580 



THEMISTOCLES THEOBALD. 



the Persians. His advice was not followed, from 

 fear of the consequences of driving an enemy, still 

 formidable by his numbers, to despair. Themis- 

 tocles, however, sent word to Xerxes that the 

 Greeks meditated the destruction of the bridge, 

 and thus hastened his retreat out of Greece. 

 Artifice and cunning, which now too often dis- 

 played themselves in acts of injustice, were lead- 

 ing traits in his character. While he besieged 

 Andros, he extorted contributions of money from 

 the neighbouring islands, by threats of invasion, 

 and applied it to his own purposes. Another time, 

 while he lay with a fleet at Pegasa, in Magnesia, 

 he announced to the Athenians that he had a pro- 

 position to make to them, the execution of which 

 would be highly advantageous to the state, but 

 that he could not deliver it in public. Aristides 

 was therefore sent to receive it in private. He 

 declared to the citizens that the project of Themis- 

 tocles was in the highest advantageous, but was 

 equally unjust; and it was therefore voted not to 

 adopt it. The plan of Themistocles was to burn 

 all the ships of the fleet except those of the Athe- 

 nians, and thus to give Athens the dominion of 

 the sea. The victory of Salamis had raised the 

 fame of Themistocles throughout all Greece to the 

 highest pitch ; and his services were acknowledged 

 and rewarded, not only by his native city, but by 

 the other states. After Athens was rebuilt, The- 

 mistocles proposed that all the citizens should be 

 admitted to participate in the government, and 

 that the archons should be chosen from the whole 

 body of the people without distinction. This pro- 

 position was adopted ; but his plan of fortifying 

 Athens, so as to render it secure against surprise, 

 although received with favour by the Athenians, 

 aroused the jealousy of the Lacedaemonians. They 

 accordingly opposed the design, under the pretext 

 that, if it should again fall into the hands of the Per- 

 sians, it would serve as a strong-hold from which 

 they would be able to conquer all the other Gre- 

 cian states. Themistocles was sent to Sparta to 

 conduct the negotiations on this matter. By vari- 

 ous delays and artful evasions, he contrived to 

 prot ract the final decision so long, that the Athe- 

 nians were enabled, by great exertions, to complete 

 their walls before the Spartans were aware of it. 

 He then broke off the negotiations, and maintained 

 tbat whatever was advantageous to one's country 

 was just. It was by his influence, also, that the 

 Piraeus, the principal port of Athens, was con- 

 structed, and connected with the city by the Long 

 Walls. While Themistocles was thus acquiring 

 the gratitude of his country, he drew upon himself 

 the hatred of the Spartans, not only on account of 

 the deception which he had practised upon them, 

 but also by his obstructing their project to place 

 themselves at the head of the Grecian states. 

 They had proposed that all of those states which 

 had not taken part in the Persian war should be 

 excluded from the Amphictyonic council. The- 

 mistocles perceived that this measure, by excluding 

 Thebes, Argos, and other powerful cities, from the 

 Grecian confederacy, would give Sparta the ascen- 

 dency. He succeeded in preventing its adoption ; 

 and the Lacedaemonians therefore leagued them- 

 selwes with his enemies in Athens, to effect his 

 ovei throw. His own manners were by no means 

 calculated to conciliate his enemies, and he was 

 banished' from Athens (B. C. 471) by the ostracism. 

 While in exile at Argos, Pausanias, the Spartan, 

 communicated to him a plot against the freedom of 



Greece, in the hope that Themistocles, under ex- 

 isting circumstances, would be induced to favour it. 

 But he rejected the proposition, without, however, 

 betraying Pausanias, after whose death the letters 

 of Themistocles were found, which proved that the 

 subject had been discussed between them. The 

 Lacedaemonians accordingly accused him to the 

 Athenians of being an accomplice in the conspiracy ; 

 and he was summoned by the latter to answer for 

 his conduct in presence of the Grecian states. 

 Fearing the result of such an investigation, The- 

 mistocles retired to Corcyra, to the inhabitants of 

 which he had rendered important services. Not 

 feeling secure here, he withdrew to Epirus, and 

 afterwards sought the protection of Admetus, king 

 of the Molossians, whom he had formerly offended. 

 To assure himself a friendly reception, he seized an 

 opportunity to throw himself upon his knees before 

 the household gods of Admetus, with the king's 

 son in his arms. But the vengeance of the Spar- 

 tans pursued him even here. They threatened to 

 make war upon Admetus, if he should continue to 

 protect the traitor, as they termed Themistocles. 

 Admetus therefore supplied him with money, and 

 sent him to a port on the JEgean sea, whence, after 

 several adventures, he reached Asia in safety, and 

 finally arrived at the Persian court. A price of 200 

 talents had been set on his head by the king Ar- 

 taxerxes Longimanus ; but he procured access to 

 Artaxerxes, and received himself the 200 talents 

 which had been offered for his head, with the pro- 

 mise of greater rewards, in case he would give in- 

 formation concerning the state of Greece. The dis- 

 course which he is said to have addressed to the 

 king on this occasion, and the letter to Artaxerxes, 

 which is attributed to him, are undoubtedly spuri- 

 ous. He asked for time to learn the Persian 

 language ; and, in the space of a year, he was able to 

 appear at the royal court like a native. His address 

 and talents gained him the favour of Artaxerxes, 

 and he was treated with the greatest distinction. 

 The close of his life is enveloped in obscurity. 

 Plutarch relates that, an insurrection having been 

 excited in Egypt against the Persian government, 

 by the intrigues of the Athenians, Artaxerxes pre- 

 pared to send an army against Greece, and called 

 upon Themistocles to fulfil his previous promises of 

 assistance ; and that, to avoid bearing arms against 

 his country, Themistocles, after having sacrificed to 

 the gods, and bade his friends farewell, took poison 

 at Magnesia (B. C. 449), in the sixty-fifth year of 

 his age. Thucydides merely says that he died of a 

 disease. Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos have each 

 left us a life of him. The twenty-one letters 

 which are ascribed to him (edited by Schotten, 

 1710, and by Bremer, 1776) are proved by Bentley, 

 in his Dissertation on the Letters of Phalaris, to be 

 spurious. 



THEOBALD, Louis, a miscellaneous writer, 

 was the author of various works, critical, poetical 

 and dramatic, but merits remembrance only as a 

 commentator on Shakspeare, being the first who 

 properly referred to the books and learning of that 

 great dramatist's time. After publishing, in 172(>, 

 a work entitled Shakspeare Restored, he gave an 

 edition of that author, which immediately followed 

 the publication of that of Pope, from whom, al- 

 though in correspondence with him, he concealed 

 his design ; hence his place as the hero of the Dun- 

 ciad. Besides twenty dramatic pieces written by 

 himself, he produced on the stage, in 1720, a tra- 

 gedy entitled the Double Falsehood, which he at- 



