The great Persian War and its preliminaries : $b A study of the evidence, literary and topographicalGrundy, G. B. (George Beardoe)
History
The great Persian War and its preliminaries : $b A study of the evidence, literary and topographical
Grundy, G. B. (George Beardoe)
Greece -- History -- Persian Wars, 500-449 B.C.
patriotism was held in vain.
It is conceivable that in the present instance Corcyra did not
understand to the full the nature of the danger which threatened
Greece. It had taken long to convince the states who sent her the
invitation that the attack was not directed against Athens alone. She
promised assistance, but evidently with a mental reservation to hold
back until the intention of the Persian was declared unmistakably.
Unfortunately for her reputation, she held back too long. When she
ought to have joined in, she did not—possibly she was too late to do
so; and it is not surprising if her contemporaries, who had borne the
burden of the struggle unaided by her, judged her hardly.
Not so severe, perhaps, should be the judgment of those who are in a
position to review the whole extent of the feeling which prevailed at
this critical time. Patriotism, when aroused, does not argue according
to the rules of logic; and so, remembering this, the severity of the
judgment passed by the Greek patriot on the Greek neutral may be
excused, or even in a sense justified. But it must also be borne in
mind that those who, with Delphi, regarded any joint action of the
Greek States in a quarrel which might be looked upon as concerning
Athens alone, to be calculated to bring suffering upon the whole of
Greece, or at any rate on those who took part in it, and therefore
impolitic, were also justified from their point of view. To them it
might seem as if Athens should lie on the bed she herself had made,
when she had alone among the great powers of Greece interfered in the
Ionian revolt.
#ATTITUDE OF ARGOS.#
Of the Crete of the earlier part of the fifth century but little is
known from the historians; and the modern exploration of the historic
remains on the island has, so far, thrown but little light on its
political relations at this time, whether internal or external.
It seems to have been divided up between a number of comparatively
small city States, which it would have been difficult to rouse to joint
action on any question which did not concern their special interests.
Herodotus does not pass any judgment on the conduct of the Cretans in
refusing aid, possibly because the refusal was in accordance with the
answer given by the Delphic oracle when consulted on the subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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