They soon acquired celebrity, and became second only to the great Olympic festival. The Nemean and Isthmian games occurred more frequently than the Olympic and Pythian. They were celebrated once in two years the Nemean in honor of the Nemean Jove, in the valley of Nemea, between Phlius and Cleonæ, originally by the Cleonæans and subsequently by the Argives-and the Isthmian by the Corinthians, on their isthmus, in honour of Poseidon (Neptune). As in the Pythian festival, contests in music and in poetry, as well as gymnastics and chariot-races, formed part of these games. § 7. Although the four great festivals of which we have been speaking had no influence in promoting the political union of Greece, they nevertheless were of great importance in making the various sections of the race feel that they were all members of one family, and in cementing them together by common sympathies and the enjoyment of common pleasures. The frequent occurrence of these festivals, for one was celebrated every year, tended to the same result. The Greeks were thus annu ally reminded of their common origin, and of the great distinction which existed between them and barbarians. Nor must we forget the incidental advantages which attended them. The concourse of so large a number of persons from every part of the Grecian world afforded to the merchant opportunities for traffic, and to the artist and the literary man the best means of making their works known. During the time of the games the Altis was surrounded with booths, in which a busy commerce was carried on; and in a spacious hall appropriated for the purpose the poets, philosophers, and historians were accustomed to read their most recent works. The perfect equality of persons at the festival demands particular mention. The games were open to every Greek without any distinction of country or of rank. The horse-races and chariot-races were necessarily confined to the wealthy, who were allowed to employ others as riders and drivers; but the rich and poor alike could contend in the gymnastic matches. This, however, was far from degrading the former in public opinion; and some of the greatest and wealthiest men in the various cities took part in the running, wrestling, boxing, and other matches. Cylon, who attempted to make himself tyrant of Athens, had gained the prize in the foot-race; Alexander, son of Amyntas, prince of Macedon, had also run for it; and instances occur in which cities chose their generals from the victors in these games. § 8. The habit of consulting the same oracles in order to ascertain the will of the gods was another bond of union. It was the universal practice of the Greeks to undertake no matter of importance without first asking the advice of the gods; and there were many sacred spots in which the gods were always ready to give an answer to pious worshippers. Some of these oracles were consulted only by the surrounding neighbourhood, but others obtained a wider celebrity; and the oracle of Apollo at Delphi in particular surpassed all the rest in importance, and was regarded with veneration in every part of the Grecian world. So great was its fame that it was sometimes consulted by foreign nations, such as the Lydians, Phrygians, and Romans; and the Grecian states constantly applied to it for counsel in their difficulties and perplexities. In the centre of the temple at Delphi there was a small opening in the ground, from which it was said that a certain gas or vapour ascended. Whenever the oracle was to be consulted, a virgin priestess, called Pythia, took her seat upon a tripod, which was placed over the chasm. The ascending vapour affected her brain, and the words which she uttered in this excited condition were believed to be the answer of Apollo to his worshippers. They were always in hexameter verse, and were reverently taken down by the attendant priests. Most of the answers were equivocal or obscure; but the credit of the oracle continued unimpaired long after the downfall of Grecian independence.. $9. A further element of union among the Greeks was the similarity of manners and character. It is true the difference in this respect between the polished inhabitants of Athens and the rude mountaineers of Acarnania was marked and striking; but if we compare the two with foreign contemporaries the contrast between them and the latter is still more striking. Absolute despotism, human sacrifices, polygamy, deliberate mutilation of the person as a punishment, and selling of children into slavery, existed in some part or other of the barbarian world, but are not found in any city of Greece in the historical times. Although we cannot mention many customs common to all the Greeks and at the same time peculiar to them, yet we cannot doubt that there did exist among them certain general characteristics in their manners and customs, which served as a bond of union among themselves, and a line of demarcation from foreigners. 10. The elements of union of which we have been speaking -community of blood and language, of religion and festivals, and of manners and character-only bound the Greeks together in common feelings and sentiments. They never produced any political union. The independent sovereignty of each city was a fundamental notion in the Greek mind. The only supreme authority which a Greek recognised was to be found within his own city walls. The exercise of authority by one city over another, whatever advantages the weaker city might derive from such a connexion, was repugnant to every Greek. This was a sentiment common to all the different members of the Greek race, under all forms of government, whether oligarchical or democratical. Hence the dominion exercised by Thebes over the cities of Boeotia, and by Athens over subject allies, was submitted to with reluctance, and was disowned on the first opportunity. This strongly rooted feeling deserves particular notice and remark. Careless readers of history are tempted to suppose that the territory of Greece was divided among a comparatively small number of independent states, such as Attica, Arcadia, Boeotia, Phocis, Locris, and the like; but this is a most serious mistake, and leads to a total misapprehension of Greek history. Every separate city was usually an independent state, and consequently each of the territories described under the general names of Arcadia, Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris, contained numerous political communities independent of one another. Attica, it is true, formed a single state, and its different towns recognised Athens as their capital and the source of supreme power; but this is an exception to the general rule. The patriotism of a Greek was confined to his city, and rarely kindled into any general love for the common welfare of Hellas. The safety and the prosperity of his city were dearer to him than the safety and prosperity of Hellas, and to secure the former he was too often contented to sacrifice the latter. For his own city a patriotic Greek was ready to lay down his property and his life, but he felt no obligation to expend his substance or expose his life on behalf of the common interests of the country. So complete was the political division between the Greek cities, that the citizen of one was an alien and a stranger in the territory of another. He was not merely debarred from all share in the government, but he could not acquire property in land or houses, nor contract a marriage with a native woman, nor sue in the courts of justice, except through the medium of a friendly citizen.* The cities thus mutually repelling each other, the sympathies and feelings of a Greek became more centered in his own. It was this exclusive patriotism which rendered it difficult for the Greeks to unite under circumstances of common danger. It was this political disunion which led them to turn their arms against each other, and eventually made them subject to the Macedonian monarchs. * Sometimes a city granted to a citizen of another state, or even to the whole state, the right of intermarriage and of acquiring landed property. The former of these rights was called éлiyaμía, the latter EуKTηOLS. § 1. Conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. Division of the Peloponnesus into the Doric states, Elis, Achaia, and Arcadia. § 2. Division of the Doric states in Peloponnesus. Argos originally the first Doric state, Sparta second, Messene third. §3. Phidon of Argos. §4. Legislation of Lycurgus. §5. Life of Lycurgus. § 6. The chief object of Lycurgus in his legislation. §7. Population of Laconia divided into three classes. Spartans. §8. Perioci. §9. Helots. § 10. Political government of Sparta. The kings. The senate. The popular assembly. The ephors. §11. Training and education of the Spartan youths and men. § 12. Training of the Spartan women. §13. Division of landed property. § 14. Other regulations ascribed to Lycurgus. Iron money. § 15. Defensible position of Sparta. §16. Growth of the Spartan power, a consequence of the discipline of Lycurgus. Conquest of Laconia. § 1. In the Heroic ages Peloponnesus was the seat of the great Achæan monarchies. Mycenae was the residence of Agamemnon, king of men, Sparta of his brother Menelaus, and Argos of Diomedes, who dared to contend in battle with the immortal gods. But before the commencement of history all these monarchies had been swept away, and their subjects either driven out of the land or compelled to submit to the dominion of the Dorians. The history of the conquest of Peloponnesus by this warlike race is clothed in a legendary form, and has been already narrated in the preceding Book. In what manner this conquest was really effected is beyond the reach of history, but we have good reasons for believing that it was the work of many years, and was not concluded by a single battle, as the legends would lead us to suppose. We find, however, in the early historical times the whole of the eastern and southern parts of Peloponnesus in the undisputed possession of the Dorians. The remaining parts of the peninsula were in the hands of other members of the Greek race. On the western coast from the mouth of the Neda to that of the Larissus was the territory of Elis, including the two dependent states of Pisa and Triphylia. The Eleans are said to have been descendants of the Etolians, who had accompanied the Dorians in their invasion, and received Elis as their share of the spoil. The Pisatans and the Triphylians had been originally independent inhabitants of the peninsula, but had been conquered by their more powerful neighbours of Elis. The strip of land on the northern coast of Peloponnesus, and south of the Corinthian gulf, was inhabited by Achæans, and I was called after them Achaia. This territory extended from the mouth of the river Araxus on one side to the confines of Sicyonia on the other, and was divided among twelve Achæan cities, which are rarely mentioned in the earlier period of Greek history, and only rose to importance in the Macedonian times. The mountainous region in the centre of Peloponnesus was inhabited by the Arcadians, who may be regarded as genuine Pelasgians, since they are uniformly represented as the earliest inhabitants of the country. Their country was distributed into a large number of villages and cities, among which Tegea and Mantinea were the two most powerful. § 2. The division of Peloponnesus among the Dorian states differed at various times. At the close of the period which forms the subject of the present Book, Sparta was unquestionably the first of the Dorian powers, and its dominions far exceeded those of any other Dorian state. Its territory then occupied the whole of the southern region of the peninsula from the eastern to the western sea, being separated from the dominions of Argos by the river Tanus, and from Triphylia by the river Neda. At that time the territory of Argos was confined to the Argolic peninsula, but did not include the whole of this district, the south-eastern part of it being occupied by the Doric cities of Epidaurus and Trozen, and the Dryopian city of Hermione. On the Isthmus stood the powerful city of Corinth, westward Sicyon, and to the south of these Cleonæ and Phlius, both also Doric cities. North-east of Corinth came Megara, the last of the Doric D* |