who failed in either respect were " inferiors." The latter were undoubtedly debarred from political rights, which how- ever they could resume on making good the deficiency.^* Helots. Reference has incidentally been made to the helots, who were serfs, like those of Crete. Most probably they originated in a class of Minoan serfs, increased by conquest, perhaps too in early time by debt and oppression, till finally they came to be many times their masters in number. They were assigned to the lands of the citizens, who were forbidden to enfranchise them or to sell them out- side the country. The idea was that they belonged to the state rather than to the individual. They lived with their families in cottages 23 Property of women; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. IS, 1270 a. High standard; Hdt. v. 51; vii. 239; Plut. Lvc. 14 f. Aristotle's strictures; Polit. ii. 9. 5-lS, 1269 f . ; cf. Xen, Hrll. vi. 5. 28. •J4 On division into nobles and commons Arist. Pol. ii. '9. On the inferiors Xen. Hell. iii. 3, 6, cf. Gilbert. (Gfe. Const. Antiq.) p. 12 ff., 39 f. and notes for a discussion of these prob- lems. CRETE AND LACED AEMON 91 on the lots assigned them, rendered to their masters the amount of produce fixed by law, and kept the rest for themselves. In fruitful years they could save something, which they occasionally increased by labor for others or by plunder in war, with the result that many acquired considerable estates. In addition to tilling the soil they aided in preparing their masters' meals and performed any other menial labor imposed by their individual lords or by the state. In war they served as light troops, or as oarsmen in the fleet, attended to the wounded, and waited on their masters. When required to serve in the heavy infantry, as often happened in the Peloponnesian war, the meritorious were rewarded with freedom.-^ Freedmen. We hear of several kinds and degrees of freedmanship, without being able to define them all. The neodamodeis, " new cit- izens," performed military duty, but lacked the franchise. The mothones formed a large class, many of whom seem to have been the children of Spartan fathers and helot mothers. They were brought up as foster-brothers of the youths. Though lacking political rights, they were personally free and shared in the Spartan training. Some became prominent in military offices and acquired the full citizen- ship.2« The policy of degrading the helots. Notwithstanding favors thus occasionally received, the condition of the helots was wretched. They were kept in mind of their servitude by the clothes they wore, a dogskin cap and mantle of sheepskin girded at the waist by a broad belt. The same dress, it is true, was worn from primitive times by free rural laborers in other parts of Hellas; but this cir- cumstance did nothing to mitigate the contrast in Lacedaemon between serfs apd lords. Whereas the Spartans were forbidden sweetmeats and excessive drinking and all immoral songs, they would not permit the helots to sing the noble lays of the great national poets, but compelled them on occasions to make an exhibition of intoxication and of their low melodies and dances, as a warning to the Spartan youth to beware of such practices.-^ The crypteia. To overawe the helots and keep them in a spirit 25 Derivation of "helots" from the name of the town of Helos; Ephorus, in Strabo viii. 5. 4. Theopompus, in Athen. vi. 88, considered them conquered Achaeans. Antiochus, in strabo vi. 32. thought them Lacedaemonians. Manner of life; Ephorus, in Strabo viii. 5. 4; Plut. Lye. 28 (cf. 8); Comp. Num. 2; Ages. 3; Xen. Const. Lac. 6. 3. In war; Hdt. ix. 80; Thuc. iv. 26, 80; Xen. Hell. vi. 5. 28. 20 Neodamodeis; Pollux iii. 83; Thuc, vii. 19; viii. 5; Xen. Hell v. 2. 24. Mothones; Phvlarchos, in Athen. vi. 102. 27 Myron, in Athen. xiv. 74; Theopompos, in Athen. vi. 74; Plut. Lye. 28. 92 HELLENIC HISTORY of subjection, the government instituted a secret police force, termed cr)^pteia, comprising the most prudent young men of Sparta. Armed with daggers, these policemen were accustomed to range through the country. Concealing themselves in the daytime and travelling by night, they used to cut down any helot to whom suspicion attached. To avoid incurring thus the guilt of murder, says Aristotle, the ephors were accustomed every year on entering office, to proclaim war upon the helots.-^ The Spartan domain and the surrounding perioeci. Spartans and helots have been considered in connection because of their inter- dependence as lords and serfs, as well as because of their local rela- tions. Helots were found only in the homes and on the lands of the Spartans. Extending nearly around this domain was a strip of territory occupied by the perioeci, " dwellers around." They lived in towns or cities (poleis) of their own, about a hundred in number. Many were originally free but had been reduced to dependence by Sparta. It is equally clear that many were colonies formed by Sparta, in part with immigrants from other countries.-^ The object of the Spartans in thus surrounding their domain with a chain of colonies is evident. In the first place, they wished in this way to provide a defense for their territory. More important was their desire to cut off the helots from the outside world, leaving the neigh- bors no opportunity to interfere and the helots no hope of escape. In return for the favor shown them by Sparta, the perioeci thus stood guard over the serfs. The perioecic towns. Each perioecic town had its own govern- ment usually immune from Spartan interference. The inhabitants were personally free, and as in any Greek state were divided into nobles and commons. Their equality with other Greeks is shown by the part they took as competitors in the great national games. Not subject to the Spartan discipline, they enjoyed a relatively large liberty in the employment of their time and in the choice of occu- pations. Many were farmers; but as the best lands had been taken by the ruling people. ^° a great number devoted themselves to manufactur- ing and commerce. They worked the iron mines of Mount Taygetus, and manufactured various iron and steel fabrics, such as keys, swords, helmets, and axes. As workers in bronze they showed artistic taste. 28 Aristotle, in Plut. Lye. 28; Plato Laws, i. 633 c. 29 Ephorus, in Strabo viii. 4. 11; 5. 4; Theopompus, ih. 6. 11. 30 Isoc. Panaih. 179. CRETE AND LACEDAEMON 93 We hear of their drinkini]; cups, their shoes, chairs, tables, and chariots. Some manufactured sea-purple, with which they dyed woollen garments. Commerce brought them wealth, for their wares were in high favor throughout the world. They were not without intellectual eminence, for they gave several poets to Hellas and their wisest man, Myson, was reckoned among the Seven Sages. They had their religious festivals, in which the Spartans enjoyed a part, as at the annual national celebration to Artemis at Caryae, where the Lace- daemonian girls joined in the dance.,"^ Relation of the perioeci to Sparta. The towns themselves were individually subject to Sparta, evidently on fixed terms. Spartan citizens were not permitted to reside or possess property within a perioecic town, whereas the perioeci were privileged to reside in Sparta for the sake of conducting business there. They paid the ruling city contributions in time of need, and in war performed military duty. Their heavy infantry was only less efficient than the Spartan. The arsenals and warships of Lacedaemon were theirs though neces- sarily under Spartan command, and they formed a considerable part of the crews. In army and navy, men of this class rose by merit to high positions. None, however, obtained access to the Spartan citi- zenship or shared in the Lacedaemonian government or in any way influenced its policy. And yet in the Lacedaemonian state they were not regarded as aliens; they with the Spartans constituted the " Lace- daemonians " — citizens of the several cities included in the state — whereas the helots before emancipation were excluded from the name and civil rights. ^^ The amount of Spartan interference in their local affairs was vari- able. Because of its exposed position Cythera was occupied by a gar- rison under a harmost, associated with a civil magistrate. Other towns were ordinarily liable to occupation only when threatened by an enemy. Contented with their lot, the perioeci long remained faithful. With the progress of time, however, as the number of Spartans dwindled, the burden of service fell more and more heavily upon them. Then first they became dissatisfied with their con- dition.^^ 31 Xen. Hell. v. 3. 9; Plut. Cim. 11; Paus. iii. 10. 7; 22. S. 32 The Spartan state and the kings owned land in the perioecic towns; Thuc. ii. 27; Xen. Const. Lac. 15. 3; cf. Plato, Alcib. i. 123 a. Contributions, not tribute; Ephorus, in Strabo viii. 5. 4. Military service; Hdt. vii. 234; ix. 28. 33 Cythera; Thuc. iv. 53. Discontent in fourth century; Xen. Hell. iii. 3. 6; vi. 5. 32; vii. 2. 2. 94 HELLENIC HISTORY The amount of personal liberty which the perioeci continued to enjoy was great. Those who so lived as to incur no political sus- picion were secure enough in life and property. Yet this condition existed on sufferance only; for the ephors had a right to arrest and put to death without trial any perioecus whom they judged danger- ous.^'* This power was moderately exercised, and the bond of interest and sympathy which united the perioeci to Sparta remained strong. The Lacedaemonian army. The primary aim of the social organization and discipline was the military superiority of Sparta. The germ of her phalanx was a Minoan inheritance fostered (1) by her rapidly grown exclusiveness; (2) by the superior fertility and extent of her original territory, supporting a remarkably large num- ber of landowners of sufficient means to enable them to equip them- selves for heavy infantry service; (3) by the absence of an acropolis of imposing height to exercise a moral power of protective control over the neighborhood, compelling an unusual dependence on the strong military arm. In the time of Tyrtaeus the phalanx had not reached its complete development. As yet the warrior held no fixed position, but it greatly depended on his own courage whether he would fight in the front rank among the champions or farther back in the lines or stand " far off beyond the range of darts." It was meritorious in the young men to take the front rank. Some were heavy infantry and others light. The heavy footmen wore a helmet with lofty crest, a great shield covering breast, body, hips, and legs, or in its place a round embossed shield with a cuirass beneath. For offense they carried swords and long lances. The light troops, crouching beneath their bucklers, in loose formation hurled stones from slings and threw their polished javelins.^''* The metal of the protecting armor was bronze, whereas their weapons of offense were probably now of iron, which the mines of Laconia abundantly furnished. In time the citizen body of light troops was eliminated and the heavy-armed were organized in five morae, from the five local tribes into which the Spartans came to be divided. A sixth mora as a guard for the kings seems to have been formed from all five tribes. As the number of Spartans declined, the vacant places in the mora were .34 " An accursed thing," says Isocrates, Panath. 181, " which among other Greeks it is not permitted to do even to slaves." 35 Tyrtaeus, in Botsford, Source-Book, p. 141-3. CRETE AND LACEDAEMON 95 filled with perioeci, whereas the helots usually served as light troops or as mere laborers. The military age extended from the twentieth to the sixtieth year. The kings. The commanders of the army, and in the earliest known constitution the chief magistrates, were the two kings — froi-n the royal families of the Agiads and Eurypontids respectively. Whatever may have been the origin of the double kingship, the insti- tution was looked upon as a safeguard against tyranny. The per- petual discord between the kings weakened their office, permitting the growth of more popular institutions. •'**^ The kings were priests of Zeus and certain other gods, and judges in cases concerning family law and public highways. As command- ers of the army they originally had a right to declare war against whatsoever enemy they pleased; but this and other powers were grad- ually taken from them. In war and peace they received fixed portions of the sacrificial victims and in general enjoyed many privileges and honors. Their persons were sacred; and after death they received worship as heroes. On the decease of a king women went about the streets beating on copper kettles, while mounted messengers spread the news throughout Laconia and Messenia. Representatives of every household of every social class, under penalty of the law, gathered to mourn the dead. Like Asiatics on similar occasions, the assembled thousands, men and women intermingled, " beat their fore- heads with a right good will and make lamentation without stint, say- ing this one who died last of their kings was the best of all." ^" Here doubtless survived a shred of the pomp and ceremony practiced by their ancestry, on the Minoan side, centuries earlier at the beehive tombs. The council (gerousia). The gerousia — council of old men — was composed of twenty-eight elders and the two kings. The former were chosen from a few noble gentes. They were required to have reached the age of sixty, and to have gained distinction for sobriety, virtue, and wisdom. The mode of election was peculiar. Candi- dates for the vacant place walked through the assembly one by one in an order previously determined by lot, receiving as they passed the acclamation of the people. The members of the returning board, 36 The Lacedaemonian belief that the two royal families were descended from twins (Hdt. vi. 51) is one of various possible origins. Discord; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 30, 1271 a. 37Hdt. vi. 56-8 (cf. v. 75); Thuc. v. 66; Xen. Const. Lac. 13; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 29 f., 1271 a (stricture); iii. !4. 3. 128S i 96 HELLENIC HISTORY supposed to be ignorant of the order in which the candidates pre- sented themselves, were secreted in a room near by, where they could hear without seeing. By the loudness and extent of the acclamation they determined which was the more popular and therefore the successful candidate. The idea seems to have been that the will of the people expressed itself, not by a majority of votes, but by the intensity of feeling on the part of the assembly as a whole. This niethod, which Aristotle describes as childish, readily admitted con- nivance between the council and the returning board for thwarting the popular will.^^ The functions of the gerousia were like those of the Homeric council but far more definite. It considered measures to be presented to the assembly, and assisted the chief magistrates in the management of public affairs. It exercised jurisdiction in cases affecting the life or civil status of the citizens and in all important criminal cases in which citizens were involved. The presidency of the body, originally belonging to the kings, was in time transferred to the ephors.^^ The popular assembly (apella). The apella — popular assem- bly — comprised the fully privileged citizens thirty years of age and upward, who served in the heavy infantry. Under the presidency of the kings, afterward of the ephors, it elected magistrates, decided questions concerning the succession of kings, and accepted or rejected the measures which the magistrates and council rarely brought before it. As at Rome, the members of the assembly had no right to initiate measures or to join in the debate; they were strictly limited to listen- ing and voting. Everywhere in Hellas, however, the supreme polit- ical authority rested ultimately with the dominant military class; and at Sparta accordingly it was vested in the assembly of heavy infantry. This body it was which wrested the supreme power from the kings. The assembly did not exercise its authority directly, however, but devolved it upon a board of five ephors, elected annu- ally from the qualified citizens. Only in questions of war, peace, and other matters of unusual importance did it reserve the right of decision. The government was a broad military aristocracy tempered by a strong magistracy.*" 38 Hdt. vi. 57; Thuc. i. 20; Xen. Const. Lac. 10. 1-3; Aesch. Timarch. 180; Dem. Lept. 107; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 24-8, 1270 f. ; Plut. Lye. 5, 26. 3!) H. Civ. no. 42. 4 (Tyrtaeus) ; Arist. PoHt. iii. 1. 17, 1275 b; Xen. Const. Lac. 10. 2; Plut. Agis, 11; Ages. 19; Pelop. 6. 40 5r;0. I. no, 3342; so-called rhetra, in Plut. Lye. 6; H. Civ. no. 42. 4 (Tyrtaeus); Thuc. i. 87; v. 77; Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 20; 4. 38; iii. 2. 23; iv. 6. 3; v. 2. 11; vi. 3. 3; 4. 3. CRETE AND LACEDAEMON 97 The ephors. The ephors — " overseers " — evidently existed from very early time, but only with the lapse of centuries did they come to supersede the kings as the heads of the state. On entering office they issued this edict: " Shave your mustaches and obey the laws, that they may not be grievous to you." The fir.st part of the order enforced the custom which we find pictured on their monuments; the second commanded subjection to discipline. These magistrates su- pervised the training of youths and watched over the conduct of the citizens through their entire lives. They acquired the right to pre- side over the gerousia and the apella, to try nearly all the civil cases, and to prosecute criminals before the council of elders. Over helots they exercised absolute power, and in cases of political emergency they could put a perioecus to death untried. Their authority extended over the kings. At the close of every nine-year period of a king's reign they watched the sky for an omen, which if found deposed him. Oftener by threats of prosecution for misconduct they drove him into exile. As heads of the state they con- ducted negotiations with other governments. These powers and many others of slightly less importance they had gradually acquired before the opening of the fourth century.*^ III. Argos, Lacedaemon, and the Peloponnesian League Argos. In the day of their glory the kings of Mycenae and Argos governed a broad mainland realm and claimed hegemony over many islands. With the decline of the Minoan civilization and the immigration of northwestern Greeks their power declined; and in the territory once subject to them many cities, old and new, maintained their independence. Such was the condition of Argolis when Pheidon, king or as some say tyrant, ascended the throne. His reign cannot be certainly dated, and his achievements display a semi- mythical color. On the whole it seems to accord best with the few known facts to place him near the middle of the seventh century prior to the Second Messenian war. It was his achievement to con- centrate all Argolis under his authority, to extend his sway northward over Corinth and Aegina, and southward over Cynuria, the narrow strip of land between Mount Parnon and the sea, continuing in the 41 The list of ephors begins in 757 (Eusebius, ed. Karst, p. 181), but the institution is earlier. Character and functions; Hdt. i. 65; v. 82; Thuc. i. 131; Xen. Const. Lac. 4. 6; 8. 4; Plato, Laws, iii. 692; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 19-24, 1270 b; iii. 1. 10, 1275 b; v. 11. 2 f., 1313 a; Isoc. Panath. 181; Plut. Lye. 7; Cleom. 10; Paus. iii. 5. 2. 98 HELLENIC HISTORY island of Cythera. Probably it was he who led the Argives to an overwhelming victory over the Lacedaemonians at Hysiae. Then he invaded Elis, expelled its magisttrates from the presidency of the Olympic games, and assumed that office himself. This act is char- acterized by Herodotus as extreme insolence. By spreading abroad over Peloponnese the system of measures already in vogue in Aegina he left a permanent impress of his name on that part of Greece. His imposing personality shed a sunset glow upon the departing glory of his city. While bidding fair to become the arbiter of Hellas, he was dislodged from his hold on Olympia by a coalition of Lacedaemonians and Eleians; and his death fiinally put an end to the hopes he had raised. His successor on the throne was a weakling, who enjoyed scarcely more than the name of sovereign. Argos was consequently in no position to set bounds to the expanding power of Lacedaemon.*^ Arcadia. The ambition of the Spartans first directed itself north- ward. There was the tableland of Arcadia, surmounted by high mountain ranges, which divided the country into a number of basins. In each basin dwelt a canton comprising several villages. These mountaineers were a simple folk, liberty-loving, unpolished and war- like. Only on the eastern border did cities grow up under the cul- tural influence of Argos. Here were three city-states, Tegea, Orcho- menus, and Mantineia. No political bond united the Arcadians, but an ethnic sympathy found nurture at their common shrine of Zeus at Lycosura, where they joined in festive worship. Without definite knowledge, the student of history yet gains the impression that they possessed means of common action in war. In their conflict with Laconia they seem to have followed the lead of Tegea, their most powerful state.*^ Lacedaemon wins the headship of Arcadia, 600-550. The Lacedaemonians, after their conquests of Messenia, could not long remain at peace with the world. Their numbers were still doubtless increasing, and they coveted more lands and helots. Their social- political organization, framed exclusively for war, could find nurture in nothing but conquest. Their kings accordingly sent to consult the 42Hdt. vi. 127; Ephorus, in Strabo viii. 3. 33; Arist. Polit. v. 10. 6, 1310 b; Paus. ii, 24. 7; Nicolaus of Damascus in FHG. III. p. 378. 41. Appro.ximate date of Pheidon; Beloch, Griech. Gesch. I. 2. 195 f. The Mar. Par. 30, wrongly places him about 900. Gardner, P., History of Ancirnt Coinage (Oxford, 1918) 109 ff. places Pheidon a century earlier and as- cribes to him the regulation of a system of weights and measures later adopted by the Aeginetans for their coinage system. 4.-5 Arcadia; //. ii. 611: Ephorus, in FHG. I, p. 261. 97; Strabo viii. 8; Paus. viii. Lyco- sura; SGDI. no. 1232; Pindar, Ol. ix. 102 f. ; Xen. Anab. i. 2. 10; Paus. viii. 2. 1; 38. 2. CRETE AND LACEDAEMON oracle of Delphi on the prospect of conquering all Arcadia, prophetess answered : — 99 The The land of Arcadia thou askest; thou askest loo much; I refuse it. Many there are in Arcadian land, stout men, eating acorns; They will prevent thee from this, but I am not grudging toward thee; Tegea beaten with sounding feet I will give thee to dance in, And a fair plain I will give thee to measure with line and divide it. Trusting to this deceitful oracle, they concentrated their strength against Tegea; but they were beaten, and the captives taken were compelled to work the fields of Tegea, wearing the fetters they had brought with them for shackling conquered Arcadians. Several times, while gaining success elsewhere, they tried in vain to conquer Tegea. Finally they won a victory over that state but PELOPONXES LEAGUE i States dependent upon j^partu i States in aUiance with Sparta iiorma, i Co.,iLt. not such as to promise a conquest. Originally they had planned to helotize the Tegeans; but now they were content to form a permanent alliance with them (about 550). Following this example, the Ar- cadian cantons one by one entered into league with Lacedaemon.** Lacedaemon wins the hegemony of Peloponnese, 550-500. Meantime the struggle between Lacedaemon and Argos continued, till before the middle of the sixth century Sparta had wrested from her ancient rival Cynuria and Cythera. From the reign of Pheidon the Eleians were friendly to Lacedaemon, through whose support they had conquered a broad and fertile domain. Hence they were ready for close alliance with Sparta. Corinth and Sicyon, freed from tyrannies, entered the league; then some states of Argolis, as Troezen 44 Hdt. i. 65-8. Treaty with Tegea; Plut. Greek Quest. 5; Aristotle, in Hesych xpT?CTOi. 100 HELLENIC HISTORY and Epidaurus; and afterward Megara and Aegina. Before the close of the sixth century, all the states of Peloponnese excepting Argolis and the greater part of Achaea, were leagued with Lacedaemon. Organization of the Peloponnesian league. There was no gen- eral federal constitution; but a separate treaty united each state with Lacedaemon. The members pledged themselves to furnish military forces for the wars waged by the league, to serve under the command of the Lacedaemonian kings. No tributes were levied, but occasional contributions were required. A congress of deputies met at Sparta or Corinth to deliberate on federal interests, particularly on questions of war, peace, and alliance. The allies were free to manage their own affairs and the burdens of war were light. Their representation in the common diet made them content with their position, for they felt that they were free and had a fair share in the deliberations. The statement of Herodotus that the greater part of Peloponnese was sub- jected to Lacedaemon is therefore wholly misleading. As the union rested on a treaty basis, it was federal, though not to a degree after- ward attained elsewhere. Herself under the rule of a few, and there- fore hostile to both tyrannies and democracies, Lacedaemon upheld oligarchy among her allies. To this end she sometimes interfered in the home politics of her allies; and occasionally she felt compelled to check excessive ambition or self-aggrandizement in the individual states in order to maintain her own hegemony. To keep themselves qualified for a position fraught with as much burden as honor, the Spartans increased the severity of their discipline, eschewed the re- finements they had formerly allowed themselves, and subjected the individual more rigorously to the state. For these purposes increased power was given the ephors, who in the sixth century began to super- sede the kings as heads of the state. However crude and imperfect, the political system was admirable for the age. Especially it created a strong well-centralized military force at a time when the danger of Oriental conquest began to threaten Greece.*^ 45 Peloponnesian league; Hdt. i. 68. 69; v. 74, 91; ix. 19; Thuc. i. 10, 18, 19, 40, 76; ii. 7; V. 60; Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 20; vi. 3. 7; Arist. Polit. iv. 11. 18, 1296 a; Died. xiv. 17; Plut. Arist. 24 (init.). . „ . ,, The increase in the severity of discipline must have taken place essentially after Alcman and Tyrtaeus, and connects closely with the rise of the ephorate. Asteropos, probably about 620, first consolidated the ephorate and raised it to a higher degree of power; Plut. Cleom. 10. The honor of making the ephors " yoke-mates," equals, of the kings belongs to Chilon (Diog. Laert. i. 68), whose ephorate falls in the year 566-5 according to Eusebius, Chron. p. 188. This year, more than any other, is epochal in both political and cultural history; with the increase in severity of discipline the civilization of Laconia, as archae- ology teaches, began to decline. After Chilon the ephors made further gains. See espe- cially Dickins, JHS. XXXII. 1-42. CRETE AND LACEDAEMON 101 ADDITIONAL READING I. Crete. — Greenidge, Greek Const. Hist., 115-21; Thumser, Griech. Staat- salt., 132-46; Schomann, Griech. Alt., bk. Ill B; Busolt, Griech. Gesch., I, 326-46; Semenoff, Antiquitates juris publici Cretensiuni, etc. (Petropoli, 1893); Xanthoudides, S. A., 5 KfT/riKas ToTjiVta/xos, Athena, XVI (1904) 297-428. II. Lacedaemon and Peloponnese. — Grote, 11 (pt. ii), chs. iv-viii; Abbott, I, chs. vi-viii; Bury, ch. iii; Holm, I, chs. xv-xvii; Busolt, Griech. Gesch., I, 510-669, 700-11; Greenidge, Greek Const. Hist., 78-115; Gilbert, Const. Antiq., 3-91; Thumser, Griech. Staatsalt, 146-257; Schomann, Griech. Alt., bk. Ill A; Nilsson, M. P., "Die Grundlagen des spartanischen Lebens," Klio, XII (1912), 308-40; Solari, A., Ricerche spartane (Livorno, 1907), re- prints of various studies; Niese, B., " Neue Beitrage zur Geschichte und Landes- kunde Lakedamons," Gott. Geselsch., 1906, pp. 101-42; Ferguson, Greek Imper- ialism 79-97; Dickins, G., "Growth of Spartan Policy," JHS., XXXII (1912), 1-42; Grundy, G. B., "The Policy of Sparta," op. cit., 261-76; Toynbee, A. J., " Growth of Sparta," JHS., XXXIII, 246-75. For other works, see H. Civ.. p. 172f. 7TH CENTURY ARMOR (Metropolitan Museum of Art) CHAPTER VII ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY I. Monarchy and Aristocracy Introduction. While the Lacedaemonians were creating a great military state, Athens was developing along entirely different lines. Having touched upon her civilization during the Middle Age in con- nection with the general condition of Hellas, we shall now follow her separate history from that period to the reforms of Cleisthenes.^ Unification of Attica, about 1000-700. In the Mycenaean age 1 For the early cultural history of Attica the remains of buildings and sculptures and the vases with their paintings are of primary importance (see end of chapter). There are a few but valuable inscriptions; IG. I; Hicks and Hill, Nos. 4-12. Ancient historians had the use of many other epigraphic and archival writings now lost, including an official list of archons, some pre-Draconian ordinances, and the laws of Draco (cf. H. Civ. no. 77), Solon, and Cleisthcnes. Contemporary literary works are the flomeric Hytiiu to Deiuctcr and the Forms of Solon. Long passages on this period arc contained in Herodotus (e. g. i. 30-3, 59-64; v. 55-103) and in Thucydides (e. g. i. 20, 126; ii. 15 f. ; vi. 53-9), both authors drawing mainly from oral tradition. Of the Atthides, special histories of Attica by Hel- lanicos. Demon. Androtion, Philochonus, and Istrus, we have mere fragments, contained in FHG I. The same may be said of the more general HUtorics of Pherecydes (chiefly gen- ealogies), Ephorus, and Theopompus. For the beginnings of Athens the Atthides are well represented by Plutarch, Theseus; Androtion was much used by Aristotle, Constitu- 102 ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 103 Attica, as tradition and archaeology concur in teaching, was occu- pied by several indejjcndcnt kingdoms.- The most favorable position among them was held by Athens. Its Acropolis, about four and a half miles from the coast, formed the natural military and political centre of the Cephissus basin in the heart of Attica. By conquest and negotiation the kings who occupied this citadel gradually ex- tended their sovereignty over the entire country. Though doubtless the work of a century or two, the unification is represented in tradition as the achievement of a single king. " When Theseus came to the throne, he, a powerful and wise ruler, improved the administration of the country in other ways, and in particular he dissolved the councils and separate governments, and united all the inhabitants of Attica in the present city, establishing one council and town hall (Prytaneion). They continued to live on their own lands, but he compelled them to resort to Athens as their metropolis, and hence- forth they were all inscribed in the roll of citizens." ^ Among the last steps in the process were the annexation of Eleusis, about 700, and, nearly a century later, the acquisition of Salamis by Solon.* The dynasty of the Medontidae, ending in 713-12. Although the names of many kings are embedded in Attic myth, we can only be certain that the last ruling dynasty was that of the Medontidae. For the government of this period we have nothing more than the survival of institutions. It is reasonable to assume as elements of the constitution a king, council of nobles, and popular assembly, like the Homeric yet with functions more definitely fixed by the force of Minoan tradition. The king's colacretae — " joint-carvers " — had charge of the perquisites which came to him from sacrifices; and in time this humble function developed into the office of treasurer. The king and his nobles in heavy armor-rode to war in chariots; and for the defence of the coasts his well-to-do citizens built galleys pro- vided with a submarine ram for attacking hostile ships. •'* tion of the Athenians, our principal extant source; and Ephorus by Strabo and Diodorus. Plutarch, Solon is derived mainly from Solon's Poniis and Lrnvs and from .'Xndrotion. A great amount of institutional matter may be found in Pollux and otiier late antiquarians; and valuable facts are scattered through Plato, Aristotle, and all ancient literature. For the literary sources see the pertinent chapters below; H. Civ. ch. i. passim; and the various histories of Greek literature.' 2 T^ocal traditions of petty kingships and of communal independence; Th"c. ii. 15; Hel- lenicus, in FHC. I. p. 55. 74; Plut. Thcs. 32; Paus. 1. 1-4. 7; 31. 5. Unification of vil- lages in twelve cities; Philochorus, in FBG. I. p. 386. 11 (a fiction with a kernel of his- torical truth). The presence of beehive tombs in various localities proves the latter to have been centres of Mycenaean kingdoms. ■■! Thuc. ii. 15. 4 Fleusis; Wilamowitz, A.u A. II. 38 f. Salamis; p. Ill below. 5 Medontidae; IG. I. 497 (boundary stone of their estate); Arist. Const. Ath. 3; Euse- bius, Chron. 87, 175. Medon, eponym of the gens, belongs to the eighth century or to 104 HELLENIC HISTORY From kings for life to decennial kings, 753-2. The transition from monarchy to aristocracy was gradual; and though no ancient writer inform's us, we may be sure that it was brought about by the council of nobles, who alone benefited by the change. It must ac- cordingly have been this body which, about the middle of the eighth century, reduced the life tenure of the royal office to a single decade. Although the incumbent was still termed king, the monarchy in fact ceased, the supreme power passing to the council. This point there- fore begins the period of the aristocracy.'^ Aristocracy, 753-2 to about 650. As the decennial kings proved incapable of efficient military leadership, the office of polemarch — " war-archon " — was instituted, probably to lead the army in a con- flict with Eleusis. No long time afterward the Medontidae were de- posed, and the royal office was thrown open to all the nobles. Then, about 700, the office of archon was instituted. During the earlier and less known period of its history, this magistracy must have been vested with large powers; but gradually it was deprived of them till, in the fourth century, its only civil function was the care of widows and orphans and of their estates. King, polemarch, and archon, however, in addition to the duties above mentioned, per- formed extensive priestly functions.'' Annual offices, 683-2. The thesmothetae. As the decennial magistrates proved too strong and independent to serve the interests of the ruling power, all offices were made annual in 683-2; and at the same time the archon superseded the king as head of the state. In this way the government became in form as well as in fact a republic. At the same date, or shortly afterward, were instituted the six thesmothetae, " that they might record the customary laws and keep them for the trial of offenders." They had charge of all public documents and acted as judges in the capacity of protectors of the law. It was not till the time of Solon that the archon, king, polemarch and six thesmothetae were brought together in one board — that of the nine archons.* slightly earlier time, but the ancients wrongly placed him in the eleventh century. War- ships; p. 39. , 6 Euseb. Chron. 88, 182; Paus. iv. 5. 10; 13. 7. 7 Polemarch; Arist. Cojist. Atlt. 3. 2; Frag. 381; Hdt. viii. 44. Connection with Eleusin- ian war; Paus. i. 31. 3. Archon; Arist. Const. Ath. 3, 56. Religious functions: Arist. op. cit. 56-8. 8 Annual offices; Mar. Par. 32 (Archon is now eponymous); Euseb. Chron. 88, 184. Earlier dates, 753-2 and 713-2, are but roughtly approximate, but from 683-2 they become more accurate. Thesmothetae; Arist. Const. Ath. 3. 4, 59; Syncell. 399. 21. They prob- ably began a codification of civil usage. — In this volume Archon, when signifying the eponymous magistrate, is capitalized. ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 105 The council of nobles, afterward named the council of the Areopagus. The aristocracy was now at the summit of its power. The assembly of citizens, which had occupied only a third place in the government, fell into iiractical desuetude. The elective power resided in the council, who " called up men and on its own judgment assigned them according to their qualifications to the several offices for the year." It supervised their administration, and watched rig- orously over the lives of the citizens, with power to punish for im- moral as well as for lawless conduct. The members of this body were powerful lords, recruited annually from those who had worthily filled the nine magistracies described above. ^ Social classes: the eupatrids. The privileged class were called eupatrids — " sons of noble fathers." They owned large tracts of land, equipped themselves with heavy armor, and constituted the effective military force. They had recently discarded the chariot and had adopted the custom of riding to war on horseback. Arriving on the battlefield, they dismounted to engage in combat. There were, too, a few hoplites (heavy infantry) unprovided with horses. In addition to military and administrative services, the eupatrids filled the priesthoods, which assured them rich livings as well as a pow- erful instrument for governing the commons. The commons: georgi and demiurgi. Below the eupatrids were the georgi, farmers, who originally owned the lands they tilled, but who in the seventh century were mortgaging their estates, and falling into slavery for debt. Still lower in the social scale were the demi- urgi, skilled workmen. Their numbers during the seventh century were but slowly increasing in Attica, which lagged behind Corinth, Aegina, and other neighbors in industry!^" Family and gens (genos). Phratry and tribe. The unit of society was the family, which as elsewhere in Greece was monogamic. Whatever its rank, the family worshipped " ancestral " Apollo and " household " Zeus. The nobles formed larger associations of kins- men known as gentes, bound together for the worship of a reputed ancestor, for social intercourse and mutual helpfulness. The demi- !> Arist. Const. Ath. 8. 2, quotation referring to the period now under consideration. Probably (1) the king called to his council the most powerful men in the state, as in the Homeric world, (2) these nobles acquired a hereditary right to their seats, (3) gradually the retiring magistrates obtained admission. Supervision of magistrates and of citizens; Ari.st, op. cit. 3. 6; Isoc. Areop. 37. 46; Philochorus, in Athen. iv. 19. In this period the censorship of morals was esteemed a most important function of government. 10 Arist. Frag. 385; Plut. Thcs. 25; Dion. Hal. ii. 8; Pollux viii. Ill; cf. Plato, Crit. 110 c. Decline of commons; Arist. Const. Ath. 2. 12 (poem of Solon). 106 HELLENIC HISTORY urgi had their trades unions patterned after the gentes. All three social classes belonged promiscuously to the phratries — "brother- hoods " — which were groups of families assumed to be related in blood. The phratry had its annual reunion in the autumn, at the feast of the Apaturia — of the " all-fathers," evidently the spirits of the dead. On this occasion the members worshipped the Zeus and Athena of their phratry, introduced the young children to the asso- ciation, and celebrated the marriages of their members.. Several phratries composed a tribe and four tribes made up the state.^^ II. The Timocracy or the Heavy Infantry About 650-594 The phalanx and the new territorial organization. For the overthrow of the aristocracy and the establishment of a more liberal form of government the ground was prepared in the growing need of an improved military system. This requirement was met by the introduction of the Dorian phalanx. As the eupatrids were too few to constitute a phalanx, they had to recruit the heavy infantry from the common landowners whose income would enable them to equip themselves with a panoply. This undertaking was made possible for Athens by the rise of industrial cities in her neighborhood, which di- minished the cost of armor. A census was introduced to determine who were to be thus liable. In order to ascertain where every man lived and what property he owned, a thorough territorial organization was necessary. The earlier organization, of which we know little, had to be adjusted to the enlarged territory. Attica was accordingly divided into four districts named after the four tribes. Each tribal district comprised three smaller areas known as " thirds " — trittyes — which were subdivided each into four naval townships — naucraries. The four census classes. Mainly with a view to military serv- ice the people were divided into four classes. The pentacosiomedimni, whose estates free from encumbrance yielded annually at least five hundred Aeginetan medimni of grain, formed the highest class. We may assume that they included many eupatrids and a few commons. They held the higher offices and commands and evidently furnished for military service each two horses, one for himself and the other 11 Family and cult; Aisf. Polit. i. 2-7, 1252 ff . ; Const. Ath. 55. 15; Frag. 381. Phratry; Arist. Cnnst. Ath. 2\. 6; Frag. 385; H. Civ. no. 144. Four tribes; Arist. Const. Ath. 8. 3; Frag. 385. PNYX AREOPAGUS 108 HELLENIC HISTORY for his squire. The next lower class comprised the simple knights (hippeis), who furnished each a single horse with necessary equip- ment, and whose obligations and privileges were in general inferior to those of the pentacosiomedimni. The distinctive feature of the system, however, is to be found in the third class, zeugitae — " yoked men" — members of the phalanx of heavy infantry. The fourth class comprised the poorer folk, employed only as light troops, as squires for the knights, or in the case of the very poorest, totally ex- empt from military duty. All the classes were undoubtedly defined in terms of produce from their estates, although for this period we cannot ascertain these definitions. The phalanx, commanded by the polemarch, comprised four tribal regiments each under a general. These institutions were created probably about the middle of the seventh century. The assembly (ecclesia), the council of Four Hundred and One, and of the Areopagus. The reform of the army bore immediate political fruit. On the principle prevailing in Hellas, that the mili- tary class determined the character of the government, the .heavy infantry constituted of themselves an assembly for the election of magistrates and for the transaction of other imoortant business. In this way the aristocratic council lost its appointive power. In con- nection with the revival and reconstitution of the assembly was created a new council of four hundred and one members, which represented the tribes and most probably the naucraries. Beyond its function of preparing bills to be offered to the assembly, we may infer that it possessed some administrative duties. Now for the first time it became necessary to distinguish the old aristocratic council by name. Henceforth it was known as the Council of the Areopagus, be- cause it convened on that hill for the transaction of certain judicial business to be explained below. The Areopagites, retaining large powers of supervision, were still the chief governing institution. As political privileges were graded on the basis of property, and the franchise limited to those who could furnish a panoply, we may de- scribe the constitution as a " timocracy of the heavy infantry." ^' 12 An outline of the timocratic constitution may be found in Arist. Const. At It. 4. This passage has been thought, perhaps without cogent reason, historically worthless (see H. Civ. no, 27.) ; but the existence of the timocracy before Solon rests upon other evidence. Naucraries before Solon; Ifdt. v. 71. Assembly'; Thuc. i. 126; .Arist. op. cit. 5. 2; Polit. ji. 12. ,V 1274 a. As to the four census classes, the word pentacosiomedimni must have been formed when the niedimnns. a dry measure, was used in the assessment, hence before Solon. Generals; Strabo xiii. 1. 3?; Pl'ut. Sol. 11; Arist. Const. Ath. 22. 3. The origin of the council of Four Hundred and One is closely connected with the rise of the as- ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 109 Cylon's coup d'etat, perhaps — 632 or 628. No long time after the adoption of these reforms, in a period of political and social unrest, a powerful noble named Cylon seized the Acropolis and at- tempted to make himself tyrant. But the heavy infantry, gathering from the country, besieged the conspirators in the citadel. When their provisions were exhausted, Cylon stole through the besieging lines; his starving followers took refuge at the great altar of Athena on the Acropolis. Hereupon the chiefs — prytaneis — of the nau- craries promised the suppliants their lives if they would submit to trial. They agreed; yet not having full conlidence in the promise, they tied a thread to Athena's image, and holding one end of it, went down to the tribunal. When they came near the shrine of the Furies, the cleft at the east end of the Areopagus, the thread by which the gpddess gave them her protection broke; and then the Archon Mega- cles and his supporters stoned and butchered them, permitting only a few to escape. Megacles belonged to the powerful gens of the Alcme- onidae, whom the state dared not punish for the crime. In popular belief this sacrilege brought the curse of impiety upon the entire gens.^'* Draco's codification of the criminal law, 621. It may well be that this event suggested a clearer formulation of the criminal law and a reorganization of the courts. In 621 accordingly Draco was com- missioned as thesmothete with extraordinary power to codify the criminal law, which thus far had remained an oral tradition. Homicide. The usages of Attic law, as we know it in later time, prove that in the remote past the Athenians, like the Homeric Greeks, were accustomed to the blood feud and to the acceptance of compensa- tion for injury and homicide. There existed further in Attica, probably as a Minoan inheritance, sanctuaries to which the slayer might flee while making terms with the kinsmen of the slain. Tak- ing advantage of this condition, Draco made use of these sanctuaries as places of trial for the various classes of homicide. Accusations were still to be brought by the near kin, assisted by the phratry; but henceforth the state alone had power over the accused, to punish or acquit. All prosecutions came before the king, who determined the appropriate court for the trial according to the nature of the offence. seinbly. There is no space in tliis volume for a discussion of the problems relating to the suspected passage in Aristotle mentioned above. isHdt. V. 71; Thuc. i. 126; Plut. Sol. 12. There is no necessary conflict between Herod- otus and Thucydides. no HELLENIC HISTORY The idea, not found in Homer, that homicide brought pollution upon the doer survived in Attica from the Minoan Age. The trial took place, accordingly, near the sanctuary, under the open sky, that no pollution might come to the accuser from being under the same roof with the accused. Courts for the trial of homicide. Cases of wilful murder came before the old aristocratic council sitting on the Areopagus. The punishment was death with confiscation of property. Another court was that of the ephetae, who were nobles above fifty years of age. They sat near the Palladion, a shrine of Pallas Athena at Phaleron, for the trial of accidental homicide. The penalty in this case was temporary exile followed by purification from the religious guilt. At the Delphinion, a shrine of Apollo and Artemis near Athens, the ephetae tried any who confessed to homicide but claimed that he did the deed in self-defence or on other justifiable ground. There was no penalty, but at least in some cases purification was required. If a man while in exile under sentence of the ephetae was accused of wilful murder, he was liable to trial by the same court at the Phre- atto, a place on the coast. The accused was not permitted to pollute the land by his presence, but pleaded his cause in a boat moored near the shore, while the ephetae heard him from the beach. The penalty was the usual one for wilful murder. A still stranger religious idea is illustrated by the court consisting of k-ing and tribe- kings, sitting at the prytaneion — town-hall — within the city. Here were tried cases in which the doer was unknown, also the kill- ing of a person by a falling obiect. If convicted, the object that wrought the deed was solemnly carried, as a noxious thing, beyond the border of the country.^* Character of the Draconian laws. In the definite provision for mitigating circumstances in homicide, and in the total suppression of the blood feud and compensations by the establishment of courts with full competence to try and punish offenders, Draco contributed vastly to the benevolence of law and to domestic security and peace. The Athenians of after time looked back to him with great reverence and thought of his ordinances as the product of a wisdom higher than that of man. " Whoever made them originally, whether heroes or gods, did not oppress the unfortunate, but humanely alleviated their 14 H. Civ. no. 77 (IC. I. no. 61, revised law of Draco); .extant Orations of Antiphon: Demosthenes, Macartatos; Aristocratcs ; Arist. Const. Ath. 57; Pollux, viii. 90, 117-20. ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 111 miseries, so far as they could with right. ^^ His reputation suffered but slightly by the discovery, in the fourth century, of his law of theft, then long obsolete, which fixed the penalty of death for steal- ing a cabbage or an apple. The people were starving; and in keeping with the severity of the times this penalty had been retained in the code in the interest of the landowners." ^'^ Trial of the Alcmeonidae. After the adoption of these measures the faction of Cylon, recovering strength, brought the Alcmeonidae to trial for sacrilege before a court of three hundred nobles. Although the actual perpetrators of the crime were dead, a verdict of guilty was found. In punishment the remains of the dead were cast beyond the border and the gens was condemned to perpetual exile. As the whole city seemed polluted by the rank impiety, Epimenides, a Cre- tan, was called in to purify the community.^^ III. The Reforms of Solon 594 Oppression and revolt of the commons. Solon. In an earlier chapter we touched on the economic decline of the Attic peasantry and noticed the fact that most of their farms were mortgaged to the rich, and that many freemen were in slavery for debt. Draco's reforms did not touch the economic condition, which daily became more insupportable, or check the magistrates in their career of embezzle- ment, plunder and judicial oppression. The newly constituted as- sembly and the phalanx, however, served as the nucleus of a popular organization. In the spirit of freemen the masses revolted against their oppressors. Civil war broke out, and the blood of citizens was spilled. At this crisis Solon came forward as a mediator. He was a man of the highest nobility, though of moderate fortune, a mer- chant, a poet and sage. Under his military leadership and inspired by his martial verse, the Athenians had wrested Salamis from the Megarians.^^ Thus he had won a reputation which strengthened his appeal to the two parties to lay aside their differences. They joined in electing him archon and legislator, thesmothete, for 594, with absolute power.^" ir> Dem. Aristocr. 70. iflArist. Polit. ii. 12. 13, 1274 b; Demades, in Plut. Sol. 17. i7 Arist. Const. Ath. 1; Plut. Sol. 12; Plato, Laws, i. 642; iii. 677. 18 P. 103. Decree for the regulation of Salaminian affairs, 570-60; Hicks and Hill, no. 4. 19 Arist. Const. Ath. 5; Plut. Sol. 14. 112 HELLENIC HISTORY Abolition of securities. On entering office Solon proclaimed an abolition of all securities on land and person. Of this work he him- self says: " In the just fulness of time the mighty mother of the Olympian gods, even Black Earth most excellent, will bear me wit- ness that I removed the mortgage pillars which stood in many places — she who was formerly in slavery but now set free, To Athens, our country divinely founded, I restored many men who had been sold, one illegally, another under the law; some whom hard necessity had forced into exile, who in their many wanderings had forgot the Attic tongue. Others held here in unseemly slavery, and trembling under their masters' caprices, I set free. This I did by my power, uniting force with justice." -° The future safety of the commons. To secure the liberty of the commons for the future, he prohibited the mortgaging of per- sons. For curbing the avarice of the rich he limited by law the amount of land which the individual might acquire. As the large landowners were shipping their grain to the thriving industrial cen- tres in the neighborhood of Attica, thus reducing the masses to starva- tion, Solon forbade the exportation of all products of the soil except olive oil, of which there was a surplus. More stimulating were his laws for the encouragement of industry. He attached a heavy fine to idleness and compelled every man to teach his son a trade. As there were too few artisans to serve as models for the rest, and make a beginning of industry, he offered the citizenship to skilled workmen of other countries on the condition of their settling permanently in Attica. In the same liberal spirit citizens were permitted to marry non-Athenian women, and the children of such unions had full social and political rights. Another law, afterward adopted by the Romans, encouraged the formation of corporations for the transactions of vari- ous kinds of business.^^ Coinage. A further impetus was given to commerce by the adop- tion of a native coinage. The Euboic standard was chosen for the purpose, undoubtedly to facilitate trade with Chalcis and Eretria and their many colonies.^^ Family^ law. In his reform of family law Solon aimed to free 20 Poem of Solon, in Arist. Const. Atli. 12; cf. 6; Plut. Sol. 15. There is no evidence of a complete abolition of debts; and against it is Androtion, FHG. I. p. 375. 40. 21 Arist. Co7ist. A til. 6, 9; Polit. ii. 7. 6, 1266 b (limitation on size of estates, unneces- sarily doubted by some scholars); Plut. Sol. 13, 15, 17, 22-4; Hdt. vi. 130 (marriage with alien); Digest xlvii. 22. 4 (law as to corporations). 22 P. 59 f. cf. Gardiner, Hist, of Ancient Coinage, 143 ff. ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 113 the individual from kin and gens with the object of attaching him more closely to the state. His enactment that anyone who wished might go to law in defence of an iniured person tended to substitute neigh- borly friendliness and governmental protection in place of the old tie of blood. Heretofore wHls were unknown, and in lack of children the estate passed to the nearest of kin. Solon, however, enacted that in case a man had no children he might will his estate to whomsoever he pleased. This law freed property from the control of the kin and granted the individual more complete possession of his own. These regulations gave freer scope to the individuality of the citizens, and placed them in a better position to serve the state.-'* Criminal law. In his revision of the criminal code of Draco he lightened excessive penalties but left the laws of homicide substan- tially untouched. Recognizing the harshness of previous judicial decisions, he decreed an amnesty to all who were in exile excepting those condemned for homicide or attempted tyranny. Under this edict the Alcmeonidae returned to their homes.-* The four census classes, and magistrates. Among his first con- stitutional measures was a revision of the definitions of the four census classes. For the medimnus he substituted the lighter metron — wet and dry-measure, so as to include in the reckoning oil and wine as well as grain. A pentacosiomedimnus was accordingly one who produced 500 measures wet and dry, from his estate; a hippeus 300- 500; a zeugite 200-300; a thete less than 200. Through this reform many must have been advanced from lower to higher ratings. The treasurers were to be drawn exclusively from the highest class, the archons from the first and second; the zeugites were eligible to the council of four hundred; and the thetes, disbarred from all indi- vidual offices and boards, were now admitted to the assembly (eccle- sia).-^ Council of Four Hundred, assembly, and supreme court. The Council of Four Hundred and One, dropping the odd number seems to have remained in other respects the same. The assembly was made more democratic by the admission of the thetes. Solon insti- tuted a supreme court, the heliaea, to which men above thirty years from all four census classes were eligible. Its function was to re- 23 Plut. Sol. 18, 21; Arist. Const. Atli. 9. 24 Arist. Const. Ath. 7. 1; Plut. Sol. 17, 19. 25 Arist. Const. Ath. 7; Polit. ii. 12, 1273 b; Plut. Sol. 18; Pollux viii. 130, Aeginetan medimnus, formerly used, 74 qt. ; Euboic metretes, now adopted, 39 qt. That the archons were taken from the highest class only (Plut. Arist. 1) is evidently a mistake. 114 HELLENIC HISTORY ceive appeals from the judicial decisions of the archons, and to try the retiring magistrates for misconduct in office, in case any one ac- cused them.-" Constitutional balance. The widening of the franchise to include the thetes and the establishment of the heliaea made the government more popular. In the absence of pay for public service, however, the citizens could rarely attend t he as sembly in large numbers, and few could sit in the heliaea. These bodies were therefore practically controlled by the well-to-do.^' The high property qualifications of the magistrates and the supervisory power of the Areopagites, left unimpaired by Solon, were strong aristocratic elements. We have from himself an estimate of his constitutional reform: " I gave the commons as much power as sufficed, neither detracting from their honor nor adding thereto. Those who possessed might and were il- lustrious in wealth, for them I planned that they should suffer naught unseemly." In another place he says, " Thus the commons would best follow their leaders, neither given too much rein nor yet op- pressed." ^^ The rich and noble were to fill the offices, the commons were to have only enough power to check them and preserve their own liberty. IV. The TYRANN-i 560'-5ro Factional strife, 593-560. Few were satisfied with Solon's re- forms. The Shoremen, containing many fishermen and traders, were inclined to abide by his arrangements; but men of the Plain, eupat- rids with large estates, were irritated by his concessions to the poor, whereas the inhabitants of the Hills, including the turbulent shep- herds, were disappointed in their expectation of a redistribution of property. These factions fiercely contended with one another."^ Peisistratus. In time the leadership of the Hills fell to Peisis- tratus, a distant relative of Solon. Smooth of speech, courteous in bearing, and master of political trickery, he enjoyed too a brilliant military reputation gained in a war with Megara (about 570-65).^° In the belief that his political adversaries sought his life the assembly 2ti Arist. Const. 7, 8, 9; Polit. ii. 12. 3-5, 1274 a; cf. 1281 b; Plut. Sol. 18, 19; Lysias x 16. 27 Cf. Isoc. Areop. 24 f. 28 Poems of Solon, in Arist. Const. Ath. 12. 29 Arist. Const. Ath. U, 13; Plut. Sol. 13, 29; Hdt. i. 59. 30 .\rist. op. cit. 14. 1 ; 16. 8 f . ; Plut. Sol. 29. ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 115 voted him a personal guard, with which he seized the Acropolis in 500, and made himself tyrant. Twice a combination of the two rival factions caused his retirement into exile; but finally gaining com- plete supremacy, he maintained it with the aid of mercenaries.^^ His tyranny, 560-510. Peisistratus is an excellent type of the statesman despot. His hand lay heavily on the nobles alone. Those of the class who were too independent of spirit or too ambitious to submit were forced into exile. There are indications that he con- fiscated the estates of such persons and divided them in small farms among the poor. To the needy country people he gave seeds and work-animals for stocking their farms. The number of cultivators he greatly increased by such encouragements and by the expulsion of idlers from the city. Thus supplementing Solon's emancipation of debtor slaves, Peisistratus founded a numerous, thriving agricultural class, which remained prosperous long after his family had ceased to rule. His tax of one-tenth, afterward reduced to a twentieth, on the produce was burdensome only to the most sterile farms. " See- ing (on the slope of Hymettus) a certain man digging and working among the rocks with a stake, he bade his servant ask what was produced in the place. The other replied, ' Only aches and pains, and of these aches and pains, Peisistratus must have his tenth.' The man answered without knowing him; but Peisistratus, pleased with his candor and his love of work, made him exempt from all taxes." ^^ Commerce ; exports. From all that we can learn, his policy must have been rural rather than industrial. A wide exportation of wine, olive oil. and toilet ointments is proved by the great number of Attic vases of this period found in various parts of the ancient world from Etruria to Egypt. Asia Minor and the shores of the Black Sea. They are of the black-figured type — characterized by paintings in black glaze on a red background, produced during the rule of Peisis- tratus. Shortly after the accession of Hippias this class gave way to the more highly developed red-figured style, which too was widely diffused by trade.'" Potters' shops, accordingly, were increasing in size and in the number of hands employed. Relations with other states. Commerce must in fact have de- 31 Arist. Const. Ath. 14 f., 18; Hdt. i. 59-64; Diod. ix. 20; Diog. Laert. Sol. 3-6. The dates of these exiles are hopeless. 32 Aelian, V. H., ix. 25; Arist. Ath. Const. 16; Thuc. vi. 54. 5; Diod. ix. 37; Suidas, j. v. Kai (7aKeKoi, P- 189. S3 Walters, Anc. Pottery, I. 368 ff. These two color schemes were current in the Early Minoan Age; p. 9. 116 HELLENIC HISTORY rived great encouragement from the treaty relations which Peisistratus established with many states from Thessaly to Lacedaemon; and the peace thus guaranteed was an additional basis of prosperity. The colony of Sigeum on the Hellespont he founded, or at least reen- forced, and appointed a son to govern it. Under the tyrant's patron- age Miltiades, an eminent eupatrid, conducted a colony to the Cher- sonese on the European side of the Hellespont. Both settlements remained dependencies of Athens. In brief it is not too much to re- gard Peisistratus as the creator of Athenian diplomacy and of a place of dignity and influence for his city among the states of HellasT^" Enforcement of Solon's laws. At home he enforced the existing laws and constitution, taking care only to secure by his control of the political machinery the election of kinsmen or partisans to the chief offices. The masses were attached to him by his benefits to them and many of the nobles by the social attractions of his court. ^^ Hippias, 527-510, and Hipparchus. When Peisistratus died of old age in 527, his sons Hippias and Hipparchus continued his policy. The former, as the elder and as a man of statesmanlike characterj_managed political affairs, while the more cultured brother attended to the erectiqnof public works, a nd acted as patron o f lit- erature and art.'"'*' Public works. The most useful public works of the Peisistratidae, as the dynasty is termed, were a subterranean aqueduct, which brought a supply of fresh water to the cityTrom the upper valley of the Ilis- sus, and a system of roads which radiated through Attica from the altar of the Twelve Gods in the market-place. Their extensive build- ing of temples, their enlargement of religious festivals by the addition of new features, their patronage of artists and poets, with the general effect of advancing the social happiness, the taste, and intelligence of the citizens, will be touched upon in the following chapter.^'' Harsher tyranny, 514-510. An epoch was made in the character of the tyranny by the assassination of Hipparchus in 514. The per- petrators of the deed were two young nobles, Harmodius and Aristo- geiton, whose motive in stirring up a conspiracy against the tyrants .34 11(11. i. 61, 95; V. 63, 94 f. ; vi. 34-40; Arist. Const. Ath. 15, 17, 19; Strabo xiii. 1. 38; Diog. Laert. i. 74. 3.5 Arist. Const. Ath. 16. 36 Arist. Const. Ath. 17 f . ; Thuc. i. 20; vi. 5S. / 37 Thuc. vi. 54; Hdt. ii. 7; Plato, Hippias, 228 tt; IG. I. 522; Judeich, 186 f. ; Gardner, Anc. Athens, 26-8. " ' • ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 117 was an insult offered them by Hipparchus in an affair of love. The i)lot failed. Hippias escaped, and the assassins with several accomplices were put to death. Throughout Athenian history the murderers of Hipparchus were celebrated in song as tyrannicides, and their descendants were decreed special privileges forever. Far from overthrowing the tyranny, however, their conspiracy served to change good to bad. Hippias now became suspicious and harsh, a tyrant in the unfavorable sense of the word.^^ The downfall of tyranny, 510. To the emigrant nobles these conditions offered a favorable opportunity to attempt a return. Their leaders were the Alcmeonidae, who had won the favor of the Delphic Apollo by their munificent rebuilding of his temple after its destruc- tion by fire. By means of the oracle accordingly they were able to win the Lacedaemonians to their aid. Whenever the authorities at Sparta sent to consult it, the answer always 'was, "Athens must be set free." At this time the Peloponnesian League reached the borders of Attica; and the command of Apollo was strengthened by Lace- daemonian ambition. With a force of Peloponnesians King Cleo- menes of Sparta joined the Alcmeonidae and their faction in besieg- ing Hippias in the Acropolis. The children of the besieged were taken in an attempt to steal through the lines. To save them, Hip- pias surrendered on condition of retiring from the country. In this way the tyranny came to an end in 510.^^ V. The Establishment of Democracy 508-501 A factional oligarchy, 510, 509. The downfall of Hippias was a victory for the emigrant nobles, who on their return began to rule in lordly style. Revising the citizen lists, they struck off the names of a multitude whose ancestors had been enrolled by Solon and Peisistra- tus. Their object was not only to secure political control but to re- cover their confis cate d estates. Opposition to Cleisthenes, as head of the nobles and their adherents, was made by Isagoras, a friend of Hippias. The struggle between the two men for supremacy was carried on in the political clubs without the cooperation of the people. The election of Isagoras to the archonship for 503 proved his superior S8 Hdt. V. 55-7, 62; Thuc. i. 20; vi. S^-Q; Arist. Const. Ath. 18 f. Skolion of Callistratos, H. Civ. no. 52. 39 Rebuilding of the Delphic temple; Hdt. i. 50; ii. ISO; v. 62; Philochonus. in FHG. I. p. 395. 70; Paus. x. 5. 13; Arist. Const. Ath. 19. 4. End of the tvrannv; Hdt. v. 63-5; Thuc. vi. 59; Arist. Const. Ath. 19; Frag. 395; Aristoph. Lysistr. 1150 ff. 118 HELLENIC HISTORY strength. Thereupon Cleist henes , unwilling to submit to such con- stitutional forms as then existed, appealed to the disfranchised masses, promising them a restoration of their political rights on con- dition of their helping him oust Isagoras from office. The people responded; and in spite of the interference of Cleomenes, they ulti- mately triumphed. Isagoras was forced into exile; and Cleisthenes was given full power, probably as thesmothete, to fulfill his promise. The thoroughness with which he accomplished his task proved him a statesman, and notwithstanding his earlier oligarchic tendencies, in the depths of his heart a lover of democratic freedom. ^^ The demes. The growth of the rural population under the tyranny, with the great increase in the number of villages, rendered the forty- eight naucraries inadequate as a local organization. Cleisthenes ac- cordingly began his reforms with the division of all Attica into more than a hundred demes — townships — differing greatly in extent and population and centering as a rule in existing villages. All who resided in a deme at the time of its institution were enrolled, as members, hence as Athenian citizens. This provision included' not only the recently disfranchised but also many alien residents and emancipated slaves. The franchise was thus more widely extended than ever before. The families so enrolled remained members of their original deme, irrespective of residence. The deme had a complete local organization, including demarch (mayor), treasurer, priests and priestesses attending to the service of the local gods, common property and revenue and an assembly of members, whose resolutions were binding on the townsmen in so far as they did not conflict with the laws of the state. In the township the citizens received a training in politics and administration which helped fit them for their part in the larger government of the state. It was in fact the nursery of the democracy.'*^ The trittyes. The demes were grouped in thirty trittyes in such a way as to make the latter approximately equal in population. In one or two cases a trittys contained a single large deme, but generally a greater, varying number. Each trittys therefore was a definite dis- trict. It had no communal life but served merely as a connecting link between the township and the tribe. In the creation of these dis- 40 Revision of citizen list; Arist. Const. Ath. 13. 5. Factional strife; op. cit. 20; Hdt. v. 66, 69-74. Party of Isagoras accursed; Schol. Aristoph. Lysistr. 273. 41 HaussouUier, La vie municipale en Attique, 176 f. ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 119 tricts Cleisthenes provided further tliat ten should lie near the Shore, ten in the Hills, ten in the Plain. The tribes (phylae). Of the trittyes he composed ten tribes — ph}lae — drawing by lot for each tribe a trittys from the Shore, Plain, and Hills respectively. The result was that in the map of Attica, which we can reconstruct only for a later time, some tribes were made up of trittyes which did not touch one another, whereas other tribes formed continuous though irregular districts. There were local changes after Cleisthenes, however, and it may well be that he consistently separated the trittyes of a tribe. One object of the peculiar arrangement of townships was, by dis- tributing the local factions among all the tribes, to break up their sectional organizations and put to an end their mutual antipathies. By the same arrangement, too, Cleisthenes succeeded in making the tribes approximately equal, not only in population, but in economy, to the end that the burdens of military service and taxation might be distributed evenly among them. Another object of far-reaching im- portance was to make the tribes politically equal. Had some of them been wholly near Athens and others wholly remote, the nearer tribes would have controlled the rest. But the location of some demes of every tribe in Athens or its vicinity secured an approximately equal representation of all the tribes in the assembly. Largely on this condition rested the success of the democracy. Each tribe had its board of supervisors, its worship of the epony- mous hero, treasurer and communal property, assembly of members, and other institutions. Each performed its share of the unpaid public services, such as the building and repair of fortifications or the equipment and training of lyric choruses. The four old tribes were abolished. The naucraries, superseded by the demes, lingered on a few years. Although the gentes of the nobles remained, their influ- ence was greatly curtailed. The old citizens retained their phratries, and new phratries seem to have been instituted for those who were newly admitted. *- The central government; the council of Five Hundred. The organization of the central governtnent was adjusted to the new tribes. The council of Four Hundred was increased to Five Hundred, fifty 42 Tribes and demes; Hdt. v. 66, 69; Arist. Const. Ath. 21; Polit. iii. 2. 3, 1275 b. That the number of demes exceeded one hundred is proved by epigraphic evidence. Inscrip- tions relating to tribes and demes; Michel, no. 136-55. The pliratries; Arist. Const. Ath. 21. 6; Polit. vi. 4. 18 f., 1319 b. 120 HELLENIC HISTORY from each tribe, distributed amonp; the demes in proportion to their population. For official purposes Cleisthenes divided the year into ten equal periods corresponding to these ten tribal delegations, and enacted that the delegations should take their turns, each for a tenth of the year, in managing the current business of the council. The fifty members on duty were termed prytaneis — foremen — and their period was called a prytany. The pr^-taneis, while des- patching routine business on their own responsibility, reported the more serious matters for the consideration of the entire Five Hundred. Of the business thus laid before it the council disposed finally of the lighter affairs, and incorporated those of greater weight in bills for presentation to the assembly. Henceforth, too, in the supervision of administrative officers it undoubtedly gained ground at the ex- pense of the Areopagites. The council of the Areopagus. The council of the Areopagus, now containing many friends of Hippias, could no longer be trusted as the sole guardian of the constitution. One who prosecuted a citizen for treason or political conspiracy still had the privilege of bringing the accusation before that body, or he might under a new statute bring the accused before the popular assembly. While the authority of the Areopagites remained legally untouched in all other respects, it was in fact necessarily lessened by the increasing vitality of the Five Hundred and of the assembly. The assembly and the heliaea ; the magistrates. The member- ship of the assembly was greatly enlarged by the extension of the franchise, and the citizens were encouraged by the reform to take a more active interest in public affairs. The popular court — heliaea — seems to have remained unchanged. The archons were still the chief magistrates, and the generals, who commanded the tribal regi- ments under the polemarch, were increased to ten. In addition to the small funds belonging to the several shrines of Attica there were two chief public treasuries; that of Athena, under the Treasurers (tamiae) of the Goddess, and the Demosion (state treasury) under the colacretae. Cleisthenes instituted a board of ten Receivers (apodectae), who under the supervision of the Five Hun- dred received all incoming moneys and assigned them to the appro- priate treasuries. It was a step toward the unification of public finances.*^ 43 The Five Hundred; Arist. Const. Aili. 21. 3; 22. 1; 43. 2 f . ; Harpocration, s. v, f ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 121 Ostracism. Cleisthenes introduced a peculiar institution termed ostracism. The word is derived from ostrakon, piece of pottery, which was the form of ballot used in the process. Once a year, if the assembly so resolved, the citizens met and voted against any of their number whom they judged dangerous to the state. After the ballots were cast, " the archons counted the whole number of ostraka; for if the entire number of voters was less than six thousand, the ostracism was without effect. Next they counted the number of times each name occurred, and that man against whom most votes were recorded was sent into exile for ten years." In other words a quorum of six thousand was necessary to secure the validity ^TlHe act; and in case of such a quorum a plurality of votes decided the question as to the person to be banished. Such an exile, though inconvenient, was considered an honor.** For understanding the purpose and effect of ostracism it is im- portant to notice that from of old, Athens had been afflicted with factional strife, renewed after the fall of the tyranny. These strug- gles sometimes took the form of civil war, which ended in the banish- ment or the massacre of the weaker party. Through ostracism Cleis- thenes replaced civil war by voting in the settlement of factional strife and required the banishment of the leader of the weaker fac- tion rather than the sacrifice of his entire following. That a man who had committed no crime should be sent into exile was indeed unjust; and yet it was far juster and more humane than the banish- ment or massacre of an entire political party merely because it chanced to be the weaker.*''^ Market-place, Pnyx, and governmental buildings. The ex- traordinary meetings of the ecclesia for the voting of ostracism were held in the market-place, where doubtless the people had gathered in assembly even under the kings. Henceforth, however, other ses- sions of the whole people were usually held on the Pnyx^ a hill nearly west of the Acropolis. But in most respects the market-place remained the seat of political life. On its border the party of Cleisthenes erected a Council Chamber for the Five Hundred, a Rotunda for the prytaneis, a King's Porch, and other governmental Uovrdveis Lists of prytaneis; IG. II. 864-74. Prosecution of Miltiades before the assem- bly; Hdt. vi. 136. Polemarch and generals; Hdt. vi. 109-11; Arist. Const. Ath. 22. 2; Plut. Arist. 5; Them. 6. Apodectae; Androtion, FHG. I. p. 371. 3. IG. I. Suppl. p. 66. S3 a. 44 H. Civ. no. 31 (Plutarch, quoted in the text above, and Philochorus) with comment; Arist. Const. Ath. 22. 3; 43. 5. 45 Arist. Polit. iii. 13. 13-25, 1284 b; 17. 7, 1288 a; v. 3. 3, 1302 b; 8. 12, 1308 b. 122 HELLENIC HISTORY buildings. In this way the new democracy began to stamp its char- acter upon the architecture of the city. The reorganization completed, 501. The surveying of the deme^, whose boundaries were marked by stones, and the completion of the intricate local arrangements on which the entire constitution rested, was the work of several years. We are not surprised therefore to learn that the institution of the new council and the reorganization of the army under the ten generals were completed as late as 501.**' The constitutional balance. Regarding the constitutional re- forms as a whole, we may say with Grote *" that they preserved but at the same time modified and strengthened all the main features of Solon's political measures. It was a democracy, though held in check by strong conservative balances. As democratic elements may especially be mentioned the lessening of the eupatrid and tyrannist influence, the broadening of the civic franchise, and the energizing of the political and patriotic spirit in the deraes, and thence in the Five Hundred, assembly, and heliaea — a spirit soon to manifest itself in prodigious military, artistic, and intellectual activities. The most prominent conservative or aristocratic checks were the preva- lence of country life, which prevented the majority from taking the part in public affairs granted them by the constitution; the ab- sence of pay for public service which debarred the poor from contin- uouFparticipation in offices, and in both assembly and courts, the high property qualifications for magistrates; and the great powers of the Council j)f the Areopagus, now modestly holding itself in the political background but soon to regain gradually its supTfvision of govern- ment and people. Though we may speak of Cleisthenes as the founder of democracy, the government was far less democratic than it became in the following century.*^ 4fi Arist. Co7ist. Ath. 22. 2. 47 History of Greece, IV. 135. 48 Arist. Const. Ath. 29. 3 (opinion that it was not a democracy); Isoc. Areop. 16; Antid. 232 (democracy); Plut. Ciin. 15 (aristocracy); Arist. 2. New energy; Hdt. v. 66, 78. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, J. B., History of Greece (2d. ed., Macmillan, 1913), chs. iv, v; Holm, A., History of Greece (4 vols., Macmillan, 1895-8), I, chs xxvi-xxviii; Curtius, E., History of Greece (5 vols., Scribner, 1886), II, ch. ii; Grote G., History of Greece (12 vols., Hayes, reprint from ed. of 1849-53), III, chs. x, xi; IV, xxx, xxxi; Busolt, G., Griechische Geschichte (3 vols., 2d. ed., Gotha, 1893-1904), II, 1-449 (most thorough treatment) ; Greenidge, A. H. J., Greek Constitutional History (Macmillan, 1902), 124-62; Botsford, G. W., Athenian Constitution ATHENS: FROM MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY 123 -,(Ginn, 1893), clis. vii-xi-; Gilbert, G., Constitutional Antiquities of Sparta and Athens (Macmillan, 1895), 95-133; Zimmern, Greek Commonwealth (Oxfoid, Clarendon Press, 1915); Gardner, E. A., Ancient Athens (Macmillan, 1902); Judc\ch,Topographie von Athen (Munich; Beck 1905); Weller, C. H., Athens and its Moniniients (Macmillan, 1913) ; HaussouUier, A., La vie municipale en Attiquc (Paris: Thorin, 1884); Fowler and Wheeler, Handbook of Gr»ek Archaeology (Am. Bk. Co.) ; D'Ooge, A. L., The Acropolis of Athens (Mac- millan, 1919) ; Gardner, E. A., Handbook of Greek Sculpture (Macmillan, 1915) ; Walters, H. B., History of Greek Pottery (Murray, 1905). AN OSTKAKON C.^ST AGAINST THEMISTOCLES (British Museum) ALCAEUS AND SAPPHO (From vase painting) CHAPTER VIII INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 750-479 I. Social and Literary Progress Correlation of activities, 750-479. The alphabet and writing. It was due in part to increasing intelligence that about the middle of the eighth century the Greeks entered upon an era of industrial development, colonial expansion, and political progress. These movements, on the other hand, interacting upon one another, afforded so powerful a stimulus to the mind that we may describe the period thus beginning as one of intellectual awakening. The means of accumulating knowledge essential to great progress was the employ- ment of the alphabet for the preservation of literature. While adopting the Phoenician alphabet, the lonians modified it to fit the peculiarities of their language. As its use extended over Greece, it differentiated according to dialect into various systems. For a long 124 INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 125 time, however, it seems to have been restricted to the writing of names on lots and perhaps mercantile accounts. Thence it extended to inscriptions on gifts dedicated to the gods, lists of priests who officiated in succession at temples, and of magistrates after a limit had been placed on the tenure of office. The earliest documents involving connected discourse were laudatory epitaphs, treaties be- tween states, and laws. Probably the Homeric poems were long preserved orally. We cannot be sure of a written literature before the seventh century.^ The rhapsodists. The Iliad and the Odyssey, as stated in an earlier chapter, were mainly Aeolic, dominated by Indo-European ideas. Not long after their composition the Homeridae, " sons of , Homer," a gens of Chios, were journeying through Ionia and the •rest of Hellas, chanting them at the courts of the great and in popu- lar gatherings. From the staff — rhabdos — which these singers waved in marking time, they came to be known as rhapsodists. Many were the minstrels, however, who made no claim to descent from their poet. The cycle, about 750-600. Under the Homeric inspiration Ionic poets of the eighth and seventh centuries composed various epics, forming a group known as the cycle. These poems are lost; we know them through scant fragments still preserved and through their extensive use by Attic dramatists of later time. From these sources we learn that the lonians of the period, unlike the Homeric Greeks, were essentially Minoan: they practiced magic, believed in ghosts, worshipped the dead, and had traditions of human sacrifices. They believed, further, in religious pollution incurred by homicide and in the power of cleansing such guilt by ceremonies of purification, especially with the use of swine's blood. In dress and armor also they were heirs of the decadent Minoan civilization.^ An intense life of increasing complexity, 750-479. Life in Ionia during this period, however, was anything but stagnant. The change from rural to industrial economy, the growth of cities and of 1 The sources for this subject are so presented in the following pages as to require no introduction here (cf. H. Civ. p. 11-20, 175-209). Industrial and colonial, political activi- ties, Ch. IV, political, Ch. VII. For the expression " Intellectual Awakening," cf. Renais- sance, "Rebirth." Probable origin of the alphabet; p. 35. The Roman alphabet is derived from the Chalcidic, ours from the Roman. Earliest use of writing; Hicks and Hill, p. 1 ff. Earliest extant treaty; op. cit. no. 9, with translation. Earliest Attic inscription on a vase given as a prize in dancing. " He who now sings and dances, most gracefully of all the dancers"; Ath. Mitt. VI. 106 ff. The rarity of extant inscriptions for this period indicates the slight use of writing. 2 Edition of the Cycle fragments; Kinkel, G., Epicorum Graecorum fragmeiita (Teubner, 1877). Translations in Lawton. W. C, Succt^ssors of Homer, ch. i; H. Civ. nos. 35, 36. 126 HELLENIC HISTORY a leisurely class, as well as contact with the entire Mediterranean world, afforded by colonization and commerce, brought this country distinctly to the foreground of Hellenic civilization. The abolition of kingship and the rise of aristocracies and tyrannies, involving fierce factional struggles, added to the intensity of life. To express these complex conditions the old epic verse of calm stately metre ■ — the dactylic hexameter — proved wholly inadequate. It gave way accordingly to new and varied measures, which would better exhibit the play of individual or communal thought and emotion characteris- tic of the ne'w era. The elegy: Callinus, about 650. The first variation from the epic verse is found in the elegiac pentameter, whose spirit may be either meditative or emotional. Accompanied by the pipe, it lent itself equally to the expression of political and social thought, re- ligious devotion, and martial fire. The first great master of the elegy was Callinus of Ephesus. About the middle of the seventh century, when the savage Cimmerians from north of the Black Sea were ravaging the Ephesian territory, he roused his countrymen to battle with the following song : — Sit ye in quiet how long? Stir up the fierce spirit within you; Have ye no feeHng of shame, youths, for the dwellers around? Why thus remiss? Do ye think ye are sitting in blissful contentment Peace given, while dread war holds all our dear native land? Now in the moment of death hurl your last spear at the foe. Honored is he and esteemed who fights in the foremost of lancers, Guarding his country, his home, guarding his dear wedded wife. Fighting with foes; for death comes but once, and whenever it may be, Fate cuts the thread of our life. Each must go quick to the front. Grasping his spear in his hand, and under his shield his untrembling Heart pressing, panting for fight, mingling in deadliest fray. Fate hath decreed that from death there shall be by no prudence escaping; Doomed are all mortals to die, saving no sons of the gods. Often the din of the battle, the hurtling of lances surviving. Sees man the terror of death stalking into his home. Weaklings are dear to no state, nor in death by the people lamented ; Warriors the great and the small mourn when they face their fair doom; Longing intense fills all hearts in the land for the stout-minded hero Dying in liberty's cause; living they hold him divine. Just like a tower of defence in the eyes of the people appearing, Works he the deeds of a host, striving alone in his might. ^ Tyrtaeus of Lacedaemon. In its patriotic ideal and martial 3 The pipe as a Minoan heritage; p. 24. — The only extant poem of Callinus. The metre is a rough reproduction of the original. The Cimmerians; Hdt. i. 6, 16; iv. 11 f. The modern Krim (Crimea) retains their name. They burned Sardis and destroyed the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 127 spirit this f)oem is akin to the elefi;y of Tyrtaeus already cited. In lact the latter poet must be regarded as a pupil of the lonians. Along with the elegy Tyrtaeus used other form's of verse, as did also Solon of Athens, who lived but shortly afterward.* Archilochus. A greater personal intensity distinguishes the poetry of Archilochus, the first Greek — hence the first European — of whose private character we are in a position, through the fragments of his verse, to obtain clear, though fleeting, glimpses. In addition to com-- posing elegies, he was the first great master of the iambic, a measure adapted to energetic expression, giving utterance to the whole range of human passions from love to sarcasm and hate. His stormy life was typical of the age and of his social class. The son of an aristo- cratic father and slave mother, in youth he was forced by " poverty and want " to leave his native Paros and join a colony his country- men had established in Thasos. But he had no love for this new home, this " woeful " island that " stands with wild wood bristling like a donkey's back, no fair land, or lovely, or dear." With his fellow colonists he probably exploited the gold mines of the island, and certainly he fought with them against the Thracians on the neigh- boring mainland. Having thrown away his shield and fled in thif battle, a most disgraceful act, he afterward boasted of it : — Vaunts some Thracian wight of the beautiful shield I abandoned. All uninjured by scars, grudgingly left by the brook. Body and soul I have rescued. What matter, the piece may go begging; Soon a new buckler I'll find, better by far than the old. A soldier of fortune. He could not remain long in Thasos, because as he admitted he was too insolent, abusing friend and foe alike, and doubtless prudence forbade his return to Paros. Hence he became a wanderer over sea and land, a poet soldier of fortune, as he tells us: "I am a companion of the Lord of War, and I know the lovely gift of the Muses." More drastically he writes : — Bread for me baked is the gain of my spear; in my spear is the vintage Ismarus yields to my call; lean I on lance while I drink. He seems a pirate from these words: " There were seven dead men trampled under foot, and we were a thousand murderers." These quotations are from his elegies. In an iambic poem he teaches a lesson in moderation : — 4 Tyrtaeus; p. 86 above, H. Civ. no. 42; Botsford, Source-Book, p. 141-3. Solon; H. Civ. p. 141 f., 148 f. Original text in Bergk, Anthol. Lyr. 128 HELLENIC HISTORY The gold of rich King Gyges stirs in me no hate; No slave of envy am I ; I do not emulate The wondrous deeds of gods, nor love the tyrant's might; Such things unworthy lie beyond mine eyes' dear sight. A tempestuous spirit. In love as in hate he reveals the same tem- pestuous spirit. Jilted by Neobule — so reads the tale — he lo3t no time in sad lament, but with his biting iambics drove her and her sis- ters to hang themselves. This man of muscle and redundant mental power, enjoying in a restless mercenary career the pleasures that came his way, " giving deadly presents to his foes " or inspiring dis- tressed friends with hopeful courage, wrote verses that placed him second to Homer, establishing him as the unequalled artist of per- sonal song.^ Aeolian culture: Alcaeus, about 600-550. Passing on from the seventh to the sixth century, we return from Ionian lands to the home of the Aeolians, who created the Homeric poems, and who in Lesbos kept equal cultural pace with their southern neighbors. Mytilene, the chief Lesbic city, trading with Egypt, enjoyed the imported re- finements of the Orient. Less devoted than the lonians however to commerce and the useful arts, the race gave itself whole-heartedly to social enjoyment, to the lyre and song. " Lesbos, the centre of Aeolian culture, was the island of overmastering passions; the personality of the Greek race burned there with a fierce and steady flame of con- centrated feeling." ° Here the poems of Alcaeus, mere shreds as they now are, lead us into the midst of civil strife. The monarchy had yielded to aristocratic factions, through whose strugggles for su- premacy scheming leaders of the populace made their way to tyranny; nor was the poet himself clear from the imputation of seeking su- preme power. Against his adversary Myrsilus he thus declaims: — This man, this raving idiot here. With rank supreme and power great, Will quickly overthrow the state; Already is the crisis near. The poet's first exile : Zeus is angry at the motherland. The usurpation of the tyranny by Myrsilus, and the failure of a con- 5 The translations are mainly the present author's. See also H. Civ. no. 44; Appleton, Greek Poets, 114 f. ; Hauvette, H., Un poete ionicn du 17/'' siede, Archiloque; sa vie et ses poesies (Paris, 1905); eSymonds, Studies in the Greek Poets, I. 127. Mytilene-, Hdt. ii. 178. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 129 spiracy to dislodge him, drove the poet into exile at Pyrrha, a small but independent town in the island. There he apostrophizes his sorrowing fatherland : — What purpose or intent is in thee, my Country, that thou hast been so long time distraught? Be of good cheer; for the son of Cronos himself did tell thee that thou hadst no need to fear warfare, howsoever it should seize thee, nor should neighbor foemen, nay nor oarsmen from over the far- bounded sea, maintain for long the woeful conflict of the far-flung spear, unless thou shouldst of thyself send afar all the best of thy people, to sunder them from thee ; for 'tis men that are a city's tower in war. But alas ! thou no longer doest the Father's will, and a swift fate hath overtaken thee. . . . Now I make this prayer for thee, that I may no longer see the daylight, if the son of Cleanax or yonder Splitfoot or the son of Archeanax be suffered more to live by one whom his dear sweet native land, and factious strife as old as itself, together have done away.'^ Soon the death of the tyrant, probably by violence, permitted the return of the poet's faction. Pittacus, dictator (aesymnetes). Some time afterward the estab- lishment of a popular government at Mytilene again forced Alcaeus and his friends into exile. To guard against their armed return, the Lesbians appointed their ablest man, Pittacus, dictator. Of him the people sang as they ground their barley: — Grind, mill, grind ! For Pittacus himself is grinding, Ruling mighty Mytilene. " Pittacus himself employed monarchical power to dissolve the despotism of the many; but having accomplished this task, he re- stored the independence of the city." His generous amnesty recalled the nobles from banishment, and Alcaeus passed the remainder of his days in peace. During the long period of seditions the poet had encouraged his friends by " songs of party strife," from which quo- tations have been made above.* A wide range of interests. In addition to martial and political themes, he wrote on a great variety of subiecis, including travel, na- ture, love, drinking, and other topics. His poems were personal 7 Newly found poem, trans, by Edmonds, J. M., Class. Rev. XXXI (1917). 33 ff. All the recently discovered poems are badly mutilated, and the readings therefore, as Mr. Edmonds explains, are to a considerable degree conjectural. Evidently Mytilene is threat- ened or actually assailed by war during the exile of the party of Alcaeus, and the poet ac- cordingly explains why Zeus is angry with the dear motherland. The persons mentioned near the close belong to the tyrant's faction. « Strabo xiii. 2. 3; cf. Arist. Polit. in. 14, 8 f., 1285 a. Pittacus was appointed aesym- netes for ten years, and at the end of this term he voluntarily laid down his almost abso- lute power. 130 HELLENIC HISTORY lyrics sung among friends to the accompaniment of the lyre. His favorite stanza, named Alcaic after him and probably his invention, is fairly represented in the following translation of a convivial song for a wintry evening : Zeus hails; the streams are frozen. In the sky A mighty storm is raging high. And now the forest thick, the ocean hoar, Grow clamorous with the Thracian tempests roar. But drive away the storm, and make the fire Hotter, and pile the logs and faggots higher; Pour out the tawny wine with lavish hand, And bind about thy head a fleecy band. It ill befits to yield the heart to pain. What profits grief, or what will sorrow gain? O Bacchus, bring us wine, delicious wine, And sweet exhilaration, balm divine. The taste of after ages preferably cited his drinking songs, with the result that they abound among his extant fragments. We are glad to learn therefore from a Latin critic that he " contributed greatly to the improvement of morals." With much of the genius, versatility, and fire of Archilochus, the Lesbic poet possessed a more amiable disposition. Both open to us an invaluable insight into the life and character of their times; and both exerted a determining influence on the literature of after ages.^ Women in society and in literature, seventh and sixth cen- turies. In these times the domain of literature was not monopolized by men. In fact the social and intellectual development of women during the seventh and sixth centuries has a unique place in the history of the world. It is true that under Oriental influence the upper-class lonians segregated their women. Among them wives never ate with their husbands or called them by name.^" Hesiod, the crabbed, parsimonious Boeotian farmer, who regards woman as a beast of burden," quotes a myth which attributes the origin of all sin and suffering to a fair deceitful girl : — 9 Latin critic, Quintilian x. I. 63. Text of older fragments; Smyth, H. W., Greek Melic Poets, 16 ff . : of newer; Edmonds, J. M., The New Fragments of Alcaeus, Sappho, and Corinna C London; Bell, 1909). Translation by Easby-Smith, Songs of Alcaeus; H. Civ. p. 192-5; see also p. 15, 19. 10 Hdt. i. 146. 11 " First ol all get a house and a woman and an ox for plowing"; Hesiod, Works, 405. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 131 " Straightway did tlie glorious Lame One fashion the likeness of a modest maiden, as the Son of Cronos willed. And the goddess grey-eyed Athena girdled and arrayed her; the goddess Graces and Lady Persuasion hung chains of gold about her; the fair-tressed Hours crowned her with flowers of spring. All manner of adornment did Pallas Athena bestow about her person. And in her breast the INIessenger, the Slayer of Argos, put lies and cunning words and a deceitful soul, as Zeus the Thunderer willed. Also the Ales- senger of the Gods gave her speech. And he named this woman Pandora, for that all the dwellers in Olympus had bestowed on her a gift — to be the bane of men that live by bread." i- It was she who opened the jar con- taining ten thousand evils, which forthwith flew out among men, to distress them forever. Contempt for women. Such beliefs tended to degrade women in society. A tone of utter contempt pervades the poem of Simonides of Amorgus which compares various types of women to different ani- mals. The tattler is like a dog, who goes about retailing news. " Nor can her husband make her stop even with threats, though in a rage he should knock out her teeth with a stone, nor though he speak to her gently even when she is sitting in company with guests." The dainty and extravagant woman resembles a horse, who will do no mean or servile work. " She will not touch the hand-mill or sieve or sweep the house or sit by the fire for fear of soot. She bathes care- fully twice a day or thrice, and anoints herself with toilet oils. Al- ways she wears her tresses combed and with blossoms shaded. A comely thing is such a wife for others to behold, but an evil to him who weds her, unless he be a tyrant or king who with such things adorns his fancy." All, however, were constrained to praise the ideal wife and mother. In the poem of Simonides she is like a bee: Fortunate he who wins her hand; For she alone to censure gives no cause, But in her life doth bloom and doth increase. Dear to her loving spouse she groweth old, The mother she of children fair and famed. Distinguished she among good women all, A grace divine doth play about her form.^^ General freedom of women; their luxuries and their education. Generally outside of Ionia women went about freely in the streetr; on foot or in carriages, and mingled with men in social life. Those of the wealthy class dyed their hair, painted their faces, and wore 12 Hesiod, Works, 60 ff. Argeiphontes, an epithet applied to Hermes, " slayer of Argos," or possibly "swift messenger," or "appearing in brightness"; PWK. II. 704. 13 These translations of Semonides are by Mahaffy, Social Life, 110-13, and Sihler, in H. Civ. no. 45. Aptly, the luxurious woman is compared with a horse, which the Greeks did not use as a beast of burden. 132 HELLENIC HISTORY luxurious jewelry and dresses. The Doric peplos, a woollen gar- ment fastened at the shoulders with large deadly pins, was relatively simple. At first it was worn on all the Greek mainland; but at some time in our period the Athenian women changed to the Ionic chiton of linen, either sewn or fastened with small pins down the arm. The new style of dress admitted of great elaboration. Over the chiton of either form the lady threw a mantle — epiblema, hima- tion — on going out. By combinations of bright colors, by costly embroideries and sparkling jewelry, the wealthy lady produced a brilliant effect. At the same time the custom of large dowries had arisen, with the result that marriage was coming to be regarded as a business transaction.^* Early legislators attempted to check the luxury and the personal liberty of women; and Solon in addition restricted the dowry to " three himatia and a few cheap articles of household furniture." Notwithstanding his efforts the high-born women of his country suffered but little restriction during the next century and a half, while throughout Hellas those of the middle and lower classes remained as free as ever. The liberty and power of the Laconian woman have been sufficiently considered. In Boeotia, Argos, Sicyon, and Lesbos, there were women who received a re- markable education, as is evidenced by the poetesses of these localities. The sixth century, along with the early fifth, was in fact the most brilliant period, at least till recent times, in the intellectual history of women. ^^ Sappho and her friends, early sixth century. Sappho herself belonged to an artistocratic family which stood high in the politics and society of Lesbos. She was influential enough to suffer banish- ment with her relatives for political causes; and in time apprecia- tion of her genius grew, till her native country honored her by stamp- ing her image on its coins. In a society which could not separate loveliness of form from perfection of character, she became the centre of a literary circle, only in this sense a school of beautiful, brilliant girls. They, too, were composers of music and song. In this circle 14 For early Locri; Diod. xii. 21. Pre-Solonian Attica; Plut. Sol. 21; also vase-paint- ing showing women and men together in a chorus. Change of Athenian dress; Hdt. v. 87. The Doric underdress was usually called peplos, the Athenian chiton. The overdress is epiblema, wrap, or himation, mantle. Elaboration of new style; Harrison, Vase Paint- ings, pi. xi ; Walters, A nc. pottery, II. 200 f . i'> Zaieucus; Diod. xii. 21. Solon; Plut. Sol. 20. The dowry law soon became obsolete; cf. Plut. Arist. 27. Courtship scene, showing the free relations of the sexes before mar- riage; vase painting. This condition of Athenian women continued till after the Persian war; p. 219 f.— Antipater, Anth. Pal. ix. 56; Christ, I. 193-5. Laconian women; p. 2"' above INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 133 it was a disgrace to be illiterate; she who writes naught, declares Sappho, will go down ignobly to Hades' realm: — Yea thou shall die, And lie Dumb in the silent tomb; Nor of thy name Shall there be any fame In ages yet to be or years to come; For of the flowering rose, That on Pieria blows. Thou hast no share ; But in sad Hades' house, Unknown, inglorious, 'Mid the dim shades that wander there Shalt thou flit forth and haunt the filmy air. Relations between Sappho and her girl friends. Undoubtedly the circle represents an effort of highly gifted women to rise above the hum-drum existence alike of drudgery and fashion to the nobler life of the mind and heart. Between Sappho and her girl friends there was the warmest attachment. The following poem has refer- ence to a pupil who deserted her for another instructor : — So my Atthis has not come back, and in sooth I wish I were dead. Yet she wept full sore to leave me behind, and said, " Alas, how sad our lot, Sappho; I swear 'tis all against my will I leave thee." To her I answered, " Go thy way rejoicing and remember me ; for thou knowest how fond I was of thee. If thou rememberest not, I am fain to remind thee how dear and beautiful was the life we led together. For with many a garland of violets and sweet roses mingled hast thou decked thy flowing locks by my side, and with many a woven necklet, made of a hundred blossoms, thy dainty throat; and with many a jar of myrrh of the precious and royal kinds hast thou anointed thy fair young face before me; and reclining upon the couch hast thou satisfied thyself with dainty meats and sweet drinks. Mnasidica, who now lives in Sardis. Here as elsewhere she glorifies the beauty of form and the pleasures of sense. Another poem, addressed to a girl still with her, was doubtless to be sent to a former pupil, Mnasidica, now living in Sardis, most probably the wife of a Lydian grandee : — Atthis, our beloved Mnasidica dwells in far-off Sardis, but she often sends her thoughts hither, recalling how once we used to live in the days when she thought thee like a glorious goddess, and loved thy song the best. Now she shines among the dames of Lydia, as after sunset the rosy-fingered moon beside the stars that are about her, when she spreads her light o'er briny sea 134 HELLENIC HISTORY and eke o'er flowery field, while the good dew lies on the ground and the dainty anthrysc and the honey lotus with all its blooms. And oftentimes when our beloved, wandering abroad, calls to mind her gentle Atthis, the heart devours her tender breast with pain of longing; and she cries aloud for us to come thither ; and what she says we know full well, thou and I, for Night, the many-eared, calls it to us across the dividing sea. Summary of Sappho's interests. Here are interesting glimpses of woman's literary life, of social relations between Lesbos and Lydia, of telepathic sympathy, added to a delicate appreciation of natural beauty in the night, the sea and flowers. Often elsewhere are sympathetic touches of nature, as when she speaks of " Spring's mes- senger, the deep-voiced nightingale," or refers to the spot where — All around through branches of apple-orchards Cool streams call, while adown from the leaves a-tremble Slumber distilleth. With all of her love of flowery fields, cool streams, and singing birds, her interest centres in human beings, their sorrows, joys, loves, and marriages. In the beauty of her thoughts, in melodious verse, and in- tensity of feeling she scarcely has an equal in literature. But the Athenians of later time, who could not appreciate freedom and high intelligence in women, gave her a bad reputation and their judgment prevailed till modern scholarship succeeded in vindicating her char- acter.^^ Choral lyrics. The poems of Sappho, like those of Alcaeus, were personal lyrics. Meanwhile other poets were engaged in com- posing choral lyrics which were essentially public. This kind of ode was sung by a group of persons appropriately dressed and trained, who accompanied the song with a rhythmic movement, or dance. The equipment and training involved expense, borne by a wealthy person or more commonly by the state. The ode was expected to express accordingly, not the feelings of the writer alone, but of the whole community. In Greece there was no sharp distinction, such as now exists, between society and state. The citizens were mostly known to one another; and the reunions of kinsmen, neighbors, phratries, and of the entire community in festivals, were not only social but religious and civic functions. These circumstances explain the existence of a form of poetry which was at one and the same Ifi Text of the older fragments; Smj'th, Greek Melic Ports, 24 ff. (selections); of the newer fragments; Edmonds, The New Fragments of Alcaeus, Sappho, and Corinna. Prose trans- lations; Edmonds, Class. Rev. XXIII. 99 ff. Verse translations; Wharton, H. T., Sappho (Chicago: McClurg, 18S7), translations by varipus poets. See also H. Civ. no. 48. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING L^5 time religious, social, and civic. Arising from unpolished folk-songs, they gradually develof)ed an artistic character in the hands of skilled composers. They were most at home in the Doric states, especially in Lacedaemon, where the government aimed to regulate communal life, so to speak, in a harmonious rhythm. Among a people delicately sensitive to sights and sounds, the patriotic and moral appeal was made less to the intellect than to the eye and ear. The best-known among the earlier masters of choral song was Alcman of Lacedae- mon, whose poems have already been cited. He is most celebrated for his parthenia, choral songs for girls. There were similar odes for grown women, boys, and men respectively, presented at the re- ligious festivals of the state. The form of ode which contained the germ of the drama will be spoken of in other connections, whereas the treatment of Pindar, the greatest of choral lyrists, with his contem- porary Bacchylides, belongs to a later period. ^'^ 17 Alcman; p. 84. Pindar and Bacchylides; p. 214 f. ADDITIONAL READING Holm I, 339-344; Beloch I, i, ch. xv; Bury, 171-183, 192-202; Grote IV, ch. xxix; Wright, Greek Literature, 45-142; Croiset, A & M., Histoire de la litterature grecque (Paris, 1887), II, 1-297; Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece (Macmillan, 1883), ch. iv; Donaldson, J., Woman, Her Position and Influence in Ancient Greece (Longmans, 1907); Capps, E., Homer to Theocritus (Scrib- ner, 1901), 129-167. Consult also other general histories of Greek literature. For special bibliographies cf. Bolsford and Sihler, Hellenic Civilization. CHAPTER IX INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 750-479 II. Religious, Moral, and Scientific Progress Origin of religion in the worship of the dead. The most ob- vious, and perhaps the most primitive, origin of religion is the phe- nomenon of sleep and dreams. The body is the principal self,^ but along with it is the soul, a shadow or image of the body. While the real self is unconscious in sleep, the shadow double communes with other souls and foresees the future.- Death is closely akin to sleep. ^ The body decays or is burned but the soul -urvives with hunger and thirst, and with a power at least to annoy. These conditions ac- count for the worship of the dead. Thence a childlike imagination peopled the world with similar spirits, whose like demands created the worship of natural objects and forces. A social origin of religion. The growth of these ideas was re- inforced by deeper experiences of the soul. Men were conscious of possessing powers, which they vaguely confused with the forces of nature. Personal emotions or powers were greatly intensified by becoming social — when felt or exerted by a group of human beings accustomed to a common life. ■* Their sacred dance or other collective ceremony wrought magically upon nature in the interest of the group. Doubtless it was this social emotion, whose power sur- passed the individual comprehension, which led them to believe in the existence of a spirit — daemon — of the group or community. He was a being like a human, though generally invisible and working with greater mystery and pov/er — whose life was bound up with that of his community. When a daemon came to be conceived as independent of its natural object or force or social group, or when it acquired a definite personality, it became a god.^ 1 n. i. 3 f. 2 Pindar, Frag. 131; //. xxiv. 103 ff. 3 Od. xiii. 79 f. 4 Cf. Hymn to Aphrod. 262 ff . ; Orphic Lithica 303. r> Preferably daemon refers to the power of the spiritual being, theos (god) to its per- sonality. The distinction given in the text, assumed to belong to an early stage of re- ligion, is not clearly maintained in Greek literature. 136 INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 137 To maintain relations with either of these beings, a social group founded an altar to him, and instituted a ritual for his worship, watched over by priest or priestess, whose office was sometimes heredi- tary, sometimes elective. The chief element of the ritual was a sacrifice — a meal partaken of in good fellowship by the god and his worshippers. There were also prayers, hymns, dances, and the presentation of gifts, votive offerings, for the adornment of the shrine. In the imagination of the worshippers the deities generally took the form of men and women, though taller, stronger, and more beautiful. Heroes and communal deities. Usually the spirits of the dead were worshipped by the family at its tombs. Heroes were the more powerful spirits of men who had been great on earth, the founders of cities or other mighty benefactors of their kind. Every associa- tion of men, as a gens, phratry, deme, or tribe, in addition to other deities, had its name-giving hero, the real or fictitious ancestor of the group."^ Every state had especial guardian deities, worshipped by all the citizens. Each of these gods enjoyed an independent exist- ence: the Athena or Zeus of a given locality or phratry or state was a personal being distinct from every other Athena or Zeus. Myth: original and derived meaning. Originally myth was the expression of a religious idea or emotion in the form of a story created by a fresh, childlike imagination. As the Greek mind in the course of development began to look for the causes of usages, institu- tions, and of the world itself, it was for a time satisfied with myths. These stories, however, never became dogmas among the Greeks, but remained plastic, freely moulded to suit the poet's fancy or the gene- alogist's purpose.'^ The temple. In Minoan time the chief deity dwelt in a chapel of the palace, and during the Middle Age he was content with a modest shelter for himself and his movable goods.® In the course of the seventh and sixth centuries all the more important gods came to Hesiod, Works, 159 ff . ; Hdt. vi. 38; Arist. Const. Ath. 21. 5 f. (archegetae, founders); Plut. Cleo)ii. 39 ; see also Heros in the diets, of antiquities. 7 The earliest literary sources for Greek religion are Homer and Hesiod; in fact they represent the most remote stage within the historical Greek vision; Hdt. ii. 53. Modern scholars aim through comparative research to reconstruct the more primitive period. The attempt to derive religion from magic is chiefly represented by Frazer, J. G., Golden Bough (3d ed. Macmillan, 1911-15); 3d ed. of his Pausanias, Description of Greece, with commentary (Macmillan, 1913); cf. Murray, G., Four Stages of Greek Religion (Columbia University Press, 1912). Although the attempt has failed, comparative research has proved highly valuable. Harrison, J. E., Themis: a Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion (Cambridge: University Press, 1912), though sharing in the fault of Frazer's speculations, has done an excellent service in emphasizing the social origins. 8 The Minoan and the Middle Age; p. 21, 22. 138 HELLENIC HISTORY be housed in well-built, artistic dwellings. The simplest form was the tempk in antis, whose cella and vestibule preserved the main elements of the Homeric palace. Thence developed the double tem- ple in antis, which for greater beauty and for the shelter of worship- pers might be surrounded by a peristyle. In this case it is termed peripteral. There grew up as a distinct type the prostyle temple, whose vestibule was fronted by a row of columns. A development from the latter type is the amphiprostyle temple, which, too, might be PLAN OF TEMPLE AT PRIENE Double Temple in antis surrounded by Peristyle (From Rayet and Thomas, Milet et le Golfe Latinique. PI. IX) PLAN OF SMALL TEMPLE Rhamnus. A, cella; B, vestibule (From Unedited Antiquities of Attica, Chap. VII, PI. I) made peripteral. The temples of Greece and her western colonies were prevailingly of the Doric order, a growth from Minoan elements. The earlier examples of this order give an impression of sturdiness and substantiality, gradually transformed into gracefulness with the increasing height and slenderness of the columns and the diminution of the curves. A new element of beauty was added when toward the end of the sixth century the Greeks of certain places began to use marble instead of the earlier limestone. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 139 Earliest metopes. The most ancient stone temples have fallen to ruin; but the metopes from one of the earliest, at Selinus, Sicily, near the close of the seventh century, may be seen in the Museum of Palemio. In the sculptural groups that adorn them the lines are monotonously parallel, the human forms are disproportionate; the attitudes are rigid; and yet a certain freshness and originality stamp the work as Greek. Advance in art under the Peisistratidae, 560-510. In the age of the Peisistratidae a great advance was made throughout Hellas in architecture as well as in other arts; and the patronage of those tyrants was directed to bringing Athens abreast of the gen- eral progress. From the islands of the Aegean sea, artists flocked to Athens to paint vases, build temples, and chisel reliefs and statues to satisfy the improving taste of the community. In honor of Athena, patron goddess of the city, Peisistratus surrounded her tem- ple on the Acropolis with a peristyle. The limestone of the build- ing was stuccoed and painted in brilliant colors, dominantly red and blue, in the fashion of the age. For the first time at Athens marble was used in architecture. The metope and pediment sculptures of the Athena temple were of that material imported from Paros. Among the other works of these tyrants we may merely mention the gigantic temple to the Olympian Zeus founded by them beside the Ilissus, to be completed six centuries later by the Emperor Hadrian. The older Parthenon. Emulating the tyrants' zeal for build- ing, the party of Cleisthcnes, after the completion of his reforms, began a new and more splendid temple to Athena on the Acropolis, south of the existing shrine, on the site afterward occupied by the Parthenon. Unlike the old temple, it was to be of Pentelic marble. For the site they first constructed a terrace for leveling the southern slope of the Acropolis, and placed thereon the foundation. Many marble drums, too, for the temple had been :onveyed from Pentelicus, when the invasion of Xerxes cut short the work, till it could be resumed years afterward by Pe-icles. The pre-Persian building is known as the Older Parthenon. Statues, especially of women. Religion expressed itself not only in the temple with its sculptured decorations, but also in statues, whether of the deity or his worshippers or of famous athletes or of benefactors of the state. A common material was wood; and the most revered image of Athena on the Acropolis, even in the period of 140 HELLENIC HISTORY highest artistic development, remained a mere log with human features crudely indicated. Equally early doubtless was the use of soft lime- stone from which, about 600, the artists passed to marble. Most primitive is the statue of a woman found at Delos and represent- ing Artemis or a worshipper of that goddess. It is a marble block with the roughest suggestion of a woman's form and dress. The advance made within the sixth century may be estimated by comparing one of the " maiden " statues dedicated to Athena on the Acropolis no long time before the Persian war. Though slightly stiff and con- ventional, the form shows a noteworthy gain in grace and naturalness, and the drapery is delicatelv elaborated. The air of refined luxury which sur- rounds this Athenian lady is doubtless an importation from Ionia, whence the softer ele- ments of civilization came to the Greek peninsula. The statues of athletes. In the series of " Apollos " extending through the sixth cen- tury, we may trace the develop- ment of the nude form of the youthful athlete. The original type seems strongly Egyptian: the posture is rigid, the only deviation from strict frontality is a slight advance of the left foot, perhaps to suggest walking. As in the earlier women statues, the arms are attached to the sides and the bodies show little knowledge of anatomy. But we can trace a steady advance through the series, "MAID OF ATHENS" (Acropolis Museum) INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 141 and at the beginning of the following period we shall find a marvel- ous mastery of athletic form and posture. In contrast with the Ori- entals the Greeks liked to display the unclad forms of men both in life and in art. This predilection contri- l)uted vastly to the development of na- turalness in art, and to a true apprecia- tion of human physical perfection, in- volving a respect for the dignity of the body wholly foreign to the Orient. " Reasons for the rapid advance of sculpture. Having begun in the sev- enth century with a skill far inferior to that of the contemporary Egyptian, the Greek sculptor rapidly brought his art abreast of the general progress of Hel- lenic culture. This success was largely due to his willingness, while learning all his predecessors could teach, to study external nature and the human form continually anew, and quite as much to his constant effort to express in art the best thought and the noblest aspiration of his age. Hence it results that the material he has left us, fragmentary as it is, forms a most valuable source of our knowledge of the Hellenic char- acter. ^° Festivals: the Panathenaea. The gods required for their own happiness not only beautiful temples decorated with reliefs, statues, and paintings, but also festivals, wherein the citizens might gladden their own hearts. A most prominent feature of Athena worship at Athens was a festival held every sum- mer, the Panathenaea. Peisistratus ordained that every fourth year the festival was to be given, as the Greater Panathenaea, with especial THE TENEAN APOLLO (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) 9 Cf. Thuc. i. 6. 5. 10 The sources for art are essentially the remains, described in the works on art given at the close of the chapter. 142 DIONYSUS WORSHIP (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) PERSEPHONE, TRIPTOLEMUS AND DEMETER (Vase painting) INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 143 magnificence. Prisoners were set free, and slaves were permitted to feast with their masters. There were races, war dances in armor, ath- letic competitions, and a grand procession of all the free population, the priests and magistrates, the populace in varied festive attire, youths and girls carrying articles and Lrtensils needed for the sacrifice. The ob- ject of the ceremony was to bring the goddess the peplos that had been woven and embroidered for her by her chosen girls. The procession passed through the streets and up the steep ascent of the Acropolis to the great altar before the temple of Athena. Peisistratus added the re- citation of Homer's poems; ^^ and this new feature bore immediate fruit in introducing epic subjects into the rising art of painting and in giving an epic content to the drama, then in its earliest beginnings. From formalism to emotional worship. The tendency of all ritual is to lose its meaning and to sink into dry barren formalism, which fails to satisfy the emotional need of mankind. This principle holds for the ceremonies of Greek worship. As their springs of emotion dried up, the void came to be filled by the worship of Dionysus. His cult, as some assert, may have survived among the peasants from the Minoan age; at all events in the seventh and sixth centuries it received a new impetus from Thrace, where the same god, or one closely like him, was venerated. The belief prevailed that in childhood he was torn to pieces by the Titans, but restored to life through rebirth. The half-human, suffering, ever-youthful god, the spirit of life in nature and man, awakener of joys, appealed directly to the emotions. Throngs of worshippers, the majority women, roamed in wild nocturnal revels over mountain top, and danced in ecstasy to the roll of drums and the clashing of cymbals. By such means they became one with their deity, partakers of his immortal life.^^ Orphism. In the sixth century an effort was made to transform this unbridled worship into a theology and a " church." The leaders of the new movement looked back for their master to Thracian Orpheus, who appears in story as a minstrel of wondrous power. The faith was spread by missionaries, who travelled throughout Hellas initiating converts and founding societies of worshippers. llPanathenaea founded, 566; Clinton, Fasti, I. 238; cf. Euseb. C/iro». P- 188. Char- lot race introduced; Mar. Par. 10. Recitations of Homer; Plato, Hipparchus, 228 b. Mus- ical contests; Plut. Per. 13. Torch race; IG. II. no. 163. 12 See especially Euripides, Bacchae. 144 HELLENIC HISTORY They had their sacred scriptures, containing prophecies and hymns." Adopting the worship of Dionysus, they gave it a more regular form and a higher spiritual interpretation. After the emotional rites of initiation they lived ascetic lives. They were under the impres- sion that the soul is suffering the punishment of sin (committed in a previous existence), and that the body is an enclosure or prison, in which the soul is incarcerated.^'* By purity of living and the practice of their rituals, however, they were able not only to cleanse themselves from sin and secure eternal happiness, but even to redeem the souls of the dead from punishment in Tartarus. ^^ Eternal happiness. Great in the coming world, they thought, will be the bliss of the righteous: "Evenly ever in sunlight night and day an unlaborious life the good receive. . . . Whosoever have been of good courage to the abiding steadfast thrice on either side of death and have refrained their souls from all iniquity, travel the road of Zeus unto the tower of Cronos. There round the islands of the blest the Ocean breezes blow, and golden flowers are glowing, some from the land on trees of splendor, and some the water feedeth, with wreaths whereof they entwine their hands." " Some in horses and in bodily feats, and some in dice, and some in harp-playing have delight; and among them thriveth all fair-flowering bliss." It be- hooveth therefore in this life to walk in moderation, refraining from evil-doing, insolence, and presumptuous thoughts. ^"^ The Eleusinian mysteries. In no state was Orphism accepted as a part of the public worship, though the Peisistratidae were warm patrons of Onomacritus, its most distinguished prophet. But Athens did not hesitate to worship Dionysus in shrines of his own and to join him with Demeter and her daughter Persephone, the great goddesses of Eleusis. Their worship, once local and eupatrid, had now become national, open to all Hellenes who were free from religious pollution. Once a year the devotees of these goddesses, gathering at Athens, moved in procession along the Sacred Way to Eleusis. Arriving there, the initiated entered the shrine, Telesterion, where were per- formed the sacred rights which none dared disclose. Those who wished and were qualified were initiated. The mysteries seem to have 13 Fragments of their writings; Diels, Frag. d. Vorsokratiker, II. 163-94 (including those on gold plates, recently discovered). 14 Plato, Crnt. 400 c; cf. Eurip. Frag. 475. 15 Plato, Rrp. ii. 364; Demosth. Crown, 259 f. 16 Pindar, Ol. ii. 67-82 ; frag. 129 f. ; cf. 137 ; Pyth. iii. 58-62. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 145 consisted chiefly of a " passion play " representing the sorrows of Dcmeter, when her daughter was carried off by Hades, and the joy of recovering her. The ceremony probably once referred to the death of vegetation in winter and its rebirth in spring. In this period, how- ever, it came to signify death and the resurrection of the soul to eternal happiness. " O, thrice blessed the mortals who have seen these mysteries before descending to Hades' realm; for those only will there be a future life (of happiness) ; the others there will experi- ence naught but suffering." ^" Thus " Demeter . . . brings the initiated the sweetest consolation at death and the hope of eternity." ^^ In this way the joys of Elysium, in Homer's conception opened to the favored few, were democratized by the progress of Athens toward popular liberty and equality. Origin of the drama and the dramatic festivals at Athens. In addition to a share in the Eleusinian festival, Dionysus had his own holidays, connected with the culture of the vine, for his was the ecstasy, too, of the wine cup. As his worship developed, many festivals in honor of the dead were transferred to him. In December the villages of Attica celebrated the rural Dionysia, in which a chorus of men, in rustic attire, sang in his honor an unpolished but joyous song, the dithyramb. There was a festival in the city, the Lenaea, in January, and another, the Greater Dionysia, in March. Similar festivals were held in other parts of Greece. The wild strain sung to Dionysus was transformed by poetic art into a choral ode. The singing was inter- spersed with recitation, which gradually developed into the dialogue. Thus arose the drama. This growth was fostered by the tyrants. At the court of Periander the Lesbic poet Arion set the dithyramb to order; and at the court of Peisistratos lived Thespis, reputed the first dramatic writer. Through the encouragement of popular cults, as distinguished from those monopolized by the nobility, the tyrant aimed to free the masses from eupatrid control, and attach them to himself. For a long time, however, the drama must have continued crude and immature. Even at the close of the period it was essentially a cantata in which the singing was occasionally interrupted by dia- logue. ^^ 17 Soph. Frag. 733. 18 Isoc. Paneg. 28; cf. Homeric Hymn to Demeter, 480-2; Aristoph. Frogs, 137 ff., 182 ff., 289 ff., 454; Paus. x. 31. 9 ff. "The beautiful thing in the mysteries from the blessed gods is that for mortals death is not an evil but a blessing"; Inscr. in Ephcni. Arch. 1883. p. 81 (found at Eleusis). i9Arist. Poet. 3 f., 1448 a, 1449 a; Hdt. i. 23; Schol. Find. 01 xiii. 25; Mar. Par. 43; Pollux iv. 123. 146 HELLENIC HISTORY The four great national games. All Hellenic states had their festivals similar to those of Athens; in tradition the oldest home of competitions in athletics and music was Crete and Lacedaemon, whence they extended to the rest of Hellas. Most festivals remained confined to a single locality, or at the widest to a city-state; but in a few instances games in honor of a local deity became for unknown reasons pan-Hellenic. Such were_Jhe_four__great national festivals celebrated at Delphi, on the Corinthian Isthmus, at Nemea, and at Olympia, in honor of Apollo, Poseidon, Nemean Zeus, and 01>Tnpian Zeus respectively. At the founding of the Ol3'nipic games, a simple foot-race sufficed, but other " events " were successively added till the games included many kinds of athletic contests together with the races of horses and chariots. Especially noteworthy is the pentathlon, comprising running, wrestling, leaping, spear-hurling, and discus- throwing. The contestant had to be an " all-around " athlete, with a body symmetrically developed. In the Pythian games, celebrated at Delphi, it was natural that contests with the song pipe and lyre, and in singing should be included for the honor of the god of music. There were no such competitions at Nemea or Olympia but poet and rhetorician there found private audiences for their productions. The prize at these games was a wreath of wild olive, bay, or other leaves.-" The competitive struggle, and the glory and inspiration of victory. The greatest of the festivals, founded, men thought, for his father Zeus by Heracles, prince of athletes, are the Olympic, where is " striving of swift feet and of strong bodies brave to labor; but he that overcometh hath, because of these contests, a sweet tran- quillity throughout his life for evermore." ^^ At the close of the com- petition, " the just judge of games, fulfilling Heracles' behests of old, lays upon the winner's hair above his brows pale-gleaming glory of olive." Then in the night " following the victory when the midmonth moon, riding her golden car, lit full the counterflame of the eye of Even, all the precinct sounded with the songs of festal glee," in honor of the victors.^" The triumph was celebrated further by pro- cessions to the temples and prayers of thanksgiving, by feast and 20 For the character and spirit of the games the best source is Pindar, Odes; also Bacchylides, Odes. See too Paus. v. 7 ff . ; vi. 1 ff. ; Strabo viii. 3. 30; ix. 3. 10 (Olympic). — Paus. X. 7 (originally the Pythian games consisted solely of music, to which the ordi- nary festal competitions were afterward successively added) ; Hvpoth. Schol. Pind. Pyth.— Paus. i. 44. 8; ii. 1. 3, 7 (Isthmian).— Strabo viii. 6. 19; Paus. ii. 15. 3; viii. 48. 2; x. 25. 7 (Nemean). 21 Pind. Ol i. 95-100; cf. viii. 1 ff. 22 o;. iii. 11 ff.; X. 81-3. PANATHENAIC AMPHORA (British Museum) JUMPER AND TRAINER (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) 148 HELLENIC HISTORY choral song: "The banquet loveth peace, and by a gentle song a victory flourisheth afresh, and beside the bowl the singer's voice waxeth brave." ^^ The games are, accordingly, the poet's chief in- spiration: "Thence cometh the glorious hymn that entereth into the minds of the skilled in song." "* A victory sheds its radiance over the winner's family, and adds fairest renown to his state. -'^ The influence of the games. The influence of the games did not limit itself to the promotion of physical excellence and the cultiva- tion of music and poetry. The assembly of the Hellenes took place under a sacred truce, during which the states, ceasing from war, culti- vated friendship.-** Merchants gathered, especially at the Isthmian festival, to display and sell their wares. Even more beneficial than the exchange of material goods and the fostering of commerce was the intercommunication of ideas and sentiments among the assembled representatives of the entire Hellenic world. This social and intel- lectual symposium generated a spirit of racial unity and intensified the creative genius in the fields of art and intelligence. While the victory itself inspired the poet to the comyjosition of splendid tri- umphal songs, the person of the athlete furnished the sculptor with the model, as well as the motive, for the most beautiful statues. The national games accordingly influenced Greek life in manifold ways; and especially the competitive spirit penetrated and energized every constructive element of Hellenism. Divination. It was natural that a people whose whole life was permeated by religion should seek means of communicating with the gods. So common a use for this purpose was made of the flight of birds, that the winged creature came to designate any kind of omen : — An ox or an ass that may happen to pass, 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.^^ Oracles. All such chance objects or occurrences were regarded as manifestations of the divine will. An oracle, on the other hand, had a fixed location and a definite method of expression. Although the 23 Find. Ne7n. ix. 48 f. 24 Ol. i. 8 f. 25 Pyth. X. 13 f. ; Bacch. Od. vi. 9 ff . ; Xenophanes 2 (Bergk), Plut. Sol. 23. 26 Heracleides of Pontus, FHC. II. p. 210 3; Phlegon, op. cU. III. p. 603. 1. 27 Aristoph. Birds, 719 ff. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 149 Homeric Greeks had little knovvled.c;e of oracles, we find them wide- spread over Hellas in the period under consideration, and cannot doubt that some of them survived from the Minoan age. The most venerable was that of Zeus at Dodona, where the god spoke through the rustling of the oak leaves. Favoring conditions, however, brought to preeminence the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. His prophetess, the Pythia, sitting on a tripod in the inmost shrine, received from Apollo the answers she gave to inquirers. Often unin- telligible, her mutterings were interpreted to the inquirer by the priests of the god. The chief function of the oracle was not to reveal the future. When it made such a venture, the response was couched in ambiguous terms so as to be right in any event. Thus he who desired more than was his meet received an answer according to his folly. The god's advice was generally limited to questions of moral and religious conduct of individuals and states — for instance, as to what gods should be worshipped and with what rites on a given occasion, or by what ceremonies a pollution might be removed. Its approval was sought for the founding of colonies and for other important enterprises. Sometimes it was bribed; sometimes it showed undue favor to a particular state or political party. Notwithstanding these shortcomings, its general reputation for honesty and wisdom long retained for it the highest, though- by no means absolute, author- ity in Hellenic morals and religion.-* Divination from sacrificial animals. It was not always con- venient to go to an oracle; and the bird-omens came to be thought extremely uncertain. A form of divination unknown to Hesiod as well as to Homer, and evidently later than their time, found its omens in the vitals of a sacrificed animal. The system seems to have been introduced from Babylonia, and was in full force in the time of the great war with Persia. The commander of troops found this method convenient because he could easily resort to it at any time and place, and perhaps even more because the inspection of several victims in quick succession would most certainly bring omens favorable to his wishes. At last the Greeks were enabled to make divination subserve the practical intelligence.-^ 28 Dodona; //. xvi. 233-5; Od. xiv. 327 ff . ; Aesch. Prom. 829 ff. ; Soph. Track. 1165 ff . ; Strabo vii. 7. 10; Paus. vii. 21. 3 f. • Delphi; Aesch. Eumenides; Eurip. Ion; Plut. Pyth. Orac; Hdt. i. 46-51, 65-7; ii. 134 f . ; iv. 156 f., 161-3; v. 42 f . ; vi. 34 f. ; vii. 139-43; viii. 121 f. ; Thuc. i. 118, 126; Strabo ix. 3. 5. 29 It is significant that at both Marathon and Plataea the omens became propitious pre- cisely at the most favorable moment for charging the enemy; Hdt. vi. 112; ix. 61 f. 150 HELLENIC HISTORY Systematic thinking about the world: cosmogony. In the general belief the gods, who acted under individual caprice, or under the influence of prayer and sacrifice, were the causes of all things in nature and the arbiters of human destiny. In the beginning the clashing of divine wills wrought chaos in heaven and on earth, till the dawning consciousness of moral and physical unity and order led the poets to devise a system into which all existing things might have a due part. With their conception of the gods in human form, it was but natural that they should attempt to explain the multitude of deities, as of men, and even the plurality of all natural objects by the one process of birth. A system so devised is a cosmogony. Hesiod, our earliest exponent of this line of thought, assumes the creation, he does not say how, of Chaos, then Earth. From Chaos sprang Erebos and black Night; and from Night in turn sprang bright Ether and Day. And Earth bare starry Heaven, Ouranos, to the end that there might be for the blessed gods a habitation steadfast forever. ^° The youngest son of Earth and Heaven, was Cronos of crooked counsels, of all her children most terrible. The supremacy of Zeus. We need not enumerate the hosts of supernatural beings thus generated, of monstrous or lovely form, deadly or beneficent, but may pass on to the birth of Zeus, son of Cronos. When he grew to manhood in the rich island of Crete, he conquered the Titans and other monstrous beings, and himself reigned supreme. " He was king in heaven, himself holding the thunder and the smoking thunderbolt, having by his might overcome his father Cronos. And he duly appointed their portions unto all the deathless gods alike, and declared unto them their honors." ^^ From cosmogony to science; aid from Egypt. In this way, the poet thought, came unity, system, and order from chaos. With the accumulation of knowledge and the growth of an inquiring spirit, however, the Hellenes would not satisfy themselves with such child- like reasoning. It was but natural that the next step should be taken by the lonians, the most enterprising and inventive of the Greeks. Among them were men who visited Egypt and perhaps other parts of the Orient, not merely for trade, but also for sight-seeing 30 Hesiod, Theogony, 116 ff. 31 Op. cit. 71 ff. • INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 151 and instruction. Among them was Thales of Miletus. In Egypt ^^ they learned such elementary science as the priests cultivated, especially arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The development of these branches of knowledge, together with the elements of architec- ture and civil engineering, had been made posrsible only by the organ- ized priesthoods of Egypt and Babylonia. This knowledge con- sisted purely of facts ascertained by experience and arbitrarily classi- fied, but wanting the elements of reason and demonstration; hence it was far from science in the present sense of the word. The contribu- tion of the Hellenic mind, brilliantly imaginative and untrammeled by religious or other convention, was to pierce beneath the fact to the underlying cause, and thus to create real science. The first step in this process, taken by Thales, marks him as the founder, not merely of Greek science, but in the only true sense of the term, of the world's science. Thales of Miletus, early sixth century. Though we can not be sure that everything ascribed to Thales of Miletus was really his work, there is no doubt that he contributed greatly to mathematics and astronomy. The story that while star-gazing he fell into a well is told to illustrate the impracticability of the philosopher. The moral thus pointed, however, is nullified by another story that he speculated in olives on his foreknowledge of the weather and reaped great profit from the transaction. It may well be that he foretold the eclipse of the sun, which occurred on May 28, 585, though it hardly seems possible that his knowledge enabled him to fix the very day and hour. Thales' philosophic theory; its value. However that may be, his fame rests, not upon any individual scientific discovery, but upon his new conception of cause. Accepting from the poets the idea of the unity of things and the necessity of causation, he sought for cause, not among the gods, but in nature itself. Water, he declared, was the one source and substance of all things. In his statement, too, that the " world is full of gods " he seems to mean that things contain in themselves the conscious power to create other things. Although not wholly free from the influence of mythology, and wrong in choosing a material substance as his first principle, yet in dis- 32 The extent of Hellenic borrowing from Egypt has been greatly exaggerated, e. g. by Diodorus i. 98. Prediction of the eclipse; Xenophanes, in Diog. Laert. i. 20. 152 HELLENIC HISTORY placing the gods by natural causation he took the all-important step from mythology and theology to science and philosophy. Within the historical period this change has proved the most momentous revo- lution in the intellectual history of mankind."^ The Ionic school: Anaximander, middle of the sixth century. The Ionic school of philosophy, thus founded by Thales, sought the first principle in matter. He left no writings; but a pupil, Anaxi- mander, published a scientific treatise, probably the first prose work in the Greek language. His principle was the " unlimited," evidently a boundless reservoir from which all things come and to which every- thing returns. In opposition to the poets he thought out a mechanical process for explaining the formation and ultimate destruction of the existing world — in fact, of an unending succession of worlds. Ev- olution it could not be called. Our present earth, he taught, is a cylinder, whose upper surface we inhabit. This idea, too, is an advance beyond the earlier conception of the world as a round flat disc. From information gathered by Ionian navigators he made the first map of the earth, and hence may be regarded as the earliest geographer.'* Pythagoras. The further history of this school need not concern us here. A newer and deeper meaning was given to philosophy by Pythagoras of Samos, who in the latter half of the sixth century migrated to Croton, Italy (522). Learned in the mathematics of the Ionian school, he sought in numbers the primary cause of all things, whether musical harmonies, stellar movements, the nature of the gods, or even abstract ideas. This attention to numbers gave a great impetus to the study of mathematics, hence to exactness in science; but it was marred by his attaching to numbers mystical powers alien to true science. In fact Pythagoras is distinguished as a mystic and a moral reformer even more than for his contribu- tion to science. With the Orphists he believed in the transmigration of souls; their attainment to a higher condition in a future existence depended on moral conduct in this. The chief aim of Pythagoras seems to have been a life of moral purity, to which philosophy, religion, and mystic initiations were merely contributory. His school was a secret association, which extended to most of the cities of 33 Sources in Bakewell, p. 13; also "Thales," in Diog. Larrt. i. As Thales wrote noth- ing, our knowledge of him is uncertain. A complete collection of sources for the philos- ODhers of this period is Diels, H., Frag, dcr Vorsokratiker, I. 1 ff. 34 Bakewell, 3-6. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 153 southern Italy. It cultivated diatetics and medicine; it enjoined a life of moral discipline and self-restraint. Taking a political turn and acquiring the rule over many states, these societies endeavored to manage affairs according to their ethical standard. We must regard the organization as an element, both product and factor, in the deep- ening religious and moral sense of the period now under considera- tion.^^ Xenophanes 572-480 (?). A further advance in these general philosophic and ethical directions was made by Xenophanes of Colo- phon, who migrated to Elca, Italy, whence the school he founded is known as Eleatic. He indignantly assails the Homeric conception of the gods as beings of human form, who lie and steal and commit such other sins as would shame the race of men. Beings of this kind are the creation of human fancy. The real God is One, like man neither in form nor thought. "He is all eye, all mind, all ear; he controls all things without labor by the power of his thought." He is eternal, unchangeable and spiritual. Here seems to be the enuncia- tion of a pure monotheism. It is clear, too, that this thinker's inter- est centres in moral improvement. He chides his fellow-citizens of Colophon for having adopted the luxurious habits of the Lydians: " They throng the market-place by thousands in purj^le gowns, with hair well-adorned, their bodies dripping with fragrant oils." It is the duty of sensible men, when they gather at banquets, to pray God to give us power to do justice. His God therefore is a moral force; and the author of the poems cited here was as much theologian and moral reformer as philosopher. He could look forward with good hope, believing that " the powers above have not revealed to men all things from the beginning, but that mortals by searching gradually find out the better." ^^ Improved conceptions of virtue. Intellectual progress connected itself on one side with advancing religion, on the other with moral development. A better conception of virtue arose. It was no longer physical perfection or the free gift of the gods, as in Homer, but had come to mean especially moral excellence, which men had to strive for. " It is hard to be a worthy man " ^' now seems trite but was then a fresh, stimulating truth. To maintain this character one had to exercise "self-restraint" (sophrosyne). This was a new word 35 Bakewell, 36-42. 3r> Bakewell, 8-11. V7 Pittacus of Mytilene, in Plat. Protag. 339 c. 154 HELLENIC HISTORY in the Greek vocabulary, yet one involving the most imperative of Hellenic commandments. It was no small gain that in this struggle for moral improvement man should now have the gods as helpers, better examples of purity and right than those of Homer and de- manding in the worshipper clean hands and an upright heart. ""^ Improvements in domestic and in interstate law. Moral progress showed itself in the better safeguarding of domestic peace by the establishment of competent courts for homicide and the abo- lition of the blood feud, by the improvement in the condition of women, involving the abolition of marriage by capture and purchase, and in the better protection of the masses from the brutality of aristo- cratic rule. In interstate relations piracy, once creditable, had fallen into disgrace, and was greatly limited by the rise of naval powers. In place of those undefined relations between states, which, void of treaty and diplomatic representation, constantly tempted to hostilities, written truces, usually for a definite number of years, were substi- tuted, and proved an invaluable aid to peace. Often states sub- mitted their disputes to arbitration, and in all the known cases of this period both parties accepted the decision. More primitive in character, though but little less humane, was the custom of settling controversies through the battle of champions still occasionally em- ployed. Generally captives were not massacred as in earlier time, but held for ransom or at the worst enslaved. The bodies of the dead were no longer mutilated or left " a prey to dogs and birds," but were given back by the victors under a truce. As a rule, however, Greeks showed far greater humanity toward their own race than toward foreigners, whom they contemptuously termed barbarians. In brief, a body of Hellenic law was developing, which, under religious sanc- tions, regulated the relations among the states of Hellas. ^^ Multiplication of ethical proverbs. Examples of ethical truths 38 Homeric conception of virtue; //. xx. 2-12 f . ; Od. xviii. 251 f. A newer idea; Hesiod, Works, 289 ff . ; Solon 15 (Bergk); Phocylides 17 (Bergk): "Justice comprises every vir- tue." Archilochus teaches self-restraint; cf. 25 (translated p. 128 above); 66 (Bergk). The gods as moral helpers; Simonides 61 (Bergk). 39 Domestic peace and protection of the commons; p. 110, 112. Piracy; p. 27; Thuc. i. 5, 13. 5 (put down by Corinth"). The primitive relation between states was not essen- tially hostile, as some have asserted, but indefinite, as set forth above. One origin of the treaty may be found in the guest-friendships of tribal chiefs, another in the temporary truces of armies. Earliest extant treaty; Hicks and Hill, no. 9 (550-500 B. C). Early cases of arbitration: Between Chalcis and Andros over the possession of a site for a col- ony about 650); Plut. Q. G. 30. Between Athens and Mcgara; Plut. Sol. 10. Between Athens and Mytilene; Hdt. v. 95; Strabo xiii. 1. 38 f. Between Athens and Thebes; Hdt. vi. 108. Agreement among the lonians to submit their disputes to arbitration; Hdt. vi. 42. Battle of champions in the Middle Age; //. vii. 29 ff. At Sigeum; Strabo xiii. 1. 38. oners, //. vii. 375 ff . ; Archilochus 64 (Bergk); Hdt. ix. 78 f . ; Plat. Rep. v. 469 d. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 155 may be found in the moral proverbs of the Seven Sages, among whom were Thales and Solon. " Know thyself," " Everything in modera- tion." " It is hard to be a good man," and other such proverbs attril)uted to them, were accepted as inspired rules of life. Hesiod is the first who collected a moral code, and after him the elegiac and lyric poets abound in moral saws. In fact the Greeks had come to be a moralizing people. Doubtless such proverbs were a great aid to right. Briefly it may be said that throughout this period, legislator, poet, scientific thinker, and practical sage in their several ways were exert- ing themselves for the moral improvement of mankind. *° The beginnings of historical thought. It remains to notice the view at this time coming to be taken of mankind's past. Little detail is given of the creation of human beings. Hesiod simply informs us of the " golden race " which the immortals originally produced, a race that knew no toil or sorrow or death, but passed away in sleep to become good Spirits, eternal guardians of mortal men. Then ensued a silver race of inferior men acquainted with sin and grief, then a brazen race, warlike and insolent, slain by one another's hands, went down to the realm of Hades. Then came the juster race of heroes, who having fought round Troy, were gathered to the Islands of the Blest. Lastly arose the race of iron, among whom the poet lived. " Neither by day shall they ever cease from weariness and woe, neither in the night from wasting; and sore cares shall the gods give them." ^^ The idea of an original golden age of moral purity and physical per- fection, from which mankind fell, has a large place in the history of ancient thought. How the Greeks viewed the origin of their race. As to their own race, the Greeks of this period claimed to trace it from Prome- theus, the heroic friend of man. His son was Deucalion, who with his wife Pyrrha were alone saved at the time of the great flood. They were the parents of Hellen, the eponym of the Hellenes. It was not until the time of Hesiod that the Greeks had become suf- ficiently conscious of their ethnic unity to group themselves thus under a single name. Hellen's sons were Dorus, Xuthos, and Aeolus. By assuming that Xuthos had two sons, Achaeus and Ion, the Greeks of this period accounted for the names of the four races — Dorians, 40 Seven Sages; Plat. Protag. 343 a. Moral code; Hesiod, Works, 707 ff. 41 Hesiod, Works, 107 ff. . 156 HELLENIC HISTORY Achaeans, lonians, and Aeolians — most prominent in early Hellenic histor>\ Such eponyms were originally considered ancestors of their races, but came in time to be regarded as kings. *^ The beginnings of historical and geographical literature. The process of weaving genealogies did not stop at the point above mentioned. Founders of cities, ruling dynasties, and individual gentes had all to trace their pedigrees back to some hero and through him to one of the greater gods.*^ In an aristocratic society it was but natural that the interest in the past should centre in pedi- grees and project itself beyond recent generations to the beginnings of races and families. Among the genealogy-mongers, who swarmed in every city, were a few who committed their results to writing. The earliest genealogist known to us by name was Cadmos of Mile- tus, a contemporary of Anaximander, and author of the Settlement of Ionia (about 550). The first Genealogies to survive to the present day are those of Acusilaus of Argos (about 500).** Such authors are described as logographi, " writers of prose." They merely con- verted into prose, extended, and systematized the existing genealogical epics. They were the brood of Hesiod, with the wings of their im- agination clipped by the limitations of prose, with reason wider-awake, with a nascent critical power. The most eminent of the class was Hecataeus of Miletus, who took an active part in public affairs during the Ionian revolt. His Genealogies must have contained, in addition to myths, some historical information and his Description of the Earth was for its day a geography of distinguished merit. An awakening consciousness of the distinction between myth and fact is proved by his own words: " I write what I believe to be true; for the various stories of the Hellenes are, in my opinion, ridiculous." *^ The logo- graphi, among whom he is numbered, were the connecting link be- 42 In Homer's time Hellas was the realm of Achilles, a little country in southern Thes- saly (//. ii. 683 f. ; ix. 478 f . ; Strabo ix. 5. 6);. but in the age of Hesiod it had so extended as to comprise the country of all the Greeks; cf. Strabo viii. 6. 6. Hellen and his three sons; Hesiod, Frag. 32. Evidently Achaeus and Ion were originally unconnected with Hellen, but were brought into the genealogical tree by means of Xuthus. Ancestors, after- ward kings; Arist. Mctaphys. iv. Obviously this pedigree is but a crude atternpt to ex- plain the Hellenic races, whereas the only scientific approach to the subject is through a study of the dialects. 4.-! It was in this way that the Medontidae of Athens (p. 103) were given an ancestor Codrus, who was also represented as the ancestor of dynasties in various Ionic states, with a view to connecting Athens with Ionia. From Codus the genealogists continued the list of .Athenian kings back to Cecrops, by the insertion chiefly of cult names; Euseb. Citron. p. 85-7. It is clear that the value of the list is psychological rather than historical. 44 Cadmos of Miletus; Strabo i. 2. 6; Pliny, N. H. v. 112. No writings have survived, and this circumstance has led .some to doubt his existence. Acusilaus of Argos; FHG. I. p. 100 ff. ; H. Civ. no. 16; cf. p. 20. 4.T Hdt. iv. 36. Remaining fragments of Hecataeus; FEG. I. p. 1 ff. ; H. Civ. no. 16; cf, p. 21. INTELLECTUAL AWAKENING 157 tween epic poetry and history, owing the equipment of their minds to the intellectual progress of the sixth century — the children of Hesiod, so to speak, and school-fellows with the earliest philosophers. ADDITIONAL READING Holm I, ch. xxiv; Curtius II, ch. iv; Beloch I, 1, chs. xi, xvi ; Bury, 177- 180, 198-205, 311-321; Stobart, Glory that was Greece (Sedgwick & Jackson, 2nd ed., rev. 1915), ch. iii; Fairbanks, Greek Religion (American Book Co., 1910) ; Moore, Religious Thought among the Greeks (Harvard University Press, 1916) ; Gardner, Greek Games and Athletic Festivals (Macmillan, 1910) ; Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture; Fowler and Wheeler, Handbook of Greek Archaeology ; Weller, Ancient Athens; Raeder, L' Arbitrage internationale chez les Hellenes (Putnam, 1912) ; Phiilipson, The International Law and Cus- tom of Ancient Greece and Rome (Macmillan, 1911); Croiset, Hist, de la lit. grecque, II, ch. ix; Bury, Ancient Greek Historians, ch. i, Dickinson, Greek View of Life (Harper, 1910), ch. i. BASE OF TRIPOD CHAPTER X CONQUEST OF THE ASIATIC GREEKS BY THE LYDIANS AND THE PERSIANS 560-493 Character of Ionian political history. It is a strange yet char- acteristic fact that the growth of the brilliant Ionian culture reviewed in the preceding chapters was accompanied, as cause and effect, by continued wars among the states which produced this splendid, versa- tile life, and by fiercer factional struggles within the individual cities. One example of internal conflict will suffice. In Milesian territory the tillers of the soil were Gergithae, a class of serfs, who rebelled against their lords, and gaining the upper hand but momentarily, col- lected the young children of their masters on threshing floors, and crushed them under the hoofs of oxen. Regaining control, the lords smeared the captive Gergithae with pitch and burned them alive. So deadly was the antipathy of classes.^ Everywhere the primitive kingship had passed away. In some states aristocracy survived; in others democracy had gained the upper hand; but in the general internal weakness the republics were giving way, one after another, to tyranny. Civil discord and interstate warfare, while stimulating the mind to intense productivity, rendered the Asiatic Greeks wholly unfit to defend themselves against foreign aggression.^ Lydia and the Anatolian Greeks. The need of united action increased with the growth of Lydia in the interior of Asia Minor to a strong aggressive power under King Gyges (about 660). That country was rich in gold; and the inhabitants, by manufacturing and by overland trade with Asia, had accumulated .great wealth. The delicacies of their life, however, afforded little hindrance to the policy of conquest adopted by Gyges. It was probably in resistance to 1 H. Civ. no. 53 (Heracleides of Pontus) ; cf. Hdt. v. 28 f. 2 A contemporary of this period was Hecataeus of Miletus (p. 156 above); H. Civ. p. 21, 111 f.), who was actively interested in public affairs. Brief fragments of his Genealo- gies have survived; FHG. I. p. 25-31. Most important is Herodotus, especially parts of bks. i, v, vi. Later is Ctesias, Persica (about 'lOO B. C), drawn from Persian sources. Still later and less valuable is Justin i, ii. Nepos, Miltiades; Themistocles, and Plutarch, Theniistocles, afford slight information. 158 CONQUEST OF ASIATIC GREECE 159 Lydian aggression that twelve cities of Ionia joined in a league, whose centre was the Panionion, a shrine of Poseidon on the promontory of Alycale. In a si)irit of cxclusiveness they styled themselves groundlessly the only true lonians and would admit no other states to their union. The Aeolians and the Dorians of Asia Minor formed similar leagues, but the idea of inviting all the Asiatic Greeks under a single government seems to have occurred to no one. On critical occasions the deputies of the allied Ionian states met at the Panionion to deliberate on the common welfare; but the central government possessed no means of enforcing harmonious or efficient action. Lydian conquest of the Greeks. Under these circumstances Gyges ^ succeeded in taking Colophon, one of their cities. The con- quest was completed by Croesus, a later king (about 560-546), who incorporated the Greeks of the Asiatic coast in his realm. Miletus alone, which had taken no part in the resistance, remained an ally under treaty. In far earlier times the Lydians had given the Greeks their useful arts, and were now adopting the Hellenic culture. Though differing in language, the two peoples were coming therefore to possess essentially the same civilization, and were closely allied in commercial and social intercourse. Croesus made the burden of his tribute on the Greeks light and favored their shrines with rich votive offerings. Under him Lydia reached the height of her prosperity and attained to the magnitude of an empire. To the tributes which poured in from all the peoples west of the Halys river, was added a rich gold revenue from the sands of the Pactolus. Relying on his material resources, the prosperous king made ready to contend with the Persian empire, newly arisen on his eastern border.* The Assyrian empire, to 606. From about the beginning of the Middle Age the great power of Asia had been Assyria. Early in the seventh century she had conquered Egypt. After this event her empire extended from above Memphis on the Nile nearly to the Caspian sea, and from the Persian gulf to the Black sea. This was the first conquering state to follow a systematic policy of organiza- tion. She divided her subject territories into provinces — satrapies — each under a governor, or satrap, appointed by the Assyrian king, 3 Gyges; Archilochus 25 (p. 127 above); Hdt. I. 14; Euseb. Chron. p. ii, 183. Ionian league; Hdt. i. 141 ff., 146-8, 170; vi. 7. 4 Colophon taken; Hdt. i. 14. Further conquests; 15 ff. Completed by Croesus; 25 f. Tribute; 6, 27. Cultural similarities; 94. Gold; 39. Patronage of Greek shrines; 50-52, 54, 92. Miletus an ally; 22, 141. Croesus' military ambition; 46, 53. 160 HELLENIC HISTORY The functions of the satrap were military, judicial, and general administrative, including a supervision of the tributes. Under him were native kings, who enjoyed far less freedom than had been possible in earlier and more loosely organized empires. It was also the policy of the central government to transplant great numbers of the newly conquered from one part of the empire to another, with a view to uprooting local patriotism and of making the subject peoples more dependent. A state so thoroughly predatory in its aims is doomed sooner or later to decay. Thus it happened that in 606 the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, was taken by a combination of the highly civilized Babylonians with the Medes, a fresh virile Indo-European people.^ The Median and Persian empires, 605-546. Thence arose two empires: the Babylonian on the south of hither Asia, and the Median in the north. The latter included Persia, and by rapid conquest extended its western border to the Halys river. With this boundary the Medes might have been satisfied; but suddenly (550), their king was overthrown by an uprising of the Persians under Cyrus. This revolution, making the Median empire Persian, placed in control a still more vigorous, aggressive Indo-European race of mountaineers under a leader of extraordinary genius and ambition. Cyrus defeated Croesus in two battles, seized Sardis, his capital, and took the proud king captive. Lydia became a part of the Persian empire (546).® The Persian conquest of the Anatolian Greeks, 546-538. The Aeolians and lonians were loth to exchange their benevolent king for the new Persian conqueror. Having treated his messengers coldly at the beginning of tlie war, they now sought from him the same terms of subjection as they had received from Croesus. He refused, where- upon they began to wall their towns; and calling a council at the Panionion, the lonians resolved to ask the aid of Sparta, now the strongest power in Greece. The Lacedaemonians could not think of so distant an enterprise. It is said, however, that they sent an embassy to warn Cyrus at his peril not to harm any city of Hellas. The Persian king treated the message with contempt. Harpagus, his lieutenant intrusted with the work of conquering the Greeks, laid siege to their cities one by one and captured them. Unwilling to submit, the Phocaeans sailed away in a body to found a colony in 5 Breasted, Ancient Times, 141 ff. ; Hall, Anc. History, Index under Assyria. 6 Hdt. i. 76-91 ; Justin i. 4-8. CONQUEST OF ASIATIC GREECE 161 Corsica. In like manner the people of Teos, abandoning their city, founded Abdera, in Thrace. The rest of the lonians, with the excep- tion of the Milesians, who had allied themselves with Cyrus, sub- mitted; and most of the neighboring islands followed their example. Gradually all Asia Minor was conquered and incorporated in the Persian empire. Meantime after conquering Babylon, Cyrus met death in battle with the barbarians on his northeastern frontier.'' Darius, 521-485. Organization of the empire. During the reign of Cambyses, son and successor of Cyrus (529-522), the Persians made no great extension of their territory to the west, but directed themselves mainly to the acquisition of Egypt. Cambyses died by a self-inflicted wound,* and after a brief interval Darius, a distant relative, came to the throne. This king is famous chiefly for his organization of the empire. Enlarging on a policy begun by Cyrus, he divided the entire area excepting Persia, into twenty large satrapies. The Persian satrap had essentially the same functions as the Assyrian officer of that title had formerly exercised. Natu- rally the king interfered at will in all local affairs. A necessary ele- ment of control is to be found in the splendid system of well-kept roads which Darius built from his capital Susa to all important points on the frontier. The " King's Eye," a near relative of the sovereign, invested with great dignity and military power, served as a royal inspector. Not only the roads but also an excellent system of gold and silver coins favored the growth of commerce. At the same time Darius took great pains to preserve internal peace and protect his empire from invasion. The government was less predatory in aim than that of Assyria and we find in Darius a rare benevolence toward his subjects.^ The place of the Greeks in the empire. All the Greeks on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, together with some neighboring peoples, constituted the Ionian satrapy. It was placed under an officer who, from his capital Sardis, governed also the Lydian satrapy. The Asiatic Greeks paid tribute to the Persian king, as they formerly had to Croesus; and in addition they were required to perform military and naval service. The conqueror did not interfere with their re- ligion or their habits of life or their city organizations, but every- 7 Hdt. i. 141-214. 8 Hdt. ii. 1 ; iii. 1-66. 9 Hdt. iii. R4-lf)0. Darius' account of the organization; Botsford, Source-Book, p. 55-7. Of his own achievements; p. 57-9; Behistan Inscr. ed. Tolman N. Y. (1908). 162 HELLENIC HISTORY where set up tyrants devoted to himself. The Greeks, however, were no longer the favored people of their king. In fact no cultural or religious sympathies were possible between Hellenes and Persians, a far less civilized people, whose religion knew no images or gay festivi- ties but consisted in an eternal warfare between good and evil. Greeks, too, were humiliated by their insignificant place in a gigantic empire, which embraced the east-Mediterranean countries, and ex- tended into India and central Asia. Their land forces marched with the motley army of Asiatics and their fleets were arrayed with those of Phoenicia and Egypt under officers of the king. Their new position gave them internal peace, protection from enemies, and the advantages of commerce with the Orient by land and sea, but irritated their pride and repressed their genius, which could only thrive in freedom.^'' Invasion of Europe by Darius, about 513. The empire was ex- posed on the northwestern frontier to the raids of the nomad Scythians, who occupied the region north of the Black Sea. After trying in vain to check the inroads, Darius seems to have conceived the idea of attacking these restless enemies in their rear, from the European side, and perhaps of conquering them in a return march through their country. If so, he must have greatly underrated the difficulties of the expedition. However that may be, he led a great army across the Bosphorus on a bridge of boats prepared for by a Samian architect. Thence he marched to the Danube, which he crossed on a similar bridge made from the fleets of the Ionian tyrants. As the Scythians would not meet Darius in open battle but harassed his army interminably, and as provisions and water were insufficient, the invasion of Scythia ended in disaster. With great loss Darius retreated into Asia. One of his generals, however, Megabazus, left behind with 80,000 men, conquered the Thracian coast from the Propontis to the Strymon river." Relations between Persia and Athens. The positive result of the Scythian expedition was, accordingly, the conquest by Darius of a part of European Hellas. There could be no doubt that the Persians, following their usual policy, would endeavor continually to push their boundary forward in this direction. The people of the Greek main- 10 Military service; Hdt. i. 171; ii. 1; iii. 1. Religious freedom; H. Civ. no. 32 (letter of Darius). Tyrants; Hdt. iv. 137; Heracleides of Pontus. FHG. II. p. 217. II. 11 Hdt. iv. 1-144; v. 1-24. The estimate (iv. 87) of Darius' army at 700,000 is certainly a great e.xaggeration. That there were 600 ships is more probable. A PERSIAN ARCHER THE PALACE OF DARIUS 164 HELLENIC HISTORY land who most sensitively felt the approaching danger were the Athenians; for their two colonies in the Hellespontic region — Sigeum and Chersonesus — were now lost to them through Persian aggres- sion. They knew, too, that their exiled tyrant Hippias, now at Sigeum but hoping to be restored through Persian aid, was doing his utmost to persuade Artaphernes, satrap of Sardis, to an expedition against Athens. When some years earlier the Athenians had expelled their tyrant and had restored a republican form of government, they were assailed by the Peloponnesians. Under these circumstances they had sent ambassadors to Sardis to seek an alliance with Persia. Artaphernes expressed his willingness on condition of their giving Darius earth and water, the tokens of submission. They agreed; but on returning home they were severely censured and their promise was repudiated. Hearing now of the machinations of Hippias, they sent a second embassy, to counteract his influence. Artaphernes abruptly ordered them to receive Hippias back, if they wished to escape ruin. Thereupon the Athenians, who had no idea of accepting the pro- posal, felt that a state of war existed between them and Persia.^' Causes of the Ionic revolt: Aristagoras at Sparta. No long time afterward Aristagoras, tyrant of IMiletus, took advantage of party strife in Naxos to attempt the conquest of that island. By holding out great promises he enlisted the aid of Artaphernes. The enterprise failed, and the tyrant could only expect the severest pun- ishment for his broken word. His sole way of escape led through revolt. To him it was clear that the Asiatic Greeks were chafing under Persian rule and ready on the slightest pretext to strike for liberty. Hecataeus, the historian and geographer, warned them of the overwhelming superiority of Persia. They paid him no heed, but readily followed Aristagoras in revolt.^ ^ The Ionic revolt, 499-494: Aristagoras at Sparta. Abdicating his tyranny and accepting a constitutional office, Aristagoras pro- ceeded to overthrow the despots in the remaining Ionic cities. All Ionia was soon free from tyranny and committed to a hopeless rebel- lion. Aristagoras went personally to Lacedaemon to ask for an alli- ance. Herodotus represents him as appealing to King Cleomenes in the following terms: " That the sons of the lonians should be slaves instead of free is a reproach and grief most of all indeed to ourselves, 12 Hdt. V. 73 f., 96. 13 Hdt. V. 30-5. CONQUEST OF ASIATIC GREECE 165 but of all others most to you, inasmuch as ye are the leaders of Hellas. Now therefore I entreat you by the gods of Hellas to rescue from slavery the lonians, who are your own kinsmen. And ye may easily achieve this thing, for the Barbarians are not brave in tight, whereas ye have attained to the highest point of valor in war. Furthermore their fighting is with bows and arrows and a short spear, and they go into battle wearing trousers. For this reason they are easily con- quered." Then in detail he pointed out, on the map he had brought with him, the road from the Ionian coast to Susa, and described the wealth that would fall to the conqueror. Cleomenes, an ambitious king, seems to have been personally favorable to the undertaking; but the Lacedaemonians could not think of so distant an expedition. The arguments and bribes of the smooth Ionian were accordingly rejected.^* Aristagoras at Athens. Thereupon Aristagoras went to Athens, where he found conditions more favorable to himself. Losses of ter- ritory and the threats of Artaphernes had stirred the Athenians to anger. Furthermore the men who supported the reforms of Cleis- thenes, who hated tyranny and stood loyally for the independence of the city, forming what we may describe as the republican party, were willing to try the issue of war with Persia. It was better to fight at a distance and with allies than to bear alone the shock of inevitable invasion. Their kinship and commercial relations with Ionia led them in the same direction. They resolved therefore to send twenty ships, which were reinforced by two from Eretria. Looking upon the war as a foolhardy undertaking, Herodotus bitterly complains that it was easier for Aristagoras to deceive thirty thousand Athenians than one Spartan, and that the ships despatched to the war " proved to be the beginning of evils for the Hellenes and the Barbarians." ^^ The burning of Sardis, 4q8. The crews of these vessels joined with the lonians in an attack on Sardis. They burned the city; but failing to take the citadel, they were forced to retreat. On their way to the coast they were overtaken and defeated by the Persians at Ephesus. Thereupon the Athenians returned home, and would have nothing more to do with the war. This conduct proves, not fickleness of purpose, but the defective character of the popular assembly as an instrument for the management of foreign relations. The friends 14 Hdt. V. 35-51. 15Hdt. V. 97-9. 166 HELLENIC HISTORY of Hippias were always numerous and the change of a few timid votes from the republican to the tyrannist party was sufficient to give the latter the control. As the republicans were ready for war, the t>'rannists were eager for peace. ^^ The defeat at Lade (497); its effect on Athens. The burning of Sardis encouraged the revolt, which rapidly spread to all western Asia Minor, Thrace, and Cyprus. At the same time it roused Darius to extraordinary efforts for the suppression of the rebellion. The decisive battle was fought off Lade, near Miletus, between the Greek and Phoenician fleets, three hundred and fifty-three against six hun- dred ships, according to Herodotus. Shirking the drill necessary to efficient action, the Greeks preferred to waste their time in the shade. Discipline and united action were therefore impossible; many Greeks listened to secret overtures from their exiled tyrant now with the enemy; and the result was inevitably utter ruin. If this battle was fought in 497, we can understand the feeling which the news of defeat excited at Athens. Reconciliation with Persia seemed a necessity. The tyrannist party was so strengthened that it elected to the archon- ship for 496 Hipparchus, a kinsman of Hippias. This was a step toward recalling the tyrant. ^^ Siege of Miletus, 497-4. Meantime the Persians had laid close blockade to Miletus. After a long siege they captured and sacked the city. After killing most of the men they transplanted the rest of the population, in Asiatic style, to the mouth of the Tigris. In another year the entire rebellion was suppressed. In many instances cities were plundered and destroyed, and the remnants of the popula- tion carried into captivity.^* Significance of the fall of Miletus. It would be difficult to over- rate the significance of these events. For centuries the lonians had been the standard-bearers of the world's civilization. Miletus, the home of commerce and industry and of the fine arts, of poetry and science, the most brilliant city in Hellas, was blotted out of existence. Since the decay of the Minoan civilization human progress had not experienced so severe a blow. Fortunately, however, other minds and hands were ready to take up the thought and skill of Ionia and to carry it to a far higher reach of perfection. i6Hdt. V. 99-103. i7Hdt. V. 103-vi. 17. Hipparchus Archon, 496-5; Dion. Hal. v. 77. 6; vi. 1. 1. i8Hdt. vi. 18-21. CONQUEST OF ASIATIC GREECE 167 Effect of the event on Athens. It is worth while for us to notice how sensitive was the political atmosphere of Athens to the hap[)en- ings across the sea. " When Phrynichus had composed a drama called the Capture of Miletus and had put it on the stage, the spectators fell to weeping, and tlie Athenians fined the poet a thousand drachmas on the ground that he had reminded them of their own misfor- tunes; and they ordered that in future no one should present this drama." ^° To them heretofore the thought of submission to Persia had meant no more than tyranny and the payment of tribute. The poet made them vividly see the horrors which attended the Persian triumph over a city of kindred blood, and which surely impended over themselves. They would have no more of tyrannist politics. In this frame of mind they elected to the archonship for 493-2 -° an un- compromising advocate of war for the defense of the republic, a man of marvellous energy and mental resources — Themistocles. Themistocles archon 493-2. He belonged to the gens of the Lycomidae highly reverenced for its priestly functions, though hitherto without political importance. His father Neocles was probably a merchant, and Themistocles was himself accounted a " keen man of business." An obstacle in his way was the circumstance that he laid out for himself a political path which coincided with the aims of neither the tyrannists nor the republicans, the two great parties of the time. His support came from the mercantile class, who were in a better position than others to appreciate his aims, and from the masses, in whose hearts his patriotism awakened a responsive echo.-^ For the control of the sea; Peiraeus. At this early date he seems to have understood the weak point in any effort of Persia to conquer Greece. The country was too barren to. feed an invading army large enough to crush the liberty-loving inhabitants. It would be essential, therefore, to the Persian king's success to keep control of the sea in order to supply his army with provisions. Themistocles saw the practicability of building a Hellenic fleet large enough to gain the supremacy of the sea. Thus Hellas would be saved and his own city raised to a towering preeminence. His year of office he devoted, accordingly, to improving the three natural harbors of 19Hdt. vi. 21; cf. Strabo xiv. 1. 7. 20 Date; Dion. Hal. vi. 34. 1. 21 Plut. Them. 1, 5; Nepos, Tlicni. I. 168 HELLENIC HISTORY Peiraeus as a home for the great Athenian fleet of which he dreamed. He was in fact the first to call attention to the advantages of Peiraeus over the open roadstead of the Phalerum with which Athenian mer- chants had thus far satisfied themselves. His far-reaching vision was all the more remarkable from the circumstance that, during his official year, the Persians were actually attempting an invasion of Greece by way of Thrace and Macedon.-- 22 Improvement of Peiraeus; Thuc. i. 93; cf. 14. Attempted invasion of Greece; Hdt. vi. 43-5. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, 219-238, I, ch. xxiii; Grote IV, chs. xxxii-xxxv ; Grundy, Great Persian War (Scribner. 1901): Beloch. Griech. Gesch., II, 1-17; Busolt, II, 450-557; Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt., Ill, 1-317. MARATHON CHAPTER XI THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 492-479 ^ The underlying cause of the war between Persia and Greece. The fundamental cause of the great war between Greece and the Asiatic empire lay in the Persian policy of conquest. The chief interest in Oriental empire-building had always been predatory — the acquisition of slaves and other booty attending the subjugation of a country as well as the tributes thereaffer permanently imposed. Each king desired, too, to excel his predecessor in the glory of tri- umphant war; and Darius was himself not only an organizer but conqueror, intent upon pushing his imperial boundary westward as well as in other directions.^ The subjugation of Asia Minor had been followed by the invasion of Europe and the annexation of the Thracian coast. An attempt had been made on Naxos and the near- lying Aegean islands. Steadily by land and sea the empire was approaching the Greek peninsula. Undoubtedly Darius placed a high value on the Hellenes as mariners, artisans, and artists, and probably overestimated the wealth of the country. These circum- stances alone would suffice to explain his invasions of Greece.- In 1 E. g. for Assyria; Botsford, Source-Book, ch. iii. §1, 4. Persia; ch. v. §2; Behistan Inscr. (ed. Tolman), i. 6 ff. 2 Thrace; p. 162; Naxos; p. 164. Greek sculptors and architects at Susa; Pliny, N. H, 169 170 HELLENIC HISTORY the Ionic revolt, moreover, was involved an additional motive; he could never hope to keep his Asiatic Greeks submissive so long as their European kinsmen were free to interfere with encouragement and aid to rebellion. It was not mere anger at the Athenians, then, for having joined in the burning of Sardis, as Herodotus represents,^ but a well founded policy which prompted Darius to punish Athens and Eretria for their meddling in his imperial affairs.* The expedition of Mardonius, 492. In the year immediately following the suppression of the Ionian revolt, accordingly, Darius sent his son-in-law Mardonius at the head of a large army through Thrace against Greece. It was supported by a fleet, which de- scribed a parallel movement along the coast. The avowed purpose was the punishment of Athens and Eretria, but a wider object is proved by the conquest of Thasos and Macedon.^ While encamped in the latter country, the invading army suffered great loss from an attack by the Thracians, and at nearly the same time the fleet was shattered in an attempt to round Mount Athos. Mardonius, accord- ingly, led his expedition home in disgrace, and was deposed from his command. " The king demands submission ; the condition of Hellas. This disaster left a stain upon the King's glory, which had by all means to be wiped off. He began forthwith to prepare a greater armament. At the same time he sent heralds among the Greek states to demand earth and water. Determined upon making himself master of all Hellas, he wished first to separate the willingly submissive from those against whom he should have to apply force. Hopeless of resistance, the islanders yielded; and many of the mainland acted likewise. Among the more independent states which thus " medized " were the Thessalian cities, Thebes, — doubtless irritated by the aggressions xxxiv. 68. A Greek engineer served Darius; Hdt. iv. 87-9. Ionian fleet in Persian serv- ice; p. 161. Persian talk of Greek wealth; Aesch. Pers. 236 f. 3 Hdt. V. 105; vi. 94. 4 Our principal source is still Herodotus, who was bom in the war, and who gathered most of his information from eye-witnesses. Aeschylus, Persians, with surpassing genius pictures the battle of Salamis and attendant events, in which he had taken part. Nepos, Miltiades ; Thcmistoclcs ; Diodorus x. 27-xi. 38; Justin ii. 9-15 are largely from Ephorus. For the Carthag'nian war, however, Diodorus depended chiefly on the native Sicilian his- torians, Antio'bus, Philistus, and Timaeus. Aristotle, Const. Ath. 22 is valuable though brief. Plutarci., Tlieniistocles ; Aristeides ; Cinion, although more interested in ethics than in historical truth, and representing extreme partisan prejudices, has the merit of drawing much of his material from sources nearly contemporary. There are inscriptions, too, some of which are cited in the footnotes; and ancient literature abounds in references to the events narrated in this chapter. 5 P. 168. Persian garrisons placed along the coast; Hdt. vii. 105-7. Thasos and Mace- don; vi. 44. 6 Hdt. vi. 44, 94 THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 171 of Athens, — and Argos through enmity to Lacedaemon/ With the exception of Aegina the Peloponnesian league, directed by King Cleo- menes, stood firmly loyal. It had been joined, some years earlier, by Athens; ^ and from the archonship of Themistocles we discover a close understanding between his city and Lacedaemon as to the main- tenance of a consistent attitude toward Persia. On the complaint of Athens, now at war with Aegina, Cleomenes attempted in vain to pun- ish the leading medizers of that island.^ We recognize in this pro- ceeding an acknowledgment of Lacedaemon as the leading state of Hellas, vested with the right and duty of enforcing loyalty. Pessimism in Hellas; desperate measures of Athens and Sparta, In most respects conditions inspired no hope in a successful resistance to the overwhelming Persian power. The loyal states formed but a small fraction of Hellas, and even in them were strong minorities who were willing to yield, to escape what seemed inevitable destruction. Extraordinary measures were taken to nullify their influ- ence. The story was afterward told that at Athens the king's heralds were threwn into the Barathron, at Sparta into a well, — with the order to take thence earth and water to their lord. By violating the sacred persons of ambassadors the authorities aimed to cut off every hope of reconciliation with Darius, and thus to commit their states irrevoca- bly to a life and death struggle for freedom.^" Athenian preparation; Miltiades. The Athenians exerted themselves to the utmost to prepare for the impending invasion. Their most effective measure at this crisis was the election of Miltiades to the board of generals. His uncle of the same name had ruled the Athenian colony of Chersonese under the Peisistratidae. Ultimately the government of the colony devolved upon the nephew Miltiades, who made himself tyrant," and strengthened his dynasty by a mar- riage with the daughter of a neighboring Thracian chief. During the Scythian expedition he had been forced to serve under Darius, but had afterward joined the lonians in revolt, thus incurring the impla- cable enmity of Persia. A^er the collapse of the revolt, he fled for 7 Hdt. vi. 48-50; vii. 6, 148 ff. Tldough the Thessalian people were loyal, their rulers began earlv to medize. / 8 Probably about 500; Thuc. i. 10/ 1; vi. 82. 3. 9 Hdt. vi. 49 f. ' . -r . • 10 Hdt. vii. 1.33; Plut. Them. 6; Paus. iii. 12. 7. The story is true in essence if not in detail. Barathron, the gorge west 'of Nymphs' hill, into which executed criminals were thrown. . ,n di * 11 A measure to guard against assassination; Hdt. vi. 103. Thracian marriage; 39; i'lut. Cim. 4. 172 HELLENIC HISTORY his life to Athens. Scarcely arrived in his native land, in the archon- ship of Themistocles, he was brought to trial on the capital charge of having usurped the tyranny in Chersonese. His prosecutor must have been one of the republican statesmen in sympathy with Themis- tocles. Among the arguments which led to his acquittal were most probably his recent acquisition of Lemnos for Athens, his known enmity to Persia, and the hope of his future usefulness as a man well acquainted with the military affairs of the enemy. ^- Athenian commanders and army, 490. It speaks well for the sobriety of the Athenians that they suppressed party feelings to ac- quit this anti-republican, elect him to the generalship, and provide him with congenial colleagues on the board and in the office of pole- march. Under his guidance the Athenians abandoned the naval program of Themistocles, to devote their whole attention to the heavy infantry. The army of the reborn republic, in the crisis attending the reforms of Cleisthenes, had gallantly overcome a coalition of powerful neighbors. It was efficiently organized and equipped and though it lacked the professional training of Spartans, no foixe in the world of that time could compare with it in military spirit.^^ The Persian invasion; capture of Eretria. In the summer of 490 an Asiatic fleet, conveying a land force of infantry and cavalry, moved westward across the Aegean sea. It was commanded by Datis, a Mede, and Artaphernes, a nephew of Darius. Most of the islanders along their route submitted. The immediate object was to subdue Eretria and Athens, and bring the inhabitants as slaves into the presence of the Great King. After a siege of six days, Eretria was betrayed by two of her people. The city was sacked and the popula- tion taken captive. ^* The landing at Marathon; the message to Sparta. From Ere- tria the Persians, under the guidance of the aged Hippias, crossed over to Marathon, on the coast northeast of Athens. Hearing of this movement, the Athenians despatched Pheidippides, a professional long-distance runner, to Sparta to ask aid. Reaching Sparta the day after setting out, he said to the magistrates: " Lacedaemonians, the Athenians ask you to come to their aid, and not allow so ancient a Hellenic city to be enslaved by the Barbarians, for already Eretria 12 Founding of Chersonese; p. 116 above. The younger Miltiades; Hdt. vi. 39, 103 f., 136, 140; Plut. Cini. 4; Nepos, Milt. 2; Died, x, 19 b. 13 Callimachus was polemarch (IG. I p. 153), Aristeides a general; Plut. Arist. 5. The policy of Miltiades prevails; Stesimbrotus, in Plut. Them. 4. Earlier Athenian victories over Thebes and Chalcis: Hdt. v. 74-8. 14 Hdt. vi. 94-101. THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 173 has fallen into slavery, and Hellas has been weakened l)y the loss of no mean city." The Lacedaemonians, says Herodotus, were eager to give aid, but a religious law forbade their departure before the full moon.^^ The battle of Marathon, 4Q0. Meanwhile the Athenian anny had marched to Marathon and had encamped in a narrow valley fac- ing the Persians, who were in the plain adjoining the shore. There they were strengthened by a small force from Plataea, their ally. The Athenian commander was Callimachus, the polemarch, whose council of war comprised the group of ten generals, including Milti- ades. It was decided to give the chief command to the latter because of his great experience and his knowledge of the Persians. The situation was such that should the Persians take the road to Athens, the Athenians could attack them in the flank. After several days of waiting the invaders moved against their enemy's position. They were furnished with bows and short swords and wore but slight de- fensive armor, whereas the Athenians were heavy-armed, and de- pended upon their long spears for attack. Understanding well the strength and weakness of the opposing force, Miltiades held his men back till the arrows of the enemy began to reach them, whereupon he ordered them to charge at a run. Thus they avoided long exposure to the arrows, and came most speedily to close quarters. Wholly un- prepared for hand-to-hand fighting, the Persians retreated with great loss to their ships. After a vain attempt to surprise Athens by an attack from Phalerum, the invading armament sailed back to Asia. A force of Lacedaemonians, arriving too late for the fray, could only express their appreciation of the brave work of their allies.^" Effects of the victory. There were perhaps ten thousand Athen- ians engaged in this battle, and in numbers the Persians were cer- tainly superior. The moral effect of the victory was tremendous. " Up to this time the very name of the Medes was to the Hellenes a terror to hear; " ^" but it was now demonstrated that the Greek warrior was superior to the Persian. The westward advance of the Asiatic empire was halted, and the Greeks were inspired with a ISHdt. vi. 102-7; Paus. i. 28. 4 (from Hdt.); Nepos, Milt. 4. l6Hdt. vi. 111-20; Nepos, Milt. 5 f . ; Plut. Arist. 5; Paus. i. IS; Justin ii. 9; Athenian decree commanding the march; Demosth. Parap. 303; cf. Arist. Rliet. iii. 10, 1411 a. 17 Hdt. vi. 112, an exaggeration, but the fear was widespread; cf. Theognis 763 f., 775 rf and the Delphic pessimism; p. 181. 174 HELLENIC HISTORY fair hope of maintaining their freedom. To the Athenians, who almost singlehanded had beaten a power thought to be irresistible, this victory ser\'ed as an incentive to heroism, and enwrapped the Mara- thonian warriors in an unfading glory. The end of Miltiades. During the next few years the history of Athens centres in the conflict of personalities and of parties. For the moment the victory made her people forget all other leading statesmen in their admiration for the general who had won it. Tak- ing advantage of their confidence, Miltiades persuaded them to en- trust to him a fleet of seventy ships, saying he would lead his coun- trymen to a place where they could enrich themselves, but not letting them know definitely his purpose. With this armament he sailed against the Parians, on whom he levied a fine of a hundred talents for having joined the enemy in attacking Athens. On their refusal to pay he besieged the island, but failed to capture it, and returned home wounded, to disappoint the hopes of all. Thereupon he was tried for his life before the popular assembly on the charge of " having deceived the Athenians." He was condemned; but because of his former services the punishment was mitigated to a fine of fifty talents. The condemned man died of his wound, and the fine was paid by his son Cimon.^* Miltiades had embarked on a policy of aggrandizing his state by the conquest of the " medizing " islanders. Had the undertaking succeeded, the Athenians would undoubtedly have approved the policy, and the conqueror might have made himself tyrant. His failure gave his enemies their opportunity to strike him down. His prosecutor was Xanthippus, a republican statesman, who had allied himself with the Alcmeonidae by his marriage with Agariste, niece of Cleis- thenes. The struggle of republicans and tyrannists. The republican leaders must have considered the overthrow of Miltiades a great vic- tory for the constitution. Gradually, however, the tyrannists, who had not long remained in the background, and who had contented them- selves during the invasion with secret encouragement to the enemy, began to make themselves again felt in politics and perhaps about the same time the Athenians learned of preparations by the enemy for another attack. In the spring of 487, accordingly, the republi- i8Hdt. vi. 132-6; Ephorus, FHG. I. p. 263. 107; Plut. Cim. 4 fwronely suDooses that Miltiades was imprisoned). THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 175 cans turned in great fury upon the tyrannists, and ostracised their leader, Hipparchus, a retired archon and kinsman of Hippias. This was the first application of ostracism. ^^ A great constitutional change. It is clear, too, that many prom- inent republicans were now bent on making the constitution more democratic. This wing of the party was represented l)y Aristeides, who had been archon the year after the battle of Marathon. Shortly after the ostracism of Hipparchus these progressives brought about the adoption of a law according to which the archons, instead of being elected, should be taken by lot from nominees furnished by the demes.-° The measure had a democratic appearance in that it gave all the qualified an equal chance for the office, whereas in fact it degraded the archonship by filling it with men of mediocre abil- ity. Henceforth no eminent man ever held the office. The nine archons ceased forthwith to be the chief magistrates and the pole- march lost his command of the army. The headship of the state passed to the ten generals. Statesmen who promoted this measure had held the archonship once, and were forbidden by law to repeat it; but the generalship they could hold as often as the people were willing to elect them to it; and perhaps this was the leading motive to the innovation. Conservatives and democrats; end of the tyrannists. On this issue the republicans split into two parties, those who favored the change were thereafter to be known as democrats; their opponents were conservatives. Naturally the Alcmeonidae wished to preserve the Cleisthenean legislation unchanged, and therefore took the lead of the conservatives. Megacles, nephew of Cleisthenes, was ostra- cised in the spring of 486, probably because of his opposition to the reform. His being classed with the friends of the tyrants points to a political deal with that part}'. But the tyrannists were thoroughly demoralized by the ostracism of another leader, not known by name, in the following year. The faction, accordingly, disappeared from history, its members joining the other two parties according to their several inclinations. Undoubtedly the conservatism of Xanthippus led to his ostracism in 484. By means of the slender thread fur- nished us by Aristotle we have followed darkly the course of a mighty political battle for the constitution and for progress. When the light 19 Xanthippus; Hdt. vi. 131, 136; Plut. Per. 3. Hipparchus ostracised; Arist. Const. Ath. 3. 20 Arist. Const. Ath. 22. 5. THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 177 of history breaks upon the field, we see athwart the ruin of tyrannists and conservatives, the two great victors in the struggle: Aristeides and Themistocles. '^ The naval and financial questions; Themistocles against Aristeides. Again Athenian politics turned on the question of war with Persia; for it was now known that preparations were far ad- vanced for a new and greater expedition. Themistocles again urged the creation of a navy, and advised that the surplus in the treasury from silver mines in Laurium be used for the purpose. Aristeides on the other hand was content with the army, which had won so great a victory. Down to this time the Athenians seemingly never en- tertained a thought of devoting any extraordinary gain to the benefit of the state. Whenever Aristeides or any of his countrymen ascended the Acropolis, he could see on the left as he entered the gateway a bronze chariot and four which some years earlier his people had dedicated from the spoils of a victory gained over neighbors, and more recently from the booty of Marathon they had erected a neat little " Treasury of the Athenians " at Delphi, though it would have been far better to employ these proceeds to a naval fund. The in- habitants of the island of Siphnos had long been accustomed to divide among themselves the revenues from their mines and probably this was the general practice in early Greece. It would accord perfectly with the later policy of Aristeides to assume that he was among those who favored an equal division of the revenue from the Attic mines among the citizens. When the conflict between the two statesmen became bitter, Aristeides was ostracised, and went to live in Aegina, then at war with Athens.'- The naval decree of Themistocles, 482. About the same time the naval decree of Themistocles, providing for the building of a hundred triremes, was adopted by the assembly. Forty-seven more were addefi before the great naval conflict came. The motive of Themistocles was purely patriotic — to defend the freedom of Hellas and to make his own state a great power. The democratic effect could hardly have been foreseen. In fact, so far as one class more than another benefited by the measure, it was the merchants through whose cooperation Themistocles carried his decree. When we con- 21 Arist. Const. Ath. 22. 5 f. ; Megacles; Find. Pyih. vii. 22 Bronze chariot and four; Hdt. v. 77. Athenian treasury at Delphi; Dinsmoor, W. B., BCH. XXXVII. 5-83. Mines of Siphnos; H. Civ. no. 57 (Hdt.). The naval proposition; Hdt. vii. 144; Arist. Const. Ath. 7; Plut. Arist. 7 f . ; Them. 4- i 178 HELLENIC HISTORY sider the obstacles he had to overcome in securing its adoption, as well as the far-reaching results, we can hardly doubt that it was the most splendid individual achievement of statesmanship up to that time known to the world. Xerxes prepares a gigantic invasion. The battle of Marathon shook the military prestige of the Great King and encouraged re- bellion within the empire. The conquest of Greece became, accord- ingly, even more than ever a question of practical necessity as well as of honor. Preparations for a new invasion, however, were sus- pended by the revolt of Egypt, and the death of Darius (486). After the reconquest of that country, Xerxes, son and successor of the deceased king, devoted himself to gathering the whole available strength of the empire with a view to overwhelming Greece by the force of numbers. Mardonius was pardoned for his earlier failure. As his route was to be followed, engineers and workmen were soon engaged in bridging the Hellespont with boats, and in cutting a canal through the isthmus of Mount Athos; for the ships were on this occasion to avoid the fatal promontory. As the army could subsist only in small part on the invaded country, great depots of provisions were established along the projected route. The care and pains expended on the provisioning and equipment of the expedition were extraordinary. In the autumn of 481 the nations of the empire were pouring their motley forces into Asia Minor, and ships were preparing in all the Mediterranean harbors subject to Persia. With his great host Xerxes wintered at Sardis in expectation of setting out in earliest spring (winter of 481-0).^^ Lack of preparation throughout Hellas. Thus far, outside of Athens, the Greeks had begun no preparation to resist the invader; and no further progress had been made toward unity. The heralds of Xerxes, as they passed to and fro throughout Hellas during the winter preceding the invasion, found many states ready to purchase safety by the gift of earth and water. The patriot cause could place no reliance on Thessaly, Thebes, or Argos, or on the less progressive states of the centre and west of the peninsula, or on the numerous widely scattered islands. Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, might have given powerful aid, but had to face a Carthaginian attack.-* The brunt was to be borne by the Peloponnesian league, Athens, and a few 2S Hdt. vii. 1-36; cf. Aesch. Pcrs. 1 ff. 24.Hpralds of Xerxes; Hdt. vii. 32, 131 ff. Although the Thessalian people were loyal, their oligarchic rulers were plotting with the enemy. Gelon; 153 S. THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 179 small communities on the peninsula and the neighboring islands; and even here the prevailing sentiment was nearly akin to despair. The Hellenic congress at Corinth, autumn of 481. Under these circumstances deputies from the loyal states met at Corinth to concert measures for defence. The call had been issued by I^acedae- mon but at the suggestion of Athens, undoubtedly on the motion of Themistocles. It was on his initiative, too, that this congress, when assembled, resolved that all enmities among the states there repre- sented should be reconciled. In pursuance of this resolution Athens clasped hands with her inveterate enemy Aegina. Another act pro- vided for despatching envoys to the unrepresented Hellenic states to invite their adhesion to the cause, and for sending spies to the camp of Xerxes. The embassies accomplished nothing worthy of mention; but the spies, captured by the Persians, were, under order of the king, shown everything in the camp and dismissed in the expecta- tion that their report of his immense army would induce the Greeks to yield without resistance. It was resolved further by the Hellenic congress to wage war in common against Persia, and in the event of victory to destroy those Hellenic states which should willingly medize, divide their property as spoil, and dedicate a tenth to the Delphic Apollo. The congress conferred the chief command by sea as well as by land on Sparta, to whose leadership most of the states had long been accustomed. There can be no doubt that the proceedings of this congress were directed by the mighty spirit of Themistocles, and that his determination to fight out the issue on the sea was ac- cepted by all concerned. ^^ Xerxes crosses the Hellespont; his army and fleet. In the spring of 480 Xerxes led his army across the Hellespont, and began his march through Thrace, his numbers continually increased by local reinforcements, while a great fleet accompanied him along the coast. The numbers given by Herodotus, amounting to more than five mil- lions, including non-combatants, and on the sea twelve hundred and seven warships, is an enormous exaggeration, though modern scholars have not thus far agreed as to actualities. A moderate estimate would be a hundred thousand fighting men in the land force and about six hundred ships of war.^*^ 25 Hdt. vii. 132, 145-71; viii. 2; Thuc. i. 18. 2; Plut. Them. 6. Members of the league; Hicks and Hill, no. 19. 26 Hdt. vii. 60 ff., 87. 89, 184 ff . ; viii. 66. Herodotus adds 3000 transports. 1000 war- ships; Aesch. Pers. 341-3. 180 HELLENIC HISTORY The battle of Thermopylae, 480. Xerxes entered Thessaly un- opposed, whereupon the states of this district under the lead of medizing oligarchs, passed over to his side. In accordance with the Themistoclean plan of campaign, the Greek fleet took up its station at Artemisium, off northern Euboea, to meet the Persian fleet,-' while a force of about six thousand Greeks under Leonidas, King of Sparta, occupied the pass of Thermopylae to check the progress of the land army. In that narrow road between the Malian gulf and the steep mountain side where numbers did not count, the strong armor and long spears of the Greeks might have held the Persian host indefinitely at bay; but after several days of unsuccessful assaulting in front, a traitor led a detachment along an obscure by-way over the mountain to the rear of the Hellenic force. ^® The encounter at Artemisium, 480. When the Greek position thus became untenable, Leonidas prudently dismissed all his allies, retaining only the three hundred Spartans who were with him; for a law of their country forbade the Spartans to flee from an enemy. Their battle to death was the noblest even in the history of their city. Over the heroes' graves the Amphictyonic council inscribed this epitaph : Stranger, report this word, we pray, to the Spartans, that lying Here in this spot we remain, faithfully keeping their laws.^^ To the rest of the Greeks this heroic example was the most pow- erful of all commands — to keep their freedom or die in the at- tempt. Meanwhile the Hellenes at Artemisium were encouraged by successful engagements with the enemy, and by the damaging of the Persian fleet in a storm. When, however, they learned that Xerxes had forced the pass at Thermopylae, they felt compelled to with- draw, though they had fought no decisive battle. The total result of these conflicts by sea and land was victory to the Persians, and a strengthening of the Greek hope that under more favorable conditions the struggle might yet be successful. ^° The Delphic oracle. Xerxes was now advancing through Boeotia 27 Attempt to hold the pass at Tempe, not mentioned in the text; Hdt. vii. 172^. The fleet at Artemisium; 175 ff. 271 triremes, including 147 from Athens; viii. 1 f. 28 Hdt. vii. 198-219. 4000 Peloponnesians (vii. 228) and 2000 from central Greece (vii. 203). 29 Hdt. vii. 228. The last struggle; 220-33. Details of the battle not found in Herodotus, as in Diod. xi. 4-11; Justin ii. 11; cf. Plut. Mai. Hdt. 30-3, may have been drawn in part from monuments, but are mainly fictitious. 30 Hdt. viii. 1-39; Find. Frag. 77; Plut. Them. 7-9; Aristoph. Lysistr. 1250 ff. THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 181 toward Athens and the states of central Greece were flocking to his standard. As the Hellenic fleet was retiring to Salamis, Thcmistocles returned to his city, to find it full of gloom. Earlier in the invasion, when rumors of the irresistible oncoming of the enemy troubled their decision, the Athenians sent to in(|uire of the Delphic Apollo what hope they might cherish or what course pursue, and the messengers were answered by dire prophecies of ruin and slaughter, ending in the command: "Forth with you, forth from the shrine, and steep your soul in sorrow." ''^ Naturally the prudent men who controlled the oracle could see no result of the war save the utter conquest of Greece. But the messengers returned as suppliants to the temple de- claring they would remain there to death, unless a more favorable response were given. Then in the story of Herodotus, the god merci- fully offered a ray of hope : — Pallas has not been able to soften the lord of Olympus, Though she has often prayed him, and urged him with excellent counsel. Yet once more I address thee in words than adamant firmer; When the foe shall have taken whatever the limit of Cecrops Holds within it, and all that divine Cithaeron shelters, Then far-seeing Zeus grants this to the prayers of Athena, — Safe shall the wooden wall continue for thee and thy children. Wait not the tramp of the horse, nor the footman mightily moving Over the land, but turn your back to the foe, and retire ye. Yet shall a day arrive when ye shall meet him in battle. Holy Salamis, thou shalt destroy the offspring of women, When men scatter the seed, or when they gather the harvest. ^•^ The Athenians abandon their country. When this oracle was brought to Athens, some were of the opinion that the " wooden wall '' had reference to the palisade around the Acropolis, and accordingly took refuge there. Themistocles, however, declared that it meant the fleet, and so persuaded the Athenians to abandon their homes, and trust everything to their ships. The removal of the population and personal property was supervised by the Council of the Areopa- gus, now filled with patriots and directed by Themistocles and his associates. No one has tried to tell of the pain and heart-burnings, of the sufferings of the sick and the aged, of the energy and the un- selfish devotion of the strong attending this evacuation, or has tried to estimate the tremendous moral effect on the community. Some idea of the event we might form by imagining the removal of the popula- 31 Hdt. vii. 140. 32 Hdt. vii. 141. 182 HELLENIC HISTORY tion of an entire coast state, with our greater resources, in the face of invading Asiatics. Some of the fugitives remained in Salamis and Aegina, but the greater number were carried over to Troezen. The people of that city voted them an allowance of two obols each for their daily support, an additional sum for the education of their children, and for the latter " the privilege of picking fruit from any man's tree." ^^ The Hellenic fleet in the Bay of Salamis. The Hellenic fleet halted in the Bay of Salamis to cover the Athenian retreat, with the intention, too, of making there a further stand against the enemy. The place was well chosen, for the enemy would be compelled to fight in the strait, where superior numbers would not count. Further retreat would in fact be almost equivalent to abandoning the cause; for it would leave the enemy free to land troops on the coast of Peloponnese in the rear of the Isthmian line of defence then being prepared. Reinforcements more than made good the loss; the Hellenes had above three hundred triremes besides smaller vessels. The Athenian contingent M^as far the largest. Not only was the fleet at the command of Persia, made up of Phoenician, Egyptian, Ionian, and lesser contingents, superior in numbers according to all ancient accounts; but the ships were better built and the crews more experi- enced. Ancient writers are agreed that the only real advantage on the Hellenic side was in spirit and resolution. Recently, however, it has been suggested with some degree of reason, that in the actual battle the Greeks may have outnumbered their enemy.^* The eve of the battle. Meanwhile Xerxes had reached Athens, having laid waste the country along his route. From Salamis the Greeks could see the city in flames, and their scouts espied the Persian fleet at anchor in the bay of Phaleron. These circumstances tended for the moment to lessen the courage of the Greeks and to suggest to the admirals the prudence of retiring to the Isthmus where they could cooperate with the land forces. Themistocles, however, used all the resources of his reason and eloquence to persuade Eurybiades to remain; he even threatened in case of retreat to withdraw his ships and use them in conveying the Athenians to a new home in Italy. While thus pleading with the admirals he took measures to bring on 33 Hdt. vii. 142 f . ; viii. 40 f . ; Arist. Const. Ath. 23; Polit. v. 4. 8, 1304 a; Plut. Them. 9 f. (including the Troezenian decree); Citn. 5; Philochorus, FHG. I. p. 397. 84. 34 Hdt. viii. 40 ff. 310 triremes; Aeschylus, Persians, 338; 378; Hdt. viii. 48; of. 82.. nearly 400; Thuc. i. 74 (Athens, two-thirds). THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 183 a Persian attack as soon as possible. Secretly despatching? a trusty slave to Xerxes, he falsely informed the King that the Greeks, panic- stricken, were about to sail away, and urging him to cut off their retreat. The advice was taken, and the Hellenic fleet was blocked up in the bay. About the same time the army of Xerxes on its march toward Peloponnesus, reached the bay of Salamis, and encamped on the shore. The story is told that the news of these movements was brought to the Greek headquarters on Salamis by Aristeides, who was just returning from Aegina; for early in the spring of that year the Athenians had decreed an amnesty to their exiles. ^^ The battle of Salamis, 480. In their resolution to fight, the Greeks had high hopes of success, for conditions were now more favorable than they had been at Artemisium. The story of the battle is clearly and vividly narrated by the poet Aeschylus, who served among the Athenians. The speaker is a messenger to the King's mother and her councillors at Susa: — And night passed by, yet did the Hellene host Essay in no wise any secret flight. But when the day by white steeds chariot-borne. Radiant to see, flooded all earth with light. First from the Hellenes did a clamorous shout Ring for a triumphant chant; and wild and high Pealed from the island rock the answering cheer Of Echo. Thrilled through all our folks dismay Of baffled expectation ; for the Greeks Not as for flight that holy paean sang, But straining battleward with heroic hearts. The trumpet's blare set all their lines aflame. Straightway with chiming dip of dashing oars They smote the loud brine to the timing cry, And suddenly flashed they all full into view, Foremost their right wing seemly-ordered led In fair array ; next, all their armament Battleward swept on. Therewithal was heard A great shout — " On ye sons of Hellas, on ! Win for the homeland freedom ! — freedom win For sons, wives, temples of ancestral Gods, And old sires' graves ! This day are all at stake ! " Yea, and from us low thunder of Persian cheers Answered — no time it was for dallying ! Then straightway galley dashed her beak of bronze On galley. 'Twas a Hellene ship began R.'JHdt. viii. 49-82; Aesch. Pers. .353 ff . ; Diod. xi. 15-17; Plut. Them. 11 f . ; Artst. 8; Polyaen. i. 30. 5. Amnesty to exiles; Arist. Const. Ath. 22. 8; Andoc Myst. 107 (cf. 77); Plut. Tiinii. 11; Arist. 8. Probably all were recalled except those convicted of homicide or attempted tyranny. 184 HELLENIC HISTORY The onset, and shore all the figure-head From a Phanician: captain charged on captain. At first the Persian navy's torrent-flood Withstood them ; but when our vast fleet was cramped In strait-space — friend could lend no aid to friend, — Then ours by fangs of allies' beaks of bronze Were struck, and shattered all their oar-array; While with shrewd strategy the Hellene ships Swept around, and rammed us, and upturned were hulls Of ships ; — no more could one discern the sea. Clogged all with wrecks and limbs of slaughtered men : The shores, the rock-reefs, were with corpses strewn. Then rowed each bark in fleeing disarray, Yea, every keel of our barbarian host. They with oar-fragments and with shards of wrecks Smote, hacked, as men smite tunnies, or a draught Of fishes; and a moaning, all confused With shrieking, hovered wide o'er that sea-brine Till night's dark presence blotted out the horror. That swarm of woes, yea, though for ten days' space I should rehearse could I not tell in full. Yet know this well, that never in one day Died such a host, such tale untold, of men.^^ Xerxes withdraws from Greece. Too thoroughly crippled to renew the fight, the Persian fleet retired to Asia. Thereupon Themis- tocles urged the Greeks to sail forthwith to the Hellespont, and by destroying the bridge cut Xerxes off from his base of supplies. The advice was sound; and if taken, would probably at once have ended the war; but to the other Greeks the idea seemed too venturesome, and the war continued another year. Xerxes himself returned to Asia, leaving Mardonius with the best part of the army.^^ The plan of campaign for 479. For the campaign of 479 the Greeks so far adopted the plan of Themistocles as to send a fleet of a hundred and ten ships across the Aegean with a view to striking Persia in her own territory. The armament was under the chief command of King Leotychidas of Sparta, whereas the Athenian force was led by Xanthippus, who had returned from exile under the amnesty, and had been elected general. Among the Athenians, how- ever, a revulsion of feeling had come in favor of Themistocles' former adversary, Aristeides, now also a general. Obedient to their insistent demands, the policy of defence at the Isthmus was abandoned, and a 36 Aesch. Pers. 384-432 (a clear, accurate account) ; Hdt. viii. 83-107 (elaborated from Aeschylus with the addition of a few other facts); Diod. xi. 18 f . ; Plut. Them. 13-17; Arist. 9 f. ; Nepos, Them. 4; Justin ii. 12. 37 Hdt. viii. 108-29. THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 185 Hellenic urmy ^[athered at Plataea for a trial of strenj^th with Mar- donius in the open field. The commander was Pausanias, regent for the young son of Leonidas, and the general of the Athenian division was Aristeides. The Greeks had altogether perhaps twenty-five to thirty thousand heavy infantry in addition to light troops, and the force of the enemy could not have been greatly superior.^** The battle of Plataea, 479. The numerous manoeuvres and counter-manoeuvres, the changes of position, the omens and prophecies involved in the complex battle cannot be detailed here. From the confused traditions certain facts stand out boldly. Could the Greeks choose their own ground, they were certain of victory; the only hope of the Persians lay in taking them off their guard or in an unfavorable position; hence resulted the long postponements of the conflict and the shiftings of position. While affairs were in this condition, the report of the arrival of the Greek fleet at Samos forced ISIardonius to battle, that he might return as soon as possible for the protection of Ionia. In the retirement of the Hellenic army to a more tenable position, some distance in their rear, Mardonius saw his opportunity to assail it while in a state of disorder. The main attack was di- rected against the Peloponnesians. The latter faced about, and " as the omens were unfavorable," stood patiently under the shower of arrows from the enemy's horsemen. But when the main body of Persians had drawn up within bowshot behind their fence of wicker- shields, — at this critical moment the omens changed, the order to charge was given, and the heavy infantry of Peloponnese dashed at a run upon the enemy's line. The Persians resisted bravely; "but when Mardonius and the men stationed around him in the strongest part of their line had fallen, the rest turned and gave way before the Lacedaemonians; for their manner of equipment, without defen- sive armor, was an especial cause of their losses; in fact they were contending light-armed against hoplites." ^^ It is clear that in the complex movements at Plataea the leading fact is the repetition of the chief tactical feature of Marathon — the double-quick charge of the Hellenic phalanx upon the line of light Persian infantry. The result was decisive. The remnant of the Persian army hurriedly retreated, and the Greek peninsula was free from the Great King.*" 38 Hdt. ix. 1-32. Themistocles temporarily under disfavor; Diod. xi. 27 (Ephorus). He was probably a general in 479, though not in military command. 39 Hdt. ix. 63. 40 Hdt. ix. 28-89 — almost the only source for Diod. 29-32; Nepos, Paus. 1; Plut. Arist. 11-19; Mai. Hdt. 41 f. Ctesias, Pers. is independent. 186 HELLENIC HISTORY The battle of Mycale, 479. The achievement of the Hellenic naval force may be told in fewer words. Meeting no opposing fleet, the Greeks landed on the Ionian coast, and assailed the Persians in- trenched at Mycale. Asiatic Greeks deserted to their kinsmen, the Persian force was destroyed, and their warships, drawn upon the shore and surrounded by a palisade, were burned. Whereas other battles of the war had been defensive, this victory, pointing the way to the liberation of Asiatic Greece, began a policy of aggression against the Persian empire.*^ Western Hellas: economic and intellectual condition. In an earlier chapter we touched upon the Hellenic colonization of Italy and Sicily and the growth of the new settlements in that region to a high degree of economic prosperity. This success was due to the superior vitality, quick intelligence, and bold enterprise of the settlers, as well as to the fertility of their lands and the great extent of coun- try open to their exploitation. Far, however, from devoting them- selves solely to the accumulation of wealth, the colonists for a long time advanced beyond the mother country in cultural development. In the " intellectual awakening " of Hellas they had their full share, particularly in the fields of architecture and philosophy; and as the Asiatic Greeks declined under foreign rule, the cultural leadership of Hellas temporarily passed to the Western Greeks. *- Aristocracy and tyranny. The earliest settlers, dividing the lands among themselves, tended to form themselves into a closed aris- tocracy. The natives who tilled their fields were serfs; *^ and the fishermen and traders, who collected in every coast town, constituted the commons, who were citizens with inferior privileges. Class con- flicts inevitably led to tyrannies. The result was that before the close of the sixth century nearly every Greek city in Sicily had fallen under despotic rule. Those of Italy were governed either by tyrants or Pythagorean brotherhoods. In the West, as in the East, each com- munity went its own way with little heed to the general Hellenic interest. Enemies of western Hellas: the Etruscans. This particular- ism, while acting as a powerful cultural stimulus, wrought little harm so long as the Hellenes had to deal merely with foreign states 41 Hdt. ix. 96-106; Diod. xi. 34-6. 42 Western colonies; p. 61 ff. Their culture is shown in the Pythagorean and Eleatic schools of philosophy (p. 276 f.) and in their splendid temples. 4 3 Lords and serfs in Syracuse; Mar. Par. 36; Hdt. vii. 155; Timaeus, FHG. I. p. 204. 56; Arist. Frag. 586; Dion. Hal. vi. 62. THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 187 as small as their own. In time, however, in the West as well as in the East, they had to confront great military powers. Politically the most important people thus far in Italy were the Etruscans. In origin decadent Minoans, they had received from their mingling with the native Italians a new vitality and an aggressiveness in war which made them formidable to their neighbors. In the beginning of the fifth century they held not only Etruria and parts of the Po basin farther north, but also the most of Campania and the coast region to the south nearly to Posidonia. In the opinion of Cato the Censor they governed the greater part of Italy. ''^ The Phoenicians and the Carthaginian empire. While the Etruscans were developing this power within the peninsula, the Phoe- nicians were threatening to take possession of the islands and remain- ing coasts of the middle and western Mediterranean. For a time they had to yield ground to the Greeks in both Sicily and Spain. In Africa, west of Cyrenaica, however, the Phoenicians were compara- tively free to work out their own destiny. On and near the African coast opposite Sicily, there grew up a group of colonies, the most im- portant of which was Carthage. Toward the end of the seventh cen- tury this city won the leadership over her near neighbors, and began to develop a naval power, the foundation of her future empire. Her ambition was to gather under her leadership and protection all the Phoenician colonies of the Mediterranean and to win as much new territory as possible for the race. In Sicily they gained ground. In Sardinia they won a footing (about 600), though they never succeeded there in occupying more than the coasts. The Phoenician settlements in Spain acknowledged the leadership of Carthage — while the African coast became hers, from Cyrenaica to Lyxus on the Atlantic (before 500). Carthaginians and Etruscans combine; the Phocaeans driven from Corsica, 540. Naturally Carthage had entered into close com- mercial relations with the Etruscans, a people of similar character. About 550 she had begun to form treaties with the individual coast towns of Etruria for the regulation of trade ^^ and for the defence of their common interests against the Greeks. The first Hellenes to suffer from this alliance were the Phocaean colonists in Corsica. In a naval battle between them and the combined fleets of the allies, 44Strabo v. 1. 10; 2. 1-3; 4. 2 f. ; Polyb. ii. 17; Cato, Frag. 62 (Peter). 45 Arist. Polit. iii. 5. 11, 1280 a. 188 HELLENIC HISTORY they were overwhelmingly beaten (540), and were forced in conse- quence to abandon Corsica. This was the first important loss of territor)' suffered by the Hellenes in the West.^'' The new war policy of Carthage. At Carthage toward the end of the same century the office of general, newly instituted, fell to a certain Mago, who used his position for a thorough reorganization of the army. It was henceforth to consist largely of mercenaries, re- cruited from the fresh warlike native races of the western Mediterra- nean countries. Thereafter few citizens of Carthage served excepting as officers. Their immense financial resources could thus be con- verted into sinews of war, and a policy of conquest could be inaugu- rated without disturbance to the money-making pursuits of the great commercial city.^^ Carthaginian invasion of Sicily. The first use made of the system was to be for the conquest of Sicily. While therefore Xerxes was preparing his stupendous expedition against Eastern Hellas, the Carthaginians, doubtless in concert with him, were recruiting a great mercenary force for the invasion of Sicily. In 480 Hamilcar, Mago's son, led forth the armament. The numbers given by the ancients are two hundred ships of war, three thousand transports, and three hundred thousand men; herein we may discover an at- tempt of the Sicilian historians to make their glory equal that of the victors at Salamis and Plataea. Two hundred triremes there may have been; but the other numbers are exaggerated beyond our power to correct.** The tyrants; Gelon of Syracuse. It was fortunate that the Western Greeks had made progress toward political unification. Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium (494-476), had seized Zancle across the strait, and recolonizing it with a mixed multitude, had named it Messene after his native land. Meanwhile in southern Sicily a suc- cession of powerful tyrants of Gela had extended their city's sway over several neighboring states. The last and greatest of these despots was Gelon, a young cavalry officer of remarkable genius in war and statecraft. Opportunely the serfs of Syracuse had risen against the lords and had violently expelled them. Gladly espousing the cause of the exiles. Gelon made himself master of Syracuse, but instead of restoring the city to the landlords, he faithlessly held it for himself, 46 Hdt. i. 165-7; Diod. v. 13; xi. 88. 47 Justin xviii. 7; xix. 1. 48 Ephorus, FHG. I. p. 264. Ill; Hdt. vii. 165; Diod. xi. 20. THE WAR WITH PERSIA AND CARTHAGE 189 and took uj) his residence there. With still less moral scruple, he enlarged his new capital by transplanting to it the wealthier citizens of neighboring towns he conquered, while the poorer class he sold into slavery, merely remarking: " Common men are an undesirable element in a state." Thus it came about that by energy and cunning Gelon had united all southeastern Sicily under his rule.*" The battle of Himera, 480. To strengthen himself further he had married Damareta, daughter of Theron, despot of the flourishing city of Acragas. Scarcely less ambitious than his son-in-law, Theron had annexed Himera to his domain, after expelling its tyrant Terillus. The combination of the powerful tyrants of Syracuse and Acragas threatened Phoenician interests in Sicily, and led to the Carthaginian invasion, wherein the exiled Terillus played the part of a Hippias, and Anaxilas, kinsman of the former, promised his cooperation. The invaders laid siege to Himera, and the great battle was fought be- neath its walls, Gelon and Theron against the Carthaginians, " Hellas against Canaan." Survivors of the invading army afterward re- ported that all day long, as the battle raged, Hamilcar in Semitic style stood apart from his host, bent on winning aid of the gods by offering them the entire bodies of sacrificed victims on a great pyre; " and when he saw there was a rout of his own army, he being then, as it chanced, in the act of pouring a libation over the sacrifices, threw himself into the fire, and thus he was burned up and removed from sight." The details are uncertain, the results well known. A great part of the fleet went up in flames; the army was uterly over- thrown; vast spoils and countless prisoners, made slaves, enriched the victors. To save her dependencies in Sicily, Carthage bought peace with a heavy war indemnity. The victors were proudly con- scious of having done their part in freeing Hellas from the barbarian peril; and in just appreciation Pindar associated Himera on equal terms with Salamis and Plataea.^° 49 Anaxilas; Thuc. vi. 4. 5 f . ; Diod. xi. 48. 2. Gelon; Hdt. vii. 153-6; Arist. Polit. v. 3. 5, 1302 b. soTimaeus, FHG. I. p. 213 f. 86, 80; Hdt. vii. 165-7; Diod. xi. 20-3; Polyaen. I. 27; Find. Pyth. i. 75 ff. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, 238-264, 265-311; Holm, II, chs. i-vi; Grote, V, chs. xxxviii-xliii; Beloch, II, 17-74; Busolt, II, 557-806; Meyer, III, 318-417; Freeman, History of Sicily (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1891-4), II, chs. v, vi; Grundy, Great Persian War; Cavaignac, Historic de Vantiquite (Paris, 1913), I. FRAGMENTS OF THE THEMISTOCLEAN WALL CHAPTER XII THE AGE OF THE WAR HEROES I. Political and Economic 479-461 A retrospect of the war. For an appreciation of the Persian war and of its effect on subsequent history let us first inquire what was at stake in the conflict. What would have resulted had Persia won the battles of Salamis and Plataea?/ The war would by no means have ended, for there were Greek communities that would have shed their last drop of blood in the fight for freedom. Of that fact Thermopylae gave evidence. But what if in the end Persia had con- quered ? A costly undertaking it would have been to hold peninsular Hellas in subjection; the lean tribute, the heavy debit column of the Hellenic satrap, might soon have expelled the conqueror. However that may be, the permanent occupation of Greece would doubtless have been a calamity to civilization. Although Greeks and Persians were alike of Indo-European speech, there could have been no con- siderable racial element common to the two peoples.^ Through the influence of environment the Persians were becoming essentially Orien- tal. Originally a fresh virile race of mountaineers, they rapidly 1 On race mixing, see p. 25 above. 190 THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 191 submitted to the culture of the Tigris-Euphrates valley. It was a (luestion therefore whether the Hellenes should be brought more or less directly under Babylonian influence. The half-century of Ori- ental domination over Ionia has been offered as evidence that Hellen- ism prospered under such conditions.' In answer it may be said that fifty years are but a brief season in the life of a people, and that in truth the cultural glory of Asiatic Hellas had largely passed away before the battle of Plataea. The fact remains unshaken that in Hellas the existence of city-states, free in government and unham- pered in their mutual friendships and rivalries, was essential to any considerable cultural progress. Shall Orientals or Greeks dominate Europe? While granting that battles are but a part — perhaps the merely superficial manifesta- tion — of a larger conflict of minds and of economic, social, and political forces, we must maintain that the struggle in its broadest, deepest sense involved the question whether Orientals or Greeks should dominate the civilization of Europe, whether that continent was to pursue an independent development or become a mere appanage of Asia. The result, all-decisive and infinitely more far-reaching than the contemporary Hellenes dreamed of, signified that it lay in their hands to determine for the future the cultural progress of the world. Religious effects of the war. The first conscious effect of the unexpected, overwhelming success was religious — the punishment of the invaders for their sacrilege: — There ^ waiteth them disaster's deepest depth, Requiting insolence and godless pride. For these, to Hellas coming, did not fear To tear down statues, burn the fanes of gods : — Altars have vanished; hurled in ruin heaps Gods' temples from their basements are upheaved. Therefore do these ill-doers suffer ills Not less, and some are yet to come : not yet The dregs of woe are reached; the cup brims still; So huge a slaughter — oozing swath shall load "Plataea's soil, reaped by the Dorian spear.* J Religious effects on art, literature, and thought. The suc- cess of the few Hellenes ovei- that vastly superior force could have but one explanation. " The might of God is above theirs, and often 2 Beloch, Griech. Gesch. II. 1. 74 f. 3 At Plataea. This quotation applies to the Persian invaders after the battle of Salamis but before that of Plataea. 4 Aeschylus, Persians, 807 ff. This passage applies to the Persian invaders before the battle of Plataea, 192 HELLENIC HISTORY in the midst of evils it raises up the helpless, even when clouds of perplexing distress hang over his eyes." ^ This wave of religious devotion checked for a time the growth of scepticism, and with the spoils of war, gratefully erected to the gods richer and more beau- tiful temples than Hellas had known before, and adorned them with sacred sculptures. In literature the same spirit found no less worthy expression in Aeschylus, whose dramas lift Hellenic religion to a loftier and holier plane, and in Herodotus, who " records the great events of the Persian wars with a profoundly religious awe."" Effects on government. The conflict left an effect, too, on gov- ernment. As freedom had won, it was inevitable that she should grow and thrive on her success. In West and East tyrannies and oligarchies gave way to democracy, and democratic constitutions took on more popular forms. Victory wrought her spell also on Hellenic — interstate — politics. It was a noble thought, born of the battle of Plataea, that Hellas should form a grand everlasting federation, at peace with herself and exercising her weapons against none but foreigners." But the common foe was too badly beaten, and Hellenic particularism was too strong, for the dream to come true. The consciousness of racial unity grew; interstate politics, developing beyond its narrow cantonal beginnings, became world politics; the Hellenes took their place as the dominant power in the Mediterranean basin , but after a time the feuds and rivalries, hushed by the great peril, broke out afresh, and while stimulating cultural activity, gradually capped the strength of the nation. Heroization nl the victors. One of the most obvious effects of the war was to heroize the victors. What were the deeds of Achaean s round Troy compared with the prowess of Marathon and Salamis and Plataea, where a few patriots, relying on the gods and their own valor, had trampled on the strength of the mightiest of empires? They were demigods who fell at Thermopylae, where, as their epitaph informed the visitor, " theirs was a fair-famed lot and envied death, their tomb a shrine; instead of tears was a remembrance of their deeds, in place of lamentation, glory." ® Demigods, too, were those who survived, in proud consciousness of their own strength to work out a nobler destiny for their race. As time elapsed, the 5 Aesch. Seven against Thebes, 226 ff. c Sillier, Testi-.npniuni Animae, 160. 7 Plutarch, Aristrides, 21. The existence of such a project has been unnecessarily loubted by some historians. 8 Simonidfa io Diod. xi :1. Other epitaphs from his hand: H. Civ. no. 51. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 193 memory of their achievements brightened, till the entire conflict radi- ated a superhuman glory. A patriot of the fourth century wrote: " Methinks the war must have been contrived by some God in ad- miration for their bravery, that men of such quality might not re- main obscure or end their lives in humble state, but might be deemed worthy of the same rewards as those sons of heaven whom we call demigods; for even their bodies the Deity rendered up to the un- yielding laws of nature, but immortalized the memory of their valor." ^ 1/ The future of the Hellenic league. The immediate problem con- fronting Greece had to do with the Hellenic federation formed for defence against Persia. It was to continue, but under what govern- ment and organization? Naturally the Spartans expected to re- tain the leadership; for theirs was the strongest military power in Hellas; to their command a majority of the allies had long been accustomed and although in the recent war the initiative and the enthusiasm came from Athens, the Peloponnesian league, Sparta's creation, had formed the backbone of resistance to the invader. These circumstances determined that at least for the immediate future Lacedaemon should remain at the head of the league. The condition of Lacedaemon. For a long time, however, changes had been taking place in that state which were rendering the Spar- tans unfit for this great function. It is true that the area of their country was considerably larger, and the population greater, than that of any other Greek state. Two thirds of the people, however, 'y were serfs, who, far from rendering appreciable service in war, were so ill-willed as constantly to menace the general safety. The perioeci were still loyal; but dependent on their own hands for a livelihood, they could give little time to military training and could serve only in limited numbers, while their inferior status inevitably rendered them less willing for duty. Whereas the number of helots and perioeci probably remained unimpaired, that of the Spartans steadily shrank. ^° Economic and political decline. Under the crushing economic restraints described in an earlier chapter ^^ many men were so impov- 9 Isocrates, Panegyricus, 84. 10 The area of Lacedaemon was above 3000 sq. mi. The population at this time was probably 400,000, of whom 25,000 were Spartans, 75,000 were perioeci, and 300,000 were helots; Grundy, in JHS. XXVIII (1908). 77 ff. His reasoning seems sound, and his esti- mates therefore appear to be better founded than those of Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. III. 465 f. , who reduces these numbers by about one fourth. Pelbriick's estimates {Kriegsk. I. 35) are still lower. ^ 11 Chapter VI. 194 HELLENIC HISTORY erished as to forfeit their civic rights, together with their place in the army. Sooner or later, therefore, the Spartans were destined to lose their military preponderance. Equally fatal to the stability of their leadership was the continued decline in culture and intelligence,^^ while many of their allies were already vastly superior in these respects, and were still rapidly progressing. The question as to the fortification of Athens. It was mainly with a view to centralizing the Lacedaemonian power that the ephors requested the Athenians, after the return of the population from exile, not to rebuild their walls but to ioin rather with the Spartans in razing the fortifications of all Hellenic cities outside Peloponnesus. Should the Persians again invade Greece, they argued, the Isthmian rampart would be the best possible defence. ^^ Had Athens and the other extra-Peloponnesian cities thus become dependencies of Sparta, the political unification of Hellas might at this early time have been realized, yet at a tremendous cost to civilization. The crisis was met by the wily Themistocles. While the Athenians were rebuilding their wall in the manner described below,^* he went as envoy to Sparta, where by a succession of audacious falsehoods he delayed the action of the ephors until the substantial completion of the defence. Thus his promptness snatched a most vital interest of his city even from the hazard of debate in the Hellenic council. The question of protecting the Asiatic Greeks. Another ques- tion, only second in its consequences, which pressed for settlement on the morrow of the victory at Mycale, was the liberation of the Asiatic Greeks from the yoke of Persia. Having failed in their own effort, they now rested their hopes of independence in the mighty federation of their European kin. Spokesmen of the lonians, coming to the Hellenic headquarters at Samos (479), pleaded for admission into the league, for rescue and protection from Persia. For the maintenance of their freedom, after it should be won, a permanent fleet in the Aegean, and perhaps strong garrisons for the cities, would be required; and the Lacedaemonians lacked both the means and the will for carrying such a burden. They proposed therefore to expel from their homes the European Greeks who had medized, and to transplant the Asiatic Hellenes to the lands thus vacated. To the latter folk a migration would have been an insupportable 12 P. 100, n. 45. 13 Thucydides i. 90 f. 14 P. 197. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 195 hardship; and Xanthippus and his colleagues, the commanders of the Athenian force, would not listen to the proposal. These Greeks are our colonists, they protested in substance, and we stand ready to give them the desired protection. The Lacedaemonians gladly shifted the burden to the shoulders of the Athenians, whose command- ers thereupon entered into close relations of friendship and alliance witli the deputies of the lonians. This was the small beginning of a union which afterward develoiied into the Dclian confederacy.^^ The transfer of the naval leadership from Lacedaemon to Athens, 478. Still clinging to the naval leadership, Lacedaemon, in the following year, sent out a fleet of fifty triremes under the regent Pausanias. Thirty of these ships were Athenian, commanded by Aristeides and other generals; and the maritime allies added their squadrons. After a partial conquest of Cyprus, Pausanias sailed to the Hellespont and laid siege to Byzantium, then occupied by a Persian garrison. The fall of the city reopened the strait to the im- portation of grain from the Pontus. During the siege Pausanias arrogantly treated the allies as inferior to the Spartans, subjecting them to severe punishments and driving them with whips. ISIean- while the courtesy and gentleness of Aristeides and his colleagues won their affection, till finally they revolted against the tyrant and placed themselves under Athenian leadership. Pausanias was re- called, and eventually the Lacedaemonians yielded the naval com- mand to Athens (early in 477). They saw no advantage to them- selves in continuing the war with Persia, nor had they a commander whom they could trust abroad. They felt, too, that Athens was competent to the task and friendly to themselves; so that, while she performed for them a disagreeable but necessary function, they would remain in fact leaders of Hellas.^" Fitness of the Athenians for leadership. It was an enterprise which the Athenians were eagerly awaiting. They had been the soul of the Hellenic war of freedom; their success had given them self- confidence and ambition; in contrast with the sluggish conserva- tism of Peloponnese, they now displayed a bold radicalism and a marvellous adaptability to new conditions. Altliough their territory was far smaller than that of Sparta, the creation of a great fleet had given scope to the naval service of the poorest class, and had ren- ■L5H. Civ. no. 67; Diod. xi. 37. .. , . , 1 6 Importation of grain from the Pontus before the war; Hdt. vii. 147. Arrogance of Pausanias; Plut. Arist. 23; Cim. 6. Transfer of leadership; H. Civ. no. 68; Anst. Const. Ath. 23; Diod. xi. 44. Other sources; Hill, Sources for Greek History, pp. 5-11. 196 HELLENIC HISTORY dered the whole male population of military age available for war. Their navy, too, was at hand, ready for the very object which now presented itself. .^ Organization of the Delian Confederacy, 477. As the represen- tative of Athens, Aristeides arranged a treaty of offensive and de- fensive alliance with the maritime Greeks. Casting masses of iron into the sea, they swore to remain faithful to their obligations till this metal should rise and float on the surface. The allies, on their part, agreed to render the money contributions and perform the required services, while the Athenians swore to maintain unimpaired the constitutions of individual communities. The independence of a Greek state consisted essentially in (1) the right to live under whatever government it pleased, (2) the right to enter into relations of war, peace, and alliance with others. A congress of deputies from allies was to meet under Athenian presidency at the sanctuary of the Delian Apollo, to deliberate on the welfare of the league. As the seat of an amphictyony still in existence, Delos was to be the centre of the new political union, while the temple of the god was to serve as a repository of the confederate funds. The new union, however, was patterned, not so much after the amphictyony, as after the Peloponnesian league. In one respect it marked a great advance upon the latter institution. Whereas the Peloponnesians, depending mainly upon land forces, had little need of a common treasury, the confederacy of Delos required a permanent fleet, which necessitated a system of regular taxation. This new element made possible a centralization of power and a consequent efficiency wholly unknown to the Peloponnesian league.^'' The tribute. Aristeides was commissioned to apportion the bur- den. Evidently he first calculated that a fleet of two hundred tri- remes would have to be maintained during the seven months of naval campaigning from March to October. As the crew of a trireme num- bered about two hundred, and the pay at this time was evidently two obols a day, the total cost of maintaining the armament would but slightly exceed four hundred and sixty talents Necessarily some campaigns would be longer, but on the other hand the entire force of two hundred ships would rarely be required. Shorter and lesser campaigns would leave a balance that could be applied to the build- 17 H. Civ. no. 68; Arist. Const. Alh. 23; Plut. Arist. 24 f. Meaning of the ceremony of sinking iron; Ildt. i. 165; Horace, Epod. 16. 25. Independence of the allies; Thuc. i. 97 98; iii. 10. Equality in votes; ib. iii. 11. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 197 inji; and repair of ships. Aristeides accordingly set the entire cost of maintaining the fleet at four hundred and sixty talents, which he apportioned among the allies according to their several capabilities. The larger states, as Aihens,. Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Naxos and Thasos, were to bear their share by furnishing ships with their crews; the smaller states in general, finding it inconvenient to build and equip triremes, were permitted to pay money instead. All, however, were equally free and were represented in the Delian congress. The treasurers, as well as the presidents of the congress and the chief admirals of the navy, were Athenians. The work of assessment re- quired great labor and travel, and still more, patience, probity and tact. It was accomplished to the satisfaction of all; " for as the ancients celebrated the Age of Cronos, the Athenian allies held in memory the taxation of Aristeides." It seems to have been this achievement which earned for him the title of " the Just." ^* Expansion of the Confederacy, 479-468. Tlie~^ork of ex- panding the confederacy fell chiefly to Cimon, son of Miltiades. Under his command it progressed steadily through successive years. After expelling the Persians from their remaining positions on the coasts of the Aegean sea, in 468 he sailed with two hundred ships of war along the Carian and Lycian seaboard, bringing the coast people, both Greeks and foreigners, into the confederacy. At the mouth of the Eurj^medon he met and defeated a great Phoenician fleet; then , landing, he routed a Persian army and seized its camp. Enormous 1 spoils were the reward of victory. The Persian hope of regaining lost ground, maintained to this time, now vanished. Tacitly the ^ Athenians were acknowledged masters of the Aegean sea.^^ Fortification of Athens, 479. Meanwhile great changes were taking place at Athens. On their return from exile toward the end of 479, the Athenians had found their walls demolished and the city in ruins. Their first care, as explained above, was the rebuild- ing of the fortifications, on which their independence rested. The advice of the Spartans to desist they set at naught, and applied themselves — men, women, and children — with feverish haste to the work. " The foundations are made up of all sorts of stones, in some places unwrought, and laid just as each worker brought them; isThuc. i. 96 (H. Civ. no. 68); Plut. Arist. 24. Ten Athenian treasurers, called Hel- lenic treasurers (Hellenotaniiae) ; IG. I. 259 f. Doubt was cast on the probity of Aris- teides by the historian Craterus; Plut. Arist. 26. 19 Thucydides i. 100; Diod. xi, 60-2; Plut. Cim. 12 f. 198 HELLENIC HISTORY there were many columns, too, taken from tombs, and many old stones already cut, inserted in the work." The structure was about six and a half feet in width and perhaps sixteen feet high, strengthened at intervals with towers. It was a modest defence yet sufficient against the crude siege engines of those times. The entire circuit, of little less than four miles, included a larger space than had hitherto been enclosed. The form remained roughly a wheel with the Acrop- olis for a hub. Thinking that this height would still be used as a citadel, Themistocles began the improvement of its defences; in this work he applied the marble drums of the projected Athena temple to increasing the height and steepness of a part of the northern rim. These fortifications were due to his initiative and cleverness, supported by the patriotic energy of all the citizens. Their leader had in- curred the deadly hatred of Sparta, but the freedom of their city was now secure. ^° Homes of gods and men. The Athenians had as yet no re- sources for rebuilding their temples. For the present, temporary dwellings for the gods had to suffice, while their own homes were mostly small rude cabins, of sun-dried bricks, hastily erected on the old sites along the narrow, crooked, unpaved lanes which served as streets. In appearance the cit)' was that of a numerous but im- poverished population, showing little evidence of the vitality, the artistic taste, or the versatile resourcefulness, which were soon to place Athens in the forefront of Hellenic politics and civilization. The building and fortification of Peiraeus, 478. No sooner had the Athenians resumed their daily life in their new-built homes than Themistocles persuaded them to undertake a still greater work at Peiraeus. Nothing there, any more than at Athens, had survived the Persian devastation. First of all, dockyards had to be provided for the enormous fleet. These, too, were only provisional. The walls, on the other hand, for the protection of the new city, soon to grow up about the Peiraeus harbors, were to be massive and endur- ing. An account of the work is given by Thucydides: "Themis- tocles also persuaded the Athenians to finish Peiraeus, of which he had made a beginning in his year of office as archon. The situation of the place, which had three natural havens, was excellent; and now that the Athenians had become sailors, he thought that a good harbor 20Thuc. i. 89-93; Arist. Const. Ath. 23. 4; Plut. Them. 19; Lys. Eratosth. 63; Diod. xi. 39; Judeich, 123; D'Ooge, Acropolis, 66 f. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 199 would greatly contribute to the extension of their power. For he first dared to say that they must make the sea their domain, and he lost no time in laying the foundations of their empire. By his ad- vice, they built the wall of such a width that two wagons carrying the stones could meet and pass on the top; this width may still be traced at Peiraeus; inside there was no rubble or mortar, but the whole wall was made up of large stoties hewn square, which were clamped on the outer face with iron and lead. The height was not more than half what he had originally intended: he had hoped by the very dimensions of the wall to paralyze the designs of an enemy, and he thought that a handful of the least efficient citizens would suffice for its defence, while the rest might man the fleet. His mind was turned in this direction, as I conceive, from observing that the Persians had met with fewer obstacles by sea than by land. Peiraeus appeared to him to be of more real consequence than the upper city. He was fond of telling the Athenians that if they were hard pressed, they should go down to Peiraeus and fight the world at sea." The entire circuit, following the windings of the shore, was about seven miles. The mouths of the harbors were narrowed by moles sur- mounted by towers, and could be closed in time of danger.^^ The laborers; upkeep of the navy. As there were at this time few slaves and fewer aliens in Athens, most of the work must have been done by thetes. In 478, the year in which we may place the beginning of the enterprise, only thirty triremes had put to sea, leav- ing available tlie greater part of the poorest class. For this labor, too, we may assume a daily compensation of two obols. Many who would have sought rural employment must have gathered at the port town, drawn by the opportunity for work, and have built their cabins there. The population, therefore, rapidly increased. To at- tract metics, Themistocles carried a decree which exempted them from the usual sojourner's tax. Their capital and their skilled hands were needed in the development of industry and in the building of ships. For not satisfied with their already powerful navy, the Athenians, on the motion of Themistocles, resolved to add twenty new triremes a year, not like the existing ones, but of a more recent and improved type.^- Here, too, we mark the devotion of the citizens 21 Thuc. i. 93; ii. 94. Plut. Thevi. 19; Paus. i. 2. Width 10-26 feet according to local- ity; Judeich 138. Height unknown. Quotation; Thuc. i. 93. 22 Labor and wages; Cavaignac, L'Hist: fiiianc. d'Ath. 21 ff. Two decrees of Themis- tocles; Diod. xi. 43. 3; 93. 3; cf. Plut. Cim. 12. 200 HELLENIC HISTORY to the interest of the state in their willingness to forego the comforts of private life and the pleasures of festivals and of art for the sake of increased political power. Part of the money for the purpose came from the mines of Laurium, reopened after the war, and a part was supplied by the sale of booty. Workmen found further employment in the construction of merchant ships for private owners, and in the various industries now beginning. In time Peiraeus, thus founded by Themistocles, became one of the most flourishing centres of in- dustry and commerce in the Mediterranean world. Liturgies, (i) Choregia; (2) gymnasiarchia; (3) hestiasis. In this age, probably in connection with the naval measures above mentioned, the duty of commanding a trireme was placed among the liturgies — expensive public services performed, without compen- sation, by those citizens who were financially qualified. Members of the highest property class were liable to the captaincy of a ship, and it was necessary, if required, to serve in alternate years. The state furnished the hull with a few equipments, and expected the captain to pay for the rest and for the training of the crew, and to keep the vessel in good condition. Among the other liturgies, estab- lished in earlier time, were the duty (1) of equipping the chorus for dramatic and other festivals which required it, (2) of paying the expenses of torch-races at various festivals, (3) of feasting one's tribesmen. Each of these duties passed in a cycle, according to tribes, among those who were liable; and a mark of the public- spirited citizen was to spend far more on his liturgy than the state required.-^ Rural economy and the olive industry. It was not only the building and fortification of the two cities that demanded the atten- tion of the government. The rural districts, too, had suffered from the war. The Persians had burned farm houses, as well as country sanctuaries, and had cut down vines and olive trees. Conquerors, however, are mild compared with envious neighbors, and are dis- posed to spare a country which is to become their own. Next to the rebuilding of desolate homes, the first thought of Themistocles on the morrow of the battle of Salamis had been for the restoration of agriculture. Though no record has been left, we may be sure that on his initiative the council of the Areopagus bent its energies to 23 Gilbert, Const. Antiq. 179 f . ; Busolt, Griech. Gesch. ii. 270-72; iii. 53. Trierarchy, captaincy of a trireme. Naturally citizens only were liable to the trierarchy, whereas met- ics also were liable to other liturgies. H. Civ. no. 129; Demosth. Lept. 19-23- THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 201 the restoration of farm buildings, vineyards, and olive groves. We know that this body enforced minute regulations for the preservation of olive trees and even of stumps, which readily produce fruit-bearing shoots. The statement of Herodotus that Attica alone produced the olive is doubtless exaggerated, yet we may well believe that she alone exported oil in considerable quantities, and that she attempted a monopoly of the trade. An exhaustless market was Italy, where few olives were grown till long after the period now under consid- eration. The exportation was but slightly interrupted by the war.^* Im,ports. In exchange Athens imported grain, pork, Sicilian cheese, other food products of various kinds, Etruscan metal work, and ornamental slippers. From Carthage came tapestries and gaily wrought cushions. Here, too, we discover the hand of Themistocles, busily fostering commerce and political relations with the Hellenic West. With that end in view, he cultivated the friendship of Acar- nania and Corcyra, which lay in the trade route to Italy. Under his policy Athens took the place once occupied by Chalcis and Eretria in this field of commerce, and her coins rapidly crowded out competi- tors. Alliances with Hellenic cities of the West were being formed. In his devotion to that part of Hellas he named one daughter Sybaris, and another Italia. Trade was by no means limited to the West. Athens had to import two thirds of her grain supply. It came from her allies, from Italy, Sicily, Egypt, and Pontus, whereas great quan- tities of vegetables were supplied by Megara and Boeotia. These imports are mentioned as items of the wide and varied commerce fostered by the policy of Themistocles.-^ Hellenic statesmanship of Themistocles. In every direction we come upon evidence of his broad, far-seeing statesmanship. His high place in Hellenic politics and his reputation for wisdom and integ- rity are indicated by the fact that in these times Corinth and Corcyra chose him to arbitrate a dispute between them. The case was de- cided in favor of the latter. " At the next Olympic games," says Plutarch, " when Themistocles entered the stadium, the spectators took no further notice of all those who were contesting for the prizes, but spent the whole day in looking at him, pointing him out to strangers, and applauding him by clapping their hands and other 24Hdt. V. 82; viii. 109; Thuc. ii. 16; Paus. x. 35. 2; Cicero, Rep. in. 9. 15; Pais. Anc. 25 'p]ut. Them. 17; .\then. i. 49 f. Busolt, Griech. Gesch. iii. 520; Meyer, Gescli. d. Alt. iii. 545. 202 HELLENIC HISTORY expressions of joy; so that he himself, much gratified, admitted to his friends that he then reaped the fruit of all his labors for the Greeks." ^^ V/ Increasing control of Athens over her allies. It was clear not only to Themistocles but to other statesmen that the political and economic greatness of their city was to rest chiefly upon their com- mand of the Delian confederacy. They were determined, therefore, to maintain it at all cost and to strengthen their control over it. In this field Aristeides and Cimon were especially active. There were in the confederacy, after the battle of Eurymedon, more than two hun- dred city-states, all nominally equal and entitled to representation in the congress. But they varied immensely in importance, from insig- nificant towns, occupying a few square miles of territory, to larger states such as Chios and Naxos, thence to the vastly greater power of Athens. They spoke various dialects and were widely scat- tered over islands and coasts. Under these circumstances and with their slight experience in federal government, actual equality was impossible. Most of the allies, too, were disinclined to military ser- • vice; and some who had originally furnished ships persuaded the Athenians to accept money contributions instead. Depriving them- selves thus of the means cff self-defense, they readily fell into the con- dition of subjects. From time to time they neglected to render the tribute, which in such cases had to be collected by force. " For the Athenians were exacting and oppressive, using coercive measures toward men who were neither willing nor accustomed to work hard." When a state revolted, lacking both the training and the equipment for war, it was easily subdued.^^ Revolt of Naxos, 469. More formidable was the revolt of a state which continued to supply a naval force. The first to take this step was Naxos. We may assume that the motives were of a general nature, especially the Greek love of absolute independence for the city- state and the delusion that, as the Persians had been pushed back from the Aegean region, the Confederacy had fulfilled its mission and might profitably be dissolved. Athens, however, promptly crushed the revolt by force, dismantled the walls of the rebellious city, con- fiscated her fleet, imposed an annual tribute, and deprived her of free- dom. It was the duty of Athens, as the executive, to maintain the 26 Plut. Them. 17 (doubtless from a contemporary source). The arbitration; op. cit. 24. 27 Thuc. i. 99 (cf. i. 19); Plut. Arist. 25; Cini. 11. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 203 integrity of the league and to compel every state to bear its obligation. She violated her oath, however, in depriving an ally of freedom. In losing its independence Naxos was compelled to renounce forever all diplomatic relations with other states and to accept a constitution conformable to Athenian wishes. The treatment of this ally served as a precedent for future cases of rebellion.-^ Revolt of Thasos, 465-3. A few years afterward Thasos revolted. This ishuid had long possessed mines on the opposite coast of Thrace, from which it drew a considerable income. The Athenians had lately intruded within its district, and a dispute thus arising led to the rebellion. Ci-mon besieged the island, and after two years the Thasians gave up their claim to the mines on the mainland, surren- dered their fleet, dismantled their walls, and accepted the tribute im- posed by the Athenians. The crushing of these two rebellions proved the hopelessness of resistance to Athens, and the determination of the latter to maintain her control by force. There was injustice in this policy of coercion, yet the employment of some degree of violence was essential to the maintenance of the league. Furthermore there can be no doubt that the welding of the maritime confederacy into an empire under the rule of Athens, was in itself advantageous to the population and to Hellas in general. ^^ Treaties with individual states. From the beginning Athens had taken measures to bind the individual states close to herself by treaties which regulated judicial cases arising from their commercial relations. In these agreements the leading city aimed to bring as many of the judicial cases as possible before her own courts; and this effort was seconded by the allies themselves, who recognized the su- periority of Athenian law. In fact, in a group of states, like those of the Confederacy, closely united in commerce, it was a great advantage that a uniform system of law be substituted for the endless variety of local usage. Not only rebellious states accepted constitutions at the dictation of Athens; one by one she persuaded or forced most of the others to make new treaties with her, which provided for democratic governments and required them to send their more important criminal cases for trial. Naturally, too, all offenses against Athens were brought before her courts. As regards mercantile suits, however, the principle seems generally to have prevailed that the case should 28 Thuc. i. 9S; Aristoph. Wasps, 355. 29Thuc. i. 100 f. ; Plut. Cini. 14; Diod. xi. 70. Further on the Athenian policy; p. 240. 204 HELLENIC HISTORY be heard in the state where the contract was made. There was little uniformity in these treaties, however, but the general tendency ^ was less federative than imperial. ^° Progress of democracy, 479-61. While Athens was thus enter- ing upon an imperial policy, she was engaged in making her own government more democratic. The patriotic and efficient conduct of the Areopagites in supervising the exodus of Xerxes' invasion had given them an ascendancy in public life which they had scarcely known since the time of Solon; but their authority was rapidly undermined by the admission each year of the nine ex-archons appointed by lot (since 487-6), and hence of mediocre talent, and even more by the general advance of democracy. In the opinion of Aristotle, Aristeides was chiefly responsible for this development. " Afterward as the citizens of the (Athenian) state had acquired confidence, and a great quantity of money had accumulated, he advised them to lay hold on the leadership and to come in from the country and live in the city, assuring them that there would be a livelihood for all, — some serving in the army, others in garrisons, others attending to administrative work, — and that thus they would secure the leadership." ^^ Parallel growth of democracy and imperialism. This passage is evidence that Aristeides introduced pay for military service and to some extent for official duty, thus making it possible for any Athenian, however poor, to take part in public affairs. He more than any other, therefore, was the founder of the radical democracy. The double object was to furnish subsistence to the populace and to gain a more thorough control of the alliance. Imperialism and democracy were in fact correlative, in that the revenue from the empire alone made possible the participation of the Athenian masses in public affairs, and on the other hand this participation was necessary for the policing and administration of the empire. " When circumstances forced the Athenians to govern with a stronger hand, he bade them act as they pleased, for he would take upon himself any guilt of perjury they might incur." ^^ The two parties. A clash between democrats and conserva- 30 Commercial treaty with Phaselis; TJ. Civ. no. 69. Cases at law; Old Oligarch, Const. Ath. 1. 16; Thuc. i. 77 (meaning uncertain); IG. I. suppl. p. 6, 22 a; i. 28, 29 and suppl. p. 12. ■31//. Civ. no. 59 (Arist.). Democratic progress; Ari.st. Const. Ath. 22 f. ; Polit. v. 4. 8, 1304 a; Plut. Them. 10. Plutarch's notion that Aristeides was a conservative is disproved even by the facts given by himself; cf. Arist. 22. In this passage Plutarch misinterprets Aristeides' policy of engaging the citizens in public service. Archons taken by lot; p. 175. 32 Plut. Arist. 24. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 205 tives. While there wiis among the leading statesmen of Athens no difference of opinion as to the treatment of the confederacy, a sharp line of cleavage was drawn through the group in relation to home politics. Those who favored the popularization of the constitution were led by Aristeides, the Conservatives by Cimon. Inevitably the latter party clung close to the Peloy)onnesian league, and looked to Sparta as an example and a moral support, whereas the democrats, understanding the incompatibility of the two states, were ready to break with the Peloponnesian league. Their hands were strength- ened by the fact that Sparta gave secret encouragement to rebellion within the Confederacy, and stood forth as the champion of particu- larism — of the complete independence and isolation of the city- states — in opposition to the Athenian efforts at political aggregation. The boldness of Themistocles in opposing Spartan interests at every turn, added to envy of a greatness that eclipsed all contemporary poli- ticians, stirred against him a formidable combination headed by Cimon, which forced his ostracism (about 472)."" Political ferment in Peloponnese. The exiled statesman retired to Argos, whence he travelled through Peloponnese, sowing every- where the seeds of democracy and of opposition to Sparta. Evidently he was bent on continuing even in exile his task of weakening Lace- daemon in order to make his own city supreme in Hellas. Shortly before his ostracism the Arcadians, supported by Argos, had revolted against Sparta, bringing the very existence of the Peloponnesian league into hazard. They were defeated and the Lacedaemonian su- premacy was restored; but the general ill-will must have encouraged Themistocles to believe that it was still practicable to undermine the power of Sparta. In this frame of mind he received news of the plottings of Pausanias, who hoped to rise to supreme power through the emancipation of the helots. Themistocles may have encouraged this ambition, but the accusation that the great statesman ever conspired in thought or act against Athens or Hellas is belied by his entire career.^* Need of a revolution in Lacedaemon. The revolution attempted by the Spartan regent was precisely what his country needed to bring her abreast of the general political and social progress of Hellas; it sa There is no good evidence that Themistocles favored the democratization --f the con- stitution- his interest was in Hellenic and world politics. In his opposition to Themistocles C'mon was supported by Lacedaemon; Plut. Tlioii. 21. Alone of the prominent politicians Aristeides held aloof from the attack; Plut. Arist. 25. Sparta had promised aid to Thasos; Thuc. i. 101. , ,„ .'. iThuc. i. 132-5; Plut. Them. 23; Nepos, Thein. 8; of. Hdt. v. 32. 206 HELLENIC HISTORY would have maintained and even vastly increased her military strength. But though a general of marked ability, Pausanias was wholly lacking in statesmanship. He disgraced his cause, too, by intriguing to bring Hellas into slavery to the Persian king. Fearing arrest, he fled to a shrine of Athena, and was there walled in by his countrj'men, and starved to death. By this violation of the right of sanctuary the Spartans brought upon themselves a religious curse. ^^ The end of Themistocles. In his fall Pausanias dragged The- mistocles to ruin. The correspondence of the deceased regent proved that the Athenian statesman had knowledge of his schemes; and this circumstance was made a ground for prosecution, brought by the Athenian Alcmeonidae. Despairing of justice, Themistocles avoided arrest by flight. He tried one place of refuge after another; but finding no spot in Hellas to shelter him, he finally passed over to the Persian king. Whatever may have been his promise in exchange for protection, we know that he never raised his hand against his country. Thus passed from the stage of history the greatest of the Greeks in obscurity and disgrace.^*' The genius of Themistocles. No better estimate of his genius could be written than that given by Thucydides: "Themistocles was a man whose natural force was unmistakable; this was the quality for which he was distinguished above all other men ; from his own native acuteness, and without any study either before or at the time, he was the ablest judge of the course to be pursued in a sudden emergency, and could best divine what was likely to happen, in the remotest future. Whatever he had in hand he had the power of explaining to others, and even where he had no experience he was quite competent to form a sufficient judgment; no one could foresee with equal clearness the good or evil intent hidden in the future. In a word, Themistocles, by natural power of mind and with the least preparation, was of all men the best able to extemporize the right thing to be done." ^" To him in a large measure were due the libera- tion of Hellas and the greatness of his own city. Democratic policy of Ephialtes and Pericles, from about 472. Aristeides could not long have survived tlie ostracism of Themistocles, but of his end we have no clear knowledge. Their place was taken 35Hdt. V. 32; Thuc. i. 128-35; Diod. xi. 54 (Ephorus); Plut. Them. 23; Mai. Hdt. 5; Nepos. Patis. 2-S; Paus. iii. 17. 7-9. 36 Thuc. i. 135-8; Plut. Them. 24 ff. Governor of Magnesia; Head, Hist. Num. 581. 37 Thuc. i. 138. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 207 by Ephialtes, a clear-sighted, incorruptible statesman, supported by a son of Xanthippus — Pericles, who at this time was entering; upon his public career. Ephialtes inherited from Aristeides the policy of democratizing the constitution, and from Themistocles the conviction that the duty of Athens to herself was to cut loose from Sparta in order unhampered to make the most of her opportunity in world poli- tics. Cimon's opposition. In the intervals between his frequent cam- paigns Cimon was able by his personal influence to hold these tend- encies in check. The sailors enthusiastically supported the popular admiral who had often led them to victory. The extensive public improvements, which he conducted, and which will be described in the following chapter, secured him the vote of a multitude of work- men, while his liberality won a host of clients. " With an estate like that of a tyrant, he not only performed his public services brilliantly, but supported many of his fellow-demesmen. It was permitted any who wished of the Laciadae to come daily to his house and receive moderate provisions. Furthemiore he left all his fields fenceless that any one who pleased might help himself to the fruit." ^^ Evi- dently the Areopagites, too, supported him in his conservative, philo- Laconian policy. By such means he was able whenever present at Athens, to control an overwhelming majority in the assembly. v\ Revolt of the helots (a Messenian war). It was on one of these occasions, shortly after the close of the Thasian campaign, that a crisis came in the relations between Athens and Lacedaemon. Sparta had been afflicted by a terrible earthquake, which, left but five houses standing and destroyed many of her people. It was still more ominous for the state that the helots, who had looked to Pausanias to deliver them from bondage, and now saw in the earthquake the vengeance of heaven for the Spartan sacrilege committed in connection with his death, revolted, and were joined by two perioecic towns. As the majority of helots were Messenians, the rebellion is known as a Messenian war. The insurgents seized Mount Ithome; and as the Lacedaemonians proved unable to reduce the place by assault or siege, they asked aid of their allies, including the Athenians. When the Lacedaemonian ambassador reached Athens with the request, a vehement debate ensued between Cimon and Ephialtes in the assem- bly, as to whether aid should be given in accordance with the exist- 38 Arist. Const. Ath. 27; Plut. Cim. 10. Laciadae, Cimon's deme. 208 HELLENIC HISTORY ing treaty. The latter strenuously urged his fellow citizens " to take advantage of their rival's misfortune and to let the arrogance of Sparta be crushed and trodden in the dust," whereas Cimon as vigor- ously favored the motion to send help, " that Greece might not be lame of one foot or Athens draw her load without her yoke-mate." ^^ Cimon won, and marched to the relief of Sparta with a considerable force of heavy infantry.*" The departure of these conservatives with their leaders was doubtless welcome to the reformers, who forthwith concentrated their attack upon that stronghold of conservatism the council of the Areopagus. Ephialtes and his associates *^ proposed and carried a succession of laws which deprived that body of all political functions, transferring them to the council of Five Hundred, the courts, and the assembly. Quarrel between Athens and Lacedaemon, 462. Meanwhile "the expedition of the Athenians (to Ithome) led to their first open quarrel with the Lacedaemonians. For the latter, not succeeding in storming the place, took alarm at the bold and original spirit of the Athenians. They reflected that the men of Athens were aliens in race and fearing that if they were allowed to remain, they might be tempted by the helots to change sides, they dismissed them, while retaining the other allies. Concealing their mistrust, however, they only explained that they no longer had need of their services." *- The Athenians returned home in great rage at this insult. Cimon at once attempted to undo the political reform accomplished during his ab- sence, but met only with taunts of over-fondness for Sparta and for looseness in his private life. As Ephialtes had been assassinated by political enemies, the contest was now between Cimon and Pericles. Early in 461 recourse was had to a vote of ostracism, which resulted in the banishment of Cimon.*^ Sicily and Italy. 480-461 Gelon and Theron. Meanwhile the Greeks of Sicily and southern Italy were experiencing political and social changes roughly parallel to the development of older Hellas. The great success of Gelon in dispelling the Carthaginian peril added to the prestige and the power 39 H. Civ. no. 85 (Critias and Ion respectively). 40 Thuc. i. 102. With 4000 heavy infantry; Aristoph. Lysistrate, 1143. 41 Besides Pericles a certain Archestratus is mentioned; Arist. Const. Atli. 35. 42 Thuc. i. 102. 43 Plut. Cini. 15, 17; Arist. Const. Ath. 25 (the anecdote connecting Themistocles with this event is out of place). THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 20^ of his city. All the Greeks of Sicily now acknowledged his war lead- ership with the exception of Acragas and her dependencies, whose ruler Theron remained his close friend and ally. Thus it was that under the hegemony of Syracuse there grew up a Sicilian union com- parable with the Hellenic league under Lacedaemonian supremacy.^* Through respect for its military power the Carthaginians abstained from molesting the Western Greeks for a period of seventy years (480-409). Notwithstanding internal strife and wars with other Greeks and with the natives of the interior, vast advances were made during this era in material prosperity and in civilization. Growth of Syracuse. In far earlier times the city of Syracuse had outgrown the island of Ortygia and had extended over the neigh- ooring height of Achradina. Gelon greatly increased its population by bringing to it the wealthier inhabitants of neighboring towns, settling most of them in Achradina. This quarter he surrounded with strong walls, considerable stretches of which may still be traced. But the population rapidly outgrew the enclosed space, and flourishing suburbs sprang up to tlie west of Achradina. Gelon connected the island with the mainland by a mole, and established arsenals and barracks for the mercenaries who upheld his power. Not least among his public works is an aqueduct still in use, which supplied the city with excellent water.'*^ There yet stands in good condition in Ortygia a temple of Athena, now used as a Christian Church. It was prob- ably built before Gelon. A new era in architecture, however, began with the battle of Hime ra. The sale of the vast booty furnished the means, and the victory the inspiration, for the erection of temples and other public works, of which we have but slight remains. The tyranny becomes a monarchy. Gelon had shown himself utterly unscrupulous in seizing the tyranny and in maintaining his power. Moreover he had treated the poorer class of conquered towns with rare harshness. The battle of Himera, however, turned grum- blings to gratitude, and exalted the tyrant to a champion of Hellas. Of this change in public opinion Gelon availed himself for legitima- tizing his rule. Appearing in civilian dress in the midst of an armed assembly of citizens, he offered to render an account of his adminis- tration. Astonished at this confidence in them and admiring him for the democratic act, the people unanimously hailed him as their 44 Diod. xi. 25 f. 45 Cf. Thuc. vi. 100. 210 HELLENIC HISTORY kino;, their benefactor, and the deliverer of their country. There- after he and his successors in the dynasty were spoken of as kings.** An era of peace and of unwonted prosperity now set in. Since Gelon's temper had grown as mild as his works were magnificent, the people idolized him while living; and when he died (478), they erected over him a stately tomb, paying him heroic honors as the founder of their city. Growth of Acragas. Meanwhile Theron in like manner was making his city, Acragas, second only to Syracuse in population, strength, and magnificence. In both cities the public works were erected mostly by slave labor. As spoils of the victory at Himera, " the men of Acragas got for their share a great number of captives, with which they enriched their city and the surrounding country. So great was the multitude of their prisoners, that many a citizen ac- quired no less than five hundred slaves. . . . Many, too, were re- tained by the state and employed in cutting stone for the temples of the gods and in constructing aqueducts for the water supply."*^ Theron strongly fortified the city. Along the southern wall he began building a chain of temples, finished after his death. Among the ruins still extensive the best preserved is the misnamed temple of Concordia, a graceful little shrine that has not in fact revealed the name of its deity. The buildings of both cities were of limestone, whose exposed surfaces were stuccoed and painted. Necessarily they wanted the refined beauty of marble, and they fell short of the Attic standard of taste, yet the two great Sicilian cities had attractions of their own, a richness of material life, and a splendor of power that inspired the genius of Pindar. In beauty Acragas was " the eye of Sicily," " lover of splendor, most charming among the cities of men, haunt of Persephone; " Syracuse was the "precinct of warrior Ares, of iron-armed men and steeds the nursing-place divine." *^ Hieron, 478-67; Italy. Gel on was succeeded by his brother Hieron, in whose reign Sicily came into closer relations with Italy. Undismayed by the overthrow of their allies, the Etruscans were now bent upon the complete subjugation of Campania. When Cumae found herself threatened by them on land and sea, she called on Hieron for aid. His fleet came, and inflicted a mortal blow on the 46 Diod. xi. 26. So Pindar represents them, and so they are styled by ths historians; cf. Diod. xi. 38. 2. 47 Diod. xi. 25. 48 Find. Ol. ii. 10 f. ; Pyth. ii. 1 ff. ; xii. 1 ff. THE AGE OF WAR HEROES 211 Etruscan nuval power (474). With good hoi)e could Pindar now pray the son of Cronos to " grant that the Phoenician and the Tuscan war-cry bo hushed at home, since they have beheld the calamity of their ships that befell them before Cumae, even how they were smitten by the captain of the Syracusans, who from their swift ships hurled their youth into the sea, to deliver Hellas from the bondage of the oppressor." *'■* Henceforth the Etruscan power, which had menaced . all Italy, declined. The Latins and especially Rome, their chief city, were friendly toward the Hellenes, and were adopting from them many elements of culture. With the Sabellian peoples, too, of the interior the Greeks were long at peace; and these conditions made possible the accumulation of wealth in the Hellenic states, to the advantage of the useful and fine arts, philosophy, and the comforts and pleasures of life. Some of the states, as Cumae and Rhegium,^° were under tyrannies like those of Sicily. Locri and Tarentum were aristocratic, whereas most of the Achaean cities were ruled by Pytha- gorean fraternities. From tyranny to republic. The spirit of liberty and equality, which was working its spell upon the minds of older Hellas, lived, too, among tlie western Greeks. The ability and beneficence of the great rulers of Acragas and Syracuse guaranteed the survival of monarchy in Sicily during their lives. In fact this form of govern- ment received a new lustre from Hieron's court, which had become the most splendid centre of culture in Hellas, the gathering place of her most gifted poets, philosophers, and artists. It is clear, however, that both he and Theron had their troubles with discontented subjects. After their deaths their successors, men of base character and mean ability, were swept from their thrones by the rising tide of liberty. Before the end of 466 all the Sicilian state'* were free and had adopted governments more or less democratic. Under the new regime the cities tended to political isolation, yet acknowledged the moral lead- ership of Syracuse. About the same time a democratic wave swept over Italy, converting tyrannies and aristocracies into more popular forms of government.^^ The Pythagoreans, however, maintained themselves for some years longer. 49 Pind. Pyth. 71 ff. Cf. Diod. xi. 51. Hieron's dedication of Etruscan helmet at Olym- pia; Hicks and Hill, no. 22. 50 Dion. Hal. vii. 5 ff . ; Diod. xi, 76. 5. ..„,..„ ,, ,,,, u 51 Theron died, 472; Hieron, 466. Overthrow of tyranny. Anst. Polit. v. 10. Jl, Hid b; 12. 5, 1,M5 b; Diod. xi. 53, 66-8, 72. Pythagoreans; FHG. II. p. 274. 11; Dicaearchus, ofi. cit. p. 245. 31; Polyb. ii. 39; Justin xx. 4. 212 HELLENIC HISTORY Troubles of the republics, 463-1- In the new republics great confusion arose over the respective rights of the old citizens and those admitted by the tyrants. The trouble was complicated by the fact that the tyrants had arbitrarily transferred much valuable real estate from the former to the latter class. Civil war raged over all Sicily between these conflicting parties. The old citizens triumphed, and in 461 a general Sicilian congress, meeting at Syracuse, settled the agrarian controversy. The old citizens were restored to their proper- ties, and the others were compensated by lands to be granted them as colonists in the interior of the island. The republics were now firmly established; ^- and though not wholly free from internal con- flicts, Sicily entered upon a new and greater prosperity. 52 Diod. xi. 72 f . ; 76; Ox. Pap. iv. no. 665. Moderate democracy at Syracuse; Arist. Polit. V. 4. 9, 1304 a. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, ch. viii; Holm, II, chs. vii-ix; Curtius, III, ch. ii; Grote, V, chs. xliv- xlv; Meyer, III, 459-570; Beloch II, 1, chs. iii, iv; Busolt, III, 1-295; Free- man. History of Sicily, I, chs, vi, vii, §1; Cavaignac, Histoire de I'antiquite, II, 1-54. CHAPTER XIII AGE OF THE WAR HEROES (II) SOCIETY AND CULTURE 479-461 ^ Eastern and Western Hellas compared. In the generation that defended Hellas against the assaults of Persia and Carthage, social conditions in the western colonies and in the mother country, though outwardly presenting certain contrasts, were at basis similar. The same poets and philosophers ministered to the intellectual needs of both regions; and the temples of Acragas and Syracuse were not inferior in beauty to those of Aegina and Olympia. In contrast with the material wealth and splendor of Sicily and Italy we may place the steadier and more substantial character of Spartans and Athen- ians. The brief view of life and thought offered in this chapter aims to represent the Hellenes in general, and more particularly the Athen- ians, whose social life has for us a deeper interest as the precursor of the splendid age of Pericles. The aristocratic spirit of Athenian society. In spite of the democratic reforms of Cleisthenes Athenian society remained aristo- cratic; political leadership was still the exclusive prize to be striven for by a few great families. It is true that some of the most powerful gentes had either been totally destroyed or brought to the verge of ruin. The Peisistratidae were in perpetual exile as men accursed of heaven. The condemnation of Miltiades had been a terrible blow to the Philaidae; and it required all the prestige of his son Cimon — won through brilliant victories, magnificent generosity, and personal charm — to rehabilitate the family. A greater disgrace had fallen upon the Alcmeonidae, the gens of Cleisthenes, through their associa- tion with the tyrannists in the political struggles which intervened be- tween the battles of Marathon and Salamis. They had paid the penalty in the ostracism of their representative Megacles, nephew of the famous lawgiver, and still more in the suspicion now hanging over them of having plotted with the enemy during the Marathonian cam- 213 214 HELLENIC HISTORY paign.^ These circumstances had tarnished the glory of their achieve- ments in building a temple to Apollo at Delphi, in victories at the great national games, and in restoring the democracy at Athens. Yet they propped up their house by fortunate marriages. The hand of Agariste, sister of Megacles, had been taken by Xanthippus, the Athenian admiral at Mycale and an undoubted patriot. Years after- ward Isodice, another daughter of the house, was given in marriage to Cimon. It was left to a son of the former marriage — Pericles — to shed an eternal lustre on his mother's family, which during the " period of the war-heroes " had no enviable part in public life. Aristeides, son of Lysimachus, was likewise a eupatrid, and married into the wealthy gens of Callias. On the question of his poverty, it may be granted as possible that in later life he lost his property through misfortune; yet he certainly had an estate — evidently a farm near Phalerum — sufficiently great to qualify him for the archon- ship. Apparently his rival Themistocles, as has been explained, had common interests with the commercial class, but his membership in the gens of the Lycomidae, who were priests at the " Shrine of Initiation " at Phyla, their deme, proves him of eupatrid blood.^ Aeschylus, 524-456. In the same class with these men of action may be placed one who desired above all things to be considered a loyal citizen who had done good service for his country at Marathon — the poet Aeschylus. In his days the man of deeds was greater than the artist; and it is almost in spite of himself that we describe him as a literary man, most creative of ancient dramatists. In his hands the action had greater scope, though still secondary to the chorus. Not merely the intense productivity of his genius, but the splendid qualities of his seven surviving dramas, place him among the world's greatest poets. ^ Pindar, about 520-441. Contemporary with Aeschylus lived Pindar, a Boeotian, the most famous of lyrists. Like Aeschylus he was nobly born ; but he was also a priest by family right. We know him chiefly through his choral songs in honor of victors at the great national games; of other poems we have a few precious fragments. A 1 Cleisthenes; p. 117 f. Peisistratidae, p. 116. Miltiades; p. 171 f. The Philaidae were his gens. Alcmeonidae; p. 111. 2 Xanthippus, member of the Buzigae, a priestly gens. Isodice; Plut. Cim. 4 (probably grand-daughter of the .same Megacles). Aristeides; Plut. Arist 25. Demetrius, in Plut. Arist. 1. It is wholly unlikely that the Athenians excused him from the constitutional re- quirement. Themistocles; Plut. Thcni. 1 tqiioting Simonides). 3 Ninety plays were ascribed to him by the ancients. Earlier drama; p. 86, 145. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 215 younfrer contemporary was Bacchylides of Ceos, a lyric poet like Pindar, though inferior in genius. The discovery, 1896, of a papyrus containing several entire odes of this poet, in addition to fragments, makes him a useful source for the cultural history of the period. On Aeschylus, Pindar, and Bacchylides we have to depend largely for knowledge of the best thought and sentiment of Athens and Hellas in the age of Ilieron, Thcmistocles, and Cimon. Divine virtues of the aristocracy. In a small class of Athenian nobles, and in wider circles within less progressive states, there sur- vived an intensely aristocratic spirit, which found brilliant expression in Pindar. For the glory of his class he has transmuted into excel- lence certain blemishes of the older mythology. In the loves of gods for mortal women he sees the working of a beneficent purpose for grafting divine virtues on the human race. From such unions sprang the heroes of old, patterns of manly virtue. Their natures were the heritage of the families which tliey founded and which formed the nobility of every Hellenic state. Fortunate is the city ruled by such a stock: "Happy is Lacedaemon, blessed is Thessaly; in both reigneth a race sprung from one sire, from Heracles, bravest in the fight." * While the youthful scion of such a family wins the Pythian or the Olympic victories which Pindar celebrates in song, his elders apply themselves to politics: " His noble brethren also will we praise because they exalt and make great the Thessalians' common- wealth. For in the hands of good men lieth the good piloting of the cities wherein their fathers ruled." ^ Natural endowment versus acquired learning. In this aristo- cratic philosophy of life a large place is inevitably held by natural endowment, as contrasted with acquired skill, yet nothing can be achieved Vv'ithout toil. " By inborn worth doth one prevail mightily; yet whoso hath but precepts is a vain man, and is fain now for this thing and now again for that; yet a sure step planneth he not at any tinie, but handleth countless enterprises with a purpose that achieveth naught." ^ " If one be born with excellent gifts, then may another who sharpeneth his natural edge speed him, God helping, to an exceeding weight of glory. Without toil there have triumphed a very few." ^ "Each hath his several art; but in straight paths it be- 4 Pyth. X. 1 ff. 5 Pyth. X (end). 6 Pindar, Nrvi. iii. 44 ff. 7 Ol. xi. 22 ff. 216 HELLENIC HISTORY hoveth him to walk, and to strive hard wherein his nature setteth him. Thus worketh strength in act and mind in counsels."^: The noble youth. Even in 3'outh is made manifest the righteous mind of the ideal lord : " For he was a boy with boys, yet in counsels an old man of a hundred years. The evil tongue he robbeth of its loud voice, and hath learned to abhor the insolent, neither will he make strife against the good, nor tarry when he hath a deed in hand. A brief span hath opportunity for man, but of him it is known surely when it cometh, and he waiteth thereon, a servant but no slave." ^ The nobility in war. Such men of noble heritage and athletic training stood ready in need to endure the brunt of battle for their country; and when bronze-shielded Ares has given one over to death, *' yet there remaineth for the valiant a recompense of renown. For let whoso amid the cloud of war from his beloved country wardeth off the bloody shower, and worketh havoc in the enemy's host, know assuredly that for the race of his fellow-citizens he maketh their re- nown wax mightily, )'ea when he is dead even as while he was yet alive." ^° Public and social service. Constant, too, is he in worship " at all festivals of the gods; " "devoted with guileless soul to peace and to the welfare of his state," employing his wealth for the public good, in patronage of the arts cultivated by his class, and in hospitality. " Sweet is his spirit toward the company of his guests, yea sweeter than the honey-comb, the toil of bees." ^^ A social gathering. We catch interesting glimpses of this social life in the banquets of men. Ion, a poet of Chios, tells of such a social gathering which he attended at Athens when a boy. After the libation of wine to the gods, the guests asked Cimon to sing, and he complied with such success as to win the warm applause of the com- pany. Here was a man who had never studied music but who, to amuse his fellow-guests, was willing to sing — probably a rollicking sailor-song. Afterward he told the company the cleverest thing he had done in his life — how in the division of spoils he had outwitted the wily lonians under his command.^" But the joy of one of these banquets, and the dreams stimulated by wine, Bacchylides has well described : — 8 Nem. i. 25 ff. Pyth. iv. 281 ff. 10 Isth. vi. vi. 26 ff. 11 J.'th. ii. 39; Ol. iv. 15 ff. 12 H. Civ. no. 85 (Ion) ; Stesimbrotus, in Piut. Cim. 4. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 217 " When as the cups go swiftly round, a sweet subduing power warms the heart, and blending with the gifts of Dionysus, a presage of the Cyprian god- dess flutters the mind. That power sends a man's thoughts scaring ; straight- way he is stripping cities of their diadem of towers, — he dreams that he shall be monarch of the world; his halls gleam with gold and ivory; over the sunlit sea his wheat-ships bring wealth untold from Egypt — such are the raptures of the reveller's soul." ^^ Cimon, youth and man. As a young man Cimon had acquired an unenviable reputation for disorderly habits and excesses in drink; handsome enough with his tall stature and thick curly locks, he dis- played but a dull wit and won no better nickname than simpleton; yet in later years he developed a noble character, able in command by land or sea, incorruptible, public-spirited, social and generous. Any demesman was at liberty uninvited to pluck his fruit or sit at his table; and whenever he went through the streets he was accom- panied by servants who distributed clothes and money among the needy citizens.^* The social side of Themistocles. Themistocles, on the other hand, a man of superior dignity and of vastly greater mental power, lacked the faculty of unbending at social gatherings. Delighting in hospitality, he gave sumptuous banquets; and though he did not ven- ture to sing to his guests, he kept in his home a famous lyrist for their entertainment. His social field, however, was the market-place and the Pnyx. There he met the citizens and saluted each one by name; and they, pleased with this individual attention, thought there was no man in the world like Themistocles. They readily brought him their disputes for arbitration; and in such cases he always showed himself a just judge. ^^ Again when as general he was asked to break the law for the benefit of his friend Simonides, he replied: " You would be no good poet if you composed contrary to metrical rules, and I no good magistrate, if I should grant a favor in viola- tion of the laws." ^° It was this reputation, rather than that given him by enemies, which caused Hellenic states to choose him arbitra- tor of their disputes. ^^ Democratic tendency of society ; Aeschylus. In Athens thought and custom gravitated irresistibly toward democracy. The great rep- 13 Bacchyl. Frag. 16. i4Plut. Chn. 4 f., 10 f., Arist. Const. Ath. 27. 15 Plut. Them. 2, 5, 17 f., 21 f. 16 Plut. Them. 5. 17 P. 201. 218 HELLENIC HISTORY resentative of the tendency was Aristeides, whose whole heart was in the work of social and political equalization, whereas Themistocles, a man of aristocratic taste, championed the cause as a means to the aggrandizement of his state. In literature Aeschylus, though a eupatrid, glows with a passion for freedom and gives his sympathy without reserve to the lowly. Against the aristocratic tradition which made the eupatrid good and god-beloved and the poor base and vicious, Aeschylus upholds a more rational view of right and wrong and of their reward and punishment. " Wealth is no protection for a man who in full-fed insolence kicks into annihilation the mighty altar of Justice; but the resistless child of Ate tempts him on. . . . To his prayer no God lends an ear, but destroys the unjust man." ^* In the poor no less than in the rich live virtues : — Justice shines in smoke-grimed homes and honors the life that is righteous. With averted eyes she leaves the gold-bespangled palaces by polluted hands defiled, and goes to the abode that is holy, not reverencing the power of wealth sealed with spurious renown; and all things she guides to their ap- pointed end.i^ He makes us understand the feelings of a woman who has been taken captive in war, enslaved, and subjected to injustice and brutality: — And I — the Gods have crushed me in the fall Of my far-off war-Ieaguered home, Have hailed me from my father's house a thrall, Unto an evil doom. And I must brook the brutal recklessness — My life is not mine to control — Which calls injustice justice, must suppress The loathing of my soul.-** Such sentiments had their effect upon his audience. Perhaps his greatest social interest was in woman, whose traditional standing in society was now suffering impairment. The social standing of women. Their social power. We have seen the great families of Athens connecting themselves closely with one another by intermarriage. It was still no uncommon thing, too, for a noble to take a wife from abroad; in fact the number of great men descended from non-Athenian mothers in the period before and 18 Aesch. Agamrntnon, 381 ff. 19 Aesch. Agam. 772-81; cf. Bacchyl. i. 49 ff. 20 Aesch. Choephoroe (Libation-Bearers), 73-81. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 219 immediately after the Persian war is remarkable. They include Cleisthenes, Miltiades, Cimon, and Themistocles. However these foreign women may have been received in society, they certainly ^ brought no disgrace or political handicap upon their illustrious sons. The story that because of the foreign extraction of his mother, The- mistocles was baseborn is an idle tale — invented probably by some ignorant rhetorician. He was as thoroughly a citizen as Cleisthenes and Cimon, and had the same right to hold office. It was in full accord, too, with prevailing custom that he gave his daughter Italia in marriage to a citizen of Chios. -^ The women who were thus taken and given in marriage were not mere pawns on the political chess- board. Whether at Athens or among her neighbors, high-born ladies were freer and wielded greater social influence in this aristocratic f)eriod than did those of the Periclean age and after. This fact is noticeable in the pages of Herodotus, who having breathed the same aristocratic atmosphere, has been able to appreciate the power of woman in the earlier history of his race. We find the same condition reflected in the poetry of the age. In the opinion of Bacchylides Aegina could have no greater praise than the patriotic songs of her girls : " Yea, and thy glory is a theme for the high vaunt of some maiden, as oft with her white feet she moved o'er thy sacred soil, bounding lightly as a joyous fawn toward the flowery hills with her glorious neighbors and companions. And when they have crowned themselves with wreaths of young flowers and of reeds, in the festive fashion of their isle, they hymn thy power, O queen of the thrice hospitable land." 22 Undomestic women. The lyrics of Pindar now extant are not such as to light up for us the family circle; but heie and there we discover in them a gleam of life within the household. Of un- domestic women the Greeks had examples among the goddesses — especially military Athena and huntress Artemis. Naturally they reappear in myths, and the type seems familiar to the poet. Such was Cyrene who " loved not the pacings to and fro before the loom nor the delights of feasting with her fellows within the house; but with bronze javelins and a sword she fought against and slew wild beasts of prey; yea and much peace and surety she gave thereby to her father's herds." ^^ More frequent were the girls whose young 21 Birth of Cimon; Plut. Ciyn. 4. Of Themistocles; Plut. Them. 1. Such marriages were in good standing till 451; see p. 292. Italia; Plut. Them. 32. 22 Bacchyl. xii. 77 ff. 23 Find. Pyth, Vf.. 18 ff. 220 HELLENIC HISTORY minds were entranced by the beauty and the prowess of the youthful athlete. Not seldom, in song, was the bride a prize in foot or chariot race.^* The social freedom of her sex was such as to admit of " a wedlock in which hearts are wedded," graced with " marriage tables and the sound of many voices in hymeneal song, such as the bride's girl-mates are wont to sing at eventide with merry min- strelsy." -^ The ideal woman is the mother of warriors and athletes, u^ the mistress of a household, wherein " abideth love steadfastly." This ideal may well have been realized in the life of Cimon and his wife Isodice, of whom he was passionately fond, and whose death left him inconsolable. A poet friend tried in elegies to moderate his grief.-** The fact that poetry could be devoted to such a purpose may be placed among the indications of a higher social regard for woman than can be proved for the following generation. Similarly the wife of Themistocles had her own way with her husband, if indeed there be a grain of truth in the anecdote which represents Themistocles as speaking thus to his young son: " You have more power than any- one else in Greece; for the Athenians command the rest of the Greeks, I command the Athenian^,, your mother commands me, and you com- mand your mother." -^ The emancipated woman; Elpinice. The social freedom of young women. An example of the " emancipated woman," strong of character and a power in politics, yet doubtless personally win- some, was Elpinice, sister of Cimon. Callias the wealthy, falling in love with her, obtained her hand in marriage. She charmed the famous painter Polygnotus, who introduced her portrait among the Trojan matrons in one of his great mural scenes. As an example of her political influence we may cite the fact that she successfully inter- vened with Pericles in favor of her brother when he was prosecuted.-* A woman who thus freely walked in public could not escape the vile tongues of slander. We may feel confident, however, that her freedom wrought her no actual harm. It is significant, too, that there remained even in this age at least occasional lovemaking and court- ship preliminary to marriage. This was true not only of Elpinice but of Themistocles' daughter. Of two rivals the father favored the man of worth, rather than the one who was wealthy, explaining that ■iiPyth. ix. 117 f.; x. 59; Ol. i. 69 ff. 25 O/. vii (init.); Pyth. ii. 16 ft. 26 Plut. Cim. 4. 27 Plut. Them. 18; Cato Mai. 8. 28 Plut. Cir.i. 4, 14; Pericles, 10. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 221 he preferred a man without riches to riches without a man.-'-* The presence of daughters at banquets given by their father is reflected in a drama of Aeschylus: Ah, often and often, Had her sire's halls thrilled to the glad outpouring Of her songs by the table banquet-laden, When the wine-drops were spilled, and the pure-voiced maiden Called down heaven's blessings in chants adoring. ^° Under these circumstances a girl, while willing to submit to the inevitable, might hope for a congenial mate and for happiness in marriage: Ah hush ! — what thing Fate meaneth to bring, even that and none other must needs betide. The purpose designed of the mighty mind of Zeus none crosseth nor turneth aside : Yet O that my fate, that my wedded state might now at the last be peace and bliss Such as many a woman hath known ere this.^^ They should have a voice, therefore, in choosing their husbands. The idea of brutally compelling girls to marry men they abhor, whom to escape they would gladly die, is denounced in the strongest terms by Aeschylus.^" This poet must have had an opportunity to study women, only possible on the assumption that they mingled socially with men; and he must have found excellent material for his dramatic portraits. His strongest human character is a woman. Queen Clytem- nestra, who possessed great intellectual strength and a " man's-way planning, hoping heart." In killing her husband she but served as a link in the resistless chain of blood -revenge. Social forces for the seclusion of women. But the honorable and relatively free place of woman in society was not assured. There were forces at work for her seclusion, which likewise find a mouth- piece in one of the characters of Aeschylus: " Never, either in trouble or in dear prosperity may I have to dwell with womankind. For if they have the upper hand their effrontery is such that one can- not keep their company, and if they are in fear, they are a yet greater nuisance to the state. , . . Matters out of doors are the care of the men — let not a woman have a voice in them : Keep you at home 29 Plut. Them. 19. 30 Aesch. Agani. 243-5 (Iphigeneia). 31 Aesch. Suppliants, 1047-52. 12 Throughout the Suppliants, 222 HELLENIC HISTORY and thus cause no further mischief." ^^ An objection to her having a hand in affairs was found in certain alleged defects of her character: " It is natural to the impulsive character of woman to assent to what is pleasing in preference to what is certainly known. Too credulous the boundaries of her mind and encroached on by swift inroads; and a report spread by her perishes by a quick fate." ^* Dawn of a masculine age. After these restrictions on her activ- ity the next step was to rob woman of her motherhood. Contrary to the principle of Attic law that the son could be alienated from the mother by no legal process whatsoever, the Apollo of this generation declares the son to be of no kin with the mother — the father to be the only parent! ^^ At hand was the hard masculine age of Pericles, whose political intensity reduced woman and homelife to a minimum. In keeping is the strongly masculine character of Athena. As presi- dent of the tribunal that voted the acquittal of Orestes for the murder of his mother, she renders her opinion in the following words: — " With me it rests to give my sentence last. I to Orestes' cause shall add this vote; For mother is there none that gave me birth. I am wholly — save for marriage — with the male With all my soul; I take the father's side. Of so much less account I hold the death Of her who slew her lord, the household's head."^^ The family. The hereditary curse. In spite of tendencies detrimental to woman the family remained a sacred institution, whose religious obiect was the worship of the dead and of the other house- hold gods. It is meet that men grieve for the ills of their house, love their kin, and honor their parents next to God; " even as the father's soul warmeth for his lawful son, and he prayeth that his children's children preserve and with acquired glory amplify the honors of the family." ^" Any disturbance of this harmony is monstrous. " If there be enmity between kin, the Fates stand aside and would fain hide the shame." ^® Most heinous is the shedding of kindred blood. Ixion, the Cain of Hellenic legend, the first to commit this awful sin, chained in punishment to a winged wheel, writhes in everlasting agony. ^^ Far from being pardonable, this crime grows and pre- ss Aesch. Seven against Thebes, 187 ff. 34 Aesch. A gam. -183 ff. 35 Aesch. Eumenides, 657 ff. 36 Aesch. Eum. 734 ff. Clytemnestra had killed her husband Agamemnon, father of Orestes. 37 Find. Nem. i. 81 f. ; vii. 98 ff. ; Ol. x. 86 ff. 38 Pyth. iv. 145 f. 39Pyth. a. 21 ff. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 223 duces other more terrible crimes. The house of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, is doomed to misfortune because it has offended the gods in various ways.''" Oedipus, heir to the power and the woes of this stock, is driven unwittingly to the commission of a dreadful sin. He suffers unspeakable agony of mind, and his children inherit the curse. His daughter Antigone is buried alive; his two sons kill each other in civil war; the whole family sinks to ruin. In this case the guilt, growing from generation to generation, brings its legitimate punish - tnent. Salvation through suffering. But the gods are merciful and have provided a way of escape from sin. This principle is illustrated in the house of Agamemnon. His father had committed an enormous crime, and he haH'Tnherited the curse. By it he was driven madly to more serious offences. He sacrificed his own daughter Iphigeneia be- fore sailing to Troy; and after capturing the city, he violated the temples and altars of its gods. When, therefore, he returned home, he reaped his reward — stabbed to death by his wife Clytemnestra. Next their son Orestes, as the avenger of his father, murdered his mother. The guilt he had inherited brought forth this monstrous fruit. Then the Furies of his mother pursued him, tormenting him with the most intense suffering. But this agonizing experience brought him knowledge of the law of righteousness and of his duty to it; suffering taught him obedience. Thereupon he was purified by Apollo at Delphi, and acquitted by the council of the Areopagus sitting under the presidency of Athena. In this way the family was ultimately saved from the consequences of its guilt. Zeus has placed mortals in the path to wisdom, and has ordained that suffering bring instruction; for even in sleep the painful memory of woe, presenting itself to the heart, instils obedience, which comes thus to the unwilling; and surely this is a mercy of the gods who sit on their awful thrones with power to compel.*^ By these means, with God's aid, a family works out its own redemp- tion in suffering; but for future tranquillity there is need of resigna- tion; "We shall know our fate clearly with the morning dawn." ^- The growing love of peace. The tempering of justice with mercy, described above, is in keeping with a growing spirit of kindli- ness, which expresses itself in diverse forms. In truth we are sur- 40 Aesch. Seven against Thebes, 681 f. ; Choeph. 464 £f. 41 Aesch. A gam. 175-82. 42 Aesch. Agam. 252. 224 HELLENIC HISTORY prised to discover in this martial age so much humanity, so strong yearnings for peace. In the poets there is less of the glory of war than of its cruelty and suffering. Aeschylus details the soldier's hardships: Of travail might I tell, bleak bivouac, Of iron-bound coasts, hard-lying, groans on groans — Who knows how many ? — though the straitened days. Then came new ills on land to vex us more; Hard by our foes' walls through the nights we lay; And dews from heaven, and reek of marshy mead Down drizzled, clammy-cleaving, rotting vest, And making man's hair like a wild beast's fell. But O to tell of winters that slew birds, By snows of Ida made intolerable. Of heats when on his midnoon couch the sea Unrippled sank and slept, and no breath stirred.'*^ Inconceivably horrible is the sacking of a city: — Pitiable it is to thrust down to Hades this venerable city captive of the savage spear, shamefully wasted in crumbling dust by the Achaean chief. Alas that maids and matrons, their vesture rent, be dragged away by the hair as horses by the mane, while the people with mingled wailings meet their doom and in their midst the rifled city cries aloud : " I dread your evil fate ! " Sad that tender girls unwed should exchange the shelter of their homes for the bitter path of slavery — Shall I not count the dead in better plight than they? Many are the ills a conquered city suffers. This man drags one captive, another he murders, that quarter he sets in flames. The whole town is sullied with smoke, and Ares, raving wild, fans the flame, violating religion.** The poet grieves, too, with those at home for the dear ones lost in battle: Alas and alas for thy tale of these. Dear friends sea-whelmed tossed to and fro, Dead forms that sway with the tumbling seas In their endless ebb and flow ! . . . They are mangled in dread sea-whirlpits wild, And the flesh that we loved is torn By the dumb-lipped child of the Undefiled ! For its Lord doth the void home mourn; And the childless fathers cry In a passion of agony. As the stroke that hath fallen from on high Now first to their ears is borne. *^ The chafing of the people under miseries caused by needless wars, 43 Aesch. A gam. 555-66. 44 Aesch. Seven, 320-45. 45 Aesch. Pers. 274-7. 576-83. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 225 their hatred of the magistrates who were responsible for these suf- ferings,*" made for peace, whose coming appears, " even as after the wintry gloom, in the flowry months, the earth blossometh with red roses." *' Consistently the poet prays God to defer unto the utter- most an impending trial of valor against foreign spears and to " grant unto the sons of the men of Aetna for long time a portion in good laws, and to make their people to dwell among the glories that the citizens have won." ** " Yea, and Peace, mighty Goddess, brings forth wealth for mortals, and the flowers of honied song; her gift it is that thigh-flesh of oxen and of fleecy sheep is burnt to the gods in yellow flame on carven altars and that youths disport themselves with bodily feats, and with flutes and revels. The webs of red-brown spiders are on the iron-bound handles of shields; sharp-pointed spears and two-edged swords are a prey to rust. No blast of bronze trumpet is heard; sleep of gentle spirit, that comforts the heart at dawn, is not stolen from the eyelids.. Joyous feasting abounds in the streets, and songs in praise of youth flame forth." *^ " O, kindly Peace, daughter of Righteousness," exclaims Pindar, " thou that makest cities great and holdest the supreme keys of counsels and of wars . . . thou knowest how alike to give and take gentleness in due season. Thou also if any have moved thy heart unto relentless wrath, dost terribly confront the enemy's might, and sinkest Insolence in the sea." ^° \i Religion : One Supreme Being. Not only the growing kindliness of the age but also its religious spirit found their clearest expression in the poets, especially in Pindar and Aeschylus. The former was more conservative, the latter more progressive; yet both hold to the hereditary faith of their race, exalted and purified by splendid in- telligence and brilliant imagination. In touch with the best thought of the age, they can only conceive of God as supreme above a host of celestial spirits : — Hear, thou whose thoughts are from times eternal, Zeus, blesser and blessed, Creator supernal ! Thou art throned where the lordship of none thou obeyest; Beneath no stronger thy scepter thou swayest . . . What purpose soever thy spirit conceiveth, The deed, as the word, thine hand achieveth.^i 46 Aesch. Agatn. 445 ff. 47 Find. Istk. iii. 36 f. 48 Find. Nem. ix. 28 ff. 49 Bacchyl. Frag. 3. 50 Find. Pyth. viii. 1 ff. 51 Aesch. Suppl. 594-9. 226 HELLENIC HISTORY His knowledge is equally unlimited. " If a man thinketh that in doing aught he shall be hidden from God, he erreth." ^- Apollo beside his unerring father, " giveth heed to his own wisdom, his mind that knoweth all things; in lies it hath no part, neither in act nor in thought may god or man deceive him." ^^ At " the everlasting cen- trestone of deep-murmuring Earth," thou foretellest the future; and " what shall come to pass and whence it shall be thou discemest per- fectly." ^* The gods are pure. The stories of the shameful doings of the heavenly powers are false tales cunningly devised. Such is the story that the gods once feasted on the shoulder of a boy, served up to them by the father. " But to me it is impossible to call one of the blessed gods cannibal." ^^ Similar fictions are the stories of their wars with one another. " O my mouth, fling this tale from thee; for to speak evil of gods is hateful wisdom, and loud and unmeasured words strike a note that trembleth upon madness. Of such things talk thou not; leave war of immortals and all strife aside." ^^ God is not only pure but the author of all good. " From thee, O Zeus, Cometh to mortals all high excellence; longer liveth their bliss who have thee in honor; " ^" " from gods come all means of mortal valor, hereby come bards and men of mighty hand and eloquent speech." ^"'^ " The happiness that is planted by the favor of the gods is most abiding among men." ''° " It behooveth thee therefore, even in the midst of triumph," to pray that " the favor of God be unfailing toward the fortune of thee and thine." "^^ The poetry and thought of Pindar and Aeschylus. Pindar and Aeschylus combine, in the highest degree, power, splendor, and sublimity; both walk on a high plane of religious and moral purity. But the Pindaric glitter reflects the glory of earth and of the gods who live no higher than Olympus, whereas the words of Aeschylus spring from a loftier spiritual and moral inspiration. Yet mark the mod- esty of the one in contrast with the almost pompous pride of the other. Aeschylus, as his epitaph teaches, wished to be remembered 52 Pindar, Ol. i. 66 f. 53 Pyth. iii. 27 ff. 54 Pyth. vi. 3 f. ; ix. 48 f. 55 Ol. i. 53. 56 Ol. ix. 35 ff. 57 Isth. iii. 6 ff. 58 Pyth. i. 41 ff. 59 Nem. viii. 17. 60 Pyth. viii. 71 f. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 227 not by his splendid dramas, but by his part in the battle of Mara- thon : — This tomb the dust of Aeschylus doth hide — Euphorion's son aild fruitful Gela's ])iide ; How famed his valor Marathon may tell, — And long-haired Medes, who knew it all too well. In Pindar's mind the glory of the games is equalled only by the poet's art. His own calling he esteems above the statuary's skill: — " No sculptor I, that I should fashion images to rest idly on their pedestals." '^^ His words are things of winged life and fleet motion: now honey bees flitting from tale to tale, now bronze-tipped javelins hurled from the hand, or darts shot from the Muses' far-delivering bow, now rushing waves or a gale of glorious song.^- His finished poem he aptly compares to a majestic palace, whose marbles glitter in the sunlight: " Golden pillars will I set up in the porch of the house of my song, as in a stately palace-hall; for it beseemeth that in die forefront of the work the entablature shoot far its splen- dor." *^^ A minstrel of inborn genius, he is like the swift eagle, who loves the lone bosom of the cold ether, while far below flock his rivals, men of acquired cleverness merely; " strong in the multitude of words, they are but crows that chatter vainly in strife against the divine bird of Zeus." ^* Fine Arts Importance of the age in art. The age was as notable for the fine arts as for lyric and dramatic poetry. In the history of art it is designated as a " transition," from the archaic style to the perfection of the Periclean age.'^^ All stages of growth, however, are transitions; and the art of the war generation had as positive merits as any other. In our political study of the Athens of this generation we have noticed the fortification of the city as a political necessity, leaving its adornment for consideration as an element of culture. The dwell- ings of the citizens, even of the wealthy, remained modest in size and simple in adornment : " In private life they practised so great modera- tion that even if any of you knew which was the house of Aristcides 61 Nem. V. 1 f. 62 Pvth. i. -H; X. 53 f . ; OI. ix. 1 ff. ; Nciii. vi. 29-32. 63 Oi. vi. 1 ff. ei Nefii. iii. fO ff . ; OI. ii. Q5 ff. 05 Von Mach, Greek Sculpture, ch. xv; Gardner, Six Greek Sculfitors, chs. ii, iii. 228 HELLENIC HISTORY or Miltiades or any of the famous men of old you would find it no more portentous than any of its neighbors." *"^ This quotation from Demosthenes epitomizes the character of the great men of the Marathonian generation who merged their personality in the citizen body. The most liberaLpatrons of art were Themistocles and Cimon. The former with his own means built near his residence a shrine to " best counselling " Artemis,*^" and began preparing the summit of the Acropolis to serve as the sacred precinct of Athena's temples. Then from the sale of spoil and captives taken at Eurymedon Cimon built the huge retaining wall along the south edge, which gives the hill its present steepness on that side and greatly enlarges the area of the summit. Under his supervision, too, was erected, from the spoils of the conflict with Persia a colossal bronze statue of Athena on the Acropolis, to the west of the old Athena temple, which the Persians had left in ruins. The goddess stood erect, clad in full armor; her spear, grasped in hand, rested upright on the ground. The visitor to Athens, sailing to Peiraeus past Sunium, was made aware of this Athena by the gleam of the sun on her first known work of Pheidias, the most celebrated sculptor of all time.*'^ Market-Place (Agora). In the lower city Cimon devoted most of his attention to the market-place, which lay north of the Areopagus. Here in his age, and probably under his administration, the Athenians erected their Council Hall for the sessions of the Five Hundred, the Rotunda for the prytaneis, and other public buildings. Farther to the north, probably bordering the market on the west, was placed the King's Porch and opposite it on the east side, the Painted Porch. The former may have survived the Persian devastation, the latter was erected by a kinsman of Cimon. In the former tlie King held office and the Council of the Areopagus met in special sessions."^ The plan of these early porches is not known. If, as has been reasonably conjectured, the Roman basilica — name and form — was derived from the Royal porch — Basileios, Basilike — at Athens, we must assume for the Athenian model an oblong building with an 66 Demosthenes, Olynthiac Orations, iii. 25. 67 Plut. Arist. 25. Artemis Aristoboule; Plut. Them. 22. 68 Plut. Cimon, 13. Athena " Promachus," " Champion Athena." Afterward so-called; Gardner, Anc. Athens, 214. Pans. i. 28. 2. 69 Bouleuterion. Council Hall. Tholos, Rotunda. Stoa Basileios, King's Porch. Stoa Poikile, Painted Porch. BARBER CUTTNG HAIR (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) SHOE SHOP (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) 230 HELLENIC HISTORY interior colonnade and possibly, in addition, a portico on the side that faced the market. '° Polygnotus, " Battle of Marathon." Part of the interior mural space was occupied by frescoes; and tlie work of the Painted Porch was done by Polygnotus of Thasos, whom Cimon had invited to Athens, and with whom other artists collaborated. The most famous of these pictures was the Battle of Marathon, which included among the combatants portraits of the polemarch Callimachus, of Miltiades and Aeschylus."^ Polygnotus was the first great Hellenic painter. No copy of any of his works has survived, and in truth we have lit- tle knowledge of his technique, or apart from vase decoration, of Greek painting in general. Undoubtedly he introduced the art of frescoing from Ionia, where it may have survived even from Minoan times. For the social condition of artists in that age it is significant that he was a man of noble birth and of ample fortune, who wrought for the love of art and for the honor of the city he helped adorn. "- His art so far as we can judge, was simple, — with but a faint sug- gestion of perspective, — yet dignified and noble like the sculptures and dramas of the period. Shade trees; booths and shops. Other buildings in and about the market-place need not detain us here. The plane trees planted by Cimon in the open space, quite as much as the porticoes, afforded a welcome protection from the heat and glare of the sun. The south- ern part of the area served chiefly political uses; the northern, trade. Dealers in bread, cheese, garlic, fish, wine, and other food stuffs, in pots and pitchers, in oils, perfumes, and books, had their several wicker booths, closely crowded here; and the noises of hawkers and customers, as they bartered and jangled, were like unto the uproar of Pandemonium. In the afternoon trade yielded to lounging, social talk, and philosophic discussion. Nearby were the shops of barbers, perfumers, shoemakers, and other tradesmen and to them the Athen- ians resorted in the evening for meeting friends and making new acquaintances.'^^ Theseus and the Theseum. Another building erected in the VO The fact that it was used as an office is evidence that it was in part a room enclosed by walls, though it may have been simpler than the Roman basilica. 71 Paus. i. 15. 3 f. 72 Plut. Ciiii. 4. 7.1 Plut. Cim. 13; cf. Zinimern, Greek Commonwealth, 275 ff. Social resorts; Lysias, Cripple, 19 f. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 231 lower city in this period deserves consideration. When Cimon had conquered Scyros, he brought home from that island what purported to be the bones of the hero Theseus after they had rested there four hundred years. In ])ursuance of a Delphic oracle, he built, east of the market-place a shrine to Theseus, in which these relics were de- posited. " His tomb is a place of refuge for slaves and for all the poor and oppressed, because Theseus in life was the champion and the avenger of the poor, and always kindly hearkened to their prayers." "* It was in keeping with the humane spirit of the age, described above, that the Athenians transformed this mythical hero into a sympathetic protector of the lowly. The same process of thought made him the creator of his country's liberty, the founder of democ- racy. The Academy. Lastly among Cimon's works may be mentioned his improvement of the Academy, a precinct of Athena on the banks of the Cephissus northwest of Athens. A gymnasium had stood there from the age of the tyrants, but the spot was dry and unsheltered. Cimon converted it into a public garden, well watered and shaded with planes, elms and other trees, under which were pleasant walks. "^ There the Athenian boy was wont " to run races beneath the sacred olives along with some modest age-fellow; crowned with white olives, redolent of yew and careless ease and of leaf-shedding white poplar, re- joicing in the season of spring when the plane-tree whispers to the elm." '" Temples and sculpture. While in our study of this age our in- terest has centred in Athens, we must bear in mind that equal or even greater public improvements were being made throughout Hellas, that thus far Athens received much more from the rest of Hellas than she gave, that she had neither temples nor works of utility that could compare with those of Acragas and Syracuse, already mentioned. Aegina, too, had a beautiful temple, apparently to a local goddess Aphaia, built about the time of the battle of Salamis and a quarter of a century later was finished the great temple to Zeus at Olympia. All these shrines had their decorative scultpures, often symbolical of the recent struggle for freedom. Great gains were made in the representa- tion of the human form. The anatomy of the body was now vastly 74 Plut. Ci7n. 8; Thes. 36; cf. Paus. i. 17. 2; 30. 4. 75 Plut. Cim. 13. 76 Aristoph. Clouds, 1005. ff. 2?il HELLENIC HISTORY better known; and the fixedness of attitude and expression yielded to mobility and life; monotony of posture gave way to variety. Myron. The greatest artistic achievement of the age is to be credited to JMyron of Athens, the most famous of athletic sculptors. CHARIOTEER AT DELPHI We know him best from his Discobolus, a bronze statue, several marble copies of which are extant. As a piece of sculpture can rep- resent but a single attitude, it must tell its story by suggestion. SOCIETY AND CULTURE 233 This problem Myron was the first to solve. His Discobolus stands " at the top of the swing," with every muscle at its utmost tension, the body wonderfully contorted yet pleasing in its naturalness and harmony. We read in the momentary attitude the entire story of the " record-breaking " throw. A defect, to be made good by later artists, is the calmness of the face, wholly out of keeping with the violent tension of the body. The Charioteer of Delphi. With this piece we may contrast another work of the age by an unknown, non-Athenian artist — the bronze statue of the Charioteer of Delphi. Associated with it originally were a chariot and four. The quiet dignity of bearing and the intelligent face, full of character and reserved strength indicate no ordinary jockey but a man fit to take part in the counsels of state; for in this age even kings did not despise the role of charioteer. It is undoubtedly tlie most excellent bronze Greek statue in exist- ence. The spirit of the age. The last two works mentioned represent contrasting aspects of the same great age — tremendous force kept well in hand and austere dignity. These heroic qualities, subordinat- ing prettiness, characterize the Marathonian warriors who dominated the generation. Back of their loud utterance and stiff stride is the stout heart and the high purpose. If a law of development has brought about this harmonious relation of the fine arts to human char- acter that fact can only be taken as evidence of the spontaneous and organic growth of Hellenic civilization. ADDITIONAL READING Beloch, II, 1, 74-122; Meyer, III, 418-459; Holm, II, ch. xii; Fowler and Wheeler, Handbook of Greek Archccology, 96-144, 217-229; Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture, 241-279 ; Wdler, Athens and its Monuments; Gardner, E. A., Ancient Athens; D'Ooge, Acropolis of Athens; Abbott, Hellenica (Rivington's, 1880), 1-32; Whibley, L., Companion to Greek Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1905), 105-111, 479-561; Wright, Greek Literature, 119-125, 185-215; Capps, Homer to Theocritus, 168-214; Croiset, Hist, de la lift, grecque, II, ch. vii. III, chs. ii-v; Sihler, Testimonium Aninice (Stechert, 1908), viii. ■k ' I ( COINS: ATHENA AND OWL CHAPTER XIV THE AGE OF PERICLES (I) IMPERIALISM I. Political and Military 461-445 Athens, now independent of Sparta, builds up a new alliance, 462-1. The Spartan insult to Athenian arms had paralyzed the Laconian faction within Athens, and had brought to the front the party of Themistocles and Ephialtes, which was bent on making for their city an independent career in Hellenic politics. Under its con- trol Athens broke from the Lacedaemonian alliance, and leagued her- self with Argos, a power unfriendly to Sparta. Having lived under a monarchy till after the Persian war, the Argives adopted a demo- cratic constitution patterned after the Athenian, and this reform pre- pared the way to a close alliance. Thessaly, too, whose cities were generally governed by the old nobility, joined the new league. Alliance with Megara; control of the Corinthian gulf, 459. Soon afterward the democratic party in Megara got the upper hand and sought of Athens protection from her more powerful neighbor Corinth, who was attempting forcibly to annex the little state. Athens welcomed the proposal; and by extending her protectorate over Megaris, acquired a commercial position on the Corinthian gulf. The arrangement secured for the new ally her independence and easy access to the Athenian markets, in which her people sold their garden products and their manufactured wares. In the following year, when 234 THE AGE OF PERICLES 235 the helots at Mount Ithome surrendered with the privilege of with- drawing from Peloponnese, Athens settled them at Naupactus near the mouth of the Corinthian gulf. She was ambitious to gain over this water the control which she already exercised over the Saronic gulf. Her principal motive to this policy was the further develop- ment of commerce with Italy and Sicily.^ War between Athens and the Peloponnesians, 458-449. The aggressions of Athens in these and in other quarters, however, stirred her rivals Corinth and Aegina to war. These two states, which had once enjoyed a commercial and naval superiority over Athens, now found their trade choked by the rise of Peiraeus and their very exist- ence threatened by Athenian ambition. Although most of her forces were engaged elsewhere, Athens was able to overwhelm the combined navies of the enemy, to besiege Aegina, and to defeat a Corinthian army which had invaded Megaris. At this time the fear of a gen- eral war with Peloponnese determined Athens to enter vigorously ATHENB AND PEIRAEU SHOWING LONG WALLS '^; a- Sr («f«.r*c«.,iprr. upon the construction of Long Walls, begun by Cimon, to connect the city with Peiraeus." They ran parallel about four and a half miles in length and five hundred and fifty feet apart, thus enclosing a broad, strongly fortified road, from Athens to her chief source of supplies.^ After this completion the City could never be effectively 1 Thuc. i. 102 f. ; Diod. xi. 78 f. 2Thuc. i. 104-7 (cf. 143; ii. 13); Diod. xi. 70, 78 f . ; Plut. Cim. 13. 3 Thu'cydidesi ii. 13, seems to speak of a third wall, extending from Phalerum to the city and named accordingly the Phaleric wall. It is a tenable theory that originally were built this Phaleric wall and the "North" Wall; that some years afterward a "Middle" wall parallel to the " North " wall was constructed, thus making the two lines mentioned in the text; and that in the course of the Peloponnesian war t-he Phaleric line was aban- 236 HELLENIC HISTORY besieged so long as her fleet held the sea. The enemy might invade Attica and destroy property, but could not hope to c^rry the walls by assault. Meanwhile the Athenians, dwelling in security, could subsist indefinitely on imported food. Battle of Tanagra and of Oenophyta, 457 ; alliance with Boeo- tia, Phocis, and Locris. This measure brought home to the neigh- bors of Athens, more forcibly than ever, the warlike intentions of the democratic city. The contagion of her aggressive spirit spread to her friends in Boeotia and Phocis, but moved her rivals to more energetic opposition. The Peloponnesian league introduced an army into Boeotia, to encourage the aristocrats of that country in their re- sistance to Athens, and especially to restore the Boeotian league under the supremacy of Thebes, who through Medism had lost her former leadership. The Athenians marched out to meet this army; and a fierce battle ensued at Tanagra. Having won the victory the Pelo- ponnesians returned home, leaving Thebes to defend her own suprem- acy. Two months lather the Athenians again took the field, overthrew a Boeotian army at Oenophyta, and made themselves masters of all Boeotia. Although in most towns they set up popular governments it seems clear that in some cases they recognized and agreed to sup- port existing oligarchies. Phocis was already an ally. The Locrians were coerced into the league, and compelled to give hostages.* New Athenian alliances in Pelponnese; fall of Aegina, 457-6. About the same time Athens conquered some territory from Corinth and won most of Achaea to her alliance. Already Troezen, in which from of old Ionian blood mingled with Dorian, had cast her lot with the kindred city that seemed destined to sweep all eastern Hellas within the sphere of her hegemony. After a siege of two years Aegina surrendered, dismantled her walls, and entered the Delian confederacy, paying a tribute of thirty talents a year.^ Height of Athenian power on land, 456. The Long Walls were doned. Those who hold this view find it exceedingly difficult to locate the Phaleric wall. The hypothesis in which it was made to connect Athens with the east end of the bay of Phaleron has been abandoned; and the course traced by Judeich (map p. 146), though an improvement on the old view, still seems discordant with the statement of Thucydides. Because of the great obscurity of the whole matter, the text above has mentioned only the two parallel walls, regarding whose existence there can be no dispute; cf. Gardner, Anc. Athens, 68-71. 4 Thuc. i. 107 f.; Diod. xi. 81-3; Plut. Ci»i. 17; Per. 10; Justin iii. 6; Paus. i. 29; Old Oligarch, Const. Ath. 3. 2; Hicks and Hill, nos. 28-30. 5 Thuc. i. US; Andoc. Peace, 3. Aegina; Thuc. i. 108; Diod. xi. 78; Pind. Pyth. viii. THE AGE OF PERICLES 237 now completed, and Athens was secure from every attack by land and sea. The imperial ambition of Pericles seemed to be wholly justified. In a period of five years Athens had built up a continental federation including parts of Peloponnese, extending continuously from the Isthmus to Thermopylae, and embracing intermittently the inconstant Thessalians." Time for organizing this alliance bade fair to create a power on land superior to the Peloponnesian league. The Egyptian expedition, 459-4. The ambition of Athens, how- ever, exceeded her strength. While in need of all her forces at home, she had dared to continue on a large scale her operations against Persia. In 465 Xerxes closed his inglorious reign, murdered by his grand vizier, and was succeeded by a son, Artaxerxes, who was too good-natured and too feeble to maintain peace throughout the empire. His chief peril lay in the revolt of Egypt. Having previously sent a fleet of two hundred ships against Cyprus, Athens diverted a squad- ron of it to the support of the rebellion, in the hope of striking the king at the weakest point in his defence, and of gaining control of the rich Nile valley. After several years of campaigning with various fortune in the neighborhood of Memphis, the armament was destroyed, and few of the crews ever returned to their homes. An additional force of fifty triremes coming too late to their relief, suffered the same fate. At the smallest estimate this expedition entailed a loss of ninety ships with most of their crtws. It was a terrible blow to Athens; and yet she could not rest till she had attempted to retrieve the disaster.^ Cimon's expedition to Cyprus, 449; his death. After the battle of Tanagra, in which a hundred companions of Cimon had proved their loyalty and his by heroism unto death, the great admiral was recalled from exile. In 450 he negotiated a five years' truce with Sparta, and the next year led a fleet of two hundred ships to attempt once more the liberation of Cyprus. He died during the siege of Citium; but afterward his troops won a victory by land and sea. It was the last battle in the forty-years' war between Hellas and Persia. The fleet returned home, however, without gaining any permanent advantage. The death of Cimon was an irreparable loss. He had 6 A Thessalian troop sent to aid Athens at Tanagra deserted to the enemy; Thuc. i. 107; cf. 111. 7 Thuc. i. 104, 109; Diod. xi. 71. 4; 74, 2; Isoc. Peace, 86; at first 40 ships went to Egypt, and afterward 50; the remainder of the fleet won a naval victory off Phoenicia; Hicks and Hill, no. 26. 238 HELLENIC HISTORY won more naval battles than any other Greek; under his command the Athenians attained to their widest dominion and to the height of their political efficiency.® Peace with Persia, 448. It was his greatest praise that after his death Athens began negotiations with the Persian king for peace. The two great expeditions recently sent to the eastern Mediterranean had brought only loss and there seemed no hope of accomplishing anything by further effort. No one could take Cimon's place, and no great advocate of offensive war against Persia remained. Evi- dently, too, Pericles began to recognize the limitations on the capacity of Athens, and preferred to husband her resources for the more imme- diate and narrow objects of his Aegean and peninsular policies. Before his state could vie successfully with Persia for dominion in the eastern Mediterranean, it was necessary for her to build up a broader and stronger empire at the expense of her near neighbors. The Athenians, accordingly, despatched Callias, once the husband of Elpinice, to Susa to make peace. The proud king refused to acknowl- edge formally the cession of his Greek provinces in Asia Minor to Athens. He consented, however, to leave them undisturbed by land and sea. Athens, on her part, agreed to cease her attacks upon the possessions of the Great King. Though dissatisfied with the slight concession, the Athenians could only accept the terms. True, they were no longer free to indulge in lucrative wars of plunder and in piracy upon the Persian domain; but henceforth they had unrestricted opportunity for commerce with Asia and Egypt, which had once enriched the Asiatic Greeks, and now promised larger returns than ag- gressive wars and buccaneering.^ ^ Battle of Coronea, 447; fall of the Athenian continental league. While a certain advantage came to Atliens from these eastern arrangements, she was unfortunate in the continental alliance recently formed. The Boeotian oligarchs whom Athens had expelled from their cities returned in force and defeated a small detachment of Athenians, taking most of them prisoners. To secure their release, Athens agreed to evacuate Boeotia. This action entailed the loss of Locris and Phocis. Soon afterward Euboea and Megara revolted, and a Peloponnesian army invaded Attica. Only the energy and sThuc. i. 112; Plut. Cini. 18 f . ; Per. 10; Andoc. Peace, 4; Diod. xi. 86. 1; xii. 2-4; rheopompus, FHC. I. p. 293. 92; Anthdl. Palat. vii. 296. 9 Thuc. viii. 56; Diod. xii. 4. 4-6; Plut. Cim. 13 (citing the document); Isoc. Paneg. 118 ff. ; Lycurg. Leocr. 17; Suidas s. Ktuwj'. THE AGE OF PERICLES 239 diplomacy of Pericles snatched his city from this extreme peril. The Spartan king withdrew, perhaps was bribed; Megara returned to the Peloponnesian league, and the Euboic revolt was crushed.^** The Thirty Years' Peace, 446-5. Pericles and his colleagues saw clearly the exhaustion of their state. The disaster in Egypt, the substantial failure of the great expedition to Cyprus, the heavy loss in men from the domestic wars, and the vast expense of all these under- takings had overstrained the ability of Athens and had necessitated a breathing time." In 445, accordingly, after the Euboic campaign, the Athenians agreed with the Peloponnesians to a Thirty Years' Peace on the basis of the status quo. Athens gave up all her re- cently acquired continental allies, retaining only Plataea and Naupac- tus. On the other hand, she received an acknowledgment of her maritime empire. Neither party was to interfere with the allies of the other but each remained free to make treaties with neutral states. The principle of the " open door " was established for their com- mercial relations; and it was agreed that disputes should be settled by arbitration. The lack of a clear understanding as to the means and method of arbitration however rendered the last-mentioned article inoperative. However faulty the terms, both parties to the treaty, freed from the heavy burden of the conflict, rejoiced in the advan- tages of mutual commerce, of internal recuperation and improvement promised them by the truce.^- II. The Athenian Empire Completion of the change from confederacy to empire, about 454. As the grand scheme of aggrandizement at the expense of Persia and of Hellenic neighbors had for the time being failed, Pericles could now cherish no other political ambition than the more thorough consolidation of the maritime alliance and the strengthen- ing of the city with a view to future efficiency. The policy of con- verting it into an empire, outlined by Aristeides and developed by Cimon, was now brought to completion. One by one the states had been reduced to subjection, till only Lesbos, Chios, and Samos remained free. They paid no tribute but furnished naval forces for lOThuc. i. 113 f. ; Diod. xii. 5-7, 22; Plut. Per. 18, 23; Isoc. Team, 28; Andoc. Peace, 9; Hicks and Hill, no. 39; IG. II. 1675. 11 Arist. Const. Ath. 26. 1; Hicks and Hill, no. 26. i2Thuc. i. 35, 67, 78, 115, 140, 145; Diod. xii. 7; Paus. v. 23. 4; Plut. Per. 24. 240 HELLENIC HISTORY the wars waged under Athenian leadership. It was to their immediate interest to maintain the supremacy of Athens; hence they willingly stood guard for her over the empire and even favored the strengthen- ing of her power. Thus it was on the proposition of the Samians that the treasury was transferred from Delos to Athens. The failure of the Egyptian expedition and the existence of war with the Pelopon- nesians made this change a measure of precaution for the safety of the fund; but the event so increased the preponderance of Athens as to mark, better then than any other, the end of the transformation from confederacy to empire. The general congress which had long been insignificant, now wholly disappeared. Athens became the centre of the system, and Athena took the place of Apollo as its guardian deity.^^ Use of the imperial funds; the tribute districts. It was the in- tention of Pericles to fulfil the duty of Athens toward the confederacy by policing the Aegean sea, and to use the remainder of the tributes for purely Athenian objects, including the payment of the citizens for civil as well as for military service and the erection of public works at the capital. For the more effective collection of tributes he di- vided the empire into five districts: Ionia, the Hellespont, Thrace, Caria, and the Islands. The levies were reapportioned every four years by Athenian officials. In case an allied state felt itself un- justly assessed it could only petition for a reconsideration.^* New treaties with individual states. Generally new treaties were made one by one with the individual states — imposed by the Athenian government and formally accepted by the allies. In Ery- thrae, for example, a garrison was established, whose commander was virtually governor of the city. Under him was a council of a Hun- dred and Twenty, taken annually by lot from the citizens above thirty years of age. All the Erythraeans swore to be faithful to Athens and the annual council took oath not to revolt or to encourage rebellion. The courts of the city retained jurisdiction in ordinary capital cases as well as in lesser crimes. The city was to send sacri- ficial victims to the Panathenaea; and any Erythraean who chanced to be present at the festival was to have a share of the offering. The relations were to be not merely political, but religious and social. 13 Beginning of the transformation; p. 202 f. Lesbos, Chios, and Samos; Arist. Atlt. Const. 24. 2; Polit. iii. 13. 19, 1284 a. Removal of the treasury, 454 or slightly, earlier; Diod. xii. 38. 2; Justin iii. 6; Plut. Arist. 25; Per. 12, H. Civ. no. 74. 14 Use of the funds; Plut. Per. 12-14; H. Civ. no. 105 with introd. and notes. Districts; H. Civ. no. 74: HilL Sources, 43 ff., 156. THE AGE OF PERICLES 241 The treatment of Chalcis was somewhat more severe. The Euboeans had brought Athens into great danger by revolting at a critical mo- ment, and had wantonly massacred the crew of an Athenian ship. The worst offenders, including the knightly class in Chalcis, were expelled, and their lands occupied by Athenian colonists. The Chal- cidians were treated nearly the same as the Erythraeans; they were deprived, however, of the right to try capital cases, involving dis- franchisement, exile or death. Such offences had to be brought before the Athenian courts. Other states were still more restricted in their jurisdiction. The Athenian colony planted in Histiaea had to send to the mother city all cases involving more than ten drachmas.^"' Extent of the imperial jurisdiction. Ground has been taken by some modern scholars that these restrictions applied not only to crimes but also to civil suits between the members of the allied community. So much, however, can not be proved by the sources. Such a re- quirement, too, would seem an intolerable incubus upon business, al- together inconsonant with the Athenian aim to foster prosperity throughout her empire. Opponents of the Periclean policy naturally exaggerated the interference. Even on the most favorable interpre- tation, however, the number of cases brought to Athens was great. Any citizen of an allied state was liable to appear before an Athenian court as plaintiff or defendant, and this circumstance tended to foster in him a cringing spirit. " He is compelled to behave as a suppliant in the courts of justice, and to grasp the hands of the jurymen as they come in. For this reason the allies find themselves more and more in the position of slaves to the Athenians." '^^ When no great interest of their own was at stake, the Athenian jurors were impartial. Conscious of their high calling as imperial judges, they loved and followed justice for its own sake.^' On the common ground of Attic law, they met the allies as their equals; ^* in the case of a community against an Athenian official, their sympathies gravitated inevitably toward the former. Thus it was that the majority received better justice from Athens than formerly they had from their own local courts: the masses were assured protection from their oligarchs. ^^ The masters of the empire were strict in collecting tribute and severe isErythrae; H. Civ. no. 71. Chalcis; no. 72; Plut. Per. 23. Other states, as Histiaea, were still more restricted; IG. I. 28-30; suppl. p. 12. 16 ff. Civ. p. 226 f. (Old Oligarch). nop. cit. p. 217 (Aristoph.). 18 Thuc. i. 77; cf. iii. 44. ] n Thuc. viii. 48. 242 HELLENIC HISTORY in punishment of rebellion but gentle in their treatment of the loyal " To maintain our rights against equals, to be politic with superiors and moderate toward inferiors is the way of safety." -° Imperial weights, measures, and coins. For commercial reasons, and quite as much through pride in their imperial rule, the Athenians forced their money as well as their weights and measures, upon the allies, whose local mints were restricted to small denominations. For Athens and the islands the standard was still silver; and the denomination most in use was the four-drachma piece (about seventy- three cents) with its archaic head of Athena and the owl. an honest though inartistic toin, as acceptable throughout the civilized world as French or British gold is today. In the Anatolian cities the standard was the electrum stater, usually worth twenty-five silver drachmas; for coins of this metal were essential to trade with the interior and the Pontic region.-^ The extension of Attic weights, measures, and coins, along with the Attic language and laws, pointed to the ultimate consolidation of the empire in a single state. This end, however, could only have been reached through the long continuance of the empire. Lack of representation in the government of the empire. Cit- izenship in the leading city no ally demanded, so far as we know; and had it been offered, few perhaps would have accepted. In far later time the wholesale extension of the Roman franchise to the Mediterranean world did not prove an unmixed good. The funda- mental defect in the Athenian imperial system, however, is sufficiently obvious to us: the allies were given no hope of ever acquiring rep- resentation in the central government, but were convinced that Athens was bent on forever maintaining her place, not as president, but as master. Hence the political leaders of the allied states, with scarcely an exception, seized every opportunity to revolt. It was this weak- ness, accordingly, that made the system short-lived. As was formerly noticed, however, the concentration of political power in the leading city was due to the allies even more than to the Athenians. -- Colonization of the empire. The policy of colonizing vacant lands of the empire with Athenians, begun by Cimon, continued under Pericles. Particularly the authors of rebellion were expelled, and 20Thuc. V. 111. .. ■ 21 Athenian decree for the regulation of the imperial weights, measures, and coins, before 420; Ditt. I. no. 87; cf. Gardner, P., JHS. XXXIII. 147-88; Aristoph. Birds, 1040 f. 22 P. 202. THE AGE OF PERICLES 243 their lands occupied by Athenians. Colonies were established in Naxos, Andros, and Sinope — on the Black Sea — and elsewhere. The earlier settlement in Chersonese Pericles enlarged and fortified. " By these means he relieved the state of numerous idle agitators, assisted the needy, and overawed the allies by placing his colonists near tliem to watch their behavior." -^ Under his administration at least six thousand Athenians were thus disposed of. The members of the colony, remaining Athenian, formed a self-governing com- munity. Relieved of service in the army, they performed garrison duty. The allies regarded these colonies as an encroachment upon their territory and a menace to such freedom as they still retained.-* Though a temporary grievance, the colonial policy tended to Atticise the allies and had time allowed, would have served as a powerful factor in consolidating the empire into a single state. Material advantages brought by the empire. Athens brought to these subjects the blessings of peace and protection. Under the aegis of a powerful navy the ships of her humblest ally could safely plough the sea to Egypt and Tyre, to Pontus, or to the Pillars of Heracles. Through importations the luxuries of other lands became common comforts. " The choice products of Italy and Sicily, of Cyprus and Egypt and Lydia, of Pontus and Pelopomiese or wher- ever else it may be, are all swept into one centre, through the sole means of the maritime empire." "^ During a period of sixty-seven years the profound quiet was disturbed by no invader and in most states, by no domestic war. Skilled industry flourished; farms were well stocked and fields well tilled; -^ in no period of the world's his- tory has this region developed so great a prosperity. The feelings of the allies. Under these circumstances the feelings of the allies toward Athens mingled good with ill. It was a griev- ance to carry their cases to Athens, and cringe like suppliants before the common men who composed the juries; a hardship to pay the an- nual tribute, although that was far less than would have been the cost of defending themselves however ineffectively. They felt sorely, too, the presence of Athenian garrisons, and they cherished the genu- ine Hellenic love of sovereign independence for their cities. Yet positive antipathy was limited to the old families whom the empire 23 Plut. Per. 11. 24 Plut. Per. 11, 19 f. Decree for founding a colony; H. Civ. no. 73. Lemnos, Imbros, and Scynos were colonized before the Periclean age; p. 358, 359. 25 H. Civ. p. 229 (Old Oligarch); cf. Thuc. ii. 38. 26 Cf. Thuc. viii. 24. 244 HELLENIC HISTORY had robbed of their political ascendancy and the scheming rriarket- place politicians who saw in revolt their way to leadership in their states. The manufacturers and merchants, who paid the bulk of the tribute, must have been satisfied with the economic advantages as- sured them by Athenian rule; and the multitude in every state were loyal. " At present," said a speaker in the Athenian assembly, " the popular party are everywhere our friends; they either do not join with the oligarchs, or if compelled to do so, they are always ready to turn against the authors of the revolt; hence in going to war with a rebellious state, you have the multitude on your side." -' Paradoxi- cal as at first view it may seem, the empire, if we reckon by majori- ties, was a more voluntary system than had been the confederacy; it had become an organization, not only for protection from foreign enemies, but for the maintenance of democracy. The anti-imperialists (Little Athenians). The imperial aims of Pericles roused opposition at Athens. The banishment of Cimon had disorganized the conservatives but after the peace with Persia, his kinsman Thucydides, son of Melesias, gathered up the remnants of the party with a view to checking the schemes of Pericles. " He did not allow the notables to mix themselves up with the people in the public assembly, as they had been wont to do, so that their dignity was lost in the masses; but he collected them into a separate body, and by thus concentrating their strength was able to use it to counter- balance that of the other party." -® Though undistinguished in war, he was a better orator than Cimon and a far more expert politician. He charged against Pericles the negotiations with Persia as traitorous to Hellas, the tyranny over the allies, the transfer of the treasury to Athens and its use in decking out the city like a vain woman. His party began to call Pericles a New Peisistratus and to denounce him as a real tyrant. One of the comic poets asserted that the Athenians delivered into his hands: — The tribute from the towns, the towns themselves, The city-walls, to build or destroy, The right of making either peace or war. And all the wealth and produce of the land.^^ When, however, the conservatives appealed to ostracism, they were 27 Thuc. iii. 47; cf. iv. 123; viii., 9 64; H. Civ. p. 235 (Old Oligarch). 28 Plut. Per. 11; cf. 8, 12; Arist. Const. Ath. 28; Androtion, FHG. I. p. 376. 43; Phi- lochorus, op. cit. 399. 95. 29 Telecleides, in Plut. Per. 16. THE AGE OF PERICLES 245 rebuked by the banishment of their leader, and again were utterly disorganized. Pericles was therefore left unimpeded in his manage- ment of the empire.^'' The revolt of Samos, 440-39. It was still no easy task to hold the empire together. Shortly after this ostracism trouble came from Samos, the state which had been among the first to enter the Confed- eracy and which had most strenuously upheld the Athenian power. It had gone to war with Miletus over the possession of Priene, — a remarkable circumstance in view of the fact that Miletus was depen- dent. The latter complained to Athens and Samos refused arbitra- tion, but revolted under the instigation of the oligarchs. The Per- sians offered the aid of a Phoenician fleet; Byzantium revolted in sympathy; the existence of the empire came into extreme peril. But the Athenians met the crisis with extraordinary promptness. Pericles besieged the island, bringing newly invented siege engines to bear upon the walls. After nine months it surrendered, and received the punishment formerly meted out to Naxos and Thasos. The empire emerged from the crisis more strongly cemented than before. The slain were given a magnificent funeral; and as Pericles descended from the speaker's stand after delivering the eulogy on the dead, the women of Athens crowned him with wreaths and ribbons like a vic- torious athlete, so highly did they value his service in that momentous campaign. ^^ The Black sea region. The happy issue of this trouble left Pericles free to extend the prestige and power of Athens to the coasts of the Pontus,' Sailing thither with a large, splendidly equipped fleet, he awakened in the native princes a feeling of respect for Athens and won to her the allegiance of several Greek cities in that region, whose names appear thereafter in the lists of contributory states. On the south shore he planted Athenian colonies. Doubtless, how- ever, the chief object was to promote closer relations with a region on which Athens depended more and more for supplies — for wheat and fish, for ship timber, metals, dyes, hides, slaves, and other com- modities. Not merely the products of the sea and its coasts were thus brought to Athens and her neighbors but also those of the distant interior; for from Olbia on the northern Pontic shore extended a great caravan route northeastward to the Ural mountains and thence toward 30 Plut. Per. 14; Ditt. I. no. 66. »XThuQ. i. 115-7; Diod- xii. 27 f. ; Plut. Per. 25-8. 246 HELLENIC HISTORY the rising sun through central Asia to the borders of China. From these regions were imported furs, drugs, and gold.^^ The founding of Thurii, 446. Still earlier, Pericles, following, the path marked out by Themistocles, and adding political to com-- mercial relations with the West, had begun to contract alliances with the states of Sicily and Magna Graecia. Great expectations centred in the colony of Thurii sent out by him to the territory of Sybaris, a city which had been totally destroyed by the men of Croton. The country was marvellously fertile, and Pericles may well have hoped to make the new city the great commercial depot of Athens in the West. In composition, however, Thurii was a pan-Hellenic founda- tion, to which the Peloponnesian states, as well as those of the Athen- ian empire, contributed settlers. Here, in fact, was a scheme of Pericles by which he hoped to coin Hellenic acknowledgment of the leadership of Athens. A model city. Thurii was to be in every sense a modern city. Hipppdamus, a famous civil engineer from Miletus, laid it out in broad, straight streets, crossing one another at right angles. Its laws " were compiled by the sage Protagoras, who collected what was best in those of ancient Locri, of tlie various Chalcidian cities, of the cities of Peloponnese and Crete, and finally of Athens." Among these laws was a most enlightened provision for the compulsory edu- cation of children in schools supported by the state. So far as we know, this was the first body of law that rested upon a basis broader than the customs and ideas of a single state; this character made it the germ of the " law of nations," and of the " natural law " after- ward developed by the Romans. The cultural significance of the colony, therefore, was extraordinary. The non-Athenian element, however, dominated; and as the antipathy between Peloponnese and Athens, between Dorians and lonians, grew bitter, the colony was not only lost to its mother-city but suffered grievously from civil strife. Furthermore, the political complications of -Athens with the West led ultimately to her interference in Sicilian affairs, and to a disaster of which the Periclean Hellenes could not have even dreamed. ^^ 32 Plut. Prr. 20; Hdt. iv. 21. 9; Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. III. 106 ff. and map at end of vol- ume. Colonies at Sinope and Amisus; Plut. Per. 20; Theopomp. FBG. I. p. 312. 202. Also Astacus on the Propontis; Diod. ,xii. 34. S: change Keravov to " XaraKOv- 33 Treaty with Scgesta, 454-3; IG. I. suppl. p. 58. no. 22 k (cf. Diod. xi. 86. 2 f."); p. 139. no. 20; Scala, no. 57. With Rhegium and Leontini, 433-2; Hicks and Hill no. 51 f. ; Scala, no. 67 f. Intimate relations with Naples; Timaeus, FHG. I. p. 218. 99; Strabo v, i 7- THE AGE OF PERICLES 247 Thurii; Diod. xii. 10 ff . ; Strabo vi. 1, 13 f., //. Civ. p. 527 (Dion. Hal. Lys.); Plut. Per. 11; X Oral. 835 d; Hesych. s. 'liriroSafiov pefirjcis- The date 446 (Diod.) is preferred by Pais, Anc. Italy, 330 f. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, 346-367, 328-385; Holm, II, chs. xiv, xvii-xix; Grote, chs. xlv (latter part), xlvi; Beloch, II, chs. v. vi; Busolt, III, 296-438, 518-540; Meyer, III, 574-624, IV, 3-84; Freeman, History of Sicily, III, ch. viii; Abbott, Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens (Putnam, 1897), Grant, Greece in the Age of Pericles (Scribner, 1897); Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Const. Hist., 189- 204; Gilbert, Greek Const. Ant., 416-435; Ferguson, Greek Imperialism (Houghton, Mifflin, 1913), 65-78; Gardner, P., History of Ancient Coinage (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910), ch. xiv. ATHENIAN WEIGHT: PUBLIC STANDARD CHAPTER XV THE AGE OF PERICLES / (II) THE ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY Democracy the correlate of imperialism. A necessary correlate of the foreign and imperial policy of Athens during this age was that her government should continue its progress toward absolute democracy; for it was the masses who were chiefly interested in the plunder of conquest, the extension of the empire, and the concentra- tion of jurisdiction in the hands of the popular courts. The popular assembly (ecclesia). The essential institution of government was the popular assembly, embracing theoretically and potentially all adult male citizens, practically all with the leisure and inclination to attend.^ The government did not as yet pay for attendance; hence the masses were present but rarely, on occa- sions of especial interest or excitement. During the Peloponnesian war the number seldom reached five thousand and must usually have been far smaller, though the patriot considered it his duty to be present and to take an interest in public affairs. One complains: — Never in my lifetime, man or boy, Was I so vexed as at this present moment; To see the Pnyx, at this time of the morning, Quite empty, when the Assembly should be fuU.^ Functions of the assembly. From the time of Pericles there were four stated meetings every prytany, besides extraordinary ses- sions. Certain stated meetings were for special purposes. The first assembly in each prytany reviewed the conduct of magistrates, sus- pending from office any one accused of malversation and handing him over to a popular court for trial. This was an extreme use of the principle of the " recall." In case of acquittal he resumed his of- fice. Under these circumstances the magistrates, deprived of all in- dependence, were limited strictly to executing the will of the assem- 1 Xen. Mem. iii. 7. 6; Plat. Protag. 319 c. 2 Aristoph. Acharnians, (opening). 248 THE AGE OF PERICLES 249 bly. The same meeting considered the grain supply and the defence of the country. " The second assembly of the prytany is assigned to suppliants; and at this meeting any one is free, on depositing the suppliant's olive branch, to speak to the people on any matter, public or private. The two other meetings arc occupied with the remaining subjects; and the laws require them to deal with three questions connected with religion, three relating to heralds and em- bassies, and three on secular subjects." ^ Restricted by the laws and by the Five Hundred; experience and self-restraint. The principle was accepted that not the peo- ple but the laws governed. Under the statutes of the fathers the assembly deliberated on the question proposed and all had a right to speak, whether officers or private persons. The measures were initi- ated by the Five Hundred, generally on the advice of a leading statesman; and the people decided. " If few of us are originators," says Pericles, " we are all sound judges of a policy." ^ Aristotle explains: "Any member of the assembly taken separately is cer- tainly inferior to the wise man. The state, however, is made up of many individuals; and as a feast to which all the guests contribute is better than a banquet furnished by one man, so the multitude is a better judge of many things than an individual." ''' Excepting when the people were violently moved by fear, hatred, or other like pas- sion, the principle here enunciated undoubtedly held true, especially in a body of men more experienced in public affairs, and more ap- preciative of their responsibility, than could be any equally large gathering of citizens in a modem state. The council of Five Hundred. The theory that, under the laws, the people themselves were sovereign — that " the whole folk year by year, in parity of service, is our king," ^ — could not be put into strict practice. The actual administration had to be trusted mainly to a smaller, more wieldy body — the council of Five Hundred, or- ganized in ten groups of " foremen," as previously explained." These groups served in rotation as committees for governmental control and for initiating decrees affecting the administration. Much of the supervisory power, formerly wielded by the Areopagites, was transferred to this council, 462. It examined, accordingly, the fitness » Arist. Const. Atli. 43. 4 Thuc. ii. 40. 5 Arist. PoHt. iii. 15. 7, 1286 a. 6 Euripides, Suppliants, 406-8. 7 P. 120. 250 HELLENIC HISTORY of candidates for office, arranged for their election or sortition, and cooperated with them in most of their duties. It kept a strict watch over them — especially over those who handled money, permitting no money to be received or disbursed apart from its supervision. For a time it had full power to punish for misuse of office. Furthermore the council superintended the construction, repair and preservation of triremes, or other vessels of war, and of public buildings, in- spected the horses belonging to the state, revised the list of the cav- alry, and attended to a great multitude of other duties.* The most noteworthy of its administrative functions, inherited from the council of the Areopagus, was its guardianship of the constitution, involving the right of exercising in crises the power of life and death over both officials and private citizens.^ Far from giving rein to license and lawlessness, the Periclean democracy sternly enforced the moral discipline to which the people had grown accustomed under aristo- cratic rule. The popular supreme court (heliaea). On one side the as- sembly was checked by the Five Hundred, as it was limited to the program drawn up by the prytaneis. On another side its action was as effectually controlled by the heliaea (popular court). The germ of this institution had existed from the time of Solon; but the ab- sence of pay for service, reinforcing the general aristocratic spirit of the constitution, had established the well-to-do in virtual control. Originally it was a court of appeal from the decisions of the archons, who were men of experience and ability, chosen for their special fit- ness from the two wealthiest classes. The decline of the archonship, especially through the introduction of sortition for filling the office, together with the general progress of democracy, continually in- creased the importance of the jurors. The age of Pericles further democratized the archonship by opening it to the zeugitae.^" Hence- forth any respectable citizen, above the thetic census, however mean his ability, was eligible. Because of their lack of knowledge of the law and their general mediocrity, the archons could no longer act as judges, but became mere clerks, with the routine duty of preparing cases for trial, and with a nominal presidency of the jury, as will be explained below. 8 p. 119 f. Arist. Const. Ath. 44-9. 9 Op. cit. 45. 10 P. 108, 113; Arist. Const. Ath. 26. 2. Although thereafter thetes by false pretenses sometimes obtained the office, it was usually filled by men of traditional respectability had considerable wealth; p. 259. THE AGE OF PERICLES 251 Democratization of the law courts (dicasteria). Meanwhile with the gathering of the people into the city the attondance on the juries naturally increased. Finally after the overthrow of the council of the Areopagus, 462, in the same year Pericles carried a measure for the payment of jurors, probably at the rate of two obols a day. This act completely democratized the institution, as it enabled the poorest to attend regularly and in large numbers. ^^ The introduction of pay should not be too hastily branded as an encouragement to idleness; for the able-bodied generally preferred more remunerative and less confining employment. The typical juror was an old man, whose days of manual labor were past. He had served the state as a hoplite or oarsman, and was now drawing his juror's fee in lieu of a pension, for which however he had to sit judging day by day from early mom till night. Many had country homes near Athens; and in a comedy of Aristophanes we see them before daybreak trudging, lantern in hand, along the road to the city, to be at court on time.^- Organization of the courts; reasons for the large juries. There were now six thousand jurors, drawn annually by lot, six hundred from each tribe. Applicants for the service had to be Athenians in the full exercise of their rights and at least thirty years of age. At the beginning of the year they were put under oath to give their decisions according to law, and in the absence of a statute covering the case, according to their best judgment and conscience. Normally they were divided into juries of five hundred and one, though we occasionally hear of smaller and larger panels. As the decision was by majority vote, the odd number was to prevent a tie. The most obvious ground for the large jury was to make bribery difficult. Nevertheless toward the end of the century the mischief crept in, whereupon the Athenians devised a complicated system of choosing jurors and of assigning them to the several cases, with the result that a man could not ascertain on what case he was to sit till he had entered the court-room. This precaution substantially elim- inated bribery.^ ^ The large number, furthermore, was to provide against intimidation. The great nobles felt themselves above the laws, and would have ridden rough-shod over a jury of the modem type but dared not contemn so numerous an assembly of citizens. 11 Arist. Polit. li. 12. 4, 1274 a. ■.i2iI:XiV. p; 213 .f. iWasps 214 ff.). . 13 Arist. Const. Ath. 27. 5, 63. 252 HELLENIC HISTORY The Athenians felt, too, that no smaller number could adequately represent the wishes and interests of the whole people, who, if democ- racy was to be more than a pretense, must needs exercise judicial as well as legislative and executive functions. Pleaders addressed the jurors as citizens and democrats, and in truth the courts were the stronghold of popular government. To these considerations of the Athenians themselves we may add the fact, important in cultural his- tory, that these large gatherings of men of inherent artistic tempera- ment, who in the assembly, the theatre, and the public festivals had nursed their taste in beautiful prose and verse, made possible the de- velopment of a judicial oratory of universal and eternal literary value. These positive advantages were counterbalanced by defects. A large audience is more subject to passion than a small group of men. An Athenian jury was often moved by political feeling; and especially when the accused was known to entertain anti-popular sentiments, he was less certain to obtain justice. This defect, however, was but relative; the courts as constituted undoubtedly dispensed fair judg- ments to a far larger proportion of the citizens than would have been possible under any other arrangement. From the juristic point of wiew the system was defective in that it admitted neither of judges nor of a lawyer class. The court was a jury without a judge — under a mere chairman who possessed neither the knowledge nor the right to interpret the law or to guide the proceedings. Every man had to plead his own case. He might in need have recourse to a professional rhetorician, who had a smattering of legal knowledge, and who, for a fee, would write his speech for him. Under these circumstances there was no such thing as case law or precedent, i Hence there could be no consistency in the decisions. Attic law was simpler than is that of any modern state; and it was assumed that every citizen was sufficiently acquainted with the code — but in vain. The jurors were disposed to pay little heed to the letter of the law, and to estimate in- stead the character of the accused and his value to the state. Has he served the community well, they asked, and if acquitted will he continue to render good service? However childish it may seem to us, this attitude of mind had its advantages in a small community, in which the jurors were personally acquainted with the litigants. It has been urged, too, by modem critics that the system fostered in the Athenians a litigious spirit and a quarrelsomeness which shows itself even in the drama. However that may be, it was an institution THE AGE OF PERICLES 253 well suited to the Athenian temperament; and the typical old juror was thoroughly in love with his work. In Aristophanes' Wasps, when a certain grown-up son had confined his father at home behind bolts and bars, a slave of the household gives the following reason for this severe discipline: — He is a law-court lover, no man like him. Judging is what he dotes on, and he weeps Unless he sits on the front bench of all. At night he gets no sleep, no, not one grain; Or if he doze the tiniest speck, his soul Flutters in dreams about the water-clock. . . . The cock which crew from eventide, he said, Was tampered with, he knew, to call him late. Bribed by officials whose accounts were due. Supper scarce done, he clamors for his shoes, Hurries ere daybreak to the Court, and sleeps Stuck like a limpet to the doorpost there. . . . Such is his frenzy, and the more you chide him The more he judges; so with bolts and bars We guard him straitly that he stir not out.i* The process of legislation. In the time of Pericles laws were commonly drawn up by special committees appointed by the assembly. The draft of such a law was reported to the Five Hundred, who brought it before the assembly for confirmation. Shortly after Pericles the following process was adopted. In the first prytany of every year the thesmothetae brought the laws under review before the as- sembly: first those relating to the Five Hundred; then the general statutes; next those dealing with the nine archons; and lastly with the other magistrates. On this occasion any citizen could propose a new law and the repeal of the corresponding old one. Sufficient notice was given of such proposals by repeated readings in assembly and by posting near the market-place. In the fourth session of the same prytany the assembly provided for the pay of a special body of jurors, termed nomothetae — " legislators " — who were to pass upon the bills brought before them. The number of nomothetae varied according to circumstances. The proceedings before their body took the form of a trial, in which the proposer of the new measure prose- cuted the existing law which he wished to repeal. It was de- fended by advocates appointed by the assembly. Then, without li H. Civ. p. 211 f. (Aristoph. Wasps, 88 ff.). Jury system in general; .'Vrist. Const. Ath. .S7, 63-9; also references in Gilbert, Const. Antiq. 376 ff. The chief source is the judicial oratory, represented by Antiphon, Lysias, Isaeus, Demosthenes, and others. 254 HELLENIC HISTORY taking part in the debate, the nomothetae proceeded to vote. In case of a majority in favor of the bill, it became thereby a law.^^ Safeguards of the process; laws contrasted with decrees. It is to be noted that legislation was possible but once a year and was surrounded with most careful safeguards. By committing it to a limited number of mature citizens bound by oath, the Athenians kept it from the storms of politics. It is a remarkable fact, too, that the initiative only was vested in the assembly, whereas the deliberation and the vote belonged to a jury — that in other words, the legislative function was not differentiated from the judicial. ■ The acts here under consideration were strictly laws — nomoi — dealing with the fundamental and permanent things of government. They are to be distinguished from decrees — psephismata — which had to do with the current administration. A decree of the council alone held good for the official year; but if approved by the people, it was valid till repealed." The writ against illegality (graphe paranomon). Another function of the courts was the protection of the constitution. The downfall of the council of the Areopagus removed the last conservative check upon the government. In the judgment of Ephialtes the peo- ple were no longer children in politics but had reached a maturity of experience that made them capable of protecting their own govern- ment without the aid of any form of paternalism. The definite in- strument in their hand for this purpose was the " writ against illegal- ity." Under this procedure any citizen could stop deliberation on any subject in the assembly by declaring under oath his intention to test the legality of the proposal before a popular court. It was in- cumbent upon him, accordingly, to prosecute the proposer of the de- cree or law. If convicted, the accused was liable to a heavy fine, to disfranchisement, or even to death. The prosecutor, on the other hand, who failed to obtain a fifth part of the votes was punishable with a fine of a thousand drachmas, and disqualified from bringing further prosecutions. This precaution was taken against ill-founded or malicious accusations. Originally the writ was applied only to actual illegality, but in time politicians began to use it against any proposals which they could represent as detrimental to the com- 15 Reference to a legislative committee in the law for founding Brea; Hicks and Hill, no. 41. IS. Annual revision of laws; Nomos in Demosth. Tinioc. 20-3 with comment in text; Lept. 94. Nomothetae; Demosth. Timoc. 27, 33 f. ; Lept. 89, 93; Andoc. Myst. 84; Pollux Hii. Ul. First known appointment of nomothetae in 411; Thuc. viii. 97. 2. ■•a Examples of decrees; H. Civ. nos. 69; 71 f. THE AGE OF PERICLES 255 munity. Statesmen then found in it a weapon for assailing one an- other. As a milder and less dangerous instrument of political war- fare, it superseded ostracism.^ ^ Ordinary cases at law. The great majority of cases before the courts, however, were of the ordinary civil and criminal types. Juris- diction in homicide still remained with the Areopagites and the Ephetae. The archon, according to the nature of the suit, prepared the case for trial, writing out and placing under seal the statements of plaintiff and defendant and the testimonies of witnesses. The same authority presided over the court that tried the case. The wit- nesses were present, not to be cross-questioned, but merely to ac- knowledge their testimony. The jurors, not the chairman, had a right to interrupt a speaker if he digressed or spoke obscurely; and each party to the trial could interrogate the other and require an answer. After the proceedings and testimonies were given, the jurors with- out deliberation proceeded to vote by secret ballot. A condemned man was executed without delay. ^^ The judicial system applied to the allies. The extension of Athenian iurisdiction over the allies greatly increased the amount of judicial business at Athens and necessitated a multiplication of the courts. Although many juries were engaged simultaneously in hear- ing suits throughout the year, except on. assembly days and festivals, cases awaiting trial accumulated, to the injury of the parties con- cerned. While grumbling at delays, the allies made no complaint of corruption, or favoritism. Though far from ideal the system secured to the masses a large degree of justice, and contributed to civilization a treasure of eloquence. ^^ The magistrates. The spirit of democracy found expression, too, in the multiplication of officials till the number became enormous. Aristotle reckons seven hundred at home and a number unknown to us, but doubtless large, for the empire. They usually served in boards, normally of ten. Most of them were filled annually by lot, without the privilege of reappointment, on the theory that all citizens above the thetes were competent to the ordinary duties of administra- tion and were equally entitled to a share in it. Offices requiring spe- 17 Arist. Const. Ath. 29, 4; S9. 1. The most famous case in Aeschines, Against Ctesiphon and Demosthenes, On the Crown. See also Demosth. Tinioc. ii f., 154; Aristocr. 14, 18; Hypereid. Eux. 6; Athen. x. 73; Plut. X Orat. 836 a. 18 Areopagus and Ephetae; p. 108 f. Heliastic courts; for references see Gilbert, Cotist. Antiq. 391 ff. 19 P. 347, 432-7, 256 HELLENIC HISTORY cial qualifications — particularly military posts — were elective and could be indefinitely repeated. ^° The generals (strategi). Since the great constitutional act of ^ 487-6 the generals were the highest magistrates. They not only commanded the army and navy but embraced most of the functions falling in a modem state to the Ministry or Cabinet. They kept informed on foreign affairs, conducted negotiations not otherwise provided for, and requested the prytaneis to call special sessions of the assembly in order to introduce foreign ambassadors. They attended to the defences of the country and the preparations for war. The assembly could leave all equal or confer the absolute command upon one, or appoint one or more of the board to special duties. Like other officials the generals were subiect to deposition and trial for maladministration. The board had to keep in touch with the assem- bly, and the member who excelled as orator and statesman inevitably took the lead of his colleagues. It was through this position that Pericles governed during a great part of his administration. ^^ Any Athenian, whether an officer or a private citizen, who under- took to guide the policy of the state had to bear a heavier weight of responsibility than has been necessary in any less democratic form of government. The masses who constituted the assembly — fullers, cobblers, coppersmiths, stone-masons, hucksters, and farmers — could not be expected to have the same acquaintance with the details of policy, especially in foreign relations, that might be presupposed in a select body of public men, such for instance as tlie Roman senate or a modern parliament. The democracy, accordingly, had to place greater trust in its advisers, and require of them expert knowledge. The statesman recognized this condition, and ran his risk. If his enterprise failed, he was liable to severe punishment for having de- ceived the people. " Where great interests are at stake," explains an orator in the assembly, " we who advise ought to look further and weigh our words more carefully than you whose vision is limited. And you should remember that we are accountable to nobody. If he who gave and he who followed evil counsel suffered equally, you would be more reasonable in your ideas; but now, whenever you meet with a reverse, led away by the passion of the moment, you pun- 20 H. Civ. no. 59 (Arist.). Other references in Gilbert, Const. Antiq. 214 ff. 21 Act of 487-6; p. 175. Part in treaty-making; H. Civ. 72. 1. Special powers and func- tions; Hdt. vi. 110; Thuc. i. 46, 61; iii. 3, 19; vi. 8, 26; viii. 54; Xen. Hell. i. 4. 20; Paus. i. 29. 5. THE AGE OF PERICLES 257 ish the individual adviser for his error of judgment, but your own error you condone." -- The speaker recognized the necessity of the condition, though he wished it might be different. He knew well that the situation had its bright side. If a statesman succeeded, his glory was all the more splendid; the democracy was far more inclined than the earlier aristocracy to heroize its great men. In evidence we may adduce the almost unvarying loyalty with which the commons sup- ported Pericles during his long career. 22Thuc. iii. 43. ADDITIONAL READING Holm, II, ch. xvi; Grote, chs. xlvi, xlvii; Meyer, III, 570-583; Greenidge, Greek Const. Hist., 166-189; Gilbert, Const. Ant., 170-416 (very detailed) ; Zim- mern, Greek Commomvealth; Botsford, Development of Athenian Constitution; Ferguson, Greek Imperialism, 38-65 ; Meier, M. H. E , and Schomann, G. F., Der attische Prozess, revised by Lipsius, J. H., 2 vols. (Berlin, 1883-1887); Whibley, 283-402; Francotte, Les ^.nances des cites grecques (Paris: Champion, 1909). dicast's ticket (Metropolitan Museum of Art) A, f^J CHAPTER XVI ^ THE AGE OF PERICLES (III) SOCIETY AND PUBLIC WORKS I. Society and Economy Conservative eupatrids. In this democratic world many of the old nobility found tliemselves totally out of place. Their bitter com- plaints were given voice in pamphlets issued by one of their number shortly after the death of Pericles — the earliest extant political treatise in any language. Unknown by name, the author has aptly been styled Old Oligarch.^ Characteristically he laments the decline of those arts in which his class took chief pride: " Citizens giving their time to gymnastics and music are not to be found at Athens ; the commons have abolished them, not from disbelief in the beauty and honor of such training, but recognizing the cultivation of these arts to be beyond their powers." ^ Formerly rich men alone enjoyed such luxuries, but now " the people have built at public cost a number of palestras, dressing rooms, and bathing establishments for their own use; and the mob, rather than the few choice and well-to-do people, get the chief benefit of them." ^ It is equally a shame that in dramatic festivals " the rich man trains the chorus, and the people reap the enjoyment." * He laments even more the growth of the naval power with its sailor crowd at the expense of the heavy infantry, composed of respectable middle-class citizens,^ the tyrannical treatment of the allies, the oppres- sion of the wealthy throughout the empire by the levy of taxes and by favoritism toward the poor,*' — evils he has greatly exaggerated. " The fact that everywhere more consideration is shown to the base, the poor, and the common folk than to persons of good quality, far 1 By Zimmern, Creek Commonwealth, 187 et pass. It has been preserved among Xen- ophon's v/orks. English translation; H. Civ. no. 62. 2 Old Oligarch, Constitution of the Athenians, 1. 13. 3 2. 9. 4 1. 13; the choruses were usually composed of poor people, and in the theatre the ma- jority were relatively poor. 5 1. 2; 2. 1: aristocrats and middle-class farmers agreed in politics. 6 1. 15, 2S8 THE AGE OF PERICLES 259 from being a matter of surprise, is evidently the keystone of the de- mocracy." ' All this is natural, he argues, when you consider the character of the ruling class in the imperial city. " Within the ranks of the people will be found the utmost ignorance, disorderliness, and rascality, traceable chiefly to poverty." * He reaches the very heart of the class conflict when he says: " The people do not want the City to be well governed and themselves in slavery; they desire to be free and to be masters." ° " It is these poor people, this common folk, this riff-raff, whose prosperity and increasing numbers enhance de- mocracy, whereas the shifting of fortune to the wealthy and the better class would bring into control a strong party opposed to popu- lar rule." ^'^ " If you want good legislation, you will see the most intelligent members of the community making laws for the rest; and then the better class will curb and chastise the lower orders. The better class will sit in council in behalf of the state, and not suffer crack-brained fellows to belong to the council or to speak in the assembly. But under the weight of such blessings the people will shortly fall into slavery." ^^ These hard words reveal the existence of a class of men, strong in wealth, social standing and intelligence, who were watching their opportunity to usurp the government and enslave the populace, who would hesitate at no violence or treason to gain their ends. Under Pericles they could only indulge in mutual grumblings or in indirect attacks upon the leading statesmen; after time was to see examples of their political methods. :\The eupatrids maintain their leadership. Notwithstanding such men, the commons still cherished profound respect for the nobility. In fact Athenian culture thus far was chiefly their crea- tion, and eupatrids, not men from tlie masses, had taken the lead in democratizing the government. Although considerations of birth had long disappeared from the constitution, the archonships were still monopolized by the " good old " families, and no one but a noble could command the votes necessar}^ for an election to the generalship. This social group formed a small minority of the population; there were in the first and second property classes about twenty-five hun- dred men above eighteen years of age, or including women and chil- dren three times that number. 7 1. 4. 8 1. 5. In fact the poor were more orderly than the rich; p. 262 below. 9 1. 8; the rule of the " better class" means slavery for the "many." 10 1. 4. 111. 9. *w M ^^ _^,_^i&jl^. H ^^H mfft; -iJ/jSj^^mi ^H ^HH ^^ff ^^BK^^^K^^^^tm !mili d^HH Bj l'/0^{^^^^ r ^^^^r '^W- ' *^ .*'•'' PAINTING POTTERY (.Boston Museum of Fine Arts) ASS WITH LOAD (Boston Mviseum of Fine Arts) THE AGE OF PERICLES 261 The thetes; their social and economic condition. The " poor," whom the Oligarch so despised, were not paupers, but the smallest land-proprietors, shepherds, shop-keepers, artisans, day-laborers, and sailors — in general, the thetes. Of the sixty thousand men, women, and children belonging to the lowest property class the great majority were absolutely self-sustaining. The growing complexity of economic conditions, however, created by the development of commerce and industry, and making greater and greater demands upon the intelli- gence, produced an increasing number of persons who were incompe- tent to earn a living for themselves. Under an aristocracy they would have died of want or have fallen into slavery. The broader and more humane democracy, however, faced the problem of lifting this submerged class to the plane of respectable citizenship. Thou- sands were placed in comfortable circumstances through coloniza- tion, and thousands more were engaged in the military and civil service. The great public works, too, furnished employment to a vast number of skilled and unskilled laborers. The children of patriots who fell in battle were maintained at public expense. " This is the substantial prize, with which, as with a garland, Athens crowns her sons, living and dead." ^^ Disabled persons received a small pension; and that all might be able to attend the religious festi- vals, the state furnished the needy with food on such occasions. For a time these efforts of the government, reinforced by unusual pros- perity, eliminated poverty from Athens. The state benevolence which provided thus carefully for the poor, although far broader than any aristocratic conception of humanity, limited itself strictly to citizens. The zeugitae, people of moderate property. Higher than the thetes, and altogether beyond the need or the desire of state aid, were the zeugitae, who constituted the heavy infantry. This class now comprised about thirty-three thousand of military age, including the colonists, or with the old men, women and children, a hundred thousand souls. The majority were freeholders of little farms, tilling their fields with the help of the family or, at best, of a slave or two. On the stony mountain slopes they cultivated olives and pastured their sheep and goats. In the plain, too, they had their orchards, but these lands gave a double return, for grain and vegetables grew among the trees. As they were still ignorant of the rotation of crops, 12 Pericles, in Thuc. ii. 46. 262 HELLENIC HISTORY they had to allow the land to lie fallow on alternate years. ^^ Prob- ably not more than twelve per cent, of the total area of Attica was thus available in any year for grain and vegetables; but these small patches of arable soil were intensely worked. The increasing pop- ulation of Athens and Peiraeus, and the inflow of money from the empire to its capital guaranteed rising prices for rural products, and brought the farming class to its highest reach of prosperity. The estates were well stocked and the dwellings and barns were better than in any other Hellenic country.^* Reasons for the conservatism of the zeugitae. These people of middle station, whos'e material happiness was now greater than in earlier ages, constituted the element of stability, the chief con- servative force, in the state. This character however was due to no passing condition, but fundamentally to the narrow limitations upon the hopes and ambitions of the farmer of moderate wealth in every age and every part of Hellas. The slight scope afforded to enter- prise and inventiveness, the necessity of waiting upon Nature for her favors, gave him patience and resignation. Then, too, the small total area of arable land in Greece, and the force of public opinion against the accumulation of great estates, kept far from him the thought of self-aggrandizement at the expense of neighbors. Gener- ally therefore he was content to support his family well above the condition of want and misery and to perform his military duty. Against all radicalism in politics and public economy, against wars with neighbors and peace with Persia, he was firmly set. Herein his sympathies were with the old landed aristocracy in opposition to the city population, industrialism, and absolute democracy. To this class, accordingly, was due the steadiness and the conservatism of Athens amid the forces that made powerfully for innovation. ^^ Metics : alien residents. However strong in numbers and in pur- pose, this class could not greatly retard the up-building of a city economy with its concomitant inflow of aliens and slaves. From the time of Solon Athens had attracted artisans from other Greek lands by giving them easy access to the citizenship, and Cleisthenes had enrolled in the tribes a great number of metics. In this liberality 13 Xenophon, Economicus, 16, 10 ff . ; IG. II. 1059. 17 ff. (contract); Suidas, s. eiri KaXdfirj dpovv. Number of heavy troops; Thuc. ii. 13; Diod. xii. 40. There were perhaps innno rren of this class in the colonies, leaving about 23,000 heavy troops in Attica. 1 4 O.x. Hell. 12. 5. 15 Zimmern, Greek Commonwealth, 224 f. THE AGE OF PERICLES 263 Athens sought a cure for the poverty that had long cramped her life. The growth of manufacturing gave remunerative work to an increas- ing number of hands, and the exchange of wares for foreign grain made possible an indefinite increase in the population. After Cleis- thenes Athens rarely admitted strangers to citizenship, yet Themisto- cles encouraged their coming by exempting them from the sojourn- er's tax. This favor was temporary but the attraction was too great for them to resist, and they were heartily welcome. As a typical case may be mentioned tlie invitation given by Pericles to Cephalus of Syracuse, an armorer, to come to Attica and set up his establish- ment in Peiraeus.^*' Altogether there were now in Attica about forty thousand alien residents including women and children. They were not given direct aid by the government, but were protected equally with the citizens and stood on a social level with them. A contem- porary writes: "We have established an equality . . . between metics and citizens because the city stands in need of her resident aliens to meet the requirements of so many arts and of the navy." ^^ Of the attitude of the state toward the various classes of immigrants Isocrates could say: " She ordered her administration in such a spirit of welcome to strangers and of friendliness to all, as to suit both those who were in want of money and those who desired to enjoy the wealth they possessed; and she failed in serving neither the pros- perous nor those who were unfortunate in their own states, but so acted that each of these classes finds with us a delightful sojourn and a safe refuge." ^^ Slaves. Whereas to the alien residents the democracy brought great gain, the burden of the new development rested more and more heavily upon the slaves. In Pre-Persian Athens, when her economy was chiefly rural, free hands performed nearly all labor, apart from domestic service in the homes of the rich. After the war, as Athens entered upon her industrial career, the number of slaves rapidly in- creased. The conditions found in Miletus, in Chalcis, in Aegina, and in other centres of industry in the seventh and sixth centuries,^^ were now repeated on a larger scale in Athens. ]\Ien were eager to invest their capital, small or great, in slaves, whom they employed in productive labor,-° in the fields, shops, on the public works, and 16 Lysias, Eratosth. 4. IT Old Oligarch Const. Ath. 1. 12. 18 Isoc. Panegyricus, 41. 1!> P. 57 ff. 20 Xen. Mcnt. ii. 3. 3. 264 HELLENIC HISTORY especially in the mines. Nicias, the general, who was the wealthiest Athenian of his time, owned a thousand slaves, engaged in mining. They were under a manager, who paid to the master an obol a day for each slave, making an annual income of ten talents.'^ Most slaves at Athens in this age were non-Greeks, obtained by war, kidnapping, and purchase. The stronger and more intractable were sent to the mines, where they rapidly died from the unhealthful conditions. The docile, generally the younger men, were trained to field-labor and industry. For increasing their efficiency to the high- est point, the masters found it wise to treat them kindly and keep ihem happy. -^ Sometimes we find a group so attached to a shop as to be bought and sold with it; others were rented out; but the more reliable were left free to make their own engagements on condition of paying their masters periodically a specified sum. With energy and thrift such a person might in time save enough to purchase his free- dom. Other slaves were the trusty managers of their master's busi- ness. There were state slaves: three hundred purchased Scythian archers constituted the police force of the city; '^ unfree clerks and stewards occupied responsible positions. All the better class of slaves, public and private, were encouraged to usefulness and loyalty by the hope or the promise of freedom. Legal provision was made for . their protection. A mistreated slave could take refuge at the shrine of Theseus or of the Furies and demand to be sold to a more humane master.^* In complaining of their good treatment as an evil of the times, the Old Oligarch pays an unintentional compliment to the democracy: "Another point is the extraordinary liberty allowed to slaves and metics at Athens, where a blow is illegal, and a slave will not step aside and let you pass him in the street. The reason is, if it were legal for a slave, metic, or freedman, to be beaten by a citizen, it would often happen that an Athenian might be mistaken for a slave or metic and suffer a flogging, seeing that the Athenians are not better clothed than slaves or superior in personal appearance." ^^ Slavery at Athens relatively estimated. In Periclean Athens slavery, as well as industrialism, was still in its infancy, the number in servitude constituting undoubtedly a minority of the population. At least outside the mines, they were treated with more kindness and 21 H. Civ. p. 438 (Xen. Ways, A. 14 f.). 22Xen, Mem. ii. 4. 3; Athen. vi. 92. 23 Pollux, viii. 131 f. 24 Schol. Aristoph. Knights, 1312; Plut. Thes. 36. 25 Const. Ath. 1. 10. THE AGE OF PERICLES 265 consideration than have been accorded even to common citizens under oligarchies, or we may safely say, to modern factory hands and the denizens of sweat-shops by modern employers. The civilization of Athens was due to the labor of men who were free or at least who worked in the hope of freedom. These conditions were the fruit of liberal ideas. By directing their activity to manufacturing and com- merce, democracy, revealing to the Greeks their destiny, provided them with a moderate degree of material wealth, and opened a field for the full development of their genius. At the same time it endowed them with a broader sympathy and a larger conception of human duty than the world had known before. The shops. There was no organization of industry at Athens; the largest establishment known to us was the armory of Cephalus, manned by a hundred and twenty slaves.^" From a modern point of view business was on a diminutive scale; there were no factories but shops merely. Often a part of the dwelling was used for the pur- pose. The proprietor worked with his own hands, initiating his sons, and perhaps the sons of neighbors, into the mysteries of his trade, and with the expansion of his business, rented or purchased slaves as further aids. Women, too, kept shop as bakers, dyers, and dealers in ribbons or flowers. Many craftsmen lacked the capital for accumu- lating a stock of products, but manufactured articles merely as they were wanted by neighbors, whereas the larger shops produced wares for exportation. A marked feature of the fifth century shop was the spirit of equality between employer and employed, between freemen and slaves. This happy atmosphere belonged to the shop as an out- growth from the family, and was an essential condition to the pro- duction of work of high merit. The skilled laborer was proud of his profession. All craftsmen, slave and free alike, wrought not for mere subsistence or gain, but in a true artistic spirit for the creation of the beautiful. In other words the Greek mechanic was an artist. Hence it is that the extant products of his craft, from grave reliefs to pots and pitchers, are all works of genuine art. A thing inseparable from true art is individuality; and in our modern age of mechanical pro- duction it is difficult for us to appreciate this fact, that the Greek apprentice, slave or free, aimed not at a servile imitation of the pat- tern, but at the creation of something new — something with a char- acter and a beauty of its own. Significantly the thousands of Greek 26 Lysias, Eratosth. 19. 266 HELLENIC HISTORY vases still extant express in their endless variety the free, versatile spirit of Hellas. Organization and pay of labor on public works. The Greek love of individual liberty prevented the formation of large industrial companies. Hence when the state projected a great public work, like the Parthenon, its committee of supervisors elected in assembly, had to divide the entire labor into a multitude of diminutive parts, and let out the several parts by contract to the masters of the shops or stone yards above described. The contractor agreed in writing to bring with him a specified number of laborers, to do work of a quality satisfactory to the committee, and to be responsible for damages to the material.^" In the grant of the same daily wage to slave, metic, and freeman, to underling and contractor, and archi- tect, may be found further evidence of the lack of distinction between artist and artisan and a further expression of the democratic spirit."* II. Public Works and Art The Greek idea of beauty. The spirit of the age found its high- est expression in the creation of the beautiful as the Greeks them- selves understood it — beauty in the perfectly rounded physical and moral development of the individual and in the order and harmony of a well-regulated government and social life, as well as in artistic public buildings and sculptures, in systematic thought and in histori- cal and dramatic literature. A symmetrical city. The idea of a symmetrical city, with broad straight avenues crossing each other at right angles, was first con- ceived by Hippodamus of Miletus, a philosopher and practical scien- tist, and applied to the reconstruction of Peiraeus."^ The provisional character of the private houses and the absence of traditional associa- tions in the port town made this work possible. About the same time the temporary dockyards erected by Themistocles were replaced, at a cost of a thousand talents, by substantial buildings greatly en- larged for the accommodation of the growing navy. Relatively to the financial means of the Athenians this outlay was enormous.^" 27 Example of such a contract at Lebadea; Michel, no. 589 (translation of part in 2immem, 256. 28 H. Civ. no. 108; building of Erechtheum through small contracts; one drachma a day to architect, free mechanic, and slave. 29 H. Civ. no. 63 (Aristotle); Harpocration, s. 'Iwrroddfieia; Bekker, Anecd. I. 266. 28 (about 450). 30 Isoc. Areop. 66 (nearly $1,100,000). THE AGE OF PERICLES 267 Plan for the restoration of Hellenic temples, about 456. Thus far little had been done in Greece to restore the shrines demolished by the Persians. After the battle of Oenophyta, which seemed to Pericles to assure to his city a place in central Greece like that of Sparta in Peloponnesus, it occurred to him that the moment was op- portune for calling a general Hellenic congress at Athens for the purpose of taking united action in restoring such temples, of paying to the gods the honors vowed in that crisis, and of adopting measures for the security of commerce on the seas. At the same time his own city set aside a fund for the building of temples. This magnificent plan of uniting Hellas on a basis of common interest and religious sympathy was foiled by the Lacedaemonians and the work of Pericles in temple building had to be limited to Attica.'^ The Odeum, Music Hall, about 445. Among his earliest build- ings was the Odeum, intended for the musical contests of the Pana- thenaea, and serving therefore a religious purpose. It was situated on the declivity of the Acropolis immediately to the east of the theatre. Constructed mainly of wood, only with interior columns of stone, it was given a conical roof in imitation of Xerxes' tent."- As judge of the Panathenaic contests, Pericles laid down the rules for the competi- tions in singing and in playing on the pipe and lyre. Since the build- ing was completed no long time before the banishment of Thucydides, Cratinus, the comic poet, could present a caricature of Pericles proudly wearing on his head the music hall in token of his political victory : — " Our Zeus with lofty skull appears; The Odeum on his head he wears, Because he fears the ostrakon no more." ^^ Temple of Hephaestus. Near the close of his administration he began the misnamed Theseum, which still stands northwest of the Acropolis, on a slight elevation overlooking the market-place. It is a curious fact that the best-preserved of all Greek temples cannot with certainty be identified. Probably it belonged to Hephaestus, whose shrine stood in this vicinity, looking down upon the metal market; and in that case it was dedicated in 421.^* The metope 31 Plut. Per. 17. On the date; Judeich, 73. Temple fund; Anonymus Argentinensis (Keil), p. 78 ff.; cf. Judeich, 73. .... . 32 Plut. Per. 13; Paus. i. 8. 6; 14. 1; 20. 4; Vitruvius v. 9. 1. 33 Cratinus, in Plut. Lex. 13. Ostracism of Thucydides; p. 344. 34 Paus. i. 14. 6; Andoc. Myst. 40; Bekker, Anecd. I. 316. 23; Gardner, Anc. Athens, 410 ff.; Judeich, 325 f. 268 HELLENIC HISTORY sculptures represent the exploits of Heracles and of Theseus, whom the growing pride of Athens had elevated to a place beside the older hero. The temple is built of Pentelic marble, in the Doric style mod- ified by strong Ionic influence. Traces of color still remaining afford a conception of the general principles of painting employed in archi- tecture. The great spaces, as the columns and architrave, were left plain, whereas the detailed work was painted, generally red and blue. If this were the only classical building remaining in Athens, it would undoubtedly impress us as a model of beauty; but in fact it is overshadowed by the presence, on the Acropolis, of a temple of grander and more harmonious proportions, and of far more skilful execution; an appreciation of other architecture is made difficult by a view of the Parthenon. The Parthenon; its builders. The great temple to Athena, which the Athenians had been planning, but continually deferring, since the time of Cleisthenes, was left to Pericles to take definitely in hand and bring to completion. The work began in the year 447-6, prob- ably before the disaster at Coronea, at a time when Athens was at peace with her neighbors and seemingly in assured control of her continental alliance. A commission of supervisors was elected to engage the artists and laborers and to oversee the work. Pericles was a member of the commission. The architects were Callicrates, who had built one of the Long Walls, and Ictinus, evidently a younger man, to whose originality the new features of the temple seem to have been largely due.^'^ Pericles' chief adviser for the decorative sculp- tures was Pheidias. The two men were friends and social equals; for in that age the artist was not thought unfit for refined society.^*^ Nine years later (438-7) the cella walls and roof were sufficiently complete to protect the statue of Athena, at that time set on its pedestal; but the work continued to the year before the outbreak of the Pelopon- nesian war. The rooms and their uses. The temple comprised two rooms. The smaller on the west served as a store-chamber for the goddess, and was named Parthenon — " maiden's chamber " — for what reason we are not informed. It was not till after the age of Demosthenes •35 Philochoras, FHG. I. p. 400. 97; IG. 300-11; suppl. p. 37, 74, 147; Plut. Per. 13; Strabo ix. 1. 16. An effort to date the beginning back to 450-49 has failed; Judeich, 74, n. 8. 36 Plut. Per. 13, unnecessarily doubted by some. o 12; W < Ah w 270 HELLENIC HISTORY that the name Parthenon extended to the entire building. The larger room termed Hecatompedos — " hundred-foot chamber " — on the east, the cella in the narrower sense, contained the statue of the deity, and served therefore as her dwelling-place. Within the cella a colonnade supported a higher series of columns reaching to the panelled wooden ceiling. In the store-room there was a similar arrangement of four supporting columns.^" The columns; curved lines. The temple was amphiprostyle ; the door at each end opened upon a porch supported by a row of six columns. The building was also peripteral as it was entirely sur- rounded by columns, eight on each end and seventeen to the side, counting those on the corners twice. The columns, which contribute to the temple its chief element of beauty, are in themselves a perfect blend of strength and grace. They taper from stylobate to capital in a harmonious outward curve barely perceptible to the eye, and incline slightly toward the cella. There is the same gentle swell in the echinus. In fact we find no long straight lines in any part of the temple. The stylobate is slightly convex, and other parts show devia- tion from rigidly straight or plumb lines. The curves were probably not computed mathematically but instinctively adopted as most ex- pressive at once of symmetry and variety. The use of curves was not only to correct an error of vision — as in the stylobate, an appear- ance of sagging — but especially to present to the eye. in place of a stiff, mechanical structure, a delicate harmony of lines and a pleasing combination of strength with elasticity.^^ The metopes. Among the sculptures of the Parthenon the metopes claim our first attention because they seem to have been finished before the rest, and especially because they embody a more primitive and elemental idea than any of the other groups. They represent physical contests and show, even to exaggeration the live- liest interest in athletic forms and attitudes and in the tension and play of muscles. They lead our thought immediately back to Myron, who died too early to have a hand in the work, whose genius, how- ever, had revolutionized athletic sculpture along the lines followed by the artists of these metopes. The stupendous improvement in Hellenic art within a period of about a hundred and fifty years may 87 Origin of name Parthenon; D'Ooge, Acrop. 136 f. Hecatompedos, 100 Attic feet in length. The idea that the colonnade within the cell supported a gallery has been aban- doned. 38 D'Ooge, 92-5, 118 f., 328; Goodyear, W. H., Greek Refinements. THE AGE OF PERICLES 271 be well appreciated by comparing a Parthenon metope with one from the earliest temple at Selinus. In the latter grouj) we find, not a mere succession of figures, but an organic whole, whose lines are graceful curves, whose human and animal forms are in a high degree natural and living. The subjects of the individual metopes and their relative location must have been determined by a supervising artist, or by the commission, whereupon their construction was let out severally to the masters of stone yards mentioned early in this chap- ter; hence we find great individuality and a wide range of merit in their treatment. ^^ Interpretation of the sculptures. In our review of the Parthe> non sculptures we shall attempt to discover the meaning of the several groups. First it is to be noted that all have reference to Athena : they symbolize epochs, so to speak, in the history of her connection with Athens. The metopes represent conflicts (1) between Lapiths and Centaurs, (2) between Greeks and Amazons, (3) between Gods and Giants — in general, between the powers of order and the forces of chaos. It is the first chapter in the religious history of Athens, the period anterior to Athena's present orderly rule. The pediments. The second chapter is filled with the birth of Athena from the head of her father Zeus. An event of primary im- portance in Athenian religious history, it occupies the most conspicu- ous place — the east pediment, above the cella door and facing the rising sun. The goddess stands full grown and armed by the throne of Zeus in the midst of a group of deities. In the third chapter, pre- sented by the west pediment, Athena strives with Poseidon for suprem- acy over Athens. The sea-god strikes the earth with his trident, thus causing a spring to bubble forth. Athena, however, by creating the olive tree wins the victory in the presence of a group of gods who fill the pediment. She becomes, accordingly, queen of the City and first-born of the citizens. The general design of the pedimental groups must have been due to a single master artist — probably Pheidias. The individual figures were undoubtedly the creation of separate artists, who accord- ing to their genius wrought in the Pheidian spirit. Many of the figures have perished. Those which survive, though badly mutilated, are unrivaled among sculpture in the round. They show a nobility of 39 Gardner, A72C. Athens, 281 ff. ; D'Ooge, 157-60. Possible influence of Pheidias; Gard- ner, Six Creek Sculptors, 96. Metope of Selinus; p. 268 above. 272 HELLENIC HISTORY form and attitude, a quiet majesty, a perfect naturalness free from every exaggeration and affectation, a delicacy combined with truth in the rendering of flesh and muscle, and of the different textures of drapery — an absolute mastery of the material and an unerring sense of simple, dignified beauty matchless in the realm of art.*° The Ionic frieze. The fourth and final chapter is filled by the Ionic frieze, a continuous band of low relief extending around the temple walls within the colonnade. The band divides naturally into groups of persons. The subject of the whole is the Panathenaic festival held in July in honor of the goddess. To avoid the monotony of a procession, the master artist has arranged the groups not uni- formly in actual march, but often in various preparations for it. We see, for example, magistrates and priests in their official attire, men leading animals for the sacrifice, youths bringing jars of water, girls carrying baskets of other necessities for the religious services, knights with their spirited horses, and groups of deities seated, inspecting the changing scene. Though the parts vary in artistic merit the frieze as a whole has no rival among reliefs.*^ The sculptors alike of pedi- ment and frieze did not aim to produce, in any popular sense, the utmost grace or physical loveliness; in these qualities they were sur- passed by later artists. Their object was a beauty that would appeal to the highest intellectual and moral perception of the age, that would make the spectators think of pure and noble things. Prime requisites were dignity, sobriety, and self-restraint. These were the qualities of a people who were not to revel in the luxuries of peace and wealth or yield to individualistic self-indulgence, but were to practice submis- sion to strict discipline in peace as well as in war, to apply them- selves to the noble task of ruling an empire in wisdom and justice, and to making their city a pattern for Hellas. Their art expressed and fostered these aspirations. Athena Parthenos. The statue of Athena Parthenos for the tem- ple was the work of Pheidias. The unclad parts were of ivory, the garments of gold, covering a wooden frame. It was a colossus thirty feet in height on a pedestal of eight feet. The goddess wore a chiton of Doric style draped in heavy folds which hid the details of the person. As compared with the other sculptures, above men- tioned, this work seems to us archaic — a quality, however, which 40 Paus. i 24 5; Gardner, Anc. Athens, 293-322; DOoge, 147-57. 41 Gardner, 322-40; D'Ooge, 160-8. THE AGE OF PERICLES 273 adds to the strenpith and dip;nity of its character. The room was lighted only through tlie double door; and except for a brief time after sunrise it must have remained throughout the day in constant twilight. In this semi-darkness the soft gleam of the ivory and gold, the colossal grandeur of the statue, its quiet, dignified attitude, the simplicity and sobriety of dress — all worthily became the goddess who from this home of the beautiful ruled in might and in glory over an earnest, ambitious race of men.*^ Architecture is a true expres- sion of character of a nation, race or age. Thus the Doric order is typical of the sturdy growth of the peninsular Greek temperament as contrasted with the lighter Ionic style which belongs to Asia Minor. So, too, the Hellenic temple contrasts with the Gothic cathedral as pagan with Christian, as the ancients with the modems. The sim- plicity and symmetry of the Greek temple have their counterpart in Greek intellect and character, and the Hellenic shrine nestles close to earth as if perfectly content with this goodly world. But the vast- ness and the complexity of the Gothic cathedral are equally typical of modern life, while its spires lift the devout thought to the treasures of heaven " where neither moth nor rust corrupt." Notable is the antithesis between worldly, intellectual beauty and spiritual aspiration. 42Thuc. ii. 13. 5; Diod. xii. 40. 3; Philoch. FHG. I. p. 400. 97; Paus. i. 17. 2; 24. 5; x. 34. 8; Pliny, N. H. xxxvi. 18; Plut. Per. 31; IG. I. 298 f; suppl. p. 146 f. PARTHENON FRIEZE 274 HELLENIC HISTORY ADDITIONAL READING Bury, 367-378; Holm, II, ch. xx; Beloch, II, i, 155-164, 203-218; Busolt, III, 451-490, 560-582; Abbott, Pericles and the Golden Age of Greece, chs. xvii, xviii; Zimmern, Greek Commonwealth; Guiraud, Etudes economiques sur I'an- tiquite (Paris: Alcan, 1900); Francotte, L'industrie dans la Grece ancienne (Brussels, 1900); Glover, From Pericles to Philip (Macmillan, 1917), ch. ii; Haverfield, City Planning (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913); Meyer, "Die wirtschaftliche Entwickelung der antiken Welt," " Skaverei im Altertum " in Kleine Schrijten (Halle, 1910) ; Weller, Athens and its Monuments; Judeich, Topographic von Athen; Fowler and Wheeler, Handbook of Greek Archccology, 144-158, 229-251; Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture, 279-326; Whibley, Companion, 213-224, 237-245, 416-421, 518-534; Stobart, Glory that was Greece, ch. iv. HERODOTUS (National Museum, Naples) CHAPTER XVII AGE OF PERICLES (IV) THOUGHT, CULTURE, AND CHARACTER I. Science and Philosophy Scientific progress: technical writings and astronomy. The scientific spirit, awakened in the sixth century in Ionia, had run swiftly through the length and breadth of Hellas, to incite in indi- viduals a love of collecting facts and of systematizing them on a rational basis. Many literary products of this spirit served useful as well as theoretical purposes. Works on sculpture and architecture, music and literary criticism were, in part, handbooks for learners of the respective arts.^ From the time of Pythagoras advances were made in arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. His followers taught 1 Polycleitus, The Ideal Human Form. Sophocles, The Chorus. Ictinus, The Parthenon. Stesimbrotus and others, Homeric Criticism. 275 276 HELLENIC HISTORY the rotundity of earth, sun, and moon. From a more careful study of the heavens the astronomer Meton of Athens devised a nineteen- year cycle for bringing the lunar and solar years into harmony. In this system the solar year was estimated at 365 5/19 days, about a half hour short of the truth. Although he was permitted to set up his calendar on the Pnyx, it was not adopted by his own people till the next century; and it extended still more slowly to the rest of the Hellenes.^ Medical progress; Hippocrates, 460-377. From the time of Pythagoras, too, notable progress was made in medicine, so that not even the Egyptian physician could any longer compare with the Greek. Although cities were woefully backward in sewerage and general sanitation, it may be set down to their credit that they sup- ported from the public purse physicians who treated the citizens free of charge. While the masses still believed in expelling diseases by charms and prayer, or by visits to the shrines of Asclepius, the med- ical profession of the Periclean age had eliminated magic and every form of superstition from theory and practice, and stood on the solid ground of scientific observation and experiment. Hippocrates, of Cos, the most celebrated physician of the ancient world, was a young man in the beginning of his practice before the close of the age. In his family the profession had been hereditary, as was generally true of trades or other fields of technical skill. In view of the fact that medical knowledge had accumulated at the temples of Asclepius, where the sick and the maimed sought divine healing, it is significant of the scientific spirit of Hippocrates that in all his writings he never prescribes a visit to such a shrine. " Every illness," he declares, "has a natural cause; and without natural causes, nothing ever happens." He lays great stress on hygiene, especially diet, on the principle that " Nature is the best physician; " but he was ready to use drugs or when necessary cutting and cauterizing : " Where drugs fail, steel will cure; where steel fails, fire will cure; where fire fails, there is no cure." It was his achievement to repel from his domain all assaults of sophists and speculative philosophers, and while main- taining and expanding the scientific method of his predecessors, to uphold for his profession the noblest ideals of devotion to duty and to right. ^ Progress in philosophy; Heracleitus (died 475). Not only 2 Zeller, Pre-Socratic Philosophy, I. 454 f. Diod. xii. 36. 2 f. 3 H. Civ. nos. 78-81. THE AGE OF PERICLES 277 special branches of knowledge were bein^ cultivated, but great prog- ress was taking place in the philosophic attitude toward the world as a whole and its problems. With Heracleitus of Ephesus, who flour- ished early in the century, philosophy began to concern itself with the motion, change, life of nature. Not Being he asserted, but Becoming is the fundamental essence of things. Meditation on this subject led him to imagine a world-ruling reason — logos — which produces the ever-changing phenomena of the Universe. This con- trolling principle can be apprehended only by a few sages like him- self, who also possess a logos similar in kind to that of the Uni- verse whereas the masses are doomed to eternal ignorance and folly. The self-assertive personality of this philosopher, added to the evi- dent depth of his mental vision, has influenced the thought of the world even to the present day, while his obscure, riddling prophetic utterances, along with his doctrine of the divine and human logos, gave pronounced encouragement to mysticism.'* Continuation of the Eleatics; Empedocles, about 495-430. In spite of the repudiation of Being by Heracleitus and his insistence on Becoming as the sole reality, the successors of Xenophanes the Eleatic continued more strongly than ever to deny motion and change, and to claim for Being alone a real existence. An attempt was made to harmonize these views by Empedocles of Acragas. With the Elea- tics he denied absolute origin and decay; but unlike them, he be- lieved in the plurality of Being; there are, he asserted, four elements — earth, water, air, and fire — of which all things are composed. The forces that combine and separate them are Love and Hate, the poetic antecedents of attraction and repulsion. In this way he was able to use botli Being and Becoming in his theory of the formation of the world. He paid less attention to the character of his ele- ments than to the processes of nature. In accounting for plant and animal forms he enunciated a principle crudely anticipative of the " survival of the fittest." At the same time he introduced into science the idea of " elements," which has survived to our own age. Unlike all his predecessors, Empedocles zealously courted popularity. He was a politician, a leader of the democracy of his city, a prophet, and a physician of miraculous power. He asserted his. ability to heal old age, to raise and calm the winds, produce rain and drought, and to recall the dead to life. Gorgeously arrayed in brilliant robes and 4 Bakewell, p. 28-35. 278 HELLENIC HISTORY adorned with flowers, he passed from city to city, everywhere vener- ated as a god. Finally, as his friends reported, he ascended living to heaven, whereas cynical gossip averred rather that he had leaped into the crater of Mount Aetna.^ The atomists: Leucippus and Democritus, about 460-350. Every new philosopher, after learning what his predecessors had to teach, attempted to correct the faults of their suppositions or methods with a view to approaching nearer to the truth. Thus it was that Leucippus, seemingly a younger contemporary of Empedocles, began working out the problem of that thinker in a more scientific way. Seeing no reason why Being should be limited to precisely four ele- ments, he assumed instead its division into an indefinite number of minute indivisible particles, termed atoms. By the side of Being, which he interpreted as matter, he assumed the existence of Void — empty space — in which the atoms moved ; in place of the mythical Love and Hate he substituted Gravitation, a strictly physical force. With Being, Void, and Gravitation, he proceeded to explain the form- ation of the world, the processes of nature, and even feeling and thought in a purely mechanical way. The atomic theory, afterward developed into a system by his famous pupil Democritus, was gener- ally denounced by the ancients as materialistic, hence as ethically demoralizing. Appreciating its value, however, the modern world has placed it in the foundation of science; and it still holds true, except- ing that chemists have pushed the analysis of matter far beyond the atom.** Anaxagoras, about 500-428 More in accord with the general eth- ical direction of Greek thought, hence more influential, was Anaxa- goras, a contemporary of Leucippus. His lasting contribution to philosophy was to substitute for gravitation an infinite and omniscient Intelligence, which orders all things. He did not consciously think of it as a person or as a deity but regarded it merely as a directing force. If not immaterial, it was at least a substance unmixed and in quality unique. The religious and ethical consequences of his theory however were left mainly to future thinkers to draw.^ Influence of the philosophers; their limitations. The influence of all philosophers was thus far limited to narrow circles of pupils. sXenophanes; p. 153. Parmenides and Zenon, other Eleatics; Bakewell, p. 11-27. Em- pedocles; p. -13-8. 6 Bakewell, p. 57-66. 7 Bakewell, p. 49-56. THE AGE OF PERICLES 279 To the public the thinker seemed an odd, unnatural being, who in his search for the undiscoverable and the unpractical neglected every- thing that the Greek held dear — a subject for ridicule in comedy or for prosecution on the charge of atheism, of having substituted whirl- igig for Zeus.'^ Those who, braving public opinion, became ac- quainted with the various systems of thought, were generally struck by their contradictions, the uncertain foundations on which they rested, and their utter uselessness in life. Thus far, in fact, Hellenic thinkers, while discovering the most fundamental principles of science and philosophy, had pursued the faulty method of generalization on the basis of too few facts. Little more could be accomplished with- out a careful and extensive study of nature. Rhetoric and the Sophists. Meanwhile with the rise of de- mocracy, involving the theory of human equality, a demand was cre- ated for a technical education that would fit any man who wished for public life; statesmanship, once based on inborn gifts of speech and political wisdom, had to be democratized. This demand called into being the art of rhetoric, whose aim was to equip any man, however humble his talent, for public speaking. Shortly after the establishment of democracy in Syracuse (466), Corax of that city developed the first method of juridical oratory; and from his school was issued the earliest practical treatise on the subject. Rhetoric, however, concerned itself with nothing beyond the communication of thought and tlie persuasion to a belief or an action; it had to be supplemented by a working knowledge of government and society. Hence arose a class of men who professed to teach not only rhetoric, but all knowledge essential to the statesman. Such instructors in wisdom were termed sophists. They travelled from city to city, giving exhibitions of their knowledge and of their skill in argument, and imparting instruction to all who desired it, and who were able to pay the required fee.^ Protagoras, about 485-410. The earliest of this class, and by far the most eminent, was Protagoras. Though vain of his ability, he seems to have possessed an admirable character and to have pur- sued high aims. " Young man," he is represented as saying to a prospective pupil, " if you associate with me, on the very first day you will return home a better man than you came, and better on the second 8 Cf. the prosecution of Socrates (p. 000) and Aristophanes, Clouds. Whirligig (Etherial Vortex); Clouds, 380 t. 9 On rhetoric; Plato, Gorgias. On sophistis, Plato, Protagoras. 280 HELLENIC HISTORY day than on the first, and better every day than -you were the day before." " He will learn," the teacher continues, " what he came to learn: and that is prudence in affairs private as well as public; he will learn to order his own house in the best manner, and he will be able to speak and act for the best in the affairs of the state." ^° Theory of knowledge held by Protagoras. The speculations of philosophers had led many to doubt the possibility of knowledge. Abandoning all hope of discovering the one true essence of the Uni- verse, Protagoras boldly declared that " Man is the measure of all things," — in other words, ^erything is precisely what it seems to the individual. In two respects this declaration opened a new era. First it directed attention to the mind and its relation to the outside world, thus paving the way to a Mental Philosophy, or Psychology. Sec- ondly by shifting tlie centre of attention from the world to man it gave, along with many cooperating forces, a tremendous impetus to the growth of individualism. Beginnings of political and social science. The same thinker had a theory to offer as to the basis of society and the state. The desire of self-preservation gathered mankind into cities; "but when they were gathered together, having no art of government, they harmed one another, and were again in process of dispersion and destruc- tion. Zeus feared that the entire race might be exterminated, and therefore sent Hermes to them, bearing reverence and justice to be the ordering principles of cities and the bonds of friendship and conciliation. Hermfs asked Zeus how he should impart justice and reverence among men ; — Should he distribute them as the arts are distributed — th^t is, to a favored few only, one skilled individual having enough of medicine or of any other art for many unskilled ones? ' Shall this be the manner in which I am to distribute justice and reverence among men, or shall I give it to them all ? ' ' To all,' said Zeus; ' I should like them all to have a share; for cities cannot exist if only a few share in the virtues, as in the arts. And further, make a law by my order that he who has no part in reverence and justice shall be put to death, for he is a plague to the state.' " " Here was the beginning of a line of thought which led to the creation of Sociology and Political Science. Furthermore Protag- oras and his contemporary sophists began the study of Grammar, 10 Plato, Protagoras, 318. 11 Plat. Prolog. 322. Sophiss; Bakewell, p. 67-85. THE AGE OF PERICLES 281 I'honetics, and Philology — all necessarily in a rudimentary way. Development of political science; Hippodamus. Political science was taken up at this time by other thinkers and carried much farther. It was directed along two principal lines: first, the criti- cism of existing constitutions, of which an example is mentioned above; second the creation of ideal constitutions. The first author of such a constitution was Hippodamus, the famous engineer, who planned Peiraeus and Thurii.^- There was little that was peculiar in his system but the beginning he made was in time developed by more inventive thinkers. Nature versus convention; dissolution of the traditional. Other sophists of the age borrowed from Protagoras his theory of knowledge and, with varying motive and ability, pursued the same methods. All laid stress on the distinction between Nature, whose laws, observed by all nations, are morally binding, and convention — man-made customs and statutes, for which they cherished no reverence.^^ The effect of this principle was to dissolve tradition, including the religion and the moral usages of the fathers. In their view tlie past was an age of ignorance and superstition; the present alone was worthy of consideration. The same principle tended equally to break down the barriers of social class and the boundaries of states. By nature all men are brothers, and it is wrong for one to enslave another. Though dissolvents of the established political, social and religious order, they were preparing the way to a world- wide humanism, to more friendly relations among states, to federa- tions and empire. It is significant that one of the greater sophists, Gorgias, a Sicilian, seeing perhaps dimly the need of a universal language of culture, adopted for that purpose the Attic dialect. II. History and the Drama History: Herodotus, about 484-425. The spirit of scientific inquiry naturally involved an eagerness to know the past of the human race; and this desire created History. The first historian whose works have been preserved was Herodotus. We are unable, therefore, to say definitely how great an advance he made beyond Hecataeus, his most distinguished predecessor. Born in the period of the conflict with Persia, Herodotus lived through the age of Pericles and the 12 T1. Civ. no. 63 ("Aristotle). 13 Hippias, in Xen. Mem. iv. 4. 282 HELLENIC HISTORY earlier years of the Peloponnesian War. His native place was Hali- carnassus, a city of Dorian stock which had adopted the Ionian tongue, and which lay on the borderland between Hellas and the Persian empire. He travelled to Egypt, into Asia as far as Susa, to the coun- tries about Pontus, to Italy — in brief, to most of the known world. Ever)'where he gathered material which found its way into his work. Epic origin and dramatic influence. As the genealogists were the literary descendants of Hesiod, Herodotus was a son of Homer, and his history might well be described as a great prose-epic, influenced to some extent by the contemporary drama. A brief preface ex- plains the object of his work: "This is a presentation of the In- quiry — Historia — of Herodotus of Halicamassus to the end that time may not obliterate the great and marvellous deeds of Hellenes and Barbarians, and especially that they may not forget the causes for which they waged war with one another." ^* In his search for causes he narrates from earliest times the notable achievements of all the peoples who were involved in the War, — and used that conflict as the unifying element of his work. Treating thus of substantially the entire known world, his production may be described as a uni- versal history. Method of research. So far as we know, Herodotus was the first to apply the word Histor>% in its original sense of inquiry, to this field of literature. It aptly describes his method of gathering in- formation by personal inquiry of those who were supposed to know.^^ Often unsatisfied with an individual source, he pursued his investi- gation among various authorities*,^" thus introducing the comparative method of research. The object of his History, as he conceived it, required him to tell all he had thus heard: "I am under obliga- tion to tell what is reported, though I am not bound altogether to be- lieve it; and let this saying hold good for ever>' narrative in the His- tory." ^' We find him, accordingly, often expressing doubt as to what he hears, comparing the more with the less credible account, or reasoning about the reliability of his source.^* Although his work abounds in myths and fictions, and though he was often at the mercy of untrustworthy informants, he was far from credulous. Even the fictitious tales, whether myths or more recent inventions, are of 14 Hdt. preface. 15 Cf. ii. 2. 16 Sometimes in widely separated places; cf. ii. 3, 44. I7vii. 152. 18 i. 75; ii. 28, 45, 57, 131; iii. 115; iv. 25, 36, 45, 96, 106; viii. 118 f. THE AGE OF PERICLES 283 greater value for illustrating the thought and life of the age than would have been a dry enumeration of facts, however well ascer- tained. From the point of view here mentioned this feature of his work is a positive merit. Broad-mindedness. Another great quality of Herodotus is his broad-mindedness, to which his cosmopolitan birthplace and extensive travels contributed. He could understand that many foreign cus- toms were at least as good as the Hellenic,^" that there were great and admirable characters among the Barbarians, and that mon- archy as well as democracy has its good features. A comparison of Egyptian with Hellenic tradition taught him the emptiness of the claim of certain Greeks to near descent from a god.-" In Hellenic tradition the gods continued to connect themselves with the human race, by marriage and parentage, to nine, eight, or even six centuries before the historian's time, whereas Egyptian chronology removed such phenomena fifteen thousand years into the past. This com- parative study of religion convinced Herodotus tliat his countrymen en- tertained many false notions as to their own gods and as to the be- ginnings of the human race.-^ Religion. Regarding the existence of the gods, however, and their providential dealings with men, the historian betrays no scepticism. With other enlightened men of his age he believes in a Divine Provi- dence," who rules the world, and in a kindly spirit watching over men, revealing his will through omens, dreams, and oracles. The popular opinion that God is envious of human happiness, and there- fore always sends evil to counterbalance good-luck he puts in the mouths of others, but does not himself express. Like Aeschylus he seems to believe that the downfall of the great — for example of Xerxes — is in punishment for insolence which unusual prosperity often induces.-^ Summary; the "Father of History." In religion, therefore, though casting off much that is extraneous, he holds firmly to the enlightened orthodoxy of the time, while in moral character and pur- pose he stands on a level with the best men of his century. From the point of view of strict historical science, while advancing beyond 19 Cf. iii. 38, 80-2. 20 Through sixteen generations, about 533 years; ii. 143. 21 ii. 142-6. , .. ,,„ ., 22 The Providence of the Divinity; iii. 108; cf. v. 92 c; ix. 9. Oracles; vn. 139-43; viii. 77. 23 i. 32; iii. 40; vii. 10 e, 46, 203; viii. 109. 284 HELLENIC HISTORY Hecatacus, he is still crude and imperfect, whereas his broad sympathy and kindly interest in everything human, his high religious and moral principles, his inexhaustible fund of anecdotes illustrative of customs and character, his charming style and genial personality have entitled him to his place as the " father of history," -* and have given his literary production a universal and eternal interest. Sophocles, 496-404. The religious and moral ideas of the age find their best expression in the great Attic dramatist Sophocles. Literature had not yet become a profession; as Aeschylus was a sol- dier, Sophocles filled public offices. Such labors, however, did not ruffle the serenity or disturb the comfort of an easy life. The prob- lems he deals with are less gigantic than those of Aeschylus, and his solutions are as a rule more pacific. There are, however, many points of contact. Like Aeschylus he believes in the omniscience and almighty power of God. Joined with this belief is the conviction that he is iust and merciful. " Zeus himself, in all that he doeth, hath Mercy for a sharer of his throne." -^ He is a Providence, to whom man may confidently leave his troubles. " Courage, my daughter, courage; great still in heaven is Zeus, who sees and governs all; leave thy bitter quarrel to him." -® As guardians of right the powers above are punishers of misdeeds, slow but sure in their pursuit of the un- righteous.^" The Gods of country and of kin. Especially near and dear are the local spirits, gods of the land, to whom the returning wanderer first lifts his hands; near are the gods of one's race, of one blood with the worshipper, they who founded the family or gens, and are most concerned for its preservation.-* Communication between gods and men; scepticism. Great and good, and interested in the welfare of man, the heavenly powers have found means of communicating their will to him through visions, oracles, and the mouths of seers. It is natural, however, that the scientific, inquiring spirit of the Periclean age, involving rationalism and religious doubt, should reflect itself in the troubled life of the Sophoclean dramas. Oedipus, though by nature essentially religious, doubts the prophetic art of Teiresias, and seems to prove his point by irrefutable argument. His wife Jocasta rejects even the oracle of 24 Cicero, Laws, i. 1. 5. 25 Oedipus in Colonus 1267. 26 Electro 173 f. 27 Oed. Col. 1536 f. 28 Eleara 67; Oed. Col. 1333; Antigone 938. THE AGE OF PERICLES 285 Apollo, and despising all moral law, advise a random, heedless life. More excusable is the long-suffering Philoctetes: " No evil thing has been known to perish; no, the gods take tender care of such, and have a strange joy in turning back from Hades all things villainous and knavish, while they are ever sending the just and the good out of life. How am I to deem of these things, or wherein shall I praise them, when praising the ways of the gods, I find that the gods are evil? " ^^ But in the end all these doubts and complaints are overwhelmed by the catastrophe of the drama; prophetic truth and divine providence are fully vindicated. Only at the close of the Trachiniae, Hyllus, standing over the body of his father Heracles, who, having toiled through life for the good of mankind and innocent of wrong, died a death of unspeakable agony, pronounces on the gods a judgment that the audience carried uncontroverted to their homes: " Mark the great cruelty of the gods in the deeds that are being done. They have children, and are hailed as fathers, and yet they can look upon such sufferings. No man foresees the future; but the present is fraught with mourning for us, and with shame for the powers above, and verily with anguish beyond compare for him who endures this doom." ^" Burial and its rites. Among the religious rites most sacred are those attending burial. It is a great comfort to the dying man to know that his body is not cast forth a prey to dogs and birds.^^ A law which the gods have established requires kinsmen to bury their dead with all due ceremony; for burying her brother in obedience to this order of heaven Antigone was condemned to interment alive: " I will bury him; well for me to die in doing that. I shall rest, a loved one, with him whom I have loved, sinless in my crime; for I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living: in that world I shall abide forever." ^- It was the duty of the kin to wash and deck the body, to lay it on the funeral pyre, to place the ashes in the urn, for depositing in the tomb. Thereafter it was fitting at intervals to pour offerings on the mound, and encircle it with garlands of flowers, and place thereon locks of hair freshly cut from the head. No enemy of the dead should join in these ceremonies /^^ Future life. References to future life are vague; yet one who, like 29 Philoctetes 446 ff. 30 Trachiniae 126 ff. 31 Ajax 829. 32 Ant. 71 ff. ^Eledra, 431 ff., 892 ff., 1138 ff . ; Ajax, 1393 ff. 286 HELLENIC HISTORY Oedipus, has innocently suffered, may hope there for recompense. "Many were the sorrows that came to him without cause; but in requital a just God shall lift him up." ^* For him the nether ada- mant was riven in love that he might pass on without pain to the world of the dead. Sufferers in this life preferred to think of death as sleep, a perfect rest from pain.^^ Those who had passed on, however, were not without feeling and thought. The vexing or punishing of their foes gave them pleasure, and they had praise for kinsfolk who showed piety to the dead. When duly invoked, the soul came in kindness from the world below to aid a helpless kinswoman against a powerful enemy. ^^ Ties of kin and marriage. Strongest of all ties is that of blood to move men to compassion and succor. Piety to kin is a higher law than allegiance to the state, even as eternity surpasses the span of earthly life. The ideal marriage is founded on love, like that of Anti- gone and Haemon, a bond whose breaking ruptures life itself.^' Love is the greatest of conquerors, of destroyers: " It is a power enthroned in sway beside the eternal laws." ^* The wife. The change from girlhood to wedded life involves the assumption of grave cares and responsibilities: "Yes, the tender plant grows in those sheltered regions of its own; and the Sun-God's heat vexes it not, nor rain nor any wind; but it rejoices in its sweet untroubled being, till such time as the girl is called a wife, and finds her portion of anxious thoughts in the night, brooding on danger to husband or to children." ^^ Her all-absorbing affection brooks no rival in her husband's favor. Fierce jealousy, awakened by the slightest cause, drives her to love-charms, perchance to crime. But the good wife is her husband's solace and his discreet counsellor; she warns him to avoid danger and excessive pride or anger, and urges upon him a moderate, conciliatory temper. Such wives were Jocasta and even more, Tecmessa. It is natural for the husband to honor his wife above his fellow-citizens and to respect her prudence. But the plot demands that, as the catastrophe draws near, the hero, his spirit aflame with misguided passion, should brutally override her dearest wishes in the mad onrush to his doom.*" Overcome by grief, 34 Oedipus in Colonus 1560 ff., 1663 ff. Z^ Ajax 83 ff. ; Electra 1170 ff. ; Trachiniae 1039 ff. 36£;ert. 353 ff., 967 ff . ; cf. 448 ff.. 482 ff. 37 Cf. Elect. 246 ff. et passim; Antigone 71 ff. 38 Ant. 781 ff. 39 Track. 144 ff. 40 Track. 375 ff., 490 ff . ; Oed. Tyr. 700 f.; Ajax, 535 ff. THE AGE OF PERICLES 287 she slays herself. Her death is the mortal stab in a heart already wounded with insufferable woes. " Alas," exclaims Creon, when he hears the awful news of his wife's suicide, " I was already as dead and thou hast smitten me anew! What is this new message that thou bringest me — woe, woe is me! — of a wife's doom, of .slaughter heaped on slaughter?"*^ Not every marriage is desirable; the evil wife — sharer of the home — is a joy that soon grows cold ; for no wound could strike deeper than a false friend,*^ like the hardened murderess Clytem- nestra, who treacherously slew her husband and keeps the day of his death with dance and song, and " month by month sacrifices sheep to the gods who have wrought her deliverance." *^ Woman's condition has declined. The condition of woman has sunk somewhat below the level of the preceding generation. It is true that girls are represented as walking freely out of doors with no one to attend, and grown women to take an active part in the councils of family and state, yet these activities belong to the theatrical tra- dition. Though not wholly a direct reflection of the life of the age, at least they do not offend its taste; hence they call for no apology from the poet. The decline is seen mainly in the increasing empha- sis on the inferiority of women to men in strength and efficiency, and on the desirability of their remaining at home and of observing si- lence. Thus the case is put to Electra by her gentler sister : " Seest thou not, thou art a woman, not a man, and no match for thy ad- versaries in strength ?" ■** Elsewhere the same thought is echoed: " Nay we must remember that we were bom women, who should not strive with men." *^ King Creon thinks it dastardly to yield to woman's will or persuasion. Contemptible is the victory won with woman's aid.^*^ Furthermore that a girl should walk in public un- protected is decried as fraught with peril; far better to remain in doors than range at large.*" Yet even this seclusion is made their reproach by one of their sex: "Nay, by ever-virgin Artemis," ex- claims Electra, " I will never stoop to fear women, stay-at-homes, vain burdens of the ground! " *^ Akin to this sentiment is the pro- iiA7it. USA ff. (Eurydice). 42 Ant. 649 ff. 43 Elect. 277 ff. 44 Electra 997 f. 45 Antigone 61 f. 46 Ant. 678 f. ; cf. 525, 748; Elect. 301 f. 47 Oed. Col. 745 f . ; Ant. 478 f. 48 Elect. 1239 f. 288 HELLENIC HISTORY verb, " Silence graces woman," *^ no less widely entertained for being uttered by a madman. Notwithstanding adverse sentiments and re- pressive customs, actual women, only in a less degree than the char- acters of the stage, retain their share of speech, their participation in religious festivals; and while losing ground in society beyond the home, make compensatory gains in influence within the family circle. The love of kin. The bond of love and of comradeship is not- ably strong between daughter and father. The saddest thought of blind Oedipus in contemplating exile is that of leaving his daughters: " My two girls, poor hapless ones, who never knew my table spread apart, or lacked their father's presence, but ever in all things shared my daily bread — I pray thee, care for them." ^° The same union of love and duty, however, runs through the family, constraining the members to forgiveness of anger and of even greater vexations. ^^ Thus Antigone reminds her father of his duty toward an erring son: "Thou art his sire; so that even if he were to wrong thee with the most impious of foul wrongs, father, it is not lawful for thee to wrong him again." ^' Obedience to parents. A most essential element of such a family is respect for parents. Obedience to a father is the best of laws.^^ The duty of toiling for a parent in need is perfectly fulfilled for her exiled father by Antigone: " From the time her tender age was passed and she came to a woman's strength, she hath ever been the old man's guide in weary wanderings, oft roaming hungry and bare- foot through the wild wood, oft sore-vexed by rains and scorching heat, but regarding not the comforts of home, if so her father should have tendance." ^* The warping of family affection. Human limitations. These ideal relations among kinsmen may be fearfully warped by sin. The doctrine of the hereditary curse — its causes, operation, and results — is essentially the same as that of Aeschylus. The inner force that impels man to crime is Insolence, a disposition to flout divine law.^^ With all his splendid powers of mind, man's chief lesson, therefore, is to learn his human limitations. He must not think himself a god in power, or kill fair hope by fretting over transitory ills. " Remem- 49 Aj. 293. 50 Oed. Tyr. 1462 ff. 5XAnt. 98 f. ; Ocd. Col. 325 ff. 52 Oed. Col. 1189 ff. 53 Trachiniae 11 "7 f . ; cf. Antigone 635 ff. 54 0f(i. Col. 345 ff. 55 Ajax 758 ff. THE AGE OF PERICLES 289 ber that the son of Cronos himself, the all-disposing king, hath not appointed a painless lot for mortals. Sorrow and joy come round to all, as the Bear moves in his circling path." ^^ Let the prosperous and the powerful keep in mind the instability of their condition: " There is no estate of mortal life that I would ever praise or blame as settled. Fortune raises and Fortune humbles the lucky or un- lucky from day to day, and no one can prophesy to men concerning those things that are appointed." ^'' What is ordained we can by no means escape: "Dreadful is the mysterious power of fate; there is no deliverance from it by wealth or by war, by fenced city or by dark sea-beaten ships." ^^ " Therefore while our eyes wait to see the des- tined final day, we must call no one happy who is of mortal race, until he hath crossed life's border free from pain." ^^ Oftimes in- deed the cup of life holds so much bitterness as to make us doubt the worth of living : " Not to be bom is, past all prizing, best ; but when a man hath seen the light, this is next best by far, that with all speed he should go thither, whence he hath come." Sufferings are providential. " For when he hath seen youth go by, with its light follies, what troublous affliction is strange to his lot, what suffering is not therein? — envy, factions, strife, battles, and slaughters; and last of all, age claims him for her own — age dis- praised, infirm, unsociable, unfriended, with which all woe of woe abides." ^'^ But sufferings come in the providence of God in the working out of destiny; he implants in man wisdom, the supreme part of happiness, and reverence toward the powers above. " Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, which in old age teach the chastened to be wise." ^^ Moreover the afflictions of fellow-men afford an opportunity for service: "Man's noblest task is to help others by his best means and powers." ^- Citizen and state. Man not only lives his individual and family life, but forms part of the state. " Our country is the ship that bears us safe," ^^ and only in her well-being can the citizens find pros- perity. It behoves them, then, to prize the fatherland above all other ties; for its security depends upon the citizen: "When he honors 50 Trachiniae 126 it. r>7 A )it. 1156 ff. ; cf. Track. 943 f. ns A>!t. 951 ff. 59 Oed. Tyr. 1528 ff. GO Oed. Col. 1225 ff. 61 Ant. 1350 ff. 62 Oed. Tyr. 314 f. 63 Ant. 189 t. 290 HELLENIC HISTORY the laws of the land and that Justice which he hath sworn by the gods to uphold, proudly stands his city; no city hath he who, for his rashness, dwells with sin." °'* Not only in self-interest but through gratitude for nurture and protection does the citizen owe the state a kindly loyalty.''^ Civic virtue. His training in civic obligation begins in the fam- ily: "He who does his duty in his own household will be found righteous in the state as well." In opposition to the rising spirit of fault-finding with government and magistrates there is enjoined a strict obedience to authority: "Never can laws have prosperous course in a city where dread hath no place. . . . But where there is license to insult and to act at will, doubt not that such a state, though favoring gales have sped her, some day at last sinks into the depths." ^^ It is urged with reason that, right or wrong, the legitimate authority should be obeyed.''^ The competent should rule. In public life there is need of able men to lead: "The small without the great can ill be trusted to man the walls; lowly leagued with great will prosper best, great served by less. But foolish men cannot learn these truths. Before their mighty leader they cower still and dumb; behind his back they rail against him, and chatter like flocking birds." ^* Here we seem to discover the incipient ochlocracy bridled but restive under the strong rule of Pericles. Though favoring the rule of the ablest, Sophocles is no friend of tyranny.^^ His ideal government is that of a magistrate, whatever his title, chosen by the people on the ground of ability and of proved loyalty to the state — no god indeed, but " the first of men, both in life's common chances, and when mortals have to do with more than man," "° in whose presence even plain folk may enjoy free speech. Such a magistrate is a man of large sym- pathy as well as of prudence, who cares for his fellow-citizens as a father for his children, whose pride is in their well-being, whose heart goes out to them in distress : " Well wot I that ye suffer all ; yet sufferers as ye are, there is not one of you whose sufferings are as mine. Your pain comes on each one of you for himself alone, and for no other; but my soul mourns at once for the city, and for myself, 64 Ant. 367 ff. 65 Oed. Tyr. 323 f. 66 Ajax 1073 ff. 67 A nt. 663 ff. 68 Aj. 159 ff. 69 Cf. Ant. 734 ff. 10 Oed. Tyr. 31 ff. THE ACxE OF PERICLES 291 and for you." "^ Such a ruler, by precept and example, leads the citizens on the way to virtue, bearinfj; for their general character a great load of responsibility; for a city, as an army, " hangs wholly on its leaders; and when men do lawless deeds, it is the counsel of their leaders that corrupts them." "- Interstate relations. War and peace. Particularly in their re- lations with each other, governments have need of prudent guidance for averting useless wars, since " full many states lightly enter on offence, even though their neighbor lives aright." " It is equally a duty to refrain from usurping power over voluntary allies."* Of war for the protection of the oppressed the poet heartily approves. On such an occasion he can glory in the Athenian knighthood, in the flash of steel and the brazen clangor of battle, and can long for a bird's-eye view of the conflict: " O to be a dove with swift strength as the storm, that I might reach an airy cloud with gaze lifted above the fray! " " In his eyes, however, war is less a cause of glory than a bringer of sorrow for the slaughter of men, the ruin of cities, the enslavement and misery of captive women.'" War is essentially an evil as it carries off the fittest, passing by the weakling and the coward: " To be brief, I would tell thee this: war takes no evil man by choice, but good men always." " Better, then, that all wars should cease : " When, ah when, will the number of the restless years be full, at what term will they cease, that bring on me the unending woe of a warrior's toils throughout the wide land of Troy, for the sorrow and the shame of Hellas? " Would that the man had passed into the depths of the sky, or to all- receiving Hades, who taught the Hellenes to league themselves for war in hateful arms ! Ah, those toils of his, from which so many toils have sprung ! Yea, it was he who wrought the ruin of men." "* Lessons from Sophocles. Many are the lessons that the poet has for mankind, but the sum of all is this: Love for our fellow-men, thoughts meet for mortals, inviolate reverence for the Supreme Be- ing, and wisdom, the chief part of happiness. They who have learned these lessons are loved of the powers above. 71 Oed. Tyr. 58 ff. 72 Philoctetes 386 ff. 73 Oed. Col. 1534 f. 74 Aj. 1099 ff. 75 Oed. Col. 1081 f. 76 Track. 2-40 ff. ; 281 ff., 298 ff, 77 Philoct. 435 f. 78 Ajax US5 ff. 292 HELLENIC HISTORY III. The Personality or Pericles and His Interpretation OF Athenian Character Pericles in relation to his age. In our effort to penetrate into the mind and character of the Athenians we are aided by a study of the man who not only brought his community to a summit of civiliza- tion never before reached by the human race, but also incorporated and expressed in his own personality the highest ideals of his age. Born of a union of two illustrious gentes, he inherited the inspiring traditions of both. His father's patriotic achievements in the war with Persia, the great constitutional work of his mother's kin, the thrilling events of his childhood and youth attending the struggle for freedom and the founding of empire, were in him transmuted into force and nobility of character directed to the political, intellectual, and moral elevation of his country. His education. Pericles enjoyed the best education possible in that age. Music, which included not only lessons on the lyre but literature and other elementary studies, was taught him by Damon, who became his chief political adviser. The aristocratic youth prac- ticed singing and lyre-playing, not chiefly with a view to entertaining himself or his friends in social gatherings, but for the moral cultiva- tion of his feelings. The lyric song he learned, with its triple theme God, Blood, and Fatherland, stirred in the singer and the hearers, not individualistic but civic emotions. Among the teachers of his riper years was Zeno, the Eleatic philosopher, the creator of dialectic — pointed, systematic conversation directed to the refutation of error and to the establishment of truth. More influential was Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, mentioned above. These philosophers freed his mind irom superstition by directing it to a search for natural causes. In- herent tendency, under philosophic cultivation, developed into a seren- ity of temper, which no insult or abuse could ruffle.'^ His oratory. To the same combination of natural character and instruction is due his lofty, dignified eloquence, which earned for him the name Olympian. Though he had no instruction in rhetoric, which was introduced into Athens too late for his service, he took great pains with his language, and before delivering a speech, he always prayed that nothing unbecoming might fall from his lips. His delivery was statuesque; scarcely a gesture ruffled the folds of his ■^S Plut. Per. 4 ff. THE AGE OF PERICLES 293 mantle. No theatricality hut the weight of his words, the majesty of his person, his deep earnestness, and the confidence of the people in his patriotism, wisdom, and incorru])tibility carried conviction.'"' His estate. In order to concentrate his whole energy upon public affairs, he gave over the management of his inherited estate to an able, trusty slave, Evangelus, who sold all the i)roduce in a lump, and bought for the family the necessities of life as they were re- quired. The method was far from economical, but Pericles was content with a mere subsistence from his estate, without increase or diminution of its value. Such was the ideal of his social class. *^ His family; Aspasia. Pericles' wife was a kinswoman, Telcsippe, the mother of his sons Xanthippus and Paralus. But as they could not live happily together, Pericles at her request found her another husband.^- Afterward he was attracted to Aspasia, a highly accom- plished woman from ISIiletus. As Athenian women had merely a domestic education and were now kept more strictly at home than they had been in the past, a class of non-Athenian women, termed " companions," better educated and more attractive than the natives, usurped their place in the society of men. Under his own law of 451 Pericles could contract no more than an inferior marriage with As- pasia, which excluded the children from the citizenship. They had a son Pericles, who was given the franchise by a special vote of the as- sembly. This union proved most happy, but the high-born dames of Athens, regarding Aspasia as a social outcast, at first refused to visit her, though in time they overcame this prejudice. Socrates and other brilliant men of the age gathered at her house to discuss questions of rhetoric, philosophy, and practical life with her, and brought their wives, that they, too, might benefit by the conversation.®^ The best interpreter of his age. No one could doubt the compe- tence of this man of clear, penetrating vision to interpret the char- acter and ideals of his people. This task he sets before himself in the Funeral Oration delivered over those who fell in the first year of the great war with Peloponnesus, 431.®* As given by Thucydides, the essential ideas are those of the statesman, but the style is certainly that of the historian, who in inserting the oration in his narrative 80 Plut. Per. 8. 81 Plut. Per. 16. 82 Plut. Per. 24. 8.3 Plut. Per. 24; Xen. Mem. ii. 6. 36; Ecoti. 3. 14; Plat. Menex. 235 e. 84 Thuc. ii. 35-46 (H. Civ. no. 64); see also the translation by Zimmern, Greek Com- monwealth, 196 ff. 294 HELLENIC HISTORY after the close of the war, undoubtedly took some liberty even with the thought. However that may be, it forms one of the most precious documents in the history of civilization. Democracy in government and society. First he explains the political constitution and the manner of life in which the Athenians rose to greatness. The government is called a democracy, " for the administration is in the hands of the many, not of the few. But while the law secures equal justice to all alike, talent is also recog- nized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is pre- ferred for the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but on grounds of excellence alone. Neither is poverty a bar, but a man may benefit his country whatever be the obscurity of his condition." ^^ In social relations prevails a large measure of liberty. " As we have given free play to all in our public life, so in our private intercourse we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we put on no sour looks at him, which, though they leave no mark, are unpleasant. Open and friendly in our private intercourse, we cherish a spirit of reverence in our public acts; we are kept from wrong by respect for authority and the laws, particularly those for the protection of the oppressed." ®" A happy environment. He gives a reason for the festivals, more numerous and splendid than in any other Hellenic city. " We have not forgotten to provide our spirits with many relaxations from toil; there are regular games and festivals throughout the year; our home life is refined; and the delight we daily feel in all these bless- ings helps banish sadness." *^ Happiness was not an end in itself but a condition of collective efficiency. With all the drudgery of their training, the Lacedaemonians, he contends, are unequal in war to us, who without laborious drill, win by light hearts and valor. Their ideals are purely military; ours are of a nobler type.*^ " Our city is equally admirable in peace and war; for we are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. Wealth to us is not mere material for vainglory but an opportunity for achievement. With us to avow poverty is no disgrace; the true shame is in doing nothing to avoid it." ^^ On such principles the Athenians have attained to a high degree of 85Thuc. ii 37. 86 Loc. cit. 87 II. 38. 88 II. 39. 89 II. 40. THE AGE OF TERICLES 29S mentality and sane juclgment: " if few of us are originators, we are all sound judges of policy. In our opinion the great impediment to action is not deliberation, but the want of knowledge gained by dis- cussion preparatory to action. P'or we have the peculiar power of thinking before we act and of acting too, whereas other men are courageous from ignorance Ijut hesitate on reflection." '-"' A great imperial and international policy, such as Pericles was following, had to rest, not on narrow, ignorant selfishness, but on a kindly, liberal spirit. " In doing good we are unlike others, for we make our friends by conferring, not by receiving favors. . . . We alone benefit our neighbors not upon a calculation of interest but in the confidence of freedom and in a frank and fearless spirit." ^^ On all these grounds the citizens and the state afford a pattern for other Greeks. " In a word, I claim that Athens is the school of Hellas, and that the individual Athenian in his own person clearly possesses the power of adapting himself to the most varied activities with the utmost versa- tility and grace." °'" Civic education; Music and the drama. To meet the varied requirements of the citizen in this intense democracy, in which more than in any other, life was civic duty, a man had to be well educated, not in books but in public affairs. He began his training on a small scale in the deme, where local affairs were freely discussed in town meeting, and local offices gave a taste of communal management. Further experience he gained in one or more of the thousand admin- istrative offices of the state and empire, and in the ecclesia and law- courts. But practical education, in itself narrow and sordid, must be broadened and elevated by ideals. The Athenians needed the teach- ings and the inspiration of their great poets; and this instruction they received from the choral songs at festivals and particularly from the drama presented in the tlieatre. More than sixty days, distributed throughout the year, were given to festivals, including dramatic exhibitions, to which must be added the holidays of the demes. The wealthy citizens provided the entertainments, spending on them many times the sum required by the state, and receiving their reward in the respect and the political support of the masses.^^ Every year, too, from one to two thousand boys and men appeared before 90 Loc. cit. 91 Loc. cit. 92 II. 41. 93 Lysias, Defence against a Charge of Bribery, 1 ff. 296 HELLENIC HISTORY the public in choruses for tlie dramatic and other exhibitions which required them. These choral services, as well as others, generally rotated among the qualified citizens, thus giving all, or nearly all, a trainmg in music and some study of literature. Hence we may un- derstand why it was that the Athenian public in the theatre could follow the great tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles, and could ap- preciate literary allusions and fine points in music, which have been irrecoverably lost to the world. Intellectual and moral elevation. Not simply the artistic taste of the community but the intellectual keenness and grasp of these men who could follow the arguments of orators on complicated questions of foreign policy, as well as the great dramas of the age, were won- derful. From the entire Hellenic race, more highly endowed than any other, a happy combination of circumstances had selected the Athenian community, and had lifted it equally high above the gen- eral Greek level. The moral plane of life, too, was nothing mean. This fact we discover in the extreme attention paid to manners and morals in education, from infancy through childhood and youth, by parents, nurse, governor and teachers. " Education and admonition commence in the first years of childhood, and last to the very end of life. Mother and nurse and father and tutor are vying with one another about the improvement of the child as soon as ever he is able to understand what is being said to him; he cannot say or do anything without their setting forth to him that this is just and that is unjust; this is honorable, that is dishonorable; this is holy, that is unholy; do this and abstain from that. If he obeys, well and good: if not, he is straightened by threats and blows, like a piece of bent or warped wood. At a later stage they send him to teachers, and enjoin them to see to his manners even more than to his reading and music; and the teachers do as they are desired. When, accord- ingly, the boy has learned his letters and is beginning to understand what is written, as before he understood only what was spoken, they put into his hands the works of great poets, which he reads, sitting on a bench in school. In these works are contained many admoni- tions, and many tales, and praises, and eulogies of ancient famous men, which he is required to learn by heart, in order that he may imitate or emulate them and desire to become like them. Then again the teachers of the lyre take similar care that their young pupil is temperate and gets into no mischief; and when they have taught THE AGE OF PERICLES 297 him the use of the lyre, they introduce him to the poems of other ex- cellent poets, who are lyric poets. These poems they set to music, and make their harmonies and rhythms quite familiar to the chil- dren's souls, in order that they may learn to be more gentle and harmonious and rhythmical, and so more fitted for speech and action; for the life of man in every part has need of harmony and rhythm. Then they send them to the master of gymnastics, in order that their bodies may better minister to the virtuous mind, and that they may not be compelled through bodily weakness to play the coward in war or on other such occasions. This is done by those who have the means — the rich ; their children begin to go to school soonest and leave off latest." "* Good order in the theatre. The same high moral standard we see in the perfect order at the theatres. There the people gathered, not to judge of the music, but to receive recreation and instruction; and no one dared make a noise expressing approval or the reverse. " In early time music was divided among us into certain kinds and manners. One sort consisted of prayers to the Gods, which were called hymns; and there was another and opposite sort called lamen- tations and another called paeans, and another, celebrating the birth of Dionysus, called, I believe, dithyrambs. They used further the actual word 'laws' for another kind of song; and to this kind they added the term ' citheroedic' All these and others were duly dis- tinguished, nor were the performers allowed to confuse one style with another. Furthermore the authority which determined and gave judg- ment, and punished the disobedient, was not expressed in a hiss, nor in the most unmusical shouts of the multitude, as in our own days, nor in applause and clapping of hands. But the directors of public in- struction insisted that the spectators should listen in silence to the end; and boys and their tutors, and the multitude in general, were kept quiet by a hint from a stick." ^^ Blemishes and limitations; morality is civic. Further evidence is the appeal of the dramatic poets to a remarkably high moral sense, and the lofty moral key in which the Funeral Oration of Pericles is pitched. Most of all, the moral quality shows itself in the sacrifice of the individual to the good of the community. All this does not signify that either private or public life was faultless. The blemishes 94 Plat. Protag. 325 f. 95 Plato, Laws, iii. 700. A SCHOOL THEATRE AT EPIDAUROS HELLENIC HISTORY 299 of the civilization, show themselves, for example, in the indecencies of comedy, in the cramping of the lives of native women and the li- cense allowed to the " companions " of foreign birth, in the existence of slavery, however good may have been the condition of slaves, in the narrowness and exclusiveness of Athenian interests, as opposed to those of metics, dependent allies, Hellenes, and the world — a selfishness easily explicable by the conditions of the times but none the less an imperfection. A part of the narrowness here mentioned — a part of the strength and weakness of the city-state — is the fact that her morality was essentially civic. The fundamental motive to right conduct, as Pericles himself asserts, is the good of the state. " I would have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens till you become filled with the love of her; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glor}% reflect that this empire she owes to men with the fighter's daring, the wise man's understanding of his duty, and the good man's self-discipline in its performance, — to men who if they failed in any ordeal disdained to deprive the city of their services, but sacrificed their lives as the best offerings in her behalf." ^*' The patriotic devotion here required was too intense to be lasting. No long time after Pericles the gradual disintegration of the city-states resulted in depriving the citizen of his moral basis, and compelled him to fight out anew the whole battle of conduct on other, very different ground. 96Thuc. ii. 43 (Zimmem). ADDITIONAL READING Grote, chs. Ixvii, Ixviii; Bury, 363-367, 385-389; Meyer, IV, 85-272; Beloch, II, 220-260; Bury, Ancient Greek Historians (Macmillan, 1909); Zimmern, Greek Commonweath; Sihler, Testimonium Aniyna;, 159-194; Abbott, Hellenica, 33-66; Hamilton, Incubation or the Cure of Diseases in Pagan Temples and Christian Churches (London, 1906) ; Whibley, Companion, see contents; Living- stone, The Greek Genius and Its Meaning to Us (2d. ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1915) ; Glover, From Pericles to Philip, ch. x; Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, I, ch. xii-v, II, chs. i-iv; Moore, Religious Thought of the Greeks, ch. iv; Stobart, Glory that was Greece, ch. iv; Wright, Greek Literature (American Book Co., 1907), 143-64, 216-37; Croiset, Hist, de la lift, grecque, II, chs. ix, X, III, ch. vi; Windelband, History of Ancient Philosophy, 28-93 (Scribner, 1899) ; Burnet, Greek Philosophy, I; Capps, Homer to Theocritus, 215-36, 301- 16. SOPHOCLES CHAPTER XVIII THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR To THE Beginning of the Sicilian Expedition 431-415 Causes of the war : conflicting political principles. Among the most powerful disintegrating forces referred to at the close of the last chapter was the long war between the Athenians and the Pelo- ponnesians, begun in 431.^ From the conclusion of the Thirty Years' Truce of 445 to this date, peace had been maintained in spite of an ever-growing antipathy between the two powers. Among the causes of hostility was an Athenian claim to leadership generally considered incompatible with the liberties of individual states and with the long- established policy of Lacedaemon. The Athenians asserted that their hegemony had been forced upon them by Sparta's unwillingness to continue the war with Persia, that circumstances not under their control had converted the Confederacy into an Empire, and that, though they had been compelled thus to usurp an authority, they had made good their right to it by a justice and a moderation unparalleled in history. Against this claim their enemies, particularly the Corin- thians, charging Athens with the enslavement of her allies and with the design of reducing other Hellenes to servitude, called upon Lace- daemon to take the lead in putting down the tyrant. The Spartans, who for generations had been opposed to despotism, still considered themselves champions of the principle of city sovereignty, and were so 1 For the Peloponnesian war we are fortunate in having a highly trustworthy contem- porary source, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian war (p. 3-14 f. below). Bk. i gives the antecedents of the war and the remainder of the work, bks. ii-viii, follows its course into the year 411. For the remainder of the war we have Xenophon, Hellenica, i, ii. (p. 431 below), a work inferior to Thucydides, and yet very valuable. Far inferior is the treatment of the subject by Diodorus, xii, xiii, who drew his material mainly from Ephorus (p. 434 below). More useful than Diodorus are those Lives of Plutarch which fell within the period: Pericles (end); Nicias ; Alcibiades ; Lysander (beginning). Of lit- tle worth are Nepos, Alcibiades ; Lysander. There are many inscriptions, some of which will be found in Hicks and Hill and in Dittenberger 1. Some of the constitutional changes are recorded in Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 2S-34. The Comedies of Aristophanes throw light on political events and conditions and are valuable for social life. Also the Tragedies of Sophocles and of Euripides reflect the intellectual spirit of the age, and give many intimations of social conditions and tendencies. Other useful references are scat- tered through the literature of after time. 30) 302 HELLENIC HISTORY regarded by their allies.- " The feeling of mankind was strongly on the side of the Lacedaemonians; for they professed to be the liber- ators of Hellas. States and individuals were eager to assist them to the utmost both by word and by deed. . . , For the general in- dignation against the Athenians was intense; some were longing to be delivered from them, others fearful of falling under their sway." ^ A conflict of economic interests: Athenian designs upon Megara. A more particular cause of the war lay in a conflict of interests between Athens and individual allies of Lacedaemon. An article of the Treaty of 445 had provided for the " open-door " in commerce between the Athenian empire and Peloponnese. Recently, however, the Athenians, alleging that the Megarians had encroached upon sacred land near the border and had sheltered runaway slaves, retaliated by excluding the offending state from the harbors and markets of the empire. Megara depended economically upon Athens, whose real object undoubtedly was to force the little Isthmian country into her empire in order to secure harborage on the Corinthian gulf. To the commercial class at Athens and to the multitude of urban artisans and laborers the future prosperity of the city seemed to depend on .an enlargement of trade relations with Italy and Sicily. Doubtless Pericles, too, who was concerned for the food supply, looked to the harvests of the west to make good any possible shortage of importation from Egypt or the Black Sea.* Athenian interest in Corcyra and in western Hellas. The same motive led the Athenians to interfere in a war between Corinth and her colony Corcyra, and to accept an alliance proposed by the latter.^ Among the arguments for an alliance the Corcyraean am- bassadors stated that, " besides offering many other advantages, Cor- cyra is conveniently situated for the coast voyage to Italy and Sicily; it stands in the way of any fleet coming from thence to Peloponnese and can also protect a fleet on its way to Sicily." '^ Should Athens succeed in these ambitions, her merchant vessels and her war galleys could save time and risk by sailing from the western shore of Megaris through the Corinthian gulf to Corcyra and thence to southern Italy. 2 Athenian claim; Thuc. i. 72-9; ii. 63. Counter-charge by her opponents; i. 68, 122. Sparta and city sovereignty; i. 69. 3 Thuc. ii. 8. 4 Open-door agreement; p. 403. Its violation in the case of Megara; Thuc. i. 139; Aristoph. Acharn. 519 ff . ; Diod. xii. 39. 4. The Sicilian motive; Thuc. iii. 86. 5 Thuc. 1. 24-55; Diod. xii. 30-4; Hicks and Hill, no, 53. 6 Thuc. i. 36. The ill will between Athens and Corinth was aggravated further by the interference of the latter between Athens and a rebellious ally, Potidaea; founded by Cor- inth: Thuc. i. 56, 63-5. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 303 The Athenian commercial menace to Peloponnese. The eco- nomic motive to the war had a still wider scope. The rise of Peir- raeus had destroyed the prosperity of Aegina and was choking the industrial and commercial life of both Megara and Corinth. Athen- ian supremacy at sea threatened to cut Peloponnese off from the rest of the world. In a congress of Sparta's allies, deputies from Corinth clearly described this situation: "Those among us who have ever had dealings with the Athenians do not require to be warned against them; but such as live inland and not on any maritime highway should clearly understand that, if they do not protect the seaboard they will not be able to carry their produce to the sea, or to receive in exchange the goods which the sea gives to the land. They should not lend a careless ear to our words, for they nearly concern them; they should remember that if they desert the cities on the coast, the danger may some day reach them." ^ Fear of the increasing political power of Athens. The real reason for the war, however, asserts Thucydides, was not the com- plaints of allies in congress, but Sparta's " fear of the Athenians and their increasing power." * The statement is true in the sense that this was Sparta's motive, and that if she had not engaged in the war, either it would not have occurred or would have been carried on by only a few of her allies, and hence would have remained relatively insignificant. Athenian party politics as a cause. The attitude of Pericles toward the war may only be inferred from circumstances. The oligarchic opposition, disorganized by the banishment of Thucydides, had recovered strength; but not daring as yet to attack him openly, it assailed his friends and helpers. First his enemies prosecuted Pheidias on the charge of having embezzled some of the gold en- trusted to him for use on the statue of Athena. Though ready to prove his innocence, he was thrown into prison, where he died while awaiting his trial.'' Next they prosecuted Aspasia for immoral con- duct and impiety; but the tears of Pericles won the judges to a favorable verdict.^" About the same time one of his opponents pro- posed and carried a decree " for instituting legal proceedings against all persons who disbelieved in religion and held views of their own 7 Thuc. i. 120. 8 Thuc. i. 23, 88. This statement of motive seems fully justified by the aggressions of Athens in all directions, almost invariably successful during the preceding half century. 9 Probably 432; Plut. Per. 31; Diod. xii. 39. 1 f; Aristoph. Peace, 605 ff. 10 Plut. Per. 32; Athen. xiii. 56. 304 HELLENIC HISTORY regarding the heavenly bodies." As this resolution was aimed at Anaxagoras, Pericles advised the philosopher to avoid trouble by re- tiring from Athens/^ Finally they threatened Pericles himself with prosecution for embezzlement of public funds. Had they succeeded in overthrowing him, they would doubtless have attempted to set up an oligarchy and to return to political dependence on Lacedaemon. To avoid this danger, Pericles felt compelled to seek support in the industrial and commercial class, which was determined upon political expansion.^- At the same time it appeared to him that sooner or later a trial of arms with Peloponnese was inevitable. It was better, then, that it should come while he was still in the prime of life and Athens in excellent military condition. Hence he persuaded his countr}'men to oppose every concession to the Peloponnesians. The resources of the opposing powers. Knowing better than any contemporary the resources of Athens and her enemy, Pericles had ground for confidence. Arrayed against his state were the forces of nearly all Peloponnese, of the Boeotian confederacy under Theban leadership, of lesser allies in the centre and west of the peninsula. The enemy could invade Attica with a force of 30,000 heavy infantry, but could not remain long in the country because most of the Peloponnesians were small farmers, who personally tilled their lands, and because they had to bring their food supplies with them. They could devastate the fields, but could accomplish noth- ing against the strong fortifications of Athens and Peiraeus. The industr}^ and commerce of Athens would continue so long as her fleets commanded the sea. The idea of borrowing from the treasuries of Delphi and Olympia for building a Peloponnesian navy, though suggested, proved an idle dream. Against the almost total lack of public funds among the enemy, could be reckoned six thousand tal- ents stored in the treasuries on the Acropolis and an annual income from tributes and other sources amounting to about a thousand talents. Pericles' plan of conducting the war. The plan of Pericles therefore was to bring the entire population of the country, with their movable goods, into the city and permit the devastation of the fields; for an open battle with the superior force of the enemy could not be risked. Meantime with his fleet he would ravage the coasts 11 Plut. Per. iZ: Nic. 23; Ephorus, in Diod. xii. 39. 2; Diog. Laert, ii. 12 f. The pro- poser was Diopeithes, an interpreter of oracles; Aristoph. Birds, 988; Xen. Hell. iii. 3. 3. 12 Consistentlv the merchants and the urban democrats had promoted imperialism; p. 167, 201. Aftervvard Cleon (p. 306) and Hyperbolus (Aristoph. KniglUs, 1302-4), industral democrats, fa\ored expansion. Though supported by this class, Pericles repudiated the idea of conouest: Thuc. ii. 65. 7. •IS Ajax 758 u. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 305 of Peloponnese and cut off its commerce; thus while partially com- pensating the Athenians for damage to their fields, he would grad- ually force the enemy to a more favorable peace than that of 445.^ Gathering of the population into the city. The cold, calculat- ing plan of Pericles subjected Athenian nature to an excessive strain. Notwithstanding the rapid growth of city economy, the bulk of the population still resided in the country, and still depended in large part on farming. They had restored their fields and country houses after the Persian invasion; and through favoring economic condi- tions they had developed a prosperity scarcely known in any other Greek country." It is impossible for us to appreciate their fond attachment to their local shrines, whose small gods, they thought, were more sympathetic protectors than the mighty warden of the Acropolis. They gathered perforce behind the walls, where few had houses of their own, or hospitable friends. Most had to live — In a barrack, an outhouse, a hovel, a shed, In nests of the rock, where the vultures are bred. In tubs, and in huts, and in towers of the wall.^* The first year of the war, 431; the Funeral Oration. When they heard that a Peloponnesian army was ravaging the countr}', cutting down orchards and destroying the ripe grain in the fields, they longed to go forth and fight the enemy. Gathering in knots on the streets, they complained bitterly of their plight, and laid the whole blame of the war and their losses upon Pericles. The great states- man, who had despatched a fleet to ravage the Peloponnesian coast, maintained his policy at home in spite of opposition. In the autumn he persuaded the people to decree a reserve of a thousand talents, to be used only in case of an attack by sea, and of a hundred of their best triremes to be ready always for the defence of Peiraeus. In his naval operations and in diplomacy he had made real gains, and was un- doubtedly pleased with the results. ^^ After the campaign the re- mains of those who had fallen in battle during the summer were solemnly conveyed in procession to the State cemetery in Cerameicus — a beautiful spot outside the walls — and interred amid the lamen- tation of their kin, citizens and metics, women, and men. After the burial Pericles addressed the people in a Funeral Oration commented 13 p. 261 f. Thuc. ii. 16; Ox. Hell. xii. 5. 14 Aristoph. Knights, 972 ff. (Frere); cf. Thuc. ii. 17. 15 Thuc. ii. 10-33; Diod. xii. 41 f . ; Plut. Per. 33 f. 306 HELLENIC HISTORY or in an earlier chapter.^^ The custom was followed year by year throughout the war. The pestilence, 430 and after. In the second year there was the usual invasion of Attica by the Peloponnesians and the Athenian voyage of desolation along the Peloponnesian coastland. In fact these operations were as a rule repeated during the early period of the war. The season had not far advanced, however, before a ter- rible plague, beginning in Africa south of Egypt, reached Peiraeus. As no aqueduct had yet been built to the port town, the inhabitants had to depend upon cistern water; and these circumstances aggra- vated the malady. Soon it passed up between the Long Walls to Athens. The population of both cities was densely packed; they lacked the necessities of life; there was no sewerage or any efficient sanitation. The victims were seized with fierce internal fevers, ac- companied by horrible symptoms, minutely described in the pages of Thucydides. Ordinarily they died on the seventh or ninth day. To be taken with the pest meant death ; but those who almost miraculously recovered were thereafter practically immune. As is usual in such calamities, this plague called forth the noblest heroism: physicians and relatives bravely sacrificed their lives in devotion to duty or in love of kin. At the same time it awakened in Athens the most beastly appetites and passions that dwell in depraved human na- ture: We shall die tomorrow, let us yield today to every rabid desire. Fully a third of the population was swept away, and those who survived were totally unmanned. The discouragement was all the greater because at the beginning of the war Apollo had promised aid to the foe; and the people now attributed the plague to his en- mity. ^^ The end of Pericles, 429. Humbly they sought peace of Sparta; but repulsed by her, they turned against Pericles as the author of their woes. In spite of all he could say in defence of his policy, they suspended him from office and fined him. Having thus satisfied their resentment, they soon afterward reelected him general with ab- solute power. He survived the beginning of the war only two years and six months. After his death the people learned his value by bitter experience; " for he had told the Athenians that if they would 10 p. 292 ff ; Thuc. ii. 34. i7Thuc. ii. 47-58; Diod. xii. 43-5; Plut. Per. 34 f . ; Hicks and Hill, no. 55. 4700 knights and effective hoplifes perished (Thuc. iii. 87), and doubtless a larger proportion of thetes. Oracle; Thuc. i. 118; ii. 54. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 307 be patient and would attend to their navy, and not seek to enlarge their dominion while the war was going on, nor imperil the existence of the City, they would be victorious." ^* These words were un- doubtedly true; the misfortunes afterward suffered came through deviations from his policy.^"-' The silent revolution marked by his death. Thus passed away the only man who stood sufficiently high above all individuals and parties to command universal respect. In his death the eupatrids lost their hold upon the government whose leadership passed to men of the industrial class, such as Cleon the tanner, who, unable to win the powerful support of the old nobility and of the moderate class, had to resort to lower politics and cater to the baser and more brutal desires and instincts of the populace. The revolution, thus silently effected, was as great as the century-long conflict at Rome which opened the consulship to the plebeians, and in its immediate consequences far more sweeping; for in her war with Peloponnese Athens lost through the death of Pericles centralization of leadership and continuity of jwlicy.-" The economic burden of the war. The details of the various expeditions of the earlier years of the war, small defeats and victories, the capture or loss of points of vantage, have little interest for the student of Greek life. To the majority of the population, as ex- plained above, the war was a grievous affliction, aggravated by the plague, which in a less violent form recurred annually for several years. The income of citizens and State was vastly diminished. No land could be tilled beyond the neighborhood of Athens and Peiraeus; the work in the mines of Laurium nearly ceased; and in spite of the Athenian naval supremacy, commerce was hampered by buccaneers and by the squadrons of the enemy. The port dues correspondingly shrank, while the delinquencies in the tributes accumulated, and the ■dues from Caria were collected only by military expeditions, which sometimes ended in disaster. Whereas the revenues diminished, the the expenses enormously increased. For a time the difference was met by loans from the funds of Athena and of the other Gods, at the rate of about eight hundred talents a year. In 428 Lesbos, which alone with Chios had remained an independent ally, revolted. In the face of this new peril, and of the rapid melting away of the reserve, the 18 Thuc. ii. 65. i« Thuc. ii. 59-65; Diod. xii. 45 f . ; Plut. Per. 35 f. Suspension of a magistrate; p. 248. 20 Thuc. ii. 65; Diod. xii. 46; Plut. Per. 37-9. 308 HELLENIC HISTORY Athenians for the first time in the war resorted to a direct tax for raising two hundred talents, which was probably repeated during the next two years. Relative to the expenses the sum was slight, but it weighed heavily upon unproductive lands, and on citizens already loaded down with expensive public services.-^ Longings for peace. Under these circumstances the feelings of the Athenians toward the war were so mixed as to be difficult of analysis. Undoubtedly the intellectuals and the landed aristocracy longed for peace. Most farmers of moderate wealth would gladly have received their discharge from hoplite service, and be granted the opportunity in peace to reestablish their ruined fields.^- Rapidly as the growth of their civilization with its humane spirit, a love of peace and of her occupations had permeated all classes. In the first year of the war Euripides could address the Athenians as inhabitants of a country preeminently of peace, wisdom, harmony, music, and love : — O happy the race in the ages olden Of Erechtheus, the seed of the blesc Gods' line, In a land unravaged, peace-enfolden, Aye quaffing of Wisdom's glorious wine, Ever through air clear-shining brightly, As on wings uplifted, pacing lightly, Where Harmonia, they tell, of the tresses golden Grew, sown by the Muses, the stainless Nine.^s Militaristic motives. The desire of gain, however, helped keep the war going. Merchants and mechanics expected to suffer little from it, and might hope to extend their business through conquests, while the poor found a livelihood in naval service, or looked to the enlargement of the empire for increased tributes and a lengthened pay-roll.-"* Throughout the masses of citizens the patriotic motive was strong, and added to it was a thirst for vengeance on the in- vaders of their fields. In their eyes one who dares speak of peace is a traitor : — 21 Military details; Thuc. ii. 66 ff. ; Diod. xii. 46 ff. Carian tributes; Thuc. ,ii. 69; iii. 19. Treasury of Athena and the Other Gods; H. Civ. no. 105. Expenses; Cavaignac, L'Histoire fiitanc, 1, 15 ff. Direct tax; Thuc. iii. 19. Lesbian revolt; iii, 2-19; Anst. Polit. V. 3. 6, 1304 a. 22 Aristoph. Acharmans and Peace abound in these sentiments; cf. Eunp. Orestes, 918 ff. ; Suppliants, 4?0 ff . ; Isoc. Areop. 52 f. 2.3 Mcdca, 826 ff. , , „ , „ 24 Cleon's majority arc commercial and indu'itrial class — leather-sellers, honey-sellers, cheese-mongers; Cornford, Thucycides Mythhistoricus, (London, 1907) p. 22. Peace: 296, 503 (farmers alone favor peace). Militaristic, Caldwell, Hellenic Conceptions of Peace, p. 90 f.; 93, 99 f. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 309 Who has dared, Father Zeus! Gods of Heaven! to make a truce? Who has pledged faith with those who are evermore our foes? Upon whom war 1 mai'. The Athenians had had it in their means with wise management to build up a lasting power, the strongest in Hellas, to win recognition of their political leadership from many or all the other Greeks, and to lift their race to a political destiny worthy of its civilization. All these possibilities they sacrificed to a scheme of conquest ill-conceived and managed with obstinate folly. As a far-off result of their failure the political supremacy of the world was to pass to a people who lacked the Hellenic refinement and brain power, but who practically showed greater respect for the rights of others. i;i Thuc. vii. 16-20, 27-35; Ox Hell. U. 4; Dioa. xiu. 9; Plut. Nic. 2C t. 14Thuc. vii. 42-74; Diod. xiii. 10-18. IsThuc. vii. 75-87; Diod. xiii. 18 f . ; Plut. Nic. 26-9. 322 HELLENIC HISTORY III. The Last Years of the War Feelings of the Athenians; a new system of taxation, 412. For a time the Athenians at home could not believe that a disaster so great had befallen them. When, however, they came to appreciate the truth, they vented their rage upon the orators and the soothsayers who had persuaded them to the expedition. At first they were dejected by the utter hopelessness of the situation, their want of men, money, and ships; but soon their elastic spirits rose, and they determined to persist against all odds. To increase their revenue to the uttermost without seeming to add new burdens to their allies, they displaced all tributes by a customs duty of five per cent, on imports and exports throughout the empire. This system remained to the end of the war.^'' A universal coalition against Athens. The Hellenes eagerly jtlocked to the Lacedaemonian standard in the hope soon of trampling upon the common foe. The Persian king, on condition of recovering the Greek cities of Asia Minor, gave money and promised the aid of a Phoenician fleet. The maritime allies began to revolt against Athens, and the victorious navy of Syracuse appeared in Aegean waters. But the persistence of the Athenians stripped of resources, against these overwhelming odds during a period of eight years, is evidence of an almost indomitable will.^" Democracy curbed; the probouli, 412-11. The Sicilian disaster had a serious effect on Athenian politics. There had always been a strong minority opposed to popular government; recent misfortunes strengthened their hands by seemingly proving the worthlessness of democracy, and for the time being the majority recognized the need of a modification of the constitution. The most crying demand was for a responsible magistracy. The people accordingly instituted a board of ten probouli — Committee of Public Safety — to be filled by mature men annually elected. They were to take the place of the prytaneis in initiating administrative measures, to control finance, and to attend to the building and the equipment of the navy. This whole- some reform was largely stultified by the choice of elderly men, like the poet, Sophocles, who lacked resolution and energy.^* 16 Thuc. vii. 28. 4; cf. Busolt, Griech. Gesch. III. 1407 f. This measure had been adopted in the previous year, and was now carried into effect. 17 Thuc. vii. 1 ff, ; Died. xiii. 34, 36 ff. 18 Earlier oligarchic strivings; p. 117 ff., 313 f. The probouli; Thuc. viii. 1. 3; Arist. Const. Ath. 29. 2; Bekker, A need. I. 298. 25; Aristoph. Lysutrate, 387 ff. (presented m 411). Council restricted by the probouli; Aristoph. Thfsniophoriaeusae, 808 f. ; Arist. Rhet- oric, iii. 18, 1419 a; Lysias, Eratosth. 65. First elected for 412-11; H. Civ. p. 346, n. 3. SICILIAN EXPEDITION: LAST YEARS OF WAR 323 An oligarchic plot in the army, 411. I'he first decisive step toward abolishing the democracy, however, was taken by an oligarchic club of officers in the army then encamped in Samos. Their leading motive was to secure for themselves the place in the government to which in their opinion their rank entitled them. At the same time they were receiving overtures from Alcibiades. It chanced that, having fallen out with Agis, king of Lacedaemon, he had passed over to tlae Persians and was now plotting his return to Athens. With no hope of a recall through the democracy, he promised the Athenians at Samos that if they should set up an oligarchy, Tissaphernes, satrap of Sardis, would transfer the Persian support from Lacedaemon to Athens. Though groundless the promise had its effect. ^^ Oligarchic plottings in Athens. Peisander and other envoys from the Club at Samos repaired to Athens, and against a storm of indignation proposed an oligarchy with a view chiefly to winning Persian favor. At the same time he joined with Antiphon, a legal adviser, the brain of the impending revolution, in organizing the oligarchic clubs which had existed in Athens from immemorial time. It was their policy to intimidate tlie multitude by assassinating their leaders.-" Establishment of an oligarchy of the Four Hundred, 411. In a visit to Alcibiades, Peisander discovered that the wily exile had merely been tricking him with promises. Nevertheless on his return to Athens he proceeded with the establishment of an oligarchy. Ter- rorized by assassinations, the citizens permitted the institution of a council of Four Hundred, who should appoint officials and conduct the administration with absolute power. As a sop to the moderates this form of government was termed provisional, and there was pro- posed a " definitive " constitution, under which the sovereignty was to be held by the five thousand wealthiest citizens organized in four great councils rotating annually. Some features of this constitution were borrowed from Boeotia. It is a noteworthy fact that the leaders of the oligarchic movement were neither eupatrids nor experienced politicians. They were educated men, who having learned their pol- itics in the schools of the sophists, were now engaged in political experimentation. Normally the Athenian constitution was an aggre- gate of traditional customs modified by written laws. Now for the l9Thuc. viii. 45-8; Plut. Ale. 25 f. 20 Thuc. viii. 48-56, 63-6. 324 HELLENIC HISTORY first time, as could be expected of sophists, it was a document; both the provisional and definitive constitutions were written. The lead- ing oligarchs intended by deferring the call for the Five Thousand to keep the Four Hundred permanently in power. A commendable feature of the new system was the abolition of all pay for civil ser- vices, except to the nine archons and the prytaneis for the time being, and the devotion of the entire revenue to the war.^^ The rule of the Four Hundred; Alcibiades recalled, 411. The Four Hundred proved unprincipled, unpatriotic, and incompetent. They could maintain themselves in no other way than by terrorism and secret murder; they offered to buy peace of Lacedaemon at any price, and their weakness lost Euboea to the enemy. No sooner had their position grown insecure than they split into two factions. The ex- tremists were led by Antiphon, Peisander and one or two others. The moderates followed Theramenes, who had been largely instrumental in establishing the Four Hundred, but whose ideal was a limitation of the franchise to those who could equip themselves for service in the heavy infantry. His faction was supported by the troops at Samos, who having overthrown their oligarchic leaders, elected Thrasybulus, an able and undoubted patriot, to the generalship, re- called Alcibiades, and placed him in chief command. A democrat once more, Alcibiades stood ready to devote his extraordinary talents to repairing the havoc he had wrought in his country's fortunes. These circumstances emboldened Theramenes and the moderates to overthrow the Four Hundred, after its rule of four months, and to establish in power nominally the Five Thousand, in reality all above the thetic census. ^- Command of Alcibiades, 411-07; battle off Cyzicus, 410. Un- der the weak rule of the Four Hundred the war, which hitherto had been limited to the Aegean, extended to the Hellespontic allies of Athens. Thus her resources were further lessened. In that quarter, however, Alcibiades gained a brilliant victory over the enemy off Cyzicus. Their entire fleet was taken or destroyed, and Mindarus, their commander, was killed. A despatch sent by the second in com- mand, but intercepted on its way to Sparta, read: " Ships gone, Mindarus dead; the men starving; at our wits' end what to do." 21 Thuc. viii. 67-70; Arist. Const. Ath. 29-32. Aristotle drew his constitutional material frona documents, and therefore in cases of irreconcilable differences with Thucydides in such matters, he is to be preferred. Lvsias ( ?), For Polystratus, adds important facts. 22 Thuc. viii. 70-Sl ; Diod. xiii. 37: Plut. Ale. 26. SICILIAN EXPEDITION: LAST YEARS OF WAR 325 The Spartans now offered peace on the l^asis of the status quo; but the Athenians, led by Clcophon the lyre-maker, rejected the terms. It proved to be a great mistake; but they were unduly elated by the victory and by their hope in Alcibiadcs.-'"' Complete restoration of the democracy, 410. It was doubtless under the impression of the victory that the Athenians restored the complete democracy and required every citizen to take a solemn oath to support it. About the same time they appointed a commission to revise various public and criminal laws and to inscribe them on stone. Among the products of their labor we have preserved a mu- tilated inscription of Draco's laws of homicide and a still more frag- mentary statute for defining the judicial competence of the Five Hun- dred and of the assembly. About the same time, as the revenues were increasing, the Athenians reintroduced pay for official service, and began to celebrate the festivals with the old splendor, in spite of the fact that the soldiers and sailors, in default of pay, had often to plunder the allies. The extreme want of the poor in the City, verging upon starvation, led to the distribution of two obols daily among the most needy. The revenue, however, soon dwindled and poverty in- creased.-* Cyrus and Lysander at the seat of war, 408. The temporary success of Athens was partly due to the vacillation and rivalry of the satraps, Tissaphemes of Sardis and Phamabazus of the Helle- spontic region. In 408 Darius sent Cyrus, the younger of his two sons, to take the satrapy of Sardis with large powers in order to give all possible aid to the Peloponnesians. The young man brought great ambition and unusual intelligence to the work. In the same year there came from Sparta to the seat of war Lysander, an able commander and crafty manager of men. His ultimate object was nothing less than a throne at Sparta. To reach the goal of his po- litical hope, he needed military renown and an army devoted to him- self. In brief, he was the Spartan counterpart of Alcibiades. Cyrus readily fell under his influence.-^ Battle off Notium, 407; retirement of Alcibiades. In the fol- lowing year Lysander defeated an Athenian fleet off Notium. Dur- 23 Operations in the late months of 411; Thuc. viii. 98-109. Cyzicus; Xenophon, Hel- lenica, i. 1. 1-23; Diod. xiii. 49-51; Plut. Ale. 28; Polyaenus i. 40. 9. 24 Democratic restoration; B. Civ. no. 77; IG. I. 57; Andoc. Myst. 96. The diobely (dis- tribution of two obols); Arist. Const. Ath. 28; Polit. ii. 7. 19, 1267 b; Aeschines, Faithless Embassy, 76. It began in 410-9; Ditt. I. no. 109. ^ , . 25 Xen. Hell. i. 4 f. ; Anabasis i. 9 et pass, (character of Cyrus); Plut. Lysander, 1^; Theopomp. FHG. I. p. 281. 21 f. 326 HELLENIC HISTORY injT the absence of Alcibiades his lieutenant Antiochus had ventured battle contrary to orders, and lost fifteen ships of war. It was a mortal blow to the ascendancy of Alcibiades. Forgetting his uniform success against overwhelming foes during the past four years, the Athenians, misled by his enemies, defeated his candidacy for the following year. Fearing to return home, he retired to the castles on the Hellespont and Propontis which he had prepared against such a contingency, and from which he quietly reviewed the further opera- tions of the war.-® The battle of Arginusae, 406. Both parties put forth Herculean efforts in the hope of deciding the struggle in one more campaign. Callicratidas, supplanting Lysander, commanded a hundred and twenty ships. The Athenians under eight generals met him with a hundred and fifty triremes near the islands of Arginusae. In no other naval battle between Greeks were so many ships and men en- gaged. It was a complete victory for Athens. Seventy vessels of the Peloponnesians with their crews, amounting to fourteen thousand men and including their commander, were lost. The Athenians lost twenty-five ships with at least two thousand sailors, who failed of rescue because of a storm. In grief and indignation over the death of so many kinsmen and fellow-citizens, the Athenians at home deposed the commanders from office, and brought to trial before the assembly the six who ventured to return to the City. In violation of the constitution they by a single vote condemned the accused to death. Among these victims of popular fury was Pericles, the son of Pericles and Aspasia."^ Battle of Aegospotami, 405. After another vain effort to negoti- ate peace with Athens, Lacedaemon again sent Lysander to the seat of war; and the Athenians despatched against him their last possible fleet manned with their last available crews. A hundred and eighty Athenian ships confronted two hundred of the Peloponnesians in the Hellespont. The Athenian fleet, stationed on the European side at the mouth of the Aegospotami river, was taken by surprise while the crews were searching for provisions on shore. Possibly one or more of their generals betrayed the fleet into Lysander's hands. At all events it was for him a bloodless victory'. The Athenian prisoners were massacred. Conon, one of the generals, escaped to Cyprus with 26Xen. Hell. i. 5. 11-18; Diod. xiii. 71-4; Plut. Ale. 35 f. ; Lys. 5. 27 Xen. Hell. i. 6; Diod. xiii. 97-100. rondemnation of the generals; Xen. Hell. i. 7; ii. 3. 32, 35; Memorabilia, i. 1. 18; Diod. xiii. 101-3. SICILIAN EXPEDITION: LAST YEARS OF WAR 327 eight ships, having sent the official trireme Paralus to Peiraeus with the sad news.^* The Athenians receive the news. It was night when the Paralus reached Athens with her evil tidings, on receipt of which a bitter wail of woe broke forth. From Peiraeus, following the line of the Long Walls up to the heart of the City, it swept and swelled, as each man to his neighbor passed on the news. On that night no man slept. There was mourning and sorrow for those that were lost, but the lamentation for the dead was merged in even deeper sorrow for themselves, as they pictured the evils they were about to suffer, the like of which they had themselves inflicted on the Melians — who were colonists of the Lace- daemonians — when they mastered them by siege; or on the men of Histiaea, on Scionc and Torone, on the Aeginetans and on many other Hellenes.^^ Exhaustion of Athens; measures of desperation. The resolu- tion, passed next day, to put the city in condition to endure a siege, could not long avail; for Athens had no ships, men, or money, with which to resist. All her remaining allies revolted excepting Samos, to whom in gratitude she granted her citizenship ^° Had this spirit of liberty been adopted at the beginning of the war, the result would have been far different. No prudence now, however, could rescue the city from her enemies. Arriving with his fleet, Lysander blockaded the ports, while Agis closely invested the city by land. Even then no one dared speak of submission while negotiations for peace involved some hope of fair terms. Peace, 404, In a Peloponnesian congress many allies, led by Corinthians and Thebans. proposed to blot Athens out of existence, and to enslave her citizens. " The Lacedaemonians replied that they would never reduce to slavery a city which was itself an integral part of Greece, and had performed a great and noble service to Hellas in the most perilous of emergencies." ^^ The Lacedaemonians were probably actuated, too, by the desire to maintain in central Greece a counterpoise to Thebes, whose self-aggrandizement had for some time been exciting their suspicion.^- In accordance with the views of Sparta the following terms of peace were proposed: " That the Long Walls and the fortifications of Peiraeus should be destroyed; that the Athenian fleet with the exception of twelve ships should be surren- dered; that the exiles should be restored; and lastly that the Athenians 28 Xen. Hell. ii. 1; Diod. xiii. 104-6; Plut. Lys. 7-13; Ale. 36 f . ; Nepos, Lys. 8; Polyaen. i. 45. 2. 160 ships were captured. 29 Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 3. 30 H. Civ. no. 75; Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 6. 31 Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 20. See also §19; O.x. Hell. 12. 2; Plut. Lys. 19. 32 Botsford, in Pol. Sci. Quart. XV. 294. 328 HELLENIC HISTORY should acknowledge the headship of Lacedaemon in peace and war, leavino; to her the choice of friends and foes, and following her lead by land and sea." ^^ Necessarily Athens accepted the terms, for her people were starving, and from her position as the first power in Hellas she sank to a second-rate dependency of Sparta. 33 Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 20. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, 463-513; Grote, chs. Ivii-lxvi ; Holm, II, 411-422, 466-515; Meyer, IV, 496-666; Beloch, II, 354-432; Busolt. Ill, 1272-1638; Freeman, History of Sicily, II, ch. vii. III ch. viii ; Cavaignac, II, 141-183; Croiset, Aristophanes and the Political Parties at Athens (Tr. by Loeb). (Macmillan, 1909), 115-163; Beloch, Attische Politik scit Pericles (Leipzig, 1884), chs. iii-v; Whibley, Polit- ical Parties at Athens (Cambridge: University Press, 1889); Calhoun, Athen- ian Clubs in Politics and Litigation (University of Texas, 1913). A "HERMES" SOCRATES (CapitoHne Museum, Rome) CHAPTER XX A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 431-404 Summary of Periclean culture. The culture of the age of Peri- cles rested essentially on traditional belief purified by an expanding intelligence and humanism — belief in the power, wisdom, and good- ness of the Gods, in the superiority of the fathers in all the elements of manhood, in the beneficence of the heroes of old, eternal models for men, and closely connected with them a lofty ideal of philanthropy, of protecting the weak and unfortunate from the assaults of brute strength, lastly in the all-comprehensive perfection of the State to whose good the citizens are to subordinate their individual interests and devote their lives alike in war and peace. Growth of individualism. Into that culture, however, there had been implanted a germ which was to prove most deadly to Greek ideals, while maturing to a civilization essentially modern in charac- ter and fruitage. It is to the earlier stage of this growth that the .320 330 HELLENIC HISTORY present chapter is devoted. The modernizing principle, grafted as it were upon the tree of Hellenic life, was individualism. In its planting and nurture the sophists were undoubtedly but the directors of a general movement of thought; yet adherence to the traditional was so widespread and so strong that throughout the period of the war the new tendencies struggled with the old in a conflict fiercer and deadlier than was the strife of battle between Athenians and Peloponnesians. The growth of theatrocracy. While the masses, as will hereafter be explained, held firmly to the traditional religion, in other fields they were readier for modern ideas. With their approbation the statuesque oratory of Pericles gave way to Cleon's theatrical delivery. Girding up his himation, he strode up and down the bema, haranguing in a loud voice and vilifying his opponents ; thus " he corrupted the people by his impulsive manners." ^ Similarly in the theatre the audience, forgetting that they were present to receive instruction, made themselves judges of the music and the poetry. " In this way the theatres from being mute have become vocal, as though they had understanding of good and bad in music and poetry; and instead of an aristocracy, an evil sort of theatrocracy has grown up. . . . Con- sequent upon this freedom comes the other freedom, of disobedience to rulers; and then the attempt to escape the control and exhortation of father, mother, elders, and when near the end, the control also of the laws." ^ This license, however, this disobedience to authority, affected the social classes in proportion to their rank: it demoralized the knights and in a less degree the heavy infantry, whereas the poor maintained unimpaired their prompt, orderly obedience to their super- intendents and teachers in the gymnastic contests and choruses, and to their officers in naval service.^ The blame for the relaxation of self- restraint is laid by the ancients upon their political and intellectual leaders. The people were enticed by demagogues from their ideals of philanthropy, conceived by Aeschylus and brought into public life by Pericles, to a policy of brute force in the government of allies and of narrow, material selfishness in the extension of their power.^ From the habits of the fathers, the wealthy departed most widely in 1 Plut. Ti. Gracch. 2; Aristoph. Knights, pass.; Arist. Const. Ath. 28. 3. Like Plato (see n. below) Aristotle here takes the standpoint of an artist. 2 Plat, Laws, iii. 700. 3 Xen. Met)!, iii. 5. 19. 4 With the Funeral Oration of Pericles (Thuc. ii. 40) contrast the speeches of Cleon and Diodotus (Thuc. iii. 37^8) and the negotiations with the Melians (Thuc. v. 85 ff.). A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 331 huilding for themselves more sumi)tuous homes, with colonnades in front, adorned with mural paintings and supplied with comfortable furniture. Paying more careful attention to their food, they engaged expert cooks, and multiplied the number of dainty dishes. ''' These, however, were l)Ut the promise of a home luxury, which was to grow and expand during the following century. Deterioration of music. These beginnings of modem life in the masses were stimulated by their educators, the composers of music and song. " They were men of genius but had no perception of what is iust and lawful in music."*' Melodies were mixed and misap- plied. The classic standard fell before the onslaught of " rag-time," and the new music misdirected the people to individualistic paths. The last great lyrist of Hellas was Bacchylides; after him the decline of the chorus went hand in hand with the dissolution of the rhythmic life of the city-state. Interest in public affairs waned; the market- place thronged with idle gossipers while the dwindling company of patriots assembled on the Pnyx. Among the well-to-do was forming a class of men who shunned politics to pursue their own pleasures, or to avoid contact with cobblers, tanners, and hucksters, with the alleged coarse manners and unreasoning will of the multitude.'^ Euripides, about 481-406. His first tragedy, 455. The great exponent of the new spirit, of the new humanism, was the poet Euripides. * His life was contemporary with the manhood of Sopho- cles; his activity, beginning with the age of Pericles, terminated shortly before the end of the Peloponnesian war; and yet an age seems to separate him from Sophocles. In the older poet beats the heart of Hellenism; his younger contemporary is distinctly the first of the moderns. A careful education in literature and athletics was followed by a brief devotion to the painter's brush, which gave him an appre- ciation of landscape and art noticeable in his plays. Particularly he studied the philosophers and sophists, and was among the first to collect a library.^ It is equally characteristic of him that he held aloof from public life, to apply his whole energy to the composition of plays — through no disparagement of politics but in the conscious- ness that his own mission was superior to any civic achievement of 5 Xen. Mem. iii. 8. 8-10; iii. 14. 6 Plat. Laws, iii. 700. 7 Aristoph. Acharn. 1 ff . ; Xen. Mem. ii. 1. 8 f. ; iii. 7. 8 A short Vita is prefixed to his works; also Satyrus, Life of Euripides (Hellenistic age), in Ox. Pap. ix. no. 1176. 9 Aristoph. Frogs, 943, 1409; Athen. i. 4. 332 HELLENIC HISTORY the individual. The apostle of humanism, he issued his dramas as epistles to mankind. His message was the moral and spiritual in- terpretation of the utterance of Protagoras: Man is the measure of all things. ^° The keen intellect and the sensitive conscience, devel- oped by a mar\'ellous civilization, are presented with all the artistic allurements of dramatic genius as the standards whereby to judge truth and right on earth and in heaven. Casting off from traditional moorings, he pilots mankind over the surging seas of thought and emotion; he bares the storm-tossed heart; but his ship reaches no haven, he finds no balm for the wounds he has opened. His sympathy with the less fortunate classes. He descends to the level of common folk, to sympathize with beggars and cripples, with women and slaves. The poet of the submerged majority of human kind found it no small part of his task to express the yearn- ings of Athenian women for a larger life and in a measure to create a sentiment in favor of their amelioration. Periclean women. The spirit of the Periclean age subordinated ever>'thing to the glory and the greatness of Athens. As women could not fight, and lacked the right to vote, that spirit tended to restrict them to the narrow but invaluable function in which the state was interested — the sphere of the mother of citizens and soldiers. The statute of 151 enhanced the value of Athenian women; the aim was an exclusive body of citizens based upon racial purity.^^ While the value of woman within the house was accordingly accentuated, her influence outside was depreciated and repressed. The chief object of her isolation, limited mainly to the wealthier class, was to keep her pure from contact with a brutal world. With the growing refine- ment of the age men became conscious of their own sinfulness, of the immoral propensities of their social nature, of the consequent tempta- tions to which their sisters and daughters wouuld be exposed, should they be suffered to participate unrestrained in the society of men. With almost fanatical zeal, therefore, the higher social class, distrust- ing the strength of woman's character, segregated the sexes, to shield her from brutality and corruption. Restrictions on woman's freedom. Women could walk abroad in the city, but only when attended by their female slaves. They were free to call upon one another, to join in their own religious holi- 10 p. 278 f. up. 292. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 333 days and under due rejj;ulations to participate in the great festi- vals of the city. Hiey could not decorously sit at table even in their own house when guests, outside their near kinsmen, were present; only at funeral feasts did they occasionally meet the intimate friend? of father or husband. We should not lose sight of the fact that, be- yond the circle of near kin, men were as completely debarred from the society of respectable women, as they from social intercourse wi.h men. The lives of women, however, were relatively cramped. An ideal of resignation, of narrow though noble duty, was formulated for them by Pericles in an official utterance: " Great will be your glory, if you do not lower the nature within you — hers most of all whose praise or blame is least bruited on the lips of men." ^^ Self-sacrificing women. The majority of women were ready to meet the demand upon them by resignation and self-sacrifice. This spirit finds expression in the Alcestis of Euripides, presented in 438. The heroine goes voluntarily to death to save her husband's life, coward and weakling as he was. The poet holds her up as a model matron, and after death a kindly saint: " Let Hades know, that swarthy god, and that old man who sits to row and steer alike at his death-ferry that he hath carried o'er the lake of Acheron a woman peerless amid her sex. Oft to thee the Muses' votaries shall sing on the seven-stringed mountain shell and in hymns that need no harp, glorifying thee oft as the season in his cycle cometh round at Sparta, in that Carnean month when all night long the moon sails overhead, yea and in radiant Athens, haj^py town. So glorious a theme hath thy death be- queathed to tuneful bards. ^3 We loved her while she was with us, we love her still though dead. . . . Her tomb let none regard as the graves of those who die and are no more; but let her have honors equal with the Gods, revered by every traveller; and many a one will cross the road and read this verse aloud: 'This is she that died in days gone by to save her lord; now is she a spirit blest. Hail, lady revered, be kind to us.' Such glad greet- ing shall she have." ^* This absolute devotion to duty, this complete readiness for self- effacement, met with wide appreciation among the Hellenes. Iphi- geneia of Aulis is equally ready to sacrifice her life that Hellas may win the victory over foreigners; man she esteems of more value to her country than ten thousand women.^^ Women of rebellious spirit. Naturally all was not humility 12 Funeral Oration, in Thuc. ii. 45. 2. isEurip. Alcesiis, 439 ff. (H. Civ. no. 96). 14 Eurip. Alcest. 991 ff. 15 Eurip. Iphigeueia at Aulis, 1368 ff., 1394. 334 HELLENIC HISTORY within the ranks of Athenian women. Many chafed under the re- striction that cut them off from the larger life of the City; a few perhaps were ready for rebellion. All the spirit of discontent with their narrow life, their hated environment, the poet concentrates and intensifies in his Medea, whom he presented to the public in 431. This fiery spirit, hurling defiance at her oppressors, foretells the time when militant feminism shall stand triumphant, her foot on the neck of prostrate man, her genius attuning all song and story to the new conditions. Back turns the wave on the ever running river; Life, life is changed and the laws of it o'ertrod, Man shall be the slave, the affrighted, the low-liver! Man hath forgotten God. And woman, yea woman, shall be terrible in story: The tales, too, meseemeth, shall be other than of yore. For a fear there is that cometh out of woman and a glory And the hard hating voices shall encompass her no more. The old bards shall cease and their memory that lingers Of frail brides and faithless, shall be shriveled as with fire. For they loved us not, nor knew us, and our lips were dumb, our fingers Could wake not the secret of the lyre. Else, else O God the singer, I had sung amid the rages A long story of man and his deeds for good and ill. But the world knoweth — 'tis the speech of all his ages — Man's wrong and ours; he knoweth and is still. Capabilities. In an intellectual movement for her emancipation, beginning with Euripides and culminating in the Republic of Plato, the first thing noticeable was her great capabilities even though for mischief, for evil : — There is no scourge dread as woman is; No painting could portray her hideousness Nor speech declare. If this thing by some God Was moulded, greatest fashioner of ills And most malevolent to man was he.^^ This power for evil, however, she exercises against the men who wrong her or her kinsfolk, " grim to her foes and kindly to her friends." In her the place of reckless valor has been usurped by prudence: " Full oft even from woman's lips issue words of wis- 16 Eurip. Frag. 1059 (Nauck), the sentiment probably of someone who overestimated the strength of an intended victim. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 335 dom." Some, too, are capable of higher culture, as many undoubt- edly as among men : — Full oft ere this my soul hath scaled Lone heights of thought, empyreal steeps, Or plunged far down the darkling deeps, Where woman's feebler heart hath failed. Yet wherefore failed? Should woman find No inspiration fill her breast, Nor welcome ever that sweet guest Of song, that uttereth Wisdom's mind? Alas, not all ! few, few are they — Perchance amid a thousand one Thou shouldst find, — for whom the sun Of poesy makes an inner day.^' Among a few intellectuals the idea was cherished that women, if admitted to public counsels, might benefit the state by their frugal management, their caution, and their love of peace. The idea finds its first literary expression in the Lysistrate, which Aristophanes, in mingled jest and earnest, placed on the stage in 411. Lysistrate, a clever, young Athenian matron, organizes the women of Athens, Boeotia, and Peloponnese in a scheme for forcing the men to peace. Naturally she has to use much argument with her lady friends : — Calonice. What can we women do? What brilliant scheme Can we pcor souls accomplish who sit Trimmed and bedizened in our saffron silks, Our cambric robes, and little finical shoes? Lysistrate. Why, they're the very things I hope will save us, Your saffron dresses, and your finical shoes. Your paints and perfumes, and your robes of gauze. Cal. How mean you, save us? Lys. So that nevermore Men in our day shall lift the hostile spear. ^^ Deserting their homes and husbands, accordingly, they seize the Acropolis, and refuse to return to their matronly duties until peace is firmly established. It is not merely for securing a treaty that the women come forward in this play, but for expressing the poet's best sentiments of brotherly love among the Hellenes, which should create IT Chorus of Corinthian women, Eurip. Medea, 1081-89. Not so great a proportion of men composed music and literature. 18 H. Civ. no. 100 (Aristoph. Lysistrate, 42 ff.). The shoes here mentioned were a kind of slipper which the Athenian women considered attractive. CYBELE (Metropolitan Museum of Art) ATHENA NIKE TEMPLE 55 Ajax 758 ff. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 337 an everlasting peace, and of a wise liberality in admittinfj the allies to Athenian citizenship. Such intellectual agitation for the rights of women was carried farther in the following centur}% but wholly failed to become political.^" Religion : alien cults. The spirit that strove to enlarge the liberty of women wrought more powerfully to break the supremacy of tra- ditional faith. To the native gods were added the strange deities y brought in by the swarms of foreign traders, metics, and slaves. Be- side the official mysteries of Eleusis were introduced the more exciting mysteries from barbaric Samothrace. From Phrygia came Cybele, the Great Mother, to take up her abode in Athens as well as in many other towns. The Metroon, her shrine near the Council Hall, held the public archives. In her worship processions, with beating drums and clashing cymbals, moved noisily through the streets. Likewise from Cyprus came the divine youth, Aphrodite's companion Adonis, whose untimely death sympathetic women lamented with piercing wails in yearly festival.^" Many in brief were the newcoming gods from Thrace, Phrygia, or the Orient, with their strange priests and curious rites, emotional and noisy, or secret and mystical. All alike were individualistic in contrast with the recognized civic cults. Scorned by the educated and the conservative, such innovations tended to loosen the hold of the community on its hereditary gods. Rationalism: Euripides* treatment of myths. A far more active dissolvent was rationalism. While treating with notable for- bearance the myths that formed not only the tragic poet's stock in • trade but the background of his countrj^'s history, Euripides gives us to understand that many supernatural powers, traditionally assumed, have no real existence. The Furies that goad Orestes are but the creations of an excited mind.-^ Homer had made the gods responsi- ble for the good and evil acts of men; Euripides rejects the whole theory. That Helen followed Paris to Troy no goddess should be blamed : — All folly is to men their Aphrodite; Sensual, senseless, consonant they ring! Him in barbaric bravery sawest thou Gold-glittering, and thy senses were distraught.22 19 H. Civ. no. 100 (Aristoph. Lysist.)\ p. 408 below. 20 The Metroon contained an image of the Great Mother by Pheidias; Paus. i. 3. 5. In legend Adonis while hunting was killed by a wild boar. 21 Eurip. Orestes, 255-9. 22 Eurip. Daughters of Troy, 985-92. 338 HELLENIC HISTORY This rationalism reduces the deity to a force or passion; but while undennining traditional religion, it marks a moral advance in laying the responsibility for conduct upon the individual. As a class the sophists were sceptical; but they were few, and the number of men who were willing and able to pay them the required fee formed but a small fraction of the community. The drama, however, took up these advanced ideas and spread them broadcast over the audience. In this way they attained a degree of popularity. Atheism: Critias. A poet who dared openly to preach atheism would have been prosecuted without delay. Yet we find the doc- trine loudly proclaimed in a drama of Critias, composed perhaps for home reading rather than for presentation on the stage. Here is offered the theory that the gods are the invention of clever men to serve a useful purpose in society : — A time once existed when unordered was the Hfe of men and kindred to the beasts — a life enslaved to brute force, when no regard was offered to the good, nor for the bad was wrought chastisement. Then, methinks, did men establish laws as means of punishment, that Justice might be autocrat . . . and have Insolence for slave ; and penalty was meted out to any who transgressed. When the laws restrained them openly from doing deeds of force, but secretly they did them, then, methinks, some man adroit and wise conceived the notion to devise gods for mankind, that there might be awe for the bad, even if secretly they should perform or say or think (some evil). Thence did he introduce divinity: that there is a Supernal Being floiu"ishing with life imperishable and mind, hearing and seeing and think- ing, and attending to these things and bearing divine nature, who will hear all that is spoken among mortals and will perceive all that is enacted. Even if in silence thou some evil plannest, this will not escape the gods. -^ The doubts of various intellectuals. Euripides, however, while avoiding this bold stand, makes his characters the spokesmen of various doubts. The great comic poet Aristophanes, reputed ortho- dox, was freer to hold up the gods as a laughing-stock; and while professing to resist modem ideas was instrumental in spreading them. In the Knights Demosthenes doubts the existence of the gods, whereas Nicias believes in them because he is " such a god-detested wretch." -* In a lost play of Euripides the hero exclaims: " If deeds of shame gods do, no gods are they." -^ A more startling doubt springs from the lips of Talthybius: " Great Zeus! what can I say? that thine eye is over man ? or that we hold this false opinion to no purpose, think- 23 H. Civ. no. 113 (Critias, Sisyphtis, Nauck, Frag. p. 771 f.). 24 Aristoph. Knights, 32-4. 25 Belltrophon, Nauck, no. 292. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 339 iug there is any race of Gods, when it is chance that rules this mortal sphere? " -"^ While Thucydides, the historian, takes pains to prove the oracles true,-' all omens, prophecies, and soothsa}'ers suffer at the hands of the two poets. " As for birds that fly above our heads, a lon<}; farewell to them," -® whilst " the whole seer-tribe is one ambitious curse, abominal)le and useless." ^^ The burlesquing of oracles by Aristophanes must have had a disquieting effect on the audience: — Heed thou, well Erechtheides, the kidnapping Cerberus, ban-dog; Wagging his tail he stands, and fawning upon thee at dinner, Waiting thy slice to devour when aught distract thy attention. Soon as the night comes round he steals unseen to the kitchen Dog-wise; then will his tongue clean out the plates and — the islands. ^o Reasons for such parodies and criticisms. This oracle is ad- dressed to the Athenians (Erechtheides) warning them against the fawning, pilfering dog Cleon. Such parodies were inspired by the excessive pretensions of oracle-mongers, while scepticism as to the gods was largely due to an advancing moral sense and to a growing individualism which emboldened the Greeks to demand of the powers above the moral standard which men had set up for themselves. Especially reprehensible are the lawless unions of Zeus and Apollo with mortal women — once an honor to the family thus visited but now a disgrace to the gods: - O Phoebus, do not so ; but as thou art supreme, follow in virtue's track. For whosoever of mortal men transgresses, him the Gods punish. How then can it be just that ye should enact your laws for men, and yourselves incur the charge of breaking them? Now, I will put this case, though it will never happen. Wert thou, were Poseidon and Zeus, lord of Heaven, to make atonement to mankind for every act of lawless love, ye would empty your temples in paying the fines for your misdeeds. For when ye pursue pleasure in preference to the claims of prudence, ye act unjustly. No longer is it fair to call men wicked, if they imitate the evil deeds of the Gods, but rather those who gave us such examples. ^^ Failure of the gods to uphold the moral order. In many re- spects the gods seem to fail in their function of upholding justice. For such shortcomings some mortals are inclined to curse them, as- signing a selfish motive to their confusion of moral order: — 26 Eurip. Hecuba, 488-91. 27 Cf. i. 126; ii. 17. 28 Eurip. Hippolytus, 1058 f. 29 Eurip. Ipliigenca at Aulis, 520 f. .30 Aristoph. Knights, 1030-34; cf. 196 ff . ; Peace, 1045 ff. 31 Eurip. loti, 436-51 ; cf. 1520 ff. 340 HELLENIC HISTORY Naught is there man may trust, nor high repute, Nor present weal — for it may turn to woe. All things the Gods confound, hurl this way and that, Turmoiling all, that we, foreknowing naught, May worship them : what skills it to make moan For this, outrunning evils none the more? ^~ Their ways are past finding out. Others in more submissive spirit merely remark upon the inscrutability of God : — O the words of the Gods — in manifold wise they reveal them ; Maniford things unhoped-for the Gods to accomplishment bring. And the things that we looked for, the Gods deign not to fulfil them; And the paths undiscerned of our eyes, the Gods unseal them. So fell this marvellous thing. ^^ A refuge of the believer is in predestination; an apparent wrong is explained by the will of Zeus, working from of old for some purpose unknown to man.^* It is a bolder idea, perhaps a suggestion from the realm of magic, that man may compel the God, against his selfish interest, to do the right. ^^ Future life. There is the same attitude of doubt toward future life. " Man's whole existence is full of anguish; no respite from his woes he finds; but if there is aught to love beyond this life, night's dark pall doth wrap it round." ^" Death is annihilation: the body returns to earth, the breath to air; it is better so for we shall be free from trouble.^' Yet after all, this life may be mere death compared with a glorious existence beyond the grave : — Who knows if life is not a death. And death is held below to be our life.'' ^^ In brief all the unanswered questions of right and wrong, of religion and future life, that vex modern thought, turmoiled the mind of Euripides and his contemporaries. Sophistic degenerates. Meanwhile sophists without character or earnest purpose, pushing to ridiculous extremes the doctrine of Prota- goras, were asserting that everything is precisely as it appears to 32 Eurip. Hcc. 955-61; cf. Hippol. 1415. 33 Eurip. Bacchae, 1388-92; cf. Medea, 1415-19. 34 Bacch. 1344-9. 35 Ion, 365 ff. 36 Eurip. Hippol. 189 ff. 37 Daughters of Troy, 632 f. ; Heracleidae, 593 f. 38 Eurip. Nauck, no. 638. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 341 every individual. No affirmation can be false because it is impos- sible to state that which docs not exist. If a thing is true, the op- posite is equally true. Thus arose a class of disputants whose sole purpose was to confute their adversaries by quibbling with words, by fallacies of logic, and by sheer effrontery of manner."*^ The effect was to fill the right-minded with disgust of sophistry. Religion and philosophic recovery. It is not surprising there- fore that as an escape from the hopeless hul:)bub of scepticism a reac- tion should .arise toward religious and philosophic faith. Here and there through all the plays of Euripides may be found expressions of faith; and in his Bacchae, composed shortly before his death, the aged poet, totally renouncing radicalism, seeks comfort in the ancestral be- liefs : — 'Tis not for us to reason touching Gods. Traditions of our fathers, old as time, We hold: no reasoning shall cast them down, — No, though of subtlest wisdom sprung. *o The heaven he has learned to adore, however, is not the Homeric council of gods but a moral and spiritual Power to whose guidance a man may wisely subject his soul : — Thus shall a mortal have sorrowless days, if he keepeth his soul Sober in spirit, and swift in obedience to Heaven's control. Murmuring not, neither pressing beyond his mortality's goal.*! Socrates, about 469-399. A contemporary of Euripides, and a kindred spirit, was Socrates the philosopher. He was relatively poor; his estate barely enabled him to serve in the heavy infantry; and in youth he had trained as a sculptor in his father's shop. Little schooling fell to his lot; and his moderate acquaintance with existing philosophers was but incidentally gained. From early life, how- ever, he neglected his worldly affairs to devote himself to thought. He had the habit of standing for hours together, even for an entire night, staring at vacancy, totally absorbed in reasoning out a problem that chanced to interest him. Forsaking a trade which under the circumstances could have afforded him but a meager sustenance, he 3!) Plato, Euthydcmus; Aristotle, To pica (Logical Fallacies). 40 200-203. 41 Eurip. Bacch. 1002. 342 HELLENIC HISTORY devoted his entire life to the pursuit of truth. In this vocation he was encouraged by an oracle of Apollo which declared him to be the wisest of men.*- His religion. Through his whole life Socrates accepted and faith- fully practised the religion of the State, and was often seen sacriiicing at the public altars.*^ His ideas of the gods, however, were en- lightened. Whereas the many still believed that their knowledge was limited, Socrates held that they were present everywhere and knew all things.** It was equally his conviction that they communicated with men through omens and oracles. A divinity, accompanying him through life, gave him warnings which he always heeded.*^ The argument of design. His belief in the greatness and the wisdom of God was strengthened by the argument of design. The world is made for man, and every part of a human being is admir- ably adapted to a good purpose. Existing things must therefore be the handiwork of a wise artificer, full of love for all things living. As man is superior to animals, the Deity has taken especial thought for him. He is pleased with those things in us which conduce most to our well-being. Socrates drew, too, from experience that the wisest and most enduring of human institutions are the most God-fearing, and that in the individual man the riper his age and judgment, the deeper his religion.*'' It was necessary for Socrates to make his sac- rifices correspond with his small means, but he believed that the joy of the Gods is great in proportion to the holiness of the worshipper; and in the conviction that they well knew his own interest, he used to pray simply, " Give me what is best for me." *^ The charm of his personality; his preference for ethics. He was not the mere prosaic teacher of Xenophon's recollections; but in addition to an ample fund of common sense he had within him humor, imagination, intellectual power, and a love of truth so burning as to become at times ecstatic. With such qualities he fascinated his 42 Sources; Xenophon, Memorabilia, supplemented and modified by Plato's writings, especially the Apology, Symposium, and Protagoras. See also Diog. Laert. ii. 5. Carica- ture in Aristoph. Clouds. Straitened circumstances; Plato, A pal. 38 a; Republic, i. 337 d. Relations with older thinkers; Plato, Protagoras ; Gorgias ; Hippias. Long trances; Plat. Symp. 220. The oracle; Plat. Apol. 20 e; 23 a; 33 c. 43 Xen. Mem. i. 1. 2; 3. 1. nop. cit. i. 1. 19; 4. 17 f. The constant interchange of "the gods" and "god" seems to indicate a belief in one supreme being with a plurality of subordinate powers of heaven; cf. the Christian God and the angels. 45 Omens; op. cit. i. 1. 3 f . ; 3. 4. The divine voice; i. 1. 5. Xenophon represents the voice as both commanding and prohibiting, whereas Plato (e. g. Apol. 31 d. ; Phaedr. 242 b-c; Theaetrtus, 151 a) speaks of it more accurately as merely prohibitive. 46 Xen. Mem. i. 4; iv. 3. 47 Op. cit. i. 1. 3 f. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 343 young companions,*^ and some of them, especially Plato, he awakened to a life of intense mental productivity. With Socrates true knowl- edge was not simply the source but the substance of virtue; and he preferably sought that kind of truth which should determine the conduct of men — for example, " what is piety and what impiety? what is the beautiful and what the ugly? what is the noble and what the base? what are meant by iust and uniust? what by sobriety and madness? what by courage and cowardice? what is a State and what a statesman? what is a ruler over men and what a ruling character? and other similar problems." *^ The Socratic method. His method of research was through con- versation with his fellows. Wherever the crowds were thickest, there he could be found engaged in argument on his favorite subjects. It was easy for him to prove his opponent ignorant of the topic under discussion, as he was the most formidable reasoner of his age. Hav- ing thus cleared the ground, he proceeded by induction to establish precise definitions of general terms. ^° " There are two things that one would rightly attribute to Socrates: inductive reasoning and uni- versal definition. In fact these two things are the very foundation of knowledge." '''^ It was thus that, while professing ignorance on all subjects, he built up a body of ethical science which might serve as a guide to himself and to others. In assuming man to be the measure of all things, he stood on sophistic ground; but he made a vast ad- vance in pointing to the reason, rather than the senses, as the universal and eternal element in man, the infallible criterion of truth, therefore, in the realm of conduct or of nature. As intellectual education, how- ever, merely increased a man's power for evil, he was careful first of all to instruct his associates in self-control and to inspire them with a wise spirit in their relations with the Gods. Wisdom and Justice we should seek not only because of their use to us but also because they are pleasing to the Gods. The facts here cited prove his teachings to have been quite as religious as philosophic.'^- A model life. Throughout his life he gave evidence of loyalty and love for his fellow-citizens and his country. ^^ Living with rare frugality on a small estate, he charged no fee for instruction but lav- 48 Cf. Plat. Syvip. 215 e. 49 Xen. Mem. i. 1. 16. 50 Xen. Mem. i. 1. 10; cf. iv. 2. .'51 Aristotle, Mdapliysirs, xii. 4, 1078 b. 52 Cf. Xen. Mem. iv. 3. 1. 53 Xen. Mem. iv. 4. 344 HELLENIC HISTORY ished the wealth of his spirit on rich and poor alike.^* Many were his exhortations to brothers to love one another, to children to respect and obey their parents, and to citizens to be true to their country.^^ Faithfully he performed his military duties, and as chairman of the assembly he fearlessly adhered to law against popular clamor for injustice.^** It is true that he criticised the use of the lot for the appointment of officials on the ground that it brought incompetent men into public service,^' but with the general principles of democ- racy he wa.s in full sympathy. Rather than give his time to the hold- ing of offices, he chose as a higher duty the task of preparing men to serve the State in war and peace with strong bodies, clear brains, and upright hearts.'"^* History. Thucydides. The desire for serviceable knowledge, the interest in mankind, the absorption in the present, which charac- terized the intellectual movement set forth in this chapter, found notable expression in history. Thucydides was related to Miltiades. Like his kinsman Cimon, he had Thracian blood in his veins, which may help explain his virile spirit. He resembled the men of the Periclean age, not only in intensity and power of thought and style, but also in the fact that he was a man of action, as well as of words, a general in the war, who could therefore season his writings with practical experienced^ A mistake, or failure, as commander of an Athenian sciuadron in the north Aegean led to his exile in 424.'''' At the outbreak of the war, foreseeing that it would be memorable, he had begun to collect material for a history of it ; and during the twenty years of his exile he travelled about, visiting the scenes of military operations and ascertaining facts from eye-witnesses."^ Doubtless he kept a record of events, which he corrected and expanded with the accjuisition of new and more precise information. At the close of the war he undertook a final recomposition of his work from the begin- ning. It comes to an end in the course of 411, doubtless cut short by his death; and the fifth and eighth books lack his finishing touches."^ 54 op. cit. i. 2. 7, 60 f. 55 Op. cit. ii. 2-4, 6, 10. 50 Op. cit. i. 1. 18; iv. 4. 2. 57 Op. cit. i. 2. 9. r>SOp. cit. i. 2. 48; 6. 15; cf. i. 6. 9 and bk, iii entire. 5a Vita of Thucydides by an unknown author and Marcellinus, Vita of Thucydides, both prefixed to his works; also Dionysius of Halicarnassus, On Thucydides and the newly dis- covered fragments of a commentary on the historian in O.v. Pap. vi. no. 853. 60 His slowness in coming to the protection of Amphipolis; Thuc. iv. 104-7. 01 Thuc. i. I ; v. 26. fi2 Some work of revision may have followed the Peace of Nicias, 421; p. 311. The peculiarities of bk. viii may be due less to- incompleteness than to the adoption of a some- what different method of treatment. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 345 Desire for exact knowledge. A characteristic whicli jKrlKii)s first strikes the reader's attention is the desire for exact knowledge, X shared by him with Socrates and the best minds of the age. " Of the events of the war I have not ventured to speak from any informa- tion, nor according to any notion of my own; I have described nothing but what I either saw myself or learned from others of whom I made the most careful and particular inquiry. The task was a laborious one, because eye-witnesses of the same occurrences gave different accounts of them, as they remembered or were interested in the actions of one side or the other." ^^ It was partly this consideration which led him to avoid a detailed treatment of the distant past: " The charac- ter of the events which preceded (the war), whether immediately or in more remote antiquity, because of the lapse of time cannot be made out with certainty." *^* A greater motive, however, was his conviction that, as compared with the present, the past was insignificant: " For- mer ages were not great either in their wars or in anything else." ^^ " The greatest achievement was the Persian war; yet even this struggle was speedily decided in two battles by sea, and two by land." "^^ The most important event in history, as he supposed, was the Peloponnesian war. In this connection it is worthy of notice in what, according to his judgment, the greatness of an event consisted. The measure of greatness of a war. " The Peloponnesian War was a protracted struggle, and attended by calamities such as Hellas had never known within a like period of time. Never were so many cities captured and depopulated, some by foreigners, others by Hellenes themselves fighting against one another; and several of them after their capture were repeopled by strangers. Never were exile and slaughter more frequent, whether in the war or brought about by civil strife. . . . There were earthquakes unparalleled in their extent and fury, and eclipses of the sun more numerous than are recorded to have happened in any former age; there were also in some places great droughts causing famines, and lastly the plague, which did immense harm and destroyed many people." ^"^ Contrast between Thucydides and the modern historian. From this passage it appears that his criteria of the importance of events differ widely from those of our times, which estimate the significance of a war by its influence on the course of history. 63Thuc. i. 22; cf. v. 26. 64 I. 1 ; cf. i. 10. 20. 65 Thuc. i. 1, in agreement with the sophists; p. 340 f. 66 I. 23. 67 Thuc. i. 23. 346 HELLENIC HISTORY Closely related is his idea of cause, which is as widely separated from our own. In his first book he sets forth, as the antecedents of the war, the events leading up to it and particularly the mutual grievances of the parties concerned. There is no thought of seeking into what we should term underlying causes — general economic, social, and political conditions which tended to bring Athenians and Pelopon- nesians into conflict; briefly, such inquiries are a product of modern evolutionary science. " The great contrast, in fact, between axicient and modern history is this : that whereas the moderns instinctively and incessantly seek for the operation of social conditions, of economic and topological factors, and of political forces and processes of evolution, — all of which elements they try to bring vmder laws as general and abstract as possible; the ancients looked simply and solely to the feelings, motives, characters of individuals or of cities. These, and (apart from supernatural agencies) these only, appeared to them to shape the course of history." *^8 It was far from the thought of the Greeks that they were slaves of heredity and environment. With Thucydides the forces that make history are the statesmen, who consciously operate to effect a given purpose, secondarily the people especially in assembly, moved by ca- pricious feeling to a wise or a foolish resolution. The ideal republic therefore, is one like Athens in the age of Pericles, in which the best and wisest citizen is able to control the rest. The purpose of his history. To the modern historian, the choice of a war as a subject for treatment, rather than a period or a phase of historical development, might be set down as evidence of a narrow mind. To the Hellenic statesman, however, there was no more press- ing and vital interest than tlie military defence of his country; and the paramount object of Thucydides was a work that would prove serviceable to generals and statesmen. " If he who desires to have before his eyes a picture of the events which have happened, and of the like events which may be expected to happen hereafter in the order of human things, shall pronounce what I have written to be useful, then I shall be satisfied. My history is an everlasting possession, not a prize composition which is heard and forgotten." ^^ In his utilitarian motive he agrees with the sophists. The theory that his- 68 Cornford, Thucydides Mythhistoricus, 66. The quoting of Cornford does not imply an acceptance of this autlior's depreciation of Thucydides; cf. Lamb. W. R. M., Kho Enthroned, representing a sounder estimate. The advantage is not all with the mod- erns; cf. H. Civ. p. 647. yg Tliuc. i. 22 4. KriJ/xa is del probably means no more than a work of reference, to be used from time to time. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 347 tory repeats itself is not affirmed by Thucydides nor is it held by the modems. The fact is recognized, however, that to the experienced statesman a careful and extensive knowledge of past conditions is most helpful in maturing his practical judgrnent. The orations. The orations which occupy a large part of the work, are, so to speak, its soul. Usually they are given in pairs, representing the opposing views of a situation or a question for de- cision before an assembly. " As to the speeches which were made either before or during the war, it is hard for me, and for others who reported them to me, to recollect tlie exact words. I have therefore put into the mouth of each speaker the sentiments proper to the occasion, expressed as I thought he would be likely to express them, while at the same time I endeavored, as nearly as I could, to give the general purport of what was actually said." "" The lan- guage is the historian's; the ideas, so far as they could be ascer- tained, are the orators', though even here, as the actual speeches were unwritten, the historian exercised large discretion in including what he conrfdered appropriate to the occasion. Generally therefore the speeches embody the historian's conception of the situation which they present, and express most adequately his keen analytical intel- ligence. His work a model. Notwithstanding certain differences between ancient and modern conceptions of history, we may still look to Thucydides as a master in important respects unrivalled. In his own personal reserve, in the determination with which he pursues his single aim, rejecting every extraneous matter, in the relentless analysis, which lays bare the souls of individuals, of factions, of communities, in the fairness and mental placidity with which he treats of personal enemies and opposing parties, in intellectual depth, keenness and grasp, we may safely say that he has thus far no equal. Art: statuary. In art. too, we discover a development in mod- ern directions. Polycleitus, a younger contemporary of Pheidias, began his activity as a sculptor with the dawn of the Periclean age and continued to the end of the Peloponnesian war. In the fact that his athletes are a direct development from the pre-Persian " Apollos," he seems more conservative even than Myron; but we place him in this chapter because his work reveals the influence of scientific thought. 70 Thuc. i. 22. I. The Funeral Oration is an exception to the usual arrangement in pairs. 348 HELLENIC HISTORY In a treatise entitled the Carwn, on the ideal human form, he set forth his theory as to the mathematical proportions of the body. Taking the width of the middle finger as a unit, he mechanically constructed the whole human frame in multiples of this measure, and with the same scientific precision determined its pose and at- titude. The statue in bronze, made to illustrate his principle, was also termed the Canon. It is a nude athlete walking, with a spear over the left shoulder, hence called Doryphorus — " spear-bearer." The copies are in marble of Roman date, the best being in the Na- tional Museum of Naples. Undoubtedly they do ill justice to the original. The head is somewhat oblong, with scant facial expression, and the body seems to us too heavy. Apart from the general har- mony of propcrtiens we find little in these copies to admire, and we cannot understand why the Doryphorus remained the type of athlete till the period of Alexander the Great.'^ More beautiful to the modem eye is the Wounded Amazon, remarkable for the graceful attitude, the flowing line of contour, the simple beauty of the drap- ery, and in the best copy, the fine proportions of the head. Architecture : the Nike balustrade. A departure from the Peri- clean standard took place not only in statues but also in architecture and its decorative sculptures. In this period the Atlienians sur- rounded the little Nike temple with a balustrade of stone slabs, adorned with reliefs of Victories in various attitudes. Among the best-preserved of these figures, and far the most admired, is the " Nike adjusting her sandal." The change that has been introduced into art we may best appreciate by contrasting this figure with the Maidens of the Parthenon frieze."' There is a great loss in the dig- nified restraint, the austere reserve, of the Periclean age, and as great a gain in freedom of attitude, in lightness of drapery, which reveals the human form with its physical loveliness. If the art of the Parthenon exhibits the perfection of civic achievement in the sub- ordination of the citizen to the moral idea of the state — in a word, the highest reach of Hellenic civilization — the Nike sculptures equally represent the first downward step of the community toward decay and dissolution and the first step of the individual toward the free development of his personality. The Erechtheum, completed 409-7. In the later years of the 71 H. Civ. p. 552 (Pliny); Fowler and Wheeler, 234; Gardner, Principles of Greek Art, 21 f. 72 P. 272. A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 349 war when the Athenians were cramped for money and the masses were reduced to the point of starvation, we are surprised to find the State engaged in finishing the Erechtheum, a building l)egun some years earlier but suspended doubtless because of the war." The idea may have been to furnish the needy — citizens, metics, and slaves — with work, or more probably to fulfil a religious duty. It was a temple to Athena and Erechtheus. The Athena here vvorshipj)ed is known as Polias — guardian of the City — in contrast with the imperial goddess of the Parthenon; her image, a rudely carved log, was more highly venerated than any artistic statue of recent times. Erechtheus, hero of the fertility of earth, had ])een placed among the earliest kings of Athens, and in this temple was identified with Poseidon. Within the shrine was the sea-god's salt spring with the mark of his trident in the rock; outside was Athens' olive tree. With the irregularity of the plan we are not concerned."'* It will suffice here to notice the' beautiful carvings of the base and capital of the Ionic columns and of the cornice and doorway. These rich but delicate ornamentations, often imitated but never equalled, are eternal patterns of beauty. The Porch of the Maidens. Such are the columns of the east and north porches and the north doorway still partially preserved. On the south is the Porch of the Maidens, in which full-grown girls are substituted for columns as supports. In a country in which women have always been accustqmed to carrying heavy loads on their heads the idea is not strange, and has in fact been expressed in various ancient buildings. The conditions recjuired an erect dig- nified posture. The drapery, covering the entire body, falls in large quiet folds to the feet. In ease, simplicity and dignity these figures rise to the Periclean standard. At the same time it seems probable that they have a religious significance. In a festival in honor of Erechtheus a procession of girls moved to his shrine, carrying on their heads a chest which contained objects for his worship. It is a rea- sonable view that the Maidens of the Porch represent these girls and tliat the architrave above their heads takes the place of the chest. '^ Two types of civilization, represented in art, literature, and 73 Begun after the peace of Nicias or possibly before the beginning of the war; D'Ooge, Acropolis, 196. Excerpts from building inscriptions; H. Civ. no. 107 f. 74 Paus. i, 26 (Botsford, Source-Book, p. 239); Reasons for the irregularity; D'Ooge, Acropolis, 199. 75 Elderkin, Problems in Periclean Buildings, 13-18. w K H X u w A CULTURAL REVOLUTION 351 thought. As the Parthenon is the best example of a Doric temple, the Erechtheum expresses the perfection of the Ionic style. It is a remarkable fact that the same quarter of a centur)' saw the substantial completion of these perfect examples of widely divergent architectural orders. Equally notable is the kinshiij of the type with the general civilization of the time. While admiring the Parthenon and the Sophoclean drama, we recognize that they are so essentially Hellenic as to defy imitation whereas the sculpture of the Erectheum and of the Nike balustrade, the plays of Euripides, and the reasoning of Socrates, however high their excellence, have an appreciable kinship with modem civilization. ADDITIONAL READING Grote, chs. xlvii, xlviii; Holni, II, ch. xxvi; Beloch, II i, ch. ix; Abbott, Hellenica, 266-325; Capps, Homer to Theocritus, 237-72, 317-330; Croiset, Aristophanes and Political Parties at Athens; Hist, de la litt. grecque, III, ch. vii, IV, chs. i-iv; Decharme, Euripides and the Spirit of His Dramas (Macmil- lan, 1905); Fowler and Wheeler, 233 ff, 148 ff; Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture, 326-382; Glover, FroDi Pericles to Philip, chs. iv-vi; Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, II, III; Grundy, Thucydides and the History of His Age (London: Murray, 1911); Murray, Euripides and His Age (Holt, 1913); Sihler, Testimonium Animae, ch. x; Stobart, Glory that was Greece, ch. v; Verrall, Euripides the Rationalist: A Study of Art and Religion (Cambridge: University Press, 1913); Whibley, Companion, see Contents; Windelband, His- tory of Ancient Philosophy, 108-134; Wright, Greek Literature, 165-184, 238- 270, 283-305, 369-373. COINS OF EPAMINONDAS CHAPTER XXI THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE AND THE ASCENDANCY OF THEBES I. The Lacedaemonian Empire 404-371 Old professions and a new policy. As champions of particular- ism, of the untrammeled sovereignty of the individual city-state, the Spartans had led their allies in the wearisome war with Athens; ^ and finally when her ramparts and her ports came into their hands, they and their allies " fell to levelling the fortifications and walls with great enthusiasm, to the accompaniment of the music of women pipers, for they thought that day the beginning of Hellenic liberty." - The realization of their hopes would have turned back the clock of history two hundred years into the past. When however the Spartans found themselves masters of eastern Hellas, they would rise to no higher conception than that of holding what they had gained; disregarding their promises, they thought merely to substitute their city for Athens as the head of an empire, no small part of which they had already sacrificed to Persia.^ Nature of the change in leadership; Lysander. The change from Atlienian to Spartan leadership was a decisive step downward. The Lacedaemonians lacked the intelligence and the broad, generous humanism of Athenians; they were totally without experience in imperial finance and in the administration of justice. For the time being these men of narrow mind were controlled by Lysander. Bom of a Heracleid father and helot mother,"* and reared in the poverty 1 p. 361 below; cf. Isocrates, Panegyricus, 122. On Isocrates, an eminent thinker and publicist of this age, often cited in the present chapter, see p. 363 f., 433 f. below. 2 Xenophon, Hellenica, ii. 2. 23. 3 Isoc. Payi. 122; cf. p. 389 above. 4 On Lysander, see Plutarch, Lysander ; cf. p. 339 above. On the social classes and conditions of Lacedaemon, ch. VI above. 352 THE LACEDA?:M0NIAN empire— THEBES 353 and discipline of his city, he had developed an unscrupulous clever- ness, an astounding mastery of men and parties, and an ambition for the lordship of Hellas. Throughout the Aegean world he had organized oligarchies in every city and had attached them to him- self. On him all eyes centred in fear or admiration. " He was the first Greek to whom cities erected altars and offered sacrifices as to a god." '' In his honor the Samians changed the name of their chief festival Heraea to Lysandria. Thus the orientalizing Greeks of Asia Minor and its neighborhood displayed their accjuired servility in the deification of this enormous egoist. The decarchies. The oligarchies of ten — decarchies — estab- lished by Lysander in the Aegean cities taken from Athens, were ostensibly to hold them loyal to their new imperial mistress. The members of these boards were partisans of Lysander, usually sup- ported by a Peloponnesian garrison under a helot commander (har- most), who catered to their villainies in exchange for flattery and spoil for himself and license for his men. Thus protected, the decarchs reveled in the plunder, oppression, and murder of their fellow citizens, and in venting upon personal enemies the hatred they had long been gathering in their souls. " What form of op- pression escaped them? Or what deed of shame or of cruelty did they not perpetrate? The most lawless they deemed most faithful to themselves; they courted traitors as benefactors; and they chose to be slaves to a helot that they might outrage their own native land." " The Thirty, 404-3. We lack detailed knowledge of their gov- ernment, but may be sure that it differed little in character from the rule of the Thirty at Athens. This board was instituted under intim- idation from Lysander, ostensibly to draw up a new constitution for Athens, but in reality to govern with absolute sway. One of the leaders was Critias, a eupatrid writer — a poet, rhetorician, and political thinker, noticed above as a pronounced atheist,' a dilettante in literature, and in politics a heartless, calculating schemer. His colleague in the leadership was Theramenes the shifty, who while preferring a moderate oligarchy, had managed to emerge triumphant from every difficulty through which he had passed.* 5 Plut. Lys. 18. 6 Isoc. Pan. Ill; cf. 110, 112-14. 7 P. 338. 8 At a time when Athens should have made good her losses in the war by liberallj admitting aliens to the citizenship, by the adoption of a policy which afterward made Rome politically great, it was the dream of Theramenes to restrict the franchise to those 354 HELLENIC HISTORY Butchery and confiscation. Beginning in moderation, the rule of the Thirty rapidly degenerated to a selfish, bloody despotism. Supported by their Lacedaemonian harmost, they proceeded to con- demn and put to death their political enemies. Executions were always accompanied by confiscations of property. Still wanting funds for the payment of the garrison, they next proceeded against wealthy men even of oligarchic views. As many alien residents were well-to-do, they inevitably fell victims to the tyrants' greed. There were wholesale banishments. Many fled, too, through fear; so that the surrounding states were full of fugitives from these monsters. Among their oppressive acts was an edict for abolishing higher educa- tion in literature and philosophy, the effect of which if long continued, would have been to wipe Athens from the history of civilization. Meanwhile by protesting against the violence of the Thirty, Thera- menes incurred the mortal hatred of Critias, to whom the very idea of moderation or of compromise meant overthrow and death. With frantic haste Theramenes was imprisoned and compelled to drink the deadly hemlock. More violent grew the reign of terror till in the eight months of the oligarchy the butcher's bill mounted to fifteen hundred lives. The fall of the Thirty, 403. In spite of orders from Sparta the neighbors of Athens received the exiles with sympathy and aid. From Thebes, Thrasybulus, one of these refugees, led a small band of patriots across the border to seize a fortress on Mount Fames. Thence after increasing his force to a thousand he occupied Peiraeus. With so small a band it was a bold stroke; but this stronghold of democracy welcomed him and reinforced his army. In the streets of the port town the patriots battled with a militar)^ force of the Thirty, defeated it, and killed Critias. Soon afterward the democracy was restored. About the same time many decarchies fell. The Spartans permitted all this to happen because they disapproved of the insolence and the vaulting ambition of Lysander, who was playing the despot throughout their empire. Confronted by a menacing opposition at home, he retired into exile.^ The expedition of Cyrus, 401. Shortly after these events Cyrus, who could equip themselves at their own expense for war. What Athtns needed, how- ever, was not fewer citizens but a stronger, less hampered, executive. 9 Sources for the Thirty; Xen. Hell. ii. ,3 f . ; Arist. Const. Ath. 34-40; Lysias, Orations, especially Against Eratosthenes and Against Agoratus; Diod. xiv. 3-6; Justin v. 8-10. On the personal designs of Lysander, Plut. Lys. 25 f., 30; Diod. xiv. 13. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EM I'IRE— THEBES 355 vvitli whose aid Peloponnese had triumphed over Athens,^" set out at the head of about tliirtebn thousand Greek me;-cenaries and a much larger number of Asiatics against his brother Artaxerxes, who had succeeded to the kingship of Persia." The prize of battle was to be the throne. At the town of Cunaxa not far from Babylon the brothers met. The Greeks were victorious over a greatly superior force; but Cyrus was killed, and the expedition therefore failed. Altliough the Hellenic generals were entrapped and slain by the enemy, the mercenary force elected new commanders, among them Xenophon. According to his- account, vividly presented in the Ana- basis, this young man, an Athenian of the school of Socrates, was the inspiring genius of the retreat. The homeward march of the Ten Thousand across rivers, over mountains, and through the deep snows of Armenia, ever harassed by the enemy and in want of food and clothing, was a heroic achievement. It proved that the Greeks had not lost their virility, and it laid bare the weakness of Persia. War between Lacedaemon and Persia, beginning in 400. A result of this expedition was war between Lacedaemon and Persia; ^- for the Spartans had given aid to Cyrus. A Peloponnesian army accordingly invaded Asia Minor, and was reinforced by the remnant of the Ten Thousand. Ultimately all or nearly all the Hellenic cities were liberated; and some native towns in the interior, including Pergamum, were taken. In 396 Agesilaus, king of Lacedaemon, took command. Though far from brilliant, he was master of the art of war as taught in Sparta; and with an army of scarcely more than twenty thousand men, he made headway against the forces of the empire. Encouraged by the expedition of Cyrus, he hoped to win for Hellas a great part of Asia Minor.^^ General dissatisfaction with Spartan leadership. In the eyes of many Greeks, however, these achievements could not atone for the prodigious injustice inflicted upon them by Sparta. The decarchies and the Thirty were but a fraction of the grievance. To neighbors and allies the leading city seemed committed to a policy of self- aggrandisement. Opposition in a weaker State she crushed with war and devastation. Her greater allies were irritated by their 10 p. 322. 11 Xenophon, Anabasis ; Hell. iii. 1. 1 f. 12Xen. Hell. iii. 1. 3 ff. 13 Xen. Hell. iv. 1. 41; Agesilaus i. 36 (year 394); Ox. Hell. xvii. 4 (his next expedition was to be against Cappadocia). 356 HELLENIC HISTORY total exclusion from the advantages of victory over Athens. Chief factor in bringing on the war, Corinth ^* had lost her colonies on the west of Greece and had seen the ruin of her commerce and industry with no corresponding gain. Thebes had profited by the pillage of Attica and by tightening her grip on the Boeotian federation; ^^ but in proportion to the exaltation of Sparta both States suffered depression in the general council of Peloponnese. Both were split into patriotic and laconizing factions at bitter feud with each other; and when Sparta intermeddled, the two States declared war.^*^ Argos, always at heart an enemy of Sparta, joined the coalition. Athens and the coalition against Lacedaemon. In Athens since the fall of the Thirty the radical democrats, who usually controlled the government, were hostile to Lacedaemon. To them it was a source of pride and of encouragement that the Persian king had appointed the Athenian Conon ^^ admiral of a fleet to operate in the Aegean sea against the Lacedaemonians. With the connivance of the Five Hundred,^® but against the judgment of the moderates, the extreme democrats secretly sent him men and supplies.^-' Under these cir- cumstances tliey welcomed the opportunity to join with Thebes, / Corinth, Argos, and a few lesser states in a coalition against Sparta. / Thus arose the Corinthian war.-° The Corinthian war, 395-387. Early in the war the Lacedaemon- ians found it necessary to recall Agesilaus from Asia. He obeyed; but it is clear that, though he had thus far cherished hopes for all Hellas, his spirit was henceforth embittered against those States which had thwarted his pan-Hellenic ambition.'^ In fact the war was a disasitrous blunder; for Spartan oppression lost severity as the Hellenes were already learning to safeguard their local liberties, while enjoying the benefits of national unity. Small victories were won by the Lacedaemonians yet with little comfort to the winners.^- These gains, however, were more than offset by an overwhelming naval victory of Conon, off Cnidus, over 14 p. 262. 15 Ox. Hell. xii. 3; cf. Botsford, in Pol. Set. Quart. XXV (1910). 292 ff. leXen. Hell. ii. 4. 30 (403 B. C); Ox. Hell. ii. 2 f. 17 P. 326 above. He was appointed in 397; Ktesias 63 f . ; Plut. Artax. 21; Isoc. Phil. 63. 18 The old Council of Five Hundred. 19 Ox. Hell. i. 3. 20 Trouble between Locris and Phocis was tiie immediate occasion; Xen. Hell. iii. 5. 3 f. On the influence of Persian gold in bringing on this war, Xen. Hell. iii. 5. If.; Ox. Hell. ii. 2. Fragment of treaty between Athens and Boeotia; Hicks and Hill, no. 84. 21 Especially against the Thebans; Plut. Ages. 26. 2 2 One near Corinth; Xen. Hell. iv. 2. 9-23; Diod. xiv. 83; Hicks and Hill, no. 88. An- other at Coroneia; Xen. Hell. iv. 3. 15-23; Diod. /. c. ; Plut. Ages. 18 f. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 357 MONUMENT OF THE KNIGHT, DEXILEOS the Peloponnesian fleet (394).^^ Thus fell the Lacedaemonian naval supremacy which ten years earlier had been established by Persian gold. The first fruit of the victory was the liberation of the maritime 23 Xcn. Hell. iv. 3. 10-12; Diod. xiv. 79, 83. 358 HELLENIC HISTORY states from the Laconian garrisons.-* In the following year Conon sailed into the harbors of Peiraeus. With the labor of his crews and with Persian money, increased by contributions from Thebes and other friendly States, he rebuilt the fortifications of the port town and the Long Walls. After the completion of these works Athens again counted as a power in Hellas.-^ She recovered Scyros, Imbros, and Lemnos, long occupied by her colonists, and renewed her alliance with various Aegean states.^'' A Lacedaemonian regiment destroyed, 390. A graver mis- fortune befell Lacedaemon by land. Recent years had seen a great development of light infantry. A master of this branch of warfare was the Athenian Iphicrates, who had trained his light troops to a high pitch of efficiency. With this force, in the neighborhood of MESSEXE Corinth, he attacked a heavy battalion — mora — of Lacedaemonians, six hundred strong, and annihilated it. Among the slain were two hundred and fifty Spartans. It was a terrible calamity, for the whole Lacedaemonian force counted but six such battalions. The number of Spartans had so shrunk that they could entertain no hope of ever filling the vacant ranks; they were too conservative to adapt themselves to new military conditions; and the shock to their martial prestige proved irremediable.^'^ The treaty of Antalcidas, 387. For some time Sparta had been treating with Persia for peace; and now as the tide of war turned decidedly against her, she urged on the negotiations. Ker deputy Antalcidas rewon the King's support, which speedily restored to 24Xen. Hell. iv. 8. 1-3; Diod. xiv. 84; Hicks and Hill, no. 89. 25 Xen. Hell. iv. 8. 9 f. ; Diod. xiv. 85; Nepos, Conon, 4; Hicks and Hill, no. 90 (the Athenian? had already begun the work). 26 Diod. xiv. 94 (chiefly through Thrasybulus) ; cf. Nepos, Conon, 5. 27 The troops of Iphicrates were called peltasts, from pelta, the light round shield which they carried. On the event, Xen. Hell. iv. 5. 11-17; Diod. xiv. 91; Plut. Ages. 22. This battle was fought at Lechaeum. A mora now contained three perioeci to two Spartans. At this time the total number of Spartans of military age did not exceed 2,000; Cavaignac, in Klio XII (1912). 270. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 359 Sparta her dominance in the conflict. At the summons of llie satrap Tiribazus, accordingly, deputies from the Hellenic States met at Sardis to hear the terms of peace dictated by the King. When the assembly had convened, the satrap i)ointed to the royal seal at- tached to the document and read the contents : — " King Artaxerxes deems it right that the cities of Asia, with the islands of Clazomenae and Cyprus, should belong to himself. The remaining Hellenic cities, small and great, he wishes to leave independent, with the exception of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, which three as formerly are to belong to Athens. Should any of the parties concerned not accept this peace, I Artaxerxes, together with those who share my views, will war against him or them by land and sea, with ships and with money." -8 Effects of the treaty. The treaty required the Athenians to give up their maritime league, Thebes to grant independence to her Boeo- tian allies, and Corinth and Argos, now closely united, to separate. All the greater enemies of Lacedaemon disliked the terms, but all were constrained to accept them. It was a disgrace to Hellas that her Asiatic cities should be definitively surrendered to the King, and that he should become the arbiter of her fate.-^ It was unfortunate, too, that the duty of enforcing the peace fell chiefly to the Lacedae- monians, who, having learned nothing by experience, exercised their renewed power with insolent brutality. During the decade imme- diately following this treaty Hellas was in a miserable plight, as Isocrates, writing in the midst of this wretchedness, testifies: "Who could desire a condition of things in which pirates hold the seas, mercenaries occupy the cities, and instead of warring against foreign- ers in behalf of their country, the citizens fight with each other inside the walls. More cities have been taken in war than before we concluded the peace; and on account of the frequency of revo- lutions the inhabitants of the States live in greater despondency than those who have been banished." ^° Hellas was full of exiles, who menaced their home states with violence or joined mercenary bands, to disturb the peace and to destroy property and life throughout their nation. In spite of these mischievous results it will be made clear in the course of this chapter that the treaty of Antalcidas serv^ed as a beginning of the most important peace movement in Hellenic history. Further aggressions of Sparta. To rid herself of possible en- 28Xen. Hell. v. 1. 31. 29 Isoc. Pan. 119-2i, 175. 30 Isoc, Pan. 115 f. (3S0 B.C.)- Piracy was due to the collapse of the Athenian naval power, and internal conflict to the expulsion of Lacedaemonian garrisons from the cities. 360 HELLENIC HISTORY emies Sparta compelled the Mantineans to destroy their city and to scatter in villages (384) ; she treacherously seized the citadel of Thebes in a season of peace (383).^^ At the same time she was pushing her hegemony into northern Greece. In the later years of the Peloponnesian war the Lacedaemonians had gained control of the region about the Malian gulf, including a part of Thessaly. Farther north the kingdom of Macedon, growing in power, and men- acing the Thessalian states, drove them into alliance with Sparta. Under these circumstances the Lacedaemonians steadily extended their influence northward.^'" Rise of the Chalcidic league. Meanwhile, however, a rival was growing in Chalcidice, where Olynthus, by absorbing adjacent com- munities, had become the leading city. Thence she made herself the centre of a Chalcidic league of a type far more liberal and advanced than any other thus far known to Hellas. The citizens of every city had rights of holding property, transacting business, and con- tracting marriage in every other city; one body of laws and one citizenship were the common possessions of all. In a great degree the union had the character of a single state, in which the cities were municipalities. It was an aggressive power, ever intent on annexing new communities by persuasion or force, reaching out Thraceward toward the gold mines of Mount Pangaeus and wresting from sedition-ridden Macedon its very capital, Pella. Even those cities which were forcibly annexed readily lost in the advantages of their new connection all love of political isolation. Here then was offered a solution of the peace problem of Hellas, a cure for the interminable interstate strife, of internal revolutions, banishments, and massacres. At the request of neighboring Hellenic states whose sovereignty was threatened by Olynthus, Lacedaemon interfered; and in a war of four years (383-379) she destroyed the federation and '^ forced Olynthus into alliance with hcrself.^^ The climax of Lacedaemonian prosperity, 379. By these mea- .sures and others of a like nature Sparta made herself supreme over all that part of eastern Hellas which she had not surrendered to Persia. She formed, too. a treaty of alliance with Dionysius, tyrant 31 Xen. Hell, v, 2. 1-7, 25-36; Diod. xv. 5, 20; Ox. Hell. I. no. 13. 32 Operation.s about the Malian gulf; Thuc. viii. 3. The Thessalian situation is dis- cussed by the sophist of Larisa, On the Constituion, in H. Civ. no. 116. 33 Xen. Hell. v. 2. 11-19 (quoted in H. Civ. no. 119); 3. 1-26; Diod. xv. 20-23; Hicks ,ind Hill, no. 99. See also Freeman, History of Federal Government, I. 190-97- West, in CI. Fhilol. IX (1914). 24 ff. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 361 of Greek Sicily and Italy.''^ Never before had Hellas attained to so hi^h a degree of political unity. " On every side the affairs of I.acedaemon had signally prospered: Thebes and the rest of the Boeotian states lay absolutely at her feet; Corinth had become her most faithful ally; Argos . . . was humbled to the dust; and lastly, those of her own allies who displayed a hostile feeling toward her had been punished; so that to all outward appearance the founda- tions of her empire were at length absolutely well and securely laid." ^^ Agesilaus. The man who led his city to these achievements was Agesilaus, the embodiment of the Lacedaemonian spirit, patriotic, ambitious, and efficient, but with stunted ideals, unprogressive alike in military art, in statesmanship, and in humanism — a man who tested the right or wrong of every action by the sole advantage of Sparta, whose vision, limited to brute power, took no account of the moral forces roused through Hellas by his policy of blood and iron.^^ Liberation of Thebes, 379-8. " Abundant examples might be found alike in Hellenic and in foreign historv to prove that the Divine powers mark what is done amiss, winking neither at impiety nor at the commission of unhallowed acts ; but at present I confine my- self to the facts before me. The Lacedaemonians, who had pledged themselves by oath to leave the states independent, had laid violent hands on the acropolis of Thebes, and were eventually punished by the victims of that iniquity single-handed — the Lacedaemonians, be it noted, who had never before been mastered by living men." ^'' With these words Xenophon, the historian, prepares the reader for the catastrophe in the drama of Lacedaemonian supremacy. In a thrill- ing story ^* he then tells how a few patriots, who had fled to Athens, secretly returned to their native Thebes, destroyed the oligarchy set up by Sparta, and expelled the garrison from the citadel. Thebes was now free and at war with Lacedaemon. No long time afterward a Spartan attempt to seize Peiraeus drove Athens into alliance with Thebes (378). The Second Athenian Confederacy, organized 377. From the time of the battle off Cnidus (394) ^^ the former allies of Athens, 34 Alliance not later than 387; Xen. Hell. v. 1. 26, 28. Athens had bid in vain for his friendship; Hicks and Hill, nos. 91, 98. 35 Xen. Hell. v. 3. 27. 36 To Xenophon (Hellenica, Agesilaus) he was an almost idea! hero. See also Plutarch, Agesilaus; Nepos, Agesilaus. 37 Xen. Hell. v. 4. 1. 38 Xen. Hell. v. 4 (379-378 B. C). 30 P. 356 f. 362 HELLENIC HISTORY having had enough of Lacedaemonian tyranny, began returning to her. These alliances, dissolved by the King's treaty (387), were almost immediately renewed. Now that she faced a new struggle with Peloponnese, Athens called upon all Hellenic States, and on all foreign states but Persia, to join in a league of protection from the common tyrant. In 377 it was decreed by the council and the as- sembly, " in order that the Lacedaemonians may allow the Hellenes to live in peace, free and autonomous, and to possess their respec- tive territories in security . . . " That if any of the Hellenes or of foreigners dwelling on the main- land, or of the islanders, except such as are subjects of the King, wish to be allies of the Athenians and of their allies, they may become such while preserving their freedom and autonomy, using the form of government that they desire, without either admittmg a garrison or receiving a military governor or paying tribute, and upon the same terms as the Chians, the Thebans, and the other allies. . . . From the date of the archonship of Nausinicus it shall not be allowable for any Athenian, either in behalf of the State or as a private person, to acquire either a house or a piece of land in the territory of the allies, whether by purchase or by mortgage or in any other way." *° By this provision some of the most irritating grievances of the former confederacy, such as the imposition of tributes and colonization, were to be avoided. All members of the league were to send their repre-, sentatives to a congress at Athens, in which the Athenians alone were to have no part. A resolution passed by the congress and the Athen- ian assembly was to be binding on the league. Thus Athens was made equal to her collective allies, but was debarred from tyranny over them. By resolution duly adopted military and naval forces and money contributions were to be levied as they were needed. The constitution of the Second Confederacy, as it is named, was more equitable, but far looser and less efficient, than had been that of the fifth century.*^ War between the Confederacy and Peloponnese, 377-4. War with Peloponnese went on for several years. The maritime alliance, controlling a powerful navy and supported by Thebes with her splen- did troops, outmatched tlie Doric league. No definite gain resulted, 40 H. Civ. no. 120 (in the original document the names of the confederates are signed). Form of admission of a state, no. 121. Oath of allies, no. 122. Athenian treaty with Chios (384-3), Hicks and Hill, no. 98. With Byzantium (378-7), ib. no, 100. With Chalcis (378- 7), ib. 102. See also Diod. xv. 28-30. 41 See Marshall, The Second Athenian Confederacy. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 363 however, and in 374 all were ready for peace. In that year deputies irom the states concerned met in a Second Peace Convention at Sparta.*" The King's treaty was made the basis of the agreement, but the Persian sovereign was unrepresented; the Greeks were al- ready leaming that they could conduct their own affairs without his interference. The treaty left the Athenian confederacy and the Peloponnesian league intact.*^ The war renewed, 374-1. The agreement was immediately vio- lated, however, and the war continued three years longer. Meanwhile Thebes, abandoning the conflict with Lacedaemon, gave her attention to restoring the Boeotian league under her supremacy.** Far from limiting her ambition to Boeotia, Thebes now attempted the subjuga- tion of Phocis — a movement which brought a Peloponnesian army into central Greece and converted Athenian friendship into dislike. The Third Peace Convention, 371. Under these circumstances Athens and Lacedaemon were all the more ready to conclude peace. In 371 accordingly the Third Peace Convention assembled at Sparta. All the Greek governments sent their deputies, including even Diony- sius, archon of Sicily, and Amyntas, king of Macedon, regarded by the Greeks as a foreign country. The Persian king's embassy was present to take part, though no longer to dictate.*^ It was the most representative body that had thus far gathered in the history of the world, and was further notable for the fact that its purpose was not purely Hellenic but international; in other words, it was the first " world congress " in the interest of peace. Speeches of the Athenian deputies. A few years earlier Isocra- tes, the great Athenian publicist, had advocated an eternal peace among the Hellenes and a common war upon Persia under the joint leadership of Lacedaemon and Athens. The speeches of the three Athenian envoys in this convention, apart from the question of hos- tility to Persia, seem little more than echoes of his words: *° " It were iust and right," said one Athenian deputy to the Lacedaemoni- 42 The first being that of Antalcidas at Sardis; p. 434. 43 Xen. Hell. vi. 2. 1; Isocrates, Antidosis, 109; Plataicus, 10; Nepos, Timothcus, 2. 44 The treaty was broken by the Athenian admiral Timotheus, son of Conon. For this offense he was tried and acquitted though not restored to his command; Xen. Hell. vi. 2. 1 ff. ; Pseudo-Demosthenes, Against Timotheus (written in 362).— Thebes subjugated Thespiae and destroyed Plataea; Xen. Hell. vi. 3. 1, 5; Diod. xv. 46, SO.— On the organ- ization of the Boeotian league; p. 80 above; H. Civ. no. 117; Botsford, in Pol. Set. Quart. XXV, 284 ff. 45 The convention in general, Xen. Hell. vi. 3. 2-20. Dionysius and Amyntas repre- sented; IG. II. 51 23 f. ; Aeschines, Faithless Embassy, 32. The Persian king represented; Diod. XV. 50. 4; Dionysius, Lysias, 12. 46 Isocrates, Panegyricus (380 B. C). Speeches of the deputies in Xen. Hell. vi. 3. 3-17, Doubtless Xenophon has preserved at least the substance of what was said. 364 HELLENIC HISTORY ans, " even to refuse to bear arms against each other, since, as tht story runs, the first strangers to whom our forefather Triptolemus *^ showed the unspeakable mystic rites of Demeter and Core, mother and daughter were your ancestors . . . and to Peloponnese first he gave as a gift the seed of Demeter's grain. . , . But if, as it would seem, it is a fixed decree of Heaven that war shall never cease among men, yet ought we — your people and our people — to be as slow as pos- sible to begin it, and being in it, as swift as possible to bring it to an end." In the opinion of the speaker permanent friendship was based on the gift and acceptance of a certain element of civilization. Another speaker, more practical, appealed to the motive of expediency. " To revert once more to the topic of expediency and common inter- ests, it is admitted, I presume, that, looking at the states collectively, half support your views, half ours; and in every single state one party is for Sparta and another for Athens. Suppose, then, that we were to shake hands, from what quarter can we reasonably anticipate danger and trouble? To put the case in so many words, as long as you are our friends, no one can vex us by land; no one, while we are your supporters, can injure you by sea. Wars like tempests gather and grow to a head from time to time, and again they are dis- pelled. That we all know. Some future day, if not now, we shall crave, both of us, for peace. Why then need we wait for that moment, holding on until we expire under the multitude of our ills, rather than take time by the forelock and, before irremediable mischief betide, make peace ? . . . While we are yet in the heyday of our strength and fortune, shake hands in mutual amity. So assuredly shall we through you and you through us attain to an unprecedented pinnacle of glory throughout Hellas." Such arguments convinced the assembly of deputies, which accord- ingly passed a resolution to make peace on the following terms: " The withdrawal of harmosts from the cities, the disbanding of armaments naval and military, and the guarantee of independence to the States. If any State transgresses these stipulations, it lies in the option of any power whatsoever to aid the States so injured, while conversely, to bring such aid is not compulsory on any power again.st its will." *^ Implicitly the Persian king was eliminated as an arbiter of Hellenic affairs; and the guardianship of the peace was intrusted 47 Mythical king of Eleusis under whom the mysteries of Demeter and Core (daughter) are said to have been introduced; p. 144 f. 48Xen. Hell. vi. 3. 18. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 365 in a democratic spirit to all the Hellenes who should interest them- selves in the matter. Naturally the lead would be taken by the more powerful States. Here was clearly attained a condition far more favorable to peace and unity, on the basis of good will and common interest, than the world had known before. Epaminondas against Agesilaus. The good results, however, were negatived by the growing ambition of Thebes. In the preced- ing century she had revealed, in her federal coinage, an intention to merge the league in a greater Theban State,'*-' and had attempted in vain to sign the King's treaty of 387 with the name The])ans for all Boeotia. Since that date her unification of Boeotia and her mili- tary improvements had vastly augmented her strength, and she was now represented in the convention by Epaminondas, whose name stands in the list of the world's most brilliant commanders. Athens signed for herself, leaving her allies to affix their individual names. When Sparta, for reasons unknown to us, was permitted to sign for her allies, Epaminondas wrote the name Thebans with the intention of making it include all Boeotia. The convention accepted the signa- ture for Thebes only, and was on the point of allowing the other States of the league to sign for themselves, when Epaminondas came forward with the request that the name Boeotians be substituted for that of Thebans. Agesilaus hotly objected, whereupon Epaminondas declared in substance that Thebes had as good a right to represent all the Boeotians as Sparta to represent the perioeci of Laconia. Agesi- laus, however, repudiated his claim and arbitrarily erased from the document the signature of Thebes, thus debarring that State from the peace.^" Boeotian militarism. The Theban envoy had acted on mature deliberation and in full confidence of the ability of his own State to maintain the principle which he advocated. Boeotia had developed a body of heavy infantry unequalled in that generation, and her cavalry far surpassed that of Peloponnese. Epaminondas, though thus far known chiefly as a man of culture, a philosopher of the Pythagorean school, was now revealing himself as a brilliant orator and a bold, shrewd diplomatist. While facing Agesilaus in the c'onvention at 49 The issue of coins for all Boeotia bearing the name of Thebes; Botsford, in Pol. Sci. Quart. XXV. 284, referring to Head, Greek Coins, VIII, p. xxix and plate xii, 1-8. 50 Xen. Hell. vi. 3. 19f. ; Plut. Ages. 28; Paus. ix. 13. 2; cf. Grote, Hist of Greece, X. 166-74. The contention of Epaminondas was unsupported by historj'; the Theban controJ of Boeotia was recent, whereas that of Sparta over Laconia was centuries old. 366 HELLENIC HISTORY Sparta he doubtless felt certain tliat at need his State would not lack a general worthy of her brave, well-trained soldiers. ^^ The battle of Leuctra, 371.. The convention was dissolved, and the deputies returned to tlieir homes, while Thebes prepared for her great conflict witl:i Peloponnese. The army sent by Lacedaemon into Phocis, 10,000 strong, now received orders to invade Boeotia. King Cleombrotus, its general, obeyed. An army of 6,000 under the boeotarchs, including Epaminondas, met him at Leuctra. On his left wing Epaminondas massed his Thebans in a column fifty deep, and led them in an irresistible charge upon the Lacedaemonian force sta- tioned opposite, while his Boeotian allies, in echelon formation, barely came to close quarters with the Peloponnesians. In other words, the Theban commander won by throwing a superior force upon the crit- ical point in his enemy's line. Of the seven hundred Spartans pres- ent four hundred, including the king, were slain. Sparta acknowl- edged her defeat and withdrew the Peloponnesian army. Her supremacy was forever ended. ^- Whether her collapse was for good or evil depended upon the years to come. Here it will suffice to repeat that the convention at Sparta preceding the battle of Leuctra was evidence of notable political progress and embodied a bright hope of international peace. II. The Ascendancy of Thebes 371-362 Effect of the battle on the Spartans and on Peloponnese. " After these events a messenger was despatched to Sparta with news of the disaster. He reached his destination on the last day of the g}'mnopaedia, precisely when the chorus of grown men had entered the theatre. The ephors heard the mournful tidings not without grief and pain, as needs they must in my opinion; but for all that they did not dismiss the chorus, but allowed the contest to run out its natural course. What they did was to deliver the names of the slain to their friends and families, with a word of warning to the women not to make any loud lamentation but to bear their sorrow in silence; and the next day it was a striking spectacle to see those who 51 The character and early training of Epaminondas; Diod. xv. 39; Plut. Pelop. 3 f . ; De latenter vivendo, 1129 c; Nepos, Epaminondas, 1-5; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, i. 2. 4; Athen. iv. 84. 52 Invasion of central Greece by a Peloponnesian army; p. 440 above. The battle of Leuctra; Xen. Hell. vi. 4. 3-15; Plut. Pelop. 20-23; Paus. ix. 13. 3-12; Polyaenus, ii. 3. 8 (religious ruse for heartening the men). THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 367 had relatives among the fallen moving to and fro in public with bright and radiant looks, while of those whose friends were reported to be living barely a man was to be seen, and these persons flitted by with lowered heads and scowling brows as if in humiliation." ^* Narrow and illiberal as were the Spartans, we cannot help admir- ing their resolution and their discipline. After the great loss at Leuctra there remained scarcely more than a thousand Spartans capable of bearing arms, and what was far worse, their military prestige had vanished, and they had accumulated no treasure of justice and mercy to draw the sympathy of men in the hour of need. No sooner had the allies become fully aware of the magnitude of the event at Leuctra than they disregarded their confederate obligations, to pursue their individual interests. Throughout Peloponnese a demo- cratic effort to gain control of the States, in opposition to Sparta, effected in many a town and city executions, banishments, revolu- tions, and massacres. Peloponnese was sinking into chaos.^* Fourth Peace Convention, 371. In the desire to save for peace and order what they could from the general wreck, doubtless too in their own interest, the Athenians summoned a Fourth Peace Conven- tion to meet in their city. How many States were represented we do not know. At all events the deputies adopted the following resolu- tion : " I will abide by the terms of treaty contained in the King's rescript and in the decrees of the Athenians and allies. If any one assails any city among those which have taken this oath, I will render assistance to that city with all my strength." The pledge to support the treaty was a new element in the peace movement. Through this c0nvention Athens attempted to usurp the place of Sparta as head of the Peloponnesian states, and placed herself under obligations to protect them if assailed. ^^ The Arcadian league founded, 371-0. The first consequence of the treaty was the resolution of the Mantineans to rebuild their city. They were aided by other Peloponnesians, and Sparta dared not in- terfere. Next Mantinea, Tegea, and all the communities of southern and central Arcadia organized themselves in a league. As a capital they founded Megalopolis. In it met a council of fifty, representing the communities according to their population, and the assembly of 53 Xen. Hell. vi. 4. 16. 55Xen. //w/.^vi. "5. 1-3. Mantinea and Elis are mentioned among the states repre- sented. 368 HELLENIC HISTORY the Ten Thousand, including all the citizens of the league.^^ As Lacedaemon threatened the new federation, Thebes came to its assist- ance. Having recently gathered under her hegemony many States of central Greece, she was able to despatch to Peloponnese an army which, increased on the way by the forces of allies, amounted to 40,000 men or more, commanded by Epaminondas and his associate boeo- tarchs.^^ For the first time in recorded history Laconia was rav- aged and Sparta threatened by invaders. No effective resistance could be offered. The liberation of Messenia, 369. The permanent result of the expedition, however, was the liberation of Messenia. While the perioecic towns of the south shore remained faithful to Sparta, the rest of the country was organized in a new State. The helots, now emancipated, became its citizens, increased in number by the return of exiles whose ancestors had escaped to other lands from hard bondage to the Spartans. It is an interesting fact that centuries of serfdom had not robbed these people of their love of freedom or degraded them below the capability for self-government. As a capi- tal for the State recalled to life Messene was founded on Mount Ithome, the strongest military position south of Corinth.^* Exten- sive ruins of the city walls remain to the present day. It was only I'ust that this brave manly folk should be rescued from serfdom, but it meant the doom of Sparta as a power in Hellas. Nearly a half of Lacedaemon, and that too the most fertile part, was wrested from her. Thereafter Hellas had to work out its problems without her aid; for the rest of the Greeks were unwilling to sacrifice Messenia to her, and she would enter into no agreement with them which did not involve the recovery of her lost territory. Thebes in Northern Greece; Fifth Peace Convention, 368; Sixth Peace Convention, 367. Shortly afterward, through the cam- paigns of Pelopidas, who stood second to Epaminondas in generalship, Thebes forced her hegemony upon Thessaly and Macedon, but no- where was she able to maintain peace or establish a firm control. Under these circumstances an agent of a Persian satrap dared ap- se The Arcadian league; Paus. viii. 27; Diod. xv. 59; Pomptow, in Ath. Mitt. XIV (1889). 15 ff. ; PW. II. 1127 ff. A request for help, repudiated by Athens, was laid before Thebes; Diod. xv. 62. 3; Demosthenes, For the Megalopolitans, 12, 19. 57 The Theban hegemony extended over Phocis, Locris, Acamania, Mails, Oetaea, and Euboea; Pohlmann, Griech. Gesch. 193. The invasion of Peloponnese; Plut. Ages. 31 (40,000); Pelop. 24 (70,000); Diod. XV. 62. 5 (50,000). 58 Plut. Pelop. 24; Isocrates, Archidamus, 27 ff . ; Diod. xv. 66 (sketch of Messenian history from mythical times), 67; Paus. iv. 27 (building Messene), 28 ff. (later history). THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 369 pear in Greece to brinf; about a settlement of affairs in the King's interest. A Fifth Peace Convention, accordingly, representing the principal states concerned, including Dionysius and the Persian king, met at Delphi. As Sparta and Thebes failed to agree on the Messen- ian question, the meeting bore no fruit. ■''■* Thereupon arose an un- dignified scramble for the King's favor. When their embassies met in his palace at Susa in a Sixth Peace Convention, and he believed himself to be once more, and with little effort of his own, the arbiter of Hellas, he dictated among the terms of peace the independence of Messenia and the disbanding of tlie Atheni,an navy, which had re- cently checked the expansion of Thebes. His tem\s were clearly a recognition of Theban hegemony — a favor won by Pelopidas who headed the Theban legation. On hearing the terms, Leon, an Athen- ian, protested to hi-s fellow-deputies: " Upon my word, Athenians, it seems to me high time that we look for some other friend than the King! " These words well expressi^d the sentiment of the anti- Theban party throughout Hellas. In like spirit the Arcadian am- bassador, returning home full of contempt for the Persian power, reported to the assembly of the Ten Thousand : " The King appears to have a large army of confectioners and pastry cooks, butlers and doorkeepers; but as for men capable of doing battle with the Hellenes, I looked carefully yet could discover none. Besides all this, even the report of his wealth seems bombastic nonsense. Why, the golden plane-tree so belauded is not big enough to furnish shade to a single grasshopper." The report was an exaggeration, but ad- mirably expressed the liberty-loving sentiment of a warlike mountain folk recently organized into a strong State. *^° Seventh Peace Convention, 367-6. Immediately a Seventh Peace Convention, the last in the series under consideration, met at Thebes to discuss the King's terms. The deputies protested, how- ever, that they had come to hear the report, but had been given no instruction to ratify it. The Thebans accordingly sent an embassy among the other Greek States, with the demand that they swear to obey the King's rescript; for they were convinced that no Hellenic State would dare incur the enmity at once of Thebes and Persia. Corinth, however, refused to bind herself by oath to the King, and the other Greek States followed her example.^^ Thus finally the 59 Xen. Hell. vii. 1. 27; Diod. xv. 70. LG. ii. 52. 60 Xen. Hell. vii. i. 38. 61 Xen. Hell. vii. i. 39 f. 370 HELLENIC HISTORY Persian King lost his hold upon Hellas; and the attempt of Pelopidas through negotiation to establish an empire for his city proved a mere cloud-castle. It is more regrettable that the conventions, which had promised not only a Hellenic but an international peace, degenerated and died with little fruit. Waning prosperity of Thebes; naval campaign of Epamin- ondas, 364. Meanwhile Epaminondas had been active. He had in- vaded Peloponnese a second and third time, but as he had accom- plished nothing satisfactory there, the details of his campaigns may be omitted here. Theban affairs in Thessaly and Macedon were scarcely more prosperous. The great impediment to Theban suprem- acy, however, was the Athenian navy. Concluding therefore that he must by all means destroy it, Epaminondas built a fleet of a hundred triremes, and in 364 sailed forth to dispute with Athens the control of the Aegean. Fortunately for him the maritime States v^ere re- senting recent self-aggrandizements of Athens, and Byzantium passed over to him, while others v^avered in their allegiance to Athens. His naval campaign was so great a success that Thebans may well have hoped in another summer to drive Athens from the sea.*'- Approaching the catastrophe. The support of a navy, however, imposed upon them too great a strain to be long endurable, especially at a time when their interests in the peninsula demanded their whole attention. In the year of the naval campaign Pelopidas had to con- duct a new Thessalian campaign, in which he lost his life in battle. Although in the following year all Thessaly was reduced to obedi- ence, the Thebans feared a disruption of their own league. They marched against Orchomenus, whose people they suspected of disloy- alty, destroyed the city, executed the men as traitors, and enslaved the women and children. The horror aroused through Greece by this outrage foreboded the catastrophe in the drama of Theban great- ness.*^^ An anti-Theban coalition. The ground for this event was pre- paring in Peloponnese which had long seethed in chaos. In Arcadia a strong party, too proud and too devoted to local interests to submit fi2 Athenian aggressions were nearly of the same nature as in the preceding century, but had not yet extended so far; Marshall, Second Athenian Confederacy, 45-50 with references. On the Athenian monopoly of red ochre produced in Ceos, H. Civ. no. 133. This docu- ment is evidence of a disposition to control the trade of lesser allies. The naval cam- paign of Epaminondas; Aeschines, F. Emb. 105; Aristeides, Leuctra. i. 18; Diod. xv. 79; Isoc. Phil. 53 (H. Civ. p. 416). 6.3 Expedition to Thessaly; Diod. xv. 80; Plut. Pelop. 31-5. Destruction of Orchomenus; Diod. XV. 79; Paus. ix. 15. • ' ■ ■ '■ THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 371 to Theban hegemony, had split the league in two and were building up a great anti-Theban coalition. Mantinea, with a majority of Arcadian cantons, joined with Elis, Achaea, Athens, Sparta, and one or two lesser States, on equal terms, to prevent " the enslavement of Peloponnese." '^^ Epaminondas had at his command, in addition to Boeotians, troops from Euboea and Thessaly, and could count upon Argos, Tegea, and some other Arcadian communities. His hope was that his presence in the South might win him an overwhelming alliance, so that by peaceful means he could quiet the turmoil and restore the ascendancy of his State. He attempted accordingly in a night march to take Sparta by surprise; and failing in that effort, he hurriedly returned to Arcadia, where he tried to surprise the Manti- nean population with their herds in the fields. When this strategy, too, proved fruitless, and no hostile State came over to his side, nothing remained but to give battle. The battle of Mantinea, 362. In spite of forced marches his -y/ men were in high spirits. " There was no labor which his troops would shrink from, either by night or by day. There was no danger they would flinch from; and with the scantiest provisions their dis- cipline never failed them. When therefore he issued his last orders to them to prepare for battle, they promptly obeyed. He gave the word; the cavalry fell to whitening their helmets, the heavy infantry of the Arcadians began inscribing clubs as a crest on their shields, as though they were Thebans, and all were engaged in sharpening their lances and swords and in polishing their heavy shields." ^^ The battleground was the plain of Mantinea surrounded by lofty ranges. His enemy numbered about twenty-two thousand, his own force about thirty-three thousand. He gained the advantage, too, of taking the enemy by surprise. The main tactic movement of Leuctra was successfully repeated; but the great commander fell mortally wounded, in his last breath advising his countrymen to make peace. His death left the conflict undecided."*^ The situation before and after the battle is summarized by Xenophon in one of his best pas- sages : — Effects of the battle. " The effective result of these happenings was the opposite of that which the world at large expected. Here, 64 Xen. Hell. vii. 4; Diod. xv. 77 f. 65 Xen. Hell. vii. 5. 19 f. The Boeotians had long used the club of Heracles as a crest. 66 Xen. Hell. vii. 5. 18-27; Diod. xv. 8-1-7 (less trustworthy); Plut. Ages. 35; Nepos, Epam. 9; Justin vi. 7 f; Paus. viii. II. The numbers are those given by Diod. xv. 84. 4. 372 HELLENIC HISTORY where well-nigh the whole of Hellas was met together in one field, and the combatants stood rank against rank confronted, there was no one who doubted that, in the event of battle, the conquerors this day would rule, and that those who lost would be their subjects. But God so ordered it that both belligerents alike set up trophies as claim- ing victory, and neither interfered with the other in the act. Both parties alike gave back their enemy's dead under a truce, and in right of victory; both alike, in symbol of defeat, under a truce took back their dead. Furthermore though both claimed to have won the day, neither could show that he had thereby gained any accession of ter- ritory or state or empire, or was better situated than before the battle. In fact uncertainty and confusion had gained ground, being tenfold greater throughout the length and breadth of Hellas after the battle than before." " Estimate of Epaminondas and of Theban ascendancy. Of the brilliant generalship of Epaminondas there can be no doubt. His private character, too, was lovable, and in public life he stood forth an unselfish patriot. Undoubtedly toward Hellas he cherished loyal, benevolent feelings. It is impossible, however, to discover in him a sign of constructive statesmanship. As manifested by his conduct, his single idea was to substitute Thebes for Sparta as the head of Greece; and in working to that end he made use of the methods long in vogue. From the beginning the task was hopeless. The Thebans were as narrow as the Spartans, and had far less experience in dealing with other States; even in Boeotia they could maintain their control in no other way than by a policy of frightfulness. More impotent were they to win the loyalty of other Greeks. Their sudden decline after the battle of Mantinea proves that their ascendancy was largely due to one man. City-State supremacy; the Hellenic outlook. The idea of in- stitutional union of all the Hellenes on terms of equal participation in the central government, and with guarantees for the rights of the weaker states, probably no one as yet had conceived. The city-state supremacy had been essentially a tyranny, whether harsh or mild; and it was now at least proved that no Hellenic State was strong enough to force her rule upon the rest. The disintegration of Hellas resulting from the downfall of Sparta, the collapse of the Pelopon- nesian league, and the rise and decline of Thebes, was exceedingly «7 Xen. Hell. vii. 5. 26 f. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE— THEBES 373 discouraging to such men of broad vision and liberal mind as Isocra- tes. It was inevitable that the chaos should last long and wreak manifold injury upon the Greek world. For all that it should not be hastily assumed that Hellas was politically bankrupt, that her only salvation rested upon the interference of an outsider. The Hellenes were still a great creative people. Their expanding intelligence and liberality, more capable than ever of solving the problem of unity, were equalled only by their superb physical vitality and by the martial energy stored up in the agricultural areas of Greece — a reser- voir of military strength, which if rightly applied, was capable, not merely of protecting Hellas, but of conquering and ruling an empire. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, chs. xii, xiv; Grote, chs. Ixix-lxxii, Ixxviii-lxxx; Beloch (1st ed.), II, chs. ii, iii, v-vii; Meyer, V, 3-58, 180-496; Holm, III, chs. i-x; Cavaignac, II, 235-283, 299-333 ; Glover, From Pericles to Philip, chs. vii, viii, xii ; Freeman, History of Federal Government (2d. ed. by Bury, London, 1893) ; Caldwell, Hellenic Conceptions of Peace (Columbia University Studies, 1919), ch. iv; Phillipson, International Law and Customs of Ancient Greece and Rome; Whibley, Companion, 456-493 ; Marshall, Second Athenian Confederacy. SYRACUSAN COINS CARTHAGINIAN COIN CHAPTER XXII SICILY AND MAGNA GRAECIA 413-338 Empire-making in East and West. The fate of Hellas, her protection from foreign powers as well as from internecine warfare, depended upon a political unification prejudicial to the sovereignty of the polls, and desired therefore neither by the masses nor by the great majority of statesmen. While in eastern Hellas the Spartans were engaged in a vain attempt to build up and to maintain an empire under the supremacy of the city, an experiment at empire-making of a wholly different character was taking place in Sicily and southern Italy. It was but natural that this undertaking should proceed from Syracuse, by far the most powerful state in western Hellas. Syracuse from 466 to 413. From the overthrow of the tyrants in 466 the government of Syracuse had been the moderate form of democracy designated by Aristotle as a polity. Under this constitu- tion the victory over the Athenian besiegers had been won by the patient courage and the loyalty of the great mass of citizens (413). It was inevitable, then, that they should demand as a reward a fuller participation in the conduct and in the profits of government. As at Athens the failure of the siege created an oligarchy, in Syra- cuse the annihilation of the invader with equal logic changed the polity to an absolute democracy.^ Carthaginian invasion of Sicily, 409. The removal of the Athenian peril gave the short-sighted Sicilians merely an opportunity for interstate warfare, whilst they remained heedless of the over- 1 Moderate democracy, 466-413; Arist Polit. v. 4. 9, 1304 a; p. 245 above. Democratic legislation of 412; Diod. xiii. 33-5; of. Freeman, Hist, of Sicily, III. 439-44 and App. xxvi. 374 SICILY AND MAGNA GRAECIA 375 whelming power of Carthage at their very doors. For seventy years the terror of the Athenian navy had held Persia and Carthage alike at bay; its collapse encouraged both to extend their pow(^r to the detriment of Hellas. A great fleet set sail from Carthage carrying to Sicily an army much greater than Athens had brought to Syra- cuse. It was made up of a Carthaginian nucleus, enlarged by Libyan, Iberian, and Campanian mercenaries. Even Greeks were willing to serve Carthage for pay against their motherland. This force captured Selinus after a fierce nine days' siege. Whereas among the Hellenes, through their regard for the lives of their own soldiers, the besieging of cities was notably mild, it was far different with Carthage, to whom a few thousand mercenaries counted as nothing. The city was taken by storm and the scene of butchery that fol- lowed is too horrible for description in these pages. It was the first Sicilian city to be taken by foreigners, having enjoyed two and a half centuries of freedom. A few days afterward Himera suf- fered a like fate. An attempt of Syracuse to rescue the city was altogether too feeble. Content with his conquest, Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, returned home with his armament.- The fall of Acragas, 406. The great disaster awakened western Hellas to a sense of her peril. When accordingly Hannibal returned with a fresh armament to lay siege to Acragas, 406, thirty thousand soldiers from the states of Sicily and southern Italy swarmed into Syracuse to defend what remained of Hellenic soil. Even this con- siderable force, under the command of the Syracusan, Daphnaeus, accomplished nothing more than the removal of the people of Acragas before that city, too, fell into the invaders' hands.^ Usurpation of Dionysius, 405. The people of Syracuse were convinced that their generals had failed through incompetence or treason. A young officer named Dionysius, taking advantage of this feeling, persuaded the assembly to depose the generals and to elect a new board, which included himself. His next step was by accus- ing his colleagues to have them deposed, so that he became sole gen- eral. The deluded citizens readily voted him a personal guard, with which he usurped the tyranny (405). In the face of the ad- vancing Carthaginians, however, the despot could for the moment ac- complish nothing better than his democratic predecessors had achieved; 2 Destruction of Selinus and of Himera; Diocl. xiii. 43-62, .3Diod. xiii, 80-91. 376 HELLENIC HISTORY the people of Gela and Camarina were withdrawn from their cities, and the entire southern coast was yielded to the enemy. All grum- blings at his failure and mutinyings of his aristocratic cavalry Dionysius relentlessly overrode, with his eyes fixed upon a goal that lay beyond the general horizon. To secure his own hold on the government and his city from the danger of a siege, he came to terms with the enemy. The freedom of Syracuse and a few other Greek cities in the east end of the island was purchased by the cession of the remainder of Sicily to the Carthaginians (405).* Dionysius extends and consolidates his power. The first ef- fort of Dionysius was to secure himself in power. With this end in view he built on the island of Ortygia a strongly fortified castle and surrounded himself with mercenaries, to whom he granted the dwellings within the island. These were the properties of the oldest and most respectable citizens, and in their midst stood the most venerable temples, now exposed to the insolence of strangers. The aristocrats, thus expelled from their homes, were represented by the knights, who had arisen against him, only to be slaughtered or driven into exile. Their country estates, too, were confiscated, divided into small farms, and assigned to newly made citizens, who were either alien mercenaries or emancipated slaves. To such means tyrants had often resorted but none had equalled the ruthlessness of Diony- sius. The civic body, thus reconstituted, found its only safety in upholding the despot. In extending his power by annexing the ter- ritory of neighboring communities, he did not hesitate to sell into slav- ery the population of Hellenic towns, that his Campanian mercenaries might possess their estates. In these measures he showed a wilful harshness impossible to explain, much less to excuse. For a partial understanding of his policy, however, we may note that the native Sicels and Italians, introduced in great numbers into his state, were 4 For Dionysius we have Plato, Letters, especially iii, vii. f., now regarded as genuine. The chief source for him and for his son, Dionysius II, was Philistus. whose works have been lost. As a historian he imitated Thucydides. He was a Syracusan and a man of wealth and of influence in the state. Having aided the usurpation of Dionysius, he flat- tered and upheld the tyrant. His history of the tyranny was therefore partisan. It forms a .sequel to a History of Sicily from the earliest times. Ephorus, the chief source for Dio- dorus, treated of the period in his universal History (p. 434), and Theopompus, HeUenica gave more detailed attention to Sicily (p. -434 f.). Our only continuous extant narrative is that of Diodorus, compiled from contemporary sources, to which we must add occasional references by various authors. — Usurpation of Dionysius; Diod. xiii. 91-6; cf. Arist. Polit. V. S. 10, 1305 a. Desertion of Gela and Camarina; Diod. xiii. 108-11. Treaty with Carthage; Diod. xiii. 114. SICILY AND MAGNA GRAECIA 377 more amenable to military discipline and physically more virile than the Greeks.^ Preparations for war. Having thus enlarged and consolidated his power, Dionysius began military preparations on a gigantic scale. He surrounded Syracuse and its suburbs with a great wall, so that it became the largest and most strongly fortified city in Europe. He built a navy of more than three hundred warships, including many quinqueremes — vessels with five banks of oars, invented by his shipwrights. For land operations he filled his arsenals with muni- tions, among which were catapults for throwing stones, likewise an invention of his engineers. Hi^ army of more than 80,000 men was splendidly organized and equipped. It included heavy and light infantry, artillery and cavalry — the largest, the most complex in organization and equipment, ajid the mast efficient body of troops that Hellas had thus far created. In fact Dionysius introduced an epoch in the history of warfare.® First war with Carthage, 397-2. With these magnificent forces he began his first war against the Carthaginians with the object of ex- ' pelling them wholly from the island. But the enemy had boundless resources in money and therefore in mercenaries; and the flow of Syracusan victory to the extreme west of tlie island was followed by a return tide of Carthaginian success, which destroyed Messene and came near overwhelming Syracuse. Only her mighty walls saved Sicily from the Phoenicians. After years of hard fighting Dionysius contented himself with a peace that assured him the greater part of the island, with the extreme west remaining in Carthaginian hands.' Conquests in Italy. Dionysius was now in a position to inter- fere in the affairs of Italy. Here as in Sicily he displayed no scruple in accomplishing hi-s ends. With the barbarous Lucanians, who from the interior we're rapidly conquering the Hellenic cities, he gladly cooperated. His share of the conquest extended from the strait to Croton. Many inhabitants of this region he sold into slav- ery; others he removed to Syracuse, while others were won to his cause by unexpected clemency. The empire that he built up in Sicily ■5 Ortygian castle and mercenaries; Diod. xiv. 7; cf. xvi. 70. Redistribution of lands; r)iod. xiv. IS. 6 Diod. xiv. 41-3. 7 Diod. xiv. 45-96 37S HELLENIC HISTORY and Italy was the strongest military power in Europe to that day.* More distant enterprises. To his conquests he added an extensive colonial policy. Founding settlements on both Adriatic shores, he brought that sea into his sphere of influence. His object was partly to facilitate communications with the Greek peninsula, on which he entertained political designs, and more immediately to capture the trade that poured into the sea from central Europe. Allying him- self with the Gauls, who were invading Etruria, he ravaged the coast of that country, established a naval base on Corsica, and occupied Elba, where doubtless h£ worked the iron mines. By such means the tyrant of Syracuse encircled Italy, possibly in the hope of dominating the whole peninsula. At all events the power of his realm overawed the central Mediterranean region and came near monopolizing its com- merce.^ Meanwhile he entered into close alliance with Lacedaemon, and took an active part in the wars and diplomacy of eastern Hellas. ^° He waged other wars with Carthage but with no further advantage to the Hellenic cause. His government. The form of government was still republican; for the council and the popular assembly continued to meet; and the tyrant, avoiding every unrepublican title, held the office of general with absolute command of the army, while at least in foreign rela- tions he was entitled archon of Sicily.^^ His wars, extensive build- ings, and a splendid court consumed enormous sums of money, which he supplied by confiscations, temple robberies, the sale of whole communities into slavery, the debasement of the coinage, and the levy of oppressive taxes and arbitrary exactions upon his subjects.^^ His character. As to the character of this extraordinary person we have few though telling hints. His life was free from the vices that had brought many a tyrant to ruin. Particularly the citizens could trust the honor of their wives and daughters to his keeping. He had simultaneously t\\x> wives, with both of whom he lived happily. It would be a mistake to ascribe his cruelties to cold blood. 8 Diod. xiv. 100-12; Strabo vi. 1. 10; Pliny, N. H. iii. 95; Dion. Hil. xx. 5, 7; Polyaen. vi. 11. Lucanian conquests; Strabo vi. 1. 1 ff . ; Aristoxenus, frag. 90, in FHG. II. 291. 9 Diod. XV. 13 f. ; Pseud. Scjinnus 431 f . ; Pseud. Scylax 24; Strabo v. 4. 2; Pliny. N. H. iii. 121; Etym. Magn. 'Adpias; Plut. Dion, 11; Pseud. Arist. Ecoti. ii, 20, 1349 b; Arist. Polit. i. 11. 11, 1259 a. 10 Cf. p. 440. 11 Sessions of the as.senibly are frequently mentioned; cf. Pseud. Arist. Econ. ii. 20, 1349 b; Diod. xiv. 45, 64 et pass. His treaty with Athens, 368-7, was signed by the boule of the Syracufians; Hicks and Hill, no. 112. Archon; H. Civ. no. 124. 12 Devices for exacting money; Pseud. Arist. Econ. ii. 20, 1349, and frequently in the parts of Diodorus cited above; Arist. Polit. v. U. 10, 1313 b. In general, Evans, in Freeman, Hist, of Sicily, IV. 230-8 (including lightening and debasement of coins); Droy- sen, Kleine Schriften, II. 306 ff. ; Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. V. 102-"; SICILY AND MAGNA GRAECIA 379 In the hours that others gave to wine or rest, Dionysius composed dramas. Even his excuses for temple robberies display a ready humor, whereas a curious sentimental vein is disclosed in his pur- chase of the writing tablets of Aeschylus as a means of inspiration. With an artistic temperament his conduct was swayed, not only by a Napoleonic ambition, but by friendship, fear, jealousy, and hatred. So far as we can judge, he was totally devoid of moral principle and of reverence for things sacred. Although he consorted with men of ability in various fields, he followed his own counsels. The Athenian philosopher Plato came to Syracuse in the hope of realizing his ideal State through the power of the despot; but in response to his argu- ments the princely host is said to have had him sold as a slave. In brief Dionysius, like Alcibiades and Lysander, was a product of his age — a non-moral, non-religious but otherwise splendidly gifted egoist. The balance of historical judgment. As the modern historian reviews the destruction of Hellenic cities, the enslavement of entire populations, the grinding financial exajctions, and most of all, the political and mOral degradation of the free citizens under this despot- ism, he is inclined to look upon Dionysius as a curse to humanity. On the other side of the picture is the strong man who builds up a realm of civilized folk capable of defending themselves in perilous times against the assaults of the barbarians in one direction and of Orientals in the other, when both these enemies of European civiliza- tion were growing continually mightier. Appreciating the political weaknesses of Hellenic character, he tried to supplement it by an introduction of native Italian and Sicel blood. Thus he was a champion of Europeanism rather than of Hellenism; and in his ■ blending of foreigners with Greeks he stood forth as the first Hellen- istic prince. Had he been followed by a line of able successors, his realm would have expanded, and have taken the place of Rome as the civilizer of the West. As matters stood, his only service was to check the progress of Carthage till Rome grew sufficiently strong to protect Europe from the encroachment of Oriental civilization.^^ 13 Collection of citations on his character; Holm, Gesch. Siziliens, II. 447-50. Treatment of Plato; Died. xv. 7; Plut. Dion, 5 (varying versions). As a poet; Diod. xiv. 109; xv. 6 f., 74; Cicero, Tusc. Disp, v. 22. 63; Ad Att. iv. 6. 2; Plut. Tim. 15; De fort. Al. ii. 1, 5; De tranquil. 12; Aelian, Var. hist. xii. 44; xiii. 18; Athen. ix. 65. Estimate by Scipio Africanus; Polyb. xv. 35. Grote, Hist, of Greece, XI, 4. 6 ff. and freeman. Hist, of Sicily, IV. 209 f., 239 f., condemn him. Holm, Gesch. Siziliens, II. 143-56, finds little to praise, whereas Beloch, Griech. Gesch. II. 150-78, and Meyer, Gesch. d. Alt. V. 76-132, 497 f., are eulogistic. 380 HELLENIC HISTORY As his son and successor, Dionysius II, was totally incapable, the realm fell to pieces. The cities came under the rule of petty ty- rants, and the power of Carthage threatened to overwhelm the entire island. Under these circumstances Timoleon of Corinth with a few hundred mercenaries landed- in Sicily for the purpose of liberating Syracuse (344). Within a few years he expelled the tyrants, and in a great victory drove the Carthaginians into their strongholds on the western coast. All the cities were reorganized as moderate democra- cies, in which the people exercised the franchise while leaving the executive strong. A federation of the Hellenic cities provided for defence against internal and foreign enemies. Colonies from older Hellas made good the depopulation caused by war, and an era of material prosperity began. These achievements of Timoleon, un- selfishly wrought and leading to universal good feeling, serve to deepen the shadow upon the tyranny of the elder Dionysius. Unfortunately the idyllic peace created by the Liberator was to prove even more fleeting than that earlier security under the Despot's galling yoke.^* 14 Dionysius II and his times; Diod. xv. 74 ff . ; Plut. Dion; Timoleon; Plut. Timo- leon; Nepos, Timoleon; Diod. xvi. 65-90. Depreciated by Polyb. xii. 23. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, ch. xv; Grote, chs. Ixxxi-lxxxv; Beloch (1st ed.), II, ch. iv; Holm, III, chs. xi, xxviii ; Holm, Geschichte Siziliens, II ; Freeman, History of Sicily, III, ch. viii, §§5-8, IV, chs. x, xi; Meyer, V, 58-179, 497 to end of vol.; Cavaignac, II, 285-298. DEMOSTHENES (Capitoline Museum, Rome) CHAPTER XXIII THE RISE OF MACEDON To 337 Country and people. Macedon consisted of a narrow plain bordering the sea and a hill country in the interior. The Athenians had taken possession of the coast, and had cut the country off from maritime communications with the world. The uplands were cov- ered with forests, the abode of the wild boar and the lion. The in- habitants were either Greeks related to the Thessalians or perhaps an Indo-European people of kindred speech, who in early time had borrowed an extensive vocabulary from the Thessalians. It was probably because their dialect was foreign and their civilization backward that the Hellenes of the fourth century pronounced them " barbarians." ^ For subsistence they hunted wild beasts, gathered 1 Modern scholars differ totally as to their nationality. For example, Hoffman, O., Die Makedonen, ihre Sprachc und ihr Volkstum (Gottingen, 1906), especially 111-15, declares for their Greek nationality, whereas Thumb, A., another eminent specialist in the Greek dialects, N. Jahrb. XIX (1907). 76-8, objects. The Greeks regarded the Macedonians as foreigners (barbarians); Sophist of Larisa, 22, 34 (H. Civ. p. 382, 384); Isoc. Phil. 108 (H. Civ. p. 418). The same view is implied in the myth that the kings of Macedon were Greek, of Argive descent; Hdt. viii. 137-9; Thuc. ii. 99; v. 80; Isoc. Phil. 32 (H. Civ- 382 HELLENIC HISTORY nuts and forest fruits, pastured a few sheep, or cultivated small patches of ground. They lived in hovels grouped in small villages, dressed in skins or in coarsely woven cloth, and carried ever with them weapons for protection from the neighboring barbarians or for mutual slaughter in their drunken brawls. Although the majority were free, some were evidently the clients of great lords, who pos- sessed large tracts of land, and served in war as " companions " of their king.- Early political condition and history, to 359. The uplands comprised several broad river valleys separated by high ridges. Each valley was the abode of a tribe under its chief. Similarly the long narrow plain which lay between the highland and the coast possessions of Athens had its king. The earlier history of Macedon hinges on the conflict between plain and highland. The chiefs of the interior owed an unwilling allegiance to the king of the plain, submitted to if he were strong but denied to the weakling; hence there were con- stant revolts and reconquests. Gradually the king introduced among his people Hellenic civilization and military equipment, by means of which he gained the mastery over the upland. The work of reducing Macedon to unity belonged chiefly to King Amyntas, 390-369. His reign was full of strife and anarchy, intrigue and murder. At one time the Illyrians drove him from the realm ; and again the Olynthian confederacy robbed him of his possessions near the sea; but after its fall, 379, the Macedonian king for the first time could reasonably hope to acquire a seaboard. Death at an advanced age snatched from him this opportunity. With a talent for governmental business and accomplished as a general, he had spent his life, sword in hand, interminably battling with Olynthians, or with the savage Illyrians and Paeonians, repressing rebellions in his upper feudatories, or stamping out disaffection in his own household.^ Three lawful sons were left — Alexander, Perdiccas, and Philip — all destined to roy- alty and to violent deaths. After his two elder brothers had fulfilled 413 and n. 2). If the Macedonians were not Greeks, we may suppose them to have been largely Hellenized in speech by an extensive immigration of Thessalians. 2 Vegetation of Macedoii; Theophrastus, History of Plants, iii. 3. 1. Social conditions; Theopompus, FHC. I. 320, 249; Arrian i. 16. 4; vii. 9 (H. Civ. no. 168); Lucian, Dialogues of the Dead, 14. 3 A few facts relating to the early history of Macedon may be gathered from Herodotus and Thucydides (see indices). Hellenization by King Archelaus; Thuc. ii. 100; Diod. xvii. 16. 3 f. ; Arrian, i. 11. 1; King Amyntas; Aelian, Var. hist. xiii. 4; xiv. 17; Diod. xiv. 92. 3; XV. 19. 2; Xen. Hell. v. 2. 13; Justin vii. 4. THE RISE OF MACEDON 383 their brief careers, Philip mounted a throne overshadowed by internal dissensions and foreign war, 359.* Philip in Thebes, 368-5. At the age of fifteen Philip had been sent as a hostage to Thebes, where he remained three years. This sojourn may well be compared with that of Peter the Great in Hol- land and England. In spite of the infiltration of Hellenic culture the Macedonians were as yet barbarians with but a veneer of civiliza- tion, and Philip had inherited the savage appetities and passions of his royal ancestors. His long stay in Thebes, at that time the military and political centre of Hellas, was an education of the high- est type. The schools and gymnasia, the armories and arsenals, the splendid Boeotian phalangites, Epaminondas and his brilliant as- sociates, all served him as models and as an inspiration, to make his own country a state of the Hellenic type and to win for himself a place among these men of superior breeding and intelligence.^ The mines and the army. With a quick mind and strong hand he put an end to anarchy within his borders, and inspired turbulent neighbors with respect for his power. Aside from his own inborn ability perhaps the greatest element of success in his career was his seizure of the gold mines of Mount Pangaeus just beyond the Thra- cian border, which according to reports brought him more than a thousand talents a year. Although this statement may be an exag- geration, yet the proceeds constituted the foundation of his power, as it enabled him to create a standing army of professional soldiers, superior to anything heretofore known to the world. From the peas- ants and the shepherds, who were excellent fighting material, he se- lected the best, and formed them in a phalanx. These " foot-com- panions," as they were honorably named, he armed more lightly than the ordinary phalangite, but increased the length of their spears. In equipment they somewhat resembled the peltasts of Iphicrates. They were given mobility by an increase of space between man and man. As auxiliaries to the phalanx Philip added archers and slingers and a body of mercenaries. The cavalry were equipped as light and 4 The reign of Philip was covered by Ephorus, History, and far more minutely by Theopompus, Philippica, both of which are lost (p. 434). Diodorus xvi, drawn mainly from these sources, is our only continuous narrative. Brief references are given by Plu- tarch, Pelopidas; Demosthenes; Pliocioii. See further Justin vii-ix, a late and inferior epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Historiae Philippicae, a meritorious work composed in the time of Augustus; Schubart, Quellen zur Geschichte Philipps II von. Makedonien (1904). Philip's accession; Diod. xvi. 2. 5 Plut. Pelop. 26; Justin vii. 5. 384 HELLENIC HISTORY heavy; and in the latter the nobles served as " companions " of the king. Philip not only drilled these troops, but exercised them in long rapid marches, carrying their arms and provisions. They were kept under rigid discipline, and encouraged to athletic competitions by prizes for winners. To this fighting machine he was able, when occasion demanded, to attach an efficient siege train. Thus Philip developed a military system even more complex and more efficient than that of Dionysius I. Its superiority consisted mainly in the soldierly qualities of the men, the professional efficiency which they acquired through long service, and the ability of the commander and his generals. Lacedaemon had long possessed a standing army, but its numbers were small compared with Philip's force and it was notably weak not only in light troops, cavalry, and siege equipment but in mobility — all of which qualities were the very essence of Philip's strength." His diplomacy. The king's gold formed, too, an essential ele- ment of the diplomacy in which he developed a masterful skill. Through ability to buy friends and reward his faithful henchmen, as well as through urbanity, good-fellowship, and general adroitness in the management of men, he created in every Hellenic State a party devoted to his cause. States whose interests were threatened by his aggressions he could usually lull to a sense of security till the time was ripe for striking the fatal blow. No scruple — no lying or truce-breaking — stood in the way of his seizing an advantage. Philip's early aggressions, 359-1. Philip's determination to win the coast region adjoining his country conflicted with the interests of the Olynthian confederacy and of Athens. His characteristic diplo- macy kept the former quiet while he proceeded to annex Amphipolis and other possessions of Athens. To check his aggressions that city began a war upon him in 357, which, though involving only occa- sional hostilities, nominally continued eleven years. Meanwhile he made himself master of Thessaly and the greater part of Thrace. His occupation of a long line of coast added rich port customs to his revenue, and enabled him to build cruisers to prey upon Athenian commerce. Athens was weakened by the loss of her greater allies in the Social War (357-355), and still more by a policy which de- 6 The mines; Diod. xvi. 8. 6. The army; Diod. xvi. 3; Polyaenus iv. 2. 1, 3, 6; Fron- tinus iv. 1. 6; Delbriick, Kriegsk. I. 139-48. THE RISE OF MACEDON 385 voted a large share of the public revenues to the feeding and enter- tainment of the populace.'^ The first Philippic of Demosthenes, 351, These material en- joyments were disturbed only by the voice of Demosthenes proclaim- ing anew the civic ideals of Themistocles and Pericles, which called men to sacrifice and suffer for their country. In his First Philippic, 351, he informed his countrymen that their enemy had grown great through their own sloth, that to check his further aggrandizement they should act at once: "The wealthy should contribute, the physically able should enlist; in a word, if you will become your own masters, and cease each expecting to do nothing himself, while his neighbors do everything for him, you shall then with Heaven's permission recover your own, get back what you have frittered away, and chastise Philip." ^ To send a general off with a few empty ships and a little money for hiring mercenaries, as you have often done, he continues in substance, is worse than useless, for the general is a slave to his hirelings, who merely prey upon your own allies. Keep a small fleet cruising on the northern Aegean, manned in part by citizens, to protect our remaining allies and to harass the enemy. " You, Athenians," he exclaims, " with larger means than any other people — ships, infantry, and income — have never up to this day made proper use of any of them." ^ The speaker proposes a well- considered plan of an armament, including the financial support, which to his country would have been a mere trifle. He was still young, however, and his words carried little weight. Nothing was done on that occasion, and Philip continued to gain ground. Conquest of the Olynthian confederacy, 349-8. Two years later, ^ after demoralizing the Chalcidic cities with bribes, Philip entered openly upon their conquest. Appeals to Athens for help were sup- ported by the eloquence of Demosthenes in his three Olynthiac Ora- tions. The spirit of these addresses is like that of the First Philippic described above. His countrymen should grasp this God-given op- portunity to join with the Olynthians in putting down the common 7 Philip made a treaty with Athens in which he agreed to dehver Amphipolis to her but afterwards broke his promise; Diod. xvi. 3 f., 8; Theopompus, in FHG. 285. 310 Demosth. Olynth. ii. 6 f . ; cf. i. 8. Taking of AmphipoHs and banishment of friends of Athens; H. Civ. no. 125. War between Athens and Phihp; Diod. xvi. 8 ff . ; Demosth. Philippics and Olynthiacs. Athenian combinations against Philip; Hicks and Hill, no. 131 f. ; Ditt. .1. no. 196 f. Social war; Diod. xvi. 7-22; Hicks and Hill, nos. 128, 130; Ditt. I. nos, 190-92 (documents). Socialistic policy of Athens; p. 420 f. below. 8 Demosth. Phil. i. 7. 9 Phil. i. 40. --.■. 386 HELLENIC HISTORY enemy of Hellas, an enemy steadily advancing toward Athens. It is better to fight him at a distance than to see the ruin of our farms, to join at once with our allies and with his disaffected subjects than later to bear the whole brunt alone. His power is indeed formidable, as other speakers have shown, but it rests upon a weak foundation, on unrighteousness, perjury, and falsehood, and will fall if we strike hard. Far from losing himself in eloquent generalities, the young statesman had a definite plan to propose, as on other occasions, worked out in minute detail. If the citizens were to receive money from the state, he maintains, they should earn it by labor — the young men by military duty, the elders by service at home.^*^ This appeal for pub- lic efficiency fell on deaf ears. Inadequate and tardy help was sent. The Confederacy fell. Of the thirty-two cities which composed it a few only were spared and were admitted to the Macedonian state on an equality with the neighboring towns. The rest were destroyed, and the inhabitants enslaved. Philip's friends throughout Hellas were favored with gifts from these human spoils. An Athenian met a certain man of Arcadia driving homeward a herd of thirty Olynthian women and children whom he had received as a present from his friend the king. The Athenian wept at the sight and bewailed the abject state of Hellas that could endure such pitiable scenes.^^ At length it was clear even to the average statesman that Hellas had a master, whose policy toward the Greeks was not only intrigue, insinuation, and bribery, but likewise blood and iron. His direct sway extended from the Hellespont to Thermopylae; and many a city farther south was controlled by his paid henchmen. The Sacred War, beginning 356. For some time Philip had been involved in the so-called Sacred War, which had broken out in 356. During her supremacy Thebes had control of the Delphic amphictyony, and used this power against her enemies. It was through her influence, for example, that the amphictyonic council had fined Sparta five hundred talents for having seized the Theban 10 Under a treaty with Philip of about 356 the Olynthian confederacy had aided him in a war against Athens and had received a share of the conquered territory; Demosth. Aristoc. 108; Phil. ii. 20. Afterward when the Olynthians began to suspect him, they made a treaty with Athens, 353-2; Demosth. Aristoc. 107 ff . ; Ol. iii. 7; IG. II. 105 f. Phil- ip's deception and bribery of Olynthians; Demosth. F. Emb. 265; Phil. iii. 56, 63-8. Pro- posal that youths and elders should serve the State; Demosth. Ol. iii. 3^ f. Athenian naval power, in 353-2 a fleet of 350 triremes; IG. II. 795. 11 Fall of the Chalcidic confederacy, 348; Diod. xvi. 53; Philochorus, FUG. I. 405. 132. Certain places spared; Beloch, Griech. Gesch. II. 505, n. 1. Destruction of thirty-two (Demosth. Phil. iii. 26) is slightly exaggerated. Refugees harbored by .Athens; Hicks and Hill, no. 141. Honors to Philip; Demosth. Phil. iii. 32; Peace, 22. His fame; Theopomp. before he became a partisan of Philip; Demosth. F. Emb. 305 f. THE RISE OF MACEDON 387 Cadmea in time of peace. This sum was never paid. In like man- ner as Phocis was disinclined to bear the Theban supremacy, the council proceeded to fine some of her leading men for alleged tres- passing upon the property of Apollo. On tlie refusal of the accused to pay the fines, the council declared a Sacred War upon their coun- try. The Phocian commander seized the treasury at Delphi, with which he hired a great force of mercenaries. Thus provided, he was able to make headway against the Boeotians, to carry the war into Thessaly, and to contend with Philip. Ultimately the Macedonian king defeated the invaders and expelled them from Thessaly. Hel- lenic sentiment disapproved of their seizure of the Delphic treasury; and though both Athenians and Lacedaemonians were their allies, neither gave material aid. The exhaustion of the sacred fund was sure to bring the downfall and punishment of the Phocians.^- The treaty of Philocrates, 346. Such was the condition of affairs in 348, when the Chalcidic cities were destroyed. Athens was con- tending alone against Philip, and always losing. There was no hope of success, and hence no reason for prolonging the struggle. Nego- tiations ended in the peace of Philocrates, 346, so-named after the Athenian who proposed it. The treaty established not only peace but a defensive alliance. It was acknowledged that the status quo ex- tended to the allies of both parties with the exception of the Phocians. Accepting the inevitable, Demosthenes had worked for the peace. The Athenians voted for it, however, under the strange delusion that Philip intended to spare Phocis and to attack the Thebans.^^ Devastation of Phocis. The men of Athens were not long kept in the dark as to tlie fate of the Phocians. The amphictyonic council had invited Philip to put an end to the Sacred War, and he was now in a position to accept. The helpless Phocians yielded uncon- ditionally. Their towns were destroyed and they were scattered in villages. They were compelled further by an annual tribute of sixty talents to replace the plundered treasure. To see that these measures were carried out the king quartered troops on the country. Its con- dition, as Demosthenes saw it shortly afterward, was pitiable: " The ruin that has fallen on the poor Phocians may be seen . . . from what has actually been done — a shocking and pitiable sight, men of 12 Sparta fined; Diod. xvi. 23. Sacred War; Diod. xvi. 23, 32; Paus. x. 2; Justin viii. 1. 13 The chief sources for the peace and the negotiations connected with it are the speeches of Demosthenes and Aeschines, On the Faithless Embassy, and Pseudo-Demosthenes, On Halonnesus. >' 388 HELLENIC HISTORY Athens. On our journey to Delphi we were forced to see it all — houses razed to the ground, walls demolished, a country stripped of its adult male population, a few women and little children, and mis- erable old men. No language can equal the wretchedness now exist- ing there." ^■^ The Phocians were excluded from the amphictyony and their two votes were transferred to Philip and his descendants. The man whom patriot Greeks had scoffed at as a barbarian and drunkard, a boon companion of the off-scourings of society, was thus publicly acknowledged as a Hellene, and was given the presidency of the Pythian games held that autumn. He was now the arbiter of Greek affairs, and his name in flattery or execration was on every man's lips.^^ Philip's larger ambition and its obstacle in Athens. About this time Philip began to think of making war upon Persia. With this end in view he desired the peace and the good will of the Hellenes and his own election to the chief command. As a strong navy would be indispensable, he especially courted the friendship of Athens. His advances in the latter direction were repelled. Shocked at the ruin of the Phocians, the Athenians burned for a renewal of hostili- ties, and were restrained with great difficulty by Uemothenes.^" They considered the treaty of Philocrates a disgrace to themselves, and al- lowed its author to be driven by prosecution into exile. Demosthenes brought Aeschines, a rival orator, to trial on the charge of having bartered to Philip the interests of Athens. This misconduct, the prosecutor alleged, was on the occasion of the embassies to Philip connected with the recent treaty, in which both Aeschines and Demos- thenes had taken part. The speeches of these adversaries at the trial, 343, are a hopeless maze of contradictions; neither antagonist seems to have hesitated at falsehood. Aeschines was acquitted by only thirty votes. Against him it must at least be said that from the bitterest opponent of Philip he was suddenly converted, in the embassy pre- ceding the peace, into an ardent champion; and it is not improbable that he and Philocrates had received from Philip estates in the con- quered territory of Olynthus. Be that as it may, Philip's friends at Athens were at length in disrepute; the popularity of Demosthenes, 14 Demosth. F. Emb. 63. 15 Punishment of the Phocians; Diod. xvi. 56, 60; Paus. x. 3; Demosth. F. Emb. 81. The total amount to be refunded exceeded 10.000 talents. Record of a payment; flicks and Hill, no. 141. Honors to Philip; Demosth. Phil. iii. 32; Peace, 22. His fame; Theopomp. FHG. I. 317. 235. H! Philip's designs against Persia; Diod. xvi. 60. 5; cf. Isocrates, Philippus (composed 346). Athenians restrained by Demosthenes, On the Peace. THE RISE OF MACEDON 389 and with it the strength of the anti-Macedonian party, grew from day to day.^' These men looked upon the peace merely as a breath- ing time, on Philip as an enemy at heart, who when the opportune moment should come, would treat Athens as he had treated Olynthus. Under the lead of Demosthenes therefore they seized every oppor- tunity to hamper the further extension of his power. Philip in Epirus and Peloponnese; a new Hellenic Federation. Meanwhile Philip placed his brother-in-law Alexander on the throne of Epirus, strengthened his hold upon Thrace and Thessaly, and by his characteristic methods gained an ascendancy in Peloponnese. Athens, on the other hand, won for herself a considerable federa- tion, including Euboea, Megara, Corinth, Achaea, Acarnania, Leucas, Phocis, and lastly Thebes, still the most powerful city-state on the peninsula. Since the battle of Mantinea, 362, had put an end to city-supremacy, its place was filled by the principle of the balance of power. In the new political system the object of the statesman was to prevent any one of the greater city-states — Thebes, Athens, Lace- daemon, and Argos — from growing so powerful as to menace the liberties of the rest. From the beginning of his public career Demos- thenes consistently upheld this principle. In his judgment Athens should protect the weaker States and should refrain from exercising compulsion toward any of them. She should make of herself an efficient military power, so as to be ready to accept the leadership when voluntarily tendered by Hellas.^ ^ The federation of Hellenes men- tioned above was largely his work; and the union between Athens and Thebes,, the leading powers in eastern Hellas, who had long cherished toward each other the bitterest hatred, was a great achieve- ment of statesmanship, as it formed an important step toward Hellenic unity. Battle of Chaeronea, 338. For the success of this policy time was lacking. Unfortunately for the Hellenic cause a Sacred War had again been declared for alleged trespassing upon the property of 17 Philocrates fled into exile and was thereupon condemned to death; Hypereides, For Euxenippus, 29 f . ; Demosth. F. Emb. 114 ff. ; Aeschines, F. Emb. 6. Prosecution of Aeschines; speeches of Demosthenes and Aeschines, On the Faithless Embassy, as edited after the delivery by the authors. Gifts of Olynthian estates; Demosth. F. Emb._ 145 f. The part of Demosthenes, too, in the negotiations is in some respects open to criticism, but in his case there is no suspicion of corruption or of disloyalty to Athens. Next to Demosthenes the strongest anti-Macedonians were Hypereides, the prosecutor of Philocrates, and Lycurgus; p. 436 below. 18 This policy we find well developed in his early public career, as represented by his speeches On the Symmories ; For the Megalopolitans ; and For the Rhodians. Like other statesmen Demosthenes undoubtedly made mistakes, but his policy accorded well with the political conditions of Hellas, and met with as much success under existing circumstances as could be expected in so short a time. 390 HELLENIC HISTORY Apollo — on this occasion against the little town of Amphissa, Locris; and Philip had been invited by the amphictyons to take the cap- taincy. A clash with the federals was inevitable. In the battle of Chaeronea, Boeotia, he routed their forces. As further resistance seemed hopeless, the federation dissolved and Philip was left free to organize Greece according to hi^ pleasure. Sparta alone held out. Philip ravaged her country, and trimmed off a wide strip of territory on the east, north and west, but failed to conquer the state.'^^ Philip's treatment of Thebes and of Athens; his garrisons. In meting out punishment Philip was most severe upon Thebes, which had been most subservient to him but had deserted at the last hour. She lost her hegemony over Boeotia; the leaders in the revolt who failed to escape were put to death; and a garrison was placed in the Cadmea. Philip found it advisable likewise tq garrison Chalcis and Corinth. Athens, on the other hand, which had opposed him most consistently, received unexpected favors. This city still commanded the sea; and Philip could not risk a long and uncertain siege, espe- cially as Athens might be able to bring Persia and many Greek States to her support. In his plans for the future, too, the coopera- tion of Athens was necessary. The king therefore freed the Athenian prisoners without ransom, and left the city her constitution and her territory, including the islands settled by her colonists. She had to give up the Thracian Chersonese, but received in exchange the Boeo- tian Oropus. No foreign troops crossed her border, and none of her statesmen were touched. "° Philip's Hellenic league, winter of 338-7. Philip then pro- ceeded to the organization of Hellas. On his invitation all the States of the peninsula, excepting Lacedaemon, and of the islands round about sent deputies to a Hellenic congress at Corinth. The States were represented, as in the Boeotian league, according to population. The constitution of the new union was incorporated in a treaty be- tween that body and Philip and in the mutual oaths of the contracting parties, as follows: The States shall be independent and self-govern- ing, and any who attempt to subvert the constitution existing at the time when the oaths are taken shall be considered enemies of all who share in the treatv. It is further provided that all the deputies and 19 The battle; Diod. xvi. 85 f . ; Plut. Demosth. 17-20; Alex. 9; Justin ix. 3; Polyaenus iv. 2. 2, 7. 20 Samos, Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros retained; An'st. Const. Ath. 62; Diod. xviii, 56; Paus. i. 34. 1. Delos; fC. II. 824. Peace favorable to Athens; Plut. Phocion, 16: Diod. xvi. 8. 3; Justin ix. 4. 5. THE RISE OF MACEDON 391 all who have a care for the public safety shall see that, in the States which share in the peace, there shall be no executions or banishments contrary to the laws now existing in the States, or confiscations of property or redivisions of the soil or abolitions of debt or emancipa- tions of slaves for revolutionary purposes. In case the exiles from any State attempt a forcible return, the State which harbors such militant exiles shall be excluded from the peace. All are at liberty to navigate the sea, and the State which infringes this right shall be deemed a common enemy. The contracting States agree not to encroach upon one another in any way, but faithfully to keep the peace. Between Philip and the league there is to be an offensive and defensive alliance. Philip is to be the commander-in-chief. The deputies pledge their States by oath not to overthrow the kingship of Philip or of his descendants but to maintain the treaty and to wage war upon any who violate it. These arrangements were to be perma- nent. It was further decided that Macedon and Hellas should wage jointly a war against Persia under Philip's command. The sum of the Hellenic forces was reckoned at 200,000 infantry and 15,000 cav- alry.2^ Valuation of this achievement. In this way was achieved a unification of eastern Hellas for which the best minds of the race had long been yearning. Had the Greeks possessed sufficient politi- cal experience, they would have accepted the situation, and would ultimately have been able to throw off the Macedonian supremacy. The centrifugal tendencies of the cities, however, were still too strong to endure this forcible bridling; so independent in fact was the Greek spirit that the coercion itself served as a powerful factor of disinte- gration. The large degree of liberty still left to the Hellenes existed on sufferance only. Despite his benevolence Philip was a self- constituted despot; and the Greeks, even if they had been willing to submit to a loving master, possessed no guarantee for the continu- ance of the good will. The supremacy of Macedon was an innova- tion upon that of the city-state in two important respects: it was the rule (1) of a semi-civilized people over a highly cultured race, (2) of a military power centralized in the hands of a man who in spite of his benevolence to Hellas and his admiration for her culture, 21 The treaty with Alexander was essentially the same as that with Philip, and its terms are accordingly best expressed in Pseud. Demosth. Treaty xvith Alexander, es- pecially, 8, 10, 15 f., 'IP. An important fragment of the oath; H. Civ. no. 128. The war- leader is hegemon, ijyefiwv- Hellenic forces; Justin ix. 5, the total military strength, not the forces to be sent against Persia. 392 HELLENIC HISTORY was essentially an egoist. The issue between Philip and the Hellenes is alive today; and the historian who maintains that the strong man is justified in forcibly imposing his rule upon mankind upholds Philip, whereas the believer in democracy, in the right of the people to determine their own government, necessarily gives the greater share of his s>Tnpathy to the Hellenes.^- Their freedom was not destroyed but merely abridged by the battle of Chaeronea. Hellenic and modern history compared. In reviewing their history to this date the reader who applies present standards to the struggles among their cities is tempted to regard their wars as con- temptibly petty, and to look upon the Greeks as supremely foolish in clinging so tenaciously to their city-states. This view, however, is subject to correction through a right historical perspective. The great war which began August 1, 1914, has clearly revealed the fact that in political wisdom the world has not advanced appreciably be- yond the Greeks. By a process of gradual growth rather than through statesmanship the nation has been substituted for the city; but to one who regards the situation without partisanship the antipathies and the rivalries among nations are of the same character as those of former time among cities, while the wars between groups of nations are incomparably more destructive to life and property and hence more prejudicial to civilization. From this point of view the military and political strivings of the Greek republics are worthy of our study. In principle though not in magnitude they are sufficiently near to modern conditions to afford us at least an occasional lesson in politi- cal science. 22 Within the past few decades there has arisen a considerable class of scholars inter- ested in Greek conditions who are partisans of the strong-man theory as defined in the text above. Their treatment of fourth-century history has for its chief object the justification of Philip and Alexander. For this purpose they paint the social and political conditions of the time in as repellent colors as possible, representing the Greeks as totally degenerate both politically and socially, capable of redemption in no other way than through subjuga- tion by the strong man. This accusation is refuted in the pertinent chapters of the present volume. In the third century the Greeks of their own initiative discovered a solution of their political difficulties in the federal union, too late, however, for the preservation of their independence. ADDITIONAL READING Holm, ITT, chs. xiv-xix; Bury, ch. xvi ; Grote, XI, chs. Ixxxvi-xc ; Curtius, V, bk. vii; Pohlmann, Griech. Gesch. 225-259; Beloch, Griech. Gesch. (1st ed.) II, chs. xii, xiii; Cavaignac, Histore de I'antiquite, II, 319-349, 391-452; Glover, From Pericles to Philip, ch. xii; Beloch, Attische Politik seit Periklrs, 162-369; Hoffman, Die Makedonen, ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum (Gbttingen, 1906); Pickard-Cambridge, Demosthenes and the Last Days of Greek Freedom (Lon- THE RISE OF MACEDON 393 don, 1914). It is a curious fact that most modern writers on this subject may be divided definitely into two classes: those who sympathize with Demos- thenes, regard the Athenian democracy as essentially sound, and dislike Philip, and those on the other hand, who champion Philip and condemn both Demos- thenes and the Athenian democracy. To the former class belong Grote, Curtius, Schaefer, Demosthenes unci seine 7,eit (Teubner, 1885-7); Blass, Geschichte der attischen Beredsatiikeit (Teubner, 1880) ; Weil, Harangues de Demosthen (Paris, 1881). Unfavorable to Demosthenes are Holm and Beloch. In English Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon (Scribner, 1897), has given a popular representation of this view in its extreme form. LION OF CHAERONEA CHAPTER XXIV ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 404-337 Effects of the Peloponnesian war upon population and econ- omy. With the political developments from the close of the Pelop- omiesian war to the formation of the Hellenic union under Philip the economic and social conditions of the period are closely inter- related. We are able but roughly to estimate the effects of the Peloponnesian war upon population and economy. There can be no doubt that the conflict, through waste of life and property and through the withdrawal of the energies of states from the productive works of peace, was in a high degree damaging. The victors suffered only less than the vanquished. Through losses in war and more through economic causes the number of Spartan " peers " had sunk to two thousand, and this body continued throughout the fourth century to shrink till in the time of Aristotle no more than one thousand re- mained. The number of " inferiors " correspondingly grew while that of the perioeci and of the helots remained substantially unchanged.^ These circumstances augmented the difficulty of governing the newly acquired empire and even of holding the lower Lacedaemonian classes in subordination. The situation was complicated by the inflow of silver as contributions from the new Aegean allies. Despite a law that the precious metals were to be used by the State alone, private citizens now acquired money, some by embezzling the public funds. Among the latter was Gylippus, an eminent general, who secreted the stolen treasure of Athenian coins beneath his roof, till his servant reported to the ephors that " under his tiles roosted many owls." ^ Other Spartans avoided the penalty by depositing their money with their Arcadian neighbors. Thus accustomed to disobedience of law 1 Arist. PoUt. ii. 9. 16. 1270 a. In general, Beloch. Bevolk. 131 ff. ; Cavaignac, in Klio. XII (1912). 270. For an appreciation of Lacedaenion at this time the reader should have in mind her fundamental organization (ch. vi. §2) and her condition in the early fifth centurv; p. 222. 2 Plut. Lys. 16. Law as to precious metals; ib. 17. 394 ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 395 and traditional discipline, wealthy Spartans went through the form of eating their meagre repasts at public tables while living privately in unstinted luxury. This expensive standard of life, introduced by the few wealthy, was readily adopted, along with its attendant contempt for the law, by the poorer peers. The increasing luxury and rising prices of imports, together with the long-continued tendency to the concentration of landed property in the hands of women, did more to thin the ranks of the peers than had been effected by the war with Athens. The reason is that a peer whose estate fell menacingly near the minimum production required by his syssition had no lawful means of recruiting his failing fortune; for he was still a professional soldier, who could engage in no business nor even work with his own hands in his field. His only resource was to wed a rich wife; yet even thus he might incur the penalty for a breach of the law against an unseemly marriage. At Sparta, feminism, nourished by her pe- culiar usages, had taken the form of lawlessness and intemperance, luxury at table and in dress, basking in dainty robes of costly work- manship or rearing horses for the chariot events at Olympia.'"' The ostentation and arrogance of women were especially irritating to the lower classes. Among the latter the inferiors, a grade of Spartans too poor to make their contributions to the syssitia and for this reason disfranchised, formed a dangerous element in the community. Shortly after the accession of Agesilaus one of their number, Cinadon, hatched a conspiracy for overthrowing the constitution and levelling distinc- tions of rank. The plot came to light; and Cinadon, when arrested, gave as his motive: " I wished to be inferior to no man in Lacedae- mon." He and his accomplices miserably perished; * but their death gave no lasting security to the peers, who continued to dwell on the thin crust of a social volcano. It was in fact a misfortune for Sparta that no Cinadon or Lysander by reform or revolution succeeded in extending the citizenship at least to the perioeci and in emancipat- ing the helots. Her rigid system, well adapted to a primitive com- munity and exceedingly efficient while the citizens believed in it, had long been obsolete, continued merely by the inertia of the Spartans. They had lost the character essential to its vital maintenance; and 3 Disobedience of the law; Athen. vi. 24 (partly from Poseidonius). Two fifths of the land possessed by women; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 14 f., 1270 a. Straitened condition of the peers; Arist. Polit. ii. 5. 17. 1264 a; Plut. Ages. 26. Unseemly marriage; Plut. Lys. 30. Feminine lawlessness and extravagance; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 5-13, 1269 b f . ; Plut. Lys. 2; Michel, no. 951. 4 The thrilling story is told by Xenophon, Hellenica, iii. 3. 4-7; Arist. Polit. v. 7. 3, 1306 b; cf. the attempt of Pausanias in earlier time; p. 238. 396 HELLENIC HISTORY instead of expanding in culture and in outlook with other Hellenes, they had grown more ignorant and more illiberal than ever. Dream- ers like Plato, disregarding the facts, might in imagination transform them into ideal citizens, converting even their shortcomings into trans- cendent virtues ; and laconizers in various cities might still go about in short chitons, with caestus on arm, and with ears bruised in the curious delusion that by these outward forms they were embodying the manli- ness of Lacedaemon. Xenophon, however, a practical man, though an enthusiastic admirer of Sparta, saw in the petty ambition and sordid greed of individuals a mark of decadence, whereas the cold reasoner Aristotle found every branch of the government weakened through venality and incapacity.^ In his opinion the fundamental defect lay in the mistaken object of their education: " The Lacedae- monians . . . brutalize their children by laborious exercises which they think will make them courageous. In fact as we have often re- peated, education should not be exclusively directed to this or to any other single end. Even if we suppose the Lacedaemonians to be right in their end, they do not attain it; for among the barbarians and among animals courage is found associated, not with the greatest ferocity, but with a gentle and lionlike temper. ... It is not strange that the Lacedaemonians, while they were themselves assiduous in their laborious drill, were superior to others, but are now beaten both in war and in gymnastic exercises. For their ancient superiority di'd not depend upon their mode of training the youth, but only on the circumstance that they trained them at a time when others did not. Hence we may infer that the noble, not the brutal, should have the first place. . . . We should judge the Lacedaemonians, not from what they have been, but from what they are; for now they have rivals who compete with their education, whereas formerly they had none." " Here is expressed the opinion that the Lacedaemonians had remained stationary for centuries while the other Hellenes were progressing. Archaeological research, however, convinces us of their actual de- cline.'' As usually happens, too, with extreme views, the judgments of Plato and Aristotle are both wrong. In spite of shortcomings the conduct of the Spartans in crises, as after the battle of Leuctra, still reveals good results of their discipline, while their inbred cour- 5 Plato's view of the Spartans; p. 439 f. Laconizers; Plat. Protag. 342. Xenophon's com- ment. ; Const. Lac. 14 fcomposed about 378 when the fortune of Sparta was at a low ebb). Aristotle's criticisms; Polit. ii. 9, 1269 f. 6 Arist. Polit. viii. 4. 1-7, 1338 b. 7 P. too n. 45. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 397 age, their military training and prudence in authority still recom- mended individual Spartans as commanders to Hellenic States when menaced by especial danger. It was worthy of her past that, after the overwhelming IVIacedonian victory at Chaeronea, Sparta alone of all the city-states continued to maintain her liberty against the vic- tor.*^ Effects of the Peloponnesian War as a whole. The effect of the war with Athens on Peloponnese as a whole was less marked. The isolation of the peninsula by the Athenian fleet during the early years of the struggle must have greatly damaged commerce. Toward the end of the conflict, when all fear of the Athenian naval supremacy had vanished, there began a tendency to concentrate in cities and to an in- dustrial economy, which continued during the fourth century. Hence it was that Agesilaus could speak of Sparta's allies as potters, smiths, masons, carpenters, and other such mechanics. These changes dimin- ished the number capable of equipping themselves for service in the heavy infantry, while adding to the day laborers and the slaves. Hence while the total population remained about the same in numbers, it underwent social deterioration. The decline of agriculture was not especially due to an impoverishment of the soil; for toward the end of the century, if we may trust Aristotle, even the serf-worked fields of Lacedaemon were capable of supporting an army of 30,000 foot and 1,500 horse. After all has been said, the military decline of Peloponnese in the fourth century may be traced to political disinte- gration more than to waste of war or to economic factors.^ Sicily. Syracuse, another victor in the war with Athens, made no economic gain through her success; and soon all Sicily had to auffer repeated Carthaginian invasions, involving not only the desola- tion of fields but the destruction of wealthy cities. The long tyranny of Dionysius, however, in spite of exactions brought prosperity to Sicily and contributed to the growth of his capital till it became the greatest city in the Hellenic world. The downfall of the tyranny was followed by other destructive wars, but every new period of quiet renewed her prosperity, while losses in population were made good by colonization. It speaks well for the vitality of the Sicilians and for the continued fertility of their soil that in the third century, when Rome and Carthage first came into conflict, the island was still wealthy 8 Conduct after Leuctra; p. 445. After Chaeronea; p. 477. 9 Mechanics under Agesilaus; Plut. Ages. 26. Military strength of Peloponneses; Cavaig- nac, In Klio XII. 279 f. Fertility of Lacedaemon; Arist. Polit. ii. 9. 16, 1270 a. 398 HELLENIC HISTORY and populous. Under Agathocles (317-289), the population had increased to about a million, the great maiority of whom were free- men.^" From that time, however, it began to decline. Magna Graecia. Although in the fourth century the greater part of Magna Graecia fell into the hands of the Lucanians, the cities which remained free were still prosperous. Among them Tarentum was by far the largest. It is reported that she could put into the field an army of 20,000 foot and 2,000 horse. A reason for her great- ness lay in the circumstance that her port was the first reached by ships sailing westward from Greece or southward from the Adriatic coasts, which poured a considerable trade into southern Italy and Sicily. The fertile soil of the Tarentines, their fisheries, handicrafts, and extensive trade with the interior as well as with foreign lands brought them extraordinary wealth. Thence arose a standard of com- fort and refinement which dazzled or shocked the rest of Hellas. Men wore delicately fringed gowns, such as only the most luxurious women elsewhere could afford, and they multiplied the festivals till, it is said, their number exceeded the days of the year. Theopompus, a contemporary historian, thus describes their life : " The city of the Tarentines sacrifices oxen nearly every month and provides public dinners, whereas the multitude of private persons are continually engaged in banquets and drinking parties. The Tarentines have some* such saying as this: ' Other men because they are fond of personal exertion, and because they devote themselves to actual labor, thus prepare their subsistence for the future, whereas we through our banquets and pleasures are not about to live but are already living.' " Naturally on such topics writers are prone to exaggera^ tion; and this extreme criticism we may balance by the fact that through the fourth century the Pythagoreans were a power in the government, whose moderation in the distribution of offices among the rich and poor calls forth the commendation of Aristotle.^^ De- spite the commerce and industry of Tarentum, Syracuse, and lesser cities, the economy of Sicily and Magna Graecia was chiefly agricul- tural. Effects of the war on the island States of the Aegean Sea. 10 Prosperity under Dionysius; Isoc. Nicodes, 23 (about 370). Under Timolton; Died, xvi. 83; Plut. Timoleon, 22-4, 35, 39. Under Agathocles; Timaeus, in Cicero, Republic, iii. 31. 43; cf. Verres, iv. 52. 117; Beloch, Bevolk. 298 f. 11 Lucanian conquests; p. 459. Military strength of Tafentum; Diod. xx. 104. 2. Strabo vi. 3. 4, gives 30,000 foot and 3,000 horse. Commercial advantages; Polyb. x. 1. Luxury and dissipation; Strabo, loc. cit. ; Clearchus, in Athen. iv. 61; Plato, Laws, 637 a; Polyb. viii. 26. Governmental sobriety; Strabo vi. 3. 4; Arist. Polit. vi. S. 10 f., 1320 b. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 399 Doubtless the greatest sufferers from the wars of the fifth and fourth centuries were the island States of the Aegean sea, exposed as they were to the alternate ravages of the two hostile powers, and to the more destructive conflicts of civil factions. The waste of agricul- tural resources in the destruction of vineyards, orchards, and forests, and in the thinning of the soil through forced neglect and through washings by rain, could never be wholly repaired. Vainly the courageous inhabitants tried to balance the loss of productivity by extending their terraces high up the mountain sides; to the contem- porary observer their poverty seemed pitiable. A partial recovery was experienced under the too brief ascendancy of Athens. It was not till the opening of the East by Alexander that the Aegean islands along the Asiatic seaboard took on a new industrial life, as the centre of commerce shifted from Peiraeus to Rhodes.^" The Greeks of Asia. The Greeks of Asia, whom Lacedaemon sold to the King, suffered chiefly through lack of respect in the Persian government for the personality of its subjects. It was not enough that the beautiful youths and girls of respectable Hellenic families were drafted into the degrading service and the harems of Persian grandees; but the entire population had daily to submit to the insolence of the satraps and their deputies, whose effeminacy the Hellenes despised. Isocrates declares: "They suffer in their own persons harsher treatment than our bought slaves; for no one illtreats his servants as they (the Persians) chastise free men." Not strange there- fore was their zeal in supporting Agesilaus and their intense regret at his departure. ^^ They were disturbed, too, by the armed rivalries of the satraps and by the operations of the Corinthian war. After- ward, however, came an era of quiet in which, so far as material gains can atone for loss of freedom, they were repaid by an extraordinary increase of wealth and prosperity, chiefly due to freedom of commerce with the interior. Under these favorable circumstances Ephesus assumed a splendor unknown to her past, and as the capital of Caria Halicarnassus revived. At the same time the Hellenes of Asia grad- ually adapted themselves to Oriental ideas and conditions of life. The Lords of Thessaly. In the period now under review Thessaly 12 The expulsion of an island population; Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 6 f. ; Plut. Lys. 14. Pitiable condition; Isoc. Pati. 132. Advantages of Athenian supremacy; Pistorius, Geschichtt von Lesbos, 95. i:'. Treatment of Hellenic youths and girls; (Ferguson, Hell. Ath.); Persian effeminacy Plut. Ages. 9, 14. Quotation from Isocrates; Pan. 123. Asiatic Greeks and Agesilaus; Xen. Hell. iii. 4. 16 ff. ; iv. 2. 4; Plut. Ages. 14. 400 HELLENIC HISTORY came into greater prominence, though less as a master than as a victim of political events. This country contained a larger area of arable land than any other in Greece, but was occupied from of old by great lords ruling over a multitude of serfs — the penestae. Partly for this reason it was one of the most backward countries in Hellas. Adopt- ing the worst vices of civilization, the masters passed their time in dic- ing and drunkenness, eating at tables loaded with expensive viands, entertained meanwhile by piping and dancing girls. Since the age of Pericles, however, the lords began to open their hearts to the enjoy- ment of Hellenic culture. Especially rhetoric and sophistry found a welcome home with them ; and undoubtedly the latter study had a part in the luckless movement toward social levelling. It is significant that near the end of the fifth century Pherae, the city most accessible by sea to the rest of Hellas, was the scene of an attempt to liberate the penestae, made by candidates for the tyranny. In their usurpa- tion they freed the serfs of the neighborhood and armed them against their lords. This movement, however, did not end in a general liberation. The lack of enterprise in the lower class, due to their subjection, kept the general economy pastoral and agricultural. The considerable exports and imports accordingly were in the hands of foreigners, who by means of their capital mercilessly exploited the in- habitants. The continual seditions and the militar}' interference of Spartans, Thebans, Phocians, and Macedonians, joined with the es- tablished serfdom in augmenting the poverty of the country and in retarding its economic and cultural progress.^* Attica during the fourth century. It is only for Attica that our information affords us a view of the general features of social and economic life during the fourth centur>', though even for that country there are many disappointing gaps in our knowledge. The remainder of the chapter accordingly is given to Athenian conditions with occa- sional references to other parts of Hellas. Athens — her condition after the Peloponnesian War. Nat- urally Athens was among the chief sufferers in the Peloponnesian War. Her country was more systematically harried than any other in Hellas, and the thin soil had less to lose by negligence in fertilizing and by the enemy's ravages than that of the islands. The mountain sides 14 Dissipations of the nobles; Theopomp. Phil, iv, in Athen. xii. 33. Gorgias in Larisa; Plato, Menon, 70; Isoc. Antid. 155. Native sophist of Larisa; H. Civ. no. 116. Attempted liberation of the serfs; Xen. Hrll. ii. 3. 36; Mem. i. 2. 24. Exploitation by foreigners; H. Civ. p. 379 (§14) and n. 4. Confusion and poverty; Arist. Polit. ii. 5. 22; 9. 2, 1264 a, 1269 a; Isoc. Peace, 117 f. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 401 became more barren, the rocks protruded more nakedly than before. It is doubtful whether with all their efforts the inhabitants ever suc- ceeded in restoring the soil to its earlier fertility. Country dwellings and barns had been burned or torn down and carried off by the The- bans; the live stock had been killed and eaten by owners or driven off by the invaders. More than 20,000 slaves, many of them skilled workmen, had deserted to the enemy. Thus many citizens were de- prived of their shop-hands and their livelihood. Merchant ships as well as war galleys had perished, and industry pitiably shrank. The loss of property in the islands impoverished many citizens for- merly in affluence. " As for money," says one of these unfortunates, " you would have a better chance to find it in the street than to borrow it of a banker." ^^ Even more deplorable was the loss of life. In battle, pestilence, starvation, and executions under the Thirty, the number of adult male citizens had sunk to about 20,000; and it never thereafter greatly exceeded that total. In addition to dwindling economic resources and a notable rise in the standard of living, it is probable that the spread of malaria from the neglected fields militated against racial vitality.^® Attica, a country of small farms. Of the total number of citi- zens mentioned above, fully 20,000 were landowners. Although doubtless many holdings were dwelling-lots in the city or Peiraeus, there is abundant evidence that through the fourth century Attica re- mained a country of small farms. For example, of sixteen rural mortgages known to us, which ranged from five hundred to eight thousand drachmas, precisely one half were within the limit of a thousand drachmas. Even though the actual value may have been double the mortgage, these farms were remarkably small. In like manner, of nine rural inheritances ranging from two thousand to fif- teen thousand drachmas, and representing therefore the better class of landed properties, the average value was seven thousand five hundred drachmas. As happens in a country of small farms, the estates of a relatively wealthy proprietor were located in widely separted parts of the country. Far from any tendency toward latifundia, the process of dividing larger estates among several owners was under way in this period; so that when a relatively great farm came upon the 15 Theban profit from the war; H. Civ. no. 118 {Ox. Hell). Desertion of slaves; Thuc. vii. 27 f. Impoverishment and scarcity of money; H. Civ. no. 153 (Xen. Mem.)\ Isoc. Aniid. 161. Quotation; Xen. Mem. ii. 7. 2. 16 Population; Beloch, Bevolkcrung, 74; Meyer Forsch. II. 166 cj. Beloch, in Klio V (1905). 366. Malaria; Jones, Malaria and Greek History, 38 ff., 75, 402 HELLENIC HISTORY market, often it was divided into small plots in order to attract pur- chasers with restricted means. An estate of forty-five acres, one half for cultivation, the rest for woodland and pasture, was considered very comfortable, whereas one of sixty-five acres was opulent. The facts thus far mentioned point to a healthful country economy.^' Condi- tions elsewhere in Hellas were similar. While under oligarchies all the land remained in the hands of a few, in democracies the farms were small. Expressing this general principle, Aristotle says : " Now no one is in want because estates are divided into as many parcels as there are citizens." ^® The restoration of the ruined Attic farms after the war, involving the planting of trees, the rebuilding of houses, the purchase of tools and stock, was heroically accomplished in the face of enormous diffi- culties and discouragements; of that fact the great number of mort- gage inscriptions of the fourth century give evidence. Particularly the farmers had to compete with imported grain kept cheap by gov- ernmental regulation. At the same time business attractions were such as to induce not a few to sell their farms and move into the City or Peiraeus. We hear of an Athenian who made a fortune by buying up worn-out estates and improving them for sale at a higher price. There were always purchasers; for though the profits were small, the investment was safe. There can be no doubt that wh-^reas many farmers failed through ignorance and sloth, it was practicable with prudence and energy, not only to make a living by agriculture, but actually to accumulate property. V Scientific farming. One who wished to acquire a knowledge of agriculture no longer had to depend on the experience of his neigh- bors or on the Works and Days of Hesiod but could read scientific books on the subject by specialists. Of this literature we have but a brief example in Xenophon's Economist. Farmers of this age paid great attention to the enrichment of the soil; evidently they were ac- quainted even with mineral fertilizers. Ordinarily they allowed their land to lie fallow on alternate years, as had been the custom for ages, but took the first step toward the rotation of crops in planting a field two successive summers for different products and leaving it fallow the third. We have no means of exactly measuring the pro- 17 Proportion of loan to value; Demosth. Onetor II, i. 6; Size of estates; Guiraud, Prop, fonc. 392 f. Farms of 45 and 65 acres; Demosth. Lept. 115; Plut. Arist. 27; Lysias, Prop- erty of Aristophanes, 29. 18 Oligarchic land-holding; Guiraud, Prop. fonc. 396. Democratic; Arist. Polit. ii. 6. 11, 1265 b (quotation in text) with evident exaggeration. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 403 ductivity; yet Xenophon testifies to the variety and luxuriance of plant life in a climate of extraordinary mildness, and i)ictures the fish- ermen, as they scud along the coastlands, viewing a panorama of farmsteads and of grain-bearing fields good and bad, where we now find scant pasture for goats. ^^ Commerce. Throughout the fourth century accordingly agricul- ture remained the chief economic basis of Athenian life. Next in im- portance was commerce, which consisted largely of importations and of the transit of merchandise through Peiraeus to other countries. In the first place Attica produced only a third of the grain consumed by its inhabitants. The remaindei had to be imported from Pontus, Egypt, Sicily, and elsewhere. " You are doubtless aware," says Demosthenes to his fellow-citizens, " that we consume more foreign grain than any other people in the world. The grain, however, which comes in from the Pontus equals the whole quantity from other mar- kets; and no wonder, not only because that region has an abundance of grain, but because Leucon who reigns there has granted exemption from duty to those who export to Athens, and issues an order that mer- chants bound for our port shall load their vessels first. Having the exemption (in this city) for himself and his children, he has given it to all of you. Consider what an important thing it is. He takes a thirtieth from all who export grain from his dominions. Now the amount of grain coming to us from his country is about 400,000 me- dimni, as one may learn from the entry kept by the grain-inspect- ors." ^^ This passage affords interesting evidence of tariff reciprocity between Athens and the Tauric Chersonese (Crimea) under King Leucon. So anxious were the Athenians to provide for a grain sup- ply that they made it a capital crime in a citizen or a metic to carry grain to any non- Attic port; and of all grain brought to Peiraeus two thirds had to be sold in the country itself, leaving but one third to be taken elsewhere. ^^ Among other imports were salt-iish, hides, timber for ship-building, slaves, fine wines, drugs, paints and dyes, iron, cop- per, ivory, and innumerable other articles of use and luxury for home 19 Examples of mortgages; Michel, no. 1371 ff. Governmental regulation of prices; H. Civ. no. 131 (Lysias, Grain Dealers). Concentration in cities; H. Civ. no. 132 (Xen. Ways). Profit in improving land; Xen. Econ. 20. 22-4. Failure and success in farming; B. Civ. p. 499 f. (Xen. Econ.). Example of a spendthrift; H. Civ. no. 155 (Aeschines, Timarchus). Agricultural science; Arist. Polit. i. 11. 7, 1258 b; Xen. Econ. 16-19. Min- eral fertilizers; Geoponici, ii. 41; Theophrastus, Plants, iii. 17. 8; vi. 10. 9. Rotation of crops; Olick. in PWK. I. 268. Variety and fertility of Attic soil; Xen. Way, 1. 3; Econ. 16. 7. 20 Demosth. Lept. 31 f. Meyer, Forsch. II. 193 ff. 21 Statesmen maintain the grain supply; Xen. Mem. iii. 6. 13. Governmental control; I ycurgus, Leocrates, 27 ; Arist. Frag. 450. 404 HELLENIC HISTORY consumption or for reshipment to neighboring States; in fact Peiraeus remained the chief distributing centre of the Hellenic world. Com- merce accordingly yielded ample profits to merchants and shipowners, while furnishing remunerative labor to a numerous class of master ship-builders, carpenters, sailors, and longshoremen. Athenian exports. In exchange the Athenians could export wine and oil in their vases, which were now suffering an artistic decline and were therefore less eagerly sought. They sent abroad the products of their shops, especially arms, cutlery, and household furniture. A considerable trade in books was growing up. With papyrus brought from Egypt books were made in the form of rolls, which were packed in chests and shipped to all parts of the Mediterranean world and even to the Pontic shores. Another product for which there was an increasing demand is thus described by a contemporary : " Within its (the country's) folds lies imbedded by nature an unstinted store of marble, out of which are chiselled temples and altars of rarest beauty and the glittering splendor of images sacred to the Gods. This marble is an object of desire to many foreigners, Hellenes and barbarians alike." ^- Another natural resource of great importance lay in the silver mines of Laurium, whose output had greatly shrunk through the war with Peloponnese. Toward the middle of the fourth century, however, as new veins were discovered and the silver-bear- ing area widened, the yield became so abundant as to attract an in- creasing number of contractors and to encourage the false idea that the field was inexhaustible. The right to mine was sold for a lump sum to contractors, who paid annually, in addition to the purchase money, a twenty-fourth of the product. The annual income of the State from this source must have greatly varied and is altogether un- known. Thirty to forty talents a year is a mere conjecture. From the gross income of the contractors the outlay was great; but free labor profited little from it, as the manual work was done by slaves. Although contractors sometimes lost money, we hear of one individual who amassed a hundred and sixty, another two hundred, talents, which were vast fortunes for that age.^^ Attic manufactures. By the side of commerce Attic manufac- tures occupied a secondary place. Industry, however, was safe and profitable. It is significant that under the Thirty and immediately 22 Xen. Ways, 1. 4. 23 Mines; Xen. Mem. iii. 6. 12; H. Civ. pp. 436-44 (Xen. Ways); Arist. Const. Aih. 47; Pseud. Plut. Ten Orators, vii. 483, Hyp. Eux. 36. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 405 afterward, when Athenian economy was in its most straitened condi- tion, a man with a few skilled slaves could realize a handsome surplus from his shop; and an impoverished citizen could convert his dwelling into a garment factory, and with only his fourteen kins- women as laborers, could furnish them a comfortable living and actu- ally make money. Industry seems to have been scarcely more capital- ized than agriculture. The two shops of Demosthenes, father of the orator, manned by twenty and thirty-two slaves respectively, appear to be typical of the period. Often in fact an individual with one or two slaves, or with only his sons, as in the preceding century, man- aged his diminutive industry, whether shoe-making, stone-cutting, or other enterprise. Only such shops could serve as social rendezvous of respectable citizens. The income of the two shops above mentioned amounted to forty-two minas annually; that of the individual shop- keeper was sufficient for the necessities of life without luxury: — My poor man, 'tis true, has to scrape and to screw, and his work he must never be slack in ; There'll be no superfluity found in his cot; but then there'll nothing be lacking. Condition of laboring class. During this period the cost of"?^ living nearly doubled. The normal price of wheat a medimnus rose from three to five or six drachmas; and there was perhaps an even greater advance in the cost of meat. At the close of the period a sheep fit for sacrifice was worth about thirty drachmas, an ox of the best quality and weight four hundred drachmas.^* At the same time, however, wages doubled or trebled. The daily pay of an ordi- nary freeman rose from three obols to one and a half drachmas; of a mechanic from one to two and two and a half drachmas.-^ Notwith- standing the rise in the cost of living therefore free laborers were in as good a condition at the close of the period as at the beginning. So 24 Industry under the Thirty; H. Civ. no. 153 (Xen. Mem.). The garment factory; ib. From an aristocratic contempt for labor (f/. H. Civ. 152) these women passed to the con- viction that those only who worked should eat. Demosthenes' shops; H. Civ. no. 156 (Demosth. Aphob. I). Shops as social rendezvous; Lysias, For the Cripple, 19 f. Quota- tion from Aristoph. Plutus, 553 f. Three drachmas for wheat early in the century; Aristoph. Eccl. 547 f . ; Ant. Journ. Arch. X (1895). 209 ff. (epigraphic evidence). Still lower in time of Socrates; Plut. De tranq. 10; Stobaeus xcviii. 28. In time of Alexander normally five drachmas; Demosth. Against Phormion, 38; six drachmas; Pseud. Demosth. Phacnippus, 20, 31; Michel, no. 581 B. 75. Price of sheep and oxen for sacrifice; Michel, no. 581 B. 78 (329-8 B. C). Ordinary animals must have been considerably lower; Beloch, Griech. Cesch. II. 356 f. 25 Tariff of wages in 329-8 (Michel, no. 581) compared with the tariff of 409 (H. Civ. no. 10"), which gives one drachma a day to the mechanic or artist. Early in the fourth cen- tury, three nbnls to the unskilled workman; Aristoph. Eccl. 307-10. Cf. Guiraud, Main D'ocuvrc, 183 ff. 406 HELLENIC HISTORY great was the demand for laborers that no problem of the unemployed arose to vex either statesman or political scientist. Athens had no mob of chronic idlers. Small farms were still cultivated, as in the fifth cen- tury, mainly by free hands. Free day-laborers were still employed on large estates, although the great majority of hands were servile. The positions of steward and foreman on large farms were open to compe- tent men of free birth, though often filled by slaves or freedmen. From the servile and freed classes, too, were often drawn the fore- men of shops and the managers of banks. Slavery had encroached upon free labor somewhat beyond the condition of the Periclean age; to a total of about 100,000 free souls, citizen and metic, we must reckon 120,000-150,000 slaves. This encroachment, though appre- ciable, was not yet sufficient to revolutionize society, create a slave- holding capitalistic class or ptiuperize the masses.-'' The higher standard of life in this period made the struggle of the poor some- what more difficult ; but it was still possible for an artisan of average strength and intelligence to earn a fair living for his family, whereas the wife and children of an unskilled workman had always been ac- customed to an ill-furnished hut and a meagre table. Banking. The increasing commercial enterprise of the period pro- moted the growth of banking. The temples had long been accustomed to receive from States and individuals deposits for safe-keeping; and in time it was found more and more practicable to let out such sums on interest. Private banks were a development from the money- changer's trade, which lay in the hands of slaves and freedmen; and for that reason the great bankers of the period belonged to the latter class. Among them the most notable was Pasion, who lived in the first half of the century. Beginning with nothing, this freedman during his lifetime amassed a fortune of thirty talents. His public benefactions were rewarded with the citizenship; and the sound- ness of his business character gave him credit throughout the Hellenic world. The method of business was to receive deposits on interest, to make loans at a higher rate on the security of land or capital, to issue letters of credit, and to engage at times in commercial enter- prises. In a business of this kind it was especially advantageous to have an extensive capital and security. With this end in view 26 Free labor on large estate; Plato, Euthyphron, init. Post of steward and foreman; Xen. Mem. ii. 8; Econ. 12. Population; Meyer, Forsch. II. 193; Beloch, Griech. Gesch. 11. 339; Klio, V (1905). 366. Of a total of 21.000 adult male citizens in 322, 9,000 possessed property worth 2,000 drachmas or more; Diod. xviii. 18; cf. Plut. Phoc. 27. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 407 partnerships were sometimes formed, as in other enterprises, or bank- ing stock was sold. Measured by the modern standard, however, the greatest banking business of this period was diminutive; the capital of Pasion invested at the time of his death amounted to no more than fifty talents.^' Though conducted on a small scale, as was every branch of business, banking facilitated the circulation of money and in the same degree the activity of industrj^ and commerce. With this influence cooperated the increase in the volume of precious metals through mining, importations, and the secularization of temple treasuries. These developments, while making it possible for some of the Greek States to issue gold coins, greatly enhanced wages and the- cost of living.^^ Limitation of resources in Greece. From the beginning the Greeks had occupied an area of meagre resources, which by sheer energy and intellect they had made to minister admirably to their material and spiritual needs. The field of their activity, however, "A was narrowly limited — on the East by the Persian empire, on the West by the Carthaginian sphere of influence. From the richest portions of the known world therefore they were cut off, and thus from the possibility of amassing gigantic fortunes. Among the causes contributory to the same end we must reckon the smallness and instability of the States, the rarity and temporary character of part- nerships and of business corporations, the love of respectability sur- passing the desire for wealth, and finally the spirit of self- restraint which fixed a limit to material desires and ambitions. Hence it was that in the century following the age of Pericles there was in Athens, the commercial centre and money-market of Hellas, no over- growth of capitalism with its attendant laboring proletariat, in fact no serious disturbance in the proportion of rich and poor.-° Economic organization of the household. A potent reason for the slow growth of specialized industries lay in the economic organiza- tion of the household, which made it in a high degree self-sufficing. Although day-laborers and shopkeepers had to buy their subsistence, the majority of Athenians derived from their farms all or nearly all the vegetable and animal products which they needed for their own use. Within the household these raw materials were converted 27 Examples of temple loans; IG. I. no. 283; II. no. 814; Beloch, Gricch. Gcsch. II. 350, n. 4. Chief sources for banking; Isocrates, Trapeziticus ; Demosth. For Phormion (partly quoted in H. Civ. no. 157); Against Stcphanus I. Partnerships and stock; H. Civ. no. 157. 2s Gold coins, Gardner, P. History of Ancient Coinage, p. 290 ff. 29 Cf. H. Civ. p. 520 (Demosth. Phorm.). 408 HELLENIC HISTORY into flour, bread, yam, cloth and clothes, leather, and other necessary articles. A few wares only, such as wheat, metals, dyes, and med- icine, had to be bought; and the well-to-do purchased in the market fine cloths, shoes, jewelry, wines, and other luxuries, whereas for slaves home-made articles were good enough. The management of such a household was divided between husband and wife. The hus- band supervised the out-of-door labors, which were mainly concerned with the production of the raw materials, while he left to his wife their conversion into useful goods. She exercised the function of training the slaves in the skilled industries and of moulding their character by punishments and rewards, of nursing them when sick, prescribing remedies according to home recipes, and aiming in all these matters to win their affection and loyalty by kindness. Her task was far more difficult than that of her husband, and involved heavier responsibilities than have thus far been entrusted to women in the modern industries. While Athenian women were still legally incapacitated for business, and were often spoken of as inferior, the intelligent man willingly admitted that his wife was equal to him- self in worth and might even be his superior. Some, as Plato, were of the opinion that women were by nature like men and should for that reason engage in political and military life; others like Xenophon held that, though equal, they were different by nature and adapted therefore to a different set of functions. From this class of thinkers came the highest tribute to woman. Xenophon represents a citizen as thus addressing his wife, after remarking upon the joy of success in the performance of her manifold functions: " But the greatest joy of all will be to prove yourself my better; to make me your faithful follower, knowing no dread lest as the years advance, you should decline in honor in your household, but rather trusting that though your hair turn gray, yet in proportion as you come to be a better help- mate to myself and to the children, a better guardian of our home, so will your honor increase throughout the household as mistress, wife, and mother, daily more dearly prized. For it is not through excel- lence of outward form, but by reason of the lustre of virtue shed forth upon the life of man that increase is given to things beautiful and good." ^° an The chief source here used is Xen, Econ. 7-10; cf. Pseud. Arist, Econ. i. 3-9. There must have been others besides Plato (Rrpublic) who advocated the political enfranchise- ment of women and the communism of wives and property, and who were ridiculed by Aristophanes, Ecclrsimusae, composed in 389 or possibly earlier, hence some years before the Republic (380-370). ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 409 Marriage and divorce. The legal object of marriage was the perpetuation of the family that the gods might receive their customary sacrifices and the State might not lack citizens. Over and above this aim were recognized the motives of mutual helpfulness and affec- tion, a happy life, and during old age protection and support, if needed, at the hands of children properly reared. ^^ As the resources of the country were limited and colonization had become impracticable, statesmen and political thinkers considered it necessary to keep the population stationary. From primitive times the father had con- tinued to exercise the discretionary right to expose his children at their birth. Girls and weak or deformed boys were most frequently the victims. Ejcposed children died or were taken up and adopted by others, or were enslaved or condemned to a life of shame. This usage is so repugnant to Christian civilization that we cannot treat it with equanimity. While militating against human kindliness, it contributed to the physical vitality of the race. Eugenists added regulation for marriage and for the birth and nurture of children.** In Athens these advantages were more than offset by the early wife- hood of girls and the frequent intermarriages of near kin. As the Athenians were not essentially a money-making people, they attached great importance to keeping the paternal estate within the family. In this spirit they preferred to give a daughter or sister in marriage to a kinsman that the dowry might not fall into alien hands. Property was divided equally among sons, and girls received dowries roughly proportioned to the value of the estate. If there were daughters only, they inherited; but in that case the nearest male kinsmen had a right to claim them in marriage. To clear the way for such unions it often happened that divorces were brought about. By such means the usages of property too often rendered marriage and divorce a purely business arrangement and thus undermined the stability of the family. ^^ Average life of Athenians. Our most intimate knowledge of Athenian life and social thought is reached through the medium of the orators — through the pleadings of plaintiff and defendant in 31 Xen. Econ. 7, 18; Pseud. Arist. Econ. i. 3. 32 In general, see Roper, A. G., Ancient Eugenics (Oxford, 1913). 33 The Solonian law of inheritance was still in force. If a man had sons, it was not permitted him to make a will, but the sons inherited equally. If he had daughters, he might devise his property by testament, but in case the legatees accepted, they had to marry the daughters. If he had no cliildren, he might will his property at his own pleas- ure, but he usually chose his heirs among kinsmen. Testamentary adoptions w-ere com- mon. All the speeches of Isaeus and many of those of Lysias and of Demosthenes have to do with family law. Dowries; H. Civ. no. 147. An adoption; no. 149. 410 HELLENIC HISTORY the courts of law. It is the nature of such sources to bring to the light of day the most sordid and petty side of a people's character; and yet the modern reader of these speeches is forced to the conviction that the Athenian litigants and their kinsfolk had normal ideas of right and wrong, that they possessed approximately the same failings and the same virtues as the people of today, that there was among them no widespread want or misery, that in brief the average life of the plain Athenians was wholesome and happy. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, 574-590; Holm, III, ch. xiii; Beloch, II (1st ed.), ch. vii; Pohlmann, R. v., Geschichte der sozialen Frage und des Sozialismus der antiken Welt, 2 vols. (Munich, 1912); Glover, chs. ix, xxi ; Wallon, Histoire d'esclavage (2d. ed., Paris, 1879); Meyer, "Die wirtschafiiche Entwicklung des antiken Welt," "Die Sklaverei in Altertum " in Kleine Schriften; Guiraud, Etudes economiques sur I'antiquite (Paris, 1905), and La propriete joncicre en Grece; Francotte, L'industrie dans la Grece ancienne (Brussels, 1900) ; Donaldson, Women, etc.; Whibley, Co)iipanion, 412-421, 426-443; 532-558; Gardner, History of Ancient Coinage; Tucker, Ancient Athens (Macmillan, 1906) ; Gulick, Life of the Ancient Greeks (Appleton, 1902). MONUMENT OF LYSICRATES (Athens) CHAPTER XXV SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE STATE 404-337 Growth of individualism. The growth of individualism, which characterized the various activities of the fourth century, fostered the development not only of democracy but of monarchy. In the political disintegration resulting from the decline, first of the Athenian then of the Lacedaemonian power, tyrannies sprang up in some of the smaller states; and in western Hellas the feebleness of the socialistic democ- racy of Syracuse, in the face of the Carthaginian peril, made possible the creation of a tyrannic empire, which in extent and power was thus far unparalleled in Hellas. At the same time in the minds of the educated who like Xenophon had by travel seen the advantages of monarchy or. like Isocrates and Plato, had brooded over the evils of the existing state-system, there developed a sentiment in favor of one-man rule. Statesman and general. Notwithstanding these favoring con- ditions tyranny was less frequent in the fourth century than it had been in the seventh and sixth. The accumulation of knowledge, with its organization in departments, led to a corresponding specialization of activities. Statesman and general were clearly differentiated. The former was now a trained orator with a special knowledge of finance and of international administration, whereas the military leader had to acquire a knowledge of the science and art of war unknown to former ages. Hence as a rule it was no longer possible for a dema- gogue to command the means of making himself tyrant, and the repub- lican form of government thereby gained stability.^ Prevailing forms of government. Aristocracy, in which a few good men ruled unselfishly and wisely for the general advantage of 1 Tyranny; Arist. Polit. v. 5. 6; 10. 4. 1305 a, 1310 b. On the knowledge required of general and statesman; Xen. Mem. iii. 1-7. Xenophon, Hipparchicus, is an elementary treatise on the training of cavalry. Plato favors tyranny; Laws, iv. 709 f. 411 412 HELLENIC HISTORY the community, was more a dream of the political theorist than a historical reality. Certainly in the fourth century little if any vestige of it existed, nor could a man of practical sense look upon it as among the possibilities of the future. The prevailing forms of government were oligarchy and democracy. With them the statesman, and any thinker above the mere visionar>\ had to deal as conditions capable of improvement but too deeply seated to be cast aside. Of these two types of republic there were many varieties and gradations; so that to pronounce an unqualified judgment upon either would betray a lack of discrimination.^ Governmental adjustment. The constitution hinged upon prop- erty and its distribution. The rich aimed, not only to preserve their estates, but also to exploit the government and the masses for their own economic profit, whereas the poor were not content with protecting themselves from the aggressions of others, but strove to convert more or less of the property of the rich to the use of the State and of them- selves. There existed, too, from early time a middle class, chiefly farmers in comfortable circumstances, fairly satisfied with their con- dition and opposed to both oligarchic and democratic extremes. Po- litical philosophers, such as Aristotle, and practical statesmen of broad intelligence concerned themselves with methods of preserving an equilibrium of these social forces, that neither extreme might gain the upper hand. Often the balance was upset by losses in war, often by economic adversity or prosperity, and sometimes by an injudicious admission of aliens to citizenship. Against all such disturbances a statesman had to provide. His chief means was governmental ad- justment — the distribution of offices and functions in such a way as to permit neither party to usurp a power over the other. At Taren- tum and at Athens, for example, the offices were grouped in two classes, one filled by vote, the other by lot: the first for the better administration of the state, the second to guarantee to the poor a share in the government.^ Oligarchy, In the degree that a constitution departed from this balance in either direction, it became unjust and oppressive. Only 2 Arist. Polit. v. 1. 14, 1301 b. 3 Importance of property and of its distribution; Plato, Laws, iii. 684; Arist. Polit. ii. 7. 2-6, 1266. On the social balance, p. 313 above; Arist. Polit. iv. 11. 4-11, 16-19, 1295 b, 1296 a. Causes of revolutions (mostly property); Arist. Polit. v. Reason for caution in the bestowal of citizenship; H. Civ. no. 136 (Ari.st. Polit.). Tarentum; Arist. Polit. v. 5. 11: 1320 b. Devices for securing a balance; iv. 9, 1294. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE STATE 413 the extreme oligarchy, however, or the extreme democracy was abso- lutely reprehensible, and neither of these types was frequent. As in oligarchy the government was operated in the interest of a minority, this form of constitution was the less equitable of the two. The few were always the wealthy, and enjoyed therefore an excellent opportunity, while assuring to themselves a permanent lease of power, to benefit and adorn the State and to awaken the gratitude of the masses. " It is fitting that magistrates on entering office should offer magnificent sacrifices or erect some public building, and then the people who participate in the entertainments, and like to see the city decorated with votive offerings and buildings, will not desire an alter- ation in the government, and the notables will have memorials of their munificence. This, however, is anything but the fashion of our modern oligarchs, who are as covetous of gain as they are of honor." Insolent and avaricious, they used office as a means of profit in the misappropriation of public funds or in the practice of extortion and judicial oppression upon private persons. It was the feeling that the public moneys were being stolen, rather than their own exclusion from office, which drove the masses to revolt against oligarchic govern- ments. Added to the economic grievance was the intense hatred of the Few for the Many, expressed in the oligarchic oath sworn in many States: " I will be an enemy of the people, and will do against them all the harm I can." This fiendish rancor is sufficiently illustrated by the rule of the Thirty at Athens and by the decarchies in the Aegean cities. Now as in the preceding century the rule of the Few meant, not only an utter want of justice for the Many, but a policy directed to their enslavement.* Democracy. The other form of government, even more common than oligarchy in the fourth century, was democracy, in which the indigent and not the men of property had the political power in their hands. In other words democracy was a government of the Many in their own interest. This is the extreme variety of the type, of which there were several relatively commendable forms. In one of his classifications Aristotle enumerates five kinds of democracy. Of four kinds he approves, as all are under the laws; but the fifth 4 Deviation from the balance; Arist. Polit. v. 9. 8, 1309 b. Oligarchy in interest of the few; iii. 7. 5, 1279 b. Always the wc Ithy; iii. 8. 7, 1280 a. Great opportunity; vi. 7. 6 f., 1321 a. Greedy and unprincipled; v. 3. 1, 1302 b. Causes revolts; v. 8, 16, 1308 b. Oath of hate; v. 9. 11, 1310 a. Thirty and decarchies; p. 428 f. For enslavement of the people; p. 310. 414 HELLENIC HISTORY form is that in which not the laws but the multitude rule, in which the law has been superseded by mere resolutions of the people.^ AmonfT the sound forms of democracy were those of pastoral and agricultural peoples. They were robust in body, able to endure the fatigues of marching and fighting, and possessed therefore the highest degree of military virtue. Scattered over the country and engaged in their daily labor, they could not often meet in assembly. Once or twice a year they could gather for the election of officials or for other public functions of like importance, but were compelled to leave the current administration to magistrates and council. Under such circumstances officials were usually elected on the ground of fitness, and the government was wisely conducted." These economic condi- tions still prevailed over a large part of the Greek peninsula, as Aetolia, Achaea, and Arcadia. An advance toward pure democracy. Individualistic develop- ments. Industrial States, however, had advanced beyond such con- ditions in the direction of pure democracy. Mechanics of every de- scription, plying their various trades within the city, readily found leisure to attend the assembly, and the aged men of their families could sit year after year in the law courts. Large revenues enabled the government to pay for official service and even for attendance at the assembly. This condition resulted in part from a natural histori- cal growth — the gradual diffusion of intelligence which endowed an ever increasing number of the population with political capacity. It came in part, too, as a correction of political wrongs committed by earlier ruling minorities who were too narrow and self-seeking to interest themselves in the commons, and partly through the desire of sincere, humanitarian, statesmen, as Pericles, for the economic, cultural and political elevation of the masses. The evils of democ- racy, however, were aggravated by the operation of causes which fifth-century statesmen could not well foresee. Individualistic de- velopments, beginning in earlier time, drew a large proportion of the citizens of the wealthier classes from politics. Many young men of eupatrid rank now cared only for gambling and low company. A bourgeoisie, recruited from the poorest class and nursed into great prosperity by an expanding city economy, could not neglect business 5 Practical meaning of democracy; Arist. Polit. iii. 8. 3, 1279 b; cf. iii. 7. 5. Five kinds of democracy; iv. 4. 22-6, 1292 b f. Other classifications; iv. 6. 1-6; i. 4. 3-7, 1292 b, 1298 a. 6 H. Civ. no. 142 (Arist. Polit.); Arist. Polit. iv. 6. 2 f., 1292 b; Francotte, L'lndustrie, I. 52 f. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE STATE 415 for the service of the State in office or assembly. The duality of thought and action, noticeable in Euripides, became more and more jjronounced, as life grew more complex and specialized. In the degree therefore that a man devoted himself to philosophy or literature he unfitted himself for everything else. The thinker stood as far re- moved from the politician as the orator from the general. The pursuit of individualistic aims deprived the State of the service and guidance of its more intelligent and cultured citizens, leaving it to the mercy of professional politicians, who commanded the votes of the poorer and less enlightened minority. For the political evils of which fourth-century writers bitterly complain, they and their class were chiefly responsible, inasmuch as their own aloofness from public affairs left the democracy unbridled. The conditions lamented by conservatives, however, were a symptom and a cause of a vast political evolution slowly and silently under way throughout Hellas. The broadening humanity, the waning interest in local politics, and the aversion of cultured citizens from military life meant the decline of the polls and the development of a larger and more liberal State system, the preparation of a transition from regional to world politics, from racial to cosmopolitan culture. '^ Athens, a highly developed democracy. It is only in the case of Athens that existing knowledge affords a view of the working of a highly developed democracy in sufficient detail to enable us to pro- nounce a judgment of its character. For the reason already given ancient historians and philosophers were generally unfavorable, whereas the speakers before the assembly and courts were disposed to flatter the masses. Allowance has therefore to be made for the bias • of both classes of authorities. The violence of the Four Hundred and still more of the Thirty had disgusted the moderates with oligarchic methods and had as- sured the popular government a permanent lease of power. The democratic restoration in 403 was therefore thoroughgoing. Against an effort, on the one hand, to limit the franchise to landowners and on the other, to extend the citizenship to all, including even slaves, who had aided the overthrov^ of the Thirty, conservative states- men forced the government into its old democratic ruts. Their re- newal of the Periclean law of 451, which limited the citizenship to 7 Revenues as a democratic factor; Arist. Polit. iv. 6. 5, 1293 a. Evolution of democracy; H. Civ. no. 141 (Arist. Polit.). Individualistic tendencies; p. 399 ff. Young eupatrids; Xen. Econ. 1. 17 ff. Plato's condemnation of democracy; Rep. vi. 488; viii. 555 ff. et pass. 416 HELLENIC HISTORY those whose parents were both Athenians, was dictated partly by a narrow selfishness of the majority, partly too by religious interest in the purity of the race. In fact the political restoration is to be connected with the revival of religion apparent in the last drama of Euripides. The condemnation and death of Socrates, 399, on the charge of repudiating the gods of the State, of introducing new divinities, and of corrupting the youth, the sacrifice on the altar of this revival, of the staunchest defender of religion and of virtue among the enlightened, was a strange piece of historical irony and per- haps the severest blow inflicted by ancient democracy upon itself; for nothing so alienated the intellectual class.* The democratic government proclaimed to those who had sided witli the Thirty an amnesty, which was generally kept. Democrats who had been robbed of their estates lived as peaceful neighbors of aristocrats who had shared the spoils. Some hard feeling, stirred especially by renegades from the party of the Thirty, hindered oli- garchs from office and prejudiced juries against them; but all hatred gradually died out with the generation that had lived through the crisis.^ [/ Pay for attendance at Assembly. It was the growing disinclin- /f ation to politics as well as the principle that all State services should / be paid so that the poor might share in them, which led Agyrrhius / early in the fourth century to institute a fee for attendance at the / assembly. From one obol it was soon raised to three. On this basis ' it was easy to reason that the common citizen had as good a right as any to the public festivals. He ought therefore to be given free ad- mission to the theatre and to be served with food at the public ex- pense while attending the panathenaea or other festivals, and even to be paid in money for the time he takes for these pleasures from his daily toil. Inevitably the appropriation, at first moderate, grad- ually increased till it swallowed up the entire surplus income of the State. The effect was to weaken Athens in her relations with for- eigners and to render the recipients less capable of caring for them- selves.^" 8 Democratic restoration; Lysias xxxiv with its Introduction; Isaeus vi. 47; viii. 43; Arist. Const. Ath. 40; Dionys. Lysias, 32; Schol. Aesch. Ctes. 195; Timarch. 39; Athen. xiii. 38. Accusation of Socrates; Xen. Mem. i. 1. 1. 9 Xen. Hell. ii. 4. 43; Isoc. Callimachus, 2, 23; Lysias, Brother of Nicias, 19. 10 Pay for attendance at assembly; Arist. Const. Ath. 41, 62. The drachma and nine obols respectively, mentioned in ch. 62, are probably the daily fees of the presidents (proedri). that of the private citizen being three obols; Sundwall, in Klio, Ergzb. I. 68 with references. Free admission to the theatre was possibly introduced by Pericles (Plut. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE STATE 417 Aristotle's idea of caring for the poor. The effort to allevi- ate the condition of the poor is not itself to be condemned, but rather the improvident method of distriljuting the aid: "Where there are revenues, the demagogues should not be allowed after their manner to distribute the surplus; the poor are always receiving and always want- ing more and more, for such help is like water poured into a leaky cask. Yet the true friend of the people should see that they be not too poor, for extreme poverty lowers the character of the democracy. Measures should be taken which shall give them lasting prosperity; and as this end is ecjually the interest of all classes, the proceeds of the public revenues should be accumulated and distributed among them, if possible, in such amounts as may enable them to purchase a little farm, or at all events make a beginning in trade or husbandry. If this benevolence cannot be extended to all, money should be dis- tributed in turn according to tribes or other groups, and meantime the rich should pay the fee for attendance of the poor at the necessary assemblies, and should in return be excused from useless public serv- ices." " It is noteworthy that in the passage here quoted Aristotle holds that the poor owed their condition to no fundamental defect of their own, and that if given a new start in life, they would as a rule prove them- selves worthy of the aid. In fact he nowhere blames the people for the faults of the democracy. " Even if they have no share in office, the poor, provided only they are not outraged or deprived of their property, will be quiet enough." ^- " Whereas wealth and power," says Isocrates, " are attended and followed by a lack of sense and by license, want and a humble position bring with them prudence and moderation; so that it is hard to decide which of these two lots one would prefer to leave as a legacy to one's children." ^^ For the short- comings of democracy the demagogues were chiefly responsible.^* The commons lacked the special knowledge now more necessary than ever for judging of foreign policies. In such matters they had to trust their leaders, who often misinformed them. In domestic affairs, too, unprincipled demagogues often attempted to work upon their Per. 9). The theoric (festival) fund under Eubulus; Theopomp. Phil., FHG. I. 293, 95, 96 b; Athen. iv. 61; Justin vi. 9 (doubtless exaggerated). 11 Arist. Polit. vi. 5. 7-9, 1320 (H. Civ. p. 467 f.). 12 Arist. Polit. iv. 13. 8, 1297 b. Favorable opinion of Xenophon, quoting Socrates; p. 400. Plato's opinion adverse; Rep. viii. 563 d. 13 Area p. 4. f. 14 Arist. Polit. v. 5. 1 ff., 11; vi. 5. 3 f. ; 910, 1305 a, 1310 a, 1320 a. \l 418 HELLENIC HISTORY political prejudices and their covetousness to the detriment especially of wealthy individuals. Confiscated property. It was charged that pettifoggers sometimes appealed to the juries to condemn the accused on the ground that if his property should not be confiscated, there would be no means of paying them for their service. The first intimation of this practice appears in the Knights of Aristophanes/^ early in the Peloponnesian war. In the period now before us a speaker addresses the jury as fol- lows: " It must be borne in mind that you have often heard these men say, whenever they wished you to condemn someone unjustly, that unless you vote the condemnation of those whom they order, your pay will be lacking." ^^ Another asserts that the council, when in need of money for the current administration, was inclined to con- demn the men impeached before it, and to confiscate their property.^ ^ Such cases must have occurred. One or two instances, however, in a half century would suffice to account for the charges that appear in literature. The speakers above mentioned assume that pleas of the kind are repugnant to the moral sense of the jurors whom they are addressing, hence they could not often have been used effectively; and in fact we do not know by name any person who thus suffered. To the honor of the democracy Aristotle has testified: " Even the juris- diction has passed from the council to the people; and in this mat- ter they seem to act rightly; for the Few are more corruptible than the Many whether by money or by influence." ^^ It was a grievous wrong if one or two innocent men were put to death by the avarice of coun- cil or jury, but it is not a sufficient reason for condemning the Athenian democracy; for in no age or country has the administration of justice been perfect. / Class consciousness. In the old days of the democracy many a man of wealth lived moderately, nearly on a level with the poor, and was notably generous and hospitable. To the end of the present period a large class of the wealthy retained the same character. During the fourth century, however, the growth of culture and of lux- ury developed a class consciousness. Priding themselves on their refinement, educated men of means despised those who in youth had been compelled to labor instead of attending school. In this spirit IS 1358 ff. ifi Lysias, Against Epicrates, 1. 17 Lysias, Against Nicomachus, 22; corroborated by Arist. Folit. v. 5. 5; vi. 5. 3, 1305 c, 1320 a. l» Const. Ath. 41; cf. Guiraud, Prop. fonc. 336 ff. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE STATE 419 Demosthenes the orator contrasts his own early life with that of his opponent Aeschines. After rehearsing his own education and his en- trance upon a public career, he turns upon his adversary with these words: " But you, august man, who now spit upon others, consider what fortune you enjoyed, through which in boyhood you were reared in dire poverty, assisting your father in the school-room, grinding ink, sponging off seats, and sweeping the room, occupying the post of a slave, not of a free lad. . . . Compare these two lives, Aeschines, yours and mine, with each other, calmly but not in bitter- ness, and ask these jurors which of the two fortunes each one of them would prefer. You taught reading; I attended school. You per- formed initiations; I was initiated. You danced; I was choregus. You were a public scribe, I a public orator. You were a third-rate actor; I witnessed the play. You failed in your part, and I hissed you." ^« The antipathy was increased not only by the widening differentia- tion of society into rich and poor, educated and ignorant, but also by the gathering of the people into the city. " Whoever is poor and wants to live in the City brings all the more discouragement upon himself, for when he beholds a man who is able to live in luxury and ease, he is then in a position to see in his own case how wretched and toilsome is the life he leads." -° The sight, too, of many increas- ing their wealth by dishonest means created in the poor the exagger- ated notion that fortunes accumulated by individuals were all due to cheating : Chremylus. I've been a virtuous and religious man, Yet always poor and luckless. Cario. So you have. Chrem. While temple-breakers, orators, informers, And knaves grow rich and prosper. Car. So they do.21 The reason is that Plutus is blind, and has made a wrong distribu- tion of wealth. By passing a night in the temple of Asclepius he receives his sight, and proceeds forthwith to a bestowal of this world's goods upon the deserving.-- 19 H. Civ. no. 152 (Demosth. On the Crown). A significant fact is that the jury, though composed of plain people, approved of these sentiments in Demosthenes; they preferred the leadership of men who possessed this kind of superiority. 20 Menander, frag. 405 ff. 21 Aristoph. Plutus, 28-31, acted at Athens in 388. 22 H. Civ. no. 78 (Aristoph. Plut.). 420 HELLENIC HISTORY Socialistic tendencies. Never before in the history of the world were the masses so conscious of these economic-social contrasts or of their own power. Under these circumstances it was but natural that they, the controlling majority, should bring to the front a program more or less socialistic. Upon one thing at least they were deter- mined: that the wealthy man in office should no longer exploit them for his own profit, that out of office the rich should not make an insolent display of their wealth. In illustration we may cite the law of Lycurgus, which ordered that women should not ride in carriages to Eleusis at the time of the festival, " lest the poor appear more despicable than the rich." '^ Another plank in their platform re- quired the wealthy, willing or unwilling, to contribute liberally from their abundance in the performance of both naval and festive liturgies and in the payment of direct taxes in time of war according to their means. The amount of pressure thus brought upon the rich varied in different States and in the same State at different times. In Athens the abundance of the ordinary revenues, added to the relative mild- ness of political feeling, generally assured to the wealthy an immunity from exactions. There as elsewhere, however, it was felt by many that inequality of property was the root of all evil, for which the only remedy was communism.-* The relation of the State to private prop- erty can be clearly understood by taking into account the nature of the polls as contrasted with that of the modern nation. Because of its general insecurity and lack of resources the city-state necessarily exercised far more rigorously and arbitrarily its ultimate right of ownership over everything belonging to the citizens. This basic proprietorship it applied in the levy of extraordinary taxes, in tem- porary monopolies of some or all saleable commodities, in forced loans and contributions, and in various other ways. If the distribution of these burdens was but approximately equitable, the citizens could not complain, as property, life, family, and everything held dear rested wholly upon the security of the State.^^ The Athenian democracy in the fourth century. The prob- lem as to the soundness or decadence of the Athenian democracy in the fourth century has long been under controversy. One of the 23 Pseud. Plut. Ten Orators, 482 c; Aelian, Var. hist. xiii. 24 (the penalty was 6,000 drachmas). 24 P. 87, 90. 2.5 Illustrations of these extraordinary methods of raising money are given by Pseud. Arist. Econ. ii. The subject is well presented by Riezler, Ueber Finanzen unci MonopoU im alten Griechenland. SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE STATE 421 most pertinent (juestions involved is whether a citizen of Athens in this period, a man of honesty and good intentions, gifted with a fair degree of patriotism, public spirit, and neighborliness, could enjoy an acquired or inherited estate in peace and haj)piness. Was the State sufficiently free from social spite and intolerance and from governmental oppression and exaction to guarantee even to the wealthy individual "liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" The answer, derived from an examination of the facts, can only be an emphatic af- firmative.^" It would be a mistake to identify Athens with the ex- V^ treme democracy described by Aristotle. The normal character of her population and the equilibrium of her social classes have been set forth in the preceding chapter. The numerous middle class together with the wealthy ordinarily controlled politics. The absence of pay for attendance at the assembly of the deme threw this institution into the hands of the well-to-do. who thus managed the business of their rural communities and held its offices. With some modifications the principle held for the State. The emoluments derived from attendance at the assembly and from membership of the council, were less than the daily wages of an unskilled workman, whereas the salaries of of- ficials fell short of the mechanic's pay. Hence it was that the as- sembly and the council were filled as a rule by men in good circum- stances. The orators who addressed the assembly and guided its opinions, though generally private citizens, were as a rule men of property. In fact the orators and officials came largely from families which through generations of public service had shown patriotism combined with a fitness for administrative work.^^ Ancient democracy from the evolutionary standpoint. In- stead of condemning ancient democracy because in some or in all respects it fell short of present governmental systems, it is fairer to estimate its value from the evolutionary standpoint; and in this view we cannot but admire the vast advance made by the Greek States in the liberty, intelligence, and manliness of their citizens over the dead level of Orientalism. There is in the world of today no intelli- gent human being who would not prefer to have been a common citi- 26 For example, Xenophon, Economist, presents two Athenian types: Critobulus, the pol- itician of moderate means, and Ischomachus. a model citizen in good circumstances. Both give generously to the State and both are content with the situation. The property of the former, though neglected, remains undiminished; that of the latter increases. 27 The denies governed by the rich; Haus.soullier, Vir viunic. 59-62. Attendance at assembly three obols; p. 313 above. The common councillor received five obols, the pry- tanis one drachma; Arist, Const. Ath. 62. This whole subject is admirably treated by Sundwall, in Klio, Ergzb. I. 422 HELLENIC HISTORY zen of Athens rather than of Persia or Egypt. From the seventh to the fourth century the steady advance of democracy brought its benefits to an ever-widening circle of citizens. Progress was then blocked in part by a religious conservatism, which in 403 forced the wheels of the restored democracy back into fifth-century grooves, in part by crude socialistic experimentation ; but it is absurd to say that from this con- dition there could be no recovery, that of all people the Greeks alone were incapable of learning by experience. By no means the least evil in the situation was the indifferent or hostile attitude of some intellectuals or the reactionary doctrines of others, who like Isocrates sought a cure for all internal ills in a return to the polity of Cleis- thenes or of Solon. If centuries were required for the building up of modem parliamentary states, Athens needed at least a few more generations in which to accommodate justice and equality to the rule of the Many. ADDITIONAL READING Barker, Political Theories of Plato and Aristotle (Methuen, 1906) ; Beloch, II (1st ed.), ch. xi, Attische Politik, 110-162; Dickinson, Greek View of Life, chs. ii, iii; Diinning, History of Political Theories (Macmilian, 1902); Fergu- son, Greek Imperialism, 97-114; Francotte, Melanges du droit public grec (Liege, 1910); Haussoullier, La vie viunicipale en Attique (Paris: Thovin, 1884); Holm, III, ch. xiii; Pickard-Cambridge, Demosthenes and the Lost Days of Greek Freedom (London, 1914) ; Pohlmann, Griech. Gcsch., ch. x, Sozialismus; Whibley, Companion, 360-421; Wilamowitz-Moellendorf von and Niese, B., Staat und Gesellschaft der Griechen und Romer. CHAPTER XXVI ART AND INTELLIGENCE IN THE FOURTH CENTURY I. Art Value of art for an appreciation of Greek history. For an ap- preciation of Greek history the great value of art lies in the fact that it is a genuine expression of Hellenic character, not merely of the great static essentials, but also of the more delicate variations from age to age.^ Some of the forces at work in reshaping the art of the fourth century were political. Lacking imperial revenues, the Athen- ian State was poorer than in the age of Pericles, and could spend proportionally less on decorative works. The social democracy, too, in Athens as elsewhere, required a considerable share of the public income for the direct benefit of the masses. Individualism in art. These facts help account for the con- struction of great stone theatres and stadia in various Hellenic cities to the detriment of temple building. Many of the wealthy class pre- ferred to spend their income on the erection and maintenance of more commodious and attractive dwellings, on funerary monuments or sculptured portraits of themselves and their kin. The growing in- dividualism of art may be traced partly to these private enterprises but far more to the general trend of education, \\4th the enlargement of knowledge the individual became freer from State, society, and tradition, and more conscious of his separate existence. This mental growth, in and out of philosophy, was accompanied by introspection, an inquiry into the nature of the individual, a study of the person- ality and of its character and modes of expression. Pheidias, it has been said, gave the statue a soul, or more concretely, endowed the marble with thought and feeling. This inner being, however, was not 1 The sources for Greek art are essentially the surviving works, described and illus- trated in the modem writings listed at the close of this chapter. See also the pictures in the following text. Among the ancient writings on art are Pliny, Natural History, espe- cially bks. xxxiii-xxxvi; precious stones; xxxvii (see K. Jex-Blake, The Elder Pliny's Chapters on the History of Art, with commentary by Sellers (Macmillan, 1896); excerpts in H. Civ. nos. 169-71) and Pausanias, Description of Greece (see J. G. Frazer's translation with elaborate commentary and indices, 6 vols. (Macmillan). 423 424 HELLENIC HISTORY a personal but a communal aspiration. History had to await a Praxi- teles and a Scopas for an expression of the transitory thought and feeling of the individual. Praxiteles. By mechanical criteria it is usually possible to dis- tinguish Praxitelean art from that of earlier times. A standing figure of the preceding century was essentially erect, any curve being a mere deviation from the vertical. A Praxitelean statue, however, usually leans against a tree trunk or other support, which is thus made a part of the sculpture. By such means, too, the curve becomes an essential rather than an accidental feature. The need of a prop is due to the use of marble in place of bronze. Equally tangible is the difference in the treatment of drapery. Whereas in the preceding century the dress fell in sharply outlined parallel folds, in the Praxitelean drap- ery the greater folds vary in direction and in prominence, and pass into one another through smaller curves. The treatment of the hair undergoes a corresponding change. In the Pheidian period the short hair of men lay flat on the head, running in parallel lines and ter- minating in crisp curls; that of Praxiteles is wrought throughout in fluffy locks. The surface of the body, too, is rendered with a nat- ural elasticity equalled in no other extant sculpture. All these external features are due to a more careful study of texture, whether of cloth, hair, or human flesh, and to an advancing technique. Hermes of Praxiteles. The soul of a Praxitelean statue, however, we can recognize but can explain in no mechanical way. The body has a restful attitude; the person seems happy, musing, content with himself and the world. The only extant original statue is a mutilated Hermes found in an excavation at Olympia. On his left arm he holds the infant Dionysus, with his right hand he raises high a bunch of grapes or other object to amuse the child. Hermes is not looking at Dionysus, however, but at some object beyond, momentarily lost in pleasant thought. A youth in splendid athletic training and ac- customed to activity, he is for the time being in repose. All the tech- nical qualities, above described, this statue represents to perfection. It is a noteworthy fact, too, that in viewing this piece of art we forget that we are looking upon a god, for we can regard him as only a per- fect human youth. The striving of Hellenic genius for individuality, thus displayed, in no way tended toward the elevation of man to divin- ity, but achieved instead the reduction of God to the human plane. Far from steeling the will to endurance or to heroic effort, it encour- ART AND INTELLIGENCE 425 aged pleasant relations with the deity and a quiet contentment with life. This was in brief the prevailing spirit of Athens in the middle of the fourth century, within the lifetime of Praxiteles. Aphrodite of Cnidus. His most famous woman statue is the Aphrodite of Cnidus, of which we have hut a Roman copy. The at- titude of musing is Praxitelean ; but all the finer qualities of the orig- inal were lost in copying. It is extremely unfortunate that we are obliged to depend almost wholly upon poor Roman copies for our acquaintance with the works of the greatest sculptors. Because of the inferior medium of contact we are in no position to appreciate the extraordinary enthusiasm aroused by the original of this Aphro- dite. Scopas. An artist of equal genius was Scopas. Though he flour- ished during the first half of the fourth century, and was therefore older than Praxiteles, it is customary to treat of him later because he seems to us to represent a wider departure from the Pheidian type and a nearer approach to Hellenistic art. Like Praxiteles he wrought in marble. The only originals that we can in all probability assign to him are two badly mutilated heads from a temple in Tegea which he is known to have constructed. In contrast with the quiet musing of the Praxitelean statue, that of Scopas is all feeling, passion, ex- pressed primarily by the face and in a less degree by the attitude of the body. The eye is sunken deeply beneath the brow and the sur- rounding flesh. From this shadow it gazes fixedly on a definite object. The nostrils are dilated and the mouth, partly open, seems to indicate panting. The body is tense. The whole person is wrought up to a high pitch of anger, fear, or other passion. These qualities are all discoverable in his Meleager, through the extant Roman copies. Though a Parian, Scopas lived for a time at Athens, and we can discover his spirit in the contemporary youths of Athenian grave reliefs, not only in the shadowy eyes but also in the intensity of the general expression. Lysippus. A further advance was made in the latter half of the same century by Lysippus of Sicyon, who is said to have wrought fifteen hundred statues, all in bronze. He is best represented by an excellent copy of his Apoxyomenus. It is an athlete engaged in scraping the oil and sand from his body after a contest in wrestling, and from this circumstance the statue has derived its name. Although the copy is in marble, it well expresses all the admirable qualities of 426 HELLENIC HISTORY the original bronze. We notice in the first place its wide departure from the Polycleitan canon in the proportions of the body; ^ the work of Lysippus has a smaller head, and is taller and slimmer. Another noteworthy fact is that whereas the Doryphorus of Polycleitus is to be seen from the front only, and hence is comparatively flat with the sides nearly at right angles, the work of Lysippus is to be seen from every direction and is therefore round. In brief the artist has made an advance from the surface effect of the earlier masters to the effect of roundness and depth. We discover in the earlier work " an im- pression of monumental repose and of collective massive strength; in the latter, that of restless abundant vitality, intense energy and high development of every power." ^ From what has been said it is clear that the study of Lysippus should proceed from a consideration of Polycleitus. He has points of contact also with Praxiteles and Sco- pas; for his happy spirit recalls the former, his intensity the latter. In the creation of a buoyant joy he is distinctly original. Portrait sculpture. In no department of art does the growing individualism display itself so clearly as in portrait sculpture. Be- fore the age of Pericles images even of the most famous men were wholly lacking in realism; not Miltiades or Themistocles was so de- tached from his community as to call for an individual memorial of his achievements. The idea appeared but faintly in the " Pericles " by the artist Cresilas; yet this herm represents the typical general and statesman far more than the particular person. During the gen- eration that followed Pericles, however, the interest in eminent men so increased as to bring forth scultpured portraits of notable individual- ity. The head of Socrates shows his great intellectual power; the face of Euripides reveals deep spirituality. Throughout the fourth century the tendency continued to grow. Sculptors who worked with success on a contemporary Plato or Aristotle essayed as well to re- produce the features of a man of the near past or of remote persons such as Homer and Sappho. In the latter case the portraits were necessarily ideal. The statue of Sophocles in the Lateran Museum may be taken as an example of the idealization of a recent character. Shortly after his death a statue, doubtless realistic, was erected by his 2 P. 348. 3 Amelung and Holzinger, Museums and Ruitis of Rome, I. 12. Recently it has been asserted that our nearest approach to Lysippus is through the statue of a certain Agias found at Delphi and said to be a copy of a work by this great master. This view, how- ever, is seriously questioned; Wolters, Sitzb. Miincli. Akad. 1913, Abhdl. 4; of. Helbig, Fiihrer, I. 19 f. The Agias may be a far earlier work of Lysippus or may belong to an unknown sculptor. ART AND INTELLIGENCE 427 son. and in this way the features of the j:;reat dramatist were per- petuated. The figure now under consideration, however, aimed to express the brilliance, the power, and the serene poise, rather than any physical peculiarities, of the tragedian. With the establishment of monarchy dawned a new era in portrai- ture, when Lysippus embodied in bronze the fiery spirit and the superhuman ambition of Alexander. Henceforth the rulers of man- kind were to have their features immortalized not only in sculpture but on the face of coins, where hitherto the gods alone had enjoyed a place. From what has been said it is evident that images of persons deserve treatment in a chapter on art. At the same time a portrait, as a source for the study of character, connects itself most nearly with the activity of the person whom it represents. Appearance of the Corinthian capital. Meanwhile architecture underwent great changes. The ornate Corinthian capital made its ap- pearance. In a temple at Tegea Scopas combined the three orders; making the peristyle Doric, the columns of the pronaos Corinthian, and those of the interior Ionic, he infused into the whole his own spirit of unrest. Another new feature of temple building was the high founda- tion, approached by many steps and designed to give the structure a commanding altitude. The element of magnificence, too, was pro- moted by a double peristyle as well as by greatly increased size. These were expensive innovations in keeping with the wealth of the Anatolian cities which constructed them. Noteworthy was the Didymaeum, a temple to Apollo at Miletus. It was a hundred years in building, and not even then completed. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. With the rise of monarchy re- appeared gigantic tombs, unknown to Hellas since the Minoan age. Most remarkable was the Mausoleum, tomb of Mausolus, satrap and king of Caria. It was situated at Halicarnassus, his capital, and was built and adorned by Greek architects and artists, about 350. The structure was nearly square, 440 feet in perimeter and was 140 feet in height. On a foundation forty-two feet high rested a build- ing of the same altitude surrounded by an Ionic peristyle. Above was a pyramidal roof on the apex of which stood the colossal figures of the king and his queen Artemisia beside a chariot and four. Among the sculptures which decorated the tomb is a mutilated frieze representing a battle between Greeks and Amazons. In contrast with the quiet dignity of earlier decorations this frieze is amazingly ■p- "SBE «>rMi»fi(f»fMfrrH«»fftfif,M>fff.f(t9i';f*«f>m»ff«^fN<»'- - - BATTLE BETWEEN THE GREEKS AND THE AMAZONS (Frieze of the Mausoleum, Halicarnassus) THE HERMES OF PRAXITELES (Olympia) ART AND INTELLIGENCE 429 bold and spirited in its flying draperies, tense attitudes, and furious movements. The desire for effect is no longer subject to the law of moderation, and Hellenism has begun to suffer from contact with foreign life. II. Literature New developments from the city-state. The central idea in Hellenism, the pivot on which everything Hellenic turns, was the city-state with all its traditional associations, reli^ous, social and civic. As the idea declined, there emerged frory it two others, the individual and the human race, which were now in conflict, now in sympathy. During the period before us the /city-state continued, though weakening, whereas individualism and humanism were grow- ing. These new developments affected every human activity, in- cluding war, politics, art, literature, and philosophy. From poetry to prose. In literature the most obvious change was from poetry to prose. Poetry had devoted itself extensively to the State; the choral songs were chiefly for public occasions, and the drama appealed to the entire community. The decline of these forms of literature meant a changing relation between the individual and the State, a shifting of interest to private and social affairs, and from the emotional life perpetuated by tradition to the life of the reason, which is sufficient unto itself and an enemy of all control. Comedy. Of the lyric and tragic poetry composed in this period almost nothing has survived.* Comedy, poetic in form though prose in spirit, forsook politics for social life. This change of subject marks the transformation from Old to Middle comedy, 390-320, rep- resented by two extant plays of Aristophanes, the Ecclesiazusae and the Plutus, whose contents have been noticed elsewhere.^ Along with the political spirit comedy lost its fierce assaults upon prominent per- sons, its caricatures, gross indecencies, and the high flights of lyric genius. Growing tamer and more realistic, it attempted in quiet humor or good-natured satire to set forth the manners and morals of the age, to picture scenes and characters from actual life. 4 We have a fragment of the Persians of Timotheus the Milesian, recently found in a tomb at Abusir, Egypt. See the edition by von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (Leipzig, 1903). It is a lyric of the class described as a nome — a narrative of dramatic interest sung by one voice accompanied by a cithara. This poem was evidently composed for a festival in Ionia in the opening years of the fourth century, while the Peloponnesian troops were combatting the Persians. r. P 335. All the other comedies of this period have been lost, including the 280 or more plays of Antiphanes and the 245 plays of Alexis. 430 HELLENIC HISTORY Prose — its three great departments. In this century, as stated above, we have to do mainly with prose, which comprised three great departments, history, oratory, and philosophy. A noticeable feature is the narrow specialization of the authors, involving a strict separa- tion of the fields. To us it is surprising, for example, how little the orator or the philosopher knew of his country's past. Before Aristotle authors were not learned men but creative artists. The most liberal field was that of the historian, whose search for the truth made him akin to the scientist, while his rhetoric, soon to gain the mastery over the historical field, brought him into touch with the orator, and at the same time his study of motive and his analysis of government gave him points of contact with the ethical and political philosopher. The historian of broad vision, as heir to Herodotus, composed the annals of Hellas, or of a great part of Hellas, for a definite period. By thus combining in treatment a multitude of city-states he contributed to the mental preparation for a unified Hellenic nation. At the same time the growing interest in prominent individuals produced biography. Thus it was that Isocrates, writing to King Nicocles of Cyprus, pre- sented a eulogistic account of the achievements and character of Evagoras, father and predecessor of the person addressed. This is the first Hellenic biography known to us.® Xenophon, Undoubtedly this particular work, as well as the gen- eral development of individuality greatly influenced the intellectual attitude of Xenophon, the fourth-century historian with whom we have most to do. Xenophon (about 434-354) was bom in a well-to-do family of pronounced conservative inclinations. From his social environment he imbibed the sentiments that distinguished his rank, including a punctilious regard for the externals of religion, ethical reflection, refinement of feeling and speech, an interest in military training and in out-of-door sports, courage, a dislike of the multitude and fidelity to his class — in a word, Hellenic chivalry. His at- tachment to Socrates brought to fruitage the best that was in him, and in fact illuminated his entire life. His Memoirs (Memorabilia) of Socrates faithfully photographs the exterior of the great master and of his teachings,' though it fails to penetrate to the depths. In fact Xenophon is in everything superficial. This work and the Agesilaus illustrate his interest in individuals, though we find the same love of 6 Cf. Bury, Ancient Greek Historians, 153. 7 Used, p. 341 ff., as the fundamental source for Socrates. ART AND INTELLIGENCE 431 biography in all his historical writings. The Anabasis, already men- tioned,** is chiefly valuable for the insight it affords us into the com- position and psychology of a mercenary army, drawn from man) parts of Hellas and passing through various phases of success, ad- versity, peril, and deliverance. The Hellenica, his chief historical work, is a continuation of Thucydides, from 411 to 362.'-* The au- thor, banished for treason from his native land, wrote under Lacedae- monian patronage. To his inborn shallowness accordingly he has added a partisanship for Sparta and an undue admiration for Age- silaus. Among the other works used extensively as sources in this volume are the Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, the Economist, and the Ways and Means. The Cyropedia — education of Cyrus — is a historical romance, in which the author sets forth a model educa- tion of the child and youth, whence emerges the ideal man and sovereign. The preservation of this author's works is due to the interest of after ages in Socrates and to a wrong standard of judgment as to style and general worth. In mentioning his shortcomings, how- ever, we should not lose sight of his positive merits. His interest in personal traits, which is totally wanting in Thucydides, but which marks Xenophon as a true child of his age, especially appeals to the modern student of Hellenic life and culture. He had travelled much, had acquired a wide knowledge of the world; and in his breadth of mind, his liberal education, and his ethical and religious principles he represents the best features of the educated class of his generation. The Atthides; Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians. Xenophon's literary style, subjecting itself to philosophic discipline, betrays almost no influence of the rhetoric which flourished in his day. Akin were the chronicles, whose interest lay in the collection and the systematizing of facts. Such chronicles of Athens were termed Atthides (plural of Atthis). They began with the earliest mythical kings; and for the regal period they seem to have grouped events and institutions according to reigns. For the historical period they ar- ranged the material annalistically under the appropriate archons. Far from limiting himself to political and military happenings, the athidographer included all kinds of institutional, personal, and cul- 8 p. 361. 9 Bks. i, ii of the Hellenica were probably written before his banishment; but the rest of the history and all or nearly all his other works were composed in exile. Toward the end of his life the decree of banishment was repealed. 432 HELLENIC HISTORY tural matter. The earliest of the class was Xenophon's contempo- rar>', Cleidemus, whose Atthis evidently was published after 378, but of whose work we have little information. ^° Excepting a few brief fragments all these Att hides have been lost. To us the chronicler of greatest interest was Androtion, a prominent statesman of Athens, whose Atthis appeared in 330. It was the chief source for Aristotle, Constitution of the Athenians, published a few years afterward. The latter work is one of a collection of a hundred and fifty-eight consti- tutional histories of States, mostly Hellenic, composed by Aristotle with the collaboration of his pupils. Each history consisted of (1) vhe narrative of constitutional growth to the philosopher's own time, (2) a contemporary survey of the constitution. The treatise on the Athenian constitution, the greater part of which was recovered in Egypt in 1890, is the only one we have of the vast collection. Growth and influence of rhetoric. Orations of Lysias and Isaeus. In order to take into account not simply the content but also the artistic form of literature, we must now give attention to the growth and influence of rhetoric. Since the origin of this branch of learning ^^ oratory inevitably came more and more to be composed by set rule and principle. The extant orations of Lysias, however, be- longing mainly to the first two decades of the fourth century, show a freshness, vigor, and independence unfettered by rhetorical bonds. Having taken his lessons of the rhetorician, the author preserves his own mastery of style. His oration is artistic, but he has concealed his art. In appearance his language is that of every-day life, in fact it is highly idealized. This orator is a model of simple narrative, of dramatic skill in adapting speech to the character of the speaker for whom he professionally writes, of ethos, the gentle current of feeling that wins the sympathy of the hearers. These qualities render his speeches most valuable, not only as pictures of common life, but as psychological views both of the individual litigants and of the multi- tudinous jury.^- A similar writer of speeches for others was Isaeus, perhaps also a metic, whose extant productions range nearly through 10 Hellanicus, a contemporary of Thucydides, though author of an Atthis, was not essen- tially a chronicler, but a historian of far wider range ; H. Civ. p. 24 f. Fragments of Clei- demus; FHG. I. 359-65. 11 P. 255, n. 19, 347. 12 Lysias was a metic, the son of Cephalus, who had come to Athens from Syracuse on the invitation of Pericles. When the Thirty seized their property, I.ysias undertook as a livelihood the profession of writing speeches for others. He seems to have died in or shortly after 3S0. Of the 233 orations ascribed to him by the ancients we have but thirty- four. Most of them a''e jud'cial; see the excerpts in H. Civ. nos. 130 f., 147. On his life and style, see Dionysius, in R. Ci'j. no. 16i ART AND INTELLIGENCE 433 the first half of the century (390-353). They have to do with family law, with cases of adoption and inheritance. In tone less winsome than Lysias, he is more argumentative and militant. On the whole he clings to the simple Lysian style, while revealing the mere beginnings of the mature, powerful oratory of the Demosthenic age.^^ The twelve speeches which we possess have the same value for Athenian life as those of Lysias. Isocrates and his work. It was in Isocratcs of Athens that rhet- oric came to full maturity. His life (436-338) was contemporary with the whole development of prose literature, and with the culmina- tion and incipient decay of the city-state. It was his achievement to mould the oration into a formal work of art, comparable to a Pindaric ode or to a piece of sculpture. With a delicate taste for literar}' form he gave the most minute and prolonged attention to the elaboration of a nicely adjusted periodology, and to the exquisite choice and arrange- ment of words with a view to euphony and rhythm. These qualities are untranslatable.^'* The style is too formal, the periods are too monotonous, for the conveyance of anything more than quiet thought and feeling. Although a few of his orations are judicial, the greater number are in fact essays, for reading rather than for delivery. In these works he set forth the theory and the content of the culture which he upheld both in his writings and in the school of states- manship which he conducted. The young man who went forth from his school was to possess a largeness of view which considered the interest, not 6f his native city alone, but of the entire Hellenic na- tion, a moral elevation above all self-seeking and ignoble passion, an efficiency of method acquired by long and careful preparation, and an ambition to achieve great and permanent results. ^^ As a prod- uct of this culture may be mentioned the Panegyricus, his master- piece, on which he is said to have labored ten years. Its advocacy of Hellenic union was noticed above. ^^ While expressing sentiments that might be interpreted as cosmopolitan,^" his leading political prin- ts Cf. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Isaeus. 14 Jebb, Attic Orators, II. 76-9, has done excellently in a few short excerpts. The trans- lation by Freese (cf. H. Civ. no. 127) is heavy. 15 Cf. Jebb, Attic Orators, 11. 43 ff. 16 P. 441. Ten years in preparation; Quintilian, Inst. x. 4. The name Panegyricus indi- cates that it was to be delivered at a general assembly — panegyris, " all-gathering " — of the Greeks. Perhaps it was read for him at Olympia in 380. 17 Pan. 50: " So far has our city left the rest of mankind behind her in thought and expression that her citizens have become the teachers of otliers, and have made the name Hellenes a mark no longer of birth but of intellect, and have caused those to be called Hellenes who share in our culture rather than in our descent." The meaning seems to be simply that culture has become a more notable characteristic of Hellas than blood. 434 HELLENIC HISTORY ciple of Hellas against Persia shows him at heart a genuine Greek, an exponent of Nationalism rather than of humanism. In home politics he was a conservative who preferred the constitution of So- lonian and Cleisthenean times, when the council of the Areopagus kept parental ward over citizens and magistrates, when offices were unpaid and filled by election. These views he set forth in his Areopagiticus. It need hardly be said that re*form by such reaction is never wise nor practicable. Whereas the writings of this eminent publicist, dis- tributed through so long a career and touching Hellenic life on rnany sides, are valuable to us for the facts they convey and for their interpretation of Greek conditions and character, there can hardly be a doubt that he moulded public opinion and directed the general current of intelligence chiefly through his school. In a three or four year course he trained his pupils in oratory and supplied them with the information essential to public careers. They came from all parts of Hellas, from regions as distant as the Black Sea, Cyprus, and Sicily — highly endowed youths from prominent families. Having completed this education, a goodly number became philosophers, rhetoricians, and historians, generals, statesmen, and even kings. Through these men the culture of Isocrates influenced all the higher walks of life throughout the length and breadth of Hellas. Ephorus. By two of these pupils, Ephorus of Cumae (Aeolis) and Theopompus of Chios, both born about 380, the stream of rhetoric was conducted upon the historical field. The principal work of Ephorus was a universal history in thirty books from the Return of the Heracleidae (Dorian invasion) to the siege of Perin- thus (340), when the narrative was cut short, probably by death. Although it has been lost with the exception of a few fragments,^ ^ the work is of great interest to us as the chief source on that period for Diodorus and for the historical parts of Strabo the geographer. The author laid claim to critical discrimination and aimed to gain a personal knowledge of the geography and topography of the events nar- rated; but in fact he has often marred his pages with bias or puerility in the treatment of motive, with exaggerations of numbers in mili- tary affairs, and similar defects. His rhetorical style ran in a smooth but languid current, agreeable to the ear though monotonous. Theopompus. Theopompus, his schoolmate, was like his master a writer of speeches on matters of public interest. In the historical IS FHG. I. 234-77. ART AND INTELLIGENCE 435 field he composed a HcUenica in twelve books, which continued the work of Thucydides, and a Philip pica in fifty-eight books, a detailed history of his own time. In contrast with Ephorus he was forceful and passionate and in style more oratorical. The extant fragments,^" preserved especially in Athenaeus, show a noteworthy interest in so- ciety, culture, and character with a disproportionate love of exhibiting the luxuries and the vices of mankind. In spite of the shortcomings of Ephorus and Theopompus the finding of the works of either au- thor, especially of the latter, would doubtless greatly enlarge our knowledge of Greek history and civilization. This loss has been brought home to us by the discovery of the fragment of a history known as the Oxyrhynchus Hellenica from the place of finding.-" It gives a detailed account of the events of 396 and includes a surpris- ingly interesting digression on the Boeotian federal constitution. Although we have not the means of determining the author, we can- not doubt that the work was distinctly superior to Xenophon's Hellenica. It is composed in a smooth flowing style that reveals the influence of Isocrates; and in this respect it might belong to either Theopompus Or Ephorus. Rhetoric dominates the historical field. From the beginnings here 'described rhetoric with its attendant ethics soon came to dominate the historical field. It became the function of the historian to con- tribute through his works to the oratorical and ethical education par- ticularly of those who wished to enter public life. The form be- carrie more important than the content, the moral end more valued than the ascertainment of truth. This was one of various ways in which the ancients, less inclined than moderns to the study of facts, through the lapse of centuries loosened their hold upon reality and slowly degenerated into mediaevalism. Aeschines and Demosthenes. Whereas the professional speech- writer multiplied and distributed his works as examples of his art, the publicist spread his pamphlets abroad for the propagation of his ideas. Meanwhile a political event, acting upon the internal de- velopment of literature, brought the oratory of Athens to a height of perfection never again attained to the present day, and forced the 19 PMC T 278—333 20 Edited i)y Grenfell and Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, V (1908). 147 ff. It has been vari- ously assigned to Cratippus, Ephorus, and Theopompus. Among the many studies of the subject may be mentioned Meyer, E., Theopomps Hellenika (Halle, 1909), who argues for Theopompus, and Walker, E. M., The Hellenica Oxyrhynchia (Oxford, 1913), who cham- pions Ephorus. The editors are undecided between Cratippus and Theopompus. 436 HELLENIC HISTORY statesman to disseminate his views through published orations. This event was the growth of the Macedonian power, which throughout eastern Hellas divided public men into two parties, Macedonian and anti-Macedonian, who respectively favored and opposed Philip and Alexander.-^ The relative merits of the two policies need not be considered here. In Athens, as above indicated, the most conspicuous upholder of Philip was Aeschines, the most brilliant opponent Demosthenes. The latter received the especial support of Hypereides and Lycurgus, speakers of high rank and able in the administration of public affairs. The orator of this period, combining his prede- cessors' resources, employed them with a mastery unknown to earlier time. Advancing beyond Lysias, he boldly revealed his art. To the winsome ethos of that orator, and to the argumentative skill of Isaeus, he added on occasions a vehemence that overwhelmed his hearers. In brief he had learned, not only to appeal to reason, but to play upon all the keys of human emotion. It is needless here to characterize the styles of individual orators; for all excellences were united and brought to perfection in Demosthenes, the master, not of one but of every style. The son of a well-to-do manufacturer, he was left fatherless in childhood and cheated of his inheritance by perftdious guardians. As he was physically weak, his mother, keep- ing him by her side, deprived him of the usual gymnastic training. Thus he grew up in poor health, unsocial, seemingly lacking fitness for active life, and cherishing the one desire for vengeance on those who had wronged him. He qualified himself for oratory that he might prosecute his guardians, and success in this undertaking gave him a reputation as a speech-writer, the foundation of a substantial fortune. Meanwhile when inspiration came to him to serve his coun- try as a statesman, strength of will surmounted every obstacle. A defective articulation he made good by prolonged training. He steeped his mind in Thucydides whence chiefly he drew his knowledge of the past and his militant ideal of the State. From Isaeus and Isocrates and many others he learned useful lessons. For delivery he took training under a successful actor. Behind this external equipment, all necessary in itself, we discover a literary genius unsur- passed, and a burning patriotism combined with the religious zeal of a prophet, the practical statesman, who in the sweep of his eloquence never fails to point out the concrete way to success, the moral 21 p. 385 f. ART AND INTELLIGENCE 437 idealist, who by constant appeals to the nobler feelings of his hear- ers, gradually lifts them to a higher ethical level, the champion of local freedom against encroaching despotism, of a high culture against the advance of an inferior civilization. The universalization of Hel- lenism was not a conscious issue. If Demosthenes opposed the events that contributed to this process, at least he enriched Hellenism by his supreme oratory, and still more by his defence of human freedom, the greatest gift of Hellas to mankind."^ III. Philosophy Plato. Plato, the great creative philosopher of the age, was born at Athens in 427 of highly aristocratic parents. A kinsman was Critias, the violent leader of the Thirty. On the overthrow of this oligarchy the young man thought of entering public life; but the condemnation of Socrates, his revered master, awakened in him an undying hatred of democracy. He could do nothing there- fore but remain in private life and satisfy his political longings with the creation of ideal constitutions or appeal to a tyrant -^ for the realization of his vision of the perfect State. It was probably in the year 387 that Plato opened in his private house a school called the Academy from its nearness to the public garden of that name. The school of Plato. His literary works are Dialogues. We know, however, that he considered these writings a popular presenta- tion of such views as in his opinion the laity could understand. In his school he lectured more learnedly on mathematics, astronomy, har- monics, and ethics. In this work he rightly leaned upon the Pytha- goreans, while giving his pupils a fruitful impetus to further mathe- matical and physical researches. While holding to the end that the earth is the centre of the universe, he finally accepted the doctrine of the earth's rotation on its axis. Following his suggestion, a Pythagorean friend Eudoxus attempted to explain the seemingly ir- regular movements of sun, moon, and planets, by a theory of homo- centric hollow spheres revolving around the earth at different veloci- ties. The heavenly bodies he assumes, are fastened to these spheres. To the sun and moon he assigns three spheres each; to the five known planets four spheres each, whereas a single sphere suf- 22 On Demosthenes; Plut. Demosthenes; Ten Orators, 844 ff. ; Demosthenes, Against Aplwhus I (H. Civ. no. 156). 2. -5 P. 416. 438 HELLENIC HISTORY fices for all the fixed stars. Although these spheres are a pure fiction, mathematically they serve their purpose, and are therefore a highly ingenious theory. The dialogues of Plato. Of the lectures of Plato, however, we have mere hints. It is upon the dialogues, in addition to the little ihat can be gathered from his pupil Aristotle, that we must chiefly rely for our knowledge of his views. The dialogue, which had long been a favorite instrument of the philosopher,-* received from Plato an artistic form. It shows him not a dry reasoner but a highly imaginative poet. Though prose in form, his language, brilliantly versatile, sparkles with poetic gems. He is gifted, too, with rare dramatic power. The speakers of the dialogues are living persons, who everywhere retain their psychological identity. We should not look to his writings for a consistent system of knowledge; for through an active life of eighty-one years his mind continually developed. During this time he came into contact, or re- newed his acquaintance, with existing philosophies, one after an- other, from each of which he received an enlargement of his mental horizon and a new impetus to creative work. At the basis of his thought lies his doctrine of ideas. Socrates had taught him that the only objects of knowledge are concepts,-^ universal truths estab- lished by induction. With Plato the concept becomes an idea, a word derived from the Pythageoreans and signifying form. Ideas are not forms in the* geometrical sense but are colorless, shapeless, intan- gible realities, which the mind alone can perceive. In distinction from our ideas, which have their being in the mind alone, those of Plato are objective realities, in fact the only things that exist. The objects of sense are real in so far only as they " partake of " these pure realities. Plato's ethics. Plato's chief concern was with ethics. The great- / est of all ideas, he taught, is God, who created the world and gave to it a soul,'"'' through which reason and order and life came into all things. At His command the lesser gods fashioned the body of man, and He Himself prepared the soul, making it of the same substance as the world soul, though less pure. Each human soul is given a star to which it will return after having completed a good life on 24 p. 343. 25 p. 342. 26 On the creation of the world and of man, see Timaeus, 30 ff. The spherical form of the earth and its rotation on its axis {i3) he derived from the Pythagoreans. ART AND INTELLIGENCE 439 earth ; but the soul that has lived badly will at the next birth enter an inferior creature. This theory of creation and of human life is presented not as a dogma, but as a mere approximation of the truth, a metaphor continually varied throughout his writings. By means of education man advances toward the,»highest Good, which is neither knowledge nor happiness but the utmost likeness to God. Happi- ness, altogether different from bodily pleasure, is the possession of the good. In Plato's doctrine, taken from the Orphists, the body is merely the dungeon or the tomb of the soul.-^ From the body the soul must purify itself in order to attain to the good and to virtue, which is the fitness of the soul for its proper work. Plato's Republic. An important division of ethics is politics. In the view of Plato the State is not the all-in-all of the citizen, as it had been in former time. The calm existence of the philosopher, the solving of the problems of the essential and the eternal, is a nobler being than that of the politician. The body only of the philosopher lives in the State, while his soul dwells elsewhere untouched by po- litical ambition.-^ This is true of a community like Athens, he as- serts, governed by the ignorant majority, whose greatest statesmen, Pericles, Cimon, Miltiades, and Themistocles, utterly have failed in the function of improving the character of the citizens.-^ It would be quite otherwise with a State philosophically organized, like that set forth in his Republic. As any State is an individual " writ large," the ideal State is constituted like a perfect individual with the baser parts subordinate to the nobler. In this ideal community there are to be three social classes, the laborers, the soldiers, and the rulers, the last two constituting the guardians. These elements are borrowed from the actual Hellenic world. Evidently the laborers on the farm and in the trades are helots and perioeci; the soldiers are the Spartan warriors, whereas the philosophic rulers look to the Pythagoreans as their prototype. The lowest class is intellectually least endowed, and fit for nothing but manual labor. Their virtue, like that of the soul's lowest faculty, is obedience to the higher powers. The middle class are the warriors, whose virtue is courage. They ply no manual work but devote their lives to their special function. It is upon them and the ruling class that Plato bestows his chief attention. These gradations, however, are not castes, but 27 Cratylus, 400 b; Pha^do, 62 b; cf. 66 b. The Orphists; p. 143 f. 2S Theactetus, 172 c. ff. ; Gorgias, 464 b ff. 29 H. Civ. no. 135 {Gorg. 515-9) with introduction and notes. 440 HELLENIC HISTORY each is formed by a careful selection from the class just below; so that men are constantly rising from the lower to the higher grades of society. Praiseworthy are the assignment of rank according to capacity, the division of labor which makes for efficiency, and the abolition of slavery. The education of guardians is to begin at birth. All who have infants in charge are to see that everj^ act performed and ever\^ word spoken in the child's presence shall be such as will contribute to the right growth of character. From seven to seventeen he pursues ele- mentar>' studies, reading, writing, the lower mathematics, gymnastics, and music, including literature. Most of the poets, along with Homer, are rejected because they suggest immoral or irreligious views; nothing but the strengthening and the ennobling is acceptable. From seven- teen to twenty the youth has his preliminary training in arms. At this period it is determined who are to be warriors, and who are to continue the intellectual education essential to statesmen. From twenty to thirty the latter class are to devote themselves to the thor- ough study of the sciences. If incapable of advancing farther they enter public life as minor officials, whereas the few who are better gifted devote five additional years to the study of ideas. From thirty-five to fifty these intellectuals govern the State, after which they retire to a life of higher philosophic thought. In planning for an advanced intellectual education carefully regulated Plato made one of his greatest contributions to civilization. That the guardians, both warriors and statesmen, may devote themselves unselfishly and un- trammeled to their functions individual wealth and the family itself are abolished. Property is held in common, and the mating of men and women is managed by the State with an eye single to the birth of strong, healthful children. Eugenics is pushed to extremes. Women, relieved of the care of children, are to have the same training as men and to perform the same military and political services. Even if such a State were capable of realization, it is too unnatural a thing to bring good results. From the first Plato saw that no com- munity would voluntarily adopt it, and in his old age substituted a more workable political system in one of his latest writings, the Laws. The chief value of the Republic lies in its individual suggestions as to educational, social, and political reforms, and in the powerful impetus it gives to the intellectual life of the reader. In brief it is not the knowledge discovered by Plato but his belief in spiritual tn ART AND INTELLIGENCE 441 realities, his aspiration to the beautiful, the good, and the true, his conception of the vast heights attainable by man that place him among the most powerful intellectual and moral forces that operate upon the human race. Aristotle the pupil of Plato. After the death of its founder the Academy continued under other masters and gradually degenerated. Meanwhile the creative and organizing activities within the philosophic field were carried on with greater success by others. The real heir to Plato was his most brilliant pupil Aristotle (384-322) from Stageirus, Chalcidice. Twenty years he studied under Plato. Three years (343-40) he was a teacher of Alexander, the young Macedon- ian prince. Still later he returned to Athens and established a school of his own named the Lyceum, after the famous gymnasium in which he taught. His system of thou j^bt-is also described as peripatetic, from the circumstance that he walked {irepiiTaTdv, peripatein) with his pupils while giving instruction. Aristotle's dialogues. His Dialogues,^" which were popular like those of Plato, have been lost; but most of his technical works, corresponding to Plato's lectures, are extant.^^ Among them, how- ever, are studies either finished or wholly composed by his pupils, which we cannot, with certainty in every case, distinguish from writ- ings exclusively his own. Aristotle the scholar. In Aristotle we discover a new type of mind, that of the scholar as distinguished from the essentially creative intelligence. It is true that he was himself a discoverer, but his great achievement was to systematize and reduce to writing the knowl- edge which the Hellenes had thus far accumulated. Accepting in the main the method and system of Plato, he made corrections in detail; and with his more logical mind and a greater command of facts, he was able to render the method more precise and to widen the field of scientific thought.^- In this task he discovered that the most insignificant fact of nature is worthy of attention as the potential source of valuable knowledge.^^ In general he was less concerned with abstract reasoning than Plato and more with observation and 30 Aristotelis . . . fragmenta, nos. 1-111 (Rose), comprise the remnants; see also Ox. Pap. IV. no. 666 (from the dialogue Exhortation to Philosophy). The extant works are briefly represented by Bakewell, pp. 217-68. ■u The story of the loss of some Aristotelian books and their recovery in the first cen- tury B. C. told by Strabo xii. 1. 54 (cf. Plut. Sulla, 26) is doubtless true; but copies of most of them had been in continual use; Zeller, Aristotle, II. ch. iii. ■■'■2 See for example his criticism of Plato's ideas and the exposition of his own view; Bakewell, p. 220 ff. 33 Part. an. i. 5, 645 a. 442 HELLENIC HISTORY experience. The work of scientific experimentation, however, was then in its infancy, and the observer was hampered by a lack of in- struments. The remarkable thing is that with his limitations he was able to accomplish so much. Divisions of knowledge. The main divisions of knowledge in his classification are Logic, Metaphysics, Natural History, and Ethics. Under the head of metaphysics he places his First Philosophy, uni- versal principles on which everything else is based. Natural history includes physics and astronomy as well as psychology and physiology, zoology, botany, and other studies of nature. Rhetoric and politics are branches of ethics. A fifth department of knowledge may be de- scribed as a Philosophy of Art, represented by his Poetics.^* Mathe- matics he did not cultivate as an independent study. In logic he com- pleted a system of proof begun by Socrates. From particulars he rises to universals by induction, as the earlier philosopher taught; ^^ from principles he reasons back to particulars by the process of de- duction through the syllogism, a formula of reasoning first clearly set forth by himself. Nature study. Despite his considerable study of nature the least valuable parts of his system are those which depend upon observation rather than upon abstract thought. This fact is illustrated by his astronomy, a system of the universe cruder perhaps than that of Eu- doxus described above. ^° The collection of material for his study of plants and animals was probably facilitated by Alexander, though we are certain that no systematic gathering accompanied the marches of the conqueror.^" That Aristotle made many mistakes in describ- ing animals he had never seen was inevitable; and we need not be surprised to find him in error as to the functions of some of the most vital organs. Flesh, he supposed, is the medium of sensation. Chief of all organs is the heart, which prepares the blood and aids in mo- tion and sensation. The blood, purified by the heart, flows from thence to the various parts of the body, whereas the brain serves to cool the blood and moderate the heat arising from the heart. The study of plants begun by him was carried farther and ultimately published by Theophrastus, his successor. Most interesting is Aris- 34 On this classification, see Zeller, Aristotle, II. 188-90. 35 P. 343. 36 P. 437; cf. Aristotle, De caelo, ii. 8 ff. ; Lones, Aristotle's Researches. 32. 37 On this aid, see Aelian, Var. hist. iv. 19; Athen. ix. 58; Pliny, N. H. viii 16. 44. Aristotle, however, was unacquainted with the animals that such a collection would have held, had it been made. ART AND INTELLIGENCE 443 totle's theory as to progress made by the creative power of Nature. Beginning with the lowest forms of life, She gradually passes to the higher; having fashioned the plants, She proceeds to the invention of animals and thence to men.^* This process is an evolution, not of organic nature itself, but of the creative power. The Ethics of Aristotle. Whereas Plato gives inspiration, Aris- totle conveys knowledge. The one soars above the clouds, the other keeps his feet firmly on earth. In his Ethics, as elsewhere, Aristotle appeals more strongly to the average man. Casting aside the dictum of Socrates and Plato that knowledge is virtue, he recognizes that a man may know the right but have too weak a will to do it.^^ L^seful are only those thoughts that lead to useful actions; *° and happiness, the supreme good,*^ is nothing more than good and efficient life regulated by right rules of conduct. It is the function of ethics to supply these rules. Pleasures which involve mere self-indulgence are wholly bad; others, arising from the normal exercise of any faculty, though not ends in themselves, are desirable.*- Although well-being, including health, wealth, friends, and family, are helpful to the cul- tivation of virtue,''^ they are not essential, and a philosopher may draw strength from illness and poverty.** The Politics of Aristotle. " No man liveth unto himself " is one of the strongest tenets of this philosopher. Personal affections within and outside the family and kin constitute friendship. True friend- ship, involving a love of the good qualities discoverable in the friend and an unselfish desire to benefit, is one of the most powerful moral forces in society. A broadening of. friendship brings us to the com- mon life of the community. Man is a political animal, and his highest existence is in the State. The aim of the State is not simply the protection of the life and property of the citizens, but their educa- tion to the highest reach of moral and spiritual fitness.*^ In the Politics the author does not seek the ideal State; his aim rather is to determine the nature of the State in all the varieties furnished by the Hellenic world; to discover the constitution best adapted to every typical community; to ascertain defects of various political systems 38 Zeller, Aristotle. II. 28-30 and notes. 39 Ethics, vi. 13; vii. 5. 40 Op. cit. i. 1. 41 Op. cit. i. 2; Rhet. i. 5. 42 Eth. X. 2 f. 43 Op. cit. i. 9; vii. 14. 44 O^. cit. i. 11; X. 9; cf. Polit. vii. 1. 6. 45 Politics, i. 1. ; 2. 9. 444 HELLENIC HISTORY and remedies for them. His task in brief is to create a political science on the basis of induction from actual conditions furnished by a multitude of city-states, chiefly Hellenic but including a few foreign cities like Carthage.*''" As the Politics is extensively quoted in another chapter,'*" it requires no lengthy treatment here. Despite incompleteness and an imperfect text it is the greatest contribution to political and social science made by the ancient world. 46 On his vast collection of constitutional histories, p. 429 above. 47 Ch. XXV ; cf. H. Civ. nos. 136-43. ADDITIONAL READING Abbott, Hellenica, 67-243, 324-386; Beloch II (1st ed.), chs. ix, x; Blass, Die Attische Beredsamkeit; Bury, Ancient Greek Historians ; Capps, Homer to Theocritus, 330-402; Croiset, IV, chs. v-ix, xi; Fowler and Wheeler, 158-179, 251-276; Gardner, Handbook of Greek Sculpture, 279-299, 383-469; Gardner, Six Greek Sculptors (Scribner, 1910) ; Gomperz, Greek Thinkers, IV, chs. i-vi, V (entire), VI, chs. i-xxxviii; Holm, III, ch. xii; Jebb, Attic Orators from Antiphon to Isaeus (2d. ed., London, 1893) ; Pickard-Cambridge, Demosthenes ; Schaefer, Demosthenes ; Stobart, Glory that was Greece, ch. v; Taylor, Aristotle (Dodge, 1912); Windelband, History of Ancient Philosophy, 174-292; Wright, Greek Literature, 271-368, 379-413, ^\0* ALEXANDER TYPE OF COIN (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) CHAPTER XXVII ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE AND THE HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS 337-146 Death of Philip. The invasion of Asia Minor followed hard upon the session of the Hellenic deputies at Corinth ; ^ in the early months of 336 Philip's best general Parmenion crossed the Hellespont with a Macedonian army, to guard the strait against the king's coming, while the latter lingered to divide his time between State business and carousals. Throughout his life he had recklessly courted danger in violent debaucheries and hazardous marital ventures. A polygamous barbarian, he took no wives with him to war, but married new brides in the course of every campaign — women of various nation- alities who enmeshed the conqueror in the web of their acrimonious intrigues.- It was at least suspected that Olympias, mother of Alex- ander, when repudiated in favor of another woman, instigated the assassin against her husband. At all events he was murdered in the midst of a festival.^ Philip had achieved the task of making his own State the greatest military power in the world, and of giving to east- ern Hellas at least the form of institutional unity. The conquest of Asia was left to his no less competent son. Alexander. Alexander was but twenty when he mounted the throne.* He had had Aristotle as an instructor, to whom we nat- 1 p. 390. 2 Satyrus, Life of Philip, in Athen. xiii. 5. 3 Autumn, 336; Died. xvi. 94. 4 For the life of Alexander we have not one contemporary history or biography, al- though there were many. The most important source was the Daily Court Journal kept by his chief secretary. There were also letters and other documents, including reports of explorations like that of Nearchus. The ablest and most trustworthy Lives were those of 445 446 HELLENIC HISTORY urally credit the young man's interest in the enlargement of science, and had won military distinction under his father. His inspiration he had drawn from the Iliad; his ideal was Achilles, a young man of tempestuous passions and a brave indomitable warrior. In brief Alexander's nature combined the romantic with the practical. Imme- diately the weakness of his father's Hellenic arrangements revealed itself in widespread disaffection. It was not till Alexander took Thebes by assault, destroyed the city, and sold the inhabitants into slavery that the Greeks could be made to understand that they still had a master. He continued Philip's policy in relation to them; the Hellenic league and his own captaincy were maintained, although his military demand upon the Greeks was appreciably lighter than his father had planned.^ Alexander's conquests. In the spring of 334 Alexander crossed the Hellespont with about 35,000 men. On the Granicus river he met a slightly larger force of the enemy, the infantry consisting of Greek mercenaries. His victory was speedy and complete.*' After this success he proceeded to liberate the Hellenic cities, and to settle their affairs in the manner to be described below. ^ How far the intentions of Alexander reached on the day when he crossed the Hellespont we do not know — probably not to the conquest of the whole Persian empire; but the young man of fiery spirit and growing ambition could never content himself with present achievements however great. From the acquisition of the Aegean coast he was led to the conquest of Asia Minor. It was a keen disappointment that a majority of the Hellenes, far from regarding him as a deliverer, threw their sympathy to the Persian side; and lacking the support of their warships while those of the enemy commanded the sea, he had to make his advance along the coast in order to occupy the port towns and thus secure himself from attack by water. At Issus, Cilicia, he met King Darius in command of an army much larger than his own. The battle, however, was fought in a narrow plain hemmed in by forests; so that the Persian his generals Ptolemy and Aristoboulus. Our chief extant source is Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, drawn mainly from the two Lives just mentioned. The author was an officer of the Roman empire, and the work is in a high degree reliable. We have, too, Plutarch, Alexander ; Justin's epitome; Diodorus xvii; considerable parts of Q. Curtius Rufus, His- tories of Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, a work of the first century A. D. of in- ferior merit. Much information is supplied by the contemporary orations, inscriptions, and coins. 5 Arrian i. 7 f. ; Diod. xvii. 8 ff . ; Aelian Var. hist. xii. 57; Justin xi. 2 f . ; Plutarch., Alexander (about 30,000 sold into slavery); Demosthenes, 23. This harshness was not offset by his sparing the dwelling and the descendants of Pindar. 6 Arrian i. 2; Diod. xvii. 17 f. ; Plut. Alex. 15 f . ; Justin xi. 5 f. 7 P. 461 ff. ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE . 447 king could not take advantage of his superior numbers. His army was routed and dispersed, and he could only save himself by headlong flight.* From this time it is clear that Alexander, with enlarged ambition, intended to conquer the Persian empire.^ Having thus determined, Alexander first took possession of the Syrian coast and of Egypt; for while marching into the interior he dared not leave in his rear a single port open to the hostile fleet. This campaign involved the capture of Tyre and of Gaza by siege. Egypt yielded without resistance and welcomed the conqueror who interested himself in the worship of its gods.^° Founding of Alexandria. The young man's quick intelligence dis- covered on the coast of Egypt the best site for a colony, which he named Alexandria. As Tyre lay in ruins, his new city was to be the great port of the nearer Orient, to provide a commercial bond be- tween his eastern domains and the kingdom of his fathers. Another object of the settlement, composed of Macedonians and Greeks with but subsidiary native elements, was to secure the fidelity of Egypt. ^^ Alexander — the son of Zeus. For millennia the Egyptians had been accustomed to absolute rule. Their pharaoh was a god-king, the incarnation of a deity. In accepting Alexander as their pharaoh they could only think of him as a divine incarnation. Their view, however, had no effect on Hellenic thought; but in the Libyan desert between Egypt and Cyrene lay the oracle of Ammon, whom the Hellenes identified with Zeus, and to whom they had been accustomed to resort for prophecies more weighty even than those of the Delphic Apollo. Thither went Alexander, and received from the oracle of the desert acknowledgment that he was the son of Zeus.^- The young king, who had fed his mind on Homeric myths, and had already achieved the superhuman in battle and conquest, probably believed the story; certainly the theory of his own divinity grew on him from that time forth. Battle of Arbela. After Alexander had settled the affairs of Egypt and Syria he marched slowly eastward, crossed the Euphrates 8 Arrian ii. 11 f. The numbers given by the ancients — 500,000 (Diod. xvii. 31. 2) or 600,000 (Arrian ii. 8; Plut. Alex. 18) are incredible. 9 Arrian ii. 14, quoting a letter which is probably a fiction; but his subsequent move- ments were evidently a preparation for invading the interior. 10 Arrian ii. 16-27. iii. 1. 11 Arrian iii. 2; Diod. xvii. 52; Strabo xvii. 1. 6-8 (H. Civ. no. 205); Plut Alex. 26; Steph. Byz. 'AXe^avdoeia- 12 For the Athenian State galley Ammonias, see Arist. Const. Atli. 61. 7 with Sandys' tes- timonia. Visit to the oracle; Diod. vii. 49; Curtius iv. 7. 10; Arrian iii. 3 f . ; Justin xi. 11. 2; Plut. Alex. 26. 448 HELLENIC HISTORY and Tigris, and with 47,000 men met Darius near Arbela in command of an army which the ancients estimate in numbers ranging from 250,000 to 4,000,000 horse and foot. We may assume at least that the king's forces materially outnumbered Alexander's.^^ On this occasion Darius had chosen an open plain where his superiority in bulk could be made effective. He hoped with his elephants and his scythed chariots to break the phalanx, after which his cavalry, sup- ported by footmen, would complete the Macedonian rout. The phalangites, however, opened their ranks to let the chariots pass through, or dislodged the drivers, and turned the teams back upon the enemy. Alexander was outflanked; but seeing a gap in the enemy's line, he dashed in at the head of a cavalry brigade and cut the army of Darius in two. Meanwhile the Macedonian phalanx, advancing into touch with the Persians, drove them to flight. There were many complications which need not be described here. It is enough to say that the critical victory of the war was due to the skill of Alexander and his officers and the bravery and discipline of his men. Darius fled, and was ultimately murdered by his own subjects. Further conquests. The battle of Arbela gave the victor a vital hold upon the empire, but left to his remaining campaigns the none too easy task of overcoming widely separated points of resistance. Babylon surrendered without delay. He entered the city and wor- shipped its gods, as he had worshipped those of Egypt. From Baby- lon he marched with little opposition into Persia, and occupied its two capitals, Susa and Persepolis. In the treasuries of both places he found great hoards of silver, which he confiscated and put into circu- lation. The palace at Persepolis he destroyed with fire and the in- habitants he slaughtered, to punish the Persians for having burned the cities and temples of Hellas, and to ruin their prestige as an im- perial people. Down to this time, as this deed indicates, he remained a champion of Hellenism.^* Policy of solidifying the empire. Three years were occupied in reducing the northeastern provinces of the empire, where the powerful satraps at the head of the warlike inhabitants offered him an obsti- nate resistance. During these campaigns Alexander began to adopt the Persian royal dress and habits, at first when giving audience to natives and afterward on all occasions. It was in line with his policy l.f Arrian iii. 8-15; Diod. xvii. 60; Curtius iv. 9-16, v. U. The battle was actually fought at Gaugamela, near Arbela. On the numbers, see especially Delbriick, Kriegsk I. 173 f. 14 Arrian iii. 18; Plut. Alex. 18; Diod. xvii. 72. ALEXANDER'S EMPfRE 449 of assimilating Macedonians and Greeks with a view to solidifying his empire. To this end he encouraged the marriage of his soldiers with native women. At his command thirty thousand youths of the country were chosen to receive instruction in the Greek language and to be trained in the use of Macedonian arms. At the same time the king began to show irritability at opposition or lack of deference in his subjects. Servility was spreading among the Macedonians, but the more manly spirits resented his Persian airs and his increasing aloofness. A conspiracy was formed. Philotas, son of his best general Parmenion, though cognizant of the plot, neglected to inform Alexander. When the truth finally reached the ears of the king, he brought Philotas on a charge of treason before an assembly of Mace- donians, who lost no time in condemning the accused to death. Un- der torture Philotas had mentioned his father, who too was put to death, though doubtless innocent. Parmenion was the ablest general of the school of Philip and Alexander's most faithful lieutenant; his son was probably guilty of nothing worse than neglect. There was murmuring throughout the army at the murder of Parmenion, but no one dar^ remonstrate.^^ Shortly after\vard during a festival to Dionysus, when the company was drinking heavily, the courtiers began to flatter Alexander, com- paring him with Heracles and saying that he surpassed his father in achievements. Cleitus, a young Macedonian noble, rashly protest- ing against this flattery, extolled Philip and depreciated Alexander, boasting that he, Cleitus, had saved the young king's life in battle In great rage Alexander seized a weapon and killed him, but after- ward was exceedingly sorry for what he had done^® Oriental absolutism of Alexander. His next step toward Ori- ental absolutism was the requirement that all who approached should prostrate themselves before him. To the natives the act meant noth- ing more than ceremonial respect, whereas the Europeans regarded it as worship. It was agreed between him and certain of his " com- panions " that at a prospective banquet they should themselves set the example. On this occasion Callisthenes, the philosopher and historian, by refusing to prostrate himself incurred the king's anger. For the time being Callisthenes went unharmed, but not long after- 15 Plut. Alex. A5 (cf. Phocion, 17); Diod. xvii, 77. 4-7; Justin xii. 3. Native youths; Plut. Alex. 47. Conspiracy; Diod. xvii. 79 f. ; Arrian iii. 26; Curtius vi. 7-vii. 2; Plut. Alex. 48. Justin xii. 5. Parmenion had been left at Ecbatana as governor of Media. 16 Arrian iv. 8 f. 450 HELLENIC HISTORY ward was implicated in a conspiracy of the pages. These were the sons of Macedonian nobles, brought up in the king's court and acting as his personal guard. Alexander's insolence toward one of their number incited among them a plot to kill him while he slept. It was discovered ; and the ringleader and Callisthenes, who was suspected of instigating the conspiracy, were put to death. ^' Alexander's campaigns in the northeastern satrapies completed the subjugation of the empire. Along the line of his marches he had dis- tributed colonies, and had given attention to organization, obviously insufficient; for every successful campaign whetted his appetite for conquest, and in him lived the spirit of the explorer. India was a land of wonders, which no Hellenic traveller had described, which Heracles and Dionysus alone had traversed. Alexander could not admit an inferiority to these divine beings or neglect the opportunity to add this marvellous region to his empire. Thus it was that ro- mantic rather than practical considerations led him into India. ^^ Alexander in India. He met with no strong opposition. The country was divided among a multitude of independent kings, some of whom became his allies. But the army experienced unspeakable suf- ferings from the intense heat and the downpour of rain lasting through many days. Alexander wished to go farther. Thoughts of universal dominion are ascribed to him by Arrian; but the military harangue put in his mouth is evidently a fiction; and through the myths that en- velop him we cannot penetrate to his true desires. Whatever they may have been, they were checked by the refusal of his troops to go farther. As the omens proved unfavorable to an advance, Alexander acceded to their wishes, and began the homeward journey. They passed down the Indus, at whose mouth he and his men first became acquainted with the tides. ^® Having organized the conquered part of India in three satrapies and left colonies of veterans, he began his return march through the Gedrosian desert. This way was chosen from love of exploration and the desire to surpass Semiramis and Cyrus, who as the king heard had vainly attempted a march through this dangerous waste. Again his soldiers suffered horribly, and many succumbed to heat 17 Prostration; Arrian iv. 11 f. Conspiracy of the pages; Arrian iv. 13 f . ; Curtius viii. 5. 5; Plut. Alex. 53-5. 18 Strabo xv. 1. 5; Arrian v. 2. 19 Arrian v. 25 f. f326 B. C.)- The geographical ideas are those of a later age. The troops' refusal; Arrian v. 27 f. Return beginning on the Hydaspes; vi. 1 ff. Tides; vi. 19. ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE 451 and thirst and the fatigue of marching through the deep sand. In sixty days, however, the task was achieved by the survivors, and Alexander, emerging from the desert with the shattered remnant of his army, reached Carmania in the autumn of 325.-** Meanwhile his admiral, Nearchus of Crete, sailing from the mouth of the Indus, skirted the coast of the Arabian and Persian gulfs. His careful survey was of great value for the promotion of maritime commerce with the far East, while his observations of nature and man along the voyage contributed to the progress of science. Along considerable stretches of coast the inhabitants were savages, ignorant of iron, but making use of stone implements and of their finger nails which grew long and formidable like the claws of animals. They dressed scantily in the skins of beasts or of fish. They baked bread of meal made from dried fish; and it is seriously asserted that their sheep lived on fish.-^ Death of Alexander. On his return from the East Alexander took up his residence at Babylon. With him there could be no thought of rest. The empire had to be rescued from the misrule brought into it by his officers during the long campaigns in Bactria and India; and a prodigious naval armament had to be fitted out for his next enter- prise — the conquest of Arabia and the colonization of the region bor- dering the Persian gulf. Urged on by his restless energy, these prep- arations were under rapid way. Meanwhile Alexander was ruining his constitution by drinking to excess and wasting his strength in all- night revels. In this condition he was unable to throw off the germs of fever which he had contracted. He died accordingly in his thirty- third year.-- Although his lifetime was brief, no other man had ever achieved anything to compare with his labors either in conquest or in organization. We must grant that his success was largely due to the excellent army laboriously created by his father, to the able generals trained in Philip's school, and to the internal weakness of the Per- sian empire ; at the same time great credit must be given to the quick- ness and accuracy of the young king's observation and thought and to the daring rapidity of his movements. For statesmanship he was too romantic and egoistic; and although he remains the most dazzling 20 Arrian vi. 22-6. 21 Arrian, Indica, 21-34. 22 New preparations; Arrian vii. 19 f. Excesses and death; Arrian vii. 24-7; Diod. xvii. 115 ff. ; Plut. Alex. 7S-7; Justin xii, 13-5. 452 HELLENIC HISTORY figure in military annals, it cannot be soberly stated that the world lost through his premature death. During Alexander's careers of conquest the States of the Greek homeland continued restive. His agents and officers frequently vio- lated the compact made between him and the Hellenic league. Tyrants had been established in certain Greek cities and Macedonians had preyed upon Hellenic commerce. Sparta headed a Peloponnesian revolt ; but it had failed and she was compelled to submit. With the evident design of subverting the liberties of the Hellenes, guaranteed by his father, Alexander let it be known that he wished them to consider him a god (324), and shortly afterward ordered all Greek States to receive back their political exiles. Although in itself hu- mane, this move in behalf of the banished was a flagrant violation of the federal constitution established by Philip, and unmistakable evidence of the king's despotic intentions. ^^ Demosthenes fined. In Athens materialistic considerations, but slightly outweighing patriotism, barely sufficed to keep the peace. On several occasions Demosthenes, made cautious by long experience, effectually opposed a break with Alexander. A special opportunity for war was offered the Athenians when Harpalus, chief treasurer of Alexander, embezzling the royal funds, escaped to Greece. On this occasion Demosthenes dissuaded the Athenians from war, but was himself prosecuted, along with others, on a charge of having ac- cepted a bribe from Harpalus.-* Condemned to a fine of fifty talents and unable to pay, he was cast into prison, whence he escaped and went into exile. The facts on which to base a judgment as to his guilt or innocence are wanting; but at least it is clear that the court which condemned him was influenced more by political con- siderations than by evidence. Revolt of the States of Greece. When word of Alexander's death reached Greece, it found the States ready for revolt. They were dissatisfied with the Macedonian supremacy and their love of inde- pendence was still strong. Nearly all the States of the peninsula 23 Violations of the treaty; Pseud. Demosth. Treaty with Alexander. Suppression of the Lacedaemonian revolt; Diod. xvii. 73. 5 f . ; Curtius, vi. 1-3. Hellenic acceptance of deification; p. 000 below. Restoration of exiles; Diod. xvii. 109. 1; xviii. 8. 2-7; Justin xiii. 5; Curtius x. 7; Hicks and Hill, no. 164 and Ditt. I. no. 306 (acts of Mytilene and Tegea for restoring their exiles under the king's order). The Thebans and some others excepted; Plut. Lac. Proverbs, 221; Diod. xviii. 56. 5. The Hellenic league under Philip; p. 000. 24 Harpalus and the trial of Demosthenes; Theopompus, in FUG. I. 325. 277 f . ; Diod. xvii. 108. 4-8; Curtius x. 6 f. Hypereides, Against Demosthenes ; Deinarchus, Against Demosthenes; Plut. Phoc. 21 f. ; Demosth. 25 f. ; Pseud. Plut. Ten Orators, 846. ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE 453 united in a league for revolt, the most prominent being the Athenians and the Aetolians. Demosthenes employed his eloquence in the crea- tion of the league, and was now returned to Athens. Leosthenes, an Athenian general of experience and ability, held chief command. He defeated Antipater, governor of Macedon, and besieged him in the fortress of Lamia. From this circumstance the conflict is known as the Lamian war. Unfortunately Leosthenes was killed; the enemy received heavy reinforcements from Asia, and the Hellenic cause failed. Chosen to pronounce the funeral oration over the Athenians who fell early in the war, Hypereides, while paying a graceful tribute to the dead, upheld in evil days with a spirit worthy of his ancestors the Hellenic ideals of patriotism, freedom, and human dignity. The coalition dissolved and the States made separate terms with Anti- pater. Athens had to receive a Macedonian garrison in Munychia, to limit her franchise to the nine thousand wealthiest, those who pos- sessed property worth at least 2000 drachmas, and to give up for punishment the chief instigators of the revolt. Among the victims were Hypereides and Demosthenes. The former was captured and slain; the latter took poison to avoid seizure. An epigram of the period summarizes well the aspiration and ther failure of the last great Hellenic orator : — Orator, mighty in spirit, if only thy strength had been equal, Ares, of Macedon God, ne'er would have ruled over Greece.^s In this war the higher civilization succumbed to the lower; a people of refined thought, speech and emotion yielded to men of blood and iron. Perdiccas, regent of the Empire. Meanwhile at Babylon, for the time being the centre of the empire, events were occurring contrary to the intentions which Alexander while living had cherished. As he died without an heir, the Macedonian army in that city determined to recognize as king, Alexander's feeble-minded half-brother Arrhi- daeus, and only reluctantly consented that the great conqueror's son Alexander, born of Roxana after the father's death, should be asso- ciated with Arrhidaeus on the throne; so prejudiced were the Mace- donians against all connection with Asiatics. Perdiccas, a general 25Diod. xvii. Ill; xviii. 7-19; Justin xiii. 5; Plut. Phoc. 22-35; Deniosth. 27-31; Pseud. Plut. Ten Orators, 240 f. (quoting the epigram). 849-51; Paus. i. 1. 3; 8. 2; vii. 6. 5-7; 10. 4 f. ; X. 3. 4. The limitation of the Athenian right to vote excluded 12,000 and included 9,000; biod. xviii. 18. 5. „ ^ ..,••• r 2fi Diod. xviii. 2 ff . ; Justin xiii. 1 ff . ; Curtius x. 19 ff . ; Satyrus, m Athen. xui. 5; Plut. Eumenes, 1. 3. 454 HELLENIC HISTORY under Alexander, became regent of the empire. There were insur- rections to put down, in addition to that in Hellas, and still uncon- quered parts of the empire to subjugate.-*' This work was accom- plished; but meantime the two kings were murdered, before either could attain to authority; and the machinations of Alexander's great generals, their rivalries and coalitions, began to threaten the unity of the empire. Their political manoeuvres and civil wars fill the next two decades and more, 323-301. In this period Antigonus, perhaps the ablest and most energetic general surviving the Conqueror, strove to maintain the integrity of the empire under his own monarchy. The other generals, however, combined against him. In the battle of Ipsus, Phrygia, 301, they completely overpowered him; and he ac- knowledged by suicide the failure of his ambition.-^ Division of Alexander's Empire. Abandoning all idea of unity, the victors proceeded to carve the empire into kingdoms for them- selves. Ptolemy retained Egypt, of which he had long been governor, and in addition Coele-Syria; Seleucus held most of the empire east of Mount Taurus, with Greater Phrygia in Asia Minor; Cassander, son of Antipater, retained Macedon and a claim to the headship of Greece, The realm of Lysimachus comprised Thrace and the greater part of Asia Minor.^^ Ultimately his kingdom was dissolved, whereupon the sway of Seleucus extended to the Aegean sea (281). In this manner the empire of Alexander came to be divided into three great powers, Macedon, Egypt, and the kingdom of the Seleucidae; and thus it re- mained till the intrusion of Rome in the East. Agathocles, The ruling class in these monarchies were European, Greeks and Hellenized Macedonians. Over the Orientals they had little difficulty in maintaining the supremacy of their civilization. In other parts of the Hellenic world the problem was more difficult. In the region north of the Black Sea the natives so encroached upon the territory of the Greeks that the latter no longer had wheat for con- tinual exportation but often had to import it for their own use from the Aegean region.-'' In Sicily and southern Italy the maintenance of Hellenic freedom had become even more critical. After the death 27 For the period 322-301 see Ferguson, Greek Imperialism, l49 ff. ; Beloch, Griechische Geschichte, III. 81 ff. with references to sources. Battle of Ipsus; Diod. xxi. 1; Plut. Demetrius, 28 f. Antigonus was opposed by Cassander, Lysimachus and Seleucus, Ptolemy taking no part. 28 The four monarchies; Polybius v. 67. 7; Diod. xxi. 1. 5; Appian. Syriaca, 55; Plut. Demet. 30. 29 Polyb. iv. 38. ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE 455 of Timolcon (337), Syracuse was again distracted by factional strife and Sicily was again exposed to Carthaginian aggression. Af- fairs grew continually more hopeless till Agathocles, the son of a potter, seized the tyranny, 316. Like Dionysius I, he was a soldier of fortune, who through sheer ability and resolution mounted to the summit of power.'"' His methods and career closely parallel those of the earlier tyrant. By clever diplomacy, sheer luck, and a show of force, by a combination of harshness and mildness, he intrenched himself in power and gained the hegemony over the Greek cities of the island. •■'^ The chief military event in his career was a long and desperate war with Carthage. The Sicilians had not yet developed a political consciousness of their nationality, but vacillated between him and the Semites as the selfish considerations of the moment dictated. On one occasion, when besieged in Syracuse by a greatly superior force, with no allies to bring him aid and no means of repelling the enemy, he conceived the amazing scheme of running the blockade and of transferring the war to Africa. This bold design laid bare the weakness of Carthage. Her dependent towns were unfortified and disloyal; and she was exposed to the invader's attack. This cam- paign, though only a partial success, proved the beginning of his good fortune. Notwithstanding victories he was finally compelled to make a treaty which divided the island nearly equally between himself and the enemy. ^^ After this event he assumed the title of King of the Sicilians in the same way that the successors of Alexander were taking upon themselves the royal title. With these sovereigns Agathocles through diplomatic marriages entered into close relations.^^ Meanwhile he gave aid to the Hellenic cities of Italy against the native Lucanians and gained for his realm a strip of Italian coast. The chief aim of his life, however, was the expulsion of the Phoenicians from Sicily; and in his old age he resumed preparations for a gigantic struggle with the national enemy. To this end he negotiated a treat) of alliance with Macedon. At last there dawned the hope that the Hellenes were so organized in East and West as to maintain themselves and gain new 30 Diod. xix. 9; Justin xxii. 1-2; Polyaen. v. 3. 8. 31 Poly b. ix. 23. 2; Diod. xix. 70 f., 102. , ^ , . 32 The war; Diod. xix. 102-xx. 79; Justin xxii. 3-8. The treaty; Diod. xx. 79. 5; Justin xxii. 8. -r.. ■ • • T ^■ 33 Royal title; Diod. xx. 54. 1; Head, Hist. Num. 182. Diplomatic marriages; Justin xxiii. 2. 6; Diod. xxi. 2 (295 b. c). 456 HELLENIC HISTORY ground. The realization of the dream of Agathocles would have given" the western Mediterranean to Hellenism and have changed the course of the world's history. In the midst of his preparations, how- ever, he died (289). In his last moments he restored the republic to the Syracusans, necessarily with its fatal weaknesses. With his death vanished the dream of a great champion of Hellenism, of a statesman and warrior scarcely excelled in administrative ability and in boldness combined with prudence.^* The growing power of Rome. The western Greeks were con- fronted by enemies so powerful and aggressive that the only oppor- tunity for national independence lay in centralization under a military monarch. This truth they were unable to appreciate; and accordingly the death of Agathocles made their situation desperate. Although in Italy the Sabellians had spent their energy, what they failed to conquer became the prey of Rome. This city, situated on the lower Tiber, began appreciably to extend her power about 400 B. c. with the con- quest of Veii, an Etruscan city in the neighborhood. Conquered territory Rome either annexed, settling it with her own people and incorporating the acquired population as citizens, or subjected to her military command by treaties of alliance. Her just treatment of de- pendents and friends, no less that the severity with which she punished revolting allies, contributed to the growth and the solidity of her power. In a series of Latin and Samnite wars, (343-290), involving conflicts also with Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls, she extended her suprem- acy over the peninsula from the Rubicon river to the Greek settlements in the extreme South. ^^ In 326 Naples entered into the Roman al- liance. Like most allies of Rome she retained self-government in local affairs, but gave military aid in war. As a maritime State her chief military obligation lay in furnishing ships of war together with their crews. Meanwhile the still free Hellenic cities of Italy were making little concerted effort to preserve their liberty. There was a union among them but it counted for little. Tarentum, the most populous and wealthy, sought and obtained aid of her mother city Sparta and after- 34 Operations in Italy; Diod. xxi. 4; Arist. Mirab. 110; Duris, in Athen. xii. 59 (FHG. II. p. 479). Preparation for war with Carthage; Diod. xxi. 16. Alliance with Macedon; xxi. IS. Death; xxi. 16; Justin xxiii. 2. Estimate of his ability; Scipio, in Polyb. xv. 35. 6. 35 On this phase of Roman expansion, see Frank, Roman Imperialism, ch. iii. f. ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE 457 ward of Epeirus.^*^ Unwilling to submit to discipline or inilitar}' authority and fearing for their precious liberties, the luxurious inhabi- tants nullified all such assistance by the reluctance of their cooperation. After Rome had extended her supremacy into southern Italy Thurii, Rhegium, and Locri entered her alliance on substantially the same terms as Naples. Tarentum alone, with a few unimportant allies, remained independent.^' Pyrrhus in Italy. When Roman aggressions forced Tarentum into war, she appealed to Pyrrhus, king of Epeirus, who came with an army of 25,000 men organized in the Macedonian system. Six years he waged war against the Romans in Italy and the Cartha- ginians in Sicily. Had he been well supported by the Greeks, he might have secured their national freedom and have organized them in a kingdom for himself; but, though a brilliant general, Pyrrhus wanted statesmanlike tact, and the Hellenes were too fond of the licenses of peace to sustain his absolute command and to fill the gaps in his ranks. Finally he returned to Epeirus (275), and three years afterward Tarentum surrendered to the Romans, who in this way com- pleted their supremacy over Italy. It was inevitable that Rome and Carthage, the two great powers of the West, should clash. In a long, severe war Rome achieved the task that had proved too great for Dionysius, Agathocles, and Pyrrhus, the expulsion of the Carthaginians from Sicily.^* Instead of the emer- gence of a Greek nation, however, there resulted ultimately a deaden- ing bondage, loss of political freedom, economic retrogression, depopu- lation, and a rapid decline of culture. Despite obvious advantages the Roman conquest proved in the end an irremediable calamity. Hellenistic kingdoms of the East. The Hellenistic kingdoms of the East were longer-lived. Egypt, a strongly centralized monarchy protected by the deserts that bordered the Nile valley, feared no assail- ant, so long as she could maintain a powerful navy. The Seleucid realm covered a vast territory but lacked the central strength neces- sary to the control of distant satrapies. One by one India, Bactria, 36 Tarentum was first aided by Archidamus, the Lacedaemonian king (Diod. xvi. 62 f., 88; Theopomp. in FUG. I. p. i22. 259 f.) and afterward by Alexander of Epeirus; Livy viii. 17. 24; Justin xii. 2; Pliny, N. H. iii. 98. 37 Niese, Gesch. der griech. und viaked Staaten, ii. 27, 32. 38 Tarentine war; Plut. Pyrrhus (from contemporary sources); Livy, ep. xii— xv; Appian, Sanmitica, 7-12; Diod. xxii. ; Justin xviii. 1 f . ; xxiii. 3 f . ; Polyb. i. 6 f. ; iii. 25; vii. 4; viii. 28; xviii. 28; Strabo vi. 3, 4. For the first war between Rome and Carthage our fun- damental source is Polybius, i., although this book was intended to ser\e meiely as an introduction to his Histories. For other sources and their interpretation, see Frank, Roman Imperialism, ch. vi. with notes. 458 HELLENIC HISTORY Parthia, and other far-away dependencies successfully revolted. In Asia Minor a horde of invading Celts founded the kingdom of Galatia, while further to the west Pergamum became an independent monarchy, Pontus, Cappadocia, and other old kingdoms reasserted themselves. These uprisings soon reduced the Seleucid sovereignty over Asia Minor to an empty name. In contrast with the Seleucid realm Macedon was compact, and her inhabitants were virile and warlike. The ambition of her kings to rule over Greece met its chief obstacle in the Aetolian and Achaean leagues, which in the third century, absorbing a great part of the peninsula, developed a respectable military power. The degree of Macedonian control varied with the ability of the kings; and al- though for considerable stretches of time the Greek States enjoyed in- dependence, in the end the Macedonian king Antigonus gained the headship of nearly the whole peninsula (221). Recognizing the fed- eral principle, he joined existing combinations in a general union, a league of leagues, represented by a federal diet. This measure, while securing the essentials of republicanism, brought Macedon to pre- eminence as a military power. First Macedonian War (215-205). Philip, successor to Anti- gonus, saw in Hannibal's invasion of Italy (Second Punic war, 218- 201) an opportunity to strike a deadly blow at the power of Rome, which retently had encroached upon the Macedonian sphere of in- fluence by wars with the Illyrian pirates (229-228, 219) ; but he gave Hannibal no substantial aid and only roused against himself a new and povv^erful foe. In Roman history this period of hostilities with Philip is known as the First Macedonian war (215-205). From this time the political interest centres in the extension of the Roman power over the eastern half of the Mediterranean world. The Italian na- tion was mainly agricultural. The masses were free peasants, who as a rule owned the lands they tilled. They were laborious, hardy, and belligerent; and the government at Rome was a centralized aristocracy that rested its principal claim to leadership upon the successful con- duct of war and diplomacy. In the Carthaginian, Seleucid, and Egyptian domains the masses were nearly serfs, wholly unfit for war, and most of the fighting men accordingly were mercenaries. Among all the States were antipathies frequently breaking out in war and rendering them weak in the face of a powerful enemy. Certain Greek States invited Rome to engage on their behalf in -i ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE 459 war against Philip (200-190). With the aid of the Aetolians, Flam- ininus, the consul in command, inllictcd a decisive defeat on the Macedonians at Cynoscephalae (197). Declaring the Greek States free from Macedon, and under the protection of Rome, the victor with- dvew his forces. Roman conquests. No long time afterward the Romans waged war against Antiochus the Seleucid, who had shown great ability in restoring the empire. They defeated him at Magnesia (189), and compelled him to yield to them all territory west of Mount Taurus. A Third Macedonian war, culminating in the battle of Pydna (168), put an end to the kingdom of Macedon. For the time being Rome or- ganized no provinces in this part of the world but extended her pro- tectorate from the Adriatic to Mount Taurus. Although her govern- ing class included many a philhellene, inevitably the more brutal side of her nature revealed itself in Greek affairs. Fatal was the inability of the Hellenes to combine. In every State existed a Romanizing party which constantly invited interference. It required but a slight pretext to bring an army into Greece. In 146 the province of Mace- donia was established, the military power of the Achaean league broken, Corinth destroyed, and the Greeks States were subjected to the governor of Macedonia. This was the year in which Rome destroyed Carthage and converted her immediate domain into the province of Africa. Twenty years afterward the kingdom of Per- gamum was converted into the province of Asia (126). Meanwhile the Seleucid realm rapidly shrank, and the dynasty came to an end (83). In 63 Syria became a province, and the Roman empire was thus extended to the Euphrates river. While these events were taking place in Asia, Egypt had greatly declined and the Ptolemies were now subservient to Rome. In the year 30 their line ceased with the suicide of Cleopatra, whereupon Egypt was formally subjected under a prefect appointed by the Roman princeps. The effect of Roman conquest on civilization in Greece and the Orient was substantially the samejpfS in southern Italy and Sicily. The conquerors robbed their subjects of material resources and art treasures, of their freedom of thought and speech — of everything in brief that might have conduced to the further upbuilding or even per- petuation of culture. Despite the good intentions of the principles and the obvious benefits of peace, the imperial administration, added to the pernicious activities of avaricious Roman speculators, grew con- 460 HELLENIC HISTORY tinually more oppressive and grinding. Viewed in this light, the Ro- man conquest operated as the first and most fundamental cause of the decline of ancient civilization.^^ 39 The period of conquest is here condensed because usage has assigned its fuller treat- ment to Roman history. See Pelham. Outlines of Roman History, 1-10 ff . ; Cavaignac, Antiquite, III. 236-393; Niese, Gesch. der Criech. und viak. Staaten, II. SOS to the end of the work. ADDITIONAL READING Bury, chs. xvii, xviii ; Holm, III, chs. xx-xxvi, IV, chs. i-iv, vii, viii, xv-xix, xxv-xxviii; Beloch, III, 1, ch. i-vi, ix, xv-xx; Cavaignac, III, 3-92; Bevan, House of Seleucus (London, 1902) ; Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire des Seleucides (Paris: Leroux, 1913); Colin, Rom et la Grece (Paris, 1905); Dodge, Alex- ander (Houghton, Mifflin, 1890) ; Droysen, Geschichte des Hellenismus (Gotha, 1877); Ferguson, Greek Imperialism, 116-160, 180-194, 215-234, 240-248; Frank, Roman Imperialism (Macmillan, 1914) ; Freeman, History of Sicily; Freeman, E. A., History of Federal Government in Greece (2d. ed. by Bury, London, 1893); Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon; Holm, Geschichte Siziliens; Howard, Comparative Federal Institutions (University of Nebraska, 1907); Kaerst, Geschichte des hellenistischer Zeitalters (Teubiier, 19011; Mahaffy, Alexander's Empire (Gilman, 1898), History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty (London, 1899) ; Mitteis, Wilcken, GrundzUge und direston Qthie der Papyruskunde (Leipzig, 1912); Niese, Geschichte der griechischen und Makedonischen Staatetn, 3 vols. (Gotha, 1893-1903) ; Tarn, Antigonus Gonatas (Oxford, 1913); Tilyard, Agathocles (Cambridge, 1908). PERSEPOLIS PTOLEMY SOTER (National Museum, Naples) CHAPTER XXVIII THE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE HELLENISTIC STATES 337-30 B. c. Local organization of Alexander's empire. Our knowledge of the local organization of Alexander's empire, inherited from the Persians and modified by himself and his successors, is extremely scant excepting for Asia Minor and Egypt. The Conqueror began the work of reorganization soon after the victory of Granicus, when the Hellenic cities along the western coast of Anatolia came into his hands. These communities he treated with the utmost consideration. The oligarchies and tyrannies, which had favored Persia, he over- threw; and recalling the exiles, he established democracies. The cities were left autonomous under a body of laws approved by the 461 462 HELLENIC HISTORY king. They were to recognize him as their leader in war and to fur- nish naval or land forces to serve under his command. Those espe- cially favored were exempt from all payments, whereas the free city- states which had not won their way to the king's good graces rendered an annual payment made honorable by the title of contributions. All classes of cities thus far mentioned were looked upon as allies. Others which had dared resist his anns were held, at least tempo- rarily, in subjection and compelled to pay the ordinary tribute. Rhodes. Among the Greek cities to profit most by the conquest were those along the western coast, and on the neighboring islands, of Asia Minor, not only through their enlarged opportunity for commerce but also through the paternal favor of the kings. The most brilliant city of this region was Rhodes, which had taken the place of Peiraeus as the commercial centre of the Aegean area and had extended her lines of traffic throughout the Mediterranean world. In 170 her revenue from imports and exports, probably at the uni- form rate of two percent, was 1,000,000 drachmas, which represents a commerce diminutive according to modern standards, but splendid for that age. . This State maintained her independence by the bravery of her citizens; and her policy was to cultivate peace and friendship with the entire world. As a result wealth abounded. The poor were provided for by the government, and the rich lived luxuriously in sumptuous dwellings. The city was not only a storehouse for mer- chandise but the home of art and eloquence. The citizens were in- telligent and maintained a high sense of public honor.'^ Temple estates. In the interior of Asia Minor the task of adapt- ing existing conditions to the will of the conquerors remained to the Seleucidae. Here were found two forms of feudal estates, centering respectively in the square-turreted castles of the grandees and in the temples. The castles had existed from the eighth century b. c. and had been tolerated perforce by Lydian and Persian kings. In the course of centuries the Hellenistic rulers suppressed them, and either incorporated the estates in the royal domain or assigned them to cities. In the temple estate the priest had control of the extensive lands be- longing to it and exercised authority over the people, who in some communities were numbered by the thousands." Among them were 1 Revenue; Polyb. xxxi. 7. 12. The range of her traffic and her friendship; v. 88-90. The poor; H. Civ. no. 236 (Strabo). High standard of honor generally maintained; Polyb. xxxi. 25. 2 Feudal castles; II. Civ. no. 175 (Plut. Eumenes); cf. Radet, La Lydie, 86 ff. ; Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, II. 416 ff. Temple estates; Strabo xi. 8. 4; xii. 2. 3. 5; 3. 32-6 (survivals to Roman times). HELLENISTIC STATES, 337-30 B. C. 463 attendants on the deity but the great majority cultivated the soil as peasants. At the annual festival in honor of the deity there was held a fair, at which the peasants could display their produce for sale and make the purchases of the traders who came in from neighboring lands. The gathering of the people from near and far for worship, trade, and pleasure, was a source of profit to the priests. The Hellen- istic kings dare not suppress these religious potentates, but deprived them of political power and in some instances of a part of their terri- tory. Often the king settled a colony on a temple estate and sub- jected the priest to the government of the new city. Alexander's plan of colonization. Alexander founded a great num])er of colonies, more than seventy as Plutarch states, distributing them over the empire in accordance with its needs; and the Seleucidae, following in his footsteps, planted an equal number. They were to provide homes for the worn-out veterans, to garrison the conquered country, and, at least in Alexander's plan, to Hellenize the empire. As a rule therefore they included a nucleus of retired soldiers and of Greek business men, around whom clustered a multitude of natives. Among the mercenaries of the Seleucidae, however, were few Greeks; and in general it may be said that Hellenic civilization penetrated but a little way beyond the walls of the colony. These settlements varied greatly in size. Among the largest Alexandria numbered 300,000 free souls and perhaps 100,000 slaves. ^ Antioch, the Seleucid capital, was but slightly inferior, whereas Seleucia on the Tigris continued to grow till in the first century of our era the popula- tion numbered 600,000. The wealth of Egypt. The importance of Alexandria came not merely from her position as capital of a wealthy kingdom, but even more from her commercial activities. * Her harbors brought her into touch with the whole Mediterranean world, while the canal which connected her with the Nile was the first stage of the long voyage to India. From the Nile it was possible to convey merchandise to the Red Sea either by canal or overland. Usually, however, the merchant fleets of Egypt sailed along the coast of Arabia, till they met and ex- changed cargoes with the fleets of India. Under the late Ptolemies this traffic declined, to be magnificently revived by Augustus. In addition to commerce Egypt derived great wealth from her manu- 3 Plut. Fortune of Alexander, i. S, 328 e (the number is doubtless exaggerated). 4 Alexandria; Diod. xviii. 52. 6. Seleucia; Strabo xvi. 2. 5; Pliny, N. H. vi. 122. Alexander had Dlanned to make Babylon a great commercial centre: Arrian vii. IS- 464 HELLENIC HISTORY factures. Her shops produced substantially all the papyrus used ihroughout the world; and with the vast number of writers in the city the publication of books became a thriving business. The aromatics imported from Arabia and from far-off India were here transformed into incense and toilet perfumes. Drugs and medicines were pre- pared for use. In the neighborhood an abundance of vitrifiable earth was employed for the production of glass of varied rich colors. Equally important were the textiles, including tapestries and both coarse and fine dress materials. The fine linens of Biblical renown were woven in various localities and brought down to Alexandria for export. Doubtless many articles of use and luxury were manufac- tured here for home consumption or export of which we have no knowledge. The greatest product of the country was wheat. The hard labor of millions of peasants under the strict supervision of the Ptolemies yielded not only enough to supply home needs but an enor- mous quantity for exportation.^ Antioch and Seleucia. In like manner Antioch, situated on the Orontes river about twelve miles from the Mediterranean, was not only an imperial capital, but the beginning of a great caravan route from the sea to Mesopotamia and Persia. *^ With the conquest of the Orient the Greeks had ceased to be a purely maritime people and were conducting an extensive overland trade along the network of roads built by the Persian kings and their Hellenistic successors. East of Antioch the route passed through Seleucia, which was also the chief trading intermediatry between the Persian gulf and the up- per waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.' It was the successor of Babylon and the parent of Bagdad. Blending of Nationalities. The proportion of Greek to foreigners must have varied greatly according to circumstances. Naucratis, Egypt, for example, contained natives; but the Greeks of that city held aloof from social and marital relations with them, and therefore maintained their language in relative purity. Ptolemais, Egypt, 5 Commerce; Strabo ii. 5. 12; xvii. 1, 13; Agatharchides, Erythraean Sea, 103; see also Periplus Letter of Hadrian, in Flavius Vopiscus, Saturniniis, 8. 5; Firnius, 3. Medicine; Homer, Od. iv. 229; Theophrastus, De caus. plant, vi. 27. Perfumes Plinv, N. H. xii. 59. Glass; Strabo xvi. 1. 25; Athen. xi. 28; Cicero, Pro Rab. Post. 14. 40. Tapestries; Plautus, Pseudolus, 147; Miintz, Tapisscrie, 39. Linen; Strabo xvii. 1. 41; Pliny, N. H. xix. 14. Production of wheat; p. 403. 6 Strabo xvi. 2. 4-7. 7 strabo vi. 1. 5; 2. 5. Royal road to Susa; Hdt. v. 52. 4. Euphrates bridged; Strabr xvi. 1. 21, 23; Pliny, N. H. v. 86. HELLENISTIC STATES, 337-30 B. C. 465 seems to have been equally exclusive. Alexandria, on the other hand, was exceedingly mixed. To Greeks and Macedonians must be added Egyptians, Semites, Persians, and many other nationalities. These people were by no means equal. As a rule the Macedonians and Hellenes, generally grouped together as Greeks, were the only citizens. They had their tribes and demes like those of Athens, their magis- trates, council, and assembly. People of other speech were only metics with such rights as the city or the king assured them. In the country and the native towns the Greeks formed but a small percentage of the population. Mercenaries of that nationality on lands held directly from Ptolemy and small business men scattered widely along the Nile valley were more inclined to intermarry with the natives; and from these unions arose a hybrid class, who spoke two tongues and bore both Greek and native names. ^ Satrapies. The subject territory, as distinguished from the free Hellenic cities, was organized, as under Persian rule, in great ad- ministrative districts termed satrapies. It was clearly the Con- queror's intention to employ both natives and Macedonians as satraps, while taking the precaution of transferring their military powers to special officers of his own nationality. This attempt to win the Persian aristocracy in his conflict with Darius proved a failure, and in the end he was obliged to substitute Macedonians as governors. A check on the satraps was found in keeping the commanders of great cities and fortresses directly dependent on the king, and even more in the separation of the financial from the military and civil adminis- tration. The finances of Egypt, for example, Alexander placed in the hands of Cleomenes, a Greek of Naupactus. During the long ab- sence of the Conqueror in the Northeast and East, Cleomenes, through his absolute control of the revenue, made himself in reality dictator of Egypt, and used his authority for frightful extortions. The treas- ury of the empire was established at Babylon in charge of Harpalus, a friend of the Conqueror's youth.® During the long absence of 8 Kenyon, Greek Papyri in the British Museum, III. p. 71 ff. (first century A. D.); Chrcst. no. 27 (second century a. d ) ; cf. Hermeias, in Athen. iv. 32. Polyb. in Strabo xvii. 1. 12. Excerpts from the laws of Alexandria, in Bechtel, (DikaiO' niata.) Though we lack absolute proof of a council and assembly in this city, their exist- ence is implied in the laws mentioned above. The Jews had their own organization, favored by the kings, but thev were not citizens. Cleruch holdings of mercenaries; H. Civ. no. 183 f. Hybrid class; 'no. 191 ff. 9 Arrian i. 23; iii. 5, 16, 18, 19; Curtius v. 2. 8, 17. Babylon; Diod. xvii. 64. 5; Curtius v. 1. 43. Susa; Arrian iii. 16. 9; Curtius v. 2. 16. Arrian iii. 5; H. Civ. no. 180 f. 466 HELLENIC HISTORY the king Harpalus squandered a great part of the treasury and escaped with the rest to Greece.^" In greed and disloyalty he was but a type of the high officialdom of the new empire. Failure to assimilate European and Asiatic troops. No ob- stacle, however, discouraged Alexander from his purpose of blending Asiatics and Europeans in one race socially and politically equal. He had married Roxana, a Bactrian princess, and afterward added a wife from each of the two royal Persian lines. At the same time his great field-marshals, Perdiccas, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Nearchus, and other high officials to the number of eighty, took to themselves Persian brides. On all without exception Alexander bestowed dowries. At the same time he made presents to the ten thousand Macedonian troops who had married Asiatic women. ^^ From the beginning of his campaigns Alexander had introduced native troops into his army; and the majority of the force with which he invaded India were Asiatics. After his return he planned to dismiss the aged and crippled Macedonians and to substitute for them 30,000 native youths trained and equipped in ISIacedonian style. The veterans, finding themselves about to be displaced by men of a race whom they despised, were mortally offended and broke out in mutiny. The king yielded to the extent of giving his Macedonian forces the higher honor and pay.^- Despite every effort the attempt to assim- ilate Europeans and Asiatics in the army proved a failure, and it was abandoned after his death. A universal empire, ^^'hile temporizing with his Macedonian troops, Alexander steadily advanced toward the goal of his ambition, a universal empire emancipated from every national restriction, an empire that knew no distinction of race or people. It was a new conception far broader than anything the world had known before, and formed the political basis for a larger idea of humanity afterward taking form in Stoicism and Christianity. Although there survived feebly a spark of popular sovereignty in the military assembly of Macedonians, the source of power had become the person of the monarch. The absolute idea grew upon Alexander throughout his conquests, largely as a product of his own experiences. The young king's extreme exertions, his incessant activity night and day, his 10 Arrian iii. 6. 4 ff . ; Diod. xvii. 108. 4-8; Plut. Alex. 10; Phoc. 21 f . ; 19. 7. 11 Arrian vii. 4. 4; H. Civ. no. 235 (Athenaeus); Diod. xvii. 107. 6; Justin xii. 10. 9 f . ; Plut. Alex. 70; Eumenes, 1. 13 Arrian vii. 6, 8-12; Diod. xvii. 109; Justin xii. 11 f. ; Curtius x. 2. 8 ff . ; Plut. Alex. 71. HELLENISTIC STATES, 337-30 B. C. 467 physical sufferings from numerous wounds, and his excessive inclina- tion to drink, while impairing his physical condition co()perated with his marvellous successes in greatly affecting his mind. Month by month his companions saw in him a growing love of flattery and an increasing irritability at every opposition however slight. No longer content with ordinary subservience, he demanded worship; for that is what prostration meant to a Greek or a Macedonian, Most of those who followed him through Asia, dependent as they were upon his caprice, granted him the honor with varying sincerity. ^^ Not satis- fied with their homage, he permitted it to be made known to the Hel- lenic cities of the home land that they ought to decree him a god. With characteristic independence the Lacedaemonians replied : " Since Alexander wishes to be a god, let him be one." At Athens Demos- thenes at first protested, but afterward changing sides, advised his countrymen to give the bauble: " Let us acknowledge him the son of Zeus for all I care, or the son of Poseidon, if he prefers it." Athens accordingly decreed to place him as Dionysus among the gods of the city. Other states took similar action; temples for his worship arose in various places; and on his return from Babylon, he gave audience to " sacred legations " rather than political embassies, come from Hellas to pay him divine honors.^* The god-king introduced into Europe. Among the Greeks the boundary between human and divine had never been sharply drawn. Great men in death became heroes, and the god Dionysus had lived as a man on earth. Every Greek State rested on a religious foundation; and it was but natural that Alexander should seek such a basis for his empire. The Orient supplied the atmosphere of servile adoration of the king as superman or god. To this condition Hellenic thought and usage had to be adapted. Among the Greeks the motive to his deification was fear or the desire to flatter or the hope of gaining favor. A common sentiment, too, was the desire for protection or gratitude for deliverance from peril, hence the frequent epithet Savior applied to the Hellenistic kings.^^ Alexander must have assumed the title of divinity not merely to satisfy his craving for honors, but as the last 13 p. 449 f. 14 Aelian, \'ar. fiist. ii. 19; Plut. Lac. Proverbs, 219 e. The word came, probably not as an edict, but as a suggestion from one of his courtiers. Hypereides, Against Deviosth. 31; Deinarchus, Against Demosth. 94; Timaeus, in Polyb. xii. 12 b; Pseud. Plut. Ten Orators, 842 d; Valerius Maximus vii. 2. ext. 13. Temple at Megalopolis; Paus. viii. 32. 1. Sacred legations; .'Xrrian vii. 23. 2. in Motives to deification; cf. Ditt. Or. nos. 219, 212; Michel, no. 40; Phylarchus, in Athen. vi. 66; Appian, Syr. 65. 468 HELLENIC HISTORY step toward absolutism. Even on the throne a mere man was bound at least by the general laws of humanity and was responsible to public opinion, but a god was above all law and accountability. After some hesitation his successors followed his example and thus perpetuated the god-king. In this manner was introduced into Europe an essen- tially Oriental idea of the relation between the State and the indi- vidual. While Egyptians and Asiatics were grovelling in the dust before their kings, the Greek republics had created for at least a part of their population a condition of freedom under self-government. In the individual the result was the perfection of manliness, the de- velopment of a high type of self-control and self-respect, in society and government a recognition of the dignity and worth of the individual souls that made up the body politic. The Hellenistic kingdom, how- ever, put an end to the growth of freedom, and in its stead universal- ized the Oriental slavery of the people and gave it an indefinite lease of life. However sagacious, men were no longer to govern them- selves or to give expression to their views for the improvement of State and society. Government was to rest in the hands of a God or of a superior sacred human being with a mandate from God, who brooked no opposition and needed no control, who selfishly or benevo- lently devised and executed with divine wisdom whatever he pleased for mankind. The idea passed on from Alexander to the Roman principles and the Byzantine emperors, and to the modern monarchs who rule by divine right. While the government of Macedon rested on the traditional basis of nationality, that of the Seleucid realm and of Egypt was an artificial structure: the administrative system was an organization of Greek conquerors for the exploitation of the natives and was wholly devoid of national or patriotic feeling. The masses might sincerely accept the godship of the sovereign, but his appeal to the higher officials could only reach their self-interest, their hope of reward or fear of punishment. The want of moral fibre that only patriotism and national feeling could supply was a fundamental weakness of both kingdoms. The Aetolian league. The Achaean league. With the Hel- lenistic kingdoms we may contrast the federations of the Greek home- land. The union established by Philip, arbitrarily created and abounding in discord, proved short-lived. Soon afterward the Aetolian league came into prominence. Originally an ethnos of HELLENISTIC STATES 337-30 B. C. 469 primitive character, Aetolia began toward the close of the fourth century to assume the character of a union of cities. Early in the third she annexed Delphi, and thereafter employed the influence of the amphictyony in rapidly extending her league till it came to include nearly all central Greece, southern Thessaly, and temporarily various cities of Peloponnese. ^^ In like manner Achaea, beginning as an ethnos, changed somewhat more slowly to the federal organization of city-states. It was not till the inclusion of Sicyon in 251 that the Achaean league could count as a power in Greece." Thereafter fol- lowed the admission of Corinth and other neighbors in rapid succes- sion till, early in the second century, it included all Peloponnese. There was rivalry between the two leagues, involving the shifting of cities back and forth, together with frequent Macedonian interference. Although both leagues engaged in forcible annexations, the great ma- jority of admissions were at the request of the incoming States. Government of the leagues. The general principles of organiza- tion were the same for the two leagues. The fundamental institution of government was the assembly of all the citizens, like that of the city-state. It is known that in the Achaean league the voting was by cities, presumably all present from a given city determined among themselves the attitude to be taken by their State, which thereuupon probably cast a single vote, whatever its population. ^^ By the side of the assembly, as in the city-state, was the council, in the Aetolian league and probably in the Achaean, representing the cities according to their population. ^^ Elections of magistrates and other matters of primary importance fell to the assembly, whereas the council, with its more frequent sessions, gave attention to lesser business and to such as could not await the gathering of the people. The chief magistrate was the general; in the Achaean league there were at first two and afterward one, the commander of the army and highest civil executive. The abandonment of the old republican board of officers in favor of a single magistrate added efficiency to the administration. 16 Philip's federation; p. 390; Ethnos; p. 69 f. Federation first mentioned for 314; Diod. xix. 66. 2. Delphi in the league; Plut. Denieir. 40. 17 Earlier history; Polyb. ii. 37-71; Plut. Aratus, 9 ff. 18 Livy xxxii. 22. 2, 8-12; 23. 1; xxxviii. 32. 1. It is not known whether the Aetolian assembly {SGDI. no. 1412. 8; Polyb. xx. 10. 11; Diod. xix. 66. 2; Livy xxxvi. 29. 1) voted by heads or by States. — In the brief account of the leagues given in this volume no attempt is made to distinguish between the full as.sembly and that lesser body which might be described either as a smaller assembly or a larger council. 19 For Aetolia; H. Civ. no. 203 (Michel, no. 22). For the Achaean council, although we lack information, we may assume the same principle of comoosition, as the Greek council (p. 46, 105, 108) in general was thus composed, and it is difficult to see how a great State like Corinth would be willing to reduce herself to a level with the most insignificant town of Achaea. The two principles, in assembly and council respectively, would afford an ade- quate balance. 470 HELLENIC HISTORY Federal government. The federal government had control of weights, measures and coinage. It conducted negotiations with foreign powers, declared war, and contracted alliances. In sole com- mand of the military forces it gave orders to the members to furnish their several contingencies. Each constituent city was guaranteed autonomy under a republican constitution, implying security and justice for herself and her individual citizens. Her chief obligation was to put into the field the number of troops demanded and to sup- port them at her own expense. -° In the preservation of liberty the federal union contrasted favor- ably with the kingdoms of that age; and in the development of strength it was a great improvement upon the city-state. A solution of the most difficult of Hellenic problems was at length found in the creation of a system of organization adapted to the Greek character. It is true that in time of war the federal government, in entrusting to the States the levy and support of soldiers, remained excessively weak; and it was a misfortune that two rival leagues existed side by side, often at war with each other, while their freedom was menaced by the greatly superior powers of the Hellenistic kingdoms and the Roman republic. Their inability to survive under these adverse con- ditions does not detract from the truth that the federal union was the most highly developed political creation of the world before the rise of modern representative democracies, such as those of Great Britain and the United States."^ Royal domains. The gigantic empire of Alexander and his suc- cessors' kingdoms rested on a condition of the laboring masses which verged closely upon serfdom. Round about the free cities in western Asia Minor, and more extensively in other parts of the realm, were the great domains of the Persian king, which Alexander seized for himself. They were cultivated by peasants, who lived in villages and were bought and sold along with the lands they tilled, who were not absolutely bound to the soil, but could move about from one locality to another, evidently with the permission of their lord. Not wholly at the mercy of their local master, they were under the juris- diction and legal protection of judges appointed for them by the king. They paid their sovereign a tribute in money or in kind — a tenth 20 In the Achaean league the States attended, to the coinage under federal authority; Polyb. ii. 37; Head, Hist. Num. A\7. In Aetolia the federal government issued the coins; Head, 335. Polyb. iv. 7; x. 23; xvi. 36. 21 Cf. the thirteen American colonies under the Articles of Confederation. HELLENISTIC STATES, 337-30 B. C. 471 of the annual produce.'"' There were peasants, too, on the feudal estates and on the communal lands of cities, who rendered their dues to the lord of the commonwealth. These arrangements had existed under the Persian rule and were adopted with little modification by Alexander. Similar were conditions in Egypt. While retaining proprietor.ship of all the soil, Ptolemy gave the income of many large estates to his officials and other favorites. The temples also held in grant broad fertile tracts. To his mercenaries the king gave permission on fixed terms to reclaim and use waste lands. In peace these cleruchs, " lot- holders," made their living by agriculture, but stood ever ready to answer the sovereign's call to arms. Vast tracts of grainland, specifically described as royal domain, were leased in small lots to peasants, who had to render a fixed number of measures to the acre. The king possessed a monopoly of the oil industry and required for his use the production of a certain number of oil plants in each nome (administrative district). ^^ Oppression of laborers. The ordinary tributes, though heavy, were endurable; but the natives v^^ere subject to many other taxes, and were required to perform in addition a variety of labors, for which they received no pay, including the erection of royal buildings, the entertainment of travelling officials, and of soldiers quartered upon them, the building and repair of dams and embankments along the Nile, the maintenance and extension of the whole irrigation system, and the reclaiming of waste lands. The capricious and arbitrary en- forcement of these labors, which took no account of the peasants' necessities, proved exceedingly oppressive. The laborers were kept under continual watch; day and night custodians from the mercenary class guarded the crops lest the peasant take something for himself before the king had had his share; -^ and while the aim of the administration was to confine the whole laboring population to its endless routine of toil, the growers of oil plants were most rigorously 22 Royal domains; H. Civ. p. 570. Peasants; no. 177 f. Restriction on their move- ments; p. 576. Their judges; Demetrius of Scepsis, in Athen. xv. 53. Tribute (phoros); H. Civ. no. 176 (money); Ditt. Or. 55 (tenth in naturalia). 2.3 The Egyptian land system; H. Civ. p. 590. Land in gift; no. 18 c. Cleruchs; no. 183 f. ; Tebt. 1. nos. 32, 46, 79, 83, 85; FayUm Towns, no. 11 f. Royal and many other documents in the various collections of papyri. Royal domains and cultivators; H. Civ. no. 186 f. Oil monopoly; no. 179. 24 There were taxes on cattle, on houses and lots, and other property; on occupations and sales. Tithes of certain produce went to the temples; and there were customs dues on goods transferred from one nome to another. In brief, evervthing was taxed. Task work; Paris. Pap. no. 63; Pctric Pap. I. no. 22; III. no. 37; Tebt. I. no. 5. 11. lines 168 ff. Custody of crops; Tebt. I 27; Hcbch Pap. no. 44. In fact the number of documents for the illustration of these subjects is almost endless. 472 HELLENIC HISTORY bound to the soil. If they neglected their work to the extent of jour- neying to another nome, they might be arrested and forced back to their wearisome tasks. Decline of democracy. In fact the most deplorable feature of life in the Hellenistic Orient was the abject condition of the laborers. The voiceless multitude meekly accepted the terms of rent, purchase, and sale imposed upon them by those in authority. Though not precisely serfs, they were on the very brink of serfdom. In Europe, with rare exceptions, the native laborers of a community, as distin- guished from the slaves, were free, and in democracies enjoyed the right to vote. A characteristic feature of the change from the fourth century to the Hellenistic age, however, was the decline of the de- mocracy and of the laboring class. The masses were adversely af- fected by the economic developments attending the conquest of the Orient. Great wealth in land and money fell into the hands of Alexander's officers and of the aids and favorites of his successors, or of adventurers in business, while people of moderate means be- came fewer, and the poverty of the masses increased. In every con- siderable city swarmed the proletarians, who could find no adequate employment, and lived on the edge of starvation. As a class they were no more to be blamed for their poverty than the few were to be praised for their wealth. If left to themselves they could but die of hunger. In the interest of self-preservation therefore various cities, not simply Rhodes, Samos, and Carthage, but in time even Rome found it necessary to supply them with a cheap or free grain. In both Greece and Rome reformers attempted the economic and po- litical redemption of the masses, but they could not prevail over the opposition of tlie rich. At the opening of the Christian era democ- racy had almost totally vanished from the civilized world, and with it the thought that the poor might as a class be educated and treated with the consideration due to human souls. Three and a half centu- ries later they were in a serfdom whose beginnings had been borrowed from the Orient; and it has been but recently, during the early centuries of modem times, that they have regained their freedom.^^ 25 Gifts of Alexander and his successors; Plut. Alrx. 15; Eum. 13; Diod. xviii. 50. 4; xx. 28. 3; p. 462 above (Egyptian " lands in gift"). The luxuries of the few were a measure of their wealth; cf. H. Civ. nos. 233-5, 240-3. State aid to the poor in Rhodes; no. 23ft. In Boeotia; no. 237. In Samos and in Carthage; Strabo, xvii. 3. 15. Attempted reforms of Agis and Cleomenes at Sparta; H. Civ. nos. 240-3. At Rome under the Gracchi and their successors; Greenidge, History of Rome, I. HELLENISTIC STATES, 337-30 B. C. 473 General decline of the home land. The Greek home land suffered through the easterly migration of her most ambitious and enter- prising sons, which left the peninsula poorer in creative energy and intelligence. Another factor that afforded a powerful impetus to her decline was the eastward shifting of commercial centres. From the seventh to the fourth centuries the coast of Greece washed by the Aegean sea belonged to the heart of Hellas from which extended trade arteries to every part of the Mediterranean world. As the Hellenes expanded over Egypt and western Asia, however, the centre of commerce moved after them from Peiraeus to Rhodes and Alex- andria. The Athenian port lost nearly all its life, as the greater part of the trade left to the vicinity shifted to Corinth, which attained to a new splendor as the occasional residence of the Macedonian kings. These circumstances made it the largest, wealthiest, and most beauti- ful city of the peninsula till its destruction at the hands of the Romans. Not least effective in thinning the population and destroy- ing property were the wars between city-states or federal unions or between the Macedonian kings and the Hellenes, wars not less fre- quent than before the days of Philip and Alexander. Doubtless, too, the continued wasting of the soil and the spread of malaria tended further to rob the inhabitants of food and to sap their vitality. To all these destructive forces we must add the rising standard of living, the love of comfort and luxury which induced men either to remain single, or if they married, to bring up few if any children, with the result that the number and the size of families rapidly di- minished. Although not hopeless at the time of the Roman subju- gation (146), the condition of the peninsula under the Romans stead- ily deteriorated, till, early in the Christian era, the Hellenic Strabo could only describe the home land of freedom and science in terms of desolation. ADDITIONAL READING Holm, III, ch. xxvii, IV, chs. i-v, ix-xiii, xv-xix, xxiv-xxix; Beloch, III, 1, chs. vii, viii, x; Baumgarten, Wagner & Poland, Hellenistische-Romische Kuliur (Teubner, 1913), 3-72; Cavaignac, III, 96-233; Colin, Rom et la Grece; Dubois, Les Ligues etolienne et achaenne (Paris, 1885); Ferguson, Greek Im- perialism, Hellenistic Athens (Macmillan, 1911); Freeman, History of Federal Government; Greenidge, Greek Const. Hist., ch. vii; Mahaffy, Greek Life and Thought from the Death of Alexander to the Roman Conquest (Macmillan, 474 HELLENIC HISTORY 1887) ; Meyer, " Alexander der Grosse und die absolute Monarchic" in Klcine Schriftcn; Mitteis-Wilcken, Grundzuge und Chrestoiuartine dcr Papyruskunde ; Phillipson, International Law and Custom of Ancient Greece and Rome; Raedcr, L'Arbitrage internationale chez des Hellenes. PTOLEMY ADELPHUS AND ARSINOE ACHAEAN LEAGUE COINS CHAPTER XXIX HELLENISTIC CULTURE (I) 337-30 B. C. I. City Construction and Art ^ City construction. Priene. The Hellenistic age with its con- quests and colonization was a period of city construction. So far as the nature of the surface permitted, the builders applied the principle of straight streets crossing each other at right angles. The require- ments of defence, however, still left the ways narrow and reduced the public squares to the smallest areas. The recent excavation of Priene, a town of about 4,000 inhabitants, has given us a clearer idea of this period than we could have been able to acquire in any other way. It stands on a height with steep descents on every side, so that the need of fortification was minimized. The circuit wall of un- known height is two meters in thickness, and is pierced by three gates covered with round arches. Arriving from the port, we pass through the cemetery and into the western gate, thence along a narrow street to the Provision Market, where the small dealers retailed bread, meat, and other victuals. Adjoining it is the Great Market, the centre of public life. In the middle is a large altar, and along the border on all four sides runs a colonnade, which fronts a succession of stores, temples, and other buildings that surround the market. The north side is occupied by a Sacred Portico, in which the people held festival and sat on holidays at banquets provided at the city's expense. Other public buildings are the Assembly Hall, with a seating capacity of about 500, serving for the meetings of citizens and of the council, the theatre, and various temples. That of Athena, the gift of Alex- ander, was elegant and artistic, the pride of the city. As a Greek 1 The sources for art are first of all the art objects themselves in the various museums of the world, and secondarily pictures. Illustrations of most of the art objects mentioned will be found in the text. For modern art works and for reports of excavations, see foot- notes and the bibliography at the close of the chapter. For ancient writings on art, see p. 141 n. 10. 47.S ■■■" ■ ^J^^: ^1 -^w:^ THE DYIXG GAUL (Capitoline Museum, Rome) ALTAR OF ZEUS AT PERGAMUM (Berlin Museum) HELLENISTIC CULTURE 477 community the Prienians could not live without a stadium and a gymnasium. ^ Public life. Although they drew their chief subsistence from their farms near by, they also manufactured a few wares which they shipped abroad through their port. Public life was wholesome. Candidates for office sought the votes of their fellow citizens; and as magistrates they devoted a share of their private income to the im- provement of the city and the entertainment of the people. In return the citizens granted them exemption from public burdens, front seats at the theatre and festivals, and honorary statues, many of which were set up in the Sacred Portico. The people were industrious, intelligent, moral, and happy. Larger cities differed chiefly in the proportionally greater attention to industry and commerce, and the increased contrasts between the few rich and the many poor, in the splendor of public buildings and of the homes of the wealthy. Temples showed in an accentuated degree the features whose begin- nings were witnessed by the second half of the fourth century. A remarkable development of the age was the Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamum, about one hundred feet square. ^ The construction may be studied in the picture. The actual altar stood on the top of this monument in the centre of a court surrounded by an Ionic colonnade. The frieze is described below among the sculptures. Notable, too, was the gigantic light-house at Alexandria, on the island of Pharos, which gave its name to the structure. It was more than a hundred meters high. The summit was reached within by a ramp surround- ing the open shaft in which an elevator conveyed the material for the light.* "Water supply and sanitation. In choosing a site for a city regard was had to the water supply as well as to agricultural and commercial advantages. For example, Priene had abundant spring water brought into the city in large earthen pipes, filtered, and dis- tributed to the houses through smaller pipes. The larger aqueducts of more populous cities were subterranean channels -lined with stone and cement. In this period increased attention was paid to sanita- tion. Whereas at Smyrna, new-built, after lying for centuries in ruins, the refuse from the houses lay in the streets to be washed about 2 Wiegand and Schrader, Priene (Berlin, 1904); Haverfield, Ancient T own-Planning, ch. iv; Bel. Rihii. Ktilt. 157 f., 168-72, 199-211. 3 Devised by Hippodamus of Miletus, p. 266, 280. 4 He/. Rom. Kult. 159, 178 ff. 478 HELLENIC HISTORY over the pavement by rains, Ephesus seems to have been well pro- vided with sewers; and in some if not in all cities there were of- ficials who had charge of sanitation ; and in some dwellings at Priene have been found sanitary arrangements comparable with those of today. ^ Family life. Family life still secluded itself from the public gaze. A dwelling at Priene presented to the street a bare window- less wall, pierced at one end by a single door. In visiting the home of an average citizen we pass through this door into a waiting room, and thence into an open court with cemented floor. This space, whence the family received their air and light, is surrounded by rooms. The one at the back, adorned with two cclumns, is the living room of the house. Here stands the altar; here guests were received, and here the family usually gathered at meals. In a house so sumptuous as to have a second story, the upper floor was occupied by the women. The houses of the wealthy, imitating the royal pal- aces, developed a system of two courts, each surrounded by a colon- nade, and usually adorned with a fountain and flowers. In the inner court centred the private life of the family and the industrial activities of the household. About it were the rooms in which the female slaves lived and plied their labors, such as spinning, weaving, grinding grain, and baking. Here, too, was the sleeping room of the parents, another for the daughters, and one or more dining rooms. The outer or front court, open as it was to guests, was only richer and more stately. The building throughout was beautified with statues, mural paintings and colored marbles, with finely woven and embroidered tapestries, and some of the floors with mosaics. The furniture was of bronze, ivory, and rare imported woods. The construction and furnishing of such a home drew upon the resources of the whole civilized world, and was only rendered possible by an extensive commerce on sea and land." Sculptures of the age. Among the extant sculptures of the age are reliefs which decorated public buildings. Perhaps the most strik- ing representatives of this class are to be found at Pergamum. This city, the seat of Attalus and his dynasty, is the only Hellenistic capital thus far thoroughly excavated. So much architecture and sculpture 5 City sanitation; Miiller, Griech. Privataltcrtiimer, 48 f. Smyrna; Strabo xiv. 1. 37. Ephesus; xiv. 1. 21. .\ Board of Health- Arist. Const. Ath. 50. Sanitation in houses al Priene; Wiegand and Schrader, Priene, DA. •i Delos BCH. VIII. 473-96; Daremberg and Saglio, art. " Domus " ; Ferguson, Hel. Atlu 71; Beloch, Cricch. Gesch. III. 1. 416 f; Muller, Griech. Privatalt, 41-5, 66-71. HELLENISTIC CULTURE 479 have been found there, so well are we acquainted with the material civilization of the place, that it must be taken as the starting point for a study of the royal capitals of the age. Attalus I, 241-197, secured the peace of his kingdom by an overwhelming defeat of the Galatians. A memorial of this deed was the frieze which adorned the exterior of the monument on which stood the Great Altar of Zeus. It repre- sents the combat of Gods and Giants as a symbol of the struggle of civilization against barbarism. As the frieze is above seven feet in height, the colossal figures give a physical impression of the super- human. To the Pergamenes it was a historical picture of living national interest. In facial expression and in bodily attitude, in the animation of the gods and the fury of the giants, in tenseness of muscle and heat of action we see the spirit of Scopas highly accentu- ated. The whole scene may well be described as a mass of supermen convulsively struggling. A comparison with the frieze of the Parthenon, or even the frieze of the Mausoleum, shows a marked degeneration of taste. Despite its imposing magnificence this relief offends by its exaggerations and by the sacrifice of naturalness and simplicity to the desire for effect. The " Dying Gaul." A more realistic memorial of the same vic- tory was a group of bronze figures representing a battle between Greeks and Galatians. Although all the originals have been lost, there remain marble copies of several figures. Among the latter is the " Dying Gaul " in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.^ It has the advantage of being nearly contemporary with the original and of being itself the product of an Anatolian artist, who either belonged to the Pergamene school or worked under its influence. Strongly realistic, it represents both the ethnic and the individual peculiarities of the warrior; the coarse hair pushed straight up from the forehead, the mustache, the necklace, the hardened skin, the fortitude that overcomes the death pain of the ugly stab in his side. We admire the perfect anatomy, made possible by the medical science * of the age and in brief the fidelity to nature displayed by every part of the work. In the consideration of the Pergamene sculptures above offered the characteristics of the age have been indicated. Although it is still possible here and there to find examples of restrained and dignified sculptures, the general features depart widely from the classical standard. The tendencies which we discovered in their infancy in 7 A marble copy of another work of the same group is the " Gaul and his Wife." 8 P. 495. 480 HELLENIC HISTORY the fourth century have become more pronounced. Self-restraint has waned and the emotions have grown strong even to exaggeration. In portrait sculpture an intense realism expresses and overemphasizes individual traits and even defects. The posture of the human form becomes theatrical, sometimes violent. Groupings, draperies, and the general composition assume complex and elaborate forms. Patrons of art. The great patrons of art were the Hellenistic kings who ruled the divided empire of Alexander. While preserving a degree of Hellenic taste, they demanded an art commensurate with their own wealth and splendor — palaces, city halls, theatres, and many other forms of architecture with decorations of fitting in- tricacy and elaboration. To these demands the artists responded with a technique that was equal to every emergency. Aphrodite of Melos. Maid of Antium. A statue which is still widely regarded as the most beautiful of the age is the Aphrodite of Melos. We do not know the sculptor or the reason for the peculiar attitude. Perhaps the right hand held the drapery. The left foot is advanced and rests on slightly elevated ground. The statue is made of two pieces of marble, the unclad part of finer quality than the other. We see, too, in the style a combination of the heavy Pheidian drapery with a Praxitelean head. Such eclecticism was common in the age, but seldom has it been effected with equal skill. Grace and dignity are more nearly balanced than is usual in this period. Another woman figure of the age, composed of two kinds of marble, is the so-called Maid of Antium. It was found in Nero's villa at Antium, whence it was removed in 1909 to the Museum of the Terme at Rome. The head and right shoulder are of pure white, the rest of the inferior material. She may be the daughter, or possibly the servant, of a priest of Apollo. On a tray she carries the imple- ments of divination, and seems to be in the act of making a choice of the objects in an oracular response to an inquiry. The strong athletic form, the masculine proportions, and the sturdy stride befit an attend- ant upon Apollo far more than the average girl. Though some have assigned it to the fifth century and others to Praxiteles, it seems rather to be Hellenistic; and in that case it must be classed among the most distinguished statues of the age. The texture of the gown is unique; the attitude is natural; and the features and facial expression are charming. Amid the thousands of sculptures that people the museums HELLENISTIC CULTURE 481 of Rome it is a figure that impresses the visitor with its rare per- sonality. Nike of Samothrace. Another female statue deserving of men- tion is the Nike of Samothrace, which commemorates the naval vic- tory of Demetrius Poliorcctes (" Stormer of Cities ") gained off Cyprus in 306. The monument was originally placed on a rocky height of Samothrace, whence it has been removed to the Louvre. The goddess stands erect on the prow of a ship, her wings expanded, her garments clinging in magnificent masses about her gigantic form and streaming wildly behind her, blown by the onrush of the vessel. The head and arms are lost, but from her image on a coin we learn that she held to her lips a trumpet, through which she heralded the glori- ous deed of her fosterling. It is the most splendid Victory created by the ancient world. The Laocoon. The Laocoon is a product of the Rhodian school of sculptors, which was clearly akin to that of Pergamum. This group belongs to the first century B. c. and is here offered as an ex- ample of violent sensationalism. Laocoon and his two sons are being crushed in the folds of two enormous snakes. The intricate group thus formed is wrought with great technical skill. The violent death agonies of the three persons, expressed in the convulsions of facial and bodily muscles, are amazingly realistic. The anatomy is perfect with one exception : for unknown reasons the boys are given the forms of grown men. The chief fault lies in the choice of agony as a subject for sculptural treatment. The face of the father, too, should express not pain alone but also horror and physical effort. The snakes are wholly untrue to nature: they are not large enough to crush a man; and serpents which depend upon choking their victims do not bite. Despite these and other faults, glaring indeed when measured by Pheidian and Praxitelean standards, the group is a work of positive merit; else it would not have excited the admiration of Renaissance artists.^ Life at Rhodes was commercial like that of today; and a prominent aim of art, as in our own time, was to display the resources of wealth and the mighty ambition of a trading people in the pro- 9 The admiration of early art lovers for this work is chiefly due to the fact that they were unacquainted with the best Hellenic sculpture, more recently discovered. It was this motive, together with Vergil's story of the death of Laocoon (Aeneid ii. 212-24) and Pliny's favorable 'jommen', (N. H. xxxvi. 37 f.) that induced the German poet Lessing to write his famous Laokoon, which deals with the principles of sculpture as compared with those of poetry. 482 HELLENIC HISTORY duction of the intricate, the ornate, and the stupendous. Thus the " Colossus of Rhodes " finds its counterpart in our " Liberty enlight- ening the World," an appropriate gift to the United States. Children in art. Perhaps the most pleasing branch of Hellenistic art comprises representations of real life designated genre. For the first time in history an interest began to be felt in children. Their physique was now carefully observed; their facial expressions and their playful attitudes were naturally reproduced. We cannot doubt that this artistic development corresponded to a real change in social life. As the centre of interest shifted from politics to the home, and a powerful impetus came from various directions to humanism, it was inevitable that children should attract their share of attention. At the same time men sought a refuge from the artiiiciality of the city in the innocence and the simplicity of rural life and of childhood. Thus it was in the spirit of the Idylls of Theocritus ^" that the sculptor created in relief scenes of rustic simplicity or statues of peasants and fisherfolk as well as of children. Deification of cities. A contrast to these light subjects is the deifi- cation of cities. Throughout Greek history impersonation had been common, and city-states had generally been represented by their tute- lary deities. In the third century Eutychides, a pupil of Lysippus, wrought for the people of Antioch a gilded bronze statue of the For- tune (Tyche) of their city. The deity was easily identified with Antioch itself. She is seated on a rock, as was the city; and the river flowing at her feet is represented by a swimming youth. The bunch of grain stalks in her hand symbolizes the fertility of the river valley, while the mural crown, the first known in art, signifies the walls of defence. The statue became an object of worship, and the idea was gradually extended to other cities and to Rome. Painting in the Hellenistic age. The Hellenistic age was as productive of painting as of every other form of art, but owing to the perishable material our knowledge of it is imperfect. The most famous painter of the age was Apelles of Cos, a man of marvellous industry and a great master of technique. He used but four colors, black, white, red, and yellow; he alone had the art of covering the finished painting with a black glaze that imj)roved the work by toning down the colors, while protecting it from dampness. His painting of 10 p. 497. HELLENISTIC CULTURE 483 " Aphrodite rising l"rom the Sea " was especially celebrated. Brought to Rome with other booty from Hellas, it found a place in the temple of the deitied Julius Caesar. We are fortunate in having a number of portraits on panels that had covered the faces of Greek and Jewish mummies in Egypt. Al- though belonging to the early Christian era, they well illustrate the work of the same kind in the Hellenistic period. The artists were without distinction; and yet the portraits are remarkably lifelike, and the colors are still bright. The wall paintings of Pompeii are also but a continuation of the house decorations of the Hellenistic age. They were hastily wrought by mechanics, yet many of the figures and groups are admirable. Doubtless the ultimate originals of many were the famous works of Hellenic masters. Of such lineage was the " Medea " meditating on the murder of her sons.^^ In a fierce struggle of soul the mother instinct is overcome by rage against her unfaithful husband. Mosaics. An art new to the Greeks of this age, learned through contact with the Orient, was mosaic-making. It could thrive nowhere but amid an abundance of stones of various colors; and as the work was exceedingly slow and painstaking, it could be carried on only where labor was cheap. These conditions were met in Egypt; and Alexandria was the seat of manufacture of many mosaics now found in Greek and Roman lands. The pattern was either a piece of tap- estry or a picture. For example, the original of the " Battle of Issus," found in a private house at Pompeii, was a painting of that conflict by Apelles or other great master. Darius, already beaten, is in flight. In his fear he drives his chariot wheels over the dead and dying; but kinglike still, he turns about to order succor to a fallen noble. Farther to our left the figure of Alexander, mounted on Bucephalus, stands out distinctly as he charges in pursuit. It is remarkable tliat with scarcely more than two dozen men and horses the artist has cre- ated the effect of a great battle. As we gaze upon the picture, we see the melee of combatants in deadly strife; we seem to hear the groans of the dying, the clash of lances, the clamor of struggling horsemen. Undoubtedly the original was among the great historical paintings of the ancient world. 11 The artist of the original was probably Timomachus of Byzantium, aoout 150 B. C, who was famous for his paintings of characters from the drama. Generally in the repeated copying of copies great changes must have been introduced, and the art must therefore have suffered deterioration. 484 HELLENIC HISTORY ADDITIONAL READING Baumgarten, Wagner and Poland, Hel. Rom. Kult., 140-215; Beloch, III, chs. x-xii, xiv; Ferguson, Hellenistic Athens; Fowler and Wheeler, Greek Archaeology, 158-192; 226-292; Gardner, Greek Sculpture; Haverfield, An- cient Town Planning; Holm, III, ch. xxix, IV, chs. xiv, xx-xxiv; Mahaffey, Greek Life and Thought; Stobart, ch. vi and Epilogue; Weller, Athens and its Monuments. \... DARIUS III DEFEATED BV ALEXANDER IN THE BATTLE OF ISSUS (Pompeian Mosaic in the Naples Museum) EPICURUS (CapitoHne Museum, Rome) CHAPTER XXX HELLENISTIC CULTURE (II) I. Philosophy Philosophic change. The Cynics. It was but natural that the revolution in Hellenic government and society since the fourth century should be accompanied by a corresponding change in philosophy. All philosophic thought of the classic age had rested on two principles: first, the complete trust reposed in abstract thinking for the discovery of truth and, second, the perfect correspondence assumed between the inner man and the world without. This correspondence was sup- ported by a religion which peopled nature with souls like those of men. It was partly this relation between the world and man which led the philosophers to believe that by mere thinking they could dis- cover the principles of nature, and partly the circumstance that philo- sophic thought was as yet in its infancy with its limitations unknown and the value of its products untested. With the breaking down of the city-state and of traditional religion and the concomitant growth of 485 486 HELLENIC HISTORY individualism and humanism, philosophy, abandoning her original foundation, attempted to lay a new basis in the changed conditions of life. The ground had been prepared by Antisthenes of Athens, a disciple of Socrates, and an older contemporary of Plato. From his teaching in the gymnasium of the Cynosarges his school was called Cynic. In his doctrine virtue is the only good, vice the sole evil. Wealth, social position, honor, and country are nothing. A tattered mantle, a piece of barley bread and water are all that a man needs. We should renounce every bodily pleasure and comfort for the spiritual contentment derived from the exercise of virtue. Through the con- tempt of this school for convention, for nearly everything mankind holds dear, the word cynic has degenerated to its present meaning. It is a strange thing that while the city-state was still strong, Antis- thenes foreshadowed by a century or more those systems of thought that were to be founded upon the ashes of Hellenism. The Stoics — Zenon, founder of the school. In the Hellenistic age, while the members of the Cynic school degenerated to boorish and brutal tramp philosophers, its better elements were adopted by the Stoics. The founder of the school was Zenon, a Semite of Cyprus, who had come to Athens (311). There for a time he studied with the Cynics, but ten years later he began to teach independently in the Painted Porch — Stoa Poikile — which gave its name to his school. His Semitic nationality shows itself, not in the content of his teaching, which is Hellenic, but in its utterance. Stoicism is less rational, more dogmatic, than any previous philosophy. Zenon's object was the moulding of man's character to meet the difficulties of the world, and regardless of consistency he presented the doctrines .suited to this end, implanting them in the minds of others less by reason than as the utter- ance of a prophet. It seemed to him, amid the wreck of religious and moral ideas formerly sustained by the city-state, that mankind needed a higher degree of individual self-sufficiency. To reach this end it is necessary, he taught, to train the will into conformity with nature, to desire only those things that are certain of realization inde- pendently of ourselves. In order to prove that this central doctrine is rational and that it will assure happiness Zenon developed a whole system of philosophy. It consists of three branches, IvOgic, Physics, and Ethics. Logic includes a theory of knowledge. While the scep- tics of his age were denying the possibility of knowing, Zenon insisted HELLENISTIC CULTURE 487 that we could accept as the truth all " grasping impressions," ^ the sense perceptions that come to us with irresistible strength. Whereas to the acute thinker this dictum was childish folly, it sufficed for a common-sense philosophy. Logic included also everything connected with the expression of thought and feeling, from grammar to rlictoric and music, as well as the forms of reasoning. In this department the Stoics contributed little to existing knowledge. In TMiysics, the study of nature, their most startling dogma is that everything is material, even God and the human soul. The qualities of objects, emotions, virtues, and vices are all corporeal.- In fact the purely practical object of his system seemed to him to demand that it be grounded upon ordinary experience which has to do primarily with material things. It is our common experience, too, that matter can, not move itself or take on living forms; nothing but a soul can bririg about such changes. The world, therefore, has a soul; this is God, the reason, and motive power of the universe.^ He is a Providence who in loving care watches over the world and every part of it, who main- tains it in physical and moral, perfection.'* Everything in nature therefore is rational and good. Thus from Physics we pass imper- ceptibly to Ethics. The soul of man is a part of the divine soul, and a virtuous life is conformity to nature. Everything that exists is advantageous to man, even sickness, noxious animals, earthquakes and the like; they are intended for our education. Thus we are gradually led back to the central idea of Stoicism that happiness, the supreme good, is reached by conforming our will to the laws of nature, which are absolutely rational and just. Stoicism, a religion. Stress should be placed on the fact that Stoicism was a religion. The only motive to right conduct, con- formity to nature, is nothing more than submission to the will of God. It is a pure monotheism, the worship of one Supreme Being. As He wishes only well for us, and blesses but never harms, we, who are parts of Him, have no reason to fear Him, but should only revere and love.^ For this worship there is no need of altars or temples or images or even of prayer,*^ but only of purity in life and thought. 1 Sext. Math. v-'i. 244, 402, 426; vii, 85; Pyrrh. ii. 4; iii. 242; Diog. vii. 46. 2 Plut. Com. Nor. 45, 49. 2; Sen. Sp., 106. 4, 117. 2; Clcaiithes. quoted by Plut. Sto. Rep. 7. 4, p. 1034; Stob. Eel. ii. 110. 3 Sext. Math. ix. 75, 104: Cicero, N. D., iii. 9, 22 (quoting Zenon); ii. 8. 21, 22, iii. 10. 25; Diog. 142 f. 4 See the Hymn to God by CIear.