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THE PERSIAN WARS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. 97tion. 1 But when the victory remained in the hands of theGreeks, they continued with spirit a war, which for themwas no longer a dangerous one;and if the emancipation oftheir countrymen became from that time nothing more thanan ostensible reason,2 it was still a proof of the reviving nation- 1 ; *pirit.When the war after fifty-one years was terminate ^-wy the first peace with the Persians, 3 it was cloneund^xhe conditions, that the Grecian cities in Asia shouldbe free ;that the troops of the Persians should keep two7days march distant from them ;and that their squadronshould leave4the ^Egean.sea. In a similar manner,, after along and similar contest, emancipated Holland, in a morerecent age, prescribed the conditions of peace tothe rulerand blockaded the mouths of his rivers,of both the Indies,while it preserved the ocean open to itself.Thus the people of Hellas, by means of this war, appearedimong the nations in the splendour of victory. They werelow permitted to look around in tranquil security ;for whovould venture to attack them. The Eastern world obeyedhe humbled Persian ;in the North, the kingdom of Mace-Ionia had not yet begunits career of conquest ; and Italy,till divided into small states, did not as yet contain a victoiousrepublic. The period was therefore come, in whichjreece could unfold all its youthful vigour poetry and the;ine arts put forth their blossoms the; philosophic mindontemplates itself in tranquillity; and in public spirit, theeveral cities vie with each other in generous competition,Ll nation does not need peace and tranquillityto becomereat jbut it needs the consciousness that it is possessed of;rength, to gain peace and tranquillity.The Persian wars gave a character, not only to the relaonsof Greece with foreign countries, but also to its interalcondition ;and were of hardly less importance to thea,tion by means of the latter, than of the former. During1Herod, viii. 54.2The Asiatic Greeks, however, during the expedition of Xerxes, in whichey were compelled to take a part with their ships, had entreated the Spartansd Athenians to free them. Herod, viii. 132.5In the year 449 B. C., reckoning from the participation of the Persians in3 insurrection of the Asiatic Greeks, under Aristagoras, in the year 500 B. 0.1Plutarch in Cimon. Op. iii. p. 202, quotes the decree of the people, conning the conditions. The formal treaty has in later days been questioned,tblman's Historical Inquiries, I. Yet war certainly ceased.