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B.C. 374. The Athenians and Lacedaemonians were thus engaged. But to
return to the Thebans. After the subjugation of the cities in Boeotia,
they extended the area of aggression and marched into Phocis. The
Phocians, on their side, sent an embassy to Lacedaemon, and pleaded
that without assistance from that power they must inevitably yield to
Thebes. The Lacedaemonians in response conveyed by sea into the
territory of Phocis their king Cleombrotus, at the head of four
regiments and the contingents of the allies.
About the same time Polydamus of Pharsalus arrived from Thessaly to
address the general assembly[1] of Lacedaemon. He was a man of high
repute throughout the whole of Thessaly, while in his native city he
was regarded as so true a gentleman that the faction-ridden
Pharsalians were content to entrust the citadel to his keeping, and to
allow their revenues to pass through his hands. It was his privilege
to disburse the money needed for sacred rites or other expenditure,
within the limits of their written law and constitution. Out of these
moneys this faithful steward of the state was able to garrison and
guard in safety for the citizens their capital. Every year he rendered
an account of his administration in general. If there was a deficit he
made it up out of his own pocket, and when the revenues expanded he
paid himself back. For the rest, his hospitality to foreigners and his
magnificence were on a true Thessalian scale. Such was the style and
character of the man who now arrived in Lacedaemon and spoke as
follows:
"Men of Lacedaemon, it is in my capacity as 'proxenos' and
'benefactor' (titles borne by my ancestry from time immemorial) that I
claim, or rather am bound, in case of any difficulty to come to you,
and, in case of any complication dangerous to your interests in
Thessaly, to give you warning. The name of Jason, I feel sure, is not
unknown to Lacedaemonian ears. His power as a prince is sufficiently
large, and his fame widespread. It is of Jason I have to speak. Under
cover of a treaty of peace he has lately conferred with me, and this
is the substance of what he urged: 'Polydamas,' he said, 'if I chose I
could lay your city at my feet, even against its will, as the
following considerations will prove to you. See,' he went on, 'the
majority and the most important of the states of Thessaly are my
allies. I subdued them in campaigns in which you took their side in
opposition to myself. Again, you do not need to be told that I have
six thousand mercenaries who are a match in themselves, I take it, for
any single state. It is not the mere numbers on which I insist. No
doubt as large an army could be raised in other quarters; but these
citizen armies have this defect--they include men who are already
advanced in years, with others whose beards are scarcely grown. Again,
it is only a fraction of the citizens who attend to bodily training in
a state, whereas with me no one takes mercenary service who is not as
capable of endurance as myself.'
"And here, Lacedaemonians, I must tell you what is the bare truth.
This Jason is a man stout of limb and robust of body, with an
insatiable appetite for toil. Equally true is it that he tests the
mettle of those with him day by day. He is always at their head,
whether on a field-day under arms, or in the gymnasium, or on some
military expedition. The weak members of the corps he weeds out, but
those whom he sees bear themselves stout-heartedly in the face of war,
like true lovers of danger and of toil, he honours with double,
treble, and quadruple pay, or with other gifts. On the bed of sickness
they will not lack attendance, nor honour in their graves. Thus every
foreigner in his service knows that his valour in war may obtain for
him a livelihood--a life replete at once with honour and abundance.[2]
"Then with some parade he pointed out to me what I knew before, that
the Maracians, and the Dolopians, and Alcetas the hyparch[3] in
Epirus, were already subject to his sway; 'so that I may fairly ask
you, Polydamas,' he proceeded, 'what I have to apprehend that I should
not look on your future subjugation as mere child's play. Perhaps some
one who did not know me, and what manner of man I am, might put it to
me: "Well! Jason, if all you say be true, why do you hesitate? why do
you not march at once against Pharsalia?" For the good reason, I
reply, that it suits me better to win you voluntarily than to annex
you against your wills. Since, if you are forced, you will always be
planning all the mischief you can against me, and I on my side shall
be striving to diminish your power; whereas if you throw in your lot
with mine trustfully and willingly, it is certain we shall do what we
can to help each other. I see and know, Polydamas, that your country
fixes her eyes on one man only, and that is yourself: what I guarantee
you, therefore, is that, if you will dispose her lovingly to myself, I
on my side will raise you up to be the greatest man in Hellas next to
me. Listen, while I tell you what it is in which I offer you the
second prize. Listen, and accept nothing which does not approve itself
as true to your own reasoning. First, is it not plain to us both, that
with the adhesion of Pharsalus and the swarm of pettier states
dependent on yourselves, I shall with infinite ease become Tagos[4] of
all the Thessalians; and then the corollary--Thessaly so united--
sixteen thousand cavalry and more than ten thousand heavy infantry
leap into life. Indeed, when I contemplate the physique and proud
carriage of these men, I cannot but persuade myself that, with proper
handling, there is not a nation or tribe of men to which Thessalians
would deign to yield submission. Look at the broad expanse of Thessaly
and consider: when once a Tagos is established here, all the tribes in
a circle round will lie stilled in subjection; and almost every member
of each of these tribes is an archer born, so that in the light
infantry division of the service our power must needs excel.
Furthermore, the Boeotians and all the rest of the world in arms
against Lacedaemon are my allies; they clamour to follow my banner, if
only I will free them from Sparta's yoke. So again the Athenians, I
make sure, will do all they can to gain our alliance; but with them I
do not think we will make friends, for my persuasion is that empire by
sea will be even easier to acquire than empire by land; and to show
you the justice of this reasoning I would have you weigh the following
considerations. With Macedonia, which is the timber-yard[5] of the
Athenian navy, in our hands we shall be able to construct a far larger
fleet than theirs. That stands to reason. And as to men, which will be
the better able to man vessels, think you--Athens, or ourselves with
our stalwart and numerous Penestae?[6] Which will better support
mariners--a nation which, like our own, out of her abundance exports
her corn to foriegn parts, or Athens, which, but for foreign
purchases, has not enough to support herself? And so as to wealth in
general it is only natural, is it not, that we, who do not look to a
string of little islands for supplies, but gather the fruits of
continental peoples, should find our resources more copious? As soon
as the scattered powers of Thessaly are gathered into a principality,
all the tribes around, I repeat, will become our tributaries. I need
not tell you that the king of Persia reaps the fruits, not of islands,
but of a continent, and he is the wealthiest of men! But the reduction
of Persia will be still more practicable, I imagine, than that of
Hellas, for there the men, save one, are better versed in slavery than
in prowess. Nor have I forgotten, during the advance of Cyrus, and
afterwards under Agesilaus, how scant the force was before which the
Persian quailed.'
Such, Lacedaemonians, were the glowing arguments of Jason. In answer
I told him that what he urged was well worth weighing, but that we,
the friends of Lacedaemon, should so, without a quarrel, desert her
and rush into the arms of her opponents, seemed to me sheer madness.
Whereat he praised me, and said that now must he needs cling all the
closer to me if that were my disposition, and so charged me to come to
you and tell you the plain truth, which is, that he is minded to march
against Pharsalus if we will not hearken to him. Accordingly he bade
me demand assistance from you; 'and if they suffer you,'[7] he added,
'so to work upon them that they will send you a force sufficient to do
battle with me, it is well: we will abide by war's arbitrament, nor
quarrel with the consequence; but if in your eyes that aid is
insufficient, look to yourself. How shall you longer be held blameless
before that fatherland which honours you and in which you fare so
well?'[8]
"These are the matters," Polydamas continued, "which have brought me
to Lacedaemon. I have told you the whole story; it is based partly on
what I see to be the case, and partly on what I have heard from yonder
man. My firm belief is, men of Lacedaemon, that if you are likely to
despatch a force sufficient, not in my eyes only, but in the eyes of
all the rest of Thessaly, to cope with Jason in war, the states will
revolt from him, for they are all in alarm as to the future
development of the man's power; but if you think a company of newly-
enfranchised slaves and any amateur general will suffice, I advise you
to rest in peace. You may take my word for it, you will have a great
power to contend against, and a man who is so prudent a general that,
in all he essays to do, be it an affair of secrecy, or speed, or
force, he is wont to hit the mark of his endeavours: one who is
skilled, should occasion serve, to make the night of equal service to
him with the day;[9] or, if speed be needful, will labour on while
breakfasting or taking an evening meal. And as for repose, he thinks
that the time for it has come when the goal is reached or the business
on hand accomplished. And to this same practice he has habituated
those about him. Right well he knows how to reward the expectations of
his soldiers, when by the extra toil which makes the difference they
have achieved success; so that in his school all have laid to heart
that maxim, 'Pain first and pleasure after.'[10] And in regard to
pleasure of the senses, of all men I know, he is the most continent;
so that these also are powerless to make him idle at the expense of
duty. You must consider the matter then and tell me, as befits you,
what you can and will do."
Such were the representations of Polydamas. The Lacedaemonians, for
the time being, deferred their answer; but after calculating the next
day and the day following how many divisions[11] they had on foreign
service, and how many ships on the coast of Laconia to deal with the
foreign squadron of the Athenians, and taking also into account the
war with their neighbours, they gave their answer to Polydamas: "For
the present they would not be able to send him sufficient aid: under
the circumstances they advised him to go back and make the best
settlement he could of his own affairs and those of his city." He,
thanking the Lacedaemonians for their straightforwardness, withdrew.
The citadel of Pharsalus he begged Jason not to force him to give up:
his desire was to preserve it for those who had entrusted it to his
safe keeping; his own sons Jason was free to take as hostages, and he
would do his best to procure for him the voluntary adhesion of his
city by persuasion, and in every way to further his appointment as
Tagos of Thessaly. Accordingly, after interchange of solemn assurances
between the pair, the Pharsalians were let alone and in peace, and ere
long Jason was, by general consent, appointed Tagos of all the
Thessalians. Once fairly vested with that authority, he drew up a list
of the cavalry and heavy infantry which the several states were
capable of furnishing as their quota, with the result that his
cavalry, inclusive of allies, numbered more than eight thousand, while
his infantry force was computed at not less than twenty thousand; and
his light troops would have been a match for those of the whole world
--the mere enumeration of their cities would be a labour in
itself.[12] His next act was a summons to all the dwellers round[13]
to pay tribute exactly the amount imposed in the days of Scopas.[14]
And here in this state of accomplishment we may leave these matters. I
return to the point reached when this digression into the affairs of
Jason began.
{Andr' agathon men alatheos genesthai
khalepon khersin te kai posi kai noo tetragonon, aneu psogou tetugmenon.}
a sentiment criticised by Plato, "Protag." 359 A. "Now Simonides
says to Scopas, the son of Creon, the Thessalian:
'Hardly on the one hand can a man become truly good; built
four-square in hands and feet and mind, a work without a flaw.'
Do you know the poem?"--Jowett, "Plat." i. 153. But whether this
Scopas is the Scopas of our text and a hero of Jason's is not clear.
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