LETTER XIV. GREECE, AND THE GRECIAN COLONIES IN EUROPE AND XIV. THE recent triumph of the Greeks over the LETTER myriads of the Persian monarch, with the consequent re-establishment of their liberty and independency, and the pride of having broken the fetters of their Asiatic colonies; the flourishing condition of the Grecian colonies in Italy and Sicily; the emulation of talents among the citizens of the same state, and between the members of the different states of the republican body of Greece, during the prosperous period of forty-eight years, from the expulsion of the barbarians to the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, gave to the human faculties a spring, and to the human character a degree of energy, that we seek for in vain in the annals of any other people. Then manners were polished, and political talents employed, with equal profundity and address; then all the powers of genius were awakened, and all the ingenuity of art was called forth; then lived the lyric poets Simonides and Bachillides, and Pindar, the prince of lyric poets, who celebrated the peaceful triumphs of the Olympian victors; Eschilus, Sophocles, and Euripides, who progressively brought Grecian tragedy to perfection; and Phidias, who attained to an height of excellence in statuary, that has never perhaps been exceeded; then broke out in the funeral orations of the Athenians, that blaze of eloquence PART I. eloquence which so long attracted the admiration of mankind; then wrote Herodotus, who has recorded, with the pen of truth, the important events of the Persian war, and whatever he could collect, on good authority, relative to the more early transactions of the Greeks; then Anaxagoras began to open, at Athens, the sources of true philosophy, and to remove the superstitious fears that had formerly distracted the human race concerning the phenomena of nature. The particular merit of these illustrious men, my lord, I shall afterward have occasion to estimate, in carrying forward the progress of arts, manners, literature, and philosophy in Greece, to the downfal of Grecian freedom and independency. At present we must trace the progress of that political jealousy, between Athens and Sparta, that ultimately gave birth to the Peloponnesian war; and observe the measures, taken by both states, for acquiring the dominion of Greece, with the various pretexts under which they endeavoured to conceal their ambitious views. The Lacedæmonians, as we have seen, had been jealous of the rising grandeur of Athens, from the expulsion of the Pisistratida to the beginning of the Persian war'. That jealousy, excited by the prosperity of the Athenians under a free government, but especially by the growth of their commerce and naval power, provoked the Spartan state to seek the restoration of Hippias'. The fear of the barbarians induced the Lacedæmonians to take part in the common cause of Greece; but their aids were always tardy3. Their selfish policy had a perpetual reference to the safety of Peloponnesus; whereas the Athenians, 1. Lett. xi. 2. Id. et auct. cit. 3. Lett. xii. xiii. passim. actuated XIV. actuated by more generous principles, stood boldly LETTER forward, on all occasions, in support of general liberty, without particularly regarding the welfare of their own state. They frankly changed stations with the Lacedæmonians at Platea; they perpetually laid aside punctilio, and little-minded pride; and, in every battle, whether at land or on sea, they had distinguished themselves by their courage and conduct1. The Athenian name accordingly acquired a lustre, that threw Spartan valour into shade. Sparta, however, still asserted her pre-eminence, and attempted to dictate to every other Grecian state. Athens, warranted by public opinion, and conscious of her own power and glory, keenly felt the indignity. And hence, from the termination of the Persian invasion, the jealousy between the two states became mutual. Yet the Athenians who had readily yielded, during the barbarian struggle, the chief command to the Lacedæmonians, both by land and sea, continued to temporise, and seemingly still admitted the controul of Sparta. These reflections, my lord, bring us again into the line of our narration. The Athenians had deprived Themistocles of the command of their fleet, during the last year of the Persian war, in consequence of the honours conferred on him at Sparta'; which excited the jealousy of his fellow citizens". But that war was no sooner ended, than popular favour flowed with full tide toward the exalted merit of the conqueror at Salamis. Themistocles was the creator of the Athenian navy; and he had, on all occasions, discovered a degree of patriotism and 4. Id. ibid. 5. Diod. Sicul. lib. xi. p. 22, vol. ii. edit. sup. cit. VOL. II. Tt political PARTI. political sagacity, that entitled him to the confidence of his countrymen. He was now to give new and signal instances of both. Ant Chr. 478. Olympiad Jaiv. 2, 3. When the Athenians returned to their desolated territory, and the ruins of their city, after the final expulsion of the Persians, they brought back, from the places of refuge, their wives and children, with all their remaining effects, and vigorously applied themselves to the rebuilding of their capital, and surrounding it with walls; only a few pieces of the former fortifications being left standing". But no socner were the Lacedæmonians informed of the Athenian ardour for restoring this rival city to its former beauty and strength, than they sent an embassy to Athens, requiring the Athenians to desist from rebuilding their walls: under pretence, that all the cities without the Corinthian isthmus ought to be unwalled; in order that Xerxes, should he again invade Greece, might not have the power of converting, as fomerly, its fortified towns into military stations; and urging that, in such emergency, the fortifications of Peloponnesus would afford a safe retreat for the whole Grecian people. Themistocles penetrated the jealous fears of the Lacedæmonians and their confederates, notwithstanding the mysterious veil under which their apprehensions were concealed. And the Athenians, by his advice replied, that they would send ambassadors to Sparta, to deliberate on the requisition made1o. No sooner had the deputies of that domineering republic taken their departure, than this accomplished 7. Thucydid. lib. i. cap. lxxxix. 8. Id. Bell. Peloponnes. lib. i. cap. xc. 9. Id. ibid. Diod. Sicul. Biblioth. lib. xi.p. 31. vol. ii. Cornel. Nepot. et Plut. in Vit. Themist. 10. Thucydid. lib. i. cap. xc. statesman statesman opened to the Athenian senate his purpose of amusing the Lacedæmonians. His plan was approved; and he was joined in an embassy to Sparta, along with Aristides and Abronychus". He accordingly set out for the place of his destination; but his colleagues, at his own request, were to remain at Athens, until the wall of the city was sufficiently high for defence 2. Not a little political address was requisite for the management of such a business. But the Athenian legislator was equal to it. When Themistocles arrived at Sparta, he demanded no public audience; but, by studied evasions, protracted time. When pressed on the subject, he answered, that he waited for the arrival of his colleagues, who were detained by urgent affairs; expressed his surprise at their delay, and expected they would soon be with him 3. As the Lacedæmonians had a good opinion of Themistocles, they sustained these excuses; but being informed through other avenues, that the wall of Athens was not only rebuilding in the meantime, but raised to a considerable height, they could no longer remain incredulous 4. Apprised of this, Themistocles entreated. them not rashly to be biassed by rumours, but to depute, from among their own citizens, a certain number of men of respectability and approved veracity, who might, from a view of the works, report the truth'5. With that proposal, the Lacedæmonian senate complied. Meanwhile Themistocles sent secret instructions to the Athenians, to detain the Spartan delegates (though with as little appearance of restraint as possible), until the return of their own am 11. Id. Bell. Peloponnes. lib. i. cap. xc. xci. 12. Id. lib. i. cap. xc. 14. Thucydid. lib. i. cap. xci. 15. Id. ibid. 13. Id. ibid. LETTER XIV. bassadors; |