Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/394

 870 HISTORY OF GREECE. came, vfhen these reforms were carried, and how fierce was the collision of political parties at this moment, we may judge by the result. The enemies of Ephialtes caused him to be privately assassinated, by the hand of a Boeotian of Tanagra, named Aris- todikus. Such a crime — rare in the political annals of Athens, for we come to no known instance of it afterwards, until the oli- garchy of the Four Hundred, in 411 B.C. — marks at once the gravity of the change now introduced, the fierceness of the oppo- sition ofiered, and the unscrupulous character of the conservative party : Kimon was in exile, and had no share in the deed. Doubtless the assassination of Ephialtes produced an effect un- favorable in every way to the party who procured it : the popu- lar party, in their resentment, must have become still more attached to the judicial reforms just assured to them, while the hands of Perikles, the superior leader, left behind and now acting singly, must have been materially strengthened. It is from this point that the administration of that great man may be said to date : he was now the leading adviser, we might almost say prime minister, of the Athenian people. His first years were marked by a series of brilliant successes, already mentioned, the acquisition of Megara as an ally, and the victori- ous war against Corinth and ^gina. But when he proposed the great and valuable improvement of the Long "Walls, thus making one city of Athens and Peirseus, the same oligarchical party which had opposed his judicial changes and assassinated Ephial- tes again stood forward in vehement resistance. Finding direct opposition unavailing, they did not scruple to enter into treason- able correspondence with Sparta, invoking the aid of a foreign force for the overthrow of the democracy ; so odious had it be- come in their eyes since the recent innovations. How serious was the hazard incurred by Athens, near the time of the battle of Tanagra, has been already recounted ; together with the rapid and unexpected reconciliation of parties after that battle, princi- pally owing to the generous patriotism of Kamon and his imme- The enemies of Perikles circulated a report, mentioned by Idcmeneus, that it was he who had procui-ed the assassination of Ephialtes, from jeal- ousy of the superiority of the latter (Plutarch, Perikles, c. 10). We may infer from this report how great the eminence of Ephialtes was.