Historical Miniatures Part 11

"The c.u.maean Sibyl has prophesied that Rome will possess the earth."

"What do you say? Rome? No, Israel will possess it; Israel has the promise."

"I do not venture to deny that, but Rome has also the promise."

"There is only one promise, and one G.o.d."

"Perhaps it is the same promise, and the same G.o.d."

"Perhaps Israel will conquer through Rome."

"Israel will conquer through the promised Messiah."

"When will Messiah come, then?"

"When the time is fulfilled, when Zeus is dead."

"May we live to see it. I wait, for Zeus has gone to Rome, and is called there Jupiter Capitolinus."

Aristophanes, who was easily recognised by his crane-like neck and open mouth, looked in through the window.

"Have you a pair of low shoes, Kartaphalos? A pair of 'socks'?

[Footnote: a low-heeled shoe worn by comic actors.] You have plenty of cothurns, I see, but the 'sock' has won the day."

"At your service, sir."

"We want them for the theatre, you understand.... Ah! there is Lucillus!

... and of raw leather, not tanned."

"What are you going to play in the theatre, then?"

"We are going to bring on Cleon, and make him dance, and fancy! since no one dares to represent the low-born tanner, I must do it. I will play Cleon."

"Where is the great general, Cleon, now?"

"In a new campaign against Brasidas. When the commander Demosthenes won the battle of Sphacteria, Cleon claimed the honour of the victory and received a triumph. Then, since he regarded himself as a great warrior, he marched against Brasidas. The pitcher goes so often to the well...."

"Till it is broken," interrupted a new arrival. It was Alcibiades.

"Papaia!" he exclaimed, "Cleon is beaten! Cleon has fled! Now it is my turn! Come to the Pnyx." And he went on.

"Very well--to the Pnyx," said Aristophanes, "and I will obtain matter for a new comedy, to be called _Alcibiades_."

"You are right, perhaps," answered Lucillus. "The whole matter is not worth weeping for. Therefore let us laugh!"

Alcibiades stood again on the orator's platform in the Pnyx. He felt at home there, and he always had the ear of the people, for he was not tedious. They all spoilt him, and his grotesque impudence had an enlivening effect upon them.

Before the orator's platform, among others, was to be seen the wise, rich, and aristocratic Nicias, who had always sought to mediate between Sparta and Athens, but through his over-deliberation had done more harm than good.

Alcibiades, who knew Nicias and his political views, and feared his opposition, resolved on a master-stroke. He would not speak of Sparta and Athens as Nicias expected, but determined to make a diversion, and speak of something quite different. The people loved novelties, and to-day they should have something quite new.

"Athenians!" he began, "Cleon is defeated and dead, and I place my undoubted talents at the service of the State. You know my small failings, but now you will know my great merits. Listen, Athenians.

There was a time when h.e.l.las possessed Asia Minor and extended its wings eastward. The Persian King took these settlements from us one after the other, and he is now in Thrace. Since we cannot go farther eastward, we must go westward, towards the sunset. You have heard more or less vaguely of the Roman Republic, which is growing and growing. Our countrymen have long ago taken possession of that part of the Italian peninsula which is called Tarentum, and we have thereby become close neighbours of Rome. And the finest of the islands, opulent Sicily, became ours. But the Romans have gradually surrounded our colonies, and threaten their independence. The Romans are pressing on us, but they are also pushing northward towards Gaul and Germany, and southward towards Africa. The Persian King, who was formerly our enemy, has now nearly become our friend, and our danger is not now Persia, but Rome.

Therefore, with the future in view, I say to you Athenians, 'Let us go to Italy and Sicily. With Sicily as our base, we can dispute with the Romans the possession of Spain and the Pillars of Hercules. In Sicily we have the Key to Egypt; by means of Sicily we protect the threatened Tarentum, and can, in case of need, save sinking h.e.l.las. The world is wide; why should we sit here and moulder in the wilderness? h.e.l.las is an exhausted country; let us break up new ground. h.e.l.las is an outworn ship; let us build a new one, and undertake a new Argonautic enterprise to a new Colchis to win another Golden Fleece, following the path of the sun westward. Athenians! let us go to Sicily!'"

These new prospects which the speaker opened to them pleased the people, who were tired of the everlasting Sparta and the Persian King; and stimulated by fear of Rome, the growing wolf's-cub, they received the ill-considered proposal with applause, and raised their hands in token of a.s.sent.

Nicias sought an opportunity to speak, and warned them, but no one listened to him. The Scythian police who kept order in the Pnyx could procure him no audience. And when Nicias saw that he could not prevent the enterprise, he placed his services at Alcibiades' disposal, and began to equip the fleet.

Aspasia was now the widow of Pericles, and had mourned him for a long time. The "Hemicyklion" was no more, but her few remaining friends visited her from time to time. Socrates was the most faithful among them. One evening he sat with her in the little brick-roofed villa on the bank of the Cephisos.

"No, Aspasia," he said, "I advised against the Sicilian expedition, so did Nicias, so did the astronomer Meton, but it was to be. Alcibiades had managed to procure a favourable response from the oracle in the Temple of Ammon."

"Do you believe in oracles, Socrates?"

"Yes--and no! I have my own 'demon,' as you know, who warns but never urges--who advises, but never commands. This inner Voice has said to me, 'h.e.l.las will not conquer the world.'"

"Will Rome do it?"

"Yes, but for another!"

"You know that Pericles' great thought was a single h.e.l.las--a union of all the Grecian States."

"That was Pericles' wish, but the will of the G.o.ds was otherwise.

Alcibiades' dream of h.e.l.las governing the world is also great, but the dreams of the G.o.ds are greater."

"What gain do you think comes to Athens from Cleon's death?"

"None! After Cleon comes Anytos. Cleon is everlasting, for Cleon is the name of an idea."

Protagoras, grown old and somewhat dull, appeared in the inner courtyard.

"There is Protagoras!"

"The Sophist! I do not like him," said Aspasia. "He is a file who frets all will away; his endless hair-splitting robs one of all resolution."

"You speak truly and rationally, Aspasia, and in an earlier age you would have sat upon the Pythoness's tripod and prophesied. Like the priestess, you know not perhaps what you say, but a G.o.d speaks through you."

"No, Socrates; I only utter your thoughts; that is all!"

Protagoras came forward. "Mourning in Athens! Mourning in h.e.l.las! Alas!"

was his greeting.

"What is the matter, Protagoras?"

"Phidias of immortal memory lies dead in prison."