divided into four principal parts. Ptolemy remained master of Egypt, and
his family reigned there many years, until under Cle-o-pa'tra, the last
of his race, the country fell into the hands of the Romans.
Seleucus and his descendants, the Se-leu'ci-dae, had the Persian Empire,
or Syria and the land between the Indus and the Euphrates. The capital
of this empire was first Se-leu'cia, near Babylon, and later An'ti-och,
which became a rich and well-known city.
Lysimachus was given the kingdom of Thrace, which, however, soon passed
into other hands; and Cassander remained master of Macedon. As for
Demetrius, although he had lost a kingdom at the battle of Ipsus, he
soon managed to conquer another.
In his anger at the Athenians, he first marched against them, and
besieged them in their own city. The Athenians were frightened, for they
knew how well they deserved punishment; but they resisted as well as
they could, and the siege dragged on for several months.
At the end of this time there was no food left in the city, and the
people suffered greatly from hunger. Finally they were obliged to yield;
and Demetrius rode into Athens in triumph.
CIX. DEMETRIUS AND THE ATHENIANS.
The Athenians trembled with fear when they saw the stern expression on
Demetrius' face as he entered their city. This terror became still
greater when he ordered all the principal citizens to assemble in the
public square. None of the Athenians dared to disobey, and they were in
no wise reassured when the conquering army surrounded them, each soldier
holding an unsheathed sword in his hand.
Demetrius now sternly addressed the citizens, who fancied that every
moment would be their last. He reproved them harshly for their
ingratitude and desertion, and told them that they deserved death at his
hands; but he ended his speech by saying that he preferred to show his
power by granting them forgiveness rather than by killing them.
Then he went on to tell them, that, knowing how much they had suffered,
he had sent supplies of grain to every house, so that when they went
home they should not find their wives and children starving.
The sudden reaction from their great terror proved almost fatal to the
Athenian citizens. But when they recovered their breath, the air was
rent by a mighty shout of joy in honor of the kind conqueror.
Although Demetrius was as generous as he was brave, his end was very
sad. After a long life of continual warfare, and after conquering and
losing Macedon, he fell into the hands of his rival and enemy, Seleucus,
who kept him in prison as long as he lived.
About this time a new trouble befell Macedon and Greece. This was an
invasion of the Gauls, who came sweeping down from the mountains into
Greece, in order to rob the temple at Delphi.
A second time, however, the temple escaped, thanks to a terrible
thunderstorm, which filled the superstitious minds of the robbers with
dread. In the sudden darkness the Gauls fell upon each other, as the
Persians had done in the days of Xerxes, and fought so desperately that
many were killed.
The Greeks, remembering former victories, now made up their minds to
strike a blow in their own defense. They collected an army, and defeated
the invaders so severely that Bren'nus, the leader of the Gauls, killed
himself in despair, while his followers withdrew to a province in Asia
Minor, which from the Gauls was called Ga-la'tia.
CX. THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE.
While the generals and successors of Alexander were busy trying to crush
one another, most of the Greek towns, left to their own devices, had
become small republics. But instead of forming a union, they became so
jealous, that they began to quarrel and even to fight among themselves.
As the quarrels became more bitter, two parties or leagues were formed,
which, from the two most important provinces at that time, received the
names of Achaean and AE-to'li-an.
The Achaean League was made up of twelve small towns in the Peloponnesus,
and was under the leadership of A-ra'tus, a native of Sic'y-on. When a
child, Aratus had seen his native city in the hands of a tyrant. His
father, who was a patriot, had made a bold attempt to free the city, but
had failed, and lost his life. Aratus, who was but seven years of age,
heard that his father and all his family had been slain, and knew that
the tyrant would try to kill him too. As he was too weak to defend
himself, he sought refuge in the house of the tyrant's sister, where no
one would be likely to seek for him.
This woman, touched by the child's trust, hid him cleverly, and, when
all danger was over, sent him to some friends, where she paid for his
board, and had him carefully brought up.
As Aratus was patriotic, he was anxious to finish the work which his
father had begun. At the age of twenty, therefore, he assembled a few
comrades, entered Sicyon, called all the lovers of liberty to his aid,
and drove away the tyrant without shedding any blood.
The town, thus freed, joined the Achaean League, of which Aratus soon
became the leader. This office was elective, and no one was expected to
fill it for more than a year; but Aratus was so much loved that he was
chosen leader thirty-five years in succession.
At this time, Greece and Macedon were under the rule of Antigonus
Go-na'tas, son of Demetrius; for this man had conquered for himself the
second kingdom which his father had lost. But now Aratus and the Achaean
League refused to obey him, so he marched down from Macedon to restore
order.
To prevent his advance, and to hinder his getting even as much as a
foothold in the peninsula, Aratus wanted to capture the fortress of
Ac-ro-co-rin'thus, which barred the Isthmus of Corinth.
This undertaking was very difficult, because the fortress was perched
upon a rock so high and steep that it was almost impossible to climb it.
A traitor, Di'o-cles, however, offered to show Aratus a way to climb
this rock, provided that he should receive a certain reward. Although
general of the Achaean League, and one of the greatest men of his day,
Aratus was far from being rich; and, in order to obtain the required
sum, he had to sell all he had, and even pawn his wife's few jewels.
Then, in the midst of the darkness, one rainy night, Diocles led the
Achaean soldiers along a steep path, which they had to climb in Indian
file.
He brought them safely and unseen into the fortress, where they killed
most of the Macedonian sentinels, and put the guards to flight. As soon
as the key of the Peloponnesus had been thus daringly won, most of the
other towns in the peninsula joined the league, and the Achaeans gained
such victories, that Antigonus Gonatus fell ill, and died of grief.
The Achaean League became stronger and stronger; and, although Sparta and
a few other cities remained neutral, most of the small towns were freed
from their tyrants. Such was the importance of the league, that the
Roman ambassadors once came to ask for its aid to suppress the pirates
who infested the neighboring seas.
This help was cheerfully given, and the Achaeans entered into a treaty
with the Romans. They little suspected, however, that the city whose
name was then almost unknown would in less than a hundred years become
strong enough to subdue them, and be mistress over all Greece.
CXI. DIVISION IN SPARTA.
While the Achaean League was doing its best to restore Greece to its
former power, Sparta had remained inactive. The Spartans had changed
greatly since the days of Lycurgus. They no longer obeyed his wise laws,
and, instead of being brave and frugal, they were greedy, lazy, and
wicked.
One of their kings was named Leonidas; but he was in no way like his
great namesake, the king who had fallen at Thermopylae. Indeed, he
married an Eastern wife, and to please her assumed all the pomp and led
the idle life of an Eastern king.
His fellow-king, on the other hand, was such a miser that he heaped up
great treasures. When he died, his wife and mother were said to have
more gold than the city and people together. The miser king was
succeeded by his son, but this young man's sole ambition was to restore
Sparta to its former condition.
His name was A'gis. He lived like the Spartans of old, practiced all the
virtues of his ancestors, and was frugal and brave in the extreme. To
restore Sparta, real Spartans were needed, but, in counting them over,
Agis found that there were only about seven hundred of the old stock
left. The first move was to restore equality. For that purpose, all the
money and land would have to be equally divided, so Agis began by
persuading his own mother and grandmother to give up their wealth.
Leonidas did not like the plan of equality, and soon openly opposed it,
although his son-in-law Cleombrotus sided with Agis, and upheld it.
But the people were eager for the new division which would make them all
equal as of old; and they were so angry with Leonidas for his
resistance, that they rose up against him, and proposed to depose him by
reviving an old law which forbade the ruling of a king who married a
foreign wife.
Leonidas had time to flee to the Temple of Athene; and when the ephors
called him to appear before them, he refused to do so, because he feared
for his life. As such a refusal was a crime, the ephors said he should
not reign any longer, and named Cleombrotus king in his stead.
[Illustration: Cleombrotus and Chilonis.]
Leonidas, who had led a selfish, pleasure-loving life, was now forsaken
by every one except his daughter, Chi-lo'nis, who gave up her husband
and the throne in order to console her unfortunate father. She kept him
company in the temple, cared for him and amused him, and, when her
husband begged her to come back, she answered that her place was rather
with her unhappy father than with her prosperous husband.
When it became known that the Spartans were plotting to kill the unhappy
Leonidas, Agis helped him to escape, and Chilonis followed him into
exile.
The AEtolian League, which just then was very strong, now sent an army
across the isthmus to attack the Spartans. The latter sallied forth
under the leadership of Agis, who proved such a skillful general, that
he not only won a great victory, but also drove the AEtolians out of the
peninsula.
During the absence of Agis, many of the richest Spartans who had not yet
given up their property refused to do so, and when urged by Cleombrotus
to obey, they revolted against him, and recalled Leonidas.
Cleombrotus had only time to take refuge in the same temple where his
father-in-law had once found shelter. Here he was soon joined by his
wife, Chilonis, who, ever faithful to the most unhappy, came thither to
comfort him.
Leonidas was so angry that he would probably have treated Cleombrotus
with the utmost severity, had not Chilonis fallen at his feet and
begged him to spare her husband's life. Her tears touched her father,
and he granted the favor she asked, declaring, however, that Cleombrotus
should go into exile.
In spite of her father's entreaties to remain with him, Chilonis
insisted upon accompanying her husband. She gave Cleombrotus one of
their two children, clasped the other to her breast, and left the city,
proudly walking at her husband's side.
CXII. DEATH OF AGIS.
When Agis heard of the changes which had been taking place in Sparta
during his absence, he quickly went home. On arriving in the city, he
found the party of the rich so powerful that he could not oppose them,
and was even forced to seek refuge in a temple, as Leonidas and
Cleombrotus had each done in turn.
His wife, A-gi-a'tis, forced by illness to stay at home, could not show
her love by following him there; but a few faithful friends went with
him, and kept guard over him. Their watchfulness was needed, because
Agis slipped out of the temple every night to go to the bath and refresh
himself.
It happened, however, that two of these friends were false. They basely
took the bribes offered by the ephors for information about the king,
and told them that he left the temple every night, and for what
purpose.
Thus advised, the ephors surprised the little party the next night, and
thrust Agis into prison. He was tried and condemned to death by order of
Leonidas, and thus died when only twenty-two years of age, after having
vainly tried for three years to bring the Spartans back to their former
simplicity and virtue.
Leonidas, not content with killing Agis, gave the widow Agiatis in
marriage to his son, Cle-om'e-nes, who was a mere boy, several years
younger than she. Agiatis soon won great influence over the young
prince, and told him so much about her dead husband, that he tried to
follow the example of Agis in everything.
When Leonidas died, Cleomenes succeeded him, and, thanks to the
teachings of his wife, was both great and virtuous. He drove away the
ephors, who were rich and corrupt, and then distributed all the property
equally among the people, as Agis had planned.
When Aratus heard of the reforms made by Cleomenes, he began to fear
that Sparta would win back her former power, and again try to lord it
over the rest of Greece. To prevent such a misfortune, he decided to
attack the Spartan king while he was too young to excel in the art of
war.
He therefore advanced with a good army; but, to his surprise and dismay,
he was completely defeated by the young king. Several of the smaller
towns now showed a desire to leave the Achaean League and join Sparta, so
Aratus became more eager than ever to suppress her rising power.
In his eagerness he forgot all caution, and even asked help of Antigonus
Do'son, King of Macedon, the successor of Antigonus Gonatas. This ruler
owed his surname of Doson ("who will give") to a bad habit of promising
all kinds of gifts to his followers,--promises which were never kept.
Antigonus Doson was only too glad to send a Macedonian army into Greece,
and not only garrisoned the fortress on the Isthmus of Corinth, but also
sent troops on into the Peloponnesus.
CXIII. THE WAR OF THE TWO LEAGUES.
The Achaean and Macedonian armies now met the Spartans at Sel-la'sia, in
Laconia, where the latter were badly defeated, and Sparta fell into the
enemy's hands. Antigonus was so proud of his victory that he burst a
blood vessel upon hearing the news, and died shortly after.
Before he closed his eyes, however, he had the satisfaction of driving
Cleomenes away from Greece into Egypt. There the young king fell upon
his sword, after killing his children, rather than become a slave.
Tyrants were now allowed again in many of the Greek cities, in spite of
the remonstrances of Aratus, who learned only too late that the
Macedonians had come into the Peloponnesus merely for the purpose of
making themselves masters of the country.
Aratus' eyes were opened. He saw that all his efforts were vain, and
that, owing to his own imprudence, Greece would never again be free. In
his grief, his presence of mind quite forsook him. He did not know what
steps to take in order to undo all the harm he had done.
The AEtolians now became the champions of freedom, and marched against
the Achaeans, whom they defeated. In their distress, the Achaeans once
more begged the Macedonians to interfere, and send troops into Greece.
The contest which followed is known as the War of the Two Leagues, and
lasted for some time. In the beginning, the Macedonian king allowed
Aratus to take the lead, and followed all his directions; but, growing
weary of this subordinate part, he finally poisoned the Achaean leader,
and became head of the league himself.
When the Spartans and AEtolians, who had joined forces, found that the
Achaeans and Macedonians were likely to prove too strong for them, they
also began to look around for allies. As the fame of the rising city of
Rome had reached them, they finally sent thither for the help they
needed.
The Romans were then rapidly extending their territory, and hoped soon
to become masters of the world, so they were glad to help the Spartans
against the Macedonians, who were already their enemies.
They therefore speedily came to the Spartans' aid, set fire to the
Achaean and Macedonian ships, and defeated their armies so sorely, that
Philip was obliged to beg for peace and to give them his son as a
hostage.
The Spartans, having thus freed themselves from the yoke of the Achaean
League, now fell into far worse hands, for they were governed by a
tyrant named Na'bis,--a cruel and miserly man, who, in order to
increase his treasure, often had recourse to vile stratagems.
He had made a cunning instrument of torture, on purpose to obtain money
from any one he wished. This was a statue, the exact image of his wife,
clad in magnificent robes. Whenever he heard that any man was very rich,
Nabis used to send for him. After treating him with exaggerated
politeness, the tyrant would gently advise him to sacrifice his wealth
for the good of the state.
If his guest refused to do so, Nabis would invite him to visit his wife,
and lead the unsuspecting man close to the statue. This was made so as
to move by a system of cunningly arranged springs, and as soon as the
victim came within reach, the statue's arms closed tightly around him.
The terrified guest, caught in an irresistible embrace, then found
himself drawn closer and closer, and pressed against sharp points and
knives hidden under the rich garments.
It was only, when the tortured man had solemnly promised to give up all
he owned, that the tyrant Nabis would set him free; but if he resisted,
he was killed by slow torture, and allowed to bleed to death in the
statue's embrace.
CXIV. THE LAST OF THE GREEKS.
When Aratus died, the principal man in the Achaean army was
Phil-o-poe'men, a brave and virtuous young man. He was patriotic in
the extreme, and so plain and unassuming that no one would have
suspected his rank.
On one occasion, when he had reached the dignity of general, he was
invited to dine at a house where the hostess was a stranger to him. When
he came to the door, she took him for a servant, on account of his plain
clothes, and curtly bade him go and split wood.
Without saying a word, Philopoemen threw aside his cloak, seized an
ax, and set to work. The host, on coming up a few minutes later, was
horrified to see his honored guest cutting wood, and was profuse in his
apologies for a mistake which only made Philopoemen laugh.
When Philopoemen heard how cruel Nabis was, he wanted to free Sparta
from his tyranny. So he entered the town at the head of an armed force
of men, confiscated the treasures for the benefit of the public, and
drove Nabis away.
The Spartans were at first very grateful to the Achaeans for freeing
them, but they soon began to feel jealous of their power, and again rose
up in revolt against them. This time Philopoemen treated the Spartans
with the utmost severity, even razing the walls of the city, which were
never rebuilt.
Philopoemen was farsighted enough to see from the beginning that the
Roman alliance would prove bad for Greece. He soon discovered that the
Romans intended to subdue the country, and in order to do so most easily
were trying to make the people quarrel among themselves.
All his efforts were therefore directed toward keeping peace, and for a
time he was quite successful. But the Romans, seeing no other way to
bring about a quarrel, at last bribed the Messenians to revolt.
In the course of the war, Philopoemen was led into an artfully
arranged ambuscade, and was taken in chains to Messenia, where,
notwithstanding his gray hair, he was exposed to the jeers of the common
people.
After thus humiliating him, they led him to the place of torture; but
when he heard that his army had escaped from the ambush, he fervently
cried, "I die happy, since the Achaeans are safe."
This only hastened the end of the brave patriot, who has been called the
"Last of the Greeks," because he was the last to try to maintain his
country's independence.
The Achaeans soon after took the town of Messenia, stoned all
Philopoemen's murderers on his tomb, and carried his ashes to
Meg-a-lop'o-lis, his native city, where they were buried with great
pomp.
CXV. GREECE A ROMAN PROVINCE.
For centuries the Greeks had been in the habit of assembling at Corinth
every three years for the celebration of the Isthmian games, in honor of
Poseidon, god of the sea. Here, as at Olympia, there were races,
wrestling and boxing matches, and contests in verse and song; and as
usual the prizes were simple crowns of olive leaves, which were
considered far more precious than silver or gold.
In 196 B.C. not only were the Greeks present at this celebration, but
there were also many Romans who wished to witness the games. The Greeks
were then particularly happy because the War of the Two Leagues seemed
to be ended, and the country was at peace.
In the midst of the festival, Quin'tius Flam-i-ni'nus, the Roman consul,
mounted the orator's block, and proclaimed that the Roman army had just
won a great victory over the revolted King of Macedon, and that the
Greek states were now indeed free.
These tidings were received with such a tumult of joyful cries, it is
said, that a flock of birds that were flying overhead fell to the earth,
stunned by the shock of cheers which rent the air.
This joy, however, did not last very long, for the new-won freedom of
Greece existed in name only. As soon as the Romans had completed the
conquest of Macedon under its last ruler, Perseus, they prepared to
annex Greece also.
Their first move was to accuse the Achaeans of sending aid to Macedon.
Under this pretext, one thousand leading citizens were seized, and sent
to Rome to be tried.
Here they were kept in exile for many a year, longing to go home, and
fuming against their detention. When they were finally allowed to
return, they were so imbittered, that, as the Romans had foreseen, they
soon stirred up a revolt among the Achaeans.
AE-mil'i-us Pau'lus, the conqueror of Macedon, then marched into Greece,
and swept over the whole country. He took the city of Corinth, and
burned it to the ground, after carrying off many of its most precious
works of art to adorn his triumph.
Such was the ignorance of the Romans at that time, however, about all
matters of art, that the sailors who were to carry these treasures to
Rome were warned by the consul to be careful, as they would have to
replace any article they had damaged or lost.
The Romans then placed garrisons in the principal Greek towns, and the
country became a mere province of Rome, under the name of Achaia.
Thus ends the history of ancient Greece, which, though so small, was yet
the most famous country the world has ever known,--the country from
which later nations learned their best lessons in art, philosophy, and
literature.
INDEX.
PAGE
Academy, gardens of 142
Achaean League 268-270
Achaeans exiled to Rome 281
Achilles, avenges Patroclus 50
betrays himself 46
death of 51
in the Styx 45
prophecy regarding 44
Acropolis, captured 88, 96
Parthenon on 149
statue of Athene on 115
temple to Theseus, near 28, 143
Adrastus 37-40
AEgean Sea, derivation of name 27
Persian vessels forbidden to enter 147
AEgeus 27
AEgina, Draco at Island of 88
AEneas, escape of 53
AEtolian League 268, 273
Agamemnon, insults priest of Apollo 48
King of Mycenae 44
Age of Pericles 146
Agesilaus, at Coronea 189
courage of 185, 199
Agis, condemned to death 275
type of old Spartans 271
Alcibiades, anecdotes of 161, 163, 164
hostility toward 166
killed by Persians 171
shield of 162
Alexander I 197-199
Alexander the Great, birthplace of 227
crosses Libyan desert 245
cuts Gordian knot 238
death of 236, 253
enters Jerusalem 244
generosity of 248
horsemanship of 229, 231
marriage of 252
omens concerning 227
prophecy of 256
self-denial of 251
takes title of "Shah in Shah" 249
tomb of 255
victory of 237, 246
visit of, to Diogenes 235
Alexandria, founded 244
Lighthouse of 264
Ambassador, life of, sacred 111, 120
Amphictyonic Council 20, 217, 224
Anaxagoras, philosopher 151, 152
Antalcidas, treaty of 190
Antigone 36, 40
Antigonus Doson 275
Antigonus Gonatas 269
Antigonus, "the one-eyed" 262
Antipater, governor of Macedon 256, 258, 260
Apollo sends plague 48
statue in honor of 264
Appetite, recipe for good 238
Aratus, leader of Achaean League 269
poisoning of 277
Arbela, battle at 246
Archon, how elected 87
origin of title of 57
Areopagus, court of law 91
Pisistratus before the 95