After his recal to a private station, Pausanias again went out to the Hellespont to renew his intrigues with Persia, B. C. 468. Being again summoned home, trusting to money and influence, he obeyed; and, though the Ephors knew that he was tampering with the Helots, they did not dare convict him, until a letter of his to a Persian satrap was betrayed to them. To avoid being arrested, he took refuge in a sanctuary; but the roof of the building was taken off, the entrance blocked up, and he was left to perish with hunger, B. c. 467. The Spartans now denounced their old enemy, Themistocles, as his accomplice. Themistocles, whom Athenian ingratitude had already ostracised, finding that no one in Greece could protect him, boldly fled to seek refuge in the court of Persia, where he was honourably received". many The allies, in the mean time, began to grow weary of the war, and of them had the folly to give money and ships instead of personal service. Thus Athens was enabled to tyrannize over them; and when Naxos refused to pay any more contributions, Cimon, the son of Miltiades, who had reduced the Persian strongholds in Europe, was sent with a fleet to deprive it of its independence, a fate which others soon shared. When Naxos had fallen, Cimon sailed to Pamphylia, and defeated the Persian fleet at the mouth of the river Eurymedon; immediately after which he landed, and routed a large army encamped on the shore, B. c. 466. By these and other victories, he drove the barbarians out of the Grecian seas. 5 By a young man, who, observing that no messenger of Pausanias ever came back, opened the letter, and found that he was also to be put to death. 6 Themistocles fled B. c. 466. He arrived at the Persian court B. C. 465, just after Xerxes had been assassinated. SECTION III. FROM THE RISE OF PERICLES TO THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. B. C. 464. Earthquake at Sparta. Messenian Revolt. 461. Athenian Allies dismissed from Sparta. Cimon ostra- 457. First Corinthian War. Battle of Tanagra. 455. Surrender of the Messenians. 450. Five years' Truce. The growing might of Athens had greatly excited the jealousy of the Spartans, who were on the eve of making war against her, when an earthquake destroyed their city and thousands of its inhabitants, B. c. 464. The Messenian Helots revolted; and as they occupied their old stronghold of Ithōme, the Spartans, who had no skill in sieges, called in their allies, particularly the Athenians, of whom, however, they became suspicious, and at length dismissed them as being no longer wanted, B. c. 461. The enraged Athenians renounced the alliance with the Spartans; ostracised Cimon, who, like all the aristocratical party, was their firm friend; and made a league with their enemies, the Argives and Thessalians. They soon afterwards began to build the famous long walls which connected the city with the Piraeus and the two smaller ports, thus securing themselves against any danger of being starved by a land blockade, while they were yet masters of the sea. When the Messenians surrendered, in the tenth year of the war, on condition of leaving the Peloponnesus, they gave them a settlement close to it at Naupactus. A short time before this event, B. c. 457, Megara, which had a dispute with Corinth, joined the new league, and the Athenians became involved in a war with Corinth and its allies. Besides other successes, they gained a great victory over their old commercial rivals the Æginētans, and besieged their city. Another large force of theirs was absent in Egypt, whither it had foolishly gone to aid a disastrous revolt against the Persians; the Corinthians therefore tried to make a diversion by invading Megaris. But they had mistaken the spirit of the Athenians, who, instead of withdrawing their armament from Ægina, sent a body of old men and young lads, under Myronides, to Megara, and beat them off. In the same year, the Spartans, hearing that Doris, their mother country, had been attacked by the Phocians, sent an army into the north of Greece; the presence of which so greatly encouraged the oligarchs in Boeotia, and even in Attica', that the Athenians and the confederates resolved to crush it. But they were beaten at Tanagra, and the supremacy of oligarchic Thebes was restored in Boeotia. Yet, in a few months, a victory gained by Myronides and the Athenians at Enophyta, в. c. 456, again revived the cause of democracy, and the influence of Athens, who also subdued Ægina, the "eyesore of the Piraeus," and by finishing the long walls, became almost impregnable. She was now at the height of her greatness; and her progress in arts, refinement, and literature, was as rapid as it was wonderful. But not having the light of a true religion to 7 The oligarchs at Athens were made desperate by the near completion of the long walls, which made a land army of less consequence, and gave importance to the fleet. The poor, who on land were only light armed, were admitted to serve in the fleet; so that, as Athens became a naval power, the democracy became more influential. 8 At this time Argos was friendly to Athens; Megara, Achaia, Trozen, and also Boeotia, Phocis, Locris, and the democratic party every where, were wholly under her guidance; and Eubœa, Ægīna, Naupactus, Cephallenia, Zacynthus, and almost all the islands in the walk by, her knowledge was by no means an unmingled good. The Athenians, though outwardly devout, even to superstition, were infidels at heart, and in their morals most godlessly profligate; living chiefly for amusement, they thirsted after every kind of excitement; and as they were led by worthless demagogues, who flattered their worst passions, though naturally kind-hearted, they became wanton, insolent, capricious, and tyrannical'. The liberty of their democratic institutions degenerated into licentiousness; and their allies, whose contributions were arbitrarily raised to 600 talents, and their treasury removed to Athens, were shamefully oppressed'. Notwithstanding these successes, Athens wanted rest; and by means of Cimon, who had been recalled from banishment, a truce was made with Sparta for five years, B. c. 450. B. C. 449. Death of Cimon. 447. Battle of Coronea. 445. Eubœa and Megara revolt. Thirty Years' Truce. 444. Thucydides ostracised. 440. Revolt of Samos. The Persian war, which had injured the property of the rich, and made every man who could fight of consequence, had much increased the power of the lower class of citizens Ægean, together with the Greek towns on the coast of Macedon, Thrace, and Asia Minor, and some places in Pontus and elsewhere, belonged to her as subject allies. 9 It unfortunately happened also, that virtuous women were gradually excluded from society with men, and their education neglected. And though Athens boasted of being a free democracy, four-fifths of its population were slaves. In fact, owing to the universal existence of slavery, there was not one genuine democracy among the ancients. The Chians and Lesbians, and those allies who still served in person, were treated as independent; the rest had to submit to every exaction of the Athenians. The war-contribution was raised, though at Athens; but they had become poorer, and, as slave labour was common, they could hardly find work. This had given great influence to Cimon; for his immense wealth' had enabled him to feed numbers of them daily, to lend liberally, to make presents of money and clothing, and to throw his gardens and orchards open. He also adorned the city with porticos, trees, and public walks; and, partly at his own cost, partly with the treasures which his victories had brought in, he had greatly added to its fortifi cations. 3 When he was exiled, his bounty was soon missed, and Pericles and Ephialtes, the leaders of the democracy, bethought themselves of taxing the rich, and oppressing the allies, to maintain the Athenian rabble. This dishonest system was checked by the Areopagus; on which the faction did not scruple to destroy the safeguard of the constitution, by transferring much of the political power of the court to the popular assembly. The money of the allies was now spent in erecting splendid buildings at Athens; the citizens were paid for serving as judges, and for attending on public business; a large fleet was kept up to give them employment, and to intimidate the subject states; and for their amusement, festivals and shows, at the public expense, were multiplied. The death of Cimon, who was in command of a fleet at Cyprus, B. C. 449, the war with Persia was at an end; the people of Euboea, Naxos, the Chersonese, and other places, had their lands portioned out into allotments, which were either occupied or let by Athenian citizens; and all were put to the expense of having their causes tried at Athens. Thus their tyrants received fees as judges, and gained greatly by the influx of strangers into their city. 2 Though very poor at first, he had recovered his father's estates in the Chersonese, and gained much plunder in the war with Persia. 3 The eloquent and accomplished son of Xanthippus, the hero of Mycale. |