instructed them in what manner to treat their patients. The Athenians were struck with the deepest sense of gratitude, for the generous care of Hippocrates. They therefore ordained, by a public decree, that Hippocrates should be initiated in the most exalted mysteries, in the same manner as Hercules the son of Jupiter; that a crown of gold should be presented to him, of the value of a thousand staters,* amounting to five hundred pistoles French money;t and that the decree by which it was granted him, should be read aloud by a herald in the public games, on the solemn festivals of Panathenæ that the freedom of the city should be given him, and himself be maintained at the public charge, in the Prytaneum all his lifetime, in case he thought proper in fine, that the children of all the people of Cos, whose city had given birth to so great a man, might be maintained and brought up in Athens, in the same manner as if they had been born there.

In the mean time the enemy, having marched into Attica, came down towards the coast, and, advancing still forward, laid waste the whole country. Pericles still adhering to the maxim he had established, not to expose the safety of the state to the hazard of a battle, would not suffer his troops to sally out of the city: however, before the enemy left the plains, he sailed to Peloponnesus with a hundred galleys, in order to hasten their retreat by his making so powerful a diversion; and after having made a dreadful havoc, as he had done the first year, he returned into the city. The plague was still there as well as in the fleet, and it spread to those troops that were besieging Potidæa.

The campaign being thus ended, the Athenians, who saw their country depopulated by two great scourges, war and pestilence, began to despond, and to murmur against Pericles; considering him as the author of all their calamities, as he had involved them in that fatal war. They then sent a deputation to Lacedæmon, to obtain, if possible, an accommodation by some means or other, firmly resolved to make whatever concessions should be demanded of them : the ambassadors, however, returned without being able to obtain any terms. Complaints and murmurs now broke out afresh; and the whole city was in such a trouble and confusion, as seemed to prognosticate the worst of evils. Pericles, in the midst of this universal consternation, could not forbear assembling the people; and endeavoured to soften, and at the same time to encourage them, by justifying himself. "The reasons," said he, "which determined you to undertake this war, and which you approved at that time, are still the same, and are not changed by the alteration of circumstances, which neither you nor myself could foresee. Had it been left to your option to make choice of peace or war, the former would certainly have been the more eligible; but as there was no other means for preserving your liberty than by drawing the sword, was it possible for you to hesitate? If we are citizens who truly love our country, will our private misfortunes make us neglect the common welfare of the state? Every man feels the evil which afflicts him, because it is present; but no one is sensible of the good which will result from it, because it is not come. Have you forgotten the strength and grandeur of your empire? Of the two parts which form this globe of ours, viz. the land and sea, you have absolute possession of the latter; and no king, or any other power, is able to oppose your fleets. It is now the question whether you will preserve this glory, and this empire, or resign it for ever. Be not therefore grieved because you are deprived of a few country-houses and gardens, which ought to be considered no otherwise than as the frame of the picture, though you would seem to make them the picture itself. Consider, that if you do but preserve your liberty, you will easily recover them; but that should you suffer yourselves to be deprived of this blessing, you will lose every valuable possession with it. Do not show less generosity than your ancestors, who for the sake of preserving it, abandoned even their city; and who, though they had not inherited such a glory from their ancestors, yet suffered the worst of evils, and engaged in the

The Attic stater was a gold coin weighing two drachms. It is in the original, xpuoŵv XIA(WR. † About nine hundred and thirty-five dollars.

most perilous enterprises, to transmit it to you. I will confess that your present calamities, are exceedingly grievous, and I myself am duly sensible and deeply afflicted for them. But is it just in you to exclaim against your general, merely for an accident that was not to be diverted by all the prudence of man; and to make him responsible for an event in which he has not the least concern? We must submit patiently to those evils which heaven inflicts upon us, and vigorously oppose such as arise from our fellow-creatures. As to the hatred and jealousy which attend on your prosperity, they are the usual lot of all who believe themselves worthy of commanding. However, hatred and envy are not of long continuance, but the glory that accompanies exalted actions is immortal. Revolve therefore perpetually in your minds, how shameful and ignominious it is for men to bow the neck to their enemies, and how glorious it is to triumph over them; and then, animated by this double reflection, march on to danger with joy and intrepidity, and do not crouch so tamely to the Lacedæmonians; and call to mind, that those who display the greatest bravery and resolution in dangers, acquire the most esteem and applause.

The motives of honour and fame, the remembrance of the great actions of their ancestors, the soothing title of sovereigns of Greece, and above all the jealousy of Sparta, the ancient and perpetual rival of Athens, were the usual motives which Pericles employed to influence and animate the Athenians, and had hitherto never failed of success. But on this occasion, the sense of the present evils prevailed over every other consideration, and stifled all other thoughts. The Athenians, indeed, did not design to sue the Lacedæmonians any more for peace, but the very sight and presence of Pericles was insupportable to them. They therefore deprived him of the command of the army, and sentenced him to pay a fine which, according to some historians, amounted to fifteen talents, and according to others fifty.*

However, this public disgrace of Pericles was not to be very lasting, The anger of the people was appeased by the first efforts, and had spent itself in the injurious treatment of him, as the bee leaves the sting in the wound. But he was not now so happy with regard to his domestic evils; for besides his having lost a great number of his friends and relations by the pestilence, feuds and divisions had long reigned in his family. Xanthippus, his eldest son, who himself was extremely profuse, and had married a young wife no less extravagant, could not bear his father's exact economy, who allowed him but a very small sum for his pleasures. This made him borrow money in his father's name. When the lender demanded his debt of Pericles, he not only refused to pay, but even prosecuted him for it. Xanthippus was so enraged, that he inveighed in the most heinous terms against his father, exclaiming against him in all places, and ridiculing openly the assemblies he held at his house, and his conferences with the sophists. He did not consider, that a son, though treated unjustly, which was far otherwise in his case, ought to subunit patiently to the injustice of his father, as a citizen is obliged to suffer that of his country. The plague carried off Xanthippus. At the same time Pericles lost his sistel, with many of his relations and best friends, whose assistance he most needed in the administration. But he did not sink under these losses; his strength of mind was not shaken by them; and he was not seen to weep or show the usual marks of sorrow at the grave of any of his relations, till the death of Paralus, the last of his legitimate children. That severe stroke exceedingly afflicted him, though he did his utmost to preserve his usual tranquillity, and not show any outward symptoms of sorrow. But when he was to put the crown of flowers upon the head of his dead son, he could not support the cruel spectacle, nor stifle the transports of his grief, which forced its way in cries, in sobs, and a flood of tears.

Pericles, misled by the principles of a false philosophy, imagined, that bewailing the death of his relations and children, would hetray a weakness that

* About fifteen or fifty thousand dollars

no way suited the greatness of soul he had ever shown; and on this occasion that the sensibility of the father would sully the glory of the conqueror. How gross an error! how childish an illusion: which either makes heroism consist in wild and savage cruelty, or, leaving the same grief and confusion in the mind, assumes a vain outside of constancy and resolution, merely to be admired. But, does martial bravery extinguish nature? Is a man dead to all human sentiments, because he makes a considerable figure in the state? Antoninus the emperor had a much juster way of thinking, who, when Marcus Aurelius was lamenting the death of the person who had brought him up, said, "suffer him to be a man, for neither philosophy nor sovereignty renders us insensible."*

Fickleness and inconstancy were the prevailing characters of the Athenians; and as these carried them on a sudden to the greatest excesses, they soon brought them back again within the bounds of moderation and gentleness. It was not long before they repented the injury they had done Pericles, and earnestly wished to see him again in their assemblies. By dint of suffering, they began to bear patiently their domestic misfortunes, and to be fired more and more with a zeal for their country's glory; and in their ardour for reinstating its affairs, they did not know any person more capable than Pericles of the administration. Pericles, at that time, never stirred out of his house, and was in the utmost grief at the loss he had sustained. However, Alcibiades and the rest of his friends entreated him to go abroad, and show himself in public. The people asked him pardon for their ungrateful usage of him; and Pericles, moved with their entreaties, and persuaded that it did not become a good man to harbour the least resentment against his country, resumed the government.

About the end of the second campaign, some ambassadors had set out from Lacedæmon, in order to solicit the king of Persia's alliance, and engage him to furnish a sum of money for maintaining the fleet: this reflected great ignominy on the Lacedæmonians, who called themselves the deliverers of Greece, since they thereby retracted or sullied the glorious actions they had formerly achieved in her defence against Persia. They went by the way of Thrace, in order to disengage, if possible, Sitalces from the alliance of the Athenians, and prevail with him to succour Potidea. But they here met with some Athenian ambassadors, who caused them to be arrested as disturbers of the public peace, and afterwards to be sent to Athens, where, without suffering them to be heard, they were put to death that same day, and their bodies thrown into the open fields, by way of reprisal on the Lacedæmonians, who treated all who were not of their party in the same inhuman manner. It is scarcely possible to conceive how two cities, which but a short time before were so closely united, and ought to have shown a mutual civility and forbearance for each other, could contract so inveterate a hatred, and break into such cruel acts of violence, as to infringe all the laws of war, humanity and nations; and which prompted them to exercise greater cruelties upon one another, than if they had been at war with the barbarians.

Potidea had now been besieged almost three years, when the inhabitants reduced to extremities, and in such want of provisions that some fed on human flesh, and not expecting any succours from the Peloponnesians, whose attempts in Attica had all proved abortive, surrendered on conditions. The circumstances which made the Athenians treat them with lenity, were, the severity of the weather, which exceedingly annoyed the besiegers; and the prodigious expense of the siege, which had already cost two thousand talents, or upwards of one million, two hundred thousand dollars. They therefore came

• Permitte illi ut homo sit: neque enim vel philosophia vel imperium tollit affectus. Jul. Capitol. in Vit. Antonini Pii.

The army which besieged Potidea consisted of three thousand men, exclusive of the sixteen hundred who had been sent under the command of Phormio. Every soldier received daily two drachms, or twentypence French, for master and man: and those of the galleys had the same pay-Thucyd. 1. iii. p. 182

out of the city with their wives and children, as well citizens as foreigners, each man having but one suit of clothes, and the women two, and only a little money to carry them home. The Athenians blamed their generals for granting this capitulation without their order; because otherwise, as the citizens were reduced to the utmost extremity, they would have surrendered at discretion, They sent a colony thither.

The first thing that Pericles did, after his being re-elected generalissimo, was to propose the abrogation of that law, which he himself had caused to be enacted against bastards, when there were legitimate children.* It declared, that such only should be considered as true and legitimate Athenians, whose fathers and mothers were both natives of Athens; and it had been executed just before with the utmost rigour. For the king of Egypt having sent to Athens a present of forty thousand measures of corn to be distributed among the people, the bastards, on account of this new law, were involved in a thousand difficulties, till then unpractised, and which had not been so much as thought of. Near five thousand of them were condemned and sold as slaves, while fourteen thousand and forty citizens were confirmed in their privileges, and recognized as true Athenians. It was thought very strange, that the author and promoter of this law should himself desire to have it repealed. But the Athenians were moved to compassion at the domestic calamities of Pericles; so that they permitted him to enter his bastard, in his own name, in the register of the citizens of his tribe.

A short time after, he himself was infected with the pestilence. Being extremely ill, and ready to breathe his last, the principal citizens, and such of his friends as had not forsaken him, discoursing together in his bed-chamber about his real merit, they recounted his exploits, and computed the number of his victories; for while he was generalissimo of the Athenians, he had erected for the glory of their city nine trophies, in memory of as many battles gained by him. They did not imagine that Pericles heard what they were saying, because he seemed to have lost his senses; but it was far otherwise, for not a single word of their discourse had escaped him; when, breaking suddenly from his silence, "I am surprised,” said he, that you should treasure up so well in your memories, and extol so highly, a series of actions, in which fortune had so great a share, and which are common to me with so many other generals; and at the same time should forget the most glorious circumstance in my life; I mean, my never having caused a single citizen to put on mourning. A noble saying! which very few in high stations can declare with truth. The Athenians were deeply afflicted at his death.

The reader has doubtless observed, from what has been said of Pericles, that in him were united most qualities which constitute the great man; as those of the admiral, by his great skill in naval affairs; of the great captain, by his conquests and victories; of the able treasurer, by the excellent order in which he put the finances; of the great politician, by the extent and justness of his views, by his eloquence in public deliberations, and by the dexterity and address with which he transacted affairs: of a minister of state, by the methods he employed to increase trade and promote the arts in general; in fine, of father of his country, by the happiness he procured to every individual, and which he always had in view as the true scope and end of his administration. But I must not omit another characteristic which was peculiar to him. He acted with so much wisdom, moderation, disinterestedness and zeal for the public good; he discovered, in all things, so great a superiority of talents, and gave so exalted an idea of his experience, capacity, and integrity, that he acquired the confidence of all the Athenians; and fixed in his own favour, during

* A. M. 3575. Ant. J. C. 429.

↑ Plutarch does not name this king. Perhaps it was Inarus, son to Psammetichus king of Libya, who had caused part of the Egyptians to take up arms against Artaxerxes, and to whom the Athenians, aboy thirty years before, had sent succours against the Persians.-Thucyd. 1. i. p. 68

G2

A. M. 3576. Ant. J. C. 428.

forty years that he governed the Athenians, their natural fickleness and inconstancy. He suppressed that jealousy, which an extreme fondness for liberty had made them entertain against all citizens, distinguished by their merit and great authority. But the most surprising circumstance is, he gained his great ascendancy merely by persuasion, without employing force, mean artifices, or any of those arts which a mean politician excuses in himself, upon the specious pretence, that the necessity of the public affairs, and reasons of state, make them necessary.

Anaxagoras died the same year as Pericles. Plutarch relates a circumstance concerning him, which happened some time before, that must not be omitted. He says, that this philosopher, who had voluntarily reduced himself to excessive poverty, in order that he might have the greater leisure to pursue his studies; finding himself neglected in his old age by Pericles, who, in the multiplicity of the public affairs, had not always time to think of him, wrapped his cloak about his head, and threw himself on the ground, in the fixed resolution to starve himself.* Pericles hearing of this, accidentally, ran with the utmost haste, to the philosopher's house,in the deepest affliction. He conjured him, in the strongest and most moving terms, not to throw his life away adding, that it was not Anaxagoras, but himself, that was to be lamented, if he was so unfortunate as to lose so wise and faithful a friend; one who was so capable of giving him wholesome counsels with regard to the pressing occasious of the state. Anaxagoras then, uncovering his head a little, spoke thus to him: "Pericles, those who use a lamp take care to feed it with oil." ↑ This was a gentle, and at the same time a strong and piercing reproach. Pericles ought to have supplied his wants unasked. Many lamps are extinguished in this manner in a country, by the criminal negligence of those who ought to supply them.

SECTION III.-THE LACEDEMONIANS BESIEGE PLATEA. FOURTH AND FIFTH YEARS OF THE WAR.

THE most remarkable transaction of the following years, was the siege of Platææ by the Lacedæmonians. This was one of the most famous sieges in antiquity, on account of the vigorous efforts of both parties; but especially for the glorious resistance made by the besieged, and their bold and industrious stratagem, by which several of them got out of the city, and by that means escaped the fury of the enemy. The Lacedæmonians besieged this place in the beginning of the third campaign. As soon as they had pitched their camp round the city, in order to lay waste the places adjacent to it, the Platæans sent some deputies to Archidamus, who commanded on that occasion, to represent, that he could not attack them with the least shadow of justice, because that, after the famous battle of Platææ, Pausanias, the Grecian general, offering up a sacrifice in their city to Jupiter the Deliverer, in presence of all the allies, had given them their freedom, to reward their valour and zeal; and therefore, that they ought not to be disturbed in the enjoyment of their liberties, since it had been granted them by a Lacedæmonian. Archidamus answered, that their demand would be very reasonable, had they not joined with the Athenians, the professed enemies to the liberty of Greece; but that, if they would disengage eselves from their present alliance, or at least remain neutral, they then should be left in the full enjoyment of their privileges. The deputies replied, that they could not possibly come to any agreement, without first sending to Athens, whither their wives and their children were retired. The Lacedæ monians permitted them to send thither; when the Athenians promising so lemnly to succour them to the utmost of their power, the Platæans resolved to suffer the last extremities rather than surrender; and accordingly they informed

It was the custom for those to cover their heads with their cloaks, who were reduced to despair, and resolved to die. † Plut. in Pericl. p. 162