HISTORY OF GREECE. 



Spartans having got back their citizens, shewed a 

 fish to evade the conditions on their part, and 

 ic distrust thus inspired was fanned into a fresh 

 jpture by the machinations of Alcibiades, who 

 about this time began to take a lead in Athens. 

 The result was that the Athenians entered into a 

 lew alliance (420 B.C.) with some of the Pelopon- 

 lesian states, who were dissatisfied with the selfish 

 anduct of Sparta. 



Alcibiades, now at the head of the war-party in 

 Athens, was a young man of high birth and great 

 riches, gifted with eminent ability and versatility, 

 id remarkable for the beauty of his person. He 

 pas at the same time filled with inordinate vanity, 

 :onfidence in his own powers, and love of distinc- 

 ion ; while he was utterly regardless of the means 

 ic took to attain his end. His brilliant qualities 

 id liberality led the Athenian people to overlook 

 lis licentious manners and want of moral prin- 

 :iple, and allow him a sway in their councils, 

 vhich he wielded to their ruin. 



While the struggle was going on in Greece with 

 ittle success on either side, an appeal for aid was 

 lade (416 B.C.) to Athens from some cities in 

 Sicily against the dominant Doric city of Syra- 

 cuse ; and the ambition of the Athenians, and 

 especially of Alcibiades, firing at the idea of the 

 conquest of Sicily, led them to resolve on the 

 Sicilian expedition. It was in vain that Nicias 

 opposed the measure ; against his judgment and 

 will, he was appointed, along with Alcibiades and 

 " imachus, to the command of the most splendid 

 lament that had ever left a port of Greece. 

 Shortly after the fleet arrived on the coast of 

 Sicily, Alcibiades was recalled to stand his trial, 

 iving been accused of being concerned in muti- 

 iting the statues of Hermes in Athens a mys- 

 ious piece of sacrilege which had occurred 

 luring the preparation of the expedition, and had 

 ft the city in a state of consternation. Instead 

 , returning home, Alcibiades went to Sparta, and 

 2came for a time the most active enemy of his 

 juntry. The expedition thus left to the control 

 " the timid Nicias, effected nothing. Syracuse 

 vas long besieged in vain ; and although repeated 

 iinforcements were sent from Athens, the Syra- 

 isans got the upper hand, shut up their besiegers 

 the great harbour, and (413 B.C.) destroyed or 



captive the whole armament. 

 Athens never recovered this terrible disaster, 

 id her power was clearly broken. At last the 

 jggle was brought to a close (405 B.C.) at ^gos- 

 J otamos in the Hellespont, where the Spartan 

 Imiral, Lysander, surprised and captured the 

 hole Athenian fleet. After stripping Athens of 

 her dependencies, putting them under oligar- 

 chies in the interest of Sparta, Lysander block- 

 led and soon reduced the city itself, on which he 

 iposed the most humiliating conditions, causing 

 ts fortifications to be demolished, and establish- 

 ig an oligarchy, known as the Thirty Tyrants. 

 Literature and Philosophy. The literary his- 

 Dry of the fifth century B.C. is characterised 

 liefly by the development of the drama ; the 

 latest tragedians were ^Eschylus, Sophocles, 

 id Euripides, while Aristophanes excelled in 

 3medy. The instruction of Greek youth was 

 Dnducted by a set of men who called themselves 

 Sophists, or Wise Men, and who taught them 

 "letoric and other accomplishments then deemed 

 constitute a liberal education. In the midst of 



these Sophists arose Socrates, who turned his 

 attention chiefly to the study of men and morals. 

 His method of teaching consisted in familiar con- 

 versation and a species of catechising, by which 

 he confounded the pretended wisdom of the 

 Sophists. Out of the intellectual school formed 

 by Socrates arose all the leaders of speculative 

 thinking in Greece for the next half-century ; they 

 took the name of Philosophers, or Lovers of 

 Wisdom, as more modest than that of Sophists. 

 Socrates, by his plainness of speech, made many 

 enemies, who, in his old age, accused him of intro- 

 ducing religious novelties, and corrupting the 

 youth of the city. He took no pains to defend 

 himself, and was sentenced to drink the cup of 

 hemlock, which was the usual mode of executing 

 distinguished criminals. This happened in 400 

 B.C. after the overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants, 

 and the restoration of the democracy. 



FOURTH PERIOD: 404-371 B.C. 



Sparta was now dominant in Hellas, and her 

 empire was exercised by Lysander with such 

 selfish harshness, as soon to excite a deeper feeling 

 of jealousy and hatred than ever had been felt 

 towards Athens. The Thirty Tyrants in the 

 latter city made their rule so intolerable, that a 

 revolution in less than a year restored the old 

 constitution, with the consent of the Spartans. 

 The leading event of this period is the rise of 

 Thebes into the ascendency. The refusal of the 

 Thebans to obey the dictation of Sparta brought 

 a Lacedaemonian army into Boeotia to compel 

 submission. But the Theban training had by this 

 time been brought to such perfection, that it was 

 more than a match for that of Sparta ; and with 

 less than half the numbers, the Theban general, 

 Epaminondas, inflicted a signal defeat on the 

 Spartan army, on the memorable field of Leuctra 

 (371 B.C.). 



FIFTH PERIOD: 371-3388.0. 



This battle was fatal to the empire of Sparta. The 

 victorious Thebans proceeded to re-establish Mes- 

 senia as an independent state, recalling, after a 

 lapse of three centuries, the scattered families of 

 the original Messenians, residing in various parts 

 of Hellas, and raising the Spartan serfs that 

 tilled the lands into free citizens. Arcadia also 

 was organised into a Pan-Arcadian state, with a 

 new city, Megalopolis, for its capital. The chief 

 efforts of the Thebans were then directed to the 

 confirmation of this new state of things in Pelo- 

 ponnesus, and the maintenance of their influ- 

 ence against Alexander, ' tyrant ' of Thessaly, now 

 become a formidable power. In a battle fought 

 with the Lacedaemonians, near Mantinea in 

 Arcadia, the Theban general, Epaminondas, fell 

 in the moment of victory (362 B.C.). He left a 

 name second to none in Greece as a soldier, a 

 statesman, and a disinterested patriot With the 

 sixteen years of his political life, the ascendency 

 of Thebes both began and ended ; for no one rose 

 to take his place. During the period of Sparta's 

 highest ascendency, as well as during her fall, her 

 destinies were guided by her king Agesilaus (398- 

 361 B.C.), who, as it has been expressed, 'was 

 himself Sparta's most perfect citizen and most 

 consummate general ; in many ways, perhaps her 

 greatest man.' 



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