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Article ON PUBLIC INGRATITUDE TO GREAT CHARACTERS. ← Page 3 of 6 →
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On Public Ingratitude To Great Characters.
in public esteem . Even the brave and virtuous Aristides could not escape Ostracism ! « - It was Themistocles , who at Salamis defeated the natives of Asia , : md severely humbled the pride of the infatuated Xerxes . It was Themistocles who raised Athens from the dust to be a city splendid and powerful . It was Themistocles who rendered the state of Athens far superior to every other republic in Greece . Yet even this
Themistocles became afterwards the victim of popular fury , and was compelled to seek refuge in the court of the Persian monarch 1 Banished from Athens , and dreading the assault of Macedonian pursuers , Demosthenes put an end to his existence by poison . How base was the ingratitude of the Athenians , to betray a citizen whose whole life had been spent in opposing the ambition and intri gues of
Macedonian princes ! But we cannot wonder that the people should be treacherous , when even Phocion , the good as he was called , could be false and perfidious to the very man who had been instrumental in elevating him to rank and authority . The Athenians and Lacedemonians had long disputed the empire of the sea : Timotheus , by a decisive victory over the Lacedemonians obliged them to acknowledge the Athenians superior in that element . But the services of this Commander were soon forgotten , and his countrymen punished him by fine , at the instigation of an artful
faction . Pass we from Greeks to Romans . —We hear Camillus beseechin ° - the Gods that his ungrateful country might soon deplore the loss of him . To his mother , wife , and children , Coriolanus bids adieu , driven as he was into perpetual exile by the ' violence of Sicinius and his turbulent colleagues . Scipio enumerates , with that confidence and pride which conscious worth will ever inspirehis actions performed for
, the Roman sate : yet do the Petilii persist in their invidious prosecution , till the indignity of such measures provoked even Tiberius Sempronitts Gracchus ( inimical as he was to Scipio on other accounts ) with spirit and magnanimity to exclaim , " Tribunes , shall the Conqueror of Asia crouch under your feet ? Was it for this he overthrew and routed four most renowned Generals , four armies of the
Carthaginians in Spain ? Hath he taken Syphax , conquered Hannibal , made Carthage tributary , removed Antiochus beyond Mount Taurus , for this—to be at last submissive to the Petilii , and for you to triumph over P . Africanus ? Shall no merits of their own , nor honours conferred by you , ever place illustrious men in a safe and almost sacred refugewhere their old age may restif not with respectyet at least
, , , without injury ?—Scipio was so affected by the ingratitude of the Tribunitial party , that he retired from Rome to Linternum , and directed his domestics to bury him there , that his funeral mi ght not be jjerfoimed in his-thankless country .
The saying which was used by Scipio ' s friends , ' That two of the greatest cities in the world were found to be ungrateful at the same time to their chief commanders , ' reminds us of Hannibal . —However
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Public Ingratitude To Great Characters.
in public esteem . Even the brave and virtuous Aristides could not escape Ostracism ! « - It was Themistocles , who at Salamis defeated the natives of Asia , : md severely humbled the pride of the infatuated Xerxes . It was Themistocles who raised Athens from the dust to be a city splendid and powerful . It was Themistocles who rendered the state of Athens far superior to every other republic in Greece . Yet even this
Themistocles became afterwards the victim of popular fury , and was compelled to seek refuge in the court of the Persian monarch 1 Banished from Athens , and dreading the assault of Macedonian pursuers , Demosthenes put an end to his existence by poison . How base was the ingratitude of the Athenians , to betray a citizen whose whole life had been spent in opposing the ambition and intri gues of
Macedonian princes ! But we cannot wonder that the people should be treacherous , when even Phocion , the good as he was called , could be false and perfidious to the very man who had been instrumental in elevating him to rank and authority . The Athenians and Lacedemonians had long disputed the empire of the sea : Timotheus , by a decisive victory over the Lacedemonians obliged them to acknowledge the Athenians superior in that element . But the services of this Commander were soon forgotten , and his countrymen punished him by fine , at the instigation of an artful
faction . Pass we from Greeks to Romans . —We hear Camillus beseechin ° - the Gods that his ungrateful country might soon deplore the loss of him . To his mother , wife , and children , Coriolanus bids adieu , driven as he was into perpetual exile by the ' violence of Sicinius and his turbulent colleagues . Scipio enumerates , with that confidence and pride which conscious worth will ever inspirehis actions performed for
, the Roman sate : yet do the Petilii persist in their invidious prosecution , till the indignity of such measures provoked even Tiberius Sempronitts Gracchus ( inimical as he was to Scipio on other accounts ) with spirit and magnanimity to exclaim , " Tribunes , shall the Conqueror of Asia crouch under your feet ? Was it for this he overthrew and routed four most renowned Generals , four armies of the
Carthaginians in Spain ? Hath he taken Syphax , conquered Hannibal , made Carthage tributary , removed Antiochus beyond Mount Taurus , for this—to be at last submissive to the Petilii , and for you to triumph over P . Africanus ? Shall no merits of their own , nor honours conferred by you , ever place illustrious men in a safe and almost sacred refugewhere their old age may restif not with respectyet at least
, , , without injury ?—Scipio was so affected by the ingratitude of the Tribunitial party , that he retired from Rome to Linternum , and directed his domestics to bury him there , that his funeral mi ght not be jjerfoimed in his-thankless country .
The saying which was used by Scipio ' s friends , ' That two of the greatest cities in the world were found to be ungrateful at the same time to their chief commanders , ' reminds us of Hannibal . —However