ted all who would to partake of the fruits of his fields and orchards, but threw down the fences, that none might scruple to enter. He not only gave the usual entertainments expected from the rich to the members of his deme, but kept a table constantly open to them. When he went out into the streets he was commonly attended by a number of persons in good apparel, who, when they met with any elderly citizen scantily clothed, would insist on exchanging their warm mantles for his threadbare covering. It was the office of the same agents respectfully to approach any of the poorer citizens of good character whom they might see standing in the market-place, and silently to put some small pieces of money into their hands. There were some, Plutarch innocently observes, who decried this liberality as flattery of the mob, and the trick of a demagogue ;* but such slander is, he thinks, amply refuted by the fact, that Cimon was the leader of the aristocratical and Laconi which had probably been transmitted in his family, as to his competition with Cimon, or to his fear of incurring the suspicion that he aimed at a tyranny or unconstitutional power-a suspicion to which he was much more exposed in the station which he actually filled. But if his personal character might seem better adapted to an aristocratical than to a democratical party, it must also render us unwilling to believe that he devoted himself to the cause of the commonalty merely that he might make it the instrument of his own ambition. There seems to be much better ground for supposing that he deliberately preferred the system which he adopted, as the most consistent, if not alone reconcilable, with the prosperity and safety of Athens, though his own agency in directing and controlling it might be a prominent object in all his views. But he might well think that the people had gone too far to remain stationary, even if there was any reason why it should not seize the good which lay within its reach. Its great-an party, and one of the few Athenians whose ness had risen with the growth of the commonalty, and, it might appear to him, could only be maintained and extended by the same means: at home by a decided ascendency of the popular interest over that of the old aristocracy and every other class in the state; abroad by an equally decided supremacy over the rest of Greece. The contest between the parties seems for some time to have been carried on without much violence or animosity, and rather with a noble emulation in the service of the public than with assaults on one another. Cimon had enriched his country with the spoil and ransom of the Persians, and he had also greatly increased his private fortune.* His disposition was naturally inclined to liberality, and he made a munificent use of his wealth. Several great works were wanting for the security of the city, and little had yet been done for its embellishment. The southern wall of the citadel was built with the treasure which Cimon brought home from Asia, and the plans of Themistocles were brought nearer to their accomplishment by preparations which were now made for joining the city to its harbours, by walls carried down on the one side to Phalerus, on the other to Piræus. The laying of the foundations of these walls was itself an arduous and expensive work, on account of the marshy ground which they crossed; and Cimon himself executed the most difficult part with magnificent solidity at his own charge. He also set the example of adorning the public places of the city with trees, and, by introducing a supply of water, converted the Academy, a spot about two miles north of the city, from an arid waste into a delightful grove, containing open lawns and courses for the exercises of the young, shady walks for the thoughtful, a scene of wholesome recreation for all. incorruptible integrity raised them above all suspicion of venality, or of ever acting from selfish motives. And he adds a story of the magnanimity with which Cimon had rejected a present offered to him by a foreigner who needed his protection. It might, perhaps, be alleged, with more colour of truth, that the ordinary relation subsisting at this period between the rich and the poor at Athens rendered such good offices so common that they could not fairly be attributed even to ambition, much less to any meaner motive. It is true that the state of things had undergone a great change at Athens in favour of the poorer class since Solon had been obliged to interpose to protect them from the rigour of creditors who first impoverished, and then enslaved them. Since this time the aristocracy had found it expedient to court the commonalty, which it could no longer oppress, and to part with a portion of its wealth for the sake of retaining its power. There were, of course, then, as at all times, benevolent individuals who only consulted the dictates of a generous nature; but the contrast between the practice which prevailed before and after the age of Solon seems clearly to mark the spurious origin of the ordinary beneficence. Yet Isocrates, when he extols the bounty of the good old times, which prevented the pressure of poverty from being ever felt, speaks of land granted at low rents, sums of money advanced at low interest, and asserts that none of the citizens were then in such indigence as to depend on casual relief. Cimon's munificence, therefore, must have been remarkable, not only in its degree, but in its kind; and was not the less that of a demagogue, because he sought popularity, not merely for his own sake, but for that of his order and his party. Such was the light in which it was viewed by Pericles, and some of the measures which This kind of expenditure was wise and no- most strongly marked his administration were ble; but it was coupled with another, mischiev-adopted to counteract its effects. He was not ous in its tendency, and seemingly degrading able to rival Cimon's profusion, and he even both to the benefited and to the benefactor. husbanded his private fortune with rigid econoCimon, it is said, not only, like Pisistratus, invi Plut. (Cim., 10) attributes his wealth entirely to this source; but it may have been in great part derived from the recovery of the Chersonesus, as Wachsmuth observes, i., 2, p. 57. VOL. I.-P P * Cim, 10. In his Life of Pericles, 9, he seems himself to adopt the same view. With regard to the removal of the fences, Plutarch's statement is not confirmed by Theopompus (Athen., xii, p. 533). and may, therefore, be sus pected of exaggeration. † Areop., c. 12 Ibid., c. 38. farther conquest on the mainland between the newly-conquered district and Macedonia. Plutarch says that he was expected to have invaded Macedonia, and to have added a large tract of it to the dominions of Athens. Yet it does not clearly appear how the conquest of Thasos afforded an opportunity of effecting this with greater ease, nor is any motive suggested for such an attack on the territories of Alexander. We might hence be inclined to suspect that the expedition which Cimon had neglected to undertake, though called for by the people's wishes, if not by their express orders, was to have been directed, not against Macedonia, but against the Thracian tribes on its frontier, who had sa lately cut off their colonists on the Strymon; a blow which the Athenians were naturally impatient to avenge, but which the King of Macedonia might well be supposed to have wit my, that he might keep his probity in the management of public affairs free both from temptation and suspicion. His friend Demonides is said first to have suggested the thought of throwing Cimon's liberality into the shade, and rendering it superfluous by proposing a similar application of the public revenue. Pericles, perhaps, deemed it safer and more becoming that the people should supply the poorer citizens with the means of enjoyment out of its own funds than that they should depend on the bounty of opulent individuals. He might think that the generation which had raised their country to such a pitch of greatness was entitled to reap the fruits of the sacrifice which their fathers had made in resigning the produce of the mines of Laurium to the use of the state. Very early, therefore, he signalized his appearance in the assembly by becoming the author of a series of measures, all tending to provide for the sub-nessed without regret, even if he did not instisistence and gratification of the poorer class at the public expense. We do not stop to describe these measures, because they will find a more appropriate place in a general view of the administration of Pericles. But we must here observe that, while he was courting the favour of the multitude by these arts, he was no less studious to command its respect. From his first entrance into public life, he devoted himself with unremitting application to business; he was never to be seen out of doors, but on the way between his house and the seat of council; and, as if by way of contrast to Cimon's convivial tastes, declined all invitations to the entertainments of his acquaintance-once only during the whole period he broke through this rule, to honour the wedding of his relative Euryptolemus with his presence-and confined himself to the society of a very select circle of intimate friends. He bestowed the most assiduous attention on the preparation of his speeches, and so little disguised it, that he used to say he never mounted the bema without praying that no inappropriate word might drop from his lips. The impression thus produced was heightened by the calm majesty of his air and carriage, and by the philosophical composure which he maintained under all provocations. And he was so careful to avoid the effect which familiarity might have on the people, that he was sparing even in his attendance at the assembly, and, reserving his own appearance for great occasions, carried many of his measures through the agency of his friends and partisans. Among them the person whose name is most frequently associated with that of Pericles was Ephialtes, son of Sophonides, a person not much less conspicuous for his rigid integrity than Aristides himself, and who seems to have entered into the views of Pericles with disinterested earnest ness, and fearlessly to have borne the brunt of the conflict with the opposite party. gate those who inflicted it. However this may be, Cimon's forbearance disappointed and irritated the people, and his adversaries inflamed the popular indignation by ascribing his conduct to the influence of Macedonian gold. This part of the charge, at least, was undoubtedly groundless; and Pericles, though appointed by the people one of Cimon's accusers, when he was brought to trial for treason, seems to have entered into the prosecution with reluctance. The danger, however, was great, and Elpinice came to the house of Pericles to plead with him for her brother. Pericles playfully, though, it would seem, not quite so delicately as our manners would require, reminded her that she was past the age at which female intercession is most powerful, but, in effect, he granted her request; for he kept back the thunder of his eloquence, and only rose once, for form's sake, to second the accusation. Plutarch says that Cimon was acquitted; and there seems to be no reason for doubting the fact, except a suspicion that this was the trial to which Demosthenes alludes when he says that Cimon narrowly escaped with his life, and was condemned to a penalty of fifty talents: a singular repetition of his father's destiny.* This, however, was only a prelude to a more momentous struggle, which involved the principles of the parties, and excited much stronger feelings of mutual resentment. It appears to have been about this time that Pericles resolved on attacking the aristocracy in its ancient and revered stronghold, the Areopagus. We have seen that this body, at once a council and a court of justice, was composed, according to Solon's regulation, of the ex-archons. Its char acter was little altered after the archonship was filled by lot, so long as it was open to none but citizens of the wealthiest class; but, by the innovation introduced by Aristides, the poorest Athenian might gain admission to the Areopa angus. Immediately after the conquest of Thasos occasion occurred for the two parties to measure their strength. It would appear that Cimon had received instructions, before he brought home his victorious armament, to attempt some *Plut., Per., 9, on the autnority of Aristotle. Plutarch tells a story-characteristic, if not true-of a rude fellow, who, after railing at Pericles all day, as he was transacting business in public, followed him after dusk with abusive language to his door, when Pericles ordered one of his servants to take a light and conduct the nian home. Still, the change which this measure produced in its composition was, probably, for a * charge, but, as Wachsmuth observes, the motive of the Aristog., p. 688. In this case he does not mention the prosecution. On the other hand, the language of Demosthenes, ὅτι τὴν πάτριον μετεκίνησε πολιτείαν, would suit very well what Plutarch says of Cimon's attempt to revive the old aristocracy, Cim., 15, but then we hear of no formal prosecution before the ostracism. Bekker's reading, Hlapiwy for marpiov, would put an end to this question, and would seem to show that the orator had confounded Crmon's history with his father's. THE AREOPAGUS.-ALLIANCE BETWEEN ATHENS AND ARGOS. 299 long time scarcely perceptible, and attended | long time passed without any impression havwith no effect on its maxims and proceedings. ing been made on it, they began to suspect that When Pericles made his attack on it, it was, the fault lay in the will, rather in the ability of perhaps, as much as ever an aristocratical as- their auxiliaries, and conceived apprehensions, sembly. The greater part of the members had suggested, perhaps, by the consciousness of come in under the old system, and most of their own bad faith, that the Athenians might those who followed them probably belonged to be induced to betray them to the besieged. the same class; for though, in the eye of the Their distrust soon became so strong that, law, the archonship had become open to all, it while they retained all their other allies, they is not likely that many of a lower station would dismissed the Athenian troops without assignimmediately present themselves to take their ing any other reason than that they had no farchance. But, even if any such were success- ther need of their services. The Athenians, who ful, they could exert but little influence on the clearly perceived the real motive, were probageneral character of the council, which would bly more exasperated by this want of confidence act much more powerfully on them. The poor than they would have been by a perfidious atman who took his seat among a number of per- tack. The first effect produced by the affront sons of superior rank, fortune, and education, at Athens was a resolution to break off all conwould generally be eager to adopt the tone, and nexion with Sparta, and, to make the rupture conform to the wishes of his colleagues; and more glaring, they entered into an alliance hence the prevailing spirit might continue for with Sparta's old rival, Argos. Argos had been many generations unaltered. This may be the induced, by her jealousy of Sparta, to keep main point which Isocrates had in view when aloof from the Persian war, and had probably he observed that the worst men, as soon as been much offended at seeing Mycenæ, over they entered the Areopagus, seemed to change which she claimed a disputed supremacy, take their nature.* Pericles, therefore, had reason an honourable part in that glorious struggle. to consider it as a formidable obstacle to his After that event Mycenæ seems to have shown plans. He did not, however, attempt, or per- a disposition to put forth new pretensions, haps desire, to abolish an institution so hallow-grounded on the title of her ancient kings. She ed by tradition; but he aimed at narrowing the asserted a right to the presidency of the Nemerange of its functions, so as to leave it little an Games, which had been long enjoyed by Armore than an august name. Ephialtes was his gos, and to the superintendence of a temple of principal coadjutor in this undertaking, and, by Heré, which was common to the two cities, the prominent part which he took in it, exposed and lay between them, though nearer to Mycehimself to the implacable enmity of the opposite næ. It had no doubt been the prospect of supparty, which appears to have set all its engines port from Sparta that encouraged Mycena in in motion to ward off the blow. this rivalry with her more powerful neighbour. But when the earthquake and the Messenian insurrection had disabled Sparta from all efforts on behalf of others, the Argives seized the opportunity of making war on Mycena. They were assisted by Tegea and Cleonæ, defeated the Mycenians in battle, shut them up within their walls, and, in spite of a gallant resistance, took the city, razed it to the ground, and annexed the territory to their own. It was appa It is not certain whether this struggle had begun, or was only impending, at the time of the embassy which came from Sparta to request the aid of the Athenians against Ithome. But the two parties were no less at variance on this subject than on the other. The aristocratical party considered Sparta as its natural ally, and did not wish to see Athens without a rival in Greece. Cimon was personally attached to Sparta, possessed the confidence of the Spar-rently very soon after this important conquest, tans, and took every opportunity of expressing to which we shall hereafter return, that they the warmest admiration of their character and received proposals of alliance from Athens, institutions, and, to mark his respect for them, which they gladly embraced; and the Thessagave one of his sons the name of Lacedæmoni- lians-by what means does not appear-were He himself was, in some degree, indebt- included in the treaty.* ed to their patronage for his political elevation, and had requited their favour by joining with them in the persecution of Themistocles. When, therefore, Ephialtes dissuaded the people from granting the request of the Spartans, and exclaimed against the folly of raising a fallen antagonist, Cimon urged them not to permit Greece to be lamed, and Athens to lose her yoke-fellow. This advice prevailed, and Cimon was sent with a large force to assist the Spartans at the siege of Ithome. us. The Spartans had hoped that the Athenians, who were eminently skilful in this kind of warfare, would have enabled them speedily to reduce the place. But when they found that a ⚫ Areop., 15. This turn of events was extremely agreeable to the democratical party at Athens, not only in itself, on account of the assistance which they might hope to receive from Argos, but because it immediately afforded them a great advantage in their conflict with their domestic adversaries, and in particular furnished them with new arms against Cimon. He instantly became obnoxious, both as the avowed friend of Sparta, and as the author and leader of the expedition which had drawn so rude an insult on his countrymen. The attack on the authority of the Areopagus was now prosecuted with greater vigour, and Cimon had little influence left to ex * Mr. Clinton, Fasti Hell., on the authority of Diodorus, places the fall of Mycena in the archonship of Theagenides. Ol 78, 1, B.C. 468, four years before the earthquake 1 On this subject, see some excellent remarks in Droy- at Sparta. But Diodorus seems to be much better entitled sen's German translation of Eschylus, i., p. 176. * Φιλολάκων, Plut., Cim., 16. ή μήτε την ελλαδα χωλὴν, μήτε τὴν πόλιν ετερόζυγα #epidev yeyevulvyy-the language of Cimon, reported by his contemporary, the poet Ion of Chios. Plut., Cim., 16. to attention in his view of the connexion of the events, approaches carefully guarded. The aged moth-which are forfeited if they are not disclaimed. er of the criminal is said to have been among After the battle of Salamis, and while the terror the foremost to lay a stone at the doorway for of the invasion was still fresh, his influence at the purpose of immuring her son. When he Athens was predominant, and his power, consewas on the point of expiring, and too weak to quently, great wherever the ascendency of offer any resistance which would have rendered Athens was acknowledged; and he did not althe act sacrilegious, he was taken out of the ways scruple to convert the glory, with which consecrated ground just in time to avoid the he ought to have been satisfied, into a source of pollution which his death would have occasion- petty profit. Immediately after the retreat of ed in it; he breathed his last as soon as he had Xerxes he exacted contributions from the islcrossed its bounds. It was not without some anders who had sided with the barbarians, as opposition that his friends obtained permission the price of diverting the resentment of the to pay the last honours to his remains; the Greeks from them. Another opportunity of ensterner patriots were for throwing his body, as riching himself he found in the factions by that of a vile malefactor, into the Ceadas. But which many of the maritime states were divias this proposal was immediately overruled, so ded. Almost everywhere there was a party or in time the recollection of his services seems to individuals who needed the aid of his authority, have softened the indignation inspired by his and were willing to purchase his mediation. guilt, and to have rendered his fate a subject, That he sold it, and without nicely distinguishfirst of compassion and regret, and at length of ing the merits of the cases, we learn from the inreligious compunction. The Delphic oracle or- vectives, indeed, of an enemy, but of one whose dered an atonement to be made to him, and to enmity seems to have been provoked by the acthe goddess whose protection he had vainly tion which is the ground of his complaint. A sought. By its direction his bones were remo- Rhodian poet, Timocreon of Ialysus, celebrated ved to the spot near the precincts of the temple among his contemporaries for the powers of his where he expired;* and as two persons were appetite, the strength of his body, and the bitto be surrendered to the goddess in the room of terness of his verse, which were commemorathe suppliant she had lost, two brazen statues ted in his epitaph by Simonides, had been uniof Pausanias were dedicated in her sanctuary ted by ties of friendship and hospitality to TheYet as the profanation was thus divinely attest-mistocles, and had expected, as he gave out, ed, while the mode of expiation was only sugupon the faith of a promise, to be restored to gested by human ingenuity, room was still left, his country when his friend became all powerif not for religious scruples, at least for the re-ful in Greece. But the bribes, as he alleged, proach of an enemy, that the land had never of his adversaries, prevailed with Themistocles been freed from the curse of sacrilege; and a against him, and he continued to pine in exile. time came when the hypocrisy of Sparta ren- He avenged his wrongs by a poetical complaint, dered such an accusation a just retort. in which he contrasted the virtues of Aristides The fate of Pausanias involved that of The- with the perfidy, avarice, and cruelty of Themistocles. No Greek had yet rendered servi- mistocles, who for sordid gain had betrayed his ces such as those of Themistocles to the com- friend, and for three talents had consented to do mon country; no Athenian, except Solon, had the will of those who bought him, and to banish conferred equal benefits on Athens. He had or recall, to kill or spare at their pleasure. It first delivered her from the most imminent dan- is the more credible that there was real ground ger, and then raised her to the pre-eminence on for this charge, since Aristides could reproach which she now stood. He might claim her his rival with not knowing how to command his greatness, and even her being, as his work. hands while he had the disposal of the public Themistocles was not unconscious of this mer-money; and he unquestionably accumulated exit, nor careful to suppress his sense of it; he traordinary wealth on a less than moderate forwas thought to indicate it too plainly when he tune.* dedicated a temple to Artemis under the title of Aristobule (the goddess of good counsel); and the offence was aggravated if he himself placed his statue there, where it was still seen in the days of Plutarch, who pronounces the form no less heroic than the soul of the man. In the same spirit are several stories related by Plutarch of the indiscretion with which he sometimes alluded to the magnitude of the debt which his countrymen owed him. If, on one occasion, he asked them where they would have been without him, and, on another, compared himself to a spreading plane, under which they had taken shelter in the storm, but which they began to lop and rend when the sky grew clear, he would seem not to have discovered, till it was too late, that there are obligations which neither princes nor nations can endure, and * Ἐν τῷ προτεμενίσματι. This could not have been within the sanctuary (rò tepòv), since Thucydides says just before that he was taken out of it. But Dr. Arnold's remark, that a dead body would not have been buried within the sacred ground," requires limitation, as appears from the case of Euchidas above mentioned, Plut., Arist., 20. But if he made some enemies by his selfishness, he provoked others, whose resentment proved more formidable, by his firm and enlightened patriotism. He was zealous and vigilant in protecting the interests of Athens against the encroachments of Sparta, and the success of these exertions contributed more to his downfall than any of his misdeeds. Sparta never forgave him the shame he brought upon her by thwarting her insidious attempt to suppress the independence of her rival; and he farther exasperated her animosity by detecting and baffling another stroke of her artful policy The Spartans proposed to punish the states which had aided the barbarians, or had abandoned the cause of Greece, by depriving them of the right of being represented in the Amphictyonic Congress. By this measure, Argos, *"A great part of his property was secretly conveyed into Asia by his friends, but that part which was discovered and confiscated is estimated by Theopompus at a hundred talents, by Theophrastus at eighty; though, before he engaged in public affairs, all he possessed did not amount to so much as three talents." Plut., Them., 25. more solid foundation for it than what Plutarch Thebes, and the northern states, which had hitherto composed the majority in that assembly, would have been excluded from it, and the effect would probably have been that Spartan influence would have preponderated there. Themistocles frustrated this attempt by throwing the weight of Athens into the opposite scale, and by pointing out the danger of reducing the council to an instrument in the hands of two or three of its most powerful members. The enmity which he thus drew upon himself would have been less honourable to him if there had been any ground for a story which apparently was never heard of till it became current among some late collectors of anecdotes, from whom Plutarch received it: it has been popular, because it seemed to illustrate the contrast between the characters of Themistocles and Aristides, and to display the magnanimity of the Athenians. Themistocles is made to tell the Athenians that he has something to propose which will be highly beneficial to the commonwealth, but which must not be divulged. The people depute Aristides to hear the secret, and to judge of the merit of the proposal. Themistocles discloses a plan for firing the allied fleeting, were unable to shelter him from the united at Pegasæ, or, according to another form of the story adopted by Cicero, the Lacedæmonian fleet at Gythium. Upon this, Aristides reports to the assembled people that nothing could be more advantageous to Athens than the counsel of Themistocles, but nothing more dishonourable and unjust. The generous people reject the proffered advantage without even being tempted to inquire in what it consists. power of Athens and Sparta, and he crossed over to the opposite coast of Epirus. He had little time to deliberate, and perhaps he had no better choice. A year sooner, the court of Hiero, Gelo's successor, might have seemed to present a pleasant and secure asylum; though if it is true that Themistocles had instigated the multitude at Olympia to tear down the pavilion erected there in Hiero's name during the Themistocles was gradually supplanted in games, and to exclude his horses from the conthe public favour by men worthy, indeed, to be test, he would have debarred himself from seekhis rivals, but who owed their victory less to ing the protection of the man on whom he had their own merit than to the towering pre-emi- drawn this insult. But Hiero died the year nence of his deserts. He himself, as we have before (B.C. 467), and about the time of the observed, seconded them by his indiscretion in flight of Themistocles, Syracuse was in the their endeavours to persuade the people that he midst of the convulsion by which she shook off had risen too high above the common level to the yoke of Hiero's worthless successor, Thraremain a harmless citizen in a free state; that sybulus. The Molossians, the most powerful his was a case which called for the extraordi- people of Epirus, were now ruled by a king nary remedy prescribed by the laws, against named Admetus, whose descendants claimed the power and greatness of an individual which the son of Achilles as their ancestor, and the threatened to overlay the young democracy. founder of their dynasty. The royal family had He was condemned to temporary exile by the at least a tinge of Greek manners and arts, same process of ostracism which he had him- which distinguished them from their barbarian self before directed against Aristides. He took subjects. But Themistocles, in the day of his up his abode at Argos, which he had served in power, had thwarted the Molossian prince in a his prosperity, and which welcomed, if not the suit which he had occasion to make to the saviour of Greece, at least the enemy of Sparta. Athenians, and had added insult to his disapHere he was still residing, though he occasion-pointment. It might therefore seem a despeally visited other cities of Peloponnesus, when Pausanias was convicted of his treason. searching for farther traces of his plot, the ephors found some parts of a correspondence between him and Themistocles, which appeared to afford sufficient ground for charging the Athenian with having shared his friend's crime. They immediately sent ambassadors to Athens to accuse him, and to insist that he should be punished in like manner with the partner of his guilt. It does not appear that the documents on which the charge was founded, or any evidence of the fact beyond the assertion of the envoys, was transmitted to Athens. Thucydides does not express any opinion as to the truth or falsehood of the accusation; but, at the utmost, we have no reason to believe that there was any In rate resolution to seek his court as a suppliant; yet, if Themistocles had already formed the design of crossing over to Asia, and his road lay through the dominions of Admetus, there may have been less of boldness than of prudence in the step. The king was fortunately absent from home when the stranger arrived at his gate, and his queen Phthia, in whom no vindictive feelings stifled her womanly compassion, received him with kindness, and instructed him in the most effectual method of disarming her husband's resentment and securing his protection. When Admetus returned he found The The story, though mentioned by Plutarch on the auly the same that is told of the orator Lysias and the elder thority of Theophrastus, seems doubtful, because it is nearDionysius. |