It was finally agreed that the Long Walls and the fortifications of Piræus should be destroyed, the ships of war surrendered, all exiles restored to their rights of citizenship, and all the foreign possessions of Athens relinquished. These hard conditions were executed with needless insolence. Lysander himself presided at the demolition of the walls; and the work, which was rendered very difficult by the solidity of their construction, was turned into a sort of festal celebration. A chorus of flute-players and dancers, wreathed with flowers, animated the workmen at their toil; and as the massive walls of Pericles fell, stone by stone, shouts of triumph arose from the army of destroyers that this day witnessed the dawn of the liberties of Greece. [Sidenote: B. C. 477-404.] =209.= The Athenian supremacy had lasted seventy-three years from the confederation at Delos. The power which had been intrusted to the imperial city for the common defense, had, in some cases, been made to bear heavily on the subject allies, and her later history is stained by many acts of cruelty. But the true empire of Athens has never been overthrown; for, through poetry, art, and philosophy, she still rules the minds of men with a power which has never been surpassed. RECAPITULATION. The rivals, subjects, and enemies of Athens united to hasten her fall; and to this end Sparta promised to the Persians Thessaly, Bœotia, the islands of the Ægean, and the coast of Asia Minor. Alcibiades partly neutralized the Spartan influence with the satraps, and secured an oligarchical revolution in Athens as the price of his efforts in her favor. Through his aid the Athenians gained several great naval victories in the northern Ægean, which restored to them the corn-trade of the Euxine, and relieved the famine in their besieged city. The gold of Cyrus the Younger, and the skill of Lysander, again turned the tide against the Athenians, who were twice defeated; and, though afterward triumphant near the Arginusæ, received a final and disastrous overthrow at Ægos-Potami, which ended their supremacy in Greece. The subject towns fell into the power of the Spartans; and, the following spring, Athens itself was surrendered to Lysander, and its Long Walls destroyed. SPARTAN SUPREMACY. =210.= Sparta, in alliance with Persia, now became the leading state in Greece; and all the cities yielded to her influence, by abolishing their free governments and setting up oligarchies in their stead. Athens herself received a thoroughly Spartan constitution. A provisional committee of five, called ephors, invited Lysander from Samos to preside over the reorganization of Athens. Under his direction, thirty officers were appointed for the government of the city, who have always been known in history as the “Thirty Tyrants.” [Sidenote: B. C. 401.]