Affairs of the GRECIAN Settlements in SICILY and ITALY, from the Restoration of the younger DIONYSIUS to the Death of TIMOLEON

SECTION I

Expedition of the Carthaginians into Sicily under Hanno. Grecian Cities in Sicily under the Government of single Chiefs. Application for Interference of Corinth in the Affairs of Sicily. Circumstances of Corinth. Timoleon appointed to manage the, Corinthian Interest in Sicily

Fortunately for the Grecian interest in Sicily, the Carthaginian government, whether prevented by domestic troubles, or ingaged by greater views elsewhere, made no use of the opportunities which the weakness necessarily incident to an administration of a man of the character of the younger Dionysius, and the distractions which followed the expedition of Dion, for prosecuting by arms any views of ambition there. Its policy, meanwhile, or at least the conduct of its officers, was liberal and able. The attachment even of the Grecian towns in the western parts was conciliated; and it appears, from Diodorus, that those towns shared little in the ruin, which Plutarch has represented as so universally sweeping over the iland. Since the decay of the great naval force which the first Dionysius raised, the Carthaginians had held complete command of the sea; and this, in the divided state of the Greeks, produced by Dion's expedition, would be perhaps more advantageous to a commercial people than any extension of territorial command.

Affairs of the GRECIAN Settlements in SICILY and ITALY; from the ATHENIAN Invasion, to the Settlement of the SYRACUSAN Government under DIONYSIUS and HIPPARINUS

SECTION I

Authorities for the Sequel of Grecian History. Sicilian Affairs following the Athenian Invasion. Administration and Legislation of Diocles at Syracuse

Whoever may ingage in the investigation of Grecian history among the original authors, whether writing for others, or only reading for himself, cannot but feel, at the period where we are now arrived, the loss of regular guidance from those cotemporary with the events, citizens of the republics they describe, conversant with the politics and warfare of the time, eyewitnesses, or generally acquainted with eyewitnesses of the facts they relate. After the death of Epameinondas, with which Xenophon's narrative ends, the only account of Grecian affairs, aiming at connection, is that of the Sicilian Diodorus, who lived above three hundred years after, in the time of Augustus Cæsar. In this long interval, the establishment, first of the Macedonian, and afterward of the Roman empire, had so altered and overwhelmed the former politics of the civilized world, that they were no more to be gathered but from books, in the age of Diodorus, than at this day.

Many valuable works of elder writers were indeed extant, of which a few sentences only, preserved in quotations, are now known to exist. Very interesting portions of Sicilian history were published by men of eminent abilities, whose means of information were not inferior to those of Xenophon and Thucydides, but whose interests and passions, according to remaining report, more tinged their narratives.

Affairs of GREECE, from the Acquisition of the Situation of First Minister of ATHENS by DEMOSTHENES, to the Election of the King of MACEDONIA to the Office of General of the AMPHICTYONIC Confederacy

SECTION I

Character of the Office of First Minister of Athens. Ability and Diligence of Demosthenes. Negotiation with Persia. New Coälition with Phocian's Party. Embassy of Demosthenes to the Hellespontine Cities

The situation of first minister, or vicegerent of the soverein assembly, for the direction of the executive government, was less connected with a particular office, in Athens, than in any other Grecian commonwealth, whose constitution has been unfolded to us. In Lacedæmon, the ephor of the year was the principal minister; at Thebes, the poletnatc or the Bœotarc. Under Solon's constitution, the archon of the year seems to have been the proper first minister of Athens. But when the commonwealth became much implicated in wars, it was found convenient that the strategus, the first general, should have a discretionary power to call extraordinary assemblies of the people, which was analogous to demanding an audience of the soverein. The general commonly acquired his situation by his abilities; the archon, at least in the constitution of Cleisthenes, if the business was legally conducted, always by lot; the communications of the general to the soverein assembly were often most highly interesting; those of the archon seldom. Men of the extraordinary characters then of Themistocles, Aristeides, Cimon, and Pericles, holding successively the office of general, through most critical periods of many years, gave it an importance far above that of any other.

Affairs of ATHENS, from the general Peace following the Battle of MANTINEIA, and of MACEDONIA, from the Establishment of PHILIP, Son of AMYNTAS, to the Renewal of War between MACEDONIA and ATHENS

SECTION I

Revived political Eminence of Athens. Increasing Defect in the restored Constitution. Uneasy Situation of eminent Men. Opportunity for political Adventurers. Unsteddiness of Government. Decay of Patriotism. Subserviency of Administration to popular Passion. Decay of military Virtue. Tyranny of popular Sovereinty over subject States

When the Macedonian kingdom, happily rescued from civil strife and forein war, was placed in circumstances to grow in prosperity and power, the Grecian republics remained in that state of discord and confusion, of mutual animosity or mutual mistrust, of separate weakness and incapacity for union, which we have seen, in the description of Xenophon, following the death of Epameinondas, and which the orators sufficiently assure us did not cease. Demosthenes describes the state of things, about the time of Philip's accession, in terms very remarkably agreeing with Xenophon's picture: ‘All Pelo- ‘ponnesus,’ he says, ‘was divided. Those who hated the Lacedæmo- ‘nians were not powerful enough to destroy them, nor were those who ‘had formerly ruled, under Lacedæmonian patronage, able to hold their ‘command in their several cities. Peloponnesus, and, in short, all ‘Greece, was in a state of undecisive contention and trouble.’

Affairs of GREECE, during the Third Period of the Sacred War, when ATHENS and MACEDONIA became principal Parties

SECTION I

Chronology of the Times. Naval Successes of Macedonia against Athens; Opening for Negotiation alarming to the War-party at Athens; Philip's Popularity alarming: Measures of the Warparty: Olynthus gained from the Macedonian to the Athenian Alliance; Embassy of Æschines to Peloponnesus; Philippics of Demosthenes

The imperfection of anticnt chronology makes continual difficulty for the investigator of antient history. For supplying the deficiencies, and correcting the errors, of Diodorus and the Arundel Marbles, which alone offer any extent of chronological clue, it behoves him to seek assistance wherever it may be found; and, for the times with which we are now ingaged, a very valuable subsidiary remains, in the remarks of Dionysius of Halicarnassus upon the orations of Demosthenes. It is therefore very satisfactory to find these confirming Diodorus, so far as to show that his chronology does not, probably, err, for these times, more than for those for which we have opportunity to compare it with the higher authorities of Thucydides and Xenophon. The beginning of the Olympian year, about midsummer, long after the beginning of the common season for the action of Grecian armies, would be likely often to make confusion of two military seasons, for writers who did not, with the accuracy of Thucydides, divide the year into summer and winter, the season of military action, and the season of military rest; especially for compilers like Diodorus, unversed in either political or military business, and writing not till some centuries after the times in question.