There was no longer at Athens any traces of that manly and vigorous policy, equally capable of planning good, and retrieving bad success. Instead of that, there remained only an inconsistent loftiness, apt to evaporate in pompous decrees. They were no more those Athenians, who, when menaced by a deluge of Barbarians, demolished their houses to build ships with the timber, and whose women stoned the abject wretch to death that proposed to appease the grand monarch by tribute of homage. The love of ease and pleasure had almost entirely extinguished that of glory, liberty, and independence.

Pericles, that great man, so absolute, that those who envied him treated him as a second Pisistratus, was the author of this degeneracy and corruption. With the design of conciliating the favour of the people, he ordained that upon such days as games or sacrifices were celebrated, a certain number of oboli should be distributed among them; and that in the assemblies, in which affairs of state were transacted, every individual should receive a certain pecuniary gratification in right of presence. Thus the members of the republic were seen for the first time to sell their care in the administration of the government, and to rank among servile employments the most noble functions of the sovereign power.

It was not difficult to foresee where so excessive an abuse would end; and to remedy it, it was proposed to establish a fund for the support of a war, and to make it capital to advise, upon any account whatso ever, the application of it to other uses: but, notwithstanding, the abuse always subsisted. At first it

seemed tolerable, whilst the citizen, who was supported at the public expense, endeavoured to deserve its liberality by doing his duty in the field for nine months together. Every one was to serve in his turn, and whoever failed was treated as a deserter without distinction: but at length the number of the transgressors carried it against the law; and impunity, as it commonly happens, multiplied their number. People accustomed to the delightful abode of a city, where feasts and games, ran in a perpetual circle, conceived an invincible repugnance for labour and fatigue, which they looked upon as unworthy of freeborn men.

It was therefore necessary to find amusement for this indolent people, to fill up the great void of an inactive, useless life. Hence arose principally their passion or rather frenzy for public shows. The death of Epaminondas, which seemed to promise them the greatest advantage, gave the final stroke to their ruin and destruction. "Their courage," says Justin, "did not survive that illustrious Theban. Free from a rival, who kept their emulation alive, they sunk into a lethargic sloth and effeminacy. The funds for armaments by land and sea were soon lavished upon games and feasts. The seaman's and soldier's pay was distributed to the idle citizen, enervated in soft luxurious habits of life. The representations of the theatre were preferred to the exercises of the camp, Valour and military knowledge were entirely disre garded. Great captains were in no estimation; whilst

Justin. 1. vi. c. ix.

good poets and excellent comedians engrossed the universal applause."

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Plu

Extravagance of this kind makes it easy to comprehend in what multitudes the people thronged to the dramatic performances. As no expense was spared in embellishing them, exorbitant sums were sunk in the service of the theatre. "If," "If," says tarch, "what each representation of the dramatic pieces cost the Athenians were rightly calculated, it would appear, that their expenses in playing the Bacchanalians, the Phenicians, Edipus, Antigone, Medea, and Electra, tragedies written either by Sophocles or Euripides, were greater than those which had been employed against the Barbarians in defence of the liberty, and for the preservation of Greece."i This gave a Spartan just reason to cry out, on seeing an estimate of the enormous sums laid out in the disputes of the tragic poets, and the extraordinary pains taken by the magistrates who presided in them, "That a people must be void of sense to apply themselves in so warm and serious a manner to things so frivolous. For," added he, "games should be only games; and nothing is more unreasonable than to purchase a short and trivial amusement at so great a price. Pleasures of this kind agree only with public rejoicings and seasons of festivity, and were designed to divert people at their leisure hours; but should by no means interfere with the affairs of the public, nor the necessary expenses of the government."

"After all," says Plutarch, in a passage which I have already cited, "of what utility have these Plut. de glor, Athen. p. 394. Plut. Sympos. 1. vii. quest. vii. p. 719.

tragedies been to Athens, though so much boasted of by the people, and admired by the rest of the world? We find, that the prudence of Themistocles enclosed the city with strong walls: that the fine taste and magnificence of Pericles improved and adorned it; that the noble fortitude of Miltiades preserved its liberty; and that the moderate conduct of Cimon acquired it the empire and government of all Greece." If the wise and learned poetry of Euripides, the sublime diction of Sophocles, the lofty buskin of Eschylus, have obtained equal advantages for the city of Athens, by delivering it from impending calamities, or by adding to its glory, I consent in Plutarch's words, that "dramatic pieces should be ranked with trophies of victory, the poetic pieces with the fields of battle, and the compositions of the poets with the great exploits of the generals." But what a comparison would this be? On the one side would be seen a few writers, crowned with wreaths of ivy, and dragging a goat or an ox after them, the rewards and victims assigned them for excelling in tragic poetry: on the other, a train of illustrious captains, surrounded with colonies founded, cities taken, and nations subjected by their wisdom and valour. It is not to perpetuate the victories of Eschylus and Sophocles, but in remembrance of the glorious battles of Marathon, Salamin, Eurymedon, and many others, that several feasts are celebrated every month by the Grecians.

The conclusion of Plutarch from hence, in which we ought to agree with him, is, that it was the highest imprudence in the Athenians to prefer pleasure to

κ' Αμαρτάνεσιν Αθηναίοι μεγάλα, την σπεδην εις την παιδίαν καταναλισκοντες, πέτεσι μεγάλων αποςόλων δαπάνας και τρατευμάτων εφόδια κατα χορηγόντες εις το θέατρον.

duty, the passion for the theatre to the love of their country, trivial representations to the application to public business, and to consume, in useless expenses and dramatic entertainments, the funds intended for the support of fleets and armies. Macedon, till then obscure and inconsiderable, well knew how to take advantage of the Athenian indolence and effeminacy; and Philip, instructed by the Greeks themselves, among whom he had for several years applied himself successfully to the art of war, was not long before he gave Greece a master, and subjected it to the yoke, as we shall see in the sequel.

I am now to open an entirely new scene to the reader's view, not unworthy his curiosity and attention. We have seen two states of no great consideration, Media and Persia, extend themselves far and wide under the direction of Cyrus, like a torrent of devouring fire, and by amazing rapidity conquer and subdue many provinces and kingdoms. We shall see now that vast empire setting the nations under its dominion in motion, the Persians, Medes, Phenicians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Indians, and many others, and falling, with all the forces of Asia and the east, upon a little country, of very small extent, and destitute of all foreign assistance; I mean Greece. When, on the one hand, we behold so many nations united together, such preparations of war made for several years with so much diligence; innumerable armies by sea and land, and

Quibus rebus effectum est, ut inter otia Græcorum, sordidum et obscurum antea Macedonum nomen emergeret; et Philippus, obses triennio Thebis habitus, Epaminondæ et Pelopidæ virtutibus eruditus, regnum Macedoniæ Græcæ et Asia cervicibus, velut jugum servitutis, imponeret. Just. 1. vi. c. 9.