Le Eumolpides and Ceryces were employed in revoking those nprecations, Theodorus, the principal of them, had the couage to say, "But for me, I have not cursed him, if he has done no evil to his country;" insinuating by that bold exression, that the maledictions, being conditional, could not ll upon the head of the innocent, nor be averted from the uilty. In the midst of this glory and shining prosperity of Alciiades, the majority of the people could not help being conerned, when they considered the time of his return; for it appened precisely upon the day when the Athenians celerated the feast in honour of Minerva, adored under the name Agraulis. The priests took off all the ornaments from the oddess's statue to wash it, from whence the feast was called [hawrap and afterwards covered it; and that day was acounted one of the most ominous and unfortunate. It was he 25th of the month Thargelion, which answers to the 2d f July. This circumstance displeased that superstitious eople, because it seemed to imply, that the goddess, patron. ss, and protectress of Athens did not receive Alcibiades greeably, and with a benign aspect, since she covered and oncealed herself, as if she would keep him off, and remove im from her. † All things having however succeeded according to his vish, and the 100 ships he was to command being ready, be leferred his departure out of a laudable ambition to celebrate he great mysteries; for from the time the Lacedæmonians had fortified Decelia, and taken possession of all the ways rom Athens to Eleusina, the feast had not been solemnized n all its pomp, and the procession had been obliged to go by ea. The particular ceremonies of this solemnity may be seen n book x. chap. iii. Alcibiades believed it would be a most glorious action, and ttract the blessings of the gods and the praises of men, if he estored all its lustre and solemnity to this feast, in making the procession go by land under the convoy of his troops, to defend it against the attacks of the enemy. For either Agis would suffer it to pass quietly, notwithstanding the numerous roops he had at Decelia, which would considerably lessen the reputation of that king, and be a blot in his glory; or, if he should chuse to attack it, and oppose the march, he should then have the satisfaction to fight a sacred battle; a battle grateful to the gods, for the greatest and most venerable of all their mysteries, in the sight of his country and citizens, who would be witnesses of his valour, and regard for religion. It is very likely, that by this public and ostentatious act of piety, which struck the people's view in so sensible a manner, and was so extremely to his taste, Alcibiades's principal design was to efface entirely from their minds the suspicions of impiety, to which the mutilation of statues and profanation of mysteries had given birth. Having taken that resolution, he gave notice to the Eumolpides and Ceryces to hold themselves in readiness, posted centinels upon the hills, sent out runners at the break of day, and taking with him the priests, the initiated, and the proba tioners, with those who initiated them, he covered them with his army, and disposed the whole procession with wonderful order and profound silence. Never was show, says Plutarch. more august, nor more worthy the majesty of the gods, than this warlike procession and religious expedition; in which even those who envied the glory of Alcibiades were obliged to own, that he was no less happy in discharging the func tions of an high-priest than those of a general. No enemy dared to appear to disturb that pompous march, and Alcibiades re-conducted the sacred troops to Athens with entire safety. This success gave him new courage, and raised the valour and boldness of his army to such a degree, that they looked upon themselves as invincible whilst he commanded them. He acquired the affection of the poor and the lower sort of people so much, that they most ardently desired to have him for their king. Many of them openly declared themselves to that effect; and there were some who addressed themselves to him, and exhorted him to set himself above envy, and not to trouble himself about laws, decrees, or suffrages; to put down those wordy impertinents that disturbed the state with their vain harangues, to make himself master of affairs, and to govern with entire authority, without fearing accusers. For him, what his thoughts of the tyranny and his designs were, are unknown; but the most powerful citizens, apprehending the breaking out of a fire, of which they already saw the sparks, pressed him to depart without delay, granting whatever he demanded, and giving him for colleagues the generals most agreeable to him. He set sail accordingly with 100 ships, and steered for the island of Andros, which had revolted. His high reputation, and the good fortune which had attended him in all his enterprises, made nothing but what was great and extraordinary to be expected from him. SECTION IV. THE LACEDÆMONIANS APPOINT LYSANDER ADMIRAL. ➡HE BEATS THE ATHENIAN FLEET NEAR EPHESUS. LYSANDER IS SUCCEEDED IN THE COMMAND BY CALLI CRATIDAS. THE Lacedæmonians, justly alarmed at the return and success of Alcibiades*, conceived that such an enemy made it necessary to oppose him with an able general, capable of making head against him. For this reason they made choice of Lysander, and gave him the command of the fleet. When he arrived at Ephesus, he found the city very well disposed in his favour, and well affected to Sparta, but otherwise in a very unhappy situation; for it was in danger of becoming barbarous, by assuming the manners and customs of the Persians, who had great commerce with it, as well from the neighbourhood of Lydia, as because the king's generals commonly took up their winter quarters there. An idle and voluptuous life, filled up with luxury and empty show, could not fail of disgusting infinitely a man like Lysander, who had been bred from his birth in the simplicity, poverty, and severe discipline of Sparta. Having brought his army to Ephesus, he gave orders for assembling ships of burden there from all parts, erected an arsenal for building of galleys, made the ports free for merchants, gave the public places to artificers, put all arts in motion, and held them in honour; and by these means filled the city with riches, and laid the foundation of that grandeur and magnificence to which it afterwards attained: So great a change can the application and ability of a single person occasion in a state! Whilst he was making these dispositions, he received advice that Cyrus, the king's youngest son, was arrived at Sardis. That prince could not be above 16 years old at that time, being born after his father's accession to the crown, in the 17th year of his reign. Parysatis his mother loved him to idolatry, and had the entire ascendant of her husband. It was she that occasioned his having the supreme government of all the provinces of Asia Minor given him; a command that subjected all the provincial governors of the most important part of the empire to his authority. The view of Parysatis was, with * Xenoph.ellen. I. xi. p 44ɔ---442 P.ut. in Lysand. p. 434,45. Diod. 1. xiii. p. 192---197. VOL. III Сс out doubt, to put the young prince into a condition to dispute the throne with his brother after the king's death, as we shall see he does to some effect. One of the principal instructions given him by his father, upon sending him to his govern ment, was to give effectual aid to the Lacedæmonians against Athens; an order very contrary to the measures observed till then by Tissaphernes, and the other governors of those provinces. It had always been their maxim, sometimes to assist one party, sometimes the other, in order to hold their power in such a balance, that the one might never be able to crush the other entirely; from whence it followed that both parties were kept weak by the war, and neither in condition to form any enterprises against the Persian empire. Upon Lysander's being apprized therefore of the arrival of Cyrus at Sardis, he set out from Ephesus to make him a visit, and to complain of the delays and breach of faith of Tissaphernes, who, notwithstanding the orders he had received to support the Lacedaemonians, and to drive the Athenians out of the sea, had always covertly favoured the latter, out of regard for Alcibiades, whose measures he entirely gave into, and had been the sole cause of the loss of the fleet, by not supplying it with the necessary quantity of provisions. This discourse pleased Cyrus, who looked upon Tissaphernes as a very bad man, and his particular enemy; and he answered, that the king had given him orders to support the Lacedæmonians powerfully, and that he had received 500 talents * for that purpose. Lysander, contrary to the common character of the Spartans, was submissive and condescending, full of complacency for the grandees, always ready to pay his court to them, and supporting, for the good of the service, all the weight of their haughtiness and vanity with incredible patience; in which behaviour some people make the whole address and merit of a courtier consist. He did not forget himself on this occasion, and setting at work all that the industry and art of a complete courtier could suggest of flattery and insinuation, he perfectly gained the young prince's favour and good opinion. After having praised his generosity, magnificence, and zeal for the Lacedaemonians, he desired him to give each soldier and mariner a † drachm per day, in order to debauch those of the enemy by that means, and thereby terminate the war the sooner. Cyrus very much approved the project, but said that he could make no change in the king's order, and that the treaty with them expressly settled only half a talent* to be paid monthly for each galley. The prince, however, at the end of a banquet, which he gave him before his departure, drinking to his health, and pressing him to ask something of him, Lysander desired that an tobolus a-day might be added to the seamen's pay. This was granted; and he gave them four oboli, instead of three which they received before, and paid them all the arrears due to them, with a month's advance; giving Lysander 10,000 darics for that purpose; that is, 100,000 livres, or about 50001. sterling. This largess filled the whole fleet with ardour and alacrity; and almost unmanned the enemy's galleys; the greatest part of the mariners deserting to the party where the pay was best. The Athenians, in despair upon receiving this news, endeavoured to conciliate Cyrus by the interposition of Tissaphernes; but he would not hearken to them, notwithstanding the satrap represented that it was not for the king's interest to aggrandize the Lacedæmonians, but to balance the power of one side with that of the other, in order to perpetuate the war, and to ruin both by their own divisions. Though Lysander had considerably weakened the enemy by augmenting the mariners pay, and thereby very much hurt their naval power, he dared not however hazard a battle with them, particularly apprehending Alcibiades, who was a man of execution, had the greater number of ships, and had never been overthrown in any battle either by sca or land. But after Alcibiades had left Samos to go into Phoca and Ionia to raise money, of which he was in want for the payment of his troops, and had given the command of his fleet to Antiochus, with express order not to fight or attack the enemy in his absence; the new commander, to make show of his courage, and to brave Lysander, entered the port of Ephesus with two galleys, and after having made a great noise, retired with loud laughter, and an air of contempt and insult. Lysander, enraged at that affront, immediately detached some galleys, and went himself in pursuit of him. But as the Athenians advanced to support Antiochus, he ordered other galleys of his 1500 livres, about 1121. sterling. The drachm was six oboli, or tenpence French; each obolus being three half pence; so that the four oboli were sixpence halfpenny aday, instead of fivepence, or three oboli. A daric is about a pistole. |