Page:History of Greece Vol XI.djvu/215

 TIMOLEON AS ARBITRATOR. 18<J and the adjustment of old debts, presented but too many chances of angry dispute ; that there were, in fact, a thousand novelties in the situation, which could not be determined either by prece- dent, or by any peremptory rule, but must be left to the equity of a sepreme arbitrator. Here then the advantages were unspeaka* ble of having a man like Timoleon to appeal to ; a man not only really without sinister bias, but recognized by every one as be- ing so ; a man whom every one loved, trusted, and was grieved to offend ; a man who sought not to impose his own will upon free communities, but addressed them as freemen, building only upon their reason and sentiments, and carrying out in all his recom- mendations of detail those instincts of free speech, universal vote, and equal laws, which formed the germ of political obliga- tion in the minds of Greeks generally. It would have been gratifying to know how Timoleon settled the many new and diffi cult questions which must have been submitted to him as referee. There is no situation in human society so valuable to study, as that in which routine is of necessity broken through, and the construc- tive faculties called into active exertion. Nor was there ever per- haps throughout Grecian history, a simultaneous colonization, and simultaneous recasting of political institutions, more extensive than that which now took place in Sicily. Unfortunately we are permitted to know only the general fact, without either the charm or the instruction which would have been presented by the details. Timoleon was, in Sicily, that which Epaminondas had been at the foundation of Messene and Megalopolis, though with far greater power : and we have to deplore the like ignorance respecting the detail proceedings of both these great men. But though the sphere of Timoleon's activity was coextensive with Sicily, his residence, his citizenship, and his peculiar interests and duties were at Syracuse. That city, like most of the other Sicilian towns, had been born anew, with a numerous body of set- tlers and altered political institutions. I have already mentioned that Kephalus and others, invited from Corinth by express vote of the Syracusans, had reestablished the democratical institution of Dioklc,s, with suitable modifications. The new era of liberty was marked by the establishment of a new sacred office, that of Amphipolus or Attendant Priest of Zeus Olympius; an office changed annually, appointed by lot (doubtless under some condi-