Sect. XI. Pericles changes his conduct with regard to the people, 123 Sect. XII. Jealousy and contests arise between the Athenians Sect. XIII. New subjects of contention between the two nations, 130 Sect. XIV. Troubles excited against Pericles, &c. Chap. II. Transactions of the Greeks in Sicily and Italy. Sect. I. The Carthaginians defeated in Sicily. Of Gelon and his Sect. I. The siege of Platea by the Thebans, &c. Sect. II. The plague makes dreadful havoc in Attica, &c. BOOK EIGHTH. Sect. I. The very short reigns of Xerxes II. and Sogdianus, &c. 202 Sect. II. The Athenians make themselves masters of the island Sect. IV. Alcibiades's character. The banishment of Hyperbolus, 215 Sect. V. Alcibiades engages the Athens in the war of Sicily, 223 Sect. VI. Account of the several people who inhabited Sicily, 226 Sect. VII. The people of Egesta implore aid of the Athenians, &c. 227 Sect. XII. Nicias, after some engagements, besieges Syracuse, &c. 244 Sect. XIII. The Syracusans resolve to capitulate, but Gylippus's arrival changes the face of affairs, &c. Sect. XIV. The Athenians again hazard a sea-fight, and are Sect. I. Consequences of the defeat of the Athenians in Sicily, &c. 277 Sect. II. Alcibiades returns to Athens. Tissaphernes concludes a new treaty with the Lacedæmonians, Sect. III. Alteration in the government of Athens. Alci- biades recalled, and afterwards appointed gsneralissimo, 285 Sect. IV. The Lacedæmonians appoint Lysander admiral. He Sect. V. Callicratidas is defeated by the Athenians. Sentence Chap. I. Domestic troubles of the court of Persia, Sect. I. Coronation of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Cyrus attempts to Sect. II. The thirty exercise the most horrid cruelties at Athens. They put Theramenes to death. Thrasy bulus attacks the tyrants, is master of Athens, and restores its liberty, Sect. III. Lysander abuses his power in an extraordinary man- Chap. II. Young Cyrus, with the aid of the Grecian troops, endea- vours to dethrone his brother Artaxerxes. He is killed. Famous THE HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS AND GRECIANS. CHAP. II. THE HISTORY OF XERXES, INTERMIXED WITH THAT OF THE GREEKS. XERXES's reign lasted but 12 years, but abounds with great events. SECTION I. XERXES REDUCES EGYPT, &c. &c. XERXES* having ascended the throne, employed the first year of his reign in carrying on the preparations begun by his father for the reduction of Egypt. He also confirmed to the Jews at Jerusalem all the privileges granted them by his father, and particularly that which assigned them the tribute of Samaria, for the supplying of them with victims for the temple of God. In the second year of his reign he marched against the Egyptians, and having reduced and subdued those rebels, he made the yoke of their subjection more heavy; then giving the government of that province to his brother Achemenes, he returned about the latter end of the year to Susa. Herodotus, the famous historian, was born this same year at Halicarnassus in Caira; for he was 53 years old when the Peloponnesian war first began. Xerxes, puffed up with his success against the Egyptians, determined to make war against the Grecians. He did not * A. M. 3519. Ant. J. C. 485. Her. 1. vii. c. 5. Jos. Antiq 1. xi. c. 5. Her. l. vii. c. 7. A. M. 3520. Ant. J. C. 484. Aul. Gel. I. 15. c. 23. Plut, in Apoph. p. 173. Her. I. vii. c. 8-18. intend, he said, to buy the figs of Attica which were very excellent, any longer, because he would eat no more of them till he was master of the country. But before he engaged in an enterprise of that importance, he thought proper to assemble his council, and take the advice of all the greatest and most illustrious persons of his court. He laid before them the design he had of making war against Greece, and acquainted them with his motives, which were, the desire of imitating the example of his predecessors, who had all of them distinguished their names and reigns by noble enterprises; the obligation he was under to revenge the insolence of the Athenians, who had presumed to fall upon Sardis, and reduce it to ashes; the necessity he was under to avenge the disgrace his country had received at the battle of Marathon; and the prospect of the great advantages that might be reaped from this war, which would be attended with the conquest of Europe, the most rich and fertile country in the universe. He added further, that this war had been resolved on by his father Darius, and he meant only to follow and execute his intentions. He concluded with promising ample rewards to those who should distinguish themselves by their valour in the expedition. Mardonius, the same person that had been so unsuccessful in Darius's reign, grown neither wiser nor less ambitious by his ill success, and extremely affecting the command of the army, was the first who gave his opinion. He began by extolling Xerxes above all the kings that had gone before or should succeed him. He endeavoured to show the indispensible necessity of avenging the dishonour done to the Persian name ; he disparaged the Grecians, and represented them as a cowardly, timorous people, without courage, without forces, or experience in war. For a proof of what he said, he mentioned his own conquest of Macedonia, which he exaggerated in a very vain and ostentatious manner, as if that people had submitted to him without any resistance. He presumed even to affirm, that not any of the Grecian nations would venture to come out against Xerxes, who would march with all the forces of Asia; and if they had the temerity to present themselves before him, they would learn to their cost that the Persians were the bravest and most warlike nation in the world. The rest of the council, perceiving that this flattering discourse extremely pleased the king, were afraid to contradict it, and all kept silence. This was almost an unvoidable consequence of Xerxes's manner of proceeding. A wise prince, when he proposes an affair in council, and really desires that |