it. This dissension might have produced very fatal: effects, had it not been for the moderation and magnanimity of Aristides, who commanded the Athenians, and who addressed himself to the Spartans and the rest of the confederates in the following manner: "It is not now a time, my friends, to dispute about the merit of past services; for all boasting is vain in the day of danger. Let it be the brave man's pride to own, that it is not the post or station which gives courage, or which can take it away. I head the Athenians; whatever post you shall assign us, we will maintain it, and will endeavour to make our station, wherever we are placed, the post of true honour and military glory. We are come hither not to contend with our friends, but to fight with our enemies; not to boast of our ancestors, but to imitate them. This battle will distinguish the merit of each city: each commander, and the lowest sentinel will share the honour of the day." This speech determined the council of war in favour of the Athenians, who thereupon were allowed to maintain their former station.

Meanwhile the Grecians, beginning to be straitened for want of water, resolved to retreat to a place where they might be more plentifully supplied with that necessary article. As their removal was made in the night, much disorder ensued; and in the morning, Mardonius, construing their retreat into a flight, immediately pursued them, and coming up with them near the little city of Platæa, he attacked them with great impetuosity. His ardour, however, was soon checked by the Spartans, who brought up the rear of the Grecian army, and who, throwing themselves into a phalanx, stood impenetrable and immoveable to all the assaults of the enemy. At the same time, the Athenians being informed of the attack, quickly turned back, and after defeating a body of Greeks in Persian pay, they came to the assistance of the Spartans, just as these last had completed the overthrow of the enemy. For Mardonius, enraged at seeing his men give way, rushed into the thickest of the ranks, in order to restore the battle; and while he was doing so, he was killed by Aimnestus,

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a Spartan. Upon this the whole army betook themselves to flight. Artabazis, with a body of forty thousand men, fled towards the Hellespont; the rest retreated to their camp, and there endeavoured to defend themselves with wooden ramparts. But these being quickly broken down, the confederates rushed in upon them with irresistible fury; and eager to rid their country of such terrible invaders, they sternly refused them all quarter, and put upwards of a hundred thousand of them to the sword. Thus ended the invasion of the Persians into Greece; nor ever after was an army from Persia seen to cross the Hellespont. We have already observed, that Aristides commanded the Athenians in this important action. The Spartans were headed by Cleombrotus, and Pausanias, a Lacedæmonian, was the chief commander.

The battle was no sooner over, than the Greeks, to testify their gratitude to heaven, caused a statue of Jupiter to be made at the public expense, and placed in his temple at Olympia. On the right side of the pedestal were engraved the names of the several nations of Greece that were present in the engagement. The Spartans had the first place, the Athenians the second, and all the rest succeeded in order.

The successes of the Greeks were as rapid as they were important. On the very evening of the day on which the victory at Platea was won, another, equally glorious, was obtained at Mycale on the coast of Ionia. After the defeat at Salamis, the remains of the Persian fleet retired to Samos; but the Greeks were not long in pursuing them. The confederates, on this occasion, were headed by Leotychides, the Spartan, and Xanthippus, the Athenian. The Persians were no sooner informed of their approach, than, conscious of their own inferiority by sea, they drew up their ships upon dry land at Mycale, and fortified them with a wall and a deep trench, while they were at the same time protected by an army of sixty thousand men, under the command of Tigranes. But nothing could secure them from the fury of the Grecians, who immediately coming on shore, and dividing themselves into two bodies, the

Athenians and Corinthians advanced directly on the plain, while the Lacædemonians fetched a compass over hills and precipices, in order to take possession of a rising ground. But before these last arrived, the former had entirely put the enemy to flight, and now being joined by the Spartans, they soon forced their way through the Persian ramparts, and set all their ships on fire; so that nothing could be more complete than the victory now obtained. Tigranes, the Persian general, with forty thousand of his men, lay dead upon the field of battle; the fleet was destroyed; and of the great army which Xerxes brought into Europe, scarce a single man remained to carry back to him the news of its defeat.

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CHAPTER VII.

FROM THE VICTORY AT MYCALE TO THE PEACE CONCLUDED BETWEEN THE GREEKS AND PERSIANS.

No sooner were the Greeks freed from the apprehensions of a foreign foe [A. M. 3526], than they began to entertain jealousies of each other; and the first symptoms of this dangerous spirit appeared in a misunderstanding that took place between the Athenians and Spartans. The former, with their families, being returned to their own country, begun to think of rebuilding the city; and as its late state of weakness had rendered it so easy a prey to the Persians, they now formed a plan for strengthening and extending the walls, and giving it, for the future, a greater degree of security. This excited the jealousy of the Lacedæmonians, who could not bear to see any of the other states of Greece upon an equal footing with themselves. They therefore sent ambassadors to dissuade the Athenians from this undertaking; but being ashamed to avow their real motive, they alleged the great detriment which these fortifications would be of to the general interests of Greece, if ever they should fall into the hands of the enemy. Themistocles, who then guided all the councils of Athens, at once saw through their design, and resolved

to meet their duplicity with equal dissimulation. He therefore told them that the Athenians would soon send an embassy to Sparta, and fully satisfy all their scruples; and having procured himself to be chosen for this purpose, he accordingly went thither, and by studied delays kept the Spartans in suspense until the works were completely finished. He then boldly threw off the mask, and declared that Athens was now in a condition to keep out any enemy, either foreign or domestic ; and that what she had done was perfectly consistent with the laws of nations, and the common interests of Greece. He further added, that if any violence were offered to his person, the Athenians would retaliate upon the Spartan ambassadors, who were now in their hands; in consequence of which the ambassadors on both sides were suffered quietly to depart, and Themistocles, upon his arrival in Athens, was received as if he had been returning from a triumph.

Encouraged by his success in this undertaking, Themistocles projected another scheme, far less justifiable indeed, for increasing the power and importance of his country. This scheme, however, he declared, in a full assembly of the people, would not admit of being publicly mentioned, as its execution required secrecy and despatch. He therefore begged that some person might be appointed, to whom he might communicate his design, one who was qualified to judge at once of the utility and the practicability of the project. Aristides was pitched upon for this purpose. To him Themistocles privately signified his intention of burning the fleet belonging to the rest of the Grecian states, which then lay in a neighbouring port, and thus rendering Athens the undisputed sovereign of the sea. Aristides, shocked at so base a proposal, made no answer, but returning to the assembly, informed them, that nothing could be more advantageous to Athens than what Themistocles proposed, but that nothing, at the same time, could be more unjust. The people, adopting the magnanimous sentiments of their magistrate, unanimously rejected the proposal, without knowing its contents, and bestowed upon Aristides the surname of Just, which he so well deserved.

The confederates being thus left at liberty to turn their arms against their foreign foes, instead of drawing their swords against one another, fitted out a powerful fleet. Pausanias commanded the Spartans; the Athenians were conducted by Aristides and Cimon the son of Miltiades. They first directed their course to the isle of Cyprus, where they set all the cities free. Then steering towards the Hellespont, they attacked the city of Byzantium, of which they made themselves masters; and, besides the vast quantity of plunder which they found in it, they took a great number of prisoners, many of whom were of the richest and most considerable families of Persia.

But whatever the Greeks gained upon this occasion in fame and authority, they lost in the purity and simplicity of their manners. The deluge of wealth poured in upon them from this quarter, naturally tended to corrupt their minds; and from this time forward, neither the magistrates nor the people valued themselves, as formerly, on their personal merit, but merely on account of their riches and possessions. The Athenians, being a polite people, bore this change for some time with tolerable moderation; but the contagion immediately broke out among the Spartans with all its native virulence. It seems to have inspired Pausanias, who was naturally of a haughty and imperious temper, and who had forfeited the good opinion not only of the neighbouring states, but also of his own subjects, with the ambitious hopes of raising himself to a still higher rank than he had yet attained. He offered to deliver up Sparta, and even all Greece, to Xerxes, provided that prince would give him his daughter in marriage. How long this conspiracy was carried on is uncertain. Pausanias was twice tried, and twice acquitted for want of sufficient evidence against him. His guilt, however, became at length too apparent to be any longer concealed; but just as the Ephori were upon the point of seizing him, he took refuge in the temple of Minerva, where the sanctity of the place preventing his being dragged forth, the people blocked up the entry with large stones, and tearing off the roof, left him in that manner to die of cold and hunger. This he in a little