Pausanias the Spartan

Pausanias the Spartan by Edward Bulwer-lytton

Pausanias the Spartan, an unfinished historical romance by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, opens at Byzantium's harbor shortly after the Greek victory at Plataea, where the Athenians Aristides and Cimon observe the fleet of Pausanias, Regent of Sparta and hero of that battle, and discuss with alarm how he has adopted Persian dress, manners, and arrogance since taking command of the allied Greek forces. Ionian and island captains, including the Chian Antagoras and the Samian Uliades, complain to the Athenians of Pausanias's tyranny, including floggings and the seizure of water springs for Spartans alone. When Pausanias's procession arrives, Aristides formally lodges these complaints before him, but the Regent haughtily refuses to answer to anyone but Sparta's Ephors, straining relations further. Aristides privately tells Cimon that Pausanias's misconduct will drive the allies toward Athens and away from Spartan leadership. That evening, aboard his galley, Pausanias confides to Gongylus, a Greek renegade serving Persia, his deep hatred of Spartan discipline, recounting his brutal upbringing, a crypteia in which he spared a Helot he was sent to kill, and his growing contempt for Sparta's laws. Gongylus stokes his ambition with visions of Persian splendor and power, and Pausanias reveals he is negotiating treasonous terms with Persia to become a sovereign ruler, using Gongylus as intermediary with Persian prisoners under his charge. His young Spartan companion Lysander, devoted and honorable, remains unaware of these designs, though the veteran Thrasyllus warns Pausanias to treat the allies more gently for Sparta's sake. Pausanias then visits Cleonice, daughter of the vain, mercenary Byzantine Diagoras, with whom he is passionately in love despite Spartan law forbidding marriage to a foreigner. Cleonice, educated and spirited, mocks and questions him even as she is drawn to him, fearing his ambition and the dishonor it may bring. Pausanias hints at plans to overthrow Spartan law itself. Leaving her, he meets Gongylus and the Persian envoys Ariamanes and Datis in secret, formally proposing that Persia back his bid to make himself absolute monarch of Sparta and Greece in exchange for tribute from conquered territories; the Persians agree in principle and depart with plans for an army to gather on the Phrygian frontier. Pausanias's Helot foster-brother Alcman, who reveres him, encourages his ambitions, hinting the Helots would rise in his support. The next day, the Persian prisoners' escape becomes public, provoking outrage among the Greek captains, led by Cimon, who accuse Gongylus of complicity. In a tense council, Gongylus deflects blame by accusing Antagoras of plotting against Pausanias out of jealousy over Cleonice; Antagoras denies it and counter-accuses Gongylus, but Pausanias smooths over the dispute to protect his accomplice, deferring judgment and dismissing the council without resolution, though suspicion lingers. Aristides deliberately stayed away, preferring to let Pausanias's own conduct alienate the allies further and hasten Athens's rise to naval leadership. Antagoras, still in love with Cleonice, unsuccessfully seeks her hand from Diagoras and then from Cleonice herself; she confesses she loves only the glory Pausanias represents, not hope of marriage, and will not marry Antagoras, though she pledges to call on him as a protector if ever threatened. Meanwhile Pausanias, torn between his Persian intrigue and residual loyalty to Greece, tries to win over the Spartan "Peers" assigned to watch him, but they resist his schemes for expanded Spartan dominion, and one, Cleomenes, openly favors accommodation with Athens and the allies' interests over Pausanias's ambitions. Antagoras, still burning with jealousy and political resentment, works to unite the discontented Ionian captains against Pausanias. Cimon separately tries to persuade the honest Lysander that Sparta should recall Pausanias for the good of Greece, unsettling Lysander's loyalty without breaking it. Cimon then meets secretly with the Spartan Peers to argue that Sparta itself should orchestrate Pausanias's recall rather than let the allies force it, but the negotiation is left open. In a garden scene, Cleonice and Pausanias again discuss the impossibility of their union; the Helot singer Alcman performs philosophical songs on love, fate, and the soul's immortality, drawing on doctrines of intelligence, harmony, and the transmigration or purification of souls, which move both Pausanias and Cleonice deeply. Cleonice reveals a childhood friend's prophetic trance foretold her connection to Pausanias but that her own fate vanished from the vision, suggesting her early death, and she urges him toward virtue and glory rather than tyranny. Gongylus interrupts with news that a ship has been sent to Sparta carrying the allies' complaints and a personal letter from Cimon urging Pausanias's recall. Pausanias, alarmed, returns to his fleet with Lysander, testing his foster-brother's loyalty and confirming that Lysander would never turn against him except in defense of Greece itself, though Pausanias ultimately holds back from sending him as an emissary to Sparta. The narrative continues with Antagoras hosting a lavish banquet for the Ionian captains, where wine, music, and a mocking dance parodying Pausanias's Persian affectations rouse the guests' resentment. Antagoras then delivers an impassioned speech comparing the moment to the Battle of Salamis, casting the expulsion of Pausanias as a second deliverance of Greece from tyranny, and reveals that ships bearing complaints against the Regent are already en route to Sparta, rallying the assembled captains toward open conspiracy against Pausanias's continued command.

By Edward Bulwer-lytton · First published 1853 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure, Drama · 25 chapters · 88,649 words

First lines

On one of the quays which bordered the unrivalled harbour of Byzantium, more than twenty-three centuries before the date at which this narrative is begun, stood two Athenians. In the waters of the haven rode the vessels of the Grecian Fleet. So deep was the basin, in which the tides are scarcely felt,[5] that the prows of some of the ships touched the quays, and the setting sun glittered upon the smooth and waxen surfaces of the prows rich with diversified colours and wrought gilding. To the extreme right of the fleet, and nearly opposite the place upon which the Athenians stood, was a vessel still more profusely ornamented than the rest.

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Ancient Greece · Historical Fiction · Spartan Warrior · Warfare · Battle Scenes · Military History · Classical Antiquity · Peloponnesian War · Athens and Sparta · Greek Politics · Intrigue · Conspiracy

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