Character.

cheerfully, in the arms of his weeping countrymen, leaving behind His him a name second to none in the annals of Greece." "Epaminondas Worthy was a pure, unselfish patriot; a refined, moral and generous citizen." Cicero regarded him as the greatest man that ancient Greece ever produced. No Greek at any time more truly deserved the title of "Great." Many of the worthiest who came after him selected him for their model. Like the Chevalier Bayard, Epaminóndas was truly "a knight without fear and without reproach."

The glory and preeminence of Thebes began and ended with the public career of Epaminondas; and after the battle of Mantinéa that state sank to her former position among the republics of ancient Greece. The glory of Hellas had departed forever. Exhausted by her intestine struggles, caused by the mutual jealousies among the several states, Greece rapidly declined, and her ultimate ruin was hastened by the Social War and the Sacred War, which soon followed; so that, demoralized and disunited, this renowned land finally lay prostrate and ready to fall a prey to the arms of the despoiler-and this despoiler soon appeared in the person of Philip of Macedon.

End of Theban

Glory.

in

Egypt.

Under the auspices of the King of Persia, who still desired to levy men for his service in Egypt, overtures for a general peace were again Agesilaus made to the Grecian states. Sparta alone refused to agree to the new treaty, because it recognized the independence of Messenia. Apparently incensed at the course of King Artaxerxes Mnemon, Agesilaüs, although an octogenarian, crossed the sea at the head of one thousand heavy-armed Lacedæmonians and ten thousand mercenaries to assist Tachos, King of Egypt, who had sought Spartan aid in his revolt against the dominion of Persia. The appearance of this little, lame old man, without any royal retinue or magnificence, excited ridicule among the Egyptians; but when he abandoned the cause of Tachos and joined the standard of Nectanabis, who had risen in arms against Tachos, the Egyptians were able to comprehend the full importance of the decrepit little Spartan king, as he placed Nectanabis upon the Egyptian throne. But Agesilaus died at Cyrênê on his way home, in the eighty-fourth year of his age and the forty-first of his reign (B. C. 361). His body, embalmed in wax, was conveyed with great pomp to Sparta. An ancient oracle had foretold that Cyrene. Sparta would lose her power under a lame king—a prophecy which was now verified through no fault of the king. Agesilaüs had all the virtues of the Spartans, without their common failings of avarice and deceit. He likewise had a warmth and tenderness in friendship seldom possessed by his countrymen. He has been styled "Sparta's most perfect citizen and most consummate general, in many ways, perhaps, her greatest man."

His

Death

at

Athens

and the

Social
War.

Chabrias and

In the meantime Athens carried on wars in the North, by sea against Alexander of Pheræ, and by land against Macedon and the princes of Thrace. The second period of Athenian greatness culminated in the year B. C. 358, when Euboea, the Chersonésus and Amphipolis were once more reduced under the dominion of Athens. The allied dependencies of Athens had long and patiently borne the system of exaction which she formerly practiced, but the patience of these dependencies finally became exhausted. In B. C. 358 the isles of Chios, Cos, Rhodes, and the city of Byzantium, acting in concert with several minor communities, and after having duly prepared themselves for the consequences, transmitted a joint declaration to the Athenian government that," as they now needed and derived no assistance or protection from Athens, the tribute hitherto paid in return for such countenance could no longer be required." This message aroused great indignation at Athens, which at once sent a fleet to check the rebellious spirit of the dependent allies.

The principal instigator of this measure was Chares, a man of Chares. profligate character, and one of the leading abettors of the oppressive impositions which had occasioned the revolt. The conduct of the Social War, as this contest was styled, was committed to this popular favorite. The two ablest commanders then in Greece, Timótheus and Iphícrates, were passed over, because of their known desire for conciliatory measures in preference to hostile proceedings in this instance. Chabrias was the only man of note or ability on board the Athenian fleet, and the expedition was productive of honor only to him, though he lost his life through the acquisition of it. Upon the arrival of the Athenians at Chios, their commander, Chares, found himself unable to take his fleet into the harbor, on account of the vigorous resistance of the rebellious allies, who had assembled in force on the island. Chabrias alone entered the little bay with but one ship entrusted to him; but when his men found themselves unsupported by the rest of the fleet, they leaped into the sea and swam back to the other vessels, learing their brave leader, who preferred death to dishonor, to fall by the enemy's darts. The subsequent operations of Chares met with no better success than this attack upon Chios. A new fleet was dispatched to his aid, under the command of Mnestheus, the son of Iphícrates and the son-in-law of Timótheus, both of whom acted as his counselors, though neither of these two veterans held any important official station in the expedition. When the two Athenian fleets were united, it was resolved to besiege Byzantium, for the purpose of calling the entire strength of the revolted confederates to the defense of that city. The project succeeded. The revolted allies united all their naval forces and appeared before Byzantium. But a fierce storm rendered it un

Timo

Iphic

advisable and impracticable, according to the view taken by Timótheus and Iphícrates, for the Athenians to confront the foe. Never- theus and theless Chares confidently insisted on assailing the allied rebels, not- rates. withstanding the risk of shipwreck and other obstacles feared by his companions, but his opinions were overruled.

Chares at once sent messengers to Athens branding Timótheus and Iphícrates with all the opprobrious epithets which he could think of, and those two commanders were at once recalled and tried for neglect of duty. Timótheus was condemned to pay a fine of one hundred talents (about one hundred thousand dollars) to the state-a sentence which sent this worthy son of Conon and descendant of Miltíades into exile. Iphícrates, who was less scrupulous than his fellow-victim, filled the court with his armed friends and thus overawed the judges and forced an acquittal. He, however, like Timótheus, retired from his ungrateful native city; and neither of these eminent leaders ever afterward participated in public affairs.

Having thus rid himself of his colleagues, Chares roamed over the seas, attended by bands of singers, dancers and harlots, without concerning himself any further about the prosecution of the war. He finally brought down upon his country the wrath of the Persian king by hiring himself and his troops to assist the project of Artabazus, the rebellious Persian satrap of Ionia. A threatening message from King Artaxerxes Ochus so alarmed the Athenians that they recalled their fleet, thus practically permitting the revolted allies the enjoyment of the independence for which they had contended (B. C. 355). Athens was also induced by other causes to submit quietly for the time to this humiliating diminution of her dominion and her resources.

Exile of

Timo

theus and Iphic

rates.

Chares

and His Inglorious

End.

Rapid

Athens.

Thus the Social War was generally inglorious and exhaustive to Athens, and her power rapidly declined thenceforth. During the four Decline of years that this war had been in progress (B. C. 358–355), Philip of Macedon had been able to seize all the Athenian dependencies on the Thermaic Gulf and thus to extend the Macedonian power to the Peneus.

SECTION V.-LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND ART.

des.

SIMONIDES, a highly-eminent elegiac poet, was born in the isle of SimoniCeos, about the year B. C. 560. Upon reaching manhood he opened a school and for some time taught singing and dancing, but grew weary of this occupation and passed over into Asia Minor, where he wandered from city to city, writing, for pay, poetical eulogiums on the victors in the public games. He visited Athens during the rule of Hippias and Hipparchus, and afterwards sailed to Sicily, where his