Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/362

338 TIISTORV OF GREECE. admitted to be sovereign of the country down to tlie coast. Granting, therefore, that we were even bound, frcan the silence of and promises of aid, — hrcfjyeTO koI b TicrcraipipvTic roix Iie7i.o~ovvriaiovg Koi uTTiaxvslro Tpoo!/v Traps^eiv. 'Ttto jjaoiAeug yup veuarl k-vyx'^'^^ -keK- payjiEvog roig hcTfjg iavTOV upxVC (popov^^ov^di ^ATQriiaiovg u7ibT<ljv'E2,/.7ivi6cjl> no/.euv oh dvvujievog Trpacc!ecT}ai STr(j<j>el?^7iae. Toi'f tc ovv (j>6pcn;c ytaJ^'kov EVOfti^e KOficelc^aif KQKCMac rove K-&r]vcuovg, koL uua jjoau.el ^vfi/uaxovc -Acike' daifiovlovc TTou/aeiv, etc. In the next chapter, Thucydides tells us that the satrap Phamabazus wanted to obtain Lacedaemonian aid in the same man- ner as Tissaphemes, for his satrapy also, in order that he might detach the Greek cities from Athens, and be able to ley the tribute upon them. Two Greeks go to Sparta, sent by Phamabazus, orrug vav^ KOfilaetav ef rbv E.7.Ar]C-ovTov, kol avrb^, ei 6vvatT0 unep 6 TiaaacjiepvTK TrpoMv/xeiTO, rue ~^ iv Ty iavTov upxy 'izo/^ei; 'A'&rjvaiuv unoar^eie 6ia roi^ Popovs, kcU uip^ eavToii l3aoUi-£l ryv ^Vjiuax'ictv tuv AaKeSaifzovloiv rcoiriaEU. These passages, strange to say, are considered by Manso and Dahlmann as showing that the Grecian cities on the Asiatic coast, though subject to the Athenian empire, contiimed, nevertheless, to pay their tribute regularly to Susa. To me, the passages appear to disprove this very supposition : they show that it was essential for the satrap to detach these cities from the Athenian empire, as a means of procuring tribute from them to Persia; that the Athenian empire, while it lasted, prevented him from getting any tribute from the cities subject to it. Manso and Dahlmann have over- looked the important meaning of the adverb of time veuarl — " lately." By that word, Thucydides expressly intimates that the com-t of Susa had only recently demanded from Tissaphemes and Phamabazus, tribute from the maritime Greeks within their satrapies : and he implies that until re- cently no such demand had been made upon them. The court of Susa, ap- prized, doubtless, by Grecian exiles and agents, of the embarrassments into which Athens had fallen, conceived this a suitable moment for exacting tributes : to which, doubtless, it always considered itself entitled, though the power of Athens had compelled it to forego them. Accordingly, the de- mand Avas now for the first time sent down to Tissaphemes, and he " became a debtor for them" to the court (inu(pEi7i.riae), until he could collect them; which he could not at first do, even then, embarrassed as Athens was, — and which, a fortiori, he could not have done before, when Athens was in full power. We leai-n from these passages two valuable facts. 1 . That the maritime Asiatic cities belonging to the Athenian empire paid no tribute to Susa, from the date of the full organization of the Athenian confederacy dowa to a period after the Athenian defeat in Sicily. 2. That, nevertheless, these cities always continued, throughout this period, to stand rated in the Per- sian king's books each for its appropriate tribute, — the court of Susa wait- ing for a convenient moment to occur, when it should be able to enforce ita demands, from miiiortune accruing to Athens.