250 A. M. 3554. Ant. J. C. 450. 1 The instant Cimon returned, he stifled the sparks of war which were going to break out among the Greeks, reconciled the two cities, and prevailed with them to conclude a truce for five years. And to prevent the Athenians, who were grown haughty in consequence of the many victories they had gained, from having an opportunity, or harbouring a design, to attack their neighbours or allies, he thought it advisable to lead them at a great distance from home against the common enemy; thus endeavouring, in an honourable way, to inure the citizens to war, and enrich them at the same time. Accordingly, he put to sea with a fleet of 200 sail. He sent sixty of these into Egypt to the aid of Amyrteus, and himself sailed with the rest against the island of Cyprus. Artabazus was at that time in those seas with a fleet of 300 sail; and Megabyzus, the other general of Artaxerxes, with an army of 300,000 men, on the coast of Cilicia. As soon as the squadron which Cimon had sent into Egypt had joined his fleet, he sailed and attacked Artabazus, and took 100 of his ships. He sunk many of them, and chased the rest as far as the coast of Phoenicia. And as if this victory had been only a prelude to a second, he made a descent on Cilicia in his return, attacked Megabyzus, defeated him, and cut to pieces a prodigious number of his troops. He afterwards returned to Cyprus with this double triumph, and laid siege to Citium, a strong city of very great importance. His design, after he had completed the conquest of that island, was to sail for Egypt, and again embroil the affairs of the barbarians; for he had very extensive views, and meditated no less a project than that of entirely subverting the mighty empire of Persia. The rumours which prevailed, that Themistocles was to command against him, added fresh fire to his courage; and, almost assured of success, he was infinitely pleased with the occasion of trying his strength against that general. But we have already seen that Themistocles laid violent hands on himself about this time. Artaxerxes, tired with a war in which he had sus tained such great losses, resolved, with the advice of his council, to put an end to it. Accordingly he sent orders to his generals to conclude a peace with the Athenians, upon the most advantageous conditions they could. Megabyzus and Artabazus sent ambassa dors to Athens to propose an accommodation. Plenipotentiaries were chosen on both sides, and Callas was at the head of those of Athens. The conditions of the treaty were as follows: 1. That all the Grecian cities of Asia should enjoy their liberty, with such laws and forms of government as they should think fit to choose. 2. That no Persian ship of war should be allowed to enter the seas between the Cyanean and Chelidonian islands, that is, from the Euxine sea to the coasts of Pamphylia. 3. That no Persian general should advance any troops within three days' march of those seas. 4. That the Athenians should not invade any part of the dominions of the king of Persia. These articles being ratified by both parties, peace was proclaimed. Thus ended this war, which, from A. M. 3555. the burning of Sardis by the AtheniAnt. J.C. 449. ans, had lasted fifty-one years complete, and in which infinite numbers of Persians as well as Greeks had perished. Whilst this treaty was negotiating,3 Cimon died, either of sickness, or of a wound he had received at the siege of Citium. When he was near his end, he commanded his officers to sail with the fleet immediately for Athens, and to conceal his death with the utmost care. Accordingly it was executed with so much secrecy, that neither the enemies nor the allies Plut, in Cim. p. 490 Diod. 1. xii. p. 73, 74. Cimon was universally regretted ;4 which is no wonder, since he was possessed of all those qualities that dignify the soul; a most tender son, a faithful friend; a citizen zealous for the good of his country; a great politician, an accomplished general; modest when raised to the highest employments and most distinguished honours; liberal and beneficent almost to profusion; simple, and averse to ostentation of every kind, even in the midst of riches and abundance; in fine, so great a lover of the poor citizens, as to share his whole estate with them, without being ashamed of such companions of his fortune. History mentions no statues or monuments erected to his memory, nor any magnificent obsequies celebrated after his death; but the greatest honour that could be paid him was the sighs and tears of the people; these were permanent and lasting statues,5 which are not obnoxious to the inclemencies of weather, or the injuries of time, and endear the memory of the good For the most and virtuous to the remotest ages. splendid mausoleums, the works of brass and marble, that are raised in honour of wicked great men, are despised by posterity, as sepulchres which enclose nothing but vile dust and putrefaction. What followed proved more strongly the loss which Greece had sustained by his death; for Cimon was the last of all the Grecian generals who did any thing considerable or glorious against the barbarians. Excited by the orators, who gained the strongest ascendant over the minds of the people, and sowed the seeds of division in their public assemblies, they turned their animosity against each other, and at last proceeded to open war, the fatal consequences of which no one endeavoured to prevent; a circumstance that was of great advantage to the king of Persia, and of the utmost prejudice to the affairs of Greece. SECTION X.-THUCYDIDES IS OPPOSED TO PERI CLES. THE ENVY RAISED AGAINST THE LATTER. The nobles of Athens seeing Pericles raised to the highest degree of power, and far above all the rest of the citizens, resolved to oppose to him a man who, in some measure, might make head against him, and prevent his authority from growing up to monarchy. Accordingly they opposed to him Thucyclides, Cimon's brother-in-law, a man who had displayed his wisdom on numberless occasions. He did not indeed possess the military talents of Pericles; but then be had as great influence over the people; shaping their opinions, and directing their assemblies as he pleased: and as he never stirred out of the city, but continually combated Pericles in all his designs, he soon restored things to an equilibrium. On the other side, Pericles was solicitous of pleasing the people on all occasions, and slackened the rein more than ever; entertaining them as often as possible with shows, festivals, games, and other diversions. He found means to maintain, during eight months in the year, a great number of poor citizens, by putting them on board a fleet consisting of threescore ships, which he fitted out every year; and thereby did his country an important service, by training up a great number of excellent seamen for its defence. He also planted several colonies in Chersonesus, in Naxos, in Andros, and among the Bisaltæ in Thrace. He sent a very numerous one to Italy, of which we shall soon have occasion to speak, and which built Thurium. Pericles had various views in settling those colonies, besides the particular design he might have of gaining the affections of the people by that means. motives were to clear the city of a great number of idle persons who were ever ready to disturb the go His chief vernment; to relieve the wants of the lowest class of people, who before were unable to maintain themselves; in fine, to awe the allies, by settling native Athenians among them, as so many garrisons, which might prevent their engaging in any measures contrary to the interest of that people. The Romans acted in the same manner; and it may be said that so wise a policy was one of the most effectual methods used by them to secure the tranquillity of the state. land carriage, as cartwrights, waggoners, carters, ropemakers, stone-hewers, paviors, and minors. That it was for the advantage of the state to, employ these different artificers and workmen, who, as so many separate bodies, formed, when united, a kind of peaceable and domestic army, whose different functions and employments diffused gain and increase throughout all sexes and ages: lastly, that whilst men of robust bodies, and of an age fit to bear arms, whether soldiers But the circumstance which did Pericles the great- or mariners, and those who were in the different garriest honour in the opinion of the people, was his adorn- sons, were supported with the public moneys; it was ing the city with magnificent edifices and other works, but just, that the rest of the people who lived in the which raised the admiration and astonishment of all city, should also be maintained in their way; and foreigners, and gave them a grand idea of the power that, as all were members of the same republic, they of the Athenians. It is surprising that in so short a all ought to reap the same advantages, by doing it space so many works of architecture, sculpture, en-services, which, though of a different kind, did howgraving, and painting, should be performed, and at ever all contribute either to its security or ornament. the same time be carried to the highest perfection: for One day, as the debates were growing warm, Periit is generally found, that edifices, raised in haste, cles offered to defray all the expense of these buildboast neither a solid and durable grace, nor the regu-ings, provided it should be declared in the public inlar accuracy of perfect beauty. Commonly, nothing scriptions, that he alone had been at the charge of but length of time joined to assiduous labour, can them. At these words, the people, either admiring give them such strength as may preserve, and make his magnanimity, or fired with emulation and deterthem triumph over ages; and this raises our wonder mined not to let him engross that glory, cried with still more in regard to the works of Pericles, which one voice, that he might take out of the public treasuwere finished with so much rapidity, and have never- ry all the sums necessary for his purpose. theless subsisted through so great a length of time. For each of those works, the very instant it was finished, had the beauty of an antique; and at this very day, says Plutarch, above 500 years after, they retain a freshness and youth as if just come out of the artist's hands; so happily do they preserve the graces and charms of novelty, which will not suffer time to diminish their lustre; as if an ever-blooming spirit, and a sou! exempt from age, were diffused into every part of those works. Phidias the celebrated sculptor presided over all these works as dictator-general. It was he in particular who formed the statue of Pallas, which was so highly valued by all the judges of antiquity. It was made of gold and ivory,2 and was twenty-six cubits, or thirty-nine feet, in height. There arose an incredible ardour and emulation among the several artificers, who all strove to excel each other, and immortalize their names by master-pieces of art. The Odeon, or music-theatre, which had a great But that circumstance, which excited the admira- number of rows of seats and columns within it, and tion of the whole world, raised the jealousy of the whose roof grew narrower by degrees, and terminated people against Pericles. His enemies were for ever in a point, was built, as history informs us, after the crying aloud in the assemblies, that it was dishonour- model of King Xerxes's tent, according to the direcable to the Athenians, to appropriate to themselves tion of Pericles. It was at that time he proposed, the bank of all Greece, which he had sent for from with great warmth, a decree, by which it was ordainDelos, where it had been deposited; that the allies ed, that musical games should be celebrated on the must necessarily consider such an attempt as a mani- festival called Panathenæa; and having been chosen fest tyranny, when they found that the sums which the judge and distributor of the prizes, he regulated had been extorted from them upon pretence of their the manner in which musicians should play on the being employed in the war, were laid out by the Athe-flute and the lyre, as well as sing. From that time, the nians in gilding and embellishing their city, in mak- musical games were always exhibited in this theatre. ing magnificent statues, and raising temples that cost I have already taken notice, that the more the beaumillions. They did not exaggerate on these occa- ty and splendour of these works were admired, the sions; for the temple of Minerva, called the Parthe-greater envy and clamour were raised against Perinon, had alone cost 3,000,000 livres.1 cles. The orators of the opposite faction were eterPericles, on the contrary, remonstrated to the Athe-nally exclaiming against him; accusing him of squannians, that they were not obliged to give the allies an account of the moneys they had received from them; that it was enough they defended them from, and repulsed, the barbarians, whilst the allies furnished neither soldiers, horses, nor ships; and were excused for some sums of money, which, from the instant they were paid in, were no longer the property of the donors, but of those who received them, provided they performed the conditions agreed upon, and in consideration of which they were received. He added, that as the Athenians were sufficiently provided with all things necessary for war, it was but just that they should employ the rest of their riches in edifices and other works, which, when finished, would give immortal glory to the city; and which, during the whole time they were carrying on, diffused a general plenty, and gave bread to an infinite number of citizens; that they themselves had all kinds of materials, as timber, stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, and cypress wood; and all sorts of artificers capable of working them, as carpenters, masons, smiths, stone-cutters, dyers, goldsmiths, artificers in ebony, painters, embroiderers, and turners; men fit to convey these materials by sea, as merchants, sailors, and experienced pilots; others, for 1 About 145,000l, sterling. dering the public moneys, and laying out very unseasonably the revenues of the state in edifices, whose magnificence was of no use. At last, the rupture between him and Thucydides rose to such a height, that one or other of them must necessarily be banished by the ostracism. He got the better of Thucydides; prevailed to have him banished; crushed by that means the faction which opposed him, and obtained a despotic authority over the city and government of Athens. He now disposed at pleasure of the public moneys, troops, and ships. The islands and sea were subject to him; and he reigned singly and alone in that wide domain, which extended not only over the Greeks, but the barbarians also, and which was cemented and strengthened by the obedience and fidelity of the conquered nations, by the friendship of kings, and treaties concluded with various princes. Historians highly extol the magnificent edifices and other works with which Pericles adorned Athens, and I have related faithfully their testimony; but I do not know whether the complaints and murmurs raised against him were so very ill grounded. Was it, in 2 Non Minervæ Athenis facta amplitudine utemur, cùm ea sit cubitorum xxvi. Ebore hæc et auro constat. Plin 1. xxxvi. c. 5. deed, just in him to expend, in superfluous buildings and vain decorations, the immense sums intended as a fund for carrying on the war?1 and would it not have been better to have eased the allies of part of the contributions, which in Pericles's administration, were raised to a third part more than before? Cicero considers only such edifices and other works worthy of admiration, as are of use to the public, as aqueducts, city walls, citadels, arsenals, sea-ports; and among these we must rank the work made by Pericles to join Athens to the port of Piraeus. But Cicero observes, at the same time, that Pericles was blamed for squandering away the public treasure, merely to embellish the city with superfluous ornaments. Plato, who formed a judgment of things, not from their outward splendour, but from truth, observes, (after his master Socrates,) that Pericles, wit all his grand edifices and other works, had not improved the mind of one of the citizens in virtue, but rather corrupted the purity and simplicity of their ancient manners. SECTION XI.—PERICLES CHANGES HIS CONDUCT TOWARDS THE PEOPLE. HIS PRODIGIOUS AUTHORI- is very essential to statesmen ;5 a quality well adapted to win the esteem and confidence of the public, and which supposes a great superiority of mind; and that is, for a man to be fully persuaded that he wants the counsels of others, and is not able to manage and direct all things alone; to associate with himself in his labours persons of merit, to employ each of these according to his talents; and to leave to them the management of small matters, which only consume time, and deprive him of that liberty of mind, which is so necessary in the conduct of important affairs. Such a conduct, says Plutarch, is productive of two great advantages. First, it extinguishes, or at least deadens, the force of envy and jealousy, by dividing, in some measure, a power, which is grating and offensive to our self-love when we see it united in one single person, as if all merit centred in him alone. Secondly, it forwards and facilitates the execution of affairs, and makes their success more certain. Plutarch, the better to explain his thought, employs a very natural and beautiful comparison. The hand, says he, from its being divided into five fingers, is so far from being weaker, that it is the stronger, the more active, and better adapted to motion, on that very account. It is the same with a statesman, who WHEN Pericles saw himself thus invested with the has the skill to divide his cares and functions in a whole authority, he began to change his behaviour. proper manner, and who by that means makes his He now was not so mild and affable as before, nor authority more active, more extensive and decisive: did he submit or abandon himself any longer to the whereas, the indiscreet eagerness of a narrow-minded whims and caprice of the people, as to so many man, who takes umbrage at, and wishes to engross winds; but drawing in, says Plutarch, the reins of every thing, serves to no other purpose but to set his this too loose, popular government, in the same man-weakness and incapacity in a stronger light, and to ner as we screw up the strings of an instrument when too slack, he changed it into an aristocracy, or rather a kind of monarchy, without departing however from the public good. Choosing always what was most expedient, and becoming irreproachable in all things, he gained so mighty an ascendant over the minds of the people, that he turned and directed them at plea sure. Sometimes, by his bare advice, and by persuasive methods, he would win them over gently to his will, and gain their assent spontaneously; at other times, when he found them obstinate, he would in a manner drag them forward against their will, to those measures which were most expedient; imitating in this respect a skilful physician, who, in a tedious and stubborn disease, knows at what time it is proper for him to indulge his patient in innocent things that are pleasing to him; at what time afterwards he must administer medicines of a strong and violent nature, which indeed put him to pain, but are alone capable of restoring his health. And, indeed, it is manifest that the utmost skill and abilities were required to manage and govern a populace haughty from their power and exceedingly capricious; and in this respect Pericles succeeded wonderfully. He used to employ, according to the different situation of things, sometimes hope and at other times fear, as a double helm, either to check the wild transports and impetuosity of the people, or to raise their spirits when dejected and desponding. By this conduct he showed that eloquence, as Plato observes, is only the art of directing the minds of people at will; and that the chief excellency of this art consists in moving, seasonably, the various passions, whether gentle or violent; which being to the soul what strings are to a musical instrument, need only to be touched by an ingenious and skilful hand to produce their effect. It must nevertheless be confessed, that the circumstance which gave Pericles this great authority, was, not only the force of his eloquence; but, as Thucydides observes, the reputation of his life, and great probity. Plutarch points out in Pericles one quality which 1 They amounted to upwards of 10,000,000 French moLib, ii. Offic. n. 60. ney. In Gorg. p 515. In Alcib, c, i. p. 119. • Plut, in Periel. p. 161. disconcert his affairs. But Pericles, says Plutarch,. did not act in this manner. Like a skilful pilot, who, though he stand almost motionless himself, however puts every thing in motion, and will sometimes seat subaltern officers at the helm; so Pericles was the soul of the government; and, seeming to do nothing of himself, he actuated and governed all things; employing the eloquence of one man, the credit and interest of another, the prudence of a third, and the bravery and courage of a fourth. To what has been here related, we may add another quality, which is no less rare and valuable, I mean, a noble and disinterested soul. Pericles was so averse to the receiving of gifts, had such an utter contempt for riches, and was so far above all rapaciousness and avarice, that though he had raised Athens to the richest and most flourishing state; though his power surpassed that of many tyrants and kings; though he had long disposed in an absolute manner of the treasures of Greece, he did not, however, add a single drachma to the estate he inherited from his father. This was the source, the true cause, of the supreme authority of Pericles in the republic; the just and deserved fruit of his integrity and perfect disinterestedness. the first impressions of rising favour, which are gene- domestics; and at last die overwhelmed with debts, leaving their name and memory to the detestation of their unfortunate creditors, of whose ruin they have been the cause. I shall not expatiate on another extreme, to which this negligence and want of economy generally lead, I mean rapine, a love of gifts, and exactions; for here, as well as in the management of the public moneys, the maxim of Tacitus holds good, viz. that when a man has squandered away his estate, he then makes it his whole study to retrieve the loss of it by all sorts of methods, not excepting the most criminal. as far as Acarnania and Ambracia. The last five were ordered to cross Euboea, and go to the people of mount Eta, and those of the gulf of Malea, and to the inhabitants of Phthiotis, of Achaia, and of Thessaly; to induce the several nations to come to the assembly convened at Athens, and to assist at the debates which should be there carried on concerning peace and the general affairs of Greece. I judged it necessary to enter into this detail, as it shows how far the power of the Greeks extended, and the authority which the Athenians enjoyed among them. domestic concerns:2 and his administration of public affairs is no less worthy of admiration. The Lacedæmonians beginning to grow jealous of the prosperity of the Athenians, and to take umbrage at it; Pericles, to inspire his citizens with greater courage and magnanimity, published a decree, importing, that notice should be sent to all the Greeks inhabiting either Europe or Asia, and to all the cities great or small, to send immediately deputies to Athens, to debate on the means of rebuilding the temples that had been burnt by the barbarians; and of performing the sacrifices which they had engaged themselves to offer up, for the Pericles knew much better the use which a states- preservation and safety of Greece, when war was carman ought to make of riches. He was sensible that rying on against them; as also, to consider the neceshe ought to expend them in the service of the public, sary expedients for establishing such an order and in procuring of able men to assist him in the adminis- discipline in their navy, that all ships might sail in tration; in relieving good officers, who too often are safety, and the Greeks live in peace one with another. destitute of the favours of fortune; in rewarding and Accordingly, twenty persons were chosen for this encouraging merit of every kind, and a thousand such embassy, each of whom was upwards of fifty years of things; to which doubtless, either on account of the age. Five of these were sent to the Ionians and Doriexquisite joy they give or the solid glory that results ans of Asia, and the inhabitants of the islands as far as from them, no one will be so thoughtless as to com- Lesbos and Rhodes; five to the countries of the Hel pare the expenses lavished away in entertainments, lespont and Thrace, as far as Byzantium. Five were equipages, or gaming. In this view, Pericles manag-ordered to go to Boeotia, to Phocis, and Peloponneed his own estate with the utmost economy; having sus; and from thence, by the country of the Locrians, himself taught one of his old servants to take care of to proceed to the several cities of the upper continent his domestic concerns; and he always had the account brought him, at stated times, of all sums that had been received as well as expended; confining himself and his family to a decent subsistence (from which he banished severely all superfluities of a vain and ostentatious kind,) suitable to his estate and condition. This way of life, indeed, did by no means please his children when they were come to years of maturity, and much less his wife. They thought Pericles did not live at a sufficient expense for persons of their rank; and mur mured at that low and sordid economy, as they called it, which carried no air of the plenty which generally reigns in houses where riches and authority are united. However, Pericles paid little regard to these complaints, and directed his conduct by far superior views. I believe we may apply, on this occasion, a very just remark of Plutarch, in his parallel of Aristides and Cato. After saying, that political virtue, or the art of governing cities and kingdoms, is the greatest and most perfect that man can acquire, he adds, that economy is not one of the least considerable branches of this virtue. And indeed, as riches are one of the means which may most contribute to the security or ruin of a state; the art that teaches to dispose and make a good use of them, and which is called economy, is certainly a branch of politics; and not one of the least considerable branches of it, since great wisdom is required, in order to the observing a just medium on these occasions, and to the banishing poverty and too great opulence from a country. It is this art, which, by avoiding industriously all trifling and needless expenses, prevents a magistrate from being forced to overburden a people with taxes; and keeps always in reserve, in the public coffers, money sufficient for the supporting a war that may break out, or for providing against any unforeseen emergency. Now what is said of a kingdom or a city, may be said also of individuals. For a city, which is composed of an assemblage of houses, and which forms a whole of several parts united, is either powerful or weak in the aggregate, in proportion as all the members of which it consists are powerful or weak. Pericles certainly acquitted himself well with regard to that part of this science which relates to the government of a family: but I do not know whether the same may be said of his administration of the public revenues. SECTION XII.-JEALOUSY AND CONTESTS ARISE BETWEEN THE ATHENIANS AND LACEDÆMONIANS. A Such was the conduct of Pericles with respect to his Si ambitione ærariu mexhauserimus, per scelera sup plendum erit. Tacit. Annal. 1, ii. c. 38. But all these solicitations were in vain; as the cities did not send their deputies, which, according to historians, was owing to the opposition made by the Lacedæmonians, a circumstance we are not to wonder at. They were sensible that Pericles's design was to have Athens acknowledged as mistress and soverereign of all the other Grecian cities; and Lacedæmon was far from allowing it that honour. A secret leaven of dissension had, for some years, begun to disturb the tran quillity of Greece; and we shall find by the sequel, that this discord augmented continually. Pericles had acquired great fame for the wisdom with which he formed and conducted his enterprises. The troops reposed the highest confidence in him, and followed him with full assurance of success. His chief maxim in war was, never to venture a battle unless he were almost certain of victory, and not to lavish the blood of the citizens. He used to say frequently, that were it in its power they should be immortal; that trees when felled shoot to life again in a little time, but when once men die they are lost for ever. A victory that was only the effect of fortunate temerity, appeared to him little worthy of praise, though it often was much admired. His expedition into the Thracian Chersonesus did him great honour, and was of great advantage to all the Greeks of that country; for he not only strengthened the Grecian cities of that peninsula, by the colonies of the Athenians which he carried thither, but also shut up the isthmus with a strong wall, with forts at proper distances from sea to sea; securing by that means the whole country from the perpetual incursions of the Thracians, who were very near neighbours to it. He also sailed with 100 ships round Peloponnesus, spreading the terror of the Athenian arms wherever he came, the success of which was not once interrupted on this occasion. He advanced as far as the kingdom of Pontus with a large, well-manned, and magnificent fleet; and 2 Plut. in Pericl. p. 162. granted the Grecian cities all they thought fit to ask of him. At the same time he displayed to the barbarian nations in that neighbourhood, to their kings and princes, the greatness of the power of the Athenians; and proved to them, by the security with which he sailed to all parts, that they possessed the empire of the seas without a rival. But so constant and shining a fortune began to dazzle the eyes of the Athenians. Intoxicated with the idea of their power and grandeur, they now revolved nothing but the boldest and most lofty projects. They were for ever talking of new attempts upon Egypt; of attacking the maritime provinces of the great king; of carrying their arms into Sicily (a fatal and unhappy design, which at that time did not take effect, though it was revived soon after,;) and of extending their conquests towards Hetruria on one side, and Carthage on the other. Pericles was far from giving in to such idle views, or supporting them with his credit and approbation. On the contrary, his whole study was to damp that restless ardour, and check an ambition which no longer knew either bounds or measure. It was his opinion, that the Athenians ought to employ their forces for the future, only in securing and preserving their present acquisitions; and he thought he had gained a great point in restraining the power of the Lacedæmonians, the reducing of which he always meditated; and this was particularly seen in the sacred war. This name was given to the war which was raised on account of Delphi.2 The Lacedæmonians having entered armed into the country where that temple is situated, had dispossessed the people of Phocis of the superintendence of that temple, and bestowed it on the Delphians. As soon as they had left it, Pericles went thither with an army and restored the Phocians. Euboea having rebelled at the same time, Pericles was obliged to march thither with an army. He was no sooner arrived there, than news was brought that the inhabitants of Megara had taken up arms, and that the Lacedæmonians, headed by Plistonax their king, were on the frontiers of Attica. This obliged him to quit Eubea, and to go with all possible expedition to defend his country. The Lacedæmonian army being retired, he returned against the rebels, and again subjected all the cities of Euboea to the Athenians. After this expedition,3 a truce of A. M. 3558. thirty years was concluded between Ant. J. C. 446. the Athenians and Lacedæmonians. This treaty restored tranquillity for the present; but as it did not descend to the root of the evil, nor cure the jealousy and enmity of the two nations, this calm was not of long duration. SECTION XIII.-NEW SUBJECTS OF CONTENTION BETWEEN THE TWO NATIONS, OCCASIONED BY THE ATHENIANS LAYING SIEGE TO SAMOS; BY THEIR SUCCOURING THE PEOPLE OF CORCYRA, AND BESIEG ING POTIDÆA. AN OPEN RUPTURE ENSUES. THE Athenians,4 six years after, A. M. 3564. took up arms against Samos in faAnt. J. C. 440. vour of Miletus. These two cities were contesting for that of Priene, to which each claimed a right. It is pretended, that Pericles kindled this war to please a famous courtesan, of whom he was very fond; her name was Aspasia, a native of Miletus. After several events and battles, Pericles besieged the capital of the island of Samos. It is said, that this was the first time he used military engines, as battering-rams and tortoises, invented by Artemon the engineer, who was lame, and therefore was always carried in a chair to the batteries, whence he was surnamed Periphoretus. The use of these machines had been long known in the East. The Samians, after sustaining a nine months' siege, surrendered; Pericles razed their walls, dispossessed them of their ships, and demanded immense sums to defray the expenses of the war. Part of these sums they paid down; agreed to disburse the rest at a certain time, and gave hostages by way of security for the payment. A. M. 3572. After the reduction of Samos, Pericles being returned to Athens, in a splendid manner celebrated the obsequies of those who had lost their lives in this war, and pronounced in person the funeral oration over their graves. This custom, which he first introduced, was afterwards regularly observed. The senate of the Areopagus always appointed the orator on these occasions. He was chosen, ten years after, for the like ceremony in the beginning of the Peloponnesian war. Pericles, who foresaw that a rupture would soon ensue between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, advised the former to send aid to the people of Corcyra, whom the Corinthians had invaded; and to win over to their interest that island, which was so very formidable at sea; foretelling them, that they would shortly be attacked by the nations of the Peloponnesus. The occasion of the quarrel between the people of Corcyra and Corinth, which gave rise to the Peloponnesian war, one of the most considerable events in the Grecian history, was as follows. Ant. J. C. 432. Epidamnum,6 a maritime city of Macedonia among the Taulantii, was a colony of Corcyreans, founded by Phalius of Corinth. This city having become in process of time very populous and powerful, divisions arose in it, and the common people expelled the most wealthy inhabitants, who went over to the neighbouring nations, and infested them greatly by their incursions. In this extremity they first had recourse to the Corcyreans, and being refused by them, they addressed the Corinthians, who took them under their protection, sent succours to them, and settled other inhabitants in their city. But they did not continue long unmolested there, the Corcyreans besieging it with a large fleet. The people of Corinth hastened to its aid, but having been defeated at sea, the city surrendered that very day, upon condition that the foreigners should be slaves, and the Corinthians prisoners till farther or ders. The Corcyreans erected a trophy, murdered all their prisonets except the Corinthians, and laid waste the whole country. The year after the battle, the Corinthians raised a greater army than the former, and fitted out a new fleet. The people of Corcyra, finding it would be impossible for them to make head alone against such powerful enemies, sent to the Athenians to desire their alliance. The treaty of peace concluded between the states of Greece, left such Grecian cities as had not declared themselves on either side, the liberty of joining whom they pleased, or of standing neuter. This the Corcyreans had hitherto done, judging it their interest not to espouse any party; in consequence of which they had hitherto been without allies. They now sent for this purpose to Athens; and the Corinthians hearing of it, sent deputies thither also on their part. The affair was debated with great warmth in the presence of the people, who heard the reasons on both sides, and it was twice discussed in the assembly. The Athenians declared the first time in favour of the Corinthians; but afterwards changing their opinion (doubtless in consequence of the remonstran ces of Pericles,) they received the Corcyreans into their alliance. However, they did not go so far as to conclude a league offensive and defensive with them (for they could not declare war against Corinth with Thucyd. I. i. p. 17-37. Diod. L. xii. p. 90-93. Plut. Thucyd. 1. i, p. 75. Diod. p. 87. Thucyd. 1. i. p. 75, 76. Diod. I. xii. p. 88, 89. Plut. in Pericl. p. 167. in Pericl. p. 165-167. |