DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0765
GENERAL HISTORY OP THE GRECIAN STATES. 92
What was once reckoned sufficient to supply every moderate want, and had no ta-
tractions to draw off the mind from the great interests of the nation, is superseded by
a multiplicity of elegant and unnecessary ornaments, prepared by great labour, and
purchased at a vast expense. These alone come to engage the attention: these
fetter and enslave the mind. In the use of the moderate means of life, men are
free to turn the bent of their noble powers to objects and speculations that have
for their end, the consolidating and enlarging the dominion of the state, or of render-
ing it respected and esteemed by the nations around. But when every avenue to the
soul is occupied by sensual desires, headstrong passions and frivolous pursuits; when
every view the eye can take must rest upon the useless ornaments of effeminate gran-
deur, or the busy preparations to delight the sense and glut the*appetitR ; when tribu-
tary nations are impoverished to satisfy perpetually increasing wants, and when a
guilty ambition of greatness still subsists without energy of mind, or well directed
means to carry it into effect, it requires no great degree of foresight to predict the
speedy ruin of that nation among whom such practices prevail. The memory of
their past achievements, and their ill concerted and feeble attempts to extend their
dominion, hasten the period of their fall. Even the last remains of vigour ; the last
struggles of departing greatness, attended sometimes with partial success, serve only
to raise presumptuous and false hopes. The spirit which originally animated the po-
litical body in all its measures, is either wasted in litigious dispute?, or exercised
against the unoffending and feeble. Parties multiply ; and each strives to supplant
the other by every means which fortune of address puts in their power. They break
through the feeble barrier of the laws ; conscious, if they obtain power, no one will
dare to dispute their authority. The blood of the most virtuous citizens flows in
streams upon the scaffold or in the field. Anarchy and disorder preva l, until one
powerful chief, or ambitious potentate quells every contending faction by the strong
arm of military government, and reduces the nation to a state of servile subjection.—
Such, in a great degree, was the progress of the Athenian power towards its decline
and fall. The philosophic enquirer, from a knowledge of their laws and government,
and from the character of the people, might have predicted the nature, and almost
the period of its termination. When the liberty of Greece was threatened by the
Persians, the inhabitants, particularly the Athenians, had arrived at that degree of ci-
vilization and refinement, which, in regular governments, are necessary to enable the
people to make the best use of the means and abilities they possess, in defence of their
rights. But when Pericles introduced a new kind of policy into the state, a policy by
which the attention of the people was turned to amusements, shews, speculations and
pleasures, to objects in which wealth, not honour and glory, formed the principal fea~
tures, the republic soon betrayed symptoms of decay. The fatal Peloponnesian war,
instigated by the Lacedaemonians through dread of the growing power of Athens, and
a series of unforeseen calamities and misfortunes, and sometimes of unexpected pros-
perity, both weakened their internal strength, and encouraged them to undertake en-
terprises above their strength. After war had been carried on for several years with
alternate success, they formed the mad scheme of subduing the island of Sicily, with-
out considering what experience might have taught them, and the trophies of the van-
quished Persians, suspended in their temples, might have called to their remembrance,
that every free nation fights with desperate valour in defence of their property, their
country and lives. The fatal issue of that expedition gave a mortal blo w to the
Athenian greatness; and the subsequent defection of their allies, the tumults that
arose among themselves, the licentiousness and want of discipline in their armies,
and the treachery or misconduct of their commanders, gave a decided advantage tc
their rivals. After an interval of no long duration, distinguished however, by the
appearance of the most illustrious philosophers, poet3 and orators, she sunk under the
Macedonian yoke, and never afterwards recovered her freedom and consequence ia
Greece,
What was once reckoned sufficient to supply every moderate want, and had no ta-
tractions to draw off the mind from the great interests of the nation, is superseded by
a multiplicity of elegant and unnecessary ornaments, prepared by great labour, and
purchased at a vast expense. These alone come to engage the attention: these
fetter and enslave the mind. In the use of the moderate means of life, men are
free to turn the bent of their noble powers to objects and speculations that have
for their end, the consolidating and enlarging the dominion of the state, or of render-
ing it respected and esteemed by the nations around. But when every avenue to the
soul is occupied by sensual desires, headstrong passions and frivolous pursuits; when
every view the eye can take must rest upon the useless ornaments of effeminate gran-
deur, or the busy preparations to delight the sense and glut the*appetitR ; when tribu-
tary nations are impoverished to satisfy perpetually increasing wants, and when a
guilty ambition of greatness still subsists without energy of mind, or well directed
means to carry it into effect, it requires no great degree of foresight to predict the
speedy ruin of that nation among whom such practices prevail. The memory of
their past achievements, and their ill concerted and feeble attempts to extend their
dominion, hasten the period of their fall. Even the last remains of vigour ; the last
struggles of departing greatness, attended sometimes with partial success, serve only
to raise presumptuous and false hopes. The spirit which originally animated the po-
litical body in all its measures, is either wasted in litigious dispute?, or exercised
against the unoffending and feeble. Parties multiply ; and each strives to supplant
the other by every means which fortune of address puts in their power. They break
through the feeble barrier of the laws ; conscious, if they obtain power, no one will
dare to dispute their authority. The blood of the most virtuous citizens flows in
streams upon the scaffold or in the field. Anarchy and disorder preva l, until one
powerful chief, or ambitious potentate quells every contending faction by the strong
arm of military government, and reduces the nation to a state of servile subjection.—
Such, in a great degree, was the progress of the Athenian power towards its decline
and fall. The philosophic enquirer, from a knowledge of their laws and government,
and from the character of the people, might have predicted the nature, and almost
the period of its termination. When the liberty of Greece was threatened by the
Persians, the inhabitants, particularly the Athenians, had arrived at that degree of ci-
vilization and refinement, which, in regular governments, are necessary to enable the
people to make the best use of the means and abilities they possess, in defence of their
rights. But when Pericles introduced a new kind of policy into the state, a policy by
which the attention of the people was turned to amusements, shews, speculations and
pleasures, to objects in which wealth, not honour and glory, formed the principal fea~
tures, the republic soon betrayed symptoms of decay. The fatal Peloponnesian war,
instigated by the Lacedaemonians through dread of the growing power of Athens, and
a series of unforeseen calamities and misfortunes, and sometimes of unexpected pros-
perity, both weakened their internal strength, and encouraged them to undertake en-
terprises above their strength. After war had been carried on for several years with
alternate success, they formed the mad scheme of subduing the island of Sicily, with-
out considering what experience might have taught them, and the trophies of the van-
quished Persians, suspended in their temples, might have called to their remembrance,
that every free nation fights with desperate valour in defence of their property, their
country and lives. The fatal issue of that expedition gave a mortal blo w to the
Athenian greatness; and the subsequent defection of their allies, the tumults that
arose among themselves, the licentiousness and want of discipline in their armies,
and the treachery or misconduct of their commanders, gave a decided advantage tc
their rivals. After an interval of no long duration, distinguished however, by the
appearance of the most illustrious philosophers, poet3 and orators, she sunk under the
Macedonian yoke, and never afterwards recovered her freedom and consequence ia
Greece,