History of the Peloponnesian War | Page 3

people, were before the Trojan war

prevented by their want of strength and the absence of mutual
intercourse from displaying any collective action.
Indeed, they could not unite for this expedition till they had gained
increased familiarity with the sea. And the first person known to us by
tradition as having established a navy is Minos. He made himself
master of what is now called the Hellenic sea, and ruled over the
Cyclades, into most of which he sent the first colonies, expelling the
Carians and appointing his own sons governors; and thus did his best to
put down piracy in those waters, a necessary step to secure the revenues
for his own use.
For in early times the Hellenes and the barbarians of the coast and
islands, as communication by sea became more common, were tempted
to turn pirates, under the conduct of their most powerful men; the
motives being to serve their own cupidity and to support the needy.
They would fall upon a town unprotected by walls, and consisting of a
mere collection of villages, and would plunder it; indeed, this came to
be the main source of their livelihood, no disgrace being yet attached to
such an achievement, but even some glory. An illustration of this is
furnished by the honour with which some of the inhabitants of the
continent still regard a successful marauder, and by the question we
find the old poets everywhere representing the people as asking of
voyagers--"Are they pirates?"--as if those who are asked the question
would have no idea of disclaiming the imputation, or their interrogators
of reproaching them for it. The same rapine prevailed also by land.
And even at the present day many of Hellas still follow the old fashion,
the Ozolian Locrians for instance, the Aetolians, the Acarnanians, and
that region of the continent; and the custom of carrying arms is still
kept up among these continentals, from the old piratical habits. The
whole of Hellas used once to carry arms, their habitations being
unprotected and their communication with each other unsafe; indeed, to
wear arms was as much a part of everyday life with them as with the
barbarians. And the fact that the people in these parts of Hellas are still
living in the old way points to a time when the same mode of life was
once equally common to all. The Athenians were the first to lay aside

their weapons, and to adopt an easier and more luxurious mode of life;
indeed, it is only lately that their rich old men left off the luxury of
wearing undergarments of linen, and fastening a knot of their hair with
a tie of golden grasshoppers, a fashion which spread to their Ionian
kindred and long prevailed among the old men there. On the contrary, a
modest style of dressing, more in conformity with modern ideas, was
first adopted by the Lacedaemonians, the rich doing their best to
assimilate their way of life to that of the common people. They also set
the example of contending naked, publicly stripping and anointing
themselves with oil in their gymnastic exercises. Formerly, even in the
Olympic contests, the athletes who contended wore belts across their
middles; and it is but a few years since that the practice ceased. To this
day among some of the barbarians, especially in Asia, when prizes for
boxing and wrestling are offered, belts are worn by the combatants.
And there are many other points in which a likeness might be shown
between the life of the Hellenic world of old and the barbarian of
to-day.
With respect to their towns, later on, at an era of increased facilities of
navigation and a greater supply of capital, we find the shores becoming
the site of walled towns, and the isthmuses being occupied for the
purposes of commerce and defence against a neighbour. But the old
towns, on account of the great prevalence of piracy, were built away
from the sea, whether on the islands or the continent, and still remain in
their old sites. For the pirates used to plunder one another, and indeed
all coast populations, whether seafaring or not.
The islanders, too, were great pirates. These islanders were Carians and
Phoenicians, by whom most of the islands were colonized, as was
proved by the following fact. During the purification of Delos by
Athens in this war all the graves in the island were taken up, and it was
found that above half their inmates were Carians: they were identified
by the fashion of the arms buried with them, and by the method of
interment, which was the same as the Carians still follow. But as soon
as Minos had formed his navy, communication by sea became easier, as
he colonized most of the islands, and