General History for Colleges and High Schools Part 11

Some of the responses of the oracle contained plain and wholesome advice; but very many of them, particularly those that implied a knowledge of the future, were obscure and ingeniously ambiguous, so that they might correspond with the event however affairs should turn. Thus, Croesus is told that, if he undertake an expedition against Persia, he will destroy a great empire. He did, indeed;--but the empire was his own.

The Delphian oracle was at the height of its fame before the Persian War; in that crisis it did not take a bold or patriotic stand, and its reputation was sensibly impaired.

IDEAS OF THE FUTURE.--To the Greeks life was so bright and joyous a thing that they looked upon death as a great calamity. They therefore pictured life after death, except in the case of a favored few, as being hopeless and aimless. [Footnote: Homer makes the shade of the great Achilles in Hades to say:-- "I would be A laborer on earth, and serve for hire Some man of mean estate, who makes scant cheer, Rather than reign o'er all who have gone down To death."--_Od._ XI. 489-90 [Bryant's Trans.].] The Elysian Fields, away in the land of sunset, were, indeed, filled with every delight; but these were the abode only of the great heroes and benefactors of the race.

So long as the body remained unburied, the soul wandered restless in Hades; hence the sacredness of the rites of sepulture.

THE SACRED GAMES.--The celebrated games of the Greeks had their origin in the belief of their Aryan ancestors that the souls of the dead were gratified by such spectacles as delighted them during their earthly life.

During the Heroic Age these festivals were simply sacrifices or games performed at the tomb, or about the pyre of the dead. Gradually these grew into religious festivals observed by an entire city or community, and were celebrated near the oracle or shrine of the G.o.d in whose honor they were inst.i.tuted; the idea now being that the G.o.ds were present at the festival, and took delight in the various contests and exercises.

Among these festivals, four acquired a world-wide celebrity. These were the Olympian, celebrated in honor of Zeus, at Olympia, in the Peloponnesus; the Pythian, in honor of Apollo, near his shrine and oracle at Delphi; the Nemean, in honor of Zeus, at Nemea; and the Isthmian, held in honor of Poseidon, on the isthmus of Corinth.

THE OLYMPIAN GAMES.--Of these four festivals the Olympian secured the greatest renown. In 776 B.C. Coroebus was victor in the foot-race at Olympia, and as from that time the names of the victors were carefully registered, that year came to be used by the Greeks as the starting-point in their chronology. The games were held every fourth year, and the interval between two successive festivals was known as an Olympiad.

The contests consisted of foot-races, boxing, wrestling, and other athletic games. Later, chariot-racing was introduced, and became the most popular of all the contests. The compet.i.tors must be of the h.e.l.lenic race; and must, moreover, be unblemished by any crime against the state or sin against the G.o.ds. Spectators from all parts of the world crowded to the festival.

The victor was crowned with a garland of wild olive; heralds proclaimed his name abroad; his native city received him as a conqueror, sometimes through a breach made in the city walls; his statues, executed by eminent artists, were erected at Olympia and in his own city; sometimes even divine honor and worship were accorded to him; and poets and orators vied with the artist in perpetuating the name and deeds of him who had reflected undying honor upon his native state.

INFLUENCE OF THE GRECIAN GAMES.--For more than a thousand years these national festivals exerted an immense influence upon the literary, social, and religious life of h.e.l.las. They enkindled among the widely scattered h.e.l.lenic states and colonies a common literary taste and enthusiasm; for into all the four great festivals, excepting the Olympian, were introduced, sooner or later, contests in poetry, oratory, and history.

During the festivals, poets and historians read their choicest productions, and artists exhibited their masterpieces. The extraordinary honors accorded to the victors stimulated the contestants to the utmost, and strung to the highest tension every power of body and mind. To this fact we owe some of the grandest productions of the Greek race.

They moreover promoted intercourse and trade; for the festivals became great centres of traffic and exchange during the continuance of the games.

They softened, too, the manners of the people, turning their thoughts from martial exploits and giving the states respite from war; for during the month in which the religious games were held it was sacrilegious to engage in military expeditions. In all these ways, though they never drew the states into a common political union, still they did impress a common character upon their social, intellectual, and religious life.

THE AMPHICTYONIC COUNCIL.--Closely connected with the religious festivals were the so-called Amphictyonies, or "leagues of neighbors." These were a.s.sociations of a number of cities or tribes for the celebration of religious rites at some shrine, or for the protection of some particular temple.

Pre-eminent among all such unions was that known as the Delphic Amphictyony, or simply The Amphictyony. This was a league of twelve of the sub-tribes of h.e.l.las, whose main object was the protection of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Another of its purposes was, by humane regulations, to mitigate the cruelties of war.

The so-called First Sacred War (600-590 B.C.) was a crusade of ten years carried on by the Amphictyons against the cities of Crissa and Cirrha for their robbery of the treasures of the Delphian temple. The cities were finally taken, levelled to the ground, and the wrath of the G.o.ds invoked upon any one who should dare to rebuild them. The spoils of the war were devoted to the establishment of musical contests in honor of the Delphian Apollo. Thus originated the renowned Pythian festivals, to which allusion has just been made.

CHAPTER XII.

AGE OF THE TYRANTS AND OF COLONIZATION: THE EARLY GROWTH OF SPARTA AND OF ATHENS.

(776-500 B.C.)

1. AGE OF THE TYRANTS AND OF COLONIZATION.

THE TYRANTS.--In the Heroic Age the preferred form of government was a patriarchal monarchy. The _Iliad_ says, "The rule of many is not a good thing: let us have one ruler only,--one king,--him to whom Zeus has given the sceptre." But by the dawn of the historic period, the patriarchal monarchies of the Achaean age had given place, in almost all the Grecian cities, to oligarchies or aristocracies.

THE OLIGARCHIES GIVE WAY TO TYRANNIES.--The n.o.bles into whose hands the ancient royal authority thus pa.s.sed were often divided among themselves, and invariably opposed by the common freemen, who, as they grew in intelligence and wealth, naturally aspired to a place in the government.

The issue of long contentions was the overthrow almost everywhere of oligarchical government and the establishment of the rule of a single person.

Usually this person was one of the n.o.bility, who held himself out as the champion of the people, and who with their help usurped the government.

One who had thus seized the government was called a tyrant. By this term the Greeks did not mean one who rules harshly, but simply one who holds the supreme authority in the state illegally. Some of the Greek Tyrants were mild and beneficent rulers, though too often they were all that the name implies among us.

But the Greeks always had an inextinguishable hatred of arbitrary rule; consequently the Tyrannies were, as a rule, short-lived, rarely lasting longer than three generations. They were usually violently overthrown, and the old oligarchies re-established, or democracies set up in their place.

As a rule, the Dorian cities preferred oligarchical, and the Ionian cities democratical, government. The so-called Age of the Tyrants lasted from 650 to 500 B.C.

Among the most noted of the Tyrants were the Pisistratidae, at Athens, of whom we shall speak hereafter; Periander at Corinth (625-585 B.C.), who was a most cruel ruler, yet so generous a patron of artists and literary men that he was thought worthy of a place among the Seven Sages; and Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos (535-522 B.C.), who, with that island as a stronghold, and with a fleet of a hundred war-galleys, built up a sort of maritime kingdom in the AEgean, and for the s.p.a.ce of more than a decade enjoyed such astonishing and uninterrupted prosperity, that it was believed his sudden downfall and death--he was allured to the Asian sh.o.r.e by a Persian satrap, and crucified--were brought about by the envy of the G.o.ds, [Footnote: Herodotus tells how Amasis of Egypt, the friend and ally of the Tyrant, becoming alarmed at his extraordinary course of good fortune, wrote him, begging him to interrupt it and disarm the envy of the G.o.ds, by sacrificing his most valued possession. Polycrates, acting upon the advice, threw into the sea a precious ring, which he highly prized; but soon afterwards the jewel was found by his servants in a fish that a fisherman had brought to the palace as a present for Polycrates. When Amasis heard of this, he at once broke off his alliance with the Tyrant, feeling sure that he was fated to suffer some terrible reverse of fortune.

The event justified his worst fears.] who the Greeks thought were apt to be jealous of over-prosperous mortals.

THE FOUNDING OF COLONIES.--The Age of the Tyrants coincides very nearly with the era of greatest activity in the founding of new colonies.

Thousands, driven from their homes, like the Puritans in the time of the Stuart tyranny in England, fled over the seas, and, under the direction of the Delphian Apollo, laid upon remote and widely separated sh.o.r.es the basis of "Dispersed h.e.l.las." The overcrowding of population and the Greek love of adventure also contributed to swell the number of emigrants.

During this colonizing era Southern Italy became so thickly set with Greek cities as to become known as _Magna Graecia_, "Great Greece." Here were founded during the latter part of the eighth century B.C. the important Dorian city of Tarentum; the wealthy and luxurious Achaean city of Sybaris (whence the term _Sybarite_, meaning a voluptuary); the Great Crotona, distinguished for its schools of philosophy and its victors in the Olympian games.

Upon the island of Sicily was planted, by the Dorian Corinth, the city of Syracuse (734 B.C.), which, before Rome had become great, waged war on equal terms with Carthage.

In the Gulf of Lyons was established about 600 B.C. the important Ionian city of Ma.s.salia (Ma.r.s.eilles), the radiating point of long routes of travel and trade.

On the African coast was founded the great Dorian city of Cyrene (630 B.C.), and probably about the same time was established in the Nile delta the city of Naucratis, through which the civilization of Egypt flowed into Greece.

The tide of emigration flowed not only to the west and south, but to the north as well. The northern sh.o.r.es of the aegean and those of the h.e.l.lespont and the Propontis were fringed with colonies. The Argonautic terrors of the Black Sea were forgotten or unheeded, and even those remote sh.o.r.es received their emigrants. Many of the settlements in that quarter were established by the Ionian city of Miletus, which, swarming like a hive, became the mother of more than eighty colonies.

Through this wonderful colonizing movement, Greece came to hold somewhat the same place in the ancient Mediterranean world that England as a colonizer occupies in the world of today. Many of these colonies not only reflected honor upon the mother land through the just renown of their citizens, but through their singularly free, active, and progressive life, they exerted upon her a most healthful and stimulating influence.

2. THE GROWTH OF SPARTA.

SITUATION OF SPARTA.--Sparta was one of the cities of the Peloponnesus which owed their origin or importance to the Dorian Invasion (see p. 96).

It was situated in the deep valley of the Eurotas, in Laconia, and took its name Sparta (sown land) from the circ.u.mstance that it was built upon tillable ground, whereas the heart and centre of most Greek cities consisted of a lofty rock (the citadel, or acropolis). It was also called Lacedaemon, after an early legendary king.

CLa.s.sES IN THE SPARTAN STATE.--In order to understand the social and political inst.i.tutions of the Spartans, we must first notice the three cla.s.ses--Spartans (Spartiatae), Perioeci, and Helots--into which the population of Laconia was divided.

The Spartans proper were the descendants of the Dorian conquerors of the country. They composed but a small fraction of the entire population.

Their relations to the conquered people were those of an army of occupation. Sparta, their capital, was simply a vast camp, unprotected by any walls until later and degenerate times. The martial valor of its citizens was thought its only proper defence.

The Perioeci (dwellers-around), who const.i.tuted the second cla.s.s, were the subjugated Achaeans. They were allowed to retain possession of their lands, but were forced to pay tribute, and, in times of war, to fight for the glory and interest of their Spartan masters.

The third and lowest cla.s.s was composed of slaves, or serfs, called Helots. The larger number of these were laborers upon the estates of the Spartans. They were the property of the state, and not of the individual Spartan lords, among whom they were distributed by lot. Practically they had no rights which their Spartan masters felt bound to respect. It is affirmed that when they grew too numerous for the safety of the state, their numbers were thinned by a deliberate ma.s.sacre of the surplus population.

THE LEGEND OF LYCURGUS.--The laws and customs of the Spartans have excited more interest, perhaps, than any similar inst.i.tutions of the ancient world. A mystery and halo were thrown about them by their being attributed to the creative genius of a single lawgiver, Lycurgus.

Lycurgus, according to tradition, lived about the ninth century B.C. He is represented as acquainting himself with the laws and inst.i.tutions of different lands, by converse with their priests and sages. He is said to have studied with great zeal the laws of Minos, the legendary lawgiver of the Cretans. Like the great legislator Moses, he became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

After much opposition, a system of laws and regulations drawn up by Lycurgus was adopted by the Spartan people. Then, binding his countrymen by a solemn oath that they would carefully observe his laws during his absence, he set out on a pilgrimage to Delphi. In response to his inquiry, the oracle a.s.sured him that Sparta would endure and prosper as long as the people obeyed the laws he had given them. Lycurgus caused this answer to be carried to his countrymen; and then, that they might remain bound by the oath they had taken, he resolved never to return. He went into an unknown exile.

THE KINGS, THE SENATE, AND THE POPULAR a.s.sEMBLY.--The so-called Const.i.tution of Lycurgus provided for two joint kings, a Senate of Elders, and a Popular a.s.sembly.

The two kings corresponded in some respects to the two consuls in the later Roman republic. One served as a check upon the other. This double sovereignty worked admirably; for five centuries there were no attempts on the part of the Spartan kings to subvert the const.i.tution. The power of the joint kings, it should be added, was rather nominal than real (save in time of war); so that while the Spartan government was monarchical in form, it was in reality an aristocracy, the Spartans corresponding very closely to the feudal lords of mediaeval Europe.

The Senate consisted of thirty elders. The powers of this body were at first almost unlimited. After a time, however, officers called ephors were elected by the Popular a.s.sembly, and these gradually absorbed the powers and functions of the Senate, as well as the authority of the two a.s.sociate kings.

The Popular a.s.sembly was composed of all the citizens of Sparta over thirty years of age. By this body laws were made, and questions of peace and war decided. In striking contrast to what was the custom at Athens, all matters were decided without debate. The Spartans were fighters, not talkers; they hated discussion.

REGULATIONS AS TO LANDS AND MONEY.--At the time of Lycurgus the lands of Laconia had become absorbed by the rich, leaving the ma.s.ses in poverty and distress. It is certain that the lawgiver did much to remedy this ruinous state of affairs. Tradition says that all the lands were redistributed, an equal portion being a.s.signed to each of the nine thousand Spartan citizens, and a smaller and less desirable portion to each of the thirty thousand Perioeci,--but it is not probable that there was any such exact equalization of property.