DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0462
428 THE AGE OF SCOPAS, PRAXITELES, AND LYSIPPOS.
the rites of burial, held to be most sacred and essential by all the Greeks.
Thukydides laments,Sn "The manly race of old Athens is swept away, and a
worse one left behind." But this race, thus despised by the older generation,
gave birth to men who developed many powers which had hitherto lain dor-
mant, and in what concerned patriotism, eloquence, philosophy, and art, proved
themselves to be no unworthy heirs of the former glory. Different, indeed,
from the men of the older time is the galaxy that now meets us ; but even the
mere recital of the names belonging to this century — Plato, Lysias, Lycurgos,
Demosthenes, Epameinondas, Pelopidas, Isocrates, ^Eschines, Praxiteles, Sco-
pas, and Lysippos — dazzles the imagination with the brilliancy, originality,
and great worth of the characters marshalled before the mind's eye.
Outward circumstances had radically changed with regard to the patronage
of art in its great centre, Attica. After the costly and humiliating war, the
Athenian state remained a mere shadow of her former self. Her stores of
gold and silver, which had seemed inexhaustible under the wise rule of Pericles,
were gone. The islands and cities which had paid their annual contributions
into her coffers, now refused their tribute ; and her colonies, another important
source of wealth, were in the hands of her enemies. The history of Athens
from 400 15. C. was no longer the record of successful aggression, but of a
struggle to maintain her own independence. Her patriots, indeed, sought to
raise her to the place she had once occupied : but their efforts were spasmodic ;
and, after each vain endeavor, the city sank back, politically weaker than be-
fore, and more prone to give herself up to pleasures, abundantly provided by
wily politicians, who were in search of public favor. Although Conon, in the
early part of the century, restored somewhat of Athens' glory; yet nothing
could save her, as well as her sister states, from the threatening northern foe,
Macedonia, which from being obscure and despised, as without the pale of civili-
zation, came, by the middle of the century, under Philip's guidance, to the very
fore-front of history, and in the memorable battle at Chaironeia, Aug. 7, 338
B.C., completed the subjugation of the other states. Philip, however, had
been educated as a Greek; and, while he despoiled other cities, he was lenient
to Athens, the hearthstone of Hellenic culture. Lycurgos, the friend of De-
mosthenes, then improved the state of the treasury, and was able to complete
buildings commenced, beautify the Theatre of Dionysos, and put up in it stat-
ues to great Athenian poets of the past. With the accession of Alexander,
336 B.C., an era of foreign conquest was inaugurated. His campaigns into the
far East fill up the time till his death, 323 B.C., ushering in a new age. From
the accounts of contemporary history, we are wont to imagine Athens, during
this latter part of the century, as utterly servile and cringing to the different
tyrants, and given over to pleasures; but inscriptions, recently discovered at
Athens, record energetic and manly action, giving us reason to take with many
grains of allowance the gloomy records of the character of this time.8'2
the rites of burial, held to be most sacred and essential by all the Greeks.
Thukydides laments,Sn "The manly race of old Athens is swept away, and a
worse one left behind." But this race, thus despised by the older generation,
gave birth to men who developed many powers which had hitherto lain dor-
mant, and in what concerned patriotism, eloquence, philosophy, and art, proved
themselves to be no unworthy heirs of the former glory. Different, indeed,
from the men of the older time is the galaxy that now meets us ; but even the
mere recital of the names belonging to this century — Plato, Lysias, Lycurgos,
Demosthenes, Epameinondas, Pelopidas, Isocrates, ^Eschines, Praxiteles, Sco-
pas, and Lysippos — dazzles the imagination with the brilliancy, originality,
and great worth of the characters marshalled before the mind's eye.
Outward circumstances had radically changed with regard to the patronage
of art in its great centre, Attica. After the costly and humiliating war, the
Athenian state remained a mere shadow of her former self. Her stores of
gold and silver, which had seemed inexhaustible under the wise rule of Pericles,
were gone. The islands and cities which had paid their annual contributions
into her coffers, now refused their tribute ; and her colonies, another important
source of wealth, were in the hands of her enemies. The history of Athens
from 400 15. C. was no longer the record of successful aggression, but of a
struggle to maintain her own independence. Her patriots, indeed, sought to
raise her to the place she had once occupied : but their efforts were spasmodic ;
and, after each vain endeavor, the city sank back, politically weaker than be-
fore, and more prone to give herself up to pleasures, abundantly provided by
wily politicians, who were in search of public favor. Although Conon, in the
early part of the century, restored somewhat of Athens' glory; yet nothing
could save her, as well as her sister states, from the threatening northern foe,
Macedonia, which from being obscure and despised, as without the pale of civili-
zation, came, by the middle of the century, under Philip's guidance, to the very
fore-front of history, and in the memorable battle at Chaironeia, Aug. 7, 338
B.C., completed the subjugation of the other states. Philip, however, had
been educated as a Greek; and, while he despoiled other cities, he was lenient
to Athens, the hearthstone of Hellenic culture. Lycurgos, the friend of De-
mosthenes, then improved the state of the treasury, and was able to complete
buildings commenced, beautify the Theatre of Dionysos, and put up in it stat-
ues to great Athenian poets of the past. With the accession of Alexander,
336 B.C., an era of foreign conquest was inaugurated. His campaigns into the
far East fill up the time till his death, 323 B.C., ushering in a new age. From
the accounts of contemporary history, we are wont to imagine Athens, during
this latter part of the century, as utterly servile and cringing to the different
tyrants, and given over to pleasures; but inscriptions, recently discovered at
Athens, record energetic and manly action, giving us reason to take with many
grains of allowance the gloomy records of the character of this time.8'2