Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/65

 ATHENS AND SPARTA 53 of Sparta was that of a military oligarchy, while its army was reputed to be much stronger than that of any other Greek state. Athens on the other hand was the typical democracy, a state governed by the popular will. There was a general assembly which every free citizen was entitled to attend, and Democratic the principal officers of the state were appointed Athens, annually by a popular vote. We can more easily realise the difference between a Greek state and any modern state, when we are reminded first that every free citizen of Athens was a voter, and secondly that all the voters could be assembled in a space where they were at any rate supposed to be able to hear the words of a single orator. But while the Spartans proved their splendid valour and discipline as soldiers by such feats as the great fight at Thermopylae, the victory of the Athenians at Marathon had shown the mettle of their soldiers ; and at Salamis they had proved their supremacy at sea over all rivals. Athens was primarily a sea-power as Sparta was primarily a land-power ; and after the rout of the Persians, it was as natural that the maritime cities should look to Athens as their chief, as that the inland states should look to Sparta Points of for leadership. Another point in their rivalry Contrast. which requires to be noticed is this : in most of the Greek states, whether they happened to be under an oligarchical or a democratic form of government, there existed a faction which was eager to replace the existing form of government by the other. The democratic party was always inclined to seek alliance with democratic Athens, and the oligarchical party to seek alliance with the oligarchy of Sparta. One more point of contrast between Athens and Sparta is to be noted. Sparta, as we saw, subordinated every other aim to the perfecting of her military organisation. The Athenians on the contrary strove with equal eagerness to develop every kind of activity, to produce and to enjoy every kind of beauty, not suffering the pursuit of one aim to cramp or hinder them in the pursuit of the rest. Hence, while Sparta gave the world no poet, no philosopher, no writer and no artist, Athens produced within the short term of one hundred and fifty years a literature and an art unmatched in the world's history.