Part 8 (2/2)

PAINTING.--In Greece, painting first ceased to be subordinate to architecture, and became independent. In early days, there was skill in the ornamentation of vases and in mural painting. Yet, with much spirit and feeling, there was a conventional treatment. The earliest artist of whom we know much is _Polygnotus_ (about 420 B.C.), whose groups of profile figures were described as remarkable for their life-like character and fine coloring. _Apollodorus_ of Athens was distinguished, but _Zeuxis_ of Heraclea is said to have been the first to paint movable pictures. He is famed for his marvelous power of imitation: the birds pecked at a bunch of grapes which he painted. But even he was outdone by _Parrhasius_. Zeuxis, however, had far higher qualities than those of a literal copyist. The most successful of the Greek painters was _Apelles_. Among his masterpieces was a painting of Venus rising from the waves, and a portrait of Alexander the Great. We have not in painting, as in sculpture, a store of monuments of Greek art; but the skill of the Greeks in painting fell behind their unequaled genius in molding the human form in bronze and marble.

CHAPTER III. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR.

I. TO THE PEACE OF NICIAS (421 B.C.).

TO THE DEATH OF PERICLES.--Wonderful as was the growth of Athens under Pericles, it is obvious that she stood exposed to two princ.i.p.al sources of danger. Her allies and dependants, the stay of that naval power in which her strength lay, were discontented with her spirit of domination and of extortion. The _Peloponnesian Alliance_, which was led by _Sparta_, the bulwark of the aristocratic interest, comprised, with the Dorian, most of the Aeolian states,--as Boeotia, Phocis, Locris, etc. Its military strength lay mainly in its heavy-armed infantry. Thus Sparta had the advantage of strong allies. The motive at the bottom of this alliance was what Thucydides tells was the real cause of the Peloponnesian war,--the jealousy which the growth of Athens excited in other states. This feeling really involved a conviction of the need of maintaining in Greece that which in modern times is called a ”balance of power.” When Greece was no longer one, as in the best days of the wars with Persia, but was divided into two opposite camps, watchful and jealous of one another, an occasion of conflict could not fail to arise. It was complained that Athens gave help to _Corcyra_ in a war with _Corinth_, its mother city, made war upon _Potidaea_ in Macedonia, a Corinthian colony, and also shut out _Megara_ from the harbors of Attica.

The demands made by Sparta, which included the granting of independence to _Aegina_, were rejected. Attica was ravaged by Spartan troops, and the coast of Peloponnesus by the Athenian fleet (431 B.C.). This desolating warfare was kept up until a frightful pestilence broke out at Athens,--a plague having its origin in Egypt, and pa.s.sing thence over Asia and the Greek islands. Two of the sons of Pericles died, and an acc.u.mulation of public burdens and private sorrows brought on his own death (Sept., 429).

THE PESTILENCE.--The horrors of the pestilence are thus described in a celebrated pa.s.sage of the best of the Greek historians, _Thucydides:_ ”The crowding of the people out of the country into the city aggravated the misery, and the newly arrived suffered most. For, haying no houses of their own, but inhabiting, in the height of summer, stifling huts, the mortality among them was dreadful, and they perished in wild disorder. The dead lay as they had died, one upon another; while others, hardly alive, wallowed in the streets, and crawled about every fountain, craving for water. The temples in which they lodged were full of the corpses of those who died in them; for the violence of the calamity was such that men, not knowing where to turn, grew reckless of all law, human and divine. The customs which had hitherto been observed at funerals were universally violated, and they buried their dead, each one as best he could. Many, having no proper appliances, because the deaths in their household had been so frequent, made no scruple of using the burial-place of others. When one man had raised a funeral-pile, others would come, and, throwing on their dead first, set fire to it; or, when some other corpse was already burning, before they could be stopped, would throw their own dead upon it, and depart.

”There were other and worse forms of lawlessness which the plague introduced at Athens. Men who had hitherto concealed their indulgence in pleasure, now grew bolder. For, seeing the sudden change,--how the rich died in a moment, and those who had nothing, immediately inherited their property,--they reflected that life and riches were alike transitory, and they resolved to enjoy themselves while they could, and to think only of pleasure. Who would be willing to sacrifice himself to the law of honor when he knew not whether he would ever live to be held in honor? The pleasure of the moment, and any sort of thing which conduced to it, took the place both of honor and of expediency: no fear of G.o.d or law of man deterred a criminal. Those who saw all peris.h.i.+ng alike, thought that the wors.h.i.+p or neglect of the G.o.ds made no difference. For offenses against human law, no punishment was to be feared: no one would live long enough to be called to account. Already a far heavier sentence had been pa.s.sed, and was hanging over a man's head: before that fell, why should he not take a little pleasure?”

TO THE TRUCE WITH SPARTA.--The loss of Pericles, coupled with the terrible calamities which had befallen Athens, let loose the winds of party pa.s.sion. New leaders of the democracy, of whom _Cleon_ was the most noted, who lacked the refinement and self-restraint of Pericles, took his place. The Athenians were not able to save _Plataea_, to which they owed so much, from destruction at the hands of the _Spartans_ and _Boeotians_ (427 B.C.); but _Lesbos_ they recovered, and captured _Mytilene_, the bulk of whose citizens, against the will of Cleon, they spared. To the cruelties of war, which the revengeful temper of the Spartans promoted, there was added another plague at Athens, besides an earthquake, and tremendous rain-storms, alternating with drought.

_Demosthenes_, a brave and enterprising Athenian general, took possession of Pylos in Messenia. The Spartans, under _Brasidas_, were on the island of _Sphacteria_ opposite; and their retreat was cut off by the fleet under _Nicias_, who was the leader of the more aristocratic faction at Athens. _Cleon_, made strategus in the room of Nicias, took Sphacteria by storm, contrary to general expectation, and brought home nearly three hundred Spartan prisoners. Athens had other successes; but when her forces had been defeated by the Boeotians at _Delium_, and Brasidas had captured _Amphipolis_, and when in a battle there (422 B.C.) Brasidas was victorious over _Cleon_, who fell during the flight, the aristocratic party, which was desirous of peace, gained the upper hand. _Nicias_ concluded a truce with Sparta for fifty years. Each party was to restore its conquests and prisoners.

II. THE INFLUENCE OF ALCIBIADES.

THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION.--From this time, _Alcibiades_, a relative of Pericles, but lacking his sobriety and disinterested spirit, plays an active part. Beautiful in person, rich, a graceful and effective orator, but restless and ambitious, he quickly acquired great influence. Three years after the peace of Nicias, he persuaded Athens to join a league of disaffected Peloponnesian allies of Sparta; but in the battle of _Mantinea_ (418 B.C.) the Spartans regained their supremacy. It was at the suggestion of Alcibiades that the Athenians undertook the great _Sicilian Expedition_, which resulted in the worst disasters they ever suffered. This expedition was aimed at the Dorian city of _Syracuse_, and the hope was that all Sicily might be conquered. It consisted of about forty thousand men, besides the sailors. The commanders were _Alcibiades_, _Nicias_, and _Lamachus_. Alcibiades was recalled to answer a charge of sacrilege. At Thurii he managed to escape and went over to the side of Sparta. _Gylippus_ went with a small Spartan fleet to aid Syracuse. The Athenians were repulsed in their attack on the city. Although re-inforced by land and naval forces under a gallant and worthy general, _Demosthenes_, they fought under great disadvantages, so that their fleet was destroyed in the Syracusan harbor. Their retreating forces on land were cut to pieces or captured. _Nicias_ and _Demosthenes_ died either at the hands of the executioner or by a self-inflicted death.

NAVAL CONTESTS.--No such calamity had ever overtaken a Grecian army. The news of it brought anguish into almost every family in Athens. The Spartans had fortified the village of _Decelea_ in Attica, and sought on the sea, with Persian help, to annihilate the Athenian navy. The allies of Athens, _Chios_, _Miletus_, etc., revolted. The oligarchs at Athens overthrew the democratic const.i.tution, and placed the Government in the hands of a _Council of Four Hundred_. The popular a.s.sembly was limited to five thousand members, and was never called together. The object was to make peace with Sparta. But the army before Samos, of which _Thrasybulus_, a patriotic man, was the leader, refused to accept this change of government. _Alcibiades_, who had left the Spartans out of anger on account of their treatment of him, was recalled, and a.s.sumed command. The oligarchical rule was overturned in four months after its establishment, and the democracy restored,--the a.s.sembly being still limited, however, to five thousand citizens. Three brilliant naval victories, the last at _Cyzicus_ (410 B.C.), were won over the Spartans by Alcibiades who came back to Athens in triumph (408 B.C.). _Lysander_ was the commander of the Spartan fleet on the coast of Asia Minor, and (407 B.C.) gained a victory over the Athenian s.h.i.+ps during a temporary absence of Alcibiades. Alcibiades was not reelected general. He now withdrew, and, three years later, died. The new Spartan admiral, _Callicratidas_, surrounded the Athenian fleet under _Conon_ at Mitylene. By very strenuous exertions of the Athenians, a new fleet was dispatched to the help of Conon; and in the battle of _Arginusae_ (406 B.C.), the Peloponnesians were completely vanquished. The public spirit of Athens and the resources of a free people were never more impressively shown than in the prodigious efforts made by the Athenians to rise from the effect of the crus.h.i.+ng disaster which befell the Sicilian expedition on which their hopes were centered. But these exertions only availed to furnish to coming generations an example of the heroic energy and love of country which are possible under free government.

III. THE FALL OF ATHENS.

_Lysander_ once more took command of the Spartan fleet. Shrewd in diplomacy, as well as skillful in battle, he strengthened his naval force by the aid of _Cyrus_ the Younger, the Persian governor in Asia Minor. Watching his opportunity, he attacked the Athenians at _aegospotami_, opposite Lampsacus, when soldiers and sailors were off their guard (405 B.C.). Three thousand of them, who had not been slain in the a.s.sault, were slaughtered after they had been taken captive. _Conon_ escaped to Cyprus with only eight s.h.i.+ps. One fast-sailing trireme carried the news of the overwhelming defeat to Athens. Lysander followed up his success cautiously, but with energy. Islands and seaports surrendered to him, and in them he established the aristocratic rule. The Athenians were shut in by land and by sea. A treacherous aristocratic faction within the walls was working in the interest of the Spartans. Famine conspired with other agencies to destroy the mult.i.tude of homeless and dest.i.tute people who had crowded into the city. Starvation compelled a surrender to the Spartan general. The long walls and fortifications were demolished by the ruthless conqueror, the work of destruction being carried on to the sound of the flute. All but twelve vessels were given up to the captors. The democratic system was subverted, and thirty men--the ”_Thirty Tyrants_”--of the oligarchical party were established in power, with _Critias_, a depraved and pa.s.sionate, though able, man, at their head (404-403 B.C.). They put a Spartan garrison in the citadel, and sought to confirm their authority by murdering or banis.h.i.+ng all whom they suspected of opposition. _Thrasybulus_, a patriot, collected the democratic fugitives at _Phyle_, defeated the Thirty, and seized the _Piraeus_. Critias was slain. _Ten oligarchs_ of a more moderate temper were installed in power. In co-operation with the Spartan king, _Pausanias_, the two parties at Athens were reconciled. An amnesty was proclaimed, and democracy in a moderate form was restored, with a revision of the laws, under the archons.h.i.+p of _Euclides_ (403 B.C.). It was shortly after this change that the trial and death of _Socrates_ occurred, the wisest and most virtuous man of ancient times (399 B.C.).

PHILOSOPHY: SOCRATES.--At the head of the Greek philosophers is the ill.u.s.trious name of _Socrates_. He was the son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and was born 469 B.C., just as Pericles was a.s.suming the leaders.h.i.+p at Athens. Socrates was the founder of moral philosophy. He was original, being indebted for his ideas to no previous school. He was as sound in body as in mind. His appearance was unique. His forehead was ma.s.sive, but his flat nose gave to his countenance an aspect quite at variance with the Greek ideal of beauty. He looked, it was said, like a satyr. He taught, in opposition to the _Sophists_, a cla.s.s of men (including _Gorgias, Protagoras_, and others) who instructed young men in logic and grammar, taking fees,--which was contrary to the custom of the Greek philosophers,--and cultivating intellectual keenness and dexterity, often at the expense of depth and sincerity. Their work as thinkers was negative, being confined mainly to pointing out fallacies in existing systems, but providing nothing positive in the room of them. _Socrates_ had been called by the oracle at Delphi the wisest of men. He could only account for this by the fact, that, in contrast with others, he did not erroneously deem himself to be knowing. ”Know thyself” was his maxim. His daily occupation was to converse with different cla.s.ses, especially young men, on subjects of highest moment to the individual and to the state. By a method of quiet cross-examination, the ”_Socratic irony_,” he made them aware of their lack of clear ideas and tenable, consistent opinions, and endeavored to guide them aright. The _soul_ and its moral improvement was his princ.i.p.al subject. He a.s.serted _Theism_ and the spiritual nature and obligations of religion, without calling in question the existence of the various divinities. He taught the doctrine of a universal _Providence_. Absolute loyalty to conscience, the preference of virtue to any possible advantage without it, he solemnly inculcated. He believed, perhaps not without a mingling of doubt, in the immortality of the soul. Taking no part in public affairs, he devoted his time to this kind of familiar instruction,--to teaching by dialogue, in compliance with what he believed to be an inward call of G.o.d. An impulse within him, which he called a divine ”voice,” checked him when he was about to take a wrong step. He was charged with corrupting the youth by his teaching, and with heresy in religion. His rebukes of the shallow and the self-seeking had stung them, and had made him many enemies. Such men as _Alcibiades_ and _Critias_, who had been among his hearers, but for whose misconduct he was really not in the least responsible, added to his unpopularity. The _Apology_, as given by Plato, contains the substance of his most impressive defense before his judges. He took no pains to placate them or his accusers, or to escape after he was convicted. Conversing with his disciples in the same genial, tranquil tone which he had always maintained, he drank the cup of hemlock, and expired (May, 399 B.C.). An account of his teaching and of his method of life is given by his loving scholar, _Xenophon_, in the _Memorabilia_. The dialogues of _Plato_, in which Socrates is the princ.i.p.al interlocutor, mingle with the master's doctrine the pupil's own thoughts and speculations.

PLATO.--_Plato_ (427-347 B.C.), the foremost of the disciples of Socrates, founded the philosophical school known as the _Academy_ from the place where his pupils were wont to meet him. One of his prominent tenets was the doctrine of _ideas_ which he regarded as spiritual realities, intermediate between G.o.d and the world, of which all visible things are the manifestation. They are the shadow, so to speak, of which ideas are the substance. He defined virtue in man to be resemblance to G.o.d according to the measure of our ability. In the _Republic_, he sets forth his political views, and sketches the ideal state. More speculative than Socrates, Plato, from the wide range of his discussions, from their poetic spirit as well as their depth of thought, not less than their beauty of style, is one of the most inspiring and instructive of all authors. No other heathen writer presents so many points of affinity with Christian teaching.

ARISTOTLE.--Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) studied under Plato, but elaborated a system of his own, which was on some points dissonant from that of his instructor. His investigations extended over the field of material nature, as well as over the field of mind and morals. With less of poetry and of lofty sentiment than Plato, he has never been excelled in intellectual clearness and grasp. He was possessed of a wonderful power to observe facts, and an equally wonderful talent for systemizing them, and reasoning upon them. He is the founder of the science of _Logic_. His treatises on _Rhetoric_ and on _Ethics_ have been hardly less important in their influence. His _Politics_ is a masterly discussion of political science, based on a diligent examination of the various systems of government. In truth, in all departments of research he exhibits the same capacity for scientific observation and discussion. In religion he was a theist; but he is less spiritual in his vein of thought, and more reserved in his utterances on this theme, than Plato. The names of these two philosophers have been very frequently coupled. Their influence, like their fame, is imperishable.

LATER SCHOOLS: THE CYNICS.--The impulse given by Socrates gave rise to still other schools of philosophers. _Aristippus_ of Cyrene (about 380 B.C.) founded a sect which held that happiness is the chief end, the goal of rational effort. _Antisthenes_, who was born 422 B.C., and especially _Diogenes_, went to the opposite extreme, and founded the school of _Cynics_, who looked with disdain, not only on luxuries, but on the ordinary comforts of life, and inured themselves to do without them. Their manners were often as savage as their mode of living.

HISTORICAL WRITINGS.--The three princ.i.p.al historical writers were _Herodotus_ (c. 484-0.425 B.C.), the charming but uncritical chronicler of what he heard and saw, by whom the interference of the G.o.ds in human affairs is devoutly credited; _Thucydides_, who himself took part in the Peloponnesian war, the history of which he wrote with a candor, a profound perception of character, an insight into the causes of events, a skill in arrangement, and a condensation and eloquence of style, which are truly admirable; and _Xenophon_, an author characterized by naturalness, simplicity, and a religious spirit.

GREEK LIFE.--It will be convenient to bring together here some features of Greek life, (1) _Public Buildings and Dwellings_. The Greeks almost always preferred to live in cities. These grew up about an _Acropolis_, which was a fort on a hill, generally a steep crag. This was a place of refuge, and the site of the oldest temple. It became often, therefore, a sacred place from which private dwellings were excluded. At the nearest harbor, there would be a seaport town. The _Piraeus_ was more than four miles from Athens,--a mile farther than the nearest sh.o.r.e, but was chosen as being an excellent harbor. Sparta, alone, had no citadel,--the access from the plain being easily defended,--and no walls. The attractive buildings in a Greek town were the public edifices. Private houses, as to the exterior, were very plain, with flat roofs, with few stories, and low. Towards the street ”the house looked like a dead wall with a strong door in it,” It was built round an open court: in the case of the best houses, round two courts,--one bordered by apartments for the men, the other with the rooms for women. Bedrooms and sitting-rooms were small, admitting but little light. Fresco-painting on the walls and ceilings came to be common. The furniture of the house was plain and simple, but graceful and elegant in form. The poorer cla.s.ses slept on skins; the richer, on woolen mattresses laid on girths. The Greeks lived so much in the open air that they took less pains with their dwellings. The public buildings were costly and substantially built. (2) _Meals, Gymnastics, etc._ The Greeks rose early. There are no notices of a morning bath. The first meal was light. It was succeeded, as was the custom at Rome, by calls on friends. Business might follow until noon, the hour of the _dejeuner_, or breakfast, which, in the case of the rich, was a substantial meal. Later in the day, males went to the practice of gymnastics, which were followed, in later times, by a warm bath. Towards sunset came the princ.i.p.al meal of the day. Conversation and music, or the attending of a feast with friends, took up the evening; if there was a festal company, often the whole night. At the dinner-table, the Greeks reclined on couches. Ladies, if allowed to be present, and children, were required to sit. Spoons, sometimes knives, but never forks, were used. (3) _Costume: Use of Wine._ The dress of the Greeks, both of men and women, was simple and graceful. The men were generally bareheaded in the streets. In bad weather they wore close-fitting caps, and, in traveling, broad-brimmed hats. In Athens and Sparta they always carried walking-sticks. The use of wine was universal. It was always mixed with water. (4) _Slaves_. Slaves were regarded as chattels. No one objected to slavery as wrong. Slaves were better treated at Athens than elsewhere, but even at Athens they were tortured when their testimony was required. They were let out, sometimes by thousands, to work in pestiferous mines. (5) _Women and Children_. In Athens, the wife had seldom learned any thing but to spin and to cook. She lived in seclusion in her dwelling, and was not present with her husband at social entertainments, either at home or elsewhere. She had few if any legal rights, although at Athens she might bring a suit against her husband for ill-treatment. Concubinage was not condemned by public opinion. There was no law against exposing infants whom the parents did not wish to bring up,--that is, leaving them where they would perish. When found and brought up, they were the slaves of the person finding them. This cruelty was frequent in the case of daughters, or of offspring weak or deformed. There were toys and games for children. _Archytas_, a philosopher, was said to have invented the child's rattle. Dolls, hoops, b.a.l.l.s, etc., were common playthings. Boys and girls played hide and seek, blind man's buff, hunt the slipper, etc. Older people played ball, and gambled with dice. (6) _Education_. The education of boys was careful; that of girls was neglected. The boy went to or from school under the care of a slave, called _pedagogue_, or leader. Teachers were of different social grades, from the low cla.s.s which taught small children, to the professors of rhetoric and philosophy. It is needless to say how much stress was laid on gymnastic and aesthetic training. Boys read _Homer_ and other authors at an early age, committing much of them to memory. They were taught to play on the harp or the flute, and to sing. Lyric poems they learned by heart. _Music_ held a very high place in the esteem of the Greeks for its general influence on the mind. Running, wrestling, throwing the dart, etc., the games practiced at the public contests, were early taught. Boys at sixteen or eighteen came of age, and were enrolled as citizens. (7) _Musical Instruments: the Dance_. Instrumental music was common among the Greeks at games and meals, and in battle. They used no bows on the stringed instruments, but either the fingers or the _plectrum_,--a stick of wood, ivory, or metal. There were three sorts of stringed instruments, the lyre, the cithara (or zithern), and the harp. The wind-instruments were the pipe, the clarionet, and the trumpet. Besides these, there were clanging instruments which were used chiefly in religious ceremonies: such were castanets, the cymbal, and the tambourine. Dancing was originally connected with religious wors.h.i.+p. Mimetic dances were a favorite diversion at feasts. There were warlike dances by men in armor, who went through the movements of attack and defense. In mimetic dances the hands and arms played a part. There were peaceful dances or choral dances, marked by rhythmic grace. Sometimes these were slow and measured, and sometimes more lively. Specially brisk were the dances at the festivals of Dionysus (Bacchus). Symbolic dances of a religious character, these Bacchic dances were the germ of the drama. Recitations were first introduced between hymns that attended the choric dances. Then, later, followed the dialogue. (8) _Weddings and Funerals_. Marriage was attended by a religious ceremonial. There was a solemn sacrifice and a wedding-feast. The bride was conveyed to her husband's house, accompanied on the way with music and song. When a person died, his body was laid out for one day, during which the relatives and hired mourners uttered laments round the bier. Burial was at the dawn of day. In later times, a coin was put into the mouth of the corpse, with which to pay his pa.s.sage to the world below. There was a funeral procession, and at the tomb a solemn farewell was addressed to the deceased by name. There was then a funeral-feast. Mourning garments were worn for a short period. The dead were buried in the suburbs of the cities, generally on both sides of a highway. In the tomb many little presents, as trinkets and vases, were deposited. (9) _Courts of Law_. At law men pleaded their own causes, but might take advice or have their speeches composed for them by others. In some cases, friends were allowed to speak in behalf of a litigant. Men like _Demosthenes_ received large fees for services of this kind. There being no public prosecutor, informers were more numerous. They became odious under the name of _sycophants_, which is supposed to have been first applied to those who informed against breakers of an old law forbidding the exportation of figs from Athens.

CHAPTER IV. RELATIONS WITH PERSIA.--THE SPARTAN AND THEBAN HEGEMONY.

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