of stealing part of the gold entrusted to him. Phidias vainly tried to defend himself; but they would not listen to him, and put him in prison, where he died.

Phidias showing the frieze of the Parthenon to his friends, painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

Between the temple of Athena and the city, there were a series of steps and beautiful porticoes, decorated with paintings and sculptures, which have never been surpassed. Many other beautiful buildings were erected under the rule of Pericles; and the beauty- and art-loving Athenians could soon boast that their city was the finest in the world. Artists from all parts of the country thronged thither in search of work, and all were well received by Pericles.

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LXII. THE TEACHINGS OF ANAXAGORAS. A S Pericles was a very cultivated man, he liked to meet and talk with the philoso- phers, and to befriend the artists. He was greatly attached to the sculptor Phidias, and he therefore did all in his power to save him from the envy of his fellow-citizens. An-ax-ag´o-ras, a philosopher of great renown, was the friend and teacher of Pericles. He, too, won the dislike of the people; and, as they could not accuse him also of stealing,

114 they charged him with publicly teaching that the gods they worshiped were not true gods, and proposed to put him to death for this crime. Now, Anaxagoras had never heard of the true God, the God who created the heavens and the earth. He had heard only of Zeus, Athena, and the other gods honored by his people; but he was so wise and so thoughtful that he believed the world could never have been created by such divinities as those. He observed all he saw very attentively, and shocked the people greatly by saying that the sun was not a god driving in a golden chariot, but a great glowing rock, which, in spite of its seemingly small size, he thought must be about as large as the Peloponnesus. Of course, this seems very strange to you. But Anaxagoras lived more than two thousand years ago, and since then people have been constantly finding out new things and writing them in books, so it is no wonder that in this matter you are al- ready wiser than he. When you study about Anaxagoras teaching his students, fresco from the the sun, you will find that Anaxagoras was University of Athens. partly right, but that, instead of being only as large as the Peloponnesus, the sun is more than a million times larger than the whole earth! Anaxagoras also tried to explain that the moon was probably very much like the earth, with mountains, plains, and seas. These things, which they could not understand, made the Athenians so angry that they exiled the philosopher, in spite of all Pericles could say. Anaxagoras went away without making any fuss, and withdrew to a distant city, where he continued his studies as before. Many people regretted his absence, and missed his wise conversation, but none so much as Pericles, who never forgot him, and who gave him money enough to keep him in comfort.

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Another great friend of Pericles was a woman called As-pa´sia. She was so intelligent, that the wisest men of Athens used to go to her house merely for the pleasure of talking to her. All the best-informed people in town used to assemble there; and Cimon and

Pericles, Phidias, Anaxagoras, and Soc´ra-tes were among her chosen friends.

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LXIII. BEGINNING OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. T HE end of Pericles’ long and useful life was troubled by a new war between Athens and Sparta; for, even before the thirty-years’ truce was ended, both cities flew to arms once more (431 BC). The war which then began, and which in history is known as the Peloponnesian War, lasted almost as long as the truce was supposed to have lasted; that is to say, for thirty years. Pericles knew very well that the Athenians, not being so well trained, were no match for the Spartans on land. He therefore advised all the people to come into the city, and take refuge behind the mighty walls, while the fleet carried on the war by sea. This advice was followed. All the farmers left their fields, and crowded into Athens. When the Spartans came into Attica, they found the farms and villages deserted; but from the top of the Acropolis the people could see the enemy burn down their empty dwellings and destroy the harvests in their fields.

Greece at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War.

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