A T H 



fon to anfwer an accufation in the areopngus. He not only 

 enforced tlw laws of Solon againft idleiiefs, hut endeavoured 

 to give tliem more efHcacy, by introducintr new arts and 

 mauiifaftures into Attica. He was tiie firlt who brought 

 into that country the complete colleflion of Homer's poems, 

 which he commanded to be fung at the Panathenaean fefti- 

 val; nor can we fnppofe that he would have been zealous 

 to diffufe the liberal and manly fentiments of that divine 

 poet, if his government had not refembled the moderation 

 and equity of the heroic ages, rather than the defpotifm of 

 tyrants. (See GdMes's Greece, vol. ii. 117.) His fon Hip- 

 parchus imitated and furpailld the mild virtues of his father; 

 and, amidll the turbulence of the later democracy, it was 

 acknowledged v.-ilh a figh by th.e Athenian?, tliat tiieir an- 

 cellors were indeed happy under Solon and Pilillratus, but 

 that the reign of the tyrant Hipparchus brought back on 

 earth the golden days of Saturn. T!ie father htid required 

 a tenth part of the produce of Attica, to fupport his 

 guards, and the other appendages of royalty : his more 

 generous fon remitted one half of this impoiition. While 

 he alleviated the burdens, yet encouraged the induftry of 

 his fubjecls, by building the temple of Olympian Jupiter, he 

 was folicitous to difpel their ignorance and barbarity, by 

 erefting pillars in every part of the city, engraved with ele- 

 giac verfes, containing leffbns of wifdom, and precepts of 

 morality. He collefted the lirft libraiy in Athens ; and his 

 liberal rewards, and ftill more his agreeable manners and 

 winning affability, attradled to that city the moll diftin- 

 guidicd poets of the age. The murder of Hipparchus ex- 

 afperated the temper of his brother and fuccefTor Hippias ; 

 but notwitliftanding the calamities which the latter inflifted 

 and fuiTered, it mull be allowed that the government of Pi- 

 lillratus and his family, which, with various interruptions, 

 lafted llxty-eight years, increafed the flrength and promoted 

 the refinement of Athens. (See Gillies's Greece, vol. ii. 

 ii8.) 



Hipparchus, in particular, was fond of letters. Ana- 

 creon and Simonides, invited to his court, met with a mofl; 

 flattering reception : the firll being loaded with honours, 

 and the fecond with prefents. He deferves alfo to partici- 

 pate with his father in the glory of extending the fame of 

 Homer. He may be reproached, as well as his brother, 

 with too freely abandoning himfelf to plcafures, and with 

 infpiring the Athenians with a taile for luxury. Fortunate, 

 neverthelefs, if in the midft of thefe excefles he had not com- 

 mitted an aft of injuilice, of which he was the -firll viclim ! 

 Two young Athenians, Harmodius and Arillogiton, united 

 in bonds of the lendereft friendfhip, having received from this 

 prince an affront it was impoflible to forget, confpired his de- 

 llruclion, and that of his brother. Some of their friends en- 

 tered into'this confpiracy, and its execution was fixed for the 

 folemnity of the panathenaia : they hoped that the crowd of 

 Athenians, who, during the ceremonies of this fellival, were 

 permitted to bear arms, would fecond their efforts, or at 

 lead proteft them againft the fury of the guards who at- 

 tended on the fons of Pifillratus. With this view, after 

 covering their poignards with bi-anches of myrtle, they re- 

 paired to the place where the princes were arranging a pro- 

 ceffion, which they were to precede to the temple of JNIinerva. 

 When tliey arrived, they faw one of the confpii-ators in 

 familiar converlation with Hippias, and concluded therafelves 

 betrayed; but refolving dearly to fell their hves, retired for 

 a moment, and finding Hipparchus, plunged a dagger in 

 his heart. Harmodius inllantly fell beneath the redoubled 

 blows of the prince's guards. Arillogiton, feized ahnoil 

 at the fame inftant, was put to the torture ; but far from 

 naming liis accomplices, he accufed the moil faithful parti- 

 es 



A T H 



fans of Hippias, who ordered them to be dragged to inflant 

 punilhment. " Hull thou flill other wretches to difcover ?" 

 exclaimed the tyrant, tranfported with fury. " There are 

 none left but thee," replies the Athtnlan ; " I die, and 

 enjoy in death the fatisfa-'tion of having deprived thee of thy 

 bell friends." From that moment Hippias abandoned him- 

 felf to the perpetration of eveiy kind of injuftice (Thucydi- 

 des b. 6. c. 59. ) ; but the yoke he laid heavy on the Athenians 

 was broken three years after. (B.C. 510.) Cliilhenes, 

 chief of the Alcmxonidx, a powerful houfe of Athens, at 

 all times inimical to the family of Pifiilratus, collccled all 

 the malecontenls about his perfon ; and having obtained the 

 afTillance of the Laecda;monians, by means of the Pythia 

 of Delphi, whom he had gained over to his interell, marched 

 againll Hippias, and forctd him to abdicate the tyranny. 

 No fooner h/id the Atiienians recovered their liberty, than 

 thty rendered the higliefl, honours to the memor\' of Har- 

 modius and Arillogiton. Statues were erefted to them ia 

 the forum ; it was enaftrd that their names (hould be for 

 ever celebrated at the feflival of the panathenia, and flould, 

 on no pretext whatever, be given to flaves. Tl-.e poets 

 eternized their glory by poems and fongs, and very extenfive 

 privileges were granted in pei-petuity to their defceudants. 

 Cliilhenes, who had fo greatly contributed to the expulfiua 

 of the Pififlratidae, had ilill to llruggle for many years 

 againft a pov/erful faftion ; but at length obtaining in the 

 ftate the authoriiy to which he was entitled by his great 

 talents, he confirmed the conilitution eftabliflied by Solon, 

 wl'ch the PifillratidiE had never attempted entirely to fub- 

 vert. (Anacharfis's Travels, vol. i. p. 174.) The power of 

 Athens was great in ancient times ; but it became incompa- 

 r^bly greater after the re-eftablilhment of freedom. So 

 advantageous to the powers of the human mind is the enjoy« 

 ment of liberty, even in its leall pcrfeft form, that in a few 

 years after the expulfion of Hippias, the Athenians acquired 

 an aicendant in Greece, which was fatal to their enemies, 

 painful to their rivals, and even dangerous to themfelves. 

 They chaftifed the infolence of the iflanders of Euboea and 

 ^gina, who contended with them in naval power ; and 

 humbled the pride of Thebes, which rivalled them in mili- 

 tary glory. Favoured, as they fondly believed, by the 

 proteftion of their tutelary Minerva ; and animated, as they 

 ftrongly felt, by the poirefiion of an equal freedom ; they 

 adorned their capital with the richeft fpoils of their van- 

 quilhed enemies. Their influence foon extended over the 

 northern parts of Greece ; and the fame of their power. 

 Hill greater than their power itfelf, alarmed the fears and 

 jealoufy of the Peloponncfians. The Spartans, in parti- 

 cular, who had affiltcd them in reftoring the democracy, 

 now perceived the error of which thty had been guilty, in 

 prom.oting the greatncfs of an ambitious rival. In order to 

 prevent the dangerous confequences of their folly, they 

 fummoned to a congrefs all their allies in Pcloponnefus, that 

 their united v/ifdom might concert proper meafures for re- 

 fifting, ere it was too late, the encroachments of the Athe- 

 nians, which threatened the liberties of all Gieece. Their 

 allies readily obeyed the welcome fummons, and the deputies 

 of the feveral ilates, having affemblcd in the Spartan forum, 

 eagerly liftened to the fpeakers appointed to explain the in- 

 tentions of that republic. The Lacedsmonian orators ac- 

 knowledged the miftaken policy of their country, in expelling 

 from Athens the family of Pififtratus, and delive'ring the 

 government of that city into the hands of an ungrateful 

 populace, who had fince treated them with much indignity. 

 But why (they proceeded) (hould we relate private injuries? 

 Have they not infultcd all their neighbours? Does not their 

 pride daily incrcafe with their power ? And is there not 



reafoa 



