to expose the safety of the state to the hazard of a battle, would not suffer his troops to sally out of the city however, before the enemy left the plains, he sailed to Peloponnesus with one hundred galleys, in order to hasten their retreat by his making so powerful a diversion; and after having made a dreadful havoc, as he had done the first year, he returned into the city. The plague was still there as well as In the fleet, and it spread to those troops that were besieging Potidea. The campaign being thus ended, the Athenians, who saw their country depopulated by two great scourges, war and pestilence, began to despond, and to murmur against Pericles; considering him as the author of all their calamities, as he had involved them in that fatal war. They then sent a deputation to Lacedemonia, to obtain, if possible, an accommodation by some means or other, firmly resolved to make whatever concessions should be demanded of them: however, the ambassadors returned back without being able to obtain any terms. Complaints and murmurs now broke out afresh; and the whole city was in such a trouble and confusion, as seemed to prognosticate the worst of evils. Pericles, in the midst of this universal consternation, could not forbear assembling the people; and endeavoured to soften, and at the same time to encourage them, by justifying himself. "The reasons," says he, " which determined you to undertake this war, and which you approved at that time, are still the same; and are not changed by the alteration of circumstances, which neither you nor myself could foresee. Had it been left to your option to make choice of peace or war, the former would certainly have been the more eligible: but as there was no other means for preserving your liberty, but by drawing the sword, was it possible for you to hesitate? If we are citizens who truly love our country, will our private misfortunes make us neglect the common welfare of the state? Every man feels the evil which afflicts him, because it is present; but no one is sensible of the good which will result from it, because it is not come. Have you forgot the strength and grandeur of your empire? of the two parts which form this globe of ours, viz. the land and sea, you have absolute possession of the latter; and no king, or any other power, is able to oppose your fleets. It is now your duty to preserve this glory and this empire, or to resign it for ever. Be not therefore grieved because you are deprived of a few country houses and gardens, which ought to be considered no otherwise than as the frame of the picture, though you would seem to make them the picture itself. Consider, that if you do but preserve your liberty, you will easily recover them; but that should you suffer yourselves to be deprived of this blessing, you will lose every valuable possession with it. Do not show less generosity than your ancestors, who, for the sake of preserving it, abandoned even their city; and who, though they had not inherited such a glory from their ancestors, yet suffered the worst of evils, and engaged in the most perilous enterprises, to transmit it to you. I will confess that your present calamities are exceedingly grievous, and I myself am duly sensible and deeply afflicted for them. But is it just in you to exclaim against your general, merely for an accident that was not to be diverted by all the prudence of man; and to make him responsible for an event, in which he has not the least concern? We must submit patiently to those evils which heaven inflicts upon us, and vigorously oppose such as arise from our fellow creatures. As to the hatred and jealousy which attend on your prosperity, they are the usual lot of all who believe themselves worthy of commanding. However, hatred and envy are not long lived, but the glory that accompanies exalted actions is immortal. Revolve therefore perpetually in your minds, how shameful and ignominious it is for men to bow the neck to their enemies, and how glorious it is to triumph over them; and then, animated by this double reflection, march on to danger with joy and intrepidity, and do not crouch so tamely in vain to the Lacedemonians; and call to mind, that those who display the greatest bravery and resolution in dangers, acquire the most esteem and applause.” The motives of honour and fame, the remembrance of the great actions of their ancestors, the soothing title of sovereigns of Greece, and above all, the jealousy of Sparta, the ancient and perpetual rival of Athens, were the usual motives which Pericles employed to influence and animate the Athenians, and had hitherto never failed of success. But on this occasion the sense of the present evils prevailed over every other consideration, and stifled all other thoughts. The Athenians indeed did not design to sue the Lacedemonians any more for peace, but the sight and presence only of Pericles was insupportable to them. They therefore deprived him of the command of the army, and sentenced him to pay a fine, which, according to some historians, amounted to fifteen talents,' and according to others fifty. However, this public disgrace of Pericles was not to be very lasting. The anger of the people was appeased by this first effort, and had spent itself in this injurious treatment of him, as the bee leaves its sting in the wound. But he was not now so happy with regard to his domestic evils; for, besides his having lost a great number of his friends and relations by the pestilence, feuds and divisions had long reigned in his family. Xanthippus his eldest son, who himself was extremely profuse, and had married a young wife no less extravagant, could not bear his father's exact economy, who allowed him but a very small sum for his pleasures. This made him borrow money in his father's name. When the lender demanded his debt of Pericles, he not only refused to pay, but even prosecuted him for it. Xanthippus was so enraged, that he inveighed in the most heinous terms against his father, exclaiming against him in all places, and ridiculing openly the assemblies he held at his house, and his conferences with the Sophists. He did not know that a son, though treated unjustly, which was far otherwise in his case, ought to submit patiently to the injustice of his father, as a citizen is obliged to suffer that of his country. The plague carried off Xanthippus. At the same time Pericles lost his sister with many of his relations and best friends, whose assistance he most wanted in * 15 or 50,000 French crowns. the administration. losses; his strength of mind was not shaken by them; and he was not seen to weep or show the usual marks of sorrow at the grave of any of his relations till the death of Paralus, the last of his legitimate children. That rude stroke quite amazed him, though he did his utmost to preserve his usual tranquillity, and not show any outward symptoms of sorrow. But when he was to put the crown of flowers upon the head of his dead son, he could not support the cruel spectacle, nor stifle the transports of his grief, which forced its way in cries, in sobs, and a flood of tears. But he did not sink under these Pericles, misled by the principles of a false philosophy, imagined, that bewailing the death of his relations and children would betray a weakness that no way suited the greatness of soul he had ever shown; and that on this occasion, the sensibility of the father would sully the glory of the conqueror. Exceeding error! childish illusion! which either makes heroism consist in wild and savage cruelty; or, leaving the same grief and confusion in the mind, assumes a vain outside of constancy and resolution, merely to be admired. But does martial bravery extinguish nature? Is a man dead to all humane sentiments, because he makes a considerable figure in the state? Antonius the emperor had a much juster way of thinking, when, on occasion of Marcus Aurelius's lamenting the death of the person who had brought him up, he said, " Suffer him to be a man, for neither philosophy nor sovereignty renders us insensible." Permitte illi ut homo sit: neque enim vel philosophia vel imperium tollit affectus. Jul. Capitol. in vit. Antonini Pii. |