by the strength of his eloquence, in which he had made a very great progress under Anaxagoras. This credit and authority, however enormous, could not yet restrain the comic writers from lashing him very severely in the theatres; and it does not appear that any of the poets who censured Pericles with so much boldness, were ever punished, or even called to account for it by the people. Perhaps it was out of prudence and policy that he did not attempt to curb this licentiousness of the stage, nor to silence the poets; that he might amuse and content the people by this vain shadow of liberty, and prevent their discovering that they really were enslaved. 1 *But Pericles did not stop here. He boldly resolved, if possible, to weaken the authority of the tribunal of the Areopagus, of which he was not a member, because he had never been elected either+ Archon, Thesmotheta, king of the sacri fices, nor Polemarch. These were different employments in the republic, which from time immemorial had been given by lot and none but those who had behaved uprightly in them, were allowed a seat in the Areopagus. Pericies, taking advantage of Cimon's absence, set Ephialtes, who was his creature, at work clandestinely; and at last lessened the power of that illus trious body, in which the chief strength of the nobility consist ed. The people, emboldened and supported by so powerful a faction, subverted all the fundamental laws and ancient customs; took from the senate of the Areopagus the cognizance of most causes that used to be brought before it, leaving it very few, and such only as were of little consequence, and made themselves absoluté masters of all the tribunals. Cimon, being returned to Athens, was afflicted to see the dignity of the senate trampled under foot, and therefore set every engine at work to restore it to its pristine authority, and to revive the aristocracy, in the same form as it had been established under Clisthenes. But now his enemies began to exclaim, and excite the people against him; reproaching him, among many other things, with his strong attachment to the Lacedæmonians. Cimon had himself given some room for this * Plut in Pericl. p 157. In: Cim. p. 438. After some change had been made in the form of the Athenian government, the supreme authority was at last vested m nine magistrates, called Archons, and lasted but one year. One was called Rex, another Pelemarchus, a third Archon, and this magistrate was -properly at the head of the rest, and gave his name to the year'; and six Thesmothe æ, who presided immediately over the laws and decrees. reproach, by his not paying sufficient regard to the Athenian delicacy: for, in speaking to them he would for ever extol Lacedæmonia; and whenever he censured their condnct on any occasion, he used to cry, "The Spartans do not act in "this manner." Such expressions as these drew upon him the envy and hatred of his fellow-citizens; but an event, (in which he nevertheless had no share, made him the object of their utmost devastation. 100 band SECTION VIIE “ AN EARTHQUAKE IN SPARTA, C. 27 In the fourth year of the reign of Archidamus*, there happened the most dreadful earthquake in Sparta that had ever been known. In several places the country was entirely swallowed up; Taygetus and other mountains were shaken to their foundations; many of their summits, being torn away, came tumbling down and the whole city was laid in ruins, five houses only excepted. To heighten the calamity, the helots, who were slaves to the Lacedæmonians, looked upon this as a favourable opportunity to recover their liberty, flew up and down every part of the city to murder such as had escaped the earthquake: but finding them under arms, and drawn up in order for battle, by the prudent foresight of Archidamus, who had assembled them round him, they retired into the neighbouring cities, and commenced that very day upon war, having entered into alliance with several of the neighbouring nations, and being strengthened by the Messinians, who at that time were engaged in a war with the Spartans.o-4 The Lacedæmonians in this extremity sent to Athens to implore succours; but this was opposed by Ephialtes, who declared that it would be no way adviseable to assist them, nor to rebuild a city that was the rival of Athens, which, he said, ought to be left in its ruins, and the pride of Sparta thereby humbled for ever; But Cimon, being struck with horror at these politics, did not hesitate a moment to prefer the welfare of the Lacedæmonians to the aggrandising of his country; declaring, in the strongest terms, that it was absolutely weak and inconsistant, "to leave Greece lame of one of its legs, and "Athens without a counterpoise;" the people came into his opinion, and accordingly a succour was voted. Sparta and Athens might indeed be considered as the two limbs on which Greece stood; so that if one of them was destroyed, the rest * A. M. 3534. Ant. J. C. 470. Plut. in Cim. p. 488, 489. were inevitably crippled. It is also certain, that the Athenians were so elated with their grandeur, and were become so proud and enterprising, that they wanted a curb; for which none was so proper as Sparta, that state being the only one that was capable of being a counterpoise to the headstrong disposition of the Athenians. Cimon therefore marched to the aid of the Lacedæmonians with 4000 men. We have here an example of the prodigious influence which a man of fine talents and abilities has in a state, when a great fund of merit unites in his person, with a well established reputation for probity, disinterestedness, and zeal for the good of his country. Cimon, with very little difficulty, prevails so far as to inspire the Athenians with noble and magnanimous sentiments, which in outward appearance interfered with their interest; and this in spite of the suggestions of a secret jealousy, which never fails to show itself in the most sensible manner on these occasions. By the ascendant and authority which his virtue gives him, he raises them above the grovelling and unjust, though too common, political views, that prompt a people to consider the calamities of their neighbours as an advantage, which the interest of their own country permits and even enjoins them to lay hold of. The counsels of Cimon were perfectly wise and equitable; but it is surprising how he could prevail so far as to make a whole people approve them, since this is all that could be expected from an assembly of the wisest and gravest senators. * Some time after, the Lacedæmonians again implored the aid of the Athenians against the Messenians and helots, who had seized upon Ithoma. But these forces being arrived under the command of Cimon, the Spartans began to dread their intrepidity, their power, and great fame; so that the city affronted them so far as to send them back, upon the suspicion of their harbouring ill designs, and of intending to turn their arms against them. The Athenians being returned full of anger and resentment, they declared themselves from that very day enemies to all who should favour the Lacedæmonian interest; for which reason they banished Cimon by the ostracism, the first opportunity that presented itself for that purpose. This is the first time that the misunderstanding between these two nations, which afterwards augmented through mutual discontent, displayed itself in so strong a manner. It was neverthe VOL. III. * Plut. in Cim. Thucyd. l. i. p. 67, 68. less suspended for some years by truces and treaties, which prevented its consequences; but it at last broke out in the most violent manner in the Peloponnesian war. Those who had shut themselves up in Ithoma, after making a ten years defence in it, surrendered at last to the Laceda monians, who gave them their lives, upon condition that they should never return to Peloponnesus. The Athenians, to exasperate the Lacedæmonians; received them with their wives and children, and settled them at Naupactus, of which they had just before possessed themselves. *The inhabitants of Megara at the same time went over from the Spartans to the Athenians. In this manner several leagues were concluded on both sides, and many battles were fought, the most famous of which was that of Tanagra in Boeotia, which Diodorus equals with those of Marathon and Platea, and in which Myronidus the Athenian general defeated the Spartans who came to the aid of the Thebans. It was on this occasion that Cimon, thinking himself dispensed from his proscription, repaired with some soldiers to his tribe to serve his country, and to fight in the Athenian country against the Lacedæmonians; but his enemies caused him to be ordered to retire. However, before he went away, he exhorted his companions, who were no less suspected than himself of favouring the Lacedæmonians, to exert themselves to the utmost, and fight with the greatest courage, to prove their innocence, and, if possible, to efface from the minds of the citizens a suspicion so injurious to them all. Accordingly those brave soldiers, who were 100 in number, fired by these words, demanded his whole armour of him, which they placed in the centre of their little battalion, in order to have him in a manner present and before their eyes. They fought' with so much valour and fury, that they were all cut to pieces, to the great regret of the Athenians, who deeply repented their having accused them so unjustly. I omit several events of little importance. SECTION IX. CIMON IS RECALLED HIS DEATH. THE Athenians perceiving the great occasion they had for Cimon ‡, recalled him from banishment, in which he had spent * A. M. 3548. Ant. J. C. 456. p. 59-65. 1. xi. † Plut. in Cim. p. 489.: Thucyd. 1. i. p. 69-71. Diod. Ibid. p. 490. five years. It was Pericles himself who proposed and drew up that decree; so moderate in those times, says Plutarch, were feuds and animosities, and so easy to be appeased, when the welfare of their country required it; and so happily did ambition, which is one of the strongest and most lively passions, yield to the necessity of the times, and comply with the occasions of the public. The instant Cimon returned, he stiffed the sparks of war which were going to break out among the Greeks, reconciled the two cities and prevailed with them to conclude a truce for five years. And to prevent the Athenians, who were grown haughty, in effect of the many victories they had gained, from having an opportunity, or harbouring a design to attack their neighbours and allies, he thought it advisable to lead them at a great distance from home against the common enemy; thus endeavouring in an honourable way to inure the citizens to war, and enrich them at the same time. Accordingly he put to sea with a fleet of 200 sail. He sent 60 of these into Egypt, to the aid of Amyrteus, and himself sailed with the rest against the island of Cyprus. Artabazus was at that time in those seas, with a fleet of 300 sail; and Megabysus, the other general of Artaxerxes, with an army of 300,000 men, on the coast of Cilicia. As soon as the squadron which Cimon sent into Egypt had joined his fleet, he sailed and attacked Artabazus, and took 100 of his ships. He sunk many of them, and chased the rest as far as the coast of Phoenicia. But, as if this victory had been only a prelude to a second, he made a descent on Cilicia in his return, attacked Megabysus, defeated him, and cut to pieces a prodigious number of his troops. He afterwards returned to Cyprus with this double triumph, and laid siege to Citium, a strong city of very great importance. His design, after he had reduced that island, was, to sail for Egypt, and again embroil the affairs of the barbarians; for he had very extensive views, and meditated no less a prospect than that of the entire subversion of the mighty empire of Persia. The rumours which prevailed, that Themistocles was to command against him, added fresh fire to his courage; and almost assured of success, he was infinitely pleased with the occasion of trying his abilities with those of that general. But we have already seen that Themistocles laid violent hands on himself about this time. * A. M. 3554. Ant. J. C. 450. Plut. in Cim. p. 490. Diod. 1. xii, p. 73, 74. |