Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/97

FEELINGS AT OLYMPIA. 75 Of the two common enemies, Artaxerxes and Dionysius, whom Lysias thus denounces, the latter had sent to this very Olympic festival a splendid Theory, or legation to offer solemn sacrifice in his name ; together with several chariots to contend in the race, and some excellent rhapsodes to recite poems composed by himself. The Syracusan legation, headed by Thearides, bro ther of Dionysius, were clothed with rich vestments, and lodged in a tent of extraordinary magnificence, decorated with gold and purple ; such, probably, as had not been seen since the ostentatious display made by Alkibiades l in the ninetieth Olympiad (B. c. 420). While instigating the spectators present to exert them- selves as Greeks for the liberation of their fellow-Greeks enslaved by Dionysius, Lysias exhorted them to begin forthwith their hos- tile demonstration against the latter, by plundering the splendid tent before them, which insulted the sacred plain of Olympia with the spectacle of wealth extorted from Grecian sufferers. It ap pears that this exhortation was partially, but only partially, acted upon. 2 Some persons assailed the tents, but were, probably, re- 1 See Pseudo-Andokides cont. Alkibiad. s. 30 ; and Vol. VII. of this His tory, Ch. Iv, p. 53. 2 Dionys. Hal. Judic. de Lysia, p. 519 ; Diodor. xiv, 109. wore nvaf roA [irjaai. diapTra&iv raf GKrjvaf. Dionysius does not specify the date of this oration of Lysias ; but Diode- rus places it at Olympiad 98 B. c. 388 the year before the peace of An- talkidas. On this point I venture to depart from him, and assign it to Olympiad 99, or 384 B. c., three years after the peace ; the rather as his Olympic chronology appears not clear, as may be seen by comparing xv, 7 with xiv, 109. 1. The year 388 B.C. was a year of war, in which Sparta with her allies on one side, and Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos on the other, were carrying on strenuous hostilities. The war would hinder the four last- mentioned states from sending any public legation to sacrifice at the Olym- pic festival. Lysias, as an Athenian metic, could hardly have gone there at all ; but lie certainly could not have gone there to make a public and bold oratorical demonstration. 2. The language of Lysias implies that the speech was delivered after tho cession of the Asiatic Greeks to Persia, opuv 7roA/ld /J.EV avTijf ('E/U/tcJof) WTO. inrb roi Bapdupu, etc. This is quite pertinent after the peace of An- talkidas ; but not at all admissible before that peace. The same may be said about the phrase, ov yap uA^orpia^ del Ttif TUV uno^uAoruv av[MJ>o< M*C vo/j't&iv, uW oiKeiaf ; which must be referred to the recent subjection