$si =C7> SCO =CN =lO -co -CO LuwitftttifltHS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from University of Toronto http://www.archive.org/details/02historyofgree04duru HISTOEY OF GREECE Volume IV.— Section II. Duaur Histoiw OF GntlCf SILVER VASE — HISTORY OF GREECE By VICTOR DURUY CROWNED BY THE FRENCH ACADEMY WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY J. P. MAHAFFY, D.D. PBOPESSOB OF JUICIEST HISTOHY, TRINITY COLLEGE, I WITH 2000 ENGRAVINGS, MAPS, PLANS, AND COLOURED PI ¥f Volumi IV. Section II. LONDi I.I.'. \N PAUL, IBENCH, TBI BNEB i I 0. Ltd. L892 The English edition of this work is limited to two hundred and fifty copies. vh roR i'i R' i HISTORY OF GREECE. EIGHTH PERIOD. THE ACHAIAN LEAGUE (272-146 b. a). POWERLESS EFFORTS FOR UNION AND SAFETY. CHAPTER XXXV. PEOM THE DEATH 01 PYKRHOS TO THE AEEIVAL OF THE EOMANS DT GEEECE (272-214 B.C.). T. — The Achaian and Aitolian Leagues. ATHENS. Sparta, and Thebes have fallen; two peoples, hitherto unknown, now enter upon the stage which has been left vacant, but is narrowed and strewn with ruins. — the Achaians and the Aitolians. The northern shore of the Peloponnesos is a narrow strip of ground enclosed between the Gulf of Corinth and the chain of mountains which bound Arkadia on the north. Its fertility is in no way remarkable except near Sikyon. Its streams, very numerous. descend in straight lines from the mountains to the coast. The shore, more indented than on the we-t of the Peloponnesos, lets the enter to the foot of the mountains which are its southern boun- dary. Tint what markets could the commerce of these cities have? Would if seek them in Elis, or in Arkadia ? What means of com- munication were there in its mountainous interior '.' Moreover, Corinth, much better situated, early attracted to herself all the commerce of the gulf, which passed 1>\ the Achaians ami left them neither wealth nor luxury. Thej lived poor, hut united. Berodi tells us that in ven remote antiquit} Aigialeia had a confederation of tweh It was an Ionian country, and the mystic numher ; FROM DEATH OF PYREHOS TO ARRIVAL OF ROMANS. cJ15 twelve recurs in it. If obscurity signifies happiness, these cities were long fortunate. In the midst of the sanguinary discords of 1. Aigeira- 2 Sikyon 3. Pallantion. COIN'S OF THE ACHAIAX LEAGUE. 1 Greece, no doubt attention was sometimes directed towards the calm and peaceful condition they owed to their poverty, their good morals 2. K .i-. r 3. Tcgea. 4. Hernia. COIN- "I AKKADIAN CITIES.' and good institutions, since many cities of Magna Graacia, we know, imitated, after the massacre of the Pythagoreans, the laws and of Ai-h.ua. 1 l. Laurelled head of /•u- Homagyrios, rL'lit profile Reverse: aaki (supposed to be '_">.'ii. ri'jlii, Alkflriades); foro-parl of a to the symbol of the name ol Aigeira ; lerneath, the -'. monogram AX ( Aj(<n<S>»] ; tlur whole in ;i laurel-wreath. Bronze.) Laurelled head "f .-lit profile. Reverse: 2. initial <>f Sikyon, the monogram UC[acuv], and a dove, rymbol of the mint-mark of Sikyon; the whole in :i laurel-wreath. (Silver.) — 3. Laurelled head of Zeui Homagyrios, right profile. B UAA kaurriav] ; the mono •rrain AX[auV], the trident, symbol of Pallantion, and mono name; the whole In :i laurel-wreath. (Silv * 1. Head "f Demeter with a wreath ol hi profile, Revei e ENEON; Hermei _'*»in^ to the left; be wean thi . "I boldi th< caduceui in lii* righl hand J nn tlir left arm l»' carries, wrapped in hit mantle, tbi in minute i°> the name atkaz. (Silver.) 2. K\iiio om "I the Dioskouroi, I Poly- lo the left Pan. uiiaa, vlil !1 1), Ftevi a wlu-i'l wiili eight » |x>ki'i (Silver.) '• Gorgon'i head, fronl face, "iili extended tongue !• • i T, initial of the nami throi , mark of the trihemiobnlion. -) t. Diademed bead of Here, right profile Revi KfA[imp] in > qui i"'i )•> with ,-i.linu' (Silver ) 316 HISTORY OF (iKEECE. Achaia cannot be congratulated on having remained outside of tile national struggle against the Persians, and it would have pleased her if Sparta and Athens had left her the repose she loved. This was cruelly interrupted by the Peloponnesian war, which tolerated no neutrals. Patras declared for Athens, Pellene for Sparta; and the Dorian influence extended over the other cities. The confed- eration was already endangered. It was still further imperilled ENTRANCl TO THE cell OF CORINTH.1 when the kings of Macedon came, who appeared to wish to punish the Achaians for having fought against them at Chaironeia with Athens, and in 330 b. c. at Mantineia with Sparta. Achaia was so enfeebled that it could not take pari In the Lamian war. The number of its cities was reduced to ten after an earthquake in 373 b. c. bad destroyed Helike, the ancient capital, and Olenos had been abandoned by its inhabitants. Demetrios. Kassandros, An' Goi iatas, in turn garrisoned some of the Achaian cities. and gave others up to tyrants: "for from this Antigonos," says Polybios, "came all the tyrants of 6r e." 1 Pro Iberg, La Oriet At the right is tlio rite of Patras, and farther ofl the ntory Rhion; al the left, the promontory ^ntirrhion FROM DEATH OF PYRRHOS TO ARRIVAL OF ROMANS. 317 About the year 280 B. c. the Achaians took advantage of the disasters of Maeedon to set themselves free and to reconstruct their league. "The first cities that united were Dyme, Patras, Tritaia, and Pharai. Five years after, the people of Aigai put to death their Macedonian garrison and joined the con- federacy. Then the Bouraians destroyed their tyrant, and the tyrant of Keryneia abdicated. Leontion, Aigeira, and Pellene completed the union of the Achaian cities. But this confede- ration was still very feeble until Aratos introduced into it the important city of Sikyon." (Poly bios.) Sikyon had formerly been governed by the Dorian aristocracy. The fall of that party was followed by a prolonged state of dis- order, out of which at last emerged tyrants. On the death of one of these, Kleon, the city n covered her independence, and placed the gov- ernment in the hands of two esteemed citizens, bbonzb conr.* Timokles and Kleinias. The former dying, a cer- tain Abantidas Beized the tyranny, put Kleinias to death,' and endeavored also to destroy Aratos, his son, a child seven years old. The boy, saved bj the tyrant's own sis- took refuge in Axgos, where bis father's friends received him. He remained there thir- teen years, quite indifferent to the teaching su.viat <-(iin- ; of the philosophers, but very assiduous in gym- t II i lied in hem, and was victorious in tin- .f the pentathlon. His Bgure was thai of an ath- but in character be was wise and considerate, taking pleasure both in politics and war. in ambuscades and surprises; fearing the ispicuous action, the rapid decisions, and the direct advance of war ;i a of llelike i:\ik niwv] ; diademed bead of Poieidon, righl profile, In circle of dicating thi lent between two dolphins; the whole i" :i l.iun I -wreath. ,< Ii.uk- righl profile Sib, i Diademed female head, Revei e: &YMA[f«>i']; to • Coin of the Achaian I.- Laurelled head of Zi Fl III pro in •'! fil,-. R nl the right, UA rpaiav], two I mngi . il"- • dolphin, mini marl ol Pali i . irholu in I ith 318 HISTORY OF GREECE. in the field: a brave soldier, but a poor general; a great citizen, but perhaps a bad statesman. From boyhood Aratos had cherished the hope of returning to his Dative city and freeing it from the tyrants who had succe>- sively ruled over it. ••While he was considering," says Plutarch, "how to seize some post in the territories of Sikyon whence he might prosecute hostilities against ll \-WT ON BIS WAY TO HARKE1 ' the tyrant, a man of Sikyon arrived at ArgOS who had escaped out of prison. Being introduced *<> Aratos. he informed him that the part of the wall which he had gotten over was almost level with the ground on the inside as it joined upon a high, rocky part of the city, and that on the outside it was not so high bnl that it mighl be scaled. Upon this Aratos -nl two of his servants to reconnoitre the wall. who at their return reported that it was neither impracticable nor difficult, but that the attempt would l"' dangerous, on accounl of some dogs kept by a gardener, which indeed little, hut at the same time extremely fierce and furious. 1 Marble relief discovered al Otricoli and now in the Vatican; From Vuconti, .1/«jw Pie <:ilf ;i1m> i, vol. v. pi. S3. Peasant leading a cow and to the city, carrying ducks. :it :i iv;ir »:ill .i little Banctuary to water the cow, nml in hii He fa I Fountain the of band holds a. branch nf » tree. — no doubl to drive awaj the flies. The row is suckling ber calf. For this latter group, of. the coin of Korkyra, Vol III p. 854 i i FROM DEATH OF FYRRHOS TO ARRIVAL OF ROMANS. 510 " Aratos, however, immediately set about the work. It was easy to provide arms without suspicion, for almost everybody went armed, by reason of the frequent robberies, and the incursions of one people into the territories of another. And as to the scaling-ladders, Euphranor, who was an exile from Sikyon and a carpenter by trade, made them publicly, his business screening him from suspicion.