Athenian Empire, which grew up, by the force of necessity, out of the
decay of a confederacy born of a common need, and organised for the
special benefit of the Asiatic Greeks. For the names of the Greek
cities on the coasts of Asia Minor still figured in the Persian
tribute-lists; and the moment that the grasp of Athens relaxed on the
confines of the King's dominions, after the ruinous defeat in Sicily,
Persian tax-gatherers came knocking at the gates of Ephesus and
Miletus, demanding the arrears of tribute. So urgent was the need
supplied by the energy of Athens, and so blind were these Greeks of
Asia Minor to their own interests.

The visible sign of this momentous change, by which the Delian
Confederacy became merged in the Athenian Empire, was the removal of
the treasury from Delos to Athens. The Athenians now undertook the
whole administration of the common fund, using the surplus for the
adornment of Athens by magnificent public buildings. This
appropriation seems reasonable enough, when we consider that the whole
burden of defending the eastern Greeks against Persia, and keeping the
barbarian out of Greek waters, now lay upon Athens. This great public
duty, which had been thrown upon her by the indifference of Sparta,
and the unmanly sloth of her own allies, was faithfully performed; and
she might well ask why she should be called upon to lavish the blood
of her own citizens for nothing. That Athens should be great,
splendid, and powerful, was not only a reward due to her public spirit
and devotion to the common cause, but also a guarantee for the general
dignity and liberty of Greeks. And we, who have still before us the
remnants of her temples and statues, and learn from them what man can
accomplish under the inspiration of great ideals, need not scan too
closely her claim to appropriate the funds which she employed for so
noble a purpose. For this was the great age of Grecian art, the age of