Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh

“ But Athens was now the headquarters of Pontic power in Greece, and upon Athens Sulla directed his attack. Southern Greece generally was let alone, as sure to fall to the power that commanded the pass of Thermopylae and held Athens. But a Pontic army overran Macedonia, which was almost denuded of troops, and was prepared, like Persian and Macedonian invaders of old, to march thence upon the Peloponnese. ”

“ Careful governors mitigated the evil by refusing to nominate any man engaged in business in the province (negotiator) as a praefectus. But others were less scrupulous, and the deplorable result has been already illustrated in the case of Salamis in Cyprus.
The next event of importance to the Greek world was Pompey's suppression of the pirates B.C. 67–66) and his settlement of the East after the death of Mithradates (B.C. 63) . These two things contributed largely to make European and Asiatic Greece what they were when the Empire began. ”

“ Nevertheless the average Roman despised the average Greek, and thought him shifty, supple, or false. And when he went into the Greek's own lands he felt it due to his dignity not. to be on too familiar terms with the “inferior people.” Even Cicero, writing to his brother Quintus, who was governing Asia (B.C. 60) , says:—
“Among the Greeks themselves you must be on your guard against admitting close intimacies, except in the case of the very few, if such are to be found, who are worthy of ancient Greece. ”

“ The number of the piratical ships constituted a formidable fleet, which swept round the coasts unhindered. Their chief haunts were, in the West, the islands fringing the Illyrian coast and the Balearic Islands; in the East, Crete and the coast of Cilicia. As years went on, and poverty in Greece became more marked, it seems that many Greeks who in earlier and better times would have been in the active service of their state drifted into this way of life. ”

“ Rhodes was strengthened by the attribution of Andros, Tenos, and Naxos, and some territory in Caria; Laodicea and Tarsus were made free cities. Later on, however, when his infatuation with Cleopatra and his quarrel with Octavian had turned his thoughts to the establishment of an Eastern Empire, with Alexandria as its Rome, he began the practice of robbing Greek towns and temples in Asia for the adornment of Alexandria, removing among other things the famous library at Pergamus to make up for the partial destruction by fire of the Alexandrian books during Caesar's occupation. ”

“ Population, as already remarked, was dwindling, cities sank into villages, and poverty was everywhere apparent. Exceptions were generally those places which were on the line of route from West to East, such as Dyrrachium, Apollonia, Corcyra, and Patrae. Above all, the destruction of Corinth and the assignment of Delos to Athens as a free port, gave the Athenians considerable wealth and importance for a time. A series of inscriptions discovered at Delos by French archaeologists has disclosed a curious history of the commercial importance and activity of Delos. ”

“ Beginning with Sicily, he strengthened Syracuse and other cities by colonies of veterans, which, how- ever, must have done much to lessen their Hellenic character. In Greece proper, besides his colonies of Nicopolis and Patrae, which he was anxious to foster, he showed favour to Sparta rather than to Athens. This had also been the policy of Julius, and accordingly there was at Sparta a temple to Julius and an altar to Augustus. ”

“ The appearance of the fleet collected by Lucullus then enabled Sulla (who declined to be superseded) to negotiate with Mithradates, who, by the treaty of Delium (B.C. 84) , agreed to evacuate Roman Asia and to restore the inhabitants whom he had removed from Chios and Macedonia.
The results to Asiatic Greece were deplorable. Sulla treated the province with great severity, especially, of course, those states which had been prominent in joining Mithradates. Some few were rewarded for loyalty by being granted “freedom”—such as Ilium, Chios, Lycia, Salonike, Magnesia ad Sipylum, and Rhodes. ”

“ It is as though a governor-general of India were to make private advances to a Rajah whom he was supporting in his royalty by British forces. Nor under Pompey did the flow of gold and works of art from Greece into Italy cease. Yet the general result of his five years in the East was beneficial to Greece, and some states had particular causes of gratitude to him. Thus, besides restoring Mitylene to freedom, he presented Athens with fifty talents for the restoration of the city ”

“ Nothing effective was done to put down piracy for nearly twenty years, and meanwhile the question of the government of Bithynia, whose last sovereign Nicomedes on his death (B.C. 79) left the Romans his heirs, gave rise to another war with Mithradates (B.C. 74–63) , which, however, did not much affect Hellenic Asia, except the cities on the Propontis and Euxine, and especially Cyzicus, which had to stand a long siege. ”

“ Their successful resistance to the blockade of the royal fleet did something towards saving the situation. For the movement was not confined to Asia. Athens—which had been distinguished by Roman favour, and had been allowed to retain some of its island empire—had yet been for some time past looking to Mithradates as a possible restorer of Hellenic independence. ”

“ But the profits earned at Delos and the still existing mines at Laurium were the only source of revenue. The harbour of the Piraeus was empty, and though there was a war minister (στρατηγὸς ἐπὶ τὰ ὅπλα) it was with difficulty that troops were collected to suppress a rising of slaves in Attica and Delos about B.C. 132, brought about probably, as the nearly contemporary rising in Sicily, by the poverty as much as by the harshness of masters.
Another hindrance to Hellenic prosperity was piracy. This had always existed in the Mediterranean even before the time of Homer. ”

“ My advice is that these men should all be entertained with courtesy, but that close ties of hospitality or friendship should only be formed with the best of them: excessive intimacies with them are not very safe—for they do not venture to oppose our wishes—and they are not only jealous of our countrymen but of their own as well. ”

“ VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS.
humble, but is conscious of an authority to which he may look in the last resort for justice.
This is the good side of the Empire as it affected the provinces. Still it remains true that Greece itself withered under the régime. There was no national life and no great men. For great men seem only to rise at the call of duty and patriotism, and are not, it appears, produced except at times of strife or danger, at some crisis which demands them.
↑ The Odeion was burnt, but apparently by Aristion, not by Sulla. ”

“ Even those states which were numerically free could only use troops in the service of Rome or subject to an appeal to Rome. Thus a few years before (B.C. 152) the Athenians had ventured to make a raid on the territory of Oropus. The people of Oropus promptly appealed to the Roman Senate, and the Senate commissioned the government of Sicyon to assess the damages, and when the amount assessed proved to be beyond their means, the Athenians had to send commissioners to plead before the Senate for its reduction. ”

“ There is no party fighting, no civil strife in the towns: you take care that the government of the states is administered by the best class of citizens; brigandage is abolished in Mysia; murder sup- pressed in many districts; peace is established throughout the province; and not only the robberies usual on highways and in country places, but those more numerous and more serious ones in towns and temples, have been completely stopped ”

“ Moreover, the withdrawal of Sulla's main army and fleet. left them a prey to the pirates, who had been fostered and employed by Mithradates, and now grew bolder and more outrageous than ever, not confining their attacks to ships, but seizing harbours, forts, and cities, overrunning islands and plundering temples. Sulla therefore, left Greece and Asia in a pitiable plight, though once more obedient. ”

“ But the Piraeus—now an open town—was occupied in Caesar's interest. After the victory of Pharsalia, however (September, B.C. 48) , there was a sudden change. Megara, indeed, held out and was taken by force, and many of its citizens slaughtered or sold into slavery. ”