important than forms of government, which might hereafter be revised.

179. The Four Hundred were chosen, and took possession of the powers of government. They sought peace, on dishonourable terms, with Sparta. They overawed others by mercenary troops from the lesser islands in the Ægean Sea. Their tyranny was soon felt in Athens; and the fugitives from Athens carried the tidings to Samos, where the same party had effected a similar revolution. The people of Samos, aided by Leon and Diomedon, Athenian generals; by Thrasybulus, commander of a galley; and Thrasyllus, a soldier, overturned the new party, and bound themselves by an oath to oppose the Four Hundred at Athens. Thrasyllus and Thrasybulus superseded the generals and captains that were suspected of adherence to the Athenian oligarchy. They recalled Alcibiades from the court of the Persian satrap. Intelligence of these movements in Samos increased the discontent in Athens, arising from disappointment, and from apprehensions that the new government was about to betray their national independence. Phrynicus, who had been sent in the embassy to Sparta, was murdered, on his return to Athens. A Peloponnesian squadron appeared in the gulf between Egina and Piræus. The Athenian fleet, hastily sent out to meet it, failed. Euboea revolted, and sent supplies to the Peloponnesus, instead of the Athenian ships. It was amid the excitement of these disasters, and while the threatened invasion was prevented by the timidity of the Spartan admiral, that Theramenes arraigned the leaders of the late revolution as traitors to the state, who had brought the enemies of Athens to aid them in enslaving her citizens. The constitution of the Four Hundred was abolished, its framers were condemned to death, and Alcibiades was recalled.

CHAPTER XVI.

END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR.

Different battles fought-Exploits of Alcibiades-Thrasyllus defeated at Ephesus -State of affairs in the twenty-fifth summer of the war-Return of Alcibiades to Athens - Benefits-His departure for Asia-Lysander-His proceedings-Callicratidas-Theramenes-Eteonicus-Lysander obtains possession of the city of Lampsacus-His stratagem-Further victories-Ruin of Athens-How celebrated-Reflections-Uses of history.

180. THE Connexion of the Peloponnesians with Tissaphernes, the Persian satrap, in Asia Minor, had made the coasts of that country the scene of the war; and numerous battles were fought, which it would be only tedious to detail. The Euboeans had carried out a mole at Chalcis, and another at Aulis, on the opposite coast of Boeotia, with a tower at the end of each mole, and a bridge over the narrow strait of Eripus, connecting their island with the mainland. The exploits of Alcibiades in the east had so reduced the Peloponnesian navy, that the Spartans had made a fruitless effort to procure a peace. While they were forming a new navy, Thrasyllus was making great preparations at Athens, and, having completed them, he proceeded to the Asiatic coast, where he was defeated in a battle at Ephesus. Pylus, so long held by the Athenians, was recovered by the Spartans. Nissæa was wrested from the power of Athens by the Megareans. But these losses were balanced by the energy of Alcibiades. Gathering all the strength of the Greek towns on the Chersonesus, he forced the Thracians to submit to him, took Chalcedon, Selymbria, and Byzantium, at the time when Cyrus, the younger son of Darius, was appointed Persian satrap of the maritime provinces of Asia Minor. He then sailed to Samos, and levied large sums of money on the coast of Caria. He sent Thrasyllus, with a large naval force, to reduce Thasos, and to restore the sovereignty of Athens in most of the cities which had revolted in Thrace. He then sailed to Paros, Gythium, and, finally, to Piræus, with the prizes which he had taken in the east. The Athenians were still harassed by the Spartan garrison at Decelea, notwithstanding their naval glory. It was now the twentyfifth summer of the Peloponnesian war.

181. The Athenians felt that they owed their heaviest calamities to the expulsion of Alcibiades, and they were prepared to receive him, after his late brilliant exploits, as the deliverer of his country. They formally revoked the decree by which he had been banished. They appointed him one of the new generals, and prolonged the term of his command. They crowded the shore to greet his return. He landed amid acclamations as loud and general as those which had witnessed his departure, with so much naval pomp, for Sicily, eight years before. The day after his landing, he appeared before a public assembly of the citizens, where he defended himself from all the charges which his enemies had brought against him. The enthusiasm of the people was so great, that his enemies were hushed to silence. The records of the former proceedings against him were flung into the sea. His property, which had been confiscated, was restored. A crown of gold was decreed to him. They even offered him a royal sceptre. But he declined an honour incompatible with the freedom of the republic; saying that "Athens needed not a king, but a single general, to raise her to the highest power and splendour; and that he aspired to no higher rank than that which had been made illustrious by Themistocles and Cimon." He was appointed absolute commander of all the forces of the commonwealth. It was a few months after the restoration of Alcibiades that the annual celebration of the mysteries took place at Eleusis. In former times, the Athenians had always marched to this festival in solemn procession; but since the Spartan occupation of Decelea, which commanded the road, they had been obliged to go by sea. Alcibiades resolved to renew the procession by land; and Agis, deterred either by superstition, or by the fear of attacking an enthusiastic people with their renowned leader at their head, permitted the heralds, priests, and other parties engaged in the procession, to pass and to return without hindrance.

182. For the last time, Alcibiades left the Athenian shore, amid the hopes of his fellow-citizens, for Asia Minor The Spartan government were happy in having at their disposal a man qualified to compete with Alcibiades: this was Lysander, who, to high birth, and to the usual abilities and energy of his countrymen, added a softness of manners

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and insinuation of address, which fitted him to negotiate with the Persians. He received the command of the Peloponnesian forces in the east. After sailing to Ephesus to meet the Spartan envoys who had been sent to treat with the Persian court, he repaired to Cyrus at Sardis. subtlety and flattery, he won the confidence of the Persian prince, and obtained from him a large advance of money, which he spent in the increase and repair of his fleet. Alcibiades was unsuccessful in his attempts to counteract the proceedings of Lysander at Sardis. He left Antiochus at Notium, to watch Lysander's movements, with orders to avoid any engagement with the enemy; while he himself went to Thrasybulus, at Phocæa, to concert measures for resisting the power which threatened the overthrow of his country. Antiochus, contrary to orders, provoked a battle. with Lysander, in which he was defeated and lost his life. Alcibiades, hearing of this, proceeded with his fleet towards Ephesus; but Lysander would not risk a battle with him. The Athenians were discouraged by these tidings, as well as by the loss of Andros, Chios, and Eion. The enemies of Alcibiades, availing themselves of the popular disappointment, procured his removal from command. Alcibiades had provided a refuge for himself near the Hellespont. His place was occupied by Thrasyllus, Leon, Diomedon, Cimon, Pericles, son of the former Pericles, and five others, who immediately proceeded to Samos.

183. The removal of Alcibiades was soon followed by a change in the Spartan fleet. Lysander's year of command being out, he was succeeded by Callicratidas, a man of a totally different character. In the midst of much difficulty he took the principal cities of Lesbos from the Athenians, repulsed the fleet under the command of Conon, but fell in a seafight with the Athenians near the rocky isles of Arginusæ, on the Æolian coast, opposite the south of Lesbos, in which the Athenians were crowned with the most important victory they had ever gained. The Spartans made overtures of peace to Athens, which were rejected. In consequence of the losses in the Athenian fleet, all the commanders, except Cleon, were recalled; and several of them were brought to trial for misconduct, condemned, and put to death. The prime instigator of these measures was Theramenes, who appears to have been influenced, partly, by a

view to his own safety, and, partly, by the oligarchical faction opposed to the policy and the friends of Alcibiades. Callicratidas was succeeded in the command of the Peloponnesian armament by Eteonicus; but the confederates, joined by Cyrus, sent envoys to Sparta to request that Lysander might be re-appointed. It was against the Spartan law to re-appoint the same commander; but the form was evaded, by sending Lysander as the second in authority under Aracus, but with actual supremacy. On receiving this appointment Lysander repaired to the court of Cyrus at Sardis, and received from him large supplies of money, and the direction of the revenues of his province during his own absence in Upper Asia. With these resources, he pressed into his service the seamen of Caria and of Ionia; and, sailing to the Hellespont with a large fleet, which he fitted out in the port of Ephesus, and other harbours of Asia Minor, took possession of the Athenian garrison, in the wealthy city of Lampsacus, on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont. The Athenian fleet, coming up too late to save Lampsacus, had an opportunity of insulting Lysander, who, after suffering them to revel in the hopes of victory, employed a successful stratagem for deceiving them; took seventy-one of their ships, slew all the men who fought, drove the rest to flight, and brought two of their commanders-Philocles and Adamantus-with three thousand other prisoners, to Lampsacus. There were only nine vessels that escaped. Eight were conducted by Conon to Cyprus, and the ninth carried to Athens the tidings that her empire of the sea was lost.

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184. Lysander pursued his victory by conquering Byzantium and Chalcedon; by reducing Mitylene, and confirming the possession of Methymna, in Lesbos; by establishing the Peloponnesian supremacy in Caria, Lydia, and the adjacent islands; by ravaging the shores of Macedon; subduing the ports of Thrace; and by bringing into alliance with Sparta the most favoured regions and most civilized portions of the world. During the eight months in which Lysander was thus adding conquest to conquest, he kept his eyes on Athens. The supplies of grain for that city had been cut off by the Peloponnesian squadrons. Their harbours were blocked up. The people were dying of famine and horrid disease. The principal leaders of the

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