*

sander, regarding him from head to foot, "is it possible, with these purple robes and splendid vestments, those strings of jewels and bracelets of gold, those buskins so richly embroidered, that you could act the gardener, and employ your royal hands in planting trees." "Does that surprise you?" said Cyrus; I swear by the god Mithras, that when my health admits, I never sit down to table without having made inyself sweat with some fatigue or other, either in military exercise, rural labour, or some other toilsome employment, to which I apply with pleasure, and without sparing myself." Lysander was amazed at his discourse, and pressing him by the hand, “Cyrus,' said he, "you are truly happy, and deserve your high fortune, because you unite it with virtue."

Alcibiades was at no small pains to discover the mystery of the levies made by Cyrus, and went into the province of Pharnabasus, with design to proceed to the court of Persia, and to apprise Artaxerxes of the scheme laid against bim. Had he arrived there, a discovery of such importance would have infallibly procured him the favour of that prince, and the assistance he wanted for the re-establishment of his country. But the Lacedæmonian partizans at Athens, that is to say, the thirty tyrants, apprehended the intrigues of so superior a genius as his, and represented to their masters, that they were inevitably ruined, if they did not find means to rid themselves of Alcibiades. The Lacedæmonians thereupon wrote to Pharnabasus, and with an abject meanness not to be excused, and which showed how much Sparta had degenerated from her ancient manners, strongly pressed him to deliver them at any rate from so formidable an enemy. The satrap complied with their wish. Alcibiades was then in a small town of Phrygia, where he lived with his concubine Timandra. Those who were sent to kill him, not daring to enter his house, contented themselves with surrounding and setting it on fire. Alcibiades having quitted it through the flames sword in hand, the barbarians were afraid to remain to come to blows with him, but flying and retreating as he advanced, they poured their darts and arrows upon him, and he fell dead upon the spot. Timandra took up his body, and having adorned and covered it with the finest robes she had, she made as magnificent a funeral for it as her condition would admit.

Such was the end of Alcibiades, whose great virtues were stifled and suppressed by still greater vices. It is not easy to say, whether his good or bad qualities were most pernicious to his country; for with one he deceived, and with the other he oppressed it.§ In him, distinguished valour was united with nobility of blood. His person was beautiful and finely made; he was eloquent, of great ability in business, insinuating, and formed for charming all mankind. He loved glory, but without prejudice to his inclination for pleasure; nor was he so fond of pleasure as to neglect his glory for it. He knew how to yield, or abstract himself from it, according to the situation of his affairs. Never was there ductility of genius equal to his. He metamorphosed himself with incredible facility, like a Proteus, into the most contrary forms, and supported them all with as much ease and grace as if each had been natural to him.

This versatility of character, according to occasions, the customs of countries, and his own interests, discover a heart void of principle, without either truth or justice. He did not confine himself either to religion, virtue, laws, duties, or his country. His sole rule of action was his private ambition, to which he reduced every thing. His aim was to please, to dazzle and be beloved, but at the same time to subject those he soothed. He favoured them only as they served his purposes; and made his correspondence and society a means for engrossing every thing to himself.

*The Persians adored the sun under that name, who was their principal god.

† Δικαίως, ὦ Κύρε, ευδαιμονῖς ἀγαθὸς γὰρ συ ευδαιμονείς. Which Cicero translates: rerte vero, le, Cyre, beatum ferunt, quoniam virtuti tua fortuna conjuncta est.

It was said that Lais, the famous courtezan, called the Corinthian, was the daughter of this Timandra. Cujus nescio utrum bona an vitia patriæ perniciosiora fuerint; illis enim cives suos decepit, his afflixit V Max. 1. iii. c. 1.

His life was a perpetual mixture of good and evil. His sallies for virtue were ill sustained, and quickly degenerated into vices and crimes, very little to the honour of the instructions of that great philosopher, who took no small pains to cultivate him into a man of worth. His actions were glorious, but without rule or principle. His character was elevated and grand, but without connexion and consistence. He was successively the support and terror of the Lacedæmonians and Persians. He was either the misfortune or refuge of his own country, according to his declaring for or against it. In fine, he was the author of a general and destructive war in Greece, from the sole motive of commanding, by inducing the Athenians to besiege Syracuse, much less from the hope of conquering Sicily, and afterwards Africa, than with the design of keeping Athens in dependence upon himself; convinced that having to deal with an inconstant, suspicious, ungrateful, jealous people, averse to those that governed, it was necessary to engage them continually in some great af fair, in order to make his services always necessary to them, and that they might not be at leisure to examine, censure, and condemn his conduct.

He had the fate generally experienced by persons of his character, and of which they cannot reasonably complain. He never loved any one, self being his sole motive; nor ever found a friend. He made it his merit and glory to amuse all men; and nobody confided in, or adhered to him. His sole view was to live with splendour, and to lord it universally; and he perished miserably, abandoned by the whole world, and obliged at his death to the feeble services and impotent zeal of a single woman, for the last honours rendered to his remains.

About this time died Democritus the philosopher, of whom more will be said elsewhere.

SECTION II. THE THIRTY EXERCISE HORRID CRUELTIES AT ATHENS, THEY PUT THERAMENES TO DEATH. THRASYBULUS ATTACKS THE TYRANTS, IS MASTER OF ATHENS, AND RESTORES ITS LIBERTIES.

THE Council of thirty, established at Athens by Lysander, committed the most incredible cruelties. Upon pretence of restraining the multitude within their duty, and to prevent seditions, they had caused guards to be assigned them, had armed three thousand of the citizens for that service, and at the same time disarmed all the rest. The whole city was in the utmost terror and dismay. Whoever opposed their injustice and violence, became the victims of them. Riches were a crime that never failed of drawing a sentence upon their owners, always followed with death, and the confiscation of estates; which the thirty tyrants divided among themselves. They put more people to death, says Xenophon, in eight months of peace, than their enemies had done in a war of thirty years.*

The two most considerable persons of the thirty were Critias and Theramenes, who at first lived in great union, and always acted in concert with each other. The latter had some honour, and loved his country. When he saw with what excess of violence and cruelty his colleagues behaved, he declared openly against them, and thereby drew their resentment upon him. Critias became his most mortal enemy, and acted as informer against him before the senate, accusing him of disturbing the tranquillity of the state, and of designing to subvert the present government. As he perceived that the defence of Theramenes was heard with silence and approbation, he was afraid, that if the affair was left to the decision of the senate, they would acquit him. Having therefore caused a band of young men whom he had armed with poniards, to advance to the bar, he said that he thought it the duty of a supreme magistrate to prevent justice from being abused, and that he should act conformably upon this occassion. "But," continued he, as the law does not admit, that any of the three thousand should be put to death without the consent of the

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Xenoph. Hist. l. ii. p. 462, et 479. Diod. 1. xiv. p. 235-238. Justin. 1. v. c. 3, 10.
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senate, I exclude Theramenes from that number, and condemn him to die, în virtue of my own and my colleagues authority." Theramenes upon these words leaped upon the altar; "I demand," said he, "Athenians, that I may be tried according to the laws; which cannot be refused me without manifest injustice. Not that I imagine, that the goodness of my cause will avail me any thing, or the sanctity of altars protect me; but I would show at least, that my enemies respect neither the gods nor men. What most astonishes me is, that persons of your wisdom do not see that your own names may as easily be struck out of the list of the citizens, as that of Theramenes." Critias upon this ordered the officers of justice to pull him down from the altar. A universal silence and terror ensued upon the sight of the armed soldiers, that surrounded the senate. Of all the senators, only Socrates, whose disciple Theramenes had been, took upon him his defence, and opposed the officers of justice. But his weak endeavours could not deliver Theramenes, who was led to the place of execution, notwithstanding all he could do, through crowds of the citizens, who saw with tears, in the fate of a man equally distinguished for his love of liberty and the great services he had done his country, what they had to fear for themselves. When they presented him the hemlock, that is, the poison, which was the manner of putting the citizens of Athens to death, he took it with an intrepid air, and after having drunk it, he poured the remainder upon the table, after the usual manner observed in feasts or public rejoicings, saying, “This for the noble Critias." Xenophon relates this circumstance, unimportant in itself, to show, says he, the tranquillity of Thcramenes in his last moments.

The tyrants, delivered from a colleague whose presence alone was a continual reproach to them, no longer observed any measures. Nothing passed throughout the city but imprisonments and murders. Every body trembled for themselves or their friends.* The general desolation had no remedy, nor was there any hope of regaining their liberty. Where had they then as many Harmod uses as they had tyrants? Terror had taken entire possession of their minds, while the whole city deplored in secret the loss of liberty, without having one among them generous enough to attempt the breaking of their chains. The Athenian people seemed to have lost that valour, which till then had made them awful and terrible to their neighbours and enemies. They seemed to have lost the very use of speech; not daring to utter the least complaint, lest it should be made a capital crime in them. Socrates only continued intrepid. He consoled the afflicted senate, animated the desponding citizens, and set all men an admirable example of courage and resolution; preserving his liberty, and sustaining his integrity in the midst of thirty tyrants,who made all else tremble, but could never shake the constancy of Socrates by their menaces. Critias, who had been his pupil, was the first to declare most openly against him, taking offence at the free and bold discourses which he held against the government of the thirty. He went so far as to prohibit his instructing youth; but Socrates, who neither acknowledged his authority, nor feared the violent effects of it, paid no regard to so unjust an order.‡

All the citizens of any consideration in Athens, and who retained the love of liberty, quitted a place reduced to so hard and shameful a slavery, and sought elsewhere an asylum and retreat, where they might live in safety. At the head of these was Thrasy bulus, a person of extraordinary merit, who beheld with the most lively affliction the miseries of his country. The Lacedæmonians had the inhumanity to endeavour to deprive those unhappy fugitives of this last resource. They published an edict to prohibit the cities of Greece from giving them refuge, decreed that they should be delivered up to the thirty

Poteratne civitas illa conquiescere, in qua tot tyranni erant, quot satellites essent ? Ne spes quidem Alla recipiendæ libertatis animis poterat offerri, nec ulli remedio locus apparebat contra tautam vim malorum, Unde enim misera civitati tot Harmodios! Socrates tamen in medio erat, et lugentes patres consolebatur, at desperantes de republica exhortabantur et imitare volentibus magnum circumferebat exemplar, cum inter triginta dominos liber incederet.-Senec. de Tranquil. Anim. c. 3.

Harmodius fornied a conspiracy for the deliverance of Athens from the tyranny of the Pisistratida. Xenoph. Memorab. l. i. p. 716, 717.

tyrants, and condemned all such as should contravene the execution of this edict, to pay a fine of five talents. Only two cities rejected with disdain so unjust an ordinance, Megara and Thebes; the latter of which made a decree to punish all persons whatever, who should see an Athenian attacked by his enemies without doing his utmost to assist him. Lysias, an orator of Syracuse, who had been banished by the thirty, raised five hundred soldiers at his own expense, and sent them to the aid of the common country of eloquence.*

Thrasybulus lost no time. After having taken Phyla, a small fort in Attica, Le marched to the Piræus, of which he made himself master. The thirty flew thither with their troops; and a sharp battle ensued. But as the soldiers on one side fought with valour and vigour for their liberty, and on the other with indolence and neglect for the power of others, victory was not long doubtful, but favoured the better cause. The tyrants were overthrown. Critias was killed upon the spot. And as the rest of the army were beginning to fly, Thrasy buius cried out, "wherefore do you fly from me as your victor, rather than assist me as the avenger of your liberty? We are not enemies, but fellowcitizens; nor have we declared war against the city, but against the thirty tyrants. He called to their remembrance that they had the same origin, country, laws, and religion; he exhorted them to compassionate their exiled brethren, to restore their country to them, and resume their liberty themselves. These words had the desired effect. The army, upon their return to Athens, expelled the thirty, and substituted ten persons to govern in their room, whose conduct proved no better than theirs.

It is a matter of surprise, that so sudden, so universal, so tenacious, and so uniform a conspiracy against the public good, should always actuate the several bodies of persons established in the administration of this government. This we have seen in the four hundred formerly chosen by Athens; again in the thirty; and now in the ten. And what increases our wonder is, that this passion for tyranny should so strongly actuate republicans, born in the bosom of liberty, accustomed to an equality of condition, on which it is founded, and formed from their earliest infancy to an abhorrence of all subjection and dependency. There must be on the one side, in power and authority, some violent impulse, to actuate in this manner so many persons, many of whom, no doubt, were not without sentiments of virtue and honcur; and to banish so suddenly the principles and manners so natural to them; and on the other an excessive propensity in the mind of man to subject his equals, to rule over them imperiously, to carry him on to the last extremes of oppression and cruelty, and to anake him forget at once, all laws, nature, and religion.t

The thirty being fallen from their power and hopes, sent deputies to Lacedæmon to demand aid. It was not Lysander's fault, who was sent to them with troops, that the tyrants were not re-established. But king Pausanias, moved with compassion for the deplorable condition to which a city, once so flourishing, was reduced, had the generosity to favour the Athenians in secret, and at length obtained a peace for them. It was sealed with the blood of the tyrants, who, having taken arms to re-instate themselves in the government, and being present at a parley for that purpose, were all put to the sword, and left Athens in the full possession of its liberty. All the exiles were recalled. Thrasybulus at that time proposed the celebrated amnesty, by which the citizens engaged upon oath, that all past transactions should be buried in oblivion. The government was re-established upon its ancient footing, the lav s restored to their pristine vigour, and magistrates elected with the usual forms.

I cannot forbear observing in this place the wisdom and moderation of Thrasybulus, so salutary and essential after so long a continuance of domestic troubles. This is one of the finest events in ancient history, worthy the Athenian lenity and benevolence, and has served as a model to successive ages in good governments.

• Quingentos milites, stipendio suo instructos, in auxilium patriæ communis eloquentiæ missi.-Justin 1 Vi dominationis convulsus.Tacit.

I. v. c. 9.

Never had tyranny been more cruel and bloody than that which the Athen ians had lately thrown off. Every house was in mourning; every family bewailed the loss of some relation. It had been a series of public robbery and rapine, in which licence and impunity had authorized all manner of crines. The people seemed to have a right to demand the blood of all accomplices, in such notorious malversations, and even the interest of the state seemed to authorize such a claim, that by exemplary severities such enormous crimes might be prevented for the future. But Thrasy bulus, rising above those sentiments, from the superiority of his more extensive genius, and the views of a more discerning and profound policy, foresaw, that by consenting to the punishment of the guilty, eternal seeds of discord and enmity would remain, to weaken the republic by domestic divisions, which it was necessary to unite against the common enemy, and occasion the loss to the state of a great number of citizens, who might render it important services even from the desire of making amends for past misbehaviour.

Such conduct, after great troubles in a state, has always seemed, with the ablest politicians, the most certain and ready means to restore the public peace and tranquillity. Cicero, when Rome was divided into two factions, upon the occasion of Cæsar's death, who had been killed by the conspirators, calling to mind this celebrated amnesty, proposed, after the example of the Athenians, to bury all that had passed in eternal oblivion,* Cardinal Mazarin observed to Don Louis de Haro, prime minister of Spain, that this gentle and humane conduct in France had prevented the troubles and revolts of that kingdom from having any fatal consequences, and "that the king had not, to this day, lost a foot of land by them;" whereas the inflexible severity of the Spaniards was the occasion, that the subjects of that monarchy, whenever they threw off the mask, never returned to their obedience but by the force of arms; which sufficiently appears," says he," in the example of the Hollanders, who are in the peaceable possession of many provinces, that not a century ago were the patrimony of the king of Spain."t

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Diodorus Šiculus takes occasion, from the thirty tyrants of Athens, whose immoderate ambition induced them to treat their country with the most excessive cruelties, to observe how unfortunate it is for persons in power to want a sense of honour, and to disregard either the present opinion, or the judgment of posterity on their conduct. For, from the contempt of reputation, the transition is too common to that of virtue itself. They may perhaps, by the awe of their power, suppress for some time the public voice, and impose a forced silence upon censure; but the more constraint they lay upon it during their lives, the more liberal will it be after their deaths, of complaints and reproaches, and the more infamy and imputation will be affixed to their memories. The power of the thirty was of very short duration; their guilt immortal, which will be remembered with abhorrence throughout all ages; while their names will be recorded in history only to render them odious and to make their crimes detestable. He applies the same reflection to the Lacedæmonians, who, after having made themselves masters of Greece by a wise and moderate conduct, fell from that glory, through the severity, haughtiness, and injustice, with which they treated their allies. There is doubtless no reader, whom their abject and cruel jealousy in regard to Athens, enslaved and humbled, has not prejudiced against them; nor is there any resemblance in such behaviour, to the greatness of mind and noble generosity of ancient

* In ædem Telluris convocati sumus; in quo templo, quantum in me fuit, jeci fundamentum pacis; Atheniensumque renovavi vetus exemplum. Græcum etiam verbum (some believe that the word was dumsla; but as it is not found in the historians who have treated this fact, it is more likely that it was un vnoixa nov, which has the same sense, and is used by them all,) usurpavi, quod tum in sedandis discordiis usurpaverat civitas illa; atque omnem memoriam discordiarum oblivione sempiterna delendam censui.—Philip. i. n. 1. † Let. XV. of Card. Mazarin.

1 Cætera principibus statim adesse: unum insatiabiliter parandum, prosperam sui memoriam ; nam con tempta fama, contemni virtutes.-Quo magis socordiam eorum irrideri libet, qui præsenti potentia credunt extingui posse etiam sequentis ævi memoriam--suum cuique decus posteritas rependit.-Tacit. Annal iv. c. 30, et 35