Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/299

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TOWER OF THE THESSALIAXS. 283 imports at the harbors of the Pagasnsan gulf, imposed for the benefit of the confederacy, were then enforced with strictness ; but the observation shows that, while unanimous Thessaly was very powerful, her periods of unanimity were only occasional. 1 Among the nations which thus paid tribute to the fulness of Thessalian power, we may number not merely the Perrhsebi, Magnates, and Achaeans of Phthiotis, but also the Malians and Dolopes, and various tribes of Epirots extending to the west- ward of Pindus.' 2 We may remark that they were all (except; the Malians) javelin-men, or light-armed troops, not serving in rank with the full panoply; a fact which, in Greece, counts as presumptive evidence of a lower civilization : the Magnetes, too, had a peculiar close-fitting mdde of dress, probably suited to move- ments in a mountainous country. 3 There was even a time whep the Thessalian power threatened to extend southward of Ther- mopylae, subjugating the Phokians, Dorians, and Lokrians. So much were the Phokians alarmed at this danger, that they had built a Avail across the pass of Thermopylae, for the purpose of more easily defending it against Thessalian invaders, who are reported to have penetrated more than once into the Phokian valleys, and to have sustained some severe defeats. 4 At what precise time these events happened, we find no information ; but it must have been considerably earlier than the invasion of Xerxes, since the defensive wall which had been built at Ther- mopylae, by the Phokians, was found by Leonidas in a state of ruin. But the Phokians, though they no longer felt the neces- sity of keeping up this wall, had not ceased to fear and hate the Thessalians, an antipathy which will be found to manifest, itself palpably in connection with the Persian invasion. On the 1 Dcmosthen. Olynth. i. c. 3, p. 15 ; ii. c. 5. p. 21. The orator had occasion to denounce Philip, as having got possession of the public authority of the Thessalian confederation, partly by intrigue, partly by force ; and we thus hear of the /U/zt'vff and the uyopal, which formed the revenue of the con- federacy.

  • Xenophon (Hellen. vi. 1, 7) numbers the Maparw among these tribute-

rijs along with the Dolopes: the Maraces are named by Pliny (II. N ir 8). also, along with the Dolopes, but we do not know where they dwelt

  • Xenophon, Hellen. vi. 1,9; Pindar, Pyth. iv. 80.

4 Herodot. vii. 176; viii. 27-28.