Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

μάχους ποιεῖσθαι. σεισμοῦ δὲ γενομένου πρίν τι ἐπικυρωθῆναι, ἡ ἐκκλησία αὕτη ἀνεβλήθη.

Τῇ δ ̓ ὑσεραίᾳ ἐκκλησίᾳ ὁ Νικίας, καίπερ τῶν Λακεδαιμονίων αὐτῶν ἠπατημένων, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξηπατημένος περὶ τοῦ μὴ αὐτοκράτορες ὁμολογῆσαι ἥκειν, ὅμως τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ἔφη χρῆναι φίλους μᾶλλον γίγνεσθαι, καὶ ἐπισχόνας τὰ πρὸς Αργείους, πέμψαι ἔτι ὡς αὐτοὺς, καὶ εἰδέναι ὅ, τί διανοοῦνται· λέγων, ἐν μὲν τῷ σφετέρῳ καλῷ, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἐκείνων ἀπρεπεῖ, τὸν πόλεμον ἀναβάλλεσθαι. σφίσι μὲν γὰρ εὖ ἑςώτων τῶν πραγμάτων, ὡς ἐπιπλεῖσον ἄριςον εἶναι διασώσασθαι τὴν εὐπραγίαν· ἐκείνοις δὲ δυςυχοῦσιν, ὁτιλάχισα εὕρημα εἶναι διακινδυνεύσαι. ἔπεισέ τε πέμψαι πρέσβεις, ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν, κελεύσονλας Λακεδαιμονίους, εἴτι δίκαιον διανοοῦνται, Πάνακιόν τε ὀρθὸν ἀποδιδόναι, καὶ ̓Αμφίπολιν· καὶ τὴν Βοιωτῶν ξυμμαχίαν ἀνεῖναι, ἢν μὴ ἐς τὰς σπονδὰς ἐσίωσι, καθάπερ εἴρητο, ἄνευ ἀλλήλων μηδενὶ ξυμβαίνειν. εἰπεῖν τε ἐκέλευον, ὅτι καὶ σφεῖς, εἰ ἐβούλοντο ἀδικεῖν, ἤδη ἂν ̓Αργείους ξυμμάχους πεποιῆσθαι· ὡς παρεῖναί γ' αὐτοὺς αὐτοῦ τούτου ἕνεκα. εἴτε τι ἄλλο ἐνεκάλουν, πάντα ἐπιςείλανες, ἀπέπεμψαν τοὺς περὶ τὸν Νικίαν πρέσβεις. καὶ ἀφικομένων αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀπαγγειλάντων τά τε ἄλλα, καὶ τέλος εἰπόνων, ὅτι εἰ μὴ τὴν ξυμμαχίαν ἀνήσουσι Βοιωτοῖς μὴ ἐσιοῦσιν ἐς τὰς σπονδὰς, ποιήσονται καὶ αὐτοὶ ̓Αργείους, καὶ τοὺς μετ ̓ αὐτῶν, ξυμμάχους· τὴν μὲν ξυμμαχίαν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι Βοιωτοῖς οὐκ ἔφασαν ἀνήσειν, ἐπικρατούντων τῶν περὶ τὸν Ξενάρη τὸν Ἔφορον ταῦτα γίγνεσθαι, καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης ἦσαν. τοὺς δὲ ὅρκους, δεομένου Νικίου, ἀνενεώσαντο. ἐφοβεῖτο γὰρ μὴ πάνα ἀτελῆ ἔχων ἀπέλθῃ, καὶ διαβληθῇ (ὅπερ καὶ ἐγένειο), αἴτιος δοκῶν εἶναι τῶν πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους σπονδῶν. ἀναχωρή σανιός τε αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἤκουσαν οἱ ̓Αθηναῖοι οὐδὲν ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος πεπραγμένον, εὐθὺς δι ̓ ὀργῆς εἶχον· καὶ νομίζοντες ἀδικεῖσθαι, ἔτυχον γὰρ παρόντες οἱ ̓Αργεῖοι, καὶ οἱ ξύμμαχοι, παραγαγόνιος ̓Αλκιβιάδου, ἐποιήσαντο σπονδὰς καὶ ξυμμαχίαν πρὸς αὐτοὺς τήνδε.

The remark of Plutarch on this precious is well worth attention : — Καὶ τὸν μὲν τρόπον roguery οὐδεὶς τῆς πράξεως ἐπῄνει, μέγα δ ̓ ἦν τὸ πεπραγμένον ὑπ ̓ αὐτοῦ,

διαςῆσαι καὶ κραδᾶναι Πελοπόννησον ὀλίγου δεῖν ἄπασαν, καὶ τοσαύτας ἀσπίδας ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μια περὶ Μαντίνειαν ἀντιτάξαι Λακεδαιμονίοις, καὶ ποῤῥωίάτω τῶν ̓Αθηναίων ἀγῶνα κατασκευάσαι καὶ κίνδυνον αὐτοῖς, ἐν ᾧ μέγα μὲν οὐδὲν ἡ νίκη προσέθηκε κρατήσασιν, εἰ δ ̓ ἐσφάλησαν, ἔργον ἦν τὴν Λακεδαίμονα περιγενέσθαι. The consequence was the battle of Mantinea, in which the Athenians were beaten without adding much to the confidence or to the resources of the Lacedemonians.

The web of Alcibiades's policy was curiously wrought: Αλκιβιάδης γὰρ, ὅτε ἀπῄει ἐκ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἤδη μελά πεμπῖος, ἐπιςάμενος ὅτι φεύξοιλο, μηνύει τοῖς τῶν Συρακουσίων φίλοις τοῖς ἐν Μεσήνῃ, ξυνειδὼς τὸ μέλλον. — Thucyd. lib. vi. cap. 66. Without any genuine and rational patriotism, he was continually stirring up the young men of Athens to aim at the empire, not only of the sea but of the land; and reminding them of the oath they had taken in the temple of Aglauros. Attica was a barren tract; and they had sworn to consider any country as their own, which abounded in corn, wine, and oil.

Among the military effeminacies of Alcibiades, was that of carrying a shield of gold in the wars, with the ensign, a Cupid bearing a thunderbolt, instead of the owl, or the olive, or Minerva herself, the usual and recognised devices of the Athenians.

Demosthenes, in his oration against Midias, speaks with mingled praise and censure of Alcibiades: Λέγεται τοίνυν πολὲ ἐν τῇ πόλει, κατὰ τὴν παλαιὰν ἐκείνην εὐδαι μονίαν, ̓Αλκιβιάδης γενέσθαι, ᾧ σκέψασθε, τίνων εὐεργεσιῶν ὑπαρ χουσῶν, καὶ ποίων τινῶν πρὸς τὸν δῆμον, πῶς ἐχρήσανθ ̓ ὑμῶν οἱ πρόγονοι, ἐπειδὴ βδελυρὸς καὶ ὑβρισὴς ᾤείο δεῖν εἶναι· καὶ οὐκ, ἐπεικάσαι δήπου Μειδίαν ̓Αλκιβιάδη βουλόμενος, τούτου μέμνημαι

The slaughter of all the adult males among the Melians, a crime unlike those generally committed by Alcibiades, is stated by Plutarch to have taken place under a decree promoted by him. But Thucydides, who gives an account of the affair with the Melians, ending in this nefarious transaction, in the last three sections of his fifth book, neither mentions such decree, nor names Alcibiades. It has been suggested that he wished to have the carnage thought the effect of a sudden transport of the soldiery, and not a deliberate act of cruelty on the part of the Athenians. If so, what becomes of the severely impartial historian ? He certainly gets over the massacre as fast as he can, in a single sentence; but had there been such a decree, and Alcibiades its promoter, it would have been unlike his usual proceeding to have suppressed the fact. Melos was one of the Cyclades, and a Lacedemonian colony. That Alcibiades was the officer who blockaded it, is true. His force amounted to thirty-six ships, and three thousand men. He could not take the island till the second year, after he had received a reinforcement under Philocrates. It but too often happened in ancient times, that troops were exasperated by being detained long at a siege, and committed ravages which their officers were unable to prevent. Effeminacy, and the violation of public decency, are offences of more probable imputation.

On this subject Athenæus relates an anecdote, immediately preceding that of Anytus and Thrasyllus, in a chapter before quoted : —'Açıxóuevos d Αθηνήσιν ἐξ Ολυμπίας, δύο πίνακας ἀνέθηκεν, Αγλαοφῶνος γρα φήν· ὧν ὁ μὲν εἶχεν Ὀλυμπιάδα και Πυθιάδα ςεφανούσας αὐτὸν· ἐν δὲ θατέρῳ Νεμέα ἦν καθημένη, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν γονάτων αὐτῆς ̓Αλ

κιβιάδης, καλλίων φαινόμενος τῶν γυναικείων προσώπων. This Aglaophon was the father of Polygnotus. He is mentioned in good company by Cicero, De Orat. iii. 7. : — “ Una est ars ratioque picturæ, dissimillimique tamen inter se Zeuxis, Aglaophon, Apelles: neque eorum quisquam est, cui quidquam in arte sua deesse videatur."

Ambition showed itself under contrasted forms in Alcibiades and his guardian Pericles: in the former, headstrong, inconsiderate, and personal; in the latter, prudent, statesman-like, and patriotic. Pericles knew the lust of conquest to be the national error of the Athenians; and his authority was always exerted to restrain its extravagance. He died in the third year of the Peloponnesian war. During his lifetime, they had felt a longing desire to mix themselves up with the divisions of the Sicilians; but when the check of his disapprobation was removed, they aimed at the conquest of the island, and banished two of their generals and fined a third, for not having effected it. Alcibiades lent himself to these lofty notions, and with an imprudence the reverse of his guardian's policy, suggested the entire occupation of the island, instead of that gradual conquest which only they had hitherto meditated. * But Socrates was warned by that genius, who was fabled to have waited on him, and, fable apart, is true wisdom, that this career would not be ultimately successful. Meton

* Mr. Mitford, I find on consulting him since I wrote this passage, does not consider the project of Alcibiades as so imprudent; but, on the contrary, speaks of it as "extensively founded." I do not dispute so high an authority, but as there is historical warrant in the expressed opinions of Socrates and Meton, I have allowed the passage to stand.

[ocr errors]

the astronomer read no favourable destiny in the stars, and wished to exempt his son from the hazards of the campaign. He affected madness, set his house on fire, and conveniently recovering his senses, petitioned the people to let his son stay at home to comfort him. Nicias also opposed a wise and cautious policy to the arrogance and impetuous rashness of his opponent. But violence carried its point against counsel and experience. The arguments on both sides are so admirably constructed by Thucydides, in speeches which he probably framed from traditionary heads or remnants of their respective harangues, that: I should insert them but for their extreme length: I will therefore give them as condensed by that excellent historian of Greece, Mr. Mitford:

"To urge to Athenian tempers," Nicias said, "that in reason they should rather take measures to secure what they alreddy possess, than ingage in wild projects for farther acquisition, I fear will be vain; yet I think it my duty to endevor to show you how rash and unadvised your present purpose is. Within Greece you seem to imagine yourselves at peace: yet some of the most powerful states, of the confederacy with which you have been at war, have not yet acceded to the treaty, and some of the articles are still controverted by all. In short, it is not a peace, but meerly a dubious suspension of hostilities, prolonged by ten-day truces, which will hold only till some misfortune befal us, or till Lacedæmon give the word for war. At the same time your antient subjects, the Chalcidians of Thrace, have been years in a rebellion which they are still maintaining; and some others, whom you esteem dependent states, pay you but a precarious

« IndietroContinua »