beginning to give way to that of Sparta; and Pericles, sacrificing his jealousy to the public good, himself wrote and carried the decree for the recal of Cimon. Upon his return, he reconciled the Athenians and Lacedemonians; sent a fleet of sixty ships against Egypt, and sailed in person to attack Cyprus. He vanquished the fleet of the enemy, and, just when he was meditating the entire overthrow of the Persian empire, he was wounded before the walls of a city in Cyprus, which he was besieging, and died of the wound. He had prudently advised the Athenians to retire in good order, concealing his death. This was executed, and the armament returned to Athens in perfect safety, under the supposed conduct of Cimon, who had been dead more than thirty days. From that time the Greeks achieved nothing extraordinary against the Persians. Divisions arose among them. They gave the common enemy leisure to recover from his panic, and to recruit his strength, and they ruined themselves by their own misdirected energies. Cimon was universally regretted, and the events that followed abundantly proved that Greece had met with a fatal loss in his death. No one was now left to counterbalance the authority of Pericles, and he exercised, in fact, sovereign power in Athens at his will, disposing of the treasury, the troops, the fleets, and the whole management of public affairs. He began then to alter his conduct, no longer yielding, as formerly, to the caprices of the multitude, but substituting, to measures too easy, and complying, a government more firm and independent, yet

departing in no instance from the rule of right reason and pure love of country. He strengthened the fortifications of the city. He adorned it with magnificent edifices of genuine taste and elegance, and durability of structure. He was the munificent patron of arts and sciences, of all that can polish and beautify society. Phidias, the justly celebrated sculptor, who made the golden statue of Pallas, so highly estimated by the connoisseurs of antiquity, presided over the erection of public buildings, and the various architectural works which Pericles carried on, and a multitude of other excelling artists were employed and cherished by him. His enemies and rivals blamed his extravagant expenditure of the public money; and not daring to attack him personally, they did so in the persons of his dearest and most attached friends. Pericles, who well knew the lightness and inconstancy of the Athenian character, fearing that he should sink at last under the plots and efforts of those who envied his glory, to divert the attention of the people from the accusations brought against him, lighted up the flame of that fatal Peloponnesian war, which finally consumed the power and grandeur of Athens. During this golden age of the republic, under the patronage of Cimon and Pericles, and drawn forth by the emulation which those illustrious worthies excited, appeared extraordinary talents in philosophy and the fine arts. Anaxagoras, Æschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus, Phidias, Parrhasius, and many other men of true genius, diffused a glorious lustre over different walks of art and science.

GLORY OF THEBES.

No record of history can more clearly show of what avail the wisdom, virtue, valour, and skill of individuals may be to the prosperity of a state, than the events which happened to Thebes in the space of a few years. That city was in itself very feeble, and had been reduced to a state of almost absolute slavery by the superior power of Lacedemon. Lacedemon, on the contrary, had long possessed the greatest power and influence amongst the Grecian states.

Two

Thebans, by their courage and abilities, overcame the formidable power of Sparta, and raised their country to the highest pitch of glory. These two Thebans, Pelopidas and Epaminondas, were descended from the most illustrious families in Thebes. Pelopidas inherited great wealth, which was much increased by his becoming sole heir to a rich and flourishing house. Epaminondas was inured to poverty, which he dignified by his philosophy, and by his virtuous and regular life. The one showed the proper use that should be made of riches, the other showed how much might be done, even under the disadvantages of poverty. Pelopidas shared his wealth with all who needed and deserved his assistance, proving, as Plutarch remarks, that he was the master not the slave of his riches. Having been unable to induce his friend Epaminondas to accept his generous offers, and participate in his prosperity, he followed his example, and adopted the same line of conduct. He visited the abodes of the poor to learn how

to divest himself of all superfluitics. He remarked, that he should feel ashamed to spend more for his table than the most indigent Theban. And he used this severity towards himself, that he might be enabled to do more good to his fellow creatures.

Pelo

Both were born for great exploits, but they pursued the same end by different means. pidas devoted himself principally to corporeal exercises. Epaminondas cultivated his intellectual faculties. The one employed his leizure time in gymnastic exercises and hunting, whilst the other was engaged in conversation and the study of philosophy. But what, above all, is worthy of admiration and attention, is the inviolable friendship that existed between them during the whole course of their lives, although they were almost always employed together, either in the command of armies, or in the administration of the republic. This friendship was founded upon mutual esteem, and confirmed and preserved by their love of their country. Such an attachment and union between those who held together the reins of government, so unusual in those circumstances, as appeared in the conduct of the great men amongst the Athenians, could only proceed from true greatness of soul and real virtue, which seek not glory and riches, the baneful sources of dissension and envy, but desire the welfare of their country.

The first proof Pelopidas gave of his courage and prudence, was the bold design which he conceived and executed, when a very young man, of delivering his country from the Lacedemonian

K

yoke. He formed in a short space of time a formidable conspiracy against the tyrants. Although this business was conducted with all possible secrecy, a short time before its execution a courier demanded an audience of Archius, the chief of the tyrants, who were all assembled at a feast, and handed him a letter, containing, as he said, some most important information; which was no less than a circumstantial detail of the whole proceedings of the conspirators. Archius not choosing to be interrupted in his festivity, laughed at the communication, and put the letter under the cushion on which he was seated, saying he would defer examining the contents till the morrow; but to him there was no morrow; he was killed that same night, with all the other tyrants; and the citadel was retaken. It may very justly be said, that the change of affairs which took place very soon after, and the war which proved so fatal to Sparta, and deprived her of the empire of the sea and the land, was the work of that one night, in which Pelopidas, with only a handful of patriots, overthrew that mighty power of the Lacedemonians, which, till then, appeared fixed upon a firm and unshaken foundation. He had his share, likewise, in all the victories which Thebes afterwards gained over Lacedemon.These great and fortunate expeditions induced the cities of Thessaly to summon Pelopidas to their aid, against the tyrants who oppressed them. Instantly he obeys the call, and by his mere presence restores them to liberty. Two princes who were disputing the throne of Macedonia, take him as the arbiter of their quarrel;