Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/24

 2 HISTORY OF GREECE. on the express ground, that it was exactly calculated to meet the Persian king's purposes and wishes, as we learn even from the philo-Laconian Xenophon. 1 While Sparta and Persia were both great gainers, no other Grecian state gained anything, as the con- vention was originally framed. But after the first rejection, An- talkidas saw the necessity of conciliating Athens by the addition of a special article providing that Lemnos, Imbros, and Skyros should be restored to her. 2 This addition seems to have been first made in the abortive negotiations which form the subjejt of the discourse already mentioned, pronounced by Andokides. It was continued afterwards and inserted in the final decree which Antal- kidas and Tiribazus brought down in the king's name from Susa ; and it doubtless somewhat contributed to facilitate the adherence of Athens, though the united forces of Sparta and Persia had be- come so overwhelming, that she could hardly have had the means of standing out, even if the supplementary article had been omit- ted. Nevertheless, this condition undoubtedly did secure to Athens a certain share in the gain, conjointly with the far larger shares both of Sparta and Persia. It is, however, not less true, that Athens, as well as Thebes, 3 assented to the peace only under fear and compulsion. As to the other states of Greece, they were in- terested merely in the melancholy capacity of partners in the general loss and degradation. That degradation stood evidently marked in the form, origin, and transmission, of the convention, even apart from its substance. It was a fiat issued from the court of Susa ; as such it was osten- tatiously proclaimed and " sent down " from thence to Greece. Its authority was derived from the king's seal, and its sanction from his concluding threat, that he would make war against all recusants. It was brought down by the satrap Tiribazus (along 1 Xen. Hellen. iv, 8, 14. 2 The restoration of these three islands forms the basis of historical truth in the assertion of Isokrates, that the Lacedaemonians were so subdued by the defeat of Knidus, as to come and tender maritime empire to Athens (&$etv T7/v up%r/v duffovraf) Orat. vii, (Areopagit.) s. 74; Or. ix, (Evagor.; B. 83. But the assertion is true respecting a later time ; for the Lacedaemo- nians really did make this proposition to Athens after they had been enfee- bled and humiliated by the battle of Lruktra; but not before (Xenoph, Hellen. vii, 1,3). ' Diodor. xiv 111.