Athens: Its Rise and Fall | Page 4

the
Oligarchy against the Republic.-- Recall of Cimon.--Long Walls
completed.--Aegina reduced.-- Expedition under Tolmides.--Ithome
surrenders.--The Insurgents are settled at Naupactus.--Disastrous
Termination of the Egyptian Expedition.--The Athenians march into
Thessaly to restore Orestes the Tagus.--Campaign under
Pericles.--Truce of five Years with the Peloponnesians.-- Cimon sets
sail for Cyprus.--Pretended Treaty of Peace with Persia.--Death of
Cimon.
V Change of Manners in Athens.--Begun under the Pisistratidae.--
Effects of the Persian War, and the intimate Connexion with
Ionia.--The Hetaerae.--The Political Eminence lately acquired by
Athens.--The Transfer of the Treasury from Delos to Athens.--Latent
Dangers and Evils.--First, the Artificial Greatness of Athens not
supported by Natural Strength.-- Secondly, her pernicious Reliance on
Tribute.--Thirdly, Deterioration of National Spirit commenced by
Cimon in the Use of Bribes and Public Tables.--Fourthly, Defects in
Popular Courts of Law.--Progress of General Education.-- History.--Its
Ionian Origin.--Early Historians.--Acusilaus.
--Cadmus.--Eugeon.--Hellanicus.--Pherecides.--Xanthus.--View of the
Life and Writings of Herodotus.--Progress of Philosophy since
Thales.--Philosophers of the Ionian and Eleatic
Schools.--Pythagoras.--His Philosophical Tenets and Political
Influence.--Effect of these Philosophers on Athens.--School of Political
Philosophy continued in Athens from the Time of

Solon.--Anaxagoras.--Archelaus.--Philosophy not a thing apart from
the ordinary Life of the Athenians.
BOOK V


CHAPTER
I Thucydides chosen by the Aristocratic Party to oppose Pericles.--His
Policy.--Munificence of Pericles.--Sacred War.--Battle of
Coronea.--Revolt of Euboea and Megara-- Invasion and Retreat of the
Peloponnesians.--Reduction of Euboea.--Punishment of Histiaea.--A
Thirty Years' Truce concluded with the Peloponnesians.--Ostracism of
Thucydides.
II Causes of the Power of Pericles.--Judicial Courts of the dependant
Allies transferred to Athens.--Sketch of the Athenian Revenues.--Public
Buildings the Work of the People rather than of Pericles.--Vices and
Greatness of Athens had the same Sources.--Principle of Payment
characterizes the Policy of the Period.--It is the Policy of Civilization.--
Colonization, Cleruchia.
III Revision of the Census.--Samian War.--Sketch of the Rise and
Progress of the Athenian Comedy to the Time of Aristophanes.
IV The Tragedies of Sophocles.

ATHENS: ITS RISE AND FALL

BOOK I.


CHAPTER I.

Situation and Soil of Attica.--The Pelasgians its earliest
Inhabitants.--Their Race and Language akin to the Grecian.--Their
varying Civilization and Architectural Remains.--Cecrops.--Were the
earliest Civilizers of Greece foreigners or Greeks?--The Foundation of
Athens.--The Improvements attributed to Cecrops.--The Religion of the
Greeks cannot be reduced to a simple System.--Its Influence upon their
Character and Morals, Arts and Poetry.--The Origin of Slavery and
Aristocracy.
I. To vindicate the memory of the Athenian people, without disguising
the errors of Athenian institutions;--and, in narrating alike the triumphs
and the reverses--the grandeur and the decay--of the most eminent of
ancient states, to record the causes of her imperishable influence on
mankind, not alone in political change or the fortunes of fluctuating
war, but in the arts, the letters, and the social habits, which are equal
elements in the history of a people;--this is the object that I set before
me;--not unreconciled to the toil of years, if, serving to divest of some
party errors, and to diffuse through a wider circle such knowledge as is
yet bequeathed to us of a time and land, fertile in august examples and
in solemn warnings--consecrated by undying names and memorable
deeds.
II. In that part of earth termed by the Greeks Hellas, and by the Romans
Graecia [2], a small tract of land known by the name of Attica, extends
into the Aegaean Sea--the southeast peninsula of Greece. In its greatest
length it is about sixty, in its greatest breadth about twenty-four,
geographical miles. In shape it is a rude triangle,--on two sides flows
the sea--on the third, the mountain range of Parnes and Cithaeron
divides the Attic from the Boeotian territory. It is intersected by
frequent but not lofty hills, and, compared with the rest of Greece, its
soil, though propitious to the growth of the olive, is not fertile or
abundant. In spite of painful and elaborate culture, the traces of which
are yet visible, it never produced a sufficiency of corn to supply its
population; and this, the comparative sterility of the land, may be
ranked among the causes which conduced to the greatness of the people.
The principal mountains of Attica are, the Cape of Sunium, Hymettus,
renowned for its honey, and Pentelicus for its marble; the principal

streams which water the valleys are the capricious and uncertain
rivulets of Cephisus and Ilissus [3],--streams breaking into lesser
brooks, deliciously pure and clear. The air is serene--the climate
healthful --the seasons temperate. Along the hills yet breathe the wild
thyme, and the odorous plants which, everywhere prodigal in Greece,
are more especially fragrant in that lucid sky;--and still the atmosphere
colours with peculiar and various taints the marble of the existent
temples and the face of the mountain landscapes.
III. I reject at once all attempt to penetrate an unfathomable obscurity
for an idle object. I do not pause to inquire whether, after the
destruction of Babel, Javan was