Page:History of Greece Vol VI.djvu/305

 FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR -TROUBLES IS KORKYRA. 283 were restored from Corinth, there was no pretence for affirming that it had suffered, or was suffering, any loss, hardship, or dis- grace, from its alliance with Athens. These oligarchical insur- gents find the island in a state of security and tranquillity, since the war imposed upon it little necessity for effort, they plunge it into a sea of blood, with enormities as well as suffering on both sides, which end at length in their own complete ex- termination. Our compassion for their final misery must not hinder us from appreciating the behavior whereby it was earned. In the course of a few years from this time, we shall have occasion to recount two political movements in Athens, similar in principle and general result to this Korkyra^an revolution ; ex- hibiting oligarchical conspirators against an existing and conser- vative democracy, with this conspiracy at first successful, but afterwards put down, and the Demos again restored. The con- trast between Athens and Korkyra, under such circumstances, will be found highly instructive, especially in regard to the Demos, both in the hours of defeat and in those of victory. It will then be seen how much the habit of active participation in political and judicial affairs, of open, conflicting discussion, discharging the malignant passions by way of speech, and fol- lowed by appeal to the vote, of having constantly present, to the mind of every citizen, in his character of dikast or ekkle- siast, the conditions of a pacific society, and the paramount authority of a constitutional majority, how much all these circumstances, brought home as they were at Athens more than in any other democracy to the feelings of individuals, contributed to soften the instincts of intestine violence and revenge, even under very great provocation. But the case of Korkyra, as well as that of Athens, different in so many respects, conspire to illustrate another truth, of much importance in Grecian history. Both of them show how false and impudent were the pretensions set up by the rich and great men of the various Grecian cities, to superior morality, superior intelligence, and greater fitness for using honorably and benefi- cially the powers of government, as compared with the mass of the citizens. Though the Grecian oligarchies, exercising power- ful sway over fashion, and more especially over the meaning o f