made themselves masters of the place, and cleverly contrived to repossess themselves of the hostages. Having done this, the Samians, entering into an alliance with the Byzantines, once more set to work to attack their former enemies the Milesians. They also obtained from the Persians the promise of the help of a Phoenician fleet. Moreover, they applied to Sparta and her allies for aid against the invasion of the Athenians, which they felt must very shortly come upon them. A congress of the Spartans and their allies was assembled, in which there was a very strong disposition to succour the Samians in their hour of necessity, but they were dissuaded by the Corinthians, who had colonies of their own, and who very zealously laid down the principle that every state had the right to punish its own allies. In the meantime, as soon as they heard of the insurrection, Pericles, with nine colleagues, of whom the great poet Sophocles was one, and sixty sail, crossed over towards Samos. He sent away a detachment of his sixty ships against the Phoenicians, and then with a weakened force he engaged and defeated seventy Samian vessels. Being reinforced with ships from Athens, and from Chios and Lesbos, he invested the town of Samos both by sea and land. When news came that the Phoenician fleet was advancing, he sailed away with most of his ships to meet them. The Samians did not fail to take advantage of his absence. They sailed out, defeated the remainder of the Athenian fleet, brought in their own supplies, and for fourteen days remained masters of the sea. Pericles came back, this time with still larger reinforcements, and the Samians were hopelessly blockaded for a period of eight months. They then yielded, on the condition of demolishing their walls, giving hostages, surrendering their ships, and paying the expenses of the war by instalments.

When Pericles returned home he was greeted with extraordinary honours. Athens had been threatened with a great danger, and if the result had been unfavourable, which at one time there was great reason to fear, her maritime supremacy might have been lost.

There was a custom in Athens that a funeral oration should be delivered over those who honourably fell in war. This was delivered by Pericles in the suburb of the Ceramicus, where solemn obsequies were performed. Pericles was twice elected to this office-on this occasion and in the first year of the Peloponnesian war. The second of these orations has been preserved, in substance, at least, by Thucydides, and gives us an opportunity of observing the high qualities of this prince of orators. The audience was stirred to the highest excitement, and chaplets and diadems were rained down on his head by the Athenian women.

Indeed, the oratory of Pericles was one of the greatest political influences of Athens. He alone could control the excited assemblies of the people. The chief

orations of Pericles were spoken from the bema in the Pnyx. This natural rostrum was a block of bare stones, ascended by steps hewn out of the rock, from which the orator addressed his audience, who were stationed in an open field, occupying a semicircle before him. Six thousand listeners would often assemble on this memorable hill. Demosthenes declaiming against the billows of the sea only inadequately represented the storm-swept passions of his auditory, which the orator had to encounter. The scenery and associations which belonged to the spot were of the most elevated and inspiring kind. The loved soil of Attica was beneath the orator, its clear sky overhead; below was the circle of the Agora, planted with plane-trees, adorned with noble edifices, with bronzed or gilded statues, and a stately colonnade, with its paintings, in their framework of marble. Near at hand was the grand arsenal of the Piræus, washed by the sea, and beyond the sea, Salamis, sacred from its immortal memories. Nearer still was the venerable Areopagus, and the Acropolis towering above all, with its glorious portals and its crown of the Parthenon. All the imagery and associations which appealed most strongly to patriotic feeling were thus at the disposal of the orator, and often as those thrilling chords were swept they never failed to elicit a heartfelt response from the great civic auditory of Athens.

With the elements of Athenian greatness were closely bound up the materials for failure and disaster. The subject states formed both the greatness and the danger of the Athenian empire. She reigned by the necessities of her allies, or through their fears, and not in their affections. There was always a danger that indifference might become disaffection and disaffection become rebellion.

The colonies of Attica, indeed, were true to her. These colonies were of two kinds. There were, in the first case, districts in conquered or subject lands, where allotments called Kleruchies were made to bodies of men who retained the status and the obligations of Athenian citizenship. These were greatly preferred by the Athenians, and such regions were truly an Attica beyond the Attic seas. The others were regular colonies, as in the instance of Amphipolis.

But the case of the allies was altogether different. By the stress of events the members of the Confederacy of Delos gradually ceased to be the allies and became the tribute-paying subjects of Athens. This position was in itself an unpleasing one, and there were also specific grounds of complaint. The tribute, which in time of war had been only four hundred and sixty talents, was now, in time of peace, six hundred talents. does not appear, however, that any new burdens were thrown upon the allies, and the increase is probably to be accounted for by the commutation of personal service into a money payment. It was also complained that individual Athenians, placed in a position of authority, acted tyrannically, and made encroachments and exactions.

It

It is probable that instances of this kind really did occur from time to time; but this was against the spirit of Athenian government itself. It was still more strongly complained that all lawsuits of great importance were withdrawn from the local courts and transferred to the Athenian dikasteries. This transfer may probably have caused delay and expense, but none the less the allies often had reason to regard the Athenian popular judicature as a chastener of evil-doers and a harbour of refuge to themselves. Substantial justice was done, and the allies probably fared better at this time than either before or after the period of the Athenian supremacy.