Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/205

Rh entirely from the convivial meetings of his ac- quaintance, once only breaking through this rule to lionour the marriage of his nephew Euryp- tolemus, and admitting to his society and con- fidence only a few intimate friends. He took care, however, not to make himself too cheap, re- serving himself for great occasions, and putting forward many of his propositions through his par- tisans. Among the foremost and most able of these was Plphialtes. [Ephialtes.]

The fortune of Pericles, which, that his in- tegrity might be kept free even from suspicion, was husbanded with the strictest economy under the careful administration of his steward Euan- gelus, insomuch as even to excite the discontent of the women of his household, was not sufficient to enable Pericles out of his private resources to vie with the profuse liberality of Cimon. Accordingly, to ingratiate himself with the people, he followed the suggestion of his friend Demonides, to make the public treasury available for similar objects, and proposed a series of measures having for their object to provide the poorer citizens not only with amusement, but with the means of subsistence. To enable them to enjoy the theatrical amuse- ments, he got a law passed that they should receive from the public treasury the price of their admittance, amounting to two oboluses apiece. The measure was unwise as a precedent, and being at a later period carried to a much greater extent in connection with various other festivals led to the establishment of the Theoric fund. {Did. of ATzirquilies, art. Theorica.) Another measure, in itself unobjectionable and equitable, was one which ordained that the citizens who served in the courts of the Heliaea should be paid for their attendance {jxiaQos SiKaaTinds — rh riKiacTTiKov). It was of course not in the power of Pericles to foresee the mischievous increase of litigation which charac- terised Athens at a later time, or to anticipate the propositions of later demagogues by whom the pay was tripled, and the principle of payment ex- tended to attendance at the public assembly : a measure which has been erroneously attributed to Pericles himself. (Bockh, Public Econ. of Athens^ ii. § 14.) According to Ulpian (ad Demosth. irepl crvvTCL^. p. 50, a.) the practice of paying the citi- zens who served as soldiers was first introduced by Pericles. To affirm that in proposing these mea- sures Pericles did violence to his better judgment in order to secure popularity, would be to do him a great injustice. The whole course of his ad- ministration, at a time when he had no rival to dispute his pre-eminence, shows that these mea- sures were the results of a settled principle of policy, that the people had a right to all the ad- vantages and enjoyments that could be procured for them by the proper expenditure of the treasures of which they were masters. That in proposing them he was not insensible to the popularity which would accrue to their author, may be ad- mitted without fixing any very deep stain upon his character. The lessons of other periods of history will show that the practice of wholesale largess, of which Cimon was beginning to set the example, is attended with influences even more corrupting and dangerous. If Pericles thought so, his measures, though perverted to mischief through conseqiuMices beyond his foresight or con- trol, must be admitted to have been wise and statesmanlike, and not the less so because they were dexterously timed for the advancement of his personal influence.

The first occasion on which we find the two rival parties assuming anything like a hostile at- titude towards each other, was when Cimon, on his return from Thasos, was brought to trial [Cimon, Vol. I. p. 750]. Pericles was one of those appointed to conduct the impeachment. But whether the prosecution was not according to his wishes, or he had yielded to the intercession of Elpinice, he only rose once, for form's sake, and put forth none of his eloquence. The result, ac- cording to Plutarch, was, that Cimon was acquitted. It was shortly after this, that Pericles, secure in the popularity which he had acquired, assailed the aristocracy in its strong-hold, the Areiopagus. Here, again, the prominent part in the proceed- ings was taken by Ephialtes, who in the assembly moved the psephisma by which the Areiopagus was deprived of those functions which rendered it formidable as an antagonist to the democra- tical party. The opposition which Cimon and his party might have offered was crippled by the events connected with the siege of Ithome ; and in B.C. 461 the measure was passed. That Pericles was influenced by jealousy because, owing to his not having been archon, he had no seat in the council, or that Ephialtes seconded his views out of revenge for an offence that had been given him in the council, are notions which, though indeed they have no claims to attention, have been satis- factorily refuted (comp. Miiller, Eumenides, 2d Dissert. I. A.) Respecting the nature of the change eflfected in the jurisdiction of the Areio- pagus, the reader is referred to the Dictionary of Antiquities^ art. Areiopagus. This success was soon followed by the ostracism of Cimon, who was charged with Laconism.

In B. c. 457 the unfortunate battle of Tanagra took place. The request made by Cimon to be allowed to take part in the engagement was re- jected through the influence of the friends of Pericles ; and Cimon having left his panoply for his friends to fight round, Pericles, as if in emula- tion of them, performed prodigies of valour. We do not learn distinctly what part he took in the movements which ensued. The expedition to Egypt he disapproved of ; and through his whole career he showed himself averse to those ambitious schemes of foreign conquest which the Athenians were fond of cherishing ; and at a later period effectually withstood the dreams of conquest in Sicily, Etruria, and Carthage, which, in con- sequence of the progress of Greek settlements in the West, some of the more enterprising Athenians had begun to cherish. In b. c. 454, after the failure of the expedition to Thessaly, Pericles led an ar- mament which embarked at Pegae, and invaded the territory of Sicyon, routing those of the Si- cyonians who opposed him. Then, taking with him some Achaean troops, he proceeded to Acar- nania, and besieged Oeniadae, though without suc- cess (Thucyd. i. 1 11 ). It was probably after these events (Thirlwall, Hist, of Greece^ vol. iii. p. 34), that the recal of Cimon took place. If there was some want of generosity in his ostracism, Pericles at least atoned for it by himself proposing the decree for his recal. The story of the private compact entered into between Pericles and Cimon through the intervention of Elpinice, that Cimon should have the command abroad, while Pericles