24 EssaT/ upon the Art of the Foundry 



they were only able to furnish four ships, and they had only 

 seven in the battle of Salamis. 



When after that battle Xerxes retired into his own states, 

 the Chians once more enjoyed their antient freedom, by 

 means of which they recovered themselves so quickly, that 

 in the time of the Pcloponnesian war they had sixty ships 

 at sea, and their capital was regarded as one of the grandest 

 and richest cities in Greece*. During this war they were 

 always strongly united with the Athenians ; but when the 

 ]alter were defeated in Sicily, they quitted their cause in 

 order to embrace that of the Lacedemonians. This mea- 

 sure, which Thucydides seems to approve of as being very 

 prudent, nevertheless became the cause of new misfortunes. 

 The Athenians besieged their city, overcame them in se- 

 veral engagements ; and their island, which had become so 

 flourishing since their struggle with the Persians, was again 

 a prey to all the scourges of war. At last, however, the 

 Athenians were conquered, and quitted their country. From 

 this time these islanders lived in tranquillity; but they were 

 stripped of their antient splendour. The Lacedemonians, 

 their new allies, rendered them tributary in order to con- 

 tribute to the expense of their numerous expeditions f. 

 ■ Commerce had been banished from them, and they were 

 too enfeebled to act any part in the affairs of Greece. His- 

 tory loses sight of them until the 103lh Olympiad, when 

 they united with the inhabitants of the island of Cos, the 

 Rhodians, and the Byzantians, against the Athenians, in 

 order to revenge some particular oulraees thcv tlmught thev 

 had received from Chares their general. This war lasted 

 three years, and it was known bv the name of the social 

 war. 



Under Alexander they becHme the sport of fortune, and 

 they attached themselves, according to the exlacncy ot the 

 moment, at one time to the nearest and at another to the 



* Thurydides, lib. vi. 



■f Xciiophon, lib. ii. It was prc.bab!)' from the Laccdemoninns the)"^ adopted 

 the prac;icc of niaki.ig young girls wrestle with boys in the Palisstra. Athe- 

 I13US says that it was with much pleasure people went to Chio to witness this 

 chaiming spectacle, lib. xiii. 



Strongest. 



