eiscitur autem Cretam,1 ibique perpetuum exilium egit: abjicique in mare ossa sua moriens jussit, ne relatis Lacedæmonem, solutos se Spartani religione jurisjurandi in dissolvendis legibus arbitrarentur, NARRATION IX. The taking of Athens by Lysander, (Anc. Hist. Justin, book 5.) SPARTA and Athens delivered from the fear of the Persians soon turn their arms against each other. Common danger had united them; the love 1 Cretam. The island of Crete, at present Candia, is the most considerable island of the Archipelago in the Mediterranean. Mount Ida, upon which, according to the poets, Jupiter was educated, is on this island. In Crete, also Minos reigned, and Dedalus constructed his famous Labyrinth. 2 Athens, now Astines or Setines, the capital of Lavidia, a province of European Turkey. This city was the capital of Attica, and the most illustrious city of Greece, both on account of the glory of the people who inhabited it, and the beauty of the great number of monuments with which it was ornamented. Forty furlong from the sea (500 of dominion produced between these two cities a rivalship, more fatal to them than all the forces of Asia united against them. The Athenians at first abused their victory. The Peloponessian war was the cause of general discontent at Greece. Ambition created it, hatred rendered it atrocious, and victory long remained uncertain; but after twenty years war and ambuscade, Athens sunk under the efforts of the Spartans, and submitted to all the conditions that Lysander, the Lacedemonian general, imposed upon them. Dux Lacedæmoniorum rebus feliciter gestis, fortunæ hostium insultat; captivas naves cum prædâ bellicâ in triumphi modum ornatas, mittit Lacedæmona: ac tributarias Atheniensium civitates, quas metus dubiæ belli fortunæ in fide tenuerat, voluntarias recepit: nec aliud ditionis Atheniensium præter urbem ipsam reliquit. Quæ cuncta cùm Athenis nuntiata essent, omnes relictis domibus, per urbem discurrere pavidi: alius alium sciscitari: auctorem nuncii requirere: non pueros imprudentia, non senes debilitas, non mulieres sexûs imbecillitas domi tenet: adeò ad omnem ætatem tanti mali sensus penetraverat. In foro deinde coeunt: atque ibi perpeti nocte fortunam publicam questibus iterant. Alii fratres,. paces) it communicated with the port of Pyræeus, by a long space enclosed with walls. The ports of Munichia, and Phalarus also belonged to it. aut filios, aut parentes deflent, cognatos alii, alii amicos cognatis cariores, et cum privatis casibus querelam publicam miscent: jam seipsos, jam ipsam patriam perituram, miserioremque incolumium, quàm amissorum fortunam judicantes: sibi quisque antè oculos obsidionem, famem, et superbum victoremque hostem proponentes: jam ruinam urbis et incendia, jam omnium captivitatem et miserrimam · servitutem recordantes: feliciores prorsùs priores urbis ruinas ducentes, quæ incolumibus filiis parentibusque, tectorum tantùm ruinâ taxatæ sint. Nunc autem non classem, in quam, sicuti pridem, confugiant, superesse; non exercitum, cujus virtute servati pulchriora pos sent monia extruere. Sic defletæ ac propè perditæ urbi hostes superveniunt, et obsidione circumdatâ obsessos fame urgent. Sciebant enim neque ex advectis copiis multum superesse, et ne novæ advehi possent providerant: quibus malis Athenienses fracti, post longam famem, et assidua suorum funera pacem petivere: quæ an dari deberet, diù inter Spartanos, sociosque deliberatum. Cùm multi delendum Atheniensium nomen, urbemque incendio consumendam censerent; negârunt se Spartani ex duobus Græciæ oculis alterum eruturos: pacem polliciti, si demissa Piraeum versùs muri brachia dejicerent, navesque quæ reliquæ forent, traderent; resque publica ex semetipsis xxx rec tores acciperet. In has leges traditam sibi urbem, Lacedæmonii formandam Lysandro tradiderunt. Mutato statu Athenarum, etiam civium conditio mutatur. Triginta rectores reipublicæ constituuntur, qui fiunt tyranni: quippe à principio tria millia sibi satellitum statuunt ; quantùm ex tot cladibus propè nec civium superfuerat: et quasi parvus hic ad continendam civitatem exercitus esset, septingentos milites à victoribus accipiunt. Cædes deinde civium ab Alcibiade auspicantur, ne iterùin rempublicam sub obtentu liberationis invaderet. Quem cùm profectum ad Artaxerxem Persarum regem comperissent, citato itinere miserunt, qui eum interciperent: à quibus occupatus, cùm occidi apertè non posset, vivus in cubiculo in quo dormiebat, crematus est. NARRATION X. Pelopidas delivers his country. (Anc. Hist. Corn. Nepos, chap. 3 and 4.) ATHENS under the thirty tyrants which had established Lysander, suffers all that slavery can inflict, but she is not backward to find an avenger.— Thrasybulus, at the head of the fugitives, attacks the tyrants; drives them off; and re-establishes the ancient government. Sparta degenerates from day to day from its ancient virtues. Governed by gold and ambition, she would have exercised an absolute power over all Greece. To accomplish her end she fears not to employ the most odious means. Having in profound peace surprised the citadel of Thebes1 the Spartans banish from the city all its principal citizens, and establish there the most arbitrary government. Twelve young men headed by Pelopidas undertake to give liberty to their country, and execute their purpose with equal success and intrepidity. Duodecim adolescentes, quorum erat dux Pelopidas, cùm Athenis interdiù exiissent, ut vesperascente cœlo Thebas possent pervenire, cum canibus venaticis exierunt, retia ferentes, vestitu agresti, quo minore suspicione facerent iter. Qui cùm tempore ipso, quo studuerant, pervenissent, domum Charonis deveneruut, à quo et tempus et dies erat datus. Hoc loco libet interponere, et si sejunctum re propositâ est, nimia fiducia quantæ calamitati soleat esse. Nam magistratuum Thebanorum statim ad ures pervenit, exules in urbem devenisse. Id illi vino, epulisque dediti, usque eò despexerunt, ut ne quærere quidem de tantâ re laborârint. Accessit etiam, quod magis aperiret eorum dementiam. Allata est Thebes, was the capital of Bootia. It still exists, though almost in ruins. The name is Thive or Stives, in Livadia-It is upon the river Ismenus. |