 Chapter 22 of Hellenic History—This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Hellenic History by George Willis Botsford. Chapter 22. Sicily and Magnet Gracia. 413-338. Empire-Making in East and West. The fate of Hellus, her protection from foreign powers as well as from internecine warfare, depended on a political unification prejudicial to the sovereignty of the polis, and desired therefore neither by the masses nor by the great majority of statesmen, while in eastern Hellus the Spartans were engaged in a vain attempt to build up and to maintain an empire under the supremacy of the city, an experiment at empire-making of a wholly different character was taking place in Sicily and southern Italy. It was but natural that this undertaking should proceed from Syracuse by far the most powerful state in western Hellus, Syracuse from 466 to 413. From the overthrow of the tyrants in 466 the government of Syracuse had been the moderate form of democracy, designated by Aristotle as a polity. Under this constitution the victory over the Athenian besieges had been won by the patient courage and the loyalty of the great mass of citizens. 413. It was inevitable then that they should demand as a reward a fuller participation in the conduct and in the profits of government. As at Athens the failure of the siege created an oligarchy in Syracuse the annihilation of the invader with equal logic changed the polity to an absolute democracy. 413. Carthaginian invasion of Sicily 409. The removal of the Athenian peril gave the short side at Sicilians merely an opportunity for interstate warfare whilst they remained heedless of the overwhelming power of Carthage at their very doors. For seventy years the terror of the Athenian navy had held Persia and Carthage alike at bay. 413. Its collapse encouraged both to extend their power to the detriment of Hellus. A great fleet set sail from Carthage carrying to Sicily an army much greater than Athens had brought to Syracuse was made up of a Carthaginian nucleus enlarged by Libyan, Iberian and Campanian mercenaries. 414. Even Greeks were willing to serve Carthage for pay against their motherland. This force captured Salinas after a fierce nine day siege. Whereas among the Hellenes, through the regard for the lives of their own soldiers, the besieging of cities was notably mild. It was far different with Carthage, to whom a few thousand mercenaries counted as nothing. 516. The city was taken by storm in the scene of butchery that followed is too horrible for description in these pages. It was the first Sicilian city to be taken by foreigners, having enjoyed two and a half centuries of freedom. A few days afterward, Himera suffered a like fate in attempt of Syracuse to rescue the city was altogether too feeble. Content with his conquest, Hannibal the Carthaginian general returned home with his armament. The Fall of Acragas. 406. The great disaster awakened western Hellus to a sense of her peril. When accordingly Hannibal returned with a fresh armament to lay siege to Acragas 406, 30,000 soldiers from the states of Sicily and southern Italy swarmed into Syracuse to defend what remained of Hellenic soil. Even this considerable force under the command of the Syracusian, Daphneus, accomplished nothing more than the removal of the people of Acragas before that city too, fell into the invaders hands. Usurpation of Dionysius, 405. The people of Syracuse were convinced that their generals had failed through incompetence or treason. A young officer named Dionysius, taking advantage of this feeling, persuaded the assembly to depose the generals and to elect a new board which included himself. His next step was by accusing his colleagues to have them deposed so that he became sole general. The diluted citizens readily voted him a personal guard with which he usurped the tyranny. 405. In the face of the advancing Carthaginians, however, the desperate could for the moment accomplish nothing better than his democratic predecessors had achieved. The people of Gala and Carmarina were withdrawn from their cities and the entire southern coast was yielded to the enemy. All grumblings at his failure and mutiny of his aristocratic cavalry, Dionysius, relentlessly overrode with his eyes fixed upon a goal that lay beyond the general horizon. To secure his own hold on the government and his city from the danger of a siege, he came to terms with the enemy. The freedom of Syracuse and a few other Greek cities in the east end of the island was purchased by the secession of the remainder of Sicily to the Carthaginians, 405. Dionysius extends and consolidates his power. The first effort of Dionysius was to secure himself in power. With this end in view he built on the island of Ortigia a strongly fortified castle and surrounded himself with mercenaries, to whom he granted the dwellings within the island. These were the properties of the oldest and most respectable citizens and in their midst of the most venerable temples, now exposed to the insolence of strangers. The aristocrats, thus expelled from their homes, were represented by the knights who had risen against them only to be slaughtered or driven into exile. Their country estates, too, were confiscated, divided into small farms and assigned to newly made citizens who were either alien, mercenaries or emancipated slaves. To such means tyrants had often resorted, but none had equaled the ruthlessness of Dionysius. The civic body, thus reconstituted, found its only safety in upholding the despot. In extending his power by annexing the territory of neighboring communities he did not hesitate to sell into slavery the population of Hellenic towns that his companion mercenaries might possess their estates. In these measures he showed a willful harshness and possible to explain much less to excuse. For a partial understanding of his policy, however, we may note that the native Sicils and Italians introduced in great numbers into his state were more amenable to military discipline and physically more virile than the Greeks. Preparations for war, having thus enlarged and consolidated his power, Dionysius began military preparations on a gigantic scale. He surrounded Syracuse and its suburbs with a great wall so that it became the largest and most strongly fortified city in Europe. He built a navy of more than 300 warships, including many Kincariens, vessels with five banks of oars invented by his shipwrights. For land operations he filled his arsenals with munitions, among which were catapults for throwing stones, likewise an invention of his engineers. His army of more than 80,000 men was splendidly organized and equipped. It included heavy and light infantry, artillery, and cavalry. The largest, the most complex in organization and equipment, and the most efficient party of troops that Hellenic had thus far created, in fact Dionysius introduced an epoch in the history of warfare. First war with Carthage, 397 through 392. With these magnificent forces he began his first war against the Carthaginians with the object of expelling them wholly from the island, but the enemy had boundless resources and money and therefore in mercenaries. In the flow of Syracuse and victory to the extreme west of the island was followed by a return tide of Carthaginian success, which destroyed Messin and came near overwhelming Syracuse. Only here might he wall save Sicily from the Phoenicians. After years of hard fighting, Dionysius contented himself with a peace that assured him the greater part of the island, with the extreme west Romanian Carthaginian hands. Conquest in Italy. Dionysius was now in a position to interfere in the affairs of Italy. Here, as in Sicily, he displayed no scruple in accomplishing his ends. With the barbarous Lucanians, who from the interior were rapidly conquering the Hellenic cities, he gladly cooperated. His share of the conquest extended from the Strait to Croton. Many inhabitants of this region were sold into slavery. Others he removed to Syracuse, while others were one to his cause by unexpected clemency. The empire that he built up in Sicily and Italy was the strongest military power in Europe to that day. More distant enterprises. To his conquest he added an extensive colonial policy. Founding settlements on both Adriatic shores, he brought that sea into a sphere of influence. His object was partly to facilitate communications with the Greek peninsula, on which he entertained political designs, and more immediately to capture the trade that poured into the sea from central Europe. Allying himself with the Gauls, who were invading Ithoria, he ravaged the coast of that country, established a navy base on Corsica, and occupied Elba, where doubtless he worked the iron mines. By such means, the tyrant of Syracuse encircled Italy, possibly in the hope of dominating the whole peninsula. At all events, the power of his realm over all the central Mediterranean region, and came near monopolizing its commerce. Meanwhile, he entered into close alliance with La Sédémon, and took an active part in the wars and diplomacy of Eastern Hellas. He wedged other wars with Carthage, but with no further advantage to the Hellenic cause. His government. The former government was still Republican, for the council and the popular assembly continued to meet, and the tyrant, avoiding every un-Republican title, held the office of general with absolute command of the army, while at least in foreign relations. He was entitled Archon of Sicily. His wars, extensive buildings, and a splendid court consumed enormous sums of money, which he supplied by confiscations, temple robberies, the sale of whole communities into slavery, the debasement of the coinage, and the levy of oppressive taxes and arbitrary exactions upon his subjects. His character. As to the character of this extraordinary person we have few, though telling hints, his life was free from the vices that had brought many a tyrant to ruin, particularly the citizens could trust the honor of their wives and daughters to his keeping. He had simultaneously two wives, with both of whom he lived happily. It would be a mistake to ascribe his cruelties to cold blood. In the hours that others gave to wine arrest Dionysius composed dramas. Even his excuses for temple robberies display a ready humor, whereas a curious sentimental vein is disclosed in his purchase of the writing tablets of Escalus as a means of inspiration. With an artistic temperament his conduct was swayed not only by a Napoleonic ambition, but by friendship, fear, jealousy, and hatred. So far as we can judge he was totally devoid of moral principle and of reverence for things sacred. Although he consorted with men of ability in various fields, he followed his own counsels. The Athenian philosopher Plato came to Syracuse in the hope of realizing his ideal state through the power of the despot, but in response to his arguments the princely host is said to have had him sold as a slave. In brief Dionysius, like Alcibiades and Lysander was a product of his age, a non-moral, non-religious, but otherwise splendidly gifted egoist. The balance of historical judgment. As the modern historian reviews the destruction of Hellenic cities, the enslavement of entire populations, the grinding financial exactions, and most of all the political and moral degradation of the free citizens under this despotism, he is inclined to look upon Dionysius as a curse to the humanity. On the other side of the picture is the strong man who builds up a realm of civilized folk capable of defending themselves in perilous times against the assaults of the barbarians in one direction and of orientals in the other when both these enemies of European civilization were growing continually mightier. Appreciating the political weakness of Hellenic character, he tried to supplement by an introduction of native Italian and sizzle blood. Thus he was a champion of Europeanism rather than of Hellenism, and in his blending of foreigners with Greeks he stood forth as the first Hellenistic prince. Had he been followed by a line of able successors, his realm would have expanded and have taken the place of Rome as the civilizer of the West. As matters stood, his only service was to check the progress of Carthage till Rome grew sufficiently strong to protect Europe from the encroachment of oriental civilization. As his son and successor Dionysius II was totally incapable, the realm fell to pieces. The cities came under the rule of petty tyrants and the power of Carthage threatened to overwhelm the entire island. Under these circumstances, Timmo Leon of Corum with a few hundred mercenaries landed in Sicily for the purpose of liberating Syracuse 344. Within a few years he expelled the tyrants and in a great victory drove the Carthaginians into their strongholds on the western coast. All the cities were reorganized as modern democracies in which the people exercised the franchise while leaving the executive strong. The federation of the Hellenic cities provided for defense against internal and foreign enemies. Colonies from older Hellas made good that the population caused by war and an era of material prosperity began. These achievements of Timmo Leon, unselfishly wrought and leading to universal good, served to deepen the shadow upon the tyranny of the elder Dionysius. Unfortunately the idyllic piece created by the liberator was to prove even more fleeting than that earlier security under the desperate gallant yoke. End of Chapter 22 Country and People Macedon consisted of a narrow plain bordering the sea and a hill country in the interior. The Athenians had taken possession of the coast and had cut the country off from maritime communications with the world. The uplands were covered with forests, the abode of the wild boar and the lion. The inhabitants were either Greeks related to the Thessalians or perhaps an Indo-European people of kindred speech, who in early time had borrowed an extensive vocabulary from the Thessalians. It was probably because their dialect was foreign and their civilization backward that the Hellenes of the 4th century pronounced them barbarians. For subsistence they hunted wild beasts, gathered nuts and forest fruits, pastured a few sheep or cultivated small patches of ground. They lived in hobbles, grouped in small villages, dressed in skins or in coarsely woven cloth and carried ever with them weapons for protection from the neighboring barbarians or for mutual slaughter in their drunken brawls. Although the majority were free, some were evidently the clients of great lords who possessed large tracts of land and served in war as companions of their king. Early political condition and history to 359. The uplands comprised several broad river valleys separated by high ridges. Each valley was the abode of a tribe under its chief. Similarly the long narrow plain which lay between the highland and the coast's possessions of Athens had its king. The earlier history of Macedon hinges on the conflict between plain and highland. The chiefs of the interior owed an unwilling allegiance to the king of the plain. Submitted to if he was strong, but denied to the weakling. Hence there were constant revolts and reconquests. Gradually the king introduced among his people Hellenic civilization and military equipment by means of which he gained the mastery over the upland. The work of reducing Macedon to unity belonged chiefly to king Amintas 390 to 369. His reign was full of strife and anarchy, intrigue and murder. At one time the Illyrians drove him from the realm and again the Olympian Confederacy robbed him of his possessions near the sea. But after its fall 379 the Macedonian king for the first time could reasonably hope to acquire a seaboard. Death at an advanced age snatched him from this opportunity. With a talent for governmental business and accomplished as a general he had spent his life sword in hand, interminably battling with the Illyrians, or with the savage Illyrians and Paonians repressing rebellions in his upper feudatories or stamping out disaffection in his own household. Three lawful sons were left, Alexander, Perticus and Philip, all destined to royalty and to violent deaths. After his two elder brothers had fulfilled their brief careers Philip mounted a throne overshadowed by internal dissensions in foreign war 359. Philip and Thebes 368-5. At the age of 15 Philip had been sent as a hostage to Thebes where he remained three years. This sojourn may well be compared with that of Peter the Great and Holland in England. In spite of the infiltration of Hellenic culture the Macedonians were as yet barbarians with but of a nearer civilization. And Philip had inherited the savage appetites and passions of his royal ancestors. His long stay in Thebes, at that time the military and political center of Hellas, was an education of the highest type. The schools in gymnasia, the armories and arsenals, the splendid Beotian phalangites, Epimenondas and his brilliant associates all served him as models and as an inspiration. To make his own country a state of the Hellenic type and to win for himself a place among these men of superior breeding and intelligence. The mines in the army. With a quick mind and a strong hand he put an end to anarchy within his borders and inspired turbulent neighbors with respect for his power. Aside from his own inborn ability perhaps the greatest element of success in his career was his seizure of the gold mines of Mount Pangeas just beyond the Thracian border which according to reports brought in more than a thousand talents a year. Although this statement may be an exaggeration yet the proceeds constituted the foundation of his power as it enabled him to create a standing army of professional soldiers superior to anything here to for known to the world. From the peasants and the shepherds who were excellent fighting material he selected the best and formed them into a phalanx. These foot companions as they were honorably named he armed more lightly than ordinary phalangite but increased the length of their spears. In equipment they somewhat resembled the peltast of Ipocrites. They were given mobility by an increase of space between man and man. As exhilararies to the phalangs Philip added archers and slingers and a body of mercenaries. The cavalry were equipped as light and heavy and in the latter the nobles served as companions of the king. Philip not only drilled these troops but exercised them in long rapid marches carrying their arms and provisions. They were kept under rigid discipline and encouraged to athletic competitions by prizes for winners. To this fighting machine he was able, when occasion demanded, to attach an efficient siege train. Thus Philip developed a military system even more complex and more efficient than that of Dionysus I. Its superiority consisted mainly in the soldierly qualities of the men, the professional efficiency which they acquired under long service, and the ability of the commander and his generals. Lassodamon had long possessed a standing army but his numbers were small compared with Philip's force and it was notably weak not only in light troops, cavalry and siege equipment but in mobility, all of which qualities were the very essence of Philip's strength. His Diplomacy The king's gold formed too an essential element of the diplomacy in which he developed a masterful skill. Through ability to buy friends and reward his faithful henchmen, as well as through urbanity, good fellowship and general adroitness in the management of men, he created in every Hellenic state a party devoted to his cause. States whose interests were threatened by his aggressions he could usually lull into a sense of security until the time was ripe for striking the fatal blow. No scruple, no lying or truce-breaking stood in the way of his seizing and advantage. Philip's Early Aggressions, 359-1 Philip's determination to win the coast region adjoining his country conflicted with the interests of the Olympian Confederacy and of Athens. His characteristic diplomacy kept the former quiet while he proceeded to annex Amphipolis and other possessions of Athens. To check his aggressions that city began a war on him in 357, which, though involving only occasional hostilities, nominally continued 11 years. Meanwhile, he made himself master of Thessaly and a greater part of Thrace. His occupation of a long line of coast added rich port customs to his revenue and enabled him to build cruisers to prey upon Athenian commerce. Athens was weakened by the loss of her greater allies in the social war, 357-355, and still more by a policy which devoted a large share of the public revenues to the feeding and entertainment of the populace. The First Philippic of Demosthenes, 351 These material enjoyments were disturbed only by the voice of Demosthenes proclaiming anew the civil ideals of Themastocles and Pericles, which called man to sacrifice and suffer for their country. In his first Philippic, 351, he informed his countrymen that their enemy had grown great through their own sloth, that to check his further aggrandizement they should act at once. Quote, In a word, if you will become your own masters and cease each expecting to do nothing himself while his neighbors do everything for him, you shall then with heaven's permission recover your own. Get back where you have frittered away and chastised Philip, to send a general off with a few empty ships and a little money for hiring mercenaries as you have so often done he continues in substance is worse than useless for the general is a slave to his hirelings who merely prey upon your own allies. Keep a small fleet cruising on the northern Aegean, manned in part by citizens to protect our remaining allies and harass the enemy. Euthenians, he exclaims, with larger means than any other people, ships, infantry, and income have never up to this day made proper use of any of them. The speaker proposes a well considered plan of armament including the financial support which to his country would have been a mere trifle. He was still young however and his words carried little weight. Nothing was done on that occasion and Philip continued to gain ground. Conquest of the Elythian Confederacy 349-8, two years later after demoralizing the Chalcitic cities with bribes, Philip entered openly upon their conquest. Appeals to Athens for help were supported by the eloquence of Demosthenes in his three Elythiac orations. The spirit of these addresses is like that of the first Philippic described above. His countrymen should grasp this God-given opportunity to join with the Elythians in putting down the common enemy of Hellas. An enemy steadily advancing toward Athens, it is better to fight him at a distance than to see the ruin of our farms, to join it once with our allies and with his disaffected subjects than to later bear the whole brunt alone. His power is indeed formidable, as other speakers have shown, but it rests upon a weak foundation, on unrighteousness, perjury and falsehood, and will fall if we strike hard. Far from losing himself in eloquent generalities, the young statesman had a definite plan to propose, as on other occasions worked out in my new detail. If the citizens were to receive money from the state he maintains, they should earn it by labor, the young men by military duty, the elders by service at home. Disappeal for public efficiency fell on deaf ears. Inadequate and tardy help was sent. The Confederacy fell of the thirty-two cities which composed it. Only a few were spared and were admitted into the Macedonian state on equality with the neighboring towns. The rest were destroyed and the inhabitants enslaved. Philip's friends throughout Hellas were favored with gifts from these human spoils. An Athenian met a certain man of Arcadia, driving homeward a herd of thirty Elythian women and children, whom he had received as a present from his friend the king. The Athenian wept at the sight and bewailed the abject state of Hellas, that could endure such pitiable scenes. At length it was clear, even to the average statesman that Hellas had a master, whose policy toward the Greeks was not only intrigue, insinuation, and bribery, but likewise blood and iron. His direct sway extended from the Hellasbonk to Thermopylae, and many a city further south was controlled by his paid henchmen. The Sacred War, beginning three-fifty-six. For some time Philip had been involved in the so-called Sacred War, which had broken out in three-fifty-six. During her supremacy Thebes had control of the Delphic and Fiktiony, and used this power against her enemies. It was through her influence, for example, that the Fiktionic Council had fine-sparred a five-hundred talents for having seized the Thebian Cadmea in time of peace. The sum was never paid. In like manner as Phosas was disinclined to bear the Thebian supremacy, the Council proceeded to find some of her leading men for alleged trespassing upon the property of Apollo. On the refusal of the accused, to pay the fines, the Council declared a Sacred War upon their country. The Phosian commander seized the treasury at Delphi, with which he hired a great force of mercenaries. Thus provided, he was able to make headway against the Beotians to carry the war into Thessaly and to contend with Philip. Ultimately the Macedonian king defeated the invaders and expelled them from Thessaly. Hellenic sediment disapproved of their seizure of the Delphic treasury, and though both Athenians and Lacedaemonians were their allies, neither gave material aid, the exhaustion of the Sacred Fund was sure to bring the downfall and punishment of the Fotions. The Treaty of Philocrates, 346, such was the condition of affairs in 348 when the Chalcitic cities were destroyed. Athens was contending alone against Philip, and always losing. There was no hope of success, and hence no reason for prolonging the struggle. Negotiations ended in the peace of Philocrates, 346. So named after the Athenian who proposed it, the Treaty established not only peace but a defensive alliance. It was acknowledged that the status quo extended to the allies of both parties with the exception of the Fotions. Accepting the inevitable, Demosthenes had worked for the peace. The Athenians voted for it, however under the strange delusion that Philip intended to spare Phosus and to attack the Thebans. Devastation of Phosus. The men of Athens were not long kept in the dark as to the fate of the Fotions. The Amphic Tienic Council had invited Philip to put an end to the Sacred War, and he was now in a position to accept. The helpless Fotions yielded unconditionally, their towns were destroyed, and they were scattered in villages. They were compelled further by an annual tribute of sixty talents to replace the plundered treasure. To see that these measures were carried out, the keen quarter troops on the country, its condition as Demosthenes saw it shortly afterward was pitiable. Quote, that ruin that has fallen on the poor Fotions may be seen from what has actually been done there, a shocking and pitiable sight. Men of Athens, on our journey to Delphi we were forced to see at all houses raised to the ground, walls demolished, a country stripped of its adult male population, a few women and little children, and miserable old men. No language can equal the wretchedness now existing there, end quote. The Fotions were excluded from the Amphic Tienic, and their two votes were transferred to Philip and his descendants. The man whom Patriot Greeks had scuffed at, as a barbarian and a drunkard, a boon companion of the off-scourings of society, was thus publicly acknowledged as a Halene, and was given the presidency of the Pythian games held that autumn. He was now the arbiter of Greek affairs, and his name in flattery or execration was on every man's lips. Philip's larger ambition and its obstacle in Athens, about this time Philip began to think of making war upon Persia, with this end in view he desired the peace and goodwill of the Halenes, and his own election to the chief command. As a strong navy would be indispensable he especially courted the friendship of Athens. His advances in the latter direction were repelled, shocked to the ruin of the Fotions, the Athenians burned for a renewal of hostilities, and were restrained with great difficulty by Demosthenes. They considered the Treaty of Philocrates a disgrace to themselves, and allowed its author to be driven by prosecution and exile. Demosthenes brought Eskenes, a rival orator, to trial on the charge of having bartered to Philip the interest of Athens. This misconduct, the prosecutor alleged, was on the occasion of the embassies to Philip, connected with the recent treaty, in which both Eskenes and Demosthenes had taken part. The speeches of these adversaries at the trial, 343, are a hopeless maze of contradictions. Neither antagonist seems to have hesitated at falsehood. Eskenes was acquitted only by 30 votes. Against him it must at least be said that from the bitterest opponent to Philip he was suddenly converted. In the embassy preceding the peace, into an ardent champion. And it is not improbable that he and Philocrates had received from Philip estates in the conquered territory of Elythus. Be that as it may, Philip's friends at Athens were at length in disrepute. The popularity of Demosthenes, and with it the strength of the anti-Macedonian party, grew from day to day. These men looked upon the peace merely as a breathing time, on Philip as an enemy at heart, who, when the opportune moment should come, would treat Athens as he had treated Elythus. Under the lead of Demosthenes, therefore, they seized every opportunity to hamper the further extension of his power. Philip and Epairus in Peloponnes, a new Hellenic federation. Meanwhile Philip placed his brother-in-law Alexander on the throne of Epairus, strengthened his hold upon Thrace and Thessaly, and by his characteristic methods gained an ascendancy in Peloponnes. Athens, on the other hand, won for itself a considerable federation, including Euboea, Magara, Corinth, Achaea, Acarnania, Lucus, Phosus, and lastly Thebes, still the most powerful city-state on the peninsula. Since the Battle of Matanea, 362, had put an end to city supremacy, its place was filled by the principle of the balance of power. In the new political system, the object of the statesman was to prevent any one of the greater city-states, Thebes, Athens, Lassidimon, and Argos, from growing so powerful as to menace the liberties of the rest. From the beginning of his public career, Demosthenes consistently upheld his principle. In his judgment, Athens should protect the weaker states, and should refrain from exercising compulsion toward any of them. She should make of herself an efficient military power as to be ready to accept the leadership when voluntarily tendered by Helas. The Federation of Helenes mentioned above was largely his work, and the union between Athens and Thebes, the leading powers in Eastern Helas, who had long cherished toward each other the bitterest hatred, was a great achievement of statesmanship as it formed an important step toward Hellenic unity. Battle of Carania, 338. For the success of this policy, time was lacking. Unfortunately for the Hellenic cause, a sacred war had again been declared for alleged trespassing upon the property of Apollo. On this occasion against the little town of Amphisa, Loris, and Philip had been invited by the infictions to take the captaincy. A clash with the Federals was inevitable. In the battle of Carania, Biotia, he routed their forces. As further resistance seemed hopeless, the Federation dissolved, and Philip was left free to organize Greece according to his pleasure. Sparta alone held out. Philip ravaged her country, and trimmed off a wide strip of territory on the east, north, and west, but failed to conquer the state. Philip's treatment of Thebes and of Athens is garrisons. In meeting out punishment, Philip was most severe upon Thebes, which had been most subservient to him, but had deserted it the last hour. She had lost her hegemony over Biotia, the leaders in the revolt who failed to escape were put to death, and the garrison was placed in the Cadmea. Philip founded advisable likewise to garrison Calces and Corinth, Athens on the other hand, which had opposed him most consistently, received unexpected favors. This city still commanded the sea, and Philip could not risk a long and uncertain siege, especially as Athens might be able to bring Persia and many Greek states to her support. In his plans for the future too, the cooperation of Athens was necessary. The king therefore freed the Athenian prisoners without ransom, and left the city, her constitution, and her territory, including the island settled by her colonists. She had to give up the Thracian Cherenis, but received in exchange the Biotian Oropus. No foreign troops crossed her border, and none of her statesmen were touched. Philip's Hellenic League, winter of 338-7, then proceeded to the organization of Hellas. On his invitation, all the states of the peninsula, except in Lassodamon, and of the islands roundabouts, and deputies to a Hellenic Congress at Corinth. The states were represented, as in the Biotian League, according to population. The constitution of the new union was incorporated in a treaty between that body and Philip, and in the mutual owes of the contracting parties as follows. The state shall be independent and self-governing, and any who attempt to subvert the constitution, existing at the time when the oaths are taken, shall be considered enemies of all who share in the treaty. It is further provided that all of the deputies, and all who have a care for the public safety, shall see that, in the states which share in the peace, there shall be no executions or banishments contrary to the laws now existing in the states. Or confiscations of property, or re-divisions of the soil, or abolition of any dead, or emancipations of slaves for revolutionary purposes. In case the exiles from any state attempt a forcible return, the state which harbors such militant exiles shall be excluded from the peace. All are at liberty to navigate the sea, and the state which infringes this right shall be deemed a common enemy. The contracting states agree not to encroach upon one another in any way, but faithfully to keep the peace. Between Philip and the League there is to be an offensive and defensive alliance. Philip is to be the commander in chief. The deputies pledge their states by oath not to overthrow the kingship of Philip, or of his descendants, but to maintain the treaty, and to wage war upon any who violate it. These arrangements were to be permanent. It was further decided that Macedon and Halas should wage jointly a war against Persia under Philip's command. The sum of the Hellenic forces was reckoned at 200,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. Valuation of this achievement. In this way was achieved the unification of Eastern Halas, for which the best minds of the race had long been yearning. Had the Greeks possessed sufficient political experience, they would have accepted the situation, and would ultimately have been able to throw off the Macedonian supremacy. The centrifugal tendencies of the cities, however, were still too strong to endure this forcible bridling. So independent, in fact, were the Greek spirit that the coercion itself served as a powerful factor of disintegration. The large degree of liberty still left to the Hellenes existed on sufferance only. Despite his benevolence, Philip was a self constituted despot, and the Greeks, even if they had been willing to submit to a loving master, possessed no guarantee for the continuance of the goodwill. The supremacy of Macedon was an innovation upon that of the city-state in two important respects. It was the rule, one, of a semi-civilized people over a highly-cultured race, two, of a military power centralized in the hands of a man who, in spite of his benevolence to Halas, and his admiration for her culture, was essentially an egoist. The issue between Philip and the Halenes is alive today, and the historian who maintains that the strong man is justified, enforceably imposing his rule upon mankind, upholds Philip, whereas the believer in democracy and the right of the people to determine their own government, necessarily gives the greater share of his sympathy to the Halenes. Their freedom was not destroyed, but merely abridged by the Battle of Carinae. Hellenic and modern history compared. In reviewing their history to this date, the reader who applies present standards to the struggles among their cities is tempted to regard their wars as contemptibly petty, and to look upon the Greeks as supremely foolish in clinging so tenaciously to their city-states. This view, however, is subject to correction through a right historical perspective. The Great War, which began on August 1, 1914, has clearly revealed the fact that, in political wisdom, the world has not advanced appreciably beyond the Greeks. By a process of gradual growth rather than through statesmanship, the nation has been substituted for the city. But to one who regards the situation without partisanship, the antipathies and the rivalries among nations, are of the same character of those of former time among cities. While the wars between groups of nations are incomparably more destructive to life and property, and hence more prejudicial to civilization, from this point of view the military and political strivings of the Greek Republics are worthy of our study. In principle, though not in magnitude, they are sufficiently near to modern conditions to afford us at least an occasional lesson in political science. End of Chapter 23 Chapter 24 of Hellenic History This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Ryan Fahey, Fairfield, Connecticut. Hellenic History by George Willis Botsford. Chapter 24. Economy and Society, 404-337. Effects of the Peloponnesian War upon population and economy. With the political developments from the close of the Peloponnesian War to the formation of the Hellenic Union under Philip, the economic and social conditions of the period are closely interrelated. We are able but roughly to estimate the effects of the Peloponnesian War upon population and economy. There can be no doubt that the conflict, through waste of life and property, and through the withdrawal of the energies of states from the productive works of peace, was in a high degree damaging. The victors suffered only less than the vanquished. Through losses in war and more through economic causes, the number of Spartan peers had sunk to 2,000, and this body continued throughout the fourth century to shrink till in the time of Aristotle, no more than 1,000 remained. The number of inferiors correspondingly grew, while that of the Periocchi and of the Helits remained substantially unchanged. These circumstances augmented the difficulty of governing the newly acquired empire, and even of holding the lower Lacodemonian classes in subordination. The situation was complicated by the inflow of silver as contributions from the new Aegean allies. Despite a law that the precious metals were to be used by the state alone, private citizens now acquired money, some by embezzling the public funds. Among the latter was Guy Lippus, an eminent general who secreted the stolen treasure of Athenian coins beneath his roof, till his servant reported to the Ephors that under his tiles roosted many owls. Other Spartans avoided the penalty by depositing their money with their Arcadian neighbors. Thus accustomed to disobedience of law and traditional discipline, wealthy Spartans went through the form of eating their meager repas at public tables while living privately in unstinted luxury. This expensive standard of life introduced by the few wealthy was readily adopted along with its attendant contempt for the law by the poorer peers. The increasing luxury and rising prices of imports, together with the long continued tendency to the concentration of landed property in the hands of women, did more to thin the ranks of the peers than had been affected by the war with Athens. The reason is that a peer whose estate fell menacingly near the minimum production required by his physician had no lawful means of recruiting his failing fortune, for he was still a professional soldier who could engage in no business nor even work with his own hands in his field. His only resource was to wed a rich wife, yet even thus he might incur the penalty for a breach of the law against an unseemly marriage. At Sparta, feminism, nourished by her peculiar usages, had taken the form of lawlessness and intemperance, luxury at table and in dress, basking in dainty robes of costly workmanship, or rearing horses for the cherry devents at Olympia. The ostentation and arrogance of women were especially irritating to the lower classes. Among the latter, the inferiors, a great of Spartans too poor to make their contributions to the Cicicia, and for this reason disfranchised, formed a dangerous element in the community. Shortly after the accession of a guescelos, one of their number, Kinnadan, hatched a conspiracy for overthrowing the constitution and leveling distinctions of rank. The plot came to light, and Kinnadan, when arrested, gave as his motive, I wished to be inferior to no man in lack of daemon. He and his accomplices miserably perished, but their death gave no lasting security to the peers, who continued to dwell on a thin crust of a social volcano. It was in fact a misfortune for Sparta that no Kinnadan or Lysander, by reform or revolution, succeeded in extending the citizenship, at least, to the parioqui, and in emancipating the helots. Her rigid system, well adapted to a primitive community, and exceedingly efficient while the citizens believed in it, had long been obsolete, continued merely by the inertia of the Spartans, they had lost the character essential to its vital maintenance, and instead of expanding in culture and in outlook with other helines, they had grown more ignorant and more illiberal than ever. Dreamers like Plato, disregarding the facts, might in imagination transform them into ideal citizens, converting even their shortcomings into transcendent virtues, and laconizers in various cities might still go about in short kaitones, with kystis on arm, and with ears bruised in the curious delusion that by these outward forms, they were embodying the manliness of lack of daemon. Xenophon, however, a practical man, though an enthusiastic admirer of Sparta, saw in the petty ambition and sordid greed of individuals a mark of decadence, whereas the cold, reasoner Aristotle found every branch of the government weakened through venality and incapacity. In his opinion, the fundamental defect lay in the mistaken object of their education. The lacodemonians brutalize their children by laborious exercises, which they think will make them courageous. In fact, as we have often repeated, education should not be exclusively directed to this or to any other single end. Even if we suppose the lacodemonians to be right in their end, they do not attain it. For among the barbarians and among animals, courage is found associated, not with the greatest ferocity, but with a gentle and lion-like temper. It is not strange that the lacodemonians, while they were themselves assiduous in their laborious drill, were superior to others, but are now beaten both in war and in gymnastic exercises. For their ancient superiority did not depend upon their mode of training the youth, but only on the circumstance that they trained them at a time when others did not. Hence, we may infer that the noble, not the brutal, should have the first place. We should judge the lacodemonians not from what they have been, but from what they are. For now they have rivals who compete with their education, whereas formerly they had none. Here is expressed the opinion that the lacodemonians had remained stationary for centuries, while the other Helenes were progressing. Archeological research, however, convinces us of their actual decline. As usually happens, too, with extreme views, the judgments of Plato and Aristotle are both wrong. In spite of shortcomings, the conduct of the Spartans in crises, as after the Battle of Luctra, still reveals good results of their discipline. While their inbred courage, their military training, and prudence in authority, still recommended individual Spartans as commanders to Hellenic states when menaced by a special danger. It was worthy of her past that, after the overwhelming Macedonian victory at Chironia, Sparta alone of all the city-states continued to maintain her liberty against the victor. Effects of the Peloponnesian War as a whole The effect of the war with Athens on Peloponnes as a whole was less marked. The isolation of the peninsula by the Athenian fleet during the early years of the struggle must have greatly damaged commerce. Toward the end of the conflict, when all fear of the Athenian naval supremacy had vanished, there began a tendency to concentrate in cities and to an industrial economy, which continued during the 4th century. Hence it was that a Gueselaos could speak of Sparta's allies as potters, smiths, masons, carpenters, and other such mechanics. These changes diminished the number capable of equipping themselves for service in the heavy infantry, while adding to the day laborers and the slaves. Hence, while the total population remained about the same in numbers, it underwent social deterioration. The decline of agriculture was not especially due to an impoverishment of the soil, for toward the end of the century, if we may trust Aristotle, even the surf-worked fields of Lacedaemon were capable of supporting an army of 30,000 foot and 1,500 horse. After all has been said, the military decline of Peloponnes in the 4th century may be traced to political disintegration, more than to waste of war or to economic factors. Sicily. Syracuse, another victor in the war with Athens, made no economic gain through her success, and soon all Sicily had to suffer repeated Carthaginian invasions, involving not only the desolation of fields, but the destruction of wealthy cities. The long tyranny of Dionysius, however, in spite of exactions, brought prosperity to Sicily and contributed to the growth of his capital, till it became the greatest city in the Hellenic world. The downfall of the tyranny was followed by other destructive wars, but every new period of quiet renewed her prosperity, while losses in population were made good by colonization. It speaks well for the vitality of the Sicilians and for the continued fertility of their soil, that in the 3rd century, when Rome and Carthage first came into conflict, the island was still wealthy and populous. Under Agothicles, 317 to 289, the population had increased to about a million, the great majority of whom were freemen. From that time, however, it began to decline. Magna Grecia Although in the 4th century, the greater part of Magna Grecia fell into the hands of the Lucanians, the cities which remained free were still prosperous. Among them, Tarentum, was by far the largest. It is reported that she could put into the field an army of 20,000 foot and 2,000 horse. A reason for her greatness lay in the circumstance that her port was the first reached by ships sailing westward from Greece or southward from the Adriatic coast, which poured a considerable trade into southern Italy and Sicily. The fertile soil of the Tarentines, their fisheries, handicrafts, an extensive trade with the interior, as well as with foreign lands, brought them extraordinary wealth. Thence arose a standard of comfort and refinement which dazzled or shocked the rest of Hellas. Men wore delicately fringed gowns, as only the most luxurious women elsewhere could afford, and they multiplied the festivals till, it is said, their number exceeded the days of the year. Theopompus, a contemporary historian, thus describes their life. The city of the Tarentines sacrifices oxen nearly every month and provides public dinners, whereas the multitude of private persons are continually engaged in banquets and drinking parties. The Tarentines have some such saying as this. Other men, because they are fond of personal exertion, and because they devote themselves to actual labor, thus prepare their subsistence for the future, whereas we, through our banquets and pleasures, are not about to live, but are already living. Naturally, on such topics, writers are prone to exaggeration, and this extreme criticism, we may balance by the fact that through the fourth century, the Pythagoreans were a power in the government, whose moderation in the distribution of offices, among the rich and poor, calls forth the commendation of Aristotle. Despite the commerce and industry of Tarentum, Syracuse, and lesser cities, the economy of Sicily and Magna Grecia was chiefly agricultural. Effects of the war on the island states of the Aegean Sea. Doubtless the greatest sufferers from the wars of the fifth and fourth centuries were the island states of the Aegean Sea, the wars as they were to the alternate ravages of the two hostile powers, and to the more destructive conflicts of civil factions. The waste of agricultural resources in the destruction of vineyards, orchards, and forests, and in the thinning of the soil through forced neglect and through washings by rain, could never be wholly repaired. Vainly the courageous inhabitants tried to balance the loss of productivity by extending their terraces high up the mountainsides. To the contemporary observer, their poverty seemed pitiable. A partial recovery was experienced under the two brief ascendancy of Athens. It was not till the opening of the east by Alexander that the Aegean islands along the Asiatic seaboard took on a new industrial life, as the center of commerce shifted from Piraeus to Rhodes. The Greeks of Asia. The Greeks of Asia, whom like a daemon sold to the king, suffered chiefly through lack of respect in the Persian government for the personality of its subjects. It was not enough that the beautiful youths and girls of respectable, Hellenic families were drafted into the degrading service and the harems of Persian grandees. But the entire population had daily to submit to the insolence of the satraps and their deputies, whose effeminacy the Hellenes despised. Isocrates declares, they suffer in their own persons harsher treatment than our bought slaves, for no one ill treats his servants as they, the Persians, chastise free men. Not strange, therefore, was their zeal in supporting Aegisolus and their intense regret at his departure. They were disturbed, too, by the armed rivalries of the satraps and by the operations of the Corinthian War. Afterward, however, came an era of quiet in which, so far as material gains can atone for loss of freedom, they were repaid by an extraordinary increase of wealth and prosperity, chiefly due to freedom of commerce with the interior. Under these favorable circumstances, Ephesus assumed a splendor unknown to her past, and as the capital of Korea, Helacarnassus revived. At the same time, the Danileans of Asia gradually adapted themselves to oriental ideas and conditions of life. The Lords of Thessaly In the period now under review, Thessaly came into greater prominence, though less as a master than as a victim of political events. This country contained a larger area of arable land than any other in Greece, but was occupied from old by great lords ruling over a multitude of serfs, the Panestae. Partly for this reason, it was one of the most backward countries in Helas. Adopting the worst vices of civilization, the masters passed their time in dicing and drunkenness, eating at tables loaded with expensive viands, entertained meanwhile by piping and dancing girls. Since the age of Pericles, however, the lords began to open their hearts to the enjoyment of Hellenic culture, especially rhetoric and sophistry found a welcome home with them, and, undoubtedly, the latter study had a part in the luckless movement toward social leveling. It is significant that near the end of the 5th century, Fere, the city most accessible by sea to the rest of Helas, was the scene of an attempt to liberate the Panestae made by candidates for the tyranny. In their usurpation, they freed the serfs of the neighborhood and armed them against their lords. This movement, however, did not end in a general liberation. This subjection kept the general economy pastoral and agricultural. The considerable exports and imports, accordingly, were in the hands of foreigners who, by means of their capital, mercilessly exploited the inhabitants. The continual seditions and the military interference of Spartans, Thebans, Fokians, and Macedonians joined with the established serfdom in augmenting the poverty of the country to economic and cultural progress. Attica during the 4th century. It is only for Attica that our information affords us a view of the general features of social and economic life during the 4th century. Though even for that country, there are many disappointing gaps in our knowledge. The remainder of the chapter, accordingly, is given to Athenian conditions with occasional references to other parts of Helas. Athens, her condition after the Peloponnesian War. Naturally, Athens was among the chief sufferers in the Peloponnesian War. Her country was more systematically harried than any other in Helas, and the thin soil had less to lose by negligence in fertilizing and by the enemy's ravages than that of the islands. The mountain sides became more barren. The rocks protruded more nakedly than before. It is doubtful whether, with all their efforts, the inhabitants ever succeeded to its earlier fertility. Country dwellings and barns had been burned or torn down and carried off by the Thebans. The livestock had been killed and eaten by owners or driven off by the invaders. More than 20,000 slaves, many of them skilled workmen had deserted to the enemy. Thus, many citizens were deprived of their shop hands and their livelihood. Merchant ships, as well as war galleys, and industry pitiably shrank, the loss of property in the islands impoverished many citizens formally in affluence. As for money, says one of these unfortunately, you would have a better chance to find it in the street than to borrow it of a banker. Even more deplorable was the loss of life. In battle, pestilence, starvation, and executions under the Thirty, the number of adult male citizens had sunk to about 20,000 after greatly exceeded that total. In addition to dwindling economic resources and a notable rise in the standard of living, it is probable that the spread of malaria from the neglected fields militated against racial vitality. Attica, a country of small farms. Of the total number of citizens mentioned above, fully 20,000 were landowners. Although doubtless, many holdings were dwelling lots in the city or Piraeus, there is abundant evidence that through the fourth century, Attica remained a country of small farms. For example, of 16 rural mortgages known to us, which ranged from 500 to 8,000 drachmas, precisely one half were within the limit of a thousand drachmas. Even though the actual value may have been double the mortgage, these farms were remarkably small. In like manner of nine rural inheritances, ranging from 2,000 to 15,000 drachmas, and representing therefore the better class of landed properties, the average value was 7,500 drachmas. As happens in a country of small farms, these states of a relatively wealthy proprietor were located in widely separated parts of the country. Far from any tendency toward Latifundia, the process of dividing larger states among several owners was underway in this period, so that when a relatively great farm came upon the market, often it was divided into small plots in order to attract purchasers with restricted means. In a state of 45 acres, one half for cultivation, the rest for woodland and pasture was considered very comfortable, whereas one of 65 acres was opulent. The facts thus far mentioned point to a healthful country economy. Conditions elsewhere in Helis were similar, while under oligarchies all the land remained in the hands of a few, in democracies the farms were small. Expressing this general principle, Aristotle says, now no one is in want because the states are divided into as many parcels as there are citizens. The restoration of the ruined attic farms after the war, involving the planting of trees, the rebuilding of houses, the purchase of tools and stock were all accomplished in the face of enormous difficulties and discouragements. Of that fact, the great number of mortgage inscriptions of the 4th century give evidence. Particularly, the farmers had to compete with imported grain kept cheap by governmental regulation. At the same time, business attractions were such as to induce not a few to sell their farms and move into the city or Piraeus. We hear of an Athenian saying that the farmers were willing to make profits in improving them for sale at a higher price. There were always purchasers for though the profits were small the investment was safe. There can be no doubt that whereas many farmers failed through ignorance and sloth it was practicable with prudence and energy not only to make a living by agriculture but actually to accumulate property. In fact, agriculture no longer had to depend on the experience of his neighbors or on the works and days of Hesiod but could read scientific books on the subject by specialists. Of this literature we have but a brief example in Xenophon's Economist. Farmers of this age paid great attention to the enrichment of the soil. Evidently they were acquainted even with mineral fertilizers. Ordinarily they allowed their land to lie fallow on alternate years but took the first step toward the rotation of crops in planting a field two successive summers for different products and leaving it fallow the third. We have no means of exactly measuring the productivity yet Xenophon testifies to the variety and luxuriance of plant life in a climate of extraordinary mildness and pictures the fishermen as they scut along the coastlands viewing a panorama of farmsteads where we now find scant pasture for goats. Commerce. Throughout the fourth century accordingly agriculture remained the chief economic basis of Athenian life. Next in importance was commerce which consisted largely of importations and of the transit of merchandise through Piraeus to other countries. In the first place Attica produced only a third of the grain consumed by its inhabitants. The remainder had to be imported to the country and elsewhere. Your doubtless aware says Demosthenes to his fellow citizens that we consume more foreign grain than any other people in the world. The grain however which comes in from the Pontus equals the whole quantity from other markets and no wonder not only because that region has an abundance of grain but because Leucon who reigns there has granted exemption from duty and the merchants bound for our port shall load their vessels first. Having the exemption in this city for himself and his children he has given it to all of you. Consider what an important thing it is. He takes a 30th from all who export grain from his dominions. Now the amount of grain coming to us from his country is about 400,000 midimni as one may learn from the entry kept by the grain inspectors. The amount of grain and the capacity between Athens and the Toric Chersones Crimea under King Leucon so anxious were the Athenians to provide for a grain supply that they made to the capital crime in a citizen or a medic to carry grain to any non-addict port and of all grain brought to Parais two thirds had to be sold in the country itself timber for shipbuilding slaves, fine wines drugs, paints and dyes iron, copper, ivory and innumerable other articles of use and luxury for home consumption or for reshipment to neighboring states. In fact, Parais remained the chief distributing center of the Hellenic world. Commerce accordingly yielded ample profits to merchants and ship owners to a numerous class of mastership builders carpenters, sailors and longshoremen. Athenian exports in exchange the Athenians could export wine and oil in their vases which were now suffering an artistic decline and were therefore less eagerly sought. They sent abroad the products of their shops especially arms, cutlery and household furniture. A considerable trade in books brought from Egypt books were made in the form of rolls which were packed in chests and shipped to all parts of the Mediterranean world and even to the Pontic shores. Another product for which there was an increasing demand is thus described by a contemporary. Within its the country's folds lies embedded by nature an unstinted store of marble out of which are chiseled temples and altars of rarest beauty and the glittering splendor of the gods. This marble is an object of desire to many foreigners Hellenes and barbarians alike. Another natural resource of great importance lay in the silver mines of Lorium whose output had greatly shrunk through the war with Peloponnes. Toward the middle of the fourth century however as new veins were discovered and the silver bearing area widened the yield became so abundant as to attract an increasing number of contractors to the false idea that the field was inexhaustible. The right to mine was sold for a lump sum to contractors who paid annually in addition to the purchase money a 24th of the product. The annual income of the state from this source must have greatly varied and is altogether unknown. 30 to 40 talents a year is a mere conjecture. From the gross income of the contractors the outlay was great and the manual work was done by slaves. Although contractors sometimes lost money we hear of one individual who amassed 160 another 200 talents which were vast fortunes for that age. Attic manufacturers by the side of commerce Attic manufacturers occupied a secondary place. Industry however was safe and profitable. It is significant that under the 30 and immediately afterward in a straitened condition a man with a few skilled slaves could realize a handsome surplus from his shop and an impoverished citizen could convert his dwelling into a garment factory and with only his 14 kin's women as laborers could furnish them a comfortable living and actually make money. Industry seems to have been scarcely more capitalized than agriculture. The two shops of Demosthenes with 32 slaves respectively appear to be typical of the period. Often in fact an individual with one or two slaves or with only his sons as in the preceding century managed his diminutive industry whether shoemaking, stone cutting or other enterprise. Only such shops could serve as social rendezvous of respectable citizens. The income of the two shops above mentioned amounted that of the individual shopkeeper was sufficient for the necessities of life without luxury. My poor man, Tis True has to scrape and to screw and his work he must never be slack in. There'll be no superfluity found in his cot but then there'll nothing be lacking. Condition of labor in class during this period the cost of living nearly doubled. The normal price of weed aimed at dimness rose from three to five hours of meat. At the close of the period a sheep fit for sacrifice was worth about 30 drachmas and ox of the best quality and weight 400 drachmas. At the same time however wages doubled or trebled. The daily pay of an ordinary freeman rose from three obels to one and a half drachmas of a mechanic from one to two and two and a half drachmas. Notwithstanding the rise and the cost of living therefore the period as at the beginning. So great was the demand for laborers that no problem of the unemployed arose to vex either statesman or political scientist. Athens had no mob of chronic idlers. Small farms were still cultivated as in the fifth century mainly by free hands. Free day laborers were still employed on large estates although the great majority of hands were servile. The positions of steward and foreman to competent men of free birth though often filled by slaves or freedmen. From the servile and freed classes too were often drawn the formative shops and the managers of banks. Slavery had encroached upon free labor somewhat beyond the condition of the periclean age. To a total of about 100,000 free souls citizen and medic we must reckon 120,000 to 150,000 slaves. This encroachment though appreciable was not yet sufficient to revolutionize society, create a slave holding capitalistic class or pauperize the masses. The higher standard of life in this period made the struggle of the poor somewhat more difficult but it was still possible for an artisan of average strength and intelligence to earn a fair living for his family whereas the wife and children of an unskilled workman had always been accustomed to an ill furnished hut and a meager table. Banking. The increasing commercial enterprise of the period promoted the growth of banking. The temples had long been accustomed to receive from states and individuals deposits for safe keeping and in time it was found more and more practicable to let out such sums on interest. Private banks were a development from the money changers trade which lay in the hands of slaves and freedmen and for that reason the great bankers of the period belonged to the latter class. Among them the most notable was Paseon who lived in the first half of the century. Beginning with nothing this freedman during his lifetime amassed a fortune of 30 talents. His public benefactions were rewarded with the citizenship and the soundness of his business character gave him credit throughout the Hellenic world. The method of business was to receive deposits on interest to make loans at a higher rate on the security of land or capital to issue letters of credit and to engage at times in commercial enterprises. In a business of this kind it was especially advantageous to have an extensive capital and security. With this end in view partnerships were sometimes formed as in other enterprises or banking stock was sold. Measured by the modern standard however the greatest banking business of this period was diminutive. The capital of Paseon invested at the time of his death amounted to no more than 50 talents. Though conducted on a small scale as was every branch of business banking facilitated the circulation of money and in the same degree the activity of industry and commerce. With this influence cooperated the increase in the volume of precious metals through mining, importations and the secularization of temple treasuries. These developments while making it possible for some of the Greek states to issue gold coins greatly enhanced wages and the cost of living. Limitation of resources in Greece from the beginning the Greeks had occupied an area of meager resources which by sheer energy and intellect they had made to minister admirably to their material and spiritual needs. The field of their activity however was narrowly limited on the east by the Persian Empire and the Carthaginian sphere of influence. From the richest portions of the known world therefore they were cut off and thus from the possibility of amassing gigantic fortunes. Among the causes contributory to the same end we must reckon the smallness and instability of the states the rarity and temporary character of partnerships and of business corporations the love of respectability surpassing the desire for wealth which fixed a limit to material desires and ambitions. Hence it was that in the century following the age of Pericles there was in Athens the commercial center and money market of Hellas no overgrowth of capitalism with its attendant laboring proletariat in fact no serious disturbance in the proportion of rich and poor. Economic organization of the household a potent reason for the slow growth of specialized industries lay in the economic organization of the household which made it in a high degree self-sufficing. Although day laborers and shopkeepers had to buy their subsistence the majority of Athenians derived from their farms all or nearly all the vegetable and animal products which they needed for their own use. Within the household these raw materials were converted into flour, bread, yarn, and other necessary articles. A few wares only such as wheat, metals, dyes and medicine had to be bought and the well-to-do purchased in the market find cloths, shoes, jewelry, wines, and other luxuries whereas for slaves homemade articles were good enough. The management of such a household was divided between husband and wife. The husband supervised the out-of-door laborers which were mainly concerned about how to adapt to his wife their conversion into useful goods. She exercised the function of training the slaves in the skilled industries and of molding their character by punishments and rewards of nursing them when sick prescribing remedies according to home recipes and aiming in all these matters to win their affection and loyalty by kindness. Her task was far more difficult than that of her husband while Athenian women were still legally incapacitated for business and were often spoken of as inferior the intelligent man willingly admitted that his wife was equal to himself and worth and might even be his superior. Some as Plato were of the opinion that women were by nature like men and should for that reason engage in political and military life. Others like Xenophon held that though equal they were different by nature and their functions. From this class of thinkers came the highest tribute to women. Xenophon represents a citizen as thus addressing his wife after remarking upon the joy of success in the performance of her manifold functions. But the greatest joy of all will be to prove yourself my better to make me your faithful follower knowing no dread lest as the years advance you should decline in honor in your household as you come to be a better help mate to myself and to the children a better guardian of our home so will your honor increase throughout the household as mistress wife and mother daily more dearly prized for it is not through excellence of outward form but by reason of the luster of virtue shed forth upon the life of man that increase is given to things beautiful and good. Marriage and divorce is the perpetuation of the family that the gods might receive their customary sacrifices and the state might not lack citizens over and above this aim were recognized the motives of mutual helpfulness and affection a happy life and during old age protection and support if needed at the hands of children properly reared as the resources of the country were limited and colonization had become impracticable statesmen and political thinkers of the population stationary from primitive times the father had continued to exercise the discretionary right to expose his children at their birth girls and weak or deformed boys were most frequently the victims exposed children died or were taken up and adopted by others or were enslaved or condemned to a life of shame this usage is so repugnant to Christian civilization that we cannot treat it with equanimity while militating against human physical vitality of the race eugenics added regulation for marriage and for the birth and nurture of children in Athens these advantages were more than offset by the early wifehood of girls and the frequent intermarriages of near kin as the Athenians were not essentially a money making people they attached great importance to keeping the paternal estate within the family in this spirit they preferred they might not fall into alien hands property was divided equally among sons and girls received dowries roughly proportioned to the value of the estate if there were daughters only they inherited but in that case the nearest male kinsmen had a right to claim them in marriage to clear the way for such unions it often happened that divorces were brought about by such means the usages of property too often rendered marriage and divorce a purely business arrangement and thus undermine the stability of the family average life of Athenians our most intimate knowledge of Athenian life and social thought is reached through the medium of the orators through the pleadings of plaintiff and defendant in the courts of law it is the nature of such sources to bring to the light of day the most sordid and petty side of a people's character and yet the modern reader of these speeches is forced to the conviction that the Athenian litigants and their kinsfolk and normal ideas of right and wrong that they possessed approximately the same failings and the same virtues as the people of today that there was among them no widespread want or misery that in brief the average life of the plain Athenians was wholesome and happy end of chapter 24 chapter 25 of Hellenic history this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain if you have a question or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Ryan Fahey Fairfield Connecticut Hellenic History by George Willis Botsford chapter 25 social aspects of the state 404-337 growth of individualism the growth of individualism which characterized the various activities of the fourth century fostered the development not only of democracy but resulting from the decline first of the Athenian then of the Lachydemonian power tyrannies sprang up in some of the smaller states and in western Helos the feebleness of the socialistic democracy of Syracuse in the face of the Carthaginian Paral made possible the creation of a tyrannic empire which an extent in power was thus far unparalleled in Helos at the same time in the minds of the educated who like Xenophon had by travel like Isocrates and Plato had brooded over the evils of the existing state system there developed a sentiment in favor of one man rule statesmen and general notwithstanding these favoring conditions tyranny was less frequent in the fourth century than it had been in the seventh and sixth the accumulation of knowledge with its organization in departments led to a corresponding specialization of activities statesmen and general were differentiated the former was now a trained orator with a special knowledge of finance and of international administration whereas the military leader had to acquire a knowledge of the science of art and war unknown to former ages hence as a rule it was no longer possible for a demagogue to command the means of making himself tyrant and the republican form of government thereby gained stability prevailing forms of government aristocracy especially and wisely for the general advantage of the community was more a dream of the political theorist than a historical reality certainly in the fourth century little if any vestige of it existed nor could a man of practical sense look upon it as among the possibilities of the future the prevailing forms of government were oligarchy and democracy with them the statesmen and any thinker above the mere visionary had to deal as conditions capable of improvement but too deeply seated to be cast aside of these two types of republic there were many varieties and gradations so that to pronounce an unqualified judgment upon either would betray a lack of discrimination governmental adjustment the constitution hinged upon property and its distribution the rich aimed not only to preserve their estates but also to exploit the government and the masses for their own economic profit and to bring themselves from the aggression of others but strove to convert more or less of the property of the rich to the use of the state and of themselves there existed too from early time a middle class chiefly farmers in comfortable circumstances fairly satisfied with their condition and opposed to both oligarchic and democratic extremes political philosophers such as Aristotle and practical statesmen were deserving an equilibrium of these social forces that neither extreme might gain the upper hand often the balance was upset by losses in war often by economic adversity or prosperity and sometimes by an injudicious admission of aliens to citizenship against all such disturbances a statesman had to provide his chief means was governmental adjustment the distribution of offices to the majority to usurp a power over the other at torrentum and at Athens for example the offices were grouped in two classes one filled by vote the other by lot the first for the better administration of the state the second to guarantee to the poor a share in the government oligarchy in the degree that a constitution departed from this balance in either direction the supreme democracy was absolutely reprehensible and neither of these types was frequent as in oligarchy the government was operated in the interest of a minority this form of constitution was the less equitable of the two the few were always the wealthy and enjoyed therefore an excellent opportunity while assuring to themselves a permanent lease of power to benefit and adorn the state on entering office should offer magnificent sacrifices or erect some public building and then the people who participate in the entertainments and like to see the city decorated with votive offerings and buildings will not desire an alteration in the government and the notables will have memorials of their munificence this however is anything but the fashion of our modern oligarchs who are as covetous of gain as they are of honor and precious they used office as a means of profit in the misappropriation of public funds or in the practice of extortion and judicial oppression upon private persons it was the feeling that the public monies were being stolen rather than their own exclusion from office which drove the masses to revolt against oligarchic governments added to the economic grievance was the intense hatred of the few for the many I will be an enemy of the people and will do against them all the harm I can this fiendish rancor is sufficiently illustrated by the rule of the 30 at Athens and by the Decarchies in the Aegean cities now as in the preceding century the rule of the few meant not only an utter want of justice for the many but a policy directed to their enslavement democracy the other form of government was democracy in which the indigent and not the men of property had the political power in their hands in other words democracy was a government of the many in their own interest this is the extreme variety of the type of which there were several relatively commendable forms in one of his classifications Aristotle enumerates five kinds of democracy of four kinds he approves as all are under the laws but the multitude rule in which the law has been superseded by mere resolutions of the people among the sound forms of democracy were those of pastoral and agricultural peoples they were robust in body able to endure the fatigues of marching and fighting and possessed therefore the highest degree of military virtue scattered over the country and engaged in their daily labor they could not often meet in assembly once or twice a year or for other public functions of like importance but were compelled to leave the current administration to magistrates and counsel under such circumstances officials were usually elected on the ground of fitness and the government was wisely conducted these economic conditions still prevailed over a large part of the greek peninsula as itolia, achia, and arcadia in advance toward pure democracy individualistic developments industrial states however had advanced beyond such conditions in the direction of pure democracy mechanics of every description plying their various trades within the city readily found leisure to attend the assembly and the aged men of their families could sit year after year in the law courts large revenues enabled the government to pay for official service and even for attendance at the assembly this condition resulted in part from a natural historical growth a natural diffusion of intelligence which endowed an ever increasing number of the population with political capacity it came in part two as a correction of political wrongs committed by earlier ruling minorities who were too narrow and self-seeking to interest themselves in the commons and partly through the desire of sincere humanitarian statesmen as pericles for the economic, cultural, and political elevation of the masses of democracy however were aggravated by the operation of causes which fifth century statesmen could not well foresee individualistic developments beginning in earlier time drew a large proportion of the citizens of the wealthier classes from politics many young men of Eupatriot rank now cared only for gambling and low company a bourgeoisie recruited from the poorest class and nursed into great prosperity by an expanding city economy a business for the service of the state in office or assembly the duality of thought and action noticeable in Euripides became more and more pronounced as life grew more complex and specialized in the degree therefore that a man devoted himself to philosophy or literature he unfitted himself for everything else the thinker stood as far removed from the politician as the orator from the general the pursuit of individualistic aims led to the state of the service and guidance of its more intelligent and cultured citizens leaving it to the mercy of professional politicians who commanded the votes of the poorer and less enlightened minority for the political evils of which fourth century writers bitterly complain they and their class were chiefly responsible in as much as their own aloofness from public affairs left the democracy unbridled the conditions lamented by conservatives however were a symptom and a cause of a vast political evolution slowly and silently underway throughout Hellas the broadening humanity the waning interest in local politics and the aversion of cultured citizens from military life meant the decline of the polis and the development of a larger and more liberal state system the preparation of a transition from regional to world politics from racial to cosmopolitan culture Athens it is only in the case of Athens that existing knowledge affords a view of the working of a highly developed democracy in sufficient detail to enable us to pronounce a judgment of its character for the reason already given ancient historians and philosophers were generally unfavorable whereas the speakers before the assembly and courts were disposed to flatter the masses allowance has therefore to be made for the bias of both classes of authorities of the country and still more of the 30 had disgusted the moderates with oligarchic methods and had assured the popular government a permanent lease of power the democratic restoration in 403 was therefore thorough going against an effort on the one hand to limit the franchise to landowners and on the other to extend the citizenship to all including even slaves who had aided the overthrow of the 30 statesmen forced the government into its old democratic ruts their renewal of the periclean law of 451 which limited the citizenship to those whose parents were both Athenians was dictated partly by a narrow selfishness of the majority partly too by religious interest in the purity of the race in fact the political restoration is to be connected with the revival of religion apparent in the last drama of Euripides in 1999 on the charge of repudiating the gods of the state of introducing new divinities and of corrupting the youth the sacrifice on the altar of this revival of the staunchest defender of religion and of virtue among the enlightened was a strange piece of historical irony and perhaps the severest blow inflicted by ancient democracy upon itself for nothing so alienated the intellectual class the democratic government proclaimed to those who had sided with the 30 and amnesty which was generally kept democrats who had been robbed of their estates lived as peaceful neighbors of aristocrats who had shared the spoils some hard feeling stirred especially by renegades from the party of the 30 hindered oligarchs from office and prejudiced juries against them but all hatred gradually died out with the generation that had lived through the crisis pay for attendance at assembly disinclination to politics as well as the principle that all state services should be paid so that the poor might share in them which led a gearious early in the fourth century to institute a fee for attendance at the assembly from one oboe it was soon raised to three on this basis it was easy to reason that the common citizen had as good a right as any to the public festivals he ought therefore to be given free admission to the theater and to be served with food at the public expense while attending the panathenae or other festivals and even to be paid in money for the time he takes for these pleasures from his daily toil inevitably the appropriation at first moderate gradually increased till it swallowed up the entire surplus income of the state the effect was to weaken Athens in her relations with foreigners and to render the recipients less capable of caring for themselves Aristotle's idea of caring for the poor the effort to alleviate the condition of the poor is not itself to be condemned but rather the improvident method of distributing the aid where there are revenues the demagogues should not be allowed after their manner to distribute the surplus the poor are always receiving and always wanting more and more for such help is like water poured into a leaky cask yet the true friend of the people should see that they be not too poor for extreme poverty lowers the character of the democracy measures should be taken which shall give them lasting prosperity and as this end is equally the interest of all classes the proceeds of the public revenues should be accumulated and distributed among them if possible in such amounts as may enable them to purchase a little farm or at all events make a beginning in trade or husbandry if this benevolence cannot be extended according to tribes or other groups and meantime the rich should pay the fee for attendance of the poor at the necessary assemblies and should in return be excused from useless public services it is noteworthy that in the passage here quoted Aristotle holds that the poor owed their condition to no fundamental defect of their own and that if given a new start in life they would as a rule prove themselves worthy of the aid of democracy even if they have no share in office the poor provided only they are not outraged or deprived of their property will be quiet enough whereas wealth and power says isocrates are attended and followed by a lack of sense and by license want and a humble position bring with them prudence and moderation so that it is hard to decide which of these two lots one would prefer to leave as a legacy to one's children unprincipled demagogues were chiefly responsible the commons lacked the special knowledge now more necessary than ever for judging of foreign policies in such matters they had to trust their leaders who often misinformed them in domestic affairs too unprincipled demagogues often attempted to work upon their political prejudices and their covenousness to the detriment especially of wealthy individuals to condemn the accused on the ground that if his property should not be confiscated there would be no means of paying them for their service the first intimation of this practice appears in the Knights of Aristophanes early in the Peloponnesian War in the period now before us a speaker addresses the jury as follows it must be borne in mind that you have often heard these men say whenever they wished you to condemn someone unjustly that unless you vote the condemnation to whom they order your pay will be lacking another asserts that the council when in need of money for the current administration was inclined to condemn the men impeached before it and to confiscate their property such cases must have occurred one or two instances however in a half century would suffice to account for the charges that appear in literature the speakers above mentioned assume that pleas of the kind are often used hence they could not often have been used effectively and in fact we do not know by name any person who thus suffered to the honor of the democracy Aristotle has testified even the jurisdiction has passed from the council to the people and in this matter they seem to act rightly for the few are more corruptible than the many whether by money or by influence it was a grievous wrong if one or two innocent men were put to death by the authority but it is not a sufficient reason for condemning the Athenian democracy for in no age or country has the administration of justice been perfect class consciousness in the old days of the democracy many a man of wealth lived moderately nearly on a level with the poor and was notably generous and hospitable to the end of the present period a large class of the wealthy retained the same character and culture and of luxury developed a class consciousness priding themselves on their refinement educated men of means despised those who in youth had been compelled to labor instead of attending school in this spirit Demosthenes the orator contrasts his own early life with that of his opponent Eskenes after rehearsing his own education and his entrance upon a public career he turns upon his adversary but you August man who now spit upon others consider what fortune you enjoyed through which in boyhood you were reared in dire poverty assisting your father in the school room grinding ink sponging off seats and sweeping the room occupying the post of a slave not of a free lad compare these two lives Eskenes yours and mine with each other calmly but not in bitterness and ask these jurors each one of them would prefer you taught reading I attended school you performed initiations I was initiated you danced I was Corrigus you were a public scribe I a public orator you were a third-rate actor I witnessed the play you failed in your part and I hissed you the antipathy was increased not only by the widening but also by the gathering of the people into the city whoever is poor and wants to live in the city brings all the more discouragement upon himself for when he beholds a man who is able to live in luxury and ease he is then in a position to see in his own case how wretched and toilsome is the life he leads the sight too of many increasing their wealth Cremolus I have been a virtuous and religious man yet always poor and luckless Cario so you have Cremolus while temple breakers, orators, informers and naves grow rich and prosper Cario so they do the reason is that Plutus is blind and has made a wrong distribution of wealth by passing a night in the temple of Asclepius he receives his sight and proceeds forthwith his goods upon the deserving socialistic tendencies never before in the history of the world were the masses so conscious of these economic social contrasts or of their own power under these circumstances it was but natural that they the controlling majority should bring to the front a program more or less socialistic upon one thing at least they were determined that the wealthy man in office should no longer exploit them that out of office the rich should not make an insolent display of their wealth in illustration we may cite the law of Lycurgus which ordered that women should not ride in carriages to Ilusus at the time of the festival lest the poor appear more despicable than the rich another plank in their platform required the wealthy willing or unwilling to contribute liberally from their abundance the payment of direct taxes in time of war according to their means the amount of pressure thus broad upon the rich varied in different states and in the same state at different times in Athens the abundance of the ordinary revenues added to the relative mildness of political feeling generally assured to the wealthy and immunity from exactions there as elsewhere however it was felt by many that inequality of property remedy was communism the relation of the state to private property can be clearly understood by taking into account the nature of the polis as contrasted with that of the modern nation because of its general insecurity and lack of resources the city state necessarily exercised far more rigorously and arbitrarily its ultimate right of ownership over everything belonging to the citizens this basic proprietorship of the city of taxes in temporary monopolies of some or all saleable commodities enforced loans and contributions and in various other ways if the distribution of these burdens was but approximately equitable the citizens could not complain as property, life, family and everything held dear rested wholly upon the security of the state the Athenian democracy in the fourth century has long been under controversy one of the most pertinent questions involved is whether a citizen of Athens in this period a man of honesty and good intentions gifted with a fair degree of patriotism public spirit and neighborliness could enjoy an acquired or inherited estate in peace and happiness was the state sufficiently free from social spite and intolerance and from governmental oppression to the wealthy individual liberty and the pursuit of happiness the answer derived from an examination of the facts can only be an emphatic affirmative it would be a mistake to identify Athens with the extreme democracy described by Aristotle the normal character of her population and the equilibrium of her social classes have been set forth in the preceding chapter the numerous middle class together with the wealthy the absence of pay for attendance at the assembly of the Demi through this institution into the hands of the well to do who thus managed the business of their rural communities and held its offices with some modifications the principal held for the state the emoluments derived from attendance at the assembly and from membership of the council were less than the daily wages of an unskilled workman whereas the salaries of officials at the assembly and the council were filled as a rule by men in good circumstances the orators who addressed the assembly and guided its opinions though generally private citizens were as a rule men of property in fact the orators and officials came largely from families which through generations of public service had shown patriotism combined with a fitness for administrative work ancient democracy instead of condemning ancient democracy because in some or in all respects it fell short of present governmental systems it is fairer to estimate its value from the evolutionary standpoint and in this view we cannot but admire the vast advance made by the Greek states in the liberty, intelligence and manliness of their citizens over the dead level of Orientalism there is in the world of today no intelligent human being who would not prefer to have been a common citizen of Athens rather than of Persia or Egypt from the 7th to the 4th century the steady advance of democracy brought its benefits to an ever widening circle of citizens progress was then blocked in part by a religious conservatism which in 403 forced the wheels of the restored democracy back into 5th century grooves in part by crude socialistic experimentation but it is absurd to say that from this condition there could be no recovery that of all people the Greeks alone were incapable of learning by experience by no means the least evil in the situation was the indifferent or hostile attitude of some intellectuals or the reactionary doctrines of others who like isocrates sought a cure for all internal ills in a return to the polity of clisthenes or of Solon if centuries were required to bring up of modern parliamentary states Athens needed at least a few more generations in which to accommodate justice and equality to the rule of the many End of Chapter 25