{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_25642/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_25642","id":"gutenberg_25642","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25642","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Greece -- History"],"text":"Produced by David Kline, Greg Bergquist and The Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: A GREEK SHEPHERD, OLYMPIA.]\n\n\n\n\n  Edition d'Elite\n\n  Historical Tales\n\n  The Romance of Reality\n\n  By\n\n  CHARLES MORRIS\n\n  _Author of \"Half-Hours with the Best American Authors,\" \"Tales from the\n  Dramatists,\" etc._\n\n  IN FIFTEEN VOLUMES\n\n  Volume X\n\n  Greek\n\n  J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY\n\n  PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON\n\n\n\n\n  Copyright, 1896, by J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.\n  Copyright, 1904, by J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.\n  Copyright, 1908, by J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n                                          PAGE\n\n  HOW TROY WAS TAKEN                         7\n\n  THE VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS               28\n\n  THESEUS AND ARIADNE                       33\n\n  THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES                  41\n\n  LYCURGUS AND THE SPARTAN LAWS             50\n\n  ARISTOMENES, THE HERO OF MESSENIA         60\n\n  SOLON, THE LAW-GIVER OF ATHENS            67\n\n  THE FORTUNE OF CROESUS                    77\n\n  THE SUITORS OF AGARISTE                   86\n\n  THE TYRANTS OF CORINTH                    93\n\n  THE RING OF POLYCRATES                   100\n\n  THE ADVENTURES OF DEMOCEDES              109\n\n  DARIUS AND THE SCYTHIANS                 117\n\n  THE ATHENIANS AT MARATHON                126\n\n  XERXES AND HIS ARMY                      135\n\n  HOW THE SPARTANS DIED AT THERMOPYLAE      144\n\n  THE WOODEN WALLS OF ATHENS               154\n\n  PLATAEA'S FAMOUS DAY                      165\n\n  FOUR FAMOUS MEN OF ATHENS                174\n\n  HOW ATHENS ROSE FROM ITS ASHES           186\n\n  THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS                     194\n\n  THE ENVOYS OF LIFE AND DEATH             200\n\n  THE DEFENCE OF PLATAEA                    205\n\n  HOW THE LONG WALLS WENT DOWN             213\n\n  SOCRATES AND ALCIBIADES                  221\n\n  THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND          231\n\n  THE RESCUE OF THEBES                     245\n\n  THE HUMILIATION OF SPARTA                259\n\n  TIMOLEON, THE FAVORITE OF FORTUNE        271\n\n  THE SACRED WAR                           288\n\n  ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND DARIUS           296\n\n  THE WORLD'S GREATEST ORATOR              305\n\n  THE OLYMPIC GAMES                        315\n\n  PYRRHUS AND THE ROMANS                   324\n\n  PHILOPOEMEN AND THE FALL OF SPARTA       334\n\n  THE DEATH-STRUGGLE OF GREECE             345\n\n  ZENOBIA AND LONGINUS                     351\n\n  THE LITERARY GLORY OF GREECE             360\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\nGREEK.\n\n                                                PAGE\n\n  A GREEK SHEPHERD, OLYMPIA            _Frontispiece_.\n\n  PARTING OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE                15\n\n  OEDIPUS AND ANTIGONE                            42\n\n  GRECIAN LADIES AT HOME                          87\n\n  THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS                         98\n\n  RUINS OF THE PARTHENON                         130\n\n  THE PLACE OF ASSEMBLY OF THE ATHENIANS         145\n\n  THE VICTORS AT SALAMIS                         160\n\n  ANCIENT ENTRANCE TO THE STADIUM, ATHENS        181\n\n  A REUNION AT THE HOUSE OF ASPASIA              190\n\n  PIRAEUS, THE PORT OF ATHENS                     213\n\n  PRISON OF SOCRATES, ATHENS                     229\n\n  GATE OF THE AGORA, OR OIL MARKET, ATHENS       255\n\n  BED OF THE RIVER KLADEOS                       289\n\n  THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT               300\n\n  THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES IN THE STADIUM        316\n\n  THE THEATRE OF BACCHUS, ATHENS                 322\n\n  REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA, CORINTH      345\n\n  THE RUINS OF PALMYRA                           358\n\n  ALONG THE COAST OF GREECE                      362\n\n\n\n\n_HOW TROY WAS TAKEN._\n\n\nThe far-famed Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, was the most\nbeautiful woman in the world. And from her beauty and faithlessness came\nthe most celebrated of ancient wars, with death and disaster to numbers\nof famous heroes and the final ruin of the ancient city of Troy. The\nstory of these striking events has been told only in poetry. We propose\nto tell it again in sober prose.\n\nBut warning must first be given that Helen and the heroes of the Trojan\nwar dwelt in the mist-land of legend and tradition, that cloud-realm\nfrom which history only slowly emerged. The facts with which we are here\nconcerned are those of the poet, not those of the historian. It is far\nfrom sure that Helen ever lived. It is far from sure that there ever was\na Trojan war. Many people doubt the whole story. Yet the ancient Greeks\naccepted it as history, and as we are telling their story, we may fairly\ninclude it among the historical tales of Greece. The heroes concerned\nare certainly fully alive in Homer's great poem, the \"Iliad,\" and we can\ndo no better than follow the story of this stirring poem, while adding\ndetails from other sources.\n\nMythology tells us that, once upon a time, the three goddesses, Venus,\nJuno, and Minerva, had a contest as to which was the most beautiful, and\nleft the decision to Paris, then a shepherd on Mount Ida, though really\nthe son of King Priam of Troy. The princely shepherd decided in favor of\nVenus, who had promised him in reward the love of the most beautiful of\nliving women, the Spartan Helen, daughter of the great deity Zeus (or\nJupiter). Accordingly the handsome and favored youth set sail for\nSparta, bringing with him rich gifts for its beautiful queen. Menelaus\nreceived his Trojan guest with much hospitality, but, unluckily, was\nsoon obliged to make a journey to Crete, leaving Helen to entertain the\nprincely visitor. The result was as Venus had foreseen. Love arose\nbetween the handsome youth and the beautiful woman, and an elopement\nfollowed, Paris stealing away with both the wife and the money of his\nconfiding host. He set sail, had a prosperous voyage, and arrived safely\nat Troy with his prize on the third day. This was a fortune very\ndifferent from that of Ulysses, who on his return from Troy took ten\nyears to accomplish a similar voyage.\n\nAs might naturally be imagined, this elopement excited indignation not\nonly in the hearts of Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, but among the\nGreek chieftains generally, who sympathized with the husband in his\ngrief and shared his anger against Troy. War was declared against that\nfaithless city, and most of the chiefs pledged themselves to take part\nin it, and to lend their aid until Helen was recovered or restored. Had\nthey known all that was before them they might have hesitated, since it\ntook ten long years to equip the expedition, for ten years more the war\ncontinued, and some of the leaders spent ten years in their return. But\nin those old days time does not seem to have counted for much, and\nbesides, many of the chieftains had been suitors for the hand of Helen,\nand were doubtless moved by their old love in pledging themselves to her\nrecovery.\n\nSome of them, however, were anything but eager to take part. Achilles\nand Ulysses, the two most important in the subsequent war, endeavored to\nescape this necessity. Achilles was the son of the sea-nymph Thetis, who\nhad dipped him when an infant in the river Styx, the waters of which\nmagic stream rendered him invulnerable to any weapon except in one\nspot,--the heel by which his mother had held him. But her love for her\nson made her anxious to guard him against every danger, and when the\nchieftains came to seek his aid in the expedition, she concealed him,\ndressed as a girl, among the maidens of the court. But the crafty\nUlysses, who accompanied them, soon exposed this trick. Disguised as a\npedler, he spread his goods, a shield and a spear among them, before the\nmaidens. Then an alarm of danger being sounded, the girls fled in\naffright, but the disguised youth, with impulsive valor, seized the\nweapons and prepared to defend himself. His identity was thus revealed.\n\nUlysses himself, one of the wisest and shrewdest of men, had also sought\nto escape the dangerous expedition. To do so he feigned madness, and\nwhen the messenger chiefs came to seek him they found him attempting to\nplough with an ox and a horse yoked together, while he sowed the field\nwith salt. One of them, however, took Telemachus, the young son of\nUlysses, and laid him in the furrow before the plough. Ulysses turned\nthe plough aside, and thus showed that there was more method than\nmadness in his mind.\n\nAnd thus, in time, a great force of men and a great fleet of ships were\ngathered, there being in all eleven hundred and eighty-six ships and\nmore than one hundred thousand men. The kings and chieftains of Greece\nled their followers from all parts of the land to Aulis, in Boeotia,\nwhence they were to set sail for the opposite coast of Asia Minor, on\nwhich stood the city of Troy. Agamemnon, who brought one hundred ships,\nwas chosen leader of the army, which included all the heroes of the age,\namong them the distinguished warriors Ajax and Diomedes, the wise old\nNestor, and many others of valor and fame.\n\nThe fleet at length set sail; but Troy was not easily reached. The\nleaders of the army did not even know where Troy was, and landed in the\nwrong locality, where they had a battle with the people. Embarking\nagain, they were driven by a storm back to Greece. Adverse winds now\nkept them at Aulis until Agamemnon appeased the hostile gods by\nsacrificing to them his daughter Iphigenia,--one of the ways which those\nold heathens had of obtaining fair weather. Then the winds changed, and\nthe fleet made its way to the island of Tenedos, in the vicinity of\nTroy. From here Ulysses and Menelaus were sent to that city as envoys to\ndemand a return of Helen and the stolen property.\n\nMeanwhile the Trojans, well aware of what was in store for them, had\nmade abundant preparations, and gathered an army of allies from various\nparts of Thrace and Asia Minor. They received the two Greek envoys\nhospitably, paid them every attention, but sustained the villany of\nParis, and refused to deliver Helen and the treasure. When this word was\nbrought back to the fleet the chiefs decided on immediate war, and sail\nwas made for the neighboring shores of the Trojan realm.\n\nOf the long-drawn-out war that followed we know little more than what\nHomer has told us, though something may be learned from other ancient\npoems. The first Greek to land fell by the hand of Hector, the Trojan\nhero,--as the gods had foretold. But in vain the Trojans sought to\nprevent the landing; they were quickly put to rout, and Cycnus, one of\ntheir greatest warriors and son of the god Neptune, was slain by\nAchilles. He was invulnerable to iron, but was choked to death by the\nhero and changed into a swan. The Trojans were driven within their city\nwalls, and the invulnerable Achilles, with what seems a safe valor,\nstormed and sacked numerous towns in the neighborhood, killed one of\nKing Priam's sons, captured and sold as slaves several others, drove off\nthe oxen of the celebrated warrior AEneas, and came near to killing that\nhero himself. He also captured and kept as his own prize a beautiful\nmaiden named Briseis, and was even granted, through the favor of the\ngods, an interview with the divine Helen herself.\n\nThis is about all we know of the doings of the first nine years of the\nwar. What the Greeks were at during that long time neither history nor\nlegend tells. The only other event of importance was the death of\nPalamedes, one of the ablest Grecian chiefs. It was he who had detected\nthe feigned madness of Ulysses, and tradition relates that he owed his\ndeath to the revengeful anger of that cunning schemer, who had not\nforgiven him for being made to take part in this endless and useless\nwar.\n\nThus nine years of warfare passed, and Troy remained untaken and\nseemingly unshaken. How the two hosts managed to live in the mean time\nthe tellers of the story do not say. Thucydides, the historian, thinks\nit likely that the Greeks had to farm the neighboring lands for food.\nHow the Trojans and their allies contrived to survive so long within\ntheir walls we are left to surmise, unless they farmed their streets.\nAnd thus we reach the opening of the tenth year and of Homer's \"Iliad.\"\n\nHomer's story is too long for us to tell in detail, and too full of war\nand bloodshed for modern taste. We can only give it in epitome.\n\nAgamemnon, the leader of the Greeks, robs Achilles of his beautiful\ncaptive Briseis, and the invulnerable hero, furious at the insult,\nretires in sullen rage to his ships, forbids his troops to take part in\nthe war, and sulks in anger while battle after battle is fought.\nDeprived of his mighty aid, the Greeks find the Trojans quite their\nmatch, and the fortunes of the warring hosts vary day by day.\n\nOn a watch-tower in Troy sits Helen the beautiful, gazing out on the\nfield of conflict, and naming for old Priam, who sits beside her, the\nGrecian leaders as they appear at the head of their hosts on the plain\nbelow. On this plain meet in fierce combat Paris the abductor and\nMenelaus the indignant husband. Vengeance lends double weight to the\nspear of the latter, and Paris is so fiercely assailed that Venus has to\ncome to his aid to save him from death. Meanwhile a Trojan archer wounds\nMenelaus with an arrow, and a general battle ensues.\n\nThe conflict is a fierce one, and many warriors on both sides are slain.\nDiomedes, a bold Grecian chieftain, is the hero of the day. Trojans fall\nby scores before his mighty spear, he rages in fury from side to side of\nthe field, and at length meets the great AEneas, whose thigh he breaks\nwith a huge stone. But AEneas is the son of the goddess Venus, who flies\nto his aid and bears him from the field. The furious Greek daringly\npursues the flying divinity, and even succeeds in wounding the goddess\nof love with his impious spear. At this sad outcome Venus, to whom\nphysical pain is a new sensation, flies in dismay to Olympus, the home\nof the deities, and hides her weeping face in the lap of Father Jove,\nwhile her lady enemies taunt her with biting sarcasms. The whole scene\nis an amusing example of the childish folly of mythology.\n\nIn the next scene a new hero appears upon the field, Hector, the warlike\nson of Priam, and next to Achilles the greatest warrior of the war. He\narms himself inside the walls, and takes an affectionate leave of his\nwife Andromache and his infant son, the child crying with terror at his\nglittering helmet and nodding plume. This mild demeanor of the warrior\nchanges to warlike ardor when he appears upon the field. His coming\nturns the tide of battle. The victorious Greeks are driven back before\nhis shining spear, many of them are slain, and the whole host is driven\nto its ships and almost forced to take flight by sea from the victorious\nonset of Hector and his triumphant followers. While the Greeks cower in\ntheir ships the Trojans spend the night in bivouac upon the field. Homer\ngives us a picturesque description of this night-watch, which Tennyson\nhas thus charmingly rendered into English:\n\n  \"As when in heaven the stars about the moon\n  Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid,\n  And every height comes out, and jutting peak\n  And valley, and the immeasurable heavens\n  Break open to their highest, and all the stars\n  Shine, and the shepherd gladdens in his heart;\n  So, many a fire between the ships and stream\n  Of Xanthus blazed before the towers of Troy,\n  A thousand on the plain; and close by each\n  Sat fifty in the blaze of burning fire;\n  And, champing golden grain, the horses stood\n  Hard by their chariots, waiting for the dawn.\"\n\nAffairs had grown perilous for the Greeks. Patroclus, the bosom friend\nof Achilles, begged him to come to their aid. This the sulking hero\nwould not do, but he lent Patroclus his armor, and permitted him to\nlead his troops, the Myrmidons, to the field. Patroclus was himself a\ngallant and famous warrior, and his aid turned the next day's battle\nagainst the Trojans, who were driven back with great slaughter. But,\nunfortunately for this hero of the fight, a greater than he was in the\nfield. Hector met him in the full tide of his success, engaged him in\nbattle, killed him, and captured from his body the armor of Achilles.\n\n[Illustration: THE PARTING OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.]\n\nThe slaughter of his friend at length aroused the sullen Achilles to\naction. Rage against the Trojans succeeded his anger against Agamemnon.\nHis lost armor was replaced by new armor forged for him by Vulcan, the\ncelestial smith,--who fashioned him the most wonderful of shields and\nmost formidable of spears. Thus armed, he mounted his chariot and drove\nat the head of his Myrmidons to the field, where he made such frightful\nslaughter of the Trojans that the river Scamander was choked with their\ncorpses; and, indignant at being thus treated, sought to drown the hero\nfor his offence. Finally he met Hector, engaged him in battle, and\nkilled him with a thrust of his mighty spear. Then, fastening the corpse\nof the Trojan hero to his chariot, he dragged it furiously over the\nblood-soaked plain and around the city walls. Homer's story ends with\nthe funeral obsequies of the slain Patroclus and the burial by the\nTrojans of Hector's recovered body.\n\nOther writers tell us how the war went on. Hector was replaced by\nPenthesileia, the beautiful and warlike queen of the Amazons, who came\nto the aid of the Trojans, and drove the Greeks from the field. But,\nalas! she too was slain by the invincible Achilles. Removing her\nhelmet, the victor was deeply affected to find that it was a beautiful\nwoman he had slain.\n\nThe mighty Memnon, son of godlike parents, now made his appearance in\nthe Trojan ranks, at the head of a band of black Ethiopians, with whom\nhe wrought havoc among the Greeks. At length Achilles encountered this\nhero also, and a terrible battle ensued, whose result was long in doubt.\nIn the end Achilles triumphed and Memnon fell. But he died to become\nimmortal, for his goddess mother prayed for and obtained for him the\ngift of immortal life.\n\nSuch triumphs were easy for Achilles, whose flesh no weapon could\npierce; but no one was invulnerable to the poets, and his end came at\nlast. He had routed the Trojans and driven them within their gates, when\nParis, aided by Apollo, the divine archer, shot an arrow at the hero\nwhich struck him in his one pregnable spot, the heel. The fear of Thetis\nwas realized, her son died from the wound, and a fierce battle took\nplace for the possession of his body. This Ajax and Ulysses succeeded in\ncarrying off to the Grecian camp, where it was burned on a magnificent\nfuneral pile. Achilles, like his victim Memnon, was made immortal by the\nfavor of the gods. His armor was offered as a prize to the most\ndistinguished Grecian hero, and was adjudged to Ulysses, whereupon Ajax,\nhis close contestant for the prize, slew himself in despair.\n\nWe cannot follow all the incidents of the campaign. It will suffice to\nsay that Paris was himself slain by an arrow, that Neoptolemus, the son\nof Achilles, took his place in the field, and that the Trojans suffered\nso severely at his hands that they took shelter behind their walls,\nwhence they never again emerged to meet the Greeks in the field.\n\nBut Troy was safe from capture while the Palladium, a statue which\nJupiter himself had given to Dardanus, the ancestor of the Trojans,\nremained in the citadel of that city. Ulysses overcame this difficulty.\nHe entered Troy in the disguise of a wounded and ragged fugitive, and\nmanaged to steal the Palladium from the citadel. Then, as the walls of\nTroy still defied their assailants, a further and extraordinary\nstratagem was employed to gain access to the city. It seems a ridiculous\none to us, but was accepted as satisfactory by the writers of Greece.\nThis stratagem was the following:\n\nA great hollow wooden horse, large enough to contain one hundred armed\nmen, was constructed, and in its interior the leading Grecian heroes\nconcealed themselves. Then the army set fire to its tents, took to its\nships, and sailed away to the island of Tenedos, as if it had abandoned\nthe siege. Only the great horse was left on the long-contested\nbattle-field.\n\nThe Trojans, filled with joy at the sight of their departing foes, came\nstreaming out into the plain, women as well as warriors, and gazed with\nastonishment at the strange monster which their enemies had left. Many\nof them wanted to take it into the city, and dedicate it to the gods as\na mark of gratitude for their deliverance. The more cautious ones\ndoubted if it was wise to accept an enemy's gift. Laocoon, the priest of\nNeptune, struck the side of the horse with his spear. A hollow sound\ncame from its interior, but this did not suffice to warn the indiscreet\nTrojans. And a terrible spectacle now filled them with superstitious\ndread. Two great serpents appeared far out at sea and came swimming\ninward over the waves. Reaching the shore, they glided over the land to\nwhere stood the unfortunate Laocoon, whose body they encircled with\ntheir folds. His son, who came to his rescue, was caught in the same\ndreadful coils, and the two perished miserably before the eyes of their\ndismayed countrymen.\n\nThere was no longer any talk of rejecting the fatal gift. The gods had\ngiven their decision. A breach was made in the walls of Troy, and the\ngreat horse was dragged with exultation within the stronghold that for\nten long years had defied its foe.\n\nRiotous joy and festivity followed in Troy. It extended into the night.\nWhile this went on Sinon, a seeming renegade who had been left behind by\nthe Greeks, and who had helped to deceive the Trojans by lying tales,\nlighted a fire-signal for the fleet, and loosened the bolts of the\nwooden horse, from whose hollow depths the hundred weary warriors\nhastened to descend.\n\nAnd now the triumph of the Trojans was changed to sudden woe and dire\nlamentation. Death followed close upon their festivity. The hundred\nwarriors attacked them at their banquets, the returned fleet disgorged\nits thousands, who poured through the open gates, and death held\nfearful carnival within the captured city. Priam was slain at the altar\nby Neoptolemus. All his sons fell in death. The city was sacked and\ndestroyed. Its people were slain or taken captive. Few escaped, but\namong these was AEneas, the traditional ancestor of Rome. As regards\nHelen, the cause of the war, she was recovered by Menelaus, and gladly\naccompanied him back to Sparta. There she lived for years afterwards in\ndignity and happiness, and finally died to become happily immortal in\nthe Elysian fields.\n\nBut our story is not yet at an end. The Greeks had still to return to\ntheir homes, from which they had been ten years removed. And though\nParis had crossed the intervening seas in three days, it took Ulysses\nten years to return, while some of his late companions failed to reach\ntheir homes at all. Many, indeed, were the adventures which these\nhome-sailing heroes were destined to encounter.\n\nSome of the Greek warriors reached home speedily and were met with\nwelcome, but others perished by the way, while Agamemnon, their leader,\nreturned to find that his wife had been false to him, and perished by\nher treacherous hand. Menelaus wandered long through Egypt, Cyprus, and\nelsewhere before he reached his native land. Nestor and several others\nwent to Italy, where they founded cities. Diomedes also became a founder\nof cities, and various others seem to have busied themselves in this\nsame useful occupation. Neoptolemus made his way to Epirus, where he\nbecame king of the Molossians. AEneas, the Trojan hero, sought Carthage,\nwhose queen Dido died for love of him. Thence he sailed to Italy, where\nhe fought battles and won victories, and finally founded the city of\nRome. His story is given by Virgil, in the poem of the \"AEneid.\" Much\nmore might be told of the adventures of the returning heroes, but the\nchief of them all is that related of the much wandering Ulysses, as\ngiven by Homer in his epic poem the \"Odyssey.\"\n\nThe story of the \"Odyssey\" might serve us for a tale in itself, but as\nit is in no sense historical we give it here in epitome.\n\nWe are told that during the wanderings of Ulysses his island kingdom of\nIthaca had been invaded by a throng of insolent suitors of his wife\nPenelope, who occupied his castle and wasted his substance in riotous\nliving. His son Telemachus, indignant at this, set sail in search of his\nfather, whom he knew to be somewhere upon the seas. Landing at Sparta,\nhe found Menelaus living with Helen in a magnificent castle, richly\nornamented with gold, silver, and bronze, and learned from him that his\nfather was then in the island of Ogygia, where he had been long detained\nby the nymph Calypso.\n\nThe wanderer had experienced numerous adventures. He had encountered the\none-eyed giant Polyphemus, who feasted on the fattest of the Greeks,\nwhile the others escaped by boring out his single eye. He had passed the\nland of the Lotus-Eaters, to whose magic some of the Greeks succumbed.\nIn the island of Circe some of his followers were turned into swine. But\nthe hero overcame this enchantress, and while in her land visited the\nrealm of the departed and had interviews with the shades of the dead.\nHe afterwards passed in safety through the frightful gulf of Scylla and\nCharybdis, and visited the wind-god AEolus, who gave him a fair wind\nhome, and all the foul winds tied up in a bag. But the curious Greeks\nuntied the bag, and the ship was blown far from her course. His\nfollowers afterwards killed the sacred oxen of the sun, for which they\nwere punished by being wrecked. All were lost except Ulysses, who\nfloated on a mast to the island of Calypso. With this charming nymph he\ndwelt for seven years.\n\nFinally, at the command of the gods, Calypso set her willing captive\nadrift on a raft of trees. This raft was shattered in a storm, but\nUlysses swam to the island of Phaeacia, where he was rescued by Nausicaa,\nthe king's daughter, and brought to the palace. Thence, in a Phaeacian\nship, he finally reached Ithaca.\n\nHere new adventures awaited him. He sought his palace disguised as an\nold beggar, so that of all there, only his old dog knew him. The\nfaithful animal staggered to his feet, feebly expressed his joy, and\nfell dead. Telemachus had now returned, and led his disguised father\ninto the palace, where the suitors were at their revels. Penelope,\ninstructed what to do, now brought forth the bow of Ulysses, and offered\nher hand to any one of the suitors who could bend it. It was tried by\nthem all, but tried in vain. Then the seeming beggar took in his hand\nthe stout, ashen bow, bent it with ease, and with wonderful skill sent\nan arrow hurtling through the rings of twelve axes set up in line. This\ndone, he turned the terrible bow upon the suitors, sending its\ndeath-dealing arrows whizzing through their midst. Telemachus and\nEumaeus, his swine-keeper, aided him in this work of death, and a\nfrightful scene of carnage ensued, from which not one of the suitors\nescaped with his life.\n\nIn the end the hero, freed from his ragged attire, made himself known to\nhis faithful wife, defeated the friends of the suitors, and recovered\nhis kingdom from his foes. And thus ends the final episode of the famous\ntale of Troy.\n\n\n\n\n_THE VOYAGE OF THE ARGONAUTS._\n\n\nWe are forced to approach the historical period of Greece through a\ncloud-land of legend, in which atones of the gods are mingled with those\nof men, and the most marvellous of incidents are introduced as if they\nwere everyday occurrences. The Argonautic expedition belongs to this age\nof myth, the vague vestibule of history. It embraces, as does the tale\nof the wanderings of Ulysses, very ancient ideas of geography, and many\nable men have treated it as the record of an actual voyage, one of the\nearliest ventures of the Greeks upon the unknown seas. However this be,\nthis much is certain, the story is full of romantic and supernatural\nelements, and it was largely through these that it became so celebrated\nin ancient times.\n\nThe story of the voyage of the ship Argo is a tragedy. Pelias, king of\nIoleus, had consulted an oracle concerning the safety of his dominions,\nand was warned to beware of the man with one sandal. Soon afterwards\nJason (a descendant of AEolus, the wind god) appeared before him with one\nfoot unsandalled. He had lost his sandal while crossing a swollen\nstream. Pelias, anxious to rid himself of this visitor, against whom the\noracle had warned him, gave to Jason the desperate task of bringing\nback to Locus the Golden Fleece (the fleece of a speaking ram which had\nborne Phryxus and Helle through the air from Greece, and had reached\nColchis in Asia Minor, where it was dedicated to Mars, the god of war).\n\nJason, young and daring, accepted without hesitation the perilous task,\nand induced a number of the noblest youth of Greece to accompany him in\nthe enterprise. Among these adventurers were Hercules, Theseus, Castor,\nPollux, and many others of the heroes of legend. The way to Colchis lay\nover the sea, and a ship was built for the adventurers named the Argo,\nin whose prow was inserted a piece of timber cut from the celebrated\nspeaking oak of Dodona.\n\nThe voyage of the Argo was as full of strange incidents as those which\nUlysses encountered in his journey home from Troy. Land was first\nreached on the island of Lemnos. Here no men were found. It was an\nisland of women only. All the men had been put to death by the women in\nrevenge for ill-treatment, and they held the island as their own. But\nthese warlike matrons, who had perhaps grown tired of seeing only each\nother's faces, received the Argonauts with much friendship, and made\ntheir stay so agreeable that they remained there for several months.\n\nLeaving Lemnos, they sailed along the coast of Thrace, and up the\nHellespont (a strait which had received its name from Helle, who, while\nriding on the golden ram in the air above it, had fallen and been\ndrowned in its waters). Thence they sailed along the Propontis and the\ncoast of Mysia, not, as we may be sure, without adventures. In the\ncountry of the Bebrycians the giant king Amycus challenged any of them\nto box with him. Pollux accepted the challenge, and killed the giant\nwith a blow. Next they reached Bithynia, where dwelt the blind prophet\nPhineus, to whom their coming proved a blessing.\n\nPhineus had been blinded by Neptune, as a punishment for having shown\nPhryxus the way to Colchis. He was also tormented by the harpies,\nfrightful winged monsters, who flew down from the clouds whenever he\nattempted to eat, snatched the food from his lips, and left on it such a\nvile odor that no man could come near it. He, being a prophet, knew that\nthe Argonauts would free him from this curse. There were with them Zetes\nand Calias, winged sons of Boreas, the god of the north winds; and when\nthe harpies descended again to spoil the prophet's meal, these winged\nwarriors not only drove them away, but pursued them through the air.\nThey could not overtake them, but the harpies were forbidden by Jupiter\nto molest Phineus any longer.\n\nThe blind prophet, grateful for this deliverance, told the voyagers how\nthey might escape a dreadful danger which lay in their onward way. This\ncame from the Symplegades, two rocks between which their ships must\npass, and which continually opened and closed, with a violent collision,\nand so swiftly that even a bird could scarce fly through the opening in\nsafety. When the Argo reached the dangerous spot, at the suggestion of\nPhineus, a dove was let loose. It flew with all speed through the\nopening, but the rocks clashed together so quickly behind it that it\nlost a few feathers of its tail. Now was their opportunity. The rowers\ndashed their ready oars into the water, shot forward with rapid speed,\nand passed safely through, only losing the ornaments at the stern of\ntheir ship. Their escape, however, they owed to the goddess Minerva,\nwhose strong hand held the rocks asunder during the brief interval of\ntheir passage. It had been decreed by the gods that if any ship escaped\nthese dreadful rocks they should forever cease to move. The escape of\nthe Argo fulfilled this decree, and the Symplegades have ever since\nremained immovable.\n\nOnward went the daring voyagers, passing in their journey Mount\nCaucasus, on whose bare rock Prometheus, for the crime of giving fire to\nmankind, was chained, while an eagle devoured his liver. The adventurers\nsaw this dread eagle and heard the groans of the sufferer himself.\nHelpless to release him whom the gods had condemned, they rowed rapidly\naway.\n\nFinally Colchis was reached, a land then ruled over by King AEetes, from\nwhom the heroes demanded the golden fleece, stating that they had been\nsent thither by the gods themselves. AEetes heard their request with\nanger, and told them that if they wanted the fleece they could have it\non one condition only. He possessed two fierce and tameless bulls, with\nbrazen feet and fire-breathing nostrils. These had been the gift of the\ngod Vulcan. Jason was told that if he wished to prove his descent from\nthe gods and their sanction of his voyage, he must harness these\nterrible animals, plough with them a large field, and sow it with\ndragons' teeth.\n\nPerilous as this task seemed, each of the heroes was eager to undertake\nit, but Jason, as the leader of the expedition, took it upon himself.\nFortune favored him in the desperate undertaking. Medea, the daughter of\nAEetes, who knew all the arts of magic, had seen the handsome youth and\nfallen in love with him at sight. She now came to his aid with all her\nmagic. Gathering an herb which had grown where the blood of Prometheus\nhad fallen, she prepared from it a magical ointment which, when rubbed\non Jason's body, made him invulnerable either to fire or weapons of war.\nThus prepared, he fearlessly approached the fire-breathing bulls, yoked\nthem unharmed, and ploughed the field, in whose furrows he then sowed\nthe dragons' teeth. Instantly from the latter sprang up a crop of armed\nmen, who turned their weapons against the hero. But Jason, who had been\nfurther instructed by Medea, flung a great stone in their midst, upon\nwhich they began to fight each other, and he easily subdued them all.\n\nJason had accomplished his task, but AEetes proved unfaithful to his\nwords. He not only withheld the prize, but took steps to kill the\nArgonauts and burn their vessel. They were invited to a banquet, and\narmed men were prepared to murder them during the night after the feast.\nFortunately, sleep overcame the treacherous king, and the adventurers\nwarned of their danger, made ready to fly. But not without the golden\nfleece. This was guarded by a dragon, but Medea prepared a potion that\nput this perilous sentinel to sleep, seized the fleece, and accompanied\nJason in his flight, taking with her on the Argo Absyrtus, her youthful\nbrother.\n\nThe Argonauts, seizing their oars, rowed with all haste from the dreaded\nlocality. AEetes, on awakening, learned with fury of the loss of the\nfleece and his children, hastily collected an armed force, and pursued\nwith such energy that the flying vessel was soon nearly overtaken. The\nsafety of the adventurers was again due to Medea, who secured it by a\nterrible stratagem. This was, to kill her young brother, cut his body to\npieces, and fling the bleeding fragments into the sea. AEetes, on\nreaching the scene of this tragedy, recognized these as the remains of\nhis murdered son, and sorrowfully stopped to collect them for interment.\nWhile he was thus engaged the Argonauts escaped.\n\nBut such a wicked deed was not suffered to go unpunished. Jupiter beheld\nit with deep indignation, and in requital condemned the Argonauts to a\nlong and perilous voyage, full of hardship and adventure. They were\nforced to sail over all the watery world of waters, so far as then\nknown. Up the river Phasis they rowed until it entered the ocean which\nflows round the earth. This vast sea or stream was then followed to the\nsource of the Nile, down which great river they made their way into the\nland of Egypt.\n\nHere, for some reason unknown, they did not follow the Nile to the\nMediterranean, but were forced to take the ship Argo on their shoulders\nand carry it by a long overland journey to Lake Tritonis, in Libya. Here\nthey were overcome by want and exhaustion, but Triton, the god of the\nregion, proved hospitable, and supplied them with the much-needed food\nand rest. Thus refreshed, they launched their ship once more on the\nMediterranean and proceeded hopefully on their homeward way.\n\nStopping at the island of AEaea, its queen Circe--she who had transformed\nthe companions of Ulysses into swine--purified Medea from the crime of\nmurder; and at Corcyra, which they next reached, the marriage of Jason\nand Medea took place. The cavern in that island where the wedding was\nsolemnized was still pointed out in historical times.\n\nAfter leaving Corcyra a fierce storm threatened the navigators with\nshipwreck, from which they were miraculously saved by the celestial aid\nof the god Apollo. An arrow shot from his golden bow crossed the billows\nlike a track of light, and where it pierced the waves an island sprang\nup, on whose shores the imperilled mariners found a port of refuge. On\nthis island, Anaphe by name, the grateful Argonauts built an altar to\nApollo and instituted sacrifices in his honor.\n\nAnother adventure awaited them on the coast of Crete. This island was\nprotected by a brazen sentinel, named Talos, wrought by Vulcan, and\npresented by him to King Minos to protect his realm. This living man of\nbrass hurled great rocks at the vessel, and destruction would have\noverwhelmed the voyagers but for Medea. Talos, like all the\ninvulnerable men of legend, had his one weak point. This her magic art\nenabled her to discover, and, as Paris had wounded Achilles in the heel,\nMedea killed this vigilant sentinel by striking him in his vulnerable\nspot.\n\nThe Argonauts now landed and refreshed themselves. In the island of\nAEgina they had to fight to procure water. Then they sailed along the\ncoasts of Euboea and Locris, and finally entered the gulf of Pagasae\nand dropped anchor at Iolceus, their starting-point.\n\nAs to what became of the ship Argo there are two stories. One is that\nJason consecrated his vessel to Neptune on the isthmus of Corinth.\nAnother is that Minerva translated it to the stars, where it became a\nconstellation.\n\nSo ends the story of this earliest of recorded voyages, whose possible\nsubstratum of fact is overlaid deeply with fiction, and whose geography\nis similarly a strange mixture of fact and fancy. Yet though the voyage\nis at an end, our story is not. We have said that it was a tragedy, and\nthe denouement of the tragedy remains to be given.\n\nPelias, who had sent Jason on this long voyage to escape the fate\ndecreed for him by the oracle, took courage from his protracted absence,\nand put to death his father and mother and his infant brother. On\nlearning of this murderous act Jason determined on revenge. But Pelias\nwas too strong to be attacked openly, so the hero employed a strange\nstratagem, suggested by the cunning magician Medea. He and his\ncompanions halted at some distance from Iolcus, while Medea entered the\ntown alone, pretending that she was a fugitive from the ill-treatment of\nJason.\n\nHere she was entertained by the daughters of Pelias, over whom she\ngained great influence by showing them certain magical wonders. In the\nend she selected an old ram from the king's flocks, cut him up and\nboiled him in a caldron with herbs of magic power. In the end the animal\nemerged from the caldron as a young and vigorous lamb. The enchantress\nnow told her dupes that their old father could in the same way be made\nyoung again. Fully believing her, the daughters cut the old man to\npieces in the same manner, and threw his limbs into the caldron,\ntrusting to Medea to restore him to life as she had the ram.\n\nLeaving them for the assumed purpose of invoking the moon, as a part of\nthe ceremony, Medea ascended to the roof of the palace. Here she lighted\na fire-signal to the waiting Argonauts, who instantly burst into and\ntook possession of the town.\n\nHaving thus revenged himself, Jason yielded the crown of Iolcus to the\nson of Pelias, and withdrew with Medea to Corinth, where they resided\ntogether for ten years. And here the final act in the tragedy was\nplayed.\n\nAfter these ten years of happy married life, during which several\nchildren were born, Jason ceased to love his wife, and fixed his\naffections on Glauce, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. The king\nshowed himself willing to give Jason his daughter in marriage, upon\nwhich the faithless hero divorced Medea, who was ordered to leave\nCorinth. He should have known better with whom he had to deal. The\nenchantress, indignant at such treatment, determined on revenge.\nPretending to be reconciled to the coming marriage, she prepared a\npoisoned robe, which she sent as a wedding-present to the hapless\nGlauce. No sooner had the luckless bride put on this perilous gift than\nthe robe burst into flames, and she was consumed; while her father, who\nsought to tear from her the fatal garment, met with the same fate.\n\nMedea escaped by means of a chariot drawn by winged serpents, sent her\nby her grandfather Helios (the sun). As the story is told by Euripides,\nshe killed her children before taking to flight, leaving their dead\nbodies to blast the sight of their horror-stricken father. The legend,\nhowever, tells a different tale. It says that she left them for safety\nbefore the altar in the temple of Juno; and that the Corinthians,\nfurious at the death of their king, dragged the children from the altar\nand put them to death. As for the unhappy Jason, the story goes that he\nfell asleep under the ship Argo, which had been hauled ashore according\nto the custom of the ancients, and that a fragment of this ship fell\nupon and killed him.\n\nThe flight of Medea took her to Athens, where she found a protector and\nsecond husband in AEgeus, the ruler of that city, and father of Theseus,\nthe great legendary hero of Athens.\n\n\n\n\n_THESEUS AND ARIADNE._\n\n\nMinos, king of Crete in the age of legend, made war against Athens in\nrevenge for the death of his son. This son, Androgeos by name, had shown\nsuch strength and skill in the Panathenaic festival that AEgeus, the\nAthenian king, sent him to fight with the flame-spitting bull of\nMarathon, a monstrous creature that was ravaging the plains of Attica.\nThe bull killed the valiant youth, and Minos, furious at the death of\nhis son, laid siege to Athens.\n\nAs he proved unable to capture the city, he prayed for aid to his father\nZeus (for, like all the heroes of legend, he was a son of the gods).\nZeus sent pestilence and famine on Athens, and so bitter grew the lot of\nthe Athenians that they applied to the oracles of the gods for advice in\ntheir sore strait, and were bidden to submit to any terms which Minos\nmight impose. The terms offered by the offended king of Crete were\nsevere ones. He demanded that the Athenians should, at fixed periods,\nsend to Crete seven youths and seven maidens, as victims to the\ninsatiable appetite of the Minotaur.\n\nThis fabulous creature was one of those destructive monsters of which\nmany ravaged Greece in the age of fable. It had the body of a man and\nthe head of a bull, and so great was the havoc it wrought among the\nCretans that Minos engaged the great artist Daedalus to construct a den\nfrom which it could not escape. Daedalus built for this purpose the\nLabyrinth, a far-extending edifice, in which were countless passages, so\nwinding and intertwining that no person confined in it could ever find\nhis way out again. It was like the catacombs of Rome, in which one who\nis lost is said to wander helplessly till death ends his sorrowful\ncareer. In this intricate puzzle of a building the Minotaur was\nconfined.\n\nEvery ninth year the fourteen unfortunate youths and maidens had to be\nsent from Athens to be devoured by this insatiate beast. We are not told\non what food it was fed in the interval, or why Minos did not end the\ntrouble by allowing it to starve in its inextricable den. As the story\ngoes, the living tribute was twice sent, and the third period came duly\nround. The youths and maidens to be devoured were selected by lot from\nthe people of Athens, and left their city amid tears and woe. But on\nthis occasion Theseus, the king's son and the great hero of Athens,\nvolunteered to be one of the band, and vowed either to slay the terrible\nbeast or die in the attempt.\n\nThere seem to have been few great events in those early days of Greece\nin which Theseus did not take part. Among his feats was the carrying off\nof Helen, the famous beauty, while still a girl. He then took part in a\njourney to the under-world,--the realm of ghosts,--during which Castor\nand Pollux, the brothers of Helen, rescued and brought her home. He was\nalso one of the heroes of the Argonautic expedition and of an expedition\nagainst the Amazons, or nation of women warriors; he fought with and\nkilled a series of famous robbers; and he rid the world of a number of\nravaging beasts,--the Calydonian boar, the Crommyonian sow, and the\nMarathonian bull, the monster which had slain the son of Minos. He was,\nin truth, the Hercules of ancient Athens, and he now proposed to add to\nhis exploits a battle for life or death with the perilous Minotaur.\n\nThe hero knew that he had before him the most desperate task of his\nlife. Even should he slay the monster, he would still be in the\nintricate depths of the Labyrinth, from which escape was deemed\nimpossible, and in whose endless passages he and his companions might\nwander until they died of weariness and starvation. He prayed,\ntherefore, to Neptune for help, and received a message from the oracle\nat Delphi to the effect that Aphrodite (or Venus) would aid and rescue\nhim.\n\nThe ship conveying the victims sailed sadly from Athens, and at length\nreached Crete at the port of Knossus, the residence of King Minos. Here\nthe woful hostages were led through the streets to the prison in which\nthey were to be confined till the next day, when they were to be\ndelivered to death. As they passed along the people looked with sympathy\nupon their fair young faces, and deeply lamented their coming fate. And,\nas Venus willed, among the spectators were Minos and his fair daughter\nAriadne, who stood at the palace door to see them pass.\n\nThe eyes of the young princess fell upon the face of Theseus, the\nAthenian prince, and her heart throbbed with a feeling she had never\nbefore known. Never had she gazed upon a man who seemed to her half so\nbrave and handsome as this princely youth. All that night thoughts of\nhim drove slumber from her eyes. In the early morning, moved by a\nnew-born love, she sought the prison, and, through her privilege as the\nking's daughter, was admitted to see the prisoners. Venus was doing the\nwork which the oracle had promised.\n\nCalling Theseus aside, the blushing maiden told him of her sudden love,\nand that she ardently longed to save him. If he would follow her\ndirections he would escape. She gave him a sword, which she had taken\nfrom her father's armory and concealed beneath her cloak, that he might\nbe armed against the devouring beast. And she provided him besides with\na ball of thread, bidding him to fasten the end of it to the entrance of\nthe Labyrinth, and unwind it as he went in, that it might serve him as a\nclue to find his way out again.\n\nAs may well be believed, Theseus warmly thanked his lovely visitor, told\nher that he was a king's son, and that he returned her love, and begged\nher, in case he escaped, to return with him to Athens and be his bride.\nAriadne willingly consented, and left the prison before the guards came\nto conduct the victims to their fate. It was like the story of Jason and\nMedea retold.\n\nWith hidden sword and clue Theseus followed the guards, in the midst of\nhis fellow-prisoners. They were led into the depths of the Labyrinth\nand there left to their fate. But the guards had failed to observe that\nTheseus had fastened his thread at the entrance and was unwinding the\nball as he went. And now, in this dire den, for hours the hapless\nvictims awaited their destiny. Mid-day came, and with it a distant roar\nfrom the monster reverberated frightfully through the long passages.\nNearer came the blood-thirsty brute, his bellowing growing louder as he\nscented human beings. The trembling victims waited with but a single\nhope, and that was in the sword of their valiant prince. At length the\ncreature appeared, in form a man of giant stature, but with the horned\nhead and huge mouth of a bull.\n\nBattle at once began between the prince and the brute. It soon ended.\nSpringing agilely behind the ravening monster, Theseus, with a swinging\nstroke of his blade, cut off one of its legs at the knee. As the\nman-brute fell prone, and lay bellowing with pain, a thrust through the\nback reached its heart, and all peril from the Minotaur was at an end.\n\nThis victory gained, the task of Theseus was easy. The thread led back\nto the entrance. By aid of this clue the door of escape was quickly\ngained. Waiting until night, the hostages left the dreaded Labyrinth\nunder cover of the darkness. Ariadne was in waiting, the ship was\nsecretly gained, and the rescued Athenians with their fair companion\nsailed away, unknown to the king.\n\nBut Theseus proved false to the maiden to whom he owed his life.\nStopping at the island of Naxos, which was sacred to Dionysus (or\nBacchus), the god of wine, he had a dream in which the god bade him to\ndesert Ariadne and sail away. This the faithless swain did, leaving the\nweeping maiden deserted on the island. Legend goes on to tell us that\nthe despair of the lamenting maiden ended in the sleep of exhaustion,\nand that while sleeping Dionysus found her, and made her his wife. As\nfor the dream of Theseus, it was one of those convenient excuses which\ntraitors to love never lack.\n\nMeanwhile, Theseus and his companions sailed on over the summer sea.\nReaching the isle of Delos, he offered a sacrifice to Apollo in\ngratitude for his escape, and there he, and the merry youths and maidens\nwith him, danced a dance called the Geranus, whose mazy twists and turns\nimitated those of the Labyrinth.\n\nBut the faithless swain was not to escape punishment for his base\ndesertion of Ariadne. He had arranged with his father AEgeus that if he\nescaped the Minotaur he would hoist white sails in the ship on his\nreturn. If he failed, the ship would still wear the black canvas with\nwhich she had set out on her errand of woe.\n\nThe aged king awaited the returning ship on a high rock that overlooked\nthe sea. At length it hove in sight, the sails appeared, but--they were\nblack. With broken heart the father cast himself from the rock into the\nsea,--which ever since has been called, from his name, the AEgean Sea.\nTheseus, absorbed perhaps in thoughts of the abandoned Ariadne, perhaps\nof new adventures, had forgotten to make the promised change. And thus\nwas the deserted maiden avenged on the treacherous youth who owed to\nher his life.\n\nThe ship--or what was believed to be the ship--of Theseus and the\nhostages was carefully preserved at Athens, down to the time of the\nMacedonian conquest, being constantly repaired with new timbers, till\nlittle of the original ship remained. Every year it was sent to Delos\nwith envoys to sacrifice to Apollo. Before the ship left port the priest\nof Apollo decorated her stern with garlands, and during her absence no\npublic act of impurity was permitted to take place in the city.\nTherefore no one could be put to death, and Socrates, who was condemned\nat this period of the year, was permitted to live for thirty days until\nthe return of the sacred ship.\n\nThere is another legend connected with this story worth telling.\nDaedalus, the builder of the Labyrinth, at length fell under the\ndispleasure of Minos, and was confined within the windings of his own\nedifice. He had no clue like Theseus, but he had resources in his\ninventive skill. Making wings for himself and his son Icarus, the two\nflew away from the Labyrinth and their foe. The father safely reached\nSicily; but the son, who refused to be governed by his father's wise\nadvice, flew so high in his ambitious folly that the sun melted the wax\nof which his wings were made, and he fell into the sea near the island\nof Samos. This from him was named the Icarian Sea.\n\nThere is a political as well as a legendary history of Theseus,--perhaps\none no more to be depended upon than the other. It is said that when he\nbecame king he made Athens supreme over Attica, putting an end to the\nseparate powers of the tribes which had before prevailed. He is also\nsaid to have abolished the monarchy, and replaced it by a government of\nthe people, whom he divided into the three classes of nobles,\nhusbandmen, and artisans. He died at length in the island of Scyrus,\nwhere he fell or was thrown from the cliffs. Ages later, after the\nPersian war, the Delphic oracle bade the Athenians to bring back the\nbones of Theseus from Scyrus, and bury them splendidly in Attic soil.\nCimon, the son of Miltiades, found--or pretended to find--the hero's\ntomb, and returned with the famous bones. They were buried in the heart\nof Athens, and over them was erected the monument called the Theseium,\nwhich became afterwards a place of sanctuary for slaves escaping from\ncruel treatment and for all persons in peril. Theseus, who had been the\nchampion of the oppressed during life, thus became their refuge after\ndeath.\n\n\n\n\n_THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES._\n\n\nAmong the legendary tales of Greece, none of which are strictly, though\nseveral are perhaps partly, historical, none--after that of Troy--was\nmore popular with the ancients than the story of the two sieges of\nThebes. This tale had probably in it an historical element, though\ndeeply overlaid with myth, and it was the greatest enterprise of Grecian\nwar, after that of Troy, during what is called the age of the Heroes.\nAnd in it is included one of the most pathetic episodes in the story of\nGreece, that of the sisterly affection and tragic fate of Antigone,\nwhose story gave rise to noble dramas by the tragedians AEschylus and\nSophocles, and is still a favorite with lovers of pathetic lore.\n\nAs a prelude to our story we must glance at the mythical history of\nOEdipus, which, like that of his noble daughter, has been celebrated\nin ancient drama. An oracle had declared that he should kill his father,\nthe king of Thebes. He was, in consequence, brought up in ignorance of\nhis parentage, yet this led to the accomplishment of the oracle, for as\na youth he, during a roadside squabble, killed his father not knowing\nhim. For this crime, which had been one of their own devising, the gods,\nwith their usual inconsistency, punished the land of Thebes; afflicting\nthat hapless country with a terrible monster called the Sphinx, which\nhad the face of a woman, the wings of a bird, and the body of a lion.\nThis strangely made-up creature proposed a riddle to the Thebans, whose\nsolution they were forced to try and give; and on every failure to give\nthe correct answer she seized and devoured the unhappy aspirant.\nOEdipus arrived, in ignorance of the fact that he was the son of the\nlate king. He quickly solved the riddle of the Sphinx, whereupon that\nmonster committed suicide, and he was made king. He then married the\nqueen,--not knowing that she was his own mother.\n\n[Illustration: OEDIPUS AND ANTIGONE.]\n\nThis celebrated riddle of the Sphinx was not a very difficult one. It\nwas as follows: \"A being with four feet has two feet and three feet; but\nits feet vary, and when it has most it is weakest.\"\n\nThe answer, as given by OEdipus, was \"Man,\" who\n\n \"First as a babe four-footed creeps on his way,\n Then, when full age cometh on, and the burden of years weighs full heavy,\n Bending his shoulders and neck, as a third foot useth his staff.\"\n\nWhen the truth became known--as truth was apt to become known when too\nlate in old stories--the queen, Jocasta, mad with anguish, hanged\nherself, and OEdipus, in wild despair, put out his eyes. The gods who\nhad led him blindly into crime, now handed him over to punishment by the\nFuries,--the ancient goddesses of vengeance, whose mission it was to\npursue the criminal with stinging whips.\n\nThe tragic events which followed arose from the curse of the afflicted\nOEdipus. He had two sons, Polynikes and Eteocles, who twice offended\nhim without intention, and whom he, frenzied by his troubles, twice\nbitterly cursed, praying to the gods that they might perish by each\nother's hands. OEdipus afterwards obtained the pardon of the gods for\nhis involuntary crime, and died in exile, leaving Creon, the brother of\nJocasta, on the throne. But though he was dead, his curse kept alive,\nand brought on new matter of dire moment.\n\nIt began its work in a quarrel between the two sons as to who should\nsucceed their uncle as king of Thebes. Polynikes was in the wrong, and\nwas forced to leave Thebes, while Eteocles remained. The exiled prince\nsought the court of Adrastus, king of Argos, who gave him his daughter\nin marriage, and agreed to assist in restoring him to his native\ncountry.\n\nMost of the Argive chiefs joined in the proposed expedition. But the\nmost distinguished of them all, Amphiaraues, opposed it as unjust and\nagainst the will of the gods. He concealed himself, lest he should be\nforced into the enterprise. But the other chiefs deemed his aid\nindispensable, and bribed his wife, with a costly present, to reveal his\nhiding-place. Amphiaraues was thus forced to join the expedition, but his\nprophetic power taught him that it would end in disaster to all and\ndeath to himself, and as a measure of revenge he commanded his son\nAlkmaeon to kill the faithless woman who had betrayed him, and after his\ndeath to organize a second expedition against Thebes.\n\nSeven chiefs led the army, one to assail each of the seven celebrated\ngates of Thebes. Onward they marched against that strong city, heedless\nof the hostile portents which they met on their way. The Thebans also\nsought the oracle of the gods, and were told that they should be\nvictorious, but only on the dread condition that Creon's son,\nMenoeceus, should sacrifice himself to Mars. The devoted youth, on\nlearning that the safety of his country depended on his life, forthwith\nkilled himself before the city gates,--thus securing by innocent blood\nthe powerful aid of the god of war.\n\nLong and strenuous was the contest that succeeded, each of the heroes\nfiercely attacking the gate adjudged to him. But the gods were on the\nside of the Thebans and every assault proved in vain. Parthenopaeus, one\nof the seven, was killed by a stone, and another, Capaneus, while\nfuriously mounting the walls from a scaling-ladder, was slain by a\nthunderbolt cast by Jupiter, and fell dead to the earth.\n\nThe assailants, terrified by this portent, drew back, and were pursued\nby the Thebans, who issued from their gates. But the battle that was\nabout to take place on the open plain was stopped by Eteocles, who\nproposed to settle it by a single combat with his brother Polynikes, the\nvictory to be given to the side whose champion succeeded in this mortal\nduel. Polynikes, filled with hatred of his brother, eagerly accepted\nthis challenge. Adrastus, the leader of the assailing army, assented,\nand the unholy combat began.\n\nNever was a more furious combat than that between the hostile brothers.\nEach was exasperated to bitter hatred of the other, and they fought with\na violence and desperation that could end only in the death of one of\nthe combatants. As it proved, the curse of OEdipus was in the keeping\nof the gods, and both fell dead,--the fate for which their aged father\nhad prayed. But the duel had decided nothing, and the two armies renewed\nthe battle.\n\nAnd now death and bloodshed ran riot; men fell by hundreds; deeds of\nheroic valor were achieved on either side; feats of individual daring\nwere displayed like those which Homer sings in the story of Troy. But\nthe battle ended in the defeat of the assailants. Of the seven leaders\nonly two survived, and one of these, Amphiaraues, was about to suffer the\nfate he had foretold, when Jupiter rescued him from death by a miracle.\nThe earth opened beneath him, and he, with his chariot and horses, was\nreceived unhurt into her bosom. Rendered immortal by the king of the\ngods, he was afterwards worshipped as a god himself.\n\nAdrastus, the only remaining chief, was forced to fly, and was preserved\nby the matchless speed of his horse. He reached Argos in safety, but\nbrought with him nothing but \"his garment of woe and his black-maned\nsteed.\"\n\nThus ended, in defeat and disaster to the assailants, the first of the\ncelebrated sieges of Thebes. It was followed by a tragic episode which\nremains to be told, that of the sisterly fidelity of Antigone and her\nsorrowful fate. Her story, which the dramatists have made immortal, is\nthus told in the legend.\n\nAfter the repulse of his foes, King Creon caused the body of Eteocles\nto be buried with the highest honors; but that of Polynikes was cast\noutside the gates as the corpse of a traitor, and death was threatened\nto any one who should dare to give it burial. This cruel edict, which no\none else ventured to ignore, was set aside by Antigone, the sister of\nPolynikes. This brave maiden, with warm filial affection, had\naccompanied her blind father during his exile to Attica, and was now\nreturned to Thebes to perform another holy duty. Funeral rites were held\nby the Greeks to be essential to the repose of the dead, and Antigone,\ndespite Creon's edict, determined that her brother's body should not be\nleft to the dogs and vultures. Her sister, though in sympathy with her\npurpose, proved too timid to help her. No other assistance was to be\nhad. But not deterred by this, she determined to perform the act alone,\nand to bury the body with her own hands.\n\nIn this act of holy devotion Antigone succeeded; Polynikes was buried.\nBut the sentinels whom Creon had posted detected her in the act, and she\nwas seized and dragged before the tribunal of the tyrant. Here she\ndefended her action with an earnestness and dignity that should have\ngained her release, but Creon was inflexible in his anger. She had set\nat naught his edict, and should suffer the penalty for her crime. He\ncondemned her to be buried alive.\n\nSophocles, the dramatist, puts noble words into the mouth of Antigone.\nThis is her protest against the tyranny of the king:\n\n  \"No ordinance of man shall override\n  The settled laws of Nature and of God;\n  Not written these in pages of a book,\n  Nor were they framed to-day, nor yesterday;\n  We know not whence they are; but this we know,\n  That they from all eternity have been,\n  And shall to all eternity endure.\"\n\nAnd when asked by Creon why she had dared disobey the laws, she nobly\nreplied,--\n\n                \"Not through fear\n  Of any man's resolve was I prepared\n  Before the gods to bear the penalty\n  Of sinning against these. That I should die\n  I knew (how should I not?) though thy decree\n  Had never spoken. And before my time\n  If I shall die, I reckon this a gain;\n  For whoso lives, as I, in many woes,\n  How can it be but he shall gain by death?\"\n\nAt the king's command the unhappy maiden was taken from his presence and\nthrust into a sepulchre, where she was condemned to perish in hunger and\nloneliness. But Antigone was not without her advocate. She had a\nlover,--almost the only one in Greek literature. Haemon, the son of\nCreon, to whom her hand had been promised in marriage, and who loved her\ndearly, appeared before his father and earnestly interceded for her\nlife. Not on the plea of his love,--such a plea would have had no weight\nwith a Greek tribunal,--but on those of mercy and justice. His plea was\nvain; Creon was obdurate: the unhappy lover left his presence and sought\nAntigone's living tomb, where he slew himself at the feet of his love,\nalready dead. His mother, on learning of his fatal act, also killed\nherself by her own hand, and Creon was left alone to suffer the\nconsequences of his unnatural act.\n\nThe story goes on to relate that Adrastus, with the disconsolate mothers\nof the fallen chieftains, sought the hero Theseus at Athens, and begged\nhis aid in procuring the privilege of interment for the slain warriors\nwhose bodies lay on the plain of Thebes. The Thebans persisting in their\nrefusal to permit burial, Theseus at length led an army against them,\ndefeated them in the field, and forced them to consent that their fallen\nfoes should be interred, that last privilege of the dead which was\ndeemed so essential by all pious Greeks. The tomb of the chieftains was\nshown near Eleusis within late historical times.\n\nBut the Thebans were to suffer another reverse. The sons of the slain\nchieftains raised an army, which they placed under the leadership of\nAdrastus, and demanded to be led against Thebes. Alkmaeon, the son of\nAmphiaraues, who had been commanded to revenge him, played the most\nprominent part in the succeeding war. As this new expedition marched,\nthe gods, which had opposed the former with hostile signs, now showed\ntheir approval with favorable portents. Adherents joined them on their\nmarch. At the river Glisas they were met by a Theban army, and a battle\nwas fought, which ended in a complete victory over the Theban foe. A\nprophet now declared to the Thebans that the gods were against them, and\nadvised them to surrender the city. This they did, flying themselves,\nwith their wives and children, to the country of the Illyrians, and\nleaving their city empty to the triumphant foe. The Epigoni, as the\nyouthful victors were called, marched in at the head of their forces,\ntook possession, and placed Thersander, the son of Polynikes, on the\nthrone. And thus ends the famous old legend of the two sieges of Thebes.\n\n\n\n\n_LYCURGUS AND THE SPARTAN LAWS._\n\n\nOf the many nations between which the small peninsula of Greece was\ndivided, much the most interesting were those whose chief cities were\nAthens and Sparta. These are the states with whose doings history is\nfull, and without which the history of ancient Greece would be little\nmore interesting to us than the history of ancient China and Japan. No\ntwo cities could have been more opposite in character and institutions\nthan these, and they were rivals of each other for the dominant power\nthrough centuries of Grecian history. In Athens freedom of thought and\nfreedom of action prevailed. Such complete political equality of the\ncitizens has scarcely been known elsewhere upon the earth, and the\nintellectual activity of these citizens stands unequalled. In Sparta\nfreedom of thought and action were both suppressed to a degree rarely\nknown, the most rigid institutions existed, and the only activity was a\nwarlike one. All thought and all education had war for their object, and\nthe state and city became a compact military machine. This condition was\nthe result of a remarkable code of laws by which Sparta was governed,\nthe most peculiar and surprising code which any nation has ever\npossessed. It is this code, and Lycurgus, to whom Sparta owed it, with\nwhich we are now concerned.\n\nFirst, who was Lycurgus and in what age did he live? Neither of these\nquestions can be closely answered. Though his laws are historical, his\nbiography is legendary. He is believed to have lived somewhere about 800\nor 900 B.C., that age of legend and fable in which Homer lived, and what\nwe know about him is little more to be trusted than what we know about\nthe great poet. The Greeks had stories of their celebrated men of this\nremote age, but they were stories with which imagination often had more\nto do than fact, and though we may enjoy them, it is never quite safe to\nbelieve them.\n\nAs for the very uncertain personage named Lycurgus, we are told by\nHerodotus, the Greek historian, that when he was born the Spartans were\nthe most lawless of the Greeks. Every man was a law unto himself, and\nconfusion, tumult, and injustice everywhere prevailed. Lycurgus, a noble\nSpartan, sad at heart for the misery of his country, applied to the\noracle at Delphi, and received instructions as to how he should act to\nbring about a better state of affairs.\n\nPlutarch, who tells so many charming stories about the ancient Greeks\nand Romans, gives us the following account. According to him the brother\nof Lycurgus was king of Sparta. When he died Lycurgus was offered the\nthrone, but he declined the honor and made his infant nephew, Charilaus,\nking. Then he left Sparta, and travelled through Crete, Ionia, Egypt,\nand several more remote countries, everywhere studying the laws and\ncustoms which he found prevailing. In Ionia he obtained a copy of the\npoems of Homer, and is said by some to have met and conversed with Homer\nhimself. If, as is supposed, the Greeks of that age had not the art of\nwriting, he must have carried this copy in his memory.\n\nOn his return home from this long journey Lycurgus found his country in\na worse state than before. Sparta, it may be well here to say, had\nalways two kings; but it found, as might have been expected, that two\nkings were worse than one, and that this odd device in government never\nworked well. At any rate, Lycurgus found that law had nearly vanished,\nand that disorder had taken its place. He now consulted the oracle at\nDelphi, and was told that the gods would support him in what he proposed\nto do.\n\nComing back to Sparta, he secretly gathered a body-guard of thirty armed\nmen from among the noblest citizens, and then presented himself in the\nAgora, or place of public assembly, announcing that he had come to end\nthe disorders of his native land. King Charilaus at first heard of this\nwith terror, but on learning what his uncle intended, he offered his\nsupport. Most of the leading men of Sparta did the same. Lycurgus was to\nthem a descendant of the great hero Hercules, he was the most learned\nand travelled of their people, and the reforms he proposed were sadly\nneeded in that unhappy land.\n\nThese reforms were of two kinds. He desired to reform both the\ngovernment and society. We shall deal first with the new government\nwhich he instituted. The two kings were left unchanged. But under them\nwas formed a senate of twenty-eight members, to whom the kings were\njoined, making thirty in all. The people also were given their\nassemblies, but they could not debate any subject, all the power they\nhad was to accept or reject what the senate had decreed. At a later date\nfive men, called ephors, were selected from the people, into whose hands\nfell nearly all the civil power, so that the kings had little more to do\nthan to command the army and lead it to war. The kings, however, were at\nthe head of the religious establishment of the country, and were\nrespected by the people as descendants of the gods.\n\nThe government of Sparta thus became an aristocracy or oligarchy. The\nephors came from the people, and were appointed in their interest, but\nthey came to rule the state so completely that neither the kings, the\nsenate, nor the assembly had much voice in the government. Such was the\noutgrowth of the governmental institutions of Lycurgus.\n\nIt is the civil laws made by Lycurgus, however, which are of most\ninterest, and in which Sparta differed from all other states. The people\nof Laconia, the country of which Sparta was the capital, were composed\nof two classes. That country had originally been conquered by the\nSpartans, and the ancient inhabitants, who were known as Helots, were\nheld as slaves by their Spartan conquerors. They tilled the ground to\nraise food for the citizens, who were all soldiers, and whose whole life\nand thought were given to keeping the Helots in slavery and to warlike\nactivity. That they might make the better soldiers, Lycurgus formed laws\nto do away with all luxury and inequality of conditions, and to train up\nthe young under a rigid system of discipline to the use of weapons and\nthe arts of war. The Helots, also, were often employed as light-armed\nsoldiers, and there was always danger that they might revolt against\ntheir oppressors, a fact which made constant discipline and vigilance\nnecessary to the Spartan citizens.\n\nLycurgus found great inequality in the state. A few owned all the land,\nand the remainder were poor. The rich lived in luxury; the poor were\nreduced to misery and want. He divided the whole territory of Sparta\ninto nine thousand equal lots, one of which was given to each citizen.\nThe territory of the remainder of Laconia was divided into thirty\nthousand equal lots, one of which was given to each Perioecus. (The\nPerioeci were the freemen of the country outside of the Spartan city\nand district, and did not possess the full rights of citizenship.)\n\nThis measure served to equalize wealth. But further to prevent luxury,\nLycurgus banished all gold and silver from the country, and forced the\npeople to use iron money,--each piece so heavy that none would care to\ncarry it. He also forbade the citizens to have anything to do with\ncommerce or industry. They were to be soldiers only, and the Helots were\nto supply them with food. As for commerce, since no other state would\naccept their iron money, they had to depend on themselves for\neverything they needed. The industries of Laconia were kept strictly at\nhome.\n\nTo these provisions Lycurgus added another of remarkable character. No\none was allowed to take his meals at home. Public tables were provided,\nat which all must eat, every citizen being forced to belong to some\nspecial public mess. Each had to supply his quota of food, such as\nbarley, wine, cheese, and figs from his land, game obtained by hunting,\nor the meat of the animals killed for sacrifices. At these tables all\nshared alike. The kings and the humblest citizens were on an equality.\nNo distinction was permitted except to those who had rendered some\nsignal service to the state.\n\nThis public mess was not accepted without protest. Those who were used\nto luxurious living were not ready to be brought down to such simple\nfare, and a number of these attacked Lycurgus in the market-place, and\nwould have stoned him to death had he not run briskly for his life. As\nit was, one of his pursuers knocked out his eye. But, such was his\ncontent at his success, that he dedicated his last eye to the gods,\nbuilding a temple to the goddess Athene of the Eye. At these public\ntables black broth was the most valued dish, the elder men eating it in\npreference, and leaving the meat to their younger messmates.\n\nThe houses of the Spartans were as plain as they could well be made, and\nas simple in furniture as possible, while no lights were permitted at\nbedtime, it being designed that every one should become accustomed to\nwalking boldly in the dark. This, however, was but a minor portion of\nthe Spartan discipline. Throughout life, from boyhood to old age, every\none was subjected to the most rigorous training. From seven years of age\nthe drill continued, and everyone was constantly being trained or seeing\nothers under training. The day was passed in public exercises and public\nmeals, the nights in public barracks. Married Spartans rarely saw their\nwives--during the first years of marriage--and had very little to do\nwith their children; their whole lives were given to the state, and the\nslavery of the Helots to them was not more complete than their slavery\nto military discipline.\n\nThey were not only drilled in the complicated military movements which\ntaught a body of Spartan soldiers to act as one man, but also had\nincessant gymnastic training, so as to make them active, strong, and\nenduring. They were taught to bear severe pain unmoved, to endure heat\nand cold, hunger and thirst, to walk barefoot on rugged ground, to wear\nthe same garment summer and winter, to suppress all display of feeling,\nand in public to remain silent and motionless until action was called\nfor.\n\nTwo companies were often matched against each other, and these contests\nwere carried on with fury, fists and feet taking the place of arms.\nHunting in the woods and mountains was encouraged, that they might learn\nto bear fatigue. The boys were kept half fed, that they might be forced\nto provide for themselves by hunting or stealing. The latter was\ndesigned to make them cunning and skilful, and if detected in the act\nthey were severely punished. The story is told that one boy who had\nstolen a fox and hidden it under his garment, permitted the animal to\ntear him open with claws and teeth, and died rather than reveal his\ntheft.\n\nOne might say that he would rather have been born a girl than a boy in\nSparta; but the girls were trained almost as severely as the boys. They\nwere forced to contend with each other in running, wrestling, and\nboxing, and to go through other gymnastic exercises calculated to make\nthem strong and healthy. They marched in the religious processions, sung\nand danced at festivals, and were present at the exercises of the\nyouths. Thus boys and girls were continually mingled, and the praise or\nreproach of the latter did much to stimulate their brothers and friends\nto the utmost exertion.\n\nAs a result of all this the Spartans became strong, vigorous, and\nhandsome in form and face. The beauty of their women was everywhere\ncelebrated. The men became unequalled for soldierly qualities, able to\nbear the greatest fatigue and privation, and to march great distances in\na brief time, while on the field of battle they were taught to conquer\nor to die, a display of cowardice or flight from the field being a\nlifelong disgrace.\n\nSuch were the main features of the most singular set of laws any nation\never had, the best fitted to make a nation of soldiers, and also to\nprevent intellectual progress in any other direction than the single one\nof war-making. Even eloquence in speech was discouraged, and a brief or\nlaconic manner sedulously cultivated. But while all this had its\nadvantages, it had its defects. The number of citizens decreased instead\nof increasing. At the time of the Persian war there were eight thousand\nof them. At a late date there were but seven hundred, of whom one\nhundred possessed most of the land. Whether Lycurgus really divided the\nland equally or not is doubtful. At any rate, in time the land fell into\na few hands, the poor increased in number, and the people steadily died\nout; while the public mess, so far as the rich were concerned, became a\nmere form.\n\nBut we need not deal with these late events, and must go back to the\nstory told of Lycurgus. It is said that when he had completed his code\nof laws, he called together an assembly of the people, told them that he\nwas going on a journey, and asked them to swear that they would obey his\nlaws till he returned. This they agreed to do, the kings, the senate,\nand the people all taking the oath.\n\nThen the law-giver went to Delphi, where he offered a sacrifice to\nApollo, and asked the oracle if the laws he had made were good. The\noracle answered that they were excellent, and would bring the people the\ngreatest fame. This answer he had put into writing and sent to Sparta,\nfor he had resolved to make his oath binding for all time by never\nreturning. So the old man starved himself to death.\n\nThe Spartans kept their oath. For five hundred years their city\ncontinued one of the chief cities of Greece, and their army the most\nwarlike and dreaded of the armies of the earth. As for Lycurgus, his\ncountrymen worshipped him as a god, and imputed to him all that was\nnoble in their institutions and excellent in their laws. But time brings\nits inevitable changes, and these famous institutions in time decayed,\nwhile the people perished from over-strict discipline or other causes\ntill but a small troop of Spartans remained, too weak in numbers fairly\nto control the Helots of their fields.\n\nIn truth, the laws of Lycurgus were unnatural, and in the end could but\nfail. They were framed to make one-sided men, and only whole men can\nlong succeed. Human nature will have its way, and luxury and corruption\ncrept into Sparta despite these laws. Nor did the Spartans prove braver\nor more successful in war than the Athenians, whose whole nature was\ndeveloped, and who were alike great in literature, art, and war.\n\n\n\n\n_ARISTOMENES, THE HERO OF MESSENIA._\n\n\nWe have told by what means the Spartans grew to be famous warriors. We\nhave now to tell one of the ancient stories of how they used their\nwarlike prowess to extend their dominions. Laconia, their country, was\nsituated in the southeast section of the Peloponnesus, that southern\npeninsula which is attached to the remainder of Greece by the narrow\nneck of land known as the Isthmus of Corinth. Their capital city was\nanciently called Lacedaemon; it was later known as Sparta. In consequence\nthey are called in history both Spartans and Lacedaemonians.\n\nIn the early history of the Spartans they did not trouble themselves\nabout Northern Greece. They had enough to occupy them in the\nPeloponnesus. As the Romans, in after-time, spent their early centuries\nin conquering the small nations immediately around them, so did the\nSpartans. And the first wars of this nation of soldiers seem to have\nbeen with Messenia, a small country west of Laconia, and extending like\nit southward into the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea.\n\nThere were two wars with the Messenians, both full of stories of daring\nand disaster, but it is the second of these with which we are specially\nconcerned, that in which the hero Aristomenes won his fame. We shall\nnot ask our readers to believe all that is told about this ancient\nchampion. Much of it is very doubtful. But the war in which he took part\nwas historical, and the conquest of Messenia was the first great event\nin Spartan history.\n\nNow for the story itself. In the first Messenian war, which was fought\nmore than seven hundred years B.C., the leader of the Messenians was\nnamed Aristodemus. A quarrel had arisen between the two nations during\nsome sacrifices on their border lands. The Spartans had laid a snare for\ntheir neighbors by dressing some youths as maidens and arming them with\ndaggers. They attacked the Messenians, but were defeated, and the\nSpartan king was slain.\n\nIn the war that ensued the Messenians in time found themselves in severe\nstraits, and followed the plan that seems to have been common throughout\nGrecian history. They sent to Delphi to ask aid and advice from the\noracle of Apollo. And the oracle gave them one of its often cruel and\nalways uncertain answers; saying that if they would be successful a\nvirgin of the house of AEpytus must die for her country. To fulfil this\ncruel behest Aristodemus, who was of that ancient house, killed his\ndaughter with his own hand,--much as Agamemnon had sacrificed his\ndaughter before sailing for Troy.\n\nAristodemus afterwards became king, and had a stirring and tragic\nhistory, which was full of portents and prodigies. Thus an old blind\nprophet suddenly recovered his sight,--which the Messenians looked upon\nto mean something, though it is not clear what. A statue of Artemis (or\nDiana) let fall its brazen shield; which meant something more,--probably\nthat the fastenings had given way; but the ancients looked on it as a\nportent. Then the ghost of his murdered daughter appeared to\nAristodemus, pointed to her wounded side, stripped off his armor, placed\non his head a crown of gold and on his body a white robe,--a sign of\ndeath. So, as it seemed evident that he had mistaken the oracle, and\nkilled his daughter without saving his country, he did the only thing\nthat remained for him: he went to her grave and killed himself. And with\nthis tragedy ends all we need to tell about the first champion of\nMessenia.\n\nThe war ended in the conquest of Messenia by the Spartans. The conquered\npeople were very harshly treated by the conquerors, being forced to pay\nas tribute half the produce of their fields, and to humble themselves\nbefore their haughty masters. As a result, about fifty years afterwards,\nthey broke out into rebellion, and a second Messenian war began.\n\nThis war lasted for many years, the Messenians being led by a valiant\nhero named Aristomenes, who performed startling exploits and made\nmarvellous escapes. Three great battles took place, with various results\nand three times Aristomenes made a remarkable sacrifice to the king of\nthe gods. This was called the Hekatomphonia, and could only be offered\nby one who had slain, with his own hands, one hundred enemies in battle.\n\nBut great battles were not all. There were years of guerilla warfare.\nAt the head of a band of brave followers Aristomenes made his way more\nthan once to the very heart of Laconia, surprised two of its cities, and\non one occasion ventured into Sparta itself by night. Here he boldly\nentered the temple of Athene of the Brazen House and hung up his shield\nthere as a mark of defiance to his enemies, placing on it an inscription\nwhich said that Aristomenes presented it as an offering from Spartan\nspoil.\n\nThe Messenian maidens crowned their hero with garlands, and danced\naround him, singing a war strain in honor of his victories over his\nfoes. Yet he found the Spartans vigorous and persistent enemies, and in\nspite of all his victories was forced at length to take refuge in the\nmountain fastnesses, where he held out against his foes for eleven\nyears.\n\nWe do not know all the adventures of this famous champion, but are told\nthat he was taken prisoner three times by his enemies. Twice he made\nmarvellous escapes while they were conveying him to Sparta. On the third\noccasion he was less fortunate. His foes bore him in triumph to their\ncapital city, and here he was condemned to be cast from Mount Taygetus\ninto the Keadas, a deep rock cavity into which they flung their\ncriminals.\n\nFifty Messenian prisoners suffered the same fate and were all killed;\nbut the gods, so we are told, came to their leader's aid. The legend\nsays that an eagle took Aristomenes on its outspread wings, and landed\nhim safely in the bottom of the pit. More likely the bodies of the\nformer victims broke his fall. Seeing no possible way out from the deep\ncavity, he wrapped himself in his cloak, and resigned himself to die.\nBut, while thus lying, he saw a fox prowling among the dead bodies, and\nquestioned himself how it had found its way into the pit. When it came\nnear him he grasped its tail, defending himself from its bites by means\nof his cloak. Holding fast, he followed the fox to the aperture by which\nit had entered, enlarged it so that he could creep out, and soon\nappeared alive again in the field, to the surprise of his friends and\nthe consternation of his foes.\n\nBeing seized again by some Cretan bowmen, he was rescued by a maiden,\nwho dreamed that wolves had brought into the city a chained lion, bereft\nof its claws, and that she had given it claws and set it free. When she\nsaw Aristomenes among his captors, she believed that her dream had come\ntrue, and that the gods desired her to set him free. This she did by\nmaking his captors drunk, and giving him a dagger with which he cut his\nbonds. The indiscreet bowmen were killed by the warrior, while the\nescaped hero rewarded the maiden by making her the wife of his son.\n\nBut Messenia was doomed by the gods, and no man could avert its fate.\nThe oracle of Delphi declared that if the he-goat (Tragos) should drink\nthe waters of the Neda, the god could no longer defend that fated\ncountry. And now a fig-tree sprang up on the banks of the Neda, and,\ninstead of spreading its branches aloft, let them droop till they\ntouched the waters of the stream. This a seer announced as the\nfulfillment of the oracle, for in the Messenian language the fig-tree\nwas called _Tragos_.\n\nAristomenes now, discouraged by the decree of the gods, and finding\nhimself surrounded, through treachery, by his enemies in his mountain\nstronghold, decided to give up the hopeless struggle. He broke fiercely\nthrough the ranks of his assailants with his sons and followers, and\nleft his country to the doom which the gods had decreed.\n\nThe end of his career, like its earlier events, was, according to the\nlegend, under the control of the deities. Damagetes, the king of the\nisland of Rhodes, had been told by an oracle that he must marry the\nbravest of the Hellenes (or Greeks). Believing that Aristomenes had the\nbest claim to this proud title, he asked him for the hand of his\ndaughter in marriage, and offered him a home in his island realm.\nAristomenes consented, and spent the remainder of his days in Rhodes.\nFrom his daughter descended the illustrious family of the Diagoridae.\n\nThis romantic story of the far past resembles those of King Alfred of\nEngland, of Wallace and Bruce of Scotland, and of other heroes who have\ndefended their countries single-handed against a powerful foe. But we\nare not done with it yet. There is another singular and interesting\nepisode to be told,--a legend, no doubt, but one which has almost passed\ninto history.\n\nThe story goes that the Spartans, losing heart at the success of the\nMessenians in the early years of the war, took the usual method then\nadopted, and sent to the oracle at Delphi for advice. The oracle told\nthem to apply to Athens for a leader. They did so, sending an embassy to\nthat city; and in response to the oracle the Athenians sent them a lame\nschoolmaster named Tyrtaeus. They did not dare to resist the command of\nthe god, but they had no desire to render any actual aid to the\nSpartans.\n\nHowever, Apollo seems to have been wiser than the Athenians. The lame\nschoolmaster was an able poet as well, and on reaching Sparta he\ncomposed a series of war-songs which so inspirited the army that they\nmarched away to victory. Tyrtaeus was probably not only an able poet;\nvery likely he also gave the Spartans good advice in the conduct of the\nwar, and though he did not lead their armies, he animated them by his\nsongs and aided them with his advice until victory followed their career\nof defeat.\n\nFor many years afterwards the war-songs of Tyrtaeus remained highly\npopular at Sparta, and some of them have come down to our own days. As\nfor the actual history of this war, most of what we know seems to have\nbeen written by Tyrtaeus, who was thus not only the poet but the\nhistorian of the Messenian wars.\n\n\n\n\n_SOLON, THE LAW-GIVER OF ATHENS._\n\n\nWe have told how Sparta came to have an aristocratic government, under\nthe laws of Lycurgus. We have now to tell how Athens came to have a\ndemocratic government, under the laws of Solon. These formed the types\nof government for later Greece, some of whose nations became\naristocracies, following the example of Sparta; others became\ndemocracies, and formed their governments on the model of that of\nAthens.\n\nAs before Lycurgus the Spartan commonwealth was largely without law, so\nwas Athens before Solon. In those days the people of Attica--of which\nAthens was the capital city--were divided into three factions,--the\nrich, the middle class, and the poor. As for the poor, they were in a\ncondition of misery, being loaded down with debt, and many of them in a\nstate of slavery to the rich, who owned nearly all the land.\n\nAt that period what law existed was very severe against debtors. The\ndebtor became the slave of his creditor, and was held in this state\nuntil he could pay his debt, either in money or in labor. And not only\nhe, but his younger sons and his unmarried daughters and sisters, were\nreduced to slavery. Through the action of this severe law many of the\npoor of Attica were owned as slaves, many had been sold as slaves, some\nhad kept their freedom only by selling their own children, and some had\nfled from the country to escape slavery. And this, too, had arisen in\nmany cases through injustice in the courts and corruption of the judges.\n\nIn the time of Solon the misery and oppression from these laws became so\ngreat that there was a general mutiny of the poor against the rich. They\nrefused to submit to the unjust enactments of their rulers, and the\nstate fell into such frightful disorder that the governing class, no\nlonger able to control the people, were obliged to call Solon to their\naid.\n\nSolon did not belong to the rich men of Athens, though he was of noble\nbirth, and, like so many of the older Greeks, traced his family line\nback to the gods. Neptune, the ocean deity, was fabled to be his far-off\nancestor. He was born about 638 B.C. His father had spent most of his\nmoney, largely in kind deeds to others, and the son found himself\nobliged to become a merchant. In this pursuit he travelled in many parts\nof Greece and Asia, and in his journeys paid more heed to the gaining of\nknowledge than of money, so that when he came back his mind was fuller\nthan his purse. Men who seek wisdom rarely succeed in gaining much\nmoney, but Solon's story goes to show that wisdom is far the better of\nthe two, and that a rich mind is of more value than a rich purse. When\nhe returned to Attica he gained such fame as a poet and a man of\nlearning and wisdom that he has ever since been classed as one of the\nSeven Wise Men of Greece.\n\nOf these wise men the following story is told. Some fishermen of Cos\ncast their net into the sea, and brought up in its meshes a golden\ntripod, which the renowned Helen had thrown into the sea during her\nreturn from Troy. A dispute arose as to whom the tripod should belong\nto. Several cities were ready to go to war about it. To prevent\nbloodshed the oracle of Apollo was applied to, and answered that it\nshould be sent to the wisest man that could be found.\n\nIt was at first sent to Thales of Miletus, a man famous for wisdom. But\nhe decided that Bias of Priene was wiser than he, and sent it to him.\nAnd thus it went the round of the seven wise men,--Solon among them, so\nwe are told,--and finally came back to Thales. He refused to keep it,\nand placed it in the temple of Apollo at Thebes.\n\nAn evidence alike of Solon's wisdom, shrewdness, and political skill\narose in the war for the island of Salamis, which adjoined the two\nstates of Megara and Attica, and for whose possession they were at war.\nAfter the Athenians had been at great loss of men and money in this\nconflict, Megara gained the island, and the people of Athens became so\ndisgusted with the whole affair that a law was passed declaring that any\nman who spoke or wrote again about the subject should be put to death.\n\nThis Solon held to be a stain on the honor of Athens. He did not care to\nlose his life by breaking the law, but was not content that his country\nshould rest under the stigma of defeat, and should yield so valuable a\nprize. He accordingly had it given out that he had gone mad; and in\npretended insanity he rushed into the public square, mounted the\nherald's stone, and repeated a poem he had composed for the occasion,\nrecalling vividly to the people the disgrace of their late defeat. His\nstirring appeal so wrought upon their feelings that the law was\nrepealed, war was declared, and Solon was placed in command of the army.\n\nMegara sent out a ship to watch the proceedings, but this was seized by\nSolon's fleet and manned by part of his force. The remainder of his men\nwere landed and marched towards the city of Salamis, on which they made\nan assault. While this was going on, Solon sailed up with the ship he\nhad captured. The Megarians, thinking it to be their own ship, permitted\nit to enter the port, and the city was taken by surprise. Salamis, thus\nwon, continued to belong to Athens till those late days when Philip of\nMacedon conquered Greece.\n\nTo Solon, now acknowledged to be the wisest and most famous of the\nAthenians, the tyrants who had long misruled Athens turned, when they\nfound the people in rebellion against their authority. In the year 594\nB.C. he was chosen archon, or ruler of the state, and was given full\npower to take such measures as were needed to put an end to the\ndisorders. Probably these autocrats supposed that he would help them to\ncontinue in power; but, if so, they did not know the man with whom they\nhad to deal.\n\nSolon might easily have made himself a despot, if he had chosen,--all\nthe states of Greece being then under the rule of despots or of\ntyrannical aristocrats. But he was too honest and too wise for this. He\nset himself earnestly to overcome the difficulties which lay before him.\nAnd he did this with a radical hand. In truth, the people were in no\nmood for any but radical measures.\n\nThe enslaved debtors were at once set free. All contracts in which the\nperson or the land of the debtor had been given as security were\ncancelled. No future contract under which a citizen could be enslaved or\nimprisoned for debt was permitted. All past claims against the land of\nAttica were cancelled, and the mortgage pillars removed. (These pillars\nwere set up at the boundaries of the land, and had the lender's name and\nthe amount of the debt cut into the stone.)\n\nBut as many of the creditors were themselves in debt to richer men, and\nas Solon's laws left them poor, he adopted a measure for their relief.\nThis was to lower the value of the money of the state. The old silver\ndrachmas were replaced by new drachmas, of which seventy-three equalled\none hundred of the old. Debtors were thus able to pay their debts at a\ndiscount of twenty-seven per cent., and the great loss fell on the rich;\nand justly so, for most of them had gained their wealth through\ndishonesty and oppression. Lastly, Solon made full citizens of all from\nwhom political rights had been taken, except those who had been\ncondemned for murder or treason.\n\nThis was a bold measure. And, like such bold measures generally, it did\ninjustice to many. But the evil was temporary, the good permanent. It\nput an end to much injustice, and no such condition as had prevailed\never again arose in Athens. The government of the aristocracy came to an\nend under Solon's laws. From that time forward Athens grew more and more\na government of the people.\n\nThe old assembly of the people existed then, but all its power had been\ntaken from it. Solon gave back to it the right of voting and of passing\nlaws. But he established a council of four hundred men, elected annually\nby the people, whose duty it was to consider the business upon which the\nassembly was to act. And the assembly could only deal with business that\nwas brought before it by this council.\n\nThe assemblies of the people took place on the Pnyx, a hill that\noverlooked the city, and from which could be seen the distant sea. At\nits right stood the Acropolis, that famous hill on which the noblest of\ntemples were afterwards built. Between these two hills rose the\nAreopagus, on which the Athenian supreme court held its sessions. The\nAthenians loved to do their business in the open air, and, while\ndiscussing questions of law and justice, delighted in the broad view\nbefore them of the temples, the streets, and the crowded marts of trade\nof the city, and the shining sea, with its white-sailed craft, afar in\nthe sunny distance.\n\nSolon's laws went further than we have said. He divided the people into\nfour ranks or divisions, according to their wealth in land. The richer\nmen were, the more power they were given in the state. But at the same\ntime they had to pay heavier taxes, so that their greater authority was\nnot an unmixed blessing. The lowest class, composed of the poorest\ncitizens, had no taxes at all to pay, and no power in the state, other\nthan the right to vote in the assembly. When called out as soldiers arms\nwere furnished them, while the other classes had to buy their own arms.\n\nVarious other laws were made by Solon. The old law against crime,\nestablished long before by Draco, had made death the penalty for every\ncrime, from murder to petty theft. This severe law was repealed, and the\npunishment made to agree with the crime. Minor laws were these: The\nliving could not speak evil of the dead. No person could draw more than\na fixed quantity of water daily from the public wells. People who raised\nbees must not have their hives too near those of their neighbors. It was\nfixed how women should dress, and they were forbidden to scratch or tear\nthemselves at funerals. They had to carry baskets of a fixed size when\nthey went abroad. A dog that bit anybody had to be delivered up with a\nlog four feet and a half long tied to its neck. Such were some of the\nlaws which the council swore to maintain, each member vowing that if he\nbroke any of them he would dedicate a golden statue as large as himself\nto Apollo, at Delphi.\n\nHaving founded his laws, Solon, fearing that he would be forced to make\nchanges in them, left Athens, having bound the people by oath to keep\nthem for ten years, during which time he proposed to be absent.\n\nFrom Athens he set sail for Egypt, and in that ancient realm talked long\nwith two learned priests about the old history of the land. Among the\nstories they told him was a curious one about a great island named\nAtlantis, far in the western ocean, against which Athens had waged war\nnine thousand years before, and which had afterwards sunk under the\nAtlantic's waves. It was one of those fanciful legends of which the past\nhad so great a store.\n\nFrom Egypt he went to Cyprus, where he dwelt long and made useful\nchanges. He is also said to have visited, at Sardis, Croesus, the king\nof Lydia, a monarch famous for his wealth and good fortune. About this\nvisit a pretty moral story is told. It is probably not true, being a\nfiction of the ancient story-tellers, but, fiction or not, it is well\nworth the telling.\n\nCroesus had been so fortunate in war that he had made his kingdom\ngreat and prosperous, while he was esteemed the richest monarch of his\ntimes. He lodged Solon in his palace and had his servants show him all\nthe treasures which he had gained. He then, conversing with his visitor,\npraised him for his wisdom, and asked him whom he deemed to be the\nhappiest of men.\n\nHe expected an answer flattering to his vanity, but Solon simply\nreplied,--\n\n\"Tellus, of Athens.\"\n\n\"And why do you deem Tellus the happiest?\" demanded Croesus.\n\nSolon gave as his reason that Tellus lived in comfort and had good and\nbeautiful sons, who also had good children; and that he died in gallant\ndefence of his country, and was buried by his countrymen with the\nhighest honors.\n\n\"And whom do you give the second place in happiness?\" asked Croesus.\n\n\"Cleobis and Bito,\" answered Solon. \"These were men of the Argive race,\nwho had fortune enough for their wants, and were so strong as to gain\nprizes at the Games.\"\n\n\"But their special title to happiness was,\" continued Solon, \"that in a\nfestival to the goddess Juno, at Argos, their mother wished to go in a\ncar. As the oxen did not return in time from the fields, the youths,\nfearing to be late, yoked themselves to the car, and drew their mother\nto the temple, forty-five furlongs away. This filial deed gained them\nthe highest praise from the people, while their mother prayed the\ngoddess to bestow upon them the highest blessing to which mortals can\nattain. After her prayer, the youths offered sacrifices, partook of the\nholy banquet, and fell asleep in the temple. They never woke again! This\nwas the blessing of the goddess.\"\n\n\"What,\" cried Croesus, angrily, \"is my happiness, then, of so little\nvalue to you that you put me on a level with private men like these?\"\n\n\"You are very rich, Croesus,\" answered Solon, \"and are lord of many\nnations. But remember that you have many days yet to live, and that any\nsingle day in a man's life may yield events that will change all his\nfortune. As to whether you are supremely happy and fortunate, then, I\nhave no answer to make. I cannot speak for your happiness till I know if\nyour life has a happy _ending_.\"[1]\n\nSolon, having completed his travels, returned to Athens to find it in\nturmoil. Pisistratus, a political adventurer and a favorite with the\npeople, had gained despotic power by a cunning trick. He wounded\nhimself, and declared that he had been attacked and wounded by his\npolitical enemies. He asked, therefore, for a body-guard for his\nprotection. This was granted him by the popular assembly, which was\nstrongly on his side. With its aid he seized the Acropolis and made\nhimself master of the city, while his opponents were forced to fly for\ntheir lives.\n\nThis revolutionary movement was strenuously opposed by Solon, but in\nvain. Pisistratus had made himself so popular with the people that they\ntreated their old law-giver like a man who had lost his senses. As a\nlast appeal he put on his armor and placed himself before the door of\nhis house, as if on guard as a sentinel over the liberties of his\ncountry! This appeal was also in vain.\n\n\"I have done my duty!\" he exclaimed; \"I have sustained to the best of my\npower my country and the laws.\"\n\nHe refused to fly, saying, when asked on what he relied for protection,\n\"On my old age.\"\n\nPisistratus--who proved a very mild despot--left his aged opponent\nunharmed, and in the next year Solon died, being then eighty years of\nage.\n\nHis laws lived after him, despite the despotism which ruled over Athens\nfor the succeeding fifty years.\n\n\n\n\n_THE FORTUNE OF CROESUS._\n\n\nThe land of the Hellenes, or Greeks, was not confined to the small\npeninsula now known as Greece. Hellenic colonies spread far to the east\nand the west, to Italy and Sicily on the one hand, to Asia Minor and the\nshores of the Black Sea on the other. The story of the Argonauts\nprobably arose from colonizing expeditions to the Black Sea. That of\nCroesus has to do with the colonies in Asia Minor.\n\nThese colonies clung to the coast. Inland lay other nations, to some\nextent of Hellenic origin. One of these was the kingdom of Lydia, whose\nhistory is of the highest importance to us, since the conflicts between\nLydia and the coast colonies were the first steps towards the invasion\nof Greece by the Persians, that most important event in early Grecian\nhistory.\n\nThese conflicts began in the reign of Croesus, an ambitious king of\nLydia in the sixth century before Christ. What gave rise to the war\nbetween Lydia and the Greek settlements of Ionia and AEolia we do not\nvery well know. An ambitious despot does not need much pretext for war.\nHe wills the war, and the pretext follows. It will suffice to say that,\non one excuse or another, Croesus made war on every Ionian and AEolian\nstate, and conquered them one after the other.\n\nFirst the great and prosperous city of Ephesus fell. Then, one by one,\nothers followed, till, by the year 550 B.C., Croesus had become lord\nand master of every one of those formerly free and wealthy cities and\nstates. Then, having placed all the colonies on the mainland under\ntribute, he designed to conquer the islands as well, and proposed to\nbuild ships for that purpose. He was checked in this plan by the shrewd\nanswer of one of the seven wise men of Greece, either Bias or Pittacus,\nwho had visited Sardis, the capital of Lydia.\n\n\"What news bring you from Greece?\" asked King Croesus of his wise\nvisitor.\n\n\"I am told that the islanders are gathering ten thousand horse, with the\npurpose of attacking you and your capital,\" was the answer.\n\n\"What!\" cried Croesus. \"Have the gods given these shipmen such an idea\nas to fight the Lydians with cavalry?\"\n\n\"I fancy, O king,\" answered the Greek, \"that nothing would please you\nbetter than to catch these islanders here on horseback. But do you not\nthink that they would like nothing better than to catch you at sea on\nshipboard? Would they not avenge on you the misfortunes of their\nconquered brethren?\"\n\nThis shrewd suggestion taught Croesus a lesson. Instead of fighting\nthe islanders, he made a treaty of peace and friendship with them. But\nhe continued his conquests on the mainland till in the end all Asia\nMinor was under his sway, and Lydia had become one of the great\nkingdoms of the earth. Such wealth came to Croesus as a result of his\nconquests and unchanging good fortune that he became accounted the\nrichest monarch upon the earth, while Sardis grew marvellous for its\nsplendor and prosperity. At an earlier date there had come thither\nanother of the seven wise men of Greece, Solon, the law-giver of Athens.\nWhat passed between this far-seeing visitor and the proud monarch of\nLydia we have already told.\n\nThe misfortunes which Solon told the king were liable to come upon any\nman befell Croesus during the remainder of his life. Herodotus, the\nhistorian, tells us the romantic story of how the gods sent misery to\nhim who had boasted overmuch of his happiness. We give briefly this\ninteresting account.\n\nCroeus had two sons, one of whom was deaf and dumb, the other, Atys by\nname, gifted with the highest qualities which nature has to bestow. The\nking loved his bright and handsome son as dearly as he loved his wealth,\nand when a dream came to him that Atys would die by the blow of an iron\nweapon, he was deeply disturbed in his mind.\n\nHow should he prevent such a misfortune? In alarm, he forbade his son to\ntake part in military forays, to which he had before encouraged him;\nand, to solace him for this deprivation, bade him to take a wife. Then,\nlest any of the warlike weapons which hung upon the walls of his\napartments might fall and wound him, the king had them all removed, and\nstored away in the part of the palace devoted to the women.\n\nBut fate had decreed that all such precautions should be in vain. At\nMount Olympus, in Mysia, had appeared a monster boar, that ravaged the\nfields of the lowlands and defied pursuit into his mountain retreat.\nHunting parties were sent against him, but the great boar came off\nunscathed, while the hunters always suffered from his frightful tusks.\nAt length ambassadors were sent to Croesus, begging him to send his\nson, with other daring youths and with hunting hounds, to aid them rid\ntheir country of this destructive brute.\n\n\"That cannot be,\" answered Croesus, still in terror from his dream.\n\"My son is just married, and cannot so soon leave his bride. But I will\nsend you a picked band of hunters, and bid them use all zeal to kill\nthis foe of your harvests.\"\n\nWith this promise the Mysians were quite content, but Atys, who\noverheard it, was not.\n\n\"Why, my father,\" he demanded, \"do you now keep me from the wars and the\nchase, when you formerly encouraged me to take part in them, and win\nglory for myself and you? Have I ever shown cowardice or lack of manly\nspirit? What must the citizens or my young bride think of me? With what\nface can I show myself in the forum? Either you must let me go to the\nchase of this boar, or give a reason why you keep me at home.\"\n\nIn reply Croesus told the indignant youth of his vision, and the alarm\nwith which it had inspired him.\n\n\"Ah!\" cried Atys, \"then I cannot blame you for keeping this tender watch\nover me. But, father, do you not wrongly interpret the dream? It said I\nwas to die stricken by an iron weapon. A boar wields no such weapon.\nHad the dream said I was to die pierced by a tusk, then you might well\nbe alarmed; but it said a weapon. We do not propose now to fight men,\nbut to hunt a wild beast I pray you, therefore, let me go with the\nparty.\"\n\n\"You have the best of me there,\" said Croesus. \"Your interpretation of\nthe dream is better than mine. You may go, my son.\"\n\nAt that time there was at the king's court a Phrygian named Adrastus,\nwho had unwittingly slain his own brother and had fled to Sardis, where\nhe was purified according to the customs of the country, and courteously\nreceived by the king. Croesus sent for this stranger and asked him to\ngo with the hunting party, and keep especial watch over his son, in case\nof an attack by some daring band of robbers.\n\nAdrastus consented, though against his will, his misfortune having taken\nfrom him all desire for scenes of bloodshed. However, he would do his\nutmost to guard the king's son against harm.\n\nThe party set out accordingly, reached Olympus without adventure, and\nscattered in pursuit of the animal, which the dogs soon roused from its\nlair. Closing in a circle around the brute, the hunters drew near and\nhurled their weapons at it. Not the least eager among the hunters was\nAdrastus, who likewise hurled his spear; but, through a frightful\nchance, the hurtling weapon went astray, and struck and killed Atys, his\nyouthful charge. Thus was the dream fulfilled: an iron weapon had slain\nthe king's favorite son.\n\nThe news of this misfortune plunged Croesus into the deepest misery\nof grief. As for Adrastus, he begged to be sacrificed at the grave of\nhis unfortunate victim. This Croesus, despite his grief, refused,\nsaying,--\n\n\"Some god is the author of my misfortune, not you. I was forewarned of\nit long ago.\"\n\nBut Adrastus was not to be thus prevented. Deeming himself the most\nunfortunate of men, he slew himself on the tomb of the hapless youth.\nAnd for two years Croesus abandoned himself to grief.\n\nAnd now we must go on to tell how Croesus met with a greater\nmisfortune still, and brought the Persians to the gates of Greece.\nCyrus, son of Cambyses, king of Persia, had conquered the neighboring\nkingdom of Media, and, inspired by ambition, had set out on a career of\nwide-spread conquest and dominion. He had grown steadily more powerful,\nand now threatened the great kingdom which Croesus had gained.\n\nThe Lydian king, seeing this danger approaching, sought advice from the\noracles. But wishing first to know which of them could best be trusted,\nhe sent to six of them demanding a statement of what he was doing at a\ncertain moment. The oracle of Delphi alone gave a correct answer.\n\nThereupon Croesus offered up a vast sacrifice to the Delphian deity.\nThree thousand oxen were slain, and a great sacrificial pile was built,\non which were placed splendid robes and tunics of purple, with couches\nand censers of gold and silver, all to be committed to the flames. To\nDelphi he sent presents befitting the wealthiest of kings,--ingots,\nstatues, bowls, jugs, etc., of gold and silver, of great weight. These\nHerodotus himself saw with astonishment a century afterwards at Delphi.\nThe envoys who bore these gifts asked the oracle whether Croesus\nshould undertake an expedition against the Persians, and should solicit\nallies.\n\nHe was bidden, in reply, to seek alliance with the most powerful nations\nof Greece. He was also told that if he fought with the Persians he would\noverturn a \"mighty empire.\" Croesus accepted this as a promise of\nsuccess, not thinking to ask whose empire was to be overturned. He sent\nagain to the oracle, which now replied, \"When a mule shall become king\nof the Medes, then thou must run away,--be not ashamed.\" Here was\nanother enigma of the oracle. Cyrus--son of a royal Median mother and a\nPersian father of different race and lower position--was the mule\nindicated, though Croesus did not know this. In truth, the oracles of\nGreece seem usually to have borne a double meaning, so that whatever\nhappened the priestess could claim that her word was true, the fault was\nin the interpretation.\n\nCroesus, accepting the oracles as favorable, made an alliance with\nSparta, and marched his army into Media, where he inflicted much damage.\nCyrus met him with a larger army, and a battle ensued. Neither party\ncould claim a victory, but Croesus returned to Sardis, to collect more\nmen and obtain aid from his allies. He might have been successful had\nCyrus waited till his preparations were complete. But the Persian king\nfollowed him to his capital, defeated him in a battle near Sardis, and\nbesieged him in that city.\n\nSardis was considered impregnable, and Croesus could easily have held\nout till his allies arrived had it not been for one of those unfortunate\nincidents of which war has so many to tell. Sardis was strongly\nfortified on every side but one. Here the rocky height on which it was\nbuilt was so steep as to be deemed inaccessible, and walls were thought\nunnecessary. Yet a soldier of the garrison made his way down this\nprecipice to pick up his helmet, which had fallen. A Persian soldier saw\nhim, tried to climb up, and found it possible. Others followed him, and\nthe garrison, to their consternation, found the enemy within their\nwalls. The gates were opened to the army without, and the whole city was\nspeedily taken by storm.\n\nCroesus would have been killed but for a miracle. His deaf and dumb\nson, seeing a Persian about to strike him down, burst into speech\nthrough the agony of terror, crying out, \"Man, do not kill Croesus!\"\nThe story goes that he ever afterwards retained the power of speech.\n\nCyrus had given orders that the life of Croesus should be spared, and\nthe unhappy captive was brought before him. But the cruel Persian had a\ndifferent death in view. He proposed to burn the captive king, together\nwith fourteen Lydian youths, on a great pile of wood which he had\nconstructed. We give what followed as told by Herodotus, though its\ntruth cannot be vouched for at this late day.\n\nAs Croesus lay in fetters on the already kindled pile and thought of\nthis terrible ending to his boasted happiness, he groaned bitterly, and\ncried in tones of anguish, \"Solon! Solon! Solon!\"\n\n\"What does he mean?\" asked Cyrus of the interpreters. They questioned\nCroesus, and learned from him what Solon had said. Cyrus heard this\nstory not without alarm. His own life was yet to end; might not a like\nfate come to him? He ordered that the fire should be extinguished, but\nwould have been too late had not a timely downpour of rain just then\ncome to the aid of the captive king,--sent by Apollo, in gratitude for\nthe gifts to his temple, suggests Herodotus. Croesus was afterwards\nmade the confidential friend and adviser of the Persian king, whose\ndominions, through this victory, had been extended over the whole Lydian\nempire, and now reached to the ocean outposts of Greece.\n\n\n\n\n_THE SUITORS OF AGARISTE._\n\n\nSicyon, the smallest country of the Peloponnesus, lay on the Gulf of\nCorinth, adjoining the isthmus which connects the peninsula with the\nrest of Greece. In this small country--as in many larger ones--the\nnobles held rule, the people were subjects. The rich and proud rulers\ndwelt on the hill slopes, the poor and humble people lived on the\nsea-shore and along the river Asopus. But in course of time many of the\npeople became well off, through success in fisheries and commerce, to\nwhich their country was well adapted. Weary of the oppression of the\nnobles, they finally rose in rebellion and overthrew the government.\nOrthagoras, once a cook, but now leader of the rebels, became master of\nthe state, and he and his descendants ruled it for a hundred years. The\nlast of this dynasty was Cleisthenes, a just and moderate ruler,\nconcerning whom we have a story to tell.\n\nThese lords of the state were called tyrants; but this word did not mean\nin Greece what it means to us. The tyrants of Greece were popular\nleaders who had overthrown the old governments and laws, and ruled\nlargely through force and under laws of their own making. But they were\nnot necessarily tyrannical. The tyrants of Athens were mild and just in\ntheir dealings with the people, and so proved to be those of Sicyon.\n\n[Illustration: GRECIAN LADIES AT HOME.]\n\nCleisthenes, who became the most eminent of the tyrants of Sicyon, had a\nbeautiful daughter, named Agariste, whom he thought worthy of the\nnoblest of husbands, and decided that she should be married to the\nworthiest youth who could be found in all the land of Greece. To select\nsuch a husband he took unusual steps.\n\nWhen the fair Agariste had reached marriageable age, her father attended\nthe Olympic games, at which there were used to gather men of wealth and\neminence from all the Grecian states. Here he won the prize in the\nchariot race, and then bade the heralds to make the following\nproclamation:\n\n\"Whoever among the Greeks deems himself worthy to be the son-in-law of\nCleisthenes, let him come, within sixty days, to Sicyon. Within a year\nfrom that time Cleisthenes will decide, from among those who present\nthemselves, on the one whom he deems fitting to possess the hand of his\ndaughter.\"\n\nThis proclamation, as was natural, roused warm hopes in many youthful\nbreasts, and within the sixty days there had gathered at Sicyon thirteen\nnoble claimants for the charming prize. From the city of Sybaris in\nItaly came Smindyrides, and from Siris came Damasus. Amphimnestus and\nMales made their way to Sicyon from the cities of the Ionian Gulf. The\nPeloponnesus sent Leocedes from Argos, Amiantus from Arcadia, Laphanes\nfrom Paeus, and Onomastus from Elis. From Euboea came Lysanias; from\nThessaly, Diactorides; from Molossia, Alcon; and from Attica, Megacles\nand Hippoclides. Of the last two, Megacles was the son of the renowned\nAlkmaeon, while Hippoclides was accounted the handsomest and wealthiest\nof the Athenians.\n\nAt the end of the sixty days, when all the suitors had arrived,\nCleisthenes asked each of them whence he came and to what family he\nbelonged. Then, during the succeeding year, he put them to every test\nthat could prove their powers. He had had a foot-course and a\nwrestling-ground made ready to test their comparative strength and\nagility, and took every available means to discover their courage,\nvigor, and skill.\n\nBut this was not all that the sensible monarch demanded in his desired\nson-in-law. He wished to ascertain their mental and moral as well as\ntheir physical powers, and for this purpose kept them under close\nobservation for a year, carefully noting their manliness, their temper\nand disposition, their accomplishments and powers of intellect. Now he\nconversed with each separately; now he brought them together and\nconsidered their comparative powers. At the gymnasium, in the council\nchamber, in all the situations of thought and activity, he tested their\nabilities. But he particularly considered their behavior at the\nbanquet-table. From first to last they were sumptuously entertained, and\ntheir demeanor over the trencher-board and the wine-cup was closely\nobserved.\n\nIn this story, as told us by garrulous old Herodotus, nothing is said of\nAgariste herself. In a modern romance of this sort the lady would have\nhad a voice in the decision and a place in the narrative. There would\nhave been episodes of love, jealousy, and malice, and the one whom the\nlady blessed with her love would in some way--in the eternal fitness of\nthings--have become victor in the contest and carried off the prize. But\nthey did things differently in Greece. The preference of the maiden had\nlittle to do with the matter; the suitor exerted himself to please the\nfather, not the daughter; maiden hands were given rather in barter and\nsale than in trust and affection; in truth, almost the only lovers we\nmeet with in Grecian history are Haemon and Antigone, of whom we have\nspoken in the tale of the \"Seven against Thebes.\"\n\nAnd thus it was in the present instance. It was the father the suitors\ncourted, not the daughter. They proved their love over the\nbanquet-table, not at the trysting-place. It was by speed of foot and\nskill in council, not by whispered words of devotion, that they\ncontended for the maidenly prize. Or, if lovers' meetings took place and\nlovers' vows were passed, they were matters of the strictest secrecy,\nand not for Greek historians to put on paper or Greek ears to hear.\n\nBut the year of probation came in due time to its end, and among all the\nsuitors the two from Athens most won the favor of Cleisthenes. And of\nthe two he preferred Hippoclides. It was not alone for his handsome face\nand person and manly bearing that this favored youth was chosen, but\nalso because he was descended from a noble family of Corinth which\nCleisthenes esteemed. Yet \"there is many a slip between the cup and the\nlip,\" an adage whose truth Hippoclides was to learn.\n\nWhen the day came on which the choice of the father was to be made, and\nthe wedding take place, Cleisthenes held a great festival in honor of\nthe occasion. First, to gain the favor of the gods, he offered a hundred\noxen in sacrifice. Then, not only the suitors, but all the people of the\ncity were invited to a grand banquet and festival, at the end of which\nthe choice of Cleisthenes was to be declared. What torments of love and\nfear Agariste suffered during this slow-moving feast the historian does\nnot say. Yet it may be that she was the power behind the throne, and\nthat the proposed choice of the handsome Hippoclides was due as much to\nher secret influence as to her father's judgment.\n\nHowever this be, the feast went on to its end, and was followed by a\ncontest between the suitors in music and oratory, with all the people to\ndecide. As the drinking which followed went on, Hippoclides, who had\nsurpassed all the others as yet, shouted to the flute-player, bidding\nhim to play a dancing air, as he proposed to show his powers in the\ndance.\n\nThe wine was in his weak head, and what he considered marvellously fine\ndancing did not appear so to Cleisthenes, who was closely watching his\nproposed son-in-law. Hippoclides, however, in a mood to show all his\naccomplishments, now bade an attendant to bring in a table. This being\nbrought, he leaped upon it, and danced some Laconian steps, which he\nfollowed by certain Attic ones. Finally, to show his utmost powers of\nperformance, he stood on his head on the table, and began to dance with\nhis legs in empty air.\n\nThis was too much for Cleisthenes. He had changed his opinion of\nHippoclides during his light and undignified exhibition, but restrained\nhimself from speaking to avoid any outbreak or ill feeling. But on\nseeing him tossing his legs in this shameless manner in the air, the\nindignant monarch cried out,--\n\n\"Son of Tisander, you have danced your wife away.\"\n\n\"What does Hippoclides care?\" was the reply of the tipsy youth.\n\nAnd for centuries afterwards \"What does Hippoclides care?\" was a common\nsaying in Greece, to indicate reckless folly and lightness of mind.\n\nCleisthenes now commanded silence, and spoke as follows to the assembly:\n\n\"Suitors of my daughter, well pleased am I with you all, and right\nwillingly, if it were possible, would I content you all, and not, by\nmaking choice of one, appear to put a slight upon the rest. But as it is\nout of my power, seeing that I have only one daughter, to grant to all\ntheir wishes, I will present to each of you whom I must needs dismiss a\ntalent of silver[2] for the honor that you have done in seeking to ally\nyourselves with my house, and for your long absence from your homes. But\nmy daughter Agariste I betroth to Megacles, the son of Alkmaeon, to be\nhis wife, according to the usage and wont of Athens.\"\n\nMegacles gladly accepted the honor thus offered him, the marriage was\nsolemnized with all possible state, and the suitors dispersed,--twelve\nof them happy with their silver talents, one of them happier with his\ncharming bride.\n\nWe have but further to say that Cleisthenes of Athens--a great leader\nand law-giver, whose laws gave origin to the democratic government of\nthat city--was the son of Megacles and Agariste, and that his grandson\nwas the famous Pericles, the foremost name in Athenian history.\n\n\n\n\n_THE TYRANTS OF CORINTH._\n\n\nWe have already told what the word \"tyrant\" meant in Greece,--a despot\nwho set aside the law and ruled at his own pleasure, but who might be\nmild and gentle in his rule. Such were the tyrants of Sicyon, spoken of\nin our last tale. The tyrants of Corinth, the state adjoining Sicyon,\nwere of a harsher character. Herodotus, the gossiping old historian\ntells some stories about these severe despots which seem worth telling\nagain.\n\nThe government of Corinth, like most of the governments of Greece, was\nin early days an oligarchy,--that is, it was ruled by a number of\npowerful aristocrats instead of by a single king. In Corinth these\nbelonged to a single family, named the Bacchiadae (or legendary\ndescendants of the god Bacchus), who constantly intermarried, and kept\nall power to themselves.\n\nBut one of this family, Amphion by name, had a daughter, named Labda,\nwhom none of the Bacchiadae would marry, as she had the misfortune to be\nlame. So she married outside the family, her husband being named Aetion,\nand a man of noble descent. Having no children, Aetion applied to the\nDelphian oracle, and was told that a son would soon be borne to him,\nand that this son \"would, like a rock, fall on the kingly race and right\nthe city of Corinth.\"\n\nThe Bacchiadae heard of this oracle, and likewise knew of an earlier one\nthat had the same significance. Forewarned is forearmed. They remained\nquiet, waiting until Aetion's child should be born, and proposing then\nto take steps for their own safety.\n\nWhen, therefore, they heard that Labda had borne a son, they sent ten of\ntheir followers to Petra (the _rock_), where Aetion dwelt, with\ninstructions to kill the child. These assassins entered Aetion's house,\nand, with murder in their hearts, asked Labda, with assumed\nfriendliness, if they might see her child. She, looking upon them as\nfriends of her husband, whom kindly feeling had brought thither, gladly\ncomplied, and, bringing the infant, laid it in the arms of one of the\nruffianly band.\n\nIt had been agreed between them that whoever first laid hold of the\nchild should dash it to the ground. But as the innocent intended victim\nlay in the murderer's arms, it smiled in his face so confidingly that he\nhad not the heart to do the treacherous deed. He passed the child,\ntherefore, on to another, who passed it to a third, and so it went the\nrounds of the ten, disarming them all by its happy and trusting smile\nfrom performing the vile deed for which they had come. In the end they\nhanded the babe back to its mother, and left the house.\n\nHalting just outside the door, a hot dispute arose between them, each\nblaming the others, and nine of them severely accusing the one whose\ntask it had been to do the cruel deed. He defended himself, saying that\nno man with a heart in his breast could have done harm to that smiling\nbabe,--certainly not he. In the end they decided to go into the house\nagain, and all take part in the murder.\n\nBut they had talked somewhat too long and too loud. Labda had overheard\nthem and divined their dread intent. Filled with fear, lest they should\nreturn and murder her child, she seized the infant, and, looking eagerly\nabout for some place in which she might conceal it, chose a _cypsel_, or\ncorn-bin, as the place least likely to be searched.\n\nHer choice proved a wise one. The men returned, and, as she refused to\ntell them where the child was, searched the house in vain,--none of them\nthinking of looking for an infant in a corn-bin. At length they went\naway, deciding to report that they had done as they were bidden, and\nthat the child of Aetion was slain.\n\nThe boy, in memory of his escape, was named _Cypselus_, after the\ncorn-bin. He grew up without further molestation, and on coming to man's\nestate did what so many of the ancients seemed to have considered\nnecessary, went to Delphi to consult the oracle.\n\nThe pythoness, or priestess of Apollo, at his approach, hailed him as\nking of Corinth. \"He and his children, but not his children's children.\"\nAnd the oracle, as was often the case, produced its own accomplishment,\nfor it encouraged Cypselus to head a rebellion against the oligarchy, by\nwhich it was overthrown and he made king. For thirty years thereafter he\nreigned as tyrant of Corinth, with a prosperous but harsh rule. Many of\nthe Corinthians were put to death by him, others robbed of their\nfortunes, and others banished the state. Then he died and left the\ngovernment to his son Periander.\n\nPeriander began his reign in a mild spirit. But his manner changed after\nhe had sent a herald to Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, asking his\nadvice how he could best rule with honor and fortune. Thrasybulus led\nthe messenger outside the city and through a field of corn, questioning\nhim as they walked, while, whenever he came to an ear of corn that\novertopped its fellows, he broke it off and threw it aside. Thus his\npath through the field was marked by the downfall of all the tallest\nstems and ears. Then, returning to the city, he sent the messenger back\nwithout a word of answer to his petition.\n\nPeriander, on his herald's return, asked him what counsel he brought.\n\"None,\" was the answer; \"not a word. King Thrasybulus acted in the\nstrangest way, destroying his corn as he led me through the field, and\nsending me away without a word.\" He proceeded to tell how the monarch\nhad acted.\n\nPeriander was quick to gather his brother tyrant's meaning. If he would\nrule in safety he must cut off the loftiest heads,--signified by the\ntall ears of corn. He took the advice thus suggested, and from that time\non treated his subjects with the greatest cruelty. Many of those whom\nCypselus had spared he put to death or banished, and acted the tyrant in\nthe fullest sense of the word.\n\nHe even killed his wife Melissa; just why, we do not know. But we are\ntold that she afterwards appeared to him in a dream and said that she\nwas cold, being destitute of clothes. The garments he had buried with\nher were of no use to her spirit, since they had not been burned.\nPeriander took his own way to quiet and clothe the restless ghost. He\nproclaimed that all the wives of Corinth should go to the temple of\nJuno. This they did, dressed in their best, deeming it a festival. When\nthey were all within he closed the doors, and had them stripped of their\nrich robes and ornaments, which he threw into a pit and set on fire,\ncalling on the name of Melissa as they burned. And in this way the\ndemand of the shivering ghost was satisfied.\n\nPeriander had two sons,--the elder a dunce, the younger, Lycophron (or\nwolf-heart), a youth of noble nature and fine intellect. He sent them on\na visit to Proclus, their mother's father, and from him the boys\nlearned, what they had not known before, that their father was their\nmother's murderer.\n\nThis story did not trouble the dull-brained elder, but Lycophron was so\naffected by it that on his return home he refused to speak to his\nfather, and acted so surlily that Periander in anger turned him out of\nhis house. The tyrant, learning from his elder son the cause of\nLycophron's strange behavior, grew still more incensed. He sent orders\nto those who had given shelter to his son that they should cease to\nharbor him, And he continued to drive him from shelter to shelter, till\nin the end he proclaimed that whoever dared to harbor, or even speak to,\nhis rebellious son, should pay a heavy fine to Apollo.\n\nThus, driven from every house, Lycophron took lodging in the public\nporticos, where he dwelt without shelter and almost without food. Seeing\nhis wretched state, Periander took pity on him and bade him come home\nand no longer indulge in such foolish and unfilial behavior.\n\n[Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS.]\n\nLycophron's only reply was that his father had broken his own edict by\ncoming and talking with him, and therefore himself owed the penalty to\nApollo.\n\nPeriander, seeing that the boy was uncontrollable in his indignation,\nand troubled at heart by the piteous spectacle, now sent him by ship to\nthe island of Corcyra, a colony of Corinth. As for Proclus, the tyrant\nmade war upon him for his indiscreet revelation, robbed him of his\nkingdom, Epidaurus, and carried him captive to Corinth.\n\nAnd the years went on, and Periander grew old and unable properly to\nhandle his affairs. His elder son was incapable of taking his place, so\nhe sent to Corcyra and asked Lycophron to come to Corinth and take the\nkingship of that fair land.\n\nLycophron, whose indignation time had not cooled, refused even to answer\nthe message. Then Periander sent his daughter, the sister of Lycophron,\nhoping that she might be able to persuade him. She made a strong appeal,\nbegging him not to let the power pass away from their family and their\nfather's wealth fall into strange hands, and reminding him that mercy\nwas a higher virtue than justice.\n\nHer appeal was in vain. Lycophron refused to go back to Corinth as long\nas his father remained alive.\n\nThen the desperate old man, at his wits' end through Lycophron's\nobstinacy, sent a herald, saying that he would himself come to Corcyra,\nand let his son take his place in Corinth as king. To these terms\nLycophron agreed. But there were others to deal with, for, when the\nterrified Corcyrians heard that the terrible old tyrant was coming to\ndwell in their island, they rose in a tumult and put Lycophron to death.\n\nAnd thus ended the dynasty of Cypselus, as the oracle had foretold.\nThough Periander revenged himself on the Corcyrians, he could not bring\nhis son to life again, and the children's children of Cypselus did not\ncome to the throne.\n\n\n\n\n_THE RING OF POLYCRATES._\n\n\nNear the coast of Asia Minor lies the bright and beautiful island of\nSamos, one of the choicest gems of the AEgean archipelago. This island\nwas, somewhere about the year 530 B.C., seized by a political adventurer\nnamed Polycrates. He accomplished this by the aid of his two brothers,\nbut of these he afterwards killed one and banished the other,--Syloson\nby name,--so that he became sole ruler and despot of the island.\n\nThis island kingdom of Polycrates was a small one, about eighty miles in\ncircumference, but it was richly fertile, and had the honor of being the\nbirthplace of many illustrious Greeks, among whom we may name\nPythagoras, the famous philosopher. The city of Samos became, under\nPolycrates, \"the first of all cities, Greek or barbarian.\" It was\nadorned with magnificent buildings and costly works of art; was supplied\nwith water by a great aqueduct, tunnelled for nearly a mile through a\nmountain; had a great breakwater to protect the harbor, and a vast and\nmagnificent temple to Juno: all of which seem to have been partly or\nwholly constructed by Polycrates.\n\nBut this despot did not content himself with ruling the island and\nadorning the city which he had seized. He was ambitious and\nunscrupulous, and aspired to become master of all the islands of the\nAEgean Sea, and of Ionia in Asia Minor. He conquered several of these\nislands and a number of towns in the mainland, defeated the Lesbian\nfleet that came against him during his war with Miletus, got together a\nhundred armed ships and hired a thousand bowmen, and went forward with\nhis designs with a fortune that never seemed to desert him. His naval\npower became the greatest in the world of Greece, and it seemed as if he\nwould succeed in all his ambitious designs. But a dreadful fate awaited\nthe tyrant. Like Croesus, he was to learn that good fortune is apt to\nbe followed by disaster. The remainder of his story is part history and\npart legend, and we give it as told by old Herodotus, who has preserved\nso many interesting tales of ancient Greece.\n\nAt, that time Persia, whose king Cyrus had overcome Croesus, was the\ngreatest empire in the world. All western Asia lay in its grasp; Asia\nMinor was overrun; and Cambyses, the king who had succeeded Cyrus, was\nabout to invade the ancient land of Egypt. The king of this country,\nAmasis by name, was in alliance with Polycrates, rich gifts had passed\nbetween them, and they seemed the best of friends. But Amasis had his\nsuperstitions, and the constant good fortune of Polycrates seemed to him\nso different from the ordinary lot of kings that he feared that some\nmisfortune must follow it. He perhaps had heard the story of Solon and\nCroesus. Amasis accordingly wrote a warning letter to his friend.\n\nThe great prosperity of his friend and ally, he said, caused him\nforeboding instead of joy, for he knew that the gods were envious, and\nhe desired for those he loved alternate good and ill fortune. He had\nnever heard of any one who was successful in all his enterprises that\ndid not meet with calamity in the end. He therefore counselled\nPolycrates to do what the gods had not yet done, and bring some\nmisfortune on himself. His advice was that he should select the treasure\nhe most valued and could least bear to part with, and throw it away so\nthat it should never be seen again. By this voluntary sacrifice he might\navert involuntary loss and suffering.\n\nThis advice seemed wise to the despot, and he began to consider which of\nhis possessions he could least bear to lose. He settled at length on his\nsignet-ring, an emerald set in gold, which he highly valued. This he\ndetermined to throw away where it could never be recovered. So, having\none of his fifty-oared vessels manned, he put to sea, and when he had\ngone a long distance from the coast he took the ring from his finger\nand, in the presence of all the sailors, tossed it into the waters.\n\nThis was not done without deep grief to Polycrates. He valued the ring\nmore highly than ever, now that it lay on the bottom of the sea,\nirretrievably lost to him, as he thought; and he grieved for days\nthereafter, feeling that he had endured a real misfortune, which he\nhoped the gods might accept as a compensation for his good luck.\n\nBut destiny is not so easily to be disarmed. Several days afterwards a\nSamian fisherman had the fortune to catch a fish so large and beautiful\nthat he esteemed it worthy to be offered as a present to the king. He\naccordingly went with it to the palace gates and asked to see\nPolycrates. The guards, learning his purpose, admitted him. On coming\ninto the king's presence, the fisherman said that, though he was a poor\nman who lived by his labor, he could not let himself offer such a prize\nin the public market.\n\n\"I said to myself,\" he continued, \"'It is worthy of Polycrates and his\ngreatness;' and so I brought it here to give it to you.\"\n\nThe compliment and the gift so pleased the tyrant that he not only\nthanked the fisherman warmly, but invited him to sup with him on the\nfish.\n\nBut a wonder happened in the king's kitchen. On the cook's cutting open\nthe fish to prepare it for the table, to his surprise he found within it\n_the signet-ring of the king_. With joy he hastened to Polycrates with\nhis strangely recovered treasure, the story of whose loss had gone\nabroad, and told in what a remarkable way it had been restored.\n\nAs for Polycrates, the return of the ring brought him some joy but more\ngrief. The fates, it appeared, were not so lightly to be appeased. He\nwrote to Amasis, telling what he had done and with what result. The\nletter came to the Egyptian king like a prognostic of evil. That there\nwould be an ill end to the career of Polycrates he now felt sure; and,\nnot wishing to be involved in it himself, he sent a herald to Samos and\ninformed his late friend and ally that the alliance between them was at\nan end.\n\nIt cannot be said that Amasis profited much by this act. Soon afterwards\nhis own country was overrun and conquered by Cambyses, the Persian king,\nand his reign came to a disastrous termination.\n\nWhether there is any historical basis for this story of the ring may be\nquestioned. But this we do know, that the friendship between Amasis and\nPolycrates was broken, and that Polycrates offered to help Cambyses in\nhis invasion, and sent forty ships to the Nile for this purpose. On\nthese were some Samians whom the tyrant wished to get rid of, and whom\nhe secretly asked the Persian king not to let return.\n\nThese exiles, however, suspecting what was in store for them, managed in\nsome way to escape, and returned to Samos, where they made an attack on\nPolycrates. Being driven off by him, they went to Sparta and asked for\nassistance, telling so long a story of their misfortunes and sufferings\nthat the Spartans, who could not bear long speeches, curtly answered,\n\"We have forgotten the first part of your speech, and the last part we\ndo not understand.\" This answer taught the Samians a lesson. The next\nday they met the Spartans with an empty wallet, saying, \"Our wallet has\nno meal in it.\" \"Your wallet is superfluous,\" said the Spartans; meaning\nthat the words would have served without it. The aid which the Spartans\nthereupon granted the exiles proved of no effect, for it was against\nPolycrates, the fortunate. They sent an expedition to Samos, and\nbesieged the city forty days, but were forced to retire without success.\nThen the exiles, thus made homeless, became pirates. They attacked the\nweak but rich island of Siphnos, which they ravaged, and forced the\ninhabitants to buy them off at a cost of one hundred talents. With this\nfund they purchased the island of Hydrea, but in the end went to Crete,\nwhere they captured the city of Cydonia. After they had held this city\nfor five years the Cretans recaptured it, and the Samian exiles ended\ntheir career by being sold into slavery.\n\nMeanwhile the good fortune of Polycrates continued, and Samos flourished\nunder his rule. In addition to his great buildings and works of\nengineering he became interested in stock-raising, and introduced into\nthe island the finest breeds of sheep, goats, and pigs. By high wages he\nattracted the ablest artisans of Greece to the city, and added to his\npopularity by lending his rich hangings and costly plate to those who\nwanted them for a wedding feast or a sumptuous banquet. And that none of\nhis subjects might betray him while he was off upon an extended\nexpedition, he had the wives and children of all whom he suspected shut\nup in the sheds built to shelter his ships, with orders that these\nshould be burned in case of any rebellious outbreak.\n\nYet the misfortune that the return of the ring had indicated came at\nlength. The warning which Solon had given Croesus applied to\nPolycrates as well. The prosperous despot had a bitter enemy, Oroetes\nby name, the Persian governor of Sardis. As to why he hated Polycrates\ntwo stories are told, but as neither of them is certain we shall not\nrepeat them. It is enough to say that he hated Polycrates bitterly and\ndesired his destruction, which he laid a plan to bring about.\n\nOroetes, residing then at Magnesia, on the Maeander River, in the\nvicinity of Samos, and being aware of the ambitious designs of\nPolycrates, sent him a message to the effect that he knew that while he\ndesired to become lord of the isles, he had not the means to carry out\nhis ambitious project. As for himself, he was aware that Cambyses was\nbent on his destruction. He therefore invited Polycrates to come and\ntake him, with his wealth, offering for his protection gold sufficient\nto make him master of the whole of Greece, so far as money would serve\nfor this.\n\nThis welcome offer filled Polycrates with joy. He knew nothing of the\nhatred of Oroetes, and at once sent his secretary to Magnesia to see\nthe Persian and report upon the offer. What he principally wished to\nknow was in regard to the money offered, and Oroetes prepared to\nsatisfy him in this particular. He had eight large chests prepared,\nfilled nearly full of stones, upon which gold was spread. These were\ncorded, as if ready for instant removal.\n\nThis seeming store of gold was shown to the secretary, who hastened back\nto Polycrates with a glowing description of the treasure he had seen.\nPolycrates, on hearing this story, decided to go at once and bring\nOroetes and his chests of gold to Samos.\n\nAgainst this action his friends protested, while the soothsayers found\nthe portents unfavorable. His daughter, also, had a significant dream.\nShe saw her father hanging high in the air, washed by Zeus, the king of\nthe gods, and anointed by the sun. Yet in spite of all this the\ninfatuated king persisted in going. His daughter followed him on the\nship, still begging him to return. His only answer was that if he\nreturned successfully he would keep her an old maid for years.\n\n\"Oh that you may perform your threat!\" she answered. \"It is far better\nfor me to be an old maid than to lose my father.\"\n\nYet the infatuated king went, despite all warnings and advice, taking\nwith him a considerable suite. On his arrival at Magnesia grief instead\nof gold proved his portion. His enemy seized him, put him to a miserable\ndeath, and hung his dead body on a cross to the mercy of the sun and the\nrains. Thus his daughter's dream was fulfilled, for, in the old belief,\nto be washed by the rain was to be washed by Zeus, while the sun\nanointed him by causing the fat to exude from his body.\n\nA year or two after the death of Polycrates, his banished brother\nSyloson came to the throne in a singular way. During his exile he found\nhimself at Memphis, in Egypt, while Cambyses was there with his\nconquering army. Among the guards of the king was Darius, the future\nking of Persia, but then a soldier of little note. Syloson wore a\nscarlet cloak to which Darius took a fancy and proposed to buy it. By a\nsudden impulse Syloson replied, \"I cannot for any price sell it; but I\ngive it you for nothing, if it must be yours.\"\n\nDarius thanked him for the cloak, and that ended the matter there and\nthen,--Syloson afterwards holding himself as silly for the impulsive\ngood nature of his gift.\n\nBut at length he learned with surprise that the simple Persian soldier\nwhom he had benefited was now king of the great Persian empire. He went\nto Susa, the capital, and told who he was. Darius had forgotten his\nface, but he remembered the incident of the cloak, and offered to pay a\nkingly price for the small favor of his humbler days, tendering gold and\nsilver in profusion to his visitor. Syloson rejected these, but asked\nthe aid of Darius to make him king of Samos. This the grateful monarch\ngranted, and sent Syloson an army, with whose aid the island quickly and\nquietly fell into his hands.\n\nYet calamity followed this peaceful conquest. Charilaus, a hot-tempered\nand half-mad Samian, who had been given charge of the acropolis, broke\nfrom it at the head of the guards, and murdered many of the Persian\nofficers who were scattered unguarded throughout the town. The reprisal\nwas dreadful. The Persian army fell in fury on the Samians and\nslaughtered every man and boy in the island, handing over to Syloson a\nkingdom of women and infants. Some time afterwards, however, the island\nwas repeopled by men from without, and Syloson completed his reign in\npeace, leaving the sceptre of Samos to his son.\n\n\n\n\n_THE ADVENTURES OF DEMOCEDES._\n\n\nWhen Pythagoras, the celebrated Greek philosopher, settled in the\nancient Italian city of Crotona (between 550 and 520 B.C.) there was\nliving in that town a youthful surgeon who was destined to have a\nremarkable history. Democedes by name, the son of a Crotonian named\nCalliphon, he strongly inclined while still a mere boy to the study of\nmedicine and surgery, for which arts that city had then a reputation\nhigher than any part of Greece.\n\nThe boy had two things to contend with, the hard study in his chosen\nprofession and the high temper of his father. The latter at length grew\nunbearable, and the youthful surgeon ran away from home, making his way\nto the Greek island of AEgina. Here he began to practise what he had\nlearned at home, and, though he was very poorly equipped with the\ninstruments of his profession, he proved far abler and more successful\nthan the surgeons whom he found in that island. So rapid, indeed, was\nhis progress that his first year's service brought him an offer from the\ncitizens of AEgina to remain with them for one year, at a salary of one\ntalent,--the AEginetan talent being nearly equal to two thousand dollars.\nThe next year he spent at Athens, whose people had offered him one and\ntwo-thirds talents. In the following year Polycrates of Samos bid higher\nstill, offering him two talents, and the young surgeon repaired to that\ncharming island.\n\nThus far the career of Democedes had been one of steady progress. But,\nas Solon told Croesus, a man cannot count himself sure of happiness\nwhile he lives. The good fortune which had attended the runaway surgeon\nwas about to be followed by a period of ill luck and degradation,\nfollowing those of his new patron. In the constant wars of Greece a free\ncitizen could never be sure how soon he might be reduced to slavery, and\nsuch was the fate of Democedes.\n\nWe have already told how Polycrates was treacherously seized and\nmurdered by the Persian satrap Oroetes. Democedes had accompanied him\nto the court of the traitor, and was, with the other attendants of\nPolycrates, seized and left to languish in neglect and imprisonment.\nSoon afterwards Oroetes received the just retribution for his\ntreachery, being himself slain. And now a third turn came to the career\nof Democedes. He was classed among the slaves of Oroetes, and sent\nwith them in chains to Susa, the capital of Darius, the great Persian\nking.\n\nBut here the wheel of fortune suddenly took an upward turn. Darius, the\nking, leaping one day from his horse in the chase, sprained his foot so\nbadly that he had to be carried home in violent pain. The surgeons of\nthe Persian court were Egyptians, who were claimed to be the first men\nin their profession. But, though they used all their skill in treating\nthe foot of the king, they did him no good. Indeed, they only made the\npain more severe. For seven days and nights the mighty king was taught\nthat he was a man as well as a monarch, and could suffer as severely as\nthe poorest peasant in his kingdom. The foot gave him such torture that\nall sleep fled from his eyelids, and he and those around him were in\ndespair.\n\nAt length it came to the memory of one who had come from the court of\nOroetes, at Sardis, that report had spoken of a Greek surgeon among\nthe slaves of the slain satrap. He mentioned this, and the king, to whom\nany hope of relief was welcome, gave orders that this man should be\nsought and brought before him. It was a miserable object that was soon\nushered into the royal presence, a poor creature in rags, with fetters\non his hands, and deep lines of suffering upon his face; a picture of\nmisery, in fact.\n\nHe was asked if he understood surgery. \"No,\" he replied; saying that he\nwas a slave, not a surgeon. Darius did not believe him; these Greeks\nwere artful; but there were ways of getting at the truth. He ordered\nthat the scourge and the pricking instruments of torture should be\nbrought. Democedes, who was probably playing a shrewd game, now admitted\nthat he did have some little skill, but feared to practise his small art\non so great a patient. He was bidden to do what he could, and went to\nwork on the royal foot.\n\nThe little skill of the Greek soon distanced the great skill of the\nEgyptians. He succeeded perfectly in alleviating the pain, and soon had\nhis patient in a deep and refreshing sleep. In a short time the foot\nwas sound again, and Darius could once more stand without a twinge of\npain.\n\nThe king, who had grown hopeless of a cure, was filled with joy, and set\nno bounds to his gratitude. Democedes had come before him in iron\nchains. As a first reward the king presented him with two sets of chains\nof solid gold. He next sent him to receive the thanks of his wives.\nBeing introduced into the harem, Democedes was presented to the sultanas\nas the man who had saved the king's life, and whom their lord and master\ndelighted to honor. Each of the fair and grateful women, in reward for\nhis great deed, gave him a saucer-full of golden coins, which were so\nmany, and heaped so high, that the slave who followed him grew rich by\nmerely picking up the pieces that dropped on the floor.\n\nNor did the generosity of Darius stop here. He gave Democedes a splendid\nhouse and furniture, made him eat at his own table, and showed him every\nfavor at his command. As for the unlucky Egyptian surgeons, they would\nall have been crucified for their lack of skill had not Democedes begged\nfor their lives. He might safely have told Darius that if he began to\ncrucify men for ignorance and assurance he would soon have few subjects\nleft.\n\nBut with all the favors which Darius granted, there was one which he\nsteadily refused to grant. And it was one on which Democedes had set his\nheart. He wanted to return to Greece. Splendor in Persia was very well\nin its way, but to his patriotic heart a crust in Greece was better than\na loaf in this land of strangers. Ask as he might, however, Darius\nwould not consent. A sprain or other harm might come to him again. What\nwould he then do without Democedes? He could not let him go.\n\nAs asking had proved useless, the wily Greek next tried artifice.\nAtossa, the favorite wife of the king, had a tumor to form on her\nbreast. She said nothing of it for a time, but at length it grew so bad\nthat she was forced to speak to the surgeon. He examined the tumor, and\ntold her he could cure it, and would do so if she would solemnly swear\nto do in return whatever he might ask. As she agreed to this, he cured\nthe tumor, and then told her that the reward he wished was liberty to\nreturn to Greece. But he told Atossa that the king would not grant that\nfavor even to her, and that it could only be had by stratagem. He\nadvised her how she should act.\n\nWhen next in conversation with the king, Atossa told him that the\nPersians expected him to do something for the glory and power of the\nempire. He must add to it by conquest.\n\n\"So I propose,\" he replied. \"I have in view an expedition against the\nScythians of the north.\"\n\n\"Better lead one against the Greeks of the west,\" she replied. \"I have\nheard much about the beauty of the maidens of Sparta, Athens, Argos, and\nCorinth, and I want to have some of these fair barbarians to serve me as\nslaves. And if you wish to know more about these Greek people, you have\nnear you the best person possible to give you information,--the Greek\nwho cured your foot.\"\n\nThe suggestion seemed to Darius one worth considering. He would\ncertainly like to know more about this land of Greece. In the end,\nafter conversing with his surgeon, he decided to send some confidential\nagents there to gain information, with Democedes as their guide. Fifteen\nsuch persons were chosen, with orders to observe closely the coasts and\ncities of Greece, obeying the suggestions and leadership of Democedes.\nThey were to bring back what information they could,--and on peril of\ntheir lives to bring back Democedes. If they returned without him it\nwould be a sorry home-coming for them.\n\nThe king then sent for Democedes, told him of the proposed expedition\nand what part he was to take in it, but imperatively bade him to return\nas soon as his errand was finished. He was bidden to take with him the\nwealth he had received, as presents for his father and brothers. He\nwould not suffer from its loss, since as much, and more, would be given\nhim on his return. Lastly, orders were given that a store-ship, \"filled\nwith all manner of good things,\" should be taken with the expedition.\n\nDemocedes heard all this with the aspect of one to whom it was new\ntidings. Come back? Of course he would. He wished ardently to see\nGreece, but for a steady place of residence he much preferred Susa and\nthe palace of his king. As for the gold which had been given him, he\nwould not take it away. He wanted to find his house and property on his\nreturn. The store-ship would answer for all the presents he cared to\nmake.\n\nHis shrewd reply left no shadow of doubt in the heart of the king. The\nenvoys proceeded to Sidon, in Phoenicia, where two armed triremes and\na large store-ship were got ready by their orders. In these they sailed\nto the coast of Greece, which they fully surveyed, and even went as far\nas Italy. The cities were also visited, and the story of all they had\nseen was carefully written down.\n\nAt length they arrived at Tarentum, in Italy, not far from Crotona, the\nnative place of Democedes. Here, at the secret suggestion of the wily\nsurgeon, the king seized the Persians as spies, and, to prevent their\nescape, took away the rudders of their ships. Their treacherous leader\ntook the opportunity to make his way to Crotona, and here the Persians,\nwho had been released and given back their ships, found him on their\narrival. They seized him in the market-place, but he was rescued from\nthem by his fellow-citizens in spite of the remonstrances and threats of\nthe envoys. The Crotonians even took from them the store-ship, and\nforced them to leave the harbor in their triremes.\n\nOn their way home the unlucky envoys suffered a second misfortune; they\nwere shipwrecked and made slaves,--as was the cruel way of dealing with\nunfortunates in those days. An exile from Tarentum, named Gillis, paid\ntheir ransom, and took them to Susa,--for which service Darius offered\nhim any reward he chose to ask. Like Democedes, all he wanted was to go\nhome. But this reward he did not obtain. Darius brought to bear on\nTarentum all the influence he could wield, but in vain. The Tarentines\nwere obdurate, and would not have their exile back again. And Gillis was\nmore honorable than Democedes. He did not lay plans to bring a Persian\ninvasion upon Greece through his selfish wish to get back to his native\nland.\n\nA few words more will tell all else we know about Democedes. His last\nwords to his Persian companions bade them tell Darius that he was about\nto marry the daughter of Milo of Crotona, famed as the greatest wrestler\nof his time. Darius knew well the reputation of Milo. He had probably\nlearned it from Democedes himself. And a Persian king was more likely to\nadmire a muscular than a mental giant. Milo meant more to him than Homer\nor any hero of the pen. Democedes did marry Milo's daughter, paying a\nhigh price for the honor, for the sole purpose, so far as we know, of\nsending back this boastful message to his friend, the king. And thus\nends all we know of the story of the surgeon of Crotona.\n\n\n\n\n_DARIUS AND THE SCYTHIANS._\n\n\nThe conquest of Asia Minor by Cyrus and his Persian army was the first\nstep towards that invasion of Greece by the Persians which proved such a\nvital element in the history of the Hellenic people. The next step was\ntaken in the reign of Darius, the first of Asiatic monarchs to invade\nEurope. This ambitious warrior attempted to win fame by conquering the\ncountry of the Scythian barbarians,--now Southern Russia,--and was\ntaught such a lesson that for centuries thereafter the perilous\nenterprise was not repeated.\n\nIt was about the year 516 B.C. that the Persian king, with the\nostensible purpose--invented to excuse his invasion--of punishing the\nScythians for a raid into Asia a century before, but really moved only\nby the thirst for conquest, reached the Bosphorus, the strait that here\ndivides Europe from Asia. He had with him an army said to have numbered\nseven hundred thousand men, and on the seas was a fleet of six hundred\nships. A bridge of boats was thrown across this arm of the sea,--on\nwhich Constantinople now stands,--and the great Persian host reached\nEuropean soil in the country of Thrace.\n\nHappy was it for Greece that the ambitious Persian did not then seek\nits conquest, as Democedes, his physician, had suggested. The Athenians,\nthen under the rule of the tyrant Pisistratus, were not the free and\nbold people they afterwards became, and had Darius sought their conquest\nat that time, the land of Greece would probably have become a part of\nthe overgrown Persian empire. Fortunately, he was bent on conquering the\nbarbarians of the north, and left Greece to grow in valor and\npatriotism.\n\nWhile the army marched from Asia into Europe across its bridge of boats,\nthe fleet was sent into the Euxine, or Black Sea, with orders to sail\nfor two days up the Danube River, which empties into that sea, and build\nthere also a bridge of boats. When Darius with his army reached the\nDanube, he found the bridge ready, and on its swaying length crossed\nwhat was then believed to be the greatest river on the earth. Reaching\nthe northern bank, he marched onward into the unknown country of the\nbarbarous Scythians, with visions of conquest and glory in his mind.\n\nWhat happened to the great Persian army and its ambitious leader in\nScythia we do not very well know. Two historians tell us the story, but\nprobably their history is more imagination than fact. Ctesias tells the\nfairy-tale that Darius marched northward for fifteen days, that he then\nexchanged bows with the Scythian king, and that, finding the Scythian\nbow to be the largest, he fled back in terror to the bridge, which he\nhastily crossed, having left a tenth of his army as a sacrifice to his\nmad ambition.\n\nThe story told by Herodotus is probably as much a product of the\nimagination as that of Ctesias, though it reads more like actual\nhistory. He says that the Scythians retreated northward, sending their\nwives and children before them in wagons, and destroying the wells and\nruining the harvests as they went, so that little was left for the\ninvaders to eat and drink. On what the vast host lived we do not know,\nnor how they crossed the various rivers in their route. With such\ntrifling considerations as these the historians of that day did not\nconcern themselves. There were skirmishes and combats of horsemen, but\nthe Scythian king took care to avoid any general battle. Darius sent him\na herald and taunted him with cowardice, but King Idanthyrsus sent word\nback that if the Persians should come and destroy the tombs of the\nforefathers of the Scythians they would learn whether they were cowards\nor not.\n\nDay by day the monster Persian army advanced, and day by day its\ndifficulties increased, until its situation grew serious indeed. The\nScythians declined battle still, but Idanthyrsus sent to his distressed\nfoe the present of a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. This\nsignified, according to the historian, \"Unless you take to the air, like\na bird; to the earth, like a mouse; or to the water, like a frog, you\nwill become the victim of the Scythian arrows.\"\n\nThis warning frightened Darius. In truth, he was in a desperate strait.\nLeaving the sick and weak part of his army encamped with the asses he\nhad brought,--animals unknown to the Scythians, who were alarmed by\ntheir braying,--he began a hasty retreat towards his bridge of boats.\nBut rapidly as he could march, the swifter Scythians reached the bridge\nbefore him, and counselled with the Ionian Greeks, who had been left in\ncharge, and who were conquered subjects of the Persian king, to break\ndown the bridge and leave Darius and his army to their fate.\n\nAnd now we get back into real history again. The story of what happened\nin Scythia is all romance. All we really know is that the expedition\nfailed, and what was left of the army came back to the Danube in hasty\nretreat. And here comes in an interesting part of the narrative. The\nfleet of Darius was largely made up of the ships of the Ionians of Asia\nMinor, who had long been Persian subjects. It was they who had bridged\nthe Danube, and who were left to guard the bridge. After Darius had\ncrossed the bridge, on his march north, he ordered the Ionians to break\nit down and follow him into Scythia, leaving only the rowers and seamen\nin the ships. But one of his Greek generals advised him to let the\nbridge stand under guard of its builders, saying that evil fortune might\ncome to the king's army through the guile and shrewdness of the\nScythians.\n\nDarius found this advice good, and promised to reward its giver after\nhis return. He then took a cord and tied sixty knots in it. This he left\nwith the Ionians. \"Take this cord,\" he said. \"Untie one of the knots in\nit each day after my advance from the Danube into Scythia. Remain here\nand guard the bridge until you shall have untied all the knots; but if\nby that time I shall not have returned, then depart and sail home.\"\n\nSuch were the methods of counting which then prevailed. And the\nknowledge of geography was not more advanced. Darius had it in view to\nmarch round the Black Sea and return to Persia along its eastern\nside,--with the wild idea that sixty days would suffice for this great\nmarch.\n\nFortunately for him, as the story goes, the Ionians did not obey orders,\nbut remained on guard after the knots were all untied. Then, to their\nsurprise, Scythians instead of Persians appeared. These told the Ionians\nthat the Persian army was in the greatest distress, was retreating with\nall speed, and that its escape from utter ruin depended on the safety of\nthe bridge. They urged the Greeks to break the bridge and retire. If\nthey should do so the Persians would all be destroyed, and Ionia would\nregain its freedom.\n\nThis was wise advice. Had it been taken it might have saved Greece from\nthe danger of Persian invasion. The Ionians were at first in favor of\nit, and Miltiades, one of their leaders, and afterwards one of the\nheroes of Greek history, warmly advised that it should be done. But\nHistiaeus, the despot of Miletus, advised the other Ionian princes that\nthey would lose their power if their countries became free, since the\nPersians alone supported them, while the people everywhere were against\nthem. They determined, therefore, to maintain the bridge.\n\nBut, to rid themselves of the Scythians, they pretended to take their\nadvice, and destroyed the bridge for the length of a bow-shot from the\nnorthern shore of the stream. The Scythians, thinking that they now had\ntheir enemies at their mercy, departed in search of their foes. That\nnight the Persian army, in a state of the greatest distress and\nprivation, reached the Danube, the Scythians having missed them and\nfailed to check their march. To the horror of Darius and his starving\nand terror-stricken men, the bridge, in the darkness, appeared to be\ngone. An Egyptian herald, with a voice like a trumpet, was ordered to\ncall for Histiaeus, the Milesian. He did so, an answer came through the\ndarkness, and the hopes of the fleeing king were restored. The bridge\nwas speedily made complete again, and the Persian army hastily crossed,\nreaching the opposite bank before the Scythians, who had lost their\ntrack, reappeared in pursuit.\n\nThus ended in disaster the first Persian invasion of Europe. It was to\nbe followed by others in later years, equally disastrous to the\ninvaders. As for the despots of Ionia, who had through selfishness lost\nthe chance of freeing their native land, they were to live to see,\nbefore many years, Ionia desolated by the Persian tyrant whom they had\nsaved from irretrievable ruin. We shall tell how this came about, as a\nsequel to the story of the invasion of Scythia.\n\nHistiaeus, despot of Miletus, whose advice had saved the bridge for\nDarius, was richly rewarded for his service, and attended Darius on his\nreturn to Susa, the Persian capital, leaving his son-in-law Aristagoras\nin command at Miletus. Some ten years afterwards this regent of Miletus\nmade an attempt, with Persian aid, to capture the island of Naxos. The\neffort failed, and Aristagoras, against whom the Persians were incensed\nby their defeat and their losses, was threatened with ruin. He began to\nthink of a revolt from Persian rule.\n\nWhile thus mentally engaged, he received a strangely-sent message from\nHistiaeus, who was still detained at Susa, and who eagerly desired to get\naway from dancing attendance at court and return to his kingdom.\nHistiaeus advised his regent to revolt. But as this message was far too\ndangerous to be sent by any ordinary channels, he adopted an\nextraordinary method to insure its secrecy. Selecting one of his most\ntrusty slaves, Histiaeus had his head shaved, and then pricked or\ntattooed upon the bare scalp the message he wished to send. Keeping the\nslave in seclusion until his hair had grown again, he sent him to\nMiletus, where he was instructed simply to tell Aristagoras to shave and\nexamine his head. Aristagoras did so, read the tattooed message, and\nimmediately took steps to obey.\n\nWord of the proposed revolt was sent by him to the other cities along\nthe coast, and all were found ready to join in the attempt to secure\nfreedom. Not only the coast settlements, but the island of Cyprus,\njoined in the revolt. At the appointed time all the coast region of Asia\nMinor suddenly burst into a flame of war.\n\nAristagoras hurried to Greece for aid, seeking it first at Sparta.\nFinding no help there, he went to Athens, which city lent him twenty\nships,--a gift for which it was to pay dearly in later years. Hurrying\nback with this small reinforcement, he quickly organized an expedition\nto assail the Persians at the centre of their power.\n\nMarching hastily to Sardis, the capital of Asia Minor, the revolted\nIonians took and burned that city. But the Persians, gathering in\nnumbers, defeated and drove them back to the coast, where the Athenians,\nweary of the enterprise, took to their ships and hastened home.\n\nWhen word of this raid, and the burning of Sardis by the Athenians and\nIonians, came to the ears of Darius at his far-off capital city, he\nasked in wonder, \"The Athenians!--who are they?\" The name of this\ndistant and insignificant Greek city had not yet reached his kingly\nears.\n\nHe was told who the Athenians were, and, calling for his bow, he shot an\narrow high into the air, at the same time calling to the Greek deity,\n\"Grant me, Zeus, to revenge myself on those Athenians.\"\n\nAnd he bade one of his servants to repeat to him three times daily, when\nhe sat down to his mid-day meal, \"Master, remember the Athenians!\"\n\nThe invaders had been easily repulsed from Sardis, but the revolt\ncontinued, and proved a serious and stubborn one, which it took the\nPersians years to overcome. The smaller cities were conquered one by\none, but the Persians were four years in preparing for the siege of\nMiletus. Resistance here was fierce and bitter, but in the end the city\nfell. The Persians now took a savage revenge for the burning of Sardis,\nkilling most of the men of this important city, dragging into captivity\nthe women and children, and burning the temples to the ground. The other\ncities which still held out were quickly taken, and visited like\nMiletus, with the same fate of fire and bloodshed. It was now 495 B.C.,\nmore than twenty years after the invasion of Scythia.\n\nAs for Histiaeus, he was at first blamed by Darius for the revolt. But as\nhe earnestly declared his innocence, and asserted that he could soon\nbring it to an end, Darius permitted him to depart. Reaching Miletus, he\napplied at the gates for admission, saying that he had come to the\ncity's aid. But Aristagoras was no longer there, and the Milesians had\nno use for their former tyrant. They refused him admission, and even\nwounded him when he tried to force his way in at night. He then went to\nLesbos, obtained there some ships, occupied the city of Byzantium, and\nbegan a life of piracy, which he kept up till his death, pillaging the\nIonian merchant ships as they passed into and out of the Euxine Sea.\nThus ended the career of this treacherous and worthless despot, to whom\nDarius owed his escape from Scythia.\n\n\n\n\n_THE ATHENIANS AT MARATHON._\n\n\nThe time came when Darius of Persia did not need the bidding of a slave\nto make him \"Remember the Athenians.\" He was taught a lesson on the\nbattle-field of Marathon that made it impossible for him ever to forget\nthe Athenian name. Having dismally failed in his expedition against the\nScythians, he invaded Greece and failed as dismally. It is the story of\nthis important event which we have next to tell.\n\nAnd here it may be well to remark what terrible consequences to mankind\nthe ambition of a single man may cause. The invasion of Greece, and all\nthat came from it, can be traced in a direct line of events from the\ndeeds of Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, who first saved Darius from\nannihilation by the Scythians, then roused the Ionians to rebellion,\nand, finally, through the medium of Aristagoras, induced the Athenians\nto come to their aid and take part in the burning of Sardis. This roused\nDarius, who had dwelt at Susa for many years in peace, to a thirst for\nrevenge on Athens, and gave rise to that series of invasions which\nravaged Greece for many years, and whose fitting sequel was the invasion\nand conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, a century and a half\nlater.\n\nAnd now, with this preliminary statement, we may proceed with our tale.\nNo sooner had the Ionian revolt been brought to an end, and the Ionians\npunished for their daring, than the angry Oriental despot prepared to\nvisit upon Athens the vengeance he had vowed. His preparations for this\nenterprise were great. His experience in Scythia had taught him that the\nWestern barbarians--as he doubtless considered them--were not to be\ndespised. For two years, in every part of his vast empire, the note of\nwar was sounded, and men and munitions of war were actively gathered. On\nthe coast of Asia Minor a great fleet, numbering six hundred armed\ntriremes and many transports for men and horses, was prepared. The\nIonian and AEolian Greeks largely manned this fleet, and were forced to\naid their late foe in the effort to destroy their kinsmen beyond the\narchipelago of the AEgean Sea.\n\nAn Athenian traitor accompanied the Persians, and guided their leader in\nthe advance against his native city. We have elsewhere spoken of\nPisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, whose treason Solon had in vain\nendeavored to prevent. After his death, his sons Hipparchus and Hippias\nsucceeded him in the tyranny. Hipparchus was killed in 514 B.C., and in\n511 Hippias, who had shown himself a cruel despot, was banished from\nAthens. He repaired to the court of King Darius, where he dwelt many\nyears. Now he came back, as guide and counsellor to the Persians,\nhoping, perhaps, to become again a despot of Athens; but only, as the\nfates decreed, to find a grave on the fatal field of Marathon.\n\nThe assault on Greece was a twofold one. The first was defeated by\nnature, the second by man. A land expedition, led by the Persian general\nMardonius, crossed the Hellespont in the year 493 B.C., proposing to\nmarch to Athens along the coast, and with orders to bring all that were\nleft alive of its inhabitants as captives to the great king. On marched\nthe great host, nothing doubting that Greece would fall an easy prey to\ntheir arms. And as they marched along the land, the fleet followed them\nalong the adjoining sea, until the stormy and perilous promontory of\nMount Athos was reached.\n\nNo doubt the Greeks viewed with deep alarm this formidable progress.\nThey had never yet directly measured arms with the Persians, and dreaded\nthem more than, as was afterwards shown, they had reason to. But at\nMount Athos the deities of the winds came to their aid. As the fleet was\nrounding that promontory, often fatal to mariners, a frightful hurricane\nswooped upon it, and destroyed three hundred of its ships, while no less\nthan twenty thousand men became victims of the waves. Some of the crews\nreached the shores, but of these many died of cold, and others were\nslain and devoured by wild beasts, which roamed in numbers on that\nuninhabited point of land. The land army, too, lost heavily from the\nhurricane; and Mardonius, fearing to advance farther after this\ndisaster, ingloriously made his way back to the Hellespont. So ended the\nfirst invasion of Greece.\n\nThree years afterwards another was made. Darius, indeed, first sent\nheralds to Greece, demanding _earth and water_ in token of submission to\nhis will. To this demand some of the cities cowardly yielded; but\nAthens, Sparta, and others sent back the heralds with no more earth than\nclung to the soles of their shoes. And so, as Greece was not to be\nsubdued through terror of his name, the great king prepared to make it\nfeel his power and wrath, incited thereto by his hatred of Athens, which\nHippias took care to keep alive. Another expedition was prepared, and\nput under the command of another general, Datis by name.\n\nThe army was now sent by a new route. Darius himself had led his army\nacross the Bosphorus, where Constantinople now stands, and where\nByzantium then stood. Mardonius conveyed his across the southern strait,\nthe Hellespont. The third expedition was sent on shipboard directly\nacross the sea, landing and capturing the islands of the AEgean as it\nadvanced. Landing at length on the large island of Euboea, near the\ncoast of Attica, Datis stormed and captured the city of Eretria, burnt\nits temples, and dragged its people into captivity. Then, putting his\narmy on shipboard again, he sailed across the narrow strait between\nEuboea and Attica, and landed on Attic soil, in the ever-memorable Bay\nof Marathon.\n\nIt seemed now, truly, as if Darius was about to gain his wish and\nrevenge himself on Athens. The plain of Marathon, where the great\nPersian army had landed and lay encamped, is but twenty-two miles from\nAthens by the nearest road,--scarcely a day's march. The plain is about\nsix miles long, and from a mile and a half to three miles in width,\nextending back from the sea-shore to the rugged hills and mountains\nwhich rise to bind it in. A brook flows across it to the sea, and\nmarshes occupy its ends. Such was the field on which one of the decisive\nbattles of the world was about to be fought.\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF THE PARTHENON.]\n\nThe coming of the Persians had naturally filled the Athenians and all\nthe neighboring nations of Greece with alarm. Yet if any Athenian had a\nthought of submission without fighting, he was wise enough to keep it to\nhimself. The Athenians of that day were a very different people from\nwhat they had been fifty years before, when they tamely submitted to the\ntyranny of Pisistratus. They had gained new laws, and with them a new\nspirit. They were the freest people upon the earth,--a democracy in\nwhich every man was the equal of every other, and in which each had a\nfull voice in the government of the state. They had their political\nleaders, it is true, but these were their fellow-citizens, who ruled\nthrough intellect, not through despotism.\n\nThere were now three such men in Athens,--men who have won an enduring\nfame. One of these was that Miltiades who had counselled the destruction\nof Darius's bridge of boats. The others were named Themistocles and\nAristides, concerning whom we shall have more to say. These three were\namong the ten generals who commanded the army of Athens, and each of\nwhom, according to the new laws, was to have command for a day. It was\nfortunate for the Athenians that they had the wit to set aside this law\non this important occasion, since such a divided generalship must surely\nhave led to defeat and disaster.\n\nBut before telling what action was taken there is an important episode\nto relate. Athens--as was common with the Greek cities when\nthreatened--did not fail to send to Sparta for aid. When the Persians\nlanded at Marathon, a swift courier, Phidippides by name, was sent to\nthat city for assistance, and so fleet of foot was he that he performed\nthe journey, of one hundred and fifty miles, in forty-eight hours' time.\n\nThe Spartans, who knew that the fall of Athens would soon be followed by\nthat of their own city, promised aid without hesitation. But\nsuperstition stood in their way. It was, unfortunately, only the ninth\nday of the moon. Ancient custom forbade them to march until the moon had\npassed its full. This would be five days yet,--five days which might\ncause the ruin of Greece. But old laws and observances held dominion at\nSparta, and, whatever came from it, the moon must pass its full before\nthe army could march.\n\nWhen this decision was brought back by the courier to Athens it greatly\ndisturbed the public mind. Of the ten generals, five strongly counselled\nthat they should wait for Spartan help. The other five were in favor of\nimmediate action. Delay was dangerous with an enemy at their door and\nmany timid and doubtless some treacherous citizens within their walls.\n\nFortunately, there was an eleventh general, Callimachus, the war archon,\nor polemarch, who had a casting vote in the council of generals, and\nwho, under persuasion of Miltiades, cast his vote for an immediate march\nto Marathon. The other generals who favored this action gave up to\nMiltiades their days of command, making him sole leader for that length\nof time. Herodotus says that he refused to fight till his own day came\nregularly round,--but we can scarcely believe that a general of his\nability would risk defeat on such a childish point of honor. If so, he\nshould have been a Spartan, and waited for the passing of the full moon.\n\nTo Marathon, then, the men of Athens marched, and from its surrounding\nhills looked down on the great Persian army that lay encamped beneath,\nand on the fleet which seemed to fill the sea. Of those brave men there\nwere no more than ten thousand. And from all Greece but one small band\ncame to join them, a thousand men from the little town of Plataea. The\nnumbers of the foe we do not know. They may have been two hundred\nthousand in all, though how many of these landed and took part in the\nbattle no one can tell. Doubtless they outnumbered the Athenians more\nthan ten to one.\n\nFar along the plain stretched the lines of the Persians, with their\nfleet behind them, extended along the beach. On the high ground in the\nrear were marshalled the Greeks, spread out so long that their line was\nperilously thin. The space of a mile separated the two armies.\n\nAnd now, at the command of Miltiades, the valiant Athenians crossed this\ndividing space at a full run, sounding their paean or war-cry as they\nadvanced. Miltiades was bent on coming to close quarters at once, so as\nto prevent the enemy from getting their bowmen and cavalry at work.\n\nThe Persians, on seeing this seeming handful of men, without archers or\nhorsemen, advancing at a run upon their great array, deemed at first\nthat the Greeks had gone mad and were rushing wildly to destruction. The\nringing war-cry astounded them,--a Greek paean was new music to their\nears. And when the hoplites of Athens and Plataea broke upon their ranks,\nthrusting and hewing with spear and sword, and with the strength gained\nfrom exercises in the gymnasium, dread of these courageous and furious\nwarriors filled their souls. On both wings the Persian lines broke and\nfled for their ships. But in the centre, where Datis had placed his best\nmen, and where the Athenian line was thinnest, the Greeks, breathless\nfrom their long run, were broken and driven back. Seeing this, Miltiades\nbrought up his victorious wings, attacked the centre with his entire\nforce, and soon had the whole Persian army in full flight for its ships.\n\nThe marshes swallowed up many of the fleeing host. Hundreds fell before\nthe arms of the victors. Into the ships poured in terror those who had\nescaped, followed hotly by the victorious Greeks, who made strenuous\nefforts to set the ships on fire and destroy the entire host. In this\nthey failed. The Persians, made desperate by their peril, drove them\nback. The fleet hastily set sail, leaving few prisoners, but abandoning\na rich harvest of tents and equipments to the victorious Greeks. Of the\nPersian host, some sixty-four hundred lay dead on the field, the ships\nhaving saved them from further slaughter. The Greek loss in dead was\nonly one hundred and ninety-two.\n\nYet, despite this signal victory, Greece was still in imminent danger.\nAthens was undefended. The fleeing fleet might reach and capture it\nbefore the army could return. In truth, the ships had sailed in this\ndirection, and from the top of a lofty hill Miltiades saw the polished\nsurface of a shield flash in the sunlight, and quickly guessed what it\nmeant. It was a signal made by some traitor to the Persian fleet.\nPutting his army at once under march, despite the weariness of the\nvictors, he hastened back over the long twenty-two miles at all possible\nspeed, and the worn-out troops reached Athens barely in time to save it\nfrom the approaching fleet.\n\nThe triumph of Miltiades was complete. Only for his quickness in\nguessing the meaning of the flashing shield, and the rapidity of his\nmarch, all the results of his great victory would have been lost, and\nAthens fallen helpless into Persian arms. But Datis, finding the city\namply garrisoned, and baffled at every point, turned his ships and\nsailed in defeat away, leaving the Athenians masters of city and field.\n\nAnd now the Spartans--to whom the full moon had come too late--appeared,\ntwo thousand strong, only in time to congratulate the victors and view\nthe dead Persians on the field. They had marched the whole distance in\nless than three days. As for the Athenian dead, they were buried with\ngreat ceremony on the plain where they fell, and the great mound which\ncovers them is visible there to this day.\n\n\n\n\n_XERXES AND HIS ARMY._\n\n\nThe defeat of the Persian army at Marathon redoubled the wrath of King\nDarius against the Athenians. He resolved in his autocratic mind to\nsweep that pestilent city and all whom it contained from the face of the\nearth. And he perhaps would have done so had he not met a more terrible\nfoe even than Miltiades and his army,--the all-conqueror Death, to whose\nmight the greatest monarchs must succumb. Burning with fury, Darius\nordered the levy of a mighty army, and for three years busy preparations\nfor war went on throughout the vast empire of Persia. But, just as the\nmustering was done and he was about to march, that grisly foe Death\nstruck him down in the midst of his schemes of conquest, and Greece was\nsaved,--the great Darius was no more.\n\nXerxes, son of Darius, succeeded him on the throne. This new monarch was\nthe handsomest and stateliest man in all his army. But his fair outside\ncovered a weak nature; timid, faint-hearted, vain, conceited, he was not\nthe man to conquer Greece, small as it was and great as was the empire\nunder his control; and the death of Darius was in all probability the\nsalvation of Greece.\n\nXerxes succeeded not only to the throne of Persia, but also to the vast\narmy which his father had brought together. He succeeded, moreover, to a\nwar, for Egypt was in revolt. But this did not last long; the army was\nat once set in motion, Egypt was quickly subdued, and the Egyptians\nfound themselves under a worse tyranny than before.\n\nGreece remained to conquer, and for that enterprise the timid Persian\nking was not eager. Marathon could not be forgotten. Those fierce\nAthenians who had defeated his father's great host were not to be dealt\nwith so easily as the unwarlike Egyptians. He held back irresolute, now\npersuaded to war by one councillor, now to peace by another, and\nfinally--so we are told--driven to war by a dream, in which a tall,\nstately man appeared to him and with angry countenance commanded him not\nto abandon the enterprise which his father had designed. This dream came\nto him again the succeeding night, and when Artabanus, his uncle, and\nthe advocate of peace, was made to sit on his throne and sleep in his\nbed, the same figure appeared to him, and threatened to burn out his\neyes if he still opposed the war. Artabanus, stricken with terror, now\ncounselled war, and Xerxes determined on the invasion of Greece.\n\nThis story we are told by Herodotus, who told many things which it is\nnot very safe to believe. What we really know is that Xerxes began the\nmost stupendous preparations for war that had ever been known, and added\nto the army left by his father until he had got together the greatest\nhost the world had yet beheld. For four years those preparations, to\nwhich Darius had already given three years of time, were actively\ncontinued. Horsemen and foot-soldiers, ships of war, transports,\nprovisions, and supplies of all kinds were collected far and near, the\nvanity of Xerxes probably inciting him to astonish the world by the\ngreatness of his army.\n\nIn the autumn of the year 481 B.C. this vast army, marching from all\nparts of the mighty empire, reached Lydia and gathered in and around the\ncity of Sardis, the old capital of Croesus. Besides the land army, a\nfleet of twelve hundred and seven ships of war, and numerous other\nvessels, were collected, and large magazines of provisions were formed\nat points along the whole line of march. For years flour and other food,\nfrom Asia and Egypt, had been stored in cities on the route, that the\nfatal enemy starvation might not attack the mighty host.\n\nTwo important questions occupied the mind of Xerxes. How was he to get\nhis vast army on European soil, and how escape those dangers from storm\nwhich had wrecked his father's fleet? He might cross the sea in ships,\nas Datis had done,--and be like him defeated. Xerxes thought it safest\nto keep on solid land, and decided to build a bridge of boats across the\nHellespont, that ocean river now known as the Dardanelles, the first of\nthe two straits which connect the Mediterranean with the Black Sea. As\nfor the other trouble, that of storms at sea, he remembered the great\ngale which had wrecked the fleet of Mardonius off the stormy cape of\nMount Athos, and determined to avoid this danger. A narrow neck of land\nconnects Mount Athos with the mainland. Xerxes ordered that a ship-canal\nshould be cut through this isthmus, wide and deep enough to allow two\ntriremes--war-ships with three ranks of oars--to sail abreast.\n\nThis work was done by the Phoenicians, the ablest engineers at that\ntime in the world. A canal was made through which his whole fleet could\nsail, and thus the stormy winds and waves which hovered about Mount\nAthos be avoided.\n\nThis work was successfully done, but not so the bridge of boats. Hardly\nhad the latter been completed, when there came so violent a storm that\nthe cables were snapped like pack-thread and the bridge swept away. With\nthe weakness of a man of small mind, on hearing of this disaster Xerxes\nburst into a fit of insane rage. He ordered that the heads of the chief\nengineers should be cut off, but this was far from satisfying his anger.\nThe elements had risen against his might, and the elements themselves\nmust be punished. The Hellespont should be scourged for its temerity,\nand three hundred lashes were actually given the water, while a set of\nfetters were cast into its depths. It is further said that the water was\nbranded with hot irons, but it is hard to believe that even Xerxes was\nsuch a fool as this would make him.\n\nThe rebellious water thus punished, Xerxes regained his wits, and\nordered that the bridge should be rebuilt more strongly than before.\nHuge cables were made, some of flax, some of papyrus fibre, to anchor\nthe ships in the channel and to bind them to the shore. Two bridges were\nconstructed, composed of large ships laid side by side in the water,\nwhile over each of them stretched six great cables, to moor them to the\nland and to support the wooden causeway. In one of these bridges no less\nthan three hundred and sixty ships were employed.\n\nAnd now, everything being ready, the mighty army began its march. It\npresented a grand spectacle as it made its way from Sardis to the sea.\nFirst of all came the baggage, borne on thousands of camels and other\nbeasts of burden. Then came one-half the infantry. The other half\nmarched in the rear, while between them were Xerxes and his great\nbody-guard, which is thus described by the Greek historian:\n\nFirst came a thousand Persian cavalry and as many spearmen, each of the\nlatter having a golden pomegranate on the rear end of his spear, which\nwas carried in the air, the point being turned downward. Then came ten\nsacred horses, splendidly caparisoned, and following them rolled the\nsacred chariot of Zeus, drawn by eight white horses. This was succeeded\nby the chariot of Xerxes himself, who was immediately attended by a\nthousand horse-guards, the choicest troops of the kingdom, of whose\nspears the ends glittered with golden apples. Then came detachments of\none thousand horse, ten thousand foot, and ten thousand horse. These\nfoot-soldiers, called the Immortals, because their number was always\nmaintained, had pomegranates of silver on their spears, with the\nexception of one thousand, who marched in front and rear and on the\nsides, and bore pomegranates of gold. After these household troops\nfollowed the vast remaining host.\n\nThe army of Xerxes was, as we have said, superior in numbers to any the\nworld had ever seen. Forty-six nations had sent their quotas to the\nhost, each with its different costume, arms, mode of march, and system\nof fighting. Only those from Asia Minor bore such arms as the Greeks\nwere used to fight with. Most of the others were armed with javelins or\nother light weapons, and bore slight shields or none at all. Some came\narmed only with daggers and a lasso like that used on the American\nplains. The Ethiopians from the Upper Nile had their bodies painted half\nred and half white, wore lion-and panther-skins, and carried javelins\nand bows. Few of the whole army bore the heavy weapons or displayed the\nsolid fighting phalanx of those whom they had come to meet in war.\n\nAs to the number of men thus brought together from half the continent of\nAsia we cannot be sure. Xerxes, after reaching Europe, took an odd way\nof counting his army. Ten thousand men were counted and packed close\ntogether. Then a line was drawn around them, and a wall built about the\nspace. The whole army was then marched in successive detachments into\nthis walled enclosure. Herodotus tells us that there were one hundred\nand seventy of these divisions, which would make the whole army one\nmillion seven hundred thousand foot. In addition there were eighty\nthousand horse, many war-chariots, and a fleet of twelve hundred and\nseven triremes and three thousand smaller vessels. According to\nHerodotus, the whole host, soldiers and sailors, numbered two million\nsix hundred and forty thousand men, and there were as many or more\ncamp-followers, so that the whole number present, according to this\nestimate, was over five million men. It is not easy to believe that such\na marching host as this could be fed, and it has probably been much\nexaggerated; yet there is no doubt that the host was vast enough almost\nto blow away all the armies of Greece with the wind of its coming.\n\nOn leaving Sardis a frightful spectacle was provided by Xerxes: the army\nfound itself marching between two halves of a slaughtered man. Pythius,\nan old Phrygian of great riches, had entertained Xerxes with much\nhospitality, and offered him all his wealth, amounting to two thousand\ntalents of silver and nearly four million darics of gold. This generous\noffer Xerxes declined, and gave Pythius enough gold to make up his\ndarics to an even four millions. Then, when the army was about to march,\nthe old man told Xerxes that he had five sons in the army, and begged\nthat one of them, the eldest, might be left with him as a stay to his\ndeclining years. Instantly the despot burst into a rage. The request of\nexemption from military service was in Persia an unpardonable offence.\nThe hospitality of Pythius was forgotten, and Xerxes ordered that his\nson should be slain, and half the body hung on each side of the army,\nprobably as a salutary warning to all who should have the temerity to\nquestion the despot's arbitrary will.\n\nOn marched the great army. It crossed the plain of Troy, and here\nXerxes offered libations in honor of the heroes of the Trojan war, the\nstory of which was told him. Reaching the Hellespont, he had a marble\nthrone erected, from which to view the passage of his troops. The\nbridges--which the scourged and branded waters had now spared--were\nperfumed with frankincense and strewed with myrtle boughs, and, as the\nmarch began, Xerxes offered prayers to the sun, and made libations to\nthe sea with a golden censer, which he then flung into the water,\ntogether with a golden bowl and a Persian scimitar, perhaps to repay the\nHellespont for the stripes he had inflicted upon it.\n\nAt the first moment of sunrise the passage began, the troops marching\nacross one bridge, the baggage and attendants crossing the other. All\nday the march continued, and all night long, the whip being used to\naccelerate the troops; yet so vast was the host that for seven days and\nnights, without cessation, the army moved on, and a week was at its end\nbefore the last man of the great Persian host set foot on European soil.\n\nThen down through the Grecian peninsula Xerxes marched, doubtless\ninflated with pride at the greatness of his host and the might of the\nfleet which sailed down the neighboring seas and through the canal which\nhe had cut to baffle stormy Athos. One regret alone seemed to come into\nhis mind, and that was that in a hundred years not one man of that vast\narmy would be alive. It did not occur to him that in less than one year\nfew of them might be alive, for all thought of any peril to his army\nand fleet from the insignificant numbers of the Greeks must have been\ndismissed with scorn from his mind.\n\nLike locusts the army marched southward through Thrace, eating up the\ncities as it advanced, for each was required to provide a day's meals\nfor the mighty host. For months those cities had been engaged in\nproviding the food which this army consumed in a day. Many of the cities\nwere brought to the verge of ruin, and all of them were glad to see the\narmy march on. At length Xerxes saw before him Mount Olympus, on the\nnorthern boundary of the land of Hellas or Greece. This was the end of\nhis own dominions. He was now about to enter the territory of his foes.\nWith what fortune he did so must be left for later tales.\n\n\n\n\n_HOW THE SPARTANS DIED AT THERMOPYLAE._\n\n\nWhen Xerxes, as his father had done before him, sent to the Grecian\ncities to demand earth and water in token of submission, no heralds were\nsent to Athens or Sparta. These truculent cities had flung the heralds\nof Darius into deep pits, bidding them to take earth and water from\nthere and carry it to the great king. This act called for revenge, and\nwhatever mercy he might show to the rest of Greece, Athens and Sparta\nwere doomed in his mind to be swept from the face of the earth. How they\nescaped this dismal fate is what we have next to tell.\n\nAs one of the great men of Athens, Miltiades, had saved his native land\nin the former Persian invasion, so a second patriotic citizen,\nThemistocles, proved her savior in the dread peril which now threatened\nher. But the work of Themistocles was not done in a single great battle,\nas at Marathon, but in years of preparation. And a war between Athens\nand the neighboring island of AEgina had much to do with this escape from\nruin.\n\nTo make war upon an island a land army was of no avail. A fleet was\nnecessary. The Athenians were accustomed to a commercial, though not to\na warlike, life upon the sea. Many of them were active, daring, and\nskilful sailors, and when Themistocles urged that they should build a\npowerful fleet he found approving listeners. Longer of sight than his\nfellow-citizens, he warned them of the coming peril from Persia. The\nconflict with the small island of AEgina was a small matter compared with\nthat threatened by the great kingdom of Persia. But to prepare against\none was to prepare against both. And Athens was just then rich. It\npossessed valuable silver-mines at Laurium, in Attica, from which much\nwealth came to the state. This money Themistocles urged the citizens to\nuse in building ships, and they were wise enough to take his advice, two\nhundred ships of war being built. These ships, as it happened, were not\nused for the purpose originally intended, that of the war with AEgina.\nBut they proved of inestimable service to Athens in the Persian war.\n\n[Illustration: THE PLACE OF ASSEMBLY OF THE ATHENIANS.]\n\nThe vast preparations of Xerxes were not beheld without deep terror in\nGreece. Spies were sent into Persia to discover what was being done.\nThey were captured and condemned to death, but Xerxes ordered that they\nshould be shown his total army and fleet, and then sent home to report\nwhat they had seen. He hoped thus to double the terror of the Grecian\nstates.\n\nAt home two things were done. Athens and Sparta called a congress of all\nthe states of Greece on the Isthmus of Corinth, and urged them to lay\naside all petty feuds and combine for defence against the common foe. It\nwas the greatest and most successful congress that Greece had ever yet\nheld. All wars came to an end. That between Athens and AEgina ceased,\nand the fleet which Athens had built was laid aside for a greater need.\nThe other thing was that step always taken in Greece in times of peril,\nto send to the temple at Delphi and obtain from the oracle the sacred\nadvice which was deemed so indispensable.\n\nThe reply received by Athens was terrifying. \"Quit your land and city\nand flee afar!\" cried the prophetess. \"Fire and sword, in the train of\nthe Syrian chariot, shall overwhelm you. Get ye away from the sanctuary,\nwith your souls steeped in sorrow.\"\n\nThe envoys feared to carry back such a sentence to Athens. They implored\nthe priestess for a more comforting reply, and were given the following\nenigma to solve: \"This assurance I will give you, firm as adamant. When\neverything else in the land of Cecrops shall be taken, Zeus grants to\nAthene that the wooden wall alone shall remain unconquered, to defend\nyou and your children. Stand not to await the assailing horse and foot\nfrom the continent, but turn your backs and retire; you shall yet live\nto fight another day. O divine Salamis, thou too shalt destroy the\nchildren of women, either at the seed-time or at the harvest.\"\n\nHere was some hope, though small. \"The wooden wall\"? What could it be\nbut the fleet? This was the general opinion of the Athenians. But should\nthey fight? Should they not rather abandon Attica forever, take to their\nwooden walls, and seek a new home afar? Salamis was to destroy the\nchildren of women! Did not this portend disaster in case of a naval\nbattle?\n\nThe fate of Athens now hung upon a thread. Had its people fled to a\ndistant land, one of the greatest chapters in the history of the world\nwould never have been written. But now Themistocles, to whom Athens owed\nits fleet, came forward as its savior. If the oracle, he declared, had\nmeant that the Greeks should be destroyed, it would have called Salamis,\nwhere the battle was to be fought, \"wretched Salamis.\" But it had said\n\"divine Salamis.\" What did this mean but that it was not the Greeks, but\nthe enemies of Greece, who were to be destroyed? He begged his\ncountrymen not to desert their country, but to fight boldly for its\nsafety. Fortunately for Athens, his solution of the riddle was accepted,\nand the city set itself diligently to building more ships, that they\nmight have as powerful a fleet as possible when the Persians came.\n\nBut not only Athens was to be defended; all Greece was in peril; the\ninvaders must be met by land as well as by sea. Greece is traversed by\nmountain ranges, which cross from sea to sea, leaving only difficult\nmountain paths and narrow seaside passes. One of these was the long and\nwinding defile to Tempe, between Mounts Olympus and Ossa, on the\nnorthern boundary of Greece. There a few men could keep back a numerous\nhost, and thither at first marched the small army which dared to oppose\nthe Persian millions, a little band of ten thousand men, under the\ncommand of a Spartan general.\n\nBut they did not remain there. The Persians were still distant, and\nwhile the Greeks awaited their approach new counsels prevailed. There\nwas another pass by which the mountains might be crossed,--which pass,\nin fact, the Persians took. Also the fleet might land thousands of men\nin their rear. On the whole it was deemed best to retreat to another\npass, much farther south, the famous pass of Thermopylae. Here was a road\na mile in width, where were warm springs; and at each end were narrow\npasses, called gates,--the name Thermopylae meaning \"hot gates.\"\nAdjoining was a narrow strait, between the mainland and the island of\nEuboea, where the Greek fleet might keep back the Persian host of\nships. There was an old wall across the pass, now in ruins. This the\nGreeks rebuilt, and there the devoted band, now not more than seven\nthousand in all, waited the coming of the mighty Persian host.\n\nIt was in late June, of the year 480 B.C., that the Grecian army, led by\nLeonidas, king of Sparta, marched to this defile. There were but three\nhundred Spartans[3] in his force, with small bodies of men from the\nother states of Greece. The fleet, less than three hundred ships in all,\ntook post beside them in the strait. And here they waited while day by\nday the Persian hordes marched southward over the land.\n\nThe first conflict took place between some vessels of the fleets,\nwhereupon the Grecian admirals, filled with sudden fright, sailed\nsouthward and left the army to the mercy of the Persian ships.\nFortunately for Greece, thus deserted in her need, a strong ally now\ncame to the rescue. The gods of the winds had been implored with prayer.\nThe answer came in the form of a frightful hurricane, which struck the\ngreat fleet while it lay at anchor, and hurled hundreds of ships on the\nrocky shore. For three days the storm continued, and when it ended more\nthan four hundred ships of war, with a multitude of transports and\nprovision craft, were wrecked, while the loss of life had been immense.\nThe Greek fleet had escaped this disaster, and now, with renewed\ncourage, came sailing back to the post it had abandoned, and so quickly\nas to capture fifteen vessels of the Persian fleet.\n\nWhile this gale prevailed Xerxes and his army lay encamped before\nThermopylae, the king in terror for his fleet, which he was told had been\nall destroyed. As for the Greeks, he laughed them to scorn. He was told\nthat a handful of Spartans and other Greeks were posted in the pass, and\nsent a horseman to tell him what was to be seen. The horseman rode near\nthe pass, and saw there the wall and outside it the small Spartan force,\nsome of whom were engaged in gymnastic exercises, while others were\ncombing their long hair.\n\nThe great king was astonished and puzzled at this news. He waited\nexpecting the few Greeks to disperse and leave the pass open to his\narmy. The fourth day came and went, and they were still there. Then\nXerxes bade the Median and Kissian divisions of his army to advance,\nseize these insolent fellows, and bring them to him as prisoners of war.\nForward went his troops, and entered the throat of the narrow pass,\nwhere their bows and arrows were of little use, and they must fight the\nGreeks hand to hand. And now the Spartan arms and discipline told. With\ntheir long spears, spreading shields, steady ranks, and rigid\ndiscipline, the Greeks were far more than a match for the light weapons,\nslight shields, and open ranks of their foes. The latter had only their\nnumbers, and numbers there were of little avail. They fell by hundreds,\nwhile the Greeks met with little loss. For two days the combat\ncontinued, fresh defenders constantly replacing the weary ones, and a\nwall of Persian dead being heaped up outside the wall of stone.\n\nThen, as a last resort, the Immortals,--the Persian guard of ten\nthousand,--with other choice troops, were sent; and these were driven\nback with the same slaughter as the rest. The fleet in the strait\ndoubtless warmly cheered on the brave hoplites in the pass; but as for\nXerxes, \"Thrice,\" says Herodotus, \"did he spring from his throne, in\nagony for his army.\"\n\nThe deed of a traitor rendered useless this noble defence. A recreant\nGreek, Ephialtes by name, sought Xerxes and told him of a mountain pass\nover which he could guide a band to attack the defenders of Thermopylae\nin the rear. A strong Persian detachment was ordered to cross the pass,\nand did so under shelter of the night. At daybreak they reached the\nsummit, where a thousand Greeks from Phocis had been stationed as a\nguard. These men, surprised, and overwhelmed with a shower of arrows,\nfled up the mountain-side, and left the way open to the Persians, who\npursued their course down the mountain, and at mid-day reached the rear\nof the pass of Thermopylae.\n\nLeonidas had heard of their coming. Scouts had brought him word. The\ndefence of the pass was at an end. They must fly or be crushed. A\ncouncil was hastily called, and it was decided to retreat. But this\ndecision was not joined in by Leonidas and his gallant three hundred.\nThe honor of Sparta would not permit her king to yield a pass which he\nhad been sent to defend. The laws of his country required that he should\nconquer or die at his post. It was too late to conquer; but he could\nstill die. With him and his three hundred remained the Thespians and\nThebans, seven hundred of the former and about four hundred of the\nlatter. The remainder of the army withdrew.\n\nXerxes had arranged to wait till noon, at which hour the defenders of\nthe pass were to be attacked in front and rear. But Leonidas did not\nwait. All he and his men had now to do was to sell their lives as dearly\nas possible, so they marched outside the pass, attacked the front of the\nPersian host, drove them back, and killed them in multitudes, many of\nthem being driven to perish in the sea and the morass. The Persian\nofficers kept their men to the deadly work by threats and the liberal\nuse of the whip.\n\nBut one by one the Spartans fell. Their spears were broken, and they\nfought with their swords. Leonidas sank in death, but his men fought on\nmore fiercely still, to keep the foe back from his body. Here many of\nthe Persian chiefs perished, among them two brothers of Xerxes. It was\nlike a combat of the Iliad rather than a contest in actual war. Finally\nthe Greeks, worn out, reduced in numbers, their best weapons gone, fell\nback behind the wall, bearing the body of their chief. Here they still\nfought, with daggers, with their unarmed hands, even with their mouths,\nuntil the last man fell dead.\n\nThe Thebans alone yielded themselves as prisoners, saying that they had\nbeen kept in the pass against their will. Of the thousand Spartans and\nThespians, not a man remained alive.\n\nMeanwhile the fleets had been engaged, to the advantage of the Greeks,\nwhile another storm that suddenly rose wrecked two hundred more of the\nPersian ships on Euboea's rocky coast. When word came that Thermopylae\nhad fallen the Grecian fleet withdrew, sailed round the Attic coast, and\nstopped not again until the island of Salamis was reached.\n\nAs for Leonidas and his Spartans, they had died, but had won\nimperishable fame. The same should be said for the Thespians as well,\nbut history has largely ignored their share in the glorious deed. In\nafter-days an inscription was set up which gave all glory to the\nPeloponnesian heroes without a word for the noble Thespian band. Another\ncelebrated inscription honored the Spartans alone:\n\n  \"Go, stranger, and to Lacedaemon tell\n  That here, obeying her behests, we fell,\"\n\nor, in plain prose, \"Stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here,\nin obedience to their orders.\"\n\nOn the hillock where the last of the faithful band died was erected a\nmonument with a marble lion in honor of Leonidas, while on it was carved\nthe following epitaph, written by the poet Simonides:\n\n  \"In dark Thermopylae they lie.\n  Oh, death of glory, thus to die!\n  Their tomb an altar is, their name\n  A mighty heritage of fame.\n  Their dirge is triumph; cankering rust,\n  And time, that turneth all to dust,\n  That tomb shall never waste nor hide,--\n  The tomb of warriors true and tried.\n  The full-voiced praise of Greece around\n  Lies buried in this sacred mound;\n  Where Sparta's king, Leonidas,\n  In death eternal glory has!\"\n\n\n\n\n_THE WOODEN WALLS OF ATHENS._\n\n\nThe slaughter of the defenders of Thermopylae exposed Athens to the\nonslaught of the vast Persian army, which would soon be on the soil of\nAttica. A few days' march would bring the invaders to its capital city,\nwhich they would overwhelm as a flight of locusts destroys a cultivated\nfield. The states of the Peloponnesus, with a selfish regard for their\nown safety, had withdrawn all their soldiers within the peninsula, and\nbegan hastily to build a wall across the isthmus of Corinth with the\nhope of keeping back the invading army. Athens was left to care for\nitself. It was thus that Greece usually let itself be devoured\npiecemeal.\n\nThere was but one thing for the Athenians to do, to obey the oracle and\nfly from their native soil. In a few days the Persians would be in\nAthens, and there was not an hour to lose. The old men, the women and\nchildren, with such property as could be moved, were hastily taken on\nshipboard and carried to Salamis, AEgina, Troezen, and other\nneighboring islands. The men of fighting age took to their ships of war,\nto fight on the sea for what they had lost on land. A few of the old and\nthe poverty-stricken remained, and took possession of the hill of the\nAcropolis, whose wooden fence they fondly fancied might be the wooden\nwall which the oracle had meant. Apart from these few the city was\ndeserted, and Athens had embarked upon the seas. Not only Athens, but\nall Attica, was left desolate, and in the whole state Xerxes made only\nfive hundred prisoners of war.\n\nOnward came the great Persian host, destroying all that could be\ndestroyed on Attic soil, and sending out detachments to ravage other\nparts of Greece. The towns that submitted were spared. Those that\nresisted, or whose inhabitants fled, were pillaged and burnt. A body of\ntroops was sent to plunder Delphi, the reputed great wealth of whose\ntemple promised a rich reward. The story of what happened there is a\ncurious one, and well worth relating.\n\nThe frightened Delphians prepared to fly, but first asked the oracle of\nApollo whether they should take with them the sacred treasures or bury\nthem in secret places. The oracle bade them not to touch these\ntreasures, saying that the god would protect his own. With this\nadmonition the people of Delphi fled, sixty only of their number\nremaining to guard the holy shrine.\n\nThese faithful few were soon encouraged by a prodigy. The sacred arms,\nkept in the temple's inmost cell, and which no mortal hand dared touch,\nwere seen lying before the temple door, as if Apollo was prepared\nhimself to use them. As the Persians advanced by a rugged path under the\nsteep cliffs of Mount Parnassus, and reached the temple of Athene\nPronaea, a dreadful peal of thunder rolled above their affrighted heads,\nand two great crags, torn from the mountain's flank, came rushing down\nwith deafening sound, and buried many of them beneath their weight. At\nthe same time, from the temple of Athene, came the Greek shout of war.\n\nIn a panic the invaders turned and fled, hotly pursued by the few\nDelphians, and, so the story goes, by two armed men of superhuman size,\nwhose destructive arms wrought dire havoc in the fleeing host. And thus,\nas we are told, did the god preserve his temple and his wealth.\n\nBut no god guarded the road to Athens, and at length Xerxes and his army\nreached that city,--four months after they had crossed the Hellespont.\nIt was an empty city they found. The few defenders of the Acropolis--a\ncraggy hill about one hundred and fifty feet high--made a vigorous\ndefence, for a time keeping the whole Persian army at bay. But some\nPersians crept up a steep and unguarded part of the wall, entered the\ncitadel, and soon all its defenders were dead, and its temples and\nbuildings in flames.\n\nWhile all this was going on, the Grecian fleet lay but a few miles away,\nin the narrow strait between the isle of Salamis and the Attic coast,\noccupying the little bay before the town of Salamis, from which narrow\nchannels at each end led into the Bay of Eleusis to the north and the\nopen sea to the south. In front rose the craggy heights of Mount\nAEgaleos, over which, only five miles away, could be seen ascending the\nlurid smoke of blazing Athens. It was a spectacle calculated to\ninfuriate the Athenians, though not one to inspire them with courage\nand hope.\n\nThe fleet of Greece consisted of three hundred and sixty-six ships in\nall, of which Athens supplied two hundred, while the remainder came in\nsmall numbers from the various Grecian states. The Persian fleet,\ndespite its losses by storm, far outnumbered that of Greece, and came\nsweeping down the Attic coast, confident of victory, while the great\narmy marched southward over Attic land.\n\nAnd now two councils of war were held,--one by the Persian leaders, one\nby the Greeks. The fleet of Xerxes, probably still a thousand ships\nstrong, lay in the Bay of Phalerum, a few miles from Athens; and hither\nthe king, having wrought his will on that proud and insolent city, came\nto the coast to inspect his ships of war and take counsel as to what\nshould next be done.\n\nHere, before his royal throne, were seated the kings of Tyre and Sidon,\nand the rulers of the many other nations represented in his army. One by\none they were asked what should be done. \"Fight,\" was the general reply;\n\"fight without delay.\" Only one voice gave different advice, that of\nQueen Artemisia of Halicarnassus. She advised Xerxes to march to the\nisthmus of Corinth, saying that then all the ships of the Peloponnesus\nwould fly to defend their own homes, and the fleet of Greece would thus\nbe dispersed. Xerxes heard her with calmness, but declined to take her\nprudent advice. The voice of the others and his own confidence\nprevailed, and orders were given for the fleet to make its attack the\nnext day.\n\nThe almost unanimous decision of this council, over which ruled the\nwill of an autocratic king, was very different from that which was\nreached by the Greeks, in whose council all who spoke had equal\nauthority. The fleet had come to Salamis to aid the flight of the\nAthenians. This done, it was necessary to decide where it was best to\nmeet the Persian fleet. Only the Athenians, under the leadership of\nThemistocles, favored remaining where they were. The others perceived\nthat if they were defeated here, escape would be impossible. Most of\nthem wished to sail to the isthmus of Corinth, to aid the land army of\nthe Peloponnesians, while various other plans were urged.\n\nWhile the chiefs thus debated news came that Athens and the Acropolis\nwere in flames. At once some of the captains left the council in alarm,\nand began hastily to hoist sail for flight. Those that remained voted to\nremove to the isthmus, but not to start till the morning of the next\nday.\n\nThemistocles, who had done his utmost to prevent this fatal decision,\nwhich he knew would end in the dispersal of the fleet and the triumph of\nPersia, returned to his own ship sad of heart. Many of the women and\nchildren of Athens were on the island of Salamis, and if the fleet\nsailed they, too, must be removed.\n\n\"What has the council decided?\" asked his friend Mnesiphilus.\n\nThemistocles gloomily told him.\n\n\"This will be ruinous!\" burst out Mnesiphilus. \"Soon there will be no\nallied fleet, nor any cause or country to fight for. You must have the\ncouncil meet again; this vote must be set aside; if it be carried out\nthe liberty of Greece is at an end.\"\n\nSo strongly did he insist upon this that Themistocles was inspired to\nmake another effort. He went at once to the ship of Eurybiades, the\nSpartan who had been chosen admiral of the fleet, and represented the\ncase so earnestly to him that Eurybiades was partly convinced, and\nconsented to call the council together again.\n\nHere Themistocles was so excitedly eager that he sought to win the\nchiefs over to his views even before Eurybiades had formally opened the\nmeeting and explained its object. For this he was chided by the\nCorinthian Adeimantus, who said,--\n\n\"Themistocles, those who in the public festivals rise up before the\nproper signal are scourged.\"\n\n\"True,\" said Themistocles; \"but those who lag behind the signal win no\ncrowns.\"\n\nWhen the debate was formally opened, Themistocles was doubly urgent in\nhis views, and continued his arguments until Adeimantus burst out in a\nrage, bidding him, a man who had no city, to be silent.\n\nThis attack drew a bitter answer from the insulted Athenian. If he had\nno city, he said, he had around him two hundred ships, with which he\ncould win a city and country better than Corinth. Then he turned to\nEurybiades, and said,--\n\n\"If you will stay and fight bravely here, all will be well. If you\nrefuse to stay, you will bring all Greece to ruin. If you will not stay,\nwe Athenians will migrate with our ships and families. Then, chiefs,\nwhen you lose an ally like us, you will remember what I say, and regret\nwhat you have done.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE VICTORS AT SALAMIS.]\n\nThese words convinced Eurybiades. Without the Athenian ships the fleet\nwould indeed be powerless. He asked for no vote, but gave the word that\nthey should stay and fight, and bade the captains to make ready for\nbattle. Thus it was that at dawn of day the fleet, instead of being in\nfull flight, remained drawn up in battle array in the Bay of Salamis.\nThe Peloponnesian chiefs, however, were not content. They held a secret\ncouncil, and resolved to steal secretly away. This treacherous purpose\ncame to the ears of Themistocles, and to prevent it he took a desperate\ncourse. He sent a secret message to Xerxes, telling him that the Greek\nfleet was about to fly, and that if he wished to capture it he must at\nonce close up both ends of the strait, so that flight would be\nimpossible.\n\nHe cunningly represented himself as a secret friend of the Persian king,\nwho lost no time in taking the advice. When the next day's dawn was at\nhand the discontented chiefs were about to fly, as they had secretly\nresolved, when a startling message came to their ears. Aristides, a\nnoble Athenian who had been banished, but had now returned, came on the\nfleet from Salamis and told them that only battle was left, that the\nPersians had cooped them in like birds in a cage, and that there was\nnothing to do but to fight or surrender.\n\nThis disturbing message was not at first believed. But it was quickly\nconfirmed. Persian ships appeared at both ends of the strait.\nThemistocles had won. Escape was impossible. They must do battle like\nheroes or live as Persian slaves. There was but one decision,--to fight.\nThe dawn of day found the Greeks actively preparing for the most famous\nnaval battle of ancient times.\n\nThe combat about to be fought had the largest audience of any naval\nbattle the world has ever known. For the vast army of Persia was drawn\nup as spectators on the verge of the narrow strait which held the\nwarring fleets, and Xerxes himself sat on a lofty throne erected at a\npoint which closely overlooked the liquid plain. His presence, he felt\nsure, would fill his seamen with valor, while by his side stood scribes\nprepared to write down the names alike of the valorous and the backward\ncombatants. On the other hand, the people of Athens and Attica looked\nwith hope and fear on the scene from the island of Salamis. It was a\nunique preparation for a battle at sea, such as was never known before\nor since that day.\n\nThe fleet of Persia outnumbered that of Greece three to one. But the\nPersian seamen had been busy all night long in carrying out the plan to\nentrap the Greeks, and were weary with labor. The Greeks had risen fresh\nand vigorous from their night's rest. And different spirits animated the\ntwo hosts. The Persians were moved solely by the desire for glory; the\nGreeks by the stern alternatives of victory, slavery, or death. These\ndifferences in strength and motive went far to negative the difference\nin numbers; and the Greeks, caught like lions in a snare, dashed into\nthe combat with the single feeling that they must now fight or die.\n\nHistory tells us that the Greeks hesitated at first; but soon the ship\nof Ameinias, an Athenian captain, dashed against a Phoenician trireme\nwith such fury that the two became closely entangled. While their crews\nfought vigorously with spear and javelin, other ships from both sides\ndashed to their aid, and soon numbers of the war triremes were fiercely\nengaged.\n\nThe battle that followed was hot and furious, the ships becoming mingled\nin so confused a mass that no eye could follow their evolutions. Soon\nthe waters of the Bay of Salamis ran red with blood. Broken oars, fallen\nspars, shattered vessels, filled the strait. Hundreds were hurled into\nthe waters,--the Persians, few of whom could swim, to sink; the Greeks,\nwho were skilful swimmers, to seek the shore of Salamis or some friendly\ndeck.\n\nFrom the start the advantage lay with the Greeks. The narrowness of the\nstrait rendered the great numbers of the Persians of no avail. The\nsuperior discipline of the Greeks gave them a further advantage. The\nwant of concert in the Persian allies was another aid to the Greeks.\nThey were ready to run one another down in the wild desire to escape.\nSoon the Persian fleet became a disorderly mass of flying ships, the\nGreek fleet a well-ordered array of furious pursuers. In panic the\nPersians fled; in exultation the Greeks pursued. One trireme of Naxos\ncaptured five Persian ships. A brother of Xerxes was slain by an\nAthenian spear. Great numbers of distinguished Persians and Medes shared\nhis fate. Before the day was old the battle on the Persian side had\nbecome a frantic effort to escape, while some of the choicest troops of\nPersia, who had been landed before the battle on the island of\nPsyttaleia, were attacked by Aristides at the head of an Athenian troop,\nand put to death to a man.\n\nThe confident hope of victory with which Xerxes saw the battle begin\nchanged to wrath and terror when he saw his ships in disorderly flight\nand the Greeks in hot pursuit. The gallant behavior of Queen Artemisia\nalone gave him satisfaction, and when he saw her in the flight run into\nand sink an opposing vessel, he cried out, \"My men have become women;\nand my women, men.\" He was not aware that the ship she had sunk, with\nall on board, was one of his own fleet.\n\nThe mad flight of his ships utterly distracted the mind of the\nfaint-hearted king. His army still vastly outnumbered that of Greece.\nWith all its losses, his fleet was still much the stronger. An ounce of\ncourage in his soul would have left Greece at his mercy. But that was\nwanting, and in panic fear that the Greeks would destroy the bridge over\nthe Hellespont, he ordered his fleet to hasten there to guard it, and\nput his army in rapid retreat for the safe Asiatic shores.\n\nHe had some reason to fear the loss of his bridge. Themistocles and the\nAthenians had it in view to hasten to the Hellespont and break it down.\nBut Eurybiades, the Spartan leader, opposed this, saying that it was\ndangerous to keep Xerxes in Greece. They had best give him every chance\nto fly.\n\nThemistocles, who saw the wisdom of this advice, not only accepted it,\nbut sent a message to Xerxes--as to a friend--advising him to make all\nhaste, and saying that he would do his best to hold back the Greeks, who\nwere eager to burn the bridge.\n\nThe frightened monarch was not slow in taking this advice. Leaving a\nstrong force in Greece, under the command of his general Mardonius, he\nmarched with the speed of fear for the bridge. But he had nearly\nexhausted the country of food in his advance, and starvation and plague\nattended his retreat, many of the men being obliged to eat leaves,\ngrass, and the bark of trees, and great numbers of them dying before the\nHellespont was reached.\n\nHere he found the bridge gone. A storm had destroyed it. He was forced\nto have his army taken across in ships. Not till Asia Minor was reached\ndid the starving troops obtain sufficient food,--and there gorged\nthemselves to such an extent that many of them died from repletion. In\nthe end Xerxes entered Sardis with a broken army and a sad heart, eight\nmonths after he had left it with the proud expectation of conquering the\nwestern world.\n\n\n\n\n_PLATAEA'S FAMOUS DAY._\n\n\nOn a certain day, destined to be thereafter famous, two strong armies\nfaced each other on the plain north of the little Boeotian town of\nPlataea. Greece had gathered the greatest army it had ever yet put into\nthe field, in all numbering one hundred and ten thousand men, of whom\nnearly forty thousand were hoplites, or heavy-armed troops, the\nremainder light-armed or unarmed. Of these Sparta supplied five thousand\nhoplites and thirty-five thousand light-armed Helots, the greatest army\nthat warlike city had ever brought into action. The remainder of Laconia\nfurnished five thousand hoplites and five thousand Helot attendants.\nAthens sent eight thousand hoplites, and the remainder of the army came\nfrom various states of Greece. This host was in strange contrast to the\nfew thousand warriors with whom Greece had met the vast array of Xerxes\nat Thermopylae.\n\nOpposed to this force was the army which Xerxes had left behind him on\nhis flight from Greece, three hundred thousand of his choicest troops,\nunder the command of his trusted general Mardonius. This host was not a\nmob of armed men, like that which Xerxes had led. It embraced the best\nof the Persian forces and Greek auxiliaries, and the hopes of Greece\nstill seemed but slight, thus outnumbered three to one. But the Greeks\nfought for liberty, and were inspired with the spirit of their recent\nvictories; the Persians were disheartened and disunited: this difference\nof feeling went far to equalize the hosts.\n\nAnd now, before bringing the waiting armies to battle, we must tell what\nled to their meeting on the Plataean plain. After the battle of Salamis a\nvote was taken by the chiefs to decide who among them should be awarded\nthe prize of valor on that glorious day. Each cast two ballots, and when\nthese were counted each chief was found to have cast his first vote\nfor--himself! But the second votes were nearly all for Themistocles, and\nall Greece hailed him as its preserver. The Spartans crowned him with\nolive, and presented him with a kingly chariot, and when he left their\ncity they escorted him with the honors due to royalty.\n\nMeanwhile Mardonius, who was wintering with his army in Thessaly, sent\nto Athens to ask if its people still proposed the madness of opposing\nthe power of Xerxes the king. \"Yes,\" was the answer; \"while the sun\nlights the sky we will never join in alliance with barbarians against\nGreeks.\"\n\nOn receiving this answer Mardonius broke up his winter camp and marched\nagain to Athens, which he found once more empty of inhabitants. Its\npeople had withdrawn as before to Salamis, and left the shell of their\nnation to the foe.\n\nThe Athenians sent for aid to Sparta, but the people of that city,\nlearning that Athens had defied Mardonius, selfishly withheld their\nassistance, and the completion of the wall across the isthmus was\ndiligently pushed. Fortunately for Greece, this selfish policy came to a\nsudden end. \"What will your wall be worth if Athens joins with Persia\nand gives the foe the aid of her fleet?\" was asked the Spartan kings;\nand so abruptly did they change their opinion that during that same\nnight five thousand Spartan hoplites, each man with seven Helot\nattendants, marched for the isthmus, with Pausanias, a cousin of\nLeonidas, the hero of Thermopylae, at their head.\n\nOn learning of this movement, Mardonius set fire to what of Athens\nremained, and fell back on the city of Thebes, in Boeotia, as a more\nfavorable field for the battle which now seemed sure to come. Here his\nnumerous cavalry could be brought into play, the country was allied with\nhim, the friendly city of Thebes lay behind him, and food for his great\narmy was to be had. Here, then, he awaited the coming of the Greeks, and\nbuilt for his army a fortified camp, surrounded with walls and towers of\nwood.\n\nYet his men and officers alike lacked heart. At a splendid banquet given\nto Mardonius by the Thebans, one of the Persians said to his Theban\nneighbor,--\n\n\"Seest thou these Persians here feasting, and the army which we left\nyonder encamped near the river? Yet a little while, and out of all these\nthou shalt behold but a few surviving.\"\n\n\"If you feel thus,\" said the Theban, \"thou art surely bound to reveal it\nto Mardonius.\"\n\n\"My friend,\" answered the Persian, \"man cannot avert what God has\ndecreed. No one will believe the revelation, sure though it be. Many of\nus Persians know this well, and are here serving only under the bond of\nnecessity. And truly this is the most hateful of all human sufferings,\nto be full of knowledge, and at the same time to have no power over any\nresult.\"\n\nNot long had the lukewarm Persians to wait for their foes. Soon the army\nof Greece appeared, and, seeing their enemy encamped along the little\nriver Asopus in the plain, took post on the mountain declivity above.\nHere they were not suffered to rest in peace. The powerful Persian\ncavalry, led by Masistius, the most distinguished officer in the army,\nbroke like a thunderbolt on the Grecian ranks. The Athenians and\nMegarians met them, and a sharp and doubtful contest ensued. At length\nMasistius fell from his wounded horse and was slain as he lay on the\nground. The Persians fought with fury to recover his body, but were\nfinally driven back, leaving the corpse of their general in the hands of\nthe Greeks.\n\nThis event had a great effect on both armies. Grief assailed the army of\nMardonius at the loss of their favorite general. Loud wailings filled\nthe camp, and the hair of men, horses, and cattle was cut in sign of\nmourning. The Greeks, on the contrary, were full of joy. The body of\nMasistius, a man of great stature, and clad in showy armor, was placed\nin a cart and paraded around the camp, that all might see it and\nrejoice. Such was their confidence at this defeat of the cavalry, which\nthey had sorely feared, that Pausanias broke up his hill camp and\nmarched into the plain below, where he took station in front of the\nPersian host, only the little stream of the Asopus dividing the two\nhostile armies.\n\nAnd here for days they lay, both sides offering sacrifices, and both\nobtaining the same oracle,--that the side which attacked would lose the\nbattle, the side which resisted would win. Under such circumstances\nneither side cared to attack, and for ten days the armies lay, the\nGreeks much annoyed by the Persian cavalry, and having their convoys of\nprovisions cut off, yet still waiting with unyielding faith in the\ndecision of the gods.\n\nMardonius at length grew impatient. He asked his officers if they knew\nof any prophecy saying that the Persians would be destroyed in Greece.\nThey were all silent, though many of them knew of such prophecies.\n\n\"Since you either do not know or will not tell,\" he at length said, \"I\nwell know of one. There is an oracle which declares that Persian\ninvaders shall plunder the temple of Delphi, and shall afterwards all be\ndestroyed. Now we shall not go against that temple, so on that ground we\nshall not be destroyed. Doubt not, then, but rejoice, for we shall get\nthe better of the Greeks.\" And he gave orders to prepare for battle on\nthe morrow, without waiting longer on the sacrifices.\n\nThat night Alexander of Macedon, who was in the Persian army, rode up to\nthe Greek outposts and gave warning of the coming attack. \"I am of Greek\ndescent,\" he said, \"and ask you to free me from the Persian yoke. I\ncannot endure to see Greece enslaved.\"\n\nDuring the night Pausanias withdrew his army to a new position in front\nof the town of Plataea, water being wanting where they were. One Spartan\nleader, indeed, refused to move, and when told that there had been a\ngeneral vote of the officers, he picked up a huge stone and cast it at\nthe feet of Pausanias, crying, \"This is _my_ pebble. With it I give my\nvote not to run away from the strangers.\"\n\nDawn was at hand, and the Spartans still held their ground, their leader\ndisputing in vain with the obstinate captain. At length he gave the\norder to march, it being fatal to stay, since the rest of the army had\ngone. Amompharetus, the obstinate captain, seeing that his general had\nreally gone, now lost his scruples and followed.\n\nWhen day dawned the Persians saw with surprise that their foes had\ndisappeared. The Spartans alone, detained by the obstinacy of\nAmompharetus, were still in sight. Filled with extravagant confidence at\nthis seeming flight. Mardonius gave orders for hasty pursuit, crying to\na Greek ally, \"There go your boasted Spartans, showing, by a barefaced\nflight, what they are really worth.\"\n\nCrossing the shallow stream, the Persians ran after the Greeks at full\nspeed, without a thought of order or discipline. The foe seemed to them\nin full retreat, and shouts of victory rang from their lips as they\nrushed pell-mell across the plain.\n\nThe Spartans were quickly overtaken, and found themselves hotly\nassailed. They sent in haste to the Athenians for aid. The Athenians\nrushed forward, but soon found themselves confronted by the Greek allies\nof Persia, and with enough to do to defend themselves. The remainder of\nthe Greek army had retreated to Plataea and took no part in the battle.\n\nThe Persians, thrusting the spiked extremities of their long shields in\nthe ground, formed a breastwork from which they poured showers of arrows\non the Spartan ranks, by which many were wounded or slain. Yet, despite\ntheir distress, Pausanias would not give the order to charge. He was at\nthe old work again, offering sacrifices while his men fell around him.\nThe responses were unfavorable, and he would not fight.\n\nAt length the victims showed favorable signs. \"Charge!\" was the word.\nWith the fury of unchained lions the impatient hoplites sprang forward,\nand like an avalanche the serried Spartan line fell on the foe.\n\nDown went the breastwork of shields. Down went hundreds of Persians\nbefore the close array and the long spears of the Spartans. Broken and\ndisordered, the Persians fought bravely, doing their utmost to get to\nclose quarters with their foes. Mardonius, mounted on a white horse, and\nattended by a body-guard of a thousand select troops, was among the\nforemost warriors, and his followers distinguished themselves by their\ncourage.\n\nAt length the spear of Aeimnestus, a distinguished Spartan, brought\nMardonius dead to the ground. His guards fell in multitudes around his\nbody. The other Persians, worn out with the hopeless effort to break\nthe Spartan phalanx, and losing heart at the death of their general,\nturned and fled to their fortified camp. At the same time the Theban\nallies of Persia, whom the Athenians had been fighting, gave ground, and\nbegan a retreat, which was not ended till they reached the walls of\nThebes.\n\nOn rushed the victorious Spartans to the Persian camp, which they at\nonce assailed. Here they had no success till the Athenians came to their\naid, when the walls were stormed and the defenders slain in such hosts\nthat, if we can believe Herodotus, only three thousand out of the three\nhundred thousand of the army of Mardonius remained alive. It is true\nthat one body of forty thousand men, under Artabazus, had been too late\non the field to take part in the fight. The Persians were already\ndefeated when these troops came in sight, and they turned and marched\naway for the Hellespont, leaving the defeated host to shift for itself.\nOf the Greeks, Plutarch tells us that the total loss in the battle was\nthirteen hundred and sixty men.\n\nThe spoil found in the Persian camp was rich and varied. It included\nmoney and ornaments of gold and silver, carpets, splendid arms and\nclothing, horses, camels, and other valuable materials. This was divided\namong the victors, a tenth of the golden spoil being reserved for the\nDelphian shrine, and wrought into a golden tripod, which was placed on a\ncolumn formed of three twisted bronze serpents. This defeat was the\nsalvation of Greece. No Persian army ever again set foot on European\nsoil. And, by a striking coincidence, on the same day that the battle\nof Plataea was fought, the Grecian fleet won a brilliant victory at\nMycale, in Asia Minor, and freed the Ionian cities from Persian rule. In\nGreece, Thebes was punished for aiding the Persians. Byzantium (now\nConstantinople) was captured by Pausanias, and the great cables of the\nbridge of Xerxes were brought home in triumph by the Greeks.\n\nWe have but one more incident to tell. The war tent of Xerxes had been\nleft to Mardonius, and on taking the Persian camp Pausanias saw it with\nits colored hangings and its gold and silver adornments, and gave orders\nto the cooks that they should prepare him such a feast as they were used\nto do for their lord. On seeing the splendid banquet, he ordered that a\nSpartan supper should be prepared. With a hearty laugh at the contrast\nhe said to the Greek leaders, for whom he had sent, \"Behold, O Greeks,\nthe folly of this Median captain, who, when he enjoyed such fare as\nthis, must needs come here to rob us of our penury.\"\n\n\n\n\n_FOUR FAMOUS MEN OF ATHENS._\n\n\nIn the days of Croesus, the wealthiest of ancient kings, a citizen of\nAthens, Alkmaeon by name, kindly lent his aid to the messengers sent by\nthe Lydian monarch to consult the Delphian oracle, before his war with\nKing Cyrus of Persia, This generous aid was richly rewarded by\nCroesus, who sent for Alkmaeon to visit him at Sardis, richly\nentertained him, and when ready to depart made him a present of as much\ngold as he could carry from the treasury.\n\nThis offer the visitor, who seemed to possess his fair share of the\nperennial thirst for gold, determined to make the most of. He went to\nthe treasure-chamber dressed in his loosest tunic and wearing on his\nfeet wide-legged buskins, both of which he filled bursting full with\ngold. Not yet satisfied, he powdered his hair thickly with gold-dust,\nand filled his mouth with this precious but indigestible food. Thus\nladen, he waddled as well as he could from the chamber, presenting so\nludicrous a spectacle that the good-natured monarch burst into a loud\nlaugh on seeing him.\n\nCroesus not only let him keep all he had taken, but doubled its value\nby other presents, so that Alkmaeon returned to Athens as one of its\nwealthiest men. Megacles, the son of this rich Athenian, was he who won\nthe prize of fair Agariste of Sicyon, in the contest which we have\nelsewhere described. The son of Megacles and Agariste was named\nCleisthenes, and it is he who comes first in the list of famous men whom\nwe have here to describe.\n\nIt was Cleisthenes who made Attica a democratic state; and thus it came\nabout. The laws of Solon--which favored the aristocracy--were set aside\nby despots before Solon died. After Hippias, the last of those despots,\nwas expelled from the state, the people rose under the leadership of\nCleisthenes, and, probably for the first time in the history of mankind,\na government \"of the people, for the people, and by the people\" was\nestablished in a civilized state. The laws of Solon were abrogated, and\na new code of laws formed by Cleisthenes, which lasted till the\nindependence of Athens came to an end.\n\nBefore that time the clan system had prevailed in Greece. The people\nwere divided into family groups, each of which claimed to be descended\nfrom a single ancestor,--often a supposed deity. These clans held all\nthe power of the state; not only in the early days, when they formed the\nwhole people, but later, when Athens became a prosperous city with many\nmerchant ships, and when numerous strangers had come from afar to settle\nwithin its walls.\n\nNone of these strangers were given the rights of citizenship. The clans\nremained in power, and the new people had no voice in the government.\nBut in time the strangers grew to be so numerous, rich, and important\nthat their claim to equal rights could no longer be set aside. They took\npart in the revolution by which the despots were expelled, and in the\nnew constitution that was formed their demand to be made citizens of the\nstate had to be granted.\n\nCleisthenes, the leader of the people against the aristocratic faction,\nmade this new code of laws. By a system never before adopted he broke up\nthe old conditions. Before that time the people were the basis on which\ngovernments were organized. He made the land the basis, and from that\ntime to this land has continued the basis of political divisions.\n\nSetting aside the old division of the Attic people into tribes and\nclans, founded on birth or descent, he separated the people into ten new\ntribes, founded on land. Attica was divided by him into districts or\nparishes, like modern townships and wards, which were called Demes, and\neach tribe was made up of several demes at a distance from each other.\nEvery man became a citizen of the deme in which he lived, without regard\nto his clan, the new people were made citizens, and thus every freeborn\ninhabitant of Attica gained full rights of suffrage and citizenship, and\nthe old clan aristocracy was at an end. The clans kept up their ancient\norganization and religious ceremonies, but they lost their political\ncontrol. It must be said here, however, that many of the people of\nAttica were slaves, and that the new commonwealth of freemen was very\nfar from including the whole population.\n\nOne of the most curious of the new laws made by Cleisthenes was that\nknown as \"ostracism,\" by which any citizen who showed himself dangerous\nto the state could be banished for ten years if six thousand votes were\ncast against him. This was intended as a means of preventing the rise of\nfuture despots.\n\nThe people of Athens developed wonderfully in public spirit under their\nnew constitution. Each of them had now become the equal politically of\nthe richest and noblest in the state, and all took a more vital interest\nin their country than had ever been felt before. It was this that made\nthem so earnest and patriotic in the Persian war. The poorest citizen\nfought as bravely as the richest for the freedom of his beloved state.\n\nEach tribe, under the new laws, chose its own war-leader, or general, so\nthat there were ten generals of equal power, and in war each of these\nwas given command of the army for a day; and one of the archons, or\ncivil heads of the state, was made general of the state, or war archon,\nso that there were eleven generals in all.\n\nThe leading man in each tribe was usually chosen its general, and of\nthese we have the stories of three to tell,--Miltiades, the hero of\nMarathon; Themistocles, who saved Greece at Salamis; and Aristides,\nknown as \"the Just.\"\n\nWe have already told how two of these men gained great glory. We have\nnow to tell how they gained great disgrace. Ambition, the bane of the\nleaders of states, led them both to ruin.\n\nMiltiades was of noble birth, and succeeded his uncle as ruler of the\nChersonese country, in Thrace. Here he fell under the dominion of\nPersia, and here, when Darius was in Scythia, he advised that the bridge\nover the Danube should be destroyed. When Darius returned Miltiades had\nto fly for his life. He afterwards took part in the Ionic revolt, and\ncaptured from the Persians the islands of Lemnos and Imbros. But when\nthe Ionians were once more conquered Miltiades had again to fly for his\nlife. Darius hated him bitterly, and had given special orders for his\ncapture. He fled with five ships, and was pursued so closely that one of\nthem was taken. He reached Athens in safety with the rest.\n\nNot long afterwards Miltiades revenged himself on Darius for this\npursuit by his great victory at Marathon, which for the time made him\nthe idol of the state and the most admired man in all Greece.\n\nBut the glory of Miltiades was quickly followed by disgrace, and the end\nof his career was near at hand. He was of the true soldierly\ntemperament, stirring, ambitious, not content to rest and rust, and as a\nresult his credit with the fickle Athenians quickly disappeared. His\nhead seems to have been turned by his success, and he soon after asked\nfor a fleet of seventy ships of war, to be placed under his command. He\ndid not say where he proposed to go, but stated only that whoever should\ncome with him would be rewarded plentifully with gold.\n\nThe victor at Marathon had but to ask to obtain. The people put\nboundless confidence in him, and gave him the fleet without a question.\nAnd the golden prize promised brought him numbers of eager volunteers,\nnot one of whom knew where he was going or what he was expected to do.\nMiltiades was in command, and where Miltiades chose to lead who could\nhesitate to follow?\n\nThe purpose of the admiral of the fleet was soon revealed. He sailed to\nthe island of Paros, besieged the capital, and demanded a tribute of one\nhundred talents. He based this claim on the pretence that the Parians\nhad furnished a ship to the Persian fleet, but it is known that his real\nmotive was hatred of a citizen of Paros.\n\nAs it happened, the Parians were not the sort of people to submit easily\nto a piratical demand. They kept their foe amused by cunning diplomacy\ntill they had repaired the city walls, then openly defied him to do his\nworst. Miltiades at once began the assault, and kept it up for\ntwenty-six days in vain. The island was ravaged, but the town stood\nintact. Despairing of winning by force, he next attempted to win by\nfraud. A woman of Paros promised to reveal to him a secret which would\nplace the town in his power, and induced him to visit her at night in a\ntemple to which only women were admitted. Miltiades accepted the offer,\nleaped over the outer fence, and approached the temple. But at that\nmoment a panic of superstitious fear overcame him. Doubtless fancying\nthat the deity of the temple would punish him terribly for this\ndesecration, he ran away in the wildest terror, and sprang back over the\nfence in such haste that he badly sprained his thigh. In this state he\nwas found and carried on board ship, and, the siege being raised, the\nfleet returned to Athens.\n\nHere Miltiades found the late favor of the citizens changed to violent\nindignation, in which his recent followers took part. He was accused of\ndeceiving the people, and of committing a crime against the state worthy\nof death. The dangerous condition of his wound prevented him from saying\na word in his own defence. In truth, there was no defence to make; the\nutmost his friends could do was to recall his service at Marathon. No\nAthenian tribunal could adjudge to death, however great the offence, the\nconqueror of Lemnos and victor at Marathon. But neither could\nforgiveness be adjudged, and Miltiades was fined fifty talents, perhaps\nto repay the city the expense of fitting out the fleet.\n\nThis fine he did not live to pay. His wounded thigh mortified and he\ndied, leaving his son Cimon to pay the penalty incurred through his\nambition and personal grudge. Some writers say that he was put in prison\nand died there, but this is not probable, considering his disabled\nstate.\n\nMiltiades had belonged to the old order of things, being a born\naristocrat, and for a time a despot. Themistocles and Aristides were\nchildren of the new state, democrats born, and reared to the new order\nof things. They were not the equals of Miltiades in birth, both being\nborn of parents of no distinction. But, aside from this similarity, they\ndiffered essentially, alike in character and in their life records;\nThemistocles being aspiring and ambitious, Aristides, his political\nopponent, quiet and patriotic; the one considering most largely his own\nadvancement, the other devoting his whole life to the good of his native\ncity.\n\nThemistocles displayed his nature strongly while still a boy. Idleness\nand play were not to his taste, and no occasion was lost by him to\nimprove his mind and develop his powers in oratory. He cared nothing for\naccomplishments, but gave ardent attention to the philosophy and\nlearning of his day. \"It is true I cannot play on a flute, or bring\nmusic from the lute,\" he afterwards said; \"all I can do is, if a small\nand obscure city were put into my hands, to make it great and glorious.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE ANCIENT ENTRANCE TO THE STADIUM, ATHENS.]\n\nOf commanding figure, handsome face, keen eyes, proud and erect posture,\nsprightly and intellectual aspect, he was one to attract attention in\nany community, while his developed powers of oratory gave him the\ngreatest influence over the speech-loving Athenians. In his eagerness to\nwin distinction and gain a high place in the state, he cared not what\nenemies he might make so that he won a strong party to his support. So\ngreat was his thirst for distinction that the victory of Miltiades at\nMarathon threw him into a state of great depression, in which he said,\n\"The glory of Miltiades will not let me sleep.\"\n\nThemistocles was not alone ambitious and declamatory. He was far-sighted\nas well; and through his power of foreseeing the future he was enabled\nto serve Athens even more signally than Miltiades had done. Many there\nwere who said that there was no need to dread the Persians further, that\nthe victory at Marathon would end the war. \"It is only the beginning of\nthe war,\" said Themistocles; \"new and greater conflicts will come; if\nAthens is to be saved, it must prepare.\"\n\nWe have elsewhere told how he induced the Athenians to build a fleet,\nand how this fleet, under his shrewd management, defeated the great\nflotilla of Xerxes and saved Greece from ruin and subjection. All that\nThemistocles did before and during this war it is not necessary to\nstate. It will suffice here to say that he had no longer occasion to\nlose sleep on account of the glory of Miltiades. He had won a higher\nglory of his own; and in the end ambition ruined him, as it had his\ngreat predecessor.\n\nTo complete the tale of Themistocles we must take up that of another of\nthe heroes of Greece, the Spartan Pausanias, the leader of the\nvictorious army at Plataea. He, too, allowed ambition to destroy him.\nAfter taking the city of Byzantium, he fell in love with Oriental luxury\nand grew to despise the humble fare and rigid discipline of Sparta. He\noffered to bring all Greece under the domain of Persia if Xerxes would\ngive him his daughter for wife, and displayed such pompous folly and\nextravagance that the Spartans ordered him home, where he was tried for\ntreason, but not condemned.\n\nHe afterwards conspired with some of the states of Asia Minor, and when\nagain brought home formed a plot with the Helots to overthrow the\ngovernment. His treason was discovered, and he fled to a temple for\nsafety, where he was kept till he starved to death.\n\nThus ambition ended the careers of two of the heroes of the Persian war.\nA third, Themistocles, ended his career in similar disgrace. In fact,\nhe grew so arrogant and unjust that the people of Athens found him\nunfit to live with. They suspected him also of joining with Pausanias in\nhis schemes. So they banished him by ostracism, and he went to Argos to\nlive. While there it was proved that he really had taken part in the\ntreason of Pausanias, and he was obliged to fly for his life.\n\nThe fugitive had many adventures in this flight. He was pursued by\nenvoys from Athens, and made more than one narrow escape. While on\nshipboard he was driven by storm to the island of Naxos, then besieged\nby an Athenian fleet, and escaped only by promising a large reward to\nthe captain if he would not land. Finally, after other adventures, he\nreached Susa, the capital of Persia, where he found that Xerxes was\ndead, and his son Artaxerxes was reigning in his stead.\n\nHe was well received by the new king, to whom he declared that he had\nbeen friendly to his father Xerxes, and that he proposed now to use his\npowers for the good of Persia. He formed schemes by which Persia might\nconquer Greece, and gained such favor with the new monarch that he gave\nhim a Persian wife and rich presents, sent him to Magnesia, near the\nIonian coast, and granted him the revenues of the surrounding district.\nHere Themistocles died, at the age of sixty-five, without having kept\none of his alluring promises to the Persian king.\n\nAnd thus, through greed and ambition, the three great leaders of Greece\nin the Persian war ended their careers in disgrace and death. We have\nnow the story of a fourth great Athenian to tell, who through honor and\nvirtue won a higher distinction than the others had gained through\nwarlike fame.\n\nThroughout the whole career of the brilliant Themistocles he had a\npersistent opponent, Aristides, a man, like him, born of undistinguished\nparents, but who by moral strength and innate power of intellect won the\nesteem and admiration of his fellow-citizens. He became the leader of\nthe aristocratic section of the people, as Themistocles did of the\ndemocratic, and for years the city was divided between their adherents.\nBut the brilliancy of Themistocles was replaced in Aristides by a staid\nand quiet disposition. He was natively austere, taciturn, and\ndeep-revolving, winning influence by silent methods, and retaining it by\nthe strictest honor and justice and a hatred of all forms of falsehood\nor political deceit.\n\nFor years these two men divided the political power of Athens between\nthem, until in the end Aristides said that the city would have no peace\nuntil it threw the pair of them into the pit kept for condemned\ncriminals. So just was Aristides that, on one of his enemies being\ncondemned by the court without a hearing, he rose in his seat and begged\nthe court not to impose sentence without giving the accused an\nopportunity for defence.\n\nAristides was one of the generals at Marathon, and was left to guard the\nspoils on the field of battle after the defeat of the Persians. At a\nlater date, by dint of false reports, Themistocles succeeded in having\nhim ostracized, obtaining the votes of the rabble against him. One of\nthese, not knowing Aristides, asked him to write his own name on the\ntile used as a voting tablet. He did so, but first inquired, \"Has\nAristides done you an injury?\" \"No,\" was the answer; \"I do not even know\nhim, but I am tired of hearing him always called 'Aristides the Just.'\"\nOn leaving the city Aristides prayed that the people should never have\nany occasion to regret their action.\n\nThis occasion quickly came. In less than three years he was recalled to\naid his country in the Persian invasion. Landing at Salamis, he served\nAthens in the manner we have already told. The command of the army which\nAristides surrendered to Miltiades at the battle of Marathon fell to\nhimself in the battle of Plataea, for on that great day he led the\nAthenians and played an important part in the victory that followed. He\ncommanded the Athenian forces in a later war, and by his prudence and\nmildness won for Athens the supremacy in the Greek confederation that\nwas afterwards formed.\n\nAt a later date, leader of the aristocrats as he was, to avert a\nrevolution he proposed a change in the constitution that made Athens\ncompletely democratic, and enabled the lowliest citizen to rise to the\nhighest office of the state. In 468 B.C. died this great and noble\ncitizen of Athens, one of the most illustrious of ancient statesmen and\npatriots, and one of the most virtuous public men of any age or nation.\nHe died so poor that it is said he did not leave enough money to pay his\nfuneral expenses, and for several generations his descendants were kept\nat the charge of the state.\n\n\n\n\n_HOW ATHENS ROSE FROM ITS ASHES._\n\n\nThe torch of Xerxes and Mardonius left Athens a heap of ashes. But, like\nthe new birth of the fabled phoenix, there rose out of these ashes a\ncity that became the wonder of the world, and whose time-worn ruins are\nstill worshipped by the pilgrims of art. We cannot proceed with our work\nwithout pausing awhile to contemplate this remarkable spectacle.\n\nThe old Athens bore to the new much the same relation that the chrysalis\nbears to the butterfly. It was little more than an ordinary country\ntown, the capital of a district comparable in size to a modern county.\nPisistratus and his sons had built some temples, and had completed a\npart of the Dionysiac theatre, but the city itself was simply a cluster\nof villages surrounded by a wall; while the citadel had for defence\nnothing stronger than a wooden rampart. The giving of this city to the\ntorch was no serious loss; in reality it was a gain, since it cleared\nthe ground for the far nobler city of later days.\n\nIt is not often that a whole nation removes from its home, and its\npossessions are completely swept away. But such had been the case with\nthe Attic state. For a time all Attica was afloat, the people of city\nand country alike taking to their ships; while a locust flight of\nPersians passed over their lands, ravaging and destroying all before\nthem, and leaving nothing but the bare soil. Such was what remained to\nthe people of Attica on their return from Salamis and the adjacent\nisles.\n\nAthens lay before them a heap of ashes and ruin, its walls flung down,\nits dwellings vanished, its gardens destroyed, its temples burned. The\ncity itself, and the citadel and sacred structures of its Acropolis,\nwere swept away, and the business of life on that ravaged soil had to be\nbegun afresh.\n\nYet Attica as a state was greater than ever before. It was a victor on\nland and sea, the recognized savior of Greece; and the people of Athens\nreturned to the ashes of their city not in woe and dismay, but in pride\nand exultation. They were victors over the greatest empire then on the\nface of the earth, the admired of the nations, the leading power in\nGreece, and their small loss weighed but lightly against their great\nglory.\n\nThe Athens that rose in place of the old city was a marvel of beauty and\nart, adorned with hall and temple, court and gymnasium, colonnade and\ntheatre, while under the active labors of its sculptors it became so\nfilled with marble inmates that they almost equalled in numbers its\nliving inhabitants. Such sculptors as Phidias and such painters as\nZeuxis adorned the city with the noblest products of their art. The\ngreat theatre of Dionysus was completed, and to it was added a new one,\ncalled the Odeon, for musical and poetical representations. On the\nAcropolis rose the Parthenon, the splendid temple to Minerva, or\nAthene, the patron goddess of the city, whose ruins are still the\ngreatest marvel of architectural art. Other temples adorned the\nAcropolis, and the costly Propylaea, or portals, through which passed the\nsolemn processions on festival days, were erected at the western side of\nthe hill. The Acropolis was further adorned with three splendid statues\nof Minerva, all the work of Phidias, one of ivory in the Parthenon,\nforty-seven feet high, the others of bronze, one being of such colossal\nheight that it could be seen from afar by mariners at sea.\n\nThe city itself was built upon a scale to correspond with this richness\nof architectural and artistic adornment, and such was its encouragement\nto the development of thought and art, that poets, artists, and\nphilosophers flocked thither from all quarters, and for many years\nAthens stood before the world as the focal point of the human intellect.\n\nNot the least remarkable feature in this great growth was the celerity\nwith which it was achieved. The period between the Persian and the\nPeloponnesian war was only sixty years in duration. Yet in that brief\nspace of time the great growth we have chronicled took place, and the\narchitectural splendor of the city was consummated. The devastation of\nthe unhappy Peloponnesian war put an end to this external growth, and\nleft the Athens of old frozen into marble, a thing of beauty forever.\nBut the intellectual growth went on, and for centuries afterwards Athens\ncontinued the centre of ancient thought.\n\nAnd now the question in point is how all this came about, and what made\nAthens great and glorious among the cities of Greece. It all flowed\nnaturally from her eminence in the Persian war. During that war there\nhad been a league of the states of Greece, with Sparta as its accepted\nleader. After the war the need of being on the alert against Persia\ncontinued, and Greece became in great part divided into two\nleagues,--one composed of Sparta and most of the Peloponnesian states,\nthe other of Athens, the islands of the archipelago, and many of the\ntowns of Asia Minor and Thrace. This latter was called the League of\nDelos, since its deputies met and its treasure was kept in the temple of\nApollo on that island.\n\nThis League of Delos developed in time to what has been called the\nAthenian Empire, and in this manner. Each city of the league pledged\nitself to make an annual contribution of a certain number of ships or a\nfixed sum of money, to be used in war against Persia or for the defence\nof members of the league. The amount assessed against each was fixed by\nAristides, in whose justice every one trusted. In time the money payment\nwas considered preferable to that of ships, and most of the states of\nthe league contributed money, leaving Athens to provide the fleet.\n\nIn this way all the power fell into the hands of Athens, and the other\ncities of the league became virtually payers of tribute. This was shown\nlater on when some of the island cities declined to pay. Athens sent a\nfleet, made conquest of the islands, and reduced them to the state of\nreal tribute payers. Thus the league began to change into an Athenian\ndominion.\n\nIn 459 B.C. the treasure was removed from Delos to Athens. And in the\nend Chios, Samoa, and Lesbos were the only free allies of Athens. All\nthe other members of the league had been reduced to subjection. Several\nof the states of Greece also became subject to Athens, and the Athenian\nEmpire grew into a wealthy, powerful, and extended state.\n\n[Illustration: A REUNION AT THE HOUSE OF ASPASIA.]\n\nThe treasure laid up at Athens in time became great. The payments\namounted to about six hundred talents yearly, and at one time the\ntreasury of Athens held the great sum of nine thousand seven hundred\ntalents, equal to over eleven million dollars,--a sum which meant far\nmore then than the equivalent amount would now.\n\nIt was this money that made Athens great. It proved to be more than was\nnecessary for defensive war against Persia, or even for the aggressive\nwar which was carried on in Asia Minor and Egypt. It also more than\nsufficed for sending out the colonies which Athens founded in Italy and\nelsewhere. The remainder of the fund was used in Athens, part of it in\nbuilding great structures and in producing splendid works of art, part\nfor purposes of fortification. The Piraeus, the port of Athens, was\nsurrounded by strong walls, and a double wall--the famous \"Long\nWalls\"--was constructed from the city to the port, a distance of four\nmiles. These walls, some two hundred yards apart, left a grand highway\nbetween, the channel of a steady traffic which flowed from the sea to\nthe city, and which for years enabled Athens to defy the cutting off its\nresources by attack from without. Through this broad avenue not only\nprovisions and merchandise, but men in multitudes, made their way into\nAthens, until that city became fuller of bustle, energy, political and\nscholarly activity, and incessant industry than any of the other cities\nof the ancient world.\n\nIn a city like this, free and equal as were its citizens, and democratic\nas were its institutions, some men were sure to rise to the surface and\ngain controlling influence. In the period in question there were two\nsuch men, Cimon and Pericles, men of such eminence that we cannot pass\nthem by unconsidered. Cimon was the son of Miltiades, the hero of\nMarathon, and became the leader of aristocratic Athens. Pericles was the\ngreat-grandson of Cleisthenes, the democratic law-giver, and, though of\nthe most aristocratic descent, became the leader of the popular party of\nhis native city.\n\nThe struggle for precedence between these two men resembled that between\nThemistocles and Aristides. Cimon was a strong advocate of an alliance\nwith Sparta, which Pericles opposed. He was brilliant as a soldier,\ngained important victories against Persia, but was finally ostracized as\na result of his friendship for Sparta. He came back to Athens\nafterwards, but his influence could not be regained.\n\nIt is, however, of Pericles that we desire particularly to\nspeak,--Pericles, who found Athens poor and made her magnificent, found\nher weak and made her glorious. This celebrated statesman had not the\ndashing qualities of his rival. He was by nature quiet but deep, serene\nbut profound, the most eloquent orator of his day, and one of the most\nlearned and able of men. He was dignified and composed in manner,\npossessed of a self-possession which no interruption could destroy, and\ngifted with a luminous intelligence that gave him a controlling\ninfluence over the thoughtful and critical Athenians of his day.\n\nPericles was too wise and shrewd to keep himself constantly before the\npeople, or to haunt the assembly. He sedulously remained in the\nbackground until he had something of importance to say, but he then\ndelivered his message with a skill, force, and animation that carried\nall his hearers irresistibly away. His logic, wit, and sarcasm, his\nclear voice, flashing eyes, and vigorous power of declamation, used only\nwhen the occasion was important, gave him in time almost absolute\ncontrol in Athens, and had he sought to make himself a despot he might\nhave done so with a word; but happily he was honest and patriotic enough\nto content himself with being the First Citizen of the State.\n\nTo make the people happy, and to keep Athens in a condition of serene\ncontent, seem to have been leading aims with Pericles. He entertained\nthem with quickly succeeding theatrical and other entertainments, solemn\nbanquets, splendid shows and processions, and everything likely to add\nto their enjoyment. Every year he sent out eighty galleys on a six\nmonths' cruise, filled with citizens who were to learn the art of\nmaritime war, and who were paid for their services. The citizens were\nlikewise paid for attending the public assembly, and allowances were\nmade them for the time given to theatrical representations, so that it\nhas been said that Pericles converted the sober and thrifty Athenians\ninto an idle, pleasure-loving, and extravagant populace. At the same\ntime, that things might be kept quiet in Athens, the discontented\noverflow of the people were sent out as colonists, to build up daughter\ncities of Attica in many distant lands.\n\nThus it was that Athens developed from the quiet country town of the old\nregime into the wealthiest, gayest, and most progressive of Grecian\ncities, the capital of an empire, the centre of a great commerce, and\nthe home of a busy and thronging populace, among whom the ablest\nartists, poets, and philosophers of that age of the world were included.\nHere gathered the great writers of tragedy, beginning with AEschylus,\nwhose noble works were performed at the expense of the state in the\ngreat open-air theatre of Dionysus. Here the comedians, the chief of\nwhom was Aristophanes, moved hosts of spectators to inextinguishable\nlaughter. Here the choicest lyric poets of Greece awoke admiration with\ntheir unequalled songs, at their head the noble Pindar, the laureate of\nthe Olympic and Pythian games. Here the sophists and philosophers argued\nand lectured, and Socrates walked like a king at the head of the\naristocracy of thought. Here the sculptors, headed by Phidias, filled\ntemples, porticos, colonnades, and public places with the most exquisite\ncreations in marble, and the painters with their marvellous\nreproductions of nature. Here, indeed, seemed gathered all that was best\nand worthiest in art, entertainment, and thought, and for half a century\nand more Athens remained a city without a rival in the history of the\nworld.\n\n\n\n\n_THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS._\n\n\nDuring the period after the Persian war two great powers arose in\nGreece, which were destined to come into close and virulent conflict.\nThese were the league of Delos, which developed into the empire of\nAthens, and the Peloponnesian confederacy, under the leadership of\nSparta. The first of these was mainly an island empire, the second a\nmainland league; the first a group of democratic, the second one of\naristocratic, states; the first a power with dominion over the seas, the\nsecond a power whose strength lay in its army. Such were the two rival\nconfederacies into which Greece gradually divided, and between which\nhostile sentiment grew stronger year after year.\n\nIt became apparent as the years went on that a struggle was coming for\nsupremacy in Greece. Outbreaks of active hostility between the rival\npowers from time to time took place. At length the situation grew so\nstrained that a general conflict began, that devastating Peloponnesian\nwar which for nearly thirty years desolated Greece, and which ended in\nthe ruin of Athens, the home of poetry and art, and the supremacy of\nSparta, the native school of war. The first great conflict of the\nHellenic people, the Persian war, had made Greece powerful and\nglorious. The second great conflict, the Peloponnesian war, brought\nGreece to the verge of ruin, and destroyed that Athenian supremacy in\nwhich lay the true path of progress for that fair land.\n\nIn 431 B.C. the war broke out. Sparta and her allies declared war\nagainst Athens on the ground that that city was growing too great and\ngrasping, and an army marched from the Peloponnesus northward to invade\nthe Attic state. Meanwhile the Athenians, under the shrewd advice of\nPericles, adopted a wise policy. It was with her fleet that Athens had\ndefeated Persia, and her wise statesman advised that she should devote\nherself to the dominion of the sea, and leave to Sparta that of the\nland. Their walls would protect her people, their ships would bring them\nfood from afar, they were not a fair match for Sparta on land, and could\nsafely leave to that city of warriors the temporary dominion of Attic\nsoil.\n\nThis advice was taken. When the Spartan army came near Attica all its\npeople left their fields and homes and sought refuge, as once before,\nwithin the walls of their capacious capital city. Over the Attic plain\nmarched the invaders, destroying the summer crops, burning the farmers'\nhomesteads, yet recoiling in helpless rage before those strong walls\nbehind which lay the whole population of the state. From the city, as we\nknow, long and high walls stretched away to the sea and invested the\nseaport town of Piraeus, within whose harbor lay the powerful Athenian\nfleet. And in the treasury of the city rested an abundant supply of\nmoney,--the sinews of war,--with whose aid food and supplies could be\nbrought from over the seas. In vain, then, did Sparta ravage the fields\nof Attica. The people of that desolated realm defied them from behind\ntheir city walls.\n\nWhen winter came the invaders retired and the farmers went back to their\nfields. In the spring they ploughed and sowed as of yore, and watched in\nhope the growing crops. But with the summer the Spartans came again, to\ndestroy their hopes of a harvest, and the country people once more fled\nfor safety to their great city's defiant walls.\n\nIt was a strange spectacle, that of a powerful invading army wreaking\ntheir wrath year after year on deserted fields, and gnashing their teeth\nin impotent rage before lofty and well-defended walls and ramparts,\nbehind which lay their foes, little the worse for all that their malice\ncould perform.\n\nAthens felt secure, and laughed her enemy to scorn. Unhappily for her, a\nnew enemy was at hand, against whom the mightiest walls were of no\navail. Sparta gained an unthought-of ally, and death stalked at large in\nthe Athenian streets, silent and implacable, without clash of weapon or\nshout of war, yet more fatal and merciless than would have been the\nstrongest army in the field.\n\nAthens was crowded. The country people filled all available space. There\nwas little attention to drainage or sanitary regulations. An open\ninvitation was given to pestilence, and the invited enemy came. For some\nyears before the plague had been at its deadly work in Egypt and Libya,\nand in parts of Persian Asia. Then it made its appearance in some of the\nGrecian islands. Finally its wings of destruction were folded over\nAthens, and it settled down in terrific form upon that devoted city.\n\nThe seeds of death found there fertile soil. Families were crowded\ntogether in close cabins and temporary shelters, to which they had been\ndriven in multitudes from their ravaged fields. The plague first\nappeared in mid-April in the Piraeus,--brought, perhaps, by\nmerchant-ships,--but soon spread to Athens, and as the heat of summer\ncame on the inhabitants of that thronged city fell victims to it in\nappalling multitudes.\n\nThe plague, they called it. The disease seems to have been something\nlike the small-pox, though not quite the same. Its victims were seized\nsuddenly, suffered the greatest agonies, and most of them died on the\nseventh or the ninth day. Even when the patients recovered, some had\nlost their memory, others the use of their eyes, hands, feet, or some\nother member of the body. No remedy could be found. The physicians died\nas rapidly as their patients. As for the charms and incantations which\nmany used, we can scarcely imagine that they saved any lives. Some said\nthat their enemies had poisoned the water-cisterns, others that the gods\nwere angry, and vain processions were made to the temples, to implore\nthe mercy of the deities.\n\nWhen nothing availed to stay the pestilence, Athens fell into deep\ndespondency and despair. The sick lost courage, and lay down inertly to\nawait death. Those who waited on the sick were themselves stricken\ndown, and so great grew the terror that the patients were deserted and\nleft to die alone. Fortunately the disease rarely attacked any one\ntwice, and those who had been sick and recovered became the only nurses\nof the new victims of the disease.\n\nSo dread became the pestilence that the dead and the dying lay\neverywhere, in houses and streets, and even in the temples; half-dead\nsufferers gathered around the springs, tortured by violent thirst; the\nvery dogs that meddled with the corpses died of the disease; vultures\nand other carrion birds avoided the city as if by instinct. Many bodies\nwere burnt or buried with unseemly haste, many doubtless left to fester\nwhere they lay. Misery, terror, despair, overwhelmed all within the\nwalls, while the foe without drew back in equal terror, lest the\npestilence should leap the walls and assail them in their camps.\n\nNor have we yet told all. Other evils followed that of the plague. Law\nwas forgotten, morality ignored. Men hesitated not at crime or the\nindulgence of evil passions, having no fear of punishment. Many gave\nthemselves up to riot and luxurious living, with the hope of snatching\nan interval of enjoyment before yielding to death. The story we here\ntell is no new one. It has been realized again and again in the flight\nof the centuries, when pestilence has made its home in some crowded\ncity. Human nature is everywhere the same, and the bonds of law and\nmorality are loosened when death stalks abroad.\n\nFor two years this dread calamity continued to desolate Athens. Then,\nafter a period of a year and a half, it came again, and raged for\nanother year as furiously as before. The losses were frightful. Of the\narmed men of the state nearly five thousand were swept away. Of the\npoorer people the loss was beyond computation. Nothing the human enemy\nwas capable of could have done so much to ruin Athens as this frightful\nvisitation, and to the end of the war that city felt its weakening\neffects.\n\nBut perhaps the greatest of the losses of Athens was the death of\nPericles. In him Athens lost its wisest man and ablest statesman. The\nstrong hand which had so long held the rudder of the state was gone, and\nthe subsequent misfortunes of Athens were due more to the loss of this\nwise counsellor than to the efforts of her foes.\n\n\n\n\n_THE ENVOYS OF LIFE AND DEATH._\n\n\nNear the coast of Asia Minor lies the beautiful island of Lesbos, the\nbirthplace of the poets Sappho, Alcaeus, and Terpander, and of other\nfamous writers and sages of the past. Here were green valleys and\nverdure-clad mountains, here charming rural scenes and richly-yielding\nfields, here all that seems necessary to make life serene and happy. But\nhere also dwelt uneasy man, and hither came devastating war, bringing\nwith it the shadow of a frightful tragedy from which the people of\nLesbos barely escaped.\n\nLesbos was one of the islands that entered into alliance with Athens,\nand formed part of the empire that arose from the league of Delos. In\n428 B.C. this island, and its capital, Mitylene, revolted from Athens,\nand struck for the freedom they had formerly enjoyed. Mitylene had never\nbecome tributary to Athens. It was simply an ally; and it retained its\nfleet, its walls, and its government; its only obligations being those\ncommon to all members of the League.\n\nYet even these seemed to have been galling to the proud Mitylenians.\nAthens was then at war with Sparta. It seemed a good time to throw off\nall bonds, and the political leaders of the Lesbians declared\nthemselves absolved from all allegiance to the league.\n\nThe news greatly disturbed the Athenians. They had their hands full of\nwar. But Mitylene had asked aid from Sparta, and unless brought under\nsubjection to Athens it would become an ally of her enemy. No time was\ntherefore to be lost. A fleet was sent in haste to the revolted city,\nhoping to take it by surprise. This failing, the city was blockaded by\nsea and land, and the siege kept up until starvation threatened the\npeople within the walls. Until now hope of Spartan aid had been\nentertained. But the Spartans came not, the provisions were gone, death\nor surrender became inevitable, and the city was given up. About a\nthousand prisoners were sent to Athens, and Mitylene was held till the\npleasure of its conquerors should be known.\n\nThis pleasure was a tragic one. The Athenians were deeply incensed\nagainst Mitylene, and full of thirst for revenge. Their anger was\nincreased by the violent speeches of Cleon, a new political leader who\nhad recently risen from among the ranks of trade, and whose virulent\ntongue gave him controlling influence over the Athenians at that period\nof public wrath. When the fate of Mitylene and its people was considered\nby the Athenian assembly this demagogue took the lead in the discussion,\nwrought the people up to the most violent passion by his acrimonious\ntongue, and proposed that the whole male population of the conquered\ncity should be put to death, and the women and children sold as slaves.\nThis frightful sentence was in accord with the feeling of the assembly.\nThey voted death to all Mitylenians old enough to bear arms, and a\ntrireme was sent to Lesbos, bearing orders to the Athenian admiral to\ncarry this tragical decision into effect.\n\nSlaughter like this would to-day expose its authors to the universal\nexecration of mankind. In those days it was not uncommon, and the\nquality of mercy was sadly wanting in the human heart. Yet such cruelty\nwas hardly in accord with the advanced civilization of Athens, and when\nthe members of the assembly descended to the streets, and their anger\nsomewhat cooled, it began to appear to them that they had sent forth a\ndecree of frightful cruelty. Even the captain and seamen of the trireme\nthat was sent with the order to Mitylene left the port with heavy\nhearts, and would have gladly welcomed a recall. But the assembly of\nAthens was the ruling power and from its decision there was no appeal.\n\nThough it was illegal, the friends of Mitylene called a fresh meeting of\nthe assembly for the next day. In this they were supported by the\npeople, whose feeling had quickly and greatly changed. Yet at this new\nmeeting it appeared at first as if Cleon would again win a fatal\nverdict, so vigorously did he again seek to stir up the public wrath.\nDiodotus, his opponent, followed with a strong appeal for mercy, and\nwhile willing that the leaders of the revolt, who had been sent to\nAthens, should be put to death, argued strongly in favor of pardoning\nthe rest. When at length the assembly voted, mercy prevailed, but by so\nsmall a majority that for a time the decision was in doubt.\n\nAnd now came a vital question. The trireme bearing the fatal order had\nleft port twenty-four hours before. It was now far at sea, carrying its\nmessage of cold-blooded slaughter. Could it possibly be overtaken and\nthe message of mercy made to fly more swiftly across the sea than that\nof death? As may well be imagined, no time was lost. A second trireme\nwas got ready with all haste, and amply provisioned by the envoys from\nMitylene then in Athens, those envoys promising large rewards to the\ncrew if they should arrive in time.\n\nThe offers of reward were not needed. The seamen were as eager as those\nof the former trireme had been despondent. Across the sea rushed the\ntrireme, with such speed as trireme never made before nor since. By good\nfortune the sea was calm; no storm arose to thwart the rowers' good\nintent; not for an instant were their oars relaxed; they took turns for\nshort intervals of rest, while barley meal, steeped in wine and oil, was\nserved to them for refreshment upon their seats.\n\nYet they strove against fearful odds. A start of twenty-four hours, upon\nso brief a journey, was almost fatal. Fortunately, the rowers of the\nfirst trireme had no spirit for their work. They were as slow and\ndilatory as the others were eager and persistent. And thus time moved\nslowly on, and the fate of Mitylene hung desperately in the balance. An\nhour more or less in this vital journey would make or mar a frightful\nepisode in the history of mankind.\n\nFortune proved to be on the side of mercy. The envoys of life were in\ntime; but barely in time. Those who bore the message of death had\nreached port and placed their dread order in the hands of the Athenian\ncommander, and he was already taking steps for the fearful massacre,\nwhen the second trireme dashed into the waters of that island harbor,\nand the cheers of exultation of its rowers met the ears of the\nimperilled populace.\n\nSo near was Mitylene to destruction that the breaking of an oar would\nhave been enough to doom six thousand men to death. So near as this was\nAthens to winning the execration of mankind, by the perpetration of an\nenormity which barbarians might safely have performed, but for which\nAthens could never have been forgiven. The thousand prisoners sent to\nAthens--the leading spirits of the revolt--were, it is true, put to\ndeath, but this merciless cruelty, as it would be deemed to-day, has\nbeen condoned in view of the far greater slaughter of the innocent from\nwhich Athens so narrowly escaped.\n\n\n\n\n_THE DEFENCE OF PLATAEA._\n\n\nAt the foot of Mount Cithaeron, one of the most beautiful of the\nmountains of Greece, winds the small river Asopus, and between, on a\nslope of the mountain, may to-day be seen the ruins of Plataea, one of\nthe most memorable of the cities of ancient Greece. This city had its\nday of glory and its day of woe. Here, in the year 479 B.C., was fought\nthat famous battle which drove the Persians forever from Greece. And\nhere Pausanias declared that the territory on which the battle was\nfought should forever be sacred ground to all of Grecian birth. Forever\nis seldom a very long period in human history. In this case it lasted\njust fifty years.\n\nWar had broken out between Sparta and its allies and Athens and its\ndominion, and all Greece was in turmoil. Of the two leading cities of\nBoeotia, Thebes was an ally of the Lacedaemonians, Plataea of the\nAthenians. The war broke out by an attack of the Thebans upon Plataea.\nTwo years afterwards, in the year 429 B.C., Archidamus, the Spartan\nking, led his whole force against this ally of Athens. In his army\nmarched the Thebans, men of a city but two hours' journey from Plataea,\nand citizens of the same state, yet its bitterest foes. The Plataeans\nwere summoned to surrender, to consent to remain neutral, or to leave\ntheir city and go where they would; all of which alternatives they\ndeclined. Thereupon the Spartan force invested the city, and prepared to\ntake it by dint of arms. And thus Sparta kept the pledge of Plataean\nsacredness made by her king Pausanias half a century before.\n\nPlataea was a small place, probably not very strongly fortified, and\ncontained a garrison of only four hundred and eighty men, of whom eighty\nwere Athenians. Fortunately, all the women and children had been sent to\nAthens, the only women remaining in the town being about a hundred\nslaves, who served as cooks. Around this small place gathered the entire\narmy of Sparta and her allies, a force against which it seemed as if the\nfew defenders could not hold out a week. But these faithful few were\nbrave and resolute, and for a year and more they defied every effort of\ntheir foes.\n\nThe story of this siege is of interest as showing how the ancients\nassailed a fortified town. Defences which in our times would not stand a\nday, in those times took months and years to overcome. The army of\nSparta, defied by the brave garrison, at first took steps to enclose the\ntown. If the defenders would not let them in, they would not let the\ndefenders out. They laid waste the cultivated land, cut down the\nfruit-trees, and used these to build a strong palisade around the entire\ncity, with the determination that not a Plataean should escape. This\ndone, they began to erect a great mound of wood, stones, and earth\nagainst the city wall, forming an inclined plane up which they proposed\nto rush and take the city by assault. The sides of this mound were\nenclosed by cross-beams of wood, so as to hold its materials in place.\n\nFor seventy days and nights the whole army worked busily at this sloping\nmound, and at the end of this time it had reached nearly the height of\nthe wall. But the Plataeans had not been idle while their foes were thus\nat work. They raised the height of their old wall at this point by an\nadditional wall of wood, backed up by brickwork, which they tore down\nhouses to obtain. In front of this they suspended hides, so as to\nprevent fire-bearing arrows from setting the wood on fire. Then they\nmade a hole through the lower part of the town wall, and through it\npulled the earth from the bottom of the mound, so that the top fell in.\n\nThe besiegers now let down quantities of stiff clay rolled up in wattled\nreeds, which could not be thus pulled away. Yet their mound continued to\nsink, in spite of the new materials they heaped on top, and they could\nnot tell why. In fact, the Plataeans had dug an underground passage from\nwithin the town, and through this carried away the foundations of the\nmound. And thus for more than two months the besiegers built and the\ngarrison destroyed their works.\n\nNot content with this, the Plataeans built a new portion of wall within\nthe town, joining the old wall on both sides of the mound, so that if\nthe besiegers should complete their mound and rush up it in assault,\nthey would find a new wall staring them in the face, and all their labor\nlost.\n\nThis was not all that was done. Battering engines were used against the\nwalls to break them down. These the defenders caught by long ropes,\npulling the heads of the engines upward or sideways. They also fixed\nheavy wooden beams in such a manner that when the head of an engine came\nnear the wall they could drop a beam suddenly upon it, and break off its\nprojecting beak.\n\nIn these rude ways the attack and defence went on, until three months\nhad passed, and Archidamus and his army found themselves where they had\nbegun, and the garrison still safe and defiant. The besiegers next tried\nto destroy the town by fire. From the top of the mound they hurled\nfagots as far as they could within the walls. They then threw in pitch\nand other quick-burning material, and finally set the whole on fire. In\na brief time the flames burst out hotly, and burnt with so fierce a\nconflagration that the whole town was in imminent danger of destruction.\nNothing could have saved it had the wind favored the flames. There is a\nstory also that a thunder-storm came up to extinguish the fire,--but\nsuch opportune rains seem somewhat too common in ancient history. As it\nwas, part of the town was destroyed, but the most of it remained, and\nthe brave inmates continued defiant of their foes.\n\nArchidamus was almost in despair. Was this small town, with its few\nhundred men, to defy and defeat his large army? He had tried the various\nancient ways of attack in vain. The Spartans, with all their prowess in\nthe field, lacked skill in the assault of walled towns, and were rarely\nsuccessful in the art of siege. The Plataeans had proved more than their\nmatch, and there only remained to be tried the wearisome and costly\nprocess of blockade and famine.\n\nDetermined that Plataea should not escape, this plan was in the end\nadopted, and a wall built round the entire city, to prevent escape or\nthe entrance of aid from without. In fact, two walls were built, sixteen\nfeet apart, and these were covered in on top, so that they looked like\none very thick wall. There were also two ditches, from which the bricks\nof the wall had been dug, one on the inside, and one without to prevent\nrelief by a foreign force. The covered space within the walls served as\nquarters for the troops left on guard, its top as a convenient place for\nsentry duty. This done, the main army marched away. It needed no great\nhost to keep the few Plataeans within their walls until they should\nconsume all their food and yield to famine, a slower but more\nirresistible foe than all the Lacedaemonian power.\n\nFortunately for the besieged, they were well provisioned, and for more\nthan a year remained in peace within their city, not attacked by their\nfoes and receiving no aid from friends. Besides the eighty Athenians\nwithin the walls no help came to the Plataeans during the long siege. At\nlength provisions began to fail. It was evident that they must die like\nrats in a cage, surrender to their foes, or make a desperate break for\nfreedom.\n\nThe last expedient was proposed by their general. It was daring, and\nseemed desperate, to seek to escape over the blockading wall with its\narmed guards. So desperate did it appear that half the garrison feared\nto attempt it, deeming that it would end in certain death. The other\nhalf, more than two hundred in number, decided that it was better to\ndare death in the field than to meet death in the streets.\n\nThe wall was furnished with frequent battlements and occasional towers,\nand its whole circuit was kept under watch day and night. But as time\nwent on the besiegers grew more lax in discipline, and on wet nights\nsought the shelter of the towers, leaving the spaces between without\nguards. This left a chance for escape which the Plataeans determined to\nembrace.\n\nBy counting the layers of bricks in the blockading wall they were able\nto estimate its height, and prepared ladders long enough to reach its\ntop. Then they waited for a suitable time. At length it came, a cold,\ndark, stormy December night, with a roaring wind, and showers of rain\nand sleet.\n\nThe shivering guards cowered within their sheltering towers. Out from\ntheir gates marched the Plataeans, lightly armed, and, to avoid any\nsound, with the right foot naked. The left was shod, that it might have\nfirmer hold on the muddy ground. Moving with the wind in their faces,\nand so far apart that their arms could not strike and clatter, they\nreached and crossed the ditch and lifted their ladders against the wall.\nEleven men, armed only with sword and breastplate, mounted first. Others\nbearing spears followed, leaving their shields for their comrades below\nto carry up and hand to them. This first company was to attack and\nmaster the two towers right and left. This they did, surprising and\nslaying the guards without the alarm having spread. Then the others\nrapidly mounted the wall.\n\nAt this critical moment one of them struck a loose tile with his foot\nand sent it clattering down the wall. This unlucky accident gave the\nalarm. In an instant shouts came from the towers, and the garrison below\nsprang to arms and hurried to the top of the wall. But they knew not\nwhere to seek the foe, and their perplexity was increased by the\ngarrison within the city, which made a false attack on the other side.\n\nNot knowing what to do or where to go, the blockaders remained at their\nposts, except a body of three hundred men, who were kept in readiness to\npatrol the outside of the outer ditch. Fire-signals were raised to warn\ntheir allies in Thebes, but the garrison in the town also kindled\nfire-signals so as to destroy the meaning of those of the besiegers.\n\nMeanwhile the escaping warriors were actively engaged. Some held with\nspear and javelin the towers they had captured. Others drew up the\nladders and planted them against the outer wall. Then down the ladders\nthey hurried, waded across the outer ditch, and reached level ground\nbeyond. Each man, as he gained this space, stood ready with his weapons\nto repel assault from without. When all the others were down, the men\nwho had held the towers fled to the ladders and safely descended.\n\nThe outer ditch was nearly full of water from the rain and covered with\nthin ice. Yet they scrambled through it, and when the three hundred of\nthe outer guard approached with torches, they suddenly found themselves\nassailed with arrows and javelins from a foe invisible in the darkness.\nThey were thus kept back till the last Plataean had crossed the ditch,\nwhen the bold fugitives marched speedily away, leaving but one of their\nnumber a prisoner in the hands of the foe.\n\nThey first marched towards Thebes, while their pursuers took the\nopposite direction. Then they turned, struck eastward, entered the\nmountains, and finally--two hundred and twelve in number--made their way\nsafely to Athens, to tell their families and allies the thrilling story\nof their escape.\n\nA few who lost heart returned from the inner wall to the town, and told\nthose within that the whole band had perished. The truth was only\nlearned within the town when on the next morning a herald was sent out\nto solicit a truce for burial of the dead bodies. The herald brought\nback the glad tidings that there were no dead to bury, that the whole\nbold band had escaped.\n\nHappy had it been for the remaining garrison had they also fled, even at\nthe risk of death. With the provisions left they held out till the next\nsummer, when they were forced to yield. In the end, after the form of a\ntrial, they were all slaughtered by their foes, and the city itself was\nrazed to the ground by its Theban enemies, only the Heraeum, or temple of\nHere, being left. Such was the fate of a city to which eternal\nsacredness had been pledged.\n\n\n\n\n_HOW THE LONG WALLS WENT DOWN._\n\n\nThe retreat of the Persians from Athens left that city without a wall or\na home. On the return of the Athenians, and the rebuilding of their\nruined homes, a new wall became a necessity, and, under the wise advice\nof Themistocles, the citizens determined that the new wall should be\nmuch larger in circuit than the old,--wide enough to hold all Attica in\ncase of war.\n\n[Illustration: PIRAEUS, THE PORT OF ATHENS.]\n\nBut no sooner was this begun than a protest arose from rival states. The\nSpartans in particular raised such a clamor on the subject that\nThemistocles went to that city and denied that he was fortifying Athens.\nIf they did not believe him, they might send there and see. They did so,\nand the Spartan ambassadors, on arriving there, found the walls\ncompleted and themselves held as hostages for the safe return of\nThemistocles. Not only Athens was thus fortified, but a still stronger\nwall was built around Piraeus, the port, four miles away.\n\nYears afterwards, when Athens was in a position to defy the protest of\nSparta, her famous Long Walls were built, extending from the city to the\nport, and forming a great artery through which the food and products\nbrought in ships from distant lands could flow to the city from the sea,\nin defiance of foes. These walls it was that enabled Athens to survive\nand flourish when all the soil of Attica lay in the hands of the Spartan\nenemy. But the time came when these walls were to fall, and Athens to\nlie helpless in the hands of her mortal foe.\n\nThe Peloponnesian war was full of incident, victories and defeats,\nmarches and countermarches, making and breaking of truces, loss of\nprovinces and fleets, triumphs of one side and the other, and still the\nyears rolled on, and neither party became supreme. Athens had its\nill-advisers, who kept it at war when it could have won far more by\nconcluding peace, and who induced it to forget the advice of Pericles\nand make war on land when its great strength lay in its fleet.\n\nIts great error, however, was an attempt at foreign conquest, when it\nhad quite enough to occupy it at home. War broke out between Athens and\nSicily, and a strong fleet was sent to blockade and seek to capture the\ncity of Syracuse. This expedition fatally sapped the strength of the\nAthenian empire. Ships and men were supplied in profusion to take part\nin a series of military blunders, of which the last were irreparable.\nThe fleet, with all on board, was finally blocked up in the harbor of\nSyracuse, defeated in battle, and forced to yield, while of forty\nthousand Athenian troops but a miserable remnant survived to end their\nlives as slaves in Syracusan quarries. It was a disaster such as Athens\nin its whole career had not endured, and whose consequences were\ninevitable. From that time on the supremacy of Athens was at an end.\n\nYet for nine years more the war continued, with much the same\nsuccession of varying events as before. But during this period Sparta\nwas learning an important lesson. If she would defeat Athens, she must\nlearn how to win victories on sea as well as on land. After every defeat\nof a fleet she built and equipped another, and gradually grew stronger\nin ships, and her seamen more skilful and expert, until the old\ndifference between Athenian and Spartan seamen ceased to exist. Persia\nalso came to the aid of Sparta, supplied her with money, and enabled her\nto replace her lost ships with ever new ones, while the ship-building\npower of Athens declined.\n\nIn 405 B.C. the crisis came. Athens was forced to depend solely for\nsubsistence on her fleet. That gone, all would be gone. In the autumn of\nthat year she had a fleet of one hundred and eighty triremes in the\nHellespont, in the close vicinity of a Spartan fleet of about the same\nforce, under an able admiral named Lysander. AEgospotami, or Goat's River\n(a name of fatal sound to all later Athenians), was the station of the\nAthenian fleet. That of Sparta lay opposite, across the strait, nearly\ntwo miles away.\n\nAnd now an interesting scene began. Every day the Athenian fleet crossed\nthe strait and offered battle to the Spartans, daring them to come out\nfrom their sheltered position. And every day, when the Spartans had\nrefused, it would go back to the opposite shore, where many of the men\nwere permitted to land. Day by day this challenge was repeated, the\nAthenians growing daily more confident and more careless, and the crews\ndispersing in search of food or amusement as soon as they reached the\nshore. Lysander, meanwhile, fox-like, was on the watch. A scout-ship\nfollowed the enemy daily. At length, on the fifth day, when the Athenian\nships had anchored, and the sailors had, as usual, dispersed, the\nscout-ship hoisted a bright shield as a signal. In an instant the fleet\nof Lysander, which was all ready, dashed out of its harbor, and rowed\nwith the utmost speed across the strait. The Athenian commanders,\nperceiving too late their mistake, did their utmost to recall the\nscattered crews, but in vain. The Spartan ships dashed in among those of\nAthens, found some of them entirely deserted, others nearly so, and\nwrought with such energy that of the whole fleet only twelve ships\nescaped. Nearly all the men ashore were also taken, while this great\nvictory was won not only without the loss of a ship, but hardly of a\nman. The prisoners, three or four thousand in number, in the cruel\nmanner of the time, were put to death.\n\nThis defeat, so disgraceful to the Athenian commanders, so complete and\nthorough, was a death-blow to the dominion of Athens. That city was left\nat the mercy of its foes. When news of the disaster reached the city,\nsuch a night of wailing and woe, of fear and misery, came upon the\nAthenians as few cities had ever before gone through. Their fleet gone,\nall was gone. On it depended their food. Their land-supplies had long\nbeen cut off. No corn-ships could now reach them from the Euxine Sea,\nand few from other quarters. They might fight still, but the end was\nsure. The victor at Salamis would soon be a prisoner within her own\nwalls.\n\nLysander was in no hurry to sail to Athens. That city could wait. He\nemployed himself in visiting the islands and cities in alliance with or\ndependent upon Athens, and inducing them to ally themselves with Sparta.\nThe Athenian garrisons were sent home. Lysander shrewdly calculated that\nthe more men the walls of Athens held, the sooner must their food-supply\nbe exhausted and the end come. At length, in November of 405 B.C.,\nLysander sailed with his fleet to Piraeus and blockaded its harbor, while\nthe land army of the Peloponnesus marched into Attica and encamped at\nthe gates of Athens.\n\nThat great and proud city was now peopled with despair. The plague which\nhad desolated it twenty-five years before now threatened to be succeeded\nby a still more fatal plague, that of famine. Yet pride and resolution\nremained. The walls had been strengthened; their defenders could hold\nout while any food was left; not until men actually began to die of\nhunger did they ask for peace.\n\nThe envoys sent to Sparta were refused a hearing. Athens wished to\npreserve her walls. Sparta sent word that there could be no peace until\nthe Long Walls were levelled with the earth. These terms Athens proudly\nrefused. Suffering and privation went on.\n\nFor three months longer the siege continued. Though famine dwelt within\nevery house, and numbers died of starvation, the Athenians held out with\nheroic endurance, and refused to surrender on humiliating terms. But\nthere could be only one end. Where famine commands man must obey. Peace\nmust be had at any price, or death would end all, and an envoy was sent\nout with power to make peace on any terms he could obtain.\n\nIt was pitiable that glorious Athens should be brought to this sad pass.\nShe was so cordially hated by many of the states of Greece that they\nvoted for her annihilation, demanding that the entire population should\nbe sold as slaves, and the city and the very name of Athens be utterly\nswept from the earth.\n\nAt this dread moment the greatest foe of Athens became almost her only\nfriend. Sparta declared that she would never consent to such a fate for\nthe city which had been the savior of Greece in the Persian war. In the\nend peace was offered on the following terms: The Long Walls and the\ndefences of Piraeus should be destroyed; the Athenians should give up all\nforeign possessions and confine themselves to Attica; they should\nsurrender all their ships-of-war; they should admit all their exiles;\nthey should become allies of Sparta, be friends of her friends and foes\nof her foes, and follow her leadership on sea and land.\n\nWhen the envoy, bearing this ultimatum, returned to Athens, a pitiable\nspectacle met his eyes. A despairing crowd faced him with beseeching\neyes, in terror lest he brought only a message of death or despair.\nThousands there were who could not meet him, victims of the increasing\nfamine. Peace at any price had become a valued boon. Nevertheless, when\nthe terms were read in the assembly, there were those there who would\nhave refused them, and who preferred death by starvation to such\ndisgrace. The great majority, however, voted to accept them, and word\nwas sent to Lysander that Athens yielded to the inevitable.\n\nAnd now into the harbor of the Piraeus sailed the triumphant Lacedaemonian\nfleet, just twenty-seven years after the war had begun. With them came\nthe Athenian exiles, some of whom had served with their city's foes. The\nships building in the dock-yards were burned and the arsenals ruined,\nthere being left to Athens only twelve ships-of-war. And then, amid the\njoyful shouts of the conquerors, to the music of flutes played by women\nand the sportive movements of dancers crowned with wreaths, the Long\nWalls of Athens began to fall.\n\nThe conquerors themselves lent a hand to this work at first, but its\ncompletion was left to the Athenians, who with sore hearts and bowed\nheads for many days worked at the demolition of what so long had been\ntheir city's strength and pride.\n\nWhat followed may be briefly told. Athens had, some time before, fallen\nunder the power of a Committee of Four Hundred, aristocrats who\noverthrew the constitution and reigned supreme until the people rose in\ntheir might and brought their despotism to an end. Now a new oligarchy,\ncalled \"The Thirty,\" and mostly composed of the returned exiles, came\ninto despotic power, and the ancient constitution was once more ignored.\n\nThe reign of The Thirty was one of blood, confiscation, and death.\nSupported by a Spartan garrison, they tyrannized at their own cruel\nwill, murdering, confiscating, exiling, until they converted Athens into\na prototype of Paris during the French Revolution.\n\nAt length the saturnalia of crime came to an end. Even the enemies of\nAthens began to pity her sad state. Those who had been exiled by these\nnew tyrants returned to Attica, and war between them and The Thirty\nbegan. In the end Sparta withdrew her support from the tyrants, those of\nthem who had not perished fled, and after nearly a year of terrible\nanarchy the democracy of Athens was restored, and peace once more spread\nits wings over that frightfully afflicted city.\n\nWe may conclude this tale with an episode that took place eleven years\nafter the Long Walls had fallen. As they had gone down to music, they\nrose to music again. In these eleven years despotic Sparta had lost many\nof her allies, and the Persians, who had become friends of Athens, now\nlent a fleet and supplied money to aid in rebuilding the walls. Some\neven of those who had danced for joy when the walls went down now gave\ntheir cheerful aid to raise them up again, so greatly had Spartan\ntyranny changed the tide of feeling. The completion of the walls was\ncelebrated by a splendid sacrifice and festival banquet, and joy came\nback to Athens again. A new era had begun for the city, not one of\ndominion and empire, but one marked by some share of her old dignity and\nimportance in Greece.\n\n\n\n\n_SOCRATES AND ALCIBIADES._\n\n\nDuring the period of the Peloponnesian war two men became strikingly\nprominent in Athens, a statesman and a philosopher, as unlike each other\nin character, appearance, aims, and methods as two persons could well\nbe, yet the most intimate of friends, and long dividing between them the\nadmiration of the Athenians. These were the historically famous\nAlcibiades and Socrates. Alcibiades was a leader in action, Socrates a\nleader in thought; thus they controlled the two great dominions of human\naffairs.\n\nOf these two, Socrates was vastly the nobler and higher, Alcibiades much\nthe more specious and popular. Democratic Athens was never long without\nits aristocratic leader. For many years it had been Pericles. It now\nbecame Alcibiades, a man whose career and character were much more like\nthose of Themistocles of old than of the sedate and patriotic Pericles.\n\nAlcibiades was the Adonis of Athens, noted for his beauty, the charm of\nhis manner, his winning personality, qualities which made all men his\nwilling captives. He was of high birth, great wealth, and luxurious and\npleasure-loving disposition, yet with a remarkable power of\naccommodating himself to circumstances, and becoming all things to all\nmen. While numbers of high-born Athenians admired him for his\nextraordinary beauty of person, Socrates saw in him admirable qualities\nof mind, and loved him with a warm affection, which Alcibiades as warmly\nreturned. The philosopher gained the greatest influence over his\nyouthful friend, taught him to despise affectation and revere virtue,\nand did much to develop in him noble qualities of thought and\naspiration.\n\nYet nature had made Alcibiades, and nature's work is hard to undo. He\nwas a man of hasty impulse and violent temper, a man destitute of the\nspirit of patriotism, and in very great measure it was to this brilliant\nson of Athens that that city owed its lamentable fate.\n\nNo greater contrast could be imagined than was shown by these almost\ninseparable friends. Alcibiades was tall, shapely, remarkably handsome,\nfond of showy attire and luxurious surroundings, full of animal spirits,\nrapid and animated in speech, and aristocratic in sentiment; Socrates\nshort, thick-set, remarkably ugly, careless in attire, destitute of all\ncourtly graces, democratic in the highest degree, and despising-utterly\nthose arts and aims, loves and luxuries, which appealed so strongly to\nthe soul of his ardent friend. Yet the genius, the intellectual\nacuteness, the lofty aims, and wonderful conversational power of\nSocrates overcame all his natural defects, attracted Alcibiades\nirresistibly, and welded the two together in an intellectual sympathy\nthat set aside all differences of form and character.\n\nThe philosopher and the politician owed to each other their lives. They\nserved as soldiers together at Potidaea, lodged in the same tent, and\nstood side by side in the ranks. Alcibiades was wounded in the battle,\nbut was defended and rescued by his friend, who afterwards persuaded the\ngenerals to award to him the prize for valor. Later, at the battle of\nDelium, Alcibiades protected and saved Socrates. These personal services\nbrought them into still closer relations, while their friendship was\nperhaps the stronger from their almost complete diversity of character.\n\nUnluckily for Athens, Socrates was not able to instil strong principles\nof virtue into the mind of the versatile Alcibiades. This ardent\npleasure lover was moved by ambition, desire of admiration, love of\ndisplay, and fondness for luxurious living, and indulged in excesses\nthat it was not easy for the more frugal citizens to forgive. He sent\nseven chariots to the Olympic Games, from which he carried off the\nfirst, second, and fourth prizes. He gave splendid shows, distributed\nmoney freely, and in spite of his wanton follies retained numbers of\nfriends among the Athenian people.\n\nIt was to this engaging and ambitious politician that the ruinous\nSicilian expedition was due. He persuaded the Athenians to engage in it,\nin spite of wiser advice, and was one of those placed in command. But\nthe night before the fleet set sail a dreadful sacrilege took place. All\nthe statues of the god Hermes in the city were mutilated by unknown\nparties,--an outrage which caused almost a panic among the\nsuperstitious people. Among those accused of this sacrilege was\nAlcibiades. There was no evidence against him, and he was permitted to\nproceed. But after he had reached Sicily he was sent for to return, on a\nnew charge of sacrilege. He refused to do so, fearing the schemes of his\nenemies, and, when told that the assembly had voted sentence of death\nagainst him, he said, bitterly, \"I will make them feel that I _live_!\"\n\nHe did so. To him Athens was indebted for the ruin of its costly\nexpedition. He fled to Sparta and advised the Spartans to send to\nSyracuse the able general to whom the Athenians owed their fatal defeat.\nHe also advised his new friends to seize and fortify a town in Attica.\nBy this they cut off all the land supply of food from Athens, and did\nmuch to force the final submission of that city.\n\nAlcibiades now put on a new guise. He affected to be enraptured with\nSpartan manners, cropped his hair, lived on black broth, exercised\ndiligently, and by his fluent tongue made himself a favorite in that\naustere city. But at length, by an idle boast, he roused Spartan enmity,\nand had to fly again. Now he sought Asia Minor, became a friend of\nTissaphernes, the Persian satrap, adopted the excesses of Persian\nluxury, and sought to break the alliance between Persia and Sparta,\nwhich he had before sustained.\n\nNext, moved by a desire to see his old home, he offered the leading\ncitizens of Athens to induce Tissaphernes to come to their aid, on the\ncondition that he might be permitted to return. But he declared that he\nwould not come while the democracy was in power, and it was by his\ninfluence that the tyrannical Committee of Four Hundred was formed.\nAfterwards, falling out with these tyrants, Alcibiades turned democrat\nagain, was made admiral of the fleet, and wrought the ruin of the\noligarchy which he had raised to power.\n\nAnd now this brilliant and fickle son of Athens worked as actively and\nably for his native city as he had before sought her ruin. Under his\ncommand the fleet gained several important victories, and conquered\nByzantium and other cities. The ruinous defeat at AEgospotami would not\nhave occurred had the admiral of the fleet listened to his timely\nwarning. After the fall of Athens, and during the tyranny of the Thirty,\nhe retired to Asia Minor, where he was honorably received by the satrap\nPharnabazus. And here the end came to his versatile career. One night\nthe house in which he slept was surrounded by a body of armed men and\nset on fire. He rushed out, sword in hand, but a shower of darts and\narrows quickly robbed him of life. Through whose enmity he died is not\nknown. Thus perished, at less than fifty years of age, one of the most\nbrilliant and able of all the Athenians,--one who, had he lived, would\ndoubtless have added fresh and striking chapters to the history of his\nnative land, though whether to her advantage or injury cannot now be\ntold.\n\nThe career of Socrates was wonderfully different from that of his\nbrilliant but unprincipled friend. While Alcibiades was seeking to\ndazzle and control, Socrates was seeking to convince and improve\nmankind. A striking picture is given us of the physical qualities of\nthis great moral philosopher. His ugliness of face was matter of jest in\nAthens. He had the flat nose, thick lips, and prominent eyes of a satyr.\nYet he was as strong as he was ugly. Few Athenians could equal him in\nendurance. While serving as a soldier, he was able to endure heat and\ncold, hunger and fatigue, in a manner that astonished his companions. He\nwent barefoot in all weather, and wore the same clothing winter and\nsummer. His diet was of the simplest, but in religious festivals, when\nall were expected to indulge, Socrates could drink more wine than any\nperson present, without a sign of intoxication. Yet it was his constant\naim to limit his wants and to avoid all excess.\n\nTo these qualities of body Socrates added the highest and noblest\nqualities of mind. Naturally he had a violent temper, but he held it\nunder severe control, though he could not always avoid a display of\nanger under circumstances of great provocation. But his depth of\nthought, his remarkable powers of argument, his earnest desire for human\namendment, his incessant moral lessons to the Athenians, place him in\nthe very first rank of the teachers of mankind.\n\nSocrates was of humble birth. He was born 469 B.C. and lived for seventy\nyears. His father was a sculptor, and he followed the same profession.\nHe married, and his wife Xanthippe has become famous for the acidity of\nher temper. There is little doubt that Socrates, whose life was spent in\narguing and conversing, and who paid little attention to filling the\nlarder, gave the poor housewife abundant provocation. We know very\nlittle about the events of his life, except that he served as a soldier\nin three campaigns, that he strictly obeyed the laws, performed all his\nreligious duties, and once, when acting as judge, refused, at the peril\nof his life, to perform an unjust action.\n\nOf the daily life of Socrates we have graphic pictures, drawn by his\nfriends and followers Xenophon and Plato. From morning to night he might\nbe seen in the streets and public places, engaged in endless\ntalk,--prattling, his enemies called it. In the early morning, his\nsturdy figure, shabbily dressed, and his pale and ill-featured face,\nwere familiar visions in the public walks, the gymnasia, and the\nschools. At the hour when the market-place was most crowded, Socrates\nwould be there, walking about among the booths and tables, and talking\nto every one whom he could induce to listen. Thus was his whole day\nspent. He was ready to talk with any one, old or young, rich or poor,\nbeing in no sense a respecter of persons. He conversed with artisans,\nphilosophers, students, soldiers, politicians,--all classes of men. He\nvisited everywhere, was known to all persons of distinction, and was a\nspecial friend of Aspasia, the brilliant woman companion of Pericles.\n\nHis conversational powers must have been extraordinary, for none seemed\nto tire of hearing him, and many sought him in his haunts, eager to hear\nhis engaging and instructive talk. Many, indeed, in his later years,\ncame from other cities of Greece, drawn to Athens by his fame, and\nanxious to hear this wonderful conversationalist and teacher. These\nbecame known as his scholars or disciples, though he claimed nothing\nresembling a school, and received no reward for his teachings.\n\nThe talk of Socrates was never idle or meaningless chat. He felt that he\nhad a special mission to fulfil, that in a sense he was an envoy to man\nfrom the gods, and declared that, from childhood on, a divine voice had\nspoken to him, unheard by others, warning and restraining him from\nunwise acts or sayings. It forbade him to enter public life, controlled\nhim day by day, and was frequently mentioned by him to his disciples.\nThis guardian voice has become known as the daemon or genius of Socrates.\n\nThe oracle at Delphi said that no man was wiser than Socrates. To learn\nif this was true and he really was wiser than other men, he questioned\neverybody everywhere, seeking to learn what they knew, and leading them\non by question after question till he usually found that they knew very\nlittle of what they professed.\n\nAs to what Socrates taught, we can only say here that he was the first\ngreat ethical philosopher. The philosophers before him had sought to\nexplain the mystery of the universe. He declared that all this was\nuseless and profitless. Man's mind was superior to all matter, and he\nled men to look within, study their own souls, consider the question of\nhuman duty, the obligations of man to man, and all that leads towards\nvirtue and the moral development of human society.\n\nIt is not surprising that Xanthippe scolded her idle husband, who\nsupplied so much food for the souls of others, but quite ignored the\ndemands of food for the bodies of his wife and children. His teachings\nwere but vaporing talk to her small mind and to those of many of the\npeople. And the keen questions with which he convicted so many of\nignorance, and the sarcastic irony with which he wounded their\nself-love, certainly did not make him friends among this class. In\ntruth, he made many enemies. One of these was Aristophanes, the\ndramatist, who wrote a comedy in which he sought to make Socrates\nridiculous. This turned many of the audiences at the theatres against\nhim.\n\n[Illustration: PRISON OF SOCRATES, ATHENS.]\n\nAll this went on until the year 399 B.C., when some of his enemies\naccused him of impiety, declaring that he did not worship the old gods,\nbut introduced new ones and corrupted the minds of the young. \"The\npenalty due,\" they said, \"is death.\"\n\nIt had taken them some thirty years to find this out, for Socrates had\nbeen teaching the same things for that length of time. In fact, no\nancient city but Athens would have listened to his radical talk for so\nmany years without some such charge. But he had now so many enemies that\nthe accusation was dangerous. He made it worse by his carelessness in\nhis defence. He said things that provoked his judges. He could have been\nacquitted if he wished, for in the final vote only a majority of five or\nsix out of nearly six hundred brought him in guilty.\n\nSocrates seemingly did not care what verdict they brought. He had no\nfear of death, and would not trouble himself to say a word to preserve\nhis life. The divine voice, he declared, would not permit him. He was\nsentenced to drink the poison of hemlock, and was imprisoned for thirty\ndays, during which he conversed in his old calm manner with his friends.\n\nSome of his disciples arranged a plan for his escape, but he refused to\nfly. If his fellow-citizens wished to take his life he would not oppose\ntheir wills. On the last day he drank the hemlock as calmly as though it\nwere his usual beverage, and talked on quietly till death sealed his\ntongue.\n\nThus died the first and one of the greatest of ethical philosophers, and\na man without a parallel, in his peculiar field, in all the history of\nmankind. Greece produced none like him, and this homely and humble\npersonage, who wrote not a line, has been unsurpassed in fame and\ninfluence upon mankind by any of the host of illustrious writers who\nhave made famous the Hellenic lands.\n\n\n\n\n_THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND._\n\n\nWe have now to tell of one of the most remarkable events in Grecian\nhistory, to describe how ten thousand Greeks, who found themselves in\nthe heart of the great Persian empire, without a leader and almost\nwithout food, marched through the land of their foes, over rugged\nmountains swarming with enemies, and across lofty plains covered deep\nwith snow, until finally they reached once more their native land.\nXenophon, their chosen leader, has told the story of this wonderful\nmarch in a book called the \"Anabasis,\" and from this book we take what\nwe have here to say.\n\nFirst, how came these Greeks so far away from their home and friends? We\nhave told elsewhere how the Persians several times invaded Greece. We\nhave now to tell how the Greeks first invaded Persia. It happened many\nyears afterwards. The Persian king Xerxes had long since been dead, and\nsucceeded by his son Artaxerxes, who reigned over Persia for nearly\nforty years. Then came Darius Nothus, whose reign lasted nineteen years.\nThis king had two sons, Artaxerxes and Cyrus. On his death he bequeathed\nthe throne to Artaxerxes, while Cyrus was left satrap of a large\nprovince in Asia Minor.\n\nOf these two sons, the new king was timid and incompetent; Cyrus was\nremarkably shrewd and able, and was filled with a consuming ambition. He\nwanted the Persian throne and knew the best means of obtaining it. He\nwas well aware of the military ability of the Greeks. It was he who\nsupplied the money which enabled Sparta to overthrow Athens. He now\nsecretly enlisted a body of about thirteen thousand Greeks, promising\nthem high pay if they would enter his service; and with these, and one\nhundred thousand Asiatics, he marched against his brother.\n\nBut Cyrus was too shrewd to let his purpose be known. He gave out that\nhe was going to put down some brigand mountaineers. Then when he had got\nhis army far eastward, he threw off the mask and started on the long\nmarch across the desert to Babylonia. The Greeks had been deceived. At\nfirst they refused to follow him on so perilous an errand, and to such a\ndistance from home. But by liberal promises he overcame their\nobjections, and they marched on till the heart of Babylonia was reached.\n\nThe army was now in the wonderfully fertile country between the rivers\nEuphrates and Tigris, that rich Mesopotamian region which had been part\nof the Persian empire since the great cities of Nineveh and Babylon were\ntaken by the Persians a century before. And in all this long march no\nenemy had been met. But now Cyrus and his followers found themselves\nsuddenly confronted by a great Persian army, led by Artaxerxes, the\nking.\n\nFirst a great cloud of white dust was seen in the distance. Then under\nit appeared on the earth a broad dark spot, which widened and deepened\nas it came nearer, until at length armor began to shine and spear-heads\nto glitter, and dense masses of troops appeared beneath the cloud. Here\nwere great troops of cavalry, wearing white cuirasses; here a vast array\nof bowmen with wicker shields, spiked so that they could thrust their\npoints into the ground and send their arrows from behind them; there a\ndark mass of Egyptian infantry, with long wooden shields that covered\nthe whole body; in front of all was a row of chariots, with scythes\nstretching outward from the wheels, so as to mow down the ranks through\nwhich they were driven.\n\nThese scythed chariots faced the Greeks, whose ranks they were intended\nto break. But when the battle-shout was given, and the dense mass of\nGreeks rushed forward at a rapid pace, the Persians before them broke\ninto a sudden panic and fled, the drivers of the chariots leaping wildly\nto the ground and joining in the flight. The horses, left to themselves,\nand scared by the tumult, rushed in all directions, many of them\nhurtling with their scythed chariots through the flying host, others\ncoming against the Greeks, who opened their ranks to let them pass. In\nthat part of the field the battle was won without a blow being struck or\na man killed. The very presence of the Greeks had brought victory.\n\nThe great Persian army would soon have been all in flight but for an\nunlooked-for event. Artaxerxes, in the centre of his army, was\nsurrounded by a body-guard of six thousand horse. Against these Cyrus,\nfollowed by six hundred horse, made an impetuous charge. So fierce was\nthe onset that the body-guard were soon in full flight, Cyrus killing\ntheir general with his own hand. The six hundred hotly pursued their\nflying foe, leaving Cyrus almost alone. And now before him appeared his\nbrother Artaxerxes, exposed by the flight of his guard.\n\nBetween these two men brotherly affection did not exist. They viewed\neach other as bitter enemies. So fiercely did Cyrus hate his brother\nthat on seeing him he burst into a paroxysm of rage which robbed him of\nall the prudence and judgment he had so far shown. \"I see the man!\" he\ncried in tones of fury, and rushed hotly forward, followed only by the\nfew companions who remained with him, against Artaxerxes and the strong\nforce still with him. As Cyrus came near the king he cast his javelin so\ntruly, and with such force, that it pierced the cuirass of Artaxerxes,\nand wounded him in the breast. Yet the assault of Cyrus was a mad one,\nand it met the end of madness. He was struck below the eye by a javelin,\nhurled from his horse and instantly slain; his few followers quickly\nsharing his fate.\n\nThe head and right hand of the slain prince were immediately cut off and\nheld up to the view of all within sight, and the contest was proclaimed\nat an end. The Asiatic army of Cyrus, on learning of the fatal disaster,\nturned and fled. The Greeks held their own and repulsed all that came\nagainst them, in ignorance of the death of Cyrus, of which they did not\nhear till the next morning. The news then filled them with sorrow and\ndismay.\n\nWhat followed must be briefly told. The position of the Greeks, much\nmore than a thousand miles from their country, in the heart of an empire\nfilled with foes, and in the presence of a vast hostile army, seemed\nhopeless. Yet they refused to surrender at the demand of the king. They\nwere victors, not defeated men; why should they surrender? \"If the king\nwants our arms, let him come and try to take them,\" they said. \"Our arms\nare all the treasure we have left; we shall not be fools enough to hand\nthem over to you, but shall use them to fight for your treasure.\"\n\nThis challenge King Artaxerxes showed no inclination to accept. Both he\nand his army feared the Greeks. As for the latter, they immediately\nbegan their retreat. They could not go back over the desert by which\nthey had come, that was impossible; they therefore chose a longer road,\nbut with more chance of food, leading up the left bank of the Tigris\nRiver and proceeding to the Euxine, or Black Sea. It was in dread and\nhopelessness that the solitary band began this long and perilous march,\nthrough a country of which they knew nothing, amid hosts of foes, and\nwith the winter at hand. But they were soon to experience a new\nmisfortune and be left in a still more hopeless state.\n\nTheir boldness had so intimidated King Artaxerxes that he sent heralds\nto them to treat for a truce. \"Go tell the king,\" their general replied,\n\"that our first business must be to fight. We have nothing to eat, and\nno man should talk to Greeks about a truce without first providing them\nwith a dinner.\"\n\nThe result of this bold answer was that food was provided, a truce\ndeclared, and Tissaphernes, a Persian satrap, with a body of troops,\nundertook to conduct the Greeks out of the country. Crossing the Tigris,\nthey marched for fifteen days up its east side, until the Great Zab\nRiver, in the country of Media, was reached. Here the treachery which\nTissaphernes had all along intended was consummated. He invited\nClearchus, the Greek leader, and the other generals to a conference with\nhim in his tent,--three miles from their camp. They incautiously\naccepted, and on arriving there were immediately seized, the captains\nand soldiers who had accompanied them cut down, and the generals sent in\nchains to the king, who ordered them all to be put to death.\n\nThis loss of their leaders threw the Greeks into despair. Ruin appeared\ninevitable. In the midst of a hostile country, more than a thousand\nmiles from Grecian soil, surrounded by enemies, blocked up by deep\nrivers and almost impassable mountains, without guides, without\nprovisions, without cavalry, without generals to give orders, what were\nthey to do? A stupor of helplessness seized upon them. Few came to the\nevening muster; few lighted fires to cook their suppers; every man lay\ndown to rest where he was; yet fear, anguish, and yearning for home\ndrove sleep from every eye. The expectation of the Persians that they\nwould now surrender seemed likely to be realized, for without a guiding\nhead and hand there seemed to many of the disheartened host nothing else\nto do.\n\nYet they were not all in that mood. One among them, a volunteer, with\nno rank in the army, but with ample courage, brought back by brave words\nhope to their souls. This man, an Athenian, Xenophon by name, and one of\nthe disciples of Socrates the philosopher, had an encouraging dream in\nthe night, and at once rose, called into council the captains of the\nhost, and advised them to select new generals to take the place of the\nfour who had been seized. This was done, Xenophon being one of the new\nleaders. At daybreak the soldiers were called together, told what had\nbeen done in the night, and asked to confirm the action of their\ncaptains. This they did.\n\nXenophon, the orator of the army, now made them a stirring speech. He\ntold them that they need not fear the Persians, who were cowards and\ntraitors, as they knew. If provisions were no longer furnished them,\nthey could take them for themselves. If rivers were to be crossed, they\ncould march up their course and wade them where not deep. \"Let us burn\nour baggage-wagons and tents, and carry only what is strictly needful.\nAbove all, let us maintain discipline and obedience to commanders. Now\nis the time for action. If any man has anything better to suggest, let\nhim state it. We all have but one object,--the common safety.\"\n\nNo one had anything better to suggest; the soldiers enthusiastically\naccepted Xenophon's plan of action, and soon were on the march again,\nwith Tissaphernes, their late guide, now their open foe. They marched in\na hollow oblong body, with the baggage in the centre. Here also walked\nthe women, of whom many had accompanied the army through all its career.\n\nCrossing the Great Zab River, the Greeks continued their march, though\nsurrounded by enemies, many of them horsemen, who cast javelins and\narrows into their ranks, and fled when pursued. That night they reached\nsome villages, bearing their wounded, who were many, and deeply\ndiscouraged. During the night the Greeks organized a small body of\ncavalry and two hundred Rhodian slingers, who threw leaden bullets\ninstead of stones. The next day they were attacked by a body of four\nthousand confident Persians, who expected an easy victory. Yet when the\nfew horsemen and slingers of the Greeks attacked them they fled in\ndismay, and many of them were killed in a ravine which they were forced\nto traverse.\n\nOn went the fugitives, day by day, still assailed, still repelling their\nfoes. On the fifth day they saw a palace, around which lay many\nvillages. To reach it they had high hills to pass, and here their\nenemies appeared on the summits, showering down arrows, darts, and\nstones. The Greeks finally dislodged them by mounting to higher points,\nand by night had fought their way to the villages, where they found\nabundance of food and wine, and where they rested for three days.\n\nOn starting again the troops of Tissaphernes annoyed them as before.\nThey now adopted a new plan. Whenever the enemy came up they halted at\nsome village and fought them from their camp. Each night the Persians\nwithdrew about ten miles, lest they might be surprised when their\nhorses were shackled and they unarmed. This custom the Greeks now took\nadvantage of. As soon as the enemy had withdrawn to their nightly camp\nthe march was resumed and continued for some ten miles. The distance\ngained gave the Greeks two days of peaceful progress before their foes\ncame up again.\n\nOn the fourth day the Greeks saw before them a lofty hill, which must be\npassed, and which their enemies occupied, having got past them in the\nnight. Their march seemed at an end, for the path that must be taken was\ncompletely commanded by the weapons of the foe. What was to be done? A\nconference took place between Xenophon and the Spartan Cheirisophus, his\nprincipal colleague. Xenophon perceived that from the top of a mountain\nnear the army the hill held by the enemy might be reached.\n\n\"The best thing we can do is to gain the top of this mountain with all\nhaste,\" he said; \"if we are once masters of that the enemy cannot\nmaintain themselves on the hill. You stay with the army, if you think\nfit, and I will go up the hill. Or you go, if you desire, and I will\nstay here.\"\n\n\"I give you your choice,\" answered Cheirisophus.\n\n\"Then I will go, as I am the younger man,\" said Xenophon.\n\nTaking a strong force from the van of the army, Xenophon at once began\nto climb the hill. The enemy, seeing this movement, hastily detached a\nforce for the same purpose. Both sides shouted encouragement to their\nmen, and Xenophon, riding beside his troop, spurred them to exertion by\nreminding them of their wives and children at home. And here took place\none of those occurrences which gave this leader so much influence over\nhis men.\n\n\"We are not upon equal terms, Xenophon,\" said Soteridas, a soldier from\nSicyon, \"for you are on horseback, while I am weary from carrying my\nshield.\"\n\nInstantly Xenophon sprang from his horse, took the man's shield from his\narm, and thrust him out of the ranks, taking his place. The horseman's\ncorselet which he wore, added to by the weight of the shield, gave him\nmuch annoyance. But he called out bravely to the men to hasten their\npace.\n\nOn this the other soldiers began to abuse and stone Soteridas, making it\nso unpleasant for him that he was glad to ask for his shield again.\nXenophon now remounted and rode as far as his horse could go, then\nsprang down and hastened onward on foot. Such was the speed made that\nthey reached the summit before the foe, whereupon the enemy fled,\nleaving the road open to the Greeks. That evening they reached the plain\nbeyond, where they found a village abounding in food; and in this plain,\nnear the Tigris, many other villages were found, well filled with all\nsorts of provisions.\n\nFinding it impossible to cross the Tigris in the face of the enemy, who\nlined its western bank, the Greeks were obliged to continue their course\nup its eastern side. This would bring them to the elevated table land of\nArmenia, but first they would have to cross the rugged Carduchian\nMountains, inhabited by a tribe so fierce that they had hitherto defied\nall the power of Persia, and had once destroyed a Persian army of one\nhundred and twenty thousand men. These mountains must be crossed, but\nthe mountaineers proved fiercely hostile. Seven days were occupied in\nthe task, and these were days of constant battle and loss. At one pass\nthe Carduchians rolled down such incessant masses of rocks that progress\nwas impossible, and the Greeks were almost in despair. Fortunately a\nprisoner showed them a pass by which they could get above these\ndefenders, who, on seeing themselves thus exposed, took to their heels,\nand left the way open to the main body of the Greek army. Glad enough\nwere the disheartened adventurers to see once more a plain, and find\nthemselves past these dreaded hills and on the banks of an Armenian\nriver.\n\nBut they now had the Persians again in their front, with the Carduchians\nin their rear, and it was with no small difficulty that they reached the\nnorth side of this stream. In Armenia they had new perils to encounter.\nThe winter was upon them, and the country covered with snow. Reaching at\nlength the head-waters of the Euphrates, they waded across, and there\nfound themselves in such deep snow and facing such fierce winds that\nmany slaves and draught-horses died of cold, together with about thirty\nsoldiers. Some of the men lost their sight from the snow-glare; others\nhad their feet badly frosted; food was very scarce; the foe was in their\nrear. It was a miserable and woe-begone army that at length gladly\nreached, on the summit of some hills, a number of villages well stored\nwith food.\n\nIn the country of the Taochians, which the fugitives next reached, the\npeople carried off all their food into mountain strongholds, and\nstarvation threatened the Greeks. One of these strongholds was reached,\na lofty place surrounded by precipices, where great numbers of men and\nwomen, with their cattle, had assembled. Yet, strong as it was, it must\nbe taken, or the army would be starved.\n\nAs they sought to ascend, stones came down in showers, breaking the legs\nand ribs of the unlucky climbers. By stratagem, however, the Greeks\ninduced the defenders to exhaust their ammunition of stones, the\nsoldiers pretending to advance, and then running back behind trees as\nthe stones came crashing down. Finally several bold men made a dash for\nthe top, others followed, and the place was won. Then came a dreadful\nscene. The women threw their children down the precipice, and then\nleaped after them. The men did the same. AEneas, a captain, seeing a\nrichly-dressed barbarian about to throw himself down the height, caught\nhold of him. It was a fatal impulse of cupidity. The Taochian seized him\nin a fierce grasp and sprang with him over the brink, both being dashed\nto pieces below. Very few prisoners were made, but, what was more to the\npurpose of the Greeks, a large number of oxen, asses, and sheep were\nobtained.\n\nAt another point, where a mountain-pass had to be crossed, which could\nonly be done by ascending the mountain by stealth at night, and so\nturning the position of the enemy, an amusing piece of badinage took\nplace between Xenophon, the Athenian, and Cheirisophus, the Spartan.\n\n\"Stealing a march upon the enemy is more your trade than mine,\" said\nXenophon. \"For I understand that you, the full citizens and peers at\nSparta, practise stealing from your boyhood upward, and that it is held\nno way base, but even honorable, to steal such things as the law does\nnot distinctly forbid. And to the end that you may steal with the\ngreatest effect, and take pains to do it in secret, the custom is to\nflog you if you are found out. Here, then, you have an excellent\nopportunity to display your training. Take good care that we be not\nfound out in stealing an occupation of the mountain now before us; for\nif we _are_ found out, we shall be well beaten.\"\n\n\"Why, as to that,\" retorted Cheirisophus, good-humoredly, \"you Athenians\nalso, as I learn, are capital hands at stealing the public money, and\nthat, too, in spite of prodigious peril to the thief. Nay, your most\npowerful men steal most of all, at least if it be the most powerful men\namong you who are raised to official command. So this is a time for\n_you_ to exhibit your training, as well as for me to exhibit mine.\"\n\nLeaving the land of the Taochi, the Greeks entered that of the Chalybes,\nwhich they were seven days in passing through. All the food here was\ncarried off, and they had to live on the cattle they had recently won.\nThen came the country of the Skythini, where they found villages and\nfood. Four days more brought them to a large and flourishing city named\nGymnias. They were now evidently drawing near to the sea and\ncivilization.\n\nIn feet, the chief of this city told them that the sea was but five\ndays' journey away, and gave them a guide who in that time would conduct\nthem to a hill from which they could see the Euxine's distant waves. On\nthey went, and at length, while Xenophon was driving off some natives\nthat had attacked the rear of the column, he heard loud shouts in front.\nThinking that the van had been assailed, he rode hastily forward at the\nhead of his few cavalry, the noise increasing as he approached.\n\nAt length the sounds took shape in words. \"_Thalatta! Thalatta!_\" (\"The\nsea! The sea!\") cried the Greeks, in tones of exultation and ecstasy.\nAll, excited by the sound, came hurrying up to the summit, and burst\ninto simultaneous shouts of joy as they saw, far in the distance, the\ngleaming waters of the long-prayed-for sea. Tears, embraces, cries of\nwild delight, manifested their intense feeling, and for the time being\nthe whole army went mad with joy. The terrors of their march were at an\nend; they were on the verge of Grecian territory again; and with pride\nthey felt that they had achieved an enterprise such as the world had\nnever known before.\n\nA few words will suffice to complete their tale. Reaching the city of\nTrebizond, they took ship for home. Fifteen months had passed since they\nset out with the army of Cyrus. After various further adventures,\nXenophon led them on a pillaging expedition against the Persians of Asia\nMinor, paid them all richly from the plunder, and gained himself\nsufficient wealth to enrich him for the remainder of his days.\n\n\n\n\n_THE RESCUE OF THEBES._\n\n\nOn a certain cold and wet evening, in the month of December of the year\n379 B.C., seven men, dressed as rustics or hunters, and to all\nappearance unarmed, though each man had a dagger concealed beneath his\nclothes, appeared at the gate of Thebes, the principal city of the\nBoeotian confederacy. They had come that day from Athens, making their\nway afoot across Mount Cithaeron, which lay between. It was now just\nnightfall and most of the farmers had come into the city from the\nfields, but some late ones were still returning. Mingling with these,\nthe seven strangers entered the gates, unnoticed by the guards, and were\nquickly lost to sight in the city streets. Quietly as they had come, the\nnoise of their coming was soon to resound throughout Greece, for the\narrival of those seven men was the first step in a revolution that was\ndestined to overturn all the existing conditions of Grecian states.\n\nWe should like to go straight on with their story; but to make it clear\nto our readers we must go back and offer a short extract from earlier\nhistory. Hitherto the history of Greece had been largely the history of\ntwo cities, Athens and Sparta. The other cities had all played second or\nthird parts to these great and proud municipalities. But now a third\ncity, Thebes, was about to come forward, and assume a leading place in\nthe history of Greece. And of the two men who were to guide it in this\nproud career, one was among the seven who entered the gates of the city\nin rustic garb that rainy December night.\n\nOf the earlier history of Thebes little need be said. It played its part\nin the legendary story of Greece, as may be seen in our story of the\n\"Seven against Thebes.\" During the Persian invasion Thebes proved false\nto its country, assisted the invaders, and after their repulse was\npunished for its treasonable acts. Later on it came again into prominent\nnotice. During the Peloponnesian war it was a strong ally of Sparta.\nAnother city, only six miles away, Plataea, was as strong an ally of\nAthens. And the inhabitants of these two cities hated each other with\nthe bitterest animosity. It is a striking example of the isolated\ncharacter of Greek communities, and one that it is difficult to\nunderstand in modern times, that two cities of one small state, so near\ntogether that an easy two hours' walk would take a traveller from the\ngates of one to those of the other, could be the bitterest of enemies,\nsworn allies of two hostile states, and the inhabitants ready to cut\neach other's throats at any opportunity. Certainly the sentiment of\nhuman brotherhood has vastly widened since then. There are no two cities\nin the civilized world to-day that feel to each other as did Plataea and\nThebes, only six miles apart, in that famous era of Grecian\nenlightenment.\n\nWe have told how Plataea was taken and destroyed, and its defenders\nmurdered, by a Spartan army. But it is well to say here that Thebans\nformed the most fiercely hostile part of that army, and that it was the\nThebans who demanded and obtained the murder in cold blood of the\nhapless prisoners.\n\nAnd now we pass on to a date less than fifty years later to find a\nremarkable change in the state of affairs. Athens has fallen from her\nhigh estate. Sparta is now the lord and master of the Grecian world. And\na harsh master has she proved, with her controlling agents in every\ncity, her voice the arbiter in all political concerns.\n\nThebes is now the friend of Athens and the foe of Sparta, the chief\namong those cities which oppose the new order of things. Yet Thebes in\n379 B.C. lies hard and fast within the Spartan clutch. How she got there\nis now for us to tell.\n\nIt was an act of treason, some three years before, that handed this city\nover to the tender mercies of her old ally, her present foe. There was a\nparty in Thebes favorable to Sparta, at whose head was a man named\nLeontiades. And at this time Sparta was at war with Olynthus, a city far\nto the north. One Spartan army had marched to Olynthus. Another, led by\na general named Phoebidas, was on its march thither, and had halted\nfor a period of rest near the gymnasium, a short distance outside the\nwalls of Thebes. There is good reason to believe that Phoebidas well\nknew what Leontiades designed, and was quite ready to play his part in\nthe treacherous scheme.\n\nIt was the day of the Thesmophoria, a religious festival celebrated by\nwomen only, no men being admitted. The Cadmeia, or citadel, had been\ngiven to their use, and was now occupied by women alone. It was a warm\nsummer's day. The heat of noon had driven the people from the streets.\nThe Senate of the city was in session in the portico of the agora, or\nforum, but their deliberations were drowsily conducted and the whole\ncity seemed taking a noontide siesta.\n\nPhoebidas chose this warm noontide to put his army in march again,\nrounding the walls of Thebes. As the van passed the gates Leontiades,\nwho had stolen away from the Senate and hastened on horseback through\nthe deserted streets, rode up to the Spartan commander, and bade him\nturn and march inward through the gate which lay invitingly open before\nhim. Through the deserted streets Phoebidas and his men rapidly made\ntheir way, following the traitor Theban, to the gates of the Cadmeia,\nwhich, like those of the town, were thrown open to his order as\npolemarch, or war governor; and the Spartans, pouring in, soon were\nmasters not only of the citadel, but of the wives and daughters of the\nleading Theban citizens as well.\n\nThe news got abroad only when it was too late to remedy the treacherous\nact. The Senate heard with consternation that their acropolis was in the\nhands of their enemies, their wives captives, their city at the mercy of\nthe foe. Leontiades returned to his seat and at once gave orders for the\narrest of his chief opponent Ismenias. He had a party armed and ready.\nThe Senate was helpless. Ismenias was seized and conveyed to Sparta,\nwhere he was basely put to death. The other senators hurried home, glad\nto escape with their lives. Three hundred of them left the city in\nhaste, and made their way as exiles to Athens. The other citizens, whose\nwives and daughters were in Spartan hands, felt obliged to submit.\n\"Order reigned\" in Thebes; such was the message which Leontiades bore to\nSparta.\n\nThus it was that Sparta gained possession of one of her greatest\nopponents. Leontiades and his fellows, backed by a Spartan general,\nruled the city harshly. The rich were robbed, the prisons were filled,\nmany more citizens fled into exile. Thebes was in the condition of a\nconquered city; the people, helpless and indignant, waited impatiently\nthe slow revolution of the wheel of destiny which should once more set\nthem free.\n\nAs for the exiles at Athens, they sought in vain to obtain Athenian aid\nto recover their city from the foe. Athens was by no means in love with\nSparta, but peace had been declared, and all they could agree to do was\nto give the fugitives a place of refuge. Evidently the city, which had\nbeen won by treason, was not to be recovered by open war. If set free at\nall it must be by secret measures. And with this intent a conspiracy was\nformed between the leaders of the exiles and certain citizens of Thebes\nfor the overthrow of Leontiades and his colleagues and the expulsion of\nthe Spartan garrison from the citadel. And this it was that brought the\nseven men to Thebes,--seven exiles, armed with hidden daggers, with\nwhich they were to win a city and start a revolution which in the end\nwould destroy the power of Sparta the imperial.\n\nOf the seven exiles who thus returned, under cover of night and\ndisguise, to their native city, the chief was Pelopidas, a rich and\npatriotic Theban, who was yet to prove himself one of the great men of\nGreece. Entering the gates, they proceeded quietly through the streets,\nand soon found an abiding-place in the house of Charon, an earnest\npatriot. This was their appointed rendezvous.\n\nAnd now we have a curious incident to tell, showing on what small\naccidents great events may hinge. Among the Thebans who had been let\ninto the secret of the conspiracy was a faint-hearted man named\nHipposthenidas. As the time for action drew near this timid fellow grew\nmore and more frightened, and at length took upon himself, unknown to\nthe rest, to stop the coming of the exiled patriots. He ordered Chlidon,\na faithful slave of one of the seven, to ride in haste from Thebes, meet\nhis master on the road, and bid him and his companions to go back to\nAthens, as circumstances had arisen which made their coming dangerous\nand their project impracticable.\n\nChlidon, ready to obey orders, went home for his bridle, but failed to\nfind it in its usual place. He asked his wife where it was. She\npretended at first to help him look for it, but at last, in a tone of\ncontrition, acknowledged that she had lent it, without asking him, to a\nneighbor. Chlidon, in a burst of anger at the delay to his journey,\nentered into a loud altercation with the woman, who grew angry on her\npart and wished him ill luck on his journey. Word led to word, both\nsides grew more angry and abusive, and at length he began to beat his\nwife, and continued his ill treatment until her cries brought neighbors\nin to separate them. But all this caused a loss of time, the bridle was\nnot in this way to be had, and in the end Chlidon's journey was stopped,\nand the message he had been asked to bear never reached the conspirators\non their way. Accidents of this kind often frustrate the best-laid\nplans. In this case the accident was providential to the conspiracy.\n\nAnd now, what were these seven men to do? Four men--Leontiades, Archias,\nPhilippus, and Hypates--had the city under their control. But they were\nsupported in their tyranny by a garrison of fifteen hundred Spartans and\nallies in the Cadmeia, and Lacedaemonian posts in the other cities\naround. These four men were to be dealt with, and for that purpose the\nseven had come. On the evening of the next day Archias and Philippus\ndesigned to have a banquet. Phyllidas, their secretary, but secretly one\nof the patriots, had been ordered to prepare the banquet for them, and\nhad promised to introduce into their society on that occasion some women\nof remarkable beauty and of the best families in Thebes. He did not hint\nto them that these women would wear beards and carry daggers under their\nrobes.\n\nWe have told, in a previous tale, the story of the \"Seven against\nThebes.\" The one with which we are now concerned might be properly\nentitled the \"Seven for Thebes.\" That night and the following day the\ndevoted seven lay concealed. Evening came on. The hour when they were to\nplay their parts had nearly arrived. They were in that state of strained\nexpectation that brings the nerves to the surface, and started in sudden\ndread when a loud knock came upon the door. They were still more\nstartled on hearing its purpose. A messenger had come to bid Charon\ninstantly to come to the presence of the two feasting polemarchs.\n\nWhat did it mean? Had the plot been divulged? Had the timid\nHipposthenidas betrayed them? At any rate, there was but one thing to\ndo; Charon must go at once. But he, faithful soul, was most in dread\nthat his friends should suspect him of treachery. He therefore brought\nhis son, a highly promising youth of fifteen, and put him in the hands\nof Pelopidas as a hostage for his fidelity.\n\n\"This is folly!\" cried they all. \"No one doubts you. Take the boy away.\nIt is enough for us to face the danger; do not seek to bring the boy\ninto the same peril.\"\n\nCharon would not listen to their remonstrances, but insisted on leaving\nthe youth in their hands, and hastened away to the house of the\npolemarchs. He found them at the feast, already half intoxicated. Word\nhad been sent them from Athens that some plot, they knew not what, was\nafloat. He was known to be a friend of the exiles. He must tell them\nwhat he knew about it.\n\nFortunately, the pair were too nearly drunk to be acute. Their\nsuspicions were very vague. Charon, aided by Phyllidas, had little\ntrouble in satisfying them that the report was false. Eager to get back\nto their wine they dismissed him, very glad indeed to get away. Hardly\nhad he gone before a fresh message, and a far more dangerous one, was\nbrought to Archias, sent by a namesake of his at Athens. This gave a\nfull account of the scheme and the names of those who were to carry it\nout. \"It relates to a very serious matter,\" said the messenger who bore\nit.\n\n\"Serious matters for to-morrow,\" cried Archias, with a drunken laugh, as\nhe put the unopened despatch under the pillow of his couch and took up\nthe wine-cup again.\n\n\"Those whom the gods mean to destroy they first make mad,\" says an\napposite Grecian proverb. These men were foredoomed.\n\n\"A truce to all this disturbance,\" cried the two polemarchs to\nPhyllidas. \"Where are the women whom you promised us? Let us see these\nfamous high-born beauties.\"\n\nPhyllidas at once retired, and quickly returned with the seven\nconspirators, clothed in female attire. Leaving them in an adjoining\nchamber, he entered the banquet-room, and told the feasters that the\nwomen refused to come in unless all the domestics were first dismissed.\n\n\"Let it be so,\" said Archias, and at the command of Phyllidas the\ndomestics sought the house of one of their number, where the astute\nsecretary had well supplied them with wine.\n\nThe two polemarchs, with one or two friends, alone remained, all half\nintoxicated, and the only armed one being Cabeirichus, the archon, who\nwas obliged by law to keep always with him the consecrated spear of\noffice.\n\nAnd now the supposed and eagerly expected women were brought in,--three\nof them attired as ladies of distinction, the four others dressed as\nattendants. Their long veils and ample robes completely disguised them,\nand they sat down beside the polemarchs without a suspicion being\nentertained. Not till their drunken companions lifted their veils did\nthe truth appear. But the lifting of the veils was the signal for quick\nand deep dagger thrusts, and Archias and Philippus, with scarcely a\nmovement of resistance, fell dead from their seats. No harm was meant to\nthe others, but the drunken archon rushed on the conspirators with his\nspear, and in consequence perished with his friends.\n\nThere were two more of the tyrants to deal with. Phyllidas led three of\nthe conspirators to the house of Leontiades, into which he was admitted\nas the bearer of an order from the polemarchs. Leontiades was reclining\nafter supper, with his wife spinning wool by his side, when his foes\nentered his chamber, dagger in hand. A bold and strong man, he instantly\nsprang up, seized his sword, and with a thrust mortally wounded the\nfirst of the three. Then a desperate struggle took place in the doorway\nbetween him and Pelopidas, the place being too narrow for the third to\napproach. In the end Pelopidas dealt him a mortal blow. Then,\nthreatening the wife with death if she gave the alarm, and closing the\ndoor with stern commands that it should not be opened again, the two\npatriots left the house and sought that of Hypates. He took the alarm\nand fled, and was pursued to the roof, where he was killed as he was\ntrying to escape over the house-tops.\n\nThis work done, and no alarm yet given, the conspirators proceeded to\nthe prison, whose doors they ordered to be opened. The jailer hesitated,\nand was slain by a spear-thrust, the patriots rushing over his body into\nthe prison, from whose cells the tenants were soon released. These, one\nhundred and fifty in number, sufferers for their patriotic sentiments,\nwere quickly armed from battle-spoils kept near by, and drawn up in\nbattle array. And now, for the first time, did the daring conspirators\nfeel assurance of success.\n\n[Illustration: GATE OF THE AGORA OR OIL MARKET, ATHENS.]\n\nThe tidings of what had been done by this time got abroad, and ran like\nwildfire through the city. Citizens poured excitedly into the streets.\nEpaminondas, who was afterwards to become the great leader of the\nThebans, joined with some friends the small array of patriots.\nProclamation was made throughout the city by heralds that the despots\nwere slain and Thebes was free, and all Thebans who valued liberty were\nbidden to muster in arms in the market-place. All the trumpeters in the\ncity were bidden to blow with might and main, from street to street, and\nthus excite the people to take arms to secure their liberty.\n\nWhile night lasted surprise and doubt continued, many of the citizens\nnot knowing what to do. But with day-dawn came a wild outburst of joy\nand enthusiasm. Horsemen and footmen hastened in arms to the agora.\nHere a formal assembly of the Theban people was convened, before whom\nPelopidas and his fellows appeared to tell what they had done. The\npriests crowned them with wreaths, while the people hailed them with\njoyful acclamations. With a single voice they nominated Pelopidas,\nMellon, and Charon as Boeotarchs,--a Theban title of authority which\nhad for a number of years been dropped.\n\nSuch was the hatred which the long oppression had aroused, that the very\nwomen trod underfoot the slain jailer, and spat upon his corpse. In that\ncity, where women rarely showed themselves in public, this outburst\nstrongly indicated the general public rage against the overthrown\ndespots. Messengers hastened to Attica to carry to the exiles the glad\ntidings, and soon they, with a body of Athenian volunteers, were in\njoyful march for the city.\n\nMeanwhile, the Spartans in the citadel were in a state of distraction\nand alarm. All night long the flashing of lights, the blare of trumpets,\nthe shouts of excited patriots, the sound of hurrying feet in the city,\nhad disturbed their troubled souls, and when affrighted partisans of the\ndefeated party came hurrying for safety into the Cadmeia, with tidings\nof the tragic event, they were filled with confusion and dismay.\nAccustomed to look to the polemarchs for orders, the garrison did not\nknow whom to trust or consult. They hastily sent out messengers to\nThespiae and Plataea for aid, but the forces which came to their help from\nthese cities were charged upon by the Thebans and driven back with loss.\n\nWhat to do the Spartan commander knew not. The citizens were swarming\nin the streets, and gathering in force around the citadel. That they\nintended to storm it before aid could come from Sparta was evident. In\nfact, they were already rushing to the assault,--large rewards being\noffered those who should first force their way in,--when a flag of truce\nfrom the garrison stopped them in mid-career. The commander proposed to\ncapitulate.\n\nAll he asked was liberty to march out of Thebes with the honors of war.\nThis was granted him, under oath. At once the foreign garrison filed out\nfrom the citadel and marched to one of the gates, accompanied by the\nTheban refugees who had sought shelter with them. These latter had not\nbeen granted the honors of war. Among them were some of the prominent\noppressors of the people. In a burst of ungovernable rage these were\ntorn from the Spartan ranks by the people and put to death; even the\nchildren of some of them being slain. Few of the refugees would have\nescaped but for the Athenians present, who generously helped to get them\nsafely through the gates and out of sight and reach of their infuriated\ntownsmen.\n\nAnd thus, almost without a blow, in a night's and a morning's work, the\ncity of Thebes, which for several years had lain helpless in the hands\nof its foes, regained its liberty. As for the Spartan harmosts, or\nleaders, who had capitulated without an attempt at defence, two of them\nwere put to death on reaching home, the third was heavily fined and\nbanished. Sparta had no mercy and no room for beaten men.\n\nThebes was free! The news spread like an electric shock through the\nGrecian world. A few men, taking a desperate risk, had in an hour\noverthrown a government that seemed beyond assault. The empire of\nSparta, the day before undisputed and nearly universal over Greece, had\nreceived a serious blow. Throughout all Greece men breathed easier,\nwhile the spirit of patriotism suddenly flamed again. The first blow in\na coming revolution had been struck.\n\n\n\n\n_THE HUMILIATION OF SPARTA._\n\n\nThebes was free! But would she stay free? Sparta was against\nher,--Sparta, the lord of Greece. Could a single city, however\nliberty-loving and devoted its people, maintain itself against that\nengine of war which had humbled mighty Athens and now lorded it over the\nworld of Greece? This is the question we have to answer; how in a brief\nspace the dominion of Sparta was lost, and Thebes, so long insignificant\nand almost despised, rose to take the foremost place in Greece.\n\nTwo men did this work. As seven men had restored Thebes to freedom, two\nmen lifted her almost into empire. One of these was Pelopidas, the\nleading spirit of the seven. The other was Epaminondas, whose name was\nsimply mentioned in the tale of the patriotic seven, yet who in the\ncoming years was to prove himself one of the greatest men Greece ever\nproduced.\n\nPelopidas belonged to one of the richest and highest families of Thebes.\nHe was one of the youngest of the exiles, yet a man of earnest\npatriotism and unbounded daring. It was his ardent spirit that gave life\nto the conspiracy, and his boldness and enterprise that led it forward\nto success. And it was the death of Leontiades by his hand that freed\nThebes.\n\nEpaminondas was a man of different character and position. Though of\nancient and honorable family, he was poor, while Pelopidas was very\nrich; middle-aged, while Pelopidas was young; quiet, patient, and\nthoughtful, while Pelopidas was bold, active, and energetic. In the wars\nthat followed he was the brain, while Pelopidas was the right hand, of\nThebes. Epaminondas had been an earnest student of philosophy and music,\nand was an adept in gymnastic training. He was a listener, not a talker,\nyet no Theban equalled him in eloquence in time when speech was needful.\nHe loved knowledge, yet he cared little for power, and nothing for\nmoney, and he remained contentedly poor till the end of his days, not\nleaving enough wealth to pay his funeral expenses. He did not love\nbloodshed, even to gain liberty. He had objected to the conspiracy,\nsince freedom was to be gained through murder. Yet this was the man who\nwas to save Thebes and degrade her great enemy, Sparta.\n\nLike Socrates and Alcibiades, these two men were the warmest friends.\nTheir friendship, like that of the two great Athenians, had been\ncemented in battle. Standing side by side as hoplites (or heavy armed\nsoldiers), on an embattled field, Pelopidas had fallen wounded, and\nEpaminondas had saved his life at the greatest danger to himself,\nreceiving several wounds while bearing his helpless friend to a place of\nsafety. To the end of their lives they continued intimate friends, each\nrecognizing the peculiar powers of the other, and the two working like\none man for Theban independence.\n\nEpaminondas proved himself a thinker of the highest military genius,\nPelopidas a leader of the greatest military vigor. The work of the\nlatter was largely performed with the Sacred Band, a warlike association\nof three hundred youthful Thebans, sworn to defend the citadel until\ndeath, bound by bonds of warm friendship, and trained into the highest\nmilitary efficiency. Pelopidas was the captain of this noble band, which\nwas never overcome until the fatal battle of Chaeronea, and then only by\ndeath, the Three Hundred lying dead in their ranks as they had stood.\n\nFor the events with which we have now to deal we must leap over seven\nyears from the freeing of Thebes. It will suffice to say that for two\nyears of that time Sparta fought fiercely against that city, but could\nnot bring it under subjection again. Then wars arose elsewhere and drew\nher armies away. Thebes now took the opportunity to extend her power\nover the other cities of Boeotia, and of one of these cities there is\nsomething of interest to tell.\n\nWe have told in an earlier tale how Sparta and Thebes captured Plataea\nand swept it from the face of the earth. Recently Sparta had rebuilt the\ncity, recalled its exiled citizens, and placed it as a Spartan outpost\nagainst Thebes. But now, when the armies of Sparta had withdrawn, the\nThebans deemed it a good opportunity to conquer it again. One day, when\nthe Plataean men were at work in their fields, and unbroken peace\nprevailed, a Theban force suddenly took the city by surprise, and forced\nthe Plataeans to surrender at discretion. Poor Plataea was again levelled\nwith the ground, her people were once more sent into exile, and her soil\nwas added to that of Thebes. It may be well to say here that most of the\nGrecian cities consisted of the walled town and sufficient surrounding\nland to raise food for the inhabitants within, and that the farmers went\nout each morning to cultivate their fields, and returned each night\nwithin the shelter of their walls. It was this habit that gave Thebes\nits treacherous opportunity.\n\nDuring the seven years mentioned we hear nothing of Epaminondas, yet we\nknow that he made himself felt within the walls of Thebes; for when, in\n371 B.C., the cities of Greece, satisfied that it was high time to stop\ncutting each other's throats, held a congress at Sparta to conclude\npeace, we find him there as the representative of Thebes.\n\nThe terms of peace demanded by Athens, and agreed to by most of the\ndelegates, were that each city, small or large, should possess autonomy,\nor self-government. Sparta and Athens were to become mutual guarantees,\ndividing the headship of Greece between them. As for Thebes and her\nclaim to the headship of Boeotia, her demand was set aside.\n\nThis conclusion reached, the cities one after another took oath to keep\nthe terms of peace, each city swearing for itself except Sparta, which\ntook the oath for itself and its allies. When it came to the turn of\nThebes there was a break in this love-feast. Sparta had sworn for all\nthe cities of Laconia; Epaminondas, as the representative of Thebes,\ninsisted on swearing not for Thebes alone, but for Thebes as president\nof all Boeotia. He made a vigorous speech, asking why Sparta was\ngranted rights from which other leading cities were debarred.\n\nThis was a new question. No Greek had ever asked it openly before. To\nSparta it seemed the extreme of insolence and insult. What daring\nstranger was this who presumed to question her right to absolute control\nof Laconia? No speech was made in her defence. Spartans never made\nspeeches. They prided themselves on their few words and quick\ndeeds,--_laconic_ utterances, as they have since been called. The\nSpartan king sprang indignantly from his seat.\n\n\"Speak plainly,\" he scornfully demanded. \"Will you, or will you not,\nleave to each of the Boeotian cities its separate autonomy?\"\n\n\"Will _you_ leave each of the Laconian towns its separate autonomy?\"\ndemanded Epaminondas.\n\nNot another word was said. Agesilaus, the Spartan king, who was also\npresident of the congress, caused the name of Thebes to be stricken from\nthe roll, and proclaimed that city to be excluded from the treaty of\npeace.\n\nIt was a bold move on the part of Epaminondas, for it meant war with all\nthe power of Sparta, relieved of all other enemies by the peace. Sparta\nhad conquered and humbled Athens. It had conquered many other cities,\nforcing some of them to throw down their walls and go back again to\ntheir old state of villages. What upstart was this that dared defy its\nwrath and power? Thebes could hope for no allies, and seemed feeble\nagainst Spartan strength. How dared, then, this insolent delegate to\nfling defiance in the teeth of the lord of Greece?\n\nFortunately Thebes needed no allies. It had two men of warlike genius,\nEpaminondas and Pelopidas. These were to prove in themselves worth a\nhost of allies. The citizens were with them. Great as was the danger,\nthe Thebans sustained Epaminondas in his bold action, and made him\ngeneral of their army. He at once marched to occupy a pass by which it\nwas expected the Spartans would come. Sparta at that moment had a strong\narmy under Cleombrotus, one of its two kings, in Phocis, on the frontier\nof Boeotia. This was at once ordered to march against defiant Thebes.\n\nCleombrotus lost no time, and with a military skill which Spartans\nrarely showed he evaded the pass which Epaminondas held, followed a\nnarrow mountain-track, captured Creusis, the port of Thebes, with twelve\nwar-ships in the harbor, and then marched to a place called Leuctra,\nwithin an easy march of Thebes, yet which left open communication with\nSparta by sea, by means of the captured port.\n\nThe Thebans had been outgeneralled, and were dismayed by the result. The\nSpartans and their king were full of confidence and joy. All the\neloquence of Epaminondas and the boldness of Pelopidas were needed to\nkeep the courage of their countrymen alive and induce them to march\nagainst their foes. And it was with much more of despair than of hope\nthat they took up at length a position on the hilly ground opposite the\nSpartan camp.\n\nThe two armies were not long in coming to blows. The Spartans and their\nallies much exceeded the Thebans in numbers. But Epaminondas prepared to\nmake the most of his small force by drawing it up in a new array, never\nbefore seen in Greece.\n\nInstead of forming the narrow line of battle always before the rule in\nGreek armies, he placed in front of his left wing Pelopidas and the\nSacred Band, and behind them arranged a mass of men fifty shields deep,\na prodigious depth for a Grecian host. The centre and right were drawn\nup in the usual thin lines, but were kept back on the defensive, so that\nthe deep column might join battle first.\n\nThus arrayed, the army of Thebes marched to meet its foe, in the valley\nbetween the two declivities on which the hostile camps were placed. The\ncavalry met first, and the Theban horsemen soon put the Spartan troop to\nflight. Then the footmen came together with a terrible shock. Pelopidas\nand his Sacred Band, and behind them the weight of the fifty shields,\nproved more than the Spartans, with all their courage and discipline,\ncould endure. Both sides fought bravely, hand to hand; but soon\nCleombrotus fell, mortally hurt, and was with difficulty carried off\nalive. Around him fell others of the Spartan leaders. The resistance was\nobstinate, the slaughter terrible; but at last the Spartan right wing,\noverborne by the heavy Theban mass and utterly beaten, was driven back\nto its camp on the hill-side above. Meanwhile the left wing, made up of\nallies, did little fighting, and quickly followed the Spartans back to\nthe camp.\n\nIt was a crushing defeat. Of seven hundred Spartans who had marched in\nconfidence from the camp, only three hundred returned thither in dismay.\nA thousand and more Lacedaemonians besides were left dead upon the field.\nNot since the day of Thermopylae had Sparta lost a king in battle. The\nloss of the Theban army was not more than three hundred men. Only twenty\ndays had elapsed since Epaminondas left Sparta, spurned by the scorn of\none of her kings; and now he stood victor over Sparta at Leuctra, with\nher second king dead in his camp of refuge. It is not surprising that to\nGreece, which had felt sure of the speedy overthrow of Thebes, these\ntidings came like a thunderbolt. Sparta on land had been thought\nirresistible. But here on equal ground, and with nearly double force,\nshe had been beaten by insignificant Thebes.\n\nWe must hasten to the end of this campaign. Sparta, wrought to\ndesperation by her defeat, sent all the men she could spare in\nreinforcement. Thebes, too, sought allies, and found a powerful one in\nJason of Pherae, a city of Thessaly. The Theban leaders, flushed with\nvictory, were eager to attack the enemy in his camp, but Jason gave them\nwiser advice.\n\n\"Be content,\" he said, \"with the great victory you have gained. Do not\nrisk its loss by attacking the Lacedaemonians driven to despair in their\ncamp. You yourselves were in despair a few days ago. Remember that the\ngods take pleasure in bringing about sudden changes of fortune.\"\n\nThis advice taken, Jason offered the enemy the opportunity to retreat in\nsafety from their dangerous position. This they gladly accepted, and\nmarched in haste away. On their journey home they met a second army\ncoming to their relief. This was no longer needed, and the whole baffled\nforce returned home.\n\nThe military prestige held by Sparta met with a serious blow from this\nsignal defeat. The prestige of Thebes suddenly rose into supremacy, and\nher control of Boeotia became complete. But the humiliation of Sparta\nwas not yet near its end. Epaminondas was not the man to do things by\nhalves. In November of 370 B.C. he marched an army into Arcadia (a\ncountry adjoining Laconia on the north), probably the largest hostile\nforce that had ever been seen in the Peloponnesus. With its Arcadian and\nother allies it amounted to forty thousand, or, as some say, to seventy\nthousand, men, and among these the Thebans formed a body of splendidly\ndrilled and disciplined troops, not surpassed by those of Sparta\nherself. The enthusiasm arising from victory, the ardor of Pelopidas,\nand the military genius of Epaminondas had made a wonderful change in\nthe hoplites of Thebes in a year's time.\n\nAnd now a new event in the history of the Spartan commonwealth was seen.\nFor centuries the Spartans had done their fighting abroad, marching at\nwill through all parts of Greece. They were now obliged to fight on\ntheir own soil, in defence of their own hearths and homes. Dividing his\narmy into four portions, Epaminondas marched into rock-bounded Laconia\nby four passes.\n\nThe Arcadians had often felt the hard hand of their warlike neighbors.\nOnly a snort time before one of their principal cities, Mantinea, had\nbeen robbed of its walls and converted into open villages. Since the\nbattle of Leuctra the villagers had rebuilt their walls and defied a\nSpartan army. Now the Arcadians proved even more daring than the\nThebans. They met a Spartan force and annihilated it.\n\nInto the country of Laconia pushed the invaders. The city of Sellasia\nwas taken and burned. The river Eurotas was forded. Sparta lay before\nEpaminondas and his men.\n\nIt lay before them without a wall or tower. Through its whole history no\nforeign army had come so near it. It trusted for defence not to walls,\nbut to Spartan hearts and hands. Yet now consternation reigned. Sparta\nthe inviolate, Sparta the unassailable, was in imminent peril of\nsuffering the same fate it had often meted out freely to its foes.\n\nBut the Spartans had not been idle. Allies had sent aid in all haste to\nthe city. Even six thousand of the Helots were armed as hoplites, though\nto see such a body of their slaves in heavy armor alarmed the Spartans\nalmost as much as to behold their foes so near at hand. In fact, many of\nthe Helots and country people joined the Theban army, while others\nrefused to come to the aid of the imperilled city.\n\nEpaminondas marched on until he was in sight of the city. He did not\nattempt to storm it. Though without walls, Sparta had strong natural\ndefences, and heaps of earth and stones had been hastily thrown up on\nthe most open roads. A strong army had been gathered. The Spartans would\nfight to death for their homes. To attack them in their stronghold\nmight be to lose all that had been gained. Repulse here would be ruin.\nContent with having faced the lion in his den, Epaminondas turned and\nmarched down the Eurotas, his army wasting, plundering, and burning as\nit went, while the Spartans, though in an agony of shame and wounded\nhonor, were held back by their king from the peril of meeting their\nenemy in the field.\n\nIn the end, his supplies growing scarce, his soldiers loaded with\nplunder, Epaminondas led his army back to Arcadia, having accomplished\nfar more than any foe of Sparta had ever done before, and destroyed the\nwarlike reputation of Sparta throughout Greece.\n\nBut the great Theban did not end here. He had two other important\nobjects in view. One was to consolidate the Arcadians by building them a\ngreat central city, to be called Megalopolis (Great City), and inhabited\nby people from all parts of the state. This was done, thick and lofty\nwalls, more than five miles and a half in circumference, being built\nround the new stronghold.\n\nHis other purpose was to restore the country of Messenia. We have\nalready told how this country had been conquered by the Spartans\ncenturies before, and its people exiled or enslaved. Their descendants\nwere now to regain their liberty and their homes. A new city, to be\nnamed Messenia, was ordered by Epaminondas to be built, and this, at the\nrequest of the Messenians, was erected on Mount Ithome, where the\ngallant hero Aristomenes had made his last stand against his country's\ninvaders.\n\nThe city was built, the walls rising to the music of Argeian and\nBoeotian flutes. The best architects and masons of Greece were invited\nto lay out the plans of streets and houses and of the sacred edifices.\nThe walls were made so strong and solid that they became the admiration\nof after-ages. The surrounding people, who had been slaves of Sparta,\nwere made freemen and citizens of the reorganized state. A wide area of\nland was taken from Laconia and given to the new communities which\nEpaminondas had formed. Then, in triumph, he marched back to Thebes,\nhaving utterly destroyed the power and prestige of Sparta in Greece.\n\nReaching home, he was put on trial by certain enemies. He had broken the\nlaw by keeping command of the army four months beyond the allotted time.\nHe appealed to the people, with what result we can readily understand.\nHe was acquitted by acclamation, and he and Pelopidas were immediately\nre-elected Boeotarchs (or generals) for the coming year.\n\n\n\n\n_TIMOLEON, THE FAVORITE OF FORTUNE._\n\n\nIn the city of Corinth dwelt two brothers; one of whom, named Timoleon,\nwas distinguished alike for his courage, gentleness, patriotism, lack of\nambition, and hatred of despots and traitors; the other, named\nTimophanes, was noted for bravery and enterprise, but also for\nunprincipled ambition and lack of patriotism. Timophanes, being a\nvaliant soldier, had gained high rank in the army of Corinth. Timoleon\nloved his unworthy brother and sought to screen his faults. He did more:\nhe saved his life at frightful peril to himself. During a battle between\nthe army of Corinth and that of some neighboring state, Timophanes, who\ncommanded the cavalry, was thrown from his wounded horse very near to\nthe enemy. The cavalry fled, leaving him to what seemed certain death.\nBut Timoleon, who was serving with the infantry, rushed from the ranks\nand covered his brother with his shield just as the enemy were about to\npierce him. They turned in numbers on the defender, with spears and\ndarts, but he warded off their blows, and protected his fallen brother\nat the cost of several wounds to himself, until others rushed to the\nrescue and drove back the foe.\n\nThe whole city was full of admiration of Timoleon for this act of\ndevotion. Timophanes also was raised in public estimation through his\nbrother's deed, and was placed in an important post. Corinth was\ngoverned by an aristocracy, who, just then, brought in a garrison of\nfour hundred foreign soldiers and placed them in the citadel. Timophanes\nwas given command of this garrison and control of the stronghold.\n\nThe governors of the city did not know their man. Here was an\nopportunity for the unlimited ambition of the new commander. Gaining\nsome armed partisans among the poorer citizens, and availing himself of\nthe control of fort and garrison, Timophanes soon made himself master of\nthe city, and seized and put to death all who opposed him among the\nchief citizens. Unwittingly the Corinthian aristocrats had put over\nthemselves a cruel despot.\n\nBut they found also a defender. The crimes of his brother at first\nfilled Timoleon with shame and sorrow. He went to the citadel and begged\nTimophanes, by all he held sacred, to renounce his ambitious projects.\nThe new despot repelled his appeal with contempt. Timoleon went again,\nthis time with three friends, but with no better effect. Timophanes\nlaughed them to scorn, and as they continued their pleading he grew\nangry and refused to hear more. Then the three friends drew their swords\nand killed the tyrant on the spot, while Timoleon stood aside, with his\nface hidden and his eyes bathed in tears.\n\nHe who had saved his brother's life at the risk of his own had now\nconsented to his death to save his country. But personally, although all\nCorinth warmly applauded his patriotic act, he was thrown into the most\nviolent grief and remorse. This was the greater from the fact that his\nmother viewed his deed with horror and execration, invoked curses on his\nhead, and refused even to see him despite his earnest supplications.\n\nThe gratitude of the city was overcome in his mind by grief for his\nbrother, and he was attacked by the bitterest pangs of remorse. The\nkilling of the tyrant he had felt to be a righteous and necessary act.\nThe murder of his brother afflicted him with despair. For a time he\nrefused food, resolving to end his odious life by starvation. Only the\nprayers of his friends made him change this resolution. Then, like one\npursued by the furies, he fled from the city, hid himself in solitude,\nand kept aloof from the eyes and voices of men. For several years he\nthus dwelt in self-afflicting solitude, and when at length time reduced\nhis grief and he returned to the city, he shunned all prominent\npositions, and lived in humility and retirement. Thus time went on until\ntwenty years had passed, Timoleon still, in spite of the affection and\nsympathy of his fellow-citizens, refusing any office or place of\nauthority.\n\nBut now an event occurred which was to make this grieving patriot famous\nthrough all time, as the favored of the gods and one of the noblest of\nmen,--the Washington of the far past. To tell how this came about we\nmust go back some distance in time. Corinth, though it played no leading\npart in the wars of Greece, like Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, was still\na city of much importance, its situation on the isthmus between the\nPeloponnesus and northern Greece being excellent for commerce and\nmaritime enterprise. Many years before it had sent out a colony which\nfounded the city of Syracuse, in Sicily. It was in aid of this city of\nSyracuse that Timoleon was called upon to act.\n\nWe have already told how Athens sought to capture this city and ruined\nherself in the enterprise. After that time of triumph Syracuse passed\nthrough several decades of terror and woe. Tyrants set their feet on her\nfair neck, and almost crushed her into the earth. One of these,\nDionysius by name, had made his power felt by far-off Greece and nearer\nCarthage, and for years ruled over Sicily with a rod of iron. His\nsuccessor, Dion, a friend and pupil of the philosopher Plato, became an\noppressor when he came into power. Then another Dionysius gained the\nthrone, a cowardly and drunken wretch, who repeated the acts of his\ntyrannical father.\n\nSuch was the state of affairs in Sicily when Timoleon was dwelling\nquietly at home in Corinth, a man of fifty, with no ambitious thought\nand no ruling desire except to reach the end of his sorrow-laden life.\nSo odious now had the tyranny of Dionysius become that the despairing\nSyracusans sent a pathetic appeal to Corinth, their mother city, praying\nfor aid against this brutal despot and the Carthaginians, who had\ninvaded the island of Sicily in force.\n\nCorinth just then, fortunately, had no war on hand,--a somewhat\nuncommon condition for a Greek city at that day. The citizens voted at\nonce to send the aid asked for. But who should be the leader? There were\ndanger and difficulty in the enterprise, with little hope for profit,\nand none of the Corinthian generals or politicians seemed eager to lead\nthis forlorn hope. The archons called out their names one by one, but\neach in succession declined. The archons had come nearly to their wits'\nend whom to choose, when from an unknown voice in the assembly came the\nname \"Timoleon.\" The archons seized eagerly on the suggestion, hastily\nchose Timoleon for the post which all the leading men declined, and the\nassembly adjourned.\n\nTimoleon, who sadly needed some active exertion to relieve him from the\nweight of eating thought, accepted the thankless enterprise, heedless\nprobably of the result. He at once began to gather ships and soldiers.\nBut he found the Corinthians more ready to select a commander than to\nprovide him with means and men. Little money was forthcoming; few men\nseemed ready to enlist; Timoleon had no great means of his own. In the\nend he only got together seven triremes and one thousand men,--the most\nof them mere mercenaries. Three more ships and two hundred men were\nafterwards added.\n\nAnd thus, with this small force, Timoleon set out to conquer a city and\nkingdom on whose conquest Athens, years before, had lavished hundreds of\nships and tens of thousands of men in vain. The effort seemed utterly\npuerile. Was the handful of Corinthians to succeed where all the\nimperial power of Athens had failed? Yet the gods fought with Timoleon.\n\nIn truth, from the day he left Corinth, those presages of fortune, on\nwhich the Greeks so greatly depended, gathered about his path across the\nseas. The signs and tokens were all favorable. While he was at Delphi,\nseeking the favor of Apollo, a fillet with wreaths and symbols of\nvictory fell from a statue upon his head, and the goddess Persephone\ntold her priestess in a dream that she was about to sail with Timoleon\nto Sicily, her favorite island. He took, therefore, a special trireme,\nsacred to the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, both of whom were to\naccompany him. While at sea this sacred trireme was illumined by a light\nfrom heaven, while a burning torch on high seemed to guide the fleet to\na safe harbor. All these portents filled the adventurers with hope and\njoy.\n\nBut Timoleon had himself to depend on as well as the gods. At the\nItalian port of Rhegium he found Hicetas, the despot of a Sicilian city,\nwho had invited him to Sicily, but was now allied with the\nCarthaginians. He had there twenty of the war-ships of Carthage, double\nthe force of Timoleon. Yet the shrewd Corinthian played with and tricked\nhim, set him to talking and the people of Rhegium to talking with him,\nand slipped slyly out of the harbor with his ships while the\ninterminable talk went on.\n\nThis successful stratagem redoubled the spirit of his followers. Landing\nat a small town on the Sicilian coast, a new enterprise presented\nitself. Forty miles inland lay the town of Adranum, sacred to the god\nAdranus, a deity worshipped throughout Sicily. There were two parties in\nAdranum, one of which invited Timoleon, the other Hicetas. The latter at\nonce started thither, with a force of five thousand men, an army with\nwhich that of Timoleon seemed too small to cope. But heedless of this\ndiscrepancy Timoleon hastened thither, and on arriving near the town\nperceived that the opposing army had outstripped him in speed. Hicetas,\nnot aware of the approach of a foe, had encamped, and his men were\ndisarmed and at their suppers.\n\nThe small army of Timoleon, worn out with their long and rapid march,\nand in sight of an enemy four times their number, were loath to move\nfarther; but their leader, who knew that his only chance for victory lay\nin a surprise, urged them forward, seized his shield and placed himself\nat their head, and led them so suddenly on the foe that the latter,\ncompletely surprised, fled in utter panic. Three hundred were killed,\nsix hundred taken, and the rest, abandoning their camp, hastened at all\nspeed back to Syracuse.\n\nAgain the gods spoke in favor of Timoleon. Just as the battle began the\ngates of the temple of Adranus burst open, and the god himself appeared\nwith brandished spear and perspiring face. So said the awe-struck\nAdranians, and there was no one to contradict their testimony.\n\nSuperstition came here to the adventurer's aid. The report of the god's\ndoings did as much as the victory to add to the fame of Timoleon.\nReinforcements flocked to his ranks, and several towns sought alliance\nwith him. He now, with a large and confident army, marched to Syracuse,\nand defied his foe to meet him in the field.\n\nHicetas was master of all Syracuse except the stronghold of Ortygia,\nwhich was held by Dionysius, and which Hicetas had blockaded by sea and\nland. Timoleon had no means of capturing it, and as the enemy would not\ncome out from behind its walls, he would soon have had to retire had not\nfortune again helped her favorite son, and this time in an extraordinary\nmanner.\n\nAs it happened, Dionysius was growing short of provisions, was beginning\nto despair of holding Ortygia, and was withal a man of indolent and\ndrunken habits, without a tithe of his father's spirit and energy. He\nwas like a fox driven to bay, and having heard of the victory of\nTimoleon, it occurred to him that he would be better off in yielding the\ncity to these Corinthians than losing it to his Sicilian foe. All he\nwished was the promise of a safe asylum and comfortable maintenance in\nthe future. He therefore agreed with Timoleon to surrender the city,\nwith the sole proviso that he should be taken safely with his property\nto Corinth and given freedom of residence in that city. This Timoleon\ninstantly and gladly granted, the city was yielded, and Dionysius passed\ninto Timoleon's camp with a few companions.\n\nWe can imagine the astonishment of the people of Corinth when a trireme\ncame into their harbor with tidings of the remarkable success of their\ntownsman, and bearing as striking evidence the person of the late\ntyrant of Sicily. Only fifty days had passed since he left their city\nwith his thousand men, and already he had this extraordinary prize to\nshow. At once they voted him a reinforcement of two thousand hoplites\nand five hundred cavalry, and willingly granted the dethroned king a\nsafe residence in their city. In after years, so report says, Dionysius\nopened a school there for teaching boys to read, and instructed the\npublic singers in their art. Certainly this was an innocent use to put a\ntyrant to.\n\nOrtygia contained a garrison of two thousand soldiers and vast\nquantities of military stores. Timoleon, after taking possession,\nreturned to Adranum, leaving his lieutenant Neon in command. Soon\nafter--Hicetas having left Syracuse for the purpose of cutting off\nNeon's source of provisions--a sudden sally was made, the blockading\narmy taken by surprise and driven back with loss, and another large\nsection of the city was added to Timoleon's gains.\n\nThis success was quickly followed by another. The reinforcement from\nCorinth had landed at Thurii, on the east coast of Italy. The\nCarthaginian admiral, thinking that they could not easily get away from\nthat place, sailed to Ortygia, where he displayed Grecian shields and\nhad his seamen crowned with wreaths. He fancied that by these signs of\nvictory he would frighten the garrison into surrender. But the garrison\nwere not so easily scared; and meanwhile the Corinthian troops, tired of\nThurii, and not able to get away by sea, had left their ships and\nmarched rapidly overland to the narrow strait of Messina, that\nseparated Italy from Sicily. They found this unguarded,--the\nCarthaginian ships being away on their mission of alarm to Ortygia. And,\nby good fortune, several days of stormy weather had been followed by a\nsudden and complete calm, so that the Corinthians were enabled to cross\nin fishing and other boats and reach Sicily in safety. Thus by a new\nfavor of fortune Timoleon gained this valuable addition to his small\narmy.\n\nTimoleon now marched against Syracuse, where fortune once more came to\nhis aid. For Magon, the Carthaginian admiral, had begun to doubt\nHicetas. He doubted him the more when he saw the men of Timoleon and\nthose of Hicetas engaged in fishing for eels together in the marshy\ngrounds between the armies, and seemingly on very friendly terms.\nThinking he was betrayed, he put all his troops on board ship and sailed\naway for Africa.\n\nIt may well be imagined that Timoleon and his men saw with surprise and\njoy this sudden flight of the Carthaginian ships. With shouts of\nencouragement they attacked the city on all sides. To their\nastonishment, scarcely any defence was made. In fact, the army of\nHicetas, many of them Greeks, were largely in favor of Timoleon, while\nthe talk of the eel catching soldiers in the marshes had won many more\nover. As a result, Timoleon took the great city of Syracuse, on which\nthe Athenians had vainly sacrificed hundreds of ships and thousands of\nmen, without the loss of a single man, killed or wounded.\n\nSuch a succession of astonishing favors of fortune has rarely been seen\nin the world's history. The news flew through Sicily, Italy, and Greece,\nand awakened wonder and admiration everywhere. Only a few months had\npassed since Timoleon left Corinth, and already, with very little loss,\nhe was master of Syracuse and of much of Sicily, and had sent the\ndreaded Sicilian tyrant to dwell as a common citizen in Corinth. His\nability seemed remarkable, his fortune superhuman, and men believed that\nthe gods themselves had taken him under their especial care.\n\nAnd now came the temptation of power, to which so many great men have\nfallen victims. Timoleon had but to say the word and he would be despot\nof Syracuse. Everybody looked for this as the next move. In Ortygia rose\nthe massive citadel within which Dionysius had defied revolt or\ndisaffection. Timoleon had but to establish himself there, and his word\nwould be the law throughout Syracuse, if not throughout Sicily. What\nwould he do?\n\nWhat he proposed to do was quickly shown. He proclaimed that this\nstronghold of tyranny should be destroyed, and invited every Syracusan\nthat loved liberty to come with crowbar and hammer and join in the work\nof levelling to the ground the home and citadel of Dionysius. The\nastounded citizens could scarcely believe their ears. What! destroy the\ntyrant's stronghold! Set Syracuse free! What manner of man was this?\nWith joyous acclaim they gathered, and heaved and tugged until the\nmassive walls were torn stone from stone, and the vast edifice levelled\nwith the ground, while the time passed like a holiday, and songs of joy\nand triumph made their work light.\n\nThe Bastile of Syracuse down, Timoleon ordered that the materials should\nbe used to build courts of justice,--for justice was henceforth to\nreplace despotism in that tyrant-ridden city. But he had more to do. So\nlong had oppression and suffering lasted that the city was half deserted\nand the very market-place turned into a horse pasture. The same was the\ncase with other cities of Sicily. Even the fields were but half\ncultivated. Ruin had swept over that fertile island far and wide.\n\nTimoleon now sent invitations everywhere, inviting exiles to return and\nnew colonists to come and people the island. To make them sure that they\nwould not be oppressed, a new constitution was formed, giving all the\npower to the people. The invitation was accepted. From all quarters\ncolonists came, while ten thousand exiles and others sailed from\nCorinth. In the end no fewer than sixty thousand new citizens were added\nto Syracuse.\n\nMeanwhile Timoleon put down the other despots of Sicily and set the\ncities free. Hicetas, his old enemy, was forced to give up his control\nof Leontini, to which he had retired on the loss of Syracuse. But the\nsnake retained his venom. The Carthaginians were furious at the flight\nof their fleet. Hicetas stirred them up to another invasion of the\nliberated island.\n\nHow long they were in preparing for this expedition we do not know, but\nit was made on a large scale. An army of seventy thousand men landed on\nthe western corner of the island, brought thither by a fleet of two\nhundred triremes and one thousand transports. In the army were ten\nthousand heavy-armed Carthaginians, who carried white shields and wore\nelaborate breastplates. Among these were many of the rich men of\nCarthage, who brought with them costly baggage and rich articles of gold\nand silver. Twenty-five hundred of them were called the Sacred Band of\nCarthage. That great city had rarely before made such a determined\neffort at conquest.\n\nTimoleon was not idle in the face of this great invasion. But the whole\narmy he could muster was but twelve thousand strong, a pitiable total to\nmeet so powerful a foe. And as he marched to meet the enemy distrust and\nfear marched in his ranks. Such was the dread that one division of the\narmy, one thousand strong, mutinied and deserted, and it needed all his\npersonal influence to keep the rest together.\n\nYet Timoleon had in him the spirit that commands success. He pushed on\nwith his disheartened force until near the river Crimesus, beyond which\nwas encamped the great army of Carthage. Some mules laden with parsley\nmet the Corinthians on the road. Parsley was used for the wreaths laid\non tombstones. It seemed a fatal omen. But Timoleon, with the quickness\nof genius, seized some of it, wove a wreath for his head, and cried,\n\"This is our Corinthian symbol of victory: it is the sacred herb with\nwhich we decorate the victors at the Isthmian festival. Its coming\nsignifies success.\" With these encouraging words he restored the\nspirits of the army, and led them on to the top of the hill overlooking\nthe Crimesus.\n\nIt was a misty May morning. Nothing could be seen; but from the valley a\nloud noise and clatter arose. The Carthaginians were on the march, and\nhad begun to cross the stream. Soon the mist rose and the formidable\nhost was seen. A multitude of war-chariots, each drawn by four horses,\nhad already crossed. The ten thousand native Carthaginians, bearing\ntheir white shields, were partly across. The main body of the host was\nhastening in disorderly march to the rugged banks of the stream.\n\nFortune had favored Timoleon again. If he hoped for success this was the\nmoment to attack. The enemy was divided and in disorder. With cheery\nwords he bade his men to charge. The cavalry dashed on in front. Seizing\na shield, Timoleon sprang to the front and led on his footmen, rousing\nthem to activity by exultant words and bidding the trumpets to sound.\nRushing down the hill and through the line of chariots, the charging\nmass poured on the Carthaginian infantry. These fought bravely and\ndefied the Grecian spears with the strength of their armor. The\nassailants had to take to their swords, and try and hew their way\nthrough the dense ranks of the foe.\n\nThe result was in serious doubt, when once more the gods--as it\nseemed--came to Timoleon's aid. A violent storm suddenly arose. Darkness\nshrouded the hill-tops. The wind blew a hurricane. Rain and hail poured\ndown in torrents, while the clouds flashed with lightning and roared\nwith thunder. And all this was on the backs of the Greeks; in the faces\nof the Carthaginians. They could not hear the orders of their officers.\nThe ground became so muddy that many of them slipped and fell: and once\ndown their heavy armor would not let them rise again. The Greeks, driven\nforward by the wind, attacked their foes with double energy. At length,\nblinded by the driving storm, distracted by the furious assault, and\nfour hundred of their front ranks fallen, the white shield battalion\nturned and fled.\n\nBut flight was not easy. They met their own troops coming up. The stream\nhad become suddenly swollen with the rain. In the confused flight\nnumbers were drowned. The panic spread from rank to rank until the whole\nhost was in total rout, flying wildly over the hills, leaving their camp\nand baggage to the victors, who pursued and slaughtered them in\nthousands as they fled.\n\nSuch a complete victory had rarely been won. Ten thousand Carthaginians\nwere killed and fifteen thousand made prisoners, their war chariots were\ncaptured, and the spoil found in the camp and on the track of the flying\narmy was prodigiously great. As for the Sacred Band, it was annihilated.\nThe story is told that it was slain to a man. The broken remnants of the\nflying army hastened to their ships, which they were half afraid to\nenter, for fear the gods that helped Timoleon would destroy them on the\nseas. And thus was Sicily freed.\n\nThe thousand deserters who had left Timoleon's army on its march were\nordered by him to leave the island at once. They did so, crossed the\nStrait of Messina, and took possession of a site in southern Italy,\nwhere they were attacked by the people and every man of them slain. As\nregards the concluding events of our story, it will suffice to say that\nTimoleon had other fighting to do, with Carthaginians and despots; but\nhis wonderful fortune continued throughout, and before long Sicily held\nnot an enemy in arms.\n\nAnd now came the greatest triumph of the Corinthian victor. One master\nalone remained in Sicily,--himself. Despotic power was his had he said\nthe word. The people warmly requested him to retain his control. But no;\nhe had come to free them from tyranny, and free they should be. He laid\ndown at once all his power, gave up the command of the army, and went to\nlive as a private citizen of Syracuse, without office or power.\n\nA single dominion yet remained to him,--that of affection. The people\nworshipped him. His voice was law. As he grew older his sight failed,\nuntil he became totally blind. Yet still, when any difficult question\narose, the people trusted to their sightless benefactor to tell them\nwhat to do. On such occasions Timoleon would be brought in his car,\ndrawn by mules across the market-place, and then by attendants into the\nhall of assembly. Here, still seated in his car, he would listen to the\ndebate, and in the end give his own opinion, which was usually accepted\nby nearly the whole assembly. This done, the car would be drawn out\nagain amid shouts and cheers, and the blind \"father of his country\"\nreturn to his modest home.\n\nSuch liberty and prosperity as now ruled in Sicily had not for a\ncentury been known, and when, three or four years after the great\nvictory of the Crimesus, Timoleon suddenly died, the grief of the people\nwas universal and profound. His funeral obsequies were splendidly\ncelebrated at the public cost, his body was burned on a vast funeral\npile, and as the flames flashed upward a herald proclaimed,--\n\n\"The Syracusan people solemnize, at the cost of two hundred minae, the\nfuneral of this man, the Corinthian Timoleon, son of Timodemus. They\nhave passed a vote to honor him for all future time with festival\nmatches in music, horse and chariot races, and gymnastics; because,\nafter having put down the despots, subdued the foreign enemy, and\nrecolonized the greatest among the ruined cities, he restored to the\nSicilian Greeks their constitution and laws.\"\n\nAnd thus died one of the noblest and most successful men the world has\never known. The fratricide of his earlier years was for the good of\nmankind, and his whole life was consecrated to the cause of human\nliberty, while not a thought of self-aggrandizement seems to have ever\ndisturbed his noble soul.\n\n\n\n\n_THE SACRED WAR._\n\n\nThere were two places in Greece which had been set aside as\nsacred,--Plataea, the scene of the final defeat of the Persian invaders,\nand Delphi, the seat of the great temple of Apollo, in whose oracles all\nGreece placed faith. We have already seen how little the sacredness of\nPlataea protected it from ruin. We have next to see how the sacredness of\nDelphi was condemned, and how all Greece suffered in consequence.\n\nThe temple of Apollo at Delphi had long been held so inviolate that it\nbecame a rich reservoir of treasures, gathered throughout the centuries.\nCroesus, the rich king of Lydia, sent thither the overflow of his\nwealth, and hundreds of others paid liberally for the promises of the\npriestess, until the treasures of Delphi became a by-word in Greece.\nThis vast wealth was felt to be safe. The god would protect his own.\nMen's voices were deep with awe when they told how the wrath of Apollo\nhad overthrown the Persian robbers who sought to rifle his holy fane.\nAnd yet the time came when a horde of bandit Greeks made the temple\ntheir prey and the hand of the god was not lifted in its defence, nor\ndid outraged Greece rise to punish the sacrilegious robbers. This is the\ntale that we have next to tell, that of the so-called Sacred War, with\nall it meant to Greece.\n\nThere was a great Greek council, centuries old, called the\nAmphictyonic. It met twice every year, usually for religious purposes,\nrarely for political. But in the time we have now reached this\nAmphictyonic Council ventured to meddle in politics, and made mischief\nof the direst character. Its first political act was to fine Sparta five\nhundred talents for seizing the citadel of Thebes in times of peace. The\nfine was to be doubled if not paid within a certain time. But as Sparta\nsneered at the fine, and neither paid it nor its double, the action of\nthe council proved of little avail.\n\n[Illustration: BED OF THE RIVER KLADEOS.]\n\nThis was of small importance; it was to the next act of the council that\nthe mischief was due. The people of the small state of Phocis, adjoining\nDelphi, had been accused of cultivating a part of the Cirrhaean plain,\nwhich was consecrated to Apollo. This charge, like the former, was\nbrought by Thebes, and the Amphictyonic Council, having fined Sparta,\nnow, under Theban influence, laid a fine on the Phocians so heavy that\nit was far beyond their means of payment. But Sparta had not paid; why\nshould they? The sentence troubled them little.\n\nAt the next meeting of the council severer measures were taken. Sparta\nwas strong; Phocis weak. It was resolved to seize all its territory and\nconsecrate it to Apollo. This unjust sentence roused the Phocians. A\nbold citizen, Philomelus by name, told them that they must now face war\nor ruin. The district of Delphi had once been theirs, and had been taken\nfrom them wrongfully. \"Let us assert our lost rights and seize the\ntemple,\" he said. \"The Thebans want it; let us anticipate them and take\nback our own.\"\n\nHis words took fire. A strong force was raised, the town and temple were\nattacked, and both, being practically undefended, were quickly captured.\nPhocis had regained her own, for Delphi had been taken from her during\nan older \"Sacred War.\"\n\nPhilomelus now announced that the temple and its oracles would not be\nmeddled with. Its treasures would be safe. Visitors would be free to\ncome and go. He would give any security that Greece required that the\nwealth of Apollo should be safe and all go on as before. But he\nfortified the town, and invited mercenary soldiers till he had an army\nof five thousand men. As for the priestess of Apollo, from whose lips\nthe oracles came, he demanded that she should continue to be inspired as\nbefore, and should give an oracle in his favor. The priestess refused;\nwhereupon he seized her and sought to drag her to the holy tripod on\nwhich she was accustomed to sit. The woman, scared by his violence,\ncried out, \"You may do what you choose!\"\n\nPhilomelus at once proclaimed this as an oracle in his favor, and\npublished it widely. And it is interesting to learn that many of the\nsuperstitious Greeks took his word for it. He certainly took the word of\nthe priestess,--for he did what he chose.\n\nWar at once began. Many of the Greek states rose at the call of the\ncondemned Amphictyonic Council. The Phocians were in imminent peril.\nThey were far from strong enough for the war they had invoked. Mercenary\ntroops--\"soldiers of fortune\"--must be hired; and to hire them money\nmust be had. The citizens of Delphi had already been taxed; the Phocian\ntreasury was empty; where was money to be obtained?\n\nPhilomelus settled this question by _borrowing_, with great reluctance,\na sum from the temple treasures,--to be paid back as soon as possible.\nBut as the war went on and more money was needed, he borrowed again and\nagain,--now without reluctance. And the practice of robbery once\nstarted, he not only paid his troops, but enriched his friends and\nadorned his wife from Apollo's hoarded wealth.\n\nBy this means Philomelus got together an army of ten thousand\nmen,--reckless, dissolute characters, the impious scum of Greece, for no\npious Greek would enlist in such a cause. The war was ferocious. The\nallies put their prisoners to death. Philomelus followed their example.\nThis was a losing game, and both sides gave it up. At length Philomelus\nand his army were caught in an awkward position, the army was dispersed,\nand he driven to the verge of a precipice, where he must choose between\ncaptivity or death. He chose the latter and leaped from the beetling\ncrags.\n\nThe Thebans and their allies foolishly believed that with the death of\nPhilomelus the war was at an end, and marched for their homes.\nOnomarchus, another Phocian leader, took the opportunity thus afforded\nto gather the scattered army together again, seized the temple once\nmore, and stood in defiance of all his foes.\n\nIn addition to gold and silver, the treasury contained many gifts in\nbrass and iron. The precious metals were melted and converted into\nmoney; of the baser metals arms were made. Onomarchus went farther than\nPhilomelus; he not only paid his troops with the treasure, but bribed\nthe leaders of Grecian states, and thus gained powerful friends. He was\nsoon successfully at war, drove back his foes, and pressed his conquests\ntill he had captured Thermopylae and invaded Thessaly.\n\nHere the Phocians came into contact with a foe dangerous to themselves\nand to all Greece. This foe was the celebrated Philip of Macedonia, a\nfamous soldier who was to play a leading part in the subsequent game. He\nhad long been paving the way to the conquest of Greece, and the Sacred\nWar gave him just the opportunity he wanted.\n\nMacedonia lay north of Greece. Its people were not Greeks, nor like\nGreeks in their customs. They lived in the country, not in cities, and\nhad little or none of the culture of Greece. But they were the stuff\nfrom which good soldiers are made. Hitherto this country had been hardly\nthought of as an element in the Grecian problem. Its kings were despots\nwho had been kept busy with their foes at home. But now a king had\narisen of wider views and larger mould. Philip had spent his youth in\nThebes, where he had learned the art of war under Epaminondas. On coming\nto the throne he quickly proved himself a great soldier and a keen and\ncunning politician. By dint of war and trickery he rapidly spread his\ndominions until all his home foes were subdued, Macedonia was greatly\nextended, and Thessaly, the most northern state of Greece, was overrun.\n\nTherefore the invasion of Thessaly by the Phocians brought them into\ncontact with the Macedonians. At first Onomarchus was successful. He won\ntwo battles and drove Philip back to his native state. But another large\narmy was quickly in the field, and this time the army of Onomarchus was\nutterly beaten and himself slain. As for Philip, although he probably\ncared not an iota for the Delphian god, he shrewdly professed to be on a\ncrusade against the impious Phocians, and drowned all his prisoners as\nguilty of sacrilege.\n\nA third leader, Phayllus by name, now took command of the Phocians, and\nthe temple of Apollo was rifled still more freely than before. The\nsplendid gifts of King Croesus had not yet been touched. They were\nheld too precious to be meddled with. But Phayllus did not hesitate to\nturn these into money. One hundred and seventeen ingots of gold and\nthree hundred and sixty golden goblets went to the melting-pot, and with\nthem a golden statue three cubits high and a lion of the same precious\nmetal. And what added to the horror of pious Greece was that much of the\nproceeds of these precious treasures was lavished on favorites. The\nnecklaces of Helen and Eriphyle were given to dissolute women, and a\nwoman flute-player received a silver cup and a golden wreath from the\ntemple hoard.\n\nAll this gave Philip of Macedonia the desired pretence. He marched\nagainst the Phocians, who held Thermopylae, while keeping his Athenian\nenemies quiet by lies and bribes. The leader of the Phocian garrison,\nfinding that no aid came from the Athenian fleet, surrendered to\nPhilip, and that astute monarch won what he had long schemed for, the\nPass of Thermopylae, the Key of Greece.\n\nThe Sacred War was at an end, and with it virtually the independence of\nGreece. Phocis was in the hands of Philip, who professed more than ever\nto be the defender and guardian of Apollo. All the towns in Phocis were\nbroken up into villages, and the inhabitants were ordered to be fined\nten talents annually till they had paid back all they had stolen from\nthe temple. Philip gave back the temple to the Delphians, and was\nhimself voted into membership in the Amphictyonic assembly in place of\nthe discarded Phocians. And all this took place while a treaty of peace\ntied the hands of the Greeks. The Sacred War had served as a splendid\npretext to carry out the ambitious plans of the Macedonian king.\n\nWe have now a long story to tell in a few words. Another people, the\nLocrians, had also made an invasion on Delphian territory. The\nAmphictyonic Council called on Philip to punish them, He at once marched\nsouthward, but, instead of meddling with the Locrians, seized and\nfortified a town in Phocis. At once Athens, full of alarm, declared war,\nand Philip was as quick to declare war in return. Both sides sought the\nsupport of Thebes, and Athens gained it. In August, 338 B.C., the\nGrecian and Macedonian armies met and fought a decisive battle near\nChaeronea, a Boeotian town. In this great contest Alexander the Great\ntook part.\n\nIt was a hotly-contested fight, but in the end Philip triumphed, and\nGreece was lost. Thebes was forced to yield. Athens, to regain the\nprisoners held by Philip, acknowledged him to be the head of Greece. All\nthe other states did the same except Sparta, which defied him. He\nravaged Laconia, but left the city untouched.\n\nTwo years afterwards Philip, lord and master of Greece, was assassinated\nat the marriage feast of his daughter. His son Alexander succeeded him.\nHere seemed an opportunity for Greece to regain her freedom. This\nuntried young man could surely not retain what his able father had won.\nDemosthenes, the celebrated orator, stirred up Athens to revolt. Thebes\nsprang to arms and attacked the Macedonian garrison in the citadel.\n\nThey did not know the man with whom they had to deal. Alexander came\nupon Thebes like an avalanche, took it by assault, and sold into slavery\nall the inhabitants not slain in the assault. The city was razed to the\nground. This terrible example dismayed the rest of Greece.\nSubmission--with the exception of that of Sparta--was universal. The\nindependence of Greece was at an end. More than two thousand years were\nto pass before that country would again be free.\n\n\n\n\n_ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND DARIUS._\n\n\nIn the citadel of Gordium, an ancient town of Phrygia in Asia Minor, was\npreserved an old wagon, rudely built, and very primitive in structure.\nTradition said that it had originally belonged to the peasant Gordius\nand his son Midas, rustic chiefs who had been selected by the gods and\nchosen by the people as the primitive kings of Phrygia. The cord which\nattached the yoke of this wagon to the pole, composed of fibres from the\nbark of the cornel tree, was tied into a knot so twisted and entangled\nthat it seemed as if the fingers of the gods themselves must have tied\nit, so intricate was it and so impossible, seemingly, to untie.\n\nAn oracle had declared that the man who should untie this famous knot\nwould become lord and monarch of all Asia. As may well be imagined, many\nambitious men sought to perform the task, but all in vain. The Gordian\nknot remained tied and Asia unconquered in the year 333 B.C., when\nAlexander of Macedon, who the year before had invaded Asia, and so far\nhad swept all before him, entered Gordium with his victorious army. As\nmay be surmised, it was not long before he sought the citadel to view\nthis ancient relic, which contained within itself the promise of what he\nhad set out to accomplish. Numbers followed him, Phrygians and\nMacedonians, curious to see if the subtle knot would yield to his\nconquering hand, the Macedonians with hope, the Phrygians with doubt.\n\nWhile the multitude stood in silent and curious expectation, Alexander\nclosely examined the knot, looking in vain for some beginning or end to\nits complexity. The thing perplexed him. Was he who had never yet failed\nin any undertaking to be baffled by this piece of rope, this twisted\nobstacle in the way of success? At length, with that angry impatience\nwhich was a leading element in his character, he drew his sword, and\nwith one vigorous stroke severed the cord in two.\n\nAt once a shout went up. The problem was solved; the knot was severed;\nthe genius of Alexander had led him to the only means. He had made good\nhis title to the empire of Asia, and was hailed as predestined conqueror\nby his admiring followers. That night came a storm of thunder and\nlightning which confirmed the belief, the superstitious Macedonians\ntaking it as the testimony of the gods that the oracle was fulfilled.\n\nHad there been no Gordian knot and no oracle, Alexander would probably\nhave become lord of the empire of Asia all the same, and this not only\nbecause he was the best general of his time and one of the best generals\nof all time, but for two other excellent reasons. One was that his\nfather, Philip, had bequeathed to him the best army of the age. The\nGreeks had proved, nearly two centuries before, that their military\norganization and skill were far superior to those of the Persians.\nDuring the interval there had been no progress in the army of Persia,\nwhile Epaminondas had greatly improved the military art in Greece, and\nPhilip of Macedon, his pupil, had made of the Macedonian army a fighting\nmachine such as the world had never before known. This was the army\nwhich, with still further improvements, Alexander was leading into Asia\nto meet the multitudinous but poorly armed and disciplined Persian host.\n\nThe second reason was that Alexander, while the best captain of his age,\nhad opposed to him the worst. It was the misfortune of Persia that a new\nking, Darius Codomannus by name, had just come to the throne, and was to\nprove himself utterly incapable of leading an army, unless it was to\nlead it in flight. It was not only Alexander's great ability, but his\nmarvellous good fortune, which led to his immense success.\n\nThe Persians had had a good general in Asia Minor,--Memnon, a Greek of\nthe island of Rhodes. But just at this time this able leader died, and\nDarius took the command on himself. He could hardly have selected a man\nfrom his ranks who would not have made a better commander-in-chief.\n\nGathering a vast army from his wide-spread dominions, a host six hundred\nthousand strong, the Persian king marched to meet his foe. He brought\nwith him an enormous weight of baggage, there being enough gold and\nsilver alone to load six hundred mules and three hundred camels; and so\nconfident was he of success that he also brought his mother, wife, and\nchildren, and his whole harem, that they might witness his triumph over\nthe insolent Macedonian.\n\nDarius took no steps to guard any of the passes of Asia Minor. Why\nshould he seek to keep back this foe, who was marching blindly to his\nfate? But instead of waiting for Alexander on the plain, where he could\nhave made use of his vast force, he marched into the defile of Issus,\nwhere there was only a mile and a half of open ground between the\nmountains and the sea, and where his vanguard alone could be brought\ninto action. In this defile the two armies met, the fighting part of\neach being, through the folly of the Persian king, not greatly different\nin numbers.\n\nThe blunder of Darius was soon made fatal by his abject cowardice. The\nMacedonians having made a sudden assault on the Persian left wing, it\ngave way and fled. Darius, who was in his chariot in the centre, seeing\nhimself in danger from this flight, suddenly lost his over-confidence,\nand in a panic of terror turned his chariot and fled with wild haste\nfrom the field. When he reached ground over which the chariot could not\npass, he mounted hastily on horseback, flung from him his bow, shield,\nand royal mantle, and rode in mortal terror away, not having given a\nsingle order or made the slightest effort to rally his flying troops.\n\nDarius had been sole commander. His flight left the great army without a\nleader. Not a man remained who could give a general order. Those who saw\nhim flying were infected with his terror and turned to flee also. The\nvast host in the rear trampled one another down in their wild haste to\nget beyond the enemy's reach. The Macedonians must have looked on in\namazement. The battle--or what ought to have been a battle--was over\nbefore it had fairly begun. The Persian right wing, in which was a body\nof Greeks, made a hard fight; but these Greeks, on finding that the king\nhad fled, marched in good order away. The Persian cavalry, also, fought\nbravely until they heard that the king had disappeared, when they also\nturned to fly. Never had so great a host been so quickly routed, and all\nthrough the cowardice of a man who was better fitted by nature to turn a\nspit than to command an army.\n\n[Illustration: THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.]\n\nBut Alexander was not the man to let his enemy escape unscathed. His\npursuit was vigorous. The slaughter of the fugitives was frightful.\nThousands were trodden to death in the narrow and broken pass. The camp\nand the family of Darius were taken, together with a great treasure in\ncoin. The slain in all numbered more than one hundred thousand.\n\nThe panic flight of Darius and his utter lack of ability did more than\nlose him a battle: it lost him an empire. Never was there a battle with\nmore complete and great results. During the next two years Alexander\nwent to work to conquer western Persia. Most of the cities yielded to\nhim. Tyre resisted, and was taken and destroyed. Gaza, another strong\ncity, was captured and its defenders slain. These two cities, which it\ntook nine months to capture, gave Alexander the hardest fighting he\never had. He marched from Gaza to Egypt, which fell without resistance\ninto his hands, and where he built the great city of Alexandria, the\nonly existing memento of his name and deeds. Thence he marched to the\nEuphrates, wondering where Darius was and what he meant to do. Nearly\ntwo years had passed since the battle of Issus, and the kingly poltroon\nhad apparently contented himself with writing letters begging Alexander\nto restore his family. But Alexander knew too well what a treasure he\nheld to consent. If Darius would acknowledge him as his lord and master\nhe could have back his wife and children, but not otherwise.\n\nFinding that all this was useless, Darius began to collect another army.\nHe now got together a vaster host than before. It was said to contain\none million infantry, forty thousand cavalry, and two hundred chariots,\neach of which had a projecting pole with a sharp point, while three\nsword-blades stood out from the yoke on either side, and scythes\nprojected from the naves of the wheels. Darius probably expected to mow\ndown the Macedonians in swaths with these formidable implements of war.\n\nThe army which Alexander marched against this mighty host consisted of\nforty thousand foot and seven thousand horse. It looked like the extreme\nof foolhardiness, like a pigmy advancing against a giant; yet Darius\ncommanded one army, Alexander the other, and Issus had not been\nforgotten.\n\nThe affair, in fact, proved but a repetition of that at Issus. The\nchariots, on which Darius had counted to break the enemy's line, proved\nuseless. Some of the horses were killed; others refused to face the\nMacedonian pikes; some were scared by the noise and turned back; the few\nthat reached the Greek lines found the ranks opened to let them pass.\n\nThe chariots thus disposed of, the whole Macedonian line charged.\nAlexander, at the head of his cavalry, pushed straight for the person of\nDarius. He could not get near the king, who was well protected, but he\ngot near enough to fill his dastard soul with terror. The sight of the\nserried ranks of the Macedonian phalanx, the terrific noise of their\nwar-cries, the failure of the chariots, all combined to destroy his late\nconfidence and replace it by dread. As at Issus, he suddenly had his\nchariot turned round and rushed from the field in full flight.\n\nHis attendants followed. The troops around him, the best in the army,\ngave way. Soon the field was dense with fugitives. So thick was the\ncloud of dust raised by the flying multitude that nothing could be seen.\nAmid the darkness were heard a wild clamor of voices and the noise of\nthe whips of the charioteers as they urged their horses to speed. The\ncloud of dust alone saved Darius from capture by the pursuing horsemen.\nThe left of the Persian army fought bravely, but at length it too gave\nway. Everything was captured,--camp, treasure, the king's equipage,\neverything but the king himself. How many were killed and taken is not\nknown, but the army, as an army, ceased to exist. As at Issus, so at\nArbela, it was so miserably managed that three-fourths of it had nothing\nwhatever to do with the battle. Its dispersal ended the Persian\nresistance; the empire was surrendered to Alexander almost without\nanother blow.\n\nGreat a soldier as Alexander unquestionably was, he was remarkably\nfavored by fortune, and won the greatest empire the world had up to that\ntime known with hardly an effort, and with less loss of men than often\ntakes place in a single battle. The treasure gained was immense. Darius\nseemed to have been heaping up wealth for his conqueror. Babylon and\nSusa, the two great capitals of the Persian empire, contained vast\naccumulations of money, part of which was used to enrich the soldiers of\nthe victorious army. At Persepolis, the capital of ancient Persia, a\nstill greater treasure was found, amounting to one hundred and twenty\nthousand talents in gold and silver, or about one hundred and\ntwenty-five million dollars. It took five thousand camels and a host of\nmules to transport the treasure away. The cruel conqueror rewarded the\nPersians for this immense gift, kept through generations for his hands,\nby burning the city and slaughtering its inhabitants, in revenge, as he\ndeclared, for the harm which Xerxes had done to Greece a century and a\nhalf before.\n\nWhat followed must be told in a few words. The conqueror did not feel\nthat his work was finished while Darius remained free. The dethroned\nking was flying eastward to Bactria. Alexander pursued him with such\nspeed that many of his men and animals fell dead on the road. He\novertook him at last, but did not capture him, as the companions of the\nPersian king killed him and left only his dead body to the victor's\nhands.\n\nFor years afterwards Alexander was occupied in war, subduing the eastern\npart of the empire, and marching into India, where he conquered all\nbefore him. War, incessant war, was all he cared for. No tribe or nation\nhe met was able to stand against his army. In all his career he never\nmet a reverse in the field. He was as daring as Darius had been\ncowardly, exposed his life freely, and was more than once seriously\nwounded, but recovered quickly from his hurts.\n\nAt length, after eleven years of almost incessant war, the conqueror\nreturned to Babylon, and here, while preparing for new wars in Arabia\nand elsewhere, indulged with reckless freedom in that intoxication which\nwas his principal form of relaxation from warlike schemes and duties. As\na result he was seized with fever, and in a week's time died, just at\nthe time he had fixed to set out with army and fleet on another great\ncareer of conquest. It was in June, 323 B.C., in his thirty-third year.\nHe had reigned only twelve years and eight months.\n\n\n\n\n_THE WORLD'S GREATEST ORATOR._\n\n\nDuring the days of the decline of Athens, the centre of thought to\nGreece, there roamed about the streets of that city a delicate, sickly\nlad, so feeble in frame that, at his mother's wish, he kept away from\nthe gymnasium, lest the severe exercises there required should do him\nmore harm than good. His delicate clothing and effeminate habits were\nderided by his playmates, who nicknamed him Batalus, after, we are told,\na spindle-shanked flute-player. We do not know, however, just what\nBatalus means.\n\nAs the boy was not fit for vigorous exercise, and never likely to make a\nhardy soldier or sailor, it became a question for what he was best\nfitted. If the body could not be exercised, the mind might be. At that\ntime Athens had its famous schools of philosophy and rhetoric, and the\nart of oratory was diligently cultivated. It is interesting to know that\noutside of Athens Greece produced no orators, if we except Epaminondas\nof Thebes. The Boeotians, who dwelt north of Attica, were looked upon\nas dull-brained and thick-witted. The Spartans prided themselves on\ntheir few words and hard blows.\n\nThe Athenians, on the contrary, were enthusiastically fond of oratory,\nand ardently cultivated fluency of speech. It was by this art that\nThemistocles kept the fleet together for the great battle of Salamis. It\nwas by this art that Pericles so long held control of Athens. The\nsophists, the philosophers, the leaders of the assembly, were all adepts\nin the art of convincing by eloquence and argument, and oratory\nprogressed until, in the later days of Grecian freedom, Athens possessed\na group of public speakers who have never been surpassed, if equalled,\nin the history of the world.\n\nIt was the orators who particularly attracted the weakly lad, whose mind\nwas as active as his body was feeble. He studied grammar and rhetoric,\nas did the sons of wealthy Athenians in general. And while still a mere\nboy he begged his tutors to take him to hear Callistratus, an able\npublic speaker, who was to deliver an oration on some weighty political\nsubject. The speech, delivered with all the eloquence of manner and\nlogic of thought which marked the leading orators of that day, deeply\nimpressed the susceptible mind of the eager lad, who went away doubtless\ndetermining in his own mind that he would one day, too, move the world\nwith eloquent and convincing speech.\n\nAs he grew older there arose a special reason why he should become able\nto speak for himself. His father, who was also named Demosthenes, had\nbeen a rich man. He was a manufacturer of swords or knives, in which he\nemployed thirty-two slaves; and also had a couch or bed factory,\nemploying twenty more. His mother was the daughter of a rich\ncorn-dealer of the Bosphorus.\n\nThe father died when his son was seven years old, leaving his estate in\nthe care of three guardians. These were rich men, and relatives and\nfriends, whom he thought he could safely trust; the more so as he left\nthem legacies in his will. Yet they proved rogues, and when Demosthenes\nbecame sixteen years of age--which made him a man under the civil law of\nAthens--he found that the guardians had made way with nearly the whole\nof his estate. Of fourteen talents bequeathed him there were less than\ntwo left. The boy complained and remonstrated in vain. The guardians\ndeclared that the will was lost; their accounts were plainly fraudulent;\nthey evidently proposed to rob their ward of his patrimony.\n\nThis may seem to us to have been a great misfortune. It was, on the\ncontrary, the greatest good fortune. It forced Demosthenes to become an\norator. Though he never recovered his estate, he gained a fame that was\nof infinitely greater value. The law of Athens required that every\nplaintiff should plead his own cause, either in person or by a deputy\nspeaking his words. Demosthenes felt that he must bring suit or consent\nto be robbed. That art of oratory, towards which he had so strong an\ninclination, now became doubly important. He must learn how to plead\neloquently before the courts, or remain the poor victim of a party of\nrogues. This determined the young student of rhetoric. He would make\nhimself an orator.\n\nHe at once began an energetic course of study. There were then two\nfamous teachers of oratory in Athens, Isocrates and Isaeus. The school of\nIsocrates was famous, and his prices very high. The young man, with whom\nmoney was scarce, offered him a fifth of his price for a fifth of his\ncourse, but Isocrates replied that his art, like a good fish, must be\nsold entire. He then turned to Isaeus, who was the greatest legal pleader\nof the period, and studied under him until he felt competent to plead\nhis own case before the courts.\n\nDemosthenes soon found that he had mistaken his powers. His argument was\nformal and long-winded. His uncouth style roused the ridicule of his\nhearers. His voice was weak, his breath short, his manner disconnected,\nhis utterance confused. His pronunciation was stammering and\nineffective, and in the end he withdrew from the court, hopeless and\ndisheartened.\n\nFortunately, his feeble effort had been heard by a friend who was a\ndistinguished actor, and was able to tell Demosthenes what he lacked.\n\"You must study the art of graceful gesture and clear and distinct\nutterance,\" he said. In illustration, he asked the would-be orator to\nspeak some passages from the poets Sophocles and Euripides, and then\nrecited them himself, to show how they should be spoken. He succeeded in\nthis way in arousing the boy to new and greater efforts. Nature,\nDemosthenes felt, had not meant him for an orator. But art can sometimes\novercome nature. Energy, perseverance, determination, were necessary.\nThese he had. He went earnestly to work; and the story of how he worked\nand what he achieved should be a lesson for all future students of art\nor science.\n\nThere were two things to do. He must both write well and speak well.\nDelivery is only half the art. Something worth delivering is equally\nnecessary. He read the works of Thucydides, the great historian, so\ncarefully that he was able to write them all out from memory after an\naccident had destroyed the manuscript. Some say he wrote them out eight\nseparate times. He attended the teachings of Plato, the celebrated\nphilosopher. The repulse of Isocrates did not keep the ardent student\nfrom his classes. His naturally capable mind became filled with all that\nGreece had to give in the line of logical and rhetorical thought. He not\nonly read but wrote. He prepared orations for delivery in the law courts\nfor the use of others, and in this way eked out his small income.\n\nIn these ways he cultivated his mind. That was the lightest task. He had\na great mind to begin with. But he had a weak and incapable body. If he\nwould succeed that must be cultivated too. There was his lisping and\nstammering voice, his short breath, his low tones, his ungraceful\ngesture,--all to be overcome. How he did it is a remarkable example of\nwhat may be done in self-education.\n\nTo overcome his stammering utterance he accustomed himself to speak with\npebbles in his mouth. His lack of vocal strength he overcame by running\nwith open mouth, thus expanding his lungs. To cure his shortness of\nbreath he practised the uttering of long sentences while walking\nrapidly up-hill. That he might be able to make himself heard above the\nnoise of the assembly, he would stand in stormy weather on the sea-shore\nat Phalerum, and declaim against the roar of the waves. For two or three\nmonths together he practised writing and speaking, day and night, in an\nunderground chamber; and that he might not be tempted to go abroad and\nneglect his studies he shaved the hair from one side of his head. Dread\nof ridicule kept him in till his hair had grown again. To gain a\ngraceful action, he would practise for hours before a tall mirror,\nwatching all his movements, and constantly seeking to improve them.\n\nSeveral years passed away in this hard and persistent labor. He tried\npublic speaking again and again, each time discouraged, but each time\nimproving,--and finally gained complete success. His voice became strong\nand clear, his manner graceful, his delivery emphatic and decisive, the\nlanguage of his orations full of clear logic, strong statement, cutting\nirony, and vigorous declamation, fluent, earnest, and convincing. In\nbrief, it may be said that he made himself the greatest orator of\nGreece, which is equal to saying the greatest orator of the world.\n\nIt was not only in delivery that he was great. His speeches were as\nconvincing when read as when spoken. Fortunately, the great orators of\nthose days prepared their speeches very carefully before delivery, and\nso it is that some of the best of the speeches of Demosthenes have come\ndown to us and can be read by ourselves. The voice of the whole world\npronounces these orations admirable, and they have been studied by every\ngreat orator since that day.\n\nDemosthenes had a great theme for his orations. He entered public life\nat a critical period. The states of Greece had become miserably weak and\ndivided by their jealousies and intrigues. Philip of Macedon, the\ncraftiest and ablest leader of his time, was seeking to make Greece his\nprey, and using gold, artifice, and violence alike to enable him to\nsucceed in this design. Against this man Demosthenes raised his voice,\nthundering his unequalled denunciations before the assembly of Athens,\nand doing his utmost to rouse the people to the defence of their\nliberties. Philip had as his advocate an orator only second to\nDemosthenes in power, AEschines by name, whom he had secretly bribed, and\nwho opposed his great rival by every means in his power. For years the\nstrife of oratory and diplomacy went on. Demosthenes, with remarkable\nclearness of vision, saw the meaning of every movement of the cunning\nMacedonian, and warned the Athenians in orations that should have moved\nany liberty-loving people to instant and decisive action. But he talked\nto a weak audience. Athens had lost its old energy and public virtue. It\ncould still listen with lapsed breath to the earnest appeals of the\norator, but had grown slow and vacillating in action. AEschines had a\nstrong party at his back, and Athens procrastinated until it was too\nlate and the liberties of ancient Greece fell, never to rise again, on\nthe fatal field of Chaeronea.\n\n\"If Philip is the friend of Greece we are doing wrong,\" Demosthenes had\ncried. \"If he is the enemy of Greece we are doing right. Which is he? I\nhold him to be our enemy, because everything he has hitherto done has\nbenefited him and hurt us.\"\n\nThe fall of Greece before the sword of its foe taught the Athenians that\ntheir orator was right. They at length learned to esteem Demosthenes at\nhis full worth, and Ctesiphon, a leading Athenian, proposed that he\nshould receive a golden crown from the state, and that his extraordinary\nmerit and patriotism should be proclaimed in the theatre at the great\nfestival of Dionysus.\n\nAEschines declared that this was unconstitutional, and that he would\nbring action against Ctesiphon for breaking the laws. For six years the\ncase remained untried, and then AEschines was forced to bring his suit.\nHe did so in a powerful speech, in which he made a bitter attack on the\nwhole public life of Demosthenes. When he ceased, Demosthenes rose, and\nin a speech which is looked upon as the most splendid master-piece of\noratory ever produced, completely overwhelmed his life long opponent,\nwho left Athens in disgust. The golden crown, which Demosthenes had so\nnobly won, was his, and was doubly deserved by the immortal oration to\nwhich it gave birth, the grand burst of eloquence \"For the Crown.\"\n\nIn 323 B.C. Alexander the Great died. Then like a trumpet rang out the\nvoice of Demosthenes, calling Greece to arms. Greece obeyed him and\nrose. If she would be free, now or never was the time. The war known as\nthe Lamian war began. It ended disastrously in August, 322, and Greece\nwas again a Macedonian slave. Demosthenes and others of the patriots\nwere condemned to death as traitors. They fled for their lives.\nDemosthenes sought the island of Calauri, where he took refuge in a\ntemple sacred to Poseidon, or Neptune. Thither his foes, led by Archias,\nformerly a tragic actor, followed him.\n\nArchias was not the man to hesitate about sacrilege. But the temple in\nwhich Demosthenes had taken refuge was so ancient and venerable that\neven he hesitated, and begged him to come out, saying that there was no\ndoubt that he would be pardoned.\n\nDemosthenes sat in silence, his eyes fixed on the ground. At length, as\nArchias continued his appeals, in his most persuasive accents, the\norator looked up and said,----\n\n\"Archias, you never moved me by your acting. You will not move me now by\nyour promises.\"\n\nAt this Archias lost his temper, and broke into threats.\n\n\"Now you speak like a real Macedonian oracle,\" said Demosthenes, calmly.\n\"Before you were acting. Wait a moment, then, till I write to my\nfriends.\"\n\nWith these words Demosthenes rose and walked back to the inner part of\nthe temple, though he was still visible from the front. Here he took out\na roll of paper and a quill pen, which he put in his mouth and bit, as\nhe was in the habit of doing when composing. Then he threw his head back\nand drew his cloak over it.\n\nThe Thracian soldiers, who followed Archias, began to gibe at his\ncowardice on seeing this movement. Archias went in, renewed his\npersuasions, and begged him to rise, as there was no doubt that he would\nbe well treated. Demosthenes sat in silence until he felt in his veins\nthe working of the poison he had sucked from the pen. Then he drew the\ncloak from his face and looked at Archias with steady eyes.\n\n\"Now,\" he said, \"you can play the part of Creon in the tragedy as soon\nas you like, and cast forth my body unburied. But I, O gracious\nPoseidon, quit thy temple while I yet live. Antipater and his\nMacedonians have done what they could to pollute it.\"\n\nHe walked towards the door, calling on those surrounding to support his\nsteps, which tottered with weakness. He had just passed the altar of the\ngod, when, with a groan, he fell, and died in the presence of his foes.\n\nSo died, when sixty-two years of age, the greatest orator, and one of\nthe greatest patriots and statesmen, of ancient times,--a man whose fame\nas an orator is as great as that of Homer as a poet, while in foresight,\njudgment, and political skill he had not his equal in the Greece of his\nday. Had Athens possessed any of its old vitality he would certainly\nhave awakened it to a new career of glory. As it was, even one as great\nas he was unable to give new life to that corpse of a nation which his\ncountry had become.\n\n\n\n\n_THE OLYMPIC GAMES._\n\n\nThe recent activity of athletic sports in this country is in a large\nsense a regrowth from the ancient devotion to out-door exercises. In\nthis direction Greece, as also in its republican institutions, served as\na model for the United States. The close relations between the athletics\nof ancient and modern times was gracefully called to attention by the\nreproduction of the Olympic Games at Athens in 1896, for which purpose\nthe long abandoned and ruined Stadion, or foot-race course, of that city\nwas restored, and races and other athletic events were conducted on the\nground made classic by the Athenian athletes, and within a marble-seated\namphitheatre in which the plaudits of Athens in its days of glory might\nin fancy still be heard.\n\nThese modern games, however, differ in character from those of the past,\nand are attended with none of the deeply religious sentiment which\nattached to the latter. The games of ancient Greece were national in\ncharacter, were looked upon as occasions of the highest importance, and\nwere invested with a solemnity largely due to their ancient institution\nand long-continued observance. Their purpose was not alone friendly\nrivalry, as in modern times, but was largely that of preparation for\nwar, bodily activity and endurance being highly essential in the hand\nto hand conflicts of the ancient world. They were designed to cultivate\ncourage and create a martial spirit, to promote contempt for pain and\nfearlessness in danger, to develop patriotism and public spirit, and in\nevery way to prepare the contestants for the wars which were, unhappily,\nfar too common in ancient Greece.\n\n[Illustration: THE MODERN OLYMPIC GAMES IN THE STADIUM.]\n\nEach city had its costly edifices devoted to this purpose. The Stadion\nat Athens, within whose restored walls the modern games took place, was\nabout six hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred and twenty-five\nwide, the race-course itself being six hundred Greek feet--a trifle\nshorter than English feet--in length. Other cities were similarly\nprovided, and gymnastic exercises were absolute requirements of the\nyouth of Greece,--particularly so in the case of Sparta, in which city\nathletic exercises formed almost the sole occupation of the male\npopulation.\n\nBut the Olympic Games meant more than this. They were not national, but\ninternational festivals, at whose celebration gathered multitudes from\nall the countries of Greece, those who desired being free to come to and\ndepart from Olympia, however fiercely war might be raging between the\nleading nations of the land. When the Olympic Games began is not known.\nTheir origin lay far back in the shadows of time. Several peoples of\nGreece claimed to have instituted such games, but those which in later\ntimes became famous were held at Olympia, a town of the small country of\nElis, in the Peloponnesian peninsula. Here, in the fertile valley of\nthe Alpheus, shut in by the Messenian hills and by Mount Cronion, was\nerected the ancient Stadion, and in its vicinity stood a great\ngymnasium, a palaestra (for wrestling and boxing exercises), a hippodrome\n(for the later chariot races), a council hall, and several temples,\nnotably that of the Olympian Zeus, where the victors received the olive\nwreaths which were the highly valued prizes for the contests.\n\nThis temple held the famous colossal statue of Zeus, the noblest\nproduction of Greek art, and looked upon as one of the wonders of the\nworld. It was the work of Phidias, the greatest of Grecian sculptors,\nand was a seated statue of gold and ivory, over forty feet in height.\nThe throne of the king of the gods was mostly of ebony and ivory, inlaid\nwith precious stones, and richly sculptured in relief. In the figure,\nthe flesh was of ivory, the drapery of gold richly adorned with flowers\nand figures in enamel. The right hand of the god held aloft a figure of\nvictory, the left hand rested on a sceptre, on which an eagle was\nperched, while an olive wreath crowned the head. On the countenance\ndwelt a calm and serious majesty which it needed the genius of a Phidias\nto produce, and which the visitors to the temple beheld with awe.\n\nThe Olympic festival, whose date of origin, as has been said, is\nunknown, was revived in the year 884 B.C., and continued until the year\n394 A.D., when it was finally abolished, only to be revived at the city\nof Athens fifteen hundred years later. The games were celebrated after\nthe completion of every fourth year, this four year period being called\nan \"Olympiad,\" and used as the basis of the chronology of Greece, the\nfirst Olympiad dating from the revival of the games in 884 B.C.\n\nThese games at first lasted but a single day, but were extended until\nthey occupied five days. Of these the first day was devoted to\nsacrifices, the three following days to the contests, and the last day\nto sacrifices, processions, and banquets. For a long period single\nfoot-races satisfied the desires of the Eleans and their visitors. Then\nthe double foot-race was added. Wrestling and other athletic exercises\nwere introduced in the eighth century before Christ. Then followed\nboxing. This was a brutal and dangerous exercise, the combatants' hands\nbeing bound with heavy leather thongs which were made more rigid by\npieces of metal. The four-horse chariot-race came later; afterwards the\npancratium (wrestling and boxing, without the leaded thongs); boys'\nraces and wrestling and boxing matches; foot-races in a full suit of\narmor; and in the fifth century, two-horse chariot-races. Nero, in the\nyear 68 A.D., introduced musical contests, and the games were finally\nabolished by Theodosius, the Christian emperor, in the year 394 A.D.\n\nOlympia was not a city or town. It was simply a plain in the district of\nPisatis. But it was so surrounded with magnificent temples and other\nstructures, so adorned with statues, and so abundantly provided with the\nedifices necessary to the games, that it in time grew into a locality of\nremarkable architectural beauty and grandeur. Here was the sacred grove\nof Altis, where grew the wild olive which furnished the wreaths for the\nvictors, a simple olive wreath forming the ordinary prize of victory; in\nthe four great games the victor was presented with a palm branch, which\nhe carried in his right hand. Near this grove was the Hippodrome, where\nthe chariot-races took place. The great Stadion stood outside the temple\nenclosure, where lay the most advantageous stretch of ground.\n\nThe training required for participants in these sacred games was severe.\nNo one was allowed to take part unless he had trained in the gymnasium\nfor ten months in advance. No criminal, nor person with any blood\nimpurity, could compete, a mere pimple on the body being sufficient to\nrule a man out. In short, only perfect and completely trained specimens\nof manhood were admitted to the lists, while the fathers and relatives\nof a contestant were required to swear that they would use no artifice\nor unfair means to aid their relative to a victory. The greatest care\nwas also taken to select judges whose character was above even the\npossibility of bribery.\n\nWomen were not permitted to appear at the games, and whoever disobeyed\nthis law was to be thrown from a rock. On certain occasions, however,\ntheir presence was permitted, and there were a series of games and races\nin which young girls took part. In time it became the custom to\ndiversify the games with dramas, and to exhibit the works of artists,\nwhile poets recited their latest odes, and other writers read their\nworks. Here Herodotus read his famous history to the vast assemblage.\n\nVictory in these contests was esteemed the highest of honors. When the\nvictor was crowned, the heralds loudly proclaimed his name, with those\nof his father and his city or native land. He was also privileged to\nerect a statue in honor of his triumph at a particular place in the\nsacred Altis. This was done by many of the richer victors, while the\nwinners in the chariot-races often had not only their own figures, but\nthose of their chariots and horses, reproduced in bronze.\n\nIn addition to the Olympic, Greece possessed other games, which, like\nthe former, were of great popularity, and attracted crowds from all\nparts of the country. The principal among these were the Pythian,\nNemean, and Isthmian games, though there were various others of less\nimportance. Of them all, however, the Olympic games were much the oldest\nand most venerated, and in the laws of Solon every Athenian who won an\nOlympic prize was given the large reward of five hundred drachmas, while\nan Isthmian prize brought but one hundred drachmas.\n\nOn several occasions the Olympic games became occasions of great\nhistorical interest. One of these was the ninetieth Olympiad, of 420\nB.C., which took place during the peace between Athens and Sparta,--in\nthe Peloponnesian war Athens having been excluded from the two preceding\nones. It was supposed that the impoverishment of Athens would prevent\nher from appearing with any splendor at this festival, but that city\nastonished Greece by her ample show of golden ewers, censers, etc., in\nthe sacrifice and procession, while in the chariot-races Alcibiades far\ndistanced all competitors. One well-equipped chariot and four usually\nsatisfied the thirst for display of a rich Greek, but he appeared with\nno less than seven, while his horses were of so superior power that one\nof his chariots won a first, another a second, and another a fourth\nprize, and he had the honor of being twice crowned with olive. In the\nbanquet with which he celebrated his triumph he surpassed the richest of\nhis competitors by the richness and splendor of the display.\n\nOn the occasion of the one hundred and fourth Olympiad, war existing\nbetween Arcadia and Elis, a combat took place in the sacred ground\nitself, an unholy struggle which dishonored the sanctuary of Panhellenic\nbrotherhood, and caused the great temple of Zeus to be turned into a\nfortress against the assailants. During this war the Arcadians plundered\nthe treasures of these holy temples, as those of the temple at Delphi\nwere plundered at a later date.\n\nAnother occasion of interest in the Olympic games occurred in the\nninety-ninth Olympiad, when Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, sent his\nlegation to the sacrifice, dressed in the richest garments, abundantly\nfurnished with gold and silver plate, and lodged in splendid tents.\nSeveral chariots contended for him in the races, while a number of\ntrained reciters and chorists were sent to exhibit his poetical\ncompositions before those who would listen to them. His chariots were\nmagnificent, his horses of the rarest excellence, the delivery of his\npoems eloquently performed; but among those present were many of the\nsufferers by his tyranny, and the display ended in the plundering of\nhis gold and purple tent, and the disgraceful lack of success of his\nchariots, some of which were overturned and broken to pieces. As for the\npoems, they were received with a ridicule which caused the deepest\nhumiliation and shame to their proud composer.\n\n[Illustration: THE THEATRE OF BACCHUS, ATHENS.]\n\nThe people of Greece, and particularly those of Athens, did not,\nhowever, restrict their public enjoyments to athletic exercises.\nAbundant provision for intellectual enjoyment was afforded. They were\nnot readers. Books were beyond the reach of the multitude. But the loss\nwas largely made up to them by the public recitals of poetry and\nhistory, the speeches of the great orators, and in particular the\ndramatic performances, which were annually exhibited before all the\ncitizens of Athens who chose to attend.\n\nThe stage on which these dramas were performed, at first a mere\nplatform, then a wooden edifice, became finally a splendid theatre,\nwrought in the sloping side of the Acropolis, and presenting a vast\nsemicircle of seats, cut into the solid rock, rising tier above tier,\nand capable of accommodating thirty thousand spectators. At first no\ncharge was made for admission, and when, later, the crowd became so\ngreat that a charge had to be made, every citizen of Athens who desired\nto attend, and could not afford to pay, was presented from the public\ntreasury with the price of one of the less desirable seats.\n\nAnnually, at the festivals of Dionysus, or Bacchus, and particularly at\nthe great Dionysia, held at the of March and beginning of April, great\ntragic contests were held, lasting for two days, during which the\nimmense theatre was filled with crowds of eager spectators. A play\nseldom lasted more than an hour and a half, but three on the same\ngeneral subject, called a trilogy, were often presented in succession,\nand were frequently followed by a comic piece from the same poet. That\nthe actors might be heard by the vast open-air audiences, some means of\nincreasing the power of the voice was employed, while masks were worn to\nincrease the apparent size of the head, and thick-soled shoes to add to\nthe height.\n\nThe chorus was a distinctive feature of these dramas,--tragedies and\ncomedies alike. As there were never more than three actors upon the\nstage, the chorus--twelve to fifteen in number--represented other\ncharacters, and often took part in the action of the play, though their\nduty was usually to diversify the movement of the play by hymns and\ndirges, appropriate dances, and the music of flutes. For centuries these\ndramatic representations continued at Athens, and formed the basis of\nthose which proved so attractive to Roman audiences, and which in turn\nbecame the foundation-stones of the modern drama.\n\n\n\n\n_PYRRHUS AND THE ROMANS._\n\n\nSeven years after the death of Alexander, the Macedonian conqueror,\nthere was born in Epirus, a country of Greece, a warrior who might have\nrivalled Alexander's fortune and fame had he, like him, fought against\nPersians. But he had the misfortune to fight against Romans, and his\nstory became different. He was the greatest general of his time.\nHannibal has said that he was the greatest of any age. But Rome was not\nPersia, and a Roman army was not to be dealt with like a Persian horde.\nHad Alexander marched west instead of east, he would probably not have\nwon the title of \"Great.\"\n\nPyrrhus, king of Epirus, claimed descent from Pyrrhus, son of Achilles.\nWhile still an infant a rebellion broke out in Epirus. His father was\nabsent, and the rebel chiefs sought to kill him, but he was hurried away\nin his nurse's arms, and his life saved. When he was ten years old,\nGlaucius, king of Illyria, who had brought him up among his own\nchildren, conquered Epirus and placed him on the throne. Seven years\nafterwards rebellion broke out again, and Pyrrhus had once more to fly\nfor his life. He now fought in some great battles, married the daughter\nof the king of Egypt, returned with an army, and again became king of\nEpirus. He afterwards conquered all Macedonia, and, like Alexander the\nGreat, whose fame he envied, looked about him for other worlds to\nconquer.\n\nDuring the years over which our tales have passed a series of foreign\npowers had threatened Greece. First, in the days of legend, it had found\na foreign enemy in Troy. Next came the great empire of Persia, with\nwhich it had for centuries to deal. Then rose Macedonia, the first\nconqueror of Greece. Meanwhile, in the west, a new enemy had been slowly\ngrowing in power and thirst for conquest, that of Rome, before whose\nmighty arm Greece was destined to fall and vanish from view as one of\nthe powers of the earth. And the first of the Greeks to come in warlike\ncontact with the Romans was Pyrrhus. How this came about, and what arose\nfrom it, we have now to tell.\n\nStep by step the ambitious Romans had been extending their power over\nItaly. They were now at war with Tarentum, a city of Greek origin on the\nsouth Italian coast. The Tarentines, being hard pressed by their\nvigorous foes, sent an embassy to Greece, and asked Pyrrhus, then the\nmost famous warrior of the Grecian race, to come to their aid against\ntheir enemy. This was in the year 281 B.C.\n\nPyrrhus had been for some years at peace, building himself a new capital\ncity, which he profusely adorned with pictures and statues. But peace\nwas not to his taste. Consumed by ambition, restless in temperament, and\nanxious to make himself a rival in fame of Alexander the Great, he was\nready enough to accept this request, and measure his strength in battle\nagainst the most warlike nation of the West.\n\nHis wise counsellor, Cineas, asked him what he would do next, if he\nshould overcome the Romans, who were said to be great warriors and\nconquerors of many peoples.\n\n\"The Romans once overcome,\" he said, proudly, \"no city, Greek or\nbarbarian, would dare to oppose me, and I should be master of all\nItaly.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Cineas, \"if you conquer Italy, what next?\"\n\n\"Greater victories would follow. There are Libya and Carthage to be\nwon.\"\n\n\"And then?\" asked Cineas.\n\n\"Then I should be able to master all Greece.\"\n\n\"And then?\" continued the counsellor.\n\n\"Then,\" said Pyrrhus, \"I would live at ease, eat and drink all day, and\nenjoy pleasant conversation.\"\n\n\"And what hinders you from taking your ease now, without all this peril\nand bloodshed?\"\n\nPyrrhus had no answer to this. But thirst for fame drove him on, and the\ndays of ease never came.\n\nIn the following year Pyrrhus crossed to Italy with an army of about\ntwenty-five thousand men, and with a number of elephants, animals which\nthe Romans had never seen, and with which he hoped to frighten them from\nthe battle-field. He had been promised the aid of all southern Italy,\nand an army of three hundred and fifty thousand infantry and twenty\nthousand cavalry. In this he was destined to disappointment. He found\nthe people of Tarentum given up to frivolous pleasure, enjoying their\ntheatres and festivals, and expecting that he would do their fighting\nwhile they spent their time in amusement.\n\nThey found, however, that they had gained a master instead of a servant.\nFrivolity was not the idea of war held by Pyrrhus. He at once shut up\nthe theatre, the gymnasia, and the public walks, stopped all feasting\nand revelry throughout the city, closed the clubs or brotherhoods, and\nkept the citizens under arms all day. Some of them, in disgust at this\nstern discipline, left the city. Pyrrhus thereupon closed the gates, and\nwould let none out without permission. He even went so far as to put to\ndeath some of the demagogues, and to send others into exile. By these\nmeans he succeeded in making something like soldiers of the\npleasure-loving Tarentines.\n\nThus passed the winter. Meanwhile, the Romans had been as active as\ntheir enemies. They made the most energetic preparations for war, and\nwith the opening of the spring were in the field. Pyrrhus, who had\nfailed to receive the great army promised him, did not feel strong\nenough to meet the Roman force. He offered peace and arbitration, but\nhis offers were scornfully rejected. He then sent spies to the Roman\ncamp. One of these was caught and permitted to observe the whole army on\nparade. He was then sent back to Pyrrhus, with the message that if he\nwanted to see the Roman army he had better come himself in open day,\ninstead of sending spies by night.\n\nThe two armies met at length on the banks of the river Siris, where\nRome fought its first great battle with a foreign foe. The Romans were\nthe stronger, but the Greeks had the advantage in arms and discipline.\nThe conflict that followed was very different from the one fought by\nAlexander at Issus. So courageous and unyielding were the contestants\nthat each army seven times drove back its foes.\n\n\"Beware,\" said an officer to Pyrrhus, as he charged at the head of his\ncavalry, \"of that barbarian on the black horse with white feet. He has\nmarked you for his prey.\"\n\n\"What is fated no man can avoid,\" said the king, heroically. \"But\nneither this man nor the stoutest soldier in Italy shall encounter me\nfor nothing.\"\n\nAt that instant the Italian rode at him with levelled lance and killed\nhis horse. But his own was killed at the same instant, and while Pyrrhus\nwas remounting his daring foe was surrounded and slain.\n\nOn this field, for the first time, the Greek spear encountered the Roman\nsword. The Macedonian phalanx with its long pikes was met by the Roman\nlegion with its heavy blades. The pike of the phalanx had hitherto\nconquered the world. The sword of the legion was hereafter to take its\nplace. But now neither seemed able to overcome the other. In vain the\nRomans sought to hew a way with their swords through the forest of\npikes, and as a last resort the Roman general brought up a chosen body\nof cavalry, which he had held in reserve. These came on in fierce\ncharge, but Pyrrhus met them with a more formidable reserve,--his\nelephants.\n\nOn beholding these strange monsters, terrible alike to horse and rider,\nthe Roman cavalry fell back in confusion. The horses could not be\nbrought to face their huge opponents. Their disorder broke the ranks of\nthe infantry. Pyrrhus charged them with his Thessalian cavalry, and the\nRoman army was soon in total rout, leaving its camp to the mercy of its\nfoes.\n\nDuring the battle Pyrrhus, knowing that the safety of his army depended\non his own life, exchanged his arms, helmet, and scarlet cloak for the\narmor of Megacles, one of his officers. The borrowed splendor proved\nfatal to Megacles. The Romans made him their mark. Every one struck at\nhim. He was at last struck down and slain, and his helmet and cloak were\ncarried to Lavinus, the Roman commander, who had them borne in triumph\nalong his ranks. Pyrrhus, fearing that this mistake might prove fatal,\nat once threw off his helmet and rode bareheaded along his own line, to\nlet his soldiers see that he was still alive, and that a scarlet cloak\nwas not a king.\n\nThe battle over, Pyrrhus surveyed the field, strewn thickly with the\ndead of both armies, his valiant soul moved to a new respect for his\nfoes.\n\n\"If I had such soldiers,\" he cried, \"I could conquer the world.\" Then,\nnoting the numbers of his own dead, he added, \"Another such victory,\nand I must return to Epirus alone.\"\n\nHe sent Cineas, his wise counsellor, to Rome to offer terms of peace.\nNearly four thousand of his army had fallen, and these largely Greeks;\nthe weather was unfavorable for an advance; alliance with these brave\nfoes might be wiser than war. Many of the Romans, too, thought the same;\nbut while they were debating in the Forum there was borne into this\nbuilding the famous censor Appius Claudius, once a leader in Rome, now\ntotally blind and in extreme old age. His advent was like that of blind\nTimoleon to the Syracusan senate. The senators listened in deepest\nsilence when the old man rose to speak. What he said we do not know, but\nhis voice was for war, and the senate, moved by his impassioned appeal,\nvoted that there should be no peace with Pyrrhus while he remained in\nItaly, and ordered Cineas to leave Rome, with this ultimatum, that very\nday.\n\nPeace refused, Pyrrhus advanced against Rome. He marched through a\nterritory which for years had been free from the ravages of war, and was\nin a state of flourishing prosperity. It was plundered by his soldiers\nwithout mercy. On he came until Rome itself lay visible to his eyes from\nan elevation but eighteen miles away. Another day's march would have\nbrought him to its walls. But a strong Roman army was in his front;\nanother army hung upon his rear; his own army was weakened by\ndissensions between the Greeks and Italians; he deemed it prudent to\nretreat with the plunder he had gained.\n\nAnother winter passed. Pyrrhus had many prisoners, whom he would not\nexchange or ransom unless the Romans would accept peace. But he treated\nthem well, and even allowed them to return to Rome to enjoy the winter\nholiday of the Saturnalia, on their solemn promise that they would\nreturn if peace was still refused. The senate was still firm for war,\nand the prisoners returned after the holidays, the sturdy Romans having\npassed an edict that any prisoner who should linger in Rome after the\nday fixed for the return should suffer death.\n\nIn the following spring another battle was fought near Asculum, on the\nplains of Apulia. Once more the Roman sword was pitted against the\nMacedonian pike. The nature of the ground was such that the Romans were\nforced to attack their enemy in front, and they hewed in vain with their\nswords upon the wall of pikes, which they even grasped with their hands\nand tried to break. The Greeks kept their line intact, and the Romans\nwere slaughtered without giving a wound in return. At length they gave\nway. Then the elephants charged, and the repulse became a rout. But this\ntime the Romans fled only to their camp, which was close at hand. They\nhad lost six thousand men. Pyrrhus had lost three thousand five hundred\nof his light-armed troops. The heavy-armed infantry was almost unharmed.\n\nHere was another battle that proved almost as bad as a defeat. Pyrrhus\nhad lost many of the men he had brought from Epirus. He was not in\ncondition to take the field again, and no more soldiers could just then\nbe had from Greece. The Romans were now willing to make a truce, and\nPyrrhus crossed soon after to Sicily, to aid the Greeks of that island\nagainst their Carthaginian foes, He remained there two years, fighting\nwith varied success and defeat. Then he returned to Tarentum, which\nagain needed his aid against its persistent Roman enemies.\n\nOn his way there Pyrrhus passed through Locri. Here was a famous temple\nof Proserpine, in whose vaults was a large treasure, which had been\nburied for an unknown period, and on which no mortal eye was permitted\nto gaze. Pyrrhus took bad advice and plundered the temple of the sacred\ntreasure, placing it on board his ships. A storm arose and wrecked the\nships, and the stolen treasure was cast back on the Locrian coast.\nPyrrhus now ordered it to be restored, and offered sacrifices to appease\nthe offended goddess. She gave no signs of accepting them. He then put\nto death the three men who had advised the sacrilege, but his mind\ncontinued haunted with dread of divine vengeance. Proserpine, who was\nseemingly deeply offended, might bring upon him ruin and defeat, and the\nhearts of his soldiers were weakened by dread of impending evils.\n\nOnce more Pyrrhus met the Romans in the field, but no longer with\nsuccess. One of his elephants was wounded, and ran wildly into his\nranks, throwing them into disorder. Eight of these animals were driven\ninto ground from which there was no escape. They were captured by the\nRomans. As the battle continued one wing of the Roman army was repulsed;\nbut they assailed the elephants with such a shower of light weapons that\nthese huge brutes turned and fled through the ranks of the phalanx,\nthrowing it into disorder. On their heels came the Romans. The Greek\nline once broken, the swords of the Romans gave them a great advantage\nover the long spears of the enemy. Cut down in numbers, the Greeks were\nthrown into confusion, and were soon flying in panic, hotly pursued by\ntheir foes. How many were slain is not known, but the defeat was\ndecisive. Retreating to Tarentum, Pyrrhus resolved to leave Italy,\ndisgusted with his failure and with the supineness of his allies, and\ndisappointed in his ambitious hopes. He reached Epirus again with little\nmore than eight thousand troops, and without money enough to maintain\neven these. Thus ended the first meeting of Greeks and Romans in war.\n\nThe remainder of the story of Pyrrhus may be soon told. He had counted\non living in ease after his wars, but ease was not for him. His\nremaining life was spent in war. He invaded and conquered Macedonia. He\nengaged in war against the Spartans, and was repulsed from their capital\ncity. At last, in his attack on Argos, while forcing his way through its\nstreets, he fell by a woman's hand. A tile was cast from a house on his\nhead, which hurled him stunned from his horse, and he was killed in the\nstreet. Thus ignobly perished the greatest general of his age.\n\n\n\n\n_PHILOPOEMEN AND THE FALL OF SPARTA._\n\n\nThe history of Greece may well seem remarkable to modern readers, since\nit brings us in contact with conditions which have ceased to exist\nanywhere upon the earth. To gain some idea of its character, we should\nhave to imagine each of the counties of one of our American States to be\nan independent nation, with its separate government, finances, and\nhistory, its treaties of peace and declarations of war, and its frequent\nfierce conflicts with some neighboring county. Each of these counties\nwould have its central city, surrounded by high walls, and its citizens\nready at any moment to take arms against some other city and march to\nbattle against foes of their own race and blood. In some cases a single\ncounty would have three or four cities, each hostile to the others, like\nthe cities of Thebes, Plataea, Thespiae, and Orchomenos, in Boeotia;\nstanding ready, like fierce dogs each in its separate kennel, to fall\nupon one another with teeth and claws. It may further be said that of\nthe population of these counties five out of every six were slaves, and\nthat these slaves were white men, most of them of Greek descent. The\ngeneral custom in those days was either to slay prisoners in cold blood,\nor sell them to spend the remainder of their lives in slavery.\n\nThis state of affairs was not confined to Greece. It existed in Italy\nuntil Rome conquered all its small neighbor states. It existed in Asia\nuntil the great Babylonian and Persian empires conquered all the smaller\ncommunities. It was the first form of a civilized nation, that of a city\nsurrounded by enough farming territory to supply its citizens with food,\neach city ready to break into war with any other, and each race of\npeople viewing all beyond its borders as strangers and barbarians, to be\ndealt with almost as if they were beasts of prey instead of men and\nbrothers.\n\nThe cities of Greece were not only thus isolated, but each had its\nseparate manners, customs, government, and grade of civilization. Athens\nwas famous for its intellectual cultivation; Thebes had a reputation for\nthe heavy-headed dulness of its people; Sparta was a rigid war school,\nand so on with others. In short, the world has gone so far beyond the\npolitical and social conditions of that period that it is by no means\neasy for us to comprehend the Grecian state.\n\nAmong those cities Sparta stood in one sense alone. While the others\nwere enclosed in strong walls, Sparta remained open and free,--its only\nwall being the valorous hearts and strong arms of its inhabitants. While\nother cities were from time to time captured and occasionally destroyed,\nno foeman had set foot within Sparta's streets. Not until the days of\nEpaminondas was Laconia invaded by a powerful foe; and even then Sparta\nremained free from the foeman's tread. Neither Philip of Macedon, nor\nhis son Alexander, entered this proud city, and it was not until the\ntroublous later times that the people of Sparta, feeling that their\nancient warlike virtue was gone, built around their city a wall of\ndefence.\n\nBut the humiliation of that proud city was at hand. It was to be entered\nby a foeman; the laws of Lycurgus, under which it had risen to such\nmight, were to come to an end; and lordly Sparta was to sink into\ninsignificance, and its glory remain but a memory to man.\n\nAbout the year 252 B.C. was born Philopoemen, the last of the great\ngenerals of Greece. He was the son of Craugis, a citizen of Megalopolis,\nthe great city which Epaminondas had built in Arcadia. Here he was\nthoroughly educated in philosophy and the other learning of the time;\nbut his natural inclination was towards the life of a soldier, and he\nmade a thorough study of the use of arms and the management of horses,\nwhile sedulously seeking the full development of his bodily powers.\nEpaminondas was the example he set himself, and he came little behind\nthat great warrior in activity, sagacity, and integrity, though he\ndiffered from him in being possessed of a hot, contentious temper, which\noften carried him beyond the bounds of judgment.\n\nPhilopoemen was marked by plain manners and a genial disposition, in\nproof of which Plutarch tells an amusing story. In his later years, when\nhe was general of a great Grecian confederation, word was brought to a\nlady of Megara that Philopoemen was coming to her house to await the\nreturn of her husband, who was absent. The good lady, all in a tremor,\nset herself hurriedly to prepare a supper worthy of her guest. While she\nwas thus engaged a man entered dressed in a shabby cloak, and with no\nmark of distinction. Taking him for one of the general's train who had\nbeen sent on in advance, the housewife called on him to help her prepare\nfor his master's visit. Nothing loath, the visitor threw off his cloak,\nseized the axe she offered him, and fell lustily to work in cutting up\nfire-wood.\n\nWhile he was thus engaged, the husband returned, and at once recognized\nin his wife's lackey the expected visitor.\n\n\"What does this mean, Philopoemen?\" he cried, in surprise.\n\n\"Nothing,\" replied the general, \"except that I am paying the penalty of\nmy ugly looks.\"\n\nPhilopoemen had abundant practice in the art of war. Between Arcadia\nand Laconia hostility was the normal condition, and he took part in many\nplundering incursions into the neighboring state. In these he always\nwent in first and came out last. When there was no fighting to be done\nhe would go every evening to an estate he owned several miles from town,\nwould throw himself on the first mattress in his way and sleep like a\ncommon laborer, and rising at break of day would go to work in the\nvineyard or at the plough. Then returning to the town, he would employ\nhimself in public business or in friendly intercourse during the\nremainder of the day.\n\nWhen Philopoemen was thirty years old, Cleomenes, the Spartan king,\none night attacked Megalopolis, forced the guards, broke in, and seized\nthe market-place. The citizens sprang to arms, Philopoemen at their\nhead, and a desperate conflict ensued in the streets. But their efforts\nwere in vain, the enemy held their ground. Then Philopoemen set\nhimself to aid the escape of the citizens, making head against the foe\nwhile his fellow-townsmen left the city. At last, after losing his horse\nand receiving several wounds, he fought his way out through the gate,\nbeing the last man to retreat. Cleomenes, finding that the citizens\nwould not listen to his fair offers for their return, and tired of\nguarding empty houses, left the place after pillaging it and destroying\nall he readily could.\n\nThe next year Philopoemen took part in a battle between King Antigonus\nof Macedonia and the Spartans, in which the victory was due to his\ncharging the enemy at the head of the cavalry against the king's orders.\n\n\"How came it,\" asked the king after the battle, \"that the horse charged\nwithout waiting for the signal?\"\n\n\"We were forced into it against our wills by a young man of\nMegalopolis,\" was the reply.\n\n\"That young man,\" said Antigonus, with a smile, \"acted like an\nexperienced commander.\"\n\nDuring this battle a javelin, flung by a strong hand, passed through\nboth his thighs, the head coming out on the other side. \"There he stood\nawhile,\" says Plutarch, \"as if he had been shackled, unable to move. The\nfastening which joined the thong to the javelin made it difficult to\nget it drawn out, nor would any one about him venture to do it. But the\nfight being now at its hottest, and likely to be quickly decided, he was\ntransported with the desire of partaking in it, and struggled and\nstrained so violently, setting one leg forward, the other back, that at\nlast he broke the shaft in two; and thus got the pieces pulled out.\nBeing in this manner set at liberty, he caught up his sword, and running\nthrough the midst of those who were fighting in the first ranks,\nanimated his men, and set them afire with emulation.\"\n\nAs may be imagined, a man of such indomitable courage could not fail to\nmake his mark. Antigonus wished to engage him in his service, but\nPhilopoemen refused, as he knew his temper would not let him serve\nunder others. His thirst for war took him to Crete, where he brought the\ncavalry of that island to a state of perfection never before known in\nGreece.\n\nAnd now a new step in political progress took place in the Peloponnesus.\nThe cities of Achaea joined into a league for common aid and defence.\nOther cities joined them, until it was hoped that all Peloponnesus would\nbe induced to combine into one commonwealth. There had been leagues\nbefore in Greece, but they had all been dominated by some one powerful\ncity. The Achaean League was the first that was truly a federal republic\nin organization, each city being an equal member of the confederacy.\n\nPhilopoemen, whose name had grown to stand highest among the soldiers\nof Greece, was chosen as general of the cavalry, and at once set\nhimself to reform its discipline and improve its tactics. By his example\nhe roused a strong warlike fervor among the people, inducing them to\ngive up all display and exercise but those needed in war. \"Nothing then\nwas to be seen in the shops but plate breaking up or melting down,\ngilding of breastplates, and studding buckles and bits with silver;\nnothing in the places of exercise but horses managing and young men\nexercising their arms; nothing in the hands of the women but helmets and\ncrests of feathers to be dyed, and the military cloaks and riding frocks\nto be embroidered.... Their arms becoming light and easy to them with\nconstant use, they longed for nothing more than to try them with an\nenemy, and fight in earnest.\"\n\nTwo years afterwards, in 208 B.C., Philopoemen was elected\n_strategus_, or general in-chief, of the Achaean league. The martial\nardor of the army he had organized was not long left unsatisfied. It was\nwith his old enemy, the Spartans, that he was first concerned.\nMachanidas, the Spartan king, having attacked the city of Mantinea,\nPhilopoemen marched against him, and soon gave him other work to do. A\npart of the Achaean army flying, Machanidas hotly pursued. Philopoemen\nheld back his main body until the enemy had become scattered in pursuit,\nwhen he charged upon them with such energy that they were repulsed, and\nover four thousand were killed. Machanidas returning in haste, strove to\ncross a deep ditch between him and his foe; but as he was struggling up\nits side, Philopoemen transfixed him with his javelin, and hurled him\nback dead into the muddy ditch.\n\nThis victory greatly enhanced the fame of the Arcadian general. Some\ntime afterwards he and a party of his young soldiers entered the theatre\nduring the Nemean games, just as the actor was speaking the opening\nwords of the play called \"The Persians:\"\n\n  \"Under his conduct Greece was glorious and was free.\"\n\nThe whole audience at once turned towards Philopoemen, and clapped\ntheir hands with delight. It seemed to them that in this valiant warrior\nthe ancient glory of Greece had returned, and for the time some of the\nold-time spirit came back. But, despite this momentary glow, the sun of\nGrecian freedom and glory was near its setting. A more dangerous enemy\nthan Macedonia had arisen. Rome, which Pyrrhus had gone to Italy to\nseek, had its armies now in Greece itself, and the independence of that\ncountry would soon be no more.\n\nThe next exploit of Philopoemen had to do with Messenia. Nabis, the\nnew Spartan king, had taken that city at a time when Philopoemen was\nout of command, the generalship of the League not being permanent. He\ntried to persuade Lysippus, then general of the Achaeans, to go to the\nrelief of Messenia, but he refused, saying that it was lost beyond hope.\nThereupon Philopoemen set out himself, followed by such of his fellow\ncitizens as deemed him their general by nature's commission. The very\nwind of his coming won the town. Nabis, hearing that Philopoemen was\nnear at hand, slipped hastily out of the city by the opposite gates,\nglad to get away in safety. He escaped, but Messenia was recovered. The\nmartial spirit of Philopoemen next took him to Crete, where fighting\nwas to be had to his taste. Yet he left his native city of Megalopolis\nso pressed by the enemy that its people were forced to sow grain in\ntheir very streets. However, he came back at length, met Nabis in the\nfield, rescued the army from a dangerous situation, and put the enemy to\nflight. Soon after he made peace with Sparta, and achieved a remarkable\ntriumph in inducing that great and famous city to join the Achaean\nLeague. In truth, the nobles of Sparta, glad to have so important an\nally, sent Philopoemen a valuable present. But such was his reputation\nfor honor that for a time no man could be found who dared offer it to\nhim; and when at length the offer was made he went to Sparta himself,\nand advised its nobles, if they wanted any one to bribe, to let it not\nbe good men, but those ill citizens whose seditious voices needed to be\nsilenced.\n\nIn the end Sparta was destined to suffer at the hands of its\nincorruptible ally, it having revolted from the League. Philopoemen\nmarched into Laconia, led his army unopposed to Sparta, and took\npossession of that famous seat of Mars, within which no hostile foot had\nhitherto been set. He razed its walls to the ground, put to death those\nwho had stirred the city to rebellion, and took away a great part of its\nterritory, which he gave to Megalopolis. Those who had been made\ncitizens of Sparta by tyrants he drove from the country, and three\nthousand who refused to go he sold into slavery; and, as a further\ninsult, with the money received from their sale he built a colonnade at\nMegalopolis.\n\nFinally, as a death-blow to Spartan power, he abolished the time-honored\nlaws of Lycurgus, under which that city had for centuries been so great,\nand forced the people to educate their children and live in the same\nmanner as the Achaeans. Thus ended the glory of Sparta. Some time\nafterwards its citizens resumed their old laws and customs, but the city\nhad sunk from its high estate, and from that time forward vanished from\nhistory.\n\nAt length, being then seventy years of age, misfortune came to this\ngreat warrior and ended his warlike career. An enemy of his had induced\nthe Messenians to revolt from the Achaean League. At once the old\nsoldier, though lying sick with a fever at Argos, rose from his bed, and\nreached Megalopolis, fifty miles away, in a day. Putting himself at the\nhead of an army, he marched to meet the foe. In the fight that followed\nhis force was driven back, and he became separated from his men in his\nefforts to protect the rear. Unluckily his horse stumbled in a stony\nplace, and he was thrown to the ground and stunned. The enemy, who were\nfollowing closely, at once made him prisoner, and carried him, with\ninsult and contumely, and with loud shouts of triumph, to the city\ngates, through which the very tidings of his coming had once driven a\ntriumphant foe.\n\nThe Messenians rapidly turned from anger to pity for their noble foe,\nand would probably have in the end released him, had time been given\nthem. But Dinocrates, their general and his enemy, resolved that\nPhilopoemen should not escape from his hands. He confined him in a\nclose prison, and, learning that his army had returned and were\ndetermined upon his rescue, decided that that night should be\nPhilopoemen's last.\n\nThe prisoner lay--not sleeping, but oppressed with grief and trouble--in\nhis prison cell, when a man entered bearing poison in a cup.\nPhilopoemen sat up, and, taking the cup, asked the man if he had heard\nanything of the Achaean horsemen.\n\n\"The most of them got off safe,\" said the man.\n\n\"It is well,\" said Philopoemen, with a cheerful look, \"that we have\nnot been in every way unfortunate.\"\n\nThen, without a word more, he drank the poison and lay down again. As he\nwas old and weak from his fall, he was quickly dead.\n\nThe news of his death filled all Achaea with lamentation and thirst for\nrevenge. Messenia was ravaged with fire and sword till it submitted.\nDinocrates and all who had voted for Philopoemen's death killed\nthemselves to escape death by torture. All Achaea mourned at his funeral,\nstatues were erected to his memory, and the highest honors decreed to\nhim in many cities. In the words of Pausanias, a late Greek writer,\n\"Miltiades was the first, and Philopoemen the last, benefactor to the\nwhole of Greece.\"\n\n\n\n\n_THE DEATH-STRUGGLE OF GREECE._\n\n\nGreece learned too late the art of combining for self-defence. In the\nwar against the vast power of Persia, Athens stood almost alone. What\naid she got from the rest of Greece was given grudgingly. Themistocles\nhad to gain the aid of the Grecian fleet at Salamis by a trick. Philip\nof Macedonia conquered Greece by dividing it and fighting it piecemeal.\nOnly after the close of the Macedonian power and the beginning of that\nof Rome did Greece begin to learn the art of unity, and then the lesson\ncame too late. The Achaean League, which combined the nations of the\nPeloponnesus into a federal republic, was in its early days kept busy in\nforcing its members to remain true to their pledge. If it had survived\nfor a century it would probably have brought all Greece into the League,\nand have produced a nation capable of self-defence. But Rome already had\nher hand on the throat of Greece, and political wisdom came to that land\ntoo late to avail.\n\n[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA, CORINTH.]\n\nWe have come, indeed, to the end of the story of Grecian liberty. Twice\nGreece rose in arms against the power of Rome, but in the end she fell\nhopelessly into the fetters forged for the world by that lord of\nconquest. Of the celebrated cities of Greece two had already fallen.\nThebes had been swept from the face of the earth in the wind of\nAlexander's wrath. Sparta had been reduced to a feeble village by the\nanger of Philopoemen. Corinth, now the largest and richest city of\nGreece, was to be razed to the ground for daring to defy Rome; and\nAthens was to be plundered and humiliated by a conquering Roman army.\n\nIt will not take long to tell how all this came about. The story is a\nshort one, but full of vital consequences. Philopoemen, the great\ngeneral of the Achaean League, died of poison 183 B.C. In the same year\ndied in exile Hannibal, the greatest foe Rome ever knew, and Scipio, one\nof its ablest generals. Rome was already master of Greece. But the Roman\nsenate feared trouble from the growth of the Achaean League, and, to\nweaken it, took a thousand of its noblest citizens, under various\ncharges, and sent them as hostages to Rome. Among them was the\ncelebrated historian Polybius, who wrote the history of Hannibal's wars.\n\nThese exiles were not brought to trial on the weak charges made against\nthem, but they were detained in Italy for seventeen years. By the end of\nthat time many of them had died, and Rome at last did what it was not in\nthe habit of doing, it took pity on those who were left and let them\nreturn home.\n\nRoman pity in this case proved disastrous to Greece. Many of the exiles\nwere exasperated by their treatment, and were no sooner at home than\nthey began to stir up the people to revolt. Polybius held them back for\na time, but during his absence the spirit of sedition grew. It was\nintensified by the action of Rome, which, to weaken Greece, resolved to\ndissolve the Achaean League, or to take from it its strongest cities.\nRoman ambassadors carried this edict to Corinth, the great city of the\nLeague. When their errand become known the people rose in riot, insulted\nthe ambassadors, and vowed that they were not and would not be the\nslaves of Rome.\n\nIf they had shown the strength and spirit to sustain their vow they\nmight have had some warrant for it. But the fanatics who stirred the\ncountry to revolt against the advice of its wisest citizens proved\nincapable in war. Their army was finally put to rout in the year 146\nB.C. by a Roman army under the leadership of Lucius Mummius, consul of\nRome.\n\nThis Roman victory was won in the vicinity of Corinth. The routed army\ndid not seek to defend itself in that city, but fled past its open\ngates, and left it to the mercy of the Roman general. The gates still\nstood open. No defence was made. But Mummius, fearing some trick, waited\na day or two before entering. On doing so he found the city nearly\ndeserted. The bulk of the population had fled. The greatest and richest\ncity which Greece then possessed had fallen without a blow struck in its\ndefence.\n\nYet Mummius chose to consider it as a city taken by storm. All the men\nwho remained were put to the sword; the women and children were kept to\nbe sold as slaves; the town was mercilessly plundered of its wealth and\ntreasures of art.\n\nBut this degree of vengeance did not satisfy Rome. Her ambassadors had\nbeen insulted,--by a mob, it is true; but in those days the law-abiding\nhad often to suffer for the deeds of the mob. The Achaean League, with\nCorinth at its head, had dared to resist the might and majesty of Rome.\nA lesson must be given that would not be easily forgotten. Corinth must\nbe utterly destroyed.\n\nSuch was the deliberate decision of the Roman senate; such the order\nsent to Mummius. At his command the plundering of the city was\ncompleted. It was fabulously rich in works of art. Many of these were\nsent to Rome. Many of them were destroyed. The Romans were ignorant of\ntheir value. Their leader himself was as incompetent and ignorant as any\nRoman general could well be. He had but one thought, to obey the orders\nof the senate. The plundered city was thereupon set on fire and burned\nto the ground, its walls were pulled down, the spot where it had stood\nwas cursed, its territory was declared the property of the Roman people.\nNo more complete destruction of a city had ever taken place. A century\nafterwards Corinth was rebuilt by order of Julius Caesar, but it never\nbecame again the Corinth of old.\n\nAs for the destruction of works of priceless value, it was pitiable.\nWhen Polybius returned and saw the ruins, he found common soldiers\nplaying dice on paintings of the most celebrated artists of Greece.\nMummius, who was as honest as he was dull-witted, strictly obeyed orders\nin sending the choicest of the spoil to Rome, and made himself forever\nfamous as a marvel of stupidity by a remark to those who were charged\nwith the conveyance of some of the noblest of Grecian statues.\n\n\"Take good care that you do not lose these on the way,\" he said; \"for if\nyou do you shall be made to replace them by others of equal value.\"\n\nRome could conquer the world, but honest Mummius had set a task which\nRome throughout its whole history was not able to perform.\n\nThus ended the death-struggle of Greece. The chiefs of the party of\nrevolt were put to death; the inhabitants of Corinth who had fled were\ntaken and sold as slaves. The walls of all the cities which had resisted\nRome were levelled to the ground. An annual tribute was laid on them by\nthe conquerors. Self-government was left to the states of Greece, but\nthey were deprived of their old privilege of making war.\n\nYet Greece might have flourished under the new conditions, for peace\nheals the wounds made by war, had its states not been too much weakened\nby their previous conflicts, and had not a new war arisen just when they\nwere beginning to enjoy some of the fruits of peace.\n\nThis war, which broke out sixty years later, had its origin in Asia.\nMithridates the Great, king of Pontus, had made himself master of all\nAsia Minor, where he ordered that all the Romans found should be killed.\nIt is said that eighty thousand were slaughtered. Then he sent an army\ninto Greece, under his general Archelaus, and there found the people\nready and willing to join him, in the hope of gaining their freedom by\nhis aid. Rome just then seemed weak, and they deemed it a good season to\nrebel.\n\nArchelaus took possession of Athens and the Piraeus, from which all the\nfriends of Rome were driven into exile. Meanwhile, Rome was distracted\nby the struggle between the two great leaders Marius and Sulla. But\nleaving Rome to take care of itself, Sulla marched an army against\nMithridates, entered Greece, and laid siege to Athens.\n\nThis was in the year 87 B.C. The siege that followed was a long one.\nArchelaus lay in Piraeus, with abundance of food, and had command of the\nsea. But the long walls that led to Athens had long since vanished. Food\ncould not be conveyed from the port to the city, as of old. Hunger came\nto the aid of Rome. Resistance having almost ceased, Sulla broke into\nthe famous old city March 1, 86 B.C., and gave it up to rapine and\npillage by his soldiers.\n\nYet Athens was not destroyed as Corinth had been. Sulla had some respect\nfor art and antiquity, and carefully preserved the old monuments of the\ncity, while such of its people as had not been massacred were restored\nto their civil rights as subjects of Rome. Soon the Asiatics were driven\nfrom Greece and Roman dominion was once more restored. Thus ended the\nlast struggle for liberty in Greece. Nineteen hundred years were to pass\naway before another blow for freedom would be struck on Grecian soil.\n\n\n\n\n_ZENOBIA AND LONGINUS._\n\n\nAmong the most famous of the women of ancient days must be named\nZenobia, the celebrated queen of Palmyra and the East, and who claimed\nto be descended from the kings whom the conquests of Alexander left over\nEgypt, the Ptolemies, among whose descendants was included the still\nmore celebrated Cleopatra. Zenobia was the most lovely as well as the\nmost heroic of her sex, no woman of Asiatic birth ever having equalled\nher in striking evidence of valor and ability, and none surpassed her in\nbeauty. We are told that while of a dark complexion, her smile revealed\nteeth of pearly whiteness, while her large black eyes sparkled with an\nuncommon brightness that was softened by the most attractive sweetness.\nShe possessed a strong and melodious voice, and, in short, had all the\ncharms of womanly beauty.\n\nHer mind was as well stored as her body was attractive. She was familiar\nwith the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages, and was an adept\nalso in Latin, then the political language of the civilized world. She\nwas an earnest student of Oriental history, of which she herself drew up\nan epitome, while she was fully conversant with Homer and Plato, and the\nother great writers of Greece.\n\nThis lovely and accomplished woman gave her hand in marriage to\nOdenathus, who from a private station had gained by his valor the empire\nof the East. He made Syria his by courage and ability, and twice pursued\nthe Persian king to the gates of Ctesiphon. Of this hero Zenobia became\nthe companion and adviser. In hunting, of which he was passionately\nfond, she emulated him, pursuing the lions, panthers, and other wild\nbeasts of the desert with an ardor equal to his own, and a fortitude and\nendurance which his did not surpass. Inured to fatigue, she usually\nappeared on horseback in a military habit, and at times marched on foot\nat the head of the troops. Odenathus owed his success largely to the\nprudence and fortitude of his incomparable wife.\n\nIn the midst of his successes in war, Odenathus was cut off in 250 A.D.\nby assassination. He had punished his nephew, who killed him in return.\nZenobia at once succeeded to the vacant throne, and by her ability\ngoverned Palmyra, Syria, and the East. In this task, in which no man\ncould have surpassed her in courage and judgment, she was aided by the\ncounsels of one of the ablest Greeks who had appeared since the days of\nthe famous writers of the classical age. Longinus, who had been her\npreceptor in the language and literature of Greece, and who, on her\nascending the throne, became her secretary and chief counsellor in state\naffairs, was a literary critic and philosopher whose lucid intellect\nseemed to belong to the brightest days of Greece. He was probably a\nnative of Syria, born some time after 200 A.D., and had studied\nliterature and philosophy at Athens, Alexandria, and Rome, under the\nablest teachers of the age. His learning was immense, and he is the\nfirst man to whom was applied the expression \"a living library,\" or, to\ngive it its modern form, \"a walking encyclopaedia.\" His writings were\nlively and penetrating, showing at once taste, judgment, and learning.\nWe have only fragments of them, except the celebrated \"Treatise on the\nSublime,\" which is one of the most notable of ancient critical\nproductions.\n\nUnder the advice of this distinguished counsellor, Zenobia entered upon\na career which brought her disaster, but has also brought her fame. Her\nhusband Odenathus had avenged Valerian, the Roman emperor, who had been\ntaken prisoner and shamefully treated by the Persian king. For this\nservice he was confirmed in his authority by the senate of Rome. But\nafter his death the senate refused to grant this authority to his widow,\nand called on her to deliver her dominion over to Rome. Under the advice\nof Longinus the martial queen refused, defied the power of Rome, and\ndetermined to maintain her empire in despite of the senate and army of\nthe proud \"master of the world.\"\n\nWar at once broke out. A Roman army invaded Syria, but was met by\nZenobia with such warlike energy and skill that it was hurled back in\ndefeat, and its commanding general, having lost his army, was driven\nback to Europe in disgrace. This success gave Zenobia the highest fame\nand power in the world of the Orient. The states of Arabia, Armenia,\nand Persia, in dread of her enmity, solicited alliance with her. To her\ndominions, which extended from the Euphrates over much of Asia Minor and\nto the borders of Arabia, she added the populous kingdom of Egypt, the\ninheritance of her claimed ancestors. The Roman emperor Claudius\nacknowledged her authority and left her unmolested. Assuming the\nsplendid title of Queen of the East, she established at her court the\nstately power of the courts of Asia, exacted from her subjects the\nadoration shown to the Persian king, and, while strict in her economy,\nat times displayed the greatest liberality and magnificence.\n\nBut a new emperor came to the throne in Rome, and a new period in the\nhistory of Zenobia began. Aurelian, a fierce and vigorous soldier,\nmarched at the head of the Roman legions against this valiant queen, who\nhad built herself up an empire of great extent, and demanded that she\nshould submit to the power of his arms. Asia Minor was quickly restored\nto Rome, Antioch fell into the hands of Aurelian, and the Romans still\nadvanced, to meet the army of the Syrian queen. Meeting near Antioch, a\ngreat battle was fought. Zabdas, who had conquered Egypt for Zenobia,\nled her army, but the valiant queen animated her soldiers by her\npresence, and exhorted them to the utmost exertions. Her troops, great\nin number, were mainly composed of light-armed archers and of cavalry\nclothed in complete steel. These Asiatic warriors proved incapable of\nenduring the charge of the veteran legions of Rome. The army of Zenobia\nmet with defeat, and at a subsequent battle, near Emesa, met with a\nsecond disastrous repulse.\n\nZenobia found it impossible to collect a third army. Most of the nations\nunder her control had submitted to the conqueror. Egypt was invaded by a\nRoman army. Out of her lately great empire only her capital, Palmyra,\nremained. Here she retired, made preparations for a vigorous defence,\nand declared that her reign and life should only end together.\n\nPalmyra was then one of the most splendid cities of the world. A\nhalting-place for the caravans which conveyed to Europe the rich\nproducts of India and the East, it had grown into a great and opulent\ncity, whose former magnificence is shown by the ruins of temples,\npalaces, and porticos of Grecian architecture, which now extend over a\ndistrict of several miles. In this city, surrounded with strong walls,\nZenobia had gathered the various military engines which in those days\nwere used in siege and defence, and, woman though she was, was prepared\nto make the most vigorous resistance to the armies of Rome.\n\nAurelian had before him no light task. In his march over the desert the\nArabs harassed him perpetually. The siege proved difficult, and the\nemperor, leading the attacks in person, was himself wounded with a dart.\nAurelian, finding that he had undertaken no trifling task, prudently\noffered excellent terms to the besieged, but they were rejected with\ninsulting language. Zenobia hoped that famine would come to her aid to\ndefeat her foe, and had reason to expect that Persia would send an army\nto her relief. Neither happened. The Persian king had just died.\nConvoys of food crossed the desert in safety. Despairing at length of\nsuccess, Zenobia mounted her fleetest dromedary and fled across the\ndesert to the Euphrates. Here she was overtaken and brought back a\ncaptive to the emperor's feet.\n\nSoon afterwards Palmyra surrendered. The emperor treated it with lenity,\nbut a great treasure in gold, silver, silk, and precious stones fell\ninto his hands, with all the animals and arms. Zenobia being brought\ninto his presence, he sternly asked her how she had dared to take arms\nagainst the emperors of Rome. She answered, with respectful prudence,\n\"Because I disdained to consider as Roman emperors an Aureolus or a\nGallienus. You alone I acknowledge as my conqueror and my sovereign.\"\n\nHer fortitude, however, did not last. The soldiers, with angry clamor,\ndemanded her immediate execution, and the unhappy queen, losing for the\nfirst time the courage which had so long sustained her, gave way to\nterror, and declared that her resistance was not due to herself, but had\narisen from the counsels of Longinus and her other advisers. It was the\none base act in the woman's life. She had purchased a brief period of\nexistence at the expense of honor and fame. Aurelian, a fierce soldier,\nto whom the learning of Longinus made no appeal, at once ordered his\nexecution. The scholar died like a philosopher. He uttered no complaint.\nHe pitied, but did not blame, his mistress. He comforted his afflicted\nfriends. With the calm fortitude of Socrates he followed the\nexecutioner, and died like one for whom death had no terrors. The\nignorant emperor, in seizing the treasures of Palmyra, did not know that\nhe had lost its choicest treasure in setting free the soul of Longinus\nthe scholar.\n\nWhat followed may be more briefly told. Marching back with his spoils\nfrom Palmyra, Aurelian had already reached Europe when word came to him\nthat the Palmyrians whom he had spared had risen in revolt and massacred\nhis garrison. Instantly turning, he marched back, his soul filled with\nthirst for revenge. Reaching Palmyra with great celerity, his wrath fell\nwith murderous fury on that devoted city. Not only armed rebels, but\nwomen and children, were massacred, and the city was almost levelled\nwith the earth. The greatness of Palmyra was at an end. It never\nrecovered from this dreadful blow. It sunk, step by step, into the\nmiserable village, in the midst of stately ruins, into which it has now\ndeclined.\n\nOn his return Aurelian celebrated his victories and conquests with a\nmagnificent triumph, one of the most ostentatious that any Roman emperor\nhad ever given. His conquests had been great, both in the West and the\nEast, and no emperor had better deserved a triumphant return to the\nimperial city, the mistress of the world.\n\nAll day long, from morning to night, the grand procession wound on. At\nits head were twenty elephants, four royal tigers, and about two hundred\nof the most curious and interesting animals of the North, South, and\nEast. Sixteen hundred gladiators followed, destined for the cruel sports\nto be held in the amphitheatre. Then came a display of the wealth of\nPalmyra, the magnificent plate and wardrobe of Zenobia, the arms and\nensigns of numerous conquered nations. Embassadors from the most remote\nregions of the civilized earth,--from Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, India,\nand China,--attired in rich and singular dresses, attested the fame of\nthe Roman emperor, while his power was shown by the many presents he had\nreceived, among them a great number of crowns of gold, which had been\ngiven him by grateful cities.\n\n[Illustration: THE RUINS OF PALMYRA.]\n\nA long train of captives next declared his triumph, among them Goths,\nVandals, Franks, Gauls, Germans, Syrians, and Egyptians. Each people was\ndistinguished by its peculiar inscription, the title of Amazons being\ngiven to ten Gothic heroines who had been taken in arms. But in this\ngreat crowd of unhappy captives one above all attracted the attention of\nthe host of spectators, the beauteous figure of the Queen of the East.\nZenobia was so laden with jewels as almost to faint under their weight.\nHer limbs bore fetters of gold, while the golden chain that encircled\nher neck was of such weight that it had to be supported by a slave. She\nwalked along the streets of Rome, preceding the magnificent chariot in\nwhich she had indulged hopes of riding in triumph through those grand\navenues. Behind it came two other chariots, still more sumptuous, those\nof Odenathus and the Persian monarch. The triumphal car of Aurelian,\nwhich followed, was one which had formerly been used by a Gothic king,\nand was drawn by four stags or four elephants, we are not sure which.\nThe most illustrious of the senate, the people, and the army closed this\ngrand procession, which was gazed upon with joy and wonder by the vast\npopulation of Rome.\n\nSo extended was the pompous parade that though it began with the dawn of\nday, the ninth hour had arrived when it ascended to the Capitol, and\nnight had fallen when the emperor returned to his palace. Then followed\ntheatrical representations, games in the circus, gladiatorial combats,\nwild-beast shows, and naval engagements. Not for generations had Rome\nseen such a festival. Of the rich spoils a considerable portion was\ndedicated to the gods of Rome, the temples glittered with golden\nofferings, and the Temple of the Sun, a magnificent structure erected by\nAurelian, was enriched with more than fifteen thousand pounds of gold.\n\nTo Zenobia the victor behaved with a generous clemency such as the\nconquering emperors of Rome rarely indulged in. He presented her with an\nelegant villa at Tibur, or Tivoli, about twenty miles from the imperial\ncity; and here, surrounded by luxury, she who had played so imperial a\n_role_ in history sank into the humbler state of a Roman matron. Her\ndaughters married into noble families, and the descendants of the once\nQueen of the East were still known in Rome in the fifth century of the\nChristian era.\n\n\n\n\n_THE LITERARY GLORY OF GREECE._\n\n\nShall we now leave the domain of historic events, of which the land of\nGreece presents so large and varied a store, and consider that other\nfeature of national life and development which has made Greece the most\nnotable of lands--the intellectual growth of its people, the splendor of\nart and literature which gave it a glory that glows unfading still?\n\nIn the whole history of mankind there is nothing elsewhere to compare\nwith the achievements of the Greek intellect during the few centuries in\nwhich freedom and thought flourished on that rocky peninsula, and the\nnames and works handed down to us are among the noblest in the grand\nrepublic of thought. Just when this remarkable era of literature began\nwe do not know. So far as any remains of it are concerned, it began as\nthe sun begins its daily career in the heavens, with a lustre not\nsurpassed in any part of its course. For the oldest of Greek writings\nwhich we possess are among the most brilliant, comprising the poems of\nHomer, the model of all later works in the epic field, and which light\nup and illustrate a broad period of human history as no works in\ndifferent vein could do. They shine out in a realm of darkness, and\nshow us what men were doing and thinking and how they were living and\nstriving at a time which but for them would be buried in impenetrable\ndarkness.\n\nThis was the epoch of the wandering minstrel, when the bard sang his\nstirring lays of warlike scenes and heroic deeds in castle and court.\nBut the mind of Greece was then awakening in other fields, and it is of\ngreat interest to find that Homer was quickly followed by an epic writer\nof markedly different vein, Hesiod, the poet of peace and rural labors,\nof the home and the field. While Homer paints for us the warlike life of\nhis day, Hesiod paints the peaceful labors of the husbandman, the\nholiness of domestic life, the duty of economy, the education of youth,\nand the details of commerce and politics. He also collects the flying\nthreads of mythological legend and lays down for us the story of the\ngods in a work of great value as the earliest exposition of this\npicturesque phase of religious belief. The veil is lifted from the face\nof youthful Greece by these two famous writers, and we are shown the\nland and its people in full detail at a period of whose conditions we\notherwise would be in total ignorance.\n\nSuch was the earliest phase of Greek literature, so far as any remains\nof it exist. It took on a different form when Athens rose to political\nsupremacy and became a capital of art and the chief centre of Hellenic\nthought, its productions being received with admiration throughout\nGreece, while the ripened judgment and taste of its citizens became the\narbiters of literary excellence for many centuries to follow. The\nearliest notable literature, however, came from the Ionians of Asia\nMinor and the adjacent islands. In the soft and mild climate and\nproductive valleys of this region and under the warm suns and beside the\nlimpid seas of the smiling islands, the mobile Ionic spirit found\ninspiration and blossomed into song while yet the rocky Attic soil was\nbarren of literary growth. But with the conquering inroads of the\nPersians literature fled from this field to find a new home among \"those\nbusy Athenians, who are never at rest themselves nor are willing to let\nany one else be.\"\n\n[Illustration: ALONG THE COAST OF GREECE.]\n\nThe day of the epic poet had now passed and the lyric took its place,\nmaking its first appearance, like the epic, in Ionia and the AEgean\nislands, but finding its most appreciative audience and enthusiastic\nsupport in Athens, the coming home of the muse. Song became the\nprevailing literary demand, and was supplied abundantly by such choice\nsingers as Sappho, Alcaeus, Anacreon, Simonides, and others of the soft\nand cheerful vein, the biting satires of Archilochus, the noble odes of\nPindar, the war anthems of Tyrtaeus, and the productions of many of\nlesser fame.\n\nThis flourishing period of song sank away when a new form of literature,\nthat of the drama, suddenly came into being and attained immediate\npopularity. For a century earlier it had been slowly taking form in the\nrural districts of Attica, beginning in the odes addressed to Dionysus,\nthe god of wine, the Bacchus of Roman mythology. These odes were sung\nat the public festivals of the vintage season, were accompanied by\ngesture and action and in time by dialogue, and the day came when groups\nof amateur actors travelled in carts from place to place to present\ntheir rude dramatic scenes, then mainly composed of song and dance, rude\njests, and dialogues. In this way the drama slowly came into being,\ncomedy from the jovial by-play of the rustic actors, tragedy from their\ncrude efforts to reproduce the serious side of mythologic story. A great\ntragic artist and poet, the far-famed AEschylus, lifted these primitive\nattempts into the field of the true drama. He was quickly followed by\ntwo other great artists in the same field, Sophocles and Euripides,\nwhile the efforts of the earlier comedians were succeeded by the\nfun-distilling productions of Aristophanes, the greatest of ancient\nartists in this field.\n\nThis blossoming age of poetry and the drama came after the desperate\nstruggles of the Persian War, which had left Athens a heap of ruins. In\nthe new Athens which rose under the fostering care of Pericles, not only\nliterature flourished but art reached its culmination, temple and hall,\ncolonnade and theatre showing the artistic beauty and grandeur of the\nnew architecture, while such sculptors as Phidias and such painters as\nZeuxis adorned the city with the noblest products of art. During these\nbusy years Athens became a marvel of beauty and art, the resort of\nstrangers from all quarters, the ablest workers in marble and metal,\nthe noblest artists, poets, and philosophers, until for more than a\ncentury that city was the recognized centre of the loftiest products of\nthe human intellect.\n\nProse came later than poetry, but was soon flourishing as luxuriantly.\nThe early historians quickly yielded Herodotus, the delightful old\nstoryteller, with his poetic prose; Xenophon, with his lucid and flowing\nnarrative; and Thucydides, the greatest of ancient historians and the\nfirst to give philosophic depth to the annals of mankind. The advent of\nhistory was accompanied by that of oratory, which among the Greeks\ndeveloped into one of the choicest forms of literature, especially in\nthe case of the greatest of the world's orators, Demosthenes, whose\norations were inspired by the noblest of themes, that of a patriotic\neffort to preserve the independence of Greece against the ambitious\ndesigns of Philip of Macedon.\n\nPhilosophy, the third great form of Greek prose literature, was as\ndiligently cultivated, and has left as many examples for modern perusal.\nThe works of the earlier philosophers were in verse, while Socrates, the\nfirst of the moral philosophers, left no writings, doing his work with\ntongue instead of pen, though he forms the leading character in Plato's\nphilosophic dialogues. In Plato we have the most famous of the world's\nphilosophers, and a writer of the ablest skill, in whose works the\nimagination of the poet is happily blended with the reasoning of the\nphilosopher, his productions constituting a form of philosophic drama,\nin which the character of each speaker is closely preserved, Socrates\nbeing usually the chief personage introduced.\n\nFollowing Plato came Aristotle, his equal in fame though not in literary\nmerit. His name will long survive as that of one of the ablest thinkers\nthe world has produced, a reasoner of exceptional ability, whose scope\nof research covered all fields and whose discoveries in practical\nscience formed the first true introduction to mankind of this great\nfield of human study, to-day the greatest of them all.\n\nWe have named here only the leaders in Greek literature, the whole array\nbeing far too great to cover in brief space. Following the older form of\nthe drama, with its archaic character, came two later forms, the Middle\nand the New Comedy, in the latter of which Menander was the most famous\nwriter, making in his plays some approach to the modern form. Philosophy\nleft later exponents in Zeno, Epicurus, and many others, and history in\nPolybius, Strabo, Plutarch, Arrian, and others of note. Science, as\ndeveloped by Aristotle and Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was\ncarried forward by many others, including Theophrastus, the able\nsuccessor of Aristotle; Euclid, the first great geometer; Eratosthenes\nand Hipparchus, the astronomers; and, latest of ancient scientists,\nPtolemy, whose works on astronomy and geography became the text-books of\nthe middle-age schools.\n\nLong before these later writers came into the field the centres of\nliterary effort had shifted to new localities. Sicily became the field\nof the choicest lyric poetry, giving us Theocritus, with his charming\n\"Idyls,\" or scenes of rural life, and his songful dialogues, with their\nfine description and delightful humor. Following him came Bion and\nMoschus, two other bucolic poets, whose finest productions are elegies\nof unsurpassed beauty.\n\nSyracuse was the home of this new field of lyric poetry, but there were\nother centres in which literature flourished, especially Pergamus,\nAntiochia, Pella, and above all Alexandria, the city founded by\nAlexander the Great in Egypt, and which under the fostering care of the\nPtolemies, Alexander's successors in this quarter, developed into a\nremarkable centre of intellectual effort.\n\nThe first Ptolemy made Alexandria his capital and founded there a great\nstate institution which became famous as the Museum, and to which\nphilosophers, scholars, and students flocked from all parts of the\nworld. Here learned men could find a retreat from the bustle of the\ngreat metropolis which Alexandria became, and pursue their studies or\nteach their pupils in peace within its walls, and it is said that at one\ntime fourteen thousand students gathered within its classic shades.\n\nHere grew up two great libraries, said to number seven hundred thousand\nvolumes, and embracing all that was worthy of study or preservation in\nthe writings of ancient days. Of these, one was burned during the siege\nof the city by Julius Caesar, but it was replaced by Marc Antony, who\nrobbed Pergamus of its splendid library of two hundred thousand volumes\nand sent it to Alexandria as a present to Cleopatra.\n\nIn this secure retreat, amply supported by the liberality of the\nPtolemies, philosophers and scholars spent their days in mental culture\nand learned lectures and debates. The scientific studies inaugurated by\nAristotle were here continued by a succession of great astronomers,\ngeometers, chemists, and physicians, for whose use were furnished a\nbotanical garden, a menagerie of animals, and facilities for human\ndissection, the first school of anatomy ever known.\n\nIn the heart of the great library, battening on books, flourished a\ncircle of learned literary critics, engaged in the study of Homer and\nthe other already classical writers of Greece and supplying new and\nrevised editions of their works. Here philosophy was ardently pursued,\nthe works of Plato and his great rivals being diligently studied, while\nin a later age the innovation of Neoplatonism was abundantly debated and\ntaught. A new school of poetry also arose, most of its followers being\nmechanical versifiers, though the idyllic poets of Sicily sought these\nfavoring halls. Most famous among the philosophers of Alexandria was the\nmaiden Hypatia, who had studied in the still active schools of Athens,\nand taught the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle and the then popular\ntenets of Neoplatonism--her fame being chiefly due to her violent and\nterrible death at the hands of fanatical opponents of her teachings.\n\nThe dynasty of the Ptolemies vanished with the death of Cleopatra, and\nduring the wars and struggles that followed the library disappeared and\nthe supremacy of Alexandria as a centre of mental culture passed away.\nThe literary culture of Athens, whose schools of philosophy long\nsurvived its downfall as the capital of an independent state, also\ndisappeared after being plundered of many of its works of art by Sulla,\nthe Roman tyrant, and in later years for the adornment of\nConstantinople; its schools were closed by order of the Emperor\nJustinian in 529 A.D.; and with them the light of science and learning,\nwhich had been shining for many centuries, though very dimly at the\nlast, was extinguished, and the final vestige of the glory of Athens and\nthe artistic and literary supremacy of Greece vanished from the land of\ntheir birth.\n\n  THE END.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] The sequel to this episode will be found in the tale entitled \"The\nFortune of Croesus.\"\n\n[2] Equal to about one thousand dollars.\n\n[3] The army of Sparta, which before had stayed at home to await the\nfull of the moon, did so now to complete certain religious ceremonies,\nsparing but this handful of men for the vital need of Greece.","title":"Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 10 (of 15), Greek","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":93386}