New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-02

,,a .ho nouer Then came Timoleon, a wander
Ing hero OF freedom, who set out from TIE parent
city OF Corinth to rescue the colonies from the
r,iser,es into which they had fallen His figure
is tina. of the disnterested and capable ana honest
HELENE In its perfection. Such qualities as MS
were rare in Greece. Common honesty was
VIRTUE oftener praised than practised. But the
Syracusans knew an example or IL wheh thcS
saw one Tlmoleon measured his own powers
exactly His duty yas to drive out the tyrah'S'
That duty DONE he retired from puollc lie hii'i-
self ready to return however. the moment tha'
1T, servlces were needed Even In his blind old
age he willingly allowed himself TO be carried
into tho city when the people desired his advice
Under him the conflict of Greek and Carthagih!ah
WAS decided for centuries. It Is even plausible
conjecture that without the check gwen d! inc
hattie on the shores and in the current OF the
river Crimisus. the Punc wars OF Rome might
have had different outcome. The fact was that
croel, civilization. the only one in Europe that
had shown capacity for improvement, hung
IN the balance No Greek city OF the
East could have sustained a Carthaginian
attack. The training which the Sicilian Greeks
had received under their successive tyrants pre-
disposed them to a unity i'm time of war when
was rare among their countrymen. IL was not
go casv now as Il had been In past times Tor
Carthage to buy allies on the Island. ana IL was
still less easy to keep them after they hau peeh
bought And Carthage found her needs we" up
with her resources. She got no ala from any
where that she did not pay for IT she weakened
bo~ force at home below a certain point. she was
sure to feel the danger Of a war with her nearest
neghbors The grinding oppression. which she
exercised in behalf Of her own citizens over ali
other people with whom she came In contact
caused her to be hated with an intensity Oh
which the dislike felt by Continental nations tow
ard the trading English Is only pale rehec'ioh'
Now the time had come when her policy Of su-
prcmacy must be tested Syracuse was getting
too powerful The chances Of Greek union were
evidently increasing. That the occasion was felt
to he of fateful Import shown by an act OF
seif-sacrlrce on the part OF the bravest young
Carthagnans, which was almost without prec-
cdent Hitherto Garth 1gin!an armies had been
oaiccred bv citizens. But now the Sacred Band
n body Of heavily armed troops. numbering at
least twenty-five hundred men. and perhaps as
many as ten thousand the best blood OF Car
image was sent with the invading army. Ihese
soldiers appeared to have been drilled In tactics
not unlike those Of the Greek phaanx. Standing
IN sold array With shields looked together they
formed The centre around which the battle played
In the swift ruth Of -horiots. In charges OF cav
airy and in the volleys Of dart-throwers ana
singers As long they stood the battle raged
I'm vain around them. Doubtless their appear
ance was az frIghtfu as that OF the Macedonian
phalanx was confesscdly TO the Romans OF
later age. But the hepiessness Of this huge lv-
ing war machine was that Il could not be moved
about. II the rushing charloreers could be evaded
something might be- done 70 break through the
linked array Of shields So Tlmoleon thought
Itfl h,s no oh of
his enemy Indeed hc may have had nothing to
do with wha; happened after the vain shock Of
tho first charge This was broken by the chari-
ots When the Greeks fell upon the stolid core
Of the Carihagin.an line OF battle. they saw that
their own spears were useless. Then they
rushed within the line ~ Carihaglnian spears,
cutting and hacking with their swords-weapons
not heavy and servlceablc "a those ~ me
Romans but better than anything known 10 the
barbarians The Sacred Band held together by
Its own fatal method Of formation. was cut down
20 n man \ hailstorm helped Timoleon's mea-
gre forces The missiles Of I.us fell on the backs
" the Greeks but dashed In the face Of the
enemy Under these conditions the fighting OF
the Greeks appears to have been individual To
a degree Every man dashed forward wherever
he saw nm enemy 20 slay. The heavily armed
car,haglnians. beaten down into the mud. were
Frenchmen at Agincourt who charged over
field ~ loose soil and were slaughtered IN ranks.
unable To move backward or forward through
the mlre Meanwhile the rain had turned the
dlminutive Crlmsus into = raging food. And the
fleeing muiitudcs that tried to cross were swept
away The stars In their courses once more
fought against the charots and The horses 81
Canaan" as they had done when S!sera was
overwhelmed. and Crimisus. on that day Of de-
liverance did we'll the work Of elder klshon.
Freeman acknowledges that on the score II vic
tory won By few. the battle II the Crlmisus may
well be compared. "a Holm does compare II. with
the English victories II Crecy, Pliters and Agn-
court but he d.skcs the parallel. because these
English battles were not fought for freedom.
lie prefers the victories OF the Confederates
over the might ~ Austria and Burgundy" But
neither TImoeon nor his men were conscious OF
the real effects OF the battle which they had won
They had not broken the power Of Carthage. IL
needed a different army and a sernor leadership
T. accomplish that task But they had saved
the siclllan power from being broken down ana
nc long "a that stood the growth ~ Carthage
must be limited While Rome was growing To
the stature requisite for becoming the champion
NJ Europe against the East. Timoeon and his
sicllptcs were keeping the African giant down
to manageable proportions.
II has been remarked that one perncious class
~ Greek rulers were the theorists. Another
class worse morally but not more Injurious In
fact. were the utterly selnsh despots like Agath-
ocles In whom the history Of Sicily becomes con-
Temporary with that OF Alexander's generals In
Asia. and begins to feel the neighborhood OF
Rome The world getting broader every day.
Yet the Orient turned out nothing more hideously.
mockingly cruel than this strange military ex-
pert By turns the creature and the master OF
circumstances The theorst Dion had barely be-
gun his career as ruler when he was assassi-
mated The monster Agathocles. with his brazen
he'd ON which he roasted his victims. reigned