Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/217

BRASID AS. -LYSANDER. 195 Bander realized that precise ascendency of a few chosen partisans which Brasidas repudiates as an abomination worse than foreign dominion ; while the harmosts and garrison, installed in the de- pendent cities along with the native decemvirs, planted the second variety of mischief as well as the first, each aggravating the other. Had the noble-minded Kallikratidas gained a victory at Arginusae, and lived to close the war, he would probably have tried, with more or less of success, to make some approach to the promises of Bra- sidas. But it was the double misfortune of Greece, first that the closing victory was gained by such an admiral as Lysander, the most unscrupulous of all power-seekers, partly for his country, and still more for himself, next, that the victory was so decisive, sudden and imposing, as to leave no enemy standing, or in a po- sition to insist upon terms. The fiat of Lysander, acting in the name of Sparta, became omnipotent, not merely over enemies, but over allies ; and to a certain degree even over the Spartan authori- ties themselves. There was no present necessity for conciliating allies, still less for acting up to former engagements ; so that nothing remained to oppose the naturally ambitious inspirations of the Spartan ephors, who allowed the admiral to carry out the de- tails in his own way. But former assurances, though Sparta was hi a condition to disregard them, were not forgotten by others ; and the recollection of them imparted additional bitterness to the op- pressions of the decemvirs and harmosts. 1 In perfect consistency 1 This is emphatically set forth in a fragment of Theopompus the his- torian, preserved by Theodoras Metochita, and printed at the end of the collection of the Fragments of Theopompus the historian, both by Wich- ers and by M. Didot. Both these editors, however, insert it only as Frag- mentum Spurium, on the authority of Plutarch (Lysander, c. 13), -who quotes the same sentiment from the comic writer Theopompus. But tho passage of Theodoras Metochita presents the express words Qeoirofnrof 6 iaropiKOf. We have, therefore, his distinct affirmation against that of Plu- tarch ; and the question is, which of the two we are to believe. Now if any one will read attentively the so-called Fragmentum Spurium as it stands at the end of the collections above referred to, he will see (1 think) that it belongs much more naturally to the historian than to the comic writer. It is a strictly historical statement, illustrated by a telling, though coarse, comparison. The Fragment is thus presented by Theodo rus Metochita (Fragm. Thcopomp. 344, cd. Didot). 0eu7ro//7rof 6 loTOplKbf inroaxuitTuv eif rot)f Aa.Ke6ai/noviov, eiKafrv ai>rot)j raif (j>ai'7iuig Ka-x-ijhiviv, at roif ^pu/nevoi^ ty%eov<7ai rqv upxr/v olvov r/Siiv re