28. Q. What league was formed to keep the Persians out of the Ægean? A. A league called the Confederation of Delos, the different states annually contributing to Athens a certain number of ships, or a fixed sum of money for the support of the navy. 29. Q. After the banishment of Themistocles and the death of Aristides, who were the leading men at Athens? A. Pericles and Cimon. 30. Q. To all students of Grecian literature, who must always appear as the central figure of Grecian history? A. Pericles. 31. Q. What is the period during which Pericles ruled Athens called? A. The Age of Pericles. 32. Q. During the latter part of the life of Pericles what war broke out in Greece, which lasted twenty-seven years? A. The Peloponnesian war in which nearly all the states of Greece took part, Athens and Sparta being on opposite sides. 33. Q. What was the plan for the conduct of the war on either side? A. The Spartan plan was to invade and desolate Attica, while that of Athens was to ravage the coast of the Peloponnesus with its fleet. 34. Q. While the citizens of Attica were seeking protection within the walls of Athens, what leader died during the pestilence that followed? A. Pericles. 35. Q. Who was chief among the demagogues that now arose in Athens? A. Cleon, a cruel, arrogant boaster, who gained power by flattering the populace. 36. Q. What was the fate of Platæa during this war? A. It was besieged by the Spartans, and when those defending the city surrendered every man was put to death and the city razed to the ground. 37. Q. After peace had been established, by the influence of what demagogue was the bloody contest renewed? A. By the influence of Alcibiades, a young nobleman, the nephew of Pericles and pupil of Socrates. 38. Q. What naval expedition was fitted out at the instance of Alcibiades, and with what result? A. An expedition against Sicily. The Athenian ships were defeated, and the troops attempting to flee by land were overtaken and forced to surrender. 39. Q. Before the final defeat of the expedition, to what rival city had Alcibiades given his support upon being summoned to Athens to answer charges that had been brought against him? A. To Sparta. 40. Q. How was the Peloponnesian war ended? A. By the surrender of Athens and her fleet, and the destruction of her long walls. 41. Q. By whom was Athens now for a time ruled? A. An oligarchy of thirty persons. After they had ruled only eight months the Athenian exiles returned in arms, overthrew the tyrants, and re-established a democratic government. 42. Q. What is meant by the “Retreat of the Ten Thousand” in Grecian history? A. The march of ten thousand Greeks from the heart of the Persian empire through a hostile country back to Greece. 43. Q. What battle, under what general resulted in the overthrow of Spartan rule, and made Thebes the chief city in Greece? A. The battle of Leuctra, the Theban army being led by Epaminondas.