DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4099#0009
2 CONTRAST OF DIFFERENT STATES OF ANCIENT GREECE.
the most vivid contrasts. Here we beheld the tempestuous, fluctu-
ating, and anarchic liberty of the Athenians; and there the rigid, in-
flexible, and lowering despotism of the Spartans. In one part our
admiration and our sympathy are excited, by the steady resistance
and unremitting constancy of the oppressed Messenians ; in another
a different sentiment is produced, by the submissive apathy and un-
warlike temper of the Eleians. We see the Arcadians leading a
hardy life of pastoral independence; while Argos and Corinth are
subjugated by wealth, and enervated by luxury. The Thebans are
distinguished by their want of fidelity and of patriotism, or by
mighty, but evanescent enterprise. Epiros, Acarnania, and JEto-
lia, are found piratical and uncivilized; while the voluptuous and
hospitable Thessalians are signalized by their turbulence and their
treachery.
The Athenians encouraged trade and cherished the arts ; the Spar-
tans forbad the one, and despised the other. ,The former, who
abounded in orators, were conspicuous for a copious volubility of
speech ; while the latter were proverbial for their taciturnity. The
Athenians accumulated wealth and indulged in luxury; the Spar-
tans affected poverty and temperance, and forbad theatrical repre-
sentations. The Athenian women were mild and domestic, and
were seldom seen in public: the Spartan females exhibited more
bold and masculine traits, and, associated in the ardent competition
for strength and activity that was seen in the public games, their
characters acquired an extraordinary hardihood, unsuited to the
elegant softness of the female mind. This singular contrast of man-
ners and feelings between the two principal nations in Greece, is
energetically portrayed in the speech of the Corinthians, in the
Lacedaemonian Assembly, concerning the Potideans, at the com-
mencement of the Peloponnesian war.1 Athens, however, surpassed
the other states of Greece, as much as Greece itself surpassed the
2Thucjd. b. I. c. 68.
the most vivid contrasts. Here we beheld the tempestuous, fluctu-
ating, and anarchic liberty of the Athenians; and there the rigid, in-
flexible, and lowering despotism of the Spartans. In one part our
admiration and our sympathy are excited, by the steady resistance
and unremitting constancy of the oppressed Messenians ; in another
a different sentiment is produced, by the submissive apathy and un-
warlike temper of the Eleians. We see the Arcadians leading a
hardy life of pastoral independence; while Argos and Corinth are
subjugated by wealth, and enervated by luxury. The Thebans are
distinguished by their want of fidelity and of patriotism, or by
mighty, but evanescent enterprise. Epiros, Acarnania, and JEto-
lia, are found piratical and uncivilized; while the voluptuous and
hospitable Thessalians are signalized by their turbulence and their
treachery.
The Athenians encouraged trade and cherished the arts ; the Spar-
tans forbad the one, and despised the other. ,The former, who
abounded in orators, were conspicuous for a copious volubility of
speech ; while the latter were proverbial for their taciturnity. The
Athenians accumulated wealth and indulged in luxury; the Spar-
tans affected poverty and temperance, and forbad theatrical repre-
sentations. The Athenian women were mild and domestic, and
were seldom seen in public: the Spartan females exhibited more
bold and masculine traits, and, associated in the ardent competition
for strength and activity that was seen in the public games, their
characters acquired an extraordinary hardihood, unsuited to the
elegant softness of the female mind. This singular contrast of man-
ners and feelings between the two principal nations in Greece, is
energetically portrayed in the speech of the Corinthians, in the
Lacedaemonian Assembly, concerning the Potideans, at the com-
mencement of the Peloponnesian war.1 Athens, however, surpassed
the other states of Greece, as much as Greece itself surpassed the
2Thucjd. b. I. c. 68.