. Many gave
themselves up to riot and luxurious living, with the hope of snatching
an interval of enjoyment before yielding to death. The story we here
tell is no new one. It has been realized again and again in the flight
of the centuries, when pestilence has made its home in some crowded
city. Human nature is everywhere the same, and the bonds of law and
morality are loosened when death stalks abroad.

For two years this dread calamity continued to desolate Athens. Then,
after a period of a year and a half, it came again, and raged for
another year as furiously as before. The losses were frightful. Of the
armed men of the state nearly five thousand were swept away. Of the
poorer people the loss was beyond computation. Nothing the human enemy
was capable of could have done so much to ruin Athens as this frightful
visitation, and to the end of the war that city felt its weakening
effects.

But perhaps the greatest of the losses of Athens was the death of
Pericles. In him Athens lost its wisest man and ablest statesman. The
strong hand which had so long held the rudder of the state was gone, and
the subsequent misfortunes of Athens were due more to the loss of this
wise counsellor than to the efforts of her foes.

_THE ENVOYS OF LIFE AND DEATH._

Near the coast of Asia Minor lies the beautiful island of Lesbos, the
birthplace of the poets Sappho, Alcaeus, and Terpander, and of other
famous writers and sages of the past. Here were green valleys and
verdure-clad mountains, here charming rural scenes and richly-yielding
fields, here all that seems necessary to make life serene and happy. But
here also dwelt uneasy man, and hither came devastating war, bringing
with it the shadow of a frightful tragedy from which the people of
Lesbos barely escaped.

Lesbos was one of the islands that entered into alliance with Athens,
and formed part of the empire that arose from the league of Delos. In
428 B.C. this island, and its capital, Mitylene, revolted from Athens,
and struck for the freedom they had formerly enjoyed. Mitylene had never
become tributary to Athens. It was simply an ally; and it retained its
fleet, its walls, and its government; its only obligations being those
common to all members of the League.

Yet even these seemed to have been galling to the proud Mitylenians.
Athens was then at war with Sparta. It seemed a good time to throw off
all bonds, and the political leaders of the Lesbians declared
thems