pomp, and the procession had been obliged to go by sea. The particular ceremonies of this solemnity may be seen in book x. chap. iii. Alcibiades believed it would be a most glorious action, and attract the blessings of the gods and the praises of men, if he restored all its lustre and solemnity to this feast, in making the procession go by land under the convoy of his troops, to defend it against the attacks of the enemy. For either Agis would suffer it to pass quietly, notwithstanding the numerous troops he had at Decelia, which would considerably lessen the reputation of that king, and be a blot in his glory; or, if he should chuse to attack it, and oppose the march, he should then have the satisfaction to fight a sacred battle; a battle grateful to the gods, for the greatest and most venerable of all their mysteries, in the sight of his country and citizens, who would be witnesses of his valour, and regard for religion. It is very likely, that by this public and ostentatious act of piety, which struck the people's view in so sensible a manner, and was so extremely to his taste, Alcibiades' principal design was to efface entirely from their minds the suspicions of impiety, to which the mutilation of statues and profanation of mysteries had given birth. Having taken that resolution, he gave notice to the Eumolpides and Ceryces to hold themselves in readiness, posted centinels upon the hills, sent out runners at the break of day, and taking with him the priests, the initiated, and the probationers, with those who initiated them, he covered them with his army, and disposed the whole procession with wonderful order and profound silence. Never was show, says Plutarch, more august, nor more worthy the majesty of the gods, than this warlike procession and religious expedition; in which even those who envied the glory of Alcibiades were obliged to own, that he was no less happy in discharging the functions of an high-priest than those of a general. No enemy dared to appear to disturb that pompous march, and Alcibiades re-conducted the sacred troops to Athens with entire safety. This success gave him new courage, and raised the valour and boldness of his army to such a degree, that they looked upon themselves as invincible whilst he commanded them. He acquired the affection of the poor and the lower sort of people so much, that they most ardently desired to have him for their king. Many of them openly declared themselves to that effect; and there were some who addressed themselves to him, and exhorted him to set himself above envy, and not to trouble himself about laws, decrees, or suffrages; to put down those wordy impertinents that disturbed the state with their vain harangues, to make himself master of affairs, and to govern with entire authority, without fearing accusers. For him, what his thoughts of the tyranny and his designs were, are unknown; but the most powerful citizens, apprehending the breaking out of a fire, of which they already saw the sparks, pressed him to depart without delay, granting whatever he demanded, and giving him for colleagues the generals most agreeable to him. He set sail accordingly with 100 ships, and steered for the island of Andros, which had revolted. His high reputation, and the good fortune which had attended him in all his enterprises, made nothing but what was great and extraordinary to be expected from him. 'THE LACEDEMONIANS SECTION IV. APPOINT LYSANDER ADMIRAL.- -HE BEATS THE ATHENIAN FLEET NEAR EPHESUS. LYSANDER IS SUCCEEDED IN THE COMMAND BY CALLICRATIDAS. THE Lacedæmonians, justly alarmed at the return and success of Alcibiades, * conceived that such an enemy made it necessary to oppose him with an able general, capable of making head against him. For this reason they made choice of Lysander, and gave him the command of the fleet. When he arrived at Ephesus, he found the city very well disposed in his favour, and well affected to Sparta, but otherwise in a very unhappy situation; for it was in danger of becoming barbarous, by assuming the manners and customs of the Persians, who had great commerce with it, as well from the neighbourhood of Lydia, as because the king's generals commonly took up their winter quarters there. An idle and voluptuous life, filled up with luxury and empty show, could not fail of disgusting infinitely a man like Lysander, who had been bred from his birth in the simplicity, poverty, and severe discipline of Sparta. Having brought his army to Ephesus, he gave orders for assembling ships of burden there from all parts, erected an arsenal for building of galleys, made the ports free for merchants, gave the public places to artificers, put all arts in motion, and held them in honour; and by these means filled the city with riches, and laid the foundation of that grandeur and magnificence to which it afterwards attained: so great a change can the application and ability of a single person occasion in a state! Whilst he was making these dispositions, he received advice that Cyrus, the king's youngest son, was arrived at Sardis. That prince could not be above 16 years old at that time, being born after his father's accession to the crown, in the 17th year of his reign. Parysatis his mother loved him to idolatry, and had the entire ascendant of her husband. It was she that occasioned his having the supreme government of all the provinces of Asia Minor given him; a command that subjected all the provincial governours of the most important part of the empire to his authority. The view of Parysatis was, without doubt, to put the young prince into a condition to dispute the throne with his brother after the king's death, as we shall see he does to some effect. One of the principal instructions given him by his father, upon sending him to his government, was to give effectual aid to the Lacedæmonians against Athens; an order very contrary to the measures observed till then by Tissaphernes, and the other governours of those provinces. It had always been their maxim, sometimes to assist one party, sometimes the other, in order to hold their power in such a balance, that the one might never be able to crush the other entirely; from whence it followed that both parties were kept weak by the war, and neither in condition to form any enterprises against the Persian empire. Upon Lysander's being apprized therefore of the arrival of Cyrus at Sardis, he set out from Ephesus to make him a visit, and to complain of the delays and breach of faith of Tissaphernes, who, notwithstanding the orders he had received to support the Lacedæmonians, and to drive the Athenians out of the sea, had always covertly favoured the latter, out of regard for Alcibiades, whose measures he entirely gave into, and had been * Xenoph. ellen. l. xi. p. 440-442. Plut. in Lysand. p. 434, 435 Diod. 1. xiii. p. 192-197. the sole cause of the loss of the fleet, by not supplying it with the necessary quantity of provisions. This discourse pleased Cyrus, who looked upon Tissaphernes as a very bad man, and his particular enemy; and he answered, that the king had given him orders to support the Lacedæmonians powerfully, and that he had received 500 talents* for that purposes Lysander, contrary to the common character of the Spartans, was submissive and condescending, full of complacency for the grandees, always ready to pay his court to them, and supporting, for the good of the service, all the weight of their haughtiness and vanity with incredible patience; in which behaviour some people make the whole address and merit of a cour tier consist. He did not forget himself on this occasion, and setting at work all that the industry and art of a complete courtier could suggest of flattery and insinuation, he perfectly gained the young prince's favour and good opinion. After having praised his generosity, magnificence, and zeal for the Lacedæmonians, he desired him to give each soldier and mariner af drachm per day, in order to debauch those of the enemy by that means, and thereby terminate the war the sooner. Cyrus very much approved the project; but said that he could make no change in the king's order, and that the treaty with them expressly settled only half a talent † to be paid monthly for each galley. The prince, however, at the end of a banquet, which he gave him before his departure, drinking to his health, and pressing him to ask something of him, Lysander desired that an | obolus a day might be added to the seamen's pay. This was granted; and he gave them four oboli, instead of three which they received before, and paid them all the arrears due to them, with a month's advance; giving Lysander 10,000 § darics for that purpose; that is, 100,000 livres, or about 5000l. sterling. This largess filled the whole fleet with ardour and alacrity; and almost unmanned the enemy's galleys; the greatest part of the mariners deserting to the party where the pay was best. The Athenians, in despair upon receiving this news, endeavoured to conciliate Cyrus by the interposition of Tissaphernes; but he would not hearken to them, notwithstanding the satrap represented that it was not for the king's interest to aggrandize the Lacedæmonians, but to balance the power of one side with that of the other, in order to perpetuate the war, and to ruin both by their own divisions. Though Lysander had considerably weakened the enemy by augmenting the mariner's pay, and thereby very much hurt their naval power, he dared not however hazard a battle with them, particularly apprehending Alcibiades, who was a man of execution, had the greater number of ships, and had never been overthrown in any battle either by sea or land. But after AIcibiades had left Samos to go into Phocæa and Ionia to raise money, of which he was in want for the payment of his troops, and had given the command of his fleet to Antiochus, with express order not to fight or attack the enemy in his absence; the new commander, to make show of his courage, and to brave Lysander, entered the port of Ephesus with two galleys, and after having made a great noise, retired with loud laughter, and an air of contempt and insult. Lysander, enraged at that affront, immediately detached some galleys, and went himself in pursuit of him. But as 500,000 crowns, about 112,5001. †Ten pence. * † 1500 livres, about 1121. sterling. The drachm was six oboli, or ten pence French; each obolus being three half pence; so that the four oboli were six pence half penny a day, instead of five pence or three oboli. A daric is about a pistole. the Athenians advanced to support Antiochus, he ordered other galleys of his side to come on till the whole fleet arrived by little and little, and the engagement became general on both sides. Lysander gained the victory, and having taken 15 of the Athenian galleys, he erected a trophy. Alcibiades, on his return to Samos, sailed even into the port to offer him battle; but Lysander was contented with his victory, and did not think proper to accept it; so that he retired without doing any thing. *Thrasy bulus at the same time, the most dangerous enemy he had in his army, left the camp, and went to Athens to accuse him. To inflame his enemies in the city the more, he told the people in a full assembly, that Alcibiades had entirely ruined their affairs, and the navy, by the licence he had introduced; that he had given himself up to the most † notorious debauchees and drunkards, who from common seamen were the only persons in credit about him; that he abandoned his whole authority to them, to be at leisure to enrich himself in the provinces, and to plunge himself there into intemperance and all other infamous excesses, to the disgrace of Athens, whilst his fleet was left neglected in the face of the enemy's. Another article of accusation against him was taken from the forts he had built near the city of Byzantium, for an asylum and retreat for him ; as neither being able nor willing to return any more to his country. The Athenians, a capricious, inconstant people, gave credit to these impeachments. The loss of the last battle, and his little success since his departure from Athens, instead of the great and wonderful actions expected from him, entirely sunk him in their opinions; and his own glory and reputation may be said to have occasioned his ruin. For he was suspected of not desiring to do what was not done, which they could not believe out of his power, because they were fully persuaded that nothing he desired to do was impossible to him. They made it a crime in Alcibiades, that the rapidity of his conquests did not answer to that of their imaginations; not considering that he made war without money upon a people who had the great king for their treasurer, and that he was often obliged to quit his camp to go in quest of what was necessary for the payment and subsistence of his troops. However it was, Alcibiades was deposed, and ten generals nominated in his stead; of which, when he received advice, he retired in his galley to some castles he had in the Thracian Chersonesus. About this time died Plistonax, one of the kings of Lacedæmonia, and was succeeded by Pausanias, who reigned 14 years. The latter made a fine answer to one who asked, why it was not permitted to change any thing in the ancient customs of Sparta; "Because," says he," at Spar"ta the laws command men, and not men the laws.” Lysander, who intended to establish the government of the nobility in all the cities in the dependance of Sparta, that the governours of his choosing might be always at his disposal, from his having rendered them independent of their people, he caused such persons of the principal cities to come to Ephesus as he knew to be the boldest, and most enterprising and * A. M. 3598. Ant. J. C. 406. Antiochus is pointed at in this place; a mean debauched man, who had acquired the favour of Alcibiades by catching a quail for him which he had let fly. ↑ Diod. 1. xiii. p. 196. | Ότι τις νομές των Apoph. p. 230. ανδρων, 8 της άνδρας των νόμων κυρίως είναι δει. Xenoph. Hellen. l. i. 442-444. Plut. in Lysand. p. 433-436. iii. p. 197, 198. Plut. in Diod. ambitious. These he placed at the head of affairs, promoted to the greatest honours, and raised to the first employments of the army, thereby rendering himself says Plutarch, the accomplice of all the crimes and oppressions they committed to advance and enrich themselves. For this reason they were always extremely attached to him, and regretted him infinitely, when Callicratidas came to succeed him, and took upon him the command of the fleet. He was not inferior to Lysander either in valour or military knowledge, and was infinitely above him in point of moral virtue. Alike severe to himself and others, inaccessible to flattery and sloth, the declared enemy of luxury, he retained the modesty, temperance, and austerity of the ancient Spartans; virtues that began to distinguish him particularly, as they were not too common in his time. His probity and justice were proof against all things; his simplicity and integrity abhorred all falsehood and fraud, to which were joined a truly Spartan nobleness and grandeur of soul. The great and powerful could not hinder themselves from admiring his virtue; but they were better pleased with the facility and condescension of his predecessor, who was blind to the injustice and violence of their actions. It was not without mortification and jealousy that Lysander saw him arrive at Ephesus to take upon him the command, and out of a criminal baseness and treachery, not uncommon with those who hearken more to their private ambition, than the good of the public, he did him all the ill ces in his power. Of the 10,000 darics, which Cyrus had given him for the augmentation of the mariners' pay, he returned the remainder to that prince; telling Callicratidas, that he might apply to the king for the money, and that it depended on him to find means for the subsistence of his army. This conduct gave him great trouble, and distressed him exceedingly; for he had brought no money with him from Sparta, and could not resolve to extort any from the citizens, as he found them sufficiently rifled already. * In this urgent necessity a person having offered him 50 talents, that is to say, 50,000 crowns, to obtain a favour he could not grant with justice, he refused them. Upon which Cleander, one of his officers, said, "I would "accept them, were I in your place." "And so would I," replied the gen eral, “ were I in your's.” He had no other resource therefore than to go, as Lysander had done, to ask money at the gates of the king's general and lieutenants, for which he was the least proper of all mankind. Nurtured and educated in the love of liberty, full of great and noble sentiments, and infinitely remote from all flattery and baseness, he was convinced at heart, that it was less evil and dishonour for Greeks to be overcome by Greeks, than infamously to make their court, and beg at the gates of barbarians, whose only merit consisted in their gold and silver. The whole nation were indeed disgraced by so mean a prostitution, Cicero, in his Offices, draws two very different characters of persons employed in the administration of government, and makes the application of them to the two generals of whom we speak. The one, says he, † zealous lovers of truth, and declared enemies of all fraud, pique themselves * Plut. in Apoph. p. 222. + Sunt his alii multum dispares, simplices et aperti; qui nihil ex occulto, nihil ex insidiis agendum putant; veritatis cultores, fraudis inimici; itemque alii, qui quidvis perpetiantur, cuivis deserviant, dum, quod velint, consequantur. Quo in genere versutissimum et patientissimum Lacedæmonium Lysandrum accepimus, contraque Callicratidam. Offic. I. i. n. 109. |