58

BATTLE OF EURYMEDON.

he proceeded with his fleet to the coast of Asia Minor, expelled the Persians from several Greek cities in Caria and Lydia, and finally met their combined land and naval forces at the mouth of the river Eurymedon in Pamphylia, where the Persians suffered a severe defeat.

The results of this brilliant victory of Cimon were that the cities of Lycia as far east as Pamphylia joined the Confederacy of Delos.

The Athenians, in their attempt to extend their dominion along the Thracian coast, were violently opposed by the neighboring island of Thasos. The Thasians were an enterprising people of much wealth, accruing from their mines and extensive commerce. They had control of the opposite mainland of Thrace, and were especially enriched by the valuable gold mines of Mount Pangæus, near Eion.

The encroachments of the Athenians upon this territory (see above, capture of Eion) naturally aroused the indignation of the Thasians. In 464 B.c. they openly revolted from the Confederacy of Delos.

Cimon took command of the expedition against the Thasians, who soon perceived that they would be unable to withstand successfully his fleet, and accordingly sent envoys to Sparta for aid. Here they met with a favorable reception; for, while Athens had been gaining victory after victory, and extending her power from year to year, Sparta had stood still with no increase in strength or influence.

It was necessary therefore for Sparta to arouse herself and recover her former power and authority. Accordingly she promised immediate aid to Thasos; but before she could fulfil her promise a terrible calamity

حالمه

occurred, which interrupted her preparations. This was an earthquake (464 B.C.) of the most violent character. The city was all destroyed except a few houses. At the same time the Helots revolted. The Thasians were obliged to do without their promised help. They maintained an obstinate struggle for more than two years, until their resources were exhausted. The proud island was obliged to give up her navy, pull down her walls, pay the expenses of the war, relinquish the rich mines of Thrace, and pay a regular tribute to Athens.

Cimon now stood at the zenith of his fame, equalled by no previous Athenian general. Ever since he succeeded Aristeides in the command of the fleet, his victories had been uninterrupted. Of aristocratic birth, he naturally looked upon Sparta with more favor than the Athenians in general. His policy was to maintain an alliance with this city, and he often held her up as an example worthy of imitation. To such a policy the views of his predecessor, Themistocles, had been directly opposed. These ideas of Themistocles were still alive; moreover, they had taken deep root in the Athenian mind. Hence a party, large and constantly growing, was soon opposed to Cimon.

The Spartans, unable to suppress the revolt of the Helots, sent to Athens in 462 B.C. for aid, which the Athenians would have refused, had not Cimon and his adherents interceded in behalf of Sparta. Troops under Cimon were sent to Ithome, where the Helots were strongly entrenched. But because Cimon did not immediately dislodge their rebellious subjects, the Spartans began to suspect him of secretly helping the enemy, and dismissed him with his army, on

5

the ground that they had no further need of his services.

Athens was stung to the quick by this insult. Her alliance with Sparta was broken off. The indignation was so deep that Cimon himself was banished shortly afterwards (461 B.C.).

As the influence of Cimon had declined, that of Pericles increased. Pericles was the greatest of Athenian statesmen. By birth he was one of the noblest Athenians, a grand-nephew of Cleisthenes. He possessed an ample fortune, which was not spared in preparing him carefully for the career of a statesman. The most scholarly and ablest men of the age were employed to instruct him. Although connected on his mother's side with the noble families of Athens, Pericles belonged to the popular party. He first appeared in public about 469 B.C. He was an opponent of Cimon, who was through influence ostracized 461 B.C. The ambition of Pericles aimed at securing for Athens the first position in Greece by land as well as by sea. "He resolved to make his native city the most illustrious in the world; and he fulfilled his resolution. He crowned the Acropolis1 with wonders of architecture which no other city has approached; he filled the temples and public squares with sculptures, whose fragments are the teachers of modern artists, as they gaze upon them with delight, wonder, and despair; he caused the masterpieces of tragedy and comedy to crowd the Diony

1 See next chapter.

siac Theatre at the great festivals. He was moderate in his counsels, and always opposed extravagant plans of foreign conquest." Had he lived longer, the disasters that befell Athens might have been averted.

The jealousy of Sparta was aroused to such a pitch by the prosperity of her rival city, that towards the end of the revolt of the Helots (which was finally put down in 455 B.C.) she resolved to take some action.

Under pretence of assisting the Dorians, whose territory had been invaded by the Phocians, a large force was sent into central Greece. But upon their arrival the Spartans proceeded to carry out their real designs; viz., to prevent Athens from gaining any more power in the other states of central Greece, especially in Boeotia. The Athenians, in whose breasts still rankled the insults recently received at Ithome, were ready for a trial at arms. The two parties met near Tanagra, in the mini part of Boeotia. Here a hard battle ensued (457 B.C.), in which Athenians were defeated; but the victory of the Spartans was not decisive enough to give them any real advantage. They made no further attempts, for the present, to oppose the progress of Athens.

On the eve of this battle, the banished Cimon appeared in the Athenian camp, and begged permission of his countrymen to fight in their ranks as a common soldier. His request was not granted. Whereupon he left his armor with some friends, begging them to wipe out by deeds of valor the stains under which he labored. They set up the armor in their midst, and closing around it fought with desperate courage.

This action of Cimon caused a change of public feeling at Athens, and he was recalled from banishment.