tories to her empire. Remarquez... la conduite des Romains. Après la défaite d'Antiochus, ils étaient maîtres de l'Afrique, de l'Asie et de la Grèce, sans y avoir presque de villes en propre.... Il n'était pas temps encore de s'emparer des pays conquis. S'ils avaient gardé les villes prises à Philippe, ils auraient fait ouvrir les yeux aux Grecs; si, après la seconde guerre punique, ou celle contre Antiochus, ils avaient pris des terres en Afrique ou en Asie, ils n'auraient pu conserver des conquêtes si peu solidement établies. Il fallait attendre que toutes les nations fussent accoutumées à obéir, comme libres et comme alliées, avant de leur commander comme sujettes, et qu'elles eussent été, se perdre peu à peu dans la république romaine."1 1 Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence, chap. vi. in fin. Diplomatic intercourse. Treaty of alliance between Elea and Heraea, 588-572 B.C. CHAPTER XVII TREATIES: DIFFERENT KINDS. ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES.-THE ROMAN RECUPERATORES HAVING already considered the practice of concluding treaties in Greece and Rome, the various proceedings, indispensable formalities and ceremonial, the conception of the sacred and the positive sanctions involved, the establishment of confederations and general alliances, and the rights and duties of contracting parties, it will now be convenient to examine briefly a few representative compacts (more especially with regard to their subject matter), chosen from amongst the numerous recorded treaties, preserved either in the texts of ancient historians and other writers, or in epigraphic documents. The cases cited will further testify to the great diplomatic activity of the Hellenic and the Roman peoples, their tendency to bring about as far as possible a regularization of international or interstatal relationships, and to establish definite mutual understandings for facilitating commercial and other intercourse; they will, moreover, clearly indicate the general recognition of the interests of peace as being superior to those of war. A. In Greece. A treaty of alliance was entered into, about 588572 B.C., between Elea and Heraea, two States in the Peloponnese, probably in view of the Persian invasion. The original text, engraved on a bronze tablet, is couched in the Doric dialect. It was discovered in 1813 by Sir William Gell near Olympia, and is now in the British Museum. It is one of the oldest extant documents relating to European diplomacy. The substance of the compact is to this effect: Let "Treaty of the Eleans and Heraeans. pur Alliance for a hundred years. Record. between Sparta, The treaty between Athens and Sparta, entered into Alliance 421 B.C. after the conclusion of the peace of Nicias, Athens and established an alliance for offensive and defensive poses. In the peace of Nicias, Sparta had sacrificed the interests of her allies in favour of her own; and hence it was regarded by them with jealousy and distrust. Four of the confederates, the Boeotians, the Corinthians, the Eleans, and the Megarians, refused to ratify it. Then Sparta entered into the alliance, partly because of this circumstance, and partly because of the expiration of her Thirty Years' Truce with Argos, as 1Cf. Hicks, Gr. hist. inscrip. no. 9; C. T. Newton, Collection of ancient Greek inscrip. in the Brit. Mus. (Oxford, 1883), part ii. 157; Michel, op. cit. no. 1 ; Corp. inscrip. Graec. 11; Egger, Traités publics, p. 27; R. von Scala, Staatsverträge, no. 27. The following is the text of the treaty as given by Hicks: 'Α Γράτρα τοῖρ Γαλείοις καὶ τοῖς Ηρ Γαώιοις. Συνμαχία κ ̓ εἴα ἑκατὸν Γέτεα. ἄρχοι δέ κα τοΐ. αἰ δέ τι δέοι, αἴτε Fέπος αἴτε F- ρ πολέμω. αἱ δὲ μὰ συνεῖαν τάλαντόν κ' ?Thục. V. 22. Union against common enemy. Slaves. Oath. she feared a renewal of hostilities by the latter. The provisions are as follows1 : (1) "If an enemy invade the Lacedaemonian territory and harm the Lacedaemonians, the Athenians shall assist the Lacedaemonians in any way in which they can, and to the utmost of their power; and if the enemy ravage their territory and depart, the offending city shall be the enemy of the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, and shall suffer at the hands of both of them, and neither city shall cease from war before the other. These things shall be performed honestly, and zealously, and sincerely. (2) "If any enemy invade the Athenian territory and harm the Athenians, the Lacedaemonians shall assist them in any way which they can, and to the utmost of their power; and if the enemy ravage their territory and depart, the offending city shall be the enemy of the Athenians and Lacedaemonians, and shall suffer at the hands of both of them, and neither city shall cease from war before the other. These things shall be performed honestly, and zealously, and sincerely. (3) "If the slaves rebel, the Athenians shall aid the Lacedaemonians with all their might and to the utmost of their power. (4) "These provisions shall be sworn to on both sides by the same persons who swore to the former treaty. Every year the Lacedaemonians shall go to Athens at the Dionysia and renew the oath, and the Athenians shall go to Lacedaemon at the Hyacinthia and renew the oath. Both parties shall erect pillars, one in Lacedaemon at the temple of 1Thuc. v. 23. (Jowett's translation, which has been adopted in other cases where Thucydides is quoted at any length.) Apollo in Amyclae, another at Athens in the (5) "If the Lacedaemonians and Athenians Modification of treaty. between Confederacy, In 420 B.C., some eight years before the dissolution Alliance of the first Athenian league, Athens entered into a Athens and hundred years' alliance with the Argive confederacy. the Argive This is an interesting example of a convention in 420 B.C. respect of the nature of the provisions laid down, and of diplomatic relationships in general. The text of the treaty is thus recorded by Thucydides 2 : (1) "The Athenians and the Argives, Mantineans, and Eleans, on their own behalf and that of the allies over whom they severally rule, make a peace to continue for a hundred years both by sea and land, without fraud or hurt. The Argives, Eleans, Mantineans, and their allies shall not make war against the Athenians and the allies over whom they rule, and the Athenians and their allies shall not make war against the Argives, Eleans, Mantineans, and their allies, in any sort or manner. (2) "Athens, Argos, Elis, and Mantinea shall be allied for a hundred years on the following conditions :-If enemies invade. 1 See supra, PP. 13 seq. 2 Thuc. v. 47.-See Hicks, 69, for a fragment of an inscription. (given only in uncials), found near the Dionysiac theatre in 1877. This marble tablet is of particular interest, as it offers a striking illustration of the documentary sources (the Quellen, as the Germans say) of historians like Thucydides. There are various discrepancies between the text of the latter and that of the inscription; but, so far as our present purpose is concerned, they are of no great consequence. See Jowett's note to Thuc. v. 47, in the second volume of the translation. Cf. Von Scala (no. 87), who gives the full text of the treaty, and a systematic analysis of its substance. Alliance for a hundred years. Union against common enemy. |