the peaceable possession of many provinces, that not an agé Artax. ago were the patrimony of the king of Spain.

*

Diodorus Siculus takes occasion from the thirty tyrants of Athens, whose immoderate ambition induced them to treat their country with the most excessive cruelties, to observe how unfortunate it is for persons in power to want a sense of honour, and to disregard either the present opinion, or the judgment posterity will form of their conduct: For from the contempt of reputation the transition is too common to that of virtue itself. They may perhaps, by the awe of their power, suppress for some time the publick voice, and impose a forced silence upon censure; but the more constraint they lay upon it during their lives, the more liberal will it be after their deaths of complaints and reproaches, and the more infamy and imputation will be affixed to their memories. The power of the Thirty was of a very short duration; their guilt immortal, which will be remembered with abhorrence throughout all ages, whilst their names will be recorded in history only to render them odious, and to make their crimes detestable. He applies the same reflection to the Lacedæmonians, who after having made themselves masters of Greece by a wise and moderate conduct, fell from that glory, through the severity, haughtiness, and injustice, with which they treated their allies. There is doubtless no reader, whom their abject and cruel jealousy, in regard to Athens enslaved and humbled, has not prejudiced against them; nor is there any resemblance in such behaviour of the greatness of mind and noble generosity of ancient Sparta; so much power have the lust of dominion and prosperity over even virtuous men. Diodorus concludes his reflection with a maxim very

* Cetera princip bus statim ades e: unum in atiabiliter parandum, prosperam sui memoriam; nam contemptâ famâ, contemni virtutes-Quo magis socordiam corum inrideri libet, qui præsenti potentiá crecut ex ingui posse etiam sequentis evi memor am--- uum cu que decus posteritas rependit. Tacit. Annal. 1. iv. c. 30, & 35.

Mnemon.

Artax.

truc, though very little known: "The greatness and Mnemon. " majesty of princes," says he, (and the same may be said of all persons in high authority,) "can be sup"ported only by humanity and justice with regard "to their subjects; as on the contrary, they are "ruined and destroyed by a cruel and oppressive government, which never fails to draw upon them "the hatred of their people."

SECT. III. Lysander abuses his power in an extraordinary manner. He is recalled to Sparta upon the complaint of Pharnabasus.

h

As Lysander had the greatest share in the celebrated exploits, which had raised the glory of the Lacedæmonians to so high a pitch; so had he acquired a degree of power and authority, of which there was no example before in Sparta; but he suffered himself to be carried away by a presumption and vanity still greater than his power. He permitted the Grecian citics to dedicate altars to him as to a god, and to offer sacrifices, and sing hymns and canticles in honour of him. The Samians ordained by a publick decree, that the feasts celebrated in honour of Juno, and which bore the name of that goddess, should be called the feasts of Lysander. He had always a crowd of poets about him, (who are often a tribe of venal flatterers,) that emulated each other in singing his great exploits, for which they were magnificently paid. Praise is undoubtedly due to noble deeds; but diminishes their lustre when either forged or excessive.

This sort of vanity and ambition, had he stopt there, would have hurt only himself, by exposing him to envy and contempt; but a natural consequence of it was, that through his arrogance and pride, in conjunction with the incessant flatteries of those around him, he carried the spirit of command

Plut. in Lys. p. 443-445.

Mnemon.

and authority to an insupportable excess, and ob- Artax. served no longer any measures either in rewarding or punishing. The absolute government of cities with tyrannick power were the fruits of his friendship, and the ties of hospitality with him; and only the death of those he hated, could put an end to his resentment and displeasure, without its being possible to escape his vengeance. What Sylla caused to be inscribed upon his tomb, might with equal propriety have been engraved upon Lysander's: That no man had ever surpassed him in doing good to his friends, or evil to his enemies.

Treachery and perjury cost him nothing whenever they promoted his designs; nor was he less cruel than revengeful; of which what he did at Miletus is a sufficient proof. Apprehending that those who were at the head of the people would escape him, he swore not to do them any hurt. Those unfortunates gave credit to his oath, and no sooner appeared in publick, than they were put to the sword with his consent by the nobility, who killed them all, though no less than eight hundred. The number of those in the party of the people, whom he caused to be massacred in the other cities, is incredible; for he did not only destroy to satiate his own resentments, but to serve in all places the enmity, malice, and avarice of his friends, whom he supported in gratifying their passions by the death of their enemies.

There was no kind of injustice and violence which the people did not suffer under the government of Lysander; whilst the Lacedæmonians, who were sufficiently informed of his conduct, gave themselves no trouble to prevent its effects. It is too common for those in power to be little affected with the vexations and oppressions laid upon persons of low condition and credit, and to be deaf to their just complaints, though authority is principally confided in them for the defence of the weak and poor, who have no other protectors. But if such remonstrances are made by a great or powerful person, from whom they may

Artax. have any thing to hope or fear, the same authority Mnemon. that was slow and drowsy, becomes immediately

warm and officious; a certain proof that it is not the love of justice that actuates: This appears here in the conduct of the Lacedæmonian magistrates. Pharnabasus, weary of Lysander's repeated injustices, who ravaged and pillaged the provinces under his command, having sent ambassadors to Sparta, to complain of the wrongs he had received from that general, the Ephori recalled him. Lysander was at that time in the Hellespont.

The letter of the

Ephori threw him into great consternation. As he principally feared the complaints and accusations of Pharnabasus, he made all the haste he could to come to an explanation with him, from the hope of softening him, and making his peace. He went for that purpose to him, and desired, that he would write another letter to the Ephori, intimating a satisfaction in his conduct. But Lysander, says Plutarch, in such an application to Pharnabasus, forgot the proverb, Set a thief to catch a thief. The satrap promised all he desired, and accordingly wrote such a letter in Lysander's presence as he had asked of him, but prepared another to a quite different effect. When he was to seal it, as both letters were of the same size and form, he dexterously put that he had wrote in secret into the place of the other, without being observed, which he sealed, and gave him.

Lysander departed well satisfied, and being arrived at Sparta, alighted at the palace where the senate was assembled, and delivered Pharnabasus's letter to the Ephori. But he was strangely surprized when he heard the contents, and withdrew in extreme confusion and disorder. Some days after he returned to the senate, and told the Ephori, that he was obliged to go to the temple of Ammon to acquit himself of the sacrifices he had vowed to that god before his battles. That pilgrimage was no more than a pretence,

*The Greek proverb is, Cretan against Cretan, from the people of Crete, who passed for the greatest cheats and liars in the world.

to cover the pain it gave him to live as a private Artax. person in Sparta, and to submit to the yoke of obey- Mnemon ing; he, who till then had always governed.

Ac

customed long to commanding armies, and to the flattering distinctions of a kind of sovereignty exercised by him in Asia, he could not endure the mortifying equality with the multitude, nor restrain himself to the simplicity of a private life. Having obtained permission, not without great difficulties, he embarked.

As soon as he was gone, the kings, reflecting that he held all the cities in his dependence, by the means of their governors and magistrates established by him, to whom they were also indebted for their unlimited authority, and that he was thereby effectually lord and master of all Greece, applied themselves vigorously to restore the government of the people, and to depose all his creatures and friends from any share in it. This alteration occasioned great tumults at first. About the same time Lysander, being apprized of the design of Thrasybulus, to re-establish the liberty of his country, returned with the utmost diligence to Sparta, and endeavoured to engage the Lacedæmonians to support the party of the nobility at Athens. We have before observed, that Pausanias, from a more noble spirit of equity and generosity, gave peace to Athens, and by that means, says Plutarch, clipped the wings of Lysander's am

bition.

CHAP. II.

Young Cyrus, with the aid of the Grecian troops, endeavours to dethrone his brother Artaxerxes. He is killed in battle. Famous retreat of the ten thousand.

ANTIQUITY has few events so memorable, as

those I am about to relate in this place. We see on one side a young prince, abounding otherwise with excellent qualities, abandoned to his violent ambi

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