began to weary of their arduous duties, and murmured against the Athenians, who proved hard task-masters, and compelled them by force to perform their part in the bargain. One by one the cities revolted from the leadership of Athens, were attacked by her navies, and reduced to the position of subjects and tributaries. Others voluntarily withdrew from all active co-operation in the war, agreeing to pay a fixed annual sum as a substitute for service in the fleet. And before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War the two powerful islands of Lesbos and Chios were the only members of the original league who still retained their independence. Such were the circumstances which led to the foundation of the Athenian Empire, which grew up, by the force of necessity, out of the decay of a confederacy born of a common need, and organised for the special benefit of the Asiatic Greeks. For the names of the Greek cities on the coasts of Asia Minor still figured in the Persian tribute-lists; and the moment that the grasp of Athens relaxed on the confines of the King's dominions, after the ruinous defeat in Sicily, Persian tax-gatherers came knocking at the gates of Ephesus and Miletus, demanding the arrears of tribute. So urgent was the need supplied by the energy of Athens, and so blind were these Greeks of Asia Minor to their own interests. The visible sign of this momentous change, by which the Delian Confederacy became merged in the Athenian Empire, was the removal of the treasury from Delos to Athens. The Athenians now undertook the whole administration of the common fund, using the surplus for the adornment of Athens by magnificent public buildings. This appropriation seems reasonable enough, when we consider that the whole burden of defending the eastern Greeks against Persia, and keeping the barbarian out of Greek waters, now lay upon Athens. This great public duty, which had been thrown upon her by the indifference of Sparta, and the unmanly sloth of her own allies, was faithfully performed; and she might well ask why she should be called upon to lavish the blood of her own citizens for nothing. That Athens should be great, splendid, and powerful, was not only a reward due to her public spirit and devotion to the common cause, but also a guarantee for the general dignity and liberty of Greeks. And we, who have still before us the remnants of her temples and statues, and learn from them what man can accomplish under the inspiration of great ideals, need not scan too closely her claim to appropriate the funds which she employed for so noble a purpose. For this was the great age of Grecian art, the age of Phidias, Polycletus, Myron, and Polygnotus. The greatest of these was Phidias; and in the Parthenon, or Temple of the Virgin Goddess, [Footnote: Athene, the patron goddess of Athens.] built under his direction on the Acropolis at Athens, he has left the most enduring monument of his fame. He also