Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/236

 214 HISTORY OF GREECE. walls, seeing Meidias along with him, allowed him to approacl without discharging a single missile. " Now, Meidias (said he), order the gates to be opened, and show me the way in, to the tem- ple of Athene, in order that I may there offer sacrifice." Again Meidias was forced, from fear of being at once seized as a prisoner, to give the order ; and the Lacedaemonian forces found themselves in possession of the town. Derkyllidas, distributing his troops around the walls, in order to make sure of his conquest, ascended to the acropolis to offer his intended sacrifice ; after which he pro- ceeded to dictate the fate of Meidias, whom he divested of his character of prince and of his military force, incorporating the latter in the Lacedaemonian army. He then called upon Meidias to specify all his paternal property, and restored to him the whole of what he claimed as such, though the bystanders protested against the statement given in as a flagrant exaggeration. But he laid hands on all the property, and all the treasures of Mania, and caused her house, which Meidias had taken for himself, to be put under seal, as lawful prey ; since Mania had belonged to Pharnabazus, 1 against whom the Lacedaemonians were making war. On coming out after examining and verifying the contents of the house, he said to his oflicers, " Now, my friends, we have here already worked out pay for the whole army, eight thousand men, for nearly a year. Whatever we acquire besides, shall come to you also." He well knew the favorable effect which this intel- ligence would produce upon the temper, as well as upon the disci- 1 Xen. Hellen. iii, 1, 26. EtTre pot, 107, Mavia 6s rivos r}v ; Ol c5e elxov, OTI $apva/3abv. OVKOVV Kal TO, eneivqc, tyij, $apva3uov ; Mu/Uara, tyaaav. 'Ilperep' uv ELIJ, E$TJ, ETTEI Kparovjiev Trote/noe yap 7jfj.lv 4>apvu/3a- Two points arc remarkable here. 1. The manner in which Mania, the administratrix of a large district, with a prodigious treasure and a largo army in pay, is treated as belonging to Pharnabazus as the servant or slave of Pharnabazus. 2. The distinction here taken between public pro perty and private property, in reference to the laws of war and the rights of the conqueror. Derkyllidas lays claim to that which had belonged to Mania (or to Pharnabazus) ; but not to that which haa belonged to Meidias. According to the modern rules of international law, this distinction is one allowed and respected, everywhere except at sea. But in the ancient world, it by no means stood out so clearly or prominently ; and the observ- ance of it here deserves notice.