{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_30809/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_30809","id":"gutenberg_30809","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30809","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Greece -- History -- Juvenile literature","Mythology, Greek -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler\n\n [Picture: Orpheus]\n\n\n\n\n\n AUNT CHARLOTTE'S\n STORIES OF\n GREEK HISTORY\n\n\n BY\n CHARLOTTE M. YONGE\n\n AUTHOR OF \"THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE,\" \"STORIES OF ENGLISH HISTORY,\"\n \"STORIES OF FRENCH HISTORY,\" \"STORIES OF BIBLE HISTORY,\" &C.\n\n * * * * *\n\n _EIGHTH THOUSAND_\n\n * * * * *\n\n London:\n MARCUS WARD & CO., LIMITED\n ORIEL HOUSE, FARRINGDON STREET, E.C.\n AND AT BELFAST, NEW YORK, AND SYDNEY\n\n [Picture: Decorative header]\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIn this little book the attempt has been to trace Greek History so as to\nbe intelligible to young children. In fact, it will generally be found\nthat classical history is remembered at an earlier age than modern\nhistory, probably because the events are simple, and there was something\nchildlike in the nature of all the ancient Greeks. I would begin a\nchild's reading with the History of England, as that which requires to be\nknown best; but from this I should think it better to pass to the History\nof Greece, and that of Rome (which is in course of preparation), both\nbecause of their giving some idea of the course of time, and bringing\nScripture history into connection with that of the world, and because\nlittle boys ought not to begin their classical studies without some idea\nof their bearing. I have begun with a few of the Greek myths, which are\nabsolutely necessary to the understanding of both the history and of art.\nAs to the names, the ordinary reading of them has been most frequently\nadopted, and the common Latin titles of the gods and goddesses have been\nused, because these, by long use, have really come to be their English\nnames, and English literature at least will be better understood by\ncalling the king of Olympus Jupiter, than by becoming familiar with him\nfirst as Zeus.\n\n CHARLOTTE M. YONGE.\n\n [Picture: Decorative picture of people on horse-back]\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter header]\n\n CONTENTS.\n CHAP. PAGE\n I. Olympus 11\n II. Light and Dark 18\n III. The Peopling of Greece 26\n IV. The Hero Perseus 35\n V. The Labours of Hercules 42\n VI. The Argonauts 51\n VII. The Success of the Argonauts 59\n VIII. The Choice of Paris 68\n IX. The Siege of Troy 76\n X. The Wanderings of Ulysses 84\n XI. The Doom of the Atrides 94\n XII. After the Heroic Age 102\n XIII. Lycurgus and the Laws of Sparta. B.C. 110\n 884-668\n XIV. Solon and the Laws of Athens. B.C. 594-546 118\n XV. Pisistratus and his Sons. B.C. 558-499 126\n XVI. The Battle of Marathon. B.C. 490 134\n XVII. The Expedition of Xerxes. B.C. 480 142\n XVIII. The Battle of Plataea. B.C. 479-460 151\n XIX. The Age of Pericles. B.C. 464-429 159\n XX. The Expedition to Sicily. B.C. 415-413 167\n XXI. The Shore of the Goat's River. B.C. 406-402 174\n XXII. The Retreat of the Ten Thousand. B.C. 181\n 402-399\n XXIII. The Death of Socrates. B.C. 399 189\n XXIV. The Supremacy of Sparta. B.C. 396 196\n XXV. The Two Theban Friends. B.C. 387-362 203\n XXVI. Philip of Macedon. B.C. 364 210\n XXVII. The Youth of Alexander. B.C. 356-334 217\n XXVIII. The Expedition to Persia. B.C. 334 224\n XXIX. Alexander's Eastern Conquests. B.C. 331-328 231\n XXX. The End of Alexander. B.C. 328 238\n XXXI. The Last Struggles of Athens. B.C. 334-311 245\n XXXII. The Four New Kingdoms. B.C. 311-287 252\n XXXIII. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. B.C. 287 258\n XXXIV. Aratus and the Achaian League. B.C. 267 265\n XXXV. Agis and the Revival of Sparta. B.C. 272\n 244-236\n XXXVI. Cleomenes and the Fall of Sparta. B.C. 279\n 236-222\n XXXVII. Philopoemen, the Last of the Greeks. B.C. 286\n 236-184\n XXXVIII. The Fall of Greece. B.C. 189-146 293\n XXXIX. The Gospel in Greece. B.C. 146-A.D. 60 300\n XL. Under the Roman Empire 308\n XLI. The Frank Conquest. 1201-1446 315\n XLII. The Turkish Conquest. 1453-1670 322\n XLIII. The Venetian Conquest and Loss. 1684-1796 328\n XLIV. The War of Independence. 1815 334\n XLV. The Kingdom of Greece. 1822-1875 340\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter header]\n\n LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n PAGE\nMount Olympus 11\nHead of Jupiter 14\nSupposed Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius in AEgina 19\nHead of Pallas 21\nTriptolemus 23\nMars and Victory 25\nMount Parnassus 27\nThe World according to the Greeks 30\nPerseus and Andromeda 38\nCyclopean Wall 41\nScene in the Arachnaean Mountains near Argos 44\nBuilding the Argo 53\nCorinth 62\nPlains of Troy 69\nGreek Ships 73\nAchilles binding his Armour on Patroclus 78\nSepulchral Mound, known as the Tomb of Ajax 80\nLaocoon 82\nFuneral Feast 83\nUlysses tied to the Mast 89\nPort of Ithaca 91\nPlain of Sparta, with Mount Taygetus 97\nGreek Interior 106\nGreek Robe 107\nMale Costume 108\nGate of Mycenae 119\nShores of the Persian Gulf 129\nView in the Vicinity of Athens 141\nPass of Thermopylae 145\nSalamis 148\nPersian Soldier 152\nTombs at Plataea 153\nThe Acropolis, Athens 162\nPropylaea, Athens 163\nThe Academic Grove, Athens 168\nAthens 180\nBabylon 182\nGreek Armour 188\nSocrates 190\nPlato 193\nView on the Eurotas in Laconia 202\nThessalonica 209\nDemosthenes 212\nDiana of Ephesus 218\nAlexander 222\nBacchanals 223\nAlexander the Great 225\nSecond Temple of Diana at Ephesus 227\nPrinces of Persia 234\nSupposed Walls of Babylon 242\nSite of Susa, ancient Metropolis of Persia 244\nGate of Hadrian in Athens 247\nMacedonian Soldier 255\nDelphi and the Castalian Fount 262\nCorinth 267\nView looking across Isthmus of Corinth 269\nRuins of a Temple at Corinth 271\nTemple of Neptune 285\nCrowning the Victor in the Isthmian Games 290\nLivadia, the ancient Mideia in Argolis 292\nSappho 295\nLessina, the ancient Eleusis, on the Gulf of Corinth 297\nView from Corinth 301\nParthenon and Erectheum 304\nDistant View of Parnassus 307\nPlains of Philippi 309\nObelisk of Theodosius, Constantinople 313\nAn Amphitheatre 314\nPromontory of Actium 318\nMount Helicon 321\nCathedral of St. Sophia 323\nTemple of Minerva, on the Promontory of Sunium 330\nAncyra, Galatia 332\nThe Acropolis, Restored 337\nThe Isles of Greece 344\nPlain of Marathon 346\n\n [Picture: Mount Olympus]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. I.--OLYMPUS.\n\n\nI am going to tell you the history of the most wonderful people who ever\nlived. But I have to begin with a good deal that is not true; for the\npeople who descended from Japhet's son Javan, and lived in the beautiful\nislands and peninsulas called Greece, were not trained in the knowledge\nof God like the Israelites, but had to guess for themselves. They made\nstrange stories, partly from the old beliefs they brought from the east,\npartly from their ways of speaking of the powers of nature--sky, sun,\nmoon, stars, and clouds--as if they were real beings, and so again of\ngood or bad qualities as beings also, and partly from old stories about\ntheir forefathers. These stories got mixed up with their belief, and\ncame to be part of their religion and history; and they wrote beautiful\npoems about them, and made such lovely statues in their honour, that\nnobody can understand anything about art or learning who has not learnt\nthese stories. I must begin with trying to tell you a few of them.\n\n[Picture: Head of Jupiter] In the first place, the Greeks thought there\nwere twelve greater gods and goddesses who lived in Olympus. There is\nreally a mountain called Olympus, and those who lived far from it thought\nit went up into the sky, and that the gods really dwelt on the top of it.\nThose who lived near, and knew they did not, thought they lived in the\nsky. But the chief of all, the father of gods and men, was the\nsky-god--Zeus, as the Greeks called him, or Jupiter, as he was called in\nLatin. However, as all things are born of Time, so the sky or Jupiter\nwas said to have a father, Time, whose Greek name was Kronos. His other\nname was Saturn; and as Time devours his offspring, so Saturn was said to\nhave had the bad habit of eating up his children as fast as they were\nborn, till at last his wife Rhea contrived to give him a stone in\nswaddling clothes, and while he was biting this hard morsel, Jupiter was\nsaved from him, and afterwards two other sons, Neptune (Poseidon) and\nPluto (Hades), who became lords of the ocean and of the world of the\nspirits of the dead; for on the sea and on death Time's tooth has no\npower. However, Saturn's reign was thought to have been a very peaceful\nand happy one. For as people always think of the days of Paradise, and\nbelieve that the days of old were better than their own times, so the\nGreeks thought there had been four ages--the Golden age, the Silver age,\nthe Brazen age, and the Iron age--and that people had been getting worse\nin each of them. Poor old Saturn, after the Silver age, had had to go\ninto retirement, with only his own star, the planet Saturn, left to him;\nand Jupiter was reigning now, on his throne on Olympus, at the head of\nthe twelve greater gods and goddesses, and it was the Iron age down\nbelow. His star, the planet we still call by his name, was much larger\nand brighter than Saturn. Jupiter was always thought of by the Greeks as\na majestic-looking man in his full strength, with thick hair and beard,\nand with lightnings in his hand and an eagle by his side. These\nlightnings or thunderbolts were forged by his crooked son Vulcan\n(Hephaestion), the god of fire, the smith and armourer of Olympus, whose\nsmithies were in the volcanoes (so called from his name), and whose\nworkmen were the Cyclops or Round Eyes--giants, each with one eye in the\nmiddle of his forehead. Once, indeed, Jupiter had needed his bolts, for\nthe Titans, a horrible race of monstrous giants, of whom the worst was\nBriareus, who had a hundred hands, had tried, by piling up mountains one\nupon the other, to scale heaven and throw him down; but when Jupiter was\nhardest pressed, a dreadful pain in his head caused him to bid Vulcan to\nstrike it with his hammer. Then out darted Heavenly Wisdom, his\nbeautiful daughter Pallas Athene or Minerva, fully armed, with piercing,\nshining eyes, and by her counsels he cast down the Titans, and heaped\ntheir own mountains, Etna and Ossa and Pelion, on them to keep them down;\nand whenever there was an earthquake, it was thought to be caused by one\nof these giants struggling to get free, though perhaps there was some\nremembrance of the tower of Babel in the story. Pallas, this glorious\ndaughter of Jupiter, was wise, brave, and strong, and she was also the\ngoddess of women's works--of all spinning, weaving, and sewing.\n\nJupiter's wife, the queen of heaven or the air, was Juno--in Greek,\nHera--the white-armed, ox-eyed, stately lady, whose bird was the peacock.\nDo you know how the peacock got the eyes in his tail? They once belonged\nto Argus, a shepherd with a hundred eyes, whom Juno had set to watch a\ncow named Io, who was really a lady, much hated by her. Argus watched\ntill Mercury (Hermes) came and lulled him to sleep with soft music, and\nthen drove Io away. Juno was so angry, that she caused all the eyes to\nbe taken from Argus and put into her peacock's tail.\n\nMercury has a planet called after him too, a very small one, so close to\nthe sun that we only see it just after sunset or before sunrise. I\nbelieve Mercury or Hermes really meant the morning breeze. The story\nwent that he was born early in the morning in a cave, and after he had\nslept a little while in his cradle, he came forth, and, finding the shell\nof a tortoise with some strings of the inwards stretched across it, he at\nonce began to play on it, and thus formed the first lyre. He was so\nswift that he was the messenger of Jupiter, and he is always represented\nwith wings on his cap and sandals; but as the wind not only makes music,\nbut blows things away unawares, so Mercury came to be viewed not only as\nthe god of fair speech, but as a terrible thief, and the god of thieves.\nYou see, as long as these Greek stories are parables, they are grand and\nbeautiful; but when the beings are looked on as like men, they are absurd\nand often horrid. The gods had another messenger, Iris, the rainbow, who\nalways carried messages of mercy, a recollection of the bow in the\nclouds; but she chiefly belonged to Juno.\n\nAll the twelve greater gods had palaces on Olympus, and met every day in\nJupiter's hall to feast on ambrosia, a sort of food of life which made\nthem immortal. Their drink was nectar, which was poured into their\ngolden cups at first by Vulcan, but he stumbled and hobbled so with his\nlame leg that they chose instead the fresh and graceful Hebe, the goddess\nof youth, till she was careless, and one day fell down, cup and nectar\nand all. The gods thought they must find another cupbearer, and, looking\ndown, they saw a beautiful youth named Ganymede watching his flocks upon\nMount Ida. So they sent Jupiter's eagle down to fly away with him and\nbring him up to Olympus. They gave him some ambrosia to make him\nimmortal, and established him as their cupbearer. Besides this, the gods\nwere thought to feed on the smoke and smell of the sacrifices people\noffered up to them on earth, and always to help those who offered them\nmost sacrifices of animals and incense.\n\nThe usual names of these twelve were--Jupiter, Neptune, Juno, Latona,\nApollo, Diana, Pallas, Venus, Vulcan, Mercury, Vesta, and Ceres; but\nthere were multitudes besides--\"gods many and lords many\" of all sorts of\ndifferent dignities. Every river had its god, every mountain and wood\nwas full of nymphs, and there was a great god of all nature called Pan,\nwhich in Greek means All. Neptune was only a visitor in Olympus, though\nhe had a right there. His kingdom was the sea, which he ruled with his\ntrident, and where he had a whole world of lesser gods and nymphs,\ntritons and sea horses, to attend upon his chariot.\n\nAnd the quietest and best of all the goddesses was Vesta, the goddess of\nthe household hearth--of home, that is to say. There are no stories to\nbe told about her, but a fire was always kept burning in her honour in\neach city, and no one might tend it who was not good and pure.\n\n [Picture: Medusa]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. II.--LIGHT AND DARK.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter header]\n\nThe god and goddess of light were the glorious twin brother and sister,\nPhoebus Apollo and Diana or Artemis. They were born in the isle of\nDelos, which was caused to rise out of the sea to save their mother,\nLatona, from the horrid serpent, Python, who wanted to devour her. Gods\nwere born strong and mighty; and the first thing Apollo did was to slay\nthe serpent at Delphi with his arrows. Here was a dim remembrance of the\npromise that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, and\nalso a thought of the way Light slays the dragon of darkness with his\nbeams. Apollo was lord of the day, and Diana queen of the night. They\nwere as bright and pure as the thought of man could make them, and always\nyoung. The beams or rays were their arrows, and so Diana was a huntress,\nalways in the woods with her nymphs; and she was so modest, that once,\nwhen an unfortunate wanderer, named Actaeon, came on her with her nymphs\nby chance when they were bathing in a stream, she splashed some water in\nhis face and turned him into a stag, so that his own dogs gave chase to\nhim and killed him. I am afraid Apollo and Diana were rather cruel; but\nthe darting rays of the sun and moon kill sometimes as well as bless; and\nso they were the senders of all sharp, sudden strokes. There was a queen\ncalled Niobe, who had six sons and daughters so bright and fair that she\nboasted that they were equal to Apollo and Diana, which made Latona so\nangry, that she sent her son and daughter to slay them all with their\ndarts. The unhappy Niobe, thus punished for her impiety, wept a river of\ntears till she was turned into stone.\n\n [Picture: Supposed Temple of Jupiter Panhellenius in AEgina]\n\nThe moon belonged to Diana, and was her car; the sun, in like manner, to\nApollo, though he did not drive the car himself, but Helios, the sun-god,\ndid. The world was thought to be a flat plate, with Delphi in the\nmiddle, and the ocean all round. In the far east the lady dawn, Aurora,\nor Eos, opened the gates with her rosy fingers, and out came the golden\ncar of the sun, with glorious white horses driven by Helios, attended by\nthe Hours strewing dew and flowers. It passed over the arch of the\nheavens to the ocean again on the west, and there Aurora met it again in\nfair colours, took out the horses, and let them feed. Aurora had married\na man named Tithonus. She gave him ambrosia, which made him immortal,\nbut she could not keep him from growing old, so he became smaller and\nsmaller, till he dwindled into a grasshopper, and at last only his voice\nwas to be heard chirping at sunrise and sunset.\n\nHelios had an earthly wife too, and a son named Phaeton, who once begged\nto be allowed to drive the chariot of the sun for just one day. Helios\nyielded; but poor Phaeton had no strength nor skill to guide the horses\nin the right curve. At one moment they rushed to the earth and scorched\nthe trees, at another they flew up to heaven and would have burnt\nOlympus, if Jupiter had not cast his thunderbolts at the rash driver and\nhurled him down into a river, where he was drowned. His sisters wept\ntill they were changed into poplar trees, and their tears hardened into\namber drops.\n\nMercury gave his lyre to Apollo, who was the true god of music and\npoetry, and under him were nine nymphs--the Muses, daughters of\nmemory--who dwelt on Mount Parnassus, and were thought to inspire all\nnoble and heroic song, all poems in praise to or of the gods or of brave\nmen, and the graceful music and dancing at their feasts, also the\nknowledge of the stars of earth and heaven.\n\n[Picture: Head of Pallas] These three--Apollo, Diana, and Pallas--were\nthe gods of all that was nobly, purely, and wisely lovely; but the Greeks\nalso believed in powers of ill, and there was a goddess of beauty, called\nVenus (Aphrodite). Such beauty was hers as is the mere prettiness and\ncharm of pleasure--nothing high or fine. She was said to have risen out\nof the sea, as the sunshine touched the waves, with her golden hair\ndripping with the spray; and her favourite home was in myrtle groves,\nwhere she drove her car, drawn by doves, attended by the three Graces,\nand by multitudes of little winged children, called Loves; but there was\ngenerally said to be one special son of hers, called Love--Cupid in\nLatin, Eros in Greek--whose arrows, when tipped with gold, made people\nfall in love, and when tipped with lead, made them hate one another. Her\nhusband was the ugly, crooked smith, Vulcan--perhaps because pretty\nornaments come of the hard work of the smith; but she never behaved well\nto him, and only coaxed him when she wanted something that his clever\nhands could make.\n\nShe was much more fond of amusing herself with Mars (Ares), the god of\nwar, another of the evil gods, for he was fierce, cruel, and violent, and\nwhere he went slaughter and blood were sure to follow him and his horrid\ndaughter Bellona. His star was \"the red planet Mars;\" but Venus had the\nbeautiful clear one, which, according as it is seen either at sunrise or\nsunset, is called the morning or evening star. Venus also loved a\nbeautiful young earthly youth, called Adonis, who died of a thrust from a\nwild boar's tusk, while his blood stained crimson the pretty flower,\npheasant's eye, which is still called Adonis. Venus was so wretched that\nshe persuaded Jupiter to decree that Adonis should come back and live for\none-half of the year, but he was to go down to Pluto's underground\nkingdom the other half. This is because plants and flowers are beautiful\nfor one year, die down, and rise again.\n\n[Picture: Triptolemus] But there is a much prettier story, with something\nof the same meaning, about Ceres (Demeter), the grave, motherly goddess\nof corn and all the fruits of the earth. She had one fair daughter,\nnamed Proserpine (Persephone), who was playing with her companions near\nMount Etna, gathering flowers in the meadows, when grim old Pluto pounced\nupon her and carried her off into his underground world to be his bride.\nPoor Ceres did not know what had become of her darling, and wandered up\nand down the world seeking for her, tasting no food or drink, till at\nlast, quite spent, she was taken in as a poor woman by Celeus, king of\nEleusis, and became nurse to his infant child Triptolemus. All Eleusis\nwas made rich with corn, while no rain fell and no crops grew on the rest\nof the earth; and though first Iris and then all the gods came to beg\nCeres to relent, she would grant nothing unless she had her daughter\nback. So Jupiter sent Mercury to bring Proserpine home; but she was only\nto be allowed to stay on earth on condition that she had eaten nothing\nwhile in the under world. Pluto, knowing this, had made her eat half a\npomegranate, and so she could not stay with her mother; but Ceres's tears\nprevailed so far that she was to spend the summer above ground and the\nwinter below. For she really was the flowers and fruit. Ceres had grown\nso fond of little Triptolemus that she wanted to make him immortal; but,\nas she had no ambrosia, this could only be done by putting him on the\nfire night after night to burn away his mortal part. His mother looked\nin one night during the operation, and shrieked so that she prevented it;\nso all Ceres could do for him was to give him grains of wheat and a\ndragon car, with which he travelled all about the world, teaching men to\nsow corn and reap harvests.\n\nProserpine seems to have been contented in her underground kingdom, where\nshe ruled with Pluto. It was supposed to be below the volcanic grounds\nin southern Italy, near Lake Avernus. The entrance to it was guarded by\na three-headed dog, named Cerberus, and the way to it was barred by the\nRiver Styx. Every evening Mercury brought all the spirits of the people\nwho had died during the day to the shore of the Styx, and if their\nfuneral rites had been properly performed, and they had a little coin on\nthe tongue to pay the fare, Charon, the ferryman, took them across; but\nif their corpses were in the sea, or on battle-fields, unburied, the poor\nshades had to flit about vainly begging to be ferried over. After they\nhad crossed, they were judged by three judges, and if they had been\nwicked, were sent over the river of fire to be tormented by the three\nFuries, Alecto, Megara, and Tisiphone, who had snakes as scourges and in\ntheir hair. If they had been brave and virtuous, they were allowed to\nlive among beautiful trees and flowers in the Elysian fields, where Pluto\nreigned; but they seem always to have longed after the life they had\nlost; and these Greek notions of bliss seem sad besides what we know to\nbe the truth. Here, too, lived the three Fates, always spinning the\nthreads of men's lives; Clotho held the distaff, Lachesis drew out the\nthread, and Atropos with her shears cut it off when the man was to die.\nAnd, though Jupiter was mighty, nothing could happen but by Fate, which\nwas stronger than he.\n\n [Picture: Mars and Victory]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. III.--THE PEOPLING OF GREECE.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter header]\n\nYou remember the Titans who rebelled against Jupiter. There was one who\nwas noble, and wise, and kind, who did not rebel, and kept his brother\nfrom doing so. His name was Prometheus, which means Forethought; his\nbrother's was Epimetheus, or Afterthought; their father was Iapetus.\nWhen all the other Titans had been buried under the rocks, Jupiter bade\nPrometheus mould men out of the mud, and call on the winds of heaven to\nbreathe life into them. Then Prometheus loved the beings he had made,\nand taught them to build houses, and tame the animals, and row and sail\non the sea, and study the stars. But Zeus was afraid they would be too\nmighty, and would not give them fire. Then Prometheus climbed the skies,\nand brought fire down for them in a hollow reed.\n\n [Picture: Mount Parnassus]\n\nThe gods were jealous, and thought it time to stop this. So Jupiter bade\nVulcan mould a woman out of clay, and Pallas to adorn her with all charms\nand gifts, so that she was called Pandora, or All Gifts; and they gave\nher a casket, into which they had put all pains, and griefs, and woes,\nand ills, and nothing good in it but hope; and they sent her down to\nvisit the two Titan brothers. Prometheus knew that Jupiter hated them,\nand he had warned Epimetheus not to take any gift that came from Olympus;\nbut he was gone from home when Pandora came; and when Epimetheus saw how\nlovely she was, and heard her sweet voice, he was won over to trust her,\nand to open the box. Then out flew all the evils and miseries that were\nstored in it, and began to torment poor mankind with war, and sickness,\nand thirst, and hunger, and nothing good was left but hope at the bottom\nof the box. And by-and-by there came spirits, called Prayers, but they\nwere lame, coming after evil, because people are so apt not to begin to\npray till harm has befallen them.\n\n[Picture: Pandora] The gods undertook also to accept sacrifices, claiming\na share in whatever animal man slew. Prometheus guarded his people here\nby putting the flesh of a bullock on one side, and the bones and inward\nparts covered with the fat on the other, and bidding Jupiter choose which\nshould be his. The fat looked as if the heap it covered were the best,\nand Jupiter chose that, and was forced to abide by his choice; so that,\nwhenever a beast was killed for food, the bones and fat were burnt on the\naltar, and man had the flesh. All this made Jupiter so angry, that, as\nPrometheus was immortal and could not be killed, he chained the great,\ngood Titan to a rock on Mount Caucasus, and sent an eagle continually to\nrend his side and tear out his liver as fast as it grew again; but\nPrometheus, in all his agony, kept hope, for he knew that deliverance\nwould come to him; and, in the meantime, he was still the comforter and\ncounsellor of all who found their way to him.\n\nMen grew very wicked, owing to the evils in Pandora's box, and Jupiter\nresolved to drown them all with a flood; but Prometheus, knowing it\nbeforehand, told his mortal son Deucalion to build a ship and store it\nwith all sorts of food. In it Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha floated\nabout for nine days till all men had been drowned, and as the waters went\ndown the ship rested on Mount Parnassus, and Deucalion and Pyrrha came\nout and offered sacrifices to Jupiter. He was appeased, and sent Mercury\ndown to ask what he should grant them. Their prayer was that the earth\nmight be filled again with people, upon which the god bade them walk up\nthe hill and throw behind them the bones of their grandmother. Now Earth\nwas said to be the mother of the Titans, so the bones of their\ngrandmother were the rocks, so as they went they picked up stones and\nthrew them over their shoulders. All those that Deucalion threw rose up\nas men, and all those that Pyrrha threw became women, and thus the earth\nwas alive again with human beings. No one can fail to see what far older\nhistories must have been brought in the minds of the Greeks, and have\nbeen altered into these tales, which have much beauty in themselves. The\nstory of the flood seems to have been mixed up with some small later\ninundation which only affected Greece.\n\nThe proper old name of Greece was Hellas, and the people whom we call\nGreeks called themselves Hellenes. {29} Learned men know that they, like\nall the people of Europe, and also the Persians and Hindoos, sprang from\none great family of the sons of Japhet, called Arians. A tribe called\nPelasgi came first, and lived in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy; and after\nthem came the Hellenes, who were much quicker and cleverer than the\nPelasgi, and became their masters in most of Greece. So that the people\nwe call Greeks were a mixture of the two, and they were divided into\nthree lesser tribes--the AEolians, Dorians, and Ionians.\n\n [Picture: The World according to the Greeks]\n\nNow, having told you that bit of truth, I will go back to what the Greeks\nthought. They said that Deucalion had a son whose name was Hellen, and\nthat he again had three sons, called AEolus, Dorus, and Xuthus. AEolus\nwas the father of the AEolian Greeks, and some in after times thought\nthat he was the same with the god called AEolus, who was thought to live\nin the Lipari Islands; and these keep guard over the spirits of the\nwinds--Boreas, the rough, lively north wind; Auster, the rainy south\nwind; Eurus, the bitter east; and Zephyr, the gentle west. He kept them\nin a cave, and let one out according to the way the wind was wanted to\nblow, or if there was to be a storm he sent out two at once to struggle,\nand fight, and roar together, and lash up Neptune's world, the sea. The\nAEolians did chiefly live in the islands and at Corinth. One of the sons\nof AEolus turned out very badly, and cheated Jupiter. His name was\nSisyphus, and he was punished in Tartarus--Pluto's world below--by having\nalways to roll a stone up a mountain so steep that it was sure to come\ndown upon him again.\n\nDorus was, of course, the father of the Dorians; and Xuthus had a son,\ncalled Ion, who was the father of the Ionians. But, besides all these,\nthere was a story of two brothers, named AEgyptus and Danaus, one of whom\nsettled in Egypt, and the other in Argos. One had fifty sons and the\nother fifty daughters, and AEgyptus decreed that they should all marry;\nbut Danaus and his daughters hated their cousins, and the father gave\neach bride a dagger, with which she stabbed her bridegroom. Only one had\npity, and though the other forty-nine were not punished here, yet, when\nthey died and went to Tartarus, they did not escape, but were obliged to\nbe for ever trying to carry water in bottomless vessels. The people of\nArgos called themselves Danai, and no doubt some of them came from Egypt.\n\nOne more story, and a very strange one, tells of the peopling of Greece.\nA fair lady, named Europa, was playing in the meadows on the Phoenician\ncoast, when a great white bull came to her, let his horns be wreathed\nwith flowers, lay down, and invited her to mount his back; but no sooner\nhad she done so, than he rose and trotted down with her to the sea, and\nswam with her out of sight. He took her, in fact, to the island of\nCrete, where her son Minos was so good and just a king, that, when he\ndied, Pluto appointed him and two others to be judges of the spirits of\nthe dead. Europe was called after Europa, as the loss of her led\nsettlers there from Asia. Europa's family grieved for her, and her\nfather, mother, and brother went everywhere in search of her. Cadmus was\nthe name of her brother, and he and his mother went far and wide, till\nthe mother died, and Cadmus went to Delphi--the place thought to be the\ncentre of the earth--where Apollo had slain the serpent Python, and where\nhe had a temple and cavern in which every question could be answered.\nSuch places of divination were called oracles, and Cadmus was here told\nto cease from seeking his sister, and to follow a cow till she fell down\nwith fatigue, and to build a city on that spot. The poor cow went till\nshe came into Boeotia, and there fell. Cadmus meant to offer her up, and\nwent to fetch water from a fountain near, but as he stooped a fierce\ndragon rushed on him. He had a hard fight to kill it, but Pallas shone\nout in her beauty on him, and bade him sow its teeth in the ground. He\ndid so, and they sprung up as warriors, who at once began to fight, and\nkilled one another, all but five, who made friends, and helped Cadmus to\nbuild the famous city called Thebes. It is strange, after so wild a\nstory as this, to be told that Cadmus first taught writing in Greece, and\nbrought the alphabet of sixteen letters. The Greek alphabet was really\nlearnt from the Phoenicians, and most likely the whole is a curious story\nof some settlement of that eastern people in Greece. Most likely they\nbrought in the worship of the wine-god, Bacchus (Dionysos), for he was\ncalled Cadmus's grandson. An orphan at first, he was brought up by the\nnymphs and Mercury, and then became a great conqueror, going to India,\nand Egypt, and everywhere, carrying the vine and teaching the use of\nwine. He was attended by an old fat man, named Silenus, and by\ncreatures, called Fauns and Satyrs, like men with goats' ears and legs;\nhis crown was of ivy, and his chariot was drawn by leopards, and he was\nat last raised to Olympus. His feasts were called orgies; he-goats were\nsacrificed at them, and songs were sung, after which there was much\ndrinking, and people danced holding sticks wreathed with vine and ivy\nleaves. The women who danced were called Bacchanals. The better sort of\nGreeks at first would not adopt these shameful rites. There were horrid\nstories of women who refused them going mad and leaping into the sea, and\nthe Bacchanals used to fall upon and destroy all who resisted them.\n\n [Picture: Man in chariot]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IV.--THE HERO PERSEUS.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nA hero means a great and glorious man, and the Greeks thought they had\nmany such among their forefathers--nay, that they were sons of gods, and\nthemselves, after many trials and troubles, became gods, since these\nGreeks of old felt that \"we are also His offspring.\"\n\nHere is a story of one of these heroes. His mother was the daughter of\nan Argive king, and was named Danae. He was named Perseus, and had\nbright eyes and golden hair like the morning. When he was a little babe,\nhe and his mother were out at sea, and were cast on the isle of Seriphos,\nwhere a fisherman named Dictys took care of them. A cruel tyrant named\nPolydectes wanted Danae to be his wife, and, as she would not consent, he\nshut her up in prison, saying that she should never come out till her son\nPerseus had brought him the head of the Gorgon Medusa, thinking he must\nbe lost by the way. For the Gorgons were three terrible sisters, who\nlived in the far west beyond the setting sun. Two of them were immortal,\nand had dragon's wings and brazen claws and serpent hair, but their\nsister Medusa was mortal, and so beautiful in the face that she had\nboasted of being fairer than Pallas. To punish her presumption, her hair\nwas turned to serpents, and whosoever looked on her face, sad and lovely\nas it was, would instantly be turned into stone.\n\nBut, for his mother's sake, young Perseus was resolved to dare this\nterrible adventure, and his bravery brought help from the gods. The last\nnight before he was to set out Pallas came and showed him the images of\nthe three Gorgons, and bade him not concern himself about the two he\ncould not kill; but she gave him a mirror of polished brass, and told him\nonly to look at Medusa's reflection on it, for he would become a stone if\nhe beheld her real self. Then Mercury came and gave Perseus a sword of\nlight that would cleave all on whom it might fall, lent him his own\nwinged sandals, and told him to go first to the nymphs of the Graiae, the\nGorgons' sisters, and make them tell him the way.\n\nSo the young hero went by land and sea, still westwards, to the very\nborders of the world, where stands the giant of the west, Atlas, holding\nup the great vault of the skies on his broad shoulders. Beyond lay the\ndreary land of twilight, on the shores of the great ocean that goes round\nthe world, and on the rocks on the shores sat the three old, old nymphs,\nthe Graiae, who had been born with grey hair, and had but one eye and one\ntooth among them, which they passed to one another in turn. When the\nfirst had seen the noble-looking youth speeding to them, she handed her\neye on, that the next sister might look at him; but Perseus was too\nquick--he caught the one eye out of her hand, and then told the three\npoor old nymphs that he did not want to hurt them, but that he must keep\ntheir eye till they had told him the way to Medusa the Gorgon.\n\nThey told him the way, and, moreover, they gave him a mist-cap helmet\nfrom Tartarus, which would make him invisible whenever he put it on, and\nalso a bag, which he slung on his back; and, thus armed, he went further\nto the very bounds of the world, and he took his mirror in his hand, and\nlooked into it. There he saw the three Gorgon sisters, their necks\ncovered with scales like those of snakes (at least those of two), their\nteeth like boar's tusks, their hands like brass, and their wings of gold;\nbut they were all fast asleep, and Perseus, still looking into his\nmirror, cleft Medusa's neck with his all-cutting sword, and put her head\ninto the bag on his back without ever seeing her face. Her sisters awoke\nand darted after him; but he put on his helmet of mist, and they lost\nhim, while he fled away on Mercury's swift-winged sandals. As he sped\neastward, he heard a voice asking whether he had really killed the\nGorgon. It was Atlas, the old heaven-supporting giant; and when Perseus\nanswered that he had, Atlas declared that he must see the head to\nconvince him. So Perseus put a hand over his shoulder, and drew it up by\nits snaky hair; but no sooner had Atlas cast his eyes on it than he\nturned into a mountain, his white beard and hair becoming the snowy peak,\nand his garments the woods and forests. And there he still stands on the\nwest coast of Africa, and all our modern map-books are named after him.\n\n [Picture: Perseus and Andromeda]\n\nBut Perseus' adventures were not over. As he flew on by the Lybian coast\nhe heard a sound of wailing, and beheld a beautiful maiden chained by her\nhands and feet to a rock. He asked what had led her to this sad plight,\nand she answered that she was Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and\nCassiopeia, king and queen of Ethiopia, and that her mother had foolishly\nboasted that she was fairer than the Nereids, the fifty nymphs who are\nthe spirits of the waves. Neptune was so much displeased that he sent a\nflood to overflow the land, and a sea-monster to devour the people and\ncattle. In an oasis or isle of fertility in the middle of the Lybian\ndesert was a temple of Jupiter, there called Ammon, and the Ethiopians\nhad sent there to ask what to do. The oracle replied that the evil\nshould cease if Andromeda were given up to the monster. Cepheus had been\nobliged to yield her up because of the outcries of the people, and here\nshe was waiting to be devoured. Perseus, of course, was ready. He heard\nthe monster coming, bade Andromeda close her eyes, and then held up the\nGorgon's head. In an instant her foe had become a rock, and he cleft the\nmaiden's chains, brought her back to her father and mother, who gave her\nto him in marriage, and made a great feast; but here a former lover of\nhers insulted them both so much, that Perseus was forced to show him the\nGorgon's face, and turn him into stone.\n\nThen Perseus, with Andromeda, took his way to Seriphos. Indeed it was\nhigh time that he should come back, for Polydectes, thinking that he must\nlong ago have been turned into a rock at the sight of Medusa, had tried\nto take Danae by force to be his wife, and she had fled into a temple,\nwhere no one dared to touch her, since it was always believed that the\ngods punished such as dragged suppliants away from their temples. So\nPerseus went to Polydectes, who was in the midst of a feast, and, telling\nhim that his bidding was done, held up the head of Medusa, and of course\nthe king and his whole court turned at once into stone. Now that the\nwork of the Gorgon's head was done, Perseus offered it to Pallas, who\nplaced it upon her shield, or, as it is always called, her aegis; and he\ngave back the sword of light, cap of mist, and winged sandals to Mercury.\n\nAfter this he returned to Argos, and there, at a game of quoits, he had\nthe misfortune to throw the quoit the wrong way, and hit his grandfather,\nthe king, so as to kill him. Perseus reigned afterwards, and, like all\nthe nobler Greek heroes, kept out the worship of Bacchus and its foul\norgies from his dominions; but he afterwards exchanged kingdoms with\nanother king, and built the city of Tiryas. He lived happily with\nAndromeda, and had a great many children, whose descendants viewed him as\na demi-god, and had shrines to him, where they offered incense and\nsacrifice; for they thought that he and all the family were commemorated\nin the stars, and named the groups after them. You may find them all in\nthe North. Andromeda is a great square, as if large stars marked the\nrivets of her chains on the rock; Perseus, a long curved cluster of\nbright stars, as if climbing up to deliver her; her mother Cassiopeia\nlike a bright W, in which the Greeks traced a chair, where she sat with\nher back to the rest to punish her for her boast. Cepheus is there too,\nbut he is smaller, and less easy to find. They are all in the North,\nround the Great Bear, who was said by the Greeks to be a poor lady whom\nJuno had turned into a bear, and who was almost killed unknowingly by her\nown son when out hunting. He is the Little Bear, with the pole star in\nhis tail, and she is the Great Bear, always circling round him, and, as\nthe Greeks used to say, never dipping her muzzle into the ocean, because\nshe is so far north that she never sets.\n\nThis story of Perseus is a very old one, which all nations have loved to\ntell, though with different names. You will be amused to think that the\nold Cornish way of telling it is found in \"Jack the Giant-Killer,\" who\nhad seven-leagued boots and a cap of mist, and delivered fair ladies from\ntheir cruel foes.\n\n [Picture: Cyclopean Wall]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. V.--THE LABOURS OF HERCULES.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nOne morning Jupiter boasted among the gods in Olympus that a son would\nthat day be born in the line of Perseus, who would rule over all the\nArgives. Juno was angry and jealous at this, and, as she was the goddess\nwho presided over the births of children, she contrived to hinder the\nbirth of the child he intended till that day was over, and to hasten that\nof another grandson of the great Perseus. This child was named\nEurystheus, and, as he had been born on the right day, Jupiter was forced\nto let him be king of Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae, and all the Dorian\nrace; while the boy whom he had meant to be the chief was kept in\nsubjection, in spite of having wonderful gifts of courage and strength,\nand a kind, generous nature, that always was ready to help the weak and\nsorrowful.\n\n [Picture: Virtue and Vice]\n\nHis name was Alcides, or Hercules, and he was so strong at ten months\nold, that, with his own hands, he strangled two serpents whom Juno sent\nto devour him in his cradle. He was bred up by Chiron, the chief of the\nCentaurs, a wondrous race of beings, who had horses' bodies as far as the\nforelegs, but where the neck of the horse would begin had human breasts\nand shoulders, with arms and heads. Most of them were fierce and savage;\nbut Chiron was very wise and good, and, as Jupiter made him immortal, he\nwas the teacher of many of the great Greek heroes. When Hercules was\nabout eighteen, two maidens appeared to him--one in a simple white dress,\ngrave, modest and seemly; the other scarcely clothed, but tricked out in\nornaments, with a flushed face, and bold, roving eyes. The first told\nhim that she was Virtue, and that, if he would follow her, she would lead\nhim through many hard trials, but that he would be glorious at last, and\nbe blest among the gods. The other was Vice, and she tried to wile him\nby a smooth life among wine-cups and dances and flowers and sports, all\nto be enjoyed at once. But the choice of Hercules was Virtue, and it was\nwell for him, for Jupiter, to make up for Juno's cheat, had sworn that,\nif he fulfilled twelve tasks which Eurystheus should put upon him, he\nshould be declared worthy of being raised to the gods at his death.\n\n [Picture: Scene in the Arachnaean Mountains near Argos]\n\nEurystheus did not know that in giving these tasks he was making his\ncousin fulfil his course; but he was afraid of such a mighty man, and\nhoped that one of these would be the means of getting rid of him. So\nwhen he saw Hercules at Argos, with a club made of a forest tree in his\nhand, and clad in the skin of a lion which he had slain, Eurystheus bade\nhim go and kill a far more terrible lion, of giant brood, and with a skin\nthat could not be pierced, which dwelt in the valley of Nemea. The fight\nwas a terrible one; the lion could not be wounded, and Hercules was\nforced to grapple with it, and strangle it in his arms. He lost a finger\nin the struggle, but at last the beast died in his grasp, and he carried\nit on his back to Argos, where Eurystheus was so much frightened at the\ngrim sight that he fled away to hide himself, and commanded Hercules not\nto bring his monsters within the gates of the city.\n\n[Picture: Hercules fighting the Lion] There was a second labour ready for\nHercules--namely, the destroying a serpent with nine heads, called Hydra,\nwhose lair was the marsh of Lerna. Hercules went to the battle, and\nmanaged to crush one head with his club, but that moment two sprang up in\nits place; moreover, a huge crab came out of the swamp, and began to\npinch his heels. Still he did not lose heart, but, calling his friend\nIolaus, he bade him take a fire-brand and burn the necks as fast as he\ncut off the heads; and thus at last they killed the creature, and\nHercules dipped his arrows in its poisonous blood, so that their least\nwound became fatal. Eurystheus said that it had not been a fair victory,\nsince Hercules had been helped, and Juno put the crab into the skies as\nthe constellation Cancer; while a labour to patience was next devised for\nHercules--namely, the chasing of the Arcadian stag, which was sacred to\nDiana, and had golden horns and brazen hoofs. Hercules hunted it up hill\nand down dale for a whole year, and when at last he caught it, he got\ninto trouble with Apollo and Diana about it, and had hard work to appease\nthem; but he did so at last; and for his fourth labour was sent to catch\nalive a horrid wild boar on Mount Erymanthus. He followed the beast\nthrough a deep swamp, caught it in a net, and brought it to Mycenae.\n\n[Picture: Hercules fighting the Hydra] The fifth task was a curious one.\nAugeas, king of Elis, had immense herds, and kept his stables and\ncow-houses in a frightful state of filth, and Eurystheus, hoping either\nto disgust Hercules or kill him by the unwholesomeness of the work, sent\nhim to clean them. Hercules, without telling Augeas it was his appointed\ntask, offered to do it if he were repaid the tenth of the herds, and\nreceived the promise on oath. Then he dug a canal, and turned the water\nof two rivers into the stables, so as effectually to cleanse them; but\nwhen Augeas heard it was his task, he tried to cheat him of the payment,\nand on the other hand Eurystheus said, as he had been rewarded, it could\nnot count as one of his labours, and ordered him off to clear the woods\nnear Lake Stymphalis of some horrible birds, with brazen beaks and claws,\nand ready-made arrows for feathers, which ate human flesh. To get them\nto rise out of the forest was his first difficulty, but Pallas lent him a\nbrazen clapper, which made them take to their wings; then he shot them\nwith his poisoned arrows, killed many, and drove the rest away.\n\nKing Minos of Crete had once vowed to sacrifice to the gods whatever\nshould appear from the sea. A beautiful white bull came, so fine that it\ntempted him not to keep his word, and he was punished by the bull going\nmad, and doing all sorts of damage in Crete; so that Eurystheus thought\nit would serve as a labour for Hercules to bring the animal to Mycenae.\nIn due time back came the hero, with the bull, quite subdued, upon his\nshoulders; and, having shown it, he let it loose again to run about\nGreece.\n\nHe had a harder task in getting the mares of the Thracian king, Diomedes,\nwhich were fed on man's flesh. He overcame their grooms, and drove the\nbeasts away; but he was overtaken by Diomedes, and, while fighting with\nhim and his people, put the mares under the charge of a friend; but when\nthe battle was over, and Diomedes killed, he found that they had eaten up\ntheir keeper. However, when he had fed them on the dead body of their\nlate master, they grew mild and manageable, and he brought them home.\n\nThe next expedition was against the Amazons, a nation of women warriors,\nwho lived somewhere on the banks of the Euxine or Black Sea, kept their\nhusbands in subjection, and seldom brought up a son. The bravest of all\nthe Amazons was the queen, Hippolyta, to whom Mars had given a belt as a\nreward for her valour. Eurystheus' daughter wanted this belt, and\nHercules was sent to fetch it. He was so hearty, honest, and\ngood-natured, that he talked over Hippolyta, and she promised him her\ngirdle; but Juno, to make mischief, took the form of an Amazon, and\npersuaded the ladies that their queen was being deluded and stolen away\nby a strange man, so they mounted their horses and came down to rescue\nher. He thought she had been treacherous, and there was a great fight,\nin which he killed her, and carried off her girdle.\n\nFar out in the west, near the ocean flowing round the world, were herds\nof purple oxen, guarded by a two-headed dog, and belonging to a giant\nwith three bodies called Geryon, who lived in the isle of Erythria, in\nthe outmost ocean. Passing Lybia, Hercules came to the end of the\nMediterranean Sea, Neptune's domain, and there set up two\npillars--namely, Mounts Calpe and Abyla--on each side a the Straits of\nGibraltar. The rays of the sun scorched him, and in wrath he shot at it\nwith his arrows, when Helios, instead of being angry, admired his\nboldness, and gave him his golden cup, wherewith to cross the outer\nocean, which he did safely, although old Oceanus, who was king there, put\nup his hoary head, and tried to frighten him by shaking the bowl. It was\nlarge enough to hold all the herd of oxen, when Hercules had killed dog,\nherdsman, and giant, and he returned it safely to Helios when he had\ncrossed the ocean. The oxen were sacrificed to Juno, Eurystheus' friend.\n\nAgain Eurystheus sent Hercules to the utmost parts of the earth. This\ntime it was to bring home the golden apples which grew in the gardens of\nthe Hesperides, the daughters of old Atlas, who dwelt in the land of\nHesperus the Evening Star, and, together with a dragon, guarded the\ngolden tree in a beautiful garden. Hercules made a long journey,\napparently round by the North, and on his way had to wrestle with a\ndreadful giant named Antaeus. Though thrown down over and over again,\nAntaeus rose up twice as strong every time, till Hercules found out that\nhe grew in force whenever he touched his mother earth, and therefore,\nlifting him up in those mightiest of arms, the hero squeezed the breath\nout of him. By-and-by he came to Mount Caucasus, where he found the\nchained Prometheus, and, aiming an arrow at the eagle, killed the\ntormentor, and set the Titan free. In return, Prometheus gave him much\ngood counsel, and indeed seems to have gone with him to Atlas, who,\naccording to this story, was still able to move, in spite of the\npetrifaction by Hercules' grandfather. Atlas undertook to go to his\ndaughters, and get the apples, if Hercules would hold up the skies for\nhim in the meantime. Hercules agreed, and Atlas shifted the heavens to\nhis shoulders, went, and presently returned with three apples of gold,\nbut said he would take them to Eurystheus, and Hercules must continue to\nbear the load of the skies. Prometheus bade Hercules say he could not\nhold them without a pad for them to rest on his head. Atlas took them\nagain to hold while the pad was put on; and thereupon Hercules picked up\nthe apples, and left the old giant to his load.\n\nOne more labour remained--namely, to bring up the three-headed watch-dog,\nCerberus, from the doors of Tartarus. Mercury and Pallas both came to\nattend him, and led him alive among the shades, who all fled from him,\nexcept Medusa and one brave youth. He gave them the blood of an ox to\ndrink, and made his way to Pluto's throne, where he asked leave to take\nCerberus to the upper world with him. Pluto said he might, if he could\novercome Cerberus without weapons; and this he did, struggling with the\ndog, with no protection but the lion's skin, and dragging him up to the\nlight, where the foam that fell from the jaws of one of the three mouths\nproduced the plant called aconite, or hellebore, which is dark and\npoisonous. After showing the beast to Eurystheus, Hercules safely\nreturned him to the underworld, and thus completed his twelve great\nlabours.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VI.--THE ARGONAUTS.\n\n\nYou remember that Cadmus founded Thebes. One of his daughters was named\nIno. She married a son of King AEolus, who had been married before, and\nhad two children, Phryxus and Helle. Ino was a cruel stepmother, and\ndeceived her husband into thinking that the oracle at Delphi required him\nto sacrifice his son to Jupiter; but as the poor boy stood before the\naltar, down from the skies came a ram with a golden fleece, which took\nboth the children on his back, and flew away with them over land and sea;\nbut poor Helle let go in passing the narrow strait between Asia and\nEurope, fell into the sea, and was drowned. The strait was called after\nher, the Hellespont, or Helle's Sea. Phryxus came safely to Colchis, on\nthe Black Sea, and was kindly received by AEetes, the king of the\ncountry. They sacrificed the golden-woolled ram to Jupiter, and nailed\nup its fleece to a tree in the grove of Mars.\n\nSome time after, Pelias, the usurping king of Iolcus, was driving a\nmule-car through the market-place, when he saw a fine young man, with\nhair flowing on his shoulders, two spears in his hand, and only one\nsandal. He was very much afraid, for it had been foretold to him by an\noracle that he would be slain by the man with one foot bare. And this\nyouth was really Jason, the son of his brother AEson, from whom he had\ntaken the kingdom. Fearing that he would kill the child, AEson had sent\nit away to the cave of the Centaur Chiron, by whom Jason had been bred\nup, and had now come to seek his fortune. He had lost his shoe in the\nmud, while kindly carrying an old woman across a river, little knowing\nthat she was really the goddess Juno, who had come down in that form to\nmake trial of the kindness of men, and who was thus made his friend for\never. Pelias sent for the young stranger the next day, and asked him\nwhat he would do if he knew who was the man fated to kill him. \"I should\nsend him to fetch the Golden Fleece,\" said Jason.\n\n\"Then go and fetch it,\" said Pelias.\n\nJason thereupon began building a ship, which he called Argo, and\nproclaimed the intended expedition throughout Greece, thus gathering\ntogether all the most famous heroes then living, most of whom had, like\nhim, been brought up by the great Centaur Chiron. Hercules was one of\nthem, and another was Theseus, the great hero of the Ionian city of\nAthens, whose prowess was almost equal to that of Hercules. He had\ncaught and killed the great white bull which Hercules had brought from\nCrete and let loose, and he had also destroyed the horrid robber\nProcrustes (the Stretcher), who had kept two iron bedsteads, one long and\none short. He put tall men into the short bed, and cut them down to fit\nit, and short men into the long bed, pulling them out till they died,\nuntil Theseus finished his life on one of his own beds.\n\n [Picture: Building the Argo]\n\nAnother deed of Theseus was in Crete. The great white bull which Minos\nought to have sacrificed had left a horrible offspring, a monster called\nthe Minotaur, half man and half bull, which ate human flesh, and did\nhorrible harm, till a clever artificer named Daedalus made a dwelling for\nit called the Labyrinth, approached by so many cross paths, winding in\nand out in a maze, that everyone who entered it was sure to lose himself;\nand the Minotaur could never get out, but still they fed him there; and\nas Athens was subject to Crete, the people were required to send every\nyear a tribute of seven youths and seven maidens for the Minotaur to\ndevour. Theseus offered himself to be one of these, telling his father\nthat whereas a black sail was always carried by the ship that bore these\nvictims to their death, he would, if he succeeded in killing the\nMinotaur, as he hoped to do, hoist a white one when coming home. When he\nreached Crete, he won the heart of Minos' daughter Ariadne, who gave him\na skein of thread: by unwinding this as he went he would leave a clue\nbehind him, by which he could find his way out of the labyrinth, after\nkilling the monster. When this was done, by his great skill and\nstrength, he took ship again, and Ariadne came with him; but he grew\ntired of her, and left her behind in the isle of Naxos, where Bacchus\nfound her weeping, consoled her, and gave her a starry crown, which may\nbe seen in the sky on a summer night. Theseus, meantime, went back to\nAthens, but he had forgotten his promise about the white sail, and his\npoor old father, seeing the black one, as he sat watching on the rocks,\nthought that ill news was coming, fell down, and was drowned, just as\nTheseus sailed safely into port. Theseus was a friend of Hercules, had\nbeen with him on his journey to the land of the Amazons, and had married\none of them named Antiope.\n\n [Picture: Warriors]\n\nTwo more of the Argonauts were Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Leda,\nqueen of Sparta. She had also two daughters, named Helen and\nClytemnestra, and Helen was growing into the most beautiful woman in the\nworld. These children, in the fable, had been hatched from two huge\nswans' eggs; Castor and Clytemnestra were in one egg, and Pollux and\nHelen in the other. Castor and Pollux were the most loving of brothers,\nand while Castor was famous for horsemanship, Pollux was the best of\nboxers. They, too, had been pupils of Chiron; so was Peleus of AEgina,\nwho had wooed Thetis, one of the fifty Nereids, or sea-nymphs, though she\nchanged herself into all sorts of forms when he caught her first--fire,\nwater, a serpent, and a lioness; but he held her fast through all, and at\nlast she listened to him, and all the gods and goddesses had come to the\nwedding feast. They had one son, named Achilles, whom Thetis had tried\nto make immortal after Ceres' fashion, by putting him on the fire at\nnight; but, like Triptolemus' mother, Peleus had cried out and spoilt the\nspell. Then she took the boy to the river Styx, and bathed him there, so\nthat he became invulnerable all over, except in the heel by which she\nheld him. The child was now in Chiron's cave, being fed with the marrow\nof lions and bears, to make him strong and brave.\n\nOne more Argonaut must be mentioned, namely, the minstrel Orpheus. He\nwas the son of the muse Calliope, and was looked on as the first of the\nmany glorious singers of Greece, who taught the noblest and best lessons.\nHis music, when he played on the lyre, was so sweet, that all the\nanimals, both fierce and gentle, came round to hear it; and not only\nthese, but even the trees and rocks gathered round, entranced by the\nsweetness.\n\nAll these and more, to the number of fifty, joined Jason in his\nenterprise. The Argo, the ship which bore them, had fifty oars, and in\nthe keel was a piece of wood from the great oak of Dodona, which could\nspeak for the oracles. When all was ready, Jason stood on the poop, and\npoured forth a libation from a golden cup, praying aloud to Jupiter, to\nthe Winds, the Days, the Nights, and to Fate to grant them a favourable\nvoyage. Old Chiron came down from his hills to cheer them, and pray for\ntheir return; and as the oars kept measured time, Orpheus struck his lyre\nin tune with their splash in the blue waters.\n\nThey had many adventures. After passing the Hellespont, they found in\nthe Propontis, which we call the Sea of Marmora, an islet called the\nBears' Hill, inhabited by giants with six arms, whom they slew.\n\nIn Mysia a youth named Hylas went ashore to fetch water, but was caught\nby the nymphs of the stream and taken captive. Hercules, hearing his\ncry, went in search of him, and, as neither returned, the Argo sailed\nwithout them. No more was heard of Hylas, but Hercules went back to\nArgos.\n\nThey next visited Phineus, a wise old blind king, who was tormented by\nhorrid birds called Harpies, with women's faces. These monsters always\ncame down when he was going to eat, devoured the food, and spoilt what\nthey did not eat. The Argonauts having among them two winged sons of\nBoreas (the north wind), hunted these horrible creatures far out into the\nMediterranean. Phineus then told them that they would have to pass\nbetween some floating rocks called the Symplegades, which were always\nenveloped in mist, were often driven together by the wind, and crushed\nwhatever was between. He told them to let fly a dove, and if it went\nthrough safely they might follow. They did so, and the dove came out at\nthe other side, but with her tail clipped off as the rocks met. However,\non went the Argo, each hero rowing for his life, and Juno and Pallas\nhelping them; and, after all, they were but just in time, and lost the\nornaments at their stern! Fate had decreed that, when once a ship passed\nthrough these rocks unhurt, they should become fixed, and thus they were\nno longer dangerous. It does not seem unlikely that this story might\nhave come from some report of the dangers of icebergs. Of course there\nare none in the Black Sea, but the Greeks, who knew little beyond their\nown shores, seem to have fancied that this was open to the north into the\ngreat surrounding ocean, and the Phoenicians, who were much more\nadventurous sailors than they, may have brought home histories of the\nperils they met in the Atlantic Ocean.\n\nThe Argonauts had one more encounter with Hercules' old foes, the birds\nof Stymphalis, and after this safely arrived at Colchis, and sailed into\nthe mouth of the river Phasis, from which it is said the pheasant takes\nits name.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter ending]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VII.--THE SUCCESS OF THE ARGONAUTS.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nWhen Jason arrived at Colchis, he sent to King AEetes, and asked of him\nthe Golden Fleece. To this AEetes replied that he might have it,\nprovided he could yoke the two brazen-footed bulls with flaming breath,\nwhich had been a present from Vulcan, and with them plough a piece of\nland, and sow it with the dragon's teeth. Pallas had given AEetes half\nthe teeth of the dragon of Thebes, which had been slain by Cadmus.\n\nThe task seemed beyond his reach, till Medea, the wicked witch, daughter\nof AEetes, promised to help him, on condition that he would marry her,\nand take her to Greece. When Jason had sworn to do so, Medea gave him an\nointment with which to rub himself, also his shield and spear. For a\nwhole day afterwards neither sword nor fire should hurt him, and he would\nthus be able to master the bulls. So he found it; he made them draw the\nplough, and then he sowed the teeth, which came up, like those sown by\nCadmus, as armed men, who began to attack him; but, as Medea had bidden\nhim, he threw a stone among them, and they began to fight with one\nanother, so that he could easily kill the few who spared each other.\n\nStill AEetes refused to give him the fleece, and was about to set fire to\nthe Argo, and kill the crew; but Medea warned Jason in time, and led him\nto the spot where it was nailed against a tree. Orpheus lulled the\nguardian dragon to sleep with his lyre, while Jason took down the fleece;\nand Medea joined them, carrying in her arms her little brother, whom she\nhad snatched from his bed with a cruel purpose, for when her father took\nalarm and gave chase, she cut the poor child to pieces, and strewed his\nlimbs on the stream of the Phasis, so that, while her father waited to\ncollect them, the Argo had time to sail away.\n\n[Picture: The Argo] It did not return by the same route, but went to the\nnorth, and came to the isle of the goddess Circe, who purified Jason and\nMedea from the blood of the poor boy. Then they came to the isle of the\nSirens, creatures like fair maidens, who stood on the shore singing so\nsweetly that no sailor could resist the charm; but the moment any man\nreached the shore, they strangled him and sucked his blood. Warned by\nMedea, Orpheus played and sang so grandly as to drown their fatal song,\nand the Argo came out into the Mediterranean somewhere near Trinacria,\nthe three-cornered island now called Sicily, where they had to pass\nbetween two lofty cliffs. In a cave under one of these lived a monster\ncalled Scylla, with twelve limbs and six long necks, with a dog's head to\neach, ready each to seize a man out of every ship that passed; but it was\nsafer to keep on her side than to go to the other cliff, for there a\nwater-witch named Charybdis lived in a whirlpool, and was sure to suck\nthe whole ship in, and swallow it up. However, for her husband Peleus'\nsake, Thetis and her sister Nereids came and guided the Argo safely\nthrough.\n\nWhen the crew returned to Iolcus, they had only been absent four months;\nand Jason gave the fleece to his uncle Pelias, and dedicated the Argo to\nNeptune. He found his father AEson grown very old, but Medea undertook\nto restore him to youth. She went forth by moonlight, gathered a number\nof herbs, and then, putting them in a caldron, she cut old AEson into\npieces, threw them in, and boiled them all night. In the morning AEson\nappeared as a lively black-haired young man, no older than his son.\nPelias' daughters came and begged her to teach them the same spell. She\nfeigned to do so, but she did not tell them the true herbs, and thus the\npoor maidens only slew their father, and did not bring him to life again.\nThe son of Pelias drove the treacherous Medea and her husband from\nIolcus, and they went to Corinth, where they lived ten years, until Jason\ngrew weary of Medea, and put her away, in order to marry Creusa, the\nking's daughter. In her rage, Medea sent the bride the fatal gift of a\npoisoned robe, then she killed her own children, and flew away, in a\nchariot drawn by winged serpents, to the east, where she became the\nmother of a son named Medus, from whom the nation of Medes was descended.\nAs to Jason, he had fallen asleep at noon one hot day under the shade of\nthe Argo, where it was drawn up on the sand by Neptune's temple, when a\nbit of wood broke off from the prow, fell on his head, and killed him.\n\n [Picture: Corinth]\n\nOf the other Argonauts, Orpheus went to Thessaly, and there taught and\nsoftened the people much by his music. He married a fair maiden named\nEurydice, with whom he lived happily and peacefully, till she was bitten\nby a venomous serpent and died. Orpheus was so wretched that he set\nforth to try to bring her back from Tartarus. He went with nothing but\nhis lyre, and his music was so sweet that Cerberus stood listening, and\nlet him pass, and all the torments of the Danaids, Sisyphus and all the\nrest, ceased while he was playing. His song even brought tears into\nPluto's eyes, and Proserpine, who guarded the female dead, gave him leave\nto take back Eurydice to the light of day, provided he did not once look\nback as he led her out of Tartarus.\n\nOrpheus had to walk first, and, as he went up the long, dark cavern, with\nEurydice behind him, he carefully obeyed, till, just as he was reaching\nthe upper air, he unhappily forgot, and turned his head to see whether\nshe were following. He just saw her stretch out her hands to him, and\nthen she was drawn back, and vanished from his sight. The gates were\nclosed, and he had lost her again. After this he wandered sadly about,\nall his songs turned to woe, until at last the Bacchanal women, in fury\nat his despising the foul rites of their god, tore him limb from limb.\nThe Muses collected his remains, and gave them funeral rites, and Jupiter\nplaced his lyre in the skies, where you may know it by one of the\nbrightest of all our stars.\n\nHercules also made another visit to the realms below. Admetus, one of\nthe AEolian kings, had obtained from Apollo that, when the time came for\nhim to die, his life should be prolonged if anyone would submit to death\nin his turn. The call came while Admetus was still young, and he\nbesought his old father, and then his mother, to die in his stead; but\nthey would not, and it was his fair young wife Alcestis who gave her life\nfor his. Just as she was laid in the tomb, Hercules came to visit\nAdmetus, and, on hearing what had happened, he went down to the kingdom\nof Pluto and brought her back. Or some say he sat by her tomb, and\nwrestled with Death when he came to seize her.\n\nBut, strong as he was, Hercules had in time to meet death himself. He\nhad married a nymph named Deianira, and was taking her home, when he came\nto a river where a Centaur named Nessus lived, and gained his bread by\ncarrying travellers over on his back. Hercules paid him the price for\ncarrying Deianira over, while he himself crossed on foot; but as soon as\nthe river was between them, the faithless Centaur began to gallop away\nwith the lady. Hercules sent an arrow after him, which brought him to\nthe ground, and as he was dying he prepared his revenge, by telling\nDeianira that his blood was enchanted with love for her, and that if ever\nshe found her husband's affection failing her, she had only to make him\nput on a garment anointed with it, and his heart would return to her: he\nknew full well that his blood was full of the poison of the Hydra, but\npoor Deianira believed him, and had saved some of the blood before\nHercules came up.\n\nSeveral years after, Hercules made prisoner a maiden named Iole, in\nLydia, after gaining a great victory. Landing in the island of Euboea,\nhe was going to make a great sacrifice to Jupiter, and sent home to\nDeianira for a festal garment to wear at it. She was afraid he was\nfalling in love with Iole, and steeped the garment in the preparation she\nhad made from Nessus' blood. No sooner did Hercules put it on, than his\nveins were filled with agony, which nothing could assuage. He tried to\ntear off the robe, but the skin and flesh came with it, and his blood was\npoisoned beyond relief. He sailed home, and when Deianira saw the state\nhe was in she hung herself for grief, while he charged Hylas, his eldest\nson, to take care of Iole, and marry her as soon as he grew up. Then,\nunable to bear the pain any longer, and knowing that by his twelve tasks\nhe had earned the prize of endless life, he went to Mount OEta, crying\naloud with the pain, so that the rocks rang again with the sound. He\ngave his quiver of arrows to his friend Philoctetes, charging him to\ncollect his ashes and bury them, but never to make known the spot; and\nthen he tore up, with his mighty strength, trees by the roots enough to\nform a funeral pile, lay down on it, and called on his friend to set fire\nto it; but no one could bear to do so, till a shepherd consented to\nthrust in a torch. Then thunder was heard, a cloud came down, and he was\nborne away to Olympus, while Philoctetes collected and buried the ashes.\n\nHis young sons were banished by Eurystheus, and were taken by his old\nfriend Iolaus to seek shelter in various cities, but only the Athenians\nwere brave enough to let them remain. Theseus had been driven away and\nbanished from Athens; but the citizens sheltered the sons of the hero,\nand, when Eurystheus pursued them, a battle was fought on the isthmus of\nCorinth, in which the old enemy of Hercules was killed by Iolaus, with\nall his sons. Then the Heraclieds (sons of Hercules) were going to fight\ntheir way back to Argos, but an army met them at the isthmus, and was\ngoing to give them battle, when Hylas proposed that he should fight with\na single champion chosen on the other side. If he gained, he was to be\nrestored to the kingdom of Perseus; if not, there was to be a truce for a\nhundred years. Hylas had not the strength of his father; he was slain,\nand his brothers had to retreat and bide their time.\n\nArgos came into the power of Agamemnon, who had married Clytemnestra, the\nsister of Castor and Pollux, while his brother Menelaus married the\nbeautiful Helen. All the Greek heroes had been suitors for Helen, the\nfairest woman living, and they all swore to one another that, choose she\nwhom she might, they would all stand by him, and punish anyone who might\ntry to steal her from him. Her choice fell on Menelaus, and soon after\nher wedding her brother Castor was slain, and though Pollux was immortal,\nhe could not bear to live without his brother, and prayed to share his\ndeath; upon which Jupiter made them both stars, the bright ones called\nGemini, or the Twins, and Menelaus reigned with Helen at Sparta, as\nAgamemnon did at Mycenae.\n\nThese two were sons of Atreus, and were descended from Tantalus, once a\nfavourite of the gods, who used to come down and feast with him, until\nonce he took his son Pelops and dressed him for their meal. Jupiter\nfound it out, collected the limbs, and restored the boy to life; but\nCeres had been so distracted with grief about her daughter, that she had\neaten one shoulder, and Jupiter gave him an ivory one instead. Tantalus\nwas sent to Tartarus, where his punishment was to pine with hunger and\nthirst, with a feast before him, where he neither could touch the food\nnor the drink, because there was a rock hung over his head threatening to\ncrush him. Pelops was a wonderful charioteer, and won his bride in the\nchariot race, having bribed the charioteer of his rival to leave out the\nlinchpins of his wheels. Afterwards, when the charioteer asked a reward,\nPelops threw him into the sea; and this was the second crime that brought\na doom on the race. Pelops gave his name to the whole peninsula now\ncalled the Morea, or mulberry-leaf, but which was all through ancient\ntimes known as the Peloponnesus, or Isle of Pelops. He reigned at Elis,\nand after his death his sons Atreus and Thyestes struggled for the rule,\nbut both were horribly wicked men, and Atreus was said to have killed two\nsons of Thyestes, and served them up to him at a feast. There was,\ntherefore, a heavy curse on the whole family, both on AEgisthus, son of\nThyestes, and on his cousins Agamemnon and Menelaus, the Atridae, or sons\nof Atreus.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. VIII.--THE CHOICE OF PARIS.\n\n\nThe gods and goddesses were merrily feasting when Ate, the goddess of\nstrife, desirous of making mischief, threw down among them a golden\napple, engraven with the words, \"This apple to the Fair.\" The three\ngoddesses, Juno, Pallas, and Venus, each thought it meant for her--one\nhaving the beauty of dignity, the other the beauty of wisdom, and the\nthird the beauty of grace and fairness. They would not accept the award\nof any of the gods, lest they should not be impartial; but they declared\nthat no one should decide between them but Paris, a shepherd, though a\nking's son, who was keeping his flocks on Mount Ida.\n\nEach goddess tried to allure him to choose her by promises. Juno offered\nhim a mighty throne; Pallas promised to make him the wisest of men; Venus\ndeclared that she would give him the fairest woman on earth for his wife\nfor ten years--she could assure him of no more. And it was Venus to whom\nParis assigned the golden apple of discord, thus bitterly offending Juno\nand Pallas, who became the enemies of his nation.\n\n [Picture: Plains of Troy]\n\nHis nation was the Trojan, who dwelt on the east coast of the AEgean Sea,\nand were of the Pelasgic race. Their chief city was Troy, with the\ncitadel Ilium, lying near the banks of the rivers Simois and Scamander,\nbetween the sea shore and the wooded mount of Ida, in the north-east of\nthe peninsula we call Asia Minor. The story went that the walls had been\nbuilt by Neptune and Apollo, the last of whom had brought the stones to\ntheir place by the music of his lyre; but the king who was then reigning\nhad refused to pay them, and had thus made them also his foes. But\nwithin the citadel was an image of Pallas, three ells long, with a spear\nin one hand and a distaff in the other, which was called the Palladium.\nIt was said to have been given by Jupiter to Ilus, the first founder of\nthe city; and as long as it was within the walls, the place could never\nbe taken.\n\nThe present king was Priam, and his wife was Hecuba. They had nineteen\nchildren, and lived in a palace built round a court, with an altar in the\nmiddle, their sons having houses likewise opening into the court. Paris,\nwho was worthless and pleasure-loving, was the eldest son; Hector, a very\nnoble person, was the second. After Paris had given judgment in her\nfavour, Venus directed him to build a ship, and go to visit the Greek\nkings. He was kindly entertained everywhere, and especially at Sparta;\nand here it was that Venus fulfilled her promise, by helping him to steal\naway Helen, the fairest of women, while her husband Menelaus was gone to\nCrete.\n\nAs soon as Menelaus found out how his hospitality had been misused, he\ncalled upon all the Greek heroes to remember their oath, and help him to\nrecover his wife, and take vengeance on Paris. Everyone replied to the\ncall; but the wise Ulysses, grandson of Sisyphus, and king of the little\nisle of Ithaca, could not bear to leave his home, or his fair young wife\nPenelope, for a war which he knew would be long and terrible, so he\nfeigned to be mad, and began furiously ploughing the sea shore with a\nyoke of oxen. However, the next cleverest hero, Palamedes, to prove him,\nplaced his infant son Telemachus full in the way of the plough, and when\nUlysses turned it aside from the child, they declared that his madness\nwas only pretended, and he was forced to go with them.\n\nThe Nereid Thetis knew that if her brave and beautiful son Achilles went\nto Troy, he would die there; so she dressed him as a maiden, and placed\nhim at the court of the king of Scyros, where he stayed for love of one\nof the king's daughters. But the Greeks had a man named Calchas, who was\nan augur--that is, he could tell what was going to happen by the flight\nof birds, by the clouds, and by the inwards of sacrificed animals.\nCalchas told the Greeks that Troy would never be taken unless Achilles\nwent with them. So Ulysses, guessing where the youth was, disguised\nhimself as a merchant, and went with his wares to the palace of Scyros.\nAll the maidens came forth to look at them, and while most were busy with\nthe jewels and robes, one, tall and golden-haired, seemed to care for\nnothing but a bright sword, holding it with a strong, firm hand. Then\nUlysses knew he had found Achilles, and told him of the famous war that\nwas beginning, and the youth threw off his maiden's garb, put on his\narmour, and went eagerly with them; but before he went he married the\nfair Deidamia, and left her to wait for him at Scyros, where she had a\nson named Pyrrhus.\n\nIndeed the Greeks were whole years gathering their forces, and when they\ndid all meet at last, with their ships and men, Agamemnon, king of\nMycenae, Menelaus' brother, took the lead of them all. As they were\nsacrificing to Jupiter, a snake glided up a tree, where there was a\nsparrow's nest, and ate up all the eight young ones, and then the mother\nbird. On seeing this, Calchas foretold that the war would last nine\nyears, and after the ninth Troy would be taken.\n\nHowever, they sailed on, till at Aulis they were stopped by foul winds\nfor many days, and Calchas told them it was because of Agamemnon's broken\nvow. He had sworn, one year, to sacrifice to Diana the fairest thing\nthat was born in his house or lands. The fairest thing that was born was\nhis little daughter Iphigenia; but he could not bear to sacrifice her,\nand so had tried offering his choicest kid. Now Diana sent these winds\nto punish him, and the other kings required him to give up his child. So\na message was sent to her mother, Clytemnestra, to send her, on pretence\nthat she was to be married to Achilles, and when she came to Aulis she\nfound that it was only to be offered up. However, she resigned herself\nbravely, and was ready to die for her father and the cause; but just as\nAgamemnon had his sword ready, and had covered her face that he might not\nsee her pleading eyes as he was slaying her, Diana took pity, darted down\nin a cloud, and in the place of the maiden a white hind lay on the altar\nto be offered. Iphigenia was really carried off to serve as priestess at\nDiana's temple at Tauris, but it was long before it was known what had\nbecome of her, and Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon for what he had\nintended to do.\n\nAt the isle of Tenedos the Greeks had to leave behind Philoctetes, the\nfriend of Hercules, who had his quiver of poisoned arrows, because the\npoor man had a wound in his heel, which was in such a dreadful state that\nno one could bear to come near him. One story was that he was bitten by\na water-snake, another that when he was just setting off he had been\nover-persuaded to show where he had buried the ashes of Hercules. He did\nnot say one word, but stamped with his foot on the place, and an arrow\nfell out at the moment and pierced his heel. At any rate, he and the\narrows were left behind, while the Greeks reached the coast of Troy.\n\n [Picture: Greek ships]\n\nThe augurs had declared that the first man who touched the shore would be\nthe first to be killed. Achilles threw his shield before him, and leaped\nout of the ship upon that; but Protesilaus leaped without so doing, and\nwas slain almost instantly by the Trojans. When his wife Laodamia heard\nof his death, she grieved and pined so piteously that his spirit could\nnot rest, and Mercury gave him leave to come back and spend three hours\nwith her on earth. He came, but when she tried to embrace him she found\nthat he was only thin air, which could not be grasped, and when the time\nwas over he vanished from her sight. Then Laodamia made an image of him,\nand treated it as a god; and when her father forbade her to do this, she\nleaped into the fire, and thus perished.\n\nThe chief of the Greeks were Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, his brother\nMenelaus of Sparta, and Achilles of AEgina, whose men were called\nMyrmidons, and said to be descended from ants. His friend, to whom he\nwas devoted, was called Patroclus. He was the most perfect warrior in\nthe army, but Diomed the AEtolian came near him in daring, and Ajax of\nSalamis, son of Telamon, was the biggest and strongest man. His brother\nTeucer used to stand behind his shield and aim arrows at the Trojans.\nThere was another Ajax, from Locria, called after his father Oileus. The\noldest man in the camp was Nestor, king of Pylos, who had been among the\nArgonauts, and had been a friend of Hercules, and was much looked up to.\nThe wisest men were Ulysses of Ithaca, and Palamedes, who is said to have\ninvented the game of chess to amuse the warriors in the camp; but Ulysses\nnever forgave Palamedes for his trick on the shore at Ithaca, and managed\nto make him be suspected of secret dealings with the Trojans, and put to\ndeath. Each of these brought a band of fighting men, and they had their\nships, which were not much more than large boats, drawn up high and dry\non the shore behind the camp. They fought with swords and spears, which\nlatter were thrown with the hand. Some had bows and arrows, and the\nchiefs generally went to battle in a chariot, an open car drawn by two\nhorses, and driven by some trusty friend, who held the horses while the\nchief stood up and launched spear after spear among the enemy. There was\nno notion of mercy to the fallen; prisoners were seldom made, and if a\nman was once down, unless his friends could save him, he was sure to be\nkilled.\n\nDuring the first eight years of the war we do not hear much of the\nGreeks. They seem to have been taking and wasting the cities belonging\nto the Trojans all round the country. The home of Andromache, Hector's\ngood and loving wife, was destroyed, and her parents and brothers killed;\nand Priam's cousin AEneas was also driven in from Mount Ida, with his old\nfather Anchises, and wife and little son. In the ninth year of the war\nthe Greeks drew up their forces round the walls of Troy itself, their\nlast exploit having been the taking of the city of Chrysae, where they\nhad gained a great deal of plunder. All captives were then made slaves,\nand in the division of the spoil a maiden named Briseis was given to\nAchilles, while Agamemnon took one called Chryseis, the daughter of\nChryses, priest of Apollo.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IX.--THE SIEGE OF TROY.\n\n\nWe have come to the part of this siege which is told us in the _Iliad_,\nthe oldest poem we know, except the Psalms, and one of the very finest.\nIt begins by telling how Chryses prayed to Apollo to help him to get back\nhis daughter, and Apollo sent a plague upon the Greeks in their camp.\nCalchas told them it was because of Chryseis, and they forced Agamemnon\nto give her safely back to her father. His pride, however, was hurt, and\nhe said he must have Briseis in her stead, and sent and took her from\nAchilles. In his wrath Achilles declared he would not fight any more for\nthe Greeks, and his mother Thetis begged Jupiter to withdraw his aid from\nthem likewise, that they might feel the difference.\n\nThe Trojans went out to attack them, and when they were drawn up in\nbattle array, old Priam made Helen come and sit by him on the battlements\nover the gateway, to tell him who all the chiefs were. It was proposed\nthat, instead of causing the death of numbers who had nothing to do with\nthe quarrel, Menelaus and Paris should fight hand-to-hand for Helen; and\nthey began; but as soon as Venus saw that her favourite Paris was in\ndanger, she came in a cloud, snatched him away, and set him down in\nHelen's chamber, where his brother Hector found him reclining at his\nease, on coming to upbraid him for keeping out of the battle, where so\nmany better men than he were dying for his crime. Very different were\nHector's ways. He parted most tenderly with his wife Andromache, and his\nlittle son Astyanax, who was so young that he clung crying to his nurse,\nafraid of his father's tall helmet and horsehair crest. Hector took the\nhelmet off before he lifted the little one in his arms and prayed to the\ngods for him.\n\nEach day the Trojans gained, though one day Jupiter forbade any of the\ngods or goddesses to interfere, and on another he let them all go down\nand fight for their own parties. He was himself impartial; but one day\nJuno managed to borrow Venus' girdle, which made her so charming that\nnothing could resist her, and she lulled him to sleep. During that time\nthe Greeks prevailed again, but this only lasted till Jupiter awoke, and\nthen the Trojans gained great success. All the Greek heroes were\ndisabled one after another, and Hector and his men broke through the\nrampart they had made round their camp, and were about to burn the ships,\nwhen Patroclus, grieved at finding all his friends wounded, came to\nAchilles with an entreaty that he might be allowed to send out the\nMyrmidons, and try to save the ships. Achilles consented, and dressed\nPatroclus in his own armour. Then all gave way before the fresh\nMyrmidons led by Patroclus, and the Trojans were chased back to their\nwalls; but as Hector made a last stand before the gates, Apollo, who\nloved Troy because he had built the walls, caused a sunbeam to strike on\nPatroclus and make him faint, so that Hector easily struck him down and\nkilled him. Then there was a desperate fight over his body. The Trojans\ndid get the armour off it, but the Greeks saved the corpse, and had\nalmost reached the rampart, when the Trojans came thicker and more\nfuriously on them, and were almost bursting in, when Achilles, hearing\nthe noise, came out, and, standing on the rampart just as he was, all\nunarmed, gave a terrible thundering shout, at which the Trojans were\nfilled with dismay, and fled back in confusion, while the corpse of\nPatroclus was borne into the tent, where Achilles mourned over it, with\nmany tears and vows of vengeance against Hector.\n\n[Picture: Achilles binding his armour on Patroclus] His mother Thetis\ncame from the sea and wept with him, and thence she went to Vulcan, from\nwhom she obtained another beautiful suit of armour, with a wondrous\nshield, representing Greek life in every phase of war or peace; and in\nthis Achilles went forth again to the battle. He drove the Trojans\nbefore his irresistible might, came up with Hector, chased him round and\nround the walls of Troy, and at length came up with him and slew him.\nThen, when Patroclus had been laid on a costly funeral pile, Achilles\ndragged Hector's body at the back of his chariot three times round it.\nFurther, in honour of his friend, he had games of racing in chariots and\non foot, wrestling, boxing, throwing heavy stones, and splendidly\nrewarded those who excelled with metal tripods, weapons, and robes.\n\nBut when poor old Priam, grieving that his son's corpse should lie\nunburied, thus hindering his shade from being at rest, came forth at\nnight, in disguise, to beg it from Achilles, the hero received the old\nman most kindly, wept at the thought of his own old father Peleus, fed\nand warmed him, and sent home the body of Hector most honourably.\n\nHere ends the _Iliad_. It is from other poems that the rest of the\nhistory is taken, and we know that Achilles performed many more great\nexploits, until Paris was aided by Apollo to shoot an arrow into the heel\nwhich alone could be wounded, and thus the hero died. There was another\ngreat fight over his body, but Ajax and Ulysses rescued it at last; Ajax\nbore it to the ships, and Ulysses kept back the Trojans. Thetis and all\nthe Nereids and all the Muses came to mourn over him; and when he was\nburnt in the funeral pile she bore away his spirit to the white island,\nwhile the Greeks raised a huge mound in his honour. She promised his\narmour to the Greek who had done most to rescue his corpse. The question\nlay between Ajax and Ulysses, and Trojan captives being appointed as\njudges, gave sentence in favour of Ulysses. Ajax was so grieved that he\nhad a fit of frenzy, fancied the cattle were the Greeks who slighted him,\nkilled whole flocks in his rage, and, when he saw what he had done, fell\non his own sword and died.\n\n [Picture: Sepulchral mound, known as the Tomb of Ajax]\n\nHaving lost these great champions, the Greeks resolved to fetch Achilles'\nyoung son Pyrrhus to the camp, and also to get again those arrows of\nHercules which Philoctetes had with him. Ulysses and Pyrrhus were\naccordingly sent to fetch him from his lonely island. They found him\nhowling with pain, but he would not hear of coming away with them. So\nUlysses stole his quiver while he was asleep, but when he awoke and\nmissed it his lamentations so moved young Pyrrhus that he gave them back;\nand this so touched the heart of Philoctetes that he consented to return\nto the camp. There Machaon, the physician of the Greeks, healed his\nfoot, and he soon after shot Paris with one of the arrows.\n\nInstead of now giving up Helen, Deiphobus and Helenus, the two next\nbrothers, quarrelled as to which should marry her, and when she was given\nto Deiphobus, Helenus was so angry that he went out and wandered in the\nforests of Mount Ida, where he was made prisoner by Ulysses, who\ncontrived to find out from him that Troy could never be taken while it\nhad the Palladium within it. Accordingly, Ulysses and Diomed set out,\nand, climbing over the wall by night, stole the wondrous image. While\nthe Trojans were dismayed at the loss, the Greeks seemed to have changed\ntheir minds. They took ship and went away, and all the surviving\nTrojans, relieved from their siege, rushed down to the shore, where all\nthey found was a monstrous wooden horse. While they were looking at it\nin wonder, a Greek came out of the rocks, and told them that his name was\nSinon, and that he had been cruelly left behind by the Greeks, who had\ngrown weary of the siege and gone home, but that if the wonderful horse\nwere once taken into Troy it would serve as another Palladium. The\npriest of Neptune, Laocoon, did not believe the story, and declared that\nSinon was a spy; but he was cut short in his remonstrance by two huge\nserpents, which glided out of the sea and devoured him and his two sons.\nCassandra, too, a daughter of Priam, who had the gift of prophecy, but\nwas fated never to be believed, shrieked with despair when she saw the\nTrojans harnessing themselves to the horse to drag it into Troy, but\nnobody heeded her, and there was a great feast to dedicate it to Pallas.\nHelen perhaps guessed or knew what it meant, for at dark she walked round\nit, and called the names of Ulysses, and many other Greeks, in the voices\nof Penelope and the other wives at home.\n\n[Picture: Laocoon] For indeed the horse was full of Greeks; and at dark\nSinon lighted a beacon as a signal to the rest, who were only waiting\nbehind the little isle of Tenedos. Then he let the others out of the\nhorse, and slaughter and fire reigned throughout Troy. Menelaus slew\nDeiphobus as he tried to rise from bed, and carried Helen down to his\nship. Poor old Priam tried to put on his armour and defend Hecuba and\nhis daughters, but Pyrrhus killed him at the altar in his palace-court;\nand AEneas, after seeing this, and that all was lost, hurried back to his\nown house, took his father Anchises on his back, and his little son Iulus\nin one hand, his household gods in the other, and, with his wife Creusa\nfollowing, tried to escape from the burning city with his own troop of\nwarriors. All succeeded except poor Creusa, who was lost in the throng\nof terrified fugitives, and was never found again; but AEneas found ships\non the coast, and sailed safely away to Italy.\n\nAll the rest of the Trojans were killed or made slaves. Ulysses killed\nHector's poor little son, and Andromache became slave to young Pyrrhus.\nCassandra clung to Pallas' statue, and Ajax Oileus, trying to drag her\naway, moved the statue itself--such an act of sacrilege that the Greeks\nhad nearly stoned him on the spot--and Cassandra was given to Agamemnon.\nPolyxena, the youngest sister, was sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles,\nand poor old Hecuba went mad with grief.\n\n [Picture: Funeral Feast]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. X.--THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe overthrow of the temples at Troy was heavily visited on the Greeks by\nthe gods, and the disasters that befel Ulysses are the subject of another\ngrand Greek poem called the _Odyssey_, from his right Greek name\nOdysseus. He was the special favourite of Pallas Athene, but she could\nnot save him from many dangers. He had twelve ships, with which he set\nout to return to Ithaca; but as he was doubling Cape Malea, one of the\nrugged points of the Peloponnesus, a great storm caught him, and drove\nhim nine days westward, till he came to an island, where he sent three\nmen to explore, but they did not return, and he found that this was the\nland of the lotus-eaters, a people who always lie about in a dreamy state\nof repose, and that to taste the food drives away all remembrance of home\nand friends. He was obliged to drag his men away by force, and bind them\nto the benches. The lotus bean, or jujube, is really eaten in Africa,\nbut not with these effects.\n\nNext they came to another island, where there was a bay with rocks\naround, with goats leaping on them. Here Ulysses left eleven ships, and\nsailed with one to explore the little islet opposite. Landing with his\nmen, he entered an enormous cavern, well stored with bowls of milk and\ncream, and with rows of cheeses standing on the ledges of rock. While\nthe Greeks were regaling themselves, a noise was heard, and great flocks\nof sheep and goats came bleating in. Behind them came a giant, with a\nfir tree for a staff, and only one eye in the middle of his forehead. He\nwas Polyphemus, one of the Cyclops, sons of Neptune, and workmen of\nVulcan. He asked fiercely who the strangers were, and Ulysses told him\nthat they were shipwrecked sailors, imploring him for hospitality in the\nname of the gods. Polyphemus laughed at this, saying he was stronger\nthan the gods, and did not care for them; and, dashing two unhappy Greeks\non the floor, he ate them up at once; after which he closed up the front\nof the cave with a monstrous rock, penned up the kids and lambs, and\nbegan to milk his goats, drank up a great quantity of milk, and fell\nasleep on the ground. Ulysses thought of killing him at once, but\nrecollected that the stone at the mouth of the cave would keep him\ncaptive if the giant's strength did not move it, and abstained. In the\nmorning the Cyclops let out his flocks, and then shut the Greeks in with\nthe stone; but he left his staff behind, and Ulysses hardened the top of\nthis in the fire. A skin of wine had been brought from the ships, and\nwhen Polyphemus came home in the evening, and had devoured two more\nGreeks, Ulysses offered it to him. It was the first wine he had tasted,\nand he was in raptures with it, asking his guest's name as he pledged\nhim. \"No-man,\" replied Ulysses, begging again for mercy. \"This will I\ngrant,\" said the Cyclops, \"in return for thy gift. No-man shall be the\nlast whom I devour.\" He drank up the whole skin of wine, and went to\nsleep. Then Ulysses and four of his companions seized the staff, and\nforced its sharpened top into the Cyclops' single eye, so that he awoke\nblind, and roaring with pain so loud that all the other Cyclops awoke,\nand came calling to know who had hurt him. \"No-man,\" shouted back\nPolyphemus; and they, thinking it was only some sudden illness, went back\nto their caves. Meanwhile, Ulysses was fastening the remaining Greeks\nunder the bellies of the sheep and goats, the wool and hair hanging over\nthem. He himself clung on under the largest goat, the master of the\nherd. When morning came, bleatings of the herds caused the blind giant\nto rouse himself to roll back the stone from the entrance. He laid his\nhand on each beast's back, that his guests might not ride out on them,\nbut he did not feel beneath, though he kept back Ulysses' goat for a\nmoment caressing it, and saying, \"My pretty goat, thou seest me, but I\ncannot see thee.\"\n\nAs soon as Ulysses was safe on board ship, and had thrust out from land,\nhe called back his real name to the giant, whom he saw sitting on the\nstone outside his cave. Polyphemus and the other Cyclops returned by\nhurling rocks at the ship, but none touched it, and Ulysses reached his\nfleet safely. This adventure, however, had made Neptune his bitter foe,\nand how could he sail on Neptune's realm?\n\nHowever, he next came to the Isle of the Winds, which floated about in\nthe ocean, and was surrounded by a brazen wall. Here dwelt AEolus, with\nhis wife and sons and daughters, and Ulysses stayed with him a whole\nmonth. At the end of it, AEolus gave Ulysses enough of each wind, tied\nup in separate bags, to take him safely home; but his crew fancied there\nwas treasure in them, and while he was asleep opened all the bags at\nonce, and the winds bursting out tossed all the ships, and then carried\nthem back to the island, where AEolus declared that Ulysses must be a\nwretch forsaken of the gods, and would give him no more.\n\nSix days later the fleet came to another cannibal island, that of the\nLaestrygonians, where the crews of all the ships, except that of the king\nhimself, were caught and eaten up, and he alone escaped, and, still\nproceeding westward, came to another isle, belonging to Circe, the witch\ngoddess, daughter to Helios. The comrades of Ulysses, whom he had sent\nto explore, did not return, and he was himself landing in search of them,\nwhen Mercury appeared to him, and warned him that, if he tasted of the\nbowl she would offer him, he would, like his friends, be changed by her\ninto a hog, unless he fortified himself with the plant named moly--a\nwhite-flowered, starry sort of garlic, which Mercury gave him. Ulysses\nthen made his way through a wood to the hall where Circe sat, waited on\nby four nymphs. She received him courteously, offered him her cup, and\nso soon as he had drunk of it she struck him with her wand, and bade him\ngo grunt with his fellows; but as, thanks to the moly, he stood unchanged\nbefore her, he drew his sword and made her swear to do him no hurt, and\nto restore his companions to their proper form. They then made friends,\nand he stayed with her a whole year. She told him that he was fated not\nto return home till he had first visited the borders of the world of\nPluto, and consulted Tiresias, the blind prophet. She told him what to\ndo, and he went on beyond the Mediterranean into the outer ocean, to the\nland of gloom, where Helios, the sun, does not shine. Here Ulysses dug a\npit, into which he poured water, wine, and the blood of a great black\nram, and there flocked up to him crowds of shades, eager to drink of it,\nand to converse with him. All his own friends were there--Achilles,\nAjax, and, to his surprise, Agamemnon--all very melancholy, and mourning\nfor the realms of day. His mother, who had died of grief for his\nabsence, came and blessed him; and Tiresias warned him of Neptune's\nanger, and of his other dangers, ere he should return to Ithaca. Terror\nat the ghastly troop overcame him at last, and he fled and embarked\nagain, saw Circe once more, and found himself in the sea by which the\nArgo had returned. The Sirens' Isle was near, and, to prevent the perils\nof their song, Ulysses stopped the ears of all his crew with wax, and\nthough he left his own open, bade them lash him to the mast, and not heed\nall his cries and struggles to be loosed. Thus he was the only person\nwho ever heard the Sirens' song and lived. Scylla and Charybdis came\nnext, and, being warned by Pallas, he thought it better to lose six than\nall, and so went nearest to the monster, whose six mouths at once fell on\nsix of the crew, and tore them away.\n\n [Picture: Ulysses tied to the mast]\n\nThe isle of Trinacria was pasture for the 360 cattle of Helios, and both\nTiresias and Circe had warned Ulysses that they must not be touched. He\nwould fain have passed it by, but his crew insisted on landing for the\nnight, making oath not to touch the herds. At dawn such a wind arose\nthat they could not put to sea for a month, and after eating up the\nstores, and living on birds and fish, they took some of the oxen when\nUlysses was asleep, vowing to build a temple to Helios in recompense.\nThey were dismayed at seeing the hides of the slain beasts creep on the\nground, and at hearing their flesh low as it boiled in the cauldron.\nIndeed, Helios had gone to Jupiter, and threatened to stop his chariot\nunless he had his revenge; so as soon as the wretched crew embarked again\na storm arose, the ship was struck by lightning, and Ulysses alone was\nsaved from the wreck, floating on the mast. He came back past Scylla and\nCharybdis, and, clinging to the fig tree which hung over the latter,\navoided being sucked into the whirlpool, and by-and-by came to land in\nthe island of the nymph Calypso, who kept him eight years, but he pined\nfor home all the time, and at last built a raft on which to return.\nNeptune was not weary of persecuting him, and raised another storm, which\nshattered the raft, and threw Ulysses on the island of Scheria. Here the\nking's fair daughter Nausicaa, going down to the stream with her maidens\nto wash their robes, met the shipwrecked stranger, and took him home.\nHer father feasted him hospitably, and sent him home in a ship, which\nlanded him on the coast of Ithaca fast asleep, and left him there. He\nhad been absent twenty years; and Pallas further disguised his aspect, so\nthat he looked like a beggar, when, in order to see how matters stood, he\nmade his way first to the hut of his trusty old swineherd Eumaeus.\n\n [Picture: Port of Ithaca]\n\nNothing could be worse than things were. More than a hundred powerful\nyoung chiefs of the Ionian isles had taken possession of his palace, and\nwere daily revelling there, thrusting his son Telemachus aside, and\ninsisting that Penelope should choose one of them as her husband. She\ncould only put them off by declaring she could wed no one till she had\nfinished the winding-sheet she was making for old Laertes, her\nfather-in-law; while to prevent its coming to an end she undid by night\nwhatever she wove by day. Telemachus had gone to seek his father, but\ncame home baffled to Eumaeus' hut, and there was allowed to recognise\nUlysses. But it was as a beggar, broken-down and foot-sore, that Ulysses\nsought his palace, and none knew him there but his poor old dog Argus,\nwho licked his feet, and died for joy. The suitors, in their pride, made\ngame of the poor stranger, but Penelope sent for him, in case he brought\nnews of her husband. Even to her he told a feigned story, but she bade\nthe old nurse Euryclea take care of him, and wash his feet. While doing\nso, the old woman knew him by a scar left by the tusk of a wild boar long\nago, and Ulysses could hardly stifle her cry of joy; but she told him\nall, and who could be trusted among the slaves. The plans were fixed.\nTelemachus, with much difficulty, persuaded his mother to try to get rid\nof the suitors by promising to wed him only who could bend Ulysses' bow.\nOne after another tried in vain, and then, amid their sneers, the beggar\ntook it up, and bent it easily, hit the mark, and then aimed it against\nthem! They were all at the banquet-table in the hall. Eumaeus and the\nother faithful servants had closed all the doors, and removed all the\narms, and there was a terrible slaughter both of these oppressors and the\nservants who had joined with them against their queen and her son.\n\nAfter this, Ulysses made himself known to his wife, and visited his\nfather, who had long retired to his beautiful garden. The kindred of the\nsuitors would have made war on him, but Pallas pacified them, and the\n_Odyssey_ leaves him to spend his old age in Ithaca, and die a peaceful\ndeath. He was just what the Greeks thought a thoroughly brave and wise\nman; for they had no notion that there was any sin in falsehood and\ndouble-dealing.\n\n [Picture: Greek Pottery]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XI.--THE DOOM OF THE ATRIDES.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nYou remember that Ulysses met Agamemnon among the other ghosts. The King\nof Men, as the _Iliad_ calls him, had vast beacons lighted from isle to\nisle, and from cape to cape, to announce that Troy was won, and that he\nwas on his way home, little knowing what a welcome was in store for him.\n\nHis wife Clytemnestra had never forgiven him for the loss of Iphigenia,\nand had listened to his cousin AEgisthus, who wanted to marry her. She\ncame forth and received Agamemnon with apparent joy, but his poor captive\nCassandra wailed aloud, and would not cross the threshold, saying it\nstreamed with blood, and that this was a house of slaughter. No one\nlistened to her, and Agamemnon was led to the bath to refresh himself\nafter his journey. A new embroidered robe lay ready for him, but the\nsleeves were sewn up at the wrists, and while he could not get his hands\nfree, AEgisthus fell on him and slew him, and poor Cassandra likewise.\n\nHis daughter Electra, fearing that her young brother Orestes would not be\nsafe since he was the right heir of the kingdom, sent him secretly away\nto Phocis, where the king bred him up with his own son Pylades, and the\ntwo youths loved each other as much as Achilles and Patroclus had done.\nIt was the bounden duty of a son to be the avenger of his father's blood,\nand after eight years, as soon as Orestes was a grown warrior, he went\nwith his friend in secret to Mycenae, and offered a lock of his hair on\nhis father's tomb. Electra, coming out with her offerings, found these\ntokens, and knew that he was near. He made himself known, and she\nadmitted him into the house, where he fulfilled his stern charge, and\nkilled both Clytemnestra and AEgisthus, then celebrated their funeral\nrites with all due solemnity.\n\nThis was on the very day that Menelaus and Helen returned home. They had\nbeen shipwrecked first in Egypt, where they spent eight years, and then\nwere held by contrary winds on a little isle on the coast of Egypt, where\nthey would have been starved if Menelaus had not managed to capture the\nold sea-god Proteus, when he came up to pasture his flock of seals on the\nbeach, and, holding him tight, while he changed into every kind of queer\nshape, forced him at last to speak. By Proteus' advice, Menelaus\nreturned to Egypt, and made the sacrifices to the gods he had forgotten\nbefore, after which he safely reached Sparta, on the day of\nClytemnestra's obsequies. Just as they were ended, the Furies, the\navengers of crime, fell upon Orestes for having slain his mother. He\nfled in misery from Mycenae, which Menelaus took into his own hands,\nwhile the wretched Orestes went from place to place, still attended and\ncomforted by faithful Pylades, but he never tried to rest without being\nagain beset by the Furies. At last Apollo, at the oracle at Delphi, sent\nhim to take his trial at the court of justice at Athens, called\nAreopagus, Ares' (or Mars') Hill, after which the oracle bade him fetch\nthe image of Diana from Tauris, marry his cousin Hermione, the daughter\nof Menelaus and Helen, and recover his father's kingdom.\n\nPallas Athene came down to preside at Areopagus, and directed the judges\nto pronounce that, though the slaying of a mother was a fearful crime,\nyet it was Orestes' duty to avenge his father's death. He was therefore\nacquitted, and purified by sacrifice, and was no more haunted by the\nFuries, while with Pylades he sailed for Tauris. In that inhospitable\nplace it was the custom to sacrifice all strangers to Diana, and, as soon\nas they had landed, Orestes and Pylades were seized, and taken to the\npriestess at the temple, that their hair might be cut and their brows\nwreathed for the sacrifice. The priestess was no other than Iphigenia,\nwho had been snatched away from Aulis, and, when she and the brother,\nwhom she had left an infant, found each other out, she contrived to leave\nthe temple by night, carrying the image of Diana with her. They went to\nDelphi together, and there Iphigenia met Electra, who had heard a false\nreport that her beloved Orestes had been sacrificed by the priestess of\nTauris, and was just going to tear out her eyes, when Orestes appeared,\nand the sisters were made known to each other. A temple was built for\nthe image near Marathon, in Attica, and Iphigenia spent the rest of her\nlife as priestess there. Orestes, in the meantime, married\nHermione--after, as some say, killing Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, to\nwhom she was either promised or married--and reigned over both Mycenae\nand Sparta until the hundred years' truce with the Heracleids, or\ngrandsons of Hercules, had come to an end, and they returned with a party\nof Dorians and conquered Sparta, eighty years after the Trojan war.\n\n [Picture: Plain of Sparta, with Mount Taygetus]\n\nThis is the last of the events of the age of heroes, when so much must be\nfable, though there may be a germ of historical truth which no one can\nmake out among the old tales that had come from the East, and the like of\nwhich may be found among the folk-lore of all nations. These are the\nmost famous of the stories, because they joined all Greeks together, and\nwere believed in by all Greeks alike in their main circumstances; but\nevery state had its own story, and one or two may be told before we end\nthis chapter of myths, because they are often heard of, and poetry has\nbeen written about some of them.\n\nAt Thebes, in Boeotia, the king, Laius, was told that his first child\nwould be his death. So as soon as it was born he had its ancles pierced,\nand put it out in a wood to die; but it was found by a shepherd, and\nbrought to Corinth, where the queen named it OEdipus, or Swollen Feet,\nand bred it up as her own child. Many years later OEdipus set out for\nthe Delphic oracle, to ask who he was; but all the answer he received was\nthat he must shun his native land, for he would be the slayer of his own\nfather. He therefore resolved not to return to Corinth, but on his\njourney he met in a narrow pass with a chariot going to Delphi. A\nquarrel arose, and in the fight that followed he slew the man to whom the\nchariot belonged, little knowing that it was Laius, his own father.\n\nHe then went on through Boeotia. On the top of a hill near Thebes sat a\nmonster called the Sphinx, with a women's head, a lion's body, and an\neagle's wings. She had been taught riddles by the Muses, and whoever\nfailed to answer them she devoured upon the spot. Whoever could answer\nher was to marry the king's sister, and share the kingdom. OEdipus went\nbravely up to her, and heard her question, \"What is the animal that is at\nfirst four-legged, then two-legged, then three-legged?\" \"Man,\" cried\nOEdipus. \"He creeps as a babe on all-fours, walks upright in his prime,\nand uses a staff in his old age.\" Thereupon the Sphinx turned to stone,\nand OEdipus married the princess, and reigned many years, till there was\na famine and pestilence, and the oracle was asked the cause. It answered\nthat the land must be purified from the blood of Laius. Only then did\nOEdipus find out that it was Laius whom he had slain; and then, by the\nmarks on his ancles, it was proved that he was the babe who had been\nexposed, so that he had fulfilled his fate, and killed his own father.\nTo save Thebes, he left the country, with his eyes put out by way of\nexpiation, and wandered about, only attended by his faithful daughter\nAntigone, till he came to Athens, where, like Orestes, he was sheltered,\nand allowed to expiate his crime. After his death, Antigone came back to\nThebes, where her two brothers Eteocles and Polynices had agreed to reign\neach a year by turns; but when Eteocles' year was over he would not give\nup to his brother, and Polynices, in a rage, collected friends, among\nwhom were six great chiefs, and attacked Thebes. In the battle called\n\"The Seven Chiefs against Thebes,\" all were slain, and Eteocles and\nPolynices fell by each other's hands. Their uncle Creon forbade that the\nbodies of men who had so ruined their country should receive funeral\nhonours from anyone on pain of death, thus condemning their shades to the\ndreary flitting about on the banks of the Styx, so much dreaded. But\ntheir sister Antigone, the noblest woman of Greek imagination, dared the\nperil, stole forth at night, and gave burial alone to her two brothers.\nShe was found out, and put to death for her sisterly devotion, though\nCreon's own son killed himself for grief and love of her. This happened\nin the generation before the Trojan war, for Tydeus, the father of\nDiomed, was one of the seven chiefs.\n\nMacedon, the country northward of Greece, had one very droll legend.\nMidas, king of the Bryges, at the foot of Mount Bermion, had a most\nbeautiful garden, full of all kinds of fruit. This was often stolen,\nuntil he watched, and found the thief was old Silenus, the tutor of\nBacchus. Thereupon he filled with wine the fount where Silenus was used\nto drink after his feast, and thus, instead of going away, the old god\nfell asleep, and Midas caught him, and made him answer all his questions.\nOne was, \"What is best for man?\" and the answer was very sad, \"What is\nbest for man is never to have been born. The second best is to die as\nsoon as may be.\" At last Silenus was released, on condition that he\nwould grant one wish, and this was that all that Midas touched should\nturn to gold; and so it did, clothes, food, and everything the king took\nhold of became solid gold, so that he found himself starving, and\nentreated that the gift might be taken away. So he was told to bathe in\nthe river Pactolus, in Lydia, and the sands became full of gold dust;\nbut, in remembrance of his folly, his ears grew long like those of a\ndonkey. He hid them by wearing a tall Phrygian cap, and no one knew of\nthem but his barber, who was told he should be put to death if ever he\nmentioned these ears. The barber was so haunted by the secret, that at\nlast he could not help relieving himself, by going to a clump of reeds\nand whispering into them, \"King Midas has the ears of an ass;\" and\nwhenever the wind rustled in the reeds, those who went by might always\nhear them in turn whisper to one another, \"King Midas has the ears of an\nass.\" Some accounts say that it was for saying that Pan was a better\nmusician than Apollo that Midas had his ass's ears, and that it was Lydia\nof which he was king; and this seems most likely, for almost as many\nGreeks lived in the borders of Asia Minor as lived in Greece itself, and\nthere were many stories of the hills, cities, and rivers there, but I\nhave only told you what is most needful to be known--not, of course, to\nbe believed, but to be known.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XII.--AFTER THE HEROIC AGE.\n\n\nAll these heroes of whom we have been telling lived, if they lived at\nall, about the time of the Judges of Israel. Troy is thought to have\nbeen taken at the time that Saul was reigning in Israel, and there is no\ndoubt that there once was a city between Mount Ida and the AEgean Sea,\nfor quantities of remains have been dug up, and among them many rude\nearthenware images of an owl, the emblem of Pallas Athene, likenesses\nperhaps of the Palladium. Hardly anything is told either false or true\nof Greece for three hundred years after this time, and when something\nmore like history begins we find that all Greece, small as it is, was\ndivided into very small states, each of which had a chief city and a\ngovernment of its own, and was generally shut in from its neighbours by\nmountains or by sea. There were the three tribes, Ionian, Dorian, and\nAEolian, dwelling in these little states, and, though they often\nquarrelled among themselves, all thinking themselves one nation, together\nwith their kindred in the islands of the AEgean, on the coasts of Asia,\nand also in Sicily and Southern Italy, which was sometimes called Greater\nGreece.\n\nSome time between the heroic age and the historical time, there had been\na great number of songs and verses composed telling of the gods and\nheroes. Singers and poets used to be entertained by the kings, and\nsometimes to wander from one place to another, welcomed by all, as they\nchanted to the harp or the lyre the story of the great forefathers of\ntheir hosts, especially when they had all joined together, as in the hunt\nof the great boar of Calydon, in the voyage for the Golden Fleece, and,\nabove all, in the siege of Troy. The greatest of all these singers was\nthe blind poet Homer, whose songs of the wrath of Achilles and the\nwanderings of Ulysses were loved and learnt by everyone. Seven different\ncities claimed to be his birth-place, but no one knows more about him\nthan that he was blind--not even exactly when he lived--but his poems did\nmuch to make the Greeks hold together.\n\nAnd so did their religion. Everybody sent to ask questions of the oracle\nof Apollo at Delphi, and there really were answers to them, though no one\ncan tell by what power. And at certain times there were great festivals\nat certain shrines. One was at Olympia, in Elis, where there was a great\nfestival every five years. It was said that Hercules, when a little boy,\nhad here won a foot-race with his brothers, and when the Heracleids\nreturned to Sparta they founded a feast, with games for all the Greeks to\ncontend in. There were chariot races, horse races, foot races, boxing\nand wrestling matches, throwing weights, playing with quoits, singing and\nreciting of poems. The winner was rewarded with a wreath of bay, of\npine, of parsley, or the like, and he wore such an one as his badge of\nhonour for the rest of his life. Nothing was thought more of than being\nfirst in the Olympic games, and the Greeks even came to make them their\nmeasure of time, saying that any event happened in such and such a year\nof such an Olympiad. The first Olympiad they counted from was the year\n776 B.C., that is, before the coming of our blessed Lord. There were\nother games every three years, which Theseus was said to have instituted,\non the isthmus of Corinth, called the Isthmean Games, and others in two\ndifferent places, and no honour was more highly esteemed than success in\nthese.\n\nThere were also councils held of persons chosen from each tribe, called\nAmphictyons, for arranging their affairs, both religious and worldly, and\none great Amphictyonic council, which met near Delphi, to discuss the\naffairs of all Greece. In truth, all the great nations who long ago\nparted in Asia have had somewhat the same arrangement. A family grew\nfirst into a clan, then into a tribe, then into a nation, and the nation\nthat settled in one country formed fresh family divisions of clans,\ntribes, and families. At first the father of a family would take council\nwith the sons, the head of a clan with the fathers of families, the chief\nof a tribe with the heads of clans, and as these heads of clans grew into\nlittle kings, the ablest of them would lead the nation in time of war, as\nAgamemnon did the chiefs against Troy. However, the Greeks seem for the\nmost part, between the heroic and historical ages, to have dropped the\nking or chief of each state, and only to have managed them by various\ncouncils of the chief heads of families, who were called _aristoi_, the\nbest, while those who were not usually called into council, though they\ntoo were free, and could choose their governors, and vote in great\nmatters, were termed _demos_, the people. This is why we hear of\naristocracy and democracy. Under these freemen were the people of the\ncountry they had conquered, or any slaves they had bought or taken\ncaptive, or strangers who had come to live in the place, and these had no\nrights at all.\n\nGreek cities were generally beautiful places, in valleys between the\nhills and the sea. They were sure to have several temples to the gods of\nthe place. These were colonnades of stone-pillars, upon steps, open all\nround, but with a small dark cell in the middle, which was the shrine of\nthe god, whose statue, and carvings of whose adventures, adorned the\noutside. There was an altar in the open-air for sacrifices, the flesh of\nwhich was afterwards eaten. In the middle of a town was always a\nmarket-place, which served as the assembling-place of the people, and it\nhad a building attached to it where the fire of Vesta was never allowed\nto go out. The charge of it was given to the best men who could be\nfound; and when a set of citizens went forth to make a new home or colony\nin Asia, Sicily, or Italy, they always took brands from this fire,\nguarded them carefully in a censer, and lighted their altar-fires\ntherefrom when they settled down.\n\n [Picture: Greek Interior]\n\nThese cities were of houses built round paved courts. The courts had\ngenerally a fountain in the middle, and an altar to the hero forefather\nof the master, where, before each meal, offerings were made and wine\npoured out. The rooms were very small, and used for little but sleeping;\nand the men lived chiefly in the cloister or pillared walks round the\ncourt. There was a kind of back-court for the women of the family, who\ndid not often appear in the front one, though they were not shut up like\nEastern women. Most Greeks had farms, which they worked by the help of\ntheir slaves, and whence came the meat, corn, wine, and milk that\nmaintained the family. The women spun the wool of the sheep, wove and\nembroidered it, making for the men short tunics reaching to the knee,\nwith a longer mantle for dignity or for need; and for themselves long\nrobes [Picture: Greek robe] reaching to the feet--a modest and graceful\ncovering--but leaving the arms bare. Men cut their hair close; women\nfolded their tresses round their heads in the simplest and most becoming\nmanner that has yet been invented. The feet were bare, but sandalled,\nand the sandals fastened with ornamented thongs. Against the sun\nsometimes a sort of hat was worn, or the mantle was put over the head,\nand women had thick veils wrapping them.\n\nIn time of war the armour was a helmet with a horse-hair crest, a\nbreast-plate on a leathern cuirass, which had strips of leather hanging\nfrom the lower edge as far down as the knee; sometimes greaves to guard\nthe leathern buskin; a round shield of leather, faced with metal, and\noften beautifully ornamented; and also spears, swords, daggers, and\nsometimes bows and arrows. Chariots for war had been left off since the\nheroic times; indeed Greece was so hilly that horses were not very much\nused in battle, though riding was part of the training of a Greek, and\nthe Thessalian horses were much valued. Every state that had a seaboard\nhad its fleet of galleys, with benches of oars; but the Greek sailors\nseldom ventured out of sight of land, and all that Greece or Asia Minor\ndid not produce was brought by the Phoenicians, the great sailors,\nmerchants, and slave-dealers of the Old World. They brought Tyrian\npurple, gold of Ophir, silver of Spain, tin of Gaul and Britain, ivory\nfrom India, and other such luxuries; and they also bought captives in\nwar, or kidnapped children on the coast, and sold them as slaves.\nUlysses' faithful swineherd was such a slave, and of royal birth; and\nsuch was the lot of many an Israelite child, for whom its parents' \"eyes\nfailed with looking and longing.\"\n\n[Picture: Male costume] The Greeks had more power of thought and sense of\ngrace than any other people have ever had. They always had among them\nmen seeking for truth and beauty. The truth-seekers were called\nphilosophers, or lovers of wisdom. They were always trying to understand\nabout God and man, and this world, and guessing at something great, far\nbeyond the stories of Jupiter; and they used to gather young men round\nthem under the pillared porches and talk over these thoughts, or write\nthem in beautiful words. Almost all the sciences began with the Greeks;\ntheir poems and their histories are wonderfully written; and they had\nsuch great men among them that, though most of their little states were\nsmaller than an ordinary English county, and the whole of them together\ndo not make a country as large as Ireland, their history is the most\nremarkable in the world, except that of the Jews. The history of the\nJews shows what God does for men; the history of Greece shows what man\ndoes left to himself.\n\nGreece was not so small as what is called Greece now in our modern maps.\nIt reached northwards as far as the Volutza and Khimera mountains, beyond\nwhich lay Macedon, where the people called themselves Greeks, but were\nnot quite accepted as such. In this peninsula, together with the\nPeloponnesus and the isles, there were twenty little states, making up\nHellas, or Greece. {109}\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter ending]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIII.--LYCURGUS AND THE LAWS OF SPARTA. B.C. 884-668.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nYou remember that after a hundred years the grandsons of Hercules\nreturned, bringing with them their followers of Dorian birth, and\nconquered Laconia. These Dorians called themselves Spartans, and were\nthe rulers of the land, though the Greeks, who were there before them,\nwere also freemen, all but those of one city, called Helos, which\nrevolted, and was therefore broken up, and the people were called Helots,\nand became slaves to the Spartans. One of the Spartan kings, sons of\nHercules, had twin sons, and these two reigned together with equal\nrights, and so did their sons after them, so that there were always two\nkings at Sparta. One line was called the Agids, from Agis, its second\nking; the other Eurypontids, from Eurypon, its third king, instead of\nfrom the two original twins.\n\nThe affairs of Sparta had fallen into a corrupt state by the third\ngeneration after Eurypon. The king of his line was killed in a quarrel,\nand his widow, a wicked woman, offered his brother Lycurgus to kill her\nlittle new-born babe, if he would marry her, that she might continue to\nbe queen. Lycurgus did not show his horror, but advised her to send the\nchild alive to him, that he might dispose of it. So far from killing it\nwas he, that he carried it at once to the council, placed it on the\nthrone, and proclaimed it as Charilaus, king of Sparta.\n\nThere were still murmurs from those who did not know that Lycurgus had\nsaved the little boy's life. As he was next heir to the throne, it was\nthought that he must want to put Charilaus out of the way, so as to reign\nhimself; so, having seen the boy in safe keeping, Lycurgus went on his\ntravels to study the laws and ways of other countries. He visited Crete,\nand learnt the laws of Minos; and, somewhere among the Greek settlements\nin Asia, he is said to have seen and talked to Homer, and heard his\nsongs. He also went to Egypt, and after that to India, where he may have\nlearnt much from the old Brahmin philosophy; and then, having made his\nplan, he repaired to Delphi, and prayed until he received answer from\nApollo that his laws should be the best, and the state that obeyed them\nthe most famous in Greece. He then went home, where he had been much\nmissed, for his young nephew Charilaus, though grown to man's estate, was\ntoo weak and good-natured to be much obeyed, and there was a great deal\nof idleness, and gluttony, and evil of all sorts prevailing.\n\nThirty Spartans bound themselves to help Lycurgus in his reform, and\nCharilaus, fancying it a league against himself, fled into the temple of\nPallas, but his uncle fetched him out, and told him that he only wanted\nto make laws for making the Spartans great and noble. The rule was only\nfor the real Dorian Spartans, the masters of the country, and was to make\nthem perfect warriors. First, then, he caused all the landmarks to be\ntaken up, and the lands thrown into one, which he divided again into\nlots, each of which was large enough to yield 82 bushels of corn in a\nyear, with wine and oil in proportion. Then, to hinder hoarding, he\nallowed no money to be used in the country but great iron weights, so\nthat a small sum took up a great deal of room, and could hardly be\ncarried about, and thus there was no purchasing Phoenician luxuries; nor\nwas anyone to use gold or ivory, soft cushions, carpets, or the like, as\nbeing unworthy of the race of Hercules. The whole Spartan nation became,\nin fact, a regiment of highly-disciplined warriors. They were to live\ntogether in public barracks, only now and then visiting their homes, and\neven when they slept there, being forbidden to touch food till they came\nto the general meal, which was provided for by contributions of meal,\ncheese, figs, and wine from each man's farm, and a little money to buy\nfish and meat; also a sort of soup called black broth, which was so\nunsavoury that nobody but a Spartan could eat it, because it was said\nthey brought the best sauce, namely, hunger. A boy was admitted as soon\nas he was old enough, and was warned against repeating the talk of his\nelders, by being told on his first entrance, by the eldest man in the\ncompany, \"Look you, sir; nothing said here goes out there.\" Indeed no\none used more words than needful, so that short, pithy sayings came to be\ncalled Laconic. To be a perfect soldier was the great point, so boys\nwere taught that no merit was greater than bearing pain without\ncomplaint; and they carried this so far, that a boy who had brought a\nyoung wolf into the hall, hidden under his tunic, let it bite him even to\ndeath without a groan or cry. It is said that they were trained to\ntheft, and were punished, not for the stealing, but the being found out.\nAnd, above all, no Spartan was ever to turn his back in battle. The\nmothers gave the sons a shield, with the words, \"With it, or on it.\" The\nSpartan shields were long, so that a dead warrior would be borne home on\nhis shield; but a man would not dare show his face again if he had thrown\nit away in flight. The women were trained to running, leaping, and\nthrowing the bar, like the men, and were taught stern hardihood, so that,\nwhen their boys were offered to the cruel Diana, they saw them flogged to\ndeath at her altar without a tear. All the lives of the Spartans were\nspent in exercising for war, and the affairs of the state were managed\nnot so much by the kings, but by five judges called Ephors, who were\nchosen every year, while the kings had very little power. They had to\nundergo the same discipline as the rest--dressed, ate, and lived like\nthem; but they were the high priests and chief captains, and made peace\nor war.\n\nAt first Lycurgus' laws displeased some of the citizens much, and, when\nhe was proposing them, a young man named Alcander struck him on the face\nwith his staff, and put out his eye. The others were shocked, and put\nAlcander into Lycurgus' hands, to be punished as he thought fit. All\nLycurgus did was to make him wait upon him at meals, and Alcander was so\ntouched and won over that he became one of his best supporters. After\nhaving fully taught Sparta to observe his rule, Lycurgus declared that he\nhad another journey to take, and made the people swear to observe his\nlaws till he came back again. He never did come back, and they held\nthemselves bound by them for ever.\n\nThis story of Lycurgus has been doubted, but whether there were such a\nman or not, it is quite certain that these were the laws of Sparta in her\nmost famous days, and that they did their work of making brave and hardy\nsoldiers. The rule was much less strict in the camp than the city, and\nthe news of a war was delightful to the Spartans as a holiday-time. All\nthe hard work of their farms was done for them by the Helots, who were\nsuch a strong race that it was not easy to keep them down, although their\nmasters were very cruel to them, often killing large numbers of them if\nthey seemed to be growing dangerous, always ill-treating them, and, it is\nsaid, sometimes making them drunk, that the sight of their intoxication\nmight disgust the young Spartans. In truth, the whole Spartan system was\nhard and unfeeling, and much fitter to make fighting machines than men.\n\nThe first great Spartan war that we know of was with their neighbours of\nMessenia, who stood out bravely, but were beaten, and brought down to the\nstate of Helots in the year 723 B.C., all but a small band, who fled into\nother states. Among them was born a brave youth named Aristomenes, who\ncollected all the boldest of his fellow-Messenians to try to save their\ncountry, and Argos, Arcadia, and Elis joined with them. Several battles\nwere fought. One, which was called the battle of the Boar's Pillar, was\nlong sung about. An augur had told Aristomenes that under a tree sat the\nSpartan brothers Castor and Pollux, to protect their countrymen, and that\nhe might not pass it; but in the pursuit he rushed by it, and at that\nmoment the shield was rent from him by an unseen hand. While he was\nsearching for it, the Spartans (who do seem this time to have fled)\nescaped; but Messene was free, and he was crowned with flowers by the\nrejoicing women. A command from Apollo made him descend into a cave,\nwhere he found his shield, adorned with the figure of an eagle, and, much\nencouraged, he won another battle, and would have entered Sparta itself,\nhad not Helen and her twin brothers appeared to warn him back. At last,\nhowever, the war turned against him, and in a battle on Laconian ground\nhe was stunned by a stone, and taken prisoner, with 50 more. They were\nall condemned to be thrown down a high rock into a deep pit. Everyone\nelse was killed by the fall, but Aristomenes found himself unhurt, with\nsky above, high precipices on all sides, and his dead comrades under him.\nHe wrapped himself in his cloak to wait for death, but on the third day\nhe heard something moving, uncovered his face, and saw that a fox had\ncrept in from a cavern at the side of the pit. He took hold of the fox's\ntail, crawled after it, and at last saw the light of day. He scraped the\nearth till the way was large enough for him to pass, escaped, and\ngathered his friends, to the amazement of the Spartans. Again he gained\nthe victory, and a truce was made, but he was treacherously seized, and\nthrown into prison. However, this time he was set free by a maiden, whom\nhe gave in marriage to his son. At last Eira, the chief city of\nMessenia, was betrayed by a foolish woman, while Aristomenes was laid\naside by a wound. In spite of this, however, he fought for three days\nand nights against the Spartans, and at last drew up all the\nsurvivors--women as well as men--in a hollow square, with the children in\nthe middle, and demanded a free passage. The Spartans allowed these\nbrave Messenians to pass untouched, and they reached Arcadia. There the\ndauntless Aristomenes arranged another scheme for seizing Sparta itself,\nbut it was betrayed, and failed. The Arcadians stoned the traitor, while\nthe gentle Aristomenes wept for him. The remaining Messenians begged him\nto lead them to a new country, but he would not leave Greece as long as\nhe could strike a blow against Sparta. However, he sent his two sons,\nand they founded in Sicily a new Messene, which we still call Messina.\nAristomenes waited in vain in Arcadia, till Damagetus, king of Rhodes,\nwho had been bidden by an oracle to marry the daughter of the best of\nGreeks, asked for the daughter of Aristomenes, and persuaded him to\nfinish his life in peace and honour in Rhodes.\n\n [Picture: Warriors]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIV.--SOLON AND THE LAWS OF ATHENS. B.C. 594-546.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nNorth of the Peloponnesus, jutting out into the AEgean Sea, lay the rocky\nlittle Ionian state of Attica, with its lovely city, Athens. There was a\nstory that Neptune and Pallas Athene had had a strife as to which should\nbe the patron of the city, and that it was to be given to whichever\nshould produce the most precious gift for it. Neptune struck the earth\nwith his trident, and there appeared a war-horse; but Pallas' touch\nbrought forth an olive-tree, and this was judged the most useful gift.\nThe city bore her name; the tiny Athenian owl was her badge; the very\nolive-tree she had bestowed was said to be that which grew in the court\nof the Acropolis, a sacred citadel on a rock above the city; and near at\nhand was her temple, called the Parthenon, or Virgin's Shrine. Not far\noff was the Areopagus, a Hill of Ares, or Mars, the great place for\nhearing causes and doing justice; and below these there grew up a city\nfilled with men as brave as the Spartans, and far more thoughtful and\nwise, besides having a most perfect taste and sense of beauty.\n\n [Picture: Gate of Mycenae]\n\nThe Athenians claimed Theseus as their greatest king and first lawgiver.\nIt was said that, when the Dorians were conquering the Peloponnesus, they\ncame north and attacked Attica, but were told by an oracle that they\nnever would succeed if they slew the king of Athens. Codrus, who was\nthen king of Athens, heard of this oracle, and devoted himself for his\ncountry. He found that in battle the Dorians always forbore to strike\nhim, and he therefore disguised himself, went into the enemy's camp,\nquarrelled with a soldier there, and thus caused himself to be killed, so\nas to save his country. He was the last king. The Athenians would not\nhave anyone less noble to sit in his seat, and appointed magistrates\ncalled Archons in the stead of kings.\n\nSoon they fell into a state of misrule and disorder, and they called on a\nphilosopher named Draco to draw up laws for them. Draco's laws were\ngood, but very strict, and for the least crime the punishment was death.\nNobody could keep them, so they were set aside and forgotten, and\nconfusion grew worse, till another wise lawgiver named Solon undertook to\ndraw up a fresh code of laws for them.\n\nSolon was one of the seven wise men of Greece, who all lived at the same\ntime. The other six were Thales, Bion, Pittacus, Cleobulus, Chilo, and\nPeriander. This last was called Tyrant of Corinth. When the ancient\nGreeks spoke of a tyrant, they did not mean a cruel king so much as a\nking who had not been heir to the crown, but had taken to himself the\nrule over a free people. A very curious story belongs to Periander, for\nwe have not quite parted with the land of fable. It is about the poet\nArion, who lived chiefly with him at Corinth, but made one voyage to\nSicily. As he was coming back, the sailors plotted to throw him\noverboard, and divide the gifts he was bringing with him. When he found\nthey were resolved, he only begged to play once more on his lyre; then,\nstanding on the prow, he played and sung a hymn calling the gods to his\naid. So sweet were the sounds that shoals of dolphins came round the\nship, and Arion, leaping from the prow, placed himself on the back of\none, which bore him safely to land. Periander severely punished the\ntreacherous sailors. Some think that this story was a Greek alteration\nof the history of Jonah, which might have been brought by the Phoenician\nsailors.\n\nSolon was Athenian by birth, and of the old royal line. He had served\nhis country in war, and had travelled to study the habits of other lands,\nwhen the Athenians, wearied with the oppressions of the rich and great,\nand finding that no one attended to the laws of Draco, left it to him to\nform a new constitution. It would be of no use to try to explain it all.\nThe chief thing to be remembered about it is, that at the head of the\ngovernment were nine chief magistrates, who were called Archons, and who\nwere changed every three years. To work with them, there was a council\nof four hundred _aristoi_, or nobles; but when war or peace was decided,\nthe whole _demos_, or people, had to vote, according to their tribes; and\nif a man was thought to be dangerous to the state, the _demos_ might\nsentence him to be banished. His name was written on an oyster shell, or\non a tile, by those who wished him to be driven away, and these were\nthrown into one great vessel. If they amounted to a certain number, the\nman was said to be \"ostracised,\" and forced to leave the city. This was\nsometimes done very unjustly, but it answered the purpose of sending away\nrich men who became overbearing, and kept tyrants from rising up. There\nwere no unnatural laws as there were at Sparta; people might live at home\nas they pleased; but there were schools, and all the youths were to be\ntaught there, both learning and training in all exercises. And whether\nit was from Solon's laws or their own character, there certainly did\narise in Athens some of the greatest and noblest men of all times.\n\nAfter having set things in order, Solon is said to have been so annoyed\nby foolish questions on his schemes, that he went again on his travels.\nFirst he visited his friend Thales, at Miletus, in Asia Minor; and,\nfinding him rich and comfortable, he asked why he had never married.\nThales made no answer then, but a few days later he brought in a\nstranger, who, he said, was just from Athens. Solon asked what was the\nnews. \"A great funeral was going on, and much lamentation,\" said the\nman. \"Whose was it?\" He did not learn the name, but it was a young man\nof great promise, whose father was abroad upon his travels. \"The father\nwas much famed for his wisdom and justice.\" \"Was it Solon?\" cried the\nlistener. \"It was.\" Solon burst into tears, tore his hair, and beat his\nbreast; but Thales took his hand, saying, \"Now you see, O Solon, why I\nhave never married, lest I should expose myself to griefs such as these;\"\nand then told him it was all a trick. Solon could not much have approved\nsuch a trick, for when Thespis, a great actor of plays, came to Athens,\nSolon asked him if he were not ashamed to speak so many falsehoods.\nThespis answered that it was all in sport. \"Ay,\" said Solon, striking\nhis staff on the ground; \"but he that tells lies in sport will soon tell\nthem in earnest.\"\n\nAfter this, Solon went on to Lydia. This was a kingdom of Greek settlers\nin Asia Minor, where flowed that river Pactolus, whose sands contained\ngold-dust, from King Midas' washing, as the story went. The king was\nCroesus, who was exceedingly rich and splendid. He welcomed Solon, and,\nafter showing him all his glory, asked whom the philosopher thought the\nhappiest of men. \"An honest man named Tellus,\" said Solon, \"who lived\nuprightly, was neither rich nor poor, had good children, and died bravely\nfor his country.\" Croesus was vexed, but asked who was next happiest.\n\"Two brothers named Cleobis and Bito,\" said Solon, \"who were so loving\nand dutiful to their mother, that, when she wanted to go to the temple of\nJuno, they yoked themselves to her car, and drew her thither; then,\nhaving given this proof of their love, they lay down to sleep, and so\ndied without pain or grief.\" \"And what do you think of me?\" said\nCroesus. \"Ah!\" said Solon, \"call no man happy till he is dead.\"\n\nCroesus was mortified at such a rebuff to his pride, and neglected Solon.\nThere was a clever crooked Egyptian slave at Croesus' court, called\nAEsop, who gave his advice in the form of the fables we know so well,\nsuch as the wolf and the lamb, the fox and the grapes, etc.; though, as\nthe Hindoos and Persians have from old times told the same stories, it\nwould seem as if AEsop only repeated them, but did not invent them. When\nAEsop saw Solon in the background, he said, \"Solon, visits to kings\nshould be seldom, or else pleasant.\" \"No,\" said Solon; \"visits to kings\nshould be seldom, or else profitable,\" as the courtly slave found them.\nAEsop came to a sad end. Croesus sent him to Delphi to distribute a sum\nof money among the poor, but they quarrelled so about it that AEsop said\nhe should take it back to the king, and give none at all; whereupon the\nDelphians, in a rage, threw him off a precipice, and killed him.\n\nCroesus was just thinking of going to war with the great Cyrus, king of\nthe Medes and Persians, the same who overcame Assyria, took Babylon, and\nrestored Jerusalem, and who was now subduing Asia Minor. Croesus asked\ncouncil of all the oracles, but first he tried their truth. He bade his\nmessenger ask the oracle at Delphi what he was doing while they were\ninquiring. The answer was--\n\n \"Lo, on my sense striketh the smell of a shell-covered tortoise\n Boiling on the fire, with the flesh of a lamb, in a cauldron;\n Brass is the vessel below, brass the cover above it.\"\n\nCroesus was really, as the most unlikely thing to be guessed, boiling a\ntortoise and a lamb together in a brazen vessel. Sure now of the truth\nof the oracle, he sent splendid gifts, and asked whether he should go to\nwar with Cyrus. The answer was that, if he did, a mighty kingdom would\nbe overthrown.\n\nHe thought it meant the Persian, but it was his own. Lydia was overcome,\nSardis, his capital, was burnt, and he was about to be slain, when,\nremembering the warning, \"Call no man happy till his death,\" he cried\nout, \"O Solon, Solon, Solon!\"\n\nCyrus heard him, and bade that he should be asked what it meant. The\nstory so struck the great king, that he spared Croesus, and kept him as\nhis adviser for the rest of his life.\n\n [Picture: Ornaments]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XV.--PISISTRATUS AND HIS SONS. B.C. 558-499.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nAfter all the pains that Solon had taken to guard the freedom of the\nAthenians, his system had hardly begun to work before his kinsman\nPisistratus, who was also of the line of Codrus, overthrew it. First\nthis man pretended to have been nearly murdered, and obtained leave to\nhave a guard of fifty men, armed with clubs; and with these he made\neveryone afraid of him, so that he had all the power, and became tyrant\nof Athens. He was once driven out, but he found a fine, tall, handsome\nwoman, a flower-girl, in one of the villages of Attica, dressed her in\nhelmet and cuirass, like the goddess Pallas, and came into Athens in a\nchariot with her, when she presented him to the people as their ruler.\nThe common people thought she was their goddess, and Pisistratus had\nfriends among the rich, so he recovered his power, and he did not, on the\nwhole, use it badly. He made a kind law, decreeing that a citizen who\nhad been maimed in battle should be provided for by the State, and he was\nthe first Greek to found a library, and collect books--namely,\nmanuscripts upon the sheets of the rind of the Egyptian paper-rush, or\nelse upon skins. He was also the first person to collect and arrange the\npoems of Homer. Everybody seems to have known some part by heart, but\nthey were in separate songs, and Pisistratus first had them written down\nand put in order, after which no Greek was thought an educated man unless\nhe thoroughly knew the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_.\n\nPisistratus ruled for thirty-three years, and made the Athenians content,\nand when he died his sons Hippias and Hipparchus ruled much as he had\ndone, and gave no cause for complaint. One thing they did was to set up\nmile-stones all over the roads of Attica, each with a bust of Mercury on\nthe top, and a wise proverb carved below the number of the miles. But\nthey grew proud and insolent, and one day a damsel of high family was\nrudely sent away from a solemn religious procession, because Hipparchus\nhad a quarrel with her brother Harmodius. This only made Harmodius vow\nvengeance, and, together with his friend Aristogeiton, he made a plot\nwith other youths for surrounding the two brothers at a great festival,\nwhen everyone carried myrtle-boughs, as well as their swords and shields.\nThe conspirators had daggers hidden in the myrtle, and succeeded in\nkilling Hipparchus, but Harmodius was killed on the spot, and\nAristogeiton was taken and tortured to make him reveal his other\naccomplices, and so was a girl named Leoena, who was known to have been\nin their secrets; but she bore all the pain without a word, and when it\nwas over she was found to have bitten off her tongue, that she might not\nbetray her friends. Hippias kept up his rule for a few years longer, but\nhe found all going against him, and that the people were bent on having\nSolon's system back; so, fearing for his life, he sent away his wife and\nchildren, and soon followed them to Asia, B.C. 510. This--which is\ncalled the Expulsion of the Pisistratids--was viewed by the Athenians as\nthe beginning of their freedom. They paid yearly honours to the memory\nof the murderers Harmodius and Aristogeiton; and as Leoena means a\nlioness, they honoured that brave woman's constancy with the statue of a\nlioness without a tongue.\n\nHippias wandered about for some time, and ended by going to the court of\nthe king of Persia. Cyrus was now dead, after having established a great\nempire, which spread from the Persian Gulf to the shore of the\nMediterranean, and had Babylon for one of its capitals. When Croesus was\nconquered, almost all the Greek colonies along the coast of Asia Minor\nlikewise fell to the \"Great King,\" as his subjects called him. The\nPersians adored the sun and fire as emblems of the great God, and thought\nthe king himself had something of divinity in his person, and therefore,\nlike most Eastern kings, he had entire power over his people for life or\ndeath; they were all his slaves, and the only thing he could not do was\nto change his own decrees.\n\n [Picture: Shores of the Persian Gulf]\n\nAfter the Asian coast, the isles of the AEgean stood next in the way of\nthe Persian. In the little isle of Samos lived a king called Polycrates,\nwho had always been wealthy and prosperous. His friend Amasis, king of\nEgypt, told him that the gods were always jealous of the fortunate, and\nthat, if he wished to avert some terrible disaster, he had better give up\nsomething very precious. Upon this Polycrates took off his beautiful\nsignet ring and threw it into the sea; but a few days later a large fish\nwas brought as a present to the king, and when it was cut up the ring was\nfound in its stomach, and restored to Polycrates. Upon this Amasis\nrenounced his friendship, declaring that, as the gods threw back his\noffering, something dreadful was before him. The foreboding came sadly\ntrue, for the Persian satrap, or governor, of Sardis, being envious of\nPolycrates, declared that the Ionian was under the Great King's\ndispleasure, and invited him to Sardis to clear himself. Polycrates set\noff, but was seized as soon as he landed in Asia, and hung upon a cross.\n\nAmasis himself died just as the Persians were coming to attack Egypt,\nwhich Cyrus' son Cambyses entirely conquered, and added to the Persian\nempire; but Cambyses shortly after lost his senses and died, and there\nwas an unsettled time before a very able and spirited king named Darius\nobtained the crown, and married Cyrus' daughter Atossa. Among the\nprisoners made at Samos there was a physician named Democedes, who was\ntaken to Susa, Darius' capital. He longed to get home, and tried not to\nshow how good a doctor he was; but the king one day hurt his foot, and,\nwhen all the Persian doctors failed to cure him, he sent for Democedes,\nwho still pretended to be no wiser, until torture was threatened, and he\nwas forced to try his skill. Darius recovered, made him great gifts, and\nsent him to attend his wives; but Democedes still pined for home, and\nmanaged to persuade Atossa to beg the king to give her Spartan and\nAthenian slaves, and to tell him some great undertaking was expected from\nhim. The doctor's hope in this was that he should be sent as a spy to\nGreece, before the war, and should make his escape; but it was a bad way\nof showing love to his country. Hippias was at Susa too, trying to stir\nup Darius to attack Athens, and restore him as a tributary king; and\nthere was also Histiaeus, a Greek, who had been tyrant of Miletus, and\nwho longed to get home. All the Ionian Greeks on the coast of Asia Minor\nhated the Persian rule, and Histiaeus hoped that if they revolted he\nshould be wanted there, so he sent a letter to his friend Aristagoras, at\nMiletus, in a most curious way. He had the head of a trusty slave\nshaved, then, with a red-hot pin, wrote his advice to rise against the\nPersians, and, when the hair was grown again, sent the man as a present\nto Aristagoras, with orders to tell him to shave his head.\n\nAristagoras read the letter, and went to Sparta to try to get the help of\nthe kings in attacking Persia. He took with him a brass plate, engraven\nwith a map of the world, according to the notions of the time, where it\nlooked quite easy to march to Susa, and win the great Eastern empire. At\nfirst Cleomenes, the most spirited of the kings, was inclined to listen,\nbut when he found that this easy march would take three months he changed\nhis mind, and thought it beyond Spartan powers. Aristagoras went\nsecretly to his house, and tried to bribe him, at least, to help the\nIonians in their rising; but while higher and higher offers were being\nmade, Gorgo, the little daughter of Cleomenes, only eight years old, saw\nby their looks that something was wrong, and cried out, \"Go away, father;\nthis stranger will do you harm.\" Cleomenes took it as the voice of an\noracle, and left the stranger to himself.\n\nHe then went to Athens, and the Athenians, being Ionians themselves,\nlistened more willingly, and promised to aid their brethren in freeing\nthemselves. Together, the Athenians and a large body of Ephesians,\nMilesians, and other Ionians, attacked Sardis. The Persian satrap\nArtaphernes threw himself into the citadel; but the town, which was built\nchiefly of wicker-work, that the houses might not be easily thrown down\nby earthquakes, caught fire, and was totally burnt. The Athenians could\nnot stay in the flaming streets, and had to give back, and the whole\nPersian force of the province came up and drove them out. Darius was\nfurious when he heard of the burning of Sardis, and, for fear he should\nforget his revenge, ordered that a slave should mention the name of\nAthens every day to him as he sat down to dinner. Histiaeus, however,\nsucceeded in his plan, for Darius believed him when he said the uproar\ncould only have broken out in his absence, and let him go home to try to\nput it down.\n\nHe was not very well received by Artaphernes, who was sure he was at the\nbottom of the revolt. \"Aristagoras put on the shoe,\" he said, \"but it\nwas of your stitching.\"\n\nAristagoras had been killed, and Histiaeus, fleeing to the Ionians,\nremained with them till they were entirely beaten, and he surrendered to\nthe Persians, by whom he was crucified, while the Ionians were entirely\ncrushed, and saw their fairest children carried off to be slaves in the\npalace at Susa. Darius had longed after Greek slaves ever since he had\nseen a fine handsome girl walking along, upright, with a pitcher of water\non her head, the bridle of a horse she was leading over her arm, and her\nhands busy with a distaff. He did not know that such grand people are\nnever found in enslaved, oppressed countries, like his own, and he wanted\nto have them all under his power, so he began to raise his forces from\nall parts of his empire, for the conquest of what seemed to him the\ninsolent little cities of Greece, and Hippias, now an old man, undertook\nto show him the way to Athens, and to betray his country. The battle was\nbetween the East and West--between a despot ruling mere slaves, and free,\nthoughtful cities, full of evil indeed, and making many mistakes, but\nbrave and resolute, and really feeling for their hearths and homes.\n\n [Picture: Armour]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVI.--THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. B.C. 490.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe whole Persian fleet, manned by Phoenician sailors, and a huge army,\nunder the two satraps Datis and Artaphernes, were on the opposite side of\nthe AEgean Sea, ready to overwhelm little Attica first, and then all\nGreece. Nobody had yet stood firm against those all-conquering Persians,\nand as they came from island to island the inhabitants fled or submitted.\nAttica was so small as to have only 9000 fighting men to meet this host.\nThey sent to ask the aid of the Spartans, but though these would have\nfought bravely, an old rule forbade them to march during the week before\nthe full moon, and in this week Athens might be utterly ruined. Nobody\ndid come to their help but 600 men from the very small state of Plataea,\nand this little army, not numbering 10,000, were encamped around the\ntemple of Hercules, looking down upon the bay of Marathon, where lay the\nships which had just landed at least 200,000 men of all the Eastern\nnations, and among them many of the Greeks of Asia Minor. The hills\nslant back so as to make a sort of horse-shoe round the bay, with about\nfive miles of clear flat ground between them and the sea, and on this\nopen space lay the Persians.\n\nIt was the rule among the Athenians that the heads of their ten tribes\nshould command by turns each for a day, but Aristides, the best and most\nhigh-minded of all of them, persuaded the rest to give up their turns to\nMiltiades, who was known to be the most skilful captain. He drew up his\nmen in a line as broad as the whole front of the Persian army, though far\nless deep, and made them all come rushing down at them with even step,\nbut at a run, shouting the war-cry, \"Io paean! Io paean!\" In the\nmiddle, where the best men of the Persians were, they stood too firm to\nbe thus broken, but at the sides they gave way, and ran back towards the\nsea, or over the hills, and then Miltiades gave a signal to the two side\ndivisions--wings, as they were called--to close up together, and crush\nthe Persian centre. The enemy now thought of nothing but reaching their\nships and putting out to sea, while the Athenians tried to seize their\nships; Cynegyrus, one brave Greek, caught hold of the prow of one ship,\nand when the crew cut off his hand with an axe, he still clung with the\nother, till that too was cut off, and he sank and was drowned. The fleet\nstill held many men, and the Athenians saw that, instead of crossing back\nto Asia Minor, it was sailing round the promontory of Sunium, as if to\nattack Athens. It was even said that a friend of Hippias had raised a\nshield, glittering in the sun, as a signal that all the men were away.\nHowever, Miltiades left Aristides, with his tribe of 1000 men, to guard\nthe plain and bury the dead, and marched back over the hills with the\nrest to guard their homes, that same night; but the Persians must have\nbeen warned, or have changed their mind, for they sailed away for Asia;\nand Hippias, who seems to have been wounded in the battle, died at\nLemnos. The Spartans came up just as all was over, and greatly praised\nthe Athenians, for indeed it was the first time Greeks had beaten\nPersians, and it was the battle above all others that saved Europe from\nfalling under the slavery of the East. The fleet was caught by a storm\nas it crossed the AEgean Sea again.\n\nAll the Athenians who had been slain were buried under one great mound,\nadorned with ten pillars bearing their names; the Plataeans had another\nhonourable mound, and the Persians a third. All the treasure that was\ntaken in the camp and ships was honourably brought to the city and\ndivided. There was only one exception, namely, one Kallias, who wore\nlong hair bound with a fillet, and was taken for a king by a poor\nPersian, who fell on his knees before him, and showed him a well where\nwas a great deal of gold hidden. Kallias not only took the gold, but\nkilled the poor stranger, and his family were ever after held as\ndisgraced, and called by a nickname meaning, \"Enriched by the Well.\"\n\nThe Plataeans were rewarded by being made freemen of Athens, as well as\nof their own city; and Miltiades, while all his countrymen were full of\njoy and exultation, asked of them a fleet of seventy ships, promising to\nbring them fame and riches. With it he sailed for the island of Faros,\nthat which was specially famed for its white marble. He said he meant to\npunish the Parians for having joined the Persians, but it really was\nbecause of a quarrel of his own. He landed, and required the Parians to\npay him a hundred talents, and when they refused he besieged the city,\nuntil a woman named Timo, who was priestess at a temple of Ceres near the\ngates, promised to tell him a way of taking the city if he would meet her\nat night in the temple, where no man was allowed to enter. He came, and\nleaped over the outer fence of the temple, but, brave as he was in\nbattle, terror at treading on forbidden and sacred ground overpowered\nhim, and, without seeing the priestess, he leaped back again, fell on the\nother side, and severely injured his thigh. The siege was given up, and\nhe was carried back helpless to Athens, where there was no mercy to\nfailures, and he was arraigned before the Areopagus assembly, by a man\nnamed Xanthippus, for having wasted the money of the State and deceived\nthe people, and therefore being guilty of death.\n\nIt must have been a sad thing to see the great captain, who had saved his\ncountry in that great battle only a year or two before, lying on his\ncouch, too ill to defend himself, while his brother spoke for him, and\nappealed to his former services. In consideration of these it was\ndecided not to condemn him to die, but he was, instead, to pay fifty\ntalents of silver, and before the sum could be raised, he died of his\nhurts. It was said that his son Kimon put himself into prison till the\nfine could be raised, so as to release his father's corpse, which was\nburied with all honour on the plain of Marathon, with a tomb recording\nhis glory, and not his fall.\n\nThe two chief citizens who were left were Aristides and Themistocles,\nboth very able men; but Aristides was perfectly high-minded, unselfish,\nand upright, while Themistocles cared for his own greatness more than\nanything else. Themistocles was so clever that his tutor had said to him\nwhen he was a child, \"Boy, thou wilt never be an ordinary person; thou\nwilt either be a mighty blessing or a mighty curse to thy country.\" When\nhe grew up he used his powers of leading the multitude for his own\nadvantage, and that of his party. \"The gods forbid,\" he said, \"that I\nshould sit on any tribunal where my friends should not have more\nadvantage than strangers.\" While, on the other hand, Aristides was so\nimpartial and single-hearted that he got the name of Aristides the Just.\nHe cared most for the higher class, the _aristoi_, and thought they could\ngovern best, while Themistocles sought after the favour of the people;\nand they both led the minds of the Athenians so completely while they\nwere speaking, that, after a meeting where they had both made a speech,\nAristides said, \"Athens will never be safe till Themistocles and I are\nboth in prison,\" meaning that either of them could easily make himself\ntyrant.\n\nHowever, Aristides, though of high family, was very poor, and men said it\nwas by the fault of his cousin Kallias, the \"Enriched by the Well;\" and\nThemistocles contrived to turn people's minds against him, so as to have\nhim ostracised. One day he met a man in the street, with a shell in his\nhand, who asked him to write the name of Aristides on it, as he could not\nwrite himself. \"Pray,\" said Aristides, \"what harm has this person done\nyou, that you wish to banish him?\"\n\n\"No harm at all,\" said the man; \"only I am sick of always hearing him\ncalled the Just.\"\n\nAristides had no more to say, but wrote his own name; and six thousand\nshells having been counted up against him, he was obliged to go into\nexile for ten years.\n\nCynegyrus, the man whose hands had been cut off in the bay of Marathon,\nhad a very famous brother named AEschylus--quite as brave a soldier, and\na poet besides. The Athenians had come to worshipping Bacchus, but not\nin the horrid, mad, drunken manner of the first orgies. They had songs\nand dances by persons with their heads wreathed in vine and ivy leaves,\nand a goat was sacrificed in the midst. The Greek word for a goat is\n_tragos_, and the dances came to be called tragedies. Then came in the\ncustom of having poetical speeches in the midst of the dances, made in\nthe person of some old hero or god, and these always took place in a\ncurve in the side of a hill, so worked out by art that the rock was cut\ninto galleries, for half-circles of spectators to sit one above the\nother, while the dancers and speakers were on the flat space at the\nbottom. Thespis, whom Solon reproved for falsehoods, was the first\nperson who made the dancers and singers, who were called the chorus, so\nanswer one another and the speakers that the tragedy became a play,\nrepresenting some great action of old. The actors had to wear brazen\nmasks and tall buskins, or no one could have well seen or heard them.\nAEschylus, when a little boy, was set to watch the grapes in his father's\nvineyard. He fell asleep, and dreamt that Bacchus appeared to him, and\nbade him make his festivals noble with tragedies; and this he certainly\ndid, for the poetry he wrote for them is some of the grandest that man\never sung, and shows us how these great Greeks were longing and feeling\nafter the truth, like blind men groping in the dark. The custom was to\nhave three grave plays or tragedies on the same subject on three\nsuccessive days, and then to finish with a droll one, or comedy, as it\nwas called, in honour of the god Comus. There is one trilogy of\nAEschylus still preserved to us, where we have the death of Agamemnon,\nthe vengeance of Orestes, and his expiation when pursued by the Furies,\nbut the comedy belonging to them is lost.\n\nAlmost all the greatest and best Greeks of this time believed in part in\nthe philosophy of Pythagoras, who had lived in the former century, and\ntaught that the whole universe was one great divine musical instrument,\nas it were, in which stars, sun, winds, and earth did their part, and\nthat man ought to join himself into the same sweet harmony. He thought\nthat if a man did ill his spirit went into some animal, and had a fresh\ntrial to purify it, but it does not seem as if many others believed this\nnotion.\n\n [Picture: View in the vicinity of Athens]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVII.--THE EXPEDITION OF XERXES. B.C. 480.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe Athenians had not a long breathing-time. Darius, indeed, died five\nyears after the battle of Marathon; but his son Xerxes was far more fiery\nand ambitious, and was no sooner on the throne than he began to call\ntogether all the vast powers of the East, not to crush Athens alone, but\nall the Greeks. He was five years gathering them together, but in the\nspring of 480 he set out from Sardis to march to the Hellespont, where he\nhad a bridge of ships chained together, made to enable his army to cross\nthe strait on foot. Xerxes was a hot-tempered man, not used to\nresistance, and it was said that when a storm broke part of his bridge he\ncaused the waves to be scourged and fetters to be thrown in, to show that\nhe was going to bind it to his will. He sat on a throne to watch his\narmies pass by. It is said that there were two million six hundred\nthousand men, of every speech and dress in Asia and Egypt, with all sorts\nof weapons; and as the \"Great King\" watched the endless number pass by,\nhe burst into tears to think how soon all this mighty host would be dead\nmen!\n\nXerxes had a huge fleet besides, manned by Phoenicians and Greeks of Asia\nMinor, and this did not venture straight across the AEgean, because of\nhis father's disaster, but went creeping round the northern coast. Mount\nAthos, standing out far and steep into the sea, stood in the way, and it\nwas dangerous to go round it; so Xerxes thought it would be an\nundertaking worthy of him to have a canal dug across the neck that joins\nthe mountain to the land, and the Greeks declared that he wrote a letter\nto the mountain god, bidding him not to put rocks in the way of the\nworkmen of the \"Great King.\" Traces of this canal can still be found in\nthe ravine behind Mount Athos.\n\nAll the Greeks knew their danger now, and a council from every city met\nat the Isthmus of Corinth to consider what was to be done. All their\nships, 271 in number, were gathered in a bay on the north of the great\nisland of Euboea. There the Spartan captain of the whole watched and\nwaited, till beacons from height to height announced that the Persians\nwere coming, and then he thought it safer to retreat within the Euripus,\nthe channel between the island and the mainland, which is so narrow that\na very few ships could stop the way of a whole fleet. However, just as\nthey were within shelter, a terrible storm arose, which broke up and\nwrecked a great number of Persian ships, though the number that were left\nstill was far beyond that of the Greeks. On two days the Greeks ventured\nout, and always gained the victory over such ships as they encountered,\nbut were so much damaged themselves, without destroying anything like the\nwhole fleet, that such fighting was hopeless work.\n\nIn the meantime Xerxes, with his monstrous land army, was marching on,\nand the only place where it seemed to the council at the Isthmus that he\ncould be met and stopped was at a place in Thessaly, where the mountains\nof OEta rose up like a steep wall, leaving no opening but towards the\nsea, where a narrow road wound round the foot of the cliff, and between\nit and the sea was a marsh that men and horses could never cross. The\nsprings that made this bog were hot, so that it was called Thermopylae,\nor the Hot Gates.\n\nThe council at the Isthmus determined to send an army to stop the enemy\nthere, if possible. There were 300 Spartans, and various troops from\nother cities, all under the command of one of the Spartan kings,\nLeonidas, who had married Gorgo, the girl whose word had kept her father\nfaithful. They built up a stone wall in front of them, and waited for\nthe enemy, and by-and-by the Persians came, spreading over an immense\nspace in the rear, but in this narrow road only a few could fight at\nonce, so that numbers were of little use. Xerxes sent to desire the\nSpartans to give up their arms. Leonidas only answered, \"Come and take\nthem.\" The Persian messenger reported that the Greeks were sitting on\nthe wall combing their hair, while others were playing at warlike games.\nXerxes thought they were mad, but a traitor Spartan whom he had in his\ncamp said it was always the fashion of his countrymen before any very\nperilous battle. Xerxes made so sure of victory over such a handful of\nmen, that he bade his captains bring them all alive to him; but day after\nday his best troops fell beaten back from the wall, and hardly a Greek\nwas slain.\n\n [Picture: Pass of Thermopylae]\n\nBut, alas! there was a mountain path through the chestnut woods above.\nLeonidas had put a guard of Phocian soldiers to watch it, and the\nPersians did not know of it till a wretch, for the sake of reward, came\nand offered to show them the way, so that they might fall on the\ndefenders of the pass from behind. In the stillness of the early dawn,\nthe Phocians heard the trampling of a multitude on the dry chestnut\nleaves. They stood to arms, but as soon as the Persians shot their\narrows at them they fled away and left the path open. Soon it was known\nin the camp that the foe were on the hills above. There was still time\nto retreat, and Leonidas sent off all the allies to save their lives; but\nhe himself and his 300 Spartans, with 700 Thespians, would not leave\ntheir post, meaning to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The\nDelphic oracle had said that either Sparta or a king of Sparta must\nperish, and he was ready to give himself for his country. Two young\ncousins of the line of Hercules he tried to save, by telling them to bear\nhis messages home; but one answered that he had come to fight, not carry\nletters, and the other that they would fight first, and then take home\nthe news. Two more Spartans, whose eyes were diseased, were at the hot\nbaths near. One went back with the allies, the other caused his Helot to\nlead him to the camp, where, in the evening, all made ready to die, and\nLeonidas sat down to his last meal, telling his friends that on the\nmorrow they should sup with Pluto. One of these Thespians had answered,\nwhen he was told that the Persian arrows came so thickly as to hide the\nsky, \"So much the better; we shall fight in the shade.\"\n\nThe Persians were by this time so much afraid of these brave men that\nthey could only be driven against them by whips. Leonidas and his\nthousand burst out on them beyond the wall, and there fought the whole\nday, till everyone of them was slain, but with heaps upon heaps of dead\nPersians round them, so that, when Xerxes looked at the spot, he asked in\nhorror whether all the Greeks were like these, and how many more Spartans\nthere were. Like a barbarian, he had Leonidas' body hung on a cross; but\nin after times the brave king's bones were buried on the spot, and a\nmound raised over the other warriors, with the words engraven--\n\n \"Go, passer-by, at Sparta tell,\n Obedient to her law, we fell.\"\n\nThere was nothing now between the Persians and the temple at Delphi. The\npriests asked the oracle if they should bury the treasures. \"No,\" the\nanswer was; \"the god will protect his own.\" And just as a party of\nPersians were climbing up the heights to the magnificent temple there was\na tremendous storm; rocks, struck by lightning, rolled down, and the\nPersians fled in dismay; but it is said Xerxes sent one man to insult the\nheathen god, and that he was a Jew, and therefore had no fears, and came\nback safe.\n\nNow that Thermopylae was lost, there was no place fit to guard short of\nthe Isthmus of Corinth, and the council decided to build a wall across\nthat, and defend it, so as to save the Peloponnesus. This left Attica\noutside, and the Athenians held anxious council what was to become of\nthem. Before the way to Delphi was stopped, they had asked the oracle\nwhat they were to do, and the answer had been, \"Pallas had prayed for her\ncity, but it was doomed; yet a wooden wall should save her people, and at\nSalamis should women be made childless, at seed-time or harvest.\"\n\n [Picture: Salamis]\n\nThemistocles said the wooden walls meant the ships, and that the\nAthenians were all to sail away and leave the city. Others would have it\nthat the wooden walls were the old thorn fence of the Acropolis, and\nthese, being mostly old people, chose to stay, while all the rest went\naway; and while the wives and children were kindly sheltered by their\nfriends in the Peloponnesus, the men all joined the fleet, which lay off\nSalamis, and was now 366 in number. The Persians overran the whole\ncountry, overcame the few who held out the Acropolis, and set Athens on\nfire. All the hope of Greece was now in the fleet, which lay in the\nstrait between Attica and the isle of Salamis. Eurybiades, the Spartan\ncommander, still wanted not to fight, but Themistocles was resolved on\nthe battle. Eurybiades did all he could to silence him. \"Those who\nbegin a race before the signal are scourged,\" said the Spartan. \"True,\"\nsaid Themistocles; \"but the laggards never win a crown.\" Eurybiades\nraised his leading staff as if to give him a blow. \"Strike, but hear\nme,\" said Themistocles; and then he showed such good reason for there\nmeeting the battle that Eurybiades gave way. Six days later the Persian\nfleet, in all its grandeur, came up, and Xerxes caused his throne to be\nset on Mount AEgaleos, above the strait, that he might see the battle.\nThe doubts of the Peloponnesians revived. They wanted to sail away and\nguard their own shores, but Themistocles was so resolved that they should\nfight that he sent a slave with a message to Xerxes, pretending to be a\ntraitor, and advising him to send ships to stop up the other end of the\nstrait, to cut off their retreat. This was done, to the horror of honest\nAristides, who, still exiled, was in AEgina, watching what to do for his\ncountrymen. In a little boat he made his way at night to the ship where\ncouncil was being held, and begged that Themistocles might be called out.\n\"Let us be rivals still,\" he said; \"but let our strife be which can serve\nour country best. I come to say that your retreat is cut off. We are\nsurrounded, and must fight.\" Themistocles said it was the best thing\nthat could happen, and led him into the council with his tidings.\n\nThey did fight. Ship was dashed against ship as fast as oars could bring\nthem, their pointed beaks bearing one another down. The women who were\nmade childless were Persian women. Two hundred Persian ships were sunk,\nand only forty Greek ones; an immense number were taken; and Xerxes, from\nhis throne, saw such utter ruin of all his hopes and plans, that he gave\nup all thought of anything but getting his land army back to the\nHellespont as fast as possible, for his fleet was gone!\n\n [Picture: Xerxes]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XVIII.--THE BATTLE OF PLATAEA. B.C. 479-460.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nAfter being thus beaten by sea, and having learnt what Greeks were by\nland, Xerxes himself, with a broken, sick, and distressed army, went back\nto Sardis; but he left a satrap named Mardonius behind him, with his best\ntroops, in Thessaly, to see whether anything could still be done for his\ncause. He did try whether the Athenians could be persuaded to desert the\nother Greeks, and become allies of Persia, but they made a noble\nanswer--\"So long as the sun held his course, the Athenians would never be\nfriends to Xerxes. Great as might be his power, Athens trusted to the\naid of the gods and heroes, whose temple he had burnt.\"\n\n[Picture: Persian soldier] After this answer, Mardonius marched again\ninto Attica, and took possession of it; but as the Athenians were now all\nsafe in Salamis, or among their friends, he could not do them much harm;\nand while he was finishing the ruin he had begun ten months before, the\nSpartans had raised their army, under the command of their king,\nPausanias, nephew to Leonidas, and all the best soldiers from the other\nGreek cities. They came up with the Persians near the city of Plataea.\nThough a Spartan, Pausanias had rather not have fought; but when at last\nthe battle began, it was a grand victory, and was gained in a wonderfully\nshort time. The Spartans killed Mardonius, and put the best Persian\ntroops, called the Immortals, to flight; and the Athenians, under\nAristides, fought with the Thebans, who had joined the Persian army. The\nwhole Persian camp was sacked. The Helots were sent to collect the\nspoil, and put it all together. They stole a good deal of the gold,\nwhich they took for brass, and sold it as such. Waggon-loads of silver\nand gold vessels were to be seen; collars, bracelets, and rich armour;\nand the manger of Xerxes' horses, which he had left behind, and which was\nof finely-worked brass. Pausanias bade the slaves of Mardonius to\nprepare such a feast as their master was used to, and then called his\nfriends to see how useless were all the carpets, cushions, curtains, gold\nand silver, and the dainties upon them, and how absurd it was to set out\non a conquering expedition thus encumbered.\n\nA tenth part of the spoil was set apart for Apollo, and formed into a\ngolden tripod, supported by a brazen serpent with three heads. A great\nstatue of Jupiter was sent to Olympia, the pedestal adorned with the\nnames of all the cities which had sent men to the battle, and such\nanother of Neptune was set up on the Isthmus; while a temple to Athene,\nadorned with pictures of the battle, was built on the spot near Plataea.\nPausanias received a sample of all that was best of the spoil. Among the\ndead was found that one Spartan who had missed Thermopylae. He had been\nmiserable ever since, and only longed to die in battle, as now he had\ndone. The Plataeans were to be respected by all the other states of\nGreece, so long as they yearly performed funeral rites in honour of the\nbrave men whose tombs were left in their charge.\n\n [Picture: Tombs at Plataea]\n\nOn the same day as the battle of Plataea was fought, another great battle\nwas fought at Mykale, near Miletus, by the Ionian Greeks of Asia,\nassisted by Athenians and Spartans. It set Miletus free from the\nPersians, and was the first step backwards of their great power. The\nAthenian fleet also gained back the Chersonesus, and brought home the\nchains that had fastened together the bridge of boats, to be dedicated in\nthe temples of their own gods.\n\nThe Athenians were all coming home rejoicing. Even the very week after\nXerxes had burnt the Acropolis, the sacred olive which Pallas Athene was\nsaid to have given them had shot out a long branch from the stump, and\nnow it was growing well, to their great joy and encouragement. Everyone\nbegan building up his own house; and Themistocles, Aristides, and the\nother statesmen prepared to build strong walls round the city, though the\nSpartans sent messengers to persuade them that it was of no use to have\nany fortified cities outside the Peloponnesus; but they knew this was\nonly because the Spartans wanted to be masters of Greece, and would not\nattend to them. Athens stood about three miles from the coast, and in\nthe port there had hitherto been a village called Piraeus, and\nThemistocles persuaded the citizens to make this as strong as possible,\nwith a wall of solid stone round it. These were grand days at Athens.\nThey had noble architects and sculptors; and AEschylus was writing the\ngrandest of his tragedies--especially one about the despair of the\nPersian women--but only fragments of most of them have come down to our\ntime.\n\nIn 375 Aristides died, greatly honoured, though he was so poor that he\ndid not leave enough to pay his funeral expenses; but a monument was\nraised to him by the State, and there is only one Athenian name as pure\nand noble as his.\n\nThe two other men who shared with him the honours of the defeat of the\nPersians met with very different fates, and by their own fault. When\nPausanias went back to Sparta, he found his life there too stern and full\nof restraint, after what he had been used to in his campaign. He tried\nto break down the power of the Ephors, and obtain something more like\nroyalty for the kings, and this he hoped to do by the help of Persia. He\nused to meet the messenger of this traitorous correspondence in the\ntemple of Neptune, in the promontory of Taenarus. Some of the Ephors\nwere warned, hid themselves there, and heard his treason from his own\nlips. They sent to arrest him as soon as he came back to Sparta; but he\ntook refuge in the temple of Pallas, whence he could not be dragged.\nHowever, the Spartans were determined to have justice on him. They\nwalled up the temple, so that he could neither escape nor have food\nbrought to him; indeed it is said that, in horror at his treason, his\nmother brought the first stone. When he was at the point of death he was\ntaken out, that the sanctuary might not be polluted, and he died just as\nhe was carried out. The Spartans buried him close to the temple, and\ngave Pallas two statues of him, to make up for the suppliant she had\nlost, but they were always reproached for the sacrilege.\n\nThemistocles was a friend of Pausanias, and was suspected of being mixed\nup in his plots. He was obliged to flee the country, and went to Epirus,\nwhere he came to the house of King Admetus, where the queen, Phthia,\nreceived him, and told him how to win her husband's protection, namely,\nby sitting down on the hearth by the altar to the household gods, and\nholding her little son in his arms.\n\nWhen Admetus came in, Themistocles entreated him to have pity on his\ndefenceless state. The king raised him up and promised his protection,\nand kept his word. Themistocles was taken by two guides safely across\nthe mountains to Pydna, where he found a merchant ship about to sail for\nAsia. A storm drove it to the island of Naxos, which was besieged by an\nAthenian fleet; and Themistocles must have fallen into the hands of his\nfellow-citizens if he had landed, but he told the master of the ship that\nit would be the ruin of all alike if he were found in the vessel, and\npromised a large reward if he escaped. So the crew consented to beat\nabout a whole day and night, and in the morning landed safely near\nEphesus. He kept his word to the captain; for indeed he was very rich,\nhaving taken bribes, while Aristides remained in honourable poverty. He\nwent to Susa, where Xerxes was dead; but the Persians had fancied his\nmessage before the battle of Salamis was really meant to serve them, and\nthat he was suffering for his attachment to them, so the new king,\nArtaxerxes, the \"Long-armed,\" who had a great esteem for his cleverness,\nwas greatly delighted, offered up a sacrifice in his joy, and three times\ncried out in his sleep, \"I have got Themistocles the Athenian.\"\n\nThemistocles had asked to wait a year before seeing the king, that he\nmight have time to learn the language. When he came, he put forward such\nschemes for conquering Greece that Artaxerxes was delighted, and gave him\na Persian wife, and large estates on the banks of the Maeander, where he\nspent the rest of his life, very rich, but despised by all honest Greeks.\n\nAll the history of the war with Xerxes was written by Herodotus, a Greek\nof Caria, who travelled about to study the manners, customs, and\nhistories of different nations, and recorded them in the most lively and\nspirited manner, so that he is often called the father of history.\n\nAEschylus went on gaining prizes for his tragedies, till 468, when, after\nbeing thirteen times first, he was excelled by another Athenian named\nSophocles, and was so much vexed that he withdrew to the Greek colonies\nin Sicily. It is not clear whether he ever came back to Athens for a\ntime, but he certainly died in Sicily, and in an extraordinary way. He\nwas asleep on the sea-shore, when an eagle flew above him with a tortoise\nin its claws. It is the custom of eagles to break the shells of these\ncreatures by letting them fall on rocks from a great height. The bird\ntook AEschylus' bald head for a stone, threw down the tortoise, broke his\nskull, and killed him!\n\nSophocles did not write such grand lines, yearning for the truth, as\nAEschylus, but his plays, of Ajax' madness, and especially of Antigone's\nself-devotion, were more touching, and full of human feeling; and\nEuripides, who was a little younger, wrote plays more like those of later\ntimes, with more of story in them, and more characters, especially of\nwomen. He even wrote one in which he represented Helen as never having\nbeen unfaithful at all; Venus only made up a cloud-image to be run away\nwith by Paris, and Helen was carried away and hidden in Egypt, where\nMenelaus found her, and took her home. The works of these three great\nmen have always been models. The Greeks knew their plays by heart almost\nas perfectly as the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, and used to quote lines\nwherever they applied.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XIX.--THE AGE OF PERICLES. B.C. 464-429.\n\n\nAthens and Sparta were now quite the greatest powers in Greece. No other\nstate had dared to make head against the Persians, and all the lesser\ncities, and the isles and colonies, were anxious to obtain the help and\nfriendship of one or other as their allies. The two states were always\nrivals, and never made common cause, except when the Persian enemy was\nbefore them. In the year 464 there was a terrible earthquake in Laconia,\nwhich left only five houses standing in Sparta, and buried great numbers\nin the ruins. The youths, who were all together in one building\nexercising themselves, were almost all killed by its fall; and the\ndisaster would have been worse if the king, Archidamas, had not caused\nthe trumpet to be blown, as if to call the people to arms, just outside\nthe city. This brought all the men in order together just in time, for\nthe Helots were rising against them, and, if they had found them groping\neach in the ruins of his house, might have killed them one by one;\nwhereas, finding them up and armed, the slaves saw it was in vain, and\ndispersed.\n\nThe Messenians, who had never forgotten Aristodemus, hoped to free\nthemselves again. A great many of the Helots joined them, and they made\ntheir fortified hill of Ithome very strong. The Spartans called on the\nAthenians to help them to put down the insurrection. The three greatest\nmen in Athens were Pericles, the son of that Xanthippus who had impeached\nMiltiades; Kimon, the son of Miltiades himself; and Ephialtes, a great\norator, who was thought to be as upright as Aristides the Just. When the\nrequest from Sparta came, Ephialtes was against helping the rival of\nAthens; but Kimon, who had friends in Laconia, declared that it would be\nunbecoming in Athens to let Greece be crippled in one of her two legs, or\nto lose her own yoke-fellow. He prevailed, and was sent with an army to\nhelp in the siege of Ithome; but it was such a tardy siege that the\nSpartans fancied that the Athenians had an understanding with the\nMessenians, and desired them to go home again, thus, of course,\naffronting them exceedingly.\n\nTwo years after, Kimon was ostracised; but soon after the Spartans\naffronted the Athenians, by placing a troop of men at Tanagra, on the\nborders of Attica. The Athenians went out to attack them, and Kimon sent\nto entreat permission to fight among his tribe, but he was not trusted,\nand was forbidden. He sent his armour to his friends--a hundred in\nnumber--and bade them maintain his honour. They were all killed,\nfighting bravely, and the victory was with the Spartans. Soon after, the\nvirtuous Ephialtes was stabbed by some unknown person, and Pericles,\nfeeling that good men could not be spared, moved that Kimon should be\ncalled home again. Kimon was much loved; he was tall and handsome, with\ncurly hair and beard; and he was open-handed, leaving his orchards and\ngardens free to all, and keeping a table for every chance guest. Yet he\nmuch admired the Spartans and their discipline, and he contrived to bring\nabout a five-years' truce between the two great powers. The greatest\nbenefit he gave his people was the building of the Long Walls, which\njoined Athens and the Piraeus together, so that the city could never be\ncut off from the harbour. Kimon began them at his own expense, and\nPericles persuaded the Athenians to go on with them, when their founder\nhad been sent on an expedition to the isle of Cyprus, which was rising\nagainst the Persians. There Kimon fell sick and died, but his fleet,\nimmediately after, won a grand victory over the Phoenician and Cilician\nfleets, in the Persian service.\n\n [Picture: The Acropolis, Athens]\n\nHowever, some hot-headed young Athenians were beaten at Coronea by the\nBoeotians, who were Spartan allies, and a good many small losses befel\nthem by land, till they made another peace for thirty years in 445.\nThere was nobody then in Athens, or Greece either, equal to Pericles, who\nwas managing all affairs in his own city with great wisdom, and making it\nmost beautiful with public buildings. On the rock of the Acropolis stood\nthe Parthenon, the temple of the virgin goddess Pallas Athene, which was\nadorned with a portico, the remains of which still stand up gloriously\nagainst the blue Grecian sky. The bas-relief carvings on the pediments,\nrepresenting the fight between the Centaurs and Lapithae, are now in the\nBritish Museum; and though the statue itself is gone, still seals and\ngems remain, made to imitate it, and showing the perfect beauty of the\nivory and gold statue of Athene herself, which was carved by the great\nsculptor Phidias, and placed within the temple. When there was a\nquestion whether this figure should be made of marble or of ivory, and\nPhidias recommended marble as the cheapest, the whole assembly of\nAthenians voted for ivory.\n\n [Picture: Propylaea, Athens]\n\nA beautiful fortification called the Propylaea guarded the west side of\nthe Acropolis, where only there was no precipice; and there were other\nsplendid buildings--a new open theatre, for the acting of those\nunrivalled tragedies of the three Athenian poets, and of others which\nhave been lost; a Museum, which did not then mean a collection of\ncuriosities, but a place where the youth might study all the arts sacred\nto the Muses; a Lyceum for their exercises, and schools for the\nphilosophers. These schools were generally colonnades of pillars\nsupporting roofs to give shelter from the sun, and under one of these\ntaught the greatest, wisest, and best of all truth-seekers, namely,\nSocrates.\n\nThough the houses at Athens stood irregularly on their steep hill, there\nwas no place in the world equal to it for beauty in its buildings, its\nsculptures, and its carvings, and, it is also said, in its paintings; but\nnone of these have come down to our times. Everything belonging to the\nAthenians was at this time full of simple, manly grace and beauty, and in\nboth body and mind they were trying to work up to the greatest perfection\nthey could devise, without any aid outside themselves to help them.\n\nBut they had come to the very crown of their glory. When a war arose\nbetween the Corinthians and the Corcyrans, who inhabited the isle now\ncalled Corfu, the Corcyrans asked to be made allies of Athens, and a\nfleet was sent to help them; and as the Corinthians held with Sparta,\nthis brought on a great war between Athens and Sparta, which was called\nthe Peloponnesian war, and lasted thirty years. It was really to decide\nwhich of the two great cities should be chief, and both were equally\ndetermined.\n\nAs Attica had borders open to the enemy, Pericles advised all the people\nin the country to move into the town. They sent their flocks into the\nisle of Euboea, brought their other goods with them, and left their\nbeautiful farms and gardens to be ravaged by the enemy; while the crowd\nfound dwellings in a place under the west side of the Acropolis rock,\nwhich had hitherto been left empty, because an oracle declared it \"better\nuntrodden.\" Such numbers coming within the walls could not be healthy,\nand a deadly plague began to prevail, which did Athens as much harm as\nthe war. In the meantime, Pericles, who was always cautious, persuaded\nthe people to be patient, and not to risk battles by land, where the\nSpartans fought as well as they did, whereas nobody was their equal by\nsea; and as their fleet and all their many isles could save them from\nhunger, they could wear out their enemies, and be fresh themselves; but\nit was hard to have plague within and Spartans wasting their homes and\nfields without. Brave little Plataea, too, was closely besieged. All\nthe useless persons had been sent to Athens, and there were only 400\nPlataean and 80 Athenian men in it, and 110 women to wait on them; and\nthe Spartans blockaded these, and tried to starve them out, until, after\nmore than a year of famine, 220 of them scrambled over the walls on a\ndark, wet night, cut their way through the Spartan camp, and safely\nreached Athens. The other 200 had thought the attempt so desperate, that\nthey sent in the morning to beg leave to bury the corpses of their\ncomrades; but they then heard that only one man had fallen. They held\nout a few months longer, and then were all put to death, while the women\nwere all made slaves. The children and the 220 were all made one with\nthe Athenians.\n\nAthens was in a piteous state from the sickness, which had cut off hosts\nof people of all ranks. It lasted seven or nine days in each, and seems\nto have been a malignant fever. Pericles lost his eldest son, his\nsister, and almost all his dearest friends in it; but still he went about\ncalm, grave, and resolute, keeping up the hopes and patience of the\nAthenians. Then his youngest and last son died of the same sickness, and\nwhen the time came for placing the funeral garland on his head, Pericles\nbroke down, and wept and sobbed aloud. Shortly after, he fell sick\nhimself, and lingered much longer than was usual with sufferers from the\nplague. Once, when his friends came in, he showed them a charm which the\nwomen had hung round his neck, and, smiling, asked them whether his\nenduring such folly did not show that he must be very ill indeed. Soon\nafter, when he was sinking away, and they thought him insensible, they\nbegan to talk of the noble deeds he had done, his speeches, his wisdom\nand learning, and his buildings: \"he had found Athens of brick,\" they\nsaid, \"and had left her of marble.\" Suddenly the sick man raised himself\nin his bed, and said, \"I wonder you praise these things in me. They were\nas much owing to fortune as to anything else; and yet you leave out what\nis my special honour, namely, that I never caused any fellow-citizen to\nput on mourning.\" So died this great man, in 429, the third year of the\nPeloponnesian war.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XX.--THE EXPEDITION TO SICILY. B.C. 415-413.\n\n\nThe Peloponnesian war went on much in the same way for some years after\nthe death of Pericles. There was no such great man left in Athens.\nSocrates, the wise and deep-thinking philosopher, did not attend to state\naffairs more than was his duty as a citizen; and the leading man for some\nyears was Nikias. He was an honest, upright man, but not clever, and\nafraid of everything new, so that he was not the person to help in time\nof strange dangers.\n\nThere was a youth growing up, however, of great ability. His name was\nAlkibiades. He was of high and noble family, but he had lost his parents\nvery young, and Pericles had been his guardian, taking great care of his\nproperty, so that he was exceedingly rich. He was very beautiful in\nperson, and that was thought of greatly at Athens, though he was laughed\nat for the pains he took to show off his beauty, and for carrying out to\nbattle a shield inlaid with gold and ivory, representing Cupid hurling\nJupiter's thunderbolts. His will was so determined, that, when he was a\nlittle boy at play in the street, and saw a waggon coming which would\nhave spoiled his arrangements, he laid himself down before the wheels to\nstop it. He learnt easily, and, when he was with Socrates, would talk as\nwell and wisely as any philosopher of them all; and Socrates really seems\nto have loved the bright, beautiful youth even more than his two graver\nand worthier pupils, Plato and Xenophon, perhaps because in one of\nAlkibiades' first battles, at Delium, he had been very badly wounded, and\nSocrates had carried him safely out of the battle on his broad shoulders.\nSocrates was very strong, but one of the ugliest of men, and the\nAthenians were amused at the contrast between master and pupil.\n\n [Picture: The Academic Grove]\n\nBut nobody could help loving Alkibiades in these early years, and he was\na sort of spoiled child of the people. He won three crowns in the\nchariot races at the Olympic games, and feasted and made presents to his\nfellow-citizens afterwards, and he was always doing some strange thing in\norder to make a sensation. The first day that he was old enough to be\nadmitted to the public assembly, while he was being greeted there, he let\nloose a tame quail, which he carried about under his cloak, and no\nbusiness could be done till it had been caught. Another time he came\nvery late, with a garland on his head, and desired to have the sitting\nput off because he had a feast at his house; and the grave archons\nactually granted his request. But the strangest thing he did was to cut\noff the tail of his beautiful dog, that, as he said, the Athenians might\nhave something to talk about. In truth he made everything give way to\nhis freaks and self-will; and he was a harsh and unkind husband, and\ninsolent to his father-in-law; and, as time went on, he offended a great\nmany persons by his pride and rudeness and selfishness, so that his\nbrilliancy did little good.\n\nThere were Greek colonies in Sicily, but these were mostly in the\ninterest of Sparta. There had been some fighting there in the earlier\nyears of the war, and Alkibiades was very anxious to lead another\nexpedition thither. Nikias thought this imprudent, and argued much\nagainst it; but the effect of his arguments was that the Athenians chose\nto join him in the command of it with Alkibiades, much against his will,\nfor he was elderly, and out of health, and, of all men in Athens, he most\ndisliked and distrusted Alkibiades.\n\nJust as the fleet for Sicily was nearly ready, all the busts of Mercury\nwhich stood as mile-stones on the roads in Attica were found broken and\ndefaced; and the enemies of Alkibiades declared that it was done in one\nof his drunken frolics. Such a thing, done to the figure of a god was\nnot mere mischief, but sacrilege, and there was to be a great inquiry\ninto it. Alkibiades wanted much to have the trial over before he sailed,\nthat he might clear himself of the suspicion; and, indeed, it seems\ncertain that whatever follies he might commit when he had nothing to do,\nhe had then far too much to think of to be likely to bring himself into\ntrouble by such a wanton outrage. But the Athenians chose to put off the\ninquiry till he was gone, and the fleet set sail--the largest that had\never gone from the Piraeus--with sound of trumpet, libations poured into\nthe sea from gold and silver bowls, songs and solemn prayers, as the 100\nwar galleys rowed out of the harbour in one long column. At Corcyra the\nfleet halted to meet their allies, who raised the number of ships to 154,\ncontaining 5000 heavily-armed men, with whom they made sail for Rhegium,\nthe Italian foreland nearest to Sicily, whence they sent to make\ninquiries. They found more of the Greek cities were against them than\nthey had expected, and their friends were weaker. Nikias wanted merely\nto sail round the island, and show the power of Athens, and then go home\nagain. Lamachus, another general, wanted to make a bold attack on\nSyracuse at once; and Alkibiades had a middle plan, namely, to try to\ngain the lesser towns by force or friendship, and to stir up the native\nSicels to revolt. This plan was accepted, and was going on well--for\nAlkibiades could always talk anyone over, especially strangers, to whom\nhis gracefulness and brilliancy were new--when orders came from Athens\nthat he and his friends were to be at once sent home from the army, to\nanswer for the mischief done to the busts, and for many other crimes of\nsacrilege, which were supposed to be part of a deep plot for upsetting\nthe laws of Solon, and making himself the tyrant of Athens.\n\nThis was, of course, the work of his enemies, and the very thing he had\nfeared. His friends wrote to him that the people were so furious against\nhim that he had no chance of a fair trial, and he therefore escaped on\nthe way home, when, on his failing to arrive, he was solemnly cursed, and\ncondemned to death. He took refuge in Sparta, where, fine gentleman as\nhe was, he followed the rough, hardy Spartan manners to perfection,\nappeared to relish the black broth, and spoke the Doric Greek of Laconia,\nas it was said, more perfectly than the Spartans themselves. Unlike\nAristides, and like the worse sort of exiles, he tried to get his revenge\nby persuading the allies of Athens in Asia Minor to revolt; and when the\nSpartans showed distrust of him, he took refuge with the Persian satrap\nTissaphernes.\n\nIn the meantime, after he had left Sicily, Nikias was so cautious that\nthe Syracusans thought him cowardly, and provoked a battle with him close\nto their own walls. He defeated them, besieged their city, and had\nalmost taken it, when a Spartan and Corinthian fleet, headed by Gylippus,\ncame out, forced their way through the Athenians, and brought relief to\nthe city. More reinforcements came out to Athens, and there was a great\nsea-fight in front of the harbour at Syracuse, which ended in the total\nand miserable defeat of the Athenians, so that the army was obliged to\nretreat from Syracuse, and give up the siege. They had no food, nor any\nmeans of getting home, and all they could do was to make their way back\ninto the part of the island that was friendly to them. Gylippus and the\nSyracusans tried to block their way, but old Nikias showed himself firm\nand undaunted in the face of misfortune, and they forced their way on for\nthree or four days, in great suffering from hunger and thirst, till at\nlast they were all hemmed into a small hollow valley, shut in by rocks,\nwhere the Syracusans shot them down as they came to drink at the stream,\nso thirsty that they seemed not to care to die so long as they could\ndrink. Upon this, Nikias thought it best to offer to lay down his arms\nand surrender. All the remnant of the army were enclosed in a great\nquarry at Epipolae, the sides of which were 100 feet high, and fed on a\nscanty allowance of bread and water, while the victors considered what\nwas to be done with them, for in these heathen times there was no law of\nmercy for a captive, however bravely he might have fought. Gylippus\nwanted to save Nikias, for the pleasure of showing off so noble a\nprisoner at Sparta; but some of the Syracusans, who had been on the point\nof betraying their city to him, were afraid that their treason would be\nknown, and urged that he should be put to death with his fellow-general;\nand the brave, honest, upright old man was therefore slain with his\ncompanion Demosthenes.\n\nFor seventy days the rest remained in the dismal quarry, scorched by the\nsun, half-starved, and rapidly dying off, until they were publicly sold\nas slaves, when many of the Athenians gained the favour of their masters\nby entertaining them by repeating the poetry of their tragedians,\nespecially of Euripides, whose works had not yet been acted in Sicily.\nSome actually thus gained their freedom from their masters, and could\nreturn to Athens to thank the poet whose verses, stored in their memory,\nhad been their ransom.\n\nAll the history of the Peloponnesian war is written by Thukydides,\nhimself a brave Athenian soldier and statesman, who had a great share in\nall the affairs of the time, and well knew all the men whom he describes.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXI.--THE SHORE OF THE GOAT'S RIVER. B.C. 406-402.\n\n\nStill the war went on, the Athenians holding out steadily, but the\nSpartans beginning to care more for leadership than for Greece, and so\nmaking league with the Persians. Alkibiades was forgiven and called back\nagain after a time, and he gained numerous towns and islands back again\nfor the Athenians, so that he sailed into the Piraeus with a fleet, made\nup by his own ships and prizes to full two hundred sail, all decked with\npurple, gold, and silver, and doubling what had been lost in the unhappy\nSicilian enterprise; but his friends were sorry that it was what they\ncalled an unlucky day--namely, that on which every year the statue of\nPallas Athene was stripped of its ornaments to be dusted, washed, and\nrepaired, and on which her worshippers always avoided beginning anything\nor doing any business.\n\nA very able man named Lysander, of the royal line, though not a king, had\ncome into command at Sparta, and he had a sea-fight at Notium, just\nopposite to Ephesus, with the Athenians, and gained no very great\nadvantage, but enough to make the discontent and distrust always felt for\nAlkibiades break out again, so that he was removed from the command and\nsailed away to the Chersonese, where in the time of his exile he had\nbuilt himself a sort of little castle looking out on the strait.\n\nKonon was the name of the next commander of the fleet, which consisted of\n110 ships, with which he met the Spartan Kallikratidas with only fifty,\nnear the three little islets called Arginusae, near Malea. The numbers\nwere so unequal that the Spartan was advised not to fight, but he\nanswered that \"his death would not hurt Sparta, but dishonour would hurt\nhim.\" The Athenians gained a complete victory, Kallikratidas was killed,\nand the whole Spartan fleet broken up; but the Athenian fleet lost a\ngreat many men by a violent storm, which hindered the vessels from coming\nto the aid of those which had been disabled, and which therefore sunk in\nthe tempest.\n\nThe relations of the men who had been drowned called for a trial of the\ncommanders for neglecting to save the lives of their fellow-citizens, and\nthere was such a bad spirit of party feeling in Athens at the time that\nthey were actually condemned to death, all except Konon, though happily\nthey were out of reach, and their sentence could not be executed.\nLysander was, in the meantime, hard at work to collect a fresh fleet from\nthe Spartan allies and to build new ships, for which he obtained money\nfrom the Persians at Sardis, where the satrap at that time was Cyrus, the\nson of Darius, the Great King, a clever prince, who understood something\nof Greek courage, and saw that the best thing for Persia was to keep the\nGreeks fighting with one another, so that no one state should be\nmightiest, or able to meddle with the Persian domains in Asia Minor. He\ngave Lysander the means of adding to his forces, and with his new fleet\nhe plundered the shores of the islands of Salamis and Euboea, and even of\nAttica itself, to insult the Athenians. Their fleet came out to drive\nhim off. It had just been agreed by the Athenians that every prisoner\nthey might take in the fight they expected should have his right thumb\ncut off, to punish the Greeks who had taken Persian gold. Lysander\nsailed away, with the Athenian fleet pursuing him up to the Hellespont,\nwhere he took the city of Lampsacus and plundered it before they came up,\nand anchored at a place called AEgos Potami, or the Goat's River, about\ntwo miles from Sestos. In the morning Lysander made all his men eat\ntheir first meal and then go on board, but gave orders that no ship\nshould stir from its place. The Athenians too embarked, rowed up to\nLampsacus and defied them; but as no Spartan vessel moved, they went back\nagain to their anchorage, a mere open shore where there were no houses,\nso that all the crews went off to Sestos, or in search of villages\ninland, to buy provisions. The very same thing happened the next day.\nThe challenge was not accepted by the Spartans, and the Athenians thought\nthem afraid, grew more careless, and went further away from their ships.\nBut on the hills above stood the little castle of Alkibiades, who could\nlook down on the strait, see both fleets, and perceive that the Spartans\nsent swift galleys out each day to steal after the Athenians, so that\nthey would be quite sure to take advantage of their foolish security. He\ncould not bear to see his fellow-citizens ruining themselves, and came\ndown to warn them and beg them to move into Sestos, where they would have\nthe harbour to shelter them and the city behind them; but the generals\nscoffed at him, and bade him remember that they were commanders now, not\nhe, and he went back to his castle, knowing only too well what would\nhappen.\n\nTill the fifth day all went on as before, but then Lysander ordered his\nwatching galley to hoist a shield as a signal as soon as the Athenians\nhad all gone off to roam the country in search of food, and then he\nspread out his fleet to its utmost width, and came rowing out with his\n180 ships to fall upon the deserted Athenians. Not one general was at\nhis post, except Konon, and he, with the eight galleys he could man in\nhaste, sailed out in all haste--not to fight, for that was of no use, but\nto escape. Almost every vessel was found empty by the Spartans, taken or\nburnt, and then all the men were sought one by one as they were scattered\nover the country, except the few who were near enough to take refuge in\nthe fort of Alkibiades. Out of the eight ships that got away, one went\nstraight to Athens to carry the dreadful news; but Konon took the other\nseven with him to the island of Cyprus, thinking that thus he could do\nbetter for his country than share the ruin that now must come upon her.\n\nIt was night when the solitary ship reached the Piraeus with the dreadful\ntidings; but they seemed to rush through the city, for everywhere there\nbroke out a sound of weeping and wailing for husbands, fathers, brothers,\nand kinsmen lost, and men met together in the market-places to mourn and\nconsult what could be done next. None went to rest that night; but the\nfleet was gone, and all their best men with it, and Lysander was coming\ndown on Athens, putting down all her friends in the islands by the way,\nand driving the Athenian garrisons on before him into Athens. Before\nlong he was at the mouth of the Piraeus himself with his 150 galleys, and\nwhile he shut the Athenians in by sea, the Spartan army and its allies\nblockaded them by land.\n\nIf they held out, there was no hope of help; delay would only make the\nconquerors more bitter; so they offered to make terms, and very hard\nthese were. The Athenians were to pull down a mile on each side of the\nLong Walls, give up all their ships except twelve, recall all their\nbanished men, and follow the fortunes of the Spartans. They were very\nunwilling to accept these conditions, but their distress compelled them;\nand Lysander had the Long Walls pulled down to the sound of music on the\nanniversary of the day of the battle of Salamis. Then he overthrew the\nold constitution of Solon, and set up a government of thirty men, who\nwere to keep the Athenians under the Spartan yoke, and who were so cruel\nand oppressive that they were known afterwards as the thirty tyrants. So\nin 404 ended the Peloponnesian war, after lasting twenty-seven years.\n\nThe Athenians were most miserable, and began to think whether Alkibiades\nwould deliver them, and the Spartans seem to have feared the same. He\ndid not think himself safe in Europe after the ruin at AEgos Potami, and\nhad gone to the Persian governor on the Phrygian coast, who received him\nkindly, but was believed to have taken the pay of either the Spartans or\nthe thirty tyrants, to murder him, for one night the house where he was\nsleeping was set on fire, and on waking he found it surrounded with\nenemies. He wrapped his garment round his left arm, took his sword in\nhis hand, and broke through the flame. None of the murderers durst come\nnear him, but they threw darts and stones at him so thickly that at last\nhe fell, and they despatched him. Timandra, the last of his wives, took\nup his body, wrapped it in her own mantle, and buried it in a city called\nMelissa. Such was the sad end of the spoilt child of Athens. He had\nleft a son at Athens, whom the Thirty tried to destroy, but who escaped\ntheir fury, although during these evil times the Thirty actually put to\ndeath no less than fourteen hundred citizens of Athens, many of them\nwithout any proper trial, and drove five thousand more into banishment\nduring the eight months that their power lasted. Then Thrasybulus and\nother exiles, coming home, helped to shake off their yoke and establish\nthe old democracy; but even then Athens was in a weak, wretched state,\nand Sparta had all the power.\n\n [Picture: Athens]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXII.--THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND. B.C. 402-399.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nJust as Greece was quieted by the end of the Peloponnesian war, the old\nKing of Persia, Darius Nothus, died, and his eldest son, Artaxerxes\nMnemon, came to the throne. He was the eldest, but his brother Cyrus,\nwho had been born after his father began to reign, declared that this\ngave the best right, and resolved to march from Sardis into Persia to\ngain the kingdom for himself by the help of a hired body of Greek\nsoldiers. Clearchus, a banished Spartan, undertook to get them together,\nand he made such descriptions of the wealth they would get in the East,\nthat 11,000 of the bravest men in Greece came together for the purpose,\nand among them Xenophon, the pupil of Socrates, who has written the\nhistory of the expedition, as well as that of the later years of the\nPeloponnesian war. Xenophon was a horseman, but most of the troops were\nfoot soldiers, and they were joined by a great body of Asiatics, raised\nby Cyrus himself. They were marched across Syria, crossed the present\nriver Euphrates at the ford Thapsacus, and at Cunaxa, seven miles from\nBabylon, they met the enormous army which Artaxerxes had raised. The\nGreeks beat all who met them; but in the meantime Cyrus was killed, and\nhis whole army broke up and fled, so that the Greeks were left to\nthemselves in the enemy's country, without provisions, money, or guides.\n\n [Picture: Babylon]\n\nArtaxerxes sent messages pretending to wish to make terms with them and\nguide them safely back to their own country, provided they would do no\nharm on the way, and they willingly agreed to this, and let themselves be\nled where they were told it would be easier to find food for them; but\nthis was across the great river Tigris, over a bridge of boats; and a few\ndays after, Clearchus and the other chief officers were invited to the\nPersian camp to meet the king, and there seized and made prisoners. A\nmessage came directly after to the Greeks to bid them deliver up their\narms, as they belonged to the Great King, having once belonged to his\nslave Cyrus.\n\nTo deliver up their arms was the last thing they intended; but their\nplight was dreadful--left alone eight months' march by the shortest way\nfrom home, with two great rivers and broad tracts of desert between it\nand themselves, and many nations, all hating them, in the inhabited land,\nwith no guides, no generals, and ten times their number of Persian troops\nwaiting to fall on them. All were in dismay; hardly a fire was lighted\nto cook their supper; each man lay down to rest where he was, yet hardly\nanyone could sleep for fear and anxiety, looking for shame, death, or\nslavery, and never expecting to see Greece, wife, or children again.\n\nBut that night Xenophon made up his mind to do what he could to save his\ncountrymen. The only hope was in some one taking the lead, and, as the\nGreeks had been true to their oaths throughout the whole march, he\nbelieved the gods would help them. So he called the chief of the\nofficers still remaining together, and put them in mind that they might\nstill hope. They were so much stronger and braver than the Persians,\nthat if only they did not lose heart and separate, they could beat off\nalmost any attack. As to provisions, they would seize them, and the\nrivers which they could not cross should be their guides, for they would\ntrack them up into the hills, where they would become shallow. Only\nevery soldier must swear to assist in keeping up obedience, and then they\nwould show Artaxerxes that, though he had seized Clearchus, they had ten\nthousand as good as he. The army listened, recovered hope and spirit,\nswore to all he asked, and one of the most wonderful marches in the world\nbegan. Cheirisophus, the eldest officer, a Spartan, took the command in\nthe centre; Xenophon, as one of the youngest, was in the rear. They\ncrossed the Zab, their first barrier, and then went upwards along the\nbanks of the Tigris. The Persians hovered about them, and always\nattacked them every morning. Then the Greeks halted under any shelter\nnear at hand, and fought them till towards evening. They were sure to\nfall back, as they were afraid to sleep near the Greeks, for fear of a\nnight attack. Then the Greeks marched on for a good distance before\nhalting to sup and sleep, and were able again to make a little way in the\nmorning before the enemy attacked them again.\n\nSo they went on till they came to the mountains, where dwelt wild tribes\nwhom the Great King called his subjects, but who did not obey him at all.\nHowever, they were robbers and very fierce, and stood on the steep\nheights shooting arrows and rolling down stones, so that the passage\nthrough their land cost the Greeks more men than all their march through\nPersia. On they went, through Armenia and over the mountains, generally\nhaving to fight their way, and, when they came very high up, suffering\nvery much from the cold, and having to make their way through snow and\nice, until at last, when they were climbing up Mount Theche, those behind\nheard a shout of joy, and the cry, \"The sea, the sea!\" rang from rank to\nrank. To every Greek the sea was like home, and it seemed to them as if\ntheir troubles were over. They wept and embraced one another, and built\nup a pile of stones with a trophy of arms on the top, offering sacrifice\nto the gods for having so far brought them safely.\n\nIt was, however, only the Black Sea, the Pontus Euxinus, and far to the\neastward; and, though the worst was over, they had still much to undergo\nwhile they were skirting the coast of Asia Minor. When they came to the\nfirst Greek colony--namely, Trapezus, or Trebizond--they had been a full\nyear marching through an enemy's country; and yet out of the 11,000 who\nhad fought at Cunaxa there were still 10,000 men safe and well, and they\nhad saved all the women, slaves, and baggage they had taken with them.\nMoreover, though they came from many cities, and both Spartans and\nAthenians were among them, there never had been any quarrelling; and the\nonly time when there had been the least dispute had been when Xenophon\nthought Cheirisophus a little too hasty in suspecting a native guide.\n\nTired out as the soldiers were, they wanted, as soon as they reached the\nAEgean Sea, to take ship and sail home; but they had no money, and the\nmerchant ships would not give them a free passage, even if there had been\nships enough, and Cheirisophus went to Byzantium to try to obtain some,\nwhile the others marched to wait for him at Cerasus, the place whence\nwere brought the first cherries, which take their name from it. He\nfailed, however, in getting any, and the Greeks had to make their way on;\nbut they had much fallen away from the noble spirit they had shown at\nfirst. Any country that did not belong to Greeks they plundered, and\nthey were growing careless as to whether the places in their way were\nGreek or not. Cheirisophus died of a fever, and Xenophon, though grieved\nat the change in the spirit of the army, continued for very pity in\ncommand. They hired themselves out to fight the battles of a Thracian\nprince, but, when his need of them was over, he dismissed them without\nany pay at all, and Xenophon was so poor that he was forced to sell the\ngood horse that had carried him all the way from Armenia.\n\nHowever, there was a spirited young king at Sparta, named Agesilaus, who\nwas just old enough to come forward and take the command, and he was\npersuading his fellow-citizens, that now they had become the leading\nstate in Greece, they ought to go and deliver the remaining Greek\ncolonies in Asia Minor from the yoke of Persia, as Athens had done by the\nIonians. They therefore decided on taking the remains of the 10,000--now\nonly 6000--into their pay, and the messengers who came to engage them\nbought Xenophon's horse and restored it to him. Xenophon would not,\nhowever, continue with the band after he had conducted it to Pergamus,\nwhere they were to meet the Spartan general who was to take charge of\nthem. On their way they plundered the house of a rich Persian, and gave\na large share of the spoil to him as a token of gratitude for the wisdom\nand constancy that had carried them through so many trials.\n\nIt had been his strong sense of religion and trust in the care of the\ngods which had borne him up; and the first thing he did was to go and\ndedicate his armour and an offering of silver at the temple of Diana at\nEphesus. This temple had grown up round a black stone image, very ugly,\nbut which was said to have fallen from the sky, and was perhaps a\nmeteoric stone. A white marble quarry near the city had furnished the\nmaterials for a temple so grand and beautiful that it was esteemed one of\nthe seven wonders of the world.\n\nAfter thus paying his vows, Xenophon returned to Athens, whence he had\nbeen absent two years and a-half. He not only wrote the history of this\nexpedition, but a life of the first great Cyrus of Persia, which was\nmeant not so much as real history, as a pattern of how kings ought to be\nbred up.\n\n [Picture: Greek Armour]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXIII.--THE DEATH OF SOCRATES. B.C. 399.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n[Picture: Of] the men who sought after God in the darkness, \"if haply\nthey might feel after Him,\" none had come so near the truth as Socrates,\na sculptor by trade, and yet a great philosopher, and, so far as we can\nsee, the wisest and best man who ever grew up without any guide but\nnature and conscience. Even the oracle at Delphi declared that he was\nthe wisest of men, because he did not fancy he knew what he did not know,\nand did not profess to have any wisdom of his own. It was quite\ntrue--all his thinking had only made him quite sure that he knew nothing;\nbut he was also sure that he had an inward voice within him, telling him\nwhich was the way in which he should walk. He did not think much about\nthe wild tales of the Greek gods and goddesses; he seems to have\nconsidered them as fancies that had grown up on some forgotten truth, and\nhe said a healthy mind would not dwell upon them; but he was quite sure\nthat above all these there was one really true Most High God, who\ngoverned the world, rewarded the good, punished the bad, and sent him the\ninward voice, which he tried to obey to the utmost of his power, and by\nso doing, no doubt, his inward sight grew clearer and clearer. Even in\nhis home his gentleness and patience were noted, so that when his\nscolding wife Xantippe, after railing at him sharply, threw some water at\nhis head, he only smiled, and said, \"After thunder follows rain.\" He did\nnot open a school under a portico, but, as he did his work, all the\nchoicest spirits of Greece resorted to him to argue out these questions\nin search of truth; and many accounts of these conversations have been\npreserved to us by his two best pupils, Plato and Xenophon.\n\n[Picture: Socrates] But in the latter days of the Peloponnesian war, when\nthe Athenians were full of bitterness, and had no great deeds to\nundertake outside their city, a foolish set of arguing pretenders to\nphilosophy arose, who were called the Sophists, and who spent their time\nin mere empty talk, often against the gods; and the great Socrates was\nmixed up in people's fancy with them. A comic writer arose, named\nAristophanes, who, seeing the Athenians fallen from the greatness of\ntheir fathers, tried to laugh them into shame at themselves. He\nparticularly disliked Euripides, because his tragedies seemed, like the\nSophists, not to respect the gods; and he also more justly hated\nAlkibiades for his overbearing ways, and his want of all real respect for\ngods or men. It was very hard on Socrates that the faults of his pupils\nshould be charged against him; but Aristophanes had set all Athens\nlaughing by a comedy called \"The Clouds,\" in which a good-for-nothing\nyoung man, evidently meant for Alkibiades, gets his father into debt by\nbuying horses, and, under the teaching of Socrates, learns both to cheat\nhis creditors and to treat respect for his father as a worn-out notion.\nThe beauty and the lisp of Alkibiades were imitated so as to make it\nquite plain who was meant by the youth; and Socrates himself was\nevidently represented by an actor in a hideous comic mask, caricaturing\nthe philosopher's snub nose and ugly features. The play ended by the\nyoung man's father threatening to burn down the house of Socrates, with\nhim in it. This had been written twenty years before, but it had been\nacted and admired again and again, together with the other comedies of\nAristophanes--one about a colony of birds who try to build a city in the\nair, and of whom the chorus was composed; and another, called \"The\nFrogs,\" still more droll, and all full of attacks on the Sophists.\n\nThus the Athenians had a general notion that Socrates was a corrupter of\nyouth and a despiser of the gods, for in truth some forms of worship,\nlike the orgies of Bacchus, and other still worse rites which had been\nbrought in from the East, were such that no good man could approve them.\nOne of the thirty tyrants had at one time been a pupil of his, and this\nadded to the ill-feeling against him; and while Xenophon was still away\nin Asia, in the year 399, the philosopher was brought to trial on three\npoints, namely, that he did not believe in the gods of Athens, that he\nbrought in new gods, and that he misled young men; and for this his\naccusers demanded that he should be put to death.\n\nSocrates pleaded his own cause before the council of the Areopagus. He\nflatly denied unbelief in the gods of his fathers, but he defended his\nbelief in his genius or in-dwelling voice, and said that in this he was\nonly like those who drew auguries from the notes of birds, thunder, and\nthe like; and as for his guidance of young men, he called on his accusers\nto show whether he had ever led any man from virtue to vice. One of them\nanswered that he knew those who obeyed and followed Socrates more than\ntheir own parents; to which he replied that such things sometimes\nhappened in other matters--men consulted physicians about their health\nrather than their fathers, and obeyed their generals in war, not their\nfathers; and so in learning, they might follow him rather than their\nfathers. \"Because I am thought to have some power of teaching youth, O\nmy judges!\" he ended, \"is that a reason why I should suffer death? My\naccusers may procure that judgment, but hurt me they cannot. To fear\ndeath is to seem wise without being so, for it is pretending to\nunderstand what we know not. No man knows what death is, or whether it\nbe not our greatest happiness; yet all fear and shun it.\"\n\nHis pupil Plato stood up on the platform to defend him, and began, \"O ye\nAthenians, I am the youngest man who ever went up in this place--\"\n\n\"No, no,\" they cried, with one voice; \"the youngest who ever went down!\"\nThey would not hear a word from him; and 280 voices sentenced the great\nphilosopher [Picture: Plato] to die, after the Athenian fashion, by being\npoisoned with hemlock. He disdained to plead for a lessening of the\npenalty; but it could not be carried out at once, because a ship had just\nbeen sent to Delos with offerings, and for the thirty days while this was\ngone no one could be put to death. Socrates therefore was kept in\nprison, with chains upon his ankles; but all his friends were able to\ncome and visit him, and one of them, named Krito, hoped to have contrived\nhis escape by bribing the jailer, but he refused to make anyone guilty of\na breach of the laws for the sake of a life which must be near its close,\nfor he was not far from seventy years old; and when one of his friends\nbegan to weep at the thought of his dying innocent, \"What!\" he said,\n\"would you think it better for me to die guilty?\"\n\nWhen the ship had come back, and the time was come, he called all his\nfriends together for a cheerful feast, during which he discoursed to them\nas usual. All the words that fell from him were carefully stored up, and\nrecorded by Plato in a dialogue, which is one of the most valuable things\nthat have come down to us from Greek times. It was not Socrates, said\nthe philosopher, whom they would lay in the grave. Socrates' better\npart, and true self, would be elsewhere; and all of them felt sure that\nin that unknown world, as they told him, it must fare well with one like\nhim. He begged them, for their own sakes, never to forget the lessons he\nhad taught them; and when the time had come, he drank the hemlock as if\nit had been a cup of wine: he then walked up and down the room for a\nlittle while, bade his pupils remember that this was the real deliverance\nfrom all disease and impurity, and then, as the fatal sleep benumbed him,\nhe lay down, bidding Krito not forget a vow he had made to one of the\ngods; and so he slept into death. \"Thus,\" said Plato, \"died the man who,\nof all with whom we were acquainted, was in death the noblest, in life\nthe wisest and the best.\"\n\nPlato himself carried on much of the teaching of his master, and became\nthe founder of a sect of philosophy which taught that, come what may,\nvirtue is that which should, above all, be sought for as making man\nnoblest, and that no pain, loss, or grief should be shunned for virtue's\nsake. His followers were called Stoics, from their fashion of teaching\nin the porticos or porches, which in Greek were named _stoai_. Their\ngreat opponents were the Epicureans, or followers of a philosopher by\nname Epicurus, who held that as man's life is short, and as he knew not\nwhence he came, nor whither he went, he had better make himself as happy\nas possible, and care for nothing else. Epicurus, indeed, declared that\nonly virtue did make men happy; but there was nothing in his teaching to\nmake them do anything but what pleased themselves, so his philosophy did\nharm, while that of the Stoics did good. A few Pythagoreans, who\nbelieved in the harmony of the universe, still remained; but as long as\nthe world remained in darkness, thinking men were generally either Stoics\nor Epicureans.\n\n [Picture: View]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXIV.--THE SUPREMACY OF SPARTA. B.C. 396.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe ablest man just at this time in Greece was Agesilaus, one of the\nkings of Sparta. He was small, weakly, and lame, but full of courage,\nand an excellent general; and though he was as plain and hardy as suited\nwith Spartan discipline, he had a warm, kind, tender heart, and was not\nashamed to show it, as some of the Spartans were. So that, when some\nambassadors came to see him, they found him riding on a stick to please\nhis children; and again, when a trial of a distinguished man was going on\nin his absence, he wrote, \"If he be not guilty, spare him for his own\nsake; if he be guilty, spare him for mine.\"\n\nHe was young, and full of fire and spirit, when the Spartans resolved to\ntry to free the Greek colonies in Asia Minor from the Persians, by an\narmy under his command. Xenophon had been so much grieved by his master\nSocrates' death that he would not remain at Athens, but joined his old\nfriends once more, and was a great friend of Agesilaus. The Athenians,\nCorinthians, and Thebans were all asked to send troops, but they refused,\nand Agesilaus set sail with 8000 men, meaning to meet and take with him\nthe remains of the 10,000, who were well used to warfare with the\nPersians. He was the first Greek king who had sailed to Asia since the\nTrojan war, and, in imitation of Agamemnon, he stopped at Aulis, in\nBoeotia, to offer sacrifice to Diana. He dreamt that a message came that\nit ought to be the same sacrifice as Agamemnon had made, but he declared\nthat he would not act so cruelly towards his own child, and caused a\nwhite hind to be crowned, and offered as the goddess' chosen offering;\nbut as this was not the usual sacrifice, the Thebans were affronted, and\nthrew away the sacrifice as it lay on the altar. This was reckoned as a\nbad omen, and Agesilaus went on his way, doubting whether he should meet\nwith success.\n\nHe was a man who went very much by omens, for after he had landed, had\ngained several successes, and was just advancing into Caria, at the\nsacrifice he found the liver of one of the victims imperfect, and this\ndecided him on going back to Ephesus for the winter, to collect more\nhorse. When he marched on in the spring he was much stronger; he\nadvanced into the Persian territories, and defeated the Persians and\ntheir allies wherever he met them, and at last the satrap Pharnabazus\nbegged to have a conference with him, being much struck with his valour.\n\nAgesilaus came first to the place of meeting, and having to wait there,\nsat down on the grass under a tree, and began to eat his homely meal of\nbread and an onion. Presently up came the satrap in all his splendour,\nwith attendants carrying an umbrella over his head, and others bearing\nrich carpets and costly furs for him to sit on, silver and gold plate,\nand rich food and wines. But when he found that the little, shabby,\nplain man under the tree was really the mighty king of Sparta, the\ndescendant of Hercules, Pharnabazus was ashamed of all his pomp, and went\ndown upon the ground by Agesilaus' side, to the great damage, as the\nGreeks delighted to observe, of his fine, delicately-tinted robes. He\ntold Agesilaus that he thought this attack a bad reward for all the help\nthat the Spartans had had from Persia in the Peloponnesian war; but\nAgesilaus said that they had been friends then, but that as cause of war\nhad arisen it was needful to fight, though he was so far from feeling\nenmity that Pharnabazus should find the Greeks willing to welcome him,\nand give him high command, if he would come and be a free man among them.\nPharnabazus answered that as long as he held command in the name of the\nGreat King he must be at war with the foes of Persia, but if Artaxerxes\nshould take away his satrapy he would come over to the Spartans.\nTherewith Agesilaus shook hands with him, and said, \"How much rather I\nwould have so gallant a man for my friend than my enemy?\" The young son\nof the satrap was even more taken with the Spartan, and, waiting behind\nhis father, ran up to the king, and, according to the Persian offer of\nfriendship, said, \"I make you my guest,\" at the same time giving him a\njavelin. Agesilaus looked about for anything fine enough to offer the\nyoung Persian in return, and seeing that a youth in his train had a horse\nwith handsome trappings, asked for them, and made a gift of them to his\nnew friend. The friendship stood the youth in good stead, for when he\nwas afterwards driven from home by his brethren, Agesilaus welcomed him\nin Laconia, and was very kind to him. The war, however, still continued,\nand Agesilaus gained such successes that the Persians saw their best hope\nlay in getting him recalled to Greece; so they sent money in secret to\nthe Athenians and their old allies to incite them to revolt, and so\nstrong an army was brought together that the Spartans sent in haste to\nrecall Agesilaus. The summons came just as he was mustering all the\nGreek warriors in Asia Minor for an advance into the heart of the empire,\nand he was much disappointed; but he laughed, and, as Persian coins were\nstamped with the figure of a horseman drawing the bow, he said he had\nbeen defeated by 10,000 Persian archers.\n\nHe marched home by the way of the Hellespont, but before he was past\nThrace a great battle had been fought close to Corinth, in which the\nSpartans had been victorious and made a great slaughter of the allies.\nBut he only thought of them as Greeks, not as enemies, and exclaimed, \"O\nGreece, how many brave men hast thou lost, who might have conquered all\nPersia!\" The Thebans had joined the allies against Sparta, and the\nEphors sent orders to Agesilaus to punish them on his way southwards.\nThis he did in the battle of Coronea, in which he was very badly wounded,\nbut, after the victory was over, he would not be taken to his tent till\nhe had been carried round the field to see that every slain Spartan was\ncarried away in his armour and not left to the plunderers.\n\nHe then returned to Sparta, where the citizens were delighted to see that\nhe had not been spoiled by Persian luxury, but lived as plainly as ever,\nand would not let his family dress differently from others. He knew what\ngreatness was so well, that when he heard Artaxerxes called the Great\nKing, he said, \"How is he greater than I, unless he be the juster?\"\n\nIt should be remembered that Konon, that Athenian captain who had escaped\nfrom AEgos Potami with six ships, had gone to the island of Cyprus. He\npersuaded the people of the island of Rhodes to revolt from the Spartans,\nand make friends with the Persians. It is even said that he went to the\ncourt of Artaxerxes, and obtained leave from him to raise ships, with\nwhich to attack the Spartans, from the colonies which were friendly to\nAthens, yet belonged to the Greek Empire. Pharnabazus joined him, and,\nwith eighty-five ships, they cruised about in the AEgean Sea, and near\nCnidus they entirely defeated the Spartan fleet. It was commanded by\nPisander, Agesilaus' brother-in-law, who held by his ship to the last,\nand died like a true Spartan, sword in hand.\n\nAfter this Konon drove out many Spartan governors from the islands of the\nAEgean, and, sailing to Corinth, encouraged the citizens to hold out\nagainst Sparta, after which Pharnabazus went home, but Konon returned\nwith the fleet to the Piraeus, and brought money and aid to build up the\nLong Walls again, after they had been ten years in ruins. The crews of\nthe ships and the citizens of Athens all worked hard, the rejoicing was\nimmense, and Konon was looked on as the great hero and benefactor of\nAthens; but, as usual, before long the Athenians grew jealous of him and\ndrove him out, so that he ended his life an exile, most likely in Cyprus.\n\nIt was no wonder that Xenophon's heart turned against the city that thus\ntreated her great men, though he ought not to have actually fought\nagainst her, as he did under Agesilaus, whom he greatly loved. The chief\nscene of the war was round Corinth; but at last both parties were\nwearied, and a peace was made between Athens and Sparta and the Persian\nEmpire. Artaxerxes kept all the Greek cities in Asia and the islands of\nCyprus and Clazomene, and all the other isles and colonies were declared\nfree from the power of any city, except the isles of Lemnos, Imbros, and\nScyros, which were still to belong to Athens. Sparta required of Thebes\nto give up her power over the lesser cities of Boeotia, but Sparta\nherself did not give up Messenia and the other districts in the\nPeloponnesus, so that she still remained the strongest. This was called\nthe peace of Antaleidas.\n\nXenophon did not go back to Athens, but settled on a farm near Elis,\nwhere he built a little temple to Diana, in imitation of the one at\nEphesus, and spent his time in husbandry, in hunting, and in writing his\nhistories, and also treatises on dogs and horses. Once a-year he held a\ngreat festival in honour of Diana, offering her the tithe of all his\nproduce, and feasting all the villagers around on barley meal, wheaten\nbread, meat, and venison, the last of which was obtained at a great\nhunting match conducted by Xenophon himself and his sons.\n\n [Picture: View on the Eurotas in Laconia]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXV.--THE TWO THEBAN FRIENDS. B.C. 387-362.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nBy the peace of Antaleidas things had been so settled that the Spartans\nhad the chief power over Greece, and they used it in their proud, harsh\nway. In the year 387 they called the Thebans to assist in besieging the\ncity of Mantinea, in a valley between Argos and Arcadia. The Mantineans\nsallied out, and there was a battle, in which they were defeated; but in\nthe course of it a Theban youth of a rich and noble family, named\nPelopidas, was surrounded by enemies. He fought desperately, and only\nfell at last under seven wounds just as another Theban, a little older,\nnamed Epaminondas, broke into his rescue, and fought over him until the\nSpartans made in and bore them off, but not till Epaminondas had likewise\nbeen badly wounded. He was the son of a poor but noble father, said to\nbe descended from one of the men who had sprung from the dragon's teeth;\nand he had been well taught, and was an earnest philosopher of the\nPythagorean school, striving to the utmost of his power to live a good\nand virtuous life. A close friendship grew up between him and Pelopidas,\nthough the one loved books, and the other, dogs and horses; but Pelopidas\ntried to be as upright and noble as his friend, and, though a very rich\nman, lived as hardily and sparingly as did Epaminondas, using his wealth\nto help the poor. When some foolish friends asked him why he did not use\nhis riches for his own ease and pomp, he laughed at them, and, pointing\nto a helpless cripple, said that riches were only useful to a man like\nthat.\n\nEvery high-spirited Theban hated the power that Sparta had taken over\ntheir free state, and wanted to shake it off; but some of those who were\nbribed by Sparta sent word of their intentions to a Spartan general in\nthe neighbourhood, whereupon he came down on Thebes in the middle of a\nfestival, seized the citadel called the Cadmea, put in a Spartan\ngarrison, and drove 300 of the best Thebans into exile. Pelopidas was\namong them, while Epaminondas was thought of only as a poor student, and\nwas unnoticed; but he went quietly on advising the Theban young men to\nshare the warlike exercises of the Spartans in the Cadmea, so as to get\nthemselves trained to arms in case there should be a chance of fighting\nfor their freedom. In the fourth year of the exile, Pelopidas wrote to\nbeg his friend to join in a plot by which some of the banished were to\ncreep into the city, go to a banquet that was to be given to the chief\nfriends of the Spartans disguised as women, kill them, proclaim liberty,\nraise the citizens, and expel the Spartans. But Epaminondas would have\nnothing to do with a scheme that involved falsehood and treachery,\nhowever much he longed to see his country free. But on a dark, winter\nevening, Pelopidas and eleven more young exiles came one by one into\nThebes, in the disguise of hunters, and met at the house of the friend\nwho was going to give the feast. They were there dressed in robes and\nveils, and in the height of the mirth the host brought them in, and they\nfell upon the half-tipsy guests and slew them, while Pelopidas had gone\nto the house of the most brave and sober among them, challenged him, and\nkilled him in fair fight. Then they shouted, \"Freedom! Down with the\nfoe!\" The citizens rose, Epaminondas among the first; the rest of the\nexiles marched in at daybreak, and the Cadmea was besieged until the\nSpartans were obliged to march out, and Thebes was left to its own\ngovernment by Boeotarchs, or rulers of Boeotia, for a year at a time, of\nwhom Pelopidas was at once chosen to be one.\n\nOf course there was a war, in which the Thebans were helped by Athens,\nbut more from hatred to Sparta than love to Thebes. After six years\nthere was a conference to arrange for a peace, and Epaminondas, who was\nthen Boeotarch, spoke so well as to amaze all hearers. Agesilaus\ndemanded that the Thebans should only make terms for themselves, and give\nup the rest of Boeotia, and Epaminondas would not consent unless in like\nmanner Sparta gave up the rule over the other places in Laconia. The\nAthenians would not stand by the Thebans, and all the allies made peace,\nso that Thebes was left alone to resist Sparta, and Epaminondas had to\nhurry home to warn her to defend herself.\n\nThe only thing in favour of Thebes was that Agesilaus' lame leg had\nbecome so diseased that he could not for five years go out to war; but\nthe other king, Cleombrotus, was at the head of 11,000 men marching into\nBoeotia, and Epaminondas could only get together 6000, with whom he met\nthem at Leuctra. No one doubted how the battle would end, for the\nSpartans had never yet been beaten, even by the Athenians, when they had\nthe larger numbers, and, besides, the quiet scholar Epaminondas had never\nbeen thought of as a captain. The omens went against the Thebans, but he\nsaid he knew no token that ought to forbid a man from fighting for his\ncountry. Pelopidas commanded the horsemen, and Epaminondas drew up his\ntroop in a column fifty men deep, with which he dashed at the middle of\nthe Spartan army, which was only three lines deep, and Pelopidas' cavalry\nhovered about to cut them down when they were broken. The plan succeeded\nperfectly. Cleombrotus was carried dying from the field, and Epaminondas\nhad won the most difficult victory ever yet gained by a Greek. So far\nfrom being uplifted by it, all he said was how glad he was that his old\nfather and mother would be pleased. The victory had made Thebes the most\npowerful city in Greece, and he was the leading man in Thebes for some\ntime; but he had enemies, who thought him too gentle with their foes,\nwhether men or cities, and one year, in the absence of Pelopidas, they\nchose him to be inspector of the cleanliness of the streets, thinking to\nput a slur on him; but he fulfilled the duties of it so perfectly that he\nmade the office itself an honourable one.\n\nPelopidas was soon after sent on a message to Alexander, the savage\ntyrant of Thessaly, who seized him and put him in chains in a dismal\ndungeon. The Theban army marched to deliver him, Epaminondas among them\nas a common soldier; but the two Boeotarchs in command managed so ill\nthat they were beset by the Thessalian horsemen and forced to turn back.\nIn the retreat they were half-starved, and fell into such danger and\ndistress, that all cried out for Epaminondas to lead them, and he brought\nthem out safely. The next year he was chosen Boeotarch, again attacked\nThessaly, and, by the mere dread of his name, made the tyrant yield up\nPelopidas, and beg for a truce. Pelopidas brought home such horrible\naccounts of the cruelties of Alexander, that as soon as the truce was\nover, 7000 men, with him at their head, invaded Thessaly, and won the\nbattle of Cynocephalae, or the Dogs' Heads. Here Pelopidas was killed,\nto the intense grief of the army, who cut their hair and their horses'\nmanes and tails, lighted no fire, and tasted no food on that sad night\nafter their victory, and great was the mourning at Thebes for the brave\nand upright man who had been thirteen times Boeotarch. Epaminondas was\nat sea with the fleet he had persuaded the Thebans to raise; but the next\nyear he was sent into the Peloponnesus to defend the allies there against\nthe Spartans. He had almost taken the city itself, when the army\nhastened back to defend it, under the command of Agesilaus, who had\nrecovered and taken the field again.\n\nClose to Mantinea, where Epaminondas had fought his first battle, he had\nto fight again with the only general who had as yet a fame higher than\nhis--namely, Agesilaus--and Xenophon was living near enough to watch the\nbattle. It was a long, fiercely-fought combat, but at last the Spartans\nbegan to give way and broke their ranks, still, however, flinging\njavelins, one of which struck Epaminondas full in the breast, and broke\nas he fell, leaving a long piece of the shaft fixed in the wound. His\nfriends carried him away up the hill-side, where he found breath to ask\nwhether his shield were safe, and when it was held up to him, he looked\ndown on the Spartans in full flight, and knew he had won the day. He was\nin great pain, and he was told that to draw out the spear would probably\nkill him at once. He said, therefore, that he must wait till he could\nspeak to the two next in command; and when he was told that they were\nboth slain, he said, \"Then you must make peace,\" for he knew no one was\nleft able to contend against Agesilaus. As his friends wept, he said,\n\"This day is not the end of my life, but the beginning of my happiness\nand completion of my glory;\" and when they bewailed that he had no child,\nhe said, \"Leuctra and Mantinea are daughters enough to keep my name\nalive.\" Then, as those who stood round faltered, unable to resolve to\ndraw out the dart, he pulled it out himself with a firm hand, and the\nrush of blood that followed ended one of the most beautiful lives ever\nspent by one who was a law unto himself. He was buried where he died,\nand a pillar was raised over the spot bearing the figure of a dragon, in\nmemory of his supposed dragon lineage.\n\n [Picture: Thessalonica]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXVI.--PHILIP OF MACEDON. B.C. 364.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nPeace was made as Epaminondas desired, and Boeotia never produced another\ngreat man, as, indeed, the inhabitants had always been slow and dull, so\nthat a Boeotian was a by-word for stupidity. The only other great\nBoeotian was the poet Pindar, who was living at this time.\n\nThe fifteen years of Theban power had weakened Sparta; but Agesilaus\npersuaded the Ephors to send him to assist Tachos, who had revolted from\nthe Persians and made himself king of Egypt, and who promised to pay the\nSpartans well for their aid. When he sent his officers to receive the\nSpartan king who had achieved the greatest fame of any man then living,\nthey absolutely burst out laughing at the sight of the little, lame man,\nnow more than eighty years old, and as simply clad as ever; and he was\nmuch vexed and angered that he was not made commander of the army, but\nonly of the foreign allies; and when Tachos went against his advice, and\nchose to march into Phoenicia, he went over to the cause of another\nEgyptian prince, a cousin to Tachos, named Nectanebes, whom he helped to\ngain the crown of Egypt, thus breaking his promises in a way which we are\nsorry should have been the last action of his long life. The next winter\nhe embarked to return home, but he was driven by contrary winds to a\nplace in Egypt called the port of Menelaus, because that king of Sparta\nhad been so long weather-bound there. The storm had been too much for\nthe tough old frame of Agesilaus, who died there. His body was embalmed\nin wax, and carried home to be buried at Sparta, whose greatest man he\ncertainly was.\n\nThe great Persian Empire was growing weak, and her subject cities were\nrevolting from her. Caria, in Asia Minor, became free under its king,\nMausolus, who reigned twenty-four years, but who is chiefly famous for\nthe magnificent monument which his widow Artemisia raised to his memory,\nand which consisted of several stages of pillars, supported by tablets so\nexquisitely sculptured that the Mausoleum, as it was called, was taken\ninto the number of the seven wonders of the world. After all, its\nsplendour did not comfort the heart of Artemisia, and she had the ashes\nof her husband taken from his urn and carried them about her in a casket,\nuntil finally she put them in water and drank them, so as to be for ever\none with them. She was herself buried in the Mausoleum, the remains of\nwhich have lately been discovered, and are now placed in the British\nMuseum.\n\nOne more great man had grown up in Athens--namely, Demosthenes. He was\nthe son of an Athenian sword merchant, who died when he was but seven\nyears [Picture: Demosthenes] old. His guardians neglected his property,\nand he was a sickly boy, with some defect in his speech, so that his\nmother kept him at home as much as she could, and he was never trained in\nmind or body like the other Athenian youth; but, as he grew older, he\nseems to have learned much from the philosopher Plato, and he set himself\nto lead the Athenians as a public speaker. For this he prepared himself\ndiligently, putting pebbles in his mouth to overcome his stammering, and\ngoing out to make speeches to the roaring waves of the sea, that he might\nlearn not to be daunted by the shouts of the raging people; and thus he\ntaught himself to be the most famous orator in the world, just as Phidias\nwas the greatest sculptor and AEschylus the chief tragedian.\n\nHis most eloquent discourses are called Philippics, because they were\nagainst Philip, king of Macedon, a power that was growing very dangerous\nto the rest of Greece. It lay to the northward of the other states, and\nhad never quite been reckoned as part of Greece, for a rough dialect that\nwas spoken there, and the king had been forced to join the Persian army\nwhen Xerxes crossed his country; but he had loved the Greek cause, and\nhad warned Aristides at the battle of Plataea. The royal family counted\nHercules as their forefather, and were always longing to be accepted as\nthorough Greeks. One of the young princes, named Philip, was taken to\nThebes by Pelopidas, to secure him from his enemies at home. He was\nlodged in the house of Epaminondas' father, and was much struck with the\ngrand example he there beheld, though he cared more for the lessons of\ngood policy he then learned than for those of virtue.\n\nTwo years after the battle of Mantinea, Philip heard that his elder\nbrother, the king, was dead, leaving only a young infant upon the throne.\nHe went home at once and took the guardianship of the kingdom, gained\nsome great victories over the wild neighbours of Macedon, to the north,\nand then made himself king, but without hurting his nephew, who grew up\nquietly at his court, and by-and-by married one of his daughters. He had\nbegun to train his troops to excellent discipline, perfecting what was\ncalled the Macedonian phalanx, a manner of arraying his forces which he\nhad learned in part from Epaminondas. The phalanx was a body of\nheavily-armed foot soldiers, each carrying a shield, and a spear\ntwenty-four feet long. When they advanced, they were taught to lock\ntheir shields together, so as to form a wall, and they stood in ranks,\none behind the other, so that the front row had four spear points\nprojecting before them.\n\nHe also made the Macedonian nobles send their sons to be trained to arms\nat his court, so as to form a guard of honour, who were comrades,\nfriends, and officers to the king. In the meantime, wars were going\non--one called the Social War and one the Sacred War--which wasted the\nstrength of the Thebans, Spartans, and Athenians all alike, until Philip\nbegan to come forward, intending to have power over them all. At first,\nhe marched into Thrace, the wild country to the north, and laid siege to\nMethone. In this city there was an archer, named Aster, who had once\noffered his service to the Macedonian army, when Philip, who cared the\nmost for his phalanx, rejected him contemptuously, saying, \"I will take\nyou into my pay when I make war on starlings.\" This man shot an arrow,\nwith the inscription on it, \"To Philip's right eye;\" and it actually hit\nthe mark, and put out the eye. Philip caused it to be shot back again\nwith the inscription, \"If Philip takes the city, he will hang Aster.\"\nAnd so he did. Indeed he took the loss of his eye so much to heart, that\nhe was angry if anyone mentioned a Cyclops in his presence.\n\nAfter taking Methone, he was going to pass into Thessaly, but the\nAthenians held Thermopylae, and he waited till he could ally himself with\nthe Thebans against the Phocians. He took Phocis, and thus gained the\nfamous pass, being able to attack it on both sides. Next he listened to\nenvoys from Messenia and Argos, who complained of the dominion of the\nSpartans, and begged him to help them. The Athenians were on this urged\nby Demosthenes, in one of his Philippics, to forget all their old hatred\nto Sparta, and join her in keeping back the enemy of both alike; and\ntheir intention of joining Sparta made Philip wait, and begin by trying\nto take the great island of Euboea, which he called the \"Shackles of\nGreece.\" To its aid was sent a body of Athenians, under the command of\nPhocion, a friend of Plato, and one of the sternest of Stoics, of whom it\nwas said that no one had ever seen him laugh, weep, or go to the public\nbaths. He went about barefoot, and never wrapped himself up if he could\nhelp it, so that it was a saying, \"Phocion has got his cloak on; it is a\nhard winter.\" He was a great soldier, and, for the time, drove back the\nMacedonians from Euboea. But very few Athenians had the spirit of\nPhocion or Demosthenes. They had grown idle, and Philip was bribing all\nwho would take his money among the other Greeks to let his power and\ninfluence spread, until at last he set forth to invade Greece. The\nThebans and Athenians joined together to stop him, and met him at\nChaeronea, in Boeotia; but neither city could produce a real general, and\nthough at first the Athenians gained some advantage, they did not make a\nproper use of it, so that Philip cried out, \"The Athenians do not know\nhow to conquer,\" and, making another attack, routed them entirely. Poor\nDemosthenes, who had never been in a battle before, and could only fight\nwith his tongue, fled in such a fright that when a bramble caught his\ntunic, he screamed out, \"Oh, spare my life!\" The battle of Chaeronea was\na most terrible overthrow, and neither Athens nor Thebes ever recovered\nit. Macedon entirely gained the chief power over Greece, and Philip was\nthe chief man in it, though Demosthenes never ceased to try to stir up\nopposition to him. Philip was a very able man, and had a good deal of\nnobleness in his nature. Once, after a feast, he had to hear a trial,\nand gave sentence in haste. \"I appeal,\" said the woman who had lost.\n\"Appeal? and to whom?\" said the king. \"I appeal from Philip drunk to\nPhilip sober.\" He was greatly struck, heard the case over again the next\nday, and found that he had been wrong and the woman right.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXVII.--THE YOUTH OF ALEXANDER. B.C. 356-334.\n\n\nPhilip of Macedon married Olympias, the daughter of the king of Epirus,\nwho traced his descent up to Achilles. She was beautiful, but fierce and\nhigh-spirited; and the first time Philip saw her she was keeping the\nfeast of Bacchus, and was dancing fearlessly among great serpents, which\ntwisted about among the maidens' vine-wreathed staves, their baskets of\nfigs, and even the ivy crowns on their heads. Her wild beauty charmed\nhim, and he asked her in marriage as soon as he had gained the throne.\nThe son of this marriage, Alexander, was born at Pella in 356. On the\nsame day a great battle was won by Parmenio, Philip's chief general, and\nthe king's horses won the prize at the Olympic games. Philip was so\nprosperous that he declared he must sacrifice to the gods, or they would\nbe jealous, and cast him down in the midst of his happiness. That same\nnight the wonder of the world, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, was burnt\ndown by a madman named Erostratus, who thought the deed would make him\nfor ever famous. It was built up again more splendidly than ever, and\nthe image was saved.\n\n[Picture: Diana of Ephesus] The chief physician at Philip's court was\nAristotle, a Macedonian of Stagyra, who had studied under Plato, and was\none of the greatest and best of philosophers; and Philip wrote to him at\nonce that he rejoiced not only in having a son, but in his having been\nborn when he could have Aristotle for a tutor. For seven years, however,\nthe boy was under the care of a noble lady named Lanika, whom he loved\nall his life, and then was placed with a master, who taught him to repeat\nthe _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ from end to end. He delighted in them so much\nthat he always carried a copy about with him, and constantly dreamt of\nequalling his great forefather Achilles.\n\nWhen he was about thirteen, a magnificent black horse called Bucephalus,\nor Bull-head, because it had a white mark like a bull's face on its\nforehead, was brought to Philip; but it was so strong and restive that\nnobody could manage it, and Philip was sending it away, when Alexander\nbegged leave to try to tame it. First he turned its head to the sun,\nhaving perceived that its antics were caused by fear of its own shadow;\nthen stroking and caressing it as he held the reins, he gently dropped\nhis fluttering mantle and leaped on its back, sitting firm through all\nits leaps and bounds, but using neither whip nor spur nor angry voice,\ntill at last the creature was brought to perfect obedience. This gentle\ncourage and firmness so delighted Philip that he embraced the boy with\ntears of joy, and gave him the horse, which, as long as it lived, loved\nand served him like no one else. Philip also said that such a boy might\nbe treated as a man, and therefore put him under Aristotle three years\nearlier than it was usual to begin philosophy; and again he was an apt\nand loving scholar, learning great wisdom in dealing with men and things,\nand, in truth, learning everything but how to control his temper.\n\nAt the battle of Chaeronea, Alexander was old enough to command the\ndivision which fought against the Thebans, and entirely overthrew them;\nso that when peace was made, Sparta was the only city that refused to own\nthe superior might of Macedon, and the Council of the States chose Philip\nas commander of the Greeks in the grand expedition he was going to\nundertake against Persia.\n\nBut Philip had eastern vices. He was tired of Olympias' pride and\nwilfulness, and took another wife, whom he raised to the position of\nqueen; and at the banquet a half-tipsy kinsman of this woman insulted\nAlexander, who threw a cup at the man. Philip started up to chastise his\nson, but, between rage and wine, fell down, while Alexander said, \"See, a\nman preparing to cross from Europe to Asia cannot step safely from one\ncouch to another!\"\n\nThen he took his mother to her native home, and stayed away till his\nfather sent for him, but kept him in a kind of disgrace, until at the\nwedding feast of Alexander's sister Cleopatra with the king of Epirus,\njust as Philip came forward in a white garment, a man darted forward and\nthrust a sword through his body, then fled so fast that he would have\nescaped if his foot had not been caught in some vine stocks, so that the\nguards cut him to pieces.\n\nAlexander was proclaimed king, at only twenty years old; and Demosthenes\nwas so delighted at the death of the enemy of Athens, that he wreathed\nhis head with a garland in token of joy, little guessing that Philip's\nmurder had only placed a far greater man on the throne. The first thing\nAlexander did was to go to Corinth, and get himself chosen in his\nfather's stead captain-general of the Greeks. Only the Spartans refused,\nsaying it was their custom to lead, and not to follow; while the\nAthenians pretended to submit, meaning to take the first opportunity of\nbreaking off the yoke. Before Alexander could march, however, to Persia,\nhe had to leave all safe behind him; so he turned northwards to subdue\nthe wild tribes in Thrace. He was gone four months, and the Greeks heard\nnothing of him, so that the Thebans thought he must be lost, and\nproclaimed that they were free from the power of Macedon.\n\nTheir punishment was terrible. Alexander came back in haste, fought them\nin their own town, hunted them from street to street, killed or made\nslaves of all who had not been friends of his father, pulled down all the\nhouses, and divided the lands between the other Boeotian cities. This\nwas for the sake of making an example of terror; but he afterwards\nregretted this act, and, as Bacchus was the special god of Thebes, he\nthought himself punished by the fits of rage that seized him after any\nexcess in wine. The other Greeks, all but the Spartans, again sent\nenvoys to meet Alexander at Corinth, and granted him all the men, stores,\nand money he asked for. The only person who did not bow down to him was\nDiogenes, a philosopher who so exaggerated Stoicism that he was called\nthe \"Mad Socrates.\" His sect were called Cynics, from Cyon, a dog,\nbecause they lived like dogs, seldom washing, and sleeping in any hole.\nDiogenes' lair was a huge earthenware tub, that belonged to the temple of\nthe mother of the gods, Cybele; and here Alexander went to see him, and\nfound him basking in the sun before it, but not choosing to take any\nnotice of the princely youth who addressed him--\"I am Alexander the\nKing.\"\n\n\"And I am Diogenes the Cynic,\" was the answer, in a tone as if he thought\nhimself quite as good as the king. Alexander, however, talked much with\nhim, and ended by asking if he could do anything for him.\n\n\"Only stand out of my sunshine,\" was the answer; and as the young king\nwent away he said, \"If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes;\"\nmeaning, perhaps, that if he were not to master all earthly things, he\nwould rather despise them. Twelve years later, Diogenes, then past\nninety, was found dead in his tub, having supped the night before upon\nthe raw leg of an ox; and, strangely enough, it was the very night that\nAlexander died.\n\n[Picture: Alexander] Alexander was going on with his preparations for\nconquering the East. He had 12,000 foot soldiers from Macedon, trained\nto fight in the terrible phalanx, and 5000 horsemen; also his own\nbodyguard of young nobles, bred up with him at Pella; 7000 men from the\nGreek states, and 5000 who had been used, like the 10,000 of Xenophon, to\nhire themselves out to the Persians, and thus knew the languages,\nmanners, roads, and ways of fighting in the East; but altogether he had\nonly 34,500 men with which to attack the empire which stretched from the\nAEgean to Scythia, from the Euxine to the African deserts. Such was his\nliberality in gifts before he went away, that when he was asked what he\nhad left for himself, he answered, \"My hopes;\" and his hope was not\nmerely to conquer that great world, but to tame it, bring it into order,\nand teach the men there the wisdom and free spirit of the Greek world;\nfor he had learnt from Aristotle that to make men true, brave, virtuous,\nand free was the way to be godlike. It was in his favour that the direct\nline of Persian kings had failed, and that there had been wars and\nfactions all through the last reign. The present king was Codomanus, a\ngrand-nephew of that Artaxerxes against whom Cyrus had led the ten\nthousand. He had come to the throne in 336, the same year as Alexander,\nand was known as Darius, the royal name he had taken. Alexander made his\nfather's counsellor, Antipater, governor of Macedon in his absence, and\ntook leave of his mother and his home in the spring of 334.\n\n [Picture: Bacchanals]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXVIII.--THE EXPEDITION TO PERSIA. B.C. 334.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nAlexander passed the Hellespont in the April of 334, steering his own\nvessel, and was the first to leap on shore. The first thing he did was\nto go over the plain of Troy and all the scenes described in the _Iliad_,\nand then to offer sacrifices at the mound said to be the tomb of\nAchilles, while his chief friend Hephaestion paid the same honours to\nPatroclus.\n\nThe best general in the Persian army was a Rhodian named Memnon, who\nwanted to starve out Alexander by burning and destroying all before him;\nbut the satrap Arsaces would not consent to this, and chose to collect\nhis forces, and give battle to the Greeks on the banks of the river\nGranicus, a stream rising in Mount Ida and falling into the Euxine.\nAlexander led the right wing, with a white plume in his helmet, so that\nall might know him; Parmenio led the left; and it was a grand victory,\nthough not without much hard fighting, hand to hand. Alexander was once\nin great danger, but was saved by Clitus, the son of his nurse Lanika.\nThe Persians broke and dispersed so entirely that no army was left in\nAsia Minor, and the satrap Arsaces killed himself in despair.\n\n [Picture: Alexander the Great]\n\nAlexander forbade his troops to plunder the country, telling them that it\nwas his own, and that the people were as much his subjects as they were;\nand all the difference he made was changing the Persian governors for\nGreek ones. Sardis and Ephesus fell into his hands without a blow; and\nto assist in rebuilding the great temple of Diana, he granted all the\ntribute hitherto paid to the Great King. When he came to Caria, Ada, who\nwas reigning there as queen, adopted him as her son, and wanted him to\ntake all her best cooks with him to provide his meals for the future. He\nthanked her, but said his tutor had given him some far better\nrelishers--namely, a march before daybreak as sauce for his dinner, and a\nlight dinner as sauce for his supper.\n\nWhen he came to Gordium, in Phrygia, where one version of the story of\nMidas had placed that king, he was shown a waggon to which the yoke was\nfastened by a knotted with of cornel bough, and told that in this waggon\nMidas had come to Gordium, and that whoever could undo it should be the\nlord of Asia. Alexander dextrously drew out the pin, and unwound the\nknot, to the delight of his followers.\n\nIn the spring he dashed down through the Taurus mountains, to take\npossession of the city of Tarsus, in Cilicia, before Memnon could collect\nthe scattered Persian forces to enter it and cut him off from Syria. He\nrode in heated and wearied, and at once threw himself from his horse to\nbathe in the waters of the river Cydnus; but they came from the melting\nsnows of the mountains, and were so exceedingly cold that the shock of\nthe chill brought on a most dangerous fever. One physician, named\nPhilip, offered to give him a draught that might relieve him, but at the\nsame time a warning was sent from Parmenio that the man had been bribed\nto poison him. Alexander took the cup, and, while he drank it off, he\nheld out the letter to Philip with the other hand; but happily there was\nno treason, and he slowly recovered, while Parmenio was sent on to secure\nthe mountain passes. Darius, however, was advancing with a huge army, in\nwhich was a band of Spartans, who hated the Persians less than they did\nthe Macedonians. The Persian march was a splendid sight. There was a\ncrystal disk to represent the sun over the king's tent, and the army\nnever moved till sunrise, when first were carried silver altars bearing\nthe sacred fire, and followed by a band of youths, one for each day in\nthe year, in front of the chariot of the sun, drawn by white horses;\nafter which came a horse consecrated to the sun, and led by white-robed\nattendants. The king himself sat in a high, richly-adorned chariot,\nwearing a purple mantle, encrusted with precious stones, and encompassed\nwith his Immortal band, in robes adorned with gold, and carrying\nsilver-handled lances. In covered chariots were his mother Sisygambis,\nhis chief wife and her children, and 360 inferior wives, their baggage\noccupying 600 mules and 300 camels, all protected by so enormous an army\nthat everyone thought the Macedonians must be crushed.\n\n [Picture: Second Temple of Diana at Ephesus]\n\nWith some skill, Darius' army passed from the East into Cilicia, and thus\ngot behind Alexander, who had gone two days' march into Syria; but on the\ntidings he turned back at once, and found that they had not guarded the\npasses between him and them. So he attacked them close to Issus, and\nthere again gained a great victory. When Darius saw his Immortals giving\nway, he was seized with terror, sprang out of his royal chariot, mounted\non horseback, and never rested till he was on the other side of the\nEuphrates.\n\nStill there was a sharp fight, and Alexander was slightly wounded in the\nthigh; but when all the battle was over he came to the tents of Darius,\nand said he would try a Persian bath. He was amused to find it a\nspacious curtained hall, full of vessels of gold and silver, perfumes and\nointments, of which the simpler Greeks did not even know the use, and\nwith a profusion of slaves to administer them. A Persian feast was ready\nalso; but just as he was going to sit down to it he heard the voice of\nweeping and wailing in the next tent, and learned that it came from\nDarius' family. He rose at once to go and comfort the old mother,\nSisygambis, and went into her tent with Hephaestion. Both were plainly\ndressed, and Hephaestion was the taller, so that the old queen took him\nfor the king, and threw herself at his feet. When she saw her mistake\nshe was alarmed, but Alexander consoled her gently by saying, \"Be not\ndismayed, mother; this is Alexander's other self.\" And he continued to\ntreat her with more kindness and respect than she had ever met with\nbefore, even from her own kindred; nor did he ever grieve her but once,\nwhen he showed her a robe, spun, woven, and worked by his mother and\nsisters for him, and offered to have her grand-children taught to make\nthe like. Persian princesses thought it was dignified to have nothing to\ndo, and Sisygambis fancied he meant to make slaves of them; so that he\nhad to reassure her, and tell her that the distaff, loom, and needle were\nheld to give honour to Greek ladies. Darius had fled beyond the rivers,\nand Alexander waited to follow till he should have reduced the western\npart of the empire. He turned into Syria and Phoenicia, and laid siege\nto Tyre, which was built on an island a little way from the sea-shore.\nHe had no ships, but he began building a causeway across the water.\nHowever, the Tyrians sallied out and destroyed it; and he had to go to\nSidon, which he took much more easily, and thence obtained ships, with\nwhich he beat the Tyrian fleet, and, after great toil and danger, at last\nentered Tyre, after a siege of five months.\n\nThen he marched along the shore to the Philistine city of Gaza, which was\nlikewise most bravely defended by a black slave named Boetis. Alexander\nwas much hurt by a stone launched from the walls, which struck him\nbetween the breast and shoulder, and when at the end of four months'\nsiege the city was stormed, the attack was led by one of his cousins. A\ncruel slaughter was made of the citizens; and then Alexander marched up\nthe steep road to Jerusalem, expecting another tedious siege. Instead of\nthis, he beheld a long procession in white bordered with blue, coming out\nat the gates to meet him. All the Priests and Levites, in their robes,\ncame forth, headed by Jaddua, the High Priest, in his beautiful raiment,\nand the golden mitre on his head inscribed with the words, \"Holiness unto\nthe Lord.\" So he had been commanded by God in a vision; and when\nAlexander beheld the sight, he threw himself from his horse, and adored\nthe Name on the mitre. He told his officers that before he set out from\nhome, when he was considering of his journey, just such a form as he now\nbeheld had come and bidden him fear not, for he should be led into the\nEast, and all Persia should be delivered to him. Then the High Priest\ntook him to the outer court of the temple, and showed him the very\nprophecies of Daniel and Zechariah where his own conquests were foretold.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXIX. ALEXANDER'S EASTERN CONQUESTS. B.C. 331-328.\n\n\nAlexander's next step was into Egypt, where the people had long desired\nto drive out the Persians, and welcomed him gladly. He wished to make a\nGreek settlement in Egypt, and bring Greek and Egyptian learning\ntogether; so at the delta of the Nile he built the great city of\nAlexandria, which still remains as important as ever.\n\nSo powerful did he feel himself, that a fancy crossed his mind that,\nafter all, he was no mere man, but the son of Jupiter, and a demi-god,\nlike Bacchus, or Hercules of old. There was a temple to the Egyptian god\nAmmon, on an oasis, a fertile spot round a spring in the middle of the\ndesert, with an oracle that Alexander resolved to consult, and he made\nhis way thither with a small chosen band. The oasis was green with\nlaurels and palms; and the emblem of the god, a gold disk, adorned with\nprecious stones, and placed in a huge golden ship, was carried to meet\nhim by eighty priests, with maidens dancing round them. He was taken\nalone to the innermost shrine. What he heard there he never told; but\nafter this he wore rams' horns on his helmet, because a ram's head was\none sign of the god, whom the Greeks made out to be the same as Jupiter;\nand from this time forward he became much more proud and puffed up, so\nthat it is likely that he had been told by this oracle just what pleased\nhim.\n\nHe then went back to Tyre, and thence set out for the East. A bridge was\nthrown across the Euphrates, but the Tigris was forded by the foot\nsoldiers, holding their shields above their heads out of the water. On\nthe other side Darius was waiting with all the men of the East to fight\nfor their homes, not for distant possessions, as had been the lands of\nAsia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. The Greeks had four days' march along the\nbanks of the Tigris before coming in sight of the Persian host at Arbela.\nIt was so late that the two armies slept in sight of one another.\nParmenio advised the king to make a night attack, but all the answer he\ngot was, \"It would be base to steal a victory;\" and when he came in the\nmorning to say that all was ready, he found his master fast asleep, and\nasked him how he could rest so calmly with one of the greatest battles in\nthe world before him. \"How could we not be calm,\" replied Alexander,\n\"since the enemy is coming to deliver himself into our hands?\"\n\nHe would not wear such a corslet as had been crushed into his shoulder at\nGaza, but put on a breastplate of thick quilted linen, girt with a broad\nleather belt, guarded with a crust of finely-worked metal, and holding a\nlight, sharp sword. He had a polished steel helmet, a long spear in his\nright hand, and a shield on his left arm; and thus he went forth to meet\nDarius, who came in the midst of 200 chariots, armed with scythes, and\nfifteen trained elephants. He had so many troops that he intended to\nclose the wings of his army in upon the Greeks, fold them up, and cut\nthem off; but Alexander, foreseeing this, had warned his men to be ready\nto face about on any side, and then drew them up in the shape of a wedge,\nand thus broke into the very heart of the Immortal band, and was on the\npoint of taking Darius prisoner, when he was called off to help Parmenio,\nwhose division had been broken, so that the camp was threatened.\nAlexander's presence soon set all right again, and made the victory\ncomplete; but Darius had had time to get away, and was galloping on a\nswift horse to the Armenian mountains. There was nobody left to defend\nAssyria, and Alexander marched in through the brazen gates of Babylon,\nwhen the streets were strewn with flowers, and presents of lions and\nleopards borne forth to greet the conqueror.\n\nThe great temple of Bel had been partly ruined by the fire-worshipping\nPersians, and Alexander greatly pleased the Babylonians by decreeing that\nthey might restore it with his aid; but the Jews at Babylon would not\nwork at an idol temple, which they believed to be also the tower of\nBabel, and on their entreaty Alexander permitted them to have nothing to\ndo with it.\n\nAfter staying thirty days at Babylon, he went on to Susa, where he found\nthe brazen statues which Xerxes had carried away from the sack of Athens.\nHe sent them home again, to show the Greeks that he had avenged their\ncause. When he came to Fars--or, as the Greeks called it, Persepolis--a\nwretched band of Greek captives came out to meet him, with their eyes put\nout, or their noses, ears, hands, or feet cut off. The Greeks never\ntortured: it was a dreadful sight to them, and the king burst into tears,\nand promised to send all safe home, but they begged him, instead, to help\nthem to live where they were, since they were ashamed to show themselves\nto their kindred. Their misery made Alexander decide on giving the city\nup to plunder; the men were killed, the women and children made slaves.\nHe meant to revenge on the Persian capital all that the Great Kings had\ninflicted on the Greek cities, and one Corinthian actually shed tears of\njoy at seeing him on the throne, exclaiming, \"What joy have those Greeks\nmissed who have not seen Alexander on the throne of Darius!\"\n\n [Picture: Princes of Persia]\n\nPoor Darius had pushed on into the mountains beyond Media, and thither\nAlexander pursued him; but his own subjects had risen against him, and\nplaced him in a chariot bound with golden chains. Alexander dashed on in\npursuit with his fleetest horsemen, riding all night, and only resting in\nthe noonday heat, for the last twenty-five miles over a desert without\nwater. At daybreak he saw the Persian host moving along like a confused\ncrowd. He charged them, and there was a general flight, and presently a\ncry that Darius was taken. Alexander galloped up and found the unhappy\nking on the ground, speechless and dying, pierced with javelins by his\nown subjects, who would not let him fall alive into the enemy's hands,\nand supported by a Macedonian soldier, who had given him drink, and heard\nhis words of gratitude to Alexander for his kindness to his family, and\nhis hopes that the conqueror would avenge his death, and become sovereign\nof the world. Alexander threw his own mantle over the body, and caused\nit to be embalmed, and buried in the sepulchres of the Persian kings.\n\nNow that the victory was gained, the Greeks wanted to go home, and keep\nall the empire subject to them; but this was not Alexander's plan. He\nmeant to spread Greek wisdom and training over all the world, and to rule\nPersians as well as Greeks for their own good. So, though he let the\nGreek allies go home with pay, rewards, and honours, he kept his\nMacedonians, and called himself by the Persian title, Shah in Shah, King\nof Kings, crowned himself with the Persian crown, and wore royal robes on\nstate occasions. The Macedonians could not bear the sight, especially\nthe nobles, who had lived on almost equal terms with him. There were\nmurmurs, and Parmenio was accused of being engaged in a plot, and put to\ndeath. It was the first sad stain on Alexander's life, and he fell into\na fierce and angry mood, being fretted, as it seems, by the murmurs of\nthe Macedonians, and harassed by the difficulties of the wild mountainous\ncountry on the borders of Persia, where he had to hunt down the last\nPersians who held out against him. At a town called Cyropolis, a stone\nthrown from the walls struck him on the back of the neck, and for some\ndays after he could not see clearly, so that some harm had probably been\ndone to his brain. A few days later he was foolish enough to indulge in\na wine-drinking banquet, at which some flatterers began to praise him in\nsuch an absurd manner that Clitus, the son of his good foster-mother\nLanika, broke out in anger at his sitting still to listen to them.\n\"Listen to truth,\" he said, \"or else ask no freemen to join you, but\nsurround yourself with slaves.\"\n\nAlexander, beside himself with rage, leaped up, feeling for his dagger to\nkill Clitus, but it was not in his belt, and they were both dragged\nbackwards and held by their friends, until Alexander broke loose,\nsnatched a pike from a soldier, and laid Clitus dead at his feet; but the\nmoment he saw what he had done, he was hardly withheld from turning the\npoint against himself, and then he shut himself up in his chamber and\nwept bitterly, without coming out or tasting food for three days. He\ncaused Clitus to be buried with all honours, and offered great sacrifices\nto Bacchus, thinking that it was the god's hatred that made him thus pass\ninto frenzy when he had been drinking wine.\n\nHe spent three years in securing his conquest over the Persian empire,\nwhere he won the love of the natives by his justice and kindness, and\nfounded many cities, where he planted Greeks, and tried to make schools\nand patterns for the country round. They were almost all named\nAlexandria, and still bear the name, altered in some shape or other; but\nthough some of his nearer friends loved him as heartily as ever, and many\nwere proud of him, or followed him for what they could get, a great many\nMacedonians hated him for requiring them to set the example of respect,\nand laughed at the Eastern forms of state with which he was waited on,\nwhile they were still more angry that he made the Persians their equals,\nand not their slaves. So that he had more troubles with the Macedonians\nthan with the strangers.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXX.--THE END OF ALEXANDER. B.C. 328.\n\n\nBefore establishing his empire, Alexander longed to survey the unknown\nlands further eastwards, and he led his army down the long, terrible\nKhybar pass to the banks of the Indus, where he fought a great battle\nwith an Indian king called Porus, the bravest enemy he had yet met. At\nlast Porus was defeated and made prisoner. He came to Alexander as if he\nwere visiting him, and Alexander received him with like courtesy, and\nasked if he had any request to make. \"None, save to be treated as a\nking,\" said Porus. \"That I shall do, for my own sake,\" said Alexander,\nand the two became friends. In this country of the Indus, Alexander\nreceived the submission of thirty-five cities, and founded two more, one\nof which he named Bucephala, in honour of his good horse Bucephalus,\nwhich died in the middle of a battle without a wound.\n\nAlexander longed to press on and see all the wonders of India, and the\ngreat river Ganges, but his Macedonians were weary of the march, and\nabsolutely refused to go any further, so that he was obliged to turn\nback, in hopes of collecting another army, and going to the very shores\nof the Eastern Ocean.\n\nHe would not, however, return by the way he had gone, through the\nmountains, but he built ships on the river Jhelum, a tributary of the\nIndus, with which to coast along the shores to the mouth of the\nEuphrates. There were forests of fir and pine to supply the wood, but\ntheir inhabitants, the apes and monkeys, collected in such force on the\ntop of a hill near at hand, that the Greeks thought they were human\nenemies, and were about to attack them, till a native explained the\nmistake.\n\nThey met more dangerous enemies when they came to Mooltan, the city of a\ntribe called the Malli. This was a fort shut in by a strong outer wall,\nwithin which trees were growing. Alexander planted a ladder against the\nwall, and mounted it first, but while his men were climbing up after him,\nit broke, and he stood alone on the wall, a mark for all the darts of the\nenemy. His guards stretched up their arms, begging him to leap back to\nthem, but he scorned to do this, and jumped down within, among the enemy.\nThey gave back for a moment, but, on finding that he was quite alone,\nclosed in upon him. He set his back against the wall, under a fig-tree,\nand slew with his sword all who approached. Then they formed into a\nhalf-circle, and shot at him with barbed arrows, six feet long. By this\ntime a few of his guards had climbed up the wall, and were coming down to\nhis help, at the moment when an arrow pierced his breast, and he sank\ndown in a kneeling posture, with his brow on the rim of his shield, while\nhis men held their shields over him till the rest could come to their\naid, and he was taken up as one dead, and carried out on his shield,\nwhile all within the fort were slaughtered in the rage of the\nMacedonians. When the king had been carried to his tent, the point of\nthe arrow was found to be firmly fixed in his breast-bone, and he bade\nPerdiccas, his friend, cut a gash wide enough to allow the barbs to pass\nbefore drawing it out. He refused to be held while this was done, but\nkept himself perfectly still, until he fainted, and lay for many hours\nbetween life and death; nor was it for a week that he could even bear to\nbe placed on board a galley, and lie on the deck under an awning as it\nwent down the river, whilst his men were in raptures to see him restored\nto them.\n\nHe had to halt for some weeks, and then proceed along the Indus, until he\nreached the Indian Ocean, where the Greeks were delighted to see their\nold friend the sea, though they were amazed at the tides, having never\nseen any in their own Mediterranean. Alexander now sent an old\ncommander, Nearchus, to take charge of the ships along the coast, while\nhe himself marched along inland, to collect provisions and dig wells for\ntheir supply; but the dreadful, bare, waterless country, covered with\nrocks, is so unfit for men that his troops suffered exceedingly, and\nhardly anyone has been there since his time. He shared all the\ndistresses of his soldiers, and once, when a little water, found with\ngreat difficulty, was brought him as he plodded along in the scorching\nheat of a noonday sun, he gave heartfelt thanks, but in the sight of all\npoured out the water, not choosing to take to himself what all could not\nshare. In the midst the guides lost their way, and Alexander had to\nsteer their course for a week by his own instinct, and the sun and stars,\nuntil after sixty days he reached a place which seems to be Bunpore, part\nof the Persian empire, where his difficulties were over, and Nearchus\nby-and-by joined him, after a wonderful voyage, of which he wrote an\naccount, which has not come down to our times, so that we only know that\nno Greek believed in it. Alexander meant to try if he could sail through\nthis strange sea, and return to Greece by the Pillars of Hercules, as we\nnow know would have been quite possible.\n\nHe found, when he came back to Persia, that the governors he had left in\nthe cities had thought that he was sure to perish in India, and had\nplundered shamefully, so that he had to punish severely both Greeks and\nPersians; but then, to make the two nations friends, he held an immense\nwedding feast at Susa, when eighty Greek bridegrooms married eighty\nPersian brides. Alexander himself and his friend Hephaestion had the two\ndaughters of Darius, and the other ladies were daughters of satraps. The\nwedding was thus conducted: in one great hall eighty double seats were\nplaced, and here the bridegrooms sat down to feast, till the brides\nentered, in jewelled turbans, wide linen drawers, silken tunics, and\nbroad belts. Alexander rose, took his princess by the hand, and led her\nto his seat, and all the rest followed his example--each led his lady to\nhis seat, kissed her, and placed her beside him, then cut a loaf of bread\nin two, poured out wine, and ate and drank with her.\n\n [Picture: Supposed Walls of Babylon--From an Ancient Coin]\n\nHephaestion died soon after, at Ecbatana, of a fever he had not taken\ncare of in time. Alexander caused his corpse to be brought to Babylon,\nand burnt on a funeral pile; while he himself was in an agony of grief,\nand sent to ask the oracle of Ammon whether his friend might not be\nworshipped as a hero-god. He himself had already demanded divine honours\nfrom the Greeks. The Athenians obeyed, but secretly mocked; and the\nSpartans grimly answered, \"If Alexander will be a god, let him.\"\n\nAlexander was at Babylon, newly fortifying it, and preparing it to be the\ncapital of his mighty empire. He held his court seated on the golden\nthrone of the Persian Shahs, with a golden pine over it, the leaves of\nemeralds and the fruit of carbuncles; and here he received embassies from\nevery known people in Europe and Asia, and stood at the highest point of\nglory that man has ever reached, not knowing how near the end was.\n\nEver since Cyrus had taken Babylon by turning the Euphrates out of its\ncourse, the ground had been ill drained, swampy, and unhealthy; and\nbefore setting out on further conquests, Alexander wished to put all this\nin order again, and went about in a boat on the canals to give\ndirections. His broad-brimmed hat was blown off, and lodged among the\nweeping willows round some old Assyrian's tomb; and though it was brought\nback at once, the Greeks thought its having been on a tomb an evil omen,\nbut the real harm was in the heat of the sun on his bare head, which he\nhad shorn in mourning for Hephaestion.\n\nHe meant to go on an expedition to Arabia, and offered a great sacrifice,\nbut at night fever came on. The Greeks at home, who hated him, said it\nwas from drinking a huge cup of wine at one draught; but this is almost\ncertain not to be true, since his doctors have left a daily journal of\nhis illness, and make no mention of any such excess. He daily grew\nworse, worn out by his toils and his wounds, and soon he sank into a\nlethargy, in which he hardly spoke. Once he said something about his\nempire passing to the strongest, and of great strife at his funeral\ngames, and at last, when his breath was almost gone, he held out his\nsignet ring to Perdiccas, the only one of his old friends who was near\nhim. He was only thirty-three years old, and had made his mighty\nconquests in twelve years, when he thus died in 323. The poor old\nPersian queen, Sisygambis, so grieved for him that she refused all food,\nsat weeping in a corner, and died a few days after him.\n\n [Picture: Site of Susa, Ancient Metropolis of Persia]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXI. THE LAST STRUGGLES OF ATHENS. B.C. 334-311.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe generals of Alexander met in dismay and grief the morning after his\ndeath at Babylon, and Perdiccas sadly laid the ring on the empty throne.\nThere was no one to go on with what he had begun, for though he had a\nbrother named Arridaeus, the poor youth was weak in mind; and Alexander's\nown son was a little, helpless infant. These two were joined together as\nKings of Macedon and Shahs of Persia, and four guardians were appointed\nfor them, who really only used their names as a means of getting power\nfor themselves.\n\nThe Greek cities had always hated the yoke of Macedon, and hoped that\nAlexander would be lost in the East. They had been restless all this\ntime, and had only been kept down by the threats and the bribes of\nAntipater, the governor of Macedon. When the news of Alexander's death\nfirst came to Athens, the people were ready to make a great outbreak, but\nthe more cautious would not believe it, and Phocion advised them to wait,\n\"for,\" he said, \"if he is dead to-day, he will still be dead to-morrow\nand the next day, so that we may take council at our leisure.\"\n\nPhocion was a good and honest man, but low-spirited, and he thought quiet\nthe only hope for Athens. When he found that the citizens were making a\ngreat boasting, and were ready to rush into a war without counting the\ncost, he said he would advise one only \"whenever he saw the young men\nready to keep their ranks, the old men to pay the money, and the orators\nto abstain from taking it for themselves.\" However, the Athenians made a\nleague with the Thessalians and other Greeks against Macedon, and put\ntheir army under the command of Leosthenes, a young man to whom Phocion\nsaid, \"Your speeches are like cypress trees, stately and lofty, but\nbearing no fruit.\" Leosthenes defeated Antipater and the Macedonians at\nLamia, and besieged them; but still Phocion had no hope, and when asked\nwhether he could wish for better success, he said, \"No, but better\ncounsels.\"\n\nDemosthenes had in the meantime been banished by the spite of some of his\nsecret enemies. He was very angry and bitter, and as he lived in AEgina,\nwhence he could still see the Acropolis and temple of Pallas Athene, he\nexclaimed, \"Goddess, what favourites thou halt chosen--the owl, the ass,\nand the Athenians;\" but in these days of joy a ship was sent by the State\nto bring him home, and fifty talents were granted to him.\n\nBut Leosthenes was killed by a stone from the walls of Lamia, and some\nMacedonian troops came home from the East to the help of Antipater. They\nwere defeated by land, but they beat the Athenians by sea; and in a\nsecond battle such a defeat was given to the Greeks that their league\nagainst Macedon was broken up, and each city was obliged to make peace\nfor itself separately.\n\n [Picture: Gate of Hadrian in Athens]\n\nAntipater made it a condition of granting peace that all who had favoured\nresistance to Macedon should be treated as rebels. Demosthenes and his\nfriends fled from Athens, and took refuge at the temples of different\ngods; but the cruel Macedonian was resolved that they should all be put\nto death, and took a set of ruffians into his pay, who were called the\nExile-hunters, because they were to search out and kill all who had been\nsent away from their cities for urging them to free themselves.\nDemosthenes was in the temple of Neptune at Calaurea. When the\nexile-hunters came thither, he desired time to write a letter to his\nfriends, spread a roll of parchment before him, and bit the top of the\nreed he was writing with; after which he bowed his head, and covered it\nwith his robe. There was poison hidden in the top of the reed, and\npresently he rose up and said, \"Act the part of Creon, and throw my body\nto the dogs. I quit thy sanctuary, Neptune, still breathing, though\nAntipater and the Macedonians have not spared it from pollution.\"\n\nHe tried to reach the door, but as he passed the altar, fell, and died\nwith one groan. Poor Athens was quite struck down, and the affairs were\nchiefly managed by Phocion, who was a thoroughly honest, upright man, but\nsubmitted to let the Macedonians dictate to the city, because he did not\nthink the Athenians could make head against them. Antipater could never\npersuade him to take any reward for himself, though others who were\nfriends of Macedon could never be satisfied with bribes. Meantime,\nPerdiccas was coming home, bringing with him the two young kings, uncle\nand nephew, and meaning to put Antipater down; but he turned aside on his\nway to attack Ptolemy, the ablest of all Alexander's generals, who was\ncommanding in Egypt, and in trying to cross the Nile a great part of his\narmy was cut off, and multitudes were eaten by the crocodiles. The few\nwho were left rose against him and murdered him in his tent, then offered\nthe command and guardianship of the kings to Ptolemy; but he would not\ntake it, and chose rather to stay and make himself king of Egypt, where\nhis family reigned at Alexandria for three hundred years, all the kings\nbeing called Ptolemy.\n\nAntipater was by this time an old man, and he died a little after; and\nhis son Cassander expected to take the government of Macedon, but, to his\nsurprise, found that his father had appointed the old general\nPolysperchon in his stead. This he would not endure, and a war arose\nbetween the two. One of Cassander's friends took possession of the\nPiraeus, to hold it for him; and Phocion was accused of having advised\nit, and was obliged to flee with his friends into a village in Phocis,\nwhere they were made prisoners by Polysperchon, who thought to please the\nAthenians by sending them in waggons to Athens to be tried. A mob of the\nworst sort came together, and would not hear their defence, but sentenced\nthem to die by taking hemlock. When Phocion was asked whether he had any\nmessage for his son, he said, \"Only that he bear no grudge against the\nAthenians.\" There was not enough hemlock to poison all, and more was\nsent for. The jailer desired to be paid, and Phocion said, \"Give the man\nhis money. One cannot even die for nothing in Athens.\"\n\nPhocion is sometimes called the last of the Athenians, but it was a sad\nkind of greatness, for he could not give them freedom, and only tried to\nkeep them from the misery of war by submission to Macedon. The Spartans\nwould give no help; and though the little city of Megalopolis held\nbravely out against Cassander, it was taken and horribly punished; and it\nwas plain that the old spirit of the Greeks was gone, and that they could\nno longer band together to keep out the enemy; so they all remained in\nsubjection to Macedon, most of them with a garrison of Macedonian\nsoldiers in their citadel. But Athens was as full of philosophers as\never, and became a sort of college, where people sent their sons to study\nlearning, oratory, and poetry, and hear the disputes of the Stoic and\nEpicurean philosophers.\n\nIn the meantime Alexander's embalmed body had been buried at Alexandria,\nand the two young kings, his son Alexander AEgos and his half-brother\nArridaeus, had been brought to Macedon. His mother Olympias put poor\nArridaeus to death as soon as she could get him into her power. She had\nalways hated Antipater, and now took part with Polysperchon against\nCassander; but this was the losing side. Polysperchon was beaten, and\ndriven out of Macedon: and she, with her grandson and his mother, the\nPersian princess Roxana, shut themselves up in Pydna, where Cassander\nbesieged them till he had starved them out, and Olympias surrendered on\ncondition that her life was spared; but Cassander did not keep his word,\nand sent soldiers to put her to death. The young king and his mother\nwere kept at Amphipolis till the boy was sixteen years old; and then,\ngrowing afraid that he would try to win his father's throne, Cassander\nhad them both slain.\n\nSo the great empire of Alexander was broken up among four chief powers,\nCassander in Macedon, Lysimachus in Thrace, Seleucus in Syria, Ptolemy in\nEgypt.\n\n [Picture: Greek women]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXII.--THE FOUR NEW KINGDOMS. B.C. 311-287.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThere was a mighty power coming up against Cassander. One of Alexander's\nold generals, named Antigonus, the \"One-eyed,\" had received some Asiatic\nprovinces for his share in the break-up of the empire, and when Perdiccas\nset out on his return was appointed commander in his stead in the East;\nand again, when Antipater died, Polysperchon renewed his appointment;\nwhile Eumenes, an honest and good man, was the regent upheld by\nCassander's party. In 316 a battle was fought at Gabiene, in which\nEumenes was defeated. He was given up to Antigonus by his own troops,\nand as the victor could not bear to kill his old comrade, he left him in\nprison to be starved to death.\n\nThen Antigonus took possession of all the treasures in Ecbatana and\nBabylon, and began to call Seleucus in Syria to account for his dealings\nwith the revenues of the empire. Seleucus fled into Egypt; and all the\nfour chiefs, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander joined together\nto put down Antigonus and his brave and able son, Demetrius. There was\nwar everywhere, until in 311 peace was made, on condition that the Greek\ncities should be set free, and that Antigonus should have the whole\ngovernment of Asia Minor, Seleucus of Syria, Ptolemy of Egypt, Cassander\nof Macedon, and Lysimachus of Thrace, till the young Alexander was old\nenough to govern; but, as we have seen, Cassander murdered him when he\nwas only sixteen, and the old family of Macedon was at an end. Nor did\nCassander give up the Greek cities; so Demetrius was sent to force him to\ndo so. There was little attempt to resist him; and the Athenians were in\nsuch delight that they called him the Saviour, named a month after him,\nlodged him in the Parthenon itself, and caused his image to be carried in\nprocessions among those of the gods themselves. He took so many towns\nthat his name in history is Poliorketes, or the City-taker, and then he\nwas sent to gain the isle of Cyprus from Ptolemy. The fleet of\nAlexandria was thought the best in the world, but Demetrius defeated it\nentirely in the year 306, and in their joy the soldiers called him and\nhis father both kings, and they put on the diadem of the Shahs of Persia,\nmaking their capital the city they had founded on the Orontes, and\ncalling it Antigoneia.\n\nCassander, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Seleucus all likewise called\nthemselves kings. And still the war went on. Demetrius was sent against\nthe island of Rhodes, which belonged to Ptolemy, and besieged the city a\nwhole year, but could not take it, and was obliged to make peace with the\nislanders at last, and to give them all the machines he had used in the\nsiege. These they sold for 300 talents, and used the money to make an\nenormous brazen statue of Apollo, to stand with one foot on each side of\nthe entrance of the harbour. Ships in full sail could pass under it, and\nfew men could grasp its thumb with their arms. It was called the\nColossus of Rhodes, and was counted as the seventh wonder of the world,\nthe others being the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the Tomb of Mausolus,\nthe Lighthouse of Messina, the Walls of Babylon, the Labyrinth of Crete,\nand the Pyramids of Egypt. They also consecrated a grove to Ptolemy for\nthe assistance he had given to them.\n\nDemetrius then went to Greece, and tried to overthrow Cassander, but the\nother kings joined against him, and he was obliged to go home, for\nSeleucus was threatening Antigoneia. Antigonus and Demetrius collected\ntheir forces, and fought a great battle at Ipsus, where Seleucus brought\ntrained elephants from India, which had lately begun to be used in\nbattle, and were found to frighten horses so as to render them quite\nunmanageable. Demetrius, however, thought he had gained the victory, but\nhe rushed on too fast, and left his father unsupported, so that poor old\nAntigonus, who was eighty years of age, was shut in by the troops of\nSeleucus and killed. Demetrius had to retreat to Ephesus with his broken\narmy.\n\nThe Athenians, who had made so much of him before, now turned against\nhim, and made a law to punish with death anyone who should speak of\nmaking peace with him. However, Cassander died, and his sons quarrelled\nabout the kingdom, so that Demetrius found it a good opportunity to\nreturn to Greece, and very soon made the Athenians open their gates to\nhim, which they did in fear and trembling; but he treated them so\nmercifully that they soon admired him as much as ever.\n\n[Picture: Macedonian soldier] Then he attacked Sparta, and defeated her\nking, taking the city which had so long held out against the Macedonians;\nbut he had only just done so when he heard that Ptolemy had recovered all\nCyprus except Salamina, and that Lysimachus had seized all Asia Minor, so\nthat nothing was left to him but his army.\n\nBut there was a wonderful change still to befall him. Cassander's\nsons,--as has been said, were disputing for the kingdom. Their mother,\nThessalonica, a daughter of Philip of Macedon, favoured the youngest, and\nthis so enraged the eldest that he killed her with his own hand. His\nbrother called on Demetrius to help him, and he came with his army; but\non some fancy that the youth was plotting against him, he had him put to\ndeath, and convinced the Macedonians that the act was just. They would\nnot have the murderer of his own mother as their king, but chose\nDemetrius himself to be king of Macedon, so that almost at the same time\nhe lost one kingdom and gained another, and this last remained in his\nfamily for several generations. He tried to regain Asia, but did not\nsucceed; indeed he was once again obliged to fly from Macedonia in\ndisguise. He had learned to admire the splendours of the East, wore a\ndouble diadem on his head, and wonderful sandals; and he had also ordered\nskilful weavers and embroiderers to make him a mantle, on which the\nsystem of the universe as then understood--the earth in the centre, with\nthe moon, sun, and planets, and every fixed star then discovered--was to\nbe embroidered in gold.\n\nThe Macedonians had not been used to see their kings crowned at all, or\ndifferently dressed from themselves, and they had hardly borne such\nassumption of state from Alexander himself, in the height of his pomp and\nglory, and when he had newly taken the throne of the kings of Persia; and\nthey were much offended at Demetrius' splendour, and still more at his\npride and haughtiness of manner, and inattention to those who had to make\nany request from him.\n\nOne day, when he was passing through the streets, some persons brought\nhim some petitions, which he received more graciously than usual, and\nplaced them in one of the folds of his robe; but as soon as he came to a\nbridge over a river he threw them into the water, to the great offence\nand disappointment of the poor people who had brought them.\n\nThis was very unlike Ptolemy, who was a wise, clear-headed man, with much\nof Alexander's spirit of teaching and improving people under him, and who\nruled so as to make himself much beloved in Egypt, Cyprus, Rhodes, and\nPalestine. The new city of Alexandria was his capital, and under him and\nhis son Ptolemy Philadelphus it grew to be a great merchant city, and\nalso a school of art, science, and philosophy almost as famous as Athens,\nand with a library containing all the chief books in the world, including\nthe Old Testament. This was translated into Greek by 70 learned Jews,\nand therefore called the Septuagint.\n\nSeleucus, king of Syria, held all the lands from Persia to Asia Minor.\nHis capital was Antioch, in Syria, which he had built and named after his\nson Antiochus, and which became a very splendid and beautiful city, full\nof a light-minded, merry people, fond of games and shows. He built many\nother places, calling them after himself or his son, and placing Greeks\nto live in them. Thus, though Alexander only reigned twelve years, he\nhad made a great difference to the world, for the Greek language,\nlearning, and habits were spread all over the East, and every well-taught\nperson was brought up in them. So that, while the grand old Greek states\nwere in bondage, and produced no more great men, their teachings had\nspread farther than they ever thought.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXIII--PYRRHUS, KING OF EPIRUS. B.C. 287.\n\n\nTo the westward of Greece lay a mountainous land, bordered by the\nAdriatic Sea, and in old times called Epirus. The people spoke a sort of\nbarbarous Greek, worse than that of the Macedonians; but the royal family\nwere pure Greeks, and believed themselves to be descended from Achilles;\nand Alexander's mother, Olympias, had been one of them. In the wars and\nconfusion that followed upon Alexander's death, the Epirot king,\nAEacides, took part, and this led to a rising against him, ending in his\nbeing killed, with all his family, except his little two-year-old son,\nnamed Pyrrhus, who was saved by some faithful servants. They fled\ntowards the city of Megara, on the border of Macedon, but they only\nreached it late at night, and there was a rough and rapid river between,\nswelled by rains. They called to the people on the other side, and held\nup the little child, but the rushing of the river drowned their voices,\nand their words were not understood. At last one of them peeled off a\npiece of bark from an oak tree, and scratched on it with the tongue of a\nbuckle an account of their distress, and, fastening it to a stone, threw\nit over. The Megarians immediately made a sort of raft with trees, and,\nfloating over, brought little Pyrrhus and his friends across; but finding\nMacedon not safe, since Cassander had been the enemy of AEacides, they\nwent on to Illyria, where they found the king, Glaucias, sitting with his\nqueen. Putting the child on the ground, they began to tell their story.\nAt first the king was unwilling to grant him shelter, being afraid of\nCassander; but the little fellow, crawling about, presently came near,\nand, laying hold of his leg, pulled himself upon his feet, and looked up\nin his face. The pretty, unconscious action of a suppliant so moved\nGlaucias that he took him up in his arms, and gave him into those of the\nqueen, bidding her have him bred up among their own children; and though\nCassander offered 200 talents, he would not give up the boy.\n\nWhen Pyrrhus was twelve years old, Glaucias sent an army to restore him\nto his throne, and guarded him there. He was high-spirited, brave, and\ngracious, but remarkable-looking, from his upper teeth being all in one,\nwithout divisions. When he was seventeen, while he was gone to Illyria\nto the wedding of one of Glaucias' sons, his subjects rose against him,\nand made one of his cousins king. He then went to Demetrius, who had\nmarried his elder sister, and fought under him at the battle of Ipsus;\nafter which Demetrius sent him as a hostage to Alexandria, and his grace\nand spirit made him so great a favourite with Ptolemy that he gave him\nhis step-daughter Berenice in marriage, and helped him to raise an army\nwith which he recovered his kingdom of Epirus.\n\nHe had not long been settled there before the Macedonians, who had begun\nto hate Demetrius, heard such accounts of Pyrrhus' kindness as a man and\nskill as a warrior, that the next time a war broke out they all deserted\nDemetrius, who was forced to fly in the disguise of a common soldier, and\nhis wife poisoned herself in despair. However, Demetrius did not lose\ncourage, but left his son Antigonus to protect Greece, and went into Asia\nMinor, hoping to win back some of his father's old kingdom from Seleucus,\nbut he could get nobody to join him; and after wandering about in hunger\nand distress in the Cilician mountains, he was forced to give himself up\na prisoner to Seleucus, who kept him in captivity, but treated him\nkindly, and let him hunt in the royal park. His son Antigonus, however,\nwho still held Greece, wrote to offer himself as a hostage, that his\nfather might be set free; but before he could reach Syria, Demetrius the\nCity-taker had died of over-eating and drinking in his captivity, and\nonly the urn containing his ashes could be sent to his son in Greece.\n\nPyrrhus had not kept Macedon long, for Lysimachus attacked him, and the\nfickle Macedonians all went over to the Thracian, so that he was obliged\nto retreat into his own kingdom of Epirus; whilst Seleucus and Lysimachus\nbegan a war, in which Lysimachus was killed; and thus both Thrace and\nMacedon were in the hands of Seleucus, who is therefore commonly called\nthe Conqueror. He was the last survivor of all Alexander's generals, and\nheld all his empire except Egypt; but while taking possession of\nMacedonia he was murdered by a vile Egyptian Greek, whom he had\nbefriended, named Ptolemy Keraunus. This man, in the confusion that\nfollowed, managed to make himself king of Macedon.\n\nBut just at this time the Kelts, or Gauls, the same race who used to\ndwell in Britain and Gaul, made one of their great inroads from the\nmountains. The Macedonians thought them mere savages, easy to conquer;\nbut it turned out quite otherwise. The Kelts defeated them entirely, cut\noff Ptolemy Keraunus' head, and carried it about upon a pole, and overran\nall Thrace and Macedon. Then they advanced to the Pass of Thermopylae,\nfound the way over Mount OEta by which Xerxes had surprised the Spartans,\nand were about to plunder Delphi, their Bran, or chief, being reported to\nsay that the gods did not want riches as much as men did. The Greeks, in\nmuch grief for their beloved sanctuary, assembled to fight for it, and\nthey were aided by a terrible storm and earthquake, which dismayed the\nGauls, so that the next morning they were in a dispirited state, and\ncould not stand against the Greeks. The Bran was wounded, and finding\nthat the battle was lost, called the other chiefs round him, advised them\nto kill all the wounded men, and make their retreat as best they might,\nand then stabbed himself to set the example. The others tried to\nretreat, but were set upon by the Greeks, tormented, and starved; and it\nis said that all who had marched to Delphi perished, and the only Gauls\nof all this host who survived were a party who had crossed the\nHellespont, and made a settlement in the very heart of Asia Minor, where\nthey were known by the name of Galatians, and still kept up their own\nlanguage.\n\n [Picture: Delphi and the Castalian Fount]\n\nWhen they had thus cut off Keraunus, Antigonus came from Greece, and took\npossession of Macedon. He made a treaty with Antiochus, who had\nsucceeded his father Seleucus in Syria, and thenceforth the family\nfounded by Antigonus the One-eyed held Macedon. This Antigonus is called\nGonatas, from the name of a guard for the knee which he wore.\n\nPyrrhus, in the meantime, set out on a wild expedition to help the Greek\ncolonies in Italy against the Romans, hoping to make himself as famous in\nthe West as Alexander had done in the East; but the story of his doings\nthere belongs to the history of Rome, so that I will leave it. He was\nabsent six years, and came home unsuccessful to harass Antigonus again.\nFor a few years the Macedonians again went over to Pyrrhus, and he tried\nto conquer Greece, marching against Sparta with 25,000 men, 2000 horse,\nand 24 elephants. He assaulted the city, but Spartan bravery was still\nenough to beat him off twice. However, he wintered in the Peloponnesus,\nand in the spring attacked the city of Argos, which was watched over by\nAntigonus, with his army, on a hill near at hand. Pyrrhus had shown\nhimself so skilful a general that Antigonus would not fight a battle with\nhim, and at night some traitors invited Pyrrhus into Argos, with some of\nhis troops; but another party admitted Antigonus' son and his forces. In\nthe morning Pyrrhus saw how he had been caught, and sent a message to his\nson Helenus outside to break down part of the wall, that he might\nretreat; but there was some blunder in the message, and Helenus thought\nhe was to come in to help his father, so his men going in and Pyrrhus'\ngoing out met in the gateway and choked it. Matters were made worse by\none of the elephants falling down and blocking up the street, while\nanother went mad, and ran about trampling down the crowd and trumpeting.\nPyrrhus kept in the rear, trying to guard his men through the streets,\nwhen an Argive slightly wounded him, and as he was rushing to revenge the\nblow, the mother of the man, who was looking down from her window above,\nthrew down a tile, hoping to save him, and struck Pyrrhus on the back of\nthe neck. He fell down stunned, and a soldier cut off his head, and\ncarried it to Antigonus, who turned away in tears at the sight of this\nsad remnant of the ablest captain in Greece, and caused Pyrrhus' body to\nbe honourably buried in the temple of Ceres. Pyrrhus was only forty-six\nyears old when he was thus slain in the year 272.\n\nThere is a story of a conversation between Pyrrhus and a philosopher\nnamed Kineas, just as he was setting off for Italy. \"What shall you do\nwith these men?\" asked Kineas. \"Overcome Italy and Rome,\" said Pyrrhus.\n\"And what next?\" \"Then Sicily will be easily conquered.\" \"Is that all?\"\n\"Oh no; Carthage and Lybia may be subdued next.\" \"And then?\" \"Then we\nmay secure Macedon and Greece.\" \"And then?\" \"Then we may eat and drink\nand discourse.\" \"And pray,\" said Kineas, \"why should we not do so at\nonce?\"\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXIV. ARATUS AND THE ACHAIAN LEAGUE. B.C. 267.\n\n\nAntigonus Gonatas was now quite the most powerful person left in Macedon\nor Greece, and though Sparta and Athens tried to get the help of Egypt\nagainst him, they could do nothing to shake off his power.\n\nThere were twelve little cities in the Peloponnesus, which were all\nunited together in one league, called the Achaian, each governing itself,\nbut all joining together against any enemy outside. In the good old\ntimes they had sent men to the wars as allies of Sparta, but they had\nnever had a man of much mark among them. In the evil times, Sicyon, a\ncity near Achaia, fell under the power of a tyrant, and about the time\nthat Pyrrhus was killed, Clinias, a citizen of Sicyon, made a great\nattempt to free his townsmen, but he was found out, his house attacked,\nand he and his family all put to death, except his son Aratus, a little\nboy of seven years old, who ran away from the dreadful sight, and went\nwandering about the town, till by chance he came into the house of the\ntyrant's sister. She took pity on the poor boy, hid him from her brother\nall day, and at night sent him to Argos to some friends of his father, by\nwhom he was brought up.\n\nWhen he was only twenty he wrote to friends at Sicyon, and finding them\nof the same mind with himself, he climbed the walls at night and met\nthem. The people gathered round him, and he caused it to be proclaimed\nwith a loud voice, \"Aratus, the son of Clinias, calls on Sicyon to resume\nher liberty.\" The people all began rushing to the tyrant's house. He\nfled by an underground passage, and his house was set on fire, but not\none person on either side was killed or wounded. Aratus was resolved to\nkeep Sicyon free, and in order to make her strong enough, he persuaded\nthe citizens to join her to the Achaian League; and he soon became the\nleading man among all the Achaians, and his example made other cities\ncome into the same band of union. He further tried to gain strength by\nan alliance with Egypt, and he went thither to see Ptolemy III., called\nEuergetes, or the Benefactor. It is said that Ptolemy's good-will was\nwon by Aratus' love of art, and especially of pictures. Apelles, the\ngreatest Grecian painter, was then living, and had taken a portrait of\none of the tyrants of Sicyon. Aratus had destroyed all their likenesses,\nand he stood a long time looking at this one before he could bring\nhimself to condemn it, but at last he made up his mind that it must not\nbe spared. Ptolemy liked him so much that he granted him 150 talents for\nthe city, and the Achaians were so much pleased that they twice elected\nhim their general, and the second time he did them a great service.\n\n [Picture: Corinth]\n\nIn the middle of the Isthmus of Corinth stood the city, and in the midst\nwas a fort called Acro-Corinthus, perched on a high hill in the very\ncentre of the city, so that whoever held it was master of all to the\nsouth, and old Philip of Macedon used to call it the Corinthian shackles\nof Greece. The king of Macedon, Antigonus III., now held it; but Aratus\ndevised a scheme to take it. A Corinthian named Erginus had come to\nSicyon on business, and there met a friend of Aratus, to whom he chanced\nto mention that there was a narrow path leading up to the Acro-Corinthus\nat a place where the wall was low. Aratus heard of this, and promised\nErginus sixty talents if he would guide him to the spot; but as he had\nnot the money, he placed all his gold and silver plate and his wife's\njewels in pledge for the amount.\n\nOn the appointed night Aratus came with 400 men, carrying\nscaling-ladders, and placed them in the temple of Juno, outside the city,\nwhere they all sat down and took off their shoes. A heavy fog came on,\nand entirely hid them; and Aratus, with 100 picked men, came to the rock\nat the foot of the city wall, and there waited while Erginus and seven\nothers, dressed as travellers, went to the gates and killed the sentinel\nand guard, without an alarm. Then the ladders were fixed, and Aratus\ncame up with his men, and stood under the wall unseen, while four men\nwith lights passed by them. Three of these they killed, but the fourth\nescaped, and gave the alarm. The trumpets were sounded, and every street\nwas full of lights and swarmed with men; but Aratus, meantime, was trying\nto climb the steep rocks, and groping for the path leading up to the\ncitadel. Happily the fog lifted for a moment, the moon shone out, and he\nsaw his way, and hastened up to the Acro-Corinthus, where he began to\nfight with the astonished garrison. The 300 men whom he had left in the\ntemple of Juno heard the noise in the city and saw the lights, then\nmarched in and came to the foot of the rock, but not being able to find\nthe path, they drew up at the foot of a precipice, sheltered by an\noverhanging rock, and there waited in much anxiety, hearing the battle\noverhead, but not able to join in it. The Macedonian governor, in the\nmeantime, had called out his men, and was going up to support the guard\nin the fort, blowing his trumpets, when, as he passed these men, they\ndashed out on him, just as if they had been put in ambush on purpose, and\nso dismayed them in the confusion that they fancied the enemy five times\nas many, as the moon and the torches flashed on their armour, and they\nlet themselves all be made prisoners.\n\n [Picture: View looking across Isthmus of Corinth]\n\nBy the time morning had come Corinth was in the hands of the Achaians,\nand Aratus came down from the fortress to meet the people in the theatre.\nHis 400 men were drawn up in two lines at its entrances, and the\nCorinthians filled the seats, and shouted with an ecstasy of joy, for it\nwas the first time for nearly a century that true Greeks had gained any\nadvantage over Macedonians. Aratus was worn out by anxiety, his long\nmarch, and night of fighting, and as he stood leaning on his spear he\ncould hardly rally strength to address them, and while giving back to\nthem the keys of their city, which they had never had since Philip's\ntime, he exhorted them to join the League, which they did. The\nMacedonians were expelled, and Aratus put an Achaian garrison into the\nAcro-Corinthus.\n\nHis whole care was to get Greece free from the Macedonians, and he drove\nthem out from city after city, persuading each to join the Achaian League\nas it was delivered. Argos was still under a tyrant named Aristippus,\nand Aratus made many attempts to turn him out, by his usual fashion of\nnight attacks. Once he got into the city, and fought there all day,\nthough he was wounded with a lance in the thigh; but he was obliged to\nretreat at night. However, he attacked the tyrant when out on an\nexpedition, and slew him, but still could not set Argos free, as the\ntyrant's son Aristomenes still held it.\n\nHowever, Lysiades, the tyrant of Megalopolis, was so moved by admiration\nfor the patriot that he resigned, and the city joined the League. In\nfact, Aratus was at this time quite the greatest man in Greece. He beat\nthe AEtolians, when they were on a foray into the Achaian territories,\nand forced them to make peace; and he tried also to win Athens and Sparta\nto the common cause against Macedon, but there were jealousies in the way\nthat hindered his success, and all his enterprises were rendered more\ndifficult by his weakly health, which always made him suffer greatly from\nthe fatigue and excitement of a battle.\n\n [Picture: Ruins of a Temple at Corinth]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXV. AGIS AND THE REVIVAL OF SPARTA. B.C. 244-236.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nSparta had never been so overcome by Macedon as the states north of the\nIsthmus, but all the discipline of Lycurgus had been forgotten, and the\nEphors and Kings had become greedy, idle, and corrupt. One of the kings,\nnamed Leonidas, had gone to Antioch, married an Eastern wife, and learned\nall the Syrian and Persian vanities in which King Seleucus delighted, and\nhe brought these home to Sparta. The other king, Eudamidas, was such a\nmiser, that on his death, in 244, his widow and his mother were said to\npossess more gold than all the rest of the people in the state put\ntogether; but he left a son of nineteen, named Agis, most unlike himself.\n\nAs soon as, in his childhood, Agis had heard the story of his great\nforefathers, he set himself to live like an ancient Spartan, giving up\nwhatever Lycurgus had forbidden, dressing and eating as plainly as he\ncould, and always saying that he would not be king if he did not hope to\nmake Sparta her true self again. When he became king, he was seen in the\nusual dress of a Greek, uncrowned, as the first Leonidas and Agesilaus\nhad been; while the other king, ill named Leonidas, moved about in a\ndiadem and purple robes and jewels, like a Persian Shah.\n\n[Picture: Greek figure] Agis was resolved to bring back all the old rule.\nThere were but 700 old Dorian Spartans left, and only about 100 of these\nstill had their family estates, while the others were starving; and most\nof the property was in the hands of women. Therefore the young king was\nresolved to have all given up and divided again, and he prevailed on his\nmother and grandmother to throw all their wealth into the common stock,\nas also his mother's brother Agesilaus, who was willing, because he was\nso much in debt that he could hardly lose by any change. The other\nladies made a great outcry, and Leonidas was very angry, but he did not\ndare to hinder all this, because all the high-born men, who had been so\npoor, were on the young king's side.\n\nSo there was a public assembly, and one of the Ephors proposed the\nreform, showing how ease and pleasure had brought their city low, and how\nhardihood and courage might yet bring back her true greatness. Leonidas\nspoke against the changes, but Agis argued with such fire and force that\nhe won over all that were high-minded enough to understand him, and in\nespecial Cleombrotus, the son-in-law of Leonidas. Agis laid down before\nthe assembly all his father's vast hoards, and his example was followed\nby many; but the other king put such difficulties in the way that the\nreformers found that they could do nothing unless they removed him, so\nthey brought forward an old law, which forbade that any son of Hercules\nshould reign who had married a foreign woman, or sojourned in a strange\nland.\n\nOn hearing of this, Leonidas took refuge in the temple of Athene, and as\nhe did not appear when he was summoned before the Ephors, they deposed\nhim, and named Cleombrotus in his stead; but when Agis found there was a\nplan for killing the old king, he took care to send him away in safety to\nTegea, with his daughter Chilonis, who clave to him in trouble.\n\nAgis thought his uncle Agesilaus was heartily with the change, and so had\nhim chosen one of the Ephors; but, in truth, all Agesilaus wanted was to\nbe free from his debts, and he persuaded the young king that the lands\ncould not be freshly divided till all debts had been cancelled. So all\nthe bonds were brought into the market-place and burnt, while Agesilaus\ncried out that he had never seen so fine a fire; but having done this, he\nwas resolved not to part with his wealth, and delayed till the AEtolians\nmade an attack on the Peloponnesus, and Aratus called on Sparta to assist\nthe Achaians. Agis was sent at the head of an army to the Isthmus, and\nthere behaved like an ancient Spartan king, sharing all the toils and\nhardships of the soldiers, and wearing nothing to distinguish him from\nthem; but while he was away everything had gone wrong at Sparta; people\nhad gone back to their old bad habits, and Agesilaus was using his office\nof Ephor so shamefully that he had been obliged to have a guard of\nsoldiers to protect him from the people. This behaviour had made the\npeople suspect his nephew of being dishonest in his reforms, and they had\nsent to recall Leonidas.\n\nAgesilaus fled, and Agis was obliged to take sanctuary in Athene's\ntemple, and Cleombrotus in that of Neptune, where Leonidas found him.\nHis wife Chilonis, with her two little children, threw herself between\nhim and her father, pleading for his life, and promising he should leave\nthe city; and Leonidas listened, trying to make her remain, but she clung\nto her husband, and went into exile with him.\n\nAgiatis, the young wife of Agis, could not join him in the temple, being\nkept at home by the birth of her first babe. He never left the\nsanctuary, except to go to the baths, to which he was guarded by armed\nfriends. At last two of these were bribed to betray him. One said,\n\"Agis, I must take you to the Ephors,\" and the other threw a cloak over\nhis head; while Leonidas came up with a guard of foreign soldiers and\ndragged him to prison, where the Ephors came to examine him. One asked\nhim if he repented. \"I can never repent of virtue,\" he said.\n\nThey sentenced him to die; and finding that his mother and grandmother\nwere trying to stir up the people to demand that he should be heard in\npublic, they sent the executioners at once to put him to death. One of\nthem came in tears, but Agis quickly said, \"Weep not, friend; I am\nhappier than those who condemn me;\" and he held out his neck for the rope\nwhich strangled him just as his grandmother and mother came in. The\ngrandmother was strangled the next moment. The mother said, \"May this be\nfor the good of Sparta,\" and after laying out the limbs of her son and\nmother, was also put to death; and the young widow Agiatis, with her\nbabe, was carried to the house of Leonidas. The reform of Agis had\nlasted only three years, and he was but twenty-two, when his plans were\nthus cruelly cut short.\n\nLeonidas was thus left to reign alone, the first time such a thing had\nhappened in Sparta. As poor Agiatis was a rich heiress, he kept her in\nhis house, and married her to his son Cleomenes, a mere boy, much younger\nthan herself. She was the fairest and wisest woman in Greece; and though\nshe always was cold, grave, and stern towards the wicked old king, she\nloved his wife, and was gentle towards the young boy, who was blameless\nof his father's sin, and gave her all his heart for his whole life. He\ncared for nothing so much as to hear from her of Agis, his brave,\nself-denying ways, and noble plans; and thus did they live, after the\nuntimely death of Agis, strengthened by the study of the Stoic\nphilosophy, which taught that virtue was the highest good, and that no\nsuffering, not even death, was to be shunned in pursuit of her.\n\nWhen Leonidas died, in 236, Cleomenes became the only king, but he was so\nyoung that Aratus and the Achaians thought it a good time for extending\nthe power of their league at the expense of Sparta; so, though no war was\ngoing on, Aratus sent a troop by night to seize Tegea and Orchomenus,\ncities in alliance with Sparta. But his designs were found out in time\nfor Cleomenes to strengthen the garrisons in both places, and march\nhimself to a place called the Athenaeum, which guarded one of the passes\ninto Laconia.\n\nThis made the attempt fail, and Cleomenes wrote to ask the cause of the\nnight march of the Achaians. Aratus answered that it was to hinder the\nfortification of the Athenaeum.\n\n\"What was the use, then, of torches and scaling-ladders?\" asked\nCleomenes.\n\nAratus laughed, and asked a Spartan who was in exile what kind of youth\nthis young king was; and the Spartan made reply, \"If you have any designs\nagainst Sparta, you had better begin them before the game chicken's spurs\nare grown.\"\n\nIt was a great pity that these two free states in Laconia and Achaia were\nonly wasting their strength against each other, instead of joining\nagainst Macedon.\n\n [Picture: Greek figures]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXVI. CLEOMENES AND THE FALL OF SPARTA. B.C. 236-222.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nAratus cared more for Achaia than for Greece, and soon was again at war\nwith Sparta, and Cleomenes marched out against him. He retreated, and\nCleomenes in great joy put his troops in mind how in old times the\nSpartans never asked how many were the foe, but only where they were.\nThen he followed the Achaians and gained a great victory; indeed there\nwas a doubt at first whether Aratus were not slain; but he had marched\noff with the remnant of the army, and next was heard of as having taken\nMantinea.\n\nThis displeased the Ephors, and they called Cleomenes back. He hoped to\nbe stronger by the aid of his fellow-king, and, as the little child of\nAgis had just died in his house, sent to invite home Archidamas, the\nbrother of Agis, who was living in exile; but the Ephors had the youth\nmurdered as soon as he reached Laconia, and then laid on Cleomenes both\nthis murder and that of his little stepson Agis. But all the better sort\nheld by him, and his mother Cratesiclea, and his wife Agiatis, so cleared\nhim, that all trusted him, and he was again sent out with an army, and\ndefeated Aratus.\n\nHe was sure he could bring back good days to Sparta, if only he were free\nof the Ephors. One of these, who was on his side, went to sleep in a\ntemple, and there had a dream that four of the chairs of the Ephors were\ntaken away, and that he heard a voice saying, \"This is best for Sparta.\"\nAfter this, he and Cleomenes contrived that the king should lead out an\narmy containing most of the party against him. He took them by long\nmarches to a great distance from home, and then left them at night with a\nfew trusty friends, with whom he fell upon the Ephors at supper, and\nkilled four of them, the only blood he shed in this matter. In the\nmorning he called the people together, and showed them how the Ephors had\ntaken too much power, and how ill they had used it, especially in the\nmurder of Agis; and the people agreed henceforth to let him rule without\nthem. Then all debts were given up, all estates resigned to be divided\nagain, Cleomenes himself being the first to set the example, and the\npartition was made. But as one line of the Heracleid kings was extinct,\nCleomenes made his brother Euclidas reign with him, and was able to bring\nback all the old ways of Lycurgus, the hard fare and plain living, so\nthat those who had seen the Eastern state of the upstart Macedonian\nsoldiers wondered at the sight of the son of Hercules, descendant of a\nline of thirty-one kings, showing his royalty only in the noble\nsimplicity of his bearing.\n\nMantinea turned out the Achaians and invited Cleomenes back, and now it\nwas plain that the real question was whether the Spartan kingdom or the\nAchaian League should lead the Peloponnesus--in truth, between Aratus and\nCleomenes. Another victory was gained over the Achaians, a treaty was\nmade, and they were going to name Cleomenes head of the League, when he\nfell ill. He had over-tried his strength by long marches, and chilled\nhimself by drinking cold water; he broke a blood-vessel, and had to be\ncarried home in a litter, causing meantime the Achaian prisoners to be\nset free, to show that he meant to keep the treaty.\n\nBut Aratus, in his jealousy, forgot that the great work of his youth had\nbeen to get free of Macedon, and in order to put down Sparta and\nCleomenes, actually asked the help of Antigonus, king of Macedon, and\nbrought his hated troops back into the Peloponnesus, promising to welcome\nthem, if only Cleomenes might be put down.\n\nThe brave young king had recovered and taken Argos, and soon after\nCorinth drove out the Achaian garrison and gave themselves to him; but\nthe great Macedonian force under Antigonus himself was advancing, and\nCorinth in terror went over to him, the other allies deserted, and\nCleomenes was marching back to Sparta, when a messenger met him at Tegea\nwith tidings of the death of his beloved wife. He listened steadily,\ngave orders for the defence of Tegea, and then, travelling all night,\nwent home and gave way to an agony of grief, with his mother and two\nlittle children.\n\nHe had but 5000 Spartans, and his only hope was in getting aid from\nPtolemy the Benefactor, king of Egypt. This was promised, but only on\ncondition that he would send as hostages to Egypt his mother and babes.\nHe was exceedingly grieved, and could not bear to tell his mother; but\nshe saw his distress, and found out the cause from his friends. She\nlaughed in hopes of cheering him. \"Was this what you feared to tell me?\nPut me on board ship at once, and send this old carcase where it may be\nof the most use to Sparta.\" He escorted her, at the head of the whole\narmy, to the promontory of Taenarus, where the temple of Neptune looks\nout into the sea. In the temple they parted, Cleomenes weeping in such\nbitter sorrow that his mother's spirit rose. \"Go to, king of Sparta,\"\nshe said. \"Without doors, let none see us weep, nor do anything contrary\nto the honour and dignity of Sparta. That at least is in our own power,\nthough, for the rest, success or failure depends on the gods.\" So she\nsailed away, and Cleomenes went back to do his part. The Achaians had\nnot only given Antigonus the title of Head of the League, but had set up\nhis statues, and were giving him the divine honours that had been granted\nto Alexander and to Demetrius the City-taker.\n\nThe only part of the Peloponnesus that still held out was Laconia.\nCleomenes guarded all the passes, though the struggle was almost without\nhope, for little help came from Egypt, only a letter from brave old\nCratesiclea, begging that whatever was best for the country might be done\nwithout regard to an old woman or a child. Cleomenes then let the slaves\nbuy their freedom, and made 2000 soldiers from among them, and marching\nout with these he surprised and took the Achaian city of Megalopolis.\nOne small party of citizens, under a brave young man named Philopoemen,\nfought, while the rest had time to escape to Messene. Cleomenes offered\nto give them back the place if they would join with Sparta, but they\nrefused, and he had the whole town plundered and burnt as a warning to\nthe other Peloponnesians, and the next year he ravaged Argolis, and beat\ndown the standing corn with great wooden swords.\n\nBut Antigonus had collected a vast force to subdue the Peloponnesus, and\nCleomenes prepared for his last battle at Sellasia, a place between two\nhills. On one named Evas he placed his brother Euclidas, on the other\nnamed Olympus he posted himself, with his cavalry in the middle. He had\nbut 20,000 men, and Antigonus three times as many, with all the Achaians\namong them. Euclidas did not, as his brother had intended, charge down\nthe hill, but was driven backwards over the precipices that lay behind\nhim. The cavalry were beaten by Philopoemen, who fought all day, though\na javelin had pierced both his legs; and Cleomenes found it quite\nimpossible to break the Macedonian phalanx, and out of his 6000 Spartans\nfound himself at the end of the day with only 200.\n\nWith these he rode back to Sparta, where he stopped in the market-place\nto tell his people that all was lost, and they had better make what terms\nthey could. They should decide whether his life or death were best for\nhim, and while they deliberated, he turned towards his own empty house,\nbut he could not bear to enter it. A slave girl taken from Megalopolis\nran out to bring him food and drink, but he would taste nothing, only\nbeing tired out he leant his arm sideways against a pillar and laid his\nhead on it, and so he waited in silence till word was brought him that\nthe citizens wished him to escape.\n\nHe quietly left Sparta and sailed for Alexandria, where the king, Ptolemy\nthe Benefactor, at first was short and cold with him, because he would\nnot cringe to him, but soon learned to admire him, treated him as a\nbrother, promised him help to regain Sparta, and gave him a pension,\nwhich he spent in relieving other exiled Greeks. But the Benefactor\ndied, and his son, Ptolemy Philopator, was a selfish wretch, who hated\nand dreaded the grave, stern man who was a continual rebuke to him, and\nwho, the Alexandrians said, walked about like a lion in a sheepfold. He\nrefused the fleet his father had promised, would not let Cleomenes go\nback alone to try his fortune on Antigonus' death, and at last, on some\nreport of his meaning to attack Cyrene, had him shut up with his friends\nin a large room. They broke forth, and tried to fight their way to a\nship, but they were hemmed in, no one came to their aid, and rather than\nbe taken prisoners, they all fell on their own swords; and on the\ntidings, Ptolemy commanded all the women and children to be put to death.\nCratesiclea saw her two grandsons slain before her eyes, and then crying,\n\"Oh, children, where are ye gone?\" herself held out her neck for the\nrope.\n\n [Picture: Temple of Neptune]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXVII. PHILOPOEMEN, THE LAST OF THE GREEKS. B.C. 236-184.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe jealousy and rivalry of Aratus and the Achaians had made them put\nthemselves under the power of Macedon, in order thus to overthrow Sparta.\nAratus seemed to have lost all his skill and spirit, for when the robber\nAEtolians again made an attack on the Peloponnesus, he managed so ill as\nto have a great defeat; and the Achaians were forced again to call for\nthe help of the Macedonians, whose king was now Philip, son to Antigonus.\n\nA war went on for many years between the Macedonians, with the Achaians\non the one hand and the AEtolians on the other. Aratus was a friend and\nadviser to Philip, but would gladly have loosened the yoke he had helped\nto lay on Greece. When the old Messenian town of Ithome fell into the\nhands of Philip, he went into the temple of Jupiter, with Aratus and\nanother adviser called Demetrius the Pharian, to consult the sacrifices\nas to whether he should put a garrison into Ithome to overawe Messenia.\nThe omens were doubtful, and Philip asked his two friends what they\nthought. Demetrius said, \"If you have the soul of a priest, you will\nrestore the fort to the Messenians; if you have the soul of a prince, you\nwill hold the ox by both his horns.\"\n\nThe ox was, of course, the Peloponnesus, and the other horn was the\nAcro-Corinthus, which, with Ithome, gave Philip power over the whole\npeninsula. The king then asked Aratus' advice. He said, \"Thieves nestle\nin the fastnesses of rocks. A king's best fortress is loyalty and love;\"\nand at his words Philip turned away, and left the fort to its own people.\nHe was at that time a youth full of good promise, but he let himself be\nled astray by the vices and pleasures of his court, and withdrew his\nfavour from Aratus. Then he began to misuse the Messenians, and had\ntheir country ravaged. Aratus, who was for the seventeenth time general\nof the League, made a complaint, and Philip, in return, contrived that he\nshould be slowly poisoned. He said nothing; only once, when a friend\nnoticed his illness, he said, \"This is the effect of the friendship of\nkings.\" He died in 213, and just about this time Philopoemen of\nMegalopolis returned from serving in the Cretan army to fight for his\ncountry. He was a thoroughly noble-hearted man, and a most excellent\ngeneral, and he did much to improve the Achaian army. In the meantime\nSparta had fallen under the power of another tyrant, called Nabis, a\nhorribly cruel wretch, who had had a statue made in the likeness of his\nwife, with nails and daggers all over her breast. His enemies were put\ninto her arms; she clasped them, and thus they died. He robbed the\nunhappy people of Sparta; and all the thieves, murderers, and outlaws of\nthe country round were taken into his service, and parties of them sent\nout to collect plunder all over the Peloponnesus. At last one of his\ngrooms ran away with some horses, and took refuge at Megalopolis, and\nthis Nabis made a cause for attacking both that city and Messenia; but at\nlast Philopoemen was made general of the Achaian League, and gave the\nwretch such a defeat as forced him to keep at home, while Philopoemen\nravaged Laconia.\n\nPhilip of Macedon offered to come and drive out Nabis if the Achaians\nwould help him, but they distrusted him, and did not choose to go to war\nwith the Romans, whom the robber AEtolians had called from Italy to\nassist them. However, Philip reduced Nabis to make all sorts of promises\nand treaties, which, of course, he did not keep, but invited in the\nAEtolians to assist him. This, however, brought his punishment on him,\nfor soon after their arrival these allies of his murdered him, and began\nto rob all Laconia. Philopoemen and his Achaians at once marched into\nthe country, helped the Spartans to deliver themselves from the robbers,\nand persuaded them to join the League. They were so much pleased with\nhim that they resolved to give him Nabis' palace and treasure, but he was\nknown to hate bribes so much that nobody could at first be found to make\nhim the offer. One man was sent to Megalopolis, but when he saw\nPhilopoemen's plain, grave, hardy life, and heard how much he disapproved\nof sloth and luxury, he did not venture to say a word about the palace\nfull of Eastern magnificence, but went back to Sparta. He was sent\nagain, and still found no opportunity; and when, the third time, he did\nspeak, Philopoemen thanked the Spartans, but said he advised them not to\nspend their riches on spoiling honest men, whose help they might have at\nno cost at all, but rather to use them in buying over those who made\nmischief among them.\n\nWars were going on at this time between Philip of Macedon, on the one\nside, and the AEtolians on the other. Philip's ally was Antiochus the\nGreat, the Greek king of Syria; the AEtolians had called in the Romans,\nthat great, conquering Italian nation, whose plan was always to take the\npart of some small nation against a more powerful one, break the strength\nof both, and then join them to their own empire. But the Achaians did\nnot know this, and wished them well, while they defeated the Macedonians\nat the great battle of Cynocephalae, or the Dog's Head Rocks, in\nThessaly. Philip was obliged to make peace, and one condition required\nof him was that he should give up all claims to power over Greece. Then\nat Corinth, at the Isthmian games, the Roman consul, Quintius Flaminius,\nproclaimed that the Greek states were once more free. Such a shout of\njoy was raised that it is said that birds flying in the air overhead\ndropped down with the shock, and Flaminius was almost stifled by the\ncrowds of grateful Greeks who came round him to cover him with garlands\nand kiss his hands.\n\n [Picture: Crowning the Victor in the Isthmian Games]\n\nBut, after all, the Romans meant to keep a hold on Greece, though they\nleft the cities to themselves for a little while. The Spartans who had\nbeen banished by Nabis had not returned home, but lived a life of\nrobbery, which was thought to be favoured by Philopoemen, and this\noffended those at home, some of whom plundered a town called Las. The\nAchaians demanded that the guilty should be given up to them for\npunishment, and a war began, which ended by a savage attack on Sparta, in\nwhich Philopoemen forgot all but the old enmity between Achaia and\nLaconia, put ninety citizens to death, pulled down the walls, besides\nabolishing the laws of Lycurgus, which, however, nobody had observed\nsince the fall of Cleomenes. Many citizens were sent into banishment,\nand these went to Rome to complain of the Achaians. While they were gone\nthe Messenians rose against the League, while Philopoemen was lying sick\nof a fever at Argos; but though he was ill, and seventy years old, he\ncollected a small troop of young Megalopolitan horsemen, to join the main\narmy with them. But he met the full force of the Messenians, and while\nfighting bravely to shelter his young followers, received a blow on the\nhead which stunned him, so that he was made prisoner, and carried to\nMessene. There his enemies showed him in the theatre, but the people\nonly recollected how noble he was, and how he had defended all Greece\nfrom Nabis. So his enemies hurried him away, and put him in an\nunderground dungeon, where, at night, they sent an executioner to carry\nhim a dose of poison. Philopoemen raised himself with difficulty, for he\nwas very weak, and asked the man whether he could tell him what had\nbecome of his young Megalopolitan friends. The man replied that he\nthought they had most of them escaped. \"You bring good news,\" said\nPhilopoemen; then, swallowing the draught, he laid himself on his back,\nand, almost instantly died. He is called the Last of the Greeks, for\nthere never was a great man of the old sort after him.\n\n [Picture: Livadia, The Ancient Mideia in Argolis]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXVIII.--THE FALL OF GREECE. B.C. 189-146.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nAfter the death of Philopoemen there was little real spirit left in the\nAchaians, and Callicrates, who became the leading man among them, led\nthem to submit themselves to the senate of Rome, and do as it pleased\nwith regard to Sparta and Messene.\n\nPhilip of Macedon was at war with Rome all his life, and his son Perseus\nwent on with it. Marcus Paullus AEmilius, one of the best and bravest of\nthe Romans, was sent to subdue him, and the great battle was fought in\n188, at Pydna, near Mount Olympus. The night before the battle there was\nan eclipse of the moon, which greatly terrified the Macedonians; but the\nRomans had among them an officer who knew enough of the movements of the\nheavenly bodies to have told the soldiers of it beforehand, and its\ncause. The Macedonians being thus discouraged, gave way, and fled as\nsoon as the battle seemed to be going against them; and Perseus himself\ngalloped from the field to Pella, where he was so beside himself with\ndespair that he stabbed two of his counsellors who tried to show him the\nmistakes he had made. But as AEmilius advanced, he was forced to retreat\nbefore him, even into the island of Samothrace, which was sacred soil,\nwhence he could not be taken by force. The Romans watched all round the\nisland, and he dreaded that the Samothracians should give him up to them;\nso he bargained with a Cretan shipmaster to take him and all his treasure\non board his ship, and carry him off at night. The Cretan received half\nthe treasure, and Perseus crept out at a small window, crossed a garden,\nand reached the wharf, where, to his horror, he found that the\ntreacherous captain had sailed off with the treasure, and left him\nbehind.\n\nThere was nothing for him to do but to yield to the Romans. He came into\nthe camp in mourning, and AEmilius gave him his hand and received him\nkindly, but kept him a prisoner, and formed Macedon into a province under\nRoman government. AEmilius himself went on a journey through the most\nfamous Greek cities, especially admiring Athens, and looking at the\nplaces made famous by historians, poets, and philosophers. He took\nPolybius, a learned Athenian philosopher, who wrote the history of this\nwar, to act as tutor to his two sons, though both were young men able to\nfight in this campaign, and from that time forward the Romans were glad\nto have Greek teachers for their sons, and Greek was spoken by them as\nfreely and easily as their own Latin; every well-educated man knew the\nchief Greek poets by heart, and was of some school of philosophy, either\nStoic or Epicurean, but the best men were generally Stoics.\n\n[Picture: Sappho] Perseus and his two young sons were taken to Rome,\nthere, according to the Roman fashion, to march in the triumph of the\nconqueror, namely, the procession in which the general returned home with\nall his troops. It was a shame much feared by the conquered princes, and\nthe cruel old rule was that they should be put to death at the close of\nthe march. Paullus AEmilius was, however, a man of kind temper, and had\npromised Perseus to spare his life. The unfortunate king begged to be\nspared the humiliation of walking in the triumph, but AEmilius could not\ndisappoint the Roman people, and answered that \"the favour was in\nPerseus' own power,\" meaning, since he knew no better, that to die should\nprevent what was so much dreaded. Perseus, however, did not take the\ncounsel, but lived in an Italian city for the rest of his life.\n\nAfter Macedon was ruined the Romans resolved to put down all stirrings of\nresistance to them in the rest of Greece. Their friend Callicrates,\ntherefore, accused all the Achaians who had been friendly to Perseus, or\nwho had any brave spirit--1000 in number--of conspiring against Rome, and\ncalled on the League to sentence them to death; but as this proposal was\nheard with horror, they were sent to Rome to justify themselves, and the\nRoman senate, choosing to suppose they had been judged by the League,\nsentenced them never to return to Achaia. Polybius was among them, so\nthat his home was thenceforth in the house of his pupils, the sons of\nAEmilius. Many times did the Achaians send entreaties that they might be\nset at liberty, and at last, after seventeen years, Polybius' pupils\npersuaded the great senator Cato to speak for them, and he did so, but in\na very rough, unfeeling way. \"Anyone who saw us disputing whether a set\nof poor old Greeks should be buried by our grave-diggers or their own\nwould think we had nothing else to do,\" he said. So the Romans consented\nto their going home; but when they asked to have all their rank and\nhonours restored to them, Cato said, \"Polybius, you are less wise than\nUlysses. You want to go back into the Cyclops' cave for the wretched\nrags and tatters you left behind you there.\" After all, Polybius either\ndid not go home or did not stay there, for he was soon again with his\nbeloved pupils; and in the seventeen years of exile the 1000 had so\nmelted away that only 300 went home again.\n\n [Picture: Lessina, The Ancient Eleusis, on the Gulf of Corinth]\n\nBut the very year after their return a fresh rising was made by the\nMacedonians, under a pretender who claimed to be the son of Perseus, and\nby the Peloponnesians, with the Achaians and Spartans at their head,\nwhile the Corinthians insulted the Roman ambassadors. A Roman general\nnamed Quintus Metellus was sent to subdue them, and routed the\nMacedonians at the battle of Scarphaea, but after that another general\nnamed Mummius was sent out. The Achaians had collected all their\nstrength against him, and in the first skirmish gained a little success;\nand this encouraged them to risk a battle, in which they were so\nconfident of victory that they placed their wives and children on a hill\nto watch them, and provided waggons to carry away the spoil. The battle\nwas fought at Leucoptera, near the Isthmus, and all this boasting was\nsoon turned into a miserable defeat. Diaeus, who commanded the Greeks,\nwas put to flight, and riding off to Megalopolis in utter despair, he\nkilled his wife and children, to prevent their falling into the hands of\nthe enemy, and then poisoned himself.\n\nThe other Achaians at first retreated into Corinth, and in the course of\nthe night scattered themselves each to his own city. In the morning\nMummius marched in and gave up the unhappy city to plunder. All the men\nwere slain, all the women and children taken for slaves, and when all the\nstatues, pictures, and jewels had been gathered out of the temples and\nhouses, the place was set on fire, and burnt unceasingly for several\ndays; the walls were pulled down, and the city blotted out from Greece.\nThere was so much metal of all kinds in the burning houses that it all\nbecame fused together, and produced a new and valuable metal called\nCorinthian brass. The Romans were at this time still very rude and\nignorant, and did not at all understand the value and beauty of the works\nof art they carried off. Polybius saw two soldiers making a dice-board\nof one of the most famous pictures in Greece; and Mummius was much\nlaughed at for telling the captains of the ships who took home some of\nthe statues to exhibit in his triumph that if they lost them they should\nsupply new ones at their own cost. The Corinthians suffered thus for\nhaving insulted the ambassadors. The other cities submitted without a\nblow, and were left untouched to govern themselves, but in subjection to\nRome, and with Roman garrisons in their citadels. Polybius was sent\nround them to assure them of peace, and they had it for more than 500\nyears, but the freedom of Greece was gone for ever.\n\n [Picture: Figures carrying vases]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XXXIX.--THE GOSPEL IN GREECE. B.C. 146-A.D. 60.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nAfter a time Macedon and Achaia were made by the Romans into provinces,\neach of which had a governor who had been one year in a magistrate's\noffice at Rome, and then was sent out to rule in a province for three or\nfor five years.\n\nIn 146, nearly a hundred years after the ruin of Corinth, Julius Caesar\nbuilt it up again in great strength and beauty, and made it the capital\nof Achaia. As it stood where the Isthmus was only six miles across, and\nhad a beautiful harbour on each side, travellers who did not wish to go\nround the dangerous headlands of the Peloponnesus used to land on one\nside and embark on the other. Thus Corinth become one of the great\nstations for troops, and also a mart for all kinds of merchandise, and\nwas always full of strangers, both Greeks and Jews.\n\nThe Romans, as conquerors, had rights to be tried only by their own\nmagistrates and laws, and these laws were generally just. They were,\nhowever, very hard on subject nations; and, therefore, the best thing\nthat could happen to a man was to be made a Roman citizen, and this was\nalways done to persons of rank, by way of compliment--sometimes to whole\ncities.\n\n [Picture: View from Corinth]\n\nAthens had never had a great statesman or soldier in her since the time\nof Phocion, but her philosophers and orators still went on discoursing in\nthe schools, and for four hundred years at least Athens was a sort of\nuniversity town, where the rich young men from Rome, Carthage,\nAlexandria, Asia Minor, and Syria came to see the grand old buildings and\nworks of art, and to finish their education. For though the great men of\nGreece were all dead, their works, both in stone and in writing, still\nremained, and were the models of all the world, and their language was\nspoken all over the East. The Romans' own tongue, Latin, was used at\nhome, of course, but every gentleman knew Greek equally well, and all the\nSyrians, Jews, and Egyptians who had much intercourse with them used\nGreek as the language sure to be known--much as French is now used all\nover Europe.\n\nBut there was an answer coming to all those strainings and yearnings\nafter God and His truth which had made those old Greek writings\nbeautiful. There is a story that one night a ship's crew, passing near a\nlonely island in the AEgean Sea, sacred to the gods, heard a great\nwailing and crying aloud of spirit voices, exclaiming, \"Great Pan is\ndead.\"\n\nPan was the heathen god of nature, to whom sacred places were dedicated,\nand this strange crying was at the very night after a day when, far away\nin Judaea, the sun had been darkened at noon, and the rocks were rent,\nand One who was dying on a cross had said, \"It is finished.\" For the\nvictory over Satan and all his spirits was won by death.\n\nSome fifteen years later than that day, as Paul, a Jew of Tarsus, in Asia\nMinor, with the right of Roman citizenship, and a Greek education, was\nspreading the knowledge of that victory over the East--while he slept at\nthe new Troy built by Alexander, there stood by his bed, in a vision by\nnight, a man of Macedon, saying, \"Come over and help us.\"\n\nHe went, knowing that the call came from God, and the cities of Macedon\ngained quite new honours. Philippi, where he was first received, had a\nsmall number of Jews in it, to whom he spake by the river side, but many\nGreeks soon began to listen; and then it was that the evil spirits, who\nspake aloud to men in heathen lands, first had to own the power of\nChrist, who had conquered. A slave girl, who had long been possessed by\none of these demons, was forced at the sight of Paul and his companion\nSilas to cry aloud, \"These men are the servants of the Most High God,\nwhich show unto us the way of salvation.\" She followed them about for\nsome days doing this, until Paul, grieved in the spirit, bade the evil\none, in JESUS' name, to leave her. At once the name of the Conqueror\ncaused the demon to depart; but the owner of the slave girl, enraged at\nthe loss of her soothsaying powers, accused the Apostle and his friend to\nthe magistrates, and, without examination, they were thrown into prison.\nAt night, while they sang praise in the dungeon, an earthquake shook it;\nthe doors were open, the fetters loosed, and the jailer, thinking them\nfled, would have killed himself, but for Paul's call to him that all were\nsafe. He heard the Word of life that night, and was baptised; but St.\nPaul would not leave the prison, either then or at the permission of the\nmagistrates, when they found they had exceeded their powers, but insisted\nthat they should come themselves to fetch him out, thus marking his\nliberty as a Roman, so that others might fear to touch him. He had\nfounded a church at Philippi, in which he always found great comfort and\njoy; and when he was forced to go on to Thessalonica, he found many\nwilling and eager hearers among the Greeks; but the Jews, enraged at his\nteaching these, stirred up the mob, and not only forced him to leave that\ncity, but hunted him wherever he tried to stop in Macedon, so that he was\nobliged to hurry into the next province, Achaia, and wait at Athens for\nthe companions whom he had left to go on with his work at Philippi and\nThessalonica.\n\n [Picture: Parthenon and Erectheum]\n\nWhile at Athens, the multitude of altars and temples, and the devotion\npaid to them, stirred his spirit, so that he could not but speak out\nplainly, and point to the truth. It seemed a new philosophy to the\ntalkers and inquirers, who had talked to shreds the old arguments of\nPlato and Epicurus, and longed for some fresh light or new interest; and\nhe was invited to Areopagus to set forth his doctrine. There, in the\nface of the Parthenon and the Acropolis, with philosophers and students\nfrom all parts of the empire around, he made one of his greatest and\nnoblest speeches--\"Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are\ngreatly religious. For as I passed through your city, and beheld how ye\nworship, I found an altar with this inscription--'TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.'\nWhom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship; Him declare I unto you.\"\n\nThen, looking forth on the temples crowded on the rocks, he tried to open\ntheir minds to the truth that the God of all dwells in no temples made\nwith hands, that all men alike are His children, and that, since living,\nbreathing, thinking man has sprung from Him, it is lowering His greatness\nto represent Him by cold, dead, senseless stone, metal, or ivory. \"He\nbore with the times of ignorance,\" said Paul; \"but now He called on all\nmen to turn to Him to prepare for the day when all should be judged, by\nthe Man whom He had ordained for the purpose, as had been shown by His\nrising from the dead.\"\n\nThe Greeks had listened to the proclamation of one great unseen God,\nhigher than art could represent; but when Paul spoke of rising from the\ndead, they burst into mockery. They had believed in spirits living, but\nnot in bodies rising again, and the philosophers would not listen. Very\nfew converts were made in Athens, only Dionysius, and a woman named\nDamaris, and a few more; and the city of learning long closed her ears\nagainst those who would have taught her what Socrates and Plato had been\nfeeling after like men in the dark.\n\nAt the merchant city of Corinth, Paul had greater success; he stayed\nthere nearly two years, and from thence sent letters to the\nThessalonians, who were neglecting their daily duties, expecting that our\nLord was about immediately to return. After Paul had left Corinth, he\nwrote to that city also, first to correct certain evils that had arisen\nin the Church there, and afterwards to encourage those who had repented,\nand promise another visit. This visit, as well as one to his Macedonian\nchurches, was paid in his third journey; and when he had been arrested at\nJerusalem, and was in Rome awaiting his trial before the emperor, Nero,\nhe wrote to his friends at Philippi what is called the Epistle of Joy, so\nbright were his hopes of his friends there.\n\nSt. Andrew also laboured in Greece, and was put to death in Achaia, by\nbeing fastened to a cross of olive-wood, shaped like an X, where he hung\nexhorting the people for three days before he died. When St. Paul was\nreleased, he and the great evangelist St. John, and such of the apostles\nas still survived, set the Church in order, appointing bishops over their\ncities, and Dionysius of Athens became Bishop of Corinth, and St. Paul's\npupil from Antioch, Titus, was Bishop of Crete, and received an epistle\nfrom Paul on the duties of his office. In process of time Christianity\nwon its way, and the oracles became silent, as the demons which spoke in\nthem fled from the Name of JESUS.\n\n [Picture: Distant view of Parnassus]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XL.--UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nFor three hundred years Rome reigned over all the countries round the\nMediterranean, with one emperor at her head, and the magistrates of his\nappointment to rule in all the provinces, while garrisons were placed to\nquell risings of the people, or to keep in order the wild tribes on any\ndangerous border. For a long course of years Greece was quiet, and had\nno need of such troops. The people of her cities were allowed to manage\ntheir own affairs enough to satisfy them and make them contented, though\nthey had lost all but such freedom as they could have by being enrolled\nas citizens of Rome, and they were too near the heart of the empire to be\nin danger from barbarous neighbours, so that they did not often have\ntroops among them, except those passing through Corinth to the East.\n\nTowards the end of these three hundred years, however, Thrace and\nThessaly began to be threatened by wild nations who came from the banks\nof the Danube, and robbed the rich villages and countries to the south.\nThe empire was, in truth, growing weaker, and enemies began to press upon\nit; and this made the emperor, Diocletian, decide that it was beyond the\npower of any one man to rule and defend it all, and he therefore divided\nit with his friend Maximian, whom he made Emperor of the East, while he\nremained Emperor of the West. The Western empire was the Latin-speaking\nhalf, and the Eastern the Greek-speaking half, of these lands, though\nboth still called themselves Roman.\n\n [Picture: Plains of Philippi]\n\nThe two halves were joined together again, about the year 300, under\nConstantine the Great, who was the first Christian emperor. He thought\nhe should be more in the middle of his government if he moved his capital\nfrom Rome to the old Greek city of Byzantium, which he adorned with most\nsplendid buildings, and called after his own name, Constantinople; and\nthis became the capital of the East, as Rome was of the West. Athens\nremained all this time the place of study for Christians as well as\nheathens, and people still talked philosophy and studied eloquence among\nthe laurel and myrtle groves, and looked at the temples, which still\nstood there, though hardly anyone frequented them. One emperor, Julian,\nthe cousin of Constantine, studied there as a youth, and became so fond\nof the old philosophy and learning, and so admired the noble ways of the\ntimes when men were seeking after truth, that he thought Greece and Rome\nwould be great again if they turned back to these heathen ways, not\nseeing that this was going back to the dark out of which those men had\nbeen struggling.\n\nJulian tried to bring back heathen customs, and to have the old gods\nworshipped again; but he was killed in an expedition against the\nPersians, and soon after his time the old idol-worship was quite\nforgotten. Every city had a Bishop and clergy, and the Bishops of each\ndivision of the empire were under a great ruling Bishop, who was called a\nPatriarch. Greece was under the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Greek\nchurches were made as like the pattern of the temple at Jerusalem as they\ncould be. The end which represented the Holy of Holies, and had the\naltar in it, was veiled, and enclosed within what were called the Royal\nGates, and these were only opened at times of celebrating the Holy\nCommunion. This end was raised steps, and the Holy Scriptures and sermon\nwere spoken to the people from the front of the Royal Gates. The\npavement was of rich marble, and the ceiling, which was generally\nvaulted, was inlaid with coloured stones, making pictures in what is\ncalled Mosaic, because thus the stones were set by Moses in the High\nPriest's vestment. The clergy wore robes like those of the priests, and\ngenerally had flowing hair and beards, though in front the hair was cut\nin a circlet, in memory of our Lord's crown of thorns.\n\nNow that everyone had become Christian, and bad or worldly people were\nnot afraid to belong to the Church for fear of persecution, there was\noften sin and evil among them. Many who grieved at this shut themselves\nup from the world in the most lonely places they could find--little\nislands, deep woods, mountain tops, or rocks, and the like. When they\nlived alone they were called hermits, when there were many together they\nwere called monks, and the women who thus lived were nuns. Many such\nmonasteries there were in Greece, especially one upon Mount Athos--that\npeninsula that Xerxes tried to cut off--and most of these have continued\neven to our own time.\n\nThe emperor Theodosius, who reigned at the end of this fourth century\nover both East and West, was a very good and great man, and during his\nreign the Greek lands were kept from the marauders. In his time,\nhowever, the Thessalonians brought a most dreadful punishment on\nthemselves. For want of public business, or any real and noble interest,\nthe people had come to care for nothing but games and races, and they\nloved these sports with a sort of passionate fury. There was a\nchariot-driver at Thessalonica who was a wicked man, but whose racing was\nso much admired that when, for some crime, Botheric, the governor, put\nhim in prison and hindered his performance, the mob rose, when they\nmissed him in the amphitheatre, and threw stones at the governor and his\nofficers, so that several were killed, and Botheric among them. The news\nwas taken to the emperor, and in great wrath he ordered that the\nThessalonians should be punished. The order was given to a cruel, savage\nman, who hurried off at once, lest the emperor should relent and stop\nhim. He invited the Thessalonians to meet him in the amphitheatre, and\nwhen they were there, expecting to hear some message, he had all the\ndoors closed, and sent in his soldiers, who killed them all, innocent as\nwell as guilty, even strangers who had only just come to the place.\n\nTheodosius was much shocked to find how his passionate words had been\nobeyed, and the good Bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, made him wait as a\npenitent, cut off from the Holy Communion, while he was thus stained with\nblood, until after many months his repentance could be accepted, and he\ncould be forgiven.\n\n[Picture: Obelisk of Theodosius, Constantinople] After Theodosius died,\nthe Western half of the empire was overrun and conquered by tribes of\nGerman nations, but the Eastern part still remained, and emperor after\nemperor reigned at Constantinople, ruling over the Greek cities as\nbefore; but there were savage tribes of the Slavonian race who settled in\nThrace, and spread over Thessaly. They were called Bulgarians, and used\nto send marauders all over the country to the south, so that they were\nmuch dreaded by the Greeks, who had long forgotten how to fight for\nthemselves.\n\nBut though the Eastern and Western empires were broken apart, the Church\nwas one. The Greeks, indeed, found fault with the Romans for putting\nthree words into the Creed of Nicea which had not been decided on by the\nconsent of the whole Church in Council, and there was a question between\nthe Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople as to which had the\nchief rule. At last their disputes in the eleventh century caused a\nschism, or ruling apart, and the Greek Church became separated from the\nRoman Church.\n\n [Picture: An Amphitheatre--see page 312]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XLI.--THE FRANK CONQUEST. 1201-1446.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThere is very little to tell about Greece for hundreds of years. It was\na part of the Eastern Empire, and was for the most part in a quiet state,\nexcept when robbers came against it. The Bulgarians came from the North,\nbut after they had become Christian they were somewhat less dangerous.\nFrom the East and South came Saracens and Moors, who had been converted\nto the faith of the false Arabian prophet Mahommed; and from the West\ncame the Northmen, all the way from Norway and Denmark, to rob the very\neast end of the Mediterranean, so that beautiful old ornaments, evidently\nmade in Greece, have been found in the northern homes that once belonged\nto these sea-kings.\n\nThe Greeks had little spirit to fight, and the emperors took some of\nthese stout Northmen into their pay against the Bulgarians and Saracens,\ncalling them their Varangian Guard. Another band, of northern blood,\nthough they had been settled in Normandy for two generations, came, and\nafter driving out the Saracens from Sicily and Southern Italy, set up two\nlittle kingdoms there. Robert Guiscard, or the Wizard, the first and\ncleverest of these Norman kings, had a great wish to gain Greece also,\nand had many fights with the troops of the Emperor of the East, Alexis\nComnenus. Their quarrels with him made the Greeks angry and terrified\nwhen all the bravest men of the West wanted to come through their lands\non the Crusade, or Holy War, to deliver Jerusalem from the Saracens.\nThen, since the schism between the Churches, the Greeks and the Latins\nhad learnt scarcely to think of one another as Christians at all, and\ncertainly they did not behave to one another like Christians, for the\nGreeks cunningly robbed, harassed, and deceived the Latins, and the\nLatins were harsh, rude, and violent with the Greeks.\n\nIn the northern point of the Adriatic Sea lay the city of Venice, built\nupon a cluster of little islands. The people had taken refuge there when\nItaly was overrun by the barbarians. In course of time these Venetians\nhad grown to be a mighty and powerful people, whose merchant ships traded\nall over the Mediterranean, and whose counsellors were famed for wisdom.\nThey had shaken off the power of the Greek emperor, and were governed by\na senate and council, with a chosen nobleman at its head, who was called\nthe Doge, or Duke. Just when the French, Germans, and Italians were\nsetting off on the Fourth Crusade, in the year 1201, meaning to sail in\nVenetian ships, the young Alexius Angelus, son to the emperor Isaac\nAngelus, came to beg for help for his poor old father, who had been\nthrown into prison by his own brother, with his eyes put out. It was\nquite aside from the main work of the Crusade, but the Venetians had\nalways had a quarrel with the Greek emperors, and they prevailed to turn\nthe army aside to attack Constantinople. With an immense pair of shears\nthey cut in twain the great chains which shut in the harbour of the\nGolden Horn, and sailed safely in, led by their Doge, Dandolo, who,\nthough eighty years old, and blind, was as keen on the battle as the\nyoungest man there.\n\nThe French scaled the walls, the usurper fled, and blind old Isaac was\nled out of his dungeon, and dressed in his robes again; his son was\ncrowned to reign with him, and they did everything to please the\nCrusaders. Chiefly they made the Patriarch of Constantinople consent to\ngive up all the differences with the Roman Catholic Church, and own the\nPope as superior to him. This made the Greeks angry, and they could not\nbear to see their young emperor so familiar with the French knights, whom\nthey looked on as barbarians. One day he was seen with a Frenchman's cap\non his head, and his own crown lying on the ground at his feet. In great\nanger the people of Constantinople rose, under a man named Alexius Ducas,\ncalled \"Black-brows,\" murdered the two emperors, and set up this new one;\nbut he did not reign long, for the French and Venetians were close at\nhand. There was a second siege, and when the city was taken they\nplundered it throughout, stripped it of all the wealth they could\ncollect, and set up Baldwin, Count of Flanders, to be emperor, with a\nLatin Patriarch; while the Venetians helped themselves to all the\nsouthern part of the empire, namely, the Peloponnesus and the Greek\nislands; and a French nobleman named Walter de Brienne was created Duke\nof Athens, under the Flemish emperor.\n\n [Picture: Promontory of Actium]\n\nIt was then that so many of the old Greek places took the names we now\nsee them called by in the map, and which were mostly given by the\nVenetian seamen. They called the Peloponnesus the Morea, or\nMulberry-leaf, because it was in that shape; they called the island of\nEuboea, Negropont, or Black-bridge; the AEgean Sea, the Archipelago, or\nGreat Sea; and the Euxine, the Black Sea, because it is so dangerous.\nThe Greeks hated their new masters very much, and would not conform to\nthe Roman Catholic Church. A new Greek empire was set up in Asia Minor,\nat Nicea; and after the Latin emperor Baldwin had been lost in a battle\nwith the Bulgarians, and great troubles swept away his successors, the\nemperors returned to Constantinople, under Michael Palaeologus, in 1261,\nand drove out all the Franks, as the Greeks called the Western people,\nchiefly French and Italians, who had come to settle in their cities.\n\nBut the Venetians still held the cities in the greater part of the Morea,\nand some of the islands, and traded all over the East and West, though\ntheir Greek subjects were only kept under by main force, still held to\ntheir own Greek Church, and looked to the Roman Emperor of the East, as\nthey called the Palaeologus at Constantinople, as their head; nor was it\neasy to overpower people who had so many mountain fastnesses, nor to tame\nmonks whose convents were nests on the top of rocks, some so steep that\nthere was no way of entering them save being drawn up in a basket. Well\nwas it for them that they had niched themselves into such strongholds,\nfor worse and worse days were coming upon Greece. The terrible nation of\nTurks were making their way out of the wild country north of Persia, and\nwinning the old cities of Asia Minor, where they set up their Mahommedan\ndominion, and threatened more and more to overthrow the Greek empire\naltogether.\n\nThe emperor, John Palaeologus, was obliged to yield to Amurath, the\nTurkish Sultan, all his lands except Constantinople, Thessalonica, and\nthat part of the Morea which still clung to the empire, and the Turks set\nup their capital at Adrianople, whence they spread their conquests up to\nthe very walls of Constantinople; but the Greek mountaineers, especially\nthose of the mountain land of Epirus, now called Albania, had something\nof the old spirit among them, and fought hard. The Venetians used to\ntake troops of them into their pay, since all Christians made common\ncause against the Turks; and these soldiers, richly armed, with white\nAlbanian kilts, the remnant of the old Greek tunic, were called\nStradiots, from the old Greek word for a soldier, Stratiotes. The\nbravest of them all was George Castriotes, a young Albanian, who had been\ngiven as a hostage to the Mahommedans when nine years old. He had been\nkept a prisoner, and made to fight in the Turkish army, and was so brave\nthere that the Turks called him Skanderbeg, or the Lord Alexander.\nHowever, when he thought of the horror of being a Mahommedan, and\nfighting against the Christian faith and his own country, he fled into\nAlbania, raised all the Greeks, killed all the Turks in the country, and\nkept it safe from all the further attempts of the Sultan as long as he\nlived, although, at Varna, a great crusade of all the most adventurous\nspirits in Europe, to drive back the Turks, was wofully defeated in the\nyear 1446.\n\n [Picture: Mount Helicon]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XLII.--THE TURKISH CONQUEST. 1453-1670.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe last Emperor of the East was the best and bravest who had reigned for\nmany years. Constantine Palaeologus did his best against the Turks, but\nMahommed II., one of the greatest of the Ottoman race, was Sultan, and\nvowed that Constantinople should be either his throne or his tomb.\n\nWhen the besieged Christians heard the Turks outside their walls chanting\ntheir prayers, they knew that the city would be assaulted the next day,\nand late at night Constantine called his friends together, and said,\n\"Though my heart is full, I can speak to you no longer. There is the\ncrown which I hold from God. I place it in your hands; I entrust it to\nyou. I fight to deserve it still, or to die in defending it.\" They wept\nand wailed so that he had to wait to be heard again, and then he said,\n\"Comrades, this is our fairest day;\" after which they all went to the\nCathedral of St. Sophia, and received the Holy Communion together. There\nwas a crowd around as he came out, and he stood before them, begging them\nto pardon him for not having been able to make them happier. They\nanswered with sobs and tears, and then he mounted his horse and rode\nround the defences.\n\n [Picture: Cathedral of St. Sophia]\n\nThe Turks began the attack in the early morning, and the fight raged all\nday; but they were the most numerous, and kept thronging into the breach,\nso that, though Constantine fought like a lion at bay, he could not save\nthe place, and the last time his voice was heard it was crying out, \"Is\nthere no Christian who will cut off my head?\" The Turks pressed in on\nall sides, cut down the Christians, won street after street, house after\nhouse; and when at last Mahommed rode up to the palace where Roman\nemperors had reigned for 1100 years, he was so much struck with the\ndesolation that he repeated a verse of Persian poetry--\n\n \"The spider hath woven her web in the palace of kings,\n The owl hath sung her watch-song in the towers of Afrasiab.\"\n\nSearch was made for the body of Constantine, and it was found under a\nheap of slain, sword in hand, and so much disfigured that it was only\nknown by the golden eagles worked on his buskins. The whole city fell\nunder the Turks, and the nobles and princes in the mountains of the Morea\nlikewise owned Mahommed as their sovereign. Only Albania held out as\nlong as the brave Skanderbeg lived to guard it; but at last, in 1466, he\nfell ill of a fever, and finding that he should not live, he called his\nfriends and took leave of them, talking over the toils they had shared.\nIn the midst there was an alarm that the Turks were making an inroad, and\nthe smoke of the burning villages could be seen. George called for his\narmour, and tried to rise, but he was too weak, so he bade his friends\nhasten to the defence, saying he should soon be able to follow. When the\nTurks saw his banner, they thought he must be there, and fled, losing\nmany men in the narrow mountain roads; but the Greeks had only just\nbrought back the news of their success, when their great leader died.\nHis horse loved him so much that it would not allow itself to be touched\nby any other person, became wild and fierce, and died in a few weeks'\ntime. The Albanians could not hold out long without their gallant chief;\nand when the Turks took Alyssio, the body of Castriotes was taken from\nits grave, and the bones were divided among his enemies, who wore them as\ncharms in cases of gold and silver, fancying they would thus gain a share\nof his bravery.\n\nThe Turkish empire thus included all Greece on the mainland, but the\nGreeks were never really subdued. On all the steep hills were castles or\nconvents, which the Turks were unable to take; and though there were\nTurkish Beys and Pashas, with soldiers placed in the towns to overawe the\npeople, and squeeze out a tribute, and a great deal more besides, from\nthe Greek tradesmen and farmers, the main body of the people still\nremembered they were Greeks and Christians. Each village had its own\nchurch and priest, each diocese its bishop, all subject to the Patriarchs\nof Constantinople; and the Sultans, knowing what power these had over the\nminds of the people, kept them always closely watched, often imprisoned\nthem, and sometimes put them to death. The islands for the most part\nwere still under Venice, and some of the braver-spirited young men became\nStradiots in the Venetian service; but too many only went off into the\nmountains, and became robbers and outlaws there, while those who lived a\npeaceable life gave way under their miseries to the two greatest faults\nthere had always been in the Greek nature, namely, cheating and lying.\nThey were so sharp and clever that the dull Turks were forced to employ\nthem, so that they grew rich fast; and then, as soon as the Pasha\nsuspected them of having wealth, however poor they seemed to be, he would\nseize them, rob them, or kill them to get their money; and, what was\nworse, their daughters were taken away to be slaves or wives to these\nMahommedans. The clergy could get little teaching, and grew as rude and\nignorant as their flocks; for though the writings of the great teachers\nof the early Church were laid up in the libraries in the convents, nobody\never touched them. But just as, after the Macedonian conquest of old\nGreece, the language spread all over the East; so, after the Turkish\nconquest of Constantinople, Greek became much better known in Europe, for\nmany learned men of the schools of Constantinople took refuge in Italy,\nbringing their books with them; the scholars eagerly learned Greek, and\nthe works of Homer and of the great old Greek tragedians became more and\nmore known, and were made part of a learned education. The Greeks at\nhome still spoke the old tongue, though it had become as much altered\nfrom that of Athens and Sparta as Italian is from Latin.\n\nThe most prosperous time of all the Turkish power was under Solyman the\nMagnificent, who spread his empire from the borders of Hungary to those\nof Persia, and held in truth nearly the same empire as Alexander the\nGreat. He conquered the island of Rhodes, on the Christmas day of 1522,\nfrom the Knights of St. John, who were Frankish monks sworn to fight\nagainst the Mahommedans. Cyprus belonged to the Venetians, and in 1571 a\nJew, who had renounced his faith, persuaded Sultan Selim to have it\nattacked, that he might gain his favourite Cyprus wine for the pressing,\ninstead of buying it. The Venetian stores of gunpowder had been blown up\nby an accident, and they could not send help in time to the unfortunate\ngovernor, who was made prisoner, and treated with most savage cruelty.\nHowever, fifty years later, in 1571, the powers of Europe joined together\nunder Don John of Austria, the brother of the king of Spain, and beat the\nTurks in a great sea-fight at Lepanto, breaking their strength for many\nyears after; but the king, Philip II. (the husband of our Mary I.), was\njealous of his brother, and called him home, and after that the Venetians\nwere obliged to make peace, and give up Cyprus. The misfortune was that\nthe Greeks and Latins hated each other so much that they never would make\ncommon cause heartily against the Turks, and the Greeks did not like to\nbe under Venetian protection; but Venice kept Crete, or Candia, as it was\nnow called, till 1670, when the Turks took it, after a long and terrible\nsiege, lasting more than two years, during which the bravest and most\ndashing gentlemen of France made a wild expedition to help the Christian\ncause. But all was in vain; Candia fell, and most of the little isles in\nthe Archipelago came one by one under the cruel power of the Turks.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XLIII. THE VENETIAN CONQUEST AND LOSS. 1684-1796.\n\n\nAgain there was a time of deliverance for Greece. The Turks had had a\ngreat defeat before Vienna, and in their weak state the Venetians made\nanother attack on them, and appointed Francis Morosini commander of the\nfleet and army. He took the little Ionian isle of Sta Maura, and two\nAlbanian towns; and many brave young men, who had read of the glories of\nancient Greece in the course of their studies, came from all parts of\nEurope to fight for her. The governor, or Seraskin, was obliged to\nretreat, and the Mainots, as the Greeks of the Morea were called, rose\nand joined him. Corinth, which was as valuable as ever as the door of\nthe peninsula, was taken, and nothing in the Morea remained Turkish but\nthe city of Malvasia. Morosini threw his men into Lepanto, Patras, and\npushed on to Athens; but there they had six days' fighting, during which\nmore harm was done to the beautiful old buildings and sculptures than had\nbefallen them in nearly two thousand years of decay. The Turks had shut\nthemselves up in the Acropolis, and made a powder magazine of the\nParthenon. A shell from Morosini's batteries fell into it, and blew up\nthe roof, which had remained perfect all these years, and much more\ndamage was done; but the city was won at last, and the Venetians were so\nmuch delighted that they chose Morosini Doge, and bestowed on him the\nsurname of Peloponesiacus in honour of his victory. He sent home a great\nmany precious spoils, in the way of old sculptures, to Venice--in\nespecial two enormous marble lions which used to guard the gate of the\nPiraeus, but which now stand on either side of the Arsenal at Venice.\n\nThen he laid siege to Negropont, the chief city of the old isle of\nEuboea; but the plague broke out in his camp, and weakened his troops so\nmuch that they were defeated and forced to give up the attempt. Illness,\ntoo, hindered him from taking Malvasia; his health was broken, and he\ndied soon after his return to Venice. Four great and bloody sea-fights\ntook place during the next few years, and in one the Turks had the\nvictory, in the others it was doubtful; but when peace was made, in the\nyear 1699, the Morea was yielded to the Venetians, and they put a line of\nforts across the Isthmus to secure it, as in old times. But the Venetian\nRepublic had lost a great deal of strength and spirit, and when, in a few\nyears, the Sultan began to prepare to take back what he had lost, the\nDoge and Senate paid little attention to his doings; so that, when\n100,000 Turks, with the Grand Vizier, sailed against the Morea, besides a\nfleet of 100 ships, the Venetian commander there had only 8000 men and 19\nships. The Venetians were hopeless, and yielded Corinth after only four\ndays' siege; and though safety had been promised to the inhabitants, they\nwere cruelly massacred, and the same happened in place after place till\nthe whole Morea was conquered, and the Venetians took ship and left the\nunhappy Greeks to their fate, which was worse than ever, since they were\nnow treated as rebels.\n\n [Picture: Temple of Minerva, on the Promontory of Sunium]\n\nSeveral of the Ionian islands on the west side of Greece were seized by\nthe Turks; but Corfu, the old Corcyra, held out most bravely, the\npriests, women, and all fighting most desperately as the Turks stormed\nthe walls of their city; stones, iron crosses, everything that came to\nhand, were hurled down on the heads of the enemy; but the ramparts had\nbeen won, and thirty standards planted on the walls, when the Saxon\ngeneral Schulenberg, who was commanding the Venetians, sallied out with\n800 men, and charged the Turks in their rear, so that those on the walls\nhurried back to defend their camp. At night a great storm swept away the\ntents, and in the morning a Spanish fleet came to the aid of the island.\nThe Turks were so much disheartened that they embarked as quietly as\npossible in the night; and when the besieged garrison looked forth in the\nmorning, in surprise at everything being so still and quiet, they found\nthe whole place deserted--stores of powder and food, cannon, wounded men,\nand all. Corfu has thus never fallen under Turkish power, for in the\nnext year, 1717, a peace was made, in which, though Venice gave up all\nclaim to the Morea, she kept the seven Ionian islands, and they continued\nunder her power as long as she remained a free and independent city--that\nis to say, till 1796, when she was conquered by the French, and given for\na time to Austria.\n\n [Picture: Ancyra, Galatia]\n\nThe state of poor Greece was dreadful. The nobles lived in fortresses\nupon the rocks, and the monks in their fastnesses; but the villages,\ntowns, and coasts were worse off than ever, for the Turks treated them as\nrebels, and savagely oppressed and misused them. Nor were they united\namong themselves, for the families who dwelt in the hills were often at\ndeadly feud with each other; the men shot each other down if they met;\nand it ended in whole families of men living entirely within their castle\nwalls, and never going out except armed to the teeth on purpose to fight,\nwhile all the business of life was carried on by the women, whom no one\non either side attempted to hurt. The beautiful buildings in the cities\nwere going to decay faster than ever, in especial the Parthenon. When it\nhad lost its roof it was of no further use as a storehouse, so it was\nonly looked on as a mine of white marble, and was broken down on all\nsides. The English Earl of Elgin obtained leave from the Turkish\nGovernment to carry away those carvings from it which are now in the\nBritish Museum, and only one row of beautiful pillars from the portico of\nthe Temple has been left standing.\n\nAs the Russians had been converted to Christianity by the clergy of\nConstantinople, and belonged to the same Church, the Greeks naturally\nlooked most there for help; but they were not well treated by the great\nempire, which seemed to think the chief use of them was to harass the\nTurks, and keep them from attacking Russia. Thus, in 1770, the Russians\nsent 2000 men to encourage a rising of the Mainots in the Morea, but not\nenough to help them to make a real resistance; and the Greeks, when they\nhad a little advantage, were always so horridly cruel in their revenge on\ntheir Turkish prisoners as to disgrace the Christian name, and provoke a\nreturn. In 1790, again, the Suliot Greeks of Albania sent to invite\nConstantine, the brother of the Czar of Russia, to be king of Greece, and\narranged a rising, but only misery came of it. The Russians only sent a\nlittle money, encouraged them to rise, and left them to their fate. The\nTurkish chief, Ali Pasha, who in his little city of Yanina had almost\nbecome a king independent of the Sultan, hunted them down; and the\nSuliots, taking refuge among the rocks, fought to the death, and killed\nfar more than their own number. In one case the Turks surprised a\nwedding-party, which retreated to a rock with a precipice behind. Here\nthe women waited and watched till all the men had been slain, and then\nlet themselves be driven over the precipice rather than be taken by the\nTurks.\n\n [Picture: Female figures]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XLIV.--THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 1815.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nIn all their troubles the Greeks never quite lost heart. The merchants\nwho had thriven in trade sent their sons to be educated in France,\nRussia, and Germany, and these learned to think much of the great old\ndeeds of their forefathers, and they formed a secret society among\nthemselves, called the _Hetaira_, which in time the princes and nobles of\nthe Peloponnesus joined; so that they felt that if they only were so\nunited and resolute as to make some Christian power think it worth while\nto take up their cause in earnest, they really might shake off the\nTurkish yoke.\n\nIn 1820, Ali Pasha, the governor of Albania, rebelled, and shut himself\nup in the town of Yanina, stirring up the Greeks to begin fighting on\ntheir own account, so as to prevent the Sultan from using all his power\nto crush him. So the Greeks began, under Prince Ipsilanti, who had\nserved in the Russian army, to march into the provinces on the Danube;\nbut they were not helped by the Russians, and were defeated by the Turks.\nIpsilanti fled into Austria; but another leader, called George the\nOlympian, lived a wild, outlaw life for some years longer, but as he had\nno rank the Greeks were too proud to join him. At last he shut himself\nup in the old convent of Secka, and held it out against the Turks for\nthirty-six hours, until, finding that he could defend it no longer, he\nput a match to the powder, and blew himself and his men up in it rather\nthan surrender.\n\nBut the next year there was another rising all over Greece. The peasants\nof Attica drove the Turkish garrison out of all Athens but the Acropolis;\nthe Suliots rose again, with secret encouragement from Ali Pasha, and\nhope seemed coming back. But when Omar Pasha had been sent from\nConstantinople with 4000 Turkish troops, he found it only too easy to\nrout 700 Greeks at Thermopylae, and, advancing into Attica, he drove back\nthe peasants, and relieved the Turkish garrison in the Acropolis, which\nhad been besieged for eighty-three days; but no sooner had he left the\nplace than the brave peasants returned to the siege.\n\nThe worst of the Greeks was that they were very cruel and treacherous,\nand had very little notion of truth or honour, for people who have been\nlong ground down are apt to learn the vices of slaves; and when the Turks\nslaughtered the men, burnt the villages, and carried off the women, they\nwere ready to return their savage deeds with the like ferocity, and often\nwith more cunning than the Turks could show; and this made the European\nnations slow of helping them. In this year, 1821, a Greek captain\nplotted to set fire to the arsenal at Constantinople, murder the Sultan\nin the confusion, and begin a great revolt of all the Greeks living at\nConstantinople. The plot was found out, and terribly visited, for\nthousands of Christian families, who had never even heard of it, were\nslain in their houses, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, an aged man,\nwhom everyone loved and respected, was also put to death. Not only were\nthe Christians massacred at Constantinople, but in most of the other\nlarge cities of Turkey, and only in a few were the people able to escape\non board the Greek merchant ships. These ships carried ten or twelve\nguns, were small, swift, and well managed, and little fire-ships were\nsometimes sent by them into the Turkish fleet, which did a great deal of\ndamage.\n\n [Picture: The Acropolis, restored]\n\nThe slaughter of so many Christians had only enraged instead of\nterrifying the others; and a Greek prince named Mavrocordato brought an\narmy together, which took several cities, but unhappily was as cruel as\nthe Turks themselves in their treatment of the conquered. However, they\nnow held Argos, met there, and made Mavrocordato their President in 1822.\nAli Pasha of Yanina was reduced and shot by the Turks that same year; and\nOmar Pasha, who had been sent against him, had a great deal of desperate\nfighting with the Suliots and other Albanian Greeks, but at last he was\ndriven back through the mountains with terrible loss.\n\nAnother horrid deed of the Turks did much to turn men's minds against\nthem. There were about 120,000 Christians in the island of Scio, who had\ntaken no part in the war, and only prayed to be let alone; but two Greek\ncaptains chose to make an attack on the Turkish garrison, and thus\nprovoked the vengeance of the Turks, who burst in full force on the\nunhappy island, killed every creature they found in the capital, and\nravaged it everywhere. Forty thousand were carried off as slaves, and\nalmost all the rest killed; and when these horrors were over, only 1800\nwere left in the place.\n\nThe cruelty of the Turks and the constancy of the Greeks began to make\nall Europe take an interest in the war. People began to think them a\nrace of heroes like those of old, and parties of young men, calling\nthemselves Philhellenes, or lovers of Greece, came to fight in their\ncause. The chief of these was the English poet, Lord Byron; but he, as\nwell as most of the others, found it was much easier to admire the Greeks\nwhen at a distance, for a war like this almost always makes men little\nbetter than treacherous savage robbers in their ways; and they were all\nso jealous of one another that there was no obedience to any kind of\ngovernment, nor any discipline in their armies. Byron soon said he was a\nfool to have come to Greece, and before he could do anything he died at\nMissolonghi, in the year 1824. But though the Greeks fought in strange\nways of their own, they at least won respect and interest by their\nuntamableness, and though Missolonghi was taken, it was only after a most\nglorious resistance. When the defenders could hold out no longer, they\nresolved to cut their way through the Turks. One division of them were\ndeceived by a false alarm, and returned to the town, where, when the\nenemy entered the powder magazine, they set fire to it, and blew\nthemselves up, together with the Turks; the others escaped.\n\nAthens was taken again by the Turks, all but the Acropolis; but the\nnations of Europe had begun to believe in the Greeks enough to advance\nthem a large sum of money, which was called the Greek Loan; and the\nEnglish admiral, Lord Cochrane, and an English soldier, General Church,\ndid them much good by making up the quarrels among their own princes, for\nactually, in the midst of this desperate war with the Turks, there were\nseven little civil wars going on among different tribes of the Greeks\nthemselves. General Church collected them all, and fought a great battle\nin the plain of Athens with the Turkish commander, Ibrahim Pasha, but was\nbeaten again; the Acropolis was taken, and nothing remained to the Greek\npatriots but the citadel of Corinth and Naupliae.\n\nHowever, France, Russia, and England had now resolved to interfere on\nbehalf of the Greeks, and when the Sultan refused to attend to them, a\nfleet, consisting of ships belonging to the three nations, was sent into\nthe Mediterranean. They meant to treat with the Turks, but the Turks and\nGreeks thought they meant to fight, and in the bay of Navarino a battle\nbegan, which ended in the utter destruction of the Turkish fleet. Out of\n120 ships, only 20 or 30 were left, and 6000 men were slain. This was on\nthe 20th of October, 1827, and the terrible loss convinced Ibrahim Pasha\nthat no further attempt to keep the Morea was of any use, so he sailed\naway to Egypt, of which his father was then Viceroy for the Sultan, but\nwhich he and his son have since made into a separate kingdom. It was in\nOctober, 1828, that the Peloponnesus thus shook off the Turkish yoke.\n\nIt was thought best that a French army should be sent to hold the chief\nfortresses in the Morea, because the Greeks quarrelled so among\nthemselves. In the meantime General Church went on driving the Turks\nback in the northern parts of Greece, and Count Capo d'Istria was chosen\nPresident, but he did not manage well, and gave the command of Western\nGreece to his own dull brother, taking it away from General Church. It\nseemed as if the Greeks would not know how to use their freedom now they\nhad gained it, for the Council and the President were always quarrelling,\nand being jealous of each other; and there was falsehood, robbery,\ntreachery, and assassination everywhere. And yet everyone hoped that the\nrace that had stood so bravely all these years would improve now it was\nfree.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter ending]\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. XLV.--THE KINGDOM OF GREECE. 1822-1875.\n\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter heading]\n\nThe European powers who had taken the little nation of Greeks in charge,\nfinding that, as a republic with a president, they did nothing but\ndispute and fight, insisted that the country should have a king, who\nshould govern by the help of a parliament.\n\nBut the difficulty was that nobody had any claim to be king, and the\nGreeks were all so jealous of each other that there was no chance of\ntheir submitting to one of themselves. The only royal family belonging\nto their branch of the Church were the Russians; and France, England,\nAustria, and all the rest were afraid of letting the great Russian power\nget such a hold on the Mediterranean Sea as would come of Greece being\nheld by one of the brothers or sons of the Czar.\n\nThe first choice was very wise, for it was of one of the fittest men in\nEurope, Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg; and he accepted their offer at\nfirst, but when he had had time to hear more in letters from Count Capo\nd'Istrias, and found what a dreadful state the country was in, and how\nlittle notion the people had of truth, honour, or obedience, he thought\nhe should be able to do nothing with them, and refused to come to Greece.\nIn the meantime the Greeks went on worse than ever. Capo d'Istrias was\nmurdered by the son and brother of a chief whom he had imprisoned; and\ntwo bodies of men met, each calling itself a National Assembly--one at\nArgos, the other at Megara--and there was a regular civil war, during\nwhich the poor peasants had to hide in the woods and caves.\n\nAt last, in 1832, the second son of the king of Bavaria, Otho, a lad of\nseventeen, was chosen king by the conference in London which was settling\nthe affairs of Greece. He was sent with a council to rule for him till\nhe should be of age, and with a guard of Bavarian soldiers, while the\nFrench troops were sent home again; but the Ionian islands remained under\nthe British protection, and had an English Lord High Commissioner, and\ngarrisons of English troops.\n\nOtho had been chosen so young that there might be the better chance of\nhis becoming one with his subjects, but he turned out very dull and\nheavy, and caused discontent, because he gave all the offices he could\ndispose of to his German friends rather than to Greeks, which perhaps was\nthe less wonderful that it was very hard to find a Greek who could be\ntrusted. At last, in 1843, the people rose upon him, forced him to send\naway all his Bavarians, and to have Greek ministers to manage the\ngovernment, who should be removed at the will of the people.\n\nHis capital was at Athens, and as everyone wished to see the places which\nhad been made glorious by the great men of old Greece, there was such a\nresort of travellers thither as soon to make the town flourish; but the\nGovernment was so weak, and the whole people so used to a wild, outlaw\nlife, that the country still swarms everywhere with robbers, whom the\npeasants shelter and befriend in spite of their many horrid crimes.\n\n [Picture: The Isles of Greece]\n\nWhen the English and French nations, in the year 1853, took up the cause\nof Turkey against Russia, the Greeks much longed to have fought against\ntheir old enemies; but the two allied nations sent a strong guard to\nAthens, and kept them down. Otho had no children, and time did not draw\nhim and his people nearer together; and after a reign of about thirty\nyears, it was plain that the experiment had not succeeded. He resigned,\nand went home to end his days in Bavaria.\n\nThe Greek crown was offered to several more princes, who refused it,\nuntil George, the second son of the king of Denmark, accepted it in the\nyear 1868. At the same time the Ionian islands were made over by the\nEnglish Government to the crown of Greece, and the British troops\nwithdrawn. One of the first things that happened in King George's reign\nwas the murder of three English gentlemen--Mr. Herbert, Mr. Lloyd, and\nMr. Vyner--who had gone with a party to see the plain of Marathon. A\ngang of robbers came and seized upon them and carried them off to the\nhills, demanding a ransom. Lady Muncaster, who was of the party, was\nallowed to return to Athens with her husband, the robbers intending that\nthe ransom should be collected; but troops were sent out to rescue the\nprisoners, and in rage and disappointment the robbers shot them all\nthree. The robbers were captured and put to death, and the young king\nwas bitterly grieved at not having been able to prevent these horrors.\n\n [Picture: Plain of Marathon]\n\nSchools are doing what they can, and the Greeks are very quick-witted,\nand learn easily. They are excellent sailors, clever merchants, and\nready linguists, and they get on and prosper very fast; but till they\nlearn truth, honesty, and mercy, and can clear their country of robbers,\nit does not seem as if anything could go really well with their kingdom,\nor as if it could make itself be respected. Yet we must recollect that\nthe old Eastern Empire, under which they were for many centuries, did not\nteach much uprightness or good faith; and that since that time they have\nhad four hundred years of desperate fighting for their homes and their\ncreed with a cruel and oppressive enemy, and that they deserve honour for\ntheir constancy even to the death. Let us hope they will learn all other\nvirtues in time.\n\n [Picture: Decorative chapter ending]\n\n\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n\n{29} \"E\" and \"o\" marked thus (e) (o) are pronounced long, as \"Helleens.\"\n\n{109} Thessaly, Epirus, Acarnania, AEtolia, Doris, two Locrian states,\nPhocis, Boeotia, Attica, Megaris--Corinth, Sicyon, Phliasia, Achaia,\nElis, Arcadia, Argolis, Laconia, Messenia.","title":"Aunt Charlotte's Stories of Greek History","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":75480}