No More Learning

"Of Ibycus? "—that name so dear
Thrills through the hearts of those who hear ! Like wave on wave in eager seas, — From mouth to mouth the murmur flees
" Of Ibycus, whom we bewail ?
The murdered one ! What mean those words ? Who is the man—knows he the tale ? "
Why link that name with those wild birds ?
Questions on questions louder press — — Like lightning flies the inspiring guess Leaps every heart — "The truth we seize; Your might is here, Eumenides ! — The murderer yields himself confest
Vengeance is near — that voice the token — Ho! —him who yonder spoke, arrest ! — "
And him to whom the words were spoken !
Scarce had the wretch the words let fall, Than fain their sense he would recall.
In vain ; those whitening lips, behold ! The secret have already told.
Into their Judgment Court sublime
The Scene is changed; — their doom is sealed!
Behold the dark unwitnessed Crime, Struck by the lightning that revealed !
172 THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME.
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME.
By GEORG EBERS.
(From "An Egyptian Princess. ")
[Georo Moritz Ebebs : German Egyptologist and novelist ; born at Berlin, March 1, 1837. He was educated at GBttingen and Berlin, and lectured for a while at Jena. In 1870 he became professor of Egyptian archaeology at Leipsic, resign ing in 1889 on account of ill health. Besides several important works on Egyp tology, he has published a series of historical novels treating of ancient Egyptian life, which have enjoyed extraordinary popularity not only in Germany but in other countries. The best known are: "An Egyptian Princess," "Uarda," " Homo Sum," " The Sisters," " Serapis," " The Bride of the Nile," and " Cleo patra. " Also popular are : "In the Fire of the Forge," "The Burgomaster's Wife," and "Gred. "]
" Heke Aristomachus interrupted the Athenian, and cried : Enough of praise, friend Phanes. Spartan tongues are awk
ward, but if you need my help, I will answer you with deeds, that will hit the right nail on the head. "
Rhodopis smiled approvingly at the two men. Then she gave her hand to each, and said : " Unfortunately, dear Phanes, your story has shown me that you can no longer remain in this land. I will not reproach you for your folly, but you might have known that you were braving great dangers for small results. A really prudent and courageous man will undertake a bold deed only when the benefit which might accrue to him is greater than the disadvantages. Rashness is just as foolish, though not, perhaps, as reprehensible, as cowardice, for though both may injure a man, the latter alone disgraces him. This time your carelessness nearly cost you your life, a life which is dear to many, and which you ought to preserve for a better end than to fall a victim to folly. We may not try to keep you with us, for we could not help you, and should certainly harm ourselves. This noble Spartan shall in future take your place, and as captain of the Greeks represent our nation at court, protect it from the encroachments of the priests, and try to preserve the king's favor for it. I hold your hand, Aristom achus, and will not let it go, till you promise to act as Phanes did before you, and to protect, as far as it is in your power, even the lowest Greek from the arrogance of the Egyptians ; to resign your post rather than let the most trivial crime against a Greek escape punishment. We are but a few thousands among
I
Olympic Games.
Photogravure from the painting by Otto Knille.
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME. 173
as many millions, all hostile to us, but we are great in courage, and must strive to remain strong in unity. Till to-day, the Greeks in Egypt have acted as brothers. One sacrificed him self for all, all for one, and it was this very unity that made us powerful, that will keep us strong in the future. Would that we could give the same unity to our native land and its colo nies ; would that all the races of our home, forgetful of their Dorian, Ionic, or iEolian descent, would content themselves with the name of Greeks, and live together like children of one house, like the sheep of one flock ; then the whole world would not be able to resist us. Hellas would be recognized by all nations as their queen. "
Rhodopis' eyes flashed as she spoke ; the Spartan pressed her hand, impetuously stamped on the floor with his wooden leg, and cried : " By Zeus, no one shall touch a Greek while I can prevent it. But you, Rhodopis, you ought to have been a Spartan. "
" An Athenian," cried Phanes.
" An Ionian," said the Milesian.
" A daughter of a Samian geomore," cried the sculptor.
" But I am more than all this," cried Rhodopis, with enthu
siasm, "Iam a Greek ! "
All were carried away by her words. Even the Syrian and
the Hebrew could not resist the general enthusiasm. The Sybarite alone remained unmoved, and said, with his mouth full : —
" You also deserve to be a Sybarite, for your beef is the best that I have tasted since I left Italy, and your wine of Anthylla tastes just as good as that of Vesuvius and Chios. "
All laughed, but the Spartan looked contemptuously at the Sybarite.
" Hail ! friends," suddenly cried a deep voice through the open window.
" Welcome," answered the chorus of guests, while they wondered who the late arrival was.
They had not long to wait for the stranger ; before the Sybarite had found time carefully to taste another sip of wine, a tall thin man, of about sixty, with a long, well-shaped, intel ligent head, stood beside Rhodopis. It was Callias, son of Phaenippus of Athens.
The late visitor was one of the wealthiest exiles of Athens, who had twice bought the property of Pisistratus from the
174 THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME.
state, and twice lost it when the despot returned ; he looked at his friends with bright, keen eyes, and cried, after he had exchanged friendly greetings with all : —
" If you are not very grateful for my presence to-day, I shall declare that all gratitude has vanished from the world. "
" We have long expected you," interrupted one of the Mile sians. " You are the first to bring us news of the result of the Olympic games. "
" And we could not wish for a better messenger than the former victor," added Rhodopis.
"Sit down," cried Phanes, full of impatience; "tell us briefly and concisely what you know, friend Callias. "
"Directly, countrymen," answered Callias; "it is some time since I left Olympia, and embarked at Cenchreae on a Samian fifty-oared ship, the best vessel that was ever built. I am not surprised that no Greek has reached Naucratis before me, for we encountered frightful storms, and would scarcely have escaped with our lives, if these Samian boats, with their fat stomachs, thin beaks, and fish tails, were not so splendidly built and manned. Who knows whither the other homeward- bound travelers may have been driven ; we were able to take refuge in the harbor of Samos, and to depart again after sixteen days.
" When we entered the Nile early this morning, I at once took boat and was speeded on my way by Boreas, who wished to show that he still loved his old Callias, so that a few minutes ago I saw the most hospitable of houses ;
I saw the open windows illuminated, and hesitated as to whether or no I should enter ; but I could not resist your charms, Rhodopis, and besides I should have been suffocated by all the untold news, which I bear with me, if I had not landed, in order to enjoy a slice of meat and a glass of wine, while I tell events of which you do not dream. "
Callias sank down comfortably on a couch, and before he began his meal handed Rhodopis a splendid golden bracelet in the shape of a serpent, which he had bought at a high price, in the workshop of that very Theodoras who sat at table with him".
That is for you," he said, turning to his delighted hostess. "But I have something still better for you, friend Phanes. Guess who won the prize in the race with the quadriga ? "
" An Athenian ? " asked Phanes, with glowing cheeks, for
I saw the flag fly,
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME. 175
was not every Olympic victory a triumph for the whole com munity to which the victor belonged, and was not the Olympic olive branch the highest honor and greatest happiness which could fall to the lot of a Greek, or even to a whole Greek race?
" Well guessed, Phanes," cried the messenger of joy. " An Athenian has won the first prize of all, and what is more, it is your cousin Cimon, son of Cypselos, and brother of that Mil- tiades who, nine Olympiads ago, gained the same honor for us ; this year he was victorious for the second time with the very horses which obtained him the prize at the last festival. Truly, the Philffidae obscure more and more the fame of the Alcmaeon- idae. Does the fame "of your family make you proud and happy, friend Phanes ?
Phanes had risen in great joy ; he seemed suddenly to have increased in stature.
Full of intense pride, he gave his hand to the messenger of victory, who embraced his countryman, and continued : —
" We may indeed feel proud and happy, Phanes, and you may rejoice above all ; for after the judges had unanimously awarded the prize to Cimon, he bade the heralds proclaim the despot Pisistratus as the owner of the splendid horses, and therefore as victor. Pisistratus at once announced that your family might now return to Athens, and so the long-wished-for hour of return has come to you at last. "
At these words the glow of pleasure faded from the face of the officer, and the conscious pride of his glances changed to
anger, as he cried : —
" I am to rejoice, foolish Callias !
I could rather
I think that a descendant of Ajax is capable of ignominiously
laying his well-merited fame at the feet of a tyrant. I am to return? I swear by Athene, by Father Zeus, and Apollo, that I will rather starve in exile, than turn my steps towards home while Pisistratus tyrannizes over my native land. I am free as the eagle in the clouds, now that I have left the service of Amasis, but I would rather be the hungry slave of a peasant, in a strange land, than at home, the first servant of Pisistratus. The power in Athens belongs to us, the nobles, but Cimon, when he laid his wreath at the feet of Pisistratus, kissed the scepter of the tyrant, and stamped himself with the seal of slavery. I will tell Cimon that to me, to Phanes, the favor of the despot is of little consequence. I will remain an exile till
weep
when
176 THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME.
my country is free, and nobles and people again govern them selves and dictate their own laws. Phanes will not do homage to the oppressor, though a thousand Cimons, though each of the Alcmaeonidae, though the whole of your race, Callias, the wealthy Daduchis, throw themselves at Pisistratus' feet. "
He surveyed the assembly with flaming eyes, and old Callias, too, looked at the guests with pride. It was as if he wished to say to each one : " See, my friends, such are the men my glorious home produces. " —
Then he again took Phanes' hand, and said :
" My friend, the oppressor is as hateful to me as to you ; but I cannot close my eyes to the fact that as long as Pisistratus lives, tyranny cannot be destroyed. His allies, Lygadamus of Naxos, and Polycrates of Samos, are powerful, but the wisdom and moderation of Pisistratus are more dangerous for our free dom. I saw with terror, during my late stay in Hellas, that the people of Athens love the oppressor like a father. In spite of his power, he leaves the spirit of Solon's constitution unal tered. He adorns the town with most beautiful works of art. The new temple of Zeus, which is being built of marble, by Callaeschrus, Antistates, and Porinus, whom you know, Theo- dorus, is to surpass all buildings which the Greeks have ever erected. He knows how to attract artists and poets of every description to Athens ; he has Homer's songs written down, and the sayings of Musaeus of Onomacritus are collected by his orders. He is having new streets built, and introduces new festivals; trade flourishes under his rule, and in spite of the heavy taxes imposed on the people, their prosperity seems not to diminish but to increase. But what is the people? A com mon herd that flies, like a moth, towards everything that glit ters ; though it scorches its wings, it still flutters round the candle while it burns. Let Pisistratus' torch be extinguished, Phanes, and I swear to you, the changeable crowd will greet the new light, the returning nobles, as eagerly as it greeted the tyrant but a short time ago. Give me your hand again, true son of Ajax ; but, my friends, I have still much to tell you. Cimon, as I said, won the chariot race, and gave his olive branch to Pisistratus. I never saw four more splendid horses. Arcesilaus of Cyrene, Cleosthenes of Epidamnus, Aster of Sybaris, Hecataeus of Miletus, and many others, sent beautiful horses to Olympia. Altogether the games were unusually bril liant this year. All Greece sent representatives, Rhoda, the
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME. 177
Ardeate town in distant Iberia, wealthy Tartessus, Sinope, in the far east, on the shores of the Pontus, in short, every race which boasts of Greek origin was well represented. The Sybarites sent messengers to the festival, whose appearance was simply dazzling, the Spartans simple men, with the beauty of Achilles and the stature of Hercules ; the Athenians distin guished themselves by supple limbs and graceful movements ; the Crotonians were led by Milo, the strongest man of human origin ; the Samians and Milesians vied with the Corinthians and Mitylenians in splendor and magnificence. The flower of the youth of Greece was assembled there, and many beautiful maidens, chiefly from Sparta, sat beside men of every rank and nation ; they had come to Olympia to encourage the men by their applause. The market was on the other side of the Alphaeus, and there you could see merchants from all parts of the world. Greeks, Carchedonians, Lydians, Phrygians, and bargaining Phoenicians from Palestine concluded important affairs, and exposed their wares in tents and booths. Why should I describe to you the surging crowds, the resounding choruses, the smoking hecatombs, the gay dresses, the valuable chariots and horses, the confusion of many tongues, the joyous cries of old friends who met again after years of separation, the splendor of the ambassadors sent to the festival, the swarms of spectators and merchants, the excitement as to the result of the games, the splendid spectacle presented by the crowded audience, the endless delight whenever a victory was decided, the solemn presentation of the branch which a boy of Elis, both of whose parents must still be living, cut with a golden knife from the sacred olive tree, in the Altis, which Hercules himself planted many centuries ago? Why should I describe the never-ending shouts of joy which thundered through the Stadium when Milo of Crotona appeared and bore the bronze statue of himself by Dameas through the Stadium to the Altis without stumbling? A giant would have been bowed to the ground by the weight of metal, but Milo carried it as a Lacedaemonian nurse carries a little boy. The finest wreaths after Cimon's were won by two Spartan brothers, Lysander and Maro, sons of a banished noble, Aristomachus. Maro was victor in the running match. Lysander, to the delight of all present, challenged Milo, the irresistible victor of Pisa, and the Pythian and Isthmian games, to a wrestling
match. Milo was taller and stronger than the Spartan, whose VOL. in. — 12
178 THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME.
figure resembled Apollo's, and whose great youth proved that he had scarcely outgrown the Paedanomos.
" The youth and the man stood opposite each other in their nude beauty, glistening with golden oil, like a panther and a Hon preparing for combat. Young Lysander raised his hands before the first attack, adjured the gods, and cried, 'For my father, my honor, and Sparta's fame ! ' The Crotonian gave the youth a condescending smile, like that of a dainty eater before he begins to open the shell of a langusta.
" Now the wrestling began. For a long while neither could take hold of the other. The Crotonian tried with his powerful, almost irresistible, arms to seize his adversary, who eluded the terrible grasp of the athlete's clawlike hands. The struggle for the embrace lasted long, and the immense audience looked on, silent and breathless. Not a sound was heard, save the panting of the combatants, and the singing of the birds in the Altis. At last — at last, with the most beautiful move ment I ever saw, the youth was able to clasp his adversary. For a long while Milo exerted himself in vain to free himself from the firm hold of the youth. The perspiration caused by the terrible contest amply watered the sand of the Stadium.
" The excitement of the spectators increased more and more, the silence became deeper and deeper, the encouraging cries grew rarer, the groans of the two combatants waxed more and more audible. At last the youth's strength gave way. An encouraging cry from thousands of throats cheered him on ; he collected his strength with a superhuman effort, and tried to throw himself again on his adversary, but the Crotonian had noticed his momentary exhaustion, and pressed the youth in an irresistible embrace. A stream of black blood gushed from the beautiful lips of the youth, who sank lifeless to the earth from the wearied arms of the giant. Democedes, the most celebrated physician of our days, you Samians must have seen him at Poly- crates' court, hurried up, but no art could help the happy youth, for he was dead.
" Milo was obliged to resign the wreath, and the fame of the youth will resound through all Greece. Truly, I would rather be dead like Lysander, son of Aristomachus, than live like Callias, to know an inactive old age in a strange land. All Greece, represented by its best men, accompanied the body of the beautiful youth to the funeral pyre, and his statue is to be
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME. 179
placed in the Altis, beside those of Milo of Croton, and Praxid- amas of iEgina.
" Finally, the heralds proclaimed the award of the judges. ' Sparta shall receive a victor's wreath for the dead man, for it was not Milo but death who conquered noble Lysander, and he who goes forth unconquered after a two hours' struggle with the strongest of the Greeks, is well deserving of the olive branch. '"
Callias was silent for a minute. In the excitement of describing these events, more precious than aught else to the Greek heart, he had paid no attention to those present, but had stared straight before him while the images of the combatants passed before his mind's eye. Now he looked round, and saw, to his surprise, that the gray-haired man with the wooden leg, who had already attracted his attention, although he did not know him, had hidden his face in his hands, and was shedding scalding tears.
Rhodopis stood on his right, Phanes on his left, and every one looked at the Spartan as though he were the hero of the story.
The quick Athenian saw at once that the old man was closely related to one of the Olympic victors ; but when he heard that Aristomachus was the father of those two glorious Spartan brothers, whose beautiful forms still haunted him like visions from the world of the gods, he looked with envious admiration on the sobbing old man, and his clear eyes filled with tears, which he did not try to keep back. In those days men wept whenever they hoped that the solace of tears would relieve them. In anger, in great joy, in every affliction, we find strong heroes weeping, while, on the other hand, the Spartan boy would let himself be severely scourged, even to death, at the altar of Artemis Orthia, in order to gain the praise of the men.
For a time all the guests remained silent and respected the old man's emotion. At length Jeshua, the Israelite, who had abstained from all food which was prepared in Greek fashion, broke the silence and said in broken Greek : —
" Weep your fill, Spartan. I know what it is to lose a son. Was I not forced, eleven years ago, to lay a beautiful boy in the grave in a strange land, by the waters of Babylon where my people pined in captivity? If my beautiful child had lived but one year longer, he would have died at home, and we could have laid him in the grave of his fathers. But Cyrus the
180 THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME.
Persian, may Jehovah bless his descendants, freed us a year too late and I must grieve doubly for my beloved child, because his grave is dug in the land of Israel's foes. Is anything more terrible than to see our children, our best treasures, sink in the grave before us ? Adonai have mercy on me ; to lose such an excellent child as your son, just when he had become a famous man, must be the greatest of griefs. "
The Spartan removed his hands from his stern face and said, smiling amidst his tears : " You are mistaken, Phoeni cian, I weep with joy and I would gladly have lost my second son, had he died like Lysander. "
The Israelite, horrified at this statement, which seemed wicked and unnatural to him, contented himself with shaking his head in disapproval ; the Greeks overwhelmed the old man, whom they all envied, with congratulations. Intense joy seemed to have made Aristomachus many years younger, and he said to Rhodopis : " Truly, friend, your house is a blessed one for me ; this is the second gift I have received from the gods since I entered it. " "
" And what was the first ?
"A favorable oracle. "
"You forget the third gift," cried Phanes. "The gods
permitted you to become acquainted with Rhodopis to-day. But what about the oracle ? "
" May I tell our friends ? " asked the Delphian.
Aristomachus nodded consent, and Phryxus again read the answer of the oracle : —
" When from the snow-clad heights descend the men in their armor, Down to the shores of the winding stream which waters the valley, Then the delaying boat shall conduct you unto the meadows Where the peace of home is to the wanderer given.
When from the snow-clad heights descend the men in their armor, Then what the judging five have long refused shall be granted. "
Scarcely had Phryxus read the last word, when Callias, the Athenian, rose gracefully from his seat and cried : " The fourth gift, the fourth gift of the gods, you shall also receive from me in this house. Know, then, that I kept my strangest tidings till last. The Persians are coming to Egypt. "
All the guests sprang from their seats except the Sybarite, and Callias could scarcely answer all their questions.
asked the matron.
" Patience, patience, friends," he cried at last ; " let me tell
THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN PISISTRATUS' TIME. 181
everything in order, else I shall never finish. It is not an army, as you think, Phanes, but an embassy from Cambyses, the present king of powerful Persia, which is on its way hither. I heard at Samos that they have already reached Miletus. They will arrive here in a few days. Relations of the king, and even old Croesus of Lydia, are with them. We shall see rare splendor. No one knows the reason of their coming, but it is thought that King Cambyses will propose an alliance to Amasis ; it is even said that the king wishes to woo the daughter of the Pharaohs. "
" An alliance," said Phanes, with an incredulous shrug ; "the Persians already rule half the world. All the chief pow ers of Asia bow to their scepter. Only Egypt and our Greece have remained safe from the conqueror. "
" You forget golden India, and the great nomadic races of Asia," returned Callias. "You also forget that an empire which consists of seventy races, possessing different languages and customs, always bears in it the seeds of rebellion, and must be on its guard against foreign wars, lest some of the provinces seize the favorable moment for revolt when the main body of the army is absent. Ask the Milesians whether they would keep quiet, if they heard that the chief forces of their oppressor
had been defeated in battle. "
Theopompus, the Milesian merchant, interrupted him and
cried eagerly, "If the Persians are defeated in war, they will be attacked by a hundred foes, and my countrymen will not be the last to rise against the weakened tyrant. "
" Whatever the intentions of the Persians may be," contin ued"Callias, " I maintain that they will be here in three days. " And so your oracle will be fulfilled, happy Aristomachus,"
cried Rhodopis.
"The horsemen from the mountains can be none other than the Persians. When they reach the shores of the Nile, the five ephors will have changed their minds and you, the father of two Olympic victors, will be recalled. Fill the goblets again, Cnacias. Let us drink the last cup to the manes of famous Lysander, and then, though unwillingly, I must warn you of the approach of day. The host who loves his guests rises from table when the joy reaches its climax. The pleasant memory of this untroubled evening will soon bring you back to this house, whereas you would be less willing to return if you were forced to think of the hours of depression which followed your enjoyment. "
182 MAXIMS OF THEOGNIS.
All the guests agreed with Rhodopis, and Ibycus praised the festive and pleasurable excitement of the evening and called her a true disciple of Pythagoras. Every one prepared for depar ture ; even the Sybarite, who, to drown the emotion which an noyed him, had drunk immoderately, raised himself from his comfortable position with the help of his slaves who had been summoned, and muttered something about violated hospitality.
When Rhodopis held out her hand to him on bidding him farewell, he cried, overcome by the wine : " By Hercules, Rho dopis, you turn us out-doors as if we were importunate credit ors. I am not used to leaving the table as long as I can stand, and still less used to being shown the door like a parasite. "
"Do you not understand, you immoderate drinker ? " began Rhodopis, trying to excuse herself and smiling ; but Philoinus, who in his present mood was irritated by this retort, laughed scornfully and cried, staggering to the door : " You call me an immoderate drinker : well, I call you an insolent slave. By Dionysus, it is easy to see what you were in your
Farewell, slave of Iadmon and Xanthus, freed slave of Charaxus. "
He had not finished, when the Spartan threw himself on him, gave him a violent blow with his fist, and carried the unconscious man, like a child, to the boat which with his slaves awaited him at the gate of the garden.
MAXIMS OF THEOGNIS.
(About 540 b. c. )
Not even Zeus pleases everybody, either when he rains or when he holds up.
From the good you will learn good : if you mix with the bad you will lose what sense you have.
Do not tell everything, even to a friend.
When you undertake great affairs, confide in but few.
Do not caress me in words, and keep your mind and heart
elsewhere. Either love me sincerely, or disown and hate me. Never love a mean man ; he will not rescue you from calam
ity nor share what he has with you. To do good to the base is like sowing the sea. The mean are never satisfied : one slip cancels all former benefits. Comrades in feasting are plenty ; not in serious matters.
youth.
MAXIMS OF THEOGNIS. 183
Do not brag in public : no one knows what a night and a day may bring forth.
A man borne down by poverty can say or do nothing he likes : his tongue is tied. [" It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright. "]
Wealth mixes the breed. [Nobles and plebeians intermarry where wealth is present. ]
Conform your temper to that of each friend. Be like the polypus, which looks like the rock it has twisted its arms around. [All things to all men. ]
The mean are not wholly mean from birth, but from associa tion with the mean. They learn bad actions, backbiting, and insolence from believing what the others say.
Among the mad I am very mad ; among the just I am justest of all.
Give a mean man wealth, still he cannot keep his mean ness in.
Do not give up a friend from belief in every slander.
If one should be wroth at all his friends' faults, there would be no friendship.
Beguile your enemy with good words ; but when you have him in your power, take vengeance on him.
Of all things on earth, not to be born is best ; but if born, one should die as soon as possible.
The mean man has no spirit either in weal or woe.
Be it mine to have moderate wealth, but bestow my enemies' riches on my friends.
It is easier to make a mean man out of a noble one than a noble out of a mean.
Fullness destroys more men than famine.
It is disgraceful for a drunken man to be among sober ones, and disgraceful for a sober man to remain among drunken ones. [This is sometimes translated, " It is disgraceful to be drunk
where others are sober, and disgraceful to be sober where others
are drunk. "]
No man lives unblamed. He is best off whom most people
care nothing about.
Economy is best ; for no one wails even for the dead unless
property has been left behind.
There are two evils in doing good to a mean man : you will
be stripped of your goods, and get no thanks.
Drink when other men drink ; but when you are troubled,
let no man know it.
184 OLIGARCHY AND DESPOTISM IN GREECE.
OLIGARCHY AND DESPOTISM IN GREECE. By GEORGE GROTE.
[George Grote, the greatest modern historian of ancient Greece, perhaps the greatest man altogether who ever wrote history, was of mingled German, Huguenot French, Irish, and English blood; born in Kent, 1794; died in Lon don, 1871. Educated till sixteen at the Charterhouse School in London, he then entered his father's banking house, still using all his leisure time for study. A massive scholar, thinker, and logician, he was also (what even for his works of pure scholarship was of the first value) a practical and experienced man of affairs. He worked hard for Parliamentary reform, and was member of Parlia ment 1832-1841 ; strove annually to introduce voting by ballot, and was a great humanist with a deep sympathy for the " dim common millions. " This ardent democratic feeling was the genesis of his immortal " History of Greece " (twelve volumes, 1846-1856), which no progress in archaeological discovery will ever supersede. In 1865 he brought out his " Plato " ; after his death his unfinished " Aristotle " and two volumes of minor writings were published, and his widow wrote a biography. In his later years he was president of University College and vice-chancellor of London University (unsectarian). ]
The monarchical institutions and monarchical tendencies prevalent throughout mediaeval and modern Europe have been both generated and perpetuated by causes peculiar to those societies ; whilst in the Hellenic societies such causes had no place : the primitive sentiment entertained toward the heroic king died out, passing first into indifference, next — after experience of the despots — into determined antipathy.
To an historian like Mr. Mitford, full of English ideas re specting government, this anti-monarchical feeling appears of the nature of insanity, and the Grecian communities like mad men without a keeper : while the greatest of all benefactors is the hereditary king who conquers them from without, the sec ond best is the home despot, who seizes the acropolis and puts his fellow-citizens under coercion. There cannot be a more cer tain way of misinterpreting and distorting Grecian phenomena than to read them in this spirit, which reverses the maxims both of prudence and morality current in the ancient world. The hatred of kings as it stood among the Greeks (whatever may be thought about a similar feeling now) was a preeminent vir tue, flowing directly from the noblest and wisest part of their nature. It was a consequence of their deep conviction of the necessity of universal legal restraint ; it was a direct expression of that regulated sociality which required the control of indi
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vidual passion from every one without exception, and most of all from him to whom power was confided. The conception which the Greeks formed of an unresponsible one, or of a king who could do no wrong, may be expressed in the pregnant words of Herodotus, " He subverts the customs of the country ; he violates women ; he puts men to death without trial. " No other conception of the probable tendencies of kingship was justified either by a general knowledge of human nature, or by political experience as it stood from Solon downward ; no other feeling than abhorrence could be entertained for the character so con ceived ; no other than a man of unprincipled ambition would ever seek to invest himself with it.
Our larger political experience has taught us to modify this opinion, by showing that under the conditions of monarchy in the best governments of modern Europe the enormities de scribed by Herodotus do not take place ; and that it is possible, by means of representative constitutions acting under a certain force of manners, customs, and historical recollection, to obviate many of the mischiefs likely to flow from proclaiming the duty of peremptory obedience to an hereditary and unresponsible king, who cannot be changed without extra-constitutional force. But such larger observation was not open to Aristotle, the wisest as well as the most cautious of ancient theorists ; nor if it had been open, could he have applied with assurance its lessons to the governments of the single cities of Greece. The theory of a constitutional king, especially, as it exists in England, would have appeared to him impracticable : to establish a king who will reign without governing ; in whose name all government is carried on, yet whose personal will is in practice of little or no effect ; exempt from all responsibility, without making use
of the exemption ; receiving from every one unmeasured dem onstrations of homage, which are never translated into act ex cept within the bounds of a known law ; surrounded with all the paraphernalia of power, yet acting as a passive instrument in the hands of ministers marked out for his choice by indica tions which he is not at liberty to resist.
This remarkable combination of the fiction of superhuman grandeur and license with the reality of an invisible strait- waistcoat, is what an Englishman has in his mind when he speaks of a constitutional king. The events of our history have brought it to pass in England, amid an aristocracy the most powerful that the world has yet seen ; but we have still to learn
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whether it can be made to exist elsewhere, or whether the oc currence of a single king, at once able, aggressive, and resolute, may not suffice to break it up. To Aristotle, certainly, it could not have appeared otherwise than unintelligible and impracti cable ; not likely even in a single case, but altogether incon ceivable as a permanent system, and with all the diversities of temper inherent in the successive members of an hereditary dynasty. When the Greeks thought of a man exempt from legal responsibility, they conceived him as really and truly such, in deed as well as in name, with a defenseless community ex posed to his oppressions ; and their fear and hatred of him was measured by their reverence for a government of equal law and free speech, with the ascendency of which their whole hopes of security were associated —in the democracy of Athens more perhaps than in any other portion of Greece. And this feeling, as it was one of the best in the Greek mind, so it was also one of the most widely spread — a point of unanimity highly valu able amid so many points of dissension. We cannot construe or criticise it by reference to the feelings of modern Europe, still less to the very peculiar feelings of England, respecting kingship.
When we try to explain the course of Grecian affairs, not from the circumstances of other societies, but from those of the Greeks themselves, we shall see good reason for the discon tinuance as well as for the dislike of kingship. Had the Greek mind been as stationary and unimproving as that of the Ori entals, the discontent with individual kings might have led to no other change than the deposition of a bad king in favor of one who promised to be better, without ever extending the views of the people to any higher conception than that of a personal government. But the Greek mind was of a progres sive character, capable of conceiving and gradually of realizing amended social combinations. Moreover, it is in the nature of
things that any government — regal, oligarchical, or democrati- cal — which comprises only a single city is far less stable than if it embraced a wider surface and a larger population. When that semi-religious and mechanical submission, which made up for the personal deficiencies of the heroic king, became too feeble to serve as a working principle, the petty prince was in too close contact with his people, and too humbly furnished out in every way, to get up a prestige or delusion of any other kind. He had no means of overawing their imaginations by
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that combination of pomp, seclusion, and mystery which He rodotus and Xenophon so well appreciate among the artifices of kingcraft. As there was no new feeling upon which a perpetual chief could rest his power, so there was nothing in the circumstances of the community which rendered the main tenance of such a dignity necessary for visible and effective union. In a single city, and a small circumjacent com munity, collective deliberation and general rules, with tempo rary and responsible magistrates, were practicable without difficulty.
To maintain an unresponsible king, and then to contrive accompaniments which shall extract from him the benefits of responsible government, is in reality a highly complicated sys tem, though, as has been remarked, we have become familiar with it in modern Europe. The more simple and obvious change is, to substitute one or more temporary and responsible magistrates in place of the king himself. Such was the course which affairs took in Greece. The inferior chiefs, who had originally served as council to the king, found it possible to supersede him, and to alternate the functions of administration among themselves ; retaining probably the occasional convoca tion of the general assembly, as it had existed before, and with as little practical efficacy. Such was in substance the charac ter of that mutation which occurred generally throughout the Grecian states, with the exception of Sparta : kingship was abolished, and an oligarchy took its place — a council deliberat ing" collectively, deciding general matters by the majority of voices, and selecting some individuals of their own body as temporary and accountable administrators. It was always an oligarchy which arose on the defeasance of the heroic kingdom. The age of democratical movement was yet far distant ; and the condition of the people — the general body of freemen — was not immediately altered, either for better or worse, by the revo lution. The small number of privileged persons, among whom the kingly attributes were distributed and put in rotation, were those nearest in rank to the king himself ; perhaps members of the same large gens with him, and pretending to a common divine and heroic descent. As far as we can make out, this change seems to have taken place in the natural course of events and without violence. Sometimes the kingly lineage died out and was not replaced ; sometimes, on the death of a king, his son and successor was acknowledged only as archon
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— or perhaps set aside altogether to make room for a Prytanis or president out of the men of rank around.
Such oligarchical governments, varying in their details but analogous in general features, were common throughout the cities of Greece proper, as well as of the colonies, throughout the seventh century B. C. Though they had little immediate tendency to benefit the mass of the freemen, yet when we com pare them with the antecedent heroic government, they indi cate an important advance —the first adoption of a deliberate and preconceived system in the management of public affairs. They exhibit the first evidences of new and important political ideas in the Greek mind — the separation of legislative and executive powers ; the former vested in a collective body, not merely deliberating but also finally deciding — while the latter is confided to temporary individual magistrates, responsible to that body at the end of their period of office. We are first in troduced to a community of citizens, according to the definition of Aristotle — men qualified, and thinking themselves qualified, to take turns in command and obedience. The collective sov ereign, called The City, is thus constituted. It is true that this first community of citizens comprised only a small propor tion of the men personally free ; but the ideas upon which it was founded began gradually to dawn upon the minds of all. Political power had lost its heaven-appointed character, and had become an attribute legally communicable as well as determined to certain definite ends : and the ground was thus laid for those thousand questions which agitated so many of the Grecian cities during the ensuing three centuries, partly respecting its appor tionment, partly respecting its employment, — questions some times raised among the members of the privileged oligarchy itself, sometimes between that order as a whole and the non- privileged many. The seeds of those popular movements, which called forth so much profound emotion, so much bitter antipathy, so much energy and talent, throughout the Grecian world, with different modifications in each particular city, may thus be traced back to that early revolution which erected the primitive oligarchy upon the ruins of the heroic kingdom.
How these first oligarchies were administered we have no direct information. But the narrow and anti-popular interests naturally belonging to a privileged few, together with the gen eral violence of private manners and passions, leave us no ground for presuming favorably respecting either their pru
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dence or their good feeling; and the facts which we learn respecting the condition of Attica prior to the Solonian legisla tion raise inferences all of an unfavorable character.
The first shock which they received and by which so many of them were subverted, arose from the usurpers called Despots, who employed the prevalent discontents both as pretexts and as aids for their own personal ambition, while their very fre quent success seems to imply that such discontents were wide spread as well as serious. These despots arose out of the bosom of the oligarchies, but not all in the same manner. Sometimes the executive magistrate, upon whom the oligarchy themselves had devolved important administrative powers for a certain temporary period, became unfaithful to his choosers, and ac quired sufficient ascendency to retain his dignity permanently in spite of them — perhaps even to transmit it to his son. In other places, and seemingly more often, there arose that noted character called the Demagogue, of whom historians, both ancient and modern, commonly draw so repulsive a picture : a man of energy and ambition, sometimes even a member of the oligarchy itself, who stood forward as champion of the griev ances and sufferings of the non-privileged many, acquired their favor, and employed their strength so effectively as to put down the oligarchy by force, and constitute himself despot. A third form of despot, some presumptuous wealthy man, like Kylon at Athens, without even the pretense of popularity, was occa sionally emboldened, by the success of similar adventurers in other places, to hire a troop of retainers and seize the acropolis. And there were examples, though rare, of a fourth variety — the lineal descendant of the ancient kings — who, instead of suffering himself to be restricted or placed under control by the oligarchy, found means to subjugate them, and to extort by force an ascendency as great as that which his forefathers had enjoyed by consent. To these must be added, in several Grecian states, the ^Esymnete or Dictator, a citizen formally invested with supreme and unresponsible power, placed in com mand of the military force, and armed with a standing body guard, but only for a time named, and in order to deal with some urgent peril or ruinous internal dissension. The person thus exalted, always enjoying a large measure of confidence, and generally a man of ability, was sometimes so successful, or made himself so essential to the community, that the term of
his office was prolonged, and he became practically despot for
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life ; or even if the community were not disposed to concede to him this permanent ascendency, he was often strong enough to keep it against their will.
From the general statement of Thucydides as well as of Aristotle, we learn that the seventh and sixth centuries B. C. were centuries of progress for the Greek cities generally, in wealth, in power, and in population ; and the numerous colonies founded during this period will furnish further illustration of such progressive tendencies. Now the changes just mentioned in the Grecian governments, imperfectly as we know them, are on the whole decided evidences of advancing citizenship. For the heroic government, with which Grecian communities begin, is the rudest and most infantine of all governments : destitute even of the pretense of system or security, incapable of being in any way fore known, and depending only upon the accidental variations in the character of the reigning individual, who in most cases, far from serving as a protection to the poor against the rich and great, was likely to indulge his passions in the same unrestrained way as the latter, and with still greater impunity.
The despots, who in so many towns succeeded and supplanted this oligarchical government, though they governed on princi ples usually narrow and selfish, and often oppressively cruel, " taking no thought (to use the emphatic words of Thucydides) except each for his own body and his own family " — yet since they were not strong enough to crush the Greek mind, im printed upon it a painful but improving political lesson, and contributed much to enlarge the range of experience as well as to determine the subsequent cast of feeling. They partly broke down the wall of distinction between the people — properly so called, the general mass of freemen — and the oligarchy: indeed the demagogue despots are interesting as the first evidence of the growing importance of the people in political affairs. The demagogue stood forward as representing the feelings and interests of the people against the governing few; probably availing himself of some special cases of ill-usage, and taking pains to be conciliatory and generous in his own personal be havior. When the people by their armed aid had enabled him to overthrow the existing rulers, they had thus the satisfaction of seeing their own chief in possession of the supreme power, but they acquired neither political rights nor increased securi
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ties for themselves. What measure of positive advantage they may have reaped, beyond that of seeing their previous oppres sors humiliated, we know too little to determine. But even the worst of despots was more formidable to the rich than to the poor ; and the latter may, perhaps, have gained by the change, in comparative importance, notwithstanding their share in the rigors and exactions of a government which had no other permanent foundation than naked fear.
A remark made by Aristotle deserves especial notice here, as illustrating the political advance and education of the Grecian communities. He draws a marked distinction between the early demagogue of the seventh and sixth centuries, and the later demagogue, such as he himself, and the generations im mediately preceding, had witnessed. The former was a military chief, daring and full of resource, who took arms at the head of a body of popular insurgents, put down the government by force, and made himself the master both of those whom he de posed and of those by whose aid he deposed them ; while the latter was a speaker, possessed of all the talents necessary for moving an audience, but neither inclined to, nor qualified for, armed attack — accomplishing all his purposes by pacific and constitutional methods. This valuable change — substituting discussion and the vote of an assembly in place of an appeal to arms, and procuring for the pronounced decision of the assembly such an influence over men's minds as to render it final and respected even by dissentients — arose from the continued practical working of democratical institutions. I shall have occasion, at a later period of this history, to estimate the value of that unmeasured obloquy which has been heaped on the Athenian demagogues of the Peloponnesian war — Kleon and Hyperbolus ; but assuming the whole to be well founded, it will not be the less true that these men were a material improve ment on the earlier demagogues such as Kypselus and Peisis- tratus, who employed the armed agency of the people for the purpose of subverting the established government and acquiring despotic authority for themselves. The demagogue was essen tially a leader of opposition, who gained his influence by de nouncing the men in real ascendency and in actual executive functions. Now under the early oligarchies his opposition could be shown only by armed insurrection, and it conducted him either to personal sovereignty or to destruction. But the growth of democratical institutions insured both to him and to
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his political opponents full liberty of speech, and a paramount assembly to determine between them ; whilst it both limited the range of his ambition, and set aside the appeal to armed force. The railing demagogue of Athens at the time of the Peloponnesian war (even if we accept literally the representa tions of his worst enemies) was thus a far less mischievous and dangerous person than the fighting demagogue of the earlier centuries ; and the " growth of habits of public speaking " (to use Aristotle's expression) was the cause of the difference. Opposition by the tongue was a beneficial substitute for op position by the sword.
The rise of these despots on the ruins of the previous oligarchies was, in appearance, a return to the principles of the heroic age — the restoration of a government of personal will in place of that systematic arrangement known as the City. But the Greek mind had so far outgrown those early principles, that no new government founded thereupon could meet with willing acquiescence, except under some temporary excitement. At first doubtless the popularity of the usurper — combined with the fervor of his partisans and the expulsion or intimidation of opponents, and further enhanced by the punishment of rich oppressors —was sufficient to procure for him obedience ; and prudence on his part might prolong this undisputed rule for a considerable period, perhaps even throughout his whole life. But Aristotle intimates that these governments, even when they began well, had a constant tendency to become worse and worse. Discontent manifested itself, and was aggravated rather than repressed by the vio lence employed against it, until at length the despot became a prey to mistrustful and malevolent anxiety, losing any measure of equity or benevolent sympathy which might once have animated him.
If he was fortunate enough to bequeath his authority to his son, the latter, educated in a corrupt atmosphere and surrounded by parasites, contracted dispositions yet more noxious and unsocial. His youthful appetites were more ungovernable, while he was deficient in the prudence and vigor which had been indispensable to the self-accom plished rise of his father. For such a position, mercenary guards and a fortified acropolis were the only stay — guards fed at the expense of the citizens, and thus requiring con stant exactions on behalf of that which was nothing better
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than a hostile garrison. It was essential to the security of the despot that he should keep down the spirit of the free people whom he governed ; that he should isolate them from each other, and prevent those meetings and mutual com munications which Grecian cities habitually presented in the School, the Lesche, or the Palaestra ; that he should strike off the overtopping ears of corn in the field (to use the Greek locution), or crush the exalted and enterprising minds. Nay, he had even to a certain extent an interest in degrading and impoverishing them, or at least in debarring them from the acquisition either of wealth or leisure. The extensive con structions undertaken by Polykrates at Samos, as well as the rich donations of Periander to the temple at Olympia, are con sidered by Aristotle to have been extorted by these despots with the express view of engrossing the time and exhausting the means of their subjects.
It is not to be imagined that all were alike cruel or un principled. But the perpetual supremacy of one man or one family had become so offensive to the jealousy of those who felt themselves to be his equals, and to the general feeling of the people, that repression and severity were inevitable, whether originally intended or not. And even if an usurper, having once entered upon his career of violence, grew sick and averse to its continuance, abdication only left him in imminent peril, exposed to the vengeance of those whom he had injured —unless indeed he could clothe himself with the mantle of religion, and stipulate with the people to become priest of some temple and deity ; in which case his new function protected him, just as the tonsure and the monastery sheltered a dethroned prince in the middle ages. Several of the despots were patrons of music and poetry, courting the good will of contemporary intellectual men by invitation as well as by reward. Moreover, there were some cases, such as that of Peisistratus and his sons at Athens, in which an attempt was made (analogous to that of Augustus at Rome) to reconcile the reality of personal omnipotence with a cer tain respect for preexisting forms. In such instances the administration —though not unstained by guilt, never other wise than unpopular, and carried on by means of foreign mercenaries — was doubtless practically milder. But cases of this character were rare ; and the maxims usual with Grecian despots were personified in Periander, the Kypselid of Corinth
VOL. III. — 13
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— a harsh and brutal person, though not destitute either of vigor or intelligence.
The position of a Grecian despot, as depicted by Plato, by Xenophon, and by Aristotle, and further sustained by the indications in Herodotus, Thucydides, and Isokrates, though always coveted by ambitious men, reveals clearly enough " those wounds and lacerations of mind " whereby the internal Erinnys avenged the community upon the usurper who tram pled them down. Far from considering success in usurpation as a justification of the attempt (according to the theories now prevalent respecting Cromwell and Bonaparte, who are often blamed because they kept out a legitimate king, but never because they seized an unauthorized power over the peo ple), these philosophers regard the despot as among the great est of criminals. The man who assassinated him was an object of public honor and reward, and a virtuous Greek would seldom have scrupled to carry his sword concealed in myrtle branches, like Harmodius and Aristogeiton, for the execution of the deed. A station which overtopped the re straints and obligations involved in citizenship was under stood at the same time to forfeit all title to the common sym pathy and protection ; so that it was unsafe for the despot to visit in person those great Pan-Hellenic games in which his own chariot might perhaps have gained the prize, and in which the Theors or sacred envoys, whom he sent as representa tives of his Hellenic city, appeared with ostentatious pomp. A government carried on under these unpropitious circum stances could never be otherwise than short-lived. Though the individual daring enough to seize it often found means to preserve it for the term of his own life, yet the sight of a despot living to old age was rare, and the transmission of his power to his son still more so.
Amid the numerous points of contention in Grecian politi cal morality, this rooted antipathy to a permanent hereditary ruler stood apart as a sentiment almost unanimous, in which the thirst for preeminence felt by the wealthy few, and the love of equal freedom in the bosoms of the many, alike con curred. It first began among the oligarchies of the seventh and sixth centuries B. C. , being a reversal of that pronounced monarchical sentiment which we now read in the Iliad ; and it was transmitted by them to the democracies which did not arise until a later period. The conflict between oligarchy and des
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potism preceded that between oligarchy and democracy, the Lacedaemonians standing forward actively on both occasions to uphold the oligarchical principle. A mingled sentiment of fear and repugnance led them to put down despotism in several cities of Greece during the sixth century B. C. , just as, during their contest with Athens in the following century, they assisted the oligarchical party to overthrow democracy. And it was thus that the demagogue despot of these earlier times — bring ing out the name of the people as a pretext, and the arms of the people as a means of accomplishment, for his own ambitious designs — served as a preface to the reality of democracy which manifested itself at Athens a short time before the Persian war, as a development of the seed planted by Solon.
As far as our imperfeot information enables us to trace, these early oligarchies of the Grecian states, against which the first usurping despots contended, contained in themselves more repulsive elements of inequality, and more mischievous barriers between the component parts of the population, than the oligarchies of later days. What was true of Hellas as an aggregate, was true, though in a less degree, of each separate community which went to compose that aggregate. Each included a variety of clans, orders, religious brotherhoods, and local or professional sections, very imperfectly cemented to gether ; so that the oligarchy was not (like the government so denominated in subsequent times) the government of a rich few over the less rich and the poor, but that of a peculiar order, sometimes a patrician order, over all the remaining society.
In such a case the subject Many might number opulent and substantial proprietors as well as the governing Few ; but these subject Many would themselves be broken into different hetero geneous fractions not heartily sympathizing with each other, perhaps not intermarrying together, nor partaking of the same religious rites. The country population, or villagers who tilled the land, seem in these early times to have been held to a pain ful dependence on the great proprietors who lived in the forti fied town, and to have been distinguished by a dress and habits of their own, which often drew upon them an unfriendly nick name. These town proprietors often composed the governing class in early Grecian states ; while their subjects consisted : 1. Of the dependent cultivators living in the district around, by whom their lands were tilled. 2. Of a certain number of small, self-working proprietors (ainovp^oX), whose possessions
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were too scanty to maintain more than themselves by the labor of their own hands on their own plot of ground — residing either in the country or the town, as the case might be. 3. Of those who lived in the town, having not land, but exercising handicraft, arts, or commerce.
The governing proprietors went by the name of the Gamori or Geomori, according as the Doric or Ionic dialect might be used in describing them, since they were found in states belong ing to one race as well as to the other.