Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/265

 JLEANDRIUS DESPOT OP SAMOS. 247 priesth<od of Zeus Eleutherius for myself and my descendants forever. To him I have just set apart a sacred precinct, as the God of that freedom which I now hand over to you." This reasonable and generous proposition fully justifies the epi Ihet of Herodotus. But very differently was it received by the Samian hearers. One of the chief men among them, Telesar- chus, exclaimed, with the applause of the rest, "You rule us, low-born and scoundrel as you are ! you are not worthy to rule: don't think of that, but give us some account of the money which you have been handling." 1 Such an unexpected reply caused a total revolution in the mind of Mseandrius. It left him no choice but to maintain dominion at all hazards, which he accordingly resolved to do. Retiring into the acropolis, under pretence of preparing his money-accounts for examination, he sent for Telesarchus and his chief political enemies, one by one, intimating that they were open to inspec- tion. As fast as they arrived they were put in chains, while Maeandrius remained in the acropolis, with his soldiers and his treasures, as the avowed successor of Polykrates. And thus the Samians, after a short hour of insane boastfulness, found them selves again enslaved. "It seemed (says Herodotus) that they were not willing to be free." 2 We cannot but contrast their conduct on this occasion with that of the Athenians about twelve years afterwards, on the ex- pulsion of Hippias, which has been recounted in a previous chapter. The position of the Samians was far the more favorable of the two, for the quiet and successful working of a free govern- ment ; for they had the advantage of a voluntary as well as a sincere resignation from the actual despot. Yet the thirst for reactionary investigation prevented them even from taking a reasonable estimate of their own power of enforcing it : they passed at once from extreme subjection to overbearing and ruin- ous rashness. Whereas the Athenians, under circumstances far i838 promising, avoided the fatal mistake of sacrificing the prc* 1 Herodot. iii, 142. 'AW oiid' u^iof el au y' r,utuv up%eiv, yeyovtl^ it taicbf, KOI iuv oAfi^pof elAAu fj.aW.ov ouf Aoyov 6uoei TUV 9 Herodot. iii, 143. ov yap fi), uf oinaai, tpovhcaro elvai efav&epol.