Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/299

Rh of Thucydides, the warlike races turned by preference to the fertile plains of Argos, Thebes, and Thessaly, and afforded an opportunity for a more secure and peaceable development of social life and industry in Attica. Yet Attica was not deficient in natural beauties. It had (as Sophocles says in the splendid chorus in the Œdipus at Colonus) "green valleys, in which the clear-voiced nightingale poured forth her sweet laments, under the shade of the dark ivy, and the sacred foliage of Bacchus, covering abundant fruit, impenetrable to the sun, and unshaken by the blasts of all storms ." Above all, the clear air, refreshed and purified by constant breezes, is celebrated as one of the chief advantages of the climate of Attica, and is described by Euripides as lending a charm to the productions of the Athenian intellect. "Descendants of Erechtheus (the poet says to the Athenians), happy from ancient times, favourite children of the blessed gods, you pluck from your sacred unconquered country renowned wisdom, as a fruit of the soil, and constantly walk, with graceful step, through the glittering air of your heaven, where the nine sacred Muses of Pieria are said to have once brought up the fair-haired Harmony as their common child. It is also said that the goddess Cypris draws water from the beautifully flowing Cephisus, and breathes over the land mild and refreshing airs; and that, twining her hair with fragrant roses, she sends the gods of love as companions of wisdom, and supporters of virtue."

§ 3. The political circumstances of Attica contributed, in a remarkable manner, to produce the same effects as its physical condition. When the Ionians settled on the coast of Asia Minor, they soon discovered their superiority in energy and military skill to the native Lydian, Carian, and other tribes. Having obtained possession of the entire coast, they entered into a friendly relation with these tribes, which, owing to the early connexion of Lydia with Babylonia and Nineveh, brought them many luxuries and pleasures from the interior of Asia. The result was, that when the Lydian monarchy was strengthened under the Mermnadæ, and began to aim at foreign conquest, the Ionians were so enfeebled and corrupted, and were so deficient in political unity, that they fell an easy prey to the neighbouring kingdom; and passed, together with the other subjects of Crœsus, under the power of the Persians. The Ionic inhabitants of Attica, on the other hand, encompassed, and often pressed by the manly tribes of Greece, the Æolians, Bœotians, and Dorians, were forced to keep the sword constantly in their hands, and were placed in circumstances which required much courage and energy, in addition to the openness and excitability of the Ionic character. Athens, indeed, did not immediately attain to the proud security which the Spartans derived from their possession of half Peloponnesus, and their undisputed mastery