2o8 Outlines of European History figure of Socrates, as he appears in the writings of his pupils, was to prove more powerful even than the living teacher. The past could not be recalled, and, in spite of themselves, thinking people were already beginning to take up the very views which they had striven to stamp out by such means as the verdict Thucydides against Socratcs. The historian Thucydides, who was now writ- ing his great account of the wars which destroyed the Athenian Empire, no longer discerned only the will of the gods in these events but, with an insight like that of modern historians, was tracing events to their natural causes in the world of men where they occur. Section 33. The Age of Spartan Leadership The leader- The long duel for supremacy in the Greek world between Athens and Sparta, which occupied a large part of the latter half of the fifth century before Christ, ended toward the close of that century in the complete collapse of Athens. While the two states were devouring one another Persia had again appeared on the scene, and it was only by the use of Persian money that Sparta had accomplished the destruction of the last Athenian fleet. It now remained to be seen whether Sparta (Fig. 87) could maintain the leadership of the Greek world, and thrust back the Persians in Asia as Athens had done. Lysander Sparta was now dominated by the commanding figure of methods Lysander, who had destroyed the last remnants of Attic sea power. Under his guidance the popular party in each of the city-states, including Athens, was deprived of power as far as possible, and the control placed in the hands of a group of the old aristocrats. A garrison under a Spartan officer was placed in many of the cities, and Spartan control was maintained in much more offensive form than was the old tyranny of Athens in her empire over the island cities, against which Sparta had always protested. The Athenian democracy, however, finally regained and maintained control of Attic affairs.
