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190 ANCIENT GIIEECE. [CHAP. xin.such services, the peopledecreed his return ;and years ofsufferings were at last followed by a day of exalted compensation. A galleywas sent to Jfegina to bring back theadvocate of liberty.All Athens was in motion ;no magistrate, no priest remained in the city,when it was reportedthat Demosthenes was advancing from the Piraeus. 1Overpowered by his feelings, he extended his arms and declaredhimself happier than Alcibiades; 2 for his countrymen hadrecalled him, not by compulsion,but from choice. It wasa momentary glimpse of the sun which still darker3cloudswere soon to conceal. Antipater and Craterus were victorious ;and with them the Macedonian party in Athens ;Demosthenes and his friends were numbered amongthe accused, and at the instigationof Demades were condemnedto die.They had already withdrawn in secret from thecity but where coulcl they find a place of refuge ? Hyperideswith two others took refuge in yEgina in the temple ; ofAjax. In vain !they were torn away, dragged before Antipater,and executed. Demosthenes had escaped to the islandCalauria in the vicinity of Troezen ;and took refugein thetemple of Neptune/ 3 It was to no purpose that Archias,the satellite of Antipater, urged him to surrender himselfunder promise of pardon. He pretended he wished to writesomething; bit the quill, and swallowed the poison contained in it. He then veiled himself, reclining his headbackwards, till he felt the operation of the upoison.Neptune!" he exclaimed, "they have defiled thy temple;but honouring thee, I will leave it while yet living."Buthe sank before the altar, 4 and a sudden death separated himfrom a world, which, after the fall of his country, containedno happiness for him, Where shall we find a character ofmore grandeur and purity than that of Demosthenes ?It seemed by no means superfluous to exhibit a pictureof Grecian statesmen during that period, by sketching thehistory of him, who holds the first rank among them. Welearn from it,that the sphere of action of such men, thoughthey are called orators, extended far beyondtheir oratiotis.1Plut iv. 2p. 738.Who saw a similar day of return.3See, for the following, Plat. iv. p. 741.4What a subject for the art of sculpture! and yet one, which has never, tomy knowledge, been made use of.Plutarch.The artist would only J need to draw after