them with eternal shame and infamy." The people seemed at first to be moved with these reasons; but animated by the accusers, they pronounced sentence of death against eight of their generals; and six of them who were present were seized, in order to their being carried to the place of execution. One of them, Diomedon, a person of great reputation for his valour and probity, demanded to be heard. 66 Athenians," said he, "I wish the sentence you have passed upon us may not prove the misfortune of the republic; but I have one favour to ask of you in behalf of my colleagues and myself, which is, to acquit us before the gods of the vows we made to them for you and ourselves, as we are not in a condition to discharge them; for it is to the'r protection, invoked before the battle, we acknowledge that we are indebted for the victory gained by us over the enemy." There was not one good citizen that did not melt into tears at this discourse, so full of goodness and religion, and admire with surprise the moderation of a person, who, seeing himself unjustly condemned, did not however vent the least resentment, or even complaint against his judges, but was solely intent, in favour of an ungrateful country which had doomed them to perish, upon what it owed the gods in common with them, for the victory they had lately obtained.

The execution of the six generals was scarcely over, when the people opened their eyes, and perceived all the horror of that sentence; but their repentance could not restore the dead to life. Callixenes, the orator, was put in prison, and was refused to be heard. Having found means to make his escape, he fled to Decelia, to the enemy, from whence he returned some time after to Athens, where he died of hunger, universally detested and abhorred by all the world, as all false accusers and slanderers should be. Diodorus remarks, that the people themselves were justly punished for their crime by the gods, who abandoned them soon after, not to a single master, but to thirty tyrants, who treated them with the utmost rigour and cruelty.

The disposition of a people is very naturally depicted in this account; and Plato, upon the same event, draws in few words their character with much spirit and resemblance. "The commonalty," says he," is an iconstant, ungrateful, cruel, suspicious animal, incapable of submitting to the government of reason; which is no wonder, adds he, as it is commonly composed of the dregs of a city, and is a monstrous assemblage, without form or order, of all that is worst in it."*

The same relation shows what effect fear can have upon the minds of men, even upon those who pass for the wisest, and how few there are, who are capable of supporting inflexibly the view of present danger and disgrace. Though the justness of the general's cause was perfectly known in the senate, at least by the major part of it, as soon as the people's rage was mentioned, and the terrible menaces they murmured, those grave senators, most of whom had commanded armies, and who all of them had frequently exposed themselves to the greatest dangers of war, instantly changed sides, and came over to the most notorious calumny, and crying injustice that ever took place: an evident proof, that there is a courage, though very rare, which infinitely transcends the valour that induces so many thousands of men, every day, to confront the most terrible dangers in battle.

Among all the judges, only one truly worthy of his reputation, the great Socrates, stood firm and immoveable, in this general treason and perfidy; and though he knew that his suffrage and unaided voice would be of little or no consequence to the accused, he thought them a just homage to oppressed innocence, and that it was unworthy an honest man to govern himself by the fury of a blind and frantic people. We see, in this instance, how far the cause of justice may be abandoned. We may conclude that it was not better defended before the people. Of more than three thousand citizens, who composed the assembly, two only took upon them the defence of their generals, Euriptode

Plut. in Axioch. p. 363, 39 † Οὐ γὰρ ἐφάινετό μοι σε μνὸν δήμω μαινομένω συενξαρχειν

mus and Axiochus. Plato has preserved their names, and given that of the latter to the dialogue, from whence part of these reflections are taken.

The same year the battle of the Arginusæ was fought, Dionysius possessed himself of the tyranny in Sicily.* I shall defer speaking of him till Book IX. in which I shall give the history of Syracuse at large.

BECTION VI.-LYSANDER COMMANDS THE LACEDÆMONIAN FLEET HIS CELE BRATED VICTORY OVER THE ATHENIANS.

AFTER the defeat at the Arginusæ, the affairs of the Peloponnesians declining, the allies, supported by the influence of Cyrus, sent an embassy to Sparta, to require that the command of the fleet should be again given to Lysander, with the promise of serving with more affection and courage if their request were granted. As it was contrary to the laws of Sparta, that the same person should be twice admiral, the Lacedæmonians, to satisfy the allies, gave the title of admiral to one Aracus, and sent Lysander with him, whom in appearance they commissioned only as vice-admiral, though in effect with all the authority of supreme command.†

All those who had the greatest share in the government of the cities, and were of most authority in them, saw him arrive with supreme joy; promising themselves, from his influence, the final subversion of the democratic power. His character of complacency for his friends, and indulgence to all their faults suited much better with their ambitious and injurious views than the aus tere equity of Callicratidas. For Lysander was a man of the most corrupt heart, and gloried in having no principles in point of virtue or the most sacred duties. He made no scruple to employ artifice and deceit upon all occasions, and esteemed justice only as far as it served his measures. When it did not promote them, he never failed to prefer the useful, which with him was alone laudable and excellent; from a persuasion that truth had in its own nature no advantage over falsehood, and that the value of both one and the other was to be determined by the convenience resulting from them. And for those who represented to him, that it was unworthy the decendants of Hercules to make use of fraud and treachery, he laughed at them, "For," said he, "where the lion's skin is not long enough, it is necessary to tack the fox's tail to it." An expression ascribed to him, sufficiently denotes how small an account he made of perjury. He used to say, Children are amused with baubles, and men with oaths;"showing by so professed a want of religion, that the gods were more inconsiderable with him than his enemies. For he who deceives with a false oath, plainly declares in so doing that he fears his enemies, but that he despises God.

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Here ends the twenty-sixth year of the Peloponnesian war. It was in this year that young Cyrus, dazzled with the unusual splendour of supreme authority, and jealous of the least omission in point of ceremonial homage, discovered, by a remarkable action, the secret of his heart. Brought up from his infancy in the reigning house, nurtured under the shade of the throne, amid the submissions and protestations of the courtiers, entertained for a long time by the discourses of an ambitious mother who idolized him, in the desire and hope of empire, he began already to affect the rights of sovereignty, and to exact the honours paid to it with surprising haughtiness and rigour. Persians of the royal family, his cousin-germans by their mother, the sister of Darius his father, had omitted to cover their hands with their sleeves in his presence, according to a ceremony observed only to the kings of Persia. Cy rus resenting that neglect as a capital crime, condemned them both to die, and

iii. p. 223.

* A. M. 3598. Ant. J. C. 406.

Two

†A. M 3599. Ant. J. C. 405. Zenoph. Hellen. 1. ii. P. 45. Plut. in Lys. 1. ix. p. 436, 437. Diod. l. The Greek text admits of another sense, which is perhaps no less good: children may use art, and cheat one another in their games, and men in their oaths. Εκέλευε τὰς μὲν παῖδας αστραγάλοις, της αν δρας δοκοίς ἐξαπατν.

Xenoph. Hellen. 1. ii. p. 454.

caused them to be executed at Sardis without mercy. Darius, at whose feet heir relations threw themselves to demand justice, was very much affected with the tragical end of his two nephews and looked upon this action of his son as an attempt upon himself, to whom alone that honour was due. He resolved therefore to take his government from him, and ordered him to court upon the pretext of being sick, and having a desire to see him.

Cyrus, before his depart e, sent for Lysander to Sardis, and put into his hands great sums of money for the payment of the fleet, promising him still more for the future. And with the ostentation of a young man, to let him see how much he desired to oblige him, he assured him, that though the king his father should cease to afford him any supplies, he would furnish him the more willingly out of his own coffers; and that rather than he should want the necessary provisions, he would even cause the throne of massy gold and silver, upon which he sat in judgment, to be melted down. At length, when he was upon the point of setting out, he empowered him to receive the tributes and revenues of the cities, confided the government of his provinces to him, and conjured him with embraces not to give battle in his absence, unless superior in force; because the king neither wanted the will nor the power to give him that superiority to the enemy; promising at the same time, with the strongest assurances of affection, to bring him a great number of ships from Phoenicia and Cilicia.

After that prince's departure, Lysander sailed towards the Hellespont, and laid seige to Lampsacus.* Torax, having marched thither with his land-forces at the same time, assaulted the city on his side. The place was carried by storm, and given up by Lysander to the mercy of the soldiers. The Athenians, who followed him close, came to anchor in the port of Eleontum in the Chersonesus, with one hundred and eighty galleys. But upon the news of the taking of Lampsacus, they immediately steered for Setis, and after having taken in provisions, they stood away from thence, sailing along the coast to a place called Egospotamos,f where they came to, opposite to the enemy, were then at anchor before Lampsacus. The Hellespont in this part is not above two thousand paces broad. The two armies, seeing themselves so near each other, expected only to rest that day, and were in hopes of con..ng to a battle on the next.

who

But Lysander had another design in view. He commanded the seamen and pilots to go on board their galleys, as if they were in reality to fight the next morning at break of day, to hold themselves in readiness, and to wait his orders with profound silence. He ordered the land army in like manner to draw up in order of battle upon the coast, and to wait the day without any noise. On the morrow, as soon as the sun was risen, the Athenians began to row towards them with their whole fleet, in one line, and to bid them defiance. Lysander, though his ships were ranged in order of battle, with their heads towards the enemy, lay still without making any movement. In the evening, when the Athenians withdrew, he did not suffer his soldiers to go ashore, till two or three galleys which he had sent out to observe them, were returned with advice, that they had seen the enemy land. The next day passed in the same manner, as did the third and fourth. Such a conduct, which argued reserve and apprehension, extremely augmented the security and boldness of the Athenians and inspired them with an extreme contempt for an army, which in their opinion, was prevented by fear from showing themselves, and attempting any thing.

While this passed, Alcibiades, who was near the fleet, took horse, and came to the Athenian generals, to whom he represented, that they kept on a very disadvantageous coast, where there were neither ports nor cities in the neigh Dourhood; that they were obliged to bring their provisions from Sestos with

Xenoph. Hellen 1. ii. P. 455-458.

The river of the Goat, Plut. in Lys. p. 437, et 410. Idem, in Alcib. p. 212. Diod. 1. xiii. p. 225. 226.

great danger and difficulty; and that they were very much in the wrong te suffer the soldiers and mariners of the fleet, as soon as they were ashore, to straggle and disperse themselves at their own pleasure, while the enemy's fleet faced them in view, accustomed to execute the orders of their general with instant obedience, and upon the slightest signal. He offered also to attack the enemy by land with a strong body of Thracian troops, and to force them to a battle. The generals, especially Tydeus and Menander, jealous of their con. mand, did not content themselves with refusing his offers, from the opinion, that if the event proved unfortunate, the whole blame would fall on them, and if favourable, that Alcibiades would engross the honour of it; but rejected also with insult his wise and salutary counsel, as if a man in disgrace lost his sense and abilities, together with the favour of the commonwealth. Alcibiades

withdrew.

The fifth day, the Athenians presented themselves again, and offered him battle; retiring in the evening as usual, in a more insulting manner than the day before. Lysander again detached some galleys to observe them, with or ders to return with the utmost diligence, when they saw the Athenians landed, and to put a brazen buckler at the head of each ship, as soon as they reached the middle of the channel. Himself in the mean time passed through the whole line in his galley, exhorting the pilots and officers to hold the seamen and soldiers in readiness to row and fight on the first signal.

As soon as the bucklers were put up in the ships heads, and the admiral's galley had given the signal by the sound of trumpet, the whole fleet advanced in good order. The land-army at the same time made all possible haste to the top of the promontory, to see the battle. The strait that separates the two continents, is, in this place, about fifteen stadia, or three quarters of a league* in breadth, which space was soon cleared through the activity and dili gence of the rowers. Conon, the Athenian general, was the first who perceiv ed, from shore, the enemy's fleet advancing in good order to attack him; upor which he immediately called out for the troops to embark. In the utmost dis tress and perplexity, he in vain endeavoured by calling to them by name, by entreaty, by force, to get his men on board the galleys, they being dispersed in every direction. For they were no sooner on shore, than some ran to the suttlers, some to walk in the country, some to sleep in their tents, and others began to dress their suppers. This proceeded from the want of vigilance and experience in their generals, who, not suspecting the least danger, indulged themselves in taking their repose, and gave the soldiers the same liberty.

The enemy had already fallen on with loud cries and a great noise of their oars, when Conon, disengaging himself with nine galieys, of which number was the sacred ship called the Paralian, stood away for Cyprus, where he took refuge with Evagoras. The Peloponnesians, falling upon the rest of the fleet, immediately took the galleys which were empty, and disabled and destroyed such as began to fill with men. The soldiers, who ran without order or arms to their relief, were either killed in the endeavour to get on board, or flying on shore, were cut to pieces by the enemy, who landed in pursuit of them. Lysander took three thousand prisoners, with all the generals, and the whole fleet. After having plundered the camp, and fastened the enemy's galleys to the sterns of his own, he returned to Lampsacus, amid the sounds of flutes and songs of triumph. It was his glory to have achieved cne of the greatest military exploits recorded in history, with little or no loss, and to have erminated a war in the small space of an hour, which had already lasted twenty-seven years, and which perhaps, without him, had been of much longer continuance. Lysander immediately sent despatches with this agreeable news to Sparta.

The three thousand prisoners, taken in this battle, having been condemned to die, Lysander called upon Philocles, one of the Athenian generals, who had caused all the prisoners taken in two galleys, the one of Andros, the other of

* French measure.

Corinth, to be thrown from the top of a precipice, and had formerly persuaded the people of Athens to make a decree for cutting of the thumb of the right hand of all the prisoners of war, in order to disable them from handling the pike, and that they might be fit to serve only at the oar, and asked him what sentence he would pass upon himself, for having induced his city to pass that cruel decree. Philocles, without departing from his haughtiness in the least, notwithstanding the extreme danger he was in, made answer, Accuse not people of crimes who have no judges; but as you are victor, use your right, and do by us as we had done by you, if we had conquered." At the same instant he went into a bath, afterwards put on a magnificent robe, and marched foremost to the execution. All the prisoners were put to the sword, except Adimantes, who had opposed the decree.

66

After this expedition, Lysander went with his fleet to all the maritime cities, and gave orders for all Athenians in them to withdraw as soon as possible to Athens, without permitting them to take any other refuge; declaring, that after a certain time fixed, all should be punished with death, who should be found out of Athens. This he did as an able politician, to reduce the city by tamine the more easily, and to render it incapable of sustaining a long siege He afterwards applied himself in subverting the democratic, and all other forms of government throughout the cities; leaving in each of them a Lacedæmonian governor, called harmostes, and ten archons or magistrates, whom he chose out of the societies he had established in them. He thereby, in some measure, secured to himself universal authority, and a kind of sovereignty over all Greece; putting none in power but such as were entirely devoted to his service.

SECTION VII.-LYSANDER BESIEGES ATHENS. FORM OF GOVERNMENT

CHANGED. DEATH OF DARIUS NOTHUS.

WHEN the news of the entire defeat of the army came to Athens by a ship, which arrived in the night at the Piræus, the city was in universal consternation. Nothing was heard but cries of sorrow and despair in every part of it. They imagined the enemy already at their gates. They represented to themselves the miseries of a long siege, a cruel famine, the ruin and burning of their city, the insolence of a proud victor, and the shameful slavery they were upon the point of experiencing, more afflicting and insupportable to them than the most severe punishments, and death itself. The next day the assembly was summoned, wherein it was resolved to close all the gates, except one; to repair the breaches in the walls, and mount guard to prepare against a siege.* Agis and Pausanias, the two kings of Sparta, did in fact advance towards Athers with all their troops. Lysander soon after arrived at the Piræus with A hundred and fifty sail, and prevented all ships from going in or coming out. The Athenians, besieged by sea and land, without provisions, ships, hope of relief, or any resource, re-instated all persons attainted by any decree, without however speaking the least word of a capitulation, though many already died of famine. But when their corn was entirely consumed, they sent deputies to Agis, to propose a treaty with Sparta, upon condition of abandoning all their possessions, the city and port only excepted. He referred the deputies to Lacedæmon, as not being empowered to treat with them. When they arrived at Salasia, upon the frontier of Sparta, and had made known their commission to the ephori, they were ordered to retire, and to come with other proposals if they expected peace. The ephori had demanded, that twelve hundred paces of the wall on each side of the Piræus. should be demolished: but an Athenian, for venturing to advise a compliance, was sent to prison, and prohi bition made against proposing any thing of that kind for the future.

In this deplorable condition, Theramenes declared in the assembly, that if he were sent to Lysander, he would learn, whether the proposal made by the Lacedæmonians for dismantling the city was intended to facilitate its ruin, or

A. M. 3600 Ant. J. C. 401. Xenoph. Hellen. 1. ii. p. 458-462. Plut. in Lysand. p. 440, 44: