Greece is one of the most mountainous countries of Europe. Its surface is occupied by a number of small plains either entirely surrounded by limestone mountains or open only to the sea. Mountains, not rivers, have in all ages proved the greatest barriers to intercourse between neighbouring tribes. This was the case in Greece, and thus the very nature of the land tended to produce that large number of independent states which is one of the most striking phænomena in Grecian history. Each of the principal Grecian cities was founded in one of the small plains already described; and as the mountains which separated it from its neighbours were lofty and rugged, it grew up in solitary independence, and formed its own character before it could be affected by any external influence. The mountainous nature of the country also protected it from foreign invasion, as well as rendered it difficult for one section of the Grecian race to subdue the rest. The vale of Tempe between Mounts Ossa and Olympus, the pass of Thermopyla between northern and central Greece, the passes over Mount Citharon between Boeotia and Attica, and those over the Geranean and Onean mountains on either side of the Isthmus, could easily be defended by a handful of resolute men against vastly superior numbers. But, while the Grecian states were separated from their nearest neighbours by their mountains, the sea afforded them easy intercourse with one another and with the rest of the world. One of the most striking peculiarities of the geography of Greece is the wonderful extent of its sea coast. In this respect it has the advantage over every other country of Europe. Although its surface is not so great as that of Portugal, its line of coast exceeds that of the whole peninsula of Portugal and Spain. Not only is it surrounded by the sea on every side except on its northern frontier, but its coast is also broken by a number of bays and gulfs running far into the land. Thus almost every Grecian state had ready and easy access to the sea, and Arcadia was almost the only political division that did not possess some territory upon the coast. § 13. Of all natural objects the mountains and the sea have ever been the most powerful instruments in moulding the intellectual character of a people. The Greeks were both mountaineers and mariners, and as such they possessed the susceptibility to external impressions, the love of freedom, and the spirit of adventure, which have always characterized, more or less, the inhabitants of mountainous and maritime districts. The poetical beauty of the Grecian mountains has often called forth the admiration of modern travellers. Their craggy, broken war from a prose writer of the name of Myron, who did not live earlier than the third century before the Christian era; and he took his account of the second from a poet called Rhianus, a native of Crete, who lived about B.C. 220. Both these writers were separated from the events which they narrated by a period of 500 years, and probably derived their materials from the stories current among the Messenians after their restoration to their native land by Epaminondas. Information of an historical character could not be expected from the work of Rhianus, which was an epic poem celebrating the exploits of the great hero Aristomenes. We must not, therefore, receive the common account of the Messenian wars as a real history; and we shall consequently give only a brief outline of the narrative of Pausanias. The dates of the two wars cannot be fixed with certainty. Pausanias makes the first last from B.C. 743 to 724, and the second from B.C. 685 to 668. Both of these dates are probably too early. § 2. The real cause of the first Messenian war was doubtless the lust of the Spartans for the fertile territories of their neighbours. But its origin was narrated in the following manner. On the heights of Mount Taygětus, which separated the two kingdoms, there was a temple of Artemis (Diana), common to the Spartans and Messenians. It was here .that the Spartan king Teleclus was slain by the Messenians; but the two people gave a different version of the cause of his death. The Spartans asserted that Teleclus was murdered by the Messenians, while he was attempting to defend some Spartan virgins, whom he was conducting to the temple, from the insults of the Messenian youth. The Messenians, on the other hand, averred that Teleclus had dressed up young men as virgins with concealed daggers, and that Teleclus was slain in the affray which ensued upon the discovery of the plot. The war did not, however, immediately break out; and the direct cause of it was owing to a private quarrel. Polychares, a distinguished Messenian, who had gained the prize at the Olympic games, had been grossly injured by the Spartan Euæphnus, who had robbed him of his cattle and murdered his son. Being unable to obtain redress from the Spartan government, Polychares took the revenge into his own hands, and killed all the Lacedæmonians that came in his way. The Spartans demanded the surrender of Polychares, but the Messenians refused to give him up. Thereupon the Spartans determined upon war. They silently prepared their forces; and without any formal declaration of war, they crossed the frontier, surprised the fortress of Amphea, and put the inhabitants to the sword. Thus commenced the first Messenian war. Euphäes, who was GR. E then king of Messenia, carried on the war with energy and vigour. For the first four years the Lacedæmonians made little progress; but in the fifth a great battle was fought, and although its result was indecisive, the Messenians did not venture to risk another engagement, and retired to the strongly fortified mountain of Ithome. In their distress they sent to consult the oracle at Delphi, and received the appalling answer that the salvation of Messenia required the sacrifice of a virgin of the house of Epytus to the gods of the lower world. Aristodēmus offered his own daughter as the victim; but a young Messenian, who loved the maiden, attempted to save her life by declaring that she was about to become a mother. Her father, enraged at this assertion, killed his daughter with his own hand and opened her body to refute the calumny. Although the demands of the oracle had not been satisfied, since this was a murder and not a sacrifice, the Spartans were so disheartened by the news, that they abstained from attacking the Messenians for some years. In the thirteenth year of the war, the Spartan king Theopompus marched against Ithome, and a second great battle was fought, but the result was again indecisive. Euphäes fell in the action; and Aristodemus, who was chosen king in his place, prosecuted the war with vigour and ability. In the fifth year of his reign a third great battle was fought, in which the Corinthians fought on the side of the Spartans, and the Arcadians and Sicyonians on the side of the Messenians. This time the Messenians gained a decisive victory, and the Lacedæmonians were driven back into their own territory. They now sent to ask advice of the Delphian oracle, and were promised success upon using stratagem. They therefore had recourse to fraud; and at the same time various prodigies dismayed the bold spirit of Aristodemus. His daughter too appeared to him in a dream, showed to him her wounds, and summoned him away. Seeing that his country was doomed to destruction, Aristodemus slew himself on his daughter's tomb. Shortly afterwards, in the twentieth year of the war, the Messenians abandoned Ithome, which the Lacedæmonians razed to the ground, and the whole country became subject to Sparta. Many of the inhabitants fled into Arcadia, and the priestly families withdrew to Eleusis, in Attica. Those who remained in the country were treated with great severity. They were reduced to the condition of Helots, and were compelled to pay to their masters half of the produce of their lands. This is attested by the authority of Tyrtæus, who says, "Like asses worn down by heavy burthens they were com *The royal family of Messenia was descended from Epytus, who was a son of Cresphontes. pelled to make over to their masters an entire half of the produce of their fields, and to come in the garb of woe to Sparta, themselves and their wives, as mourners at the decease of the kings and principal persons." §3. For thirty-nine years the Messenians endured this degrading yoke. At the end of this time (B.C. 685) they took up arms against their oppressors, having found a leader in Aristomenes, of Andania, sprung from the royal line of Æpytus. The exploits of this hero form the great subject of the second Messenian war. It would appear that most of the states in Peloponnesus took part in this struggle. The Argives, Arcadians, Sicyonians, and Pisatans were the principal allies of the Messenians; but the Corinthians sent assistance to Sparta. The first battle was fought before the arrival of the allies on either side; and though it was indecisive, the valour of Aristomenes struck fear into the hearts of the Spartans. To frighten the enemy still more, the hero crossed the frontier, entered Sparta by night, and affixed a shield to the temple of Athena (Minerva) of the Brazen House, with the inscription, "Dedicated by Aristomenes to the goddess from the Spartan spoils." The Spartans in alarm sent to Delphi for advice. The god bade them apply to Athens for a leader. Fearing to disobey the oracle, but with the view of rendering no real assistance, the Athenians sent Tyrtæus of Aphidna, who is represented in the popular legend as a lame man and a schoolmaster. The Spartans received their new leader with due honour; and he was not long in justifying the credit of the oracle. His martial songs roused the fainting courage of the Spartans, and animated them to new efforts against the foe.* The Spartans showed their gratitude by making him a citizen of their state. So efficacious were his poems, that to them is mainly ascribed the final success of the Spartans. Hence he appears as the great hero of Sparta during the second Messenian war. Some of his celebrated songs have come down to us, and the following war-march is a specimen * "To the field, to the field, gallant Spartan band, Encouraged by the strains of Tyrtæus, the Spartans again * "Tyrtæusque mares animos in Martia bella Versibus exacuit."-Hor. Ars Poet. 402. + Mure's History of Greek Literature, vol. iii. p. 195. marched against the Messenians. But they were not at first successful. A great battle was fought at the Boar's Grave in the plain of Stenyclerus, in which the allies of both sides were present. The Spartans were defeated with great loss; and the Messenian maidens of a later day used to sing how "Aristomenes pursued the flying Lacedæmonians down to the mid-plain of Stenyclerus, and up to the very summit of the mountain." In the third year of the war another great battle was fought, in which the Messenians suffered a signal defeat, in consequence of the treachery of Aristocrates, the king of the Arcadian Orchomenus. So great was the loss of the Messenians, that Aristomenes no longer ventured to meet the Spartans in the open field; and he therefore resolved to follow the example of the Messenian leaders in the former war, and concentrate his strength in a fortified spot. For this purpose he chose the mountain fortress of Ira, and there he continued to prosecute the war for eleven years. The Spartans encamped at the foot of the mountain; but Aristomenes frequently sallied from his fortress, and ravaged the lands of Laconia with fire and sword. It is unnecessary to relate all the wonderful exploits of this hero in his various incursions. Thrice did he offer to Jove Ithomates the sacrifice called Hecatomphonia, reserved for the warrior who had slain a hundred enemies with his own hand. Thrice was he taken prisoner; on two occasions he burst his bonds, but on the third he was carried to Sparta, and thrown with his fifty companions into a deep pit, called Ceadas. His comrades were all killed by the fall; but Aristomenes reached the bottom unhurt. He saw, however, no means of escape, and had resigned himself to death; but on the third day perceiving a fox creeping among the bodies, he grasped its tail, and following the animal as it struggled to escape, discovered an opening in the rock. Through the favour of the gods the hero thus escaped, and on the next day was again at Ira to the surprise alike of friends and foes. But his single prowess was not sufficient to avert the ruin of his country; he had incurred moreover the anger of the Dioscuri or the Twin gods; and the favour of heaven was therefore turned from him. One night the Spartans surprised Ira, while Aristomenes was disabled by a wound; but he collected the bravest of his followers, and forced his way through the enemy. He took refuge in Arcadia, where he was hospitably received; but the plan which he had formed for surprising Sparta was betrayed by Aristocrates, whom his countrymen stoned for his treachery. Many of the exiled Messenians went to Rhegium, in Italy, under the sons of Aristomenes, but the hero himself finished his days in Rhodes. His memory long lived in the hearts of his |
