New-York tribune., 1891-02-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
PERICLES.

HEROES OF TIE NATIONS: PERICLES AND TIIE
GOLDEN AGE OF Athens. by Evelyn Abbott
NJ A. Fellow OF Ballol College, OXFORD pp' AV'
3T0. e.. 4. IUtnams sons.
Two conceptions of the character OF Perices. and
those two hardly in agreement, can be OBTAINED rom
this handsome and scholarly book One may be gained
from the final summing up in the closrg PAGES. The
great Athenian there held responsible for the u!-
mate failure Of Athens rs an imperial CITY. lie IS
blamed for cultfvatng irresponsible democracy sub
tect only 10 oversadowng by his personality for
adoptnQ methods which shut Sparta from any share
in the union OF Iellas for alternating the allies III the
Delian Confcdeacy by too exclusively Athenan view
of interstate relations, for overcstimatng The intel
lectuI and artistic sympaties Of his cOuntryme. and.
worst OF all for suppressng political genius that might
have come TO the leadership after his death and might
perhaps have rescued the state from the disasters which
finally overwhelmed it.
But the perusal of the volume as whole viii afford
n more generous view of one among the highest per
sonalities in history. If Perclcs could have had tic
foundation which TO build, il certain that lie
would have constructed powerful and durable politi-
cal organism Bat sagacity cOulG have penetrated
in his time the real difficulty OF the problem. All the
Widespread historic empires Of the East had been con
trolled from single city centre. like Babylon or
Ninevel, and long as the essential duefeccS be-
tween Eastern and Western peoples were only !npr-
fectly understood. mind modern in many re-
spects as was that of Perices could not have seen what
is now all too easily But Atca was moi equal 10
the burden that was put upon it-not by Percles, but
by destiny. When the battle of Marathon was fought
and won there was thenccorh only alternative for
Athens and that was to lead Greece or 70 be rIned.
No man the logic OF the thinG more
clearly than Periclcs himself Fortunately for the
world, his ambitious hopes for Athens. and perhaps
for himself, led him onward in the only path where
the Athenians could become the teachers OF the coming
ages. The growth of the democracy was an indis-
pcasabc condition Of development. The misfortune
was not in the democracy itself but in the fact that
its Numbers limited 10 small figure. As TO
Sparta, there is this be adthat nothing could have
avertcd I'm that quarter except a submissive mar
rowness surprising even tnat OF this oppressive Slave
State In their relations with the allies the Acnans
were driven by the common opinion OF lIellas into a
position whore lie tyranny Of their own city was
necessity and thei? exercise of the power thrust upon
them was certainly more generous than hs Inhabitants
of other ancient imperial cites, Babylon, NneVch,
Jerusalem or Rome, showed themselves capable Of
In respect TO his treatment Of personal rivals, Picl2s
might have defended himself Mr. Abbotts narrative
Shows on the ground that he had not stided merit.
The Athcnian statesmen, Thcmst0cleS, Cimon,
Afistides and PeIiclcs himself, who had raised the
city to greatness. had all emerged from whirlpool
OF opposing forces. II was the law of Ath3nan
politics the survival OF those fttest for the times and
the temper OF the people. But looked at from the
point Of view OF modern experience, it would seem
beyond expectation that small public that OF
Athens really was. even at its BEST could have con
,nued the production OF great men indefinitely. If
the prosaic intervals i'm the history OF modern States
are taken into consideration. it will surely be apparent
that Athens was soon or late doomed 10 suffer from
an age Of medlccrity
The volume is illustrated with maps and pictures
of temples satuary and other relics OF Athenian art