235 



CLEOMEDES. 



CLEOtf. 



286 



Cleombrotus was elected king of Sparta, B.C. 243 ; but oa the return 

 of Leonidas, Cleombrotus was sent into exile, his life being spared at 

 the intercession of his wife Cheilonis. Cleombrotus left two sons, the 

 elder of whom, Agesipolis, was the father of Agesipolis III. 



CLEOME'DES, a Greek writer on astronomy. There is some doubt 

 about the age in which he lived ; or, which is the same thing, whether 

 the manuscripts remaining which bear tho name of Cleomedes were all 

 written by one man, or by two meu at different times. The manu- 

 scripts which remain are on astronomy, on the doctrine of the sphere, 

 and on arithmetic. Tossius conjectures that the work on music 

 attributed to Cleonidas belongs to Cleomedes. Riccioli seems to have 

 been one of the first who supposed that there were two of this name, 

 one about the time of Augustus, the other in the reign of Theodosius. 

 The work on astronomy was attributed by Vosaius to the latter ; but 

 the principal arguments against so late an anthor lie in his frequent 

 mention of Pythagoras, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Posidonius, and 

 his entire silence about Ptolemseus. See however the arguments of 

 Letronne, ' Journal des Savans,' 1821, p. 713. 



We mean by Cleomedes the one of that name who wrote the work 

 Iltpl KVK\IKJJS fffuplai peTftipay, in two books, ' On the Circular Theory 

 of the Heavenly Bodies.' It is professedly in several parts taken from 

 a writing, or from the public lectures, of Posidonius, who was certainly 

 the contemporary of Cicero. It is a probable conjecture that Cleo- 

 medes was a pupil of Posidonius. The work in question has considerable 

 historical value ; it records the measures of the earth by Posidonius 

 and Eratosthenes, establishes the antiquity of the opinion that the 

 rotation of the moon is equal to her synodical revolution round the 

 earth; had it been the sidereal revolution, it would have been 

 correct. It gives various arguments in proof of the rotundity of the 

 earth, in opposition to the supposition of flat aud cubical forms, &c., 

 aud from this source the early English writers drew much of what 

 they said on the same subject. It mentions eclipses as having hap- 

 pened without having been predicted in the ' canons ;' a proof that 

 something answering to an almanac was in common use. It decidedly 

 suggests the possibility of rays of light being bent by the air. Delambre 

 ban made it sufficiently apparent that Cleomedes was not acquainted 

 with the writings of Hipparchus, though he frequently cite.? opinions 

 and methods which he attributes to him. 



The earlier editions of Cleomedes are : 1. The Latin version of 

 George Valla, Venice, 1497 or 1498. 2. In Latin, with Aristotle and 

 Philo, Basel, 1533. 3. The first Greek edition, by Conrad Neobarius, 

 Paris, 1539. 4. In Greek aud Latin with Aratus, Proclus, and Diony- 

 ius, Basel, 1547; again in 1561; again in 1585. 5. In Greek and 

 Latin, with a Commentary, by George Balfour, Bordeaux, 4to, 1605. 

 This edition was re-published with additional notes, by Janus Bake, 

 Leipzig, 1820; this also was re-published, with additional notes, by 

 C. C. Theoph. Schmidt, Leipzig, 1831. The most esteemed manuscript 

 is that in the public library at Wittenberg. 



(Hiccioli, Vossius, Weidler, Heilbronner, Delambre, Jliit. Attr. Anc. 

 i. 218.) 



CLEO'MENES, the name of several kings of Sparta. CLEOMENES I., 

 son of Anaxandrides (Herod, y. 39), although not perfectly sane, suc- 

 ceeded his father. (Herod, v. 42.) He expelled the Peisistratidaj from 

 Athens (Herod, v. 63, 64), B.C. 510, and espoused the cause of Isagoras in 

 opposition to Cleisthenes [CLEISTHENES], who however with tho seven 

 hundred families that had been banished, afterwards returned aud 

 forced him to leave the city. Demaratus, the colleague of Cleomencs, 

 accused him of favouring the Medea, while on an expedition against 

 the jl-Iijintjtic, and obliged him to return home. By the aid of Leo- 

 tychides, a private enemy of Demaratus, and by bribery of the Delphic 

 oracle, Cleomenes succeeded in effecting the abdication of Demaratus. 

 (Herod, vi. 65, 66.) In a war against the people of Argos (about 

 ac. 491, Clinton, 'Fast. Hel.,' p. 425, note x.), Cleomenes was com- 

 pletely victorious, and burnt a great number of the fugitives in a sacred 

 grove where they had taken refuge. (Herod, vi. 80.) The means by 

 which he bad contrived to get rid of Demaratus afterwards becoming 

 known, he was banished into Thessaly and subsequently to Arcadia, 

 where he endeavoured to stir up the people against the Lacedaemonians. 

 (Herod, vi. 74.) He was ordered to return, and on his arrival in Sparta 

 he confirmed the belief of his madness by mortally wounding himself 

 (Herod, vi. 75), B.C. 492. 



CLEO'MENES II. succeeded his brother Agesipolis II. (Diodor. Sic. 

 TV. 60), B.C. 370, and reigned sixty-one yean: he died B.C. 309. 

 (Clinton, fait. HcL, pp. 205, 213.) 



CLEO'MENES III. succeeded his father Leonidas on the throne of 

 Sparta B.C. 236. Immediately on his accession he set himself to oppose 

 Aratus and the Ach&ans, who were endeavouring to draw all the 

 Pcloponnesians into their league. The Epbori were averse to the 

 war, and Cleomenes saw no way to attain his ends but by abolishing 

 their power. Accordingly he put four of them to death, and attempted 

 to excuse this act of violence by showing the necessity of restoring the 

 ancient institutions of Lycurgus, which could not be effected by any 

 other means. He renewed the old Spartan system of education, and 

 himself observed great simplicity in his mode of life. His colleague of 

 the house of Proclus, a child named Eurydamidas, the son of Agis IV., 

 died it was said by poison, which Pausauias (2, 9) asserts was adminis- 

 tered by the Ephori at the instigation of Cleomenes; but the story 

 appears very improbable. However that may be, on the death of 



Eurydamidas, Cleomen < shared the kingly power with his own brother 

 Eucleidas. He also abolished the Gerusia, or senate, aud transferred 

 their powers to another body (patronomi) apparently of his own 

 creating; but this rests solely on the authority of Pausanias. Cleo- 

 menes in his invasion of Achsea took several cities, and soon afterwards 

 attacked Argos. In order more effectually to oppose Aratus, who had 

 obtained the assistance of Antigonus, Cleomenes formed an alliance 

 with Ptolemy, king of Egypt. The contending parties fought a 

 decisive battle at Sellasia in Laconica, in which the Lacedaemonians 

 were completely defeated : of 6000 men only 200 survived. After the 

 battle Cleomenes fled to Egypt, where he was hospitably entertained 

 by Ptolemy Euergetes. His son and successor however, Ptolemy 

 Philopator, soon showed considerable jealousy of the royal guest, and 

 accordingly put him in confinement. Cleomenes killed himself iu the 

 third year after his flight, and his body was afterwards nailed upon 

 a cross by Ptolemy Philopator, B.C. 220 (Clinton, 'F. H.,' 205). He 

 reigned sixteen years. (Plutarch, 'Cleom.,' c. 38.) Livy (xxxiv. 26), 

 following Polybius (iv.), represents Cleomenes as a tyrant ; but Poly- 

 bius was a native of a city (Megalopolis) which Cleomenes had destroyed, 

 and the support of the Achaean league was a family concern. The 

 truth appears to be that the great object of Cleomenes was to revive 

 the ancient discipline aud institutions of Lycurgus, and to put an end 

 to the luxury and corruption which had crept into the state. If the 

 means which he took were sometimes indefensible, it may perhaps be 

 said in reply that his ends were good, and that such means were not 

 entirely condemned by the positive morality of his age and country. 



CLEON, of Athens, the son of Cleaenetus, was originally a tanner. 

 Early iu life he began to take an active part in the political affairs of 

 Athens, and his success seems to have drawn him from his business. 

 He set himself up as the champion of the people, and was especially 

 vehement in their cause when their interests appeared to be opposed 

 to those of the rich. The first important affair in which he took a 

 prominent part was the discussion on the massacre of the Mitylenaaan 

 prisoners, B.C. 427, who were sent to Athens after the reduction of 

 the island by Pachas. Such was the influence of Cleon on this occasion 

 that he succeeded in persuading the assembly to pass a decree by which 

 all the Mitylenaean prisoners sent to Athens by Pitches, and every citizen 

 in Mitylene, should be put to death, aud the women and children made 

 slaves. The prisoners, who had been sent to Athens, were massacred 

 the same day to the number of more than one thousand ; but the 

 timely remorse of the Athenians prevented the execution of the 

 remainder of the sentence. In an assembly called on the following day 

 to reconsider the decree, Cleon came forward to support it with the 

 utmost vehemence, and tho majority of his opponent Diodotus was 

 very small 



In ac. 425 the Athenians built a small fort at Pylos, in Mesaenia, 

 under the directibn of their general, Demosthenes. The Lacedaemo- 

 nians, with the view of destroying a post that would prove a great 

 annoyance to them, made preparations to besiege it, and also threw a 

 body of men into the small island of Sphacteria, which lay at the 

 entrance of the harbour of Pylos. The island was immediately 

 blockaded by tho Athenians ; but as there seemed no prospect of its 

 being speedily taken, the Athenians at home began to complaiu, and 

 Cleon accused the generals of want of activity in pressing the blockade. 

 " If he were in command," he said, " he would soon finish the business." 

 The people took him at his word ; Nicias, one of the commanders at 

 Pylos, insisted that Cleon should supersede him; and the demagogue, 

 much against his will, was obliged to accept the command. However, 

 he put the best face on the matter, and said that he would be back at 

 Athens in twenty days, and would either bring with him all tho 

 Lacedaemonians in the island prisoners, or he would not leave a man 

 of them alive. Demosthenes was his colleague in the expedition. Ha 

 was as good as his word, and brought the Lacedaemonians prisoners to 

 Athens within the twenty days. Thucydides, who rarely indulges iu 

 reflections on the character of persons in the body of hU history, could 

 not abstain from a side-blow at the demagogue general. The most 

 sensible among the Athenians, he observes, were rather pleased at 

 Cleon's being intrusted with the affair of Pylos, for they thought that 

 the result in any event could not be otherwise than good : they would 

 either get rid of Cleon for ever, which they rather expected, or, if they 

 were disappointed in this, he would probably take the place. 



Whether any of the merit of this exploit belonged to Cleon seems 

 more than doubtful. (Aristoph., ' Equ.,' 54, &c.) His prudence in 

 the selection of his colleague cannot be questioned. The reputation 

 which he gained for energy and promptitude in this affair, added to 

 his inordinate vanity, completely turned .his head ; and it would seem 

 by what followed as if many of his countrymen were so far deceived 

 by this lucky business of Pylos as to think that Cleon actually had the 

 talents that he pretended to. Accordingly in B.C. 422 he was fixed 

 upon as the proper person to oppose the movements of the able Spartan 

 general liraeidas iu Macedonia and Thrace, and he received the undi- 

 vided command of 1200 heavy-armed men and 300 horse, with still 

 larger forces of Imbrians and Lemnians, and a fleet of 30 galleys. He 

 did not march direct to Amphipolis, which was the principal object 

 of the expedition, but stopped in his way to recover Torone. Braaidas, 

 who had left the town, had stationed there a garrison which was 

 inadequate for its.defence, and accordingly Cleon was successful in his 

 attack on the place. He sold all the women and children as slave* 



