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98 ANCIENT GREECE. [CHAP. vni.that contest, the idea of a supremacy,or ^e/Wa,as theGreeks termed it,intrusted to one state over the rest, orusurped by that state, became current throughout Greece.Even before the Persian war., the idea had been faintlyexpressed; Sparta had always, as the strongest of the Doriantribes, asserted a sort of supremacy over the Peloponnesus ;and had in some measure deserved it, by banishing thetyrants from the cities of that peninsula. 1In the common opposition,made by somanyof theGrecian cities, to the attack of Xerxes, the want of a generalleader was felt; but according to the Grecian rules, thiscommand could not so well be committed to one man, as toone state. We have already observed, that several laid claimsto it ;those of Syracuse were at once rejected ;and Athenswas at once prudent and generous enoughto yield. At thattime, therefore, the honour was nominally conferred onSparta;it was actually possessed by the state, of which thetalents merited it ;and Sparta had no Themistocles. ButAthens soon gained it nominally also ;when the haughtinessof Pausanias exasperated the confederates ;and Sparta wasdeprived byhis fall of the only man, who in those days couldhave reflected any lustre 2upon the state,In this manner, Athens was placed at the head of a largepart of Greece, confederated against Persia ;and from tHismoment itssupremacy begins to have a practical importancefor Greece. The circumstances under which this chiefcommand was conferred on Athens, showed that nothing1Thucvd. i. 18, 76.2Of this we have accurate accounts in Thucydides, i. 95. The Spartans,Athenians, and many of the confederates, had undertaken a naval expedition,against Cyprus and Byzantium, 470 years before Christ, Offended with Pausanias, (who about this time was recalled by Sparta herself,) the allies,especially the lonians, entreated the Athenians, as being of a kindred tribeto assume the supreme command. Those who were oftook the Peloponnesus'no part in this act. The Athenians were very willing to comply with therequest; and the confederates never received another Spartan general. Promthis account, the following points are to be inferred: 1 The Athenians obtained the same chief command, which had been exercised by the Spartans2. The states which conferred that command on Athens, must have been islandsand maritime towns, as the whole expedition was a naval one 3* Although not all who shared in it were lonians, yet the relationship of tribeshad a> great influence on the choice. 4, The command conferred on theAthenians, embraced therefore by no means all the Grecian cities, nor evenall which had been united against Persia; as the Peloponnesianswithdrew from expresslyit, and the other states of the interior took no pan in tim