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CLEON (d. 422 B.C.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 495 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLEON (d. 422 B.C.) , Athenian politician during the Peloponnesian See also:War, was the son of Cleaenetus, from whom he inherited a lucrative tannery business. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics. He came into See also:notice first as an opponent of See also:Pericles, to whom his advanced ideas were naturally unacceptable, and in his opposition somewhat curiously found himself acting in See also:concert with the aristocrats, who equally hated and feared Pericles. During the dark days of 430, after the unsuccessful expedition of Pericles to See also:Peloponnesus, and when the See also:city was devastated by the See also:plague, Cleon headed the opposition to the Periclean regime. Pericles was accused by Cleon of maladministration of public See also:money, with the result that he was actually found guilty (see See also:Grote's Hist. of See also:Greece, abridged ed., 1go7, p. 406, See also:note I). A revulsion of feeling, however, soon took See also:place. Pericles was reinstated, and Cleon now for a See also:time See also:fell into the background. The See also:death of Pericles (429) See also:left the See also:field clear for him. Hitherto he had only been a vigorous opposition See also:speaker, a trenchant critic and accuser of See also:state officials. He now came forward as the professed See also:champion and See also:leader of the See also:democracy, and, owing to the moderate abilities of his rivals and opponents, he was for some years undoubtedly the foremost See also:man in See also:Athens.

Although rough and unpolished, he was gifted with natural eloquence and a powerful See also:

voice, and knew exactly how to See also:work upon the feelings of the See also:people. He strengthened his hold on the poorer classes by his measure for trebling the pay of the jurymen, which provided the poorer Athenians with an easy means of livelihood. The notorious fondness of the Athenians for litigation increased his See also:power; and the practice of " sycophancy " (raking up material for false charges; see See also:SYCOPHANT), enabled him to remove those who were likely to endanger his ascendancy. Having no further use for his former aristocratic associates, he See also:broke off all connexion with them, and thus See also:felt at See also:liberty to attack the See also:secret combinations for See also:political purposes, the oligarchical clubs to which they mostly belonged. Whether he also introduced a See also:property-tax for military purposes, and even held a high position in connexion with the See also:treasury, is uncertain. His ruling principles were an inveterate hatred of the See also:nobility, and an equal hatred of See also:Sparta. It was mainly through him that the opportunity of concluding an See also:honourable See also:peace (in 425) was lost, and in his determination to see Sparta humbled he misled the people as to the extent of the resources of the state, and dazzled them by promises of future benefits. In 427 Cleon gained an evil notoriety by his proposal to put to death indiscriminately all the inhabitants of Mytilene, which had put itself at the See also:head of a revolt. His proposal, though accepted, was, fortunately for the See also:credit of Athens, rescinded, although, as it was, the See also:chief leaders and prominent men, numbering about r000, fell victims. In 425, he reached the See also:summit of his fame by capturing and transporting to Athens the Spartans who had been blockaded in Sphacteria (see See also:PyLos). Much of the credit was probably due to the military skill of his colleague See also:Demosthenes; but it must be admitted that it was due to Cleon's determination that the See also:Ecclesia sent out the additional force which was needed. It was almost certainly due to Cleon that the See also:tribute of the " See also:allies " was doubled in 425 (see DELIAN See also:LEAGUE).

In 422 he was sent to recapture See also:

Amphipolis, but was outgeneralled by See also:Brasidas and killed. His death removed the chief obstacle to an arrangement with Sparta, and in 421 the peace of See also:Nicias was concluded (see PELOPONNESIAN WAR). The See also:character of Cleon is represented by See also:Aristophanes and See also:Thucydides in an extremely unfavourable See also:light. But neither can be considered an unprejudiced See also:witness. The poet had a grudge against Cleon, who had accused him before the See also:senate of having ridiculed (in his Babylonians) the policy and institutions of his See also:country in the presence of foreigners and at the time of a See also:great See also:national war. Thucydides, a man of strong oligarchical prejudices, had also been prosecuted for military incapacity and exiled by a See also:decree proposed by Cleon. It is therefore likely that Cleon has had less than See also:justice done to him in the portraits handed down by these two writers. AUTxoRITTEs.—For the literature on Cleon see C. F. See also:Hermann, Lehrbuch der griechischen Antiquitaten, i. pt. 2 (6th ed. by V. Thumser, 1892), p.

709, and G. Busolt, Griechische Geschichte, iii. pt. 2 (19o4), p. 988, note 3. The following are the chief authorities:—(a) Favourable to Cleon.—C. F. See also:

Ranke, Commentatio de Vita Aristop.lranis (See also:Leipzig, 1845); J. G. See also:Droysen, Aristophanes, ii., introd. to the Knights (See also:Berlin, 1837) ; G. Grote, Hist. of Greece, chs. 50, 54; W. Oncken, Athen and Hellas, ii. p.

204 (Leipzig, 1866) ; H. See also:

Muller-Strabing, Aristophanes and See also:die historische Kritik (Leipzig, 1873) ; J. B. See also:Bury, Hist. of Greece, i. (1902). (b) Unfavourable.—J. F. Kortum, Geschichtliche Forschungen (Leipzig, 1863), and Zur Geschichte helleni schen Stoatsverfassungen (See also:Heidelberg, 1821) : F. See also:Passow, Vermischte Schriften (Leipzig, 1843); C. See also:Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, ch. 21; E. See also:Curtius, Hist. of Greece (Eng. tr. iii. p.

112 ; J. Schvarcz, Die Demokratie (Leipzig, 1882) ; H. See also:

Delbruck, Die Strategic See also:des Perikles (Berlin, 1890); E. See also:Meyer, Forschungen zur See also:alien Geschichte, ii. p. 333 (See also:Halle, 1899). The See also:balance between the two extreme views is fairly held by J. Beloch, Die attische Politik seit Perikles (Leipzig, 1884), and Griechische Geschichte, i. p. 537; and by A. Holm, Hist. of Greece, ii. (Eng. tr.), ch. 23, with the notes.

End of Article: CLEON (d. 422 B.C.)

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