against wnoever should presume to attack it; and that as for the Lacedæmonians, it was not much for their honour, that they should desire to establish their power and superiority rather upon the weak and defenceless condition of their allies than upon their own strength and valour.* The Lacedæmonians, were extremely displeased with this discourse; but, either out of a sense of gratitude and esteem for the Athenians, who had rendered such important services to the country, or out of a conviction that they were not able to oppose their enterprise, they dissembled their resentments; and the ambassadors on both sides, having all suitable honours paid them, returned to their respective cities.

Themistocles, who always had his thoughts fixed upon raising and augmenting the power and glory of the Athenian commonwealth, did not confine his views to the walls of the city. He went on with the same vigorous application to finish the building and fortifications of the Piræus; for, from the time he entered into office, he had commenced that great work. Before this time they had no other port at Athens but that of Phalerus, which was neither very large nor commodious, and consequently not capable of answering the great designs of Themistocles. For this reason he had cast his eye upon the Piræus, which seemed to invite him by its advantageous situation, and by the conveniency of its three spacious havens, which were capable of containing above four hundred vessels. This undertaking was prosecuted with so much diligence and activity, that the work was considerably advanced in a very little time. Themistocles likewise obtained a decree, that every year they should build twenty vessels for the augmentation of their fleet: and in order to engage the greater number of workmen and sailors to resort to Athens, he caused particular privileges and immunities to be granted in their favour. His design was, as I have already observed, to make the whole force of Athens maritime; in which he followed a very different course of politics from what had been pursued by their ancient kings, who, endeavouring all they could to alienate the minds of the citizens from seafaring business and from war, and to make them apply themselves wholly to agriculture and to peaceable employments, published this fable: that Minerva, disputing with Neptune, to know which of them should be declared patron of Attica, and give their name to the city newly built, gained her cause by showing her judges the branch of an olive-tree, the happy symbol of peace and plenty, which she had planted; whereas Neptune had caused a fiery horse, the symbol of war and confusion, to rise out of the earth before them.†

SECTION XIII.-THE BLACK DESIGN OF THEMISTOCLES REJECTED UNANIMOUSLY BY THE PEOPLE OF ATHENS.

THEMISTOCLES Who conceived the design of supplanting the Lacedemonians, and of taking the government of Greece out of their hands, in order to put it into those of the Athenians, kept his eye and his thoughts continually fixed upon that great project. And as he was not very nice or scrupulous in the choice of his measures, whatever tended towards accomplishing the end he had in view, he looked upon as just and lawful. He one day declared, in a full assembly of the people, that he had a very important design to propose, but that he could not communicate it to the people, because its success required that it should be carried on with the greatest secrecy; he therefore desired they would appoint a person to whom he might explain himself upon the matter in question. Aristides was unanimously chosen by the whole assembly, who referred themselves entirely to his opinion of the affair; so great a confidence had they both in his probity and prudence. Themistocles therefore having taken him aside, told him that the design he had conceived

Graviter castigat eos, quod non virtute, sed imbecilitate sociorum potentiam quærerent.--Justin. I 4.15 Thucyd. 1. i. p. 62, 63. Diod. 1. xi. p. 32, 33.

was to burn the fleet belonging to the rest of the Grecian states, which then lay in a neighbouring port, and that by this means Athens would certainly become mistress of all Greece. Aristides hereupon returned to the assembly, and only declared to them, that indeed nothing could be more advantageous to the commonwealth than the proposition of Themistocles, but at the same time nothing in the world could be more unjust. The people unanimously ordained, that Themistocles should entirely desist from his project. We see in this instance, that the title of Just was not given to Aristides, even in his life-time, without some foundation; a title, says Plutarch, infinitely superior to all those which conquerors pursue with so much ardour, and which in some measure, assimilates a man to the Divinity.*

I do not know whether all history can afford us a fact more worthy of admi ration than this. It is not a company of philosophers with whom it is easy to establish fine maxims and sublime ideas of morality in the schools, who determine on this occasion, that the consideration of profit and advantage ought never to prevail in preference to what is honest and just. It is an entire people, who are highly interested in the proposal made to them, who are convinced that it is of the greatest importance to the welfare of the state, and who however reject it with unanimous consent, and without a moment's hesitation, and that for this only reason, that it is contrary to justice. How black and perfidious, on the other hand, was the design which Themistocles proposed to them of burning the fleet of their Grecian confederates, at a time of profound peace, solely to aggrandize the power of the Athenians! Had he a hundred times the merit ascribed to him, this single action would be sufficient to sully all his glory. For it is the heart, that is to say, integrity and probity, that constitutes and distinguishes true merit.

I am sorry that Plutarch, who generally judges of things with great justness, does not seem, on this occasion, to condemn Themistocles. After having spoken of the works he had effected in the Piræus, he goes on to the fact in question; of which he says, "Themistocles projected something STILL GREATER for the augmentation of their maritime power."†

The Lacedæmonians having proposed in the council of the Amphictyons, that all the cities which had not taken arms against Xerxes should be excluded from that assembly, Themistocles, who apprehended, that if the Thessalians, the Argives, and the Thebans, were excluded from that council, the Spartans would by that means become masters of the suffrages, and consequently determine all affairs according to their pleasure; made a speech in behalf of the cities they were for excluding, and brought the deputies that composed the assembly over to his sentiments. He represented to them, that the greatest part of the cities that had entered into the confederacy, which were but thirtyone in the whole, were very small and inconsiderable; that it would therefore be a very strange, as well as a very dangerous proceeding, to deprive all the other cities of Greece of their votes and places in the grand assembly of the nation, and by that means suffer the august council of the Amphictyons to fall under the direction and influence of two or three of the most powerful cities, which for the future would give law to all the rest, and would subvert and abolish that equality of power, which was justly regarded as the basis and soul of all republics. Themistocles, by this plain and open declaration of his opinion, drew upon himself the hatred of the Lacedæmonians, who from that time became his professed enemies. He had also incurred the displeasure of the rest of the allies, by his having exacted contributions from them in too rigcrous and rapacious a manner.‡

When the city of Athens was entirely rebuilt, the people finding themselves in a state of peace and tranquillity, endeavoured, by all means to get the government into their hands, and to make the Athenian state entirely popular.

* Plut. in Themist. p 121, 122. in Arist. p. 339 † Μείζον τι διενοήθη.

Plut. in Themist. D. 120

This design of theirs, though kept as secret as possible, did not escape the vigilance and penetration of Aristides, who saw all the consequences with which such an innovation would be attended. But, as he considered on one hand, that the people were entitled to some regard on account of the valour they had shown in all the late battles which had been gained; and on the other, that it would be no easy matter to curb and restrain a people who still, in a manner, had their arms in their hands, and who were grown more insolent than ever from their victories; on these considerations, he thought it proper to compromise with them, and to find out some medium to satisfy and appease them. He therefore passed a decree, by which it was ordained that the government should be common to all the citizens, and that the archons, who were the chief ma gistrates of the commonwealth, and who were formerly chosen out of the rich est of its members, or those who received at least five hundred medimni of grain out of the product of their lands, should, for the future, be elected indiз criminately from the general body of the Athenians. By thus giving up some thing to the people, he prevented all dissensions and commotions, which might have proved fatal, not only to the Athenian state, but to all Greece.*

RECTION XIV. THE LACEDEMONIANS LOSE THE CHIEF COMMAND THROUGH THE PRIDE AND ARROGANCE OF PAUSANIAS.

THE Grecians, encouraged by the happy success which had every where atended their victorious arms, determined to send a fleet to sea in order to deliver uch of their allies as were still under the yoke of the Persians, out of their hands. Pausanias was the commander of the fleet for the Lacedæmonians, and Aristides, and Cimon the son of Miltiades, commanded for the Athenians. They irst directed their course to the isle of Cyprus, where they restored all the cities to their liberty; then steering towards the Hellespont, they attacked the city of Byzantium, of which they made themselves masters, and took a vast Aumber of prisoners, a great part of whom were of the richest and most considerable families of Persia.t

Pausanias, who from this time conceived thoughts of betraying his country, judged it proper to make use of this opportunity to gain the favour of Xerxes. To this end he caused a report to be spread among his troops, that the Persian noblemen, whom he had committed to the guard and care of one of his officers, had made their escape by night and were fled: but he had set them at liberty himself, and sent a letter by them to Xerxes, wherein he offered to deliver the city of Sparta and all Greece into his hands on condition he would give him his daughter in marriage. The king did not fail to give him a favourable answer, and to send him very large sums of money also, in order to win over as many of the Grecians as he should find disposed to enter into his designs. The person he appointed to manage this intrigue with him was Artabazus; and to the end that he might have it in his power to transact the matter with the greater ease and security, he made him governor of all the sea-coasts of Asia Minor. Pausanias, who was already dazzled with the prospect of his future greatness, began from this moment to change his whole conduct and behaviour. The poor, modest, and frugal way of living at Sparta; the subjection to rigid and austere laws, which neither spared nor respected any man's person, but were altogether as inexorable and inflexible to the greatest as to the meanest condition: all this, became insupportable to Pausanias. He could not bear the thoughts of going back to Sparta, after having been possessed of such high commands and employments, to return to a state of equality that would confound him with the meanest of the citizens; and this was the cause of his entering into a treaty with the barbarians. He therefore entirely laid aside the manners and behaviour of his country; assumed both the dress and state of the Persians, and imitated them in all their expensive luxuries and magnificence. He treated the allies with an insufferable rudeness and insolence; never spoke

Plut in Arist. p. $32.

↑ A. M. 3528. Ant. J. C. 476. Thueyd. 1. i. p R3. 84-86.

to the officers but with menaces and arrogance; required extraordinary and unusual honours to be paid him; and by his whole behaviour rendered the Spartan dominion odious to all the confederates. On the other hand, the courteous, affable, and obliging deportment of Aristides and Cimon; their total disdain of all imperious and haughty airs, which only tend to alienate people and multiply enemies; a gentle, kind, and beneficent disposition, which showed itself in all their actions, and which served to temper the authority of their commands, and to render it both easy and amiable; the justice and humanity conspicuous in every thing they did; the great care they took to offend no person whatever, and to do kind offices and services to all about them; all this, hurt Pausanias exceedingly, by the contrast of their opposite characters, and greatly increased the general discontent. At last this dissatisfaction publicly broke out; and all the allies deserted him, and put themselves under the command and protection of the Athenians. Thus did Arist ides, says Plutarch, by the prevalence of that humanity and gentleness, which he opposed to the arrogance and roughness of Pausanias, and by inspiring Cimon his colleague with the same sentiments, insensibly draw off the minds of the allies from the Lacedæmonians, without their perceiving it, and at length deprived them of the command; not by open force, or by sending out armies or fleets against them, and still less by making use of any arts or perfidious practices, but by the wisdom and moderation of his conduct, and by rendering the government of the Athenians respectable.*

It must be confessed at the same time, that the Spartan people on this occasion showed a greatness of soul and a spirit of moderation, that can never be sufficiently admired. For when they were convinced that their commanders grew haughty and insolent from their too great authority, they willingly renounced the superiority which they had hitherto exercised over the rest of the Grecians, and forbore sending any more of their generals to command the Grecian ar mies; choosing rather, adds the historian, to have their citizens wise, modest and submissive to the discipline and laws of the commonwealth, than to maintain their pre-eminence and superiority over all the Grecian states.

SECTION XV.-THE SECRET CONSPIRACY OF PAUSANIAS WITH THE PERSIANS. HIS DEATH.

UPON the repeated complaints which the Spartan commonwealth received on all hands against Pausanias, they recalled him home to give an account of his conduct. But not having sufficient evidence to convict him of his having carried on a correspondence with Xerxes, they were obliged to acquit him on his first trial; after which he returned of his own accord, and without the consent and approbation of the republic, to the city of Byzantium, from whence he continued to carry on his secret practices with Artabazus. But as he was still guilty of many violent and unjust proceedings while he resided there, the Athenians obliged him to leave the place; and he then retired to Colonæ, a small city of the Troas. There he received an order from the ephori to return to Sparta, on pain of being declared, in case of disobedience, a public enemy and traitor to his country. He complied with the summons, and went home, hoping he should still be able to bring himself off by the power of money. On his arrival he was committed to prison, and was soon afterwards brought again upon his trial before the judges. The charge brought against him was supported by many suspicious circumstances and strong presumptions. Several of his own slaves confessed that he had promised to give them their liberty, in case they would enter into his designs, and serve him with fidelity and zeal in the execution of his projects. But, as it was the custom for the ephori never to pronounce sentence of death against a Spartan, without a full and direct proof of the crime laid to his charge, they looked upon the evidence against him as insufficient; and the more so, as he was of the royal family, and was actually

Plut. in Arist. p. 332, 333

invested with the administration of the regal office; for Pausanias exercis the function of king, as being the guardian and nearest relation to Plistarchus, the son of Leonidas, who was then in his minority. He was therefore acquitted a second time, and set at liberty.*

While the ephori were thus perplexed for want of clear and plain evidence against the offender, a certain slave, who was called the Argilian, came to them, and brought them a letter, written by Pausanias himself to the king of Persia, which the slave was to have carried and delivered to Artabazus. It must be observed by the way, that this Persian governor and Pausanias bad agreed together, to put to death all the couriers sent from one to the other, as soon as their packets or messages were delivered, that there might be no possibility left of tracing out or discovering their correspondence. The Argilian, who saw none of his fellow servants that were sent expresses return again, had some suspicion; and when it came to his turn to go, he opened the letter he was entrusted with, in which Artabazus was positively desired to kill him, pursuant to their agreement. This was the letter the slave put into the hands of the ephori; who still thought even this proof insufficient in the eye of the law, and therefore endeavoured to corroborate it by the testimony of Pausanias himself. The slave, in concert with them, withdrew to the temple of Neptune in Tenaros, as to a secure asylum. Two small closets were purposely made there, in which the ephori and some Spartans hid themselves. The instant Pausanias was informed that the Argilian had fled to this temple, he hastened thither to inquire the reason. The slave confessed that he had opened the letter; and that finding by the contents of it that he was to be put to death, he had fled to the temple to save his life. As Pausanias could not deny the fact, he made the best excuse he could: promised the slave a great reward; obliged bim to promise not to mention what had passed between them to any person whatever. Pausanias then left him.

His guilt was now but too evident. The moment he returned to the city, the ephori were resolved, to seize him. From the aspect of one of these magistrates, he plainly perceived that some danger was impending over him, and therefore ran with the utmost speed to the temple of Pallas, called Chalciœcos, near that place, and got into it before his pursuers could overtake him. The entrance was immediately stopped up with great stones, and history informs us, that the criminal's mother set the first example on that occasion. They now tore off the roof of the building; but as the ephori did not dare to take him out of it by force, because this would have been a violation of that sacred asylum, they resolved to leave him exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, and accordingly he was starved to death. His corpse was buried not far from that place; but the oracle of Delphos, whom they consulted soon after, declared, that to appease the anger of the goddess, who was justly offended on account of the violation of her temple, two statues must be set up there in honour of Pausanias, which was done accordingly.

Such was the end of Pausanias, whose wild and inconsiderate ambition had stided in him all sentiments of probity, honour, love of country, zeal for liberty, and of hatred and aversion for the barbarians; sentiments which, in some mea sure, were inherent in ail the Greeks, and particularly the Lacedæmonians.

SECTION XVI.-THEMISTOCLES FLIES FOR SHELTER TO KING ADMETUS.

THEMISTOCLES was also charged with being an accomplice of Pausanias. He was then in exile. A passionate thirst of glory, and a strong desire to command arbitrarily over the citizens, had made him very odious to them. He had built, very near his house, a temple in honour of Diana, under this title, "to Diana, goddess of good counsel;" "thereby hinting to the Athenians, that he had given good counsel to their city, and to all Greece; and he had also placed his statue in it, which was standing in the time of Plutarch, who says it ap

A. M. 3529. Ant. J. C. 475. Thucyd. I. i. p. 86, 89. Diod. l. xi. p. 34–36. Corn. Nep. in Pausan