B. C. 466.
The exile, after many adventures, took refuge at the court of Persia, that power which, more than any man living, he had contributed to destroy, but which was ever personally generous toward its foes. The three cities, Myus, Lamp´sacus, and Magnesia, were assigned him for his support. In the latter city he passed his remaining days in affluence and honor. Two accounts have been given of his death. The more probable one is, that when Egypt revolted and was aided by Athens (B. C. 449), the Persian king called upon Themistocles to make good his promises and begin operations against Greece. But the Athenian had only wished to escape from his ungrateful countrymen, not to injure them, and he could not help to destroy that supremacy of Athens which he had spent the best years of his life in building up. Falsehood tothe great king seemed to him a less heinous crime than treason against his country. He made a solemn sacrifice to the gods, took leave of his friends, and ended his days by poison.
B. C. 465.
B. C. 464.
139.The Thasians, meanwhile, had a contest with Athens for some gold mines in Thrace. Cimon conducted a fleet to Thasos, gained a naval victory, and began a three years’ siege of the principal town. The Thasians sent to Sparta for help, and that state was preparing to render it with great alacrity, when her attention was suddenly absorbed at home by unforeseen calamities. An earthquake of unprecedented violence first destroyed the city. Great rocks from Mount Taygetus rolled into the streets, and multitudes of persons were engulfed or buried beneath the ruins of their houses. The shocks were long-continued, and terror of the supposed wrath of Heaven was added to the anguish of poverty and bereavement. The dreaded vengeance soon appeared in human form; for the persecuted Helots, hearing the signal of their deliverance in the stroke of doom to Sparta, flocked together from the fields and villages, and mingled their revenge with the commotions of Nature.
It was a terrible moment for Sparta; but her king, Archidamus, was true to the stern valor of his race. The shocks of the earthquake had hardly ceased, when he ordered the trumpets to sound to arms. Even at that fearful moment Spartan discipline prevailed. Every man who survived hastened to the king, and when the disorderly, servile crowd approached, they found a disciplined force ready to resist them. Sparta was saved for the moment; the insurgents fled and scattered themselves over the country, calling to their standard all who were oppressed. The Messenians rose in a mass, seized Ithome, where their never-forgotten hero, Aristomenes, had so long withstood the Lacedæmonian arms, fortified it anew, and formally declared war against Sparta. The ten years’ conflict which followed is known as the Third Messenian War (B. C. 464-455).
In her extremity, Sparta sent to Athens for aid, and the appeal produced a violent controversy between the two parties into which that city was divided. Cimon favored the Spartans; he had always held up their brave and hardy character as a model to his countrymen, and had even sacrificed much of his popularity by naming his son Lacedæmonius. When others urged that it was well the pride of Sparta should be humbled, and her power for mischief curtailed, Cimon exhorted his countrymen not to suffer Greece to be maimed by the loss of one of her two great powers, thus depriving Athens of her companion. His generous counsel prevailed, and Cimon led a strong force against the insurgents, who were now driven from the open country and compelled to shut themselves up in the castle of Ithome.
140.The influence of Cimon had greatly declined at Athens. The democratic party had recovered from its loss in Themistocles, for a new leader was arising whose popularity and services to the state were destined to eclipse even the great men who had preceded him. This was Per´icles, the son of that Xanthippus who had impeached Miltiades. His mother was niece of Clisthenes, who is called the second founder of the Athenian constitution. Born of an illustrious family, and educated in all the opportunities of Athenian camps and schools, Pericles was said to have nothing to contend against except his advantages. His beautiful face, winning manners, and musical voice reminded the oldest citizens of Pisistratus; and the vigilance with which the Athenians guarded their liberties, turned the admiration of some into jealousy. Pericles, however, made no haste to enter on his public career, but prepared himself by long and diligent study for the influence he hoped to attain. He sought the wisest teachers, and became skilled in the science of government, while he cultivated his gifts in oratory by training in all the arts of expression.
Anaxag´oras, the first Greek philosopher who believed in one supreme Intelligence, creating and governing the universe, was the especial friend and instructor of Pericles, and to his sublime doctrines men attributed the elevation and purity of the young statesman’s eloquence. Instead of relying solely upon the wisdom of his counsels, like Themistocles, or upon his natural gifts, like Pisistratus, Pericles chose every word with care, and was the first who committed his orations to writing, that he might subject every sentence to the highest polish of which it was capable. The Athenian people, the most sensitive, perhaps, to beauty of style of any that ever existed, enjoyed with keen delight the clear reasoning and brilliant language which characterized the discourses of Pericles. Nor was his perfection of detail gained by any sacrifice of energy. His public speaking was compared to thunder and lightning, and he was said to carry the weapons of Zeus upon his tongue. Above all, the sweetness of his temper, and the command which philosophy had enabled him to gain over his passions, gave him advantage over less disciplined orators. The fiercest debate or the most insulting interruptions never disturbed for a moment the cheerful and dignified composure of his manner.
141.Thasos surrendered B. C. 463; its walls were leveled, its shipping transferred to the Athenians, and all its claims upon the Thracian gold mines were given up. The people were compelled to pay all their arrears of tribute to the Delian treasury, beside engaging to meet their dues punctually in future.
B. C. 461.
142.A second time the Spartans asked the aid of Athens in their servile war, and Cimon again led an army to their relief. But the superiority of the Athenians in siege operations aroused the envy of the Lacedæmonians, even when employed in their defense; and the long siege of Ithome afforded time for the rivalries of the two nationsto break out into open feuds. The Spartans declared that they had no further need of the Athenians, and dismissed their troops. Other allies were retained, including Ægina, the ancient rival of Athens. The latter, considering herself insulted, made an alliance with the Argives and the Aleuads of Thessaly against Sparta. The Hellenic treasury was removed from Delos to Athens, for safe keeping, it was said, against the needy and rapacious hands of the Spartans.
WEST VIEW OF THE ACROPOLIS.Pelasgian Walls.Erechtheum.Athena Promachos.Parthenon.Walls of Cimon.Cave of Pan.Propylæa.Temple of Nike Apteros.
WEST VIEW OF THE ACROPOLIS.
Pelasgian Walls.Erechtheum.Athena Promachos.Parthenon.Walls of Cimon.
Cave of Pan.Propylæa.Temple of Nike Apteros.
The popular resentment naturally extended itself to Cimon. The favor with which he was regarded in Sparta was now his greatest crime. The Athenians had indeed some reason to fear, for the Spartan nobles always maintained a party in their city who were supposed to be secretly plotting against its free government. However honestly Cimon supported aristocratic principles, the people, with equal honesty and greater wisdom, opposed him. He was subjected to the ostracism and banished for ten years.
RECAPITULATION.The power of Athens was increased by the Persian war; and her home government, which had been confined to the nobles, was thrown open to the people. Themistocles rebuilt the walls and improved the harbor. Pausanias, becoming a traitor, died of starvation in the temple of Athena, at Sparta. Athens became the chief of the Hellenic League, whose seat and treasury were at Delos. Cimon, son of Miltiades, in command of the allied forces, captured Eion, cleared Scyros of pirates, subdued rebellions in Carystus and Naxos, and conquered the Persians, both on sea and land, in the battle of the Eurymedon. He beautified Athens by a liberal use of his enormous wealth, and improved the military and naval discipline of his fellow-citizens, at the expense of their allies. Themistocles, exiled through suspicion, took refuge in the Persian dominion, where he died. Sparta suffered a double calamity, in an earthquake and a servile rebellion, known as the Third Messenian War. Her insulting treatment of her Athenian aids destroyed the popularity of Cimon; and Pericles, the most accomplished of the Athenians, rose into power.
The power of Athens was increased by the Persian war; and her home government, which had been confined to the nobles, was thrown open to the people. Themistocles rebuilt the walls and improved the harbor. Pausanias, becoming a traitor, died of starvation in the temple of Athena, at Sparta. Athens became the chief of the Hellenic League, whose seat and treasury were at Delos. Cimon, son of Miltiades, in command of the allied forces, captured Eion, cleared Scyros of pirates, subdued rebellions in Carystus and Naxos, and conquered the Persians, both on sea and land, in the battle of the Eurymedon. He beautified Athens by a liberal use of his enormous wealth, and improved the military and naval discipline of his fellow-citizens, at the expense of their allies. Themistocles, exiled through suspicion, took refuge in the Persian dominion, where he died. Sparta suffered a double calamity, in an earthquake and a servile rebellion, known as the Third Messenian War. Her insulting treatment of her Athenian aids destroyed the popularity of Cimon; and Pericles, the most accomplished of the Athenians, rose into power.
143.Athens, under the lead of Pericles, now entered upon the most brilliant period of her history. A dispute between Megara and Corinth involved Athens on the former and Sparta on the latter side, and thus led to the First Peloponnesian War (B. C. 460-457). At the same time, a more distant enterprise tempted the Athenians. Egypt had now cast off the last semblance of obedience to Persia, and hailed a deliverer and sovereign in the person of Inarus. In looking about him for allies, Inarus naturally sought the aid of those who, at Marathon, had first broken the power of the Persians. The Athenians engaged gladly in the war, and sent a fleet of two hundred triremes to the Nile. The events of the campaign have been recorded in the History of Persia.[48]
B. C. 457.
144.The war in Greece went on with great vigor. The Athenians were defeated at Halæ, but soon after won a naval battle at Cec´ryphali´a,[49]which more than retrieved their reputation. Ægina now joined in the war, and the Athenians landed upon the island and besieged the city. A Peloponnesian army came to the aid of Ægina, while the Corinthians seized the opportunity to invade Megaris. With all her forces employed either in Egypt or Ægina, they hoped that Athens would be overcome by this new attack. But Myron´ides mustered an army of boys and old men exempt from service, and marched at once to the assistance of Megara. In the battle which ensued, neither party acknowledged itself defeated, but the Corinthians withdrew to their capital, while the Athenians held the field and erected a trophy. Unable to bear the reproaches of their government, the Corinthian army returned after twelve days and raised a monument upon the field, claiming that the victory had been theirs. But the Athenians now attacked them anew, and inflicted a decisive and disgraceful defeat.
145.In the midst of these enterprises abroad, great public works were going on in Athens. Cimon had already planned a line of fortifications to unite the city with its ports, and the spoils of the Persians, taken at the Eurymedon and at Cyprus, had been assigned for the expense. Under the direction of Pericles, the building began in earnest. One wall was extended to Phalerum, and another to Piræus; but as it was found difficult to defend so large an inclosed space, a second wall to Piræus was added, at a distance of 550 feet from the first. Between these Long Walls a continuous line of dwellings bordered the carriage-road, nearly five miles in length, which extended from Athens to its principal harbor.
146.The Spartans were still too much absorbed in the siege of Ithome to interfere with the great and sudden advancement of Athenian power; but a disaster which befell their little ancestral land of Doris, in war with the Phocians, withdrew their attention even from their own troubles. An army of 1,500 heavy-armed Spartans and 10,000 auxiliaries, sent to the relief of the Dorians, drove the Phocians from the town they had taken, and secured their future good behavior by a treaty. The retreat of the Spartans was now cut off by the Athenian fleet in the Gulf of Corinth and the garrison in the Megarid. Their commander, Nicome´des, had, however, reasons beyond the necessity of the case for remaining a while in Bœotia. He was plotting with the aristocratic party in Athens for the return of Cimon, and he also desired to increase the power of Thebes, as a near and dangerous rival to the former city.
B. C. 457.
The conspiracy becoming known, the Athenians were roused to revenge. They raised an army of 14,000 men and marched against Nicomedes, at Tan´agra. Both sides fought with equal bravery and skill, and thevictory was undecided until the Thessalian cavalry deserted to the Spartans. The Athenians and their allies still held out for some hours, but when the contest ended with the daylight, the victory remained with their adversaries. Nicomedes reaped no other fruit from his victory than a safe return home, but Thebes gained from it an increase of power over the cities of Bœotia.
B. C. 456.
147.Battle of Œno´phyta.The Athenians were only spurred to fresh exertions. The brave Myronides entered Bœotia two months after the battle of Tanagra, and gained at Œnophyta one of the most decisive victories ever achieved by Greeks. The walls of Tanagra were leveled with the ground. Phocis, Locris, and all Bœotia, except Thebes, were brought into alliance with Athens. These alliances were rendered effective by the establishment of free governments in all the towns, which, for self-preservation, must always range themselves on the side of Athens; so that Myronides could boast that he had not only subdued enemies, but filled central Greece with garrisons of friends.
B. C. 455.
148.Soon after the completion of the Long Walls, in 456, the island of Ægina submitted at last to Athens. Her shipping was surrendered, her walls destroyed, and the life-long rival became a tributary and subject. A fleet of fifty Athenian vessels, commanded by Tol´mides, cruised around the Peloponnesus; burned Gyth´ium, a port of Sparta; captured Chalcis, in Ætolia, which belonged to Corinth, and defeated the Sicyonians on their own coast. Returning through the Corinthian Gulf, they captured Naupac´tus, in western Locris, and all the cities of Cephallenia.
In the same year, the tenth of its siege, Ithome surrendered to the Spartans. So long and brave a defense won the respect even of bitter enemies. The Helots were reduced again to slavery, but the Messenians were permitted to depart in safety to Naupactus, which Tolmides presented them from the fruits of his victories.
149.In Egypt, the resistance of the Athenians to the Persians ended the same year, but not until after long and desperate adventures. When the citadel of Memphis was relieved by a Persian force, the Greeks withdrew to Prosopi´tis, an island in the Nile around which their ships lay anchored. The Persians following, drained the channel, and thus left the ships on dry land. The Egyptian allies yielded, on this loss of their most effective force; but the Athenians, after burning the stranded vessels, retired into the town of Byblus, resolved to hold out to the last. The siege continued eighteen months. At last the Persians marched across the dry bed of the channel and took the place by assault. Most of the Athenians fell; a few crossed the Libyan desert to Cyrene, and thus returned home. A fleet of fifty vessels, which had been sent to their relief, came toolate, and was defeated by the Persians and Phœnicians.
B. C. 449.
150.Other enterprises of the Athenians at this time were scarcely more successful, and Cimon, who had now been recalled from exile, used all his influence in favor of peace. A five years’ truce was made with Sparta in 451 B. C. The Isle of Cyprus was the next object of Athenian ambition. Divided into nine petty states, it seemed to offer an easy conquest; and as the Persian king still claimed the sovereignty, the enterprise was but a renewal of ancient hostilities. Cimon sailed from Athens with a fleet of two hundred vessels; and in spite of the Persian force of three hundred ships which guarded the coast of Cyprus, he landed and gained possession of many of its towns. While besieging Citium the great commander died. By his orders his death was concealed from his men, until they had gained another signal victory, both by land and sea, in his name. The naval battle occurred off the Cyprian Salamis—a name of good omen to the Athenians.
B. C. 448.
151.A slight incident about this time brought on renewed hostilities with Sparta. The city of Delphi, though on Phocian soil, claimed independence in the management of the temple and its treasures. The inhabitants were of Dorian descent, and were, therefore, closely united with the Spartans. Where the interests of Greece were divided, the great influence of the oracle was always on the side of the Doric as opposed to the Ionic race. The Athenians did not therefore object when their allies, the Phocians, seized the Delphian territory and assumed the care of the temple. The Spartans instantly undertook what they called a holy war, by which they expelled the Phocians and reinstated the Delphians in their former privileges. Delphi now declared itself a sovereign state; and to reward the Spartans for their intervention, conferred upon them the first privilege in consulting the oracle. This decree was inscribed upon a brazen wolf erected in the city. The Athenians could not willingly resign their share in a power which, through the superstition of the people, was often able to bestow victory in war and prosperity in peace. No sooner had the Spartans left the sacred city, than Pericles marched in and restored the temple to the Phocians. The brazen wolf was now made to tell another tale, and award precedence to the Athenians.
152.At this signal of war, the exiles from various Bœotian cities, who had been driven out by the establishment of democratic governments, joined for a concerted movement. They seized Chærone´a, Orchom´enus, and other towns, and restored the oligarchic governments which the Athenians had overthrown. These changes caused great excitement in Athens. The people clamored for immediate war; Pericles strongly opposed it: the season was unfavorable, and he considered that the honor of Athens was not immediately at stake. But the counsel of Tolmides prevailed, and with a thousand young Athenian volunteers, assisted by an army of allies, he marched into Bœotia. Chæronea was soon subdued and garrisoned with Athenians.
B. C. 447.
B. C. 445.
Flushed with its speedy victory, the army was returning home, when, in the vicinity of Coronæa, it fell into an ambush and suffered a most signal and memorable defeat. Tolmides himself, with the flower and pride of the Athenian soldiery, was left dead upon the field. A large number of prisoners were taken, and to recover these the government had to enter into a treaty with the new oligarchies, and withdraw its forces from Bœotia. Locris and Phocis lost their free institutions and became allies of Sparta. The island of Eubœa threw off the Athenian yoke, and other subject islands showed signs of disaffection. At the same time, the five years’ truce with Sparta expired, and that state prepared with new zeal to avenge its humiliation at Delphi.
153.Pericles, whose remembered warnings against the Bœotian war only heightened the respect and confidence of the people, now acted with energy and promptness. He landed in Eubœa with a sufficient force to reduce that island, but had scarcely crossed the channel when he learned that the Megarians were in revolt. Aided by allies from Sicyon, Epidaurus, and Corinth, they had put all the Athenian garrisons to the sword, except a few in the fortress of Nisæa, and all the Peloponnesian states had combined to send an army into Attica. To meet this greater danger, Pericles returned home. The Peloponnesian army soon appeared, under the young Spartan king, Plisto´anax; but instead of the decisive operations that were expected, it only plundered the western borders of Attica, and retired without striking a blow. Plistoanax and his guardian were accused, on their return, of having accepted bribes from the Athenians; and as both fled the country, rather than meet the prosecution, we may presume that the charge was just. Returning to Eubœa, Pericles reduced the island to complete subjection, and established a colony at Histiæa.
B. C. 445.
154.All parties now desired peace. A thirty years’ truce was concluded between Athens and Sparta, in which the former submitted to the loss of her empire on land. The foothold in Trœzene, the right to levy troops in Achaia, the possession of the Megarid, the protectorate of free governments in central Greece, all were given up. But the losses of the war had fallen most heavily on the party which began it, while Pericles stood higher than ever in the esteem of his fellow-citizens. Thucyd´ides,[50]a kinsman of Cimon, and his successor as leader of the aristocracy, was summoned to the ostracism, and when he rose to make his defense he had not a word to say. He was banished, and retired to Sparta, B. C. 444.
155.Pericles now united all parties, and for the rest of his life held supreme control of affairs. The nobles respected him as one of their own order; the merchants and alien settlers were enriched by his protection of trade; the shippers and sailors, by his attention to maritime affairs; artisans and artists, by the public works he was incessantly carrying on; while the ears of all classes were charmed by his eloquence, and their eyes by the magnificent buildings with which he adorned the city. At this time was erected the Parthenon, or temple of Athena the Virgin, adorned by Phidias with the most beautiful sculptures, especially with the colossal statue of the goddess in ivory and gold, forty-seven feet in height. The Erechtheum, or ancient sanctuary of Athena Polias, was rebuilt; the Propylæ´a, of Pentelic marble, erected; and the Acropolis now began to be called the “city of the gods.”
B. C. 440.
156.Only three islands in the neighboring seas now maintained their independence, and of these the most important was Samos. The Milesians, who had some cause of complaint against the Samians, appealed to the arbitration of Athens, and were joined by a party in Samos itself which was opposed to the oligarchy. The Athenians readily assumed the judgment of the case, and as Samos refused their arbitration, resolved to conquer the island. Pericles with a fleet proceeded to Samos, revolutionized the government, and brought away hostages from the most powerful families. But no sooner was he departed than some of the deposed party returned by night, overpowered the Athenian garrison, and restored the oligarchy. They gained possession of their hostages, who had been deposited on the Isle of Lemnos, and being joined by Byzantium, declared open war against Athens.
157.When the news of this event reached Athens, a fleet of sixty vessels was immediately sent forth, Pericles being one of the ten commanders. Several battles were fought by sea, and the Samians were at length driven within the walls of their capital, where they endured a nine months’ siege. When at last they were forced to yield, they were compelled to destroy their fortifications, surrender their fleet, give hostages for their future conduct, and pay the expenses of the war. The Byzantines submitted at the same time. Athens was completely triumphant; but the terror she had inspired was mixed with jealousy. During the revolt, the rival states had seriously discussed the question of aiding the rebels; and it was decided in the negative mainly by the influence of Corinth, which, though no friend to Athens, feared that the precedent might be remembered in case of a revolt of her own colonies.
B. C. 435.
158.Corcyra, a colony of Corinth, had itself founded, on the Illyrian coast, the city of Epidamnus. This city, attacked by the Illyrians, led by some of her own exiled nobles, sent to Corcyra for aid, but was refused, as the exiles belonged to the party in power in the mother city. The Epidamnians now resorted to Corinth,which undertook their defense with great energy. Corcyra, alarmed in turn, applied to Athens for assistance. Opinions were divided in the assembly, but that of Pericles prevailed, who urged that war could not in any case be long delayed, and that it was more prudent to make it in alliance with Corcyra, whose fleet was, next to that of Athens, the most powerful in Greece, than to be driven at last to fight at a disadvantage.
Considering, however, that Corinth, as an ally of Sparta, was included in the thirty years’ truce, it was resolved to make only a defensive alliance with Corcyra;i.e., to render assistance in case its territories should be invaded, but not to take part in any aggressive action. A naval battle soon occurred off the coast of Epirus, in which the Corinthians were the victors, and prepared to effect a landing in Corcyra. Ten Athenian vessels were present, under the command of Lacedæmonius, son of Cimon, and they were now, by the letter of their agreement, free to engage. But suddenly, after the signal of battle had been given, the Corinthians drew back and stood away for the coast of Epirus. Twenty Athenian ships had appeared in the distance, which they imagined to be the vanguard of a large fleet. Though this was a mistake, it had the effect of preventing further hostilities, and the Corinthians returned home with their prisoners.
B. C. 432.
159.Incensed at the interference of Athens, the Corinthians sought revenge by uniting with Prince Perdic´cas of Macedonia, to stir up revolts among the Athenian tributaries in the Chalcidic peninsulas. A battle ensued at Olynthus, in which the Athenians were victorious over the Corinthian general, and blockaded him in Potidæa, where he had taken refuge.
A congress of the Peloponnesian states was held at Sparta, and complaints from many quarters were uttered against Athens. The Æginetans deplored the loss of their independence; the Megarians, the crippling of their trade; the Corinthians, that they were overshadowed by the towering ambition of their powerful neighbor. At the same time, the Corinthians contrasted the restless activity of Athens with the selfish inertness of Sparta, and threatened that if the latter still delayed to do her duty by the League, they would seek a more efficient ally.
The envoys having departed, Sparta decided to undertake the war. Before proceeding to actual hostilities, it was thought best to send messengers to Athens, demanding, among other things, that she should “expel the accursed” from her presence—referring to Pericles, whose race they chose to consider as still tainted with sacrilege. But Pericles replied that the Spartans themselves had heavy accounts to settle on the score of sacrilege, not only for starving Pausanias in the sanctuary of Athena, but for dragging away and murdering the Helots who had taken refuge, during the late revolt, in the temple of Posidon. The other demands were rejected, though with more hesitation. They concerned the independence of Megaraand Ægina, and, generally, the abdication by Athens of her position as head of the League. The Athenians declared that they would refrain from commencing hostilities, and would make just satisfaction for any infringement on their part of the thirty years’ truce; but that they were ready to meet force with force.
B. C. 431.
160.War in Bœotia.While both parties hesitated to begin the war, the Thebans precipitated matters by a treacherous attack upon the city of Platæa. This city, instead of joining the Bœotian League, had been in friendly alliance with Athens, and was hence regarded with great jealousy by the Thebans. A small oligarchical party in Platæa favored the Thebans, and it was Naucli´des, the head of this party, who, at dead of night, admitted three hundred of them into the town. The Platæans were roused from sleep to find their enemies encamped in their market-place; but though scattered and betrayed, they did not yield. They secretly communicated with each other by breaking through the walls of their houses; and having thus formed a plan for defense, fell upon the enemy a little before daybreak.
The Thebans were exhausted by marching all night in the rain; they were entangled in the narrow, crooked streets of the town; and even women and children fought against them by hurling tiles from the roofs. The reinforcement which they expected was delayed, and before it arrived the three hundred were either slain or captured. The Thebans without the walls now seized whatever persons and property they could lay their hands on, as security for the release of the prisoners. The Platæans sent a herald to declare that the captives would be immediately put to death, unless the ravages should cease; but that, if the Thebans would retire, they should be given up. The marauders withdrew, but the Platæans, instead of keeping their word, gathered their movable property into the town, and then put all their prisoners to death. Fleet-footed messengers had already been sent to Athens with the news. They returned with orders to the Platæans to do nothing of importance without the advice of the Athenians. It was too late, however, to save the lives of the prisoners or the honor of their captors.
RECAPITULATION.In the First Peloponnesian War (B. C. 460-457), Athens was allied with Megara; Sparta and Ægina, with Corinth. At the same time, the Athenians aided a revolt of Egypt against Persia, and built long walls to connect their city with its ports. Sparta, interfering in a war between Phocis and Doris, defeated the Athenians at Tanagra; but the latter gained a more decisive victory at Œnophyta, which brought Phocis, Locris, and all Bœotia, except Thebes, into their alliance. Ægina was conquered and made tributary to Athens. Ithome surrendered to Sparta; the Helots were re-enslaved and the Messenians exiled. In a new war, occasioned by the interference of Sparta at Delphi, the Athenians, under Tolmides,gained some advantages, but were disastrously defeated at Coronæa, with great loss of influence in central Greece. Assailed at once by rebellions in Eubœa and Megaris, and by a Spartan invasion, Pericles defeated the latter by bribes and the former by arms. The peace which followed was concluded on terms unfavorable to Athens. Being called to aid a popular revolution in Samos, the Athenians captured its chief city and re-established their own influence. Epidamnus, in war with her mother city, was aided by Corinth; while Athens, taking the part of Corcyra, defeated the Corinthians at Olynthus, and besieged them two years in Potidæa. A more general war was hastened by the mutual treachery of the Thebans and Platæans.
In the First Peloponnesian War (B. C. 460-457), Athens was allied with Megara; Sparta and Ægina, with Corinth. At the same time, the Athenians aided a revolt of Egypt against Persia, and built long walls to connect their city with its ports. Sparta, interfering in a war between Phocis and Doris, defeated the Athenians at Tanagra; but the latter gained a more decisive victory at Œnophyta, which brought Phocis, Locris, and all Bœotia, except Thebes, into their alliance. Ægina was conquered and made tributary to Athens. Ithome surrendered to Sparta; the Helots were re-enslaved and the Messenians exiled. In a new war, occasioned by the interference of Sparta at Delphi, the Athenians, under Tolmides,gained some advantages, but were disastrously defeated at Coronæa, with great loss of influence in central Greece. Assailed at once by rebellions in Eubœa and Megaris, and by a Spartan invasion, Pericles defeated the latter by bribes and the former by arms. The peace which followed was concluded on terms unfavorable to Athens. Being called to aid a popular revolution in Samos, the Athenians captured its chief city and re-established their own influence. Epidamnus, in war with her mother city, was aided by Corinth; while Athens, taking the part of Corcyra, defeated the Corinthians at Olynthus, and besieged them two years in Potidæa. A more general war was hastened by the mutual treachery of the Thebans and Platæans.
B. C. 431-404.
161.All Greece now prepared for war—a war of twenty-seven years, which was to be marked by more calamities and horrors than Hellas had ever yet endured. On the side of Sparta fought all Peloponnesus, except Argos and Achaia, together with Megara, Bœotia, Phocis, Opuntian Locris, Ambracia, Leucadia, and Anactoria. Athens had for allies, on the mainland, Thessaly and Anactoria, with the cities of Naupactus and Platæa. There were also her tributaries on the coast of Thrace and Asia Minor, and on the Cyclades, beside her island allies, Chios, Lesbos, Corcyra, Zacynthus, and, later, Cephallenia.
B. C. 431.
162.Archidamus, king of Sparta, having collected his allies at the isthmus, marched into the Attic territory about the middle of June. The inhabitants quitted their fields, and with all the property they could remove, took refuge within Athens and the Piræus. Every corner and recess of the city walls became a dwelling. In the market-place, the public squares, and the precincts of the temples, temporary habitations arose, and the poorer sort found shelter in tents, huts, and even casks, placed against the Long Walls. Among this crowded population, violent debates arose concerning the conduct of the war. Great indignation was felt against Pericles for the inaction of the army, while Archidamus was ravaging the fields almost under their eyes.
But the leader had resolved to carry the war out of Attica. For this purpose a combined fleet of Athenians and Corcyræans sailed around the Peloponnesus, disembarking troops at various points to ravage the country. Two Corinthian settlements in Acarnania were captured, and the island of Cephallenia transferred its allegiance from Sparta to Athens. The Æginetans were expelled, and their island occupied by Athenian settlers. Archidamus, after five or six weeks, marched out of Attica and disbanded his army. The Athenians then put their forces in motion to punish the Megarians, whom they considered as revolted subjects. They laid waste the whole territory to the gates of the capital, and the devastations were renewed every year while the war continued.
B. C. 430.
163.The next spring, with a new Spartan invasion, brought a still greater calamity to the Athenians. The plague, originating in Ethiopia, had traveled along the Asiatic coasts of the Mediterranean until it reached their city, where the crowded condition of the people made it spread with frightful rapidity. A terror seized the populace, some of whom believed that their enemies had poisoned the wells, while a greater number ascribed the pestilence to the wrath of Apollo, who was the especial protector of the Dorian race.
164.In their passion of despair the Athenians turned against Pericles, whose cautious policy they considered as the cause of their misfortunes. Though still refusing battle, which, with the reduced numbers and exhausted spirit of the army, would have been almost certain defeat, he actively pushed his operations against the Peloponnesus. To relieve the crowded city of its mischievous elements, he fitted out a fleet and led it in person to ravage the enemy’s coasts. On his return he found the opposition stronger than ever, and an embassy had even been sent to Sparta to sue for peace. The suit had been contemptuously rejected, and the rage of the Athenians was only increased. Pericles persuaded them to persevere in the war, but his eloquence was unavailing to silence the fury of his personal enemies. By the influence of Cleon, his chief opponent, he was even accused of embezzling the public funds, and was fined to a large amount.
B. C. 429.
165.But the life and adversities of the great statesman were alike near their end. The plague had robbed him in of his nearest relatives. A lingering fever, following an attack of the pestilence, terminated his life. As he lay, seemingly unconscious, the friends surrounding his death-bed were rehearsing his great deeds, when the dying man interrupted them, saying, “All that you are praising was either the result of good fortune, or, in any case, common to me with many other leaders. What I chiefly pride myself upon is, that no Athenian has ever mourned on my account.”
B. C. 430.
166.The second Lacedæmonian foray was more destructive than the first, for the ravages extended over all Attica, even to the silver mines of Laurium. The fleet of the Peloponnesians destroyed the fisheries and commerce of Athens, and devastated the island of Zacynthus. During the following winter Potidæa surrendered, after a blockade of two years, and was occupied by a thousand Athenian colonists.
B. C. 429.
The third campaign of the Spartans was directed against Platæa. On the approach of Archidamus, the Platæans sent a solemn remonstrance, reminding him of the oath which Pausanias had sworn on the evening of their great battle, making Platæa forever sacred from invasion. The king replied that the Platæans, too, were bound by oath to labor for the independence of every Grecian state. He reminded them of their heinous crime in the slaughter of the Theban prisoners, but promised that, if they would abandon the cause of Athens and remain neutral during the war, their privileges should be respected. The Platæans refused to forsake their ancient ally, and the siege of their city began.
B. C. 429-427.
167.The garrison which thus defied the whole Peloponnesian army, consisted of only 480 men, but they made up in energy what they lacked in numbers. Archidamus began by shutting up every outlet of the town with a palisade of wood, then erected against this a mound of earth and stone, forming an inclined plane, up which his troops could march. The Platæans undermined the mound, which fell in, and thus defeated seventy days’ work of the whole besieging army. They also built a new wall within the old one, so that, if this were taken, the Spartans would still be no nearer the possession of the city.
Seeing that the will of the Platæans could only be subdued by famine, the allies now turned the siege into a blockade. They surrounded the city with a double wall, and roofed the intervening space, so as to afford shelter to the soldiers on duty. The Platæans thus endured a complete separation from the outer world for two years. Provisions began to fail; and, in the second year, nearly half the garrison made their escape, by climbing over the barracks and fortifications of their besiegers in the rain and darkness of a December night. The Platæans, though thus reduced in numbers, came at length to absolute starvation. A herald now appeared from the Spartan commander, requiring their submission, but promising that only the guilty should be punished. They yielded. When brought before the five Spartan judges, every man was found guilty and led to execution. The town and territory of Platæa were made over to the Thebans, who destroyed all private dwellings, and with the materials erected a huge barrack, to afford shelter to visitors, and dwellings to the serfs who cultivated the land. The city of Platæa was blotted out from the map of Greece.
B. C. 429.
168.The Athenians, with their ally Sital´ces, a Thracian chief, were warring in the north with little success. Sitalces, with an irregular but powerful host of 150,000 Thracians, invaded Macedonia with the intention of dethroning Perdiccas. The Macedonians, unable to meet him in the open field, withdrew into their fortresses, and Sitalces, who had no means for conducting sieges, retired after thirty days. Phor´mio, an Athenian captain, gained two victories, meanwhile, in the Corinthian Gulf, over a vastly superior number of Spartans. In the first engagement he had but twenty ships, to the Spartan forty-seven; in the second, without reinforcements, he met a fresh Spartan fleet of seventy-seven sail.
B. C. 428.
The fourth year of the war was marked by the revolt of Mytilene, capital of Lesbos. Envoys were sent to Sparta to implore assistance, which was willingly granted, and the Mytilenians were received into the Peloponnesian League.
169.In the spring of 427, the Spartan fleet advanced to Mytilene, but it arrived only to find the town in the possession of the Athenians. Nearly reduced by famine, the governor, by the advice of a Spartan envoy, had armed all the men of the lower classes for a last desperate sortie. The result was contrary to his expectations. The mass of the Mytilenian people preferred the Athenian supremacy to that of their own oligarchic government. Emboldened by their arms, they declared that they would treat directly with the Athenians, unless all their demands were granted. The governor had no choice but to open negotiations himself. The city was surrendered, and the fate of its inhabitants was left to be decided by the popular assembly in Athens, whither the ring-leaders of the revolt were sent.
170.A thousand Athenians assembled in the Agora to decide the fate of their prisoners. Salæ´thus, the Spartan envoy, was instantly put to death. With regard to the rest, a spirited debate ensued. Cleon the tanner, the former opponent of Pericles, took a prominent part; and in spite of more humane and moderate counsels, actually succeeded in carrying his brutal proposition, to put to the sword all the men of Mytilene, and sell the women and children into slavery. Iniquitous as such an order would be in any case, it was the more so in this, because the greater number of the Mytilenians were friendly to Athens, while the revolt had been the act of the oligarchy, who were enemies of the people. So strong had been the opposition, that Cleon feared a reversal of the sentence, and therefore had a galley instantly dispatched to Lesbos, with orders for its immediate execution.
His apprehensions were well founded. A single night’s reflection filled the better sort of Athenians with horror at the inhuman decision into which they had been hurried. They demanded a new assembly to reconsider the question; and though this was contrary to law, thestrategiconsented and convened the citizens. In the second day’s debate the atrocious decree was rescinded. Every nerve was now strained to enable the mercy-bearing barque to overtake the messengers of death, who were a whole day’s journey in advance. The strongest oarsmen were selected, and urged to their greatest exertion by the promise of large rewards if they should arrive in time. Their food was given them while they plied the oar, and sleep was allowed them only in short intervals, and by turns. The weather proved favorable, and they arrived just as Paches, who had received the first dispatch, was preparing for its execution. The Mytilenians were saved, but the walls of their city were leveled, and its fleet surrendered to the Athenians. The island of Lesbos, with the exception of Methym´na, which had refused all share in the revolt, was divided into 3,000 parts, of which 300 were devoted to the gods, and the rest assigned by lot to Athenian settlers. The prisoners at Athens were tried for their share in the conspiracy, and put to death.
B. C. 427.
171.The Corcyrean prisoners who had been carried to Corinth in 432, were now sent home, in the hope that their account of the generous treatment they had received would induce their countrymen to withdraw from the Athenian alliance. They joined with the oligarchical faction to effect a revolution in Corcyra, killed the chiefs of the popular party, gained possession of the harbor, the arsenal, and the market-place, and thus, by overawing the people, obtained a vote in the assembly to maintain in future a strict neutrality. The people, however, fortified themselves in the higher parts of the town, and called to their aid the serfs from the interior of the island, to whom they promised freedom.
The oligarchists set fire to the town, but while it was burning a small Athenian squadron arrived from Naupactus, and its commander attempted, with great wisdom, to make peace between the contending parties. He had to all appearance effected this design, when a Peloponnesian fleet, more than four times as numerous as his own, appeared, under the command of Alci´das. The Athenians withdrew without loss, and Alcidas had Corcyra for the moment in his power; but with his usual want of promptness, he spent a day in ravaging the island, and, at night, beacon fires on Leucas announced the approach of an Athenian fleet outnumbering his own. Alcidas drew off before daybreak, leaving the oligarchists in the city to their fate. The next seven days were a reign of terror in Corcyra. The popular party, protected by the presence of the Athenians, abandoned itself to revenge. Civil hatred was stronger than natural affection. A father slew his own son; brothers had no pity for brothers. The aristocratic party was nearly exterminated; but five hundred escaped, and fortified themselves on Mount Isto´ne, near the capital.