Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/248

 198 Outlines of European History Second Pelo- ponnesian War after the death of Pericles Alcibiades Unstable leadership of the Assembly Incident of Mitylene Cleon the tanner as Statesmen, nor the qualities of leadership to win the confi- dence and respect of the people. Moreover these new leaders were not soldiers, and could not command the fleet or the army as Pericles had done. The only notable exception was Alcibiades, a brilliant young man, a relative of Pericles and brought up in his house. The two sons of Pericles had died of the plague, and Alcibiades, if he had enjoyed the guidance of his foster father a few years longer, might have become the savior of Athens and of Greece. As it happened, however, this young leader was more largely responsible than any one else for the destruction of the Athenian Empire and the downfall of Greece. Unsteadied by a statesman whose continucus policy formed a firm and guiding influence, the management of Athenian affairs fell into confusion, rarely interrupted by any display of firmness and wisdom ; the leaders drifted from one policy to another, and usually from bad to worse. It seemed impossible to regain stable leadership. The youthful Aristophanes depicted the rudderless condition of the ship of State in one clever comedy after another, in which he ridiculed in irresistible satire the pretense to states- manship of such " men of the people " as Cleon the tanner. A typical example of the ill-considered actions of the Assembly was their treatment of the revolting citizens of Mitylene. When the men of Mitylene were finally subdued, the Assembly on the Pnyx (Fig. 89) voted that they should all be put to death, and a ship departed with these orders. It was with great difficulty that a more moderate group in the Assembly secured a rehearing of the question and succeeded in inducing the people to modify their barbarous action to the condemnation and execution of the ringleaders only. A second ship then overtook the first barely in time to save from death the entire body of the revolting citizens of Mitylene. In spite of such revolts Athenian naval supremacy continued ; but as the war dragged on, the payment of army and fleet re- duced Athenian funds to a very low state. Cleon the tanner