their Ionic neighbours had always regarded them with jealousy, and Per'icles even went so far as to propose and carry a law, excluding all the natives of Mega'ra from the ports and markets of Attica. To the Spartans, as the head of the Dor'ic race, the Megareans made their complaint, and dwelt strongly on this as a proof of the inveterate hostility which all members of their branch of the Hellenic race should expect from the Ionians. 19. The Spartans, after some hesitation, declared that the Athe'nians had violated their duty, and ought to be reduced to reason; but wishing to preserve the appearance of moderation, they sent overtures for an accommodation to Athens, which they well knew would be indignantly rejected. They required that the siege of Pot'idea should be raised, the decree against Mega'ra repealed, the inde.. pendence of the islands acknowledged, and the descendants of those who had, in the almost forgotten' affair of Cylon, violated the sanctuary of Minerva, be banished from the city. 20. The last singular clause was particularly levelled at Peri'cles, who was by the mother's side descended from Megacles, a conspicuous actor in that iniquitous transaction. 21. The aristocratic faction at Athens endeavoured to crush Per'icles during the storm of rage and terror which agitated the populace when these proposals were made; but though they succeeded in procuring the banishment of some of his friends, the eloquent defence of Pericles not only rescued him from the danger, but induced the people to dismiss the Spartan deputies. All hopes of peace were now destroyed, and both parties vigorously prepared for war. Questions. 1. What Grecian states were jealous of the glory of Athens ? 2. How were the Messenians and Helots induced to revolt against the Spartans ? 3. How long did this war last? 1 See Chapter III. Sect. I. 4. On what condition was peace made? 5. What became of the Messenian exiles? 6. How were Argos and Thebes punished for their conduct in the Persian war? 7. By what battle was the liberty of Boeotia secured. 8. How was this war terminated? 9. What was the character of Pericles? 10. How did Athens assert its superiority over the maritime states? 14. Which side did the Atheꞌnians take in this war? 15. Was their interference advantageous to the Corcyreans? 16. How did the Corinthians take revenge on the Atheꞌnians? 17. To whom did the Corinthians apply for aid? 18. Did any other state complain of the Atheꞌnians? 19. On what conditions did the Spartans offer peace? SECTION II. First Peloponnesian War. So easy still it proves in factious times, DRYDEN. 1 Libera'tors, s. bestowers of freedom. 13. Thucydides, s. a celebrated Greek 4. Devasta'ted, v. laid waste. 5. Formidable, adj. causing terror. 10. Fick'leness, s. love of change. historian. 16. Sortie', s. a sally from a besieged place. 1. THE league which was formed to humble the power of the Athenians included the most powerful states in continental Greece; Argos and Achaia were the only Peloponnesians that did not join in the confederacy, and north of the Isthmus, the cause of the allies was supported openly by the Macedonians and Thebans, while several others were secretly devoted to the Lacedæmonians, whom they looked on as the liberators of Greece. The Athenians were supported by the Acarnanians, several of the Thessalian princes, some of the Thracian tribes, and the little republics of Plata'a and Naupac'tus. The islands of the Ægean, and the Greek cities in Thrace and Asia Minor, were rather the vassals than the confederates of Athens, and many of them were consequently very insincere in their support of a power by which they believed themelves oppressed. 2. The war which now broke out was rendered more fierce and destructive by the collision of principles which it occasioned. The wealthy land-owners in all the Grecian states were favourable to the Spartan cause, which was identified with that of aristocratic government; the lovers of democracy were eager for the success of Athens, the well-known patron of popular liberty. Thus not only was Greece divided against itself, but in every city and every petty state there were two parties who viewed each other with the fiercest enmity, and filled their communities with every crime that bitter party zeal could produce. To this was added the ancient hostility between those of Ionic and Doric descent, which Athens and Sparta seem to have preserved to the latest period of their history. 3. The war commenced by an attempt on the part of the Thebans to surprise the little city of Platææ, in which they were totally defeated. (B. C. 431.) Soon after the confederate army, amounting to sixty thousand men, under the command of Archid'amus, the Spartan king, assembled on the isthmus. Thence they proceeded to invade Attica, but lost much time in the fruitless siege of Eno'e, a strong fortress on the borders of Boo'tia. 4. This delay gave the Athenians time to execute the singular plan of defence recommended by Per'icles; they laid waste their own fields and farms, sent into the city all their provisions and valuable effects, and then retreating as the enemy advanced, sheltered themselves within the extended fortifications that led to the Peiræ'eus. The Spartans devastated the open country, but finding it impossible to provoke the Athenians to an engagement, returned home, severely harassed in their retreat by the cavalry and light troops which Pericles assembled for the purpose. 5. The Athenians amply revenged this invasion, by sending out a fleet to ravage the coasts of the Peloponnesus, which spread terror through the entire peninsula. At the same time they invaded the unfortunate territory of Meg'aris at the moment its inhabitants were preparing to gather in their harvest, and obtained immense booty. They also succeeded in capturing Nisa'a, the sea port of Mega'ra, which they almost totally destroyed. For several years the same operations were annually repeated, the Spartans, with an irresistible army, devastating Attica, and the Athenians with an equally formidable navy, carrying terror to every part of Southern Greece. 6. In the beginning of the next year the Lacedæmo’nians invaded At'tica with as powerful an army as before, and the Athenians were once more obliged to take refuge within their walls. But a more dreadful calamity than even that of war now began to visit the unhappy Athe'nians. A plague, and one of the most terrible that is recorded in history, broke out among them. It is said to have begun in Ethiopia, whence it descended into Egypt, thence travelling into Lib'ya and Persia, it at last broke like a flood upon Athens '. This pestilence baffled the utmost efforts of art; the most robust constitutions were unable to withstand its attacks; no skill could obviate, nor any remedy dispel the infection. The instant a person was seized, he was struck with despair, which quite disabled him from attempting a cure. The humanity of friends in visiting and attending the sick was as fatal to themselves, as it was useless to the unhappy sufferers. 7. The prodigious quantity of baggage which had been removed out of the country into the city increased the calamity. Most of the inhabitants, for want of better 1 It first attacked those that dwelt in the Peiræ'eus in so terrible a manner, that they imagined the Peloponne'sians had poisoned their wells. lodging, lived in little cottages, in which they could scarcely breathe, while the burning heat of the summer inflamed the malignity of the distemper. They were seen confusedly huddled together, the dead as well as the living; of the latter, some were crawling through the streets, some lying by the sides of fountains, to which they had with difficulty repaired to quench the raging thirst that consumed them. Their very temples were filled with dead bodies, and every part of the city exhibited a dreadful scene of mortality, without remedy for the present, or hope for the future. It seized the people with such violence that they fell one upon another as they passed the streets. It was also attended with such pestilential vapours, that the very beasts and birds of prey, though perishing with hunger round the walls of the city, would not touch the bodies of those who died of it. Even those who recovered, received such a terrible shock, as affected the very faculties of their mind. It effaced the memory of all the occurrences of their past lives, and they knew neither themselves nor their nearest relations. 8. The cause of the great havoc which the plague made among the unfortunate Athe'nians was generally imputed to Pericles, who by drawing such numbers into the city, was thought to have corrupted the very air. Hippoc'rates, a celebrated physician of the island of Cos, suggested as a remedy to purify the atmosphere by kindling large fires; this great man had been invited by Artaxer'xes to Persia, whither the pestilence had extended, but he declined the monarch's splendid offers, declaring that he owed his skill to Greece rather than her enemies. 9. Yet, though this plague was raging within, and the enemy wasting the country without, Per'icles still continued to think that they ought not to risk all their fortunes on the event of a battle. In the meantime the Lacedæmo'nians, advancing towards the coast, laid waste the whole country, and returned, after having insulted the wretched Athenians, already thinned by pestilence and famine. |