l, and
even shocking--his descent from the pinnacle of glory, to defeat,
mean tampering with a temple-servant, mortal bodily hurt,
undefended ignominy, and death under a sentence of heavy fine, is
so abrupt and unprepared--that readers, ancient and modern, have
not been satisfied without finding some one to blame for it: we
must except Herodotus, our original authority, who recounts the
transaction without dropping a single hint of blame against any
one. To speak ill of the people, as Machiavel has long ago
observed, is a strain in which every one at all times, even under a
democratical government indulges with impunity and without
provoking any opponent to reply; and in this case the hard fate of
Miltiades has been imputed to the vices of the Athenians and their
democracy--it has been cited in proof partly of their fickleness,
partly of their ingratitude. But however such blame may serve to
lighten the mental sadness arising from a series of painful facts,
it will not be found justified if we apply to those facts a
reasonable criticism."

He thus vindicates the Athenians from the charge of _fickleness_, on the
ground that it was not they, but Miltiades who had changed. The fugitive
from Paros, and the victor of Marathon, were two very different persons.
As any remarkable instance of fickleness we should certainly not be
disposed to cite the case. The charge of _ingratitude_, we have
admitted, is, presuming that he was guilty, entirely displaced. But when
Mr Grote in his final summary says, "The fate of Miltiades thus, so far
from illustrating either the fickleness or the ingratitude of his
countrymen, attests their just appreciation of deserts," we must indeed
demur. No, no: this was not the triumph of justice over the finer
sensibilities of our nature, as Mr Grote would seem to imply. On the
fairest review we can give to the whole of the circumstances, we find on
the sentence passed upon Miltiades a gross instance of that old
notorious injustice which pronounces an enterprise meritorious or
criminal according to its success. The enterprise was altogether a
disgraceful affair. But the Athenians must be supposed cognisant of the
nature of the expedition for which they fitted out their seventy
ships:--_against them_, we repeat, the only substantial offence
committed was his failure; nor can we doubt that his welcome back to
Athens would