308 go by land escorted by his troops to defend it against the attacks of the enemy. For either Agis would suffer it to pass quietly, notwithstanding the numerous troops he had at Decelia, which would considerably lessen the reputation of that king, and sully his glory; or, if he should choose to attack it, and oppose the march, he should then have the satisfaction to fight a sacred battle-a battle grateful to the gods, for the greatest and most venerable of all their mysteries, in the sight of his country and citizens, who would be witnesses of his valour and regard for religion. It is very likely, that by this public and ostentatious act of piety, which struck the people's view in so sensible a manner, and was so extremely to their taste, Alcibiades's principal design was to efface entirely from their minds the suspicions of impiety, to which the mutilation of the statues, and profanation of the mysteries, had given birth. Having taken that resolution, he gave notice to the Eumolpide and Ceryces to hold themselves in readiness, posted sentinels upon the hills, sent out scouts at the break of day, and taking with him the priests, the initiated, and the probationers, with those who initiated them, he covered them with his army, and conducted the whole pomp with wonderful order and profound silence. Never was show, says Plutarch, more august, nor more worthy the majesty of the gods, than this warlike procession, and religious expedition; in which even those who envied the glory of Alcibiades were obliged to own, that he was no less happy in discharging the functions of a high priest than those of a general. No enemy dared to appear, or disturb that pompous march, and Alcibiades reconducted the sacred troop to Athens with entire safety. This success gave him new courage, and raised the valour and boldness of his army to such a degree, that they looked upon themselves as invincible, whilst he commanded them. the command of the fleet. When he arrived at Ept esus, he found the city very well disposed towards him. self, and well affected to Sparta; but otherwise in a very unhappy situation. For it was in danger of be coming barbarous, by assuming the manners and customs of the Persians, who had great intercourse with it, as well as from the neighbourhood of Lydia, as because the king's generals commonly took up their winter quarters there. An idle and voluptuous life, filled up with luxury and empty show, could not fail of disgusting infinitely a man like Lysander, who had been bred from his birth in the simplicity, poverty, and severe discipline of Sparta. Having brought his army to Ephesus, he gave orders for assembling ships of burden there from all parts, erecting an arsenal for building of galleys, made the ports free for merchants, gave up the squares and public places to artificers, put all the arts in motion, and held them in honour; and by these means filled the city with riches, and laid the foundations of that grandeur and magnificence to which it afterwards attained. So great a change can the application and ability of a single person occasion in a state! Whilst he was making these dispositions, he received advice, that Cyrus, the king's youngest son, was arrived at Sardis. That prince could not be above sixteen years old at that time, being born after his father's accession to the throne, who was now in the seventeenth year of his reign. Parysatis, his mother, loved him to idolatry, and she had the entire ascendant over her husband. It was she that occasioned his having the command in chief of all the provinces of Asia Minor given him-a command that subjected all the provincial governors of the most important part of the empire to his authority. The view of Parysatis was, without doubt, to put this young prince into a condition to dispute the throne with his brother after the king's death, as we shall see he actually did. One of the principal instructions given him by his father, upon sending him to his government, was to give effectual aid to the Lacedæmonians against Athens-an order very contrary to the measures ob. served till then by Tissaphernes, and the other governors of those provinces. It had always been their maxim, sometimes to assist one party, sometimes the other, in order to hold their power in such a balance that the one might never be able to crush the other entirely: from whence it followed, that both parties were kept weak by the war, and neither were in a condition to form any enterprises against the Persian He acquired the affection of the poor, and the lower sort of people so much, that they most ardently desired to have him for their king. Many of them openly declared themselves to that effect; and there were some who addressed themselves to him, and exhorted him to set himself above envy, and not to trouble himself about laws, decrees, or suffrages; to put down those wordy impertinent orators that disturbed the state with their vain harangues, to make himself absolute master of affairs, and to govern with entire authority, without fearing accusers. For him, what his thoughts of the tyranny and his designs were, are unknown; but the most powerful citizens, appre-empire hending the breaking out of a fire, of which they already saw the sparks, pressed him to depart without delay; granting whatever he demanded, and giving him for colleagues, the generals most agreeable to him. He set sail accordingly with 100 ships, and streered for the island of Andros, that had revolted. His high reputation, and the good fortune that had attended him in all his enterprises, made nothing but what was great and extraordinary to be expected from Upon Lysander's being apprized, therefore, of the arrival of Cyrus at Sardis, he set out from Ephesus to make him a visit, and to complain of the delays and breach of faith of Tissaphernes, who, notwithstanding the orders he had received to support the Lacedæmonians, and to drive the Athenians from the sea, had always covertly favoured the latter, out of regard for Alcibiades, to whom he was entirely devoted, and had been the sole cause of the loss of the fleet, by not supplying it with the necessary quantity of provisions. This discourse pleased Cyrus, who looked upon Tissaphernes as a very bad man, and his particular enemy. And he answered, that the king had given him orders to support the Lacedæmonians powerfully, and that he had received 500 talents for that purpose.2 Lysander, contrary to the common character of the Spartans, was submissive and condescending, full of complaisance to the great, always ready to pay his court to them, and supporting, for the good of the service, all the weight of their haughtiness and vanity with incredible patience; in which behaviour some people make the chief address and principal merit of a courtier to consist. He did not forget himself on this occasion, and setting at work all that the industry and art of a complete courtier could suggest of flattery and insinuation, * Five hundred thousand crowns, about 112,500l. sterling. he perfectly gained the young prince's favour and good opinion. After having praised his generosity, magnificence, and zeal for the Lacedæmonians, he desired him to give each soldier and mariner a drachmal per day; in order to corrupt those of the enemy by that means, and thereby terminate the war the sooner. Cyrus very much approved the project; but said, he could make no change in the king's order, and that the treaty with them expressly settled only half a talents to be paid monthly for each galley. The prince, however, at the end of the banquet which he gave him before his departure, drinking to his health, and pressing him to ask something of him, Lysander desired that an obolus a day might be added to the seamen's pay. This was granted, and he gave them four oboli, instead of three, which they received before, and paid them all the arrears due to them, with a month's advance; giving Lysander 10,000 daricks4 for that purpose; that is 100,000 livres, or about 50001. sterling. This largess filled the whole fleet with ardour and alacrity, and almost unmanned the enemy's galleys; the greatest part of the mariners deserting to that side where the pay was best. The Athenians, in despair upon receiving this news, endeavoured to conciliate Cyrus by the interposition of Tissaphernes; but he would not hearken to them, notwithstanding that satrap represented, that it was not for the king's interest to aggrandize the Lacedæmonians, but to balance the power of one side with that of the other, in order to perpetuate the war, and to ruin both by their own divisions. from having been common seamen, were now the only persons in credit about him; that he abandoned his whole authority to them, to be at leisure to enrich himself in the provinces, and to plunge himself there into intemperance and all other infamous excesses, to the disgrace of Athens, whilst his fleet was left neglected in the face of that of the enemy. Another article of accusation against him was taken from the forts he had built near the city of Byzantium, for an asylum and retreat for himself; as neither being able nor willing to return any more to his country. The Athenians, a capricious, inconstant people, gave credit to all these imputations. The loss of the last battle, and his little success since his departure from Athens, instead of the great and wonderful actions expected from him, entirely sunk him in their opinions; and his own glory and reputation may be said to have occasioned his ruin. For he was suspected of not having been desirous to do what was not done, which they could not believe out of, his power, because they were fully persuaded, that nothing he desired to do was impossible to him. They made it a crime in Alcibiades, that the rapidity of his conquests did not correspond with that of their imaginations; not considering, that he made war without money upon a people who had the great king for their treasurer, and that he was often obliged to quit his camp, to go in quest of what was necessary for the payment and subsistence of his troops. However, Alcibiades was deposed, and ten generals nominated in his stead; of which when he received advice, he retired in his galley to some castles which he had in the Thracian Chersonesus. About this time died Plistonax,6 one of the kings of Lacedæmonia, and was succeeded by Pausanias, who swer to one who asked, why it was not permitted to make any change in the ancient customs of Sparta : Because, says he, at Sparta the laws command men, and not men the laws." Though Lysander had considerably weakened the enemy, by augmenting the mariners' pay, and thereby very much hurt their naval power, he dared not how-reigned fourteen years. The latter made a fine anever hazard a battle with them, particularly dreading Alcibiades, who was a man of execution, had the greater number of ships, and had never been overthrown in any battle, either by sea or land. But after Alcibiades had left Samos to go into Phocæa and Ionia, to raise money of which he was in want, for the payment of his troops, and had given the command of his fleet to Antiochus, with express order not to fight or attack the enemy in his absence; the new commander, to make a show of his courage, and to brave Lysander, entered the port of Ephesus with two galleys, and after having made a great noise, retired with loud laughter, and an air of contempt and insult. Lysander, enraged at that affront, immediately detached some galleys, and went himself in pursuit of him. But as the Athenians advanced to support Antiochus, he ordered other galleys of his side to come, till the whole fleet arrived by little and little, and the engagement became general on both sides. Lysander gained the victory, and having taken fifteen of the Athenian galleys, he erected a trophy. Alcibiades, on his return to Samos, sailed even into the port to offer him battle; but Lysander was contented with his victory, and did not think proper to accept it; so that he retired without doing any thing. Lysander, who intended to establish the government of the nobility in all the cities in the dependence of Sparta, that the governors of his choosing might be always at his disposal, from his having rendered them independent of the people, caused such persons as he knew to be the boldest, and most enterprising and ambitious among the principal men of the cities, to come to Ephesus. These he placed at the head of affairs, promoted to the greatest honours, and raised to the first employments of the army, thereby rendering himself, says Plutarch, the accomplice of all the crimes and oppressions they committed to advance and enrich themselves. For this reason they were always extremely attached to him, and regretted him infinitely, when Callicratidas came to succeed him, and took upon him the command of the fleet. He was not inferior to Lysander either in valour or military knowledge, and was infinitely above him in point of moral virtue Alike severe to himself and others, inaccessible to flattery and sloth, the declared enemy of luxury, he retained the modesty, temperance, and austerity of the ancient Spartans; virtues that began to distinguish him particularly, as they were not too common in his time. His probity and jnstice were proof against all things; his simplicity and integrity abhorred all falsehood and fraud, to which were joined a truly Spartan nobleness and grandeur of soul. The great and powerful could not refrain from admiring his virtue; but they were better pleased with the affability and condescension of his predecessor, who was blind to the injustice and violence of their actions. It was not without mortification and jealousy, that Lysander saw him arrive at Ephesus to take upon him the command, and out of a criminal baseness and treachery, not uncommon with those, who hearken more to their private ambition than the good of the public, he did him all the ill offices in his power. Of the 10,000 daricks, which Cyrus had given him for the augmentation of the mariner's pay, he returned the remainder to that prince; telling Callicratidas, that he might apply to the king for the money, and that it depended on him to find means for the subsistence of the army. This conduct gave him great trouble, and distressed him exceedingly. For he had brought no money with him from Sparta, and could not resolve to extort any from the cities, as he found them sufficiently rifled already. In this urgent necessity, a person having offered him fifty talents (that is to say, 50,000 crowns) to obtain a favour which he could not grant with justice, he refused them. Upon which Cleander, one of his officers, said, I would accept them, were I in your place. And so would I, replied the general, were I in yours. He had no other resource therefore than to go, as Lysander had done, to ask money at the gates of the king's generals and lieutenants, for which he was the least proper of all mankind. Nurtured and educated in the love of liberty, full of great and noble sentiments, and infinitely remote from ali flattery and baseness, he was convinced at heart, that it was a less evil and dishonour for Greeks to be overcome by Greeks, than infamously to make their court, and beg at the gates of barbarians, whose only merit consisted in their gold and silver. The whole nation were indeed disgraced by so mean a prostitution. Greeks amongst themselves, that for the future they might become formidable to the Barbarians, and have no farther occasion for their aid to invade and ruin each other. But that generous Spartan, whose thoughts were so noble, and so worthy the Lacedæmonian name, and whose justice, magnanimity and valour, might rank him with all that Greece had ever produced of the most excellent and most consummate, had not the good fortune to return to his country, nor to apply himself to a work so great, and so worthy of him. SECTION V.-CALLIcratidas is defeaTED BY THE ATHENIANS NEAR THE ARGINUSE. THE ATHENIANS CALLICRATIDAS, after having gained several victores over the Athenians, had at last pursued Conon, one of their generals, into the port of Mitylene, where he kept him blocked up. This was in the twentysixth year of the Peloponnesian war. Conon seeing himself besieged by sea and land, without hope of aid, and in want of provisions, found means to apprise Athens of the extreme danger he was in. Extraor dinary efforts were made to relieve him, and in less than a month's time a fleet of 110 sail were fitted out, on board of which were embarked all that were Cicero, in his Offices, draws two very different capable of bearing arms, as well slaves as freemen, characters of persons employed in the administration with some horse. At Samos they were joined by the of government, and makes the application of them to allies with forty galleys, and the collected armament the two generals of whom we speak. The one, says steered for the Arginusæ, islands situate between Cuhe, zealous lovers of truth, and declared enemies of mæ and Mitylene. Callicratidas, being informed of all fraud, pique themselves upon their simplicity and their course, left Eteonicus to continue the siege with candour, and do not believe, that it can ever be con- fifty ships, and put to sea with 120 sail, with design sistent with honour to lay snares or use artifice. The to face the enemy, and prevent their relieving Conon. others, prepared to do or suffer every thing, and not The right wing of the Athenians was commanded by ashamed of the meanest actions, provided from those Protomachus and Thrasylus, who had each fifteen unworthy methods they have reason to expect the galleys. They were supported by a second line with success of their designs. Cicero places Callieratidas a like number of ships, commanded by Lysias and amongst the former, and Lysander amongst the lat-Aristogenes. The left wing, like the other, drawn up ter, to whom he gives two epithets, not much to his in two lines, was under Aristocrates and Diomedon, honour, and hardly consistent with the Spartan cha- supported by Erasinides and Pericles.5 The main raeter, when he calls him very artful, and very patient, body, consisting of near thirty galleys, amongst which or rather very complaisant. were the three Athenian admirals, was disposed in one line. They had strengthened each of their wings with a second line; because their galleys were neither so swift, nor so easy to manage, as those of the ene my; so that there was reason to fear their getting between two, and being charged on both sides at the same time. The Lacedæmonians and their allies, who perceived they were inferior in number to the enemy, contented themselves with drawing up in one line, in order to equal their front, and for the greater facility of running between the Athenian galleys, and turning nimbly round them. Callicratidas's pilot, daunted at the inequality, advised him not to hazard the battle, and to retire: but he replied, that he could not fly without shame, and that his death was of small importance to the republic. "Sparta," said he, "does not depend upon one man." He commanded the right wing, and Thrasondas the Theban the left. Callicratidas, however, forced by necessity, went to Lydia, and repaired immediately to the palace of Cyrus, where he desired that prince might be told that the admiral of the Grecian fleet was come to speak with him. He was answered, that Cyrus was then at table, engaged in a party of pleasure ;3 to which he replied with a modest tone and air, that he was in no haste, and would wait till the prince came forth. The guards set up a laugh, wondering at the honest stranger's simplicity, who seemed so little acquainted with the world; and he was obliged to retire. He came thither the second time, and was again denied admittanee. Upon which he returned to Ephesus, loaded those with curses and imprecations, who had first made their court to Barbarians, and by their flattery and submissions had taught them to make their riches a title and pretence for insulting the rest of mankind. Addressing himself at the same time to those about him, he swore that as soon as he returned to Sparta, he would use his utmost endeavours to reconcile the 1 Plut. in Apoph. p. 222. 2 Sunt his alii multúm dispares, simpliees et aperti; qui nihil ex occulto, nihil ex insidiis agendum putant veritatis cultores, fraudis inimici: itemque alii, qui quidvis perpetiantur, cuivus deserviant, dum, quod velint, consequantur. Quo in genere versutissimum et patientissimum Lacedaemonium Lysandrum accepimus, contraque Callicratidam. Offic. l. i, n. 109. The Greeks says literally that he was drinking, alve. The Persians valued themselves upon drinking a great deal, as an instance of their merit, as we shall see in Cyrus's letter to the Lacedæmonians, It was a grand and awful sight to behold the sea covered with 300 galleys ready to engage. Never had more numerous naval armies of the Greeks fought against each other before. The ability, experience, and valour of the generals who commanded, left nothing to desire; so that there was reason to believe this battle would decide the fate of both people, and put an end to a war that had endured so long. When the signals were given, the two armies raised great shouts, and began to fight. Callicratidas, who from the answer of the augurs expected to fall in the battle, did Xenoph. Hellen. l. i. p. 444-452. Diod. L. xiii. p. 198 and 201, and 217–222. He was the son of the great Pericles. amazing actions of valour. He attacked the enemy with incredible courage and boldness, sunk some of their ships, disabled others by breaking their oars and piercing their sides with the prow or beak of his galley. At length he attacked that of Pericles, and made a thousand holes in it; but the latter having hooked him fast with a grappling-iron, he found it impossible to disengage himself, and was surrounded in an instant by several of the Athenian vessels. His own was immediately filled with the enemy, and after a dreadful slaughter, he fell dead, rather overwhelmed by their numbers than vanquished. The right wing which he commanded, having lost its admiral, was put to flight. The left, composed of Baotians and Eubœans, still made a long and vigorous resistance, from the urgent concern they were in, lest they should fall into the hands of the Athenians, against whom they had revolted; but they were at length obliged to give way, and retire in disorder. The Athenians erected a trophy in the Arginuse. They lost twenty-five galleys in this battle, and the enemy more than seventy, of which number were nine of the ten furnished by the Lacedæmonians. Plutarch equals Callicratidas, the Lacedæmonian general, for his justice, valour, and magnanimity, with all who had ever rendered themselves most worthy of admiration among the Greeks. He blames him however exceedingly, for hazarding the battle at the Arginusa,2 and observes, that to avoid the reproach of having retired out of fear, he had, through a mistaken sense of honour, failed in the essential duty of his function. For, says Plutarch, if (to use the comparison of Iphicrates3) the light-armed infantry resemble the hands, the horse the feet, the main body the breast, and the general the head; the general who abandons himself rashly to the impetuosity of his valour, does not so much neglect or expose his own life, as the lives of those whose safety depends upon his. Our Lacedæmonian chief was therefore in the wrong, continues Plutarch, to answer the pilot, who advised him to retire, Sparta does not depend upon one man. For though it be true, that Callicratidas, fighting under the orders of another by sea or land, was no more than one man, yet, when commanding an army, all that obeyed his orders were collected in his person; and he, in whom so many thousands might be lost, was no longer one man. Cicero had passed the same judgment upon them before Plutarch. After having said, that there were many persons to be found, who were ready to sacrifice their fortunes, and even lives, for their country, but who out of a false delicacy in point of glory would not hazard their reputation for it in the least; he cites the example of Callicratidas, who answered those that advised him to retreat from the Arginusæ, “That Sparta could fit out another fleet if this were lost; but for himself, he could not fly before the enemy without shame and infamy." I return to the sequel of the battle near the Arginusæ. The Athenian generals ordered Theramenes, Thrasybulus, and some other officers, to return with about fifty galleys to take up the wrecks and dead bodies, in order to their interment, whilst they sailed on with the rest against Eteonicus, who kept Conon besieged before Mitylene. But a violent tempest came on suddenly, and prevented the execution of this order. Eteonicus having received news of the defeat and fear 1 Plut. in Lysand. p. 436. 2 Plut, in Pelop. p. 278. He was a famous general of the Athenians. * Inventi multi sunt, qui non modò pecuniam, sed vitam etiam, profundere pro patriâ parati essent, idem gloriæ jacturam ne minimam quidem facere vellent, ne republicâ quidem postulante: ut Callicratidas, qui, cùm Lacedæmoniorum dux fuisset Peloponnesiaco bello, multaque fecisset egregiè, vertit ad extremum omnia, cùm consilio non paruit eorum, qui classem ab Arginusis removendam, nec cum Atheniensibus dimicandum putabant. Quibus ille respondit Lacedæmonios, classe illà amissà, se fugere sine suo dedecore non posse. aliam parare posse, Offic. 1. i. n. 48. ing it might occasion alarm and terror among the troops, sent back those who brought it, with orders to return with wreaths of flowers upon their heads, and to give out that Callicratidas had gained the victory, and destroyed the whole Athenian fleet. Upon their return he offered sacrifices of thanksgiving, and having made his troops take some refreshment, he sent the galleys away directly, the wind being fair, and marched off the land army to Methymna, after having burned the camp. Conon being delivered in this manner from the blockade, joined the victorious fleet, which returned forthwith to Samos. However, when it was known at Athens, that the dead bodies had been left without interment, the people were highly enraged, and caused the whole weight of their resentment to fall upon those whom they deemed guilty of that crime. The ancients held it a great one not to provide sepulture for the dead; and we may observe, that after all their battles, the first care of the conquered, notwithstanding the sense of their misfortune, and their great affliction for a bloody defeat, was to demand a suspension of arms from the victor, in order to pay the last duties to those who had fallen in battle; upon which they believed their happiness in another life depended. They had little or no idea of the resurrection of the body; but however, the Pagans, by the soul's concern for the body after death, the religious regard paid to it, and the zeal with which they rendered solemn honours to the dead, showed that they had some confused notion of a resurrection, which subsisted amongst all nations, and descended from the most ancient tradition, though they could not clearly distinguish it. Hence arose the fury of the people of Athens. They immediately nominated new generals, retaining only Conon of the old ones, to whom they gave Adimantus and Philocles for colleagues. Of the eight others, two had withdrawn themselves, and only six returned to Athens. Theramenes, the tenth general, who returned before the rest of the fleet, accused the other chiefs before the people, making them responsible for not bringing off the dead after the battle; and to clear himself, read the letter they had written to the senate and the people, wherein they excused themselves from the violence of the storm, without charging any body. There was something detestably vile in this calumny, as it was making an unjust use of their reserve in not mentioning him in their letter, and in not laying a fault to his charge, of which he might have appeared the most guilty. The generals at their return, not being able to prevail in obtaining the time necessary for making their defence contented themselves with representing in few words the state of the affair, and appealed for the truth of what they said to the pilots, and all present when it happened. The people seemed to receive their excuse favourably, and several persons offered themselves for their sureties; but it was thought proper to adjourn the assembly, because of the night, and it being the people's custom to give their suffrages by lifting up of hands, their resolution could not be known; besides which the council were first to give their opinion upon the question to be proposed to the people. The feast of Apaturia coming on, in which it was the custom to assemble by families, the relations of Theramenes posted several persons in mourning habits, with their heads shaved, in proper places, who said they were the kindred of those who had been slain in battle, and obliged Callixenes to accuse the generals in the senate. It was decreed in consequence, that as the accusation and defence had been heard in the last assembly, the people by their respective tribes should give their voices, and if the accused were found guilty, they should be punished with death, their estates confiscated, and the tenth part consecrated to the goddess.5 Some senators opposed this decree as unjust, and contrary to the • Minerva. no wonder, adds he, as it is commonly composed of laws: but as the people, at the instigation of Callixe-account; and Plato, upon the same event, draws in nes, threatened to include the opposers in the same few words their character with much spirit and recause and crime with the generals, they were so mean semblance. The populace,3 says he, is an inconstant, as to desist from their opposition, and to sacrifice the ungrateful, cruel, suspicious animal, incapable of innocent generals, to their own safety, by consenting submitting to the government of reason; and this is to the decree. Socrates (the celebrated philosopher) was the only one of the senators that stood firm, and persisted obstinately in opposing a decree so notoriously unjust, and so contrary to all laws. The orator, who mounted the tribunal in defence of the generals, showed, "That they had failed in no part of their duty, as they had given orders that the dead bodies should be taken up: that if any one were guilty, it was he who, being charged with these orders, had neglected to put them in execution; but that he accused nobody: and that the tempest, which came on unexpectedly at the very instant, was an unanswerable apology, and entirely discharged the accused from all guilt. He demanded, that a whole day should be allowed them to make their defence, a favour not denied to the most criminal, and that they should be tried separately. He represented, that they were not in the least obliged to precipitate a sentence, wherein the lives of the most illustrious of the citizens were concerned; that it was in some measure attacking the gods to make men responsible for the winds and weather; and that they could not, without the most flagrant ingratitude and injustice, put the conquerors to death, to whom they ought to decree crowns and honours, or give up the defenders of their country to the rage of those who envied them; and if they did so, their unjust judgment would be followed with a sudden but vain repentance, which would leave in their hearts the sharpest remorse, and cover them with eternal shame and infamy." The people seemed at first to be moved with these reasons; but being animated by the accusers, they pronounced sentence of death against the eight generals; and six of them, who were present, were seized in order to their being carried to execution. One of them, Diomedon, a person of great reputation for his valour and probity, demanded to be heard." Athenians," said he, "I wish the sentence you have passed upon us may not prove the misfortune of the republic; but I have one favour to ask of you in behalf of my colleagues and myself, which is, to acquit us before the gods of the vows we made to them for you and ourselves, as we are not in a condition to discharge them; for it is to their pro-large. tection, invoked before the battle, we acknowledge that we are indebted for the victory gained by us over the enemy." There was not one good citizen that did not melt into tears at this discourse, so full of mildness and religion, and admire with surprise the moderation of a person, who seeing himself unjustly condemned, did not however vent the least harsh expression, or even complaint, against his judges, but was solely intent (in favour of an ungrateful country, which had doomed them to perish) upon what it owed the gods in common with them for the victory they had lately obtained. The six generals were hardly executed when the people opened their eyes, and perceived all the horror of that sentence; but their repentance could not restore the dead to life. Callixenes, their accuser, was put in prison, and was not allowed to be heard. Having found means to make his escape, he fled to Decelia to the enemy, from whence he returned some time after to Athens, where he died of hunger, universally detested and abhorred by all the world, as all false accusers and slanderers ought to be. Diodorus remarks, that the people themselves were justly punished for their crime by the gods, who abandoned them soon after, not to a single master, but to thirty tyrants, that treated them with the utmost rigour and cruelty. The disposition of the populace is recognised in this Quem adeo iniquum, ut sceleri assignet, quod venti et Luctus deliquerint? Tacit. Annal. 1. xiv. c. 3. Amongst all the judges, one alone, truly worthy of his reputation, the great Socrates, in this general treason and perfidy, stood firm and immoveable; and though he knew his suffrage and unaided voice would be of little or no consequence to the accused, he thought these an homage due to oppressed innocence, and that it was unworthy an honest man to suffer himself, through a base fear, to be hurried away by the fury.of a blind and frantic people. We see in this instance how far the cause of justice may be abandoned. We may conclude it was not better defended before the people. Of more than 3000 citizens, who composed the assembly, two only took upon them the defence of their generals, Euriptolemus and Axiochus. Plato has preserved their names, and given that of the latter to the dialogue, from whence part of these reflections are taken. A. M. 3598. Ant. J. C. 406. The same year the battle of Arginuse was fought, Dionysius possessed himself of the tyranny in Sicily. I shall defer speaking of him till I relate the history of the tyrants of Syracuse at SECTION VI.—LYSANDER COMMANDS THE LACEDE MONIAN FLEET. CYRUS IS RECALLED TO COURT BY A. M. 3599. AFTER the defeat at the Arginusæ,5 the affairs of the Peloponnesians declining, the allies, supported by the Ant. J. C. 405. credit of Cyrus, sent an embassy to Sparta, to demand that the command of the fleet should again be given to Lysander, with a promise of serving with more affection and courage if their request were granted. As it was contrary to the laws of Sparta that the same person should be twice admiral, the Lacedæmonians, to gratify the allies, gave the title of admiral to one Aracus, and sent Lysander with him, whom in appearance they commissioned only as vice-admiral, though in effect, they invested him with all the authority of the supreme command. All those who had the greatest share in the government of the cities, and possessed the most authority in them, saw him arrive with extreme joy; promising themselves, from his influence, the final subversion of the democratic power. His character of complaisance towards his friends, and indulgence to all their faults, suited much better their ambitious and inju 2 Plat. in Axioch. p. 368, 369. Δῆμος ἀχάριστον, ἁψίκορον, ἐμὸν, βάσκανον, ἀπαίδευτον. Οὐ γὰρ ἐφαίνετο μοι σεμνὸν δήμῳ μαινομένῳ συνεξάρχειν. Xenoph. Hellen. 1., ü. p. 454. Plut. in Lys. 1. ix. p. 436, 437. Diod. l. xiii. p. 223. |