GRECIAN AFFAIRS AFTER THE PERSIAN DTVASION. 247 now have been slaves of the Great King. And the intention of the allies to obstruct the fortifications must have been known to every soul in Athens, from the universal press of hands re- quired to hurry the work and escape interference ; just as it was proclaimed to after-generations by the shapeless fragments and irregular structure of the wall, in which even sepulchral stones and inscribed columns were seen imbedded.' Assuredly, the sentiment connected with this work, performed as it was alike by rich and poor, strong and weak, — men, women, and children, — must have been intense as well as equalizing : all had en- dured the common miseries of exile, all had contx-ibuted to the victory, all were now sharing the same fatigue for the defence of their recovered city, in order to counterwork the ungenerous hindrance of their Peloponnesian allies. "We must take notice of these stirring circumstances, peculiar to the Athenians and acting upon a generation which had now been nursed in democ- racy for a quarter of a century, and had achiexjd unaided the urictory of Marathon, — if we would understand that still strong- er burst of aggressive activity, persevering self-confidence, and aptitude as well as thirst for command, — together with that still wider spread of democratical organization, — which marks their character during the age immediately following. The plan of the new fortification was projected on a scale not unworthy of the future grandeur of the city. Its circuit was sixty stadia, or about seven miles, with the acropolis nearly in the centre : but the circuit of the previous walls is unknown, so that we are unable to measure the extent of that enlargement which Tliucydidfis testifies to have been carried out on every side. It included within the town the three hills of the Areopa- gus, the Pnyx, and the Museum ; while on the south of the town it was carried for a space even on the southern bank of the Ilissus, thus also comprising the fountain Kallirhoe.2 In spite ' Thucyd. i, 93. Cornelius Nepos (Themist. c. 7) exaggerates this into a foolish conceit.
- For the dimensions and direction of the Themistoklean walls of Athens,
5<;e especially the excellent Treatise of Forchhammcr — Topographic von Athen — published in the Kieler Philologische Studien. ICiel, 1841. The plan of Athens, prepared by Kiepert after his own researches and
