over the king's dominions, he addressed himself to the governor of Lydia, and begged leave to send back the statue to Athens. The barbarian immediately took fire, and said, he would certainly acquaint the king what sort of a request he had made him. Themistocles, alarmed at this menace, applied to the governor's women, and, by money, prevailed upon them to pacify him. After this, he behaved with more prudence, sensible how much he had' to fear from the envy of the Persians. Hence, he did not travel about Asia, as Theopompus says, but took up his abode at Magnesia, where, loaded with valuable presents, and equally honoured with the Persian nobles, he long lived in great security; for the king, who was engaged in the affairs of the upper provinces, gave but little attention to the concerns of Greece. But when Egypt revolted, and was supported in that revolt by the Athenians, when the Grecian fleet sailed as far as Cyprus and Cilicia, and Cimon rode triumphant master of the seas, then the king of Persia applied himself to oppose the Greeks, and to prevent the growth of their power. He put his forces in motion, sent out his generals, and dispatched messengers to Themistocles at Magnesia, to command him to perform his promises, and exert himself against Greece. Did he not obey the summons then?...No....neither resentment against the Athenians, nor the honours and authority in which he now flourished, could prevail upon him to take the direction of the expedition. Possibly he might doubt the event of the war, as Greece had then several great generals ; and Cimon in particular was distinguished with extraordinary success. Above all, regard for his own atchievements, and the trophies he had gained, whose glory he was unwilling to tarnish, determined him (as the best method he could take) to put such an end to his life as became his dignity.* Having, therefore, sacrificed has not mentioned. Themistocles was an excellent manager in political religion.... He had lately been eminently distinguished by the favour of Cybele. He finds an Athenian statue in her temple.... The goddess consents that he should send it to Athens; and the Athenians, out of respect to the goddess, must of course cease to persecute her favourite Themistocles. *Thucydides, who was cotemporary with Themistocles, only says, He died of a distemper; but some report that be poisoned himself, seeing it impossible to accomplish what he had promised the king. THUCYDID. de Bell, Pelopon. 1. k crificed to the gods, assembled his friends, and taken his last leave, he drank bull's blood,* as is generally reported; or, as some relate it, he took a quick poison, and ended his days at Magnesia, having lived sixty-five years, most of which he had spent in civil or military employments, When the king was acquainted with the cause and manner of his death, he admired him more than ever, and continued his favour and bounty to his friends and relations.† Themistocles had by Archippe, the daughter of Lysander of Alopece, five sons, Neocles, Diocles, Archeptolis, Polyeuctes, and Cleophantus. The three last survived him. Plato takes notice of Cleophantus as an excellent horseman, but a man of no merit in other respects. Neocles, his eldest son, died when a child, by the bite of a horse; and Diocles was adopted by his grandfather Lysander. He had several daughters; namely, Mnesiptolema, by a second wife, who was married to Archeptolis, her half brother; Italia, whose husband was Panthides of Chios; Sibaris, married to Nicomedes the Athenian; and Nicomache, at Magnesia, to Phrasicles, the nephew of Themistocles, who after her father's death, took a voyage for that purpose, received her at the hands of her brothers, and brought up her sister Asia, the youngest of the children. The Magnesians erected a very handsome monument to him, which still remains in the market-place. No credit is to be given to Andocides, who writes to his friends, that the Athenians stole his ashes out of the tomb, and scattered them in the air; for it is an artifice of his to exasperate the nobility against the people. Phylarchus, too, more like a writer of tragedy than an historian, availing himself of what may be called a piece of machinery, introduces Neocles and Demopolis, as the sons * Whilst they were sacrificing the bull, he caused the blood to be received in a cup, and drank it whilst it was warm, which (according to Pliny) is mortal, because it coagulates or thickens in an in stant. †There is, in our opinion, more true heroism in the death of Themistocles than in the death of Cato. It is something enthusiastically great when a man determines not to survive his liberty; but it is something still greater, when he refuses to survive his honour. VOL. I. D d of Themistocles, to make his story more interesting and pathetic. But a very moderate degree of sagacity may discover it to be a fiction. Yet Diodorus the geographer writes, in his treatise of sepulchres, but rather by conjecture than certain knowledge, that, near the harbour of Piræus, from the promontory of Alcimus,* the land makes an elbow, and when you have doubled it inwards, by the still water, there is a vast foundation, upon which stands the tomb of Themistocles,† in the form of an altar. With him Plato, the comic writer, is supposed to agree in the following lines: Oft as the merchant speeds the passing sail, Various honours and privileges were granted by the Magnesians to the descendants of Themistocles, which ontinued down to our times; for they were enjoyed by ne of his name, an Athenian, with whom I had a partiular acquaintance and friendship in the house of Amonius the philosopher. * Meursius rightly corrects it Alimus. We find no place in Attica lled Alcimus, but a borough named Alimus there was, on the east the Piræus. †Thuycidides says, that the bones of Themistocles, by his own mmand, were privately carried back into Attica, and buried there. at Pausanias agrees with Theodorus, that the Athenians repentg of their ill usage of this great man, honoured him with a tomb the Piræus. It does not appear, indeed, that Themistocles when banished, had ay design either to revenge himself on Athens, or to take refuge the court of the king of Persia. The Greeks themselves forced m upon this, or rather the Lacedæmonians; for as by their ingues his countrymen were induced to banish him, so by their imrtunities after he was banished, he was not suffered to enjoy any fuge in quiet. CAMILLUS. AMONG the many remarkable things related of Fu rius Camillus, the most extraordinary seems to be this, that though he was often in the highest commands, and performed the greatest actions, though he was five times chosen dictator, though he triumphed four times, and was styled the second founder of Rome, yet he was never once consul. Perhaps we may discover the reason in the state of the commonwealth at that time: the people then at variance with the senate,* refused to elect consuls, and, in stead of them put the government in the hands of military tribunes. Though these acted, indeed, with consular power and authority, yet their administration was less grievous to the people, because they were more in number. To have the direction of affairs entrusted to six persons instead of two, was some ease and satisfaction to a people that could not bear to be dictated to by the nobility. Camillus, then distinguished by his atchievements and at the height of glory, did not choose to be consul against the inclinations of the people, though the comitia, or assemblies in which they might have elected consuls, were several times held in that period. In all his other commissions, which were many and various, he so conducted himself, that if he was entrusted with the sole power, he shared it with others, and if he had a colleague, the glory was his own. The authority seemed to be shared by reason of his great modesty in command, which gave no occasion to envy; and the glory was secured to him by his genius and capacity, in which he was universally allowed to have no equal. The family of the Furiit was not very illustrious before his time; he was the first that raised it to distinction, * The old quarrel about the distribution of lands was revived, the people insisting that every citizen should have an equal share. The senate met frequently to disconcert the proposal; and at last Appius Claudius moved, that some of the college of the tribunes of the people should be gained, as the only remedy against the tyranny of that body which was accordingly put in execution. The commons, thus disappointed, chose military tribunes, instead of consuls, and sometimes had them all plebeians. Liv. 1. iv. c. 48. † Furius was the family name. Camillus, (as has been already ob when he served under Posthumius Tabertus in the great battle with the Equi and Volsci.* In that action, spurring his horse before the ranks, he received a wound in the thigh, when instead of retiring, he plucked the javelin out of the wound, engaged with the bravest of the enemy, and put them to flight. For this, among other honours, he was appointed censor, an office at that time of great dignity. There is upon record a very laudable act of his, that took place during his office. As the wars had made many widows, he obliged such of the men as lived 'single, partly by persuasion, and partly by threatening them with fines, to marry those widows. Another act of his, which indeed was absolutely necessary, was, the causing orphans, who before were exempt from taxes, to contribute to the supplies for these were very large by reason of the continual wars. What was then most urgent was the siege of Veii, whose inhabitants some call Venetani. This city was the barrier of Tuscany, and in the quantity of her arms and number of her military, not inferior to Rome. Proud of her wealth, her elegance and luxury, she had maintained with the Romans many long and gallant disputes for glory and for power. But humbled by many signal defeats, the Veientes had then bid adieu to that ambition; they satisfied themselves with building strong and high walls, and filling the city with provisions, arms, and all kinds of warlike stores; and so they waited for the enemy without fear. The siege was served) was an appellation of children of quality who ministered in the temple of some god. Our Camillus was the first who retained it as a surname. * This was in the year of Rome 324, when Camillus might be about fourteen or fifteen years of age, (for in the year of Rome 389 he was near fourscore) though the Roman youth did not use to bear arms sooner than seventeen. And though Plutarch says that his gallant behaviour at that time procured him the censorship, yet that was an office which the Romans never conferred upon a young person; and in fact, Camillus was not censor till the year of Rome $53. The authority of the censors, in the time of the republic, was very extensive. They had power to expel senators the house, to degrade the knights, and to disable the commons from giving their votes in the assemblies of the people. But the emperors took the office upon themselves; and, as many of them abused it, it lost its honour, and sometimes the very title was laid aside. As to what Plutarch says, that Camillus, when censor, obliged many of the bachelors to marry the widows of those who had fallen in the wars; that was in pursuance of one of the powers of his office........Gælibes esse prohibenta. |