The Good Book
Page 69
47. But Elpinice, coming near to him, said, ‘These are brave deeds, Pericles, that you have done, and such as deserve our chaplets;
48. ‘Who have lost us many a worthy citizen, not in a war with Phoenicians or Medes, like my brother Cimon, but for the overthrow of an allied and kindred city.’
49. As Elpinice spoke these words, Pericles, smiling quietly, replied with this verse: ‘Old women should not seek to be perfumed.’
50. Ion says that Pericles indulged very high and proud thoughts of himself for conquering the Samians,
51. Whereas Agamemnon was ten years taking a barbarous city, he had in nine months vanquished and taken the greatest and most powerful of the Ionians.
52. And indeed it was not without reason that he assumed this glory to himself, for, in real truth, there was much uncertainty and great hazard in this great war,
53. If so be, as Thucydides tells us, the Samian state was within a very little of wresting the whole power and dominion of the sea out of the Athenians’ hands.
Chapter 44
1. After this, the Peloponnesian war beginning to break out in full tide, Pericles advised the people to help the Corcyraeans, who were being attacked by the Corinthians,
2. And thereby to secure to themselves an island possessed of great naval resources, since the Peloponnesians were already all but in actual hostilities against Athens.
3. The people readily consented to this, so Pericles dispatched Lacedaemonius, Cimon’s son, with ten ships, as if out of a design to affront him;
4. For there was a great kindness and friendship betwixt Cimon’s family and the Lacedaemonians;
5. So, in order that Lacedaemonius might lie the more open to a charge, or suspicion at least, of favouring the Lacedaemonians and playing false,
6. If he performed no considerable exploit in this service, he allowed him a small number of ships, and sent him out against his will;
7. And indeed he made it somewhat his business to hinder Cimon’s sons from rising in the state,
8. Professing that by their very names they were not to be looked upon as native and true Athenians,
9. But foreigners and strangers, one being called Lacedaemonius, another Thessalus and the third Eleus,
10. And they were all three of them, it was thought, born of an Arcadian woman.
11. Being, however, ill spoken of on account of these ten galleys, as having afforded but a small supply to the people that were in need,
12. And yet given a great advantage to those who might complain of the act of intervention,
13. Pericles sent out a larger force afterwards to Corcyra, which arrived after the fight was over.
14. And now the Corinthians, angry and indignant with the Athenians, accused them publicly at Lacedaemon,
15. And the Megarians joined with them, complaining that they were, contrary to common right and the articles of peace sworn among the Greeks,
16. Kept out and driven away from every market and from all ports under the control of the Athenians.
17. The Aeginetans, also, professing to be ill-used, made supplications in private to the Lacedaemonians for redress,
18. Though not daring openly to call the Athenians in question. In the meantime, also, Potidaea, under the dominion of the Athenians, but a colony formerly of the Corinthians,
19. Had revolted, and was beset with a formal siege, and was a further occasion of precipitating the war.
20. Despite all this, there being embassies sent to Athens, and Archidamus, the king of the Spartans,
21. Trying to bring most of the disputes to a fair resolution and to pacify the hearts of the allies,
22. It is likely that war would not have fallen upon the Athenians, if they could have been persuaded to repeal the ordinance against the Megarians.
23. Upon which account, since Pericles was the main opponent of repeal,
24. And stirred the Athenians’ passions to persist in their dispute with the Megarians, he was regarded as the sole cause of the war.
25. They say, moreover, that ambassadors went from Sparta to Athens on this very business,
26. And that when Pericles was urging a certain law which made it illegal to take down or withdraw the tablet of the decree, one of the ambassadors, Polyalces by name, said,
27. ‘Well, do not take it down then, but turn it; there is no law, I suppose, which forbids that.’
28. Which, though prettily said, did not change Pericles’ mind, for he bore much animosity towards the Megarians.
29. Even so, he proposed a decree that a herald should be sent to them, and the same also to the Lacedaemonians, with the accusation against the Megarians;
30. An order which certainly shows equitable and friendly proceeding enough.
31. The herald who was sent, by name Anthemocritus, died on the journey back, and it was believed that the Megarians had killed him.
32. Then Charinus proposed a decree against them, that there should be an irreconcilable and implacable enmity thenceforward between the two commonwealths;
33. And that if any one of the Megarians should set foot in Attica, he should die;
34. And that the commanders, when they take the usual oath, should, over and above that,
35. Swear that they will twice every year make an inroad into the Megarian country;
36. And that Anthemocritus should be buried near the Thracian Gates, which are now called the Dipylon, or Double Gate.
Chapter 45
1. On the other hand, the Megarians, utterly denying the murder of Anthemocritus,
2. Threw the whole matter upon Aspasia and Pericles, availing themselves of the famous verses in the Acharnians:
3. ‘To Megara some of our madcaps ran, And stole Simaetha thence, their courtesan.
4. ‘Which exploit the Megarians to outdo, Came to Aspasia’s house, and took off two.’
5. The true occasion of the quarrel is not easy to fathom. But all alike charge Pericles with the refusal to annul the decree.
6. Some say he met the request with a positive refusal, out of a sense of pride and a view of the state’s best interests,
7. Believing that the demand made by the embassies was a test of Athens’ will, and that a concession would be taken for weakness;
8. While others say that it was out of arrogance and contentiousness, to show his own strength, that he slighted the Lacedaemonians.
9. The worst motive of all, which is confirmed by most witnesses, is this: Phidias the sculptor had undertaken to make a statue.
10. Now he, being a great friend of Pericles, had many enemies because of this, who envied and maligned him;
11. Who brought an accusation against him of stealing gold that was to be used in making the statue.
12. Though the gold was weighed every day and none was found missing, still Phidias was committed to prison, and there died,
13. Some say, of poison, administered by Pericles’ enemies, to raise a slander, or a suspicion at least, as though he had procured it.
14. About the same time, Aspasia was charged that she received into her house freeborn women for the use of Pericles.
15. And Diopithes proposed a decree, that public accusations should be laid against persons who neglected every view of the world but that of science,
16. Directing suspicion, by means of Anaxagoras, against Pericles himself.
17. The people receiving and admitting these accusations and complaints, at length came to enact a decree, at the motion of Dracontides,
18. That Pericles should bring in the accounts of the moneys he had expended, and lodge them with the Prytanes;
19. And that the judges, carrying their suffrage from the Acropolis, should examine and determine the business in the city.
20. This last clause Hagnon took out of the decree, and moved that the causes should be tried before fifteen hundred jurors,
21. Whether they should be styled prosecutions for robbery, or bribery, or any kind of malversation.
22. Pericles pleaded for the release of Aspasia, shedding, as Aeschines says, many tears at the trial, and personally entreating the jurors.
23. But fearing for Anaxagoras, he sent him out of the city. And finding that in Phidias’ case he had lost the confidence of the people,
24. And wishing to avoid impeachment, he kindled the war against Sparta, which hitherto had smouldered quietly, and now blew it up into a flame;
25. Hoping, by that means, to disperse and scatter these complaints and charges;
26. For the city usually threw herself upon him alone, trusting to his sole conduct, when emergencies and great affairs and public dangers arose, by reason of his authority and the sway he bore.
27. These are variously alleged as the reasons which induced Pericles not to allow the people of Athens to yield to the proposals of the Lacedaemonians; but their truth is uncertain.
Chapter 46
1. The Lacedaemonians, for their part, feeling sure that if they could once remove Pericles, they might impose what terms they pleased on the Athenians,
2. Sent them word that they should expel the ‘pollution’ with which Pericles on the mother’s side was tainted, as Thucydides tells us, for her ancestors’ part in expelling the sons of Pisistratus;
3. But the issue proved quite contrary to what they expected; instead of bringing Pericles under suspicion,
4. They raised him into yet greater credit and esteem with the citizens, as a man whom their enemies most hated and feared.
5. In the same way, also, before Archidamus, who was at the head of the Peloponnesians, made his invasion into Attica,
6. Pericles told the Athenians beforehand, that if Archidamus, while he laid waste the rest of the country, should spare his estate, either on the ground of friendship or right of hospitality that was betwixt them,
7. Or on purpose to give his enemies an occasion of traducing him; then he would freely bestow upon the state all his land and the buildings on it for the public use.
8. The Lacedaemonians, therefore, and their allies, with a great army, invaded the Athenian territories under the conduct of King Archidamus, and laying waste the country, marched as far as Acharnae,
9. And there pitched their camp, presuming that the Athenians would never endure that,
10. But would come out and fight them for their country’s and their honour’s sake.
11. But Pericles looked upon it as dangerous to engage in battle, to the risk of the city itself, against sixty thousand Peloponnesians and Boeotians; for that is how many had invaded;
12. And he endeavoured to appease those who were eager to fight, saying that ‘trees, when they are lopped and cut, grow up again in a short time, but men, being once lost, cannot easily be recovered’.
13. He did not convene the people into an assembly, for fear lest they should force him to act against his judgement;
14. But, like a skilful steersman, who, when a sudden squall comes on at sea, makes all his arrangements, sees that all is tight and fast,
15. And then follows the dictates of his skill, taking no notice of the tears and entreaties of the seasick and fearful passengers,
16. So he, having shut the city gates and posted guards, followed his own judgement,
17. Little regarding those who cried out against him; although many of his friends urged him, and many of his enemies threatened and accused him,
18. And many made songs and lampoons upon him, which were sung about the town to his disgrace,
19. Reproaching him with the cowardly exercise of his office of general, and the tame abandonment of everything to the enemy’s hands.
20. Cleon was already among his assailants, making use of the feeling against him as a step to the leadership of the people, as appears in the verses of Hermippus:
21. ‘Satyr-king, instead of swords, Will you always handle words? Very brave indeed we find them, But a Teles lurks behind them.
22. ‘Yet to gnash your teeth you’re seen, When the little dagger keen, Whetted every day anew, Of sharp Cleon touches you.’
23. Pericles, however, was unmoved by these attacks, but took all patiently, and submitted in silence to the disgrace they threw upon him and the ill-will they bore him;
24. And sending out a fleet of a hundred galleys to Peloponnesus, he did not go along with it in person,
25. But stayed behind, that he might watch at home and keep the city under his own control, till the Peloponnesians broke up their camp and were gone.
26. Yet to soothe the common people, jaded and distressed with the war, he relieved them with distributions of public moneys,
27. And ordained new divisions of subject land. For having turned out all the people of Aegina, he parted the island among the Athenians according to lot.
28. Some comfort also, and ease in their miseries, they might receive from what their enemies endured.
29. For the fleet, sailing round the Peloponnese, ravaged a great deal of the country, and pillaged and plundered the towns and smaller cities;
30. And by land he himself entered with an army the Megarian country, and made havoc of it all.
Chapter 47
1. Whence it is clear that the Peloponnesians, though they did the Athenians much mischief by land,
2. Yet suffering as much themselves from them by sea, would not have protracted the war to such a length,
3. But would quickly have given it over, as Pericles at first foretold they would, had not accident entered the picture.
4. In the first place, plague seized upon the city, and ate up all the flower and prime of their youth and strength.
5. The people, afflicted in their minds as well as bodies, were enraged like madmen against Pericles,
6. And, like patients grown delirious, sought to lay violent hands on their physician, or, as it were, their father.
7. They had been persuaded by Pericles’ enemies that the reason for the plague was the crowding of the country people into the town,
8. Forcing everyone, in the heat of summer, to huddle together in small tenements and stifling hovels,
9. And to follow a lazy course of life within doors, whereas before they lived in the open air.
10. The author of all this, they said, is he who on account of the war has poured a multitude of people in upon us within the walls,
11. And uses all these men that he has here upon no employ or service, but keeps them pent up like cattle,
12. To be overrun with infection from one another, affording them neither shift of quarters nor any refreshment.
13. With the design to remedy these evils, and do the enemy some inconvenience, Pericles got a hundred and fifty galleys ready,
14. And having embarked many tried soldiers, both foot and horse,
15. Was about to sail out, giving great hope to his citizens, and no less alarm to his enemies, upon the sight of so great a force.
16. When the vessels had their complement of men, and Pericles had gone aboard his own galley,
17. It happened that the sun was eclipsed, and it suddenly grew dark, to the affright of all, for the ignorant did not understand the cause.
18. Pericles, therefore, seeing his steersman seized with fear, took his cloak and held it before the man’s face, screening him so that he could not see,
19. And asked him whether he imagined there was any great hurt in this. The steersman answering No,
20. ‘Why,’ said Pericles, ‘and what does that differ from this, only that what has caused that darkness there, is something bigger than a cloak?’
21. This is a story philosophers tell their students. Pericles, however, after putting out to sea, seems not to have done any other exploit befitting such preparations,
22. And when he had laid siege to Epidaurus, which gave him some hope of surrender, miscarried in his design by reason of the plague.
23. For it not only seized upon the Athenians, but upon all others, too, that held any sort of communication with the army.
25. But he could not allay their anger, nor persuade them, till they freely passed their votes on him, and resumed their power,
26. Taking away his command and fining him in a sum of money;
27. Which by their account that say least, was fifteen talents, while they who reckon most, name fifty.
28. The name prefixed to the accusation was Cleon, as Idomeneus tells us; Simmias, according to Theophrastus; and Heraclides Ponticus gives it as Lacratidas.
29. After this, public troubles were soon to leave him unmolested; the people discharged their anger against him in this stroke, and lost their stings in the wound.
30. But his domestic concerns were in an unhappy condition, many of his friends and acquaintances having died in the plague time,
31. And those of his family having long since been in disorder and in a kind of mutiny against him.
32. For the eldest of his lawful sons, Xanthippus by name, being naturally prodigal, and marrying a young and expensive wife,
33. Was highly offended at his father’s economy in giving him only a scanty allowance, a little at a time.
34. He therefore borrowed some money in his father’s name, pretending it was by his order.
35. The lender coming afterwards to demand the debt, Pericles was so far from yielding to pay it, that he entered an action against his son.
36. Upon which the young man, Xanthippus, thought himself so ill used and disobliged that he openly reviled his father;
37. Telling first, by way of ridicule, stories about his conversations at home, and the discourses he had with the sophists and scholars that came to his house.
38. As, for instance, how one who was a practiser of the five games of skill,
39. Having with a dart or javelin unawares against his will struck and killed Epitimus the Pharsalian,
40. His father spent a whole day with Protagoras in a serious dispute, whether the javelin, or the man that threw it,