with such laws and forms of government as they Artar. should think fit to chuse. 2. That no Persian ship Longim. of war should be allowed to enter the seas between the Cyanean and Chelidonian islands, that is, from the Euxine sea to the coasts of Pamphilia. 3. That no Persian general should march any troops within three days march of those seas. 4. The the Athenians should not invade any part of the cɔminions of the king of Persia. These articles being ratified by both parties, peace was proclaimed. 3555. Ant. J. C. Thus ended this war, which, from the burning of A. M. Sardis by the Athenians, had lasted fifty-one years compleat, and in which infinite numbers of Persians as well as Greeks had perished. Whilst this treaty was negotiating, Cimon died, either of sickness, or of a wound he had received at the siege of Citium. When he was near his end, he commanded his officers to sail with the fleet immediately for Athens, and to conceal his death with the utmost care. Accordingly this was executed with so much secrecy, that neither the enemy nor the allies once suspected it; and they returned safe to Athens, still under the conduct and auspices of Cimon, though he had been dead above thirty days. Cimon was universally regretted *, which is no wonder, since he was possessed of all those qualities that dignify the soul; the most tender son, a faithful friend; zealous for the good of his country; a great politician, an accomplished general; modest when raised to the highest employments and most distinguished honours; liberal and beneficent almost to profusion; simple and averse to ostentation of every kind, even in the midst of riches and abundance; in fine, so great a lover of the poor citizens, as to share his whole estate with them, without being ashamed of such companions of his fortune. History mentions no statues or monuments erected d Plut. in Cim. p. 491. *Sic se gerendo, minimè est mirandum, si & vila ejus fuit secura, & non acerba. Corn. Nep. in Cim. c. iv. 449. Artax. to his memory, nor any magnificent obsequies celeLongim. brated after his death; but the greatest honour that could be paid him, was the sighs and tears of the people; these were permanent and lasting statues, which are not obnoxious to the inclemencies of weather, or the injuries of time, and endear the memory of the good and virtuous to the remotest ages. For the most splendid mausoleums, the works of brass and marble that are raised in honour of wicked great men, are despised by posterity, as sepulchres which inclose nothing but vile dust and putrefaction. What followed proved more strongly the loss which Greece had sustained by his death; for Cimon was the last of all the Grecian generals who did any thing considerable or glorious against the Barbarians. Excited by the orators, who gained the strongest ascendant over the minds of the people, and sowed the seeds of division in their publick assemblies, they turned their animosity against each other, and at last proceeded to open war, the fatal consequences of which no one endeavoured to prevent; a circumstance that was of great advantage to the king of Persia, and the utmost prejudice to the affairs of Greece. SECT. X. Thucydides is opposed to Pericles. The envy raised against the latter. He clears himself, and prevails to have Thucydides banished. THE nobles of Athens seeing Pericles raised to the highest degree of power, and far above all the rest of the citizens, resolved to oppose him with a man, who, in some measure, might make head against him, and prevent his authority from growing up to monarchy. Accordingly they opposed him with c Plut. in Peric. p. 158-161. * Hæ pulcherrima efi'gies & mansuræ. Nam, quæ saxo struuntur, si judicium posterorum in odium vertit, pro sepulchris spernuntur. Tacit. Annal. lib. iv. c. 38. Thucydides, Cimon's brother-in-law, a man who Artax. had displayed his wisdom on numberless occasions. Longim He indeed did not possess the military talents in so eminent a degree as Pericles; but then he had as great an influence over the people; shaping their opinions, and directing their assemblies as he pleased: And as he never stirred out of the city, but continually combated Pericles in all his designs, he soon restored things to an equilibrium. On the other side, Pericles was solicitous of pleasing the people on all occasions, and slackened the rein more than ever; entertaining them as often as possible with shows, festivals, games, and other diversions. He found means to maintain, during eight months in the year, a great number of poor citizens, by putting them on board a fleet consisting of threescore ships, which he fitted out every year; and thereby did his country an important service, by training up a great number of seamen for its defence. He also planted several colonies in Chersonesus, in Naxos, in Andros, and among the Bisaltæ in Thrace. There was a very noble one in Italy, of which we shall soon have occasion to speak, and which built Thurium. Pericles had different views in settling those colonies, besides the particular design he might have of gaining the affections of the people by that means. His chief motives were, to clear the city of a great number of idle persons who were ever ready to disturb the government; to relieve the wants of the lowest class of people, who before were unable to subsist themselves; in fine, to awe the allies, by settling native Athenians among them as so many garrisons, which might prevent their engaging in any measures contrary to the interest of that people. The Romans acted in the same manner; and it may be said, that so wise a policy was one of the most effectual methods used by them to secure the tranquillity of the state. But the circumstance which did Pericles the greatest honour in the sense of the people, was his adorn Artax. ing the city with magnificent edifices and other Longim. works, which raised the admiration and astonishment of all foreigners, and gave them a mighty idea of the power of the Athenians. It is surprising that, in so short space, so many works of architecture, sculpture, engraving, and painting, should be performed, and at the same time be carried to the highest perfection: For it is generally found, that edifices, raised in haste, boast neither a solid and durable grace, nor the regularity required in works of an exquisitely-beautiful kind. Commonly, nothing but length of time, joined to assiduous labour, can give them such a strength as may preserve, and make them triumph over ages; and this raises our wonder still more in regard to the works of Pericles, which were finished with so much rapidity, and however subsisted through so great a length of time. For each of those works, the very instant it was finished, had the beauty of an antique; and at this time, i. e. above five hundred years after, says Plutarch, they retain a freshness and youth as if just come out of the artist's hands; so happily do they preserve the graces and charms of novelty, which will not suffer time to diminish their lustre; as if an ever-blooming spirit, and a soul exempt from age, were diffused into every part of those works. But that circumstance which excited the admiration of the whole world, raised the jealousy of the people against Pericles. His enemies were for ever crying aloud in the assemblies, that it was dishonourable to the Athenians, to appropriate to themselves the bank of all Greece, which he had sent for from Delos, where it had been deposited; that the allies must necessarily consider such an attempt as a manifest tyranny, when they found that the sums which had been extorted from them, upon pretence of their being employed in the war, were laid out by the Athenians in gilding and embellishing their city, in making magnificent statues, and raising tem ples that cost millions. They did not amplify on Axart. these occasions; for only the temple of Minerva, called Longim. the Parthenone, had cost three millions of livres.* Pericles, on the contrary, remonstrated to the Athenians, that they were not obliged to give the allies an account of the monies they had received from them; that it was enough they defended them from, and repulsed, the Barbarians, whilst the aliies furnished neither soldiers, horses, nor ships; and were excused for some sums of money, which, from the instant they were paid in, were no longer the property of the donors, but of those who received them; provided they performed the conditions agreed upon, and in consideration of which they were received. He added, that as the Athenians were sufficiently provided with all things necessary for war, it was but just, that they should employ the rest of their riches in edifices and other works, which, when finished, would give immortal glory to the city; and the whole time they were carrying on, diffused a plenty of all things, and gave bread to an infinite number of citizens: That they themselves had all kinds of materials, as timber, stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, and cyprus wood; and all sorts of artificers capable of working them, as carpenters, masons, smiths, stone-cutters, dyers, gold-smiths; artificers in ebony, painters, embroiderers, and turners; men fit to conduct their naval affairs, as merchants, sailors, and experienced pilots; others for land carriage, as cartwrights, waggoners, carters, rope-makers, paviors, &c. That it was for the advantage of the state to employ these different artificers and workmen, who, as so many separate bodies, formed, when united, a kind of peaceable and domestick army, whose different functions and employments diffused gain and increase throughout all sexes and ages: Lastly, that whilst men of robust bodies, and of an age fit to bear arms, whe * About 115,000%. sterling.. |