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Show The third Bookeof the firpart ~Cuar.7.§.1 ntly merother good qualities were, he was fooliths:and was acoward, and confeque 1 ‘ ciledfe. t, vpon Therefore we may firmely. belecue.,: that the vertue of Cyrus wasallverygrea the wickednefle laid, that which the foundationofthe Per/iaw Empire was fo furely wit, vaull icw, overthro not could Princes, worfe other s,& and vanities ofXerxe againft the Eg ken by,avertuealmoft equallito that which did eftablifhit. In wars , did euer make offenfiue thegenetall-eftate of Greece, neither he,nor any ofhis pofterity {erued but as an introMyeade at laft whichthe Afia,to Joffesin many warre,but receiued the Perfian was no betduétion:, teaching the Greekesand efpecially the Athenians,that triall was10 ter Souldier at: his owne doores, than ina forraine Country : whereofgood were quietly made forth-with,and muchbetter proofeas foone as the affaires ofAthens fetled-and affured. Fromthis time forward I will therefore ‘purfue the Hiftory of Greece, taking-in the of matters of Per/iz,as alfo the eftate ofother Countries, collaterally, when the order timefhall prefent them.Trueit is,that the Perfian eftate continuedin hergreatnefle,mariy ages following, infach wife thatthe knowneparts ofthe World had no other Kingdome,reprefenting the Maiefty ofa great Empire. But this greatneffe depended onely vpon the riches and powerthat had formerly beenacquited,yeelding few actions ornone that were worthy ofremembrance,excep-20 h ting fome Tragedies ofthe Court, and examples of that excefliue Luxury, where-wit eneruated, made vnboth it,andall, or the moft of Empires that euer were,haue beene weildy,and (as it were) fattened for the hungry fwords. of poore and hardy Enemics. were faine to defend their Hereby it came to paffe, that Xerxes and-his fucceffours with t Crownes with money and bafe policies ; very feldome or neuer (vnleffei wete with that little Nation great aduantage) daring to aduenture thetriall ofplaine battaile not priuate of Greece;which would foone have ruined the foundations laid by Cyr#s,had and malice and iealoufie vrged euery City to enuiethe height of her neighbours erwals, whichaft the de thereby diuerted thefwords of the Greekes into their owne bowels, parture of Xerxes began very well,and might better hane continued,to hewout the way? ofconqueft,onthe fide of Afia. andtofartifie their City, beforethey cared to couer themfelues, their wities. and chit. dren, with any private buildings : Whereof the Lacedemonians being aduertifed and mifliking the fortifying of Athens, bothin refpect that theit owne City of Sparta was vawalled, as alfo becaufe the Athenians were grown more powerfull by Sea,thaneither difwadethem ; not acknowledging any priuate miflike or icloufic,but pretending, that if the Perfians fhould return to inuade Greece a third time, the Athensans beingin iyo bet. ter ftateto defend themfelnes than beretofore,the fame would ferueto.recéiue their ene10 mics,aadto be madea Seate for the Warre,as Thebes hadlately bin. To this the Athen nians promifed to giue themfatisfaction by theit own Embafladors. very {peedily. But held the being refolued to goe on with their workes by the aduice of Themiftocles, they as heisht, that to. wals their raifed had contrary,tillthey ofthe hope in Lacedemonians they cared not fortheir miflikes,nor doubted theirdifturbance ; and RRRcree gaine time) they difpatched 77hemiflocles towards Lacedemon, giving himforexcofe, that hee could not deliuer the 4thenzans refolutions,til the arriual ofhis fellow-Com mnithoners Daas who'were of purpofe retarded. But aftera while, the Lacedemionians expectation conuerted into ieloufie(for by the arriuall ofdiuers perfons out ofAttica,they were told for certaine,That the wals ofAthens were {peedily grown vp beyondexpectation) The= 2 miffecles prayed them notto belecuc reports and vaine rumors, buttliatthey. would bee" plealedto fend fome oftheir owne trufty Citizensto Athens, from whoferelation they might refolue themfelucs, and determine accordingly. Which requeft being granted and Commiffioners fent, Themifocles difpatched one of his owne, by hortts Adaie fedthe Athenians firft to entertain the Lacedemonians with {ome fuch difcourfe as might tetainethema few daies, and in conclufionto hold them among them, till himfelfe and theother Athenien Embafladours,thenat Sparta,hadtheir libertyalfo,to return. Which done, and being alfo affured byhis aflociates and Ariftides, that C4rheas wasalready. defenfibleon all parts, Thermifocles demanding audience, made the Lacedemonians know, Thatit was true that the walsof Athens were now railed to thatheight, asthe 30 Athenians doubted not the defence of their City ; ptaying the Lecedemsoniansto bes Ieetie, That whenfocuerit pleafed themto treat with the Athenians , they wouldknow owne {afety, without direction atid aduice from any other: That they had inthe warre of Xerxes abandonedtheir City, and committed themfelues to the woodden Walls o£ theirfhippes, from the refolution of their owne counfels and courage, and nottheretotaught or perfwaded by others: and finally, in all that perillous warre againft the Cuar, VII. Of things that paffedin Greece fromthe endof the Perfian Perfians they found their owne iudgements and the execution thereofin nothing-inferiour, ox leffe fortunate, thanthat of any other Nation, State, or Common-weale among the Greekes : And therefore concluded, that they determinedto be Maftets and Warre,to the beginning of the Peloponnesian. =. §. 1. How Athens was rebuilt anafortified. Etcr that the Afedes and Perfians had receiuedtheir laft blow, & who then commas ASS were vtterly beaten at Adycale: Lentychides, the W ¢t0 ded the Grecian. Army,, leaning the purfuit)of the Atheniaus, affifted by the reuolted.Joves-, returnce il , Sap the Lacedemontansand; other Pe/oponnefians to Sparta é } ther places, out of which they had beene leauied. Th niansin themeane while. befieged Seétos, a City,.on Ger of the HeMe/pont, betweene which and Abydus, Xerxes faftned his Bridge of Boats : where theinhabita {fuccour,did notlong difpute the defence thercof,but quitteditrothe Greet tained themfelues the Winter following onthatfide the HeHe/pont., Inthe Sp 4° Tidgesoftheir owneaffaires,andthoughtit goodreafon,that either all the Cities confedered within Greece fhould be left open, orelfe that the Wals of Arhézs fhould befinithed and maintained. . ; The Lacedemouians finding the time vnfit for quatrelldiffembled their miflike, both ofthefortifying of Athensandofthe diuifion; & fo fuffered the Arheniaws to depart, & received backe from them their owne Embafladors. might The Wals of Athens finithed,they alfofortified the PortPyreds,by which they vader Couert imbarke themfelues vpon all occafions. 50 i rT. : the e he ofthe Athenian greatne/fe, and profperous warres wade by that State vpor r flan, drew homeward,and hauing left their wiuesand children, fince the inuafionot Athens And thoughthe moft part ofall their houfes,in and thewals ofthe City oner-turned, yet they refolued firft on thei common defence; them foifuch,as right well vaderftood what appertainedto a Common-weale & their EO theabandoning of Athexs,in diners Iflands,and at Troezeg,they Now foundta returned withthemtotheirowneplaces. of the Fiiftory of the World. themfelues, or any otherState of Greece, they difpatched meflengersto theAthenians to very good; butag: ans the fortune of Xerxes did continue,asat the firft it had beene 8 Cuar.7.$02. - were burnt and broken & wm, ‘ home, prepared thirty Gal, ic Athenians hauing {etled thingsin good orderat to. which the Lacedemon'Perfiazs, the againft warre lies for the purfuit of the on ar added other twenty, andwiththis Fleet, ftrengthened bythe Hy i ob " ee Greece confederated, theyfet fayle for Cypris, yoder the song anfanta a - onian , where,after their landing hating poffeft themfelues of many prifict- Places.they imbarked the Armyagaine,and tooke Jandin Thrace, KeCOuCHAS he |
