When Alcibiades was reproached with having little inclination to music, he thought fit to make this excuse; It is for Thebans to sing as they do* who know not how to speak. Pindar and Plutarch, who had very little of the soil in them, and who are proofs that genius is of all nations, do themselves condemn the stupidity of their countrymen. Epaminondas did honour to his country, not only by the greatness of his military exploits, but by that sort of merit which results from elevation of genius and the study of the sciences.

I shall conclude this portrait and character with a circumstance that gives place to nothing in all his other excellencies, and which may even be preferred to them, as it indicates a good heart, and a tenderness and sensible disposition, qualities very rare amongst the great, but infinitely more estimable than all those splendid attributes which the generality of mankind commonly gaze at with admiration, and fancy almost the only objects worthy either of being imitated or envied. The victory at Leuctra had drawn the eyes and admiration of all the neighbouring states upon Epaminondas, and caused him to be looked upon as the supporter and restorer of Thebes, as the triumphant conqueror of Sparta, as the deliverer of all Greece; in a word, as the greatest man, and the most excellent captain, that ever was in the world. In the midst of this universal applause, so capable of intoxicating, in a manner, the general of an army, Epaminondas, little sensible to so affecting and so deserved a glory, My joy,† said he, arises from my sense of that which the news of my victory will give my father and my mother.

Nothing in history seems to me so valuable as such sentiments, which do honour to human nature, and proceed from a heart which neither false glory nor false greatness have corrupted. I confess it is with grief I see these noble sentiments daily expire amongst us, especially in persons whose birth and rank raise them above others, who, too frequently, are neither good fathers, good sons, good husbands, nor good friends; and who would think it derogatory to them to express for a father and mother the tender regard, of which we have here so fine an example from a Pagan.

Until Epaminondas's time, two cities had exercised alternately a kind of empire over all Greece. The justice and moderation of Sparta had at first acquired it a distinguished pre-eminence, which the pride and haughtiness of its generals, and especially of Pausanias, soon made it lose. The Athenians, until the Peloponnesian war, held the first rank; but in a manner scarcely discernible in any other respect, than in their care to acquit themselves worthily, and in giving their inferiors just reason to believe themselves their equals. They judged at that time, and very justly, that the true method of commanding, and of continuing their power, was to evince their superiority only by their good offices and the benefits they conferred. Those times, so glorious for Athens, were of about

They were great musicians.

† Plut. in Coriol. p. 215.

forty-five years' continuance, and they retained a part of that preeminence during the twenty-seven years of the Peloponnesian war, which make in all the seventy-two, or seventy-three years, which Demosthenes assigns to the duration of their empire; but for this latter space of time, the Greeks, disgusted by the haughtiness of Athens, received no laws from that city without reluctance. Hence the Lacedæmonians became again the arbiters of Greece, and continued so from the time Lysander made himself master of Athens, until the first war undertaken by the Athenians, after their re-establishment by Conon, to withdraw themselves and the rest of the Greeks from the tyranny of Sparta, which was now grown more insolent than ever. At length, Thebes disputed the supremacy; and by the exalted merit of a single man, saw itself at the head of all Greece. But that glorious condition was of no long continuance, and the death of Epaminondas, as we have already observed, plunged it again into the obscurity in which he found it.

Demosthenes remarks, in the passage above cited, that the pre eminence granted voluntarily either to Sparta or Athens, was a pre eminence of honour, not of dominion, and that the intent of Greece was to preserve a kind of equality and independence in the other cities. Hence, says he, when the governing city attempted to ascribe to itself what did not belong to it, and aimed at any innovations, contrary to the rules of justice, in established customs, all the Greeks thought themselves obliged to have recourse to arms, and without any ground of personal discontent, to espouse with ardour the cause of the injured.

I shall add here another very judicious reflection from Polybius. † He attributes the wise conduct of the Athenians, in the times have spoken of, to the ability of their generals, who were then at the head of their affairs; and he makes use of a comparison, which explains, not unhappily, the character of that people. A vessel, without a master, says he, is exposed to great dangers, when every one insists upon its being steered according to his opinion, and will not suffer others to guide him. If then a rude storm attacks it, the common danger conciliates and unites them; they abandon themselves to the pilot's skill, and all the rowers doing their duty, the ship is saved, and in a state of security. But if, when the tempest ceases, and the weather grows calm again, the discord of the mariners revives; if they will hearken no longer to the pilot, and some are for continuing their voyage, whilst others resolve to stop in the midst of the course; if on one side they loose their sails, and furl them on the other; it often happens that, after having escaped the most violent storms, they are shipwrecked even in port. This, says Polybius, is a natural image of the Athenian republic. As long as it suffered itself to be guided by the wise counsels of an Aristides, a Themistocles, a Pericles, it came off victorious from the

Demost. Philip. iii. p. 89

† Polyb. l. vii. p. 488.

greatest dangers. But prosperity blinded and ruined it; following no longer any thing but its own caprice, and being become tou solent to be advised or governed, it plunged itself into the greatest misfortunes.

SECTION VIII.

Death of Evagoras king of Salamis. Nicocles his son succeeds him. Admirable charao ter of that prince.

A. M. 3630.

The third year of the 101st Olympiad,* and soon Ant. J. C. 374. after the Thebans had destroyed Plates and Thespiæ, as has been observed before, Evagoras, king of Salamis in the isle of Cyprus, of whom much has been said in the preceding volume, was assassinated by one of his eunuchs. His son Nicocles succeeded him. He had a fine model before him in the person of his father; and he seemed to consider it as his duty to make it his study, and to tread in his steps. When he took possession of the throne, he found the public treasury entirely exhausted, by the great expenses which his father had been obliged to incur in the long war which he had to maintain with the king of Persia. He knew that the generality of princes, upon like occasions, think every means just for the re-establishment of their affairs; but for his part, he acted upon different principles. In his reign there was no talk of banishment, taxes, and confiscation of estates. The public felicity was his sole object, and justice his favourite virtue. He discharged the debts of the state gradually; not by crushing the people with excessive imposts, but by retrenching all unnecessary expenses, and by using a wise economy in the administration of his revenues. am sure, said he, that no citizen can complain that I have done him the least wrong: and I have the satisfaction to know that I have enriched many with an unsparing hand. He believed this kind of vanity, if it be vanity, might be permitted in a prince, and that it was glorious for him to have it in his power to throw out such a defiance to his subjects.

I

He piqued himself also in particular upon another virtue, which is the more worthy of admiration in princes, as it is very uncommon among them; I mean temperance. It is most amiable, but very difficult, in an age and a rank of life to which every thing seems to be lawful, and wherein pleasure, armed with all her arts and attractions, is continually lying in ambush for a young prince, and anticipating his desires, to make a long resistance against the violence and insinuation of her assaults. Nicocles gloried in having never known any woman besides his wife during his reign, and was amazed that all other contracts should be treated with due regard in civil society, whilst that of marriage, the most sacred and invio lable of obligations, was broken through with impunity; and that

Diod. I. xv. p. 363.
Ibid. o. 64.

† Isocrat in Nicoc. p. 64

+ Ibid. p. 65, 66

men should not blush to commit an infidelity in respect to their wives, of which, should their wives be guilty, it would throw them into the utmost anguish and despair.

What I have said of the justice and temperance of Nicocles, Isocrates puts into that prince's own mouth; and it is not probable that he would have made him speak in such a manner, if his conduct had not agreed with such sentiments. It is in a discourse, supposed to be addressed by that king to his people, wherein he describes to them the duties of subjects to their princes: love, respect, obedience, fidelity, and unbounded devotion to their service; and to engage them more effectually to the discharge of those duties, he does not disdain to give them an account of his own conduct and sentiments.

In another discourse,* which precedes this, Isocrates lays before Nicocles all the duties of the sovereignty, and makes excellent reflections upon that subject, of which I can repeat here only a very small part. He begins by telling him that the virtue of private persons is much better supported than his own, by the mediocrity of their condition, by the employment and cares inseparable from it, by the misfortunes to which they are frequently exposed, by their distance from pleasures and luxury, and particularly by the liberty which their friends and relations have of giving them advice; whereas, the generality of princes have none of these advantages. He adds, that a king, who would make himself capable of governing well, ought to avoid an idle and inactive life, should set apart a fixed time for business and the public affairs, should form his council of the most able and experienced persons in his kingdom, should endeavour to make himself as much superior to others by his merit and wisdom as he is by his dignity, and especially to acquire the love of his subjects, and for that purpose love them sincerely, and look upon nimself as their common father. Persist, said he, in the religion you have received from your forefathers, but be assured that the most grateful adoration and sacrifice that you can offer to the Divinity, is that of the heart, in rendering yourself good and just. Show, upon all occasions, so high a regard for truth, that a single word from you may be more confided in than the oath of others. Be a warrior, by your ability in military affairs, and by such a warlike provision as may intimidate your enemies; but let your inclinations be pacific, and be rigidly exact in never pretending to, or undertaking any thing unjustly. The only certain proof that you have reigned well, will be the power of bearing this testimony to yourself; that your people are become both more happy and more wise under your government.

What seems to me most remarkable in this discourse, is, that the advice which Isocrates gives the king is neither attended with praises, nor with those studied reservations and artificial turns, without which fearful and modest truth dares not venture to ap

Isocrat. ad. Nicoc

proach the throne. This is most worthy of applause, and it is still more to the credit of the prince than the writer. Nicocles, far from being offended at these counsels, received them with joy; and to express his gratitude to Isocrates, made him a present of twenty talents, that is to say, 20,000 crowns.*

SECTION IX

Artaxerxes Mnemon undertakes the reduction of Egypt. Iphicrates the Athenian is ap pointed general of the Athenian troops. The enterprise miscarries by the ill conduct of Pharnabazus the Persian general.

A. M. 3627.

Artaxerxes,† after having given his people an interAnt. J. C. 377. val of relaxation for several years, had formed the design of reducing Egypt, which had shaken off the Persian yoke long before, and made great preparations for war for that purpose. Achoris, who then reigned in Egypt, and had given Evagoras powerful aid against the Persians, foreseeing the storm, raised abundance of troops of his own subjects, and took into his pay a great body of Greeks and other auxiliary soldiers, of whom Chabrias the Athenian had the command. He had accepted that office of him self, and without the authority of the republic.

Pharnabazus, having been charged with this war, sent to Athens to complain that Chabrias had engaged himself to serve against his master, and threatened the republic with the king's resentment, if he was not immediately recalled. He demanded at the same time Iphicrates, another Athenian, who was looked upon as one of the most excellent captains of his time, to give him the command of the body of Greek troops in the service of his master. The Athenians who had a great interest in the continuance of the king's friend ship, recalled Chabrias, and ordered him, upon pain of death to repair to Athens by a certain day. Iphicrates was sent to the Persian army.

The preparations of the Persians went on so slowly, that two whole years elapsed before they entered upon action. Achoris.į king of Egypt, died in that time, and was succeeded by Psammuthis, who reigned but a year. Nepheritus was the next, and four months after Nectanebis, who reigned ten or twelve years.

A. M. 3630.

Artaxerxes, to draw some troops out of Greece, Ant. J. C. 374. sent ambassadors thither, to declare to the several states, that the king's intent was they should all live in peace with each other, conformably to the trea'y of Antalcidas, that all garrisons should be withdrawn, and all the cities suffered to enjoy their liberty under their respective laws. All Greece received his declaration with pleasure, except the Thebans, who refused to conform to it.

At length, every thing being in readiness for the invasion of

*Plut. in vit. Isoc. p. 838. ↑ Diod. l. xv. p. 328. 347.

et in Iphic.

Euseb. in Chron.

Diod. I. xv. p. 355.

Cor. Nep. in Chat 1 Ibid. 358, 359