Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/678

 666 CLEOMBKOTUS I. CLEON posed by his daughter Cleobulina, who also wrote enigmas in hexameters, and was re- nowned, for her accomplishments and virtues. Several of his sayings are preserved, as : " Do good to a friend to make him a better friend, and to an enemy to make him a friend ;" " Learn to bear nobly the changes of fortune." CLEOMBROTIS I., a king of Sparta of the Agid line, son of Pausanias, succeeded his brother Agesipolis I., 380 B. C. In 378 he was sent into Boeotia at the head of an army, but as he returned without effecting anything, he was not again intrusted with command till 376, when the illness of his colleague Agesilaus compelled the ephors to appoint him once more general-in-chief, but he again returned without result. In 374 he was sent into Pho- cis with an army to aid the Phocians in repel- ling the Thebans from their territory, which he effected without any contest. He remained in Phocis till 371, when he received orders to enter Boeotia and commence offensive opera- tions against the Thebans. Having captured Creusis and 12 triremes in its harbor, he ad- vanced to Leuctra, where he rashly gave bat- tle to Epaminondas on ill-chosen ground and was totally defeated. He displayed heroic bravery, and was fatally wounded. CLEOMEDES, a Greek astronomer, who flour- ished probably in the 1st century, was the author of a treatise on the " Circular Theory of the Heavenly Bodies," which is still extant. It consists of two books, the first of which treats of the universe in general, of the zones, of the motions of the stars and planets, of day and night, and of the magnitude and figure of the earth. The most interesting dissertations in the second book are on the magnitude of the sun and moon, and on the illumination, phases, and eclipses of the moon. The latest and best editions of this work are by Backe (Leyden, 1820), with a Latin translation and comments by Balfour ; and by C. C. T. Schmidt (Leipsic, 1832). CLEOMENES, the name of three kings of Sparta, of the Agid line. I. Son of Anaxan- drides, reigned from about 520 till 491 B. C. Before his accession he was regarded as al- most insane; and subsequently he displayed great rashness and cruelty, especially in the burning of Argive captives after the great bat- tle in which 6,000 of his enemies fell. He commanded the Spartans who were sent, in obedience to the repeated oracles of Delphi, to deliver Athens from the tyranny of Hip- pias (510). He then assisted the party of Isagoras against the Alcmseonidae headed by Clisthenes ; but Isagoras, after having ban- ished 700 families from Athens, still more be- trayed his ambitious schemes by attempted changes in the senate, and roused the people against himself; the exiles were recalled, and Cleomenes was besieged in the acropolis, and compelled to capitulate. Many years after, accused by his colleague Demaratus of a lean- ing toward Persia, he bribed the oracle of Del- phi, and caused the deposition of Demaratus. He was soon banished himself, and went to Thessaly, then to Arcadia, where he incited the people against the Spartans, who, dreading- his revenge, permitted him to resume the throne ; but on his return the insanity which he had manifested from his earliest life became so violent that he was confined in the stocks, where he committed suicide. II. Son of Cle- ombrotus I. and successor of his brother Age- sipolis II., reigned 370-809 B. C. Nothing historically important is recorded of his life. III. Son of Leonidas II., reigned 236-220 B. C. He married at an early age the widow of Agis IV., commenced war with the Achaean league, caused the banishment or death of dis- tinguished citizens opposed to his schemes of regeneration, poisoned his infant colleague, and reigned with his own brother Euclidas. He proclaimed the abolition of all debts, relin- quished his own property, made a new dis- tribution of the lands, and restored the ancient system of education, the public tables, and other institutions of Lycurgus. The Achroans, attacked and beaten by Cleomenes, invoked the aid of Macedon ; and Antigonus Doson en- tered the Peloponnesus with a large army, and routed the Spartans in the bloody battle of Sellasia. Cleomenes fled to his ally, Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt, who received him kindly, but soon died, and his son Philopator threw the Spartan king into prison on a charge of conspiracy against his life. He. escaped, and killed himself, after a vain attempt to raise an insurrection. CLEON, an Athenian politician, died in 422 B. C. He was the son of Clesanetus, and a tanner by trade. Endowed with eloquence, he turned his attention to politics, and soon became one of the popular leaders. After the death of Pericles, and for a period of six years, Cleon was the most influential man in Athens. In 427 he persuaded the Athe- nians to doom the adult males of Mytilene, their revolted ally, to death, and the women and children to slavery; but the vote was rescinded before the edict could be executed. In the " Babylonians " of Aristophanes, repre- sented the next year, Cleon supposed himself assailed, and he retorted by commencing a suit either against the poet or the performer of the caricature ; but Cleon himself was brought to trial, and forced to give up a sum of money which he had unfairly obtained from some of the subjects of Athens. These attacks, how- ever, did not shake his power, and he success- fully opposed the attempt to grant peace to Sparta, which state was anxiously desirous of bringing the Peloponnesian war to a close when a number of her citizens were shut up in the island of Sphacteria. By the jeers of Nicias and the rest of the peace party, he was induced to take command of the forces at Sphacteria, promising to capture or slay the Spartans within 20 days. His enemies con- soled themselves with the belief that he would