great king with a large army of only hired soldiers or slaves.
But this was not the last the Greeks were to see of the Persians.
[Illustration]
24
Fighting Mad
Darius was now angrier than ever, and still more determined to whip
those stubborn Greeks, who dared to defy him and his enormous power;
and he began to get ready for one more attempt. This time, however, he
made up his mind that he would get together such an army and navy that
there would be no chance in the world against it, and he made a solemn
oath to destroy the Greeks. So for several years he gathered troops and
supplies, but something happened, and in spite of his oath he did not
carry out his plan. Why? You guessed it. He died.
But Darius had a son named Xerxes--pronounced as if it began with a Z.
When I was a boy, there was an alphabet rime that began, “A is for
Apple,” and went on down to, “X is for Xerxes, a great Persian king.”
I learned the rime, though I did not know at that time anything either
about Xerxes or Persia.
Xerxes was just as determined as his father had been that the Greeks
must be beaten, so he went on getting ready.
But the Greeks also were just as determined that they must _not_ be
beaten, so they, too, went on getting ready, for they knew the Persians
would sooner or later come back and try again.
At this time there were two chief men in Athens, and each was trying to
be leader. One was named Themistocles--pronounced The-mis-to-klees--and
the other Aristides--pronounced Air-is-tie-dees. Notice how many Greek
names seem to end in “es.”
Themistocles urged the Athenians to get ready for what he knew was
coming, the next war with Persia. Especially did he urge the Athenians
to build a fleet of boats, for they had no boats and the Persians had a
great many.
Aristides, on the other hand, didn’t believe in Themistocles’ scheme to
build boats. He thought it a foolish expense and talked against it.
Aristides had always been so wise and fair that people called him
Aristides the Just. Some of the people wanted to get rid of him,
because they thought he was wrong and Themistocles was right. So they
waited till the time came to vote to ostracize any one they wanted to
get rid of. Do you remember who started this custom? Clisthenes--about
500 B.C.
When the day for voting came, a man who could not write and did not
know Aristides by sight happened to ask his help in voting. Aristides
inquired what name he should write, and the man replied, “Aristides.”
Aristides did not tell who he was, but merely said:
“Why do you want to get rid of this man? Has he done anything wrong?”
“Oh, no,” the voter replied. “He hasn’t done anything wrong”; but with
a long sigh he said, “I’m so tired of hearing him always called ’The
Just.’”
Aristides must have been surprised by this unreasonable answer, but
nevertheless he wrote his own name for the voter, and when the votes
were counted there were so many that he was ostracized.
Though it did not seem quite fair that Aristides should be ostracized,
it was fortunate, as it turned out, that Themistocles had his way, and
it was fortunate the Athenians went on preparing for war.
They built a fleet of triremes. Then they got all the cities and towns
in Greece to agree to join forces in case of war. Sparta, on account of
its fame as a city of soldiers, was made the leader of all the others
in case war should come.
And then, just ten years after the battle of Marathon, in 480 B. C.,
the great Persian army was again ready to attack Greece. It had been,
brought together from all parts of the vast Persian Empire and was far
bigger than the former army with its 120,000 men, although that was a
large army for those days.
This time the army is supposed to have consisted of over two million
soldiers--two million; just think of that! The question then was how
to get so many soldiers over to Greece. Such a multitude could not be
carried across to Greece in boats, for even the largest triremes only
held a few hundred men, and it would have taken--well, can you tell how
many boats, to carry over two million? Probably many more triremes than
there were in the whole world at that time. So Xerxes decided to have
his army march to Greece, the long way but the only way round. So they
started.
Now, there is a strip of water called a strait, something like a wide
river, right across the path the Persian army had to take. This strait
was then called the Hellespont. It is, of course, still there, but if
you look on the map now you will find it is now called the Dardanelles.
But there was no bridge across the Hellespont, for it was almost a mile
wide, and they didn’t have bridges as long as that in those days. So
Xerxes fastened boats together in a line that stretched from one shore
to the other shore, and over these boats he built a floor to form a
bridge so that his army could cross upon it.
Hardly had he finished building the bridge, however, when a storm arose
and destroyed it. Xerxes, in anger at the waves, ordered that the water
of the Hellespont be whipped as if it were a slave he were punishing.
Then he built another bridge, and this time the water behaved itself,
and his soldiers were able to cross over safely.
So vast was Xerxes’ army that it is said to have taken it seven days
and seven nights marching continuously all the time in two long
unbroken lines to get over to the opposite shore. Xerxes’ fleet
followed the army as closely as they could along the shore, and at last
they reached the top of Greece. Down through the north of Greece the
army came, overrunning everything before it, and it seemed as though
nothing on earth could stop such numbers of men.
25
One Against a Thousand
There is a little narrow passageway with the mountains on one side
and the water on the other through which the Persians had to go to
reach Athens. This pass is called Thermopylæ, and you might guess what
Thermopylæ means if you notice that the first part is like Thermos
bottle, which means “hot” bottle. As a matter of fact, Thermopylæ meant
Hot Gateway, and was so named because this natural gateway to Greece
had hot springs near-by.
The Greeks decided that it was best to stop the Persians at this
gate--to go to meet them there first before they reached Athens. In
such a place a few Greek soldiers could fight better against a much
larger number.
It also seemed wise to send picked Greek troops to meet the Persians,
the very best soldiers in Greece with the very bravest general to lead
them.
So the Spartan king, who was named Leonidas--which in Greek means “like
a lion”--was chosen to go to Thermopylæ, and with him seven thousand
soldiers--seven thousand soldiers to block the way of two million
Persians! Three hundred of these were Spartans, and a Spartan was
taught that he must never surrender, never give up. A Spartan mother
used to say to her son:
“Come back _with_ your shield or _on_ it.”
When Xerxes found his way blocked by this ridiculously small band of
soldiers, he sent his messengers ordering them to surrender, to give
themselves up.
And what do you suppose Leonidas replied?
It was what we should expect a Spartan to answer, brief and to the
point; that is, “Laconic.” He said simply:
“Come and take us.”
As there was nothing left for Xerxes to do but fight, he started his
army forward.
For two days the Persians fought the Greeks, but Leonidas still held
the pass, and the Persians were unable to get through.
Then a Greek traitor and coward, who thought he might save his own life
and be given a rich prize by Xerxes, told that king of a secret path
over the mountains by which he and his army might slip through and get
around Leonidas and his soldiers who blocked the way.
The next morning Leonidas learned that the Persians had found out this
path and were already on the way to pen him in from behind. There was
still a chance, however, for his men to escape, and Leonidas told all
those who wanted to do so to leave. Those that remained knew that the
fight was absolutely hopeless and that it meant certain death for all
them. In spite of this, however, one thousand men, including all the
three hundred Spartans stood by their leader, for, said they:
“We have been ordered to hold the pass, and a Spartan obeys orders, and
never surrenders, no matter what happens.”
So there Leonidas and his thousand men fought to the bitter end until
all except one of their number was killed.
The gateway to the city of Athens was now open, and things looked very
black for the Greeks, for there was nothing to prevent the Persians
from marching over the dead bodies of Leonidas and his men straight on
to Athens.
The Athenians, wondering what was to happen to them, hurriedly went to
the oracle at Delphi and asked what they should do.
The oracle replied that the city of Athens itself was doomed, that it
would be destroyed, there was no hope for it, but that the Athenians
themselves would be saved by wooden walls.
This answer, as was usually the case in whatever the oracle said, was
a riddle, the meaning of which seemed hard to solve. Themistocles,
however, said that he knew the answer. You remember that it was he who
had been working so hard to have a fleet of ships built. Themistocles
said that the oracle meant these ships when it spoke of the wooden
walls.
So the Athenians, following the supposed advice of the oracle, left
their city as Themistocles told them and went on board the ships, which
were not far away, in a bay called Salamis.
The Persian army reached Athens and found it deserted. So they burned
and destroyed the city as the oracle said. Then they marched on to the
Bay of Salamis, where the Athenians were on board the ships. There, on
a hill overlooking the bay, Xerxes had a throne built for himself so
that he could sit, as if in a box at the theater looking at a play, and
watch his own large fleet destroy the much smaller one of the Greeks
with all the Athenians on board.
The Greek fleet was commanded, of course, by Themistocles. His ships
were in this narrow bay or strait of water, somewhat in the same
way that the soldiers of Leonidas had been in the narrow valley at
Thermopylæ.
[Illustration: Xerxes on his throne watching battle of Salamis.]
Themistocles, seeing that the Bay of Salamis looked somewhat like the
Pass of Thermopylæ, had an idea. He made believe he was a traitor like
the traitor at Thermopylæ and sent word to Xerxes that if the Persian
fleet divided and one half stayed at one end of the strait and the
other half closed off the other end of the strait, the Greeks would be
penned in between and caught as in a trap.
Xerxes thought this a good idea, so he gave orders to have his ships
do as Themistocles had suggested. But Xerxes, sitting smiling on his
throne, had the surprise of his life. The result was just the opposite
of what he had expected. With the Persian fleet separated in two parts,
the Greeks in between could fight both halves of the divided fleet at
the same time, and the space was so narrow that the Persians’ ships got
in the way of each other and rammed and sank their own boats.
And so the Persian fleet was completely beaten, and the proud and
boastful Xerxes, with most of his army and all the navy that was left,
made a hasty retreat back to Persia the way they had come.
And this was the last time the Persians ever tried to conquer little
Greece.
If Themistocles had not had his way and built such a strong fleet, what
do you think would have become of Athens and Greece!
26
The Golden Age
When we were talking about the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, I told you
that later we should also hear of a Golden Age.
Well, we have come to the Golden Age now. This doesn’t mean that people
at this time used things made of gold, nor that they had a great deal
of gold money. It means--well, let us see what sort of a time it was,
and then you can tell what it means.
After the wars with Persia, Athens seemed to have been cheered up by
her victory to do wonderful things, and the next fifty years after the
Persians were driven out of Greece--that is, 480 to 430 B. C.--were
the most wonderful years in the history of Greece and perhaps the most
wonderful years in the history of the world.
Athens had been burned down by Xerxes. At the time it happened this
seemed like a terrible misfortune. But it wasn’t. The people set to
work and built a much finer and much more beautiful city than the old
one had been.
Now, the chief person in Athens at this time was a man named Pericles.
He was not a king nor a ruler, but he was so very wise and such a
wonderful speaker and such a popular leader that he was able to make
the Athenians do as he thought best. He was like the popular captain of
a football team, who is a fine player himself and can make fine players
of all the others on his team. Athens was his team, and he trained
it so well that any one of the team would have been able to fill any
position no matter how important it was. Some men became great artists.
Some men became great writers. Some men became great philosophers. Do
you know what philosophers are? They are wise men who know a great deal
and love knowledge.
The artists built many beautiful buildings, theaters, and temples. They
made wonderful statues of the Greek gods and goddesses and placed them
on the buildings and about the city.
The philosophers taught the people how to be wise and good.
The writers composed fine poems and plays. The plays were not like
those we have nowadays but were all about the doings of the gods and
goddesses.
The theaters were not like those we have nowadays, either. They were
always out of doors, usually on the side of a hill, where a “grand
stand” could be built facing the stage. There was little or no scenery,
and instead of an orchestra of musicians there was a chorus of singers
to accompany the actors. The actors wore false faces or masks to show
what their feelings were, a “comic” mask with a grinning face when they
wanted to be funny and a “tragic” mask with a sorrowful face when they
wanted to seem sad.
Perhaps you have seen pictures of these masks, for in the decorations
of our own theaters these same comic and tragic masks are sometimes
used.
[Illustration: Tragic and comic masks.]
Athens had been named after the goddess Athene, who was supposed to
watch out for and look after the city. So the Athenians thought she
should have a special temple. Accordingly, they built one to her on
the top of a hill called the Acropolis. This temple they called in her
honor the Parthenon, meaning the “maiden,” one of the names by which
she was known.
The Parthenon is considered the most beautiful building in the world,
though as you see by the picture, as it is to-day, it is now in ruins.
In the center of this temple was a huge statue of Athene made of gold
and ivory by a sculptor named Phidias. We are told that it was the most
beautiful statue in the world as the Parthenon was the most beautiful
building, but it has completely disappeared, and no one knows what
became of it. One might guess, however, that the gold and ivory tempted
thieves, who may have stolen it piece by piece.
[Illustration: The Parthenon.]
Phidias made many other statues on the outside of the Parthenon, but
most of these have been carried away and put in museums or have been
lost or destroyed.
This statue of Athene and the other sculptures on the Parthenon made
Phidias so famous that he was asked to make a statue of Jupiter to be
placed at Olympia, where the Olympic Games were held. The statue of
Jupiter was finer even than the one he had made of Athene and was so
splendid that it was called one of the Seven Wonders of the World. You
remember the pyramids of Egypt and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were
two others of the Seven Wonders.
Phidias is probably the greatest sculptor that ever lived, but he did
a thing which the Greeks considered a crime and would not forgive. We
do not see anything so terribly wrong in what he did, but the Greeks’
idea of right and wrong was different from ours. This is what he did.
On the shield of the statue of Athene that he had made, Phidias carved
a picture of himself and also one of his friend Pericles. It was merely
a part of the decoration of the shield, and hardly any one would have
noticed it. But according to the Greek notion it was sacrilege to
make a picture of a human being on a statue of a goddess. So when the
Athenians found out what Phidias had done they threw him into prison,
and there he died.
The Greeks used different kinds of columns on their buildings, and
these columns are used in many public and in some private buildings
to-day. I’ll tell you what each kind is like; then see how many you can
find.
The Parthenon was built in a style called Doric.
The top of the column is called the capital, and the capital of the
Doric column is shaped like a saucer with a square cover on top
of it. There was no base or block at the bottom of the column. It
rested directly on the floor. As the Doric column is so plain and
strong-looking it is called the man’s style.
The second style is called _Ionic_.
The capital of the Ionic column has a base, and the capital has
ornaments like curls underneath the square top, and the column has a
base.
As this column is more slender and more ornamental than the Doric, it
is called the woman’s style.
The third style is called _Corinthian_.
[Illustration: 1. Doric. 2. Ionic. 3. Corinthian.]
The capital of the Corinthian column is higher than either of the other
two and still more ornamental. It is said that the architect who first
made this column got his idea for its capital from seeing a basketful
of toys that had been placed on a child’s grave as was the custom
instead of flowers. The basket had been covered with a slab, and leaves
of the thistle called the acanthus had grown up around the basket. It
looked so pretty that the architect thought it would make a beautiful
capital for a column, and so he copied it.
I asked some boys which one could find the most columns. The next
day one boy said he had seen two Ionic columns, one on each side of
the door of his house. The second had seen ten Doric columns on the
savings-bank. But the third said he had seen 138 Corinthian columns.
“Where on earth did you see so many?” I asked.
“I counted the lamp-posts from my house to the school,” he said. “They
were kind of Corinthian columns.”
One of the friends of Pericles was a man named Herodotus. He wrote in
Greek the first history of the world. For this reason Herodotus is
called the Father of History, and some day if you study Greek you may
read what he wrote in his own language. Of course, at that time there
was very little history to write. What has happened since _hadn’t_
happened then, and before his time little was known of what had taken
place. So Herodotus’s history was chiefly a story of the wars with
Persia, which I have just told you about. After that he had to stop;
there was nothing more to write about.
In those days every once in a while a terrible contagious disease,
called a plague, would break out, and people would be taken sick and
die by the thousands, for the doctors knew very little about the plague
or how to cure it. Such a plague came upon Athens, and the Athenians
died like poisoned flies. Pericles himself nursed the sick and did all
he could for them, but finally he, too, was taken sick with the plague
and died. So ended the Golden Age, which has been called in honor of
its greatest man the Age of Pericles.
[Illustration]
27
When Greek Meets Greek
The Golden Age, when Athens was so wonderful, lasted for only fifty
years.
Why, do you suppose, did it stop at all?
It stopped chiefly because of a fight.
This time, however, the fight was not between Greece and some one
outside, as in the Persian Wars. The fight was between two cities
that had before this been more or less friendly--mostly less--between
Sparta and Athens. It was a family quarrel between Greeks. And the
fight was all because one of these cities--Sparta--was jealous of the
other--Athens.
The Spartans, as you know, were fine soldiers. The Athenians were fine
soldiers, too. But ever since Themistocles with the ships he had built
had beaten the Persians at Salamis, Athens had also a fine fleet, and
Sparta had no fleet. Furthermore, Athens had become the most beautiful
and most cultured city in the whole world.
Sparta did not care much about Athens’s beautiful buildings and her
education and culture and that sort of thing; that did not interest
her. What did make her jealous was Athens’s fleet. Sparta was inland,
not on nor near the sea-shore as Athens was; so she could not have a
fleet at all. Sparta did not intend, however, to let Athens get ahead
of her, and so on one excuse or another Sparta with all of _her_
neighbors started a war against Athens with all of _her_ neighbors.
Sparta was in a part of Greece which was called by the hard name, the
Peloponnesus. But in those days the boys did not think this a hard
name, for they were as familiar with it as you are with such a name as
Massachusetts, for instance, which would seem just as hard to a Greek
as Peloponnesus does to you. This war between Athens and Sparta was
therefore called the Peloponnesian War from the fact that it was not
only Sparta but all of the Peloponnesus that fought against Athens.
We think a war lasts entirely too long if it lasts four or five years,
but the Peloponnesian War lasted twenty-seven years! There is a saying,
“When Greek meets Greek then comes a tug of war!” which means to say,
“When two equal fighters such as Athens and Sparta, both Greek, meet
each other in battle, who knows how it will end?”
I am not going to tell you about all the battles that took place
during these twenty-seven years, but at the end of this long and bloody
war both cities were tired and worn out, and the glory of Athens was
gone. Although Sparta was ahead, neither city ever amounted to much
afterward. The Peloponnesian War ruined them both. That’s the way war
does!
All during the Peloponnesian War there was a man at Athens by the
name of Socrates who, many think, was one of the wisest and best men
who ever lived. He was called a philosopher and went about the city
teaching the people what was right and what they ought to do. But
instead of actually _telling_ the people what he thought was right, he
asked them questions which made them see what was right. In this way,
chiefly by asking questions, he led people to find out for themselves
what he wanted them to know. This kind of teaching, simply by asking
questions, has ever since been called Socratic.
Socrates had a snub nose and was bald and quite ugly, and yet he was
very popular with the Athenians, which may seem strange, for the
Athenians loved beautiful faces and beautiful figures and beautiful
things, and Socrates was anything but beautiful. It must have been the
beauty of Socrates’s character that made them forget his ugliness,
as I know some boys and girls who think their teacher is perfectly
beautiful just because she is so good and kind that they love her,
although she is really not pretty at all.
Socrates had a wife named Xantippe. She had a bad temper and was the
worst kind of a crosspatch. She thought Socrates was wasting his time,
that he was a loafer, as he did no work that brought in any money. One
day she scolded him so loudly that he left the house, whereupon she
threw a bucket of water on him. Socrates, who never answered back,
merely remarked to himself:
“After thunder, rain may be expected.”
Socrates didn’t believe in all the Greek gods, Jupiter, Venus, and the
rest, but he was careful not to say so himself, for the Greeks were
very particular that no one should say or do anything against their
gods. Phidias, you remember, was thrown into prison for merely putting
his picture on the shield of the goddess Athene, and one would have
been put to death for teaching young men not to believe in the gods.
At last, however, Socrates, as he had feared he would be, was charged
with not believing in the Greek gods and with teaching others not to
believe in them. And so for this he was condemned to death. He was not
hanged or put to death as prisoners are now, however. He was ordered to
drink a cup of hemlock, which was a deadly poison. Socrates’s pupils,
or disciples, as they were then called, tried to have him refuse to
drink the cup, but he would not disobey the order; and so, when he was
nearly seventy years old, he drank the cup of hemlock and died with all
his disciples around him.