ment which he gave a few days after the engagement; | a company of young persons, carrying pitchers in their where one of the tables was costly and magnificent, and displayed all the variety of delicacies and dainties that used to be served at Mardonius's table; and the other was plain and frugal after the manner of the Spartans. Then comparing the two together, and causing his officers, whom he had invited on purpose, to observe the difference of them; "What madness," says he, "was it in Mardonius, who was accustomed to such a luxurious diet, to come and attack a people like us, that know how to live without any such superfluities!"

The Grecian fleet, after the battle of Mycale, set sail towards the Hellespont, in order to possess themselves of the bridges which Xerxes had caused to be laid over that narrow passage, and which they supposed were still entire: but finding them broken down by tempestuous weather, Leotychides and his Peloponnesian forces returned towards their own country. As far as Xanthippus, he stayed with the Athenians and their Ionian confederates, and they made themselves masters of Sestus and the Thracian Chersonesus, in which places they found great booty, and took a vast number of prisoners. After which, on the approach of winter, they returned to their own cities.

of Platææ,' their naval forces obtained a memorable | him to destroy them: for it is certain, he found imvictory in Asia over the remainder of the Persian fleet. mense riches and treasure in them, which had been For whilst that of the Greeks lay at Egina, under amassed through the superstition of princes and peothe command of Leotychides, one of the kings of ple during a long series of ages. Sparta, and of Xanthippus the Athenian, ambassadors came to those generals from the Ionians to invite them into Asia to deliver the Grecian cities from their subjection to the barbarians. On this invitation they immediately set sail for Asia, and steered their course by Delos. While they continued there, other ambassadors arrived from Samos, and brought them intelligence, that the Persian fleet, which had passed the winter at Cuma, was then at Samos, where it would be an easy matter to defeat and destroy it, earnestly pressing them at the same time not to neglect so favourable an opportunity. The Greeks hereupon sailed away directly for Samos. But the Persians, receiving intelligence of their approach, retired to Mycale, a promontory of the continent of Asia, where their land army, consisting of 100,000 men, who were the remainder of those that Xerxes had carried back from Greece the year before, was encamped. Here they drew their vessels ashore, which was a common practice among the ancients, and surrounded them with a strong rampart. The Grecians followed them to the very place, and with the help of the Ionians defeated their land army, forced their rampart, and burnt all

their vessels.

From this time all the cities of Ionia revolted from the Persians, and having entered into a confederacy with the Grecians, most of them preserved their liberty during the time that empire subsisted. SECTION XI.—THE BARBAROUS AND INHUMAN REVENGE OF AMestris, the wife of xerxes. DURING the time that Xerxes re

A. M. 3525.

Ant. J. C. 479.

sided at Sardis,8 he conceived a violent passion for the wife of his brother The battle of Platæ was fought in the morning, Masistes, who was a prince of extraand that of Mycale in the afternoon on the same day: ordinary merit, had always served the king with great and yet all the Greek writers pretend that the victory zeal and fidelity, and had never done any thing to of Platææ was known at Mycale, before the latter endisoblige him. The virtue of this lady, her great gagement was begun, though the whole Ægean sea, affection and fidelity to her husband, made her inexowhich requires several days' sailing to cross it, was rable to all the king's solicitations. However, he between those two places. But Diodorus Siculus still flattered himself, that by a profusion of favours explains to us this mystery. He tells us, that Leoty- and liberalities he might possibly gain upon her; and chides, observing his soldiers to be much dejected for among other favours which he conferred upon her, he fear their countrymen at Platææ should sink under the married his eldest son Darius, whom he intended for numbers of Mardonius's army, contrived a stratagem his successor, to Artainta, this princess's daughter, to reanimate them; and that, therefore, when he was and ordered that the marriage should be consummated just upon the point of making the first attack, he as soon as he arrived at Susa. But Xerxes finding caused a rumour to be spread among his troops, that the lady still no less impregnable, in spite of all his the Persians were defeated at Platææ, though at that temptations and attacks, immediately changed his time he had no manner of knowledge of the matter. object, and fell passionately in love with her daughXerxes, hearing the news of these two great over- ter, who did not imitate the glorious example of her throws, left Sardis with as much haste as he had for- mother's constancy and virtue. Whilst this intrigue merly quitted Athens, after the battle of Salamis, and was carrying on, Amestris, wife to Xerxes, presented retired with great precipitation into Persia, in order to him with a rich and magnificent robe of her own put himself, as far as he possibly could, out of the making. Xerxes, being extremely pleased with this reach of his victorious enemies. But before he set robe, thought fit to put it on upon the first visit he afterout, he gave orders to burn and demolish all the wards made to Artainta; and in conversation pressed temples belonging to the Grecian cities in Asia: which her to let him know what she desired he should do for order was so far executed, that not one escaped, ex-ber, assuring her, at the same time, with an oath, that cept the temple of Diana at Ephesus. He acted in this manner at the instigation of the Magi,5 who were professed enemies to temples and images. The se. cond Zoroaster had thoroughly instructed him in their religion, and made him a zealous defender of it. Pliny nforms us,6 that Ostanes, the head of the Magi, and the patriarch of that sect, who maintained its maxims and interests with the greatest violence, attended Xerxes upon this expedition into Greece. This prince,7 as he passed through Babylon on his return to Susa, destroyed also all the temples in that city, as he had done those of Greece and Asia Minor; doubtless, through the same principle, and out of hatred to the sect of the Sabæans, who made use of images in their divine worship, which was a thing utterly detested by the Magi. Perhaps, also, the desire of making himself amends for the expenses incurred in his Grecian expedition by the spoil and plunder of those temples, might be another motive that induced

he would grant her whatever she asked of him. Artainta, upon this, desired him to give her the robe he had on. Xerxes, foreseeing the ill consequences that would necessarily ensue upon his making her this present, did all that he could to dissuade her from insisting upon it, and offered her any thing in the world in lieu of it. But not being able to prevail upon her, and thinking himself bound by the imprudent promise and oath he had made to her, he gave her the robe. The lady no sobner received it, than she put it on, and wore it publicly by way of trophy.

Amestris, being confirmed in the suspicion she had entertained by this action, was enraged to the last degree. But instead of letting her vengeance fall upon the daughter, who was the only offender, she resolved to wreak it upon the mother, whom she looked upon as the author of the whole intrigue, though she was For the better exeentirely innocent of the matter. cuting of her purpose, she waited until the grand feast, which was every year celebrated on the king's birth day, and which was not far off; on which occasion the king, according to the established custom of the country, granted her whatever she demanded. This day then being come, the thing which she de

Herod. l. ix. c. 107-112.

sired of his majesty, was, that the wife of Masistes i ner we have mentioned, the Athenians, on their should be delivered into her hands. Xerxes, who -apprehended the queen's design, and who was struck with horror at the thoughts of it, as well as out of regard to his brother, as on account of the innocence of the lady, against whom he perceived his wife was violently exasperated, at first refused her request, and endeavoured all he could to dissuade her from it. But not being able either to prevail upon her, or to act with steadiness and resolution himself, he at last yielded, and was guilty of complaisance equally weak and cruel; making the inviolable obligations of justice and humanity give way to the arbitrary laws of a custom, that had been established solely to give occasion for the doing of good, and for acts of beneficence and generosity. In consequence then of this compliance, the lady was apprehended by the king's guards, and delivered to Amestris, who caused her breasts, tongue, nose, ears, and lips, to be cut off, ordered them to be cast to the dogs in her own presence, and then sent her home to her husband's house in that mutilated and miserable condition. In the mean time Xerxes had sent for his brother, in order to prepare him for this melancholy and tragical adventure. He first gave him to understand, that he should be glad he would put away his wife; and, to induce him thereto, offered to give him one of his daughters in marriage in her stead. But Masistes, who was passionately fond of his wife, could not prevail upon himself to divorce her: whereupon Xerxes in great wrath told him, that since he refused his daughter, he should neither have her nor his wife, and that he would teach him not to reject the offers his master had made him; and with this inhuman reply dismissed him.

This strange proceeding threw Masistes into the greatest anxiety, thinking he had reason to apprehend the worst; he made all the haste he could home to see what had passed there during his absence. On his arrival he found his wife in that deplorable condition we have just been describing. Being enraged thereat to the degree we may naturally imagine, he assembled all his family, his servants and dependants, and set out with all possible expedition for Bactriana, whereof he was governor, determined, as soon as he arrived there, to raise an army and make war against the king, in order to avenge himself for this barbarous treatment. But Xerxes being informed of his hasty departure, and from thence suspecting his design, sent a party of horse to pursue him; which, having overtaken him, cut him in pieces, together with his children and all his retinue. I do not know whether a more tragical example of revenge than that which I have now related, is to be found in history.

There is still another action, no less cruel nor impious than the former, related of Amestris. She caused fourteen children of the best families in Persia to be burnt alive, as a sacrifice to the infernal gods, out of compliance with a superstitious custom practised by the Persians.

Masistes being dead, Xerxes gave the government of Bactriana to his second son Hystaspes, who being by that means obliged to live at a distance from the court, gave his youngest brother Artaxerxes the opportunity of ascending the throne to his disadvantage, after the death of their father, as will be seen in the sequel.

Here ends Herodotus's history, viz. at the battle of Mycale and the siege of the city of Sestos by the Athenians.

return to their own country, sent for their wives and children, whom they had committed to the care of their friends during the war, and began to think of rebuilding the city, which had been almost entirely destroyed by the Persians, and of surrounding it with strong walls, in order to secure it from future violence. The Lacedæmonians having intelligence of this, conceived a jealousy, and began to apprehend, that if Athens, which was already very powerful by sea, should go on to increase her strength by land also, she might take upon her in time to give laws to Sparta, and to deprive the latter of that authority and pre-eminence, which she had hitherto exercised over the rest of Greece. They therefore sent an embassy to the Athenians, the purport of which was to represent to them, that the common interest of Greece required, that there should be no fortified city out of the Peloponnesus, lest, in case of a second irruption, it should serve for a place of arms for the Persians, who would be sure to settle themselves in it, as they had done before at Thebes, and who from thence would be able to infest the whole country, and to make themselves masters of it very speedily. Themistocles, who since the battle of Salamis was greatly considered and respected at Athens, easily penetrated into the real design of the Lacedæmonians, though it was gilded over with the specious pretext of the public good: but, as the latter were able, with the assistance of their allies, to hinder the Athenians, by force, from carrying on the work, in case they should positively and absolutely refuse to comply with their demands, he advised the senate to make use of cunning and dissimulation as well as the Lacedæmonians. The answer therefore they made the envoys was, that they would send an embassy to Sparta, to satisfy the commonwealth with respect to their apprehensions and suspicions. Themistocles caused himself to be nominated one of the ambassadors, and warned the senate not to let his colleagues set out along with him, but to send them one after another, in order to gain time for carrying on the work. The matter was executed pursuant to his advice; and he accordingly went alone to Lacedæmon, where he let a great many days pass without waiting upon the magistrates, or applying to the senate. And, upon their pressing him to do it, and asking him the reason why he deferred it so long, he made answer, that he waited for the arrival of his colleagues, that they might all have their audience of the senate together, and seemed to be very much surprised that they were so long in coming. At length they arrived; but all came singly, and at a good distance of time one from another. During all this interval, the work was carried on at Athens with the utmost industry and vigour. The women, children, strangers, and slaves, were all employed in it; nor was it interrupted night or day. The Spartans were not ignorant of the matter, and made great complaints of it to Themistocles, who positively denied the fact, and pressed them to send other deputies to Athens, in order to inform themselves better on the subject, desiring them not to give credit to vague and flying reports, without foundation. At the same time he secretly advised the Athenians to detain the Spartan envoys as so many hostages, until he and his colleagues were returned from their embassy, fearing, not without good reason, that they themselves might be served in the same manner at Sparta. At last, when all his colleagues were arrived, he desired an audience, and declared, in full senate, that it was really true that the Athenians had the work was almost completed; that they had judged resolved to fortify their city with strong walls; that it to be absolutely necessary for their own security, and for the public good of the allies; telling them at the same time, that after the great experience they had had of the Athenian people's behaviour, they could not well suspect them of being wanting in zeal for the common interest of their country; that, as the condition and privileges of all the ailies

ought to be equal, it was just the Athenians should necessary that it should be carried on with the greatest provide for their own safety by all the methods they secrecy: he therefore desired they would appoint a judged necessary, as well as the other confederates; person to whom he might explain himself upon the matter in question. Aristides was unanimously that they had thought of this expedient, and were in a condition to defend their city against whosoever should pitched upon by the whole assembly, and they represume to attack it; and that as for the Lacedæmo-ferred themselves entirely to his opinion of the affair; nians, it was not much for their honour that they so great a confidence had they both in his probity and should desire to establish their power and superiority prudence. Themistocles, therefore, having taken him rather upon the weak and defenceless condition of aside, told him, that the design he had conceived was their allies, than upon their own strength and valour. to burn the fleet belonging to the rest of the Grecian The Lacedæmonians were extremely displeased with states, which then lay in a neighbouring port, and that this discourse: but either out of a sense of gratitude by this means Athens would certainly become mistress Aristides hereupon returned to the and esteem for the Athenians, who had rendered such of all Greece. important services to the country, or out of a convic- assembly, and only declared to them, that indeed tion of their inability to oppose their enterprise, they nothing could be more advantageous to the commondissembled their resentment; and the ambassadors on wealth than Themistocles's project; but that, at the both sides, having all suitable honours paid them, re- same time, nothing could be more unjust. All the turned to their respective cities. people unanimously ordained, that Themistocles should entirely desist from his project. We see in this instance, that it was not without some foundation that the title of Just was given to Aristides, even in his lifetime; a title, says Plutarch, infinitely superior to all those which conquerors pursue with so much ardour, and which in some measure approximates a man to the Divinity.

Themistocles, who had always his thoughts fixed upon raising and augmenting the power and glory of the Athenian commonwealth, did not confine his views to the walls of the city. He went on with the same vigorous application to finish the building and fortifications of the Piraeus; for, from the time that he had entered into office, he had begun that great work. Before his time they had no other port at Athens than that of Phalerus, which was neither very large nor commodious, and consequently not capable of answering the great designs of Themistocles. For this reason he had cast his eye upon the Piraeus, which seemed to invite him by its advantageous situation, and by the conveniency of its three spacious havens, that were capable of containing above 400 vessels. This undertaking was prosecuted with so much diligence and vivacity, that the work was considerably advanced in a very little time. Themistocles likewise obtained a decree, that every year they should build twenty vessels for the augmentation of their fleet; and in order to engage a greater number of workmen and sailors to resort to Athens, he caused particular privileges and immunities to be granted in their favour. His design was, as I have already observed, to make the whole force of Athens maritime; in which he followed a very different scheme from what had been pursued by their ancient kings, who, endeavouring all they could to alienate the minds of the citizens from seafaring business and from war, and to make them apply themselves wholly to agriculture and to peaceable employments, published this fable: that Minerva, disputing with Neptune to know which of them should be declared patron of Attica, and give their name to the city newly built, she gained her cause by showing her judges the branch of an olive-tree, the happy symbol of peace and plenty, which she had planted: whereas Neptune had made a fiery horse, the symbol of war and confusion, rise out of the earth before them.

I know not whether all history can afford us a fact more worthy of admiration than this. It is not a company of philosophers (to whom posts nothing to establish fine maxims and sublime notions of morality in the schools,) who determine on this occasion, that the consideration of profit and advantage ought never to prevail in preference to what is honest and just. It is an entire people, who are highly interested in the proposal made to them, who are convinced that it is of the greatest importance for the welfare of the state, and who notwithstanding reject it with unanimous consent and without a moment's hesitation, and that for this only reason, that it is contrary to justice. How black and perfidious, on the other hand, was the design which Themistocles proposed, of burning the fleet of their Grecian confederates, at a time of entire peace, solely to aggrandize the power of the Athenians! Had he a hundred times the merit that is ascribed to him, this single action would be sufficient to sully all the brilliancy of his glory. For it is the heart, that is to say, integrity and probity, that constitute true merit.

I am sorry that Plutarch, who generally judges of things with great justness, does not seem, on this occasion, to condemn Themistocles. After having spoken of the works he had constructed in the Piraeus, he goes on to the fact in question, of which he says, "Themistocles projected something still greater, for the augmentation of their maritime power."4

The Lacedæmonians having proposed, in the council of the Amphictyons, that all the cities which had not taken arms against Xerxes should be excluded from that assembly, Themistocles, who was appreSECTION XIII.—THE BLACK DESIGN OF THEMISTO-hensive that, if the Thessalians, the Argives, and the CLES REJECTED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE PEOPLE OF ATHENS. ARISTIDES'S CONDESCENSION TO THE PEO

PLE.

THEMISTOCLES,3 who had conceived in his breast the design of supplanting the Lacedæmonians, and of taking the Government of Greece out of their hands, in order to put it into those of the Athenians, kept his eye and his thoughts continually fixed upon that great project. And as he was not very nice or scrupulous in the choice of his measures, whatever tended towards the accomplishing of the end he had in view, he looked upon as just and lawful. On a certain day, then, he declared in a full assembly of the people, that he had planned a very important design, but that he could not communicate it to the people; because, in order to ensure success, it was

Graviter castigat eos, quòd non virtute, sed imbecillitate sociorum potentiam quærerent. Justin, 1. ii. c. 15. 2 Thucyd. p. 62, 63. Diod. 1. xi. p. 32, 33. * Plut, in Themist. p. 121, 122. In Arist. p. 332. VOL. I-30

Thebans were excluded that council, the Spartans would by that means become masters of the suffrages, and consequently determine all affairs according to their pleasure, made a speech in behalf of the cities whose exclusion was proposed, and brought the deputies that composed the assembly over to his sentiments. He represented to them, that the greatest part of the cities that had entered into the confederacy, which were but one-and-thirty in the whole, were very small and inconsiderable; that it would therefore be a very strange, as well as a very dangerous proceeding, to deprive all the other cities of Greece of their votes and places in the grand assembly of the nation, and by that means suffer the august council of the Amphictyons to fall under the direction and influence of two or three of the most powerful cities, which for the future would give law to all the rest, and would subvert and abolish that equality of power, which was

Meisov Ti dievohon. Plut, in Themist. p. 122.

justly regarded as the basis and soul of all republics. I ease and security, he made him governor of all the Themistocles, by this plain and open declaration of sea-coasts of Asia Minor. his opinion, drew upon himself the hatred of the Lacedæmonians, who from that time became his professed enemies. He had also incurred the displeasure of the rest of the allies, by the rigorous and rapacious manner in which he had exacted contributions from them.

Pausanias, who was already dazzled with the prospect of his future greatness, began from this moment to change his whole conduct and behaviour. The poor, modest, and frugal way of living at Sparta; the subjection to rigid and austere laws, which neither spared nor respected any man, but were altogether as When the city of Athens was entirely rebuilt, the inexorable and inflexible to the greatest as to those of people, finding themselves in a state of peace and the meanest condition; all this became insupportatranquillity, endeavoured by every method to get the ble to Pausanias. He could not bear the thoughts of government into their own hands, and to make the going back to Sparta, after having possessed such Athenian state an absolute democracy. This design high commands and employments, to return to a state of theirs, though planned with the utmost secrecy, of equality, that would confound him with the meandid not escape the vigilance and penetration of Aris-est of the citizens; and this was his inducement to tides, who saw all the consequences with which such enter into a treaty with the barbarians. He entirely an innovation would be attended. But, as he consi- laid aside the manners and behaviour of his country; dered on one hand, that the people were entitled to assumed both the dress and haughtiness of the Per some regard, on account of the valour they had shown sians, and imitated them in all their expensive luxury in all the battles which had been lately gained; and, and magnificence. He treated the allies with insufon the other, that it would be no easy matter to curb ferable rudeness and insolence; never spoke to the and restrain a people, who still in a manner had their officers but with menaces and arrogance; required arms in their hands, and who were grown more inso- extraordinary honours to be paid to him, and by his lent than ever, from their victories; on these conside- whole behaviour rendered the Spartan dominion odirations, he thought it proper to observe measures with ous to all the confederates. On the other hand, the them, and to find out some medium to satisfy and ap- courteous, affable, and engaging deportment of Árispease them. He therefore passed a decree, by which tides and Cimon; an infinite remoteness from all imit was ordained, that the offices of government should perious and haughty airs, which tend only to alienate be open to all the citizens, and that the archons, who the affections; a gentle, kind, and beneficent disposiwere the chief magistrates of the commonwealth, and tion, which showed itself in all their actions, and who used to be chosen only out of the richest of its which served to temper the authority of their commembers, viz. from amongst those only who received mands, and to render it both easy and amiable; the at least 500 medimni of grain as the produce of their justice and humanity, conspicuous in every thing they lands, should for the future be elected indifferently did; the great care they took to offend no person from the general body of the Athenians, without dis-whatsoever, and to do kind offices to all about them: tinction. By thus giving up something to the people, he prevented all dissensions and commotions, which might have proved fatal, not only to the Athenian state, but to all Greece.

SECTION XIV.-THE LACEDEMONIANS LOSE THE
CHIEF COMMAND, THROUGH THE PRIDE AND ARRO-
GANCE OF PAUSANIAS.

THE Grecians, encouraged by A. M. 3528. the happy success which had every Ant. J. C. 476. where attended their victorious arms, determined to send a fleet to sea, in order to deliver such of their allies, as were still under the yoke of the Persians, out of their hands. Pausanias was the commander of the fleet for the Lacedæmonians; and Aristides, and Cimon, the son of Miltiades, commanded for the Athenians. They first directed their course to the isle of Cyprus, where they restored all the cities to their liberty; then, steering towards the Hellespont, they attacked the city of Byzantium, of which they made themselves masters, and took a vast number of prisoners, a great part of whom were of the richest and most considerable families of Persia.

Pausanias, who from this time conceived thoughts of betraying his country, judged it proper to make use of this opportunity to gain the favour of Xerxes. To this end he caused a report to be spread among his troops, that the Persian noblemen, whom he had committed to the guard and care of one of his officers, had made their escape by night, and were fled; whereas he had set them at liberty himself, and sent a letter by them to Xerxes, wherein he offered to deliver the city of Sparta, and all Greece, into his hands, on condition he would give him his daughter in marriage. The king did not fail to give him a favourable answer, and to send him very large sums of money also, in order to win over as many of the Grecians as he should find disposed to enter into his designs. The person he appointed to manage this intrigue with him was Artabazus; and in order to enable him to transact the matter with the greater

all this hurt Pausanias exceedingly, by the contrast of their opposite characters, and increased the general discontent. At last this dissatisfaction publicly broke out; and all the allies deserted him, and put themselves under the command and protection of the Athenians. Thus did Aristides, says Plutarch, by the prevalence of that humanity and gentleness, which he opposed to the arrogance and roughness of Pausanias, and by inspiring Cimon his colleague with the same sentiments, insensibly draw off the minds of the allies from the Lacedæmonians without their perceiving it, and at length deprived them of the command; not by open force, or by sending out armies and fleets against them, and still less by making use of any artifice or perfidious practices; but by the wisdom and moderation of his conduct, and by rendering the government of the Athenians amiable.

It must be confessed, at the same time, that the Spartan people on this occasion showed a greatness of soul, and a spirit of moderation, that can never be sufficiently admired: for when they were convinced, that their commanders grew haughty and insolent from their too great authority, they willingly renounced the superiority which they had hitherto exercised over the rest of the Grecians, and forbore sending any more of their generals to command the Grecian armies, choosing rather, adds the historian, to have their citizens wise, modest, and submissive to the discipline and laws of the commonwealth, than to maintain their preeminence and superiority over all the other Grecian states.

SECTION XV.-PAUSANIAS'S SECRET CONSPIRACY

Thucyd. L. i. p. 63. 84, 86. Nep. in Pausan.

Cor