ATTICA. 
fu! addrefs in managing the different tempers of men. 
He was the worft enemy that ever Athens felt; and, by 
eftablifliing there the thirty tyrants, he was to her what 
Sylla afterwards was to Rome. His tyranny and oppref- 
fion rendered Sparta odious to her neighbours. In the mean 
time Conon obtained of the Perfian king fifty talents, to 
reftore the Pyreum, or port of Athens, to its former litu- 
ation. He was likewife continued in the command of the 
fleet; and, after ravaging the coafts of Laconia, he re¬ 
turned to Athens, and was there received with the higheft 
marks of joy. The confcioufnefs of being the reftorer of 
the power of his country, and of rebuilding the walls of 
his native city, muft undoubtedly have afforded him the 
mod fincere pleafure. It is remarkable, that the city of 
Athens fltould be in a manner rebuilt at the expence of 
the fame Perfians who had formerly reduced it to alhes. 
The grief and rage of the Lacedemonians, at feeing their 
ancient rival railed, as it were, out of her ruins, and re¬ 
ftored to a condition of being (fill formidable to them, are 
inexpreflible. They refolved, however, (till to afi'ert their 
fuperiority, and gave the Athenians a very fenfible proof 
of their domineering fpirit, by commanding them to with¬ 
draw their protection from 400 Thebans, who, upon being 
banifhed by a public decree of their native country, had 
taken refuge at Athens. The Athenians, however, had 
too much humanity to adopt fo violent and fevere a mea- 
fure againft fo great a number of Theban citizens ; more 
efpecially as tliefe very men had contributed the molt to 
the refloration of the popular government, of which the 
Athenians were at that time enjoying the advantages. But 
the war which now took place between Thebes and Sparta, 
proving highly deftruCtive to the latter, the Theban army 
having even reached the walls of Sparta, produced a mod 
lingular change in their difpofitions. The people began 
to murmur againft the government; the city was diftraCled 
by factions; and nothing went on but plots and conlpira- 
cies. Thefe inteftine diforders, heightened by the mif- 
fortune of having the enemy at their gates, compelled the 
haughty Spartans to implore affiftance of the very Athe¬ 
nians on whom they had fo lately inflicted all the mifchiefs 
in their power, and whofe utter ruin they would have joy¬ 
fully accomplifhed. They now, however, in their turn, 
found themfelves under the r.eceflity of fending an em- 
balfy to Athens, to explain the extremity to which they 
were reduced, and to endeavour to convince the Athe¬ 
nians how much it was their intereft to join with them, 
and to ftop the career of the ambitious Thebans, who 
feeemed delirous of reducing all Greece under their fub- 
jeCtion. This occalion furnifhes us with a finking inftance 
of the generality of the Athenians, as well as of their 
juft difcernment of the general interefts of Greece. For, 
though the misfortunes brought upon them by the Lace¬ 
demonians were frelh in their remembrance, they never- 
thelefs refolved at once to furnilh them with immediate 
affiftance, and at the fame time they brought about a con¬ 
federacy with feveral other ftates to oppofe the Thebans. 
From this time to the reign of Philip of Macedon, the 
Athenians continued moftly in a profperous fituation, tho’ 
they never performed any fuch great exploits as formerly. 
By that monarch, and his fon Alexander, all Greece was 
in efFeCt fubdued ; and the hiftory of all the Grecian ftates 
during that conflict falls under Macedon. But of the 
hiftory of Athens from that time, the following elegant 
abridgement is given by Dr. Chandler. “ On the death of 
Alexander, the Athenians revolted, but were defeated by 
Antipater, who garrifoned Munychia. They rebelled 
again, but the garrifon and oligarchy were reinftated. De¬ 
metrius the Phalerean, who was made governor, beautified 
the city, and they ereCted to him 360 ftatues, which on his 
expulfion they demolifhed, except one in the Acropolis. 
Demetrius Poliorcetes withdrew the garrifon, and reftored 
the democracy ; when they deified him, and lodged him 
in the Opifthodomos, or the back part of the Parthenon, 
as a gueft to be entertained by their goddefs Minerva. 
Afterwards they decreed, that the Piraeus, with Muny- 
* 3 * 
chia, fhould be at his difpofal; and he took the Mufeum. 
They expelled his garrifon, and he was perfuaded by Cra- 
terus, a philofopher, to leave them free. Antigonus Go- 
natus, the next king, maintained a garrifon in Athens : 
but, on the death of his fon Demetrius, the people, with 
the afliftance of Aratus, regained their liberty, and the 
Piraeus, Munychia, Salamis, and Sunium, on paying a 
fum of money. 
“ Philip, foil of Demetrius, encamping near the city, 
deftroying and burning the fepulchres and temples in the 
villages, and laying their territory walle, the Athenians 
were reduced to folicit protection from the Romans, and 
to receive a garrifon, which remained until the war with 
Mithridates king of Pontus, w hen the tyrant Ariftion made 
them revolt. Archelaus, the Athenian general, unable 
to withftand the Roman fury, relinquifhed the long walls, 
and retreated into the Pineus and Munychia. Sylla laid 
fiege to the Piraeus and to the city, in which Ariftion 
commanded. He was informed, that fome perfons had 
been overheard talking in the Ceramicus, and blaming 
Ariftion for his negleCt of the avenues about the Hepta- 
chalcos, where the wall was acceffible. Sylla refolved to 
florin there, and about midnight entered the town at the 
gate called Dypylon, or the Piraean, having levelled all 
obftacles in the way between it and the gate of the Piraeus. 
Ariftion fled to the Acropolis, but was compelled to fur- 
render by the want of water ; when he was dragged from 
the temple of Minerva, and put to death. Sylla burned 
the Piraeus and Munychia, and defaced the city and fub- 
urbs, not fparing even the fepulchres. 
“ The civil war between Caefar and Pompey foon fol¬ 
lowed, and their natural love of liberty made them fide 
with Pompey. Here again they were unfortunate, for 
Caefar conquered : but Ctefar did not treat them like 
Sylla. With that clemency which made fo amiable a part 
of his character, he difinified them with a fine allufion to 
their illuftrious anceftors, faying, that he fpared the living 
for the fake of the dead. Another ftorm foon followed 
after this ; the wars of Brutus and Calfius with Auguftus 
and Antony. Their partiality for liberty did not here 
forfake them : they took part in the conteft with the two 
patriot Romans, and creCted their ftatues near their own 
ancient deliverers, Harmodius and Ariftogiton, who had 
(lain Hipparchus : but they were (till unhappy, for their 
enemies triumphed. They next joined Antony, who gave 
them TEgina and Cea, with other illands. Auguftus was 
unkind to them ; and they revolted four years before he 
died. Under Tiberius the city was declining, but free, 
and regarded as an ally of the Romans. The high pri¬ 
vilege of having a liCtor to precede the magiftrates, was 
conferred on it by Germanicus ; but he was cenfured, as 
treating with too much condefcenlion a mixture of na¬ 
tions, inftead of genuine Athenians, which race was then 
confidered as extinCL 
“ The emperor Vefpafian reduced Achaia to a province 
paying tribute, and governed by a proconful. Nerva was 
more propitious to the Athenians ; and Pliny, under Tra¬ 
jan his fucceflbr, exhorts Maximus to be mindful whither 
he was fent, to rule genuine Greece, a (fate compofed of 
free cities. ‘ You will revere the gods and heroes their 
founders. You wilt refpeCt their priftine glory, and even 
their age. You will honour them for the famous deeds, 
which are truly, nay for thofe which are fabuloufly, re¬ 
corded of them. Remember, It is Athens yott approach.’ 
This city was now entirely dependent on Rome, and was 
reduced to fell Delos, and the illands in its polfelfion. 
“ Adrian, who was at once emperor and an archon of 
Athens, gave the city laws, compiled from Draco, Solon, 
and the codes of other legiflators ; and difplayed his affec¬ 
tion for it by unbounded liberality. Athens reflourifhed, 
and its beauty was renewed. Antoninus Pius, who fuc- 
ceeded, and Antoninus the philofopher, were both bene¬ 
factors. The barbarians in the north, in the reign of 
Valerian, befieging Theffalonica, all Greece was terrified, 
and the Athenians reftored their city-wall, which had been 
difmantled 
