B. C. 478.

129. SIEGE OF SESTUS. The Athenians resolved to win back the colony founded by Miltiades in the Chersonesus. The whole remaining force of the Persians made a last stand at Sestus, and endured a siege so obstinate that they even consumed the leather of their harness and bedding for want of food. They yielded at last, and the natives gladly welcomed back the Greeks. Laden with treasures and secure of a well-earned peace, the Athenians returned home in triumph. Among their relics, the broken fragments and cables of the Hellespontine bridge of Xerxes were long to be seen in the temples of Athens.

130. Notwithstanding her losses, Athens came forth from the Persian wars stronger, and with a higher rank among the Grecian states, than she had entered them. Her efforts and sacrifices had called forth a power which she was scarcely conscious of possessing, and with the consent of Sparta, whose constitution illy fitted her for distant enterprises, Athens was now recognized as the leader of the Greeks in foreign affairs. In the meantime important changes had occurred in her internal policy. The power of the great families was broken, and the common people, who had borne the brunt of hardship and peril in the war, were recognized as an important element in the state. Aristides, though the leader of the aristocratic party, proposed and carried an amendment by which all the people, without distinction of rank or property, obtained a share in the government, the only requisites being intelligence and moral character. The archonship, which had hitherto been confined to the eupatrids, was now thrown open to all classes.

Themistocles was the popular leader. His first care was the rebuilding

of the walls of Athens, and he provided means by levying contributions upon those islands which had given aid to the Persians. The jealous opposition of the Spartans was overcome by gold and management. To accommodate the greatly increased navy, he improved the port of Piræus and protected it by strong walls. He hoped, by building up the naval power of Athens, to place her at the head of a great maritime empire, comprising the islands and Asiatic coasts of the Ægean, thus eclipsing the Spartan supremacy on the Grecian mainland.

131. Pausanias, now commanding at Byzantium, had lost all his Spartan virtue in the pride of conquest and the luxury of wealth. After the victory at Platæa, he had engraven on the golden tripod dedicated to Apollo by all the Greeks, an inscription in which he claimed for himself the exclusive glory. His government, justly offended, caused this inscription to be replaced by another, naming only the confederate cities, and omitting all mention of Pausanias. Both the pride and the talents of the Spartan commander were too great for the private station into which he must soon descend; for though so long generalissimo of the Greeks, he was not a king in Sparta, but only regent for the son of Leonidas. The conversation of his Persian captives, some of whom were relatives of the great king, opened brilliant views to the ambition and avarice of Pausanias. His own relative, Demara'tus, had exchanged the austere life of a Spartan for all the luxury of an Oriental palace, with the government of three Æolian cities. The greater talents of Pausanias would entitle him to yet higher dignities and honors.

In view of these glittering bribes, the victor of Platea was willing to become the betrayer of his country. He released his noble prisoners with messages to Xerxes, in which he offered to subject Sparta and the rest of Greece to the Persian dominion, on condition of receiving the king's daughter in marriage, with wealth and power suitable to his rank. Xerxes welcomed these overtures with delight, and immediately sent commissioners to continue the negotiation. Exalted by his new hopes, the pride of Pausanias became unbearable. He assumed the dress of a Persian satrap, and journeyed into Thrace in true Oriental pomp, with a guard of Persians and Egyptians. He insulted the Greek officers and subjected the common soldiers to the lash. Even Aristides was rudely repulsed when he sought to know the reason of this extraordinary conduct.

Reports reached the Spartan government, and Pausanias was recalled. He was tried and convicted for various personal and minor offenses, but the proof of his treason was thought insufficient to convict him. He returned to Byzantium without the permission of his government, but was expelled by the allies for his shameful conduct. Again recalled to Sparta, he was tried and imprisoned, only to escape and renew

his intrigues both with the Persians and with the Helots at home, to whom he promised freedom and the rights of citizenship if they would aid him to overthrow the government and make himself tyrant.

B. C. 471.

He was caught, at length, in his own snares. A man named Argilius, whom he had intrusted with a letter to Artabazus, remembered that none of those whom he had seen dispatched on similar errands, had returned. He broke the seal and found, together with much treasonable matter, directions for his own death as soon as he should arrive at the satrap's court. The letter was laid before the ephors, and the treason being now fully proved, preparations were made to arrest Pausanias. He was warned and took refuge in the temple of Athena Chalcio'cus. Here he suffered the penalty of his crimes. The roof was removed, and his own mother brought the first stone to block up the entrance to the temple. When he was known to be nearly exhausted by hunger and exposure, he was brought out to die in the open air, lest his death should pollute the shrine of the goddess.

B. C. 476.

132. On the first recall of Pausanias, B. C. 477, the allies had unanimously placed Aristides at their head. This was the turning-point of a peaceful revolution which made Athens, instead of Sparta, the leading state in Greece. Cautious still of awakening jealousy, Aristides named, not Athens, but the sacred isle of Delos, as the seat of the Hellenic League. Here the Congress met, and here was the common treasury, filled by the contributions of all the Grecian states, for the defense of the Ægean coasts and the furtherance of active operations against the Persians. In the assessment of these taxes, Aristides acted with so much wisdom and justice, that, though all the treasures of Greece were in his power, no word of accusation or complaint was uttered by any of the allies. 133. Having thus laid the foundation of Athenian supremacy by his moderation, Aristides retired from command, and was succeeded by Cimon, the son of Miltiades. This young noble was distinguished by his frank and generous manners, as well as by his bravery in war, which had already been proved against the Persians. The recovery of his father's estates in the Chersonesus gave him immense wealth, which he used in the most liberal manner. He kept open table for men of all ranks, and was followed in the streets by a train of servants laden with cloaks, which they gave to any needy person whom they met. At the same time he administered to the wants of the more sensitive by charities delicately and secretly offered. Though doubtless injurious to the spirit of the Athenian people, this liberality was gladly accepted, and resulted in unbounded popularity to Cimon. His brave and sincere character commended him to the Spartans, and of all the Athenians he was probably the most acceptable leader to the allies.

134. His first expedition was against the Thracian town Ei'on, now

held by a Persian garrison. The town was reduced by famine, when its governor, fearing the displeasure of Xerxes more than death, placed himself, his family, and his treasures upon a funeral pile, and perished by fire. The place surrendered, and its defenders were sold as slaves. Cimon then proceeded to Scyrus, whose people had incurred the vengeance of the League by their piratical practices. The pirates were expelled, and the place occupied by an Attic colony. As the fear of Asiatic invasion subsided, the bond between the allies and their chief relaxed. Carystus refused to pay tribute, and Naxos, the most important of the Cyclades, openly revolted. Cimon was on the alert. Carystus was subdued, and a powerful fleet was led against Naxos. The siege was long and obstinate, but it resulted in favor of Athens. The island was reduced from an ally to a subject.

135. BATTLE OF THE EURYMEDON.

B. C. 466.

The victorious fleet of Cimon now advanced along the southern shores of Asia Minor, and all the Greek cities, either encouraged by his presence or overawed by his power, seized the opportunity to throw off the yoke of the Persians. His force was increased by their accession when he came to the river Eurymedon, in Pamphylia, and found a Persian fleet moored near its entrance, and a powerful army drawn up upon the banks. Already more numerous than the Greeks, they were expecting reinforcements from Cyprus; but Cimon, preferring to attack them without delay, sailed up the river and engaged their fleet. The Persians fought but feebly, and as they were driven to the narrow and shallow portion of the river, they forsook their ships and joined the army on the land. Cimon increased his own fleet by two hundred of the deserted triremes, beside destroying many.

Thus victorious on the water, the men demanded to be led on shore, where the Persian army stood in close array. Fatigued with the sea fight, it was hazardous to land in the face of a superior enemy still fresh and unworn, but the zeal of the Greeks surmounted all objections. The second battle was more closely contested than the first; many noble Athenians fell, but victory came at last; the field and the spoils remained to the Greeks. To make his victory complete, Cimon proceeded to Cyprus, where the Phoenician reinforcements were still detained. These were wholly captured or destroyed, and the immense treasure which fell into the hands of the victors increased the splendor of Athens. The tide of war had now rolled back so powerfully upon Persia, that the coasts of Asiatic Greece were free from all danger. No Persian troops came within a day's journey on horseback of the Grecian seas, whose waters were swept clear of Persian sails.

136. Aristides was now dead, and Themistocles in exile, having been ostracised in 471 B. C. Cimon was therefore both the greatest and

richest of the Athenians; and while his wealth was freely used for the adornment of Athens and the pleasure of her citizens, it continually added to his power. He planted the market-place with Oriental plane-trees; laid out in walks and adorned with groves and fountains the Academia, afterward made celebrated by the teachings of Plato; he erected beautiful colonnades of marble, where the Athenians long loved to assemble for social intercourse; and he caused the dramatic entertainments to be celebrated with greater elegance and brilliancy. With this increase of wealth, the tastes of the citizens became luxurious, and Athens rose from her poverty and secondary rank to be not only the most powerful, but the most magnificent of Grecian cities.

137. Though of the opposite political party to Themistocles, Cimor carried forward that statesman's great design of exalting by all means the naval power of Athens. To this end he yielded to the request of the allies, who desired to commute their quotas of ships or men for the general defense into a money payment. Other admirals had been less accommodating, but Cimon masked a profound policy under his apparent good-nature. The forces of the other states became enfeebled by want of discipline, while the Athenians were not only enriched by their tribute, but strengthened in the hardy drill of the soldier and sailor, which Cimon never suffered them to relax.

138. The fall of Themistocles was indirectly brought about by that of Pausanias. The great Athenian, living in exile, but watchful as ever in all that concerned the interests of Greece, had entered so far into the intrigues of Pausanias as to become possessed of all his plans. The Spartan ephors, finding his letters among the papers of Pausanias, and glad of such a pretext against their old enemy, sent them to Athens, accusing him of a share in the conspiracy. The party led by Cimon and friendly to Sparta was now predominant in Athens, and the people listened too readily to these suspicions. A combined force of Spartan and Athenian troops was sent forth, with orders to seize Themistocles wherever he could be found.

B. C. 466.

The exile, after many adventures, took refuge at the court of Persia, that power which, more than any man living, he had contributed to destroy, but which was ever personally generous toward its foes. The three cities, Myus, Lamp'sacus, and Magnesia, were assigned him for his support. In the latter city he passed his remaining days in affluence and honor. Two accounts have been given of his death. The more probable one is, that when Egypt revolted and was aided by Athens (B. C. 449), the Persian king called upon Themistocles to make good his promises and begin operations against Greece. But the Athenian had only wished to escape from his ungrateful countrymen, not to injure them, and he could not help to destroy that supremacy of Athens which