H ISTORY OF GREECE

BY V IC T O R DU R U Y

C R O WNE D B Y T H E F R E NC H A C A D E MY

W IT H AN INTR O DU C T I ON BY

J . P. MA H A F F Y ,D .D.

PROFE SSO R O F ANC IE NT HI ST O R Y , TRINITY C O LLE GE ,DU BLIN

W ITH ENGRAVING S, MAPS, PLANS, AND C O LO UR ED PLAT E S

VO LUME U I .—SE CT ION 1 .

LONDON

RE GAN PAUL, TRENCH , TBUBNE R CO . LTD.

1892

T A BL E O F C O N T E NT S.

V O L UM E I II .

FOURTH PER IOD (con tinued).

or A THENS (479—431 B. GROWTH O F LITERA TURE

C H APTER XX.

A THBNI AN LITERATUR E O F TH E FIFTH CENTU RY B. C .

I . The Theatre of DionysosI I . AischylosIII . SophoklesIV. EuripidesV . AristophanesVI . T lmcydides

CHAPTER XXI .

THE A RTS A T ATHENS IN T H E FIFTH CENTUR Y B. C .

CH APTER XXII .

GREE K LITE RA TUR E AND A R T IN THE FIFTH CENTURY R C

I . The Prog ress of Intellectual Culture in the whole Greek W orldII . Poets andH istorians ; Philosophers andPhysicians

TABLE. OF CONT ENT S.

FIFTH PERIOD.

C O NTEST BETWEEN SPA RTA AND ATHENS (431—404 B.

CHAPTER XXII I .

T HE PELO TO NE ESTAH W AR , FRO M 431 To 429 B. c .

PAC .

I . W ar between Korkyra andCorinth (434 B. andR evolt of Potidaia (439. a . c .) 197

II . Capture of Plataia by the Thebans Funera l of Dead Soldiers ; Pestilence at

Athens ; Death of Perikles (429)

CHAPTER xxrv .

rs noeousnsuw W A R FRO M T HE DEATH or TE R TE LES To THE PE A C E or N1MAS (429- 421 n o ) .

I . Cruelty towards Mytilene andPlateia ; Massacres at Korkyra ; the A fl'

air of Sphakteria 246

I I . Nikisa, Demosthenes, andBrasidas ; Peace of 421 B. C . 268

CHAPTER XXV.

ALKIBIADES AND THE S ICILIAN EXPEDITION (421- 413

I . Aikibiades ; A fl'

air ofArgos ; Rupture of the Peace A ffair of MelosII . Sicily since the Time of Gelon ; the A then ians invited by Segesta ; the Injuries done

the bem a i; Departure of the F leet, etc . (416 B. c

III . The Athenians before Syracuse (414 B. Gylippos ; Destruction of the Army

CHAPTER XXVI .

cro ss or T HE PBLO PO NNBS I AN W AR (413—404 a .

I . Hostilities in Greece resumed; Oligarchica l Revolution 111AthensII Opposition between the City and the Army ; Re estab lishment of the Democratic

Government .

III . Victory of Kyzikos ; Alkibiades atAthensIV. Lysandros ; Battle of Argin ousai (406 B. c .) and of AigospOtamoi(405 Sub

jugation ofAthens

CHAPTER XXVII .

m THIRTY, T HE sormsrs, AND eoxm xs.

I . The Thirty (404- 403 a . C .)II . Strife between R eligion andthe Philosophic SpiritII I . R hetorioians and SophisteI V.

TABLE OF CONTENT S .

SIXTH PERIOD.

SUPREMA CY O F SPA R TA AND O F THEBES .— DECLINE O F GRE EC E .

FRO M T HE BALL or A THENS To THE TRE ATY or AE TA LKTDAS (403- 387 a c

I . The Ten Thousand (40211. Harshn ess of the Spartan H egemonyII I . Expedition of Agesilaos ; Corin thian W ar ; Treaty of An ta lkidas (387 B.

CHAPTER XXIX.

DECLINE or SPARTA ; TRANSI ENT GREA TNE SS or THEBE S (387- 361 B .

I . High-handed Conduct of Sparta ; Seizure of the Kadmeia .

I I . E pameinondas andPelopidas ; Treaties of 374 and371 B . c .

III . Leuktra (371 B . C ) ; Mantineia , Megalopolis, andMessene ; Epamein ondas in Lakoma(370 369 B. c .

IV. Intervention of Thebes in Thessaly ; Battle of Man tin eia

CHAPTER XXX .

CO NDITIO N O F GREE CE BEFO RE T HE MA CEDONIAN SW A T .

I . Continued Splendor of the A rtsII . PlatoIII. A ristotleIV . XenophonV. Declin e of Poetry andof CivicVirtues ; Condottierism

LIST O F F ULL—PA GE ENGRA V INGS.

V O L UME I I I.

A ctors, Chorus, andMusicians (vase- painting)A kropolis of A thens

A phrodite of K nidos (statue)Apollo Epikourios, Temple of

A poxyomen os, the (statue)A rkadia (view)A sk lepios (sta tue)A thene Nike, Sacrifice to (has- relief)

Parthenos (statue)A thens, Port- town s O f

C oncord, Temple of, at Ag rigentum

Demeter andKora (g roup)Dexileos, Monumen t toDionysos andhis T rain (has - relief)

Theatre of,at A then s (ruins)

E lis,View on the C oast

Eirene andPlontos (g roup)Erechtheion

,the

Euripides (statue)Ex - voto to A sk lepiosH ere, Temple of

, at A grigen tuin

H ermes (statue)Mars

,the Ludovisi (statue)

Menander (sta tue)Messina , Straits of (View)Mytilene (view)Nekropo lis of the KerameikosNemea (view)Panathenaic Procession '

Parthenon , the

Peiraieus (View)

LIST OF FULL- PAGE ENGRAVINGS.

Pergamon ( View)l’crikles (statue)Relief from C olumn in the Temple ofArtemis at EphesusSophokles (statue)Symcusan QuarrySyracuse, C oins ofVenus of Milo (statue)Victory (statue)

untying her Sanda l (statue)Z eus of Otricoli

Temple of,at Agrigen tum

DOUBLE- PAGE ENGRAVING

A kmpolis ofAthens, interior ( restoration) ‘ Between page: 378, 379

t This V iew is taken from the highest ground of the A kropolis,within the walls, showing the main facadeof the Parthenon at the left, the Ercc litheion at the right, and between them the Sacred Road, b orderedwithnumerous monumen ts, ex - votos, etc . ; on lower g round stands the great statue of A then e Promachos ; behindher the I

’ropy laia ; and in the dista nce is “

the sea and Sa lamis .

" —MA RC E 1. LAMBERT.

LIST O F C OLO RED MA PS AND PLA T ES.

VOLUME III.

COLORED MAPS.

The A thenian h apire in the time of the P

o

elO ponn esian W ar

March of the Ten Thousand

COLORED PLATE S.

Statue of a Vi’oman l F rontisp iece, Vol . III . Sect. 1

Ak ropolis of A thens 2 (restoration )Athene 3

1 This archaic sta tue of A thene was discovered, with severa l others of the same type, in excavation smade on the A kropolis in 1886. T hese varied replicas have much in common with discoveries made some

y ears ago in Delos. In both cases there seemed to have been a deposit made of mutilated sta tues, buried in a

common grave, like dead bodies from a battle- field ; in both cases they a re votive statues, reproducing withcertain difi erences a common ty pe of g reat an tiquity , fixed by relig ious tradition and repea ted by the Greeksculptors even when they were capa b le of g reatly improving it . A t A then s as at Delos, these statues of

women — A rtemis at Delos, A then e upon the A kropo lis — are broken off be low the knee ; it is eviden t tha tthey were violen tly thrown down from their pedesta ls, and then hastily buried in order to clea r the g round.

A t first Sig ht we are inclin ed to a ttribute to C hristianity these acts of vanda lism ; but this is proba b ly an error,

and the ofi enders were of much earlier date . It is wel l known that Xerxes destroyed the ancien t Parthenon,

and spen t his fury upon a ll the building s which at that time covered the A kropo lis. When the A then ians

recovered their citadel , they did n ot a ttempt to restore the ancien t edifices,but con structed n ew ones on the

site of the old. F inding these sta tues broken , they n o doubt judg ed them worthless,and quick ly put them

under ground n ear where they lay .

The type of these statues of A then e, which must all have been made between 510 and 480 B . c .,m ay be

briefly indicated as fol lows : A slender figure enclosed in a narrow and sleeveless tun ic. over which is a drap

pery in regular folds, hooked together on the shoulder ; on e arm extends downward to raise the tun ic, theother is advan ced at right ang les to the body . The head gen era l ly wea ring a diadem

,under which are

symmetrica l curls— has on each side three or four long tresses reaching nearly to the waist . There is also a

k ind of in ner tun ic covering the throat in sma l l wavy folds which resemb le the tresseS’

of ha ir. A curiousfea ture of these sta tues 18 that they a re pa in ted in colors durab le enough to have resisted the dampness of the

ground for twenty - four hundred years . The very delica te orn amen ta tion is finel y represen ted in this picture.

T he beads presen t that type which it has been ag reed to ca l l the A ig in eta n , because it was found for thefirst time on sculptures of the pedimen t of the T em p le of A ig in a , doubtless posterior by fifteen or twen ty yearsto the statues exhumed on the A kropo lis . It is characterized b y hig h cheek - bones, a strong rounded chin

,

the mouth very n ear the nose ; its corners drawn up in a n a lmost foolish smile, a nd by the sin gular mode ll ingof the eyes, risin g a t the exterior an g les. T hese details g ive the face a curious b lending of disda in a nd good

will . T he ca reless observerwouldprobab l y say that there is something Eg yptian in this cast of features. T here

is a sug gestion of the art of E gypt in the stiff ness of the pose and the a lmost childish regularity of the drapery ;but this A iginetic smile is an essen tia l l y Greek in ven tion . This,

”say s H euzey ,

“ is a pure a ffecta tion , one

of those convention a l methods by whidn artists seek to add to human beauty . I see in itma in ly an attempt

at expression , kindred to the grea t orig ina l effort of the Greek schoo ls to g ive an imation to the face. The

artist,having lifted the corners of the mouth in an eviden t smile, observed tha t the equilibrium of the features

is thus destroyed and,obeying a Simple law of para l lelism ,

raises a lso the corn ers of the eyes, seeking to makethem sm ile a lso with the lips . O rien ta l etiquette imposed on the faces of kings and gods an impassib le tranquil lity . In the free life of the Greek cities. both gods and rulers wish to appea r amiable and seek popularity .

Thus is exp lained the so-ca l led A siatic tradition .

”

The grea t resemb lance between these figures of A then e and those of the A rtemis found at Delos and the

LIST OF COLORED MAPS AND PLATES.

Aphrodite at C yprus seems to prove that Greek art in its early period had on ly a very fewplastic conceptions,which represen ted in differe n t lands very different tlivin itics . With time and improved skil l there came aspecia liza tion , - each divin ity received a particular form , was con formed to a type cre ated by the gen ius of

some one sculptor, and was never again con fusedwith any other. T hus Pheidias fixed the types of Z eus and

A thene ; Lysippes, that of Hera lt les ; l ’rax iteles , those of H ermes and Aphrodite .

3 This restora tion of the A kropolis, by Ma rce l Lambert, represents it as it was in the time of Perik les .

The view of t he west aspec t shows us the temples in their respective positions, the differen t levels on whichthey stood, their orientation and their dimensions, as wel l as, a lso. the principa l sculptures and decorativepa in tings which adorn ed them . T his plate a lso gives an

‘

idea of the approaches to the rock and the principa lbuildings at its base, especia l ly on the south, in the time of l ’erilt les.

“ T here wil l b e noticed, first, nearly in the middle of the picture , the so le entrance to the A kropolis, onthe western side ; this is, in fact, the on ly accessib le side of the rock, which is perpendicular everywhere else .

Wal ls extend all around the crest, and enclose the sacred g round. This en trance to the A kropo liswas ma rkedby one of the most inter esting monumen ts of Greek art, the Propy laia, the work of Mnesik lee (see page 109of this volume}. F lanked by two bastions of un equa l size andadva nced beyond the main edifice, the Propy laishad five gates ; of these the centra l and most importan t one gave passage to the Sacred Road, which traversed '

the building itse lf. Upon the bastion at the rig ht stood the sma l l Ionic temple of the Wing less Victory (seepage 98 of this volume) ; andupon the bastion at the left, an edifice which is ca lled the Piuakotheka, an an nex

of the Propy laia desig ned as a picture ga l lery .

“ The Sacred Road, bv which the Pana thenaic proces sion went up to the A kropolis, began in the town

below ; it may stil l be tracedupon the rock by its strive andmarks of footprints of men and an ima ls. it was

bordered by numerous sma l l monuments, ex - votos, shrines, funera l tab lets, and the like ; and this was the

case more particula rly inside the wa lls. O utside a spec ia l ly noteworthy building was the temple of Demeter

C hloe, be low the bastion on the right, traces of its side being stil l discernib le on the rock .“ Passing through the Propy laia, the Sacred Road inclines to the right, passing by the Ionic temple of

A rtemis Brauronia and the Doric temple of A thene Ergane ; these temples are seen above the wa l ls on theright. T he road then continued past the wal l enclosing the Parthenon (north side) on the right, a nd that of

the Erechtheion (south side) on the left, and came out on the great plateauwhere rose, to the east, the Parthe

non ia all the splendor of its exquisite proportions, adorned with its immortal sculptures and its decorativepain tings, bring ing out yet more strong ly its great. architectura l outlines. This mag nificen t building , the workof l k tinos (see page 88 et con ta ined the treasury and numerous works of art ; the A thene Parthenos ofPheidias stoodwithin in the near, which was surrounded on three sides by a richly decorated portico.

The Panathc na ic procession then pursued its way a long the eastern a nd northern wa lls, turn ing at lastto the left and descending to another pla teauslightly lower, on which stood t he Ionic building , somewhatcomplex in its architecture, but of g rea t elegance, ca l led the Erechtheion (see pag es 78 and

“ This building con tained, on the upper leve l , eastward, the temple of A thene Po lias, where stood the

ancient sta tue of A thene which had escaped the Persian destruction and for which the p rp loswas embroidered;on the south, the Pandroseion ,

-

a g raceful tribune adornedwith six famous caryatides ; on the lower ground,towards the north, as portico of great eleg ance, serving as an entrance to the temple of Pandmsos, a sort of openw as in which stood t he sacred olive- tree : and, lastly . on the west a sepa rate space, commun ica ting with the

sp heriscra ,— a place appropriated to the Errhephora i, or priestesses of the l ’oliac A thene.

“Quite at the left a nd on the wa l ls themselves, near the northern portico and the either

-tam , was the

dwel ling of these priestessesT he Sacred Road thenturn edag a in towards the l’ropy la ia and passed the grea t sta tue of A thene Proms.

chos. This was an early work of Pheidias and of archa ic sty le . With her shield the lofty tig oro (seven tyfi ve feet in height) seemed to protec t the A kropolis and the city benea th. and the crest of her helmet wasvisib le for out a t sea .

“ The city itsel f extended all around the rock, especia l l y to the east and north, and towards the west asfar as the hil ls of the Pny x a nd A reiopegos, visib le in the fore ground. O n the south the A kropolis formed arichly decorated terrace, whence the view extended to a g rea t distance .

“ A t its base on this side were g rouped numerous buildings, among others the O deion of Perik lee — an

edifiw of circular form ; then , exten sive porticos adorn edwith pa in tings ; more remote , the temple of As klepios;lastly , towards the southeastern point, the grea t thea tre of Dionysus (Marce l Lambert).

3 The most famous of a ll the classic works in ivory were the two colossa l statues of l ’heidias, the 0 lym~

pian Z eus, and the A thene of the Parthenon . A restoration of the statue of A thene. made by an eminen t

French sculptor, Pierre C harles Simart. b y order o f the late Due de Lay nee, and exhibited in the Expositionof 1856, is represen ted here. T he restoration is very in ferior in size to the orig ina l work, being on ly about

n ine feet in height ; but this was sufficient to bring out clearly a ll the details of the g rea t class ic status . The

an tique was composed en tirely of ivory andgo ld o f two colors, and Simart represen ted the orig ina l effect bythe use of ivory , g ilded silver, and g ilded bron ze. For the attitude and expression of the figure the sculptorfollowed the famous cameo of A spesios belonging to the Museum of Vien na ; for the Victory and the sym

~

bolic serpent Brechthonos, the numerous types of Greek coins ; and the carvings on the shield are reproducedfrom the description given by Pausanias.

ALPH ABET IC AL INDEX

T EX T I LL U STRAT I ON S, I N C LUD I NG MA PS.

VOLUME III.

PA GE

A bdera ,coins of 171 , 172

A bydos, 66,

'

368

A cha ian League, coins of 598

A clwimenid king, coin of 477

A chil leas and A ias (vase -painting) 193

Adonis, death of 314

A eiou, coin of 275

Ag rigeutnm, coins of 162, 307, 335

Aias (engraved stone) 32

Aig ina , coin of 356

Aigisthos, murder of (has- relief) 35

(vase- pain ting) 1 1

Ain innos, coin of 657

Aischylos (bust) 7

death of (engraved stone) 20

A kan thos, coins of 274, 534

Ak ragas, the river 162

Ak rokorin thos (view) 588

A kropol is, plan of 101

Akte, tower andwall of 528

Al exander, coin of 127

of Pherai, come of 586, 589

A lexandria , coins of 9 ,640

Alk ibiades (busts) 285 ,354, 427

Alkmene saved by Zeus (vm pain fi ng) 513

A lphens , the river (view) 5 14

Amastris , coin of 9

Amazon, wounded ( statue) 188

Ambmkia , coin of . 298

Amphipolis,coins of 280, 293

A mulets, necklace of 446

A n ak reon ( sta tue) 168

A nak torion , coin of 281

An apos, the rivei (view) 325

Andros,coin of 356

A n tigone andKreon (vase -pain ting) 39

A ntoninn s Pius , coin of 1 76

Aphrodite (coins) 181 , 271 , 518, 533, 572

(Greek m irror) 52

lamentingG Adonis (vase- pain ting) 443Apollo (coins) 142, 170 , 21 1 , 220 , 235, 239,

246, 298, 353, 504, 534

(eng raved stones) 69, 149

(marble) 146, 214, 600

temple of at Delos ( frieze) 550

Didymaian , temple of, at Milatos(plan)

Didymaian , temple of, atMiletos( ruins) . 325

E pikourios, temple of ( frieze) .

A pollo’s bow andthe Pestilence (has- relief) 415

A pollouia, co in of 534

A potheosized dead (has relief) 228

A rchelaos, coin of 53

A rchigallos (cameo) 447

A res (has- rel ief) 1 8

(engraved stone) 475

A rethousa,the fountain 304

A rgolis (v iew) 529

A rgos,coins of 185 , 293, 567gulf and plainof (view) 295

A ristippos (g la ss) 619

A ris tophanes (bust) 639

A ristot le (bust) 639

( sta tue) 634

A rkadia, coin of 576

Artemis (coins) 363, 371 , 504, 527, 593

( n ico lo) 189

A sklepios ( coins) 182, 524, 527

(engraved stones) 126, 251

( relief) 633

Aspasios , Gem of 1 24

xiv ALPHABET ICA L INDEX TO TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS .

A then e (coins) 131 , 383

( intag lio) . 124

( sta tuette) 531

a ndPoseidon (coin) . 244

Parthenos (goldmedal lion) 196

personifying Athens (bus - relief) 230

Promachos ( sta tuette) 404

(See also Pallas.)Athenian has- relief 554, 592

Athens, coins of 406 416,

433, 555 , 558, 5 59 , 647

to Megara, road from (view) 209

Athlete (marble head)(marble statue)

A ttaia, coin of

Baalta rs (coin) .

Batt le near the Ships (vase-painting) 238

Berytos, coin of 449

Blaundos 63

Boiotia , coins of . 217, 561 , 564

Boreas and O reithyia (vase- painting) . 452

Bizya, meda l lion of 176

Byzantion, coins of 372, 391 , 482, 486

Capital , Doric, from the temple of Poseidon 99C a lyatid from the Erechtheion 106

C halkcdun , coin of 392

C lnariobmce (has relief) 296

C hmus comic, on ostriches (vase- painting) 79

Cock ( bronze) 78- fig l1ting (vase -painting) 431

C olonnos ( view)Co lumn , Doric , from temple at AssesCook (figurine)Corinth, coins of 96, 200, 316, 453, 518, 530 , 533

C arnelian , engraved 16, 84, 1 18, 149

CorsiniVase ( silver) 13

details of 13

187

473

530 , 553

Dance, armed (has- relief)Dario, goldDecree, carving at the head of 240

Dekeleia ( view) 349

Delos , coin oi'

220

Delphi, coin s of . 500 , 521

Demeter (cameo) 210

( coins) 71, 167, 210 217, 247, 375 486

( t C ‘

Ex- votos 70, 237, 270, 49 1,

Faun , the Barberini ( statue)Dionysiac (cameo)

Figures,human , with cook’s head ( vase

painting)F ig urines , terra- cotta

PAO R

Demoltritos (bust) 173

Demos (coins) 63, 355, 641 , 642

Dione (coin) 264

Dionysiac Bul l (engraved stone) 142

Procession ( vase painting) 160

Dionysus (bronze bust) 83

(coins) 280 , 356, 391 , 55 5

(engraved stone) 84

(plaque) 75

instituting T ragedv ( vase-painting) 2

Komos a ndTragedy “ 58

Dog , colossal ( bas- relief) 287

s leeping ( cameo) 286 .

Doryphoros (has- relief) 290

( sta tue) 186

Drinking- cup 53

Eetioneia, ruins of tower at 549

E leusis, coin of 375

andSacredR oad 40 5

Elia, coins of 153, 294, 411 , 496, 587, 59 1 ,

613

E0 3 (cameo) 33

Ephebos ( sta tuette) 117

on horseback ( vase-painting) 378

Ephesos, coin s of 504, 625

view of 505

Epidamnos, coin of 201

Bietrin , coins of . 65, 363

Erinys in stage dress ( vase-pain ting) 15

Eris ( vase painting) 282

E ros (coin)( figurine)( statue)( statuet te)

Erythreia, coin ofEryx ,

Etruria,Euagoras L, coin oiEuphra tes, the river (view)Euripides (bust)

Melpomene and ( cameo)Euripos ( view)Euryalos, exterior view

interior

A LPHA BET ICAL INDEX TO TEXT ILLUSTRA T IONS.

PAG I

F rog (bronze) 7b

F rogs of Aristophanes (vase- painting) 77

Ganymedes (engraved stone) 1 18

Gaza , coin of 439

Gela, coins of 19, 329

Genius, funeral (sta tuette) 465

G irls at fountain (vase painting) 499

Gods on the stage 413

GoodDaimon andGoodF ortune (has- relief) 451Gytheion

,coins of 574

Hades (cameo) 51

H aliartos, coins of 509

H alikarnassos, coins of 167

Harpag ia, coin of 454

Head (marble) 571

Hel lespont (view) 373

Helmet, bronze 302

Hephaistos (coin) 286

H erakleia, coins of 157, 297, 481 , 485

Herakles (coins) 1 1 1 , 278, 379, 453, 467, 561marble from the Parthenon 177

( vase- pain tings) 33, 46 , 47, 72, 82,

Here (coin) 1 85

temple of, at Samos (ruins) 365

Hermai 31 1

Hermes (sta tue) 606

Herm ione, coin of 233

H erodotos (bust) . 66

andThucydides (double bust) 88

Hetaira , visit to (vase-

pairrting) 438

Hierapol is, coin of 555

H imera 303

Hippokra tes (bust) 183

plane tree of 175

Homer (bust) 629

Horse’s head (marble of the Parthenon) 376

Horseman, A thenian (has- relief) 219

Boiotian 218

Horsemen, A thenian 589

Imbros, coin ofInscription, fragment ofIntagliosIpbigeneia (vase- painting)Ithaka , coin of

Justice and Injustice ( vase- painting ) 432

view ofKyzik os, coins of

Lacedzemon , coins of(See also Sparta.)

490, 491

Kabeiroi (coin)Kamarina , coin ofKastri, ruins ofKa taua, coin s ofKelenderis, coin of 467

Kepha llenia 293

Kephissos (marble of the Parthenon) . 135

Klazomeuai, co ins of 170, 351

view of 351

Kleomenes coin of 489

Kn idos, coins of 181 , 518, 599

harbor of ( view) 5 17

Kora ( tessera) 9

( vase pa in ting) 559

Korkyra ,coins of 1 82, 201 , 254, 256, 261, 558(map) 202

view of bay 203

Krotona , coins of 94, 1 11

Kybele, in a portable sanctuary 444

( statuette) 445

Kyren aika, coin of 492

Kythera,

271

269

193, 371 , 372, 648

Lamia, coin ofLampsakos

,coins of

Laodikeia ,Larinum, coin ofLarissa , coins ofLeon tini

,coin of

LeukasLion’s head ( limestone)

Ma llos, coins of 467. 468

Mania, coin of 506

Mant ineia, coins of . 294 298, 533, 594, 595

Masks, marble 91

Mauso leum , frieze of the . 610

Medousa , the R ondonini (alto-rilievo) . 661

Mega lopolis, coin of 571

views of 568, 577, 578

Megara, coins of . 200 , 602

and the Eleusinian plain ( view) . 273

Melos,coins of 257, 299 , 30 1

view of 300

Melpomene ( statue) 8

andEuripides (cameo) 48

Meade, coin of 74

Messene (view) 575

xv i ALPHABET ICA L INDEX TO TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS .

Messenia, coin ofgulf of (view)

Metapoutum , coin ofMethone, coin ofMethymnos, coins ofMiletos, coin s ofMiners at work (plaque)Mosaic ( fragment)Mothone, coin ofMonnychia ( view)Mytilene, coins of

Naxos, coin ofNekrophoroi (vase-

pain ting)Nereid (cameo)Nikaia , coin ofNike (marble of the Parthenon)

A pteros, temple ofNiobe (group)

Quarry, SyracusanOdysseus (coin) 1 89

and the Seirenes (vase- painting) 423

Offerings to the dead (has- reliefs) 292, 495

a warrior 374

O idipous (baa- relief) 40

O lynthos, coins of 207, 535

Orchomenos, coins of 565 , 572

Orestes at Delphi (vase - painting) 12

andElektra (marble group) . 34

O rontas, coin of 532

O rontobates, coin of 504

Oropos, coin of 16

O rthagoria, coins of 632

Pagai, coin ofPagasetic Gul f (view)Pa l lasAthene ( coins) .

(engraved s tone)(marble head)

Pan (coin)Patra s, coin ofPclinna , coins ofPeltas t (vase- painting)Perdikkas II . , coins ofPcrga, coin ofPergamos , medal lion ofPerikles ( bust)Perin thos , coin ofPersia, coin ofPliarnabazos, coin ofPharsalos, coins of

Phcrai, coin ofPhones,

Philok tetes (engraved s tone)PhilosopherPlilious, val ley of (View)Phokaia, coin ofPhyle, ruins ofIflaquc

l’la lo ( bus ts)F latsia, coin s ofPlayer with hackle.bones (figurine) .

Pnyx (plan)Poseidon (coin)Potidaia, coin o l

'

Praisos,Psyche ( sta tue)Py los, coin of

view ofand Sphakteria (map)

Sa lamis, coin of 195

Samos, coin s of 362. 487

Sardis, 371, 379

Sardonyx , engraved 141

Sa traps, coins of 401 , 469, 477, 484. 503

Sa tyr ( intag lio) 153

(marble torso) 605

Scene of banquet (vase- pain ting) 393

combat 258

comedy (mosaic)divina tion ( vase pain ting) 384

gymnastics 419

massacre (bas reliel'

) 255

( vase - pain ting) 390

pain tin g 313

reading 420

sacrifi ce 387

tragedy (mural painting) 17

Scenes of comedy ( vasc o

painting) 67. 69 . 82

Sea ls,Athenia n 367, 418

Sea t in thea tre 23

Segcsta, coin of 319

temple of 308

Selinous, coins of 161, 320 , 353

Selymbria, coin of 372

A LPHABET ICAL INDEX TO TEXT ILLUSTRA T IONS . xvii

Sepulchra l chambeisSca thes I .,

coin ofShield, the StrangfordShoemaker ( vase- painting)Sicily, Carthaginian coin ofSikyon, coin ofSilenos (coins)Sinope, coin ofSling - missilesSokra tes (bust)

(engraved stone)(marble hermes)death of (has- relief)

Sophokles (bust)(silver statuette)

Sparta, coins of(See also Lacedaamon .)

Sphinx (engraved stone) . 37

( plaque) 38

Spithridates, coin of 503

Stasandros, 487

S tela A thenian (has- relief) 227 Va ses from A igina 494

fragment of 224 Vessel (plaque) 204

fun eral 250, 260 Victory ( sta tue) 279

sacrifice andbanquet 448 carrying a wrea th (vase- painting) 1 19

Stymplialos, coins of 417, 593 the Wingless , temple of 102

Sun,the rising (painting on a pyxis) 426

Surgeon ’s case ( bas- relief) 178

Susa, frieze from palace 471 W ar chariot (has- relief) .

Syracuse, ccoins of 303, 309, 326, 333, 334, 347 Warrior, Greek (bronze)plan of . 324 Warriors fighting (engraved stone)view of 339 Wreath. go ld

Symnada , coin of 455

Youth at a well (vase- pain ting)Tarsos, coin ofTegea’

u

Tenos,Teos,Tereus ,'

l essera3 of the Theorikontheatrica l

Thasos, coin ofTheatre atAthens (plan)

seat inThebes, coins of 278, 496

V O L. I“ . b

Thebes and the Kadmeia (view)Thelpousa , coin ofThe0phrastos ( bust)Thespiai, coins ofThes sa ly

,

Thouria , coin ofThourion

,

'

l hucydides ( busts) 86, 276

andH erodotos (double bust) 88

T iribazos,coin of

Tiryns, gallery inTorone

,coin of

TorsoTra lles, coin ofTreasury of Gela (restored plan)Treb izond, coin ofTriad, the E leusinianTroizen, coins of .

Trophy of arms (has- relief)

Zakynthos, coin of . 935

view of 236

Zeus (cameo) 51

(coins) 389 , 567, 595(sta tuette) 429

Ammon (coins) 355, 383

O lympian 127, 411, 412

Nikephoros (coin) 1 28

(engraved stone) 128

Serapis (coin) 450

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H I S T O R Y O F G R E E C E .

F O U R T H PER I O D.

SU PR EMAC Y or ATH EN S ( 4 7 9 - 43 1

GROWTH O F LITERA TU RE AND T H E A RTS .

C on tinued.)

CHAPTER XX .

ATHENIAN LITERATURE OF THE FIFTH CENTURY R C .

I .

- TH E THE A TRE or DIO NYSO S .

EF O R E the'

Median wars the Spartans were considered good

judg es of art . although they scorned to be themselves either

artists or poets . This is the testim ony of Aristotle ,1 but it is some

what unfounded . Not so in the case of Athens : the victories of

Marathon,Salamis, and Plataia , in which she gained so much

renown, gave an impulse to her genius , and the fif th century

before our era , the epoch of the happiest development of the

human mind , owed its chief splendor to the masterpieces inspired

by Pallas - Athene ?‘ This period is often called the age of Perik les .

The g reat organizer of Athenian policy was in no way really con

n ected with the works of Aischy los and Sophokles,Aristophanes

and Thucydides . But Athens had much to do with them ; if she

was not the mother of all the famous men of the time,she at

1 Polit , v iii. 4 . O Z Adxmvee of; p a vddvow es 8pm: Briana-

ra t xpivew dpdés, the (poo l, rd

xpmrrd xai rd p r) xpnrrrd 7 61 1:

2 F rom the t ime of the Media n war, says A r istotle (F O I11 , viii . the A then ian s, stima

lated by their grea t milita ry successes, devoted them selves to the study of the arts and

sc iences.V O L. I I I . l

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

least gave them all a home, and their minds gained inspiration bycontact with hers .In our examin ation of the famous masterpieces of thought and

art which belong to this epoch we shal l give, as is just, the first

rank to dramatic poetry, which was the most splendid flower of

Athenian g enius . But since this is a work of history, and n ot

of archaeology, our study wil l be a rapid review ; and upon this

m en ses m srx'm '

rme TRA GEDY}

stage we shall bring forward only the great figures of the three

or four poets who hav e left their rivals in a shadow from which

the most patient erudition has n ot been able to draw them out .

Nor shall we here speak of the arrangemen ts of the G reek theatre ,’

of the literary merits of the g reat trag ic poets, er of the language

in which they wrote .

C c la ngage sonore, aux douceurs souvera-ines,

Le p lus bean qui soil nésur des lévres Imma in es .

These detail s are to be found elsewhere . It wil l suffi ce to remind

the reader that comedy and tragedy were reputed of divine orig in .

Va se- p a in t ing from the Museum of Mun ich ( from the A rchdol. Z eimng , 185 5, p l .Dionysos, sea ted, and holding in his ha nd a long bra nch of g iant - fenne l, i s gi v ing a tragic maskto a man who s ta nds before him and holds in the left hand a thyrsos, from which floa ts a

fi l let . Behind the god are a nymph and a s i lenc e, and behind the man i s a sa tyr .

O ttfriedMilller's chapter xx i i . is en t i tled, Dc l'organisation ma ltrielle da the’

dlre grec .

ATHENIAN LITERA TURE OF THE FIFTH CENTU RY B . C . 5

Both orig inated in the dithy ramb (Sidiip a pflog ) of Dionysos, — by

turns a merry song celebrating the g ift of the vine and the license

of intoxication , and a funereal chant in memory of the sufi erin gs

o f the god slain by the Titans, his descent into the kingdom of

PLA N O F T H E T H E A T R E O F A TH E NS .

Hades, and subsequent return to earth .

1 This funereal dirge,applied to the old legends which were the poetic patrimony ofGreece , became the trag ic chant of the drama . Without speakingof their precursors , of whose works only shapless fragments remain,we shall inquire what opinions the masters of the drama shared

1 T he A then ian thea tre, of wh ich a portion is yet sta nding (see p. was ca l led the

thea tre of D ionysos, and the actors were ca l led the god’s art ists. T he Louvre has an in scrip

tion (No. 5 84 of C larac’

s Ca ta logue) rela tive to a mus ica l corpora t ion of art ists of Dionysos,”in honor of the ck oregos and aqon otlzetos.

HISTORY OF GREECE.

with their contemporaries , or endeavored to impress upon them .

This examination is the more appropriate in a political history

for the reason that no theatre was ever more national than that

of Athens . The moral life of the city , its gods and heroes, its

ideas and beliefs, its fears and hopes, are all there .

1 The works

of the Greek poets are an historic document as wel l as a chapter

in history , for they show us the soul of the peopl e . Does not

Aristotle himself say, in an epig ram at once of dangerous and deepsignifica nce

“ There is more truth in poetry than in history

II . A ISC IIY LO S .

T H E first in date of those g reat poets who in the fifth cen

tury B . C . fired the minds of men by g iving them a lofty ideal ,was Aischylos

,whose tragedies have the two char

acteristics of g reat works, g randeur and simpli

city . We kn ow also that the poet was a brave

soldier, a good citizen , and a believer in the gods .

”

Hence his drama is profoundly moved by patriotic“ SC "Y LO S and religious enthusiasm .

Genius — which is intellect, or certain faculties of the intellect .

carried to the highest power — is a gift of Nature ; it can never

be acquired by labor, but it may be made possible and then devel

oped by circumstances of origin and environment . Aischylos , born

in 525 B . c . at Eleusis . of Eupatrid race , was contemporary with

the two who brought to a brilliant close the cycle of elegiac and

lyric poetry,— the Boiotia n Pindar, sing er of Olympic victories,

”

and Simonides of Keos, his rival . who by his moral.

sentences

deserved to be placed among the company of philosophers , and

by his complaisance towards the rich and g reat deserved to be

In respect to the rel igious character of these thea trica l representations, which occurredat fixed t imes at the Louais, or win ter Dionysia, and at the grea t Diony s ia , which were insummer, see Vol . II. p. 373.

9 Frequen t men t ion has a lready been made of A i schylos, and passages ha ve been quotedfrom his work s (Vol . I . pp. 30 9 , 322, 33 7. 354, 35 8 , 375 , 38 7, 39 7 ; Vol . I I. pp . 1 10 , 2 15 ,

3 Bust in profi le. Engraved jac inth of the C abinet de F ra nce, 1 6 millim. by 18 .

C atalogue, No.Horace, O des, IV. 11.

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

divine thing s which made of him , in a time when scepticism was

beginning , not, indeed , the most orthodox, but the most relig ious, ofGreek poets . From the extraordinary events in the midst of which

ma t rormmz, rm : muss or TRA GE DY }

life placed him , his min d received a strong impulse , and his

0 nd relig ion (perhaps his first ) was love of Greece and of Athens .

H is brave deeds at Marathon . off the Artemision . and at Sa lamis "z

attest this , and , better still , his dramas , T he Persia ns and The

E umenides : one . the triumphal chant of Greeks victorious over~

Marb le sta tue in the Va t ican (from a photograph).2 Pausa nias , i . 14. 5 .

ATHENIAN LITERATU R E O F THE FIF TH CENTU RY B . C . 9

the g reat Oriental empire ;1 the other a laudation of Athens

,of

her spirit of justice, and of her institutions .

At twenty- fi v e Aischylos made his first public appearance in

the competition for the Dionysiac festivals ; he was defeated by

C hoirilos and Pra tin as, and it was not

until 484 B . C . that he obtained his

first triumph , which was followed by

many others .

2 It is said that his de

feat by Sophokles in 468 B . C . and an

accusation of impiety for revelations

of the Eleusinian Mysteries,5 with

which he was falsely charged , decided him to withdraw into Sicily

whither he again went repeatedly , invited by Hiero of Syracuse,“ who wields the

righteous sceptre

on the island of

NE ME S I S .’ n v x amrs .

‘

m a n y f l o c k s .

”

S p e a k in g thus,Pindar forgot the

tyrant’s cruelties

but that g reat poet

had not a heart as

noble ashis genius .

He had praised the treachery of Thebes, standing aloof in the Median

wars , and he celebrated the profits of that shameful pea ce while

KORA , UPON A THE A TR I C A L T E SSE RA .6

1 See Vol . I I . pp . 46 7 c l seq.

3 A t the D ionysiac compe t it ion i t was required to presen t a tri logy , — thr ee drama t icpieces — fol lowed by a satyT ic drama.

3 Nemesis, sta nding, to the left, holding a cornucop iaa nd a pair of sca les ; a t her fee t awhee l a nd a serpent . Legend: AMA C I‘ PIA NQN . (Reverse of a bronze coin of Ama str i s inPaphlagon ia, w i th the effi gy of the elder F aust ina . )

Dynam i s (F orce or Power) , sta nding, to the left, holding in the right ha nd a he lmet,and in the left a shie ld on which i s her name. AYNAMIC ; she re sts the shield aga inst a pil lar .

Reverse of a bronze coin , m in ted a t A lex a ndr ia in Egypt, w i th the effigy of Lucius Verus . I n

the field the date LE .

5 A r istot le, N ikoma chaea n E thics . i i i . 1 , 1 7. In respect to his v is its to S ic i ly, he seem s toha ve been invited thi ther by H iero about 478 B . c .

, a nd to have returned th i ther a fter the performan ce of the O resles in 45 8 . Da tes rela t ive to these

uv oya

ores are. however, uncer ta in .

F rom the il l onumen l i dell’I nstil . di corrisp . a rcheol . , vol . i v . pl . 5 2, No . 7 . Thi s te ssera

of bone, which corresponds to our thea tre- ticket . wa s found in Herculaneum ; i t bea rs on theface the number XV , IE , and the inscr ipt ion Képqc. The number is tha t of the sect ion (kerh ldes) of the thea tre or amphithea tre, or perha ps tha t of the en trance ; the wordmmdoub tless

H ISTO RY O F GREECE .

Leonidas was dying at T hermopylai, and the Athenians were

fighting upon the sea of Sa lamis .

l We cannot,therefore

,wonder

that “ at the hospitable table of Hiero , adorned.

with the flower of

music ,” the outcries of the suff erers did n ot reach his car . We are

not told that Aischylos was

a fla tterer of the tyran t, but

it is impossible not to wish

that he , like Sophokles, had

never quitted Athens .

2

Aischylos himself said of

his dramas that thev were

T H E A'

rmcu. ” SSE “ , but fragments from the g reat

banquet of Homer, and he

spoke truly .

‘ H is tragedies which are truly epic fragmen ts, have a

g loomy splendor and a mysterious maj esty . Destiny , a formidable

goddess, moves through them ,silent

,invisible

,followed by Nemesis ,

the divine envy , which suffers no human g reatness to overpass

the limit that she ha s fixed ; and these two fi ll the soul of the

spectator with keen emotions and superstitious terrors . The

strugg le against this power, which binds man with countless

bonds that the strongest cannot always break ,6 arouses proud

.

courage and haughty scorn , giving the characters of the poets a

mea ns near the sta tue of Kora . T he thea tres were decora ted, we know, w i th sta tues of thegods, and by reference to these sta tues, sect ions were designa ted.

Polybios, iv . 3 1 , 5 .

9 A t Syracuse, Ai schylos perhaps saw E picharmos. If they met, the S ic i l ian poet musthave del ighted theAthen ian by his lofty m ind. but could not fa i l to di sp lea se him by his sa tire supon the gods . Epicharmos had all the audac ity ofAristophanes, andmust have grea tly scandalized the devout Pindar .

3 Tessera of bone.found in l lerculan cum, from the onumc n ti, vol . i v. pl . 5 2. No. 1 . It

bea rs on the face the number X l l , l 'B, and the inscription A ioxv'

k ov , which doub t less designates tha t par t of the thea tre where stood the s ta tue of A ischy los ; on the reverse i s a bui lding,perhaps the, stage of a thea tre .

A ischy los wa s the author of seven ty dramas , of which sixty- three have fa llen in to thatabyss where in so many masterpieces have lmrished. T he seven which rema in to us a re : The

Persia ns, performed in 476 n. c . ; The Supp lia n ls , about 46 1 The O resteia (A gamemnon ,

77m Libn lion - Pourers, The Eumen ides) in 45 8 ; T he Seven A ga inst Thebea .

‘

the Prometheus

R ound.

5 T he Dest iny of the G reek s , the F ate of the R omans, which, a s the ideas of justice. grewnore clear, became the Providence of the Chr ist ian fa i th. a re now on ly the resul t ing whole ofinfluences of t ime ,

place, educat ion , andheredi ty, from which the m ind, a rmed w i th knowledgea nd a resolute w i l l, ca n en fra nchise i tself, or at least whose e ffects i t c a n ma ter ia l ly dim in ish.

There i s, therefore , progre ss in the direction of mora l l iberty, which w i th time a nd w i th increasein human intel l igence enlarges i ts sphere of action .

ATHENIAN LITERATURE O F TH E FIFTH CENTURY B . c . 1 1

superhuman g randeur . H ow m agnificent the scene between the

messengers of Zeus and Prometheus, the hero who by his courage

aga inst opposing fate and by his hatred of injustice represented

a human ity in which the Athens of Marathon and of Sa lamis

recogn ized itself ! The conception is so bread that later genera

tions ha ve been able to see in the T itan the figure of Horace’

s

T m : MURDE R O F A IG I ST H O S BY on esr n s.

‘

“ I n teger vitae, Secelerisque purus, undaunted though the world

should be wrecked around him ; of the Redeemer of the world

ransom ing human ity by his suff ering s ;2 of Herakles , destroyer of

monsters,l iberator of the oppressed

, who on the C auca sos breaks

the chains of Prometheus and later shall break the chains from

the human m ind .

3 Surely, also to the T itan belong that remote

posterity who in later days have dared to say,in the words of

their great ancestor ,“ Zeus shall d ie also . W ith this heaven - defy

in g utterance stands completed the character of him who sought

1 Vase- pain tin g ( from Gerha rd. E truskische und Volcen tische Vasenbilder, pl . The

vase is in the Museum of Ber lin A . Furtw'

an g ler, Beschreibun g der Vasen sammlung , No.

Orestes (O RE SST E S) has seized A igisthos (AIA I SBO S) by the head and tra n spierced him witha sword ; behind the murderer advan ces Klytaimnestra ( R VYT A IME ST RA ) and threaten s him

with a doub le- headed axe. E lektra sta nding behind A igisthos, seem s to urge

on her brother .

2 By T ertull ian and other C hristian F athers, Prometheus is regarded as a figure of C hrist.3 T he Stoics rega rded H erak les as the mora l divin ity by whose aid human ity . is victorious

over its evil pa ssion s .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

to defend the rights of the human wil l aga inst the envy of the

g ods . But the devout Aischy los cou ld not stop.

here . He bel ieved

in Fate,and also in the power of Zeus. T he Ocea n -Nymphs , who

O RE STE S IN SHE LTE R A T DE LPH I, A ND PRO TECTE D BY A PO LLO .

1

v is it h is captive , essay to calm the b itter an g er of Prometheus

and s ilence his prophetic threats :“ W isdom is the irs who Adras

te ia 2 worship ;” and earl ier in the drama the poet writes :

Never shal l coun sels vainO f mortal men break throughT he harmon y of Z eus." 8

Vase- pain ting ( from the. Monumen ti. vol . iv . pl . T he pain ter takes his idea from the

tragedy of A ischylos. Na y , I’

ll n ot fail thee, but, as close a t ha nd, wil l guard thee to the

end,

"A pol lo sa y s to Orestes ( lines 64—65 of T he Eumen ides) . T he pain ter represen ts th estcs

sea ted on the a l tar of A pol lo : the go d. sta ndin g beside him, holds over his head a pig ,

the expiatory victim. Behind A pol lo sta nds A rtemis. Thouseest these fierce on es captivetaken ,

"A pol lo says (line these are. the Eumenides. who have fa l len a s leep . T hen ap

pea rs the shade of K lytaimn estra . to awaken the terrib le goddesses and incite them to ven

gea n ce, showin g her wounds, remindin g them how o ften she has honored them with sacrifices

( lines 93 ct This a lso the pa in ter has represen ted: behind the sleeping Eumen ides is

the shade of K lytaimn estra , wrapped in a veil . a nd poin tin g with her finger to the. parricide .

O ne of the Furies awakes, a t the feet of Orestes, a nd turns towar ds him . ‘ Vake. wake !

she cries ; “rise . shake o ff sleep ! O ur prey is gone. ( E mnen ides, 135 - 36.

‘3 A surn ame of Nemesis. from the verb atbpéouw, the go ddess whom none c an esca pe .

Lines 95 7 and 561—1563 [Dr. Plumptre'

s E ng lish tran sla tion].

ATHENIAN LITE RAT URE OF T H E FIFT H CENT URY B . C 13

Accord ing ly we must suppose that the v iolent and jealous tyrant

of the P rometheus Bound was transformed in the P rometheus

A THE NE ’

S V O TE .

1into a peaceful and forg iv ing de ity . The world came

aga in under a benevolent ru le , that of the sav ing god, Z n) ; a wn jp ,

T H E A BS O LUTIO N or O R E ST E s. (FIGURE S O N T H E O THER S IDE or T H E v a se .)3

and the poet sought to concil iate the two contrad ictory ideas on

which Greece had lived, — moral l iberty,and the inexorable sway

of Fate .

1 On ly fragmen ts of this drama remain .

2 C orsim Vase ( sil ver) . F rom A . Michae lis, Das C orsin ische Silbergefi ss , pl . i. 1 a nd 2 .

A then e deposits in the urn her vote (W oe‘

Aq c‘

ig ) which is to abso l ve Orestes ; behind the

H ISTORY OF GREE CE .

The O resteia , the g reatest poetic work of Greece after theI liad, has a d i fferent character . It is the most trag ic of the tri

log ies of the Greek theatre ; at one of its scenes the whole aud i

ence was moved , and women fa inted . But it is also the most

moral , for i t is a magn ificent setting forth of the doctrine of

expia tion ; that is to say, of redemption from s in or involun tary

crime, and hence the triumph of true justice . The trilogy relates

the catastrophes that fol low one another in the d readful fam ily of

the A treida i, over whom , s ince a first crime,hovers incessantly

Alastor the demon of d iv ine vengeance . Agamemnon , son of

Atreus and nephew of T hvestes. sacrifices his daughter to secure

victory ; K lyta imn estra , to be und isturbed in her adulterous un ion

with A ig isthos, murders her husband ; Orestes kil ls h is mother

and the Sharer of her cr ime . T he Chorus, at the close of the

Liba tz’

on -P ourers, bewa il s these d isasters

Here, then , upon this palace of our k ing sA third storm b lows ag a in .

W here will it end? W here will it cease at last,The mighty A te dreadLulled in to s lumber deep ? 1

By the intervention of the Delph ian Apollo, lover of just ice ,and of the maiden Athene

,who knows how to d iscover the true

motives of human action , the fatal goddess is for a momen t d is

armed . Then the g loomy sky brightens , and the m oral tone is

less severe . Before the tribunal of the A reiopagos, just n ow

founded by Athene,the Erinyes bring their charge aga inst h im

whom Zeus has made the impious instrument of a righteous sen

tence ; Apol lo pleads for him ,a nd Orestes, by the in tervention of

Athene, rece ives pardon , while at the same time his parric idal act

remains a crime .

“ W e are d ishonored,” the Erinyes cry ; but no,

— it was a law of human ity wh ich took the place of the old

ta b le sta nds one of the E rinyes, ho ldin g a torch. The person seated behind A thene has not

been c learly iden tified ; it. is perhaps Orestes. seated on the sto ne of crime (M80 : or

it may be a n accuser . It would seem more appropriate to regar das Orestes the figure a t the

right. in the represen tation of the. other side of the va se ; his head lea n ing on his ha nd, he

awaits sadly the result of the vote . Behind him , E lektra a nd Py lades turn auxiouslv to wardsthe goddess.

T he Lilmtion - Priurers, 10 5 2 - 63. 1 062- 64 [Dr. Plumptre'

s E n g lish tran sla tion]. l n

Euripides. the dying l lippolytos cries : 0 crimes of my raee l their fa ta l r esul ts pursue me.

But why do they fa l l upon me, who am not guil ty (H ipp el . ,

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HISTORY OF GRE ECE .

man’

s m ind filled with the noble sentiments to which the poet

has g iven utterance in his spleii'

did drama .

T he drama of Aischylos is always a lesson in morals,and

sometimes in pol itics . In T he S imp lian ts we have a panegyric of theantique v irtue which made hospital ity a

rel ig ious duty, — a compl iment to the

Arg ives of the t ime,to in duce them to

rema in fa ithful to the Athen ian all iance,

1

and a threat aga inst the Persians in Egyp t ,whom K imon was about to attack . In theb

’

even against Thebes , where A risteides is

represented under the aspect of the sage A mphia raos, the poet

shows the in trepid ch ief whose courage is not

shaken by the g reatest dangers ; in The P er

sians he teaches patriotism ; in A gamem non the

pun ishment of mar ital infidel ity ; in the Fl ame

aides equity as represented by the A reiopagos,

which at that moment the popular faction were

attacking . He believes in Destiny , but also in

justice,and makes n o attempt to explain the inexpl icable problem .

H is free intellect resists , while adm itting i t, the enervating doc

trine of fatal ism

amrm a n a os fl

E sc ua v en coas s nun ‘

T here lives an old saw, framed in an cien t days,In memories o f men , that high estateFull -

grown brings forth its young , nor childless dies,But that from good success

Springs to the race a wee insatia b le.

But I . apart from-

a ll ,

Ho ld this my creed a lon eF or impious ac t it is that offsp ring breeds ,

Like to their paren t stock

For stil l in every houseT hat loves

.

the right, their fate for evermoreRejoiceth in an issue fair and good.

”

1 In this drama , of about 45 8 a . C Orestes again swears to a n etern a l a l lian ce betweenA then s and A rgos .

2 La'

ure l led head of A mphiaraos, right. profi le. R eve rse : QPQmQN ; serpen t around a

club . (Bron ze coin of Oropos . C ollection o f the Ban k of E ng land, in the British Museum .)F our warriors fighting to ob ta in the body of l

‘atrok ies, who has just been fa ta l ly

wounded, and sinks to the ground, covering himse l f with his shie ld ( C abinet de F ran ce, No.

of the C a talogue 1 5 millim . by

A gamemnon , 75 0 p t seq. [Du Plump tre’

s En g lish tran slation . p .

AT HENIAN LITE RAT URE OF T H E FIFTH CENTUR Y B . C . 17!

And he expla ins how th is prosp e rity can be acquired by mod

cration in des ires,in fortune, and in pride . T he prudent man,

he says,

“ a part,from well - po ised slin g , shall sacr ifice ; then the

whole house s inks not .” 1 It is the Not too much of the

Delphic inscription,so importan t for d isarm ing the envy of the g ods ;

S C E NE or TRA GE DY.

“

and this is the moral idea in every drama of Aischylos . He,

however, desires a more active vi rtue . His Er in yes say :“ Honor

thy parents ; throw n ot down with impious foot the altar of jus

tice, and make the stranger welcome at thy hearth .

” El sewhere

he admon ishes : “ W hatever thou dost of ev il,an eye beholds i t .

These are b ibl ical precepts .

1 A gamemn on , 1 008 [En g lish tran slation , p .Mura l pain tin g of Pompeii, in the Museum of Palermo ; from a photograph . Two per

son ages, in cothurn i of difi eren t heights, a re represen ted con versin g . The on e holding a stickis doubtless the in ferior .

V O L. 1 1 1 . 2

HISTORY OF GREEC E .

But l isten to Aristophanes relating the d ispute which arose in

the in fernal reg ions between Aischylos and Eurip ides, in presenceof Dionysos . the god of the drama and arb iter in the quarrel . The

poet of lofty thoughts and noble style is ang ry at be ing obl ig ed to

compete with “ the word - making , pol ished tongue aga inst which

A R R s ‘

he will send forth bolt- fastened words, tearing them up, l ike planks .

w ith g igantic breath .

” 2

“ A ischy los. Answer m e : for what ought we to admire a poet ?

Eurip ides. F or cleverness and in struction ; and because we make the

peolilc in the cities better.

A ischy los. Observe, then, what sort of men you orig inally received fromme . noble and tal l fellows , n ot loungers in the m a rkets n or rogues , as they are

1 R elief in the ea stern frieze of the Parthenon ; from a ca st . C f. A . Michae lis, Der Pa rthenon , a tlas, pl . x iv .

,No. 2 7 . I t is un certain whether this figure represents the god of war ;

it was long supposed that the stick on which he supports the left leg was a lan ce ; so that the

n ame of T riptolemos is more appropriate . c speciallv a s the divin ity immedia te ly preceding himis Demeter.

a A l lusion is made by A ristophanes to the emphasis, the sonorous style , and the gigan ticimages which A ischylos often uses . H orace ( A rs Poet , 9 7) a lso speaks of his “

sesquipedalianwor ds.

”

AT HENIAN LI TE RAT URE or T H E FIFT H C ENT URY B . c . 1 9

n ow,n or villain s , but b reathing of spea rs and lan ces a nd white- crested hel

mets,an d casques a nd g reaves and seven fold courage .

Diony sos. A nd how did you teach them to be so noble- m inded ?

A ischy los. By having composed a dram a ful l of m artia l spirit.

Diony sos. O f what kind ?

A ischylos. T he Seven ag a inst Thebes. Every man that saw it wouldlong to be a warrior.

"

Then I com posed T he P ersia n s after this , an d

taught m en to desire a lways to conquer their adversa ries , hav ing embellished a most noble achievem ent. This it behoov es poets to do ; an d

behold how useful they ha ve been from of old! Orpheus made known to

us m ystic rites,and to absta in from slaughter ; Mousaios, thorough cures

of diseases and oracles ; Hesiod , the cul tiv ation of the earth , the seasonfor fruits and tillage ; and by what did the divin e Homer obtain honoran d g lory except this , that he taught what was useful , the marshalling of

an arm y,brave deeds , and the equipment of h eroes

,from whom my m ind

copied and represented the m any brave deeds of Patrok luses and T euk ers,

that I m ight inspire the citizen to ra ise himself to these, whenever heshould hear the trumpet. But I introduced n o unchaste Pha idras , n or haveI ever represented on the stage any woman in love .

” 1

Ar istophanes m ight have g iven another exampl e of the mart ial

ardor and g lowing patr iotism of the poet, in the drama of The P er

sia ns , represented at Athens with in e ight years after the battle of

Salamis . Here the spectators

beheld Queen Atossa in tears ,Xerxes with torn garments, the

Pers ian chiefs lamen ting , and

the g reat Oriental empire in

hum il iation .

2

This drama is the central

piece of a trilogy, of which the

rest is lost . It is conjectured that the first of the three related the

capture of the Golden F leece by the Argonauts on the remotest

shore of the Euxine,and the third the defeat of the C arthagi

mians by the S icil ian Greeks in the western Med iterranean . The

com or GE LA mv srcrmr.8

1 A ristopha n es, T he F rogs. A ll the pleas an try is omitted which g ives this play its comiccharacter, as it would here be out of place .

9 See this scene, V ol . II . pp . 469—4 71 .

3 In retrograde legend : I‘E A O IO N. Wom an driving a quadriga ; over the horses a V ic

tory hovers, holding a wrea th. R everse : 2 0 2 111 0 A 12 . F ore- part of a hull , with bearded

human head (the river Ge las person ified) . Before him a woma n , sta nding , places a wreathupon his head. (T etradrachm of the C o l l . Lucien de H irsch. )

H ISTORY OF GRE ECE .

trilogy thus wa s a laudation of Hel las . v ictorious over Asiatic and

African barbarism ; and we may imag ine the rapturous applausewhich broke forth in Athens and Syracuse when the poet showed

the Persian’

s majesty and m ight utterly destroyed .

W hen words l ike these were heard upon the Athen ian stag e ,the theatre had become a tra in ing - school for the sold iers of K imon

and Perikles, whom'

I‘

hucydides had in m ind

when he sa id : Men , not wal ls , make a c ity’s

streng th .

” l But the devout poet,while ex

alting h is nation’

s pride , wa s m indful to

show to al l men , above the trophies of the

war of independence,d iv ine justice

,which

had destroyed the insolen t prosper ity of the

Great K ing , — a lesson in morals and mod

cration , following a pman of v ictory .

Aischylos d ied in S ic ily (455 B . Onn as ru or A isc H Y LO S .

’

hl S death - bed,says Pausam as (I . he

remembered none of h is other explo its, though he wa s so re

markable as a dram a tist, . a nd had fought both at Artemis ion and

at Sa lam is ; and he wrote, in the poem he then composed, his own

name and the name of his c ity, and said tha t he had as witnesses

of h is prowess the g rove at Marathon a nd the Pers ians who

landed there .

” Athens d id not ratify the voluntary ex ile of her

g reat poet . In the fol lowing century the orator Lyk ourgos, as man

ager of the publ ic revenues, erected to him a statue of brass, as

well as to Sophok les and Euripides ; and a decree was passed that

a copy of the ir works, made at the publ ic expense, shou ld be pre

served in the arch ives of the State, and that no chang e should be

made in the text when these dramas were performed on the stage .

1 T hucydides, vn . 7 7. It may be permitted me to say that I had in mind this sen tence

of T hucydides when , twen ty- four years ago, I gave the Un iversity of Paris as its pass- word :F a isons des hommes. A nd men are made on ly by an in tima te association with those grea t

minds whom utilitarian s of our day are ready to proscribe ,- as if it were not the most

precious of all utilities to have men ; tha t is to say , lo fty in tel lects a nd nob le hea rts !1 E ngraved ston e of the former C abinet Stoach ( from V iscon ti, Icon oyrafi a green , iii.

Va lerius Ma ximus (ix . 1 2, 2) and other authors re la te the legend which the artist r epresen tsan eagle, holding a tortoise in his claws, let it dmp on the poet’s ba ld head, mistakin g it for asto n e. T he aged A ischylos is represen ted with a cup in his ha nd, probab ly without specia lsign ifican ce. a l though a biographer of the poet, C hama ileon , has asserted that A is chylos wasin a state of in toxica tion when he composed his dramas (Plutarch, Ba nquet, vii. T he

authen ticity of this ston e may be doubted.

ATHENIAN LITERAT URE OF T H E FIFTH CENT URY B . C . 21

III . SO PH O KLE S .

SO PHO KLE S was almost of the same age with Perikles, his b irth

hav ing occurred in 498 B . c . , or, more probably, 495 ; he was a con

sorn oxuzs .

1

temporary also of Aischylos,older than himself by thirty years, of

Eur ipides, fifteen years his jun ior, and of H erodotos, his intimate

friend , whom he celebrated in a poem .

2 At the age of s ixteen

1 Marb le bust in the Vatica n ( from the Mus. P ia . C L, v ol . v i. pl .2 The father of Sophok les fol lowed a handicraft, or possib ly superin tended the work of

his slaves, but was nevertheless a Eupatrid, sin ce Sophok les appears to have been a priest

HIST OR Y OF GREE CE .

he was chosen , on accoun t of his beauty,to lead the chorus of

youth s who danced around the trophy which the Athen ians had

erected in Salam is in honor of the ir v ictory over the Persians .and h is life was prolonged til l 406 B . c .

,which g ave h im almost

n inety years , — a less number, however , than that of the trag ed ies

he composed . He therefore saw all the g reat period of Athens,

and the beg inn ing of her decl ine ; but he had not the g rief of

l iving to hear the fatal name of A igos- Potamos .

In the competition for the Great D ionys ia of 468 B . c .

,Aischylos

and Sophokles were rivals . At the momen t when the archon

eponymos, whose duty it was to draw by lot the names of the

judges, one for each tribe , wa s about to fulfi l this function , K iinon

and the n ine generals who were h is colleagues, return ing from a

successful campaign , entered the theatre of D ionysos to make the

accustomed l ibations . The archon deta ined them at the al tar ,and caused them to take oath as judges ; upon which they gave

the second prize to the older poet, and the first to h is youn grival . This was for Sophokl es, then twenty - seven years of age,

a v ictory doubly memorable , s ince he triumphed over a poet per

haps really his superior,and d id so by the vote of a v icto rious

general .l

Both Aischylos and Euripides in their later years withdrew

from Athens to the cou rt of a foreign king ;“ Sophokles never

left the city which be praised in his Trip tolemos as the centre of

Hellen ic civi l ization,and in the O idip ous a t K olonos as the asy

lum where those who had suff ered g reat disasters could seek an

inv iolable asylum . He held important offices in the State , and in

440 B . C . was, with Perikles, among the ten stra tegoi sent aga inst

the Sam ians, then in revolt . W e may wonder that Athens thus

associated a poet wi th her g reat statesman in the charg e of a m ili

tary exped it ion ; but war and poetry go together, and g lowing words

are as useful as skilful tact ics . Sparta once made Tyrta ios a

general , and Sophokles had at that t ime recently exc ited the

adm iration of the Athen ians by his trag edy of A n tigone, in which

to the hero A lkon , tha t son of E rechtheus whose skil l as an archer was such that he slew witha n arrow, without wounding his son , a serpen t which had surrounded the child with its folds(Va lerius F laceus, i. 39 9—40 1 . C f. I l irschfeld, H er mes, viii.

1 Plutarch, K imon , 8 .

3 Simonides, Pindar, Plato , a nd man y others did the same.

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

HIST ORY OF GRE ECE .

tell s us that he took h is office of g eneral somewhat sportively ,

and Plutarch makes nearly the same assertion , referring to a sec

ond mil itary appointment which Sophokles rece ived,in 415 B. 0 .

But we have no reason to suppose that these anecdotes, called out

by the contrast between the poet'

s tr iumphant lyre and the modest

sword of the general , are more authentic than so many others in

wh ich the Greek mind took del ight . His appointment in 413, as

on e of the ten wpéBov koz (comm ittee of publ ic safety) whom the ir

office placed above the general assembly ,‘ would prove at l east

,

if it were certa in , the pers istent confidence of the people ; and

we m ight say that wh ile Aischylos ended his career by a parti.

san ’s voluntary ex i le, Sophokles rema ined t he c itizen who is fa ith

ful to his country , without regard to the persons who for the time

are its ru lers . He d ied in 406 B . c . ,— the same year in which

Euripides ended his l ife . I t is sa id that in h is later years his

son Iophon sought to have him restricted from legal action as to

his property, as be ing of enfeebled m ind . In reply the old poet

read aloud to his judg es the description of Attika in the wonder

fu l chorus of the O idip ous a t K olon os, as yet unfinished , and

heard by them for the first time .

2

1 I n respect to these magistrates, see Thucydides, viii. l , and la ter in this work , C ha p .XXVI . I t is n ot certain tha t the p roboulos Sophok les whom A ristot le men tion s (Blast , iii. 8 )was t he old poet, and that he was the strategos of 415 is equa l ly doubtful ; at that

Sophok les was eighty years of age.

3 O f all the land far famed for goodly steeds ,T houcomest, O stranger, to the nob lest spot,

C o lonos, g listen ing brig ht ,Where evermore, in thickets freshly g reen ,

T he clear- voiced n ightin ga leS til l haun ts, and pours her song ,

By purpling ivy hid,A nd the thick leafage sacred to the god,With al l its myriad fruits,By morta l 's foot un touched,By sun

’

s hot ray un sca thed,Shel tered from every b last ;

T here wanders Dion y sos evermore ,

In ful l , wild revel ry ,

A ndwaits upon the nymphs who nursed his youth.

A nd there ,beneath the gen tle dews o f heaven .

T he fa ir n arcissus with its clustered be llsBlooms ever

,day by day ,

O f old the wreath of mightiest goddesses ;

A nd rrocus. golden -eyedA nd stil l n nslumhering flow

Kephisos' wandering streams

ATHENIAN LITERA TURE or T H E FIFTH CENT URY B . c . 25

Simmias of Thebes composed for the poet th is epitaph : “ U pon

the g rave of Sophokles, O ivy, creep softly ! Cover it in silence

with thy verdant branches . Let the rose bloom there,and the v ine

cl ing about it,to honor the poet of wise and tuneful thoughts ,

tra ined by the Muses and the Graces .

” 1

In the works that rema in to us we see that Aischy los and

T hey fail not from their sprin g , but evermore

Swif t- rushin g in to birth,O ver the plain they sweep,T he land of broad, full breast ,With clear a nd sta in less wave

Nor do the Muses in their m instrel choirs.

H o ld it in s lig ht esteem ,

Nor A phrodite with her golden reins .

A nd in it g rows a marve l such as

—

n e’

er

O n A sia’

s soil I hea rd,

Nor the great Dorian isle from Pelops named

A plan t self-sown , tha t kn owsNo touch of witherin g age,

T error of hostile swords,

Which here on this our g round

I ts hig h perfection ga ins,T he g ra y

-

g reen foliage of the o live- tree,

R earing a goodly raceA nd n evermore sha l l man

,

O r young ,or bowed with years

,

Give forth the fi erce comma ndA nd lay it low in dust .

F or 10 ! the eye of Z eus ,

Z eus of our o live-

groves,T hat sees etern a l ly ,

C asteth its g lan ce thereon ,

A nd she,A then a

, with the clear gray eyes .

A nd yet an other praise is m in e to sing ,

G ift of the mig hty g odT o this our city, Mother of us all ,

H er g reatest, n ob lest boast,F amed for her goodly steeds,F amed for her bounding col ts,F amed for her sparkl ing sea

Pweidon , son of Kronos, lord and kin g ,T o thee this boast we owe

,

F or fi rst in these our streets

T hen to the un tamed horse

Didst use the conquering bitA nd here the wells haped oar,

By skil led hands deft l y plied,Stil l leapeth throug h the sea ,F ol lowin g in wondrous guise

T he fair Nereids,with their hundred feet.

O idipous at K alon as. Dr. Plumptre’

s En g lish translation , pp. 84- 86]1 Jacobs, A n thol . Graeca, i. 1 00 .

HISTORY OF GREECE .

Sophokles shared be tween them the most trag ic leg ends of Greece

one s ing s of the dramas of Argos and the house of the A treidai ;the other of the Theban traged ies and the family of Labdakos .

But there are many d ifferences between them . Sophokles was stil l

a bel iever in the Greek rel ig ion, for his biog rapher, an anc ien t

T H E H ILLO CK or conorm os A ND T H E O LIV E - GR O V E .

l

wr iter whose name is unknown, calls h im deodtkq'

s'

,

“ the friend

of the gods,” and bel ieved that he rece ived revelations from

above . Sti ll he dares to state the case aga inst the Olympians

F or now they set at noughtT he worn - out oraclesT hat Laios heard of old,

A nd K ing Apollo’s won ted worship flag s ,

'

A nd all to wreck is gone

T he homag e due to God.

”

T hese ”are words of the chorus in O idip ous the K ing ; and in a

g eneral v iew of the drama of Sophokl es we recogn ize that there

1 F rom a photograph. T he hil loek is at the left, a nd is sur moun ted by two funerea lcolumn s, that of O . Mul ler and that of C . Lenorman t, both of whom died in Greece . Behind

the olive-

grove at the left is Moun t A igaleos, one of the spurs of Moun t Parncs.

O idip ous the K ing , 905 - 9 1 0 . [Din Plumptre'

s E ng lish tran slation , p .

ATHENIAN LITERAT URE OF T H E FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 27

is less place assigned to the gods, and more to men,so that the

distance between the spectators and the actors is man ifestly less

ened . He in troduces upon the scene a th ird actor,thus g iv ing

more l iberty to the poet, more vivac ity to the action , and, whil e

ra is ing the number of the chorus from twelve to fifteen, he d im in

ishes its importance and the lyr ic character it had had under his

predecessors,and concentrates the in terest much more closely upon

the development of character in the personag es of the drama .

Aischylos makes one poem of the th ree parts of the tril ogy, which

hampers,while it strengthens him ; but Sophokles div ides them

c learly . In the latter’s work nothing recalls to us the O resteia ,

in which the trag ic story of a whole race is unrolled , caus ing an

impress ion of rel ig ious awe by the continuity of the blows struck

a t one fam ily . The two poets,however, deal with the same

question , that of sovere ign justice, — Aischylos, with more sombre

g randeur ; Sophok les , w ith as high thought, but more flex ible ;and wi th each the drama ends in the restoration of the v ictim

o f Destiny . W as O idipous justly condemned for crimes which he

had comm i tted innocently, — unaware that, in defend ing h is l ife

aga inst an unknown stranger, he kill s his father ; that in becom

ing the husband of Iok aste he marries h is own mother, and is at

once his children ’s father and the ir brother ? T his problem of the

higher philosophy has come down through the ages ; the spectators

in the theatre of D ionysos d iscussed it,and so d id the best m inds

of the age of Louis XI V . and the Athen ian poets sought its se

lutien on the s ide of human ity,putting consc ience and its r ights

a bove the crude fact and the chastisements that fol lowed it . W hat

then must have been this Athen ian people, to whom such high

feasts of the m ind were ofi ered l

In the dramatic conception of the two poets there is another

d ifference, which announces near and important changes . Sophok les

in O idip ous the K ing shows love, wh ile not daring to make i t speak ,and he g ives to women a place which Aischylos never assigned them .

Heroes enough had been celebrated by the epic Muse and upon theivre of Pinda r . In to their company Sophokles introduces Antigone ,who equal s them in courag e, and surpasses them in devotion .

T o Sophok les are ascribed a hundred and thirty dramas, or, bya lower est imate

,a hundred and thirteen , of which twenty rece ived

H IST ORY OF GREECE .

the wreath , and n ot on e fell below the second place .

‘ Of a ll this

work there remain n ine hundred and fifty- s ix fragments , a ll very

short, and seven complete trag ed ies , of which two, the A ias and

the Ma iden s of Tra c/zis, are interesting only to scholars . The

rag e of the son of T elamon , and Deiane ira’s jealousy are subjects

for all time . As poetry , these dramas are beautifu l or terrible ;but there is nothing in them pecul iar, and hence nothing of wh ich

history takes account . W e m ay remark the share ass igned by

Sophok les to human passions on th is stage , which Aischylos had

peopled with gods and heroes . W hen Aias recogn izes the sadresul ts of h is anger, he bends under the shame of his m isconduct

and acknowl edg es— he who has brav ed the thunderbolt of Zeus

that it is a man ’s duty to submit to gods and to king s .

“ T he strongest thin gsT hat fright the soul , stil l yield to sovereig n ty .

W in ters with a ll their snow- drifts stil l withdrawF or summer with its f ruits ; and n ight

’s dark orb

1 W hen we remember tha t the number which he wrote was n ot less than one hundred

and thirteen , and tha t a large number of these were received with a s much applause and as

much success a s those which a re stil l extan t, we a re struck with wonder a t the immen se fertilitywhich was un ited with such con summa te a rt . Diff icul t a s it is to compare writers who differ,a s has been said, generica l ly ; darin g a s it may be to a ttempt to dethrone one whom so ma nyages have recogn ized as king , - it seems but the n a tura l con clusion of what has been sa id to

assign to Sophocles a higher place in the history of Greek literature than even to H omer

himse l f . If he ha s not the g lory of being the first great poet, his grea tness is of a higher type.

H e is the represen ta tive poe t of a more a dvan ced a nd cul tiva ted age, a nd shows greater sym

pathy with the thoughts andquestion in gs of such a n age, with its hopes a nd fea rs, its prob lemsa nd its strivings. I n his estima te of human exce l len ce there is a less exclusive admira tion of

the mere b rute courage which passes in to ferocity , a ndwhich even in l lomer’

s nob lest heroes isaccompan ied by acts of savage crue l ty, a nd he thinks more of reveren ce, wisdom,

skill in rule,fi lia l devotion , fa ithfulness, a nd honor. In wha t bea rs on the growth a nd history of thesociety in which he lived, he is n ot con ten t, as H omer was, with making his cha racters the

mouthpieces of the common place dec lama tion of kings and chiefs aga in st the adva n cing freedom of the people, or ca rica turin g demagogues, a s in the portra iture of T hersites, but aims,

in the spirit of a wise conserva tism, a t bring in g in to permanen t harmony t he two principles oforder a nd of progress, —reverence for the past, and freedom a nd hopefulness for the future. In

his estima te of the higher and more mysterious truths which en ter in to ma n’s life and thoughts,

he sta nds on a far higher e levation . T he work of Homer was to hnmor ta lize the poorest and

coarsest forms of the popular my thology, with scarcely a thought of a nything beyond them or

above them . T he wo rk of Sophocles, fol lowing , though with ca lmer trea dand clea rer visiona nd seren er speech, in the steps of JEschylos, was the ta sk , finding the mythology of H omer in

possession of the mind of the people , to turn it, as far as it could be tur ned, in to an in stru

men t of mora l education , a nd to leadmen U pwards to the etern a l laws of God and the thought

of his righteous order.

"

(Biographica l E ssay prefixed to Dr. Plumptrc'

s E ng lish tra n sla tionof the T ragedies of Sophocles.) Eu]

Norm— T he marb le sta tue represen ted on the opposite page was found a t T erracina, andis now in the Museum of the Lateran . (F rom a photograph.)

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HISTORY OF G R EECE .

But a few beautiful l ines do not make this drama adm irable, for

i ts fau lts a re so g reat that even the authentic ity of it as a work

of Sophok les ha s been called in question4

The E lek tra , inferior in the conception of cha racter

to the drama o f Aischy los which bears the same title,is

superior in style to tha t work . But this second Elektra

is too mascul ine ; she towers above Orestes in her hatred

and imprecations .

2 The son dares not curse his mother,

although he by n o means forg ives her . But Elektra hates,despises

,

and is ready to kil l K ly taimn estra . She is thus more trag ic, wh ile

less lovable . Speaking of Orestes, she says to her mother

A ia s .

‘

Full o ft hast thouCharged me with rearing him to come at last

A minister o f vengeance a nd I own ,

H ad I but streng th, he sure of this ,’

t were don e.

At the moment of the murder, Elektra encourages Orestes . Strike

her yet again ,” she cries , i f thou hast streng th for it .

” And when

Orestes is about to attack A igisthos, she once more urges him on

3 T he despair ofAia s, son of T e lamon . The hero A ias is sea ted on a rock his helmet isat his fet t ; he supports his head with his left hand, and with his right draws the sword withwhich he is about to kill himself. (E ngraved ston e of the C a bin et (16 F ra n ce. “

rhite jasper,

1 3 millim . by 1 2 . No . of the C a ta logue. )9 E lektra (Dr. Plumptre

'

s E ng lish tra n sla tion , p .

3 The fa ther’

s rela tion s to the child appeared to the Greeks much more close tha n the

mother’s,

— which they sin gularly underrated. A ischylos (E umen ides, expresses this

popular feeling by the mouth of A pol lo :

T he mother is not parent o f the childThat is ca l led hers, but nurse of embryo sown .

H e that begets is paren t ; she, as stranger ,F or stranger rears the scion .

"

Dr. Plumptre'

s E ng lish trans lation , p.

This belief dimin ishes the odium of E lektra ’s hatred o f the mother who had caused her

f ather’

s death.

G ive him no lea ve to spea k ,By a ll the gods , my brother, nor to spinH is long discourse . W hen men are p lun ged in il ls ,“ rhat g ain can one who stands condem n ed to die

Reap from delay ? No , s lay him out of hand,

A nd, ha ving s l ain him , cast him forth, to findF it buria l at their hands from whom ’

t is meet

T hat he should ha ve it, far awa y from view.

ATHENIAN LITERA TURE O F T H E F IFT H CENTURY B. C . 33

Here the gentle poet goes too fa r . But let us look at his true

masterpieces .His Philok tetes and Oidipous a t K olonos

,which were

written extremely late in life, show that old age had no d isastrous

effect upon this noble intellect, and

that till the very end he preserved

the seren ity of his gen ius, the fer

tility of his m in d, and that g race

fulness of style which gave him

the name of the Attic bee . From

a subject apparently sterile, a dra

matic incident adm itting but a

few characters,he develops a

‘

trag

edy which moves the sou l to i ts

very depths . Such is the Philok tetes, a work s imple yet touch

in g , nude l ike some beautiful ant ique statue . T hree characters

E os.

1

T H E A PO THE O S IS O F H E R ‘

A K LE S .

2

suffice for the action ; but above them hover two ideas which ,for the spectators

,are always present : the one patriotic, — the

1 Eos, standin g , wearing a lon g peplos, drives two horses a t a g a l lop . A lon g veil floatsaround the head of the goddess. (C ameo of the col lection of Baron R oger ; earlier, of theLouis F ould C ol lection . Sardonyx of three layers, 36 millim . by 54 . C habouillet, C ata logue de

la C oll. Louis F ould, No .

9 Vase- pain tin g , from Milan i, I l mito di F ilottete, pl . i. 3 . In the lower part of the scen e,

on the fun era l - pile, is stil l burn in g part of the body of H erak les. A t the left a n ymph pourswater upon the fl ames ; this would seem to be a person ification of the Dyras, which overflowed

V O L . I I I . 3

HISTORY OF GREECE .

necess ity of making an end of this ten years war against the

Barbar ians of As ia, by g iv ing T roy to the Greeks ; the other

oa ss'

rs s A ND E LE KTRA .‘

rel ig ious, — the duty of obed ience to the gods . The oracles

said that T roy could be taken only by the arrows of Herakles

its banks to bring succor to H erak les (H erodotos, vu. 1 98, a t the right, Philok tetes is

making his escape, carrying the quiver which the here has g iven him . A bove, the artist repre

sen ts the apotheosis of the son of Z eus and A lkmene : he is sta nding upon a cha riot drawn by

four horses, anddriven by the goddess of victory ; in the left hand he ho lds his c lub , and hasa laure l - wr eath on his head. T he chariot, guided b y H ermes, whom we recogn ize by his caduceus, passes through the porta ls of Olympos a nd advances towards A pol lo, who is seated a t

the left a nd holds an olive- bran ch in his ha nd. T he figure a t the right is perhaps Moun t( l ite personified.

Marb le group in the Museum of Naples ; from a cast. E lektra, tenderly lean ing uponher brother, from whom she has been so long separated, listens to him atten tive ly . For other

represen tation s of the brother and sister discussing their plan s of vengea n ce, see Overbeck,Bildwerke, pp . 688 at seq.

ATHENIAN LIT E RAT URE OF TH E FIFTH CENT URY B . C . 35

the Greeks send Odysseus to take them away from Philok tetes,

in whose possess ion they are . Pun ished with an incurable wound

for hav ing v iolated an oath , Philok tetes had been abandoned in

a desert island because of the intolerable odor of the wound .

The astute k ing of. Ithaka justifies h is reputation ; he l ies and

deceives with no more scruple than wa s usual in a nation which

T H E MURDE R or A l a rsrn os .

l

made Hermes the god of lying , and cons idered a fraud as

meritor ious as a gallant deed . In contrast with this ancestor of

T hem istokles and of Lysandros, the poet places Neoptolemos, son

of A chilleus, a man who. as of heroic race, refuses to share in this

dupl icity . Odysseus argues w ith him ,

I kn ow, 0 boy , thy n ature is not apt

T o speak such thin g s , n or ev il guile devise‘

But sweet it is to g ain the conqueror’s prize

T herefore be bo ld. Herea fter, on ce ag ain

W e wil l appear in sight of all as just .

1 Bas -relief discovered at A ricia ; from the A rchdologische Z eitung , 1849 , pl . x i. 1 . (Thisshould be compa red with the vase- pain ting represen ted above , p . O restes, a. dagger inhis hand, has just struck A igisthos , who has fa l len to the ground, morta lly wounded. The

murderer seem s to wish to escape from his mother, who lays her hand on his shoulder in

en treaty . Behind K lyta imn estra stands E lektra ; and, a t the right and left, two womenservan ts lift their hands to heaven in horror at the ac t which has just been committed.

HIST ORY OF GRE ECE .

But the other rejoins,

T he thing s , 0 son of Lartios , which I g rieveT o hear in words , those sam e I hate to do .

I was not born to a ct with evil arts ,Nor I mysel f , nor, as they say , my sire .

A nd yet, being sen t thy colleague , I am loth

T o get the n ame o f traitor ; but I wish,0 king , to miss my ma rk in acting wel l ,Rather than conquer, acting evil l y .

Neoptolemos yields, however, seduced by the g lory that is promised him if he br in g s back to the Greek camp the arrows of

Herakles, and obta ins them fraudul ently . Soon,

however, overcome with shame,he restores

them to Philok tetes, who, pers istent in his

hatred of the A treidai,refuses to quit his

island . Herakles then descends from heaven

and in duces his old comrade to fulfil the oracles . In g iv ingup his weapons to the son of A chilleus, Philok tetes g ives also

counsel,Receiv e thouthem , but first adore the PowerW hose n ame is J ea lousy , that they may p roveT o thee less ful l of troub le than they wereT o me, and him who own ed them ere I own ed.

T hat is to say, do not take too much pride in your success ; the

gods are not pleased when human fortunes rise too high .

“

Two things create the strong interest of this drama, — the oppo

s itiou in the characters of Odysseus and Neoptolemos, representingthe two s ides of the Greek race ; and the lamen tat ions of the

unfortunate man depr ived of the weapons which secured h is l ive

lihood. H is prayers recall those of Priam kneel ing to A ehilleus ;and his physical and mental suffering s, wh ich Sop

'

hok les takes a

cruel pleasure in depicting , are more human ly pathetic , and to us

H ead of the n ymph Lamia, on the obverse . R everse : A AMI IZEQN]. Philok tetes, sea ted

on a rock , his right ha nd raised to his head. with his le ft lea n ing on the rock in the fie ld, hisbow and arrows. Bron ze coin of Lamia . (British Museum . )

3 T he be lief in the jea lousy of the go ds, o f which l lesiod speaks ( sec V ol. I. pp . 862

cl seq. : and above, p . was stil l very vita l in the fi fth cen tury B. C . \Ve fi nd it even inEuripides ( Iphigen eia in T auris, 890 , a nd in man v other of his dramas) ; but with T huevdidesit has disa ppeared.

ATHENIAN LITE RAT URE OF T H E FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 37

more touch ing , than the majestic and d iv ine tortures of the

Prometheus .

It would seem that the O idip ous Tyran n os, the O idipous a t

K olonos, and the A n tigon e, form a trilogy l ike the O resteia of

Aischylos . The events are consecutive in these

dramas,but the dates of the ir rep re

scutation are d ifferent . O idipous was

re ign ing at T hebes, happy and re

spected, when a terr ible pest, extend

in g through the city, makes known

the anger of the gods ; and here

again the innocent suffer instead of the guilty f It is the ancientlaw,

— a people suff er for their rul er . But m isfortune approaches

him . The news of the death of h is supposed father, the king of

Corinth, produces compl ications which brin g to l ight the in v olun

tary cr imes comm itted by O idipous . He plucks out h is eyes ,clothes himself in rag s, and hav ing wandered as a beggar through

many lands, led by his daughter Antigone , he comes to d ie near

Athens in the grove of the Eumen ides . His two sons, who d is

pute for the throne,kil l each other in s ing le combat . T he ir

uncle K reon , becoming king , decrees that Polyn eik es, as a traitor

to his country,shal l have no funeral r ites . Antigone dares to

violate this impious decree,and is buried al ive by K reon . The

web is simple ; but with what superb embro ideries and trag ic

pictures the poet has adorned it !

Sophokles bel ieves in the necessity of expiation by suff eringas the foundation of h is system of ethics

,in purification by pain ,

as fire refines metal , free ing it from dress ; and he l ights upwith pure rad iance the g loomy majesty of the ancient legends .

He strikes that note of sadness which is one of the elements of

poetry as a contrast to its bri ll iant joyousness .

“ Happiest beyond

compare,”

says the Chorus in O idip ous a t K olon os,“ never to

taste of l ife ! Happiest in order next,be ing born , ,wit

’

h quickest

1A M E '

I H Y S T .

A GA TE .

2

1 T he mon ster is seated on a rock , O dipous stands before her ; he holds a sta ff , andhis left hand is raised to his forehead. ( C abin et de F ra n ce

,1 5 millim . by 1 3 . No. of

the C a ta logue. )3 Philok tetes, seated, a he lmet on his head a nd ha l f nude ; his quiver is before him ; he

lea n s his head upon his right hand. (E ngraved stone of the C abin etde F ra n ce. Vein ed agate,1 8 millim . by 1 3 ; No. of the C a ta logue.)

HISTORY OF GREECE .

speed thither aga in to turn from whence we came !” l But at

the s ide of the old man Whom Destiny has pursued since h is

birth,the poet places the daughter, who piously sustains her

father's faltering steps and g uides him to del iverance . In the

presence of K reon , violating the sacred law of funeral r ites, he

shows Antigone protesting , in the name of conscience , aga inst all

tyran nies,whether of earth or heaven ; and of the murderer of

T H E THE BA N SPH INX .

’

his father, the husband of h is mother, the ex iled king , the bl ind

old man whom all repu lse, the g reat crim inal in human judgment,but the innocent v ictim accord in g to eternal just ice, he makes a

hero and the protecting g en ius of the c ity of A then s .

The O idip ous Tyrannos is the masterpiece of Sophokles . I

shall speak only of the prog ress of ideas which it marks in g ivinga moral character to Fate , which was unknown to the early fa ith ;of its picture of human activ ities

,not

,as formerly

,in war, but in

Verses ct seq.

Plaque in terra c otta, discovered, it is said, in Melos, and now in A then s ; from Schiine ,Griechische Belief s, pl . xxx . No. 1 25 . T he sphin x holds with her claws a man whom she has

thrown upon the ground.

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

the earlier days is justified in his seem ing caprices by an old

bel ief wh ich stil l rema ins a half- fac t, both of sc ience and h istory,—the son in herits the father

’

s fault . But that which is n ew in

this harsh, early world, is that the rights of innocence are at

last recog n ized ; when O idipous has comp leted the expiation for

RE LIE F on A N arauscm U R N.‘

the sins of h is race, thunder is heard in the sky, a g reat voice

cries : “ Come, O idipous !why dost thou l inger ?

” and he van ishes

from sight . But it is an apotheos is ; he is rece ived into heaven .

Th is transformation of the old dogma of Fatal ity is completed

by a laudat ion of the human m ind . W hile K reon withdraws,the

Chorus , remain ing alone wi th the aud ience , relates the v ictories

H erak les, who is asking pardon for A n tigone a nd l l a imou. A ccording to a legend whichEuripides seems to ha ve fo l lowed in his tragedy of A n tigon e, H aimon , in stead of executing hisfather’

s orders a nd putting the young girl'

t o dea th,saved her life, and from their un ion was

born a son , Ma iou, who, a fter he had grown to be a youth, wa s recog nized by K reon . The

o ld k ing , not listen ing to the en trea ty of H erak les, condemned Il a iuion , who took his own lifea nd tha t of A n tigone . T he pa in ter ha s here fol lowed the legend ; perhaps the youth aecom

pa ny ing K reon is Maion . T he same scen e is pain ted on a va se in the Museum of Berlin( Furtwiin gler, Beachrcibung , No. See J. Voge l, S cen en E urip ideischer T ragtfdien in

G'

riechischen l 'asen gemdlden , Leipzig pp . 47 e! seq.

1 F rom Geri, il lus . etrusc . Volt , v o l. i. pl . 142. The scen e represen ts O idipous about to bedeprived of sight by the serva n ts of his fa ther. O idipous knee ls in the cen tre of the group,

he ld down by two servan ts, while a third, with a dagger, is about to destroy his sight. Kreon ,

a t the left, looks on ca lm ly a t the pun ishmen t which he has ordered, while behind him his

wife , Eurydike, is supported by a maid- serv an t. A t the right Iokaste and her two childrenexpress their horror and grief. a nd behind l okaste is a nother maid- l erv a n t. I n the tragedy ofSophokles, the reader wil l remember tha t O idipous himse l f destroys his sight ; the scul ptor follows the version which Euripides adopts in his O idipous ( Se liol. of Euripides. The: t n icicm

Women ,

AT HENIAN LITERA TURE O F T H E FIFTH CENTURY B . c . 41

man has ga in ed over Nature, and hence over the gods, notwith

stand ing their j ealousy

M an y the forms of lif e,W ondrous and strange to see,

But n ought than m an appearsMore wondrous and more strange.

H e, with the win try g a les,O

’

er the white foam ing sea ,

’Mid wild wa ves surg ing round,

‘Vendeth his way acrossE arth, of a ll gods from an cien t da ys the fi rst,

Un worn andun decayed,

H e, with his ploughs that trav el o’

er and o’

er,

Furrowin g with horse and mule ,W ears ever year by year.

T he thought less tribe of birds,

T he beasts that roam the fie lds,T he brood in sea - dep ths born ,

H e ta k es them a ll in n ets

K notted in sn arin g mesh,Man , wonderful in skill .A nd, by his subt le artsH e ho lds in swa y the beasts

T hat roam the fie lds , or tread the moun tain ’s heightA nd brin gs the binding yoke

Upon the n eck of horse with shaggy mane,

O r bull on moun tain crest,Un tamab le in streng th.

A nd sp eech, an d thought as swift as wind,A nd tempered mood for higher life of states,

T hese he has learn t, and how to flee

O r the clear co ld of frost un kind,O r darts of storm a nd shower,

Man all - providing . Un provided, heMeeteth no chan ce the com ing days may bring

On l y from H ades , stil lH e f ails to fi nd escape,

T hough skil l of art m ay teach him how to flee

From depths of fe ll disease in curab le.

” 1

1 A ntigon e [Dr . Plum ptre'

s E nglish tran slation , pp. 14 1—142 ]

HISTORY OF GREECE .

W e are habituated to.

la n guage l ike th is , and i t no long er sur

prises us . But what a n effect words l ike the se must have pro

d aood upon spectators whose imag inat ions were stil l ful l of the

leg end of Prometheus , which Aischy los had rela ted to them in his

daring verse ! At last the T itan has conquered ; fire and the arts

which he has g iven to men have made them masters of the world,

and the two g reat poets of Greece un ite in celebrating human ity

enfranchised,not from the Nemes is which pun ishes pride

,but from

that which gratifies the env ious j ealousy of the Olympians .

These are g rand thoughts ; and yet there are words of Anti

gone which go higher and farther, for they have been repeated

by the persecuted of all ages, and in the end wil l destroy perse

cution . No poet among the anc ients has created so pure a type

as th is daughter of O idipous, hero ic . and yet m ost womanly, who

persists even unto death in her fi l ial and s isterly devotion,and

walks proudly to her fearful death , stil l lamenting her lost youth

and the unknown joys of l iv ing . T o the tyrant who asks of her

an impious act,she opposes the custom of antiquity and the law .

of Nature wh ich makes it her duty to refuse obed ience . This is

not at all a d isobed ience of the law of the State ; it is the ful fi l

men t of an imperative duty imposed by fam ily rel ig ion . H er

brother is dead ; at least he must not lose the other life, that of

the tomb . K reon says to her : “ Knewest thou the ed icts wh ich

forbade these th ing s ?” “ I knew them,

”she repl ies . “ Cou ld I

fai l ? Full clear were they .

” “ And thou d idst dare to d isobey

these laws ?” Then fol lows her magn ificent utterance

Y es ; for it was not Z eus who g a ve them forth,Nor Justice , dwel ling with the gods below,

W ho traced these laws for a ll the son s of men ;

Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough,

T hat then , a mortal ma n , should’st overpassT he unwritten laws of G od that know not change.

T hey a re n ot of to - day nor yesterday ,‘

But live forever, nor ca n m an assignW hen first they spra ng to being . Not through fear

O f any man‘s reso l ve was I p repared

Before the go ds to hear the pena ltyO f sin n ing against these . T ha t I should dieI k n ew (how should I though thy decree

A'

I‘

H ENIAN LITER A TU R E or T H E FIFT H CENTURY B . c . 43

H ad n ever Spoken . A nd, before my M e

I f I sha ll die, I rec kon this a g ain ;

F or whoso lives , as I , in man y woes ,H ow can it b e but he sha l l g ain by death?

A nd so for me to bear this doom of thin e

H as nothing p ain ful . But, if I had leftM y mother’s son un buried on his death,

I n that I should ha ve suff ered ; but in thisI suff er not .

” 1 3

And she fl in gs at K reon this last noble word :“ My nature leads

to sharing love, not hate .

” 2

Sophokles is of the fam ily of Pheidia s and Verg il of Raphael

a nd Rac ine ; his g en ius is characterized by pure beauty ; and the

age to which he belong s wa s in truth the first spring - t ime of

human ity (p rima vera della gioven tic).

IV . EUR IPIDE S .

SO PH O KLE S,the scion of a noble race, honored by his fellow

c itizens,dying ful l of years and g lory, was a fortunate man, be ing

of those who by ab il ity and moderation in l ife command prosper

ity. Eur ipides, whose parents, accord ing to Aristophanes, were an

inn - keeper and a sel ler of herbs (480 B . had the hard l ife

and the jealous temper of the parvenu whose success is n ever

equal to his desires ; in his household , quarrels and separations,and never a sm i le upon his saddened face ;

4 in the theatre, rare

applause,sometimes outbreaks

,

5 and out of more than n inety

T his same re—aflirmation of “ laws set on high, whose birth O ln n pos boasts,” is found inthe O idip ous Tyra n n os, lin es 863, 864 .

3 A n tigon e [Du Plum p tre’

s E n g lish tran slation pp . 145 - 14

3 T he testimon y of A ristophan es might be doubted, but it is con firmm by other authors,a lthough some ha ve den ied it. A mon g the auditors of A ristophan es so ma ny must have knownthe family of the poet tha t it is diffi cult to be lieve the satirist lied repea tedly on this poin t, — in

T he A cha rn ia ns, 454 ; The Thesmophoria zousa i, 456, 9 1 0 ; T he K n ights, 1 9 ; T he F rogs, 839 :

a ll, except the last, represen ted durin g the lif etime of Euripides.

A poet quoted b y A ulus Gellius (A ttic Nights, xv . 20 ) ca lls him o~rpv¢v69 ,

“ the morose,

and niooye'

kmc, ha ter of joy .

"

5 H e puts in to the mouth of H ek abe words like these : T his is in order to con form to the

tradition that we have as to the gods ; a nd again . Let us pra y to Z eus, whatever he may be,— a n ecessity of Nature, or the mind of m a n (H eka be, 794, and T he T roj a n W omen ,

HISTORY OF GREECE.

dramas represented on the stag e, only four successful ones ;1 for

an adversary, Ar istophanes ; for his death , to be torn to pieces

by and,last outrage of fate or of falsehood, n ear his tomb

in Macedon flowed a po isonous spring .

8 However, Euripides is a

g reat poet, and speaks for the people more truly than any otherof the Greek trag ic authors .

Though he wa s separated by only a few years from his two

predecessors,more than a century seems to l ie between them and

him .

“ I have represented men as they ought to be ,” Sophokles

sa id ;“ Euripides represents them as they are . If we compare

Euripides with Aischy los, the d iff erence is even more strik ing .

Al l the stage, gods and men , is on a lo'

wer plane . Instead of

ru l ing the scene , the d iv ine personag es are only mach ines e ither

for the prologue or for the ( Zén oiimen t. The dramatic performance

be ing a rel ig ious festival , the poet is obl ig ed to show to the people

the old idols ; but he himself has no fa ith in them,and many of

the spectators are quick to understand when he says that there

prevail s as g reat confus ion in d iv ine th ing s as in human . In

the traged ies of Sophokles and Aischylos the battle is against

Destiny, and the oracles are d iv ine utterances . Human passions

are the motives in the plays of Euripides, and the sentences of

the gods have no we ight . The entire rel ig ious or epic past of

Greece perishes in his dramas . T he gods who were behind the

v ictims of Aphrod ite or Apollo d isappear ; Helen is but an adulteress, Men elaos a sot, Orestes a vulgar assass in .

‘ T he action n o

long er goes on between heaven and earth ; it is in the human

heart,

- and we place i t there n ow. From th is strife,of which the

m ind is the theatre, Euripides draws ,

powerful effects ; but, l ike

ou rselves aga in , he is too ready to address the eye, and employs

commonplace methods, — he shows decrepit old men who dragthemselves painful ly upon the stag e and utter pla in tive outcries ;other men in rag s, beaten down by il lness, m isfortune, and al l

the m iser ies of l ife : i f they are king s, he deg rades them from

1 F ive were crowned ; but The Baccha ntcs on ly a fter his death.

2 T he W a l lachia n shepherds on the fron tiers of Macedon stil l keep, to guard their flocks,enormous dog s, which would easily kil l a solitary trave l ler.

Pliny, H ist. Na t. x xx i. 1 9 .

See in Sen eca , Letter V. , to wha t a réle he reduces the hero Bel lerophon . T he spec .

ta tora were s o indignan t tha t they were rea dy to drive ac tors a nd author out of the thea tre.

AT HENIAN LITERA TURE or TH E FIFTH CENTURY B . 0 .

the ir station , and by al l these means excites pity or terror .For

this reason Ar istotle declares him the most trag ic of poets ;1 but

he is also the most enervating , because he often was only the

E Um p rmzs.2

painter of human weaknesses, while his predecessors were thepainters of heroism . Ar istophanes calls him the corrupter ofcities and the enemy of the gods,

”— a double accusation

, wh ich

1 P oetics, 1 3 but the philosopher condemn s, as savoring of the art of the costumer ratherthan of the poet, the eff ects of vulgar pa thos in which Euripides delighted ( I bid. ,2 Bust of Euripides (EY PIIIIA H E) in the Museum of Naples ( from a photog raph) .

HIST ORY OF GREECE .

wou ld l ie more truly against the author of the Lysistra ta and

T he Birds .

‘

W hence comes th is diff erence ? Between Marathon and A igospotamo i a moral evolution took place . In the latter part of the

century Athens possessed no longer the sentiments and bel iefswhich had made her so simple and grand during the Med ian wars .

rm : A por n sosrs or (ren ame s ( C A R ICA TURE ) .2

Two words then were enough for her , — the gods , the country .

But the gods d ie. l ike men ; and the idea of coun try, by be ingtoo widely extended , may be lost . In the Agora, in the Kerameikos,

and in the gardens of the hero A k ademos, topics were introduced

wh ich were no lon g er those which M iltiades and Kyn aigeiros had

d iscussed . There was ta lk of art and sc ience and philosophy : of

an art which represented old d iv in ities in n ew forms ; of science,

wh ich destroyed the old gods by explain ing them ; of phi losophy .

Aristophanes further reproaches him with ha ving chan ged the character of the drama:

“ making it lea n on one side, and fat on the other. b y son g s and dan ces (F rogs, 944,

I ,200 and

Pain tin g on a vase o f K y rena’

ika . in the. Louvre ( cf. 0 . Pei-rot, hfonum. publ . pa r I’A savor.

pour I'

en rour. (hme'

hul . gree t) “ 18 76, pl . O n a chariot drawn by four een taurs a nd guided

by a satyr who has a lon g torch in each hand, stands H erak les, the club on his shoulder, thebow in his hand. T he goddess of Victory. Nike. herself drives this g rotesque team . T here

can he no doub t as to the inte n tion of the pain ter : he wished to make a caricature . a nd dr ewma teria l from the comic drama . "is work is perfectly successful . C f . the Apotheosis ofH erak les on a v ase represen ted ea rlier, p . 33 .

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H isT U R Y OF GREECE .

the temp les, which have n ot room wi thin thei r walls for the d ivine

wealth . It is n o long er A pollo who commands Orestes to kil l

Kly taimn cstra ,- some ev il demon impersonates the god ; it is not

the Erinyes who pursue him,but his own spiritual terrors . Hera

k les is far from sure of h is paternal descent ; 1 and when T heseus

relates to him the very uned ifying adventures of Zeus , the hero ,moral but narrow-minded , rejo ins,

“ If the gods are adul terers ,they are n ot gods .

”To conclude , a cha racter in a lost drama

excla ims : “ Zeus !who is Zeus ? l k now by hearsay only .

” 2 Thus

wither and fall the g raceful flowers which l eg end had sown alongthe gay road in which the Greeks had for so many centuries

walked !

Before Euripides al l was d iv ine and hero ic ; with.

h im every

th ing becomes huma n , and the horizon g rows narrow . At the same

time . while v ision has a shorter range, it has g rown

clearer . Soph istry has done its ev il work . W e

find its influence even in the poet’

s masterpieces,

when he decla ims instead of be ing pathetic, and

by cold sentences impa irs the force of h is most

S A R DO NY X !touch ing appeals ; when his characters argue a case

where the outcry of pa ssmn should burst forth ;or when, in subtle argumentation plead ing on alternate s ides

, dare

to say at last : “ The tongue ha s sworn , but n ot the

Quinti l ian counsels the read ing of Euripides for persons intend ingthe practice of law. This recommendation would not conc il iate

poets, if his dramas had no other mer its . But extreme subtlety

of thought stimul ates the m ind, and a patien t analys is of feel

ing helps accuracy of observation . Hence the dramas of Euripides

have been a m ine of weal th to his successors ; a rich harvest can

be reaped there of those beautiful moral sentences in wh ich Greek

1 The author of the H a pfdov c, Euripides or K ritias, makes H erak les say, in re la ting the

story of his birth : dot“ Ath en a: rfir dhqdefa r 5rm ( Eurip .,ed. Didot, vol. ii. p . 764, F ragmen t,

a Z n'

zr mi ydp ofba WM)» A67? ( l birl . , F rag men t,A muse leadin g an o ld man in a philosopher's cloak to a youn g woma n sea tedon a rock ;

behind the young woman . a hermes. ( C ameo of the C abin et de F ra n ce ; sa rdonyx in two

layers, 20 millim . in height, and the same in breadth. C habouille t, C ata logue , etc . , No.

Viscon ti regards this beautiful cameo as a represen ta tion of Me l pomene a nd Euripides beforethe Pa laistra (Viscon ti, l conogr. grecque, i.

H ippeL, 60 7. I n the Pha n icia n Women , 5 04, 5 45 ; 1 0 , et seq., he says,like the

Sophiste , that all is perm issib le, even crime, in order to succeed.

AT HENIAN LITERA TURE or T H E FIFTH CENTURY B . o. 51

l iterature abounds, which are l ike good seed sown in the human

soul . 1

On the other hand, whi le the old mythology was to him only

a mater ial for poetry, while he spoke of the Olympians with the

scepticism of Protagoras, while d iv in ation , sacr ifices,and the exam ining of entrails seemed to him folly,it must be remembered that Euripides had that

lofty idea of a D iv in e Being wh ich was then begin

n ing to dawn in the noblest m inds . He bel ieved

in the Logos, or Reason , of H erak leitos. which is

the principle of all thing s ; in the Sou l of Anax

agoras, omn iscient and omn ipotent ; and he addresses

to this Supreme God the beautiful apostrophe : “ To Thee, self

existent,and creator of all which the ethereal cur

rent surrounds ; to Thee, who art alternately

clothed in l ight and in the darkness of n ight, while

the innumerable mult itude of the stars lead around

T hee the ir eternal choruses !” 3 This also : O Sov

ereign Master, under whatever name T hou w ilt be

called,Zeus or Hades , to T hee I offer these l iba

tions and these cakes of pure flour ! Thou , among

Z E U S .a

HA DE S .

‘

the gods of heaven , dost wield the sceptre of Zeus ,and as Hades

,thou rules t the g loomy realm

? Send the l ight of

the m ind to morta ls who des ire to know whence comes ev il,and

who is he among the blessed gods whom they must persuade , to

fin d an end to the ir woes .

” 6 W ith this we find a m oral revola

tion . W ords like these,on the one s ide negative, on the other

affi rmative,once spoken

,are never lost .

1 H avet, Le C hristia n isme et ses origines , i. 1 09 et seq.

2 C ameo, in agate—onyx of two layers, in the C abinet de F ra n ce ( 1 5 millim . in height, 1 ?

in breadth . No. 3 of the C ata logue . )Euripides, fragmen t, 5 93 . But is this fragmen t by Euripides hr by Kritias? O n thi

question see the Euripides of Didot, ii. 763 .

H ades seated on his throne, the medias on his head, the eag le on his left ha nd. A t his

right Kerberos. (C ameo of the C abin et de F ra nc e. Sardon v x of three layers, height, 36 m illim . , breadth, 22 . C a talogue, No .

5 Plato, in his K ra lylas, says that to avoid speakin g the dreaded n ame of H ades, this

wordwas applied to design ate the kin gdomof the underworld, whose g loomy k in g was thenca lled Plouto s, god of wea lth, because of the precious meta ls underground.

5 Euripides, fragmen t, 967.

HISTORY OF GREE CE .

But Euripides was not the man to drink the hemlock of

Sokrates. W ith the Sophist’

s fac il i ty in supporting the most

a rn nom ra .9

d iverse theses, in chan g inghis res idence he changed h is

doctrines also . The court of

the Macedon ian A rchelaos,

where he passed the last

years of h is l ife,had not yet

arrived at ph ilosophic seepticism . In the tragedy of

‘

the Bacehanles which he com

posed'

there , and whose rep

resen tation at A thensdid not

occur till after h is death , he

lands the popular rel ig ion,and con demns the

'

temerities

of reason .

“ In the presence

of the gods . says T e iresias,“ do not assume to be wise .

Noth ing can ava il against

the trad itions we have re

ceived from our fathers, not

even the words of wise men

who bel ieve that they have

found out knowl edg e .

” 1

In the general h istory of

the Attic stage we can fix

two per iods, — the first, that

of the Mysteries, or rel ig ious

drama ; second , that of the

drama of human l i fe . To

the latter Euripides belong s

he is the founder of the mod

ern stage, in bring ing upon the scene, under the old names . the men

of his tim e, with the passions of human nature in al l ag es . A

Bacchtmtes, 200 el seq.

3 Greek mirror in bron ze, of th e C ell. Castellani ( C a ta logue. No. 265 , pl . A sta tue of

Aphrodite forms the foot of the mirror ; above her head an eros hovers at each side.

ATHENIAN LIT ERAT URE OF TH E FIFTH CENT URY B . C . 53

charac terist ic trait.

of his drama is the place that he g ives to

women and to love, — the key - note of all our modern plays.

His Pha idra, v ictim of Aphrod ite,is

the ancestress of al l whom Eros agi

tates,del ights, or tortures .

l He owed

to his two wives much of the sadness

of his l ife, and he aveng ed himself upon

them in his dramas by such severity

aga inst their sex that he wa s calledS ILVER c ons.

i

“ the Misogyn ist ;” 3 and yet many of h is hero ines have rema ined

immortal types of devotion and self- sacrifi ce . Polyx en e accepts

death to escape from servi tude,from the in sults of her master .

from the shame of a couch once desired by k ing s .

” 4

done the same . But Makaria “

goes from l ife by the most g lo~

rions path,

” off ering to d ie to del iver Athens ; Evadne refuses to

survive her husband ; A lk estis d ies to save hers ; and Iphigen eia

is wi lling to perish for the salvation of Greece .

5 She is at first

alarmed,and implores her father not to yield to the urgency of

K alchas, demand ing her death :

Many have

'

0 my father, I have n o other skill than my tears I lay the branch of a

suppliant at thy feet, and I press against thy knees the body which my motherbore to thee ; do not mak e me die before m y time . The light of day is so

sweet'

! Send m e n ot to the dark reg ions underground . I am the first whoever cal led thee father

,the first whom thou didst call thy daughter. Seated

upon thy kn ees I have g iven thee caresses , and received them from thee.

Thou hast said to m e : O my child , I shall see thee some day happy at the

fireside of a powerful husband .

’

A nd I , hanging about thy neck , touching thyheard as I do n ow

,answered thee : O my father, m av I some day be able to

offer thee the affectionate hospitality of my house , in return for the benefitswith which thouhast surroundedmy childhood .

’

Rac ine has im itated this appeal in verses solemn and har

menions ; but how much more s imple and g raceful are those of

1 The lin es 1 98 et seq. are descriptive of a pathological case.

1 C oin of A rchelaos. kin g of Macedon . Diademed head of A po llo, right profile. R e s

verse : in an in cused square, a horse and the legend A PXE AA O .

“ The en em y of women . T o his mind a wom an’

s chief merit is to keep silen ce a nd

remain quiet in the house (H erak , H ermion e coun se ls the husb and to let no women

visit his house ; b y their evil speech they wil l corrupt his wife (A ndrom.,

4A im rupciwmv r pdadev ifuep e

'

va (H elmbe, 365 , 366)

HI STORY OF GRE ECE .

Euripides !‘ André Chen ier, himself a Greek in character, had the

Greek l ines in m ind when he wrote his J eane . C ap tive, who, l ike

Iphigeneia , sa idJ e ne veux pus mourir en core!

But when the daughter-

oi Agamemnon knows that the orac le

demands her death, that Greece may con quer, her soul rev ives ;

sA cmrxc r: or rpm c sx su .’

enthusiasm se izes her, exalts her, and she is eager to meet the

kn if e of"

the priest . “ T housands of men are armed ,” sh e cries

,

to avenge the land ; and shall one woman’s l ife be an obstacle

to them ? I g ive myself to Greece . Sacrifice me , and let the city

1 This is a lso the fee lin g of Patin (Les T rag iques yrecs, iii. See V ol . I. p . 244, a

fragment from Iphfgen eia in Tauris.

9 V ase pain ting ( from Raoul- R ochette ,Monum. fried. d’a nh

’

quite fi gum‘

e, pl . 26 b) . I n the

cen tre is an a lta r. behind which stands Kalebas. T he priest has his kn ife lifted to sla ythe victim ,

who sta nds resigne d, looking down at the a l ta r ; but behind Iphigeneia appea rs thefawn , up on which the knife wil l fa l l . A rtemis, who saves I phigeueia , sta nds above and behindher, in her hunting -dress. O n the left is sea tedApol lo, a nd in the foreground is a serva n t of

Ka l chas, fol lowed by a woman . (See Vogel , Scenen Euripideivcher Trayt’

ilien in yrieclciscben

Vascn gemdlden . p .

Nor a . O n the. opposite page is represen ted a fragmen t of a pain ting on a large amphorain the Museum of Naples ( from the Al ouum. dell ’ I nsh

'

l. vol. iii. pl . 31 . C f. H eydema n n , Die

VasensammlungeudesMuseoNazion a le zuNeapel,No . In the ce ntr e is the divin ity whopresides over the festiva l a nd to whom is mirisecrated the pla c

e where occurs the last rehea rsa lsf the sa tyric chorus ; n amely, Dionys os (A IO NYS O Z ) . lie lies upon a couch, a nd A riadne sits

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ATHENIAN LIT E RAT URE or T H E FIFTH CENTURY B . c . 57

of Priam be destroyed . I ts ruins shall make my name memorable .

This is my marriage ; this, my victory !”

In read ing these words

we forg ive Eurip ides that he wrote ; “ The woman is the most

shameless of an imals .

” 1

Euripides had a regard for Sophokles, or at least he makes no

mal icious allus ions to him ; but Aischylos he does not love . T hi s

we can read ily understand , and Aristophanes wil l make him pay

dear for this injustice . As regards political affa irs, we find very

l ittle reference to them in the dramas of E uripides, with the

exception of a few allus ions to the j ealousy between Athen s and

Sparta .

I t is clear,however, that he loves ne ither the Eupatrids nor

the popular orators , and that government by the multitude seems

to him “ a terrible scourge .

”Like Ar istotle , he attributes wisdom

to the m iddle class,which does not always have it ; and whi le he

often speaks in pra ise of patriotism , in [ on he shows us the first

of those recluses who, unm indful of their c ivic duties . content

themselves,as priests of some god, in the tranqui l idleness of

the temple . He goes so far as to represent the just man as

having the whole earth for his country,“ like the eag le, hav ing

all the reg ions of the a ir for his flight.

” 2 W here art thou , sol

d ier of Marathon ? 3

beside him . A t the left is sea ted the Muse, holding a mask in her left hand; a youthful wingedH imeros ( IME PO Z ) ho lds out to her a wreath. A t the right of this group a re Silen es a nd

H era k les ; a t the left an un k n own hero and three actors, each ha ving his ma sk in his ha nd.

Be low are two musician s a nd the master of the chorus, a player on the kithara (XA PINO Z )and a player on the doub le fiute

,the ce lebra ted Pronomos ; the chorus-mas ter (xopodtdéam k oc)

is n amed A HMH‘

I‘

PIO S he is sea ted, and holds a ro l l in his ha nd. Behind him is a lyr e. A ll

the other figures are charcuta i, dressed as satyrs. O n e is dan cing the sikin n is ; a ll the others

are ta lkin g .

1 A ristopha nes, Lysistra ta , 569 , a nd the F estiva ls of Demeter, 386—432 .

9 W'

e have seen (p . 1 8) A ristopha n es represen t A ischylos a s attackin g those who,avoid

ing burden s, refused to ful fi l their civic duties. A n axagora s refused pub l ic office, a nd Sokra tesboasts, in his A p ology , of havin g avoided a ll except those which fel l b y lot. This withdrawa lis the begin n ing of the destruction of the former sta te a nd the ea r l y pa triotism .

3 \Ve have of Euripides eighteen tragedies. fragmen ts. a nd a sa tv ric drama , T be

C yclop s . I n the A lexandria n ca non of classic authors, two other tragic authors are men tioned.

Ion and A chaios ; but there remain of their works on ly shape less debris. F or other writers

of this period see O ttf . Miiller’

s H istory of Greek Litera ture, cha pter xxvi.

HISTORY OF GREE CE .

V . A R IST O I’ I IA NES .

BETWE EN Rac ine and Corne i lle stands Mohere : in l ike manner

Aristophanes has been placed wi th the g reat trag ic authors of

Athens ; but he rema ins the ir inferior, because m ind alone is not

enough to bring a man to the highest rank .

1 The historian , to .

m ox r sos , R O MO S , A ND TRA G E DY .

2

whom he reveals a multitude of customs, should read everythinghe has written

, and the scholar should do the same ; yet both

must often close their eyes to his befoul ing indecency . In speak

ing of h is works as satyric dramas, we must bear in m ind that

l T he life of Aristopha n es lasted from D. C . to 380 . H is first drama was rep

resentedunder an assumed n ame in 427, as he was n ot a t. tha t time thirty years old. the age

a t which a poet coold obta in a chorus lewa lly . See the pa rabasis o f T he ( loads .

9 Va se- pain tin g ( from G erhard dimerles . pl . l l ion y sos ( A l O NY xO S) ,sea ted. ho lds the lhy rso -t in his le ft hand, a nd in the right a ka n tha ro s. which he inc lines to the

young Kmno s ( Romo s ) . who. lean ing with bo th a rms on the knees o f the go d, is about to drink ,while A riadne (A PlA ANl -Z ). sta nding behind. fi l ls the vessel . Behind Dion y sos is T ragedy

I n the right hand she ho lds the thyrsos, and in the left a hare , which she is

perhaps about to presen t to the her Komos.

ATHENIAN LIT ERAT URE OF TH E FIFT H CENTURY B . C . 59

they are altogether d iff erent from satires as we understand that

term . The shapeless creatures who compose the train of D ionysos ,Where the d iv ine and the hu

man sink back to the bestial,

a re in many cases the authors

of h is inspiration . Compared

to the g reat author of A the

nian comed ies . Rabela is him

self is pure , and the K ara

ghenz of Stamboul and Ca iro

is almos t outdone .

Comedy,born am id the

D ionys iac festivals, together

w ith her noble sister T rag e

dy ,wa s in the hands of Aris

tophan es a wea pon to be

used mainly aga inst philoso

phy and science,against the

bravest generals, the most

eloquent orators , and the wis

est man . This g reat scoffer

rid iculed all save himself . A m s‘

ro p H A NE s,

l

The ré‘

le of moral ist and

soc ial reformer has been assigned him ; he fil led tha t of publ ic

entertainer only, and holds it yet . That in h is satires we find

infin ite wit, a wonderful rac iness, important truths, and pictures of

the most g racefu l poetry, no one w il l deny also i t should be g ranted

him that many abuses had g rown up in Athens and in her empire .

Before the spectacle of her power, the Athen ian people were so

elated w ith pride as to forg et in domestic aff a irs a ll w isdom,and

in fore ign affa irs all prudence .

“ Our all ies,the poet sa id

,

“a re

only slaves who turn the m ill . At the same time th is must n ot

be taken l iterally . T here wa s justice in the State stil l,for on on e

1 Marb le bust ( from the Al onum. dell’I nst.

,v ol . v . pl . T his bust bea rs n o in sc rip

tion , but it is doub le, and on the other side is the head of Men ander, which is we l l k n own .

have a lready said that it was customary to brin g together in this way two grea t poets,

philosophers, or historian s. T hus H erodoto s a nd T hucydides are un ited in a doub le bust inthe Museum of Naples (see la ter, p . therefore ha s good rea son to give the

name of A ristophan es to the on e represen ted here (A n n a li,1 85 3, pp . 25 0 et

HISTORY OF GREECE .

occas ion K leon was condemned to restore fiv e talents ; 1 and there

remained good sense in men’

s minds , for The K nights , a cutting satire

on the demagogues of the time , obta ined the first prize, and wasrepresented in the D ionys iac theatre a t the Len ea n festival . Twice

tecused by the all - powerfu l demag ogue, the poet was twice acquitted .

In his fierce wa r aga inst the n ew Athens , Aristophanes calumn iates

her people,2 as he also slandered Sokrates a nd Perikles

, Pheidias

and Euripides, and even K leon , who d id not always deserve to be

treated as a rascal . In Tlie K n ights, old Demos impersonates the

populace , — an irasc ible , deaf old man . who is the prey of syce

phan ts and C harlatans . He has two fa ithful servan ts, Nik ias and

Demosthenes ; but a wicked slave, K leon , makes m ischief in the

house .

This flatterer, knowing his master’s humor, fawns upon him ,ca resses

him , and binds him with leathern thongs , say ing to him :‘ 0 Demos , you

have done enough in deciding on e case ; 3 go n ow to the bath,tak e a

morsel , drink , cat, take the three obols . Permit me to serve up supper tovou. Then

,having snatched up what any of us m ay have prepared, he

makes a present of it to our master. Not long ago, when I had kneadeda Spartan cake at Py los , he somehow circumvented me most knavishly ,and filobed it away , and served up him self what had been made ready byme. Us he drives away

,and suffers n o other person to wa it on our master,

rte/lam , 6. This fac t has been much discussed. See A . Martin , Les ca va lwrs

A then ian s, p . 460—468 .

9 I n his Lif e of Perik les, 23, Plutarch speaks of historian s whose testimony was worth n o

more than tha t of the comic poets, a rema rk which those would do wel l to remember who. in

all ages, a sk from comedy more than it is ab le to give.

It. is in The Wasp s that A ristophan es has especial ly shown the people -judge, of whichRacine has made his Pcrrin Dandin ; a nd there a re stil l people who think that the most faith~ful portra it of the A then ian s is this ridiculous character, a lthough T hucydides has long ago

said ( i. 77) what we ought to thin k in respect to the (inhabited of A then s.

Nor a — O n the opposite. page is represen ted a pain ting on an aryba llos discovered in

A then s, now in the Museum of Berlin (Furtw'

augler, Beschreibung , No. from A . Dumon t

and C hapla in . Les C éramiques de la Gréce p rop re, pl . 1 2, 13 . T he scene is la idupon an nudus

lating ground, covered with grass a nd flowers. Dionysos (A IO NY SO S) is surrounded by his

fo l lowers bear dless, his head crowned with ivy, his right hand resting aga in st his thyrsos, thego dis seated towards the right. a nd lo oks back a t the nymph Pha nope (QANO PE ), who is the

cen tra l figure of the group . Pha nope. is da n cing to the sound of a lymp a non , beaten by Peri‘

k lymene ( F E PIKAYMENH ), sea ted a t the le ft, while in the foreground Nymphe (NYMt )

supports in her ar ms her compan ion , Naia (NAIA ) . exhausted by the dance and by bacchicexcitemen t. A t the right a nd left a re. group ed specta tors ; on the right the sa tyr R omos (KO MO E )and the nymphs C horo (XO PQ) a ndKa le (R AM on the le ft, the nymphs Makaria (MA KA PIA )and A n theia (ANGE IA ), and a Silenos ( SIA ENO S) . Stil l a n other group is formed by two

nymphs con versing a t the left. Kisso (KISSO ) a nd (‘

hrvsis (XPY sl s) ; the la tter is standing

and holds a doub le- flut e. A ll these figures, like Dionysos, wear ir r -wrca ths.

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HIST ORY OF GREECE .

T he Sausag e-maker. But I ha ve n ot the least learning , except to know

my letters , and that n ot very well .

Demosthenes. Oh ! that may do you some harm if you partly knowy our letters . The State 1 requires for its ruler neither a lea rned nor

honest man . It wants a blockhead and a rasca l .” 2

A sn omuum a .

8

The d ialogue continues for some time in this key, when Kl eon

enters, who cries, accord ing to the custom of demagogues in

power : “ W oe to you who are always conspiring aga inst the

people !“ W hereupon the chorus repl ies by cal l ing him a villain

and a publ ic robber .

K lean . O veteran heliasts,brotherhood of the triobolon whom 1 pro

tect, assist me ! Conspirators attack me.

The C horus. And it is with justice ; thou devourest the public revenues .

T he text is r',q Qyuryfa ,which is wrong ly tran slated by most Greek scholars demagogy .

The Kn ights , lines 1 85 - 1 93 . See,la ter. the portrait of Minor

3 Pain ting on the bo ttom of a cup . n ow in the British Museum from Jahn , Berichte defMn . sachs . G a ol/m. 1867.

pl . iv . No . 5 . T he shoemaker (a m oropoc) is a t work on his smal ltab le : with his le ft hand laid fla t. he holds in place a lon g piece of leather which he is cuttingin to strips with a tool ca lled m im ic . O n the wa l l han g a similar in strument, a shoe alreadymade, a last. a hammer. a piece of lea ther. and a nother object which can not be distinguished.

A ristotle explains these conspiracies o f the rich in his Politics. book v . chap. v . : Of the

C am e: of R evolution peculia r to Democratic Govm m a m.

ATHENIAN LITERA TURE O F T H E FIFTH CENTURY B . c. 65

K leon . I acknowledge it, I am a robber .

1

The C horus. 0 scoundrel , O impudent brawler ! Thou hast underm inedour city like a furious torrent and, posted on a high rock , thoukeepest watchfor the arrival of the tributes as a fisherman watches for the tunny - fish .

” 2

K ratin os and Eupolis had taken equal l icense ; these satires

are in a democracy the penalty of power, and the wise man

bears them wi th equan imity . K leon had no right to be called a

wise man , and yet I seem to see him,seated

in the theatre of D ionysos in his mag is

trate ’s marble stall , receiv ing all these insults

with impassive face . However , in the mat

ter of mal ic ious acts they were quite even TR IO BO LO N ,

with each other : K leon had repeatedly en

dea v ored to deprive the poet, by sentence of law, of his c iv ic

rights ;4 and Aristophanes took pleasure in rem ind ing twenty thou

sand spectators that his enemy had been compelled to pay back

money which he had stolen .

5

The comedy of T he K n ights was played four v ears after th e

death of Per ikles ; the ev il was not at this time very serious , but

in The Wasp s, represented in 423 B . c ., appears more conspicuous

on e of the democratic malad ies,— the fear of treason . Says one

of his characters“ Everything with you is tyranny and conspirators, whether the

" accuser’scharge be great or small

,the name of which I have n ot heard

, n ot evenfor these - fi fty years ; but n ow it is cheaper by far than salted fi sh

, so

that n ow the nam e of it is much talked of in the market- place . If a

man buy anchovies instead of sprats,forthwith the seller of sprats cries

‘ This fellow seem s to be buying relishes for his tyranny !’

A nd if any

on e ask for a leek , as a sauce for his anchovies, the woman that sellsherbs

, winking with on e eye, says : ‘ T ell me, you ask for a leek : is itfor a tyranny , or do you think that Athens brings you tribute of

1 I t is said that n o workman was wil lin g to make the m ask for the part of K leon , and no

actor would assume the role, so tha t A ristophanes himsel f wa s ob liged to take it.2 T he Greek is of un tran slatab le b revity : robs (pépouc Ov vvoo xomb v3 H ead of the A maryn thian A rtemis, right profi le . R everse : E PET PI . O x

’

s head, orn a

men ted with fi l lets ; under it, <DANIA 2 , a magistra te’

s n ame. (C oin of E retria in Euboia .)4 K leon accused him of ma king the A then ian s a laughin g - stock to stran gers, because his

comedy, The Babylon ia ns, wa s performed in the spring , at a time when the city was filled withthe a l lies com in g to bring the tribute of the islands.

5 A cha rn ia n s, 6. Plato says in The Symp osium that the A then ian theatre could con tainmore than three times ten thousand spectators ; but this can not be taken litera l ly . [See In troduction to first volume, p . 1 6 . E n ]

V O L. I I I . 5

HISTORY O F GREECE .

W e pass over a few years, and come to the time when the

P lon tos was played, first in 408 B . C ., and aga in , after be ing partly

re- wr itten , in 388 . In this comedy we find

reference to one of the crying ev i ls of the

ti me — the informer’

s trade . U nder a firm

and v ig ilan t governmen t, accusers had been

restra ined by the law, which imposed upon

them a fine of a thousand drachmas when

they failed to obtain at least one fifth of the votes . W ith mag is

trates more eag er to be popular than to be just, the sykop han tai’

became numerous .

n a a cn n a .’

C hremy los. A re you a husbandman ?

The Sykop ha n tes. Do you suppose me to be so mad ?Chremy los. O r a merchant ?The Sg/hop ha n tes. Yes. I pretend to be, upon occasion .

C hremy los. W ell , then , did you learn any trade ?

The Sykop han tes. No, by Z eus !C hremy los. H ow,

then,or by what do you live, if you do nothing ?

T he Sykophan tes. I am manager of all public and private afi airs.

C hremy los. Y ou? Wherefore ?The Sykopha n tes. I please to do so.

Nor has the poet any more respect for the law ; w itness the

worthy man who, in the Women’

s Sena te, is scoffed at because he

bel ieves that every good citizen owes obed ience to the decrees of

the people .

8 Later we shal l find that the Sophists speak in nearly

the same manner .

1 E ag le, standing to the left. Reverse : AB. Gorgon'

s head. fron t face, with tongue out,

and hair formed of bristling serpen ts. (Drachma of A bydos. Imhoof- Blumer, C hoirs de monnoies grecques, pl . ix . fig .

9 A t a n early p eriod in Attic history a law was made prohibiting the exportation of

figs. ‘t thcr it was made in a time of dea rth, or through the foo lish policy of preservin g tothe n atives the most va luable of their produc tion s, we can not say . I t appears, however, thatthe law

.

con tinued in force long after the cause of its en ac tmen t , or the gen era l be lief of itsutility, had ceased to exist ; and A ttic fig -

growers exported their fruit, in spite of prohibition sa nd p ena l ties. T o in form again st a man for so doing was con sidered harsh and vexatious ; asall people a re apt to think that obso lete sta tutes may be in fringed with impun ity , H en ce theterm !romain e». which origina l ly sign ified to lav an in formation again st another for exportingfigs,

’ came to be applied to a ll ill- natured, ma licious, groundless, and vexatious accusation s.Sykopha n tcs , in the time ofAristophanes and Demosthen es. desig na ted a person of a peculiarclass, not capab le of being described by a ny sing le word in our language, but we ll understoodand appreciated by a n Athen ian . H e had not much in common with our sycophanl, but was a

happy combina tion of the common ba rra tor , inf ormer, p elli/bg/ger, busy/body, rogue, lia r, and sla n

derer"

(Smith’

s Diction ary of Greek a nd R oma n A ntiquities, p. E D.)Sophok les had nlremlv showed, in his A ins, the most daring of H omer

’

s heroes con fess

ATHENIAN LITERA TURE O F THE FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 67

W hil e making due allowance for the exagg erations of the

poet,we recogn ize in these satiric pictures a g roundwork of truth .

Aristophanes, who outl ived the beg inn ing of the Peloponnes ian

war by more than fifty years, d id in truth see develop, in the

SC ENE or CO MEDY : XA NT H I U S, CHE IRO N, A ND m es s }

midst of the splendid democracy of Per ikles,the faults peculiar to

popul ar govern ment when beneath it there is a turbul ent crowd

that it can ne ither rule nor guide . T here were n ow two popular

tions in the city, — the old Athen ians,among whom there was

yet an ar istocratic remnant too feeble to command,but strong

ing that men ought to submit to laws which come from the gods,- tha t is, from Nature,— or

from men .

1 Va se- pa in tin g ( from a photograph andthe E lite desMonum . ce’

ramogragh.,v ol. ii. pl .

This pain ting has not been satisfa ctorily exp lain ed : two person s, on e of whom bears the n ame

[Eav]G IA 2 ,are tryin g to drag and to push C heiron (XIPQN) up some steps to a platform at the

left. T wo n ym phs, at the right (NYDui I) , a re witn esses of the scen e, as a lso is a third person ,whose n ame is en tirely un kn own . C f . H eydema n n ,

Jahrbuch des K a iserl . d. I nstit , i. 28 7 .

HIST ORY OF GRE ECE .

enough to assist in restrain ing ; and the populace, which com

merce and war had brought tog ether in Pe ira ieus . T his latter, a

restless crowd , env ious and fam ished, wished to l ive on spo ils

taken from the enemy, exactions from the al lies, and fines and

con fisca tion s from the rich . Meeting in the Agora, these two

populations became one, and the second , increased by the poor of

the c ity, was predom inant .

This population made laws

and exercised adm in istrative

and judic ial functions, and'

i t was not exacting as to

the'

merits of its leaders ;from Peri kles it had fallen

to K leon, from K leon to Hyperboles, and from him to Syrak osios ;and every attractive speaker who flattered it became quickly a man

of importance . These demagogues d id not so much lead the

crowd as allow themselves to be led by it, justifying to its eyes ,by p laus ible arguments, all i ts pass ions of the momen t .

2 Hence in

considerate decis ions, l evity in‘ affa irs of the g reatest moment, and

a relax ing of the obl igations of the State , wh ich authorized some

times arb itrary measures on the part of mag istrates, and injustice

in the tribunals .

8 More and more the public wealth was regarded

as common property which ought to be d ivided among the c itizens

in the form of the triobolon, of more frequent g ratuitous distribu

tions, and of constantly increased expend itures for the ir festivals

and amusements . I t is easy to see how this abuse should exc ite

the poet’s keenest satire ; the people laughed , and we laugh also,but not without a recogn ition of the exagg erated character of the

picture .

W ith less indulgence, however, we regard the war that he

T E SSE R JE G IV ING A R IGHT T O T H E T H E O R I KO N.

l

Leaden tcsserm ( from the Mormm. dell’ I nuit , vol. viii. pl . 52, Nos . 7 1 7, 721 , The

first and second are decora ted with comic masks, the third with a tragic mask . T hese tesserse

were distributed in the dewoi to the citizens presen t, who exchanged them at A then s for

the two obols of the lheorikon . See Ben ndorf, Beitrdge sur Ken n lm'

ss dcs a ll ischen Theaters.

pp . 606 ct seq.

Thucydides (iv . 2 1) says of K leon : dvfjpMum -76s" m i rq

'

B”A60“ mdavéra ror.

W e have seen that A ristutle did not believe that the judges were ven a l before 40 9 B c

but in his Politics ( v. 5 ) he. represen ts the democrac y as occupied everywhere in ruining the

rich by senten ce. in vol ving con fisca tion s: and A risto phanes (T he Wasp s, 65 9) men tion s confis

cations as one of the sources of the pub lic re venue.

ATHE NIAN LIT E RAT URE or T H E FIFT H CENTURY B . C . 69

declared upon the relig ious institutions of h is country ; for whil e in

the first case he attacks faults and ev il s that could be found also

under other governments, in the other he underm ined the

very foundations of the State . He was too much the

chi ld of his time not to feel‘

its influence . The surround

ing a ir aff ects him ; and this extreme conservative, th is

lover of the old time,is the boldest of free- thinkers

in the present . He demands a return to ancient mann ers, and

labors to destroy what st ill remains of them . A thing like this

A PO LLO .l

SCENE or con ten t ?

is not without parallel ; but we have a. right to reproach the poetfor this contrad iction .

One fa ith was stil l dear to the Greeks,even in frivolous Athens,

the fa ith in oracles . Aristophanes rid icules this,and roughly

1 Apo l lo, standing , lean in g on a tripod and holding a n olive - bran ch ; in the field, the

in scription XPH EMO A O ’

I‘

QN (he who utters an orac le) . (E ngraved ston e in the C ollection deLuyn es of the C a bin et de F ra n ce . )

2 Va se- pa in tin g . from Mil lin gen , P ein tures ( le va ses grecs tire'

es de diverses collections,pl. 46 ; but the in scription s are in correct ly read or in correctly completed. This vase is n ow

70 H ISTORY OF GREECE .

handles prophets and soothsayers . A certa in Boiotian Bakis, whose

h istory is lost in the n ight of time and the mist of leg ends, was

for tha t very reason the more honored . T here was a collection

E X- V O TO T O A F O R E IGN DW IN IT Y : KY BELE A ND A TYS .‘

of his oracles,in which the decrees of fate were sought , as later

the Romans sought them in the ir S ibyl l ine books . K leon,accord

in g to the poet, had prov ided himsel f w ith a good supply of them ;

in the Museum of Berlin , andwe rectify the in scription s from the C a ta logue (Beschreibung .

No. The vase is sign ed by the pain ter A ssteas : ’

A a a r ¢'

a s fypadn. T he p rosl’

en ion

is supported by fi ve low co lumns of the Doric order. T he scene represen ts the in terior of a.

house : a t the left is a ha l f-opened door ; on the wa l l are hung a wrea th and two masks ofwomen . I n the cen tre an old man (XA PXNO S) , iden tified by the color of his heard, is lyin gupon a la rge chest, p erhaps con tain in g his treasure. from which he is apparen tly re lucta n t tohe separated T wo figure s. at the right a nd left. g ra sp him by the arm and by the leg . as if to

dra g him off one is E tna-mirror. the other. Kdmckor. A third (KA PlQN) , doubt less the. slaveof C harinos, is presen t a t the scene. but takes no part in it. except to manifest a larm . C f.

l'

leydcman n , Phly/a l‘

enda rxlellungen auf bema llen Vcwen , in the Jahrbuchdos'

a iserl. d. a rchdol .

I nuit , i. ( 1886) 28 2. P.

Gr eek has- re lief of the Museum of the Marciana at Venice (Dutschke, A n til 'e Bild

sna ke in O berita lien . vol. v . p. 1 1 6. No. from the .l lmmm. pub . p a r I’A ss . p our Pen a . dos Et.

gr . . 1 8 8 1 . pl . ‘2. T wo women , en tering the temple by a ha l f- owned door. brin g their offering to

K ybe le andAtvs. The first worshipper, with right hand lifted. in sig n o f adoration , holds in

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

H IST ORY OF GREECE .

v ictims sacrificed . He respects Demeter and Athene, upon whom

in Athens no man could venture to lay irreverent ha nds ; but

Hermes is a c/teval ier d’

industrie, protector of knaves ; Herakles, a

g lutton who is always hung ry ; D ionysos, the son of the wine

tiask ," a coward who is always thirsty . Plontos and Poseidon do

not escape, and the priest of Zeus would l ike“ to send his god

walking ,”who, says Plon tos ,

“ is j ealous of a l l worthy people .

In the Mysteries doctrines had been taught which l if ted v irtuous

souls to the reg ions of l ight, the near presence of the gods,— to

HE RA KLE S RO BBE D .

‘

become themselves also be in gs incorruptible and imperishable : at

them the poet mocks .

2 Shoot ing - stars,he says, are the rich return

in g from the banquet,lantern in hand ; for there is carous ing up

there, and, as wel l as on earth , many resorts for pleasure .

La stly, as if to leave nothing in the old fa ith which his irrev

eren t fancy has not touched , he forms a cosmogony, a parody of

Hesiod’

s, whose heroes are n ew gods, whom he puts in place of

the O lympians , The Birds (414 B . A recent law of the dema

gogue Syrakosios forbade dramatic poets to make al lusion to men

Vase- paintin g ( from Pa n ofka, Iil ase'

s Bla ca s, p l . 26 H erakles pursues, club in

hand. a woman , who seems to have. stolen from him an oinochoe. I n his left handhe carries anenormous lea f ; in the comedy o f The F rogs, the vorac ious hero is accused b y an in n - keeper ofha vin g stolen and devour ed sixteen loaves o f bread. (Cf. l leydcman n , Jahrbuch des Kuiaerl . d.

archan l . b a ht ,v ol. i. ( 1886) pp . 294 el seq. )

3 Peace, 827 et seq.

ATHENIAN LIT ERAT URE OF TH E FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 73

and things of the day . Ar istophanes subm itted ; he no longer

named men,but the gods suffered instead .

W hile occas ionally a pious parabasis . l ike those precautions

which Volta ire employed aga inst the Bastill e, sufficed to save the

poet from the charg e of impiety it is not poss ible that

th is fashion of treat ing heavenly thing s could be without danger

to the Olympians . T hey, meanwh ile, as easy-

go ing as Demos,

d id not at a ll aveng e themselves by the hand of the ir priests and

HUMA N FIGURE S W ITH cocx’s H E A DS .

‘

of mag istrates appointed to defend the cult . Rel ig ions of much

g reater severity have endured coarse buffooneries which amused

the worshippers and gave offence to no one . Th is had long been

the case with the Greeks,whom Homer had early accustomed to

irreverence towards the gods .

2 W ith al l h is devotion, the wor

shipper took l ibert ies, as a son m ight with his father, w ithout

respect or fear being thereby dim in ished . But this l icense, harm

less in ages of faith , became s ingularly dangerous when rel ig ion

ceased to be sure of itsel f,and serious-m inded men shook it to

its foundations by ca sting among the crowd ideas which make

temples empty .

1 Vase- pain tin g ( from Gerha rd, T rin ksclzalen und Gef asse, pl . xxx . No . 1 A . Furtw‘

a‘

ngler,

Besc lzrez'

bung , No . Two figures, wrapped in c loaks, their heads en tirely covered withmasks in the form of a cook ’

s head,fol low a flute- p layer.

2 See V ol . I. p . 320 .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

Then we have a right to ask the poet what he proposes to

substitute for this wh ich he seeks to overthrow. He l ives in the

m idst of a people renowned for the ir abstem iousness , and he

preaches g luttony ; his wisdom cons ists in gam ing , in drinking ,in tranquilly eating a roast hare or an eel from Lake Kopais,

wh ile other men go in to battle ; courag e is folly, and the brave

Lamachos, who returns wounded from the field , was an ass . And

then what dense sensual ity, what tr iv ial ities and repul s ive coarse

ness,though sometimes set in pure gold ! Lysistrata , or

“ the

W omen’

s Strike ,” the v il est of al l his comed ies

,has choruses

worthy of Aischylos .

Excuse may be ofi ered for him in cons idering the impure rites

which Greece had rece ived from Or iental countries,and the cult

of D ionysos , — that impersona

tion of Nature, intox icated with

her own exuberance of lif e, who

del ighted in free manifestations

of l ife and pleasure .

1 Doubtless

modesty in anc ient times wa s

not what it is to- day ; the old

natural ism had left, in the most

solemn festivals,strange emblems, at which neither women nor

young g irls were shocked ;3 and Aristophanes had to deal with an

aud ience at once very refined and extremely coarse,del ighting in the

purest poetry and the g rossest j okes, and long hab ituated to be

served after its own taste . But at a certain stage of c iv il ization

the poet is no longer oblig ed to follow the crowd and ask in spi

ration from i t ; he should himsel f take the lead . Ar istophanes

with h is gen ius had the power of attracting his aud ience to other

srumos or: a re A ss.

“

I t must be said, in apology forAthen s, that even the severe Dorian race took licen sesno less great at their pha llophoreia , in Siky on , Megara , T aren tum, where festiva ls were morenumerous than working -days, and of which one of the speakers in Pla to'

s Laws says : “ I haveseen a whole city in a state of in toxication a t the Dionysia .

"

I n the tombs of Myrin a hasbeen found a White

'

s, with a ring, worn as a n amulet (Bull. de C orr. helle'

n ., March, 1 885 ,p .

3 Silenc e, seated on his ass, and holding a kan tharos in his right hand ; before the ass. a

vine- stock , on which is seated a crow ; under it, a dog . R everse : MENA AI O N. Vine- bra nchloaded with g rapes. T he whole in an in cused square . (T etradrachm of Mcnde, Macedon ia . )

A ristotle (Politics, viii. 4) con siders it desirab le tha t boy s should n ot be a l lowed to

attend represen ta tion s of the satyric drama : but this is a recommendation to some future lawmaker, and not an appea l to any law a lready existing .

ATHE NIAN LITE RAT URE or T H E FIFT H CENTURY B . c. 75 .

scenes,and he too often drag s them down to the worst of their

lower instincts .

l

The history of l iterature has only adm iration for him , beguiled2by his brill iant wit and his incomparable g race . But sin ce the

DIO NYSO S ox A J O URNE Y.3

poet assumed a pol itical Nile, he becomes amenable to another

tr ibunal . The question is n ot dec ided in the theatre,it must be

brought into the Agora . I mean to say that in judg ing the poet

1 A n cien t society has suffered in its reputa tion from the disreputable places where Aristopha n es rep resen ts it as livin g . A very lea rn ed ma n , Letron n e, in his Leltre F r . Ja cobs surla ra rete

’

des p ein tures licencieuses dens l’

a n tig n ite'

, reproaches the priest with havin g overstatedthe number of immora l represen ta tion s in pain tin g . H e shows tha t, with a few exception s,licen tious pictures in H ercul an eum andPompeii were found on l y in places where little in terestin art could be looked for.

T o this remark an exception should be made in the ca se of a learn ed book recen tly published, La C ome

’

dic grecque, by M. Den is, dean of the facul ty of letters at C aen . I regret that

this work reaches me too late for me to avail myse l f of it but I am happy to find mysel f inaccord with the author a s to the cha racter of the A ristophan esque drama .

3 Stamped plaque of terra - c otta, in an tique style, in the Museum of Ber lin (from the

A rchdologische Z eilung , 1 8 75 , pl . x v . No . Dionysos, ha l f- asleep, holdin g in on e ha nd his

empty k an tharos, an d lea n in g with the other upon his thyr sos, travels slow ly, riding on a muleled b y a boy . A satym, sta ndin g a t the side of the god, supports him with both arms. T hu

Dionysos wen t from ham let to ham let (xmpqaéy) .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

we need to understand the constitution of Athens and the true

nature of the Athen ian government ; the interests and pass ions

of the O ppos ing parties ; the necess ities of ai

city , m istress of a

maritime empire , filled with traders , artisans , sa ilors, and upon

which its antecedents as well as its present si tuation imposed an

extremely democratic system . U pon all th is there have long pre

vailed many errors, which modern criticism has begun to d issipate .

These d iscuss ions would here be out of place . They have rece ived

attention elsewhere ; i t is enough to say , in the present chapter,that Ar istophanes , wh ile in advance of many of his fellow- citizens

upon certa in questions, is behind them by a century upon others .

W hat useful influence has th is man exerted upon publ ic affa irs

this poet, who saw only evil , or what he regarded as such , and

could ind icate no other remedy than a re

turn to the past, — as i f i t were poss ible

for peoples,any more than it is for riv

ers,to turn back upon their own course !

Doubtless,in the eyes of those to whom

the present is d ispl easing , the past assumes

a poetic lustre,as the mounta in whose

summ it is irrad iated by the setting sun

when its base is al ready in darkness . But

the past of Athens had undergone the

common lot, — it wa s dead ; and n ew con

dition s of existence had supervened . Aris

tophan es condemns them , not understand

in g or not be ing will ing to understand them .

He cared not to know,but only to laugh . Now pra ise is wearisome

car icature amuses ; he dec ided upon i t, and gained applause by

turning al l th ing s into rid icule, even what was good , and by

represent ing the most triv ial circumstances as causes of the most

importan t events .

“ For three women of the town ,”he says,

“ Greece is in a blaze .

”To this explanation of the causes of a

most terrible war, the austere and truthf ul introduct ion of T hney

Bnoxzn rnoc J

Bron ze frog , from the Pelopon nesos (very probab ly from Corin th), now in the Museumof Berlin , from the Jahrbuch (188 K a tserl . d

’

a rchiiol. Inslil . . v ol . i. ( 1 886) p . 48 . T he inscrip

tion .which is a dedication , should read thus :

‘

A pm v v éov Bmia om (Amon , son of Son c e s, toBoason) . T his last. word, accor ding to F riittkel, is an epithet of A pol lo, the god to whomAmon ofi ers the frog .

A THENIAN LIT E RAT URE O F T H E FIFT H CENT URY B . c . 77

dides makes reply,and the h istor ian was himsel f one of the

v ictims of th is g reat strife . In read ing it you wil l say that

among the priv i leg es of comedy is n ot included a right thus to

pervert the history of a people whose career for a century and a

half was the g lorious one wh ich opened at Marathon and ended

at C hairon aia with the cry of Demosthenes : “ No , no, Athen ians,you did not hes ita te to d ie for the safety o f Greece ! Ah, wit

is a charming thing , but it is sometimes dang erous !

F IRST SCE NE O F T H E FRO GS O F A R ISTO PHA NE S .

1

It is needless to add that the irascible poet wa s unsparingtowards his rivals , — Eupolis, a poor wr iter, although he stole

from his comrades in l iterature ; Theogn is. a man of snow,whose

icy verse is l ike Thrac ian boar- frost ; Morsimos. who makes a

sad m istake in hav in g his plays represented in the sprin g , — a

season to which they are not adapted ; Meletos, whom A ristO ph

anes recommends to visit Hades, and there consult the old mas

ters ; and“ that crowd of young fellows who make traged ies by

1 Vase- pain tin g , from the A rchc'

iol. Z eitung , 1 849 , pl . iii. 1 . The vase is in the Museumof Berlin (Furtw

'

an g ler, Beschrez'

bung . No . T he first scen e of T he F rogs will beremembered : Dionysos, wea ry of the bad poets whose verses are heard a t his festivals, hasdetermin ed to brin g back Euripides from the under- wor ld. H e first ha s to ascerta in the wa y

to the kin gdom of H ades,a nd wil l question H erak les on this poin t. H e is armed with a club

and a bow, and escorted by his slave X an thias, who, moun ted on an a ss, carries the bag

gage, goes to kn ock a t the door of a temple of H erak les. T his is the momen t represen ted bythe pain ter . Dion y sos knocks loudly , like a cen taur (xew a vpmc

‘

iis, F rogs, behind him is

Xan thias on his a ss. carryin g at the end of a stick ( ciwicpopov , ibid., 8) the hea vy bun dle . T his

in terpreta tion is n ot accepted by H eydemann , J akrbuch der K a iserl . d. I nstitutes, v ol. i. ( 1 886)p . 283

, R .

78 HIST ORY OF GREE CE .

thousands ,— branches without sap, babblers .who chatter l ike swal

lows .

” 1 W h ile he honors A ischylos, we have seen how he handles

Euripides ; and if he respects Sophokles, he accuses him of a

shameful fault , av id ity of gain .

2 Per ikles at l east makes no other

reproach to the g raceful poet than that he is too ardent a wor

shipper of Aphrodite .

The poet has priv ileges ; it is not right to ask him what is

the use of his verses, for the most beautiful things are often th e

most useless . At the same time,when he proposes to instruct his

generation he is bound to strike

a true note .

‘

Mol iere corrects with

a laugh the im itators of the Hotel

de Rambouil let perished as a result

of the Pre’

c'

z

'

euses ridicules, and Tar

tzgfe gave the death - blow to hypo

crit ical devotion ; but Aristophanes

corrects ne ither person nor th ing .

The triobolon and the people- judge

surv ived his sarcasms,for the rea

son that while the poet can destroy

a fashion or a transient eccentric ity

of the m ind,time alone unmakes

the in stitutions which it has created .

Rel ig ions especially have g reat

staying power ; it would not be

just to say that Ar istophanes had

really brought into d iscred it the re

ligion of Athens : what he d id was to a id the work of destruo

tion which had already begun . To us the Hel len ic gods, adm i

rable subjects of poetry and art, l ive forever ; and w e easily

console ourselves for the attacks that they have undergone , by

cocx wx'rn A woma n's HE A D .

‘

The F rogs, 18- 14, 89 cl seq. Kra tinos a lone found favor with him . A ristophan es even

goes so far a s to prO pose . in the parabasis of The K n ights, that Kra tiuos deserved to sit at the

public tab le in the I’ryttmeion .

9 Pea ce, 695—459 9 .

Bron ze from the ancien t C aste llani col lection (in the C a ta logue, No. T his bron zeis of unkn own oriw l n . T he woman ’

s head has on it, like a he lmet, the head of the bird, and

the cock itse l f is pe rehedupon a human skul l .

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

protest aga inst the bl ind d istribution of wealth and an apology

for labor, without which all prosperity d isappears ; lastly, T he

a cha rming fancy, satirizing both heaven and earth,

soxaa rns.‘

men, whose acts are altogether fool ish , and gods, who so

govern the world .

Many of these comed ies being connected wi th historic events

or representing a certa in state of men ’s m inds, the quotations

Marb le bust found at Roma Vecchia, now in the Vatican , Museo Pie -Clem. ( fm m a

photograph) . T he inscription C QKPATH C is engraved on the pedesta l of the hermes.

ATHENIAN LIT ERAT URE OF T H E FIF TH CENTURY B. C . 8 l

wh ich we m ight make from them would be more appropriate in

other chapters .

Plato , the enemy of democracy, naturally had a g reat regard

for the writer who attacked it so val iantly . In his Banquet he

places Ar istophanes at the s ide of Sokrates,although the poet

was never reconciled to the philosopher ; and when D ionys ios of

Syracuse w ished to understand the Athen ian government , Plato

sent him The A charn ia n s

and The K nights, which

wa s on his part a n ew

satire,and perhaps an act

of infidel ity towards his

country . Finally, from

Plato comes th is eu logy ,which surprises us : “ T he

Graces,seek ing an inde

structible asylum,found

the soul of Aristophanes .

To save the reputation of

the philosopher as a moral ist, we must bel ieve that in speaking

thus he thought only of the numerous passages which , upon a

background too O ften fi lthy,shine as sparkl ing sall ies of good

sense,as in the famous d ispute between the just and the unjust .

or as the soft l ight of pure poetry, the strophe , for example , in

which the C louds,imag es of metaphys ical subtleties

,are invoked

by Sok rates .

CO O K }

Sokra tes. Come then, ye highly honored Clouds , whether ye are sittin g upon the sacred snow- covered summ its of Olympos, or in the gardensof Father Ocean form a sacred dance with the nymphs , or draw in golden

pitchers the streams of the waters of the Nile, or inhabit the Maiotic

Lake or the snowy rock of Mim as,— hearken to our prayer

,and receive

the sacrifice, and be propitious to the sacred rites .

”

And the chorus of C louds reply,“ E ternal C louds !

_

let us a rise to view with our dewy , clear, brightn ature, from loud- sounding F ather Ocean to the wood- crowned summ its O f

1 A terra - cotta from T an agra, in the Museum of Berlin ( from O . R ayet, Monuments de

l’

art a n tique) . T he figure holds in his left hand a pastry - board, and with the right hand turn s

upon a gridiron a cake which ha s disappeared.

V O L. ur. 6

HISTORY OF C R EEC E .

the lofty mountains , in order that we may behold clearly the far- seenwatch- towers, and the fruits, and the fostering , sacred earth, and therushing sounds of the div ine rivers , and the roa ring , loud - sounding sea ;

for the unwearied eye of A ithc r sparkles with g littering ray s . Come,let

us shake off the watery cloud from our immortal forms, and survey theearth with far- seein g eye .

”

Or aga in , in humbler stra in s this pastoral of Peace . The

treaty has just been concluded. T he armorers,the makers O f

helmets,crests , and sh ields are in despa ir, — for them it is ruin ;

but the husbandmen rejoice

C horus. I am delighted, I am delighted at being rid of helmet, and

cheese and onions ; 1 for I fi nd no pleasure in battles but to continue

scum : o r CO M E DY : PA RO DY O E B a n a n a s .

2

drinking beside the fire with my dear companions, having kindled the

dryest of the fi re- wood which was sawn up in the summer, and roastingsome chick -

peas , and putting on the fi re the esculent acorn . F or

there is n ot anything more agreeable than to have the seed a lready sown ,and the god to ra in upon it, and some neighbor to say ,

"Fell me , OKomarchides, what shall we do at this time of day ?’

I’

ve a mind to

drink , since the god acts so favorably . C omc , wife , roast three choin ixes

of kidney - beans , and mix some wheat with them, and bring out some figs ,

a nd let Sy ra call Manes from the field ; for it is in n o wise possible to

strip off the vine - leaves to- day , or to g rub round the roots,since the

1 T he so ldiers' ration s.

a V asck pain tin g . from I"

. W iese ler. T ltca lergchuude um! Denh ndler des Bl'

lhnen 'wcsens bei

den Griechen a nd R enter”, pl . ix . No . 9 . Herak les, armed with his club . bring s to Kin g Eurys

theus the Kc rkopes, whom he. has shut up in wicker baskets ; the king is seated a t the right

he wea rs a crown , and holds his sceptre in the left hand. C on cern ing the Kerkopes, sec

Vol. II . pp. 184 and 185 .

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H ISTORY OF GRE ECE .

perseverance of hatred he boasts, three years after K leon’s dea th

at‘Amphipol is,

that he has “ battled with the jag ged - toothed

monster .

”

o

“ C hor us. O ur poet says that he is worthy of great pra ise ; for inthe first place he a lone of men m ade his rivals cease a lways scofling at

rag s ; and he first drove off with contempt theserepresentatives of Herakles , a lway s baking foodand a lway s hung ry , running away , cheating ,and allowing themselves to be beaten ; he toodismissed the slave, whom they were a lWays

D ion y sos.

? in troducing'

in tears , that his fellow- slaves might c oa x s t nm .

8

jeer at him .

4 IIav ing removed such lowbufi

'

oon eries, he made our profession dignified, and elevated it, ra ising itwith noble words and thoughts, n ot satirizing private men or women , butwith the valor of Herakles attacking the g reat. A nd first of all I battlewith the jagged- toothed monster him self,6 about whose head a hundredheads of fl atterers were fawning . At sight of such a monster I didn ot g reatly fear ; but fighting in defence of you and the islands, I a lway swithstood him . O n which account n ow it is reasonable that you shouldrepay me the favor and be mindful of it. “

The spectators in the D ionysiac theatre, and s ince that day

many Athen ians who were not born in Athens,hav e g iven h im

the g ratitude he cla ims . The historian must be more d iffi cult to

please ; and yet, not to be accused of too g reat severity, I wi l l

in g ly quote a'

pa ssage from The Wa sp s, wherein at least we find

some worthy accents .

C horus. If any one of you, O spectators , wonders to see me lacedup in the wa ist like a wasp , or questions what is the meaning of our

sting , I will readily teach him . W e a re Athenians , a lone rightfully of

Peace was represen ted in 419 n . c ., and K leon met. a soldier'

s dea th a t. Amphipolisin 422 .

9 l lead crowned with vine - bran ches, the bea rd simula ted by fly - wings. T his figure haslong been ca l led Jupite r Ma scaria s . E n graved stone o f the C a bin et de F ran ce. Nico le , 14

millim . by 8 . C a ta logue, No .

Unknown poet or philosopher. Youn g man sea ted in a cha ir decora ted with a griffin inre lief, drawing or writing on a tab let ; a t his feet a pa n ther, be fore him a column surmoun ted

with a vase, and on the ba se of the co lumn a youthful head ca rved in high re lief. (1 1 wil lim.

by 8 . C abin et de F ra n ce, No .

Il ia H erak les in the Birds is, however, very ridiculous.

K leon .

See a lso the paraba sis o f T he A cha rn ia ns and that of The C louds and of The Wasps.

A'

I‘

H ENI AN LIT E R A T U { E OF T H E FIFTH CENT URY B . C . 85

noble birth and of the native stock , a m ost m an ly race, and on e which

assisted this city most of a l l in battles,when the Barbarian cam e stifl ing

the whole city with his sm oke, a nd wastin g it with fi re, purposing to take

away our n ests by force. F or we immediately ran out with spear a nd

with buckler, and fought with them ,hav ing drunk sharp anger, m an

standing by m an ,bitin g his lip through rage ; and by reason of the arrows

it was n ot possible to see the sky . But nevertheless, the gods aiding us,we repulsed them about sunset ; and they fled, stung in their jaws and

eyebrows . So that among the Barbarians ev erywhere,nothing has a

braver nam e than the A ttic wa sp .

Let us g ran t to Aristophanes the benefit of the extenuatin gc ircumstances that the Greeks claimed for the O bscen ities of the

c omic stage .

“ D ionysos,” they said , “ in

vented these utterances of a sportive Muse ;he leads the merry tra in which hides cen

sure under a g raceful exterior, and a stingunder a laugh . T his intox ication teaches

” 1wisdom to the c ity . But was i t always

wisdom W t ll Ar istophanes taught ? At

the same time , while i t is true that.

none

of his adv ice wa s followed, while be ne ither

brought back peace nor drove demagogues

away,he stil l del ights us . He deserves

,

perhaps , the cr itic ism of La Bruyere upon

Rabelais ; let us take but half of it, and say only : His comed ies

are “ a most da inty d ish .

D IO NYS IA C FA UN .

2

VI . T H UC Y DIDE S .

T H E Athens of the fifth century had l iterary fame in every

form : by Aischylos, Sophokles, and Euripides, that of lyric and

dramatic poetry ; by Aristophanes, that of comedy ; by Per ikles,that of eloquence ; by T hucyd ides, that of history and serious

prose ; and by Sokrates that of philosophy .

1 A nthologie p ala tine, x i. 32 .

2 The faun is playing on a pipe and holds a thyrsos ; his body is part ly covered with a

fawn ’

s skin . (C ameo on sardon v x of two layers, 46 m illim . by 37. C a binet de F ra nce,No.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

Ne ither Perikles nor Sokrates wrote anything ; but the former

left a tradition of his incomparable eloquence , and the latter, byhis conversation , tra ined pupils who gathered up his teaching ,and orig inated the g rea t ph ilosophical movement which has

rnumrm n ss.l

guided the world in the investigation'

oi the laws of though t,of moral verities

,and of the insoluble problems which are pre

sented by metaphys ics . Of Perikl es we have a l ready spoken , whil e

deta il ing what Athens became in his hands ; of Sokrates and his

d isc iples we shal l speak later, when the n ew d irection taken by

the human m ind can be pla inly d iscerned , after the Peloponn e

Marb le bust in the Mus eum of Naples ( from a photograph.) The hermes is double, theother head being that of l lerodotos . See p. 8 8 .

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H IST ORY OF GREE CE .

battlefield ; he does not invade the seclus ion of private l i fe, for i t

is his opin ion that men should be judged accord in g to the counsels

they g ive and the acts they perform, and that‘

history is not con

cem ed with more intimate detail s , except as they may have in flu

n saon oros A ND ruucvm n as .

l

cucad their public career . H is history is not at al l en terta ining ,and we do not read it , as we read Beredetes, to be amused ; it is

a v ery serious work , the resul t of carefu l study . W ritten sine ira ,

sine studio, wi thout ang er, without partisanship, it deserves to

be , for the experience wh ich it g ives , a school for statesmen .

"l

Doub le bust in the Mus eum of Naples ( from a photbgraph) .Marce l linus, his biographer, says of him : burbsM tbija’

au

AT HENIAN LITERAT URE O F TH E FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 89

Thucyd ides was the first to introduce speeches into history ; as

Homer places them in the epic, and the trag ic poets in the drama,and as orators daily fil led the Agora with them, so he continues

the trad it ion.His work conta ins fi fty

- n ine of them, not to men

tion those which are wr itten ind irectly . W here a modern writer

would introduce explanations to fac il itate a comprehens ion of facts,the anc ient authors put into the mouths of their characters the

reasons which in duced them to such or such a course . In sub

stance the procedure is the same,the d iff erence be ing only in

form . W e have done wel l to abandon these

harangues , which have a false a ir of authentic

documents . But in the hands of so careful an

observer as Thucyd ides, who stud ied facts and

characters m inutely,the method of introduc ing

speeches which were never really made had

advantages and but few drawbacks, s ince in

these speeches there is sure to be a g reat amountPO SE IDO N '

I

of truth, and eloquence in add ition to it . As to official acts,li ke

treaties, we have the proof, at least in the ag reement between

Athens and Argos, that he copied them almost l iterally .

Between Sparta and Athens he establ ished h imself umpire,and

his office is to render just decisions . Although his preferences

are for an aris tocracy, he knows that, d isorderly ones excepted,al l governments are good accord ing to the time and the circum

stances ; that interest d ictates the pol icy of a people, but also

that ideas and feel ing s have their’

in fluen ce ; and he made it h is

ta sk to show how facts resul t from this triple action . He has

been ca l led an atheist ;1 but he never attacks the gods, as so many

of his contemporaries have done : he feel s merely that he has n o

need of them for his work . Instead of arb itrary acts,he finds

general laws in the world . It would be no more just to say

that Laplace den ied the existence of a God in seeing only geometry

in the stellar system .

1 Poseidon , sta ndin g , to the rig ht, fightin g with the triden t ; behind, H O M(H oo in

retrograde legend) . T he whole in a col la r . R everse : the same type in in tag lio. A rchaicsilver coin of Poseidonia (Paestum ) , in Luca n ia .

2 ”adeos fipépa enema, (Marce llinus, Lif e of T hueyd.

, Upon this question , see

the Thueydide of C roiset, i. 32.

HISTORY OF GRE ECE .

He renounces the old doctrine of Destiny , and bel ieves in reason

only : there in he marks‘

the beg inn ing of a n ew age of the world ,which, unfortunately , d id n ot last . Instead of res ign in g a ll thing s

to the mysterious power of fatal i ty , fortune, or the prov idence of

the g ods, he sought, with complete independence of thought, the

human causes of events , and would have been ready to say with

Anaxagoras :“ Chance is an unintell ig ible cause, Destiny is an

unmean ing word ; or, l ike Polybios :“ To attribute the prosperity

of the Acha ian League to Fortune would be fool ish and rid iculous .

W e must look for its cause, s ince without cause occurs nothing ,e ither good or ev il.

”Ne ither is he any more ready to recognize

d ivine action in the natural phenomena Which terrify the n ations

than in the even ts of the pol itical world . For him , Nemes is is dead ,‘

and i t is no longer Pose idon who exc ites the sea and casts it upon

Rabeia when part of that island d isappears forever under the

wa ves . T he Spartans, about to invade Attika, are terrified, and

retreat on hear ing of this t idal wave . Thucyd ides expla ins it, as

we should to—day, by a submar ine earthquake .

2 In reference to a

s im ilar phenomenon, he writes, wi th scarcely concealed irony, that

it “ wa s sa id and thought to have been om inous .

” 3 Charybd is,

the devouring monster , fa lls from his rank, and is nothing more

than the point of meeting , and on that accoun t“ naturally con

sidered dangerous, of two g reat currents ;‘ and wh ile the devout

and stupid Nik ias is ala rmed at an ecl ipse of the moon to the

deg ree of making a d isa strous resolution, Thucyd ides observes,

speaking of an ecl ipse of the sun , that th is phenomenon took

place at the n ew moon , “ the only time at which it appears possible .

” 6 This was pla inly taking away from the gods the govern

ment of the world . He speaks ne ither of the goodness nor of the

just ice which have been made essential attributes of th e divin ity .

1 By way of con cession to the popula r superstition , Perik les indeed says to the people thatthe post is a n evil sen t from heaven , which must be supported with resigna tion ; but he hastens

to add tha t they must courageously resist the evils inflicted by their enemies (T hucydides,ii.

iii. 89 .

3 ii. 8 , 8 , a nd 1 7, 2 .

iv . 24 .

ii. 28 . A storm a larms the so ldiers ; he rega rds it as“ produced simply by the season

of the yea r ( v i.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

His tory , for they are s isters who, esp ecially in Greece, ought never

to be separated . But the confl ict between popular bel iefs and the

ideas that were making the ir way under the influence of the

philosophical schools was not seriously man ifested unti l the m iddle

and the close of the Peloponnes ian war ; of this conflict the death

of Sokrates was the conspicuous token . It is at that moment

that it wil l be appropriate to cons ider how th is Athen ian people ,so gentle and so large-m inded

,came to treat a just man as a

crim inal , not for acts , but for words, and to defend by punish

ments i ts gods , which it had so often suffered to be scoff ed at in:

the theatre .

CHAPTER Xxx.

THE ARTS AT ATHENS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B. C. l

I . AR C HI T E C T URE .

HAVE seen the Colosseum and the Pyram ids , the Baths of

Caracalla and the tombs of the K hal ifs but Athens impresses

me most,for the reason that in her architecture, as in her l itera

ture,all is due measure, exquis ite proportion and harmony of

parts with the whole ; because the marvels of art m ing le in this

s con secrated place with those of Nature and of history . From the

summit of the rock which overlooks the spot which has longbeen bel ieved to be

,and doubtless was the A then ian bema

,I had

before me the temple of T heseus ; at the right that of the virg in

goddess and the g igant ic column s of the Olympie ion ,2 to which

the sun has g iven the golden hue of r ipened corn ; at t he left

the sea,which g l ittered, deep- blue as were its waves

,reced ing

towards Salam is, the rose- tinted island,and

,more remote

,the

A k rokorin thos, with its form idable fortress . U nder the colonnade

of the Parthenon I saw pass the g reat men who were the most

bril l iant impersonation of human g en ius, and under the ruined

roof of the temple I replaced the Pheidian Athene, goddess of

intellect, who fil led the cella with her d iv in ity and Athens with

her spirit . These stones are so beautiful because they have l ived .

The l ife that they sheltered has clung to them,and the memories

that they evoke br ing that l ife into being once more in our

thoughts .

1 F or the bib liography of this subjec t see the Manuel de Philologie classique of S .

Rein ach, book iv . pp . 5 3—9 7.

2 The column s of the O lympieion (see V ol . II . p 9 ) are of the R oma n period ; they are .

of the C orin thia n order.

HIST ORY OF GREECE.

The Greeks d id not arrive by the ir fi rst efforts at the arch i

tectural perfection wh ich we adm ire upon the Akropol is . They

G A LLE RY or T IRYNS .‘

had at first g iven the ir gods the mounta in - tops for an abode, or

the depths of primeval forests ; but wishing to have them neare r,

they made dwell ing s for the div in

ities, which were at first rustic and

simple, and by deg rees became more

ornamented and attracted the other

arts with rel ig ious ceremon ials, a t

tracted also poets celebrating the

g ods and the country, and philoso

phera ag itating the great problems of nature and the soul . The

temple was thus the central point of Hellen ic l ife .

S l LV E R com or c aoroxa .’

F rom Schlieman n , Tiryns, p. 1 71 . This ga l lery, pierced in the southern wall of thecitadel . served as a passage for the defenders of the akropolis, Vol. I. p . 1 86.

3 C olumn of the Ionic order, on whic h stands an eag le ; legend, QPO T . R everse : QPO T .

Tripod : at the left a grain of barley ; in the exergue, ME , initia ls of a magistrate ’s n a me .

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HI STORY OF GREECE .

in the number of the columns and the breadth of the Space

between the columns, by wh ich the proportions of the buildingare determ ined , and espec ially by the character pecul iar to each

of the three orders, the Doric , Ion ic, and Corinth ian . One mem

ber of the construction , namely , the column , with the portion of

the entablature which it supports , determ ines th is character .

The first temples worthy of the name were of the Dor ic order .

Their walls were thick and sol id , the columns low and stunted ,without bases, l ike the post which had been the primi tive sup

port ;1 but with flutin g s, capital , and double pediment, extend ing

itself under a broad facade, - l ike an eag le ‘

with wing s d isplayed ,to use Pindar’s comparison .

2 The whole ed ifice,built of com

mon stone, is concealed , as in many Egyptian tem

ples,under a coating of stucco, pa inted in bril l ian t

colors . Fragments of these temples can be seen

at A sses, on the coast of Asia ; at Corinth, Delph i ,and Aig ina in Greece at Syracuse, A g rigen tum , and

Sel inous in S ic ily ; at Metapon tum ,and especially

at Paestum (Poseidon ia), in Italy,4 where have been

found the g randest ruins of the anc ient Doric order . The common

character of these ed ifices,wh ich are almost all of the seventh or

s ixth century B . c .

, was their sol id, but heavy, th ick set appearance .

5

The columns are only four d iameters in height, or at most four

and two th irds ; and when the stucco has fallen off, the poverty

of the material became apparent . Even the temple of Olympia

was built of a hard and porous tuf a covered by the stucco with a

brill iant robe . That of Aig ina was also of stone, and n ot marble

but notwith stand ing this, its ruins are beautiful .

BRO NZ E com !

1 Pausa n ias ( v . 20 , 6) saw such a post a t Pisa , a ll worm-ea ten and ha nded with iron ,

said to ha ve been one of the co lumn s in the pa lace of Kin g O inomaos.

T he fluting is en tir e ly C reek ; the E a st n ever employed it . A s to the doub le pedimen t,Pindar ( O lymp ., xiii. 29) attributes this in ven tion to the C orin thian s, who

“added to the

bridlcs of the steeds the mean s of guiding them, a nd placed the two- fo ld king of the birds on

the temples of the gods.

"

Legend: C I. I C O R ( C olon ic Laus Julia C orin lhus) . T he temple of Poseidon , withstairs

'

a nd tetrastyle portico ; the pedimen t is adorn ed with three triton s, one on the summit,

the others a t each end, forming acroteria . R everse of a bro n ze coin with the e ffigy of Geta .

See in V ol . II . p . 7 1, the ruin s of the temple of C orin th, p . 145 those of Meta pon tum .

and p . 147 the temple of Pa estum.

It has bee n usua l to con sider the temple o f C orin th as con t empora ry with that of A ig in abut the differen ce in the. two buildings must r epresen t some separa tion in poin t of time.

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H IST ORY OF GRE ECE .

1687 ‘A . when on the 27th of September , Moros in i bombarded

the citadel . One of the shells, setting ti re to barrels of powder

stored in the temple, blew up a portion of it'

; then the Venetia n

attempted to take down the statues from the ped iment, and broke

them . Lord Elg in, at the beg inn ing of the present century , tore

away the ha s- rel iefs of the frieze and the metopes : this was a

further d isaster . The I lissos or the K ephisos, the Herakles or

T heseus , the Char ites , “

goddesses of the spring . called by some

the three Fates,by others Demeter, K ora , and I ris .2 are sti ll .

mutilated as they are , the most prec ious fragmen ts left us from

antiquity . In 1812 other Eng l ishmen carried away the fr ieze of

the temple of Phiga lia (Bassa i). built by Ik tinos .

8 A l l these fragments of masterpieces were sold for mon ey ; a nd only under the

damp and sombre sky of Eng land can we n ow see the remnants

of what wa s once the imperial mantle which Perikles prepared

for Pallas Athene .

4 To appreciate the incomparable spl endor of

the Parthenon,we must restore to i t in our thought that which

men have taken from it, then place it upon its rock , 150 feet

above the level of the c ity , whence a wondrous panorama is

unrolled before the. eyes , and surround i t with the other build ing s

of the Akropol is . the Erechtheion , which d isplayed al l the elegance

of art, at the s ide of the severe g randeur of the pr in cipal temple ;6

the bronze statue of Athene Promachos , “ she who fights in the

foremost ran k . to whom the sculptor gave colossal stature, so

that sa ilors coming in from the open sea were able to d irect their

course by the°

crest upon her helmet and the gold tip of her lance

The Byzan tines had cut a window in on e of the pedimen ts, and estab lished a cha pe l inthe edifice.

Stil l other n ames have been g iven them . H estia , A phrodite, a nd Peitho. T he n ames

a re of little con sequen ce . O ur in terest is in the severe and admirab le e legan ce of these

draperies.

T his temple wa s finished in 43 1 B. C .

“ The clothing of A then s in her imperia l man tle by orn amen ts architectura l and scul ptura l (G rote . v i.

5 In a fi le'

mm'

re exp lica tif e! justifica tif de la restaural ion de l’E rechlhe

’

ion , M . Tétaz wil l notadmit for this charming building . which is of very sma l l proportion s, more than two division s,a l though there are thr ee porticos, — the temple of A then e Polias, con ta in ing a n a l ta r to Erechtheion, with the Palladion , or wooden statue of Pa l las ; a nd the Pa ndroseiou, con ta ining the

sacred olive- tree and the wel l of sa lt water which Poseidon produced by a stroke of his trident

on the rock . T he roof of the southern portico was supported by six caryatides. T his porticowas restored by F rance in 1846 .

T H E ART S IN ATHENS IN T H E FIF TH CENTURY B. o. 10 1

(man'

s stella ) lower, across the only s ide on which the rock is

access ible,the admirable gateway of the Propy la ia , and the temple

of the V ictory, form ing one of its wing s ; but above, it should be

seen bathed in the bril l iant l ight of the eastern sky,’ in comparison

with which our clea rest noonday is but twil ight .

PL A N O F T H E A K RO PO LIS A T A THE NS .

A m inute observation of the Parthenon has shown how deep

wa s the artistic feel ing of the Greek s . and how skilfully they

corrected geometry by good taste . In the entire buildin g there is

not an absolutely plane surface . As in the columns the perfection

of their beauty is due to the en tasis, the sl ightly swell ing outl ine

towards the m iddle of their he ight , of which the eye is not aware,so the whole edifice

,colonnades and walls

,is imperceptibly incl ined

inward, towards an inv isible apex far up in the sky, and al l the

horizontal l ines a re convex . But how sl ight is the deflection !

J ust enough to let the eye and the l ight g lance easily over the

surfaces, and to g ive the build ing at once the g race of art and

the sol id ity of streng th ; not enough for it to have,l ike the

Egyp tian temples, the heavy, crushed look of a tr uncated pyram id .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

On the southern facade the rise of the curve is not quite five

inches ( 123 m il l ).l

TEM PLE O F V tc ron v .

2

The Propylaia , a masterpiece of civ ic and m il itary architec

ture, stood at the poin t by wh ich alone the Akropol is was acces

s ible ; the build in g was, l ike the Parthenon . of the Dor ic order,

1 Sec up on these question s : I’en rose, A n I n vestiga tion of the Prin cip les of A (Iran ia n A rchi

tecture, where all these curves are given , a lmost to the thousandth part of a n inch C h. B lane ,

G ramma ire (10 8 a rts do dessin , p . 1 76 ; Beulé, L'

A crop olc ct l’

architeclure a n article (18 P leislra le .

Mr. J ohn Pen n ithorne has collec ted a ll these observation s and statemen ts in a g rea t work .en titled, The Geometry a nd Op tics of A ncieut A rchileclure, in folio, 18 78 , where architects wil lfind a great mass of useful in formation . T he author has visited Egypt, to compare the architecture of that coun try with the Greek, and estab lishes betwee n the two a fi liation , which, however , may n ot go so far as he suppos es.

T his little temple is amphiprostyle—tetrastyle ; that is to say, it has four co lumns on each

faca de. I t is of the Ionic order. I t was demolished in 168 7 by the Turks, who employed itsma te ria ls in the construction of a ba ttery. but was restored in 1835 - 1836 by L. R oss,

Schaubert, and H an sen . ( F rom a photogra ph .)Non e.

- O uthe opposite page is a view of the A kropolis, from a photograph. I t repre~

sen ts the south- western aspect of the. hil l . A t. the right of the Parthenon ris es Lyk abettos,

and behind it Pc n teliltos, — in form resembling the pediment of a buildin g .

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THE ART S IN A THENS IN T H E F IF T H CENTU RY B . C . 105

and so planned by its architect, Mn esik les, that it wa s a majestic

gateway into the holy of hol ies of pagan Athens,l and also a

strong defence . Epamein ondas had the des ign of transport ing the

Propy laia to T hebes, to adorn the K adm eia ; s ix centur ies later,Pausan ias regarded this build ing as more adm irable than the Par

thenon,and Plutarch says of it : “ T hese work s have a sort of

bloom of newness upon them that time cannot destroy ; they are

br illiant with youth, as if they were al ive and had a soul .

” 2

Athens had other building s, of which we shall m ake only brief

mention : the A n ak eion ,a temple of the Diosk ouroi.‘

where the

sale of.

slaves wa s held ; the Pan theion , a temple to all the gods,built by the Emperor Hadrian ; the octagonal tower of the W inds,a building of l ittle architectural merit, bel ieved to have been

erected in the first century B . C . Its e ight s ides face respectively

the d irections whence blow the e ight w inds recogn ized by the

Athen ians,and figures and names of these w inds are sculptured

on the frieze of the entablature . Th is tower is sti l l stand ing , as

well as the chorag ic monument built by the choregos Lysik rates

in 334 B . c .

,on occasion of a v ictory, by a chorus of the tribe of

A k am an tis . On the south - eastern slope of the Akropol is may yet

be seen remains of the theatre of D ionysos, and marble seats

0

1 Beulé had the idea that he had discovered, in some steps of R oman con struction , thean cien t en tran ce to the Prepyla ia , but his con jecture. is n ot now a ccepted. C f . Bohn , Die Pro

p y lc’

ien auf der A krop olis, with twen ty- on e plates. T he author, who in 1 882 made excavation son the A kropolis, does n ot be lieve it possib le to trace the exact route which led to the citade l .T he stairway of Pa n , discovered in 1 8 73 by E . Burnout, whose fi fty

- one steps can n ow be.

easily a scended, wa s for pedestria n s on e of the en tra n ces to the A kropolis. T his stairway,which dates from the most an cien t times, is represen ted on the coin ,

V ol. I . p . 1 43 .

2s e of Perik les, 1 1 . T he Mouseion , a hil l adjacen t to the citadel, becam e a poin t to

defen ce, often occupied by a Macedon ia n garrison . In the Pompeion , at the en tra n ce in to thecity from the side of Pha leron , the ceremon ia l of the P a n egyrz

’

es was prepared ; here were keptthe sacred objects. T he Kerameikos was partly outside the wa l ls, where it served a s a pub liccemetery, a nd partly within the city in the latter portion it con ta in ed ma ny temples a nd the

prin cipa l agora . T he Lykeion , the A k adem eia , and the Kyn osarges were three gymn a sia ,

with groves a nd paths, outside the wa l ls. A ristotle taught in the first,Plato in the second,

a nd A n tisthen es in the third. H en ce the n ames of the two former schools of philosophy, a ndindeed of the third a lso, the C yn ic . T he Ly k eion , on the ban k s of the Ilissos, was so ca l ledfrom A pol lo, kil ler of wolves, to whom it was dedica ted. A statue of the god adorned its

principa l en tran ce . T here .were pictures on the wa l ls, and in the garden s n ob le avenueswhere A r istotle taught while wa lking , m pm a rfi w; hen ce an other n ame of his fo l lowers, — the

Peripatetic school . T he A cademy , garden s con secrated to the hero A kademos, was in the

outer Kerameik os, three quarters of a mile from the city wa l ls. H ere were olive-

groves, plan etrees, and foun tain s . A t the en tran ce were a n a ltar and a statue of E ros. T he Kyn osarg es

was n ear the k c ion .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

beautiful ly carved . But’

tho Stad ion , on the southern bank of the

l lissos, on e of the marvel s of Athens according to Pausan ias, has

cu nnm n o r“

T il l-2 tzn ac n'm mox .

‘

d isappeared, and excavations made there have as yet brought to

l ight nothing of importance . It dates from the time of the A the

F rom a photograph and a cast A ccording to V itrtiv ius, the name is derived fromKa rya i, a city of the Peloponnesos whose inhab itan ts , men andwomen , were reduced to slavery for having favored the Persian s . But th i s ci ty was also noted for its slow, gravc ‘

dnnces :

and the beautiful atti tudes of the young girls of Karya i , or the Karyatides, have mor e than

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

was m ade by Pheidias ; and to Pa ion ios of Mende and A lkamenes

of Lemn os a re attributed, though without certa in proof, the sculp

tures of the two pedimen ts which represent, on on e the struggle

between Pelops and O in omaos. and on the other the quarrel be

tween the Lapiths and the Centaurs at the marriage of Peirithoiia '

Time, the Ba rbaria n s . and perhaps lire , destroyed this temple

and the A lpheios in i ts freshets covered with twen ty - live or

th irty feet of a lluv ion the pla in of the Al tis , which Pausan ias

had seen so beautiful . Un ti l the It'

ap e’

dt'

tion de Morée, which

brought a few fragments back to the Louvre, no man even knew

the s ite whereon such magn ificence had once stood .

2 The success

ful excavation s of the Germa n commission ' hav e brought to l ight

a V ictory by Paion ios, a Hermes of Prax iteles, and other

masterpieces .

The Ion ic order a lso originated on the As ia tic coast,where

the Doric had preceded it . It appeared there in al l its grace in

the s ix th century B . c .

,when the temple of Ephesos was built .

8

The K retan C hersiphron and his son Metagen es began its con struc

tion , which continued, l ike that of our gothic cathedral s, with a

'

slowness twice or thrice secular . Its columns,of which severa l

were given by Croesus, were eight d iameters in height , with bases

which the Doric columns lacked , and capita ls with spiral s which

the anc ients compared to the curl s of a woman’

s hair . Of the

Ion ic temple of Samos, burned by the Pers ian s , on e column alone

remains standing ; accord in g to the d iameter of the base, this must

be fi fty- two and a half feet in height, - which would show the

temple to have been a colossal ed ifice . Of the same order, but

very small in their d imens ions , were the E rechtheion and the

temple of the W ingless V ictory at Athens . The former conta in ed

the most anc ien t representation of Athene, — a statue of ol ive

Thi s temple, whose c on strtietinn was beg un by Libon of El i s a fter the destruct ion of

Pi sa by the E leian s, was 69 feet high,9 8 broad, and 230 lon g . Pheidias probab ly did not

come in to E lia un ti l 436 n . c ., and his brother, the pa in ter Pana inos, a nd the ski l ful sculpto rKolotcs, his pupil , accompan ied him . O n his residence in E lie, see R ev. H ist , December, 1 8 34,p . 5388 .

Sec Vol . II . p . 89 1 , n ote 8 .

3 See Vol . II. p. 1 94, and note 2 .

Nor e. O n the opposite. page i s represen ted the Portico (n pdm m c) of the Carya tides(from a photograph). I t was ca l led in class ic authors the Portico of the Ma iden s (d a ) .

See Vol . I I . p. 640 , the genera l view o f the I‘lrcchtbeion .

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

the sole aim is to render form and contour with fidelity— furn ishes,

on the con trary, a very important means of an imating these grea t

flat surfaces , which in their nud ity would be cold a nd l ifeless .

It does not seek to create, l ike polychrom ic statuary, a deceitful

effect ; color and ornamentation ma ke no pretence, and are only

a n added charm when , the temple standing in i ts consecrated

grove, the needed harmony is establ ished between the work of art

and that of Nature .

Egypt and As ia lav ished color both in pa inting and in the

use of en amelled pottery, with which Pers ian ed ifices a re found

to be covered .

1 T he most an c ient in habitants of Hel las exper ienced

this influence. Color is found on walls of.

dwel l ing- houses older

than Homer by ten centuries, - such is the case at Tiryns, on e of

the capitals of the hero ic time ; and it was used on the prows of

the earl iest vessel s which ventured upon the waves . This usage

perpetua ted itself in subsequent ages ; but the Greeks as was their

practice in the whole domain of art, mod ified , accord ing to the

deman ds of a refined taste, the inher itance received from their

an cestors and the na tion s which were their predecessors in c ivil i

zation . Tints more or less strong covered the stone of the temple,even in the sculptures of the frieze the metopes. a nd the ped iment ;terra- cottas — whose colors, m in gled with the paste, were indestruc

t ible — decorated the higher parts of the build ing a nd en l iven ed the

sever ity of the architecture . W e must further d istinguish the poly

chromy of Athen s in the time of Per ikles from that of other Hellen ic

countries . It is p oss ible that in Sicily , Magna Grtecia , a nd even

Aigina ,

2 where the materials which the artists employed were coarse,

See, in La P arse , la C ha lde'

e c l la Susia n a of Madame Dieulafoy, the description of the

colored ma teria ls which en tered in to the con s truct ion of the palace of Da rius ( p. and,

in the Louvre, the en ame l led bricks brought home by M. Dieula foy . T he use of this k ind of

decorat ion had pen etra ted A sia Minor : in Lydia and l ’hrygia colored glaz ing has b een found.

T he India n s of A merica, especia l ly those of Yuca tan , a l so employed color on thei r bui ldingsC ha rn ay , C omp lex- remit»:de l 'A cad. (lcs inscr. c l belles- lcllrea,2 See Vol . I I. p . the restora tion o f the pedimen t of A igina by C ha rles Garn ier. Most of

the scul pture s exhumed at Olympia b oa r traces of polychromy, as do a lso the sta tues recen tlyfound nea r the Pa rthen on , which are a n terior to Pheidias .

Nor a .—’

l'

hc temple represen ted on the opposite page (From a photograph). dedicatedto A pollo the was bui l t. in the second ha lf of the fifth cen tury D. C . by

l k tinos, the archi tect o f the Parthenon at A then s . It was of the Doric or der, but in the in tcbrior the column s of the n aos were Ion ic. (See Vol . I I. p . 1 95 . the Ion ic capi ta l from the

temple of Ba ssa i . )

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

temple of the Eleus in ian Demeter, which Metagen es and Xen ok les

completed ; H ippodamos was a builder of c ities rather than of

temples ; he la id out Pe ira ieus , Thurion , a nd Rhodes, whose streets

intersected at r ight angles . But he aspired al so to regula te the

Sta te, which caused h im to b e rough ly used by Aristotle .

’

In respect to these artists, history has preserved us no deta ils ;of most of them we do not even know the native land . For cen

turies their works continued to speak of them ,but even the ru in s

of the ed ifices which they buil t have now perished ; only the Par

thenon yet rears proudly its shattered head above the desola tion .

’I

In a gloomy dream,on e of our great poets has seen Europe

perish , and Paris d isappea r . Twenty- fi ve centuries earl ier, Thueydides had a truer but less poetic v ision concern ing Athens and

Sparta . Comparing the steril i ty of the on e with the fruitfulness

of the other, he sa id

If the city of the Spartan s were laid desolat e , and the temples and

foundation s of the pub l ic buildin gs left, I think that when a lon g timehad passed by , posterity would ha ve great disbel ief of their power in pro

portion to thei r fame. A nd yet they occupy two out of the fi ve div ision sof the Pelopon n csos, and take the lead of the whole of it and of theira llies out of it in g reat numbers . Still

, as the city is n either built closelyn or has sumptuous temples an d public buildin gs, but is built in villages ,a fter the old fashion of Greece, it would ha ve an in ferior appearan ce.

Whereas,if the Athen ian s were to suffer the same fate, I think their

power would be con jectured, from the appearan ce of the city to the eye,

to have been double what it.

is .

” 8

H . SeU LPT U R E .

‘

A R T is a natural instinct, which is found even among the low

est savages, which existed among the preh istoric inhabi tan ts of

Gaul,but which the most in tell igent of all the an imals do not

Politics, 1 1. G.

2 See above , p . 9 7 .

8 Thucydides, i . 1 0 .

In resp ect to the scul ptures of the Parthenon , see Michae l i s, Der Parthenon , 18 71 De

Laborde, A lhénes aux c inquiéme, seiziérne cl dizmep liéme siéc les which reproduces thedrawin g s of C a rrey , made before the destruction caused by Morosin i ; and the recen t works ofRon ehaud a nd ( fo llig non upon Pheidias.

TH E A RTS IN A TH ENS IN T H E F IF TH C ENTU R Y B. o. 1 17

in the sl ightest degree possess . This in stin ct is developed or is

arrested , n ot, as has been sa id,according to ra ce, but accord in g

to the soc ial in fluen ces which a

people exper ience from Nature,as it is sad and severe, or else

favorable and cheerful,

extin

guishin g or en couraging the cre

ative imagin a tion . These in

fluen ces, actin g for cen turies,predisposed Hel las to chan ge the

paths on which art had en tered

in the East ; and hab its which

were easily acclimated in Greece,but could n ever have sprun g up

on the ban ks of the N ile or

of the Euphra tes, favored th is

Slow evolution

Than ks to a good system of

education , to lon g- con t in ued gym

n astic exercises,1a nd to life in

the open air,often without cloth

in g of an y kin d, and a lways W ith

out attire that would interfere

with the ha rmon ious developmen t

of the body, the Greeks became

the most beaut iful race un der the

sun . A S they had contin ually

before their eyes these ep heboef so

l ight in run n in g,these wrestlers

and a thletes,who d isplayed so

much ma scul in e grace, the aesthe

tic sen se developed in them with an en ergy which produced master

GREEK E PH E BO S ?

1 In his seven th book of the Laws, Pla to says that gym n a s tics develop the beauty, propor~t ion , and vigor of the body and in the T imaios he in s is ts upon the n eed of harmony betweenthe soul a nd body. Tha t which i s good,

”he says, “ is beaut iful , a nd there i s no beauty wi th

out harmony . There i s but one way to preserve the hea lth ; n amely, to exerci se body andsoul together : thus on e imita tes the ha rmony of the un iverse .

2 Bronz e sta tuette , formerly in the C ol lection Pourta les, later in the C ollection Gréau;now in the Louvre.

H ISTORY OF GREEC E .

pieces when Nature gave gen ius to the sculptors . Rel igion further

increased this tendency . Their gods hav ing been con ceived in the

im age of man , — a higher human race, as it were,thc Greek sculptor, as the rel igious feeling was en

nohled and the ta ste made purer , had for his ideal

in representing the O lympians human beauty raised

to i ts highest degree . This beauty men regarded as

a d iv ine gift, a nd human,beings received apotheosis

from the mere c ircumstan ce of physical perfection .

H erodotos has preserved to us a fact which is extremely

Greek : Phil ip of K roton a , after h is dea th , was worshipped as a

hero because he was the most beautiful of ’

the

men of h is time, and the old histor ian i s of

the same m ind with the Egestian s, who made

this pecul ia r d ivin i ty . H e questions not whether

Xerxes possessed qual ities of a kingly stamp .

Of so many myriads of m en ,

”he says, “

n ot

on e of them for beauty and stature wa s more

entit led than Xerxes himself - to possess the sovereign power .

On on e occas ion , in a choreg ia where he had m ade, as usual , a

great d isplay, Nik ias had ass igned the part of the representative

of D ionysos to a young slave, of such faultless beauty a nd so

n on attired that when he appeared the whole aud ience broke

out in applause . Nik ias enfranch ised the youth at once, say

ing that it was sa crilege to retain in slavery on e who had

been sa luted by the Athen ians as the representative of a god .

‘

What Nik ias d id was really an act of concess ion to the people ;it was the handsome ephebos, a nd n ot the d iv in ity , who had

exc ited the adm iration of the spectators .

CO RNELIA N .‘

G A NYMEDES .’

Sculptor chi sel l ing a.marb le va se ; he i s represen ted partly nude, seated on the groundbefore the diola on which he i s a t work ; he holds his man tle wi th the left hand, andwi th a

chi sel in the right ha ndmakes the da tings in the va se ; behind the diola i s a tr ee. ( Eng ravedcarnel ian of the C abin et dc F ra n ce, 13 m i ll . by 16 ; C a ta logue, No.

9 ( ianymedes sea te d, presen ting a cup to the eagle of Zeus ; behind Ga nymedes, a tree.

( Engra ved corn elian of the C abinet de F ra n ce, 16 millim . b v 2 1 . C habouillet, C ata logue,No.

Herodotus , v . 47 ; v n . 1 8 7. Man y things impressed him a t l ’latain, among them this,tha t the first Spa rtan who fel l wa s the ha ndsomest man of the G reek s ( ix . A t Spa rtaand Lesbos, and among the. Pa rrha sia ns , women took pa rt in a public con t est for the prize of

beauty ; and in E lie a simi lar competi tion took plac e among the men (A thc nmus, xi i i .Pluta rch. A

'ikias, 8 .

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

somest of the epheboi, Sophok les had the honor of lead ing the

chorus which,after Salam is, chant ed the hymn of victory ;

l and it

is sa id tha t Pheidias engra ved upon the linger of the Olympian

Zeus : “ Pan ta rk es is beautiful , — expos ing h imself to a charge of

sacrilege . The Pheidia n Zeus has perished , and we know not if

any such inscript ion were cut on i t ; but a s im ilar one we find on

a painted vase, where a V ictory is bringing a wreath’

to a hand

some ephobos . T he gods even were bel ieved to apprec iate this

advantage, which gave many mortals the honor of their love . At

Aigion Zeus would ha ve his priests chosen from among youths

who had ga ined the prize for beauty ; on account of th is merit

Ganymedes wa s carried away to heaven that he m ight serve . as

the gods’ cup- bea rer

,

2 and Apollo adm itted in to his temple the

statue of Phryne, the most adm ired courtesan in Greece . It wi ll

be remembered that H yperides saved the fa ir heta ira , when accused

of a capital crime, by suddenly snatch in g from her, as she s tood

before her judges, the garment which veiled her beauty . Thus

a re expla ined the d iv in e honors pa id to A n tin oos by the most

Greek of Roman emperors ; thus also we comprehen d how this

worship of beauty, of wh ich the Greeks made a rel igion a nd Pla to

makes a theory,8 formed the artists of Greece, and in a degree

her ph ilosophers . Have we not words of Pla to whence may be

legitimately deduced the famous formula that the beautiful is the

emanation of the good ? The jur isconsul ts of the Roman empire

were called the priests of justice ; Pheidias a nd Polyk letes may

also be called the pr iests of beauty ; and th is trait suff ices to

ma rk the d ifference between the two c iv il izations . This Greek

rel igion we stil l hold . Beauty is the perpetual aspiration of our

T he poet himself fel t thi s cha rm , which la ter drew upon him the cutting cen sure of

Perik les (Plutarch, Perik les , l l ) .

3 See the curious chapter of A thenazus, xi i i. 20 .

3 I n the Ba nquet a nd the Pha iflros. See in C hapter XXX . of thi s work Pla to’s theorytha t all form s of terrestria l beauty are but the reflect ion of the divine thought . A ris totle, inhis Poetics and in his Politics, con tra sting Polygnotos wi th l’auson , says tha t the young shouldnot be a l lowed to look a t the. uncome ly pictures of the la tter, but up on the b eautiful works ofthe former. To Sokrates a nd Plato, a nd indeed to every n ob le -minded G reek , honorab le affec

tion be tween young men was a n inc itemen t to lofty thoughts a nd worthy acts .Nor a . O n the opposite page i s repr esen ted a s ta tue in Peutelikan ma rb le, discovered

at A then s in December, 1 8 80 (from a photograph) . I t i s a n imitat ion of the work of l ’he'idias,

made in the Roman e po ch : i t should be compa red with the se—ca l ledPa l las Lenorman t, Vol . I I .

p. 644. S ee C ollignon , P/u'

diaa, pp. 26 ct scq. , in the col lection of A rtistes ce'

lbbrcs, Pa ri s, 1 886.

A THENE I’

A BT H E NO S .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

the Athen ians the People or Senate person ified;‘ and we do the

same to express certain ideas, as in the ca se of the St. Borromeo

of Lago Maggiore, and the L iberty Enl ighten ing the World , of New

York . Executed to be looked at from a d istance, they a re impres

s ive by their bu lk, a nd a re the plastic expression of lofty ideas ,Hol iness , the Coun try , Indepen den ce . On the promontory or islan d

where such a figure stands .

between earth and heaven ,it seems the Gen ius of the

people which has erected i t ,a conspicuous testimony of

their gratitude. and a v isible

form in which is represented

their inmost thought .

It is easy to bel ieve that

the m artial Athene of Pla

ta ia,as ta l l as the Athene

Promachos of the Akropol is,2

must have produced a great

effect , although it was only

of gilded wood , with head ,feet, and hands of marble.

The recollectioii of the day

which had seen the defin

itive triumph of Greece over the grea t Or ienta l empire couse

crated her thrice holy for the sons of the v ictors . But would she

be so for us ? The idea which tran sfi gured her no longer ex ist

in g , the art alone woul d remain ; and to us this compos ite art is

worth less . These mon sters of wood or bron ze or stone must have

a heart, a soul . answering to the heart and soul of the artist and

of h is people, without which they are — l ike the colossi of R hodes,of Nero, and of Mun ich — only an empty show . or at most a

triumph of industry.

R E A D or A THENE .

8

3 80 0 Vol . II . p . 628 .

3 Sec, Vol . I. p . 143, A thene Promachos on an A then ian cein represen ting the A kropohIn taglio in red ja sper, of the C ab inet of V ienna, from Stosch, Pierre: a n tiques gra vel-x .

pl . 18 . The in ta gli o bears the signature ( in the gen i ti ve case) of the engraver A spasios

( A C U A C IO Y ) . T he gem o f A spasios gives us va luab le de ta ils of the type of face and orn a»men ta tion of the helmet of the A thene l ’arthenos of Pheidias . See C ol iguen , I

’liidc'

as, pp . 28

el seq.

THE AR TS IN A THENS IN T H E FIFTH CENTURY B. c . 125'

But the colossal statues of Pheidia s, on the con trary, sa tisfac

t ion being given to the rel igious fai th , would have rema in ed to

all ages work of high art, because n o detai l in them was neglected .

For ord in a ry coloss i it is essential to seek, in sufficient remote

ness, the exact point of view . Those of Pheidias shut in by the

wall s of the sanctua ry, escaped this n ecess ity . Athene in her

n aos, Zeus in his temple, m ight be closely approached by their

worshippers ; accord in gly art, takin g on the a spect of rel igious

obl igation ,d id its utmost to furn ish to the strictest piety, abso

lute perfection of deta i l even in the most incons iderable acces

sories. Upon the thickn ess of Athen e’

s sandals was en graved

the battle of the Lapiths and Cen taurs, and the devout cduld

see for themselves that the scul ptor had omitted nothing that

the design required .

Other cities, n o less rel igious, but poorer than Athens, cou ld

n ot atta in this perfection . Megara, a jealous r ival, wished to have

a lso a colossus, and to have it from the chisel of him who was the

great master . But mean s were in suffic ient, and the god had

on ly a head of gold and ivory, with a body of clay and plaster .

Colossal sta tua ry was str ictly devoted to the gods, and had

its appropr iate pla ce in the temples or n ear them . The same

is true, and for l ike reason s , of chrySelephan tin e sculpture .

The most famous of these statues of gold and ivory,those

which,by the description s of an c ien t writers, we know the best,

were the Athene of the Pa rthen on and the Zeus of Olympia .

Forty- n in e feet three inches 1 in he ight , in clud in g the pedesta l ,the Athen e stood clothed in a tun ic rea chin g to the san dals , — the

dress of an Athen ian maiden . In on e han d she hel d a V ictory,

2

in the other the spear aroun d which wa s twin ed the serpen t

E richthon ios . A sphinx and griffin s, emblems of in tellect which

pen etrates and gra sps the truth , surmoun ted her helmet, of which

the v isor bore eight horses sprin gin g forward at a gallop,— an

image of the rapid ity of d ivin e thought .8 The draper ies were

of gold, the fa ce, han ds, and feet of ivory, the Medousa’

s head

1 T he sta tue itself was 39 feet 3 in ches in he ight .9 This V ic tory was about s ix feet in he ight.3 I t has been thought tha t this group on the he lmet would make it too heavy ; but the

proportion s of the sta tue rendered necessary this decora tion of the head.

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

upon the shield was of s ilver, a nd the eyes of the goddess were of

prec ious stones . On the shield , placed on the ground bes ide her feet,were represen ted , on the outs ide, a battle between the Athen ians

and the Amazons ;1and on the in side the strife between the gods

and the giants . On the pedestal was the B irth of Pandora . This

Athene was truly the ma iden goddess, pure in body and soul .

She holds the spear, and wears the form idable aegis . But theseare weapons of the m ind, not those of actual warfare ; and her

eyes explore the in fin ite, seeking to find the rea

sons oi eternal things, the sc ience of heaven and

earth .

2

How d id th is Athene perish , which J ul ian , in the

fourth cen tury of the Christian era , beheld ? It has .

been usual to blame the Christians ; but it was her

gold that caused her destruction . So large an

amount of prec ious metal could not escape pi l lage.

whether at the hands of Northern invaders,of

needy pr inces, or even of common robbers . The Pa rthen on had

already been plundered in the ' time of Isok rates, and the Athen e

of J ul ian must have been merely a fragment .‘

Pheidias was also inv ited to Olympia .

ls The treasures accoma

lated in the temple from the ofi erin gs of entire Greece perm itted

him to make a work superior to the statue of the Parthenon .

Upon a throne of cedar- wood , incrusted with gold , ivory, ebony ,and prec ious stones, and adorned with has- rel iefs a nd pa in tings,

A SKLEPIO S .‘

The Louv r‘

c cla ims to possess a copy of theW oundedAm azon by Kresilas, a con tempora ryof Pheidias.

9 To the kindn ess of Madame la Duchesse de Luyn es i s due the copy which has beenmade , in the C hateaude Dampierre,

of the Pa llas A thene executed by the sculptor Simart, byorder of the late learned Due de Luynes.

3 A sklepios standing, ha lf- n ode, lean ing on his staff, about which a serpen t i s en twin ed.

(E ngraved corn e l ian , 32 m i l l . by 15 . C abin et dc F ra n ce. No. of the C a ta logue.)4 W e sha l l see la ter tha t in 296 B. O . , Laeha res took away all the orn amen ts of A thene

tha t were removable. a nd the golden shields of the a rchi tra ve (Pausan ias, i . 25 , A nother,ea rl ier, had taken away the Gorgon eion , of gi lded s i lver .

5 A t wha t t ime? \Ve do not know. W e. ha ve a l ready sa id (Vol . l l . p . 663. n . 2) that , be ingaccused at A then s, he took shelter wi th the E leian s. Philochoros. who re la te s th is. adds thatPheidiaswas put to dea th by thi s people. But crit ics have correctedhis text in a man ner to makehim say the con trary. H istory k n oyvs not how the grea t sculptor's l ife ended ; the duty whichwa s inherited b y his descendan ts as g uardian s of the grea t sta tue would seem to imply tha t hedied peaceab ly in E l i s . l ie was born between 490 and 485 ; a nd i t is probab le his

dea th occurred in the early yea rs of the Pe lopon n esian war .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

ported to Constan tinople in 393 A . D ., where i t was destroyed a

few years later by fi re ;

'

but it probably was not respected so long

a s tha t . As early as the second cen tury of our era Luc ian ban ters

the god , —“ h im the brave, him the exterm inator of giants

,who

remained tranqu il ly seated‘

while robbers shore away h is curls

of gold .

Other c ities besides Athens and O lympia had chryselephantin e

statues . Prec ious materials were employed for the Argive Here.

the Asklepios of Epidauros, and many others . W as

th is only from van ity and ostentation ? A n obler

sentiment inspired this lav isbn ess : i t was a trad i tion

from the earl iest ages and remote countries in the

depths of As ia . The sacred statues which the Greek s

of the prim it ive periods cou ld not make beautiful ,they made r ich by vestments, color, and ornamen ts .

On the shield of A chilleus which Homer describes, Ares and Athene

were of gold ; and to gain the protection of Athene,Hektor adv ises his mother to lay the most pre

c ions woven stuff upon the kn ees of the goddess .

In the fifth century the same thought rema ined .

“

The bare marble in its dazzl ing wh iteness would

have been incongruous with that bri ll iant orna

mentation of the old statues, those veils embro idered

in coun tless des igns,those costly tapestries attached to the wall s

of the n aos . Chryselephantine sculpture was therefore a necess ityimposed by custom

,rel igion , and art . In decoratin g the statues

of their gods with such magn ificence, the Greeks showed how great

z sus m a s ruoaos.

‘

zmus unm er—ronos .a

goldwas employed on the sta tue of the Olympian Zeus . But the quan ti ty must ha ve beenlarge, sin ce ea ch curl of his abundan t ha ir weighed s ix min a i! 75 lb . (Lucian , The T ragicZ eus,

1 Z eus Nikephoros ( the Bringer of V ictory) sea ted, and crowned by a V icto ry the eaglei s at his fee t . (E ngraved cornel ian of the C abin et de F ra n ce. Height, 1 7 millim . ; breadth,

18 . No. 1 421 of the C a ta logue.)O I

2 wea k en c a n s roc xapua-ra

'ror 1383Mywror ( I liad.

, vi .Z eus sea ted on a throne at the left ; wi th the left hand he lean s on a long sceptre, a nd

on the right hand he holds a sma ll V ictory, who is about to crown him ; legend : BA i lA EQS

ANT IO XO Y ; in the field, the letter F , a m in t mark . (Reverse of a te tradrachm of A n tiochos

l . Soter, kin g of S y ria .) I t i s eviden t tha t the artists who en graved these coin s, as wel l as thei n ta gl io of the C abinet de F ra n ce, fol lowed the type crea ted by the gen ius of Pheidias. The

same is true of the coin s of E lis wi th a head of Zeus . See Vol . I . p . 142, and la ter, in thi svolume, p. 15 3 .

THE A RTS IN ATHENS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B . C. 129

was their devot ion . They were n ot n igga rdly with the god ; the

greater the expen se, an d con sequen tly the sacrifice, the more satis

fied the god must be, and the surer his protection . Thus a beca

tomb of a hundred bull s secured to him who offered i t more of

the d iv in e favor than the sacrifice of on e sheep . The Athen ian s

therefore were ready to cover the Athene of the Pa rthen on with

gold,forty talen ts in weight, at a cost equa l to four or fi v e m i l

l ion dollars -

of our mon ey,1

and the O lympian Zeus probably

received even more ; but such an offerin g was eas ily made by

the Greeks of tha t time, for in the fifth cen tury B . (3. every form

of d isplay was reserved for the adorn men t of the publ ic edifi ces,

for the hon or, tha t is to say, of the gods an d the c ity . The

dwel l in g- houses were small ; they were ill- buil t, and even more

poorly decorated ; and they were so because the c it i zen spen t

all his time out of doors, and came home to his house on ly to

eat an d to sleep there .

Still an other idea led to th is lav ish adorn men t of the statues

and temples of the gods .

W e have seen 2 that the Greeks and Latins distin guished the

Sa thémov , or numen (the d iv in e power), from the god, who was

its incarnation . A nd as this imma teria l power could be d iv ided

without being d im in ished, the bel ief wa s gen eral that the god

coul d be present by his numen . in each on e of h is poliac images, a s

the Roman Cathol ic Church bel ieves in the Real Presen ce in the

consecrated wafer at the same momen t in a thousan d d ifferent

places . O n a pa inted vase which represen ts the abduction of

Europa,Zeus. armed with his sceptre, con templates himself changed

in to a bull , boun d in g over the wa ves, and carryin g upon hisback

the daughter of the tyran t A gen oé.

3 The Christian s lon g bel ieved

Thucydides, n . 1 3 . 40 ta len ts of gold 400 ta len ts of sil ver . T he value of the s il verta len t should therefore be mul tiplied b y 400 and this sum aga in by1 0 or 1 2 , to give approxim a tive ly i ts presen t va lue . See V ol . I I . p . 608 , u. 2.

2 See Vol . I . p . 383 . Their hab i t of thin kin g of a. doub le exis te n ce of the dead,examples of

which we ha ve given (Vol . I . pp. 385 c l one. in the tomb which had rece ived them the

other, in the k ingdom of Hades, upon O hm pos, or in the n eighborhood of their former homes,made the an cien ts famil iar w i th the idea of a di vi s ion of the divin e es sen ce . T he Egyptian s,as well as the Greeks a nd Roman s, bel ieved in a div is ion of the human soul, of which a pa rtdwelt in the tomb, and was supported by the sta tue of the dead man . G . Ma spero, H istoiredes times da ns l

’

a n cien ne Egg/p ie, in the Bul l. de l’

A ssoc . scientif. de F ra n ce, No. 5 94, pp.373—384 . R ecueil, i . 1 5 2, 5 99 .

3 Vol . I . p . 353.

V O L. l n .- 9

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

that the old gods , who, they bel ieved , were demons, dwel t in their

statues .

‘ It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that the A theu lans rega rded the Parthenon as the ver itable dwell ing- place of

Pallas Athene, and the sta tue as her bod ily form . At the approach

of Xerxes, Athene wa s not the only on e to flee away , — the Great

Goddesses quitted Eleus is the n ight before the battle of Salam is ;and in the winter Apol lo a bandoned Delos for the m ilder cl imateof the H yperboreaus.

2 Theseus was present at Marathon,to a id

in the great Athen ian v ictory, a s the Theban Herakles went toLeuk tra to fight aga inst the enemies of his people

,and under the

walls of Pla ta ia the Spartan s, before attacking the

c i ty, ca lled away from i t the d iv in ities a nd heroes of

the pla ce, whose duty it was to act a s i ts defenders .

At the festiva l of the An thesteria, the basilz’

ssa givenPA LM S"; as bride to D ionysos was led as such into his sanc

tuary , where all things were conducted with rel igious decorum .

Not such was the case at Rome in the decadence of polytheism ,

when the pr iests of Serapis persuaded a young and beautiful

matron tha t the god desiredi

her for his wife.

E very year the goddess Athene departed from her sanctuary ,when . on the 24th of Tha rgel ion (May—J une), the ornamen ts

were removed from her statue, that i t m ight be thorough ly

cleansed . Then appea red the rude fittings and the en ormous beams

which supported it . This skeleton of the goddess was quickly

h idden un der a veil ; but the numen was no lon ger there . Accord

iug ly , the day'

of the p lyn teria , or washing, wa s for the c ity a day

of m ourn ing,

and a ll haste was made to complete the work

between sun rise and sunset, that the goddess m ight be able to

return in to her fa vorite abode, and again extend her protection

over the city . When Alkibiades came home to Athens after h is

great v ictories in the Hellespont. — two hundred gal leys taken or

destroyed — the mu ltitude was for a moment wild with del ight .

But he made his entrance into the c ity at the moment of the

melan choly ceremony of the month of Thargel ion the absence of

C f. F abricius. C oder apocpjt/phun Nom’

Teslamenh’

, pp. 669 el seq.

7 Sec Vol . I . p . and p. 332, nofe, of Vol . I I .3 Pa l las Nikephoros standing ; she holds in the right hand her spear , and in the left a

statuette of V ictory. (Height, 1 2 millim breadth. 10 wi l l im. C abinet de F ra n ce. No.

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

materials for the images . of. the gods, and devotion , which made

these images the hab itua l res idence of d iv in i ty , led a rtists to the

creation of chryselepha n tine statuary . Lac'

tan tius rega rded i t

with d isapproval . These richly att ired sta tues seemed to him

great dolls,which m ight plea se a l i ttle girl . 1 W e sha l l not

be guil ty of such blasphemy . but it can not be den ied tha t in

th is respect aga in the taste of the Greeks wa s not the same with

ours ; and attempts at restora tions have not made con verts of

us . The reason of th is is man ifest, — we have not the same

rel ig ious fa ith . In the Greece of Per ikles the rel igious sentiment

sti ll dom inates the msthetic sense .

”

An other conclusion may a lso be drawn from this study . The

d irection taken in the fifth century by sculpture shows that the

nation a l rel igion , notwithsta n d ing the attacks that were begin

n in g to be made upon it, wa s st il l thorough ly al ive ; and of th is

we sha l l have many proofs in the n a rratives about to follow .

Pheidias d id not l im it h imsel f to representing the gods , that

is,to the makin g of colossal statues ; with h is own hand, or more

probably by the hand of those who wrought under his d irection ,he covered with less d iv ine sculpture the frieze, the metopes, and

the two ped iments of the temple, whose figures , seen from below ,

appeared to be only of ord inary stature . Those which he carved

upon the shield of Athene and upon the edges of her sandal s

were stil l less in s ize. T he magn ificent fragments which rema in to

us of the two ped iments , — Demeter and Kora , Ir is and the Kephis

sos , the Gra ces or the Fates. Herakles or Theseus, — are the work

of his school , and , we may say ,‘of his m ind .

3 Mutilated as they a re,

1 De orig in c crroris, u. 5 . The word doll i s older than Lac tan tius, and seems to ha vesprun g to the l i ps of some ri va l of Pheidia s ; for Isok rates, who was a lmost his con temporary,compla in ing tha t he was accused of keeping speeches for sa le, adds : I t i s as if a man shouldsa y of Pheidias tha t he was a maker of dol ls (xopmrha

'

OO S) (A n h’

dosis, 2, edi t. H avc t) ; tha t isto say, of figures ca st by a n a rt isan , in stead of sculptured by a n artis t .

9 The chrysc lephan tine sta tues requi red very specia l care to preven t the i vory fromcracking by excess of dryn ess, the gold from becom ing tarn ished. and the image from accumu~

la ting dust. (Sec Pausan ia s, i i . A ccordin g ly, there were a ttached to the temple se rv itorswhose duty it was to a ttend to the to i let of the god. A t Olym pia they were ca l ledM pwm l,

those who clea n sed a nd re ndered bri l l ia n t ; a nd the descendan ts of Pheidias he ld this officeby heredi ta ry succession . In the Pa rthenon they were ca l led the U paéupyibcu, the workers . "

T he me topes, espec ia l ly the ba ttle between the Lapi ths and Cen taurs, and certa in partsof the western pedimen t and of the frieze, sti l l show a rcha ic stiff ness .Non a — O n the opposite page i s represen ted a group from the ea stern pedimen t of

the Parthenon . This fragmen t is now in the Brit ish Museum .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

beautiful statues of Aigina, with figures adm irably stud ied but l ifeless, and faces that wear, even in suffer ing and in dea th, the same

THE era / moron !)

imbec ile sm i le . The great sculptor sought beauty , which is the

spir itual essence of things, whether i t be the sou l seen through the

1 A marb le which,at fi rst in the StrangfordC ol lection . has now b een added to the Brit i sh

Museum (from a photograph) . Thi s has been recogn ized as a copy of the shieldwhich Pheidia s made for his A then e, a ndupon which he sculptured the ba ttle between the A then ian s andthe Amaz on s. Plutarch (Perik les , 3 1 ) re la tes that. Pheidias represen ted himself among thecomba tan ts “

as a ba ld oldman l i ft ing a stone wi th both ha nds . " Thi s i s the figur e clad in an

cr omis. a workin g- man 's tun ic, directly under the Medousa'

s head. a nd of which we have ea rlier(Vol . IT. p. 639) given a n en la rged head. Pheidia s. Pluta rch tel l s us, a lso in troduced a verybeautiful l ikeness of Perikles . H e. was represe n ted fighting, spear in hand, and the face pa rtlycon cea led by the hand l ifted in fron t of it. but so sk ilfully man aged that on each s ide of the

hand the l ikeness could be c learlv seen . O n the Stran gford shield the figure of Perikles is justbehind tha t of Pheidias.

NO TE . — O uthe opposite page are repre sen ted fragmen ts from the ea ste rn frieze of the

Parthen on , immedia tely fol lowing those represen ted Vol . I. p . 5 1 1, from ca sts and from the

original s. T he sea ted divin i ties are in A then s ; the first eight figures of the lower register arein the Louvre ; a ll the rest a re in London . (C f. Mieliaelis, Der Pa rthenon . p . 25 7, and pl . N . )The gods, “ in vi sib le specta tors, as in the epic poems, are presen t a t the procession (Bea le.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

idea which the great philosopher expressed a century after his

time. W e must therefore ascr ibe to Pheidia s, in add ition to a ll

his other gifts, a conception of d iv in i ty kin dred to that held by

the loftiest m inds of h is time. Their ances tors had made the gods

in the image of man ; these men now gave as the great moral

rule a resemblance.to the ideal ized god, swa m 7 c?) deq

'

i,and Phei

dias put in execution that formula . This un ion of the most fin ished

art w ith the most lofty thought expla ins the ha rmon ious grandeur

of th is epoch which counted so

many makers,”

1rourra f. The

Romans were lovers of the use

ful , which br ings in profit ; the

Greeks sought beauty,which de

l ights : and theirs was the bet

ter choice .

In speak in g of the sculptured

human figure, the question of

polychromy aga in recurs . A .

statue of white marble is art

spiritual ized a statue pa inted ,l ike the sa ints in a village church ,is coarse and sensual art . Among

the anc ient Greeks there certa inlyH E AD O F mm , O R V l C

'

lO BY were statues pa inted in glar ing

colors of a s ingle tint, for th is

usage lasted long, and is clearly testified to by Pl iny and Quintil ian .

But the art ists of the age of Per ikles had a very refined taste, and

woul d not have been wil l ing to make their works objects of sen

sual curios ity, or figures which, wh ile hav ing the aspect of l ife

were, so to speak, only corpses stiffened by death .

2 For the statues

1 Ma rb le from the western pedimen t of the Parthenon , in the Laborde C ollection (from a

photograph).2 A t Munich I n oticed, in a chape l of St . Peter's C hurch, peasa n ts praying a round a

tomb . I was touched by the s ight ; but on approaching, I perce ived tha t these figures wereon ly pa in ted stone. I turned away ; in stead of a n ac t of devotion and a ffection ate rememhran ce , performed by the k indred of the dea d, I had been ob serv ing on ly the trickery of a

vulga r exhib i t ion - ro om. A ll the mediazv a l sta tua ry, down to the Ren ai ssa n ce, wa s polychrome.

I t was Micha e l A ngelo who made the most v igorous a ttack upon thi s cus tom. See L. C ou

rajod, La Polychromie dam la sla luaire da moyen dye at de la R enaissa n ce ( C . R . de I’

A cad.

des insert . 6 aofi t,

T H E ARTS IN ATHENS IN T H E FIFTH CENTURY B. C . 141

of the gods which they' wished to make splen d id, they employed

the most precious materials . For the heroes and for Olympic Vic

tors they used bron ze a nd marble, coverin g the latter with a fain t

color. which ren dered the ston e more plea sin g to the eye, and pre

served it from the wea ther as by a k ind of tran sparen t gauze .

1

Pla to testifies to this custom , which the sight of the Chrys

elephan t ine statues must have en couraged ; but he adds at the

same time a piece of advice for the correct ion of

wha tever m ight be un seemly in this ta ste, ca rr ied to

an extreme. If we were pa in tin g a sta tue,”he

says,

“and a cr itic should reproach us for not us in g

more v iv id colors , we should reply to this objec

tor,

‘ Do n ot thin k tha t it is proper to pa in t theSA R DO NY X ;

eyes in so stron g color that they would no longer

be eyes ;’

and wha t I say of th is part of the body is true of the

rest .

” 3 Plato thought ev iden tly that color Should be used to

brin g out nature more clearly, but not to chan ge it . In th is,as

in al l other respects, it was importan t n ot to go beyond due mod

cra tion,

that pre - em in en t qual ity of Greek gen ius ; and we can

n ot doubt that sculptors obeyed, on ly in d iscreet measure, tha t

ta ste for color which to this day prevai ls in al l the lan ds of

the sun .

4

III .— PA INT 1NG , MU SIC , A ND OTHER ARTS .

IF the description of the Shield of A chilleus in the I liad is a.

work of the imagination , the detailed accoun t which Pausan ias

gives of those of the Athen e of the Parthenon and of the Olympian

1 Pl iny ( xxxv. 1 1 , 28) says tha t the pa in ter Nik ias aided.

Praxi teles in staluis circumlin endis.

2 K ra ter in tended for the victor in the O lympic G ames. T he des ign upon this kra ter i sa win ged Victory driving a b iga. O n the foot are two sphin xes fac ing each other ; under thehandles, two masks . Thi s va se, in the fin eness of it s execution , i s on e of the marvel s ofa n tique glyptics . E n graved sardonyx

,of the C ollection de Luyn es, in the C abin et de F rance

(No. He ight, 1 7 mill im . ; b readth, 1 2 m il lim .

3 R ep , iv ., in itio.

4 I n respect to the taste of Southern races for color, see, among a thousa nd other testi

mon ies, wha t Dr. Gustave Le Bon has recen tly said of the temples of Nepaul ,“ pa in ted in

in ten se red, and ha vin g the ir brick and copper roofs supported by thousands of gods a ndgoddesses clothed 111 the most da zz l ing colors .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

Zeus, after a m inute study of each, shows that the school of

Athens had brought to great perfection the art of ch isell ing

metal and ivory, as wel l as that of working in stone, in casts, or

in rel ief . I t may be conjectured, however, that this skill was bor

rowed from the school of Argos, where bronze work was high ly

esteemed .

A correspond ing skil l in pa inting was never atta ined in Greece,although anecdotes more famous than truthful would seem to

ind icate otherwise . Modern pain ting appeal s

to the emotions : that of the an c ien ts was

rather sculptural , in this sen se that it sacri

fi ced color to drawing,and effects of l ight

to form . It knew neither what we may ca ll ,in th inking of Rembrandt, the drama of l ight

and shade, or, in th inking of the.Ven etian

school,the harmon ious accord of colors . Pana i

n os, the brother of Pheidias, and Mikon , the pa inter of the temple

of Theseus, decorated , with Polygn otos, the Po ikile,or Pa in ted Por

tico,with pictures which narrated to the Athen ian s the grea t deeds

of their fathers .

2 In the Battle of Marathon ,by Pan ain os, were represented Miltiades, Kall i

machos , Kyn aigeiros, even Datis and A rtapher

n es. Pheidias stud ied painting , as d id another

em inen t sculptor, Michael An gelo ; but he would

pa in t no portra it but that of Perikles . Sikyon was the first Greek

c ity that had a ‘ school of drawing . Athens, Miletos, and, la ter,Corinth , followed th is example . W e shall see in the next chapter

m om rsm c BULL .‘

H rzmr- D R A C U M A .

’

1 T he sa cred bull has a garland of ivy a round his fla nk s . H e i s rushing forwa rd w ithlowered head,

shakin g his ta i l ; un der his feet is a thyrsos, orn amen ted with fi llets . In the

field above him is the sign a ture of the engraver, H yllos : YAA O Y . (A ga te - cha lcedony ;height, 22 millim . , b readth, 41 millim . C a ta logue, etc ., No. Thi s en gra ved stone isone of the most famous in the F ren ch n a tiona l col lection .)

W e have alrea dy sa id (Vol . II . p . 5 38 , n . 1 ) that the scene pa in ted on the cup of

Euphron ios represen ting Amphi tri te was perhaps suggested by one of the pa in t ings of Mikonin the Theseion .

3 Laurel led head of A pollo, three-

qua rters fron t. Reverse : l ion , to the left , w ithreverted head ; above , a sta r. Legend : E I

‘A lA YMQN IE PH . Th is legend (in A tbi

'

mwv lip")appears to sign ify that the coin was made from the ingots of meta l preserved in the temple o f

A pollo a t Ditlymos (Mi l l ingen , Sylloge qf A n cien t U nedited C oin s, p . C oin of Miletos.

NO TE . — O u the opposite page i s represen ted a V ictory un tying her sa nda l. This i s afragmen t of the ba lustrade of the temple of A thene Nike ( from a photograph) . (See p . 10 2,rema in s of thi s t emple. )

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T H E A RTS IN A THENS IN T H E F IF TH CENTURY B . C . 145

tha t Greece had grea t pa in ters, a n d that they were n ot Athen ian s

by b irth who held the pre- em in en ce in this art . It would be,more

over, ra sh to speak of Greek pa in tin g otherwise than a ccord in g to

the opinion of the a n cien ts, for we have n oth in g left of it excep t

pa in ted va ses, which are the work of a rtisa n s ra ther than of a rtists ,and the mura l decora tion s of Pompei i a nd Hercula n eum,

— too often

executed ha stily ,a nd probably by cheaply pa id workmen .

1 The

Roma n mosa ics were a lso made by Greeks ; but n on e of them ,with

the exception of the Ba ttle of I ssos, a re of a high order of art.2

The Greeks had the merit of comprehen d in g tha t the very

highest in tel lectua l culture is on e of the cond itions of greatness

for the in d iv idua l and for the Sta te ; and they neglected no means

to a tta in th is culture . To the study ‘ of poets and phi losophers,

which forms the m in d,3 to gymn astic

'

exerc ises, which develop

agil ity and stren gth , they added in their plan of education mus ic,

which a ccustoms the soul to harmony, and da n c in g, which gives

grace. These two secon da ry arts were at Sparta the prin c ipal

a rts ; they a lso held a grea t place amon g the Athen ian s, though

Athen s n ever stamped them a s her own in the way that she d id

a rchitecture a nd sta tua ry . In d ispen sable aux il ia r ies at festivals,sacrifices, and fun erals , they len t their aid in the performan ce of

the rites of rel igion . T he ma rvellous effects of the lyre of Orpheus

were in a ll men’

s memories, a nd th is hero was the ideal type of

martial valor . A chilleus wa s represen ted celebrat ing his exp loits

upon the kithara fi in the I had and the O dyssey there is n o feastwithout its melod ious sin ger . Un ti l the latest days of Greecem en bel ieved in this ben eficia l eff ect of music . Polybios

attributesthe d isa sters of the A rk adia n s to their n eglect of this art, which

calms the pa ssion s a nd. tea chin g the rules of ha rmon y ,habitua tes

1 See, for example, Vol . I. p . 342, the mura l pa in tin g represen tin g Poseidop a nd A pol loin the service of Laomedon , by on e of these artists In the H is/org; of R ome there a re a number of pa in t ings represen ted from Pompe i i , Herculan eum

, the Pa la tin e, the tomb of the Statilii,

etc . some of these are gra ceful , but n ot on e i s the work of a m a ster.2 I n closing his accoun t of Roman pa in t ing . Pl in y says (xxxv. 2, 5 , and 5 , 29) “ Idlen ess

has destroyed the arts ; n o lon ger ab le to pa in t souls, men have forgotten how to pa in t bodies .W e have sa id en ough of a dying art.3 See Vol . I I . p . 5 60 . n . 2. the gen era l mea n in g of the word mousika . A ri s totle (Polit ,

vi i i . usin g i t in i ts restricted sen se, compla in s tha t in his time music i s regarded on lyas an accompl ishmen t .

4 See, in Vol . I . p . 3 10 , A chilleus K ithareidos, from an engraved ston e.

V O L. I I I . 1 0

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

A PO LLO .‘

men to respect the publ ic p eace .

2 The mus ician Damon ,° a friend

of Perik les and of Sokrates , asserted that mus ical modes could not

1 O n the subjec t of anc ien t music see the lea rned work of Gevaert, H istoire c l (Marie do la

musique dam l'a nliquite

’

, and, in the H istoire do la Iitlc'

ra lurc grecque of O tf . Miiller, chap. xii ,on the developmen t of Greek music.

Marble of the Pourtales C ol lec tion ; now in the Bri ti shMuseum. (From a photograph.)

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HI STORY O F GREECE.

festation of beauty , but exist no longer when grace is replacedby bewildering rapid i ty . In Greece dancing . was a part of reli

gions solemn i ties and of m i l i ta ry tra in ing .

“ The ancients,

” says

Plato, in the seventh book of The Laws,“ have left us a number of

beautiful dances .

”In the Dorian C i ties they were pa rt of the most

importa n t ri tes in the cul t of Apollo, a nd the gravest personages

took part in them . Theseus, return ing from Krete ,danced , in the sacred island of Delos, the yeranos,to celebrate his v ictory over the Min otaur l and the

Spartans, to recal l every yea r their triumph over

the people of Thyra , danced the gymn ap aidia before

the statues of Apollo,Artemis

,and Leto

,singing

,

as they da n ced , verses of A lkma n and of the K reta n

Tha letas.

a The D ionysiac dances with thyrsoi and l ighted torches

were a m im ic representation of the l ife of D ionysos .

Near E leusis was the foun ta in of the Beautiful Dances, Kall i

choros,where the in itiated danced , s ingin g the in vocation to

Iak chos z

BRO NZE com .“

Iak chos, 0 highly hon ored , come to thy pious votaries to dan ce throughthis meadow ; shak in g the full- fruited Chaplet about your head aboundingin myrtle, and with bold foot treadin g a measure possessin g the largestshare of the Graces, holy and sacred, the un restrained mirth - lovin g act

of

Plato in h is treatise on The Laws 5 — which is a commentary, so

to speak,on Athen ian laws and customs — attaches extreme impor

tan ce, even in respect to their mora l education , upon the ephebo i pos

sess ing the art of choruses which in cludes sin ging and dancing .

“ T he gods,”he says , “ touched with compassion for m an

,whom

Nature condemn s to labor, have prov ided for us in tervals of repose by

the succession of festivals in their honor. It is their will that the Muses,led by Apollo and accompan ied by Dionysos , should celebra te these festiva ls with us. T hese div in ities, presidin g over our solem n ities

, g i ve us a

sen se of order, measure, and harmony ; and this sen tim en t, which under

1 Pluta rch, T heseus, 1 9 . In the yépa voc were im i ta ted the windings o f the Labvrin th.

See in Xenophon ’s A n a l/axis, v i . 1 , the desc ription o f many warrior-dances .9 Theseus, covered with a l ion ’s sk in , a nd holding on e of the horn s o f the Min otaur, who

is sinking to the ground before him ; legend : T PO IZ HNIQN. (Reverse ot’

a bronze coin o f

Troizen , wi th the effi g y of C ommo dus .)Pausa n ia s , i i i . 2 , 7 .

A ristophanes, The F rog s. lines 824 seq.

5 Book i i . ch. i .

THE A RTS IN A THENS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B. C . 149

their direction regulates our m ovemen ts, teaches us to form , by our son gsand dan ces, a chain which en twin es an d un ites us.

”

Far from objectin g to exerc ises which in other times serve on lyas amusement, the poet- philosopher regards them as necessa ry fer

the good order of cit ies a nd in d iv idua ls .

Tha t there were in Ion ia a nd elsewhere effem inate dan ces,may

eas ily be bel ieved ; but it was at Rome and at Con stan tinople that

danc in g assumed a lasc ivious character . At Sparta

and Athen s the Pyrrhic dance was a m i l itary ex er

cise an d a lesson in patriotism . T he ephebo i dan ced

at the Greater and Lesser Pan a then aiaf — im itat in g

al l the movemen ts of a combat, attacking, defend

in g , and avo id ing arrows . And was n ot the heroic

round of the Suliot women a remembran ce of those

wa rl ike dan ces Takin g refuge at the top of a moun ta in

to escape the yatagha n or the harem of the Turks, they

chan ted their fun eral hymn,a nd clasping each other

’

s

han ds,da n ced upon the summ it, which wa s surroun ded

by precipices . Each time the da n cin g group passed the

steepest .decl iv ity the c ircle grew less, for on e of the

dan cers had flun g herself over the cl iff ; and so, on e byon e, they perished .

C O R NE LI A Nfi

A PO LL0 .3

1 They were cal led p txlo‘ra l

'

. (Schol . to A ristopha n es, The C louds, v .

The sa tyr shakes w i th the right ha nd a. thyrsos orn amen ted with fillets ; his fawnskin hangs on his left arm. (E n gra ved corn el ian , of the C ollection de Luyn es, in the C abinetde F ra n ce, No. 68 . Height, 1 8 millim . ; b readth, 1 5 millim .)

A pollo, half nude, standing, holdin g the lyre and the plektron . (A ga te in the C a binetde F ra n ce. Height, millim . ; b readth, 1 2 millim . C a ta logue, No.

Bas- rel ief, discovered by Beulé on the A kropolis (from the A cropole d’A thenes, vol . 11 . pl .

E ight young men , div ided in to two groups, adva n ce towa rds the right ; they are nude,

armedwith the shield, a ndhelmeted. Behind them s tands a figure, probab ly the choregos.

A R ME D DA NCE .‘

CHAPTER XXII .

GREEK LITERATURE AND ART IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B. 0.

I .— TH E PRO GR E SS or INTELLE C TU A L CU LTU RE IN T H E W HO LE

GRE EK WO RLD .

VERY Greek nation of th is age had not at its head a man

like Perikles , whose name is appropriately given to the

per iod now un der con s ideration ; but those who cultiva ted neither

l i terature nor the arts at least comprehended them , and by their

en thus iasm gave inspiration to artists and poets . At the Delpliic'

and Olympic festivals,in presence of the most beautiful na tu re .

upon a soil as i t were impregna ted with d iv in i ty and poetry , under

that transparent sky which never weighed heav ily upon men’s

souls, we behold wind ing alon g the shores of the A lpheios, or on

the slopes of Parnassos, the t/worz'

a surround ing the consecrated

v ictims , or some great con course of people following the crown ed

poet, music ian . or ath lete. The crowd stands stil l to l isten . Hero

dotos rec ites some chapter of h is H istory ; a rhapsod ist , by publ icdecree, chants the verses of Homer, of Hesiod, or Empedokles some

sculpto r unveil s a statue, or some pa inter a picture . For these

festivals are the publ ic ex hibi tion of all forms of ski ll , of courage,

and of.

talen t . Stren gth and agil i ty , the essentia l v irtues of a

mil i tary people, received their reward at these games ; while beauty

in all i ts man ifestation s, whether due to body or soul . the labor of

the hands or the efforts of the m ind , obta ined sovereign empire .

From the festivals every Greek carr ies home to his n ative ci ty

a taste for these beautiful objects which have been set before his

NO TE. The i l lustra tion facing this page represen ts the Zeus of Otricol i . Marb le bustfound at Otricoli, and now in the Va tican . ( F rom a photog raph. )

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GREEK LITERA TURE, ETC .,IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 1 53

eyes . Then the c ities v ie with each other in magn ificence ; archi

tecture and sculpture multiply the ir works, which the Greeks,guided by their artist ic instinct, a lmost always place in adm irable

posit ions .

1 Plata ia asks from Pheidias a colossal statue of

Athene and a sta tue of Zeus ; Lem

n os another Athene, known to an t i

quity as“ the beaut iful Lemn ian ;

”

Delph i an Artem is and an Apoll o ;Olym pia that statue of Zeus which

made v isible the majesty of the ru ler

of the gods ? Delphi and Corin th

institute a compet ition in pa in tin g, where Pan ain os is defea ted byr

i‘

imagoras of Cha lkis, who in a poem boasts of h is victory, an d

where Poly gn otos of Thasos obtain s such a a br il l ian t tr iumph

tha t the A m phik tyous decree him r ights of hospital

ity in al l the ci ties of Greece . Sikyon,whose school

of pa in tin g followed that of Athen s , a lready had

Polyk letes, the successful r iva l of Pheidias, whom

he perhaps surpa ssed in correctn ess of design and

of him the Argives asked a colossa l sta tue of Here

Z E U sfi

saw n .

‘

in gold and ivory,

— a riva l to the Athen e Par thenos . The sculp

tor was successful,and it was thought that he as appropr iately

reproduced the n oble and pure beauty of Here a s Pheidia s the

imposing majesty of the ru ler of the gods . Olympia boasts of

its temple, Delphi of its sa n ctuary, whose pedimen t was sculp

1 Most of the promon to ries of Pelopon nesos, A ttika, Ionia , a nd the i slands were m arkedby temples, trophies, a nd tomb s . These monumen ts, surrounded by woods a nd rocks, seenunder all effects of light, n ow am id clouds and thunders torms, n ow lighted up by the m oon ,

now at sun set, n ow at dawn of day ,- must ha ve rendered the coa sts of G reece incomparab ly

beaut iful ; the land thus adorn ed must ha ve looked to the sailor like Kybe le, the an cien tgoddess, who, crowned with turrets a nd sea ted on the seashore . commanded Poseidon , her

son , to spread out his waves at her feet . C HA TEA UBR IA ND, I tin e’

ra ire, p . 1 8 2.

3 Laurel led head of Zeus ; right profile . Reverse : FA A E IQN. E agle sta ndin g, to theright , on a capita l of the Ion ic order . (Didr achm of E l is

,in gen ere.) See, Vol . I . p . 142,

an other coin of the same type.

3 T he mask of the O lympia n Zeus which we have (see p . 1 5 1 . the Zeus of Otricoli) isperha ps a reduction from the or igin a l, or may be a copy of the Zeus of Ly sip pos .

4 Satyr s ta nding. fas tenin g a fillet about his head ; he has a round the hips a g irdl e of

goa t’s ha ir, a nd his thyrsos stands on the ground, supported aga in st his shoulder. The poseof the sta tue is suggestive of the Diadoumenos of Polyk letes. ( In taglio on b lack jasper, ofthe C ollection de Luyn es, in the C ab in et of Meda ls, No. 72 . Height, 1 7 millim . ; breadth.

1 1 millim .)

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

tured by two Athen ians,

- Prax iss and A ndrosthen es. Aigina ,a ster ile rock , had , however, fi v e temples, in whose ruins have been

found prec ious fragments . Epidauros had the m ost costly temple

of antiquity , and Tegea the la rgest in the Peloponnesos .

NO TE.— O u the O pposi te page are repre sen ted some of the prin cipa l types of Syra»

cusan coin s, from the origin of the coin age o f Syracuse in the s ix th cen tury a . 0 . down to aboutthe begin n ing of the third cen tury. T he collection i s in tended to show a t a gla nce the gradua ldevelopmen t of the monetary a rt in the ci ty where tha t art seems to have a tta in ed and longkept a most rema rkable superiority . T he following is a brie f description of these fi ne coin s,wi th the approxima ti ve da te of the i r m in tage .

1 SVR AK O SIO N. Hero, nude, dri v ing a higa , the horses stepping to the right. Reversein cused squa re, divided in to four compa rtmen ts . [n the cen tre, in an incused c ircula r spac e,a sma l l female head O f archa i c style, left profi le . (Tetradrachm struck in the time of the

oliga rchy of the Geomori, the si xth cen tury B . c .)2 . SVRA KO EIO N,

in retrograde legend. W oman ’s head (perhaps a V ictory), wea ring alaurel -wrea th ; a round i t four dolphin s . Reverse : hero, in a tun i c, driv ing a chariot withthree horses steppin g to the right . A bove the horses 8 . V ictory flying, a fi lle t in her hands ;in the exergue, a l ion . Pen tekon ta litron of Gelon I . (485—4 78 B .

3 . EY PA KO EIO N. Head O f the nymph A rethousa , right profi le, her hair covered with a

kelcrypha los of peculia r form ; a round, four dolphin s. Reverse : bea rded hero, in a tunic ,dr iving a cha riot wi th three horses stepp ing to the right . A bove the horses a flying Vic tory,a fi llet in her hands. (Tc tradrachm struck during the democra tic governmen t whichpreceded the s iege of Syracuse by the A then ian s, 466—4 1 5 B . c .)

4 . EY PA KO EXQN. Head of Persephon e, left profile, w i th a wrea th of lea ves of corn ,and

large ear- jewel s ; a round, four dolphin s . I n the exergue, EYA INE , sign a ture of E vainetes, the

engra ver of the die . Reverse : woman in a quadriga , the horses ga lloping to the left. She

holds a lon g wand, wi th which she guides the horses . A bove, a flying V ic tory, a fil let in herb ands. In the exergue, a helmet, a cui ra ss, k nemides, and a shield. (Pen tekon talitron O f the

elder Dionysios or his immedia te successors, 406—345 B . c . )T he names of en gravers on the coin s of Syracuse are as follows K imon , E v ainetes, Euth

Euk leides, Eumenes, Parmen ides, Sosion , and l ’hrygillos. Bes ide the magn ificen t meda ll ion signed by E vainetes we gi ve tha t of Kimon , who was his con tempora ry and his worthyriva l .

5 . SY PAKO EIQNf Head of Persephone, with sma l l ean jewcls, lef t profi le . T he ha i r ofthe goddess i s bound by a wide fi l let, on which is the letter K, i n i t ia l of K IMQN, artist engraver

O f the die. A round the head, four dolphin s ; in the exergue, the word K IMQN. T he reverseof thi s pen tekon talitron of K imon i s the same wi th tha t of E vain etes.

6 . Head of the nymph A rethousa, three qua rters fron t, wi th di shevel led hair bound by a

broad fi l let, on which i s the c ngraver’

s n ame. KIMQN. A bove the head, in very thin letters,A PEGO EA . In the field, three dolphin s . Reverse : EY PA KO EmN. T he nymph A re thousain a quadriga , the horses ga l lopin g to the left she turn s her head, giving a f ron t v iew of her

face . A bove the horses, a V ictory, holding a fi l let, seem s advan cing towa rds the nymphs,wa lk ing upon the heads of two of the horses . In the exergue, a n ear of corn . (Tetradrachmsigned by K imon , and coinedunder the e lder Dionysios or his successors, 40 6- 345 B. C . )

7 . Z Y PA KO S IQN. Head of the nymph A rethousa, w i th la rge ear- jewel s ; be fore her

EYA INE , sign a ture of the a rtist- engra ver. Reverse : young Herak les, kneel ing to the right,stra ngling in his a rm s the Nemzea n l ion . (Gold piece s igned by E vainetes, and coin ed underthe e lder Dionysios or his successors, 406—345 B. C .)

8 . SY PA KO E IQN. Head of Pa l la s, three qua rte rs fron t. wi th helmet hav ing crest andquadruple a igrette . O n the fron t of the helme t, in very sma l l letters , EY KAE IA A . signa tureof Euk leidas, arti st- engraver of the die. R everse : SYPA KO EIQN. Leuka spis, armed with

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GREEK LITERA TURE, ET C . , IN T H E FI FTH CENTURY B. c . 1 57

Argos,pun ished for its isola tion by men ta l ster i l ity , gave n o

successor to the poetic and wa rl ike Telesilla at most there were a

few Argive mus ic ian s, and on e sculptor,A geladas, who had the hon or of train

ing the three great sculp tors of the

time,Pheidias, Myron, and Polyk letes

of Sikyon , the heads of a n ew school ,which

,giv ing l ife to marble and

bron ze,began ,

so to speak, the secu

la rization of a rt . Corin th bu ilt temples to all the O lympian gods,and decora ted them with magn ificen ce ; but she needed, in building

them, the han d of foreign a rtists, — as if art,thus brought from

T E T BA DR A C H M.

1

abroad, was but a luxury in which her r ich merchants took

plea sure . W e m ay n ot en ter Sparta, for'

we are in search of

gen ius, and there on ly stren gth is to be found, and a virtue too

o ften thea trical . Were i t n ot for P in dar,the Boiotian Thebes

woul d have n o attraction for us, and even her on e poet Thebes

suffered to go away from her a nd res ide at the court of H iero .

The islan ds and the colon ies fur n ished also their contin gent

of great m en : H erak leia had Zeux is, Ephesos Parrhasios,— worthy

r iva l s , who pa id for the adm iration of the Athenia n s, the latter

by makin g an a l legor ical portra it of tha t people at on ce hot- headed

and gentle, modest and arrogan t ful l of grandeur and full of

weakn ess ;2the former

,by pa in tin g for Athen s that Helen which

the pain ter Timomachos of Byzantion con templated for two hours

helmet, shie ld, spea r, and lan ce, fighting, to the right ; behind the hero a n a l ta r, and at his fee ta ram ’s head. I n the exergue, A EY KAEH IS . (Drachma sign ed by Eukleides, and coinedunder the elder Dionysios or his successors, 406—345 B . C . )

9 . Z Y PA KO EIQN. Laure lled head of A pollo, left profi le ; behind, his bow. ReverseSQT E IPA . Head of A rtem i s, right profi le , the ha ir bound wi th a diadem ; behind, the bow

andquiver. (C oin of electrum , struck in the t ime of Timoleon and the democracy, between344 a nd 3 1 7 B. C . )

1 0 . EY PA KO EIQN. Head of Persephon e. r'

g ht profile, wea rin g a wrea th formed of a

sta lk of corn . Reverse : A I‘ A GO KA E IO S . V ictory,standin g to the right, erectin g a trophy,

above which she is driv in g a n a i l w i th a hammer. T he trophy is formed of‘

a helmet, a sh ield,a cuira ss and k nemides ; in the field a monogram a nd the tr iquetra, the emb lem of S ic ily .

(Tetradrachm of the reign of A ga thok les, 3 10—30 7 B . c . )

1 A GA NA . Head of Pa l la s , right profile, helmet orn amen ted wi th a figure of the mon sterSkylla . Reverse : E H PA KA H IQN. Herak les, nude and bea rdless, stn g g

lin g with the Nemea n

lion ; in the fie ld, his club ; on the ground, the owl . ( C oin of H erak leia in Lueania .)9 Parrha sios,

” says Pliny (xxxv. “ sought to represen t thi s people, at on cechan geab le, ha sty, in con stan t, merciful, compassiona te, humb le, and haughty .

”

I I [STORY OF GREECE.

da i ly . T he islan d of Kos produced a m a n of s in gula rly v igorous

m ind , H ippokrates, known in history as the f a ther of med ic ine,”

and also famous as a philosopher . Polyg notos wa s a native of

Thasos ; but Kuidos adopted him , caus ing him to pa int for herupon the walls of the Lcsche a t Delphi the taking of Troy

,and

the descent of Odysseus into the underworld . In on e of these

islands, Melos, was found the Aphrod ite (the Venus of Milo), themost beautiful statue in theLouvre, of broad and s imple style, and

so chaste in her n udi ty, so impos ing, so noble : vera p a tuz’

t dea .

‘

Magna Grascia , of severer gen ius , was less r ich in artists than

in legislators and pliilO SO phers. She had had Z a leuk os of Lok ris,of whom we know l ittle, Pythagora s a nd his famous institute

, the

school of E lea, whence came Zeno, the favori te d isciple of Par

men ides and on e of the teachers of Perikles . In Sici ly,‘

Agri

gen tum and Syracuse were r ivals : the former proudly repeatedthe verses of Empedok les, in which Aristotle recogn ized a gen ius

l ike that of Homer ; she called Zeux is from his native country,and off ered her most beautifu l women as models, that of their com

bined lovel iness he m ight compose the d iv ine beauty of Here .

At th is time also she was makin g prepara tions to build her temple

to Zeus, the most colossal build in g ever constructed by the Greeks .

2

Syracuse had not as yet her most illustrious c i tizens , Arch imedes ,Theok ritos, and Moschos ; but H iero had al ready attracted to hisbril l iant court those poets whom wounded pride or an ambi tious

desi re for royal favors had dr iven from their country . Simon ides of

Kos . Pin da r , and'A ischylos were there ; and Epicharmos, philosopher

and poet , had there put on the stage the first comedy .

Ea stward of Greece, on the remote shore of the Euxine, at

Sinope, shortly after the time of which we speak was born D iogenes

the Cyn ic :

a t Abdera , on the Thrac ian coast, was still l iv ing

Demok ritos, of whom C icero sa id : “ It is from th is great man ’s

I do n ot hesi ta te to prefer thi s s ta tue to the A pollo Bel vedere , and to place i t wi th the

most beaut i ful rema in s of an cien t art:Tha t i s, if we accept the correction made by W in ckelman n (Lr l lers, i . which

cha nges the 60 fee t given by Diodoros ( xi i i . 82) as the width of the temple , in to 160 feet. T he

first sta temen t i s man ifestly too low, si nce the width would have been but one s ixth of the

length, wherea s in the Parthenon and in the temple. a t Olympia i t was about one. thi rd ; butthe second i s perhaps too high, for this would have made the b readth ha lf the leng th. The

temple of the O lympia n Z eus a t A then s was feet in circui t (Pausan ia s, l. 1 8, G) .

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

esteems h im above Plautus . As he wrote at the court of H iero,where he was in great favor, and as this king wou ld not havetolerated the free speaking of Ar istophanes

, Epicharmos, not being

able to attack kings, turned h is r id icule upon men and gods.

H is comed ies were character- pieces or else irreverent parod ies of

mythological legends .

1 It is wel l known that he invented, as a

MA Pi VA f

D IO NYS I A C PRO C ESS IO N : T H E K OMA ST A I O F E PI C H A BMO S .

’

com ic personage, the paras ite, who made at Rome such a bril l iant

success ; and we shal l see later how be handled the O lympians .

W e have almost noth ing of h is works , and only on the pa in ted

vases of Magna Graecia do we fi nd certa in of his characters .8

1 E picharmos was born about 5 39 n . C . ; his father was of the A sk lepiad race. H e was

lon g a residen t of'

Syracuse, where he met A ischylos, and seem s to have died about 454 B . c .

,

or possib ly la ter . W e have the n ames of 35 of his comedies, a nd 1 68 fragmen ts, g i vin g usin all on ly 3 1 9 l ines . It ha s been common greatly to exa ggera te the race- differences be tweenthe Doria n s a nd the Ion ian s . T he Spartan grav ity belonged on ly to Spa rta , where hi s toricc i rcumstan ces crea ted i t. I t i s wel l known tha t the Dorian Megara disputedwi th A then s thein ven t ion of comedy of the coarser sort .

Va se - pa in ting, from Mi l l in , Ga lcrfe mg/Ilzologique, 83, 338 . E picharmos i s the authorof a comedy en ti tled T he K omaslai, or H ep lta islos the subject be ing the re turn of I l ephaistos

to Olympos, guided by Dionysos . Thi s scene i s depicted by the pa in ter on the va se repre

sen ted above. Ma rsya s (MA PSY A Z ) heads the hand; he i s crowned wi th ivy , a nd plays on theflute . A bacchan te follows , holding in the le ft hand a kan tha ros , a nd in the right the doublethyrsos ; thi s i s Kmnmliu (KO MO A IA ), the person ificat ion of the

'

omos, or Dionysiac procession . Then fol lows wi th in secure step Dionysos (A IO NYEO E) , a nd afte r him l-Iephaistos

T he Kome s, thi s Dionysiac procession , says Jules G i ra rd, very justly, is

probab ly the figured tra di tion of represen ta tion s which amused the spectators in Ta ren tum orin Syracuse. It. seem s credib le tha t i t closed the K amasla i of Epicharmos

"

(E tudes sur la

poésie g recque, p .

I n his comedy en ti tled H ope, or Ploutos, E picharmos represen ts one of his charac tersas saying : “ I dine wi th any person who wi shes i t, he has on ly to in vi te me a nd a l so wi th

GREEK LITERA TURE, ETC .,IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 161

Those who main ta in tha t Epicharm os was a lso a philosopher

represen t h im a s belon gin g to the Pythagorea n school . H is on ly

cla im to this title is foun ded on a few grave sen ten ces,of a k ind

always foun d in poetic works .

Theok ritos wrote on the bron ze

statue that Syracuse erected in

hon or of the'

old poet , H e

said m any thin gs of pra ct ica l

util ity,and left a store of wise

precepts .” Plato? forgetting TETR A DRA CHM or sm m oosl

wha t he had prev iously said as

to the author of The 0 10 71d call s Epicharmos“ the master of

com ic poets .

” 3

Empedokles of A grigen tum ,who by certa in s ides of h is n ature

is a ttached to the Pythagorean school a n d to tha t of E l is, was a

grea t poet and a m a n of action .

4 H e ga ve con stitutions to c ities,dra in ed pestilentia l marshes,

5 ba rred the higher part of valleys to

a rrest dan gerous win ds, an d knew remed ies aga in st death . Plato

a nd Aristotle adm ired h im ,a nd Lucretius men tion s him ,

— he wa s

in fact a m an of gen ius ; but gen ius is sometimes akin to madn ess .

person s who do n ot wi sh i t : there - is no n eed of a n in vi ta tion . A t tab le I am ful l of wit ;I make people laugh, and I pra i se the m a ster of the house . I f a ny man sees fi t to con tradictme

,I overwhelm him w i th in sul ts . Then , a fter ea tin g and drin k ing plen tifully, I go away ;

n o slave goe s w i th me bea ring a la n tern , but I wa lk a lon e, stumb l ing in the da rkn ess. I f Imeet the wa tchma n ,

I than k the gods tha t I esca pe w ith on ly a few cuts of the whip . I reachhome t ired out, a nd lie down to sleep on the floor wi thout m indin g it, so stupid am I with thestron g w in e I have drun k .

”

(Jules G ira rd, E tude sur Ep icha rme.) Before reaching Rome,the para si te passed through A then s, where we hear of him in Xenophon ’s Ba nquet.

1 Legend : EE A IN[0 2 ]. T he ri ver Sel in ous person ified a s a youn g man , nude, s tanding,holding in on e hand an ol ive - bran ch, in the other a pa tera from which he pours lustra l wa terupon the a ltar of A sklepios. A t the side of the a l ta r a cock , symbol of A sklepios behindSel inous, a bra n ch of parsley, emb lem of the city ’s n ame, and a bul l for sacrifice . Thi s scen ea lludes to the works of dra in age which Empedokles had caused to be executed in the river ’sbed, and by which a. pesti len ce had been stayed which wa s provin g fa ta l to many of the

inhab itan ts . Reverse : Z E A INO NT IO N. A pollo a nd A rtem is, drawing the bow, s ta ndin g in a

b iga , the horses stepping to the left .See above

,p . 8 1 .

3 I n the l ea il etos, 6 (i

nput [rfic xmpqib‘

t'

a c] expresses more than “ the crea tor, espec ia l lyas i t is the same t itle which Pla to applies to Homer in respect to tragedy .

4 H e l ived about 444 B . 0 . See Vol . I I . p . 22 1 , wha t is sa id of his tea chings a s to then a ture of things .

5 C oin s preserve the memory of this . O n e shows him upon the chariot of A pollo and

a rrest ing the hand of the god, who i s about to di scha rge his fa ta l arrows. See A n n ali dell’

I nstil . dz corresp . a rcheol . , 1 845 , p . 265 .

V O L . 1 1 1 . 1 1

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

Empedokles bel ieved himsel f a god , a nd caused others to th ink

so,— which among the an c ien ts was not a d ifficult ma tter i f a m an

had weal th , gen ius, or power . “ Friends, he says at the begin

n ing of his poem , The Purifi ca tion s, you who dwell in the

higher part of the great c ity wh ich the fa ir A k ragas waters , you

who a re zealous doers of the right, I salute you ! I who am not.

a man , but a god , I come to you bound with fi llets and wreathed

with flowers . When I en ter flourish

in g c ities, m en and women fal l down

before m e . A ll fol low me, imploring

favors . Some ask for oracles and the

pa th that leads to happiness ; others

for powerfu l remed ies to cure their

malad ies .” 2 H e cla imed to have

secrets which would arrest old age, occasion or con trol tempests,a nd br ing the dead up from the under- world . H e taught for some

time at Athens, a nd read at the Olympic Games, am id enthus iastic

acclama tions, his poem , T he Pumfi ca tiozw.

Notwithstan d in g these tr iumphs, there was in h is soul a n echo

of the sadness of Hes iod . H e bel ieved in an or iginal s infuln ess ,in a fall of man , who now expiates in the present l ife the faults

of an earl ier ex istence.

3 “ Sad race of morta ls ,”he says, at the

beginn ing of h is book unhappy race, out of what a d iscordant

state have you come ! As for me,I have fal len from a height of

happiness into th is world , and I groan at the s igh t of the earth

in hab ited by murder, envy, and other ev ils . H e bel ieved in

expiation,through metempsychosis . For th irty thousand years the

T H E R IVER A K R A G A S .l

sou l wan dered from one body to another, and descen ded even in to

the vegetable kin gdom ,becom in g the v ital force of the plant,— a

s ing ular idea , but on e which, reduced to being merely the expres

T he gen ius of the river A kragas, horned and wea ring a diadem, left profi le ; legend,

A KPA I‘

A S .Reverse : an eagle standing on an Ion ic column ; in the field a crab a nd s ix hul ls,

m ark of the hem i - l i tron . (Bron ze coin of A grigen tum .)9 Diogenes Laertine, v i i i . 62 .

0 A ccording to the legend, Zeus sen t the deluge of Deuka l ion to pun ish human s in s. See

V ol. I . p . 1 9 2 .

Norm — T he i l lustra t ion ( from a photog raph) on the oppos i te page repre sen ts the( se- ca l led) Temple of C oncord. Th is, as wel l as all the temples of A grigen tum , be longs tothe tran s i tiona l period of G reek a rchitecture , which ex tends from the m iddle of the six th t o

the m iddle of the fifth cen tury 0 . C .

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GREEK LITERATURE, ETC . ,IN THE FIF TH CENTURY B . C . 165

s ion of a resembla n ce among the prin cipa l fun ction s of l ife in

organ ized n a ture, has had great popularity in our own day .

1 From

th is theory Empedokles drew the in feren ce that al l l iv in g thin gs

should be respected , s in ce in even the humblest m ight be con cea led

the soul of a kinsman . These immortal souls,however

,en tered

at la st, a fter the pra ctice of v irtue, into immorta l happiness .

Empedokles d isappea red in some un known way . The A grigen

t ines were n ot satisfied with th is humble end, so un suited to the

br il l ian cy of h is l ife:

and the marvels that had been a ttributed to

him ; and i t was fin al ly a sserted that he had thrown himself in to the

cra ter of j E tn a , either for the purpose of in vestiga tin g the mystery

of volcan ic fires,or

,by a sudden d isappearan ce, to cause the bel ief

tha t he had been sn a tched away into heaven . The ra sh in vestiga tor

was n ever aga in seen , but h is shoe was ca st forth by the volcan o .

H is philosophic doctrin es,in which n a tural scien ce and theology

are m ingled , lack precis ion . To the question , when ce a r ise the

chan ges in the forms of matter, the sepa ration of the four elemen ts,the forma tion of the world, and all the phen omena of n ature

,he

an swered : From the sway of two con trary pr in c iples,Love and

D iscord,a cting through myriads of good and of ev il gen i i . When ce

comes tha t a l ternate dom in at ion which drives , on the on e s ide to

absolute un ity, on the other to absolute multipl ic ity ? What ren

ders in ev itable birth and death,the un ion of parts in to whole

,a nd

their later d isin tegra tion ? O n e cause produces al l these‘

tran sfor

ma tion s,

— Necess ity . In rea l ity , the supreme d ivin ity of Empe

dok les is n ot Min d , as on ce he sa id , followin g An axagora s, but

the old deity whom the poets worshipped , Destiny . To this

ancien t theology , however, Empedok les added the dual ist con cep

tion of Good and Ev il , of Pleasure and Pa in ,of the J ust an d the

Un just,— which

,un con sciously or con sciously

,is foun d un derlying

a ll rel igion s,and must so be foun d , s in ce th is dual ism is in human

n ature a nd in the un iversa l life which surroun ds us .

2

1 Thi s i s the fundamen ta l idea of the n ew physiologica l school . See Vol . II. p . 2 21 .

G . Bréton , E ssa : sur la p oe’

sie philosophzque en G rece, p . 224 . I n this con n ect ion the

author quotes (p . 227) the follow in g pa ssage from the Metaphysics of A ristotle : “ Ma n

became aware tha t at the s ide of the good i ts O pposi te appea red a l so in n a ture ; tha t a t theside of order and beauty wa s disorder and ugn n ess tha t evil seemed to triumph over good.

the ugly over the beautiful . A philosopher in troduced A m i ty and Di scord, — opposite causesof these con tra ry effects ; for if we push to thei r resul ts the opin ion s of Empedokles. and ta ke

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

A n ak reon and P indar con cern on ly the h istory of l i terature . In

speaking of the poet, Plato ca l l s h im ,

“ a l ight th ing,winged a nd

sacred .

” Of these three epithets the first two are appropr ia te in

the old man of Teos , who loved to ha ve youn g Bathy llos nea r

him , and to see the wine laugh in i ts golden cup ; 1 but all three

words apply to Pin dar, who received from his compan ions div ine

honors, a nd was adm ired by Alexan der as the equa l of Homer. At

the present day he attracts only men of schola rly tastes,

2 for his

Odes have not, l ike the works of Pheidias,a beauty which is for

al l time ; they please, but exc ite no emotion , and to un derstand

them a profound knowledge of’

Greek l ife is necessary . W e have

already n oted, as a matter with which history is concerned, tha t

P indar is stil l very rel igious,— while Epicha rmos is so n o

’

lon ger,— and in respect to the future l ife holds st ill the ideas of Homer ;namely

,that the abode of the blessed welcomes only the v ictorious

and the powerful .3

H istory wa s born in Ion ia . European Greece, too much occu

pied with its legends, con ten ted itself wi th the songs of its poets

and the m ighty dramas of Aischylos and Sophok les . But in the

commerc ial cities of the As iatic coast were heard the grea t blows

struck by con querors in Egypt and in As ia , a nd they awaken ed a

cur ios ity in which sel f- in terest was la rgely concerned . K admos

of Miletos, in the s ixth cen tury, only rela ted ,

the history of the

c ity’s foundation ; but his fel low- countryman H ek ata ios, who l ived

in the time when the Ion ians were making ready to res ist the

power of Pers ia, was a great travel ler . H e prepa red a Tour ofthe World, n ep r

’

oBog yfig , of which the two books were enti tled ,on e

,E urop e, and the other, Asia ; and he wrote the genealogies

of some i l lustrious fam il ies , without accepting that element of the

accoun t of his rea l ideas, a nd n ot of the man n er in which he imperfectly expresses them , i t wi llbe seen tha t he makes A m i ty the prin ciple of good, and Di scord tha t of ev il . So tha t if wewere to say tha t Empedokles procla imed,

and tha t he wa s the first to procla im , good a nd evi la s princ iples . we should perhaps make n o mistake , sin ce in his system good in i tself i s the cause

of a ll good thin g s, and evil of a ll i l l s .”1 C erta i n testimony, however, g ives him qui te a differen t cha ra cter . Jul ian , in the .Misopo

gen , speaks of the serious poetry of A n akreon . None of i t i s exta n t .9 See V i l lema in , E ssa i sur ls ge

’

n ie dc Pinda re cl sur la p oe'

sie Iyn'

que A . C roise t, La

poésie dc P inda re et les lots da lyrisme grec ; J . G irard, E lude sur Pindar-e.

See Vol . I . p . 40 7. Traces of the in fluence of Pythagorean ideas a ndof Orphic preceptsmay , however. be di scovered in his

‘

v erscs.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

ter of his book,H erodotos resembles Bossuet . To brin g these two

n ames together appears singular the grea t orator seems to have

nothin g in common with the

charm ing na rra tor ; but both

bel ieve in the government of

the world by d iv in e action .

This i t is which exal ts em

pires and overthrows them .

Kings and the great men of

the world are, according to

their v iew,in the hand of a

Power,which to the Greek

was Destiny, to Bossuet was

Prov idence, and to philos

ophy is the expiation of

errors, or the success wonby sagac ity and courage .

And yet a dawn ing of the

n ew sp ir it shows i tself in the

words of H erodotos when ,speaking of the pestilence

which proved so fatal to the

Pers ian army, be attribu ted

i t to fam ine, and not to the

anger of A pdllo ;l or when

he explains the formation of

the valley of Tempe by an

earthquake, and not by a

blow from Poseidon ’s trident .

8 H e announces the n ew era that

is drawing near, that of rational statesmanship, in the debate

which he supposes among the murderers of the Magi on the advan

tages and the d isadvantages of royal ty, of ol igarchy , and of a

A NA Ka aon fi

vui. 1 15 .

,

9 Sta tue in the V il la Borghese, di scovered in the same place with tha t of the sta ndingA n ak reon (see Vol . II. p . from the BulIellino della C ommission s a rcheolog ica communalc

di R oma , 1884, pl . 2—3. C f. pp . 33 cl seq. W e are enab led a lso to n ame the statue of the

sea ted po et b y comparison wi th the bust recen tly discovered in Caesar’s ga rden s. C f. A rolut

ologische Z eilung , 1 884, pp. 15 1 e!seq.3 vi i . 1 29 .

GRE EK LITE RA TURE, E T C ., T H E FIFTH CENTURY B. c . 169

democra tic governmen t .

1 H e would be even of our own time if, a fter

sayin g that success wi ll follow rea son able con duct, a nd defea t that

which is un rea son able, he had n ot added :“ But in the ca se of those

who do n ot determ ine on wha t is rea son able, the deity is n ot won t

to fa vor human design s .

” 2 By

these la st words he is restored

to that period of the world when

the d ivine Nemes is reign ed .

Thucyd ides and H erodotos are

con tempora r ies, the former out

l iv in g the latter on ly by a few

years ;3 but in the cha racter of

their m in ds they belon ged to dif

feren t ages of Greece. The con

v enien t explan ation s of the his

torian of H alik am assos a re not

satisfactory to,

the ma n ly in telli

gen ce of the histor ian of the

Pelopon n es ian war, and that spir it

which con ten ts i tself with super

fi cia l observation is scorn ed by

Thucyd ides . Posterity , with

grea ter justice,“

d iv ides its grat i

tude between the two .

An axagora s,Demok ritos, the

Kreten D iogen es, and above all

Sokrates , begin in the s ixth cen

tury B . C . the grea t epoch of ph ilosophy . I have a l ready expla ined

why I sha l l n ot a t th is time speak of the m aster of Plato ; 5 but

it is proper to men tion here two em in en t men , An axagoras and

Demok ritos, who led the Greek m in d in to n ew paths .

An axagora s , born , about the year 500 B. c . , at K la zomen ai, l ived

H a non orosfi

1 iii. 80 .

3 vi i i. 60 .

3 H erodotos died in 406 B. c ., and Thucydides shortly after return in g from exile,when ce he was reca lled, w i th others who had been ba n ished, in 404.

Bust in the Museum of Naples (from a photograph) .

5 See above, p. 86.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

thirty years at Athens as an intima te friend of Peri kles, who saved

h im in 431 from a charge of impiety,but could not prevent h is

being sen t in to ex ile . This phi losopher taught tha t the sun was

only a red- hot stone ; and he had the same idea as to the stars .This wa s very d isrespectful towards

Apollo, Hel ios , and all the d ivin i

ties whom popular rel igion confused

with the heavenly bod ies . The su

pernatural was struck as by a mor

tal blow , and until th is t ime Greece

had l ived upon it . Anaxagorasforesaw the judgmen t a nd i ts consequences, and made h is escape

to Lampsakos , where he d ied about 428 B. 0 .

Like all the ph ilosophers of the Ion ian school,he sought an

explanation of the ma terial world ; and the ancien ts called him

the great physic ian , 6 duo-

tx aira -

roq, which brought upon him Plato’

s

contempt . Matter he bel ieves i s eternal,but

va riable in . its element-s .

“ Nothing is cre

a ted,”he sa id ,

“n othin g is

'

destroyed ; that

which is,m in gles or sepa rates , is un ited or

is d issevered . B irth is a syn thesis,death an

analys is .”'

A modern would speak in the same way . The force

which imposes these m od ifica tion s on matter is neither Destiny,

which has too lon g reigned over men’

s bel iefs, n or Chance,— a use

ful word to concea l ign orance ; i t is M ind . Empedokles , who was a

poet, explain s movemen t by the con trary action of two myth ic pow

ers,Love and Hatred . The atom ists saw in the un iverse only

mechan ical effects produced by the weight of atoms ; Anaxagoras

taught the ex istence of an in corporeal force, da d/aura s, immutable,th in k- ing

, a nd a ctive ; not the creator of m atter, but its orderer .

Al l thin gs were in con fusion ,

”he says ; Mind , the formative cause

and principle of movemen t , N0 6; dpxi‘

) rfig m my’

crewg , brought order

in to chaos . Matter receiv in g from i t a rotary motion , the heav ier

portions met in the cen tre. the l ighter on the c ircumferen ce . For

TETRA DR A CHM o r KLA Z O ME NA I 1

STA TER or LAMPS A xos fi

Head of A pollo, laure l led, three qua rters fron t ; in the field, the signa ture of the

e ngraver of the die , BE O A O T O E E F O E I . Reverse : swa n , stopping to the left, wi th wingspartly di splayed ; legend KA A Z O a nd a magistrate 's n ame

, MANA PQNAE .

‘3 l lelle, sea ted on a ram, preparing to cross the l lellespon t . lit-verse : fore part of a

w in ged horse , to the le ft . (Gold. Prokesch d'

O ston . I n erl ila m iner Sammlung , pl . i v . fig.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

advance to the conception of the d iv ine un i ty . It wa s the work

of the Sok ra tic schools to give to the immaterial principle of

Anaxagoras those attr ibutes wh ich the human rea son conceives

to make up the idea of Prov iden ce ; but the efforts of Sokrates

a nd Plato were not enough to an tic ipate the revelation which a t

a la ter day Sa in t Paul made to the Athen ians of “ the Unknown

God .

”

The date of the b irth of Demok ritos is at some point between

494 and 460 B . c .

,— probably nearer the la tter year than the former

The date of h is dea th is a lso un certa in .

but he is sa id to.

have l ived a hundred

and n ine yea rs . H e travel led much , from

Egypt to Magn a Graecia , where he stud ied

the doctrin es of the Elea tic a nd Py tha

gorean schools, whose principles he op

posed . It is supposed that he also wen t

in to Pers ia and C haldaaa to in terrogate the Magi . This was a

journ ey that the Greeks l iked to represen t their grea t men as

m aking , i t bein g thought that’

the source of al l wisdom was in the

Ea st ; and they also gave h im Leuk ippos, as an in structor, al though

we can not d istinguish in the atom istic doctrin e the pa rt of the m as

ter and that of the pupil . It is ma in ta ined even that . as an

obscure l istener am id the crowd , he heard at Athens the teach

ings of Sokrates and An axagoras . W e will not repeat here the

anecdotes concern ing the d ispleasure of h is fel low - c itizens of

Abdera towards‘

him when they bel ieved h im a spendth rift and

a fool,n or their adm irat ion of him after he had read in publ ic

D IDRA CHM or A BDER A .

‘

his Méya s Suixoa ptos ; and the sm ile tha t wa s often seen upon

h is l ips seems to ind icate only the scornful indifi erence of the

philosopher for the vain pleasures or useless griefs of m en . Tran

quillity’

of soul was to h im the sovereign good ; he d id not place

his happiness in perishable advantages , l ike wealth , honors, and

power . The wise man should be aston ished or exc ited a t n oth ing ;a nd th is philosophic ind ifference is in fa ct a part of wisdom .

Demok ritos says , “ Respect thy rea son , and ask from it noth ing

unworthy,” — a noble sentiment . for al l moral ity con sists in two

ABAH PITEQN. Griflin seated to the left, w i th l ifted paw . Reverse EDIMO A F APO

[PED]. A danc ing- gi rl,turn ing to the left. wea ri ng on her head a high Pa lm/m s.

GREEK LITERA TURE,E T C .

,IN T HE FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 173

words : self- respect,which keeps a man remote from every degrad

in g act, an d the con v iction of . duty , which requires all sacr ifices

tha t may be n eedful .

DEMO E R IT O S .

1

The an c ien ts attribute to Demok ritos seven ty- two works, which

are lost, with the exception of a few fragments ; and they likenhim to Plato for br i ll ia n cy of sty le, and to the Stagyr ite for scientific

curios i ty .

H is a tom ic theory is especially tha t by which he is kn own .

This is n ot the place to d iscuss that doctrine of “ the ind iv is ibles

1 Marb le of the Museum of Naples ( from a photograph) . The n ame given to this bustis of doub tful authen ticity .

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

which , drawn by weight or motion ,float ete rnally in in fin ite space ;

come in con ta ct wi th on e another,comb in e

,a nd form the world ,

with the in d iv iduals which i t con ta ins ; then sepa rate, to make up

other combinations so that a ll is tra n sformed , and n oth ing perishes .

Life i tself resul ts from the meeting of more subtle a toms,which

give to man his superior ity . H istory,less hab ituated tha n ph i

losophy to explore th is darkness,con tents i tself wi th sayin g tha t

the atom ic theory, which adm its of but one being , the body, and on e

force , weight, is a n a tural istic doctrin e, such as were those of the

Ion ia n s,of H erak leitos and Empedokles, who recogn ized no ia

corporeal existences ; tha t Demok ritos, denying the truth of the

perception of the sen ses , prepared the way for the sceptic ism of

Protagoras and of Pyrrho ; that . in adv isin g men to avo id a l l ca res .

and espec ially marr iage , in order to attain happin ess , his eth ics

were the precursor of those of Epikouros that,fin a lly, be took away

from the human soul a support of which m en had need , when he

taught that the gods were a creation of the human m in d alarmed

at the con vuls ions of na ture . But Demok ritos wa s not the on ly .

offender ; a s im ilar reproach may be made aga inst the whole a n

c ient philosophy . From the day when G reece began to interroga te

reason ,the gods were in danger . It is the usua l result . Imagina

tion a nd sentimen t had foun ded polytheism sc ience destroyed i t .

The atom ic theory is st il l hon ored by the sc ient ific m en of ou r1 When they seek to ascerta in into what elements matter is

resolved , they can go on ne ither to the n umerica l un i ty of the

t im e .

Py thagoreans, n or to the pantheistic un ity of the Elea tics ; the

atom suppl ies them with the phys ical un ity necessa ry for their

comb inations . The phi losophers, on their part, a sk of this system

how,from the ma teria l world, subject to the mechan ical laws of

movement,i t is poss ible to pass in to the world of thought where

reigns free - wil l . But who has un veiled this secret

By recogn izing everywhere physica l laws, Demok ritos rendered

the supernatural useless . However. he adm its the existen ce of

aerial gen i i , good and bad , but morta l , who were able to reveal the

future, wh ich supposes a d iv in e government of the world . D id

th is con trad iction arise from the fact tha t there subs isted in h im'

a

remnant of the popular bel ief in da imons, which he had n ot been

1 Soc Vol . l l . p . 22 1 . n ote 2 .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

bring him in to peril of h is l ife among the believers in the old

It is asserted tha t Diagoras of Melos was a freedman of

Demok ritos. H e was a poet, and always a volati le person . At

first a ferven t worshipper of the gods , he later

abandon ed them , when they n eglected to pun ish

the perjuries of a frien d who had dece ived him .

H e rid iculed the myster ies of Samoth race,scoffed

a t those of Eleus is in Athens, a nd on ly by fl ight

escaped the hemlock or the barathron .

As occurred in France a century a nd a half ago,

there were seen advanc in g in the Greece of the last years of

Perikles by all the routes of thought those bold m in ers who sapped

temples . T he popu lar rel igion lon g de

fended itself for, with people a s with in d i

v iduals, hab its are very slow to die . But

the axe is at the roots .oi the tree .

It has been asserted tha t Dem ok ritos

was on e of the masters of H ippokra tes . If

they m et, the ph ilosopher of Abdera would

have talked with the other about his stud ies

of an imals and plan ts . But the grea t Ask

lepiad was one of those men who are

really self - made ; and we have another reason for nam ing him

among philosophers, for he wr ites in on e of h is treatises : The

phi losopher- physician is the equa l of the gods .

The Hel len es ra ised Ask lepios to d iv ine honors , and Homer

praises the learn ing of his sons Poda liros a nd Machaon,of the

n a os z p: cons.1

BRO NZE MEDA LL IO N .

“

IEPA U EU IA AY PO Y . Tetra style temple under whi ch i s a sta tue of A sklepios,wi th a

s erpen t a t his feet . (Reverse of a bronze coin struck a t Epidauros, wi th the effi gy of

A n ton inus Pius . )9 A pol lo, nude, standing, holding a laurel - branch and extendin g his left ha nd over the

omp ha los, around which i s coiled a serpen t. H e looks at A sklepios, who holds his sta fi ,

aroundwhich a serpen t i s coi led. Before him stands a li ttle figure represen ting T elesphoros ;Hyge ia sta nds a t the left of A pollo, an d i s feeding a serpen t from a pa tera . A bove, in the

fie ld, i s F ortune sea ted on a throne and holding a sceptre a nd a cornucopia, and Zeus sta nding,hurling a thunderbolt. I n the exergue Bl Z YH NQN. (Bronze medallion of Biaya in Thrac e ,

wi th the efligy of the elder Phi l i p .)No !rr:. — 0 n the opposite page i s represen ted a marble sta tue of A sklepios, now in the

Museum of Naples ( from a photograph) . Thi s i s no doub t a copy of the s ta tue which the

scul ptor Pyromachus made for the temple of A sklepios at l ’ergamos, reproduced on manycoin s of tha t ci ty .

GREEK LITERA TURE, E T C ., IN TH E F IF TH CENTURY B. e. 1 77

d iv in er Melampos and of h is descendant A m phiaraos, who coul d

read the future ; but, nevertheless, Greek med icin e lon g resembled

that of African sorcerers . It was practised in the A sk lepeion s,

by the aid of a few s imples and m an y spell s , by long fastin gs .

B E E A KLE S .

’

nocturnal appar itions, by stimulat in g dreams which acted on the

imagin ation of the s ick, a nd now a nd then occas ion ed a cure .

2

Fa ith , which removes moun ta in s, ca n doubtless origin ate n er

vous action whose effects seem to work m iracles, and yet leave the

sceptica l unconvinced .

3 W ith the increasin g.

spir it of in quiry in

Ma rb le from the ea ste rn pedirn en t of the Pa rthen on , now in the British Museum (froma photograph) . T he figure i s better kn own under the n ame of T heseus.

2 My lea rn ed collea gue, Mon sieur Perrot, tel l s me tha t to thi s da y in Lesbo 's i t i sbe lieved tha t if a sick person pa s ses the n ight in a church the remedy n eedful in his case

will be revea led' to him in a dream . A very lon g in scription , found at E pidauros in 1 883,

con tain s the accoun t of twen ty miraculous cures b v v is ion s, dream s, etc . C f . R evue arehe’

olo

gigue of August, 1 884 .

See in the P loutos of A ristophan es, lin es 641—8 0 1 , the s in gular eye- salve tha t A sk lepeiosin person prepa red for Neok leides, and the hea l in g of Plon to s , the b lind god, whose eyel ids

von . l n .— 12

178 H IST O R Y OF GREECE .

al l sc ientific d irections , the A sk lepiads, or pr iests of Asklepios , dis~

covered more rational methods . without , however, renounc ing the

superstitious practices which ava iled to gain the confidence of the

patient and secure his docil i ty .

The cures being lucrative, the gods became r ivals on e of

another . Apollo opened a shop in competit ion with his son

Ask lepios, and was so successfu l that , in reward for h is services ,

sunuE O N'

s CA SE)

a temple was erected at Phigaleia in Arkad ia to Apollo Epikourios,or the Helper. In the course of time the heal ing gods were mul ti

pl ied . Artem is, Demeter, D ionysos, Hermes , Herakles, Hephais tos ,a nd even Aphrod ite, who could n ot have been expected to occupy

herself with duties of th is k in d , and the Egyptian Serapis,received pat ients .2 Athene d id not wa i t so lon g . She revea led

to Per ikles in a dream the properties of an herb which cured

Mn esik les, who had fallen from the top of the Propylaia ; in

reward , she had a n ew statue and a n ew altar, that of Athene

Hygeia . After the gods, the heroes ; on e of these, A mphiaraos,had so great success that he ruined the A sk lepieion s of Boiotia .

8

are l icked by two serpen ts tha t have come at the summon s of A sk lepios . By in sc ription srecen tly di scovered,we know tha t in certa in A sk lepieions thi s service was done by dogs(Vol . I . p . 849 , note and thi s i s ea sier to expla in . Qui te recen tly has been discovered at

Ba th in England a voti ve monumen t on which i s sculptured a dog

. O n the divers means of

hea l ing, some of which were very sin g ula r, see P. Gira rd, the A sclc’

péion d’A lhe

‘

mcs. C f.

R evue a rch. of 1 884, vol . i i . p . 1 29 .

1 A then ian has- rel ief, from the Bull . dc C orr. hell , vol . i . ( 1877) pl . 9 (Dr. A n agn ostakis) .The has- relief repre sen ts a ca se of in strumen ts for cupping. I t con ta in s three knives, twocurved sca l pel s, and a probe curved l ike a hook . O n each s ide of the case i s a cup .

2 I n the temple of Serapis a t Kenepos there even were a ttendan ts whom the sick pa idfor dream ing in thei r beha lf (Strab o, x vi i . 1 7 ; Pausan ias, i i.

C f. R evue arche’

ologique of 1886, pp . 108 at seq.

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GREEK LITERA TURE,ETC .

,IN THE FIFTH CENTURY B . C . 1 81

These th ings a re common to human nature in al l ages, a nd

should cause n o surprise . But among these con jurors’

formulae

we fi nd sagac ious advice, a nd more a nd more of th is in each suc

cessiv e age .

“ The temple of Asklepios,” says

Strabo,“ is always ful l of s ick people,

and its

wa lls a re covered with Votive tablets conta in ing

accounts of the cures .” 1 These prescription s

da te from a very ea rly period, for the K n idia n

Sen ten ces (K i/ (Sta t I‘

véip a t )3a re anter ior to H ippokrates

,and must

have con sti tuted a fun d of experien ce which in crea sed from year

O BO LO S or LA R rssA JZ

to yea r . Med ic ine became a secular

art ; phys ician s tra in ed themselves in

the study of the human body, as phi

losophers l n the study of the un iverse

and although an atom ical in vestiga

T E T R A DR A C Hu or xm b os ‘tions could be pursued at that time

on ly upon bodies of an imals,

5 they

were none the less profitable to scien ce,

a s in our day , when

these exper imen ts a re makin g the scien ce of med icin e a n ew

th in g . I n ea ch importan t c ity there was organ ized a med ical ser

v ice, which was even gra tuitous for the poor,

6and

'

m edica l men

foun d studen ts who would pay for the in struction they received,

7

mun ic ipal adm in istra tion s which gave them salaries,and r ich

pa tien ts whose fees often m ade them in depen den t . Such , for

example, was that A pollon ides. fel low - coun tryman and predecessor

1 Book vi i i . ch. vi . § l 5 .

2 A bridled horse to the right. Reverse : A A PI . T he nymph Larissa, tur n in g to theright, clothed in a tran sparen t vei l, tying her sa nda l before her, a n amphora .

3 [Three medica l schools are men t ion ed by G a len ,— those of Rhodes, R uidos , and Kos.

F rom the second were handed down a collection of ob serva tion s known to the an cien ts asthe K n idian Sen ten ces . E D .]

4 Head of A phrodi te Euploia , diademed, left profi le . Reverse : in a n in cused squa re, alarge head of a l ion rearin g and adva n cing a paw,

a s if to se ize his prey .

5 I t i s sa id that H ippok ra tes, on his a rriva l at A bdera, found Demok ritos employed in thedi ssection of an ima ls .

5 A s to the chari ty of the an cien ts , see H istory of Rome, vi . 9 2— 1 25 . A n in scriptionenumera te s, among other libera l i ties , m i rd e

’

n a pxe’

a a t q oo fq r oi; c’

m xovpfa s' deoy e

'

vow (Bull . deC orr. hell . , March, 1 88 7, p .

7 A s i s proved by th i s pa ssage in the P rotagoras of Pla to ‘Tel l me. H ippokra tes, if youwen t to your friend of R O S a nd ca rr ied him a sum of mon ey, and youwere asked why youdidso, wha t should youan swer ?’ Tha t I gave him the mon ey because he i s a physician .

’

F or

wha t purpose‘

i" ‘ I n order to become a physician myself .

’

I n book iv . of the Laws,Pla to

speaks of the medica l profession a s regularly estab l ished in a ll the ci ties .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

of H ippokrates, who cured.

a Pers ian noble, and for th is was high ly

renowned at the court of Susa (but the Greek became gui lty of

an in trigue with h is patien t’

s wi fe in consequence of which hewas put to dea th ); such a lso was Demokedes of K roton a andK tesias of K n idos, the on e cou rt phys ic ian to Dar ius

, the otherto Artaxerxes Mn emon .

l

In the fifth century B . 0 . two r ival schools were famous inGreece, —that of R uidos and that of Kos . H ippokrates belonged

to the latter school . H e was born about 460 B . c .

, the son ofan

'

A sk lepiad who cla imed descent in the d irect l ine from

Asklepios, and on the dista fi s ide fromHerakles ; and he d ied at Larissa in Thes

saly at a very advan ced age . H is legiti

mate ren own gave occas ion for m any

famous a n ecdotes to be in c irculation about

h im in ancien t t imes : he was said to have

refused presen ts offered h im by Artaxerxes ; to have put a stop to

the pestilen ce at Athens ; to have cured the son of a Macedo

n ian king of that love- s ickness from which the son of Seleucus

Nica tor suffered . Modern history with regret rejects these an ec

dotes ; but the fame of H ippok rates is grea t enough for him to

do without them . H is pr in cipal honor 18 that he was unwil l in g

to accept anything but wel l - authenticated facts . H e is not fond

of hypotheses ; in his A p horisms he founds the art of hea l ing

upon experience, and his l i fe was on e cont inued efi ort to draw

med ical rules out of the chaos of empir icism . H e travelled much,

studying m an, the circumstan ces of human l ife, the votive tablets

left by those who had been healed in the A sk lepieion s, the

memoran da preserved in the temples, and the methods employed

there.

The school of Kn idos, in representing as d istinct d iseases a ll

the d ifferent symptoms observed , created a mu ltitude of patho

logica l species, for each on e of which the trea tment varied . The

DRA CHMA or xosfiI

Head of A sklepios , right profile, wi th ol ive-wrea th. R everse : KQI A I‘

H SIAE. The

staff of A sklepios , round which a serpen t i s coiled ; in the field, A , a m in t-mark ; a round the

field, a n olive- wrea th.

3 Demokedes, who curedDarius of a severe sprain , employed, no doub t, orthopedic mea n s ,— at least, A ris totle says (Polit , v iii . 4) tha t certain mechan ica l in strumen ts were used to keepthe body erect.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

he l ives, the food which he eats . Where a h igh cul ture of them ind has not as yet equal ized the cond itions of moral l i fe

, the

mountaineer cannot have the same hab its of ex istence or the sameideas with the dweller on the sea - shore, in the oa s is of a desert .or in pla in s covered with luxur ia n t vegetation . In places so

d ifferent remed ial agenc ies must d iffer,as the soc ial developmen t

is d iverse . T he human body , says H ippokra tes,

“ must bestud ied in its relation s with everythin g ; and he d id wisely in

giv ing his attention to tha t pa rt of the scien ce in which hygieneis supreme .

The sc ience of med ic in e ha s a twofold duty : first,to study these

extern al in fluences ; and , secondly, to examine the tissues, in order

to understand what H ippokrates cal led “ the humors ”

(concern

ing which he formed a theory), and — a subject more in teresting

to modern sc ience — the cond ition of the organ s . H ippokra tes has

wel l fulfi lled the first of these duties and a_

pa rt of the second,so

far as it was poss ible at a period when the d issection of the human

body was forb idden . To ran k the observa tion of the whole

organ ism above the observation of on e organ , the study of gen eral

symptoms above the study of local symptoms , the idea of what

there is in common in d iseases above the idea of what is pecul iar

to each : such is the med ical science of the school of H ippok rates .

” l

This is what he called p rognosis, or the study of the patien t’

s pa st,present, and future con d ition . But th is patien t study led to n o

very active med ical sc ience. An opponen t, wi th equal mal ice and

wit, called it A med itation on death .

”

When we seek in these old H ippok ra tic doctrin es for some

ideas v i tal enough to traverse the cen turies, we find the an im ism

of V an Helmont and De Stah l , the“ v italism

”wh ich difi

'

eren t

schools long taught,— the theory, in a word , which m akes no

separa t ion between that wh ich causes life and tha t wh ich causes

thought . W e are even more surprised to meet wi th a thesis much

resembl ing a startl ing doctr ine very recen tly imposed upon sci

ence, namely , that disease arises from a morbifi c princ iple which

1 Li ttré, aiuvres (I’

H ipp ocra te, i . 45 6. Pla to wen t fa rther than H i ppokra tes ; he saysin his La shes Tha t phys ic ia n s fa i l in most diseases i s due to the fac t tha t they trea t thebody wi thout the sea l ; the whole not be in g in good condi tion , a pa rt can not be wel l." But

thi s thought bears the stamp of H i ppokra tes .

GREEK LITERA TU RE,E T C .,

IN T H E FIF TH CENTURY B. e. 1 85

ha s en tered the organ ism,a nd tha t i t is this prin c iple which must

be expel led .

1

These are the v iews of gen ius, and they justify the words used

by a master, a nd on e who had the right to be cr itical in judgin g of

human greatn ess: “ When we say ‘the great H ippokra tes,

’

we

speak,n ot of the m an ,

but of the phys ic ian .

” 2

This title is a lso merited, however, by the man who wrote :

The phy sic ian wil l always bear in m in d the c ircumstan ces of his

pa tien ts . If there a re stran gers or poor people in n eed of help,he wil l go to them first

,and wil l ass ist them , not merely with

med ic in es,but with his mon ey .

”T he H ippok ra tic oa th is to this

day,in wha t con cern s the d ign ity of the profession

, the law of

the med ica l corps .

III . ART ISTS .

T H E fifth cen tury B . c . is the golden age of Greek art. W e have

spoken of Athen ian a rtists : let us n ow con s ider those who appeared

elsewhere in Hel la s than at A then sf— those, at lea st, whose n ames

have come down to us with some in d ication of their works .

C hersiphron a nd his son Metagen es, of Kn ossos in Krete, belon g

to an ea rl ier per iod than that of which we a re now speakin g,for it is

they who in the sixth cen tury began

the construction of the grea t temple

of Ephesos . To have received charge

of a work executed at the expen se of

a ll Ion ia, it is ev iden t that they must

have been the most renown ed a rchi

teets of their time ; and a s the tem

ple was n ot fin ished un til two hun

dred and twen ty‘

yea rs la ter, Ephesos must have been a fruitful

school of architectural a rt . W e have al ready spoken ,

of H ippoda

TETRA DR A CHM or A R Gos.8

1 This thesis i s correct as to in fectious diseases, and even a s to some which have an

organ ic character .2 A ri stotle, Polit. , v n . 4.

3 Head of H ere, crowned with the k a laflzos, right profi le . Reverse : A PI'E IQN. Awolf between two dolphin s . The head of Here upon thi s coin i s perhaps imita ted from thehead of the sta tue wh ich Polyk letes m ade for the temple of A rgos.

HISTORY OF GREECE.

mos of Miletos, the constructor of Peira ieus . But we know not

was the architect of the temple of Aigina, which seems to have

T H E nonr ruonos.

x

been the starting- po int for the art which , by way of the Theseion ,

final ly arrived at the Parthenon .

In sculpture there was a great artist, whom the ancients have

1 Marble sta tue found in ll erculaneum, and now in the Museum of Naples ( from a castand photograph) . Thi s i s a copy of the celebratedwork of the,

A rgive scul ptor, of proportion sso perfect tha t the an cien ts ca l led i t the Can on . See, on the Doryphoros of Polyk lcitos, a lon gletter from the dis tin guished F ren ch scul ptor, E . Gui l laume, an hei r of Praxiteles, in the

Monumen t: d’A rt an tique, publ ished by O. Rayet .

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HISTORY or GREECE.

artists, —~ to Pheidia s for b is statues of the gods ; to Polyk leitos

for his K a n ephoroi (which Verres s tole from. the S ic ilians), hisAmazon

,which was adjudged finer than that of Pheidias in the

weoa n A MA ZO N}

famous competition at Ephesos,2 h is statues of v ictorious ath letes

l ike the Diadoumenos,3 and his A stragalizon tes,— a group of two

boys playing with buckle - bones . Myron , whom we m ight have

Marble sta tue of the museum of Naples ; from a photograph. O n the replicas of the

work of Kresilas, see Overbeck, Geschichte der gn’

echischen Plastik, i. 375 cl seq.Pliny, xxxiv. 8 .

A represen ta tion of this sta tue will be found, V ol . I I. p. 45 7.

GREEK LITERATURE, ETC .

, IN THE FIFT H CENTURY B . C. 189

included among Athen ian artists,1 went farther in the im i tation

of nature ; his bron ze cow was famous, and even more so was

his Diskobolos, whose attitude must have been so d ifficult to

copy .

2 Con cern ing A lk am en es, A gorak ritos, K olotes, who were

a ssocia tes with Pheidias in his work, — a lso con cern

in g O n atas of Aigina , whose two bron ze statues were

famous, on e a Hermes Kr iophoros, the other a Hera

k les, — we kn ow very l itt le ; con cern in g ten other

sculptors of that period , even less ; but we do kn ow

tha t,in the bel ief of the Greeks, the statue of Artem is a t Ephesos

fel l from heaven .

Polygn otos of Thasos, whom Kimon in duced to visit Athens

In 463 B . c .

,l ived long on the banks - oi the I lissos

, and received

Athen ian c iti zenship in reward for his work in the

decoration of the temples of Theseus an d of the

Diosk ouroi of the Stoa Poikile and pa rt of the Propyla ia . In the A n ak eion ,

or temple of the Dioskouroi,he pa in ted the nuptials of the Leuk ippides with

“ T E N S ; Kastor an d Poly deukes .

5 Man y.bas - rel iefs of sa rco

phagi reproduc in g this legen d are very poss ibly reproduction s of

on v ssxus.8

this pain tin g by Polygn otos . T he Poikile, a port ico where the

citizens took shelter from the hea t of the sun,was formed on

on e side by a lon g colon n ade supportin g the roof. and on the

other by a wa l l which was covered with pain tin gs representin g

the grea t deeds of the Athen ian s . Hen ce its n ame, Stoa Po iki le,“ the Pa inted Portico . At Pla te ia Polyg notos pa inted , in the

temple of Athen e, Odysseus destroy ing the suitors of Pen elope,and in the Lesche of the K n idian s at Delphi the takin g of

H e was born at E leutherai, a Boiotian vi l lage, — eua lly of A then s, but n ever a demos ofA ttika. T he cow of Myron was made the subject of thirty G reek epigrams, one of which istran slated by Ma rtia l

Pa sse greges procul hinc , ne, qua eso,babaloc

, MW ,

A ss reluti sp ira ns cum bubus en gita .

3 See the Disk obolos, Vol . I I . p . 385 .

3 C oin of Ithaka , on the reverse of which is represen ted a cock, wi th the legend ieA KQN(b ron ze) .

4 Image of A rtem i s, standing, fron t face , wi th bandelettes, which fall f rom her ha nds

to the ground. (N icolo, height 2 1 millim . , b readth, 1 5 millim . E n gra ved stone of the C abinet

de F ra n ce, C ata logue , No. See also the A rtem is of E phesos, in Vol . II ,pp. 1 96, 243.

5 The Leuk ipp ides were daughters of the Messen ia n chief Leuk ippos, whom the Dioskouroi ca rried off and m arried (Pausa nia s, i.

'

1 8 , l ) .

HI STORY OF GREECE.

Il ion , the descent of Odysseus into the under- world,and the

departure of the Greek fleet from Troy . There was sti ll some

stiffness in the drawing of Polygn otos : it was sculptural paint

ing, which, however, while employing very s imple mean s .

produced great effects . The ancients adm ired the expressiveness

and beauty of h is figures, but they had n e ither the gra ce

n or the dramatic character which the pa inters of the nex t

century gave to their works . Pa inting and sculpture are two

sisters much resembl ing ea ch other, and both accustomed to

follow the var iations of taste, the former often too closely, the

latter with more reserve0

Zeux is,of Pontic H erak leia , and Parrhasios, of Ephesos , his riva l ,

are both of a later age than Polyg notos . Pa inting now becomes

more skilful , less ideal , and a closer copy of nature . Aristotle

reproaches Zeux is for yield ing too much to Ion ian effem inacy . If

we may bel ieve anecdotes often repeated , but not the more authentic

on that account,they even were able to produce optical illus ions

,

one pa inting a bunch of grapes which the b irds came to peck at ;h is r ival a curta in which Zeux isattempted to draw , bel iev ing that it

concealed the real picture. These are tricks rather than art . W e

may observe that both were g reatly indebted to the r ich store of

ancient poetry . Zeux is pa in ted , with ha rmon ious combination of

l ight and shade,a female h ippocentaur, stolen by Syl la and sen t by

him to Rome in a vessel which was shipwrecked on the way,off

Ca pe Malea ; an infan t Herakles ; a Zeus surrounded by the other

gods ; a Marsyas a Penelope, the image of chastity,”

says Pl iny a

Helen which seemed the very Helen of Homer ; and other pictures .

Of Parrhasios, ancient wr iters commend the con test between the

Lapith s and Centaurs , the D ispute of A ias and Odysseus, an

Achilleus, an Agamem non , a Prometheus Encha ined , an Odysseus

NO TE . O n the opposi te page i s represen ted a rel ief f rom a sect ion of a column of

the temple of A rtemi s at E phesos . Pl iny (H ist. Na t , xxxvi . 14, 95 ) says tha t thirty- six

of the column s of the temple a t E phesos were carved, and that one of these was the work ofSk epas . T he has- rel ief represen ted here undoub tedly b elonged to one of these column s .I t i s one of the most beaut iful fragmen ts lef t us of G reek sculpture ; the figure of Hermes.nude, the caduceus in his hand, the pe ta sos hanging behind his shoulders, i s particularlyremarkab le.

Hermes I’sychopompos i s s tanding be fore A lkestis, whom he is bring ing backto ea rth ; behind the wife of Admetos stands the w inged gen ius of Death, Tha n a tos. See a

differen t in terpre ta tion given by O . Ben ndorf in the Bulleuino delta commission archeologicn

commun a le di R oma , 1 886, pp. 5 7 el seq.

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GREEK LITERATURE, E T C .,IN T H E FIFTH C ENTU R Y B. c . 1 93

feign ing madness, and also pictures of l icen tious character . Both

these pa inters atta ined great fame and wealth . Notwithstanding

the m isfortunes of the t imes, Greece had gold for her favor ite

a rtists . A rchelaos, the king of Macedon ,

pa id Zeux is four hun dred m in a i for the

pa in tings in his palace, and Parrhasios ap

peared in publ ic clad in a purple robe

fringed with gold . H e bel ieved himselfST A T “ O F m n xm os

}

“ the master of elegance as wel l a s the

master of his art, and i t is not stran ge that be in cl ined to effem i

n a te grace .H is Theseus,

” sa id Euphran or,“ has fed on roses ;

m in e, on flesh .

g i a n t o t

G REEK Pa rrrrnva .

2

In European Greece , Sikyon and Thebes had a few famous

pain ters, — T im an thes, who gain ed the victory over Parrhasios in a

tr ial of skill, the subject bein g the con test between Aias and

Odysseus for the weapon s of A chilleus ; Pausias, whose work was

graceful ra ther than stron g ; and the Boiotian A risteides, who gave

his figures the expression of feel in g which Ar istotle reproaches

Zeux is for n ot bestowin g upon his, 7 6 300 9 . But it is in a later

1 Hera kles as a youth, and Iphik les strugg l in g with serpen ts ; un der them the tun nyfi sh, emb lem of the c ity of Kyzikos. Reverse : incused square . Pliny men tion s a picture of

Zeux i s, of which this coin i s the type and probab ly the reproduction .

2 Va se from the manufac tory of E x ekias. T he reverse of this va se i s represen ted,

Vol . I. 5 13 (from the Monumen ti dell ’ I n stit. a rcheol . , vol . ii. pl . A chillea s a nd A ias ,design a ted by their n ames in the gen i tive (A IANT O S‘ and AXIV E 0 8) are represen ted seateda nd playin g w ith dice ; they are coun tin g the poin ts. A chilleus has four (TE sA PA ) , and

A ias three (TPIA ) .

V O L. 1 1 1 . 1 3

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

age that, with Lysippos and Pamphilos, the school of Sikyon had

its most splend id period .

As we see how pa inters and sculptors drew their inspiration

from Homer , we are led to say that the I liad was the Greek Bible ,

as wel l in a n artistic as in a religious sense . As the med iaeval

churches of Europe were, with their pa inted windows , a great book

of Scriptural instruction , so on the walls and pediment of Greek

temples were reproduced the legen ds Wh ich spoke to men ’

s eyes

of the gods and heroes of the Hel len ic race. Moreover, while art

was never anything more in Rome than a foreign importat ion,in

Greece i t sprang from the very heart of the country ; and th is

was the secret of its greatness . ‘

IV . CO NC LU S ION.

IN th is rev iew of the cond ition of the Hel len ic world in the

fifth century B . C . we have seen that, with the exception of a

shadow lying across Ion ia , on ce so bril l iant, there is l ife and

activ ity everywhere . Heads th ink , and hands are busy ; master

pieces in art are numerous . The Mede and the Carthagin ian

have been con quered . There is n o further anx iety ; there is

extreme self- con fiden ce and indefatigable ardor . V ictory has

l ifted this. l i ttle nation above itself ; i ts a ctivity is developed in

every d irection : i ts m ind r ises to the highest regions of thought ;while its temples, statues, and pa intings give to ea rth a n ew

adornment, a nd make for man , as i t were. a secon d n ature, in

the m idst of wh ich a bold and free intellect moves a t its ease .

The centre and , so to speak , the hearth whence this l ife

1 W e have remarked (Vol . II. chap. xii i . 2) the in fluence of the Ea st upon the

G reek m ind ; we m ight a l so speak of the reaction of G reek upon A sia tic art . T elephanes of

l’hokis was probab ly not the on ly scul ptor in Greece whom the Persian k ings employed in

the decora tion of Persepol is . Pl iny says tha t this a rti st should be ran ked wi th Myron and

Polyk leitos. See the A rt an tique ( la la Pcrse, of Marce l Dieulafoy, and La Perse, Ia C ha blisc l la Susia n a o f Madame J ane Dieulafoy . A ccording to the se daun tless t ravel lers, in the

val ley of Poulva r- licud, which extends to Persep ol i s, are found rema in s of bui ldings erectedby C yrus after the conquest of A sia Minor. T he influence of G reek artists is recogn izab lein them, as al so at Persepoli s i tself, in the bui ldings of the A chaimenid dyn a sty (Da rius,Xerxes, A rta xerxes G ehua) . But these edifices revea l a compos ite nth — G reek , A ssyrian,a nd E gyptian .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

th is war was destined to continue until it had accompl ished ,aga in st al l, and in every place, i ts work of destruction ; until i t

had degraded the Greek character and broken down that c iv i l i

zation which was nevertheless so fruitful that its fragments,sown in other lands, suffi ced to re - an imate for a moment

the old exhausted East , and call to life the younger and stil l

barbaric West .

1 Gold meda l l ion,di scovered at Kertsch, and now in the Museum of the Herm i tage at

St. Petersburg ( from theMittheilungen d. d. a rc/idol I nstil . in A ileen , vol . vi i i ., 1883, pl . xv. No.It i s in teresting to compa re thi s meda l l ion wi th the gem of A spasios repre sen ted p . 1 24 ;the two a rtists were man ifestly in spi red by the sta tue of Pheidias. [Thi s meda l l ion i sdescribed by Rayet in his E tudes d

’

A rchc’

ologie ct d’

A rl , p . 2 1 1,a s the cen tra l pla que in one of

a pa i r of ear pieces a ttached to a gold dia dem found in the grea t tumulus of Koal -O ha, nearKerts ch.

“ O n this ci rcular plaque, he says, i s a head of A thene in repousse'

, threequarte rs fron t. T he he lmet of the goddess i s richly decora ted. T he crest i s supported by a

Sphin x , and the two la tera l q by figures of Pegasos . Heads of griflin s appear above thev i sor. Thi s is eviden tly, l ike the famous in tagl io of A spa s ic a in the C ab inet

.

of V ien n a, a

free imita tion of the Pa rthenos of Pheidias." l le adds in a n ote tha t Dubrn x bel ieves thesetwo jewel s to have been placed on the brea st of the dead king, but tha t in his own opin ionthe posi tion in which they were found in the tumulus makes i t qui te certa in they were ea r

pieces a ttached to the diadem . ED .)

A THENE ra nrun nos.‘

F I F TH PER I O D.

CONTEST BETWEEN SPARTA AND ATHENS (431—404 B .

CHAPTER XXIII .

THE PBLOPONNBSIAN WAR PROM'

431 TO 429 B. C.

I .

— W A R BETWE EN K O RKY RA AND CO RINTH (434 B . AND

REVO LT or PO T IDA I A (432 B .

HE mon archical form of governmen t, abol ished in all the

Greek States except Sparta, had been everywhere replaced

by an ol igarchy : this in its turn had been obl iged to make con

cessions, in creasin g da ily, to the democratic spir it . But this

m ovemen t had not been the same in a ll cases . Some c ities were

in advance of others . At the two oppos ite poin ts stood Athens

and Sparta, the two represen tat ives of th is multiform Greek l ife

the on e now purely democra tic , the other in v incibly ar istocratic .

Between these two there was room for many gradation s ; but the

n earer a c ity came in its form of governmen t to on e or the

other, the more i t ten ded to form all ian ce with that on e it most

resembled . Hen ce between the two r ivals a struggle for in fluen ce,

which en ded by arm in g on e half the Greek world aga in st the

other ha lf .

While Athen s ga thered aroun d her the people of the i slan ds

and of the sea - coast, the a ll ies of Sparta were the inlan d ci ties .

To the Athen ian empire now stood opposed the league of the

Pelopon n esos . More than a third of the pen insula belon ged to

Sparta ; and a s in the rema in der there were but smal l and feeble

Sta tes, she had n o r iva l in her immed ia te neighborhood, her

supremacy bein g accepted by a ll the cities except Argos . At

HISTORY OF GREECE .

home, over the Helots a nd the Messen ians, her rule was pitiless ;and her l ife presented, instead of the fruitfu l activ i ty of Athens ,on ly a barbaric idlen ess , useless to the world as well as to hersel f .

But let us not forget tha t in foreign relation s at th is period the

influence of Sparta was the legitimate sway of a strong and

reasonable nation . There was no tribute exacted , no injustice per

petra ted. Sparta was the head of a league voluntar ily formed,

not the capital of an empire . If an enterprise of genera l in terest

called for un i ted effort,deputies from all the c ities assembled ;

there was d iscuss ion,fol lowed by voting ; and each Sta te furn ished

m en and mon ey for the common work The l iberty of each was

un impa ired , and the concurrence of al l was much more secu re

than in that Athen ian empire where the rul ing c ity had always

to fea r the revol t of her subjects .

W i thal, i t was rather the c ircumstances and the s ituation of

the two c ities than any premedi tated design of the inhabi tan ts

tha t had given r ise to these two con trary systems . The amb it ion

of Athens was, l ike the in d ifference of Spa rta, the result of a

necess ity . Most of the Pelopon n es ian s , an agricul tural people,l iving on smal l means and will in g to rema in in their native rus

ticity , without hand icraft or traffic or art of any kind, I might

almost say without wan ts, reconc iled themsel ves easi ly to an

author ity which they d id not feel and would have thrown ofi

had it sought to weigh upon them . Wha t woul d Sparta have

ga ined in treating them as subjects, in aggravating tha t grea t

curse of Helotism' from which she already suffered ? Had she not,

as i t was,more land than she required ; and had not her wars

with Tegea and with Argos made i t evident that the Spartan peo

ple, l im ited by nature and their own hab its of l ife to the southern

part of the Pelopon nesos, could not extend themsel ves beyond it ?

The deference of their al l ies gratified the ir m i l itary pride ; and

s in ce their laws » condemned them to poverty and a contempt of

commerce and the arts , they had no need to extort weal th .

This nom inal independence of the all ies of Sparta must not,however, be understood too l iterally . Thucyd ides does indeed

show us a general assembly at Sparta ; but the Spartans them

selves del iberated apart, and their decisions were adopted by the

others . Moreover, they required hostages, and kept these persons

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

charms of person and m ind subjugated all who came wi th in herinfluence ; and when they were entirely at her command she

gave them over to Pers ia . Thus , he adds, were sown in the

c it ies the seeds of the Med ian faction . It was the reverse of

A spasia’

s reign at Athens a nd her patriotic influence. It is

ev ident that we cannot follow closely the process of th is two

fold corruption, so wel l planned ; but we can judge of i ts extent

by the effects i t w i l l be seen to produce . Doubtless at the bottom

of the sharp protests and anger of the Peloponnesians aga inst

Athens there was a jea lousy of her power ; but how many royal

com or MEG A E A .‘

c om or con ix ru.’

darics were there also ? The ten talents granted by Athens for“ secret serv ice,

ӣ19 7 5 Se

’

ov , were not enough to n eutral ize this

fatal influence of the Great King .

T he commercial r ival ry of Megara , Aigina, and Cor inth , and

the hered itary hatred of Sparta , rev ived by the intrigues of Per

s ia, these— much m ore than the amb ition of Athens, so firmly

restra ined by Perikles, and much more than her despotism, which

wa s, as we have seen , neither insolen t nor cruel — were the true

causes of the Peloponn es ian war . Only on two po ints can the A the

mians be justly blamed : their jud ic ial suzerainty, which obl iged the

all ies to bring m any of their cases before the courts of Athens , was

an irr itating and vexatious measure ; and their exactions in the

matter of tr ibute from the all ies ,'

which should have been d im in

ished now that the Persians n o longer menaced . But by what

serv ices had these faults been atoned for !

No other origin for th is fratr ic idal strife need be sought .

Sparta . the most powerfu l of the Greek States before the Med ian

1 Zeus s ta nding, look in g to the left, holdi ng a sceptre and a V ic tory . Reverse AXMQN

ME I‘APEQN. A chaia, sea ted to the le ft , holding a sceptre and a V ictory : in the field, TAAS I.in i tia l s of a magistrate's n ame. (Bron ze )

9 Z eus standin g . facing to the left, holding a sceptre and a V ic tory : legend. 3 magistraw’

s

n ame : E PMO KPAT H S .Reverse : AXMQN KO PING IQN. A cha ia. sea ted. to the left, holding a

sceptre and a wrea th. Bron ze.)

THE PELOPONNES IA N W A R FROM 431 TO 429 B . C . 201

wa rs,had lost this supremacy, but had n ot resign ed herself to the

loss : the question rema in ed open between these two Sta tes,repre

sen ta tiv es of two races, and soon er or later must be settled by

arms .

‘ “ The truest reason of the war, though lea st brought for

wa rd in words,” says Thueydides,

l “ I cons ider to have been that

the Athen ian s, by becom ing grea t a nd causin g alarm to the

Lacedsemon ian s, compel led them to proceed to hostil it ies .”Secon d

ary causes, which alone were publ icly avowed, and the protection

due from Sparta to the m a r itime c ities of Dor ian origin,were

un ited to the pr ime cause, and served as occasion for the war .

2

It began in pr iva te quarrels, which ought not, appa ren tly, to havebrought on gen era l hosti l ities ; but in the con d ition of men ’s m inds

the lea st spark was en ough to set every th in g in a blaze . Greece

took fi re sudden ly at three po in ts, — in the west, the east, a nd the

cen tre ; at Korky ra , Potidaia , and Pla taia .

The islan d of K orky ra , which l ies O ff the western coast of

Greece, at the en tran ce of the Ion ian Gulf,had been occupied by

a Cor in thian colony . This daughter of

Corin th,often rebel l ious aga in st the

mother- city, became in her turn a m e

tropolis, a nd foun ded on the n eighbor

in g coast, fifteen m iles north of the

A k rok eraun ian promon tory, the c ity of

Epidamn os (Dyrrachium ). Colon ies are or

D IDRA CHM or EPIDA MNO S .3

din arily govern ed by the same forms a s

those of the mother- c ity . Epidamn os had

an ar istocra cy,as K orkyra had‘. How

HEM I - DRA CHMA .‘

ever, a\ day came when the evils of this

form of governmen t led the colony to des ire a popula r rule, and

a revolution took place . The r ich citizen s, bein g dr iven out,

1 i . 23. The divis ion of the work of Thucydides in to books was m ade, n ot by himself, butby the ancien t grammaria n s .

2 I w ill not even men tion the O pin ion tha t Perikles, follow ing the adv ic e of A lk ib iades,plungedA then s in to thi s war to escape renderin g his accoun ts . H is en tire adm in istra tion , and

the estima te of i t g iven by Thucydides, protest aga in st these a necdotes, which render study a ndreflection un n ecessary . Things so unworthy mus t be left to A ristopha n es . See above, p . 76 .

3 C ow sucklin g her ca lf . Reverse A Y P (Dyrrachium) . Squa re : in the cen tre of whichare rows of fi n ia ls represen tin g the garden s of A lk in o

'

os. I n the exergue, a club .

4 KO PKY PA I F ore pa rt of an ox, to the right . Reverse : recta ngular figure dividedin to two squares ; in the cen tre of each i s a flower. Thi s type represen ts the ga rden s ofA lkin oos ; at the side a k an thai'os, a bun ch of grapes, a nd a sta r.

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

made all iance with the Taulen tian s, a barbarous tr ibe of the neighborhood, and d id so much harm to Epidamnos that the colonya ppl ied for assistance to their metropol is, Korkyra , and fail in g

to obta in it, sought a id from their remoter ancestress, Corinth .

They rem inded the Cor inth ians that it was on e of themselves who,accord ing to custom, had pres ided at the foundation of Ep idamnos,

Sc a le

MA P O F T H E ISLA ND O F KO R KY R A A ND TH E C O A ST O F E PE IR O S.

and added further that the Delphic oracle had ordered them to

deliver themsel ves up to Corinth . T he Corinth ians “ undertook

their defence both on the ground of equity (as th inking the colony

no less their own than Kork yra’

s), and also for hatred of the Kor

kyraian s ; because although the latter were the colony of Corinth,

they sl ighted her. For they neither gave to the Corin th ians the

customary priv ileges in the general rel igious assembl ies, nor to

any ind iv idual Corinth ian when perform ing the in itiatory ri tes

of sacrifice, as their other colon ies d id ; but despised them ,as they

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

belonged to their all ies .. But the Corin th ian fleet was met and

defeated off Cape Aktion by eighty vessel s from Korky ra ; a nd

on the same day Epidamnos surrendered to the Korky raia n s .All

foreigners foun d in the place were sold, the Corinth ians with inthe walls were put in irons

,and the K orkyraian fleet rema ined

m istress of the Western sea

For the next two years Corinth occupied hersel f w ith great

prepa rations to avenge this defea t ; she built triremes, col lected

al l m a teria l s for their armament ,and h ired oarsmen in all the all ied

States . This threat of a form i

dable war at last alarmed the

Korkyraia n s . Up to th is time

they had rema in ed in depen dent of

Greek affa irs and all iances ; but

they now felt the need of a stron g

al ly . T he Peloponn es ian league

was closed aga inst them ,for their

en emy held , next to Sparta , the

first place in i t . They were there

fore obl iged to have recourse to

Athens ; and here their envoys

en coun tered those sen t from Cor

v sssm. O N A C g” “ AW E; in th on a l ike errand . Being

adm i tted to speak before the pub

l ic assembly, the K ork yra ian s rem in ded their aud i tors of the hostil

ity of Sparta towa rds Athens , and the wrongs which Corin th had

done her ; they brought out clea rly the util ity of their a l l iance to

a mar it ime power, and the importance of their geographical posi tion

on the route to Italy and Sicily .

“ There being but three n av ies

worth m en tion ing,

” they said , in conclus ion , “ amongst the G reeks .— yours

,ours

,and that of the Corin th ians, i f you allow two of

these to come together, and the Corin th ians br in g us un der their

power first,you wil l have to fight at sea with both Kork v raian s

F ragmen t of a pa in ted clay plaque discovered at C orin th, and now in the Museum p f

Berl in ; from the A n tilce Den i’mdlcr herawg/egebe n vom ka islerl. d. Ins lil .

, vol . i . pl. v i i i . T o

fil l the vacan t space at the top, the a rtis t has pa in ted a row of va ses . in respec t to th

C orin thian plaques, see Vol . I i. p . 7 7, note 8 .

TH E PELOPONNES IAN W A R FR OM 431 T O 429 B. c . 205

a nd Peloponn es ian s ; but if you receive us, you wi l l be able to con

ten d aga in st them with the grea ter n umber of ships on your s ide.

”

The Cor in thian s asserted tha t the K orkyra ian s were men of violent

a nd un just deeds, outs ide the common law of Greece, that they had

been treated by Corin th with the same con sideration'

she had

showed a ll her other colon ies, of whom non e compla in ed aga inst

her . They rem in ded Athen s of the fr ien dly con duct of Cor in th

towards her at the time of the Sam ian revolt, and called upon

her to show their c ity l ike friendship in her presen t peril .

For two days the people of Athen s del iberated on th is importan t

question : on the first day ra ther in cl in in g to the s ide of the Corin

thian s, but on the secon d determ in in g in favor of the K orkyraian s.

A war with Spa rta appea r in g to be, as the en voys from Kerkyra had

sa id , in evi table, the Athen ian s felt it importan t to secure the sup

port of the secon d n aval power in Greece . Moreover,many among

them ca st a glan ce, beyon d K orkyra and the Ion ian Sea , towards

the allur in g image of Sic i ly and Italy . In terest and pruden ce put

to s ilen ce tha t which stern er m in ds ca l led justice, a nd others main

ta in ed tha t in al lyin g herself with a people who had hitherto kept

out of al l a l l ian ces ,‘ Athen s v iolated n o obl igation . T he league

made was str ictly defen sive, an d she en gaged on ly to protect Kor

kyma from destruction . This was doin g less than Athen s had done

for Potidaia , also a Corin th ian colon y, a nd on e tha t had remain ed

boun d to its metropol is by ties tha t K orkyra had lon g ago broken .

Potidaia had taken her pla ce amon g the a ll ies of Athen s,

2and

Corin th had n ever thought of makin g this un ion a casus belli

T en triremes set out from Peira ieus for the Ion ian Sea , the officers in

comman d havin g orders n ot to fight un less Korky ra should be

a tta cked .

Corin th had at sea a hun dred a nd fifty v essels/ a nd Korkyra

a hun dred a nd ten ; The two fleets m et n ea r the islan d of Sybota .

It was, a ccord in g to Thucyd ides, the fiercest en coun ter which had ever

The C orin thian s compa red the situa tion of K erkyra towards them selves wi th tha t of theA then ian a llies towards A then s. But this wa s un just . Korkyra had lon g ago broken w i thher mother -c ity ; there had even been war between them . C ori n th had not the right, therefore, to appea l, as she did, to the prin cip le of n on - in terven t ion m the qua rrels of a con federa tedSta te, robe fl pO O

’

qKOW O S £141d c m’

rrév rwa xok a'

few, because the Korkyraian s were not to her

”powwow “ gamm y , (Thucydides, i. 1 1 ,2 See above, V ol . II . p , 5 78 .

HISTORY OF GREECE .

taken p lace between Greeks . T he Korkyraian s were defeated , and

lost many vessel s ; the Athen ian squadron, which had kept watch

from the beginn ing of the battle, protected the ir retreat . After

some hours passed in col lecting their dead , the v ictors followed in

pursuit ; they came up with the enemy, and a l ready,” says Thney

dides, the paia nl had been sung by them for the advance, when

the Cor inth ians suddenly began to row sternwa rds,on seeing

twenty ships of the Athen ians sa i l ing up . The K orkyraia n s also

S L ING- M ISS ILES DISCO VERED A T K O R KY R A .2

withdrew , for i t was now growin g dark ; in th is way they parted

from each other, and the ba ttle ceased at n ight . On the

following day hostil i ties were not resumed, the Corin thians fearing

tha t their strength was un equal to contend with the reinforced

Korkyraian s and both s ides erected trophies and claimed a

victory O n their way homewards the Cor inthians took by

treachery A n ak torion , which they had held j o intly with the Korky

ra ian s ; eight hundred of their pr isoners they sold as slaves, and

two hundred and fifty of the more important Korkyraian s they

retained , treat ing them with great atten tion , that on their return

home they m ight serve as friends to Corinth .

Before sa il ing away they had sen t to inquire whether the

1[A hymn or song origin ally sun g in hon or of A pollo ; la ter , as a ba ttle - song both before

a nd af ter the a ttack . E n .]3 F rom V i scher, A rchdologisches a nd E p igraphisches nus K ai

-Kym , in his K lein c Schriflm .

vol . n . pl . i . Nos. 2 and 3 . These sling-m i ssi les have passed from the W'oodhouse C ollec tion to

the Bri ti sh Museum. T he first bea rs on one side the two letters BB ; on the other PO(Kow t

’

a y or Kov pa r‘

mu) . T he second has on one side a scorpion , a nd on the other thein scription Eéa xauou, or perhaps, says V i scher, ( 5 e ndure m m ) . (V isober, Kleine

S cbnj lm , p .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

wall s, and to take shel ter in O lyn thos or on lands which he

offered them in Mygdon ia .

Sparta had prom ised the envoys from Potidaia that she would

invade Attika ; and was thus the first to break the thirty years truce .

GREEK W A RR IO R , W ITHcom n rum x n eut er .

“

But havin g sen t them away with this as

surance, and inc ited them to revolt, Spa rta

remained inactive . Cor inth,however

,at

least sen t them succor . Athens escaped a

war with Macedon by a treaty with Per

dikk a s, who asked noth ing better than to

rema in spectator of a confl ict where two

States exhausted their strength for his

advantage . Al l the war cen tred at Poti

da ia . The Corinth ians attempted to rel ieve

the p lace ; they were defeated in a battle

in which Sokra tes rescued Alkib iades, who

had been wounded , and was about to be

captured by the enemy . The resul t of this

v ictory was the blockade of Potidaia , a

Corinthian garrison and many Pelopon

n esian s being in the invested town .

Defeated on all s ides, the Corinth ians

pushed affa irs to an extreme . They called

for a meeting of the all ies at Sparta , and

accused the Athen ians of hav ing broken

the peace and insul ted the Pelopon n esos .

l

Aigina,through fear of Athens, d id not

openly send deputies , but in secret urged

on the war, compla in ing tha t they were

depr ived of the in dependence guaran teed

them by the treaty . The people of Me

ga ra compla ined loudly, hav ing for some

time cons idered themselves injured by Athens . If we may bel ieve

Ar istophanes and those who l ike to find triv ial causes for serious

1 Thucydides, i . 70 . See Vol . I I. p. 660 , the portra i t of the A then ian p eople drawn by

the C orin thian ora tor, or ra ther by Thucydides , which ends wi th thi s tra i t : “ I f any one

should sum up thei r charac ter by sayin g tha t they are ma de n e i ther to be quiet themse lvesnor let. the rest of the world he so, he would speak correc tly .

"

9 Bron ze, di scovered in Magn a G rssc ia, formerly in the C ollection Gréau (No. 96 1 of

the C a talogue) and now in the Louvre.

TH E PELOPONNESIA N W A R FROM 431 T O 429 B. C . 209

events, the first quarrel between the two States arose out of the

abduction , by young men at Mega ra and at Athen s,of certa in

women of the town . What is more serious wa s the fact that the

people of Megara, whose soi l was on ly barren rocks or ston y plains,had en croached upon the terr itory of Attika

,and that they har

bored all the slaves escaping from the Athen ians . Nor had their

treacherous con duct in 446 been forgotten .

1 Perikles obtain ed

RO A D FRO M A THENS T O MEGA RA .

2

aga inst them a decree which den ied them en trance to the seaports

of Athen s a nd of the all ies . The Spartan s remon strated aga inst

th is law, which put a Dorian people under the ban of hal f Greece .

But Perikles objected tha t they had til led the fields con secrated to

Demeter in the terr itory of Eleusis. Greece had already morethan on ce taken up arms for l ike motives

, and was to do the sameagain .

Per ikles contented himsel f with sen d in g a herald ' to carry toSparta the compla in ts of Athens, “ in modera te terms

,

”“

says

1 See Vol . II . p . 55 7 .

3 F rom the T our da Monde, xx xu. 42 . The view i s taken on the Sacred Road, not farfrom the poin t where i t rea ches the Bay of Eleusi s, seen in the distan ce. C f . the view repre

Sen ted in Vol . I] . p. 39 .

V O L. “ I. 14

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

Plutarch . The herald , whom Greek law recogn ized as sacred , was

sla in on the way , and every one held the people of Megara gu ilty

of th is murder, con demned by the most anc ien t of Greek customs .Solemn funeral rites were observed

,and a statue

of the hera ld was set up at on e of the gates of

the c ity , to keep the memory of the crime ever

present .

1 The hatred between the two c ities he

came extreme . Not long after, a pen al ty of death

was den ounced by Athens aga inst a ny Megar ian

who should set foot upon the territory of Atti ka .

8

This unfortunate affa ir, where the str ict right was on the side

of Athens,brought on the wa r, which theCorin th ians could not

perhaps have prec ipitated on accoun t of Kerkyra or

of Potidaia . Pro litin g by t he compla in ts of Megara .

they represen ted the Athen ia n s as an ambitious people.

greedy of n ovelties, enterpr is in g, in defatigable ; a nd

they reproached the Sparta ns for a pol icy of too a n

tique s impl icity, for their slowness and in d ifference

in the presence of Greek c ities threatened or subju “ ME TER!

gated . And they d id not hesi tate to add,

com or ME G A N “?

For these thin gs it is youwho are to blame, by havin g at first permittedthem to fortify their city a fter the Median wa r

,and subsequen tly to build

the lon g wa lls : and by con tinua lly ,up to the

presen t tim e , depriv in g of liberty , n ot on lythose who had been en slaved by them . but

your own all ies also n ow. F or it is n ot he

who has en sla ved them,but he who has the

power to stop it, but overlooks it, that moretruly does this , especial ly if he en joys the

reputation for v irtue as bein g the liberator of Greece.

”

C O IN O F SPA RTA .

Letter of Philip to the A then ia n s.

“3 ME I‘ A PEQN. Demeter, holdin g a torch in ea t-h ha nd. s tanding before a larger torch.

(Reverse of a bron ze coin wi th the c fligy of Ma rcus Aure l ius3 W e have seen above , Vol . l l . p . 549 , tha t the people of A igin a had condemned to dea th

e very A then ian found in thei r i sland. A mong these S ta tes ha tred between n eighbors wasmerci less .

T he goddess s ta ndin g , holding in on e hand a wreath, and in the other a cluste r of whcabea rs a nd poppies . Sardonyx of two layers , 22 m illim by 1 5 . (C ameo of the C abinet dc M a ce,

no. 5 7 o f the C a ta logue. )5 Eagle sta ndin g . to the left, on a thunderbolt. Reverse ° AA winged

thunderbolt.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

they a re in juring our allies and the Pc lopon n esos. A nd though it be tree

that they were good men then ag a in st the Medes , if they a re bad ones n owag a in st us, they deserve double pun ishmen t for ha v ing become bad in stead of

good. But we a re the same both then a nd now, and sha ll n ot, if we a re.

wise, overlook our a llies being in jured, n or de lay to a ssist them ; for there isn o lon ger delay in their bein g ill- treated. O thers ha ve in abundan ce richesand ships and horses ; but we ha ve good a llies whom we must n ot g iveup to the A then ian s , n or decide the question with suits a nd words , whileit is n ot also in words tha t we a re in jured : but we must assist them withspeed a nd with a l l our m ight. A nd let n o one tell me that it is properfor us to deliberate who a re being wron ged. It is for those who a re about

to comm it the wron g to delibera te for a long time. V ote,then , Spartan s ,

for wa r, as is worthy of Sparta ; a nd n either p erm it the Athen ian s to

become g reater, n or let us betray our al lies,but with the help of the gods

let us proceed aga in st those who a re wron g in g them .

” 1

After these energetic words he himself,as ephor

,put the

question to vote : a la rge ma j ori ty declared their opin ion tha t

the treaty had been broken ; and the deputies bein g called in ,

the action of the assembly was made known to them (October

or November, 32 B .

The ora cle of Delphi was then consul ted . The Dorian god

made a response which seemed favorable, but d id not comm i t h im

pos i tively . If they ca rried on the war with a ll their m ight, there

would be v ictory,2the Pyth ia declared . Some futile neg otiations

preceded the actual begin n in g of hostil ities , so reluctantly d id men

enter on th is struggle . in which Greece dug her own grave . The

Spartans demanded the ba n ishmen t of the A lkm aion ids, guil ty,more than a cen tury before, of sacrilege in the murder of the

compan ion s of Kylen . It was the fam ily to which Perikles

belonged , a nd i t was on his account tha t th is stran ge demand was

made . They also required l iberty for the A ig in eta n s and the other

all ies, and the withdrawa l of the decree aga inst Megara , Thus

the oppressors of the Helots and of Messen ia, suddenly becom

ing the hypocr itical defenders of justice and l iberty, in solen tly

deman ded that Athens shou ld abandon a sway made hon orable

by worthy deeds,stain ed by no cruelty , and i ncrea sed during the

time the th irty years had lasted , tha t is to say , fourteen yea rs,

Thnc vdidc s. i . 86 .

2 Ka ‘rd xpa ros‘

fl nhtp ofim m'

xqv 577 “ e (T huc vdides, i .

THE PELOPONNES IAN W'

A R FROM 431 TO 429 B. C . 213

by n o con quest . The Athen ian s sen t ba ck reproa ches in their turn

to the Spa rta n s .

“ Exp iate,” they cried, “ the murder of suppl ia n t

Helots sla in before the temple of Pose idon , and tha t of Pausa n ias,whom you starved to dea th in the temple of Athen e C halk ioikos.

”

In respect to Aigin a , they would give the islan d its l iberty, they

sa id,when Spa rta on her part should set free the cities she had

en slaved . A nd in con clus ion , Mega ra deserved, in stead of proteo

t ion ,tha t a sacred war should be declared aga inst her by a ll the

Sta tes of Greece . Meantime the Cor inthian s,much disquieted, urged

ma tters more and more .

For m an y reason s it is likely , they said,“ that we should have the

advan tage ; we a re superior in numbers and m ilita ry ex perien ce, and we

a ll proceed with equa l obedien ce to do what we are ordered. A n d for a

fleet in which they a re so stron g , wewill equip on e from the property weseverally possess , and from the m on ey

at Delphi a nd Olympia ; for by borrowin g that, we shall be able by m ean s of

higher pay to deprive them of theirforeig n sa ilors . F or the power of the

Athen ia n s is mercen ary rather than n a

tive ; but ours is stron ger in m en than

in m on ey . A n d by one v ictory of oursin a sea - fi ght they are probably ruin ed ;but should they hold out

,we too sha ll

ha ve more time for study in g n a va l m at

ters, and when we have put our skillon an equa l footin g with theirs

, in TREA SURY or GE LA A T O LY MPI A )

courage we sha ll most certain ly excelthem . W e ha ve al so other ways of carry in g on war

,such as can s

in g their all ies to revolt ,with other thin gs which we can n ot n ow

foresee. F or war,least of all thin gs, proceeds on defin ite prin ciples , but

adopts its con trivan ces to suit the occasion ; in the course of which hethat dea ls with it with good temper is m ore secure ; while he that engage

sin it with passion m ak es the greater fa ilure. As for defeat, let ev erym an kn ow that it brin gs n othin g else but down right slavery , which it isa disg race to the Pclopon n esos even to men tion as possible, and for so

1 Restored plan . F rom Die A usg ra bungen zuO lymp ia ,vol . v . pl . 33. T he a rra n gemen t

a s we ll as the decora tion of the bui ldin g i s ex actlv l ike tha t of a temple. I n respec t to templep roperty, see above, Vol . I I . p . 60 7

, and con cerning the trea sures of Olympia, p . 84 .

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

many cities to be ill - treated by on e. In that case we should show oursel vesin ferior to our fathers who liberated Greece, whereas we do not even securethis liberty for ourselves , but allow a tyran t State to set itself up among us,

though we do n ot suffer tv ra nts to rule in any on e State . Nor will yoube the first to break the treaty ; for even the god himself cons iders it to ha ve

H E A D or A PO LLO .

l

been violated, sin ce he orders youto go to war. Do n ot defer, therefore,to assist the Potidaian s, who are Dorian s and are besieged by Ion ian s,— the

con trary of which used formerly to be the case,— and to vindicate the libertyof the rest.”

The Athen ian people, summoned by the Spartan ambassadors

to reply defin i tively Whether they would give the satisfaction

demanded, met in the general assembly . Per ikles spoke, and pro

n oun ced so decidedly for the war that the contrary O pin ion was

not expressed by any on e . H e showed first that the Spa rtans were

Ma rb le from Olympia, from Die A usgrabung cn zuO lymp ia , vol . n . pl . 22, and a ca stT he en tire sta tue rema in s . It occupied the cen tre of the western pedimen t of the temple of

Zeus, and, l ike all the other figures of this pedimen t, was a ttributed by Pausan ia s to the

scul ptor A lkamen es. T he subject trea tedwas the comba t of Lapiths and Cen taurs at thema rriage of Peirithoos. A pol lo, with extended ar m, i s the commanding figure of the scene .

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

of our lan d and houses, and k eep watch over the sea and the c ity , a nd

n ot come to an engagemen t with the Pelopon n esian s, who are much more

numerous than we. If we defeat them,we sha ll have to fight them aga in

as numerous as before ; if we meet with a reverse , we lose our a llies a lso .

for they will n ot rem a in quiet if we a re n ot able to keep them so. W e

should lamen t, n ot for houses and lands that we m ay lose, but for the

lives that are lost ; for it is n ot these thin gs that ga in m en , but m en that

gain these thin gs . If I thought I should persuade you, I would say , Go out

yourselves and ra vage your own fields, a nd show the Pelopon n esian s tha tfor such thing s as these you will n ot con sen t to obey them. Go to

war we must,”he sa id in con clusion ,

“and if we accept it willin g ly ,

we

shal l fi nd the en emy less disposed to press us hard ; moreover it is fromthe g reatest hazards that the greatest honors

'

a lso a re ga in ed both by

States and by men . O ur fathers in withstandin g the Medcs — though

they did n ot beg in with such resources as we ha ve, but even abandon ed

what they had, and by coun sel more than by fortun e, and by darin g morethan by strength , heat off the Barbarian — advan ced those resources to their

presen t height . W e must n ot fa ll short of them ; we must repel our enem iesin every way , and endeavor to bequeath our power un dim in ished to our

son s !”

Per ikles spoke wisely . Later i t has been said , “ Who has the

sea , has the shore .

” This was espec ially true as to Greece, a coun

try al l coast,islan ds, pen insulas, where l ife and wealth , bein g on

the coast, and rarely in the in ter ior, were at the m ercy of the Sta te

which held mar i time dom in ion .

Athens therefore repl ied to the Lacedaemon ians that , as a matter

of obed ien ce, she would do nothing, and that she required to be

treated with on a footing of equal ity . This was equivalent to

saying that she had dec ided to accept only the dec is ion of the

sword . Things were in this pos ition when the affair of Pla taia ,

fol lowing upon the hostil ities at Kerkyra and Potidaia , plun ged

Greece in to war, and by its atroc i ty ga ve a n un accustomed b itterness

to the struggle just beginn ing .

TH E PELOPONNESIA N W A R FROM 431 T O 429 B. c . 217

i[ .— CA PT U RE or PLA T A IA BY T H E THEBANS F UNERA L or

DE A D SO LDIERS ; PE STILENC E A T ATHE NS ; DE A T H O F

PERIKLE S

IN the sprin g of the year 431 B . c .

, on a dark n ight, th ree

hundred Thebans , comman ded by two boiotarehs, made their

entran ce in to Pla taia . The inhab itan ts were sleeping, with n o

fear of dan ger ; they were awaken ed by a hera ld’

s voice call in g

them to un i te themselves - to the Boiotian league . At first, much

alarmed and con fused , they accepted the terms offered them by

the Theban s ; but soon d iscover ing that

the latter were very few in n umber, they

became bolder, made plan s amon g them

selves,open ing commun ica tion with on e

another by breakin g through the s ideBororm x corx .

l

wa l ls of their houses, set wagon s in the

streets for barricades , a nd just before daybreak attacked the in v ad

in g force . T he Theban s were un able to esca pe, a nd were a ll ma ssa

cred or m ade prison ers . Meanwhile a. considerable force,advanc ing

to their ass istan ce. had been delayed by a freshet of the river Asopos .

T he n ews of what had taken place quickly reached Athens . The

Athen ian s at once seized a ll Boiotian s who chan ced to be in Attika,

sen t a garrison and prov is ion s to Plataia , and gave a sylum to a ll

n on - combatan ts from the ci ty (March , They also asked that

nothin g should be don e in respect to the prison ers who had been

taken ,un til the matter had been del iberated upon at Athen s . But

when this message arrived, the prison ers had a l ready been put to

death . T he Plataian s, exaspera ted at this impious v iola tion of the

law of na tion s , and at this a tta ck made in time of peace, had put

them to death to the number of a hun dred and eighty .

This gen erous con duct on the pa rt of Athen s was con s idered as

the begin n ing of hostil it ies . She had don e no more, however, than

1 I n genere. Head of Demeter, crown ed with whea t ea rs , f ron t v iew . Re verseBO IQTQN. Poseidon , nude, sta ndin g, armed with the triden t, holdin g a dolphin on his lefthand ; in the field, a mon ogram and the Boiotia n shield. (Silver .)

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

protect a fa ithfu l ally and fulfil the oa th, taken by all the Greeks

on the day after the battle of Pla ta ia , to defend the Plataian s

against all aggress ion , as a sacred people . Sparta herself recogn ized

this later . H er hes itation in recommenc ing the war dur in g the

BO I O T l A N H O R SEMA N .l

Sicil ian exped ition arose, says Thucyd ides, from her fear lest thegods should punish her for breaking the second truce as she had

been pun ished by the d isaster of :Sphak teria for breaking the former

on e .

2 From the begin n ing, Athens , hav in g al l her forces ready ,

could have attacked ; but she preferred to leave to her enem ies theod ium of str iking the first blow .

1 Bas- rel ief from Thespia i, from Sta ck clberg , Die Grdbcr der H ellen en,pl . n .

, l , and

the Mitt/z. d. d. a rch. I n slit. in A iken , vol . iv . pl . xiv . 1 (cf. G . KOrte , Die unl iken

S culp tures aus Bmolien , NO . 1 0, p . 31 9, in the thi rd volume of the Al illheflungen ) . T he younghorseman ,

wearing the sleeved chi ton and a chlamys a ttached to the right shoulder, heldin his left hand the bron ze rein s : in his right hand he has a wa nd.

2 Thucydides, whom A then s exiled, nowhere accuses her of viola ting the thi rty yea rstruce. A ri stophanes had a right to make the A then ia n s laugh, even at thei r own expen se ;we have the right to prefer to sati re and ca rica ture , so many times repea ted, the truth whi chsprings from a scrupulous exam ina tion of fac ts .

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

Athen ian party, had they not been surroun ded by enem ies ; thePhok idian s, A m bra k ian s, Leuk adia n s, the inhabi tan ts of A n ak torion ,

and the A itolian s, hostile to the Messen ian s of Naupak tos. Vessel s

were furn ished by Corinth,Megara

, Sikyon , Pcllen e, Eleia, Ambrak ia .

and Leukadia ; from Boiotia , Phok is, a nd Lok ris came the cava l ry ;the other c ities sent infantry . The league had no common treasury

,

but Cor inth proposed to borrow the trea sures of Delph i and Olympia .

Many powerfu l c i ties of Italy and Sic ily secretly prom ised mon eyand vessel s enough to raise the number of the fleet to fi v e hundred

gal leys . Bes ides this it was expected that the Great K ing wouldfurn ish gold .

The all ies of Athens were as fol lows : on the frontiers of Attikathe in hab itants of Pla taia and Oropos ; more d istan t, the Messen ians

of Naupak tos, the majority of the A k a rn an ian s,1 Argos O f the A m

philochian s, the islands of Chios, Lesbos ,K orkyra , Zakynthos, all the tributary c ities,Ka r ia, As ia tic Dor is, the Greeks on the

Shores of the Hel lespont, the Thrac ian

C hersOn esos,the islands eastwa rd from the

Pelopon nesos as far as Krete, and lastly

the Cyclades, except Melos and Thera . From Chios . Lesbos. a ndKor

kyra sh ips were furn ished, a nd the other members of the league

sent in fan try and money ; the Thessal ian s furn ished caval ry . A n

annual revenue of more than on e thousand talen ts, s ix thousand

talents in reserve in the publ ic treasury , and the gold of the tem

ples , valued at fi v e hundred talen ts, without coun ting that wh ich

decorated the statues of t he gods and heroes , a va ilable in the last

extrem i ty, — such were the fin anc ia l resources of the Athen ians .

Their m il itary force con sisted of th irteen thousand hopl i tes for the

a rmy in the field , twelve hundred horse, s ixteen hun dred bowmen .

th ree hundred triremes ready for sea ; and lastly, s ixteen thousand

epheboi, old men , and metoikoi gua rded the wal ls which m ade

Athens a nd Peira ieus on e great en trenched camp .

But the two leagues difi ered in a very important po int : the

BRO NZE com .

2

1 T he A k arn a n ian s long rema in ed the fa i thful a l l ies o f A then s . C f Diod. , xv . 36 . I n a

fragmen t of a decree recen tly discoverer] they are ca lled warpdflw reim‘

Aq a im v (Beulé.

L’A cmp ole, A ppend. No. 1 5 , a nd R a ngabé, A n t. Il ell . , vol. i i . NO .

9 C oi n of Delos. Laure l led head of A pollo to the right . A H (Aqk imv ) . Pa lm- tree.

TH E PELOPONNES IA N W A R FROM 431 To 429 B. e. 22 1

a ll ies of Athen s were obl iged to pay an an n ual tribute ; Sparta

a sked n othin g from hers . Con sequen tly defection s took place amon gthe former, while n on e happen ed among the Pelopon n esian s .When Spa rta fin ally called her all ies to arms

,prom is in g them

the pillage of Attika , the poor a nd hun gry pea san ts of the Pelo~

pon n esos rushed from all S ides eager for the prey, and A rchida

mos foun d himself at the head of an a rmy of m en .

Before crossin g the frontier the old chief tr ied to n egotia te . The

Athen ian s made a Roman answer : “ Let Spa rta reca l l her troops,

and a fter tha t it wi ll be time to n egotia te .

” W ithdrawin g, the

envoy of A rchidam os excla imed : “ This day wil l be the begin n in g

O f great woes for Greece .

”A n ea rthquake which shook the sacred

islan d of Delos seemed to in d icate tha t the gods con firmed th is

mourn ful presage .

When Perikles wa s made aware that the en emy were approach

in g , he put h is plan in to execut ion . All the inhab itan ts of the

coun try were in duced to come within the wa l ls, with their wives

and children , their furn iture, a nd even , in some ca ses , the wood

work of their houses . The sheep an d cattle were sen t over to

Euboia . Most of these persons had n o lodgin g in the city, n or

fr ien ds to receive them ; a nd. they dwelt in the open squa res ,a roun d the temples and the m on umen ts of heroes

,in the Pela sgi

k on,which it had been forb idden an y on e ever to occupy

, a nd la stly,between the Lon g Wa ll s a nd in Peira ieus . It was n ot without grief

that they thus aban don ed their fa rm s a nd their dwel l in gs ; but the

safety of the coun try required the sacrifice. To save it, had n ot

their fa thers abandon ed to the en emy,n ot their farms merely, but

Athen s and the Akropol is itself ? Per ik les set an example; Archi

damos and himself were un ited by ties of hospital ity ; a nd Perik les

declared in the publ ic assembly tha t i f the Spa rtan kin g, through

regard for this tie,should spa re his lan ds, from that day forth he

himself would rel in quish them to the State .

A rchidam os besieged the fortress of O in oe, and spent much

time in this opera tion ,which was un successful . Being dr iven

away, he ravaged the fields of Thria and Eleusis, and advan ced as

far as the v illage of A charn ia , about fi ve m i les distan t from

Athen s , hopin g tha t the Acha rn ian s, who had sen t n ot less than

three thousan d hopl ites to the Athen ian army, would n ot be

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

able to watch ca lmly the desola tion O f their property, but

woul d inc i te the whole army to a n engagement . A nd indeed

for a m oment the d istress in g spectacle seen from the wall s O f

Athens very nearly caused pruden ce to be forgotten . The young

men were eager to fight ; groups gathered in eager d iscuss ion ;there were plan s as to the road to take ; and the ma j ority

declared loudly for an attack . But Per ikles, unmoved by out

cr ies and sa rcasms, refused to ca ll together the publ ic assembly ,and in the end restored quiet in the streets . “ Let them cut

down your trees, he sa id to the farmers ; “ the tree wil l grow

aga in , but not the man when he has been cut down .

” 1 A nd this

Athen ian people, who are represen ted a s indoc ile. obeyed a

prudence which they con demn ed . A few squadron s of caval ry

were from t ime to t ime thrown out to ha rry the en emy . This

measure was successful . The Spartans , after sackin g several vi l

lages,fel l back by Oropos and Boiotia : They had remained about

thirty days in Attika,and owing to la ck of prov isions they could

rema in no longer .

Let us remark at the beginn ing O f th is war two th ings, which

we shal l find recurring all th rough its course : on the on e s ide,

the reluctance of the Athen ians to measure their

strength on land aga inst the Spa rtans, and hence the

great m il itary fame of the Lacedaemon ian tr0 0 ps ; on

the other s ide, the powerlessn ess of the Pelopon n e

s ian s to force the ramparts of a c ity . In the art of

sieges the Greeks had not gone beyond the methods

of the heroic age . I t was bel ieved that Agamemn on had been

ten years in taking Troy . Not until the thirtieth year of the

war d id Lysandros obta in entrance into the city of Athens .

Wh ile the enemy were ravaging their lands, the Athen ians

passed a decree that out of the sums deposited in the Akropol is

a thousand talents shou ld be set aside, which no man , on pen al ty

of dea th ,should propose to employ for any purpose except to

repel an in vasion by sea , and tha t a hundred of the largest

BRO NZE c om .

“

Thucydides puts a l ike saying in to the mouth of Nikias: “ Men make the Sta te, n o t

wa l l s, nor empty shi ps .”9 MO GQNAXQN. V iew of the port of Mothone ; in the cen tre, a sta tue on a column ; a

sa i l ing - ve sse l i s about to en ter the harbor. (Reverse of a bron ze coin wi th the effigy of C arsca l la.) T he port of Mothone i s described by Pausa n ia s, iv . 35 , 1 .

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

had dared d ispute the sea with Athens, and r ival her in ren own ,weal th , and art . H e d istributed their lands by lot amon g the c iti

zens of Athens (and i t happened that Ar istophanes thus obtained

O F F ER ING T O T H E a rorn sosn sn DE AD }

a small estate), and he expel led all the inhab itants , even the

women and children . whom Sparta received into Thyrea and the

adjacen t country .

2 The approa ches by sea to Attika were thus

wel l guarded . To these precautions and those which we have

Marb le has- rel ief. in the Ma rcia n a , in Ven ice ( from the Monum. publ . par l’

ass. pourPen a. des El gr ., pl. The here , a t the right, holds a phia l over an a l ta r ; a woma nat the left slowly pours in to the dish the con ten ts of an oin ochoe. H er atti tude i s grave andc a lm ; wi th the left hand she brings forward her vei l over her fac e. Behind her a sma l lerfigure raises the right hand in sign of adorat ion . T he work is nob le . and the re ligiouscharacter of the scene i s wel l represen ted.

3 T hyrea was la ter taken by the A then ian s, and the A iginetans found there were put todeath (Thucydides, iv . Lysandros, a fter the batt le of A igospotamoi, recal led from all

parts of G reece the. A iginetan s who had sought shelter, and gave back to them their island,whence he expe l led the A then ian s .

THE PELOPONNES IAN WAR FROM 431 TO 429 B . C. 229

already mentioned in respect to the reserve of the treasury and

of the fleet, a pruden t d iplomacy added others . Athen s made a

reconc il ia tion with Perdik k as of Macedon , and an all ian ce with

Sitalkes, the kin g of Thra ce .

The win ter of this year saw an imposing ceremon y a t Athens,— the fun era l at the publ ic expen se of those

\who had been the

first v ict ims of th is war . This ceremon y was performed in a ccord

an ce with the custom of their forefa thers, after the followin g

man n er .

" Hav in g erected a ten t, says T hucydides ( ii. “ they lay out the

bon es of the dead three days before, and each on e b rin g s to his own relativewhate ver fun eral O fl

’

erin g he pleases . When the fun era l procession takes

place, cars con vey coflin s of cypress - wood,on e for each tribe, in which are

la id the bon es of ev ery man accordin g to the tribe to

which he belon ged and on e empty bier is carried, spreadin hon or of the missin g ,

whose bodies could n ot be foundto be tak en up . Whoever wishes , both of citizen s and

s tran gers, join s in the procession ; and their fema le relaf ives attend at the buria l to m ak e a wa ilin g . T hey lay them then in the

public sepulchre, which is in the fairest suburb of the city , an d in whichthey a lways bury those who have fa llen in the wars ‘

(except, at least, thosewho fell at Marathon ; but to them , as their va lor was distin guished abov e

a ll others, they gave a burial on the v ery spot where they fell). After thevha ve la id them in the g round, a m an chosen by the State, on e of ta len tand pro

- em in en t dig nity , speaks over the dead such a pan egyric as m ay be

appropria te.

”

S I LVER com .l

The ora tor was Perikles . H e had already ren dered l ike homage

to the sold iers who had fa l len before Samos . O n the presen t occa

s ion his eulogy wa s less on the dead than on Athen s, and he

exhorted the l iv in g,with a l l the gra n deur a nd author ity of which

lan guage is capable, to love their coun try, to cherish her in stitu

tion s, which . without d istin ction of fortune or b irth , d istr ibuted“

ran k a ccord in g to mer it,a nd

,most d iff eren t from the tyra n n ical

con stitution of Spa rta , left each m an complete l iberty for his tastes

and con duct, on ly a skin g from a ll m en respect for the law'

and

the magistra tes,its in terpreters . Then he depicted begging

1 C oin of Perdik k as I I . Horse, to the right . Behin d him a spear. Reverse : fore pa rtof a l ion , wi th open mouth ‘

a nd paws ex tended to se ize his prey ; the whole in a n in cusedsquare .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

his hearers to remain fai thful to it — the national character, of

m ingled boldness a nd reflection,gra v ity a nd m irthfulness

,frank

a nd hospitable to al l strangers ; th is l ife, shared between serious

labors and brill iant festivit ies ; this c i ty, which had become the

model and the instructress of al l Greece .

‘

It was for such a coun try , then ,he said

,

“ that these m en,n obly

resolvin g n ot to have it taken from you, fell fighting ; a nd e very of

A THENS , PERSO N IFI ED BY A THENE , CRO W N ING A BENEFA CTO R O F

their survivors m ay well be willin g to suffer in its beha lf of these men

there was n on e that either was m ade a coward by his wea lth from preferrin gthe con tinued en joymen t of it, or shrank from dan ger through a hope sug

gested by poverty , n amely , that he m ight yet escape it and g row rich ; butc onceivin g that ven gea n ce on their fees was more to be desired than thoseobjects , and at the sam e time rega rdin g this as the most g lorious of ha za rds ,they wished by risking it to be a ven ged on their en em ies , and so to a im a t

T rjw e mia'ar mfl w f f) ;

'

EM\dBor n a idw aw (Thucydides, n . \Ve give n early the wholeof thi s admira b le di scourse .

3 Baa- relief ca rved a t the head of a n A then ian de c r ee ( Corp . macr . Ame . i . fromSchene, Griec/lixc/le Relic/a, No. 96, pla te xxii . T he decree was passed in honor of a n inhabitan t of Kolophon , who appea rs on the has- re l ie f in the a ttitude o f a wo rship lwr.

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H IST O R Y OF GREECE.

befittin g the occasion , and those who a re here in terred have a lready received

part of their hon ors . For the rem ain in g part, the State will bring uptheir son s at the public expen se f rom this time to their manhood 1

A nd n ow,having fin ished your lamen ta tion s for your several relatives ,

depart.” 3

Thus the grandeur of the State was to be the object of genera l

en thus iasm ; and each man’

s courage and intell igence, the mutua l

esteem of poor and r ich , the

devotion of all,were the only

mean s of making the country

glor ious . By these n oble words

Per ikles (or Thucyd ides, who

relates them,

a fter hav in g

doubtless h imsel f heard them)repl ied to those soul s mad for

pea ce, who wished it a t any

price — were i t even at the

price of honor , a nd later of

safety . Aristophanes was of

th is order ; h is intellect and

rac iness a re, after all , at the

serv ice of an ignoble character . What is his “ just m an ,

” in The

A charn ian s, Dik eopolis, h is fr iend of peace, h is c it izen who makes

his private truce with the enemy, a nd is represen ted to us as the

most fortunate of men , establ ishin g his own m a rket in the public

square,trad ing with m en of Megara and Boiotia , feed ing h im

self with eel s from Lake K epa is, while Lam achos fights, and comes

home covered with wounds ? W e laugh at the poet’s keen strokes

of wit ; but what el se is i t but the coarsest egot ism , satisfied at the

expense of patr iotism and al l noble sentiments ? Unhappily, these“ just men are found in every age .

Y O U T H A T A W ELL .3

1 O n that occa sion the people assemb led in the thea tre . a nd a hera ld presen ted the

son s of dead soldiers, clad in complete a rmor, and a n n oun em l : U p to this time the

S ta te has m a in ta ined them ; n ow she gives them the i r a rm s ( A ischines, O n the C rown ) .

2 Thucydides, i i . 42—46 . Pluto. in his fi l erwxcn e, gives the ora t ion of Perikles ; butthe. version of T hueydides i s pre ferab le.

Va se- pa in ting, from 0 . J ahn , Berichle fi ber die Vrrhamlltmgeuder K 6" . sac ks . Gesellsch.

der Wissenschufl en zu Leipzig , 1 8 78 , pl . 5 , No. 2, and p. 144. T he. youn g man . havin g onefoot on the brink of the we ll, i s drawing up the bucket which he has ti l led.

THE PELOPONNES IA N W A R FROM 431 TO 429 B . C . 233

In the sprin g of the following yea r A rchidam os re- appeared

in Attika . This time he ma rched stra ight upon Athen s,but not

da rin g to ma ke an attack in fron t,he wen t beyon d the city and

ravaged the coa st on the southwest as far a s Lau

reion ; then he advan ced towards Ma rathon,which

be spa red , as he d id Dekeleia, for the sake of the

old legen ds . At the end of forty days he left Attika .

H e fled, n ot from the Athen ian s, but from a more

form idable en emy, - the pest ilen ce, which had just

broken out a t Athen s,a nd is described by Thu

eydides and by Lucretius with in compa rable en ergy (430

This d isease had overrun Ethiopia , Egypt, a nd Persia , a nd was

without doubt brought in to Attika by some merchant vessel .2 It

broke out at first in Peira ieus,a nd i t was thought that the Pelo

pon n esian s had po ison ed the wells . I n tha t crowded

an d il l - lodged multitude i t made frightful ravages .

BRO NZE c om .1

Med ica l scien ce wa s powerless , a nd the gods upon

whom m en called were in exorable . Y oun g and old ,r ich a nd poor, strong and weak , a ll were v ictims to

BR O V Z E com sthe d isea se. A n inwa rd fever con sumed the body

,

causin g frightful sufferin g ; un appeasable thirst’

led

ma ny to plun ge in to c istern s of water . Usua l ly dea th occurred on

the seven th or n in th day . When the pestilen ce had reached its

greatest height , says Thucyd ides , m en lost respect for thin gs div ine

and human . Mora l s y ielded before this fearful game of death .

Sin ce v irtue wa s n o safegua rd , why impose its sa crifices upon on e

self " Every th ing tha t wa s immed ia tely plea san t , and tha t which

was con duc ive to it b y a n y mea n s whatever wa s la id down to

be both honorable a nd exped ien t .

1 T he A kropo lis a t T roxzen , surmoun ted by a temple. Legend T PO IZ HNIQN.

Reverse of a bron ze coin in the Museum of Turin , w i th the effi gy of C ommodus .2 T he di sea se wa s an eruptive fever, diff eren t from sma ll - pox : it ravaged the R oma n

world in the t ime of Marcus Aurel ius, a nd i s n ow extin ct (Littre’

G ame s d’H ipp o

cra te, i . Modern physic ia n s have thought i t to be the army ty phus, ,or exan them a tic

typhus. T he - legend as to the presen ce of H ipp okra tes in A then s a t this time i s fa lse .

C f . Li ttré, ibi( l . , 39 .

3 E PMI O NEQN Herdsman leadin g a cow oy a rope . (Reverse of a bron ze coin of H er

mion e, wi th the efiigy of Planti l la .) Pausania s ( i i . 35 , 6) rela tes in ,the description of the

temple of Demeter C hthon ia , on Moun t Pron a at Herm ion e, tha t in the procession which came

solem n ly in to the temple for the sacrifice there were servitors who led the cow about to besacr ificed.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

In the m idst of so many ca lam ities Perik les preserved the

tran quill ity of h is m in d . H e conducted by sea a n exped ition aga inst

Epidauros, which n a rrow ly escaped fa l l ing in to h is hands ; heravaged the terr itory of Troizen , Hal ia , and Herm ione, and in

Lakon ia captured Praisia i a nd sacked i t ; but the pesti len ce spread

ing in his a rmy compel led him to return to Athens . The d isea sea l so now reached the Athen ian camp before Potidaia , which was

stil l bes ieged ; out of four thousand hopl ites, ten hundred and fifty

d ied in forty days . The people, emb ittered by their sufferings,la id the blame

, upon Perikles, and fined him fifteen , or, some say,fifty ta lents ; bein g un able to pay, he was depr ived , accord ing to the

law, of his rights a s a c i ti zen . Among the number of his most

v iolent adversar ies was Kleon . Perikles bore m isfortune as he

had borne prosperi ty , without giv in g way , al though blows struck

h im da ily both in the Agora and at home . H is s ister a nd some

of h is most valued friends perished . H is son Xa n thippos had

sympath ized with the host ile party, and circulated calumn ies

again st h is father . Per ikles , however, still cherished affection for

his un dutiful son . and the dea th of Xan thippos by the pestilence

caused him grief . A second son , Para los, was also taken from him ;

a nd with this loss his legitimate race was extinct, and the hered itary

a lta rs of h is house were about to be left without sa crifice. The

blow was severely felt by Per ikles , a nd as he la id the funeral

wrea th upon the head of h is younger son , his calmn ess gave way ,and he wept .

1 The Athen ian s, quickly repea ting of their in grati

tude . gran ted ful l ci tizenship to his son by Aspas ia , and restored to

himself the supreme power in t he State, by giv ing him ,as before,

on e of ten a n n ua l gen eralships .

A deputa tion sent to Sparta during the d isgra’

ce of Perikles,

a sking for peace, had been sent away unanswered, a nd the war

took on n ew v igor . The people of Potida ia , each day more closely

pressed . had been reduced to eat human flesh , and shortly after

th is capitulated . Perm iss ion was given the besieged to march out ,

A whi te Icky thos o f A then s, from O . Btwn ndorf Griechc’

sckc a nd S itrt'

lische Va senbilder,

pl . 33 , m ight here lie represen ted, but the number o f these fun era l represen ta t ion s is a l readysuflicien tly larg e See those in Vol . I . pp . 30 7, a nd in Vol II . p . 3 1 2 . O n the subjectui the. l ittle win tred figures which orig ina l ly represen ted the soul o f the dec ca sed, a nd laterIn eame s imple funerea l gen i i , a ssoc ia ted with the acts a nd the grief of the sun ivors, see

I). Pottier, Etude sur les lccylhes Ma n es a tliques a rep resen ta tioi‘

sf un e’

m ires, pp . 75 ct seq.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

us Lacedaemon ians , and poin t out the boundaries of your territory

and y our trees in n umber, and whatever el se can be counted .

And do you remove wherever you please, so long as the war may

last . When it is over, we wil l give back to you that wh ich we

have received ; till then we wil l hold i t in trust , cultivating it, and

bringing to you such of the produce as may be suflicien t for you.

”

vmw or mimm '

rn os.

l

Such a proposition could not be accepted , and at once began

th is memorable siege, on e of the most dramatic episodes of the

war . On both s ides equal fury was man ifested . and al l the ski ll

of the period was brought to bear in the m il itary operations under

taken . Accord ing to an ancient custom , A rchidamos addressed an

invocation to the gods and heroes especially worshipped in Plata ia ,

imploring them not to defend the ci ty, but to allow it to be taken

by the Spartans . Hav ing thus sought to propitiate the powers

above, A rchidamos raised a terrace to the height of the wal l in

1 F rom the Duches s of Devon shi re's A eneid.

T HE PELOPONNESIA N W A R FROM 431 T O 429 B. C . 237

order to a tta ck on a level , employin g seventy days and n ights in

the work . But the Pla ta ian s m in ed the groun d un der this ter

ra ce un ti l it threaten ed to give way , and at the same time bui lt

their wall higher, and erected an other behind it . Aga in st the

machines which battered their walls they threw out n ooses of

rope to catch the heads of the rams , draw them in, and brea k

them off ; and also they hun g great beams by lon g iron chain s

from the extrem ity of two levers la id upon the wa ll and exten d

in g bey on d it , which bein g sudden ly dropped, crushed whatever

they fel l upon . Storm in g- parties,surprises, attempts to burn the

c ity by throwin g in l ighted fagots of brushwood covered with

pitch an d sulphur, — all were in va in ; i t became necessa ry to

turn the s iege in to a blockade. The all ies ra ised a wa l l of c ir

cum va llation aroun d the place, with a

i

ditch in fron t of it. and

left half their troops there . In the l ittle ci ty there were on ly

four hun dred Plataian s eighty Athen ia n s, a nd a hun dred a nd ten

women to make bread for the ga rrison .

Dur in g these opera tion s the Spartans also undertook to drive

the Athen ian s from the Ion ian Sea . A n exped i tion d irected

aga inst Zakyn thos and Kephallen ia in 430 B . 0 . had n ot suc

ceeded. The followin g yea r a grea t a ttempt wa s made upon

Aka rn an ia . Corin th . Leuk adia . A n a k torion . and A mbra k ia fur

n ished m en or vessels , and the n eighboring ba rbaric tribes,C haon ian s, Molossians . O restin ian s, were called in to take pa rt.

Perdik k as, the ally of Athen s , sen t secretly a thousand Ma ce

don ian s ; and these forces, with a thousan d Spa rtan s . ma rched

upon Stratos , the capital of Aka rn a n ia . This army . so d iversea nd il l - comman ded . a rrived in d isorder . and a v igorous sort ie

1 in scription on an ex - voto. f rom R'

cihl, I nscrip l . Graecae a n tiqmss. , No. 5 . This ex - votowas ofi ered by the A then ian s on occa s ion of the victories of Phormio. I t i s engravedon a sma l l bron ze ta b let. b roken in to thr ee pieces. which was found at Dodon a ( C arapanos,Boc/on e c l ses m ines

, pl . 4 7, a nd p . xxvi , 2 ; M. F ra n kel, A rcliaoZog lsche Z eztung , 1 8 78 , p .I t reads thus : >

Aaemim d1ro H ekmrovlk o iov va v p a xia r mnéa aw es H aussoull ler

(Bull . de C orr . hellen ., 1 88 1 , pp . 1 2 et seq. ) has shown tha t the n ava l victories to which i t

re fers were those ga ined by Phormio in 429 B . C . in the Gulf of K r issa . C f. Dittenberger,S g/lloge I n scrzp lionum G ra em r um . v ol i . No . 28 .

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

from the town d ispersed i t. A n av al v ictory of Phormio com

p leted the ruin of th is en terprise . This o llieer had but twen ty

ga l leys to oppose to the forty - seven tha t ca m e from the Pelopon

neses ; accord in gly he remained n ea r N aupa k tos . a ffectin g a d iscreet

reserve. But a t the momen t when the hosti le fleet crossed the

stra it he sai led out . T he surprised Peloponnes ian s formed in a

c ircle. Phorm io ga ve orders tha t h is ga lleys should sa i l rapidly

a round th is c ircle, reduc ing it into a smal ler compass by brush ing

aga inst the vessel s, without, however, makin g an attack unt il the

s ign a l should be given . H e wa ited for a wind from the gulf ,

BA T T LE NE A R THE sm rs.1

wh ich usual ly.rose towa rds morn ing , a nd would throw the Pelo

pon n esian s i n to d isorder . As soon a s i t began to blow ,the hostile

ships,crowded as they were, fel l a foul of ea ch other a nd were in

grea t dan ger, which was al so increased by the in experien ce of the

sa ilors . The battle ‘ was al ready ga ined when Phorm io gave the

s ignal for attack . Many galleys were sunk , and twelve were taken

(429 B .

The Spartans, aston ished at such a defea t, a ttributed it to the

in capac i ty of their adm iral . They sent three Spartans , of whom

Bra sidas was on e, to serve as h is advisers , and they in crea sed

Va se- pa in ting from Gerha r d, A userlesen c Vusenbclder. vol . i i i . pl . 1 9 7 . T he Troja n s, ledby Hek tor, have pursued the G reeks to thei r ships, which they seek to set on fire . T he soldierfollowing Hekto r has a torch in his hand. See I liad, xv. 71 8 ; xvi . 1 25 c l scq. : Overbeck,Bildwerl ’e, pp . 421 cl seq.

T he In n o f Euripides, which i s a laudation of A then s , was possib ly performed soo n afte rthi s v ic tory, which made a g rea t stir in G ree ce.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

gen erous repentance, which makes her beloved , notwith stand ing herfaul ts .

To repa ir the repeated d isasters which Sparta had lately suf

fered, Brasidas conceived a bold design . H e sent the sa ilors acrossthe isthmus of Cor inth, each man carrying h is oar

,with orders

GO O D O RDER, PERSO NIF IED, A ND T H E PEO PLE CRO W NING A N INDI VIDUA L . 1

to launch the forty vessel s which were a t the time in the sh ip

yards of Nisaia , the seaport of Megara , and sa il at once upon

defenceless Peira ieus . In stead of making all poss ible ha ste, how

ever, in th is atta ck , the n ew ly launched fleet delayed before a fort

1 Baa- re l ief ca rved a t the head of a n A then ia n decree ( C orp . in svr. A ttic . vol . 11 . No .

from Schiine, G riedeisc/te R elic/it, NO . 63 . T he E i’

n’afiia was, l ike the E ia vbpia , a lilourg ia , or

pub l ic service. (See T humser, De c icium A lhen iensium mun cribus eorumque immum la lc ,

p . T he scul ptor has person ified i t, a nd represen ted i t a t the. side of the people ; bothseem to be placin g a wrea th upon the head of an individua l of lesser sta ture.

NO TE . — 0 n the opposi te page is represen ted a ma rble bust with the in script ionDE PIKAH S , in the Brit i sh Museum (from a photograph) . C f . wi th busts represen ted Vol . l l .p . 5 63 , and fac ing p. l o f thi s volume .

BU ST O F PER IK LES .

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H ISTORY OF GRE ECE.

The pestilence, of which Peri kles was the last v ictim , had ca rr ied

off many hopl ites and many of the cavalry, — the best class of the

Athen ia n people,1 tha t which ga ve Athens her strength in war and

her wisdom in legislation . It had a lso impa ired rel igious fa i th,

in former times the source of patr iotism ,— and the strict morals

and soc ial d isc ipl ine which were matters of no importance to the

idle and d iscontented crowd of p ea sa nts sheltered in the c ity , and

to the sa ilors of Pei ra ieus , a ccustomed by the continued war to

the acts of v iolence and lawlessness of a m i l itary l ife . The

moral d isorder produced by the pestilence con tin ued after the ev i l

had i tsel f d isappeared . To the con temporaries of Sophokles , Phei

d ia s, Per ikles, who had witnessed the peaceful grandeur given by

those great Athen ians to the c ity in which they dwelt, succeeded

younger men , who were at on ce sceptical and superstitious , desert

ing the altars of Athene, of Demeter and Poseidon , and frequent

ing those of foreign d iv in ities .

2

Perikles had been the great mod

crator of the republ ic , the repref

sen tativ e in pol i tics of that p n8e‘

v

iy a v which the Delphic oracles

adv ised . After his death , osoll

A'

rusx c A m , 9 0 8mm “ lation s, more a nd more v iolent ,were to shake the State, and the

democracy, which its renowned leader had so wel l understood how

to control,by degrees was to become a demagogy, cav il l ing, sus

picious, and savage, invad in g everything, del iberating in place

of the senate, adm in istering the laws in place of the magistrates ,

and,forgetful of its ancestors , overthrowing the al tar they had

reared to Pi ty . I ts pol itical leader was to be Kleon , the tanner ,

who,on on e occas ion , would ha ve ma ssacred all the in hab itan ts of

a town after their un cond itiona l surrender, and Al kib iades , the man

1 Thi s loss was the more man ifest s in ce the heavy a rmed in fan try and the cava lry ofA then s belonged to i ts rich or its m iddle cla ss . The (holes, person s of the lowes t cla ss (seeVol . I . p . were not en rolled among the hopl ites un til about -1 12 n . 0 . C f. l larpok ra tion ,

s . v. offi ce.

2 O n the in troduction in to A then s of fore ign gods. see Fouca rt. Des associa tions religieusw

chez les Grccs, pp . 5 6 el seq., and, la te r, chapter xx iv . o f thi s work .

3 IIc lmctcd head of A thene , right profi le. Reverse : T he di spute be

tween A thene and Poseidon as to the founding of A then s . Between the two, the ol ive- tree ,a round which i s eoiled the serpen t Erichthon ios ; the owl is perched on a bran ch of the tree .

(Bron ze eoin of A then s .)

THE PE'

LOPONNESIA N W A R FR OM 431 T O 429 B. c . 245

of un scrupulous amb ition ,the descen dan t of an honorable house

fallen to the con d ition of an a dven turer ; and its hab i tual counsel

lors,that v ile brood, the fla tterers of the populace, evi l cup

bea rers, who will pour out to it to in tox ication the stron g win e of

l iberty .

” 1 Democracy at this day is the world’s leader ; may it

escape a l ike fa te !

1 Plato, POL, V tii. and u. 8qpoxpa rovpe'

vr; s’

heveep t'

a c didn'

wa a a ( m ay 02,0vfl poo

'

ra‘

rouvrwv n ixy “ sw ag. See a l so the sombre pictures drawn by Thucydides, iii.82, 83 .

CHAPTER XXIV

PBLOPONNBSIAN WAR I'

BOM THE DEATH OF PERIKLES TO THE PEACE

OP NIKIAS. (429- 421 B.

l .

— CRU ELTY TO W A RDS MYTILENE A ND PLA T A IA ; MA SSA C RES A T

K O R KY R A ; T H E AF F A IR or SPH A K T ER IA .

T was now the fourth year of the war (428 B . and the antic i

pa tion s of Perikles had been rea l i zed . Notwithsta nd ing the

an nual ravages of A rchidamos, who re- appeared aga in that summer

in Attika,Athen s stil l held the a dva n tage, for she had lost noth

ing, and had rega in ed possess ion of Potidaia . But the great sta tes

man had n ot been able to foresee the d isa ster that was to fa ll

,upon the c ity, - h is own dea th , a fatal blow to the prosperi ty

of. the A then ian s . Shortly a fter, a revol t broke out which shook

their author ity .

Mytilene, l i ke al l the Greek c it ies . had two parties . The

n obles , who held the people in strict subjection,

‘ had a ccepted

reluctan tly , and only th rough fear of

the Pers ians,the supremacy of Athens .

Athough the terms of the ea rly al l i

a nce with Myti lene, as with Chios

had remained in force, they both

remembered the bril l iant days of

Pittakos a nd the time when the

whole islan d of Lesbos was subject to them . W e have seen that they

sol ic ited secretly the support of La cedzemon . even before the war of

c om or MY T ILENR Q

T he oligarchv of Myti len e forbade i ts subjects t o teach the i r chi ldren letters or mus ic ;so

, at least, says .A elianus ( Va ria H is/aria , ix .

2 Laurel led head of A pol lo. right profi le . Reverse MYT I Lyre of si x chords,adorned with a fi l let : at the le ft. the plektron , an ivorv stick with which the chords o f thelyre were struck . (S i l ver .)

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

not a galley nor a sold ier was recalled from Mytilene ; and yetPerikles was no longer there . The Spartan Sa lethos had taken

command in Mytilene . But scarcely had he d istributed arms

amon g the people for a general a ttack on the Athen ian l ines, whenthe multitude so long oppressed rose aga inst the nobles . It becamenecessa ry to negotiate and to del iver up the place to Paches , theAthen ian genera l .

Here occurs a tragedy . The Spartans had , from the begin

n ing, given to th is struggle the character of savage cruel ty which

the peoples of Southern Europe, Greeks , Romans, Ital ians of the

M iddle Ages, a nd Span ia rds , have too often stamped upon the ir

wars . All the al l ies of Athens , al l the traders, fishermen , a ll

neutrals , even , who fel l into their hands, were put to dea th and

their bod ies left un bur ied .

’ A Pelopon nes ian fleet had very la tely

exhibi ted along the Ion ian coa sts tha t read in ess to kill without

excuse of in curred per il . T he Athen ian s had not rema ined behind

their decree aga inst the Megar ia n s wil l be remembered , a nd the

fa ct that they put to death Spartan envoys sei zed on the way to

the Pers ian court . No more compassion had been shown by the

Pla ta ian s to the Thebans who had attempted to surprise their c ity .

The treason of Mytilene, unjustifiable, s ince they were the most

fa vored of the all ies,had . placed Athen s in great peril , and

brought a Peloponn es ian fleet to the coasts of Ion ia . They had,therefore, in accordance with the spiri t of the times and the char

acter of the war, no reason to expect mercy , any more than Capua

had from Rome after surren dering to Hann ibal . Among the

prisoners sen t by Pa ches wa s'

Sa lethos . H is trial was short ; not~

with stan d in g the efforts he made to save his l ife, he was put to

death almost immed iately on his arr iva l . In the general exaspera

tion'

which prevailed at Athen s, the atroc ious resolution was eas ily

taken ,at Kleon ’s suggestion , to destroy the entire fighting popu

lation of Myti lene .

This Kleon , the unworthy successor of Perikles , was — to the

g reat del ight of Aristophanes, who draws from the fact endless

materia l for m irth — a tann er . a grea t fr iend of the common

Thucydides, n . 6 7 .

Nor a — O n the opposi te page i s given a v iew ( from a photograph) of Myti lene. T he

ha rbor a t the le ft i s the northern port. C f. the view in Vol . I I . p . 2 79 .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

each lot . Mytilene, however, quickly recovered , and aga in becameprosperous .

An example, happily of a d ifferent character, was at th is timegiven by Athens to her all ies . he con queror of Lesbos, Paches .

DE A TH or PLA NG O N, or PLA T A I A .‘

was guil ty of un pardonable v iolence towards two women of Myti

lene . O n his return to Athens he wa s brought to tr ia l for the

1 Funera l stela , discovered at Oropos and preserved in the C en tral Museum of A then s(Von Sybc l, K a la log , No . 1 23 ; from Lebas, Voy . a rcheol ., Mon . fi g ., pl . T he in sc ri ptioni s complete, and reads thus : mévyw T okp iaou Il ka

-min ). roman; U km an’

m The old ma n ,

Tolm idcs, a t the left, his head lean ing on his hand, i s presen t a t the dea th of his daughterPlangon , who is s inking bac k upon her bed, susta ined by two women . It wi ll be observed tha tthi s funera l stela does not represen t the Elysian reun ion .

T HE PELOPONNES IA N W AR FROM 429 T O 421 B. c . 253

crime ; and foreseeing con demn a tion , fell upon h is sword in the

presen ce of the‘ court. Loudly had Athen s declared that she would

n o more pa rdon crimes than she would revolts (427 B.

The Plata ian s were made to suffer in retal iation for the mur

der of the My tilen ia n s. The Spa rta n s became infuriated against

this handful of m en who for two years had made so ga l lan t a

resistan ce, repa ir ing the c ity’s walls and build in g them higher,destroying the en emy

’s works, breaking the ir en gin es of war,brav in g the ra in of burn ing sulphur and pitch d irected aga inst

them by the ir assailan ts, and the flames which devoured a portion

of their c ity . At last,threa ten ed by famin e and a lmost in

despa ir, they resolved upon a desperate en terprise ; namely, to

make their escape from the c ity, going through the bes iegers ’

camp and cross in g the double wal l

and the d itches by which it was

protected . By coun tin g the bricks

in the en emy ’s wal l they a scerta in ed

its height, and made ladders suitable

to scale it . At the momen t of put

t in g the plan i n to execution on ly

two hun dred and twen ty m en tha t is to say,about half the gar

rison,felt themselves will ing to in cur the risk . O n a cold and da rk

December n ight,while the win d blew v iolen tly and a ra in m in gled

CO IN or PLA TA I A .

I

with sn ow was fall ing, they emerged from the c i ty, silen t, walkin g

far apa rt from ea ch other, that their weapon s m ight not clash , and

each man hav in g the righ t foot ba re,tha t he m ight n ot sl ip in

the half- frozen m ire . They set their ladders up a nd a scen ded

them : those who wen t first had on ly a dagger and a breas‘

tplate

others followed with javel in s a nd with shields . A fa l l in g br ick

gave the a larm to the Pelopon n es ian s, who ra n hither and thither,n ot kn owin g where the dan ger was

,an d l ighted fi re- s igna l s —ou

the side towa rds Thebes , to in d ica te tha t the camp wa s a ttacked .

T he Plataian s who had rema in ed in the c ity l ighted other fires

upon their wa lls , so that a con fus ion of signa ls took away a ll

mean in g from those which the Pelopon n esian s had em ployedf The

la tter sought on every s ide for the en emy who had caused the

1 Boiotia n buckler . R everse : BAA (M am a’

s-w) , in the field. Prok esch d’O sten,I nedita ,

p l. i i . 11 . 5 7 . (Bronze.)

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

a la rm ; but the torches they ca rried revea led them to the Pla tai~

a n s, who, themselves rema in ing in the shadow

,struck with sure

a im . The two hundred hav in g succeeded in cross ing the camp,

1

took the road towards Thebes to escape pursuit ; for the l ight ofthe torches revealed to them that they were sought in the direc

tion of Kithairon . After go ing s ix or seven stad ia in the direc

tion of Thebes, they turned towa rds the mounta ins, and arrived sa fein Attika to the n umber of two hun dred and twelve .

T he garrison of Pla ta ia was thus d im in ished ; but the supply

of prov is ions held out so long tha t res is tance was con tinued to them iddle of the following summer

,when , being in danger of sta rva

t ion , they were obl iged to surrender. The Spartan s took theirreven ge for the time the siege had costthem by a ° cold cruelty all the moreod ious from the show of justice m in

gled with it . Five judges were sent out

com O F “ M m “from Spa rta, and the pr isoners brought

before them . No special cha rge was pre

ferred aga in st a ny on e,but the quest ion was a sked whether they

had don e the Peloponnesians a ny service dur ing the presen t war .

They made a reply at some length , defend ing their conduct as

all ies of Athens , compla in ing of the Theba n s, a nd rem in d ing their

judges of the glorious battle in which they had defeated the Medes

they said .

W e en treat you, as is suitable for us and as our n eed induces us to'

do, with in vocation s to the gods who are worshipped a t the same alta rand by a ll the Greeks in common

,that we m ay preva il on you in these

things . Pleadin g the oaths which your fathers swore,we pray that you

will n ot be unm indful of them . W e beseech you by vour fathers’

tombs ,and appeal for aid to the dead, that we m ay n ot come under the Theban

power, nor those who are dearest to them be g iven up to those who a re

most hateful .”

In conclus ion , they declared that they would sooner have d ied

the most inglorious death — that of fam in e — than surrender to

1 Thucydides ( i i i . 23) spea k s of ice, which. coat in g the water wi th which ra in had fi lledthe di tches, broke under the soldiers ' weight .

2 C ow suckl ing her ca lf . Reverse : two recta ngles in cused. in the cen tre of each thosegeometr ica l figures genera l ly rega r ded as a type of the ga rden s of A lk inoos Mr. Per cy Ga rdner. however. sees in them a type of sola r origin , con nected wi th the worship of the god

A rista ios or of A pol lo Nomios. S i l ver . (Numisma tic C hron icle, 1 8 8 1 , pp . 1 e! seq.)

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

the goddess, building a lso. in her hon or a stone chapel a hundred feetsquare. The land they confiscated and let out for ten years, its occupiersbeing T heban s.

”

It is extraord inary tha t Athen s made no attempt to sa ve the

Pla ta ian s. Al l the early cruel ty rea ppears in th is fratricidal wa r :on each s ide prisoners were murdered , and ea ch man res igned

himself in advance to undergo the fate which, if v ictorious, he

would have infl icted .- L ike heroes to whom a fatal duty is

intrusted and the order given,“ Go thither a nd let yoursel ves be

ki lled ,”the Plataia n s, voluntary victims, had by their sacrifice

served the common cause. They were adm ired , but they were not

succored, because it would have been n ecessary to r isk an en gage

ment on land,’

and Athens reserved a ll her strength for her fleet .

G ladly,however

,wou ld we tel l of hero ic rashn ess ; they at times

succeed who ven ture a forlorn hope .

Sparta in th is affa ir played an odious part : the ceremon ial ofa trial , the judges , the question ing, — this parody of justice, in a

word,was more abominable . than the slaughter after the battle.

She however cla imed to have a cted with str ict‘

legal ity . The

all iance with Athen s , she said , was treason against Hel las, and

there should be no mercy for tra itors . To res ist Sparta became

an inexpiable crime .

At Kerkyra , as el sewhere, the aristocracy and the people, the

r ich and the poor, t he former supported by Sparta , the la tter byAthen s

,d isputed furiously for the supremacy .

For some time these in tern al d iscords brought

no other‘ ca ta strophe than the ex ile of the

feebler party ; n ow that the nin successful

could‘

appeal to outsiders for a id , these str ifes

were to assume a cha racter of frightful cruelty .

The rich Korkyraia n s made prison ers by Corinth at the battle

of Sybota had been treated with great con s ideration in that c ity ,

and then released as useful in struments for effecting a revolution

in Kerkyra . Since their return home they endeavored to fulfil

the secret con d i tion of their relea se, b y bringing over the island

to the pa rty of the Pelopon nes ian s . Peithias. leader of the popu la r

c om or K O R KY R A .

1

Dionysos, holding a thyrsos , on a leaping pan ther, to the right. Reverse : KO P (Kopn r

pa i'

mv) . A sa tyr, a win e- skin on his shoulder, pours i ts con ten ts in to a kra ter. (Bron ze .)

TH E PELOPONNESIAN W A R FROM 429 T O 421 B. c . 257

faction,accused by them of betrayin g the country, in his turn

accuses fi ve of them ,who thereupon assassin a te him in the sen a te.

murder sixty of h is partisan s, prom ise l iberty to the slaves, a nd

call in the Pelopon n es ian s . The popular party, at first taken by

surpr ise, recovers itself ; twelve A the

n ian vessel s arrive from Naupa k tos and

give i t the advan tage . Fi fty- three ga l

leys from the Pelopon n esos arrive ; but

the Athen ian s, n otwithstan d in g their

n umer ical in ferior ity, hold their‘

g round

after a v ictory of wh ich the Spa rtan

commander is n ot able to take proper advan tage . Warn ed by fi re

sign a ls that s ixty Athen ian ga lleys are approaching,he withdraws

and sa ils for home ; and then begin s a horr ible massacre. The

n obles and their pa rtisa n s had ta ken shelter in a temple . To

DR A CHM A or m at es }

in duce them to quit th is asy lum, a fa ir hea rin g is prom ised them ;

fifty,who are prevailed upon to leave the temple

, are condemn ed

to death . and the remain der per ish by their own han ds in ‘

the

san ctuary .

Durin g seven days massacre prevailed in Kerkyra, and all evi l

passions took opportun i ty to glut themselves : debtors killed their

cred itors ; person al hosti l ities took the pretext of publ ic ven geance .

Five hun dred,who had made their escape, fortified themselves upon

a hill where they remain ed for two yea rs . At la st,compelled by

Athen s to surren der, they were carr ied a cross to an islan d to be

kept in custody til l they were sent to Athen s, with the un derstan d

in g that if any on e a ttempted to make“

his escape , the lives of all

would be forfeited . To secure their destruction the democra tic

pa rty la id a treacherous plan . False frien ds adv ised the prison ers

to make their escape at on ce,a ssur in g them that it was the in ten

tion of the Athen ian gen era l to give them up to the Korkyraian

popul ace . T he dev ice succeeded ; a n umber of the prison ers were

captured o n board a vessel which had been provided by those who

were seek ing their destruction . and the Athen ian gen era l a t on ce

gave them a ll up to the Korky raian s . They were shut up in a large

buildin g ; and bein g led out by twen ties, were made to pass between

two rows of sold iers, who murdered them in cold blood . Sixty1 O n the obverse ,

a pomegran a te . Reverse : MAM (MaMa w) . Dionysiac ka n tharos.V O L . 1 1 1 1 7

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

had thus been led out an d put to dea th , when the surv ivors in the

build ing came to the kn owledge of what was go ing on outs ide .

They refused to come out, a nd the Korkyra ia n s, hav ing ta ken off

the roof of the bui ld ing, d ischa rged arrows at them a nd th rew

down tiles from above . The prisoners took their own l ives by

whatever means they could . This frightfu l scene la sted th rough

the n ight, a nd when i t was day the Korkyra ian s heaped the dead

bod ies upon wagon s a nd carried them out of the city (425 B.

I n the same year the Corinth ians,driven out of A n a k torion ,

were

SCENE O F CO MBA T O N A VA SE FRO M MELO S .1

replaced in that important posi tion by the A k arna n ian s, their

en em ies ; a nd hen ceforth the ships of Athen s coul d freely sail the

Ion ian Sea ,where not a Corin thian vessel dared to show i tself .

It must be said that on ly after these ma ssacres d id Kerkyra

recover its tran quill i ty . Nothing less would have a ccompl ished

th is resul t ; so.

sa vage was the hatred on both sides that on e party

must have perished by the hand of the other before peace could

come into th is c i ty dra ined of its l ife- blood . But who gave the

signal for all this perfidy and v iolen ce ? Those who, without just

cause, wished to sepa rate Kerkyra from Athen s , and had murdered

Peithias in the open sen a te, — the faction of the nobles .

In this war of Kerkyra, says Thucyd ides,

whatev er ordin arily happen s in such a state of thin g s took place, and stillmore . For father murdered son , and men were dragged out of sanctuaries

F rom A . C on ze, Melische fl ange/blue, pl . 3 . Thi s i s an extremely a rchaic m e ;

a l though the pa in ter has reached the sta ge when the human figure i s represen ted, he stil l takescare to fill al l the vacan t spaces wi th flowers or geometrica l orn amen ts.

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

bel ieved tha t thus they would ga in the protection of the god who

in h is statue was presen t at these festiva ls . The Ion ians , excluded

from the festiva ls of the Pelopon~

n esos, attended the Del ian Games in

crowds , where Nik ias d istinguished

himself by the magn ificence of hisgifts the first time that they took

place. In on e n ight he ca used a

bridge nearly half a m ile in length

to be thrown across the stra it which

separates Delos from R heneia , and

th is bridge to be decorated with gar

lands and covered with ca rpets, for

the process ion of the dead ex iled,from

rel igious motives , from the sacredislan d (425 B .

A proof that the people of A then s

had a share in the great th ings ao

compl ished by Perikles is found in

the fact that in the four years immeo

F A Y KQ N dia tely after they had lost this eu

.

O

n Pfl T o r ENO Y l ightened guide they had shown,

X PH Z T E x A IPEagain st the double scourge of pesti

len ce and war,that constancy wh ich

the great ora tor recommended to

them,— there were no d isturbances

in the c ity,and no narrow -m inded

ness in the choice of leaders . Va inly d id Kleon rant ; none but

generals tested by long serv ice, even where they were noble, rich,and des irous of peace, — l ike Demosthenes and Nik ia s, - com

F U NE RA L STELA or n ew s !

bui ldings as a qua rry. They have burned i ts most precious marb les to make cha lk (Lebegue,R echerches sur De'los). Recen t excava tion s by H omollc , H auvc tte. S . Re inach. and othershave brought to light many in scription s, numerous ca rvings, the founda tion s of ma ny temples ,and a lso of magaz ines con structed in the time when Delos, under the Roman sway, was theemporium of the JEgman .

1 Ste la di scovered in the i sland of R heneia and preserved in the C en tra l Museum of

A then s . (L. v on Sybc l, K a la log , No. 487 ; from the E xpe‘

dilion dc Al an'

s, vol . iii. pl . 20 , l ,and the A rchdolog r

’

sche Z eimng , pl . 5 3a . T he dead man whose n ame i s given bythe in scription (Phéxmv n pm oye

'

vov q m '

c‘

xa'

ipe) i s represen ted sea ted on a rock , his head

lean ing sadly on his hand ; n ea r him i s the prow of a vesse l . Thi s i s the usua l monumen t for aperson who has died at sea.

T H E PELOPONNES IAN W A R FROM 429 T O 421 s . c . 261

ma nded the a rm ies . At Mytilen e, at K orkyra , those who had

put their trust in Lacedaemon had perished ; the destruct ion.

of

Pla ta ia was the on ly defeat Athen s had un dergone . Already she

was turn ing her a tten tion towards Sic ily ; twen ty galleys were

sent thither to a id the Leon tin es against Syra cuse . The pre

text was that the Athen ia n s were of kin dred origin with the

Leon t in es ; in rea l ity, Athen s wa s an x ious to stop the importa tion

of Sicil ian cerea ls in to the Pelopon n esos .

Demosthen es was a true gen era l , en terpris in g and able ; to him

wa r was a sc ien ce requiring plan s, and n ot courage alone. Leaving

his colleague Nik ias to opera te in the sea s adjacen t

to Athen s,he sailed in to the western waters, a im

ing to destroy the influen ce of Corin th in the very

gulf that bore her n ame . Ass isted by.

the Aka r

n an ian s, he had con quered on lan d in the yea r

preced in g (426 B . super ior strategy, the Pelo

pon n esian s, who lost so man y of their n umber in

the battle of O lpai tha t he wa s able to con secra te, in the temples

of Athen s, three hun dred suits of armor

a s his pa rt of the spo ils . But this Akar

n an ia n war, which Thucyd ides relates

BRO NZE c om .

l

at great len gth,could have n o ser ious

results . A~

bold en terpr ise of Demos

then es appea red at on e time to be a boutto br ing it to an end. H e had remarked

, on sa i l in g round the

Pelopon n esos, the advan tageous position of Pylos,a promon tory on

the coast of Messen ia which comman ds the presen t harbor of Nava

r in o, the best seaport of the pen in sula, which the Spa rtan s had left

unoccupied s in ce the Messen ian wars . It seemed to him that if he

could se ize th is promon tory and establ ish there a Messen ia n garr ison,

“ he should , as it were, fa sten a l ighted torch to the fla n k of the

S ILVER c om .

“l

Pelopon n esos .’

H e obtained from the people perm iss ion to attempt

something ; but when the fleet, which was on i ts way to Korkyra.

and Ita ly, arrived before Pylos, the gen erals in comman d were

1 KO PKYPA IQN. Ship un der sa i l ;'

ou the deck are vis ib le the pilot and six oa rsmen .

(Reverse of a b ron ze coin of Korkyra wi th the efligy of Septimius Severus . )2 Horseman , nude, ridin g to the right. Reverse : AE O NT INO N. Lion ’s head, with open

mouth, to the right. a round, four gra in s of barley . (C oin of Leon tinoi.)

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

alarmed, and refused to carry out the project . The winds,however,

favored Demosthenes ; heavy ga les drove the Athen ians towardsthe coast and compel led them to remain inactive, until at last the

W m

MA P O F PYLO S A ND SPH A KT E R I A .

troops, wear ied with inactiv ity, “ were seized with a des ire, says

Thucyd ides, “ to set to and fortify the post . Accord ingly they

took the work . in hand and proceeded with it,

though they had no iron tools,but carried stones

just as they picked them up. and put them together

as they severally m ight happen to fit ; whi le the

m ortar, when ever i t was necessary to use any, for

BR O NZ E c om , wan t of hods, they carr ied on their backs, stooping down in such a way that i t m ight best lie on

,

and clasping their hands behind them to prevent i ts fall ing off .

In deed , in every way they made haste to antic ipate the Lacedaamon iens by completi ng the most assa ilable points of the work,

n YAmN. S ta tue of a couchan t ram on a ba se. (Reverse of a coin wi th the efligy of

Septimius Sever us.)

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

hopl ites, and barred the channel on either s ide with a close l ine

of vessel s,the ir prows

'

turned towards the open sea . On the

outs ide Py los had scarcely any other protection than that wh ich

the d ifficu lties of effectin g a lan d ing gave it . On th is s ide, how

ever, the attack began : i t lasted two days , a nd was unsuccessfu l .

Bra sidas, fighting gallantly, wa s covered with wounds and lost

h is sh ield , which the waves carried in to the Athen ians . How

ever, the Spartans were not yet defea ted , when forty ga l leys

of the Athen ians, arr iv in g from Zakynthos,attacked them a nd

drove them upon the la n d ; Upon th is Sphak teria was closely

blockaded, whi le the Peloponnes ian s went in to camp on the land,and from time to t ime made atta cks upon ‘

the fort .

At news of what had occurred Sparta was in consternation .

H er population had stead ily decreased s ince the time of Lykour

gos . It was then at the per iod

of the battle of Plataia it"had fallen

to a quarter of a century later

there were but 700 ; and a t the time

of ‘

W ll iC ll we speak the loss of those

held besieged by Athens was irreparable .

The ephors wen t in person to Pylos to exam ine the state of afl airs,

and saw no other course poss ible than to conclude an arm istice

with the Athen ian gen era l s . It was agreed that envoys should

be sent from Sparta to Athen s ; and in the m ean time an arm is

tice was concluded , the Athen ians allowing the Spartans to send

rations to their army open ly , under the eyes of'

the Athen ian s,so long as no vessel should attempt to sa il in by stea lth ; a nd

themselves agreeing, while they kept guard over the island , that

they would not land on i t , a nd woul d make no attack on the

Peloponnesian troops either by l and or sea . O n the other s ide,

the Spartans should bring to Pylos and del iver up to the A the

mians the ships with wh ich they had fought the battle. a nd a ll

their other vessel s of war, to be reta in ed during the arm istice ,

and should make no attack on the fort by land or sea .

The envoys from Sparta appeared at Athens . and contrary to

their won t made a long address in the publ ic a ssembly. offer ing

CO IN or A MBR A K IA .‘

1 Ve i led a nd laurel led hea dof Dia ne , le ft profile . R everse : AM CAp am brwv) . Obel i ska dorn ed wi th fi l lets . T he whole surrounded by a laurel - wrea th. ( “ rat

- lama . )

THE PELOPONNE S IA N W A R FROM 429 TO 421 B . C . 265

peace an d a l l ian ce and close fr ien dship , and a skin g in return their

m en held bes ieged in Spha k teria ; and they added that a s soon as

this was agreed, every other State in the Pelopon n es ian league

would a lso lay down their arms . H ow quickly were forg otten the

causes of compla in t urged against Athens when the war began '

To save some of their fellow- c iti zen s the Spartan s aban don ed their

al l ies and the cause which they had a l ittle while before con sidered

so just . A nd in deed a year earl ier they had betrayed the people

of A m bra k ia after the defeat at O lpai. _ Un fortun a tely, Perikles

was no longer there to urge upon the Athen ian s a wise gener

osity . Kleon in duced the assembly to deman d the restitution of

the places given up by Athen s at the time the thirty years’ truce

was con cluded .

1 These were con d ition s which the deputies coul d

not accept,and they departed , leav in g everything unsett led .

The a rm istice ceased on their a rrival at home ; but the A the

n ian s,on pretext of some v iolation of the agreemen t, refused to

give up the vessels . This was a useless act of perfidy , for these

vessels could have been of n o use to the Spa rtan s . Fam in e was

the grea t dan ger which the besieged had to apprehen d ; the island,wel l wooded as i t was , could n ot be taken by

‘

storm without di f

fi culty and da nger . L iberty wa s offered to Helots who should

ca rry provis ions th ither . Many attempted this,and were successfu l .

The four hundred and twen ty were able to hold out unti l the

begin n in g of winter .

There was rea son to fea r tha t in the severe weather the

Athen ian s themselves in Pylos would have great difliculty in

obtain in g food . Already the army suffered , and this wa s kn own

a t Athen s . Kleon,who had caused the rejection of the Spartan

proposals,n ow compla in ed of the gen eral s . T ha t hosti l i ties were

so prolonged was due,he said , to their la ck of resolution . A n d

this was true, for the Athen ian s had ten thousan d m en at Pylos

aga in st the four hun dred a nd twenty Spa rta n s . Nik ia s,always

timid , b el ieved , even with the forces they had, that .success was

impossible , and, to emba rra ss Kleon ,he recommen ded him to go

to Sphak teria himself . Kleon hesitated : but the people, also

grown ‘ impatien t, took him at his word . H e coul d make n o

excuse, and was obl iged to go,prom isin g on his departure that in

1 Vol . I I . pp. 5 5 8 , 5 5 9 .

HISTORY OF GREECE .

twen ty days the a ffair should be ended . A nd indeed no moretime was needed when on ce i t wa s resolved to attack the island .

Kleon wisely asked the aid of Demosthen es as his colleague, and

d id noth in g without con sulting this able genera l . . A few days

before his a rr ival at Py los a fi re, l ighted for cooking food and

carelessly left burn ing, had spread to the trees and had nearly

consumed the forest with which the island was covered . Th is

acc ident removed the princ ipa l danger of the land ing . Demosthe

n es prepared for th is a nd, with Kleon , accomplished i t . They set

out by n ight, embarking thei r heavy armed tr0 0 ps, to the number

of about eight hundred , on boa rd a few vessels and a l ittle - before

morn ing effected a land ing on each s ide of the islan d , and

advan ced on a run aga inst an old fort rudely buil t of stone

which they thought it m ight be usefu l for them to hold . This

they seized , and put to the sword the guard posted there .

As soon as morn ing dawned they were largely rein forced by

light troops,and rapidly made their way over the isla n d , harass ing

the enemy from the high groun d , a nd greatly terrifyin g the Spartans,who were not accustomed to an en emy fighting and run n ing at the

same time,and fillin g the a ir with shouts . T he dust and C inders

from the burn t wood were r ising in every d irection a nd obscu red

the v iew ,and no on e could see before him for the arrows and

stones which , together with the dust, were flying from such a hoBt

of m en . T he caps worn by the Spa rtan s d id not protect them

against the a rrows , and they could make no use of their own

weapon s , n or could they hear, owing to the louder shou ts of the

enemy , their own word of command ; danger surrounded them on

every s ide, and they could see no mean s of defen d ing and sav ing

themselves . To render the con fl ict less un equal , they fel l back in to

a fort on the extrem i ty of the islan d . and here through the day

both s ides held out . At la st a corps of Messen ians , who had suc

ceeded in reach ing stil l higher groun d behind the fort, suddenly

appea red in the rear ; and upon th is the Spartans gave way .

An x ious to take them al ive to Athens, Kleon and Demosthenes

offered them terms . The officer who had been first in comma n d

was among the slain . and the second lay dyin g ; the th ird . Styphon ,

asked perm ission to commun icate with the camp on the ma inland

before replying . H e wa s al lowed to do so , a nd received answer :

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

energy which was by no means useless ; that it does not a ppea r

even in the na rrative of Thucyd ides that he conducted h imsel f

il l as sold ier or leader ; and . lastly , that what he prom ised to do

he d id .

II .—N1x 1A s

, DEMO STHENE S , A ND Baa srnA s PE A C E or 42 1 B . C .

T H E balance of power was now d isturbed ; fortune leaned to

the s ide of the Athen ians . But whi le Sparta econ om ica l ly led her

army from Lakon ia into Attika,A then s was ruin in g hersel f by

keeping fleets in al l the Greek seas, a nd recruiting, by the expendi

ture of money , the sa ilors who ma n n ed them . H er ann ual expenses

averaged twen ty - fi v e hundred talents [n early three m il l ion dollars].

In 425 B . C .

,the resources accumulated by Perikles hav ing been

exhausted, i t became n ecessary to in crease the tribute of the a l l ies

and the income - tax pa id by c itizens . O n e of these measu res was

destined later to cause defections ; the other , which weighed upon

the r ich , would cause con spirac ies against the popula r government,form idable germs, to be developed in the future .

1

The Athen ian s as yet d id not suffer from these ev ils, and they

followed up their v ictor ies with great v igor . Nik ia s, with a large

force , landed on the isthmus, defea ted the

Cor inth ians, and then captured Methone on

the pen in sula which . between Tro’

izen and

Epidauros, stretches out towards Aigin a . TheyBR O NZ E com ?

bu i lt a wall across the pen in sula, and left a

garr ison ; and from th is post,which by fi re - s ign als wa s with in

reach of Peira ieus , the Athen ians made continual incurs ions into

Argol is The following year Nik ias took the islan d of

Kythera, ofl the southern coast of the Peloponnesos, and hence a

1 From the year 428 n . c . the trea sures of the gods a nd the reserves of the Sta te, excepting the

thousand ta len ts kept for an extrem i ty, had been expended, and i t was a l rea dy neees~sary tha t those in cha rge of the property of the temples should make adva nces to the Sta te .

T he ezmpopé.or tax on the rich, durin g the s iege of Mytilene gave two hundred ta len ts . T he

tr ibute pa id by the a l l ies, nearly doub led in 425 , came to be twelve or th i rteen hundred ta len ts.

(See above p . 25 1 , n .

0

2 Head of Hepha i s tos wearin g the pi los, right profi le. Reverse : ME (Ga ra fa w) , in a

wrea th formed of two stems of whea t . C oin of Methone.

THE PELOPONNESIAN W A R FROM 429 TO 42 1 B . C . 269

po in t where vessel s could be deta in ed which were approaching the

coa st, or a land in g upon it effected . Moreover, the island looks

towards the K retan sea and the Sicil ian, where at this very momen t

Athens had a fleet supportin g the c ities at war with Syra cuse .

T he importa n ce of the pos it ion of Kythera secured for its inhabi

tants m ild con d ition s ; Nik ias gave them an Athen ian garrison ,

but required from them a tr ibute of on ly four talents .

After hav ing ravaged Lakon ia with im punity for seven days

Nik ias return ed to Thyrea in Kyn ouria , where the Spartan s had

VIEW or KYTHERA .

‘

establ ished the A igin etan s . H e took the city, n otwithstand in g the

neighborhood of a Spartan a rmy,which dared n ot defend it ; a nd

his prison ers,sen t to Athen s , were put to death there . T he n ew

law,i f we m ay so cal l th is return to ba rbarism,

wa s become more

firmly establ ished : an en emy was a crimin a l , a nd defea t on the

ba ttle- fi eldwas equivalen t to a sen ten ce of death . About this time

took place tha t tragedy,the story of which we shoul d receive

with in credul ity were i t n ot a ffirmed by Thucyd ides ; namely , the

murder of two thousan d of the bravest amon g the Helots, for the

purpose of reducin g the stren gth of the whole body a nd ala rmin g

those amon g them whom the success of Athen s“

m ight have led to

med ita te revolt . Stun n ed by so many d isasters , and ren dered

un ea sy by seein g the wa r made perman en t near Lakon ia, at Pylos,

1 F rom Dr. Louis Lortet, La Syrie p . 8.

H ISTORY OF GREECE.

at Kythera, and in Kynouria , the Spartans hes itated as to thei r

next s tep .

“ They were very cautious in consequen ce of the

severe a nd unexpected blow which had befallen them in Sphak teria ,a nd of the occupation of Pylos and Kythera , and of their being

BA S - R E LIE P or T HY R E A .’

surrounded on al l s ides by a

i

war that wa s rapid , and defied a ll

precaution . The Athen ians , on the contrary, were ful l of confidence

in their good fortune . The Sicil ian Greeks hav ing ended their

wars by a reconcil iation , the generals whom Athens had in that

i sland allowed themselves to be included in the treaty .

“ But on

the a rrival of the general s the Athen ians at home ban ished two of

1 Bas- rel ief di scovered on the si te of T hyrea and preserved in the Cen tra l Museumof A then s (L. von Sybc l, K a ta log , No. 31 9 ; from a photograph). Thi s i s an cx - voto to

A sklepios ; at the right are the go ds, at the left the worshippers . A sk lepios. lea n ing on

a sta ff aroundwhich i s coi led a serpen t, i s a ttended by his fam i ly — his daughter Hygeiaand his sons Machaon and Pada leiros ; the la tte r holds in the left ha nd a s trigil , l ike an

a thlete. T hese four are look ing at the first worshipper . The others are A ka so, Iaso. andl ’an akeia , three daughters of A sklepios .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

La cedaemon, perhaps to supplan t her in the favor of the king .

The Pers ian A rtaphern es wa s sen t home, courteously accompan ied

by an embassy . Greece was about to have at this time the

shameful spectacle, which later was not spared her, of the son s

of the conquerors at Salam is and Pla taia a t the feet of the son of

Xerxes . But the deputies learn ed at Ephesos that the Great K ing

was dead, and they went no fa rther . But by this unhappy design

Athens had betrayed her history and her destin ies . She expiated

it a lmost immed iately by reverses .

The able plan of Demosthenes had succeeded ; the Peloponnesos

was surrounded by a ring of hostile posts . I t remained only to

close the isthmus, and the Spartans would be prison ers in their

pen insula . It was poss ible to do th is by occupying Megara, but,better stil l, by bringin g Boiotia in to the all ian ce of Athens . The

attempt upon Megara hav ing fa iled, Demosthenes turn ed towards

Boiotia . H e had establ ished rel ations with some of theinhabi tan ts

of C hairon aia , who prom ised to del iver up the c ity to a detachment

of Athen ians sent out silently from Naupak tos, and seconded by the

Phok idian s. H e himself undertook to surprise Siphai, on the Gulf

of K irrha on the coast of Euboia the Athen ia n genera l H ippokrates

had orders to seize Bel ion . These three en terpr ises were to be

executed on the same day ; if they succeeded , Boiotia would be.

l ike the Peloponn esos , surroun ded by a hostile belt, and Thebes

woul d be separated from Spa rta . But too m a ny were in the secret

for it to be kept ; the en emy had time to make preparations , a nd

the three Athen ian detachments , fa il ing to combine their movements ,lost the advantage of a s imultaneous attack . The advance upon

Siphai and upon C ha iron eia failed, and H ippokrates . delayed for

some days, saw col lected aga inst h im a ll the Boiotian forces which

it had been hoped to sca tter . H e was able. however, to occupy and

fortify the temple of Apollo at Delion . To the Boiotian s th is wa s

a profan a t ion ; and it seemed so to many of the Athen ians, who on

th is accoun t wen t in to the fight wi th less courage . A thousand

m en . with their leader, perished in the action ; contra ry to usage.

the Thebans allowed their bod ies to remain un buried for seventeen

days . un ti l the taking of Delion , rega rd ing the dead sold iers a s

sacrilegious persons , whose wandering souls must find pun ishmen t

in the under- world .

TH E PELOPONNESIAN W A R FROM 429 T O 421 B. c . 278

Sokrates had taken pa rt in this en gagemen t ; with h is friend

Laches a nd some other hero ic Athen ian s, he had fallen ba ck step

by step before the Theban cavalry . While he was exhib itin g on

the battle- fi eld a coolness and courage l ike this, Ar istophanes was

wr iting The C louds .

There was but on e really grea t Spartan at this time,’

Brasidas,

the man who had saved Mega ra , threaten ed Peira ieus, and almost

PLA IN BETW EEN MEGA RA A ND EL I-Z U S I S .

1

been successful aga in st Demosthenes a t Pylos . In tell igen t, and brave

ven to rashn ess,he used moreover a weapon which , especially

amon g the Greeks, could make cruel woun ds , but, a s a rule, had

been unskilful ly han dled by the Spa rtan s , eloquen ce . T he sea wa s

closed aga in st h im ; he proposed on shore to in jure Athen s in her

fortun e and her fame. Wha t she had don e aga in st Spa rta at Pylos,at Kythera , at Methon e , Brasida s adv ised do in g again st her in

Cha lkid ike an d Thra ce. I t wa s n ot the same th ing.

'

Athen s had

rea l ly put the Pelopon n esos in a state of s iege ; an d it wa s n ot pos

s ible by v ictories at an y po in t on the Greek main lan d to hold her

1 F rom Sta chelberg, La G rece. A t the lef t a re the summ its of Moun t Parnes ; at theright the foot -h i l l s of A iga leos.

V O L. 1 1 1 . 1 8

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

in turn bes ieged . The sea wa s her strength ; there she had ga ined

her empire, and there i t must be ta ken from her. However, on the

s ide of Thrace serious blows m ight be struck at her. At the break

ing out of the war she had compel led Perdik k a s,the k ing of

Macedon , to enter her a ll iance, and she had ga in ed the friendsh ip

of Sita lkes, the powerful king of the O drysai,whose territory extended from the n aean Sea

to the Danube, and from Byza n tion to the head

waters of the Strymon , a thirty days’

journey .

At the instigation of oA then s Sita lkes had even ,in 429 B . c .

,invaded Macedon with a va st horde. But sin ce then

h is zeal had abated . As for Perdik k as, he had never lost an oppor

tun ity secretly to in jure the A the

n ia n s . At.

this momen t he was

sol ic iting Spa rta to sen d a n expe

d ition to the Thrac ian coast and

in to Chalkid ike . To compel Athens

to withdraw from these regions ,whence she obta ined t imber

,would

interfere with her ship- build ing,

and,'

by carryin g the war

in to the North , would remove i t from the Peloponnesos, longdevasta ted by hostile a rm ies . Brasidas was intrusted wi th this

undertakin g, in to which Sparta d id not en ter . H e wa s allowed to

enl ist seven hundred Helots , who were equ ipped as heavy armed

infantry , and a thousan d Pelopon n es ians, attracted by the prom ises

of Perdik k as. I t was not a la rge force, but Bra sida s held in reserve

the magic and so often deceitful word “ l iberty,” which was to

open many gates to him (424

H is l ittle army wa s obl iged to traverse Thessa ly, a Sta te

attached to Athen s by only a fragile tie,for the r ich , who were

espec ial ly powerful there, were hostile to th is all ian ce . Brasidas ,

with a versa til ity ra re amon g Spa rtan s , extrica ted himsel f from

a ll d i ffi cul ties, tran qui l l i zed al l suspic ious, and advan cing wh ile

su. v i:n c om .

l

r erua nua cmu or .Aumisruos.

2

the authorities were del iberating whether to give h im per

1 C oin a ttr ibuted to Perdikk as II . Horseman , a rmedwi th two la n ces, to the righ t ; un dern ea th, a flower . Reverse : fore - pa rt of a l ion , run n ing to the left.

9 Lion devourin g a bul l . R everse : i ncused squa re . C oin of a rcha ic style, struckabout 45 0 n . c .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

upon the ma inland . a nd as nea r a s poss ible to Amphipol is, the prin

cipal pos ition held by Athens on th is coast . O ne of them was,at

the time, with seven ga lleys at T hasos , where there wa s noth ing to

guard, s ince the island wa s not men aced , and could not be ; a rr iv

in g too late, he cou ld only save Aeiou, the port of Amphipol is .

On the proposal of Kleon , the people pun ished this negl igence by a

T nucvm n a s.’

ban ishment which lasted twenty years . Posterity owes to this

ten ce a great work , where v igorous thought tinds expression in a style

of rough terseness : the ex ile of whom we speak was Thucyd ides,and the leisure thus given him was employed in wr iting a H istory

of the Peloponnes ian W a r .

Brasida s occupied the winter in scouring two of the three rocky

pen insulas of Chalkid ike . H e found small towns badly fortified .

of which b e eas ily made himself master . O ne of them hav in g

made some attempt at defence, although with very imperfect

mean s, he put to death all the Athen ians whom he found in

1 Ma rble bust. in the Louvre . ( C f. C larac , li-Iucc'

e dc sculp ture, pl. and

No. T he n ame i s n ot certa in . See the busts represen ted earlier, pp .9 6 a nd HR .

T H E PELOPONNES IAN W A R FROM 429 T O 421 B. c . 2 77

the place . The western pen in sula , Fa l len e, escaped him ; this was the

most importan t of the three to Athen s .p

Brasidas . in leav in g these

c i ties their l iberty ,took away subjects from Athen s , but gave non e

to Sparta , which had n o use for con quests in region s so remote .

Accord in gly, the successes of the victor ious gen era l aston ished Greece,

w ithout caus ing e ither much rejo ic in g at Spa rta, whose s ituation in

M INERS A T W O RK .1

the Pelopon n esos wa s n ot a ffected thereby , or~ much regret at

Athen s , a fter the momen t of an ger of which Thucyd ides had been

the victim . Depr ived of a few un important ci ties, Athen s still held

her in sula r empire ; on ly the defection of Amphipol is was a serious

loss . But though an importan t pos ition'

for a ttacks on the in ter ior,

this c ity wa s n o lon ger so for n ava l opera tion s, a fter she had lost

her seaport , Aion . A nd from this place the Athen ians could con

tinue the explo ita tion of the woods and m in es of Moun t Pan ga ion ,

or a t least preven t the in hab itan ts of the c ity from resum in g it.

2

K in g Pleiston ax . ex iled from Spa rta s in ce 445 B . C . for ha v in g

1 Pa in ted plaque di scovered a t C orin th, and preserved in the Museum of Berl in , from the

.i n like Den kmdler herausgegeb . 170 m Icez'

s. d. a rchdol. I nstilui, vol . i . ( 1 886) pl . vi i i . No. 7 . A

m iner a t the right detaches wi th a hammer fragmen ts of rock tha t a boy is ga thering up in a

ba sket ; a t the lef t, an other m in er i s handing up to a com rade a fi l led ba sket. I n the'

middle

hangs an amphora , which doub tless con ta in s the laborers ’ supply of water.2 These m in es of gold and silver were very rich, but were n ot advan tageously worked,

owing to the n e ighborhood of warlike tribes of Bessoi a nd Sa tra i . (C f. Herod ,v ii.

A ppia n , B . C iv . 1 0 6 H euzey , dfl ssz’

on a rch. deMa ce'

dom e. ) Those regula rly workedbe longede ither to cities or indiv idua ls ; Thucydides owned m in es a t Shapte- Hy le, and the i sland of T ha

sos, less tha n fi ve m i les from shore, had them on the ma in land,

hen ce the tribute of Tha sos

H ISTORY OF GRE ECE .

l istened to the proposals of Perikles,had taken refuge on Mount

Lyk a ion in Arkad ia, n ear the venerated temple of Zeus, to be able,in case of need, to find shelter in the temple . H e had l ived theren ineteen yea rs . T he Delph ic oracle , ga ined over by him , had for

a lon g time added to every response made to Spa rtan envoys“ Bring back the seed of the dem igod , son of Zeus, from a foreign

land to h is own ; else you wi ll plough with a s i lver share ; which

was to say , after the manner of oracles : Restore Pleiston a x to his

native c ity, unless you wish to suffer such scarc ity of prov isions

that they wil l cost as dea r as i f the implements used in ra is ing

them had been made of s ilver . The partisans of peace obta ined

the exi le’

s recall , who came back with’

the idea of putt in g an

end to the interm inable war .‘

Nor was Athen s for the moment any more desirous of pro

longed hostil ities . She held the Spartan s of Pylos as p risoners ;but herself had had ser ious d isa sters , — at Delion

, the

loss of a thousan d c iti zen s, a nd, in the capture of

Amph ipol is,her con trol of Ma cedon and of Thrace,

region s when ce she derived ma teria l s of pr ime impor

tance for her arsenal s, archers for her arm ies, and

S ILVER com , oarsmen for her ga lleys . T he r ich , who bore the

prin cipa l expenses of the war, fel t tha t the fortress on

the Strymon gave to the people the dangerous temptation of in ter

posing in the a fi airs of these barba ric regions ; and in truth the

empire of Athens became more vuln erable a s i t exten ded into region s

where the fl eet could not protect it . Aristophan es, the pa rtisan of the

great, was at this time putt ing on the stage his cutting sa tires upon

the warl ike pol icy of the demagogues who were leaders of the A the

n ian democracy .

0

It woul d not be ra sh to suppose tha t the mocking

laugh wh ich broke forth in the theatre was hea rd again in the

market- place after the aud ience had d ispersed . Comedy rarely cor

rects,but somet imes i t en l ightens ; a nd in seein g the inclin ation

towards pea ce which spra n g up a t this t ime in Athen s we may in

fact a scribe it in some degree to the influence of the stage .

to A then s was thirty talen ts, l ike tha t which l’aros gave, on accoun t of her ma rb le qua rries .Pliny (xxi . 10 ) n otes tha t on the slopes of Moun t Pan ga ion the hundred- lea ved rose grew w ild.

R everse of a coin of Thebe s . Herakles, nude , turn ing to the right, seeks to carry of?theDe lphic tripo d, a ndbrandishes his club . Legend BEBA IO N. T he face of this coin bea rs theBoiotian shie ld.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

lene, received with open a rms by the inhabi tan ts, who decreed hima gold wreath and decora ted his head with fil lets , as if he hadbeen a v ictorious ath lete . This conquest took place two days a fter

the truce was con cluded, and it

ought to have been given back : this

Sparta refused to do ; and the war

began aga in . Nik ia s, arriving with

a large force, recaptured Sk ion e .

and then Mende, which the people

su rren dered to him ; he brought

back Perdik k as to the Athen ian all iance,while Brasidas suffered

defea t in an attempt upon Potida ia . The fol lowing yea r Kleon

was appointed general . H e wished Athens to make a v igorous

attempt on th is coast,a s had been don e n ot long before at Pylos

,

— and he was right ; for i t was important to put a stop to the

advance of Brasidas. H e at first seized,and with seme ab il ity .

Torone and Ga lepsos ; then took up his pos ition a t Aeiou ,there

to awai t aux il iar ies from Thra ce and Macedon . But his m en

BRO NZE com .

l

compelled him to adva n ce upon Amphipol is . Bra sidas was in the

c ity ; he surpr ised the Athen ians in an un fortun a te movement, and

ga ined a complete v ictory,which cost h im h is l i fe . Kleon also

perished in the a ction . Accord ing to Thueydides.

2 he wa s on e of

the first to fl ee ; accord in g to D iodoros, he d ied bra vely . Bra sidas,

at O lympia, and the acroteria of the same san ctua ry, when the Messen ian s and the Nan pa k

tian s, af ter the a ff a ir of Sphak teria , ordered from him a colossa l Nike. Thi s s ta tue wa srecovered a t Olympia in 1 8 75 , with the in scription on i ts ba se : T he Messen ian s a ndNaupak tian s have consecra ted thi s s ta tue to the Olympian Zeus as a ti the o f the spoil s takenfrom the enemy. It wa s made by Paion ios of Mende, a nd he ga ined the prize for the sort»teria placedupon the temple.

"

T he go ddess i s represen ted descendin g towards the ea rth ; theb i rd flying a t her feet shows tha t she i s in the air. T he sta tue stood formerly on a trian gula rba se about twen ty feet high. I t was placed in fron t of the temple o f Zeus, at the southea s tcorn er. (See Vol . II . fac ing p . 888, the pla n of Olympia . )

1 Head of the young Dionysos, crowned with i vy, right profi le. C oin of A mphi poli s .R everse : MA KE A O NQN. Goa t, to the right ; in the field, two monograms of magis trate s '

n ames, a nd a third udrieh is in terpre ted as AMMO m ) .3 we must not forge t tha t, according to on e of the b iographers of Thucydides, K leon wa s

the cause of tha t genera l 's ba n i shmen t . A s to A ri stophanes, K leon ha dhad numerous difficulties with him . In the comedy of The F rogs , put on the stage long af ter (40 5 n . he lets fal la word which may expla in the an imos ities of the oliga rchica l pa rty again s t K leon . Herak leshad stolen the prov i sion s of two in n - keepers ; o ne says to the other : Go, ca l l K leon , our protector. and Hyperbolos, tha t we may des troy thi s wretch.

" Thus we see tha t K leon undertookthe defence of the poor, the hab i tua l metho dof demagogues. A rich man who ha dsnfi eredin jury, " says G rote, m ight purcha se of A n tipho or some other rhetor advice a nd aid as to the

conduct of his compla in t ; but a poor man or woman would think themsel ves ha ppy to ob tainthe gratui tous sug

gest ion . and sometimes the auxi l iary speech, o f K leo n .

"

TH E PELOPONNE SIAN W A R FROM 429 T O 421 B. c . 281

lamented by a ll the a ll ies , who a tten ded his fun eral in arm s and

with m il ita ry honors , was buried l ike on e of the Homeric heroes .

H is tomb was surroun ded with a rail in g,and ann ual games

a nd sacrifices were in stituted in his honor .

The death of these two m en (422 B . C .) ren dered peace easy .

Brasidas had kept the war a l ive by his activ ity and his successes ;Kleon by his speeches . Whi le Athen s , which had just experienced

a serious defeat, began to lose con fiden ce, Spa rta, on the other

han d,by n o mean s ga in ed any ; for the v ic

tory at Amphipol is had been won,

n ot by

n ation a l troops , but by mercen aries , on whom

i t was imposs ible to depen d, a ndi

she had

seen a war last for ten yea rs which had

been en tered upon by her with the deceptive

hope of overthrowin g the Athen ian power : an other wa r m ight

a t an y momen t break forth in her immed ia te n eighborhood,for

her truce of thirty years with Argos wa s on the po in t of en d ing ;fin a l ly, her seaports were stil l held by the

'

en emy , her bes t c iti

zen s stil l in captiv ity . in both ci ties the in fluen ce of the peace

pa rty return ed : at Athen s, Nik ias recovered popula r ity, and at

Spa rta , the modera te Pleiston ax . Both counsel led peac e,and it

was con cluded in the sprin g of 42 1 B . 0 .

Two treaties were made. The first was between Athens on

the on e s ide, a nd the Peloponn es ia n s on the other . It began ,accord ing to usage, by gua ran teein g all Greeks ful l l iberty to visit

the publ ic temples of Greece for purposes of sacrifice,con sul ta

tion of the ora cles, or atten dan ce upon the festivals . To the Del

phia n s were secured ful l auton omy and sway over the ir temple

and territory . Peace was to be main ta in ed in good fa ith by lan d

and sea . The Pelopon nes ian s were to restore Amphipol is, a nd also

to rel in quish the cities they had taken durin g the war, with the

exception tha t the Theban s should keep Plataia , and as an equiv

a len t for th is,Athens should keep Nisaia in the Mega rid, and

A n a k torion and Sollion,which they had taken frOm Corinth .

Captives on both sides should be given up .

CO IN or A NA K T O R I O NJ

1 Diademed head of a woman , right profile, in an in cused squa re . Reverse : F, underPega sos, ga l lopin g to the right. (Drac hma ) The digamma is the in it ia l of the name A nakto

rion (Imhoof~Blurn er, Die .Miinzen A kam a niens, p.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

A ll the allies, except Corinth, Megara , and the people of El is,

accepted these conditions .'

It was ag reed that the peace shouldbe confirmed by an oath renewed yearly

,and inscribed upon pillars

at Olympia and Delphi, in the temple of Poseidon on the isthmus

of Corinth , at Athens in the citadel , and in the temple of Apollo

at A myk lai, near Sparta .

When, in fulfilmen t of the article as to the return of prisoners,

those who had been taken at Sphak teria reached home, they were

at once deg raded from citizenship,to indicate that Sparta did not re

cognize a right in her soldiers to

tamper with duty, even in the face

of death . It is true, however, that

not long after,these men were

rehabilitated .

The Argives, seeing that someof the allies were discontented

, be

lieved the moment favorable to lay

claim to Ky n ouria . Sparta , havinglittle anxiety as to their enmity un

less they should be aided by Athens ,provided against this danger by making a second treaty between

herself alone and Athens,in which an offensive and defensive alli

ance between the two States was made for the period of fifty

years,with pledge of mutual assistance in case of attack or of

slave - revolt . This latter point concerned Sparta only, and reveals

her constan t anxiety .

The first of these treaties, which put an end for the time to the

evil s which the peoples of Greece had endured for more than ten

years,bears the name of the honorable man who had contributed

to its conclusion ; it is called the Peace of Nik ias . But what profit

had there been in all this bloodshed ? Sparta had increased neither

her fame nor her streng th ; Athens preserved her empire ; and there

was but a transient abandonment of the hatred and jealousy which

em s, on m scon n .

‘

Va se- pa int ing from Gerhard, Gcsamm. akadem . A bha ndlungen , A tlas , p l . x . fig. 6 .

Eris (EPI S), or the goddess of di scord, w i th w ings at her shoulders, a nd wingle ts a t her fee t .T he pa in ter has represen ted her flying ; for the movemen t of the body. a nd especia l ly of thelegs, see the w ingedArtem i s represented in the first volume, p. 835 , and note 3 .

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CHA PTER XXV .

ALKIBIADES AND THE SIOILIAN EXPEDITI ON (421 - 413 B.

I .—ALK IBIA DE S ; AF F A IR O F Anc os ; RU PTU R E O F T H E PE A CE

AF FAIR O F ME LO S .

MONG the predictions current at the beg inning of the Pelo

pon n esian wa r, one only, remarks Thucydides,

“ was

considered,after the peace of Nik ias,

l to have been‘

fulfi lled,

that which announced that the war should last three times nine

years .” This wa r had in reality three acts : we have seen the

first ; the second is the insecure truce which lasted from 42 1 to

413 B . c ., without general war, although wa r was everywhere . The

third , from 413 to 404, contains the catastrophe, and the events

which led up to it .

The first period is all fil led with Perikles,— his policy survived

him ,and his spirit governs Athens, in spite of Kleon ; the second

and third are equally fil led with Alkibiades,his passions

, his

services,and his crimes .

Alkibiades , held to be a descendant of Aias , was on the mother’ s

side an A lkmaion id. The death of his father, K lin ias, killed at

Koron eia , left him under the guardianship of his relatives, Perikles

and A riphron , who made over to him ,at his majority , one of the

g reat fortunes at Athens . To the nobility of blood and wealth be

united g reat beauty, which in the esteem of this artist- people made

g enius and virtue more splendid when it adorned the brow of

Sophok les or of Perikles , and seemed always a g ift of the gods

even in the face of an athlete . Parasites and fla ttercrs, all those

1 Thucydides ( v . 25 ) says : “ Though for six years and two mon ths they abstained frommarching aga inst each other’s terri tory, yet out of i t , during the ex i stence ot a doubtfulsuspen sion of arms, they were doing one a nother the grea test possib le damage.

"

ALKIBIADES AND T H E SICILIAN EXPEDITION, 421 TO 413 B . C . 285

whom fortune, g race, and dar ing attract, crowded about this rich

and brilliant young man, becoming in Athens that which in itself

was a power,

- the king of fashion . Habituated to see himsel f

BUST O F Am n es }

applauded by the crowd of his admirers for his foolish acts, Alki

biades dared all thing s, and with impunity, thus becoming the favorite

of the city . The streng th of his temperament and the versatility

1 Marble of the Va t ica n (Museo Chiaramont i) , from a photograph. Cf. Monum. dell’

I nstiL, vol . vi ii. pl. 25 , and A n na li, 1 866 , pp . 228 - 240 (W . Helb ig) . W e ha ve ma ny busts andhermes . of Al kib iades ; a nd one which wil l be given la ter bears an in scription which lea ves a n

doubt.

as to the iden tifica tion of the bust of the Museo Chiaramon ti .

HISTORY OF GREECE .

of his mind rendered him capable, accordin g to the hour and day

and place, of vice or virtue, of abstinence or carousal . In the city

of Lykourgos no Spartan was so severe ; in Asia he exceeded the

satrap in luxury and efi emin a cy . But his audacity, his uncontrol

lable petulance, compromised for a whim or a debauch the careful ly

studied plans of his ambition . Strong and contradictory passions

carried him hither and thither,always with excess ; and

i

with this

stormy mobility of character he had not that sense of right and

duty which might have restrained him . Tod ay he was in the

school of Sokrates,receiving eagerly the

'

n oble lessons of the phi

losopher, weeping with admiration and enthusiasm ; but the morrow

he crossed the Agora with trailing robe and indolent, effeminate

gait, on his way, with a troop of too- indulg ent friends, to plunge

into shameful pleasures . Y et the wise man at times saved him

from the crowd of those who would corrupt him . In’

early wars

they shared one tent . At Potidaia Sokrates saved his life, and

Alkibiades stood by Sokrates in the retreat at Delion .

From childhood he showed this mental character, half heroic,half frivolous . He was playing at dice in the public highway

when a chariot approached . He calls out to the

driver to wait ; the man pays him no attention ,and comes nearer . U pon this the boy fl in gs himself

across the road,calling out :

“ Come on, now , if you

dare .

” Strugg ling with one of his companions

stronger than himself he bites his adversary on

the arm .

“ Y ou bite like a woman , the other said .

“ No ; like

a lion ,” the lad rejoined .

He had a fine dog , which had cost him more than seven

thousand drachmas . When all the city had admired the animal ,he cut its tail off , which was its finest point, that there should

be something else for men to talk of .“ While the Athenians are

occupied .with my dog ,” he said,

“ they wil l say nothing bad about

me.

" One day,passing through the public square , he noticed a

tumultuous crowd ; and asking the cause of their excitement ,learned that there was a distribution of money : upon this he

SLE E P ING n oo .1

A n t ique cameo of the Collection de Luynes , in the C abinet de F ra nce. Sardonyx oftwo layers, 13 millim . by 1 0 . In the Museum of Vienne ( in the Departmen t of l sere) is asuperb marb le dog in l ike a t ti tude ( Gazette a rcheol . , 1880 , pl .

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

repaid her g reat affection by disg raceful misconduct . After longpatience , she decided to seek divorce from the archon . U pon this

A lkibiades rushes into court, and under the eyes of the applaud

in g crowd seizes his wife in his arms , carries her across the

city, and restores her to his house,where she g ladly remained

thenceforward .

A lkibiades dealt with Athens as he did with H ippon ikos and

H ipparete, and Athens , like H ippon ikos and H ipparete, many

times forgave this contradictory union o f faul ts and virtues where

there were always the two qua lities which the A thenians chiefly

loved , — wit and audacity . H is audacity,indeed . trifled both with

justice a nd religion . He is pa rdoned for having beaten a school

m aster who had no copy of the I liad in his school ; but at the

Dionysiac festival , in the m idst of the representation . he struck an

enemy , without respect for the solemnity of the occasion ; and

another time, to celebra te a holiday , he took the sacred galley,which was at the moment required for a public relig ious service .

A painter refusing to work for him ,he kept the man a prisoner

until he had completed the'

required decoration ; then sent him

away loaded with presents . A poet being prosecuted for some

offence , he tore the accusation out of the archives .

‘

In a republic these were very nu- republican acts . But all

G reece had such tenderness for Alkibiades ! At Olympia he had

seven chariots at once in the race , thus eclipsing the display of

the king s of Syracuse and of Kyrene, and obtained two prizes in

the same race,a nother of his chariots arriving fourth . Euripides

sang his victory , and cities taxed themselves to celebrate it . The’

Ephesians erected for him a splendid tent ; the people of Chios

fed his horses, and supplied him with a g reat number of victims

to sacrifice ; the Lesbians gave him wine ; and the whole assembly

at Olympia came to the banquet which this priva te Athenian

offered them .

‘ Posterity, less indulgent than contemporaries, while recognizin gthe eminent merits of the man, must condemn the unwise states

man who made the .expedition to Sicily and the bad citizen who

so often set the scandalous example of v iolating the laws and

1 T he authent ic i ty of these anecdotes cannot be vouched for , but they are charac teristic,a nd have always been current in l itera ture, so tha t it, is well to know them .

ALKIBIADES A ND T H E SICILIAN EXPEDITION,421 T O 413 B . C . 289

dared to arm his matricidal hand against the country which had

given him birth. Alkibiades wil l ever remain the type of the

most brilliant but most immoral , and hence most dangerous , citi

zen O f a republic .

Notwithstanding his birth , which gave him the rank of Bupa

trid,A lkibiades, like Perikles, went over to

"

the popu lar side,and

became the opponent of a very diff erent man,— the timid

,the

superstitious Nikias, who was also noble and rich and experienced

in lon g service . But Alkibiades bad the advantag e over him in

being audacious, captivating , and eloquent . Demosthenes regards

him as the first orator of his time : not that he was a very flu

ent speaker,— the lan guag e he soug ht did not come to him

readily, and he had a habit of repeating over and over again the

last words of his sentences, — but the streng th and elegance of

what he said and a certain not displeasing lisp rendered him irre

sistible . H is first act ' as a statesman was a very O ffensive one

he caused an increase in the tribute of the allies, raising it from

six hundred to twelve hundred talents . This was an imprudence

O f which Perikles would never have been guilty . But Alkibiades

had differen t projects and ideas . He believed in the right of the

strongest, and he used it ; he looked forward to vast underta k

ing s, and prepared in advance the resources necessary . H is in

action began to weigh upon him . He was thirty- one years of age,

and had as yet done nothing ; according ly, he bestirred himself at

the time of the treaty of 421 . It is said he would have willing ly

supplanted Nik ias, and taken to himself the honor of this peace .

H is fl a tteries to the prisoners O f Spha k teria did not succeed ; the

Spartans had more confidence in the old general , and Alkibiades

never forgave them for this .

There were many people who took this treaty ill , signed amid

the applause of the aged , the rich, and the laboring class, — in

which , however, Athens, through the faul t of Nik ia s, had suffered

herself to be basely tricked .

1 The mercan tile class , who duringthe war saw the sea closed against their rivals, but open to them ,

the sailors, the soldiers, the whole population of Peiraieus, livingon pay or plunder, formed a numerous party , of which A lkibiades

made himself the head . The warlike spirit, which was never to

1 See la ter, p . 29 1 .

V O L. I “ . 1 9

HISTORY OF GRE ECE .

disappear til l Greece he rself shou ld perish,soon gave him allies

outside of Athens .

That which Sparta and Athens did on a larg e scale, other

cities did in miniature . Strong or feeble, obscure or illustrious,

a a c xv n n a s - n EuE F .

‘

al l had the same ambition , — all wished to subjugate other cities .

The E leian s had conquered the people of Lepreon ; Mantineia, the

adjacen t vil lages ; Thebes had destroyed the wal l s of Thespiai,to hold that city at her mercy ; and Argos had brought

1 Bas- rel ief of marb le, preserved in the demarchia of A rgos ( from the C l iff/16 1.

17d. d.

ur chilol . I nslil . in A ileen , vol . i i i . ( 1 8 78 ) p l . This baa- rel ie f, though of in ferior workmanship, i s va luab le ; i t has been sa id to re semb le the we ll - known rep l icas of the Doryphoros o lPolykletes, the grea t A rg ive sculptor . T he pose , the dragg ing left leg , the pos it ion of thearm s, are quite the same (O . Rayet, in the Al onuments dc l

’

arl a n tique ) . T he Doryphoros isrepresented above, p . 1 86.

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

the most valuable of these restitutions was that of Amphipolis

and the cities of Chalkidike . Sparta withdrew her garrisons ,but did not give up the cities ; and meanwhile Nik ias, deceived

by the ephors , caused the Athenians to commit the g rave error

TE GE A N BA S - R E LiE E .’

of not keeping the pledges they had in their hands till Sparta

had honestly fulfi lled her engag ements . She had treated in the

name of the Peloponnesian al lies ; but the most powerful of them

refused to be bound by her word . The Boiotian s gave up Pan

a k teion , but dismantled ; and they stil l held their Athenian

Baa- rel ief di scovered at Ibrahim- E tiendi, a v i l lage on the plain of Tegea. now in theNa t ional Museum of Athen s ( from the fi lm/veil. d. d. a rchaol . l imit. in A then , vol i v . ( 18 79 )pl . T he has- re l ief i s incomplete at the r ight, but belongs certa in ly to the series of funerea lba nquets : a t the right, upon a bed, a t the s ide of which i s p laced a tab le, l ies the body ofwhich we see the feet. T he surv ivors, two in number, a ma n a nd a woman , presen t offerings.T he man i s s ta nding en t ire ly nude ; the woman i s seated, clothed, her head covered w i th a veilwhich she holds w ith the left hand. The man brings a wrea th to the dead person , the woma na flower. F or the woma n ’s face, her a tt itude and costume, this has- relief should be comparedw ith tha t represen ted in the first volume, p. 396 .

ALKIB IADES AND THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION, 42 1 TO 41 3 B . C . 293

prisoners . and stipulated only for a ten days ’ truce .

l Athens,

believing she had secured peace, had stil l war, at ten days’ notice

with the Boiotian s, and permanently in Chalkidike . She had

indeed just n ow on that coast given a terrible instance of her

anger . Al l the male population of Skions had been put to death

a s punishment for the recent defection of the city, in virtue of a

popular decree that the g enerals had brought with them .

1

In all this there was for A lkibiades good g round for bringingon a war . He fi rst prevented the Athenian s from abandoningPylos . No more was done than to with

draw from the town , at the instance of

Sparta , the Helots and Messenians , who

were transported to Kephallenia . Then inC om O F s s puu m m fi

formed by his friends at Argos that Sparta

was seeking to draw that city into her alliance, he replied . that

A thens herself was quite ready.

to unite with the Arg ives . Poetry

came to the aid of statesmanship Euripides just

at this time (420 B . C .) placed on the stag e his

tragedy of T he Supp lia n ts, representing Theseus

going at the request of the Argive mothers to

recover by force the bodies of the seven chiefs

who fell under the wall s of Thebes, that theyBRO N Z E C O IN

}

might be g iv en fun era l honors,— a pious interposi

tion which would occasion the Argives a debt of g ratitude . It is

impossible to tel l how much they were moved by the poet’s beau

tiful lines ; but they were driven by their hatred of Sparta into

alliance with the only city capable of resisting her . On the prom

ise of A lkibiades their envoys arrived at Athens , followed closely

by deputies from Sparta,whom the prospect of this league alarmed .

The Spartans had ful l powers to negotiate . They had already

induced the senate to agree to their propositions , when Al kibiades,who feared that they would be equal ly successful with the people,brought everything to a stand by his shameless knavery . He

1 T en days from the dec lara t ion of hos ti lities.‘

1 Ba re head of K epha los, r ight profi le ; before i t, the letter A . R everse : KE tbA A O S.

Kephalos, sea ted, to the right, on a rock which i s in par t covered b y the pep los of the younghun ter. H e holds a javel in in the left hand which rests upon his knee. (H emidrachma . )

3 Coin of A rgos . A PI‘

E IQN R ound temp le of the nym ph La r i ssa , daughter of Pelasgos,in which is to be see n the Pa l ladion . R everse of a coin of A rgos w i th the effi gy of A n ton inus Pius .

H ISTORY OF GREECE .

sought a secret interview with the ambassadors , and swore to them

that he would support them ; but he advised them to say nothingabout their full powers, which might offend the jealous suscepti

bility of the Athenians and defeat

their object . When they appear in

the assembly A lkibiades a sks them

the object of their embassy ; they

reply that they have come to pro

com O F Ems ; pose peace , although they are not

authorized to conclude it. What is

this ? exclaims Alkibiades did you not say yesterday in the sen

ate that you had ful l powers ? What confidence can we place inyour words ? Athenians , you see that the Spartans deceive us .

”

The envoys can say nothing ; the peopl e , exasperated , are for war .

On the following day, however, Nik ias succeeded by a public address

and private interviews in tranquillizing the

popular excitemen t and obtaining his own

appointment as envoy to Sparta . But all

these incidents had caused ‘bad feeling .

Nik ias, although respectfully received, ob

tain ed nothing , and Athens immediately

concluded with the Arg ives, Man tin eian s,and E leian s an alliance off ensive a nd defensive .

8 In the excite

ment of the moment against Sparta it was stipulated that this

alliance should last for a hundred years,

— a very long period for

men of the Greek,temper (420 B .

We may notice here a n ew and important clause : it is that

the alliance was concluded on a footing of perfect equality . The

command of the al lied troops was to belong to that S tate which

asked for aid, and upon whose territory the war was carried on .

‘

com or ma x rm am fi

1 Eagle flying to the right , holding a serpen t i n his c laws and beak . R everse : FA AEUov) .

Victory mov ing to the left, holding a wrea th . (Didrachm3 A pe rson, perhaps a fisherman , wearing the con ica l p iles a nd a short tun ic, sta nds to

the r ight on a prow of a boa t , holding a ha rpoon in each hand, his knees l ightly ben t. R eversea l ta r surmoun ted by the busts of the Dioskouroi, wea ring the con ica l p iles, and holding theirlances on the shoulder. (Drachma .)

3 The tex t of this trea ty is in Thucydides (v . a nd a pa rt of it has be en found on amarb le column which gi ves the official tex t . Between the two the di fferences are slight.

Thucydides, v . 4 7. T he c i ty which ob ta ined the he lp was to feed the aux i l iary corps.and g ive three obols da i ly to the hopl i tes and archer s. and a dra chma to the cava lry -men .

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HISTORY O I“ GREECE.

sure ignominiously ; but Sparta did not resent the outrag e . she had

lost faith in herself . Another insult was offered her some time

later by her own allies, which also she suff ered in silence . She

had , in the third year of the war, colonized Hera k leia , a t the

entrance of the pass of Thermopylai. The Thessalians attacked

this place, and would have taken it, had not the Boiotian s has

tened thither, and under pretext of saving it from their hands

established themselves there, driving out the Spartan governor .

c n auior - a a c s , ON A a s s - n am es m om n a n rui. ’

Finally,with a small force Alkibiades entered the Pelopon

n esos. Athens had always had friends in Achaia . Alkibiades went

thither for the purpose of re—awakening this o ld a ffection ; and to

g ive it more freedom for manifestation he endeavored to build a

fort at Rhion in Achaia, the na rrowest point of the Gulf of

Corinth and opposite Naupak tos, which the Athenians already

held,thus holding the key to the gulf . Siky on and Corinth

opposed this proceeding ; but they could not prevent him from

constructing at Patras long walls , like those of Peiraieus , to unite

that city to the sea,and consequen tly to Athens .

“ The A the

n ian s wil l swal low you some day ,” was the warning certain persons

gave to the inhabitants of Patras .

“ That may he .

” replied Alki

1 Marb le has- r el ief, now i n Delphi ( from a photograph) . T he has- re l ief wa s t inted w i thcolors ; i t i s a remarkab le work of the fifth cen tury a c .

ALKI BIADES A ND T H E SICILIAN EXPEDITION ,42 1 T O 413 B . o. 297

biades, but it wil l be on ly by deg rees, and beg inning at the feet ;while the Spartans will swallow you at one mouthful , and they

will begin by the head .

” At Argos he persuaded the peopl e to

deprive the Epidaurian s of a b arber which

they held on the Saronic Gulf ; thence the

Argives coul d more easily receive aid from

Athens, who held Aigina, opposite Epidau

ros.But the Spartans sent by sea a force

of three hundred heavy - armed troops, who

repulsed al l attacks . On news of this, Athens eng raved on the

column which bore the trea ty that Sparta had broken the peace,and war began (41 9 B .

V ainly did Aristophanes bring forward his drama entitled

P eace, urgin g the same argument he had main tained seven years

before in The A charn z'

an s. V ainly did he personify

War as a g ian t crushing cities in a mortar . whose

pestles are the generals, and show that with the

BRON Z E c om .

1

H E M I - OBOLOS . 2return of Peace

,at last set free from the cavern

where she had been thirteen years captive , games and banquets

would beg in , the whole city would rejoice , only the armorers wou ld

be in despair ; be convinced no one , not even the judges, who

refused him the first prize .

The Spartans,commanded by Agis, entered Argolis with the

contingents of Boiotia , Megara, Corinth , Phlious, Pellen e, and Teg ea .

The Argive g eneral . cut off from the city by a

skilful manoeuvre . proposed a truce , which Agis

accepted . This was not what the Athenians

desired,who arrived soon after

,— a thousand

in fan trv and three hundred horse . Alkibiades

spoke to the people of Argos and produced the desired effect upon

them : they broke the truce,marched upon Orchomenos

,and took

it . The blame of this rupture fel l upon Agis . The Spartans,

ang ry because he had given the enemy time to make this con

quest, proposed at first to raze his dwelling - house and fine him a

BRON Z E com .

3

Coin of H erak leia ( in Thessa ly) . L i on ’s head. R everse : H PA rd em c lub and

ivy- lea ves .2 Thessa lia n coin . L ion ’s head. R everse : H PA ; c lub ; under i t, a erawfish.

3 Coin of Pa tra s. A AMA C IA C , a magistra te ’s name ; owl, standing . R everse :triden t the whole surroun ded by a laurel - wrea th.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

hundred thousand drachmas . H is prayers obtained his pardon ;but it was decided that henceforward the king s should be assisted

by a council of ten Spartans .

Ag is , to repair his fault, went in search of the allies . He

met them near Mantineia .

“ The conflict commenced , says Thu

cydides1 the A rgives and their allies advan

cing with haste and impetuosity ; the Spartans

slowly , . and to the music of many flute- players

placed among st them according to custom ,

not with a religious obj ect, but that they

might advance evenly , stepping in time, and so that their line

might not be broken . On the left wing the Lacedaemonians were

defeated ; but the rig ht, commanded by the king , saved the day,and a victory was gained (41 8 B . This battle , which cost

eleven hundred men to the al lies , and about th ree hundred to

the Spartans, is regarded by Thucydides as the most important

that had been fought in Greece for a long time . I t re established

in the Peloponnesos the reputation of Sparta, and in Argos the

preponderance of the aristocratic party, who abolished the

popular assembly,put to death its leaders, and made alliance

with Sparta .

This treaty broke the confederation recently formed by Athens ,Elis, and Mantineia . Mantineia was even so much alarmed by the

S ILVE R c om fl

defection of Sparta as to consent to

humble herself to the rank of an ally

of. Sparta . A t reaty dictated by the

Spartans decreed that all States, g reater

and less,should be free , and keep their

national laws . Sparta aimed only toT E T R A DBA C HM.

spread division and weakness around

her . To the policy of concentration followed by Athens she opposed

a policy of isolation ,which was destined to bring Greece to her

feet,but later would bring G reece . and Sparta herself , to the feet

of Macedon and of the Romans (41 7 B .

Book v . 70 .

2 Coin of Man tine ia . Bear, stepping to the left. R everse : three acorn sH il l a laurel - bra nch in an incused square .

Laure l led head of A pol lo, three -

quarters face , to the right. Reverse lighted torch and

whea t- ear, in a large squa re frame, on which i s inscribed the c i ty’ s name : AMMH O M ‘

I‘

QN.

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

the Dorian island of . Melos,which insulted their maritime

supremacy by its independence . At Naxos and Samos they

had shown clemency , because they were dea ling with Ionians, and

might expect to find partisans ; at Melos , an outpost of the Do

rians in the K retan Sea, they were implacable , because the blow

struck at these islanders , faithful to their metropolis, would be

VI EW or Mew s.

1

keenly felt in Sparta . A squadron of thirty- eight gall eys sum

mened the city to surrender, and on refusal an army besieged

and took it. and put to death the whole male population ca

pable of bearing arms . The women and children were sold 3 (416

B . Before the attack , a conference was held with the in

habitants of Melos .

“ We advise you,” the Athenians said ,

according to the real sentiments of us both , to think of g etting

F rom the E xpedition scien tffique de fi l m-

cc, vol . iii. p l . 25 .

2 I n the anc ient world i t was admi tted tha t war p laced at the victor's di sposa l theproperty and person of the vanqui shed. This terr ib le r ight had been exerc ised a t Chalkis in5 0 7 B . c . ; at l l istcia , in 446 ; a t Potidaia , in 432 ; a t.Aig ina , in 48 1 ; in T hrace, at Skiene,a nd a t Torone. To sel l the conquered as slaves was a n amel iora tion ; such was i t a lso todeprive them of but a portion of their lands. T he R omans fol lowed the same metho dwhenthey sold Epeirots, and left the prov inc ia ls on ly the occupancy of the ir lands, vestingin themselves i ts ownership .

ALKIBIADES AND THE SIC ILIA N EXPEDITION,42 1 TO 413 B . C . 301

what you can,since you know , and are speaking to those who

know,that in the languag e of men what is right is estimated by

equality of power to compel ; but what is possible is that which

the stronger practise, and to which the weak submit . And

later : “ With regard to the favor of Heaven , we trust that we

shal l not fal l short of it, since we are not requiring or doinganything beyond the opinion of men with respect to the g ods ,or their determination with respect to themselves . For of the

gods we hold as a matter of opinion , and of men we know as a

certainty,that in obedience to an irresistible instinct they always

maintain dominion wherever they are the strong er . And neither

did we enact this law,nor were the first to carry it out when

enacted ; but having received it when already in force, and beingabout to leave it after us to be in force forever, we only avail

ourselves of it, knowin g that both you and others, if raised to

the same power,wou ld do the same .

The right of the strong er ha s rarely been set forth in a manner1 The reputation of Athens has sn fi ered from it, with

out her having derived the least profit from

so clear.

this bad deed . Let us,however

,observe

,while

holding in horror the sanguinary act done at

Melos, that the practice, if not the theory , of

this right of the strong er is extremely ancient ;it is the principl e on which the old world rested . being , in fact ,

SILVE R c om .2

no other than the famous law,sa lus p ap uli sup rema left , so many

times appealed to for the justification of scandalous undertaking s

or the most atrocious cruelty ; and it must be sadly ackn owledg ed

that, almost everywhere and in all times,men have felt, like

Euripides,that “ it was wisdom and g lory to keep a victorious

hand upon the enemy ’s head .

” 3 Force is as old as the world ;the right comes forward but slowly, and we might almost believe

its reign will never com e .

1 There i s no proof tha t thi s language ever was used. Thucydides (v . 85—1 1 1 ) probab ly w ished to reduce to ex ac t formulae the pol icy inst inct ively pursued on both sides, andheld by a ll the world a t tha t t ime . It wa s par t of the Dor ian song : “ My spear a nd swordare my wea lth ; m y shield i s my fa i thful defender. W ith these I plan t and reap .

”

2 Pomegra na te . R everse : MADImv]. Eagle, sta ndin g on a rock ; behind the b ird, 3

c rescen t . (Coin of Melos .)3 The Ba ccha n tes.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

The Dorian colonists of Melos had expected the aid of Sparta .

“ Sparta wil l abandon you,”the Athenians had said ; and in fact

the prudent city , which in all thing s considered only utility, sen t

neither a ship nor a soldier . This inertia increased the hopes

of Athens ; she n ow believed the momen t had come to attach to

her empire the g reat island of the West, where interior strifes

had led many of the cities to desire foreign protection .

‘

II .— SICILY S INC E T H E TIME O F GE LO N ; T H E ATHENIA NS INV ITED

BY SE GE STA ; T n E INJ U RIE S DO NE T H E STA TU E S O F HE RME S ;DEPA RTU R E or T n E FLE ET, E T C . (416 B . c . )

GE LO N, the renowned conqueror of the Carthaginians at Himera,2

died shortly after this victory (476 B . Syracuse , saved and

rendered more powerfu l by him ,

paid him the divine honors due

to heroes,and al lowed his brother

Hiero to succeed to his author

ity . This was the most flour

ishin g period of Syrac use . At

the command of H iero,A n axi

laos, tyrant of Z an k le and Rhe

gion, relinquished his designs

upon the Lok rian s ; Campanian

Cumae, attacked by the E trus

cans and Carthag inians, was

saved by his fleet,and Pindar

sing s the victory ; a bronze hel

met,the offering of Hiero to the O lympian Z eus; found in the

bed of the Alpheus, bears witness to us of this event . A Syra

onsan colony,established in the island of Ischia, prevented the

Etruscan navy from sailing beyond Cape Misenum , and in Sicily

a nos HE LM E T OF F E RE D BY 11:13:3 0 .

a

On the Greek colon iza t ion of Sicily, see Vol . I I . pp. 1 33 el seq.

Vol . I I . p . 496 .

Bronze helmet di scovered at O lympia, and now in the Br i ti sh Museum. The in sc rip

t ion is g i ven above, Vol . I I . p . 142 .

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

not stop with the conquest of popular liberties ; the original inha l»

itan ts declared those who held citizenship from the tyrant inca

pacitated from holdin g ofiice. This was the beginning of new

disturbances and armed col lisions, which were numerous in all the

T H E F OU NTA IN A RETHOU SA A T svua cusn .

l

cities . The disorder throughout the whole island became so g rea t

that a g eneral assembly was summoned . It was there ag reed that

those who had been exiled by the fallen dynasties should be restored

to their rights and property, and that to the former mercenaries

perhaps the Pun i c na me of H imera) . Reverse : IME PA ION, re trogra de ; hero, nude, sta nding

,grasping by the bridle his horse, which is runn in g away ; in the exergue a swimming swan .

( Br i tish Museum .)1 From a photograph.

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

her sway in the interior . A successfu l war with A grigen tum

increased her secret hope of reducing the whole island . She

doubled her caval ry,built a hun dred triremes, and gave a

n ew impul se to her commerce . Her merchants paid for their

commodities in coins of gold and silver that were veritable

works of art . The coinage of Syracuse is the finest that Greek

art has lef t us.

1

TEMPLE or aEe E ST A .

2

A g rigen tum,her rival . who supplied Carthag e and the African

coast with wines and oil s , gained so much by this commerce that

her public building s eclipsed in magnificence those of Syracuse ; her

temple of Z eus was nearly twice as large as the Parthenon of

Athens,but not a g rander building . The other Sicilian Greeks

shared in this prosperity in proportion to their streng th . For al l ,however, the days of misfortune were coming .

When the Peloponnesian war began , Sparta earnestly besought

help from the Dorian cities of Sicily and I taly ; they made a

favorable reply,but found it more to their advan tag e to profit by

wha t they supposed to be the enfeebled condition of Athens to attack

See above, p. 155 , and el sewhere in the course of this work .3 F rom a photograph.

ALKIBIADES AND THE S ICILIA N EXPEDITION,421 TO 413 B . C . 309

the Ionian cities of the island,

- Naxos, Katana, and Leon tion .

The last- named, being closely pushed in 427 B . c .

,sent Gorgias to

solicit the support of Athens . Perikles would have been opposed

to so remote an expedition ; but he was at this time dead, and

twenty galleys were sent to Sicily. Others followed them ; but this

war never assumed very g reat proportions, and ended in 424 B . c .

,

when a wise Syracusan, H ermok rates, had made it clear to all

the Sicilian Greeks united in cong ress that Athens by design

fanned their hostilities, to profit thereby when the time should

come that a treaty with Sparta left her to dispose freely of her

military force .

U nfortunately this wise advice was soon forgotten . Troubles

at Leon tion brought the ruin of that city ; part of its population

emig rated to Syracuse , and

from the year 422 B . C .

Athens had re- formed a

league against Sparta .

However, until as late as

415 she did not find oppor

tun ity for a serious ex pe

dition ; but in a quarrel

which broke out between

Segesta and Selinous, the latter obtained”

aid from Syracuse .

DE CA DR A CHM or SY RA C USE .1

U pon this , Seg esta, having vainly sought help from Carthag e,appealed to Athens

,where the exiled Sicilians were numerous .

Alkibiades had been one of the most urgent for the attack upon

Melos, and he did not lose the present opportunity to incite the

Athenians to an enterprise of much g reater importance, and where

he hoped to be in command . It was not , however, easy to persuade

the assembly . Commissioners were first sent out to inform them

selves as to the resources of Seg esta ; but they readily were de

ceiv ed by very simpl e devices : they saw gold where there was

only poverty, and the sixty talents which they brought back a s

the first month’ s pay,for the crews of the sixty galley s streng thened

1 Large si lver coin m in tedunder Gelon 1 . (cf . p . No. Laurel led head of a woman(perhaps a V ictory) , r ight profi le ; around, four dolphins ; legend : Z Y PA KO E IO N . R everse :

a man dr iv ing a chariot drawn by three horses to the right ; over him a flying V ictory holdinga wrea th in the ex ergue, a l ion to the rig ht .

HISTORY OF GREECE .

the public faith in the wealth of the n ew ally . Al l men ’ s minds

were fi lled with ambitious hopes . Everywhere,says Plutarch

,

were to be seen young men in the gymnasia, old men in workshops

and public places of meeting , drawing the map of Sicily, talkingabout the sea that surrounds it, the goodness of its harbors , its

position opposite Africa . Established there , it would be easy to

cross over and subjugate Carthage , and extend their sway as far

as the Pillars of Hercul es. T he rich did not approve of this

raslm ess, but feared if they opposed it that the opposite faction

would accuse them of wishing to avoid the service and the costs

of arming gal leys . Nik ias had more courage ; even after th e

Athenians had appointed him g eneral , with Alkibiades a ndLam a chos,

he spoke publicly against the enterprise, showed the imprudence of

going in search of n ew subjects when those they already had

were at the moment in'

a state of revol t,as in Chalkidike

,or only

waited for a disaster to break the chain which bound them to

Athens . He. ended by reproaching Alkibiades for plunging the

republic , to g ratify his p ersonal ambition , into a foreign war ofthe g reatest danger . He enumerated the forces necessary, — a t

least a hundred galleys, five thousand hoplites, vessel s for trans

port,immense supplies

,and many other thing s . He hoped to

alarm the peopl e . One of the demag og ues , however, replied that

he would put an end to al l this hesitation , and he proposed and

secured the passag e of a decree giving the generals ful l power to

use all the resources of the city in preparing for the expedition

(March 24, 41 5 B .

Nik ias was completely in the right . The expedition to Sicily

was impolitic and foolish . In the [ Egzea n Sea lay the empire of

Athens . and there only it could lie. within reach , close at hand .

Every acquisition westward of the Peloponnesos was a source of

weakness . Syracuse . even if conquered . would not long remain

subject . Whatever might be the result of the expedition, it was

sure to be disastrous in the end . Besides , in the Z Egze an Sea was

there not Amphipolis to recapture , insurgen t Chalkidike to subdue ,hostile Macedon to enfeeble ? But Athens this time , like A lkibiades ,

was intoxicated with her streng th and her prosperity . V a inly

did Eupolis , in his comedy of the Demot'

. send his worthy Myron ides

into the kingdom of Hades to bring thence the sages of the good

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

An even t which took place shortly before the departure of the

fleet (8—0 J une ) threw terror into the city : one morning the herm ai

l th roughout the city were seen to have been mutilated . This .was an insult to the gods . The council of the Five Hundred

was a t once called tog ether .2 The offenders were sought for, and

a reward of drachmas was off ered to whomsoever should

g ive them up to justice ; for to al l pious minds the city seemed

menaced with g reat misfortunes unless the ang er of Heaven should

be appeased by a sufficient expiation . While Alkibiades had many

partisans, he had also violent enemies . Not long before this time

H yperbolos, a contemptible man, had almost succeeded in obtain

T he Herm ie. or ha lf- sta tues of the godHermes, were b locks of marb le about the heightof the human figure . T he upper partwas cut in to a head, face, neck , a nd bust ; the lower partwa s left as a quadrangular p i l lar. They were distributed in grea t numbers througboutA then s, and a lways in the most conspicuous si tua t ion s, standing besnde the oute r doors of priva te houses as wel l a s of temples, near the most frequented porticos, at the intersec tion ofcross- ways, in the pub l ic agora . They were thus presen t to the eye of every Athen ian in a llhis ac ts of int ercommun ion , e i ther for business or p lea sure, w i th his fel low-c i t izens. T he re l igious feel ing of the Greeks cons idered the god to be p la n ted or dom ic i led where his sta tuestood; so tha t the compa n ionship, sympathy, a nd guardianshi p of I lermes became as socia tedw i th most of the man i festa t ion s of conjunct l i fe atAthens, pol i t ica l, socia l, commerc ial, or gymna stic . Moreover, the quadrangular fa shion of these sta tues, emp loyed occa siona l ly for othergods besides Hermes, wa s a most anc ien t rel ic, handed down from the prim i tive rudeness ofPe lasg ian workmanship, andwas popular in Arcadia, as wel l as pecul iarly frequen t in Athens.A b out the end of May , 41 5 B . c .

, in the course of one and the same n ight, a ll these l l crmaa, oneof the most peculiar marks of the ci ty, were muti la ted by unknown hands . Their chara cteris t icfea tures were knocked off or levelled, so tha t noth ing was left except a mass of stone, w ith noresemb lance to human i ty or dei ty. A ll were thus dea l t w i th in the same way , sa ve a nd exceptvery few ; n ay , A ndok idés affirms (and I inc l ine to be l ieve -w i th him) tha t there was but onewhich escapedunharmed.

“ It is of course impossib le for a ny one to sympa thize ful ly w i th the feel ings of a rel igi onnot his own . But i f we take tha t reasonab le pains which i s incumben t on those who studythe hi story of Greece to rea l ize in our m inds the rel ig ious and pol i tica l a ssoc ia tions of theA then ia ns, noted in anc ien t t imes for the ir super ior p iety, as we ll as for the ir ac curacy andmagn ificence about the v isible monumen ts embody ing tha t feel ing, — we sha l l in part comprebend the in tensi ty of m ingled di smay , terror. and wrath which beset the pub l ic m ind on themorn ing a fter thi s nocturna l sacrilege, a l ike un foreseen andunpara l leled. To the A then ian s, when they wen t forth on the fol lowing morn ing, each ma n see ing the div ine guardian a t

his doorway di shonored and defaced, and each ma n gradua l ly com ing to know tha t the deva sf a tiouwas genera l, i t would seem tha t the town had become, as i t were, godless, tha t the streets,the market- place , the por ticos , were robbed of their di v ine protectors ; and, wha t was worse sti l l ,tha t these protec tors, having been gross ly insulted, carried away w i th them a l iena ted sen t imen ts , wra thful a nd v indi c t ive, instead of tutelary and sy mpa thiz i ng (H istory of Greece,by George Grot e , vol . v i . pp . 4 - E D.]

9 T he historian T imaios, writ ing a century la te r, a t tributed the. disaster of theAtheniansto the vengeance of the gods, who, to make their a nger more man i fest, ma de choice of adescendan t of Hermes, H ermok rates, as the instrumen t of the ex pia t ion (T im aios.

‘

ragmm ls,

ci i i.

ALKI B IADES A ND THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION, 421 TO 413 B . C . 313

ing his banishment ; and he had escaped this danger only by

uniting his party with that of Nik ias, and causing the demagogue

himself to suffer ostracism . The affair of the hermai appeared to

his adversaries a favorable occasion to repeat the attempt made by

H yperbolos, and we have g ood reason to believe in a political

PA RT I NG SCE NE .

‘

machination , seeing this same populace applaud , a few months

later,the impious audacity of Aristophanes in his comedy of The

Birds . An inquiry was set on foot,and certain m etoikoi and

slaves,without making any deposition as to the kerm ai

,recalled

to mind that before this time some of these statues had been

broken by young men after a night of carousal and intoxication ,thus indirectly attacking Alkibiades . Others in set terms accused

him of having at a banquet parodied the Eleusinian Mysteries ;and men took advantage of the superstitious terrors of the peo

p le to awake their political anxieties . It was repeated that the

breakers of sacred statues the profaners of mysteries , would

1 Pa in t ing on a S ic ilian va se, from O . Benndorf, G riechische a nd Sicihsche Vasenbzlder,

pl . 49 , 3 . A woman off ers a p izza/e to a n armed wa rrior who is about to depart . C f. vasepa int ings represented in Vol . I I . pp . 166 a nd 298 .

HISTORY OF GREECE .

respect the government even less than they had respected the

gods, and it was whispered that not one of these crimes had been

DE A TH or A DON IS

committed without the participation of Alkibiades ; and in

of this men spoke of the truly aristocratic license of his life .

Was he indeed the author of this sacrilegious freak ? To

believe him capable of it wou ld not be to calumniate him . Or,

1 Va se - pa in ting from the Bullellino a rcheolog ico n apolila n o, anno v i i . pl . 9. a

m iddle reg i sterAdon i s lies dying upon a bed ; a winged Love brings him a ssistance. A t t he

head of the bed sta nd Persephone, a ~bran ch of myrtle in her hand, a nd A phro dite, her head

covered with a vei l . A t the foo t of the bed i s A rtem i s, holding two torches : this is n ot the

hun tress- godde ss who has caused the death of Adon is , but the go ddess of the under world.

A rtemis’ ll eka te . In the upper regi ster, Zeus , sea ted on a throne, decides the quarrel whi chhas a risen b etween Persephone and A phrodite for the possession of Adon i s. Aphrodite knee lsbe fore Zeus, holding Eros W ith her left arm : Persephone i s sea te d. lean ing on the smal l chestin which she hid the in fan tAdonis . O n the other side of Zeus a re Hometer, a torch in hand.

and Hermes,at the feet of Zeus, a nd lean ing aga inst his seeptn

'

, is the young A donis . l a

the lower regist er are the Muses .

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HISTORY or GREECE .

The fleet was composed of a hundred galleys, sixty fast sailers

and forty transports, and a considerable number of merchant

vessels,following voluntarily . The allied force joined them at

Korkyra ,— thirty - four triremes and two Rhodian fi fty

- c ared gal leys .

Of hoplites there were five thousand one hundred (of whom fi f

teen hundred were Athenians), four hundred and eighty bowmen ,seven hundred Rhodian slingers , one hundred a nd twenty light

armed Megarians ; and to this we may add fifteen or twenty thou

sand oarsmen,or possibly more .

1 Never had Athens or any Greek

city sent out an armament like this .

When the troops had embarked, and everything had been

put on board that was to be carried, says Thucydides, “ silence was

proclaimed by trumpet, and they off ered the prayers

which are usual before putting out to sea, — not ship

by ship sing ly , but all together, responding to a herald ;having mixed bowl s of wine th rough thewhole arma~

m ent,and both seamen and their officers making

oblations with gold and silver g oblets . They were

joined also in their prayers by the rest of the mul titude on shore .

both the citizens and whoever el se was there that wished them

well . When they had sung their hymn and finished their liba

tions they weighed anchor ; and having at first sail ed out in a

column,they then raced each other as far as Aig ina .

”

The A the

n ian s saw for the last time their ships and their soldiers (J uly ,415 B .

The expedition had been decided upon on the day when the

annual commemoration of the death of Adonis took place . While

in the Agora orators were declaiming as to its advantages, the

women,smiting their breasts and wailing aloud , cried : “ A las !

BR O NZ E ?

1 Each sa i lor rece i ved from the S ta te a drachma a day [about e ighteen cen ts], more by a

th ird than the ordinary pay ; a nd the capta ins ga ve gra tuit ie s besides thi s to the petty officersand the l/cm n ila i. or rowers of the upper bench, whose oar s were longer a nd whose labor wasproport iona l ly g rea ter (Thucydides, v i .

2 Coin of Cor inth, w ith the effigy of Ma rcus A urel ius] C . l . . I . C O R . ( C'

olom'

n Law

J ulio Ga l ley under sa i l . in a Corin thian harbor, near a pha ros.NOTE . O n the Opposi te page i s repre sen ted a ma rble sta tue in the. V i l la Ludov isi ( from

a photograph.C f

. T h. Schre ib er, Die a n ti/( en Bilrluwrl e cler Villa Ludovisi in R om, p .

The god,in an att i tude of re pose , i s sea ted on a roc k , his hands crossed on his sword. H is

shield i s a t his right, a nd a t his fee t a cupid (Eros) . T he sta tue was originally pa rt of a

group ; a t the left wa s doub tless Aphrodite

um ovrsr MA RS (A RE S) .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE.

battle under the city’

s wal ls . A lkibiades preferred an attempt to

detach the other cities and the native popu lation from the party

of Sy racuse , and afterwards an attack upon this city and upon

Selinous . Nik ia s was favorable to n ei

ther of these plans . He proposed to

summon the Segesta n s to keep theirpromises : if they refused, to make as

good terms for them as possible with

the inhabitants of Selinous, and then

return home,after sailing quietly around Sicily, to show the arms

m ona c a n or ssuxous l

of Athens and the immense armament . The wisest plan was that

of Lam achos, the worst that of Nik ias ; the plan adopted was

the one proposed by Alkibiades , which was a half- way measure

between the two (J uly , 41 5 B .

Messina closed her gates ; Naxos opened hers ; at Katana Alki

biades was admitted into the city , but alone . While he was

addressing the assembly , some Athenian soldiers,observing an ill - guarded gate, made their way

into the town . Katana allied hersel f with Athens ,and became a station of the fleet . The army i e

O BO LO S or m ua nm a .“

turned thither from an unsuccessful expedition to

Kama-rina, and on their return found that the trireme“ Salamin ia

” 3

had just arrived from Athens, with orders for A lkibiades to return

home . Not to exasperate the army, he was simply hiddento come

1 EEA INO NT IO N:Herakles, nude , armed w i th his club , and subjuga t ing the bul l , which

he se iz es by the. horns . R everse : H VWA E . Gen ius of the river Hypsas sacr ificing on thea l tar of A sk lepeios. H e holds a pa tera a nd a n ol i ve bra nch ; around the a l tar i s coi led a ser

pen t ; in the field, a spray of pars ley, the c i ty ’s symbol , a nd a n aquat ic bird, reca ll ing thepesti lent ia l marshes dra ined by Empedokles ; see above , p . 1 62 .

3 A thene, standing to the left . She i s helme ted, leans w ith the r ight hand upon her lance,a nd holds in her left hand a shea f of a rrows ; she has the argi s upon her breast, a nd a t her

feet, her shield. Legend KAMA PINA IO N. Re verse : a Victory flying to the left ; a t her feet,a swa n the whole. in a laurel - wrea th.

3 T he A then ians, from very early times , kept for puhlie purposes two sacred or S ta tevessel s, one of which was ca l led Pars los.

’

a nd the other Sa lamin ia .

’ Both these vesse lswere quick- sa il ing triremes, and were used for a va riety of purposes . They conveyed (lacom i,despa tches , e tc .

,fromAthens, carried trea sures from subjec t coun tries toAthens, fe t ched Sta te

crim ina ls from fore ign pa rts to A the ns, a nd the l ike . In ba ttles, they we re frequent ly used as

the ships in whi ch the adm ira ls sa i led. T he names of the two shi ps seem to poin t to a veryearly period in the hi story ofAttika, when the re wa s no nav igat ion ex cept between A t tika and

Sa lam i s, for which the ‘ Salamim a’

was used. a nd a round the coa st. of Att ika, for which purpose the ‘ l ’aralos

'

was destined (Sm i th’s Diction ary of Greek a nd R oma n A ntiquities.

p . Eu]

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HISTORY OF GREECE.

of the heads of the oligarchical party, preferred against him a

charg e relating to the mimicry of the Mysteries of Eleusis , a ll theworshippers of Demeter and Persephone

,the initiated, and , most

of all, the women , who were in a sense the guardians of these

ceremonies,‘ spread throug h the city a smothered indignation

PLA N or SY R A C USE A T rm: ram on or run surer: m 41 7 B. c .’

against the despiser of relig ious thing s . A lkibiades was ca lled

home . He felt that a sentence of death awaited him at Athens,

and he made his escape to Thou rion . and thence into the Pelo

pon n esos, to his friends in Argos . A few days before some

Greeks living in Messina had pledg ed themselves to g ive the cityinto his hands ; before leaving Sicily he denounced this plot to

Vol . I I . pp . 35 5 cl seq.

2 See the recent work of Lupus and H elm,Topographic von Sym kus, w i th p lan s and

v iews .

ALKIBIADES AND THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION, 421

.

TO 413 B . C . 325

the mag istrates . The persons whom he had persuaded to be

traitors to their own government were put to death, and the

Athenians lost a post which would have been extremely important

to them . This was the beginning of the veng eance which he pro

posed to wreak upon his country, and it was , at one stroke, two

bad acts .

T H E R IVE R A NA PO S .

‘

A s soon as the flight of Alkibiades was made known at

Athens , his trial took place . He was condemned to death . his

property was confiscated,and he was pronounced accursed . after

the ancient method, — at n ightfal l the priests facing the west. and

shaking their purple garments , a s if to cast away the sa crilegious

wretch from out of the city and from out of the divine p rotec

tion . Only the hierophan tis Thean o refused to obey the decree .

‘

I am a priestess to bless,” she said , “ and not to curse .

”

From a photograph. O n the bank s grow papyrus p lants . See E . R enan, Vang! j oursen Sicile, in the R evue des Dem: iWondes (November, pp . 261 el seq.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

To complete these acts of relig ious hypocrisy , of savag e superstition , a nd of political j ealousy , a law was p assed prohibiting the

dramatic poets from making allusion to the events of the day

(4 14 B . This was censorship of the drama .

‘ Aristophanes

responded to it by a masterpiece , The Birds .

a charming fairy - tale,but also a universal satire ,

which spa red neither law - ma kers nor diviners .

nor even the gods . In the blessed city which

the Birds build , between heaven and earth,life

is tranquil , w ithout fear of informers , of the “ Salamin ia , or of

prosecutions . It was the protest of mind.and good - sense . Athens

apprecia ted it, and laughed with the poet ; but did n ot ' mend her

ways . When Alkibiades had taken shelter in the Peloponnesos ,

GOLD c ons .

”

she sent envoys to claim his extra dition .

ln Sicily , the departure of Alkibiades had discourag ed the

troops, and Nik ia s was not the man to restore confidence . He

wasted time in sendin g the

galleys out to sail along the

coasts,as if he had no fur

ther duty than to exhibit to the

islanders the Athenian fleet ; and

autumn arrived without any v ic

tory being gained . Syracuse had

long despised the warning s of the

sagacious H ermok ra tes, and refused to believe that the Athenia ns

would e ver a tta ck her . The arrival of the fleet in Sicilian waters

at. last opened a ll m en ’s eyes. At the moment . by a bold stroke,Nik ias might have taken the city. But he g ave the Syracusans

time to recover from their terror and to make preparations . They

E TRUSC A N c ons .

8

Thi s was a renewa l of the law of 440 n . c . , which had fa l len in to desuetude . See

Vol . l l . p . 663 .

2 Coin of Syra euse . XY PA KO I IQN. llea rdlc ss head, left. profi le, of the Gen ius of theA n apos. Reverse '

EYPA KO EIO N.on a rihhon . F ree horse, ga l loping to the right.

3 T he w inged G orgon . runn ing to the left . H er face i s in fron t v iew , a nd she holds a

serpe n t in each ha nd. Reverse : GE I A n uncerta in type, which i s thought. to be a kind ofwheel . T he legend has not as yet been expla ined (Ga rrucm, Le Monete dell ' l talia . parti i . p .NOTE .

— O n the opposite page are represented ( from a photograph) the ruins of the temple of Zeus a t A grig en tum . In the foreground l ies one of the earyn tules l a the bac kground.

on the heights, i s the mo dern c ity of G irgen t i . A ll the temple s of A g rigen tum were situate don the terrace which rises be tween the sea a nd the. mo dern cftr.

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ALKIBI ADES AND THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION,42 1 TO 413 B . C . 329

were rea dy for him when he prepared to repeat the project of

Lamacnos.

Slow and undecided in counsel,in action Nik ias m anifested

no lack of vig or . Having succeeded, by an adroit stratag em,in

GUTTE R I N ' F ORM or A LI O N’

s H E A D .

l

drawing all the hostile force outside the city walls, he suddenly

presented himsel f before the undefended place and landed his troops ,encamping them — to be out of reach of the Sy racusan cavalrybetween a marsh in which the Amapc s

lost itself, and the slopes of the Olym

pieion . An engagemen t ensued, which

was entirely to the advan tag e of the

Athenians . On ‘ the hill stood a temple

of Z eus, having rich treasures , which the

soldiers of Nik ia s would g ladly have pillaged . The scrupulous

general da red not touch this sacred property , a nd l eft it to be used

1 F ro m the Dome temp le of H imera ; from a photograph . T he gutter i s of compact l imestone. I t is a remarka ble fragmen t of Greek decora t ive sculpt-ure, dat ing from the six th cen

tury B. C . \Ve know tha t the ci ty of H imera was destroyed in 40 9 B . C .

2 ra n t . Y outhful head of the r iver Gela, left profi le, diademed and horned. The wholein a. laurel- wreath. R everse : horsema n strik ing w ith his la nee a foot- soldier, who 15 throwndown a nd ha s re l inquished his shield. (S i lver . )

c orx or GE LA .

2

H [ STORY O F G l iEEC l"

by his adversary . Win ter coming on , he fell back to Naxos, and sentto Athens for cava lry a nd money . At the same time he deta chedthe Sikelor from their al liance with Syracuse

,and endeavored to

attract to the Athenian al liance Ca rthag e and Etruria , both hos

tile to the I taliot and Sicilian G reeks . Syracuse,on her side .

appealed to Corinth , to Sparta , a nd to A g rigen tum , but al l professed

neutrality . On the proposal of H ermok ra tes, the people reduced

the number of their g enerals from fifteen to three, increased the

authority of the three , and , appreciating the necessity of a strongadministration in this time of dang er, pledg ed themsel ves to leave

the g enerals’ action unhampered by the indiscreet curiosity common

in democracies .

In Greece A lkibiades shamelessly took part with the envoys of

those against whom he had set on foot the war , and became their

adviser and advocate . He urged the Spartans to send an army

to Syracuse and to fortify in Attika the post of Dekeleia, thus

placing Athens between two dangers . On hearing that the A the

n ian s had sentenced him to death, he had said ,“ I shal l quickly

show them that I am yet alive ;” and he kept his word .

Sparta resolved to send one of her citizens,Gylippos, son of

K leandridas,who had been exiled in 445 B . c .

, with some Corin

thian vessels ; but her delay was such in doing this that it le ft

time for the Athenians to return to Syracuse in the followin g

summer (414 B . Fortunately, the inhabitants had taken

advanta ge of the retreat of Nik ias to build a wall during the

winter, protecting the approach to A chradin a and to O rtygia .

They were preparing to occupy also the summit of the Epipola i,when the Athenians arrived and prevented their doing this .

‘ Nik

ias at once built a g reat entrenched enclosure, which was cal led

the Circle,thence constructing two wal ls of circumvallation , one

extending to the port of T rogilos, and the other to the Great

Harbor . He urged this work forward with all possible. speed .

notwithstanding the difficul ties of the g round . which was in pa rt

1 Syracuse consisted, in 4 15 u. c . , of two c ities, the a nc ien t on e , in thc'

isla nd of O rtygia ;

the n ew c i ty, or A chradiua , on the i sland its e l f, a t some dista nce from O rtygia. A chradin a

was fort ified, a nd had two open suburbs , Tycho. a nd the doma in of Apo l lo T emen ites, whichwas ca l led la ter Neapo l i s . A ehradin a occup ied the ba se of a tria ng le

,of which Ep ipolai was

the summ i t. A t thi s p oint, which comma nded the whole city of Syracuse . was the fortEurya los.

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

and even from the Etruscans , who sen t him three galleys . He

began to hope . The Syracusans,on the contrary

,lost courag e ;

they had begun to talk of surrender, and were proposing terms

of capitulation to Nikias, when a Corinthian g alley , escaping the

Athenian guard- ships,made its way into the harbor of Syracuse ,

bringing news that a Corinthian fleet was at Leuka s. and that the

FO RT E U R Y A LO S .‘

Spartan , Gy lippos, had actually landed in Sicily . He was at

Himera . where a thousand hoplites and light troops , with a bum

dred horse , had joined him ; other troops from Selinous and Gela

increased his force, also a thousand Sikeloi. making , with the hoplites from his own vessel , an army of three thousand men . Nik ias.

instead of going out to meet him . allowed him to enter Syra

cuse undisturbed . Instantly the aspect of affairs was chang ed.

Plutarch says

View taken from the ex terior ; from a photograph .

ALKIB IADES A ND T H E S ICILIAN EXPEDITION , 421 T O 413 B. c . 333

Gyhppos lirst sen t a hera ld to the Athen ian s , to offer them an oppor

tun ity to withdraw without m olestation ,if they were willin g to leave the

isla nd. Nik ias disda in ed to m ake an y reply ; an d som e of his soldiers

a sked the hera ld jestin g ly if the arriva l of on e coa rse cloak an d a Lako

n ian staff had sudden ly g iven the Syracusan s such an advan tage that they

n ow on ly despised those Athen ian s who n ot lon g before had given back to

the Spartan s three hundred prison ers that they had been keeping in

chain s,all much stron g er tha n l ippos .

T E TR A DR A CH MS or K A TA NA 1

T E TRA DRA CH MS U l" S Y R A CUS E

But the Spartan had brought back confidence ; he restored dis

ciplin e, improved the character of the troops,‘

and in his first

attempt surprised the fort Labda lon and put its garrison to the

sword .

3 Then he built a n ew fort on the high g round, and a

1 1 ) Human - headed bul l , pawing the ground, to the r ight : above, a g oose ; undernea th, a

fi sh. R everse : KA T ANA IO N ; a Victory , stepping to the left, holding in her r ight ha nd a.

laurel - wrea th( 2 ) Head of A pol lo, fron t face, w ith a wrea th of laurel a nd curl ing ha ir ; in the field,

H PA KA E IA A Z , name of the art i st engraver. R everse : KA T ANA IQN ; quadr ig a dr i ven by a

woman , towa rds whom fl ies a V ictory holding a wrea th i n each hand. I n the exergue, a

dolph in .

‘2( 1 ) EY PA KO EIO N. Head of nymph,

r ight profi le, the ha ir bound w i th fi l lets ; dolph insa round the head. tev erse : woma n in a b iga, the horses stepping to the r ight ; over the b iga ,a flying Victory , wi th a wrea th.

( 2) Nym ph’ s head, left profi le . the ha ir l i fted a nd covered by a sp ken rlon e ornamented

with stars ; a round the head. dolphins ; in the exergue, EYMENO Y , name of the art ist engra ver .

R everse : w inged Victory, dr iv ing a quadriga , to the r ight ; above the horses fl ies a nother V ic~tory. I n the exergue, the monster Sky l la , arm ed w ith a tr ident, and the letters EY G , in it ia lsof the name of a n unknown artist engraver .

3 Labdalon had been bui lt by the A then ians on the slope of E pipolai.

HISTO RY O F GREECE.

third wall , cutting the Athenian line of circumvallation and pro

longed up the slope of Epipolai, barring the Athenians from the

summit and the northern cliff . Instead of directing his attack on

this side, Nik ias, avowing publicly his fears and his weakness .

r er n a n n k c nms or sv n A cusn .

‘

occupied himself in fortifying the promontory Plemmyrion , at theentrance of the Great Harbor . and built there three forts ; this was

almost to abandon the sieg e . Rein forcements cou ld, it is true ,

easily reach him there by sea ; but, on the other hand , he had to

go far in search of water and wood , and the soldiers cou ld not go

( I ) BY PAKO Z IO N. Nymph’ s head, r ight profi le , the forehead adorned w ith a diadem ,

the ha ir enve loped in a n et ; a round the head, dolph in s. R everse : woma n in a b iga, the horsesste pping to the right ; she has in her ha nds the re in s and a goat]. A V ic tory, holding a fi l let,i s flying above the horses .

( 2) EY PAKO EIO N Head of Persephone , left profi le , crowned w i th whea t-ea rs a nd po ppies ; a round the hea d, dolphins : in the exergue , name of the a rti st engraver .

R everse a w ing edVictory dri v ing a quadriga to the right, herse l f crowned by a nother Victoryflying above the horses : in the exergue . the monster Sky l la , a rmed w i th a trident. a nd the letters EY E) , in i tia ls of the name of a n unknown art i st engraver . T he reverse of this coin i sfound a lso a ssoc ia tedw i th heads sig ned by Eumem

( 3) EY PA KO EIQN. Head of nymph, le ft profile . ha ir confined by n diadem ; behind thehea d, IM, in i t ia ls of a name of a n art i st. engraver :undernea th. two dolphins . R everse : woma nin a quadriga, the horses ga l loping to the left : a Victory holding a fillet fl ies towards her abovethe horse s . In the exer

gue. a l ion devouring a ha ll .

(4) EYPA KO EIQN. Head of Persephone. r ight profi le , crowned w ith wheat ears ; aroundthe head, dolph in s. R everse : woman in a quadriga, the horses ga l loping to the left ; a Vi cto ry flying towards her. In the exergue , a wheat -e ar.

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H I STORY OF (3REECE .

conviction that your troops are n ot a match even for their present enemies ,but that youmust either recal l these or send in

.

addition to them anotherarmament n ot less numerous , both military and nava l , a nd n o small sum

of money,as well as some on e to succeed me, sin ce I am unable to rema in

at my post, in con sequence of a nephritic disease. A nd 1 thin k tha t Im ay cla im some consideration a t your ha nds , for when 1 was in hea lth Idid you much service durin g the periods of my command. But what e ver

youmea n to do, do it at the very beg inn ing of sprin g , and without any delay ;since the enemy will in a short time provide them selves with rein forcements

BRON Z E n am .

‘

from S ic ily , and though n ot so quick ly with those from the Peloponnesos,yet if y ou do n ot pay attention to them , in some respects they will eludeyour observation as before , and in others they will anticipate you.

This urgent. letter . far from depressing the Athenians or excit

in g their ang er against the incapable general . roused them to

g reater efforts . They voted a new levy of troops . to b e placed

under the comman d of Demosthenes and Eu rymedon . associated

1 Bronze discovered a t Syracuse. now in the Museum of l‘a le rmo ( from a photog raph)'

l'

huevdidcs doe s not. profess to g i ve the. actua l text. of the le tter of Nik ia s . which hecould have. had eopied for him at Athen s ; but there c an be no doub t he ha s brought forwardall the genera l must have employed in expla in ing the si tuat ion to the A then ian s .

A LK IBIA DES AND T H E SICILIAN EXPEDITION,421 T O 413 B . C . 337

with Nik ia s in command of the army of Sicily . Another resolu

tion was adopted, almost the sam e day, at Sparta, — namely, to

send in the following spring an army to Syracuse, and another

into Attika, to occupy Dekeleia . A g eneral war was about to break

out a fresh . To brave so many dang ers at once was perhaps

heroic,but was the extreme of imprudence . While he awaited the

reinforcements promised , Gy lippos actively followed up his first

successes . He left Syracuse, made a

tour of the cities up to this time v aeil

lating , and brought them'

a ll , except

A g rigen tum ,over to the side which

victory favored . Returning to the

Syracusans,be induced them to attack

at once,by sea and by land . While

the whole Athenian army, gathered on the shore , was looking on

at the sea - fight, Gy lippos surprised the forts on Plemmyrion . The

Athenians lost their provisions, bag gag e , army treasure, and a

position whence the Syracusans could , in their turn , intercept all

arrivals from the open sea . T wo naval actions,in which the

Athenians were defeated, increased the perils of their situation

(J uly 41 3 B .

Demosthenes n ow arrived . He appeared suddenly outside the

harbor,in ful l sight of the enemy, with a splendid and formidable

armament . H is fleet consisted of seventy - fi v e vessels,on board of

which were five.

thousand infantry and three thousand archers,

slingers, and javelin- men . The g litter of weapons, the bril liant

hues of the vessels and the standards, a GZ CL, the g reat number

of officers,and the clamor of trumpets

,all made the display at

once imposing and alarming . The Syracusans were again a prey

to extreme alarm ; they saw no limit to their misfortunes,no hope

of a better fate . They were about to lose,they said , the fruit of

their labors, and certainly to perish , for Athens, which they be

liev ed exhausted, — Athens,notwithstanding threatening dang ers

and the presence of the foe upon her own soil , n ow sent into

Sicily a force more formida ble than the first.

TE TRA DRA CH M or Na x os.

1

1 Bearded head of D ionysos, right profile, with a diadem ornamen ted wi th a branch of

ivy. R everse : NA S IQN. Silenos, seated on the ground, nude, holding a thyr sos in the leftha nd, and a kan tharos full of wine in the right ; at his s ide, a vine- stock, with bun ches ofgrapes.VOL. 11 1 . 22

HISTORY OF GREECE.

Demosthenes desired to end the war promptly . After a careful

examination he gave his opinion that an attack should be made

upon the counter-wall which the Syracusans had buil t, and thatif successfu l in this, the Athenian circumvallation should then be

completed . I f this plan succeeded , he would gain Sy racuse ; if it

failed , he proposed to return to Athens . without wasting the men

and money of the State . Nikias, alarmed at his colleague’s

audacity, remained behind in the in tren ehmen ts . Demosthenes

and Eurymedon by night assailed Epipola i, to turn the enemy’s

wall . The unexpected attack th rew the Syracusans into disorder ;but the Athenians believed themselves victorious bc re they really

were so . They dispersed in pursuit of some of the fug itives , while

the enemy, recovering their self- possession , formed again in good

o rder . The Boiotia n s, allies of Syracuse, were the first to oppose

the advance of the Athenians,charging them while in the disorder

of pursuit, and driving them back . The moon was shining , but

its light was faint , and not enough to make friend distinguish

able from foe . The Athenian hoplites lost their way,and the

watch - word,being loudly given them , was overheard by the enemy ,

who were thus aided in their pursuit . The singing of the battle

hymn also created disorder, for the Argives . Korky raian s, and all

of Dorian race who were with the Athenians,alarmed their allies

exceeding ly by beg inning to sing this p aian . The latter supposed

themselves among enemies , and attacked them according ly . Thus

friends fought with friends, and it wa s long before the unfortunate

m istake was discovered . The descent from Epipolai is narrow

and steep : pursued down this a brupt declivity, many fell from the

cliff s and perished . Those who reached the plain in safety fled to

their camp , especially the Athenians, who had been long in the

country and knew their way ; but many of those recently arrived

missed the road completely, and when daylight came were sur

rounded by Syracusan caval ry and put to the sword . In this affair

the Athenians lost two thousand men .

After such a disaster but one course cou ld be pursued : the

attempt of Demosthenes having failed , Sicily must be abandoned .

But decision is a quality lacking in irresolute minds . When

Demosthenes talked of setting sail , Nik ias objected . Ile dared not

take upon himself so g rave a responsibil ity . He urged that it was

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HISTORY OF GREECE .

refused to leave the place until thrice nine days had passed . a nd

concerned himself only with sacrifices to appease the ang er of the

goddess . The Syracusans took advantag e of this delay to attack

the Athenian fleet . They captured eighteen vessels , and closed the

harbor with triremes rang ed broadside . and merchan t vessels and

boats anchored , and connected with each other by chains .

This barrier must be broken th rough , at whatever hazard . The

Athenians,who had still one hundred and ten vessels

,resolved to

make the attempt : this was the critical moment of the war . We

give the narrative in the words of Thucydides

Demosthen es, Men andros,andEuthydemosp who wen t on board the A then ian fleet to take the command, put out from their own station , and immediately sailed to the bar at the mouth of the ha rbor

,and the passage through

it which had been closed up, wishing to force their way to the outside. T he

Syracusans and their a llies , ha v in g previously7 put out with very nearly the'

sam e num ber of ships a s before , proceeded to keep guard with part of themat the passage out, and a lso round the circumference of the whole harbor, thatthey might fa ll upon the Athen ians on al l sides at on ce, while their troopsa lso at the same time came to their aid at whatever part their v essels might

put in to shore . W hen the Athen ians came up to the bar, in the first rushwith which they charged they got the better of the ships posted at it

,and

endeavored to b reak the fasten in gs . Afterwards , when the Syracusan s and

their a llies bore down upon them from all qua rters , the engagement wen t on

n o longer at the bar a lon e , but over the ha rbor also ; and an ob stin ate one itwas, such as none of the prev ious ones had been ,

for g reat eagerness for theattack was exhibited by the seamen on both sides when the command was

g iven and there was much counter - manoeuvrin g on the part of the m asters .and riv al ry with each other

,while the soldiers on board exerted themselves ,

when v essel came in collision with vessel , that the operations on deck m ightn ot fall short of the skill shown by others . Indeed, every on e, whatever the

duty assigned him . m ade the best e ffort, that he m ight himself in each case

appear the best m an .

A nd as a g reat number of ships were engaged in a smal l compass ( for

indeed thev were the largest fleets , fighting in the n a rrowest space that had

e ver been k nown , sin ce both of them together fell little short of two hundred),the attacks m ade with the beaks were few, as there were n o means of backin gwater or cutting through the enemy’s line ; but cha nce collisions were more

Norm— O uthe opposite page i s repre sen ted a quarry near Syracuse (La lorm'

a C om te) .

from a photograph. In respect to these quarr ies, see E . Rena n , Vinyl j ours en Sid/e. in theR evue (lea Dcux Mora les (November. p . 26 1 .

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H ISTORY OF GREECE .

escaping or of being destroyed . A nd thus,amongst the troops of the A the

n ian s,as long as they were fightin g at sea on equal terms, every soundmight

be heard at on ce,— wailing , shouting , " l‘

hey conquer ! ‘ They are con ~

quered and al l the other various exclamation s which a g reat armament in

great peril would be constrained to utter : very much in the same way as theirmen on heard their ships were aff ected ; until at length, after the battle hadcon tinued for a lon g time, the Syracusans and their al lies rented theAthenians ,

SY RA CUSA N QUA RRY (LA TOMI A om c a rruccxm ) .

and pressing on them in a decisive man ner, with much shoutin g and cheeringof each other on ,

pursued them to the shore . Then the sea forces, as many

as were n ot tak en afloat , put in to the land at diff eren t pa nt s and rushed fromon board to the cam p ; while the army , n o long er with any differen t feelings ,but all on on e impul se, lamenting and cry ing out. deplored the event

, and

proceeded, some to succor the ships, others to gua rdwhat remained of theirwall while others , and those the g reatest part, began now to thin k of themsel ves, and how thev should best provide for their own preservation . Indeed,

their dismay at this moment had been exceeded by none they had ever beforefelt. A nd thev n ew experienced verv n earlv what thev had themsel ves

ALKIB IADES AND THE SIC ILIAN EXPEDITION, 421 TO 413 B . C . 345

in flicted at Py los, for by the Laceda nn on ian s’

losin g their ships, their m en

who had crossed over in to the island were lost to them besides ; and n ow,

for the Athen ian s to esca pe by landwas hopeless,unless something beyond

a ll expectation should occur .

” 1

But the end had come ; the army was in fact held captive

(Sept . 1,413 B . C ) The engag ement had been so severe that

both sides had lost heavily . The victors erected a trophy ; the

Athenians did not even seek to recover their dead . Demosthenes,

whose courag e remained unabated, proposed to man the remainin gvessels and to strive again at daybreak to force a passag e to the

open sea . He represented that they stil l had more ships fit for

service than the enemy, for they had sixty, while the Syracusan

fleet n umbered less than fifty . Nik ias a g reed with this opinion ;but the seamen would not embark, being dismayed at their defeat,and thinking that they could not n ow gain a victory, and havingmade up their minds to

.

retreat by land .

On the third day the army began its march . Forty thousand

men set out,abandoning their wounded and sick, who clung to

their garments and begged not to be left behind , and followed as

far as they could,with appeals to Heaven and many lamentations .

The army marched in two divisions,led by Nik ia s and Demos

then es, who both strove to restore courage and confidence so f ar

as existing circumstances rendered it possible . During the eight

days of this disastrous retreat the enemy never ceased to attack

at the head of the column , on its flank,and on its rear . Demos

then es, with the rear- guard , was surrounded at Poly zelion and

oblig ed to lay down his arms, with the sing le condition tha t the

troops should have their lives . On news of this, Nik ia s sent pro

posa ls to Gy lippos. He asked to be allowed to withdraw his

troops unharmed from the island,and promised that Athens would

pay the costs of the war . These proposa ls were disdain f u llyrejected , and the Sy racusans all day long harassed the column .

On the next day the Athenian s reached the river A sin’

aros . With

out attempting to cross in order,they rushed into the stream

tumultuously,seeking to quench their thirst, which had become

extrem e. Many were trodden to death . and others were drowned

1 Thucydides. vn {59 cl seq.

HISTORY OF GREECE .

while the Syracusans on the bank had only to discharg e their

arrows at random , and a g reat number of Athenia ns were killed .

U pon this Nik ias su rrendered , and Gy lippos put a stop to the

butchery (Sept . 10 , 413 B . c )

T he conquerors , with ga rlands on their heads , says Plutarch,

“ with

their own horses splendidly adorned, and cropping short the maues and ta ilsof those of their enem ies , en tered the city

,ha v ing in the most sign al con flict

ever waged by G reeks again st G reeks , a nd with the g reatest strength and

the utmost effort of va lor and m anhood,won a most com plete victory .

”

Nikias and Demosthenes were executed,

” says T hucydides , “con

trary to the wish of Gylippos. F or he thought it would be a g loriousdistinction for him

,in addition to all his other achievements , to take

to the Spartans even the generals who had commanded ag ain st them .

A nd it so ha ppen ed that on e of these, Demosthenes , wa s rega rded b v

them as their most in veterate en emy , in consequence of what had occurredon the island and at Py los ; the other, for the same reasons

,a s most in

their interest ; for Nikias had exerted himself for the release of the

Lacedaemonians , prisoners in Pylos , by persuading the Athenians to m akea treaty . O n this accoun t the Spartans had friendly feelings towardshim ; and, indeed, it was for the same rea sons that he reposed confiden cein Gylippos, and surrendered to him . But certain of the Syracusan s (asit was said) were afraid, some of them , since they had held communiestion with him ,

that if put to the torture he m ight cause them trouble on

that account in the m idst of their success ; others,and especial ly the

Corinthians , lest he might bribe some , as he was rich,and eff ect his

escape, and so they'

should again incur harm through his agency ; and

therefore they persuaded the allies and put him to death . For thiscause then , or somethin g very like this , he was executed ; having leastof a ll the Greeks in my time deserved to meet such a m isfortune, on

account of his dev oted attention to the practice of every virtue.

”

Nik ias and Demosthenes were stoned to death , or, according“ to T imeios, having been warned by H ermok rates, perished by

suicide . The other prisoners , to the number of seven thousand .

were crowded into the quarries under the open sky , where they

endured alternately the extreme heat of the sun and the chil l of

autumnal n ights . For f ood each man had half a slave’

s rations .

Their sick and wounded died among them , and they were not

allowed to bury the dead bodies . The air which they breathed

became loaded with infection,Thus they lived for seventy days ;

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