REESE LIBRARY 
 
 OF THK 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 Class No. 
 
The Cambridge Series 
 
 for 
 Schools and Training Colleges 
 
 A SHORT HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 GREEKS 
 
Eontiou: C. J. CLAY and SONS,. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 
 
 AVE MARIA LANE. 
 
 ffilaasofaj: 50, WELLINGTON STRF:ET. 
 
 2.eipjto: F. A. BROCKHAUS. 
 
 llebJ ?gorfe: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 aUomban: E. SEYMOUR HALE. 
 
 [./// rights reser^ird] 
 
A SHORT 
 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 
 TO B.C. 146 
 
 BY 
 
 EVELYN S. SHUCKBURGH, M.A. 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 AUTHOR OF "A TRANSLATION OF POLYBIUS," ETC. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1901 
 
\^ 
 
 
 Ik^SE ^^^^^ 
 
 PRINTED BY J. AND C. K. CLAY, 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE only excuse for adding another to the many 
 histories of Greece is the hope that the writer 
 has been able so to state the old story modified by 
 recent studies and discoveries as to suit the needs or 
 tastes of certain classes of readers and students. In a 
 book of this size it is impossible not to curtail or 
 omit much that is interesting and even important. 
 The aim of the writer, in selecting the topics to be 
 dwelt upon, has been to choose those which best illus- 
 trate the political life and intellectual activities of the 
 Greeks wherever they lived, not only in Greece proper, 
 but in the larger Greece of Italy, Sicily, and Asia, 
 To do this at all adequately in so short a space it 
 was often necessary to reduce details as to particular 
 cities and districts to a very low standard. The 
 writer has wished to treat Greek History in a wide 
 Hellenic spirit, but in spite of good resolutions he has 
 found it as impossible, as others seem to have done, to 
 avoid giving Athens the lion's share in the story. The 
 
 J 15419 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 Persian Wars and the Athenian Supremacy will always, 
 it is probable, represent the real points of interest to 
 most readers of Greek History. It is almost impos- 
 sible to be very cheerful over the Spartan and Theban 
 Supremacies : and though Demosthenes has lent a re- 
 vived brilliancy to the story of the Macedonian period, 
 and Alexander the Great has a unique place in the 
 imagination of mankind, we feel that Greece as we 
 knew and loved it is slipping away from -^is, and it 
 requires an effort to recover our interest in the intel- 
 lectual life of Alexandria or the political experiments 
 in the Peloponnese. The new Hellenism in the post- 
 Alexandrine kingdoms, and the gradual absorption of all 
 in the Roman system, should furnish a story well worth 
 our study. But Polybius in spite of many brilliant 
 episodes will never rival Herodotus and Thucydides, 
 or even Xenophon, in popular favour. People will con- 
 tinue to be fascinated by the older writers and to be 
 repelled by the historian of the Achaean League. The 
 writer has tried however to tell this part of the story 
 as clearly as the rest, and as circumstantially as his 
 space allowed. It has also been his aim, besides the 
 brief sketch of Greek Literature in the last chapter, 
 to draw attention throughout to the intellectual and 
 artistic movements in Greece as they became prominent 
 from time to time, for they constitute the chief service 
 of the Greeks to the world. 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 Finally, he has the pleasant duty of thanking Dr 
 Jackson of Trinity College and Mr Whibley of Pem- 
 broke College for reading some of his proofs and giving 
 him valuable suggestions. To the readers and other 
 officials of the Cambridge University Press he is also 
 under deep obligations. 
 
 E. S. SHUCKBURGH. 
 
 Marchy 1901. 
 
HiERO II OF Syracuse. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Hellenes in Greece. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Greeks as a Nation i 
 
 2. What the Greeks called themselves i 
 
 3. The earliest inhabitants of Greece 2 
 
 4. The Three Hellenic families 3 
 
 5. The descent of the Dorians (? B.C. 1000) 4 
 
 6. Greece north of the Peloponnese 5 
 
 7. Island and Asiatic Greece 6 
 
 8. Causes which tended to separate Greek States .... 7 
 
 9. Ties uniting the Greeks ^ ^-^^ 
 
 10. Forms of government in Greece 9 
 
 11. Greek Religion 10 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 The Homeric Age to the Age of Colonisation. 
 
 1. The Homeric Poems 13 
 
 2. The Cyclic writers 14 
 
 3. The Homeric Question 15 
 
 4. Development of Greece since the times of the Homeric Poems 1 7 
 Island Greece 18 
 
 5. Asiatic Greeks, r. Aeolians 18 
 
 Asiatic Greeks. 2. lonians 18 
 
 Asiatic Greeks. 3. Dorians . . . . . . 19 
 
 6. Colonisation . 19 
 
 7. Pontic Colonies 20 
 
 8. Italian and Sicilian Colonies -21 
 
 9. The East and Egypt 23 
 
 10. Summary 24 
 
 S. G. f> 
 
Contents. 
 
 Early Hellenic Life after Homer .... 
 Age of political movement and of the Lyric and 
 Poets from about B.C. 690 .... 
 
 Elegiac 
 
 PAGE 
 
 24 
 
 27 
 
 Disl 
 
 ke of 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 The Peloponnesus before b.c. 500. 
 
 1. The Dorians in the Peloponnesus 
 
 2. Dorian form of government 
 
 3. Corinth . . . . 
 
 4. Sicyon . 
 
 5. Argos .... 
 
 6. Laconia and Messenia 
 
 7. Lycurgus ... 
 
 8. Social institutions attributed to Lycurgus 
 
 9. Brevity of speech. Music. Personal ornaments 
 
 strangers 
 
 10. The success of the Spartan system . 
 
 11. Its drawbacks. Disaffection of helots 
 
 12. Diminishing numbers and inequality of wealth 
 
 13. Severity of discipline and prohibition of the possession of 
 
 money 
 
 14. The Messenian Wars, ist War, B.C. 745-24 (?) 
 
 15. The 2nd Messenian War, B.C. 685-660 (?) 
 
 16. The Eleans after the Messenian wars 
 
 17. Opposition to the Spartan influence in Argos 
 
 18. And in Arcadia 
 
 19. Achaia ....... 
 
 20. Summaiy of Peloponnesian affairs . 
 
 30 
 3^ 
 32 
 33 
 34 
 37 
 39 
 '40 
 
 42 
 43 
 43 
 44 
 
 44 
 45 
 48 
 50 
 51 
 52 
 53 
 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Athens and Attica. 
 
 1 . The comparative lateness of the rise of Athens . 
 
 2. Geographical position and natural features of Attica 
 
 3. Early mythology and history of Attica 
 
 4. Early political division of Attica 
 
 5. The Synoecismus of Theseus . 
 
 6. The life archon .... 
 
 7. Ten years' archon, and yearly archons 
 
 8. The nine archons .... 
 
 55 
 56 
 57 
 59 
 60 
 61 
 62 
 62 
 
Contents. 
 
 XI 
 
 9. Draco, B.C. 621 
 
 10. The 'Constitution of Athens,' and its view of Draco 
 
 11. Cylon, B.C. 612 (?) . 
 
 12. Solon, born about B.C. 635 
 
 1 3. The public services of Solon. Salamis 
 
 14. Solon and the Sacred war, B.C. 595 
 
 15. The Alcmaeonidae and the 'curse' 
 
 16. Epimenides of Crete 
 
 17. Solon's legislation, B.C. 594-3 
 
 18. The Seisachtheia . 
 
 19. Solon's Laws .... 
 
 20. Solon's constitutional measures 
 2 i . The Areopagus 
 
 22. The Dicasteria 
 
 23. Solon goes abroad . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 63 
 64 
 
 66 
 68 
 69 
 
 his death 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Athens {continued). The Tyranny of Peisistratus 
 
 AND HIS SONS, AND ITS DOWNFALL. 
 
 1. Athens between the archonship of Solon (B.C. 594) and the 
 
 usurpation of Peisistratus (B.C. 560) . 
 
 2. First tyranny of Peisistratus, B.C. 560-554 
 
 3. First exile of Peisistratus, B.C. 553-549 . 
 
 4. First restoration, B.C., 549-7 . 
 
 5. Second exile of Peisistratus, B.C. 547-537 
 
 6. The second restoration of Peisistratus and 
 
 537-527 
 
 7. The fall of the dynasty of the Peisistratids, B.C. 
 
 8. The severe rule of Hippias, B.C. 514-510 
 
 9. Political contests between Isagoras and 
 
 510-507 
 
 10. The reforms of Cleisthenes, B.C. 507-506 
 
 11. Election by the ten tribes 
 
 12. The mode of election, (i) lot, (2) show of hands 
 
 Docimasia .... 
 
 13. The Boule, and the Ecclesia . 
 
 14. The ten strategi .... 
 
 15. The real power at Athens 
 
 16. Ostracism 
 
 17. The energy of the Athenians and the rise of Athens 
 
 527-510 
 Cleisthenes 
 
 The 
 
 b 2 
 
Xll 
 
 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Asiatic Greeks and the Persians. 
 
 Weakness of Northern Greece 
 
 The Asiatic Greeks 
 
 The Lydian kingdom 
 
 Gyges, B.C. 716-678 
 
 Ardys, B.C. 678-629 
 
 Sadyates, B.C. 629-617 
 
 Alyattes, B.C. 617-560 
 
 Croesus, B.C. 560-546 
 
 The Persian kingdom 
 
 Story of the birth of Cyrus 
 
 The conquest of Lydia and the Asiatic Greeks, B.C. 546 
 
 The effect of the fall of Croesus on the Greeks 
 
 The Greek towns under the Persians . "N . 
 
 History of Polycrates of Samos, B.C. 535-521 . 
 
 Reduction of Samos, B.C. 521-520 . \- 
 
 The alarming growth of Persian power . / . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Darius and the Ionian Revolt. 
 
 ir. 
 
 12. 
 
 Darius (B.C. 521-485) the organiser of the Persian Empire 
 The Scythian expedition of Darius between B.C. 515 and 508 
 The Greek tyrants at the bridge over the Danube . 
 The subjection of Thrace and Macedonia, about B.C. 507 
 Causes of the Ionian revolt after the period of quiet, B.c 
 
 506-501 .... 
 The affair of Naxos, B.C. 502-1 
 The Ionian Revolt, B.C. 501-495 
 ArJstagoras at Sparta 
 Aristagoras at Athens, B.C. 500 
 Athens, B.C. 510-500 
 The beginning of the revolt and 
 
 500-499 .... 
 The voyages of the Ionian fleet, B.c 
 The reduction of Cyprus, B.C. 498 
 
 burning 
 500-498 
 
 of Sardis, 
 
 B.c 
 
Contents. xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 13. Rapid reduction of revolted towns, B.C. 498-7, and flight of 
 
 Aristagoras 119 
 
 14. Histiaeus comes to Sardi^ 120 
 
 15. End of the revolt, brought about by the battle of Lade and fall 
 
 of Miletus 121 
 
 Battle of Lade, B.C. 494 121 
 
 Fall of Miletus, B.C. 494 121 
 
 16. Subjection of the islands and Thracian towns, B.C. 493 . . 122 
 
 17. Reorganisation of Ionia, B.C. 493 122 
 
 18. The fining of Phrynichus 123 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 The Persian Wars (First Period, b.c. 492-490). 
 
 1. The first invasion of Greece by Mardonius, B.C. 492 . . 124 
 
 2. Preparations for another Persian invasion, B.C. 492-490 . . 125 
 The Persian heralds 125 
 
 3. Punishment of the Aeginetans 126 
 
 4. Madness and death of King Cleomencs 126 
 
 5. The war between Athens and Aegina, B.C. 491 . . . 127 
 
 6. The second Persian invasion, B.C. 490 128 
 
 7. The capture of Eretria 129 
 
 8. The Battle of Marathon, 18 September, B.C. 490 . . .130 
 The Persians land at Marathon but do not march into the 
 
 country 131 
 
 Despatch of Athenian troops 131 
 
 The Spartan delay 131 
 
 Arrival of PI ataeans 132 
 
 The command in the hands of Miltiades 132 
 
 The Charge of the Greeks i.33 
 
 9. After the battle 134 
 
 10. Effects of the Battle of Marathon . . . . .-135 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Third Persian Invasion. 
 
 1. Ten years' freedom from Persian attack, B.C. 490-480 . . 137 
 
 2. Condemnation and death of Miltiades 138 
 
 3. The policy of Themistocles and Aristides, B.C. 488-481 . . 139 
 
xiv Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4. The increase in the Athenian fleet owing to the war with 
 
 Aegina 140 
 
 5. The Persian preparations, B.C. 483-480 142 
 
 6. The Congress of Corinth, B.C. 481-480 143 
 
 7. The first measure of defence. To occupy Tempe. Spring 
 
 of B.C. 480 145 
 
 8. Second plan of campaign. The stand to be made at Arte- 
 
 misium and Thermopylae 146 
 
 9. Thermopylae occupied 147 
 
 10. Advance of the Persians to Thermopylae . . . .147 
 
 11. The three days' fighting at Artemisium (July) . . . .148 
 
 12. The battle of Thermopylae 150 
 
 The treason of Ephialtes 151 
 
 13. The Persian advance resumed 152 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Salamis and Plataea. 
 
 1. The attack on Delphi 153 
 
 2. Capture of Athens 154 
 
 3. The Persian fleet 155 
 
 4. The Greek fleet in the bay of Salamis. Shall it go farther 
 
 south? 156 
 
 5. The device of Themistocles to force the fleet to fight in the bay 
 
 of Salamis 157 
 
 6. The battle of Salamis, September, B.C. 480 159 
 
 7. After the battle 160 
 
 8. Departure of Xerxes 161 
 
 9. Themistocles and the Islands 162 
 
 10. Return of the Athenians to their city 162 
 
 11. New preparations in the spring of B.C. 479 . . . .163 
 
 12. The attempts of Mardonius to pacify the Athenians . . 164 
 
 13. Second invasion of Attica 164 
 
 14. Mardonius in Boeotia 165 
 
 15. The Greek army on the slopes of Cithaeron in Boeotia . . 165 
 
 16. The Battle ot Plataea, summer of B.C. 479 .... 167 
 The fight 168 
 
 17. The spoil divided and the Medisers punished . . . .170 
 
 18. The Hundred Years' freedom in Hellas, B.C. 478-387 . . 170 
 
Contents. xv 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Confederacy of Delos. 
 
 ^ PAGE 
 
 1. The battle of Mycale and the freedom of the islands and 
 
 Hellenic towns in Asia and Thrace, B.C. 479-476 . . 172 
 
 2. Beginning of organised attack on Persian rule over Greek 
 
 States 173 
 
 3. Origin of tlie'Confederacy of Delos, B.C. 478-476 . . .174 
 
 4. Aristides organises the Confederacy of Delos, B.C. 477-6 . 175 
 
 5. The fortification of Athens and the Peiraeus, B.C. 477-471 . 176 
 
 6. First period in the history of the Confederacy of Delos, 
 
 B.C. 476-466, to the Battles of the Eurymedon . . . 177 
 
 7. Death of Pausanias, B.C. 471 178 
 
 8. The ostracism (B.C. 471) and flight of Themistocles (B.C. 466) . 179 
 
 9. The Athenian supremacy after the Battles of the Eurymedon, 
 
 B.C. 466-449 ""181 
 
 Revolt of Thasos, B.C. 465 182 
 
 [O. The revolt of the Helots, and the league against Sparta, 
 
 B.C. 464-455 183 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Continental and Home Policy of Pericles 
 TO THE Thirty Years' Peace (b.c. 460-445). 
 
 r. Pericles rises to commanding influence 185 
 
 2. The Continental policy of Athens. First period (b.c. 461-452). -^ 
 
 Union with Megara, and the counter-league of Corinth, 
 
 Epidaurus and Aegina 186 
 
 3. War with Corinth, Epidaurus and Aegina, B.C. 458 . . 186 
 
 4. Long walls to Peiraeus and Phalerum, B.C. 457-6 . . . 187 
 
 5. Spartans defeat the Athenians at Tanagra in Boeotia, B.C. 457 187 
 
 6. Boeotia, Phocis, and Opuntian Locris join the Athenian 
 
 alliance, B.C. 456 i88 
 
 Battle of Oenophyta, B.C. 456 i88 
 
 7. Tolmides harasses the shores of the Peloponnese and takes 
 
 Naupactus, B.C. 456-5 189 
 
 8. Athenian disaster in Egypt, B.C. 455 189 
 
 9. Failure in Thessaly, B.C. 454 190 
 
 10. Five years' truce with Sparta, B.C. 450 190 
 
xvi Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 11. Renewed war against the Persian king in Cyprus. Death of 
 
 Cimon. Peace of Callias. B.C. 449-448 .... 191 
 
 12. B.C. 449-445. From the peace of CalUas to the 30 years' 
 
 peace with Sparta, (a) The Holy War, b. c. 448 . . 192 
 
 13. (b) B.C. 447. The Boeotians quit the Athenian league. 
 
 Battle of Coroneia 193 
 
 14. B.C. 446-5. Euboea and Megara revolt 194 
 
 15. End of the Continental League of Athens. The 30 years' 
 
 Peace, B.C. 445 194 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The New Athens. 
 
 1. Greek architecture and building 196 
 
 (a) Buildings for defence . . . . . . .196 
 
 (b) Religious buildings 197 
 
 2. Existing specimens of the three orders 199 
 
 3. The Theseum 199 
 
 4. Pheidias and the adornment of the Acropolis, B.C. 445-436 . 201 
 
 5. The buildings on the Acropolis, (i) The Erechtheium . 202 
 {2) The Parthenon 203 
 
 6. The Propylaea 204 
 
 7. Athena Promachus 204 
 
 8. The Odeum 204 
 
 9. The Theatre . . . 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Intellectual Movement before the middle 
 
 OF the fifth century B.C. 
 
 1. Poetry of the 6th and 5th centuries 206 
 
 2. Simonides of Ceos, about B.C. 556-469 207 
 
 3. Pindar, about B.C. 521-442 208 
 
 4. Bacchylides, Myrtis, Corinna, Telesilla, Praxilla . . . 208 
 
 5. History 209 
 
 6. Early Philosophy to about B.C. 450 209 
 
 7. The Ionic School 210 
 
 8. Italian philosophers, (i) Pythagoras, (2) Xenophanes . . 211 
 
 9. The Eleatic School 211 
 
 10. Physical philosophy in Eastern Hellas 212 
 
 11. Effect of philosophy on the Greeks 212 
 
Contents, xvii 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Events Leading to the Disruption of the Confederacy 
 OF Delos and to the League of States against 
 Athens, issuing in the Peloponnesian War, b.c. 445- 
 
 432. 
 
 page 
 
 -I. Position of Athens after B. C. 445 .213 
 
 1. Causes of discontent among the members of the Confederacy of 
 
 Delos 214 
 
 3. Cleruchies 215 
 
 _ 4. The Samian war, B.C. 440-439 . . . .216 
 ^ 5. The quarrel of Corcyra,/ leading to the Peloponnesian war, 
 
 B.C. 434-432 217 
 
 - 6. Application by the Corcyreans for help from Athens, B.C. 433.^ 
 
 "The victory of the Corinthians [neutralised by Athenian 
 ships 219 
 
 - 7. The revolt of Potidaea B.C. 432, instigated by the king of 
 
 Macedonia 219 
 
 -> 8. Conferences of Peloponnesian States and proclamation of war, 
 
 B.C. 432 ^ . .221 
 
 9. Reasons for the war 221 
 
 10. Causes of the long continuance of the war . . . . 221 
 
 11. Demands made on Athens by the Peloponnesian allies . . 222 
 
 12. The war begun by the Thebans, B.C. 431 .... 223 
 -'1 3. /-Two invasions of Attica. Retaliations by Athenian fleet. Fall 
 
 I of Potidaea, B.C. 431-430 223 
 
 14. I The plague at Athens, B.C. 430 224 
 
 15. \ Death of Pericles, B.C. 429 225 
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 The Peloponnesian War to the Peace of Nicias, 
 B.C. 431-421. The unavowed War, b.c. 421-415. 
 
 1. First Period of the war, B.C. 431-424 227 
 
 2. Siege of Plataea, B.C. 429 -427 227 
 
 3. Operations in the west and north, B.C. 429 . . . . 228 
 
 4. Revolt of Lesbos, B.C. 428-427 228 
 
 5. Hostilities in Corcyra 230 
 
 6. Demosthenes in Corcyra, B.C. 426 230 
 
XVlll 
 
 Contents, 
 
 lO. 
 
 II. 
 
 12. 
 
 The fortification of Pylos, and the capture of the Spartans on 
 
 Sphacteria, B.C. 425 231 
 
 Successful operations of the Athenian fleet in B.C. 425-424. 
 
 Revolt of Chalcidice and Athenian defeat at Delium . . 233 
 A year's truce between Sparta and Athens, B.C. 423. Death of 
 
 Cleon and Brasidas, B.C. 422. Peace of Nicias, B.C. 421 . 233 
 
 Peace of Nicias, B.C. 421 234 
 
 New combination of States with Argos, B.C. 421-415 . . 235 
 War between Sparta and Argos, in which the Athenians 
 
 eventually join, B.C. 419-418 236 
 
 The capture of Melos, B.C. 416 236 
 
 9 
 
 10, 
 II 
 12 
 - 13 
 14 
 
 X 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Sicilian Expedition and the Fall of Athens, 
 B.C. 415-405. 
 
 Financial recovery of Athens after the peace of Nicias, B.C. 421- 
 
 415, and reasons for a renewal of the war .... 238 
 
 Previous connexions of Athens with Sicily .... 239 
 The Athenians are induced to send a fleet to Sicily to aid 
 
 Egesta 241 
 
 The profanation of mysteries and the mutilation of the Hermae 242 
 
 The plan of the Sicilian campaign 243 
 
 B.C. 414. The siege of Syracuse .' 244 
 
 B.C. 413. The occupation of Decelea 246 
 
 Destruction of the Athenian armament at Syracuse . . . 247 
 
 Revolt of Athenian allies, B.C. 412 . . . . . . 248 
 
 Gallant struggle of Athenians to maintain the empire . . 249 
 
 Alcibiades abandons the Peloponnesians ^ . . . . 249 
 
 B.C. 411. The revolution of the Four Hundred . . . 250 
 
 Opposition to the new constitution in the army at Samos . 251 
 
 Battle of Cynossema, B.C. 411 253 
 
 Battles of Cyzicus and Abydos, B.C. 410; and capture of 
 
 Chalcedon and Byzantium, B.C. 409 ..... 254 
 
 Alcibiades returns to Athens, B.C. 408 254 
 
 Battle of Notium in April, B.C. 407 255 
 
 B.C. 406. The battle of Arginusae 256 
 
 Execution of the six generals 257 
 
 Battle of Aegospotami and end of the war, B.C. 405 (July- 
 August) 258 
 
Contents. xix 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Spartan and Theban Supremacies 
 
 (B.C. 404-362). 
 
 PAGE 
 1. Effect of the Peloponnesian war and the nature of Spartan 
 
 su 
 
 premacy 
 
 260 
 
 1. Sicily and Magna Graecia withdrawn from Greek politics. 
 
 The beginning of Spartan supremacy . . . .261 
 
 3. The surrender of Athens and the establishment of the Thirty, 
 
 B.C. 405-404N 261 
 
 Death of Theramenes and counter-revolution .... 263 
 
 4. Reactionary feelings at Athens. The Sophists . . . 264 
 
 /5. Socrates " . '265 
 
 ,6. Trial and death of Socrates, B.C. 399 266 
 
 7. The expedition of Cyrus and the retreat of the 10,000 Greeks, 
 
 B.C. 402-401 267 
 
 8. Cyrus starts to attack his brother, B.C. 401 .... 268 
 
 9. Political results of the expedition of Cyrus .... 269 
 
 10. Spartan wars in Asia and Greece, B.C. 400-387. The cam- 
 
 paigns of Agesilaus 269 
 
 11. Spartan invasion of Elis, B.C. 399-8. Conspiracy of Cinadon 
 
 in Sparta, B.C. 397. Combination of Thebes, Corinth, 
 Argos and Athens against Sparta, B.C. 395. Battle of 
 Corinth, B.C. 394 271 
 
 12. Conon defeats the Spartans off Cnidus, end of July B.C. 394. 
 
 Recall of Agesilaus from Asia 272 
 
 13. The combination against Sparta. Battles of Coroneia (b.c. 
 
 394), Lechaeum (B.C. 392) ...... 272 
 
 14. The peace of Antalcidas, B.C. 387 273 
 
 15. From the peace of Antalcidas to the battle of Leuctra, 
 
 B.C. 387-371 274 
 
 16. Spartans driven from the Cadmeia. War between Sparta and 
 
 Thebes, B.C. 378-371 274 
 
 17. Renewed Athenian Confederacy, B.C. 378 .... 275 
 
 18. Theban supremacy, B.C. 371-362 276 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Macedonian Period. From b.c. 361 to the 
 
 Battle of Chaeroneia, b.c. 338. 
 
 I. The re-establishment of Athenian power in the Thracian 
 
 Chersonese and Amphipolis attempted, B.C. 365-358 . 279 
 
XX 
 
 Contents. 
 
 9- 
 
 lO. 
 
 to the crown of Macedonia 
 
 The rise of Macedonia . 
 
 Philip II (B.C. 359-336) succeed 
 
 amidst many dangers 
 
 B.C. 359-358. Peace between Philip and Athens. B.C. 357. 
 
 Philip's first aggressions at Amphipolis, Pydna and Olynthus 
 The Social war, B.C. 357-355. The Sacred war, B.C. 356-346 
 Philip's interference in Greek politics begins in Thessaly . 
 Beginning of the opposition of Demosthenes to PhiHp, B.C. 352 
 
 ist Philippic, B.C. 351 
 
 The Olynthiac Orations, B.C. 349 
 
 Fall of Olynthus, B.C. 348 
 
 The peace of Philocrates, B.C. 346 . . . . . . 
 
 Philip takes a leading part in Greek politics, B.C. 346-341 
 Continued aggressions of Philip. The Second Philippic 
 
 Demosthenes, B.C. 344 ...... 
 
 Speech on the Chersonese and the Third Philippic, B.C. 341 
 
 Philip attacks Perinthus and Byzantium 
 
 The Amphissian war. Philip occupies Elateia, B.c, 
 
 Battle of Chaeroneia, August, B.C. 338 
 
 Philip's rule over Greece and its effects 
 
 Philip elected general for war against Persia, B.C, 
 
 death and character, B.C. 336 
 
 of 
 
 339-338 
 
 PAGE 
 
 280 
 
 281 
 283 
 284 
 284 
 285 
 285 
 285 
 286 
 287 
 
 288 
 288 
 289 
 289 
 290 
 290 
 
 337- 
 
 Hi 
 
 291 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Alexander the Great. 
 
 Alexander II (the Great), B.C. 336-323, b. B.C. 356 
 Alexander establishes his control over Greece . 
 Alexander's invasion of the Persian Empire, B.C. 334-32 
 Battle of the Granicus and the conquest of Asia Minor. 
 B.C. 334 
 
 Battle of Issus and defeat of Darius, B.C. 333 . 
 Conquest of Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine and Egypt 
 
 33.S-32 
 
 Battle of Arbela, B.C. 331 (September) . 
 
 Alexander king of all Asia. His great march through Medi 
 
 Parthia, Bactria, Sogdiana to India, B.C. 330-325 
 Alexander an Asiatic monarch .... 
 Death of Alexander, B.C. 323 
 
 292 
 292 
 293 
 
 294 
 295 
 
 296 
 296 
 
 297 
 298 
 298 
 
Contents. 
 
 XXI 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Greeks after Alexander's Death. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. An unsuccessful rising in the Peloponnese, B.C. 331-330 . 300 
 1. The great trial of strength between Aeschines and Demos- 
 thenes, B.C. 330 ........ 300 
 
 3. The Lamian war, B.C. 323-322 301 
 
 Death of Demosthenes, B.C. 322 303 
 
 4. State of Greece after the Lamian war 303 
 
 5. Greece under Macedonian supremacy 304 
 
 6. The intellectual movement in the Macedonian period . . 305 
 
 7. Epicureans and Stoics " . 306 
 
 8. The Greeks in Asia, Egypt and the Islands .... 307 
 
 9. Sicily and Magna Graecia ....... 308 
 
 Dionysius I, B.C. 404-368 . 308 
 
 Dionysius II, B.C. 368-344. Timoleon and Agathocles . . 309 
 
 CHAPTER XXn. 
 The Aetolian and Achaean Leagues. 
 
 I. Greece in the early part of the third century B.C. Ptolemy II, 
 king of Egypt, B.C. 285-247. Antigonus Gonatas, king of 
 Macedonia, B.C. 277-239 .... 
 
 1. The Aetolian League 
 
 3. Sparta in the third century B.C. . 
 
 4. Early history of the Achaean League to B.C. 280 
 
 5. The renewal of the Achaean League, B.C. 280 
 
 6. Progress of the League under Aratus, B.C. 251-239 
 
 7. Demetrius II, king of Macedonia, B.C. 239-229. Continued 
 
 rise of the Achaeans. First relations with Rome 
 
 8. Philip V, king of Macedonia, B.C. 229-179 (Antigonus Doson 
 
 nominally his guardian, calls himself king, B.C. 229-220) 
 Attempts to revive Sparta 
 
 9. Enmity between Sparta and the Achaeans leading to inter 
 
 ference of Macedonia .... 
 [o. Cleomenic war, B.C. 227-222. The Achaeans apply to the king 
 
 of Macedonia 
 
 :i. Battle of Sellasia, B.C. 222 
 
 [2. Death of Antigonus Doson, B.C. 220. Revolution in Sparta 
 
 3" 
 312 
 
 313 
 313 
 3'4 
 315 
 
 316 
 
 316 
 317 
 
 318 
 
 319 
 320 
 
XXll 
 
 Contents. 
 
 a fleet to invade 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Growth of Roman Supremacy in Greece. 
 
 I. Philip V king of Macedonia, B.C. 220-179 
 
 I. Social war, B.C. 220-217 ...... 
 
 Lycurgus king of Sparta, B.C. 220-210 .... 
 
 3. Peace of Naupactus. Philip V prepares 
 
 Italy, B.C. 217-215 .... 
 
 4. Renewed trouble in the Peloponnese. Philip quarrels with the 
 
 Achaean League ....... 
 
 5. The first war between Philip and Rome, B.C. 215-205 . , 
 
 6. Between the first and second Macedonian wars, B.C. 205_2oo 
 
 7. Plan for the partition of the dominions of Ptolemy V king of 
 
 Egypt (B.C. 205-181) 
 
 8. Provocations given by Philip to Rome and other States . 
 
 9. Second war between Rome and Philip V, B.C. 200-195 . 
 Arrival of Flamininus, B.C. 198 
 
 10. The Achaean League adheres to Rome, B.C. 198 (autumn) 
 
 11. Terms demanded from Philip, B.C. 198-7 
 
 12. The war continued, and ended by the battle of Cynoscephalae 
 
 B.C. 197 
 
 13. The settlement of Greece, B.C. 196 .... 
 
 14. Proclamation at the Isthmian games, B.C. 196 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 The Roman Conquest of Greece, b.c. 193-146. 
 
 1. The Aetolians and King Antiochus, B.C. 193 . 
 
 2. Effects of Antiochus coming to ' liberate ' Greece, B.C. 192 
 
 3. The Romans make war on Antiochus, and establish their 
 
 authority in Greece, B.C. 191 . 
 
 4. The Aetolians resist for a time, but at length submit, B.C. 189 
 
 5. Antiochus driven from Asia Minor, B.C. 190 . 
 
 6. Subjection of Macedonia and Greece to Rome 
 
 7. Rome and the Achaean League, B.C. 190-146. Death of 
 
 Philopoemen, B.C. 183 
 
 8. AflFairs of the Achaean League after the death of Philopoemen, 
 
 B.C. 182-179 
 
 9. Tension between Philip V and Rome at his death, B.C. 179, 
 
 and policy of Perseus, B.C. 179-168 . . . . . 
 
 10. Opponents of Rome removed from Greece, B.C. 168 
 
 I I. The dependence of Greece upon Rome. Embassy of the three 
 
 philosophers 
 
 PAGE 
 321 
 321 
 322 
 
 3^3 
 324 
 325 
 
 326 
 
 327 
 328 
 328 
 329 
 3^9 
 
 330 
 331 
 332 
 
 334 
 335 
 
 336 
 337 
 337 
 338 
 
 338 
 
 339 
 
 340 
 341 
 
 343 
 
Contents. 
 
 xxiu 
 
 Macedonia made a Roman province, B.C. 148 
 Quarrel between Sparta and the Achaean League, B.C. 149-7 
 Rome declares war against the Achaean League, B.C. 147-6 
 Death of Critolaus, spring of B.C. 146 .... 
 The fall of Corinth, B.C. 146 (July) 
 
 The award of the ten Roman commissioners 
 
 B.C. 146-5 
 
 Effect of the Roman policy on Greece . 
 The inlluence of Greece on her conqueror\/ . 
 
 in Greece, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 344 
 345 
 346 
 346 
 346 
 
 348 
 349 
 350 
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Greek Literature from the beginning of the 
 Fifth Century. 
 
 Surviving Greek Literature of the Attic and Alexandrian 
 
 periods, B.C. 500-146 351 
 
 HISTORIANS. Herodotus ot Halicarnassus, b. B.C. 4S4, 
 
 d. about B.C. 425 352 
 
 Thucydides of Athens, b. about B.C. 471, d. about B.C. 401 . 353 
 
 Xenophon, b. about B.C. 431, d. about B.C. 354 . . . 355 
 
 Poly bius of Megalopolis, about B.C. 203-121 .... 356 
 
 The Greek Dramatists. TRAGEDY 357 
 
 Aeschylus, B.C. 525-456 358 
 
 Sophocles, B.C. 495-405 359 
 
 Euripides, B.C. 480-406 360 
 
 COMEDY 362 
 
 Aristophanes, about B.C. 444 to about B.C. 380 . . . 363 
 
 Middle Comedy ......... 363 
 
 Poets of the Alexandrian School, about B.C. 320-200 . . 364 
 
 Theocritus, about B.C. 300-250 365 
 
 ORATORY 365 
 
 Antiphon, B.C. 480-41 1. Andocides, about B.C. 435-385 . 366 
 
 Lysias, about B.C. 450-375 i()(i 
 
 Isaeus, between B.C. 420 and 348. Isocrates, B.C. 436-338 . 367 
 
 Demosthenes, B.C. 384-322 367 
 
 Aeschines, B.C. 387-314 368 
 
 Hypereides, about B.C. 396-322 369 
 
 Deinarchus, about B.C. 361-285 ...... 369 
 
 PHILOSOPHY. Plato, B.C. 427-347 369 
 
 Aristotle, B.C. 384-322 370 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Hiero II of Syracuse viii 
 
 Coin of Argos (tortoise) 36 
 
 Coin of Corinth 54 
 
 Four Magistrates, from the Eastern Frieze of the Parthenon . 94 
 
 Vale of Tempe To face 145 
 
 Themistocles ,, 153 
 
 The Bronze Stand dedicated at Delphi after Plataea . . . 171 
 
 Pericles To face 185 
 
 Lion Gateway at Mycenae ,, 196 
 
 loriic Capital and Entablature (from the Erechtheium). Corinthian 
 
 Columns . 197 
 
 Doric Column. Ionic Column 198 
 
 The Corner of a Doric Temple 200 
 
 Athens, showing the Acropolis and the Theseum . . To face iq\ 
 
 The Parthenon . . ,, 203 
 
 Coin of Delphi iid 
 
 Comer of the Parthenon 237 
 
 Socrates To face 265 
 
 Demosthenes ,, 285 
 
 Alexander the Great 299 
 
 Temple at Bassae (Phigalia in Arcadia) . . . To face 317 
 
 Temple of Hera at Olympia ,, 349 
 
 Philip V. Perseus 350 
 
 Greek Theatre at Pompeii . . . . . .To face 357 
 
 Sophocles ,, 359 
 
 Demosthenes ,, 367 
 
 Masks of Comedy and Tragedy 372 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 The Greek Colonies To face 19 
 
 Southern Greece ,, 31 
 
 Athens after the Persian Wars 80 
 
 Aegean Sea and its Coasts 107 
 
 Marathon 133 
 
 Harbour of Athens 136 
 
 Salamis and Coast of Attica 158 
 
 Boeotia To face 165 
 
 Battle of Plataea 167 
 
 Plan of Syracuse 245 
 
 Northern Greece To face 280 
 
 Persian Empire in the time of Alexander ... ,, 295 
 
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 
 GREEKS. 
 
 ^" CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Hellenes in Greece. 
 
 Greek History is not the history of a united people, living 
 in a well-defined country, with a common capital. 
 There were many things indeed more or less com- as'a^Nat?J^!^^ 
 mon to all Greeks descent, language, customs, 
 views of religion ; but there were other things that kept them 
 apart : and during all the time in which we shall here study their 
 history we shall find them split up into many separate groups 
 and States. Even in the divisions marked on the map with 
 a common name, such as Thessaly, Boeotia, Phocis, Arcadia, 
 there were often several cities with a small territory that were, 
 or wished to be, quite independent of each other. Moreover, 
 the Greeks sent colonies in every direction to many other 
 countries and islands, and wherever a colony went, it became a 
 separate and independent State. The people were still Greeks 
 and proud of being so, but they did not own any great central 
 authority, and they each developed in a way peculiar to them- 
 selves. A history of the Greeks, therefore, is a history not of 
 one, but of many States, which have differences as well as simi- 
 larities, both of which we ought to observe. 
 
 The words Greek and Greeks are not those used by the 
 people themselves. They called themselves ^ what the 
 Hellenes and their land JH[ella.s. There is no- Greeks called 
 
 Mellenfs 
 fHmg lik 
 
 ung like the word ' Greek ' in Homer except ^ ^^^^ ^^^' 
 Graea (Fpata), a town in Boeotia. When the name Hellas 
 
 s. G. I 
 
2 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 got thoroughly into use, which was not till comparatively late 
 in the history of the people, it was taken to include any part 
 of the world where Hellenes lived, at any rate where they 
 lived in great numbers. Thus Herodotus speaks of Sicily and 
 Asia Minor as Hellas : and, though it sometimes means only 
 what we call Greece, that is, Greece on the continent of 
 Europe and the adjacent islands, it often also means what we 
 should rather express by the phrase 'Hellenic world.' The 
 Romans called the people and country Graeci and Graecia, 
 apparently from a tribe in Epirus, with which they were early 
 acquainted, and we, with most of the rest of Europe, have 
 taken the words from them. 
 
 I said that the names of Hellas and Hellenes were adopted 
 Th e rii Comparatively late in the history of Greece. The 
 est inhabitants earliest Written testimony we have is the poetry 
 of Greece. ^^ Homcr. In this ' Hellas ' and ' Hellenes ' only 
 
 occur as the names of a small territory and tribe in Thessaly, 
 and are not general names for Greece and the Greeks. As 
 far as there is any such general name it is Achaeans ('Axatot), 
 Argives ('A/oycioi), or Danaoi (Aai/aoi). The last died out, 
 except in poetry, and the two former were afterwards confined 
 to parts of Greece. In what seems the next oldest poetry after 
 Homer that of Hesiod the words Hellas and Hellenes begin 
 to be used. We, however, cannot be certain of the dates of 
 either Homer or Hesiod (assuming them both to be names of 
 real persons), and we must be content to say that at any rate 
 by 800 B.C. Greece was commonly called Hellas, and the Greeks 
 Hellenes, and that they called all other people barbarians {^ap- 
 papoi). It is not likely that the Achaeans, Argives and Danaoi 
 were of a race widely different from each other, or from the 
 people who were strong enough to give the name of Hellenes 
 to all alike. They may perhaps represent earlier migrations 
 from the same stock. But even before-lhem we hear of other 
 nations living in Greece, Leleges, Minyae, Pelasgoi. We 
 know too little of these to decide what their relation to 
 
Early inhabitants of Gi^ecce. 3 
 
 the Hellenes was, or how far they remained to influence 
 and modify the Hellenes on their arrival in Cireece. The 
 Leleges, sometimes identified with the Carians, are heard of 
 chiefly in connexion with the Islands; but both Herodotus 
 and Thucydides looked upon the Pelasgoi as the prevailing 
 race in Greece before the Hellenes. Their name is found in 
 Homer in the appellation Pelasgic Argos for Thessaly, in 
 Pelasgic Zeus as the title of the God of the ancient oracle 
 of Dodona, in the name of one of the rulers of Larissa in 
 Thessaly, as forming one body of the allies^of Troy, and again 
 as inhabiting Crete. They are also connected with Athens, 
 where "the remains of an ancient fortification of the Acropolis 
 was in historical times called the Pelasgicon. Some believed 
 that alkjoniaris, as well as the original inhabitants of Athens^ 
 were Pdsigoi, and remains of them were supposed to be 
 found in many parts of Greece, especially in the islands of 
 Lemnos and Imbros. According to report they were a peace- 
 ful agricultural folk and skilful builders. But records of 
 them are so vague and uncertain, that we can only here note 
 the tradition of a time when others than the Hellenes lived 
 in Cireece. 
 
 Accepting the fact of the Hellenes inhabiting Greece, we 
 must next notice that they are divided into three ^. ^, 
 
 . . ^ . . 4. The Three 
 
 great races or families, Dorians, Ae^lians, and Hellenic fami- 
 
 lonians. Greek mythology accounted for this 
 by saymg that the common ancestor Hellen had three sons, 
 Dorus, Aeolus, and Xuthus, and that Xuthus had two sons. 
 Ion and Achaeus, from whom they respectively were de- 
 scended thus making the Achaioi a fourth branch of the 
 Hellenic family. Whether these three divisions of the Hellenic 
 people represent three waves of invasion we cannot tell. All 
 we can do in regard to them is to point out where they 
 were chiefly found living in historical times. The Dorians 
 numerically inferior to the Aeolians occupied, besides many 
 Islands, a district in the South of Asia Minor, and another in 
 
4 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 central Greece, and afterwards forced their way into Pelopon- 
 nese, from which they sent out numerous colonies in many 
 directions. The Aeolians spread themselves at first more 
 widely in Greece. Beside a considerable district in the 
 North of Asia Minor and the large island of Lesbos, they 
 occupied the whole of central Greece and Thessaly (though 
 from the last they seem to have been subsequently driven), 
 parts of Peloponnese, and many islands. Their colonies, 
 however, were mostly confined to the shores of the Pontus 
 and its minor seas; they took little share in the colonisation 
 of the West. The lonians, who for some reason were at one 
 time regarded as inferior to the other two, seem to have 
 settled first in the NoxiL^of the Peloponnese, whence they 
 passed to Attica, Euboea, and to many of the Cyclades. 
 Whether the lonians of southern Asia Minor were a migra- 
 tion from Attica, or an independent settlement, was always a 
 disputed point. In the sending out of colonies they were not 
 behind the Dorians. 
 
 The first g reat movem ent among the Hellenes in Greece 
 5. The descent P^^^pcr, of which wc have any tradition, was that 
 of the Dorians of the Dorians. In historical times they were 
 found living in the islands of Aegina, Crete, 
 Melo s, Thera, Rhodes and Cos, with two cities on the main- 
 land oppiDsTte to Cos, Cnldus and Halicarnassus. But in 
 Greece proper they occupied Megara, Corinth, and the 
 greater part of Peloponnese Argolis, Laconia, and Messenia. 
 Their presence in Peloponnese was accounted for mytho- 
 logically by the legend of the return of the Heracleidae, the 
 sons of Heracles, who, having been expelled from Mycenae 
 and Tiryns by the tyrant Eurystheus, effected their return by 
 aid of the Dorians, and divided the country between them. 
 This also explained the fact that the kings of Sparta and 
 Argolis, who claimed to be descendants of the Heracleidae, 
 were not Dorians, but Achaeans. Putting aside mythology, 
 it is certain that at some time or other subsequent to 
 
The descent of the Dorians. 5 
 
 the Homeric poems the Dorians did occupy these parts 
 of Peloponnese. The ancient Achaean inhabitants either 
 retreated to the northern district of Peloponnese, which re- 
 tained their name, or remained in their old homes as freemen 
 without political rights and were called perioeci (TrcptotKoi), or as 
 serfs bound to the soil and called helots (etXwrai), according 
 perhaps as they submitted easily or made an obstinate re- 
 sistance to the invaders. The old kingdoms of which we 
 hear in Homer disappeared, and two^ SLtroa g^Dorian wSta|:es=. - 
 Laconia and Argolis took their place ; while Messenia soon 
 had to submit to the supremacy of Laconia. The Arcadians 
 inhabiting the mountainous district in the centre managed to 
 maintain their freedom and nationality. The people of Elis 
 also, connected with the Aetolians on the opposite side of the 
 Gulf of Corinth, held their own, and presently came to occupy 
 a privileged position as possessing Olympia, the common 
 meeting-ground of all Hellenes at the great Olympic festival. 
 
 We know of no great movement in central Gr eece like that 
 of the Dorian invasion of_ Peloponnese. Yet g Greece 
 Thucydides tells us that changes of inhabitants north of the 
 had been frequent, especially where there was ^ oponnese. 
 good soil, as in Boeotia and Thessaly, to attract invaders. 
 Thus Thessaly is not a name known in Homer, who only 
 mentions certain towns and districts in it. Since his time the 
 Thessaloi must have come to overpower its Aeolian inhabitants 
 and give it a name. Phoenicians seem to have occupied 
 Thebes in Boeotia : and Locris is a name unknown to Homer. 
 But Phocis and Aetolia had never been invaded in sufficient 
 force to effect a change of name; and Attica, owing to its 
 p(3or soil, and to its lying off the highway from the north, was 
 believed to have been subject to less change of inhabitants 
 than any other part of Greece. The people boasted of being 
 natives of the soil {avroxOovt^), though according to one story 
 they were once called Kranaoi, not Atticoi ; and according to 
 another, certain lonians driven from the Peloponnese by the 
 
6 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Dorians took refuge there, and so affected the people that 
 Athens came to be regarded as the Mother City of all the 
 lonians. In the North and North- West the countries known 
 afterwards as Macedonia and Epirus were mostly barbarous 
 though there was probably a mixture of Hellenes to be found 
 in them and did not till much later affect the course of Greek 
 History : but south of Epirus the town and district of Ambracia 
 (as well as the island of Leucadia) were colonised by Corinth 
 in the middle of the 7th century B.C. 
 
 The Hellenic families also occupied very early the Islands 
 
 and the coast of Asia Minor. In the Ionian or 
 
 7. Island and Western sea the islands did not generally become 
 
 Asiatic Greece. o -' 
 
 Hellenic till the colonising age began. Thus 
 Corcyra was colonised by the Corinthians, Zakynthus by the 
 Achaeans. But the largest of the group, Cephallenia, seems 
 to have had an Hellenic people long before this age and not 
 to have been ever colonised in the ordinary way. To the 
 South of the Peloponnese Cythera became Dorian with 
 Laconia. In the Aegean the Cyclades the islands round 
 Delos as a centre were very early occupied mostly by 
 lonians, though some few were Dorian, as Melos and some 
 small neighbouring islands. The islands near the coast of 
 Attica, especially the greater part of the long island of Euboea, 
 were Ionian. Of the other islands Crete and Rhodes (with 
 some smaller neighbours) were Dorian ; but Samos and Chios, 
 as well as the Northern group Thasos, Samothrace, Lemnos, 
 Melos were Ionian ; while Lesbos and the islets round it 
 were Aeolian. The same distribution of the three Hellenic 
 families is found on the coast of Asia Minor, where the 
 Aeolians settled on the North, the lonians in the centre, the 
 Dorians in the South. The farther extension of the Hellenes 
 we shall have to note when we study Greek colonisation. 
 Here it is only necessary to remark that though the Hellenes 
 settled in these parts of the continent and islands, there were 
 in most of them remains of a more ancient race of inhabitants, 
 
Causes of separation. ' '^] 
 
 who can never be wholly disregarded in studying the history 
 and character of each district and its people. 
 
 We have said that Greek history is mainly a history of 
 separate States, jealous of their autonomy, and 
 often bitterly opposed to each other, and yet which tended 
 with certain ties uniting them as against the rest QreTif stages 
 of the world. Let us see first what were the 
 causes making for disunion. Among the most decisive was 
 the nature of the country. Greece in Europe is a small 
 country about the size of Portugal, but owing to the irregularity 
 of its coast line it has a seaboard greater than almost any other. 
 The country again is mountainous, and the mountains generally 
 come close down to the sea : therefore there are no navigable 
 rivers. The obvious results of this are, first the division of the 
 country into districts separated by ridges which make com- 
 munication difficult, and for parts of the year often almost 
 impossible; secondly the placing of most important towns 
 within reach of the sea, and causing the people to become a 
 seafaring folk, whose interests are in foreign traffic rather than 
 in commerce with other towns, as it might have been, if they 
 had had between them the easy connexion offered by rivers. 
 Thus the map will shew you that the central district of the 
 Peloponnese, Arcadia, is the core of a range of mountains 
 which spreads like a fan over the rest of the land, dividing 
 it into its separate districts. In Greece north of the Isthmus 
 Attica is divided from Boeotia by the range of Cithaeron and 
 Mt. Parnes; the range of Mt. Oeta forms a barrier to the 
 North of Boeotia ; while the plains of Thessaly are enclosed, 
 as by a wall, by the ranges of Pindus and Othrys on the 
 West and South, and the Cambunian Mountains and Olympus 
 on the North. Something also must be put down to the 
 genius of the people, fostered indeed by their geographical 
 position, but also naturally imbued with a taste and ability 
 for politics, only to be fully gratified in small States where all 
 could take part in directing the government. 
 
8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 But while these causes made for separation, there were 
 others that tended towards union. The first of 
 
 9. Ties 
 
 uniting the thesc was the communion of blood and language, 
 Greeks. ^ which all Greeks were proud as marking 
 
 them off from all other nations. With this common nation- 
 ality they connected certain principles, such as the respect for 
 the laws of hospitality, the observance of particular customs 
 in war, especially in regard to the burial of the slain and 
 the respect due to sacred places. If these principles were 
 sometimes violated, yet they were they thought more 
 generally observed by Greeks than by other nations-. Again, 
 religion formed a bond of union. Each State indeed had 
 its own special object of worship, some god or goddess whom 
 it particularly reverenced as the guardian of the city (ttoXiovxos), 
 and a hero or deified man founder or benefactor^whose 
 chapel or heroum was regarded as the special feature of the 
 country. Still the great Gods were recognised everywhere and 
 their shrines respected, and in the eyes of all Zeus was the 
 supreme god, the father of men and gods. Connected with 
 this unity of blood and religion was the institution of the four 
 great games Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean in 
 which the first condition of admission to compete was Hellenic 
 birth. They were the occasion also of the meeting of Greeks 
 from all parts. Proclamations and notices affecting all 
 Greeks alike were published at these assemblies. At the 
 Olympic festival a truce from war was proclaimed, and all 
 Greeks could feel for a time that they were one people. 
 Closely connected also with religion were the local Amphic- 
 tyonies, combinations of certain States to maintain some 
 temple and join in worship at it. The chief of these was the 
 Amphictyonic assembly, which met once a year at Delphi, 
 and once at Thermopylae, consisting of deputies called 
 Pylagorae from States' belonging to the Aeolian, Dorian, Ionian, 
 and other tribes. Their main object was the protection of the 
 great temple at Delphi ; but the council or congress also laid 
 
Causes of Union among Greeks. g 
 
 down certain principles of what we might call international 
 law in regard to the carrying on of war, which all pledged 
 themselves to maintain, thus in a manner making a large part 
 of Greece into one nation for certain purposes. Similar in 
 their effects were other religious assemblies, such as the yearly 
 meeting of deputies from various States at Delos, once the great 
 meeting ground of the Ionian States. Even after the Panionia 
 was transferred to Ephesus, the Delian festival still remained an 
 occasion for meeting to a large number of States. Lastly 
 we shall often have occasion to remark the influence of the 
 Oracle of Delphi. It was open to all comers, and professed at 
 any rate to be impartial and above all local and separate 
 interests. For a time perhaps it really was so, and did some- 
 thing to promote a national or Panhellenic spirit. 
 
 As Greece consisted of many separate States, so was there a 
 great variety in the forms of government pre- ^^ Forms of 
 vailing in them. They may however be classed government in 
 under four general heads, three acknowledged 
 as regular and constitutional, one regarded as irregular. The 
 three first are (i) the rule of a constitutional king, or basileus 
 (/^ao-tXeia), with fixed prerogatives, (2) Oligarchy (oXtyapxta), 
 the rule of the few, in which a privileged class possessed the 
 chief political rights, (3) Democracy (SrjfxoKpaT la), where all the 
 freemen of a State had equal rights and an equal voice in 
 passing decrees or making laws. (4) The fourth or irregular 
 government was that of a despot or tyrant (Tvpavvo<s). By this 
 word was meant any ruler who usurped or in any way placed 
 himself above the laws in a State, which had once enjoyed a 
 constitution. It did not make any difference whether he ruled 
 well or ill ; his possession of absolute power was in spite of 
 the laws, and he was a 'tyrant' 
 
 The first of these forms of government the limited mon- 
 archy was the oldest. None other seems recognised in 
 Homer, where the basileus represents the people before gods 
 and men ; performs religious rites, holds the levy in war, and 
 
10 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 protects private rights in time of peace, giving out rules or 
 dooms {Oifxia-Tes) on his own authority, not by fixed law or 
 nemos {yoiKoi) a word which does not occur in Homer. He is 
 not absolute, but is assisted by a boule or council of elders, and 
 sometimes refers questions to a public assembly or agora. In 
 historical times however this form of government had almost 
 disappeared. The name remained in Sparta and Argos, and 
 in semi-hellenic countries, but in Sparta at any rate the office, 
 though still surviving, had lost much of its importance and a 
 real oligarchy existed. In Argos the name disappeared before 
 the middle of the 5th century B.C., and was replaced by a 
 democracy. Oligarchical governments continued to exist in 
 Corinth and to a certain extent in Athens and other places 
 for some time, and wherever Sparta had influence she en- 
 deavoured to promote them, but the tendency in these and 
 most other parts of Greece from the 6th century onwards was 
 in the direction of democracy. Tyrannies were spasmodic 
 and short-lived. A great many of the States at one time or 
 another in their history went through a period of subjection to 
 Tyrants, who generally gained their position by taking the 
 side of the people against the oligarchical nobles. But they 
 seldom managed to maintain themselves beyond the second 
 generation. What had been gained by the energy of the father, 
 was generally lost by the weakness or the insolence of the sons, 
 corrupted by the temptations of absolute power. 
 
 Greek religion arose from the observation of the great 
 forces of nature, and the awe inspired by them 
 in the minds of men. Thus the first thing that 
 must strike human consciousness is the bright 
 open sky; Zeus therefore, personifying this, is the first of 
 gods, and his brethren are the representatives of the other 
 elements Poseidon of water, Demeter of earth. Aides god of 
 the unseen underworld. Though the names and attributes of 
 the gods of Greece may sometimes be traced to different 
 sources to Egypt, Phoenicia, Thrace yet by the time that 
 
 II. Greek 
 Religion. 
 
Greek Religion. ii 
 
 the Homeric poems were written we find already acknowledged 
 eleven of the twelve great gods Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, 
 Hermes, Ares, Pallas, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Hephaes- 
 tos\ From Zeus, father of gods and men, had come Pallas, 
 goddess of wisdom springing ready armed from his brows; 
 the sun god Apollo ; the moon goddess Artemis ; Aphrodite 
 the goddess of love and birth; the messenger Hermes; the 
 war god Ares. To them in course of time the fancy of poets 
 or mythologists added many more, Night and Day, Birth, 
 Youth and Death, Sleep and Strife, Wine and Song, the Seasons 
 and their alternations of growth and decay. Justice the assessor 
 of Zeus, Prayer and Retribution for wrong-doing, all had their 
 special deities. Woods, fountains, seas had their nymphs, and 
 the winds their divine directors. The simple ideas underlying 
 all this are that the gods are very near to us all in whatever we 
 say and do and see ; that men have need of these gods ; that 
 certain actions on the part of men will rouse their jealousy or 
 call down their vengeance for nature destroys as well as pro- 
 duces ; and, lastly, that the gods can be approached in some 
 way by prayer and sacrifice. Greek religion had no authorised 
 book of dogma or doctrine, no central church to declare what 
 was true or false. Yet forms of wor^ip generally in the 
 shape of cheerful festival and song connected with seed-time, 
 harvest, or vintage had been handed down from immemorial 
 antiquity, and the gods were believed to take pleasure in what 
 gave pleasure to man. But it was all-important to know their 
 will : hence sprang the appeal to oracles, so common through- 
 out Greece, and the resort to mysteries or secret rites, in which 
 certain persons claimed an hereditary power of revealing to the 
 initiated the truth as to the relations between gods and men. 
 
 ^ The twelfth of the orthodox list is Hestia, the goddess of the hearth. 
 This addition to the list may mark a time when family life as opposed to 
 State life became more prominent. Thus for instance Grote remarks that 
 there is no direct reference to the custom of purifying a man for homicide 
 in Homer. This was one of the most sacred uses to which the Hestia or 
 domestic altar could be put. 
 
12 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 There were many oracles in Greece (between seventy and 
 eighty), but Dodona in Epirus, Branchidae in Asia, the cave of 
 Trophonius in Boeotia, and Delphi in Phocis surpassed the 
 others in credit and permanence. By the sixth century Delphi 
 was the most important of all. The temple was regarded as 
 inviolable and the safest repository of public and private wealth. 
 The oracle was consulted on every kind of question, from the 
 most important to the most trivial. And at an early date 
 collections of oracular responses were made, often containing 
 forgeries, which were consulted and quoted at times of difficulty 
 or excitement. For a long time the Pythia as the prophetic 
 maiden was called, from Pytho, the old name of Delphi 
 justified her position by giving answers which were impartial 
 and on the whole in the general interests of Greece. When 
 that impartiality became doubtful, we shall see the credit of the 
 oracle decline. 
 
 But besides these on the whole cheerful and reverent 
 views of the gods, there was another and more human side to 
 Greek religion. In a certain sense the gods and nature itself 
 were the jealous enemies of men hampering their efforts, 
 envious of their success, and intent on keeping them weak 
 and dependent. Hence the wrath of Zeus when Prometheus 
 gave men fire, whereby all implements and arts became pos- 
 sible. Accordingly those men, who by strength of will or body 
 could grapple with the difficulties put in the way of mankind, 
 were reverenced as demigods. Heracles, the embodiment of 
 manly strength and courage, slew monsters, cleared swamps, 
 destroyed robbers, wrestled with death itself, and was accord- 
 ingly widely worshipped both in and outside Greece. In the 
 same way nearly every State had a ' hero ' of its own, who like 
 Theseus had founded towns, made dangerous ways safe, or 
 rid the land of deadly beasts. They had each in his own way 
 fought the irreconcileable foes of man, had made human life 
 better and safer, and were honoured as benefactors and offered 
 a worship second only to that of the gods themselves. 
 
13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Homeric Age to the Age of Colonisation. 
 
 Greek History must begin with Homer. Though Archae- 
 ology is always giving us new lights on the ^ ^^6 
 history of the race, the Iliad and Odyssey are Homeric 
 the earliest written records of what the inhabi- 
 tants of Greece were like, how they lived, and what they 
 did and thought. To observe the changes in the Greek 
 world, as it appears in these poems, and as we find it in the 
 literature of the sixth century, is the readiest way we have 
 of getting an idea of what the people had been doing, how 
 they had been moving from one part to another, and how 
 their views and habits had been developing. We cannot 
 indeed fix the date of these poems with any certainty : all 
 we can say is that as soon as we know anything of the Greeks 
 they were in possession of them. The Iliad, as we have it, 
 is an Epic poem in twenty-four books a division probably 
 of comparatively late date recording certain episodes in the 
 siege of Troy, the deeds of certain of the kings and chieftains 
 on either side, and the councils of the gods concerning 
 them. It is wholly a poem of the camp. The Odyssey on 
 the other hand is a poem of travel and adventure, with 
 pictures of domestic life. The liero Odysseus, after the fall of 
 Troy, was kept for ten years on his return voyage by various 
 accidents and adventures. His wife Penelope, remaining 
 faithful to him in spite of her importunate suitors, at length 
 sends her son Telemachus to search for his father. In this 
 
14 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 poem accordingly we have descriptions not only of the Island 
 home of Ithaca, but of similar homes and courts in other 
 places, as well as wonderful adventures in the still mysterious 
 West. There were doubtless many differences in habits and 
 thought between the men of the Homeric poems and the men 
 who lived in the century and a half between Marathon and 
 Chaeroneia, yet there were also many perhaps more like- 
 nesses. The poems remained sufficiently in harmony with 
 later Greek feeling to be regarded by all Greeks as the highest 
 expression of their life, their ideas, and their beliefs ; and to be 
 appealed to in a hundred ways as the most trustworthy record 
 of the past, and as the highest authority in politics, morals and 
 religion. 
 
 We must observe however that, as stories, neither the Iliad 
 
 nor the Odyssey especially the former is com- 
 cHcwTiJers.^' plcte in itsclf. The Iliad begins in the last of 
 
 the ten years' siege of Troy, and yet the fall of 
 Troy is not narrated, nor -the previous or subsequent fate of 
 the heroes engaged in it. A knowledge of the history and 
 cause of the expedition is assumed, and only hints are given as 
 to its final result. We may therefore safely conclude that 
 these poems did not stand alone, but were an embodiment 
 doubtless the best and most popular of a part only of a mass 
 of legend and song recited by rhapsodists, and referring to the 
 history of the Trojan war. It was not long before other poets 
 and prose writers used these ancient stores and perhaps their 
 own invention too to fill up the omissions in the Homeric 
 poems. Such writers are called 'Cyclic' as treating of the 
 cycle of the legend of Troy. Of these we have little more 
 than the names : but their works were the store-house from 
 which later painters, sculptors, tragic writers and compilers of 
 mythology drew their material. The chief of the Cyclic poems 
 are (i) The Cypria of Stasinus, (2) The Aethiopica (adventures 
 of Memnon) and the Sack of Troy, by Archinus of Miletus, 
 (3) The little Iliad, by Lesches of Mitylene, (4) The Returns, 
 
Cyclic pods and Homer. 1 5 
 
 by Agias of Troezen, (5) The Telegonia the death of Odysseus 
 at the hands of Telegonus, his son by Circe. There were also 
 some Epics not connected" with this Trojan cycle, such as the 
 tale of the war between Argos and Thebes the Thebais and 
 its sequel, the Epigoni; as also the tale of the capture of 
 Oechalia by Hercules, all by unknown authors. No country 
 perhaps had ever such a mass of heroic legend, but with the 
 exception of the two Homeric Epics it has been lost to us, or 
 only survives by having supplied plots for the Attic dramatists. 
 The questions which have been discussed from ancient times 
 as to the origin and authorship of the Homeric 
 poems do not much affect their value as a truth- Homeric 
 ful representation of early life and manners in Question. 
 Greece before the dawn of history. Still we ought to know- 
 something of what has been written and said on the subject. 
 The chief questions have been : Are the Iliad and Odyssey by 
 the same poet ? Is the Iliad a single poem by a single author, 
 or a number of separate heroic ballads combined with more or 
 less of skill by later reciters or editors ? The belief that the 
 two poems were by different authors was first started about B.C. 
 146 by a grammarian named Hellanicus. The school of critics 
 that adopted the theory were called ' the Separators ' (ol x^P^- 
 ^oi/Tcs), and in modern times the belief was resuscitated by the 
 German F. A. Wolf, in 1795, ^'^^^ ^^^^ started the modern 
 criticism as to the composition of the Iliad. But neither 
 ancient nor modern scholars who profess to detect the differ- 
 ent layers of poetry which go to make up the Iliad have really 
 arrived at any certainty. Internal evidence can always be used 
 in more than one way. In a long poem like the Iliad, com- 
 posed for recitation, and very likely long remaining unwritten, 
 or preserved only in few and imperfect copies, inconsistencies 
 and contradictions, defects in the carrying out of the plan or 
 downright changes in it, insertion of episodes to please this or 
 that audience, were not only probable, but all but inevitable. 
 But they can never prove conclusively a diversity of authorship 
 
1 6 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 of the bulk of the poem. There is good reason for believing 
 that a collection or edition of the poems was made for Athenian 
 use in the sixth century B.C. under the direction of Peisistratus : 
 but there were other editions afterwards made for different cities, 
 and recent discoveries of fragments of early mss. in Egypt seem 
 to shew that there were considerable discrepancies in these edi- 
 tions not yet however sufficient to disprove decisively the unity 
 of the Iliad. For the poet himself, tradition, founded on a line 
 in the ' Hymn to Apollo,' spoke of him when old and blind as 
 living in the island of Chios. The word * Homeros ' means ' fitted 
 together,' and secondly a 'hostage.' But such a name really 
 teaches us nothing more than any other, such as Euripides or 
 Shakespear. It may have originated in a hundred ways, and 
 to say that it does not represent a man, but a literary process, 
 is an assumption no more capable of proof than any other. On 
 this point there is no evidence worth the name, and we shall 
 probably decide the question in our own minds as we think it 
 probable or not that there should have been many poets 
 capable of composing with (on the whole) such uniform excel- 
 lence and similarity of style. Another question almost equally 
 difficult is as to the part of Greece to which the poet if he 
 were one man belonged \ The best tradition perhaps connects 
 him with Chios and Smyrna ; but other traditions connected 
 him with both North and South Greece. Internal evidence 
 can be quoted for each theory. He knew the geography and 
 natural features of the Troad : but, if he were an Asiatic Greek, 
 it is strange that no Greek cities of Asia, except Miletus and 
 that in connexion with the ' barbarous-speaking ' Carians are 
 mentioned by him, though that very epithet seems to shew that 
 Greeks were already in Asia. If he was a Northern Greek, it 
 is curious that so great a preponderance is given to the Achaioi 
 and Argeioi in the South ; and if he was a Peloponnesian, that 
 
 1 Many cities claimed the honour of his birth or being connected with 
 him in some way, though seven Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, 
 Rhodes, Argos, Athenae were supposed to have better claims than the rest. 
 
Post-Homeric development. \y 
 
 he should be most elaborate in his mention of Boeotian towns, 
 and take his hero Achilles from Pelasgic Argos (Thessaly). 
 These arguments indeed can be used in several ways and are 
 not conclusive in any. Nor is the nature of the language of 
 the poems any more decisive. It is neither the Ionic of Hero- 
 dotus, nor the Aeolic of Alcaeus and Sappho, and yet it 
 partakes in some degree of both. It may therefore be equally 
 well argued that it presents an earlier dialect than either and 
 independent of both ; or that having been composed in a 
 primitive dialect Achaean or whatever name we may give it 
 it has been Aeolicised by one set of editors or reciters, loni- 
 cised by another, and Atticised by a third. . Any one of the 
 three theories accounts for some things in Homer's language : 
 none accounts for all. 
 
 But without entering upon the Homeric question any 
 farther, we may treat the poems as an historic ^^ Deveiop- 
 document, and try to illustrate from them the ment of Greece 
 
 . . . , . . since the times 
 
 direction in which changes had occurred in of the Homeric 
 Greece between the epoch to which they refer p""s- 
 and the 8th century. Let us notice first that important local 
 names for divisions in Greece have come into existence since 
 Homer's age Peloponnesus, Locris, Thessaly, Doris, Acarna- 
 nia, Epirus, Macedonia. All these, whatever their origin, have 
 become definite and recognised names for certain parts of the 
 country. Macedonia and Epirus, indeed, are hardly as yet to 
 be accounted parts of Greece, but the former came later on to 
 play an important part in Greek History, and the latter was 
 extensively Hellenised before long. Again, between the time 
 of the Homeric poems and the 8th century, Hellas and 
 Hellenes have become the universal designation of Greece 
 and the Greeks; and the threefold division of Aeolian, 
 Dorian and Ionian is thoroughly recognised, and plays a con- 
 siderable part in determining political divisions and combina- 
 tions. 
 
 Island Greece again has become an established fact; the 
 
 S. G. 2 
 
1 8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Cyclades and the other islands of the Aegean, such as Samos, 
 Chios, Lesbos, Lemnos and Thasos, as well as the 
 great island of Crete, have been Hellenised. In 
 the west, whereas the Homeric poems hardly recognise dis- 
 tinctly anything beyond the islands of Cephallenia, Ithaca and 
 Leucas, in the 7 th century the shores of Sicily are rapidly 
 becoming studded with Greek colonies, and similar settlements 
 are being begun upon the coast of Southern Italy countries 
 which to Homer are only vaguely known as distant and myste- 
 rious lands. 
 
 Again, the threefold settlement of Greece in Asia Minor 
 , . ,. has taken place in this interval. In the North 
 
 5. Asiatic ^ 
 
 Greeks. are the eleven Aeolian towns once reckoned 
 
 (1) Aeohans. ^^ twclvc while Smyrna was included in the Hst. 
 None of them became of much importance, or is much heard 
 of, except for a short time Cyme, but the large island of 
 Lesbos had contained flourishing towns in Homer's day, and 
 its six Aeolian cities including Methymna and Mitylene, the 
 latter of which afterwards gave its name to the whole island, 
 had a flourishing trade from very early times and were the 
 home of some of the earliest post-Homeric poetry in Greece. 
 These Aeolians too, although never very powerful, had been 
 the principal agents in Hellenising the northern shores of Asia 
 Minor, the Troad and the Thracian Chersonese. 
 
 To the south of the Aeolians were the Ionian Greeks, 
 . , . starting from the river Hermus, whose district 
 
 Asiatic . .' 
 
 Greeks. was notable for its pleasant climate and good 
 
 (2) lonians. harbours. They too possessed twelve chief cities, 
 which may be divided into groups distinguished by position 
 as well as by a variety in their dialects. The southern or 
 Carian group contained Miletus, Myus, and Pirene : the next 
 or Lydian group was Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, 
 Clazomenae, Phocaea : the third or island group contained the 
 islands of Samos and Chios with the Lydian town of Erythrae. 
 Though these towns had a strong admixture of Carian and 
 
Asiatic Greeks. 19 
 
 Lydian inhabitants, they were so predominately Ionian that 
 they regarded themselves as purely Greek, and looked on 
 Athens as in a way their mother-city, in some cases as having 
 actually supplied the founders of their colony, and in all as 
 being the head of the lonians. They also formed an Amphic- 
 tyony, or half religious half political union, which had once its 
 central meeting-place at Delos, then at the temple of Poseidon 
 at Mykale, and later on at Ephesus. We shall presently have 
 to speak of the services of these lonians to Greek culture, and 
 the activity of the principal city Miletus in the colonisation of 
 other lands. 
 
 The Dorians in Asia formed originally a Hexapolis or 
 group of six States Lindus, lalysus, Camirus ^^. 
 in Rhodes ; Halicarnassus and Cnidus in Caria; Greeks, 
 and the island of Cos. Afterwards it is called a ^3) Dorians. 
 Pentapolis, because Halicarnassus was expelled from the league 
 and became lonicised. They also formed an Amphictyony, the 
 common meeting-place of which was the Triopium, a temple 
 of Apollo on the promontory of Cnidus, whejre a yearly festival 
 and games were held. 
 
 We cannot date the movements which produced this re- 
 arrangement of Greece. We only note that it 
 has taken place since the Homeric epoch. Of 
 one part of it indeed Thucydides does put 
 forward an account, reasonable in itself, though the exact age 
 cannot now be ascertained. He says that the earliest Hellenic 
 power to possess a strong navy was Crete. At some time after 
 the Trojan war (the first combined action of Greek States, as he 
 thinks) Minos king of Crete whose rule was so righteous that 
 he became after his death one of the judges in the other world 
 became master of the sea, cleared it of pirates, drove out 
 the barbarous Carians from the islands of the Aegean, and 
 opened them for Hellenic settlers. That some such change as 
 this had taken place was proved by tradition and by the anti- 
 quarian evidence to be found in the islands themselves, where 
 
 6. Colonisa> 
 tion. 
 
20 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 ancient tombs proved by the mode of burial that the inhabit- 
 ants had once been Carians. But when this took place we 
 cannot tell, probably at least as early as 800 B.C. The next 
 great movement however admits of being dated, not indeed 
 with certainty, but with nearer approach to it. This was the 
 great outburst of colonisation, beginning at least as early as the 
 8th century B.C. and probably earlier. It took generally speak- 
 ing two directions : north-east along the shores of the Black 
 Sea, and west to Sicily and Italy. Of the very numerous cities 
 thus established, many of which in their turn sent out colonists 
 to settle in unoccupied or thinly peopled places, some rose to 
 be of great importance in the history of Greece and even of 
 the world, while many only enjoyed moderate success, or even 
 proved entire failures. But taken as a whole this movement 
 had, before we get any real history, already spread Hellenism 
 Greek ideas, speculations, habits of life, literature and the 
 seeds of philosophy destined to have a profound effect 
 on the world, over a large portion of Eastern and Southern 
 Europe. We may learn also, by observing the origin of these 
 colonies, what parts of Greece, from the 8th century B.C., 
 appear to have been enjoying the most vigorous life, to have 
 possessed the most adventurous inhabitants, and the most 
 skilful mariners. 
 
 Taking therefore first the north-eastern group that studded 
 the shores of the Propontis and Pontus, we find 
 Coionfes?*^^ that the earliest and most fertile colonising States 
 were Megara, just north of the Isthmus of 
 Corinth, and Miletus in Asia. To Megara belong Byzantium 
 and the opposite city of Chalcedon, Heracleia Pontica (with 
 the help of Boeotian Tanagra), and partly also Chersonesus in 
 the Crimea, all probably between B.C. 690 and B.C. 600. From 
 Miletus went the men who settled Abydos, Lampsacus and 
 
 1 Notice that a Greek colony consisted of men who abandoned their 
 own country and became citizens of the new State. They were not parts 
 of the old country or dependent on her. 
 
Greek Colonisation. 21 
 
 Sinope, Trapezus, Panticapaeum (Kertch), Odessus (Varna), 
 and many others of less importance between B.C. 600 and 
 B.C. 550. Other Greek States such as Samos, Teos con- 
 tributed in a less degree to this extension of Hellas, but it 
 is Megara and Miletus that are most conspicuous. Megara, 
 once probably included in Attica, had become Dorian and, 
 after a period of subjection to Corinth, had risen to high 
 commercial importance between 800 and 700 B.C., in great 
 degree owing to its position as lying on the road from North 
 Greece to Peloponnesus, and as having access both to the 
 Saronic gulf on the east and the Corinthian gulf on the west. 
 Its activity in colonisation both to east and west is at once 
 a proof and a result of this success. Miletus, the 'ornament' 
 of Asia, had prospered in a somewhat similar way. Its four 
 great harbours made it the resort of ships from Phoenicia as 
 well as the corn-growing districts bordering on the Pontus, 
 and its prosperity continued till it fell into the hands of the 
 Persians. 
 
 It is true that even before these adventurers went fr6m 
 Megara and Miletus there had been movements to the North. 
 The story of the Argo a story older at any rate than the 
 Odyssey and its band of heroes, led by lason to fetch the 
 golden fleece from Colchis, was no doubt founded on traditions 
 of early voyages of the inhabitants of Greece in search of the 
 gold and other wealth to be found on the shores of the Inhos- 
 pitable Sea ; while the settlement of Greeks upon the Thracian 
 Chersonese seems of immemorial antiquity. The colonists of 
 the seventh and sixth centuries probably often found semi-Greek 
 communities struggling for existence in these distant regions. 
 But it was in this age that a persistent, and on the whole 
 successful, Hellenisation of the countries was carried out. 
 
 The movement toward the West was still earlier. Apulia 
 and Calabria, forming the heel of Italy, and _ _, ,. 
 
 ' o -"8. Italian 
 
 having a coast-line nearest to that of Greece, and Sicilian 
 had from times far beyond historical record been 
 
22 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 visited and partly settled by wanderers from Aetolia or Epirus ; 
 but it was in the eighth century that the colonies, which rose 
 to be important cities and in their turn sent off fresh colonies, 
 were established. Here the Peloponnesian States took a con- 
 siderable share in the movement. The Achaeans founded 
 Sybaris {circ. B.C. 720), Croton {circ. B.C. 710), Metapontum 
 {circ. B.C. 690) ; while Sparta sent out colonists to Tarentum 
 {circ. B.C. 700) and Callipolis {circ. B.C. 690). An important 
 part was also played by the great commercial city of Chalcis in 
 Euboea. Its commercial importance is shewn by the fact that 
 its coinage was long the prevailing standard in Greece, by its so 
 completely occupying the Chalcidic peninsula as to give it its 
 name, and lastly by its colonies in Macedonia as well as in Italy 
 and Sicily. In Italy it founded probably the oldest of all Greek 
 colonies, Cumae\ as also Naples and Rhegium. The Cretans 
 are also credited with some settlements : and Epizephyrian 
 Locri was founded by the Locrians of Greece soon after 
 B.C. 700 : while the Phocaeans in about B.C. 544 settled at 
 Velia, and even made their way to Corsica and Massilia. 
 
 In Sicily again the eighth and seventh centuries witnessed 
 a similar and even more successful movement. Here too we 
 find Chalcis and Megara playing a great part, this time 
 along with Corinth and Rhodes. Megara was the mother 
 of Naxos and Zancle (afterwards Messene), and from these 
 went Catana, Leontini, Himera and Mylae, all apparently before 
 B.C. 700. About the same time the Megarians founded Thapsus 
 and thence removed to Megara Hyblaea, from which colonists 
 went to Selinus before B.C. 600, and before B.C. 500 to 
 Heraclea Minoa. Corinth was the founder of the great city 
 of Syracuse {circ. B.C. 734), from which before B.C. 600 went 
 Acrae, Casmenae and Camarina. And from Rhodes (in con- 
 junction with Crete) was founded Gela {circ. B.C. 690) and from 
 Gela, Agrigentum {circ. B.C. 582). 
 
 1 The date of the founding of Cumae generally fixed at B.C. 1050 is 
 probably much too early. 
 
The Great Asiatic Kingdoms. 23 
 
 There is another change that has apparently come over 
 Greece since the time of the Homeric poems. g^ ^he East 
 She has become conscious of great kingdoms, and Egypt, 
 and civilisations older than her own, in Asia and in Africa. 
 In Homer there is no hint of any knowledge of the great 
 monarchies on the Euphrates and the Tigris ; and though in 
 the Odyssey the coasts of Phoenicia and Libya are known, 
 and the Ethiopians are mentioned as the most remote of 
 men, the geography of Egypt could be little understood, and 
 the Nile had no name beyond that of the river of Aegyptus ; 
 while the Phoenicians are only once referred to in the Iliad, 
 though in a way that seems to imply that the fame of their 
 skill in certain arts had reached the poet's ears. Still on 
 the whole it cannot be said that any intercourse with either 
 Egypt or Phoenicia is implied in the poems. But in the 
 seventh century (or perhaps earlier) the inscriptions at Abu 
 Simbel shew that Greeks had crossed to Egypt to serve the 
 Egyptian monarchs, and the nature of the letters there used 
 proves that from Phoenicia the lonians had learnt an alphabet 
 and even irr.proved upon it\ There is good reason also to 
 believe that before the same epoch Phoenician settlers had 
 found their way to the island of Thera, and even to Thebes, 
 where the citadel (Kadmeia) commemorated the fact by its 
 name derived from the word Kadmos 'eastern,' supposed 
 to represent the name of the leader of this Phoenician colony. 
 Lastly the Greek town of Naucratis in the Delta of the 
 Nile, which seems to have been in existence at least as 
 early as the sixth century, attests the growing importance of 
 Greek trade with Egypt. As for the kingdoms on the 
 Euphrates, they were still mysterious to the Greeks. About 
 B.C. 600 a brother of the Lesbian poet Alcaeus is said to 
 have visited Babylon, but that is the first indication that we 
 
 ^ Herodotus (5. 58) tells us that $otJ't/f?Jta was the earliest name for 
 letters in Greece, and this word is found in an early inscription in Teos, an 
 Ionian city in Asia (C. /. G. 3044). 
 
24 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 have of the Greeks being conscious of the monarchies of 
 upper Asia before the conquest of Cyrus. Other rumours as 
 to far distant countries had indeed very early reached the 
 Greeks. Thus the Pygmies or race of dwarfish men in Africa 
 are mentioned even by Homer; and the early myth of the 
 sisters of Phaethon, turned into poplars at the mouth of the 
 Po, whose tears shed for Phaethon were converted into amber, 
 seems to point to a knowledge of the trade route from the 
 northern shores of Europe. In the Odyssey also we hear 
 of the Laestrygones in whose country the ways of day and 
 night are close together "there herdsman hails herdsman 
 as he drives in his flock, and the other who drives forth 
 answers the call. There might a sleepless man have earned a 
 double wage, the one as neatherd, the other shepherding white 
 flocks : so near are the outgoings of the night and the day." 
 And this can hardly be derived from anything but a rumour 
 of the short Arctic nights in summer, as the darkness of the 
 ' Cimmerians ' represents the long nights of the Arctic 
 winter. 
 
 In these last respects the knowledge of the Greeks had not 
 become much more definite since the time of 
 
 10. Summary. x^ 
 
 Homer. But in some other ways Greece has 
 grown to be much as we know it in historical times : the 
 names and divisions of Greece proper have become fixed; 
 the people have spread to the west as far as Sicily and Italy, 
 to the east as far as Asia Minor and the shores of the Pontus ; 
 they have occupied the islands of the Aegean and have opened 
 up trade with Phoenicia and Egypt, and are thus beginning to 
 know of civilisations much older than their own both in these 
 countries and far away also in Central Asia. 
 
 Life, as depicted in the Homeric Epics, has many features 
 _. , in common with what we know of the Greeks of a 
 
 II. Jiarly 
 
 Hellenic Life later day, but there are some notable omissions. 
 
 , Thus, though the general plan of the Homeric 
 
 house is not widely different from that of later days, and the 
 
Early Greek Life. 25 
 
 use of worked stone is implied in that and other ways, yet there 
 is no trace of its employment for ornament or statuary, though 
 such works as the carved lions at Mycenae shew that this use 
 of it was known then or not long after. Again, though the use 
 of gold and silver for ornamental work is well known, there 
 is no mention of coined money, and only one doubtful allusion 
 to the use of letters. Domestic slavery exists, but almost 
 entirely as resulting from capture in war, while kidnappers of 
 children are barbarians. Morals are mostly founded on family 
 ties and duties. The handicrafts are hardly recognised in the 
 Iliad, and not spoken of with much respect in the Odyssey : 
 but the cultivation of corn and the vine, and the care of herds 
 and flocks, are the regular employments of peace and the 
 legitimate sources of wealth. 
 
 The next glimpse of Greek life supplied us by early 
 literature indicates a certain development, though no great 
 break or contrast. The Works and Days of Hesiod in some 
 respects, especially as to Ancestor worship and the sacredness 
 of the Hearth, represent an even more primitive state of things 
 than do the Homeric poems, and more closely in harmony 
 with what is known of kindred Aryan races. This is not 
 surprising, for they refer to country life, in which custom and 
 tradition are always most conservative. In other points how- 
 ever there seems to be a change, if not progress. They 
 recognise, to begin with, a Hellas and Hellenic nation. 
 Again, in matters of right and wrong, justice is no longer 
 so closely confined to family duties and connexions, it has 
 become more national. The reward of justice is peace, 
 national prosperity, increase of flocks and herds. From the 
 injustice of one man sometimes a whole city will sufl"er, 
 population will decay, the enemy will destroy host and citadel 
 alike. Justice therefore must be the chief care of kings. 
 Virtue and wisdom are one : and virtue includes respect for 
 suppliants and guests, for the sanctity of marriage, with honesty 
 and liberality in dealing. The only proper source of wealth 
 
26 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 is ceaseless industry. These moral reflexions indeed are only 
 the prelude to maxims and instructions suitable to the Boeotian 
 peasant farmer. What he cares for most is the plough and the 
 cart; the knowledge requisite for the cultivation of his land, 
 and the thrift which will secure him from want; the good 
 neighbours who will not rob him, but will lend him a helping 
 hand in trouble ; and the sons (not too many) to support his 
 old age and perform his funeral rites. Still besides the farmer's 
 business we find traces of sea-traffic, not for war, but gain, and 
 of the games and contests in music and poetry, which hereafter 
 were to play so great a part in Greek life and to produce such 
 noble literature. There is also a closer observation and know- 
 ledge of nature. The seasons are marked by the variations of 
 the sun's course and the rise and setting of the constellations ; 
 various timber trees are distinguished and noted, and the 
 habits of birds watched. We may add to these indications of 
 the life and habits of Greek rural Hfe in Boeotia, the picture 
 given us in the Hymn to Apollo of the lonians en fete, to 
 complete the picture of what we can directly know of the 
 Greeks of the earliest post-Homeric times. To Delos at the 
 annual festival come the lonians in their long trailing robes, 
 with children and virtuous wives; "and there they watch the 
 combats of boxing, dancing, and song, and share in such joy 
 and cheerfulness as to forget death and age. A fair sight 
 are their swift ships, their goodly men, and fair-zoned women, 
 and all the wealth they bring. Fair too are the Delian 
 maidens, devotees of the god, that welcome them, singing 
 in chorus to lyre and harp hymns in praise of Apollo, Latona 
 and Artemis, telling of ancient heroes and heroines, charming 
 the hearts of all that hear." The Delian festival was a fair 
 as well as a religious gathering. The commercial part of it 
 survived the religious, but in the 4th century B.C. it was still 
 attended by sacred embassies from Ionian towns. There must 
 also by this time have been a great outburst of temple building, 
 for a large number of places, where temples to Apollo were 
 
Early Lyric and Elegiac Poets. 27 
 
 known to exist in after times, are already mentioned as con- 
 nected with his worship. 
 
 Civil quarrels, and fighting of city with city, there were no 
 doubt now as before and after, but here we have two pictures 
 of country life and of a cheerful festival, shewing us some- 
 thing of what was always behind politics and war which occupy 
 so much space in history. 
 
 We have seen that at least by B.C. 800 the three divisions 
 of the Hellenes had settled nearly in the same 
 parts of Greece in which we find them later on : pomicai^move- 
 and that from the 8th century began the great mentandof 
 
 , . , ^, . , ^ . the Lyric and 
 
 movement of expansion which sent their colonies Elegiac Poets 
 in nearly every direction. But another great 3^^*^,"^ 
 movement began also in the 8th century. 
 Government up to about that time had generally been that 
 of constitutional kings, basileis with fixed prerogatives. But 
 between B.C. 750 and 500, there was in many parts of Greece 
 a series of revolutions. Oligarchy the rule of a few often 
 superseded that of the constitutional kings, and was often itself 
 superseded by the tyranny of some popular leader against 
 the nobles, and this again in many places by democracy. 
 These changes roused to life the political instinct: men took 
 sides with eagerness, and began to speculate on social and 
 poHtical theories and ideas. It was a time of new birth and 
 excitement, and this excitement eventually found a voice in a 
 great outburst of poetry meant to be sung to music (Lyric), 
 or to express personal opinion or feeling in a manner most 
 likely to attract attention (Elegiac), or to give utterance to 
 satire or pointed sayings (Iambic). A common note of all 
 these is that poetry became personal. The poets composed 
 hymns for public festivals or other purposes; but they also 
 wrote in their several styles what was meant to express their 
 personal feeHng, either in regard to passion or the circum- 
 stances of their time. Of the Lyric poets the most famous, 
 and among the earliest, were the Lesbian Alcaeus and Sappho. 
 
28 Shoi't History of the Greeks, 
 
 Of the poetry of Alcaeus but little remains, but the general 
 circumstances of his life will shew us what was happening 
 in this age of restlessness. He was one of the aristocrats 
 of Mitylene, and was engaged in a war with the Athenians 
 for the possession of Sigeum. In this war he suffered the 
 disgrace of throwing away his shield, which his enemies hung 
 up as a trophy. Then came constant struggles with the 
 democratic party, and with more than one of their leaders, 
 who established themselves as tyrants, ending with his own 
 banishment. After wandering as far as Egypt, he and his party 
 returned to Lesbos and tried to expel the reigning tyrant 
 Pittacus (b.c. 589 579). He was taken prisoner, but spared 
 and released by Pittacus, against whom he wrote his bitterest 
 poems. In contrast with this brilliant genius and restless man, 
 may be placed one who was nearly his contemporary Solon the 
 Athenian (594), who used his gift of elegiac poetry to impress 
 upon his countrymen civic virtues, and the blessings of ordered 
 freedom. We shall have to study him more fully by-and-bye 
 when we follow the history of Athens. The two men form two 
 sides of a picture both representing features of Greek life of 
 the age : both engaged though with widely different purpose 
 and principles in the political excitement which was seething 
 in many parts of Greece. We find the same in other places : 
 Alcman, born at Sardis, and Tyrtaeus at Aphidnae in Attica 
 (b.c. 675 660), were both employed at Sparta to stimulate the 
 patriotic and warlike feelings of the Spartan youth : while the 
 earlier Archilochus (circ. B.C. 700), born at Paros and removing 
 with a colony to Thasos, had in both islands lived in the 
 midst of constant political or personal quarrels, being specially 
 credited with having driven the daughters of his enemy Ly- 
 cambes to suicide by his bitter satire. Simonides of Samos 
 (circ. B.C. 660) also took part in a colony to Amorgos, and in 
 one of the two important Iambic fragments which we possess, 
 reflects the resdessness and troubles of his age. It is to be 
 noted also that of the ' Seven Wise Men ' who flourished in the 
 
Literature and politics. 29 
 
 7th century Into the 6th, five at least Cleobulus of I.indus in 
 Rhodes, Periander of Corinth, Cheilon of Sparta, Pittacus of 
 Mitylene and Solon of Athens^, were all actively engaged in 
 the politics of their States, either as actual governors or as 
 reformers. It was an age of movement and transition. Those 
 who came to the front were not merely men of most military 
 ability or of most persistent purpose. The same exciting causes 
 seem to have stirred men to political and to literary activity. 
 The men of liveliest imagination and most endowed with 
 the poetic temperament were just those most keenly touched 
 by the new political ideas. The simplicity of the Homeric or 
 immediately succeeding ages partly perhaps in consequence 
 of the movements which brought in the Hellenes and sent the 
 Dorians southward had been replaced in most parts of Greece 
 by social and political unrest. The old prae-Hellenic ideas and 
 practices, religious and social, were not wholly swamped or 
 forgotten, but there were added to them new ideas and new 
 aspirations. The unprivileged were striking for equality with 
 the privileged : and the struggle was in many places bringing 
 sudden and signal changes from oligarchy to tyranny, from 
 tyranny to democracy. We shall have to trace this general 
 movement, as it affected particular parts of Greece, when we 
 proceed to study the history of the several States, and to see 
 how they all shared in it, though to a varying extent and with 
 different results. 
 
 1 The other two were Bias of Priene, and Thales of Miletus. Whether 
 Thales engaged in the politics of his town is a disputed question. He 
 at any rate led the way to physical philosophy by speculating on the origin 
 of matter, which he decided to be water. 
 
30 
 
 c ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ^ The Peloponnese before b.c. 500. 
 
 The Dorians were only known to Homer as a people of 
 The Crete, they are not mentioned by Hesiod at 
 
 Dorians in the all. Their descent upon Southern Greece may 
 e oponnese. ]^^yQ taken place about B.C. 1000 or a hundred 
 years later. But the result of their occupation of the Pelo- 
 ponnese is manifest, whenever it took place. The districts 
 commanding the entrance to the Peloponnese those of Megara, 
 Corinth, Sicyon, Phlius and Cleonae were all occupied by 
 them. The whole of what is called the Argolic peninsula 
 with the exception of some cities on the coast shared 
 the same fate; and, lastly, the southern districts of Laconia 
 and Messenia, with the islands of Aegina and Cythera which 
 may be regarded as appendages to the Peloponnese. This 
 distribution of territory was accounted for in the legend of the 
 return of the Heracleidae by saying that the princes drew lots 
 for their shares of the conquered territory. To Temenos fell 
 Argolis (including Corinth and Sicyon), to the sons of Aristo- 
 demus Laconia, while Cresphontes the youngest obtained by 
 a trick the most fertile district of all Messenia. We have 
 thus about two-thirds of the Peloponnese in the hands of the 
 Dorians. The ancient inhabitants, the Achaioi and Argeioi, 
 either took refuge in Elis and Achaia, or remained on their 
 native soil in an inferior position. The remaining parts of 
 the Peloponnese continued to be inhabited by various combina- 
 
.^^ 
 
The Dorians, 31 
 
 tions of its ancient peoples, with migrations from the opposite 
 shores of AetoHa. This distinction of races in the Peloponnese 
 must be kept in mind to help us to understand much of its 
 subsequent history. 
 
 The Dorians, wherever settled, present certain peculiarities, 
 variously modified afterwards in different locali- 
 
 ^ -. ... , 2. Dorian 
 
 ties. In all alike the government was more or form of 
 less aristocratic, that is to say it was practically eve'""ent. 
 in the hands of an upper class, whose position and privileges 
 were hereditary ; and in most there were generally two magis- 
 trates, either succeeding by hereditary right, or elected from 
 certain families. These magistrates at Sparta and Argos were 
 called kings (/8ao-tXtts), at Crete cosini\ at Corinth all offices 
 including the kingship were engrossed by a family or class 
 called the Bacchiadae ; at Megara and Aegina, as soon as we 
 know anything of their history, we find a ruling aristocracy; 
 and in cities elsewhere colonised by the Dorians the same 
 peculiarity occurs. For instance, in Corcyra there was a 
 privileged aristocracy consisting of the original Corinthian 
 settlers ; in Leucadia the nobles alone owned the land ; in 
 Syracuse for a long time the gamoroi, 'landowners,' alone 
 formed the government; both Gela and Agrigentum were 
 for a long time powerful oligarchies. At Byzantium there 
 were first kings, and then a close oligarchy; at Cnidus a 
 council of 60 with a president, all from certain noble families ; 
 at Cyrene the constitution of Sparta was at first exactly copied. 
 We must notice this peculiarity of the Dorians, because Greek 
 history in the 6th and 5th centuries is much affected by the 
 fact that wherever Sparta, which soon became the leading 
 Dorian State, had influence, that influence was exerted in 
 favour of oligarchical government, hostile alike to tyranny 
 and democracy. Other common peculiarities (besides the 
 dual kingship or magistracy) were a division of citizens into 
 three tribes; a gerousia, that is, a council of elders; an 
 assembly of all citizens of a certain age from a limited number 
 
32 SJiort History of the Greeks. 
 
 of families, called variously at different places aXt'a, aTreXXa 
 or dyopd. The chief Dorian towns in the Peloponnese 
 underwent various modifications of polity, but they all started 
 with a constitution in which these features more or less occur. 
 Sparta has the most important and interesting history, but it 
 will be well to say a few words first on the others. 
 
 At Corinth the conquering Dorians formed a small ruling 
 Corinth class, the native Aeolians far outstripping them 
 in numbers. Before long an equality of civil 
 rights appears to have been established between the two 
 classes, but the kingship for twelve generations was in the 
 hands of a family claiming descent from Aletes the original 
 Heracleid monarch. The Bacchiadae were a clan, rather 
 than a family, to which the royal family belonged. About 
 B.C. 747 this clan resolved to abolish the kingship and elect 
 a yearly president or Prytanis from among themselves. The 
 oligarchy lasted till B.C. 657, when it was overthrown by 
 Cypselus, acting as usual as a champion of the lower classes. 
 He presently made himself a tyrannus and drove most of the 
 Bacchiadae into exile. These men had become unpopular 
 from the vices so often generated by a close possession of 
 powei;,;^d Cypselus during his reign of 30 years (b.c. 655 
 625) by the moderation of his government and the purity of 
 his conduct reconciled the people to tyranny. But his son 
 Periander (b.c. 625 585) was less popular. He was not only 
 so wise a man as to be classed among the ' Seven Sages,' but 
 he was also actiy^ and warlike. He kept control over Corcyra 
 and seized on Epidaurus, and appears to have maintained 
 the prosperity of his country. But not only was he guilty of 
 many severities his very virtues made him disliked. The 
 C^inthians were rich and luxurious : they liked to buy slaves 
 to do their work for them, and to live in idleness. Periander on 
 the other hand thought that idleness led to political disaffection. 
 Under his rule the citizens were constantly employed on public 
 works, and open idleness was liable to fine. The growing 
 
Corinth and S icy on. 33 
 
 dissatisfaction broke out in the third year of the reign of his 
 nephew and successor Psammetichus, and with the help of 
 Sparta the tyrant was dethroned in B.C. 580, and a new 
 oligarchy established on a rather wider basis than that of 
 the Bacchiadae, which kept Corinth henceforth in close alli- 
 ance with Sparta. The institutions of Corinth shew a variation 
 from the usual Dorian type in the fact of the natives having 
 been comparatively early put on a civil equality with the 
 Dorian conquerors. The people were accordingly divided into 
 eight tribes, instead of the three usual among the Dorians. 
 The reason'is~tcrije'1oun3^ the early^commercial success of 
 the city. The Dorian nobility was closely connected with the 
 ownership of land, but in Corinth wealth from commerce 
 quickly surpassed that from land, and with wealth came claims 
 to civil rights which could not be resisted. Still though 
 Corinth thus early became wealthy, and was the first State 
 in Greece to build war-vessels or triremes, during the great 
 period of Greek history it does not play a very conspicuous 
 or dignified part, and never had any claim to that supremacy 
 among other Greek States, which was successively acknow- 
 ledged to belong to Sparta, Athens and Thebes. Those who 
 wished to praise it attributed this to moderation and the love 
 of freedom, and asserted that Corinth engaged in no wars 
 for its own aggrandisement, but only in those which were 
 fought for liberty. 
 
 Sicyon was a very ancient city and had been known by 
 many names in the Heroic age. When the 
 Dorian conquest came, it was at first held in 
 dependence on Argos, but about B.C. 676 it was separated 
 from Argos and fell under the tyranny of Orthagoras, whose 
 descendants governed it for 100 years. The Orthagoridae 
 were not Dorians, and their rule appears to represent a 
 rising of the natives against the Dorians. The last of the 
 dynasty was Cleisthenes, who died about b.c. 560. By his 
 daughter Agariste, who married the. Athenian Megacles, he was 
 
 s. G. X 
 
34 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 grandfather of the great Athenian reformer Cleisthenes. With 
 the fall of the Orthagoridae the power of the Dorians in Sicyon 
 revived, and throughout the period of the Spartan, Athenian, 
 and Theban supremacies it is always found in close alliance 
 with Sparta, except for a brief period when Epaminondas forced 
 it to ally itself with Thebes. After undergoing various fortunes 
 during the Macedonian period and being ruled by a succession 
 of tyrants it finally joined the Achaean league, and in the 
 Roman period was again for a long time a flourishing town, 
 raised to greater importance by the destruction of Corinth. 
 In Argolis were contained in the most ancient times the 
 ^^ ^^ chief cities of Southern Greece. Argos probably 
 supplied the only general name for the whole 
 Peloponnese known to Homer, and even after the Dorian 
 invasion it controlled the entire eastern coast including the 
 island of Cythera. Before the Dorian conquest Mycenae 
 was the chief town in Argolis, but after that event Argos 
 supplanted all others and became the capital city. It was also 
 head of an Amphictyony, primarily religious but exercising also 
 political influence, consisting of seven other Dorian States 
 Cleonae, Phlius, Sicyon, Epidaurus, Troezen, Hermione, the 
 island Aegina whose central meeting-place was the temple of 
 Apollo Pythaeus on the acropolis of Argos, though each of the 
 cities had also a shrine of the god. The city of Argos itself 
 became entirely Dorian, but in the district of Argolis the ancient 
 Achaean inhabitants seem to have to a great extent remained, 
 though in an inferior position, the orneatae and penestae an- 
 swering to the Spartan pejioeci and helots. Yet several cities 
 in Argolis were not under the control of Argos, and as late as 
 the time of the Persian wars we find Mycenae and Tiryns \ 
 acting as independent cities, till they were destroyed by Argos ' 
 because in that war they took an opposite course to herself. 
 For some time after the Dorian conquest the Argives claimed 
 to be, and apparently were, the chief State in the Peloponnese ; 
 but the gradual rise of Spartan power deprived them of that 
 
Pheidon of Argos. 35 
 
 position. They lost control of Cythera and the southern coast ; 
 the disputed district of Cynuria was gradually secured by 
 Sparta, till only the northern part of it the Thyreatis 
 remained to be fought for by the famous three hundred 
 champions on either side in B.C. 547'. The attacks of the 
 Spartan Cleomenes between B.C. 510 and 500 finally established 
 the Spartan superiority, but left a bitterness in the hearts of 
 the Argives --which survived in the constant opposition between 
 the two States almost throughout their history. The highest 
 point in the prosperity of Argos seems to have been reached 
 under king Pheidon to whom widely different dates have been 
 assigned, ranging from about B.C. 950 to B.C. 668. The greatest 
 weight of evidence seems in favour of placing his reign in the 
 eighth century. At any rate it is clear that he did great things 
 for Argos. He established himself indeed as a sole tyrant 
 instead of a constitutional king as one of the Temenidae, 
 or descendants of Temenus, the Heraclid founder of the 
 dynasty but he greatly increased the importance of his 
 country. He recovered the influence which had become weak- 
 ened over the cities of the Amphictyony, and forced Corinth 
 also to submit to him. It was in an attempt to exercise 
 authority in other parts of the Peloponnese that he seems to 
 have eventually lost most of what he had gained. There is a 
 curious analogy between the quarrel in the Peloponnese and 
 that which afterwards more than once distracted Northern 
 Greece with ' sacred wars.' As the people of Delphi claimed 
 the exclusive management of the oracle and temple against 
 the demand of the whole of Phocis to share in that honour, so 
 the people of Pisa claimed to manage and control the Olympic 
 festival, while the people of the whole of Elis demanded to 
 share in it. And as in North Greece both sides sought help 
 from others, so here the Pisates called in Pheidon, while the 
 
 ^ Only one Spartan survived, but he remained in the field and stripped 
 the bodies of the slain. Two Argives survived but left the field, therefore 
 after all the question was not settled without another battle. 
 
 ' Z~2 
 
36 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 Eleans got help from Sparta. The details of the struggle are 
 not known to us : but we are told that Pheidon at first 
 succeeded in maintaining the cause of the Pisates and presided 
 with them at the ninth celebration of the festival, but that 
 afterwards he was defeated by the Spartans and the Eleans 
 were restored to their privileges. But another of his measures 
 intended to extend the influence and wealth of Argos had 
 more lasting effects. He is universally credited with having 
 introduced from Aegina over which he held dominion a 
 standard of weights, measures, and coinage, for which last he 
 opened a mint in Aegina, probably the first established in 
 Greece. Aegina had long been in communication with Egypt 
 and Phoenicia, and had carried on a brisk trade with the East. 
 For that purpose there must have been some standard of 
 weights, measures and coinage recognised by the Egyptian and 
 Phoenician traders as well as by themselves. Till Pheidon's 
 time, however, the Aeginetans seem to have used foreign coins. 
 Pheidon first established a mint there, and introduced the 
 coinage into Argos, doubtless with the view of enabling it 
 to share in this foreign trade. It eventually prevailed all over 
 
 Coin of Argos (Tortoise). 
 the Peloponnese, the weight of the coins being in the proportion 
 of 6 : 5 as compared with the Euboic. The earliest specimens 
 preserved are of the middle of the 7th century B.C. They all 
 have the figure of a tortoise on them, whence the Peloponnesian 
 money was called Cheloiie^ 'tortoise.' The political effect 
 of this was to detach Argos still more from the home-staying 
 military Spartans, and to direct her sympathies rather to the East. 
 We have thus glanced at the early history of three of the 
 
Early History of Laconia. 37 
 
 chief Dorian settlements in the Peloponnese. We must follow 
 at somewhat greater length the history of the power which 
 was the greatest rival of Argos, and eventually 
 established itself as the leading State in the and ivi'essenia. 
 Peloponnese, with such a reputation for skill and 
 courage in war that it came to be acknowledged as the natural 
 leader in any military expedition undertaken by the Hellenes 
 of all continental Greece. According to the legend as to the 
 division of territory among the Heraclid leaders of the Dorians 
 the worst lot fell to the sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and 
 Prokles the progenitors of the two royal families at Sparta, 
 the Agidae and Eurypontidae. The part of the country thus 
 described as the 'worst lot' was the valley of the Eurotas. 
 When the Dorians descended into this valley they seem to 
 have avoided attacking Amyclae, an ancient city which had 
 long been the point of communication with Gythium and the 
 island of Cythera the staple towns for the trade, especially 
 in purple dye, with Phoenicia but to have fixed on the range 
 of low hills, upon which stood the open town, or the collec- 
 tion of hamlets making up the town, of Sparta. From this 
 elevated situation, so well protected by nature that for many 
 centuries no fortifications were considered necessary, they 
 gradually extended their hold upon the valley and the sur- 
 rounding district. They first took possession of the best land 
 immediately near the town, but did not disturb the farmers 
 Achaeans, or of the various races brought there by com- 
 merce but allowed them to remain in occupation, paying a 
 rent in kind or in personal service. They were called /^r/<?^r/ 
 * neighbours,' and they had no citizenship in the Spartan State, 
 though in certain towns, such as Amyclae, there remained for a 
 long time a separate State in which the perioeci had a kind 
 of citizenship. But these towns were always subordinate to 
 Sparta, and in course of time were entirely absorbed, the 
 perioeci thus surviving as free farmers but without any 
 civil status. Some of the lands however perhaps those where 
 
38 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the Dorians had experienced most resistance were taken ovel' 
 wholly by the conquerors, and their cultivators were reduced 
 to the position of serfs or unfree labourers, called helots, 
 attached to the soil, bound to pay half the produce of it to 
 their lords, and to do him personal service in arms. The 
 conquering Dorians were the only full citizens, Spartiatae, and 
 were as regards each other ' peers ' (o/xotot). This appellation 
 however was not applied to them till it was necessary to 
 distinguish the original families from certain others that had 
 obtained citizenship later, and were, like the Roman mi?iores 
 gentes, looked upon as in some way inferior (/xetores). These 
 Spartiatae alone possessed citizenship, and being relieved from 
 labour and care for wealth by the produce from their estates, 
 they devoted themselves wholly to military training, and re- 
 mained a separate ruling class among a dependent and 
 inferior population. The government was conducted by two 
 kings (/^ao-tXets) of equal dignity and rank, whose duty or 
 privilege it was to lead the army on active service; in time 
 of peace to act as judges, as guardians of heiresses, as witnesses 
 of adoptions, and as representatives of the people at public 
 sacrifices and other acts of worship. They also presided at the 
 gerusia or Council of 28 making the total 30 and received 
 on all public occasions the greatest marks of respect. Besides 
 the kings and gerusia there was an assembly (or apella) of all 
 citizens of a certain age, which elected magistrates, but neither 
 debated nor decided anything except by answering 'aye' and 
 ' no ' to questions put before it. The elections were said to be 
 decided by the comparative loudness of the shouts greeting 
 each name. The chief power however presently fell into the 
 hands of five magistrates, elected annually, called Ephors. 
 They seem at first to have been elected to oversee (icfiopdv) 
 the markets and the general administration of the laws; but 
 they gradually obtained almost absolute powers. One or more 
 of them was even sent out on miUtary expeditions to control 
 the action of the kings, whom they summoned once a month 
 
spartan Government. 39 
 
 to take an oath to respect the constitution, and whom they 
 could in certain circumstances fine and imprison. One of the 
 three rhetraP or maxims attributed to Lycurgus was that the 
 Spartans should have no written laws. This in itself tended to 
 throw great power into the hands of magistrates ; and if the 
 theory of some can be maintained, that the Ephors were 
 elected by the peers and inferiors alike, while the kings and 
 gerusia were elected only by the peers, this would give an 
 additional weight to their authority, which Cicero compares 
 to that of the tribunes at Rome, for though they could inter- 
 fere with every other officer, they were themselves irresponsible. 
 Now, these features of the Spartan government are not 
 peculiar to Sparta, but appear, as has been 
 shewn, in all or most of the Dorian States. The '. '_ 
 
 Ephoralty is the one institution which seems most distinctively 
 Spartan, and even that reappears in Cyrene. It is therefore 
 impossible to attribute the entire settlement of the constitution 
 to one lawgiver named Lycurgus. The age and identity of 
 Lycurgus were early matters of dispute. In the time of 
 Plutarch there existed a quoit in the Heraeon of Olympia, 
 on which were inscribed the names of Iphitus and Lycurgus 
 as having first proclaimed the sacred truce and having thus 
 founded the Olympic festival (e.g. 776). This is the earliest 
 record of his name, and it would seem to shew that besides his 
 schemes for training the Spartans at home he aimed at exer- 
 cising a Panhellenic influence. Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato, 
 Aristotle, all recognise him as the author of the most character- 
 istic institutions in Sparta ; and though Plutarch confessed that 
 it was impossible to make any statement concerning him that 
 was not open to controversy, yet he found enough traditions 
 current about him to construct a sort of biography ; and if the 
 institutions he attributes to him were not his, or were, as some 
 
 ^ The three rhetrai were (i) not to have written laws, (2) not to use 
 anything except axe and saw in house-building, (3) not to go on military 
 expeditions often against the same enemies. 
 
40 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 thought, partly his and partly belonging to others (one historian 
 believing that there were two Lycurguses at a considerable 
 interval of time), yet they at any rate existed at Sparta, and 
 form an example of a social and political experiment perhaps 
 the most curious and interesting that is known to us. We 
 have seen that the main features of the political constitution of 
 Sparta (with the exception of the Ephoralty) were common to 
 other Dorian States. There were, however, other institutions 
 there which were not thus shared by others, but were strictly 
 peculiar to herself. These were also ascribed in a mass to 
 Lycurgus, but it is perhaps more likely that they had been 
 gradually developed and were not owing to any one statesman. 
 Their object was to maintain the Spartans in their original 
 position, something like that of a garrison in a conquered 
 country, admitting none of the inhabitants to share their 
 privileges. To effect this, every Spartan must be trained as 
 a soldier : must from his earliest youth look upon the duty of 
 serving and defending his country as the one object of his life, 
 and a failure to do so, or an act of cowardice in fighting for 
 her, as the supreme disgrace for which nothing could com- 
 pensate. Farther, to effect this object, the legislator or legis- 
 lators had aimed at calling off the Spartan from all thoughts 
 of traffic and from the corrupting influence of other nations. 
 The institutions designed to attain these results were 
 mainly these : 
 
 8. Social / \ T 1 1 T 1 1 
 
 institutions (i) Land was to be divided in equal lots 
 
 Lycurg*us.^ Or ckroi among the Spartans, and to obviate 
 accumulation of lots, an owner was prevented 
 from leaving his lot (out of his family) except to someone who 
 had none of his own, while an heiress could only marry a 
 landless man. 
 
 (2) Rents were to be paid in kind, and private persons 
 were not to possess gold or silver money, only the iron 
 tokens or 'cakes.' 
 
 (3) All men and boys after a certain age were to live 
 
spartan InstiUitions, 4 1 
 
 alike at the common mess or stissitia, at which there was 
 enough for the support of the body, but only of a coarse and 
 homely sort. Even the kings had to attend. The only excuses 
 admitted were having had a sacrifice on the day at a man's 
 own house, or having returned late from hunting. 
 
 (4) Marriage was considered a duty, and a refusal to 
 marry was punished by certain disabilities. But the selection 
 of the wife was not left to the husband or influenced by 
 his feelings. Women were chosen who seemed likely to make 
 the best mothers, and even after the marriage the pair were 
 subject to strict rules and regulations in the enjoyment of each 
 other's society. 
 
 (5) Women were freer in Sparta than in other towns. 
 Girls joined in the games with young men and were trained 
 like them. ' The Spartan women,' said someone to the wife of 
 Leonidas, 'are the only ones in Greece that rule the men.' 
 ' Yes,' she replied, * for we are the only women who bear 
 men.' 
 
 (6) The foundation of all was the treatment and training 
 of children. At birth a child was inspected by competent 
 persons, and if weakly or deformed was exposed on Mount 
 Taygetus a cruel custom common throughout Greece not 
 necessarily to perish, but more likely to be taken up by some 
 family of perioeci and brought up in the lower non-citizen class. 
 If however the boy was to be reared, he was left in charge of 
 his mother till the age of seven, but was then entirely separated 
 from her, and brought up in a public institution with other 
 boys, where he was trained in every kind of manly and warlike 
 exercise, and with a severity of discipline calculated to fit him to 
 bear the duties and hardships of Spartan manhood. The boys 
 were instructed in reading and music, but in no other of the fine 
 arts. As they grew older their training became more and more 
 strict. Their hair was cut as short as possible, they were forced 
 to walk bare-footed and to dress in only one garment winter 
 and summer alike, to abstain from the bath and ointments 
 
42 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 except on rare festivals, to sleep on mats of rushes, to reverence 
 their elders, to bear punishment without shewing pain, and 
 even to support themselves by clever thefts from gardens and 
 the sussitta, with the penalty of the most terrible flogging 
 if they were awkward enough to be detected. At twenty they 
 were called eirenes and began military service under the com- 
 mand of the best and bravest of their own number. But they 
 were still subject to the strictest discipline for another ten years, 
 and were not allowed to shew themselves in the agora or to 
 engage in any public business till they were thirty years of 
 age, nor were they eligible for the gerusia till sixty. 
 
 Besides the purely military training there were other 
 
 qualities which it was the object of Spartan 
 of^speech! ^ education to develop in the direction of stern 
 p"^onai simplicity. The youths were taught to give 
 
 ornaments. short and pithy answers to questions on practical 
 
 Grangers! subjccts put to them by their elders at the 
 
 sussitia; and this brevity of speech became so 
 rooted a habit, that to 'laconise' was the common word to 
 express a short epigrammatic form of speech. The youths 
 were taught indeed to sing to the pipe or flute, but the subjects 
 of their songs were all heroic and warlike, the praise of those 
 who had died for their country, the glory of the brave soldier 
 and the shame of the coward. After they ceased to be boys 
 a certain taste for personal decoration was encouraged, especially 
 in the care and adornment of the hair, which they allowed 
 to grow long. But even this was chiefly with a view to war. 
 The personal adornment was mostly in the direction of 
 splendid armour, and a saying was attributed to Lycurgus 
 that ' Long hair made the handsome still handsomer and 
 the ugly more terrifying.' When Xerxes wondered at the 
 Spartans being seen combing and oiling their hair before the 
 final struggle at Thermopylae, he was told by Demaratus that it 
 was a sign that they would fight to the death. Lastly, the per- 
 petuity of these institutions and habits was much promoted 
 
Weahiesses in the Spartan System. 43 
 
 by the rarity of visits from outside. The presence of strangers 
 in Sparta was disHked and discouraged, and very few instances 
 are quoted of the admission of a foreigner to Spartan citizenship. 
 They wished to be a people apart, having as little dealing as 
 possible with those outside except on the field of battle. 
 
 The Spartan system and poHcy, by whomsoever begun, was 
 in a sense eminently successful. For several 
 centuries they were what they wished to be : a success of 
 nation of soldiers, whose training and discipline *^^ Spartan 
 gave them the superiority over their neighbours, 
 and whose peculiarities marked them out as holding a unique 
 position among all other Greek States. The perioeci, and still 
 more the helots, were kept in due submission, and the narrow 
 oligarchy of the peers made any attempt at establishing a 
 despotism impossible. They were never popular in Greece, 
 but they were feared, and in a manner admired and respected. 
 Lastly, the system lasted without material change a far longer 
 time than any other polity and system in Greece, with less 
 variation perhaps than almost any with which we are ac- 
 quainted in Europe. 
 
 Still it not only contained the seeds of decay, but never 
 perhaps, or but for a short time, was entirely 
 what it professed to be. Among its disad- ba"ks. Dis^^" 
 vantages were these. First, the position of the affection of 
 helots was so intolerable that they were con- 
 stantly tempted to revolt, keeping the Spartans still more in 
 the position of a garrison in an enemy's country ; and as they 
 were surrounded by neighbours Argives, Arcadians, Mes- 
 senians ready to take any advantage against them, the 
 discontent of the helots was always there to give a handle 
 to enemies. So dangerous did they regard the disaffection of 
 the helots, that we hear of committees of safety, called 
 crypteia^ secret associations of young Spartan men, who made 
 it their business to visit suspected helots and, if they saw 
 reason, to despatch them at once. 
 
44 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 The next, and perhaps the most fatal drawback, was the 
 12. Dimin- ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ Spartans, as close corporations 
 ishing num. inevitably do, scon shewed a tendency to dimin- 
 equaiityof ishing numbcrs. Families died out and were 
 
 wealth. j^Q|. replaced by others from outside. Occasional 
 
 attempts were made to remedy this by admission of new 
 families (j/eoSa/xwSet?) ; but they seem not to have occupied a high 
 position, and at any rate were not in sufficient numbers to stop 
 the wasting of the population. The result of this was that the 
 land which could not be sold but could be left by will^got 
 into the hands of heiresses. In Aristotle's time (b.c. 384-322) 
 two-thirds of the land was said to be owned by women, while the 
 number of the true Spartan men had sunk to between 700 and 
 1000, and most of these possessed no land, but lived in the city 
 'in poverty and contempt,' whereas at Plataea (b.c. 479) there 
 had been 5000 Spartans serving in that one army, while there 
 was at the same time a fleet and another army at Mycale. 
 
 Thirdly, the discipline was too severe and produced an 
 inevitable reaction in many, as soon as the 
 
 13. Seventy . . ' 
 
 of discipline public scrvicc took them abroad. The prohibi- 
 6on ofhe ^" ^^^'^ ^^ ^<^ ^^^ posscssion of gold and silver coins 
 possession of was evaded in various ways, as by storing deposits 
 of money beyond the frontiers, especially in 
 Arcadia. We find the kings frequently possessed of consider- 
 able sums of money ; but when it was required for State pur- 
 poses, such as for ambassadors going to foreign towns, or for 
 hiring mercenary soldiers, or for making offerings at Delphi 
 though there was no regular public treasury contributions seem 
 to have been levied on the perioeci, to whom the prohibition 
 did not apply, the Spartans themselves not being called on for 
 taxes. The Spartan peers indeed, not being engaged in com- 
 merce, and being supplied with necessaries from their lands and 
 with journey money by the State when they went abroad on 
 service, could subsist without gold and silver coins, and perhaps 
 felt a pride in abstaining from what was the mark of an inferior 
 
The Messenian QlH^tian. ,: n^^.^i^^s^ 45 
 
 class. Yet directly they mixed with other people they must have 
 felt tempted to break the law, and in fact we find the Spartans 
 not at all behind other Greeks in amenability to bribes. 
 
 Lastly the rigidity of their training made them harsh and 
 unsympathetic. They were never popular, and, when they 
 undertook to govern others, failed to propitiate their subjects 
 or to retain their power for any length of time. 
 
 Such, then, was the training of a nation of soldiers accus- 
 tomed from youth to the absence of all luxuries, ^^ T^e 
 to plain food, a hard couch, scanty clothing; Messenian 
 schooled in the gymnasium and palaestra, and istwar, 
 unused to any excitement beyond that of march- ^^745 24(?)- 
 ing to war to the sound of martial music and song, and with no 
 personal vanity to gratify except that of dressing their persons 
 so as to astonish or terrify their enemy. But the supremacy 
 which "this training secured them was only gradually obtained. 
 Beginning with the upper part of the valley of the Eurotas, 
 they had by a series of struggles with Argos of which we do 
 not know the details or the times extended their dominion 
 over most of Cynuria on the east coast down to Cape Malea, 
 and had overcome the old Achaean inhabitants between them- 
 selves and the harbour of Gythium, till Laconia included all 
 that lay between Mount Taygetus and the sea. But to the west 
 of Taygetus lay the district of Messenia watered by the river 
 Pamisus (as Laconia is by the Eurotas) and, though in part 
 mountainous, yet containing larger and more fruitful plains 
 than those of Laconia, and enjoying a milder and more tempe- 
 rate climate. Its earhest known inhabitants were Leleges, and 
 its chief city in Homeric times was Pylos, in which reigned a 
 dynasty of Aeolian kings called Neleides. On the invasion of the 
 Dorians, Messenia fell to the lot of the Heraclid Cresphontes, 
 who is credited with having made a five-fold division of the 
 country, each with a principal city Stenyclerus, Pylus, Rhium, 
 Hyameis and Mesola and legends as usual follow as to the 
 various fates of his descendants. As in Laconia, the Dorian 
 
4-6 SJiort History of the Greeks. 
 
 conquest was gradual, beginning with Stenyclcrus on the 
 borders of Arcadia and going on to include other parts of the 
 country. The ancient inhabitants do not seem to have been 
 expelled, though reduced to the status of perioeci whenever 
 the Dorian conquerors got sufficient hold upon them. But it 
 is clear that this Dorian conquest was never complete, and that 
 Messenia remained to a great extent what it was before the 
 invasion. At any rate, no great Dorian city in it rose to the 
 commanding position occupied by Sparta in Laconia. The 
 enmity between the Messenians and the Spartans was of very 
 old standing, and seems to have begun as usual in quarrels as 
 to frontiers, and border raids. The western slopes of Taygetus 
 were easier and better for vines than the eastern, and when we 
 first know anything about the two countries the Spartans had 
 possessions on this western slope. There appear indeed to 
 have been ancient claims on the part of Sparta, making the 
 Pamisus instead of Mo-unt Taygetus the limit of their dominion. 
 But whether these claims were ever seriously made or not, in the 
 seventh century the two peoples seem to have agreed to a 
 frontier following the river Medon, which flows in a deep 
 valley through the centre of the range of Taygetus. At 
 Limnae the site of which has been proved by discoveries of 
 remains and inscriptions was a temple of Artemis Limnatis, 
 at which both Messenians and Spartans worshipped as stand- 
 ing on the borders of their respective dominions. But such 
 an agreement was certain to be subject to disputes and 
 reprisals. The history of the English and Scottish border in 
 the early centuries of our history would doubtless find many 
 parallels in that of Messenia and Laconia. The Spartans 
 always had their eyes fixed upon the better and more fruitful 
 ' lots ' of land in the plain of the Pamisus, and according to 
 tradition it was the murder of the Spartan king Talecles (8th 
 of the Agidae) near the shrine of Artemis Limnatis that brought 
 the quarrel to a crisis. Talecles is credited with a great exten- 
 sion of Spartan power in Laconia, and he may have also turned 
 
The First Messenian War, 47 
 
 his arms to the valley of the Pamisus. However that may be, 
 soon after his death began a more determined attempt on the 
 part of the Spartans to settle the Messenian question. They 
 descended from the frontier mountains and seized Thuria (once 
 called Anthea) in the basin of the lower Pamisus, a fertile and 
 well-watered district, and from this town as their basis wasted 
 the country round, until the Messenians fortifying themselves on 
 Mount Ithome made a long and desperate resistance. There 
 are traditions of more than one Spartan defeat in the long war 
 for freedom : but it was at length decided by the dogged per- 
 sistence of the Spartans under the vigorous leadership of the 
 kings Theopompus (b.c. 772 713) and Polydorus (b.c. 750 
 709). From that time the old royal cities of Messenia became 
 desolate, fortified villages or strongholds were dismantled, 
 and the remains of the national Aeolic king Aphareus were 
 removed to the market-place of Sparta, to mark it as the 
 capital of the two districts. The conquering Spartans treated 
 the lands as they had done those in Laconia. They took a 
 thousand new lots for their own citizens, which they worked by 
 natives in the position of helots, who paid half the produce to 
 their masters. Some whole communities were expelled, and 
 others more favourable to themselves put in their place. The 
 Messenian owners either emigrated to Sicily and Magna 
 Graecia, or stayed on in their holdings in the inferior position 
 of perioeci, paying a fixed proportion of the produce to the 
 Spartan State. The Spartan territory was more than doubled, 
 and the very name of Messenia, as a separate State, was 
 abolished ^ 
 
 But though conquered Messenia was not thoroughly 
 
 ^ The reader must be warned that the dates of these wars are very 
 uncertain, as also how far the effects here mentioned may be regarded as 
 following the first or second war. Our authority for them is mainly 
 Pausanias (2nd century A.D.) who seems to have relied mostly on the 
 Messeniaca of Myron of Priene (3rd century B.C.) and an Epic poem of 
 Rhianus of Crete (3rd century B.C.). 
 
48 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 subdued, and continued indeed to be a constant source of 
 trouble till its final separation from Sparta by 
 
 15. The 2nd ^ . , / 1. . r \ ^ 1 
 
 Messenian -t^paminondas (about B.C. 369). But no other 
 
 ^6o'(?f '^' ^^^ S^^^t movement took place for at least a generation 
 after the war of conquest. It was in the northern 
 part of the country noAV that the spirit of liberty was most 
 powerful, and the Spartan hold least firm : and it was round Eira 
 on the northern frontier, part of the mountain range separating 
 Messenia from Arcadia, that the next struggle was to be con- 
 centrated. About B.C. 685 the natural discontent arising from 
 the degraded state of the populace, and the severity of Spartan 
 rule, began to find expression among the highlanders of this 
 northern district. Like every national movement that has 
 been of any account, it owed such success as it attained, and at 
 any rate its prolongation, to the fact that a leader was found of 
 the right sort. What the Bruce was to Scotland, Llewellyn 
 to Wales, and the legendary Tell to the Swiss Cantons, that 
 Aristomenes was to the Messenians in the 7th century B.C. 
 Legend and myth clustered round his name, as it has round 
 that of most national heroes, and as late as B.C. 372, when at 
 the battle of Leuctra the great blow was struck which was soon 
 to shake off the yoke of Sparta and enable the Messenians 
 once more to become a people, the spirit of Aristomenes was 
 reported to have appeared aiding the Thebans and spreading 
 terror among the Spartan host. 
 
 We must not expect to be able to follow this war as we can 
 one related by contemporary authorities. But the broad out- 
 lines are probably not open to doubt. In the first place we 
 must observe that what is called the Second Messenian War 
 represents not only a Messenian movement, but a feeling of 
 dislike and dread of the rising Spartan power throughout the 
 Peloponnese. The Argives, Arcadians, Sicyonians, and Eleans 
 all seem to have fostered the rising or given secret promises 
 of help. Sparta was never a popular power. None of these 
 States however gave Aristomenes eftective aid. The Arcadians 
 
The Second Messenian War. 49 
 
 indeed made some show of doing so, but their king or duke 
 Aristocrates seems twice to have played the traitor. In the 
 first three years of the war legends tell of three great battles, at 
 Derae near the Spartan frontier, at the Boar's Tomb near 
 Stenyclerus, and at the Great Trench (r/ /xeyaAr; Td<f>po^). In 
 the first two success more or less decisive is claimed for Cleo- 
 menes, who after the first is even said to have made his way 
 into Sparta and nailed up a Spartan shield, which had been 
 left on the ground, in the temple of Athena Chalcioecus. The 
 Spartans however were encouraged to go on, it is said, by the 
 spirited songs and exhortations of Tyrtaeus, the lame poet 
 from Aphidna in Attica, who had been sent to Sparta, half in 
 scorn, by the x\thenians when asked for help. In the third 
 battle at the Great Trench Aristomenes betrayed by the 
 Arcadian king was utterly beaten, and escaping with some of his 
 followers fortified himself on Mount Eira. This post like that 
 of Ithome in the other war was maintained for eleven years, 
 during which a never-ending though desultory warfare went on, 
 accompanied by the usual romantic incidents and hair-breadth 
 escapes. It is, we should observe, a North Messenian war ; the 
 southern parts of the country seem to have been held securely 
 by the Spartans; only they had always to be on their guard 
 against sudden raids from Mount Eira, and were often put into 
 considerable danger. They had -to be always under arms, or 
 ready to be so at short notice, as it was never certain in what 
 direction the daring rebels would descend. Aristomenes himself 
 is credited with a variety of adventures, many of which are no 
 doubt founded on fact and are the inevitable consequences of 
 this sort of war, in which there is constant occasion for some 
 bold dash, some sudden attack, or some hasty retreat. The 
 stories of Bruce in Scotland will almost exactly represent to us 
 what the life of Aristomenes must have been. The best known 
 story is of his leading a bolder raid than usual as far as 
 Amyclae, within a few miles of Sparta itself. There he was 
 captured and thrown into a deep pit, called Keadae^ into which 
 
 s. G. 4. 
 
50 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the bodies of executed criminals were wont to be flung. After 
 two days and nights in this dark and noisome den, when he 
 had now given up all hope, he was dimly aware of some fox or 
 other wild beast gnawing the corpses. Where it got in, he 
 thought, he could get out. He seized its tail and followed it 
 till a faint stream of light shewed where the animal had bur- 
 rowed an entrance, and by that path he too now managed to 
 make his way into the upper air. So the old predatory war went 
 on, with other adventures and other escapes. The Spartans are 
 now assisted by the Corinthians, and at length surprise Eira by 
 a night attack and shut up Aristomenes in the fortification on 
 its summit. The Spartans, all through their history, shewed 
 to the least advantage when attacking such places. Their 
 training and arms were meant for fighting in the open, where 
 they were most successful ; but to take a fortress was always a 
 task they were ready to leave to allies. Thus they were now 
 glad to compound matters with Aristomenes after three days' 
 blockade. He and his men were allowed to march out in 
 safety with their women and children. But with the loss of 
 Eira all effective operations were at an end for him ; and after 
 some futile attempts to renew the war, his sons and his 
 followers mostly crossed the sea to Rhegium, and he himself 
 shortly afterwards went to the court of his son-in-law Damagetes, 
 king of lalysus in Rhodes, and there ended his days. 
 
 The result of this long struggle was the complete an- 
 nexation of Messenia, and its absorption in Laconia for about 
 300 years. Its inhabitants were mostly henceforth in the 
 position of helots, working the lands for the benefit of the 
 Spartan owners or the Spartan government. Spartan territory 
 was doubled, and Spartan influence became paramount through- 
 out the Peloponnese. 
 
 Of the non-Dorian inhabitants of the Peloponnese those 
 
 16. The most affected by the fall of the Messenians were 
 
 Eieans after ^^e Elcans. The inhabitants of the three 
 
 the Messenian ,. . , . . / \ -r^- \ m 
 
 wars. districts (i) Ehs proper, (2) Pisatis, (3) Tri- 
 
Elis and Argos, 51 
 
 phylla were originally called Epeians ; but after the admixture 
 of a number of Aeolian immigrants the name of Elis' and 
 Eleans gradually prevailed over the whole district. During 
 the second struggle between Sparta and the Messenians the 
 Pisatae and Triphylians, who favoured the Messenians, took 
 the opportunity of securing possession of Olympia, and ex- 
 cluded the other Eleans who favoured Sparta from the 
 festival. The end of the Messenian resistance and the triumph 
 of Sparta brought with it therefore the fall of the Pisatae and 
 the restoration of the Eleans to the presidency of the Olympic 
 festival. About b.c. 588 572 the Pisatae endeavoured to 
 recover this privilege, but were defeated, and their town so 
 completely destroyed, that its very existence became afterwards 
 a matter of dispute. Hence till about the time of the Pelo- 
 ponnesian war the Eleans were faithful allies of Sparta. 
 
 But though from this time the influence of Sparta was 
 paramount in the Peloponnese, there was never 
 wanting some determined opposition to it. This to^ihe'spartan 
 came chiefly from Argos and Arcadia. We have influence 
 seen that the Argives had originally occupied the 
 leading position in the Peloponnese which the Spartans had 
 been gradually acquiring for themselves. Since the time of 
 Pheidon (circ. 730 B.C.) the Argive influence had been on the 
 decline. It was less closely united in itself than Sparta; 
 Epidaurus, Troezen, Mycenae and Tiryns long maintained a 
 kind of independence, and a loose confederacy is always at a 
 disadvantage in a contest with a better organised State. When 
 the contest for the disputed territory of Cynuria was finally 
 decided in favour of Sparta, the Argives were no longer able to 
 dispute the supremacy; but they remained in opposition, in a 
 somewhat sullen reserve : and in after times we find the enemies 
 of Sparta always counting upon this traditional enmity in any 
 plan for raising an opposition to Sparta in the Peloponnese. 
 
 ^ The form of this word on the column at Delphi is FAAIS, which 
 is probably connected with vallis. 
 
 42 
 
52 SJiort History of the Greeks. 
 
 But the difference between Argive and Spartan policy was 
 not only connected with Peloponnesian politics. Argos was 
 regarded as the mother State of Crete, Rhodes, Cos, Cnidus 
 and Halicarnassus. Its interests therefore were with the East 
 rather than the West, and this was made clearer when the 
 Persians began interfering in Greece. 
 
 Other opposition to Spartan supremacy came from Arcadia, 
 i8. and in ^i^^ especially from Tegea. The Arcadians were 
 Arcadia. lookcd upon as the most ancient people in 
 
 Greece, that is to say, they were the people, more than any 
 other, as to whom no record existed either of their original 
 immigration or of any substantial change since. The moun- 
 tainous nature of the country for though the mountains of 
 the east are much lower than those in the west, it is through- 
 out a highland region no doubt contributed greatly to this 
 permanence. A nation of shepherds and huntsmen, they were 
 the Swiss of Greece, and had been able to resist even the 
 Dorian conquerors. Their reputation was high for kindness 
 and hospitality, for a primitive simplicity of life, and for their 
 cultivation and love of music. They had sided with the 
 Messenians both from their innate passion for freedom, and 
 because the encroachment of the Spartans was a frequent 
 source of danger to themselves. Thus they put to death 
 Aristocrates, king of Orchomenus, when he a second time 
 betrayed Aristomenes. But the country as a whole was not 
 united. There were at least three principal divisions, and there 
 were other towns which maintained a virtual isolation. The 
 State which most felt the danger of Spartan encroachment 
 was Tegea, a very ancient city whose importance was at least 
 as early as the Homeric poems. Its territory embraced nine 
 townships (8^/xot) and its inhabitants were divided into nine 
 tribes. Its importance arose from the fact that it barred the 
 road into Arcadia and the north, and the Spartans therefore 
 made constant efforts to reduce it to obedience. Legends 
 of contests begin with the very beginning of Doric Sparta, and 
 
Arcadia and Achaia. 53 
 
 continue at intervals for a long time afterwards. It was not 
 till B.C. 560 that the Tegeans were compelled to acknowledge 
 Spartan supremacy and to furnish a contingent to the army 
 when Sparta demanded it. Yet Tegea remained independent 
 even after that, and was reckoned by Herodotus as the second 
 military power in the Peloponnese. Wars between it and 
 Sparta are twice recorded after B.C. 480 ; and its great temple 
 of Athena Alea remained a place of refuge for men flying from 
 Spartan law. 
 
 The remaining district of the Peloponnese which, for a 
 time at least, held aloof from the Spartan alliance 
 was Achaia. As Wales became the refuge of ^^* 
 the Celtic natives of Britain before the conquering Saxon, so 
 Achaia received the remains of the old Achaeans who fled 
 before the Dorian conquerors, and preserved their name ; 
 while many of its Ionian inhabitants migrated to Attica. It 
 included from very ancient times a league of twelve cities, and 
 its inhabitants enjoyed a high reputation for probity and honour, 
 and though they did not in early times come forward much 
 in the internal politics of Greece, they were very active and 
 successful as colonisers in Italy and Sicily. Some time before 
 the Peloponnesian war they had submitted to acknowledge the 
 supremacy of Sparta in some shape, we do not know how 
 far, but it did not extend to anything like complete loss of 
 independence. 
 
 Such in general outline was the political state of the 
 Peloponnesus when we take up Greek history ^^ summary 
 in the 6th century. Sparta has made itself the of Peioponne- 
 leading State, has absorbed the Cynurian district 
 and Messenia, has gained the alliance, on more or less com- 
 pulsory terms, of Corinth, Sicyon, Tegea, the Eleans, Achaia. 
 The one part in which she can exercise no influence is Argolis. 
 But the Argives are weak, and while holding sullenly aloof, 
 cannot hope to offer any effective resistance to Spartan power. 
 The Spartans themselves have in virtue of their ancient consti- 
 
54 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 tution and discipline become what we know them afterwards, 
 a nation apart and peculiar, a nation of soldiers holding down 
 an enslaved and hostile population, and not only devoted 
 to their own oligarchical form of government, but ready 
 to promote it everywhere else as against tyranny or demo- 
 cracy. 
 
 Coin of Corinth. 
 
55 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Athens and Attica. 
 
 Of the vast influence exercised by Greek art and philosophy 
 upon the thoughts, and therefore upon the 
 history, of mankind, Athens must be looked complrative 
 upon as the main source. Many of the great lateness of the 
 
 11 r 11 r. 11, "se of Athens. 
 
 wnters who have so profoundly mfluenced all 
 succeeding literature were Athenians ; many were attracted to 
 Athens as the seat of learning and the centre of all culture ; 
 and she became in time, as Pericles wished, the ' School of 
 Greece.' It is natural therefore that the history of Athens 
 should occupy a very large place in that of the Greeks. Still 
 the rise of Athens, both in material and intellectual influence, 
 was comparatively late in Greek history. The place occupied 
 by Athens in the Iliad is a very subordinate one, if indeed the 
 mention of it at all is not a later insertion. Her part in the 
 Ionian settlements in Asia is not very distinct or well defined ; 
 and though her successful attempt to establish her possession 
 of Sigeum against the Mitylenians in the 7th ^entury shews 
 that the Athenians were already vigorous and looking out 
 for external dominion, yet as late as the beginning of the 
 5th century B.C. she was still so far from having developed 
 a naval power that she had to hire or borrow triremes for 
 the war with Aegina. So also on the intellectual side : a 
 considerable literature had grown up among the Greeks 
 before Atfiens began to make any important contributions to 
 
56 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 it. The Homeric epics and hymns, Hesiod, and the writings of 
 the Cyclic poets, are all unconnected with Athens. There are 
 no Athenian lyrics, and no elegiac poets before Solon ; the 
 earliest history was not Athenian. Herodotus and his con- 
 temporary Hellanicus, and his predecessor Hecataeus, were 
 Asiatic or Island Greeks ; Pindar was a Boeotian ; Bacchylides 
 and Simonides were islanders. The rise of Athens begins with 
 the rule of Peisistratus (b.c. 560), although, as we shall see, 
 even before that she had begun to occupy a peculiar and 
 interesting place in Greece. When she did acquire a com- 
 manding position among other Greek States, she did not 
 maintain the material supremacy very long, but the intellectual 
 supremacy was won for ever and still survives. 
 
 The primary facts in regard to a country affecting its 
 
 2. Geogra- wholc hlstory are its geographical position and 
 
 phicai position the nature of its surface. Attica is a triangular 
 
 and natural - , . , i i i i 
 
 features of country, two sidcs of which are washed by the 
 
 ^"^^^' sea, while its base is formed by Mount Cithae- 
 
 ron and its southern or Eleusinian spur, separating it from 
 Boeotia and Megara, and its eastern extension called Parnes. 
 These mountains have at least three passes, but of sufficient 
 difficulty to admit of defence. The easiest and most natural 
 road from Thebes to the south passed by Eleusis to Megara, 
 thus only skirting Attica proper. Its area is about 700 square 
 miles rather more than half the size of Cornwall or 740, 
 if the island of Salamis be counted in. It is divided into 
 five natural divisions by the formation of its mountains the 
 Paralia or district along the south-western coasts ; the Mesogaia 
 or inland district bounded by the mountains Pentelicus and 
 Hymettus ; the eastern coast ; two plains, those of Athens and 
 Eleusis ; and a highland district (Diacria) north-east of- Athens, 
 with no other plain except that of Marathon. The soil is 
 light and dry, well suited for certain fruits such as olives and 
 figs, and in many parts for vines, but not for corn. A con- 
 siderable amount of corn indeed was grown in Attica, but 
 
Early History of Attica, 57 
 
 it was the result of hard toil and careful cultivation, and 
 probably never sufficed for the inhabitants, certainly it never 
 caused Attica to be an object of envy as an agricultural district. 
 Wild flowers were abundant, especially in the district ot 
 Hymettus, leading to the cultivation of bees and the pro- 
 duction of good honey. Its nearness to the sea helps to 
 give Attica a healthy and comparatively temperate climate, 
 and it is particularly noted for its bright and pure atmosphere. 
 The greatest source of wealth to Attica however was the silver 
 from the mines near Sunium, the southern apex of the triangle. 
 Xenophon asserts that these mines had been worked from 
 remote antiquity ; but the earliest known Attic silver coin does 
 not appear to date before about b.c. 590, and, though they no 
 doubt were worked with increased energy after that time, the 
 earliest mention of these mines in literature is in the Persae of 
 Aeschylus, first exhibited in B.C. 472. 
 
 Let us see what effect these natural features of the country 
 had upon its history. In the first place, lying 
 out of the direct highway from north to south, mythology 
 and having nothing in the nature of its soil to and history 
 
 1 rr ^ , , , , o^ Attica. 
 
 attract mvaders, it surtered much less than other 
 districts from displacements of population. This fact was 
 symbolised in the myths that affirmed the people of Attica to 
 have been born from the soil, autochthonous, and represented 
 the earliest king Cecrops, acknowledged as in some way 
 combining the rule of all Attica, as being half man and half 
 snake; while the earliest eponymous or name-hero of the 
 Athenians was Erechtheus or Erechthonius, a child born of 
 Mother Earth, delivered to Athena, and in her turn committed 
 to the care of the daughters of Cecrops. These myths repre- 
 sent a fact that the inhabitants of Attica had been in the 
 country beyond the memory of man. And consequently we 
 find that they were regarded as connected with what Thucydides 
 says was the largest of the prae-Hellenic peoples, the Pelasgi. 
 The position of the country also caused it to be sought as 
 
58 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 a place of refuge by people expelled from other countries. 
 Thus in mythology it is Athens that offers hospitality to the 
 Heracleidae, or sons of Heracles, when expelled from Argolis ; 
 and, coming nearer to historical times, it is at Athens that the 
 lonians, driven from Achaia by Achaeans who were retiring 
 before the Dorian invaders, first find a refuge before passing 
 on to Asia. There is hardly any characteristic of Attic habits 
 more frequently mentioned with approbation than that of the 
 welcome always extended to strangers so sharply in contrast 
 with the xenelasia of the Spartans. If we may trust the analogy 
 of other countries, this must have affected the character of the 
 people by bringing men of energy and skill into the land, 
 introducing new thoughts, aims, and industries, and forming 
 that activity and alertness of genius which distinguished the 
 Athenians among the other Greeks. Again the poorness of 
 the soil, combined with the extent of sea-line and the existence 
 of convenient landing-places, must have from early times 
 induced many of the inhabitants to seek by labour in the sea or 
 commerce what the soil hardly supplied in sufficient abundance 
 for all. It was a question that had early to be determined 
 should they remain at home and cultivate the unkindly soil, 
 or seek their fortunes on the sea? This debate is partly 
 represented under the myth of the contest between Athena 
 and Poseidon for the possession of the land. Poseidon struck 
 the earth and up sprang a horse, the emblem of war : Athena 
 touched the soil and there sprang up an olive, the emblem 
 of peace. The judges assigned the land to her as having 
 produced what was best for man. Attica was then to shine 
 in the arts of peace, and all those accomplishments of wisdom 
 and learning of which Athena who sprang ready armed from 
 the brain of Zeus was patron goddess. And such indeed was 
 to be her fate. It was only as a comparatively brief episode 
 a short period in the life of a nation that Athens played the 
 part of a naval and military power, of an imperial State forcing 
 its authority on unwilling subjects. The real empire of Athens, 
 
The Inhabitants of Attica. 59 
 
 viewed in the light of world-history, has been a spiritual 
 empire. One great material service indeed she rendered to 
 Europe in heading and inspiring the resistance to invasion 
 from the East ; but her other generals and admirals fought 
 and died in local contests of little significance in general 
 history. Her real heroes were her poets and philosophers. 
 
 Again, the variety in its natural formation produced a 
 difference also in the nature and employments of the inhabitants 
 of Attica. ThQpedieis or men of the plain possessed the best 
 lands for cultivation and grew to be wealthy and inclined to 
 regular civil life. The epacrii^ or highlanders, lived a harder 
 life, depending on the game to be found in the mountains, or 
 wringing a sustenance with greater difficulty from an unwilling 
 soil, and wandering with their sheep and goats through wilder 
 scenes. These were less inclined as highlanders always are 
 to submit to the restraints of social life. The parali, men of 
 the coast, made their living by fishing ; and the hardness of 
 their life and its dangers, and the scantiness of their earnings, 
 caused them rather to sympathise with the men of the heights 
 than with the well-to-do farmers of the plains. 
 
 From its position, within easy distance of two good har- 
 bours, and its possession of that chief deside- ^^^^ 
 ratum of a Greek town, a strong acropolis, political divi- 
 capable of being fortified and defended, as well ^^" 
 as from its situation in the best plain of Attica, Athens was 
 plainly destined to be the ruling power in the whole district. 
 But there was a time when it was not so. The inhabitants 
 divided into clans (yeViy) lived as did other Aryan peoples in 
 separate towns and villages (TrdXcts, Kw/xai), each with its own 
 chief's house {prytaneiuw) and council chamber {bouleuteriutn) 
 and place of assembly or discussion (lesche). The prytanis or 
 chief, originally perhaps called pater, was afterwards called 
 basileus. Some of the villages were larger than others and 
 made up of subordinate villages or deines. But all were sepa- 
 rate and independent, and admission to the full privileges of a 
 
6o SJio7't History of tJie Greeks. 
 
 citizen in them depended on belonging by pure blood to 
 certain families of which the number in each clan was tradi- 
 tionally thirty. These privileges included a share in a common 
 burial place, certain rights of succession and of property, rights 
 of marriage, and a share in the use of common land ; while in 
 return each owed obedience to certain principles of right and 
 wrong, were obliged to render certain acts of mutual help, and 
 worshipped common gods, Apollo Patrous and Zeus Herceius 
 (Zeus of the homestead). A certain number of these clans, 
 again traditionally thirty, combined to form a polis. There 
 were said to be twelve poleis in Attica : and the clans thus 
 forming the polis^ though separate in some respects, were all 
 phratores to each other and formed a phratria, also with a 
 common object of worship and common duties of mutual 
 protection. 
 
 The work of combining these twelve poieis or States into 
 ^^ one ((n;rotKtcr/xd?) was always attributed to The- 
 
 Synoecismos scus, who thus became the hero of the whole 
 o eseus. Athenian State. It is very likely, as often happens, 
 that a single person is credited with what was a gradual pro- 
 cess; and many maintain that what was really to be attributed 
 to Theseus was the combination of some villages^ into the 
 single city of Athens round the Acropolis, and not the 
 combination of the twelve Attic cities into one State with 
 Athens as the capital city. As such a theory rests entirely 
 on conjectural explanations of myths and words, it cannot 
 be really proved or disproved. What we have to note is 
 that some time before the eighth century the separate com-y 
 munities in Attica had ceased to be autonomous ; instead of 
 the leschai in the separate towns there was an assembly at 
 Athens, and a bouleuterium and piyianeium at Athens instead 
 of the local ones : and above all a basileus or king at Athens, 
 instead of the separate village chiefs. The local organisations 
 
 ^ Cecropia, Helicon, Eleusium, Melite are the four comae, named by 
 some as thus combined in one city. 
 
The Union of Attica. 6i 
 
 probably remained for certain purposes, as that of the phratria 
 for the recognition of children. And another division of the 
 people, perhaps as old as any, into the four Ionic tribes 
 Hoplites (military), Aegicoreis (goatherds and shepherds), 
 Argadeis (labourers), and Geleontes remained, and was used 
 by the kings for political purposes, such as the levying of con- 
 tributions. It is uncertain whether these tribes were local and 
 corresponded roughly to the division mentioned before of the 
 men of the plain, the mountains, and the sea-coast, or whether 
 they were entirely castes^ divided according to the prevailing 
 occupations of their members. As to the meaning of the 
 fourth, the Geleontes, there is much dispute, but it seems 
 likely that in some way it indicates a priestly, or priestly and 
 martial, class. 
 
 Of the hero Theseus, to whom this combination of the sepa- 
 rate Attic cities was attributed, there are many other traditions. 
 He was said to have practically established many democratical 
 institutions, equality of rights in all citizens, the proclamation 
 invoking the general assembly, the use of coined money, and 
 certain religious rites. He was also a kind of rival Heracles, 
 subduing monsters, and sailing to the Pontus to attack the 
 Amazons. After the Persian war, when the Athenians, proud 
 of their sacrifices and success, were looking out for means to 
 give dignity to their restored city, a commission was sent, in 
 obedience to an oracle, to the island of Scyros, where Theseus 
 was believed to have died, and the bones of a man of heroic 
 size found there were solemnly brought to Athens, and a 
 temple was built over them in the Ceramicus, with special 
 rights of sanctuary \ 
 
 According to the common story the institution of a life 
 king {basileus) came to an end with the death 
 of Codrus, who, when the Dorians from Pelo- archon.^^ ^^^^ 
 ponnesus invaded Attica, devoted himself for his 
 country. An oracle had said that the side would win whose 
 ^ The temple now called the Theseium is probably not this building. 
 
62 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 king perished. Thereupon Codrus disguised himself, and going 
 among the Dorian soldiers provoked them to kill him. The 
 Athenians in honour of his heroism determined that no one 
 should be a basileus after him. This was one way of account- 
 ing for a great change that before the time of regular history 
 had taken place at Athens. It is probable however that the 
 change was gradual. The title of basileus in fact was never 
 abolished, though the office gradually lost many of its preroga- 
 tives and its monarchical position. For a new classification of 
 the people now appears the Eupatridae (nobles), the Geomori 
 (landowners), and the Demiurgi (handicraftsmen). The Eupa- 
 trids, as oligarchical nobles always were, would be enemies of 
 monarchy. We find therefore that the power of the basileus is 
 weakened by the appointment of a polemarch, to lead the 
 army in war, at first owing to the incompetence of some 
 basileus. Yet the basileus still remains for certain religious 
 and State functions : but he is now styled king archon (apjj^wi/ 
 /3acrtA,vs) to distinguish him from the war archon {apxoiv -rroXi- 
 fxapxo^). The office was confined to one clan called the 
 Medontidae, and the king archon was elected for life. 
 
 But in B.C. 753 the life tenure was abolished, and a period 
 ^ of ten years substituted, though the office was 
 
 7. Ten years' , ' ^ o 
 
 archon, and Still Confined to the Medontidae. In B.C. 713 
 yearly archons. ^^^ Mcdontidac wcrc deprived of this privilege 
 and the ten years' archonship was thrown open to all Eupatrids, 
 This then represents a chang^ in the direction of oligarchy, in 
 which the highest office is retained by one class. In B.C. 684 
 a farther step was taken against personal rule. The decennial 
 archonship was abolished, and the office put as it were into 
 commission, nine archons being elected every year. 
 
 The first three of these archons performed the chief func- 
 tions once performed by one. But in them the 
 archons.^ "'"^ ^:^z7.?2/^ takes the second place, and the pole- 
 marchus the third. The chief of the nine is 
 called ^//(? Archon, and gives his name to the year (Eponymous). 
 
Early Government of Athens. 63 
 
 The remaining six were called Thesmothetae (makers of dooms), 
 their function being from the first judicial. They had to 
 decide cases according to custom and traditional rules; and, 
 when there are no written laws, this practically amounts to 
 legislation. But the inevitable result of this subdivision of 
 functions was the weakening of the archonship as representing 
 the government. One by one these functions were curtailed 
 or more closely defined, and they gradually became mere 
 administrative magistrates. One of the chief functions of 
 government that of dealing with foreign nations was even- 
 tually delegated to a specially elected board of generals or 
 strategi. This was much later : but as the ancient boule (after- 
 wards called the Boul^ of the Areopagus to distinguish it from 
 the boule of 401) was replenished from ex-archons, who were 
 members for life, the hold of the Eupatrids upon the govern- 
 ment was still maintained, and for a time Athens was a close 
 oligarchy. P'or this boule conducted the whole internal admin- 
 istration, inflicted summary punishments on offenders against 
 order, and saw that the customs and traditional rules were 
 obeyed. 
 
 The first inroad upon this oligarchy of the Eupatrids was 
 the beginning of a written code of laws. Like 
 the decem viral legislation at Rome, the laws ^^ foi**^* 
 attributed to Draco were neither mild nor demo- 
 cratic. But it is a step towards liberty that punishments should 
 no longer depend on the will of a magistrate or a council, but 
 on a written enactment known to all and applicable to all. 
 The laws of Draco, we are told, were merciless in their severity. 
 Murder, adultery, sacrilege, theft, were all alike punished by 
 death. " Draco's laws," it was said, " were written in blood " ! 
 " They were not laws of a human being," says Aristotle, " but 
 of a dragon." Still they were laws ; the penalties attaching to 
 their breach were known, and did not depend upon the deci- 
 sions of magistrates or boule. The court of Ephetae (51), 
 also attributed to Draco, was perhaps intended as a farther 
 
64 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 restraint upon magisterial caprice. The Ephetae were elected 
 on the score of merit {i.e. not by lot) and acted as a court of 
 appeal from the decision of the archon. Their functions were 
 afterwards limited, but they in a way anticipated the courts of 
 a later time. Draco's legislation does not appear to have been 
 shocking to the men of his day, and indeed the extraordinary 
 number of offences to which the death penalty was attached 
 continued to mark Athenian law unfavourably to a very late 
 time. And though Solon is said to have repealed all except 
 those referring to murder, yet a number of laws of unknown 
 antiquity engraved on tablets or cylinders (p. 75) were pre- 
 served in the Acropolis and were referred almost indiscri- 
 minately to Draco and Solon. As late as B.C. 404 3, having 
 never been repealed, though fallen into disuse, they were 
 ordered by a popular vote to be in force until a commission 
 appointed to revise them should have finished its labours. 
 
 This was nearly all that was known of Draco till lately. 
 The "^^ ^^^ regarded as the author of certain laws 
 
 'Constitution dealing with particular crimes, but not as a 
 and its^vfew reformer of the constitution. But the discovery 
 of Draco. g, few years ago of the Constitution of Athens^ 
 
 attributed to Aristotle, put the character of Draco in a new 
 light. In this work (c. 4) he is represented as having wholly 
 remodelled the constitution ; and institutions once believed to 
 have belonged to the age of Solon are attributed to him. 
 
 Briefly the constitution thus assigned to him is as follows. 
 He found the existing definition of citizens, i.e. men possessed 
 with full civil rights, to be ' those who could provide their own 
 arms.' From this body of men were to be selected (i) archons 
 and stewards of the temples, (2) lower magistrates, (3) strategi 
 and hipparchs, (4) a boule of 401. All were to be over thirty 
 years of age, and all, except the strategi and hipparchs, were 
 to be selected by lot. But the archons and stewards of the 
 temples could only be selected from those who had a property 
 qualification valued at ten minae (1000 drachmae, about ;^4o). 
 
Dracds supposed Constitution. 65 
 
 and the strategi and hipparchs from those having land 
 valued at 100 minae (10,000 drachmae, about ;4oo), in both 
 cases free from mortgage. The other minor offices required 
 no property qualification beyond that of the men being able to 
 supply their own arms. The strategi and hipparchs were 
 also to be married and have legitimate children over ten 
 years of age. Till all who were qualified had held office once, 
 no one was to hold office twice. Non-attendance at the boule 
 of 401 was to be punishable by fine. The boule of the Areo- 
 pagus was to have general superintendence of the laws, and 
 before it any citizen might impeach another by whom he con- 
 ceived himself to be treated illegally. There is no mention of 
 a general assembly, but perhaps that is implied in the citizens 
 ' able to supply their own arms,' though nothing is said of what 
 they are to do or how they are to meet. This *timocracy' or 
 * civil rights according to property ' is the basis of the Solonian 
 constitution also, and the provisions attributed to Draco are 
 in some respects more liberal, particularly in the amount of 
 property qualifications for the archonship. The use of the lot 
 also had generally been assigned to a still later age. Accordingly 
 many critics refuse to accept this account, and believe it to have 
 been falsely alleged by later reformers, who wished to shew that 
 the changes introduced by themselves were in harmony with 
 the most ancient constitution of Athens. It is however more 
 natural that such a constitution as Solon's should be founded 
 on and developed from what had gone before, rather than 
 spring ready made from his own brain. Election by lot 
 connected with the religious idea of leaving the choice of 
 apparently equal claims to the gods was probably of great 
 antiquity. But the strategi mentioned cannot be the board 
 of ten instituted after B.C. 510 by Cleisthenes. They were 
 probably military commanders elected when required. Lastly 
 the remark of Aristotle in another book that Draco 'made 
 no change in the constitution' may be explained by the 
 fact that he found and left the full franchise confined to 
 s. G. c 
 
66 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the citizens able to supply their own arms ; that he left the 
 boule of the Areopagus in the same position as he found it, 
 without transferring any of its functions to any other body; and, 
 finally, that he left the magistrates also as he found them. His 
 only change was to limit the citizens eligible to office by a 
 property qualification, which very likely did not much alter 
 what was practically, if not legally, the case before; for the 
 Eupatrids, who had alone had the right, would even now 
 form the great majority of the class possessed of the necessary 
 property. The magistrates, and especially the military strategus 
 and hipparchs, would still be generally Eupatrids, though in 
 theory they need not be. 
 
 Such a close constitution alw^ays offered inducements to an 
 
 ambitious man, acting as champion of the ex- 
 b"'. 6iif(?)"' eluded or practically excluded classes, to attempt 
 
 a revolution. There were enough grievances 
 among the people to make it easy for a reformer to get a 
 party such as the tyranny of the rich over the poor, the 
 absolute mastery given to creditors by law or custom over the 
 persons of their debtors, to say nothing of the exclusion of the 
 great mass of people from political privileges. Accordingly 
 soon after the time of Draco such a leader was found in Cylon'. 
 We know little of the man and his objects ; but his movement 
 is represented by all authorities as an attempt to establish a 
 tyrannis. It was at any rate one that the oligarchical Eupatrids 
 disliked. If however he, as usual with such conspirators, pro- 
 fessed to be acting in the interests of the lower orders, he soon 
 forfeited their confidence. He was of high birth and had won 
 
 1 The treatise on the 'Athenian Constitution' has introduced another 
 difficulty into the received account of Cylon by putting his conspiracy 
 before the legislation of Draco. This had been conjectured previously by 
 some scholars, as best explaining the course of events and the reforms of 
 Draco. There are however many difficulties in accepting this view, though 
 there is nothing in the notices of Herodotus or Thucydides which makes it 
 impossible. 
 
Co7ispiracy of Cylon. 6^ 
 
 the much valued distinction of an Olympic victory in the long 
 foot-race. He had married the daughter of Theagenes, tyrant 
 of Megara. His sympathies were therefore probably against 
 oligarchy, though in favour of Dorian influence at Athens, and 
 the attempt he now made was in consequence of an answer of 
 the oracle at Delphi, which was always inclined to favour 
 Dorian States. At any rate when the oracle told him to seize 
 the Acropolis at ' the chief feast of Zeus,' he took advantage 
 of the next Olympic festival to appear at the head of a band of 
 armed men borrowed from his father-in-law Theagenes, and, 
 yrith other friends, seized on the Acropolis. If he ever had 
 the sympathy of the citizens at large he lost it now. The 
 people gathered from all sides and laid siege to him. But as 
 he held out a long time, the first enthusiasm died out, and the 
 siege was left in the hands of the archons, chief of whom was 
 Megacles of the great Alcmaeonid clan. When the conspirators 
 were almost reduced to starvation, Cylon and his brother con- 
 trived to escape : the rest took up the position of suppliants at 
 the altar of Athena on the Acropolis. After a time they were 
 promised their lives, lest they should defile the temple by their 
 death, and were thus induced to come down. They fastened 
 a cord to the image of the goddess to which they held as they 
 descended, more effectually to preserve their claim to the 
 protection of her sanctuary. But so it is said the cord 
 broke and the archons at once put them all to death, includ- 
 ing some who fled for refuge to the altar of the Eumenides. 
 This act was held to put the whole Alcmaeonid clan under a 
 curse (ayos), in consequence of which we shall presently hear 
 of their banishment. They were indeed afterwards restored, 
 but were always looked on with suspicion, and in more than 
 one instance the Spartans used this suspicion to discredit the 
 leading statesmen in Athens as in the case of Cleisthenes and 
 Pericles. Whether, then, the attempt of Cylon ever had 
 popular sympathy or not, it is evident that the oligarchic 
 Eupatrids had the greatest interest in suppressing it. The 
 
68 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 people were indifferent, or soon became so, and all the dis- 
 credit of the measures taken against the conspirators fell upon 
 the Eupatrids. The seizure of the Acropolis by the aid of 
 Megarians was enough perhaps to alienate any popular sym- 
 pathy Cylon may ever have had. The credit of the oracle was 
 as usual saved by the explanation that by *the chief feast of 
 Zeus ' was meant not the Olympic festival, but the Diasia, a 
 festival of Zeus celebrated by the Athenian people outside 
 the city. 
 
 The glimpses which we get of Athenian history after the 
 Solon unsuccessful attempt of Cylon are not very 
 born about satisfying. The acquisition of Sigeum (about 
 
 B.C. 635. ^^^ ^^^^ shews that the Athenians were be- 
 
 ginning to look abroad for possessions to secure their trade 
 and commerce; but their weakness at home is shewn by it 
 still being a disputed point whether the island of Salamis, 
 naturally almost a part of Attica, should belong to them or the 
 Megarians : while among their own people nothing had been 
 effected by the reforms of Draco towards improving the 
 relations between rich and poor. Indigent farmers, whether 
 small landowners, or tenants paying a sixth of the produce 
 to their lords {Jiectenioroi)^ still groaned under a load of debt, 
 which meant not only ruin, but often slavery also to themselves 
 or their children. The next attempt to remedy this state of 
 things was made by Solon. Like most reformers in Greece 
 he was not one of the oppressed class. The son of Exekestides 
 was an Eupatrid, said even to belong to the Medontidae who 
 traced their descent from Medon son of king Codrus. His 
 father had diminished the family property, and Solon had 
 as a young man betaken himself to foreign commerce. But 
 he had availed himself also of the opportunities of travel thus 
 given him to widen his knowledge of other peoples, their 
 institutions, and their learning. He was not a philosopher 
 in the sense afterwards attaching to that word. We know of 
 no speculations of his on nature, or the operations of the 
 
Solon and the Island Salamis. 69 
 
 mind, or the theory of ethics. He studied what we should 
 call social science and politics, the application of virtue and 
 sagacity to the framing of a constitution, and the drawing up 
 in a State of laws best calculated to secure the well-being of 
 its citizens. His own ideal for himself he declared to be 
 "to grow old ever learning"; and while acknowledging the 
 practical value of wealth, he declares, like Hesiod, that "if 
 unjustly gained it buys loss." " Many base men," he says, 
 " are rich ; many good are poor. I would not change virtue 
 for wealth : for virtue abideth ever : wealth is now one man's 
 now another's." " Our State," he says again, " will not perish 
 of itself, or by the action of the gods : it is our own citizens 
 corrupted by bribes, it is the injustice and arrogance of our 
 leaders, it is our neglect of justice, that will breed civil war and 
 all its ruin and destruction." The art or practice of oratory 
 was not yet born, and his maxims were delivered in. the shape 
 of elegiac verses, as most likely to stick in the mind. In 
 this form he put forth his social and political doctrines, 
 winning the sort of reputation which in after times men gained 
 by speeches, or in our own by writing in the Press. 
 
 Three questions which greatly affected the well-being of 
 Athens came to the front early in his career, 
 and gave him opportunities of gaining the public services 
 confidence of his countrymen. One was the gaiamis. 
 possession of the island of Salamis. The island 
 was of great importance in regard to the freedom of navi- 
 gation in the Saronic gulf, and became still more important 
 in after years when the harbour of .Athens was removed to 
 the Peiraeus from the bay of Phalerum. Intermittent war 
 with Megara had long been going on for its possession, and 
 Athens had suffered many disasters, so that, it is said, the 
 Eupatrids had passed a law inflicting death on anyone who 
 proposed to renew the Athenian claim. Solon, who believed 
 that one of the best chances of reforming the evils at home was 
 that Athens should become a stronger State, was filled with 
 
70 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 indignation and shame at such a public confession of failure. 
 Assuming the appearance of supernatural excitement he hurried 
 into the agora. A crowd gathered round him and he ad- 
 dressed them as usual in verses, of which a few have been 
 preserved. " A herald I am come myself from lovely Salamisy 
 
 with a stave of ordered verse in lieu of a speech Would 
 
 I could change countries and were a citizen of Pholegandros 
 or Sicinos and not of Athens ! For all the world will soon 
 be saying, ' Lo, an Athenian ! one of those who gave up 
 
 Salamis ! ' Nay, to Salamis we will go, to light for the 
 
 lovely isle, and to rid us of the burden of our shame ! " The 
 effect of this poem in securing the repeal of the law seems 
 to imply the existence of a popular assembly, but it is the 
 first we hear of its positive action. Of the way in which 
 the Athenians did eventually secure Salamis two stories are 
 related. First that Solon sent a pretended deserter to the 
 Megarian garrison in the island to persuade them to seize the 
 opportunity of the festival of Aphrodite Kolias, near Sunium, 
 to carry off the Attic women engaged in it and hold them 
 as hostages. The women were meanwhile withdrawn, and 
 when the Megarians rowed across to take them, they were 
 rewarded by deadly thrusts from the daggers of the youths 
 who had been dressed up to represent the women. While 
 they were thus engaged, Solon crossed to Salamis with 
 Athenian troops and captured the island. Another story 
 represents the dispute as referred to Spartan arbitration. Solon 
 pleaded the Athenian cause and argued, {a) that in the cata- 
 logue of the ships in the second book of the Iliad, Ajax is 
 represented as having his ships next to those of Athens; 
 {b) that the sons of Ajax Philaeus and Eurysakes gave 
 up the island to Athens and settled in Attica, one of the 
 Attic demes being called after the former Philaides\ {c) that 
 an examination of the tombs shewed that in old times the 
 Salaminians were buried in the Attic manner, one in each 
 grave, and facing the west, whereas the Megarians buried 
 
Conquest of Salamis and Holy War. 71 
 
 their dead facing the east and several in one grave ; {d) that 
 there existed oracles in which Salamis was called Ionian. 
 These arguments would have greater weight than we should 
 perhaps expect. The reference to the graves, like that of 
 Thucydides to the Carians buried in the islands, was in its 
 way a good piece of historical evidence. And whether Solon, 
 as has been supposed, foisted into the Iliad the verse as to the 
 Athenian ships or not, the decision of the Spartan arbitrators 
 in favour of Athens was regarded as chiefly owing to his 
 wisdom, and helped to make him the leading statesman and 
 referee in all difficulties. 
 
 In another matter Solon came forward not only as an 
 Athenian statesman, but as promoting the in- ^ g^j^^ 
 terests of Greece generally. The temple of and the sacred 
 Delphi with its oracle was by this time becoming ^^^' ' ' ^^^" 
 the centre of Greek life, appealed to in all difficulties private 
 or public, and resorted to from all parts. It was therefore 
 of great importance that access to it should be easy and safe. 
 But the people of Cirrha, the port of Delphi, not only levied a 
 heavy toll on worshippers arriving in their harbour, but had also 
 committed many acts of aggression on the sacred territory. 
 The Amphictyonic league at length under pressure, it is said, 
 from Solon proclaimed a kind of holy war against the Cir- 
 rhaeans, something like the crusade undertaken to free Christian 
 pilgrims from the tax levied by the Saracens at the gates of 
 Jerusalem. Though Solon did not command in the war, its 
 success, after ten years of struggle, was believed to have owed 
 much to his wise advice. The city and its territory were taken 
 and made wholly the property of the god, the Cirrhaean plain 
 being for ever withdrawn from cultivation. 
 
 Yet another service was done by Solon to his country. 
 The * curse' (ayo?), brought upon the people 
 by the violation of the sanctuary by the archon Aicmaeonidae 
 in suppressing the Cylonian conspiracy, was f^^^^^^, 
 believed to have been the cause of great miseries 
 
72 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 to the country. The popular party remnants perhaps of the 
 Cylonians were ready to attribute to it the losses in the 
 Megarian wars, bad seasons, and epidemics which seem to 
 have occurred at this time, bringing with them increased 
 poverty and debt among the farmers, and a general feeling 
 of uneasiness to all. Again it was Solon who suggested and 
 secured that the Alcmaeonidae the family to which the 
 offending archon Megacles belonged should submit to the 
 decision of a court of 300 chosen judges. A certain Myro 
 of the deme Phlya acted as accuser. They were condemned 
 and the whole family exiled, even their dead being taken 
 from their graves and cast over the frontier. The court was 
 probably composed of Eupatrids, it was not elected by lot but 
 on merit (dpKTTLvSrjv), which includes the idea of high birth : 
 but it seems to have commanded universal acceptance. Such 
 a method of settling an important public question was a great 
 advance in the direction of law and order. 
 
 How serious the alarm had been is shewn by what followed, 
 g J, ._ Even after the expulsion of the Alcmaeonidae 
 
 menides of the people felt uneasy as to the curse which had 
 been incurred by the city, a feeling heightened, 
 it is said, by the lingering of the epidemic. It was necessary 
 to purify the city more completely. Accordingly a renowned 
 sage, Epimenides of Crete, was invited to visit Athens. All 
 sorts of wonderful stories were told of him. He was the son 
 of a nymph; he had once slept in a cave for 57 years; 
 he was more than 150 years old; he was the special favourite 
 of Zeus, and the like. A ship was sent for him, and, when he 
 came, he taught the people how to purify the city and appease 
 the gods. The existence of altars at Athens without the name 
 of any particular deity was accounted for afterwards by the 
 story that he bade altars to be built on the Acropolis wherever 
 a black or a white sheep, allowed to stray at will, chanced 
 to lie down perhaps accounting for the altars to 'unknown 
 gods ' seen by St Paul, and later still by the traveller Pausanias. 
 
Solon as Legislator. y^^ 
 
 Epimenides refused all reward, and seems not only to have 
 calmed the excitement of the people, but to have suggested 
 some permanent changes in religious worship and in certain 
 social customs, especially those of marriage, and to have been 
 the first to point out to the Athenians the importance of the 
 Peiraeus. 
 
 The story of Epimenides, told so vividly, though only by 
 late authorities, may be taken at any rate 3,8- j^^, 
 giving us a picture of an age of simple faith, legislation, 
 But though he allayed a temporary alarm, the ' '^^^'~^' 
 causes of discontent lay deeper. These causes were partly 
 political and partly social. As Athens became more prosper- 
 ous, there were more people who desired an equal voice in 
 public affairs and to be eligible for public office. But such an 
 increase of wealth in the city came from commerce, and 
 especially from the corn trade, and what enriched the seafaring 
 class tended for a time at any rate to impoverish the farmers, 
 who could not compete with the merchants. Their debts 
 increased, and the result was of course discontent. If this did 
 not at once lead men to seek for political power, it would be 
 sure to do so in the future, and might even give some popular 
 champion the opportunity of establishing a tyranny. Solon 
 states the problem thus : " by great nobles a State is ruined ; 
 yet the people from its unwisdom falls under the slavish yoke 
 of a despot." Freedom was to be secured, but not by an 
 unlimited democracy. In his view this inevitably led to 
 tyranny. Some limit there must be ; but that of property he 
 thought to be better than that of birth. And this principle 
 already it seems existing in the Draconian system he 
 now developed. As Solon left the Athenian constitution it 
 was still an aristocracy, but one in which the measure of 
 privilege and merit was property and not birth. Such a 
 method of measuring merit must be a rough and uncertain 
 one ; for property may be acquired dishonestly, or may be 
 inherited without desert on the part of the owner. But it 
 
74 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 has the advantage over an aristocracy of birth that it lays 
 open to all the possibility of attaining the coveted position 
 Napoleon's la carriere ouverte aux talents. It distributes 
 privilege to larger numbers, and it sets up a standard which 
 on the whole men are more inclined to acknowledge. It is 
 however far from a perfect arrangement, nor did it, as we shall 
 see, answer Solon's hopes by averting a tyranny. But before 
 embarking on the settlement of the constitution or on legis- 
 lation, he felt that something must be done to alleviate the 
 poverty, which was foreboding the very revolution which he 
 meant by his political measures to avert. 
 
 Solon's first reform therefore aimed at relieving the im- 
 poverished farmer. From various causes, per- 
 Sefsachtheia ^^P^ chicfly from the competition of commerce, 
 the cultivators of the soil in Attica had become 
 deeply involved in debt. The boundary stones (opot) of their 
 allotments were inscribed with the amount of the mortgages 
 upon the land, and were everywhere witnesses of their em- 
 barrassments. But debts were secured not only on land, but 
 also on the persons of the debtors and their children. If the 
 debt could not be satisfied by the value of the land, the debtor 
 might be forced to sell his children into slavery, and finally 
 become enslaved himself. The exact nature of the measure of 
 relief brought in by Solon has been a subject of much dispute. 
 Some hold that he abolished all debts ; others that he relieved 
 the debtors by diminishing the interest and lowering the 
 m6ney standard ; others again that the only debts abolished 
 were those secured on land and on "the person of the debtor. 
 The last seems to be implied by the report that certain 
 persons having got private information as to Solon's intentions, 
 borrowed money and with it purchased land, so that, when the 
 measure passed, they had their land for nothing. It is almost 
 incredible that business debts of every sort should at once 
 be abolished. Such a dislocation of all trade and commerce 
 would have caused a wide ruin and distress of which we hear 
 
Solon s Seisachtheia ajtd Laws. 75 
 
 nothing. The wiping out of the land mortgages, on the other 
 hand, might as a temporary measure be both justifiable and 
 successful. For (i) they were usurious transactions forced 
 on the borrower by his necessities ; (2) the high rate of 
 interest had probably already recouped the lenders, who were 
 besides rich in other ways ; (3) the unnatural security of the 
 person of the debtor and of his children so enlisted sympathy 
 with the debtors the sentiment being always against the 
 enslavement of Greeks that a revolution was with reason 
 regarded as likely, in which the rich might lose far more 
 than the sums invested on land. 
 
 This abolition of mortgage debts was followed by a law 
 forbidding the persons of a borrower or of his children to be 
 pledged as a security for a debt. These two measures are 
 what are called Solon's seisachtheia^ ' shaking off of a burden.' 
 They seem to have been at once successful, and we do not 
 hear again in Attic history of this particular grievance, though 
 of course the contrast of poverty and wealth, success and 
 failure, is eternal. Solon set the example of obedience to his 
 law by at once surrendering money of his own invested on 
 land, and thus refuted the calumnies of his enemies, who 
 asserted that he had shared in the fraudulent proceedings of 
 those who used their knowledge of the coming law to borrow. 
 
 Of actuai'^laws passed to regulate the life and conduct of 
 the citizens we have a considerable number 
 mentioned by various authorities, though there Laws. " ^ 
 may be a doubt whether some are not attributed 
 to him merely on the ground of being ancient. They were 
 inscribed on wooden tablets {Kvp^tii) arranged in sets of four 
 making thus a hollow pillar which revolved round an axis 
 (a^oj/cs). Many such were preserved on the Acropolis, and 
 their date must often have been doubtful. Of those usually 
 ascribed to Solon the two which perhaps may be regarded as 
 best expressing his ideal are, first, the regulation which allowed 
 any citizen who chose (6 ySouA.o/xei/os) to set the law in motion 
 
'j^ Short History of the Greeks. \ 
 
 against an offender although the alleged crime did not per- 
 sonally affect himself. This is not In itself political equality : 
 there may still be disqualifications for office or other rights : 
 but it puts all on a level in one most important point, It estab- 
 lishes an equality before the law which is of more practical 
 importance than most political privileges. The second is the 
 law which made a man disfranchised (an/xos) who took no side 
 In political parties or factions. Before all things a man was to 
 be a citizen^ a member of a society or polls. If he took no 
 interest In Its concerns, and avoided the duties of a member of 
 this society, he was to cease to be a sharer In its privileges. 
 
 Draco Is said to have punished 'idleness' (apyta), the 
 absence of all visible employment, with death. Solon, we are 
 told, repealed or allowed to fall Into desuetude all Draco's laws 
 except those of murder. But he appears to have followed their 
 spirit, though attaching milder penalties to them. Thus while 
 punishing with disfranchisement the man who took no part in 
 politics, he also ordained that If a man brought up his son to 
 no profession, the son was absolved from the duty of supporting 
 him in his old age\ Other laws regarded matters of detail, 
 such as the freedom of bequest, the regulation of the expenses 
 of sacrifices, the reward for the killing of wolves, the regulation 
 of the water supply, and the prohibition against exporting any- 
 thing from Attica except olive oil the usual mistake among 
 the ancients as to the nature of trade, just as In England there 
 have been at times laws against exporting Iron, and gold and 
 silver money. Lastly an 'alien' law is attributed to him, 
 forbidding the admission of a foreigner to citizenship, unless 
 he had forfeited the citizenship of his own State, and removed 
 with all his family to Athens. This was not intended to dis- 
 courage the Immigration of desirable families, but to make It 
 more permanent. 
 
 ^ All these regulations as to ap'^ia are said by Herodotus (ii. 117) and 
 Diodorus (i. 77) to have been of great antiquity and to have been borrowed 
 from Egypt. 
 
Solon s Constitution. yy 
 
 On the purely constitutional side Solon's changes were not 
 as great perhaps as was once supposed. They ^^ soion's 
 were in some respects in the direction of a more constitutional 
 complete democracy, in others of an opposite *"^^^"'^^ 
 tendency. The boule of 401 was left as it was, with the duty 
 of preparing measures for the ecclesia, of controlling the 
 treasury and certain other departments. The rights of the 
 ecclesia were not materially altered, but he seems to have 
 done something towards making its meeting more constant, 
 and its convocation more regular. As to the election of 
 magistrates and officers he removed the restriction on the 
 franchise which in Draco's scheme confined it to men capable 
 of supplying their own arms. All who were of full age could 
 now vote, but, on the other hand, the persons capable of being 
 elected were even more closely defined than before. Solon 
 retained the existing four Ionic tribes, with their subdivisions 
 of phratries and clans, for the registration of the birth of full 
 citizens and for elections; but the whole people were also 
 divided into assessments (Tt/xiy/xara) according to their pro- 
 perty. The first consisted of those whose land produced 
 500 medimni dry or liquid measure yearly; the second 
 300 ; the third 200. They were called respectively Feniacosio- 
 medim7ii^ Hippeis^ Zeugitae. The fourth class consisted of all 
 who could not shew property of the last-named value : they 
 were called Thetes. The first class was eligible to the archon- 
 ship, the second and third to various inferior offices; the 
 Thetes to none at all. The mode of election to the archon- 
 ship was a mixture of two systems. Each of the four tribes 
 elected as they chose ten men, and from the forty thus named 
 the archons were chosen by lot (KXrypwrat Ik irpoKpLroiv). 
 
 Solon regarded the ancient Boule of the Areopagus as one 
 of the sheet anchors of the State. This council, 
 so called from the hill on which it met in the Areop^Ifs. 
 open air', was of unknown antiquity, and was 
 
 ^ The meeting in the open air was to avoid pollution from the presence 
 
78 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 originally the only council. Its functions were a general super- 
 intendence of the laws and conduct of the citizens : it received 
 appeals from men who alleged that they had been wronged by 
 magistrates, and tried certain crimes, punishing them at its 
 own discretion. As early as we know anything of it, it was 
 filled up yearly by the ex-archons, who remained members for 
 life, and perhaps the 51 Ephetae, who heard appeals in 
 certain cases of homicide. Solon seems rather to have defined 
 its powers than increased them, and to have separated its 
 jurisdiction from that of the Ephetae. It always retained its 
 jurisdiction in cases of murder, poisoning, deliberate wound- 
 ing, arson and some forms of sacrilege. The age and expe- 
 rience of its members gave it a great moral weight, and we 
 shall see it playing an important part hereafter in more than 
 one crisis in the history of Athens. 
 
 But what proved to be the most democratic part of Solon's 
 
 constitution was the establishment of a law court 
 Dkastlda. o^' di'-'^i^t^riou^ Called the Heliaea (from a word 
 
 meaning 'assembly'). The dicasts or jurymen 
 consisted of a certain number of citizens over thirty years of 
 age, selected by lot. For this court the Thetes were eligible, 
 and it presently superseded in practice the jurisdiction of the 
 archons, because the final decision as to the laws lay with it, 
 and the archon in time became merely a magistrate of first 
 instance, who decided whether there was a case to go before 
 the jury, and saw that the legal formalities had been satisfied. 
 The power and importance of the dicasts rapidly grew, and 
 we shall have to note presently a great development of the 
 system. 
 
 of persons stained with bloodshed. It probably only came to be called 
 distinctively the council of the Areopagus when there was another council 
 from which to distinguish it. The name of the hill was supposed to be 
 connected with Ares, hence in the Acts the A.V. translates it 'Mars' 
 Hill,' but others connect it with ctpat 'curses,' for the crimes tried there. 
 The Greeks themselves regarded it as the hill of Ares, see Soph. Oed. Col. 
 947- 
 
Solons Travels. 79 
 
 Solon hoped no doubt wrongly that the constitution as 
 he had arranged it would require no change for 
 a long time. He wished moreover that the go^es abroad, 
 people should learn to work it themselves with- 
 out the appeals to himself with which he was being constantly 
 troubled. Accordingly, having caused all magistrates and 
 dicasts to take an oath not to propose any alteration for ten 
 years, he went on his travels. He visited Egypt, Cyprus and 
 Asia. In Cyprus he was welcomed by the king Philocyprus, 
 and is said to have given him advice as to the government of 
 his kingdom, and even to have assisted in the foundation of a 
 Greek colony in the island, called in his honour Soli. But the 
 different stories told of his travels are difficult to reconcile. 
 The most famous of all was that of his visit to king Croesus of 
 Lydia, whom he found flourishing in great wealth and power. 
 Croesus asked him whom he thought to be the happiest of 
 men. Solon answered first by mentioning an obscure Athe- 
 nian, Tellus, who had led a prosperous life, had excellent 
 children, and died on the field of battle at the moment of 
 victory. Next to him he told of the two Argive youths, Cleobis 
 and Biton. They drew their mother in her car for which the 
 oxen came too late to the festival of Hera. After they had 
 received the applause of the concourse at the festival, their 
 mother prayed the gods to give them the greatest blessing 
 possible to man. They fell asleep in the temple, after the 
 sacrifice and banquet, and died without waking. When Croesus 
 was angry at the preference given to these humble folk over 
 himself, Solon warned him that till the end came no one could 
 be called happy. This story, told with the inimitable charm of 
 Herodotus, is rejected by many on chronological grounds. 
 Croesus did not begin to reign till B.C. 560; and therefore it 
 cannot have happened in the first ten years' travel, if that began 
 immediately after Solon's archonship of B.C. 594, or even 
 twenty years later in B.C. 574. But Solon is represented by 
 some authors as going abroad again when Peisistratus seized 
 
8o 
 
 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the tyranny (b.c. 560), when, as far as dates are concerned, it 
 might have happened. But he must then have been a very 
 old man, unUkely to have travelled so far. The date of his 
 death is not known, nor even the place. According to some 
 he died in Athens, according to others in Cyprus. 
 
 Athens after the Persian Wars. 
 
8i 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Athens {continued). The Tyranny of Peisistratus 
 
 AND HIS SONS, AND ITS DOWNFALL. 
 
 Though the legislation of Solon had done a great deal to 
 secure peace in Attica, it was by no rneans per- 
 manently successful. Four years after the date between the 
 of his archonship we are told that there was of s^^j^on^^^ 
 so much disturbance that no archon could (b.c. 594)and 
 be elected at all (b.c. 590 589), and eight Jion^oT"^^^* 
 years later still (580581) a certain Amasius Peisistratus 
 
 , . , VO / . . , (B.C. 560). 
 
 bemg archon managed to grasp unconstitutional 
 power and get elected for a second year. To prevent the 
 recurrence of this a reform was introduced, whereby the 
 archons were to be ten in number and elected in unequal 
 proportions, five from the Eupatrids, three from the Geomori, and 
 two from the Demiurgi. But this only lasted a year. It is evident 
 however that the feud between these classes was continually 
 breaking out. They answer roughly to another division of 
 parties which represented various interests; the men of the 
 coast {parali), the men of the plain {pedieis)^ and the men 
 of the highlands {epacrii). The distinctions of birth had no 
 doubt been the cause of many disagreements; but those of 
 wealth and adverse interest seem to have caused no less bitter- 
 ness of feeling. Towards the end of this period (about B.C. 
 562 i) we are told that the head of the party of the Coast 
 
 S. G. 6 
 
82 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 was an Eupatrid named Lycurgus, that of the Plain was 
 
 another Eupatrid Megacles son of Alcmaeon. For the Ale- 
 
 maeonidae who had been living in banishment in Phocis had 
 
 by this time effected their return, partly no doubt owing to the 
 
 divisions in the State, but partly also because they had become 
 
 too rich and powerful to be denied. The head of the clan, 
 
 Alcmaeon, had received great wealth from Croesus, and his 
 
 son Megacles had married a daughter of Cleisthenes the tyrant 
 
 of Sicyon. The party of the Coast was probably the extreme 
 
 oligarchical party for they were not now only poor fishermen, 
 
 but included many rich merchants that of the Plain the 
 
 moderate party. Both were opposed to the democrats of the 
 
 Mountain, but were also constantly at variance with each other. 
 
 This was just the state of things to give an ambitious man 
 
 the chance of using a pretended zeal for the 
 
 tyranny of popular party to cxalt himself. Peisistratus, son 
 
 Peisistratus, Qf Hippocrates, a relation of Solon, had in his 
 B.C. 560554. ... . . 
 
 youth distmguished himself in the war agamst 
 
 Megara, and was said to have headed a storming party 
 that seized Nisaea, the harbour town of Megara. We know 
 nothing of what he had been doing since, but he now 
 appears as a popular champion and head of the party of the 
 Mountain. His first step was the usual one. He demanded 
 from the people a body-guard on the ground that, as their 
 champion, his life was in danger. Driving one day into the 
 city covered with blood on a mule-car, he explained to the 
 crowd which formed round him that he had been attacked on 
 his way to his farm and all but killed by his enemies and 
 theirs. In spite of Solon's protest the people voted him a 
 guard, with which he soon afterwards seized on the Acropolis 
 and made himself tyrant. Our authorities agree in acknow- 
 ledging the moderation with which Peisistratus used the power 
 thus irregularly obtained. The laws were not repealed, and 
 the yearly magistrates were appointed as usual with the same 
 functions. He himself professed to be subject to the law, even 
 
The Rule of Peisistratits. '6'^^ 
 
 condescending to appear before the council of the Areopagus 
 to answer a charge of murder, though the case dropped from 
 the absence of the accuser. The plan seems to have been that 
 the ordinary forms of law and administration should go on, but 
 that he should be the final authority. The archons were content 
 to carry out his orders, while he no doubt kept the manage- 
 ment of foreign and military affairs in his own hands ; and one 
 of the laws attributed to him contained a provision for pension- 
 ing men maimed in war. But on the whole the period of his 
 tyranny lasting for 19 years between B.C. 560 and B.C. 527 with 
 two intervals of banishment was a time of peace and growth 
 in many ways for Athens. In the course of it he undertook 
 the purification of the sacred island of Delos, the traditional 
 centre of Ionian federation; he intervened in the political 
 contests in Naxos, and secured the rule of Lygdamis; and owning 
 property on the mouth of the Strymon, he used the gold mines 
 near Mount Pangaeus to enrich the Athenian treasury as well 
 as his own purse. The town of Sigeium in the Troad, which 
 had been in possession of the Athenians since B.C. 606, was 
 carefully looked after, and one of his sons, Hegesistratos, was 
 made ruler of it. The silver mines of Laurium began to be 
 worked with more energy, and the city was enriched by the 
 royalty of five per cent, paid by the miners. He also did much 
 to beautify Athens itself, employing a large number of men in 
 the construction of temples and other public buildings, such as 
 the temples of Pythian Apollo, and Zeus Olympius^ the 
 Lyceum with its gardens, and the fountain of the nine springs 
 (Callirrhoe). He established the greater Panathenaea, or 
 much improved it, as a festival celebrating Attic unity, and 
 adorned the city with many Hermae inscribed with pithy 
 sayings or texts. Lastly he not only caused the Homeric 
 poems to be collected and revised, but he also made a collec- 
 tion or edition of the works of other poets for the use of the 
 
 ^ This was begun on so large a scale that it was never finished till the 
 time of the Emperor Hadrian. 
 
 62 
 
84 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 citizens, and encouraged men of genius and learning to settle 
 in Athens. 
 
 These achievements were spread over the three periods of 
 the rule of Peisistratus. Taken together however 
 of PeisistraSs! they shew the general nature of his administration. 
 B.C. 553 to Yet in spite of it, and in spite of his popularity 
 and gracious manners, he was twice driven into 
 exile for about 6 and lo years respectively. His rule, it was 
 said afterwards, was a real Saturnian age of happiness, but at 
 the time no doubt there were grievances, especially a tax of 
 ten per cent, on property in Attica. At any rate the oligarchi- 
 cal Eupatrids were bitterly opposed to it. The party of the 
 Coast and the party of the Plain forgot their differences and 
 united against him. He does not appear however to have 
 left Attica, or at any rate to have been prevented from being 
 there when he chose : but as soon as his restraining hand 
 in the government was away, the old quarrels between the 
 parties of the Coast and the Plain recommenced. 
 
 After some years of this disorder Megacles came to terms 
 First ^^^ Peisistratus, agreeing to assist his restora- 
 
 restoration, tion to powcr and to give him his daughter in 
 549-7- marriage. Accordingly a plan was adopted 
 
 which Herodotus calls 'the silliest in history.' A tall hand- 
 some woman was dressed in armour to represent Athena, and 
 standing by the side of Peisistratus was driven in a chariot 
 into the city, and proclaimed that she was ' bringing him back 
 to the Acropolis, honouring him above all men.' Perhaps the 
 desire for peace was as strong a motive as any belief in the 
 genuineness of the divine apparition in inducing the people to 
 receive him. In any case his restored power did not last long. 
 He offended Megacles by refusing to live with his new wife 
 (Coesura), and after little more than a year's 
 exile of Tulc, finding that a strong coalition of the parties 
 
 Peisistratus, ^y^g forming ai^ainst him, he retired to Eretria 
 
 B.C. 547537- . ts & ) 
 
 in Euboea. There he was joined by his two 
 
Restoration and Death of Peisistratus. 85 
 
 sons Hippias and Hipparchus, and they seem soon to have 
 resolved upon attempting a return. But for this purpose he 
 spent many years of preparation, visiting his estates on the 
 Strymon, collecting money from the mines of Pangaeus, and 
 negotiating for support from outside. The knightly class at 
 Eretria, who were in the ascendency there, the Thebans, and 
 his friend Lygdamis of Naxos, were specially forward in giving 
 aid. 
 
 Having thus collected much wealth and a goodly band of 
 supporters, he crossed from Eretria to the Attic 
 coast, landing on the famous plain of Marathon, second re- 
 There seems to have been little notice taken of ^o.^atio" of 
 
 Peisistratus 
 
 his proceedings at Athens until he was actually and his death, 
 in the country and was being joined by numerous ' ' ^^'^ ^^^' 
 adherents. Then some effort was made to resist him, and a 
 force met him at Pallene on the road from Marathon to 
 Athens, not far from the modern village of Garito. The arms 
 of Peisistratus, however, were so quickly successful, that some 
 historians have suspected treachery on the side of the Athenian 
 force. At any rate he seems to have had no difficulty in 
 persuading many of the army opposing him by promising 
 them security to quit the ranks and return to Athens. The 
 people generally were soon won over by the charm and 
 eloquence of their old favourite ; and Peisistratus, having by 
 a trick deprived the greater number of them of arms, seems to 
 have peacefully kept possession of power for the remaining ten 
 or eleven years of his life. It was in these years probably that 
 most of the improvements referred to above (pp. 82 83) were 
 carried out, and in these that Athens began to make decisive 
 advance in wealth and importance among Greek cities. 
 
 He was succeeded at his death by his eldest son Hippias, 
 with whom his brother Hipparchus was associ- ^^ The fail of 
 ated in some way not very clearly defined. It the dynasty 
 seems to be acknowledged that for the first Peisistratids, 
 thirteen years of his administration Hippias not ^^' 527510. 
 
86 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 only followed his father's example in adorning and strengthen- 
 ing Athens, and encouraging art and literature, but also 
 governed mildly and well. Taxation was not increased, and 
 the laws were maintained in full vigour, though Hippias 
 retained the same ultimate jurisdiction as had been exercised 
 by his father. But it appears that Hipparchus and a younger 
 brother Thettalus had made themselves notorious by frivoHty 
 or vice, and in the case of the latter by that still more offensive 
 kind of ostentation and disregard of the rights of others, 
 which the Greeks called hubris (v/Jpis). They therefore had 
 no doubt predisposed the public mind to some change. This 
 was brought to a point by the assassination of Hipparchus 
 in what was little more than a private quarrel. Harmodius 
 having been insulted by Hipparchus, his friend and relation 
 Aristogeiton supported him and brought the enmity of Hip- 
 parchus upon himself, who retaliated by fixing a public insult 
 upon their family. The sister of Harmodius was ordered 
 by him to retire from the procession of virgins carrying 
 the sacred baskets (KavrjcfiopoL) on the ground of not being 
 a true-born Athenian \ The two friends therefore determined 
 to avenge their private wrongs and free Athens at one blow, by 
 assassinating both Hippias and Hipparchus at the Panathenaea, 
 at which time alone a citizen could carry a weapon in the city 
 without exciting suspicion. The conspiracy was shared by 
 many, and, as usually happens in such matters, a small circum- 
 stance threw it out. One of their number was called to speak 
 to Hippias, which made the rest fear that they had been be- 
 trayed. Harmodius and Aristogeiton hurried to the Ceramicus, 
 where Hipparchus was marshalling a procession, and there 
 attacked and slew him. Harmodius was killed on the spot 
 by the guards, and though Aristogeiton escaped for the 
 moment, he was pursued and captured. The story goes that 
 being put to the torture to make him confess the names of 
 
 ^ Herodotus (v. 57) says that this family migrated from Eretria or even 
 from Phoenicia. 
 
Harmodins and Aristogeiton. ^j 
 
 his confederates, he purposely mentioned a large number of 
 leading men who were ostensibly friends of Hippias, and 
 when Hippias had put them to death, boasted of the de- 
 ception. Another account says that after naming one batch, 
 he promised to reveal another, requiring Hippias to grasp his 
 hand as a pledge of security. When Hippias did so, he 
 taunted him with having taken the hand of his brother's 
 murderer, which so enraged Hippias that he drew his sword 
 and slew him. 
 
 It was the four years of rule which followed that gave the 
 tyranny its bad name with the people. But it g. The 
 must have been specially galling to the Eu- severe rule 
 
 . , Tx -1 1 1 .of Hippias, 
 
 patrids. Hippias tried to strengthen his posi- b.c. 514-B.c. 
 tion at Athens by keeping mercenaries and ^^' 
 attracting the support of the rulers of other Greek States, not 
 for the interests of the city, but for his own. Being naturally 
 rendered suspicious of treason on every side, the executions 
 already mentioned seem to have been followed by others, 
 as well as by banishments equally arbitrary. The Athe- 
 nians forgot the services of Peisistratus and the good days 
 of the rule of Hippias, but always remembered these four years 
 of tyranny. Harmodius and Aristogeiton occupied a special 
 place in the roll of national heroes and liberators. Their 
 posterity were freed from taxation for ever, and had the per- 
 petual right of feeding at the public mess in the Prytaneium : 
 and a song or scolion composed by Callistratus in their honour 
 was sung at festivals and banquets almost as a national anthem. 
 Finally, when Hippias began erecting a fort on Munychia, the 
 highest point in the peninsula of the Peiraeus, commanding 
 the two harbours of Munychia and Zea, the popular alarm 
 gave the nobles whom he had banished an opportunity of 
 striking a successful blow. Among these exiles were many 
 of the Alcmaeonids, and this family had the warm support 
 of the oracle at Delphi, where they had acted with splendid 
 liberality in the restoration of the temple, which had been burnt 
 
88 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 down in B.C. 548. Instead of using only the common stone 
 of the country, with which they had contracted to build it, 
 they had faced the greater part of it with costly Parian marble. 
 In return the Pythian priestess is said to have frequently 
 impressed on Spartan inquirers that 'Athens must be freed' 
 and the exiles restored. After several failures to effect their 
 own restoration especially by seizing and fortifying Leipsy- 
 drium on Mount Parnes the exiles obtained help from Sparta, 
 in a great measure owing to the money which they were able 
 to offer, partly borrowed, it is said, from the treasury of the 
 temple. The first attempt of the Spartans to effect a landing 
 at Phalerum failed, but an expedition under the eccentric 
 king Cleomenes by land was more successful. The Spartans 
 with the exiles defeated the tyrant's Thessalian horse, and 
 invested Hippias and his partisans, who had taken refuge on the 
 west end of the Acropolis, the only fortification then existing in 
 Athens, called the ' Pelasgic wall.' After the siege had lasted 
 some time the Spartans chanced to capture some of the 
 children of Hippias. This brought him to terms; he agreed 
 to surrender the Acropolis and remove from Athens, taking his 
 property with him, in five days. 
 
 The tyranny was at an end, but for that very reason the old 
 ,. . , contests between the two parties revived one 
 
 9. Political 
 
 contests led by Isagoras, the other by the Alcmaeonid 
 
 isagora"and Clcisthenes. The chief supporters of Isagoras 
 
 cieisthenes, were the friends of the banished Hippias, and, 
 
 510507. . ^j^gy ^-^ j^Q^ ^-gj^ ^Q recall him, they at least 
 
 wished to keep all political power within the narrowest limits. 
 Cieisthenes therefore decided to throw in his lot with the 
 advanced democratic party. The ups and downs of this 
 struggle lasted for four years. Isagoras had the better organ- 
 ised party, and was supported by political clubs ; and when he 
 found that he had numbers against him, he was able to induce 
 the mad Spartan king Cleomenes once more to interpose. 
 The old plea of the ' curse ' on the Alcmaeonids was revived. 
 
The Reforms of Cleisthenes, 89 
 
 Cleisthenes was banished with five hundred other families; 
 and Isagoras reduced the roll of citizens capable of taking part 
 in the government to three hundred of his own partisans. He 
 tried to abolish the boule, but that body was able to raise the 
 people, who besieged Isagoras and Cleomenes on the Acropolis. 
 On the third day of being thus invested, they consented to 
 quit the city with their followers, and Cleisthenes with the 
 other exiles was recalled. 
 
 Cleisthenes was now able to carry out the reforms which 
 he seems to have in part at least proposed 
 before. Their object was on the whole to estab- reforms of 
 lish complete equality between all citizens, to ^ c^*^^^^!^ 
 remove all limitation as to voting in the ecclesia, 
 serving in offices, or acting as dicasts, except as to the age of 
 thirty years. The archonship indeed was still confined to the 
 first three assessments of Solon (see p. 77), but it became in 
 itself steadily less important, and even this restriction was 
 removed about 26 years afterwards. Now in order to secure 
 this equality an elaborate new arrangement of the citizens was 
 made, including a large number who from having recently 
 settled in the country, or for some other reason, had not been 
 included in the four Ionic tribes. These tribes were abolished, 
 though the old phratries and clans (y^Viy) were retained for 
 family registration and religious worship. The basis of the 
 new arrangement was the deme. Attica was divided into a 
 certain number of demes or townships with a fixed extent of 
 land; the number seems at first to have been 100, but was 
 increased to 182. To each deme there was a demarch, and 
 the demesmen (Sry/zorat) like a parish council met for trans- 
 acting their local business, but especially for revising their 
 register of citizens {to \r\^Lap\iKov ypafjcfiaretov). Everyone 
 whose name was duly entered on that register was ipso facto 
 a full citizen when at the proper age, and his name could not 
 be erased from it without a ' suit of alienation ' (8iVr; ^erta?), 
 though the demesmen might be punished by the boule for 
 
go Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 making improper entries. This then secured the citizenship of 
 all persons properly quaUfied by birth. 
 
 The next thing was to arrange for a fair rotation by which 
 II Election ^ might in turn serve in offices or elect officers, 
 by the ten This was donc by the division of the whole 
 
 people into ten tribes {<f>vXaC)j each named after 
 an eponymous hero '. Each tribe embraced a certain number 
 of demes. These demes were not necessarily contiguous, in 
 fact the aim was that they should not be so, and they were 
 allotted generally in groups {trittyes) selected respectively from 
 the sea-coast, plain, and hills. These tribes were used as the 
 unit in most political matters. The nine archons and their 
 secretary were supplied by each tribe electing one, as also the 
 ten generals. The boul^ of 500 (taking the place of the 401) 
 were elected each year, 50 from each tribe. When an army 
 was required each tribe supplied a certain number of infantry 
 under its taxiarch, and a certain number of cavalry under its 
 phylarch. The Heliastic courts were also served by 5000 
 dicasts, with 1000 in reserve, each tribe electing 600 men 
 over thirty years of age, without any distinction as to pro- 
 perty. 
 
 The mode of election was made more democratic. With 
 the exception of the purely military officers, 
 modeofeiec- taxiarch, hipparch, and strategus, who were 
 (2)*show^of' elected by show of hands, all were elected by 
 
 hands. The lot from thosc who had not yet served. The 
 only modification on this completely open sys- 
 tem of election or the pure chance of the lot was the docimasia, 
 that is the ' test examination,' which each elected magistrate, 
 and even each man assigned to serve in the cavalry, had to 
 undergo as to his eligibility by birth or character. At this it 
 was open to anyone who chose to lodge objections, which had 
 to be considered at a regular trial. The strategi indeed were 
 
 ^ The names of the ten tribes were Erechtheis, Aegeis, Pandionis, 
 Leontis, Acamantis, Oeneis, Ceci"opis, Hippocritis, Acantis, Antiochis. 
 
The New Constitution. 91 
 
 liable to the docimasia every month, and if rejected could be 
 deposed. 
 
 The function of the boule, besides a general superintend- 
 ence, particularly as to the supply of ships and ^j^^ 
 finance, was to prepare measures for the ecclesia, bouI^, and the 
 the proposal thus prepared being called a pro- 
 bouleuma\ and to introduce to it any impeachment (eio-ay- 
 ycXia) for public crime, brought by anyone who chose, which 
 they decided to be legal in form. They also presided at 
 all meetings of the ecclesia, whether for ordinary deliberative 
 business, or for the trial of such impeachments. As five 
 hundred was too great a number for that purpose, the fifties 
 from the several tribes took their turn in doing this, each 
 for a tenth part of a year, and were then called prytarieis or 
 presidents, and their tribe was called the presiding tribe (17 
 Kpvravi.vov(Ta. cf)v\y). 
 
 The Ecclesia was the ultimate authority on every possible 
 matter. It made general laws (vo/xot), or decrees on particular 
 points of administration as they occurred {if/r](J3L(rfjiaTa). Anyone 
 of proper age could bring forward proposals or speak when the 
 herald after the proper prayers had been offered said 'Who 
 wishes to address the meeting ? ' (rts dyopevetv PovkeraL ;) But 
 no law could be proposed without the previous sanction of the 
 boule : and the prytanies could refuse to put a motion which 
 was contrary to existing laws. 
 
 We have seen that the appointment of strategi had taken 
 place in earlier times, but Cleisthenes first ar- 
 ranged for the regular yearly election of a board strtte^^^ *^" 
 of ten strategi. They were often abroad in 
 command of army or fleet, but at home also they did much of 
 the sort of work done by a foreign office. This contributed 
 greatly to reduce the archons still more completely to the 
 administration of justice, and even in this their functions were 
 closely defined and limited. 
 
 It has often been asked, 'Who then really governed Athens?' 
 
92 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 The answer is no one magistrate or board of magistrates. 
 The real ^^^ Ecclesia was Supreme, and settled details 
 power at of administration, often the most minute. Yet 
 
 ^"^" a popular assembly is generally helpless without 
 
 guidance. The result was that some one leading man, who 
 from eloquence or impressive character won the confidence of 
 the Ecclesia, became practically the ruler of Athens. But it 
 was only while he could maintain that confidence. The Demos 
 was suspicious and fickle, and such a man had to humour his 
 masters. His position was not official or provided for in the 
 constitution, though while it lasted it was perfectly well under- 
 stood. The Demos also tried to protect itself by appointing 
 certain official orators, whose duty it was to speak on proposals 
 brought before it with an unbiassed view as to their advantages 
 or dangers, without regard to party ties or personal connexions. 
 They were to explain matters, and act for the Demos as a legal 
 adviser for his client. 
 
 Thus, though the laws of Solon remained, the working of 
 the constitution was much nearer a pure and 
 cism. ^^^^" undiluted democracy than he had ever contem- 
 plated, and the danger of which in his eyes was 
 that it inevitably led to a tyranny. This danger Cleisthenes tried 
 to obviate by the institution of ostracism. This meant the 
 compulsory residence outside Attica, without loss of property 
 or citizenship, of any citizen, whose power or rivalry with 
 another seemed dangerous to the constitution. It was not 
 peculiar to Athens, and is mentioned as prevailing under 
 different names at Argos, Miletus, Megara and Syracuse. But 
 Cleisthenes, when establishing it at Athens, made elaborate 
 arrangements to prevent its abuse. The first step was to ask 
 the Ecclesia, without mentioning names, whether there was 
 occasion for such proceeding. If the Ecclesia voted in the 
 affirmative, the agora was arranged with large voting urns to 
 receive the votes of the tribes, each man writing on a bit of 
 earthenware or shell {oarpaKov) the name of the man whom he 
 
Effects of the Reform. 93 
 
 thought ought to leave the country. There had to be 6000 
 votes deUvered in all, and the man mentioned by more than 
 half that number was obliged to retire from Attica. We only 
 know of ten cases of ostracism ; and the system, which served 
 its purpose for a time, gradually fell into disrepute. The last 
 occasion of its employment known to us was about B.C. 420, 
 when Hyperbolus a man of no distinction or influence, 
 against whom the ordinary process of the law might equally 
 well have been used was banished by it. 
 
 Thus organised Athens entered on the great period of its 
 political history, which was to last for about a ^^^ The 
 hundred years. She was to shew, perhaps more energy of the 
 
 11 11 1 Athenians and 
 
 completely than has been shewn elsewhere, the the rise of 
 strength and weakness of a government ' of the ^^^^"s- 
 people by the people for the people.' It was no doubt a period 
 of vigorous life and expansion. The introduction by Solon 
 of the Euboean standard for money, weights, and measures, 
 instead of the Aeginetan, had opened up to Athens a larger 
 field of commerce. The silver mines at Laurium were being 
 worked with greater activity, and helped to relieve the people 
 from taxation. Ship-building was going on vigorously, and 
 although the State as yet possessed few if any war triremes, 
 they were able to send a fleet to Ionia in B.C. 499 carrying a 
 considerable number of troops. A fresh attempt of Cleomenes 
 to restore Hippias had been repelled, and a punitive expedi- 
 tion had been sent against Chalcis in Euboea for having 
 helped Cleomenes, by which an army of Boeotians coming to 
 the aid of Chalcis had been decisively defeated. A proud 
 answer had been returned to the Persian Artaphernes, who 
 demanded submission to Persia, as the price of his support 
 against Sparta; and when the troubles of the Ionian revolt 
 and Persian wars came upon Greece, we find Athens reckoned 
 as decidedly the strongest State in Greece next to Sparta. 
 Herodotus attributes this manifold display of vigour to the 
 ' freedom ' gained by the expulsion of the Peisistratids and the 
 
94 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 democratic reforms which followed. But there seems no 
 doubt that under Peisistratus and his son Athens had already 
 made great progress both material and intellectual. The revo- 
 lution seems to have been as much the result as the cause of 
 that progress. 
 
 Four Magistrates, from the Eastern Frieze of the Parthenon. 
 ( Waldsteui' s P/ieidias.) 
 
95 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Asiatic Greeks and the Persians. 
 
 While the Peloponnesian States and Attica had been 
 developing in the way described in the last three .,. , 
 
 t^ o J ^ ^ I. w^eakness 
 
 chapters, the more northerly countries in Greece of Northern 
 had not made similar progress. Boeotia, con- 
 taining a league of twelve towns, was weakened by continual 
 quarrels between certain of these towns. The main cause of 
 disunion was the claim of Thebes to supremacy, in which 
 she was specially opposed by Orchomenos, claiming the 
 supremacy for herself which had apparently really existed in 
 Homeric times; while Plataea from very early times shewed 
 a disposition to join the Athenian alliance against Thebes. 
 Thessaly again was not under a central government, but 
 contained leagues with capitals at Larissa, Pherae, Crannon, 
 Pharsalus and other places. And though in times of danger 
 there was some arrangement for electing a general or /agus to 
 command a united army, this was always difficult to collect. 
 The part hitherto played by the Thessalians in the drama 
 of Greek history consisted of constant border warfare with the 
 Phocians. Farther north, Macedonia was only semi-Hellenic, 
 and, though ruled by a Greek dynasty, was too much engaged 
 in struggles with barbarian neighbours to count for much as 
 yet in Greek history. It is necessary to note this state of 
 things, for it ^was an important point in the coming struggle 
 with the Persian Empire, that the barrier on the north against 
 
g6 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 the invader should be as weak as that on the east was now to 
 be proved to be. 
 
 Some account has already been given of the Ionian and 
 other great colonies in Asia (pp. i8 19). For a 
 Asiatic Greeks. ^^"^^ ^^ interest of Greek history shifts to them. 
 Herodotus^ remarks that though the lonians in 
 Asia inhabited the most beautiful country in the world, and 
 enjoyed the finest climate, yet Ionia was always in a dangerous 
 state, and property was always changing hands. The reason 
 for this was twofold : the frequent encroachment of powerful 
 neighbours, and the mutual suspicion and enmity between the 
 cities themselves and their inability to combine for common 
 defence. The twelve Ionian States did in a way form a 
 community {to koivov twi/ Iwi/wv), meeting once a year at the 
 Panionium, a temple of Poseidon on the promontory of 
 Mycale. This combination, Hke others similar to it, was 
 primarily religious, but had the elements in it of a political 
 league also. Occasionally we find the members acting in 
 concert for a national or political purpose. But such concert 
 was short-lived and precarious, and liable to dissolve at the 
 first difficulty. We have seen how active these towns, especially 
 Ephesus and Miletus, had been in colonisation, and in two 
 other respects they seemed at one time to be taking the lead 
 in Greek life : in the outburst of literary activity, and (after 
 about B.C. 750) in the constitutional movements from monarchy 
 to oligarchy, and from oligarchy to democracy. It seemed at 
 one time that the centre of Greek life was to be Asiatic and 
 insular rather than European. But this prospect was over- 
 clouded, and this active life deadened, by their successive 
 subjection to the Lydian and Persian monarchies. 
 
 The earliest inhabitants of Lydia, of which we hear, were 
 
 ^ called Maeonians. They had been displaced or 
 
 Lydian absorbed by a mixed inroad of Carians and 
 
 ing om. Pelasgians; and, when we first hear of it as a 
 
 M. 142; vi. 86. 
 
The Kingdom of Lydia. 97 
 
 united kingdom, a dynasty which lasted about 160 years had 
 just been established by Gyges. He seems to 
 have aimed at posing as an Hellenic sovereign, 3.0^716^678. 
 endeavouring by rich offerings to propitiate the 
 Delphic oracle. It was perhaps the desire to possess good 
 outlets to the sea, as much as enmity to Greeks, that made 
 him attack Miletus, Smyrna and Colophon. In the case of the 
 first two he failed, but seems to have occupied 
 Colophon. His son and successor Ardys con- BX.%8-629. 
 tinued or renewed the war with Miletus and took 
 Priene, but for a long time was prevented from farther inroads 
 on the Greek towns by the necessity of driving out the Scythian 
 marauders (the Cimmerians), who had been many years in 
 Asia, and now actually occupied his capital Sardis, though 
 falling to take Its acropolis. His son and 
 successor Sadyates had at first to contend with B.c^.'e^g^iV. 
 the Medes and the Cimmerians. When that 
 was over, he took Smyrna, but was repulsed In an attack upon 
 Clazomenae. He then renewed the attack upon Miletus, in 
 which he had been engaged six years when he died. His 
 son Alyattes continued the war with Miletus 
 for five years, but at the end of that time made bx.^6i7*-5'6o. 
 terms with its tyrant Thrasybulus, and seems 
 not to have molested the Greeks farther. In this long struggle 
 with the Lydlan monarchy the divided state of the Greek cities 
 was shewn by the fact that Miletus received help from none of 
 them, except from Chios, which had been formerly assisted 
 In like manner by the Milesians. The fruit of this selfish 
 policy was the complete subjugation of all the Greek cities 
 in Asia by the next Lydlan sovereign Croesus 
 though Miletus while paying tribute had specially bx 5^546. 
 favourable terms who again extended his do- 
 minions so 'as to embrace all Asia Minor west of the Halys, 
 except Lycia and Clllcia. He contemplated, moreover, adding 
 the islands of the Aegean to his dominions, and actually began 
 
 s. G. 7 
 
98 Short History of tJie Greeks, 
 
 constructing a fleet suitable for that design, which however 
 he was induced to abandon. The greatness of the Lydian 
 kingdom was thus of short growth. Its fall was sudden and 
 complete. Cyrus who conquered it took over the Greek cities 
 as part of the spoil, though they offered some resistance. It 
 was this that brought the Persians into collision with the 
 Greeks. And as the struggle that followed is the most striking 
 episode in Greek history, it will be necessary to learn who and 
 what these people were, who now appear for the first time on 
 the shores of the Mediterranean. 
 
 Assyria, properly a narrow district on the left bank of the 
 
 The "Tigris, gives its name to a great empire of 
 
 Persian unknown antiquity, varying in extent according 
 
 kingdom. ^^ ^^ character and ability of its sovereign, but, 
 
 at its greatest, extending from the Caspian to Palestine. In 
 the 8th century B.C. this great empire seems to have been 
 in a state of disruption, crumbling back again into its elements. 
 Babylonia had long been separate from it: and about B.C. 711 
 the Medes, a pastoral people living south of the Caspian, with 
 a capital called Ecbatana once free but then included in 
 Assyria broke away from it. Media seems to have remained 
 a separate kingdom for about 150 years, and its last king but 
 one, after successfully struggling to expel the Scythian invaders 
 from Asia, finally took and destroyed Nineveh about B.C. 625. 
 The kingdom of Assyria thus ceased to exist, and part of 
 its territory was absorbed by the Babylonians. The last of 
 the kings of this increased Media was Astyages (b.c. 594 559). 
 In B.C. 560 Cyrus led down a mountain people upon the 
 Medes, seized Ecbatana, and became lord of all upper Asia 
 except Babylonia. Herodotus tells us a romantic story of the 
 birth of Cyrus. 
 
 Astyages, the last king of the Medes, had an only daughter 
 
 stor of Mandane. Frightened by dreams that seemed 
 the birth of to forctcll that her offspring would deprive him 
 
 Cyrus. ^|- j^-g i^jj-,g(jQj^^ l^g resolved that she should not 
 
Cyrus and the Persians. gg 
 
 marry a Mede. Therefore he gave her to a noble Persian 
 named Cambyses : and when she was about to produce a 
 child, terrified by a second dream he sent for her to his palace, 
 and taking the son who was there born, gave it to his faithful 
 minister Harpagus, with orders to put the boy to death. 
 Harpagus promised, but reflecting that, on the death of 
 Astyages, Mandane would be queen and would revenge her 
 child's death, he refrained from killing it, but gave the babe to 
 a shepherd with directions to expose it in the wildest part 
 of the mountains. When the shepherd returned to his 
 home, he found that his wife had just been delivered of a 
 dead child. The two agreed to expose the body of the dead 
 baby,, but to bring up the royal child as their own. This 
 was done, and the dead body after three days' exposure was 
 duly shewn to Harpagus and buried as a royal infant. But 
 as he grew up the young Cyrus made himself conspicuous 
 among the shepherd lads. In their games and sports he was 
 chosen to be their king, and ruled them with royal dignity. 
 An accident brought out the truth. He had chastised the son 
 of a courtier for disobedience to his authority in the course of 
 the games, and on a complaint made to the king, the shepherd 
 and the boy were summoned to his presence. Struck by his 
 appearance, the king questioned the shepherd and learnt the 
 truth. Harpagus was punished by the horrible device of 
 having his own son's flesh served to him at a royal feast, but 
 the young Cyrus was sent away safe to his real parents : the 
 magi having persuaded Astyages that in having been king 
 among the boys he had fulfilled the dream and would do no 
 more hurt. But Harpagus nourished thoughts of revenge, 
 and when the young Cyrus had grown up he sent him a letter, 
 concealed in the body of a hare, advising him to raise an army 
 of Persians and invade Media. He had no difiiculty in doing 
 this, for the warlike Persians were restless under the rule 
 of the Medes. The army of Astyages was shamefully defeated 
 by the invaders, the young Cyrus was crowned king of the 
 
1 00 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 ' Medes and Persians ' and kept Astyages at his court in 
 honourable captivity for the remainder of his Hfe. 
 
 There is nothing in this story out of harmony with the 
 
 6. The con- Planners of the East. Yet we cannot tell how 
 
 quest of Lydia far particular incidents in it are due to skilful 
 
 and the Asiatic ^ , ,...,, , 
 
 Greeks, romanccrs. Other authorities indeed say that 
 
 B.C. 546. Cyrus was not in any way connected with 
 
 Astyages, but was a pure Persian by birth, and a leader of 
 his countrymen in their revolt. The important fact of which 
 there is no doubt is that about this time he dethroned 
 Astyages, and united the greater part of the old Assyrian 
 Empire under his crown. He did not become master of 
 Babylon till twenty-one years afterwards (b.c. 538). But, 
 soon after having possessed himself of the crown, he shewed 
 that he meant to extend his power to the West. The Lydian 
 kingdom was the great obstacle in his way to the sea, and 
 must be conquered if he wished for a free access to it. 
 Croesus shewed his consciousness of the danger threatening 
 him by forming alliances with Labynetus of Babylon, Amasis 
 of Egypt, and Sparta ; besides sending round to all the leading 
 oracles in Greece to learn, if possible, his chances in the 
 coming struggle. Believing that he had ascertained by a 
 curious test^ that the oracle of Delphi was the most trust- 
 worthy, he sent it magnificent presents, and asked to be 
 advised as to whether he should take active measures against 
 
 ^ The story in Herodotus (i. 46 7) is that wishing to test the oracles 
 in Greece and discover which was the most trustworthy, he ordered his 
 envoys on a particular day and hour to ask the several oracles what he was 
 doing. At the appointed hour he took a tortoise and a lamb, and cutting 
 them up boiled them in a brazen covered cauldron. He thought no one 
 could possibly guess what he was doing. But the Pythia, by luck or from 
 having got some hint, handed in an answer, reduced as usual to verse, in 
 which were the lines 
 
 Lo 1 on my sense there striketh the smell of a shell-covered tortoise. 
 Boiling now on a fire, with the flesh of a lamb, in a cauldron, 
 Brass is the vessel below, and brass the cover above it. 
 
The Fall of Croesus. lOi 
 
 Cyrus. The oracle told him that ' if he attacked the Persians 
 he would destroy a great empire \' Interpreting this in his 
 own favour, he advanced into Cappadocia and met Cyrus near 
 Sinope. A fierce battle ended indecisively : and next day, 
 as Cyrus did not renew the attack, Croesus resolved to 
 retire to Sardis and to spend the winter in collecting a 
 larger army and obtaining help from his allies. But he had 
 not calculated on the rapidity of Cyrus's movements, who de- 
 termined to strike home at once. Croesus had scarcely reached 
 Sardis, after dismissing his main army to their winter quarters, 
 when Cyrus appeared before its walls. Croesus attempted a 
 sortie with what troops could be collected in the town, but was 
 decisively defeated, partly, it is said, because his cavalry horses 
 were frightened by a troop of camels brought by Cyrus. The 
 citadel, on a high and precipitous hill, held out for a few 
 weeks, but the Persians found the way to scale it by observing 
 a Sardian soldier descend it to pick up a helmet that had 
 rolled down, and before long Croesus was a prisoner and his 
 whole kingdom in possession of Cyrus. 
 
 The Ionian and Aeolian Greeks, seeing the disaster that 
 had befallen Lydia, sent envoys to Cyrus desiring 
 to be under his protection on the same footing o/t^g i^\\oP 
 as they had been under that of Croesus. But Croesus on 
 
 , . , t , r 1 t t^e Greeks. 
 
 in the previous year they had refused his request 
 to revolt from Croesus, and he now answered them by the 
 fable of the fisherman, who having failed to induce the fish 
 to come to him by playing on his pipe, caught them in a net, 
 and when he saw them leaping and struggling, said, ' None 
 of your leaping and dancing now, since you would not dance 
 when I piped.' He was resolved in fact that they should 
 submit without conditions. And they in their turn began 
 fortifying their towns, determined to resist. For a while the 
 meetings at the Panionium rose to the dignity of a national 
 
 ^ Or, as given by some, 'if he crossed the Halys he would destroy a 
 great empire.' 
 
102 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 assembly. Messages were sent to Sparta asking for assistance, 
 and for about a year the Greeks seem to have been very little 
 molested. When departing for Ecbatana, carrying Croesus 
 with him in honourable captivity, Cyrus had indeed left a 
 general and an army with orders to conquer the Greek towns : 
 but a serious rising of the Lydians under Pactyas, whom Cyrus 
 had left in command at Sardis, must have much retarded the 
 operations. When this had been suppressed, and Pactyas, 
 who had fled for refuge to Cyme, Mitylene and Chios, had 
 at last been captured, Mazares, who had been sent to crush 
 him, overran the basin of the Maeander, took Priene and sold 
 its inhabitants into slavery. Upon his death Harpagus was 
 sent to take command, and proceeded systematically to 
 attack one Greek town after another, beginning with Phocaea. 
 The only one left undisturbed was Miletus, which had 
 early made terms with Cyrus, retaining the position of free 
 alliance won after so many years of warfare from the Lydian 
 kings. But the others fell one after the other, and their sub- 
 mission was followed by that of the islands close to the coast, 
 and by the conquest of all Caria and the Dorian Hexapolis, 
 the Aeolians and lonians being forced to serve in the armies 
 which enslaved their fellow Hellenes. In some cases indeed 
 as at Phocaea and Teos a large part of the inhabitants, 
 rather than submit, embarked on board their ships and sought 
 a home elsewhere. The Phocaeans touched at Chios, and 
 thence made their way far off to Corsica, from which in after 
 years they made settlements at Massilia in Gaul, and Rhegium 
 and Velia in Italy : while the Teians made their way to Thrace, 
 where they founded the town of Abdera. 
 
 The change in the position of the Greek towns does not 
 
 8 The Greek ^PP^^^ to have been very great. Acknowledg- 
 
 towns under ment of the supremacy of the king, payment of 
 
 tribute, supply of men and ships when required 
 
 these were the main points, and these conditions had probably 
 
 existed under Croesus. The Ionian towns still had a separate 
 
The Greek towns under Cyrus, 103 
 
 political existence, and their deputies met as before at the 
 Panionium. But two things were a fruitful source of trouble. 
 First, the conditions under which they lived depended a great 
 deal on the personal character of the Persian governor living 
 at Sardis, who was left with almost autocratic authority, and 
 had little reason to fear interference from the Court, so long 
 as he prevented violent outbreaks and transmitted the tribute 
 regularly to the royal treasury. Secondly, the Persians insisted 
 on the abolition of democratic governments, and the substi- 
 tution of tyrants, who were dependent upon them and would 
 rule in their interests. This does not seem to have been done 
 quite at once throughout the district, but in a few years we find 
 most of the Asiatic Greek towns so governed. The yoke was no 
 doubt much lighter at first on the islands than on the towns of 
 the coast, for the Persian king had not yet the assistance of the 
 Phoenician fleets to enable him to control them. And we find 
 that one of the islands towards the end of the reign of Cyrus 
 (who fell in war with Queen Tomyris, B.C. 528) had risen in 
 wealth and power to an extent which threatened to defy the 
 Persian supremacy. 
 
 This was Samos, off the coast of Caria, a member of 
 the Ionian league, and possessing some territory, 
 or peraea^ on the mainland. About B.C. 535 orpoiycrates 
 Polycrates and his brothers got possession of ofSamos^ 
 the government of the island. But presently 
 one of the brothers (Pantagnotus) was put to death on some 
 pretext, and the other (Syloson) banished. Polycrates then set 
 himself to acquire power and wealth. He collected a large 
 fleet, containing a hundred penteconters ; occupied several 
 neighbouring islands and towns on the mainland ; waged war 
 against Miletus, and, making alliance with Amasis of Egypt, 
 for a time rendered Samos one of the most powerful States 
 in Hellas. His object perhaps was not entirely selfish. He 
 conceived the idea of renewing a Panionian League, strong 
 enough to maintain its independence, in which of course he 
 
I04 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 was to be the chief director, but which would serve as a 
 breakwater against Persian expansion. So great was his pros- 
 perity, that his friend Amasis thought it well to warn him 
 against the perils of too high a fortune, begging him, as the 
 story in Herodotus goes, to cast away his most cherished 
 possession and so pacify the jealousy of fortune. After much 
 debate in his mind as to what he should throw away, he 
 resolved to cast into the sea a valuable ring, as the most 
 precious of his possessions. But soon afterwards the ring was 
 restored to him, having been found in the belly of a fish which 
 his cook was dressing. He was however still safe and powerful 
 when in B.C. 525 king Cambyses, the successor of Cyrus, 
 invaded Egypt. Like the other Ionian States, Samos furnished 
 its contingent to the Persian army, thereby acknowledging the 
 over-lordship of the Great King. But Polycrates took care 
 that the men sent should be mostly of the party opposed to 
 him at home, of whom he would be not sorry to be rid. Most 
 of them however returned, and getting help from Sparta and 
 Corinth laid siege to his capital city. From this danger 
 he freed himself triumphantly and seemed stronger than ever. 
 But his downfall was approaching. In B.C. 522 Oroetes was 
 satrap or governor at Sardis, and determined to get rid of 
 Polycrates, who was much too strong and independent not 
 to rouse the jealousy of a satrap, whose first duty was to 
 see that every subject of the king was sufficiently subordinate. 
 He knew too how the Ionian cities chafed under the yoke of 
 Persian supremacy. If they found a champion strong enough 
 to give them hope, a revolt might be expected at any time. 
 He had no ships however capable of coping with the navy of 
 Polycrates. He resolved therefore to tempt him over to the 
 mainland. He sent him a message pretending that he was 
 in terror of king Cambyses, and begging Polycrates to come to 
 Sardis and help him to remove the treasures there, by the 
 aid of which he might make himself master of all Greece. 
 Polycrates, in spite of warning, fell into the trap. He set out 
 
Fall of Poly crates of Santos. 105 
 
 for Sardis, and on the way was arrested and put to death. 
 For a time the island was in the hands of the late king's 
 secretary Maeandrius ; but a Persian force entered it under 
 Otanes, and on the pretext of the murder of ^ , .^^^ 
 some Persian officers, overran the island, killing of samos, 
 a large proportion of its male population. The " ' ^^^^ao- 
 government of the island, thus weakened, was handed over 
 to Syloson the brother of Polycrates, who had won the favour 
 of Darius (who became king in B.C. 521) during the Egyptian 
 campaign. This was a specimen of the way in which the Persian 
 satraps took every opportunity that occurred to crush anything 
 that seemed capable of resisting them in a Greek town. The 
 Medising of Samos marks the final subjection of Ionia. It 
 was not for nearly twenty years after this that any movement 
 of consequence took place among the lonians, though the 
 Persian satraps were always suspicious and uneasy about their 
 loyalty. 
 
 The subjection of the Hellenic towns of Asia was not 
 the only thing which was making the Persian j^ ^he 
 kingdom a menace to Greece. Either towards alarming 
 the end of the reign of Cyrus or the beginning Persian 
 of that of his successor Cambyses (b.c. 528 power. 
 521) a close alliance, hardly distinguishable from an acknow- 
 ledgment of suzerainty, had been made with the Phoenicians 
 of Tyre, giving the Great King the advantage, whenever he 
 called for it, of the largest and best fleet in the Mediterranean 
 and the most experienced seamen. In B.C. 525 Cambyses 
 completed the conquest of Egypt, thus obtaining what seemed 
 another point from which to attack Europe from the south, 
 though in the end the difficulty of holding Egypt proved 
 a hindrance rather than a help to an invasion of Europe. 
 It was reserved for Darius (b.c. 521 485) to extend the 
 Persian supremacy towards the north, thus encompassing Greece 
 on three sides and making the great struggle between East and 
 West inevitable. 
 
io6 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Darius and the Ionian Revolt. 
 
 On the death of Cambyses, the crown after a few months' 
 
 I. Darius ^^ig'^ ^f Siiierdis, a pretended son of Cyrus 
 
 (B.C. 521485) was secured for Darius, who was to marry Atossa, 
 
 the organiser \ . , ,. _ 
 
 of the Persian daughter 01 Cyrus, and so contmue the hne oi 
 Empire. ^^le great founder of the Medo-Persian monarchy. 
 
 His chief work was to organise the government of his vast and 
 varied empire. He divided it into twenty provinces or satrapies, 
 each governed by a satrap, and each paying a fixed sum to the 
 royal exchequer. In case of a general war each satrapy had 
 also to furnish a certain number of troops to muster at a spot 
 fixed by the king. The internal government of the satrapies 
 was left very much to the discretion of the satraps, who even 
 waged war with the surrounding peoples, or sometimes with 
 each other, without necessarily incurring interference from the 
 central government. But failure to secure and forward the 
 tribute, and frequent and dangerous outbreaks of rebellion, or 
 a suspicion of attempting independence, were pretty sure to 
 cause the offending satrap to be superseded. The satrapy with 
 which we are chiefly concerned is the first embracing the 
 lonians, both Magnesias, the Aeolians, Carians, Lycians, Pam- 
 phylians. It paid 400 talents to the king, and the seat of the 
 satrap's government was Sardis. 
 
I07 
 
 AEGEAlSr SB A & ITS COASTS 
 
 >Cftiera 
 
 24* LanffUude. aet of GrticnMrieh 
 
io8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 But the accession of Darius to the throne had been secured 
 by the belief in his character as a great warrior. 
 Scythian He had none of the sentiment attaching to 
 
 expedition hereditary right on his side. It was perhaps 
 
 between therefore necessary for him to undertake some 
 
 Bx. 515 and enterprise to strike the imagination of his 
 subjects. His wife Atossa is said to have in- 
 herited the warlike disposition of her father, and to have urged 
 him to do so. But it was for some time doubtful to him 
 whether he should direct his attempt westward to Greece, or 
 to the European countries north of Greece. In the end he 
 allowed a Greek physician, Democedes of Crotona, to conduct 
 a commission of inquiry as to the state of things in Greece and 
 the Greek cities of Italy, while he himself resolved upon the 
 northern expedition. The Scythian Cimmerians who invaded 
 Media about B.C. 625 had come round the Black Sea by way 
 of the Caucasus. But Darius meant to end there. His plan 
 was to go over the Bosporus near Byzantium into Thrace, 
 cross the Danube, and march through the little known region, 
 which the Greeks vaguely called Scythia, and make his way 
 round the Euxine. For the convenience of transport bridges 
 of boats were constructed across the Bosporus and the Danube : 
 and, according to the story in Herodotus, he really did advance 
 beyond the Don, taking and burning the semi-Greek timber-built 
 city of Gelonus, which had been established some think as 
 a staple town for Hellenic traffic in the north, perhaps for the 
 trade in furs with the cities on the Euxine. As far as the 
 Danube all seems to have gone well with the expedition ; but 
 after that Darius found his line of march harassed by wild 
 tribes, acquainted with the country, and determined to resist 
 an invader. Herodotus tells us how one of the chiefs sent him 
 a present of a bird, a mouse, a frog, and arrows, and when 
 Darius wondered what the meaning of such a present could be, 
 one of the magi interpreted it to signify ' Unless you can fly 
 into the air like birds, or burrow into the earth like mice, or 
 
The Greek Tyrants on the Danube. 109 
 
 swim in the marshes like frogs, you will be destroyed by these 
 arrows.' Symbolical letters are known of elsewhere among 
 wild tribes, and ought hardly to have puzzled one acquainted 
 with the writing on Assyrian monuments. Other details, if not 
 true, are ben trovati', and there is little more reason for doubt- 
 ing Herodotus' narrative with the inevitable deductions to be 
 made for the inaccuracy of human testimony in this than in 
 other matters, in which modern investigations have tended 
 rather to confirm than refute him. 
 
 But the interesting part of the story, as far as Greek his- 
 tory is concerned, is that which relates to what occurred on 
 the banks of the Danube. In the army of in- ^ ^he 
 vasion were contingents from the subject Greek Greek tyrants 
 
 ..,,,,. . , 1 at the bridge 
 
 Cities, led by their respective tyrants, who owed over the 
 their position to Persian support. By the ad- J^anuiJe. 
 vice of Goes, the commander of the contingent from Lesbos, 
 Darius resolved to leave the bridge of boats over the Danube 
 in charge of the Greeks, with orders to wait sixty days which 
 they were to count by daily untying one of sixty knots in a rope 
 and, if he had not returned by that time, to break up the 
 bridge and return home. The sixty days passed and no news 
 of the king had reached the Greeks ; when suddenly a band of 
 Scythian horse appeared and, addressing the men on board the 
 boats forming the bridge, told them that Darius was in full retreat 
 and that they could easily intercept him, if the Greeks would 
 but break the bridge. The Greek leaders held a council, and 
 Miltiades an Athenian who had been for some years ruler of 
 the Thracian Chersonese, though holding it in some way for 
 the Athenians proposed that they should break up the bridge 
 and leave Darius to his fate. If the king and his great army 
 perished, the Greek States would be able to throw off the 
 Persian supremacy, or, as in his own case, avoid falling under 
 it. But Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, opposed the suggestion 
 on the ground that the destruction of the Persian power would 
 be the signal for their own deposition : for the Greek cities 
 
I lo Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 still desired free government. This argument settled the 
 question : a few ships were removed from the northern end of 
 the bridge, to impress the Scythians with the idea of its being 
 broken, who thereupon went away to intercept Darius ; but 
 when, after some days, Darius and his wearied army appeared 
 on the bank, the vessels were swung round again, and the king 
 and his host passed in safety. But we may be sure that there 
 were not wanting some to inform Darius of the debate that had 
 divided the Greek tyrants, and which of them had advised that 
 he should be left to perish. From this, as we shall see, two 
 things which were to have important consequences to the 
 Greeks at large were indirectly brought about the Ionian 
 revolt, and the fact that Miltiades was in command at Mara- 
 thon. 
 
 But though the Scythian expedition had been unfruitful, 
 
 4. The ^^^ P^^'^ of subjecting the Greek cities in Thrace 
 
 subjection of and lower Macedonia to the Persian obedience 
 
 Thrace and ^ . - i 1 /- i , i 
 
 Macedonia, was not givcn up. Mcgabazus was left behmd, 
 about B.C. 507. when the king returned to Asia, expressly for 
 this purpose. He seems to have performed his task without 
 much difficulty. Hardly any city offered a strenuous resist- 
 ance except Perinthus, on the north coast of the Propontis. 
 When this city had at length given in, Megabazus proceeded 
 westward to cross the Strymon into Macedonia. The Paeo- 
 nians, living between the Axius and the Haliacmon, were by 
 the express orders of Darius transported to Phrygia, with a view 
 apparently of introducing an industrial population \ Envoys 
 were also sent to Amyntas, king of Macedonia, to demand 
 earth and water, the symbols of submission to the Great King. 
 Macedonia, which was at present little more than the strip of 
 country forming the basin of the Axius though it was being 
 
 1 The reason given by Herodotus is that Darius had been much struck 
 by seeing a tall Paeonian woman at Sard is who led a horse by a bridle 
 over her arm, at the same time carrying a water-pitcher on her head, and 
 using both her hands in spinning. Herod, v. \i. 
 
The Device of Histiaeus. 1 1 1 
 
 pushed eastward to the Strymon was too weak to refuse. The 
 seven envoys were entertained by the king with all honour, but 
 an insult offered to the ladies of the court so enraged the king's 
 son Alexander, that he contrived their assassination. The 
 matter however was hushed up, and the signs of submission on 
 the part of the king accepted at Sardis. The work of Mega- 
 bazus was completed by his successor, who beginning by taking 
 possession of Byzantium and Chalcedon, proceeded through 
 the Hellespont, taking some towns in the Troad, as well as the 
 islands of Lemnos and Imbros. Thus the Persian supremacy 
 was well established on the northern coast of the Aegean by 
 about B.C. 507 ; and though the European Greeks had good 
 reason to regard what had been done as a menace to their 
 safety and freedom, yet for a few years there was a period of 
 unusual peace in the islands, and in the Greek cities of 
 Asia. 
 
 This period of comparative repose however did not last 
 loner. But it was not in the newly acquired 
 
 mi 11 1 1 5- Causes 
 
 Thracian towns that the next rismg took place, of the Ionian 
 They were perhaps sufficiently far from the revolt after 
 central government of the satrap to feel the of quiet, 
 yoke somewhat less keenly. It was among the " '^ ~^'' 
 Ionian Greeks that the new movement began, which had 
 very far-reaching effects. Though it was hastened by a curious 
 train of circumstances connected with Darius's northern ex- 
 pedition, it began naturally in Miletus, the town which had 
 always been most forward in resisting the Lydian and Persian 
 oppression. 
 
 When Darius left his army to continue the conquest of 
 Thrace and Macedonia, he himself returned to Sardis, where 
 he stayed a considerable time. One of his first measures was 
 to send for Goes of Mitylene and Histiaeus of Miletus, to 
 offer them rewards for their service in preventing the breaking 
 down of the bridge over the Danube. Goes asked for the tyranny 
 of Mitylene, Histiaeus for a tract of country on the Strymon. 
 
1 1 2 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Both were granted. Histiaeus proceeded to found a settle- 
 ment at Myrkinus, on or near the site of what was afterwards 
 Amphipolis. It was an admirable position, in the neighbour- 
 hood of the gold mines, and commanding the coast road from 
 the Thracian Chersonese towards Greece. Its importance is 
 shewn by the efforts made in after times by Athens to retain it, 
 and the determination of Philip of Macedonia to do the same. 
 Near it Octavian and Antony were encamped when they came 
 to meet Brutus and Cassius in the last decisive struggle of the 
 civil war at Philippi. The new settlement prospered at once 
 sufficiently to rouse the suspicion of the Persian general Mega- 
 bazus, who on returning to Sardis warned Darius that Histiaeus 
 intended to set up a power independent of the king. There- 
 upon Darius following the example often set by Eastern 
 sovereigns summoned Histiaeus to his court on the honour- 
 able pretext of requiring his advice, and on the same pretext 
 carried him off with him when he returned to Susa on the 
 Choaspes, the royal residence for part of the year, leaving his 
 half-brother Artaphernes as satrap in Sardis. After a few 
 years Histiaeus wearied of this gilded captivity and longed to 
 be back in the familiar movement and interest of Greek life. 
 But to leave the court was impossible without the king's 
 consent, and that consent was not likely to be given unless 
 Histiaeus could shew that some benefit to the king was likely 
 to arise from his absence. At length he concluded that, if an 
 insurrection could be stirred up in Ionia, he might persuade 
 the king to send him down to the coast to stop it. The diffi- 
 culty was to communicate with his son-in-law Aristagoras whom 
 he had left in charge of Miletus. At length he hit upon a 
 strange device. He caused the head of a slave to be shaven 
 and on the scalp to be tattooed the two words * rouse Ionia ' 
 (dmoTT^croi/ 'Iwviav). Having given time for the hair to grow 
 sufficiently to conceal the marks, he sent him to Miletus with 
 directions to Aristagoras to have the slave's head shaved and 
 to look at it. To ' rouse Ionia ' was never a very difficult task, 
 
Causes of the Ionian Revolt. 1 1 3 
 
 and just then Aristagoras was in a position which made him 
 ready to take the hint. 
 
 The island of Naxos was the largest and most powerful of the 
 Cyclades. It had not long before been governed g ^j^^ ^^^^^ 
 by the tyrant Lygdamis, the friend of Peisis- of Naxos, 
 tratus. About B.C. 525 Lygdamis was deposed ' 'So^-i- 
 by the aid of the Spartans and an oligarchical government set 
 up or restored. In B.C. 503 there was a popular rising and 
 some of the oligarchical party were forced to leave the island. 
 They had that connexion with Histiaeus which the Greeks 
 called proxenia^ * guest friendship,' in virtue of which they 
 might claim his hospitality and protection. Coming to Miletus, 
 they asked this protection from Aristagoras, as being regent in 
 the place of Histiaeus. He declared himself unable to give 
 them efficient support himself, but offered to plead their cause 
 with the Persian satrap Artaphernes. The chance of asserting 
 his authority in one of the Cyclades, which had as yet re- 
 mained free from the Persian yoke, was welcome to the satrap. 
 He promised a fleet of 200 ships, but not till the following 
 spring, on the ground that he must have time to consult the 
 king. The ships however seem to have been collected at once 
 and sent to Miletus, where they took on board Aristagoras, 
 his Milesian troops, and the Naxian exiles. But when the 
 expedition had started under the joint command of the king's 
 nephew Megabates and Aristagoras, the difficulties soon appeared 
 which usually attend joint commands. Megabates punished 
 a Carian captain for not keeping proper watch on board his 
 ship, by tying him with his head projecting from a port-hole, 
 and Aristagoras, who was his friend, released him, declaring 
 himself to be the commander-in-chief by the order of Arta- 
 phernes. Megabates in revenge sent a secret message to warn 
 the Naxians. Accordingly, when the fleet arrived at the island, 
 Aristagoras found that the chief town also called Naxos 
 had been carefully prepared to stand a siege : and though 
 he kept up the blockade for four months he failed to make 
 
 S. G. 8 
 
114 Short History of the Greeks 
 
 any impression on the town. His own stores were now 
 exhausted and his money spent, so that he could not pay 
 the king's soldiers. All he could do was to build some forts 
 on the island, in which the banished oligarchs might secure 
 themselves and annoy their enemies ; and having done this 
 he had to withdraw to the mainland. He expected nothing 
 but vengeance from Artaphernes for having induced him to 
 venture troops and vessels of the king on what had proved 
 a failure. He looked for deposition at least, and probably 
 death. The message of his father-in-law Histiaeus came 
 opportunely, as suggesting a means of distracting the attention 
 of Artaphernes from his own misadventure, and his failure to 
 fulfil his promise of paying the expenses of the expedition. 
 
 To carry out the plan it was necessary to secure the co- 
 
 The operation of friends in the different Ionian states. 
 
 Ionian Revolt, A Conference was held at Miletus, in which it 
 
 501495- ^g^g resolved, as a first step, to put down the 
 medising tyrants in the several cities. Aristagoras himself 
 made a show of laying down his power at Miletus, though 
 he seems to have retained it under another name. Several 
 of the other tyrants were seized on board the fleet which had 
 been used against Naxos and was now stationed at Myus, near 
 the mouth of the Maeander. They were handed over to their 
 subjects, but were allowed to quit their cities in safety, though 
 obliged to abdicate their royal powers. An exception to this 
 was Goes of Mytilene, who had made himself so disliked by 
 his people that they led him out of the city and stoned him 
 to death. Though this revolution involving the overthrow of 
 the tyrants was certain to be offensive to the Persian court, 
 it was not exactly an act of rebellion. It was as possible for a 
 democracy to own the over-lordship of the Great King as for a 
 monarchy. But its tendency was anti-Persian ; and the States 
 should not have ventured upon it unless prepared sooner 
 or later to resist the king. At the council at Miletus the 
 one voice raised in favour of prudence had been that of 
 
The Spartan King refuses Assistance. 1 1 5 
 
 the historian Hecataeus. He argued against provoking the 
 hostility of Persia; or, if they were resolved upon doing so, 
 he advised that they should seize the wealth stored in the 
 temple of Apollo at Branchidae, about twenty miles south of 
 Miletus. This was one of the greatest and most wealthy 
 temples in Hellas, containing an oracle used by all lonians 
 as well as others, and filled with lavish offerings from kings, 
 peoples, and private persons ; and moreover, like other great 
 temples, containing much wealth deposited within its precincts 
 for safe custody. These treasures would have enabled the 
 lonians to furnish out a great fleet. But because they either 
 shrank from committing sacrilege, or feared the effect it would 
 have on others, they refused to violate the shrine. Its riches 
 fell into the hands of the Persians, who had no such scruples, 
 and at the end of the revolt plundered and burnt the temple. 
 Aristagoras however took other means to secure aid for the 
 movement which he was preparing. Having arranged that 
 ' generals ' should be appointed in the various towns instead 
 of tyrants, he took ship and sailed to Greece in the latter 
 half of B.C. 500, to secure help in his struggle for freedom. 
 He first went to Sparta, as the acknowledged head 
 of Greece, and endeavoured to persuade the g ^^j^^^. 
 Spartan government to join in raising war against goras at 
 the Great King, by describing the enormous p^""*^- 
 wealth to be found at Susa, and affirming that the Spartans 
 had only to come over to Asia to make certain of possessing 
 themselves of it. He brought with him a 'bronze tablet, 
 whereon the whole circuit of the earth was engraved with 
 all its seas and rivers.' This was probably the production 
 of Hecataeus of Miletus, and is the earliest mention of a 
 map which we possess. He pointed out that the greater 
 part was occupied by the king's dominions, and that besides 
 freeing brother Hellenes by taking part in this expedition, 
 they would gain possession of wealth beyond the dreams of 
 avarice. He perhaps trusted to the violent and headstrong 
 
 82 
 
1 1 6 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 character of the Spartan king Cleomenes to persuade the 
 Ephors to embark on this enterprise. But Cleomenes proved 
 unexpectedly cautious. He promised to give an answer in 
 three days and, when that time had passed, he summoned 
 Aristagoras to his presence and asked only one question 
 'How many days' journey is it from the coast to the king's 
 residence ? ' Taken by surprise, Aristagoras answered the 
 truth 'Three months.' To which the king at once replied: 
 ' Stranger, quit Sparta before sunset. It is no good proposal to 
 Spartans, to lead them three months' journey from the sea ! ' 
 Aristagoras however made one other attempt. He seems to 
 have supposed that Cleomenes was acting only under orders 
 from the Ephors. Hence he sought him out in his own house, 
 carrying the branch which indicated a suppliant, and offered 
 him a large bribe, beginning at lo and rising to 50 talents, 
 if he would induce the Spartans to undertake the enterprise. 
 By the side of the king was standing his daughter, a girl 
 of eight or nine years of age, and as the cunning Milesian went 
 on raising his offers, she suddenly exclaimed : ' Father, the 
 stranger will corrupt you unless you depart.' The king there- 
 upon rose and left the chamber, and Aristagoras had to quit 
 Sparta without having accomplished his object. 
 
 He next tried Athens. There he found a readier accept- 
 ance, for the Athenians were in the first vigour 
 go^ras a"^ ^" ^^^d exuberant hopes caused by their recently 
 B^c^"oo estabHshed freedom. They had triumphed over 
 
 the attempts of the Spartans to expel Cleisthenes 
 and set up an oligarchy ; they had triumphed over a combina- 
 tion of Boeotians, Chalcidians of Euboea, and Aegina a 
 confederacy promoted by Cleomenes and had 
 B.c!^5^io^5oo. "^ ^^y defeated the Boeotians and Chalcidians 
 in the field, but had occupied part of Euboea, 
 in which they had settled Athenian land-owners or deruchs. 
 They were besides especially irritated with the Persians. When 
 appealed to for help during the first attack of Cleomenes, the 
 
The Athenians at Sardis. T17 
 
 satrap Artaphernes had demanded the signs of submission 
 'earth and water,' as a condition of giving aid, which the 
 Athenians had indignantly declined. Later on Hippias had 
 gained the ear of Artaphernes, and had induced him to send 
 messages to them that 'if they wished to be safe they must 
 restore Hippias.' The Athenians had thereupon resolved that 
 in any case hostility to Persia was to be their policy. Aris- 
 tagoras therefore could hardly have come at a better time. 
 He addressed the assembly, assuring the people that the 
 Persians were bad soldiers and ill equipped, carrying neither 
 shield nor spear; he reminded them that Miletus was an 
 Athenian colony ; and in his eagerness poured forth the most 
 extravagant promises. This speech had the desired effect. 
 The Athenians voted a fleet of twenty ships a large number 
 for them at that time and elected Melanthius to command 
 them and take them to the help of the lonians. 'These 
 ships,' says Herodotus, 'were a beginning of mischief to 
 Greeks and barbarians.' At the same time the Eretrians of 
 Euboea in gratitude for help once given them from Miletus 
 in some of their many quarrels with Chalcis also promised 
 ships: and Aristagoras hurried back to Miletus with the 
 assurance of having obtained the aid which he desired. 
 
 Active measures were begun as soon as Aristagoras returned 
 to Miletus; and a direct defiance given to the 
 king by inducing the Paeonians (p. 109) to quit beginning of 
 the villages in Phrygia in which they had been bu^rnfng^or'^ 
 settled and return to their native land. This Sardis; 
 they succeeded in doing, though pursued by ' -50 499. 
 Persian cavalry. This movement seems first to have awakened 
 Artaphernes to the serious nature of what was going on. 
 Though he remained at Sardis, he sent for reinforcements from 
 the head-quarters of the Persian army west of the Halys, and 
 ordered out a Phoenician fleet, which appears to have been in 
 time to harass the Eretrian ships on their voyage. 
 
 When the twenty Athenian and five Eretrian ships arrived 
 
1 1 8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 at Miletus, they joined the Ionian fleets already there, and at 
 once proceeded to Ephesus. They left their ships at a small 
 town in the Ephesian territory, and started up country, follow- 
 ing the line of the Cayster, under the command of a brother 
 of Aristagoras, till they reached the southern slope of Mount 
 Tmolus. Crossing the high ground there they came down 
 upon the town of Sardis. They occupied the city without 
 much difficulty : but Artaphernes held the almost impregnable 
 citadel, and with that in the hands of the enemy the Greeks 
 could feel no security. Nor did they hold the town many 
 hours. A carelessly thrown firebrand set fire to the thatched 
 roofs of some houses. In great alarm the inhabitants rushed 
 down into the market-place by the river in such numbers, that 
 the Greeks found it necessary to evacuate the town and march 
 back to the high ground of Mount Tmolus, where they bivou- 
 acked for the night. Thence next morning they resumed their 
 march in hopes of gaining the ships left in Ephesian territory. 
 But the reinforcements sent for by Artaphernes had meanwhile 
 arrived at Sardis, and the cavalry had been sent in pursuit. 
 It overtook the Greeks just before they reached Ephesian 
 territory and inflicted a severe defeat and slaughter upon 
 them. The survivors apparently reached their ships, but the 
 Athenians sailed away and gave no farther help to the revolt. 
 
 The expedition had accomplished nothing, but had deeply 
 irritated the king. When Darius heard of the burning of 
 Sardis, he called for his bow and shooting an arrow into the 
 air prayed to Ormuzd, the supreme God, to grant him ven- 
 geance on the Athenians ; and a slave was specially ordered to 
 say aloud to him thrice daily ' Sire, remember the Athenians ! ' 
 From this time it became a settled plan with him to reduce 
 the Greeks to obedience. 
 
 This failure however had not much influence on the course 
 
 II. The of the revolt. Aristagoras indeed could take 
 
 Ionian flreV,^*" little part in it, as he had taken no part in the 
 
 B.C. 500 498. expedition to Sardis, because an investment of 
 
Last Years of the loniari Revolt. 1 19 
 
 Miletus by the Persians seems to have been begun at once, 
 and to have been continued, though for a long time with little 
 energy, for five years. But the Ionian fleet was free, and now 
 having no hope of safety except in victory, it sailed from city 
 to city trying to gain fresh adherents. It went as far as 
 Byzantium, which was induced, as were the cities on the 
 Hellespont, to join the movement. Then returning southwards 
 it did the same with the cities of Caria. 
 
 But though the revolt thus spread far and wide, the Persians 
 were gradually forming a force sufficient to check 
 it. A fleet had been collected from Egypt, reduction of 
 Phoenicia, and CiHcia, and after some inter- E^p*""^: 
 
 . B.C. 498. 
 
 mittent skirmishmg, its whole efl'orts were di- 
 rected to the recovery of the island of Cyprus, which had 
 joined the rebels at the time of the expedition against Sardis, 
 Persian troops were landed from the coast of Cilicia and 
 though the Phoenician ships, which sailed round the eastern 
 extremity of the island, encountered the Ionian fleet and were 
 beaten by it, on land the Persians were successful. They 
 reduced the whole island to submission in little more than a 
 year from the time of its joining the revolt. 
 
 The Ionian ships now scattered, each squadron to its own 
 city. The Persian generals seem to have left the 
 cities of the Ionian League alone, and to have reductiln^of 
 devoted their efl'orts entirely to the detailed re- revolted 
 duction of all the other towns which had joined b.c. 498-7, 
 in the revolt. In Caria indeed, though they and flight of 
 
 ' o ' Anstagoras. 
 
 twice defeated the natives, they finally fell into 
 an ambush and lost three generals and a large number of 
 men. Yet elsewhere they were almost uniformly successful. 
 Thus the towns on the Hellespont as well as on the Asiatic 
 side of the Propontis fell one after the other. Presently the 
 same process began to be applied to Aeolian and Ionian 
 cities, and Clazomenae and Cyme were taken. Everywhere 
 the rebels were losing. The heart of Aristagoras failed him. 
 
120 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 He determined on flight, and after some hesitation as to 
 where he should go, he sailed to his father-in-law's town of 
 Myrcinus in Thrace, and there shortly afterwards perished in 
 battle with the natives. 
 
 Such was the state of things which Histiaeus found when 
 he arrived in Sardis, having persuaded the king 
 comes to to scnd him down to put an end to the disturb- 
 
 ^^''^'^* ance. To a great degree the revolt had been 
 
 stamped out. The only cities which were still in arms were 
 those of the Ionian League. Even of these Clazomenae had 
 been already occupied by the Persians, while Ephesus and two 
 towns closely connected with it Colophon and Lebedus 
 held aloof, probably because they were closely watched by the 
 Persians, as the great road up the country began at Ephesus. 
 The remaining nine', still holding out, made some attempt at 
 combination. Their deputies met at the Panionium the temple 
 of Poseidon on Mycale and resolved on concentrating all re- 
 sistance on their ships. To the number of 353 vessels they were 
 mustered off the island of Lade, opposite Miletus. Histiaeus 
 took no share in the struggle. When he arrived at Sardis he 
 had been alarmed to find that Artaphernes was fully aware of 
 the part he had played. 'You made the shoe' said the 
 satrap to him 'and Aristagoras put it on.' He tried to find 
 safety in Chios, and thence essayed to enter Miletus. But the 
 Milesians had no mind to admit their old tyrant, and drove him 
 wounded from the walls. Thence he passed to Mitylene and 
 Byzantium. At the latter with eight triremes, which he had 
 obtained from Mitylene, he supported himself by levying black- 
 mail on the corn-ships. His only contribution to the persist- 
 ence of the lonians in the revolt was the report spread by him 
 that the king meant to remove all lonians from their homes 
 and put Phoenicians in their places. 
 
 The success of the revolt was now narrowed down to two 
 
 ^ Miletus, Priene, Myus, Teos, Chios, Erythrae, Phocaea, Lesbos, 
 Samos. 
 
Fall of Miletus and end of the Revolt. 121 
 
 points, the Ionian fleet, and the town of Miletus. The fleet 
 had elected Dionysius of Phocaea to the supreme 
 
 , . . . , . , 15. End of 
 
 command, and for a time the men submitted the revolt, 
 to the discipline and laborious training neces- byTife^bitiT* 
 sary for success. But they had been too long of Lade and 
 used to sailing where they liked, and passing 
 most of their time on land. They soon revolted against the 
 sterner duties of their profession, and returned to their old 
 habits of going where they pleased and landing where they 
 chose. Meanwhile the Persian fleet of Phoenician and Cyprian 
 vessels had mustered for the attack on Miletus, supported by a 
 strong army, which was now to invest Miletus by land in a 
 more serious way than had been the case for some time past. 
 An attempt was made to obtain the submission of the lonians 
 through their banished tyrants on a promise of indemnity for 
 the past : but all refused except the Samians; and a battle was 
 fought off Lade in which the allies were entirely 
 defeated. The battle seems to have been bravely L^e^B c 494 
 contested by most. The Samians except eleven 
 vessels whose captains refused to do so deserted their friends 
 at the beginning of the fight, in accordance with the terms 
 which they had made with the Persians, and were followed by 
 the Lesbians. But the rest fought well and suffered severely, 
 especially the Chians. Dionysius of Phocaea, when he saw 
 that all hope was over, escaped to Phoenicia and thence to 
 Sicily, where he lived by plundering the ships of Carthaginian 
 and Etruscan merchants. 
 
 The battle of Lade broke the resistance of the lonians 
 at sea, and was quickly followed by the fall of 
 Miletus. The town was immediately invested by tu^rB-c.^!^" 
 sea and land : mines were driven under its walls, 
 and all implements then known for attacking fortifications were 
 used, and before the end of the sixth year of the revolt it was 
 in the hands of the Persians. With the fall of this fairest city 
 of Ionia, which had maintained so proud an independence 
 
122 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 against both Croesus and Cyrus, the revolt came completely to 
 an end. The inhabitants were to a great extent removed to 
 Susa, where however they were kindly treated, and given 
 certain villages in which to settle. 
 
 The Persians, now masters of Caria as well as the rest 
 ^ ^ , . of the coast of Asia Minor, put their fleet in 
 
 i6. Subjec- . ', ^ 
 
 tionofthe harbour for the wmter at Miletus. But in the 
 
 TfTracfan"'^ spring of the next year it was sent to continue 
 towns, the work of subjugation in the north. Chios, 
 
 Lesbos and Tenedos were taken and treated 
 with great severity. Byzantium and Chalcedon followed and 
 other cities on the Hellespont, as well as the whole of the 
 Thracian Chersonese, from which Miltiades had retreated to 
 Athens, knowing what his fate would be if he fell into Persian 
 hands. Histiaeus, the instigator of this movement, quitted 
 Byzantium when the fall of Miletus convinced him that the 
 Persian fleet would before long appear in the Bosporus. He 
 sought safety in one place after another in Asia, but was at 
 length captured by the Persian Harpagus in the territory of 
 Atarneus and put to death. 
 
 Artaphernes now attempted to heal the maladies of Ionia 
 
 by more peaceful means. He summoned depu- 
 
 organisation ties from cach of the Ionian towns, and com- 
 
 of Ionia, pelled them to come to terms with each other 
 
 hs.C 493. * 
 
 and swear to abstain from mutual raids and 
 pillage; while he adjusted the taxation by dividing the lands 
 into districts of uniform size, paying a fixed sum to the Persian 
 government, thus avoiding possible disputes as to the amount 
 payable by one state or another, and as to the mode of collect- 
 ing it. But he appears to have restored the banished tyrants, 
 and in that respect maintained the old policy of the Persian 
 government, which had been so fruitful a cause of discontent. 
 This policy was reversed by Mardonius, his successor in the 
 satrapy, who arrived in the spring of the following year 
 (B.C. 492); for he deposed the tyrants and re-established free 
 
Pacification of Ionia. 123 
 
 governments in the Ionian cities. He had come with orders 
 to subdue Athens and other parts of European Greece : and 
 perhaps this new policy arose from a wish to have a peaceful 
 and contented Ionia in his rear. But such a concession to the 
 feelings of a subject-people shews a more enlightened and liberal 
 view than is generally attributed to the Persian court. The 
 pretensions of the Great King were so high, that these petty 
 princes must have seemed entirely insignificant to him : and the 
 diiference between putting them up to rule and allowing the 
 people to rule themselves must have appeared a matter of 
 small importance, to be entirely decided by what was shewn 
 to be practically the most convenient. 
 
 Though peace was thus secured for a time in the Ionian 
 cities, the result of the war must have seemed . _. 
 
 ' , lo. i ne 
 
 grievous to Greece generally. One of the fairest fining of 
 districts occupied by Greeks in Asia had perma- P^^yn^c^^s- 
 nently, as it appeared, lost its independence; and with it a 
 long list of other Hellenic cities along the coasts, from Byzan- 
 tium downwards, had again been reduced to be subjects of the 
 Great King. To the Athenians it was the fall of Miletus which 
 appeared the most afflicting of all the misfortunes Miletus a 
 colony from their own city, and so long the glory of Asia and 
 a bulwark of freedom. This feeling shewed itself by their 
 fining the tragic poet Phrynichus a thousand drachmae for 
 reminding the people of their misfortunes by his play called 
 the 'Capture of Miletus.' A decree ordered that no one 
 should ever exhibit the play again. 
 
124 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Persian Wars (First Period, b.c. 492490). 
 
 Herodotus thought that his statement as to Jie poUcy 
 
 of Mardonius in putting down the tyrants in the 
 
 I. The first Greek cities of Asia would appear incredible to 
 
 invasion of , ^ 
 
 Greece by the men of his own generation. It was there- 
 
 B.c! 492!"^' fore probably not maintained long. Nor was it 
 the main object of sending Mardonius, a yoiing 
 man and the king's son-in-law, to take the place of Arta- 
 phernes, who seems to have died about this time. He came 
 down to the coast of Cilicia with a large army, and there met 
 a fleet of ships already prepared for him. He embarked 
 at once, and proceeded to coast along Asia Minor, stopping 
 only to make the political changes as to the government 
 of the Ionian towns, and then going on to the Hellespont. 
 There the land army met him, and was transported across 
 the strait in a numerous fleet of vessels which had purposely 
 assembled there. This route for an invasion of Greece had 
 been chosen because there were still many Greek States in 
 Thrace and the northern islands which had not submitted 
 to the Persians, and it was resolved that, though Athens and 
 Eretria were the final objects of the expedition, the whole of 
 the northern part of the peninsula should be rendered safe, 
 and the coast road from the Thracian Chersonese thoroughly 
 secured. After the passage of the Hellespont, Mardonius left the 
 fleet with orders to coast down Greece, while he himself joined 
 the land army, with which he subdued all the Greek cities in 
 his way which still held out, and reduced the Macedonians to 
 
The Disaster at Athos. 125 
 
 a more complete submission. Such opposition as he met with 
 was from the native Thracians, especially the tribe of the 
 Brygi, living just north of the Chalcidic peninsula, who in- 
 flicted considerable loss upon him, even wounding Mardonius 
 himself, though they had eventually to submit. But the 
 intended co-operation of the fleet was soon after this rendered 
 impossible by a great disaster which befel it when attempting 
 to round the promontory of Athos. It had at first met with 
 success in subduing the island of Thasos ; thence it made for 
 Acanthus at the head of Acte, but as it was rounding the 
 promontory it was caught by a storm which drove great 
 numbers of the ships upon the rocky shore of Athos. As 
 many as three hundred of them are said to have been wrecked, 
 and twenty thousand men to have perished, some by sharks 
 infesting the sea and more by being dashed against the rocks. 
 The loss of the fleet, and perhaps his own wound, discouraged 
 Mardonius from continuing the expedition, and with the re- 
 mains of his army and fleet he returned to Asia. 
 
 The scheme for invading Greece however was by no 
 means abandoned by the Persian government. 
 But the ease with which a movement in the ^- P^epa- 
 
 . rations for 
 
 island of Thasos was suppressed, the people another Per- 
 consenting without resistance to dismantle their BX.T92-490I' 
 fortifications and send their fleet to Abdera, 
 seems to have encouraged the king to try first to obtain a 
 peaceable submission from Greece at large. Heralds were 
 sent round to the Greek cities demanding 'earth and water' 
 as symbols of submission, while at the same time orders were 
 sent throughout the empire for a supply of troops, and to the 
 towns on the seaboard to furnish ships. Many of the towns 
 on the continent and all the islands gave the symbols of sub- 
 mission. Sparta and Athens were conspicuous by their refusal, 
 and even violated the persons of the heralds. At 
 Athens they were thrown into the barathrum, heTaid^^^^^^" 
 or pit; at Sparta into a well, and bidden to 
 
126 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 take earth and water from it. The mission however served its 
 purpose of emphasizing the divisions in Greece, and shewing 
 the Persians where to expect acquiescence, if not cordial 
 adherence, and where to look for determined resistance. 
 One immediate effect was to bring on a renewal of 
 . . hostilities between Athens and Aegina. The 
 
 3. Punish- ^ ^ 
 
 mentofthe Acginctans had yielded to the demand of the 
 
 eginetans. Persian heralds, and when this was known at 
 Athens, the Athenian government resolved to punish them. 
 A regard for their own safety no doubt chiefly influenced 
 them in this ; for if Aegina offered safe harbourage for an 
 enemy's fleet, the danger to Athens would be greatly in- 
 creased. A message was sent to Sparta, denouncing the 
 action of the Aeginetans, and appealing to the Spartans as 
 the acknowledged head of the Greek States to punish them. 
 It is an interesting incident as shewing an attempt at recog- 
 nising Panhellenic obligations, and the duty of the leading 
 State to enforce them. Yet after all it was a very imperfect 
 conception of such an union. If the Spartans were to punish 
 Aegina for yielding to the king's demand, why not the northern 
 towns and the islands? The fact is that the only part of 
 Greece where even an informal league of the sort existed was 
 the Peloponnese, with Sparta at its head. In applying to 
 Sparta to act, Athens for the time put herself into com- 
 munication with this southern league, though afterwards she 
 took her more natural position among the powers outside the 
 Peloponnese. 
 
 In answer to the application of Athens, the Spartan king 
 
 Cleomenes went to Aegina to seize the leaders 
 
 and death of in Aegina who had counselled the treasonable 
 
 king cieo- submission to the Persian king. The Aeginetans 
 
 menes. 
 
 refused to give them up on the ground that, as 
 he was not accompanied by the other king Demaratus, his 
 demand was not authoritative. He returned to Sparta resolved 
 to get rid of Demaratus, whom he believed to have purposely 
 
Death of Cleomenes. 127 
 
 thwarted him. By means of a bribe he got an oracle from 
 Delphi declaring Demaratus not to have been the real son 
 of the late king. He was accordingly deposed and succeeded 
 by Leotychides. The two kings then went together to Aegina, 
 and the Aeginetans consented to give up some of their richest 
 men as hostages for their loyalty. These men were deposited 
 at Athens. But before many weeks the fact of Cleomenes 
 having bribed the oracle was discovered. Fearing the conse- 
 quences of this discovery, he retired to Arcadia, and stirred up 
 the Arcadians against Sparta. The Spartans had always had 
 reason to fear hostile movements from Arcadia, and in their 
 alarm they recalled Cleomenes and reinstated him in his king- 
 ship. But he had always been half mad, and he now became 
 entirely insane. He made this conspicuous by his conduct in 
 the streets, where he struck all kinds of unknown persons 
 with his sceptre, until his relations were obliged to arrest 
 and confine him. But having persuaded the helot who was 
 watching him to give him a knife, he killed himself with horrible 
 mutilations. One action of his troubled reign may be men- 
 tioned here, because it still further alienated Argos and de- 
 termined its medising policy in the coming struggle. About 
 B.C. 510 he had invaded Argolis on what quarrel we do not 
 know had beaten the army raised at Argos to resist him, 
 had occupied Argos itself and desecrated its temples, had 
 massacred a considerable number of his prisoners, and had 
 left the country so depopulated that the serfs and perioeci 
 seized the government, and were not displaced till a new 
 generation had grown up and a fierce servile war had been 
 fought out. 
 
 The death of Cleomenes seems to have changed the 
 Spartan policy in regard to Aegina. King Leo- 
 tychides was sent against his will to Athens, be^twe^n^ ^^'^ 
 to demand that the Aeginetan hostages should Athens and 
 be sent home. The Athenians refused to restore Bxl'iga. 
 them, and the Aeginetans thereupon seized the 
 
128 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 sacred vessel of the Athenians, full of men of high position, 
 who were attending the naval festival off Sunium. The Athe- 
 nians obtained twenty triremes at a nominal price' from 
 Corinth and retaliated by a descent upon Aegina. We cannot 
 suppose that Athens had no triremes of her own ; but that 
 at a sudden emergency she should be obliged thus to recruit 
 her own forces, shews how ill she was prepared to resist the 
 coming storm, and what sublime rashness on her part it was 
 to have provoked it. The Athenian expedition to Aegina 
 was by no means successful. It failed to come in time to 
 take advantage of a revolution that was occurring in the island, 
 and, although the Athenians won one battle at sea, the Aegine- 
 tans in spite of being refused help from Argos defeated them 
 in a second battle and destroyed four of their ships. 
 
 While these indecisive and wasteful struggles were going on 
 in the only part of Greece where the Persians 
 
 6. The , , . . 
 
 second Persian had reason to expect resistance, Darms was 
 b.c'.^Im.' pushing on his preparation for a renewed in- 
 
 vasion. A great fleet of six hundred vessels was 
 collected and mustered in the spring of the next year (b.c. 490) 
 on the coast of Cilicia, near which a great army also was 
 encamped on the Alesian plains, between Tarsus and the 
 river Pyramus. To command this great force two men were 
 specially selected and sent down to Cilicia Datis a Mede, 
 and Artaphernes, nephew of the king and a son of the 
 Artaphernes who was satrap at Sardis during the Ionian revolt. 
 Mardonius, owing to his failure in B.C. 492, was relieved of all 
 command. On this occasion the plan of proceedings was to 
 be different from that of Mardonius. There was to be no 
 parallel movement of fleet and army, and the long coasting 
 voyage and march round the head of the Aegean were to 
 be avoided. The point of departure was to be Samos, and the 
 great fleet was to steer across the Aegean, touching at certain 
 of the islands, and so descending upon Euboea and Attica. 
 ^ Five drachmae apiece, the law of Corinth forbidding a loan of ships. 
 
Of^ THE. ^} 
 
 T/ie Second Persian Invcts^n^^ O'-" I2( 
 
 For, as before, the orders given to the generals were to take 
 Eretria and Athens, and bring their inhabitants back with 
 them to Susa. The fleet first touched at Naxos, which the 
 Persian generals resolved to punish for its action at the 
 beginning of the Ionian troubles. The inhabitants fled to the 
 hills in the centre of the island ; but the town was burnt, and 
 all those who had failed to escape to the hills, were captured 
 and treated as slaves. The next place was Delos. The Delians 
 expected to be treated in the same way and fled to Tenos. 
 But it did not suit the Persian policy needlessly to shock Greek 
 feeling. Delos was left alone, and the ships were anchored 
 at the neighbouring Rheneia. So far from violating the temple, 
 Datis, after sending an urgent message to Tenos begging the 
 Delians to return, offered a large present of incense to Apollo, 
 in whose worship, as the Sun-god, the fire-worshipping Persian 
 might claim a share. 
 
 The fleet then made for Carystus at the south of Euboea, 
 touching at various islands on their way, and ^^.j^^ 
 
 levying troops or taking hostages from them, capture of 
 The Carystians refused to give hostages or to 
 promise assistance against Eretria and Athens; but after a 
 few days, during which the Persians devastated their territory, 
 they were compelled to surrender. The next point was Eretria. 
 The Eretrians were in the divided state so common in Greek 
 cities. One party, determined not to yield, resolved on 
 abandoning the town and taking refuge in the mountains in 
 the centre of the island; the other was secretly calculating 
 the advantages to be gained by making terms with the 
 Persians. At first however a decent show of resistance was 
 made, and when the Persians were known to have arrived 
 at Carystus, messages were sent to Athens asking for help. 
 The Athenian government sent orders to the 4000 cleruchs 
 who had been settled in Chalcidian territory, to give their 
 aid. But Aeschines of Eretria, knowing the secret designs of 
 his countrymen, warned them to return to their homes. They 
 
 s. G. 9 
 
1 30 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 accordingly crossed the Euripus and took refuge in Oropus. 
 Presently the Persian fleet arrived and anchored off Eretrian 
 territory. The horses were immediately landed and prepa- 
 rations made for a battle. But the Eretrians would not come 
 out. For six days the Persians vainly assaulted the walls of the 
 town, but on the seventh they were admitted by two traitors. 
 The temples were burnt in revenge for those that had been 
 destroyed in Sardis, and the inhabitants were removed bodily 
 to the small island of Styra, to await transport to Asia. 
 
 The Persians remained some days in Eretria, perhaps while 
 
 Hippias, the former tyrant of Athens, who ac- 
 
 of Marathon,^ companicd the expedition, was arranging the 
 
 18 September, transfer of the inhabitants to the island. Then 
 
 B.C. 490. 
 
 the horses were re-shipped and the fleet crossed 
 to the Attic coast. The Persians did not however land at 
 Oropus, the nearest point, but under the advice of Hippias 
 went a few miles farther south to the bay of Marathon. Hippias 
 knew the place well, for he had landed there with his father 
 Peisistratus on the last occasion of his recovery of the govern- 
 ment of Athens. Along the coast was a level plain, six miles 
 in length with never less than about a mile and a half, and 
 sometimes double that distance, between the hills and the sea. 
 At each end there were salt marshes, at the southern end 
 small and at this season probably dry, on the northern extend- 
 ing to about a square mile, and at all times impassable. 
 There is, however, a broad sandy beach all along it, and the 
 plain itself is nearly treeless and unbroken except by a small 
 stream which waters it. There are three roads from Athens 
 to this plain, by Pallene, Cephisia, and Aphidna. That by 
 Cephisia, leading to the village of Marathon and the precinct 
 of Heracles, was the shortest, the distance to the village from 
 Athens being about 25 miles. The plain afforded good ground 
 for a cavalry engagement, and it was for that reason that 
 Hippias recommended it. 
 
 But after having been on the plain for a few days the 
 
The Persians at Marathon. 131 
 
 Persian commanders seem to have changed their minds as 
 
 to marching upon Athens, and resolved to sail 
 
 round Sunium and attack it from the sea. Their i^JJ^^^I!'^"^ 
 
 land at Mara- 
 
 reason for doing so was apparently that they had thon but do not 
 information of the army of the Athenians having tIJrcountry. 
 left the city, which it would therefore be easy to 
 attack. There was a party of treason within the walls which 
 was in communication with the enemy, and at least one signal 
 was given by a flashing shield from the heights above Marathon, 
 which was meant to invite the Persians to sail to Athens. 
 
 On the news of the landing of the Persians at Marathon 
 the Athenians at once despatched nine thousand ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 
 men to intercept them. There had been a Athenian 
 difference of opinion as to whether it would be *'*p^' 
 better to stay in Athens and act on the defensive, or to do 
 as these men were doing and advance to meet the enemy. 
 The latter course had been adopted principally on the advice 
 of Miltiades, one of the ten generals, who had been living 
 in Athens since fear of Persian vengeance had forced him 
 to fly from the Chersonese, where he had been despot, 
 though still an Athenian citizen holding the country in 
 some sense for Athens. The 9000 Athenians arrived at 
 the enclosure of Heracles just below the modern village 
 of Vrana. As they marched along the road from Cephisia 
 to this spot they would have a full view of the plain of 
 Marathon, the sea, and the mountains of Euboea beyond. 
 The long line of the Persian ships would seem immediately 
 below them, and no doubt the tents and the horsemen on 
 the plain would be in sight to impress them with the greatness 
 of the struggle that was before them. They were quite iso- 
 lated. Pheidippides, the swiftest runner of the 
 day, had been despatched to Sparta in all haste J^^^ Spartan 
 to ask for help ; but the day of his arrival was 
 the ninth of the Spartan month Karneios (September), in 
 which the festival called Karneia was still in progress, and 
 
132 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 their law forbade them to start on an expedition till the moon 
 was full (12th of September). But before the Athenians had 
 been long in position at the enclosure of Heracles they were 
 
 cheered by the arrival of 1000 Plataeans, who 
 pittaeans^ had hastened to shew their gratitude to Athens 
 
 for help given them in the past. This voluntary 
 service at a moment of such extraordinary importance was 
 never forgotten by the Athenians, and the Plataeans were 
 ever held in special regard by them. 
 
 Their numbers were now 10,000, but they did not venture 
 to leave their position of safety and to descend into the plain 
 in face of the Persian cavalry. The ten strategi and the 
 archon polemarchus (Callimachus), according to the custom 
 then prevailing, were entitled to the chief command for a 
 day each in turn. They were divided in their opinions as 
 to the right course to pursue. Five of the generals were for 
 engaging the enemy, five for holding back, or even returning 
 to Athens with a view of awaiting the attack there. The 
 
 casting vote was with Callimachus, and Miltiades 
 mand in the appealed to his patriotism to decide upon fight- 
 MU?d^ ing where they were. It does not appear that 
 
 Miltiades wished to fight at once. He had 
 communicated probably with some of the lonians who were 
 unwillingly serving in the Persian host, and he wished to be 
 able to attack when the proper time came. Each of the four 
 generals who had voted for fighting gave up his day of command 
 to him. Yet he did not engage until his own day came round, 
 perhaps because of the additional danger to himself, if he 
 fought and failed on a day when the command was not legally 
 his, but more likely because he knew that the time had not 
 come. When his own day came round, probably about the 
 loth since their arrival at the temple of Heracles, some lonians 
 were descried making signals from the pines near the great 
 marsh, which Miltiades rightly interpreted to mean that the 
 Persian cavalry had re-embarked. Urged by his friends within 
 
The Battle of Marathon. 
 
 133 
 
 the city whoever they were Datis seems to have abandoned 
 the idea of advancing by land from the plain of Marathon 
 upon Athens, and to have decided to round Sunium and 
 effect a landing near the city. For this purpose the cavalry 
 had been embarked and the other transports 
 were being got ready. Miltiades saw that the 
 
 The Charge. 
 
 Zng^Feet 
 
 SOOO 10000 15000 
 
 Map of Marathon. 
 
 moment had come. His soldiers had been straining at the 
 leash, eager to attack. He now let them go. It was a 
 distance of about two miles to that part of the plain where 
 
1 34 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the memorial mound or soros still remains, but the Persian 
 line which was drawn up to meet them seems to have been 
 about a mile nearer. The charge of the Greeks was thus 
 made down hill. But the superior numbers of the Persians 
 made it necessary for the Athenians to spread themselves out 
 to prevent their being outflanked. They advanced in three 
 columns, the Plataeans on the extreme left, and Callimachus 
 commanding on the right. The centre, however, owing to 
 this wide extension, was weak. Consequently when they came 
 into contact with the enemy, though the right and left wings 
 were immediately successful in driving in the enemy's line, 
 the centre was broken and turned to flight. The Persians 
 pushed on in pursuit, but the two victorious wings of the 
 Athenian army, instead of pursuing those whom they had 
 beaten, faced round and attacked both flanks of the victorious 
 Persian centre, and after a long and obstinate engagement 
 drove them in disorder to their ships. The fighting was renewed 
 as the Persians struggled to get on board and push off the 
 transports. It was here that the greatest slaughter seems 
 to have taken place. Some of the Persians were prevented 
 from getting at their ships and were driven into the marsh 
 and cut to pieces, some were killed as they were getting on 
 board, and seven of the ships were captured and prevented 
 from putting to sea at all. Of the Persian army 6400 are 
 said to have been killed, while the Athenians had lost only 
 192 men, though among them were the polemarch Callimachus 
 and one of the ten generals. 
 
 The triumphant Athenians watched the Persian fleet sailing 
 southward, and knew that they were making for Sunium. The 
 
 victory had been complete, but the vast Persian 
 battie^^*^^ ^^^ host was after all but slightly diminished and 
 
 might still fulfil the king's order to take Athens 
 and remove its inhabitants. They must therefore hasten back 
 to defend the city, left almost without a garrison. Early 
 next morning therefore, leaving Aristides with the contingent 
 
Exaltation of A tliens. 1 3 5 
 
 from his tribe to bury the dead and collect the spoil, Miltiades 
 marched back to Athens, arriving in time to see the king's 
 ships steering along the Attic coast. The invaders had thus 
 come too late ; they had hoped for an unopposed landing. 
 They were not inclined to attempt one in the face of an enemy 
 that had so lately shewn how he could fight. If we could 
 believe, with one of our authorities \ that Datis had fallen in 
 the fight, we should be better able to understand this hesitation. 
 Whatever its cause, however, the Persians attempted no landing, 
 and presently returned to Asia. 
 
 Though the famous Battle of Marathon is not one of the 
 great battles of the world, in regard to the ^ ^^ 
 numbers engaged, or the destruction inflicted of the Battle 
 
 ,1 ., , c ^ of Marathon. 
 
 upon the enemy, it yet was 01 very great mi- 
 portance in its effects upon Greece. To the Athenians of 
 course it was a source of the greatest and most natural pride. 
 They had stood forward almost unaided as champions of the 
 liberty of Hellas, for the Spartans did not arrive till the 
 day after the battle, only in time to view the del?ris of the 
 fight and to acknowledge frankly the great achievement of 
 the Athenians. A festival was held in yearly commemo- 
 ration of it, and its glories were kept before the eyes of the 
 people by a great picture or fresco in the Painted Colonnade 
 {Stoa Foekile) which represented in three compartments the 
 advance to the charge, the victorious melee at the marsh, 
 and the fight at the ships. The 'warriors of Marathon' 
 (MapaOu)voixdxoiL) were long the ideals of the almost heroic 
 period of Athenian glory. But it not merely raised Athens 
 to the front rank among Greek States. It taught the Greeks 
 that the dreaded Persian troops were not invincible : that a 
 huge nondescript army, made up of tribes differing in habits 
 and language, and often most unwilling combatants, could be 
 beaten by a smaller army united and inspired with a common 
 
 ^ Ctesias (about B.C. 400). Herodotus, however, says that Datis 
 returned to Asia. 
 
136 
 
 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 feeling of patriotism. It was not the first time that Greeks 
 had faced Persians, but it was the first time that European 
 Greeks at any rate had met them with resolution and success. 
 Nevertheless its effect upon the Persian resources and policy 
 was small. The king had lost nothing that he much valued. 
 A few thousand lives more or less mattered little in his eyes. 
 His pride was wounded, but his resolution was not shaken : 
 and almost immediately orders were issued for the formation of 
 a new and overwhelming force to operate against Greece. It 
 was a general opinion however in Greece itself that the defeat 
 at Marathon put an end to all danger of attack from Persia. 
 But one of the generals engaged, Themistocles of whom we 
 are now to hear much was of a contrary opinion. He de- 
 clared Marathon not to be the end but the beginning of the 
 struggle with Persia as indeed it proved to be. 
 
 Harbour of Athens. 
 
137 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Third Persian Invasion. 
 
 The battle of Marathon had foiled the king in half of 
 his purpose, Athens was still untaken and free. 
 
 I Ten veflrs* 
 
 All the Eretrians, however, who had failed to freedom from 
 escape to the mountains, were taken bodily and b!c.' 4^-480*!^ 
 removed to Susa. They were kindly treated 
 by the king and settled in a district called Cissia, where they 
 continued to live for many generations, maintaining their 
 Greek language and customs. But this did not make up to 
 the king for the disgrace of having been successfully defied 
 by the Athenians. He determined to repeat the invasion with 
 still greater forces, and all Asia was kept in a state of com- 
 motion for three years of preparation for war. But these 
 preparations were diverted into another channel by a revolt 
 in Egypt (b.c. 486). Darius himself died before he could start 
 for that province (b.c. 485), and his successor Xerxes was for 
 the next two years too busily employed with it (b.c. 485-4) 
 to think of an expedition against Greece, to which, it is said, 
 he was at first disinclined. These ten years of respite from 
 attack proved of great advantage to the Greeks in view of the 
 coming struggle. A common enemy tended to produce union, 
 the one great want of Greece : so that, in spite of many still 
 existing quarrels, when the great danger was known to be 
 approaching it was found possible to collect a Congress of 
 
138 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 allies at Corinth, representing in some degree Greece as a 
 whole, and claiming to act in her name. 
 
 But the first results of the success at Marathon did not 
 
 promise well for the peace of Hellas. Miltiades, 
 nation and whosc victory gavc him immense prestige at 
 
 Uad*es*^ ^*^" Athens, was for a forward policy, securing a 
 
 hold on the islands, as a barrier against Persian 
 invasion. In this policy he is said by Plutarch to have been 
 opposed by Themistocles, who now begins to become pro- 
 minent in Athenian politics. The contest between them was 
 a matter of personal rivalry rather than any radical difference 
 of policy. But Themistocles seems to have wished rather to 
 develope for a time the internal wealth and power of the 
 State among other Greek States before anything was under- 
 taken outside; while Miltiades wished at once to take 
 measures against Persian influence in the Aegean. For this 
 purpose he was placed in command of the Athenian fleet, now 
 consisting of 70 ships, with apparently an unlimited commission 
 to operate among the Cyclades. He no doubt had made 
 exaggerated promises in his speeches in the assembly to induce 
 the people to trust him thus completely. But his known 
 hostility to Persia, and his brilliant success at Marathon, 
 silenced all objectors ; and his expedition was looked upon as 
 likely to bring both wealth and security to the State. He 
 sailed from island to island, claiming contributions of money, 
 partly, no doubt, on the ground that the islanders had joined 
 (however unwiUingly) in the Persian expedition to Marathon, 
 but partly also on the plea that Athens would now undertake to 
 protect them, and that therefore it was only fair that they should 
 contribute to support the fleet. He seems not to have been 
 opposed until he came to Paros. There the people refused all 
 payment and closed their gates. He besieged the town for 
 twenty-six days. At the end of that time a priestess offered to 
 admit him to a temple of Demeter on a hill near the town, 
 apparently as commanding some entrance to it. Miltiades, 
 
Condemnation of Miltiades. 139 
 
 however, in leaping over the wall of the enclosure, dislocated 
 his thigh and otherwise injured himself, and being completely 
 disabled resolved on returning home. The natural result was 
 that he was impeached for ' deceiving the people ' (aVaTry tov 
 Srjfxov), the penalty of which was death. He was impeached 
 by Xanthippus, father of Pericles, an Alcmaeonid ; and no 
 doubt it was one of the same party that had previously 
 impeached him for 'tyranny' on his return from the Chersonese. 
 Still disabled by his wound he was carried into the assembly 
 on a couch, and did not address the people. But the earnest 
 pleadings of his friends, his own great services, and perhaps the 
 consciousness of the people that they would have done nothing 
 against him, if he had succeeded in taking Paros and brought 
 home the sums of money which they expected, caused them 
 to vote against the death penalty. He was fined 50 talents, 
 probably as covering the cost of the expedition. A fine to 
 the people was due within three months of its infliction, and 
 the person so fined had to give securities for the payment 
 or be imprisoned till it was paid. But before that time had 
 elapsed the wound in his thigh had gangrened and Miltiades 
 was dead. The fine was still due from his heirs, and was 
 eventually paid by his son Cimon. Miltiades paid the penalty 
 of failure like other commanders : but such grants of roving 
 commissions to generals who had won the ear of the people 
 were among the disadvantages of an administration conducted 
 by a popular assembly, and more than once afterwards led to 
 difficulties. 
 
 We have few details as to what was going on in Greece 
 during the next five or six years. But the 
 general and important fact comes out that in of Themfs ^'^^ 
 two parts of Hellas there were powers growing ^c/esand 
 to sufficient strength to resist the attack from the b.c. 488-481. 
 East, which was hanging like a cloud over it. 
 In the West Gelo, king of Syracuse (b.c. 485-478), had by 
 his ability raised the power of that city to an unexampled 
 
I40 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 height, enabling him presently to beat back the wave of 
 Carthaginian invasion, which whether by chance or design 
 synchronized with that of the Persians in the East. With 
 this rise of a strong power in the West coincides the develop- 
 ment of Athens as a sea power. This was greatly owing 
 to the policy of Themistocles, which, as opposed to that 
 of Aristides, aimed at raising the power of Athens in every 
 direction, and by every artifice of diplomacy or force, to a 
 position of authority in Greece. He was a man of extra- 
 ordinary energy, ambition, and acuteness. Quick to foresee, 
 and ready to provide for all emergencies, he for some years 
 gained the complete confidence of the assembly. His 
 opponent Aristides, though he doubtless was equally anxious 
 for the prosperity of Athens, was colder and more cautious. 
 He disliked enterprises accompanied by risk, and in general a 
 policy of finesse and intrigue. His character for disinterested- 
 ness and honesty stood high ; and though the people as a rule 
 preferred others to command their army and navy, they were 
 inclined to trust Aristides with the management of their 
 diplomatic and domestic affairs. The two men therefore 
 were constantly opposed to each other in regard to various 
 proposals that came before the assembly; and so hot was 
 the contention that Aristides himself remarked, after a more 
 than usually stormy meeting, that the Athenians would 
 never have peace till they had cast both of them into the 
 barathrum. 
 
 Among the many disagreements which continued to distract 
 
 Greece was the renewed hostility between Athens 
 
 crtaseinthe' and Acgina. We have no particulars either of 
 
 Athenian fleet ^ causc or of the coursc of this war. But the 
 
 owing to the ^ ... ,, 
 
 war with same provocations were still in existence. The 
 
 Aegina. Acginctan hostages had not been restored ; and 
 
 Nicostratus, whose attempted revolution in Aegina had given 
 the Athenians a chance of invading the island, had been 
 settled by them in Sunium and continued to attack the 
 
Growth of the Athenian Navy. 141 
 
 merchant vessels of his old home. Finally Aegina was 
 mistress of the sea in her neighbourhood, and her ships could 
 not be prevented from making descents upon the Attic coast 
 and stopping vessels bringing corn to Athens. It was this which 
 caused Themistocles to be ever urging on the Athenians to 
 build ships and make themselves powerful at sea. In this no 
 doubt he had the support of the enterprising part of the people, 
 who were engaged more or less in commerce and maritime 
 affairs ; while his opponent Aristides would have the sympathy 
 of the farmers and artisans. But the need of more ships, 
 caused by the Aeginetan quarrel, eventually gave Themistocles 
 the upper hand, and the new navy was greatly his creation. 
 No doubt it had been gradually increasing. We saw that the 
 year before the battle of Marathon the Athenians had been 
 obliged to go to Corinth to obtain enough ships for their 
 purposes ; yet soon afterwards they were able to put 70 under 
 the command of Miltiades. The fact seems to be that the 
 revenues from the mines at Laurium enabled the State to build 
 every year a certain number of ships. But in B.C. 484 it 
 appears that a fresh extension of the mines took place by the 
 discovery of silver in a district of Laurium called Maroneia, 
 and consequently the amount of the royalties paid to the 
 Exchequer was considerably increased. Whether it had been 
 the custom to use part of these royalties for making a distribu- 
 tion among the citizens is uncertain, but at least it was now 
 proposed to do so. Themistocles, however, carried a resolu- 
 tion that this distribution should be suspended and the whole 
 sum devoted to the building of a fleet \ The number of ships 
 at the command of Athens was thus raised to two hundred, 
 and, as about this time peace was patched up we know not 
 how with Aegina, they were never used in war with her. 
 
 * The account in the Constitution of Athens is that a talent was to be 
 given to 100 of the richest men on the understanding that, if they did not 
 expend it in a way approved by the people, they were to refund it. Each 
 built a ship. 
 
142 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 There is some vague hint of some of them having been 
 employed against pirates, but for the most part they were fresh 
 and intact for the coming struggle with Persia. ' Thus,' says 
 Herodotus, ' this war saved Hellas, by having forced the 
 Athenians to become a sea power.' This triumph of Themis- 
 tocles was consummated by the ostracism of Aristides 
 (B.C. 483), whose constant opposition to a forward policy had 
 wearied the citizens, so that one of them is reported to have 
 said that he voted for his ostracism because he was tired of 
 hearing him called ' the Just' 
 
 The revolt in Egypt was completely suppressed by the end 
 ^^ of B.C. 484, and Xerxes, leaving his brother 
 
 Persian Achacmcnes in charge of the country, returned 
 
 b!c!^?3*-4S! ^^ ^^^^ ^^ resume his preparations against 
 Greece. He seems to have been far from eager 
 to undertake the invasion, and expressed his doubts to a council 
 of the notables that was now summoned to consider it. The 
 influence of Mardonius, however, prevailed, backed by the 
 importunity of various Greeks. Thus messages were sent him 
 from the Aleuadae, a powerful Thessalian family reigning at 
 Larissa, promising him their support if he would invade 
 Greece. The banished members of the family of Peisistratus 
 were also urgent, working on his superstition through the 
 dishonest mantis Onomacritus, who had once been banished 
 from Athens for forging prophecies under the name of 
 Musaeus. Other Greek exiles, such as Demaratus of Sparta, 
 were with him, and if they did not advise the expedition, 
 helped him with counsel and information. The preparations 
 were pushed forward on a vast scale. A land army, amount- 
 ing, according to Herodotus, to more than half a million of 
 fighting men, besides a still larger number of servants and 
 camp followers, was ordered to muster in Cappadocia early in 
 B.C. 481 ; and a fleet of 1207 war vessels, besides innumerable 
 transports, was to be ready at the Hellespont. In the autumn 
 Xerxes came in person to join the army and marched to Sardis, 
 
Preparations for the Persian Invasion. 143 
 
 where he wintered. To secure the prompt passage of this vast 
 host a bridge of vessels lashed together was made across 
 the Hellespont, and a swarm of workmen, including skilled 
 Phoenician engineers, was employed to make a canal across 
 the neck of the peninsula of Athos, to avoid the disaster 
 which befel the fleet of Mardonius twelve years before. The 
 first bridge of boats across the Hellespont was destroyed by a 
 storm, and Herodotus delights to tell us how Xerxes, in his 
 Eastern pride, ordered the sea to be scourged and fetters to be 
 thrown into it, to punish it for its insolence. Apart from such 
 stories, both works proved of great use, and were prudently 
 conceived. Thus everything was prepared for the accomplish- 
 ment of the old plan of Mardonius of a march down the 
 country parallel to a coasting voyage of a great fleet, each 
 mutually supporting the other. Nor had money been spared 
 in making the attempt, generally too successful in Greece, to 
 introduce division by gifts of gold to certain persons in the 
 cities. We hear of Arthmios of Zeleia in the Troad, a 
 proxenus and temporary resident in Athens, being detected 
 in thus secretly conveying Persian gold, and on the motion 
 of Themistocles being outlawed with all his family. 
 
 These vast preparations could not of course be unknown 
 in Greece. The first news of them was sent to 
 Sparta by the exiled Demaratus, and a congress of gress of 
 deputies from States well affected to the Hellenic ?!?"^5' ., 
 
 ^ , B.C. 481480. 
 
 cause met at Corinth. They seem chiefly to have 
 been from towns in Southern Greece. The Spartans naturally 
 united most of Peloponnese, and Athens would bring the 
 Plataeans and the Chalcidians of Euboea and the islanders of 
 Ceos ; but Thebes and most of the Thessalian towns stood 
 aloof, as did the majority of the islanders some from disafiec- 
 tion, and more perhaps from terror. The first act of the 
 Congress, the object of which was to unite all Hellas, was to 
 obtain a suspension of existing quarrels, and especially of that 
 between Athens and Aegina. The next thing was to send 
 
144- Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 spies to Sardis to ascertain the truth as to the preparations of 
 Xerxes. These spies were caught, but by the order of the 
 king were allowed to see everything and depart unharmed. 
 He believed that their report would terrify the Greeks into 
 submission, in spite of the warnings of Demaratus, who told 
 him that Sparta at any rate would never endure slavery. The 
 Congress also sent messengers to other Greek States inviting 
 co-operation, especially to Argos, Crete, Corcyra, and Syracuse. 
 The Argives however were still smarting from the sufferings 
 which Cleomenes had inflicted upon them, and had never 
 been reconciled to Spartan supremacy. They even preferred 
 that of Persia, and had, as it seems, already been in com- 
 munication with the Persian Court. They answered therefore 
 that they would join on condition of receiving the joint com- 
 mand of the whole force. This they knew that the Spartans 
 would refuse ; and accordingly they stood out of the defence of 
 Greece throughout the war. The mission to Corcyra was sent 
 in the hope of inducing the co-operation of Western Greeks. 
 Corcyra was strong as a naval power, but had always held aloof 
 from Hellenic politics, as it continued to do afterwards. It 
 would be a novelty as well as a great advantage to have 
 the support of this fleet. The Corcyreans, however, only 
 made fair promises. They sent indeed 70 ships, but ordered 
 them to loiter about Pylos in the south of the Peloponnese 
 watching for the result of the war, and never gave any real 
 help. Gelo of Syracuse demanded as a condition that he 
 should command at sea or on land. But the Athenians 
 refused the former, and the Lacedaemonians the latter. He did, 
 however, send some vessels of observation which, like those of 
 the Corcyreans, did nothing. His real reason probably was 
 not the punctilio as to the command, but a knowledge of the 
 danger threatening him from the Carthaginians, with whom it 
 appears that Xerxes had made an agreement to invade the 
 Sicilian Greeks at the same time as he was invading Attica and 
 the Peloponnese. Thus Western Greece stood aloof like the 
 
Expedition to Tenipe. 145 
 
 north, and like Argos in the south. The refusal of the Cretans 
 was based on the advice of the oracle of Delphi, which 
 throughout this period of preparation seems consistently to 
 have advised submission. Some suspect that its motive in 
 thus acting was the selfish one of desiring to secure its own 
 privileges, whatever power might be uppermost in Greece. 
 A less unpatriotic explanation may be, that acting always under 
 Spartan influence, it believed that the only hope was to 
 defend the Isthmus of Corinth and the shores of the Pelopon- 
 nese, giving up all north of the Isthmus as for the present 
 untenable. It was a miserably craven policy, but we must 
 remember that as yet the naval strength of Athens was not 
 understood. 
 
 The Congress met again at Corinth in the spring of u.c. 480 
 with the reports of their various emissaries before . , 
 
 ^ 7. The first 
 
 them. The advance of the great army had measure of 
 already begun, and the king was said to have occup^Tempe. 
 reached Abydos. The first thing to be con- Spring of 
 sidered was a message from the Thessalians. 
 Many of the Thessalian towns were averse from the medising 
 policy of the Aleuadae of Larissa, but felt themselves helpless 
 without stronger forces than they could themselves command. 
 They offered however to co-operate with any force which the 
 allies would send in guarding the pass of Mount Olympus and 
 the Vale of Tempe. Accordingly a body of 10,000 hoplites was 
 shipped to Halus on the Pagasaean Gulf, and thence marched 
 up to Tempe, under the Spartan polemarch ^the next military 
 rank to that of the king while the Athenian contingent was 
 commanded by Themistocles. They were presently joined by 
 some Thessalian cavalry ; but it was soon found that the defile 
 could not be defended by so small a force. Alexander, son of 
 King Amyntas of Macedonia, warned them of the overwhelming 
 nature of the king's forces, which could be resisted only at a 
 much narrower pass, and the expedition was quickly with- 
 drawn. 
 
 s. G. 10 
 
146 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 This withdrawal involved the loss of Thessaly, and the 
 
 Congress had now to consider at what points 
 
 8. Second resistance should be offered to the invaders. 
 
 plan 01 cam- 
 paign. The Probably Themistocles had not been unwilling 
 
 made at Arte- to rctum from Thcssaly. He had formed a 
 
 misium and design of great boldness and originality. The 
 
 Athenians, he thought, could never want a home 
 
 in which to settle so long as they had their ships; while a 
 
 successful resistance to the Persian army would be of little use 
 
 to Southern Greece, so long as the king's vast fleet dominated 
 
 the sea and could make descents upon the coasts at its 
 
 pleasure. The oracle at Delphi had been consulted and had 
 
 returned a terrifying answer, warning the Athenians to fly from 
 
 the certain destruction impending over them. A second 
 
 oracle, however, had admitted that, when everything else was 
 
 lost, * a wooden wall ' would protect the Athenians, and ended 
 
 with the lines 
 
 * Thou shalt destroy, O divine Salamis, the offspring of women 
 Or when the seed is scattered, or when the harvest is gathered.' 
 
 This last oracle, whether secretly secured by his own intrigues 
 or not, Themistocles now used to support his own policy. 
 He explained that the 'wooden wall' did not mean the 
 palisade of the Acropolis but the ships : and that by calling 
 Salamis * divine ' not ' unfortunate,' or some epithet of that 
 description, the oracle meant that something favourable was 
 to happen there. Whatever may have been the truth about 
 the oracle, Themistocles managed to bring the Athenians 
 over to his view. They would trust to their ships, even, if 
 necessary, abandoning the town itself. They were ready, 
 therefore, when the Congress selected Artemisium, on the 
 north of Euboea, as the point at which to oppose the enemy 
 at sea, to contribute ships more than equal in number to 
 those of the allies which had mustered at Pogon (the 
 harbour of Troezen), in accordance with the directions of the 
 
Defence of TJiermopylae. T47 
 
 Congress. The combined fleet under the Spartan Eurybiades 
 proceeded to take up its station at Artemisium to guard the 
 entrance to the narrow sea between Euboea and the mainland. 
 It consisted of 271 war vessels, of which the Athenians supplied 
 (counting 20 lent to Chalcis) 147, under the command of 
 Themistocles. 
 
 The point selected for- defence by land was the pass of 
 Thermopylae, a mile of narrow road between 
 Mount Oeta and the sea, part of which would pyiaeoccu- 
 not admit of two carts abreast, and across which ^*^ ' 
 a wall had been built by the Phocians to protect them against 
 the Thessalians. A small force might hold it for a long time 
 against vastly superior numbers. Accordingly an advanced 
 guard of 300 Spartans under king Leonidas, each accompanied 
 by 7 helots, was sent at once to occupy this place. Leonidas 
 was joined by contingents from various towns in the Pelopon- 
 nese, from Corinth, from Thespiae and Thebes in Boeotia, 
 and from the Opuntian Locrians and Phocians, making up 
 about 9000 men. But though the Spartans professed that 
 this was a mere advanced guard, which was to be reinforced 
 when their festival of the Karneia was over, yet they were also 
 busying themselves in building a wall across the passes of 
 the Isthmus of Corinth, with the secret idea of thus securing 
 the Peloponnese, without regard to the fate of Northern 
 Greece. We shall find therefore that the chief difficulty 
 experienced by Themistocles was to induce the allies to stay at 
 their post at Artemisium : while at Thermopylae none of the 
 southern allies remained with Leonidas to the end. 
 
 The two points to be defended Thermopylae and Arte- 
 misium were not occupied until it was known 
 that Xerxes was already in the southern district o/tiie Peitans 
 of Macedonia. He had started from Sardis in toThermo- 
 the early spring of B.C. 480, and had met with 
 no opposition and no disasters. The skilfully constructed 
 bridge with its cables of flax and byblus had given the land 
 
 10 2 
 
148 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 army a safe passage over the Hellespont, and the canal across 
 the neck of Acte about 2500 yards in length had served its 
 purpose in enabling the fleet to avoid the dangerous headland 
 of Athos. Xerxes accompanied the land forces, sometimes 
 in a chariot and sometimes in a litter; had reviewed both army 
 and fleet as they crossed to Europe ; and had felt his heart 
 swell sometimes with pride, and sometimes with sadness, to 
 think of the brief space of life given by fate to so many 
 thousands. The stories in Herodotus represent him with the 
 faults and virtues of an Eastern monarch now magnanimous 
 and open-handed, now cruel and pitiless; but, as affecting the 
 result of the expedition, the historian means us to see that under 
 his showy qualities was the heart of a coward. Both army and 
 fleet were made up of a motley assemblage from an endless 
 variety of tribes. The best part of the fleet however was sup- 
 plied by Phoenicians ; and in the army the Persians themselves 
 and the Sacae (or Scythians) were the most warlike, especially 
 the guard of 10,000 picked Persians who were called the 
 Immortals. In both forces the contingents from the Greek 
 towns and islands were the least dependable, for they were 
 serving against their will and with bitter indignation in their 
 hearts. There was every variety of equipment, armour, and 
 weapon to be seen ; and the 80,000 cavalry included horsemen, 
 chariots and camels. The numbers employed both on land and 
 sea are probably greatly overstated. Still they were no doubt 
 huge, and an adequate supply of food and water must have 
 been a matter of extraordinary difficulty in a march through 
 a country, in much of which rivers in the summer often run 
 dry, and corn is seldom grown in sufficient quantities even for 
 home consumption. 
 
 The formation of the coast line often necessitated the fleet 
 and army being somewhat widely separated. But 
 
 IX. The three , , ^, ^ .i^, , . . 
 
 days' fighting they Came m contact at 1 herma ( i hessalomca), 
 
 Uutyr"'*^*"'" ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ several days. 
 The fleet stayed a fortnight longer than the army; 
 
Battles off Arteinisitan. 149 
 
 and from this place a squadron of 10 vessels was sent out to 
 reconnoitre. It got as far as the island of Sciathus, where it 
 fell in with three look-out ships of the Greeks, two of which 
 were captured. The third an Athenian vessel fled to the 
 mouth of the Peneus, where its crew ran it on shore and 
 escaped on foot homewards through Thessaly. News of this 
 seems to have so much terrified the men of the Greek fleet, 
 that they withdrew from their station at Artemisium to Chalcis 
 intending to block the Euripus. Some few days afterwards 
 the main body of the Persian fleet arrived off" the southern 
 extremity of Magnesia opposite Artemisium, and anchored on 
 an open beach near the modern Cape St George. But a 
 violent storm in the night did great damage to the crowded 
 ships; and news of this reaching the Greeks at Chalcis, they 
 returned to their old station at Artemisium. Then followed 
 three days' fighting of no very .decisive character. On the first 
 of these the clever seamanship of the Greeks, and perhaps the 
 more manageable size and freightage of their ships, gave them 
 the advantage. They succeeded in capturing or sinking thirty 
 of the enemy's ships, but when night fell neither fleet had 
 gained a decisive victory. On the following night there was 
 another violent storm, which again did great damage to the 
 enemy in their exposed position, while 200 ships which had 
 been sent to circumnavigate Euboea, and so enclose the 
 Greek fleet, were all wrecked on the rocky shores of the 
 island. 
 
 The second day the Greeks were reiniorced by the arrival 
 of 53 Attic ships, and again advanced to the attack ; but the 
 Persian fleet had suffered so much that it would not venture to 
 put out to sea; and nothing was done beyond charging and 
 disabling certain Cilician vessels. 
 
 On the third day, dreading the wrath of the king if he did 
 nothing, the Persian admiral ordered a general attack forming 
 his ships in a huge crescent in order to enclose the Greek 
 fleet. The Greeks at first refused to move, but fearing to be 
 
150 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 surrounded at length put out and engaged the enemy. Again 
 night prevented the victory of either fleet. 
 
 But the Greeks had suffered severely. Nearly half the 
 Athenian ships were more or less damaged ; and in a council 
 held after the fighting was over the captains decided to with- 
 draw. Themistocles had all along found it exceedingly difficult 
 to persuade them to stay, and he now gave in and consented 
 to retire to the south. This resolution was confirmed next 
 day when a scout, who had been stationed on the coast, came 
 with the news that the pass of Thermopylae had been forced, 
 and that the Persian army was in full march for Athens. 
 
 For while the two fleets had thus been facing each other 
 12 The battle without dccisivc rcsult at Artemisium, Xerxes 
 of Thermo- with his army had been engaged with the de- 
 ^^ ^^* fenders of the pass at Thermopylae. As the 
 
 Grand Army marched southward, not a hand had been raised 
 to oppose it in Thessaly or Achaia Phthiotis as it proceeded 
 along the coast road, to avoid having to cross the range of 
 Mount Orthys, and descended into Malis. There the range 
 of Oeta running down to the coast left, for nearly two miles, 
 only the narrow causeway or road which then constituted the 
 pass of Thermopylae or ' hot gates,' so called from some hot 
 springs at the southern end of the plain into which the pass 
 led\ 
 
 Xerxes could not believe that such a puny force would 
 venture to withstand his great army. But finding that there 
 were no signs of their giving in, he sent some Medes and 
 (^issians forward to clear the way. They were beaten back 
 With loss, and the picked Persian guards or 'Immortals' fared no 
 better. The next day the attempt was renewed with no more 
 success. Their longer spears and more serviceable shields 
 gave the Greeks the advantage at close quarters, and the 
 
 ^ The sea has now receded, and the alluvial deposits of the river 
 Spercheius have created a broad piece of marshy land covered by rice fields. 
 There is no longer a narrow pass. 
 
The Pass of Thermopylae betrayed. 151 
 
 narrowness of the ground with the protection of the Phocian 
 wall baffled the great numbers of the enemy. But on the 
 evening of that day a Malian named Ephialtes 
 obtained an audience of the king, and offered to oflspViStes." 
 guide a body of troops to the rear of the Greeks 
 by a path over the mountain Callidromus. The king, who had 
 been much agitated by the misfortunes of the two previous days, 
 gladly accepted the proposal, and at nightfall the ten thousand 
 ' Immortals ' set out. The hill was thickly overgrown with an 
 oak forest, under cover of which their advance was concealed 
 from the 1000 Phocians who had been stationed just below 
 the crest of the hill to guard against this very movement. 
 By daybreak the Persians were approaching the summit, and 
 through the clear morning air the sound of their trampling 
 through the brushwood was carried to the ears of the 
 Phocians. Yet they had little warning : the Persians seemed to 
 start suddenly into view, surprised no less than themselves to 
 see a body of men hastily getting under arms, where they had 
 expected a lonely mountain path. When assured however by 
 Ephialtes that they were not the Spartans, who had given them 
 so much trouble the day before, they marched steadily on. 
 The Phocians attempted no resistance but retired to the crest 
 of the hill ; and the Persians, without stopping to attack them, 
 followed the winding path which avoided the hill-top, and 
 began the descent with all speed. 
 
 The Greeks below had early warning from deserters that 
 they were betrayed. The sacrifices were unfavourable, and 
 their own scouts soon came running in with the news. The 
 allies immediately decided to depart before they were sur- 
 rounded, or, as some said, were dismissed by Leonidas, that 
 no Greek lives might be uselessly sacrificed. Only the 
 Thebans and Thespians remained of all that did not come 
 from the Peloponnese : the Thespians, because they pre- 
 ferred death to desertion ; the Thebans, detained by Leonidas 
 as hostages for their medising state, intending to desert at 
 the earliest opportunity in the battle. To Leonidas and his 
 
152 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 three hundred the idea of retreat was intolerable. It was the 
 duty of a Spartan inculcated from childhood to die at his 
 post. With them, it seems, there remained the helots and 
 1000 perioeci from Lacedaemonia. 
 
 At sunrise Xerxes poured libations to Mithras, and about 
 ten in the morning started once more for the pass. The 
 Spartans knowing themselves to be cut off from retreat deter- 
 mined to risk all. They quitted the shelter of the Phocian 
 wall and advanced into more open ground. There there was 
 a fierce struggle : two of the Persian king's half-brothers were 
 slain, many of his men were driven into the sea, or trampled 
 to death by their own comrades. Presently Leonidas himself 
 fell, and a desperate fight raged for a time round his corpse. 
 But at this time the Spartans found the Immortals on their 
 rear. They made one more desperate charge: fought their way 
 back to the wall, and thence to a piece of elevated ground, 
 where after a gallant defence they were at length completely 
 surrounded and fell to a man. The only survivor was Aristo- 
 menes, who by an accident was not actually engaged. But 
 his life was made such a burden to him, that he courted and 
 found death in the following year at Plataea. 
 
 As the retirement of the Greek ships after the three days' 
 
 fighting at Artemisium left the Persian fleet a 
 
 Persian ad- f^ec passage to the south ; so the victory of the 
 
 vance Vvci^ at Thermopylae removed the sole obstacle 
 
 resumed. -^ ' . 
 
 to the march of his army. The Thebans and 
 Boeotians generally were his friends, nor were there any land 
 forces guarding the roads and passes into Attica. At Panopeis, 
 on the frontier of Boeotia, a column was detached to attack 
 Delphi and plunder its temple, while the main army, with 
 Xerxes himself, continued its march to Athens the professed 
 object of the expedition. Artemisium and Thermopylae were 
 only preliminary skirmishes. The first had not been a failure, 
 and the latter was a decided success, for the invaders. But the 
 real struggle was yet to come. 
 
I u^Ji 
 
To face p.^ic,-^ 
 
 Themistocles 
 
153 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Salamis and Plataea. 
 
 The column of the Persian army sent to Delphi advanced 
 as through an hostile country, burning and 
 destroying as it went. But though it reached on D^i^nht"^'^'^ 
 Delphi, it neither plundered nor destroyed the 
 temple; but hastily withdrew or was recalled. It may have 
 been the news of the defeat at Salamis that caused its recall ; 
 for as Xerxes marched through a friendly country, it may well 
 be that the column, often detained by its marauding operations, 
 did not reach its destination till some time after the king had 
 taken Athens. But the guardians of the temple had also been 
 successful in creating a feeling of awe and terror in the minds 
 of the enemy. The ordinary inhabitants of Delphi had sent 
 their wives and children away to Achaia or Amphissa (in 
 Locris), and had retired themselves to the mountains. Only 
 about 60 were left, who seem to have been in various ways 
 connected with the care of the temple. But these men in 
 conjunction with the official guardian of the temple, instead 
 of burying its valuable treasures, resolved to try what 
 could be done by playing upon the superstitious fears of 
 the enemy. A report was spread that the god had spoken 
 from his shrine and declared that he could protect his own. 
 The arms, which many generations of men had dedicated, 
 were found to have been removed without human agency to 
 the outside of the building, as well as many other sacred 
 
1 54 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 objects, and two gigantic hoplites of superhuman size seemed 
 to chase the enemy from the temple. The panic was com- 
 pleted by a violent thunderstorm, and the descent of two vast 
 boulders from Parnassus near the temple of Athena Pronaia, 
 while a sound of fighting men was heard proceeding from 
 the sacred buildings. That such rocks frequently fall from the 
 mountains upon Delphi and the neighbouring villages is testi- 
 fied by their being still to be seen in considerable numbers. 
 How far the men who remained in the temple contrived in 
 other ways to rouse the fears of the invaders we cannot tell. 
 It is enough that in some way the attack failed. 
 
 Meanwhile the main army was advancing on Athens. The 
 
 city was not walled, and though the Acropolis 
 ofAthS?"'^* was fortified in a way, the inhabitants could not 
 
 all crowd upon it, nor hope to defend it long if 
 they did. There was no army between them and Xerxes, for 
 the Peloponnesians were busy fortifying the Isthmus. In this 
 desperate danger the plan of Themistocles seemed the only 
 hope. Some of the ships, which had now reached the bay of 
 Salamis, were employed to convey women, children, and old 
 men to Salamis, Troezen, and Aegina; while the men of military 
 age were almost all employed on board the triremes. To 
 persuade the people thus to abandon their homes and 
 property had naturally been difficult, and Themistocles had 
 used every resource of superstition to reconcile them to it. 
 Oracles were quoted and spread among the people advising the 
 evacuation of the city; various prodigies were reported; and 
 finally the sacred serpent on the Acropolis, symbol of the origin 
 of the people from the sacred soil, was reported to have dis- 
 appeared. The gods were abandoning the city : it was time 
 the people did the same. Amidst tears and lamentations the 
 children, women, and old men, collecting what they could of 
 their goods, departed. Not the least moving part of the 
 spectacle, says Plutarch, was the distress of the domestic 
 animals, which followed their masters to the beach. One dog 
 
Capture of Athens, 155 
 
 at least attempted to swim across to Salamis, where he dropped 
 dead from exhaustion. When Xerxes arrived therefore before 
 Athens, in the fourth month from the time he had crossed the 
 Hellespont, he found an empty town. As he had done at 
 Thespiae and Plataea, the two Boeotian cities which had resisted, 
 he proceeded to burn the town. Only some few houses were 
 left standing for the use of the king and his chief officers. A 
 scanty remnant of the people, along with the treasurers of the 
 temples, had remained on the Acropolis, where they barricaded 
 themselves and held out for a time. The Persians occupied 
 the neighbouring Areiopagus and shot arrows carrying burning 
 tow into the Acropolis, and the defenders retaliated by rolling 
 rocks down upon them. But the resistance was not long 
 maintained. The northern part of the Acropolis was so pre- 
 cipitous that no fortification had been considered necessary. 
 Some of the Persians however contrived to climb up, and soon 
 the main body was admitted. The defenders threw them- 
 selves from the rock or were slaughtered by the enemy, who 
 then proceeded to dismantle and burn every building on the 
 Acropolis. It was remarked, however, that the sacred olive, 
 believed to be that which Athena had produced in her contest 
 with Poseidon, though cut down and burnt, had by the next 
 day, when the Peisistratidae by the king's orders went up the 
 Acropolis to offer sacrifice, thrown out a long green shoot. 
 
 The object of Xerxes was thus in part accomplished, 
 and a triumphant message was sent to Susa 
 announcing the capture of Athens. The in- Persian fleet, 
 habitants indeed were not taken and could not 
 therefore be removed en masse like the Eretrians. The com- 
 pletion of this part of his design must depend upon the fleet, 
 which arrived at Phalerum soon after the capture of Athens. 
 There Xerxes again reviewed it. It had made up the losses 
 caused by storms and battle by levying contributions of ships 
 from the islands; and it lay stretched along the Attic coast 
 from beyond Sunium up to Phalerum. 
 
156 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 The Greek fleet had meantime been gradually reinforced 
 by squadrons from other towns, which mustered 
 flettln th^'bay ^^ Pogon and thence joined the main body off 
 of Saiamis. Salamis. It now numbered 378 vessels, instead 
 
 farther south? of 271 as at Artcmisium. The additional ships 
 came chiefly from the towns of the Peloponnese, 
 which now sent 99 instead of 35, while the number from 
 Aegina was raised from 18 to 30; and several of the Cyclades 
 now ventured to send ships. From the western parts of 
 Greece only Leucas and Ambracia contributed any ; while from 
 the Greek towns of Italy there was only one, sent by Croton. 
 The commander-in-chief was the Spartan Eurybiades ; but the 
 Athenians had still a large numerical superiority (180 ships) 
 and Themistocles was the moving spirit. But as so large a 
 part of the fleet came from towns in the Peloponnese, it was 
 natural that there should be a strong inclination to remove 
 from the bay of Salamis to some place farther south, from 
 which they would be able freely to sail to the defence of their 
 several towns. The debate in the council of the captains on 
 this subject was hot. Eurybiades was strongly for the re- 
 tirement and was so irritated by the persistence of Themis- 
 tocles, that at one point he even raised his staff" as if to strike 
 him. * Strike by all means,' said Themistocles, ' if you will 
 only hear me.' While to another captain who said that a 
 cityless man ought to have no voice in the discussion, he 
 replied that ' the fleet was now the city of the Athenians, and 
 if they were abandoned, they could easily by its help win for 
 themselves a good home and city.' 
 
 It was this implied threat on the part of the Athenians 
 that they would act independently, and the fear in that case 
 that the Persian ships would be able to operate as they pleased 
 on the coasts of the Peloponnese, that kept the combined fleet 
 together for the time. But while the council was still sitting 
 the news came of the Persian army having entered Attica and 
 reached Athens. This was too much for most of the captains 
 
Stratagem of Theniistocles. 157 
 
 to bear. Some at once went to their ships and ordered prepara- 
 tions for sailing to be made ; and of those who remained 
 the great majority voted for retiring. 
 
 Themistocles left the council woefully depressed : but 
 acting on the advice of a friend, to whom he ^^ . . 
 
 . . ' . . 5. The device 
 
 communicated the decision, he went to visit ofThemis- 
 Eury blades on board his ship and urged him Jhe^fleett^o'^^^ 
 once more to remain, pointing out that the in- fight in the bay 
 evitable effect of removing would be the entire 
 dispersion of the ships to their several homes; and urging 
 that a fight in narrow waters with so vast a fleet as that of the 
 Persians would be all in their favour. Finally he declared that, 
 if the fleet did remove, the Athenians would sail away and 
 seek a home in Italy. Eurybiades was at last convinced 
 and consented to stay. But when a few days later it was 
 known that Athens had fallen, that the king contemplated 
 leading his army towards the Isthmus of Corinth, and that 
 the Peloponnesian land forces, who had been occupied with 
 feverish haste in completing the wall across the Isthmus and 
 blocking the roads, had completed their task, the feeling in 
 the fleet in favour of going south grew so strong, that the move 
 would certainly have been made, if it had not been for a 
 device of Themistocles which made it impossible. He sent a 
 slave on board a merchant-vessel with a message to the Persian 
 admirals, telling them what the Greek captains intended 
 doing, and advising them to send ships round Salamis to take 
 them in the rear and prevent their escape. 
 
 There had been much debate among the Persian officers 
 also, whether to attack the Greek fleet in the bay of Salamis or 
 not. The Phoenician commanders (whose ships formed the 
 most important part of the fleet) were for doing so, and the 
 others acquiesced. The only opposition came from Artemisia, 
 queen of Halicarnassus, who urged that the advance by land 
 into the Peloponnese was now easy, and that to risk the fleet, 
 on which the king could not safely depend, was unwise. 
 
58 
 
 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
The Battle of Salamis. 159 
 
 Though the king listened to this without anger, he yet decided 
 in favour of attacking by sea. This resolution was no doubt 
 strengthened by the message of Themistocles. At midnight 
 ships were sent to sail round to the west of Salamis, and a 
 small island called Psyttaleia, between Salamis and the main- 
 land, was occupied by Persian troops to save wrecks that 
 would probably be drifted upon it in the course of the 
 battle, while the ships of the left wing were brought up 
 so as to fill the narrow sea between Salamis and the Attic 
 coast. 
 
 These movements of the Persian ships had not it seems 
 been noticed by the captains, still engaged in disputing as to 
 the withdrawal. But it had been seen by Aristides, as he was 
 sailing homewards from Aegina, on being recalled from exile 
 with all others who had been ostracised. He at once made 
 his way to the ship of Themistocles to tell him what he had 
 observed. Struck by his magnaminity in thus treating his bitter 
 opponent, Themistocles told him the whole truth and took him 
 with him to the council of ofificers, that they might learn from 
 his lips that they were surrounded. The news was presently 
 confirmed by a Tenian trireme which had escaped from the 
 Persian fleet, and it became evident to all that a battle in the 
 bay of Salamis was now inevitable. 
 
 Preparations therefore were at once begun. Perhaps all 
 were relieved by having the question settled for 
 
 ^u vu ^ 4.U V r . 6. The battle 
 
 them, without the necessity of coimng to a ofSaiamis, 
 decision themselves. By dawn all was ready. I^r*^'^^''' 
 The sacred trireme arrived from Aegina with the 
 figures of the Aeacidae the local heroes of Salamis and with 
 a cheer the Greek ships began putting out to sea. The Persian 
 fleet was doing the same and at first its large numbers alarmed 
 the Greeks, who began to back water towards the shore of 
 Eleusis, when suddenly Ameinias, an Athenian captain, darting 
 forward with his ship, charged and engaged a ship of the 
 enemy. The two became entangled, and as both sides then 
 
i6o Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 came to the rescue the fighting soon became general. A 
 naval battle in these conditions became a series of combats 
 between two or a small number of vessels, the object of each 
 captain being to bring the sharp prow of his ship full into the 
 broadside of the enemy, and make a breach that would sink or 
 water-log the hostile vessel. To do this well was the test of 
 the skill of the steersmen and the vigour of the rowers 
 especially in practising the manoeuvre of the diekpins, that is, 
 rowing through the enemy's line, and then turning rapidly to 
 charge the stern of one or other of his ships. The Athenian 
 ships had been specially engaged against those of the 
 Phoenicians, which were the best in the Persian fleet, and 
 according to Aeschylus (who was in the fight) it was a success- 
 ful charge upon one of these that began the battle. For a 
 time the Persian line held together, but after some hours of 
 such fighting it became entirely broken up ; the ships tried to 
 escape, but they were so numerous that collisions were 
 frequent; and their confusion was completed by a charge of 
 the Aeginetan squadron. It is to be observed that we hear 
 nothing in the battle of the Egyptian ships that had been sent 
 round Salamis. They must either have arrived too late to be 
 of any service, or contented themselves with simply blocking 
 up the channel between Salamis and Megara without attempt- 
 ing to charge the Greek fleet Xerxes, seated on a silver- 
 footed throne on a high elevation overlooking the narrowest 
 part of the strait, watched with the greatest anxiety the course 
 of the fight, leaping from his seat in his agony as he saw ship 
 after ship disabled or sunk. After the end of the battle he 
 put to death some of the Phoenician captains, whom he charged 
 with beginning the flight. 
 
 But though the defeat had been decisive and the loss of 
 
 life great, the Persian fleet was by no means 
 
 battie^^^^'**^^ destroyed.^ The Greeks fully expected that it 
 
 would return to renew the combat the next 
 
 morning. At daybreak therefore they began to prepare for 
 
Flight of Xerxes. i6i 
 
 another struggle. To their surprise no ship of the enemy hove 
 in sight, and they presently learnt that the whole Persian fleet 
 had spread all sail, or was using all its oars, in as rapid a 
 flight as possible for the Hellespont. The Greek fleet started 
 in pursuit, and went as far as the island of Andros without 
 catching up the enemy. Themistocles wished to continue the 
 pursuit to the Hellespont and there break up the bridge, but 
 Eurybiades insisted on returning, declaring that rather than 
 stop the Persians from going away, they ought to build a 
 bridge for them, by which to depart. He no doubt felt that, 
 with the great Persian army still in the country, it would not 
 be safe to go so far from home. 
 
 The Greeks had therefore won a greater victory than they 
 had dared to think. For Xerxes was thoroughly 
 frightened, being, as Herodotus says, the greatest o/xerxes!^^"^^ 
 coward in his army ; and though in the council 
 held immediately after the battle he aff'ected to continue the 
 contest by ordering the construction of a mole to Salamis, and 
 projecting a march into the Peloponnese, he had in truth resolved 
 to return home. He therefore accepted the suggestion of 
 Mardonius that he should himself be left behind to winter in 
 Greece and to renew the war in the spring, but that the king 
 should go back to Sardis. The members of the royal family 
 were entrusted to Artemisia to convey to Ephesus and so to 
 Sardis; while the main body of the fleet was to go to the 
 Hellespont to keep the bridge safe for the king, who was to be 
 escorted back as far as Thessaly by the whole army, and thence 
 to Sestos by a guard of sixty thousand men. Thus it had come 
 about that the Greeks found that the hostile fleet had disap- 
 peared. It had in fact to a great extent dispersed, the Phoenician 
 ships having deserted the rest and made the best of their way 
 home. The retreat of Xerxes was accompanied by much 
 suffering to the army. The country had been too recently 
 plundered to supply sufficient food : want of water and nourish- 
 ment brought disease, and a large number were reported to 
 
 S. G. II 
 
1 62 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 have perished in attempting to cross the frozen Strymon ; but 
 
 in the end the king got safe back to Sardis. 
 
 Finding that Eurybiades would not proceed to the Helles- 
 ^^ . pont, Themistocles next urged that the fleet 
 
 9. Themis- r J o 
 
 tocies and the should Separate to its several States and employ 
 Islands. ^^ winter in repairing losses, and making up for 
 
 work which had been interrupted by the war. This advice he 
 contrived should be related to Xerxes, as though it had been 
 given in order to prevent the Greeks from breaking down the 
 Hellespontine bridge, and so making the king's return to Asia 
 more difficult. He already foresaw that he might one day need 
 the king's protection. For the present he did not take the 
 Athenian squadron home with the rest. He stayed among the 
 islands, following the policy of Miltiades, in exacting from 
 them payments of money, partly as fines for aid given to the 
 Persians, partly as contributions towards the maintenance of a 
 fleet to keep the Aegean clear of them. The Andrians replied 
 to his demand, which he backed by declaring that he brought 
 two mighty gods with him * Persuasion ' and * Force,' that 
 they had two gods even stronger, who never would leave them, 
 ' Poverty ' and ' Want.' Themistocles blockaded the town, and 
 sent ships to Carystus, as well as to Paros and other islands, 
 which had more success in raising money. But these proceed- 
 ings roused bitter feelings against him among the islanders, 
 and caused him to be regarded with suspicion at Athens. 
 This jealousy was increased by the extraordinarily high honours 
 paid to him at Sparta, which he visited shortly afterwards, and 
 as a result he was not elected one of the Strategi for the 
 next year, though he continued for some time to have great 
 influence in home affairs. 
 
 Mardonius meanwhile had accompanied the king as far as 
 
 10 Return of Thcssaly, where he remained for the winter with 
 
 the Athenians 300,000 men Selected from the Grand Army, con- 
 
 eirciy. gisting of Persians (with the 10,000 Immortals), 
 Medes, Sacae, Bactrians and Indians. The Greeks from Asia 
 
The Nezv Campaign. 163 
 
 were not Included, for he had good reason for mistrusting 
 them ; but he was to be assisted in the spring by the Thebans 
 and other continental Greeks who were prepared to serve 
 loyally. Artabazus, who had been general of the Parthian 
 contingent, employed himself with 60,000 men in reducing 
 Olynthus and Potidaea and the rest of the Chalcidic penin- 
 sula. The former town was taken and sacked, but he suffered 
 severe loss in attempting to enter the latter by getting round 
 the mole of the harbour at low tide. Otherwise the invading 
 army remained quietly in winter quarters in Thessaly and 
 Macedonia. Meantime the Greeks of the fleet were engaged in 
 dividing their spoils, selecting a tenth for the god at Delphi, 
 and deciding, as usual, on the prize of valour. Each captain 
 voted for himself first, but put Themistocles second ; who was 
 also treated with unusual marks of honour by the Spartans 
 later on. The bulk of the Athenians returned to their homes, 
 and began as far as they could the work of restoration. 
 
 With the return of spring the Greeks were aware that a 
 new attack was to be expected. A Persian fleet 
 of 300 triremes had mustered at Cyme and pro- preparations 
 ceeded to Samos. They feared to come farther in the spring 
 
 . . . of B.C. 479. 
 
 west because of the danger of a rising of lonians, 
 who had been in communication with Sparta, asking for the 
 protection of Greek ships. Early in the spring therefore a 
 fleet had been collected under the command of the Spartan 
 Leotychides and had proceeded as far as Delos, in answer to 
 this request, which had reached them at Aegina. But beyond 
 that they had not ventured 'all beyond seemed to the Greeks 
 full of danger ; the places were quite unknown to them, and 
 in their fancy swarmed with Persian troops \' Thus in the 
 early part of the year both fleets were kept back by mutual 
 fears. 
 
 Meanwhile Mardonius had been trying to gain his end 
 without more fighting in northern Greece. Athens was still at 
 
 1 Herod, viii. 132. 
 
164 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 his mercy: but he wished to penetrate into the Peloponnese; 
 
 and that could only be done with safety if all 
 
 tempt^^oV*' ^^ country in his rear was thoroughly secured. 
 
 Mardonius to He had now learnt somethiner of Greek feeling, 
 
 pacify the . . . , , f , , ?' 
 
 Athenians. and imagined that to get the oracles on his 
 
 side would be greatly to his advantage. He 
 therefore abstained from attacking Delphi, and tried by 
 presents to win the support of the oracle of Trophonius at 
 Lebadeia. He also employed Alexander of Macedonia to 
 negotiate with the Athenians, promising them immunity from 
 farther attack, and aid in restoring the buildings which had 
 been destroyed, on condition of their support being given to 
 the Persians. Great alarm was caused at Sparta on hearing of 
 the visit of Alexander. Ambassadors were hurriedly sent to 
 Athens, offering money towards the restoration, and compen- 
 sation for the loss of the harvest of the previous autumn. 
 The Athenians were thus encouraged to answer as they wished. 
 They told Alexander 'So long as the Sun keeps its course 
 we will never ally ourselves with Xerxes.' Having learned the 
 result of this embassage, Mardonius called out his men from 
 their winter quarters and mustered them in Boeotia, where the 
 Thebans urged him to remain and to corrupt the statesmen in 
 the various cities by bribes. No doubt the Thebans knew best 
 the character of their fellow Greeks ; but Mardonius was bent 
 on military success. He made one more attempt to win over 
 the Athenians by sending an ambassador to Salamis, whither 
 they had again retired; but the Athenians stoutly refused, and 
 even stoned to death a certain Lycidas who proposed to accept 
 the terms. 
 
 The Athenians might well have been tempted to listen to 
 13 Second ^^^ proposal; for their retreat to Salamis had 
 invasion of been rendered necessary by the failure of the 
 Spartans and other Peloponnesian States to 
 send a force to keep Mardonius in Boeotia. They were still 
 engaged in the ostrich-like poUcy of strengthening the fortifica- 
 tions of the Isthmus, and the Spartans were celebrating the 
 
Mardonius in Boeotia. 165 
 
 Hyacinthia at Amyclae, a festival which scarcely anything could 
 make them forego. Messengers sent to Sparta with remon- 
 strances were answered only after ten days' delay : when at 
 last troops under Pausanias cousin and guardian of Pleist- 
 archus the young son of Leonidas were despatched. 
 
 On hearing that the Peloponnesian army was really on the 
 move Mardonius, who had come as far south as to re-occupy 
 Athens, determined to return to Boeotia. Attica was not 
 suitable for cavalry, on which he greatly depended, and was 
 difficult to get away from if he were defeated. He therefore 
 started for Boeotia, but returned on hearing that a small ad- 
 vanced guard of the Peloponnesian army had arrived at 
 Megara. He hoped to produce an impression by crushing 
 this force. But again learning that the main army was not far 
 off, he resumed his march towards Boeotia, having done as 
 much damage to Athens as he had time for. 
 
 He marched by Deceleia on the road to Oropus; but at 
 Deceleia was met by guides sent by the Boeot- y^^^_ 
 
 archs who conducted him by a shorter route to donius in 
 Tanagra apparently the line of the modern 
 road branching off to the left past Kako Galesi on the left 
 bank of the Asopus. He marched up the stream to within a 
 short distance of Thebes, and then cutting down trees in the 
 neighbourhood he fortified a large camp of refuge for his men, 
 in case of defeat, and for his stores. The men meanwhile 
 pitched their tents along the south bank of the Asopus, stretch- 
 ing out in tront of Erythrae and Hysiae into the territory of 
 Plataea. There Mardonius was joined by a thousand Phocians, 
 and contingents from many other neighbouring states, who for 
 fear or lavour were prepared to help him. 
 
 Meanwhile the Greek army from the Peloponnese arrived 
 at the plain of Eleusis, where it was joined 
 by 8000 Athenians under Aristides. The whole ^^^'/^^ 
 
 ' Greek army on 
 
 force was commanded by the Spartan Pausanias. the slopes of 
 The number of the Greek army, counting the 
 light armed helots, amounted to over a hundred 
 
1 66 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 thousand. It was more than half composed of men from 
 Peloponnesian States, but there were also contingents from 
 the west Ambracia, Leucadia and Cephallenia from the 
 islands of Aegina and Euboea, Ceos, Tenos, Cythnos, and 
 Siphnos, and of states north of the Isthmus from Malis, 
 Megara, Plataea, Thespiae and Athens. The large numbers 
 of the force, and the wide area from which it was drawn, shew 
 how much the victory at Salamis had done to raise the 
 courage and determination of the Greeks. Still it was a South 
 Greek army. From Boeotia northward all states willingly or 
 unwillingly were supporting, or at least submitting to, the 
 Persians. Having mustered therefore at Eleusis, the Greek 
 army advanced into Boeotia over Mount Cithaeron by the pass 
 of Dryoscephalae (the 'Oak Heads'), which comes out between 
 Erythrae and Hysiae on the way to Thebes. They did not 
 venture to descend into the valley for fear of the Persian 
 cavalry, which continually skirmished up to them and pro- 
 voked them to come down. They had however some success 
 in these encounters with the enemy's horse, especially in 
 killing Masistius, the tallest and finest cavalry officer in the 
 Persian army. But as they needed at the same time a better 
 supply of water, Pausanias decided to edge along the hills to 
 the west and descend to lower ground, to a plateau near a 
 fountain called Gargaphia, nearly opposite the main line of the 
 Persians, with the Asopus between them. For eight days the 
 two armies remained in position, neither crossing the river to 
 attack the other, except for the daily skirmishing of the Persian 
 cavalry. On the whole the Greeks suffered considerably, 
 especially when during the next two days the Persians took 
 advantage of their change ot position to cut off a convoy of 
 provisions coming over Dryoscephalae, and to block the pass 
 against reinforcements. On the eleventh day Mardonius, 
 wearied with such desultory work, resolved on a general 
 attack on the Greek position. Warning was given to the 
 Athenian generals by Alexander of Macedon who rode up to 
 the Athenian lines after dark to give the information. 
 
The Greeks at Plataea. 
 
 167 
 
 But the twelfth day did not witness the expected battle. 
 It was wasted by changes and counter changes 
 on both sides: the Spartans wishing the Athe- tie of piataea^ 
 nians on the left to change with them, in order summer of 
 
 '-' rJ.C 479. 
 
 to face the Persians, of whom they had had 
 
 experience, and Mardonius executing a similar movement to 
 
 prevent it : and then both changing back to their original 
 position. Whether this is false as some think or not, as 
 well as a challenge on the part of Mardonius that the result 
 
1 68 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 should be left to a single engagement between Persians and 
 Spartans at any rate the final battle was postponed. Pausanias 
 now executed a backward movement to a place called the 
 island, about a mile from Plataea, so named from the fact that 
 it lay between two mountain streams running down into the 
 Oeroe. The object was partly water, for the Persians had 
 choked Gargaphia, partly to guard against failure of provisions, 
 and partly to cover the other pass over Cithaeron from Plataea 
 to Megara, which had become important since the blocking 
 of Dryoscephalae. The movement was to be made at night, 
 and was to be executed in three divisions by the Athenians 
 on the left, by the centre made up of the Corinthians and 
 other allies, and by the Spartans and Tegeans on the right. 
 It was begun by the centre. But the men went farther than 
 they were expected to go and drew up in or near the Heraeum, 
 which appears to have been close to the walls of Plataea. 
 Herodotus attributes this to their terror of the cavalry, but 
 it may after all have been the point they were intended to 
 occupy. The Spartans on the right and the Athenians on 
 the left were to have started simultaneously. But the Spartans 
 were kept back by the obstinacy of a captain of the Pitanetan 
 lochos or company, who not having been at the council did 
 not know the object of the movement, and looking upon it as 
 a base flight refused to stir. The Athenians had also delayed 
 starting, not being sure of the Spartan intentions; and when 
 these difficulties were got over, there was not enough of the 
 night left to execute the movement in darkness. 
 
 The Athenians kept along the plain, and seem to have been 
 out of sight of the Persians, but the Spartans 
 ^ and Tegeans were on higher ground and were 
 visible to the enemy. jFhey soon therefore began to find their 
 rear harassed by Persian cavalry: while Mardonius and his 
 whole army got under arms and pushed forward to attack them. 
 Pausanias halted and drew up his men for battle, sending off 
 a horseman .in hot haste to beg the Athenians to join him. 
 
The Battle of Plataea. 169 
 
 But they were engaged by the Greek allies to the Persians 
 and were shut off from the battle, the whole credit of which 
 therefore fell to the Spartans and Tegeans. They had halted 
 near a temple of Demeter which as usual was in a lonely spot 
 about a mile away from the town and were able to sacrifice 
 and take the omens. The Persian archers, making a temporary 
 rampart of their wicker shields, poured in a flight of arrows 
 upon them. But the victims continued to be unfavourable, 
 till Pausanias raising his eyes to the Heraeum shining in the 
 distance besought Here *not to thwart the Greeks.' At that 
 moment, the Tegeans by a sudden impulse charged the enemy 
 opposite them. The spell was broken : the victims became 
 suddenly favourable, and Pausanias gave the word for a 
 general charge. The Spartans dashed down the wicker shields 
 and came to close quarters with the enemy. The length of their 
 spears again gave them the advantage, as no doubt did their 
 superior strength and discipline. In the midst of the melee 
 Mardonius was conspicuous on his white charger, and sur- 
 rounded by 1000 picked men. But a javelin or stone brought 
 him down; the bodyguard was cut to pieces; and soon the 
 whole motley throng was in full flight for the camp on the north 
 bank of the Asopus. By this time the Athenians had driven 
 back the Boeotians with considerable slaughter and were ready 
 to join the Spartans in the attack upon the camp. But the 
 allies of the centre, who had halted at the Heraeum, though in 
 answer to a message from Pausanias they had started for the 
 field of battle, did not arrive in time either for the battle or the 
 attack on the camp; while the Phliasians and Megarians, 
 who took the low road, were caught by some Theban 
 cavalry and driven back with great loss. The storming of the 
 camp was begun by the Spartans and Tegeans. It was 
 obstinately defended for a time. But when the storming 
 party was reinforced by the arrival of the Athenians, the works 
 were carried, and a hideous slaughter was inflicted on the 
 terrified mass of men within it. The only remnant of the 
 
170 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Grand Army was a body of 40,000 men under Artabazus, who, 
 disapproving of the attack ordered by Mardonius, had hngered 
 in the rear. When he saw how things were going, he bade his 
 men stay neither at the camp nor at Thebes, but gallop to 
 the north. He managed to get through Phocis and Thessaly 
 by giving out that he was a mere advanced guard, and that 
 Mardonius was close behind him, and at last reached By- 
 zantium, but after having lost a large number of his men. 
 
 The Greek army had nothing left to do but to divide the 
 spoil. As usual a tenth was set apart to be 
 
 17. The spoil , .. , . . , ^ ^ , 
 
 divided and dedicated in various temples, rrom the part 
 ^unish^d^^*^^ assigned to Delphi a large bronze stand was 
 
 set up of three twisted snakes, on the heads of 
 which stood a golden tripod, while on the coils were cut the 
 names still legible of those states which had taken part in 
 the battle or the war generally. No individual name was 
 allowed to be placed on it, and a couplet containing that of 
 Pausanias was ordered to be erased. Similar inscriptions were 
 cut upon a bronze statue of Zeus at Olympia, and of Poseidon 
 at Corinth. Lastly, before breaking up, the Congress at Corinth 
 made a practical use of its claim to exercise national authority 
 by putting to death the Theban oligarchs who had promoted 
 the alliance with Persia. They had been surrendered to 
 Pausanias after he had invested Thebes for 20 days, almost 
 immediately after the battle of Plataea. 
 
 This was the end of the invasion. For the next 100 years 
 
 Greece was to have freedom to develope in her 
 
 18. The Hun- ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^-^ spirit of confidence seemed to 
 
 dred Years' -^ , ^ . , . ^ , , 
 
 freedom in be infuscd into the nation, and as in England 
 
 B.c!^%-378. after the defeat of the Armada this buoyancy of 
 national life was manifested by an outburst of 
 energy in literature and intellectual activity of all kinds, Hke 
 that which marked the 'spacious days of Great Elizabeth.' 
 About the same time a similar freedom was secured for the 
 islands and Greek towns in Asia and Thrace, as well as for the 
 
The Trophy at Delphi. 
 
 171 
 
 Hellenes of Sicily and Italy. We saw how Gelo of Syracuse 
 beat back the Carthaginian host at Himera in B.C. 480, while 
 the Greeks of the central peninsula were repulsing the Persians. 
 Six years later his successor Hiero in a great battle at Cumae 
 'humbled the Etruscans,' the other great sea power in the 
 Western Mediterranean. The poet Pindar connects these two 
 events as 'rescuing Hellas from a heavy doom of slavery.' 
 Everywhere the Hellenic genius seemed inspired with the 
 energy of renewed youth. 
 
 10 [Totfierb^?] 
 
 r6Ae/xoi 
 
 en-oAe'/xeoi' 
 
 '\.6y\vaXoi 
 KopCvOtoi 
 Teyearai 
 
 "SiiKVijiviOL 
 
 AlyivaTou, 
 Meyaprj? 
 ''EniSavpi.ok 
 
 EpXOfLfVlOL 
 
 Tpo^dyioL 
 'Epixiowrji 
 Ttpuj/0tot 
 lIAaTaiijs 
 
 Keioi 
 
 MaAiot ^ 
 
 TjJi'ioc 
 
 'EperpiT^s 
 
 XaAKt5i7S 
 
 StuptJs 
 
 faXeloi ['HAetot] 
 
 JloTeiSaidrai 
 
 AevKot^ioi 
 
 /avttKTopirjs t'Aj'a/cTopiTjs] 
 
 Kvdvioi 
 
 2t<^vtot 
 
 'A/u,7rpaKiwTai 
 
 AeTrpearai 
 
 The Bronze Stand Dedicated at Delphi after Plataea. Now 
 IN the Stadium at Constantinople. 
 
172 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Confederacy of Delos. 
 
 While the Greeks were still remaining inactive at Delos 
 
 (p. 163), under the command of the Spartan 
 
 I. The battle j^inpr Leotvchides, an urgent message came from 
 
 ofMycaleand ^ , . -' , . , -,^ . 
 
 the freedom of Samos beggmg for help agamst the Persian fleet 
 andHeiienic ^^^ promising co-opcration. It was a secret 
 towns in Asia message Sent without the knowledge of the 
 b!c. 479476. medising tyrant of Samos ; but Leotychides was 
 prepared to go, and seized on the name of the 
 messenger Hegesistratos (Army-leader) as of good omen. The 
 fleet arrived ofl" Calami in Samos and tried in vain to tempt the 
 Persians out to fight. They resolved not to risk it; but sent 
 away their Phoenician ships for safety, and landed themselves 
 near the promontory of Mycale, in order to be under the 
 protection of their land army, beached their ships, and fortified 
 a kind of naval camp. The Greeks, though they would have 
 preferred fighting at sea, and for a time thought of leaving the 
 enemy alone and returning to Greece, finally resolved to attack 
 them on land. Leotychides first attempted to introduce 
 divisions in the enemy's army by an appeal to the Samians 
 and other lonians not to fight against their brethren. This 
 was so far successful that it aroused the suspicion of the 
 Persian commander Tigranes, who disarmed the Samians, and 
 sent the Milesians to the high ground of Mycale. As at 
 Plataea, the battle was fought almost within sight of a temple 
 of Here in Samos and near a temple of Demeter. When the 
 
The Victory at Mycale. ly^ 
 
 Greeks landed without opposition, as the story goes, on the 
 very day of the battle of Plataea, they were encouraged by a 
 strange event. A herald's staff was found on the beach and 
 a rumour ran through the host, no man knew how, that the 
 Persians had been beaten at Plataea. Whether the rumour 
 was designedly spread by the officers, or whether the battles 
 were really sufficiently divided in time to allow of some news 
 reaching Mycale, at any rate the Greeks were in high spirits 
 and gained a brilliant victory. The wicker shields of the 
 Persians were dashed down, and though they made a gallant 
 resistance Tigranes and Mardontes dying sword in hand yet 
 the entrenchment was carried, and the Ionian troops turned 
 upon their oppressors and aided the slaughter. Even those 
 who escaped from the field to the high ground of Mycale fell 
 in with the Milesians, who treacherously guided them into the 
 very arms of the victorious Greeks, by whom they were cut to 
 pieces. 
 
 This practically began a second Ionian revolt. It could 
 not be universal at first. The Persian land force . . 
 
 was still too powerful for that; and in the council of organised 
 held after the battle the Spartan proposal was to peSan rule 
 transfer the lonians bodily to the various towns over Greek 
 in Greece which had medised. But a more 
 reasonable policy was initiated by the Samians, Chians, and 
 Lesbians making a sworn alliance with the continental Greeks 
 present, undertaking to furnish ships and men for resistance to 
 Persia. Their example was followed by some other islands, 
 but they in no sense put themselves in the power of Athens or 
 any other State. They joined as free and independent allies, 
 and in the extended league formed two years later they always 
 occupied a position of special privilege. 
 
 The first step taken by the allies after the victory of Mycale 
 (September) was to set free the Thracian Chersonese, where 
 a Persian governor named Artayctes, residing at Sestos, 
 exercised supreme authority in so harsh a manner as to have 
 
174 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 incurred the special hatred of the Hellenic states. The control 
 of the Chersonese was always of great importance to the 
 Athenians, on account of the corn trade through the Helles- 
 pont, and the Athenian general Xanthippus resolved to take 
 Sestos, even if he had to trench upon the winter season. The 
 Spartans however had not an equal interest in it, and Leotychi- 
 des went home with the other Peloponnesian allies, leaving the 
 Athenians to carry on the siege of the town. It lasted long, 
 but Xanthippus persisted, and at last when the garrison was 
 reduced almost to starvation, Artayctes escaped and the town 
 fell. 
 
 The Congress at Corinth, though nominally continuing to 
 exist, did nothing effective after the Persian 
 the'conffde- invasion. The town of Thebes (besides the 
 B c' ^8-^'6^' execution of the leaders) was fined for medising, 
 and Leotychides was despatched on a punitive 
 expedition to Thessaly, from which however he returned with- 
 out striking a blow having, as it was said, been bribed by the 
 Aleuadae. Lastly, Pausanias seems to have caused some of 
 the central Greek States to form a sworn alliance for mutual 
 protection \ But the most important league resulting from the 
 Persian invasion was that of the maritime States, island or 
 continental, made in the course of the next few years with 
 the object of keeping the Aegean clear of the Persians, and 
 freeing all Hellenic cities from them, as well as retaliating on 
 the king's dominions. Of this league Athens, by the force of 
 events, became the head. 
 
 While the work of restoration and fortification at Athens was 
 going on under the influence of Themistocles, the Greek fleet was 
 not idle. In accordance with the understanding arrived at with 
 Samos, Chios and Lesbos in the previous year, it was duly sent 
 out to the Asiatic coast to continue the work of Hberation. It 
 was under the general command of Pausanias, while the 
 Athenian contingent was commanded by Aristides and Cimon, 
 ^ Thucyd. ii. 72 ; cp. i. 18. 
 
Aristides and the Confederacy. 175 
 
 son of Miltiades. They first sailed to Cyprus, as being a 
 source of naval strength to the king, and freed the greater part 
 of it from Persian control. They then sailed northward to 
 Byzantium, where there was still a Persian garrison, and laid 
 siege to it. It was during this siege that a great change came 
 over the feelings of the allies. Pausanias was making himself 
 universally unpopular. He gave himself all the airs of a tyrant, 
 affected exclusiveness, and after the capture of Byzantium 
 entered into correspondence with the king. The pretext was 
 the restoration of some captives taken in the siege. He sent 
 them back without consulting the allies, and even wrote pro- 
 posing to marry a daughter of Xerxes. The Spartans recalled 
 him and sent Dorcis in his place with a small additional 
 number of ships (b.c. 477). But when Dorcis arrived he found 
 that the captains of the ships had invited Aristides to take the 
 command of the allied fleet partly from anger with Pausanias, 
 partly from confidence inspired by the character of Aristides ; 
 but also on the ground of the superiority of the Athenian ships 
 in number and quality. Dorcis thereupon withdrew the 
 Spartan ships and returned home. Thus Sparta once more 
 contented herself with being head of the Peloponnese'and a 
 generally acknowledged primacy on land ; while the first place 
 in the Aegean, in Island Greece, and on the shores of Asia, 
 with all which that entailed, fell naturally to the Athenians. 
 
 The first measure of Aristides was to arrange for a more 
 permanent league among the allies. The prin- 
 ciples upon which it was founded were, first, ortants"fthr 
 that though adherence to it was voluntary, with- Confederacy 
 drawal from it was a breach of a solemn oath e.g. 477-U. 
 and could be prevented by the whole body : and, 
 secondly, that each State was to supply a fixed number of ships 
 and a contribution in money (<^o/3os), or an additional sum of 
 money in lieu of ships, for the protection of the islands of the 
 Aegean and other Greek colonies against Persia. The assess- 
 ment of the contributions was left to Aristides. The treasury 
 was to be at Delos, and certain officers called Hellenoiamiae 
 
lyG Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 were appointed to collect and take charge of it. For this 
 purpose there was a triple classification of States (i) Thracian, 
 (2) Ionian, (3) Islands. In the first two adjacent islands were 
 reckoned. Though a kind of primacy among the allies was, 
 on the proposal of the Chians, assigned to Athens, she was 
 originally only an ally like the rest, with no defined power over 
 the others. Yet in regard to each State, except Chios, Samos, 
 and Lesbos, it seems from the first to have been understood 
 that it was to have a constitution somewhat after the Athenian 
 model, and to admit if necessary an Athenian resident and 
 guard (cVto-KOTTos and <f>v\aK<i): and when Athens began to 
 assert these rights, and to exercise the powers naturally arising 
 from them, a new aspect was given to the whole constitution of 
 the league. But for many years it effected its purpose without 
 seriously wounding the sense of independence of the allies, 
 and was continually receiving new adhesions. The work of 
 reducing towns occupied by Persians went on steadily, begin- 
 ning with Eion on the Strymon and the island of Scyros. 
 These were taken by Cimon, their inhabitants removed, and 
 colonists found to take their place. 
 
 Athens meanwhile was becoming strong enough to take the 
 head of such a league. Immediately after the 
 fication 0/'^^*' ^^'^^ failure of the Persian invasion, Themistocles 
 Athens and the began to Urge that the citizens should not only 
 B.C. 477471. restore the buildings of the city, but should pre- 
 vent a recurrence of such a misfortune by 
 protecting it with a wall. The work was set on foot at once, 
 and so eagerly was it pushed on that every kind of loose 
 material was used, houses being pulled down, and even tomb- 
 stones being built into it an assertion of Thucydides which 
 has been amply confirmed by modern discoveries. The 
 Spartans felt that a strong Athens was a threat to their 
 military supremacy, and they sent ambassadors to represent 
 that walled towns would be a danger rather than a security in 
 case of another Persian invasion, as was shewn by the Persians 
 having been forced to evacuate Athens on the approach of the 
 
The Walls of Athens mid Peiraeus. 177 
 
 Peloponnesian army. But Themistocles persuaded the people 
 to retain the Spartan ambassadors, to send him to Sparta, 
 and meanwhile to go on building. At Sparta he put ofif an 
 interview with the Ephors day after day on the plea that he was 
 waiting for his colleagues. Presently, on receiving secret 
 assurance that the work was sufficiently advanced, he boldly 
 announced that the walls were built, and justified it on the 
 ground both of the necessity of Athens being fortified, if she 
 was to take the lead in national defence, and of the natural 
 right of every town to protect itself. The Spartans did not 
 think it necessary or possible to make any further remon- 
 strance. Themistocles then suggested fortifying Peiraeus also. 
 The work was at once begun. A double wall equal in circuit 
 to that of the city (60 stades or about 7 miles) was laid out to 
 include the two townships of Munychia and Peiraeus. The two 
 walls were sufficiently wide apart to allow of two waggons 
 passing each other. This space was afterwards filled up by 
 solid masonry, and the work does not appear to have been 
 finished till about B.C. 471, the year in which Themistocles 
 was ostracised. From henceforth the Peiraeus began to be 
 the principal harbour of Athens, griadually superseding the 
 old harbour at Phalerum. 
 
 Athens therefore between B.C. 477 and 471 was fitting 
 herself for the high place she aspired to hold in 
 Greece. The doings of the confederate fleet in .^- first period 
 
 . . in the history 
 
 these years are not known to us m detail. But oftheCo^fede- 
 it seems to have successfully kept the Aegean b.c". 476-^466? 
 clear of the royal fleets, and to have gradually to the Battles 
 
 11 J T- r .u . A oftheEury. 
 
 expelled Persian garrisons from the towns. As medon. 
 Aristides had been the chief framer of the 
 Confederacy, and by his equitable assessment had made its 
 continuance possible, so its soldier was Cimon, son of 
 Miltiades. He completed the work for which it was primarily 
 formed by his victories at the mouth of the river Eurymedon, 
 in Pamphylia, over a Phoenician fleet, destroying 200 vessels, 
 
 s. G. 12 
 
1/8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 and the same day over a land force that was protecting the fleet 
 near Aspendus. Though there is no evidence that a formal 
 treaty was now made with Persia, yet the state of things after 
 it was that which Plutarch attributes to this so-called ' peace of 
 Cimon.' That is to say, the king no more sent his Phoenician 
 ships north of the Lycian promontory Chelidonium into the 
 Aegean, and no longer interfered with the Greek towns on the 
 coast. It is probable that no definite terms to this effect were 
 made till the peace of Callias (b.c. 450), but that this latter 
 treaty only recognised the actual state of things. 
 
 But in the course of these eleven years there had been 
 
 Death of ^ gradual change in the feelings of the con- 
 
 Pausanias, federate States, and this was shewn decisively, in 
 
 ''''^^' the very year of its success on the Eurymedon, 
 
 by the determination of Naxos to quit the Confederacy, and 
 the authoritative reduction of that island to obedience by the 
 Athenians. 'This was the first allied State' says Thucydides 
 * which was reduced to subjection contrary to the league 
 constitution.' We do not know what the special grievances of 
 the Naxians were, probably some severities on the part of 
 Athens in exacting tributes or ships, or insisting on military 
 service ; but their revolt begins a new phase in the history of 
 the Confederacy. Meanwhile the state of semi-war with Persia 
 which it kept up involved indirectly the fall of the two men 
 who had led Greece to victory during the invasion Pausanias 
 and Themistocles. We have seen how the conduct of Pau- 
 sanias in the year after Mycale (b.c. 478) had not only caused 
 his own recall, but had cost Sparta the leadership in the 
 Aegean. But he had, it seems, resolved not to lose the chance 
 of personal aggrandisement. He presently got possession of a 
 single ship and joined the confederate fleet in the Hellespont. 
 There he resumed his extraordinary behaviour, adopted 
 Persian dress and ornaments, surrounded himself with a body- 
 guard of Persians and Egyptians, and finally entered into 
 a treasonable correspondence with the Persian court. He was 
 
Fall of Pausanias. \yg 
 
 summoned home by the Ephors, and, not venturing to disobey, 
 was imprisoned at Sparta. Managing by some means to regain 
 his liberty he again began writing to the Persian court. What 
 was still worse in Spartan eyes, he tampered with the Helots, 
 with a view to a revolution which should make him despot. 
 The Ephors waited patiently for evidence, which they eventually 
 obtained by accident. Pausanias communicated with the king 
 by letters carried by slaves. In each of these letters he 
 directed that the slave should be put to death to prevent his 
 betraying his master on his return. At last a slave so sent, 
 being struck by the non-return of former messengers, opened 
 the letter, and, finding the same direction as to his own 
 murder contained in it, communicated its contents to the 
 Ephors. By arrangement with them he took refuge at the 
 altar of Poseidon, near which the Ephors concealed themselves. 
 Pausanias, hearing that the slave had taken sanctuary, hurried 
 in alarm to the spot. The conversation that ensued gave the 
 Ephors the evidence they wanted. They determined to arrest 
 him; but he divined their intention and fled for safety to 
 the temple of Athena. The Ephors would not violate the 
 sanctuary, but they built up the doors and allowed him to 
 starve, only removing him when on the point of death, to avoid 
 polluting the temple. 
 
 The investigation of his papers involved Themistocles also 
 in a charge of treasonable dealings with Persia. g. The os- 
 It is very likely that he was guilty of nothing tracism (b.c. 
 
 .V T !- 1 1 J c ^u 471) and flight 
 
 more than concealmg his knowledge 01 the ofThemisto- 
 plans of Pausanias. He was too acute a man cies (b.c. 466). 
 to have committed his safety to one who shewed such 
 poor qualities as a statesman. But Themistocles, at the time 
 of this accusation, had already fallen from his high popularity 
 at Athens. He had just been ostracised (b.c. 471) and had 
 retired to Argos. The ostracism had resulted from many 
 causes. Themistocles had no doubt enriched himself in 
 various unlawful ways, especially in dealing with the islanders. 
 
 12 2 
 
1 80 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 His measures for fortifying and improving Athens and the 
 Peiraeus had been far-seeing and brilliant, but they also 
 entailed much labour, expense, and self-sacrifice on the 
 people. He had incurred jealousy at home at one time by 
 enjoying the excessive favour of Sparta; and had then lost 
 the favour of Sparta by opposing the policy, of excluding 
 medising States from the Amphictyonic League ; and so turned 
 against himself the party at Athens which was always open to 
 Spartan influence. In minor matters he had made enemies, 
 as administrators are sure to do : as for instance, when at the 
 head of the water supply at Athens, he had caused a number 
 of people to be fined for surreptitious use of the public springs. 
 He was also prone to talk in high terms of his own statesman- 
 ship, which offended the taste of a people who disliked any 
 show of superiority. They contrasted him with Aristides who 
 by his honesty and moderation had placed the city at the head 
 of the Aegean Confederacy. This was better than the pro- 
 posal that Themistocles was said to have made to burn the 
 fleet of the aUies, in order to secure the naval supremacy of 
 Athens. Moreover Aristides had shewn himself a better 
 democrat, for he had proposed and carried a decree abolishing 
 the money qualification for the archonship. It was while 
 Themistocles was living at Argos after his ostracism, and visiting 
 other places in the Peloponnese, that the Spartans who were 
 uneasy at his being at Argos laid an information against him 
 at Athens as being involved in the treason of Pausanias, though 
 the latter had now been nearly four years dead, a sufficient 
 proof that the accusation of Medism was only a means of getting 
 rid of him. Being warned of this in time, however, Themisto- 
 cles escaped from the Peloponnese to Corcyra, and thence to 
 the court of Admetus, king of the Molossi, whom he persuaded 
 to aid him in crossing Macedonia. At Pydna he obtained a ship, 
 and though he came in sight of the Athenian fleet then 
 besieging Naxos (b.c. 466), he reached Ephesus safely, and 
 after many adventures arrived at the Persian court, where he 
 
Flight of Themisfocles. i8i 
 
 was cordially received by King Artaxerxes, who had just 
 succeeded Xerxes (b.c. 465), and was granted a residence at 
 Magnesia and the revenues of Lampsacus and Myus for his 
 sustenance; though his friends in Greece had managed to send 
 him both his family and his money. At Magnesia he lived 
 some years, dying, according to Plutarch, about the year 
 B.C. 460, some said by poison taken in despair of fulfilling his 
 promises of Greek assistance to the king others by a natural 
 death. About the time of his flight to Persia his great rival died. 
 Though Aristides had had the management of much public 
 money, his purity was proved by his dying so poor that the 
 State had to portion his daughters. With his death, and the 
 disappearance of Themistocles, ends the first period of the rise 
 of Athens. We shall have to notice now how she develops and 
 uses the power gained by this generation of her statesmen. 
 
 The foreign policy of Athens continued for about five years 
 more to be directed by Cimon, but at home he 
 found himself opposed by the rising influence of A?hen^an su- 
 Pericles, who after the death of Aristides began premacy after 
 to take the lead of the more democratic party. theEury- 
 The difficulties with which Cimon had to deal !?^^"' 
 
 B.C. 466449. 
 
 m the league were generally caused as in the 
 case of Naxos by the necessity of enforcing the quota of 
 ships or the payment of money in their place. As time went 
 on and the danger from Persia seemed less and less im- 
 minent, the general disposition of the smaller States was to 
 pay money rather than send out ships. The result was that 
 the Athenians supplied the ships to make up the number (70), 
 and consequently regarded it as their right to enforce payment. 
 Moreover the magistrates and councillors in the allied States 
 except in the three free allies, Samos, Chios and Lesbos in their 
 oath of office practically promised fidelity to Athens as a suzerain 
 power. It was inevitable that the passion for local autonomy 
 inherent in the Greek character should lead to difficulties in 
 such circumstances. The revolt of Naxos had been the first 
 
1 82 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 sign of this discontent. Everything the Athenian government 
 found or thought it necessary to do in virtue of this supremacy 
 would create it enemies ; and even when such measures were 
 not directly connected with the Confederacy, they often affected 
 it in some way or another. This was the case with the next 
 
 Revolt of trouble, that with Thasos in B.C. 465. One of 
 
 Thasos, the first of Cimon's achievements had been to 
 
 ' '^ ^' expel the Persians from Eion on the mouth of the 
 
 Strymon. A colony of 10,000 Athenians had been sent to the 
 neighbourhood and had settled at the Nine Ways, to the west 
 of the future site of Amphipolis. The place was important as 
 commanding the roads through Thrace into Greece, as well as 
 the use of the Pangaean gold mines. Now these gold mines 
 had been worked by the people of the opposite island of 
 Thasos, and the Thasians regarded the presence of the Athenian 
 colonists with jealousy, and so harassed them that military 
 support had to be sent and a fresh batch of settlers. The 
 colony proved a failure, and was finally destroyed by the 
 neighbouring barbarians, the Edonians, who conquered the 
 Greeks in a great battle at Drabescus. The Thasians, how- 
 ever, not content with this failure of the colony, determined to 
 shew their anger with Athens by quitting the Confederacy, 
 though the quarrel was wholly commercial in origin and had 
 nothing to do with the objects of the Confederacy. The 
 Athenians promptly sent an expedition to Thasos, which, after 
 a blockade lasting more than two years (b.c. 466-463), reduced 
 the Thasians to submission and compelled them to pull down 
 their walls and surrender their fleet, and thus descend to the 
 position of a conquered dependency, as Naxos had done before, 
 and as Aegina was to do afterwards. This success had a strong 
 effect upon the imagination of the Athenians ; they saw them- 
 selves becoming the head of an empire, and they already 
 began to look for expansion on the continent as well as among 
 the islands. Thus they expected that Cimon would follow up 
 his success at Thasos by subjecting a considerable portion of 
 
The Rebellion of tJie Helots, 183 
 
 lower Macedonia, and when he returned home without having 
 done so, he was prosecuted by Pericles for accepting a bribe 
 from King Alexander to abstain. He had not yet, however, lost 
 all his influence at Athens. He was acquitted, and for a time 
 was able to thwart the democratic measures of Pericles. But 
 events in another part of Greece presently removed him from 
 power. 
 
 When the Thasians had, by their determination to quit the 
 Confederacy of Delos, brought the Athenian 
 fleet upon them, they naturally looked for help revolt of the 
 from the power which they felt sure would not i^a^Je'a"ain^st 
 regard the rising supremacy of Athens with Sparta, 
 favour. They appealed to Sparta. The Spartans ' ' ^ '^~'*^^' 
 would have been glad of such an opportunity of asserting their 
 old supremacy, and indeed promised to effect a diversion by 
 invading Attica. But just then they met with a misfortune 
 which tied their hands for ten years. A severe earthquake 
 ruined the town and caused the death of a large number of 
 Spartans \ Immediately the Helots, especially those of 
 Messenia, seized the opportunity to revenge long years of 
 oppression. They gathered for an attack upon Sparta itself, 
 but being repelled by the energy of King Archidamus, they 
 retired to Mount Ithome, where they were blockaded by the 
 Spartans who had been hastily summoned to arms. They held 
 out for nearly ten years, and the whole energies of the Spartans 
 were devoted to the blockade. It was a matter of life and 
 death to them. It was in fact a labour war, aggravated by 
 a system of relentless oppression. The Helots were the tillers 
 of the soil, bound to it as serfs, hopeless of release or relief, 
 designedly corrupted that they might not have the energy to 
 rise, brutalised by ignorance and cruelty. They naturally and 
 laudably seized any opportunity to strike a blow at their 
 oppressors. Their great want was a leader, a want which 
 
 ^ The loss of life was put at 20,000 probably a great exaggeration. 
 
1 84 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 generally keeps an enslaved populace quiet. But on this 
 occasion their movement was rendered the more formidable by 
 the sympathy of the farmer class, the perioeci, many of whom 
 joined them in hope of asserting their own political rights 
 against the Spartan oligarchy. In their struggle with the rebels 
 the Spartans were forced to enlist the help of various allies, and 
 among others they even descended to ask aid of Athens. At 
 Athens the oligarchical party headed by Cimon was always 
 in favour of close alliance with Sparta. And though the 
 measure was as unpalatable to many at Athens, as the ap- 
 plication had been revolting to the pride of Sparta, Cimon 
 contrived to have a vote passed in favour of sending the aid, 
 and to be nominated to lead it himself. But very soon after 
 the expedition arrived at the seat of war, the jealousy of the 
 Spartans became uncontrollable, and the commanders curtly 
 dismissed the Athenians, though retaining the other allies, with 
 no farther explanation than that they no longer required their 
 services. The indignation roused at Athens by this slight 
 caused the fall of the laconising party and the ostracism of 
 Cimon. The democratic party, with Pericles at its head, 
 gained the ascendant, and a new combination was begun. 
 The alliance made with Sparta at the time of the Persian 
 war was renounced, and an agreement formed with Argos 
 Sparta's rival in the Peloponnese which had now much 
 recovered from the effects of the Spartan invasion of 
 B.C. 494. Before long the Thessalians gave in their ad- 
 herence and eventually the Megarians also. Thus a new 
 combination of Greek States was made on the continent to 
 dispute with Sparta the supremacy in Greece. In this, as in 
 the Delian Confederacy, Athens occupied a leading position, 
 and having the unfriendly Boeotians between two fires Attica 
 in the south and Thessaly in the north she seemed in a fair 
 way to consolidate her power. The success and failure of 
 this policy, for which Pericles is mainly responsible, will be 
 considered in the next chapter. 
 
To face p. 185 
 
 Pericles 
 
i85 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Continental and Home Policy of Pericles 
 TO THE Thirty Years' Peace (b.c. 460445). 
 
 Pericles was the first and perhaps the greatest of the 
 Athenian statesmen who won their position by 
 eloquence, and by studying the art of managing rises to^com-^ 
 a popular assembly. Unlike some of the later sanding 
 
 1 1 T 1 11-1 influence. 
 
 demagogues he did not do this by ostentatiously 
 courting popularity or by perpetual speaking. He kept him- 
 self for great occasions, it was said, like the sacred Salaminian 
 galley. He was seldom seen in the streets, avoided large 
 social gatherings, and was reserved and quiet in demeanour. 
 But when he did rise to speak the poet Eupolis declares 
 that 'like a great runner he easily distanced other orators. 
 His words flowed rapidly, and persuasion seemed to sit upon 
 his lips. Of all the orators he alone left a sting behind 
 him in his hearers.' By these means he obtained so firm a 
 hold upon the assembly that it was not shaken even by the 
 failure of the Athenians under his guidance to found an 
 empire on the continent, a failure consummated by the peace 
 of B.C. 445. We do not know exactly when Pericles began to 
 exercise this commanding influence, but the ostracism. of his 
 rival Cimon in B.C. 461 seems first to have left the field 
 clear for his policy. 
 
1 86 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 The ideal of Pericles was a united Greece, with Athens 
 
 the leading State, not only politically but as 
 
 tinentai%Ucy being the hoHic of art and culture the 'School 
 
 of Athens. Qf Qreecc.' For that purpose Athens must be 
 
 First period . 
 
 (B.C. 461452). strong both in herself and in her alliances. The 
 
 Me^ara^and discredit brought upon the laconising policy 
 
 the counter- of Cimon had resulted in the beginning of 
 
 Corinth/Epi- ^n anti-Spartan league with Argos, which was 
 
 daurus and ^Iso ioincd for a time by the Thessalians. But 
 
 Aegina. /- 1 1 a r 
 
 for ready communication with Argos it was of 
 great importance to have the friendship of Megara, as com- 
 manding the road to the Isthmus, and as giving an outlet to the 
 Corinthian gulf at its western harbour Pagae. The accession 
 of Megara therefore to the league was gladly accepted. The 
 Athenians assisted the Megarians in building their long walls 
 to their southern harbour Nisaea, and placed a permanent 
 Athenian garrison in Megara itself. But these measures 
 alarmed those maritime States to whom the free navigation of 
 the Saronic gulf was all important. A league was formed 
 between Corinth, Epidaurus and Aegina to oppose this new 
 confederation. 
 
 The Athenians, who had lately (b.c. 460) had considerable 
 
 naval success in sending assistance to Inaros of 
 Corin^^'^ ^^^^ ^SYP^ i^ ^^^ rcvolt against the Persians, did not 
 Epidaurus and wait to be attacked. Determined to strike the 
 B?c!458. first blow, they landed a force at Halieis, near 
 
 Hermione, and engaged a joint army of Corin- 
 thians and Epidaurians. They were worsted in this battle; 
 but their fleet meanwhile had defeated the Corinthian and 
 Epidaurian ships off Cecryphaleia ; and had afterwards pro- 
 ceeded to Aegina. There the Athenians totally defeated the 
 Aeginetan fleet, taking seventy ships and practically putting an 
 end to the naval power of Aegina. Nor was this all. The 
 Corinthians and Epidaurians followed up their success at 
 Halieis by invading the Megarid, hoping to create a diversion 
 
The Policy of Pericles. 187 
 
 for the Aeginetans. But they were twice decisively defeated 
 by a hastily levied army of Athenians led by Myronides. 
 Athens therefore had triumphed and her league was intact. 
 
 About the same time Athens was secured from the danger 
 of being cut off from the sea by the erection of 
 
 . , . . , 4. LongwaUs 
 
 two Mong walls one connectmg the city with toPeiraeus 
 the northern corner of the Peiraeus, and the B^c^sy-r' 
 other with Phalerum. They were not completed 
 till the year B.C. 456; and meanwhile it became apparent 
 that the recent successes of the Athenian arms had roused the 
 jealousy of Sparta. The Spartans had been too closely en- 
 gaged in their struggle with the revolted Helots and Messe- 
 nians to aid the Corinthians and Epidaurians. But they could 
 not have viewed the consolidation of Athenian power without 
 alarm, and they presently had an opportunity of promoting an 
 opposition to it in Boeotia. 
 
 The little district of Doris was being invaded by the 
 Phocians on account of some quarrel as to ^ spartans 
 frontiers. In response to an appeal for help defeat the 
 from a State which they regarded as the Tanagi"in^ 
 * mother-state ' of the Dorians, the Spartans 5^***' 
 collected allies and sent an army into Doris, 
 which drove out the Phocians and restored the Dorian towns 
 to liberty. Perhaps the opportunity of sending a force into 
 Central Greece had influenced the Spartan government as 
 much as the sentiment of filial piety. At any rate, instead of 
 returning through Phocis to their ships, which were waiting to 
 take them across the Crissaean gulf, the Peloponnesian army 
 moted into Boeotia and advanced as far as Tanagra, from 
 which they might threaten the frontiers of Attica. The 
 Athenians were convinced that the object of this entrance 
 into Boeotia was to unite the Boeotian cities against their 
 league with Argos, Megara, and Thessaly. They at once 
 sent forty ships into the Crissaean gulf to prevent the. 
 return of the Peloponnesians by sea. Three difficult roads 
 
1 88 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 over Mount Gereneia between the Megarid and Corinth- 
 were occupied by Athenian troops ; and help was summoned 
 from Argos and Thessaly. The army thus collected found 
 the Peloponnesians encamped near Tanagra and immediately 
 offered battle. The Thessalian horse deserted to the enemy 
 during the fight, and though considerable loss was sustained 
 on both sides, the Athenians were finally defeated and were 
 forced to make a truce, allowing the Peloponnesians to return 
 home through the Megarid. 
 
 Nevertheless, having got rid of the enemy, the Athenians 
 
 were now able to deal with the oligarchical 
 
 Phoci?and^' P^rty of Thcbcs, which had taken advantage 
 
 Opuntian of the presence of the Peloponnesian army to 
 
 Locris join the , , . ._ . ... , 
 
 Athenian Strengthen the lortincations oi the city, and to 
 
 alliance, enforcc the alliance of other Boeotian towns. Not 
 
 B.C. 456. 
 
 content with this the Thebans went on to shew 
 their zeal for Sparta by collecting another army at Tanagra, 
 with a view of raiding the Attic frontiers, invited as was after- 
 wards discovered by the oligarchical party in Athens itself. 
 But the strategus Myronides who had two years ago retrieved 
 the Corinthian disaster again quickly enrolled an army and 
 marched into the territory of Tanagra. There at a village 
 
 Battle of called Oenophyta he engaged and defeated the 
 
 Oenophyta, Bocotians, Compelled the Tanagrians to pull 
 
 * "*^ down their walls, and made himself master of 
 
 the country. Thereupon the oligarchical party was expelled 
 from Thebes, and the whole of Boeotia joined the league of 
 Athens and Argos. From fear, or because of a similar 
 revolution, the Phocians and Opuntian Locrians followed the 
 example of the Boeotians, the Locrians even giving hostages 
 for their fidelity. Thessaly seems to have held aloof; but 
 about this time Aegina, which had been for some months 
 invested by the Athenian fleet, also submitted. The Aegine- 
 tans surrendered their remaining war ships, consented to 
 dismantle their town, and entered the Confederacy of Delos. 
 
The InliDid Co7Lfederacy of Athens. 189 
 
 Aegina accordingly appears in the earliest quota list preserved 
 (b.c. 454) as paying 3000 drachmae. Thus the idea of 
 Pericles of a united Greece, with Athens at its head, seemed 
 about to be realised. The one enemy was Sparta, with her 
 Peloponnesian allies. Pericles seems to have thought that 
 even Sparta might be compelled to join, or at least to abstain 
 from opposition. 
 
 Accordingly the strategus Tolmides was sent with a fleet to 
 harass the coast of the Peloponnese. He seized 
 Methone in Messenia and burnt the Spartan harasses *Se^^ 
 dockyard at Gytheium. Thence he sailed to chores of the 
 
 ' ' . . Peloponnese 
 
 Zacynthus and Cephallema, which he compelled and takes 
 to join the Athenian Confederacy. Steering for b.c"^45?~5^.' 
 the Corinthian gulf he took possession of Nau- 
 pactus, in the territory of the Ozolian Locrians, which with 
 an excellent harbour commanded the entrance to the gulf, as 
 well as a small town near it called Chalcis which belonged to 
 Corinth. The hostility to Sparta prompting these operations 
 was emphasised in the following year (b.c. 455), when the 
 Messenians on Ithome surrendered on promise of their lives, 
 but on condition of leaving the Peloponnese. The Athenians 
 gave them a home at Naupactus, thus placing a population 
 hostile to Sparta at a post of great naval importance. 
 
 This may be regarded as the culminating point of the 
 Athenian success in creating a continental 
 empire. From this time it steadily declined, disaster in"*^" 
 As if to warn the people, at the very moment g^^^*' 
 when their power seemed to be at its greatest, 
 a serious disaster befell an Athenian fleet and army in Egypt. 
 Ever since b.c. 460, when they were first invited to aid the 
 revolt of Inaros, the fleet had been in the Nile. At first 
 wholly successful, the Greeks had occupied part of Memphis and 
 were blockading the remainder. After vainly attempting to 
 bribe the Spartans to invade Attica and thus draw away the 
 fleet, the Persian generals collected an army, with which they 
 
190 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 drove the Athenians and their allies out of Memphis, and 
 blockaded them on an island in the river for eighteen months. 
 Eventually by diverting the water they left the Greek ships high 
 and dry, and then stormed the Greek camp. To crown the 
 disaster a reinforcement of fifty ships was intercepted and 
 almost entirely destroyed by the king's Phoenician fleet. 
 
 This was followed in the next year (b.c. 454) by an un- 
 
 Faiiure in succcssful expedition into Thessaly. A force 
 Thessaiy, sent to rcstorc a king of Pharsalus failed to take 
 
 '^^' the town, and with difficulty made its way back 
 
 dogged by the Thessalian cavalry. It was evident that the 
 desertion of the Thessalian horsemen at Tanagra (p. 188) was 
 an indication that Athenian influence in Thessaly was at an 
 end. Nevertheless Pericles did not give up the hope of 
 coercing Sparta by harassing her allies. In the same year 
 (b.c. 454) he led an expedition in person along the coast of 
 the Crissaean gulf, and forced or induced the Achaeans to 
 join the league. After making descents upon the territory 
 of Sicyon, he even endeavoured to force the Acarnanians to 
 join, but returned without having succeeded. 
 
 For about three years the same general situation was main- 
 tained, but it seems to have begun to weary 
 years' truce ^ sides alike. After the battle of Tanagra 
 with Sparta, /g q .^f) the ostracism of Cimon had been 
 
 B.C. 450. ^ ^o 1 1^ 
 
 revoked in acknowledgment of his patriotic 
 offer to serve in that engagement, and of the actual services 
 rendered by his friends in it. His opponent Pericles is said to 
 have proposed his recall, but with the private understanding 
 between himself and Cimon, that the latter was to serve abroad 
 and not to interfere with affairs in Athens. However that may be, 
 about B.C. 451-50 Cimon's old policy of keeping on good terms 
 with Sparta, and devoting the energies of Athens to resisting 
 the Persian king, again began to find favour. It was prin- 
 cipally by his influence that in B.C. 450 a truce was agreed 
 to between Sparta and Athens. This truce left Athens where 
 
The Last Campaign of Cimon. 191 
 
 she was as to the league of States north of the Peloponnese, 
 but it involved the loss of advantages which she had gained in 
 the Peloponnese itself. The Achaeans indeed still nominally 
 belonged to the league; but the partial occupation of the 
 territory of Sicyon had to be withdrawn, and Argos about the 
 same time made a thirty years' peace with Sparta, and thus 
 removed the hope of an effective anti- Spartan league in the 
 Peloponnese. 
 
 Cimon, having thus succeeded in effecting a pause in the 
 hostilities between Athens and Sparta, was once ^^ Renewed 
 more put at the head of a fleet of Athenian and war against 
 allied ships to continue the war with the Persians, kingin^Cyprus. 
 who seemed likely, after their successes in Egypt, Death of 
 
 ^\ . , , ^ , o^r J Cimon. Peace 
 
 agam to threaten the independence of the coast of caiiias. 
 towns in Asia. With a fleet of 200 sail Cimon ^^- 449-448. 
 started for Cyprus. There he was induced to detach 60 
 vessels to Egypt in aid of Amyrtaeus, ' king of the Marshes,' 
 who was still holding out against the Persians. With the rest 
 he began the blockade of Citium, a Phoenician city on the 
 south coast of the island. In the course of the siege however 
 he died : and, as there was a dearth of food in the island, the 
 fleet started homeward, but falling in with the enemy's fleet 
 consisting of Cilician and Phoenician ships off Salamis, it 
 engaged and conquered it. The soldiers on board also landed 
 and defeated the Persian land forces stationed in the same 
 neighbourhood. Being then rejoined by the sixty ships from 
 Egypt the fleet returned home\ 
 
 The king, while the fleet was still at Cyprus, had sent word 
 
 ^ This is all that can be inferred from Thucydides (l. 112). Diodorus 
 (xil. 3 5) tells a different tale. According to him Cimon took Citium and 
 Malum, lived to win the victories over the Persians, w^hom he chased to the 
 shore of Phoenicia, and then returned to besiege Salamis. In the course 
 of this siege he died, his colleague Anaxicrates having previously fallen in 
 battle. The king then sent word to Megabyzus and Artabazus to make 
 peace, which was negotiated for Athens by Callias. 
 
192 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 to the Persian commanders that they might make peace ; and 
 a convention was it seems at once made, the king consenting 
 to acknowledge the independence of the Greek cities of Asia, 
 not to send an army within three days' journey of the coast, and 
 not to send ships of war between the Chelidonian promontory 
 and the Bosporus : while the Athenians undertook to abandon 
 Cyprus and not to support any rebels in Egypt. This is 
 called the peace of Callias, from the name of the envoy who 
 negotiated the formal treaty based on this convention \ 
 
 This settlement remained in force for nearly fifty years. It 
 was not until the disastrous disruption of Greece brought about 
 by the Peloponnesian war (b.c. 431 404) that the Persian 
 satraps again saw their opportunity of reasserting an authority 
 over Greek towns, and again ventured to treat the Aegean as 
 open to their ships of war. 
 
 Our attention is therefore once more recalled to continental 
 
 12. B.C. 449- Greece, where the five years' truce secured by 
 
 445. From the Cimon between Athens and Sparta was still in 
 
 peace of Callias t- i ... 
 
 to the 30 years' forcc. But how prccarious Its existence was, 
 peace with ^^^ j^^^^ ^^^j^ ^j^^ j^^l^ ^f Athens on her 
 
 Sparta. 
 
 (a) The Holy continental allies, was made manifest by the 
 ar, . . 44 gycnts of the next three years. The people of 
 Delphi claimed the entire charge of the temple and oracle in 
 their town. They were Dorians, and the Spartans, who always 
 maintained a close connexion with the temple, thought it 
 important that it should be in their hands. But the cities of 
 
 1 The existence of this treaty, the terms of which are given by Diodorus 
 (xii. 4), has been doubted ; principally because it is often quoted by 
 Athenian orators of the next century by way of glorifying Athens, and with 
 some varieties of detail. There does not seem however sufficient reason 
 for disbelieving in its existence. It was mentioned by Theopompus (about 
 B.C. 350) and Craterus (about B.C. 300), the latter of whom made a special 
 study of engraved treaties at Athens. We learn quite casually in Herodotus 
 (vil. 151) that Callias was at one time at the Persian court ; and whether a 
 regular treaty was made or not, there seems no doubt that the terms here 
 indicated represent the actual state of things for the next 40 or 50 years. 
 
Dissolution of Continental Alliances. 193 
 
 the Phocian league containing a mixed race of Aeolians and 
 Achaeans always claimed a share in the management of the 
 temple, and about B.C. 449-448 forcibly took possession of 
 it. The Spartans determined to support their friends the 
 Delphians and an expedition was sent into Phocis, which re- 
 stored the control of the temple to them. But as soon as the 
 Spartan army had returned home, the Athenians who were in 
 alliance with the Phocians sent another expedition which 
 seized the temple and handed it over to the officers of the 
 Phocian league. Nothing came of this directly. The truce 
 had not been technically broken, because the Spartans and 
 Athenians had not come into collision. But it was a sign that 
 Sparta still claimed some authority outside the Peloponnese, 
 and that Athens was prepared to dispute it. 
 
 Next year the dissolution of the Athenian league was actually 
 begun by the defection of Boeotia. Its union . ^ 
 
 ... . 13- (b) B.C. 
 
 with Attica had involved the banishment of the 447. The 
 oligarchical party from many of the Boeotian ^e^Athenian*^ 
 towns. Such exiles were always on the look- league. Battle 
 
 ^ . X r> ofCoroneia. 
 
 out for an opportunity to return. In B.C. 448-7 
 the exiles of Chaeroneia and Orchomenus about 8 miles 
 apart had found means to effect their restoration, and to 
 take possession of these two towns as well as other neighbour- 
 ing places. Knowing that, if this movement spread, Boeotia 
 would soon be lost, the Athenians at once collected an army 
 under Tolmides, which marched into Boeotia, recaptured 
 Chaeroneia, and placed a garrison in it. They seem to have 
 meant to do no more, at any rate during that season, and were 
 marching home. But at Coroneia, where the roads from Chae- 
 roneia and Orchomenus join, they were overtaken by a Boeotian 
 force collected by the exiles from Orchomenus joined by 
 others whom the Athenian alliance had caused to be expelled 
 from Locris and Euboea and were decisively defeated, with 
 the loss of many killed and taken prisoners. In order to 
 recover these prisoners the Athenians renounced authority in 
 s. G. 13 
 
194 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the other States of Boeotia. Consequently the oligarchical 
 faction returned to power in these cities, and Boeotia formally 
 abandoned the Athenian alliance. 
 
 This successful revolt of Boeotia seems to have suggested a 
 
 similar movement in Euboea : and while Pericles 
 -5^ Euboea was Conducting an expedition into that island, 
 and Megara ncws Came that a Spartan force under King 
 
 Pleistoanax was in the Megarid; that the anti- 
 Attic party in Megara had returned to power, and, renouncing 
 the alliance with Athens, had attacked the Athenian garrison, 
 killed all that had not taken refuge in the harbour town 
 of Nisaea, and summoned help from Corinth, Sicyon, and 
 Epidaurus. Pericles could not save Megara, but he was in 
 time to prevent an attack upon Athens. The Spartan army 
 had entered Attica, plundering and destroying, and was in the 
 Thriasian plain near Eleusis. But on the return of Pericles the 
 advance was suddenly stopped, and the invading army returned 
 home. The reason may have been, that, having secured the 
 separation of Megara from Athens, and the Athenian acknow- 
 ledgment of it, there was no reason to incur farther risk, nor to 
 attempt to enter a strongly fortified city. The general belief, 
 however, was that Pericles had bribed the Spartan king : and 
 we hear of an item in the state accounts afterwards of which he 
 refused to give any explanation, except that it had been spent 
 'for a necessary purpose' (cts ro Biov). Euboea was recon- 
 quered in the course of the year : and to secure its future 
 loyalty the aristocratic party' of Chalcis was expelled, as well 
 as all the inhabitants of Histiaea, the lands being divided 
 
 among looo cleruchs that is, Athenian citizens 
 the^Conti- holding an allotment {KXrjpo<;) of land. But 
 "f A h ^^^^"^ though Euboea which was practically a part of 
 The 30 years' Attica was thus retained, the loss of Megara 
 6^0*^445. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ blow to the continental league so 
 
 elaborately planned by Pericles. One after 
 
 ^ The Hippobotai, * men keeping horses.' 
 
llie Thirty Years' Peace. 195 
 
 another the members had fallen off : Thessaly, Argos, Boeotia, 
 Megara had all repudiated her alliance, and Athens was glad 
 to conclude a peace with Sparta for thirty years, restoring to 
 freedom Nisaea and Pegae, the harbours of Megara on the 
 Saronic and Corinthian gulfs, and surrendering her hold upon 
 Achaia and Troezen. The continental supremacy, which 
 Pericles had done his best to secure, was at an end : and from 
 this time his policy seems to have changed. Henceforth he 
 advised the Athenians to avoid complications on the continent 
 and to concentrate their energies on their naval power in the 
 Aegean. 
 
 13 2 
 
196 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The New Athens. 
 
 Through all changes of foreign and domestic policy 
 Pericles kept steadily in view his purpose of 
 architecture making Athens beautiful and attractive to men 
 and building. ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ genius. The destruction wrought by 
 the Persians had given an unrivalled opportunity, of which he 
 availed himself to the utmost ; using without scruple the money 
 which came into the Athenian exchequer from the subject 
 allies for his purpose. Architecture was an art already brought 
 to high perfection by Greeks in many parts of the world. It 
 had risen from two sources defence and religion. Thus the 
 oldest remains of building in Greece consist 
 for^de?e"nct!"^^ of what is known as Cyclopean walls, built of 
 selected stones of various sizes, without mortar, 
 and with little or no traces of having been worked in any way. 
 Such are found at Tiryns, Mycenae, Larissa and other places. 
 A natural development of this was the attempt to work stone 
 for the purposes of ornament, as in the lion gate of Mycenae. 
 More than a century at least before the Persian wars this rude 
 style of building had given place to the art of the mason, who 
 had learnt to deal with his material, whether it were soft stone 
 or hard marble. The need created by the neighbourhood of 
 hostile states for strong fortifications, early taught builders to 
 use whatever material was at hand : while the wealth of kings 
 produced buildings of a less warlike character, such as the 
 dome-shaped treasure-house at Mycenae. 
 
Lion Gateway at Mycenae 
 
 To face p. 196 
 
Greek Architecture. 
 
 197 
 
 But it was the religious sentiment that produced the greatest 
 and most beautiful buildings in Greece. There 
 were temples to the gods as early as we know buUdingsf '"^ 
 anything of the Greeks. But it was after the 
 immigration of the Dorians into the Peloponnese that we begin 
 to recognize distinct styles in temple-building. The note of the 
 Doric order of architecture is the fluted column without base, 
 
 loNTC Capital and Entablature. 
 From the Erechtheion. 
 
 Corinthian Columns. 
 
 standing clean upon its stylobate, and with a square abacus 
 supporting a plain architrave. 
 
 This style was developed into a more ornate structure in 
 Corinth. The Corinthian order is marked by a slenderer 
 fluted column, standing on a round base in two or more 
 divisions above the stylobate, and with a decorated capital 
 between it and the architrave. The ornamentation of the 
 
SJiort History of the Greeks. 
 
 capital is said to have been suggested by the curling leaves 
 of the acanthus. 
 
 Doric Column. 
 
 Tonic Column. 
 
 About the same time a style, lighter and more ornate 
 than the Doric, had developed in Ionia, of which the great 
 temple of Artemis at Ephesus was the chief glory. The fluted 
 column of the Ionian order is slimmer than the Doric. The 
 
The TJiree Orders of Architecture. 199 
 
 flutings are separated by fillets. The base, between the end of 
 the pillar and the stylobate, has a double torus or trochilos, 
 and the capital is adorned with volutes something like curling 
 rams' horns. 
 
 Though the principle of the arch had long been known in 
 Egypt and Assyria, it does not appear to have been applied by 
 Greek architects of this age, though the Hellenic tombs in 
 Etruria shew that it must have been very early understood by 
 the Greeks. 
 
 The most widely used of these three orders was the Doric. 
 Splendid specimens of it still remain in nearly 
 all parts of Hellas. Thus of the temples of specimei^s^oT 
 Paestum in Italy, of Syracuse and Agrigentum in p^JJf/^^ 
 Sicily, of Corinth and Phigalia in the Pelopon- 
 nese, of Aegina in Island Greece, there still remain sufficient 
 fragments to remind us of the beauty of their prime. Specimens 
 of the Ionic order best preserved are those at Miletus and 
 Priene. Of the Corinthian order nearly all existing specimens 
 are of a later date. But at Athens after the Persian war and in 
 the age of Pericles, not only were the walls of Themistocles, the 
 fortifications of the Acropolis, of the Peiraeus, and the long 
 walls fine specimens of defensive buildings, while the long 
 walls at Megara also attested the activity of Athenian 
 builders, but numerous temples and cognate buildings came 
 into existence or were restored, presenting some of the finest 
 examples of the Doric and Ionic orders of architecture. 
 Here and there some temple greater than any one in Athens 
 might exist, but no city appears to have had so many notable 
 buildings so well grouped, or streets so profusely decorated 
 with colonnades and statues. 
 
 The first great work of the restoration period was the 
 Theseum, planned for the reception of the bones 
 of Theseus brought to Athens from the island of Thes^m. 
 Scyros B.C. 469 by Cimon, and finished about 
 B.C. 465. The building the most perfect in preservation of 
 
200 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 any at Athens overlooking the Ceramicus, which has always 
 gone by this name, is believed now to have been a temple of 
 Hephaestus and to be slightly later in date than the Parthenon. 
 But to whatever god or hero it was dedicated, there is no doubt 
 
 The Corner of a Doric Temple. {From Wahhtein's Phd^las.) 
 
 of its being of about this age, and of its marking a very advanced 
 stage in the art of architecture. It is built entirely of Pentelic 
 marble (104 ft. by 44 ft.), standing upon a platform of limestone 
 
' ^ OF 1 
 
 6 UNIV 
 
The Temples at Athens. 201 
 
 in three steps, and is what is csiW^d peripteral, that is, it has an 
 open space round the actual temple, covered by the roof which 
 is supported by thirty-four Doric columns standing free. In the 
 metopes were sculptured the labours of Heracles and the exploits 
 of Theseus, on the eastern end and two sides ; on the western 
 end are representations of the battles of the Centaurs, which 
 still bear traces of colour. Inside the temple also were frescoes 
 of the exploits of Theseus, the Centaurs, and the Amazons. 
 These figures the artists of which are not known in the free 
 pose of limb, the skilful representation of drapery, the natural 
 appearance of hair and beard, and the knowledge shewn of the 
 anatomy of the human figure, present all the characteristics of 
 the best period of Greek art. 
 
 But it was the Acropolis that under the hands of Pericles 
 became the glory of Athens. The buildings 
 on which great sums of money were expended ^^'^ the^^'*^'^^ 
 and the greatest artists employed were by adornment of 
 
 1 . 11 11 11 the Acropolis, 
 
 different architects , but the works as a whole b.c. 445 436. 
 were superintended by the famous Pheidias. 
 The son of Charmides was an Athenian born about B.C. 500. 
 By profession a sculptor he had been, like two other great 
 sculptors Myron and Polycletus, a pupil of Ageladas of Argos. 
 He first came into notice immediately after the Persian wars, 
 having been employed to construct various monuments from 
 the Persian spoils, as the colossal figure of Athena Promachos 
 for the Acropolis, and other statues for Plataea and Delphi. 
 Pericles seems to have selected him about b.c. 445 to super- 
 intend his great buildings. How much of the decorations was 
 the actual work of his own hands we cannot tell. The ivory 
 and gold statue of Athena Polias was his, and the figures of the 
 frieze were either his or inspired and directed by him. A 
 number of artists are named as his fellow-workers or pupils, 
 and he is rightly regarded as a founder of a school of art, of 
 
 ^ The names of architects mentioned are Ictinus, Callicrates, Coroebus 
 and Mnesicles. 
 
202 Sliort History of the Greeks. 
 
 which the distinguishing features were a perfect mastery over 
 the material used, naturalness in pose, suggested motion, and 
 attitude. The figures are no longer stiff and conventional : 
 they seem to live and move. Flowing drapery, hair matted or 
 flying loose, human limbs in rest or activity, horses galloping 
 or falling, have all been studied and imitated from nature. At 
 the same time there is an absence of all extravagance even in 
 following nature. There is nothing unnecessary either in pose 
 or action, no exaggerated contortion or effort. In them, as in 
 all supreme Greek art, the key-note is moderation. Though 
 the chief work of Pheidias at this period of his career was at 
 Athens, it was not confined to that city. The great ivory and 
 gold statue of Zeus at Olympia, and other decorations of the 
 sacred town, were his work executed on the order of the Eleans. 
 But like so many men who served Athens, he ended his life 
 under the displeasure of the Demos. After the dedication of 
 the Parthenon (b.c. 435) he was accused of embezzling some 
 of the gold assigned to the robes of the great statue of Athena. 
 When this was disproved by removing the gold and weighing 
 it, he was next accused of impiety for introducing his own 
 likeness and that of Pericles upon the shield of the goddess 
 fighting the Amazons on the frieze. On this charge he appears 
 to have been condemned and to have died in prison. 
 
 The buildings on the Acropolis, completed or begun under 
 the general supervision of Pheidias, were, first, 
 buildings on t^^ Erechtheium, adoublc temple of which the 
 the Acropolis. front Or eastern division entered by a portico 
 Erechthe!um. of six lonic columns Contained the statue 
 of Athena Polias; while the back or western 
 chamber entered also on the north-west angle by an Ionic 
 portico of six columns was sacred to Pandrosus and used as a 
 treasury. The building as a whole was called the Erechtheium 
 as embracing the tomb of the mythical king Erechtheus. It 
 stood on the site of a more ancient temple, burnt by the 
 Persians, and contained the most sacred objects connected with 
 
The Acropolis at Athens. 203 
 
 the legends or history of the city, the oHve wood statue of 
 Athena PoHas, for which the sacred peplos was woven every 
 year ; the ever-burning golden lamp, from which colonists took 
 the fire to light the altar or hestia of their new home; the 
 sacred serpent, emblem of the earthborn ancestor of the 
 autochthonous people ; the salt spring that rose at the blow of 
 Poseidon's trident, and the sacred olive that sprang up at the 
 bidding of Athena ; and lastly the silver-footed throne on which 
 Xerxes sat to view the battle of Salamis, and the sword of 
 Mardonius taken at Plataea. As indicating the connexion of 
 this temple with the Panathenaic festival, a third portico at 
 the south-west angle was supported by six caryatides figures 
 of virgins in their Panathenaic robes instead of columns. 
 The building of this temple, though begun under Pericles, 
 seems not to have been finished till after the Peloponnesian 
 war. 
 
 The temple of Athena Polias, commonly called the Par- 
 tlienon or Hecatompedon, was the crowning 
 glory of Athens, and indeed of Greek art. The Parthenon, 
 general plan was by the architect Ictinus. It 
 also stood on the site of an ancient temple wrecked by the 
 Persians, the columns of which are still seen embedded in the 
 north wall of the Acropolis. The outer framework, standing on 
 a raised platform and supported by 46 Doric columns of 
 Pentelic marble, measured 228 by loi feet : the cella or temple 
 proper contained within this measuring 194 by 69 J feet. It 
 contained the famous statue by Pheidias already mentioned, 
 made of an inner model of wood, 39 feet high, and overlaid with 
 ivory to represent the nude parts of the body and solid gold for 
 the robes. But the chief feature of the Parthenon was its frieze, 
 the sculptures on the east and west pediments, and on the 
 metopes. It was on these, too numerous to be mentioned here', 
 
 ^ As a large number of them are in the British Museum, the English 
 student has every opportunity of studying these greatest products of Greek 
 genius. 
 
204 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 that Pheidlas lavished all his skill and power of imagination. 
 This great building after being used as a Catholic church, 
 and then as a Turkish mosque, was finally reduced to its 
 present ruinous condition by an explosion of powder stored 
 there by the Turks when besieged by the Venetians in 1687. 
 The latest adornment of the Acropolis in the Periclean 
 
 period was the Propylaea or Entrance, begun 
 Propj^aea. ^^ ^'^' 437 ^^ ^^ architect Mnesicles. It 
 
 consisted of a great central gateway with two 
 smaller ones on each side, occupying the west side of the Acro- 
 polis, and approached by a flight of broad steps from the agora. 
 In front was a portico supported by six Doric columns, while 
 the columns in the interior were Ionic. Inside there was 
 another Doric portico. On the right and left, when this inner 
 portico was passed, were to be two vast porticoed halls, but 
 only that on the right was ever erected. The building of this 
 imposing structure made, like the temples, of Pentelic marble 
 was a sign that the Acropolis was no longer a mere fortress. 
 By his new walls Themistocles had made the city the great 
 fortress. The Acropolis was now to be rather the ornament 
 than the protection of Athens. 
 
 Finally, towering above the roof of the Parthenon, and 
 
 standing between the inner porticoes of the 
 p?omtchus^ Propylaea and the Erechtheion, was the colossal 
 
 bronze statue of Athena Promachos, standing 
 with its pedestal 70 feet high, and visible it is said at sea to 
 men sailing round Sunium. The goddess was fully armed, 
 holding the gorgon shield in one hand, and the spear raised 
 to cast in the other, as if ever defending the city. This was 
 the work of Pheidias himself. 
 
 The Odeum or Music Room was close to the Dionysiac 
 
 Theatre. It had a conical roof, and many ranges 
 odeum^^ of columns. Musical contests took place in it, 
 
 and it sometimes served as a kind of overflow 
 theatre, or a place for musical exhibitions in time of rain. It 
 
The Dionysiac Theatre. 205 
 
 is said to have been built on the model of the king of Persia's 
 tent. 
 
 By these and other buildings over the construction of 
 which Pericles presided, with Pheidias as his agent, Athens 
 became the envy and admiration of all Greece. Few could 
 resist the charm which they exercised over men's minds ; and 
 in the midst of the political ruin of after times they remained a 
 unique fact in Greek life, and never failed to attract lovers of 
 the beautiful. 'There is a sort of bloom of newness' says 
 Plutarch * on these works of Pheidias, preserving them from 
 the touch of time, as if they had some perennial spirit and un- 
 decaying vitality inseparable from them.' 
 
 In the earliest days of the drama only wooden platforms 
 were provided for the spectators of the actor and 
 chorus. But about b.c. 500 during a dramatic Theatre^ 
 contest, in which Aeschylus was one of the 
 competitors, the platform gave way, and it was resolved to 
 construct an auditorium by taking advantage of the slope of a 
 hill to cut out ranges of seats. At the beginning of the great 
 period of the Attic drama these seats were probably only 
 wooden or even grass banks, while the stage was merely a 
 wooden platform with some erection at the back representing 
 a house or palace, the semicircle between it and the auditorium 
 being reserved as an orchestra. The seats were begun to be 
 made permanent in stone probably soon after the Persian 
 destruction of Athens, but the whole structure was not com- 
 pleted, or at any rate not in the state indicated by the present 
 remains, till about B.C. 340 323 under the presidency of the 
 orator Lycurgus. Theatres on the same model were con- 
 structed in many other Hellenic towns. 
 
206 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Intellectual Movement before the 
 middle of the fifth century b.c. 
 
 We have already seen (p. 27) that in the seventh century 
 I. Poetry ^'^- there was an intellectual movement in 
 oftheethand Greece, which found expression in poetry 
 lyrical, elegiac, and iambic. It had prevailed 
 chiefly in Island and Asiatic Hellas and had taken two forms, 
 the personal and the political, or a combination of the two. 
 Towards the end of the 6th century a change which had been 
 gradually coming upon the spirit of Greek poetry became more 
 distinctly manifest. The chief vehicle of the poet was still 
 lyric and elegiac verse, but the point of view became more 
 general, and less confined to individual feeling or local interests. 
 Poets wrote on subjects that were everywhere occupying men's 
 minds, and in a dialect that was widely used and familiar. 
 They were professional artists and not local politicians. Much 
 of such poetry was composed to be sung to the accompaniment 
 of music and dancing by choruses at the great festivals, or in 
 the celebration of victories at the games. Much again was 
 written at the behest of sovereigns who desired their dynasty 
 or their family to be glorified, or at that of States who wished 
 their prosperity or victories, or the famous deeds and glorious 
 deaths of their citizens, commemorated. Of the writers who 
 made it their business to supply these demands we must first 
 note that they come from various parts of Greece. There 
 
Poems of Simonides. 207 
 
 is as yet no centralizing influence such as that afterwards 
 exercised by Athens. The men are Hellenic in the widest 
 sense of the term, and are ready to put their art at the 
 service of any State east or west, or any person from the 
 sovereign downwards. The two names which stand out above 
 the rest in this profession are those of Simonides and Pindar. 
 
 Simonides was a native of the island of Ceos, though he 
 was early in life banished we do not know on ^ simonides 
 what account and spent most of his time in of Ceos, about 
 Peloponnesus, with occasional visits to the court 
 of Hiero of Syracuse and the Scopadae of Thessaly. He wrote 
 choric songs for the festivals, as well as elegies, epinikia (poems 
 celebrating victory in the games), hymns, lamentations {threnoi) 
 and much else. But what made him most famous, and as it 
 were the spokesman of Greece, was his epigrams and funeral 
 inscriptions, celebrating the victories in the Persian wars and 
 the glorious deaths of those who fell. These have been pre- 
 served more fully than the rest of his work of which only a 
 few fine fragments remain and cover all the chief events in 
 the wars. Some of them are in honour of the Athenians, but 
 nearly all the States that took prominent part in the struggle 
 are commemorated. The devotion of Leonidas and his 300 at 
 Thermopylae seems especially to have moved his fancy and 
 roused his enthusiasm. His 'encomium' song for feast or 
 revel is dignified and simple, yet touched with the fire of 
 patriotism : 
 
 ' Of those who perished at Thermopylae 
 Glorious the lot and bright the destiny. 
 Altar for tomb : for tears and funeral lays 
 Eternal memory and eternal praise. 
 Their winding-sheet is fame, which no dqcay 
 Nor all-subduing time shall fret away. 
 It is a holy place. Where brave men lie, 
 Their Country's honour waits attendant by : 
 Thus passed Leonidas, and left a name 
 To live in bright eternity of fame." 
 
2o8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Thus did the genius of Simonides respond to the movement 
 3. Pindar, around him. But the greatest name of this 
 about period is that of Pindar the Theban. Like 
 
 Simonides of Ceos he placed his talents at the 
 service of all who desired them whether prince, free State or 
 private person. Like him he composed in various styles, 
 encomia, cyclic choruses, hymns, and odes in honour of 
 victories in the games. It is these last alone the epinikia that 
 we possess in any completeness. The general plan of these odes 
 is to say comparatively little about the victory or the victor, but 
 to praise his country or his family, and to use all the resources 
 of learning in preserving legends more or less connected with 
 either. Splendour of language and wealth of imagination raise 
 the poems above the level of their subject and give them a 
 truly national rank, still farther enhanced by a tone of lofty 
 patriotism, remote from the pettiness of local politics. They 
 also shew the influence of another intellectual movement going 
 on in Greece the philosophic. Legends which attributed 
 immoral or mean acts to the gods are refuted or explained; 
 and in the threnoi or dirges the belief in a future state of 
 existence after death is founded on the theological doctrines of 
 the mysteries. The victors celebrated by Pindar come from 
 various parts of Greece : only two from Athens ; but as many 
 as fifteen from Sicily, including the tyrants of Syracuse and 
 Agrigentum. For in Western Greece at this time Hellenic life 
 was rich and vigorous. In the east a considerable number 
 come from the mercantile state of Aegina. 
 
 Nearly contemporary with Pindar was Bacchylides of Ceos, 
 some of whose epinikian odes have been recently 
 lides.^yrtis," recovcred in Egypt. These are somewhat simpler 
 Corinna, Tele- in language than those of Pindar, less imagina- 
 tive, and less varied in metre and rhythm. But 
 they proceed on much the same lines, and Pindar is said to 
 have regarded him with some jealousy as a rival. That he did 
 not enjoy as great a reputation among contemporaries is shewn 
 
History and Philosophy. 209 
 
 hy the fact that the Ceans employed Pindar rather than either 
 of their two native poets to write for them. Four poetesses of 
 about the same age gained a certain reputation in a like style 
 of literature Myrtis and Corinna of Boeotia, Telesilla of 
 Argos, and Praxilla of Sicyon. But we have not sufficient 
 remains of their poetry to enable us to judge of their success : 
 while Timocrates of lalysus in Rhodes, though using the 
 lyric form, seems from the extract given in Plutarch's life of 
 Themistocles sometimes at least to have devoted his talents to 
 political satire. 
 
 This age also saw the beginning of historical writing, and 
 again it is not Athens, or even European Greece, 
 but Ionia which is the place of origin. The ' *^ ^^' 
 names of several writers, generally connected with Miletus, 
 have been preserved ; but their works have so entirely perished 
 that we cannot speak with any confidence of the manner in 
 which they treated their subjects, which were in general his- 
 torical genealogies or accounts of neighbouring nations. The 
 greatest name however of all such writers is that of Hecataeus 
 of Miletus, who, like Herodotus and Hellanicus after him, was 
 a traveller as well as an historian. He visited such countries 
 as were open to him with the express purpose of describing 
 them from personal observation and of writing from informa- 
 tion gained on the spot. He is therefore the father of critical 
 history : history, that is, founded on inquiry and not on mere 
 legend. The destruction of Miletus by the Persians at the 
 close of the Ionian revolt put an end to the rising schools of 
 historians and philosophers in that city, and caused the centre 
 of intellectual activity to shift westward, to Italy, and thence 
 back to Central Greece. But it was in Asiatic Hellas that it 
 began, and seemed at one time most likely to flourish. 
 
 Still older than the movement in the direction of scientific 
 history was the attempt made by various thinkers e. Early 
 to account for the facts of the physical universe. ^^abTuf^^ 
 The speculations which these men elaborated 6.0.450- 
 
 S. G. 14 
 
210 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 are not to be despised because later and wider knowledge 
 has shewn them to be mistaken. They were the products 
 of a scientific imagination, preparing the way to knowledge : 
 the stepping-stones which others have used to arrive at 
 truth. The earliest philosophers had no previous discoveries 
 to guide them : they were conscious only of their own senses 
 and of the apparent facts of the physical universe around 
 them. Most people take these facts for granted and trouble 
 themselves no more about them. But these men, looking 
 with inquiring eyes upon the world, tried to discover, first, 
 of what it was made, next, what was the creative power 
 which produced it. To idle people, content with the legends 
 of contemporary polytheism, they often seemed impious 
 atheists, throwing doubt on the easy-going explanations of the 
 popular theology. They were really, as we see now, taking the 
 first steps towards a more reverential, because a more reason- 
 able, view of God and nature. 
 
 This philosophic movement was widely spread throughout 
 
 Hellas: Central Greece had hardly anything to 
 schooil^^ ^"^*^ do with it. Once more Ionia, and especially 
 
 Miletus, is the home of perhaps the first of these 
 thinkers. Thales (fl. B.C. 600), to whom the term 'philo- 
 sopher' is said to have been first applied, searching for the 
 element common to all existing things, decided that it was 
 water. Anaximander of Miletus (fl. b.c. 575) took for what 
 he called his 'principle' something between air and water, 
 perhaps cloud or mist. Anaximenes of Miletus (fl. b.c. 538) 
 thought that he found the principle or primary element in air. 
 Heracleitus of Ephesus (fl. b.c. 500) declared it to be fire, 
 and taught that all things were in a continual flux or motion. 
 These are the greatest names in what is called the Ionic School, 
 who, it will be seen, all busied themselves with speculations as 
 to the physical universe. 
 
 Meanwhile a similar intellectual movement had been going 
 on in the Greek cities of Italy and Sicily. But here it took 
 
Pythagoreans and Eleatics. 2 1 1 
 
 two distinct lines, first, that of social and religious teaching, 
 and secondly, speculations as to the possibility and means of 
 acquiring knowledge. 
 
 In the former class are Pythagoras and Xenophanes. 
 Pythagoras of Samos, who removed to Croton 
 in Italy about B.C. 530, left no writings and philosophers, 
 cannot be shewn to have instituted or taught the (i) Pythago- 
 speculations, whether physical or intellectual, for pha'nes. 
 which his followers were afterwards known. But 
 he founded a School or College, the members of which were 
 bound to each other by certain ties of conduct and belief. 
 The theory of music and the science of numbers played a 
 conspicuous part in their training. They believed also in the 
 transmigration of souls, in the duty of abstaining from food 
 that had life, and of practising certain ascetic rules. Various 
 doctrines, social and political as well as speculative and theo- 
 logical, gradually developed among these men : and long after 
 the death of Pythagoras himself we find clubs or colleges of 
 Pythagoreans existing in Croton, Tarentum, Sybaris and other 
 towns in Magna Graecia, and regarded as a danger to civil and 
 religious liberty. Xenophanes of Colophon, afterwards re- 
 moved to Sicily or Elea in Italy (fl. B.C. 530), was a younger 
 contemporary of Pythagoras. In a long epic poem he attacked 
 the current belief in the human shape of the gods, and defined 
 God as the One or the Whole. He held that philosophy had 
 failed to arrive at truth, and that we had only opinions and not 
 knowledge. 
 
 But the Western School of philosophy properly begins with 
 Parmenides. It is commonly called the Eleatic 
 School, because its chief thinkers lived at the E?eatk^^chooi 
 Greek Colony of Elea, or Velia, in Italy. Par- 
 menides (fl. B.C. 495) also wrote in verse and dwelt among 
 other things upon the distinction between opinion and know- 
 ledge. Zend of Elea (fl. 460) first pointed out the need of 
 logic. Empedocles of Agrigentum (fl. b.c. 455) held the 
 uncertainty of human knowledge ; and in physics taught that 
 
 14 2 
 
212 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 all things arose from a combination of the four elements fire, 
 air, water, earth ; of which the combining power was Love, the 
 separating power Hate. 
 
 Nearly contemporary with these later Eleatics were Leu- 
 cippus of Abdera (fl. b.c. 445), Anaxagoras of 
 hUosr^h^^in^^ Clazomenae (fl. b.c. 450) and Democritus of 
 Eastern Abdcra (fl. B.C. 42 o). Thcse philosophers tried 
 
 to account for the origin of the universe by the 
 combination of seeds or atoms. They differed as to the manner 
 in which these atoms combined, and as to whether the com- 
 bination was accidental or directed by an external intelligence. 
 But the upshot of their teaching as to Truth was that perfect 
 and complete knowledge was impossible. This conclusion was 
 accepted by the thinkers of the next generation the Sophists, 
 who therefore abandoned such speculative philosophy and 
 taught the science of conduct, or culture, lecturing on literature, 
 rhetoric, and ethics. 
 
 In this brief notice only the greatest names and the 
 
 II. Effect of niost obvious Speculations have been mentioned. 
 
 philosophy on We must imagine that, though the earliest philo- 
 
 the Greeks. 1111, , , - ,. . 
 
 sophers probably had no school of disciples, 
 their speculations yet influenced the thoughts of intelligent 
 men in many parts of Greece. Lesser thinkers, or mere 
 amateur listeners, carried away to their several cities more or 
 less accurate impressions of what they had read or heard. 
 These speculations generally failed to touch the multitude, or 
 rather roused its resentment and distrust, especially in Central 
 Greece. Thus Anaxagoras was fined and banished from Athens 
 for impiety, but was entertained and greatly honoured at 
 Lampsacus. Still a sufficient number of minds were impressed 
 by them to form a kind of national character. Hellenism 
 came to mean a way of thinking as well as of acting and living. 
 The movement started by these men has never been arrested, 
 and has been at least no less influential in the world than the 
 wars and political changes of which we cannot help hearing so 
 much in history. 
 
213 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Events Leading to the Disruption of the 
 Confederacy of Delos and to the League 
 OF States against Athens, issuing in the 
 Peloponnesian War, e.g. 445 432. 
 
 In spite of losses and defeats Athens was still the strongest 
 State in Greece after the Thirty Years' Peace of ^ Position 
 B.C. 445. Her fleet was superior to that of any of Athens after 
 other State: for her presidency of the Confeder- ^'^5- 
 acy of Delos gave her a good excuse for maintaining it and 
 supplied her with the means of doing so. There was a period 
 of quiet from B.C. 445 to B.C. 440 which Pericles utilised for 
 carrying on his policy of adorning and strengthening the city, 
 and increasing the number of places outside the Confederacy, 
 in which Athens could exercise influence. It was in B.C. 444 
 that a second ' long wall ' was built to the Piraeus, between the 
 one already existing and that to Phalerum : and in the same 
 year Pericles induced a number of Athenians, with many setders 
 from other States to form a new colony at Thurii in Italy, in 
 the territory of the ruined Sybaris. The other colonies in 
 Magna Graecia were mostly Dorian, and it must have seemed 
 to him important for Athens that there should be a town in 
 that district in which lonians would be the stronger element, 
 especially in view of the considerable trade in pottery which 
 she carried on with Magna Graecia and Etruria. 
 
214 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Though the actual outbreak of the Peloponnesian war was 
 not directly connected with the Confederacy of 
 discontent Dclos, and indeed was brought about by a 
 
 m"2m'ifersofthe ^^arrel in quite another part of Greece, yet it 
 Confederacy was the grievances of many of the members of 
 the Confederacy, and the use made by Athens 
 of the resources put into her hands as president of it, that 
 enabled the Spartans to rouse so large a proportion of the 
 Greek States against her. Let us see what these grievances 
 were. The primary object of the Confederacy was the safety 
 of the Aegean against the fleets of the king of Persia. To 
 secure this each confederate State was to supply ships or 
 money. Almost from the first most of the States preferred 
 to pay money. Consequently the Athenians supplied the 
 ships, and came to regard the money arising from the con- 
 tribution {<f>6po<;) as her own revenue, the surplus of which 
 she might use for her own purposes; and the contributing 
 States as her subjects, on whom she could enforce not only 
 the payment of the sum assessed, but also other conditions, 
 especially in the case of those which joined or were forced 
 to join the Confederacy in later years. These States were 
 often compelled to adopt a constitution similar to that of 
 Athens itself. Lawsuits arising in them were frequently 
 transferred to Athenian courts; and the Athenian govern- 
 ment maintained a resident (eTrco-KOTros) to watch the course 
 of affairs, and to interfere if they seemed to be going in a way 
 inconvenient to Athens. In some there was also a garrison 
 of Athenians under a captain (<f>povpapxos:). The original 
 assessment of money made by Aristides was revised every 
 five years and at any rate was not lightened^; while about 
 
 1 Plutarch says that Pericles raised the assessment by nearly a third ; 
 but this may be accounted for by the addition of new members, not by 
 raising the assessment on the original members of the Confederacy. About 
 290 names of contributory States are known, and the difference between the 
 total amount as first assessed by Aristides and as it was at the beginning of 
 the Peloponnesian war is 140 talents (460 to 6oo). 
 
Grievances against Athens. 215 
 
 B.C. 454 the treasury of the Confederacy was removed from 
 the neutral Delos to Athens, on the pretext of greater 
 security. This was another step in the direction of absolute 
 control on the part of Athens : and in fact the money was used 
 for domestic purposes as well as for maintaining the fleet. 
 These measures probably pressed hardest on those States 
 which had been forced to join the Confederacy, such as Naxos, 
 Thasos and Aegina ; but the general result was that, instead of 
 being one of a body of allies, Athens exercised the rights of an 
 imperial Stated 
 
 Another point in Athenian policy under the influence of 
 Pericles, which gave great offence, was the 
 system of Cleruchies. According to Greek ^' c^^^'^^^^^- 
 notions colonists {ojroiKoi) invariably founded a new State in- 
 dependent of the mother city, though retaining certain ties 
 of affection and religious union. But cleruchs {Kkqpovyoi) were 
 holders of allotments of land in a foreign country, who did not 
 forfeit their Athenian citizenship or even necessarily remove to 
 the property thus assigned to them, though, of course, they 
 usually did so. The system was adopted by Pericles, with the 
 view of providing for poorer Athenians, but also to establish 
 a body of citizens among allies of doubtful loyalty. We hear 
 of cleruchies at Histiaea and Chalcis in Euboea, in the islands 
 of Andros and Naxos, in the Thracian Chersonese, and among 
 the Thracian Bisaltae near the Strymon ; while different bodies 
 of Athenian colonists were provided for at Naples in Italy and 
 Sinope on the Euxine, and (after a disaster to the original 
 settlers in B.C. 466) at the new colony of Amphipolis on the 
 Strymon in B.C. 437, while four years afterwards treaties formed 
 with Leontini in Sicily and Rhegium in Italy shewed that 
 Pericles aimed at establishing Athenian influence in the 
 west as well as the east. If we add to these the employ- 
 ment of at least six thousand men on the sixty vessels sent 
 out each season into the Aegean, we may easily see how 
 
 ^ It was, as Thucydides expresses it, an o.pxh instead of a (jviiixaxio.. 
 
2i6 SJiort History of the Greeks. 
 
 valuable to the citizens was the extent of their empire, how 
 much inclined they must have been to extend and consolidate 
 it, and how likely it was to rouse the jealousy, and to conflict 
 with the interests, of other States. 
 
 For some time longer, however, Athens successfully main- 
 ^j^g tained her authority, and the one serious 
 
 Samian war, opposition offered to it was promptly suppressed. 
 440-439- r^y^^ island of Sam OS was one of the States (the 
 others being Chios and Lesbos) which had originated the idea 
 of a confederacy, had suggested the leadership of Athens, and 
 had always had a special position of independence. The 
 Samians never seem to have been jealous of the growing 
 power of Athens, and are even said to have advised the 
 removal of the treasury to Athens. But, on the other hand, 
 they expected to have a free hand in what concerned their own 
 interests. In B.C. 440 they went to war with Miletus in con- 
 sequence of a dispute as to the possession of Priene on 
 the opposite coast. The Milesians getting the worst of the 
 encounter, appealed to Athens. Like most Greek quarrels, 
 the war disclosed a division of feeling in Samos itself 
 between the democratic, and therefore Attic, party and the 
 oligarchical party. The former joined the Milesians in inviting 
 Athenian interference. Forty ships were sent from Athens, 
 a democratical government was established in the island, a 
 hundred hostages men and boys were taken and deposited 
 in Lemnos, and an Athenian garrison was left in Samos. But 
 the oligarchical party were not yet beaten, and had taken a 
 step of evil omen to the peace and independence of Greece. 
 A number of them had left the island before the arrival of 
 Pericles and had gone to Sardis to ask help of Pissuthnes the 
 Persian satrap. He was only too ready to seize the opportunity 
 of interfering in Greek affairs. By his help a body of 700 men 
 were collected, who crossed to Samos at night, overpowered 
 the Attic ships still blockading the town, and the democratical 
 government, recovered the hostages from Lemnos, and declared 
 
Reduction of Samos. 217 
 
 the separation of the island from the league. The arrival of 
 Pericles with a fresh fleet and his naval victory changed the 
 face of affairs. But on his departure for Caria the Samians 
 again overpowered the Athenian fleet, and for fourteen days 
 seemed masters of the situation. On hearing of what had 
 happened he hastily returned, and having beaten the ships of 
 the Samians he renewed the blockade. Pericles was then 
 reinforced by sixty fresh ships from Athens, with thirty from 
 Chios and Lesbos. This large fleet enabled him to guard the 
 various points along the coasts at which any Phoenician ships 
 would touch, if they came to the relief of Samos. He was also 
 able to maintain a strict blockade of the island town. It was 
 not, however, till the ninth month that the Samians surrendered. 
 They were obliged to give up all ships of war, pull down their 
 fortifications, give hostages and pay the expenses of the war. 
 They had induced the Byzantines, who were strong at sea, to 
 join in the revolt ; but the submission of Samos seems to have 
 carried that of Byzantium without the necessity of striking 
 a blow. Athens had fully asserted her authority, and two 
 more States were added to those in the Confederacy which 
 were entirely subject to her. Nor was the rest of Greece at 
 present prepared to resent it. The question of supporting 
 the Samians had been discussed by the Peloponnesian States, 
 but, chiefly owing to the opposition of Corinth, the idea had 
 been given up. But the danger had been great, and Athens 
 had had to put out her full strength. Grievances against her 
 were accumulating, and if another such opportunity occurred, 
 it was becoming more and more probable that a great combina- 
 tion would be formed to crush her power. 
 
 For the next four years however a general peace was 
 preserved, and the Athenians continued their r^^^ 
 
 policy of expansion. In B.C. 437, for instance, quarrel of 
 they successfully established a colony at Amphi- i^g^to the^^^" 
 polls, and in B.C. 433 negotiated alliances with Peloponnesian 
 Italian and Sicilian states. This quiet was b.c! 434432. 
 
2i8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 disturbed in B.C. 434 by an outbreak in the west of Greece, 
 which led to greater things. The island of Corcyra {Corfu) 
 had been colonised from Corinth, and had in its turn sent a 
 colony to Epidamnus {Durazzo). In B.C. 435-4 a revolution 
 of the usual sort occurred in Epidamnus. The oligarchical 
 nobles were expelled and a democracy established. The 
 nobles driven from the town obtained the services of some of 
 the neighbouring barbarians and endeavoured to secure their 
 return, harassing the city and its territory by frequent raids. 
 The Epidamnian government applied to the mother State of 
 Corcyra for assistance; and, being refused, appealed to Corinth 
 as the mother city of Corcyra itself. The Corcyreans had the 
 strongest naval power of any State in the west\ and were viewed 
 with jealousy by Corinth. The Corinthians were therefore 
 ready for a policy of self-assertion, and resolved to make Epi- 
 damnus a colony of their own, sending troops and a body of 
 colonists to Apollonia (about fifty miles from Epidamnus), and 
 ordering the Ambracians and Leucadians to send ships. These 
 proceedings forced the Corcyreans to retaliate. They adopted 
 the cause of the banished oligarchs and blockaded Epidamnus. 
 The Corinthians on their part sent ships to relieve the town; 
 but they were defeated by the Corcyreans and Epidamnus fell. 
 Following up their advantage the Corcyreans proceeded to 
 invade the Corinthian colony of Leucas, as well as other allies 
 of Corinth, and to make themselves masters of the whole 
 western sea. The Corinthians were compelled to send out 
 another expedition of ships and soldiers, and the two opposing 
 forces faced each other near Actium for the rest of the summer 
 of B.C. 434 without striking a blow. Meanwhile the Corinthians 
 at home were making vigorous preparations for prosecuting 
 the war on a large scale, building and fitting out ships, and 
 hiring rowers from all parts of Greece. 
 
 Alarmed at these preparations the Corcyreans sent am- 
 bassadors to Athens asking for help, contrary to their usual 
 
 ^ Thucydides (i. 25) says they had 120 triremes, i.e. war vessels. 
 
Corey ra and Potidaea. - 219 
 
 policy of avoiding all alliances. The Corinthians sent ambas- 
 sadors to counteract them, but the Athenians 5_ Application 
 who had their eyes fixed on the west, and bytheCorcy- 
 
 . , , . , ' . reans for help 
 
 Wished to secure a ready approach to Italy from Athens, 
 finally decided on a defensive alliance with the vic^orj^ofthe^ 
 Corcyreans\ As the Corcyreans were being Corinthians 
 attacked by the Corinthians, a squadron of ten AtheniarT ^ 
 ships in virtue of this compact was sent from ships. 
 Athens to support them in the spring of B.C. 432. The rival 
 fleets of Corinth and Corcyra numbering with allies 150 and 
 120 respectively engaged near the Sybota islands. After a 
 desperate struggle victory declared for the Corinthians. But 
 towards the end of the day the Corcyreans were reinforced by 
 a second squadron of twenty Athenian ships, which forced the 
 Corinthians to retire. Though both sides thus claimed the 
 victory and both erected trophies, the fact remained that the 
 Corinthians could not renew the battle next day, but returned 
 home with their prisoners. 
 
 This was one grudge which the Corinthians had against 
 Athens. A second was caused almost imme- , .^ 
 
 7. The revolt 
 
 diately by the affairs of Potidaea. This brings of Potidaea 
 upon the scene another power destined in the instigated by 
 not remote future to be supremely important ^^^^ ^'^"e oS. 
 
 . ^ r 1 T-. Macedonia. 
 
 Macedonia. Since the expulsion of the Persians 
 from Europe, King Alexander (whom we have heard of as 
 reluctantly medising) and his son and successor Perdiccas 
 had extended the kingdom once an inland territory round 
 Edessa down to and along the Thracian coast as far as 
 the Strymon. The Athenians, who highly valued their hold 
 on the Thracian coast, because their corn ships from the 
 Pontus had to skirt it, were made uneasy by this Macedonian 
 extension, and accordingly intrigued with the brother of King 
 
 ^ That is an alliance by which each was to help the other if attacked 
 (iirifiaxia), not an agreement to share generally in any war undertaken by 
 either {av/x/xaxia). 
 
220 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Perdlccas, who was trying to supplant him. Perdiccas re- 
 taliated by suggesting to the cities on the Chalcidic peninsula 
 to abjure the Athenian alliance. He was believed to have 
 been specially successful with Potidaea, a Corinthian colony 
 on the narrow isthmus of Pallene. The Athenians therefore 
 sent to Potidaea a fleet of 30 ships carrying a thousand hop- 
 lites, with orders to demand hostages, the dismissal of officials 
 sent from Corinth, and the levelling of the city walls. They 
 were also to place garrisons in the neighbouring towns. The 
 Potidaeans sent an embassy to Athens disclaiming any dis- 
 loyal intentions ; but getting no concession from the Athenians, 
 they went to their mother State of Corinth. The Corinthians 
 were quite prepared to help them and conducted the ambas- 
 sadors to Sparta, where they received a promise that, if the 
 Athenians attacked them, the Spartans would create a diversion 
 by invading Attica. Thus encouraged, and relying on the 
 help of Perdiccas, the Potidaeans made a league with the 
 neighbouring tribe of Bottiaei, and other Chalcidians, and 
 openly renounced the Athenian alliance. The Athenian forces 
 in the neighbourhood were too weak to act against all the 
 revolted States on the Chalcidic peninsula, and before they 
 could be strengthened the Corinthians sent a relieving force. 
 But the Athenians were not much behind them. A fleet of 
 forty ships with two thousand hoplites arrived on the coast 
 of the Thermaic gulf. They found the force which had been 
 previously despatched already in possession of Therma (Thes- 
 salonica) and engaged in besieging Pydna. A hasty peace 
 was patched up with King Perdiccas (which he soon violated) 
 and the entire force left Macedonia and proceeded to attack 
 Potidaea. The Potidaeans and their allies were defeated in 
 the isthmus and driven into the town, which the Athenians 
 proceeded to blockade : at first from the north, and when 
 reinforcements arrived, on both sides, as well as from the sea. 
 The city held out until the winter of B.C. 430, and heavy 
 losses were experienced on both sides. 
 
IVar with Athens ir solved upon. 22 1 
 
 But while the blockade was going on, the Corinthians 
 now twice thwarted by Athens induced the 
 States generally acting with the Spartans to send gnces of" ^^' 
 ambassadors along with their own to a confer- Peioponnesian 
 
 , , /- 1 11 states and 
 
 ence at Sparta, at which after a long debate it proclamation 
 
 was resolved that the Athenians had broken the o^ ^ar, b.c. 
 
 432. 
 peace and rightly deserved to have war pro- 
 claimed against them. In another larger conference of her 
 allies summoned by Sparta (after consulting the oracle at 
 Delphi) it was resolved to proclaim war at once. 
 
 The real reason of the war was the fear entertained in the 
 Peloponnese and Central Greece of the growing 
 power of Athens, which relatively to that of any io^'xhe 
 other Greek State was certainly very great. It 
 is true that Athens had renounced in B.C. 445 any claim to 
 supremacy over States on the continent ; but if her empire was 
 allowed to extend east and west over the islands, into Thrace 
 and Asia, into Sicily and Italy in the west, and to control 
 all the seas, the Spartans and their allies believed that her 
 authority over the States of continental Greece would be again 
 claimed, and that too when she had become too strong to be 
 resisted. The struggle was therefore between the continental 
 States south of Thessaly with the exception of the Argives and 
 most of the Achaeans and a power scattered over the islands 
 and the shores of Thrace and Asia, with a small central State 
 controlling and inspiring the whole mass, but lying itself in 
 the very midst of its enemies and easily exposed to attack. 
 It was also a struggle though with exceptions on both sides 
 between Dorians and lonians : and lastly it was a struggle 
 between two opposing political ideals the oligarchic or aris- 
 tocratic and the democratic. 
 
 That it lasted so long is principally due to the fact that 
 it was a war of a continental league against a ^^ causes 
 sea league. The Spartans had ships of war, and of the long 
 
 r 1 IT 1 /^ 1 -* continuance of 
 
 some 01 her allies the Corinthians, Megarians, the war. 
 
222 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Sicyonians, Pellenians, Eleans, Ambracians and Leucadians 
 had a considerable number ; but for a long time they were not 
 even when combined able to furnish a fleet superior to that of 
 the Athenians, without counting those supplied by Chios and 
 Lesbos. Corcyra, though originally the cause of the Athenian 
 difficulty, gave little or no help after B.C. 431. Therefore, 
 though Attica might be invaded, and even Athens invested 
 from the land, the sea was always open to her fleets. Corn 
 ships brought supplies from the shores of the Black Sea in 
 comparative safety, and her triremes could issue out to make 
 descents upon the enemy's coast or to strike a revolted subject. 
 Battles and defeats on land did little to bring the end of the 
 war nearer. At the same time the people of Attica suffered 
 more than any other people engaged. Attica was perpetually 
 being invaded, her corn crops destroyed, her vines and olives 
 cut down, and the rustics obliged to take refuge in the city, 
 where they spent their time in poverty and idleness, unless they 
 were drafted into the army or navy. Throughout the war there- 
 fore the farmers were anxious for peace, which was also desired 
 by some of the upper class, whose sympathies were with a less 
 democratic form of government, and whose tastes inclined 
 them to friendly intercourse with Sparta. On the whole, how- 
 ever, there was a marked absence of treason within the walls 
 of Athens. The citizens generally shewed a united front to 
 the enemy ; and the bulk of them being actively employed in 
 the war quite obscured the minority in favour of peace. 
 
 Though the allies in Sparta in B.C. 432 had unanimously 
 decided on war, negotiations were not imme- 
 made^r^"'^^ diatcly broken off. The Spartans endeavoured 
 Athens by the to put the Athenians in the wrong by delivering 
 aUies.""^^*^" Certain definite demands, all more or less plau- 
 sible. Three separate embassies were sent. 
 The first assumed a care for religion by demanding that the 
 Athenians should expel the Alcmaeonidae as being under a 
 curse among whom Pericles would have had to leave Athens. 
 
The Attack upon Plataea. 223 
 
 The second demanded that the siege of Potidaea should be 
 raised, and the decree revoked which on the plea of en- 
 croachments upon consecrated land and the harbouring of 
 runaway slaves had. some years previously forbidden the 
 Megarians the use of the harbours and markets of Athens. 
 The third embassy delivered the sort of ultimatum which is 
 equivalent to a declaration of war ; for it offered peace only 
 on condition of Athens acknowledging the independence of 
 all her allies. The people however remained firm in alle- 
 giance to Pericles, and on his advice accepted the war. 
 
 Still hostilities were not begun at once. Both sides spent 
 the winter in preparations and in securing allies. 
 But early in the spring of B.C. 431 the Thebans begun by 
 precipitated matters by suddenly seizing Plataea, ^^Thebans, 
 the one town in Boeotia that clung to the Athe- 
 nian alliance. The attempt failed and the invading party 
 were either killed in the fight or massacred in cold blood 
 afterwards. But the Plataeans prepared to stand the siege 
 which this made inevitable, and sought and obtained a rein- 
 forcement of their garrison from Athens. This affair was the 
 signal for active operations on the part of the Peloponnesians. 
 The allies mustered in the Isthmus under Archidamus king 
 of Sparta, and, after one more fruitless attempt to negotiate, 
 the invasion of Attica was begun. 
 
 The war thus begun lasted ten years. It is sometimes 
 called the Archidamian war, from the policy of 
 Sparta being directed till his death in B.C. 427 . ^3- .^wo 
 
 ^ . ^ . ^ ' invasions of 
 
 by Kmg Archidamus. It had various phases. Attica. Re- 
 But the first two years it mainly consisted of two AtiTeitan fleet. 
 invasions of Attica by the Peloponnesian army, S^*! ^ 
 
 ,., ,.,-. . Potidaea, 
 
 which contented itself with devastating the 3.0.431-430. 
 country without attempting to attack Athens 
 itself. By the advice of Pericles no effort was made by the 
 Athenians to repel the invasions or to offer battle in the 
 open. The country folk from the invaded districts were called 
 
224 SJiort History of the Greeks. 
 
 into the city, and safe behind its fortifications, their commu- 
 nication with the sea secured by the long walls, they allowed 
 the enemy to vent a comparatively harmless malice upon 
 their vines and cornfields. The cavalry indeed issued out 
 from time to time to harass the invaders and cut off their 
 stragglers; but otherwise they were suffered to work their 
 will on the Thriasian plain, and to advance within ten miles 
 of Athens itself. Meanwhile a fleet of a hundred Athenian 
 ships, reinforced by fifty sent from Corcyra, sailed round the 
 coasts of the Peloponnese, making descents at various spots, 
 and reducing the island of Cephallenia. It returned home 
 early enough in the autumn to assist in a retaliatory inroad 
 upon the territory of Megara, which was organised in this 
 and the following year as soon as the Peloponnesian army 
 of invasion had withdrawn. The only other point at which 
 serious fighting was going on was at Potidaea, where the 
 blockade was strenuously maintained. In the second year 
 (b.c. 430) the main features of the war were the same an 
 invasion of Attica by the Peloponnesians in the spring, fol- 
 lowed by a counter invasion of the Megarid in the autumn, 
 and accompanied by a naval expedition round the Peloponnese 
 like that of the previous year, commanded by Pericles himself; 
 while the blockade of Potidaea still occupied a considerable 
 fleet and army. The Spartans had now seen the necessity of 
 attempting to carry on the war at sea also, and sent out a 
 hundred ships to seize Zacynthus, but without success. 
 
 The year however was rendered a terrible one to the Athe- 
 nians by an outbreak of plague. The town was 
 piagu Jat^ crowded with refugees from the country, bringing 
 
 Athens, B.C. ^j^gjj. goods and cattle. They were so numerous 
 that they could not find enough houses in the 
 city to shelter them, and had to live for the most part in huts 
 hastily erected along the line of the long walls to the Piraeus. 
 This no doubt contributed to spread the plague, which raged 
 for two years, and, after a year's intermission, for another year. 
 
The Plague, and Death of Pericles. 225 
 
 As many as 4400 hoplites are said to have perished, besides 
 uncounted thousands of other inhabitants. It presented all 
 the usual features of what we know as the Asiatic plague, and 
 its eifect was to produce a dreadful depression, as well as a 
 complete demoralisation. The constant prospect of a rapid 
 and painful death dissolved the ties of kindred and affection 
 and all moral restraints, and the city became a scene of 
 misery mingled with desperate debauch. There were loud 
 cries against the policy of Pericles, to which their misfortunes 
 were attributed, and proposals were made to open negotiations 
 with Sparta. Though Pericles had still sufficient influence left 
 to stop this movement by an eloquent appeal to the patriotism 
 of the people, they shewed their indignation by deposing him 
 from the office of strategus and imposing a heavy fine upon 
 him. The fall of Potidaea however in the winter, after its 
 inhabitants had been reduced to the most terrible extremities 
 of hunger, must have encouraged the people to persevere in 
 the war policy of Pericles. 
 
 His death in the course of the next year made way for 
 a new set of statesmen of various ability, who ^ Death 
 controlled the policy of the State for the next of Pericles, 
 few years by demagogic acts to which he had ' '^^' 
 never condescended. Not one of them had the skill or good 
 fortune to retain his influence for any length of time and 
 so to initiate and carry out a definite policy. Aristophanes 
 comments on the vague optimism that had taken possession 
 of men's minds at this period, which made them believe that, 
 however ill their plans were laid, Providence somehow or other 
 brought the State out of its difficulties. This trusting to its 
 luck proved fatal to the power of Athens. Pericles on the 
 other hand had conceived and steadily carried out a policy, 
 and had been able to do so partly from superior ability, but 
 mainly from character his fellow-citizens believing that, what- 
 ever else might be said of him, he was incorruptible and 
 honest. His plan of carrying on the war by keeping safe 
 
 S. G. 15 
 
226 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 within the walls of the city, by abandoning the country 
 districts, and by retaliating upon the enemy by means of the 
 navy, no doubt cost much immediate suffering yet proved 
 eminently successful. It was when the Athenians broke away 
 from that policy, in B.C. 424, that they sustained at Delium 
 the first serious disaster of the war. At the same time the 
 losses from these almost annual and unresisted invasions 
 caused a large class of the citizens especially those engaged 
 in farming or other country businesses to be eager for peace 
 almost at any price. And the existence of this lacofiisitig party 
 encouraged the hope that the Athenians would be brought to 
 surrender, if the pressure were continued, and therefore helped 
 to prolong the war. 
 
 Coin of Delphi. 
 
22/ 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Peloponnesian War to the Peace of 
 NiciAS, B.C. 431421. The un avowed War, 
 B.C. 421 415. 
 
 We have seen that the operations of the first two years 
 of the war (b.c. 431 430) consisted mainly of 
 invasions of Attica during the early summer Period of the 
 months by the Peloponnesian s, avenged by ^^^ ^^ 
 descents upon the Peloponnesian coasts by the 
 Athenian fleet : and that while these operations were going 
 on the blockade of Potidaea continuously employed part of 
 the Athenian forces. In the next years (b.c. 429 424) 
 warlike operations were more widely spread, and though the 
 Athenians had to endure two more invasions their successes 
 elsewhere were almost unbroken. The confidence of the 
 Spartans was so much shaken that they seemed likely to 
 listen to honourable terms of peace. It was the events of 
 the next three years (b.c. 424 421) which lowered the pride 
 of Athens and caused her to accept a peace on far less favour- 
 able terms. 
 
 As in the first two years of the war, so now, while opera- 
 tions were going on in other places, a long and ^^ siege of 
 wearisome siege occupied a considerable force Piataea, b.c. 
 and was watched with interest by both sides. 
 This time it was the Spartans who were so engaged, and 
 the object of their attack was Piataea. After vainly trying to 
 
228 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 persuade the Plataeans to desert the Athenian alliance, they 
 laid siege to the town and used every possible expedient to 
 take it. Attacking walled towns was always difficult with 
 the means then at the command of armies, and the Spartans 
 never shewed to advantage in such operations. They were 
 compelled to turn the siege into a blockade. The defenders 
 able to bear arms only numbered 480, all the other inhabitants 
 (except about no women) had left the town already. For 
 rather more than two years this blockade occupied a part of 
 the Spartan forces. In the winter of B.C. 428 two hundred and 
 twelve of the besieged garrison effected their escape to Athens 
 through the Spartan lines during the night, with the loss of 
 only one man. The remaining two hundred were forced to 
 surrender early in the following year, and at the instigation of 
 the Thebans were all put to the sword, nominally in retaliation 
 for the treacherous killing of the Theban invaders, but at 
 bottom for their persistent siding with Athens. Twenty-five 
 Athenians were executed with them. 
 
 While Plataea was being blockaded the war was taking 
 
 a wider sweep in Greece. In B.C. 429 Acarnania 
 
 tionskfthe" was unsuccessfully attacked by the Pelopon- 
 
 westand ncsians, and the Athenian fleet under Phormio 
 
 north, B.C. ' . . , ^ r. , , 
 
 429. won two victories over that of Sparta, though 
 
 this campaign witnessed the appearance of the 
 active and able Spartan general Brasidas. After his defeat in 
 the west, Brasidas made a dash upon the Peiraeus, but failed 
 to capture it owing to the timidity of the Peloponnesian allies. 
 In the north also the Macedonians were invaded by Sitalces, 
 king of Thrace, an ally of Athens; and though the Macedonian 
 king contrived to induce him to withdraw without a battle, 
 the events of this year were on the whole decidedly in favour 
 4. Revolt of ^^ Athens. But in the next (b.c. 428) the first 
 Lesbos, B.C. symptom of a wide defection in the Confederacy 
 ^^ ^^^* was shewn by the revolt of Lesbos. The Athe- 
 
 nians, at first scarcely believing the news, seemed inclined to 
 
The Reduction of Lesbos. 229 
 
 do nothing. But presently, becoming awake to the danger, 
 they dispatched a fleet under Paches to lay siege to the chief 
 town of the island, Mitylene. The Mitylenians had already 
 sent envoys to the Peloponnese, who pleaded their cause before 
 the assembly at the Olympic festival. The usual spring in- 
 vasion of Attica had already taken place; but the Spartans 
 promised to make another, as well as to send a fleet to relieve 
 Mitylene. The Athenians, however, acted with unexpected 
 promptitude. A powerful fleet was sent round the coast of the 
 Peloponnese, which diverted the proposed invasion of Attica : 
 and a strong reinforcement was sent to the blockading fleet 
 at Mitylene before the Spartan ships could arrive, though a 
 Spartan agent named Salaethus managed to run the blockade 
 and encouraged the people of Mitylene to hold out. But 
 the usual party division now appeared in the town. The 
 revolt had been the work of the oligarchical party. In the 
 spring of B.C. 427 the democrats rose and compelled them 
 to surrender the city to the Athenians. The treatment to 
 be meted out to the revolted people was then discussed in 
 the assembly at Athens. On the proposal of Cleon who 
 now first appears as taking an active part in politics a decree 
 was passed ordering them all to be put to death and a vessel 
 was at once despatched with the decree. Such an atrocious 
 decision naturally produced a reaction. In a second assembly 
 the decree was reversed, and another trireme was sent hurriedly 
 with the reprieve, and arrived only just in time to prevent 
 the execution of the sentence. Nevertheless the punishment 
 actually inflicted was sufficiently severe. About 1000 of the 
 oligarchical party, as having been chiefly responsible for the 
 revolt, had been sent to Athens by Paches along with the 
 Spartan envoy. These were all put to death on the motion 
 of Cleon, and the whole soil of Lesbos was divided among 
 Athenian cleruchs, who generally left the native cultivators in 
 possession on the payment of a rent. 
 
 In the west similar divisions between the oligarchic and 
 
230 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 democratic parties supported respectively by Sparta and 
 
 Athens gave rise to fighting and bloodshed, 
 in^c^cyra!*^^^ In Corcyra especially there was an outburst of 
 
 fierce party conflict. The democrats after three 
 days of street fighting got the victory over their opponents. 
 The Athenian commander Nicostratus arriving with a small 
 fleet attempted to make terms; but the aristocrats looked 
 for speedy help from Sparta and broke off all negotiations. 
 The Spartan fleet arrived, but its commander Alcidas was 
 dilatory or treasonable, and before anything was done a 
 large Athenian fleet under Eurymedon drove him off and 
 confirmed the supremacy of the democrats, who proceeded 
 to massacre their opponents. The aristocrats who survived 
 escaped to Epirus ; but soon afterwards returned, and occupy- 
 ing some high ground in the island harassed the victorious 
 democrats and raided their fields. They were however sur- 
 rounded and put to the sword two years afterwards (b.c. 425). 
 Though Corcyra with greatly diminished power was thus secured 
 to Athens, it never rendered her substantial help. Farther west, 
 a small Athenian fleet operated in support of Ionian States in 
 Sicily especially Leontini against the Dorian states, headed 
 by Syracuse, and established a precedent for interference in 
 Sicily which was to have important effects at a later period. 
 In the next year events in the east were neither important 
 
 nor decisive. The Athenians made a vain 
 thenesin " attack upon the island of Melos, and the 
 Bc^"^*^6' Spartans an almost equally vain attempt to 
 
 threaten Euboea and the Thraceward posses- 
 sions of Athens by establishing a colony at Trachis near 
 Thermopylae, called Heracleia, which for many years suffered 
 so much from the attacks of the Thessalians as to be of little 
 use to the Peloponnesian cause. In the west events were 
 more interesting, though not much more decisive. Demos- 
 thenes was persuaded by the Messenians, whom the Athe- 
 nians had placed in Naupactus, to invade their neighbours 
 
The Capture of Pylos. 231 
 
 in Aetolia. The Aetolians were little known to the rest of 
 Greece, and were regarded as scarcely Greeks at all. They 
 lived in scattered and unfortified villages, but they shewed 
 now that they could combine for defence, and Demosthenes 
 had to retire with the loss of nearly all his army. This led 
 to Aetolian attacks upon Naupactus, supported by aid from 
 Sparta, which were however repelled by help from Acarnania. 
 The Acarnanians in their turn were attacked by the Pelopon- 
 nesians, but successfully defended by their allies under the 
 command of Demosthenes. 
 
 The next year however (b.c. 425) gave the Athenians an 
 advantage which might have been used to 
 secure an honourable peace. Demosthenes, still tification oT" 
 in command of a fleet, was sent to Sicily with Py^o^, and the 
 
 ' ' capture of the 
 
 permission to operate upon the coasts of the Spartans on 
 Peioponnese on his way. Landing at Pylos on 3.0^^25."^' 
 the south-west of Messenia, and being detained by 
 bad weather, he employed his men in throwing up fortifications 
 round the place where they were encamped. He remained 
 there with five ships, while the rest of the fleet went on to 
 Sicily. This lodgment in Spartan territory caused the Pelo- 
 ponnesian troops engaged on the usual invasion of Attica to 
 return in all haste. A party of Lacedaemonian soldiers was 
 placed on the island of Sphacteria, which lies across the bay 
 of Pylos, and the Spartan ships were recalled from Corcyra 
 in order to blockade the Athenian ships and men. But the 
 main Athenian fleet promptly returned, for they had not gone 
 farther than Zacynthus, and, having conquered the Spartan fleet, 
 completely blockaded Sphacteria. The men on the island were 
 thus caught between two hostile forces. The Spartan govern- 
 ment, in great alarm, having obtained an armistice, sent 
 ambassadors to Athens with proposals of peace. But the 
 Athenians were instigated by Cleon to insist on impossibly 
 hard conditions. They demanded not only that the troops 
 on the island should surrender and be brought prisoners 
 
232 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 to Athens, but that Nisaea, Pegae, Troezen and Achaia 
 should be given up to them. This was to replace Athens 
 in the same commanding position which she had occupied 
 before the thirty years' peace of B.C. 445, and to reduce the su- 
 premacy of Sparta even in the Peloponnese to the lowest pitch. 
 The Spartan envoys therefore left Athens without making 
 peace, and, the armistice being at an end, the Athenian ships 
 blockaded the troops on the island more closely than ever. 
 The Spartans however managed in various ways to throw in 
 provisions. The summer was slipping away and the uneasiness 
 of the Athenians at the continuance of the blockade gave 
 Cleon the opportunity of attacking Nicias, who was strategus 
 and at the head of the aristocratic party. He loudly accused 
 him of playing into the hands of Sparta, and urged the people 
 not to waste time in sending commissioners to see what was 
 going on. It was easy, he declared, to capture the men if it 
 were really desired by the generals. Nicias therefore offered 
 to resign his command to Cleon. And when Cleon, who 
 had had no experience of war, endeavoured to back out of 
 it, he was forced by the people to undertake the work. Making 
 the best of it, therefore, he promised to return with the 
 prisoners in twenty days. He was prudent enough to join the 
 experienced Demosthenes with himself, and to the surprise 
 of everybody, including himself, he made good his boast. 
 Favoured by an accidental fire in Sphacteria which laid bare 
 the enemy's position he landed troops on the island, drove 
 the Spartans to take refuge in the extreme point of it, and 
 discovering a secret path by which he could get upon their 
 rear, forced them to capitulate. 
 
 The number of prisoners was not very large, amounting 
 only to 292, of whom 120 were Spartans, but the moral effect 
 was great. During the remainder of this year and the next 
 the Athenian fleet made one successful descent after another 
 on the Corinthian territory, at Epidaurus and Troezen, and at 
 Anactorium in Ambracia. In B.C. 424 Nicias seized the island 
 
Battle of Deliiim. 233 
 
 of Cythera, at the southern extremity of Laconia, from which 
 to ravage the Laconian shores. Nisaea, the 
 southern harbour of Megara, was again occupied, fu?'ope"ations' 
 and Mecjara itself was only saved by the vigorous of the Athe- 
 
 ^^.-i -r^i- ^ ^ nian fleet in 
 
 action of Brasidas. Everythmg seemed to be m b.c. 425-424. 
 favour of Athens and to discourage Sparta, when chirddke 
 two disasters turned the tide and began a period and Athenian 
 of failure for the Athenians. The first was the D^eUu^m.* 
 revolt of most of the towns on the Chalcidic 
 peninsula brought about by Brasidas. The second was the 
 failure of an invasion of Boeotia. The plan was that Demos- 
 thenes should invade it from the side of Phocis, starting from 
 Naupactus, while Hippocrates entered it by way of Oropus. 
 But the two invading columns did not properly concert their 
 movements. The Boeotians were therefore able to deal with 
 them separately. Demosthenes was unable to land at Siphae 
 on the Boeotian coast, which he found strongly occupied, 
 and had to retire. Accordingly, when a few days afterwards 
 Hippocrates reached Delium, he found that he was threatened 
 by the whole Boeotian army. He therefore began to retreat 
 homewards, but was overtaken by the Boeotians between 
 Delium and Oropus, and defeated with considerable loss. It 
 was on this retreat that Socrates distinguished himself by his 
 coolness and courage, and saved the life of Alcibiades. 
 
 Both Sparta and Athens had now motives for wishing to 
 come to terms : the Athenians in order to stop ^ ^ year's 
 the advance of Brasidas in Thrace ; the Spartans t^uce between 
 
 . , . , Sparta and 
 
 m order to recover the prisoners taken on Athens, b.c. 
 Sphacteria. Accordingly an armistice for a year 423- Death of 
 
 , , , . ' , ,. . ^, Cleonand 
 
 was concluded in b.c. 423, on the condition that Brasidas, 
 at the end of it both sides should retain what peace?f 
 they possessed at the beginning of it. But Nicias, 
 though the terms were observed in the south, ' '^^^' 
 Brasidas refused to restore Scione (in Pallene), though its 
 surrender had taken place a few days after the armistice was 
 
234 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 agreed upon. The war went on in the north, and Nicias and 
 Nicostratus blockaded Scione, and recovered Mende, which 
 had joined the revolt. . In the next year (b.c. 422) Cleon was 
 sent with a fleet and army to recover the revolted places in 
 Macedonia and Thrace. He took Torone, and then pro- 
 ceeded to attack Amphipolis. But Brasidas threw himself 
 into the town, and managed to surprise Cleon, who had 
 advanced too near to its walls. In the battle that followed 
 Brasidas was killed as well as Cleon; but the Athenians 
 were defeated, and Amphipolis thus maintained its inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 But the summer was now drawing to a close, and both 
 10 Peace of ^ides were weary of the war. A Lacedaemonian 
 Nicias, force that was on its way to relieve Amphi- 
 
 '^^^* polis heard at Heracleia, near Thermopylae, 
 
 of the Athenian defeat and returned home. The peace 
 party at Athens, headed by Nicias, and that at Sparta 
 headed by King Pleistoanax, got the upper hand in their 
 respective towns. In March B.C. 421 a peace for fifty years 
 was concluded between Athens and Sparta, including most 
 of the allies of both. The motives however which led to 
 the acceptance of the peace were not such as to promise 
 well for its continuance. The Athenians feared that after 
 their two defeats at Delium and Amphipolis the revolt of 
 their allies would spread. Their exchequer also was nearly 
 exhausted, in spite of the pharos from the allies having been 
 nearly doubled in B.C. 425, and they had become deeply 
 indebted to the treasuries of various temples, while in 
 B.C. 422 the Boeotians had seized a fort on the Attic frontier 
 called Panactum, from which they could annoy the country. 
 The Spartans wished to recover the prisoners taken on 
 Sphacteria, and to get back Pylos and Cythera. Both had 
 their selfish ends to gain, and little regard was paid to the 
 interests of the allies who had assisted them in the war. 
 Her allies in fact regarded Sparta as having betrayed them, as 
 
The New League of Argos. 235 
 
 well as having been unsuccessful in the war itself. Their 
 feelings may be compared with those of the Dutch and other 
 allies of England, when she made the treaty with France at the 
 end of the war of the Spanish succession. 
 
 The Boeotians, Corinthians, Eleans, and Megarians there- 
 fore refused to join in the peace. The last 
 had the special reason that their harbour town ".New 
 
 r 1 1 -. r A 1 combination 
 
 of Nisaea was to be left m the hands of Athens : of states with 
 and all objected to the clause that authorised bx?%i-4I5. 
 the Spartans and Athenians to add new pro- 
 visions to the treaty by mutual agreement; for this left the 
 question of their status under it entirely uncertain. Accord- 
 ingly a new combination of States was formed with Argos 
 (whose treaty with Sparta was expiring) to which Corinth, 
 Mantineia, Elis, and the Chalcidic towns adhered. For a 
 time Megara and Thebes stood aloof from both sides. But 
 Athens soon found that the hostility of the latter was as 
 determined as ever. The Thebans did not restore Panactum 
 according to the treaty, and when requested by the Spartans to 
 do so, refused unless the Spartans made a separate treaty of 
 alliance with themselves. This being done, they dismantled or 
 demolished Panactum, instead of handing it back as it was to 
 the Athenians : who thus found themselves isolated between 
 two confederacies, Sparta and Thebes on the one side, and 
 Argos with her allies on the other, either of which might at any 
 time find some pretext for hostilities. The policy of Athens 
 was at this time much influenced by Alcibiades. He was a 
 young man of one of the chief families at Athens, rich, 
 handsome, and supremely able ; but extravagant, wilful, and 
 dissolute. His eccentricities provoked while they amused the 
 people. But though many scandals already attached to his 
 name, his eloquence, energy, and courage, joined to a charm of 
 manner which always distinguished him, gave him for a time 
 a great hold upon the assembly. By his persuasion an alliance 
 was now made by Athens with Argos, Elis, and Mantineia ; and 
 
236 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 he proceeded himself to the Peloponnese to win over other 
 towns to this league. 
 
 Sparta could not view the growth of a hostile confederacy 
 in the Peloponnese with indifference : and the 
 betwe^^^ Argives soon gave her a good pretext for 
 
 Sparta and interference, by trying to compel Epidaurus by 
 
 which' the forcc of arms to join their league. The Spartans 
 
 fvemJaUy invadcd Argolis in force with their allies in 
 
 join, B.C. B.C. 419, but king Agis was induced to grant an 
 
 ^^^ ^^ ' armistice and retire. In the following year 
 
 (b.c. 418), supported by an Athenian contingent, the Argives 
 and their allies invaded Arcadia to compel the towns there to 
 join the league. The Spartans under Agis called out their 
 allies and went to the rescue. The Argive allies were 
 decisively beaten at Mantineia, and Argos and Mantineia were 
 compelled to make peace and alliance with Sparta. 
 
 The Athenians, though some of their troops shared in the 
 The cap- ^^^^^^ of Mantineia, had not been openly at war 
 ture of Meios, with Sparta : nor did the result of the battle 
 ' ^^ ' break off their alliance with Argos, though 
 
 a brief oligarchical revolution there interrupted it for a short 
 time. To secure that Athens should be able to give Argos 
 help in time of need, the latter town was now connected with 
 the sea by long walls, which brought upon it an unsuccessful 
 attack by the Spartans. Thus, in spite of the peace, a kind 
 of veiled and unacknowledged war was still going on : and 
 the fate of Melos, which at length surrendered in B.C. 416, 
 must have been a farther provocation to Sparta. The 
 Melians were a Lacedaemonian colony. At the beginning of 
 the war they had remained neutral, but in B.C. 426 Nicias 
 had unsuccessfully attempted to force them to join the 
 Athenian alliance. Since that time they had shewn them- 
 selves openly hostile to Athens. In B.C. 416 an expedition 
 was sent against Melos. After a vain attempt to obtain its 
 submission by diplomacy, the Athenians regularly blockaded 
 
UBr 
 
 iSE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ^>1 
 
 Execution of the MeliaWy^^^nY 
 
 '17 
 
 it, and in the following winter it surrendere5r^Hit=w=ft^ruelly 
 treated. The men of military age were put to death, the rest 
 of the inhabitants sold into slavery. Still the Lacedaemonians 
 did not disavow or openly break the alliance. It was a distant 
 expedition presently undertaken by Athens that brought upon 
 her again the open hostility of the Peloponnesian allies ; and 
 inflicted such grievous losses upon her that the dissolution of 
 her empire became certain. 
 
 Corner of the Parthenon. 
 {Fro>H IValdstein's Pheidias.) 
 
238 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 The Sicilian Expedition and the Fall of 
 Athens, e.g. 415405. 
 
 The five years that had passed since the peace of Nicias 
 had been a period of financial recovery at 
 recovery of Athens. In B.C. 416 not only had the loans 
 Athens afte^r been repaid to the temples, but there was again 
 Nicias, a surplus of 3000 talcnts in the treasury. The 
 
 ?nd'reas7n?' ccssation of the frequent invasions, and the 
 for a renewal peacc prevailing in the islands and other towns 
 
 of the war. \-iai -i , , r i 
 
 of the Athenian league, and the freedom of 
 the corn trade from the north, had all contributed to this 
 result. The long war however had left its traces on the 
 character of the people. There was indeed a party at Athens 
 which desired to maintain the peace with Sparta. But there 
 was also a strong and active party which wished to seize every 
 opportunity of extending the power of Athens, and for this 
 purpose was willing to risk or even to court a rupture. The 
 people were also encouraged by the signs of apathy or timidity 
 on the part of the Spartans under various provocations. Pylos 
 had not been restored to them, and in B.C. 419 the Athenians 
 placed in it some of the banished Helots and Messenians. 
 In B.C. 420 the Eleans on a flimsy pretext had excluded the 
 Spartans from the Olympic festival. In B.C. 416 the Athenians 
 had annexed the Lacedaemonian colony of Melos. And in the 
 
A thens and Sicily. 239 
 
 same year (or later in the previous one) the Argives had 
 overthrown the oligarchical government which Spartan influence 
 had set up. All these provocations had been borne with 
 strange patience by the Spartans, and they had shewn no 
 inclination to formally break the alliance with Athens, though 
 Lacedaemonian and Athenian troops had faced each other at 
 Mantineia, and though the alliance of Athens with Argos was 
 notoriously meant to check Spartan influence in the Pelopon- 
 nese. The Athenians therefore were encouraged to enter upon 
 larger schemes without fear of Sparta. Alcibiades, who had 
 been active in promoting the Argive alliance, now conceived 
 a great scheme for extending Athenian supremacy to Sicily 
 and Magna Graecia, and thus threatening the Peloponnese if 
 necessary on both sides. 
 
 Sicily was probably imperfectly known at Athens, in spite 
 of the fact of its having been visited by small 
 expeditions at frequent intervals during the war. connexion of^ 
 But the general fact was clear that Dorian Athens with 
 
 n . Sicily. 
 
 mfluence was supreme there, owmg to the pre- 
 ponderance of Syracuse. This preponderance had been gained 
 partly by the success with which Syracusan sovereigns had 
 championed Sicilian freedom against Carthage (p. 171), partly 
 from the ambition and ability of those sovereigns themselves 
 and the favourable position of the city. Between B.C. 480 and 
 B.C. 465 this state of things had led to much fighting and 
 suffering in the Greek towns of Sicily, especially in Syracuse, 
 Himera and Agrigentum. But when Hiero died in B.C. 467 
 the tyranny of Thrasybulus led to a revolution which estab- 
 lished a popular government in Syracuse. This movement 
 was imitated in other Greek cities after many scenes of violence 
 and bloodshed. By about B.C. 460 we find the theory of free 
 government and local autonomy generally acknowledged in 
 Sicily. This however did not prevent attempts being made 
 from time to time by the stronger cities to extend their 
 supremacy over weaker neighbours. In this policy as before 
 
240 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Syracuse was the most active and successful; and it was a 
 quarrel caused by it, of which the Athenians took advantage, 
 when they began to entertain the idea of western expansion. 
 
 The first plea was to support Ionian against Dorian 
 colonies ^ Hence in B.C. 427-6 they aided Leontini against 
 Syracuse, taking occasion to ally themselves with Rhegium in 
 Italy, to attack the Liparean islands, and to force Messana to 
 join their alliance. A two years' campaign produced no results 
 of importance beyond shewing that the Athenians were ready to 
 help any towns opposed to Syracuse. The Syracusans retaliated 
 by besieging Rhegium. To relieve Rhegium a fresh Athenian 
 fleet was despatched in B.C. 426, but was diverted by the affair 
 at Pylos. The original fleet still remained in Sicilian waters, 
 but was too weak to effect anything. In B.C. 424 a congress of 
 Greek cities in Sicily resolved on a general peace. In urging 
 this measure Hermocrates of Syracuse argued especially that 
 their dissensions were opening the way to Athenian ambition. 
 The presence of the Athenian fleet was rendered useless by 
 this pacification. It accordingly returned home, but the dis- 
 appointment of the people shewed itself by fining the three 
 commanders for receiving bribes to abandon Sicily. 
 
 1 The following is the list of great cities in Sicily of Ionian and Dorian 
 origin : 
 
 I. Ionian: Zankle (Messana), Naxos, from Chalcis in Euboea. 
 
 Himera, Thermae^ Mylae, from Zankle: Catana and 
 Leontini, from Naxos. 
 
 II. Dorian : Syraaise, from Corinth. 
 
 Acrae, Casmenae^ Camarina {Aetna^ Tyndaris), from 
 
 Syracuse. 
 Gela and Lipara, from Rhodes and Crete. 
 Agrigenhim, from Gela. 
 
 III. Mixed Dorian and Ionian : Thapsus (Megara Hyblaea), from 
 Megara. 
 Selinus, from Megara Hyblaea. 
 Heracleia Minoa^ from Selinus. 
 
Excuse for the Sicilian Expedition. 241 
 
 Two years later a revolution in Leontini, during which the 
 aristocratic party invoked the interference of Syracuse, gave 
 the Athenians a fresh excuse for interfering in Sicilian politics. 
 Phaeax and two other commissioners were sent in B.C. 422 
 to Sicily and Italy to promote a league against Syracuse. 
 Phaeax had some success at Agrigentum and Camarina, and in 
 Italy, but no immediate action was taken. The Athenian 
 treasury was exhausted; the peace of the next year at first 
 discouraged new undertakings. But with improved finances 
 produced by peace, the old project of SiciHan conquest revived. 
 The possession of Sicily, or a commanding influence in Sicily, 
 would enable the Athenians to renew the struggle with Sparta 
 which many thought inevitable with increased prestige, as well 
 and with greater facilities for attacking the Peloponnese. 
 
 The opportunity came in B.C. 416. Besides the Greek 
 colonies in Sicily there were certain towns of the 
 native Sicels, and some of unknown origin. ^' '^^^ Athe- 
 
 ' ^ o mans are in- 
 
 Among the latter was Egesta or Segesta, said to duced to send 
 have been founded by Trojans, and at any rate to aM Egesta.^ 
 having no tradition of a descent from any Greek 
 town, though coins and inscriptions shew that it had been early 
 hellenised. In the course of numerous quarrels with its 
 neighbour Selinus, on questions of intermarriage or frontiers, 
 it found itself threatened by a joint attack from Selinus and 
 Syracuse, whose aid the Selinuntians had invoked. Envoys 
 from Segesta arrived at Athens asking help. The Athenian 
 commissioners, sent to see whether the wealth which it professed 
 to have really existed, were deluded by a trick into making 
 a favourable report. They were entertained by the chief in- 
 habitants with a fine display of silver and gold plate. But 
 they did not observe it is said that these rich articles were 
 passed from house to house. The Segestans however sent 
 a considerable sum of money and bullion, to be used in 
 equipping ships : and encouraged by this, and full of the 
 scheme of a western empire, the Athenian people voted the 
 
 S. G. 16 
 
242 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 desired aid. In vain Nicias warned them that they were 
 embarking on a dangerous and almost impossible undertaking ; 
 and intreated them to use their recruited resources in securing 
 themselves at home, where they still had many enemies. 
 * They had no interest ' he argued ' in lowering the power 
 of Syracuse in Sicily ; nor would they be able to keep so large 
 an island if they conquered it. They should leave Sicilians to 
 settle their own quarrels, and not make alliances in which the 
 advantages were all with others and the dangers all their own.' 
 But the ambition of the people was roused and they listened 
 rather to Alcibiades, who urged that Sicily was so divided by 
 factions that its conquest would be easy, and that a forward 
 policy was the only safe one for the Athenians and the best 
 suited to their character. The enthusiasm rose higher and 
 higher. In spite of his protests Nicias was elected to share the 
 command with Alcibiades and Lamachus, and in the summer 
 of B.C. 415 a great fleet of 100 Athenian ships and 34 from the 
 allies, carrying 5100 hoplites and over 1200 light-armed troops, 
 left the Piraeus amidst the prayers and hopes of the people. 
 Lamachus was an excellent soldier, but had less in- 
 fluence than the other two, because he was of 
 fanationof" humblc birth and of narrow means. Nicias 
 mysteries and inspired Confidence by his character and previous 
 
 the mutilation . i i , 
 
 of the Hermae. scrviccs : but m the existmg excitement it was the 
 bold language and self-confidence of Alcibiades 
 which were most attractive. Still he had powerful enemies, 
 who determined to prevent him from strengthening his position 
 by success in this expedition. The Athenians were always 
 sensitive to religious scruples, and would be specially so at the 
 beginning of a great undertaking. Rumours therefore were 
 industriously spread of his having been guilty of a sacrilege 
 particularly shocking to Athenian feeling. He was said to 
 have held a mock celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries the 
 secret rites of Demeter in his own house with other reckless 
 young men. To crown all, a few days before the expedition 
 
Mtitilation of the Hermae, 243 
 
 started the busts of Hermes, which stood on square pillars 
 along some of the streets, were found to have been mutilated 
 in the night. This may have been the freak of idle or intoxi- 
 cated youths ; but the people were apt to attribute organised 
 mischief to a revolutionary plot. Alcibiades and some of his 
 friends were suspected ; and notice of a public prosecution was 
 given against them for impiety, including the profanation of 
 the mysteries, as well as the mutilation of the Hermae. 
 Alcibiades demanded that the trial should be at once held, and 
 that he should not be sent out in command of an army with 
 such a charge hanging over his head. But perhaps his enemies 
 feared that they would be unable to establish their case in the 
 popular excitement over the Sicilian expedition. It would be 
 easier to do so while he was absent from home. They there- 
 fore induced the assembly to insist upon his proceeding to 
 Sicily, and on the charge being postponed till his return. 
 By the time however that the fleet had reached Rhegium 
 the agitation as to the mutilation of the Hermae had been 
 so skilfully fostered, that several men were executed for 
 being concerned in it, and the assembly resolved to recall 
 Alcibiades. The sacred Salaminian trireme was accordingly 
 sent for Alcibiades, with orders to use no violence and to 
 grant him every indulgence. It found him at Catana, but 
 being allowed to return in his own private trireme he escaped 
 to Argos. 
 
 His loss was a serious one for the expedition, which was 
 being conducted according to his plan. Three ^j^ j^^ 
 
 courses had been suggested by the three generals, of the Sicilian 
 Lamachus wished to attack Syracuse at once, ^^"^p^^s"- 
 while their strength was still undiminished, and the terror of 
 their name great. Nicias wished to keep closer to the 
 ostensible object of the expedition. He proposed to go to 
 Selinus, and if the Segestans were able and willing to supply 
 what they had promised, to settle the quarrel between Selinus 
 and Segesta and then return home. The plan of Alcibiades, 
 
 16 2 
 
244 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 like that of Ivamachus, was to fulfil the real object of the 
 expedition by attacking Syracuse : but he thought that they 
 should first try to win over the Sicels and the Greek cities in 
 Sicily. There was still much to be done in this direction. 
 The Athenian fleet had been refused provisions by the Greek 
 cities on the Italian coast, and as yet had no certain prospect 
 of more friendly treatment from any Greek city in Sicily. 
 They began with Messana and Catana. Neither was willing to 
 join them. But when an accident gave them an entry into 
 Catana, the Athenian headquarters were removed to that place. 
 There the recall reached Alcibiades, and Nicias and Lamachus 
 remained inactive till the approach of winter. Then by 
 spreading false intelligence they induced the Syracusans to 
 send out their full land force to attack Catana, and getting 
 on board their ships they landed near Syracuse before the 
 Syracusan army could return. The Syracusans hastily marched 
 home and were defeated in a battle outside the town. But the 
 Athenian generals would not begin the siege so late in the year, 
 and retired for the winter to Catana. 
 
 Early in the next summer the Athenian army moved to 
 
 6. B.C. 414. Thapsus, where the force was landed. Thence 
 
 The siege of having succccdcd in surprising Epipolae, the 
 
 yracuse. j^.^j^ ground to the north of Syracuse, they began 
 
 constructing lines to enclose the town by a complete cordon 
 
 from sea to sea. 
 
 The besieged made several unsuccessful attempts to in- 
 terrupt the construction of these lines ; and, though Lamachus 
 fell in one of these engagements, it seemed as if the town 
 would inevitably be cut off, and with the Athenian fleet 
 blockading its harbour must be starved out. But one of those 
 sudden changes now occurred which affect the whole course of 
 a campaign. The Spartans though nominally still at peace 
 with Athens had resolved to espouse the cause of Syracuse, and 
 the Athenians justified them by an open breach of the peace in 
 landing a force on the coast of Laconia. The Syracusans, vexed 
 
The Spartans intervene. 
 
 245 
 
 at their ill-success, had deposed their generals, and the Spartan 
 Gylippus with a small force was sent out to take their place. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 i\ C 
 
 ^^.;%^ 
 
 Atheniar 
 
 W%i 
 
 X" 
 
 Camp 
 
 'o'*The Lesser Harbour 
 
 ''"^W^U^ "%#| 
 
 Lysimeleia/.^ 
 iwT II f<^ THE GREAT 
 
 HARBOUR 
 
 )RTYGIA 
 
 V 
 
 #^# 
 
 w5 
 
 ^!^.'^^~"~'~"i l^fTPoliclinc/ fe',i)aco 
 
 Cyane 
 
 1. 
 
 % JSci" 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 jn^ 
 
 f^'-fMl^rayriunr 
 
 Plan of Syracuse. 
 
 Nicias, now in sole command of the Athenian expedition, did 
 not think it worth while to oppose his arrival. Gylippus 
 
246 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 touched at Tarentum, and sailing unhindered through the straits 
 of Messana, landed at Himera. Thence, having collected 
 a large force from the Greek and Sicel towns, he approached 
 Syracuse by land, penetrated the Athenian lines where they 
 were still incomplete, and entered Syracuse. The change thus 
 created was immediate and complete. He surprised the 
 Athenian fort of Labdalum, and after two not very decisive 
 actions succeeded in completing the transverse wall which 
 Hermocrates had failed to carry out previously. This for 
 ever prevented the completion of the sea-to-sea lines of the 
 Athenians. A blockade of the town was thus rendered im- 
 possible, and for the rest of the summer Nicias remained 
 on the defensive. 
 
 The inevitable result followed in the depression and 
 
 demoralisation of the besieging force. The 
 The occupa- gallant fleet, which had sailed out in the previous 
 ^"Y y^^^ w^th such high hopes, was becoming less 
 
 and less fit for service. Nicias was suffering 
 from an incurable complaint and was unable to rouse the 
 flagging spirits of his men. The one hope was to be reinforced 
 from home. In answer to a despatch sent by him at the 
 beginning of the winter the Athenians voted a large reinforce- 
 ment, which was to sail under the command of Demosthenes 
 and Eurymedon in the following spring. They refused to 
 recall Nicias himself. By this time however the chief enemies 
 of Athens the Spartans and Corinthians had also resolved 
 to take up the defence of Syracuse in earnest, and to strike at 
 Athens at home as well as abroad. By the advice of Alcibi- 
 ades, who had come to Sparta from Argos, an invasion of Attica 
 took place in the spring of B.C. 413, and a permanent occupa- 
 tion of Decelea was begun. This town, about 15 miles north 
 of Athens, commanded the road over Parnes from Oropus by 
 which corn was usually conveyed to Athens, when landed by 
 the ships from Northern Greece and Thrace. Its occupation by 
 the enemy therefore not only shut off many farmers from their 
 
Disasters to the Athenians. 247 
 
 lands, but increased the time and expense in furnishing the city 
 with provisions, as the ships were now obliged to sail round 
 Sunium and land their cargoes in the Peiraeus. At the same 
 time a strong force was despatched to Sicily from Sparta and 
 Corinth. 
 
 Meanwhile the Athenian affairs in Sicily had been going 
 from bad to worse. The Syracusans, encouraged 
 by their successes, determined to launch their tJn o^the'^"'^' 
 ships and try conclusions with the Athenian Athenian 
 
 n 1-1 1 ^1 1 J ,. armament at 
 
 fleet, which up to this time they naa not Syracuse, 
 ventured to attack. At first they failed, but 
 their failure was compensated by the capture of the Athenian 
 forts and magazines on Plemmyrium, the southern headland 
 forming the Great Harbour. When Demosthenes and Eury- 
 medon arrived, it was resolved first of all to make an attack on 
 Epipolae ; and when that was repulsed with great loss Demos- 
 thenes wished at once to return home. But Nicias was 
 unwilling to face his disappointed fellow-citizens, and induced 
 the new generals to make another attempt at sea. But the 
 forces against them were too formidable to be attacked, and it 
 was resolved to escape with all on board. This might perhaps 
 have been done, had not an eclipse of the moon occurred 
 (27 August), after which the manteis declared that no move- 
 ment must be made for a month. The superstition of Nicias 
 overcame the counsels of prudence, and the fleet remained only 
 to be again defeated with great loss, Eurymedon being among 
 the slain. The only hope now was to escape by any means. 
 But the Syracusans closed the mouth of the Great Harbour by 
 chains and vessels lashed together across its entrance, and the 
 only chance was to defeat their fleet. Every available man 
 was put on board, while Nicias and the land forces remained 
 watching the struggle. It raged with varying fortune for many 
 hours, but in the end the Athenians were totally defeated. 
 Such of the ships as escaped destruction were run aground as 
 near the Athenian camp as was possible. Demosthenes wished 
 
248 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 next day to renew the fighting at sea, but the men refused, and 
 the only thing left was to retreat by land to some part of Sicily 
 where they might hope for friendly aid. But the retreat was 
 delayed for three days in consequence of the representations 
 of pretended friends within the town, and meanwhile the 
 Syracusans broke up the roads in their line of march and 
 made every preparation to intercept them. Nicias in this 
 supreme hour behaved with great heroism, sparing no pains to 
 encourage and animate his men. The retreat was conducted 
 in two columns, one commanded by Nicias, the other by 
 Demosthenes. The latter was first overtaken by the Syra- 
 cusan cavalry and light-armed troops; and after marching a 
 whole day continually harassed by the enemy, Demosthenes and 
 his whole division were compelled to surrender. The same fate 
 befell the division of Nicias two days later, which after suffering 
 great loss during a day's march was finally captured on the 
 river Assinarus. Demosthenes and Nicias in spite of the 
 remonstrances of Gylippus were put to death, and the bulk of 
 the Athenian troops were confined in the quarries near Syra- 
 cuse or sold as slaves. The whole of the remaining fleet fell 
 into the hands of the Syracusans. 
 
 The dismay of the Athenians at this disaster did not induce 
 
 8 Revolt of t^^"^ ^^ make peace ; and though the continued 
 
 Athenian occupation of Decclca by the Spartans caused 
 
 allies, B.C. 412. , ., ,., , i. i.i r 
 
 great annoyance, it did not prevent them from 
 fitting out fleets to repress the rebellions among their allies 
 which followed their defeat in Sicily. The Spartans were always 
 ready to assist the rebels, and the decay of true Hellenic 
 patriotism is shewn by the fact that both sides intrigued with 
 the Persian satraps, who welcomed divisions in Greece which 
 would enable them to recover the king's authority over Greek 
 cities in Asia. Accordingly the last scenes of the war are 
 almost confined to Asia and the islands. There were four 
 points at which the aid of Sparta was invoked. First in Asia, 
 where Erythrae, Teos, and Miletus with the island of Chios 
 
The Athenians maintain the struggle. 249 
 
 revolted in b.c. 412; secondly, in Lesbos; thirdly, in the cities 
 of the Hellespont and Thrace \ lastly, in Euboea. By the advice 
 of Alcibiades the Spartans gave the preference to the first of 
 these groups and a fleet was mustered at Corinth to proceed to 
 Asia. For a time the Athenian ships held it back ; but Alci- 
 biades with a small squadron made his way to Chios and 
 supported by Tissaphernes, satrap of Lydia, encouraged the 
 rebels. A treaty made with the Persians declared that the 
 Asiatic cities were subject to the king and need no longer pay 
 tribute to Athens. The revolt spread still farther, when the 
 Peloponnesian fleet under the Spartan admiral Astyochus 
 arrived, having broken through the cordon of Athenian ships. 
 
 But the energy of the Athenians was equal to the crisis. 
 A popular revolution at Samos put that island g^ oaUant 
 securely at their disposal. They attacked and struggle of 
 subdued the Lesbians; recovered Clazomenae; maintain the 
 defeated the Chian ships and blockaded the ^"^p^*"^- 
 island; made a descent upon the coast of Miletus, and, after 
 defeating the Milesians and their alHes, prepared to lay siege 
 to the town. The arrival of another combined Peloponnesian 
 and Sicilian fleet forced them indeed to abandon this siege 
 and retire to Samos. But on the whole they had shewn an 
 almost undiminished strength. The blockade of Chios was 
 continued, the enemy vainly attempted to recover Clazomenae, 
 and Astyochus did not venture to aid the Lesbians. On the 
 other hand a defeat was inflicted upon an Athenian squadron 
 off" Cnidus, and Rhodes revolted and was occupied by the 
 Peloponnesian fleet. 
 
 But a second treaty by which, in return for the support 
 promised by the Spartans to the Persian king 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 c 10. Alcibiades 
 
 m Asia, he undertook to bear the expense 01 abandons the 
 all armaments serving in his territory or at his nesiTn"' 
 request, led to frequent disputes between Tis- 
 saphernes and the Spartan commanders. Taking advantage 
 of these, Alcibiades quitted his Peloponnesian friends and 
 
250 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 joined himself closely with Tissaphernes, He was weary of 
 his exile in Sparta. The habits of the Spartans were uncon- 
 genial to him, and his own misconduct involved him in 
 quarrels with King Agis and made his position insecure. His 
 object now was to pave the way for a return to Athens. Per- 
 haps he had enough patriotism left to dislike witnessing her 
 humiliation. At any rate he had no desire to see Sparta all- 
 powerful in Greece. He suggested to Tissaphernes that it 
 was not to the king's interest that any one State should have 
 a decided supremacy, and that he had better be less liberal 
 in subsidies to the Spartan army and fleet. Yet when an 
 Athenian embassy encouraged by Alcibiades came to Tis- 
 saphernes, his demands were so outrageous that the nego- 
 tiations were abruptly broken off. The Athenians attributed 
 this to the treachery of Alcibiades himself; but it is probable 
 that he found his influence with Tissaphernes less than he 
 thought. The king's right to send a fleet into the Aegean 
 was what Tissaphernes no doubt thought essential. It was 
 the one thing that the Athenians could not concede and yet 
 maintain the Confederacy of Delos and their right to tax the 
 allies. For the avowed object of that tax was to maintain 
 a fleet able to prevent the king's ships from sailing in Greek 
 waters. At the end of the year the Athenian force remained 
 at Samos, the Spartan at Miletus. 
 
 In the next year the Spartans began the second part of 
 
 their programme by promoting a rebellion 
 The revolution against Athens in the Hellespont, where Der- 
 H^ndr^d"^ cylidas was sent to encourage the movement. 
 
 Nothing however decisive occurred. Abydos 
 and Lampsacus revolted, but the latter was speedily reduced 
 by a detachment of the Athenian force which was blockading 
 Chios. And though Abydos successfully resisted, the Athe- 
 nians occupied the opposite town of Sestos which also com- 
 manded the entrance of the Hellespont. Yet later on in the 
 year the revolt spread to Byzantium. 
 
The Four Hundred. 251 
 
 But the great event of the year was a revolution In Athens 
 itself, where the long continuance of the war and its chequered 
 fortunes naturally gave the oligarchical peace party an oppor- 
 tunity. The embassy to Tissaphernes of the previous year 
 had been led by Peisander, who with his colleagues had win- 
 tered at Samos. Thence, after conference with certain of the 
 same party in the Athenian fleet, he sailed to Athens with 
 some of his colleagues intent on abolishing the democracy. 
 When he arrived he found his work half done by the political 
 clubs, which had established a kind of terror by secret assassi- 
 nations of leading democrats. In their alarm the people 
 consented to appoint a commission to draw up a new consti- 
 tution. There were always some doctrinaire politicians to 
 whom this was a congenial task. They produced a scheme 
 which professed to confine power to the 'best men.' There 
 was to be a nominated council of four hundred to conduct 
 the government, and a sovereign assembly. But this assembly 
 or ecdesia was to be confined to 5000 named by the council. 
 The leading statesmen who devised this scheme were Antiphon, 
 Phrynichus, and Theramenes, who perhaps sincerely believed 
 it to be for the good of the State; the misfortunes of which 
 were owing to the imprudence of a large and indiscriminate 
 ecclesia. The scheme was put to the vote and carried. The 
 old council of five hundred was forcibly abolished and the 
 new council of four hundred was established in its place. 
 
 The experiment however did not last long. In the first 
 place, it soon appeared that all power was to be 
 in the hands of the Four Hundred. The as- sido'nto^thV 
 sembly of five thousand was not summoned, or "^V <="sti- 
 
 -' . ' tution in the 
 
 even nommated. In the next place, the army at army at 
 Samos under the guidance of Thrasybulus and ^^"^^' 
 Thrasylus declined to recognise the new government. They 
 elected their own generals and determined to carry on the 
 war. They invited Alcibiades to Samos, whose influence with 
 Tissaphernes was still believed to be great, and elected him 
 
252 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 one of their generals. He induced them to give the agents 
 of the Four Hundred a hearing : but a peremptory message 
 was sent to Athens that the old council of Five Hundred 
 must be restored. Meanwhile the new government, after vainly 
 attempting negotiations with King Agis at Decelea, had baffled 
 his attempt to surprise the city and had sent ambassadors to 
 negotiate with the Spartan government. But when the de- 
 cision of the army at Samos was known at Athens, a certain 
 number of the Four Hundred themselves headed by Thera- 
 menes ventured to shew their discontent at the failure of 
 the council to carry out the full scheme, by summoning the 
 ecclesia of Five Thousand. The more violent party, alarmed 
 at this, sent hastily to Sparta offering peace on any terms. 
 They also began building a fort at the entrance of the Peiraeus, 
 to secure command of the food supply as well as to protect 
 themselves, should the fleet return from Samos. But these 
 two measures proved their ruin. The people believed that 
 they were being betrayed to Sparta and that this fort was 
 to facilitate the entrance of Spartan ships into the harbour. 
 This belief was intensified when a Spartan fleet was seen on 
 its way to support the rebels in Euboea. There was a great 
 popular rising countenanced by Theramenes. The new fort was 
 demoHshed, and the restoration of the old council demanded, 
 and at any rate the real establishment of the ecclesia of Five 
 Thousand. It was at length agreed that the assembly of all 
 the citizens should be summoned to decide. But before any 
 conclusion could be reached the citizens had hastily to man 
 all remaining ships and sail to Euboea, which was now in 
 full revolt supported by the Spartan fleet. They were defeated, 
 and all Euboea, except Oreus or Histiaea, was lost. The 
 Spartans however did not follow up their victory by an attack 
 upon Athens, and this calamity had the effect of restoring 
 internal peace within the city. The revolutionary government 
 had brought no success ; and the people being again summoned 
 put down the council of Four Hundred, and restored the old 
 
Victories of A Icibiades. 253 
 
 ecclesia with some restrictions, as to which we are not in- 
 formed. Whatever they were, they seem to have been very 
 soon tacitly neglected \ 
 
 Meanwhile the Peloponnesians had not been successful 
 in Asia. Whether it was from the influence of Battle of 
 
 Alcibiades or from his own policy, Tissaphernes Cynossema, 
 would not treat the Peloponnesian officers frankly, ' ' ^^^' 
 or fulfil his engagements as to supplying pay. The Pelopon- 
 nesians seem also to have quarrelled among themselves, and 
 in this summer Mindarus was sent to take the place of As- 
 tyochus who had become unpopular in the fleet. Weary of the 
 duplicity of Tissaphernes, Mindarus resolved to transfer the fleet 
 to the Hellespont and see whether the satrap Pharnabazus 
 would treat them better. But this move was answered by 
 a counter-movement of the Athenian squadron which was 
 at Samos under Thrasylus. It sailed to the Hellespont, and 
 off Cynossema, a promontory on the east coast of the Thracian 
 Chersonese, utterly defeated the Peloponnesians. The victory 
 revived the spirits of the Athenians. They proceeded to 
 recover Cyzicus and other revolted towns; and though they 
 seem afterwards to have sustained a reverse, this was 
 presently made up for when Alcibiades arrived to take com- 
 mand. He engaged the Spartans near Abydos, from which 
 they had issued out to escort a fresh fleet into the Hellespont, 
 and defeated them with the loss of 30 ships. Tissaphernes 
 had now arrived at the Hellespont wishing to be reconciled 
 to the Peloponnesians, and caused Alcibiades who visited him 
 to be arrested and sent to Sardis. Alcibiades however managed 
 to escape after about a month's detention, and rejoined the 
 iVthenian fleet. For the next two years he is the ruling spirit 
 in the war. Whatever his faults there seems no doubt that 
 
 ^ Certain Noniothetae were appointed to revise the laws and suggest 
 alterations required. But these men seem to have taken a long time, and 
 perhaps never made their report. Consequently this new constitution, 
 whatever it was, was never legally established. 
 
254 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 he was an excellent general. Everywhere victory attended 
 14. Battles t^i"^' He surprised the Peloponnesian fleet as 
 ^^yzicus it was manoeuvring outside the harbour of 
 
 B.C. 410; and Cyzicus, capturcd the whole of it, and killed 
 ChaSon and Mindarus. Having forced Cyzicus to surrender 
 Byzantium, he proceeded to the Bosporus, where he es- 
 tablished a custom house to receive tolls from 
 the corn ships. In the autumn, having been joined at Sestos 
 by Thrasylus who had suffered a severe defeat at Ephesus 
 he won a brilliant victory over Pharnabazus at Abydos. In 
 the following spring (b.c. 409) he proceeded once more to 
 the Bosporus and invested Chalcedon opposite Byzantium, 
 and successfully repelled a sortie from within and the attempt 
 of Pharnabazus to raise the siege from without. This induced 
 Pharnabazus to come to terms, acknowledging Chalcedon as 
 tributary to Athens, and arranging that Athenian envoys 
 should visit the king, and that there should be no hostilities in 
 Asia till their return. These envoys were on various pretexts 
 retained for three years. But meanwhile Alcibiades pressed 
 on the siege of Byzantium which presently surrendered. 
 
 These brilliant successes paved the way for the return of 
 Alcibiades to Athens. He was elected general, 
 biades returns ^.c. 408, and whcn Thrasylus took the main 
 to Athens, army and fleet home, Alcibiades accompanied 
 
 him to Athens. Thus, in June B.C. 408, he 
 once more entered the Peiraeus after an exile of seven years. 
 He was received with the utmost enthusiasm. The curse 
 pronounced upon him for his profanation of the mysteries 
 was revoked, and for the time there seemed nothing that the 
 people, always as easily moved to remorse as to anger, were 
 not prepared to do to shew their repentance and confidence. 
 He was elected general with absolute powers to continue the 
 war, and crowned his reconciliation by an act of reparation 
 to the goddess of Eleusis, whose mysteries he had been con- 
 demned for profaning. The solemn procession along the 
 
Defeat of Athenians at Notium. 255 
 
 sacred road to Eleusis had for several years been omitted for 
 fear of the enemy, such worshippers as still went being con- 
 veyed by sea. But Alcibiades now escorted the procession 
 with a guard and brought it safely home. He then caused 
 100 triremes to be equipped, and having raised large rein- 
 forcements of soldiers he sailed in October for Andros, and 
 after inflicting a defeat upon the Lacedaemonian garrison 
 there, proceeded to Samos. 
 
 The Lacedaemonians meanwhile had been strengthening 
 their position in Asia. The capable Lysander 
 superseded the feeble admiral who had been in Notium in 
 command, and gained the warm friendship of ^p"^' ^^ 
 Cyrus, the younger son of the Persian king, who 
 had come down to Sardis as governor-general of the king's 
 dominions in Asia Minor. Cyrus promised the Peloponnesians 
 vigorous support and increased pay, while he refused even 
 to see Athenian envoys. Lysander had now 90 ships at 
 Ephesus, and Alcibiades, who had wintered at Samos, would 
 not attack him till he had collected an overpowering force. 
 In the spring of B.C. 407 he left the fleet at Samos in charge 
 of Antiochus, with strict orders not to engage the enemy, while 
 he went to confer with Thrasybulus, who had arrived with 
 his fleet at Phocaea on the coast of Lydia. But Antiochus 
 allowed himself to be drawn into a general engagement with 
 Lysander off Notium, and was defeated with the loss of 15 
 triremes. On his return Alcibiades vainly endeavoured to 
 entice Lysander out, that he might renew the battle and avenge 
 the defeat. It does not appear that the disaster was in any 
 way the fault of Alcibiades, who had good reasons for visiting 
 Thrasybulus and concerting measures with him ; but the 
 Athenians at home attributed it to his neglect, and super- 
 seded him by sending out a new board of ten generals. He 
 thereupon retired to a castle of his own in the Thracian 
 Chersonese. He was a great loss to the Athenian cause. 
 The ten generals among whom was Conon were capable 
 
256 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 men, but their period of command did little for the Athenian 
 cause and ended in a way unfortunate to themselves. 
 
 For the rest of the season of B.C. 407, Conon, who was 
 
 17 B c 06 commanding at Samos, contented himself with 
 The battle of manning a part only of his fleet and making de- 
 
 rgmusae. scents upon the coasts. In the spring of B.C. 406 
 
 the Spartan Lysander was succeeded by Callicratidas, who, 
 though unable to obtain the same help from Cyrus as Lysander 
 had done, managed to equip 140 ships with supplies from 
 his other allies, and tried to tempt the Athenians to give 
 him battle by making attacks on Chios and Lesbos. He even 
 chased Conon into the harbour of Mitylene and blockaded 
 him there, capturing 30 Athenian vessels. But Conon con- 
 trived to send word to Athens, and in thirty days a fresh fleet of 
 no vessels was on its way to Samos. Callicratidas attempted 
 to intercept it when it was at anchor off Lesbos, and while the 
 crews were eating their dinner on some small islands called 
 Arginusae, between Lesbos and the mainland. The Athenians 
 however were able to put out to sea in time to meet him, 
 and in the battle which followed inflicted a severe defeat upon 
 the Peloponnesians. Callicratidas himself was killed, and 69 
 ships were lost against 25 of the Athenian, while the survivors 
 of the Peloponnesian fleet fled to Chios and Phocaea. But the 
 Athenian victory was marred by an unfortunate circumstance. 
 After the battle 12 of the 15 disabled vessels were still afloat, 
 and while some of their crews, as well as some from the other 
 13 vessels which were totally lost, managed to get to land, 
 a considerable number were still clinging to the wrecks. 
 The eight generals Conon and one other were not at the 
 battle wished to attack the enemy's ships at Mytilene, and 
 they ordered Thrasybulus and Theramenes to stay behind with 
 47 vessels to rescue these men. But a violent storm came on 
 which prevented both the expedition and the rescue, and 
 nearly all these unfortunate men perished. 
 
 As the year during which the ten generals normally held 
 
Exemtion of the generals after Arg'umsae. 257 
 
 office was now over (July), a new board was elected, and 
 only Conon was continued in office. Of the eight ^g ^^^_ 
 engaged at Arginusae two did not go home, cutionofthe 
 probably suspecting danger. The six who did ^^^s^"^^^^. 
 return were promptly impeached before the assembly for treason. 
 Among the loudest of their accusers was Theramenes himself, 
 who with Thrasybulus had been ordered to rescue the drowning 
 men. At the first hearing the generals seemed to have suf- 
 ficiently defended themselves by alleging that the storm had 
 made the rescue impossible, a statement supported by many 
 pilots and sailors who were there. The proceedings however 
 had taken so long that the final decision was deferred to the 
 next meeting of the assembly. In the interval occurred the 
 festival of the Apaturia (October), which was an occasion of 
 family gatherings, enrolment on the register of their demes of 
 children and adopted citizens, and other similar functions. The 
 losses suffered by families in the war would then be specially 
 noticed; and as the signs of mourning were everywhere 
 visible sometimes, it was afterwards said, falsely assumed to 
 increase the impression a strong feeling was aroused against 
 the generals. This was faithfully reflected by the proposal 
 which was now brought forward. An impeachment before the 
 assembly was conducted like other business there. The Boule 
 drew up the proposal called a probonleuma and the pry- 
 taneis, that is, the fifty members of the Boule whose turn it 
 was to preside, put it as the resolution to be voted upon. 
 In this case \h& probouleuma stated that evidence having been 
 already fully heard, the people were simply to vote for or 
 against all the generals at once, and that, in case of con- 
 demnation, the penalty was to be death. This was uncon- 
 stitutional, because a law or decree carried by Cannonus had 
 ordained that in case of several accused persons each was 
 to be voted upon separately. The famous Socrates therefore, 
 who was one of the prytaneis, refused to break the law by 
 putting the motion to the people, and left the assembly rather 
 
 S. G. 17 
 
258 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 than do so, though assailed by loud cries and threats. It 
 was however put by the other prytaneis and passed, and the 
 six generals were executed. 
 
 Next year (b.c. 405) Lysander again directed the Lace- 
 , -. daemonian fleet at Ephesus, though nominally 
 
 19. Battle of T ^ , - . . -^ 
 
 Aegospotami sccond in Command as eptstokus or vice-admiral. 
 
 waVfix".^*^^ '^^^ ^^''^y P^^^ ^^ ^^ summer was spent in some 
 405 (July unimportant operations on the coast of Caria 
 
 ugus ). ^^^ Ionia. But presently Lysander sailed to the 
 
 Hellespont, where most damage could be done to Athens by 
 stopping her supplies of corn. There he captured Lampsacus 
 and occupied its harbour. The Athenian fleet of 180 sail 
 followed close behind him and anchored at Aegospotami on 
 the Thracian Chersonese, opposite Lampsacus. It was an 
 open beach and an unsafe anchorage, as Alcibiades, who 
 visited the Athenian head-quarters, pointed out. Lysander, 
 after making several feints, seized an opportunity when the 
 crews were mostly on shore for their dinner. Rowing 
 rapidly across he possessed himself of the greater part of the 
 Athenian ships with scarcely any resistance. The crews to 
 the number of 3000, as well as the generals, were captured 
 and put to the sword, and the whole force was annihilated, 
 Conon with eight ships, and the sacred Paralus alone escaping. 
 This was the end of the war. The Athenians could not 
 put another fleet to sea capable of preventing Lysander from 
 occupying the Peiraeus. By land they soon found them- 
 selves closely invested, for before many days the Spartan king 
 Pausanias with a large force joined King Agis at Decelea, 
 and the two proceeded to occupy the academy, just outside 
 the walls. When the Paralus had arrived with the fatal news, 
 in spite of the consternation caused by it, there had been 
 a feverish haste to put the town in a state of defence. ' That 
 night no one slept.' But it was evident to all that, if Lysander 
 chose to occupy the harbour while the Spartan kings occupied 
 the country outside the walls, they must be starved out. So 
 
End of the Pcloponnesian War. 259 
 
 sure was Lysander of his prey that he made no haste. He 
 busied himself with confirming the complete separation of all 
 her allies from Athens, sending home Athenian citizens to 
 swell the numbers to be fed within the city. He waited also 
 to perform a great act of justice. Not content with destroying 
 the naval power of Aegina, the Athenians had resolved to get 
 rid of its Dorian inhabitants altogether and thus remove what 
 Pericles called the ' eyesore ' of the Peiraeus. This people had 
 accordingly been expelled in B.C. 431 and allowed by Sparta 
 to settle in the coast district of Thyrea. In B.C. 424 the 
 Athenians occupied Thyrea and killed many of the Aeginetan 
 settlers. Their survivors were now restored to their homes in 
 Aegina by Lysander, who thus occupied nearly two months 
 before appearing in the Peiraeus. It was then only a question 
 of months or even weeks before Athens must surrender. Her 
 fall marks the beginning of a Spartan supremacy in Greece, of 
 which we shall have to speak in the next chapter. 
 
 17 2 
 
260 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Spartan and Theban Supremacies 
 (B.C. 404362). 
 
 The result of the Peloponnesian war was to put the 
 Spartans, in regard to the States that had formed 
 
 I. Effect of ^ 
 
 the Peiopon- the Confederacy of Delos, in the place of the 
 and theTa^ture Athenians. Professedly these peoples were freed 
 of Spartan from the control of an imperial State, practically 
 
 supremacy. 1 i o a o 
 
 they were subjected to Sparta. A Spartan ha7'- 
 ffiost or a board of ten a decarchy took the place of the 
 Athenian eptscopus, and in some cases a Spartan garrison the 
 place of Athenian phylakes. This also meant a considerable 
 political change : for wherever there was a Spartan harmost, there 
 was pressure put upon a State to abolish or modify democracy 
 and to introduce a more oligarchical form of government. Nor 
 were the States much relieved financially. They no longer, 
 it is true, paid the pharos to Athens; but on one pretext or 
 another they had to pay contributions to Sparta, which is said 
 to have received from them a yearly revenue of looo talents. 
 Spartan officers moreover were less sympathetic and concili- 
 atory than Athenian, and speedily became unpopular. Nor 
 when circumstances made it necessary for the Spartans to play 
 the part once sustained by the Athenians, as champions of 
 Hellenic cities against Persia, did they prove either so trust- 
 worthy or so successful as the Athenians. 
 
 Though a small Sicilian fleet had after B.C. 413 rendered 
 aid to the Peloponnesians in the Aegean, yet the political 
 troubles in Syracuse that followed the Athenian invasion, and 
 the great struggle with the Carthaginians which came a few 
 
The fall of Athens. 261 
 
 years later withdrew the Sicilian and Italian Greeks from the 
 main stream of Greek History for some time to ^ siciiy 
 come. We have for the next forty years to trace and Magna 
 
 1 1 1 /- 1 r V. 1 r-t 1 Graecia with- 
 
 the combmations and feuds of Central Greek drawn from 
 States, and their effect upon the fortunes of Sj^h ^J!n*'^n ' 
 
 ' _ ^ ^ _ Ine beginning 
 
 their Asiatic brethren's freedom or submission of spartan 
 to Persia. The great States which chiefly in- ^"P*"^"^^<=y- 
 fluence the course of events are Sparta, Athens, Corinth, 
 Thebes. At first the supremacy is entirely in the hands of 
 Sparta. She gained it by crushing the power of Athens, in 
 which, as in other cases, she tried to maintain her power by 
 promoting an oligarchical revolution within its walls. This is 
 the most conspicuous instance of the policy of Sparta, its 
 strength and weakness, and we will begin the narrative of her 
 supremacy with an account of it. 
 
 Athens held out till the spring of e.g. 404, though the 
 citizens suffered much from confinement and ^, 
 
 3. rne 
 
 want of food. After fruitless offers to Agis, to surrender of 
 Lysander, and to the Ephors, the people were at fstabu^shllfelit^ 
 length persuaded to commission Theramenes to of the Thirty, 
 go to Lysander with full powers to agree to any ' " ^^^ '*'*' 
 terms of surrender. He was over three months absent, and 
 on his return could only report that he had been again referred 
 to the Ephors. With nine others he was sent to Sparta, and 
 presently returned with the final demands. The Athenians 
 were to be free though wholly deprived of their external 
 empire and the Spartan army of invasion was to be withdrawn, 
 on condition that all ships of war except 1 2 were given up, the 
 long walls and the walls of the Peiraeus demolished, and all 
 oligarchical exiles recalled. The people were too much reduced 
 by famine and misery to resist, and too much relieved by the 
 promised withdrawal of the invading armies to feel the full 
 humiliation when the destruction of the long walls was begun 
 to the sound of music and rejoicing, as though it were the 
 beginning of freedom for Greece. 
 
V 
 
 262 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 But the party within the city which had welcomed the 
 presence of the Spartans was not content with this. They 
 desired a complete change of government. The oligarchical 
 clubs had been strengthened by the return of exiles and by the 
 presence of the Spartans, and at once began scheming for a 
 change of government. Five leading men formed themselves 
 into a committee to control the ecclesia, and invited Lysander's 
 presence at a meeting of it. There it was proposed to appoint 
 a commission of Thirty to revise the laws and, meanwhile, to 
 conduct the government. The presence of Lysander overawed 
 opposition, and they were appointed. Among those Thirty 
 was Theramenes, who once more wished to try his hand at 
 constructing a constitution, while the most influential and most 
 violent was Critias. What form of constitution would have 
 eventually resulted from their labours we cannot tell ; for the 
 Thirty made such ill use of their temporary authority, that they 
 fell before that point was settled. Having secured that the 
 Boule and other offices should be filled by their own partisans, 
 they proceeded on various pretexts to get rid of all whom they 
 thought dangerous. At first their victims were informers and 
 men of bad character, whose death or banishment was regarded 
 with indifference by the people. But presently, as they needed 
 money, rich men were marked down for death for no other 
 reason but the profit to be got by the confiscation of their 
 property. They especially attacked the class of men called 
 luetics, or resident aliens, who, though not full citizens, were 
 useful members of the community carrying on various peaceful 
 trades and professions without meddling with politics. Among 
 the victims was the brother of the orator Lysias, who was 
 arrested and put to death on the pretence of disaffection, 
 Lysias himself only escaping by paying an enormous bribe to 
 the members of the Thirty sent to arrest him. Socrates 
 once more shewed his courage and integrity by refusing, 
 at the risk of his life, to obey an order to arrest an innocent 
 man. 
 
Rise and fall of the Thirty, 263 
 
 But these acts of injustice produced a split in their own 
 ranks. Theramenes once more declared for ^ ^^ ^ 
 
 Death of 
 
 moderation, and insisted that the Thirty should Theramenes 
 proceed with their proper business of drawing and counter- 
 up a constitution. As a compromise, Critias 
 proposed to make a list of 3000 citizens who were alone to 
 have full privileges and the right of possessing arms. Though 
 Theramenes objected that the 'best' men could not be con- 
 fined to a definite number, the proposal was carried; and 
 Critias, having succeeded in getting the name of Theramenes 
 himself erased from the list, arrested and put him to death. 
 Theramenes was probably sincere, though his moderation always 
 seemed like time-serving and gained him the nick-name of 
 Cothurnus^ the ' buskin ' that would fit either foot. At any rate 
 his death removed all restraint from the violent part of the 
 Thirty, who now took still more sweeping measures. All not 
 in the list of 3000 were forbidden to live in the upper city 
 without leave, and many were deprived of their lands and 
 goods. These people, if they could not find a home in the 
 Peiraeus, sought refuge at Megara, Thebes, and Chalcis in 
 Euboea. More than half the citizens were said to be in exile. 
 But this conduct of the Thirty caused their ruin. The exiles 
 were protected by these towns and their surrender was refused. 
 In September of B.C. 404 Th^^bu 1 1 1 fxr- wh o had stood by the 
 democracy at the time of the Four Hundred also left Thebes 
 where he was living in exile and seized on Phyle, a strong castle 
 on the pass over Mount Parnes about 10 miles from Athens, 
 with some 70 followers. There he was joined by other exiles 
 till he had nearly 700 men. After repulsing a force sent against 
 him by the Thirty, about November he descended upon the 
 Peiraeus and occupied the high ground of Munychia. Critias 
 led an army against him but was defeated and killed. This 
 brought a change of government. The 3000 citizens on the 
 roll deposed the Thirty and elected a body of Ten. But the 
 Ten were equally opposed to Thrasybulus, and asked help from 
 
264 Short Histo7y of the Greeks. 
 
 Sparta. In answer to this appeal Lysander himself was sent 
 as harmost with a Spartan garrison, while a Spartan fleet 
 blockaded the Peiraeiis. But Agis and Pausanias were jealous 
 of Lysander, and after some little fighting, which was not 
 meant to be serious, gave a hint that they were open to an 
 offer of terms. In the end peace was made on condition that 
 the Athenians should support Sparta in war and grant an 
 amnesty to all except the actual members of the Thirty. By 
 the spring of B.C. 403 Thrasybulus was in possession of the 
 city ; the Spartan garrison and harmost were withdrawn ; and 
 the old constitution restored. The Archon Eponymus of the 
 year was Eucleides, and his archonship thus marks an epoch 
 in Athenian history, and the final restoration of democracy. 
 But though the amnesty was well observed, and political 
 
 passions seem to have died down at Athens for 
 aryfeeiingsat a time, a State could not go through so much 
 So^hSs '^^^ suffering and humiliation without some lasting 
 
 effects on public feeling. At Athens this seems 
 to have taken the form of a desire to return to some imaginary 
 standard of simplicity of life and religious piety, under which 
 former generations had attained greatness. What had de- 
 stroyed all this ? The reactionary party answered by the word 
 ' sophistry ' the teaching of the professional lecturers, who 
 whether natives or foreigners constantly gave instructions to 
 young men, after they had left school, in rhetoric or physics or 
 other branches of learning and philosophy. Some of them 
 such as Anaxagoras and Protagoras had been at various times 
 forbidden to reside in Athens on account of the supposed 
 irreligious or immoral tendency of their teaching. But the 
 public feeling did not stop now to distinguish. The whole 
 system was regarded as corrupting, and the Athenians had 
 one man in their midst who seemed to embody all that was 
 worst and most misleading in it. 
 
 This was Socrates. The son of a sculptor and a mid-wife 
 Socrates was born in B.C. 469, and is one of the most remarkable 
 
To face p. 265 
 
 Socrates 
 
The life and teaching of Socrates. 265 
 
 characters in history. At first he followed his father's profession : 
 but quickly finding that his calling was for specu- 
 
 , 11 jcvu-i- 5- Socrates. 
 
 lation rather than art or any definite busuiess, he 
 devoted himself to the study of poetry and philosophy, and to 
 listening to the conversations and speeches of all the great men 
 to whom he could get access. In course of time he obtained 
 an extraordinary influence, especially among rich and intelligent 
 young men, in a most original manner. He had nothing in his 
 person to recommend him. He had the fiait nose and thick 
 lips of a satyr, and, though possessed of great physical strength, 
 was of a heavy ungainly figure, while his dress and manner of 
 life betokened extreme poverty. With all these disadvantages, 
 the charm of his conversation was so great, that rich men 
 gathered round him continually and were glad to welcome him 
 to their tables. He gave no formal instruction or lectures, and 
 demanded no fees, but he was ready to discuss every kind of 
 subject especially such as concerned conduct and belief^ 
 with all comers. He regarded himself as a divinely appointed 
 missionary to clear the minds of his countrymen from confused 
 or false notions as to justice, righteousness, virtue, and religion. 
 The Athenians leaving mechanical arts mostly to their slaves 
 were now, as in St Paul's time, eager to hear some new 
 thing; and Socrates was daily seen in the market-place, or 
 wherever men congregated, discussing these high subjects with 
 groups of earnest or amused listeners. The older and more 
 conservative citizens, or those who here as everywhere sus- 
 pected to be dangerous what they could not understand, looked 
 upon this as demoralising to the young, undermining their 
 notions of right and wrong, or at any rate withdrawing them 
 from active life. This view had been formulated by Aristo- 
 phanes, who in B.C. 423 selected Socrates, as the representative 
 of the new culture, to be attacked in his play of the Clouds. 
 But public feeling was not then sufficiently roused and the 
 play did not get a prize. It was however brought out again 
 some time after b.c. 411 with a new denouement, in which the 
 
266 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 young man who had been corrupted joins his old father, whom 
 Socrates had persuaded him to ill-treat, in burning down the 
 sophist's school. It did not much matter that Socrates could 
 not fairly be looked upon as at the head of any particular 
 school; or that he had in fact avoided discussion on certain 
 physical theories. It could not be denied that his arguments 
 tended to shake many current beliefs. It was this tendency that 
 Aristophanes was attacking, and it was necessary for dramatic 
 purposes to have a well-known figure as the prominent person 
 in his play. Other comic poets attacked him in much the same 
 way, and thus created the sort of popular feeling with which 
 we are so well acquainted nowadays as a result of a newspaper 
 campaign. This feeling was now intensified by the fact that 
 among the youths known to have been much in the society 
 of Socrates were Alcibiades and Critias. It was an easy step 
 to call them his pupils, and to attribute the intemperance and 
 treason of the former, and the excesses of the latter as leader 
 of the Thirty, to the lessons learnt from his lips^ 
 
 Some five years therefore after the restoration of the 
 
 6. Trial and democracy three men, Meletus a poet, Lycon 
 
 death of Soc- ^n orator, and Anytus a man of business, came 
 
 rates, B.C. 399. , , . 
 
 forward to accuse him of atheism and corruption 
 of the young. By atheism was meant a disbelief in the gods 
 of the country. And the frequent assertion of Socrates, that a 
 divine warning or dacjiion often prevented him from doing some 
 particular thing, was enough to shew him to be a setter forth 
 of strange gods: while Anytus believed his son to have been 
 perverted by him. In defending himself Socrates repudiated 
 the charge of atheism, denied that he undertook to teach 
 anybody, and affirmed that so far from corrupting those 
 who listened to his conversation as all were at liberty to do 
 without fee he had cleared men's minds from confused and 
 false ideas of justice and virtue, and led them to aim at 
 
 1 Another of the partisans of the Thirty, Charmides (one of the ' Ten 
 on the Peiraeus ') frequented the society of Socrates. 
 
Death of Socrates. 267 
 
 realities. When he was found guilty by a small majority of 
 the dicasts, his accusers assessed the penalty at death. Called 
 upon according to Athenian custom to give a counter- 
 assessment, he at first asserted that he deserved public main- 
 tenance in the Prytaneium rather than punishment, but at 
 length, owing to the urgent advice of his friends, fixed it at a 
 fine of 30 minae (about ;^i2o). The jury regarded this as 
 contumacy and voted for the sentence proposed by the accusers 
 death. He had still a month of life : the sacred trireme, 
 the Salaminia, was conveying commissioners to attend the 
 festival at Delos, and until it returned no capital sentence 
 could be carried out. He was then obliged to drink the 
 hemlock poison used at Athens for executions. Thus was 
 the moral panic allayed. But this martyrdom was not the 
 only sign that the old spirit of freedom which had endured 
 the outspoken ridicule of the comic stage was gone. Just 
 when Athens had ceased to be important politically, it became 
 unsafe to speak about politics and politicians. The later plays 
 of Aristophanes have scarcely any political allusions. The old 
 parabasiSy or speech delivered by the leader of the chorus as 
 mouth-piece of the poet, was dropped, and a new kind of 
 comedy bearing on stories of private life and manners was 
 called for more respectable, perhaps, but much less inter- 
 esting. The death of one old man, chiefly noted for talk 
 often found embarrassing by self-satisfied and dignified people, 
 did not perhaps seem to ordinary citizens to be a matter of 
 much importance. But it confirmed the influence which he 
 had exercised over a few choice spirits : and the philosophy of 
 Plato, which has so deeply influenced human thought, took its 
 rise from the inspiration of his discourses. 
 
 The interest of Greek history after the fall of Athens 
 shifts again to Asia. The support which Cyrus 7- The 
 had given to Sparta was now to be paid for by cyrus'andthe 
 services to Cyrus himself. He had no doubt retreat of the 
 
 . 10,000 Greeks, 
 
 the same policy as other Persian satraps in b.c. 402-401. 
 
268 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 regard to the Ionian cities. They were one day to be annexed 
 again to the dominions of the king. But Cyrus had at 
 present a more important object in view that of securing the 
 succession to the kingdom at the death of his father Darius 
 for himself, in place of his elder brother Artaxerxes. His 
 designs being suspected, he had been summoned to visit 
 his father at Susa. He went with Tissaphernes and a com- 
 pany of hired Greek guards. Before he arrived however his 
 father died, and Artaxerxes had been proclaimed king. 
 Tissaphernes, always jealous of Cyrus, denounced his intended 
 treason to Artaxerxes, who wished to put him to death, but 
 was persuaded by his mother to allow him to return to Sardis 
 (B.C. 402). 
 
 Here Cyrus immediately began collecting an army under 
 
 pretence of subduing the robber tribes of the 
 starts toTuack Pisidians, but really to march up country against 
 his brother, ]^jg brother : and he called upon the Spartans to 
 
 send a fleet to Cilicia, which would prevent the 
 prince of that country from interrupting his march. All went 
 well with his great army, which included 11,000 Greeks, besides 
 2000 peltasts and 100,000 Asiatics, till he came in contact with 
 his brother's army at Cunaxa (autumn of B.C. 401). There the 
 Greek contingent defeated the forces opposed to them, but 
 Cyrus himself was killed whilst making a furious attack upon 
 his brother. The Greeks had then nothing left but to retreat. 
 Their generals were treacherously decoyed and put to death 
 by Tissaphernes; but the greater part of the 10,000 that still 
 remained was safely led by the Athenian Xenophon to the 
 shore of the Euxine at Trapezus, after the wonderful eight 
 months' march described in his Anabasis ; during which they 
 had to contend with endless difficulties in crossing moun- 
 tains and rivers in the depth of winter, harassed at first by 
 Tissaphernes, and then by the hostility of native tribes. 
 From Trapezus those that survived over 6000 made their 
 way partly by land and partly by sea to Byzantium. 
 
The Expedition of Cyrtis. 269 
 
 The most important results of the expedition however 
 were that Tissaphernes was rewarded by being 
 sent down to take the place of Cyrus, and that results of the^ 
 he came with the full understandiner that he expedition 
 
 . of Cyrus. 
 
 was to subdue the Greek cities, and that in 
 doing so he would have to reckon with the hostility of the 
 Spartans, who had been strong supporters of Cyrus. On the 
 other hand the sympathies of the Athenians were generally 
 with Artaxerxes; for Cyrus had been studiously unfriendly 
 to them. Xenophon's having joined the army of Cyrus was 
 regarded as an act of treason to his country. At any rate, 
 shortly after his return to Creece he was banished from Athens 
 and continued for many years to live under the protection of 
 Sparta. Here then was a new turn of affairs. The Spartans could 
 act as champions of Greek freedom against the Persians without 
 being embarrassed by friendship for Cyrus. The Athenians, 
 feeling that they were no longer the special object of hostility 
 to the Persian satraps, could look on with some indifference, 
 and not without a hope that something might occur to give 
 them the chance of recovering their old place in Greece. 
 
 Not only did such an opportunity arise, but the result of 
 the struggles of the next thirteen years was, that, 
 though placed for a time in a position of great ^^'s in^Asia" 
 strength, Sparta lost her credit in the eyes of and Greece, 
 most Greeks. At first she responded to the The'cam- 
 appeal of the Greek cities of Asia with prompti- AgSILus. 
 tude and some success. In B.C. 400 399 a 
 campaign was conducted by Thimbron and a Spartan army, 
 reinforced by the remnant of the ten thousand which had 
 returned with Xenophon : the Athenians also furnishing some 
 cavalry according to their agreement with Sparta. But 
 Thimbron did Httle of permanent importance and alienated 
 the Greek cities by his exactions and acts of pillage. In 
 B.C. 399 he was superseded by Dercylidas, who in three 
 campaigns (b.c. 399397) subdued Aeolis and Bithynia, 
 
2/0 Short HistoTj of the Greeks. 
 
 crossed to the Chersonese, which he fortified by building a 
 wall across the neck, and then returning to Asia and taking 
 Atarneus in Mysia after a long siege, finally invaded Caria. 
 He had thus harried the satrapies of both Pharnabazus and 
 Tissaphernes playing off one against the other with a cunning 
 which gained him the name of 'Sisyphus.' The two satraps 
 now combined to agree with him upon an armistice; and in 
 the spring of B.C. 396 he was superseded by Agesilaus, who 
 meantime had become one of the kings of Sparta. Tissaphernes 
 offered a truce, swearing to employ the time in negotiating with 
 the king of Persia to acknowledge the independence of the 
 Greek cities. He however broke his oath, and instead of asking 
 the king for this acknowledgement, asked and obtained large 
 reinforcements, and then openly proclaimed war on Agesilaus. 
 The Spartan king, thanking Tissaphernes for thus drawing upon 
 himself the enmity of the gods, marched into Phrygia. But 
 though he won a victoiy near Dascylium in that country, he per- 
 ceived that he could not finally win against the Persians in a 
 flat country without cavalry. He therefore spent the winter of 
 396-5 in collecting a body of horse. In B.C. 395 he invaded 
 the district of Sardis with such success that the king, believing 
 Tissaphernes to have played the traitor, sent Tithraustes to put 
 him to death and succeed him in his satrapy. Tithraustes at 
 once offered to acknowledge the autonomy of the Greek towns 
 on condition of their paying tribute. He induced Agesilaus 
 to withdraw to Cyme, which was in the satrapy of Pharnabazus, 
 furnishing him with money to pay his troops. Here Agesilaus 
 received authority from home to command the naval as well 
 as the military forces, and accordingly began collecting a 
 fleet from the allied cities, the command of which he gave to 
 Peisander. To understand how this fleet came to be defeated 
 off Cnidus by Conon in the following year (b.c. 394), and how 
 Agesilaus came to be recalled without securing finally the 
 freedom of the Greek cities in Asia, we must glance at what 
 had meanwhile been going on in Greece. 
 
Combinations against Sparta. 271 
 
 If the Greek cities of Asia had found less internal freedom 
 or security against Persia under the Spartan than _ spartan 
 under the Athenian supremacy, the cities in invasion of 
 
 . . . Elis, B.C. 399 
 
 Central Greece were little better satisfied with -8. conspiracy 
 
 the change. A war with Elis begun in conse- spart^.'^Bx? 
 
 quence of a series of petty disputes chiefly 397- Combina- 
 
 connected with the exclusion of Spartans from corinth, Argos 
 
 parts of the Olympic festival had been at first and Athens 
 
 ^ . againstSparta, 
 
 unsuccessful. But in the second year (b.c. 398) b.c. 395- 
 King Agis and his allies had harried Elis with corinth, b.c. 
 fire and sword. Though Sparta's allies were 394- 
 willing enough to share in the plunder, these proceedings 
 shocked the general feeling and gave Sparta's enemies a 
 handle against her. This was followed by a disputed succes- 
 sion. Agis died at the end of the campaign of B.C. 398, and 
 Agesilaus who was lame on the plea that Leotychides was 
 not the real son of Agis, was made king in spite of an oracle 
 bidding Sparta to beware of 'a lame reign.' This was 
 followed in the next year by the conspiracy of Cinadon 
 against the tyrannical oligarchy of the Spartans, whose 
 numbers were rapidly declining. Though it was suppressed 
 and punished with great severity, it threw a strong light on 
 the internal weakness of Sparta, and encouraged her enemies 
 to attack her. Accordingly, when in B.C. 395 the satrap 
 Tithraustes hoping to secure the recall of Aegesilaus from 
 Asia sent Timocrates to offer money to certain cities to 
 enable them to make war against Sparta, he was gladly received 
 at Thebes, Corinth, and Argos. The Athenians do not seem to 
 have been bribed, but they welcomed the opportunity of striking 
 a blow for the recovery of their lost power. The first bloodshed 
 was at Haliartus in Boeotia, where the Thebans, who were on 
 their way to aid the Locrians against the Phocians in a dispute 
 about territory, defeated and killed Lysander who was coming 
 from Sparta to help the Phocians. Then the allies mustered 
 at Corinth, near which in the spring of B.C. 394 they \yere 
 
 / 
 
ll 
 
 272 Shoi't History of the Greeks. 
 
 decisively beaten by the Spartans. But this reverse was more 
 than compensated by the victory of Conon at Cnidus. 
 
 Since the disaster at Aegospotami (b.c. 405) Conon had 
 
 12. Conon been residing with Evagoras king of Cyprus. In 
 defeats the B.C. ^07 Pharnabazus had consulted with Eva- 
 
 Spartansoff i^ . n ^^ 
 
 Cnidus, end of goras and Conon as to raismg a fleet m Phoenicia 
 Re^au*^* ^^' ^"^ elsewhere, to protect Asia from the Spartan 
 Agesiiaus invasion. Conon was made commander of the 
 
 rom sia. Greek part of it. In B.C. 396-5 he induced the 
 
 powerful island of Rhodes to establish a democracy and to 
 abandon alliance with Sparta ; and made himself master of the 
 Southern Aegean. But it was not till more than a year after- 
 wards (b.c. 394) that he was able to induce Peisander to come 
 out and give him battle. This was at last accomplished off 
 Cnidus. In this battle the Greek ships under Conon had the 
 chief share of the fighting, though they were supported by Phar- 
 nabazus and his Phoenician fleet. Peisander was deserted by his 
 allies and fell fighting gallantly. The Spartan fleet was entirely 
 destroyed or dispersed ; and Conon went on to visit the islands 
 of the Aegean, expelling the Spartan governors, and promising 
 the islanders autonomy and freedom from molestation. Phar- 
 nabazus, who had accompanied Conon on this voyage, then 
 left him to carry on the same policy in his own satrapy in the 
 north. He presented Conon with 40 ships, and agreed to 
 winter with him at Sestos. In the spring of B.C. 393, after 
 some further operations among the islands, Conon sailed to 
 Athens, where by the help of money supplied by Pharnabazus 
 he at once began the restoration of the long walls. 
 
 The supremacy of Sparta in the Aegean was at an end : but 
 
 13. The she was still strong in Central Greece, where 
 combination gj^g ^^s facing gallantly a combination of Argos, 
 Sparta. Corinth, Athens, Boeotia, and other allies. 
 Coroneia^ Agcsilaus was summoncd home in B.C. 394, 
 (B.C. 394). and in his march down the country he defeated 
 (B.C. 392). the allied forces about the middle of August at 
 
The Peace of Antalcidas, 273 
 
 Coront'ia. He then marched away and crossed the gulf of 
 Corinth for home. Next year he led an army to Sicyon to watch 
 the allied forces again mustered at Corinth. Nothing important 
 took place in B.C. 393, but in the following year (b.c. 392) the 
 Spartans defeated the allies between the long walls uniting 
 Corinth with its harbour at Lechaeum, within which they had 
 been admitted by treachery. For a year and a half afterwards 
 the Spartans were supreme in the district along the Corinthian 
 gulf, and threatened Argos with a serious invasion. The tide 
 was turned in the next year (b.c. 390) by the Athenian 
 Iphicrates, who cut to pieces a Spartan mora or company with 
 a body of light-armed troops or peltasts, equipped and trained 
 in a special manner which he was the first to introduce into 
 the Athenian army. The loss of life does not seem to have 
 been serious, but the moral effect was great. P'or the Spartan 
 infantry had been looked upon as all but invincible. 
 
 But still more fatal to the prestige of the Spartans was the 
 evident fact that they were ready to surrender 
 Greek interests to Persia. In b.c. 387 their pe^ace of ^ 
 ambassador Antalcidas concluded a treaty with Antaicidas, 
 the king which practically gave up everything 
 for which they had been fighting, and to secure which the 
 Confederacy of Delos had once existed. It took the shape of 
 a royal edict conveying certain orders to the Greeks : but, 
 though offensive to Greek feeling, this was perhaps merely the 
 form of all documents issuing from the Persian court. Its 
 substance however was as offensive as its form was peremptory. 
 All Greek cities in Asia were declared to belong to the king, 
 all others to be autonomous, except Lemnos, Imbros and 
 Scyros, which were to belong to Athens. He would make war 
 on any State refusing to accept the settlement. 
 
 In spite of the humiliating terms of this treaty or edict, 
 
 Agesilaus obtained the oath of acquiescence from all the 
 
 States. The Theban deputies at first refused, not from general 
 
 dislike to the treaty, but because they claimed that Boeotia 
 
 S. G. 18 
 
274 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 should be regarded as a single State, for which Thebes was 
 
 to be spokesman. A threat of Spartan invasion however soon 
 
 induced them to accept it and acknowledge the 
 
 15. From the . r 1 A mi 1 
 
 peace of Antai- mdepcndence of the Boeotian towns. Ihus the 
 bStiVo/^^^ Spartans managed for some time to keep the 
 Leuctra, Greek States isolated and too weak to resist 
 
 3 7-371- \}^^xx orders. But this surrender to Persia fatally 
 damaged their credit; and a number of tyrannical acts 
 in the following three years increased their unpopularity. 
 Mantineia, for instance, was ordered to pull down its walls. 
 On its refusal the town was besieged, the walls destroyed, and 
 the inhabitants compelled to live in open hamlets (b.c. 385). 
 Again in B.C. 382, in pursuance of the same separatist policy, 
 the Spartans declared war against Olynthus which had formed 
 a confederacy of neighbouring towns, including Bella in Mace- 
 donia. While Phoebidas was leading a body of Spartan troops 
 to reinforce the army at Olynthus, he was admitted by treachery 
 into Thebes, and occupied the citadel or Cadmeia. This 
 aggression was maintained for nearly seven years, and caused 
 deep resentment among patriotic Thebans. Again in B.C. 380 
 the little State of Phlius in the Peloponnesus was besieged by 
 Agesilaus because certain exiles, whom the Spartans had forced 
 the Phliasians to restore, had caused a serious civil strife. 
 Phlius fell in B.C. 379, as at length did Olynthus also. But the 
 war with Olynthus had lasted nearly four years, during which 
 the Spartans had suffered more than one defeat ; and on the 
 whole had become less and less liked or respected in Greece. 
 
 The first actual blow to their supremacy was the expulsion 
 
 of the Spartan garrison from the citadel of 
 
 drivetf ft-oST'^^ Thebes. This was effected by a number of young 
 
 the Cadmeia. 1 men among whom was Pelopidas who killed 
 
 War between . ^^ 
 
 Sparta and the hcads of the treasonable party which had 
 
 b!c!'378-37i. admitted the Spartans. They then gathered 
 
 a large force of citizens and assisted by 
 
 some Athenians took the place by assault. The Spartan 
 
The neiv Athenian Confederacy. 275 
 
 government, which had originally punished Phoebidas under 
 pretence of disavowing his action, but had yet retained the 
 Cadmeia, could not overlook this blow to their pride. In the 
 next three years, B.C. 378 376, there were frequent Spartan 
 invasions of Boeotia. At first the Thebans offered to acknow- 
 ledge the hegemony of Sparta, if she would acquiesce in the 
 expulsion of the garrison from the Cadmeia. But when the 
 Spartans would not listen to this, the Thebans determined to 
 resist. In this they were supported by the Athenians, who 
 profited by the difficulties of Sparta to strike for a new supremacy 
 at sea. The Thebans were nearly always successful in repulsing 
 the Spartan invasions of Boeotia ; and were able to restore the 
 old league of Boeotian towns to repel the common danger. At 
 length in B.C. 371, when Cleombrotus king of Sparta invaded 
 Boeotia again, to compel Thebes to join the peace to which the 
 other States had just agreed, he was defeated and killed by the 
 great general Epameinondas at the batde of Leuctra. For 
 ten years after that battle Thebes was the strongest city in 
 Greece. 
 
 A striking consequence of these contests between Sparta 
 and Thebes, was the revival of Athens as a 
 naval power. In B.C. 378 she proposed a new Athenian^^^ 
 naval confederacy, which was joined first by Confederacy, 
 Chios, Byzantium, Rhodes and Mytilene, shortly 
 afterwards by Euboea, and then by many of the islands and 
 States which had once belonged to the Confederacy of Delos, 
 to the number altogether of about seventy. The object of the 
 confederacy, as stated on the still existing steVe^ was to maintain 
 the freedom of the States belonging to it against Sparta. The 
 Athenians promise to help by every means any State, the freedom 
 of which is threatened. They undertake moreover not to place 
 a garrison or governor in any of the States, nor to exact tribute 
 (cfiopos), nor to acquire land or houses in them. There is to be 
 a commission of allies {synedi'oi) to consider and punish any 
 breach of the treaty. The allies in return promise to assist 
 
 182 
 
276 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Athens if attacked. It appears from other stelae that a certain 
 sum of money was to be paid, but it was to be called a contri- 
 bution (o-wra^is) not a tribute (t^opos). This new association 
 lasted 23 years (till B.C. 355), when as a result of the * Social 
 war ' the allies were all declared independent. But meanwhile 
 it served to restore the prestige of Athens. In B.C. 375 
 Timotheus, son of Conon, defeated the Peloponnesian fleet 
 and forced Corcyra, Acarnania, and other States in the west to 
 join the alliance; and two years afterwards (b.c. 373) Iphi- 
 crates at the head of the Athenian fleet still farther established 
 the supremacy of Athens in the Ionian sea. These operations 
 were interrupted by a short peace or armistice between Athens 
 and Sparta in B.C. 374, and suspended altogether by the 
 general peace of B.C. 371, which the Thebans however refused 
 to accept, and supported their refusal by their victory at 
 Leuctra. After that time the State whose power was formidable 
 was not Sparta but Thebes. And it was against Thebes that 
 fresh combinations were now made. 
 
 The hero of the ten years of Theban supremacy is Epamei- 
 
 18. Theban nondas One of the greatest and purest names 
 
 supremacy, in Greek History. Though of a good family he 
 
 B.C. 371-362. x^ ^ ^l A ^ A C ^ -n 1 -A 
 
 was poor, but his devoted iriend Telopidas was 
 rich and could supply him with all that he needed. He was 
 better educated than most of his countrymen, and his character 
 gave him great influence. He had not actually joined in the 
 measures taken to get rid of the Spartan garrison; but had 
 approved of them and supported Pelopidas. In miHtary matters 
 he introduced the system of the phalanx, afterwards used so 
 effectively by the Macedonians that is, a body of men massed 
 sixteen deep, armed with long spears {sarissae\ which on favour- 
 able ground could disperse an enemy by the weight of its charge. 
 He had been one of the Theban ambassadors at Sparta who 
 claimed that in the peace of Antalcidas Thebes should take the 
 oath for the whole of Boeotia ; and he seems to have made it 
 the object of his life to increase the power of Thebes. Under 
 
The Theban Supremacy, 277 
 
 his advice the Thebans now began active interference in the 
 Peloponnese in order to encourage resistance to Sparta. Man- 
 tineia was restored, and all Arcadia was united in a confederacy, 
 with a new capital called MegalopoHs. Epameinondas also 
 marched at the head of an army into Laconia itself, as far as 
 the harbour town of Gythium, and returned safely in spite of 
 large bodies of allies from Athens, among other places, arriving 
 to defend the country. He then entered Messenia and en- 
 couraged the restoration of the old capital Messene round 
 Mount Ithome, as a centre from which to uphold Messenian 
 independence. It cannot be said that these measures added 
 much to the peace and happiness of the Peloponnesians 
 generally. Not only did the Arcadians sustain a severe defeat 
 at the hands of the Spartans in B.C. 368, in revenge for several 
 successful raids started on their own account, but they pre- 
 sently quarrelled with Elis also, with the result that there were 
 several invasions on both sides (b.c. 365 364). Finally the 
 Arcadians quarrelled with each other on the subject of the 
 possession of Olympia, which they had wrested from the Eleans 
 in B.C. 364, the two sides calling for help, the one from Sparta 
 and Athens, the other from Thebes. Nor did the final settle- 
 ment of all these squabbles give general satisfaction. The 
 fourth invasion of the Peloponnese under Epameinondas was 
 ended by the victory of Mantineia (b.c. 362), but it was a 
 victory dearly purchased by the death of Epameinondas him- 
 self : and from the pacification that followed the Spartans held 
 sullenly aloof, because they would not recognise the independ- 
 ence of Messenia j while some of the Arcadian cities had to be 
 forced to remain members of the league of which the centre 
 was Megalopolis. Everywhere the action of Thebes had tended 
 to weaken and split up Greece into small leagues. Thus 
 between b.c. 369 364 they made several attempts to destroy 
 the unity of Thessaly, which had been partly secured by the cruel 
 Jason of Pherae, who being elected tagns of Thessaly established 
 a kind of dominion over the whole country. The first invasion 
 
278 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 under Pelopidas (after Jason's murder) had the desired effect 
 of establishing the independence of the Thessalian towns 
 from Jason's successors : as also did another in B.C. 364 
 from Alexander of Pherae, undertaken after the death of 
 Pelopidas. But it cannot be thought that the disunion and 
 weakness of Thessaly was anything but a misfortune to Greece 
 in view of the coming struggle with Macedonia. The policy of 
 Epameinondas also thoroughly alienated Athens, by establish- 
 ing a Theban supremacy in Euboea (b.c. 371) and occupying 
 Oropus (b.c. 366), thus creating a bitterness of feeling between 
 the two cities which was afterwards a source of much trouble. 
 Epameinondas was reported to have said that he would remove 
 the ornaments of the Acropolis to Thebes : and once at any 
 rate by sailing with a fleet to Byzantium he attempted to 
 extend the Theban hegemony to the sea the greatest possible 
 blow to Athenian interests as well as to Athenian pride 
 (b.c. 364). Nor had Thebes, any more than Sparta, kept 
 Greece free from Persian interference. The Asiatic Greek 
 towns were left under the yoke without even a suggestion of 
 help : and in B.C. 367 Pelopidas went to Susa to invoke the 
 help of the Great King in establishing a peace on conditions 
 which the Thebans approved. The ten years of Theban 
 supremacy were fruitful in nothing but increased division and 
 weakness. At the end of it there was no large and powerful 
 State-r- though Athens had recovered something of her old 
 maritime supremacy and vigour. But vSparta was permanently 
 weakened, without any other Peloponnesian State being ready 
 to take her place : Thessaly was split up into petty States ; and 
 even the Boeotian league, though still existing, had been dis- 
 graced and weakened by the unjust destruction of Orchomenus 
 and of the lately restored city of Plataea. 
 
279 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The Macedonian Period. From b.c. 361 to the 
 Battle of Chaeroneia, b.c. 338. 
 
 The ten years of Theban supremacy had left Greece weak 
 and divided, but during the latter part of them 
 
 Athens had made considerable progress in the establishment 
 
 recovery of her naval supremacy. Opposition o^er1nThe 
 
 to Thebes was kept alive by the interference of Thracian 
 
 the Thebans in Euboea and Oropus ; but the and AmpMpo- 
 
 chief interests of Athens were after all in the Hs attempted, 
 
 B.C. 365 358. 
 
 north. To recover her authority in the Thracian 
 Chersonese and at Amphipolis was of the utmost importance 
 in view of the corn trade of the Black Sea. Artaxerxes had 
 been induced to declare Amphipolis to be Athenian territory. 
 But it had to be won by arms in spite of the royal rescript. 
 Timotheus (and afterwards Chares) was therefore sent out 
 with a fleet and in the course of b.c. 365-4 recovered Samos 
 and Sestos, and established Athenian authority in part of 
 the Chersonese and Chalcidice. But he failed to take 
 Amphipolis : and an intermittent war varied by treaties of 
 friendship went on with the Thracian king Cotys and, after 
 his murder in B.C. 358, with his successor Cersobleptes. The 
 object was always the same the possession of the Thracian 
 Chersonese, commanding the Hellespont. It was these 
 
28o Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 interests in the north that brought Athens before long into 
 collision with the rising power of Macedonia, and forced her to 
 come forward as the champion of Greek freedom against the 
 Macedonian king. 
 
 The name of Macedonia originally attached to a narrow 
 
 district between the Haliacmon and Axius, with 
 of MacedonL. ^ Capital at PcUa, and with no access or at any 
 
 rate no good access to the sea. But a dynasty 
 of active and warlike sovereigns had gradually extended their 
 dominions to the north as far as the Strymon. To the south 
 it was always their object to get control of the coast of Pieria 
 and the Chalcidic peninsula, as offering them the desired com- 
 munication with the sea. Thus the town of Pydna had alternately 
 been held by a Macedonian king and by the Athenians. The 
 Macedonians, though never acknowledged as Hellenic, seem in 
 many ways to have been nearer allied to the Thessalians and 
 other Northern Greeks than to the barbarians that surrounded 
 them. The kings who for many generations had governed 
 them claimed to be descended from the Temenidae of Argos, 
 from whom came Perdiccas the founder of the dynasty. They 
 were little known in Greece till the reign of Amyntas I and 
 his son Alexander, whom we heard of as unwillingly submitting 
 to Persia in the invasion of B.C. 480 (p. 164). Between the 
 death of this Alexander called the ' Philhellene ' (about B.C. 
 454) and Philip II who succeeded in B.C. 359, there had been 
 seven sovereigns. They were prevented from much extension 
 of their dominions to the east, and from interference in Greek 
 politics, by having constantly to struggle for existence with the 
 lUyrians and other western barbarians. Philip's brother and 
 immediate predecessor Perdiccas III fell in a great battle with 
 the Illyrians in B.C. 360, and Philip was at first nominally 
 guardian to his infant nephews. But the dangers surrounding 
 the country were too great to allow of the reign of an infant ; 
 and in B.C. 359 owing it is said to the urgent entreaties of the 
 people Philip assumed the crown. 
 
^ 
 
 Rise of Macedonia. 281 
 
 He was in his 23rd year, and had during part of his 
 boyhood lived at Thebes under the care of 
 Epameinondas. The circumstances connected (b!c. 359^336) 
 with his being at Thebes as a hostage are succeeds to the 
 
 o ^ o crown of 
 
 obscure, but it seems certam that he was there Macedonia 
 at least three years, and owed much to the daligerJT^"^ 
 instruction and example of Epameinondas both 
 in general culture and in the knowledge of military affairs. 
 He assumed the crown at a time of great danger. The Illyrians 
 were attacking the country on the west, the Paeonians 
 on the east. One pretender to the crown named Pausanias 
 was being supported by the Thracians, and another called 
 Argaeus by an Athenian fleet under Mantias. But Philip 
 shewed himself well able to grapple with these difficulties. 
 By cunning diplomacy or bribes the barbarians were induced 
 to refrain for a time from farther raids, or from attempting to 
 support a pretender : while by a sudden march he caught up 
 and defeated a band of mercenary soldiers who, with the con- 
 nivance of the Athenian Mantias, had advanced to Aegae in 
 the interest of Argaeus, Meanwhile he devoted himself to 
 equipping and training his army, using the knowledge which 
 he had attained under Epameinondas, especially in the forma- 
 tion and working of the phalanx. 
 
 Philip temporarily disarmed the opposition of Athens by 
 withdrawing all claim to Amphipolis. He de- B.c.359 
 
 clared it a free town, but with a secret promise -358. Peace 
 to the Athenians that he would aid them to get Phiiip and 
 possession of it. For a year and a half neither ^^^^p^' ^-9' 
 he nor the Athenians were inclined to take any first aggres- 
 farther step. He was engaged in subduing the Amphipolis, 
 Paeonians and Illyrians, while the attention of Pydnaand 
 the Athenians was taken up with a successful 
 struggle to drive the Thebans from Euboea and recover their 
 control of the island. However, Philip's hands were free from 
 his barbarous enemies before the Athenians had finished the 
 
282 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 business of Euboea. Taking advantage of this he determined 
 j to secure the command of the coast. He seized Pydna on the 
 ' Thermaic gulf, which was in alliance with Athens^nd then 
 proceeded to threaten Amphipolis. Now the possession of 
 / Amphipolis was desired by Olynthus, representing a powerful 
 league of cities on the Chalcidic peninsula. The people of 
 Amphipolis in terror sent to Athens for help, promising to join 
 Athens if defended from Philip. But the king assured the 
 Athenians that, if he took it, he would hand it over to them, and 
 gave a similar secret assurance to the Olynthians. He farther 
 conciliated the Olynthians by giving up to them the frontier 
 town of Anthemus, which had always been a subject of dispute. 
 He then took Amphipolis by storm handed it over neither 
 to Athens nor to Olynthus, but retained possession of it himself. 
 \ ^ At the same time he strengthened the anti- Attic interests of 
 I Olynthus by seizing Potidaea where there were many Athenian 
 cleruchs and handing it over to the Olynthians (b.c. 356). He 
 then went to Tl)race, where he was busy for some time in en- 
 riching himself with the gold from the mines of Mount Pangaeus. 
 The town of Crenides with its harbour of Datum a proverb for 
 wealth was the centre of this mining district. Defeating the 
 Thracians, who were attacking it, Philip possessed himself of 
 Crenides, which he refounded under the name of Philippi, and 
 filled his exchequer with the produce of the mines. He coined 
 gold staters called Philippei which long formed the chief 
 gold currency in Greece : and thus provided himself with what 
 he knew to be the most potent means of penetrating the walls 
 of fortified towns. He was quickly becoming the most formid- 
 able man of his day. In B.C. 356 three great pieces of good 
 fortune befell him a victory over the Illyrians and Paeonians 
 by his general Parmenion, the birth of his son Alexander, and 
 the victory of his horses at Olympia. Between that date and 
 the end of b.c. 353 he was continually strengthening his posi- 
 tion and his hold on the sea-board. 
 
 Meanwhile the distracted state of Greece had secured 
 
The Social and Sacred Wars. 283 
 
 Philip from any interference in these operations. Athens was 
 involved in a war with the three sea-powers By- 
 zantium, Chios and Rhodes, which in B.C. 356 social war, 
 renounced their membership of the league formed ^Th^sacred 
 in B.C. 378. Their pretext for doing this was war, B.C. 356 
 that Athens had broken the terms of the ^ ' 
 alliance in sending cleruchs to Samos and other places which 
 she had conquered and compelled to join the league. They 
 feared, or affected to fear, that Athens would destroy their 
 independence also. They perhaps saw no danger threatening 
 them sufficiently formidable to make them incur the expenses 
 of the league, rendered the heavier by the fact that Athens now 
 employed mercenary soldiers, who had to look for their pay 
 chiefly in levying contributions from conquered countries or 
 from allies. After three campaigns the war ended in B.C. 355 
 with an acknowledgment of their independence. Athens 
 being thus weakened. Central Greece was rendered still more 
 open to foreign interference by a war against Phocis proclaimed 
 by the Amphictyonic Council, principally under the influence of 
 Thebes, on the ground that the Phocians had cultivated some 
 of the sacred territory of Delphi. The Phocians in self-defence 
 seized the treasures of the Temple, and the war dragged on for 
 ten years, with varying success (b.c. 356 346). The Phocians 
 were supported though with little vigour by Athens and 
 Sparta, while the confederacy against them was headed by 
 Thebes. As usual, the continuance of a war involving a 
 number of States on both sides produced struggles in other 
 parts of Greece more or less connected with it. Thus the 
 Spartans took advantage of Thebes being engaged in the 
 Sacred war to try to recover their control over Messenia, and 
 their supremacy in the Peloponnese generally, threatening the 
 Arcadian league and its capital Megalopolis. Both the Mes- 
 senians and the Arcadians appealed for help to Athens ; and 
 though this did not bring about an actual breach of the peace 
 between Sparta and Athens, there seemed great danger of its 
 
284 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 doing so. In Thessaly also there was a rebellion of the cities 
 against the supremacy of the tyrants of Pherae, who were 
 actively supported by the Phocians. Everywhere there seemed 
 unrest and division. 
 
 This was the very opportunity for Philip. He was appealed 
 
 6. Philip's to for aid by the cities of Thessaly and resolved 
 interference in to give it. He first bcsiegcd and destroyed Me- 
 
 Greek politics , , rn.i ir , , 1 * , 
 
 begins in thone on the 1 hermaic gulf, which the Athenian 
 
 Thessaly. ^^gj. arrived too late to save, and then marched 
 
 into Thessaly. At first (b.c. 353) he was unsuccessful, being 
 twice defeated by the Phocian general Onomarchus. But the 
 next year (b.c. 352) he not only defeated and killed Onomar- 
 ; chus, but marched down as far as Thermopylae, as though with 
 / the intention of invading Phocis. He affected to consider his 
 ' victory over Onomarchus as won in the cause of the Delphic 
 Apollo, and ordered his soldiers to wear bay-leaves as cham- 
 pions of the god. He took Pherae and proclaimed it a free 
 town ; and laid siege to Pagasae. The people of Pagasae sent 
 hastily to Athens for help, which however failed to arrive in 
 time. Philip was now able to threaten Euboea and Attica 
 itself, and certain ships in his pay did actually make some 
 raids on the Attic coast. But the Athenians were now 
 thoroughly alarmed, and though they had failed to relieve 
 Pagasae, they did send a fleet in time to prevent Philip from 
 passing Thermopylae. 
 
 Up to this time there seems to have been little or no clear 
 . . perception either of Phihp's aims or of his 
 
 7. Beginning ... 
 
 oftheopposi- abilities. In b.c,_3^4_ Dem osthenes just be- 
 thenes ?o^"^^ ginning to be influential when recommending 
 Philip, a reform in the administration of the navy, 
 
 B.C. 352. 
 
 assumed that the enemy to be resisted was still 
 Persia. And as late as B.C. 352 he said in a speech (about 
 Rhodes) that it was too much the fashion to disparage Philip 
 and think little of him. But though he warns the people 
 against that view, he had evidently only just become converted 
 
^^^p 
 
 ^ 
 
 W^^M 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^^^^1 
 
 
 Pm 
 
 
 ^^^^v^ 
 
 f** 
 
 ^^^^H 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Hh^- 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 MVIfl^l 
 
 M 
 
 To face p. 
 
 Demosthenes 
 
\ 
 
 Demosthenes and Philip. 285 
 
 himself. In the autumn of the same year however Philip, 
 having returned from Pagasae, began meddling with the Thra- 
 cian Chersojiese. That was always the one thing the Athenians 
 would not endure; and Demosthenes now found it easier to 
 rouse his countrymen to throw off their policy of 
 indifference to Philip's proceedings : and to keep bx! 35^!^*^^"^' 
 an army and fleet ready to start at any moment 
 if a fresh aggression were reported. From this time forward 
 Demosthenes made it his chief business to watch and thwart 
 Philip. And it was not long before he had good reason for 
 calling upon the citizens to act. Philip by the possession of 
 Amphipolis, Pydna, Methone and Pagasae, had gained the com- 
 mand of a great part of the eastern coast of Greece. But this 
 coast-line was cut in two by the projecting Chalcidic peninsula, 
 held by a league of cities, in which Athens had always claimed 
 some authority. The Chalcidic league had been dissolved in 
 B.C. 379 by Sparta, but had partially revived. Philip as we 
 have seen had used the jealousy existing between its chief 
 town Olynthus and Athens with advantage to himself in the 
 j matter of AmphipoHs (b.c. 358), and had subsequently strength- 
 ened Olynthus at the expense of Athens by annexing Potidaea 
 to the league. Now after two years of secret intrigues, of 
 which we have little information, he determined to invade 
 Chalcidice. The Olynthians sent hastily for help ^^^ 
 to Athens. In three stirring speeches Demos- thiac Orations, 
 thenes tried to rouse his countrymen to move in ^'^' ^^' 
 time to save Olynthus, and thus keep from their own frontiers 
 the attack which Philip would surely make. But his advice 
 was not followed. The citizens preferred to waste their strength 
 on an unsuccessful attempt to recover Euboea, which had again 
 revolted, and when at length in B.C. 348 a force ^^jj ^ 
 was sent to Olynthus, it arrived too late to save olynthus 
 the town. Philip treated the towns confederate ^'^' ^^' 
 with Olynthus, as well as Olynthus itself, with great severity, 
 They were all dismantled and a large number of their inhabitants 
 
 r 
 
286 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 it is said 10,000 were sold as slaves. This was suffi- 
 cient to rouse the bitterest feelings against Philip at Athens. 
 But the Athenians had found it impossible to organise a league 
 in the Peloponnesus to resist him, and they knew that he had 
 the support of Thebes and Thessaly. They had to choose 
 therefore between opposing him almost single handed, or 
 making peace with him. 
 
 The proposals for sending ambassadors to the king were for 
 ^^ the most part made by Philocrates, after whom 
 
 8, The peace i 
 
 of Philocrates, therefore the subsequent peace is often called. 
 * ^'*^* The objects at which the ambassadors among 
 
 whom were Demosthenes and his great rival Aeschines had to 
 aim were (i) to secure that they were not ousted from the 
 Thracian Chersonese, (2) to induce Philip to withdraw from 
 Amphipolis, (3) to prevent him from passing Thermopylae and 
 attacking the Phocians. The embassy led to a famous con- 
 troversy between Demosthenes and Aeschines, each accusing 
 the other of treachery, and of having been bribed by Philip to 
 give a too favourable report of his intentions. But whatever 
 was the truth, it is certain that the terms which the envoys 
 obtained did not fulfil the professed objects of the embassy. 
 Philip consented to peace with Athens and her allies simply on 
 the conditions that each was to keep whatever they had got. 
 The Phocians were not included in it, nor Cersobleptcs 
 of Thrace. Philip was therefore still free to do what he 
 pleased in Thrace, except with such towns as were actually 
 in the Athenian alliance, and to act in any way he chose 
 as to the Sacred war with the Phocians. Moreover, until 
 the oaths were actually taken, he might continue to seize 
 towns and then claim to retain them. It was therefore 
 necessary that the ambassadors sent to announce the Athenian 
 acceptance of the terms should visit the king as soon as 
 possible. But whether from the. deliberate treason of the 
 ambassadors as Demosthenes alleges or because the king 
 cunningly postponed the interview, the oaths were not taken 
 
Philip powerful in Greece. 287 
 
 by him till late in June, when he had already possessed him- 
 self of several fresh strongholds in Thrace. 
 
 Thus relieved from the opposition of Athens Philip acted 
 as the ruler of a Greek State possessed of a par- g Phiiip 
 amount authority. The pass of Thermopylae takes a leading 
 had been put into his hands by a private under- politics, ^^^ 
 standing with the Phocian leader Phalaecus. B.C. 346 341. 
 He at once entered Phocis, summoned a meeting of the Am- 
 phictyonic Council, and obtained its decree for the dismem- 
 berment of Phocis, the dismantling of twenty-two of its towns, 
 and an order that the Phocians were to possess neither horses 
 nor arms till they had paid a fine of 10,000 talents. They and 
 the Spartans were also to be expelled from the Council, and the 
 two votes were to be transferred to Philip, who was also to 
 preside at the Pythian games. Thus the Sacred war was at an 
 end, leaving Philip an acknowledged Greek power, and the 
 strongest in existence. The Athenians indeed saw when too 
 late that they had been deceived. They had consented to 
 Oropus remaining Theban ; Amphipolis a possession of Philip ; 
 to Chios, Cos and Rhodes being members of a Carian con- 
 federacy independent of themselves; to Cardia their one 
 colony in the Chersonese being separated from their alliance, 
 and to Byzantium recovering its naval power all for the sake 
 of a peace which brought them nothing. But Demosthenes 
 pointed out that, having yielded all these important points, 
 it would be folly to go to war with Philip for *a shadow at 
 Delphi' that is, because he was allowed to preside at the 
 Pythian games. They therefore gave a somewhat sullen 
 acquiescence, and contented themselves with refraining from 
 sending representatives to the games. 
 
 But Philip, caring little for such marks of discontent, 
 steadily worked to gain his object of being supreme in all 
 Greece. He supported Thebes, as the best make-weight 
 against Athens in Central Greece, and Messenia and Argos in 
 the Peloponnese against Sparta; and established his creatures 
 
288 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 in the Thessalian towns. He was not of course uniformly 
 
 successful. He secured indeed an influence in 
 
 10. Con- j^|- ^^^ established tyrants subservient to 
 
 tinued aggres- ' ' 
 
 sions of Philip, himsclf in certain towns in Euboea; but in 
 PhSippk of Aetolia and Ambracia he was checked by an 
 Demosthenes, Acarnanian leaijfue formed by the influence of 
 
 B.C. 344. 
 
 Demosthenes, who never ceased urging the 
 Athenians to take every precaution against Philip : for, though 
 not openly proclaiming war, he was constantly doing what 
 amounted to acts of war. The strained feeling between 
 Athens and Philip came to a crisis in B.C. 342, when the king 
 again threatened the Thracian Chersonese. The ground for 
 his action was the despatch of some Athenian cleruchs to the 
 Chersonese, who though not refused admission by the other 
 towns were rejected by Cardia (in the Isthmus), which had 
 been left in Philip's hands by the peace of B.C. 346. The 
 Athenian commander Diopeithes endeavoured to force the 
 Cardians to admit them, and Philip remonstrated against this 
 as a breach of the treaty. Demosthenes urged that, if Diopei- 
 Speechonthe ^hes had been guilty of a technical breach of the 
 Chersonese peacc, it was amply justified by Philip's own acts 
 
 and the Third \ i \-r. i .1 ^ . j r j- 
 
 Philippic, of hostility; and that, mstead or disavowing 
 
 ^C- 341- Diopeithes, they ought to send aid to the Cher- 
 
 sonese and to Byzantium both of which Philip intended to 
 absorb. For a time the exhortations of Demosthenes had 
 effect. By his exertions Philip's partisans were driven from 
 Euboea, and agreements were come to with that island, and 
 w4th Byzantium, Acarnania, Achaia, Corinth, Megara, Corcyra 
 and Leucadia, to join in resisting the encroachments of the 
 king. 
 
 Philip's answer to this was to lay siege to Perinthus and 
 Byzantium in B.C. 340. The Athenians declared that Philip 
 had thereby broken the treaty of peace, and sent an expedition 
 under Chares to relieve Byzantium. But Chares had so bad 
 a character for rapacity, that the Byzantians, who had already 
 
Philip invited into Greece, 289 
 
 received assistance from Rhodes, Chios, and Cos, refused to 
 admit him into the city. He did no good 
 therefore among alienated allies by his rapacious attacks Perin- 
 demands for money. The Athenians wished to *^"s ^".*^ 
 give up the expedition altogether. But Phocion, 
 who had already done good service in Euboea and Megara, 
 and who was generally an opponent of Demosthenes, persuaded 
 the people to recall Chares and send another expedition. 
 He was sent himself, and as his character gained the con- 
 fidence of the allies, he did some excellent service. Early in 
 B.C. 339 Philip was compelled to raise the siege of both Perin- 
 thus and Byzantium. 
 
 But in the summer of the same year another 'Sacred 
 war,' proclaimed by the Amphictyons against 
 Amphissa, some seven miles from Delphi, for the Amphissian 
 usual offence of cultivating part of the sacred ^cupifs^*^*^ 
 plain, gave Philip an excuse for again interfering Eiateia, 
 in Greece. He was invited by the Amphictyonic ' ' ^^^~^^ * 
 Council to coerce Amphissa, which had resisted the attack 
 of their army and refused to pay its fine. He accepted 
 the invitation and promptly marched south. One evening 
 in the early part of B.C. 338 news reached Athens that he 
 had occupied Eiateia. This was a town on the frontier of 
 Phocis and Boeotia, and its occupation shewed that Philip's 
 object was not to go to Amphissa but to descend into the plain 
 of Boeotia. The alarm in Southern Greece was great as it was 
 sudden. An assembly at Athens was hastily summoned for 
 next morning, and when no one ventured to come forward, 
 Demosthenes rose to advocate the most energetic measures. 
 Ambassadors of whom he was one were sent to Thebes, 
 offering an oblivion of all former quarrels and the presence 
 of a protecting army. The other allies of Athens were also 
 summoned and a considerable force was collected. The 
 war at first seems to have been somewhat in favour of the 
 allies. At any rate Demosthenes speaks of two successful 
 
 S. G. 19 
 
290 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 engagements, and certainly Philip did not advance against 
 Thebes or Athens, but marched rather in the direction of 
 Amphissa, as though to maintain the show of having come 
 merely as the champion of the Amphictyonic Council. 
 
 But about the end of August the manoeuvring of the two 
 
 armies of which we know nothing brought 
 
 chaerondaf them facc to facc near Chaeroneia. The Greeks 
 
 August, sustained a crushing defeat. The ' sacred band ' 
 
 B.C. 338. . . 
 
 of the Thebans was annihilated, 1000 Athenians 
 fell and 2000 were taken prisoners, besides large numbers of 
 the allies and mercenaries. It was the end of all resistance. 
 The Athenians had to surrender all their foreign dominions in 
 return for being left unharmed, receiving back their prisoners 
 without ransom, and being allowed to resume possession of 
 Oropus. Thebes had to admit a Macedonian garrison; and 
 when Philip continued his march into the Peloponnese, all the 
 cities submitted except Sparta. From henceforth Philip acted 
 as absolute master of Greece, giving and withdrawing territory 
 and lands as he chose : while both in the Peloponnese and in 
 Central Greece he punished by death or exile some of his most 
 pronounced opponents, though Athens in this respect was left 
 untouched. He did not however destroy local autonomy. 
 The cities remained as they were, outwardly independent and 
 enjoying their own laws. But all leagues or combinations 
 naturally ceased to exist, and where it seemed necessary Mace- 
 donian garrisons were freely introduced. A congress of repre- 
 sentatives was summoned at Corinth, the conditions to be 
 accorded to each State were settled, and the number of troops 
 which they were to furnish to the army defined. 
 
 It seems as though this might have been a happy thing for 
 
 Greece on the whole ; giving her peace and 
 rule over* ^^ ^ Safety, and a respite from the eternal petty wars 
 Greece and its ^aged by Small States with each other, as well as 
 
 from the almost as constant party strife within 
 each separate city. But something in the Greek nature 
 
Settlement after Chaeroneia. 291 
 
 prevented its kindly development in such a combination under 
 one head. Everything seemed to droop and languish popu- 
 lation, industry, patriotism, art, poetry and eloquence. Demos- 
 thenes had no successor, nor were the glories of the Attic stage 
 ever renewed. Philosophy was still studied and developed, but 
 to the men of the next century it seemed to have degenerated 
 into endless quibbling or useless refinements. Greek literature 
 did not die, but henceforth it was to flourish more vigorously 
 in other places than in Greece itself. 
 
 Having secured control of Greece Philip turneci his atten- 
 tion to what had been perhaps for some time his 
 object to free Greece in Asia from the Persians, elected * *^ 
 and make Lower Asia once more a part of Hellas, general for 
 
 ^ war against 
 
 For this purpose he caused himself to be elected Persia, 
 by the assembly at Corinth 'general with full ^nis^death 
 
 powers* ((TTpaTrjyos avTOKpoLTiop) for all Greece, and character, 
 
 But he was not destined to carry out his design. 
 Early the next year, at the marriage of his daughter to Alex- 
 ander, king of Epirus, he was assassinated by a captain of his 
 own body-guard named Pausanias. As usual it remains doubtful 
 whether the crime was an act of private vengeance, or whether 
 Pausanias was acting in the interests of others. A guilty 
 knowledge has been attributed to Philip's wife Olympias and 
 to his son Alexander, and by some it was suggested that Pausa- 
 nias was an agent of the Persian king. Philip had no doubt 
 many vices. His court is said to have been scandalous; he 
 was unscrupulous and perhaps cruel and false. But his life of 
 ceaseless activity seems to make it unlikely that he could in fact 
 have indulged freely in personal excess. That he was not with- 
 out magnanimous feelings is shewn by his treatment of Athens. 
 His military abilities were great, his courage unquestioned, and 
 he drilled and disciplined a rough and independent people, not 
 only into an irresistible fighting machine, but into some 
 semblance of civilisation and order. 
 
 19 2 
 
292 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Alexander the Great 
 
 Alexander, the son of Philip, was only twenty years old at 
 I. Aiexan- ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^is father's death; but he quickly 
 derii(the shewed that he was worthy to be his son. He 
 
 B.C. 336323, found himself menaced by dangers within and 
 b. B.C. 356. without his kingdom. The relations of his 
 
 father's second wife were plotting against him at home, the 
 barbarians in the north were threatening war, and a movement 
 in Greece in favour of independence was believed to be fostered 
 by gold from King Darius Codomannus, who hoped by giving 
 Alexander employment there to prevent the expedition into 
 Persia which his father had planned. This conspiracy was 
 being promoted by Demosthenes, who was believed to have 
 received a large part of the Persian gold, and seemed likely to 
 be serious. 
 
 But the rapidity of Alexander's movements disconcerted all 
 
 his enemies. The leaders of the intrigues at 
 
 der establishes homc were put to death. Soon after his father's 
 
 his control murdcr in July he appeared in Greece at the 
 
 over Greece. , r rr^^ 1 
 
 head of an army. The cities hastened to give 
 in their submission, and a congress at Corinth elected him 
 'general' of the Greeks, as Philip had been. Early the next 
 year (b.c. 335) he invaded and crushed the Triballi, on the 
 Danube, and reduced all the northern barbarian tribes to 
 obedience. While he was thus engaged the movement was 
 
Destructio7t of Thebes. 293 
 
 renewed in Greece, headed by the Thebans, owing to a false 
 report of his death. But Alexander, fresh from his victories in 
 the north, marched quickly through the pass of Thermopylae 
 and appeared before the walls of Thebes. His offer of freedom 
 being declined he stormed the city, and by September had 
 taken and razed all the buildings to the ground sparing 
 nothing, it is said, but the house of the poet Pindar. A large 
 number of the inhabitants fell in battle, and most of the rest 
 were sold into slavery. A certain remnant, consisting of those 
 who had opposed the war, were spared, and, as it seems, con- 
 tinued to live in the town which they partially restored. But 
 from henceforth Thebes ceased to be a power in Greece, in 
 which for some time Alexander had no more difficulties. 
 Other States had joined with Thebes. The Athenians had been 
 about to send forces to its support, the Eleans and Arcadians 
 were actually on their way, and the Aetolians were in arms. 
 But the fall of Thebes reduced them all to submission ; and 
 during the remaining eleven years of Alexander's life, which 
 were spent in his great expedition into Asia, there was no more 
 resistance in Greece, except for the abortive movement of 
 Agis king of Sparta (b.c. 333-331) which ended in his defeat 
 by Antipater near Megalopolis, where the king himself fell. 
 Alexander treated the other Greek States magnanimously. He 
 at first demanded from Athens the surrender of Demosthenes 
 and eight other orators, but eventually was satisfied with the 
 banishment of one Charidemus. In other respects Athens 
 and the rest of the towns were left unharmed, though they had 
 mostly to admit Macedonian garrisons. 
 
 Immediately after the fall of Thebes (September-October) 
 Alexander began the preparations for his great 3 Aiexan- 
 expedition against Persia. It was meant to put ^^r's invasion 
 an end for ever to the Persian control of Greek Empire, 
 cities and Persian interference in Greek politics. ^'^' 334-323. 
 Its result was something much more important namely, to 
 create a greater Greece spreading over most of the Eastern 
 
294 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 world, as it was then known, from Egypt to India. Large parts 
 of Asia were completely hellenised, and in the rest Greek cities 
 were established which kept alive for many generations Greek 
 habits and thoughts amidst a barbarous and alien population. 
 Asiatic Greece gradually grew and prospered, until in course 
 of time it came to be the chief seat of Hellenism, to which 
 the Greece of Europe was looked upon as almost an outlying 
 province. These results however were not those at which he 
 aimed, nor did they come about till long after his death. For 
 the present he was going, as the acknowledged head of the 
 Greek race, to avenge upon its traditional enemy a long series 
 of encroachments. 
 
 In the beginning of the spring of B.C. 334 Alexander crossed 
 the Hellespont with an army of 30,000 infantry 
 theGranicus and 5000 cavalry. Of the infantry 12,000 were 
 andthecon-^ Macedonians, the rest were allied troops, partly 
 Minor, Greek, partly barbarian. The cavalry was also a 
 
 ' ^^' mixed body of Macedonians, Greeks, and others. 
 
 Landing at Abydos, the king first visited the traditional scenes 
 described in Homer (for he was well acquainted with the Iliad), 
 and in particular poured a libation at the tomb of Achilles. 
 But he did not waste much time on these visits. The enemy 
 in numbers much superior to his own had been posted by the 
 Persian satrap on the Granicus, a river of Phrygia flowing into 
 the Propontis. This army also consisted partly of Greeks, 
 some of them Asiatic Greeks, immediately under the control of 
 the Persian king. But there were other Greeks also from 
 Europe, serving for the sake of pay, or because they desired 
 the defeat of Alexander as likely to give freedom to Greece. 
 The battle of the Granicus was mainly a cavalry battle : Alex- 
 ander led his horsemen across the river in person and fought 
 with the utmost gallantry. His life in fact was almost lost, 
 and he was only saved by the timely assistance of Cleitus. 
 When the Macedonian phalanx got across the river it had little 
 to do but to cut down an already disorganised, alarmed, and 
 
UNIVERSITY ] 
 
Defeat of Darius at Issus. 295 
 
 unresisting enemy. The only serious stand was made by the 
 Greek mercenaries : and they were at length almost annihilated. 
 The victory was followed by the rapid conquest of all Asia 
 Minor. Sardis, Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, and many other 
 towns were successively captured, or submitted without resist- 
 ance. The only two cities which gave him any difficulty were 
 Miletus and Halicarnassus. The former was blockaded at sea 
 by Alexander's fleet of 160 vessels, which was accompanying 
 his movements, and after some weeks' resistance surrendered. 
 The latter held out till the beginning of winter. 
 
 The fleet was then dismissed and the Macedonian advance 
 was continued in two columns. Alexander led ^^ Battle of 
 one along the coast of Lycia and Pamphylia: issusand 
 
 1 , T^ 1 1 , 1 r o, 1. defeat of 
 
 while Parmenion led the other from Sardis to Darius, 
 Gordium on the Sangarius on the borders of ^^333. 
 Bithynia. After some successful operations against the Pisi- 
 dians, Alexander turned north and joined Parmenion at Gor- 
 dium. From Gordium he went to Ancyra, where he received 
 the submission of the Paphlagonians. He apparently did not 
 begin his march to the south-east until he was assured that a 
 danger threatening nearer home was over. Memnon, the 
 admiral of the Persian fleet, was subduing islands in the 
 Aegean and threatening Greece and Macedonia. He how- 
 ever died early in B.C. 333, and then Alexander resumed his 
 advance. He overran Cappadocia south of the Halys, and 
 continued his march into Cilicia. At Tarsus he fell ill, and 
 the delay thus caused gave Darius time to arrive at the eastern 
 side of Mount Amanus which divides Cilicia from Syria. Par- 
 menion was sent in advance to guard the pass or ' Gates ' over 
 Amanus, while Alexander employed himself in taking over 
 certain cities in Cilicia. He then returned to Tarsus and pro- 
 ceeded by the Cilician Gates into Syria. Darius, who had 
 already crossed by another pass into Cilicia, hearing of this 
 followed him. Alexander, finding that his enemy was on his 
 rear, turned to meet him near the town of Issus. In the 
 
296 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 battle Darius was entirely defeated, with the loss it is said of 
 over a hundred thousand men. The king himself escaped 
 capture, but his wife and family, his camp and stores, all fell 
 into the hands of Alexander. 
 
 After this victory Alexander moved upon Damascus, and in 
 
 the course of this and the following year took 
 
 of Syria, almost without resistance the rest of Syria, Phoe- 
 
 Parestine^'and "^^^^5 Palestine, and Egypt. He undertook these 
 
 Egypt, conquests without stopping to pursue Darius, 
 
 333 32. because it was necessary to secure the Phoeni- 
 cian fleet and thus destroy the power of Persia at sea. The 
 only place which offered resistance was Tyre. But that too fell 
 after a seven months' siege (July, B.C. 332), during which a 
 huge mole, connecting the island on which Tyre stood with 
 the mainland, had been twice constructed (the first being 
 destroyed by the sea), a large fleet collected, and every engine 
 of war known at the time used against the walls. With the 
 exception of Tyre and Gaza which also stood a six months' 
 siege the cities of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were taken 
 almost without opposition. Alexander kept to the same policy 
 throughout. Towns that did not resist were allowed to retain 
 internal freedom and the enjoyment of their own laws, the 
 .form of government favoured or insisted upon being usually 
 democratic. In Egypt he founded a new town between the 
 lake Mareotis and the sea, which under the name of Alexandria 
 rose to be one of the greatest and richest cities of the ancient 
 world. 
 
 In the spring of the next year (b.c. 331) Alexander once 
 more started on the march. He crossed the 
 Arbeia,^ ^ Euphrates in July, at Thapsacus. Thence, still 
 ^^33' unopposed, he marched across Mesopotamia to 
 
 the Upper Tigris, crossed it, and marched for 
 four days down its left bank. Darius with an immense army 
 was at Gangamela, about 75 miles from Arbela. Here 
 Alexander, prudently refusing a night assault, attacked and 
 
Conquest of Upper Asia. 297 
 
 completely routed him with immense slaughter. Darius fled 
 eastwards into Media, where he was murdered by the direction 
 of Bessus, the satrap of Bactria. Alexander had pursued him 
 with the utmost eagerness, but only arrived in time to find his 
 dead body, which he sent to Persia to be buried in the royal 
 tomb (B.C. 330). 
 
 Alexander now openly assumed the position of the Great 
 King. He had subdued the whole of Asia 
 
 ,,.,_, , . _, . 8. Alexan- 
 
 Mmor and Egypt, and was now master of Persia der king of au 
 and Media. He had followed up the victory of ^^^*; ^'^^ 
 
 ^ . . ' great march 
 
 Arbela by occupying all the royal cities. Baby- through Me- 
 lon, Susa and Persepolis one after the other fell Bactriarsog- 
 into his hands. His great march into the inte- ^iana to India, 
 
 *-' B.C. 330 325. 
 
 rior was not interrupted by the death of Darius. 
 During the next five years (b.c. 330 325) he traversed an 
 almost incredible tract of country. First reaching the south of 
 the Caspian in Hyrcania, he turned westward as far as the river 
 Mazyris. Then returning eastward, he marched through Hyr- 
 cania again to the Oxus. This march was begun in pursuit 
 of Bessus, who had assumed the title of King of Asia. But 
 when Bessus had been captured and put to death in Bactria, it 
 was still continued. Bactria had been subdued in b.c. 329; 
 and in Sogdiana on the farther side of the Oxus, where Bessus 
 was captured, he continued nearly three years (b.c. 329 327) 
 engaged in a difficult war with the wild people of the steppes. 
 In the next year (b.c. 326) he crossed the Paropamisus range 
 (Htndu-cush) into the lowlands of the Indus and invaded the 
 Punjaub. He conquered King Porus, who opposed his passage 
 of the Hydaspes (the Behut or Jelum)^ but his army refused 
 to proceed farther than the Hyphasis {Sutkj\ and he was 
 obliged to return to the Indus. From the mouths of that 
 river (b.c. 325) he marched back to Persepolis, while the fleet 
 which had been built in the Indian rivers sailed along the 
 Persian gulf under Nearchus. In the next year (b.c. 324) he 
 visited the capital cities Susa, Opis, and Ecbatana, finally taking 
 
298 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 up his residence in Babylon (b.c. 324-3). Throughout these 
 years of marching and fighting he had had to contend not only 
 with extraordinary natural difficulties, but with constant hos- 
 tility on the part of the warlike native tribes. Nearly every- 
 where he had triumphed, and in many places had founded 
 towns, to maintain his authority and continue the Hellenisation 
 which was one of the chief objects of his expedition. 
 
 But though his victories were all but unbroken, the victor 
 did not remain the same man. He adopted the 
 
 g. Alexan- , , . -i ^ 
 
 der an Asiatic habits, dress, and exclusiveness of an Eastern 
 monarch. monarch. His court and the royal table were 
 
 maintained with ostentatious magnificence, and his courtiers 
 were compelled to pay him almost divine honours. Having 
 about B.C. 327 married the Bactrian Roxana, in b.c. 324 he 
 married a daughter of Darius as a second wife, after the manner 
 of the Persian monarchs. This however was a measure of 
 policy. He wished the Macedonians and Persians to amalga- 
 mate, and encouraged or compelled many of his Macedonian 
 soldiers and officers to marry Persian wives. It was not a 
 policy, however, which pleased his Macedonian army, which 
 saw itself supplanted and superseded by Eastern troops and 
 guards; and a very serious mutiny accordingly took place at 
 Opis, on the Tigris, which was only allayed with great difficulty, 
 and 10,000 of his Macedonian soldiers were sent home. He 
 was engaged in b.c. 324-3 in subduing various hostile tribes, and 
 was meditating other expeditions of a still more adventurous 
 10 Death of ^^^.ture, when death overtook him at Babylon from 
 Alexander, a fever brought on partly by the extraordinary 
 
 ' ^^' fatigues of the last five years, partly by intem- 
 
 perance, to which after a youth of unusual strictness he had 
 succumbed. At his death some of the provinces of his huge 
 empire continued to be administered by rulers whom he had 
 himself nominated. The greater ones were now assigned to 
 his principal generals Ptolemy took Egypt, Antigonus most 
 of Asia Minor, Asander Caria, Lysimachus Thrace, and so 
 
Death of Alexander. 299 
 
 on. They were nominally still under Macedonia, where Anti- 
 pater, who had been left in charge when Alexander started, 
 continued to administer the government, though Perdiccas was 
 appointed guardian of the king of Macedonia first Philip 
 Arrhidaeus, half-brother of Alexander, and then Alexander his 
 posthumous son by Roxana. But after years of struggle and 
 several rearrangements, in B.C. 301 four chief independent 
 kingdoms were developed out of the empire of the great con- 
 queror Macedonia under Cassander, son of Perdiccas, Egypt 
 under Ptolemy, Syria under Seleucus, Thrace with Asia Minor 
 under Lysimachus. These great military monarchies made 
 European Greece insignificant as a world power. It has still 
 a history, but after one more struggle for freedom, which we 
 must now narrate, it sank for a long time into a state of 
 dependence, varied by only occasional exhibitions of its old 
 spirit, "= 
 
 Alexander the Great. 
 
300 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 The Greeks after Alexander's Death. 
 
 Alexander's brilliant successes in Asia, and the strength 
 of the Macedonian army left at home under 
 suc'cetJfu"'^" Antipater, had prevented much serious trouble 
 rising in the in Greece. But there had been one movement 
 b!c.^33i-33o'. in the Peloponnese which for about two years 
 threatened to be dangerous. Agis II, a king 
 of Sparta since B.C. 338, had prevented Sparta from joining 
 in the general submission after the fall of Thebes in B.C. 335, 
 and had already accepted money from the Persian satraps to 
 attack Crete and establish there a base of naval resistance to 
 Alexander (b.c. 333). In B.C. 331 he induced Elis, Achaia, 
 and parts of Arcadia to join in a revolt against Macedonia. 
 The rising was also joined by the Aetolians ; and the Arcadian 
 Megalopolis, which refused to join, or was prevented by its 
 Macedonian garrison, was besieged. But Antipater quickly 
 marched south and defeated the combined forces near . that 
 town in B.C. 330. The Spartans suffered very heavily, and 
 were obliged to give hostages for their good behaviour, while 
 sending ambassadors to Alexander to plead their pardon. 
 
 This was the last resistance in Greece during Alexander's 
 2. The life. The Macedonian party was in the ascendant 
 
 of stre^ngth ^" ^^^ ^^^ States. At Athens the opportunity 
 
 between was taken to procure the repudiation of the 
 
 Demosthen^e", anti-Maccdonian policy of Demosthenes by the 
 B.C. 330. condemnation of Ctesiphon, who seven years 
 
 before had proposed to present Demosthenes with 'a crown' 
 
The Prosecution of Ctesiphon. 301 
 
 in recognition of his services. His great rival Aeschines had 
 at once given notice of an ' indictment for illegal proposals ' : 
 but the trial had been postponed for various political reasons. 
 Though the indictment was nominally of Ctesiphon and was 
 based on technical grounds, it was regarded as virtually a trial 
 of the whole career and policy of Demosthenes. The prose- 
 cutors now thought that the success of Alexander being secure, 
 a favourable time had come for trying it. The greatest interest 
 was excited throughout Greece as to the result. It was felt to 
 be a national, not a local or personal question : for if Demos- 
 thenes won the day it would be a sign that the Athenians did 
 not repent of having resisted Macedonia, though now obliged 
 to submit. Demosthenes was triumphant. Aeschines did not 
 obtain a fifth of the votes and had to retire to Asia (b.c. 330). 
 But though this shewed that the feeling against the supremacy 
 of Macedonia had not died out, there was no longer either 
 courage or power to give it practical effect, and till Alexander's 
 death, in B.C. 323, there seems to have been almost complete 
 repose in Greece. Some trouble was caused at Athens in 
 B.C. 325 by the arrival of Harpalus, a dishonest officer of 
 Alexander's, who fearing punishment for his misdeeds fled from 
 Asia with large sums of money, with which he bribed Demos- 
 thenes and other orators to persuade the Athenians to give 
 him reuge. But the risk of thus defying Alexander was 
 great, and the bribery having been discovered, Demosthenes 
 was banished and Harpalus imprisoned. 
 
 No sooner however was the death of Alexander known 
 than Demosthenes returned to Athens, and a ^j^^ 
 
 revolt was organized throughout Greece. The Lamianwar, 
 pretext was an order sent shortly before Alex- ' ^^^"^az. 
 ander's death that every Greek State was to recall its exiles. 
 This would have meant a danger to the existing government 
 in nearly every Greek city, for the exiles were in each case the 
 party in opposition. The movement therefore was general, and 
 a leader of some ability was found in Leosthenes, an Athenian 
 
302 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 whose previous career is unknown to us, but who evidently 
 enjoyed a high reputation. A force of 6000 Greek mercenaries 
 happened to have been recently sent home from Asia by 
 Alexander's orders, in pursuance of his policy of employing 
 Asiatic troops. These were at once secured by Leosthenes, 
 who also visited Aetolia and other districts to collect aid in 
 troops and money. The only country which did not join was 
 Boeotia. The Boeotian towns feared that, if the Greeks were 
 successful, they would restore Thebes and enable her to renew 
 her pretensions to supremacy in Boeotia. But Leosthenes not 
 only defeated the Boeotians, but also Antipater himself, who 
 had marched down to Thermopylae. Antipater was obliged to 
 retire to Lamia, a small town in Malis, and was there besieged 
 by Leosthenes. But before the end of the year B.C. 323 
 Leosthenes was mortally wounded in a sally of the besieged 
 garrison. His successor Antiphilus early the next year was 
 obliged to raise the siege of Lamia in order to meet a relief 
 column under Leonnatus. He defeated and killed Leon- 
 natus; but meanwhile Antipater had left Lamia and joined 
 another relief column under Craterus, who had just returned . 
 from Asia with Alexander's veterans. They were joined by the 
 remains of the column of Leonnatus, and retired along the 
 road to Larissa in Thessaly as far as Crannon. There 
 Antiphilus attacked them, but in the battle, which took place 
 in August (b.c. 322), the Greeks were defeated ; and, though the 
 defeat was not very decisive, Antiphilus had to retreat to some 
 high ground and there remain inactive and helpless. He at- 
 tempted to make terms with Antipater, but the Macedonian 
 commander declined to treat with the Greeks as a body. Each 
 State was to be considered separately; and he proceeded to 
 reduce the cities of Thessaly without Antiphilus being able to 
 stir. The earlier Greek successes had inspired a belief that 
 the Macedonian cause was hopeless, and many of the Greek 
 contingents had gone home. Now all the States submitted. 
 The only two which hesitated were Athens and Aetolia. 
 
End of the Lamian War. 303 
 
 Accor.dingly Antipater threatened an invasion of Attica. Even- 
 tually however an embassy headed by Phocion and Demades 
 who had all along supported the Macedonians effected a 
 peace. It was only granted on very severe terms. Athens 
 was to give up the anti-Macedonian orators, especially Demos- 
 thenes and Hypereides; to pay the expenses of the war; to 
 evacuate Samos; to admit a Macedonian garrison into Hera- 
 cleia; and to limit the citizenship to men owning property 
 worth 2000 drachmae. The orators fled, but after being 
 condemned to death some were captured and Death of 
 put to death at Aegina, while Demosthenes Demosthenes, 
 poisoned himself in the small island of Calaureia. 
 Most of the citizens who did not possess the minimum of 
 2000 drachmae were deported to Thrace. Only 9000 are said 
 to have remained at Athens. 
 
 All the other cities in Greece were forced to submit in a 
 similar manner, though they received terms more 
 or less favourable in accordance with the attitude Greece aft^r 
 which they had assumed towards the Mace- *^^ Lamian 
 
 ... war. 
 
 donians. But all had to submit, if required, to 
 receive a Macedonian garrison, and to furnish troops to the 
 Macedonian army. Antipater and Craterus next invaded 
 Aetolia. But the Aetolians abandoned their. villages and took 
 refuge in the mountains, and the Macedonian generals had to 
 give up the invasion in order to defend themselves against 
 Perdiccas, the guardian of the young king and the whole 
 empire, who wished to take over the government of Macedonia 
 also. The Aetolian highlanders therefore retained their liberty, 
 and presently became an important factor in Greek politics. 
 With this exception Greece was formally subjected to Macedonia. 
 But in the various changes that took place in the next twenty 
 years (b.c. 321 301), though Athens fell into the hands of 
 one sovereign after another^, the contests for the throne of 
 
 1 In B.C. 318 Cassander; in B.C. 307 and 295 Demetrius Poliorcetes. 
 
304 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 Macedonia, and for the independence of the parts into which 
 Alexander's empire had actually been split, resulted in Greece 
 being left a good deal to itself. In b.c. 311 indeed, at the 
 third rearrangement of the provinces of the empire among 
 Alexander's generals, it was formally declared free. But that 
 was never actually the fact: and in B.C. 295 Demetrius 
 Poliorcetes, coming forward as the liberator of Greece fropQ 
 Cassander, who had obtained the government of Macedonia in 
 B.C. 312, besieged and took Athens and thence spread his 
 power over all Greece. In B.C. 294 he secured the throne of 
 Macedonia and retained Greece as part of his kingdom. But 
 in B.C. 287 Demetrius was overthrown by Pyrrhus, king of 
 Epirus, and fled to Asia, where he was seized by Seleucus 
 and died a prisoner in B.C. 283. His son Antigonus Gonatas 
 remained in Greece, and kept part of it in obedience to 
 Macedonia. Above all he maintained garrisons in the three 
 places, which from their commanding position were called the 
 * three fetters' of Greece Demetrias, Chalcis, and Acro- 
 corinthus. But the Athenians had risen as soon as Demetrius 
 was driven out of Macedonia in b.c. 287, and regained their 
 freedom. The disputed succession to the crown for the next 
 seven years again so much weakened Macedonia, that Greece 
 was once more neglected. This weakness was increased by 
 the invasion of the Celts in B.C. 280; for they defeated and 
 killed Ptolemy Ceraunus, who had obtained the crown only 
 the year before. 
 
 The period of political insignificance through which Greece 
 had thus been passing^ does not seem to have been 
 
 5. Greece xr o 
 
 under an altogether unhappy one. The constitutions in 
 
 sJ^remTc ^" the several towns, arranged by Antipater in b. c. 3 2 2, 
 appear to have generally worked well; and beyond 
 the offensive presence of a Macedonian garrison the inhabitants 
 had no great reason to complain of their treatment by the Mace- 
 donian kings. In B.C. 315 Thebes had been restored by 
 Cassander, and though occupied from time to time by one or 
 
Greece under the Macedonians. 305 
 
 other of the rival claimants to the throne of Macedonia, had been 
 generally treated with indulgence. In the Peloponnese, Sparta, 
 though steadily declining in numbers, still retained her old con- 
 stitution, though her power was confined to her own territory. 
 The other towns for the most part fell under the rule of some 
 despot who relied upon the support of the Macedonian garrison. 
 But about this time the germ of a new combination, which was 
 destined for a time to unite the whole Peloponnese, was formed 
 by a few Achaean cities which for the purpose of mutual protec- 
 tion agreed to unite their forces. 
 
 Nor was this period unproductive of men of genius, though 
 it now took somewhat different directions. With ^ ^. . 
 
 6. The in- 
 
 the death of Aristophanes (b.c. 380?) the Old teiiectuai 
 Comedy came to an end. With the loss of iSthT^^"* 
 freedom and the death of Demosthenes (b.c. Macedonian 
 
 \ T 1 r 1 period. 
 
 322) political oratory was for a time in abeyance. 
 With the death of Plato (b.c. 347) and of Aristotle (b.c. 322) 
 one great chapter in the history of Greek philosophy closes. 
 But in all these departments there were successors. A new 
 comedy arose of manners, rather than of politics or criticism. 
 The authors of it came from all parts of Hellas, but Athens 
 was still its chief home, and the Athenian Menander (b.c. 
 342-291) the most famous of the writers in it. He is known 
 to us only by the Latin translations of his comedies by 
 Plautus and Terence, no complete play in Greek having 
 survived. Oratory also still formed a subject of study, but it 
 was no longer a great public power, and in the hands of such a 
 man as Demetrius of Phalerum (d. B.C. 283) was little more 
 than essays in academic discussion and an exhibition of style. 
 A whole school of poets also arose, chiefly in Alexandria, 
 who have left charming hymns and pastoral poems, such as 
 Callimachus, Philetas and Asclepiades, and above all Theo- 
 critus of Syracuse. Later on Apollonius of Rhodes (b. about 
 B.C. 235) attempted to revive the Epic style of Homer in his 
 Argonautica. The central home of these poets was not Athens 
 
 s. G. 20 
 
3o6 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 but Alexandria. Athens however still remained the head- 
 quarters of philosophy. Aristotle had spent much of his time 
 there, and his school was named from the peripatos or covered 
 walk in which he taught. He was succeeded by his pupil 
 Theophrastus of Lesbos (b. about B.C. 372) who also taught at 
 Athens. 
 
 But two other famous schools arose also in Athens about 
 . this time, the doctrines of which had more 
 
 7. Epicure- ' 
 
 ansand practical influence through the next centuries 
 
 ^^**^^' both in Greece and Rome than either Plato's 
 
 Academy even as modified by the later Academics or 
 Aristotle's Peripatetics. These were the schools founded by 
 Epicurus and Zeno. Epicurus was a native of Samos (b. b.c. 
 342j[ but came to Athens as a boy. After his education there 
 he taught at various places Mytilene, Colophon and Lamp- 
 sacus, but returned to Athens in B.C. 307. There he taught 
 numerous pupils in a retired garden. He followed earlier 
 philosophers especially Democritus in giving a rationalistic 
 account of the origin of the universe. But the doctrine by 
 which he was most popularly known, or rather misunderstood, 
 was that the 'end' of action the summum boftum was 
 pleasure. The outside world interpreted this as a licence to 
 excess, without caring to understand his definition of the 
 highest pleasure the intellectual pleasure of the purified soul. 
 Zeno was a native of Cyprus (about b.c. 340-260) who also 
 came to Athens early in life, and after studying with philo- 
 sophers of all the schools there, taught large numbers of pupils 
 at first walking in the Stoa Foecile, whence his followers came 
 afterwards to be called Stoics. He t aught a be lief in a single, 
 eternal God; and defined the end of action the summum 
 bonuvi to be virtue, sought solely for itself. But either he 
 or his followers made the definition of virtue which the 
 perfectly wise man alone could possess so stringent, that it 
 appeared out of the reach of mortal man. The doctrine also 
 of the equality of all sins would seem to render all civil 
 
Epict4reans and Stoics. 307 
 
 institutions useless. Yet while the Epicureans advised absten- 
 tion from politics and a life of retirement and contemplation, 
 the Stoics advised their followers to take part in social and 
 political activities of all kinds. These four schools then the 
 Academy, the Walk, the Porch and the Garden had their 
 headquarters at Athens, and attracted numerous students from 
 all parts of Greece, teaching Metaphysics, Ethics, Physics, and 
 Rhetoric. Athens thus started on a new career as a University 
 town, enjoying a prosperity of a quiet kind as great perhaps 
 in its way as that which she had formerly sought as a military 
 and naval power. 
 
 The Greeks in Asia were meanwhile rising in importance 
 and prosperity. Seleucus, who from B.C. 301 g ^j^^ 
 had included in his great kingdom of Syria Greeks in 
 
 . . . Asia, Egypt 
 
 nearly all Asia Minor, made it the chief aim of and the 
 his policy to extend and strengthen Hellenism, islands. 
 He founded numerous cities in every part of his empire called 
 either Antiocheia after his father, Laodiceia after his mother, 
 or Seleuceia after himself. Many of these were destined to be 
 important and populous towns; and at any rate their settle- 
 ment offered constant chances of prosperity to his subjects of 
 Greek and Macedonian origin. After his death in B.C. 280 his 
 son Antiochus saved Asia for a time from the inroad of the 
 Gauls, though he perished in a second battle with them (b.c. 
 261). These kings and their successors were indeed constantly 
 at war. But they used to a great extent mercenary or eastern 
 troops, and did not seriously interrupt the prosperity of the 
 Greek cities, which seem steadily to have risen in wealth and 
 importance, protected by the Seleucid sovereigns from inroads 
 on the east and piracy on the west. One town, Pergamus, 
 was maintained in quasi-independence under the rule of 
 Philetaerus, an officer of Lysimachus, whose nephew and 
 successor Attalus after defeating the Gallic invaders of Asia 
 (B.C. 240) assumed the title of king, and for a time extended his 
 power over all Asia Minor west of Mount Taurus. Some other 
 
 20 2 
 
3o8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Greek States also rose to considerable naval and commercial im- 
 portance in this period. The people of Rhodes expelled their 
 Macedonian garrison on the death of Alexander, and quickly 
 obtained a predominant influence in the Aegean, having gained 
 great reputation by their successful resistance to Demetrius 
 Poliorcetes who besieged their capital for more than a year 
 (B.C. 305-4). Chios appears also to have gained wealth and 
 naval power: and though Byzantium was hard pressed by 
 neighbours on land, especially by the Celtic migrants, it 
 supported a powerful navy. The chief seat of Hellenic life and 
 energy however was Alexandria, where the ability of the 
 early Ptolemies not only maintained them in power, but secured 
 provinces in Caria, the Cyclades and the Thracian Chersonese, 
 when the Thracian kingdom came to an end with the death of 
 Lysimachus in B.C. 281. It was for many generations the real 
 capital of the Hellenic race. 
 
 Another branch of the Hellenic family had during these 
 
 Sicily events in Greece been passing through times of 
 
 and Magna mingled trouble and success. The final result 
 
 however was, like that in Central Greece, the loss 
 of independence and submission to a superior power. The 
 towns in Magna Graecia, after a period of prosperity always 
 however marred by mutual quarrels were compelled for the 
 most part about B.C. 280-270 to acknowledge the supremacy 
 of Rome. Those in Sicily maintained their independence 
 between fifty and sixty years longer. It was in Sicily that the 
 vigour of these Western Hellenes had been chiefly shewn. 
 They had had to struggle for more than a century against an 
 implacable and ever-encroaching enemy in Carthage. The 
 
 reign of the elder Dionysius who gained his 
 B.c.4cJ 3^. ' power because of the dangers of his country 
 
 had witnessed four Carthaginian wars. In these 
 wars Dionysius met with many disasters as well as some 
 brilliant successes. The upshot of them all was that the 
 Carthaginians were confined to the western corner of the 
 
The Sicilian Greeks. 309 
 
 island, while the power of Syracuse was supreme in the rest. 
 But Dionysius had not confined his energies to Sicily. He 
 interfered with Central Greek politics, always on the side 
 of Sparta, first against Athens and then against Thebes, and 
 in every way claimed to be one of the great Hellenic family. 
 He also pushed his power in the west. His attacks upon the 
 Greek towns in Italy resulted in the ruin of most of those 
 situated in Bruttium. The reign of his son and Dionysius 11, 
 successor lasted from B.C. 368 to 344 with a ^hiaok^'^nd 
 ten years' interval of exile (b.c. 357-346). Agathocies. 
 During this time there was not much trouble with the 
 Carthaginians. But his misrule especially after his return 
 from exile weakened Syracuse and began a period of misery 
 to all Sicily, caused by the pillage and violence of the mercenary 
 soldiers hired by the tyrants of the various towns to protect 
 themselves against each other. It was to put an end to this 
 intolerable state of things that the Corinthian Timoleon was 
 sent to Sicily in B.C. 343. His first task was to free Syracuse 
 ind other Greek towns from their tyrants. When that was 
 done he had to meet a fresh invasion of Carthaginians, invited 
 by the divided state of the country. His victory on the 
 Crimisus (b.c. 339) put an end to that danger for the time. 
 But the peace secured for Sicily by Timoleon did not last 
 many years after his death in B.C. 336. We have no details 
 of the troubles that followed that event, but in B.C. 317 they 
 enabled Agathocies, a man of humble birth, to seize supreme 
 power in Syracuse. He not only maintained the struggle 
 against the Carthaginians in Sicily, but carried the war into 
 Africa with such success as to induce nearly all the towns subject 
 to Carthage to revolt. But though he championed the cause 
 of the Siciliots against Carthage, he deprived the Sicilian towns 
 of their independence and forced them to submit to his rule. 
 At his death (b.c. 289) this combination melted away. The 
 several towns again fell under the sway of incompetent tyrants. 
 Some of his own mercenaries the Mamertines seized 
 
3IO Short History of the Greeks 
 
 Messana, killed the men, took possession of the women and 
 children, and made the town thus occupied a starting place 
 for plundering and harassing their neighbours. Sicily once 
 more was a scene of disorder and suffering, and in self-defence 
 many of the cities admitted Carthaginian garrisons. Others 
 looked for help elsewhere. Thus Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, 
 was invited to abandon his invasion of Italy and to come to 
 the aid of Syracuse, with which he had been connected by his 
 marriage with a daughter of Agathocles. Pyrrhus spent nearly 
 three years in Sicily (b.c. 278-276) and was at first brilliantly 
 successful against both the Carthaginians and the Mamertines. 
 But the Sicilians were afraid that he meditated establishing a 
 tyranny in Sicily as fatal to their liberty as the encroachments 
 of the Carthaginians. At his first failure, that of the siege of 
 Lilybaeum, he found his position unendurable, and in b.c. 276 
 he left Sicily to be contended for, as he saw plainly would be 
 the case, by the Carthaginians and the Romans. In fact the 
 independence both of Sicily and of Magna Graecia was on the 
 eve of disappearing for ever. Within ten years of the defeat 
 of Pyrrhus in Italy the cities of Magna Graecia were all 
 subjects of Rome (b.c. 275-266). The result of the first Punic 
 war (b.c. 264-241) was to reduce all Sicily except the 
 kingdom of Syracuse to the Roman obedience. After the fall 
 of Syracuse in the second Punic war (b.c. 212) the whole of 
 the island became a Roman province : while what remained 
 of prosperity, as well as of independence, to the Greek cities 
 of Italy disappeared as a result of the Hannibalian invasion of 
 Italy (b.c. 218-203). The Western Hellenes therefore within 
 the century following the death of Alexander disappeared as a 
 political force. Their civilisation and their spirit survived in 
 the influence which they exercised on their conquerors, who 
 were soon to be the conquerors of the world. The Italian 
 cities indeed except Naples and Rhegium quickly lost their 
 Hellenism : but Sicily, though a Roman province, retained its 
 Hellenic aspect and peculiarities for many generations to come. 
 
311 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Aetolian and Achaean Leagues. 
 
 After three years of anarchy, Antigonus Gonatas, son of 
 Demetrius Poliorcetes, in B.C. 377 obtained the 
 
 crown of Macedonia, which (with a short inter- ^- Greece in 
 
 ruption by Pyrrhus in b.c.'274) he held till his of the third 
 
 death in b.c. 239. The separation of Macedonia "^JoiTn^'ii, 
 
 from the other kingdoms formed out of Alexan- king of Egypt, 
 
 der's empire was now complete ; but the connexion Antlgonu^s 
 
 of Greece with the sovereign of Macedonia was Gpnatas, king 
 
 o _ of Macedonia, 
 
 ill-defined, and always a matter of dispute, b.c. 277239. 
 The various pretenders to the Macedonian 
 throne since B.C. 311 had frequently affected to attack each 
 other in order to liberate Greece. But in fact they had all 
 endeavoured to keep a hold on Greece, and had seized every 
 opportunity afforded by quarrels between the States or parties 
 within them to interfere in Greek politics, or to keep forcible 
 control by introducing Macedonian garrisons. The extent of 
 the control exercised by the Macedonian sovereign differed 
 at different times and in different parts. Thus Thessaly seems 
 by this time to have been practically incorporated in Mace- 
 donia ; and Boeotia to have acquiesced in almost any order 
 from the king, though left with more nominal freedom. Athens 
 however became for a time really independent in B.C. 287, 
 when after long struggles the Athenians expelled the garrisons 
 placed by Demetrius in the city and the Peiraeus. 
 
312 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 In the west the Aetolians had maintained their inde- 
 pendence : and their vigour and warlike qualities 
 lian League?" ^^^ %oo^ service in repelling the invasion of the 
 Celts at Thermopylae and Delphi (b.c. 279). 
 By this time they had a federal government in a fairly advanced 
 state of development. They did not usually fortify towns, 
 but lived in open villages, each with a government of its own. 
 The federation of these townships elected a yearly Strategus or 
 general, with a secretary. There was also a general assembly 
 called Apocleti, with a smaller body called Syncdri for judicial, 
 and another called Nomographi for legislative, purposes. They 
 had been looked upon by the other Greeks as scarcely Hellenic, 
 a strange wild and predatory people, whose piracies along 
 the west coast of the Peloponnese were a constant source of 
 terror. They became better known after repelling the inva- 
 sion of Demosthenes in B.C. 425. Philip of Macedonia had 
 found it worth while to conciliate them by giving them Nau- 
 pactus, and neither Alexander nor his generals after his death 
 had effected their subjugation. In course of time they had 
 extended their power in Greece by admitting or forcing towns 
 in various parts of the country to join their league. Thus in 
 B.C. 266 they negotiated with the king of Epirus a partition 
 of Acarnania, and subsequently annexed certain portions of 
 Epirus itself. In Thessaly we find Pharsalus, Echinus, De- 
 metrias, Hypata and Heracleia also united with them ; in 
 the Peloponnese, Mantineia, Tegea, Orchomenus; in Thrace, 
 Lysimacheia; in Asia Minor, Caria and Chalcedon ; and among 
 the islands, Ceos. It is not very clear what the exact nature 
 of their relations wath these distant towns was, but from the 
 surviving treaty made with Ceos (about B.C. 240) it seems to 
 have included a mutual engagement to abstain from pillage 
 of each other's merchandize, and a promise on the part of 
 the League to protect the State thus joining it from pillage by 
 others. According to Polybius who however as an Achaean 
 was their enemy they were dangerous alike to friend and foe. 
 
The Aetolian League. 313 
 
 and were steadily degenerating in the third century. Their 
 constant warfare ruined their finances, their government was 
 corrupt, and their strategus, who had the absolute power of 
 proclaiming war, acted from selfish and unpatriotic motives. 
 They certainly seem to have been a firebrand in Greece in 
 the last century of her free existence, to have been continually 
 at enmity with the Achaeans, to have intrigued for and 
 against Sparta, for and against Macedonia and Rome, and 
 finally to have been the authors of great misfortunes to the 
 country by inviting the interference of the king of Syria. 
 
 In the Peloponnese, Sparta was almost the only one of the 
 old strong States that had retained its inde- . . 
 
 <-' ^ 3. Sparta in 
 
 pendence, and refused to accept a Macedonian the third 
 garrison. Its constitution had remained the same. ^^" ""^^ 
 It still had its two kings, five ephors, and gerusia. But in 
 other respects it was much changed. The numbers of the true 
 Spartans had greatly diminished, and the lands had got into 
 the hands of a few families by passing to heiresses. Its old 
 supremacy in the Peloponnese was gone; its territory was 
 confined to Laconia, and even that had been curtailed in 
 favour of the Messenians who acted usually with the Mace- 
 donians. It was however strong enough to repel with some- 
 thing like its old spirit the attack of Pyrrhus in B.C. 273-2. 
 The other towns in the Peloponnese were mostly closely allied 
 to Macedonia, and garrisoned by Macedonian soldiers or ruled 
 by tyrants who looked to Macedonia to support their authority. 
 In this state of things the one hope for independence in 
 the Peloponnese seemed to be a combination Early 
 
 of States strong enough to hold its own against history of 
 
 1 , , , , 1 1 rT.1 the Achaean 
 
 jealousy at home and hostility abroad. Ihe League to 
 nucleus of such a combination was formed ^-^-^so. 
 about this time. A league of twelve Achaean towns had 
 existed from ancient times. The twelve cities mentioned by 
 Herodotus are Pellene, Aegira, Aegae, Bura, Helice, Aegium, 
 Rhypes, Patrae, Pharae, Olenus, Dyme, Tritaea. Of these 
 
314 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 cities Rhypes and Aegae were in some way destroyed, and 
 their places were taken by Leontium and Caryneia. Before 
 B.C. 371 Olenus and Helice had also disappeared, partly 
 owing to an earthquake and partly to the encroachments of 
 the sea. The Achaeans had always enjoyed a good reputation 
 for justice and peaceableness in Greece, and had been selected 
 to arbitrate in the disputes which raged in Magna Graecia 
 about B.C. 400, and between Sparta and Thebes after the 
 battle of Leuctra (b.c. 371). They had also been in early 
 times among the most prolific in colonisation. During the 
 Peloponnesian war they had alternately submitted to Athens 
 and Sparta, but appear to have regained independence at the 
 end of it. During the Macedonian period the cities had 
 declined in prosperity, had ceased to maintain the friendly 
 connexion with each other, and had been forced either to 
 admit Macedonian garrisons, or to be ruled by tyrants. This 
 had been particularly the case while Antigonus Gonatas had 
 been in the Peloponnese during his father's lifetime (b.c. 
 294-287). 
 
 But about B.C. 280, when Macedonia was disturbed by 
 The disputes about the throne, and Pyrrhus was 
 
 renewal of Starting on his invasion of Italy, four of the 
 
 Le^guef Achaean cities Dyme, Patrae, Tritaea and 
 
 B.C. 280. Pharae formed a new league to secure each 
 
 other's independence. This proving after five years' trial to 
 have some stability, it was joined by Aegium, Bura and Cary- 
 neia at short intervals ; the first after expelling its Macedonian 
 garrison, and the two latter after getting rid of their tyrants. 
 These seven towns formed the whole league for twenty -five years 
 (b.c. 279-255). The principle of the arrangement was that 
 each city should be free, and have a democratic government ; 
 but that there should be among them a uniform coinage, and 
 the same standard of weights and measures, and that the 
 business affecting the League generally should be conducted 
 by two strategi and a secretary, elected alternately by the 
 
The Achaean League. 315 
 
 several cities. After B.C. 255, instead of two strategi one 
 only was yearly elected with a second in command or hypo- 
 strategus. The assembly (o-woSos) of the League met once 
 a year in May (at first always at Aegium) for the election of 
 the officers, and a second time in the autumn for general 
 business; but there was also a council (^ovXyj) consisting of 
 the officers and certain elect members, numbering about 120, 
 apparently for the management of foreign affairs. The strategus 
 had a cabinet of ten demiurgi, in consultation with whom 
 he summoned assemblies and prepared motions to be brought 
 before them. There was also a hipparch, who commanded the 
 League cavalry; and a navarch to command the squadron of 
 ten ships which was regularly maintained, d^wdi judges (BLKaaTai) 
 to administer cases under the federal law. Probably these 
 institutions were gradually developed; but from B.C. 255 when 
 Margos of Caryneia was first elected sole strategus, the League 
 steadily grew to be the chief power in the Peloponnese. 
 
 The chief object of the League was to destroy Macedonian 
 influence in the Peloponnese by driving out 
 Macedonian garrisons and the tyrants who de- of the League^ 
 pended on them. It had therefore to reckon under Aratus, 
 
 . . B.C. 251 239. 
 
 with the hostility of Antigonus Gonatas, backed 
 up by the jealousy of the Aetolians, who had interests in 
 the Peloponnese because the Arcadian towns of Mantineia, 
 Tegea, and Orchomenus had been joined to the Aetolian 
 League. The success of the Achaeans against this combination 
 was due chiefly to Aratus of Sicyon the real founder of their 
 power who in B.C. 251 returned from Argos, where he had 
 been brought up in exile, surprised and expelled the tyrant 
 of Sicyon, and being elected chief magistrate of the town 
 caused it to join the Achaean League. Eight years after- 
 wards being himself strategus of the League he drove the 
 Macedonian garrison from Acrocorinthus, caused Corinth to 
 join the League, and in the course of the same year annexed 
 Megara also (b.c. 241). 
 
3i6 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Aratus, though not a great soldier, was an adroit diplo- 
 
 7. Deme- matist. Hc not only maintained the struggle 
 triusii.king against Antigonus Gonatas during that mo- 
 B.c. 239-229. ' narch's life, but contrived during the reign of 
 rise of the ^^^ ^^ Demetrius II to secure the cooperation 
 Achaeans. of the ActoHans in maintaining the opposition 
 lations with to Macedonia. They were so successful that at 
 ^- the death of Demetrius (b.c. 229) there was a 
 general movement among the Peloponnesian towns to join 
 the League. The tyrants of Argos, Hermione, and Phlius 
 abdicated, and those towns joined the League, as Megalopolis 
 had already done in the king's lifetime. In b.c. 229 therefore 
 practically the whole Peloponnese except Laconia and Elis 
 was combined in the Achaean League. It was just at this 
 time that relations began with Rome. Both the Leagues had 
 given aid to the Roman expedition against Teuta queen of 
 the Illyrians, from whose piracies both continually suffered. 
 On Teuta's submission to the Romans, and the agreement 
 made with the Illyrians that they should not sail south of 
 Issus with ships of war, the Roman consuls sent legates to 
 both Leagues acquainting them with the terms of the treaty. 
 They were received with great honour at Corinth and admitted 
 to the Isthmian games, while the Athenians gave them the 
 freedom of their city and allowed them to be initiated in the 
 Eleusinian mysteries (b.c. 228). 
 
 But the success of the Achaean League was viewed with 
 T^t--,. ,r secret dread by its Aetolian allies, and with 
 
 8. Phihp V, ' ' . 
 
 king of Mace- opcn hostility by Sparta. And when Antigonus 
 29 i79^(Anti- Doson nominally the guardian of the young 
 gonusDoson, king Philip made himself king of Macedonia 
 
 nominally his , > ^ ^ c- r i 
 
 guardian, calls (B.C. 229-220), and among the first acts of his 
 B c^22^^2 reign treacherously seized upon Acrocorinthus, 
 Attempts to the ActoHans began intriguing with him and with 
 par a. deomcnes king of Sparta to thwart and weaken 
 the Achaeans. Sparta as we have said had much declined 
 
Enmity of Sparta to the Achaean League. 317 
 
 from its ancient position of supremacy. The old discipline 
 which had bred a race of soldiers had fallen into disuse, and 
 the numbers of the true Spartans had been reduced to about 
 700, the ownership of the land having come into the 
 hands of only 100 families. Agis III (b.c. 244-240) had 
 attempted to reform this state of things by redistributing the 
 land among the Spartans, including some of the perioeci, but 
 had lost his life at the hands of the narrow oligarchy headed 
 by the other king and the ephors. Cleomenes III (b.c. 240- 
 222) married the widow of Agis, and was in full sympathy 
 with his policy. He too wished to restore the old Spartan 
 discipline, and the old equality between all true Spartans. 
 But he could not get the influence necessary to carry out his 
 reforms and to resist the oligarchical ephors, unless he made 
 Sparta strong again, and recovered her old hegemony in the 
 Peloponnese. 
 
 The greatest obstacle in the way of these schemes was the 
 Achaean League, which not only aimed at g. Enmity 
 combining all the Peloponnese, but made demo- sSta^and 
 cratical government in each state what it called the Achaeans 
 freedom a necessary condition. Cleomenes interference of 
 therefore looked to the jealousy of the Aetolian Macedonia. 
 League as his best support against the Achaeans. The Aeto- 
 lians caught at the chance, and connived at the seizure by Cleo- 
 menes of Tegea, Mantineia and Orchomenus, which belonged 
 to them, in order to give him posts of advantage against the 
 Achaeans. Encouraged by this Cleomenes proceeded to build 
 a strong fort on the frontier of the territory of Megalopolis, 
 as the Achaeans alleged, to enable him to harry Achaean 
 territory : as he alleged, to protect his own borders from their 
 incursions (b.c. 229-227). 
 
 The usual result of the enmities of Greek States followed 
 an appeal for the intervention of a foreign State. Aratus, the 
 chief aim of whose poHcy had been to exclude the Macedo- 
 nians from the Peloponnese, and who had in b.c. 229 advanced 
 
3 1 8 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 a great part of the money required to induce the Macedonian 
 garrison to quit Athens, was eventually the man to invite tiie 
 interference of Antigonus Doson. This however was not- until 
 the war with Cleomenes, upon which the League resolved 
 in B.C. 227, had lasted more than four years and had proved 
 almost everywhere disastrous to the Achaeans. 
 
 Cleomenes began the war by invading Arcadia and seizing 
 10. cieo- Methydrium (b.c. 227). This invasion was re- 
 
 B 0^^227^222 peated in each of the next three years. In b.c. 226 
 The Achaeans he won two Considerable victories near Mount 
 kfng^of ^ Lycaeus and at Ladocaea near Megalopolis, and 
 Macedonia. ^^ j^ext year, a third near Dyme. In the next (b.c. 
 224) he conquered Pellene and Argos. To set off against these 
 feats the Achaeans had very little to shew, and it seemed likely 
 that the other cities in the Peloponnese would declare on the 
 side of Cleomenes. Corinth, Phlius, Cleonae and others did 
 so at once; and in B.C. 223 Cleomenes laid siege to Sicyon 
 hoping to secure the control of the northern part of the 
 Peloponnese, though Acrocorinthus still remained in the hands 
 of the Achaeans. It was in these circumstances that Aratus, 
 fearing a combination of Sparta and the Aetolians supported 
 by the king of Egypt, who desired to embarrass the Macedonian 
 sovereign carried out his long meditated design of inviting the 
 assistance of Antigonus Doson. The king of Macedonia promptly 
 sent an army, which, in spite of protests from the Aetolians, 
 reached the entrance to the isthmus of Corinth. Cleomenes 
 hurriedly abandoned the siege of Sicyon and brought his army 
 to dispute the passage of the isthmus. But alarmed at hearing 
 that Argos had been re-occupied by the Achaeans, he retired 
 upon that town in the vain hope of recovering it. Antigonus 
 therefore advanced unopposed to occupy Acrocorinthus, which 
 the Achaeans handed over to him, and spent the rest of the 
 summer in ejecting the Spartan garrisons which Cleomenes 
 had posted in various strongholds on the borders of Achaia. 
 While wintering at Sicyon and Corinth he was appointed 
 
The Cleomeftic War. 319 
 
 commander-in-chief of the combined Achaean and Mace- 
 donian armies, and in the following year (b.c. 223) recovered 
 Tegea, ' Orchomenus, Mantineia and other Arcadian towns. 
 Antigonus thus assumed the position of an officer and cham- 
 pion of the Achaean League, and during the winter of 
 B.C. 223-222 attended the league-meeting at Aegium. His 
 Macedonian soldiers were sent home for the winter, and he 
 relied for the time on the League forces and on his mercenary 
 troops. Cleomenes took advantage of this to seize Megalo- 
 polis always obstinately opposed to him and to dismantle 
 its fortifications and public buildings. In the spring of B.C. 
 222 he collected his army and advanced into Argolis, where 
 Antigonus had wintered. He was obliged it was said to 
 move early, because the king of Egypt, who had been sup- 
 plying him with money, declined to do so any longer, and 
 he therefore could not maintain a large army through the 
 summer. He hoped either to tempt Antigonus to give him 
 battle with inadequate forces, or to discredit him with the 
 Argives when they found their territory devastated without 
 receiving protection from him. Antigonus however, in spite 
 of popular clamour, could not be drawn into the field, and 
 H^^^Cleomenes had to return to Sparta, without any other satis- 
 ' faction than that of having plundered a hostile territory. 
 
 As soon as Antigonus had been rejoined by his Mace- 
 donian soldiers, in the summer of B.C. 222, he ^ Battle 
 retaliated on Cleomenes by invading Laconia ofSeiiasia, 
 with an army of twenty-eight thousand infantry 
 and twelve hundred cavalry. Cleomenes had made prepa- 
 rations to resist the invasion by guarding passes, digging 
 trenches, and felling trees. He himself took post where the 
 roads from Tegea and Argos to Laconia unite, near the town 
 of Sellasia in the valley of the river Oenus. On his right was 
 a mountain called Olympus, on his left Mount Evas, between 
 which was a small plain on which he placed his cavalry and 
 mercenaries, protected by a trench. The position was so 
 strong that at first Antigonus did not venture to attack him. 
 
320 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 But after waiting some days both sides seem to have made 
 up their minds to decide the question by battle. The king's 
 brother Eucleidas occupied Evas, Cleomenes himself Olympus, 
 the light armed troops and cavalry were in the low ground in 
 the centre. The left wing under Eucleidas was the first to give 
 way, for the cavalry and light armed who tried to get on the 
 rear of the Macedonians, as they were advancing up Mount 
 Evas, were prevented by a timely charge of the Achaean cavalry, 
 led by a young officer named Philopoemen, of whom we shall 
 hear much hereafter. The charge was made without orders, 
 but did much to win the battle. His left and centre having 
 been beaten, Cleomenes made a desperate effort to restore 
 the battle on the right. But the enormous weight of the 
 Macedonian phalanx proved irresistible, and when he saw 
 that all was lost he escaped on horseback to Sellasia, and 
 thence to Sparta, and Gythium. There he took ship for 
 Egypt, and disappears from Greek History. Antigonus had 
 Httle difficulty in occupying Sparta soon after the battle. 
 
 Shortly afterwards Antigonus was recalled to Macedonia by 
 
 12. Death of ^^^ ncws of an Illyrian invasion, and before many 
 
 Antigonus months he was dead. But the result of his 
 
 Doson, B.C. 
 
 220. Revoiu- Victory was to free the Achaean League from all 
 tion in Sparta, f^^j. ^f Sparta, and to re-annex to it the towns 
 taken by Cleomenes. Sparta itself was not injured nor forced 
 to join the League. Nominally its freedom was respected 
 and its old constitution restored. But the dual kingship was 
 put an end to soon afterwards by Lycurgus, who though not 
 of the royal blood contrived to be elected king after the 
 death of Cleomenes in Egypt (b.c. 220) with Agesipolis IIL 
 In a short time Lycurgus deposed Agesipolis and made 
 himself sole king, or tyrant, though the ephors still continued 
 to be elected and to exercise some control over him. His 
 policy and that of his successors in the tyranny was answerable 
 for the renewal and continuation of the wars in Greece which 
 made inevitable its subjection, first to Macedonia, and then 
 to Rome. 
 
321 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Growth of Roman Supremacy in Greece. 
 
 On the death of Antigonus Doson the youthful Philip 
 became real as well as nominal sovereign of 
 Macedonia. The character of the Macedonian king of ^ ^^ 
 monarch was now of great importance to Greece, Macedonia, 
 and it was soon known that, though only seven- 
 teen, Philip gave great promise as a ruler and a soldier. Events 
 in Greece presently called for his interference. Just at this 
 time the Aetolians made themselves particularly troublesome 
 to the Peloponnesians. The depredations in Arcadia and 
 Messenia, instigated or connived at by their agent Dorimachus, 
 were so audacious that the Achaean League resolved to assist 
 the Messenians in arms. Thus began another ' Social war,' in 
 which the Achaeans allied with Macedonia, Boeotia, Phocis, 
 Epirus, and Acarnania contended against the Aetolians allied 
 with Elis and Sparta. 
 
 The three years of this war witnessed no great or decisive 
 battle. It began with plundering expeditions on q i 
 
 either side, and at first fortune was generally war, b.c. 220 
 against the Achaeans. The Achaean leader ~^'7' 
 Aratus, though an able statesman, was timid and ineffective in 
 the field, and allowed the Aetolians to score a number of petty 
 successes before Philip's arrival towards the end of b.c. 220. It 
 was too late for the king to take part in the campaign of this 
 s. G. 21 
 
322 Short History of the Gi-eeks. 
 
 year, but he met deputies from the allies at Corinth and agreed 
 to declare war upon the Aetolians. After spending the winter 
 at home in making preparations, in the spring of r>.c. 219 he 
 invaded Aetolia. His success was interrupted by the necessity 
 of returning home to repel a threatened inroad of barbarians. 
 But later in the year he made a descent upon Elis, the chief 
 Peloponnesian ally of the Aetolians, and after overrunning the 
 country and capturing the towns of its southern district called 
 Triphylia, in spite of an Aetolian force sent to its aid, he 
 wintered at Argos. Next year (b.c. 218) he prepared to carry 
 on the war by sea, but was induced by the Acarnanians to 
 invade Aetolia again. He captured and plundered Thermus, 
 the capital of the Aetolian League, and many other towns in the 
 valley of the Achelous. His fleet then took him on board at 
 Limnaea on the Ambracian gulf and conveyed him to Corinth. 
 Thence he advanced rapidly by way of Tegea into Laconia, to 
 punish the Spartan king who had invaded Arca- 
 
 Lycurgus . . 
 
 king of Sparta, dia in his absence. He marched right up to the 
 B.C. 220-210. harbour town of Gythium, whence he laid waste 
 the country. On his way back he baffled an attempt of Lycur- 
 gus to intercept him and returned safely to Tegea. Here he 
 was visited by envoys from Rhodes and Chios offering inter- 
 vention and begging him to end the war. No agreement how- 
 ever was arrived at ; and, as the king was obliged to go home 
 to Macedonia in the early part of the next year (b.c. 217), the 
 petty raids began again, the Aetolians harassing Acarnania, 
 and Lycurgus various places in the Peloponnese. About mid- 
 summer Philip arrived with his fleet at Cenchrea, the harbour 
 of Corinth. Being there he attended the Nemean games, and 
 while watching the contests received a despatch which altered 
 all his plans and caused him to take a step which had grave 
 consequences for Greece. This despatch announced the defeat 
 of the Romans at Lake Trasimene and determined Philip to 
 do what he had already meditated doing throw in his lot with 
 Hannibal. 
 
Philip V and the Romans. 323 
 
 The first effects of this resolution seemed to be for the 
 happiness of Greece. The king at once took ^^ ^^ ^^ 
 
 measures for ending the Social war, and a general Naupactus. 
 peace was arranged at Naupactus. The Achaeans pareya^fl^eVto 
 and other Peloponnesian States set to work to invade itaiy, 
 
 B.C. 217 215. 
 
 repair the losses they had suffered, to renew the 
 cultivation of their lands, and to restore the various religious 
 festivals which still played so great a part in Greek life, but 
 which war and its expenses had in many cases interrupted. 
 North of the isthmus of Corinth there was peace indeed, but 
 it was the peace of decay. Boeotia was in every way decadent ; 
 and Athens, though freed from the fear of Macedonia, aban- 
 doned all care for Panhellenic interests and endeavoured to 
 secure her safety and repose by passing complimentary decrees 
 in favour of the king of Egypt, and any other princes who 
 seemed likely to be friendly or formidable. As fiir as the 
 Peloponnese was concerned the quiet did not last long. Philip 
 soon found that his schemes of Italian invasion were hopeless. 
 After the peace negotiated with the Aetolians at Naupactus 
 (n.c. 217) he spent a year in collecting a large fleet to dominate 
 the coast of lUyria as a vantage ground for a descent upon 
 Italy. But certain lUyrian princes warned the Roman govern- 
 ment, and the appearance, or rather the mere report, of a 
 Roman squadron drove him in headlong flight to Cephallenia. 
 It was only after the Roman disaster at Cannae (August, 
 B.C. 216) that he ventured to take the decisive step of making 
 a treaty with Hannibal. Even then his first envoys were 
 intercepted, and the treaty was not ratified till B.C. 215. 
 
 Meanwhile Philip returned to the Peloponnese, no longer 
 as its defender against the Aetolians, but with 
 the object of extending his own influence there. troubie1n\h^e 
 He already held Acrocorinthus, and he took Peloponnese. 
 
 ' ^ , ' ^ Phihp quarrels 
 
 the opportunity of a revolution in Messenia to with the 
 seize Messene (Mount Ithome) the other * horn League." 
 of the ox.' This brought him into collision with 
 
 21 2 
 
324 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 the patriotic party of the Achaean League. The Achaeans 
 had originally invited Macedonian interference in the Pelopon- 
 nese : but they had fondly hoped that the Macedonian kings 
 would retire when they had secured them their freedom. 
 But what they meant by * freeing the Peloponnese ' was forcing 
 all States to establish democracy and join their League. What 
 Philip meant was to prevent the invasion of Aetolians and the 
 encroachments of Spartans and Eleans. He always intended 
 to be paramount himself: and in order to secure that object, 
 he introduced Macedonian garrisons into as many towns as 
 possible. Those of the Achaeans who opposed this he re- 
 garded as enemies, and was believed (though probably without 
 good grounds) to have got rid of Aratus by poison (b.c. 213). 
 The general distrust of him roused in Greece by these proceed- 
 ings gave the Romans a great handle against him when they 
 proclaimed war in consequence of his treaty with Hannibal. 
 The war (b.c. 215-205) was not prosecuted with much 
 5. The first vigour, but Roman policy aimed at forming a 
 war between combination of Greek States against Philip in 
 
 Phihpand . ^ 
 
 Rome, every direction. 1 he lllyrian princes were sup- 
 
 B.c. 215-205. ported by Roman troops; a treaty was made 
 with the Aetolians ; in the Peloponnese Sparta, Elis and Messe- 
 nia were declared ' friends of Rome ' ; in Asia Attalus king of 
 Pergamus sought the same protection against Philip and his 
 ally Prusias, king of Bithynia. This combination was the 
 growth of the first four years of the war (b.c. 215-211). Philip 
 confronted the danger with spirit. Upon his side he could 
 reckon on Epirus, Acarnania, Thessaly, Boeotia. The 
 Achaean League was alternately distrustful of him and willing 
 to seek his aid ; but on the whole their fear of the Spartan 
 tyrant Machanidas (b.c. 210-207) and his successor Nabis 
 (b.c. 207-192) kept them loyal to Philip. But the result of 
 nine years of warfare during which the permanent occupation 
 of Aegina by Attalus and a Roman fleet kept the opposition to 
 Philip alive and active was that Greece was divided into two 
 
End of the first war of Philip with Rome. 325 
 
 factions, some States looking for protection to Rome, others 
 to Macedonia. It was clear that one or the other of these two 
 powers would become supreme. The question was not settled 
 by the peace of Phoenice (b.c. 205) : the division was only 
 emphasised. For in it Rome spoke for one section of Greek 
 States, Philip for the other*: and it was understood to be little 
 more than a truce. 
 
 For a few years however there was comparative quiet in 
 Greece. The great danger to the peace in the 5^ Between 
 Peloponnese was the hostility between Nabis, ^^^ fi"t and 
 tyrant of Sparta, and the Achaean League. He donian wars," 
 had managed to obtain the rule of Sparta, when ^^' 205-200. 
 Machanidas fell in a war with the Achaean Philopoemen, 
 and his ambition was to extend the Spartan dominions. But 
 for the first few years of his rule he confined himself to strength- 
 ening his position in Sparta and did not provoke hostility. 
 Another danger was the jealousy of the Aetolian League, which 
 owning certain outlying cities in the Peloponnese and else- 
 where in Greece (see p. 312) was exceedingly sensitive to any 
 movement likely to absorb these cities in other combinations. 
 In the west independent Hellenism had disappeared. All the 
 Greek cities in Sicily had fallen under the dominion of Rome 
 after the capture of Syracuse (b.c. 212), while the Greek cities of 
 Southern Italy which had found the same fate after the invasion 
 of Pyrrhus (b.c. 282-275) had been ever since steadily de- 
 clining, and had in most cases been finally ruined by the 
 Hannibalian war. In Asia, New Ilium and Pergamus were 
 enjoying a kind of independence, but the islands and the 
 Greek cities of Asia were ruled either by the king of Egypt or 
 
 1 On the Roman side in the peace of Phoenice were Sparta, Athens, 
 Elis, Messenia in Greece, Ilium and Pergamus in Asia ; on Philip's side 
 Achaia, Boeotia, Thessaly, Acarnania, and Epirus. The Aetolians were 
 not included in this treaty, because they had made a separate treaty with 
 the Romans in B.C. 211. 
 
326 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 by Antlochus king of Syria. Like the few remaining inde- 
 pendent States in Greece itself, they were all destined soon to 
 pass under Roman sway. 
 
 This followed step by step from the policy of king Philip, 
 
 which again brought upon him the hostility of 
 
 the partition of the Romans, who gradually adopted the principle 
 
 of PtoiTmyv^ that Greek affairs were their immediate concern, 
 
 king of Egypt and that no interference in Greece was to be 
 
 .205 II. pgj.j^j^^(j ^Q a^j^y Qj^g except themselves. The 
 first offence of Philip was conniving at a body of Macedonian 
 troops being sent to help Hannibal in Africa, which fought in 
 his ranks at Zama (b.c. 202). But it was his policy in Greece 
 that was the immediate cause of war. Antiochus, king of 
 Syria, returned in B.C. 205 from a seven years' campaign in 
 Central Asia, in which he had won a high reputation and the 
 title of * the Great.' His ambition was to extend his dominions 
 to Palestine and parts of Gyrene and Egypt. In order to do 
 that he made a compact with Philip to divide the outlying 
 dominions of the young king of Egypt between them. Philip's 
 share was to consist of the islands of the Aegean and the Greek 
 towns of the Thracian Chersonese and Ionia'. He began at 
 once to carry out his part of the compact by sending an expe- 
 dition against the Cyclades. The powerful naval State of 
 Rhodes was prevented from interfering for their protection by 
 a war with Crete, in which Philip's agent supported the Cretans ; 
 while Philip himself marched to the Thracian Chersonese and 
 seized Lysimacheia at the head of it. He then crossed to Asia 
 and seized Chalcedon and Cius, which he handed over to his 
 brother-in-law Prusias of Bithynia. Thence he invaded the 
 dominions of the king of Pergamus and marched up to the 
 walls of the town. Then going on board his fleet, he took 
 Samos and besieged Chios, fought two battles with the fleets 
 of Attalus and Rhodes at Chios and Lade (b.c. 201), in the 
 
 ^ These possessions had fallen to the king of Egypt at the breaking up 
 of the kingdom of Thrace and Asia Minor, B.C. 281. See p. 308. 
 
TJie Encroachments of Philip V. 327 
 
 former with doubtful result, but in the second with complete 
 success. Having wintered in Caria as he was prevented from 
 returning by the enemy's fleet in the spring of b.c. 200 he 
 went back to Macedonia. 
 
 He had by these proceedings roused Greek feeling against 
 him in every direction. The Aetolians were 3. Provoca- 
 enraged at his capture of Lysimacheia, which, tions given by 
 
 , , 1 , , 1 ,. -r^ Philip to Rome 
 
 though once belongmg to the kmg of Egypt, and other 
 had for some years been a member of their States. 
 League. Attalus was alarmed by the invasion of his territory 
 and the strengthening of his neighbour Prusias ; the Rhodians 
 feared for their supremacy in the Aegean; the Athenians 
 embraced the cause of Attalus, whose friendship was important 
 to them for their corn trade ; the guardians of the young king 
 of Egypt were indignant at his outlying possessions in Greece 
 being attacked. From all these States complaints poured into 
 Rome, now become the universal referee for all Greek troubles. 
 Roman commissioners were sent in B.C. 204 to Egypt, and to 
 Greece in B.C. 203 : and though Philip endeavoured to coun- 
 teract their report by sending ambassadors of his own to Rome 
 in B.C. 201, the senators made up their minds that the king 
 must be defeated, if they were to maintain their supremacy, or 
 indeed any footing at all in Greece. Messengers were sent 
 round to Greek States friendly to Rome the Epirotes, Atha- 
 manians, Aetolians and Achaeans assuring them that they 
 would be protected. An invasion of Attica by Philip's general 
 Philocles was averted ; and while the king was engaged on the 
 siege of Abydos, a Roman ambassador visited him with an 
 ultimatum : ' he must abstain from attacking any Greek town, 
 or any place under King Ptolemy, and submit to arbitration the 
 claims for compensation made by Rhodes and King Attalus.' 
 Philip treated this demand with disdain and completed the 
 capture of Abydos. But he soon heard that a Roman army 
 was in Epirus, that another invasion of Attica by his troops 
 had been repelled, and the stores which he had collected at 
 
328 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 Chalcis in Euboea burnt. He was obliged to return to Europe, 
 and after a vain attempt to capture Athens, he went to Aegium 
 in the Peloponnesus to meet the magistrates of the Achaean 
 League. He wished them to supply him with garrisons for 
 Corinth and towns in Euboea in return for his defence of them 
 against Nabis of Sparta. His object was to weaken the 
 Achaeans and to commit them to an attitude of hostility to 
 Rome. But the Achaean magistrates were too prudent to be 
 thus caught. Their object was to maintain their independence 
 without provoking the Romans ; and Philip went back in dis- 
 gust to Attica, where, though he again failed to take Athens, 
 he did much damage to the country. Towards the autumn he 
 returned to Macedonia. 
 
 The war was thus begun by the Romans with the distinct 
 
 9. Second objcct of destroying Macedonian supremacy in 
 war between Greece. What the ultimate position of the 
 Philip V, Greek States was to be could not be foreseen, 
 
 B.C. 200195. nor had the Roman Senate probably any definite 
 plan. The one thing they were certain about was that Philip 
 must withdraw from the country. He was not prepared to 
 yield without a struggle, and in fact shewed great activity and 
 skill in his preparations. For two years (b.c. 200-198) the 
 Roman invasion from Epirus was kept back, and the opera- 
 tions of the Roman fleet in the Aegean were only partly 
 
 ^ . , , successful. It was not till the advent of T. 
 
 Arrival of 
 
 Fiamininus, QuiNCTius Flamininus, early in B.C. 198, that 
 B.C. 198. ^j^g ^-^g turned. By his energy and good for- 
 
 tune the king's position on the Aous was turned, and a Roman 
 army was in Macedonian territory. The king fled into Thessaly, 
 now for all practical purposes his own dominion. It was there 
 that the war was decided, and it was the Thessalians who 
 suffered most in it, both from the ravages of Philip, intended 
 to make the country unable to support the invading Roman 
 force, and from the inroad on the south of the Roman allies 
 the Aetolians and Athamanians. But Flamininus had made 
 
The Romans and P%il^^y^9^ ^329 
 
 skilful preparations for transport of provisions from his ships, 
 
 first from a harbour in the Ambracian gulf, and then from 
 
 Anticyra in the Corinthian gulf. He marched through 
 
 Thessaly and Southern Greece, everywhere driving out the 
 
 Macedonian garrisons, sometimes with ease, and sometimes 
 
 after stout resistance. 
 
 Whilst he was besieging Elateia he received the formal 
 
 adhesion of the Achaean League. This had 
 
 been brought about directly by the action of the Achaean 
 
 Roman fleet under his brother L. Flamininus. league ad- 
 heres to Rome, 
 In conjunction with the fleets of Attalus and B.C. 198 
 
 of Rhodes he had seized certain towns on the *" ""^ 
 
 coast of Euboea and expelled the Macedonian garrisons, and 
 
 had finally occupied Cenchrea the harbour of Corinth. The 
 
 Achaeans felt that the time was come to choose definitely 
 
 between Philip and Rome. Friendship with Macedonia, as a 
 
 protection against the Spartan tyrants and the Aetolians, had 
 
 been a policy of long standing with them. But Philip had 
 
 forfeited their confidence by his recent conduct in the Pelo- 
 
 ponnese, and it now seemed that he was also likely to be 
 
 crushed by the Roman power. After a remarkable debate in 
 
 a meeting of the League at Sicyon, at which envoys from the 
 
 allies, from Philip, and from the Romans were heard, the 
 
 assembly decided by a large majority to follow the advice of 
 
 the Achaean strategus Aristaenus, who pointed out that they 
 
 had better accept a free alliance with the Romans, who, if they 
 
 refused, might and would compel them to submit. 
 
 The adhesion of the Achaean League was very welcome to 
 
 the Romans ; but Philip was not conquered yet, 
 
 nor was the hold of the Macedonians on Greece demanded"^ 
 
 shaken off. The king still had garrisons in * the g"^ fj^!!!^' 
 
 fetters ' of Greece, Demetrias, Chalcis and Acro- 
 
 corinthus, as well as in Argos and a number of towns once in 
 
 political union with the Aetolian League. He now suggested 
 
 a conference of all States interested, that he might know 
 
330 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 exactly what was expected of him before the Romans would 
 consent to withdraw from their attack. The conference was 
 held at Nicaea in Locris, in the autumn or winter of B.C. 198-7, 
 and the demands made will best show what the position of 
 affairs in Greece was. 
 
 (i) The Roman general demanded that Philip should 
 evacuate all Greek towns and restore all prisoners ; surrender 
 all places in Illyria taken since the peace of B.C. 205, and all 
 that had been taken from the king of Egypt since the death of 
 Ptolemy Philopator (b.c. 205). 
 
 (2) The envoys of Attalus demanded the restoration of 
 ships taken at Chios, and the repair of temples near Per- 
 gamus. 
 
 (3) The Rhodians demanded the evacuation of their 
 Peraea and some towns in Caria, the restoration of Perinthus 
 to Byzantium, and the withdrawal of Macedonian garrisons 
 from Sestos, Abydos, and other ports in Asia. 
 
 (4) The Achaeans demanded Argos and Corinth. 
 
 (5) The Aetolians demanded that Philip should ([uit 
 Greece and restore to them the towns once in their League 
 Cius and Chalcedon in Asia ; Lysimacheia in the Chersonese ; 
 Pharsalus, Larissa Cremasta, Echinus, and Phthiotid Thebes 
 in Thessaly. 
 
 These demands will shew how widely I'hilip had spread 
 his net over Greece and Hellenic Asia, and what it was from 
 which the Romans now professed to be liberating the Greek 
 States. 
 
 The king parried most of the demands, offering to satisfy 
 
 some and then withdrawing, and finally proposed 
 
 continued, and that the wholc casc should be referred to the 
 
 ended by the Senate. A truce of three months was arranged 
 
 battle of 
 
 Cynos- for this purpose, and the king's envoys appeared 
 
 B.c!^^^? before the Senate. But the answer was un- 
 
 compromising Philip must evacuate all Greece, 
 and especially the three strongholds Demetrias, Chalcis and 
 
Battle of Cynoscepluilae. 331 
 
 Acrocorinthiis. This he was not prepared to do, and the war 
 was therefore renewed in B.C. 197. He tried to retain Nabis 
 of Sparta on his side by giving up Argos to him. But though 
 the treacherous tyrant occupied Argos and exacted money 
 from the citizens, he immediately opened communications 
 with Flamininus. The final battle of the war was fought near 
 a low range of hills in Thessaly called the ' Dog's heads ' 
 {Cynoscephalae)^ in which the Romans and their allies utterly 
 defeated Philip, who fled with a small guard of cavalry to 
 Tempe, and there collected his scattered forces. This defeat 
 was not the only blow to Philip's cause. About the same time 
 the Achaeans had defeated his commander in Acrocorinthus ; 
 the Rhodians had reconquered their Peraea ; and his allies the 
 Acarnanians had been forced to give in to the Roman fleet 
 under L. Flamininus. 
 
 Philip therefore made up his mind to submit to the Roman 
 demand for the evacuation of Greece. But it must have been 
 some consolation to him to observe that his doing so did not 
 end all controversies. The Aetolians were profoundly dissatis- 
 fied. They expected to get back all their outlying towns, and 
 Philip, as he could not keep them himself, was quite willing 
 that they should do so. But Flamininus claimed most of them 
 as having voluntarily surrendered to Rome. The arrogance of 
 the Aetolians indeed was a bad omen of future harmony. 
 They claimed the chief credit of the victory of Cynoscephalae; 
 had been conspicuously selfish in appropriating plunder ; and 
 wanted to impose much harsher terms on Philip than Flami- 
 ninus was inclined to demand. 
 
 The final arrangements for Greece were made by ten 
 Roman commissioners acting in accordance with 13. The 
 certain principles laid down by the Senate, ^^^q^^^^ 
 These principles were mainly three : b.c. 196. 
 
 (i) All existing free States were to be free and autonomous. 
 
 This covered the case of the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues, 
 of Athens, of Sparta, of the Boeotian and some other States. 
 
332 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 (2) Such States as had been actually occupied by the 
 king's garrisons were before the next Isthmian festival (July) 
 to be handed over to the Roman commissioners, who were to 
 decide as to their future status. 
 
 These were in all parts of Greece (especially Thessaly) and 
 included the 'three fetters' Demetrias, Chalcis, and Acro- 
 corinthus. 
 
 (3) All Greek towns in Asia occupied by Philip were to be 
 set free at once, and Cius was to be demanded from Prusias. 
 
 The States included in the first and third of these categories 
 had therefore no farther cause for doubt or anxiety. They 
 were to be exactly what they were before. No doubt they were 
 fully aware that they owed this to the superior strength of 
 Rome, which might be exerted to deprive them of what it had 
 thus restored to them. But it would not seem a more formid- 
 able danger than had for long been threatening them from 
 Macedonia. What public sentiment was excited about was the 
 fate of the parts of Greece coming under the second category 
 as having been in actual occupation of Philip. The task of 
 the commissioners was not quite simple. There would be 
 many claims and counter-claims as to territory to settle between 
 the towns, even if enfranchised, and we find traces of such 
 controversies going on for some years. But the general ques- 
 tion as to whether such States as a whole were to be free or 
 were merely to be transferred from Philip to Rome they had 
 decided by the time of the Isthmian festival in July. 
 
 Many rumours of the usual contradictory kind had got 
 
 14. Procia- abroad on this subject, and when the herald 
 
 mationatthe appeared in the stadium before the crowd of 
 
 Isthmian ^ ^ , , 
 
 games, spectators, there was the most intense anxiety 
 
 B.C. ig6. |.Q j^g^j. j^-j^^ jjg declared it to be the will of 
 
 the Senate that the following peoples should 'be free, with- 
 out garrisons, or tribute, in full enjoyment of the laws of 
 their respective countries Corinthians, Phocians, Locrians, 
 Euboeans, Achaeans of Phthiotis, Magnesians, Thessalians, 
 
Greek freedom from Macedonia proclaimed. 333 
 
 Perrhaebians.' This included all districts in which Philip 
 had occupied certain strong towns with Macedonian garrisons. 
 That they were all to be free and not Roman dependencies 
 was good news almost beyond hope, and the proclamation was 
 received with the wildest enthusiasm, as the confirmation of 
 'the freedom of Greece.' The Aetolians were the only people 
 dissatisfied, for they asserted that Greece could not be ' free ' 
 so long as Roman garrisons were in the ' fetters ' Demetrias, 
 Chalcis and Acrocorinthus. This exception Flamininus and 
 the commissioners had felt constrained to make, partly from 
 the feeling that it would not be safe to withdraw entirely, till 
 the new settlement had had time to take root, and partly because 
 Antiochus king of Syria shewed an inclination to interfere in 
 Europe. He had secured Ephesus and even crossed to the 
 Thracian Chersonese, whence Greek discontent might induce 
 him to come farther south. In fact he had only been pre- 
 vented by the Rhodian fleet from giving active aid to Philip. 
 The setdement however was not meant to break up existing 
 confederacies. Phocis and Locris were allowed to be rejoined 
 to the Aetolian League, and Corinth with some other towns 
 to the Achaean League. The only substantial grievance that 
 the Aetolians had was that the outlying towns once joined to 
 their League (see p. 312) were now independent. On the 
 whole it was a just award, adapted to Greek feeling, and to the 
 importance which the Greeks always attached to local autonomy. 
 Flamininus put a finishing stroke to the work in the following 
 year (b.c. 195-4). After assisting the Achaean League to 
 force Nabis to restore Argos to them and confine himself to 
 the territory of Sparta, surrendering his fleet and withdrawing 
 his garrisons from all towns outside that territory, he proclaimed 
 the freedom of these towns at the next Nemean games ; and 
 withdrew the Roman garrisons from Demetrias, Chalcis and 
 Acrocorinthus. 
 
334 
 
 CHAPTER XXTV. 
 The Roman Conquest of Greece, b.c. 193146. 
 
 The settlement of Greece made by Flamininus and the 
 
 I. The Roman commissioners was acceptable to a large 
 
 Aetoiians part of the countrv, but there were two States in 
 
 and King i i i t r 
 
 Antiochus, which deep dissatisfaction remained. Nabis of 
 
 B.C. 193. Sparta, cut off from the sea and surrounded by 
 
 enemies, felt that his only chance of recovery was for the 
 Achaeans to lose the support of Rome. The Aetoiians were 
 disgusted at not recovering their outlying States especially 
 Pharsalus in Thessaly and Leucas (which had not like the 
 others surrendered to Rome), and loudly asserted that the 
 Greeks had not gained freedom but only a change of masters. 
 They looked round therefore for means of resistance, and con- 
 ceived the idea, which had so often proved fatal to Greece, 
 of calling in a foreign power to their aid. They fixed on 
 Antiochus of Syria. 
 
 Antiochus III had been king of Syria since B.C. 223, and 
 had gained the title of 'the Great' from his success in a seven 
 years' expedition in Upper Asia (b.c. 212-205). This had 
 made him at least nominal master of an empire almost as 
 great as that of the ancient Persians. He could command 
 ships from Phoenicia, and he ruled over most of the Greek 
 cities of Asia Minor. He had already come into collision 
 with Rome : for in B.C. 205 he had agreed with Philip to 
 
The Romans and Antiochus the Great. 335 
 
 divide the external dominions of the king of Egypt (see p. 326), 
 and the Romans had guaranteed the safety of Egypt. To 
 secure some of the States once belonging to the Egyptian king 
 and to support Philip he came to the Thracian Chersonese in 
 B.C. 196 (p. 2>Z?>\ where Roman envoys had visited him, and 
 whence he had himself sent ambassadors to Rome. But the 
 latter were told by the Senate that, unless the king quitted 
 Europe, they would free the Greek cities in Asia from him. 
 Antiochus had had a long and on the whole glorious reign, and 
 he was not inclined to accept such haughty commands. His 
 flatterers told him that his wealth and power were equal to a 
 struggle with the presumptuous Republic, and Rome's great 
 enemy Hannibal had taken refuge in his court and urged him 
 to resist. Therefore he was ready to listen to the invitation of 
 the Aetolians. 
 
 The result of his arrival in Greece (autumn of r..c. 192) 
 was a widespread and violent party division 
 between those who favoured Roman supremacy, of Antiochus 
 or thought is safer to seem to do so, and those Miberate 
 who supported Antiochus and the Aetolians. Greece, 
 This division was not only of States against States ; 
 in nearly every city partisans of both sides were to be found, 
 and all the troubles of a divided Greece seemed likely to recur. 
 It was in Thessaly, Boeotia, and Aetolia that the king looked 
 for his chief support. The Peloponnese was now united and 
 hostile. Earlier in the year Nabis of Sparta by attempting 
 to regain Gythium and other seaports had found himself at 
 war with the Achaean League. He asked for help from the 
 Aetolians and obtained it. But the Aetolians when they 
 arrived murdered Nabis and began to plunder Sparta. The 
 Achaean strategus Philopoemen hastened to relieve it, and 
 with the assent of the Romans, whose fleet was at Gythium, 
 forcibly annexed it to the Achaean League. The Spartans 
 never wished to belong to the League, and, as we shall see, 
 proved very troublesome members of it. But for the moment 
 
33^ Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the Peloponnese was united ; and as that union depended for 
 its continuance on Roman favour or permission, it was hostile 
 to Antiochus. King Philip of Macedonia also, who had 
 accepted the title of friend and ally of Rome, and had no wish 
 to see Antiochus at any rate supreme in Greece, was ready to 
 oppose him. Towns which, like Chalcis and Demetrias, had 
 gained by the Roman award, were not willing to listen to 
 Aetolian suggestions for the recovery of their freedom, asserting 
 that they were already free and had no knowledge of Roman 
 garrisons being in any Greek cities. On his arrival therefore 
 Antiochus did not find anything like the general welcome 
 which the Aetolians had promised him. The next ten months 
 (B.C. 1 92-1 91) were mostly spent by him in negotiations with 
 various States : but he obtained little support except from 
 the Aetolians themselves, the Athamanians, and the towns in 
 Boeotia, and some few in Thessaly in which he placed garrisons. 
 The only successful military action was his capture of Chalcis, 
 where he made his headquarters. 
 
 But he gave the Romans a good ground for proclaiming 
 
 The ^^^ ^y cutting to pieces a small body of 
 
 Romans make Roman troops near Delium, and next year (b.c. 
 
 Antiochus, ^9^) ^ad to facc a regular army led by M'. Acilius 
 
 and establish Glabrio. Being signally defeated at the battle 
 
 their authority & t> J 
 
 in Greece, of Thermopylae he fled to Chalcis and thence 
 
 B.C. 191. ^^ Ephesus, and in spite of grandiloquent pro- 
 
 mises never reappeared in Greece. Earlier in the year his 
 garrisons in the Thessalian towns had been driven out by 
 the advanced guard of the Roman army, assisted by Philip, 
 and after the battle of Thermopylae the Boeotian towns also 
 submitted. Greece was again pacified, but this time the 
 Roman supremacy was not disguised, and the various States 
 which had favoured Antiochus had to submit to whatever the 
 Roman consul chose to award to them. Demetrias for 
 instance lost its independence and, with some other towns, was 
 handed over to Philip as a reward for his fidelity. 
 
The Settlement of Asia Minor. 337 
 
 The only people who stood out were again the Aetolians. 
 After the fall of Heracleia indeed, which was ^^^ 
 
 heroically defended by a small Aetolian garrison, Aetolians 
 the League government did make overtures of [fml^butat 
 submission, but they could not brook the terms length submit, 
 
 ' ^ . B.C. i8g. 
 
 insisted upon by Acilius, and it was not until 
 B.C. 189, after standing a memorable siege in Ambracia, that 
 they gave in, consenting to abandon all places occupied since 
 B.C. 192, to annex no other States, and to bind themselves to 
 follow the Romans in war and peace. They in fact ceased 
 to be a sovereign State, and the country quickly deteriorated 
 and became helpless and insignificant. 
 
 Meanwhile Roman vengeance followed Antiochus into Asia, 
 and the threat of freeing the Asiatic Greek ^ ^^ti- 
 cities from him was carried out. They did not ochus driven 
 however become independent. After the Roman Minor, b.c. 
 victory of Magnesia (December b.c. 190), which ^^" 
 had been preceded by more than one defeat of the king's fleet, 
 Antiochus was obliged to surrender all dominions west of Mount 
 Taurus, and the various districts in Asia Minor were assigned to 
 Eumenes of Pergamus (who had succeeded his father Attalus I 
 in B.C. 197) or to Rhodes, while many towns on the coast were 
 to be free and autonomous. Hellenism no doubt gained greatly 
 by this award. The cities prospered under it, and again Hellenic 
 life in Asia gradually became more vigorous than in Greece 
 itself. The drawbacks were the presence of the Roman money- 
 lender {negotiator)^ and the fact that no sufficient provision was 
 made to control the piratical natives in the south, nor to guard 
 against encroaching barbarians in the north-east. Antiochus 
 had at least done this to some extent in his day of power, and 
 the Hellenic cities were not strong or united enough to do it 
 for themselves. 
 
 But elsewhere the freedom which the Greek world seemed to 
 have gained was to a still greater degree illusory. It held it 
 only by the grace of the Roman Senate, and as in the frequently 
 S. G. 22 
 
33^ Short History of tlie Greeks. 
 
 recurring quarrels between the States reference was continually 
 made to Rome, the fact that there was a superior power to 
 6. Subjec- whom they were all accountable could never 
 tion of be forgotten, while the Roman government was 
 
 and Greece gradually led to the conclusion that it would 
 
 to Rome. y^^ impossible to allow much longer even this 
 
 outward show of liberty. The country seemed to pine and 
 dwindle under this shadow. Population in European Greece 
 declined rapidly, the cities were weak and decaying, and the 
 old intellectual activity disappeared. Athens was still the 
 home of philosophy, but even Attic philosophy was falling 
 into disrepute, and was believed to have degenerated into a 
 system of verbal quibbles and sophistries. 
 
 The one fairly strong State now existing in Greece was 
 
 Rome ^^ Achaean League. The story of how it 
 
 and the too provokcd its fate, and was swept into the 
 
 League? B.C. Roman net, forms the last chapter in the 
 
 190-146. story of free Greece. The chief name in the 
 
 Death of . . . . ^ 
 
 Phiiopoemen, lustory of the League smce B.C. 222 is that of 
 B.C. 183. Phiiopoemen: and his great work had been to 
 
 train and inspire his fellow citizens to resist the encroachment of 
 the three successive tyrants of Sparta Lycurgus, Machanidas, 
 and Nabis. The crowning act of his life was, after the death of 
 Nabis (B.C. 192), to compel Sparta to become a member of the 
 League. In the next year Elis and Messenia were also added, 
 and the Achaean League thus embraced the whole of the 
 Peloponnesus. But these recent additions to the League did 
 not really add to its strength. They were unwilling members, 
 and always inclined to use any pretext to apply to Rome for 
 remedies of alleged wrongs. In fact from henceforth we find 
 two parties in the League : one was for entire submission to 
 Rome and its policy; the other, while admitting Roman supre- 
 macy, was for maintaining their independence by a strict 
 observance of the terms of the treaty of B.C. 198, and a firm 
 resistance to all encroachments upon it by Roman officers. 
 
Divisions in the Achaean League. 339 
 
 But the Roman policy was secretly to support the former of 
 these parties, and to regard the latter as enemies of Rome. 
 The effect of this policy was shewn in B.C. 183. The leader of 
 the romanising party was at this time Deinocrates, that of the 
 moderate party Philopoemen, for the eighth time strategus. 
 With it was alleged the secret support of Flamininus, Deino- 
 crates induced Messene to break off from the League. Though 
 old and sick Philopoemen at once marched into Messenia. 
 But he was surprised, taken prisoner, and dragged in chains 
 to Messene and there compelled to drink poison. This excited 
 general indignation. The Achaean assembly elected Lycortas 
 father of the historian Polybius strategus, who at once 
 invaded Messenia and laid waste the country ; and Deinocrates 
 and his chief followers were forced to commit suicide. 
 
 From this time the affairs of the League were largely 
 directed by Lycortas, Archon and Polybius, g Affairs of 
 leaders of the moderate or federal party. But the Achaean 
 the leader of the opposite party Callicrates gave Jhe^death^o7 
 advice to the Roman Senate, when on an embassy Philopoemen, 
 
 , . , .^ , , . , , , . B.C. 182179. 
 
 m B.C. 180, which Polybius regards as the begin- 
 ning of a new policy on the part of Rome towards the Achaean 
 League, destined eventually to prove its ruin. Sparta as has 
 been said was neither a willing nor a loyal member of the 
 League, and from the very first there had been a dispute as to 
 whether the exiled citizens, driven out by the tyrants and in 
 subsequent revolutions, should be recalled now that the city was 
 Achaean. The dispute as to this had in part caused the severe 
 measures of Philopoemen in B.C. 188, when he seized Sparta, 
 executed eighty of the anti-federal party, and forced into exile 
 a number of citizens enrolled by the tyrants. These exiles were 
 constantly sending embassies to Rome asking to be restored. 
 In B.C. 180 Callicrates being in Rome on League business sup- 
 ported the prayer of the petitioners, and returned triumphantly 
 to the Peloponnese armed with authority to restore the exiles. 
 A basis of a statue still exists with an inscription stating that 
 
 22 2 
 
340 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 'Callicrates recalled the men of Sparta exiled by the tyrants, 
 reconciled them with the citizens, and restored the ancient con- 
 cord.' But he also advised the Senate to observe, both in the 
 Achaean League and in other Greek States, who were for obey- 
 ing Roman orders and who for opposing them, and systematic- 
 ally to exalt the former and suppress the latter. This Polybius 
 regards as the beginning of the misfortunes of the League, 
 which up till then had been growing in power and resources, 
 and had attracted the alliance of various princes and States. 
 From this time the partisans of Lycortas and Polybius found 
 themselves the objects of suspicion to the Roman Senate : and 
 the crisis was now near at hand at which that suspicion was 
 to prove fatal to themselves and ruinous to the League. 
 
 This crisis was brought on by the policy of the kings of 
 Tension Macedonia. Philip V lived nearly eleven years 
 between after the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia (b.c. 
 
 Rome at his 1 9 "1 79)- but though he had been rewarded 
 death, B.C. f^j. j^jg loyalty to Rome during the struggle with 
 
 of Perseus, Antiochus by considerable restorations of territory 
 
 '*~ in Thessaly and elsewhere, he had chafed at his 
 subordination, and had aroused jealousy at Rome by encroach- 
 ments, especially in the Chersonese. Things had gone so far 
 that, when he died, he was actually making preparations for 
 renewing the war with Rome, and was working to secure the 
 support of those Greek States in which he knew that an anti- 
 Roman feeling existed, or in which he was able to create 
 one. His policy was continued by his son Perseus (b.c. 179- 
 168), especially in regard to promoting and extending his 
 influence in Greece. Perseus even tried to renew the old 
 friendship between Macedonia and the Achaean League, 
 which had been broken when the League formally adopted the 
 alliance of Rome in B.C. 198, the two countries being thence- 
 forward mutually closed to each other. This was sufficient to 
 rouse the jealousy of the Roman government. Frequent com- 
 missions of enquiry were sent into Greece and Macedonia, which 
 
Fall of Macedonia. 341 
 
 reported on the preparations of Perseus and the state of unrest 
 in Greece, where many States began again to look to Macedonia, 
 and to speculate as to whether it would not be more prudent 
 to attach themselves to the fortunes of Perseus. The uneasi- 
 ness in Greece was increased by a severe commercial crisis 
 affecting Aetolia and Thessaly especially. Altogether the 
 Romans made up their minds that Perseus must be deposed ; 
 and, though he had not really committed any act of hostility, 
 a Roman army landed at ApoUonia in the spring of B.C. 171. 
 The war lasted till B.C. 168, and was ended by the defeat and 
 flight of Perseus at Pydna, and his subsequent capture. 
 
 But the Romans were not content with crushing the Mace- 
 donian dynasty. They were resolved to punish j^ oppo- 
 all who had supported the king in Greece ; for "ents of Rome 
 
 . -^ . , , , removed from 
 
 some successes of Perseus m B.C. 171 had roused Greece, B.C. 
 considerable enthusiasm, and had induced many ^^' 
 of the Greeks to shew what their real wishes were. In B.C. 
 169 two commissioners visited the Peloponnese and gave out 
 that the Senate would hold all who abstained from assisting 
 the Roman cause to be as much guilty of disloyalty as those 
 who worked against it. They even wished the three leaders 
 of the moderates Lycortas, Archon and Polybius to be 
 impeached for treason and condemned by the League assembly. 
 There was still enough spirit of independence left in the 
 assembly to refuse to do this, and even to elect Archon and 
 Polybius strategus and hipparch for the next year (b.c. 169- 
 168). But no sooner had Perseus been crushed than the 
 vengeance of the Senate fell upon all real or supposed opponents 
 of Rome in Greece, whose names had been furnished by 
 officious traitors. The commissioners sent to arrange for the 
 dismemberment of Macedonia (b.c. 168-7) were instructed to 
 carry out this measure also. In every city they summoned 
 the avowed partisans of Rome and used their information in 
 detecting the leaders of the opposite party. Polybius gives 
 the black list of these traitors, whom he regards as the most 
 
342 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 worthless men of the day. They vied with each other in 
 filling the lists of the proscribed. Other names were revealed 
 to the commissioners by letters found in the Macedonian 
 archives, while some few had committed overt acts sufficiently 
 notorious to leave no doubt. The decision was the same in 
 all cases : the men were to go to Italy, and there await trial 
 or whatever decree the Senate might pronounce. The case of 
 the Achaeans was rather more difficult. No incriminating letters 
 had been found in the Macedonian archives concerning them. 
 The information before the commissioners rested entirely upon 
 the statements of Callicrates and other informers, and the spirit 
 of the assembly in refusing to condemn men unheard had been 
 shewn before. Special commissioners were sent to the Achaean 
 assembly who demanded that it should pass a vote condemning 
 to death 'all who had helped Perseus,' and said that, when 
 that was done, they would publish the names. The assembly 
 refused to commit such an injustice : whereupon the com- 
 missioners named to begin with all who had been in office as 
 strategus since the beginning of the controversy with Perseus. 
 One of these men demanded to be tried openly, whereupon the 
 commissioners drew out a list of about a thousand persons, 
 all of whom were ordered to proceed to Italy to stand their 
 trial. They were quartered in various cities of Etruria, and 
 with the exception of a few who managed to escape, were 
 detained there without trial till in B.C. 151 the survivors, 
 amounting to about three hundred, were contemptuously 
 allowed to return. Though the Achaean League was not 
 now dissolved, it was very much weakened, and Sparta and 
 other unwilling members encouraged to break off. The 
 same was the effect in other parts of Greece. The dis- 
 loyalty of Boeotia had been more marked than that of other 
 districts; and though no special severities were used except 
 in the case of three cities Coroneia, Thisbe and Haliartus 
 which had openly joined Perseus, its impotence was secured 
 by the prohibition of any union between the towns. Cities 
 
Subjection of the Hellenic World. 343 
 
 on the coast had also suffered much from the Roman fleets 
 commanded unfortunately by men of unscrupulous and 
 rapacious character, who began that practice of wholesale 
 robbery of works of art, which afterwards went to so great a 
 length. The city of Chalcis in Euboea, for instance, though 
 it had been friendly to the Romans, was thoroughly stripped. 
 In all directions the same policy of weakening existing States 
 was followed. The Rhodians had hesitated as to supporting 
 Rome, and they were accordingly ordered to give up the terri- 
 tories which they held in Caria and Lycia and were obliged to 
 obey. Their trade too was partially ruined by Delos being de- 
 clared a free port, which diverted a large part of the traffic 
 between Greece and Asia from them. Epirus, which contained 
 many Hellenic cities, was treated with still greater harshness, 
 the country being stripped of all its gold and treasures, and an 
 immense number of its inhabitants being sold into slavery. 
 Eumenes of Pergamus had also been suspected of sympathy 
 with Perseus : accordingly his brother Attalus was ostentatiously 
 patronised, while he himself was forbidden to visit Italy, and 
 the Greek cities in his dominions were encouraged to lay 
 complaints against him. Everywhere the Greek world was to 
 be taught that its safety and prosperity depended on sub- 
 mission to Rome. 
 
 The complete destruction of Greek independence was still 
 postponed for a few years. But how entirely 
 the Greek cities were in fact subject to Rome pendence^of^ 
 is well illustrated by the affair of Athens and Greece upon 
 Oropus. In B.C. 157-6 the Athenians had a Embassy of 
 quarrel with Oropus and made a raid upon its ^hno^o^liers 
 territory. At once the Oropians appealed to the 
 Roman Senate, and the Senate authorised the people of 
 Sicyon to appoint a board of arbitrators. They imposed a 
 fine of 500 talents upon Athens. In its then impoverished 
 state Athens was unable to pay, and sent a deputation to 
 Rome of three of its leading philosophers Carneades, founder 
 
344 Short History of the Greeks, 
 
 of the new Academy, Critolaus the Peripatetic, and Diogenes 
 the Stoic to plead wi-th the Senate for a mitigation. Now 
 Athens was and continued to be 'a free State,' which had 
 remained firm in its friendship to Rome, and had never 
 therefore suffered any diminution of its sovereign rights, but 
 on the contrary had been specially favoured. Yet there is no 
 question, in case of a controversy with another State, of the 
 final decision being with the Roman government. If this was 
 the case with Athens, much more would it be so with those 
 States which were under the frown of the Republic. The 
 Achaean League was no exception to the rule. The deporta- 
 tion of its leading men to Italy for trial a trial which never 
 took place was in itself a sufficient sign of the dependence 
 of the Achaeans upon Rome; and it is not wonderful that they 
 should have watched for any opportunity which Roman diffi- 
 culties or embarrassments might give them of securing a more 
 real freedom. 
 
 This seemed to have come when Rome was involved almost 
 12. Mace- simultaneously in an insurrection in Macedonia 
 donia made a and a quarrcl with Carthage. On the defeat of 
 vince, B.C. Pcrscus Macedonia had been divided into four 
 
 ^^^* distinct regions, each with its own capital and 
 
 government, and each forbidden the rights of intermarriage 
 and ownership of land within the other. This of course 
 destroyed national life and was also a very expensive form of 
 government. Patriotic Macedonians therefore were still found 
 glad to welcome the claims of Andriscus, who pretended to be a 
 son of Perseus and managed, between B.C. 152 and B.C. 149, to 
 collect an army to enforce his claim to the sovereignty of the 
 whole country. He had some success at first, but was finally 
 defeated in B.C. 148 by the consul Q. Caecilius Metellus. It 
 was then resolved to do away with the empty form of freedom 
 hitherto granted to Macedonia. The fourfold division was 
 abolished, and the whole country was to be reduced to the 
 form of a Roman province. Whilst engaged in carrying this 
 
Sparta and the Achaean League, 345 
 
 out Metellus was directed to look into the state of affairs in 
 Greece, where trouble had also been brewing, chiefly owing to 
 the dislike with which the Spartans regarded their position as 
 members of the Achaean League. 
 
 Among those Achaeans who returned from Italy embittered 
 by their sixteen years' detention was a certain 
 
 , 13. Quarrel 
 
 Diaeus. He was elected strategus for b.c. 149-8 between 
 and almost immediately became involved in a fhe^Ach^aean 
 quarrel with Sparta on some questions of League, b.c. 
 boundaries. Sparta appealed to the Senate. 
 Now by the treaty with Rome individual States in the League 
 had no right to do this. The Senate was only to be applied 
 to by the central body of the League. Nevertheless such 
 separate appeals were covertly encouraged. In this case 
 Diaeus went to Rome in person to state the case of the 
 League government against Sparta. He received an answer 
 in his favour, but with the qualification *that nothing was to be 
 done affecting life.' He suppressed this qualification, and 
 induced the League assembly to vote for coercing Sparta in 
 arms. The Spartan envoy on the other hand told his country- 
 men that the Senate authorised them to break off from the 
 League. They accordingly did so, and elected a strategus of 
 their own. They were however beaten in the field by the 
 Achaeans, who elated by this success were particularly annoyed 
 at a commission from Rome arriving at Corinth in B.C. 147 
 to investigate the matter. They considered that they had 
 settled it already, as they had a right to do, by force of arms. 
 Still greater was the indignation when the commissioners 
 announced that it was the will of the Senate that Sparta, 
 Corinth, Argos, Orchomenus in Arcadia, and Heracleia in 
 Trachis should be separated from the League. A furious riot 
 arose in Corinth, houses inhabited by Spartans were plundered, 
 and the Roman commissioners themselves were roughly handled 
 when they tried to interfere. 
 
 At a meeting of the League assembly, held at Aegium later 
 
34^ Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 in the same year, a fresh commission headed by Sext. lulius 
 Caesar appeared and warned the Achaeans that, if they did 
 
 not obey the award of the late commission, war 
 declares war would be proclaimed against them. But Critolaus 
 A^haean^^ the strategus of B.C. 147-6, acting in combi- 
 
 League, B.C. nation with Diaeus, resolved to resist. They 
 
 put off giving Sext. Caesar a definite answer on 
 various pretexts, and when he returned home with his report the 
 Senate declared war. Critolaus exerted himself to get support 
 from all the Peloponnesian cities, and seems to have succeeded 
 except with those near the coasts of Elis and Messenia, which 
 were overawed by the presence of a Roman fleet. 
 
 Caecilius Metellus sent ofificers from Macedonia to persuade 
 the Achaeans to avoid committing themselves, but they were 
 somewhat roughly treated, and Critolaus prevailed on the 
 League assembly to compel Sparta by force to remain in the 
 League. As the Spartans had acted under the authority of the 
 Senate this was regarded as an act of war. 
 
 Metellus was anxious to have the credit of settling the 
 
 affair before being superseded by his successor 
 Critolaus, i^ the consulship. Early in B.C. 146, therefore, 
 
 b'c"^ 6^ ^^ marched south through Thessaly by the coast 
 
 road which would bring him through the pass of 
 Thermopylae. Critolaus had raised the armed levy of the 
 League and was besieging Heracleia, a few miles north of 
 Thermopylae. Hearing of the approach of Metellus, he raised 
 the siege of Heracleia and retired through the pass towards 
 a place called Scarpheia. But he was overtaken by Metellus 
 and defeated. What became of him was never known : some 
 said that he lost his life in attempting to escape over the salt 
 marshes, others that he poisoned himself. 
 
 By the law of the League his predecessor Diaeus now 
 
 The fall became strategus till the following midsummer. 
 
 of Corinth, He was then re-elected, and with about 10,000 
 
 B. . 14 yu y). troops which he had managed to raise threw 
 
The fall and sack of Corinth. 347 
 
 himself into Corinth, to which flocked also many fugitives from 
 Boeotk alarmed by the Roman advance. Metellus, anxious 
 to finish the war, offered favourable terms to the army in 
 Corinth which many of the Achaean officers wished to accept. 
 But Diaeus felt sure that he at any rate would not be pardoned, 
 and determined at all costs to hold out. He arrested and 
 put to death some of those who advocated surrender, and 
 Metellus was obliged to lay regular siege to Corinth. He did 
 not take it however, for early in July the consul of B.C. 146, 
 L. Mummius, arrived with a fresh levy and, sending Metellus 
 back to Macedonia, undertook the siege himself. It did not 
 last long. A slight success on the part of Diaeus encouraged 
 him to sally out and offer battle, in which he was so disastrously 
 defeated that he fled to Megalopolis and there poisoned himself. 
 Three days afterwards Mummius entered Corinth. The town 
 was stripped of everything of value. Countless works of 
 art were shipped home to Italy, and many also perished in 
 the fire which destroyed the city or were ignorantly injured 
 and cast aside by the soldiers. , Polybius tells us that he saw 
 some of the most valuable pictures being used as dice boards 
 by the soldiers. The smelting of the statues of bronze and 
 precious metals produced a particular composition which was 
 afterwards much prized by Roman collectors and known as 
 aes Corinthiacum. The city was utterly destroyed and remained 
 a mere hamlet till it was restored as a colony by lulius Caesar. 
 
 The fall of Corinth involved the submission of all the cities 
 of the Achaean League and in fact of all Greece, which now 
 became a Roman possession, though not an organized province. 
 The political status of the various towns and districts differed 
 considerably. Ten commissioners were sent out from Rome 
 to assist Mummius in settling the position of the several States, 
 and their award marks the end of free Greece. 
 
 I. In the Peloponnese the Achaean League was dissolved, 
 the meeting of its assembly was prohibited, and the members 
 of one State forbidden to own land in another. To each 
 
348 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 particular State was assigned a form of local government modi- 
 fied in each case by its special circumstances. The 
 award of the ten commissioncrs were assisted by Polybius, 
 commirsL"ners who was also employed by them to explain the 
 in Greece, ncw Constitution to the several States, and the 
 
 ^'^ ^* numerous statues set up in his honour seem 
 
 to shew that he was thought to have done his work well. 
 The prohibition as to owning land in another State was it 
 seems soon withdrawn, and even a kind of meeting of the 
 Achaean assembly for religious purposes was allowed. But 
 for purposes of local government each city was separate and 
 paid a fixed sum to the Roman Exchequer, and had no 
 ' foreign policy.' Rome guaranteed its defence, and it had no 
 need of troops, though in certain circumstances it could be 
 called upon to furnish auxiliaries to the Roman army. 
 
 II. In the rest of Greece the same policy was followed 
 of dissolving all leagues and confederacies. Thus the Boeotian 
 towns and those in Euboea and elsewhere became separate 
 communities : they had a local government, but were answerable 
 to the Senate. Thessaly was united bodily to the province of 
 Macedonia and its towns were treated as other towns in a 
 Roman province, that is, with a certain local independence, 
 they were all subject to trilmtum^ military service, and the 
 authority of the proconsul. 
 
 III. Certain towns enjoyed exceptional privileges such 
 as Athens, Sparta and Sicyon. They were not subject to 
 tributum or military service. They had no Roman governor 
 or garrison. They were liberae civitates, and a Roman magis- 
 trate entered them without his lictors. They made their own 
 laws and appointed their own magistrates, but they too 
 practically, if not technically, lost the sovereign right of making 
 treaties and waging war. They were liable also in certain 
 cases to contribute to the expenses of provincial governors or 
 other Roman oflficials travelling through their borders. 
 
 TV. A large amount of land became ae^er piiblicus and 
 

 ^Nlv^ 
 
 Of 
 
 
 jr>RN\h. 
 
Roman Settlement of Greece. 349 
 
 was the absolute property of the Roman people, the rent of 
 it being paid to the Roman Exchequer. This was the case 
 with the whole territory of Corinth, all Euboea and Boeotia, 
 and the territory of all cities which had resisted the Roman 
 arms and had been taken by force. No doubt the former 
 owners were generally allowed to remain on the soil, and their 
 rent would come to be regarded as a kind of tax ; but they lost 
 the right of sale, and were liable at any time to be turned out, 
 or to have the ownership transferred to some one else. 
 Provision however was made for the festivals. A part of the 
 Corinthian territory, for instance, was granted to Sicyon on 
 condition of their keeping up the Isthmian games. 
 
 Thus though Greece was not yet organised as a province, 
 its several cities and districts were in a sense 
 provinces of Rome, and had to look to her in the'Roman^ 
 many ways for direction, as well as for protection policy on 
 to the Roman governor of Macedonia. The 
 commissioners were thought to have shewn great skill in their 
 constitution-making, and long afterwards Cicero thought of 
 adopting their session at Olympia as a text for a dialogue on 
 'constitutions.' The general effect however on the national 
 life was disastrous, though perhaps private life may have been 
 rendered somewhat happier by the cessation of the constant 
 petty wars which had agitated Greece. But there was no 
 vitality left in it. The population continued to fall, populous 
 cities dwindled to villages, art and literature steadily declined, 
 and whole districts as in Aetolia became almost deserted, or 
 only frequented by pirates. A few towns maintained a kind 
 of prosperity from being in the line of traffic as Dyrrhachium 
 and Apollonia in the north, Patrae in the Peloponnese, Athens 
 with its dependency Delos, and Rhodes whose trade and carry- 
 ing business it seemed impossible quite to destroy. 
 
 There was one revenge which Greece could and did take 
 upon her conqueror. She conquered his tastes, she dictated 
 the form of his literature, she taught him all the arts and graces 
 
350 
 
 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 of life, directed his thoughts and his beliefs, and ministered 
 
 i8. The in- to his bodily and spiritual needs. When Roman 
 
 fluence of literature began it was mostly written in Greek, 
 
 Greece on . ,_., ^ . ,,_ ., 
 
 her con- and even when Latm became the chief medmm, 
 
 'i"^^'"' its history, poetry and drama were all modelled, 
 
 in metre, form, and spirit, on Greek writers. Nor was this 
 influence confined to literature : in Rome nearly all teachers, 
 physicians, architects, sculptors, painters, librarians and copyists 
 were Greeks, who had either migrated to Italy to exercise their 
 professions, or had been brought there as slaves and restored 
 to semi-independence as freedmen. Rome had no philosophy 
 except that which was taken wholesale from the Greeks, and 
 the most cultivated of the Roman nobles found it their chief 
 solace to have learned men of Greece living with them as 
 members of their household. 
 
 It is not growing like a tree 
 
 In bulk, doth make men better be. 
 
 The practical hard conqueror of the world despised his more 
 subtle and ingenious subject, but he did his best often 
 clumsily and stupidly to imitate his graces and appropriate 
 the fruits of his genius. 
 
 Philip V. 
 
 Perseus. 
 
351 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Greek Literature from the beginning of 
 THE Fifth Century. 
 
 Much that made the glory of Greece has perished for ever. 
 Of its skill in the use of colours in the earlier i. surviving 
 period we have necessarily only the less perfect ^'^^^^f^hg'^^' 
 kind to be found on pottery ; the treasures of its Attic and 
 art in marble, bronze, and clay which we possess piriodsf bx. 
 are after all but a poor renmant of its incompar- 500146. 
 able store. So too in literature, though many of its masterpieces 
 have survived, the amount is small indeed compared with 
 what once filled the great libraries of Pergamus and Alexandria, 
 or made the glory of the Palatine Apollo or the New Rome 
 on the Bosporus. But even of what remains it would be 
 impossible in a few pages to do more than mention the writers 
 and their works with a word of appreciation. 
 
 vSome reference has already been made to the early Epic 
 (pp. 13 17, 25 6), to the Lyric, Choric and Elegiac poets 
 (pp. 2 7 8), and the earliest writers on philosophy and physics 
 (pp. 209 212). We shall here only speak of those writers of 
 what may be called the Attic and Alexandrian periods (from 
 about B.C. 500), a substantial amount of whose works has 
 survived in history, drama and poetry, oratory and philosophy. 
 They were not all Attics, nor did they all use the Attic dialect. 
 But a large number of them were Athenians, and their writings 
 set a standard both of style and form. Athens (and later on 
 Alexandria) was the metropolis of letters and philosophy, to 
 which all eyes turned, and to which most successful men of 
 letters sooner or later found their way. The Attic dialect, 
 
352 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 with modifications, remained the accepted Uterary language, 
 the KOivy] SidXiKTos of literature and science. 
 
 I. History. 
 
 Of historians the first of those whose work has survived 
 2. HIS- is Herodotus, a native of Halicamassus in 
 
 Herodotuf ' Caria. His city, a Dorian colony, had broken 
 ofHaiicar- off from the Doric hexapolis and had become 
 
 "s^rd.^about ' ionicised. Moreover Herodotus early in life 
 B.C. 425. retired from it because of the tyranny of Lyg- 
 
 damis and resided at Samos. This may account for his use 
 of the Ionic dialect : or it may be that, coming before much 
 Attic prose had been written, he still felt himself bound by 
 the traditions of Hecataeus and the Milesian school. Like 
 Hecataeus he was a traveller as well as a writer; and his 
 travels which extended from Egypt eastward to the border 
 of the Persian empire, and westward to Sicily and Magna 
 Graecia were probably undertaken for the most part as a 
 preparation for the work to which he dedicated his life. This 
 was to write the history of the conflict between the East and 
 the West. There is a mixture of the epic and the tragic spirit 
 in his history. It is Homeric in the numerous episodes and 
 digressions which interrupt its continuity, as well as in its 
 language and some of its descriptions. It is tragic in the 
 convergence of all such episodes upon its dramatic cata- 
 strophe the victory of a small and homogeneous nation over 
 a vast empire composed of various and often discordant ele- 
 ments. The last chapter points the moral of the whole : 
 luxury and wealth do not make heroes ; victory is to the 
 hardy and temperate. The charms of Herodotus are his 
 insatiable curiosity, his clear and melodious language, his love 
 for a good story and his supreme skill in telling it, and his 
 transparent honesty. When he tells us things of his own 
 knowledge we may nearly always trust him. He was no doubt 
 sometimes deceived; but modern investigations have more 
 
Greek Historians, 353 
 
 often than not confirmed his statements. His history in nine 
 books begins with the career of Cyrus, founder of the Medo- 
 Persian empire, and ends with the siege of Sestos following 
 the battle of Mycale (b.c. 479-8). His life from about B.C. 440 
 was spent at the new colony of Thurii in Magna Graecia. 
 But he had often visited Athens, where he was intimate with 
 Pericles and some of the Alcmaeonidae, and according to 
 one tradition he died there. We do not know, however, for 
 certain either the place or time of his death, but as he alludes 
 to events at least as late as B.C. 430 it cannot have been 
 before that date. Some other passages in his history may 
 have been written as late as B.C. 424 ; and it is most probable 
 that he died about that time at Thurii. 
 
 Of Thucydides, son of Olorus and Hegesipyle, little that is 
 certain has been preserved. His father was said Thucydides 
 to have been descended from Thracian kings, and of Athens, 
 
 b. about B.C. 
 
 his mother to have been a relation of Miltiades. 471, d. about 
 But the chief fact we know of him is that in ^-C. 401. 
 B.C. 424 he was in command of some ships off the coast of 
 Thrace and failed to save Amphipolis from Brasidas. He 
 was accordingly banished, and he says himself that he lived 
 20 years in exile, part of which at any rate he seems to have 
 spent in Magna Graecia. He undertook to tell the story 
 of the Peloponnesian war (b.c. 432-405), but the eight books 
 of his history only take in twenty years of it. The last 
 book seems unfinished, and the tradition is that he died in 
 some way by violence, perhaps at Scaptesyle in an attack by 
 the barbarians, for his marriage with an heiress had brought 
 him estates in Thrace. Another tradition represents him as 
 having been incited to write history by hearing Herodotus read 
 his book at Olympia or during the Panathenaea at Athens. 
 Beginning with a sketch of early Greek history and an account 
 of the origin of the Peloponnesian war, he divides the years 
 of the war itself into two seasons, summer and winter, and 
 relates all the events, military or political, in them which 
 
 s. G. 23 
 
354 Sho7't History of the Greeks. 
 
 he could ascertain without much regard to their relative im- 
 portance. He was not a constant traveller like Herodotus, but 
 he had probably seen the greater part of the localities to 
 which he refers, and had personal knowledge, or information 
 at first hand, of many of the events. When he has striking 
 incidents to narrate he writes with a terseness and concen- 
 trated force that leave an extraordinarily vivid impression on 
 the mind. But these qualities are often accompanied by con- 
 siderable obscurity. This may arise from the rapidity of his 
 own thoughts or from the novelty of his task. Long and 
 continuous narratives were as yet rare in Greek, especially 
 in Attic, and he had no tradition or example of style. His 
 conception of the form which history should take was original 
 and differed considerably from that of Herodotus, and still 
 more from that of the predecessors of Herodotus. For the 
 sake, it would seem, of dramatic vividness, he introduced many 
 speeches into his narrative. These he confesses not to be 
 authentic, but to have been made up by himself, partly 
 from what he had been told, and partly from what he 
 conceived would be said in view of the characters of the 
 speakers and of the circumstances. Such rhetorical exercises 
 were a still greater novelty, and it is in them that his ob- 
 scurity is most conspicuous and certainly gives the impression 
 of an imperfect mastery over the use of a literary language. 
 These speeches set a fashion in history which was followed 
 by most writers after him, whether Greek or Latin. To com- 
 pose them became a kind of necessary convention for his- 
 torians. The most elaborate and in some respects the finest 
 is the ' Epitaphios,' or speech over the fallen, put into the 
 mouth of Pericles in the Second Book. Of the many pieces 
 of brilliant narrative the most famous are the account of the 
 plague at Athens in the Second Book, and the wonderful 
 story of the Sicilian expedition in the Sixth and Seventh 
 Books. 
 
 Xenophon the Athenian, without being a great or brilliant 
 
Greek Historians. 355 
 
 writer, was a man of wide interests and attractive character. 
 He had enthusiasm ready for everything great xenophon, 
 and noble, and possessed a clear and easy style, t). about 
 never strong or at white heat, yet never seriously d.about' 
 inadequate to his subject. Grammarians fmd ^-^-sm- 
 him guilty of deviations from the Attic canon both in con- 
 struction and word-forms, but this is of little consequence to 
 most of us in view of the simplicity of his narrative, and the 
 obviousness of his meaning. From him we have (i) the 
 Hellenica in seven books ; of which the first two, professing 
 to be a continuation of Thucydides, were written many years 
 before the last five. They bring down the history of the 
 Peloponnesian war to the restoration of the democracy at 
 Athens after the usurpation of the Thirty (b.c. 405-4). The 
 last five end with the battle of Mantinea and the death of 
 Epameinondas (b.c. 362). (2) We have also the story of 
 the expedition of Cyrus and the retreat of the 10,000 Greek 
 mercenaries, conducted by Xenophon himself after the death 
 of the generals. The frankness, simplicity, and curiosity of this 
 narrative have made it one of the most popular books in the 
 world. (3) His admiration for Socrates, whose company he 
 had frequented as a young man, caused him to compose an 
 interesting memorial of him in four Books of Memorabilia 
 probably the most genuinely historical account of Socrates 
 which we possess as well as to introduce more of his con- 
 versation in his Symposium^ and to make him the chief speaker 
 in a dialogue on the management of a household, Oeconomicus. 
 (4) He wrote also two political and philosophical romances in 
 the guise of histories of Hieron I of Syracuse and Cyrus the 
 Great. Lastly, he composed numerous tracts and dissertations 
 on Agesilaus, on the constitution of Sparta, on hunting, on 
 horse-keeping, and others. The treatise on the Athenian con- 
 stitution is probably by some earlier and unknown writer. Soon 
 after his return from the expedition of Cyrus he was banished 
 from Athens, perhaps because it was the Athenian policy just 
 
 232 
 
356 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 then to stand well with the king of Persia, whereas Cyrus 
 had always been a partisan of Sparta. He afterwards accom- 
 panied Agesilaus in his campaigns in Asia (b.c. 397-394) and 
 is said to have fought against his own countrymen at the battle 
 of Coroneia (b.c. 394). Some time after this he settled at 
 Scillus, about 30 miles south of Olympia, where for about 
 twenty years he lived the quiet life of a country gentleman. 
 After the battle of Leuctra (b.c. 371) he removed to Corinth, 
 where he died about B.C. 354. 
 
 After the death of Xenophon two of his younger con- 
 temporaries, Theopompus of Chios and Ephorus 
 MegaTopoHs, of Cyme, wrote histories of Greek and Mace- 
 
 aboutB.c. donian affairs. In Sicily, Timaeus of Tauro- 
 
 203121. / . "^ ' . . 
 
 menium composed a history of his native island. 
 
 In Achaia Aratus left ilfc^moirs of his own life, and Phylarchus 
 a history of the League in the*iime of Philopoemen. But the 
 works of these and of others have perished with the exception 
 of fragments preserved by other writers. The next important 
 historian, of whose writing we have substantial remains, is 
 PoLYBius of Megalopolis. He wrote a 'general history' of 
 the Graeco-Roman world beginning with the 140th Olympiad 
 (e.g. 220-217) ^"^ ending in b.c. 146. It was intended to 
 shew how in this short period nearly all the known world was 
 absorbed by the Roman empire. To make his narrative in- 
 telligible, however, he has to go back many years in the history 
 of the several countries. Thus we have from him our best 
 account of the first Punic war, of the early history of the 
 Achaean and Aetolian Leagues, of the kingdom of Antiochus 
 in Syria, and of the Ptolemies in Egypt, as well as of the 
 constitutions of Rome and Carthage. He had great oppor- 
 tunities of collecting information, for he and his father Lycortas 
 were prominent politicians in the Achaean League. He was 
 one of the detenus in Italy between B.C. 167 and B.C. 152, 
 and there knew most of the leading men of Rome, and acted 
 as tutor to the younger Scipio Africanus. He was present 
 

The Greek Dramatists. 357 
 
 at the burning of Carthage and of Corinth ; had himself gone 
 over the route of Hannibal across the Alps, and had visited 
 many other localities connected with the war, as well as more 
 distant countries. His style shews many divergencies from 
 the Attic standard, and probably represents the Greek spoken 
 in his day in the Peloponnese. Though neither graceful nor 
 animated, it is direct and forcible. In form his work is more 
 like Thucydides than Herodotus, though it resembles the 
 latter in the plan of making its various episodes lead up to 
 one great catastrophe. Its originality consists in the severer 
 view taken of the function of history. He is more sparing in 
 speeches, and those that he does give seem more strictly 
 founded on trustworthy information. Five of the Books have 
 survived entire, and considerable fragments of most of the 
 others. His history of the siege of Numantia is lost. 
 
 II. The Drama. 
 
 In no department of literature did the Greeks shew more 
 originality or exercise more abiding influence th g k 
 
 than in the Drama. They loved shows and Dramatists, 
 festivals and early learnt to make them cheerful 
 with song and dance. The song and dance still went on, 
 but from them was developed also the Drama. First one actor 
 (or 'answerer') kept up a dialogue with the leader of the 
 chorus, then a second, and finally even a third were added to 
 maintain a dialogue independent of the chorus and to develope 
 a plot, while the chorus remained to sing the interludes, draw 
 the moral of the fable, or at times to intervene in its entangle- 
 ments. The plots were mostly founded on well-known myths 
 or legends. There were no surprises for the audience, and 
 the masks worn by the actors prevented any aid to dramatic 
 effect from play of features. But the subtle Greek intellect 
 revelled in the art with which a familiar story was unfolded 
 and in the rhetorical excellence of the speeches. The demand 
 
358 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 for plays was richly answered in every part of Hellas. Scarcely 
 any considerable city was without its theatre, hewn out when 
 possible of some hill side, and few that did not produce poets to 
 compose tragedies which enjoyed more or less of popular favour. 
 
 The number of dramas once existing must have been very 
 great. But in this as in other things Athens kept the lead 
 though not the monopoly, and of all this mass of dramatic 
 literature we have surviving only part of the work of three 
 Athenian tragedians seven plays of Aeschylus, seven of 
 Sophocles, and eighteen of Euripides. 
 
 Aeschylus, son of Euphorion, born at Eleusis in B.C. 
 525, began to exhibit plays about B.C. 499. 
 B.c'^525-456. ^^ 'iow^l at Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea 
 (B.C. 480-479), visited the court of Hieron I at 
 Syracuse more than once, and died at Gela in Sicily in B.C. 
 456. He was the first to introduce a second actor on the 
 stage, instead of the single actor brought in by Thespis (about 
 B.C. 535), thus making the dialogue the important part of the 
 play instead of the chorus : though in the trilogy Agamemnon, 
 Choephoroe and Eumenides it still fills a large and more im- 
 portant place than in his own Prometheus^ or in any of the 
 plays of Sophocles and Euripides. The principal features to 
 be noted in his work are the lofty and religious tone of the 
 plays, the grandeur of their language (sometimes amounting 
 to inflation) and the neglect of mere stage effects. The Aga- 
 memnon is perhaps the greatest and most impressive drama in 
 the world. Yet it depends on one situation only, and that 
 an impossible one. But it fills the mind with suspense and 
 terror by the tragic irony of its language, the awfulness of 
 the foreseen catastrophe, and a kind of splendid audacity in 
 its disregard of the limits of time and space. The two com- 
 panion plays dwell on the inevitable retribution for crime and 
 the expiation for sin demanded by religion. Three of the 
 plays bear on questions of the day, but from a lofty or religious 
 point of view. The Persae celebrates the defeat of Xerxes 
 
To face p. 359 
 
 Sophocles 
 
The Greek Dramatists. 359 
 
 and like Herodotus draws the moral that pride and luxury 
 will bring ruin. The SuppHces refers to the quarrel with Egypt 
 of B.C. 461, and the Eiimenides to the attacks on the sacred 
 character and rights of the Areopagus ; and the Seven against 
 Thebes contains a eulogy of Aristides. Aeschylus is patriotic, 
 but his patriotism rests on tradition and ancient faith. The 
 Prometheus^ though in language and incident the most simple 
 of all, is perhaps the hardest to interpret. It seems to turn 
 upon a mystic view of the struggle between human aspirations 
 and the destiny which overrules and defeats them, a struggle 
 only to be consoled and relieved by the kindly influence of 
 the powers of nature. But we are left uncertain whether the 
 promised relief is to come from the decay of the old religion 
 or the victorious development of the human faculties. 
 
 Sophocles was born in the Attic deme Colonus in b.c. 495. 
 He gained his first tragic prize in B.C. 468. He 
 was distinguished for beauty, good birth and b.c.^495-405. 
 culture. He served as a colleague of Pericles in 
 the Samian war in B.C. 439, and held other offices afterwards 
 without much distinction. In his extreme old age he still 
 continued to write, and according to the common story was 
 engaged in the composition of the Oedipus Colo ne us, when his 
 sons attempted to deprive him of the management of his pro- 
 perty on the ground of the failure of his intellect. The seven 
 plays which we possess, out of a large number, are distinguished 
 by extraordinary grace and beauty of style. He is the most 
 Attic of the dramatists in the severity of his taste and the 
 moderation of his view of men and of art. It is not so much 
 the doom overhanging mankind that interests him as the play 
 of human passions under it. Ajax suffers the unendurable 
 reaction from over-confidence and excessive self-esteem, while 
 the politic moderation of Odysseus untouched by passion, and 
 neither relenting nor revenging sways with unerring dexterity 
 the stormier and less refined natures round him. In the King 
 Oedipus we have again the rebound from over-confidence and 
 
360 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 the collapse of reason under the horror of involuntary crime. 
 In the Electra as in Hamlet there is presented the picture 
 of a noble soul oppressed by a task for which it is unequal, 
 though constrained to its performance by love and duty. In 
 the Trachiniae love is maddened though not destroyed by 
 jealousy. In the Philoctetes just resentment is intensified 
 beyond bearing by solitude and pain, while the honesty and 
 generous impulses of youth are contrasted with Machiavellian 
 cunning. In all of them misery and injustice are relieved 
 by the contrast of true affection or lofty virtue. The heroic 
 courage of Antigone, who will die rather than omit a sister's 
 sacred duty ; the devotion and fidelity of the daughters of 
 Oedipus at Colonus ; the enduring love of Tecmessa for Ajax 
 and of Electra for Orestes are altogether noble and cheering. 
 Life with Sophocles is not all miserable or a hopeless struggle 
 against destiny, but a field for the highest virtues to flower 
 amidst the errors and vices of lower natures 'he saw life 
 steadily and saw it whole.' 
 
 Euripides, son of Mnesarchus, was born in Salamis on 
 the day of the great battle (b.c. 480). He was 
 B.c^Jso 4S. therefore fifteen years younger than Sophocles 
 who yet survived him by a year. His early 
 manhood fell at a time when the lectures of such sophists as 
 Anaxagoras, Prodicus and Protagoras were being given at 
 Athens, to the detriment as old-fashioned citizens thought 
 of the faith and morals of the rising generation. He first 
 brought out a tragedy in B.C. 455, and continued doing so at 
 frequent intervals for many years. He does not appear to 
 have taken any active part in politics or war, and late in life he 
 left Athens and spent some years at the court of Archelaus, 
 king of Macedonia, where he wrote the two plays on Iphigenia 
 and the Bacchae. We know little of his life beyond the fact 
 that he was twice married and that both his wives proved 
 unfaithful. Euripides was the most popular of the dramatists. 
 Distant Greeks were eager to hear his choric odes and dramatic 
 
The Greek Dramatists. 361 
 
 speeches. The tale is told of some of the unfortunate Athenian 
 captives in Syracuse having gained the kindness of their 
 masters, and even their own release, by being able to recite 
 passages from the plays of Euripides. Aristotle thought him 
 the ' most tragic ' of the poets. On the other hand, Aristo- 
 phanes made himself the mouthpiece of the most violent and 
 persistent attacks upon him both as an artist and as a moralist ; 
 and these severe judgments founded for the most part on 
 political and social prejudices have been too often adopted as 
 a basis of modern criticism. The charges against him were 
 chiefly (i) that he altered, generally for the worse and to suit his 
 own purposes, the heroic traditions and legends on which most 
 of the dramas were founded ; (2) that he made heroic characters 
 contemptible by their dress and by the use of homely and even 
 paltry language; (3) that his choric songs had little or no 
 connexion with the subject of the play ; (4) that he made 
 his tragedies end happily, frequently by the stale device of 
 divine interposition the deus ex machina \ (5) that he went 
 out of his way to put into the mouths of his characters sceptical 
 sentiments, opposed to the religion of the country, and 
 derogatory to the wisdom and goodness of the gods ; (6) and 
 lastly that he perpetually spoke ill of women. His alteration 
 of the legends, his simplicity of language, and his use of choric 
 songs as mere interludes instead of bearing directly on the sub- 
 ject of the play a charge much exaggerated would not have 
 seemed grave faults to a modern critic, had he not learnt to think 
 them so from the violence of contemporary attack, founded on 
 a somewhat futile clinging to a literary tradition. If Euripides, 
 again, doubted the morality of the received theology and the 
 truth of existing theories of the universe, one would think the time 
 come to acquit him of presumption or want of foresight. To 
 doubt what is false is at least a step towards the discovery of 
 what is true. And if it is the fact that his domestic mis- 
 fortunes made him take a cynical view of women, the noble 
 and pathetic figures of Alcestis and Iphigenia may perhaps 
 
362 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 shew that he appreciated what was excellent as well as what 
 was base in them. That the rhetorical and sophistic element 
 is prominent in dialogue and speech is true. But he under- 
 stood at least a part of his audience, and there is room for all 
 kinds of excellence in the world ; and besides these character- 
 istics he has a power of description almost unrivalled. Of the 
 eighteen plays which survive a much larger number the merit 
 is not equal, and there are in them faults of construction and 
 perhaps of taste patent to all, but there is one thing they never 
 fail to be^ interesting. 
 
 Comedy had almost the same origin as Tragedy the 
 Comas or revel at the great feasts. But while 
 
 4. COMEDY. . , 
 
 the latter developed into sombre scenes of heroic 
 struggle and suffering, the former ran wanton in every kind of 
 mirth, froHc, and satire. In form it was not much unlike 
 Tragedy. There were the actors on the stage developing by 
 speech and dialogue the fable conceived by the poet, and there 
 was the chorus in the orchestra dancing to the pipe and chant- 
 ing his songs. But it was a travesty of its serious cousin. 
 The fabula, if it touched on ancient myths and legends, set 
 them forth in a ludicrous light, and the chorus sang parodies 
 of diviner strains. The longest recitation by the chorus was 
 called thQparabasis, when it turned from the stage and addressed 
 the audience in the name of the poet and commented upon all 
 kinds of local topics and political and social questions. The 
 privilege of the festival seemed to cover any amount of 
 personality, indecency of gesture, allusion, and description, as 
 well as the utmost freedom of ridicule even of the gods them- 
 selves. If acted with complete abandon it must have been the 
 most astonishing carnival of mad mirth and revelry ever pre- 
 sented to an audience. It is a proof of the versatility of Greek 
 genius that the same people enjoyed it who so keenly appre- 
 ciated the artistic perfection of tragedy. It seems as though in 
 this one instance they abandoned that ' moderation ' which is 
 one of the most striking notes of Greek art. 
 
Greek Comedy. 363 
 
 Eleven of the plays of Aristophanes alone of all the comic 
 poets have come down to us in their original 
 shape, and they enable us to see something of about B.C. 444' 
 what Greek comedy was at the period of its most *^^^"* ^^* 
 complete licence, and how that licence was 
 gradually curtailed. The earliest of the extant comedies the 
 Acharfiians (e.g. 425), the Kfiights (e.g. 424), the Clouds 
 (e.g. 423 and 411), the Wasps (e.g. 422), the Peace (e.g. 419), 
 the Birds (e.g. 413) are all more or less political. The two first 
 are direct manifestoes in favour of peace with Sparta, and bitter 
 attacks upon the character and policy of Cleon. The Clouds^ 
 though chiefly social and directed against sophistic teaching 
 and its ill effects upon character, yet implies a general attack 
 on the party which supported the war. The Peace returns 
 to the same theme without disguise, while the JVasJ>s satirizes 
 the effect of Cleon's increase of pay to the jurors in making 
 a constant attendance at the law courts, with a peevish desire 
 for pronouncing sentences of condemnation, the favourite 
 employment of elderly citizens : while the Birds, though still 
 in favour of peace, is much more purely poetical and imagina- 
 tive and much less outspoken in politics. 
 
 A fresh departure begins with the Thesmophoriazusae and 
 Ly sis f rata in e.g. 41 1. The plea for peace is still 
 the motive of the latter, but the political element co^'edy^ 
 is less prominent, and the former is almost 
 entirely devoted to satire on women and ridicule of Euripides. 
 The functions of the chorus are curtailed and there is no 
 parabasis. This may have been partly to avoid expense at a 
 time when there was much distress, especially among the land- 
 owners, but it is also because the freedom of speech, easily 
 allowed when the democracy was secure, was dangerous at a 
 time when revolution was in the air. In the Frogs (e.g. 405) 
 however he reverts to the old form. The chorus is again 
 prominent, and there is a long parabasis more outspoken in 
 recommending amnesty and reconciliation. The main object 
 
364 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 of the play however is not politics but literary criticism, a 
 comparison between the antique grandeur of Aeschylus and 
 the modern cleverness of Euripides. 
 
 The Ecdesiazusae (b.c. 392) and the Phdiis (b c. 392) again 
 belong to the middle comedy. The former is a satire on 
 fanciful constitution-mongering and communism, directed, it is 
 believed, against Plato's Republic^ part of which had recently 
 appeared, while in the Plutus there is little trace of the old 
 comedy. There is no criticism of political personages. It is 
 purely a comedy of manners. The theme is the effect of 
 wealth. The chorus of old farmers or farm labourers is little 
 more important than ' First and Second Citizen ' in a play of 
 Shakespeare, and there is wo parabasis. 
 
 It is in fact the beginning of the ' New Comedy,' in which 
 the leading names are Menander of Athens (b.c. 342 291), 
 Diphilus of Sinope (about B.C. 340), and ApoUodorus of Gela 
 (about B.C. 300 260), some of whose plays survive in the 
 Latin versions of Plautus and Terence. 
 
 III. Alexandrian Poetry. 
 
 As national life became weaker in Greece during the 
 
 Poets of troublous times after the death of Alexander, 
 
 the Aiexan- literature was involved in the general decline. 
 
 drian School, , , . , , , 
 
 about B.C. Athens retamed to some degree her prestige 
 
 320-200. ^g ^j^g home of Philosophy, but the poetical 
 
 tradition was for the most part kept up by writers who, though 
 born and living part of their lives in Sicily or other places, yet 
 regarded Alexandria as their intellectual centre, and resided 
 there for instruction or learned society during many years of 
 their life\ The chief names of this school are Callimachus 
 (ob. circ. B.C. 240), from whom we have some pretty hymns 
 
 ^ Other cities in which poets and men of learning found congenial 
 society and protection were Syracuse, Pergamus, Pella and Antioch. The 
 kings of these countries were fond of patronizing poets, and at Pergamus as 
 at Alexandria there was a great library. 
 
Alexandrian Poets. 365 
 
 and epigrams, and Apollonius Rhodius^ (b. about B.C. 235), 
 who has left an epic poem in four Books on the expedition of 
 the Argonauts, which, though deliberately an imitation, has yet 
 many beauties. But the most original writers of this school 
 were the pastoral poets Bion, Moschus, and Theocritus. 
 BiON (fl. circ. B.C. 280) came from the neighbourhood of 
 Smyrna. Moschus (fl. B.C. 250 200) was born at Syracuse, 
 was educated at Alexandria and was a pupil of Bion. We 
 have four pastorals of his surviving. 
 
 Theocritus was also born at or near Syracuse and also 
 spent many years at Alexandria. His Idylls ^ ^. 
 {dhvWiov ' a little picture ') have set the fashion about B.C. 
 which pastoral poets from Vergil downwards have 300250. 
 followed. The essence of a pastoral is that the action of the 
 poem should have a background of shepherd or country life. 
 The art consists in representing universal passions or historical 
 events without violating the vraisemblance of their surround- 
 ings. The idylls of Theocritus are not all strictly pastoral. 
 There are town scenes and court poems among them. But 
 the prevailing tone is pastoral and the dialect is Sicilian Doric. 
 They are among the most popular of all Greek poems, partly 
 for the freshness of the country air which breathes through 
 them, partly from the universality of their theme, love and 
 sorrow, and partly again from their literary grace and charm. 
 There are thirty-one idylls extant, though of course the 
 genuineness of some has been impugned. 
 
 IV. Oratory. 
 
 A popular assembly involves the cultivation of oratory, for 
 it is by eloquence alone for the most part that it 
 
 6 ORATORY 
 
 can be influenced and controlled. Everywhere 
 in Greece therefore we find rhetoric cultivated and taught as 
 an art, and regular systems constructed with a view to the object 
 of all oratory persuasion. But besides popular assemblies, 
 
 1 So called because he left Alexandria and settled in Rhodes. 
 
366 Short History of the G^-eeks. 
 
 in which those alone who had this faculty in some degree 
 would be likely to come forward, there were the law-courts 
 which, at any rate at Athens, were popular assemblies on a 
 smaller scale. They too had to be persuaded, and as any man 
 might find himself before a court from no choice of his own, 
 and without being equipped with the necessary skill, he had to 
 look elsewhere for the means of persuading the jury. Hence 
 arose the class of professional speech-writers, ready to put the 
 skill which they had acquired at the service of others. It was 
 again at Athens that this art was practised to its highest technical 
 perfection, though the professional teachers often came from 
 distant cities. At any rate it is only the ten Attic orators of the 
 5th and 4th centuries B.C. whose speeches have been preserved. 
 From Antiphon, one of the supporters of the Four Hundred 
 (b.c. 411), we have three speeches in murder 
 B^"4&)^4ii cases, with some skeleton -or model speeches for 
 Andocides, the prosccution and defence. From Andocides, 
 435-385. son of Leogoras, there remain also three speeches, 
 
 one on the violation of the mysteries and the 
 mutilation of the Hermae, a second on his return from exile, 
 and a third on making peace with Sparta (b.c. 390). 
 
 Lysias was the most eminent of the professional speech- 
 writers. He was born at Syracuse, but his father 
 ^stll^i^^ migrated to Athens when he was a boy. In 
 B.C. 404 he was one of the metics selected for 
 death and confiscation by the Thirty; but he escaped by 
 bribing the men sent to arrest him, and survived till about 
 B.C. 375. Two of the speeches attributed to him contain a 
 lively account of this incident in his life. He wrote some 
 hundreds of speeches for clients (of which thirty-four are 
 extant), famous for their business-like style, simple and lucid 
 language, and their success in winning cases. 
 
 From IsAEus we have left eleven speeches out of fifty 
 anciently recognised as his, all in cases of disputed property 
 under wills. He was a pupil of Lysias, and imitates the 
 
To face p. 567 DEMOSTHENES 
 
The Attic Orators. 367 
 
 directness and simplicity of his style. Isocrates was a professor 
 of rhetoric rather than an orator, and his surviv- 
 ing writings, though mostly cast in the shape of b^t^^^en B.C. 
 speeches, are rather political pamphlets. Some- 420 and 348, 
 times they take the form of letters, as those B.c436-^i'8. 
 addressed to Philip. Sometimes, as the Fa7ie- 
 gyriciis^ they are meant to be recited or read at an assembly at 
 Olympia or elsewhere. The Panegyricus (p..c. 380) aimed at 
 establishing the claim of Athens to the gratitude of Greece. 
 He was an Athenian by birth, and with the exception of some 
 years passed at Chios, lived mostly at Athens. He died some 
 nine days after the battle of Chaeroneia, it is generally said 
 by his own hand. 
 
 The greatest of all was Demosthenes, born about b.c. 384, 
 the son of a well-to-do manufacturer of the deme 
 Paeania. At twenty years of age he brought an b^c!"384-32"^^' 
 action against his guardians for mismanagement 
 and embezzling of his property. Between that time and 
 B.C. 345 we have 29 speeches in private causes attributed to 
 him, of which 16 have been suspected on various grounds to 
 be spurious. They are however sufficiently above the average 
 of excellence to have been regarded as possibly his. The main 
 features in this branch of the oratory of Demosthenes are the 
 masculine vigour of the style and the technical skill displayed 
 in marshalling facts, stating proofs, and finally winning the 
 feelings of his hearers for his client's cause by the torrent of his 
 eloquence. But the fame of Demosthenes rests more securely 
 on his speeches delivered in his own name in public causes, 
 and the deliberative speeches delivered before the assembly on 
 political questions of the day. Of the former kind we have 
 seven, three of which against Leptines, on the Embassy ^ on the 
 Crown though delivered at public trials, are practically 
 political speeches. Of the latter we have eleven (besides five 
 believed to be spurious) devoted almost exclusively to the 
 policy that he desired Athens to pursue towards Philip, which 
 
368 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 has already been discussed (pp. 285 289). Their characteristics 
 are fervour and passionate conviction. He has however the 
 defects as well as the merits of the professional orator. He 
 practises every rhetorical artifice calculated to sway a popular 
 audience, and the special pleading of the counsel is mixed with 
 the fervour of the statesman. There is always a danger of a re- 
 action of feeling after reading one of his vehement denunciations. 
 But for the purpose of the moment they were irresistible, 
 backed by his inspiring presence and his perfectly studied 
 action. As specimens of the artistic use of language they reach 
 the highest point. As contributions to our knowledge of the 
 political situation the Olynthiacs and PJiilippics^ the speeches 
 on the Peace and on the Sy7?i?nories, are of the utmost value. 
 Like Cicero and at about the same age his death followed 
 on the final crash of all that he had wished and promoted. 
 He poisoned himself in B.C. 322 after the Lamian war to 
 prevent his surrender to the Macedonian rulers. 
 
 From his chief rival and opponent Aeschines we have only 
 
 three speeches. One against Timarchus on a 
 BX^.^387-314. cha"rge of immorality, in which he took occasion 
 
 to attack the character of Demosthenes. The 
 second a defence of his own conduct on the Embassy to Philip 
 in B.C. 346 : and a third on the prosecution of Ctesiphon^ for 
 proposing a vote of a 'crown' to Demosthenes, which is almost 
 entirely devoted to a furious attack on Demosthenes himself 
 and his whole public career. Aeschines suffers by being 
 continually compared with one greater than himself. He was 
 equal to Demosthenes neither in vigour nor professional skill. 
 His great speech against Ctesiphon clever and even brilliant 
 as it is fails continually when it seems on the point of a 
 striking success, and was quite unable to shake the conviction 
 of the people that the cause of Demosthenes was the cause of 
 their own honour and safety. He took an active and not dis- 
 honourable part in more than one military expedition between 
 B.C. 371 and B.C. 349. Up to the time of the embassy of 
 
Plato and Aristotle, 369 
 
 B.C. 346 he had been forward in opposing Philip's policy. 
 From that time he was a consistent supporter of Philip and 
 then of Alexander. Having failed to get a fifth of the votes in 
 his prosecution of Ctesiphon he retired from Athens and died 
 in Samos B.C. 314. 
 
 Several of the Orations of Hypereides have been in part 
 recovered in recent years from mss in Egypt. Hypereides, 
 He was closely connected with Demosthenes about b.c. 
 in opposition to the Macedonian government, 
 but he turned upon him at the time of the affair of Harpalus, 
 (p. 301), and one of the recovered Orations is against him. 
 
 From Deinarchus we have three orations all of them 
 connected with the affair of Harpalus, one of Deinarchus 
 them against Demosthenes himself. Being about b.c. 
 born at Corinth he was not an Athenian citizen ^ ^ ^" 
 and could not deliver these speeches himself. They were 
 written for others, and are somewhat inferior imitations of 
 the greater orators. 
 
 V. Philosophy. 
 
 Th e two greatest names in the history of philosophy are 
 Plato and Aristotle : and it is from them almost 
 alone that we have an amount of work survivmg sophy. 
 sufficient to give them a place in an account of ^^^*' 
 
 . . D.\*. 427347. 
 
 Greek literature of this period. Of t heir supr eme 
 position as philosophers no account can be even attempted here. 
 AlFalTusion to their work must be confined entirely to a view 
 of it as literature. 
 
 Pla to was bo rn at Athens, whe re he a lso died. In the 
 course^fjiisj ife he tra yelled_in_ E gypt, Italy and Si cily, where 
 he visited the c ourts o f the elder and the younggrJDionysius, the 
 latter of whom he seems to have hoped to win over to philosophy. 
 On one of his voyages from Sicily he is said to have been 
 captured by pirates, sold as a slave, and ransomed by a disciple 
 
 S. G. 24 
 
370 Short History of the Greeks. 
 
 and admirer. He had been one of the most constant hearer s 
 of_SocrateSj and in all his dialogues Socrates be ars the chief 
 part. How much of them really represents the views of 
 Socrates we cannot be sure, and it is not to our present purpose 
 to enquire. Three of _the_lDialogues' the Apology'^, Fkacdo, 
 and Crito are directly connected with the trial, imprisonment 
 and death of Socrates, and the Euthyphro and Gorgias are 
 more or less inspired by it, and these are of all his works (with 
 one exception) the most attractive from a purely literary point 
 of view. The one exception i^J^JicpiiMic, It begins with an 
 attempt to define righteousness and the reasons for preferring it 
 to unrighteousness : and then goes on to exam ine the question on 
 a large scale by constructing ajnodeLState and discussing rules 
 for the educatjon^pf the rulin g cla ss in it. Wh ether t his great 
 wo rk is t he_jnasl_CQmplete summing up of Flato's^phjosophy 
 as ap plied to p racti cal life or not, the char m oMts^tyle^^ the 
 v ivaci ty of its dramatic setting, the dignity and aloofness of its 
 mora l tone constitute in spite of o ccas ional lapses into sophistic 
 subtleties one_ofJlie-greates_y3ieces_ of literature in the world. 
 Plato died a^ Athe ns in h is 8oth year while still a ctivel y em- 
 ployed in writing if not in teaching. His followers were called 
 Academics, from the Acadenieia, a gymnasium outside Athens 
 in which he^ taught. 
 
 Aristotle was born at St age ira in Chalcidice. His father 
 was physician to Amyntas H, king of Macedonia. 
 B.c^aS-a'za. From b.c. 367 to 347 he resided for the most part 
 at^Jthens for study, prindpally under Plato. On 
 the death of Plato he left Athens, and after living in different 
 places till b.c. 343 wasjnvitedLtO-Pella and bec ame the tutor of 
 Alexander. In b.c. 33^Jiej^turnedjto, Athens where he lived and 
 taught Jfor thirteen years. He met his disci ples i njhe Lyceum, 
 a gymnasium which had shadyjwalks (Trc/atVaTot), from which it 
 
 1 The Apology is not a dialogue, but purports to be three speeches 
 delivered by Socrates {a) for his defence, {b) on the assessment of his 
 penalty, (c) after his condemnation to death. 
 
Service of Greece to the World. 371 
 
 seems that his followers derived their name oi Peripatetics. His 
 writings even those that survive e mbrace nea rly^very branch 
 of learning a nd scie nce known in his day . His Ethics are 
 perhaps the most fam iliar of all, but he wrote al so on rhetoric, 
 politics, poetry^ m etaphy sics, co nstitutional history, physics. 
 The se encyclopaed ic writings have been the sta rting-point of 
 
 almost all m odern science . Merely as literature his work 
 
 possesses neither the charm nor the poetical Jancy of that of 
 Plato. Itls~however somethin g greate r^ than literatu re. The 
 difficulty that meets us in it does not lie in the language, which 
 is simple almost to baldness, but in the connexion of thought 
 and the logical sequence of ideas, in fact from our own 
 inferiority and i nability to measure his greatne ss. From 
 Aristotle's pupil Theophrastus (ob. u.c. 287), besides a great 
 work on botany, we possess a short book on 'Characters,' 
 which contains some amusing information as to the social life 
 of the time. 
 
 It does not belong to a history of literature to follow the 
 developement of philosophy. But it is right to point out that 
 the four schools the Academy (Plato), the Walk (Aristotle), 
 the Garden (Epicurus), the Porch (Zeno) have profoundly 
 affected the thought and conduct of mankind in every relation 
 of life; tha t they modified the early teaching of Chrjstianity 
 itself; and that they all had their origi n at Athen s. It is this 
 li terature and philosophy which constitute the chief service 
 that Greece has done to the wo rld. Thou gh its political 
 hist orjT'p oss esses' lnanv p oints of interest and is full of in- 
 struction, it woul d hardly have attracted so much atten tion but 
 for the consciousness that in every domain of thought , l eelTng , 
 and taste the~H elleni c spirit st ill surv ives, permeates the 
 language of our poetry, d omin ates our art, l iteratu re, and 
 drama, atrdr^has always been most felt by those nations which 
 have done most for civilisation and liberty. 
 
 24 2 
 
Masks of Comedy and Tragedy. 
 
Tables of Sovereigns, 
 
 373 
 
 I. 
 
 KINGS OF SPARTA OF THE TWO ROYAL FAMILIES 
 FROM B.C. 500. 
 
 AGIDAE 
 
 B.C. 
 
 EURYPONTIDAE 
 
 B.C. 
 
 Cleomenes I 
 
 520-491 
 
 Demaratus 
 
 abt. 510-492 
 
 Leonidas I 
 
 491-480 
 
 Leotychides 
 
 492-469 
 
 Pleistarchus 
 
 480-458 
 
 Archidamus II 
 
 469-427 
 
 Pleistoanax 
 
 458-408 
 
 Agis I 
 
 427-397 
 
 Pausanias 
 
 408-394 
 
 Agesilaus 
 
 397-361 
 
 Agesipolis I 
 
 394-380 
 
 Archidamus III 
 
 361-338 
 
 Cleombrotus I 
 
 380-371 
 
 Agis II 
 
 338-330 
 
 Agesipolis II 
 
 371-370 
 
 Eudamidas I 
 
 330-300 
 
 Cleomenes II 
 
 370-309 
 
 Archidamus IV 
 
 300 
 
 Areus I 
 
 309-265 
 
 Eudamidas II 
 
 300-243 
 
 Acrotatus 
 
 265-264 
 
 Agis III 
 
 243-239 
 
 Areus II 
 
 264-257 
 
 Eurydamidas 
 
 239-226 
 
 Leonidas II 
 
 257-242 
 
 Archidamus V 
 
 226-220 
 
 Cleombrotus II 
 
 242-236 
 
 
 
 Cleomenes III 
 
 236-224 
 
 
 
 Agesipolis III 
 
 220 
 
 
 
 In B.C. 220 Lycurgus, though not of the royal family, was elected king with 
 Agesipolis III. Lycurgus soon got rid of Agesipolis and remained sole king, or 
 tyrant, till B.C. 210. He was followed in the tyranny by Machanidas (b.c. 210-207) and 
 Nabis (B.C. 207-192). On the death of Nabis Sparta was joined to the Achaean League 
 till B.C. 147. 
 
 XL 
 THE KINGDOM OF PERGAMUS. 
 
 Philetaerus holds Pergamus for King Lysimachus but declares himself 
 
 independent ... ... ... ... ... ... B.C. 283 
 
 Eumenes, nephew of Philetaerus, succeeds to the principality ... 263-241 
 
 Attalus (cousin of Eumene.s) after a victory over Gauls takes the title of 
 
 king as Attains I ... ... ... ... ... ... 241-197 
 
 Eumenes II, son of Attalus I ... ... ... ... ... 197-159 
 
 (who was rewarded by the Romans with most 0/ the dominions 
 of Antiochus in Asia Minor) 
 Attalus II, Philadelphus (brother of Eumenes II) ... ... ... 159-138 
 
 Attalus III, Philometor (son of Eumenes II) ... ... ... 138-133 
 
 {^vho left the Romans his heirs) 
 
374 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 a 
 < 
 
 /Alexander IV 
 '.Philip III (Arrhidaeus) 
 
 Regency of Cassander 
 
 Cassander 
 
 Philip IV s. of Cassander 
 
 Demetrius I, Poliorcetes (s. of Antigonus 
 
 the One-eyed), ob. 283 
 Divided between Lysimachus and 
 
 Pyrrhus 
 Ptolemy Ceraunus, s, of Ptolemy I of 
 
 Egypt 
 [Various claimants] 
 
 Antigonus Gonatas, s. of Demetrius I 
 Demetrius II, s. of Gonatas 
 Philip V, s. of Demetrius II 
 
 [Antigonus Doson, nominally his 
 guardian, assumes the crown 
 B.C. 229-220] 
 Perseus [Macedonia a Roman province] 
 
 
 323-3" 
 323-317 
 311-306 
 306-296 
 296 
 
 296-294 
 
 294-287 
 
 287-281 
 
 281-280 
 
 280-277 
 277-239 
 239-229 
 229-179 
 
 179-168 
 
 < 
 
 5 
 
 Antigonus the One-eyed 
 Seleucus I, Nicator 
 Antiochus I, Soter, s. of 
 
 Antigonus the One-eyed 
 Antiochus II, Theos 
 Seleucus IT, Callinicus 
 Seleucus III, Alexander 
 
 or Ceraunus 
 Antiochus III, the Great 
 Seleucus IV, Philopator 
 Antiochus TV, Epiphanes 
 Antiochus V, Eupator 
 Demetrius I, Soter 
 Alexander Bala 
 Demetrius II, Nicator 
 
 
 00 vo >* N W 00 r^vo vo 10 ^ N 
 0000 VO^N (NOT r~.v3 ^ >n j^ 
 
 > 
 1^ 
 
 Ptolemy, s. of Lagus 
 Ptolemy II, Philadelphus 
 Ptolemy III, Euergetes 
 Ptolemy TV, Philopator 
 Ptolemy V, Epiphanes 
 / Ptolemy VI, Philometor 
 \ Ptolemy VII, Physcon, 
 joint king with his 
 brother, Ptolemy VI 
 Ptolemy VII, sole king 
 
 1,; (NNNNMWH M 
 
 O0O-<*-M0COt>. Tf 
 CONNWNMrl H 
 
 S "* "U '' 
 
 It? I 
 
 5? -li k^ '-' 
 
 ^^^^^ 
 
 5 ? 8 -S 
 
 i ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ^ -v -^ vB" 
 ^ .5 t i ^ 
 
 M .-^ ^ 
 
 * ^ ^ ^ ? 
 " fv <V ^ 
 
 . a .8 w 
 
 j^ ^ -S ^ . 
 ^ S ^ I - 
 
 ^ 1 >i . 
 
 ^2 I ^ 
 
 .S Vo "^ <S -tJ 
 
 ^ -^ I I 
 
 ^5 
 
 |1 -S "1 ^ 
 
375 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abdera, 102, 125 
 
 Abydos, 20; revolt of, 250; victory 
 of Alcibiades off, 253, 254; be- 
 sieged by Philip V, 327 
 
 Acarnania, Pericles in, 190; league 
 of, 288 
 
 Achaean League, the, 313-6; de- 
 bate in the assembly at Sicyon, 
 329; adheres to Rome, 329, 340; 
 embraces all the Peloponnese, 338 ; 
 quarrels with Sparta, 339 ; Sparta 
 and other States encouraged to 
 break off from, 342; dissolved by 
 Romans, 346-8 
 
 Achaeans, the, 2, 5, 30; join the 
 league of Athens and Argos, 190; 
 their character for probity, 313-4; 
 Achaean exiles in Italy, 342, 344 
 
 Achaia, 53 
 
 Acrocorinthus, 304, 315-6, 329-333 
 
 Acropolis of Athens, taken and burnt 
 by Xerxes, 155; adorned by Phei- 
 dias, 201 
 
 Acte, 125 
 
 Admetus king of the Molossi enter- 
 tains Themistocles, 183 
 
 Aeacidae, 159 
 
 Aegina punished for medising, 126; 
 at war with Athens, 127-8, 140-1, 
 143; joins Epidaurus and Argos 
 against Athens, 186; naval power 
 of destroyed, 186; its Dorian in- 
 habitants removed in B c. 431, 
 and restored in B.C. 405 by Ly- 
 sander, 259; Aeginetan standard, 
 the, 93 
 
 Aegium, 314, 328, 345 
 
 Aegospotami, battle of, 258 
 
 Aeolians, 3, 4, 18 
 
 aes Corinihiaawi, 347 
 
 Aeschines on the embassy to Philip, 
 286; on the Crown, 301; his 
 orations, 368, 369 
 
 Aeschines of Eretria, 129 
 
 Aeschylus, 358, 359 
 
 Aetolia, Athenian invasion of de- 
 feated, 231 ; Aetolians resist Alex- 
 ander, 293, Antipater, 303, the 
 Gauls, 312 
 
 Aetolian League, the, 312, 313; 
 Social war of, 321-322; makes a 
 treaty in B.C. 211 with Rome, 
 325; dissatisfied with the result 
 of battle of Cynoscephalae, 331, 
 and of the settlement of Flami- 
 ninus, 333; invites Antiochus into 
 Greece, 334; submits to Rome, 
 337 ; decadence of, 349 
 
 Agathocles, 309 
 
 Agesilaus, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 
 274 
 
 Agesipolis (k. of Sparta, B.C. 220) 
 deposed by Lycurgus, 320 
 
 Agis I (k. of Sparta, B.C. 427-397) 
 at Deceleia, 252, 258; invades 
 Elis, 271 
 
 Agis II (k. of Sparta, B.C. 243- 
 239) defeated by Antipater, 293, 
 300; Agis III attempts reforms 
 at Sparta, 317 
 
 Alcaeus, 23, 27 
 
 Alcibiades at battle of Delium, 233 ; 
 
376 
 
 Index, 
 
 his Argive policy, 235 ; his Sici- 
 lian schemes, 239; made a com- 
 mander of Sicilian expedition but 
 accused of impiety and recalled, 
 242-3 ; at Argos and Sparta, 246; 
 goes to Asia, 249, 250; joins 
 Athenian army at Samos, 251; 
 defeats Spartans off Abydos, 
 253; returns to Athens, 254, 255; 
 deposed after battle of Notium, 
 255; warns Athenian admirals at 
 Aegospotami, 258 
 
 Alcmaeonidae, the, 67, 71-2, 82, 87 
 
 Alcman, 28 
 
 Aleuadae of Larissa, 145 
 
 Alexander of Macedonia warns the 
 Greeks at Tempe, 145; negotiates 
 with Athenians, 164; at Plataea, 
 166; extends Macedonia, 219 
 
 Alexander of Pherae, 278 
 
 Alexander the Great, birth of, 282; 
 reign and Asiatic victories, 292- 
 298; his posthumous son Alexan- 
 der III by Roxana, 299 
 
 Alexandria, foundation of, 296; an 
 intellectual centre, 306, 308, 364 
 
 Alphabet, Ionian, 23 
 
 Alyattes, 97 
 
 Amassis k. of Egypt, 100 
 
 Ambracia, siege of by the Romans, 
 
 237 
 Amphictyonic assembly, the, 8, 9, 
 
 283, 289 
 Amphipolis, 182, 215, 217, 234, 
 
 279, 281, 282, 287, 353 
 Amphissian war, the, 289 
 Amyrtaeus of Egypt 'king of the 
 
 Marshes,' 191 
 Anaxagoras, 212 
 Anaximander, 210 
 Anaximenes, 210 
 Ancyra, 295 
 Andocides, orator, 366 
 Andriscus, pretended son of Perseus, 
 
 344 
 Andros, cleruchs in, 215; victory 
 
 of Alcibiades in, 255 
 Antalcidas, peace of, 273, 274 
 Antigonus Doson (k. of Macedonia, 
 
 B.C. 229-220), 316, 3-18-320 
 
 Antigonus Gonatas (k. of Mace- 
 donia, B.C. 277-239), 311, 314 
 
 Antiochus of Athens, defeated at 
 Notium, 255 
 
 Antiochus III, the Great, k. of Syria, 
 334-336; forced to give up his 
 possessions in Asia Minor, 337 
 
 Antipater, 293, 300, 302, 303, 304 
 
 Antiphon, 251, 366 
 
 Anytus, 267 
 
 apella. Spartan assembly, 38 
 
 Aphareus, Aeolic king of Messenia, 
 
 47 
 Apollodorus of Gela, writer of come- 
 dies, 364 
 Apollonius of Rhodes, 305, 364 
 Aratus of Sicyon, 315, 316, 317, 
 
 318, 324; his memoirs, 356 
 Arbela, battle of, 296, 297 
 Arcadia, 52, 53; on the side of the 
 Messenians, 48; invaded by the 
 Argives, 236; its new capital 
 Megalopolis, 277 
 Archidamus II, king of Sparta, 183, 
 
 223 
 Architects employed at Athens^ 201 
 Architecture, orders of Greek, 196- 
 
 199 
 Archon, an Achaean statesman, 
 
 339 
 archons at Athens, 61-63 
 Ardys, king of Lydia, 97 
 Areopagus, council of the, 63, 77-8, 
 
 155 
 Argaeus, Macedonian pretender, 281 
 Arginusae, battle of, 256, 257 
 Argos, 2, 30, 34-6, 48; opposed 
 to Sparta, 51-3; invaded by 
 Cleomenes, 127; medises, 144; 
 forms a league against Sparta, 
 184, 186, 235; forced to make 
 peace with Sparta, 236; Mace- 
 donian garrison in, 329 ; separated 
 from Achaean League, 345 
 Aristagoras of Miletus, 113, 115- 
 
 117, 119, 120 
 Aristides at Marathon, 134; op- 
 posed to Themistocles, 140; 
 ostracised, 142; returns just be- 
 fore the battle of Salamis, 159 ; 
 
Index. 
 
 177 
 
 commands Athenian contingent at 
 Plataea, 165 ; organises the Con- 
 federacy of Delos, 175-6; his law 
 concerning the archonship, 180; 
 his death, 181 
 
 Aristocrates of Arcadia, 49 
 
 Aristomenes, national leader of the 
 Messenians, 48-51 
 
 Aristophanes attacks Socrates, 265- 
 266; his death, 305; his comedies, 
 363-364 
 
 Aristotle, 65, 370-37' 
 
 Art, works of, taken to Italy ^ 343, 
 
 347 
 
 Artabazus tahes Olynthus, 163; es- 
 capes after Plataea, 170 
 
 Artaphernes, satrap at Sardis, 93, 
 ri-z, 116, 117; tries to reorganize 
 Ionia, 122 
 
 Artaphernes, son of the above, one 
 of the commanders at Marathon, 
 128 
 
 Artayctes, 173, 174 
 
 Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, 
 157, 161 
 
 Artemisium in Euboea, Greek fleet 
 at, 147; three days' fighting at, 
 148-150, 152 
 
 Arthemius of Zeleia, 143 
 
 Asander, 298 
 
 Asclepiades, 305 
 
 Asiatic Greeks, 6, 18, 19, 96; after 
 Alexander, 307 ; Asiatic mon- 
 archies unknown to Greeks of 
 Homeric age, 23 ; Hellenism in 
 Asia after Antiochus, 337 
 
 Asopus, river, 165, 166, 167 
 
 Aspendus, 178 
 
 Assyria, 98, 99 
 
 Astyages, 98 
 
 Astyochus, 249 
 
 Athena Alea, 53; Chalcioecus, 49; 
 Polias, 203; Promachos, 204 
 
 Athens and Attica, inhabitants of, 
 5; geography and early history 
 of, 55-61 ; taken by the Persians, 
 154, 155; walls of, 176, 177; 
 continental empire of, 186, 195; 
 adorned by Pericles, 196-205; 
 position of in Confederacy of 
 
 Delos, 214; plague at, 224, 225; 
 financial recovery in, after peace 
 of Nicias, 238, 239; revolt of 
 allies from, 248, 249; surrendered 
 to Spartans, 261; new confederacy 
 formed by, 275, 276; position 
 of, after reign of Alexander, 303 ; 
 as a seat of learning, 307 ; freed 
 from Demetrius, 311; quarrel 
 with Oropus, 343, 344 ; privileged 
 position under Romans, 348 
 Athos, wreck of Persian fleet at, 
 125; canal across the isthmus of, 
 
 143 
 Atossa, 106, 108 
 Attains I king of Pergamus, 307, 
 
 324, 326, 327 
 Attains II, 343 
 Axius, river, no, 280 
 
 Babylon visited by Greeks, 23; 
 separated from Assyria, 98 ; taken . 
 by Cyrus, 100; Alexander at, 298 
 
 Bacchylides, 208 
 
 Bessus, 297 
 
 Bion, 364 
 
 Bisaltae, the, 215 
 
 Boar's Tomb, battle at the, 49 
 
 Boeotia, changes in the inhabitants 
 of> 5> 95 5 Boeotian towns join 
 league of Argos and Athens, 188 ; 
 quit the league, 193; subject to 
 Macedonia, 31 1 ; decadence of, 323 
 
 hojili at Athens, the, 64, 77, 91 
 
 Branchidae, temple of, 115 
 
 Brasidas attacks Acarnania and the 
 Peiraeus, 228; saves Megara and 
 goes to Chalcidice, 233, 353; 
 killed near Amphipolis, 234 
 
 Bura, 314 
 
 Byzantium, colony of Megara, 20; 
 conquered by Persians, in; joins 
 the Ionian revolt, 120; retaken 
 by Persians, 122; captured by 
 Greeks (B.C. 477), 175; joins 
 Samos in revolting from Confede- 
 racy of Delos, 217 ; again revolts, 
 250; taken by Alcibiades, 254; 
 joins and then renounces the new 
 Athenian league, 275, 283, 287; 
 
378 
 
 Index. 
 
 besieged unsuccessfully by Philip 
 II, 288, 289; its navy, 308 
 
 Cadmeia at Thebes, the, 23; occu- 
 pied by Spartans, 274, 275 
 
 Caecilius Metellus, Q., 344, 346 
 
 Calaureia, the island on which De- 
 mosthenes died, 303 
 
 Callias, peace of, 19 1-2 
 
 Callicrates, a romanising Achaean, 
 
 339 
 
 Callimachus the polemarch at 
 Marathon, 132 
 
 Callimachus the poet, 305 
 
 Callistratus, 87 
 
 Cambyses father of Cyrus, 99 ; king 
 of Persia, 104, 105, 106 
 
 Cannonus, decree of, 257 
 
 Cardia, 287, 288 
 
 Caria, 18, 19, 119, 122, 287 
 
 Carians, 3, 18, 19, 20, 106 
 
 Cameades, 343 
 
 Carthaginians, 140, 144, 261, 309, 
 310 
 
 Caryneia, 314 
 
 Carystus, 129, 162 
 
 Catana, 243, 244 
 
 Cecrops, 57 
 
 Cersobleptes of Thrace, 279, 286 
 
 Chaeroneia captured by Tolmides, 
 193; battle at, with Philip II, 290 
 
 Chalcidice, 233, 235, 282 
 
 Chalcis in Euboea, its commerce 
 and colonies, 22 ; its quarrels with 
 Eretria, 117 ; punished for helping 
 Hippias, 93; Athenian cleruchs 
 in its territory, 129; Pericles ex- 
 pels the Hippobotai from, 1 94 ; 
 one of the three ' fetters of Greece,' 
 304, 329, 332, 333; taken by An- 
 tiochus, 336; stripped of works of 
 Art by Romans, 343 
 
 Chares, 288, 289 
 
 Cheledonium, 178 
 
 Chersonese, the Thracian, early 
 peopled by Hellenes, 18, 21; 
 ruled by Miltiades, 109 ; occupied 
 by Persians, 122; freed from Per- 
 sians, 173-4; Athenian cleruchs 
 in, 215, 288; importance of to 
 
 Athens, 279; Philip II interfering 
 in, 285, 286, 288; Philip V in, 
 340; Antiochus in, 333, 335 
 
 Chios forms with Lesbos and Samos 
 a league against Persia, 173; re- 
 volts from the Confederacy and is 
 reduced by Athens, 248 ; joins in 
 a new league (B.C. 378), 275 ; 
 breaks off from it, 283; assists 
 Byzantium, 289; besieged by Philip 
 V, 326; battle of, ib. 
 
 Cimmerians, the,. 24 
 
 Cimon, son of Miltiades, pays his 
 father's fine, 139; defeats Persians 
 on the Eurymedon, 177; opposed 
 to Pericles, 181; ostracised, 184, 
 1 85 ; recalled after battle of Tana- 
 gra, 190; his death, 191; the so- 
 called 'Peace of Cimon,' 178 
 
 Cinadon, conspiracy of, 271 
 
 Cirrha, 71 
 
 Clazomenae, 119, 249 
 
 Cleisthenes, 65; reforms of, 88-93 
 
 Cleombrotus, king of Sparta, killed 
 at Leuctra, 275 
 
 Cleomenes I (king of Sparta, B.C. 
 520-491) attacks Argos, 35, 127 ; 
 tries to restore Plippias, 93 ; 
 rejects the prayer of Aristagoras, 
 116; goes to Aegina, 126; his 
 madness and suicide, 127 
 
 Cleomenes III (k. of Sparta, 
 B.C. 236-222), his attempted re- 
 forms and war with the Achaean 
 League, 317-320 
 
 Cleon proposes to execute the men 
 of Mitylene, 229; captures the 
 Spartans on Sphacteria, 232; killed 
 near Amphipolis, 232 ; his aug- 
 mentation of the fee of dicasts, 363 
 
 cleruchs {kXtjpovxol), 129, 215, 283 
 
 c/ubs, political, 251 
 
 Cnidus, battle of, 272 
 
 Codrus, 61, 62 
 
 colonies^ nature of Greek, i ; 
 period of, 19-22 
 
 Comedy, Greek, 362 
 
 Conon, 255, 256, 272 
 
 Constitution of Athens (? Aristotle), 
 the, 64, 141 
 
Index. 
 
 379 
 
 Corcyra renders no help against 
 Persians, 144 ; revolutions in, 
 218; war of with Corinth, 2 18, 
 219 ; only once helped Athens in 
 Peloponnesian war, 222 ; fresh 
 revolutions in, 230 
 
 Corinna, 209 
 
 Corinth, early history of, 32, 33; 
 congresses at, 143-145, 174, 29*1, 
 292; joins Epidaurus to defeat 
 the Athenians on land but is 
 defeated at sea, 186; joins the 
 Achaean League, 315; separated 
 from it, 344; riot at, 345; de- 
 struction of, 346, 347 
 
 Coroneia, battles at (b.c. 447), 193; 
 (B.C. 394), 272-3; punished for 
 joining Perseus, 342 
 
 Corsica, 102 
 
 Cos, island of, joins Chios and 
 Rhodes in assisting Byzantium, 
 289 
 
 Crenides (Philippi), 282 
 
 Crete, Pelasgi in, 3 ; Dorians of, 6 ; 
 cosmi\\\, 31 ; Minos of, 19; refuses 
 help against Persia, 145 
 
 Crimisus, battle of the, 309 
 
 Critias, one of the Thirty, 262, 
 263 
 
 Critolaus, 343, 346 
 
 Croesus (k. of Lydia, B.C. 560-547), 
 97, 98 ; his reported conversation 
 with Solon, 79; fall of, 100, loi 
 
 Cumae, 22, 170 
 
 Cunaxa, battle of, 268 
 
 Cyclic poets, 14 
 
 Cylon, conspiracy of, 66-68 
 
 Cyme, 119 
 
 Cynoscephalae, battle of, 330, 331 
 
 Cynossema, battle of, 253 
 
 Cynuria, 35, 45, 53; Thyrea in, 259 
 
 Cyprus reduced by the Persians, 
 119; Cimon's campaign in, 191 
 
 Cyrus, founder of the Medo-Persian 
 Empire, 23, 98-103 
 
 Cyrus (son of k. Darius Ochus) 
 supports Lysander, 255 ; his ex- 
 pedition against his brother Arta- 
 xerxes, 268, 269 
 
 Cythera, 233 
 
 Damagetes of lalysus, 50 
 
 Damascus, 296 
 
 Danai, i, 2 
 
 Darius I (king of Persia, B.C. 521- 
 485), 105, 106; his Scythian ex- 
 pedition, 108, 109 ; generals of, 
 subdue Thrace and Macedonia, 
 no, in; rewards Coes and 
 Histiaeus, in; appoints Arta- 
 phernes satrap in Sardis, 112; 
 his anger at the burning of 
 Sardis, 118; sends his son-in-law 
 Mardonius to Sardis, 125 ; his 
 death, 137 
 
 Darius II, Ochus or Nothus (k. of 
 Persia, B.C. 423-404), summons 
 Cyrus to Susa, 268 
 
 Darius III, Codomannus (k. of 
 Persia, B.C. 336-330), defeated by 
 Alexander at Issus, 295 ; and at 
 Arbela, 296 ; death of, 297 
 
 Deceleia occupied by Spartans, 246, 
 248, 258 
 
 Deinarchus, 369 
 
 Delium, battle of, 233 ; destruction 
 of a Roman detachment at, 336 
 
 Delos, Ionian festival at, 26 ; puri- 
 fication at, 83 ; spared by Persians, 
 1 29 ; made a free port, 343 ; an 
 Athenian dependency, 349 
 
 Delos, Confederacy of, 174-8; 
 Athenian supremacy in, 181-2; 
 causes of its disruption, 214 
 
 Delphi, 9, 12, 71; temple restored, 
 87; the Oracle urges the deposi- 
 tion of Hippias, 88 ; misleads 
 Croesus, 100; advises against 
 resistance to the Persians, 145, 
 146 ; the Persians fail to take 
 i^ i53 ^54; bronze stand at, 
 170; guardians of the Oracle at, 
 192 ; the treasures of seized by 
 the Phocians, 283; battle with 
 the Celts near, 312 
 
 demagogues^ 92 
 
 Demaratus (king of Sparta, B.C. 
 510-490) deposed, 126, 127; 
 with the Persians, 143, 144 
 
 denies in Attica, 89 
 
 Demetrias (at the head of the 
 
38o 
 
 Index, 
 
 Pagasaean gulf) one of the ' fetters 
 of Greece,' 304, 329, 332, 333 
 
 Demetrius of Phalerum, 305 
 
 Demetrius Poliorcetes (king of 
 Macedonia, B.C. 294-287), 304, 
 308, 311 
 
 Democedes of Crotona, 108 
 
 Democritus, 212 
 
 demos of Athens, the, 92 
 
 Demosthenes (general) defeated in 
 Aetolia, 231 ; occupies Pylos, 
 231 ; fails to invade Boeotia, 233; 
 sent to Syracuse, 246 ; his death, 
 248 
 
 Demosthenes (orator), 284, 286, 287, 
 288 ; promotes a confederacy 
 against Philip, 288, 289 ; his 
 speech on the Crown, 301 ; accepts 
 money from Harpalus, ih. ; his 
 death, 303 ; his oratory, 367, 368 
 
 Dercylidas, 250, 269, 270 
 
 diacrii, the, 59 
 
 Diaeus, strategus of Achaean League, 
 
 345. 346, 347 
 
 dicasteria at Athens, 78 
 
 dicasts, 90 
 
 Diogenes, a Stoic, 343 
 
 Dionysius I (tyrant of Syracuse, 
 B.C. 404-368), 308 
 
 Dionysius II (tyrant of Syracuse, 
 B.C. 368-344), 309 
 
 Diopeithes, 288 
 
 Diphilus of Sinope, writer of come- 
 dies, 364 
 
 docwiasia of magistrates, 90 
 
 Dodona, 3, 12 
 
 Dorcis of Sparta, 175 
 
 Dorians, the, 4, 5; in the Pelo- 
 ponnese, 30-54 ; forms of govern- 
 ment among, 31 ; in Sicily, 240 
 
 Doric Hexapolis, the, 19, 352 
 
 Doris invaded by Phocians, 187 
 
 Draco, his constitution and laws, 
 63-66, 76, 77 
 
 Dryoscephalae, pass of, 166, i68 
 
 Dymae, 314 
 
 Dyrrhachium, 349 
 
 Ecbatana, 98, 297 
 
 ecclesia at Athens, the, 91, 92; 
 
 limited to 5000 (B.C. 411), 251 j 
 to 3000 (B.C. 404), 263 
 
 Egesta (or Segesta) and Selinus, 
 241 
 
 Egypt, 22, 23; conquered by Cam- 
 byses, 105; revolts from Persia, 
 137; reduced, 142; rebellion of 
 Inaros in, 186, 189; Athenian 
 disasters in, 189, 190; rebellion 
 of Amytaeus in, 191; conquered 
 by Alexander the Great, 296 
 
 Eira, Mount, 49, 50 
 
 Elateia, occupied by Philip II, 
 289 ; besieged by Flamininus, 329 
 
 Eleatics, the, 211, 212 
 
 Elegiac poets, 28, 29 
 
 P-^lis, 50, 51 ; joins Argive league 
 against Sparta, 235 ; allied with 
 Aetolians and Sparta in ' Social 
 war,' 321 
 
 Empedocles, 211 
 
 epacrii, the, 81 
 
 Epameinondas, 275, 276, 277, 281 
 
 Epeians, 51 
 
 Ephesus, colonies from, 21, 96; 
 lonians at, 118; holds aloof from 
 Ionian revolt, 120; temple of 
 Artemis at, 199 
 
 Ephetae, the, 78 
 
 Ephialtes betrays the path at 
 Thermopylae, 151 
 
 Ephors at Sparta, the, 38 
 
 Ephorus of Cyme, historian, 356 
 
 Epicurus and Epicureans, 306, 371 
 
 Epidamnus, 218 
 
 Epidaurus, 51; joins Corinth and 
 Aegina against Athens, 186; at- 
 tacked by Argives, 236 
 
 Epimenides, 72, 73 
 
 Epipolae, 244, 247 
 
 Epirus, 6 ; harsh treatment of by 
 Romans, 343 
 
 Erechtheion, the, 202 
 
 Erechtheus or Erechthonius, 57 
 
 Eretria in Euboea, the knights of 
 favour Peisistratus, 85 ; joins 
 Athens in supporting lonians, 
 117; captured by Persians, 129, 
 130; its inhabitants placed in 
 Cissia, 137 
 
Index. 
 
 381 
 
 Erythrae, 166 
 
 Euboea, lonians in, 4; supports 
 Sparta and Thebes against Athens, 
 93 ; revolts from Athens, 194, 
 281, 285 ; cleruchs in, 215 ; 
 Antiochus the Great in, 336 
 Euboic standard, the, 93 
 Euclides, archonship of, 264 
 Eumenes II (k. of Pergamus, B.C. 
 
 i977i59) 337> 343 
 
 Eupolis, 185 
 
 Euripides, 360, 361, 364 
 
 Eurybiades of Sparta, 156, 157, 162 
 
 Eurymedon of Athens, his cam- 
 paign in Corey ra, 230 
 
 Eurymedon, battles on the river, 
 
 177. 178 
 
 Evas, Mount, 319 
 
 festivals, influence of in Greece, 8 ; 
 provision made for by the RomanS; 
 
 349 
 
 'fetters of Greece^'' the, 329, 332, 
 
 333 ^ . . 
 
 Flamininus, L. Qumctms, 329, 331 
 Flamininus, T. Quinctius, 328, 331, 
 
 333 
 Four Hundred, the^ 250-253 
 
 Gargaphia, fountain of, 166 
 
 Gelo of Syracuse resists the Car- 
 thaginians, 139, 140; his answer 
 to the congress at Corinth, 144 
 
 gerusia, 38 
 
 Gordium, 295 
 
 government, forms of 9 
 
 Graea [TpaLa], i 
 
 Granicus, battle of the, 294 
 
 Greece, Greek, origin of the words, 8 
 
 Gyges (king of Lydia, B.C. 716- 
 678), 97 
 
 Gylippus, 245, 248 
 
 Gythium, harbour of Sparta, 45, 
 189, 277, 335 
 
 Haliartus, in Boeotia, Lysander 
 killed at, 271 ; punished for 
 helping Perseus, 342 
 
 Halicarnassus, 19 
 
 Halys, loi, 117, 295 
 
 Harmodius and Aristogeiton , 86, 
 
 87 
 harmosts. Spartan, 260 
 Harpagus, 99 
 Harpalus, 301 
 Hecataeus, 115, 209, 352 
 hectemoroi, 68 
 Hegesistratus, son of Peisistratus, 
 
 Hehaea, the, 78, 90 
 Hellanicus, 56, 209 
 
 Hellenotamiae, 175 
 
 Hellespont, cities on the, 122 ; 
 bridge of ships on, 143, 147 
 
 Helots, the, 5, 38, 43, 44. 179". 
 revolt of (B.C. 464), 183, 184, 
 189, 238 
 
 Ileracleia in Trachis, Spartan settle- 
 ment at, 230, 234 ; Macedonian 
 garrison in, 303 ; separated from 
 Achaean League, 345 
 
 Heracleidae, the, 4, 31, 58 ; the 
 Heraclid families at Sparta, 37 
 
 Heracleitus, 210 
 
 Ileraeum at Plataea, 169 ; at 
 Sam OS, 172 
 
 heralds, outrage on the Persian, 125 
 
 Hermae, mutilation of, 243 
 
 Herodotus, 4, 23, 39, 56, 76, 84, 
 98, 100, no, 117, 124, 163, 
 
 352-3 
 Ilesiod, 25, 20 
 Hestia, 11 
 
 Hexapolis, the Doric, 19, 352 
 Hiero of Syracuse conquers the 
 
 Etruscans, 170, 171 
 Hipparchus assassinated, 86 
 hippeis at Athens, 77 
 Hippias, son of Peisistratus, 85-88, 
 
 117; at Marathon, 130 
 Histiaea in north of Euboea (also 
 
 called Oreus), 194, 215 
 Histiaeus of Miletus, 109, iii, 
 
 112, 113, 120 
 Homer, names in Greece not known 
 
 to, 2, 3, 17; government known 
 
 to, 9-10; the poems of, 13, i4i 
 
 15, 16; the Homeric question, 
 
382 
 
 Index. 
 
 15 ; poems collected by Peisis- 
 tratus, 83 
 
 Hyacinthia, the, 165 
 
 Hydaspes, river, 297 
 
 Hypereides surrendered to Anti- 
 pater, 303; his orations, 369 
 
 Hyphasis, river, 297 
 
 Hysiae, 166 
 
 lalysus in Rhodes, 19, 50 
 
 Ictinus, an architect, 201 
 
 lUyrians, the, 281, 282 
 
 * Immortals^ the Persian^ 148, 150, 
 151, 152 
 
 Inaros, king of Egypt, 186, 189 
 
 Indus, Alexander on the, 297 
 
 lonians, the, 3, 4, 96 ; subdued by 
 the generals of Cyrus, loi, 102, 
 103; revolt of, 1 14-123; pro- 
 posal to remove them after Mycale, 
 
 173 
 Iphicrates, 273, 276 
 Isaeus, 366, 367 
 Island Greece, 6, 7, 18 
 Issus, battle of, 295, 296 
 Isthmian games, proclamation at, 
 
 332 
 Ithome, Mount, 47 ; helots besieged 
 
 in, 183; surrendered, 189; new 
 
 town built near, 277 
 
 lason of Pherae, 277 
 
 lulius Caesar, C., his restoration 
 
 of Corinth, 347 
 lulius Caesar, Sext., 345, 346 
 
 Kadmos, 23 
 
 Karneia, festival at Sparta, 131, 147 
 
 Keadae, 49 
 
 Kekryphaleia, 186 
 
 kmgs, constitutional., 9, 10 
 
 KXrjpuTai e/c irpoKpiTWv, 'j'j 
 
 Kranaoi, 5 
 
 Labynetus, last king of Babylon 
 
 (Belshazzar), 100 
 Laconia, early history of, 37-49 
 Lade, battle of, 121 ; another 
 
 battle at, 326 
 Laestrygones, the, 24 
 
 Lamachus, 242, 243, 244 
 Lamian war, the, 301-303 
 Lampsacus, Anaxagoras honoured 
 
 at, 212; revolt of, 250 
 Laurium, silver mines at, 57, 83, 
 
 93 141 
 Lechaeum, harbour of Corinth, long 
 
 walls to, 273 
 Leipsydrium, 88 
 Leleges, 3 
 Leonidas (king of Sparta, H.C. 491- 
 
 480), 147, 151, 152, 207 
 Leontini, treaty with, 215; revolu- 
 tion at, 241 
 Leotychides (king of Sparta, B.C. 
 
 492-469), 127, 163, 172, 174 
 Lesbos joins Chios and Samos in 
 
 a league to oppose the Persians, 
 
 173; revolts in, 228, 229, 249 
 /esc he, 59 
 
 Leucippus of Abdera, 212. 
 Leuctra, battle of, 275 
 Xrj^iapxiKbv ypafx^aTeioi', to, 89 
 Limnae, 46; Artemis Limnatis, id. 
 Locrians join the league of Athens 
 
 and Argos, 188; declared free 
 
 by Flamininus, 332 ; attached to 
 
 Aetolian League, 333 
 tot, election by, 11, 90 
 Lyceum, the, 83 
 Lycortas, father of Polybius, head 
 
 of moderate party in Achaean 
 
 League, 339, 340, 341 
 Lycurgus, lawgiver of Sparta, 39, 40 
 Lycurgus (tyrant of Sparta, B.C. 
 
 220-210), 320, 322 
 Lycurgus of Athens, leader of the 
 
 parali, 82 
 Lydia, 96, 97, 98 
 Lygdamis, tyrant of Naxos, 83, 
 
 113; of Halicarnasbus, 352 
 Lyiic poets, 27, 28 
 Lysander takes command of Spartan 
 
 forces in Asia, 255 ; defeats 
 
 Athenians at Aegospotami, 258, 
 
 259 ; blockades Athens, 259- 
 
 261 ; his death, 271 
 Lysimacheia, 327 
 Lysimachus (king of Thrace and 
 
 Asia Minor, B.C. 306-281), 308 
 
Index. 
 
 383 
 
 Macedonia, 6, 17, 95; rise of, 280; 
 Macedonian period, 279-310 ; 
 separation from the rest of the 
 empire of Alexander the Great, 
 311; becomes a Roman province, 
 
 341. 344 
 
 Machanidas (tyrant of Sparta, B.C. 
 210-207), 324 
 
 Maeonians, 96 
 
 Magna Graecia, 21, 22; prevalence 
 of Dorians in, 213; absorbed by 
 Roman empire, 308, 310 
 
 Magnesia, defeat of Antiochus at, 
 337. 340 
 
 Mandane, mother of Cyrus, 98, 99 
 
 Mantias, 281 
 
 Ma,ntineia, joins the Argive League, 
 235; battles of, 236, 277; joined 
 to Aetolian League, 314 
 
 Marathon, 85; description of, 130; 
 battle of, 132-136 
 
 Mardonius abolishes tyrannies in 
 Ionia, 122-124; leads the ist 
 Persian invasion (b.c. 492), 124, 
 125 ; left in command in Greece 
 (B.C. 480-479) after the depart- 
 ure' of Xerxes, 161; winters in 
 Thessaly, 162; negotiates with 
 Athenians, 163, 164 ; enters 
 Attica and occupies Athens, but 
 retires to Boeotia, 164, 165; his 
 death at Plataea, 169 
 
 Margos of Caryneia, first sole 
 strategus of the Achaean League, 
 
 315 
 
 Maroneia, 141 
 
 Massilia, 102 
 
 Medes, the, 98 
 
 Medontidae, 62 
 
 Megabates, 113 
 
 Megacles, the archon, 67, 71, 72 
 
 Megacles, son of Alcmaeon, 82, 84 
 
 Megalopolis, 277, 283, 300, 319, 
 356 
 
 Megara, colonising activity of, 20, 
 21 ; claims Salamis, 69, 70, 71, 
 82 ; joins an anti-Spartan league, 
 186; its long walls, ib.\ breaks 
 off from Athens and Argos, 194 ; 
 the Megarian decree, 223; stands 
 
 aloof from the League of Argos 
 (B.C. 420), 235 ; joined to the 
 Achaean League, 315 
 
 Melanthius, 1 1 7 
 
 Meletus, an accuser of Socrates, 
 266 
 
 Melos, captured by Athenians, 
 236-8 
 
 Memphis, 189 
 
 Menander, 305, 364 
 
 Messana, in Sicily, rejects Athenians, 
 244; seized by Mamertines, 309, 
 310 
 
 Messene, 277, 323 
 
 Messenia, 38-49; Messenian wars, 
 45-50, 183, 189; the Spartans 
 try to recover it, 283, 284 
 
 Methone, besieged by Philip II, 
 284 
 
 Miletus, colonies of, 21, 96; resists 
 the Lydian kings, 97, 98 ; makes 
 terms with Cyrus, 102; fall of, 
 121; writers of, 209; revolts 
 from Athens, 248, 249 
 
 Miltiades, tyrant of the Thracian 
 Chersonese, advises the breaking 
 of the bridge over the Danube, 
 109 ; commands at Marathon, 
 1 31-135; his condemnation and 
 death, 138, 139 
 
 Mindarus, 253 
 
 Mitylene, revolutions at, 27, 28; 
 severe decree about, 229 ; Conon 
 blockaded in, 256 
 
 Moschus, 365 
 
 Mummius, L., 347 
 
 Munychia, 87, 263 
 
 Mycale, 19, 96; battle of, 172, 173 
 
 Mycenae, 4, 51, 196 
 
 Myrkinus, 1 1 2 
 
 Myron of Priene, his Messeniaca, 
 
 47 
 
 Myronides, 187, 188 
 Myrtis, 209 
 
 Nabis (tyrant of Sparta, B.C. 207- 
 192). 324. 325. 33i 333> 335i 
 336 
 
 Naples, 215, 310, 333 
 
 Naucratis, 23 
 
384 
 
 Index. 
 
 Naupactus, Messenians in, 189, 230; 
 given to Aetolians, 312 ; peace of, 
 
 Naxos, 83; revolution at, 113; 
 
 cleruchs in, 215 
 Neleides, of Pylos, 45 
 Nemean Games, Philip V at, 113; 
 
 proclamation of Flamininus at, 
 
 333 
 
 Nicaea, conference at, 330 
 
 Nicias, attacked by Cleon, 232 ; 
 occupies Cythera, 233; peace of, 
 234 ; at Melos, 236 ; opposes 
 Sicilian expedition, but is sent 
 in command, 242 ; his plan, 243 ; 
 asks to be recalled, 246 ; his 
 death, 248 
 
 Nineveh, 98 
 
 Nisaea, harbour of Megara, 82, 
 186, 194 ; occupied by Athenians, 
 
 233 
 
 Notium, battle of, 255 
 
 Odeum, the, 204 
 
 Odyssey, the, 13, 14 
 
 Oenophyta, battle of, 188 
 
 Oeta, Mount, 7, 147 
 
 Oligarchy, 31 
 
 Olympia, 51; contended for by 
 Arcadians and Eleans, 277 ; ses- 
 sion of commissioners at, 349 
 
 Olympias, mother of Alexander the 
 Great, 291 
 
 Olympic festival, the, 5, 8, 35, 51; 
 Spartans excluded from, 238, 
 271 ; victory of Philip II at, 
 282 ; recitation by Herodotus at, 
 
 353 
 Olympus, Mount, 145 
 Olynthiac orations, the, 285 
 Olynthus, taken by Artabazus, 163; 
 
 Philip's intrigues with, 282 ; 
 
 taken by Philip, 285 
 Onomacritus, a forger of oracles, 142 
 Onomarchus, a general of the Pho- 
 
 cians, 284 
 oracles, Greek, 11, 12, 100 
 oratory, Greek, 365, 366 
 Orchomenus in Boeotia, 193 ; in 
 
 Arcadia, 315, 345 
 
 Oroetes, 104 
 Oropus, 287, 343 
 ostracism, 92 
 Othrys, Mount, 7 
 
 Paegae, northern harbour of Me- 
 gara, 186 
 
 Paeonians, the, no, 117, 281, 282 
 
 Pagasae, besieged by Philip II, 
 284, 285 
 
 Pamisus, the river, 45 
 
 Panactum, 234, 235 
 
 Panathenaea, the, 86, 353 
 
 Pangaeus, Mount, 83 ; its gold 
 mines, 182, 282 
 
 Panionium, 96, 101, 102, 120 
 
 Panopeis, 152 
 
 parali, the, 59, 81 
 
 Parmenides, 211 
 
 Parnes, Mount, 7, 88, 263 
 
 Parthenon, the, 203, 204 
 
 Patrae, 314, 349 
 
 Pausanias of Sparta commands at 
 Plataea, 165-169; continental 
 league formed by, 174; strange 
 conduct of at Byzantium, 175; 
 condemnation and death of, 178, 
 179 
 
 Pausanias, Macedonian pretender, 
 281 
 
 Pausanias, assassin of Philip II, 
 291 
 
 Pausanias, the traveller, 47 note 
 
 pediaei, the, 59, 81 
 
 peei's at Sparta, 38 
 
 Peiraeus, the, fortified, 177 ; first 
 long wall to, 287 ; second long 
 wall to, 213 ; occupied by Peisis- 
 tratus, 82-85, by Thrasybulus, 
 263; by Demetrius Poliorcetes, 303 
 
 Peisistratus, 57, 82-85 
 
 Pelasgi, the, 2, 3, 57; Pelasgic 
 Argos, 3, 17 
 
 Pelopidas expels Spartans from the 
 Cadmeia, 274, 275 ; invades 
 Thessaly, 277 ; his journey to 
 Susa, 278; his death, ib. 
 
 Peloponnese, invaded by Dorians, 
 4, 5, 30; mountain system of, 
 7; early history of, 30-54; the 
 
Index, 
 
 385 
 
 Peloponnesian war, reasons for 
 its beginning and long continu- 
 ance, 221, 222; wholly Achaean, 
 
 pentacostomedinim, 77 
 
 Perdiccas II (king of Macedonia, 
 
 about B.C. 440-412), 219, 220, 
 
 221 
 Pergamus, 307, 308, 325, 326, 327, 
 
 337 
 
 Pericles, 55, 67; leads the demo- 
 cratic party in Athens, 184; his 
 character and policy, 185, 186; 
 coerces Achaia, 190; reduces 
 Euboea, 194; supposed to have 
 bribed the Spartan king, 194 ; his 
 adornment of the Acropolis, 201- 
 204 ; his advice to the Athenians 
 at the beginning of the Pelopon- 
 nesian war, 223; deposed and 
 fined, 225; his death, ib. 
 
 Perinthus besieged by Philip II, 
 288, 289 
 
 perioeci, 5, 37, 44, 47, 150 
 
 Perseus (king of Macedonia, u.c. 
 179-168), 340, 341 
 
 Persia, conquered by Alexander, 
 297 
 
 Persians, the, 100, 10 1 ; their in- 
 vasions of Greece, 124, 125; 128- 
 136; 142-171 
 
 Phalerum, harbour of Athens at, 
 88, 155, 177; long wall to, 187 
 
 Pharae, 314 
 
 Pharsalus, Athenian expedition to, 
 190 
 
 Pheidias, 20 r, 202 
 
 Pheidippides, 131 
 
 Pheidon of Argos, 35, 36 
 
 Pherae, tyrants of, 284 
 
 Philip II (king of Macedonia, P.c, 
 
 359-336), 280-290; defeats Ono- 
 marchus and threatens Attica, 
 284 ; interferes in the Thracian 
 Chersonese, 285 ; takes Olynthus, 
 ib.\ ends the Sacred war, 287; wins 
 at Chaeroneia, 290 ; his death, 29 r 
 
 Philip V (king of Macedonia, B.C. 
 229-179) obtains full possession 
 of the government on death of 
 Antigonus Doson, 321; goes to 
 
 S. G. 
 
 war with the Aetolians, 322 ; his 
 treaty with Hannibal, 323 ; first 
 war with Rome, 324-325; agrees 
 with Antiochus to partition the 
 possessions of the king of Egypt, 
 326; second war with Rome, 
 327-329 ; demands made upon 
 him at conference of Nicaea, 330; 
 defeated at Cynoscephalae, 331; 
 allied with Rome, 336; preparing 
 for a fresh struggle with Rome 
 when he dies, 340 
 
 Philip Arrhidaeus, half-brother of 
 Alexander the Great, 299 
 
 Philippi (Crenides), 282 
 
 Philocrates, peace of, 286 
 
 Philopoemen, 320, 335, 337, 338 
 
 Philosophers^ early Greek, 209, 
 212 ; mission of to Rome, 343-344 
 
 Phlius, 274 
 
 Phocians guarding the hill path 
 at Thermopylae, 151 ; invade 
 Doris, 187; join the league of 
 Athens and Argos, 188; claim 
 a share in management of temple 
 at Delphi, 192, 193 ; accused of 
 cultivating sacred soil, 283 ; 
 crushed by Philip II, 287 
 
 Phocion, 289, 303 
 
 Phoebidas occupies the Cadmeia at 
 Thebes, 274 
 
 Phoenicians, 5, 21, 33; submit to 
 king of Persia, 105 ; conquered 
 by Alexander, 296 
 
 0ot'tKi7ia, 23 
 
 Phormio, victories of, 228 
 
 Phrynichus, tragic poet, 123 
 
 Phrynichus, an orator, 251 
 
 Phylarchus, historian, 356 
 
 Phyle, 263 
 
 Pindar, 208; his house at Thebes, 
 
 293 
 
 Pindus, Mount, 7 
 
 Pisatae, the, 51 
 
 Pittacus, 28 
 
 plague at Athens, the, 224, 225 
 
 Plataea, 95 ; the Plataeans rein- 
 force the Athenians at Mara- 
 thon, 132; battle of, 167-170; 
 surprised by Thebans, 223; de- 
 stroyed by Spartans, 227, 228 
 
 25 
 
3S6 
 
 Index. 
 
 Plato, 39, 3^9-370 
 
 Pleistoanax (king of Sparta, B.C. 
 
 458-408), 234 
 Plemmyrium, 247 
 Po, amber from the, 24 
 Poets, lyric and elegiac, I'j-if) ; 
 
 Alexandrian, 364-365 
 Pogon, harbour of Troezen, 156 
 Polybius, the historian, 339, 340, 
 
 34^ 348, 356. 357 
 Polycrates, rise and fall of, 103-105 
 Polydorus of Sparta, 47 
 Porus, Indian king, 297 
 Poseidon, 58 
 Potidaea, besieged by Artabazus, 
 
 165; revolts from Athens, 219, 
 
 220; fall of, 223, 224; seized by 
 
 Philip II, 282 
 Praxillo of Sicyon, 209 
 propylaea of the Acropolis, the, 204 
 Prusias, king of Bithynia, 326 
 p7yfaneis, the, 91, 257 
 Ptolemy, son of Lagus (ruler of 
 
 Egypt after Alexander's death 
 
 and king Ti.c. 306-285), 298, 308 
 Ptolemy V, Epiphanes (king of 
 
 Egypt, i?.C. 205-181), 326 
 Pydna, 220, 282 ; battle of, 341 
 Pylos, 45; occupied by Athenians, 
 
 231, 232, 234, 238 
 Pyrrhus, king of Epirus (part king 
 
 of Macedonia, B.C. 287-281), 
 
 3T0, 311, 313 
 Pythagoras, 211 
 Pythia, the, 88 
 Pytho (Delphi), 12 
 
 Religion of Greeks, 10, 11, 12 
 
 Rhegium, 50, [02; Athenian treaty 
 with, 215; besieged by Syra- 
 cusans,24o; retains its Hellenism 
 late, 310 
 
 rhetrai of Lycurgus, 39 
 
 Rhianus of Crete, poem on Mes- 
 senian wars, 47 note 
 
 Rhodes, 19; breaks off from Athe- 
 nian league, 249; and from 
 Sparta, 272; also from the new 
 league, 283; assists Byzantium, 
 289; prevented by war with Crete 
 from assisting the Cyclades against 
 
 Philip V, 326; recovers the Peraea, 
 331 ; territories assigned to after 
 the defeat of Antiochus, 337 ; 
 fails to assist Rome against 
 Perseus and accordingly punished, 
 343 ; its carrying trade surviving, 
 
 349 
 
 Romans, at Corinth and Athens, 
 316; declare war on Philip V, 
 324 ; appealed to by all States 
 in Greece, 327 ; order Philip to 
 abstain from attacking the king 
 of Egypt, ib.', determine to de- 
 stroy Macedonian power in Greece, 
 328 ; conquer Antiochus, 336 ; 
 and Aetolians, 337 ; their su- 
 premacy in Greece established, 
 338-350 
 
 Roxana, 298 
 
 Sacred wars, 71; 192; 283-287; 
 289 ' * 
 
 Sadyates (king of Lydia, B.C. 629- 
 617), 97 
 
 Salamis, possession of disputed, 
 69, 70; battle of, 159, 160 
 
 Salamis in Cyprus, 191 
 
 Samos, rise of under Polycrates, 
 103, 104; conquered by Persians, 
 105; Samians desert the allies in 
 battle of Lade, 121 : with Chians 
 and Lesbians begins the new con- 
 federacy against Persia, 173; war 
 with Athens, 216, 217; con- 
 quered by Timotheus, 279; cle- 
 rttchs in, 283 ; taken by Philip V, 
 326 
 
 Sappho, 27 
 
 Sardis, taken by Cyrus, loi ; seat 
 of Persian satrapy, 106; burn^ 
 by Athenians and Eretrians, 118 
 
 Scaptesyle, 353 
 
 Scarpheia, 347 
 
 Scione, 233, 234 
 
 Scythia, 108, 109 
 
 Segesta, see Egesta 
 
 seisachtheia of Solon, 75 
 
 Seleucus I (king of Syria,* B.C. 
 301-280), 307 
 
 Selinus, in Sicily, aided by Syra- 
 cuse, 241 
 
Index. 
 
 387 
 
 Sellasia, battle of, 319 
 
 separation of Greek States, causes 
 
 ^/. 7 
 
 Sestos, siege of, 173-4; occupied 
 by Athenians, 250 
 
 Seven Wise Meit, the, 28 
 
 Sicily, colonies in, 22, 240; struggles 
 with the Carthaginians, 170; 
 connexion of Athens with, 239, 
 240; peace in, 240; Athenian 
 expedition to, 242-248; under 
 the Dionysii and their successors, 
 and then under Rome, 308, 309, 
 310 
 
 Sicyon, early history of, 33, 34; 
 assists the Messenians, 48; helps 
 Megara against Athens, 194; 
 joins the Achaean League, 315; 
 debate of the League at, 329; 
 appoints arbitrators between 
 Athens and Oropus, 343; specially 
 privileged under Romans, 348; 
 granted territory to keep up the 
 Isthmian games, 349 
 
 Sigeurn, 55, 83 
 
 Simonides of Ceos, 207 
 
 Sinope, loi, 215 
 
 Sitalces, king of Thrace, invades 
 Macedonia, 226 
 
 Smerdis, 106 
 
 'Social wars,' 283, 321 
 
 Socrates at the battle of Delium, 
 233; refuses to put the condem- 
 nation of the 6 generals to the 
 vote, 257 ; refuses to obey the 
 Thirty, 263; his character and 
 death, 264-267; his influence on 
 Xenophon, 355, and Plato, 369 
 
 Sogdiana, 297 
 I Solon, poetry of, 28 ; early services 
 of, 68-72 ; legislation of, 73-78 ; 
 travels of, 79-80 
 
 Sophocles, 359, 360 
 
 Sparta, constitution of, 37-39; 
 money at, 44; social institu- 
 tions of, 40-44; women in, 41 ; 
 conference at before the Pelopon- 
 nesian war, 221, 222; supremacy 
 of, 260-276; league of Thebes, 
 Corinth and Argos against, 271, 
 272; decadence of, 313, 317; 
 
 subjected to tyrants, 320 ; an- 
 nexed to Achaean League, 335; 
 breaks off from the League, 345 
 
 Sphacteria, 231, 232, 233 
 
 Stenyclerus, 49 
 
 Stoa poekile, pictures in, 135 
 
 Stoics, the, 306, 307, 371 
 
 strategi at Athens, 65, 91 
 
 Strymon, the river, 83, 2 So 
 
 Sunium, 57, 134 
 
 Susa, 115, 155 
 
 sussitia at Sparta, 41 
 
 Syloson, brother of Polycrates, 105 
 
 synedroi, 275 
 
 Synoecisjnos of Theseus, 60 
 
 syntaxis, 276 
 
 Syracuse, founding of, 22 ; Gelo of, 
 170; revolutions in, 239; quarrels 
 of with Leontini, 240 ; Athenian 
 intrigues against, 241; siege of, 
 244-248; disturbances at, 261; 
 tyrants of, 308, 309, 310 
 
 Syria, conquered by Alexander, 
 295, 296; kingdom of, 307 
 
 Tanagra, 165; battle near, 187, 188 
 
 Taygetus, Mount, 41, 45 
 
 Tegea, 52,53, 315,317; theTegeans 
 at Plataea, 166, 168 
 
 Telesilla of Argos, 209 
 
 Temenidae of Argos, the, 35, 280 
 
 Tempe, vale of, 145 
 
 Ten, the, 263 
 
 Teuta, 316 
 
 Thales, 210 
 
 Thasos, conquered by Persians, 
 125 ; revolts from Confederacy of 
 Delos, 182, 183 
 
 Thebes, 95 ; favours the Persians, 
 143, 151 ; medising leaders in put 
 to death, 170; hostility to Plataea, 
 223; supremacy of, 275-278; 
 takes part in the Sacred war, 
 283 ; supported by Philip against 
 Athens, 287 ; destroyed by Alex- 
 ander, 293 ; restored by Cassan- 
 der, 304 
 
 Themistocles, his view of the battle 
 of Marathon, 136; in opposi- 
 tion to Aristides, 140; advises 
 Athenians to build a fleet, 141 ; 
 
388 
 
 Index. 
 
 commands Athenian contingent at 
 Tempe, 145 ; advises Athenians to 
 abandon Athens and trust to their 
 ships, 146; commanding at Arte- 
 misium, 150, and at Salamis, 
 156-159; levies imposts on the 
 Islands, 162; fortifies Athens, 
 176, 177 > ostracism and flight of, 
 179, 181 
 Theocritus, 305, 365 
 Theophrastus of Lesbos, 306, 370 
 Theopompus of Chios, 356 
 Theopompus of Sparta, 47 
 Theramenes, supports the Four 
 Hundred, 251; and the counter 
 revolution, 252; accuses the gen- 
 erals after Arginusae, 257; nego- 
 tiates surrender of Athens to Ly- 
 sander, 261, 262; his death, 263 
 Therma, 148 
 
 Thermopylae, occupied by Leonidas, 
 147; battle of, 150-152; Philip 
 II stopped at, 284; in hands of 
 Philip II, 287; defeat of Antio- 
 chus at, 336 
 Theseum, the, 200 
 Theseus, 60, 61 
 thesmothetae^ 63 
 
 Thespians at Themopylae, the, 151 
 
 Thessaly, 5 ; governments in, 95 ; 
 
 allied with Athens against Sparta, 
 
 184; its cavalry desert at Tanagra, 
 
 I 87 united by Jason of Pherae, 
 277; disturbances in, 284; Philip 
 
 II in, 288; incorporated with 
 Macedonia, 311; tagtts of, 277; 
 suffers much in war of Romans 
 and Perseus, 341 
 
 thetes, 'jy 
 
 Thimbron, 269 
 
 Thirty^ the, 261, 262, 263 
 
 Thirty Years' Peace, the (b.c. 445), 
 194, 213 
 
 Thisbe, in Boeotia, punished for 
 helping Perseus, 342 
 
 Thracian Chersonese, see Cher- 
 sonese 
 
 Thrasybulus restores Athenian de- 
 mocracy, 251, 255, 263 
 
 Thrasylus, 251 
 
 Thucydides, 5, 19, 57, igr, 215, 353, 
 
 354 
 
 Thurii, colony of, 213 
 
 TLixijixara of Solon, 77, 89 
 
 Timocrates of Rhodes, 209 
 
 Timoleon, 309 
 
 Timotheus, 276, 279 
 
 Tiryns, 51, 196 
 
 Tissaphernes, 249-251, 253 
 
 Tolmides burns Gythium, 189; in- 
 vades Boeotia, 193 
 
 Tomyris, Queen, 103 
 
 Tragedy, Greek, 357 
 
 Trasimene Lake, battle of, 322 
 
 Trench, battle of the Great, 49 
 
 Triopium, 19 
 
 Tritaea, 314 
 
 Trophonius, 12 
 
 Twelve Gods, they 11 
 
 Tyrtaeus, 28 
 
 unity of Greece, things making 
 for, 8 
 
 Velia, 102, 211 
 
 Xanthippus, father of Pericles, 139, 
 
 174 
 
 xenelasta of Sparta, 42 
 
 Xenophanes, 211 
 
 Xenophon, 39, 268, 269, 354, 355 
 
 Xerxes (king of Persia, B.C. 485- 
 465) succeeds Darius, 137; re- 
 turns from Egypt, 142 ; his march 
 to Thermopylae, 147, 148, 150, 
 152; sends news to Susa of the 
 capture of Athens, 155; watches 
 battle of Salamis, 160; his cowar- 
 dice, 161 
 
 Xuthus, s. of Hellen, 3 
 
 Zeno of Elea, 211 
 
 Zeno of Cyprus, founder of the 
 Stoic philosophy, 306 
 
 zeiigitae, 77 
 
 Zeus, Pelasgic, 3; god of the air, 
 10; Zeus Olympius, temple of at 
 Athens begun by Peisistratus, 83 
 
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