18 



A T II E N S. 



Mhen*. turn into their native country. Being possessed of 

 ~Y ' very considerable wealth, they rebuilt llie temple of 

 Delphi, which had been accidentally burnt ; and 

 they executed this work in a manner which ren- 

 dered the edifice more splendid than ever. This 

 was a service generally acceptable to Greece ; and 

 they contrived, in another way, to render it still 

 more subservient to their interests. They gained 

 the priestess, who, whenever consulted by the La- 

 cedemonians, ceased not urging them to restore 

 the liberty of Athens. The Lacedemonians, dread- 

 ing the resentment of the deity, with which they 

 were threatened, and not unwilling, perhaps, to 

 avail th of tliis opportunity of extending 



their influence, at last determined to obey the oracle. 

 They sent an army by sea into Attica ; but Hip- 

 pias, with the aid of his Thessalian auxiliaries, rout- 

 ed and drove them back to their ships. The 1 

 demonians, however, were not discouraged, but de- 

 termined on extraordinary exertions to wipe ofT this 

 disgrace. Next year they sent by land a larger ar- 

 my, under their king Cleomenes. The Thessalians 

 were routed, and Hippias constrained to take refuge 

 within the walls of the city. Here, however, he 

 might have successfully resisted, had not his children 

 accidentally fallen into the hands of the enemy. To 

 redeem t!u .1, he consented to abdicate the tyranny. 

 A. C. J03. Athens was then reinstated in the liberty of which 

 she was so ambitious. Faction, the usual conse- 

 quence, soon followed. Clisthenes, now the leader of 

 the Alcmconids, was at the head of the one ; Isago- 

 ras, son of Tirsander, of the other. These two par- 

 ties were the same which, from this time, divided all 

 the Grecian states ; the aristocratical and the popu- 

 lar. To the former Isagoras attached himself, while 

 Clisthenes sought to rise by paying court to the 

 people. The popular party was henceforth destined 

 to rule in Athens ; and Clisthenes, through then), 

 soon acquired a decisive superiority. Isagoras, find- 

 ing himself unequal to contend with his rival, applied 

 for aid to the Lacedemonians. That people, in con- 

 sequence of having expelled the Pisistratida?, concei- 

 ved themselves to have a right to interfere in the in- 

 ternal concerns- of Athens : Cleomenes accordingly 

 out with an arm}-, and sent before him an order 

 to banish Clisthenes out of the republic. The Athe- 

 nians, not yet aware of their own strength, complied. 

 Cleomenes, however, soon shewed, that this was not 

 the only object he had in view. He advanced to 

 Athens, and conducted himself there in the most ar- 

 bitrary manner, banishing seven hundred families, 

 and seeking to vest the whole authority in 300 of 

 the partizans of Isagoras. This was too much for 

 the Athenians ; they instantly took up arms, drove 

 out Cleomenes and the partizans of Isadoras, con- 

 strained them to take refuge in the citadel, and kept 

 them there closely blockaded. Cleomenes now found 

 himself so hard pressed, that he consented to surren- 

 der the citadel, and evacuate Attica. Clisthenes was 

 then recalled, and all the power again centered in the 

 people. 



Cleomenes, meanwhile, spared no exertion to as- 

 semble an army, which might repair his disgrace. 

 To the Spartan troops he united those of the Co- 

 rinthians, and other allies, and marched with a formi- 



dable army towards Attica. At the same time th 

 Boeotians prepared to invade it from a different quar- *~~~ 



led by the Chalcidians, a people of Euboca. 

 The Athenians, at this critical juncture, displayed all 

 that promptitude and energy, of which they after- 

 wards gave so manv signal examples. Not having 

 ngage so D ' once, they march- 



ed first with tli army against the Lacedemo- 



nian , leaving; for the time, Attica at the mercy of 

 the Boeotian* and Chalcidians. In this first under- 

 taking, they pn .bout the hazard of a battle. 

 The Corinthians, either affected with scruples as to 

 the justice of the cause, or intimidated by the great 

 fierce opposed to them, broke up, ar.d returned 

 home. Their example was followed by the rest of 

 the allies ; even the colleague of Cleomenes opposed 

 the prosecution of the undertaking ; so that he found 

 himself under the mortifying necessity of returning 

 home with the Spartan troops. 



The Athenians lost no time in improving this success 

 to crush their other enemies. The Chalcidians appear 

 to have been on the point of forming a junction with 

 the Boeotians, and had advanced, with that view, to 

 the other side of the narrow channel of the Euripus, 

 which separates Euboca from the continent. The 

 Athenian army, however, advanced with such expe- 

 dition, that before the junction could be effected, they 

 attacked and routed the Boeotians ; then immediately 

 crossing the Euripus, engaged, and on the very same 

 day completely defeated the Chalcidians. After this 

 double victory, they returned in triumph to Athens. 



About this time, the Athenians were engaged in a 

 long war with the inhabitants of iEgina, not produc- 

 tive of any memorable events? but important as ha- 

 ving first turned their attention to the formation of a 

 maritime force. See JE<.is\ 



These petty contests, however, were toon lost in A. C. 500. 

 another -of far greater magnitude, which was destined 

 to raise Athens to the summit of glory. The Ionians 

 the most flourishing of the Grecian colonies in 

 Asia Minor. Like the others, they had originally 

 enjoyed liberty, but had :,unk under the overwhelming 

 might of the Persian empire, and been compelled to 

 acknowledge its supremacy. They bore the yoke, 

 however, with impatience ; and being excited by their 

 chiefs, Histisus and Aristagoras, they took up anus, 

 and engaged in war with Persia. Sensible, however, 

 that they could not alone resist the force of so mighty 

 an empire, they looked for aid to the states of their 

 mother countty. They applied first to Lacedemon, 

 then considered as the leading city of Greece ; but 

 that cautious government declined interfering in so 

 arduous an undertaking. Their ambassadors then 

 proceeded to Athens, which, si vploits, 



had taken a prominent station among the powers of 

 Greece. That people, always enterprising, and ready, 

 without weighing consequences, to embark in any 

 promising scheme, agreed to give their assistance, 

 and sent SO gullies, with troops on board, which were 

 joined by five from Eretria, a town of Euboca. On 

 arrival at Miletus, it was proposed to them to 

 engage in an expedition to plunder Sardis, the wealthy 

 ' of Lydia. In this enterprise they embarked 

 with eagerness ; the confederates, by a rapid march, 

 found Sardis unprepared, and immediately proceeded 



War with 



Persia. 



