democracy had been destroyed by the opposite faction. The walls and fortresses of Athens were levelled to the ground. The triumph on her ruin was celebrated by a festival, in which the noblest passages of Grecian poetry were recited. One of these passages was from the Electra of Euripides, in which the chorus says, "Unhappy daughter of the great Atrides, Thy straw-thatch'd palace I approach!" The allusion to the fallen state of Athens, resembling that of the royal princess, exiled from the palace of her father, melted the assembly into tears. Athens, the queen of the ocean-the sovereign of Greece--was fallen! Seventy-six years after the battle of Salamis, and on the anniversary of that day, the Peloponnesian war was ended. 185. The review of this long war, which lasted twentyseven years, suggests many reflections. We can dwell only on those which are connected with the personal advantage of the reader. Whatever may be thought of the ambition of the great leaders in this war, or of the states involved in it, how manifestly does it show the misery inflicted on mankind by their own passions. Here were many territories in a country smaller than our own, speaking one language, connected by many common interests, and endowed with great liveliness and power of mind, and yet, by their mutual jealousies, they inflicted unspeakable miseries on each other. The men who took the lead appear in their true character by their actions. With them, vanity, ambition, revenge, were the ruling motives. These motives were equally strong in both the great parties by which Greece was dividedthose who confined the power of government to a few, or those who divided it among the many. There can be no doubt that it is natural to us to desire the esteem and approbation of our fellow-men-to wish for the power to carry out our own designs-to express our feelings when we are injured. But it is one of the uses of this history to show to what excess these desires, wishes, and feelings may be carried, and with what ill consequences such excess is followed. We should be on our guard against being dazzled by great names and heroic deeds. We are to look through the outward glare, and trace the inward spirit of men's lives as they pass before us. If we look back on the 404.] END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 99 remarkable men who have been prominent in these scenes, we behold in them many of the qualities which the world has agreed to admire. At the same time, how many other qualities there are which our holy religion condemns, and which we are taught to hate and to avoid. We cannot be blind to the selfishness of these men, their dishonest artifices, their open wickedness, their licentiousness, their cruelty, their pride. While we know that it would be unfair to judge them by the standard by which we are to be judged, it is not unfair to judge them by the same standard by which they judged each other. 186. Why should we judge them at all? There are many reasons. We cannot read of them without forming some opinion of their character. It is of great moment that our opinion of them should be sound. If we judge favourably of them, we shall be apt to imitate them by committing the same faults, however different our situations in life may be. If we commit the same faults, we shall not be only as wicked as they were, but a great deal worse; because we have more knowledge of God, are more fully acquainted with his will, and are bound by higher motives to obey it. If, on the contrary, we condemn the faults of these men, as we must, according to the light which has been given us, then how much more severely shall we condemn the same faults in ourselves; how grateful should we be to God that he has taught us better; how earnestly should we implore the forgiveness of our sins by the grace of God, for the sake of his dear Son, with whose perfect character he is "well pleased," and who " gave himself a ransom" for offenders; how constantly should we seek the Holy Spirit to make us, not like the men we have been reading of, but like our Saviour; and how carefully should we watch against every temptation by which we might be led astray. With such views as these, let us look upon this Grecian story; and let us see how plainly it proves the truth of Scripture respecting fallen man. 187. We shall have occasion, as we advance, often to pause and reflect on what we have been reading. Reading should lead to meditation. The use of historical reading is to supply facts on which to meditate, and from which we are to draw practical inferences. Was not Pericles a proud aspiring man, who saw his way to distinction in making the Athenians proud of their city, and their country; and who, at his death, forgetting the blood of thousands shed to gratify his ambition, consoled himself with vanity and falsehood? Was not Alcibiades a fierce and wayward man, who spent his youth in debauchery, dazzled the people with the hopes of freedom that he might be their ruler, and plotted the ruin of his fellow-citizens to gratify his personal revenge ? Was not Lysander a false, cunning, ambitions schemer, who employed his great talents for the ruin of the people who stood in his way? 188. If we turn from the leaders to the people, we see substantially the same bad qualities. The iron-hearted Spartans the voluptuous Corinthians-the treacherous Thebans-the haughty Athenians-all, though with circumstantial differences, treated as enemies those who interfered with their pleasures, their gain, or their glory ; worshipping the men who accomplished their purposes, and murdering the same men when they disappointed them; trampling on the rights of nations in the name of freedom, and sacrificing the lives of men, women, and children, to the basest and most malignant passions. The historians of Greece have painted these people in glowing colours, and they have been copied by most of those who have made use of their materials. But who can think of the crimes and miseries which were spread over the fairest regions of Europe and Asia, by the selfish quarrels of these people, without a blush and a sigh for human nature? "Lands intersected by a narrow frith Abhor each other. Mountains interposed Like kindred drops, been mingled into one. COWPER'S TASK. 189. In the closing scenes of the Peloponnesian war, we see the judgments of God chastising the pride of Athens. What a miserable harvest did she reap from the seeds which she herself had sown! This is part of the great plan by which heaven rebukes the sins of men. Even a Roman philosopher perceived that "those who endeavour to render themselves formidable to others, sooner or later feel the effects of living in continual fear and apprehension." The Holy Scriptures teach us "that the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands; he made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he had made: his mischief shall return upon his own head." And the history of Greece, like many others, is filled with mournful illustrations of these truths. It is true, indeed, that nations professing a better religion have been but too prone to indulge the same passions; and they, in like manner, have been punished. Yet it ought not to be forgotten, that whatever be our national profession, the spirit of the gospel is only profitable to us so far as it influences our personal character. Whatever other men, in any land, or at any time, have done, our duty and our happiness consist in cultivating "the mind that was in Christ Jesus." CHAPTER XVII. THE THIRTY TYRANTS OF ATHENS. Conquest of Samos-Appointment of the Thirty Tyrants-Their names-Their object-Cephalus-Lysias-Polemarchus-Theramenes and Critias-Murder of Theramenes-Death of Alcibiades-Attack on Phyle-Speech of Thrasybulus -Treaty of peace. 190. IT was not until after the humiliation of Athens, that the isle of Samos yielded to the arms of Lysander. In each of the islands and cities, thus brought under Spartan dominion, there was a party favourable to Spartan views, from whom Lysander selected a governor. The bitter cup of slavery was sent round to all. The cruelty of the government was so oppressive, that the subjects would have gladly exchanged it for the haughty dominion of Athens, or even of Persia. The Athenians had given up their fleet, and a Spartan garrison possessed their citadel. At the mercy of their conquerors, they were compelled to submit to a change in their government. This consisted in the appointment of thirty with supreme power. Their names are given by Xenophon: Polyarches, Critias, Melobius, Hippolochus, Euclidas, Hiero, Mnesilochus, Chremo, Theramenes, Aresias, Diocles, Phædrias, Chærilaus, Anætius, Piso, Sophocles, Eratosthenes, Charicles, Onomacles, Theognis, Æschines, Theogenes, Cleomedes, Erasistratus, Phido, Dracontides, Eumathes, Aristoteles, Hippomachus, Mnesithides. 191. The object of these tyrants was to reduce Athens to a condition in which she could neither awaken the jealousy, nor resist the force, of Sparta. They put to death the worthiest citizens. Among these were Niceratus, son of Nicias; Leon, and Antiphon. To be popular was to be dangerous. Wealth was a crime. One example may suffice. Cephalus, a Syracusan, had been induced, by the friendship of Pericles, to settle in Athens, and had maintained, in troublous times, a high character for thirty years. His sons, Lysias and Polemarchus, inherited his reputation and his riches. Though they had not aspired to become citizens, they had largely contributed to the support of the state. These men became the victims of the tyrants. They were robbed by them of their property. The golden earrings of the wife of Polemarchus were violently torn away by Melobius. Polemarchus himself was imprisoned and poisoned. Lysias, after much suffering, made his escape to Megara. When their oppressions were carried to`a desperate length, Theramenes, himself one of the thirty, and the proposer of the scheme, made great efforts to rescue the innocent from the grasp of his colleagues. He was opposed by Critias, who prevailed on his other colleagues to bring Theramenes to trial as an enemy to the government. He was brought before the senate, and Critias addressed them in an artful speech, in which he brought forward all the inconsistent actions of Theramenes, to prove that he was a traitor. Theramenes defended himself by asserting that though he had often changed his conduct, his principles had never varied; that he always had opposed, and always would oppose, the tyranny of the magistrates, whatever might be the form of government. His defence was in vain; Theramenes was condemned to die, and a body of men armed with daggers appeared. Starting at the sound of the sentence, he sprang to the altar; from thence he was dragged by the executioners to the marketplace. The cup of hemlock was put into his hand. poured the last drop on the ground, as a libation to "the honest Critias." He 192. The murder of Theramenes having removed the only restraint upon the tyrants, they drove the people from their lands and from their homes, forbidding any Grecian city to afford them shelter. But they could not destroy the |