Athens now, amid the of -contending po t The political superiority of Athens ceased after the battle of Cheronea ; yet gleams of her ancient spirit still occasionally broke forth. The death of Philip, which occurred soon after, appeared to pre sent.a favourable opportunity of throwing off the yoke ; and it was embraced at once by Athens, by Thebes, and by the tribes of Thrace and Illyricum. But the young hero, having crushed his barbarous enemies, returned with the rapidity of lightning into Greece. Thebes suffered a dreadful punishrhent for her daring attempt ; and a similar fate seemed to im pend over Athens. With a magnanimity, however, worthy of her best days, she braved the prohibition issued by the conqueror against giving shelter to the exiles from Thebes. Yet Alexander, notwithstand ing this additional provocation, consulted his fame, by extending clemency to so renowned a city.
During the victorious career of Alexander, Athens remained without any' movement, even while Sparta, under the command of Agis, was making a vigorous, though unsuccessful, attempt at emancipation. A remnant of independence, however, appeared, by her deciding favour of Demosthenes, the celebrated contest concerning the crown, (See DETIOSTISENES,) though she banished him two years afterwards, on a somewhat doubtful accusation of bribery. Alexan der appears always to have shewn a peculiar favour to this city. Devoted to the pursuit of glory, he viewed Athens as the dispenser of it. The speech is Well known which he made in passing the Hydaspes " What dangers am I encountering, 0 Athenians, in order to be praised by you !" The decree, however, which he passed for the restoration of all the Grecian exiles to their respective cities, though humanity, as well as policy, might have prompted it, excited high indignation among a people so torn by party contests; and when it was immediately followed by the news of his death, the popular party easily gained the ascendency. Demosthenes, restored to his country, became again the soul of the Athenian councils. A confederacy was formed, with Athens at its head; and a numerous army was raised, to make head against that under the command of Antipater. Leostlienes,• being appointed general, attacked the Macedonian' commander, defeated and drove him into Lamia, a town of Thessaly, to which he immediately laid siege. Leosthenes fell before the town ; but his sue: cessor Antiphilus routed a' body of troops which, had advanced to relieve it. Alarmed by these, checks, Craterus hastened over with a band of those' tentates, enjoyed, for some time, a precarious inde pendence. This, such as it was, seems to have in fused a portion of her ancient spirit. An inunda tion of Gauls, under the command of Brennus, poured down upon Greece, which they prepared to enter by the straits of Thermopylx. The Athenians took the lead in the confederacy of Grecian states formed to oppose them; and Brennus, after a desperate effort, found the barbarous strength of his troops insufficient to contend with the superior skill and valour of the Greeks. He was forced to relinquish his enter prize, and to content himself with 'laying waste the northern districts.
This last glimmering, however, of her ancient glory, was quickly extinguished. Antigonus, the son of Demetrius, having ascended the throne of Ma cedon, determined to avenge on Athens the injuries of his father: he laid siege to it therefore with a powerful army ; and, notwithstanding the efforts made by the other states, and even by Ptolemy of Egypt, he at length succeeded in compelling it to receive a Macedonian garrison.
The Achaian republic now began its splendid career ; during the whole of which, Athens remained in inglorious tranquillity. In the wars, however, which immediately succeeded between Rome and Macedon, she makes some small figure. She even gave occasion to the second Macedonian war. Two Acar nanian youths had been put to death by the Athe nians, for some venial offence committed at their sa cred rites. The Acarnanians, having in vain demand
ed satisfaction, obtained permission from Philip to lay waste Attica, in which they were aided by some Ma cedonian troops. The Athenians, without making any attempt to defend themselves, appealed to the Romans, who, eager for a pretence to make war upon Philip, availed themselves of this event. Attalus and the Rhodian ambassadors, then in alliance with Rome, happening to pass near Athens, appeared in the city, and were received with the most extravagant honours.
Athens, however, took little share in the war which she had kindled, but derived a precarious security from the hostility of contending powers. The form of liberty was for a time confirmed to her, by that decree which gave freedom to all the Grecian states. But when Rome, having reduced Macedon to sub jection, no longer kept terms with the other states, Athens, along with them, was reduced into a province, under the title of Achaia. She does not even ap pear to have shared in the gallant resistance made by the Achaian republic. What followed, however, some time after, shewed, that there was still some remnant of her ancient spirit. Mithridates, the re nowned enemy of Romc, had openly raised the stand ard against that power, and had commenced hostili ties by an indiscriminate massacre of all the Romans who were settled in Asia. From that moment, Athens hailed him as her deliverer. Rome, distract ed by faction, was supposed to be in no condition to enforce her dominion. The complete triumph, how ever, of Sylla over Marius, fatally deceived this ex pectation. The former general marched directly into Greece, inflamed with the most furious thirst of ven geance. All the states submitted, except Athens ; and therefore against it the Roman general advanced without delay. Athens made a resistance beyond expectation, and not unworthy of her ancient fame. The city and the Pirxus, which formed separate for tresses, were then in different hands. The former was commanded by Aristion, who is represented as a violent and profligate ,character, but who appears evidently to have possessed great energy and activity. The Pirxus was held by Archelaus, an officer of Mithridates, possessed of distinguished merit and abi lity. Sylla spared no efforts to overcome this un expected resistance. To construct his machines, he levelled all the sacred groves around Athens, nor spared even the Academy and the Lyceum. He plundered the treasures of Delphi, without regard to the sanctity which had so long been attached to them. Yet every attempt which he made to reduce the place by storm, was completely baffled, and he was compelled to have recourse to blockade. Having succeeded in demolishing part of the long walls which joined Athens to the Pirxus, the city, deprived of communication with its harbour, soon began to be straitened for subsistence. Treachery completed what force had begun ; the supplies of Athens were en tirely cut off; and she began to experience all the horrors of famine. Aristion desperately resisted every proposal of surrender ; but at length the citi zens, either through fatigue or disaffection, ceased to keep the same strict watch as formerly. Sylla, ob serving this, prepared a midnight attack, which, find ing them completely unprepared, soon made him master of the city. Exasperated at their long de fence, he gave full vent to the ferocity of his charac ter. Not only was the city given up to indiscriminate plunder ; but orders were issued, that every Athe nian, of every age and sex, should be put to the sword. The city streamed with Athenian blood ; and scarcely, of her whole population, did a feeble rem nant survive. Archelaus, seeing the city lost, judged it necessary to evacuate the Pirxus. Sylla, thus de prived of human victims, vented his impious fury on the structures, the pride of Athens and of Greece, with which that port was adorned. The fairest edi fices of the city had been defaced ; but the Pirxus was completely levelled with the ground.