Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/369

351 CHARACTER OF K1K1A.S 351 comeo to recount the melancholy end of the two commanders, has no words to spare for Demosthenes, far the abler officer of the two, who perished by no fault of his own, but reserves his flowers to strew on the grave of Nikias, the author of the whole calamity " What a pity ! Such a respectable and religious man ! " Thucydides is here the more instructive, because he exactly represents the sentiment of the general Athenian public towards Nikias during his lifetime. They could not bear to condemn, to mistrust, to dismiss, or to do without, so respectable and religious a citizen. The private qualities of Nikias were not only held to entitle him to the most indulgent construction of all his public short-comings, but also insured to him credit for political and military competence altogether disproportionate to his deserts. ^Yhen we find Thucydides, after narrating so much improvidence and mismanagement on the grand scale, still keepicj; attention fixed on the private morality and decorum of Nikias, as if it con- stituted the main feature of his character, we can understand how the Athenian people originally came both to over-estimate this unfortunate leader, and continued over-estimating him with tena- cious fidelity even after glaring proof of his incapacity. Never in the political history of Athens did' the people make so fatal a mistake in placing their confidence. In reviewing the causes of popular misjudgment, historians are apt to enlarge prominently^if not exclusively, on demagogues and demagogic influences. Mankind being usually considered in the light of governable material, or as instruments for exalting, arm- ing, and decorating their rulers, whatever renders them more difficult to handle in this capacity, ranks first in the category of vices. Nor can it be denied that this was a real and serious cause : clever criminative speakers often passed themselves off for something above their real worth ; though useful and indis- pensable as a protection against worse, they sometimes deluded the people into measures impolitic or unjust. But, even if we grant, to the cause of misjudgment here indicated, a greater practical efficiency than history will fairly sanction, still, it is only one among others more mischievous. Never did any man a; Athens, by mere force of demagogic qualities, acquire a measure of esteem at once so exaggerated and so durable, com- bined with sc much power of injuring his fellow-citizen*, as the