THE AGE OF PERICLES. OO 



aveno-e the sacred rites of violated hospitality, were compelled on their 

 return to seek other lands and other cities to dwell in. Thus the Gre- 

 cian name and knowledge and enterprise were more .widely diffused. 

 Up to this period, the form of government seems to hav^ been regal 

 witli limited powers. Now, however, after the disasters of the capture 

 of Ilium left upon the mind a deep impression of the miseries of war 

 even when followed by victory, the arts of peace were sought and cul- 

 tivated, and men directed their attention to the acquisition of wealth ; 

 for in all ages theie appears, in unregenerate man, a thirst for a display 

 either of the pomp of power or the splendor of riches. Wealth thus 

 accumulated furnished leisure as well as occasion for the assumption of 

 increased power. Thus factions were formed, and, tyrants springing 

 up, there was laid the foundation for numerous tyrannies. Thus Pisis- 

 tratus established himself in Athens, and, by a course of conduct at the 

 same time humane and politic, handed down his power to his posterity. 

 Athens, from her position, rapidly became one of the most impor- 

 tant cities in Greece. From the death of Godrus, the last king of 

 Athens, who lived about the eleventh century before Christ, the form of 

 government was continually tending more and more toward a pure de- 

 mocracy. Whether this is to be ascribed to their increased intelligence, 

 or to their addictedness to the sea, or to their .peculiar character and cir- 

 cumstances, I will not presume to determine ; perhaps all contributed 

 something to the attainment of this end. Perhaps more than all those 

 causes mentioned was their experience in hereditary Kings, from whom 

 they were glad, in a suitable time, to be entirely freed. 



The position of Athens, early in her history, gave her an advantage 

 over many of her sister republics. The sterility of her soil and her 

 commercial advantages naturally and necessarily directed her attention 

 and efforts to the sea. Here she speedily excelled, and, once mistress 

 of the watery domain, the numerous islands which bestud the Mediter- 

 ranean and JEgean seas, were glad to acknowledge her power and shel- 

 ter themselves undei her overshadowing protection. A sterile soil and 

 an excessive population gave occasion to the formation and establish- 

 ment of colonies, and thus, like a goodly tree, her roots shot forth and 

 derived nourishment from other soils, and her branches were nourished 

 and bore fruit in other climes. These colonies, trafficking with the na- 

 tions by whom they were surrounded, and making with their ships a 

 highway to the mother-city, gave impulse to trade and laid the founda- 

 tion in part of her future glory. 



From the time of Solon, which was 630 years before Christ, until 

 the death of Pericles, 404 before Christ, we have the most important 



