THE 



seo 



T 11 K 



that : ilocl to return liumc without" having ] 



.Mon. in n. i. rim tin- i 



111 lengue with tlio Roeotians nnd their allies, who 

 hud formed a hostile cunlcdc, -! Sparta. The 



Spartans thought it necessary to H c.il from Asia their great 

 commander Agexilaus, and on hw way home he 1 

 uiarrh through Thessaly. The Thessalians, with their 

 cavalry, endeavonitd to harass and obstruct linn mi Ins 

 mnrrli. His skilful man-i 'ever thwarted tlu-ir 



is gained considerable credit liy dc- 



,- on their own ground, with horsemen of hi-' own 

 training, the most renowned cavalry ol' Greece. Kill while 

 Sparta was struggling against the coalition of which 

 Thebes was the head, Thessaly was assuming a new po- 

 sition among the states of Greece. To explain this we 

 must observe, that though a. kind of ]>olitical and national 

 unity was nominally acknowledged among the states of 

 Thessaly, still the country had very seldom been united 

 under one government. A few great families, such as life 



ulii-and the Aleuadse, were sometimes able 1o extend 

 their influence even beyond the cities of Larissa, Crannon, 

 and Pharsalus, about which their possessions lay. Occa- 

 sionally one of them was raised to the dignity of Tagns; 

 but their power was always liable to be overthrown, even 

 in their own eities. Towards the close and after the end 

 of the Peloponnesiaii war, most of the cities acknow- 

 ledged the ascendency of Pharsalus or 1'hene, the latter of 

 which was, about B.C. 400, under the dominion of Lyco- 

 phron. This prince endeavoured to extend his power over 

 all Thessaly : and Xenophon (Ilrtli'ii., ii. 4 mentions a 

 victory which he gained over the Thcssalians of Larissa 

 as one" of the events which happened in the year of the 

 fall of Athens (B.C. 404) ; but he does not state what were 

 the resulls of it. Ten years afterwards Lycophron was 

 still engaged in a contest with Larissa, then subject to 

 Medius, who was probably one of the Aleuadse. Lyco- 

 phron was supported by Sparta, and Medius by the Bosotian 

 confederacy, by the assistance received from which he was 

 enabled to" make himself master of Pharsalus, then occu- 

 pied by a Lacedaemonian garrison. 



The success of Agesilaus on his return from Asia pro- 

 duced some change in the affairs of Thessaly, for Pharsalus 

 soon recovered its independence, and rose to such eminence 

 as to become a rival of Pheroe. It did not however con- 

 tinue, as of old, under the power of the Scopadse : it was 

 divided between contending factions, which, for the sake 

 of peace, agreed to place themselves under the power of 

 a person named Polydamas, whose character and \iitue 

 had gained the confidence of all parties. (Thirlwall, ///./. 

 of Gri'iii', vol. v., p. iju'.'i Polydamas was accordingly en- 

 trusted with the citadel and the administration of the 

 revenues of the city, a trust which he discharged with the 

 strictest integrity. 



At Pherse the supreme power passed into the hands of 

 Jason, who was probably the son of Lycophron, and cer- 

 tainly the inheritor of his ambitious views, which however 

 he enlarged into more comprehensive schemes, and, with 

 superior energy and talents, possessed greater means of 

 realizing. He kept a standing army of 6000 mercenaries, 

 all picked men ; and, notwithstanding the opposition of 

 Phiusalus, he compelled most of the principal Thcssalian 



to enter into alliance with him: moreover, his sv.av 

 was acknowledged by several of the neighbouring tribes. 

 The leading states \ Greece were wasting their strength 

 in a protracted warfare, and whichever way he turned his 

 eyes he perceived, or imagined that he perceived, facilities 

 for gaining the objects of his ambition, namely, the su- 

 premacy of Greece, and the overthrow of the Persian em- 

 pire in the Kast ; the same schemes in fact as were sub- 

 sequently executed by Alexander, king of Mneedon. The 

 first objects which he had to gain were the title of Tagns, 

 and the union of Thessaly under his authority. To ; 

 plish the latter project it was necessary to gain by per- 

 suasion, or overpower by force, Polydamas, the governor 

 of Pharsalus. Jason adopted the former method, and. 

 after a frank statement of his views, prevailed upon PuU- 

 dama* to second them. A compact was then made be- 

 tween them; and Polydamas exerted hi- influence so suc- 

 cewfnlly in Jason's behalf, that the Phai- 

 indnced to enter into an alliance with him, and to join in 

 a general pacification, which immediately followed. Not 



lAerwardt Jaaonwu either elected Tagua, or assumed 

 the title, without any opposition, and, by his influence and 



.al important . induct d '. 



confcdn.i. \ . lie then fixed t' .'iliy 



and cavalry to be furnished by the ditlVient states, and 



aised them to a .lom'it than they had i vet been 



:iy which he could I 



. 8000 cavalry and mine than 'JI.IHK) hcavy- 

 11 mid infantry : and his light tii> 



vi. 1, i. pose the world. For 



their maintenance he revived the tribute which 

 imposed on the subject tribes of the'l i 

 one of his piedecessors. The extensive coasts ofTheasaly, 

 its fore , llent ship-limber, and his Kigc KM 



also enabled him to raise a considerable fleet, which lie 

 had no difficulty in manning from (he Pci.. !>ject 



population of the country. H:- in fact weie in 



every respect so great, that Thcssaly seemed 

 under him, to become both by sea and land the leading 

 p-wer of Greece, and e\en his" projected conquest o! 

 ua no longer impracticable. Hut these schemes were too 

 vast for the ordinary duration of a human life, though be 

 kept them constantly in view, and made all his actions 

 uciit to them. An instance of this occurs in his 

 conduct alter the battle of Leuctra, in which the Th. 



ed the Lacedaemonian^, and then invited him to 

 join them in overpowering Laccdicmon. Jason joined 

 them with his forces, but lie did not comply with their 

 request. His policy was to keep an even balance between 

 the two states, 80 as to ensure the dependence of both on 

 himself, and therefore, instead of annihilating the power 

 of Sparta, be offered his services as a mediator between 

 the contending states, and obtained a truce for the I 

 daeroonians, under favour of which the remnant of their 

 forces decamped by night (B.C. 371). In the follow in:; 

 year Jason's career was terminated, lie hud made 

 parations for an expedition to the south of Greece, and 

 had ordered a levy of troops, declaring at the same time 

 his intention of marching to Delphi and presiding over 

 the Pythian games: but before the time car.ie he was 

 mated by seven young men ; and the honours which 

 were paid in many of the Grecian cities to tlu 

 showed the alarm which his ambition had excited. On 

 the death of Jason, Thessaly relapsed into its former i 

 nificance, though his dynasty survived him, and two of his 

 brothers, Polydorus and Polyphron, for a short time shared 

 his authority between them. Polydorus v 

 sinated, and Polyphron became sole Tagus. 15y his ad- 

 ministration the office was changed into a tyranny, and he 

 put to death Polydamas and eight other principal ci; 

 of Pharsalus. After a reign of one year, he was murdered 

 by liis nephew Alexander, who thus gained the govern- 

 ment, in which he became infamous for his crneltv. The 

 atrocities which he committed filled all his subjects with 

 terror, but especially the antient families, who were likely 

 to be the objects of his jealousy. The Aleuada; of I 

 accordingly applied to Alexander, the then king of Maec- 

 don, who, on being thus invited by the Tl com- 



plied with their request. He defeated the tyrant, and 

 took possession of Larissa and its citadel, and afterws 

 Crannon, and garrisoned both with his troops. The affairs 

 of his own kingdom however obliged him to withdraw 

 from Thessaly , and the Thcssnlians. being tlms exposed to 

 the vengeance of Alexander, solicited aid (B.C. 3CS from 

 the Thcbans. who accordingly sent Pelopidas to assist them. 

 The tyrant granted him an interview, which ended in Pelo- 

 pidas settling the affairs of the country on an apparently 

 firm footing. Hut the order which he hail establislu 

 soon deranged by the i onduct of Alexander ; and the 

 Thcbans, on being applied to again, sent out IVlu 

 with his friend Ismenias, but simply in the charm; 

 ambassadors, and without troops. They imprudently put 

 themselves into the power of the tyrant, who threw them 

 into prison. To rescue them and avenge the insult, '1 ! 

 sent out an army, which however was reduced to such a 

 strait by bis cavalry, that it was obliged to ictuat, and 

 but for the interference of Epaminondas, who accompanied 

 it, though not as general, it would have hi . i-d. 



In the following year : ,n.r. :t(i~ an army was again sent 

 out under Kpaminondas, through fear of whom the pri- 

 soners were released. Subsequently Alexander renewed 

 his attacks on the liberty of the Tln-s-aliau cities, and 

 greatly extended his dominion in the tributary districts. 

 The 'I : appealed to the Thcbans, and Pelo- 



pidas was sent out to aid them (B.C. 304), who fell in his 



