EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

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BATTLE OF MANTINEA, 362 B.C.

By crippling Sparta, Epaminondas raised Thebes to a position of supremacy.
Had he been spared for a longer service, Epaminondas might have realized
his dream of bringing unity and order into the troubled politics of his
time. But circumstances were too strong for him. The Greek states, which
had accepted the leadership of Athens and Sparta, were unwilling to admit
the claims of Thebes to a position of equal power and importance. The
period of Theban rule was filled, therefore, with perpetual conflict. Nine
years after Leuctra Epaminondas himself fell in battle at Mantinea in the
Peloponnesus, and with his death ended the brief glory of Thebes.

38. DECLINE OF THE CITY-STATE

WEAKNESS OF CITY-STATES

The battle of Mantinea proved that no single city--Athens, Sparta, or
Thebes--was strong enough to rule Greece. By the middle of the fourth
century B.C. it had become evident that a great Hellenic power could the
not be created out of the little, independent city-states of Greece.

A RECORD OF ALMOST CEASELESS CONFLICT

The history of Continental Hellas for more than a century after the close
of the Persian War had been a record of almost ceaseless conflict. We have
seen how Greece came to be split up into two great alliances, the one a
naval league ruled by Athens, the other a confederacy of Peloponnesian
cities under the leadership of Sparta. How the Delian League became the
Athenian Empire; how Sparta began a long war with Athens to secure the
independence of the subject states and ended it by reducing them to her
own supremacy; how the rough-handed sway of Sparta led to the revolt of
her allies and dependencies and the sudden rise of Thebes to supremacy;
how Thebes herself established an empire on the ruins of Spartan rule--
this is a story of fruitless and exhausting struggles which sounded the
knell of Greek liberty and the end of the city-state.

THE FUTURE

Far away in the north, remote from the noisy conflicts of Greek political
life, a new power was slowly rising to imperial greatness--no
insignificant city-state, but an extensive territorial state like those of
modern times. Three years after the battle of Mantinea Philip II ascended
the throne of Macedonia. He established Hellenic unity by bringing the
Hellenic people within a widespread empire. Alexander the Great, the son
of this king, carried Macedonian dominion and Greek culture to the ends of
the known world. To this new period of ancient history we now turn.

STUDIES

1. On an outline map indicate the principal places mentioned in this
chapter.

2. On an outline map indicate the Athenian allies and dependencies and
those of Sparta at the opening of the Peloponnesian War.

3. What do you understand by a "decisive" battle? Why has Marathon been
considered such a battle?

4. Why did Xerxes take the longer route through Thrace, instead of the
shorter route followed by Datis and Artaphernes?

5. What was the importance of the Phoenician fleet in the Persian
invasions?

6. What reasons can be given for the Greek victory in the struggle against
Persia?

7. Distinguish between a confederacy and an empire.

8. Compare the relations of the Delian subject cities to Athens with those
of British colonies, such as Canada and Australia, to England.

9. What do you understand by representative government?

10. If the Athenian Empire could have rested on a representative basis,
why would it have been more likely to endure?

11. How far can the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for
the people" be applied to the Athenian democracy?

12. Did the popular assembly of Athens have any resemblance to a New
England town meeting?

13. Compare the Athenian jury system with that of England and the United
States.

14. The Athenian democracy of the time of Pericles has been described as a
_pure_ democracy and not, like the American, as a _representative_
democracy. In what lies the difference?

15. Can you suggest any objections to the system of state pay introduced
by Pericles? To what extent do we employ the same system under our
government?

16. What conditions of the time help to explain the contempt of the Greeks
for money-making?

17. Trace on the map, page 107, the Long Walls of Athens.

18. Why has the Peloponnesian War been called an "irrepressible conflict"?
Why has it been called the "suicide of Greece"?

19. What states of the Greek mainland were neutral in the Peloponnesian
War (map facing page 108)?

20. Contrast the resources of the contending parties. Where was each side
weak and where strong?

21. Why was the tyranny of Sparta more oppressive than that of Athens?

22. What were the reasons for the failure of the Athenian, Spartan, and
Theban attempts at empire?

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Ancient History_, chapter vii, "Xerxes and the
Persian Invasion of Greece"; chapter viii, "Episodes from the
Peloponnesian War"; chapter ix, "Alcibiades the Athenian"; chapter x, "The
Expedition of the Ten Thousand"; chapter xi, "The Trial and Death of
Socrates."

[2] See the map facing page 38.

[3] See page 87.

[4] See the illustration, page 99.

[5] Thucydides, i, 18.

[6] See page 272.

[7] Herodotus, vii, 228.

[8] See the map on page 107.

[9] See page 96.

[10] See page 83.

[11] See the map facing page 108.

[12] See page 155.

[13] See page 44.

[14] The commercial importance of Athens is indicated by the general
adoption of her monetary standard by the other Greek states. (For
illustrations of Greek coins see the plate facing page 134.)

[15] Thucydides, ii, 38.

[16] See the map, page 107.

[17] For a description of ancient Athens, see pages 288-292.

[18] Thucydides, ii, 41.

[19] Thucydides, ii, 8.

[20] Thucydides, i, 118.

[21] Thucydides, vii, 87.

CHAPTER VI

MINGLING OF EAST AND WEST AFTER 359 B.C. [1]

39. PHILIP AND THE RISE OF MACEDONIA

MACEDONIA AND THE MACEDONIANS

The land of Macedonia, lying to the north of Greece, for a long time had
been an inconspicuous part of the ancient world. Its people, though only
partially civilized, were Greeks in blood and language. No doubt they
formed an offshoot of those northern invaders who had entered the Balkan
peninsula before the dawn of history. The Macedonian kings, from the era
of the Persian wars, seized every opportunity of spreading Greek culture
throughout their realm. By the middle of the fourth century B.C., when
Philip II ascended the throne, the Macedonians were ready to take a
leading place in the Greek world.

[Illustration: PHILIP II
From a gold medallion struck by Alexander]

PHILIP'S AIMS

Philip of Macedonia, one of the most remarkable men of antiquity, was
endowed with a vigorous body, a keen mind, and a resolute will. He was no
stranger to Greece and its ways. Part of his boyhood had been passed as a
hostage at Thebes in the days of Theban glory. His residence there gave
him an insight into Greek politics and taught him the art of war as it had
been perfected by Epaminondas. In the distracted condition of Greece, worn
out by the rivalries of contending cities, Philip saw the opportunity of
his own country. He aimed to secure for Macedonia the position of
supremacy which neither Athens, Sparta, nor Thebes had been able to
maintain.

THE MACEDONIAN ARMY

Philip's most important achievement was the creation of the Macedonian
army, which he led to the conquest of Greece and which his son was to lead
to the conquest of the World. Taking a hint from the tactics of
Epaminondas, Philip trained his infantry to fight by columns, but with
sufficient intervals between the files to permit quick and easy movements.
Each man bore an enormous lance, eighteen feet in length. When this heavy
phalanx was set in array, the weapons carried by the soldiers in the first
five ranks presented a bristling thicket of lance-points, which no onset,
however determined, could penetrate. The business of the phalanx was to
keep the front of the foe engaged, while horsemen rode into the enemy's
flanks. This reliance on masses of cavalry to win a victory was something
new in warfare. Another novel feature consisted in the use of engines
called catapults, able to throw darts and huge stones three hundred yards,
and of battering rams with force enough to hurl down the walls of cities.
All these different arms working together made a war machine of tremendous
power--the most formidable in the ancient world until the days of the
Roman legion.

CONQUESTS OF PHILIP

Philip commanded a fine army; he ruled with absolute sway a territory
larger than any other Hellenic state; and he himself possessed a genius
for both war and diplomacy, With such advantages the Macedonian king
entered on the subjugation of disunited Greece. His first great success
was won in western Thrace. Here he founded the city of Philippi [2] and
seized some rich gold mines, the income from which enabled him to keep his
soldiers always under arms, to fit out a fleet, and, by means of liberal
bribes, to hire a crowd of agents in nearly every Greek city. Philip next
made Macedonia a maritime state by subduing the Greek cities on the
peninsula of Chalcidice. [3] He also appeared in Thessaly, occupied its
principal fortresses, and brought the frontier of Macedonia as far south
as the pass of Thermopylae.

40. DEMOSTHENES AND THE END OF GREEK FREEDOM

DEMOSTHENES, 384-322 B.C.

Philip for many years had been steadily extending his sway over Greece. In
the face of his encroachments would Athens, Sparta, and Thebes, so long
the leading cities, submit tamely to this Macedonian conqueror? There was
one man, at least, who realized the menace to Greek freedom from Philip's
onward march. In Demosthenes Greece found a champion of her threatened
liberties.

[Illustration: DEMOSTHENES (Vatican Museum, Rome)
A marble statue, probably a copy of the bronze original by the sculptor
Polyeuctus. The work, when found, was considerably mutilated and has been
restored in numerous parts. Both forearms and the hands holding the scroll
are modern additions. It seems likely that the original Athenian statue
showed Demosthenes with tightly clasped hands, which, with his furrowed
visage and contracted brows, were expressive of the orator's earnestness
and concentration of thought.]

DEMOSTHENES AS AN ORATOR AND A PATRIOT

Demosthenes was the last, as well as the most famous, of the great
Athenian orators. When he first began to speak, the citizens laughed at
his long, involved sentences, over-rapid delivery, and awkward bearing.
Friends encouraged him to persist, assuring him that, if the manner of his
speeches was bad, their matter was worthy of Pericles. Numerous stories
are told of the efforts made by Demosthenes to overcome his natural
defects. He practiced gesturing before a mirror and, to correct a
stammering pronunciation, recited verses with pebbles in his mouth. He
would go down to the seashore during storms and strive to make his voice
heard above the roar of wind and waves, in order the better to face the
boisterous Assembly. Before long he came to be regarded as the prince of
speakers even in the city of orators. Demosthenes was a man cast in the
old heroic mold. His patriotic imagination had been fired by the great
deeds once accomplished by free Greeks. Athens he loved with passionate
devotion. Let her remember her ancient glories, he urged, and, by
withstanding Philip, become the leader of Hellas in a second war for
liberty.

LAST STRUGGLE OF THE GREEKS

The stirring appeals of the great orator at first had little effect. There
were many friends of Philip in the Greek states, even in Athens itself.
When, however, Philip entered central Greece and threatened the
independence of its cities, the eloquence of Demosthenes met a readier
response. In the presence of the common danger Thebes and Athens gave up
their ancient rivalry and formed a defensive alliance against Philip. Had
it been joined by Sparta and the other Peloponnesian states, it is
possible that their united power might have hurled back the invader. But
they held aloof.

BATTLE OF CHAERONEA, 338 B.C.

The decisive battle was fought at Chaeronea in Boeotia. On that fatal
field the well-drilled and seasoned troops of Macedonia, headed by a
master of the art of war, overcame the citizen levies of Greece. The
Greeks fought bravely, as of old, and their defeat was not inglorious.
Near the modern town of Chaeronea the traveler can still see the tomb
where the fallen heroes were laid, and the marble lion set up as a
memorial to their dauntless struggle.

PHILIP'S POLICY AS A CONQUEROR

Chaeronea gave Philip the undisputed control of Greece. But now that
victory was assured, he had no intention of playing the tyrant. He
compelled Thebes to admit a Macedonian garrison to her citadel, but
treated Athens so mildly that the citizens were glad to conclude with him
a peace which left their possessions untouched. Philip entered the
Peloponnesus as a liberator. Its towns and cities welcomed an alliance
with so powerful a protector against Sparta.

CONGRESS AT CORINTH, 337 B.C.

Having completely realized his design of establishing Macedonian rule over
Greece, Philip's restless energy drove him forward to the next step in his
ambitious program. He determined to carry out the plans, so long cherished
by the Greeks, for an invasion of Asia Minor and, perhaps, of Persia
itself. In the year 337 B.C. a congress of all the Hellenic states met at
Corinth under Philip's presidency. The delegates voted to supply ships and
men for the great undertaking and placed Philip in command of the allied
forces. A Macedonian king was to be the captain-general of Hellas.

DEATH OF PHILIP, 336 B.C.

But Philip was destined never to lead an army across the Hellespont. Less
than two years after Chaeronea he was killed by an assassin, and the
scepter passed to his young son, Alexander.

[Illustration: ALEXANDER (Glyptothek, Munich)
Probably an authentic portrait of the youthful Alexander about 338 B.C.]

41. ALEXANDER THE GREAT

THE YOUTHFUL ALEXANDER

Alexander was only twenty years of age when he became ruler of Macedonia.
From his father he inherited the powerful Frame, the kingly figure, the
masterful will, which made so deep an impression on all his
contemporaries. His mother, a proud and ambitious woman, told him that the
blood of Achilles ran in his veins, and bade him emulate the deeds of that
national hero. We know that he learned the _Iliad_ by heart and always
carried a copy of it on his campaigns. As he came to manhood, Alexander
developed into a splendid athlete, skillful in all the sports of his
rough-riding companions, and trained in every warlike exercise.

EDUCATION OF ALEXANDER BY ARISTOTLE

Philip believed that in Alexander he had a worthy son, for he persuaded
Aristotle, [4] the most learned man in Greece, to become the tutor of the
young prince. The influence of that philosopher remained with Alexander
throughout life. Aristotle taught him to love Greek art and science, and
instilled into his receptive mind an admiration for all things Grecian.
Alexander used to say that, while he owed his life to his father, he owed
to Aristotle the knowledge of how to live worthily.

ALEXANDER CRUSHES REBELLION

The situation which Alexander faced on his accession might well have
dismayed a less dauntless spirit. Philip had not lived long enough to
unite firmly his wide dominions. His unexpected death proved the signal
for uprisings and disorder. The barbarous Thracians broke out in
widespread rebellion, and the Greeks made ready to answer the call of
Demosthenes to arms. But Alexander soon set his kingdom in order. After
crushing the tribes of Thrace, he descended on Greece and besieged Thebes,
which had risen against its Macedonian garrison. The city was soon
captured; its inhabitants were slaughtered or sold into slavery; and the
place itself was destroyed. The terrible fate of Thebes induced the other
states to submit without further resistance.

SEEMING STRENGTH OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

With Greece pacified, Alexander could proceed to the invasion of Persia.
Since the days of Darius the Great the empire had remained almost intact--
a huge, loosely-knit collection of many different peoples, whose sole bond
of union was their common allegiance to the Great King. [5] Its resources
were enormous. There were millions of men for the armies and untold wealth
in the royal treasuries. Yet the empire was a hollow shell.

EXPEDITION OF THE "TEN THOUSAND," 401-400 B.C.

Some seventy years before Alexander set forth on his expedition the Greeks
had witnessed a remarkable disclosure of the military weakness of Persia.
One of those rare revolts which troubled the security of the Persian
Empire broke out in Asia Minor. It was headed by Cyrus the Younger, a
brother of the Persian monarch. Cyrus gathered a large body of native
troops and also hired about ten thousand Greek soldiers. He led this mixed
force into the heart of the Persian dominions, only to fall in battle at
Cunaxa, near Babylon. The Greeks easily routed the enemy arrayed against
them, but the death of Cyrus made their victory fruitless. In spite of
their desperate situation the Greeks refused to surrender and started to
return homewards. The Persians dogged their footsteps, yet never ventured
on a pitched battle. After months of wandering in Assyria and Armenia the
little band of intrepid soldiers finally reached Trapezus, (Modern
Trebizond) a Greek city on the Black Sea.

[Illustration: Map, ROUTE OF THE TEN THOUSAND]

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EXPEDITION

The story of this invasion of Persia and the subsequent retreat was
written by the Athenian Xenophon [6] in his _Anabasis_. It is one of the
most interesting books that have come down to us from antiquity. We can
judge from it how vivid was the impression which the adventures of the
"Ten Thousand" made on the Greeks of Xenophon's time. A small army had
marched to the center of the Persian dominions, had overcome a host many
times its size, and had returned to Greece in safety. It was clear proof
that the Persian power, however imposing on the outside, could offer no
effective resistance to an attack by a strong force of disciplined Greek
soldiers. Henceforth the Greeks never abandoned the idea of an invasion of
Persia.

ALEXANDER'S INVASION

The gigantic task fell, however, to Alexander, as the champion of Hellas
against the "barbarians." With an army of less than forty thousand men
Alexander destroyed an empire before which, for two centuries, all Asia
had been wont to tremble. History, ancient or modern, contains no other
record of conquests so widespread, so thorough, so amazingly rapid.

42. CONQUEST OF PERSIA AND THE FAR EAST, 334-323 B.C.

BATTLE OF THE GRANICUS, 334 B.C.

Alexander crossed the Hellespont in the spring of the year 334 B.C. He
landed not far from the historic plain of Troy and at once began his march
along the coast. Near the little river Granicus the satraps of Asia Minor
had gathered an army to dispute his passage. Alexander at once led his
cavalry across the river in an impetuous charge, which soon sent the
Persian troops in headlong flight. The victory cost the Macedonians
scarcely a hundred men; but it was complete. As Alexander passed
southward, town after town opened its gates--first Sardis, next Ephesus,
then all the other cities of Ionia. They were glad enough to be free of
Persian control. Within a year Asia Minor was a Macedonian possession.

BATTLE OF ISSUS, 333 B.C.

In the meantime Darius III, the Persian king, had been making extensive
preparations to meet the invader. He commanded half a million men, but he
followed Alexander too hastily and had to fight in a narrow defile on the
Syrian coast between the mountains and the sea. In such cramped quarters
numbers did not count. The battle became a massacre, and only the approach
of night stayed the swords of the victorious Macedonians. A great quantity
of booty, including the mother, wife, and children of Darius, fell into
Alexander's hands. He treated his royal captives kindly, but refused to
make peace with the Persian king.

[Illustration: THE ALEXANDER MOSAIC (Naples Museum)
This splendid mosaic composed of pieces of colored glass formed the
pavement of a Roman house at Pompeii in Italy. It represents the charge of
Alexander (on horseback at the left) against the Persian king in his
chariot, at the battle of Issus.]

CAPTURE OF TYRE, 332 B.C.

The next step was to subdue the Phoenician city of Tyre, the headquarters
of Persia's naval power. The city lay on a rocky island, half a mile from
the shore. Its fortifications rose one hundred feet above the waves.
Although the place seemed impregnable, Alexander was able to capture it
after he had built a mole, or causeway, between the shore and the island.
Powerful siege engines then breached the walls, the Macedonians poured in,
and Tyre fell by storm. Thousands of its inhabitants perished and
thousands more were sold into slavery. The great emporium of the East
became a heap of ruins.

ALEXANDER IN EGYPT

From Tyre Alexander led his ever-victorious army through Syria into Egypt.
The Persian forces here offered little resistance, and the Egyptians
themselves welcomed Alexander as a deliverer. The conqueror entered
Memphis in triumph and then sailed down the Nile to its western mouth,
where he laid the foundations of Alexandria, a city which later became the
metropolis of the Orient.

ALEXANDER IN LIBYA

Another march brought Alexander to the borders of Libya, Here he received
the submission of Cyrene, the most important Greek colony in Africa. [7]
Alexander's dominions were thus extended to the border of the Carthaginian
possessions. It was at this time that Alexander visited a celebrated
temple of the god Amon, located in an oasis of the Libyan desert. The
priests were ready enough to hail him as a son of Amon, as one before whom
his Egyptian subjects might bow down and adore. But after Alexander's
death his worship spread widely over the world, and even the Roman Senate
gave him a place among the gods of Olympus.

BATTLE OF ARBELA, 331 B.C.

The time had now come to strike directly at the Persian king. Following
the ancient trade routes through northern Mesopotamia, Alexander crossed
the Euphrates and the Tigris and, on a broad plain not far from the ruins
of ancient Nineveh, [8] found himself confronted by the Persian host.
Darius held an excellent position and hoped to crush his foe by sheer
weight of numbers. But nothing could stop the Macedonian onset; once more
Darius fled away, and once more the Persians, deserted by their king,
broke up in hopeless rout.

END OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE

The battle of Arbela decided the fate of the Persian Empire. It remained
only to gather the fruits of victory. The city of Babylon surrendered
without a struggle. Susa, with its enormous treasure, fell into the
conqueror's hands. Persepolis, the old Persian capital, was given up to
fire and sword. [9] Darius himself, as he retreated eastward, was murdered
by his own men. With the death of Darius the national war of Greece
against Persia came to an end.

CONQUEST OF IRAN

The Macedonians had now overrun all the Persian provinces except distant
Iran and India. These countries were peopled of by warlike tribes of a
very different stamp from the effeminate Persians. Alexander might well
have been content to leave them undisturbed, but the man could never rest
while there were still conquests to be made. Long marches and much hard
fighting were necessary to subdue the tribes about the Caspian and the
inhabitants of the countries now known as Afghanistan and Turkestan.

[Illustration: Map, EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT About 323 B.C.]

CONQUEST OF INDIA

Crossing the lofty barrier of the Hindu-Kush, Alexander led his weary
soldiers into northwestern India, where a single battle added the Persian
province of the Punjab [10] to the Macedonian possessions. Alexander then
pressed forward to the conquest of the Ganges valley, but in the full tide
of victory his troops refused to go any farther. They had had their fill
of war and martial glory; they would conquer no more lands for their
ambitious king. Alexander gave with reluctance the order for the homeward
march.

ALEXANDER'S RETURN TO BABYLON

Alexander was of too adventurous a disposition to return by the way he had
come. He resolved to reach Babylon by a new route. He built a navy on the
Indus and had it accompany the army down the river. At the mouth of the
Indus Alexander dispatched the fleet under his admiral, Nearchus, to
explore the Indian Ocean and to discover, if possible, a sea route between
India and the West. He himself led the army, by a long and toilsome march
through the deserts of southern Iran, to Babylon. That city now became the
capital of the Macedonian Empire.

DEATH OF ALEXANDER, 323 B.C.

Scarcely two years after his return, while he was planning yet more
extensive conquests in Arabia, Africa, and western Europe, he was smitten
by the deadly Babylonian fever. In 323 B.C., after several days of
illness, the conqueror of the world passed away, being not quite thirty-
three years of age.