were killed at Thermopyla, he would be sure to immortalize his own name throughout all Greece, and make his memory precious to the latest posterity. "Carry thy base counsel elsewhere," replied Pausanias," thou must have a very wrong notion of true glory, to imagine that the way for me to acquire it is to resemble the barbarians. If the esteem of the people of Ægina is not to be purchased but by such actions, I shall be content with preserving that of the Lacedæmonians only, among whom the base and ungenerous spirit of revenge is never put in competition with that of showing clemency and moderation to their enemies, and especially after their death. As for the souls of my departed countrymen, they are sufficiently avenged by the death of the many thousand Persians slain upon the spot in the last engagement."* A dispute, which arose between the Athenians and Lacedæmonians, about determining which of the two people should have the prize of valour adjudged to them, as also which of them should have the privilege of erecting a trophy, had like to have sullied all the glory and embittered the joy of their late victory. They were just on the point of carrying things to the last extremity, and would certainly have decided the difference by the sword, had not Aristides prevailed upon them, by the wisdom of his counsel and reasonings, to refer the determination of the matter to the judgment of the Grecians in general. This proposition being accepted by both parties, and the Greeks being assembled upon the spot to decide the contest, Theogiton of Megara, speaking upon the question, gave it as his opinion, that the prize of valour ought to be adjudged neither to Athens nor to Sparta, but to some other city; unless they desired to kindle a civil war, of more fatal consequences than that they had just put an end to. After he had finished his speech, Cleocritus of Corinth rose up to deliver his sentiments of the matter: and when he began, nobody, doubted that he was going to claim that honour for the city of which he was a member and a native; for Corinth was the next city of Greece in power and dignity after those of Athens and Sparta. But every body was agreeably deceived when they found that all his discourse tended to the praise of the Platæans, and that all the conclusion he made from the whole was, that in order to extinguish so dangerous a contention, they ought to adjudge the prize to them only, against whom neither of the contending parties could have any grounds of anger or jealousy. This discourse and proposal were received with general applause by the whole assembly. Aristides immediately assented to it on the part of the Athenians, and Pausanias on the part of the Lacedæmonians.t All parties being thus agreed, before they began to divide the spoil of the enemy, they put fourscore talents aside for the Plateans, who laid them out in building a temple to Minerva, in erecting a statue to her honour, and in adorning the temple with curious and valuable paintings, which existed still in Plutarch's time, that is to say, above six hundred years afterwards, and which were then as fresh as if they had but lately come out of the hands of the painters. As for the trophy, which had been another article of the dispute, the Lacedæmonians erected one for themselves in particular, and the Athenians another. The spoil was immense in the camp of Mardonius they found prodigious sums of money in gold and silver, besides cups, vessels, beds, tables necklaces, and bracelets of gold and silver, not to be valued or numbered. It is observed by a certain historian, that these spoils proved fatal to Greece, by becoming the instruments of introducing avarice and luxury among her inhabitants. According to the religious customs of the Grecians, before they divided the treasure,they appropriated the tithe or tenth part of the whole to the use of the gods; the rest was distributed equally among the cities and nations that had *Herod. 1. ix. c. 77, 78. Plut. in Arist. p. 331. About $80,000. Victo Mardonio, castra referta regalis opulentiæ capta, unde primum Græcos, diviso inter se auro Persico, divitiarum luxuria cepit.-Justin. 1. ii. c. 11. furnished troops; and the chief officers who had distinguished themselves in the field of battle were likewise distinguished in this distribution. They sent a present of a golden tripod to Delphos, in the inscription upon which Pausanius caused these words to be inserted: "That he had defeated the barbarians at Platææ; and that, in acknowledgment of that victory, he had made this present to Apollo."* This arrogant inscription, wherein he ascribed the honour both of the victory and the offering to himself only, offended the Lacedæmonian people, who, in order to punish his pride in the very point and place where he thought to exalt himself, as also to do justice to their confederates, caused his name to be erased and that of the cities which had contributed to the victory to be inserted instead of it. Too ardent a thirst after glory, on this occasion, did not allow him to consider that a man loses nothing by discreet modesty, which forbears the setting too high a value upon one's own services, and which, by screening a man from envy, serves really to enhance his reputation.† Pausanias gave a still farther specimen of his Spartan spirit and humour, in two entertainments which he ordered to be prepared a few days after the engagement; one of which was costly and magnificent, in which was served all the variety of delicacies and dainties that used to be served at the table of Mardonius; the other was plain and frugal, after the manner of the Spartans. Then comparing the two entertainments together, and observing the difference of them to his officers, whom he had invited on purpose: what madness,' said he," was it in Mardonius, who was accustomed to such a luxurious diet, to think of attacking a people like us, who live without any superfluities, and indulge in no delicacies!" All the Grecians sent to Delphos, to consult the oracle concerning the sacrifice that was proper to be offered. The answer they received from the god was," that they should erect an altar to Jupiter Liberator; but that they should take care not to offer any sacrifice upon it, before they had extinguished all the fire in the country, because it had been polluted and profaned by the barbarians; and that they should come as far as Delphos, to obtain pure fire, which they were to take from the altar, called the common altar." This answer being brought to the Grecians from the oracle, the generals immediately dispersed themselves throughout the whole country, and caused all the fires to be extinguished; and Euchidas, a citizen of Platææ, having taken upon himself to go and fetch the sacred fire with all possible expedition, made the best of his way to Delphos. On his arrival he purified himself, sprinkled his body with consecrated water, put on a crown of laurel, and then approached the altar, from whence, with great reverence, he took the holy fire, and carried it with him to Platææ, where he arrived before the setting of the sun, having travelled a thousand stadia, equal to a hundred and twenty-five English miles, in one day. As soon as he came back, he saluted his fellow-citizens, delivered the fire to them, fell down at their feet, and died in a moment afterwards. His countrymen carried away his body, and buried it in the temple of Diana surnamed Eucleia, which signifies "of good renown," and put the following epitaph upon his tomb in the compass of one verse: "here lies Euchidas, who went from hence to Delphos, and retured back the same day." In the next general assembly of Greece, which was held not long after this occurrence, Aristides proposed the following decree, that all the cities of Greece should every year send their respective deputies to Platææ, in order to offer sacrifices to Jupiter Liberator, and to the gods of the city; (this assembly was still regularly held in the time of Plutarch;) that every five years there should be games celebrated there, which should be called the Games of Liberty; that the several states of Greece should raise a body of troops, consisting of ten thousand foot and a thousand horse, and should equip a fleet of * Corn. Nep. in Pausan. c. i. Ipsa dissimulatione fame famam auxit.--Tacit. Plut. in Arist. p. 331, 332. a hundred ships, which should be constantly maintained for making war against the barbarians; and that the inhabitants of Platææ, entirely devoted to the service of the gods, should be looked upon as sacred and inviolable, and be occupied in no other function than that of offering prayers and sacrifices for the general preservation and prosperity of Greece. All these articles being approved and passed into a law, the citizens of Platææ took upon them to solemnize, every year, the anniversary festival in honour of those persons who were slain in this battle. The order and manner of performing this sacrifice was as follows: the sixteenth day of the month Maimacterion, which answers to our month of December,* at the first appearance of day-break, they walked in a solemn procession, which was preceded by a trumpet that sounded to battle. Next to the trumpeter marched several chariots, filled with crowns and branches of myrtle. After these chariots, was led a black bull, behind which marched a company of young persons, carrying pitchers in their hands, full of wine and milk, the ordinary libations offered to the dead, and vials of oil and incense. All these young persons were freemen; for no slave was allowed to have any part in this ceremony, which was instituted for men who had lost their lives for liberty. In the rear of this pomp followed the archon, or chief magistrate of the Plateans, for whom it was unlawful, at any other time, even so much as to touch iron, or to wear any other garment than a white one. But upon this occasion, being clad in purple raiment, having a sword by his side, and holding an urn in his hands, which he took from the place where they kept their public records, he marched quite through the city to the place where the tombs of his memorable countrymen were erected. As soon as he came there, he drew out water with his urn from the fountain, washed with his own hands the little columns that stood by the tombs, rubbed them afterwards with incense, and then killed the bull upon a pile of wood prepared for that purpose. After having offered up certain prayers to the terrestrial Jupitert and Mercury, he invited those valiant souls deceased to come to their feast, and to partake of their funeral libations; then taking a cup in his hand, and having filled it with wine, he poured it on the ground, and said with a loud voice, I present this cup to those valiant men, who died for the liberty of the Grecians." These ceremonies were annually performed even in the time of Plutarch. Diodorus adds, that the Athenians in particular embellished the monuments of their citizens, who died in the war with the Persians, with magnificent ornaments, instituted funeral games to their honour, and appointed a solemn panegyric to be pronounced over them, which in all probability was repeated every year.‡ The reader will be sensible, without my observing it, how much these solemn testimonies and perpetual demonstrations of honour, esteem, and gratitude, for soldiers who had sacrificed their lives in the defence of liberty, conduced to enhance the merit of valour, and of the services they rendered their country, and to inspire the spectators with emulation and courage; and how exceedingly proper all this was for cultivating and perpetuating a spirit of bravery in the people, and for making their troops victorious and invincible. The reader, no doubt, will be as much surprised, on the other hand, to see how wonderfully careful and exact these people were in acquitting themselves on all occasions of the duties of religion. The great event which I have just been relating, viz. the battle of Platææ, affords us very remarkable proofs of this, in the annual and perpetual sacrifice they instituted to Jupiter Liberator, which was still continued in the time of Plutarch; in the care they took to consecrate the tenth part of all their spoil to the gods; and in the decree pro Three months after the battle of Plate was fought. Probably these funeral rites were not at first performed, till after the enemies were entirely gone, and the country was free. The terrestrial Jupiter is no other than Pluto; and the same epithet of terrestrial was also given to Mercury, because it was believed to be his office to conduct departed souls to the infernal regions. Diod. 1. xi. p. 26. posed by Aristides to establish a solemn festival for ever, as an anniversary commemoration of that success. It is a delightful thing, in my opinion, to see pagan and idolatrous nations thus publicly confessing and declaring, that all their expectations centre in the Supreme Being; that they think themselves obliged to ascribe the success of all their undertakings to him; that they look upon him as the author of all their victories and prosperities, as the sovereign ruler and disposer of states and empires, as the source from whence all salutary counsel, wisdom and courage are derived, and as entitled on all these accounts to the first and best part of their spoils, and to their perpetual acknowledgments and thanksgiving for such distinguished favours and benefits. SECTION X.-THE BATTLE NEAR MYCALE. THE DEFEAT OF THE PERSIANS. On the same day that the Greeks fought the battle of Platææ, their naval forces obtained a memorable victory in Asia over the remainder of the Persian fleet. For while that of the Greeks lay at Egina, under the command of Leotychides, one of the kings of Sparta, and of Xanthippus the Athenian, ambassadors came to those generals from the Ionians, to invite them into Asia to deliver the Grecian cities from their subjection to the barbarians. On this invitation they immediately set sail from Asia, and steered their course by Delos; where, when they arrived, other ambassadors came from Samos, and brought them intelligence, that the Persian fleet, which had passed the winter at Cumæ, was then at Samos, where it would be an easy matter to defeat and destroy it, earnestly pressing them at the same time not to neglect so favourable an opportunity. The Greeks hereupon sailed away directly for Samos. But the Persians, receiving intelligence of their approach, retired to Mycale, a promontory of the continent of Asia, where their land-army consisting of a hundred thousand men, who were the remainder of those that Xerxes had carried back from Greece the year before, was encamped. Here they drew their vessels ashore, which was a common practice among the ancients, and encompassed them with a strong rampart. The Grecians followed them to the very place, and with the help of the Ionians defeated their land-army, forced their rampart, and burnt all their vessels.* The battle of Platææ was fought in the morning, and that of Mycale in the afternoon of the same day: and yet all the Greek writers pretend that the victory of Platææ was known at Mycale before the latter engagement was begun, though the whole Egean sea, which requires several days sailing to cross it, was between these two places. But Diodorus, the Sicilian, explains this mystery to us. He tells us, that Leotychides, observing his soldiers to be much dejected for fear their countrymen at Platææ should sink under the numbers of Mardonius's army, contrived a stratagem to reanimate them; and that therefore, when he was just upon the point of making the first attack, he caused a rumour to be spread among his troops, that the Persians were defeated at Platææ, though at that time he had no manner of knowledge of the matter.† Xerxes, hearing the news of these two overthrows, left Sardis with as much haste, as he had before left Athens, after the battle of Salamis, and retired with great precipitation into Persia, in order to put himself, as far as he possibly could, out of the reach of his victorious enemies. But, before he set out, he gave orders that his people should burn and demolish all the temples belonging to the Grecian cities in Asia; which order was so far executed, that not one escaped, except the temple of Diana at Ephesus,§ He acted in this manner at the instigation of the Magi, who were professed enemies to temples and images. The second Zoroaster had thoroughly instructed him in their religion, and made him a zealous defender of it. Pliny informs us, that Ostanes, the head of the magi, and the patriarch of that sect, who maintained its Hered. 1. ix. c. 89-105. Diod. 1. xi. P. 26-28. What we are told also of Paulus Æmilius's victory over the Macedonians, which was known at Rome the very day it was obtained, without doubt happened in the same manner. Diod. 1. xi. p. 28. Strab. I. xiv. p. 634. Cic. 1. ii. de Leg. n. 29. maxims and interests with the greatest violence, attended Xerxes upon this expedition against Greece.* This prince, as he passed through Babylon on his return to Susa, destroyed also all the temples in that city, as he had done those of Greece and Asia Minor: doubtless through the saine principle, and out of hatred to the sect of the Sabæans, who made use of images in their divine worship, which was a thing extremely detested by the magi. Perhaps, also, the desire of making himself amends for the charges of his Grecian expedition by the spoil and plunder of those temples, might be another motive that induced him to destroy them; for it is certain he found immense riches and treasure in them, which had been amassed together through the superstition of princes and people during a long series of ages.† The Grecian fleet, after the battle of Mycale, set sail towards the Hellespont, in order to possess themselves of the bridges which Xerxes had caused to be thrown over that narrow passage, and which they supposed were still entire. But finding them broken by tempestuous weather, Leotychides and his Peloponnesian forces returned towards their own country. As for Xanthippus, he staid with the Athenians and their Ionian confederates, and they made themselves masters of Sestus and the Thracian Chersonesus, in which places they found great booty, and took a vast number of prisoners. After which, before winter came on, they returned to their own cities. From this time all the cities of Ionia revolted from the Persians, and having formed an alliance with the Grecians, most of them preserved their liberty during the time that empire subsisted. SECTION XI. THE BARBAROUS AND INHUMAN REVENGE OF AMESTRIS, THE WIFE OF XERXES. DURING the residence of Xerxes at Sardis, he conceived a violent passion for the wife of his brother Masistus, who was a prince of extraordinary merit, had always served the king with great zeal and fidelity, and had never done any thing to disoblige him. The virtue of this lady, and her great affection and fidelity to her husband, made her inexorable to all the king's solicitations. He however, still flattered himself, that by a profusion of favours and liberalities, he might possibly gain upon her: and among other kind things he did to oblige her, he married his eldest son Darius, whom he intended for his successor, to Artainta, this lady's daughter, and ordered that the marriage should be consummated as soon as he arrived at Susa. But Xerxes, finding the princess still unyielding to all his temptations and attacks, immediately changed his object, and fell passionately in love with her daughter, who did not imitate the glorious example of her mother's constancy and virtue. While this intrigue was carrying on, Amestris, wife of Xerxes, made him a present of a rich and magnificent robe of her own making. Xerxes, being extremely pleased with this robe, thought fit to put it on, upon the first visit he afterwards made to Artainta; and in the conversation he had with her, he mightily pressed her to let him know what she desired he should do for her, assuring her, at the same time, with an oath, that he would grant her whatever she asked of him. Artainta, upon this, desired him to give her the robe he had on. Xerxes, foreseeing the ill consequence that would necessarily ensue his making her this present, did all that he could to dissuade her from insisting upon it, and offered her any thing in the world instead of it. But, not being able to prevail upon her, and thinking himself bound by the imprudent promise and oath he had made to her, he gave her the robe. The lady no sooner received it, than she put it on, and wore it publicly by way of trophy. Amestris, being confirmed by this action in the suspicions she had entertained, was enraged to the highest degree. But, instead of taking vengeance upon the daughter, who was the only offender, she resolved to wreak it upon the mother, whom she looked upon as the author of the whole intrigue, though she Plin. l. xxx. c. i. ↑ Arrian. 1. vii. + A. M. 3525. Ant. J. C. 479. Herod. I. ix. c. 107-112. VOL. II 6 |