Decisive de- 
“470 
~Greece. and the power of Peloponnesis again’ acquired the as- 
“= cendency.. The confederates, taught by jexperience, 
had exerted themselves to increase the number of their 
portion of that maritime skill, which had hitherto given 
to the Athenians so decided a casos am 2 The 
Athenian navy, however, trusting to their long acknow- 
ledged eminence, and elated by a victory which: they 
had gained over the Spartan fleet at Arginusa, near 
Lesbos, despised their enemies, and neglected all ordi- 
nary precautions, with unexampled imprudence. ‘Ly- 
sander, the ablest of the Lacedemonian generals, having 
succeeded to the command of the allied fleet, and taken 
the city of Lampsacus upon the coast of the Helles- 
pont, resolved to avail himself of that self-confidence 
which guided the counsels of the Athenian captains. 
In order to increase their insolent security, he repeat- 
edly declined battle, which they daily offered him, but 
kept his own crew prepared for action at a moment’s 
warning. Having learned that they regularly drew 
their fleet ashore on the open beach at Aigospotami, on 
the opposite coast, not more than two’ miles from his 
fleet at Ai- ogwn_station, and then suffered the soldiers and crews 
to disperse over the adjoining country in quest of Jod- 
gings and provisions ;-he easily found means to surprise 
them in this unguarded condition, made himself master 
of their whole fleet except nine galleys, and took pri- 
soners the greater part of their forces, by which it had 
been manned. A striking. instance now occurred of 
that savage barbarity, with which ‘the different powers 
-in the Peloponnesian war were generally chargeable. 
The Athenians had resolved, in their assurance of vic- 
-tory, to cut off the right hand of every prisoner whem 
they should capture ; and this intended ernelty, with 
many similar acts which they had perpetrated, was im- 
mediately requited by a general massacre of tlre eptives 
at Aigospotami. | Lysander, with hiss own hand, cut 
down, their general Philocles, after reproaching him 
-with having first set the example among the’ Greeks of 
such violations of thelaws of:war; and, upon this sig- 
nal, about 3000 Athenian citizens were butchered in 
cold blood, by the allied troops:,The Lacedemonian 
commander, now completely master of the seas, speedi- 
ly reduced the principal colonies and dependencies of 
Athens ; and then hastened, with a fleet of 200 alleys, 
to blockade the port of that devoted city, while the land 
forces of the confederates, at the same time, surround- 
“Athens re. €d its walls. No assault was attempted, and its reduc- 
“duced to the.tion was left entirely to the sure operation of famine. 
The haughty and turbulent citizens discovered not 
even the courage of despair in their defence ; but were 
solely anxious to avert the sentence of utter extermina- 
tion, with which they were threatened by some of the 
allied states. The Lacedemonians, however, probably 
as much from policy as generosity, secured for them 
more favourable terms, and saved their persons from 
servitude and slaughter. But it was determined, as a 
measure absolutely necessary to the safety and re 
of Greece, that their tyrannical spirit should be effectu« 
ally humbled, and their power as a state entirely bro- 
ken. They were spared upon the following conditions ; 
that all their ships of war should be surrendered, except 
12; that the long walls and the fortifications of Pei- 
reus should be destroyed ; that all-exiles and fugitives 
should be restored \to the rights of the city ; that the 
Athenians should hold. always as friends or enemies 
‘those states, who were the allies or the adversaries of 
‘Lacedemon ; and should be ready to attend the Spar- 
5 
GREECE. 
_tan power, by sea or land, as 
and t 
ships, and had at length succeeded invattaining alsoa - 
instantly thrown down, to the sound of mili 
‘and their demolition celebrated with tri 
“sembly was abolished ; the government changed from 
-as an 
era of recovered freedom to Greece. The popular as- 
democracy to oligarchy ; and thirty magistrates were 
appointed to form the new administration of the com- 
monwealth. Such was the termination of the Pelopon- 
nesian war, in its twenty-seventh year; and Lacede- 
mon, now in alliance with Persia, having again become 
the leading power in Greece, the aristocratical inte 
Axcipiapes, &e. dia 
Sparta having recovered her influence in Gre 
acted not less tyrannically than on former. occasic 
and, under the ambitious projects of — came 
daily more corrupted in her principles of policy. _ The 
thirty magistrates, who had bean pincedeatiatie head of ¢ 
the Athenian state; were supported by assistance from 0 
Lacedemon in the most atrocious acts of cruelty and in- 
justice; and the other Grecian cities were ibited * 
even to afford a refuge to the unhappy Athenians, who — 
fled from their oppressors. Not contented with cutting 
off their political adversaries, the thirty tyrants, under 
the direction of Critias, proceeded to murder, upon fri. 
volous pretences, all persons whose riches they em esa q 
to seize ; and the slightest murmur against their op- — 
pressions: was punished with imprisonment, exile, or 
death. In the space of eight months, fifteen hundred 
citizens were sacrificed to their avarice or vi "S 
and Xenophon goes so far as to affirm, that their short — 
reign was more destructive to Athens, than the are 
ding war of thirty years. At length, however, Thra- 
sybulus, at the head of his exiled countrymen, drove 
the tyrants from their seat of abused power, and resto- 
red the ancient democratical form of government. at 
Athens. By his wise moderation, the spirit of retalia- 
tion was restrained, a general amnesty proclaimed, and 
tranquillity restored to the Athenian state.. But what- q 
ever was the form, tyranny was too generally oo 
rit of the Grecian governments, and especially of the G 
pure democracy at Athens. Equally unjust and cruel as 
the most lawless despots, they were often much more — 
inconsistent — pe a seach in ear pro- 
ceedings. ile wed their poets, for their 
meamaniats to ridicule the gods upon the me age 
punished their sages, who endeavoured, for their in- 
struction, to introduce worthier sentiments of religion, 
By their sentence, the celebrated Socrates, (whom ie 
the thirty tyrants had spared, though he often cpponall 
their measures,) was iniquitously put to death. cy 
The Greeks were again involved in a contest with 
Persia, by the attempt of Cyrus the y to de- a 
throne his brother Artaxerxes. That ambitious prince 4 
being governor of Asia Minor, and friendly to the ‘ 
Spartans, persuaded them to join his standard with ~ 
13,000 Grecian troops; but, excepting their leader 
Clearchus, they are said to have been entirely ignorant 
of his views upon the Persian crown. The celebrated 
retreat of the remains of this army, after the death of 
Cyrus, generally called the retreat of the ten thousand, — 
is considered as one of the most extraordinary exploits — 
recorded in the annals of the military art; and, by — 
proving the weakness of Persia, is supposed to have — 
had considerable influence in promoting the Macedo- _ 
;* 
