Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/74

 42- mSTOKY OF GREECE. ihe city.^ Diodorus tells us that this sentence was passed by the c^eneral synod of Greeks. But we are not called upon to believe that this synod, subservient though it was sure to be when called upon to deliberate under the armed force of Alexander, could be brought to sanction such a ruin upon one of the first and most ancient Hellenic cities. For we learn from Arrian that the question was discussed and settled only by the Grecian auxil- iaries who had taken part with Alexander ;^ and that the sen- tence therefore represents the bitter antipathies of the Orchome- nians, Platajans, etc. Without doubt, these cities had sustained harsh and cruel treatment from Thebes. In so far as they were concerned, the retribution upon the Thebans was merited. Those persons, however, who (as Arrian tells us) pronounced the catastrophe to be a divine judgment upon Thebes for having joined Xerxes against Greece^ a century and a half before, — must have forgotten that not only the Orchomenians, but even Alexander of Macedon, the namesake and predecessor of the destroying conqueror, had served in the army of Xerxes along with the Thebans. Arrian vainly endeavors to transfer from Alexander to the minor Boeotian towns the odiom of this cruel destruction — unparalleled in Grecian history (as he himself says), when we look to the magnitude of the city ; yet surpassed in the aggregate by the subversion, under the arms of Philip, of no less than thirty-two free Chalkidic cities, thirteen years before. The known antipathy of these Boeotians was invoked by Alexander to color an infliction which satisfied at once his sentiment, by destroying an enemy who defied him — and his policy, by serv- ing as a terrific example to keep down other Greeks.^ But ' Diodor. xvii. 14; Justin, xi. 4: " prciiuin iioii ix eintnlium commodo, sed ex inimicoium odio extenditur." i^T£TpE^pev 'AAe^avdpo^ tu Kara ruf Qiij3ag diadelnai, tdo^e, etc. ^ Arrian, i. 9, 10. He informs us (i. 9, 12) that there were many previ- ous portents which foreshadowed this ruin: Diodorus (xAii. 10) on the contrary, enumerates many previous signs, all tending to cncournge the Thebans. •Xov TvpoadoK/jcavTO^ airoi' tovc ''E?i?.7]va( irci'&et 7r7;/l(«oi'r^i ln'n'kayiVTax
 * Arrian, i. 9, 13. Tolr 6e fXETaaxovai tov ip-jov ^vf//iaxnt^^ olc i3^ ical
 * Phitarch, Alex. 11. ^ /jev t^okiq ;/Ao Ka Siap-aa^eZca KareaKiKpT}, to ftcv