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* To what has been here related, we may add an- Artax. other quality which is no less rare and valuable, I Longim. mean, a noble and disinterested soul. Pericles had so great a disinclination to the receiving of gifts, so utter a contempt for riches, and was so far above all tapaciousness and avarice, that though he had raised Athens to the richest and most flourishing state; though his power had surpassed that of many tyrants and kings; though he had long disposed in an absolute manner of the treasures of Greece, he did not however add a single drachma to the estate he inherited from his father. This was the source, the true cause of the supreme authority of Pericles in the republick; the just and deserved fruit of his integrity and perfect disinterestedness.

It was not only for a few short moments, nor during the first heats of favour, which are generally short-lived, that he preserved his authority. He maintained it forty years, notwithstanding the opposition of Cimon, of Tolmides, of Thucydides, and many others, who had all declared against him; and of these forty years he spent fifteen without a rival, from the time of Thucydides's banishment, and disposed all affairs with absolute power. Nevertheless, in the midst of this supreme authority, which he had rendered perpetual and unlimited in his own person, his soul was always superior to the charms and allurements of wealth, though he never neglected improving his estate to the utmost of his power. For Pericles did not act like those rich men, who, notwithstanding their immense revenues, either through negligence or want of ceconomy, or the expences of pride and folly, are always poor in the midst of their riches; unable and unwilling to do the least service to their virtuous friends, or their faithful and zealous domesticks; and at last die in every one's debt, whence their name and memory are had in the utmost detestation by their unfor tunate creditors. I shall not expatiate on another Plut. in vit. Pericl. p. 161, 162.

Artax extreme, to which this negligence and want of œcoLongim. nomy generally lead, I mean rapine, a love of gifts and exactions; for here, as well as in the manage

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ment of the publick monies, the maxim of Tacitus takes place, viz. that when a man has squandered away his estate, he then makes it his whole study to retrieve the loss of it by all sorts of methods, not excepting the most criminal.

Pericles knew much better the use a statesman ought to make of riches. He was sensible that he ought to expend them in the service of the publick, such as the procuring of able men to assist him in the administration; the relieving good officers, who too often are in unhappy circumstances; the rewarding and encouraging merit of every kind, and a thousand such things; to which doubtless, either on account of the exquisite joy they give, or the solid glory that results from them, no one will be so thoughtless as to compare the expences lavished away in entertainments, equipages, or gaming. In this view Pericles managed his estate with the utmost œconomy; having himself taught one of his old servants to take care of his domestick concerns; and he always had the account brought him, at stated times, of all things that had been received as well as expended; confining himself and his family to a decent subsistence (from which he banished severely all superfluities of a vain and ostentatious kind), suitable to his estate and condition. This way of life, indeed, did no way please his children when they were come to years of maturity, and much less his wife. They thought Pericles did not live at a sufficient expence for persons of their rank; and murmured at that low sordid œconomy, as they called it, which carried no air of the plenty which generally reigns in houses where riches and authority are united. However, Pericles had little regard to these

* Si ambitione ærarium exhauserimus, per sc‹kra supplendam erit. Tacit. Annal. 1. ii. c. 38.

complaints, and directed his views to things of Artax. much greater importance. Longim.

I believe it will not be improper to apply on this occasion, a very just remark of Plutarch, in his parallel of Aristides and Cato. After saying that political virtue, or the art of governing cities and king. doms, is the greatest and most perfect that man can acquire, he adds, that economy is not one of the most inconsiderable branches of this virtue. And indeed, as riches are one of the means which may contribute to the security or ruin of a state; the art that teaches to dispose of, and make a good use of them, and which is called oeconomy, is certainly a branch of the art of policy; and not one of the most inconsiderable branches of it, since great wisdom is required, in order to the observing a just medium on these occasions, and to the banishing poverty and too great opulence from a country. It is this art, which avoiding industriously all trifling and need less expences, prevents a magistrate from being forced to overburthen a people with taxes; and keeps always in reserve, in the publick coffers, monies sufficient for the supporting a war that may break out, or for providing against any unforeseen accident. Now what is said of a kingdom or a city, which is composed of an assemblage of houses, and which forms a whole of several parts united, is either powerful or weak when taken together, in propor-› tion as all the members of which it consists, are powerful or weak. Pericles certainly acquitted himself well with regard to that part of this science which ' relates to the government of a family: But I do not know whether the same may be said of his administration of the publick revenues.

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SECT. XII. Jealousy and contests arise between the. Athenians and Lacedæmonians. A treaty of peace is concluded for thirty years.

'SUCH was the conduct of Pericles with respect

Longim. to his domestick concerns: And he was no less fa

mous for his administration of publick affairs. The. Lacedæmonians beginning to grow jealous of the prosperity of the Athenians, and to take umbrage at it; Pericles, to inspire his citizens with greater courage and magnanimity, published a decree, importing, that orders should be sent to all the Greeks, inhabiting either Europe or Asia, and to all the cities great or small, to send immediately their deputies or representatives to Athens, to examine and debate on ways and means to rebuild the temples that had been burnt by the Barbarians; to perform the sacrifices, which they had engaged themselves to offer up, for the preservation and safety of Greece, when war was carrying on against them; as also, to consider on the necessary expedients for establishing such an order and discipline in their navy, that all ships might sail in safety, and the Greeks live in peace one with another.

Accordingly twenty persons were chosen for this embassy, each of whom was upwards of fifty years old. Five of these were sent to the Ionians and Dorians of Asia, and the inhabitants of the islands as far as Lesbos and Rhodes; five to the countries of the Hellespont and Thrace, as far as Byzantium. Five were ordered to go to Bacotia, to Phocis, and Peloponnesus; and from thence, by the country of the Locrians, to proceed to the several cities of the upper

continent as far as Acarnania and Ambracia. The last five were ordered to cross Euboea, and to go to the people of mount Eta, and those of the gulph of Malca, and to the inhabitants of Phthiotis,

Plut. in Pericl. p. 162,

of Achaia, and of Thessaly; to induce the seve- Artax. ral nations to come to the assembly convened in Longim. Athens, and to assist at the debates which should be there carried on concerning peace, and the general affairs of Greece. I judged it necessary to enter into this detail, as it shews how far the power of the Greeks extended, and the authority which the Athenians enjoyed among them.

But all these solicitations were in vain; the cities not sending their deputies, which, according to historians, was owing to the opposition made by the La cedæmonians, a circumstance we are not to wonder at. They were sensible, that Pericles's design was to have Athens acknowledged as mistress and sove. reign of all the other Grecian cities; and Lacedæ. mon was far from allowing it that honour. A secret leaven of dissension had, for some years, began to disturb the tranquillity of Greece; and we shall find by the sequel, that disgusts augmented continually.

Pericles had acquired great fame for the wisdom with which he formed and conducted his enter. prizes. The troops reposed the highest confidence in him, and whenever they followed him, assured themselves of success. His chief maxim of war was, never to venture a battle unless he were almost cer tain of victory, and not to lavish the blood of the citizens. He used to say frequently, that were it in his power they should be immortal; that when trees were felled they shoot to life again in a little time, but when once men die, they are lost for ever. A victory that was only the effect of a happy temes rity, appeared to him as little worthy of praise, though it often was much admired.

His expedition into the Thracian Chersonesus did him great honour, and was of great advantage to all the Greeks of that country; for he not only strengthened the Grecian cities of that peninsula, by the colonies of Athenians which he carried thither, but also shut up the isthmus with a strong wall, with

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